LIM34 - Thinking of you

Quick post today - This card is based on the Less is More blog's sketch challenge for the week.  I chose to keep things really simple by using a snippet of my favorite pattern paper of all time - The Botanical Garden Collection from Cloud9Design - Hannah's Story.  A couple years back I bought every sheet I could lay my hands on and now I just dole out little chunks to myself when I want to be happy - LOVE this paper - it is modern yet retro, simple yet busy, neutral yet colorful.  I love it so much that I would frame it like artwork and that's is exactly what this card looks like!!  Sentiment and teeny black twinkle from amuse|studio.

OLW65: Sentiment-a-mania

Almost didn't make it but here it is - One Layer Wednesday challenge posted on Tuesday.  The challenge was to have the sentiment be the focus of the card or at least share the focus equally with the stamped image.  Stamping the greenery from Beautiful Botanicals in a pale ink like Lichen allows the black sentiment (Thank You Mix) to take center stage.  A small sprinkle of clear twinkle stickers and a rounded corner are the final touches on an unusually sized card - 4.25" x 3.5".

All supplies used are available through my online shop.

Now I only have to wait one more day until the next OLW challenge!!

PDCC100 - Airbrushed Hello

WHOO HOO - The Play Date Cafe is celebrating their 100th challenge and I wanted to try something that I hadn't done in a while - airbrushing with Copic markers.

During a recent visit to Joann's two different sheets of  ki memories paper made it into my bag of goodies.  

While the Copic Airbrush System was out and assembled I went ahead and airbrushed two pieces of cardstock to have another for the ol' stash for a different crafty time.  Stamps used include the Monogram Frames and Darling Dots Background from a•muse|studio.

Congrats to the Play Date Cafe Challenge on their 100th challenge and for the next 100 to come!  

FTL159, CFC21 - Warm Thoughts

Wheat, Kraft and Squash - 3 monochromatic colors linked together with dark brown - makes me happy and meets the requirements for the current CAS-ual Friday challenge!!  Layout is from the Clean and Simple Blog.

The flowers are from the a•muse|studio Clever Girls stamp set and sentiment is from Ooh La La!  It is fun to mix match images/sentiments from different sets - usually I am drawn to "printed" looking sentiments but the flowers and color palette made me lean toward the "script-y" look for this card.

The middle die from the scalloped border die set and some pretty brown pearls finish off a card that is very simple and straightforward but seemed to cause me no end of grief and consternation while it was being constructed - don't ya hate when that happens?

All supplies used in this card are available in my online shop  - 

Corey is happy cause the Bills and the Lions won today - here is a Corey quote -  "I picked them from last year so it's not like I'm on a bandwagon or anything".  I personally do not get the fascination with football at all - in fact when someone asked me recently about Fantasy Football I told him that, "my fantasy is that there would be no football".  However, I'm going for the Patriots this year cause I think Tom Brady is cute - and cute is what counts in football, right??

Art Journal - Easy Canvas Prints

Look at my new 11" x 14" art canvas that I received from Easy Canvas Prints - do you like it?  Does it look familiar at all?

It is a page from my art journal!!  WHOO HOO!  How cool is that?!  Brendan from Easy Canvas Prints contacted me recently and explained how easy it is to change your photos to canvas and I was game to try it out.

Painting directly onto a canvas scares me - big time!!  That's why I was proud of myself when I started an art journal - at least this way I could try out new techniques but I didn't have to worry about wasting resources or putting too much pressure on myself to "do it perfectly" - in fact, if I don't like an art journal page I don't have to show it to anyone.  BUT - what if you LOVE a page that you did??  I really don't want to remove pages from my journal so taking a pic and having it printed onto canvas is the perfect solution!

Placing my order was a cinch!  The site was easy to navigate, there are lots of choices for sizes and edging options plus the canvas was shipped expertly and quickly.  I've hung it in a large frame on a shelf in the living room.

Makes me happy to see such a professional print and know that its origins were from me!!

FTL158, Embellish Paint and Mist Challenge

"I've been misting/splattering up a storm around these parts here lately.  Why, I even made a flower outta burlap.  Gotta dash - the calf has done busted outta the corral."        - The Crafting Cowgirl

Colors courtesy of the Embellish Paint or Mist Challenge.  Layout from Clean & Simple's FTL158 sketch.  

Patterned paper from Basic Grey (Ambrosia, Basics Kraft); SU! ribbons; PTI sentiment; Making Memories cabachon; Glimmer Mist (Blue Skies, Key Lime Pie); Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.

CAS136 - Leaves

This week's Clean and Simple Challenge at Splitcoaststampers is the theme of "Leaves" - While my immediate thought was to stamp some fall foliage a different technique won out -

I got my Fall SLICE cartridge out and cut some leaves which I then misted over with some Inkadinkadoo sprays (Sunny Yellow and Raspberry).  Big sentiments from PTI (Think Big Favorites #6) and some random splats (Liquitex ink - Transparent Raw Umber) make striking, quick cards!!

Can you see the shimmer?  I totally think it was worth the overspray on my husband's cell phone that make his speaker pink - don't you??  YIKES!!

Art Journal - Alisa Burke inspired

Recently, I discovered the wonders of Alisa Burke and her blog - Redefine Creativity.  WOW!!  That blog and I spent several delightful hours together hanging out - me fawning over the blog and the blog demurely whispering, "thanks, I'm happy you are enjoying me so much". . .who paints their hallway?  Alisa does; who paints watercolor shells in her art journal (complete with a video)?  Alisa does; who does amazing free motion stitching, has a book out and offers online classes?  Alisa does.  I could go on and on but now it is time to talk about how cute my art journal page is. . .after all this is my blog. . .

I love these doodled flowers!!  So fun to draw - painted with my watercolors and then matted with black in my art journal on a bed of Mod Podge covered paper bags.  Too much color frightens me so I toned it down with the black and kraft but that makes the colors pop from the page!!  Egads!  What was I thinking?  har har

Look what I painted/doodled on the other page - still vibrant and graphic but only in yellow/black/white.  I've got big plans for that page that will be revealed in a future post - - - -
It is a rainy dreary day here - how's yours?

LIM33, CFC20, PDCC99 - Thought of you today. . .

This week's CAS-ual Friday challenge is to make a mini card - This 3" sweetie uses the current Play Date Cafe Challenge colors of lavender, yellow and white.

The Less is More Challenge is "anything goes" - they are aiming for 1,000 players so be sure and link up your CAS cards!  I'm sure they will appreciate it -

Got a chance to play with my new a•muse|studio heart dies.  It is always fun to turn your cardstock "inside out" - using a die makes that color visible from the outside - some of the new a•muse|studio felt is featured inside the card - that stuff cuts like a dream!!  The woodgrain impression plate adds some texture to the white space.

This is just the sort of card I like to hide in my husband's work clothes.  Makes him happy when he finds it and since I have a bad memory and usually forget about putting it there it makes me happy too.

All supplies are available in my online a•muse|studio shop!

Reject Blog Hop -

Another Paper Crafts call for submission - another rejected card (silhouette call) for the Reject Blog Hop hosted over at Amber's fabulous blog Damask Love.  Did you realize that Paper Crafts received over 1,300 submissions for the 100 spots in the March/April issue of the magazine?  YUP - not great odds there. . . oh well - I'll just console myself with chocolate - YUM!

OLW64 - Color it!

One Layer Wednesday time and I am "tickled pink" with my card - hee hee.  The challenge is to stamp with an outline stamp (a•muse Smile Inside) and then color with whatever medium you choose.

A Copic Raw Silk (E53) marker kept the plain flowers from disappearing into the background then a colored flower was paper pieced from white cardstock and sparkled up with Glossy Accents.  A little bit of piercing and wavy stitching adds some interest to the bottom of the card to ground the row of flowers.

Repetitive stamping is a good way to make a single small stamp fill an entire cardfront.  

All supplies available in my a•muse|studio online shop!

Donna Downey inspired "P" page - Art Journal

Do you watch the Inspiration Wednesday videos on Donna Downey's blog, Simply Me?  If not, you are really missing some fabulous creations - Recently, Donna did a page inspired by the letter "P".

If you've ever watched Wheel of Fortune you know that the most common letters are R, S, T, L, N and E but since Paper, Pencils, Pens, Pigment, Pastels, Paint all start with P then that is a more obvious direction to take for the crafty people!

Although my layout is quite a bit "busier" than Donna's keep in mind that she IS an artist and I've merely played one on TV (no, not really) - I'm still pretty happy with it though. . .
Here an exhaustive list of "p" products - provided I remember them all - Punched Paper bag, Pearls, Pastels, Pink, Plaid, PinkPaislee rub-on, Poisson(fish) on "p" dictionary page, Perturbed, Pen/ink drawing, Painted/Penciled birds, Picture/Photo of Paintbrushes, Pattern of Pencils, Purple Paint with Polka dots, Patterned Paper, Plant, Puffy Paint . . .

CFC19, LIM32 - You and moi? Ooh la la!!

Hey - Today's card is based on two of my favorite challenges - first up is the CAS-ual Fridays "Falling to Pieces" challenge to use paper piecing on a fall themed card.

I paper pieced these cute little doggies (a•muse|studio Ooh la la!) with patterned paper from the Basic Grey Basics Kraft 6"x6" pad.

The second challenge tackled was the Less is More (LIM32) "Seeing Double" - use two of something on a one-layer card.  It is no secret to Chrissie and Mandi from Less is More that I struggle with having adequate "white space" on the cards that I submit to their challenges.  This card has LOTS of white space - so much so that I think that I should receive a "Certificate of Merit" for my efforts (hee hee - I know that there is no such thing but if there was I'd nominate myself - humble attitude, huh?)

Those little piles of colorful leaves are cute on a card and even on the yard at the beginning of fall until 1) they get rained on, and 2) need to be raked up!!  At that point I curse the very large tree in our backyard which apparently only makes it drop more leaves and maybe even grow new ones to drop down on me in disdain over my bad attitude - when will I ever learn??

Supplies available through my a•muse online shop!!

STAMPS - Ooh la la!, Hearts a Plenty, Polka Dot Patterns, Seasonal Branch (leaves)

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger - Garden Glory

Time for a new Tuesday Trigger - Garden Glory.  As the days are starting to get a little shorter and cooler it is certainly refreshing to see my favorite spring flower in an inspiration picture.  I love Peonies so much that I used them in my blog banner!

There is one element missing in this gorgeous inspiration picture?  Do you know that it/they are??  ANTS!!  It takes the diligent work of lots of ants to open all the layers and layers of petals on those gorgeous showy blooms.

This fun layout is courtesy of the current Clean and Simple Stamping's FTL157.  The bloom is made with tissue paper and cut with my Tim Holtz' Tattered Floral die (a kinda spendy purchase but one that I use all the time).   A jeweled brad in the flower's center and the brown cardstock are reminiscent of the table in the inspiration pic while the green filigree (courtesy of a Lifestyle Trellis cutting die) is an obvious reflection of the chair.

Sentiment is from the a•muse|studio Monogram Frames set.  Patterned paper from Memory Box (Jubilee Collection).
My 10 year old son is off with some of his younger friends to cavort at Chuck E Cheese's tonight.  Can I tell you how happy I am that it isn't me there?!!  WHOO HOO!  YIPPEE!!

OLW63 - We're Back, Baby!!

WHOO HOO!!  Do you feel my joy??  After a summer hiatus One Layer Wednesday challenges are back!!  Jennifer is hosting this week and the theme is baby cards -
I made this card with the newly pregnant mommy in mind - when the pregnancy is so new that you don't know the gender of the baby; when it is so fresh that there is no way anybody would ever know you were expecting unless you told them and yet you feel "so very pregnant", when suddenly "boring" pregnancy/birth stories are the most fascinating sagas in your friends' lives, when receiving a card acknowledging your pregnant state makes you beam with joy then cry for no reason. . .

All supplies are a•muse|studio and available in my online shop!

Cardstock - Lemon Chiffon, Sugar
Ink - Grass, Sage, Papaya
Stamps - Vintage Labels, Marvelous Marigolds, Essential Sentiments
Accessories - Labels die set, Fern Satin ribbon, Sugar Organdy polka-dot ribbon

FTL156 - Embellish Stripes Challenge

Today's card is based on the current Clean and Simple Stamping's FTL156 and the Stripes Color Challenge from Embellish.  Dug out some of my neglected embellishments - a corrugated flower from Jillibean Soup jazzed up with a Maya Road Red Ruffle Blossom.

The sentiment is from the a•muse|studio Essential Sentiments stamp set - definitely an essential in my book!!

BTW - Have you ever seen this DirecTV commercial where people's heads turn into Benjamin Franklin - do you think he would have appreciated this particular incarnation complete with headband and earrings?  Creepy and disturbing.  Plus, since I had this picture stuck in my head I thought I'd do you a favor and get it stuck in your head too - Enjoy and you're welcome!!

Sweet dreams!