Thursday, April 30, 2009

365 Cards Day 61 & CP Sketch 12


I'm on a roll for doubling up challenges. I really hope that the challenges I'm doubling up on aren't mad at me for doing so. I don't know if there's a faux pau thing about combining challenges or not. I did go by one challenge blog and it specifically requested that cardmakers did NOT combine challenges and that kinda turned me off at bit so needless to say, I didn't add them to my favorites. Anyways today's doubling includes 365 Cards "Leaf it up to me" challenge to include a leaf or two on my card and Card Patterns Sketch 12. Now I started off trying to use scalloped circles but then realized after I cut up all my base that the scalloped circles are too big!!! I wonder if anyone else had the same problem... Or maybe they just have more supplies can were able to make smaller scalloped circles! Anyways I changed them over to squares and for some reason I had a scalloped edge strip in my mind when I kept looking back at the sketch. It was never there but in my mind, it totally was!! All the scalloped-ness is throwing me off my game! Anyways, the stamp set that includes some leafy-ness is Pocket Silouettes and the sentiment on the front is from Happiness Always. Both sets are from Stampin' Up. The inside sentiment is from Hero Arts. Hope you enjoy! 

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Fantastic SALE!!!

There's a fantastic sale over at Unity Stamp Company
  • 40% OFF Select Stamps
  • FREE Shipping on all orders! (Limited Time Only) Enter Code: CELEBRATE (all uppercase - case sensitive!)
  • For every $10 you spend this weekend, you get 1 FREE STAMP!
  • Order your April Kit of the Month and receive a FREE 8 1/2"x11" stamp storage solution!
Check it out!! 

365 Cards Day 60 & SFYTT


Wow it's not past midnight yet!! How amazing!! So here's another card doubling up on challenges. At the 365 Cards blog today's challenge was to say, "What!?" and include that on your card. I didn't have an ? or ! so I turned the I upside down and made due. The other challenge is over at i{heart}2stamp and it's Jen's SFYTT (Sketch For You To Try).  My little creature's name is Frozey and he's from DoodleFactory which I bought from Starving Artistamps. The letters are from Inkadinkado that I picked up at Michael's. The ribbon is from Costco and the eyelets and all the paper is from Stampin' Up! 

365 Cards Day 59 & Got Sketch 81

Another double trouble card today. There's just WAY too many challenges out there and for me to even attempt to do as many as I'd like, I need to combine!! So today at 365 Cards is to make an "I miss you" or something along those lines card. Today is also the very first time I've tried a sketch over at the Got Sketch blog which I found from the beloved and totally awesome Jennifer McGuire blog. Pop on over and try this absolutely GORGEOUS sketch because there's a good incentive!! Anywho, the paper I've used on my card tonite is from Basic Grey 6x6 Sultry pack. I LOVE this paper. I actually hand drew and cut out the little label thingee that the sentiment is sitting on because I had nothing that shape that was big enough to fit my sentiment!! So that's why it looks a bit scraggly. Also scraggly because it's late and I'm sleepy! G'nite! 

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

365 Cards Day 58 & Mojo Monday 84


So another late post for me tonite. It's been a busy day and I'm very very tired. So here's a short post. Today's challenge over at 365 Cards is to put at least one fishy image on your card. I combined it with Mojo Monday's sketch 84. The stamp set is from There She Goes called LOL Taglines (I think...) and the fish is from SU's retired Very Punny. Enjoy and g'nite!! 

Monday, April 27, 2009

365 Cards Day 57 & Color Inspiration 50



Well today's challenge over at 365 Cards is Super Sketchy Sunday. I've combined it with Kristina's 50th Color Inspiration challenge. I discovered Kristina's blog through my good friend Jinnee and I've been hooked ever since. Her style is so clean and slick and I love love love the cards that she makes. If you haven't been by her blog, pop and by and I'm sure you'll be hooked. Play long with the challenge as well if you have time because the prizes are GREAT. 

Tomorrow is my best friend Liz's 26th birthday and we're going on a shopping date! We've both been tight on cash lately with our HUGE mortgages so we've decided to keep it cheap this year. I wanted to make her a card and the whole reason I bought the teacher Anya stamp was because of her! Now I know she's Chinese and this Anya totally looks Caucasian but for Kristina's challenge, I couldn't use black!  The dew dots I used look a touch purple in the picture but they're definitely red in person. 
Now the inside of this card is NOT part of Kristina's challenge because I had to use black for the blackboard. Jamie came up with the idea and I LOVE IT! I should've been smarter about my equation on the black board but oh well... And another thing about the front of this card. I couldn't figure out how big to cut the middle square so I had to ask Jamie what's the smartest way and can you believe we had to bust out PYTHAGOREAM'S THEROM?!?!?! Anyways, I just thought it was funny that I had to use a part of my brain that I haven't used in a LONG time to make this card. Happy 26th Birthday Liz!! (and no, you're not that old.... yet..)



Sunday, April 26, 2009

365 Cards Day 56 & My Time to Color #1


I've done another double-up card today . It combines today's 365 Card challenge and Lauren over is having her very first My Time to Color Challenge! Today's challenge over at the 365 Cards blog was to create a card for "See Through Saturday" using arylic. When I first read this, I was starting to panic because I don't have any acrylic sheets and thought, "Oh here it goes, I have to miss a challenge."
 
But I went waltzing into the living room asking Jamie and my friend if they have noticed any sort of packaging laying around that I could use that was see through. 
Low and behold Jamie produces this little flash drive that he had picked up for me! 
Can you believe a 4GB flash drive is only $10 now?!?!?! Ridiculous!! 

Anyways so I hacked away at the package and took the back of the package to make the front of my card. The inking isn't the greatest on the flower from SU's Petal Pizzazz but I tried! 
There's a hint of yellow in the center of the flower and also on the inside. The paper is from SU and the letters are from Basic Grey. Hope everyone has a great Sunday! I gotta work tomorrow so I better get to bed. G'nite!! 

Friday, April 24, 2009

365 Cards Day 55

Wow wow wow.. I can't believe it's only 7:21 pm!!! How insane is this?!?!?! I think it's because 1/2 the thinking was done for me for this card!! Today's challenge over at 365 Cards was a card recipe. The recipe is as follows: 
5x5 card (solid colored card stock - may be smooth or textured)
4x4 patterned paper (you may alter the edges if you'd like)
1 shape (circle, square, star, heart, etc.) - must be solid color
3 jewels
alpha stickers

I used Elegant Eggplant and the patterned paper is from a paper pack I got from Costco. I have no idea what the name is because I threw out the box. The letters are actually rub ons from the dollar store. The 4x4 sheet I cut into two. I don't know if that is technically not following the recipe but it's still a 4x4 sheet I promise! The little circle shape I just embossed with more circles and the little corner has 3 purple jewels to finish it off! Simple and sweet! 

Debbie's AMAZING Blog Candy


Debbie is giving out some AMAZING blog candy on her blog Passion For Crafts. It's her one year anniversary and she's celebrating by being super generous and giving back (even though she's shared lots with us already!). Swing by her blog for a chance to enter!! 

365 Cards Day 54, Mojo 83 & OCC Challenge

Hope everyone had a good Earth Day. Today's card was made for 365 Cards Recycled Elements, OCC's Get Ready To Recycle, and Mojo Monday 83. I was walking around my house looking for something to use an saw a chipboard tag on my new suitcase! It even had matching ribbon to use! So those two were my recycled items. I just covered the tag with some patterned paper from K&Company and got to use my Basic Grey Precision File Set. I LOVE it!! Works way way better than a regular nail file. You can't really see the sentiment in the picture but it's from SU's Elegant Cheer. The white also has a clear embossed background that you absolutely cannot see in the picture.

Now I haven't taken a picture of Khuno for a while and it was his 1st birthday on the 18th! I was trying to get him to look at the camera except he decided to YAWN!! So I caught him mid yawn and boy does he look SCARY. I just thought these two pics are so funny cuz it's "SCARY ATTACKING DOG!!" then it's "OMG CUTE FLUFFY WHITE DOG" lol.  Khuno really is a nice dog. Don't be scared by his looks!! 






Wednesday, April 22, 2009

365 Cards Day 53 & Laura's Sketch 24

It's another combo day for me so I've combined 365 Cards Fun With Fruit challenge and Laura's Sketch 24. I tried to do the scratch and sniff card for the orange and it totally didn't work. Then I decided to look at the ingredients in the Kool-aid I bought and even though for the instructions to make it, you need to add 1 WHOLE CUP OF SUGAR! there was still sugar in the ingredients. So needless to say, I wasted an entire container of clear embossing powder because I mixed my orange, cherry and grape Kool-aids before actually trying it out first. Now I'm not sure if you can read the saying but it says "orange you cute" from the cute One Smart Cookie set from SU and the main orange is from the Tart and Tangy set which I inked for the first time today! Anyways I'm off to bed. G'nite! 

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

365 Cards Day 52

Oh my goodness will you look at the time!?!??! It's only 10:54 pm!!! I'm simply amazed that it's not 1 am!! So it's a Tuesday Trio Challenge over at 365 Cards today and the trio of items was brad, blossom and circle. I've wanted to make one of these distressed circle flowers ever since I saw it for the first time on a blog that I don't remember anymore. Now I know this card looks ridiculously simple and it'd take me 5 minutes to recreate it but boy did it take long to figure out what to put my gimongous "blossom" on a card. I went back and forth between a LOT of things. Anywhoo the flower didn't turn out as cute as I remember on the blog that I saw it on but overall I'm happy with the color scheme. Now if I can crawl into bed before midnight I'll be a happy stamper! G'nite! 

365 Cards Day 51


Wahhhoooooo!! Day 9 out of 9 baby!! I know it's definitely cutting into my sleep time but it feels so darn good to keep going with the challenges at 365 Cards. Today's challenge is a "Picture It" challenge where you make a card that is inspired by this picture. When I saw the picture I immediately thought of the Fifth Avenue Florals stamp set from SU. Let me know what you think. Too tacky of a card??? I have no idea why but I actually cut slits in the Riding Hood Red and slid the Whisper White in. You totally can't tell and it was extra work so I'm not really sure why I did it. Then I felt the need to add something to the red strip but I already glued it down so the only thing I could think of was sparkly bling or 1/2 pearls. I figured the sparkly bling might make it more tacky than it already is! And those flowers were actually watercolored this time rather than blender pen'ed and let me tell you. Cutting those babies out on 140lb paper is TOUGH. Anyways time for bed!! 

Monday, April 20, 2009

365 Cards Day 50

Boy it's once again, REALLY late!!! I was really hoping to get into bed by 11:00 but as I was about to post quickly, Jamie went and played around with the internet connection and we lost it for a good while. Now this will be a quick post because I know Arlie is going to scold me for not getting into bed early!! I'm 8 for 8 so far on the 365 Card challenges!! Today's (well technically yesterday) challenge is Super Sketchy Sunday. I actually had a rough time with this one because I just couldn't get it to look nice!! And the two little 1/2 ovals on either end were really hard to incorporate for me so I ended up using some Crystal Effects and making little blobs of it covered with Dazzling Diamond glitter. That's all for tonite folks! G'nite!! 

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Lemonade Stand Award!!

I wanted to start off this blog by sharing some very exciting news. So not only was it my first time getting picked for a card of the week but four extremely crafty ladies have given me my very first award!!! I feel extremely honored and lucky because I just stumbled onto the 365 Cards blog a little over a week ago and I already feel like I have found a new home with this wonderful group of ladies. So I wanted to send a HUGE thank you shout out to Rose of My Happy Place, Maz  of Nature's Workshop, Pam of Mackenzie Mae Designs/365 Cards, and Amy of Tsuruta Designs for giving me the Lemonade Stand Award. 
This award is for a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude. Not the easiest qualities to find nowadays and I'm truly very honored that not one, but TWO people think I possess these wonderful qualities. 
Now there are rules to this this cool award and they're easy: 
1. Comment on this blog.
2. Copy the award logo for your own blog.
3. Nominate 5-10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude. 
4. Link to your nominees within your blog post.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they've received the award.
6. Lastly, link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation. 

So here is my list of nominees: 
1. Regan- For being a great friend, actually read my blog, and always leaves her mark with great comments. 
2. Cynthia- For always encouraging comments that are never just a one or two worder. 
3. Rianne- For a ridiculously yummy blog full of ideas and recipes shared. 
4. Silke- For providing me with the most AMAZING inspirations and being one of the most helpful and friendly bloggers I've met so far. 
5. Julee- For her great stamps, Mojo Mondays,and the fact that with a zillion Mister Linkies to go through, she still manages to leave wonderful comments when she stops by your blog. 
Hopefully you all continue to pass along this award. 

Next I would like to give a big THANK YOU to Kristie of The Kristie Sessions for giving me the Karma Award. The Karma Award: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.



365 Cards Day 49


First off I'd like to say I'm very very tired and I'm SUPER EXCITED that I was chosen as one of the favorites this week on 365 Cards for Scor-It Week. Thanks for the huge honor!! This card is for the final card of the week. It's an accordion card and nwo that I look at the picture I realized I took it before I managed to trim the ribbon down!! Anyways I wanted to thank all the wonderful ladies over at 365 blogs. Their comments have been awesome and I haven't made a card every single day for a week straight EVER! Hopefully I can keep going because I'm really loving it! But as I mentioned earlier, I'm exhausted so off to bed I go! 

Saturday, April 18, 2009

365 Cards Day 48

Boy I'm starting to fall behind on these challenges over at 365 Cards. Today's (well really yesterday's but it took me way longer than I thought to make the darn thing) challenge was to score a pattern and there are some amazing cards done on their blog. I wanted to do a card by just scoring a framed border. I really wanted to have better sentiment but realized that I don't make birthday cards very often. You can't tell from the picture but the sentiment is embossed with Basic Gray and Iridescent Ice from SU.

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Florals and Sincere Salutations (SU)
Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock in Whisper White and Soft Sky
Accessories:  Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Iridescent Ice embossing powder both from SU
Supplies: blender pen, two-way glue pen, SU markers, heat gun, Versamark 

Friday, April 17, 2009

365 Cards Day 47 & Color Throwdown 38


Ok this is getting ridiculous!! I'm so unbelieveably (can't spell either) addicted to 365 cards that it's starting to affect my well-being!! I'm losing loads and loads of sleep!! So here's my card to officially make me 5/5!! Yay!!! And with this card I used colors from this week's Color Throwdown!  It wasn't easy, let me tell you! I used my beloved Anya and came up with the idea in the shower! I'm not sure if anyone would notice but I colored the cup and pill red and blue to do a play on the "red pill blue pill" scenario that is super cliche! I also got to use my newest favorite DSP A Walk In The Park from SU. That's enough writing though, I gotta get me some sleep!! TGIF!! 






Stamps: Nusre Anya (The Greeting Farm), Thoughts and Prayers (SU), Roller (I don't even remember the name right now from SU)
Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock in Basic Gray, Ruby Red and DSP A Walk In The Park (SU), watercolor paper
Accessories: none
Supplies: blender pen

Thursday, April 16, 2009

365 Cards Day 46 & Mojo Monday Week 82


Well I can't believe I'm 4/4 since I started this. It's already 1 am and I'm absolutely EXHAUSTED!! Good thing I don't work early tomorrow and can sleep in for a couple hours. Definitely wouldn't call it catching up though. I was just telling Jamie these 5-6 hour nights of sleep are killing me! Anyways I'm absolutely hooked still on 365 Cards.  Here's my take on the matchbook card. I combined it with the Mojo Monday Week 82 sketch.  I hope you like it!! 

Stamps: Friends 24/7 (SU)
Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock in Basic Black, Cameo Coral, and Whisper White; DSP from SU
Accessories: Silver Brads (SU)
Supplies: Scalloped edge punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig
P.S. I know it's also a Wednesday but I didn't want to post this as a WUAC Wednesday post as well. The main thing about WUAC Wednesdays was to get me off my butt to make a card and I've already  made one today so my goal is met =) Bedtime!! 

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

365 Cards Day 45


I'm super impressed with myself!! I've been 3 for 3 so far since I started making cards for 365 Cards Challenges.  Today's challenge was to make a trifold card. I haven't made one of these yet and I followed the tutorial found on Tammy's blog but I found the card a touch skinny so I wasted some cardstock and rescored my card at 2 1/4" and 6 1/4". 
I know the extra 1/4" doesn't seem like much but it makes the card feel just wide enough to make me not notice the skinny-ness. 


Anywhooo, I am quite happy with how little Ian turned out from The Greeting Farm. It's the first time I got to use my Hello Ian stamp and I'm so glad I decided to buy him. I stamped him in Staz On on watercolor paper and colored him with a blender pen an Classic SU ink. I also stamped him again on patterned paper and cut his hat and scarf out. The hat is popped up a bit even though you can't tell in the picture. Finished off the card with some satin ribbon from SU (love love love it) and some silver brads and pewter large eyelets all from SU. 


And once again, thanks to all the ladies that stopped by and left comments. Everyone's kind words absolutely warms my heart an makes me feel all bubbly inside. Makes me want to keep pumping out cards just so I can read more comments!! 

Stamps: Hello Ian (The Greeting Farm)
Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black and DSP from SU, watercolor paper
Accessories: Satin Ribbon, Eyelet, Brads (All SU)
Supplies: Crop-a-dile, ticket corner punch, blender pen

Monday, April 13, 2009

365 Cards Day 44 & Color Throwdown #37


My oh my, I thought I was a night owl but the team at 365 Cards is just as late as me! As I mentioned in my very first 365 Card creation, I am very excited that I found a blog that has a different challenge EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! Where they come up with ideas, I have no clue but I definitely find this blog different than many of the others. The main difference for myself is most challenge blogs host a challenge once a week or once every other week. This gives procrastinators like myself a load of time to push it back and keep pushing until the time limit is up and Mister Linky is closed. The difference with 365 Cards is I don't have slack time to play around with!! If I don't muster up a card for that days challenge, I'll fall behind because there'll be a new one up the very next day!! And in this case, within the next 12 hours or so!! I feel like I'm in school where I can't miss a day because I'll fall behind and never be able to catch up! So that's why I'm up till the wee hours of 1 am just so I could finish my money holder! If you can't actually read what the sentiment says, here it is. The front says "
Shopping with your husband is like hunting with the game warden." And on the inside I typed up "Take this money instead and buy yourself something nice." and printed it on white cardstock. 

This card also used the colors of this week's Color Throwdown. Boy was it hard to just have the 3 colors to work with and all 3 colors were on the lighter side. 


Now I know you may all be thinking "TEN BUCKS?? What a cheapo!" I just want to say that I only used the $10 bill because of the color contrast!! A nice pink $50 would have looked great but I definitely don't have any of those floating around these days. Anywhooo off to bed! 


P.S. Thanks to all the ladies that stopped by from the 365 Card team and leaving such lovely comments. I can't wait to keep playing and being inspired by you gals! 


Stamps: Park Avenue Patterns (SU), LOL Taglines (There She Goes)
Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock in Sage Shadow, Pink Pirouette, Cameo Coral
Accessories: Sage Shadow Grograin Ribbon (SU)
Supplies: Coluzzle, corner rounder, dimensionals, embossing powder, heat gun, stamp-a-ma-jig

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Color Inspiration 49 & CPS 111

I've been trying REALLY hard to get the card making mojo a kick in the butt because lately I've only been posting once a week for WUAC Wednesdays. Here's my attempt at Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge tagged along with Card Positioning Systems 111 sketch. 

I wanted to fit in the 4 squares but just didn't have enough room. And why not make the card longer you might ask? Because then I'd have to make an envelope to match!! 

Anywhooo, wishing everyone a Happy Easter (again..) =)

365 Cards Day 43 Challenge

So as I was surfing the web a few days ago (because I had soooo much extra time on my hands....) and came across this fantastic blog called 365 Cards.  I absolutely love making cards for challenges because to be completely honest, I just don't have the creativity to sit down and come up with my own sketches, color combos etc etc. The most awesomest (not a word I know but it sounds cool) part of the blog is that there's a new challenge EVERY SINGLE DAY!! If it was new years when I discovered this blog, my resolution would be to take part in every single challenge. But alas, it's April and it's not resolution time =) 

So today's challenge was to make a gift card holder. How perfect is that?? I was going to make them at my open house a few weekends ago but decided against it in the end so I whipped up this one for the challenge. I know the stamping isn't the greatest but it's Easter Sunday.... So lets all forget about the nitty gritty-ness of cardmaking and as the card says, "Enjoy"! The template I used can be found HERE.  Now I know the tutorial uses the Scor-pal rather than a Scor-it but I don't have a Scor-it and the more I read about a Scor-it the more I want one. I really do find it troublesome to have the premeasured score lines on the Scor-Pal. If the Scor-it is as easy to use as the Scor-pal but yet allows me to score at whatever intervals I want, I'm SOLD. Hopefully the random number pulls me out of the hat!! 
Happy Easter everyone! 

Cuttlebug Challenge Spa Weekend!

I found the Cuttlebug Challenge blog some time ago but had never participated in a challenge simply because I don't have a Cuttlebug! Hopefully that'll change with this awesome 1st Anuual Spa Retreat! This spa retreat prize list is INCREDIBLE!!  Entering is super easy and and spreading the word is even easier!!! Visit the site for more details! This is definitely one blog candy you do NOT want to miss!! **Fingers crossed**