A Sunny Hello :)

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Hello!  Happy Monday!  There is a DT search going on over at Case Study right now and I thought I would {gulp!} throw my hat in the ring!  This is among my very favorite challenges because each month, one of the best among us is invited to serve as "muse" and provides a different card each week for inspiration.  I love that there are no limits and that all styles are welcome and embraced!

The challenge was to select my own personal "Muse" and draw inspiration from their work -- someone whose style is different from my own, so that you'll be able to see where I drew my inspiration, but still be able to see me in it…

I chose as my "muse" Melissa Phillips of Lilybean's Paperie.  I love her vintage, often shabby chic, style.  Here embellishments are usually handmade and always fabulous.  She usually includes way more detail than I am ever comfortable with, but she always makes it work!  (hello, Tim Gunn  :)

The card I selected of hers is one of my all-time favorites.  It's amazing.  Seriously.  Check it here.

Here's my take:

Here's Melissa's masterpiece:

Melissa Phillips, Lilybean's Paperie

I was inspired by a number of things with Melissa's card -- I loved her color palette (she went with cool tones, so I went with warm! :) and her circle background, and her handmade flower embellishment…  Lots of good stuff!  :)

I'm super-pleased with the results and hope you like it too….  It's just a happy card, no?  :)

Have a great Tuesday…  be back soon with a card I made when I just had the urge to color something!

Papertrey April Blog Hop!

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Hello!  I am so super-excited today because it's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Day!  (One of my favorite days of the month!)  I am always so excited to see what everyone has created -- and these hops always get such a good turn-out so there is plenty to see!  Something inspiring is always just another "click" away!  :)

This month's theme is Tilted… Design on an Angle.  Check it out:

I love that inspiration board -- lots of good eye candy!  :)

Confession:  I have a serious patterned paper addiction.  I love it and use it on almost every card…  It is just what I do…   So I futzed with this card for hours, until I got it just the way I wanted it…  I love these colors (the papers are from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan collection by American Crafts)…  the muted pastels are so dreamy!  

I don't know if you can see it in the pic, but I used the PTI Linen Impression Plate for added texture (adds sooo much in real life!)…  I used the sentiment from Natural Beauties, Limitless Layers for my "flower," and Rosie Posie for the leaves…

I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out and hope you are, too…  :)

Thank you so much for stopping by…  Hope you are enjoying the Hop!  

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #179

Flippin' for Fifteen!

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Hello, friends!  Quick post tonight to share a card I made for a friend's niece's 15th birthday!  I was given simple instructions:

1. There must be pink.  Check!
2. There must be bling.  Check!
3. There must be glitter.  Check!

Beyond that, I was given complete artistic license.  ;)  I thought, what 15 year old doesn't own and love hundreds of pairs of flippies???  :)  I know I'm about three weeks away from L-I-V-I-N-G in mine!!!  

I was inspired by this week's sketch over at RetroSketches and the Color Story at The Play Date Cafe.

         

Hope you have a flippin' great Wednesday!  Muah!  :)

i {heart} u!

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Ok, so a couple of weeks ago, I participated in my first 10 Minute Craft Dash over at Paulina's blog.  And I learned a few things:

1. You gotta be organized.  I mean, seriously.  You gotta have your *schtuff* together!
2. You gotta have a plan.  You gotta work your plan.
3. There will be no need for cardio exercises after -- this will for sure get your blood a-pumpin'!
4. You're gonna make a mess.  Deal with it!

But I had so much fun (there were a few things I would've changed about my card, but really, how particular can you be in 10 minutes?!?) and couldn't wait to do it again!  :)

So here is my latest Dash effort:

Well, that's everything I could accomplish in 9:36.8!  My rows are a little wonky and my hearts somewhat askew, but I just ask that you kindly keep in mind I only had 10 minutes!!  :)

{I swear, next time I'm gonna set a timer on how long it takes me to clean up after one of these -- now that'll tell the WHOLE story!}

There you have it…  Another Dash come and gone…  Hope you'll consider playing along -- who doesn't have 10 minutes they can spare???  ;)

Hope your week is off to a great start -- see you tomorrow night!  :)

Mother Knows Best? *wink*

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Hello!

Ok, so I mentioned in my last post that my mother had quite the dubious reaction to the card I'm about to share with you…  She literally saw it sitting on my counter and said, "Huh (kinda high-pitched-like)….  Sooo... what did you do to this one?!?  I've never seen a card that looked like that before…"  (To her credit, she immediately started back-pedaling by asking me questions about color and technique…  but I saw through that!  :)

Now, I admit this one is a bit different, but that's ok every now and then, right?

I chose my colors based on the color palette over at The Play Date Cafe this week.  I love this combination -- it reminds me of the beach, for some reason!

Anyway, enough stalling…  Here it is:

  

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope the rest of your week goes by swimmingly!  :)

A Little Birdie Told Me...

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Good evening!  Popping in tonight to share a card I made using this week's sketch over at RetroSketches.  I love this sketch.  Initially, I was drawn to the scale of it…  The focal point of the card is relatively small which leaves quite of bit of "white space" on the card.  Interesting….  :)

I have been wanting to make a card for a co-worker of my mother's who just found out not too long ago she is having a little girl…  Babies of any variety are fun, but there is something magical about baby girls!  Oh, the dresses!  And the bows!  And the teensy-weensy little shoes!  And pink!  (Who doesn't love pink???)

So this card is for Angelica and her sweet little baby girl…  Congratulations!  :)

You'll notice that, even though I was drawn to the scale of the sketch, I didn't create my card with the same proportions…  And I have a (really) good reason.  I promise.  I love, love, love this stamp set from PTI ("Tweet Talk").  But no matter how I try, I find it impossible to stamp these sweet little birds without their tailfeathers (besides, Nelly & P. Diddy wouldn't approve if there weren't some to shake!  ;)

And here's the sketch I was working off of:

Thanks for stopping by…  I'll be back tomorrow night with a card that made my mother say this:  "What did you do to this one?!?  I've never seen a card look like that before…"   Hmmmm…  Not quite sure how to take that…  ;)

Have a great Wednesday!  :)

Floral Frenzy!

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Good morning!  You ever just have periods of time where you feel especially creative and are actually lucky enough to also happen to have the time to spend on your creative ventures??  Well, here it is -- 3:00 in the morning and I have just enjoyed 6 hours like that!  And, boy!  Was that just what I needed!! :)

{I also love when you happen to find a really great movie on that you practically know by heart and can just have it playing in the background…  Tonight "13 Going On 30" was on…  embarrassed to admit it, but I adore that movie!  Who wouldn't fall for Mark Ruffalo in that one?!?}

I wanted to share a card I made based on the inspiration card offered up this week over at Muse Card Club.  It's a lovely CAS stamped floral card by Marion Vagg and I was drawn to a couple of things on the card.  I love the two-tone stamping of her flowers and her pink & purple color scheme.  So I thought I'd give it a go…

Here's my take:

I mentioned a couple of posts back that I have a couple of weddings to attend this month, so I thought this would make a good "for the happy couple" kind of card…  :)

And here's Marion's original -- see where I drew my inspiration?

On a separate note, my heart is aching today for the people of the fabulous city of Boston (my favorite city!).  My thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of those affected by the senseless acts of violence and destruction that occurred there earlier today.

Wishing for you, my friends, love and peace and protection -- wherever you may be…

Sweet! :)

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Hello!  I am popping in today to share a card I made using the sketch over at Mojo Monday.  When I first saw the sketch, I was like, "what can I do with that??"  I couldn't figure out how all the banners would relate to the rest of the card…  But, I just decided to (use a couple of my favorite images and colors and) go with it!

Now I'm a believer.  This might be one of my favorite cards ever.  I love the colors (!) and the sweet flower image and that sentiment font (shut the front door!!!).  I mean, seriously, how sweet is that???

The papers are from the "Lively" collection by Authentique, the flower in a mason jar is by Endless Creations, and the sentiment is from Verve Stamps.

On a separate, but equally sweet note, take a look at what was whipped up in my house last night!

photo credit: Lovin' from the Oven

Oh my goodness -- were these ever a slice of heaven?!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and had to give it a try…  Soooo glad I did -- warm, gooey chocolatey marshmallowy fabulousness!  :)  Check out the Lovin' from the Oven blog to find the recipe for these S'mores Cookie Bars.  Trust me.  You'll be glad you did!  :)

Have a great Thursday…  almost the weekend!  :)

Color Challenged… Again.

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Hello again.

Tonight I'm popping in with a real quickie I made for the current color challenge over at the Play Date Cafe.  This one was a toughie for me because they were asking us to rock the neutrals, which I don't usually do too well… (Neutrals and I don't usually speak the same language.  At all.  Not even close.)

But it had been awhile since I'd linked up at TPDC, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I have a couple of weddings to attend this month and I thought these colors would lend themselves to that type of card, so there you have it..

Here's a look at the color palette we were playing with…  (I always think these colors look so good on Pinterest -- check my boards; they're littered with this stuff!  So where's the disconnect???  ;)

I'm off to bed -- been battling a stomach bug all day…  :(

Have a great Wednesday!  :)

Tea Time!

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Hello, and Happy Monday!  I hope you had a fantastic weekend!  :)

I have one of those jobs where you gotta work on the real weekends, so my "weekends" are usually Mondays and Tuesdays…  Today was my "Saturday" and I am both embarrassed and thrilled to admit that I never even made it out of my jammies today!  :)  I was able to be rather productive, but did it all from the confines (and in the comfort) of my own home.

I had a great day and was able to get in some good quality crafty-time!  :)

So I wanted to pop in to share with you a card I made based on this week's sketch over at RetroSketches.  I used a new (to me) technique I have been a little obsessed with lately…

The teapot and teacup are outline stickers by Elizabeth Craft Designs.  I covered some Sookwang tape with some Glitter Ritz microfine glitter, adhered the outline stickers and colored with my Copics…  Hopefully you can see the shimmer -- it's really sparkly in person!  :)

Here's the sketch I was working off of:

Hope you like it….  I have another project using this technique I'll be sharing in a couple of days.  :)

Have a great week!

 

Mad Dash

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Hello!  and Happy Friday!  Thought I'd try something new today and really push myself beyond my comfort zone…  I have mentioned before that I am not the speediest of crafters -- if fact, that's really putting it mildly…  Usually, every step in the process takes me a while (which, truthfully, is really what I love about this hobby -- it allows me the time to escape and just concentrate on making something  pretty (or "rilly pritty," as my young niece says!).

I have followed the "10 Minute Craft Dash" since Paulina launched it some time ago…  I was in shock and awe (and utter amazement) at what she and her DT were able to come up with in only 10 minutes!  But me??  I was too scared to try…  I knew I'd never, NEVER be able to complete an entire project in that amount of time!

The concept is simple -- take the assigned color scheme and 10 minutes and….  GO!!!

I guess you know where I'm going with this….  Today, I decided to give it my best shot.  Thankfully, the rules say you can gather all your supplies before you start your timer, so I did that (and even had them set out where I'd need them first: some by my paper trimmer, my dies by my Big Shot, etc!).  And I sketched what I wanted to do, and noted all the measurements I needed to cut to, and was ready to go!!  Took (several) deep breaths and started my timer!!!

Well, here it is (in 9:55.2, to be exact!!!  whew!):

{Would you believe that, of all the things that I thought might cause me to miss my time, it was taking all the sticky backs off of the pop-up adhesives that REALLY almost did me in?!?}

And the proof:

Now the trick will be seeing if I can clean up the mess I made in ten minutes or less!  :)  LOL!

Anyway, what fun!  I am totally going to be participating in this challenge again!!  :)

Hope you have a Fabulous Friday…  Thanks for stopping by!

A Heart Full of Love!

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Hello, hello!  Just wanted to pop in tonight to share some love with you!  (Literally!)  {Mad props to anyone who recognizes my title!}

This is a card created based on this week's color scheme over at Colour Q.  I love the pinks and the cheery spring colors…  I happened to still have a stash of the Konnichiwa line by Basic Grey that I had been hoarding saving for a rainy day (ahem…) and I thought these colors would be the perfect excuse to break it out!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a great rest of your week!  It has been rainy here the last couple of days, but we sure need it, so I'm not complaining!  Bring on another couple of days of it -- I'm water-proof!  :)

Life is Good! :)

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Hello again!  I guess it goes without saying that I have been away for awhile…  And there is a lot that could be said about that, but I won't bore you with any of that…  :)

Suffice it to say, I've spent the last couple of months in a craft-less wasteland!  Literally.  I lost my crafty mojo somewhere along the way and have struggled mightily to get it back (you ever been there???)…  This isn't to say that there have been NO craft projects, but only that my out-put has been significantly less both in quantity and in quality…  :(

But I'm (trying to get) back!  {reminds me of that Jason Mraz song -- "I fell right through the cracks and now I'm trying to get back…."  Can you say CHEESY?!?}

For my first card back, I turned to the new card club/challenge "Muse" for some inspiration.  (Though this is my first time participating, I have been following (re: stalking) this blog since it started a couple of months ago and have really been impressed with both the DT submissions and the quality of the participants' work…

This week's "Muse" was none other than Laurie Willison, who offered up a flawless card for our interpretation…  Here's my take:

I drew a couple of elements from her card (the use of the negative die space as focal point and for my sentiment, the use of the border punch to frame an edge of the piece, and the strip of polka dots to "ground" the whole thing),  but really wanted to keep the color scheme as monochromatic as possible…  I have been all about the aqua lately…  

Anyway, I hope you like this card…  It really is nice to be back.  I look forward to catching up with many of you…  Hope all is well in your neck of the woods and that you were able to spend a lovely Easter with your loved ones -- wherever they may be…