Mission: KitPossible {wrap-up!}

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***You still have time to enter our Mission: KitPossible Give-away!

For details (and more info on Mission: KitPossible), click HERE! ***

Good morning!  Back today with our wrap-up of Mission: KitPossible!  If you have been by here in the last week (and why wouldn't you have been?!?  ha!  :)  then you know my friend, Melissa Shea, and I have undertaken a little project in which we challenged each other to put our Simon Says Stamp Card Kits to good use.  As a refresher, here's a peek at the kit we were working with:  

Pretty fabulous, no?  Love all those bright colors!  :)

Initially, we issued each other a set of cues to kick-start or mojo and then we both created cards based on both sets of cues.  Today, we are back with a whole slew of cards, all of which were created using only our SSS kits!  I have to say, after having made 5½ cards (yes, there was a ½ card made -- the results of which were beyond disastrous -- so I will spare you the gory details…), I am amazed at how much of the kit I still have left for more projects!  :) 

Without further ado, here are my cards:

(This one I created by stamping my background with bleach -- a super-cool {and totally fun!} technique inspired by this post by Nichole Heady… :)

 

You will definitely want to head over to Melissa's blog, Love My Scraps, to see what kind of amazing-ness she has come up with for today!  But before you go, don't forget there are still a couple of days left in our Mission: KitPossible Give-away!  Check out the details here!

Thank you for stopping by -- I really hope you have enjoyed Mission: KitPossible!  I have so much enjoyed gettin' jiggy with this kit!  Look for us again next month as we take on the September kit!  And while we're at it, why don't you get your kit out and play along with us???  

Until then, happy crafting, my friends!  :)

Mission: KitPossible! {and a Give-Away!!}

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Good morning, Agents.

We have collected intelligence of a vast supply of coordinating paper-crafting products -- a virtual treasure-trove, previously untouched and nary a piece out of place.  The contents of said container are believed to be stashed high on a shelf, in a pristine cardboard mailer labeled Simon Says Stamp.  The owner (though quite friendly :) has month-after-month allowed this precious resource to go to waste and MUST BE STOPPED!  Here is the visual of the "kit" you seek:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it,

is to USE THAT KIT!

(This message will {not} self-destruct in 5 seconds...)

Haha!  (What??  I never told you I had a flair for the dramatic???  :)

Welcome to....

Mission: KitPossible !

Ok, ok...  I am (ashamed and) guilty of receiving these fabulous kits from Simon Says Stamp every month and never using them!  Can you think of a worse crime against card-making??  I don't know what my problem has been...  But truly I needed help!

And that's where my bloggy-friend, Melissa Shea, has come to my rescue!  She did a post last month (check it out here!) where she created card after fabulous card using her July kit (as mine was sitting on a shelf literally screaming to be used!) .  Well, not only was I impressed with her creativity, I was inspired!  

So, this month, Melissa and I have linked up and challenged each other to dive in and USE those KITS!  Our rules were simple:  Use the Kit!  Be Creative!  Have Fun!  :)  We started by issuing a set of three cues each to the other person, to kick-start (and stretch) our creative mojo!  We then each made cards using both sets of cues and I'm excited to share mine with you today... 

Melissa's Cues:

1.  Use three different patterned papers!

2.  Use one of the border stamps!

3.  Make the tag the focal point of your card!

My cues:

1.  Fussy-cut something!

2.  Use the Alphabet Stickers!

3.  Use the Matte Medium!

As part of the fun today, Melissa and I will each be offering a $10 Gift Certificate to Simon Says Stamp to one lucky visitor to each of our blogs!  :)  All you have to do is:

1. Comment on this post by 11:59 pm CST Thursday 8/2/12 and 
2. Become a follower of my blog (if you aren't already! :)  You can follow by subscribing in my sidebar or by email (also in the sidebar!  :)   

I will post the winner on Friday morning, 8/3/12...  Good luck!  :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  If you receive the kit and have created some cards from it, I'd love to see them -- leave me a link to your post in the comments so I can stop by and show you some blog-love, too!  :)  Be sure to visit Melissa's blog for a chance to win there too (and to see what she came up with based on her Mission: KitPossible cues!)

Mission: KitPossible preview! :)

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Good morning!  So, does this little bundle of joy look familiar to you?

Do you receive the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit every month??  Well, I have been receiving these babies ever since SSS introduced them and (am ashamed to say) I have never used any of them.  Nope... Not one piece!  I don't know why -- I would receive them, open them up, get all excited about how cute they were, and then bundle them back up and put them on a shelf in my craft room!  Silly.  And wasteful.  And silly!!

Well, that's where my bloggy-friend, Melissa Shea, comes in...  Last month she did this post where she showed like twenty cards she had made with the kit (ok, maybe it was just four, but still!!!) and I had my lightbulb moment!

It's time for....  Mission: KitPossible!

Melissa and I received our August kits last week and have issued "cues" to each other to challenge the the other's creativity...  I'm listing the "cues" for you below, because we'd love for you to play along, too...  Our rules were simple...  USE YOUR KIT!  Be Creative!  Have Fun! 

My cues:  1.  Fussy-cut something!

                2.  Use the Alphabet Stickers!

                3.  Use the Matte Medium!

Melissa's cues:  1.  Use three different patterned papers!

                         2.  Use one of the border stamps!

                         3.  Make the tag the focal point of your card!

We will be sharing our cards made using these cues this Friday, July 27th and will be offering a give-away on both of our blogs to celebrate!  We hope you'll join us  -- until then, if you receive the monthly SSS card kit, pull it out and play along!  :)

 

Topiary-ally Awesome!!!

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Good morning!  I mentioned on my last post that I hosted the Hero Arts 90-Minute Scramble this past weekend -- soooo much fun!  My challenge was to use the "filler" stamps that come in almost every stamp set to create the focal point on your card...  Thought I would share the second card I created as an "inspiration piece" for the Scramblers...  (I am happy to announce that, in the interest of fairness, I created both of my cards in 90-minutes -- not the same 90 minutes, mind you, but 90 minutes nonetheless!  Turns out I can work within time constraints when the pressure is off!  Who knew?!?)

This card was so fun to make and I am super-proud of it!  The topiary is made using the filler stamps I have highlighted in the pics below.  I created a "mask" by punching my 7/8" and 1-1/4" circles in scrap paper and lining them up on my cardstock.  I then stamped the little flowers and just "masked" them with hole-punched paper pieces while I stamped the little leaves and branches.  Pretty darn easy!  :)

 See the little "filler" pieces I used??  Too easy and so fun!

I made this card with two challenges in mind...  I wanted to make a "Hello" card for Stamp It! Cards The Hello Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and I chose my colors for this card based on the color inspiration board over at The Play Date Cafe this week.  Love the pinks and greens -- has to be one of my favorite color combinations!!  Check out their color board:

Thanks for stopping by!  I am off work today -- woo-hoo! -- and plan to get a few necessary (ugh!) things done and then spend some much-needed time in my craft room!  Here's hoping life is allowing you some craft-therapy time, too!  :)

Hitch Yer Wagon!

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So, tonight I hosted the Hero Arts 90-Minute Scramble over on flickr...  It was my first time hosting and, it has to be said, I was so flippin' nervous!  I kept thinking -- Was my challenge challenging enough?  Was it too challenging?  Were my "inspiration" cards inspiring?  Would anybody show up to play?  --  Geez, it was just like junior high again!  The angst!  The insecurities!  Ackh!

In the end, it was a lot of fun!  I challenged the scramblers to create a card using the "filler" stamps that come in just about every stamp set as their focal point.  They were also to incorporate stitching (faux or actual, their choice...) and to create their own sentiment by selectively stamping sentiments they already had or via a "mash-up" of different stamps.

I created my "inspiration" card following these cues, but used the color scheme from this week's ColourQ challenge as my jumping-off point.  The heart banner (as well as sentiment tag) was made using the "filler" stamps from one of my favorite Hero Arts sets (see pic), the wagon is from Simple Stories, and the grass is selectively trimmed from a giant Martha Stewart punch.

Here it is, for your viewing pleasure!  :)

See the heart?  The flower I've circled will find it's way onto a card near you in the next day or two!  :)

I am also linking this card up to the Stamp It! Cards Love Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World this week.  The card has to use stamping as the primary technique...  check!  And have a "Love" theme... check!  And be cute!  (I think... check!)  Haha!  Good to go!  :)


Thanks for stopping by -- hope you're having a great weekend -- and avoiding the heat!  (We broke a daily heat record here today...  hottest day since 1939 at 106 degrees... whew!  and ick!!!)

Wanna Have Some Fun this Saturday Night??

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I am hosting this week's "90-Minute Scramble" on the Hero Arts Flickr Site.  It's gonna start at 6:00 pm CST and will last...  wait for it... for 90 minutes!!!


What is a scramble, you ask?  Well, it's a lot of heart-pounding creative fun, I tell ya!  (I have blogged about some of my past Scramble experiences here and here).  Basically, the host (this week, it'll be me!) will announce the "theme" or "challenge" at the start of the scramble and then will sound the start...  Each participant then has 90 minutes to conceptualize, create, photograph, and upload their project to the Flickr thread.  Super-fun!  I'm always amazed at what some of these ladies are able to accomplish in such a short period of time!

Anyone can participate...  There will be a prize awarded to one random participant and I will be throwing in some swag of my own to a participant (or two!) that the panel of celebrity judges (my family) find worthy....  :)

Hope you can join us...  If you have questions, let me know -- happy to help!  Otherwise, unleash the creative mayhem!!!  :)

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

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My sister is a summer baby...  And even better, her birthday is July 3rd, which always meant she had fireworks every year for her birthday (I swear she was probably 16 before she finally realized all those fireworks displays were in honor of the birth of our country, rather than designed specifically with her in mind!  Ha!  Just kidding!  :)   But summer birthdays in Texas mean one thing -- the only really appropriate gift (other than diamonds, of course ;) is one meant for the pool/beach!  

So, this year, Vera Bradley came to the rescue in the form of this adorable beach bag in Julie's signature colors of aqua and lime (throw in a bathing suit cover-up and you're good to go!):

(Sidenote:  several years ago, my mom and I were vacationing on Martha's Vineyard and we kept seeing these adorable handbags all over the island and fell in love....  We'd never heard of Vera Bradley before and decided we both needed one before heading back home!  We thought we were sooooo fashion-forward and ahead of the trend -- couldn't wait to introduce Texas to our discovery...  But, nooooo!  We had no sooner stepped off the plane than we were literally seeing them everywhere!!!  Who knew?!? :)   

So this was a super-quickie I put together using the Flipping Out stamp set and dies by Papertrey Ink, along with papers from the "Splash" collection by Little Yellow Bicycle.  Super summery, super fun!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you're keeping cool where you are!  :)

From the Mouths of Babes....

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So, this past week, my sister and brother-in-law celebrated their (gasp!) 16th anniversary and, as a result, my almost-seven-year-old niece Leighton and I got to spend some good quality "jenny" time together!  (my two nieces are the only people on the planet who are allowed to call me Jenny...)  We had a sleepover that involved very little sleep -- we went for fro-yo, completed an ultra-cool art project, spent definitively more time than was absolutely necessary on our get-ready-for-bed rituals, and then stayed up way later than mommy would have approved of....

Ahhh....  The joys of being an aunt!  :)

Well, the next morning, Leighton woke me up at the wee crack o' dawn to inform me that she wanted to make a card...  She didn't know for whom, or for what occasion, but she had a morning of card-making in her sights!  I reminded her that her mommy's birthday was coming up, readied myself (and my craft room) for the tornado that is Leighton's arrival, and we set out on our mission....

Leighton dug through all of my stamps and emerged with a handful of treasures (very few of which would have actually ever worked together on a project!) which we narrowed down to her favorite three.  She selected her patterned papers, and the card-making commenced!

Here's what we ultimately came up with:

I helped with the design and stamping/masking, but Leighton cut all the pieces, inked all the edges, colored all the images and pearls, and applied stickles for that extra bling!  She even drew free-handed the puffs of air (though she called them "spit swirls") where the bird is blowing out her candles!

I asked her if I could share her card on my blog and she said "Sure!"  And then I asked her if she had a tip to share on how to create the Perfect Birthday Card and here it is:  "Pick a bird stamp and then pick a hat stamp and then pick a candle stamp and then STAMP IT!"  Well, there it is, folks -- straight from the mouths of babes!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you like our "Bird-day" card -- here's hoping somewhere in your life there is a little one that keeps you on your toes, too!  :)

Daydream Believer?

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Welcome to the DeNami Designs "Summer" Blog Hop!  I'm sure you've been enjoying "Hot" card after "Seriously Hot" card along this hop!  :)  I mean, is all this inspiration getting you all fired up, or what???

With that in mind, thought you'd enjoy chillin' here for a minute or two...  I think I've got something pretty cool to share!  ha!  :)

If you are hopping in order, you should be arriving from Greta Hess's fun blog -- bet she had a real sizzling something to share!  Don't forget you have until 11:59 PM PST on July 9th to leave comments all along the hop for your chance to win one of two mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Designs website!

Ok, so the theme this month is "Summer," and when I think of summer, I think of lots of sunshine and like to daydream about sippin' Mai Tais on a tropical beach somewhere...  (I'll keep the part about being fed frozen treats by a sun-bathed beach god to myself...  :)  Thankfully, I had just the set of stamps I needed to create my ode to summer!

  

I used this set to stamp these adorable "adult bevvies" which I colored with Copics and then coated with Glossy Accents.  I used this circle scallop stamp to create my "placemats" which I then paper-pieced.  And, finally, I combined the "cheers" stamp with this one (selectively masked, of course!) to create my own sentiment...  Lots of fun!  :)

Thank you so much for visiting and leaving comments -- I appreciate every one of them!  :)  I hope you are enjoying the blog hop.  You're off now to Deanna Jean's super-creative blog (I'll be right behind you -- can't wait to see what she's come up with!!  :)   If you get lost along the way, or would just like to start over from the beginning, just head on over to the DeNami Designs website!

Happy hopping!  :)

...... ummmm, excuse me, Beach god, my Mai Tai appears to be empty.....  ;-)

Mi Casa o Su Casa??

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Good evening and Happy Thursday!  Hopefully you all had a super-special 4th of July, with all things Americana that's supposed to go along with it!

I just wanted to pop in tonight to share a card I made that was inspired by this week's sketch over at RetroSketches.  What a great challenge this one was!  There were a lot of elements on this card -- and, coming from me, that says a lot (I'm a girl who likes her embellishments, ya know what I'm sayin'??).....

This was the sketch, based on an original card created by the uber-talented Jackie Rockwell:

And here's my take:

I do believe this is the most literal I've ever been with a sketch.  Stuck to it pretty darn precisely...  :)  These are Echo Park papers and the die-cuts are from Wplus9.  The sentiment is a Hero Arts goodie.

{On a different note, I'd like to welcome back into my life an old, trusted, and reliable friend -- my Gino!  Gino is my 2004 Mini Cooper with 42,000 miles on him (yep, you read that right...  the dealer said he'd never seen an 8 year-old car with so few miles....  :) and he has just been fully restored to his former glory and back into the part of my heart reserved only for cute little cars that ooze personality (and conjure up memories of Marky-Mark, sans the Funky Bunch, in the Italian Job!  yum!  :)  Welcome back, old friend!}

Thanks for visiting!  I'll be back tomorrow with a card for my sister, who celebrated her birthday this week -- how nice that she gets fireworks for her birthday every year!! -- and back again on Sunday for the "Summer" blog hop for DeNami Designs!  Until then, take care of yourselves, my friends!  :)

To Hex With It All! :)

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Whew!!!  What a week this has been!  Time is flying by so fast --- are we really half-way thru the year already??  Where has the time gone???  (Although, who am I kidding?  We're smack-dab in the middle of summer and these are the months I'd rather have just scoot on by... so stinkin' hot!!)

Anyway, I've been up to my elbows in not-so-fun stuff this week and have had very little crafty time -- until today!  So I knew I wanted to play along with The Play Date Cafe this week because they have a pretty amazing color story for inspiration going on...  Love those!  They seldom do four colors and I was excited to try my hand at it!

I was also equally excited to play with some new Papertrey Ink products I had just received (the Hexagon Cover Plate Die and Happy Hexagons Mini Stamp Set).  I think the possibilities are endless for these two products and I am genuinely stoked to try out some more ideas!  :)

For this card, I individually stamped all the colored hexagons and cut up the cover plate so I was left with some random "flowers."  I rather like it!  :)

Oh, and before I forget -- check out this wicked color story I was telling you about:

Pretty darn rad, right??           

I am also linking this card up to the Moxie Fab World's Stamp It! Birthday Card Challenge (I've realized I make far more "other" types of cards than I ever do birthday cards --  and why??  Don't we all need more birthday cards on-hand than any other type of card??  Silly, girl!!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  I promise not to go MIA for too long again!  For all my American friends out there, hope you and yours have a safe and Happy 4th of July!  :)