Birds of a Feather...MMM #10 & JUGS #96

Oh, thank you, Make My Monday! This is an absolutely wonderful challenge, for I have many bird images!!! I have a sister who is obsessed with them and encourages me to buy each one she sees! And I usually do...which sometimes causes problems...

Back to my cards! Yes! I made three!!! And two of them are what I call my Blue Birds. You'll see why...I wanted to use a color combo that I rarely use, and blue and kraft popped out at me. So, hence the Blue Birds. The third and last card is a whimsical color scheme that I rarely use--all bright colors. I don't know why I shy away from them! This card uses the JUGS layout:

AND NOW....THE BLUE BIRDS

Here is Blue Bird 1:

Here are some detailed shots of the front of BB1:

And here is the inside of BB1 (I wanted it to continue the theme):

Blue Bird 1 took almost 45 minutes to create. I wanted it to be perfect. Goes along with my stamping OCD..but I am pleased to say that it came out the exact way I wanted! :)

Blue Bird 2:

And BB2 detail:

This one took a lot less time, as it is considered CAS style. I just cut a strip of patterned paper into three strips the same sizes, sponged the edges and then adhered them with a bit of space in between them. I may use this on other cards and just stop there!

So, the last card is totally different from the first two. One of the main reasons is due to the style of the stamp sets used. This stamp set is a whimsical Easter set, but I used it to make a card I could give anytime. The sentiment is "you crack me up". A good friendship card!

Here it is:

Here is a closeup of the darling chick:

I hope that these creations inspire you to make something new today! Thanks to the ladies at Make My Monday and Just Us Girls for fabulous challenges! Come play with us sometime! Happy crafting!

CR84FN #35: Lavender, Celery, Gray

First of all, this has always been one of my favorite color schemes! So I was SOOOO happy when I hopped on over to CR84FN and saw that their color challenge was lavender, celery and gray! :) Don't you just love the inspiration they gave us? It conjurs up images of lazy summer days crafting in a cozy cottage. At least, it does for me... :)

So, without further ado, here is my entry:

I was going for country chic, and I think I may have actually pulled it off! MIRACLE! ;D I punched out my purple heart before running it through the dry embossing machine so that I could get the exact pattern I wanted. I am a little OCD about my crafting...and I'm trying to get better by thinking things through before I do them...it's working...kinda...anywho!

I added glitter with a clear glitter gel pen (one of my FAVE tools) to give the heart and sentiment a little more glitz.Hopefully you like it! I do!!! Thanks for another great challenge, ladies! And thanks for taking a peek--I hope it inspires you to create today! Happy stamping! :)

PDCC #93 Watermelon, Sorbet, Lime + SSS Christmas in August

Hello, friends! It's nice to be blogging again today! It was a CrAzY weekend at our house--Friday night we rearranged our entire house (literally), Saturday morning/afternoon I worked, my DH did all the housework, we had dinner guests and a meeting at our house on Saturday night AND we had our sweet Khi again all weekend: (This is how she sleeps--sideways! DH asked if we should mover her, I said to each her own--she'd just move back!) Anywho...this is why I haven't posted for a few days!!! :) So, since I've been short on time, I decided to combine two online challenges: Play Date Cafe #93: Watermelon, Sorbet & Lime and Simon Says Stamp: Christmas in August! I like non traditional colors for Christmas cards, and I have a lot of friends who adore the color pink, so I decided to make these and give them to those friends! :) I love multi-tasking!

So, here's the first card:

And the front details:

I had to do something on the inside to hide the ribbon, so I decided more patterned paper and another sentiment! :)

Here's the second card (I do like the first better....):

And the details:

I used the silver elastic on the first one to give it some flair, then used silver heat embossing to do the same for the second card. Thank you so much for taking a peak--I hope you're inspired to create today! Happy stamping!!!

Rainbow Colored Happiness

Hello and happy crafting wishes to you all! I have some fun, brightly colored cards that I have made these past few day!!! I usually go with a 2-3 color scheme for cardmaking, but this past week I've suddenly become obsessed with rainbow colors! Part of the reason is one of the challenges I'm submitting these cards to! :) I have THREE cards today, so keep on looking--don't give up for the butterflies--I saved the best for last!

The Dare to Color Challenge over at Wee Memories challenged us to use a MINIMUM of four colors on a card. EEK! This did not fit in with my 2-3 color scheme stamping agenda...but I LOVE IT now!!! So, thanks ladies for an awesome challenge! Here is my main submission for this challenge:


I love this card for four reasons: 1. It's bright and summery, 2. It was really quick and easy to do, 3. It helped me utilize one of my favorite forgotten stamp sets, and 4. It uses one of my new favorite techniques--color blocking! :) What do you think? I love it--I'll be making more of this one!

My second card for the Wee Memories challenge, and was intended for the CASual Friday challenge, 4"x9" CAS style card, before it was too late, also utilizes the same forgotten set...I need to get into my cabinets more often! ;D

Here it is:


I LOVE the sentiment, it's actually one of my absolute favorite quotes. Here it is closer up so you can actually read it:

I am also linking up with a NEW challenge I found: PCJ Challenge #16: Photo Inspiration! all the colors inspired me! :) Here is the photo inspiration that was given:


And, finally, here is the third and last card for today. I am submitting this one for Wee Memories and also for Make My Monday: Things With Wings (Butterflies or Dragonflies). This card turned out amazingly better than I imagined! I used colors that I normally do not use and black and white. Here it is:


This is yet another forgotten favorite stamp set. I LOVE this sentiment! Here is a close up of it so you can read the whole thing:

Isn't that wonderful?! And here is a better picture of the butterfly popped up:

Oh, how I love this card! I stamped the butterfly images using the baby wipe ink pad technique and used red, yellow, green and blue reinkers to create the palette. It worked marvelously when I accented everything with red!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope I've inspired you to create something new today! Happy creating!

Also linked, by request, to Passionately Artistic. Thanks so much for the invite!!!! :)

Less is More Week 26 Feeling Fruity! :)

This week's fabulous Less is More challenge is FEELING FRUITY!!! I love it, because one of my absolute favorite stamp sets is four simple fruity solid images from Stampin' Up! called Tart and Tangy! Since it was recently retired, I have had to put it away and felt a void deep inside...*sigh*. BUT, then came this challenge and I was excited to get it out again!

Here is my submission:


I new that I needed to make the fruit images look juicy, so I used a glitter gel pen to accent the citrus slices, then I covered them with SU! glossy accents. I felt they needed to pop out more, so I backed them with punched out black cardstock pieces. I feel that the end result is fabulous! These pictures don't give do them justice...


I also embossed the background of my card with a pineapple embossing folder--since I was feeling fruity and all. ;D I love the colors and everything just worked!!!

Thank you for taking the time to check out my card and my blog! Thanks to the LIM ladies for another fabulous challenge! I hope you can play along with us sometime and I hope that you're inspired to create something juicy today! Happy stamping!!!

Just Us Girls #95 Fabric

Wow. This was really tough for me! The challenge (here) this week at Just Us Girls was to create a card with fabric on it. RIBBON DIDN'T COUNT. EEK! I was IN TROUBLE!

I really put this off until the last minute, hoping that I would somehow be inspired just by thinking about fabric. Then I remembered a sweet gift from a friend who wanted me to get into quilting--beautiful, colorful quilt squares that, I have to admit, I'll never use. So, this is what I came up with from those quilt squares:

A quilt card! It was very time consuming, but I am pleased with the result. Thank you for the challenge, ladies! It got me out of my comfort zone and helped to inspire my stamping day! PLUS, I got to use something that had been sitting in my house for literally years. No joke.

Anyway, I hope my little faux quilting experience inspires you to create something out of your comfort zone today! Happy crafting!

Tuesday Treats

I have not been the best blogger this past week or so. This is my reason:

***KHI!***

Isn't she a DOLL? We have family friends who are have taken her and her sister in and need some help right now. So, I've been helping! More details may be forthcoming...

I haven't really shared much of my life on here, and I think that may just be a cryin' shame, because I'm kinda neat! So, I've decided to do the HOOOOO are you? challenge! Here are the questions:

1. What is your favorite craft or type of craft and if you are a crafter

how did you get into it?

2. What shows have you been watching this summer?

3. Who does the yard work at your house?

4. Are you working on any projects inside the home or outside this week?

5. Do you have to worry about getting ready for back to school?

Here are my answers!

1. My favorite craft type is to STAMP! Of course! ;D I've been doing it for about 5 years now, and I LOVE IT. It's therapeutic to me. I got into it when a very dear friend continually invited me to a Stampin' Up! workshop. It took her about a year to get me to go, but I haven't stopped since!
2. Shows...not many. I've been bloggin! BUT, a good friend DID get me hooked on Fringe and Eureka and so I've been watching previous seasons to catch up. I like sci-fi...so what?!
3. My husband. I will OCCASIONALLY water the plants. But, really, my dh! He rocks!!!
4. YES. We are MOVING FURNITURE. Upstairs to downstairs, downstairs to upstairs. Everything shall be changed. My crafting empire may be downsized a bit...but it will be worth it!
5. Yes, I do. Because I work in a school. So, in the AWFUL 100*-120* heat, I've helped to set the classroom up...why does summer go sooooo fast?!

Thanks for taking time to get to know me better! :)

Anyway, so here's today's Tuesday Treats! Not a weekly thing, just a today thing. ;D I'm showing you some cards and other crafty things I haven't posted yet!!!

This first one is a birthday card I made for my mother.


It uses the paper piecing technique, which is really quite simple. This is how you do it:

1. Stamp LINE image onto project.
2. Stamp same line image onto another piece of patterned paper.
3. Cut out portion to piece onto original project and adhere.
4. That's it! :)

See? Super duper easy--and it looks really cool!

The second Tuesday Treat is to show off my NEW and improved living room shelf!



It's awesome, right?! I love the plaques that I bought for $1.50 each at Goodwill. Such an AWESOME find! I believe that the whole shelf decor cost under $15. Including the shelf. ;D

The third and FINAL Tuesday Treat is to let you know that if you love my digital art, I've uploaded new ones to my digital art blog: My Uni-Verse! Head on over to grab some free printables!

I hope you've had a GREAT day, and I hope that you find time to create something today! Happy crafting and happy Tuesday! :)

Linking up to the following parties:

Technique Tuesday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Take-a-look Tuesday
Toot Your Horn Tuesday
Twice Owned Tuesday
Get Your Craft On
Amaze me August
Show Me What Ya Got
Hoo Are You?
Papertake Weekly Challenge
We Did It Wednesday
Power of Paint
Under $100 Linky Party