Believe!

I made this card for two different challenges and then realized that I didn't qualify for either one!! Bummer!  But I do want to thank Dynamic Duos and Merry Monday for leading me to the red and aqua idea, even though I didn't get the right blue for Dynamic Duos and I didn't get the circles required by Merry Monday!

The snowflakes actually are aqua - I just couldn't get the glare off of the main photo.  Here's a different view.

That cute reindeer was another spontaneous punch purchase - after I swore not to bring any more bulky punches into my tiny crafting space.  Then to add insult to injury - I paid full price for it but my Archiver's coupons were waiting in my mailbox when I got home!  Luckily, he's very cute or I'm not sure I could forgive him!!

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler
• Paper: Bo Bunny Elf Magic, Neenah Desert Storm (reindeer)
• Ink: Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana
• Accessories: Lawn Fawn Snowflake Sequins, Darice Bells, Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles

Catered Crop Washi's Up? Merry Christmas!

This week's recipe at Catered Crop is Washi's Up?  (Don't you just love the names of the challenges?!)

I most definitely jumped on the Washi Tape trend.  I have an entire shoebox size container of Washi to prove it.  What I don't have are many cards that actually use it?!  So I am definitely not the creative Washi person from which you will get a new idea. When I do use it, it's just a strip of color.  Sometimes that torn end is just the unique touch that a card needs.



My attempt at creativity is the button - it's covered with Washi!!  And the leaf is Washi adhered to white cardstock and then I used the die to cut a leaf.
I definitely chuckled at myself when I was putting this card together.  First, I swore up and down that I did not need every color of sequin and/or enamel dot out there.  Now it's been pointed out to me that they are on virtually every card that I make..and often in multiple colors like above.  Yes...I have every color made!!  I find them perfect in sets of threes to highlight a sentiment - it's like the sentiment is in a spotlight with sparkles of colored light around it!
Second, check out the big, loopy, Stacey Schafer-style bow - especially in black!  Mine isn't quite as dramatic as Stacey's, but it's a whole lot more dramatic than my usual twine or bow.  I had adhered the strips of Washi.  After some experimentation, I decided that I liked the poinsettia die. Then I got stumped with the sentiment.  I didn't like it in black because it seemed so stark, but it got lost in red or green.  Then I saw the roll of black twine from Hemptique.  Why not try a big loopy blow to ground the poinsettia and to bring a little black to the card so that a black sentiment wasn't so stark?  It makes me happy!
There's another week on the Catered Crop Washi challenge.  As always, Linda has curated a Pinterest board of ideas.  Tomorrow, you will get some extra inspiration from the design team (probably a little more unique than my strips!!)  I hope you play along!

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler
• Paper: Stampin' Up Real Red
• Ink: Memento Black
• Accessories: Queen & Co. Trendy Tape, Paper Smooches Poinsettia Die, Doodlebug Sprinkles in Ladybug, Limeade and Beetle Black, Hemptique black twine

What a Wonderful Weekend!!

I have had a truly wonderful weekend!!  A good friend in town, a dozen amazing card makers, an entire day focused on cards and fun and chatter!!  Yay for World Cardmaking Day!!  How many of these people do you recognize??





You may not recognize everybody from their bitty photos on their blogs - but I guarantee you know them all!  There's a picture of everybody with links on my Facebook page!!

Seven hours of crafting takes energy, so we were heavy on the snack food too!!

The whole event was hosted by Michelle, the creative mind behind CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.  She is a truly wonderful lady - a great hostess and an amazing talent.  I have to admit to getting a quick sneak peek of some new stuff that's coming from CAS-ual Fridays and it's going to be a great release. They started peeks today on their blog!

And to make it all even more amazing, the wonderful Stacey Schafer came in for the event (we gave her honorary Coloradan status for the day). We managed to do quite a bit of craft shopping and ate some huge meals (even after the feast shown above).  I took her to the airport early this morning so the weekend is officially over!!!

I had thought that she and I might spend a little more time celebrating over drinks - this was the first time we had met in person!!  But I totally wore out by the end of each day with all of the crafting craziness!!   I had made this card for her in advance of our wild times! (Stamps by Paper Smooches)

I also wanted to be sure to thank Michelle.  When you make a card for her you have to use CAS-ual Friday Stamps, right??

I did use the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for this card and the sequins and chevrons from the CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

I did get some cards made yesterday, although less than you might think for seven hours of crafting.  But they are all for posts later in the week.  I am definitely going to take a day or two off (it's going to take me that long to put everything away that I had carted over to the event!) - I'll be back in a few!

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

Paper Smooches: I'm So Sorry

I was having the most fun playing with the set from Paper Smooches called Free Spirits (which, by the way, is a freebie with $60 purchase through September!)  It is full of fun glasses for wine and margaritas and other exotic drinks, along with cherries and ice cubes and umbrellas.  I had out neon inks and I was going for the margarita but nothing was quite working.  Then I saw two glasses stamped on my scratch sheet - one upright and one sideways - and the light bulb came on!


You'll see right away that I got away from the neon margaritas.  I'm still going to play with that idea - but I was slightly handicapped in this card in that the only empty glass that I could spill was the wine glass so this card went a whole different color direction.
I'm submitting this to Simon Says Anything Goes.

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Free Spirits, Word Up, Borderlicious
• Paper: scraps
• Ink: Memento Black, Delicata Gold
• Accessories: Avery Elle sequins Lemonade and Kraft

Paper Smooches: Royal Cuteness

I've said a number of times that I am surrounded by boys and men and I work with numbers - so there isn't a lot of "cuteness" in my life.  But sometimes I just have to be girly.  Although personally I had no good reason to own this new set from Paper Smooches, I had to play with it.

(Actually I can justify just about any card since I am collecting a boxful for Operation Write Home There just has to be a big, tough soldier out there who wants to send this to a girl back home, doesn't there??)


This was so fun to play with - it was like dressing a paper doll.  I tried a number of dresses on her, but decided I liked the bold, summery look.  (Even when I'm trying to be girly, I still don't pull out pink!)

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Royal Cuteness, Streamers (the banner), Chit Chat (the sentiment), We Connect (the ampersand)
• Paper: Pebbles Seen and Noted (their clothes), Stampin' Up Island Indigo dsp
• Ink: Memento black and Copics
• Accessories: Royal Icons dies, Ampersands dies, Streamers dies

Paper Smooches: You Had Me at Merlot!

This is my second post today!

From the moment that I saw this stamp set, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!  With the fun sentiment - "you had me at merlot" - I had to create a little romance between the wine bottle and the goblet!!


The set is called Free Spirits and you can get it for free during September with a $60 purchase!  

I am having great fun this month as guest designer for Paper Smooches.  I have two more Wednesdays to go - you'll see another Free Spirits card - and one more romantic, fairy-tale card with Royal Cuteness.
I was inspired by the sketch at Paper Smooches SPARKS.  I had the little love scene created and the word bubble.  Then I saw how closely it worked with the current sketch - and it inspired me to add the little "XO" embossing!

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Free Spirits, Shadows (the oval)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry
• Ink: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry, Smoky Slate, Papertrey Ink Soft Stone
• Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Ranger Glossy Accents, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter, Ellen Hutson Wine Sequins

Paper Smooches: A Fairy Tale Day

It's a fairy tale kind of day today!!

First, I am the guest designer at Paper Smooches!! Talk about a dream come true.  I have used Kim's stamps since she was with Cornish Heritage Farms years ago.  I was thrilled when I was asked to be the guest designer for September!!

Second, I am using their brand new set Royal Cuteness.  It's full of knights and princesses and even frogs!  So I made a couple of fairy tale style cards!  The first uses a glass slipper.  I have framed it with their Duo Die 1 which I thought had the look of the magic mirror that every princess has to have!!


Since I had a magic mirror on my mind and I had the inside of the above die cut - I thought it would work as the actual mirror!!  Here's another fairy tale card using a very charming frog prince!

There's a little bit of shine on the mirror (in the hope that I am not the only one who sees this die as a magic mirror!!)

Aren't these just the cutest stamps?  I get to post every Wednesday this month at Paper Smooches and in two weeks, I have big plans for the handsome knight in this set!  (But before the handsome knight, I get to play with some Free Spirits - the alcoholic kind!!!)

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Royal Cuteness
• Paper: white, scrap of gray stripe
• Ink: Memento black, Copics
• Accessories: Paper Smooches Royal Icons die, Duo Die 1, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Avery Elle sequins, Ranger Glossy Accents

Curtain Call with SPARKS: Back to School

It's time for another challenge at Curtain Call!!  Since it is September, this challenge just has to focus on school!

I have loved reading blogs and Facebook the last few weeks.  There are first day of school pictures and so many people are saying they are sad that their children are back in school.  Personally I dropped mine and ran!!!  But I still want to make sure that they know I am thinking of them during the day so I like to have a stash of "great job" cards ready to go.

All of these fun images come from the Paper Smooches set Smarty Pants!!  I think I used most everything in it except for the cute little professor and Christina, also on the design team, used him on her card here.


I hope you all pull out your "school supplies" and create some back to school/way to go/thank you teacher type cards for our Back to School challenge!!  And be sure to head over to  Curtain Call and check out all of the design team inspiration.  There is a prize up for grabs from The Alley Way Stamps for The Lead of our Back to School challenge!

I love my diagonal layout but I definitely didn't come up with it on my own.  I was inspired by the angled look of the frames on the photo challenge at Paper Smooches SPARKS.

Also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes.

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Smarty Pants
• Paper: Stampin' Up Real Red, Crushed Curry, Papertrey Ink Winter Wisteria, Hawaiian Shores
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: White embossing powder, button from A Flair for Buttons

CAS(E) this Sketch! love & kisses

It's time for a new sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!.  For some reason this simple sketch gave me headaches.  I think it's the placement of those two little buttons in the center.  I wanted to put them near the top or the bottom, but I challenged myself to make it work. (That's why they call these challenges!!!)

I just got the Paper Smooches set We Connect.  It's a set of love words and three fun ampersands (plus dies).  I got the entire set for the ampersands.  Sad, huh?  So I figured I had better use the words right away so they actually see ink!



And look...my embellies are in the middle - just where they are in the sketch!

I guarantee that the rest of the design team didn't have much trouble with the sketch as there are amazing cards in the gallery.  Check it out at CAS(E) this Sketch! then be sure to play along!

(I'm also submitting this to the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.)

• Stamps: Paper Smooches We Connect, Art Impressions Lips
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow, Simple Stories 24/7 dsp
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow, Pure Poppy
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Fine Linen button, MME enamel dots, Divine Twine Black Licorice

CAS on Sunday and a Fab Friday: Thx for being Wonderful

I know that I had said yesterday that I had finished my using my entire Paper Smooches order - and I had.  But when I started thinking about a card with a tag for CAS on Sunday and the sweet colors at Fab Friday, I knew that I was going to pull out another Paper Smooches set - Reflections.


I love these fun flowers.  They are a little bit funky (but not too much) and add a sweet touch to every card.  The dies make it so easy - although be warned, there are three sets of dies that coordinate with the set!

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Reflections, Many Thanks
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Crisp Cantaloupe dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron
• Accessories: Paper Smooches Reflections dies, Papertrey Ink Tag Sale 3, Frayed Burlap Distress Stickles, Timeless Twine Krazy for Kraft, misc sequins

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

Seize the Sketch: Batty in Love

There was no way that I was going to miss the first sketch at Seize the Sketch!  I'm almost at the bottom of my Paper Smooches order so I was somewhat limited to a bat!  But what does a bat do - hang upside down - and the sketch had a wonderful opportunity for twine for him to hang from!

I don't think I'm done with this sketch yet.  I'm eyeing another set in my new stash that I think would work well...maybe later!

I have been very busy getting organized.  I love the act of organizing - it leads to a fresh start and I love that feeling.  This time I decided to put together a chart of inks.  I've downloaded or created charts for Memento and the Distress Inks and Papertrey and Stampin' Up.  But I had a really bad moment.  I have 113 different Stampin' Up ink colors.  My collection  goes back to colors I'm betting none of you remember - Mint Melody, Mauve Mist - those are going way back.  But look at this...how did I let this happen?

I didn't even know that I didn't have it - so clearly I've never used it.  But...that didn't stop me from jumping on EBay and completing my collection.  Sad, huh??

And I have a question.  Does anybody "understand" Hero Arts inks?  I was looking for a chart of all of their inks and there are a ton of downloadable charts available.  But none of them include all of the inks.  On the Hero Arts site, there is this chart and then there is this chart but there are tons of colors besides what is on those charts.  I love Pale Tomato but it doesn't show up anywhere.  Did they have a big color overhaul?  I'm doubting they retired all of those missing colors because if they did, they didn't leave themselves with many.  Anybody follow Hero Arts?

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Falling for You
• Ink: Memento Black and Copics
• Paper: Stampin' Up Basic Gray
• Accesories: Timeless Twine Cape Cod, Ellen Hutson Daffodil Sequins, Ranger Glossy Accents, Paper Smooches Falling for You dies

CAS(E) this Sketch! Thanks a Super Lot

It's time for a new sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and everyone should play along!!  There are SO many options - tall flowers, feathers (although I spent a long time trying to create a nice feather card and I failed), balloons with strings...so many options!

I didn't use any of those.  I used words!  I am trying so hard to use my Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (NBUS) and there just wasn't anything tall in that stash.  So I am continuing on my use of a brand new order from Paper Smooches with a new thank you set (free with $60 purchase) and a brand new paper pad and just started stamping "thanks" in the colors from the paper.  The "super lot" seemed perfect for all of those "thanks"!

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Many Thanks
• Paper: MME Cut & Paste Flair, Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana
• Ink: Stampin' Up Real Red, Blushing Bride, Coastal Cabana, Sahara Sand, Versamark
• Accessories: white embossing powder, Papertrey Ink file die

An Amazing Crafting Morning

I am still giddy from an amazing morning of crafting with a fun and talented group of cardmakers and bloggers.  They are as amazing in person as they are on their blogs. We talked and laughed and shared and did a bit of crafting.  Can you believe that I rubbed elbows with Laurie Willison,  me, Tenia Nelson (both from Curtain Call), Annette Allen (who recently moved to Colorado - we were on the TAWS design team together), Wida Miller, Ceal Pritchett (we were on Sweet 'n Sassy together), Lisa Petrella, Michelle Gross (owner of CAS-ual Fridays stamps), and Alyssa Scritchfield (not pictured).  I am hoping just a little bit of their talent rubbed off on me!

I went prepared to get a lot of cards made.  Not so much...too busy sharing stories and trying other people's stuff.  But here is one of the cards that I managed to finish up.


I realized a little late that it doesn't read quite like I wanted it to.  I put two stamps together "warm & fuzzy" and "hugs" to get "warm & fuzzy hugs".  But after I got the picture taken, I realized that what it really reads is "warm fuzzy & hugs".  But that little guy is just too darn not to post!

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Party Posse, Sentiment Sampler
• Paper: MME Fine & Dandy True Blue
• Ink: Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamp word bubble dies, Freckled Fawn wood veneer, Lil' Inkers stitched rectangles, The Twinery Caribbean Twine

Pals and Dahlhouse: Woohoo!

In my new quest to use my new stuff before it gets put away (inspired by the wonderful Darnell) - I got a big order from Paper Smooches and you might be seeing a lot of it.  I'm looking at my stash in three levels.  Stuff that was put away ages ago - it may not have been used, but I'm not going to worry about that yet.  An overflowing box on the side of my desk of newer stamps that haven't been used.  But...since that box is already overflowing, brand new stuff that finds its way into my stash has to be used immediately!!  The latest thing to show in my mailbox is a lot of Paper Smooches stamps and dies!!  So...get ready for a lot of Paper Smooches cards!!


I have a little extra bonus on this because the bird house die from My Favorite Things hadn't been used.  But I'm not going to move it from my box yet because it does have a coordinating stamp set that needs to see ink first!
I used a sketch that I already played along with it - but I love it!!  It's from dahlhouse designs.

I also wanted bright colors - and remembered that Pals Paper Arts had the bright colors plus a nice neutral that I could use.

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Chubby Chums
• Paper: Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush and Smoky Slate
• Ink: Memento black, Copics, Versamark
• Accessories: My Favorite Things Contempo Cage die, Lawn Fawn Pink Lemonade Trimmings, Simon Says Stamp Word Bubble dies, Ellen Hutson Daffodil sequins

CAS-ual Fridays: Count Me In

It's my husband's 55th birthday this weekend!!!  Of all of the cards that I make, cards for my husband are absolutely the hardest.  He is such a totally plain and basic kind of guy that any decoration is too much.  But..I'm a cardmaker...I have to add something.  I did want to use the number "55" to play along with CAS-ual Fridays Count Me In challenge.   Then I made two entirely different cards.

I think this looks like my husband - although those few little dots might put it over into the "too much" category for him!

I actually did this next card first.  I came up with the tag which I really liked - but then spent way too much time struggling with what to do with it.  I'm using a sketch from Lisa at dahlhouse designs but even with this fabulous layout, I'm still feeling like the background could be different/more/less/something...I don't know??  What do you think? (Keeping in mind my very basic husband for whom the three patterns is likely going to be too much!) 

Wowzers!

• Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Exlamations
• Paper: Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Real Red, Little Yellow Bicycle Just Because 6x6 pad
• Ink: Stampin' Up Night of Navy
• Accessories: WPlus9 tag die, Paper Smooches Numbers dies (the smaller ones), May Arts twine, Stampin' Up dots

Turning 55

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Digits
• Paper: Stampin' Up Riding Hood Red, More Mustard, Confetti Cream, Simple Stories Happy Day
• Ink: Stampin' Up Early Espresso
• Accessories: WPlus9 tag die, May Arts twine, Papertrey Ink Impression Plate

Paper Smooches Designer Drafts: God Will Guide You

When I saw this week's sketch at Paper Smooches - I immediately envisioned a small sailboat on a big sea.  My idea was that we are so small, but God is so big and will always be our guide!

I started out with "mistier" colors, but they were getting lost in all of the white space.  So I checked current challenges and liked the red, blue and kraft at Pals Paper Arts.

I wanted to pull out an old picture and show you our sailing experiences, but I think I have opened every folder on my computer and can't find it.  It's a wonderful shot of my two boys in their younger days on our sailboat with snow-covered mountains in the background.  Our boat is docked at the Frisco, CO marina on Lake Dillon right at the summit of the Colorado Rockies.  So it's a very unique sailing experience.  It can actually be fairly difficult as the winds swirl unpredictably and can be very strong.  Here are a couple of other pictures that I found from 2004 when we were all so much younger.(Notice that the mountains don't look huge - that's just because the boat is docked at 9,000 feet up!)

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Wicked Nauticool, Spiritual Sampler
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
• Ink: Stampin' Up Pacific Point, Real Red, Memento Black
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Ellen Hutson Iridescent Water sequins