Spot On!

Pin It I was so excited to get a little crafty-time in the other day that I was able to knock out two cards in one session!!!  (Those of you who can "knock out" waaaaayyyy more than that in a single sitting, please keep the snickering to a minimum!  :)

I am excited to be playing along with the latest RetroSketches challenge, 'cuz it's a simple one (my favorite kind) which leaves it open for interpretation (woo-hoo! :)  This one was a lot of fun for me -- I got to play with a couple of fun techniques and I really kinda like how it all turned out...  :)

Wanna see?  Ok, here it is:

It's kinda cute, no??  :)  I just love this giraffe and by "masking," I think I was able to give her quite a little personality!!

Here is the inspiration sketch:

As you can see, I made mine a tall, skinny card (3.5"x9") and moved the sentiment along the left edge, but left everything else where it is on the sketch....

I hope you like it -- clearly it was a fun one to make!  Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies:

• Stamps:  Giraffe, bow, square window - Stamps by Judith; flowers - Hero Arts "Layered Flowers"
• Inks:  Memento "Rich Cocoa," Copic markers & sepia multiliner 
• Papers:  Neenah "Desert Storm," Copic Xpress It Blending Card, My Mind's Eye "Fiddlesticks"
• Dies:  Memory Box "Round Buttons," Sizzix Bigz "Flowers 3-D"
• Ribbon, Glossy Accents, Rock Candy Stickles 

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Pin It Hello!

We are smack in the middle of birthday week in my family -- three birthdays and one anniversary in seven days!  Next up is my grandfather -- he will turn 89 (!) this week!  In his honor, I made what has to be the hardest. of. all. cards. to me...  the masculine card!  Girl-cards (for girl-recipients, anyway) are a cinch -- I mean, we crafters are stocked to the gills with flowers and colors and ribbons and bling!  But boy- (or, er, excuse me.... man-cards) throw me for a loop every time!

Sidenote:  In the end, though I'm happy with the result, I'm not really sure it's him...  My grandfather, or "Nana" as we call him -- (story in this post) -- is a super-special man with a fantastic sense of humor and more than a little bit of cantankerousness (which I adore about him!!  :)  I really struggled to distill all that into this card.  In the end, I decided to keep it simple, sticking to clean lines and colors and opting to hand-write the "Happy Birthday" sentiment....    Here it is:

I die-cut the chevrons using My Favorite Things Die-Namics' "Chevron Stripes"and papers from Basic Grey's "Wander" line.

I am also playing along with CAS-ual Fridays' challenge this week to make a masculine card using patterned paper.  Masculine?  check.  Patterned Paper?  double check!  :)


Thanks for visiting!  Hope you had a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend -- blessings to you and yours!  :)

Especially Tweet

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Good Morning!  I am so excited to be a part of the DeNami Blog Hop today!  Our theme is "Pretty Pastels" and it puts me in a spring-time mood!  :)

First the details:  You are probably joining me from the incredibly talented Paulina's blog (one of my faves!).  If so, I'm sure you are already teeming with inspiration! But, alas, there are 31 stops on this hop, so no shortage of creative ideas for all!  You have until May 21st, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!)

DeNami Designs will generously be giving away be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment all along the hop!

Ok, so here it is:

For this card, I combined my favorite Tweety Bird Border stamp with this adorable stamp.  How can you go wrong??

Anyway, before I send you hopping along, I just wanted to thank you for stopping by -- 

But now you're off to see what kind of pastel goodness Barbara Murphy has  whipped up for you!  (Remember, if you get lost along the way or just want to start over from the beginning, you can just head back to the DeNami Designs blog to do that!) 

Happy Hopping!!!

So Tweet!

Pin It Hello and happy weekend!  Hope yours is off to a great start!

I just got the cutest stamp set from Papertrey Ink called Tweet Talk and I'm happy to say -- I'm in love!   Seriously.  Had to ink it up -- and fast!  So I decided I'd play in my first-ever ColourQ challenge....  I saw the colors for this week's challenge and, more importantly, this card by Arielle and knew I would want to throw my hat card in the ring!  (And how perfect that this week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is "Feathered Friends!")  :)

Here's my take:

Isn't that chubby little bird the cutest thing you ever saw?!?

  

I knew from the start what I wanted my sentiment to be -- problem was, I didn't have the stamps for it.... so -- I cut up a couple I do have...  I cut the "be" off a "just because" stamp and the "you" off a "thank you" stamp and then used a set of Hero Arts alphabet stamps for the "fabulous..."  Anyway, I got what I wanted in the end and I'm pretty darn pleased with the result!  :)

And a peek at the challenges this card was inspired by:

Hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by!  Let me know what you think!  :)

And Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there -- hope y'all have a great day filled with love and laughter (and breakfast in bed!)!  :)

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Papertrey Ink "Tweet Talk," Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings" & "Playful Flower Letters"
• Inks:  Memento "Rich Cocoa," Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Vintage Photo," and Copic Markers
• Papers:  K&Co. "Wild Saffron," Neenah "Solar White," Core'dinations "Distress"
• Diamond Stickles, ribbon, brads, adhesives

CAS Challenge(d)? :)

Pin It Hello!  I am popping in to say Happy Birthday to the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge Blog (being a newbie to this whole blogging / challenges / online crafting world, I thought they'd been around for years...) celebrating it's first birthday!!  Woo-hoo!

What better way to celebrate than with a Birthday Challenge??  (And who doesn't need a steady supply of birthday cards on-hand, anyway??)

A few disclaimers before I show you the goods:

• I love and try to embrace the whole "Clean and Simple" thing, but am discovering it's not my natural "go-to" style.  (Someone asked me to "label" my style a couple of weeks ago and the best I could come up with is -- wait for it --  "Less is... not enough!"  Haha!
• As a scrapper-turned-card-maker, I have found myself more and more retuning to my own hand-writing for sentiments lately, rather than stamps.  So the sentiment you are about to see is my own writing, and in the interest of making my cards more personal, I embrace the flaws and inconsistencies!  (Although I have to say, I got quite a kick out of my mom telling me she loved my "font!")

Ok, enough of that!  Here's my card:

Pretty darn simple (for me!  Ha!) and (almost) a one-layer card.  I die cut the bows using this set from Memory Box, first in colored cardstock, then into my card face.  I inset the colored bows in the negative space on the card front and then drew in the presents by hand.  A bit of copic-coloring and a few dots of Rock Candy Stickles and voila!  

Thanks for stopping by!  I appreciate you visiting and would love to hear from you!  Tell me this: what name would you give to describe your crafting style???  :)

Fun with Paper Smooches

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(I think I'm supposed to tell you here that this post is pic-heavy, but I don't really understand why people do this -- it's the pics you wanna see, no?  You're not here to listen to the inner ramblings of my mind, are you?!?)

I have a couple more projects to share that I created for the Paper Smooches Sparks DT Call!  I'm super-excited about both of these 'cuz I think they're both a lot of fun (which, btw, is why I love Paper Smooches Stamps so much in the first place!  :)

(Note: there are TWO submissions on this post -- make sure to keep scrolling!!  :)

The first card was inspired by these fabulous fabric tomatoes!

I love the colors, the textures, the patterns -- all of it!  So I decided to apply all of these to the cutest little luggage set from Paper Smooches' "Get Outta Town" stamp set!   (Oh my -- this would have to be the way to travel!!)

(I also used the "Way to Go" sentiment from the Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler.)

Now, on to the next!  For this next card, I knew I wanted to use the following inspiration photo:

This pic just screamed "guy" to me -- perrrfect, 'cuz I just happened to have the "My Guy" set from Paper Smooches.  My dad's a golfer, so I made this card that'll be going out to him for Father's Day.  (I also used a couple of the trees from the "Spring Groves" set.)

So stinkin' cute!  (If I do say so myself!  :)

Thank you for visiting!  I hope you like these as much as I do -- would love to hear what you think!  

You're Tree-riffic!

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Ok, so I am super-nervous about announcing this, but waaayyy excited about the opportunity, so I'm taking the leap:  I am submitting some projects for the Paper Smooches Sparks DT Call (whew...  now it's out there!) and have spent the last couple of days creating some pieces just in honor of this.

When I saw the inspiration photo below, I knew instantly what I had to do!  Check it:

The lime green!  The teal!  The stripes!  Oh my!  :)  And I had just gotten in my new Spring Groves stamp set -- and was dying to ink it up!  So here's what I came up with:

Ok, truth time:  I seriously modified the sentiment here by combining a couple of sentiments from the super-cute My Guy stamp set.  Here's a pic of that set:

Can you tell I combined the "tee-riffic" and "reel great" sentiments?  (Just for the odd occasion in which you would find yourself in need of a "You're Tree-riffic" sentiment??)  :)

Anyhoo, I hope you like it!  Methinks I do!!  :)  Thanks for visiting!  Please let me know what you think!

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Paper Smooches Spring Groves and My Guy, Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain
• Paper: Neenah Solar White and Prima "Alla"
• Inks:  Hero Arts- Hero Hues Black Dye and Mid-tone Shadow "Cup O' Joe" Ink, Tim Holtz Distress Ink- "Shabby Shutters"
• Twine, Stickles, adhesives

Happy Place

Pin It Happy Wednesday!  I just wanted to share a quick card I made for this week's challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays.  The challenge this week was to use colors on opposite ends of the color wheel...  Interesting!

My natural tendency was to go toward the blue and orange (especially when you could really go turquoise/tangerine which is kinda hot!  :)  -- but then I laid eyes on this super-cute stamp set from Paper Smooches (called "Get Outta Town" -- how cute is that?!) and just knew where I had to go!  So, purple and yellow it is!  (Sounds like a really bad band uniform, huh?)

(Note:  contrary to what this card would have you believe, I am NOT a big drinker -- however, I have been known to sip a fruity adult beverage from time to time!  :)

Additionally:  (BIG News!!)  I am submitting this card for the Paper Smooches Design Team Call.  I was inspired by the following inspiration photo and used it as a sketch:

The frames reminded me of my favorite embossing folder (!) and I loved the pop of yellow in the bottom right...  (But man, I wish my parties could look this fancy!)

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you like it -- would love to hear from you!  Hoping you find your Happy Place tonite!  :)

"Whale" You Still Love Me...?

Pin It Welcome to the DeNami Design "Ravishing Ribbons" Blog Hop!  I'm certain you've already seen some fabulous creations, especially if you are joining me from Dana's über-creative "Kismet, Art & Life" blog!  (Love her stuff!)

**DeNami Design is giving away two $20 Gift Certificates to a couple of lucky people who leave comments along the blog hop!  Make sure to leave comments all along the hop by 11:59 pm PST April 16th to be eligible!**  

Ok, so I admit I am a sucker for cheesy punny sentiments (and post titles, apparently!)...  :)  And one of my absolute favorites is this cute whale stamp from Denami Design!  I have used it again and again with this "Get Whale Soon" stamp also by DeNami, but wanted to do something different for this hop...  (I just couldn't "kelp" myself!  Ha!)  Take a look:

I used my Distress Markers to create the background on watercolor paper and spritzed the heck out of it with Perfect Pearls before tearing and layering on dimensional adhesives.  Same process for that cute little whale after I heat embossed him.  Once he dried, I flipped him over and rubbed his underside with a stylus on a mouse pad to give him his "curves!"  The sentiment is that "Get Whale Soon" stamp that I masked so I could change it up...  :)

Hope you like it and that you find lots of really great inspiration along the hop today!  Next up is the super-talented Michele Gross!  (If you get lost along the way or just want to start over from the beginning, you can always go back to the DeNami Design blog for that!)  But before you go, don't forget to leave a comment to be eligible for one of those DeNami Design gift certificates!  :)

Thanks again for stopping by!  I whale-y appreciate it.  

(ok, seriously, now I'm done...)    :)

You're a Good Egg!

Pin It Happy Wednesday!  Ok, so I know Easter has passed (hope you had a great one, btw!), but I wanted to share a quick card I made for this week's challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays -- "Let the Hunt Begin."  The challenge was to create a card featuring something you'd find in an Easter basket....  So here's mine!

I had fun with this card and it came together much faster than my cards usually do!  :)  I cut the grass with Martha Stewart's Fringe Scissors, stamped and heat embossed the eggs and chick, colored them with Distress markers, and then spritzed the heck out of them with Perfect Pearls mist.  Next I massaged the back sides of each egg with my dry emboss stylus to give them their rounded, "egg-y" shape and then, finally, more fussy-cutting than I almost ever undertake!

Anyway, I hope you like it...  It has fun, spring colors that make me happy!  Thanks for visiting -- would love to hear from you!  :)

Forever Love

Pin It One of my really good friends is getting married in a couple of weeks and I am so thrilled for her!  She has been waiting for this day for so long and it's finally here, so I thought I would make her a card that speaks to the commitment she is making and the power of a love meant to endure!

I love the colors over at The Play Date Cafe this week -- they are perfect for a spring wedding!  

I also used this week's sketch over at CPS...  Just a simple, easily adaptable sketch -- my favorite kind!!!

  

And last, but definitely not least, I am submitting this card for the Paper Smooches DT Call (announced today!).  I used the inspiration photo from the following Sparks Challenge (which I love!):

Thank you so much for stopping by...  I hope you enjoy this card.  I'll be back tomorrow with a new project to share!  See you then!

Supplies:

• Patterned Paper - S•E•I's "Bridgeport"
• Paper Smooches stamps - "Pretty Phrases"
• Neenah "Solar White" cardstock
• Hero Arts stamps - "Big and Small Flowers"
• Hero Arts Embossing Powder - white
• Tim Holtz Distress Markers - Stormy Sky, Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive
• Ranger Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder - "Perfect Pearl"
• Ribbons, gems, adhesives

Just for Fun -- Name that Tune!

Pin It Ok, so when I saw the challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays this week, my heart leapt!  A card inspired by a song?  For real??  I knew I had to play along, but what to do??  I have a verifiable smorgasbord of musical genres on my playlist...  almost none of which lend themselves to a greeting card!!

Including the song I eventually chose!!  Haha!

That's right craft fans, I created a card I can't see myself giving to anyone -- at least not anyone I would hope to keep as a friend!!  :)

I just had to go with what I loved -- and I love, Love, LOVE Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts."  This song gets me everytime.  No, it's not a happy song -- it's actually kinda dark....  soooo... I had to try to put a more, ummm... colorful spin on it to make it me!  And I am thrilled with the results! (Even if it is a card that will just sit on a shelf and never be gifted....!)  

And here's the song (for the one or two people on the planet who may not know it!  :)

At any rate, I loved this challenge...  Hopefully, CAS-ual Fridays will do this challenge again sometime and maybe, just maybe, I'll choose Christina's much happier "A Thousand Years" as my inspiration!!  :)

Thanks for stopping by -- I'd love to hear your thoughts!  

And One More...

Pin It Ok, so I was so inspired by the colors in this week's Play Date Cafe Color Challenge (and had a few scraps to work with :) that I just had to make one more card!  And here it is:

I embossed with my favorite embossing folder ever and then used my Copics to add a little color pop to random dots for a background.  I also used various sized strips of colored papers to create the bottom border.  I think it turned out pretty cute...  Hope you like it, too!

A reminder of what the challenge palette looks like in case you want to play along, too:

Thanks for stopping by!  I appreciate your comments!  :)

Supplies:

• Basic Grey patterned paper - "Wander"
• Hero Arts "Hearts" Frame Cuts Die
• Neenah "Solar White" cardstock
• Sizzix Embossing Folder - "Flower Rings"
• Copic Markers - BG02, BG09, YG25, YR15, YR16
• Uni-ball Signo White Gel Pen
• Grosgrain ribbon, pearls, beads, flowers, adhesives