Sunday Sketch Trio

Happy Sunday Everyone!

I didn't get a chance to do any crafting yesterday - I spent most of it out and about: got my nails done, did some Christmas shopping, stopped at the library, met my peep, Lori, at Timmy's for coffee and then I got home for supper and just wanted to relax. Hubby and I watched "Hancock" and then I read for a bit before bed.

So, I woke up this morning and knew I had to get my hands dirty or I wouldn't be happy. I started by perusing my usual haunts on the weekend and found three sketches to use. Then I stopped in at Splitcoast and checked out the Inspiration Challenge - there were all kind of wrapping papers from Whimsy Press to inspire us!!! - lucky me, I was able to combine them all and create three cards!



Card #1: Paper Craft Planet Sketch & SCS Inspiration Challenge

I LOVE my Bellas! I am so tempted to order more - can I justify it??? LOL I started by stamping Matilda Muffinbread on watercolor paper with Black Stazon ink. I colored her with my blender pens and classic ink. What a difference watercolor paper makes!! So much easier to blend the colors. I used Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, and Riding Hood Red with some Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa for her hair and cupcake. I cut her out with my nesties, layered her on Riding Hood Red and paper pierced the corners. I added some sparkle to her wings with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. Found some paper flowers and heart brads - the sentiment is from a MFT birthday set. In my opinion, it needs "something" but it will make a good birthday card.

Card #2: Sketch For You To Try and SCS Inspiration Challenge




Here's Wreathabella - adorable, right? The DP is from the Frosty Day DP and, even though you can't really see it, it has Christmas trees on it! Again, I used my Nesties to cut her, the sentiment and their layers. I ticket corner punched the DP and added some brads to the corners. I used my wide, striped ribbon from SU! instead of paper for the strip across the middle. I love how this card turned out! I think this one will go to my niece for Christmas with her Sears gift card inside. :o)

Card #3: Lauren's Saturday Sketch, OCC Challenge & SCS Inspiration Challenge



I had to "modify" the color choice for this one - the background of this wrapping paper looks awfully "brown-y/olive-y" and I did NOT have any paper that color. So, out came the Chocolate Chip, of course! The challenge for this week over at Our Creative Corner was to use snowflakes or snowmen in our creation - I used both. This card is pretty self-explanatory: I used my corner rounder, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots and Snow Dots embossing folders, some brown gingham ribbon and some paper snowflakes I picked up at the store yesterday. The rhinestone brads add a bit of sparkle.

So what do you think??? I always LOVE it when someone posts a comment - I get all giddy! And it's so much fun to watch the "Who's Visiting Now?' feed. . . I still can't believe that people from all over the WORLD have visited my blog! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - have a great week!

Oh My Bella. . .

Can we say freakin' ADORABLE??? My mailbox had some lovely surprises waiting for me when I went to town so I *had* to mount them and ink one up before I had supper! When I checked Taylor's blog this morning for the sketch challenge it hadn't been posted yet so I clicked over tonight and there it was:



I popped over to the Stamping Bella Color Challenge for this week to discover So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie and Riding Hood Red as the combo. LOVED IT! Once I had stamped Miss Eloise Greengrass on my CS, I realized that I was going to have to increase my card size a *teeny-tiny* bit. Even with the increase to a 5-1/2" square, the image kind of overtakes the card. But it's OK because she's so CUTE!!



I LOVE how this card turned out. I used my new Pinking Circles nesties (finally!) and think they give a card such a different look than the scallop circles do. I used my Riding Hood Red Ribbon and some more adhesive pearls - I am addicted to these things! In honor of American Thanksgiving, I found the sentiment in the retired "Happy Harmony" set. Can you believe I didn't use my paper piercer at ALL on this card??? I colored with my blender pen and classic inks on Naturals White cardstock. I used Iridescent Ice embossing powder to make her wings sparkly but it's hard to see unless you turn the card "just right."

I'm going to try to use some more of my new stamps from Stamping Bella this weekend - stay tuned!

T.G.I.F.

Today couldn't come too soon- it has been an absolutely crazy week. I am so glad I don't have to work Fridays; it gives me one day in the week to work on stuff that gets shoved to the back burner the rest of the week. While the laundry is laundering and the dishwasher is washing I can sit and make a card or two. Priorities, you know. . . :o)

SO - I started working on a card yesterday but had to rush off to Parent-Teacher Conferences so I didn't have time to finish it but I sat down this morning while my cookies were baking and got to work. I used this week's Color Challenge and Sketch Challenge from Splitcoast Stampers to make this card. The colors, in honor of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday were Really Rust, Very Vanilla and Going Grey. I don't have GG so I used my Basic Grey instead - I am LOVING grey in cards. It is my new favorite neutral! This was the sketch:

And this is my card:



I'm not thrilled with the result - I love the pearls, but I'm having a real "block" when it comes to which images to use in my cards these days. Not sure what is up with that. I decided not to put a sentiment on the front - I'll wait to see what occasion I need this one for.

After I finished that one, I went searching for another challenge or two and came across this week's Color Throwdown and, lo and behold, the colors were very similar: Sage Shadow, Real Rust (again) and Chocolate Chip. The Bella Sketch Challenge for this week is:

Which translated to:

Pretty basic -I used my Nesties for both cards and argyle embossing folder for this one. I'm not sure where I got this stamp set or even who makes it but I quite like it. I thought about coloring the letters but decided against it. Also used my paper piercer and the felt ribbon from SU!

I think I'm going to run to town this afternoon - I ordered some Bellas and new embossing folders so I should have a couple of packages waiting for me. Hopefully I'll get some time to "play" with them this weekend- it's going to be another busy one.

Happy Birthday To. . .

ME!!! Yep, it's my birthday and what a great day I had. I went to my local scrapbook store (where they give you 20% off your purchase on your birthday!!!), bought some new Nesties, a couple new stamp sets, a bunch of pearls and a large acrylic block. Oh, did I have fun! Then I made my way back to work, had birthday cake at lunch, crafted after school, went out to dinner with my family and in-laws, got some awesome presents from them, came home and now I'm tying to get caught up on my challenge "to do" list!

I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone (or card, as it were. . .) and combined Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch with KWerner's Color Challenge #32:



I thought the color combo was absolutely beautiful and I LOVED that Kristina threw in the metallic option. I promptly got to work and in no time at all, came up with:


When I saw Riding Hood Red was one of the colors, I knew I HAD to use my new, wide, striped ribbon somewhere on the card. I don't have any gold paper so I figured embossing would be my next best option. I didn't want to emboss a huge picture so I got my new Plain Jane out and used it. I think it turned out beautifully. The snowflake was kind of an afterthought but I wanted to make it look like an ornament, thus the gold cord. Embossing always makes a card look like a million bucks (even when the image is slightly off-center. . .).

I'm going to go watch House and try to get another challenge done - well, at least started. I think I'll combine the SCS Color Challenge with Kazan's Sketch #14. . . we'll see how that goes! Thanks for stopping in!

Only a MONTH left 'til Christmas - can you BELIEVE it????

Blog Candy Alert!

Enjoli is celebrating her 200th post with some cupcakealicious blog candy. Can anyone have too many cupcake stamps? I don't think so! Click on over and soak up some of her Hawaiian sunshine!

Saturday Sketch Trio

What do you get when you cross an Inspiration Challenge with 3 different Sketch challenges???

These:


Okay, so the Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast was an interesting one. The challenge is inspired by a show on AMC called "Mad Men." I've never even heard of this show but I'm thinking I may have to search for it. It's a series set in a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the 1960’s. So there were a couple of pictures posted to give us a starting point. I chose this one:



Are you seeing where I went with this challenge? Come on... think hard... need help??? :o) I took each dress in the picture and made a card inspired by it. But, folks, I didn't stop there - no, siree... I went to my handy-dandy list of challenges that are posted each Saturday and, coincidentally, I found a sketch challenge to go with each dress. AND I got to use my brand-new Verve stamps I got in the mail yesterday!!! So, let's get started:

Paper Craft Planet Sketch Challenge and Dress #1
I'd have to say this one was probably the quickest card I've done in a LONG time. On my computer screen, the first dress looks like it is silvery-grey and she is wearing these FABULOUS bright blue shoes. I grabbed my Basic Grey and Pacific Point (grudgingly...) and got to work. I stamped my new Plain Jane on WW with PP, inked the edges. I used my Nesties to cut out all of the ovals. I think the rest is pretty self-explanatory ~ paper-piercer, white gel pen, Prima flowers, rhinestone brad, ribbon... It is not my usual "embellished-to-death" card but I think it works. Don't worry, though, the "embellished-to-death" card is coming up next!!!

Sketch For You to Try and Dress #2

See what I mean? Talk about BUSY! From the layers to the scallops to the rick-rack to the coloring...it's a bit *more* than I would have liked. The second dress is sooooo beautiful, don't you think? Elegant in it's simplicity but those shoes give it some attitude! I chose Always Artichoke and then found some patterned paper in my stash that also had So Saffron and Cool Caribbean in it so off I went. This time I used my new cupcake stamps from Verve's Cupcake Affair set - I LOVE how you can mix and match tops and bottoms and trimmings!!! Again, it's pretty self-explanatory: layers, rick-rack, nesties, blender pen and ink, Prima flower, button, circle punch, designer label punch and oval punch.

Now for my FAVORITE of the trio:

Our Creative Corner Sketch and Dress #3


What you can't see is how sparkly this card is!! It is "to DIE for" sparkly! I'm telling you, if you don't have any Verve stamps, you NEED to go and order some. These images are from the "Ornamental Christmas" set and they are HUGE images. There are a bazillion sentiments (well, OK, not *that* many, but a LOT!) and you can mix and match again! I grabbed some Old Olive, Taken With Teal and Bashful Blue CS and started cutting. I used my nesties to cut the corner squares and used the branch stamp from the OC set to create a background on the back Bashful Blue layer. I wasn't sure how I was going to get the glittery look I wanted - embossing? Glue??? Coloring and then glittering? I tried a couple of things and neither of them worked. THEN I remembered I had a Glue Pad sitting in my cupboard that I had never used. I got it out, glued it up and stamped the images onto WW CS. Then I got my glitter out and sprinkled it onto the images diagonally, one color at a time, tapping off after each color. SUCCESS!! PERFECTION!!! I stamped the sentiment in Old Olive and added some silver-edged sheer ribbon and silver cord.

What do you think? It took me all morning (and an hour this afternoon getting this post organized!) but I did it! I probably won't be creating tomorrow since it is Grey Cup Day - not sure if I'm going to cheer for Calgary or Montreal (I'm a die-hard 'Riders gal!) but I'm sure it will be a great game.

Enjoy your weekend - happy crafting!

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge and an Extra Project

Happy Friday! I'm not sure what we have planned for the weekend but I'm pretty sure it will involve a trip to Costco - Mother Hubbard's cupboards are pretty bare. And who can go without chocolate for longer than a couple days?

Another great sketch from Taylor this week resulted in this duo:


I'm still not feeling great, the sore throat comes and goes, so I wanted to stick with more subdued tones for this card. I pulled out some scraps from a few weeks ago when I did a mini pizza box and cards and got to work. The DP is from the Manchester package and the CS is Baja Breeze, Kraft and Very Vanilla. I started by stamping the snowflakes from the Snow Swirled set with VersaMark on VV and then clear embossing on top. Then I sponged BB over the surface and the VV CS showed through where I had embossed. I used the same technique for the scalloped sentiment (So Many Scallops). I got to use my Nesties for the very first time when I cut the Kraft scallop circle for behind the sentiment!! I'm not sure where I got the sheer, silver-edged ribbon from but I love the sparkle it brings to the card. (I think it was Michael's after Christmas last year...) The silver brads and the silver snowflake brad seem to tie it all together.

Last weekend at our monthly club get-together, we did stamping on candles. Now, I'd done this technique before but had forgotten how incredibly quick and EASY it is to create a last-minute gift. I had bought a bunch of candles at Ikea a LONG time ago and had put them away with all of my other "alterable" items and forgotten about them. I pulled them out of the cupboard and decided to USE them to make some gifts to have "just in case." Again, I used the Snow Swirled set for the tree and the snowflakes. I stamped the images with BB and Close to Cocoa on white tissue paper and then cut them out as close to the image as I could. I carefully placed the images on the candle a couple at a time and wrapped wax paper over/around the candle. Then I used my heat tool to heat the area to cause the tissue paper image to "sink" into the candle. Voila! Done. I wrapped some BB ribbon around the bottom and secured it with brads.

There - that's it for me today. I think I've just decided to get the kids ready to go to town to meet DH for supper and we can hit Costo afterwards. A quick stop at Scrapbooker's might be in order too. Thanks for clicking over - have a great weekend!

KwernerDesign Challenge #31 - All Alone. . .

I'm reposting this part of yesterday's post because my link was deleted from Mr. Linky. I'm assuming it was because I had a different challenge in the first part of my post and people had to scroll down. . . SO - here's the original post:

I have been doing Kwerner's Color Challenge for the last few weeks and have really enjoyed seeing how others interpret the colors. This week's colors were right up my alley. . .



I bought some Bellas a few months ago but have never used them for a card...until now. I finally bought some EZ Mount to use them with my acrylic blocks and they're all ready to be inked. I LOVE this Bella so she had to be my first - Cuppacakeabella:


Isn't she so CUTE??? I used Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch but I had to make it a 5-1/2" square card to make the image fit properly in the layout. I tried to keep it simple, simple, simple. I used my Martha border punch, colored the image with my blender pen and classic inks, added a few brads, glittered my cupcake icing, cuttlebugged, paper pierced and photo corner punched. I love the look of this card but I'm still trying to get the "hang" of coloring with inks and my blender pen. Can't afford Copics right now so I've got to make do with what I've got.

There - I hope that's better and doesn't get me deleted again! Thanks to those that took the time to scroll yesterday! LOL

Thanks for looking!

'Tis The Season

And I'm not referring to the jolly ho-ho-ho season. . . it's the season to be SICK. I work in a school and the kids are dropping like FLIES right now. I started to feel yucky yesterday and it's gotten progressively worse. So, here I sit at home for the day - I rested a bit after I sent the kids off but I'm feeling good enough to sit down and make a couple of cards. I know, I know. . . I have to take one for the team. That's what I'm all about. ;o)

So, yesterday after school I started a card for the Splitcoast Color Challenge and for Laura's Sketch 13 over at 2 Sketches 4 You. Thanks again, Laura and Kazan for choosing me to be a part of your Fab Five last week! I was honored and extremely excited - especially consdering I didn't think I did the sketch justice! Here's this week's sketch:



The Splitcoast colors this week were Real Red, Basic Black and Kraft. Pretty easy color combination. . . or so I thought. I was in such a fog, I must have changed this card a bazillion times before I finally walked away. For the life of me, I just could NOT get it to look right. I sat down this morning to finish it:


I am not totally thrilled with how it turned out, but I just couldn't *fight* with it anymore. I'm not sure if it's how I layered behind the daisies or the sentiment or the color combo. . . any ideas??? My brads are crooked, too. We all have days when we have to cut our losses or file it in the circular filing cabinet, right? Right? (Please say yes! LOL)

I think it's pretty self-explanatory: I used Upsy Daisy for the main image and the sentiment is from the retired set Love Matters. That's it!

So - that's it for now. I just got a call from DS #1...guess who else is sick and wants to be picked up from school? *sigh* Enjoy your day, everyone! Thanks for stopping in.

Okay, So I Lied. . .

I know - I said I wasn't going to create anything today but I just couldn't help myself. I was checking out challenge blogs and found 3 I could combine into one card. At Stacey's Stamping Stage her Jewelry Color Inspiration #12 was Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Only Orange and Whisper White. Again, I had to substitute a color - Pumpkin Pie instead of Only Orange. So, then I clicked over to Our Creative Corner for their challenge: to use silhouette stamps. Hmmm. . . OK, I'm starting to feel inspired so I popped over to I Heart 2 Stamp for her sketch layout:



And this, my friends, is what I came up with:



I used my Inspired by Nature stamps along with the sentiment from Happy Harmony (retired). I used my circle punches, ticket corner punch, paper piercer & sheer ribbon. It's pretty simple when you look at it.

K- now I'm really signing off for tonight. I think I'm going to try to complete the Sketch Challenge over at Paper Craft Planet and combine it with Splitcoast's Inspiration Challenge. Stop back tomorrow night to see what I came up with!

Night!

OMG, OMG, OMG!!!

Guess what? OMG, OMG, OMG. . . I am in SHOCK! OK - so, remember last week when I did Kazan's sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You??? Well, I MADE HER FAB FIVE group for the week!!! HOLY SMOKES!!!

I've been VERY busy this weekend with classes and stuff so I just had the chance to check her blog out for this week's sketch and clicked on the name "Melissa" thinking, "Cool, someone with my name," and it went to MY page!!! Can you believe it??

WOW - I need to breathe in, breathe out. . .

Nothing new to post today. Maybe I'll get a chance to "catch up" tomorrow. Hope you had a good weekend!

Wake Me When It's Christmas!

What a Fabulous Friday I had!

My wonderfully crafty partner-in-crime, Lori, and I spent the morning at the SPA getting our bodies massaged and our faces facialed. It was amazing, heavenly and OH SO relaxing - I think I should go back soon. :o)

After we were spa'd, we were BOTH famished so off to Earl's we went for lunch. We don't get to go very often but when we do, we both order the Hunan Kung Pao Chicken. It is to DIE for! Let's just say there's not an awful lot of chit-chat when the food arrives!

So, with tummies full we were ready to shop. We headed over to Scrapbooker's Paradise to see what goodies we could find. We hit the MOTHER LODE today! Stamps, nesties, stamps, stamps and MORE stamps. . . I really *shouldn't* have, but I did! And, guess who we got to meet??? Laura!! She just happened to be working this afternoon! How excited were we? She was incredibly sweet, kind and gracious - she said we were the first ones to "recognize" her. She must have thought we were a couple of looney tunes, but that's OK - we are! LOL

Anyhow, Lori and I ended up buying a couple of the same stamps so we thought we'd do our own "challenge." We picked the stamps set from My Favorite Things called "Merry Christmas" and from there, we were on our own.

SO, this is what I came up with:



I'm not going to post details because I KNOW Lor's waiting to see what I did, so if you get a chance, pop over to her blog to see what she and our OTHER crafty friend, Leanne, came up with!

Thanks again, Lor, for an awesome day!!!

What Happens When You Find a Stamp You've Never Used Before???

I cannot BELIEVE I have never, I mean, NEVER used this stamp before. It is just about the cutest one I have and it's PERFECT for coloring. So, after discovering it again, I went to Splitcoast to check out their Sketch Challenge for today. Here it is:



Are you ready for it??? I'm so excited. . . I LOVE this card!!!


Recipe: Stamps: Festive Snowmen- Stamp Happens Inc. Paper: Regal Rose, Barely Banana, Taken With Teal, retired SU! DP, WW Ink: Black Stazon, Regal Rose, Taken With Teal, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie. Accessories: Square Punches, Blender Pen, Glue pen, Glitter, snowflake brads, adhesive rhinestones, ribbon, paper poker, Cuttlebug "Swirls" Embossing folder

What do YOU think???? Am I certifiable??? The colors are SO not Christmas but I think they work! The sketch was super easy for me to "see" in my little brain. I think it was Laura who inspired me to use bright, funky colors for Christmas cards - THANKS LAURA!!!

I am NOT going to be up all night crafting tonight but I will be back tomorrow. My bestest buddy (and enabler), Lori, and I are going to the SPA on Friday for massages and facials. . . PURE BLISS! I am SOOOOO looking forward to it. Her DH gave her a gift certificate for her birthday and she chose to share it with me. *sniff* I am so very blessed to have such an awesome friend... and her husband! LOL Thanks Q-man! :)

So, 'til tomorrow, crafters - May all your inspiration come easily and with clarity!

One Card, Two Challenges ~~ And Then I'm Going to BED!

Tuesday nights are not very good nights for TV so I finished watching House and sat down at my table and thought, "What to do, what to do?"

While doing the Verve sketch challenges last week, I bookmarked Julee's Blog - Poetic Artistry. She has a weekly sketch challenge, "Mojo Monday" so I popped over there to see what she had for us this week.

This was the sketch:


Then I moseyed over to Stacey's Blog where she gives us a color combo inspired by a piece of jewelry. Here's this week's inspiration:




So, I looked at my stash and realized I didn't have ANY Cameo Coral OR Really Rust (note to self: ORDER SOME!) so I had to substitute. I used Ruby Red instead of the Rust and found some Bazzill textured paper that is pretty close to Cameo Coral.





Here's my card:



No details tonight - too tired but I will try to come back tomorrow after school and edit! Thanks for looking, I'm goin' to bed!!!

Always Remember. . .

Before I get too excited about posting today's accomplishment, I want to say THANK YOU to all the men and women in the Armed Forces around the world for doing what you do every day to keep the rest of us safe and free. One day a year doesn't seem like enough to recognize you and the sacrifices you and your families have made.



I was pleased to see a color combo I could actually work with!
I know, I know. . . challenges are supposed to be hard but some days, my brain just can't handle it! LOL

I didn't have any Sahara Sand CS on hand so I had to substitute Kraft CS - I think it turned out pretty nicely:


I found an old 6x6 Prints Pad I hadn't even opened and used some of the Celery prints. I tried to follow the sketch for Kazan's Sketch 13 but found it to be a "complicated" layout.

I colored the image and stamped it twice on the WW. I decided to line up the image, kraft and celery layers a bit differently than I normally do - instead of centering them on each other, I lined them all up in the bottom right corner. Then I paper-poked the kraft layer, the printed paper layer and the bottom olive strip. I added a bit of Olive twill ribbon to the top section and some celery grosgrain to the bottom strip. I thought it was kind of boring so I dug out my adhesive rhinestones and strategically stuck some on the image to give it some sparkle.

What do you think? I think this card is simple yet elegant ~~ something I struggle with. Lately I have been finding myself adding this, moving that, embellishing this and then realizing I should have stopped a LONG time ago.

I'm going to try to do the Splitcoast Color Challenge this afternoon: Certainly Celery, Basic Grey and Pacific Point. Any ideas???
Have a good afternoon!

Edited to add:
OKAY - I'm back and adding to today's post. I did the Color Challenge but just couldn't make the Pacific Point work. Luckily, there was an alternate color choice - Not Quite Navy. :) Here it is. . .



I guess I'd better skedaddle and get supper started. We are ALL back to school tomorrow - thankfully, I've enjoyed the fun while it's lasted!

Later!