4 Crafty Chicks #62 {Die Cuts}

We've got a fun challenge for you this week at the 4 Crafty Chicks.  Leanne is our hostess with the mostest and she wants to see die cuts on your card/project.  Use your spellbinders, your sizzix, your Tim Holtz... whatever you've got - we want to see 'em!

For my card I used one of this month's Viva la Verve sketches (rotated, of course...) and my circle nestabilities:

Stamps: Words of Wisdom (Verve)  Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Lost & Found Two - Blush DSP (MME)  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Pink Pirouette  Accessories: Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon, sewing machine, Nesties, buttons

Thanks for stopping in today - I'm guessing there will be many of you playing along this week since it's a pretty easy one, right?  I can't wait to see what you create!  Later, gators!

A Double Dose of Viva la Verve-aliciousness!

Happy Hump Day everyone!  How's your week been going so far?  Things here have been busy and the weather is getting progressively cooler...a definite chill in the air which can only mean one thing - the white stuff is inevitably on its way.  I'm not exactly looking forward to it but it makes everything look so pretty.  ;)

This morning I sat down to get a couple of cards done for this month's Viva la Verve Sketch challenge.  I had two left to do and wanted to get them out of the way before I forgot about them!  I LOVE the colors in this week's TCP Tuesday challenge (my favorite kind of challenge!) so I had to use them along with one of my new TCP sets, "Oh Chute!"  Isn't that bunny the cutest little thing you ever did see???  I must apologize to Maureen right now for totally missing the ribbon/bow part of her Week Three sketch - I took a few other liberties with the sketch as well...please forgive me, Moe?  I can send chocolate if that will help... ;)

Stamps: Oh Chute (TCP)  Ink: Early Espresso, Memento Tuxedo Black  Paper: Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Early Espresso, Whisper White, SU! DSP and Happy Days DSP (Echo Park) Accessories: Circus Panels Cut-Ups die, Circle Nesties, paper piercer, twine, button, Copics, Clouds border Cut-Ups die, Square Lattice embossing folder

Now for my second card - this one combines the Viva la Verve Week Five sketch with this week's Color Throwdown combo.  I've also used the There She Goes challenge "Au Naturale" to use twine, canvas, or some other "natural" material on your card.  Oh...yeah... I made a few adjustments to this sketch too... GOSH, can't I just leave a sketch alone?  LOL

Stamps: Follow Your Bliss (There She Goes), Graph Paper Plain Jane (Verve)  Ink: Old Olive  Paper: Miscellaneous DSP scraps, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Baja Breeze  Accessories: Loopy Blooms die, Rounded Scallop Frame die (Verve), World's Best die (tag, TSG), twine, button, sewing machine

So, there you have it - that's how I spent my Wednesday morning.  Now I guess I'd better get the *real* work done 'cause it won't do itself.  :)  Have a fabulous day everyone and don't forget about the new 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge tomorrow morning!  See you then!

Friday Fun With Acetate!

Oh my gosh - I am so excited to show you what I created for you all today!  I was surfing the web this morning and posted my Facebook status as being soooooo happy to have received a TON of happy mail yesterday - a yummy Verve order, a TCP order and some goodies I had ordered from Scrappin' Great Deals. (I know - awesome, right?)  So, my friend, Miss Jenny Peterson chimed in and suggested that I put some of those supplies to good use and participate in this week's TCP Tuesday Challenge #182 to use acetate in a project.  You know - acetate?  That clear, plastic, transparency stuff?  It just so happened that I had a whole box of them in my filing cabinet so I was in luck.

Initially, I wasn't sure what to do with it... Use it for die cuts?  As the base of a card?  I popped over to Splitcoast for some inspiration and came across this tutorial to make your own note card holder and  I had one of my "light bulb moments."  OK - so today is my anniversary... 16 years of wedded bliss.  We have had our ups and downs like any couple, but for the most part, the years have flown by and have been filled with much joy and happiness.  SO, I thought I would make some "tickets" using my NEW TCP stamp set, "Admit One, " and my new TCP Cut-Ups dies (Big Ticket, Circus Panels, and Circus Border) and then make one of the little boxes to hold the tickets.  Fun, right?  I LOVE the colors for this week's CR84FN Color Challenge and HAD to use them for this project:

I started by making the little box using some acetate for the sides ... please excuse the holes in the acetate.  I originally had a handle on the box but didn't like how it looked so I took it off!  LOL

Then I got busy making four tickets to put in it.  I think I will make some more but I figured that was a good number to start with.  I LOVE how versatile this "Admit One" set is... I was even able to stamp our wedding date on the tickets!

After I used the Big Ticket die to cut the tickets out of white cardstock, I mounted them on some DSP from Pink Paislee and My Mind's Eye and then mounted the whole thing on acetate.  When I decide what sort of "treats" the tickets will be good for, I will just write them in.  Don't you LOVE it?  I am SOOOOO happy with how it turned out and SOOOOOO easy.  You could make just the tickets and give them to your kids as "rewards" - good for one meal of your choice, good for one day of dishes done by mom.... you get the idea!

I had so much fun this morning - THANKS Jenny!!  And thanks for the challenge, TCP - it *was* a challenge for me but a really great one.  Enjoy your weekend, everyone.  See you next week!

{Day Three} of There She Goes Peeks!

*Please scroll down for my 4 Crafty Chicks post - Thanks!*

Kids love to countdown the days until Christmas is finally here and with this new set illustrated by Torico, you are going to have just as much fun creating a countdown advent calendar! With 25 different adorable holiday images and two sets of numbers the possibilities are endless! To make this set even more useable, there are two decorative circles and two decorative squares that were designed to be used with a 1 3/8” punch!!

No Peeking! is a 6x8 set that includes a total of 53 stamps and will sell for $24.

I was able to use three of the images inside of the fantabulous stitched frame for my card.  No sketch, no color challenge - this one's all me.  The sentiment is from last month's release set "BOL Holiday Additions"

Paper: Season's Greetings DSP (Echo Park), Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black  Accessories: 1-3/8" Square punch, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, World's Greatest die (TSG), button, twine, Nesties Squares, paper piercer, Copics

Would you like to win the new No Peeking! stamp set? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. 

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday October 29th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

Paper Piercing at the 4 Crafty Chicks

Welcome back for another week of 4 Crafty Chicks fun.  I hope you had fun playing with Tamie's marker challenge last week - this week's hostess-with-the-mostest is Lori and she is challenging us all to do some paper piercing on our cards.  I LOVE to paper pierce - I'm sure you already know that!  It really adds a little bit of interest to an otherwise bland card.

For my card, I used last week's TCP Tuesday challenge - it was an inspiration challenge that I found to be a bit difficult:

Hmmm...rock and roll?  I finally decided to go with the colors in the graphic and I took a cue from the whole *music* idea when I chose my papers and stamps.  I loosely based my card on this sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping and paper-pieced Skating Sprinkle as well as the mittens hanging on the twine:

Stamps: I used two older Cat's Pajamas sets - one is called Polar Holiday but I have no idea what the other one is!  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black  Paper: Christmas Home (Teresa Collins), Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Basic Black  Accessories: Snowflakes embossing folder, Nesties Labels Seventeen, Ticket Strip die (MFT), button, twine, Big Scallop Cut-Up die (TCP), paper piercer

I hope you will play along with us this week - we love it when you do!  See you soon!

{Day Two} of There She Goes Blog Hop Challenges

We have another fabulous set from Torico – she’s showing off her range of creativity. Whip us some delicious greetings with the new Bon Appetit set. From the succulent turkey to steamin’ hot pie create some mouthwatering table settings and pass down secret family recipes for generations to come. Compliments of Chef Torico! 

Bon Appétit is a 4x8 set that includes a total of 31 stamps and will sell for $18. 

When I first saw this set, I immediately remembered a BoBunny kit I bought AGES ago with full intentions of making it for my sister for Christmas.  It is called "Someone's in Kitchen" and it makes a recipe book using heavy chipboard binder pages and paper etc.  I knew it would be the perfect match for this set.  

I started out making the cover...nothing too detailed:

... and then did the next two pages together (but shhhhhh....that's all I've done so far...)

See that little guy in the bottom, left corner of the first page?  He's one of the images in the new Bon Appetit set!  Isn't he adorable?  The sentiment on the flag above him is new too!

And a little peek at the second page:

 Would you like to win the new Bon Appétit stamp set? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetters' blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetters' blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. 

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday, October 29th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

Time For Another There She Goes New Release Week!!!

Are you ready for another fun week of sneak peeks from the There She Goes Trendsetters?  I think you're going to love this month's releases - 4 sets and you will be able to find MANY ways to use them.  Today we are peeking two sets:

The seasons are changing and it’s time to add some rich colors and beautiful leaves to our paper crafting projects! Autumn mini set has a bunch of different leaves each with a fun pattern that you are going to love to use!

Autumn is a 3x4 set that includes a total of 13 stamps and will sell for $7.

Torico brings us the techno savvy stamp set that everyone needs. We are living in an information age on an information planet so why not surprise your Friendbots with some automated cuteness. Let’s make it the age of interfacing with all your B.F.F.s!

Friendbots is a 3x4 set that includes a total of 5 stamps and will sell for $7.

I wasn't able to get all of my images in time to have time to make a card for both sets but I did manage to get one done for the Autumn set.  I consider myself to be technically savvy but, I will admit, using digi images isn't really my cup of tea.  I realized too late that my color ink cartridges are low so I could only print in black so my *brain plan* for a lovely fall card with fall colors using all of the different leaves as a background was not meant to be.  Onto Plan B - I used one of the leaf images for the stem from this set as well as the sentiment:

Would you like to win the new Autumn / Friendbots mini stamp sets? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetters' blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetters' blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time on Saturday, October 29th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.