Sweet Stuff

Personally, I don't really care for sweets. LOL. Just typing that line is putting a foolish grin on my face. Anyone who knows me, knows that line and the origin of it and most of my friends have used that line too. In the office there's often candy, cake or cookies. People don't come looking for celery or carrots but those are usually somewhere too. A former co-worker used to visit the office to make copies and to forage through the snackies (she could have gone to other offices where there were no snacks to make copies) and it seemed to me and Jill that she usually had a bite or two (or three etc., by the way, she's the gal that bit the heads off all the bunnies - chocolate bunnies, she's not a savage - see my 8/18/09 post for that story) and as she was picking through the goodies she said "I don't really care for sweets". She said it with a dead serious face and to this day I'll swear on my mother's grave that she meant it. Jill and I looked at each other and I don't know how we did it but we maintained straight faces and just let that comment go unremarked, but the minute she was out the door the two of us were nearly on the floor laughing. That happened over 20 years ago but Jill and I still say that to each other at least once week, if not more and it still cracks us up.

So now onto the card. The Allsorts Challenge #15 was a sketch with the added twist of tearing. I don't like sweets and I don't like to tear. This is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. So with one of my favorite techniques as the twist and a lovely sketch to work with making this card was a breeze. The image and sentiment are from Clear Art Stamps "Sweet Stuff". They're stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, the image on white card stock and the sentiment on Stampin' Up DSP Cottage Wall, all the patterned paper is from that pack. The green card stock is DCWV neutrals. The edges of the paper are sponged with Close To My Heart desert sand. Those gorgeous rhinestones are from my good buddy Eileen (she also doesn't care for sweets), they're made by Basics from Kaiser.

I really like the way this card turned out. Purple is my favorite color. At least today it is, tomorrow it could be pink or orange, maybe even green.

I'm stuck waiting out a furniture delivery while the rest of the crew enjoys the pool. If it gets here early enough we're going to head over to the Antique Car Museum. They have a few parked out front and whenever we pass there I want to stop. Today's gonna be the day and if you're really good and eat all your sweets, I may even share some pics of it with you. Okay, here's the truth, if my camera doesn't die and I actually make it there I'm gonna share a pic with you.

Thanks for coming by to look and I hope you return.

Howl They Gonna Take This in Poughkepskie?

I don't know howl I got the nerve to post this card, but here it is in all its glory. Yikes! My followers know that I love Halloween and by now you've probably gathered I'm a few bricks shy of a load so this card shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. When I found the Midnight Madness Challenge I was instantly hooked. Every week they post a sketch challenge and I try to participate. I've had a lot of fun making cards with their sketches and they faithfully give me positive feedback (this week I may have gone too far). There's a blog candy give away going on over there. If you look in my sidebar and click on the picture that has "stamps" written all over it you'll find yourself right at the spot to enter for a chance to win lots of cool stuff. Should I tell you not to bother because I'm going to win it all? Nah, go ahead and give it a try, you gotta be in it to win it. As I was saying, they're a great bunch over there and I think they will forgive me for this card. They might even like it. If you've been reading all my posts you know I'm on vacation with a limited amount of supplies, lots of this and that, but for me it's limited. Also since yesterday we have company so I'm just plain rude and I'm off making cards. So I have to limit my time too. There's a new challenge just starting up at the Haunted Design House blog called Macabre Monday. Since I love Halloween I'd like to do a card for that challenge too, so my dear fiends, I mean friends at Midnight Madness, you've been combined with the HDH002 challenge to make a Creepy Christmas card. I actually went to Michael's Arts and Crafts today so that I could pick up a set of Christmas stamps and a set of Halloween stamps. I can always use them both but I had neither here. I did have some snowflake bling and a bat punch - go figure...

So I used the charlie brown tree from the Recollections "Winter Wonderland" stamp set and I did exactly as the challenge said "creep out those Christmas trees". I took the bat portion of one of the stamps in the Inkadinkado (lordy, lordy, that's the best name for a company evah!) "Creepy Crawly" set and used that for a tree topper. I then colored in the balls that were hanging from the tree and gave them legs. That's creepy enough for me. In the upper corner of the image portion I stamped part of the spider web and some spiders are hanging off of it dangling on threads made of stickles, I covered a lot of the web with stickles, sort of a wintry look and put three crystal snowflakes (Memory Box Jewel Stickers) in the corner. I used the EK Success bat punch for the little bats on the cross piece. The patterned paper is from Me and My Big Ideas Color Basics Red. The card stock is DCWV neutrals. And the paper edges got sponged with Memento dandelion, Close to My Heart desert sand and some orange ink. The images were stamped with Memento black.

If the truth must be told, and it must, I kind of like making twisted Christmas stuff. Back in the early 1980's I made some bizarre Christmas ornaments. I butchered up a Barbie doll and glued the limbs to some styrofoam balls and put some red nail polish on for the finishing touch. I also put googly eyes on some of the balls. And yes I did hang them on my tree. Not too many people liked them but I thought they were a hoot and I bet if I were friends with Tim Burton he would have loved them. I bet they're still in my attic somewhere but you gotta be strong to go hunting up there.

Well I hope I haven't scared you off and that you'll come back again to see what I've created. I think it'll be a little more conventional next time, but I never know until I sit down what's going to happen.

Flour Child

I'm a terrible hostess but a dedicated stamper. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law are visiting for the week. Hubby took John out to shop (shouldn't the women folk be doing that?). I tossed a magazine at Ellie slinked (or is it slunk, my high school grammar classes didn't include this particular verb) off to my little neck of the house and checked out the current challenges and determined what I wanted to do. I'd like to do three of the sketch challenges but for now I settled on the Pink Elephant sketch challenge #29 and the Basic Grey color challenge to use brown, pink and yellow.

I have this adorable set of stamps from Clear Art Stamps called "Sweet Stuff" there are several vintage images in the set and all are adorable. I picked the little girl stirring the batter and the sentiment "flour child" and stamped them in Memento rich cocoa. I stamped the girl on white card stock and sponged the edges with Memento Dandelion and Close to My Heart desert sand. When I stamped the sentiment on the striped paper I was reminded me that Liddy made cookies last month. When I walked through the kitchen she was sitting at the counter and looked a little weird to me so I asked if she was okay and she said she was fine and I said she looked funny and she then showed me why she looked odd by repeating what she had done which was to fill each hand with flour and smack her face. So I guess this is the stuff you do when you have the DNA from a mother that's easily amused. I fear she is much more easily amused than I.

Back to the card, I've had this paper (American Crafts, Metropolitan - Bistro) with the brown, pink and yellow balls for awhile now. I don't remember where or when I got it, but I didn't get any co-ordinating paper with it but I did have a package of Me and My Big Ideas Color Basics Red which has a pink striped paper that I like with the other paper. I think the papers have a vintage look and are perfect for the color challenge so I cut them up and sponged the edges with Close To My Heart desert sand which adds to the vintage look.

Because I used a dark brown card stock for the card itself I finished the inside of the card off with a piece of white card stock that has the striped paper bordering the bottom. The edges are sponged with the CTMH desert sand and I stamped cookie cutters from the set onto that paper in the desert sand. Lastly, I placed two rows of ZVA Creative self-adhesive crystals on the striped paper.

Falling for You

Every Thursday there are two new challenges posted on the My Favorite Things Forum on Splitcoast Stampers. I love these stamps and love chatting on the threads. There's an abundance of talent there, and if you want to know how to do something they will tell you how. So if you're a beginner and feel like you need some guidance go check out the MFT threads "How'd They Do That". You can learn a lot. If you've been stamping for awhile and want a place to share your passion get over there and post a comment. You'll feel right at home.
MFT is approaching their 100th sketch challenge and they've issued a challenge to everyone to try to do them all. Well I'm no slacker so I've accepted the challenge and even though I have to do about thirty-five more in six weeks I'm still optimistic. Never give up! Hey, I remember writing 10 page term papers overnight. Sometimes they even made sense. So this card used sketch #4. The weekly challenge MFTMFC13 is to Ink a Stamp for the first time. Sadly, I have more than a few of those so I chose the "Falling for You" set. It's stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa on white card stock. The edges were sponged with Memento Dandelion. Here's a little secret, I didn't bring my brush or any sponges with me so I stalked the kitchen and bathrooms till I found a new sponge and cut it up, it's got a scrunchy side too, I'm gonna see what I can do with that side too. Don't tell anyone, they may not notice that I got to it. It's matted with DCWV Neutrals card stock and the designer paper is Basic Grey Indian Summer. I used maple sugar to piece the pants and woodrose to piece the shirt, the background paper is Emberglow. The card edges are sponged with Close To My Heart Desert Sand. Oh, those yummy little dots are Pebbles Candy Dots in sun yellow.
If I want to finish those 100 sketches I better get back to drawing board.

Back to School

Do you know the commercial for the store Staples where they play the Christmas carol "It's the Most Wonderful time of the Year"? I love that commercial, especially when the father is hanging off the cart rolling down the aisle. It just cracks me up (remember I'm easily amused). When you're married to a teacher and you have to work while they get to hang out all summer well that commercial hits the nail on the head. Not that I'm jealous, there's no amount of summer vacation that could lure me into a classroom full of children, especially since they've outlawed corporal punishment, LOL. Seriously, I worked as a full time temporary teacher for awhile. I had the classes of teachers who were out on sick leave. I had an art teacher's class for about 6 weeks. It was quite a learning experience, for me, not the kids. What I learned was that not every kid liked art class. That came as a total surprise to me, because it was my favorite class. The other thing I learned was that I hated teaching which was equally surprising because I loved going to school.

This card is for the OCC Challenge to use the new In Colors from Stampin' UP and for the Sketch Saturday Challenge #65. The new In Colors are Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, and Dusty Durango. I used SU Razzleberry DSP to mat my stamped image, for the strip behind the image and the paper with the punched edge. I used a piece of cardstock from DCWV neutrals for the base and it looks like Dusty Durango. The other colors are the crayons. It ain't easy writing those names in those little spaces on the crayon but I did dang nabbit, don't let anybody say I didn't go for the gusto. The white cardstock was edged with CTMH Desert Sand. The flowers are Prima and the button centers are from My Favorite Things.

There's another tune that'll be stuck in my head for hours, but I'll be chuckling as it plays.

Up, Up and Away

Are you hearing the 5th Dimension? "Wouldn't you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?" At least for me it's a song I like. I often get stuck with things like the themes for old TV shows, "Dallas" in particular, that drive me insane. Once they get in there it's hard to get them out. So I will enjoy this song as it comes and goes through my head for who knows how long.

A short time ago I (along with 6 other stampers) won the Mojo98 contest and the prize was my choice of a Verve stamp set with a value of up to $24. I didn't have any Verve stamps so it was a really tough decision because there are so many great sets to choose from. I have been following the A Paper Melody blog for awhile and Melody had posted a few cards using this set and they sold me on the "Up, Up and Away" set. If you have some time go visit her blog, she's a very talented, you'll like what you see.

Now onto my card. The Pile It On challenge #12 is "good things come in threes" so I stamped the tree and the clouds three times, and each tree has three Taylor's Tiny Twinkles. You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it and you will be able to see those tiny twinkles better, however I must warn you that if you see them you will probably want them. In the upper corner I placed three square orange bling that are Darice Self Stick Gems. I picked 3 sheets of double sided designer paper from Grandma's Kitchen, Pretty Pinwheel, Dippity Dot and Simple Stripes. I used both sides of the papers. For the Pile It On challenge the theory is to do more than one challenge. I used the sketch challenge from Shirley's 2 Girls Twisted Thursday Challenge #22 and as the name implies they have a twist, this week is to "punch" something and running around in my head was the No Time to Stamp challenge "Polka Dots". I didn't have any polka dot paper with me so I needed to run out to pick some up and then I saw the EK Success "Swiss Cheese" border punch and had to have that, and I got the paper I mentioned before. So I punched the edges of the maroon cross strip of paper and got polka dots and punch at the same time. Since the stamped image is a hot air balloon it also works for the Paper Cutz challenge #5 to use something that flies.

The images were stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa and Bamboo Leaves. I distressed the edges of the papers with a scissor and my fingernail and then inked them with the Bamboo Leaves.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your visit here today, before you go, I'm asking you to click the pink ribbon, it's a simple and free thing you can do. I'd also like to say thanks (a much belated thanks) to the wonderful people over at Pile It On, when they saw my ribbon they not only clicked on it but they added it to their page and they get a lot more views than I do, so a big thank you goes out to Pile It On.

Happy Birthday to Me

Hey it was my birthday yesterday, woohoo!!! The party continues, it started last weekend at the crop in PA, and now I'm in FL and getting ready to go out on a cruise. SOOOO, do you want to know what I got for my birthday? Try to guess. Anyone who guessed a garbage can wins. No, I'm not joshing you. My hubby gave me a garbage can. What a romantic! Oh, okay, it's really a ceramic waste paper basket with seashells on it and I did mention that I liked it last time I was here so it's a nice garbage can. Did I hear someone say what else? I think I did. I got a copy of "the Great Escape" which leads me to believe somebody was reading my profile. I watch that movie every chance I get which is usually once a month or so, it's always on cable. But now I will get to see it from beginning to end and I can pause it if I want to. Now that's a big deal. If you haven't seen this movie, go rent it or something. You'll love it.

For next year I gotta remember to put something in that profile about my love for gold and diamonds and amethysts.

Now here's what most of you are here for, the card. I made myself a birthday card. I love this stamp set, ("Voila" from Stampin' Up) I've been putting it on my wish list for a couple years so I decided to get it for my birthday. I always give myself really good presents. Then as I was looking for a challenge to use it in I found the Stamp Something challenge that asked for you to make a birthday card and the Stamp Something for the Weekend challenge #12 which is a color challenge to use pink and grey. How fortuitous for me, as that has been a favorite color combo since I was a kiddie and made woven potholders in pink, gray, black and white. So I went hunting through the limited supply of papers I brought with me and I had the SEI Chocolate collection with me which I found at the crop last weekend, and if you follow this blog it includes the yummy paper Pam had used to cover her notebooks, I was drooling over that paper. It's perfect for the pink part. It's double sided paper and some of the papers have glitter on the butterflies in the designs, really yummy. I used "framboise" for the jacket, "sucre" for the pants, and "papillon" for the background. You won't find many chefs that will dress this way but here on Planet Chris if you like pink, you can wear pink and not worry about being picked on. I liked the Get Sketchy challenge #2 sketch for this stamp set. Besides the sketch they asked you to punch something so I used the Stampin' Up scalloped eyelet border punch on the side of the background paper. I wanted to make the platter with the cake on it the focal point and put the bow just under it. Too bad I didn't have it figured out better in my head. I did it in a stupid way but in the end it looks okay, besides it's a card for me and I'm my worst critic, no one else is going to notice anything odd about it. While I was going through challenges to see what's out I saw that the Paper Cutz challenge was to design a project using something that flies and those papillons fly. A few other details, I used prismacolor pencils for the parts not paper pieced, hero arts pink pearls for the buttons and highlighted the sentiment and the candle with a gelly roll marker.

That's it on the card but for those of you who are a little nosey like me, I left for the cruise in the middle of writing this and now that I'm back I have two pics to share. Takako took a picture of my little family and even though I look yukky in it, Liddy and hubby look pretty good so I'll share that with you and a picture of the sunset. The cruise was out of Sarasota on the Marina Jack II. It was a couple hours and we got to see some gorgeous houses, have a nice meal and Liddy got to hear more of my brother Michael's wacky stories. He does crack us up, but I think we're all easily amused.

In the Garden

Lately I've been drawn to Basic Grey papers. I've liked them all along and had picked up pages whenever I liked one. Last Christmas my step-daughter Annie gave me a couple pads of BG collections and that got me to start looking at the collections as wholes. A couple weeks ago I did a search on Basic Grey (I've since forgotten the reason why) and found their challenge page. They had been on hiatus and now are resuming the Basic Grey Challenge on a bi-weekly basis with this first new one being a sketch challenge. The other criteria is to use a Basic Grey product in your project. I wanted to combine a few challenges so I picked a theme challenge next. The Allsorts Challenge Week 14 theme is "In an English Country Garden". The Pink Elephant Challenge #28 is also a theme - "Summer" which is the time that people in my area do the most gardening. It's New Jersey it's an unwritten law that if you have more than 5 square feet of dirt in your your yard you have to plant a tomato, at least one summer of your life. There's nothing like a home grown tomato.
Once I had my theme I needed to pick out a stamp to use. I chose the Stampin' Up Set "Garden Pleasures". Then I needed to pick the colors and papers. So I went to the Color Throwdown to see the choices for this week which were Dusty Durango, Soft Suede and Bermuda Bay. These are from the new in colors from Stampin' Up, which I don't have but my SU demonstrator had given me chips of the new colors and I used them to see if I had a Basic Gray paper collection that had those colors and would go with the rest of the my choices. Luckily the Phoebe collection fits that bill. So I started to work on my card. I stamped the images on white card stock with Stampin' Up Basic gray ink. Then I colored the hat in with copic markers, re-stamped the bird, and colored that one in and cut it out. I brushed the edges of all the papers with Close to My Heart Desert Sand and then distressed the edges. I popped the bird up on a dimensional and put a mini brad in the image where there was a nail to look like the hat was hanging. I mounted the sentiment onto one of the tags that came with the paper collection and hung it from a brad near the watering can. I assembled the layers and when I put the ribbon on I realized there was one more challenge I had looked at that I could combine, the ABC Challenge this week is "B is for Buttons" and I tied a button onto the ribbon.
If you can't make out the sentiment it says "one is never closer to God than in a garden". I think that may be true with the possible exception of my crafting space. I think that's where I get close to God.
Thanks for looking at my card. If you have a minute leave me some feedback and before you go, click on the pink ribbon to help fund mammograms. It won't cost you a penny and it will help someone who needs it. Thanks so much for visiting.

Chocolate Bunny

I can't think about chocolate bunnies without thinking about an old work buddy who shall remain nameless cause I don't know who's reading this. One day we went out for a walk at lunch time and she wanted to go to the candy store. She picked up a dozen small chocolate bunnies which I thought was a little odd because she didn't have any children or nieces or nephews. I didn't ask what they were for but at some point she told me they were all for her and that she would bite the heads off all of them and that she lined them up in her fridge. I never asked anyone else if they would have eaten all twelve heads first or would they have eaten an entire bunny before beheading the next one. So if you're leaving a comment let me know how you would have done it.

So now that I've left that somewhat disturbing image in your mind I'll give you the details on this card.

The image is MFT's Chocolate Bunny and the layout is MFT sketch challenge MFTSC94. The other challenges I had in mind are the ABC challenge "A is for Anything Goes" with the added option of animals. Lastly the Cupcake Craft Challenge is "Something Sweet" which coincides with its first birthday, so I made this a birthday card.
It's stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa on white card stock and colored with copics. The inside of Flopsey's ear is pink flock. The recliner and wall paper were pieced with MFT Chocolate Kiss papers and the ribbon and crystals are also from MFT chocolate kiss collections. The background paper is Trend Paper Kit from Marcella by K. The flowers are Prima. I wrote the sentiment with a SU Cameo Coral marker and punched the ovals with SU punches.

Howl in One

If it's Tuesday I must be howling. When I get wrapped up in my card making so that I don't care about the time, or anything else well that's howling for me. Tonight was a screaming good howler cause I got completely absorbed in this card and sponging the edges with a variety of colors. I could sit and do that kind of stuff for hours on end, remember, I'm easily amused.

Each week I eagerly await the Midnight Madness sketch challenge this week is MMSC15. If I get lucky I can usually combine it with another challenge. This week I got lucky, I found several challenges I could use for the card as I formed it in my mind. The Delicious Divas have Divalicous Color Challenge #1 this week. The colors they chose were Barely Banana, Cameo Coral, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie. So for my papers I picked the Stampin' Up DSP Haiku which has all of those colors, I went to town distressing them with Ranger inks so the colors are not as evident as they could be. The Createalicious Challenge #1 is to make something for Dad, include brown and some metal. For the metal, I jumped at the chance to use some of the bazillion eyelets Miss Eileen gave me last year. There just happened to be some martini eyelets in the bunch which I placed in the corners and threaded the ribbon through. I needed a card stock mat color and brown worked perfectly with these papers. Another Tuesday challenge I look forward to is the Pile It On challenge, which this week is to make something masculine and to combine it with at least one other challenge. So I think I got that covered. The stamp is from Impression Obsession and it's called "Fore Retirement" I colored it in with copics.. The tag is from a Stampin' Up Scrap kit called Just Delightful.
At the crop last weekend I made a set of four cards using this stamp and am just getting around to posting the picture. This set is for my sister-in-law Takako. She is from Japan and her culture has a great appreciation for paper crafts. Over the years she has gifted me with several gorgeous paper items which I love and hold onto. She is always surprised with what I come up with. The "t" is a rub on from EK Success Loopy Alphabet , another present from Eileen. I didn't bring any alphabet stamps with me to the crop so her present came to the rescue. The paper is Stampin' Up Muirfield. and the card stock is Best Occasion.
So there are two completely different looks you can make with one stamp.

Vintage, geez I'm old

The other day I was out shopping and wanted to buy this Clear Arts Stamp set "Glamour Girls" but I also wanted another set. I was having a hard time deciding, I did "eenie, meanie, miney, moe" and still couldn't stick with the decision the fates made for me. So I asked my good buddy Edna which one she thought I should buy and she immediately told me to get the other one, so I did. AND then she surprised me by buying this set for me for my birthday. What a great present! What a great friend! This set was perfect for the Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge #11 theme "Days Gone By". They want you to create a vintage project. I chose to use these four women in hats. Here's where my title for this card comes in. I used to wear hats like this. In my youth we wore hats to church on Sunday, for every big holiday we went out buy a new hat. So I guess that makes me old, but saying I'm vintage sounds a lot better.
For this card I stamped the images in Memento Rich Cocoa on white card stock and then I sponged around the edges with Ranger Tea Dye and matted them with Bazzill Basics card stock Earth tones. I thought the My Mind's Eye Andrea Victoria papers Golden Beads and Golden Damask had a vintage look to them so I sponged the edges of them with the Ranger Tea Dye and added some lace because it reminds me of days gone by and then I picked some Prima flowers and put them together with a brad. Lastly I stamped the sentiment in the corner.

There's a Bathroom on the Right

I am going to date myself here. Back when I was young there was a popular Creedence Clearwater song that a friend of mine thought part of the lyrics was "there's a bathroom on the right" which was pretty stupid since the name of the song was "Bad Moon Rising". That is still a great song and the wrong lyric kept running through my head as I made this card. If you're not familiar with the song you can probably get it on lyrics.com or the iTunes store. You might enjoy listening to it while you're here visiting this card.

I found a new challenge, it's a on Haunted House Design called Macabre Monday and this is the first one. I wish I knew how I find these things cause I have no idea, and almost couldn't find the site again to post this card until I remembered that I "followed' aka "stalked" it. Thankfully computers have built in ways to remember things as I lose more and more brain cells. I do love Halloween so I'm happy to have another place to play. The first challenge is "Wicked Thicket". So for this I picked out a couple of Stampin' Up stamp sets that had trees in them, "Season of Friendship" and "Home is Where the Haunt Is". I also wanted to use these jail birds from the Inkadinkdo (I love that name) stamp set "Ghouls and Goblins". I figured they'd be okay in the thicket, I actually think they improve the card. The rest of the card fell in place as I went through some of the other challenges I like to participate in. CCEE Stampers Challenge is "the moon up above" to use the moon in your card, well that fit my idea perfectly, I think a Halloween card is better suited to night time and one of the stamp sets has a moon in it. The last challenge I found is the S2G Challenges, they do it with a twist. I love their blog design. The colors scream off the page. This week is a sketch challenge and the twist is to use four brads, so I used four purple rhinestone brads in the corners. The bling is a nice finishing touch.

To make this card I stamped the trees in Close to My Heart Olive and Memento Rich Cocoa on gray card stock. The moon is stamped in SU Pumpkin Pie. Then I sponged all over the edges with those colors plus SU Basic Gray, and in the center with SU Perfect Plum. The birds were stamped on white card stock and were sponged all over with gray and browns. The eyes are pumpkin pie. I cut them out and adhered them to the trees, I also cut out some of the small trees and adhered them to the image. Then I went to town distressing all the edges of all the papers. It was lots of fun making this card.

The papers are S.E.I "Eerie Alley" and Stampin' Up "Ghostly Greetings" on a purple card stock base.

Thanks for taking a look, if you have time leave a comment, and before you leave would you take a minute to click the pink ribbon. It's free, it only takes a couple seconds and you'll be doing a good deed.

Going Places

Summer is winding down, I'm getting ready for my last trip of the summer. I can't wait till Thursday when I get to go on vacation again. Because summer is coming to an end the Stamp Something Challenge for this week is to create a project inspired from something from your summer vacation. Most summers I travel a lot. Road trips are big during the summer. This summer I've been to PA several times and drove down to Florida, then flew back. This week I'll be flying to Florida and at the end of the month I'll be driving back. I've been looking at maps, google directions, or listening to Ramona the GPS for many hours. I've been packing my bags and heading out of the city. So the first thing that came to my mind for this challenge was the My Favorite Things "Goin' Places" stamp set. I decided to make a card and use one of the MFT Sketches in an attempt to use all 100 of the sketch challenges when they hit that benchmark, in about 6 weeks.

For the card I stamped the WTG in Memento black on white card stock and colored her arms, legs and luggage with copics. I restamped her map onto white card stock and colored it. I stamped the dress onto My Mind's Eye, Andrea Victoria, Golden Damask (reverse side ) paper. Next I cut the stamped image out, and cut around her hands so that I could put the map in them. I propped the map up with dimensionals giving it more of a 3D look. I stamped the cityscape onto a gray card stock oval and colored it with copics and adhered the WTG image onto it with dimensionals. The mat for the oval and the card base are Best Occasions card stock. The designer paper is S.E.I. En Route, Up, Up and Away and Hiways and Byways. The Up, Up and Away has a white card stock border that was made. with a Martha Stewart punch. The sentiment was stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa and the oval was made with a Stampin' Up oval punch. The edges were sponged with Ranger Tea Dye and propped up with dimensionals on the ribbon.

It's sad to see summer go, but at least there's all the great fall and winter holidays to celebrate.

Christmas in August

I can hear my husband groaning and that's quite a feat since he's all the way down in Bradenton, FL and I'm in parts unknown, PA. He's very loud. Nah, but he was grumbling in the comments about my the Halloween cards. He doesn't make cards so he does not understand that on planet I PLAY WITH PAPER we inhabitants are not bound by the same time constraints as back on planet earth. It's neither winter nor summer, Christmas nor Easter. Whatever stamp set is calling your name is the one you play with. When I get into my happy little card place I could sit here for hours on end and n0t realize it. Earlier today Edan commented that I had a happy grin on my face, I had no idea, I was just plugging along constructing a card. Funny, no one ever popped into my office while I was deep into my work and remarked about the grin on my face, hmmm... I guess there are even limits to my being easily amused.

The OCC Challenge is to make a Christmas Card in August. So here on planet I PLAY WITH PAPER, I have no problem with that request. In fact, I am thrilled because Friday afternoon Pam, Edna and I stopped at one of my favorite scrapping stores (Scraptasia in New Providence, NJ) and I picked up these cute little owls, (I wonder if Frances, AKA Stamp Owl has this one?) with the idea of making some Christmas cards. I didn't think I'd do it this soon but what the heck, I've got nothing planned to do so I go with the challenges. This darling little stamp is called Owl Branch by Memory Box. It's stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa on white card stock. The edges of the card are inked with the rich cocoa and then I sponged it with Ranger Distress Ink in Tea Dye. The image is colored with copics. The card stock is Bazzil Basics Earthtone and the design paper is S.E.I. Alpine Frost. There are three red Taylor Tiny Twinkles in the corner. Too easy to be so cute.

A Birdie Told Me...

I heard it's your birthday, Happy Birthday to you! 100, jeez, you look good for your age!!!! No Time to Stamp is celebrating it's 100th birthday, well it's 100th challenge and so they have issued a very simple challenge to make a birthday card. Recently I purchased this Birthday Martini stamp, it's by Leigh Hannon from Impression Obsession. I was anxious to get it inky and this challenge provided the perfect opportunity. It's stamped in Memento Black on a white card stock oval. Then stamped again on white card stock, colored with copics, cut out and mounted on dimensionals on top of the oval's stamped image, that technique is called paper tole. I put stickles on the candle's flame, the cupcake's papers, cherries and sprinkles.

I was in the mood to distress. So I sponged the edges of the white card stock with Stampin' Up Cameo Coral and I scraped the edges of the other papers with my handy dandy distressing tool, then I started picking at the edges with my fingernail. It's loads of fun (did you read the name of my blog, it don't take much to make me happy). So inquiring minds want to know "How can you tell if the edge of your distressing tool has gotten dull? Does it start making clean edges?"

The papers are from the Basic Gray Pheobe collection, they are Golden Gate Bridge Park, Pacific Heights (there was a very creepy movie with that name a few years back) and Haight Street. The little birds on it inspired the sentiment which I wrote with a silver gelly roll around the edges of the oval and on the tag which was punched with Stampin' Up tag punches and hung off the ribbon with SU linen thread. I have no idea where that ribbon came from but it is yummy. It's silky and tied like a dream. On the bottom of the card the turquoise bling is Metal Stickers nail heads.

I'm away at a scrapping weekend with my lunatic friends (I hope they don't read this) and we're having 3 days of fun and music (oops, that's Woodstock, happy 40th birthday to you), I mean we're having 3 days of fun and scrapping. We've been laughing so hard our stomachs hurt and that was just on the ride here.

This is coming to you from the scrap at the Ace Convention Center. No they are not selling rakes and brooms here. We are scrap booking, or card making. Since I don't have any photographs with me, long story, we won't go there, I'm making cards. Maddy, aka Ron is looking over my shoulder, really, and she says she doesn't like martinis or green olives. But this martini has cupcakes in it (put your glasses on babe) and I know she likes cupcakes. She's chuckling, I've never done this with an audience before. Someday, when Ron isn't looking I'll tell you how she got her name. I might tell you how we all got our names. I'm Mo, Ron's better half, maybe you can figure that one out. Edan's supposed to be sitting across from me but she's out exercising her lungs. She got her name because Maddy can't type to save her soul. She say, "What'd'ya mean I can't type?" OK she can type, she just can't find the right keys. So Edan is Edna. We also have Baby Girl with us. That's Edan's daughter Crystal. If she knew half of what we do and say when she's not around she wouldn't allow Edan to hang with us. Eileen, aka Hazel, she's somewhat of a compulsive type but she won't clean my house, she's allergic to Shamus, at least that's her excuse and she's sticking to it. We're all hanging out together acting like morons (hint, hint). We're dressed like quintuplets from hunger so if we get separated the grown-ups can help us find each other. We're having a blast and getting things done. I have a few more cards to post if Maddy lets me.

Knocking Off those 100 MFT Sketches

MFT (My Favorite Things) is coming up on their 100th sketch challenge and I'm trying to get them all done. Since I love these stamps it's fun, when it stops being fun, that's when I stop playing with the stamps. So tonight I did the first and second challenges.

I combined the MFTSC01 with this week's Color Throwdown challenge #55 to use black and white, melon mambo, kraft and crushed curry. I used one of the new stamp sets "Grow Love, Plant a Tree". I stamped the tree image on beige card stock with Memento rich cocoa, the leaves were stamped on card stock scraps. The card stock scraps were also used for the border leaf sprigs that were punched out with an EK Success punch. The patterned papers are 7 Gypsies Karma and Taylor for Daisy D's Gypsy Paisley. The sentiment is stamped in Memento Black on white card stock. The crystal leaves are seasonal medley from Creative Charm.

My regular readers, all two of you, you know how much I love Halloween. So for MFTSC02 I used the house from the MFT Monster Squad set. For the background paper I used Karen Foster Halloween Hodge Podge. The image is stamped in memento black on white card, the edges were sponged with yellow and orange. The house is paper pieced with scrap paper. The roof of the house is pieced with SEI eerie Alley paper. The sentiment is stamped with CTMH Amethyst. and is matted on olive card stock.
By the way, did you click on the pink button today? Don't forget to click on it before you leave here for your next stop. It only takes a couple seconds for you but it could help save someone else's life.

Just Gabbing

Do you ever have really stupid conversations? Today Jill and I ended up talking about chocolate covered bacon. I don't know how we got started but somewhere along the line we were talking about deep fried food and how you can get just about everything fried. I saw some guy on TV deep frying stuff and he said the only thing he couldn't deep fry was a Big Mac, that left me wondering just how many people are looking for a deep fried big mac. You could have deep fried oreos, and deep fried candy bars, Jill once had deep fried ice cream. You know how conversations just go from here to there well deep frying led to chocolate covering everything, cause isn't everything better with chocolate. Jill said the weirdest thing she ever heard of was chocolate covered bacon and from then on I was practically rolling on the floor laughing. We tried to figure out if it would be considered a breakfast food or a dessert. What kind of restaurant would serve it, no restaurant, you gotta go to a fair and stand in line to get it. I wanted to know if you could get different varieties, like turkey bacon, you know, in case you're dieting. Does it come in milk chocolate and dark chocolate, everyone knows that dark chocolate is a healthy choice. That's the kind of stuff you talk about when you're easily amused.

When I got home I could have made some chocolate covered bacon, I actually have those ingredients and it would be pretty funny to make it and bring in to work but tomorrow I have the day off because I'm going on a scrap booking weekend with the usual suspects, Maddy, Eileen and Edna. So instead of making bacon I made some cards. First up is Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty for the sketch challenge for the Cat's Pajamas TCPTUES71. I love this little kitty, she's so cute peaking out of the hat box. She's so cute I stamped her three times with Memento black ink on white card stock and colored it with copics and gave it a gray mat. The patterned paper is a scrap but it still had the KI Memories name on it and it's on lavender card stock and dew drops are on the side.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

I received an e-mail from my cousin George today. It said that a there was a gym that posted an ad in the window with the picture of slim tanned woman. The ad read "This summer do you want to be a mermaid or a whale"? The rest of the message was a response from a woman who did not resemble the thin, tan model. She had many beautiful things to say about whales, how they play in the ocean, have virtually no enemies besides men, they are beautiful creatures, they even sing and have babies. On the other hand mermaids don't exist, if they did they'd have an identity crises trying to figure out if they are human or fish, and they probably stink like a fish. So basically the respondent was telling us to love ourselves the way we are and stop trying to be something we're not. I can't argue with that advice. Now living up to it is another story.

So here's a cute little mermaid. I know she's not real but she is a cutie. She's from the MFT stamp set Isabell Paper Dolls. There are several other stamps in the set to make outfits for Isabell to wear. OH, Isabell is a little girl doll, I masked part of the stamp so that I could put the mermaid tail on her. The image is stamped on white card stock with memento black, then colored with copics and highlighted with stickles and a gelly roll pen. The image was cut out and mounted on dimensionals. I used the MFT sketch challenge MFTSC93 for the layout. While I was at AC Moore the other day I found a package of Me an My Big Ideas paper on sale. It is perfect for summer, beach, pool or island themed cards. I couldn't resist.

365 Cards has a color challenge this week, use red, yellow, purple, mustard and turquoise. When I saw that one I laughed and didn't think I'd be participating in it but when I pulled this paper out I realized that it had almost all the colors on it already and that I could pull off the other colors very easily. I stamped the starfish in Stampin' Up More Mustard on yellow card stock and the clown fish were stamped in Stampin' Up Ruby Red and colored in copics. The starfish and clown fish were mounted on dimensionals. There is purple in the wavy print and that paper is matted with purple cardstock. The fishies have some red striped and the mermaid had a little red heart on her. Whew!

Just One More

This is the fourth and last $1 notebook from Michael's. I altered all of them using old MFT sketches. MFT is approaching the 100th sketch challenge, they post a new one every Thursday on the MFT Forum on Split Coast Stampers. So just for fun some of the stampers have challenged each other to see how many they've done or get get done by the time they reach the 100th sketch. This week is 93 so there's still a little time to get them done. I'm not so sure I'll get them all done but I'm willing to try.

So this notebook used sketch MFTSC18 for the layout. The Simon Says Challenge this week is Anything But a Card and the Crafty Creations Challenge #28 is to use Yellow, any shade of yellow, bright yellow or soft yellow.

This notebook has a red cover so I covered it in red card stock. Then the hunt was on for a paper that had yellow in it and would go well with the red and look good with the image I had picked. I can't believe that this paper didn't just jump to mind. It's one of the newest papers in my stash. I had pulled out another package of red and yellow paper but wasn't crazy about it but as soon as I pulled this package out my search ended. This is Basic Gray's June Bug. The first time I saw these papers I was drawn to them. Must be a throwback to all those years of wearing plaid uniforms. This paper is double sided and I used both sides of the Vintage Plaid paper to piece the dress and jacket on the image. I used the Park Bench paper for the back ground paper. The image is stamped in Memento Black on white card stock and colored with copics. CTMH cranberry was sponged around the edge of the white card stock. The stamped image was matted with yellow and black card stock. I punched a strip of yellow card stock with a Martha Stewart border punch and adhered it next to the Park Bench paper.

I enjoyed altering all four of these books so much that I hope I can find some more of them to purchase.

Blog Candy

Would you like a chance to win some blog candy? Are you interested in Digital Stamps (all the kids are doing it)? Do you like to do challenges. Then go visit McMahon Five Designs. They've got all of those things going on. It doesn't take much to get a chance to win the candy, click on the name above or on the store badge over on my sidebar.
I feeling lucky so I just entered.

Big, Big, Exciting News

Whoa-ie, Wow, Wow!!!! I received the most exciting news of my stamping days this afternoon. I was one of the winners of the Mojo Madness #98. This may not sound like all that big a deal but when I read the post with the notice it said that there were over 500 entries. So I am really, really thrilled to have be given this honor. And I get some stamps too! Who doesn't love getting stamps?
You can click here to go see all the winners or you can scroll down my blog to my August 5th post "Buttons and Bows" to see my card.

Howl You Take That?

Shaken or Stirred?

I've got a thing for martinis. Martini stamps that is. I've got a couple more that need inking up, so stop back if you've got a thing for martinis. If you're a follower of this blog you know that I also have a thing for Halloween, it's my favorite holiday. I've also got a thing for challenges. One of my favorites is the Midnight Madness Challenge. I think the name says it all. Everybody needs a place to let their rabid side shine, so if you're a little mad pay a visit to Priscilla and the crew over there, they have challenges and blog candy and eye candy galore. Every Tuesday they post a new sketch challenge and the design team make fabulous samples to give you inspiration, make you a little jealous of their skills too.


This card is for Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge MMSC14. The image is Hallotini from Impression Obsession. It's stamped in Memento Black on white card stock and colored with copics. The bat's eyes are xmas red Stickles (you can click on the picture to enlarge it and actually see the reds of their eyes) and the white part of the candy corn is stickles. The card stock is from Stampin' Up's in colors from last year. The spider brad is from Oriental Trading. The "boo's" were made with an EK Success border punch. The crystals are from MFT and last but not least the ghost ribbon is from Eileen. Eileen has an impressive stash of ribbon and she can't stand to see me drooling over it so she gave me a bunch of the ghosties, but she made sure she had more than me (LOL) and that hers is prettier. Yeah, yeah, we know it's the same ribbon. Eileen is one of the fun gals I'm going scrapping with this weekend. I'm sure I'll be drooling in her direction a few times, it's cheaper than shopping!

Next up for tonight is this card for Mojo Monday's sketch challenge MOJO99, the Tuesday Tagger's theme challenge "the birds and the bees' and the Friday Stamp Something Charmed Something Challenge to put a charm on your project. It's kind of funny that last week the CCEE stampers challenged us to make a card with a bird and a bee on it, that card is on my August 7th post if you'd like to see it. But you gotta make a new card for new challenges so I spent another night thinking about the birds and bees. Hmmmm.... This time I looked for some paper with birds on it for the background. I knew I had a bee charm and I wanted to use it on a tag and this layout had a little envelope on it so I figured I'd make a tag to go in the envelope. The Basic Gray Pheobe has birds. I used Japanese Tea Garden, Sunset District and Golden Gate Bridge Park but I don't remember which one is which. I stamped the bee from the Stampin' Up Bloomin' Beautiful set which I got from good buddy Maddy, aka Ron. I think I drooled a little in front of her when I saw this stamp set. Maddy's gonna be my roomie at the crop this weekend. We usually sit next to each other and just use each other's stuff. I'll save the drool for Eileen. But I digress so back to the card. I stamped the bee a few times in Memento Rich Cocoa on the green paper and then on the beige card stock with versa mark and embossed that one with gold powder. I have a template from Stampin' Up to make that vellum envelope. I think that mini envelope is just the cutest little thing. I like that I can put the tag in it and then the person who gets this card can use the tag as a bookmark. The charm is from Plaid's Petals and Plenty Charms.
That's all for now folks. I hope you'll come back again, maybe I'll have some more martini cards for you.

More Cheapo Books

Here are two more of the $1 notebooks I picked up at Michael's Arts and Crafts. They've got lined paper inside them and will make perfect little journals. My buddy Pam altered a pad this weekend and she put a triangle of card stock on the inside cover to hold a business card. I've seen this done before but it never made an impression till I saw it in the book she made, which by the way was gorgeous. The yummiest brown and pink paper with butterflies and sparkles. So that corner stayed in my mind this time and I put those corners on the inside cover of these books.

This little bookworm is from one of the new MFT sets called "I heart books". He's stamped in Memento Black on MFT's perfect panels and colored in with copics. The base card stock is Stampin" Up Tempting Turquoise, the brown and beige card stocks are unknown scraps. This book was made with a few challenges in mind. First of all there's the sketch challenge MFTSC25 so this will be part of the 100 MFT Sketches. The Pink Elephant Challenge #27 is a color challenge to use brown, turquoise and a neutral, which works out perfectly since this is for a buddy whose fav color is turquoise. The Pile It On Challenge #10 is to not use any patterned paper. Now I don't know about you but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE patterned paper. I love papers that comes in matched sets and I love to buy paper that I mix and match myself. I could wallpaper my house with the stuff if I were just a tad more nuts than I am and I'd have enough paper left over to tackle Rhode Island and probably Delaware too. I love it so much that despite the fact that I tell myself I do not need to purchase another sheet of paper for the rest of my life and I will not spend another penny on paper, well you guessed it, I cave as soon as I see a new design, or even an old design I don't have. Heck, I buy paper that I already have, let's face it, I'm hooked. Whenever I get silly enough to say I'm not buying any more paper out loud to a friend any friend, they try not to laugh at me, and they'll humor me but I know they do not believe me. I don't blame them. So for me to make a card or a project without using patterned paper is DIFFICULT. Never the less, here is a project without patterned paper. If any challenge hosts and hostesses are reading this, please don't do this to me again. BUT WAIT! 2 Red Bananas also want a card stock only with one embellishment project. Thankfully I can use the same card for two challenges, can you imagine if I got this challenge again. SO I got lucky and found another challenge that I could use for the Pile It On Challenge, because besides whatever the weekly challenge is, the ongoing theme is that you are to combine their challenge with at least one other current challenge which I did.

I think my bookworm friend (and she knows who she is) may see this before she gets it. Act surprised, okay.

The next notebook used MFTSC31, so there's another one of the 100 sketches done. Gee at this rate I may hit ten before they hit 100. We'll see.

This week over on CCEE stampers Cindy Motherway challenged us to use flowers and a tree on our card. I wanted to use a Flopsey, that cute little bunny who has all the gals going wild, for one of the notebooks. I used Stampin' Up card stock for this one too. I think it's Pixie Pink but I'm not sure, it came out of the Brights color collection. This time I didn't even try to not use patterned paper and surprise of surprise, as you can see, there is no patterned paper unless you count the lavender Creative Memories paper ribbon as patterned paper. It's very cute ribbon and it's about time Creative Memories joined the rest of the scrap booking world and made some embellishments. The card stock mats were made from scraps. By the way, I have another sickness, besides having to have every piece of patterned paper I also have trouble throwing out the scraps. I have tons of scraps and often have no idea what they are. I'm sorry if this is a problem for anyone reading this. I spend so much time on making the cards that I don't have time for a therapist too, so hopefully you can deal my neuroses.

Flopsey is from the MFT Tea with Flopsey stamp set but I colored the inside of the cup with a brown cause this is going to a coffee drinker. I took the sentiment from the Coffee with Flopsey set. The image is colored with copics. The tail and inside of his ear are covered with flock. Ooooh, that is some fun stuff. It doesn't show well in pictures but it feels so very soft and fuzzy on the card. It reminds me of the cards I used to get when I was a kid. They always had glitter and flock on them and I loved that about the cards. The image and sentiment are stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa on the MFT Perfect Panels paper. The sentiment and its mat were punched out with Stampin' Up oval and scalloped oval punches. The leaves on the tree were stamped with Stampin' Up Green Galore, Gable Green and Glorious Green. The flowers are Prima. They are just the cutest little things.

Check Out The Cheapo Bins

Do you look at the $1 bins in the craft stores. You can find some really good stuff in them. Lots of times there are great stamps in them. Lots of times there are great things that can be altered. I found some very nice notebooks there today and picked up a few of them. Now that I've done one I wish I picked up more. These would make great gifts, in fact I am trying to get them done by Friday to give to my scrapping gal pals. We're going away to a weekend event and it would be nice to have one for each of them.

Pam was with me and she picked up some gorgeous brown and beige stamps for a buck and a half. While we waited for our other buddy Cyndy to catch up to us we were talking about our purchases and neither one of us could believe the price and so I suggested we go pick up some more of them. Pam volunteered to go get them so I stayed put enjoying the not so beautiful day and she went back inside and picked up a pack for me, AND I don't have to pay her back. Now that's a good buddy. I can't wait to crack those open, but at the moment I don't have ideas for using.

So here's the info on the making of this altered book. I put a piece of Stampin' Up red card stock on the cover for the background. I cut out some Crate Paper dsp Satelitte Collection paper and matted them with DCWV card stock. I used stamps from the MFT Monsters Ink set. I stamped them in Memento Back on white card stock. I used the MFT sketch #23 for the layout.

And the most fun part of this cover was putting the googley eyes on the monsters. Oh what fun those googley eyes are. One time I glued them across the top of a pair of my sunglasses and boy oh boy did I get looks from people whenever I wore them, but again, I digress. I really like using googley eyes. They are so much fun, but then again I am easily amused.

A Special Request

If you enjoy making cards and make a lot of them being asked to make something special is a good thing. So when my step-daughter, Annie, asked me make a wedding card for her cousin I was psyched. I just got a wedding cake stamp from Lockhart Stamp Co. and this was going to be the perfect reason to get it inky. But then Annie told me that her cousin really loves ladybugs and it would be great if I could make a card with ladybugs on it. Hmmmmm, I had to put my thinking cap on for this. I was trying to picture a bride and groom with ladybugs on their shoulders, a cake with ladybug decorations, maybe a veil with ladybugs around the edges. I wasn't sure if I had a ladybug stamp but I definitely didn't have a bride and groom stamp that would work, or for that matter a veil stamp or a gown stamp. I looked around the Internet for a stamp that I could mix with a ladybug, I looked for a ladybug that looked like a bride, these are just not things that are easy to find. Finally, with minutes to spare before my head would explode I remembered the Stampin' Up Winged Thing set has a little ladybug but I couldn't picture what it looked like or what size it was. So I dug it out and realized it would look good on a white embossed layered card. I love the way these cards look and have made a couple of them in the past but not with ladybugs. I recently made an engagement card like this but the heart elements were stamped and embossed in silver. That wouldn't work for this and I thought about masking part of the heart stamp to put the ladybug on but didn't seem right either. Then I thought about my nestibilities scalloped hearts and that they would work. So for all these ideas I have one major problem. My Big Shot jammed up and got sent back to see if it can be repaired. It just got sent back on Thursday so I have no idea when I'm gonna see it again. Lucky for me, my friend and SU demonstrator Cyndy volunteered her Big Shot. So this afternoon I packed up some embossing folders and my nesties and took a ride up to see Cyndy. We met halfway at a Michael's and that was really great because that Michael's is way better than the one that I usually shop at, but again I digress. So I ran some white card stock thru in cuttlebug embossing folders and ran a couple hearts thru and when I got home I put together the card. I stamped the ladybug on white card stock with versamark and used silver embossing powder on them. I tied a white sparkley ribbon around one piece of the card stock and mounted the pieces on dimensionals. I think it works. I would never have thought of this on my own, but every request is a personal challenge and if your follow this blog you know I love a challenge maybe because I'm easily amused.

An Inspiration and a Day at the Beach

There were two challenges that caught my interest for today. The OCC Inspiration challenge which was "in rural communities, it's almost time for harvest" and the Cupcake Craft Challenges WK51 Beach Themed Project.

Summer and Fall, I didn't think that they would be easily combined so I set out to make two cards. I went through the list of other challenges I wanted to try and found a bunch that I thought I could combine with these two themes.

This first card is for the OCC Challenge, the challenge hostess posted two gorgeous paintings done in autumn colors from which I took my inspiration. Those colors just happen to be the colors for the Color Throwdown Challenge #54 which is to use Basic Gray, Blush Blossom, Pumpkin Pie and Really Rust. The image is from the Stampin' Up Garden Pleasures set and it is stamped in Basic Gray on Confetti white card stock, and the edges of the card stock are brushed with the gray ink as well. The papers are Basic Gray, there is a solid orange mat and the orange paper is also used for a punched border under the lace made from BG Ambrosia, Citrus. It's hard to see the punched border in the thumbnail picture but if you click on the photo it'll enlarge and you can see it there. The other two papers are from the BG Indian Summer collection. The paper at the top is Maple Sugar and the paper on the bottom is Woodrose. The thin pink ribbon is Blush Blossom. The layout for this card is from the Delicious Divas Sketch challenge #1 and as if that wasn't enough I added the lace for the 365 Cards, Day 160 Lovely Lace challenge. The flower is three Prima flowers held together with a mini brad and there are orange dew drops in lower right hand corner.

I went shopping earlier today, just to get out and do something. I picked up the EK border punch which I used on this card. That was quite a serendipitous purchase. It's totally adorable and perfect for the Cupcake Craft Challenge to make a beach themed card. The layout for this card is Sketch Saturday #63 challenge. I was going to punch out the bottom of the card stock or designer paper but I got the idea that I could use the design for where I was going to staple some ribbon. The Stamp Something challenge is to use a charm on your project. I've had this shell charm forever and it is perfect for this card so I hung it on a piece of floss through the door of one of the sand castles. For this card the image is Beach Chair from the Lockhart Stamp Company. It's stamped in Memento Black on white card stock and colored in with copics. The edges of the card stock are brushed with Close to My Heart Desert Sand. The seashells are from Hamptom Art, Seashells By the Seashore and are stamped in Versamark and embossed with gold powder. The cardstock if Stampin' Up Groovy Guava and the designer paper is Paper Adventure, Carolyn Holt Designs, Island Lagoon Flip Flops.