Family Cards

I'm trying to be better blogger, which is proving difficult since my wireless network card is on the fritz, so I thought I'd share a couple of family occasion cards. First, my cousin is living in New York looking for a job in the fashion industry. She ended up in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy two weeks ago. She has friends there, of course, but no family remotely close by and was feeling a little lonesome. She loves her coffee so I thought a card and some free Starbucks would cheer her up. The colors are from the (small) gift card I sent her. Super quick and easy. Took me longer to clean up my area to take a picture than it did to make the card.

Next up, my uncle got married this past weekend. It was a very pretty wedding in my aunt's (not the same couple, my mom is the oldest of 7 kids) backyard. I have to confess that I actually made this card for a Paper Crafts call, although now I can't quite remember what the specifics were. I liked it and thought it would be great for an outdoor wedding.

There ya go. Some random cards from me. :) Today is my little sister's birthday so maybe there'll be something new here tomorrow! :) I hope so, anyway! Not really sure what I'm gonna make her just yet. Also random, I am totally trying these Mocha Cream Cheese Phyllo Triangles sometime this week. Anyone wanna visit?

Perk Up card: Stamps - Waltzingmouse Stamps Frame It, GinaK My Cuppa Joe, Crafty Secrets Coffee and Tea

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - PTI Aqua Mist and Stamper's Select White, Basic Grey Urban Prairie, Nook and Pantry, and Origins 6x6 collections

Growing in Unity card: Stamps - Unity Growing in Unity, Eco Chic

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa, Ranger Distress Ink Vintage Photo

Paper - PTI Rustic White, Stamper's Select White, Dark Chocolate

Other - Copics (been too long for me to know which ones, sorry!), scissors, PTI woodgrain impression plate, PTI small scallop border, Martha Stewart blush seam binding, Marvy Mega circle punch, sponge, PTI Ripe Avocado button, SU linen thread, pop dots

CPS, GinaK, and Old Paper

I actually did a CPS sketch before the deadline! Yay! I combined it with the Emboss Resist technique challenge on StampTV. Yay! :) This is for CPS Sketch:199.

It's a cute sketch. I didn't round the corners because I was afraid with the big scallops on the blossom die that it would be too many curves, but now I think I should have. I don't heat emboss much anymore because I have issues with it warping my cardstock. Pretty sure this is user error. You can't emboss resist without it, though, so I pulled out my SU Irridescent Ice, Versamark, and the butterfly from GinaK's Take Flight. No warping, but I think I still managed to overheat it because the right side of the butterfly wasn't very sparkly. I die cut it with the largest die in the Nestabilities Blossom set. After sponging it with Memento Grape Jelly and Lulu Lavender I added a smidge of stickles to balance the shimmer back out.

Now, I'm not a super purple person. I like it. I like to wear it. I just don't create with it because I have a hard time finding colors that look good with it. I pulled out severals papers from my mountain o'papers and decided on this one from the Basic Grey Lily Kate collection (making it older than my first child). Very springy, but I hope not easter eggish. The sentiment is from My Cuppa Joe. Stamped it in Grape Jelly on a kraft strip and punched the ends with a square punch to make notches and glued everything down with the pink ATG gun my mom gave me. That's pretty much it. :)

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Take Flight, My Cuppa Joe

Ink: Versamark, Memento Grape Jelly, Lulu Lavender

Paper: PTI kraft cardstock, Georgia-Pacific white cardstock, Basic Grey Lily Kate paper

Other: Stampin' Up! Irridescent Ice embossing powder, Spellbinders Blossom Nestabilities die, Stardust Stickles, sponge daubers, craft knife, square punch

Tuesday Trigger

I got to play this week's Tuesday Trigger challenge! Isn't this a great inspiration piece! I love the vignetting in the photograph and the monochromatic feel.

I don't have any spooky stamps, but I think it works on a birthday card. Yeah, I guess I do have a slightly dark sense of humor to make a birthday card inspired by a graveyard. :)

The vines were made with a Tim Holtz mask that I bought (under $3) after seeing a card Melanie Muenchinger made with it on her blog. That was over 6 months ago and this is my first time to use it. (Yes, I'm lame like that.) Love the effect! You just stick it down and sponge over it. (I use an art sponge cut in quarters on things like this and save the sponge daubers for cards that need smoother results.) The butterfly from GinaK Hope Is Faith is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics then sprayed with Vanilla Smooch Spray for a subtle shimmer.

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Hope Is Faith, Sew Pretty (sentiment)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Soot Black

Paper - Papertrey Ink Soft Stone, True Black, Georgia-Pacific White (for coloring)

Other - Copics (B000, C0, C1, C3, N5, C7), Cutterbee scissors, Vanilla Smooch Spritz, Tim Holtz mask, sponge

Double Challenge Cards

So I'm back on a spending freeze. I have a couple of planned purchases, but, otherwise, back on the wagon. Jaala (The Witch Crafts) started one and I decided to jump back in with her. No craft shopping until we make 50 projects. She came up with the added rule that if it isn't blogged, sent, or given away it doesn't count. Oh my! That definitely complicates things! You may be seeing lots more of me in the near future. I really like to shop. :) On that note, I got to make a couple of double challenge cards! Always fun to kill two birds with one stone. Well, metaphorically anyway.

The first card uses the StampTV color challenge: red, chartreuse, and black. It's very striking. Remember me posting that Melanie Muenchinger was giving one of her new stamp sets away on her blog a few weeks ago? I won! I've been itching to use it and have other things I had to finish up. Splitcoast has a Hope You Can Cling To challenge to use something old and something new. Obviously, the stamps are new and I'm pretty sure everything else is at least a year old. Now, I will admit, I'm not that awesome at 2 step stamping. I need to just play with this set to really get a good feel for it. I love it, though, and I can't wait to try another card with it. I did stamp the flowers on a cardstock scrap so I could get the placement right this time. And so I didn't have to be super careful coloring. ;) On the jar, I outlined the glass with B000 and then tried to color in some water with C0. I'm not sure about the water. It seems like it should be there, but doesn't look right. Thoughts?

The second card is for the StampTV sketch challenge and the Hope You Can Cling To challenge to make a vintage card. I love this stamp set. Love. It. I had fun coloring her dress. I don't own a lot of pink Copics so I don't do a lot of pink coloring, but I tried R00, R20, and R22 and it worked pretty well! Isn't this a cute sketch? I might try it again sometime!

Floral Jar Card: Stamps - GinaK Buds and Vases

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - Stampin' Up! Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Georgia-Pacific White

Other - Copics (R22, R24, R29, YG03, YG06, YG09, YG95, B000, C0, Y15), Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, pop dots

Sew Vintage card: Stamps - GinaK Sew Pretty

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Charcoal, Distress Ink Tattered Rose

Paper - Georgia-Pacific white, Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush, Soft Stone, Stampin' Up! Basic Gray, Basic Grey Bittersweet

Other - Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush button, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Nestabilities Ovals and Scalloped Ovals dies, sponge

Heart to heart Card Drive and Happy October!

Happy October everyone! It's my birthday today! Lunch with all my guys, free mocha toffee frap, and lots of birthday messages and calls makes for a very nice day. I'm hoping to get a little crafting in tonight, too! We'll see, though. I kind of miss sleep. ;)

Speaking of crafting, you need to make a card for Carolyn King's Heart to Heart card drive. Carolyn lost her grandmother to Alzheimer's a few years ago and has a card drive to honor Alzheimer's caregivers. They need appreciation and recognition! It is exhausting caring for someone with Alzheimer's. There is a huge prize as well.

My grandmother passed away from Alzheimer's this year. Her care progressed from her just needing to be driven places, to having my brother live with her to be sure she took her medicine and didn't fall, to full time supervision. It took a lot of energy from a lot of people to take care of her. I miss her. A lot. Her birthday is coming up and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than by thanking the people who are helping patients and family members walk this road. I've made three cards so far and I'm hoping to make several more. I'll take them to the nursing home where Grandmommy was living, but Carolyn provides an address and even a sample note if you don't know where to send a card or what to say.

My card details are very simple. The first card uses the Clean and Simple challenge sketch from Splitcoaststampers this week. The fabulous pumpkin is from a set that Carolyn designed in honor of her grandmother and she donates her proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association. (She rocks. And she's super fun, too. I know, I got to meet her once.)
The second card I made from old mail. The flower is torn from the base of a card my kids destroyed and the the leaf is torn from the cover of a jewelry catalog. I inked the edges, glued the layers together, and added some stickles and dew drops. Dawn McVey has an awesome tutorial on making flowers like this (much better than this).

Go make a card for Carolyn's card drive and head to her blog. You might win an amazingly huge prize and you will definitely make someone happy. Complete win.

Pumpkin Card Supplies:
Stamps - GinaK Designs Whimsical Autumn, Thanks a Million
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa, Tuxedo Black
Paper - Papertrey Ink kraft, Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Georgia-Pacific white
Other - Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Orange Zest button, twine, Nestabilities Scalloped Rectangle, Copics

Flower Card Supplies:
Stamps - GinaK Designs Inside and Out
Ink - Palette Burnt Umber, Stampin' Up! Tangerine Tango, Old Olive
Paper - Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate, orange and green scraps
Other - Dew drops, Stickles, Papertrey Ink Large Scallop Border, green grosgrain

The Unpublishable!

It's coming right for you! Run, run for your lives! It's...the Unpublishable! Cue B horror movie music. Yes, I do amuse myself. Thanks for noticing. ;) I just had a card published and it was super exciting! And it was on my first try even! Since then, however, I've been submitting and not having any success. But that's ok! I love the cards I've been making (well, mostly) and I learn something everytime I go through the submission process. And I'm really excited to share these rejected cards because I think they're pretty cute. And I bet you've made some pretty cute cards that haven't turned out to be contest winners, or published in magazines, or maybe haven't even gotten many comments. So let's all stop being mean to ourselves and saying things like "Oh, I'm not very good."It's just not true.

This sweet little reject was made for the Cards: All Occasions call. I was trying to come up with an unusual color combo. I like these colors together. SU's Basic Gray and Old Olive, PTI Hawaiian Shores, and some incredibly heavy base weight GinaK Ivory. The butterfly was stamped on PTI white and colored with Copics then trimmed out. I ran a black marker around the edges at the suggestion of a friend, but I don't think I will do it often. I totally get why you should do it, but I don't have a very steady hand for that kind of thing and it just seems fraught with peril. The grey (or gray, I guess, since that's how they spell it) is scored with a Scor-Pal. I love doing this! GinaK has a great tutorial on StampTV. Basically, you place the cardstock on your scoreboard with two corner points on the same line and score at 1/2 inch intervals across the cardstock. Flip it so the opposite two corner points are on the same line and score again creating the diamonds. I matted the gray with the Hawaiian Shores. The olive border is the SU open scallop border punch. I stamped 'thank you' on a strip of olive and cut out the notch with a square punch. I only adhered the straight side so it looks a little bit more like a flag banner. I thought about sewing it but was too lazy/nervous. I've had great success sewing on paper and horrible failures and since I was stamping this the night of the deadline I didn't want to risk it. The butterfly is popped up on pop dots. I'm almost out of those things. Must get more.

Anyway, there you have it! Look for more rejected cards coming soon! :)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Hope is Faith, Inside and Out
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - GinaK Pure Luxury base weight Ivory, Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Basic Gray, Papertrey Ink Stampers Select White (for coloring)
Other - Copics (BG10, BG45, BG48), Stampin' Up! Border Punch, Scor-Pal, Square Punch, pop dots

Clean and Simple Coffee

Say what? Two posts from me in one day? The insanity! ;) But I really wanted to make another card for the design team challenge at GinaK this time. And I know it's simple, but I love this card.

So the challenge is a favorite fall memory. This one is from October 2005, post-Hurricane Rita. We lived in Beaumont at the time and were very blessed. We evacuated with family, had places to stay, and, while we suffered some damage, our house was pretty much intact. Two houses down the whole place was crushed. Our yard and patio were wrecked, but that was just fine considering! Jeff did get to leave with us, but had to come back to the tv station the day after the storm hit. It was two weeks before I made it home and that's still the longest we've been apart. (A big thank you to all the military families and other families that deal with long absences for their jobs. I know two weeks is nothing to some of you and I hate that.) It was a very hot October and of course no one had power but I was so ready to be back! A cold front came through that night and we sat on the porch the next morning eating chocolate croissants and some self-heating mochas I had brought back with me so thankful to see each other, have a home, and feel an autumn breeze. Who cares if there are so many tree branches in your driveway you can't see the car parked there when you're eating pastries with the love of your life. ;) Guess who's getting this card? :)

There's not much 'splaining to do for this. I stamped the mug from Warm Winter Wishes, die cut it, left it in the die and sponged it with the blue. Then I stamped the mug again on a cardstock scrap, colored it with copics, cut it out, and glued it on. I am obsessed with cutting out the white in the handle for some reason so I just make a quick x-acto cut on the straight side and then use fine tip scissors to finish it. I grabbed a large green scrap and impressed it with my PTI woodgrain impression plate. I stamped the sentiment after impressing it and glued it all down.

Please look at all the wonderful entries on Gina's blog! Thanks for looking! (Oh, and you can still comment on my blog candy through Tuesday!)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Warm Winter Wishes, Thanks a Million

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise

Paper - Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Stampin' Up! Kiwi Kiss, Georgia-Pacific White (die cut and mug)

Other - Nestabilities Labels One, Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Copics (YR02, YR04, YR07, R22, R24, R29, E35)

Pumpkins, Apples, and Cheese

Do you ever have a crazy idea that no matter all the better ideas you come up with you absolutely must choose the crazy one? It's Design Team challenge time at GinaK and this month's challenge is to make a card of a favorite fall memory. I LOVE fall! I love sweaters, I love cider, I love back to school (which comes in summer now, but still feels like fall). My birthday is in fall, Renaissance Festival is in fall, Thanksgiving, the High Holy Days, all in fall! I've been to Israel twice in the fall and Disneyworld twice. Then there's the kids. My son just turned 1. He's technically a very end of summer baby. But much like back to school, it feels like a fall event. And the feeling is what's important with memory anyway, right? Choosing the birth of my second child as my favorite fall memory is not crazy. Using my handwriting and a cheesetastic pun is. :)

I love a good pun. I really do. And I think it's genetic because my mother does, too. I'm not at all sure this qualifies as a good pun, but I could not shake it! And when inspiration strikes after midnight I try not to argue too much. ;) The sweet onesie is, of course, from Wee Tees. I cannot tell you how much I love that set. I'm ready for a companion set, Melanie. Just when you have time. :) I colored it with green and red Copics. The apple is from Whimsical Autumn. Thank you, Cammie for making a single apple! I colored the apple on scratch paper and cut it out. That way I don't have to be careful when coloring the onesie. It's the lazy way. I'm all about that, hehe. The pumpkins are from the Signs of Autumn set. Love them. They made me buy this set. Everything else is in it is fabulous too, but the pumpkins sang the siren song. The handwriting is, sigh, mine. I bought a craft book once called Love Your Handwriting, but it apparently only works if you practice, which if I'm going to keep doing I need more than one decent pen. But I do love my goofy, cheesy little card. Not nearly as much as my little fall fellow, though. ;)

Do yourself a favor and check out all the entries in this challenge. There is some gorgeous stuff! You can see everything on Gina's blog. I might even have a chance to make a card for one of those other memories. :) Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Whimsical Autumn, Signs of Autumn, Wee Tees

Paper - Papertrey Ink Kraft, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Georgia-Pacific White (for coloring)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie

Other - Copics (YG03, YG06, YG09, R22, R24, R29), Copic Multiliner 0.5 mm

Huzzah!

I won GinaK again! Yay! There's something about finding out you won free stamps that just brightens your day. :) Last week there was a challenge on StampTV to make a winter - Christmas - Holiday card using just your scraps. Perfect. I'm trying to use up the huge vortex of scraps that I have anyway. (I just told my neighbor if she ever needs ribbon to come to my house before she goes to Hobby Lobby.) Anyway, this is the card I made and it was randomly chosen to win! Happy day!

Love this lady. She reminds me of my grandmother when I was little for some reason. Spunky. With a funny apron. I have no idea what possessed me to color her hair auburn when my card is red or what possessed me to color her sweater red. Red is only behind black in the hardest for me to color race. But oh well. I used Copics, of course.

The leaves were already on my table from a project I did a month or so ago. Yeah, I clean my table on a bi-monthly schedule or when everything starts jumping off. I think pompoms are grandma fabulous. So are pipe cleaners. They needed some stickles. My stickles have been getting a lot more love since I started my stamp spending freeze. (I'm on 25/50 cards plus 3 altered items! yay!) The felt leaves are held in place with scor-tape. LOVE scor-tape. I'm buying 2 or 3 rolls of it next time! Pompoms are on a glue dot. I colored the rhinestones olive green with copics. Very clean and simple, totally from scraps, making it got me a new stamp set. SCORE.

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Sew Pretty, Warm Winter Wishes

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Old Olive

Paper: Stampin' Up! Riding Hood Red, kraft (now Crumb Cake), Georgia Pacific White Cardstock

Accessories: Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, Stampin' Up! Modern Label Punch, rhinestones, Copics (I don't remember which ones, sorry!), hand cut felt leaves, red pompoms, Stardust Stickles, Scor-tape, Glue Dots, Pop dots

Summer Memories with GinaK

It's time for another GinaK design team challenge! This month's challenge is to use any GinaK stamp set and make a card inspired by a favorite summer memory. Wow, so many memories jumped into my head! So hard to focus, so hard to choose! The summer Jeff proposed? The night on the Sea of Galilee when they turned the lights off on the boat and it was just the sound of the water and the light of the stars and you could completely believe it was two thousand years ago? My sister's first steps? Taking our kids to the pool for the first time? Brain overload!!!

As I stared at my stamp table, hovering over my supplies not knowing what to grab, I started thinking about summers at my grandparents' house at the lake. We swam, made ice cream, got to eat in front of the tv, play in the dirt, and my grandmother had a prize box under her bed! It was heaven. My grandmother was an excellent baker. Not the fancy Martha Stewart kind of baker, but the old-fashioned, church cookbook kind of baker. Toll house cookies, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, and more! Yummy. She always let me help. When you are 4 that is a very big deal. It's the simple things, right? And thus, this simple card.

The stamps are Melanie's Have a Cookie set. I inked them in Memento ink and colored with copics. I used a glue pen on the hearts and a quick sprinkle of Martha Stewart pink glitter. My grandparents had wood panelling in their house so I used the PTI woodgrain impression plate with kraft cardstock and rubbed it with Tim Holtz distress ink for the background. Finish it off with punches and some piercing on the scallops and it's a clean and simple card.

There are some awesome entries in this DT challenge hop. Best wishes to everyone, you all inspire me! Thank you, Gina, for issuing the challenge (and for letting us use any stamps this time, you are always awesome!) I enjoyed this trip down memory lane. I miss my grandparents a lot. Granddaddy passed away when I was 8 (on Father's Day) and Grandmommy finally went to meet him this year. She had Alzheimers and a couple of strokes so it was a long time coming. It's good to think about the sweet and simple things. :)

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Have a Cookie
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo
Paper: Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Dark Chocolate, Georgia-Pacific White, Stampin' Up! Kraft
Accessories: Copic markers (E30, C0, C1, C3), Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, sponge, Marvy Mega Circle Punch, Marvy Giga Scallop Circle Punch, Paper Piercer, Pop Dots, Quickie Glue Pen, Martha Stewart Kunzite Pink Glitter

Card Patterns and Glitter

This past weekend was a new Ginak release which means lots of challenges. Challenges with prizes. I'm highly motivated to stamp when there are free stamps on the line. ;) I didn't win, but I still had fun and got some cards made. So it's kind of like I won. :)

My awesome friend Lee (no, really, she's been to my house!) issued the challenge to completely cover your main image with something - microbeads, glitter, diamond glaze, whatever. Lee loves glitter so I had to go with that. I could have made it uber-Lee, and gone with pink glitter, but that would have been weird.


The sketch is from Card Patterns. Isn't it pretty? This is my first time to do one of their sketches, but it definitely won't be the last! The design team has gorgeous samples! You should check it out.

The yummy paper is from Basic Grey's Origins 6x6. I love it! I hope they come out with fabric from this line. It would make all kinds of awesome tote bags, aprons, pillows, etc. Ooh, and Origins skirt. Love it! The pretty ribbon is some that I scavenged from a wedding (thanks Andrea!). The butterfly is colored with Copics and glittered all up with Martha Stewart glitter. My mom got me the sampler pack a couple of years ago, glitter city! Tons of colors! This is good old clear, but not because I didn't have the choice. I stamped a few leaves on vanilla cardstock, die cut it with a blossom nestability, and sponged it with yellow ink. The sentiment is stamped on vanilla cardstock and sponged with SU Old Olive ink. The notch is cut with a square punch. Got that tip from Nichole Heady's blog. Oh, the pearl is a white pearl colored with Copics. Cool, huh? I think Tina Gilliland posted that tip on StampTV. Never have the wrong color pearls again. :)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Take Flight, Masculine Messages, A Year of Flowers
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Barely Banana
Paper - Papertrey Ink kraft, Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla, Georgia-Pacific White, Basic Grey Origins
Accessories - Copics, sponge daubers, Kaisercraft pearl, sheer ribbon, Blossom Nestabilities, cuttlebug, square punch, pop dots, Martha Stewart crystal glitter, Martha Stewart glittering glue

Movie Inspired GinaK challenge

GinaK's CenterStage Spotlight Design Team challenge this month is to make a card using one of the new April release stamp sets inspired by your favorite movie. (The CenterStage person gets ALL of the May releases and gets to post with the regular design team that month. How cool is that?!) You can check out all the awesomeness here on Gina's blog. So I am KICKING myself for not getting Quite a Catch because the very first thing that popped into my head was a Sebastian the Crab Kiss the Girl card from one of my all-time faves, The Little Mermaid. But, I digress. I made myself a list of my top 15 or so favorite movies to see what else I could come up with. It's an eclectic list, lemme tell ya! Maybe one day I'll make a card for all of them. :)

I chose Roman Holiday. One of the best movies ever, in my humble opinion. Everytime I start it I think it won't be as good as I remember it and it always is. And really, what's not to love? Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Billy Wilder directing in glorious black and white, shot on location in Italy. It's pretty fabulous.

My card uses this vintage beauty from Asela Hopkin's Sew Pretty set. I love her! Her hairdo reminds me a little bit of the cut Audrey gets in the movie. Her outfit is even similar. (I see looking at the poster that her skirt is red, but I always watch it in B&W and I always think of it as khaki.) The Labels 4 Nestabilities look kind of cinematic to me. The lady is colored softly with Copics. I used R00 to barely shade her white top. I quickly colored a background for her with BG10 with the image still in the die. I usually sponge for something like that, but I liked this better since I didn't have to make a mask for the girl. :) A little distress ink gave the die cut some definition without me having to add another layer.

The herringbone is from Nina Brackett's awesome Vintage Backgrounds set. This set is so versatile, but it really pairs well with Sew Pretty. I love this stamp. It reminds me of tire tracks. Audrey and Gregory ride around on a cute little scooter in the movie so it seemed to fit. The sentiment is also perfect since Audrey gets this fabulous hair cut in the beginning (that always makes me want to cut mine off even though I would look ridiculous). The ribbon is from a past StampTV kit and I love it. So there ya go. A clean, simple, and, I hope, elegant but fun card. Just like the movie.

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Sew Pretty, Vintage Backgrounds

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Rich Cocoa, Distress Ink Walnut Stain

Cardstock - Papertrey Ink Soft Stone, Georia-Pacific white

Accessories - Copic markers, Nestabilities Labels 4, pop dots, sponge, cuttlebug, brown ribbon, glue dot, Scor-pal

Well, It Was a Little Chilly Today...

So, yes, this is a snowman card, in April. Maybe I want to be early for once. Maybe I was stamping for magazine publication calls. Maybe he's just darn cute! ;)

This is a triple challenge card. His glittery heart, snowy landscape, and stickly thoughts qualify him for the StampTV challenge (last week) to add glitter and the Paper Crafts Connection Shimmer and Shine challenge and this card also is for the Moxie Fab World Get Sketchy challenge which used this awesome sketch from Paper Crafts Go-To Sketches special issue. So worth the money! Everytime I see it on the stands I want to buy it even though I already have it. :)

Carolyn King illustrated this for GinaK designs and she donates her proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association in memory of her grandmother. My grandmother recently passed away from Alzheimer's and I bought and use this set in memory of her. It makes me smile.

Supplies -

Stamps: GinaK Warm Winter Wishes

Paper: PTI Hawaiian Shores, Stampers Select White, Stampin' Up! Real Red

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Real Red

Accessories: Copic markers, Nestabilities Label On, Snowflake embossing folder, Cuttlebug, pop dots, Martha Stewart Garnet glitter, Snow glitter, Frosted Lace Stickles, Mono Multi glue, Scor-Tape

Been Awhile

Hey there! Long time no see. We've been busy. Lots of coming and going and trips to the park and not sleeping at night and planting flowers and learning to crawl busy! :) I'm going to work on updating more often!

Here's a card I made for the inspiration challenge this week on StampTV. (If you haven't joined, do it now! It's free!) This card uses the super cute Tech Talk set by Melanie Muenchinger that I got from my super awesome mom who gives me GinaK stamps at the holidays! Thanks Mom! Add in some lemon tart cardstock, probably one of my favorite colors ever, from Papertrey, cardstock rickrack, and some My Minds Eye paper I've had forever and it's a card!

I hear someone fussing so I should go. I'll try not to be a stranger. :)

Supplies -
Stamps: GinaK Tech Talk
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Papertrey Lemon Tart, Stampin' Up! Riding Hood Red, Georgia-Pacific White, My Minds Eye paper Wild Asparagus stack
Accessories: Papertrey rickrack die, copics, pop dots

Stamping Olympics #1

I have had almost zero time to craft, but I really wanted to participate in the Stamping Olympics at Moxie Fab World. I won't medal because oh my goodness there are some awesome cards! but I'm cool with that! It's an honor just to be in the same Mr. Linky. ;) I have three cards so I'll do three short posts. Still not down with those multiple picture posts other peeps seem to manage.

This is a clean and simple card for the Love category. Nothing says love like cookies. These GinaK cookie stamps by Melanie Muenchinger are super cute! The card is 4.25 in. square and colored with Copics. Easy peasy.

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Have a Cookie
Paper - Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy, Stamper's Select White
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Real Red
Accessories - Copic markers E51, E53, C0, C1, C3, Stampin' Up! Modern Label Punch, Red Rhinestones, Pop Dots

CAS Card & Blog Candy Winner

This is a super simple card I made for the inspiration challenge last week at StampTV. The challenge was to use stars. My kids were doing the miraculous and napping at the same time so I needed something clean and simple that I could bust out in about 15 minutes! I stamped the hoodie and the star from Melanie Muenchinger's Just So Sporty, added the star paper from the Rock Star pack, outlined the star with a white gel pen, and used some $1 star stick-ons. Card done. There's plenty of space to add a sentiment later when an occasion presents itself.

If you aren't a member at GinaK's StampTV, go join now! It's free, the eye candy is fab, Gina makes amazing tutorial videos, and there are tons of challenges and giveaways! You can use any stamps for the challenges and the winner of each challenge gets to choose a free GinaK stamp set! Yeah, it's awesome! And Gina frequently has extra giveaways, too! Seriously, join now.


And, the moment you might be waiting for ;), Lisa is the winner of my blog candy! Lisa, send me your address and I will get it out to you! Thanks everyone for commenting! There will be more candy soon. I have lots of stuff to share!


Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Just So Sporty
Paper: Stampin' Up! Pacific Point, Papertrey Ink Stampers Select white, DCWV Rock Star
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Star stick-ons, white gel pen, pop dots, x-acto knife

Did you know you can title these things?

One day I will be blog savvy. Maybe. Probably not, after all. Oh well. :) Not much crafting going on here. I'm still hoping to squeeze some in this weekend, but that's between a teething baby - yes, he's very little but I can already see the teeth under his gums! - and taking the toddler to eat for his birthday someplace loud with animatronics. We shall see if it transpires.

Here's a card I made last weekend. The beautiful rose image is from Melanie Muenchinger's Year of Flowers stamp set from GinaK Designs. Add copics, nestabilities, the paper from a package of holiday gift bags, and some buttons from a shirt that met a tragic end in the dryer and you have a a very simple and affordable card. (Assuming you already had the nestabilities and the copics, otherwise not affordable at all.)

I was going to post about my son's haircut but I can't figure out how to get two pictures in one post without it looking all stupid. Maybe by the time the baby is getting his 1st haircut I'll have that all figured out. ;) Oh, be on the lookout for blog candy! That's half the fun of having a blog, right?

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs, A Year of Flowers

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - Papertrey Ink Kraft, Georgia Pacific White, Stampin' Up! Soft Suede, green paper from a package of Autumn Leaves holiday gift bags

Accessories - Copic markers (R32, R35, R37, G20, G21, G24), Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Labels One, shirt buttons, Stampin' Up! Linen Thread, mini glue dots

Wee Tees is one of all time favorite sets! It's just so stinkin' cute! Melanie Muenchinger, the brilliant designer of this set, is celebrating her 2nd anniversary designing stamps with a blog hop.

I made a wintery card with Wee Tees in honor of the crazy snow we had here last month. We never get snow! I didn't have a stamp for the sentiment so I wrote it. I'm not a fan of my handwriting, but I am way too lazy to use the computer! Yeah, weird that I decided to start a blog, huh? ;)