SFTW - Anything Goes

Happy Weekend Peeps!  I've been retired for a few years now and I can still get excited about the weekend.  I used to be excited because I would have a couple days off from work and get to do fun things with my friends.  These days when I get excited it's because there are fun events scheduled on weekends that I hope to attend.  I love when I have time to stamp on the weekends but I try to make time to do some arts and/or crafts everyday and these days if I don't make time to do some everyday I end up in big trouble.  But I digress...
At Stampin' for the Weekend we've got a new challenge for you.  This is one that everyone should be able to play along.  It's "Anything Goes".  As long as you use a stamp or digi you can make any kind of card or project.  The challenge is being sponsored by Marker Pop. What a fun shop that is.  As soon as you get a chance take a break and stop on over there, you'll have a great time shopping.

My card is an "anything" card, an all occasion card.   One of the things you can't see in the frontal photo of the card is the "Tole" layering of the balloon.  This photo taken on the side shows that every part of the balloon that could be considered a layer has been done over, cut out and popped up.  The balloon portion of the image has been stamped 5 times.   After coloring the images they are cut out.  The first popped up layer is the entire balloon.  The next layer that is colored and cut is the banner and rosette going around the center of the balloon.  Next the rosette is done, then the last piece is the blue center.  There's a small blue pearl in the center of the blue layer.  While this doesn't shoe well in the photograph it looks really good in real life and it's very easy to do.  If you've never tried it, next time you're looking for something new give this a go.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Close to My Heart "Give a Lift"
ink - Memento Rich Cocoa; Ranger Scatter Straw
paper - Close to My Heart "Balloon Ride" pack
miscellaneous - copics; twine; charm; machine stitching; Balloon Ride Assortment; Spellbinders Opulent Ovals die

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes
The Sweetest Thing - Sweet Sunday Sketch 210
L'il Red Wagon #228 - Truly Dimensional
Crafting for All Seasons #72 - Spring Into Spring
Tuesday Throwdown #186 - Stitching
Creative Card Crew 57 - Charms
Love to Create #106 - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin' - Be Inspired by a Song, Film or Book ("Around the World in 80 Days)

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

CIC212- Di's Digi Designs

It's starting to look a lot like summer. At least when I see pinwheels I am immediately think of childhood summer days.  I remember that sometimes the sticks were filled with little pieces of candy.  These cupcakes make me want to run out and get a pinwheel, maybe attach it to the handlebars of my bicycle.  But I digress...These pinwheels are for this week's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC212 sponsored by Di's Digi Downloads. 

Rather than running out to buy a pinwheel I went straight to my desk and right there on top was an envelope with some stamped and cut out pinwheel images.  I was getting them ready so I could whip up some cards for all the summer birthdays coming up.  The red, white and blue color scheme is perfect for Memorial Day and 4th of July.  It's amazing how many people I know with birthdays falling on those holidays.  Red, white and blue is perfect for this challenge too.  So what will you create?  There's lots of dies to make pinwheels and plenty of stamps too, but if you don't have any of them there's the color scheme or whatever else you think of when you see the photo.  The sweeties look forward to seeing your cards so don't forget to link them up on the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge blog.

 

Here's the deets:

stamp - Close To My Heart "Pinwheel"

ink - Memento "Ladybug" and "Danube Blue"; Stampin' Up "Basic Black"

paper - My Favorite Things "Kraft", "Whip Cream" and "Red Hot" card stock

miscellaneous - mini brad

 

Here's the challenges:

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC212 - photo

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C187 - No Patterned Paper

CASual Friday CFC102 - Red, White and Blue

Charisma #20 - Here Comes Summer

 

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

 



Sweet Music

This card is one of a set of four.  They will be a gift for a friend who is a retired music teacher. 

I am so excited about some news I received today that I can't concentrate enough to come up with anything to say about this card.

Here's the big news - the Cat's Pajamas is having a new release next week.  Now that in itself is enough to get me excited but even more exciting is that Top Kitty Kat Alma is inviting all the swanky stampers to participate in the release and sneaky peeks.  And if you haven't guessed, yes I was a Swanky Stamper many moons ago.  I can't wait to play along.  So if you're a fan of the Cat's Pajamas, and seriously, who isn't, next week is going to be a lot of fun with peeks starting on Tuesday.  I don't know who else is going to play, but the swanky Stampers include some very talented people, you're sure to love what they do.  You can see it all, next week,  on the Cat's Pajamas' forum on Splitcoast Stampers.  We'll be looking out for you.

Back to this card.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Close To My Heart "Sweet Music"
ink - Versafine "Toffee"
paper - Bazzill "Quicksand" cs; My Favorite Things "Natural" cs; Stampin' Up "Crushed Curry" cs;  Graphic 45 "Christmas Past Collection - Glad Tidings" and "Botanical Collection - Love Letters" dsp
miscellaneous - Spellbinder's "Circle" and "Labels 18" dies; pearls; ribbon; twine; charm; machine stitching ''

Here's the challenges:
Speedy the Fox #134 - Pop It Up
Daring Cardmakers - Just Because
Just Add Ink JAI#144 - Just Add Music
Polka Doodles week 46 - Square Card with a Round Element
Simply Create Too #26 - Use Your Stash (the Graphic 45 paper has been in my stash for 2 years)
Oldie But a Goodie - Anything But Christmas (see above - also the other papers are at least a year old, the ribbon is old too, geez, I have to start making a lot more stuff or stop buying so much - nah, that's crazy talk)

Thanks for stopping by, come back soon

Tea Party for Hope

If you hang around Splitcoast Stampers you've probably seen a teapot or two with a wild and wacky story posted by Mothermark.  Cindy is hosting the Hope That You Can Cling To challenge HYCCT1219 "A Birthday in Pink!".
I wouldn't dream of making a card for her challenge that didn't include a tea pot.   Fortunately I have a few tea pot and tea cup stamps.  A few are among the missing since my last move, I dream they'll return someday.


Here's the deets: 
stamp - Close To My Heart "Tea Time"; My Favorite Things "Big Greetings"
ink - Versa Magic "Pink Petunia"; Ranger "Tattered Rose"
paper - Memory Box pink card base; My Favorite Things "Pink Lemonade" card stock; Creative Imaginations "Renae Lindgren" dsp; Stampin' Up "Patterns Stack - soft Subtles"
miscellaneous - Stampin' Up "Framelits Labels Collection"; My Favorite Things "Circle Stax" die-namics"; Stampin' Up corner punch; bling; Bic "Pink Flamingo"

Here's the challenges:
Splitcoast Stampers HYCCT1219 - A Birthday in Pink!
Moving Along with the Times - Curiouser and Curiouser, Be Alice Inspired - a Tea Party!
Milkcoffee - Yum, Yum, Show Us Your Favorite Treats (the little cakes on the dp!)
Tuesday Throwdown #120 - Tea at Granny's

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

Tea Time

I'm a sucker for teapots and tea cups.  When I was a child my aunt lived with us for awhile and she had a lovely little collection of porcelain teacups.  They were in the don't you dare play in this room and don't even think about touching these things decoration in the off limits rooms.  I really hated not being allowed in that room.  As an adult who's had a few kids around the house I now understand why we weren't allowed in that room but I still don't like the idea and never had an off limits room.  Of course on the day I found the red lipstick drawing on the back of my off white sofa ....

Here's the deets:
stamp - Close To My Heart "Tea Time"
ink - Versa Magic "Perfect Plumeria"
paper - Stampin' Up "So Saffron", "Pear Pizazz" and "Rich Razzleberry" card stock; Creative Imaginations "Renae Lindgrun" dp
miscellaneous - My Favorite Things "Photo Corner" die-namics; SU "Always Artichoke" marker for doodles; olive burlap twine; teacup charm

Here's the challenges:
Sweet Stampin' - How Charming
Moving Along with the Times - Make it Girly, Prim and Proper
Whoopsie Daisy - Make It Girly

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.


A Dirty Christmas

Thank goodness for Christmas in July challenges, even though it's August there are still some Christmas in July challenges open.  AND there's "Dare to Get Dirty" over at Splitcoast.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Close To My Heart "Evergreen"; sentiment Stampin' Up "season of Joy"
ink - Memento "Bamboo Leaves"
paper - Bazzill "Sunbeam" cs; Stampin' Up "Patterns Stack - Subtles" dsp
miscellaneous - Brads, baker's twine; charm; My Favorite Things "Chevron Stripes" die-namics

Here's the challenges:
Splitcoast Stampers Fan Club - Dare to Get Dirty
Crafts and Me #95 - Green with Envy
Cutie Pie #23 - Christmas in July
Ribbon Carousel RCC64 - Christmas in July
Creatalicious #36 - Christmas in July

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.


Quick Christmas Card

If you have to make a lot of Chistmas cards you probably want them to be quick and easy.  This card was relatively quick and definitely easy.  One thing that makes this fast is that the image can be stamped and it's done, no coloring necessary.  However I did take the time to run over the garland line with a silver glaze pen and I glued bling onto lots of the spots.  I made the card very large because in the smaller versions you can't see the bling. 













Here's the deets: 
Stamp - Close To My Heart "Evergreen"
ink - Memento "Cottage Ivy" and "Rich Cocoa"; Color Box "Silver"
paper - Bazzill "Classic Green"; Recollections "Outdoor Trees"
Miscellaneous - ribbon; charm; machine stitching

Here's the challenges:
The Stamp Man - Bling It On
Crafty Catz - #139 - Show Us Your Metal
Party Time Tuesday PTT#74 - Anything Goes
Crimbo Crackers #18 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you come back again.


Celebrate with Cooking It Up With Katie

I often give myself little challenges, besides the ones I find on the challenge blogs.  In the back of my head I've got a litany of them playing in the back of my mind.  It gets pretty crazy in my head with them,  and the song that inevitably gets stuck playing a few bars over and over, then there's the shopping list and the to-do list and you know all the daily junk that gets in as you go about your day.  Currently my little challenges are to 1.) make more masculine cards, 2.) color on card stock,  3.) try different folds and 4.) make some clean and simple cards.  There's other things that pop up on the list like make your Christmas cards early, or make a shaped card or try a new technique but having a current list of four things is enough to keep my head spinning, so the list changes almost as frequently as my undies or my mood. 

This card ended up being a clean and simple card, at least as clean and simple as I get.  Now you may think that it's quick and easy to make a clean and simple card, and it may be for you, but it isn't for me.  In the case of this card I was actually planning on coloring on card stock and I spent way too much time going through my stamp collection looking for an image that signified "Celebrate".  That's one part of the recipe for this week's Cooking It Up With Katie challenge #96.  I gave up on that idea when I was going through the last box of stamps where I found a long neglected set of stars.  Using such a big image makes me want to keep the rest simple.  The rest of this week's recipe is use ribbon and a die cut which is how I decided on how to finish the card. 

The star and the sentiment were both stamped with Close to my Heart "cranberry" on kraft card stock.  The star was fuzzy cut around the edges leaving a small edge to give the appearance of a mat.  The sentiment was die cut with one of Spellbinder's "Ribbon Tags Trio".  The gold ribbon was picked to give the card a little more pop. 

Here's the deets:

stamp - Close to My Heart "Shining Star"

ink - CTMH "Cranberry"

paper - October Afternoon "Report Card" dp; Stampin' Up "Kraft" card stock

miscellaneous - Spellbinder's "Ribbon Tags Trio"; ribbon; machine stitching

Here's the challenges:

Cooking It Up with Katie #96 - Celebration with ribbon and a die cut

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Fab 'N Funky #123 - Celebrate

One Stitch at a Time   #115 - Red, White and Blue

Simon Says Stamp and Show - One for the Boys (hubby is a 4th of July baby)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll join us in the Cooking It Up With Katie challenge to "celebrate with ribbon and a die cut"

Howl Long Did That Take?

If you're a crafter you must have heard this question a Million times. "How long did it take you to make that?" I never knew how to answer that question. I've made many things besides cards and depending on what it was the amount of time was difficult to calculate. For instance I could usually knit a mitten in a short time but what if it was something special? Do you count the amount of time you took to decide what colors to use, if you embroidered a design on it, the amount of time it took to decide what design and what colors to use? I've made quilts. They take a long time. Depending on what size the quilt is it could take a day or two or a couple weeks. Then there's the UFO factor. I have lots of unfinished objects. Every now and then I'll pick one of them up to finish. So you count the time off you took? So do you try to calculate the actual amount of time spent working, or do you take the day you started to the day you finished and what if you didn't work on it for a week or two? See what I mean, the calculation of time is tough for me.

This card is based on the Midnight Madness Challenge #18. Every week Priscilla posts a new sketch challenge and midweek she posts a tutorial AND she gives away bog candy. You can see a picture of her current prize on my sidebar and if you hurry up you can enter to win it. Just click on the picture it'll take you there. Well this card was a terribly difficult card for me. I've had this sketch percolating in my head all week. I like to view that sketch and just whip up a card. I don't mean that I shirk on the details when I make it but I like to see a sketch and have an idea come quickly and then sit down to play with it and not have to struggle over the details. I'd been thinking and thinking and nothing good was coming to me. It's the lacing that got me. I kept getting shoes in my head and bodices. Neither of which moved me. I wish I could tell you how I got the idea of a Christmas tree with gardland in my head but this morning that idea came to me and after that it flowed. That's a beautiful thing when you make something, that is as you go along the ideas keep flowing.

To make this card I used a tree from the Close To My Heart "Evergreen" set. I stamped the tree twice in Stampin' Up Always Artichoke and the tree base in Memento Tuxedo Black. I cut one of the trees out and propped it up on dimensionals on top of the first tree. I edged and sponged the cardstock with Ranger Tea Dye then distressed the edges. It's mounted on DCWV neutrals cardstock as is the designer paper. That paper is Basic Grey, Figgy Pudding, Forest. I distressed all those paper edges and mounted them on an ivory card base. I sponged the edges of the card base with the tea dye. On the bottom layer I used Making Memories FaLaLa christmas ornament shaped brads to lace the gold ribbon around, at the bottom I used a Stampin' Up filigree brad to tie the bow around. On the tree I used gold stickles for the gardland and red stickles for the ornaments. the star topper is a Darice Self Stick Gem.

So when you ask me how long it took to make that card do I include all the time I thought about it, and the time it took for the stickles to dry or just the hour or so it took to assemble it?

Thanks for looking. Don't forget to click on the pink ribbon, someone will be grateful for that and it'll improve your karma.