PDCC40/GS49 - . . . with deepest Sympathy

I didn't start this card with the intention of making a sympathy card but you know there is nothing worse than being forced to make one on the spot when you are already sad! It is good to have one in your card stash. I used the Get Sketchy #49 layout - I decided to use my Tim Holtz Tissue Tape for the bottom panel - first I swiped a bit of white pigment ink on my SU! Garden Green cardstock to temper the color down a bit.

Basic Grey Ribbon Doilies paper ribbon added a cool textural element to the bottom of the card - reminded me of a cast iron fence (the ribbon was actually a little bigger but I cut off the bottom section). The sentiment was stamped onto a Martha Stewart label.

The colors came direct from this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge #40 - black/white/green. The stamped swirl is from SU! The sentiment is from A Muse. Finished card size is unusual - 3 1/2" x 5 1/2".

If you look close at the Play Date Cafe Challenge you will see that I was named one of last week's - Cream in Our Coffee winners for this card. WHOO HOO!

CPS177 - Embellish Bird

This whimsical card is full of new goodies that I just HAD to play with!! Based on the sketch from Card Positioning Systems - CPS177, it includes some of the playthings pictured below~
I've been dying for some of the new Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and finally got my hot little hands on some!! I'm assuming that it must be similar to the Washi tape I've been hearing about (but still haven't managed to get - YET!) and you can see little peeks of it behind the Cosmo Cricket sentiment stickers. The Basic Grey Ribbon Doilies tape matches the new Basic Grey Basics paper and to round things out I found these K&Company wood chip embellishments on sale at Michael's recently.
I had already planned on making basically this card when I checked my browser this morning and found this Embellish Color Challenge featuring Birds - hence the pink on my card (never my first choice) but it definitely adds a bright pop of color!
I'm really digging the doily tape - you'll be seeing more of this soon, I'm sure. My life has been chaotic lately - just two days ago I was running an important errand for my husband when the radiator elbow (??) went out on the car and all its vital juices gushed out all over the road! The boys and I hung out under a tree in a heat index of 103 while waiting for the tow truck. We live in KY which is a very friendly state - no less than 7 people stopped and asked if we needed help!! All is well now though and we spent the day yesterday at the pool. Today we are off to get Connor's eyeglasses checked out - He's 13 and been growing like a weed and is taller than me and quite a bit heavier and is entering 8th grade. He is going to be in Algebra II this year which is amazing to me since Algebra I and II were the only C's I made in high school and he's only in 8th grade!! I do use math everyday though - I have to tackle the dreaded fractions when cardmaking!!

OLW14 - Sun-ripened in My Thoughts

I have been a big fan of Susan Raihala and her Simplicity blog for ages! She seems to effortlessly create the most simple "finished" cards I've ever seen plus she can do "white on white" with an ease that makes me swoon! She just recently started a One Layer Wednesday challenge on her blog - I hadn't played until today because frankly one-layer cards frighten me!! I love how they look but I get so critical when I try them myself! Today, I decided to just "pull up my big girl panties" and make a card for the OLW14 challenge (one-layer square card using an outline stamp image) - I like it - There is nothing but paper and ink but, for once, I think it looks complete - granted, I needed a little punched edge for decoration but really - not an extra layer of paper, ribbon or bling anywhere!!! WHOO HOO - excuse me while I pat myself on the back!

The pear stamp is from a retired SU! set called Sun Ripened and the sentiment is from A Muse! Be sure and check out Susan's blog - it is great!

Mixed Bouquet Thank You

Did you realize that Clean and Simple Stamping is celebrating 100 sketches (FTL100)? I get so much inspiration from that website - I try to play along with their challenges weekly and I love seeing everyone's creations!! I coupled the layout with the color challenge from The Play Date Cafe - these colors are right up my alley!!

Gray, black, white and tan are very colorful to me (hee hee) - I broke out my old trusty SU! Mixed Bouquet stamp set (I love this set so much!!) and inked it up with Momento Desert Sand and SU! Sahara Sand (nice warm gray). A touch of gray organza ribbon was perfect to finish this card - did you know that I picked up this ribbon for next to nothing on clearance?! That's because not too many people are attracted to gray organza but I thought it was gorgeous!
BTW - what is the difference between "gray" and "grey"??

The sentiment is from A Muse - I think that I will enter this card in the Moxie Fab Classy & Elegant Challenge - I like the other card I entered but this one seems so much more effortless - if that makes any sense. . .

Comments??

Testing - one, two, three - testing -

I was tinkering with the comments section of my blog yesterday and seem to have deleted the ability to comment on my most fabulous Vintage/Shabby card!! AARRGGHH!!
If you feel compelled to say something nice, I'd love to hear it!!

Moxie Fab - Shabby & Vintage

Here it is - my entry for the Moxie Fab World Shabby & Vintage challenge. This is as shabby and vintage as I get - but still no pink!! Definitely the most elements that I have ever layered onto one card -

Do you see the stickpin I made? This card features machine stitching, antique crocheted lace, Zva crystals, Basic Grey Cappella patterned paper and the center stage is taken by my BIG, Beautiful Prima Blossom!!!

I even added a mini collage of buttons down in the corner and a tiny little banner with an A Muse sentiment.

I'm mighty proud of this card - Didn't know I had it in me - This may not be the strictest interpretation of Shabby/vintage (I didn't do any sanding) but it works for me. What do you think?

CAS76 - Tissue paper flower. . .

This card is for Splitcoaststamper's Clean & Simple Challenge #76. More playing around with my new Basic Grey Cappella 6x6 paper pad which I matched up with some A Muse Green Madeira patterned paper - don't they look pretty together?

My flower is different from ones I've done in the past. I used a circle punch to punch several thicknesses of tissue paper and topped it with a silk flower ripped from the stem ($1 per stem at Wal-Mart) and finished with a pretty brown pearl brad. The tissue paper adds some "heft" to the bloom.

I sewed around the edges and added some bling with a glittery swirl. The sentiment is from A Muse's clear Vintage stamp set - Headed out the door for a baby shower! Don't you just love babies??!!

2S4Y57 - A Little Note

Pretty paper flowers!! These quick blossoms are made from A Muse patterned paper and PTI steel dies, buttons and silk ribbon. A cool organic look against the wood veneer paper - and then accented with some pieces of Zva Pearls embellishments.

I rarely ever use an entire Zva embellishment on one card - it seems so extravagant and decadent!! I've been scandalized in the past by people eating an entire Godiva Chocolate in one bite! - Such wild abandonment will not be tolerated! ;-) This card uses the leftover pieces from other creations. The ribbon treatment is made by sticking a piece of Scor-tape on the cardfront and then adhering the ribbon haphazardly. This is the kind of thing that would have made me crazy a year ago and now it is a look I LOVE!! The sketch is courtesy of Two Sketches For You - 2S4Y57. (Good thing I'm not too controlling, right? hee hee)

Moxie Fab/Embellish Color - Challenge

This card covers the two challenges below - Embellish magazine's Color Challenge with ricrac and Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger - Dancing Lanterns.

When I look at the paper lantern trigger pic I see colorful spheres of different sizes - Lots of different size circles are easy to cut out when you use your Nestabilities - Cutting 4 circles at one time makes quick work of a card layout. Sentiment is from A Muse.

The ricrac die (PTI) helps ground the circles and gives the lanterns something to hang from - Take a good look at my C Plate - Do you see the dreaded crack? At least when it cracked it happened at the top of the plate - Does that bring back bad memories, Roni??

BTW - LOOK at this - I want one!!

Moxie Fab - Classy and Elegant

I made this card for the Moxie Fab World Classy & Elegant Challenge. To me, elegant is a clean and simple color palette (black, red, cream) with strong images (diecut bird) and a dash of decoration (black silk ribbon and black crystal stickers).

The diecut is my new Tim Holtz Sizzix die - I like the contrast against some old book paper cut on an angle (the upside down part was an accident but in reality I like that better - go figure).

The notecard is made from PTI cream cardstock and then covered on the front with Basic Grey Basics - Manila paper. The sentiment and crystals are from A Muse.

I thought I'd show you a fun little project I made yesterday - These are for Jen - They are clothes dividers for the baby's closet to keep his clothes grouped together by size. My organizing side would have been so happy to have those when my boys were little!! I snagged some free lineart and made these up pretty quickly on Photoshop Elements. The white cardstock is 3 3/8" x 5 3/8" - the kraft is cut 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" and the hanging hole was cut with a Nestabilities die at 1 7/8". It is drippy and rainy today but Caleb is happy because he's been begging for a fish for a while now and when we went to get Lily's nails ground we picked up a new Betta - Caleb has named him Cooper and talks to him every time he passes through the kitchen - sweet!

GS#47 - Cappella Poofy Flower

OOooohhhh - so soft and pretty!! LOOK closely - I even pulled out the ol' sewing machine for this one! I zigzag-ed and straight stitched - I rarely use the sewing machine - I think it has been about two years since I used it - and it figures - the bobbin ran right out -

SO - out came the manual (this is where my mom hangs her head in shame) - and my reading glasses (OH NO!! - didn't need these two years ago!) to rethread the needle after my bobbin winding adventure and then we were in business! The Basic Grey Cappella paper is so, so lovely and elegant.

The sentiment is from an A Muse clear set and is perfect against the Basic Grey Basics - Kraft paper cut into a banner shape and attached with tiny staples. This layout came from Get Sketchy - GS#47 - You probably didn't notice but there are two patterns of paper on the cardfront that are stitched together - they looked really different on the table but not so much when put together - Subtle - Ya, that's totally the look I was after. . . .

FTL99 - Bursting Blooms

This card is for two different challenges - The FTL99 sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping and the Wplus9 Design Studio - Color Cue. The image and sentiment stamps are from A Muse.
Here are most of the things I used to make this card with the exception of the EKSuccess Edge Punch and the Tim Holtz Fade Embossing Folder that I forgot to lay out - amazing the amount of things we can use to make even a simple card, huh? If you've got it - use it!! I sparkled up the flower with the clear glitter and toned down the DARK brown brads with a hint of white pigment ink. Guess what? I am on page 36 of the Hobby Lobby magazine this quarter. This is my first time being published since 2007 (and that was a one-time fluke) so I'm pretty happy that this is the beginning of a few times that I know of that I will be published. WHOO HOO!!

More baby cards!!

Quick post today - Isn't this baby thank you adorable? So quick and easy using A Muse paper/stamps and a die label from PTI.Prestamping your elements makes assembly a breeze - LOVE how perfect the petite gingham paper is with a card like this! A sweet pile of 12 finished cards - hope you are having a great weekend! Our boys are at mom/dad's house this weekend so Corey and I are headed out for an "alone" afternoon! WHOO HOO!!

Moxie Fab Challenge - Fun & Cute

Have you been checking out all the challenges in Paper Crafts world? They are all centered around the new issue of CARD STYLE magazine - This card was made for the Fun & Cute challenge. What's cuter than a puppy? Maybe a puppy with a piddle puddle?! Isn't he about the guiltiest little guy ever? Our dog, Lily, doesn't have piddle accidents but she does put her face on my leg everytime I am eating and give me the cutest look (which is also her angry, excited and happy look) but still - it gets me each and every time!! Do you know how many chips she has saved me from eating?! Good doggie! All stamps, paper on this card are from A Muse. (Jen - this one is for you!!)

2S4Y - Vintage Typewriter Inspiration

"You are my Type" - That's quite the pick-up line, huh? Paper Crafts Connection is having a challenge using a vintage typewriter as inspiration. I used the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch (2S4Y-56) as my starting point and stamped the background with my trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig and an alphabet stamp from Stampin' Up! that I've had for probably 5 years!! Layered onto that is an old dictionary page. Tiny Type stickers and a clear A Muse alphabet make up the sentiment.

I embellished with a flower made from a silk Prima and Tim Holtz metal flower (old metal typewriters were so heavy!) Love the look that the EKSuccess punch made - looks like these things - {{{{ }}}} What are those things called??

Now I'm gonna talk about how old I am - do you remember when they had typing class? Where you typed on an actual typewriter - do the words Pica or Elite ring a bell?? Do you double space after a period? Did you know that I won FBLA Typing awards in high school? I actually won first place in Regionals and competed at the state level! YUP Who even has a typewriter these days unless they are trying to go vintage?! I much prefer typing on my laptop over typing on a typewriter! BTW - my boys are always amazed at how fast I can type - I still average around 80 wpm! Pretty good -

Moxie Fab - Clean & Graphic (CAS98)

Did you know that Paper Crafts has a special issue out now called Card Style? I don't have it yet but trust me it will be in my hot little hands shortly! The Moxie Fab blog is hosting a week of challenges highlighting this new issue. I made this card for the Clean & Graphic challenge using this week's Clean and Simple layout (FTL98). I let my favorite patterned paper (Hannah's Story - Botanical by Cloud 9 Design) be the graphic element and layered it over the clean white and kraft (Basic Grey Basics - kraft) papers. A sentiment from A Muse is the perfect finishing touch!!

Ink, Spray, Smash Tiles

There are many things that I love about this card - one of which is the technique used on the background tiles! The technique challenge (JUGS41) on the Just Us Girls blog this week is ink, spray and smash! Wow, that was a lot of fun!!

Here's a picture of the inky mess I made - Sahara Sand, More Mustard and Certainly Celery dye ink refills on gloss paper were used to make one of a kind backgrounds! If you don't already have a Tim Holtz craft mat you need to run and get one now - it is an invaluable tool for quick and easy clean-up when trying out messy techniques.

Here's another thing I love - the background papers (grid and dotted kraft) are from my new Basic Grey Basics 6x6 pads in white, manila and kraft!! It may not float your boat to have pads of barely decorated white, cream and tan paper but I am positively giddy with enjoyment!!

The layout from this card is from the Card Patterns blog (CP72). The botanical stamps are from the PTI Life set and the simple sentiment is from A Muse. You should try this new technique - it was so fast and easy and you can use as colorful of hues as you wish - just warn me so I can put on my sunglasses first!

A Muse Pajama Party!!

The A Muse Pajama Party was so fun!! I'd never done the online chat before - so I was a bit confused - especially when Michelle Clark and I were online at the same time and the "Michelle" mesages were getting mixed up!! hee hee -
It is not too late to join in on the fun! The challenges are open through 10PM CST if you want to play!! Once the threads are closed we will picking a winner from each challenge!

Hope your weekend has been going great!!

A Muse Pajama Party!! Challenge #4 - Summer Food/Beverages

You are on the homestretch now~~ Challenge #4 hosted by Glenda is to make a card inspired by Summer Food/Beverage. We have two sons so the summer food around here is definitely ice cream! This card exemplifies the A Muse motto, "Think simple, think A Muse" to me. The Ice Cream stamp is colored simply with Copic markers and layered onto whimsical pink A Muse patterned papers. My favorite A Muse ribbon (French Roast sheer) finished it up - WOW! Did you do all the challenges?! If you are overwhelmed and need a good night's sleep remember that you have until 8PM PST tomorrow to link up your cards to be eligible for a prize! Who doesn't love a prize?! Thanks for playing!
Stamps - A Muse 2-7164D Ice cream, 8-8606C You are what you eat
Ink - Momento dye ink in Tuxedo Black
Paper - A Muse pink kitchen paper, pink petite gingham, french roast
Accessories - A Muse ribbon, Copic markers

A Muse Pajama Party!! Challenge #3 - "Water"

Time for Challenge #3 hosted by ME - the theme is "Water". Since this is my first time hosting an A Muse Pajama Party Challenge, I decided to use my very first A Muse image - Mermaid. I also decided to try a technique I've never used before - gel card!

Those little bags that come with extra buttons in them when you buy a jacket are perfect for this size project (just make sure there are no holes in the bag!!). The only gel I could find around here was green and that would not do so I dug around until I found some melting gel - that was probably not the best idea cause it seems to be a tad cloudy. I added some fine glitter to the gel and colored my mermaid with koh-i-noor pencils and Copics.

A Muse patterned papers and Shimmer Couture papers really make this a fun card that was much easier than I had ever thought (true confessions here - this card did take a few more than 30 minutes to make but don't tell, okay??) I cut the oval opening and scalloped frame with my Nestabilities and echoed the bubbles in the gel with punched bubbles made with an EKSuccess punch. I can't wait to see all your "watery" creations!!

Stamps - A Muse 2-6043E Mermaid, 8-8329C Splendiferous day!!

Ink - Momento dye ink in Tuxedo Black and Bahama Blue (stamped off)

Paper - A Muse Madeira blue, and Shimmer Couture paper

Accessories - A Muse stitched grosgrain ribbon, koh-i-noor pencils, glitter, edge punch, Copic markers