Catered Crop: Small Size Matters

The current challenge at Catered Crop is that (small) size matters!!  Make some mini cards - they can be tags or gift card holders or anything teeny tiny.

The challenge came at the time when my kids were making hot chocolate mix for their teachers.  We've done this for a number of years and I have a template in Word that prints off tags in just the right size for one of my tag dies.  I just change up the teachers name's and it's ready to go.  However, the mini card challenge got me thinking of how easy this makes it for my kids - too easy (other than the fact that they measure out the hot chocolate mix).  A card would require them to write something on the inside - and think a little bit about each teacher as they put the gifts together.

I just got the Holiday Treats set and dies from Verve Stamps and with its mini cups, I knew it would be perfect for my mini cards!


Here's a close-up.

It's a very nice hot-chocolate mix - rich chocolate with a dash of peppermint.

The layers are:
1 cup powdered milk1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder1 cup granulated sugar1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips1/2 cup crushed peppermint candyIt all fits in a 1-quart jar and makes 12 servings









On the inside flap of each card, I did pre-print instructions and added my favorite stamps from the set "Have a cup of cheer". 

The jars aren't actually done yet - I made one so that I could write this post.  So, after my kids and the entire high school marching band perform in today's Christmas parade - we'll come back and the powder will start flying and the sound of crushing peppermints will echo!!

• Stamps: Verve Holiday Treats
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
• Ink: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Certainly Celery, Crumb Cake, Memento Cottage Ivy, WPlus9 White
• Accessories: Verve Cup of Cheer die set, Hemptique Twine, Pretty Pink Posh sequins

Catered Crop: Animal House

The current challenge at Catered Crop is "Animal House". Linda says...

We’re going to get wild with this challenge. No, it’s not a Toga party or a food fight like the 1978 John Belushi classic. Just add wild life, pets, or any animal (dogs, cats, bears . . . ) anywhere in your challenge. And party on!

I was cleaning my desk yesterday afternoon and found one lone fall stamp still in my NBUS stash.  I had worked so hard to make sure nothing "fall" had to hang out in the box for the entire year - but I missed one.  However, I wasn't feeling "fall" anymore so I took this squirrel (which included a "Happy Fall" sentiment) and put him in a winter scene.  The poor little guy's acorns were all buried with the first snow..."Oh, Nuts!"


I did glitter the sentiment to make it look a little more snowy and I'm wishing I wouldn't have done that.  I worked so hard on that sentiment and now it's not very clear.  I put together the scene with a strong memory that there was an "oh nuts" stamp in the set.  Guess what?  There wasn't.  There is a "go nuts" sentiment.  Luckily, the various sentiments all had the right letters so I cut up my teeny tiny sentiments.  I don't mind cutting stamps - but not teeny tiny letters out of various sentiments.  Anyway...I got my "oh nuts" then I messed it up with the glitter - but I most definitely was not going to line up and stamp those letters again!
I hope you play along - but whether or not you do, you must check out the Pinterest board full of animal ideas that Linda has curated.  You can head over to Catered Crop to get the link (and be sure to check back in Sunday when the entire design team shows their creations) - or here is the direct Pinterest link.  There's another week to play along so you have plenty of time!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Nuts for You
• Ink: Memento black, Copics
• Paper: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand CS and dsp
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Nuts for You dies, Lil Inkers Sentiment Flag die, Taylored Expressions Birch Tree Border die, My Favorite Things Snow Drift die

Catered and deconstructed: Thankful for You

The new challenge at Catered Crop is "Thank You Kindly".  As I was browsing the Pinterest board that Linda curates for each challenge, I noticed a "thankful" card which reminded me that I had a set in my new stash that I had gotten specifically to tell my nieces how thankful I am for them.

My brother and his family recently moved to a nearby suburb.  It was so easy to pop over last Sunday to watch the Denver Broncos football game together.  My 8-year old and 5-year old nieces spent the afternoon making bracelets and necklaces for me on their rainbow looms, or else dragging my 13-year old out to the trampoline.  They spent hours working on flips - hmmm, my guy was out sick from school yesterday with an upset stomach - I wonder if it's related?  In the next few weeks, I get to go to grandparent's day at their school (sadly, they have no living grandparents so I'm subbing) and to their Christmas pageants.

I love my nieces and have so much fun with them as it is so different from my world of teenage boys. The It's a Sign set from My Favorite Things seemed like it would be perfect for so many occasions!


I am using the current deconstructed sketch.  I thought the angled panel gave it a jaunty look.  I was thrilled when I found that bold and colorful leaf print in my stash for the tall panel (but the edge with the brand was cut off so I have no idea what it is!)

I'm sure everybody does this - but I wanted to share something in particular about the Pierced Rectangle die from My Favorite Things.  The die was a little too wide for the stamp.  So I just moved the die over and cut it a little narrower.  What makes the Pierced Rectangle die so nice is that the dots just click into place as you slide the die over.  It makes it very easy to line up and cut the narrow size!

The other thing that I have to share is that I have finally found truly white embossing powder.  I have a large variety of "white" embossing powders, but they are actually all off-white or cream.  As a CAS cardmaker, the little things matter - and using as much white cardstock as I do, the off-white powders look wrong. I have a bottle that I am hoarding, from a company that no longer exists, but as I am starting to see the bottom of the bottle, I ordered even more white embossing powder in the hopes that it was "white"!  And I found two that were!  They aren't unusual brands, just not the brands that I already had in my stash.  Hero Arts White Embossing Powder is white - yay!  But the even better find is Wow Opaque Bright White Super Fine Embossing Powder.  Because it is Super Fine, sentiments emboss beautifully (see my card!)

• Stamps: My Favorite Things Pure Innocence It's a Sign
• Paper: Stampin' Up Island Indigo and River Rock dsp, Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz, unknown dsp
• Ink: Memento Black and Copics, Versamark
• Miscellaneous: My Favorite Things Pierced Rectangle STAX, elements from Blueprints 1 die, Hemptique 10-lb white twine

Catered Crop: Orange

It's that time of year where everything turns up orange!  Pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns and fall leaves and the Denver Broncos football team!!  The current challenge at Catered Crop is "orange" and Linda has curated a Pinterest board full of ideas - not just the typical fall cards, but she's also found cowboy boots and orange sodas and paper flowers!!

Not being quite that creative - I went for a fall leaf!  (Although I do think I deserve creativity points for the zig zags on the leaf because they weren't there to start with!)


To get the zig zags on the leaf, I first stamped the die cut leaf with the zig zag in white, then overstamped with the deep orange.  Jennifer McGuire did this on this card using a canvas background and solid leaves.  I love autumn so much that I do see the joy in every day (as compared to the summer when I am just grumpy from the heat!) so this sentiment was perfect for me and my fall leaf!
I hope you check out the Pinterest board (found here), pull out your orange and play along!

• Stamps: My Favorite Things Thankful Leaves, Cheerful Blessings, Mod Borders
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Terracotta, Smokey Shadow
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Terracotta, Smokey Shadow and Soft Stone, WPlus9 white
• Accessories: My Favorite Things Fall Leaves die, Stampin' Up Silver Cord, Neat & Tangled Festive Fall Sequin Mix

Catered Crop: Canning Jar Recipe Swap

This week's recipe swap at Catered Crop is to use canning jars.  They can be real jars or stamped jars.  The challenge says...

For this challenge you can use a canning Jar (Mason, Kerr, Ball, etc.) and fill it, alter it, tag it, decorate it . . . what ever you want to do. Or you can create a card (or scrapbook page) with a canning jar on the card.

As usual, Linda has put together a Pinterest board full of inspiration and I almost felt inspired to alter a real jar.  But I am so firmly into paper-crafting, other types of crafts totally elude me. Luckily, there are great canning stamps out there!


It's hard to tell from photos, but this is just a tiny 3.25" card.   I've been having fun with this size lately - it's easy to put the entire focus on special stamps that might get lost on a bigger card, particularly when I tend to keep lots of white space.
Did you know it is World Card Making Day today??!!  I hope each of you gets a chance to celebrate!

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Crystal Clear, Word Salad
• Paper: MME Adorbs, PTI Smokey Shadow
• Ink: PTI Smokey Shadow, Limeade Ice, SU Smoky Slate, Hero Arts Pale Tomato
• Accessories: SU Island Indigo twine, clear sequins

Catered Crop: Pack it Up

This week's challenge from Catered Crop is to "Pack It Up" - focus on the packages; the tags, the bows, the treat boxes - any fun thing to give a little treat to someone.

I have a fun new toy that works perfectly for this challenge.  It is a Card Hanger Die from Laurie Willison over at Soapbox Creations.


Can you tell what this die does? It's a fantastic little creation that allows you to decorate a gift bag with a card!!

Because this card hangs on the gift bag - it can be more dimensional than usual so I finally got to use a bow die!  Think of all the fun things you could put on a card if it were actually the bag decoration! Here's the card by itself (it really is a card!)

Laurie has three designs of these bag hangers and a great video to give you two ways to use it.  
(I think I'm going to invest in a large supply of brown paper gift bags!!)
I hope you all decide to play along.  I don't do much packaging - I have a number of dies for treat boxes and tags but they just don't come out often.  I would love to be inspired by what you create!!

• Stamps: Technique Tuesday Jingle All the Way
• Paper: Basic Gray 25th & Pine 6x6 pad, Stampin' Up Cameo Coral
• Ink: Stampin' Up Night of Navy
• Accessories: Card Hanger die from Soapbox Creations, Neat & Tangled sequins, May Arts twine, Simon Says Stamp Perfect Bow die, Doodlebug Designs Sprinkles Ladybug Assortment, Papertrey Ink Holly Jolly die (mistletoe0

Catered Crop Recipe Swap: Big Girl Pants!

I have had my eye on a stamp but have had absolutely no reason to add it to my collection...until the most recent challenge at Catered Crop.  The challenge is "sentimental-al" and it is really just to add a sentiment to the card and make it the focus.  I'm thinking I already have a few sentiments in my collection!!  But I didn't have this sentiment!

Bring it life!!  I can handle it!!  Because I definitely have my big girl pants!!!

This is a challenge that all of you can play along with - and you don't even have to buy a new stamp!  We all have sentiments - and the newer sentiment stamps are all big and bold and they take center stage.  Linda at Catered Crop has curated a Pinterest board full of ideas for making your sentiment the focus.  Then tomorrow, my card and the cards of the rest of the design team will be on display at Catered Crop for your inspiration.  I look forward to seeing your cards!

• Stamps: Hampton Art (wood stamp, I got mine at Archivers)
• Paper: MME Adorbs
• Ink: Memento Black, Memento Pear Tart, Rose Bud, Teal Zeal
• Accessories: MME Adorbs "Hello" Enamel Dots, misc twine

Catered Crop: I am HERE!!

This week at Catered Crop, we are having a Map It Recipe Swap.

I decided that I needed to go shopping for this one.  I just had to head over to Archivers and I picked up map paper and compass charms.  I knew that I had sailboats and pirate ships and race cars - all of which could go with a map.

Then I had a brainstorm - I don't have those very often.  I am good at following trends and getting ideas from other brilliant crafters, but in general, if a challenge says "map", my card has a "map"!!  I saw a set of stamps with little houses that looked like they were drawn by a child - and a whole different type of map popped into my head.



This is most definitely a very important type of map!!
I hope to see you play along!

• Stamps: Amy Tangerine Hey There, sentiment is computer generated
• Paper: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate, Real Red, Simple Stories diagonal red
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Soft Stone, Hero Arts Soft Granite, Stampin' Up Smokey Slate
• Accessories: Basic Grey Carte Postale Wood Die cuts (coated with red tinsel embossing powder), My Favorite Things fishtail dies and Snowdrifts die, Stampin' Up snowflake sizzlit, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter

Catered Crop: Have a Ball with Sequins

The current "recipe" at Catered Crop is sequins.  I was recently chatting with some cardmaking friends and we were laughing at the fact that if even just a year ago we had plopped a sequin on a card it would have looked silly.  I wonder who starts these trends?  Because now I seem to plop them on every other card.  I view them like ribbon vs. twine.  I used to use ribbon on everything, but being a CAS cardmaker, I now prefer the look of baker's twine because it is lighter and fresher.  I feel the same way about sequins vs. rhinestone or even buttons.  Sequins give such a nice flash without being heavy. Don't get me wrong - there's still ribbon and rhinestones and buttons on many of my cards - but I have jumped on the bandwagon!!

This is the last of my week-long attempt to use my order from Paper Smooches before they all got tucked away (although I didn't use the dies that go with this set - do you think I can still put it away?)!! I thought an icy drink would be a great way to use sequins!

I've been struggling with an idea for a card for a young lady who is heading off to college and is quite nervous about it.  As I was looking at this stamp set - the light bulb came on.  I do want her to "have a ball" and settle in happily - at least until she has to buckle down and study!!  (Nothing like waiting until the last minute as her going away party is tonight!)  I've also been struggling with a going-away gift and when an idea finally came to me, I felt really stupid.  She has been coming to our church cardmaking group since she was just a little girl.  What could possibly have more meaning to her than a stack of greeting cards for her own use???  It's not like I don't have a substantial stash of cards!!

I hope you all pull out your sequins.  If you don't have any - there are very nice sequins at the hobby stores.  I found lots of variety packs on Etsy.  Card stores with beautiful sequins include Ellen Hutson, Avery Elle and Neat and Tangled.  The sequins on this card are Clearly Beloved sequins from Simon Says Stamps. I'm sure there are lots more but these are some of my faves!

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Crystal Clear
• Paper: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, My Mind's Eye Happy Day 6x6 dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Memento Tangelo, Copic marker for the water and shading
• Accessories: Clearly Beloved sequins (at Simon Says Stamp), MFT Fishtail die, MFT Blueprint 1 die set (the tag), May Arts twine

Catered Crop: Let's Make Lemonade

The current challenge at Catered Crop is Summer Lovin'.  Here's my problem.  I do not love summer.  I truly hate being hot and Colorado just seems to get hotter and hotter every summer.  Older homes, like mine, weren't even built with central air.  We did add a swamp cooler - but swamp coolers rely on dry air and the storm clouds seem to come in every day just to raise the humidity and make me miserable. So I just can't get away from the heat!  (Of course, those of you who live in Colorado are shaking your heads right because we have actually had a couple of wonderfully cool days in a row!!)

So Summer Lovin' challenges are always a problem for me.  My inspiration this week comes from my children's complaints!!??  I have a frozen drink that I make a batch of at the beginning of each summer and my kids have just reminded me that I forgot this year.  It's a fruity frozen slush drink that does include lemonade.  There is nothing redeeming about it - as it begins with a sugar syrup (not only not healthy but it also takes forever to get the sticky remnants out of the kitchen each time a drink is made!)  This whole discussion put summer drinks into my mind and, while my frozen drink isn't lemonade, what is more representative of summer than a frosty glass of lemonade!



I also used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  I used it exactly as is because I loved the fresh, clean and open look for my summery card.

I've had my frozen slush drink recipe for 40 years.  I got it from a family friend when I was just a child and typically make a batch every summer.  If you are not concerned about the sugar - nor the mess - here's how you do it...

---

4 cups sugar6 cups water46 ounces pineapple juice24 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed12 ounces frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed5 bananas, mashed6 bottles ginger ale
Measure sugar and water into saucepan.  Heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  Refrigerate until cold.
Mix chilled mixture with pineapple juice, OJ, lemonade concentrate and mashed bananas.  Pour into 5 1-quart containers, cover, label, and freeze.
At serving time, half fill glasses with ginger ale; spoon in frozen mixture to fill.  Stir. Enjoy!

---

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Lemon Squeezy
• Paper: Simple Stores I {Heart} Summer 6x6
• Ink: Memento black, copics
• Accessories: Avery Elle sequins, Papertrey Ink tag die, The Twinery Caribbean Twine, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter

Catered Crop: Button Up!

The current challenge at Catered Crop is to button up!  I pulled out an older stamp set that I had never used - one of those sets that leaves room for buttons as part of the design.

(The amazing Darnell has started an entire movement called NBUS - which is to use your "Never Before Used Schtuff".  I am very guilty of getting new stuff and looking at my old stuff as..well...old and out-of-date even if it is still totally cute!  So here it is, Darnell, a NBUS project!!!)


As usual, there is an amazing Pinterest board for your viewing pleasures over at Catered Crop.  I hope you pull out your buttons and play along!
I've not been getting a lot of cards done this week :(  I had a two week break from college courses, but they have started up again.  I find the first few weeks and the last week to be the hardest parts of each term.  The first week or so is spent figuring out how much time each class is going to take and how best to manage the workload.  This term is going to be a lot of intense reading and, sadly, subjects that I don't love - staying awake is going to be my biggest problem!!  (It seems like a good excuse to spend even more time crafting, doesn't it??!)

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Everyday Button Bits, Tiny Tags
• Paper: white
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Simply Chartreuse
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink buttons in Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist and Melon Berry, Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags die and Woodgrain Impression Plate, L'il Inkers stitched squares

Catered Crop: There is Sunshine in My Soul

The current challenge at Catered Crop is So Shapely: using die cuts and punches.

I wouldn't have thought that would be a problem - I use die cuts and punches every day!!  But it's funny that when I needed to make them the focus I had a tough time with an original idea.  Finally, as I was happily indexing and putting away a recent stamp order from My Favorite Things I ran across a "sunshine" sentiment which led me to pull out a variety of dies...

I wanted to show you a close-up with a little shadow on it because there is fun texture plate at My Favorite Things called the Grosgrain Texture Board.  It's technically to be used on a long strip of paper with the texture vertical to mimic grosgrain ribbon.  When you don't have matching ribbon, make it out of paper.  I just needed a little extra something on my clouds - so I added the texture at an angle.  (I do find that it works best if you lightly spritz the paper with water first.)

As usual, Linda has curated a fabulous Pinterest board - head over to Catered Crop for some fabulous ideas for dies and punches!

• Stamps: My Favorite Things Cheerful Blessings
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Summer Sunshine CS and dsp
• Ink: Memento black
• Accessories: My Favorite Things Sunshine and Flat Bottom Cloud dies, clear sequins, heart punch, MFT Grosgrain Texture Board

Catered Crop: For the Boys

The current challenge at Catered Crop is "For the Boys" - we are supposed to show our masculine side.

In my world, I am surrounded by men and boys.  When I started stamping, I had young sons who actually enjoyed getting cards, and my husband has saved everything that I have given him.  So my stash of masculine images is quite extensive. I went a couple of different directions today.

My first card relies on a masculine image and a bold sentiment...


Isn't this guy a charmer?  Check out his blue eyes!!

If you aren't comfortable with masculine cards, Linda at Catered Crop has not only curated a Pinterest board full of inspiration, but has also provided eight tips and hints!!  A couple of them caught my eye and I thought I would give it a try.  She mentions the current trend of geometric shapes - arrows, stars, chevrons - that they can be masculine or feminine.  She also talks about a simple color palette change.  I put those two ideas together to show you how right she is!!
Feminine...with trendy arrows.

Masculine...exactly the same in every way except color.

It works!!!
Head over to Catered Crop and check out all of the inspiration, tips and hints - then join in!!  I'd love to see what you create.
Robot Congrats

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Bot Time
• Paper: Stampin' Up Taken with Teal
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics
• Accessories: Sizzix Sizzlit Congrats Die, Ranger Glossy Accents, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder, various glitter pens

You're My Whole World

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Good Point, Words to Live By
• Paper: Papertrey Summer Sunrise, Stampin' Up Island Indigo
• Ink: Papertrey Summer Sunrise, Melon Berry, Harvest Gold, Limeade Ice; Stampin' Up Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade
• Accessories: misc buttons and twine

Mellow Yellow Bumble Bee

The current theme at Catered Crop is "mellow yellow".  The challenge is to use yellow somewhere in the project: sunshine bright, lemon zest, or mellow yellow!  The part that I like so much about Catered Crop is the Pinterest board that Linda shares each week to help inspire us - check out all the yellow!  (Click on the image to go to the complete board.)

I was struck by the fact that the board has no bumble bees!!  So I had to remedy the situation with this simple little bee and honeycomb hive.


I couldn't leave his little wings plain - see the sparkle!

I have to tell you about the sequins.  Have you noticed that sequins are trendy right now?  I looked all over for multi-packs of nice sequins.  There are many, many stamp companies selling beautiful sequins, but they come in huge packs of single colors and I just don't want that many.  I found them and I ordered them but these are not them.  Later, I was digging through a box of embellies that I hadn't been in in years.  Guess what was at the bottom?  These sequins by Hero Arts - they are dated 2005 - in the world of cardmaking, that's ancient!  The moral - never, ever get rid of anything - because you just never know!
FYI - I did a little matted window like this recently and a number of people asked about it.  Just cut a small 2" square of black and punch the smaller circle out of it.  Punch the bigger circle out of your top white layer .  Line up, then adhere the black under the white!!  In this case, I also stamped the honeycomb circle on another small 2" square of white and lined it up under the "window".
I also am submitting this to the current Simon Says Stamp challenge - Anything Goes.

BIG NEWS: The downloadable Copic charts for color matches to Stampin' Up and

Papertrey Ink have been updated for the brand new Stampin' Up colors and the

most recent Papertrey Ink colors.  The link to these charts is on my side bar to the right!!

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Circle Friends
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold, black and white
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold, Memento black, Copics
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamp Talk Bubble 2, Smooch Pearlized Top Coat, Circle punches - 1 3/8" and 1 1/2"

Catered Crop: Fabric of Friendship

Just a month ago, I was honored to be asked to be on the design team at Catered Crop.  I've posted a number of times and it's gone well...until this week...when the recipe is fabric.  I don't do fabric, I don't have any, and I've never sewn.  So I wandered into the fabric department at Hobby Lobby and found a fun package of 1/8 yard pieces of coordinating yellow fabric - I knew that I could do a sun.

I thought that I had read that metal dies (besides Sizzix) could cut fabric.  I was clearly dreaming because they don't - but they do put a mark on the fabric which allowed me to cut out my pieces.  However...I am also handicapped in that I am incapable of cutting a straight line.  So I decided to embrace the raggedy nature of my cutting by distressing my edges and ripping the fabric for my bow.  I'm hoping it all looks intentional vs. an act of desperation!!


I also decided to try a slightly simpler card also - I wanted to put the sunshiny fabric behind a die cut.  I like this card, but it really doesn't scream "fabric" - it could just as well be patterned paper.

This card also uses the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Be sure to check out the other designers - there are some fabulous ideas!!  And Catered Crop also has a wonderful Pinterest board full of fabric ideas.  I would love to see some of your work so that I can be inspired to work with fabric again.

Some Days Are Better

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Hello Sunshine
• Paper: white
• Ink: black
• Accessories: fabric and sequins, Papertrey Ink Hello Sunshine dies (to mark the fabric for cutting

Wishing You Sunshine

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Scattered Showers
• Paper: Stampin' Up Summer Sun
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Memory Box Small Circle Burst, Trendy Twine Lemon Tart, white embossing powder

Catered Crop: Make an Impression

The current challenge at Catered Crop is to make an impression...with embossing!!

I was all over that one - I have a large drawer of embossing folders and new ones just keep finding their way into my house!  As I was paging through them, I realized I wanted to do more than just an embossing folder (because I do that all the time) - either lots of folders on one card, or a different technique - then I froze a little because I'm not one to come up with my own ideas. So I spent some time organizing my desk and saw a scrap of paper that had diagonal stripes with a few going a different way - the light bulb came on!  Did I get enough shadow on the card so you can see the strip that changes direction!!??  (I have the worst time photographing embossing on a card - if I get the shadow off of it so it's a nice white card, the embossing "disappears".)


If you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to head over to Catered Crop.  I love the Pinterest board that's included with each challenge - so many great ideas.  There's over a week left on this challenge - so you still have time!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Wonderful Words: Hello
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise, Limeade ice, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Hello die, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder, misc sequins

Glitter, Glitter...Everywhere!!

I do like a hint of glitter on a card.

I do not like cleaning my desk area and the carpet and my clothes and my eyebrows(!) after using glitter.

But the challenge this week at Catered Crop is Just Add Glitter, so I now have terracotta, turquoise and yellow glitter everythere!!

Here's a close up that I didn't brighten quite so much so you could see all of the glitter!!  I actually do the clear glitter quite often.  I have all of my supplies organized by how much I use them and in the most-used drawer is a can of spray adhesive and a large tupperware of Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter.  (You can get 4.5 oz. containers that last forever and nicely fill a sandwich size tupperware.)  If you ever have a panel or a die cut that just doesn't quite have the oomph that you want - give it a spritz of adhesive and drop it face down into the tupperware of glitter - just a nice hint of sparkle!

The embossing on the presents comes from an old product by Quickutz (now Lifestyle Crafts) called Goosebumpz.  They were little 2x2 impression dies.   I think they were just ahead of their time because Goosebumpz aren't made anymore - but they make so much sense with their tiny patterns and our love for embossing and diecuts.  (You can Google and find a few sources.)
Hope you pull out your glitter and head on over to Catered Crop   Be sure to head over this coming Sunday for the Quickfire which starts the second week of the challenge and shows inspiration from the design team.  There is an amazing variety of design styles in the team so I am sure we will see some absolutely spectacularly shimmering cards!!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Wonderful Words Birthday
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Terracotta Tile, Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Terracotta Tile
• Accessories: Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter, Martha Stewart multi-pack of iridescent glitter, Martha Stewart bow punch, Papertrey Ink birthday die, Quickutz Goosebumpz

Something Wonderful with twine

The current challenge at Catered Crop is "Twine Love" and I do love twine!  It's so versatile - for my card today, I let it take center stage to highlight this "wonderful" sentiment!  But it works just as easily to tie a button - or to add a simple strip across a card for that little accent that makes it perfect.

If you have not played along, Catered Crop is a great challenge.  It runs for two weeks.  On the first week, Linda has a Pinterest inspiration board for the theme, so you can get lots of ideas just by seeing what she has pinned.  (This week's twine board includes bacon out of twine!!?)  But if the inspiration board isn't quite enough to get you started, on the second week, the design team posts their take on the challenge.  So you get LOTS of inspiration out of a single challenge!

Pinterest: Twine Love

And something wonderful has happened for me - I get to start designing for them!! You'll be seeing lots more from me - and I hope I inspire you to check it out and play along!
The sentiment is from a new set by The Alley Way Stamps - I love what it says.  This set is full of unique sayings that are different from anything that I already own.
And, yes, this is two days in a row that I jumped on the sequin trend!!

iPad Users: The iPad/iPod tab at the top of my page has been updated.  Mostly just removing a lot of clutter so it's much easier to use now!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Life Is Short
• Paper: white
• Ink: Memento black
• Accessories: The Twinery Tangerine and Caribbean, Timeless Twine Lemonade Yellow, Sequins are a mixed package from the Etsy Shop Endless Inkabilities, Stampin' Up diagonal score board

Day 5: Online Class Pattern Play

Yesterday was the fifth and last day of the Online Card Class: Pattern Play.  The topic was paper manipulation and it was FUN!!!

I chose to do paper quilting.  You might think this is one piece of pattern paper, but it is actually strips of all of my favorites woven together.


It's such a fun look and it was really easy!

And...I am flying high today...it's a bonus day at the Pattern Play class and they are showcasing 15 more cards from the teachers and 9 cards from the students.  My card is one of the nine!!!  It's an absolute statement of the quality of these classes and instructors because you truly did not see much patterned paper on my cards prior to this class!
I am playing along with Catered Crop: Flower Power and with CAS-ual Fridays: No Stamps!

• Stamps: None
• Paper: Pebbles Family Ties, Papertrey Summer Sunrise and Vintage Cream CS, Stampin' Up Old Olive, Night of Navy CS
• Ink: None
• Accessories: Cuttlebug "thanks" embossing, Sizzix Flower Daisies #2 die, Spellbinders leaves die, Papertrey Spring Rain button

CAS on Sunday with TAWS

There's a new challenge out there called CAS on Sunday and this week's challenge is a CAS Valentine.  This fit perfectly with my "job" to re-inspire you for The Alley Way Stamps BE Inspired challenge.  The challenge picture is this very simple mug and cookies!

I was inspired by the stack of cookies which I changed to a polka-dot harlequin border(!?) and the one big bold heart.

I also have to give credit to Catered Crop for their polka dot inspiration.  I originally started out with a plain yellow harlequin strip (actually I originally ORIGINALLY started with a red strip) but it seemed too heavy.  I was ready to give up on this simple card when I saw the Catered Crop polka dot challenge.  I pulled out the brightest polka dots that I had and it works!!
(Hey Carol!!  Yes...I changed it again after you left!!)
I hope you are feeling inspired because these challenges go perfectly together!!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Mad Gab
• Paper: Stampin' Up Polka Dot Parade
• Ink: Memento black
• Accessories: Dress It Up button, Timeless Twine Lemonade Yellow, Close to my Heart Bitty Sparklers, My Favorite Things Harlequin die