CAS(E) this Sketch #93

Now that it is officially Fall, I was in the mood to pull out my Sweet Stamp Shop Foxy set and make a cute card with it. I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch to guide me along.

Here is the sketch:

And here is the card I made:

I used the washi tape from My Mind's Eye's Cut and Paste Charm collection for this card.  I lined a bunch up on a piece of scrap cardstock, then cut out the outside frame with a die.  Then I cut a similar-sized square in the front of the card.  Before I adhered the frame, I put the washi tape border on and the washi pennant on the side (which was backed on cardstock to make it more sturdy).  I then marked on the inside where the open area would be on the card, and got stamping!

I colored the fox using my water pen and the same ink color that I stamped it in.  I masked off the fox and then stamped the grass in two contrasting greens.  I think he turned out so cute!

I put the sentiment in the speech bubble using complementing ink colors, then cut it out and adhered it to the frame.  Then I used some Charm enamel dots to finish everything off.  Don't you just love when something looks exactly like you pictured it in your head?

That is all I have for today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...

Some sparkly fun!

Well, folks, it's a new week.  And it's July 21st.  I'm not quite sure how that happened so quickly, but it did.  Anyway, I decided to play last night and wanted to share what I made.  Here is the sketch I used: 

And here is the card I made:

I used my new Neat and Tangled Photo Booth stamp set for this card.  (I won it from their Little Tangles challenge blog.)  First I stamped the photo strip in black ink, then I went over it with Versamark and covered it with some yummy clear embossing powder that has glitter in it.  Oh, I also used the glasses and mustache from Sweet Stamp Shop's Too Hip set.  Then I stamped the images and sentiments and added enamel dots.  I think it turned out really fun!

Here is a close up of the sparkle:

I am also submitting this card to this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, where the theme is Spots and Dots.

That is all for today!  I hope you all have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...

Happy 4th of July!

I hope all of my American friends are enjoying this 4th of July!  I had some down time between festivities today so I decided to play along with this week's Color Throwdown.

Here is the swatch:
 

And here is the card I made:

What is a card made on the 4th of July be if it isn't made with any fireworks??  I decided to pull out my Sweet Stamp Shop Happy Hour and Too Hip stamp sets to create this cute congrats card.  I stamped the sentiment directly on the hippo just to be different and I like how it turned out.  

It's hard to see, but I brushed all of the fireworks with my clear Wink of Stella glitter pen to give them more sparkle. Aside from the fact that I dropped the hippo face-down on the red firework before the Wink of Stella was dry, I think it all turned out really cute!

Thanks for stopping by!  Until next time...

Watercolor Love

I am in love with watercolor on cards.  That is one of the reasons I'm taking the Online Card Class called Watercolor for Card Makers, which started yesterday.  :)  I can't wait to learn more techniques about watercoloring. 

I made a couple cards over the weekend that I wanted to share today. 

I made the watercolor rainbow by blending pink, yellow and blue together in a strip.  I actually did this twice, once here and once on a scrap piece of watercolor paper, because I wanted to die cut hears out of similar-patterned paper.  Once I adhered the hearts, I cover them with my clear Wink of Stella pen to add some subtle shimmer.  I love how it turned out.

Speaking of loving how a card turned out...this is one of my favorites to date.  I made the watercolor strip before anything else was decided about the card.  Once I went through my stamps, I just knew that this cactus stamp from Sweet Stamp Shop would be the perfect accent for the card.  I'm just in love with this card! 

That's all for today!  Hopefully I will have more to share soon!  Until then...

Ribbon Carousel Challenge #91

 Hello everyone!  I am so excited to be designing for the Ribbon Carousel Challenge again!  For those of you who had not heard, the challenge went on a bit of a hiatus for a couple months, but now we're back and ready to play! 

This month's theme is Party Time!  This can be ANYTHING celebratory.  Graduation, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Pedicure Friday...you get the idea.  :)  Here is the card I created this month:

Ok, I know I said this in a recent post, but shaker cards just might be my new favorite thing!  They are so fun to make and just make me so happy to play with.  I can only imagine how fun they would be to receive, too!

These Allison Kreft Recorded papers were just perfect for this card and I love all of the fun colors of sequins that I used in the shaker card.  Sure, some of them are stuck at the top and side, but I think that just adds to the fun of the card.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you'll play along and I can't wait to see what you all create!  Until next time...

Fusion Card Challenge: Fusion #7

Happy Wednesday, friends!  I played along with this week's Fusion Card Challenge and wanted to share what I made.  Here is the sketch I used:

And here is my card:

I used some MME Cut and Paste papers and enamel dots along with some super cute Sweet Stamp Shop stamps.  The sets I used here are Just the Basics, Stuck on This, and Too Hip.  When Stuck on This was released last month, I knew I had to have it to make this graduation card for my cousin.  She lives in Arizona so I thought it was kind of perfect.  :)  I colored the image using colored pencils and mineral spirits.  It turned out so cute!

That's all for today!  Until next time...

CAS-ology: Week 81: And

It's a chilly snow day here in the Kansas City area today, so I thought I'd take a look around the web to see if there were any card challenges I could participate in.  I loved the queue for this week's CAS-ology challenge, so I ran with it. 

Here is the card that I made:

I used Sweet Stamp Shop's Kiss Me set (which is now retired).  I thought it would look cute on a chalkboard background and I created the background shape with my Silhouette.  Aaand because no card of mine is complete with hemp twine or enamel dots, I had to throw some on.  I think this turned out so cute and now I don't have to scramble to make a Valentine's Day card for my hubby!  Double win!

I hope you all are having a great week!  I'll be back soon!  Until next time...

What does the fox say?

For the longest time I had NO IDEA what the fox said or why anyone cared for that matter.  Call me clueless or uninformed, I just didn't get it.  It wasn't until my 7 and 4.5 year olds came home home from school singing the song that I actually googled it to see for myself.  What I found was a witty song that is really pretty great.  (I don't get out much.)  Still clueless as to what I'm talking about?  Click here. 

When I saw Sweet Stamp Shop's latest release, their Foxy set made me giddy.  Not because I am super trendy and need this stamp to feel cool.  Because believe me, I'm not one of those people.  About a week ago I made a baby blanket for my friend who is having her second son in a couple months.  Without showing you what it looks like because I haven't given it to her yet, just know that this stamp set goes perfectly with it.  I'll post pictures of the blanket after I give it to my friend, so for now you'll just have to settle for the card I made to give to her with it.

I used this week's sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge as the jumping off point.

 And here is the card I made:

I knew I wanted this card to have double-meaning.  I wanted it to be playful like the song, yet I wanted it to serve it's purpose.  If you look closely at the picture below, you can see that I stamped another speech bubble inside the card.  I layered one on top of it on the front of the card to hide that one.  

And this is what it looks like inside:

I really am in love with this card and can't wait to make more with this set.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time!

Happy Fall Y'all!

I don't know about you, but I love fall.  The crispness of the air, the smells of leaves and fireplaces burning and the pretty colors that go with it are all wonderful.  Growing up in Arizona, fall came when the temperatures hit 80 degrees.  Fall is quite different now that I live in Kansas.  :)

In September, Sweet Stamp Shop released a great fall themed stamp set called Fall Gratitude and I wanted to share a couple cards that I made with it. 

First up is this card:

I used stamping markers to color in different areas of this great feather stamp and created a scheme that I am in love with.  I added the simple sentiment, some seam binding and burlap twine and this simple card is now in my top 5 favorite cards.

Here is another card I have made with this set:

I stamped the circlular stamps on watercolor paper and then smeared them a bit with my water brush.  I used a coordinating ink refill to dye some seam binding, then tied it on with a piece of dark brown burlap twine.  I love this wood grain patterned paper from Basic Grey's Life of the Party collection.  This card reminds me of fall in the mountains of Colorado.  Nothing beats the gorgeous colors of the Aspen's when they are changing colors.

That is all for now!  I'll be back soon with more!

Until next time...

10 Minute Craft Dash

This was the first time I had ever participated in a 10 Minute Craft Dash challenge, but I had so much fun with it!  I'll tell you what...when that timer is ticking away, it takes all of the second-guessing out of the equation.  You either do it or you don't.  And at 11:00pm, that's about all I could offer anyway.  :) 

Here are the supplies I threw together:

And here is the card I created:

The picture isn't great because I had to take it with my tablet at my craft table (hubby was on the computer at the time), but I'll retake it in the morning.  I love how this turned out.  I used a TON of Sweet Stamp Shop stamps to create the sentiment and papers from My Mind's Eye Adorbs collection (LOVE that line!!).  Threw on some embellishments and BAM!  Done!

Check out my time:    

Seriously.  And about half a second before this, my glue exploded all over the arrow wood veneer I was using.  ALL OVER.  I just smeared some off and placed it, then hit the timer to turn it off...glue still covering most of my finger tips.  It was MADNESS!  I audibly sighed when I was done and my husband thought something was wrong.  lol  I was just excited that it worked out right at the very. last. millisecond.  :)

Thanks for stopping by to see my creation!  Until next time...

Guest Designing Again!

Good morning!  Today I am guest designing for Sweet Stamp Shop again!  This time around I got to play with the new Drops Background stamp set.

This set is so completely versatile, if you haven't seen already from the amazing creations the other guest designers have showcased on the SSS blog. 

Here are a couple cards that I created with this set.  The first card uses the heart background.  I stamped the image and dyed the seam binding with the same color so they would coordinate nicely.  Don't you love the fun arrow patterned paper from Simple Stories' 24/7 collection?

My second card uses the dot background in an unconventional way.  When I saw the pattern on the stamp, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it.  My MIL is retiring from teaching at the end of this school year and I wanted to make her a card for her retirement.  The dots on the stamp worked perfectly to create the bubbles in a glass of champagne!  I stamped the image with Versamark and used clear embossing powder to create the desired effect.  I love how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my creations!  I'll be back tomorrow with some new cards for your viewing pleasure.  :)

Until next time...

 

Sweet Stamp Shop April Release!

Hello, hello!  I know it's been awfully quiet around here lately, but rest assured, I have been getting crafty and have lots to share with you soon!

I am excited to be Guest Designing over at Sweet Stamp Shop again for their April Release!  You all are going to be FLOORED by the examples the other Guest Designers came up with, so be sure to check out the SSS blog today to check them out!

One of the cards I made is featured on the blog post, but I am posting it here, too, for you all to see:

The set I used on this card is called Drops Background.  It comes with two background stamps: one with dots and one with hearts.  They are SO VERSATILE!  Now go check out the Sweet Stamp Shop blog if you haven't already!  This is one you won't want to miss!

Until next time...

I'm Guest Designing Today!

I am so excited to be guest designing for Sweet Stamp Shop over on their blog today!  I was thrilled when Nicole emailed me offering me the chance to guest design and I am looking forward to sharing my creations with you!


I was given the Kiss Me set to work with:

How cute is that?!  When I first saw it, my head instantly filled with so many different ways to use this set.  You've seen a few of my cards over on the SSS blog today, but I'll show them again...and a few more!  Plus, I'll even be showing you how I made one of them, so be sure to stick around!  :)

Here are the cards that are featured over on the SSS blog:

Even though this set wasn't specifically designed to be used for chalkboard art, as one of the other SSS new releases was, I thought I would make a cute chalkboard card with these.  I stamped the kissing couple and heart with Versamark and sprinkled them with white embossing powder.  The result is much more bold than if I had just used a white ink by itself.

I thought the kissing couple would go perfectly with this paper from Echo Park's Everyday Ecclectic collection.  I tried to make it seem like these two were caught on camera sneaking some smooches at the fair.  :)

This was the very first card I came up with when I saw the set.  I will show you how I made it after I show off a couple more cards I made for your viewing pleasure...

Another chalkboard art creation that I think turned out so pretty!  I used a doily-esque edge punch and frilly seam binding to class it up, then added the push pins to finish it off.  The love heart sentiment is popped up with dimensional adhesive.  

I decided to attempt a new technique (you know, since I'm still claiming to be a "novice") for this card.  I stamped the kissing sentiment with versamark, then covered the images with clear embossing powder.  I then sprayed a sheet of waxed paper with three different colors of mist.  I added a few sprays of water, then placed the cardstock face down in the puddle.  This is how it turned out.  I love how the color isn't even.  The chevron patterned strip I used seems to echo that multi-toned look.  

Let's jump back to this card, shall we?

I used two stamps for this card:  The you+me hearts and the kissing couple silhouette.  I knew I wanted to attempt to try and make an *actual* kissing couple to fit my idea of them kissing in front of a carved tree better. 

 First, I lightly stamped the image onto a piece of scrap paper.  I didn't even try to cover the stamp completely with ink.  I just needed to be able to see the edges so I could cut them out. 

After I cut the silhouette out, I traced it lightly onto white cardstock.   

After I erased the lines minimally, I used my colored pencils to draw my interpretation of what they boy and girl would look like.  Keep in mind, I am NOT an artist.  I kind of surprised myself at how well the girl's hair turned out.  :)  After I finished coloring them in, I cut them out and put them aside. 

 

I created the tree trunk by dry embossing some dark kraft cardstock, but before I did so, I stamped some brown chalk ink onto one side of the embossing plate, so the texture of the tree would show up better.  Then I stamped the sentiment on light cardstock.  I paper pieced the background and grass and used my cloud punch to create big bushy leaves for the tree. 

Here it is again.  I have to admit that I'm surprised that my two dimensional brain came up with this one, but I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out! 

Thank you SO MUCH for stopping by today!  I had so much fun creating these cards for you all to enjoy.  Thank you to Nicole for giving me the opportunity to showcase her amazing stamps!

Until next time...