Quick Valentine Challenge Cards

 Here are a couple more quick valentine cards I put together for a couple more challenges at 365 Cards.

This first one is for Day 343 which required using two separate images and put them together. I used the super cute raccoon from Stampendous and scrumptious cupcake from Hero Arts. I colored the image with copic markers and added stickles to the heart for sparkle. The sentiment is also from Stampendous and the scattered hearts are from Great Impressions. The white card opens out and is on a card base from Bo Bunny.

The next card is for Day 340 for Shape Up! The challenge was to use a heart as the dominant shape on our card. Here is what I made:

I had the red card base already made in my stash. I pulled out my score pal and made a quick border on the front. Next grabbed a scrap of gold paper and used my deckle scissors to cut the edges. The epoxy heart sticker is from Christine Adolph collection. The same scattered hearts were added to the corner so I could say there was some stamping on it :) Finally, the sentiment is a rub-on from Stampin Up.

I wanted to get these uploaded before the Super Bowl started. We are making a bunch of yummy appetizers for dinner. So who are you rooting for? Me…I would like to see the Saints win, but I think the Colts will prevail.

Love is in the Air

Can you believe it? Two posts in one day!! Today’s challenge at 365 Cards is to use the word Love somewhere on our card. I accomplished that

not once but twice! When I saw the name of the challenge I remembered I had this adorable Fluffles stamp. He doesn’t see ink as often as he should. The card layout came from today’s challenge at A Spoonful of Sugar. I flipped the sketch as I already had the white curvy rectangle cut out. The rose striped paper is from Colorbox which is two sided. I used the flip side of the paper to make a curvy frame and embossed heart. That heart was made from a Cuttlebug set called Textile Hearts. The sentiment in the circle is from Justrite Romantic Sentiments. Here is a close up of the image

so you can see I added some Stickles on the fish and diamond glaze on the hearts. A little bling looks good on just about any card don’t cha think?!

Tomorrow is Wednesday, otherwise known as hump day. I hope the rest of your week goes smoothly.

Reindeer Food and a Christmas Card

I saw this idea on a couple of blogs now and thought I would make up a batch for my nephews in Georgia. I had the pail from Stampendous and it was the perfect size for Reindeer Food. I used a strip of patterned paper that I had in my collection for a while now.

I stamped the image and colored it with my copics then cut it out with my nestabilities. The snowflakes are also a variety of nestabilities. What you can’t see are the cute buttons I glued all around the pail. The saying was printed out on the computer.

The second project I finished today was a simple Christmas card. I saw the layout at Heartprints blog and fell in love. It lets me use my Cuttlebug and ScorPal.

If you click on the picture it will enlarge so you can see the details better. I began by cutting out the nesties Label 9 and the ribbon tag. The sentiment is from The Cat’s Pajamas. The image is by Impression Obsession and was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. I used the following copic colors: c1, yr07, B0000, BV0000, Spica pens in yellow and clear. I used the swiss dots CB folder on the card base first, then lined it up and scored in 1/4 increments. This really came together fast tonight and I just might look at my images and see what else would fit on that nestie to make this my Christmas card for this year. I know many of you are probably saying….it is almost Thanksgiving and you have not designed your Christmas cards yet? I work much better under pressure. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving week. If you are traveling….safe traveling wishes go out to you.

I love my computer!

 The theme at 365 Cards today was technology. We were to be inspired by it. After working on a computer all day, then coming home to browse on the internet, this card was a natural to create.

I inked up Changito by Stampendous and cut him out with my Labels Seven nesties. He was colored with my Copics. The background paper is by Basic Grey Archaic. Great paper for a “manly” card. The sentiment was typed on the computer and put inside the metal holder. The screw brads are from GinaK. I knew one day I would actually use them!

It’s after 11pm here and I am beat. A long full day of work, my monthly recipe swap at the LSS (fun) and then open house at the high school (nightmare). I didn’t stay for the whole thing. Tomorrow is another long day. After work, I have to stay for our End of Summer Bash. The city is sponsoring a Low Country Boil at a local restaurant on the pier. (I live on the Atlantic Ocean for those of you newer to my blog). We sold 160 tickets and guess who gets to check them all in? See ya on Saturday.

My Sew Wild Blue Sketch

This is my second card of the day. This time I combined four different challenges. I began with the sketch challenge by rainy and added fauux stitching by bevmom, blue embellishments by sgtstamper, and finally a wild animal by pickletree.

I began with flipping the sketch on its side as the elements seemed to work better. I looked through the few animal stamps that I have and decided that Changito the monkey seemed more wild than my little hedgehogs :) I colored him in using my copics. In wanting to add the blue embellishments (i have blue brads, buttons and ribbon) I choose the paper by Best Creation for the swirls that resembled the coffee steam. The final element was the faux stitching as I don’t own one of those Janome mini machines. If you look closely, the ribbon I choose looks like it has brown stitching on it also.

And now for a life lesson…when transporting kayaks, be sure you have at least two tie-down straps to secure them on top of your vehicle. I was taking my son just a few miles down the road to launch and we could only find one tie strap. So we used bungee cords as additional holds. They hold but not as well as the orange straps. We almost lost one on US 1. It was seriously slipping off the back corner of my Trailblazer! After re-positioning it we continued on and reached the launch site. Once the boys were on their way, I called my oldest who had the other straps in his car and ordered him to bring one home ASAP. I am now waiting on the call to pick them up.

Monkey'in Around today

At last, Saturday! I had hoped to sleep in a bit today but my body still woke up early. By 8:00 am I grabbed my book and read for an hour. After doing a few chores around the house, I went to a class at the LSS in the afternoon. The insructor was Pat - Sentiments Pat for you shack ladies, and I love to take her classes. She packs so many projects and techniques into her classes that the time just flies by. The theme today was using the new Changito stamps by Stampendous. I love this monkey so I had signed up for this right away.


Here are the first two cards. For the birthday card, the image was stamped in versafine and embossed so we could watercolor with markers. Glitter was added to the frosting and a bit of diamond glaze on the stawberry atop the cake. I have a secret to share to get your hand doodling evenly spaced. Pat gave us round plastic canvas coasters and used that as a guide around the circle. Pretty neat huh? For the ballerina card, we stamped the image first in versamark and embossed with white ink. The image was stamped again on a piece of white CS, embossed and colored with chalk for a softer look. The white scalloped felt strips are also by Stampendous. We took two strips of tulle, tied a knot in the middle and then spread it out for a tu-tu effect.

These next two cards were also fun to color. For the soccer card, we used the new EK Success slim punch that has a bubble look. We punched around the edges of the card then put a piece of light brown behind it. The image was stamped and embossed then colored in with watercolor paints by Hero Arts. The second card used watercolor pencils for coloring. Did I mention that Pat must have every medium there is to color with?! I used a multi-liner pen that was a size .05 to hand doodle. I didn't know they made them that tiny. It added just the right touch. Now that I am looking at the card, I see I forgot the stickles in the coffee steam. Oh well, I will add them when I am done here.

This last card was my favorite......

and here is why.....

It is a POP-UP!!! How cool is this? The images were all stamped, embossed and colored with Pearlescent watercolor paints. They shimmer like H2O's but are soo much cheaper. Isn't it adorable? Pat gaves us an extra template for the pop-up so we could make more at home. Didn't I tell you Pat puts a lot into her classes? If you see one you especially like, please leave a quick comment.

I have a Stampin Up workshop tomorrow so I need to check the kits to make sure all pieces and parts are accounted for. I will share those cards with you later this weekend and let you know how it turned out. The ladies attending are all good friends of mine so I expect to have fun.

Ciao

Birthday cards for others

So today I started on making cards for my sister. She needs a few more than she originally thought so I am trying to pick some layouts that won't take me too much time to put together. I also would like to keep them so it doesn't take any special packaging or extra stamps to mail them. The card on the left was made with Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise ink, paper and ribbon. The stamp inside is SU Upsy Daisy. This was really quick to put together and I think I will make this in more shades. The card on the right I hope she will find appropriate for a masculine birthday. I used the clear set by Stampendous Changito Baker. I just love that monkey!! I colored him in with Copics and added just a touch of Liquid Pearls on his hat. The strip of pp is from the DCWV Sweet matstack. So hopefully my sister will like these and I will make a few more of each to send up to her.

Cupcake Martini

Good Evening! I got home a little bit ago from teaching the La Costa Ladies the Easter cards that I showed previously. They were both a big hit. We had a special guest tonight, my Aunt Blanche. She has been visiting from New England the past couple weeks. She is not a regular stamper, but she did great!

On to today's card. I need to make a few birthday cards so I picked the stamp I wanted to use and then strolled through SCS gallery. This layout combines two different ones that I liked over there. The stamp is by Stampendous and colored with copics. I added Crystal Ice stickles where the liquid would be so it would shimmer. I used the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder on a green scrap. The ribbon is from the MFT spring collection. I am loving the ribbons in this bundle! The background paper is from the Basic Grey cupcake collection.

You may be seeing more birthday cards in the future here. My sister called today and placed an order for 30! She would like 2-3 of each design so she won't be sending out the same card too often. She has been asked to send cards to preschool teachers and aides in her church. No problem. So do you think the above card is appropriate for a religious teacher? Hmm

See you soon!