SFTW - Sparkle and Shine

It's Friday so let's get busy having some fun - break out those crafting supplies and play along with the Stampin' for the Weekend challenge.   This fortnight the challenge theme is "Sparkle and Shine".  Make those cards pretty with some glitter and don't spare the bling.  I love sparkly blingy cards so I can't wait to see all your creations.

For my card I used some stickles on the lipstick and the gold ring on the lipstick case.  It doesn't show that well in the photo but you can see it IRL. You also may not be able to see that there are three rhinestones under the sentiment.  Then there's the heart bling on the image layer.  It's not a lot of bling but it's just the right touch for this card.  

One of the reasons I didn't go crazy with the bling is because I went a little crazy with die cuts.  I'm a sucker for hearts and there are four different heart dies used on this card. I'd use more if I could figure out where to put them.  

Here's the deets:
stamp - Stampin' Up Making a Point
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
paper - Stampin' Up Blushing Bride, Real Red, Whisper White and Baja Breeze card stock and More Amore Specialty DSP
miscellaneous - copics; Simon Says Floating Hearts and String of Hearts dies; Spellbinder's Rectangle and Fleur de Lis Rectangles,  Heart and Scalloped Heart dies;  stickles, bling

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend - Sparkle and Shine
Splitcoast Stampers Lovefest2014I - Die Crazy
Moving Along with the Times - 4 Things Beginning with L (lines - with the heart strung on them, lipstick, love - the hearts, Lis - fleur de lis)
Tuesday Throwdown #184 - Anything Goes
Love to Create #104 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.  

PWC299 - Try a New Technique

Happy Wednesday campers!  I hope you're ready to make a card or project because  I've got  the latest Paper Pretties challenge PWC299 for you.  This week we're going to make you work a little, maybe get outside your comfort zone.  Now don't go running away and looking for an "anything goes" challenge.  This is the challenge YOU SHOULD try.  This is the challenge that will help you grow as a paper crafter.  I know this because this and  a few challenges that I don't like are the ones that I always end up surprising me.  

So let me tell you about this card.  The technique I chose is "scoring".  I keep a scoring board next to my desk and use it on every card to make the fold but that's about all I do with it.  Once in a blue moon I'll make a step card or something else but for the most part that tool sits idle.  Really, isn't that a waste of money.  I could fold my card without a scoring board so I think it's about time I tried scoring a layer of paper, which I did for the bottom layer of this card.   The diamond shape was very easy to do, it's just a matter or putting the paper on the board with one edge down on the left side and the other edge against the top.  I'd give you the inch markers I used  but I don't remember them and it would differ depending on the size of your paper and the what size diamond you want.  If you need more exact directions all you have to do is a Google search of "Scoring Card Stock" on how to do it.  The scored lines were made at half inches.  It was very simple and fast, and it looks great on the card.  

White on white cards are usually pretty daunting for me but as my die collection grows it becomes easier.  I think sentiment cards look particularly pretty in this format, especially if you emboss them in gold or silver.  This sentiment if from the "Birthday Sentiments" stamp set.  The set has several birthday sentiments in a variety of fonts and most could be used on the inside or the outside of your card.  It's a great set to have handy.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Birthday Sentiments" clear 
ink - Versamark
paper - MFT Whip Cream card stock
miscellaneous - Silver Embossing powder; pearls; the Cat's Pajamas Heart Swirl Cut Ups die; Spellbinder's Opulent Ovals and Lace Hearts dies; Stampin' Up Flourish designer frames; ribbon; pearls; brads; button (on the bow, the shank was removed); Sizzex double sided tape; dimensionals

Here's the challenges:
Paper Pretties PWC299 - Try a New Technique
Splitcoast Stampers Lovefest2014G - Let's Score
Tuesday Throwdown #184 - Anything Goes
Partytime Tuesdays PTT#161 - Anything Goes
Sister Act #45 - Anything Goes
2 Sisters #173 - Embossing
Allsorts week 247 - Ladies' Day
One Stitch at a Time #201 - Girly
The Squirrel and the Fox #64 - Something Spooled

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

PS - I hope to see your creations using a new technique on the Paper Pretties challenge blog.

Lovefest - Heart Felt

Here's another Lovefest card.  This one is for My Favorite Things challenge "Heart Felt Greetings", it also uses the MFT weekly sketch challenge and the colors from the Color Throwdown challenge.

This card worked up pretty fast, considering there's no stamping and no coloring it should be fast.  Most of the time it took was the thinking it out time.  

Here's the deets:
paper - MFT Nightshift Blue and Berrylicious card stock; Stampin' Up Old Olive and Whisper White card stock; October Afternoon Campfire patterned paper
miscellaneous - My Favorite Things Transformables Heart Full of Love and Fishtail Flags Stax die-namics; Stampin' Up Houndstooth embossing folder; button, twine



Here's the challenges:
Splitcoast Stampers Lovefest2014H - Heartfelt Greetings
My Favorite Things MFTWSC164 - sketch
The Color Throwdown CTD280 - Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Night of Navy
Card Makin' Mammas CMM81- Stack It Up (3 or more layers)

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

Lovefest 2014

Over at Splitcoast Stampers it's Lovefest 2014.  There's a series of challenges being sponsored by the member companies.   The Cat's Pajamas is one of the member companies.  The TCP's regular weekly challenge is "Spring is on the Way" and the Lovefest challenge is a photo inspiration.  I've used the colors from the photo and the theme from the weekly challenge for this card.

It isn't  obvious from this photo are that the basket and bunny are paper pieced.   It's also hard to see that the bunny's tail is covered in Flower Soft.
    
Here's the deets:
stamp - the Cat's Pajamas "Wheel Love"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
paper - K & Co. Susan Winget Spring Blossoms patterned paper pad; MFT Cotton Candy, Pink Lemonade, and Timber Green card stock; Stampin' Up Cameo Coral card stock; Recollections scrapbook paper
miscellaneous - copics; Spellbinder's Circle, Scalloped Circle and Garden Weave dies; ribbon; bling; Flower Soft; machine stitching

Here's the challenges:
the Cat's Pajamas TCPTUES257 - Spring is in the Air
Splitcoast Stampers Lovefest2014E - Photo Inspiration
Splitcoast Stampers DDSketch0214 - February Fan Club sketch challenge

Thanks for stopping by, come back again. 

PWC298 - Ribbon

This week at Paper Pretties we're challenging you to create a card or project and use ribbon. Challenges don't get much easier than that so grab your tools and join in the fun, your entry could be picked as the winner of five digital images.  You don't have to use Paper Pretties products to play in our challenge so you've got no excuse, get busy crafting and don't forget to link it up to the Paper Pretties challenge blog.  We're looking forward to seeing what you create.  Do you need some more inspiration?  Pop over to the blog and see what the rest of the design team has created.
  



Here's the deets:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Emerald" digi
ink - printer
paper - the Paper Studio "Scribble Shamrocks" patterned paper;  October Afternoon "Cakewalk" patterned paper; MFT "Kraft" card stock; Bazzill "Patch" card stock" and Stampin' Up "Whisper White" card stock
miscellaneous - copics; MFT Fishtail Flags die-namics; Spellbinders rectangle and scalloped rectangel dies; button; gingham ribbon; satin ribbon; charm; pearls; stickles

Here's the challenges:
Paper Pretties PWC298 - Ribbon
One Stitch at a Time #200 - Use a Digi
Whoopsie Daisy - Use 2 or more die cuts
Kraft Journal #159 - Use a die cut
Papertake Weekly - Lovely Layers
Brown Sugar #81 - Use a die cut or punch
Simply Create too #55 - St. Patrick's Day or use green
Sister Act #45 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

Jellypark Friends - Chocolate and Cake

Chocolate and Cake - oh my!  That's a challenge right up my alley, yum! and it's this fortnight's challenge at Jellypark Friends.  

A long time ago I made a couple 6" x 6" recipe cards and I've been wanting to make more ever since. Many of my recipe cards are a old, and becoming difficult to read.  I thought it would be a good idea to make a scrapbook of my favorites.   This challenge just gave me the little kick in the behind I needed to get back to that.  

The Jellypark challenge is Chocolate and Cake so how about a chocolate cupcake recipe.  The recipe is from one of Ina's (the Barefoot Contessa) cookbooks.  I love here and have several of her books.  Any recipe I have ever made had come out fabulous.  Try it, I'm sure you'll love it.

For a recipe card I prefer to keep them on the flat side and relatively CAS but at the same time I don't want them to be completely plain.  The size of the recipe also affects how much embellishments I can put on the card.  Since this recipe fills most of the card I used the empty space next to the ingredients for a good sized image and just added a bow and a brad for embellies.   

Here's the deets:
stamp - Jellypark Friends "Girl and Cake" digi
ink - printer
paper - My Favorite Things "Blu Raspberry" and "Midnight Blue" card stock; Stampin' Up "Soft Suede" card stock and "Specialty Sweet Shop" dsp
miscellaneous - copics; stickles; divine twine; Creative Memories cutting system' Xmas red Stickles; clear stickles; Stampin' Up Jelly Bean Sweet Shop brad

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

SFTW - Flower Power

It's the weekend!  So how about a Stampin' for the Weekend challenge to keep you busy?  The challenge theme is "Flower Power" and we've got Stamp and Create for our sponsor.   Get your stamping stuff and some flowers out and play along with us.  We can't wait to see what you create.

If you visit my blog regularly you've probably noticed that I don't usually use flowers on my cards.  Well, I don't know what got into me but once I adhered those big flowers to the card I thought it needed something more and before I knew it I just couldn't stop.  This is one busy card.  I wonder if there are any "Not CAS card challenges" out there.  By the way I made those big flowers using my the Cat's Pajamas heart border to cut out the three pieces and then I rolled them, put pearls in the center, surrounded the pearls with stickles and then added bling around the pearls.  The edges of the flowers and the rest of the card were sponged with Ranger "Antique Linen" ink.  By the way if you saw this card from another angle you'd see that there are roses under the big flowers on the left side too.  I don't know what made me finally stop I just hope that I stopped soon enough.  

Here's the deets:
stamp - the Cat's Pajamas "Ewe Complete Me"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; Ranger "Antique Linen"
paper - Stampin' Up "Crumb Cake" card stock; My Favorite Things "Insulated Pink" card stock;
Basic Grey "Cappella" patterned paper
miscellaneous - copics; My Favorite Things "Pierced Circle Stax" and "Circle Stax" die-namics; the Cat's Pajamas "Heart Border", "Heart Swirl", "Queen of Hearts border" Cut Ups dies; Spellbinder's "Hearts"and "Scalloped Hearts" die; pearls from Stampin' Up Pretties Kit; heart button Pebbles Button Candy Dots; peach lace; gingham ribbon; linen twine;  stickles; cupid charm; Sandylion flowers; Jolee flowers; bling

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend - Flower Power
the Cat's Pajamas TCPTUES256 - Love
Southern Girls - Bling it, Bling, Bling
Milk Coffee - Girly Challenge
Sisterhood of Crafters - Love You
Simon Says Stamp - Get Krafty

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

PWC297 Red, Pink and White

It's Wednesday so it's either time for a silly camel to be asking if you know what day it is (I think I had to see that commercial a hundred times before I laughed at it) or it's time for a new Paper Pretties challenge!  Actually it's both so if you need something to help you get over the hump grab some crafting supplies and play along with Paper Pretties challenge PWC297 Red, White and Pink.

For those of you living under a rock this Friday is Valentine's Day.  Shocking news, huh?  This is one of those holidays that I have very mixed emotions over.  I still love those adorable little kiddy valentines but it breaks my heart knowing that some little kids are crying over not receiving one from whoever.  For me it was a nerve wracking experience putting my cards in the classroom box and waiting to see if I got any in return but it was no where near as devastating as when I had to watch my child go through it.  So whenever This holiday rolls around I still think about this stuff. 

So if you aren't into Valentine's Day for any reason but you'd like to play along in our challenge, and I sure hope you do, make a birthday card or a for a friend card or anything else you'd like to do.  We'd just like to have you play along with us.  You don't even have to use Paper Pretties stamps, but if you have them, we'd sure like to see how you use them.  For some more inspiration stop over at the Paper Pretties blog and see the beautiful creations the rest of the design team made.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Holiday Cheers I"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black" and Versa Magic "Pink Petunia"
paper - Stampin' Up "Cherry Cobbler", "Blushing Bride" and "Whisper White" card stock and "Sending Love" specialty designer paper
miscellaneous- copics, Xmas red stickles; red pearls; Divine Twine; Spellbinder's "Oval" and "Opulent Oval" dies; My Favorite Things "Fishtail Flags" die-namics

Here's the challenges:
Paper Pretties PWC297 - Red, Pink and White
Sketch N Dies #1 - sketch
Oldie but a Goodie - Valentine
Pause, Dream, Enjoy Linky Party #3 - Hearts
Ribbon Reel #68 - Be My Valentine, Use Red, Pink, White and Ribbon
Kaboodle Doodles #210 - To My Sweetheart

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

Not a Valentine

Am I the only person in the paper crafting community who isn't posting a Valentine's Day/Love card?  I was browsing through some challenges today and every single one of them was centered around that big pink holiday that pops up later this week.  I don't have anything against it, and I love pink but sometimes you just don't feel like making another Valentine card, I made one earlier today for my Wednesday post.

Would you believe that I hardly have any birthday cards?  I need to build up my stash so I was happy to see that this week's Cat's Pajamas challenge called for a project using a candle, present or cake.  So I got to play with my TCP toys and I got a birthday card.

Here's the deets:
stamp - the Cat's Pajamas "Peeking" and sentiment from "Birthday Bunny"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black" and My Favorite Things "Jellybean Green" 
paper - My Favorite Things "Berrylicious" and "Sour Apple" card stock; My Mind's Eye "Hootenanny" patterned paper

miscellaneous - copics; the Cat's Pajamas "Star Rosette", "Queen of Hearts" and "Celebration Topper" dies; Stampin' Up corner punch; pearls; Divine Twine; Present charm

Here's the challenges:
the Cat's Pajamas TCPTUES255 - Use a candle, present or cake image
Totally Papercrafts #205 - Hey Cutie
Allsorts week 245 - Colors that Beginning with B (blue)
Sister Act #43 - Anything Goes
Divas by Design - Die Cuts

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

PWC296 - Valentine/Love

This week at Paper Pretties we're challenging you to make a "Valentine/Love" themed card or project.  You'll be just in time for Cupid's arrival.  
My card uses the Dreamboat stamp set.   Even though I was born a couple years too late for this fashion trend I always loved poodle skirts and saddle shoes.  I wore saddle shoes when no one else would be caught dead in them but I only wore my poodle skirt for Halloween, it just didn't have the same appeal any more.  These days I'd probably still wear the saddle shoes but they didn't make the cut, that is, they didn't get moved to Florida where it's rarely cold enough for a closed up shoe and socks, except these last couple weeks.

For some more inspiration pop over to the Paper Pretties blog to see what the rest of the design team created for this challenge.  Then get busy and make your card for a chance to win 5 digis.  Don't forget to link up your creation.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Dreamboat"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black" and "Teal Zeal"
paper - Bazzill "Blossom", "Jet Stream" and "Stonehenge"; Stampin; Up "Sending Love" DSP; My Mind;s Eye "Lucky in Love"
miscellaneous - copics; bling; Divine Twine; heart charm; My Favorite Things "Staggering Heart" die-namics; Spellbinder's Fleur de Lis Rectangles die; Stampin' Up "Modern Label" punch

Here's the challenges:
Paper Pretties PWC296 - Valentine/Love
Oldie But a Goodie - Valentine (the patterned papers are at least from last year)
PDE Linky Party #3 - Hearts
Ooh La La #150 - Use a Heart
Sweet Stampin' - Love/Valentine
Allsorts week 244 - Love is in the Air

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.