Just Because

Have you heard about Bugaboo Stamps and their new Challenge Blog? The fourth Saturday of every month they will be offering a new challenge and a new chance to win free digis! As if that is not enough, every Friday they have Freebie Friday. A wonderful way to introduce their stamps and give you chance to try them out, perhaps in their challenge. After all, if you use one of their digis you are entered into the contest TWICE! Now before you go rushing over there, check out my card for Bugaboo's very FIRST challenge, "Valentines With a Twist". Create a card, tag, layout or item that could be used for Valentine's Day. The twist? You may not use traditional Valentines colors. In other words no red or pink.

You may assume, based on her name, that Princess A's favorite color is pink, but you would be wrong. In fact, when we bought the house and gave her the option to paint her room any color she wished, she chose orange with red trim! Needless to say, it was not difficult at all to make a card with her in mind and not use pink.

This is Lulu and her doll. She was a freebie some weeks ago. (Thank you Bugaboo!) I think she is just right for Princess A because of their many similarities. Princess A would more likely gravitate towards a turquoise item in her wardrobe and her doll would be coordinated if possible. Of course she does not always carry a doll. Usually it is some sort of critter in her arms, Mel the bunny, Wexler the frog, Jewel the monkey, and of course most recently, Osiris her kitten.

SCS Sketch Challenge #265 gave me the layout and the rest grew from there. The background is stamped with a jumbo Stampin' Around, "Kindness", from SU and all card stock is SU as well. The ribbon was something I found in my stash and the sentiment was made from snap-together alphabet stamps. Lulu and her doll are colored with Prismas.

I appreciate your hanging out with me til the end. Now feel free to click on over to the Catch the Bug Challenge Blog for your chance to enter!

Gladys' Escape

Meet Gladys. Her friends have been nagging her to do something with her style for goodness knows how long, but Gladys is happy with the way she looks, thank you very much. Then Rapunzle had to go and open "Classy Castle Cuts" right around the corner. Next thing Gladys knew, her friends were planning a spa day. Of course she knows this is all a guise to get her in for a makeover. Well, good luck catching her. Before the sun was even completely risen, Gladys hot-footed it (or should I say hot-hoofed?) up the highest peak of Mt Monagnus. With her googly eyes, she can see in all directions and keep anyone from coming close; those horns are not all for show, you know. Gladys is safe. There will be no dye jobs or perms in her future!

Confused? Don't worry, I have not completely cracked, just joined in with the Teapotters over on SCS for their Teapot Tuesday Challenge. I have been stalking them for a couple of weeks now. Those ladies are so talented, and so darn creative, and funny!  Each week Mothermark posts a new story based on a teapot from her collection. The challenge is to make a card inspired by the teapot/story. The teapotters are really hilarious and the stories they add are a riot! The cards range from downright silly to oh so pretty. Most important of all, they issue an open invitation to anyone to join in the tea party, so I am excited to get to know this group of ladies.

As for the card itself, The mountain is made from a single stamp stamped many times on homemade polished stone, made by yours truly. Then each individual mountain was cut out and layered on the others. Gives some neat dimension that will not come through in a scan or photo (pity, really, cuz I am quite proud of the effect). Gladys was masked and clouds were sponged all around. (In fact, I don't know if you can see this either, but below the panels with the picture, there is another full white panel also sponged with clouds.) Googly eyes completes her look.

Both stamps are Copper Leaf Creations, polished stone was made on SU glossy white with SU reinkers and alcohol. Actually, all cardstock is SU. Googly eyes came from ACMoore, don't know the brand, sorry.

Thanks for the invitation to tea, I hope I can join you again next week. Of course, since the Teapot weeks starts on Tuesday, I have to say, "see you tomorrow, Teapotters!"

Fruitcakes and Snowflakes

The theme for this month's Sisterhood swap reads as follows:
"January brings a new year, a new beginning and the idea that anything is possible. It is also a cause to celebrate self and the wonderful person YOU are. So… this month’s swap is to create a card celebrating the month that the world was graced with your sweet selves. Each month has a flower, a jewel, a color, a zodiac symbol that is unique to it. Use any icon from your birth month to create a card that is pure you. Two layers of cardstock and one embellishment is all that is required but feel free to add more if you wish. This card/month is all about YOU ~ the sky is the limit!"

I Googled December and found out my birthstone is turquoise, my zodiac sign is a goat and my flower is narcissus (Daffodil for December? Seems to me it would make more sense for March.). OK, here is what we got to make a card, a turquoise goat eating a daffodil. Uh... no.

Moving right along; how about obscure holidays? Lets see what falls on December 27. Hmm, "National Fruitcake Day" and "Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day"... And a card was born. Do you recognize the sketch? It is sketch challenge #264 on SCS. (Incidentally, when I told Main Squeeze that my birthday was National Fruitcake Day he laughed and said, "how appropriate!")

I love this stamp (Love You to Bits, no longer in business). I admired it at my sister's and she went out and bought me one of my own! All these years I thought it was a boy cook with really big ears, but when I was coloring this time I thought the ears looked rather lumpy and realized it was more likely hair sticking out from the chefs hat.
Today she is a girl chef with brown hair just like me! She also has a white cat similar to my Iisis and a canary, though I have an African Grey. As for the baking, who eats fruitcake anyway? Certainly not I, so instead she has made loaves of bread (perhaps with chocolate chips hidden inside - that is more my style. The loaves are popped out from the card with generic pop-dots

In the background are embossed snowflakes (Cuttlebug embossing folder) for 'Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day'. The bird cage is painted with Twinkling H2Os (Thank you Linda!). And of course, I mustn't forget the birthstone, especially as it is one of my favorite colors of cardstock lately, so all of this is mounted on a Turquoise card.

Kitten Kisses

I have a stamp that reads, "I kiss my dog on the lips", but I do not have the feline equivalent (I think my sister might; I am not sure). Last night I was doing something on the computer I did not want Princess A to see, so when she peeked over my shoulder I quickly closed the window. Open underneath was a Word doc for the making of my own "I kiss my cat on the lips" sentiment. It was printed about six times on the page. Princess A looked at me quizzically and asked why was I writing about kissing the cat over and over...

This card was born after perusing KJs blog where she had participated in a Mojo Monday sketch. Needing a serious dose of mojo, I headed over to the Challenge (Mojo Monday week 121) and was immediately inspired.

I am not sure this big cat appreciates all the affection. Or perhaps he is just overwhelmed. He is from Stamps by Judith. The sentiment, as already mentioned, is computer-generated, but inspired by a stamp from Paula Best. It is also raised up with foam dimensionals. At least three different SCS friends sent me the same package of bling. I cannot say for sure whose was used today. All other supplies were from SU.

For your viewing pleasure, here is Princess A and our two kittens, Iisis (looking straight at the camera with all dignity intact) and Osiris (the one who really does get kissed, rather frequently, on the lips)

Snow 'Person' Challenge - SA02

My first challenge of the New Year! I am fairly new to participating in challenges, I just never seem to get to them before the deadline. And then the New Years Resolution comes into play and here I am...

My friend Lorie is hosting a challenge over on the Stamping Around blog on behalf of Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps. "Use a snow(wo)man on your creation." I sent her a quick message to ask if my snow person had to, in fact, be human. She said as long as it is snow, anything goes. So here is my take on the challenge.

In honor of the two critters that we adopted in November, a snow kitty! Although I am happy with most elements of this card, I still think it needs a little something. I have until the 12th to fulfill this challenge, so if you have any ideas to spice up this little guy, feel free to leave a comment below! In fact feel free to leave a comment even if you do not have any ideas



I have not quite gotten the knack of these side photos, but wanted you to see the dimension between the Cuttlebug embossed layer and the cat, plus the liquid applique snow...


Thanks for looking and thanks, Lorie for hooking me up with this challenge

A "Moving" Winter Scene

I was inspired to make this card by someone whom I have never met, JustPaintingAround. I am enthralled by the way that no matter how many layers in her card, the scenery remains the same. I wanted to see what I could do with this idea. My intention for this card was for Paola's Move It swap, but once it was done I realized it fit so well with the SOTC theme of December (create a winter scene), that off it went to Fay instead. Of course, then it was back to the drawing board for Paola's swap, but that will be the next(ish) post...

First I made the shaker box. Riley was stamped and masked. Using some templates bought eons ago (made by All Night Media) I sponged the trees, then the clouds. Riley was colored and Liquid Applique added to the ball of his hat and underneath his skis. Next I took a pinch or two of white Fun Flock and a teaspoon of glitter and stacked them on Riley's nose. Clear acetate, double sided foam tape and a frame cut with Nesties finished the box. Many, many shakes later, the flock and glitter were well mixed; some of the glitter had migrated to the liquid applique, adding a wee sparkle.

Back to sponging, this time to the strips in the background and the card itself. I lost count of how many times I had to wash my hands throughout this entire process. The green border was made by switching out the blade in my rotary cutter (yes, Mom, I have a rotary cutter and have managed not to lose any blood... yet) to a scallop edge and voila! Assembly took mere minutes with my ATG gun.

It is nowhere near the artwork of JustPaintingAround, for she is truly the "Queen of the Scene", but I am quite pleased with the result. Not bad for a first try...

Walking in a Winter Wonderland...

Yesterday I woke up to snow. About four inches. When I went out to shovel, I measured 5.25" and when all was said and done, six inches had fallen. Today I awoke to snow again! Not falling quite so heavily as yesterday. Sometimes the wind gusts and the snow cannot seem to tell which direction it should be falling. Gravity ceases to be the law. What a perfect day to talk about a Winter Wonderland. Jeanette's Forest Winter Wonderland swap, that is.

I stamped the tall pine from SUs Lovely as a Tree (that is one of my favorite SU sets) and then cut out the frame with my Nesties. I am not sure what I am going to do with those scraps, yet. If nothing strikes me they will be donated to the special ed preschool where I send most of my scraps, used card fronts and mistakes. (Plus lots of embossed papers, cut out shapes, ribbons and stickers). A friend is a teacher there and she says the kids love it. They have no idea they are doing me a great service.

The stamp is from Stampscapes and is colored with chalks. The colors are not showing up in the scan, but the rocks were given a slight pink hue and the sky a wee bit of grey. Trees are green, grass is yellowed and the water you can see is shades of blue. Much of the coloring was very subtle, just enough to change it from the cream colored cardstock that was used. I hope the recipients could tell... That is about my limit with Stampscapes, though I have seen some really gorgeous things done with them (Hey Linda - I think I found the class I should take!! Wanna join me?). A glitter pen added a little bit of shine to, hopefully, look like snow in the distance. The ribbon was one of the three picked up when making the previous card

This swap is long over, of course, as I am so far behind in posting. In fact, I have already received my cards back; and what FABULOUS cards they were!! Don't be sad, though, cuz now she is hosting the Enchanted Forest swap and it is sure to be just as amazing. You should join us. (Tell her Gael sent ya!)