Hello

 Happy Thursday!  The weekend is thisclose to being here.  YEAH!!!

We had some rain this week so evening sports were canceled and I was able to sneak in some stamping.  Hoping this long holiday weekend I'll be able to get some time in doing some more as well so I'll have lots to share.

I grabbed a color and sketch challenge and made a quick set of 4 cards.  I love it when then the creation comes together so easily.  This week's Color Throwdown was not a color combo I'd reach for so it was working outside the box for me on this one, but like how it turned out.  I kept it very simple with the new Freshly Made Sketches for this week as well.

I used a set that is new to me from Papertrey Ink called Wonderful Words: Hello. I've used it a few times already-loving the die with the sentiments.  I grabbed some strips of cardstock and next time I use this sketch I think I'd throw in a patterned paper strip or maybe emboss them to add some texture.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a safe holiday weekend!

Card details:

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink-Wonderful Words: Hello & Die

Inks:  Gina K. Designs amalgam ink obsidian, Distress Oxide Pickled Raspberry

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up Basic Black, Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry, Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz & Rustic White

Bundle of Joy

 Sorry for the wonky picture-taking here-I'm failing at my photography skills these days.

I created this cute card for a colleague who just had their first grandchild this weekend.  He's a huge Penn State fan so I tried to stick to that color theme for the card.

I used the current Freshly Made Sketches #537 as I thought it would make a great masculine card.  Hope you enjoy the idea!

Card details:

Stamps: Reverse Confetti Sentimental Sayings

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy (SU), Balmy Blue (SU), Rustic White (PTI)

Inks:  Not Quite Navy, Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate

Embellishments: Taylored Expressions Little Bit Stars and Mini Strips Flags die (I used the stars and stenciled it onto my cardstock), embellishments from Let's Celebrate You Kit from TE

Eucalyptus Card Set

 

This weekend was a struggle trying to create cards-I couldn't seem to get in a groove, but I managed to create a few CAS ones.

My first was a small set of cards using the Layered Eucalyptus set from Gina K. and Timeless Tropical set from Stampin' Up! for the sentiment.

I utilized the FMS479 sketch which I rotated to fit my image.

Card details:

Stamp Sets:  Layered Eucalyptus from Gina K. Stamps, Timeless Tropical from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Basic Black, Teresa Collins Far & Away,  PTI Rustic White, Burgundy unknown

Inks: Simon Says Stamp

Together

I'm not finding as much time to stamp as I used to so I need to kick my mojo into gear one of these days.

I made this card a few weeks ago but hadn't shared it yet.  It's one that I really like how it turned out and finally am using one of the punches I had to have...now to figure out who to give the card to.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting me and sorry I've been MIA.

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Card details:

Stamps: Cloud 9 from Technique Tuesday

Papers: Very Vanilla, Lost and Found Union Square

Inks: Archival Ink Jet Black

Embellishments: SU punch, mini pearls

Just a Note

The other night I was quite inspired to craft and my hubby took charge of the kiddos and let me escape for a few hours down to craft.

I had ordered this little card kit from Mish Mash's little shop and went to work creating with the supplies.  I ended up making 6 cards in which I'll share 2 today and the rest over the next week or so.

For my card above I used the SFYTT for January-didn't get it posted on my blog in time to play along but still had fun using it.

For my next card I channeled my out of the box thinking and inspiration from a fellow stamper who's style I've admired for a long time and she's been so supportive in making me stretch out of the norm for me.  Monika Davis has some of the most amazing creations and I was really drawn to this card and her "clustering" of elements.  While I didn't quite capture it as well on my first try I'll definitely be attempting it again.

Again, I used the elements from Mish Mash's shop on my card and I used theVerve set Take Note to stamp the tag with some typewriter font.  Love how these cards turned out and that's not often I'm feeling that way.  For the string circle, I actually cut off the string that was on the tag, colored it with my copic which stiffened it just a little.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my creations!

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Card details #1:

Stamps: Sentiment Sampler from Paper Smooches

Paper: Basic Gray, Chickaniddy Crafts-Date Night, Creamsicle Cardigan

Ink: Basic Gray

Accessories: Washi Tape, Scalloped Square Nestabilities, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack from SU, Instagram photo courtesy of Michelle Wooderson, brads

Card details #2:

Stamps: Take Note from Verve Stamps

Paper: Basic Gray, Chickaniddy Crafts-Date Night, Creamsicle Cardigan

Ink: Basic Gray, Apricot Appeal

Accessories: Lace Ribbon, Scalloped Square Nestabilities, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack from SU, Instagram photo courtesy of Michelle Wooderson, brads

With Sympathy

This week my new online friend, Eileen Flannery and I decided to challenge each other to use up some of our goodies we've been buying.  We share a love of Verve stamps and so the Mojo Sketch of the week seemed like the perfect challenge.

I also used a few color combinations to include with my cards, my first one created for a family friend who passed away this past weekend:

for the card on the right I used CQC276

and then a wedding color combination on the left one.

I was pleased that these cards came so easily to me.  After I created the one on the left I was feeling on such a roll I completed 2 of the one on the right.

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you are having a great weekend!

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Card details:

Stamps: Bloom & Grow and One Person from Verve Stamps

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, VIP Purple, Purpilicious, You're Such a Graycious Host, Create Paper The Pier

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Smoky Slate, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Cool Carribean, Bermuda Bay

Accessories: Pearl, brad, Webster's Pages Designer Trim

Happy Bird*day

The first sketch I used above was with Operation Write Home #236 and the one below uses #221 Sketch.  

I dove into some neglected Stampin' Up! Stamps to use on my one below and really left it plain with no embellishments other than the stickles on it.

The one above, one of my favorite stamps and sentiments.  Love coloring this image and know it will be a fun birthday card for someone.

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Card details:

Stamps: Mini Mates by Stampin' Up!, Birthday Buddies from Paper Smooches

Cardstock: My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday, Whisper White, Cool Carribean, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler

Inks: Archival Ink Jet Black, copic markers

Embellishments: circle punches, stickles

Birthday Duos

Had some birthday cards I needed to get in the mail so decided I'd sit down and make some cards this weekend.  My BFF and Mom's birthday's were this week-of course I missed one of them and was late mailing it out.

I love when I'm able to get in a creative mood and use the same paper pack for multiple cards.

The card above used the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

The one below I saw on pinterest from Starry Nights Sketch.

Hope you enjoy the birthday cards.

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Card details:

Stamps: Birthday Sampler by Paper Smooches and Gorgeous Grunge by Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: My Mind's Eye Cut & Paste, Calypso Coral, Pool Party

Inks: Ranger Archival Ink

Embellishment: silver sequins, Want2scrap black pearls

You're My Little Chicadee

I fell in love with this set when I saw this adorable card on pinterest, so I immediately went out in search of it and bought it.

Love it, and how it allows me to watercolor the little chicks using my ink pads pressed into the tops to create a watercolor palette.  I made quite a few with this set that I'll be sharing over the next week or so.

This is card was a little 3.5 x 4.25" card, just big enough to fit this line up of chickadee's on it.

Hope your Monday is starting off well-we are expecting yet another rainstorm which means our sporting events will be called off again this week (they were last week as well).  

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Card details:

Stamps: Chickadees from Technique Tuesday

Cardstock: Basic Black, Soft Sky

Inks: So Saffron, Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette, Archival Ink in Jet Black

Embellishments: twine, aquapainter

I don't believe it's your birthday...

Happy Monday morning!

I know you probably fell off your chair seeing that I'm posting this morning-it's been a crazy few months and I'm really trying to be creative more often. Sometimes it works and I"m just too lazy to blog about it, sometimes I'm just too lazy and don't get creative.

This weekend I got a few hours in my crafty area and shocked myself by doing a lot of creating.  I tried to take a clean and simple approach and so a lot of them don't have any embellishments, but I was pleased with my accomplishments.

I read an awesome blog entry from Susan, how is the queen of CAS cards-it really hit a soft spot for me as it's exactly what I've been going through...and I know it will pass, but it's hard to not think about just selling off all my stuff and just forgetting about it.

So for my card, I was immediately inspired by the Paper Players Challenge and Anne Marie's color combination.  I dug into my stash of papers to find this textured paper that was as close to crushed curry as I could find.  

I combined the colors with the MFTWSC sketch and some of the new sets I had gotten recently from Stampin' Up.

Hope you had a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

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Card details:

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge and See Ya Later by Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Rustic White, textured yellow unknown

Inks: Baja Breeze, Crushed Curry, Basic Grey

Embellishments: Spellbinders circle die

Get Well Soon

Another card I created using the Feathers set from Clear & Simple Stamps.  Thought this was a fabulous color combination for a masculine get well card, but could be used for a feminine card as well.

Enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend here, even gotten a little stamping in yesterday afternoon and evening.  Finally felt good to get some creating done.

Hope you all had a great weekend and thanks for starting off your week by stopping by to visit me.

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Stamps: Feathers and Leaflets from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Sahara Sand and Whisper White from Stampin' Up!

Inks: Crumb Cake, Cool Carribean and Pumpkin Pie from Stampin' Up!

Embellishments: Spellbinders Nestabilities Circle die, My Mind's Eye Boy Crazy Enamel Dots, Dimensionals from Stampin' Up!

Happy Birthday Fella

This week over at Blogger's Challenge is make your own background.  I'm a bit slow in participating for no good reason, enjoyed some down time while my kiddos were out of town and while I had grand plans of stamping the nights away...that didn't happen.

I know this one has been used before, but I adore how it looks.  I just took some bubble wrap and inked it up to create my polka dotted bottom of the card.

Hope you will join us at Blogger's Challenge this week.

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Card details:

Stamps: A guy Thing from Clear & Simple Stamps, Quick2border from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and Whisper White from Stampin' Up!

Inks: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke from Stampin' Up!

Embellishments: Stampin' Up! Basic pearl jewels, bubble wrap, Spellbinders Nestabilities Circle Dies

Glittery Birthday Wishes

This weekend I finally felt like I got a little of my mojo back (not all of it) but some of it anyway.

I broke out some of my fun new goodies (paper, glitter, glue, enamel dots) to play with.  I came across this dimensional glue from Sparkle N Sprinkle when I was at CKC Manchester and fell in love with it.   I love that it holds it's dimension.  Of course, I had glitter, but their beautiful array of colors had me buying some more and I knew I needed to put it to use.  I also broke out some "oldies" but using some of my Stampin' Up! sets that have been collecting dust on my shelf.

This card is based on the Case This Sketch #26 which of course I missed the challenge deadline-but that's ok :-)  

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a wonderful hump day!

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Card details:

Stamps: Bliss and So Happy for You from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Mauved by the Paparazzi, Naturals White, Glitz Uncharted Waters

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, Baja Breeze

Embellishments: Dimensional Glue and Misty Blue G1021 Glitter from Sparkle N Sprinkle, Enamel Dots from Basic Grey, corner punch

BC314: Black, White and Splash of Color

Today over at Blogger's Challenge is always a fun one.  Black, White and a Splash of color.  I always enjoying seeing what splashes are used.

I decided to do some distressing this past weekend (or should I say de-stressing?).  I love how this card came out and my sentiment is something I will be doing this weekend-I'm attending the CKC Manchester with friends and plan on enjoying some girl time.

I picked these Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge from last week to play with and broke out some supplies I've had in my stash for awhile (the Webster's Pages trim).

So while I'm enjoying some retail therapy, I hope I'll come back refreshed with some mojo and ready to check out your black, white, and splashes of color over at Blogger's Challenge.

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Card details:

Stamps: Enjoy from Verve Stamps, Medallion from Stampin'Up!, Dots2Love from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Basic Black, Aqua Mist, Whisper White

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, Copic BG15

Embellishments: Distresser, Carribean Twine, Webster's Page Trim

More Rub-on Cards

A few more creations using Rub-ons-maybe I don't need stamps after all???

Kidding, totally kidding there!

Used a few rub-ons and some scraps from my Simple Stories Baby Steps patterned paper for this card along with some ribbon I had stashed in a jar.

Again, using the Simple Stories papers and adding some brads as well.

This card was inspired by Maile Belles

Card details:

Rub-ons from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake, Simple Stories Baby Steps

Embellishments: Kaiser Craft Rose pearls, twine from a package

Pinterest Inspired

I was inspired to stamp a few clean and simple cards using some retired (and old) Stampin' Up! rub-ons.  I think I could have done a dozen more as I have a ton more of the rub-ons, but I quit after awhile.

I think almost all that I created were inspired by pinterest and I'm going to try to give proper credit to all those who inspired me below the cards.

Card inspired by Stampin! with Jaydee

Card details:

Rub-ons from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Paint the town Pink

Embellishments: Paint the town Pink ribbon, Kaiser Craft Crimson Sparklers

Card inspired by Krystie Lee

Card details:

Stamps: Fancy Wishes from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Whisper White, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3 Ruby

Inks: I'm a Princess Pink, Perfect Little Black Dress

Embellishments: Stampin' Up! Rhinestones

Card inspired by Laura Bassen

Card details:

Rub-ons from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Pear Pizzaz, Whisper White

Season's Greetings

I've been on a serious holiday card creating binge this week.  My husband's co-workers cleaned out my stash and requested some more, so while I had all the supplies out, I created away.

This card above was created using the new CAS(E) this sketch! challenge.  I liked the sketch so much I really tried to stick with all the elements this time.

For the side, I punched several circles and adhered them to the back of the panel, overlapping them just a bit.  Instead of separating the small panels onto the card, I let the background panel show through my strips of paper.

Hope you all are having a great Sunday!  My weekend has been flying by.  I participated in my first 5K yesterday...I can't say I ran in my first 5K as there was definitely more walking than running, but I crossed the finish line and for that I'm happy!  (below a pic of my sister-in-law, Heather & I with our reindeer antlers on (it was called the Reindeer Romp).

Okay, off to clean house and get these muscles loosened up.

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Card details:

Stamps: Curly Cute from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Carta Bella Winter Fun

Inks: Cherry Cobbler

Embellishments: Want2Scrap Le Creme pearls

BC293: All Stitched Up

I'm hoping my mojo has come back, I've been productive in creating this week and can't wait to share all that I've done.  Keep your eye out on Monday for a mega post filled with LOTS of cards.

Today over at Blogger's Challenge our theme is "All Stitched Up".  This gave me a great opportunity to dust off my little Janome and do some sewing.  At first my stitching was not straight but I decided to improvise and love how it turned out on my card.

I don't think I had ever inked up my Botanical Blooms set from Stampin' Up! and thought that this set would be great for what I had in mind.  At first I was thinking a Valentine's card, but went in the direction of love/anniversary instead.

I stamped my flower image twice and popped it up with dimensionals.  I added some pearls for the flower center to give it some elegance.

This is for a few challenges this week:

The Play Date Cafe Challenge

The Paper Player's Challenge 

Hope you will join us for Blogger's Challenge this week, can't wait to see what you stitch up.

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Card details:

Stamps: Botanical Blooms from Stampin' Up! and Mixed Messages from Paper Trey Ink

Cardstock: Basic Black, Dare to be a Diva Red, Gina K. White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black

Embellishments: Janome sewing, Stampin' Up! Basic pearl jewels, Kaisercraft Basic Pearls

Fantasy in Fall Combo

The other day I posted a card in which I used some scraps of this same color.  I originally began with the idea of doing the 10 minute craft dash using these colors but wanted to incorporate another challenge I had flagged with it, the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger challenge using the fabulous colors and design elements below (I love the colors & the little beaded leaves in the back).

I went with the CAS(E) this sketch but my circles turned out quite larger than the sketch, but I tried to stick to the design anyway.  So, anyway, in combining the challenges, my first card went over the 10 minutes, but A LOT!!  So I had to go back to the drawing board and it went smoother the 2nd time around.

This time around I used my punches instead of my dies and that seemed to get me going a bit quicker.  I guess I cheated a little since I had a practice card the first time around, but this time it still took me 9:27 to complete it.

Card details:

Stamps: Curly Cute from Stampin'Up!, Decor #4-2166 from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Crumb Cake

Inks: Crumb Cake

Embellishments: Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Amuse Creative Candy-Orange, Circle Punches and Dies

Congratulations Grad

I've also been busy making Graduation cards as well, need to get a couple more made by next week for a party we are attending where 3 of the boys all are graduating.

This was for Sydney's cheer coach who asked me to make a few cards for her, this was for her friend who is graduating from Georgia Southern.

I embossed the Congratulations sentiment and then the alphabet I stamped twice and cut one out and popped it up.  I didn't have a Prima flower to match so I colored it with my copic marker.

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday-we will be at the ball field, coming down to the last 2 weeks of baseball.

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Card details:

Stamps: Curly Cute by SU! and Boxes4ABC from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: True Blue Fan, Golden Tiara, Whisper White and Teresa Collins Carolina Breeze

Inks: Versamark, True Blue Fan, copic B39

Cardstock: gold embossing powder, prima flower, brads, swiss dots cuttlebug embossing powder, 3/4" circle punch