Jump for Joy

You may recall I mentioned joining an SCS swap for Stampin Up stamps, a while back. I missed posting about a few of the interim cards, but I am back with the most recent. The theme due in March was "Jump for Joy". I knew immediately what stamp set to use, but as usual, the rest of it was up in the air. (Ha! No pun intended)

Came across this sketch while googling. My kangaroo circles were already cut and colored; I could not have found a better fit!

Since I was cutting it close with the due date, there may have been some jumping for joy when I discovered it







Card Details:

Image: Stampin Up

Sentiment: N/A

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU

Ink: Ranger Archival Jet Black
Coloring: Copics

Tools: Nestabilities, Embossing folder

Embellies: Unknown ribbons

Butterfly Blessings

In the Sisterhood this round, the theme is Blessings, with the request to include a butterfly.

"So long as we are loved by others,
I would almost say that we are indispensable;
and no man is useless while he has a friend."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
















Card Details:

Image: SU, Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Color Box Chalk Archival, Memento Tuxedo Black
Coloring: N/A

Tools: SU punch

Embellies: Unknown ribbon

Serene Grace

I joined a new swap over on SCS. It is a monthly themed swap, using Stampin Up! stamps primarily. Sounds fun, right? First theme was released yesterday and it is "Serene Grace". Huh. Makes my brain go to something religious. But that is not my style at all. I do not own a single religious stamp, nor do I wish to. (ok, that is not completely true, I own one. It was a gift for my sister in order to make a gift for my brother cuz the image was so close to a quilt she had made for him. Ironically, neither of them are religious either)

I googled "serene" and I googled "graceful" and came up with a great idea. Only problem? My image would not be SU. Back to the drawing board. Keeping my google results in mind, I opened drawer after drawer of stamps, and an idea struck. And every single stamp in it was the right brand!

Kind of mellows you right out, doesn't it?




















Card Details:

Image: SU

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU, vellum

Ink: Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Memento
Coloring: N/A

Tools: water mister, 1/16" hole punch

Embellies: White embossing powder, white brads

Happy 50th Birthday, Joe!

Another big event at our chorus retreat, was a celebration of the 50th birthday of our coach, Joe Connelly. I needed to make a card that was roomy enough for everyone to sign, and was special enough to double as a "gift"

Here is what I created:

I used images of items from his childhood (well, except for the big-wheeled bicycle) and followed a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches (#177)

 The inside is an exploding box with a cupcake in the center. It is supposed to be a cupcake anyway, but I had attached the base to the base of the card before I realized I had forgotten to run it through my crimper; it does not have that cupcake wrapper feel, but I was not about to take it apart to fix. 

The images from the outside of the card were stamped inside with Versamark, so it would not be so plain, but would not impede signatures. 

The frosting is embossed and the candle is a drinking straw. The flame was made by tying different lengths of orange ribbon and securing them with a brad (so they would not shift) then stuffing all of that into the straw. 

Other than the crimping mistake, I am quite pleased with how this came out. 








Card Details:

Image: SU

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: Bazzill, SU, unknown dp

Ink: Memento, Versamark
Coloring: N/A

Tools: Nestabilities, embossing folder, unknown brad

Embellies: unknown ribbon, drinking straw

Baby (Doctor) Who

At our Retreat, my chorus had a baby shower for one of our members. I was asked to provide a card for everyone in the chorus to sign. The soon-to-be mommy is a HUGE sci-fi geek. She loves all things Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, etc, but how do you get any of that into a baby card? 

It took me several days, but I finally stumbled upon an idea. I used the phone booth from the SU set, 'Feeling Sentimental', to produce a Tardis. By googling "Tardis images", I found a background I could recreate.

Coming soon from a Galaxy near You...

I sliced around the edges and adhered it to a panel underneath, using Velcro to keep it closed. Underneath, the image of the baby on the moon seemed just right for my sci-fi theme.

 

 

The next Doctor!

The whole card then opens up for everyone to sign. The party was great fun, and I am proud to say my card was a hit!













Card Details:

Image: SU, PSX

Sentiment: Made with individual unknown letters

Cardstock: SU, GP

Ink: Memento, Kaleidacolor
Coloring: Copics

Tools: Reinkers and alcohol, cotton balls, SU punch, Velcro

Embellies: Embossing powder, unknown ribbon, unknown brads

New Life

Let me start by saying I love, love, love, Love, LOVE this theme!

Every once in a while a swap is posted that really gets my imagination flowing, and I cannot wait to jump in. Even then, though, the card I create seldom translates from brain to paper the way I envision. But this time, this theme, this sketch, this card, embodies that rare moment when it all comes together perfectly.

Maryann is our hostess this time around in the 'Hood. And by this time around, I mean for March/April (I have gotten rather ahead of myself in the card-making department). Here is what she wrote: "March and April remind me that spring is coming. Along with spring comes new life: of grass, the gardens, flowers, the baby deer, all the new baby chicks, and all the creatures of this earth. Let's make a card for a new life. It could be a baby card, flowers in bloom, etc. Let your imagination run wild. Have fun!"
Immediately I knew what stamp set to use, and as soon as I saw Tuesday Morning Sketches (#286), it all came together in my mind. All that was left was to get it out onto (into?) paper.

Card Details:

Image: SU

Sentiment: N/A

Cardstock: GP, SU

Ink: Memento
Coloring: N/A

Tools: SU punch(es), MFT die (grass)

Embellies: Unknown ribbon

Sweet Sixteen

Princess A had a birthday yesterday. 

Birthday cake for breakfast! Carrot cake is healthy, isn't it?

 My baby is SIXTEEN!
 






















Her bedroom is a shrine to Ross Lynch (she says it is for the band 'R5' as a whole, but 99.999999999% of the pics are of Ross), she loves designing and programming the lighting for Drama Club, and she takes just about every possible dance class available at the studio (she even teaches a few classes to the younger set). She is funny, smart, goofy, loving, sarcastic, an absolute slob, original, creative... and I just adore her!

Her birthday card is purple again this year. I say again, even though you have no way of knowing as I did not blog it last year; but I realized because I only just now got around to photographing last years card to post on Facebook.

Tuesday Morning Sketches (#288), as is so often the case, was my inspiration. I still have not figured out whether the dragon is lighting the candles on purpose, or just struggling to blow them out.






Card Details:

Image: Newton's Nook, SU

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: GP, unknown

Ink: Memento
Coloring: Copics

Tools: Nestabillities, SU punches

Embellies: Unknown brads, generic pop-dots

Quartet Coaching Part II - The Coach

A mentioned in a previous post, my quartet was privileged to be coached by one of the best known names in Sweet Adelines, Kim Vaughn! She was informative; She was funny; She was helpful; She was interesting; She was fabulous!

I wanted to make her a thank you card. Took me nearly a week to come up with anything more than the image I wanted to use. Sketch Saturday (#271) helped in this regard. 

Internet has been off and on for a couple weeks, so here I am at the last minute finishing this post. Sadly, I missed the deadline for The Pink Elephant (#211), using texture. I think, perhaps, I need a new router. Darn thing keeps forgetting how to communicate with the modem. I am getting very tired of fixing it every day, some days more than once.

Anywho, back to my card. I stamped the background first with "Weathered" from SU. Next, I stamped the cover-a-card music notes. I crumpled it and crushed it, unfolded it, then crumpled and crushed it again. I used my distressing tool on the edges (all the while wishing I had done this step before the crumpling, etc) then inked the edges and the ridges. My goal was a look of old parchment. I think it came out pretty well. 

Card Details:

Image: Copper Leaf Creations, Cover-a-Card, SU

Sentiment: Computer generated

Cardstock: SU

Ink: SU, Memento
Coloring: Copics, Prismacolor markers

Tools: Nestabilities, Tim Holtz Distressing Tool

Embellies: unknown sequins, unknown rhinestone, Stickles

And here we are with Kim

Quartet Coaching Part I - The Outfit

This past Saturday, my quartet had the honor of coaching with Kim Vaughn (formerly Hulbert), Sweet Adelines International Faculty, International quartet champion (several times over), International Chorus Champion director and all around amazing singer and teacher. Though shaky in the week leading up to it, I had a blast on stage. Oh right, did I mention our coaching took place in front of many of the regions quartets?

During our weekly rehearsal we discussed what to wear. Our chorus director (who happened to be there) said she was going shopping that afternoon and would keep her eye out for some tops. The following night at chorus rehearsal, she had a bag full! (Not to mention a perfect pair of earrings) We chose two sets (everything must be bought times four, remember) and sent one back. We wore the more casual (and slightly cooler; it is summer, all) top for our big day.

The lead and tenor went shopping later in the week and found necklaces, bracelets and bangles to match




Kim complimented us on our appearance and talked to the other attendees about how your impression on stage sets the judges to expect good (or not so good) things from you. 

On Sunday while blurfing (I have been trying to do a better job with keeping up with everyone's blogs), I came upon The Deconstructed Sketch (#112). Immediately my "All Dressed Up" dies came to mind, and a card was born. This one will go to Marion (SONE director), our personal shopper.

Card Details:

Image: N/A

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: GP, SU

Ink: SU
Coloring: N/A

Tools: SU Framelits die

Embellies: SU button, SU Bakers twine, SU Dimensionals

Barb's Fabulous Flowers

I was doing so well earlier in the year with getting my swaps in on time, that I signed up for not one, but two spots in Barb's Fabulous Flowers before my cards were finished. Here we are at the last minute and I just finished the second set. Technically set #2 was finished over the weekend, but since I was making extras for another occasion, I did not consider the entire set finished until just now. 

The first card I made, featured Tuesday Morning Sketches (#203) and was actually finished on that same Tuesday. Sadly I did not have time to scan it until this morning so I missed the entry deadline  

Can I just mention how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Cover-a-Card stamps by Impression Obsession? I may never buy designer paper again!

Card Details:

Image: PSX, Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card, Denami Design

Sentiment: N/A

Cardstock: GP, SU

Ink: Memento, SU

Tools: Embossing Folder, Nestabilities, IO Mega Mount

Coloring: SU Watercolor Crayons, Aqua Painter

Embellies: Unknown ribbon












Card #2 features Sweet Sketch Wednesday (#211). Unfortunately, there is not title on that particular blog post so I cannot link directly to it. If they should fix this, I will adjust the link accordingly. 

Card Details:

Image: Riley

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: GP, SU

Ink: Memento

Tools: N/A

Coloring: Copic Sketch Markers

Embellies: Unknown rhinestones

Thank You to Yoda

When Princess A was just barely three, she liked to sing into the microphone on my computer and have me play it back for her. I decided to use this opportunity to my advantage and had her sing Happy Birthday to various people and then I would email them the track. One of them was to Laura, but Princess A, being just three did not pronounce Ls or Rs very well. The resulting line was, "Happy Birthday Dear Yoda". Laura has been Yoda ever since.

Fast forward to 2013. Yoda is now on the Management Team of my Chorus; her position being Corresponding Secretary or Communications Manager or something like that. Anyway, she was talking after Contest about needing to send cards, and I jumped in and said, "What kind of cards do you need? I will make them for you".
She said she needed three congratulations and one thank you and that she would need more in a few weeks to send a "love gift" to the chorus and quartet competing in Hawaii. When I got home, I remembered this as she needed multiple thank yous and one of something else, whose theme I could not recall. Oops! What can I say it was a long, busy weekend and I was tired. (But I won some pretty medals )

As soon as I realized that the thank you image was flowers, I decided to make lots (16 to be exact) so I could send them for a swap as well. (Soon after I had signed up for two spots in Barb's Fabulous Flowers swap, the hostess for May/June in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards picked flowers as her theme as well. That is a lot of flowers!) It is hard to tell in the scan, but the center of eight of the falling flowers is a pearl. Without further ado, here are the cards that Yoda will be sending and will also go to the SOTC swap: 

Card Details:

Image: Stampin Up!

Sentiment: (SU)

Cardstock: SU, GP

Ink: SU

Tools: Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page (Corner)

Coloring: N/A

Embellies: Viva Pearl Pen











On a related note, I posted this to Yoda's Facebook Wall this morning:

 

Green With Envy Over Your Recent Make-Over

I spent some time the other day perusing SCS, but I could not find another swap that interested me; Hence another "What Women Want" card was born. 

I knew immediately what stamp set I wanted to use, so off to Tuesday Morning Sketches I went. The sketch(#189) was perfect! 
Oh, but wait, there's a catch. A color scheme is attached. I know I have been out of it for a while, but I do not remember ever seeing that before. Oh well, who says a make-over card has to be pink anyway?! After all, my favorite color is green...

You may notice in the original sketch there is a little swirl around the image, or in the case of this card the sentiment - I know, I know, I said I was not a fan of sentiments, but in this case I made an exception. Anywho, back to the swirl. I do not have anything like that and am too cheap (not to mention lazy) to go out and purchase, especially as I would need not just one, but eight. (I almost always make swap cards in sets of eight. Six to send, two to keep.) To compensate for my lack of funds/desire/energy I used a swirly embossing folder. I think it worked just fine.

After my card was made, I remembered I needed to check Loves Rubberstamps Challenge blog to see if I won anything last week (I didn't). While I was there, I discovered this weeks challenge(#43) is "Shades of Green" so this card will be entered there as well. BONUS!

Card Details:

Image: Stampin Up

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: SU, GP

Ink: SU

Tools: Cuttlebug, embossing folder

Coloring: N/A

Embellies: Prima - Iced Got Flowers, unknown rhinestone brad

Thank Ewe

Many moons ago, Main Squeeze, Princess A and I hosted an Open House. At that point we had owned our new home for 10 months, so it was time. Here we are two months later and I still owe some thank you notes. All I can say is we never expected gifts, and the stamp room was in complete disarray (Hence the sporadic blog posts for such a long time) Fortunately Scrappy came to the rescue!

My one goal for this week was to complete a card for the Crafty Hos. After all, I am supposed to be a member of the DT. Now that Princess A is back in school,  and I have had some time, I was able to finally organize the stamp room with my new storage units (I ♥ The Container Store!). It is not quite done, but I can walk across the floor without injuring myself or breaking anything, and I can easily access all of my supplies! As Princess A mentioned the other day upon glancing in, "wow, this room is cleaner than it has been since we moved in!"

This weeks Crafty Ho Challenge is a Sketch Challenge:

Immediately, I thought of the farm as the main image. The rest followed from there. Princess A looked at the card for several moments and stated, "I don't get it".

I really need to find a "Thank Ewe" stamp.











Card Details:
Image: SU
Sentiment: Stamps by Judith
Cardstock: GP, SU
Ink: Memento, SU
Tools: Crop-a-Dile II Big Bite
Coloring: Prismacolor markers
Embellies: Unknown eyelets, SU dimensionals

A Little Night Music

My, my, my it has been a loooooong time since I have posted.

This week a good portion of the Hos are in North Carolina enjoying themselves at the HPC (Ho and Pimp Convention, I believe). Sadly I could not attend this year. Again. I cannot tell you how many times I have kicked myself for not going when it was in NJ. But I was new to the stable then and feeling rather inadequate. If only I knew then what I know now...

So anyway, as I was saying, since many of the Hos are away from their computers and more importantly their crafting desks, I figured it was high time I did my part for this DT and made a card.

Audrey came up with the sketch challenge this week,

and a challenge it was.

I just was not sure what to do with that split panel thing in the background. I knew right away what image I wanted, but nothing else. Once I decided on background, however, it all came together.

I will leave it to you to decide, is this little girl staying up way past her bedtime, or is she dreaming?

Card Details:
Image: SU
Sentiment: SU
Cardstock: GP, SU, unknown designer paper
Ink: Memento
Tools: Cuttlebug embossing folder, SU Punch
Coloring: Prismacolor markers
Embellies: Unknown brads, generic pop dots

Sparkly Lily Fairy

When I first discovered Stampin Up, I was all about the pastels. Now I find myself leaning towards Bold Brights more than anything, so it was fun for me to open up the Soft Subtles drawer again. For using pastel colors is the Crafty Hos challenge this week.

Lily is all decked out in her fairy wings, which are painted with Twinkling H2Os before outlining the outside edges with Cotton Candy Stickles. The designer paper is from a new-to-me stack by DCWV which I just picked up at Michael's. Doesn't it look as thought Lily is floating away on little glittery bubbles?


The rhinestone are random generics I found in my stash, one of which appears to have slipped while in the scanner. I will have to fix that on the card, but I do not have time to re-scan, so it'll have to do for this post...






Card Details:
Image: Pink Cat Studio
Sentiment: SU
Cardstock: GP, SU, DCWV
Ink: Memento
Tools: Nesties
Coloring: Prismacolor markers
Embellies: Twinkling H2Os, Stickles, generic rhinestones

Happy Birthday Sarah, Kirsten and Makayla

The summer is a busy time for birthdays in my friend Linda's house. Keeping that in mind, she chose a festive theme for the Sisterhood for the month of April;. A birthday card to fit any of her daughters upcoming age groups, 16, 11 and 7.

I know Kirsten (almost-11) is not a fan of pink, so with her in mind I chose turquoise and purple. Of course it helped that I had this patterened paper on hand.

The sheep (Pink Cat Studio) is covered with Liquid Applique except for her arms legs and face which are touched a bit with Prismacolor markers. The cupcake and 'hands' are raised on a dimensional, making it look as though her arms are really attached to her body.

To Sarah, Kirsten and Makayla - I hope each of you ladies has a very happy birthday!






Card Details:
Image: Pink Cat Studio
Sentiment: SU
Cardstock: GP, SU
Ink: Memento, SU
Tools: SU punches, heat gun
Coloring: Prismacolor markers
Embellies: Liquid Applique, generic dimensionals

Recycling the Crafty Ho Way

Perhaps you did not know this, but the Hos are an environmentally conscious group. Every once in a while one of them will put a bunch of supplies she no longer needs into a box and mail it to another. That person takes what she wants and adds in her own stuff. And so it goes til eventually the last person on the list sends the box back to the first person. I have participated in this swap a couple of times and have gotten some really great things, as well as cleaned out some extra supplies.

This year Earth Day falls on April 22nd. The Crafty Hos are honoring this day a little early with this weeks challenge, Recycling.

The first recycled element of this card is the background. Princess A, for some unknown reason, does not throw her garbage from lunch away in the school cafeteria. She brings it back home again in her lunchbox. Not too long ago she brought home the piece of waxed paper that had been used to wrap her sandwich. It did not look soiled at all, so into my stamping supplies it went. It was just the thing I needed for wax paper resist.

The next recycled element is the paper bag. Most of the time I bring my own bag to the store, but sometimes I forget and end up with a new paper bag. As soon as the groceries are unpacked it goes on the floor for the kittens to play. It will usually stay there for about a week, then moves out to the breezeway to become the receptacle for paper recycling. This week it got a chunk cut out of it.

The final recycled item is a newspaper. Joy offered a fabulous paper flower tutorial on her blog and made it look SO easy! Thankfully it was.

Oh! I almost forgot! The layout (rather loosely) follows Tuesday Morning Sketches (#39).






Card Details:
Image: SU
Sentiment: N/A
Cardstock: SU
Ink: SU
Tools: Iron, Brayer, Nesties
Coloring: N/A
Embellies: generic rhinestone brad

Critters Love Jellybeans

This week's challenge with the Crafty Hos is inspired by this prayer:

Jelly Bean Prayer
Red is for the blood He gave,
Green is for the grass He made.
Yellow is for the sun so bright,
Orange is for the edge of night.
Blue is for the sins we made,
White is for the grace He gave.
Purple is for His hour of sorrow,
Pink is for our new tomorrow!
A bag full of jelly beans,
So colorful and sweet.
Is a prayer, is a promise. . .
Is a special treat!

Is it any surprise that my card is all about jellybeans?  The sketch came from The Pink Elephant (#59) and the color scheme from Catch the Bug Challenge Blog. My card is a three-fer!

Every year on Easter, Main Squeeze and I set up an egg hunt for Princess A using plastic eggs filled with stickers, safe candy and pocket change. One year we thought we would be smart and set it up the night before. Most of the eggs were fine (I had to say that  up front so you would not worry that Princess A was disappointed), but there were a few that the critters had opened, and one or two that had bites taken out. I am talking about the plastic eggs; the inside candy was nowhere to be seen. I still wonder what they bought with the cash...

Perhaps this little fellow was there that day. Even if he missed it, he certainly looks happy with his latest stash of candy. I stamped the cascading jellybeans in the three colors on the yellow card stock, then again on white and cut some out. The extras are on generic dimensionals so they stand out . Then painted with Twinkling H2Os, just to give them another reason to feel special. The jellybeans in the mouse's hands (and the one between his feet) are coated with Crystal Effects; they look and feel more like jellybeans than paper.

This year will be the first Easter in our new house, with 4.3 acres of land to hide eggs. Princess A is going to need all the help the little critters are willing to offer.






Card Details:
Image: House Mouse Designs, SU
Sentiment: N/A
Cardstock: SU, GP, unknown designer paper
Ink: Memento, SU
Tools: N/A
Coloring: Prismacolor markers
Embellies: Twinkling H2Os, Crystal Effects, generic dimensionals, unknown ribbon

Double Dare

My first attempt at double embossing. For that matter, my first attempt at embossing with nesties. Not so simple as others make it seem, I can tell you...

Vivian is hosting a swap with your choice of double embossing or blank embossing. I decided to try my hand at double and if that did not work, easy enough to fall back on the blank. (OK, so it was a swap not really a dare, but doesn't the alliteration sound better?)

This stamp set always makes me smile. For some reason, I missed it in the SU catalog, but discovered it at a tag sale and had to have it. Sometimes I just like to look at it. Always good for a grin. I think of Miss Congeniality and Gracie Lou Freebush. That movie cracks me up! Oh, and of course Benjamin Bratt... drool! He is on my list...

It took quite a while (and a few sheets of cardstock) for me to get the right "sandwich" to emboss leaving the middle clear. Then another while to outline a frame in the center instead of cutting it out. Thank goodness that was the hardest part - I don't think I could have taken much more frustration. Using a real ribbon for her sash was a strike of genius, I thought; Pity the scanner crushed it, cuz it truly follows the image on the card when left to its own devices. Finally, there are Stickles on her shoes, her crown and on her single tear. (Aww!) 






Card Details:
Image: SU
Sentiment: SU
Cardstock: SU
Ink: Memento
Tools: Prismacolor markers, Marvy punch, SU punch, embossing folder,nesties
Coloring: Prismacolor markers
Embellies: Stickles, ribbon, generic bling

Pink and Black Challenge

Welcome to my first project for the Crafty Hos Challenge Blog! As I joined late, I only had a couple of days to complete this challenge - I did not want to miss my first one!!

I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but did not own a brayer, so off to the LSS I went. Despite chanting, "Brayer, brayer, don't for get the brayer" in my head the entire ride, I came home with a cute raccoon stamp I have been coveting for months and an embossing folder I had special ordered in December, but NO BRAYER. Yup, totally forgot.

Got up early on Saturday morning and arrived at A.C. Moore shortly after opening, 50% coupon in hand. I am now the proud owner of a Speedball Soft Rubber Brayer (isn't she gorgeous?).

On to the challenge: Pink and Black. That's it. Simple, right? My, how I struggled. Took me a while to come up with an idea, then two trips to actually remember to purchase the brayer, and finally to put it all together. You would laugh if you knew how many times I needed to start over because I forgot to mask out the circle for the moon.

The expanse of snow needed a little something, too. I experimented with prima flowers and brads, but finally decided, between the sunset background and the house in shadow, "With Sympathy" was the most fitting.





Card Details:
Image: PSX
Sentiment: SU
Cardstock: SU, GP
Tools: Brayer, Scallop blade (in rotary cutter) 
Coloring: SU pads (brayer and sponge), Prismacolor marker
Embellies: N/A