Cutting Edge Challenge #2–Seattle Hello!

Happy Saturday, friends!
Hoping that all of my American friends enjoyed an amazing Fourth of July holiday!!  We had a lovely day at our house.  Low key and relaxing – that’s my idea of a pretty great day!

It’s time to reveal the next Cutting Edge Challenge!!  This week’s inspiration project is one of mine (that was originally inspired by a project that Julie Ebersole created.)  Your challenge is to take inspiration from this project and create a new project based on that inspiration.  Here’s what I created:

If you’re a regular visitor here at my blog, you know that I am OBSESSED with cityscapes.  I picked up this Seattle Skyline die from Impress Rubber Stamps last summer when I was home, and I love it just as much today as I did back then!  Had to use it for today’s project – it was calling my name!!  LOL  I created a little hillside and some scalloped waves with two of the new Pretty Pink Posh stitched border dies.  The stitched image panel was created using my fave Stitched Rectangle Mats from Lil Inker Designs.  The cloud word bubble and sentiment are from Simon Says Stamp.  I’ve listed the products I used below.

We’d love to see your take on this week’s inspiration.  AND we are thrilled to little bits to announce that Ellen Hutson has graciously and very generously offered to sponsor the first challenge of each month!!  The winner of this week’s Challenge will win a $25 gift certificate to Ellen’s amazing online store!!  How cool is that?!  If you click on through to the Cutting Edge Challenge Blog you’ll find:

• The winners of last week’s Challenge, as well as the Top 3;
• A gorgeous project created by our second Guest Designer, Gayatri Murali;
• More amazing projects that the rest of my sweet teamies created for your inspiration;
• The rules and regulations of the Challenge; and
• The InLinkz linkup where you can upload YOUR answer to this week’s Challenge – which closes on Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 9:00 AM EDT.

That’s it for me today, friends!!  I’m hanging out in my craft room all day today, and headed to a wedding this evening!  Another great day, I’d say!!  Hoping you have some awesome plans ahead for your weekend!!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

*Simon Says Clear Stamps HELLO YOU SSS101389 *Simon Says Stamp *TALK BUBBLES 2 Craft Die S144 Seattle Skyline Die Impress Pretty Pink Posh Dies, Stitched Borders 1 Stitched Mats: Rectangles VersaFine, Onyx Black A Cardstock, Essentials by Ellen: White Linen #100 Cardstock, 25 Pack Smoke Gray Cardstock Simon Says Stamp Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Juicy Pear, 25 pk Blu Raspberry Card Stock *Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# BLUE VIOLET BV13 Fiskars ProCision 12 Inch Bypass Trimmer Sizzix Big Shot Machine, Powder Blue & Teal Sizzix, Cutting Pad, Standard Sizzix Accessory, Magnetic Platform for Wafer-Thin Dies Teflon Bone Folder Martha Stewart Scoring Board, Mini

InLinkz.com

You Had Me At Merlot . . . Random Fun Challenge!

 

Hey!

 

In early November, I spent an amazing long weekend in San Francisco and Napa with my Women Who Wine (that’s “wine,” not “whine”!  LOL) group.  Oh my goodness, we had such a great time!!  One of the women is a travel agent and is so incredibly organized and generous with her expertise.  She planned the entire trip for us, and let’s just say she knows her stuff.  So I wanted to thank her for all her efforts in putting together a weekend that I will not soon forget.

Enter the Moxie Fab World: 365 Cards Week:  Random Fun Challenge!!  The challenge is to create a project featuring mustaches, buttons or an alcoholic beverage – fun, right?!!  First of all, let me just tell you that the special issue 365 Cards is AH-MAZING!!  There are so many awesome projects that are seriously so clever and unique.  So, when you get a chance, you so need to add it to your collection.  It’s really one of the best issues I’ve seen so far.  And, Cath at the Moxie Fab World Blog has several super fun challenges that were inspired by that special issue.  And I’ll be darned if I’m not gonna play along, because we all know how much I love Cath’s challenges!!

PRODUCTS USED: 

STAMPS:  Drinks In A Row (Savvy Stamps), Fine Wine (A Muse Studio)
INK:  Blackberry (A Muse Studio); VersaMark (Tsukineko)
PAPER:  Rich Razzleberry (Stampin’ Up!), Snow (Bazzill Basics)
ACCESSORIES:  Rich Razzleberry Satin Ribbon (Stampin’ Up!), Frame Die (PTI), Buttons (PTI), Self-Adhesive Gems (Kaiser Craft), Canvas Impression Plate (PTI)

 

I love it when a challenge actually coincides with an occasion that I need to create a card – don’t you?!  The sweet lady that planned our trip loved the card, so that made me happy.  Thanks for another fun challenge, Cath!!  And thank YOU for stopping by today.

 

Before I go, I just thought I’d remind you that the current CAS-ual Fridays Challenge is a TWO week challenge, so you have until next Wednesday to play along with us.  Nice, right?!!  You can find all the details of the current challenge HERE.  I also want to wish each and every one of you a very blessed Thanksgiving holiday.  I am so very thankful for all of you.

World Card Making Day–Happy Holidays!

 

Hurray! Hurray! It’s World Card Making Day!

 

I’m thrilled to bits to be a part of the Paper Crafts Magazine World Card Making Day Blog Tour.  I wish that I was home creating cards all day long today as I had originally planned, but I’m out of town for a family funeral.  But I so wanted to be a part of today’s events, even if it’s in this small way.  So, I decided to use today’s blog tour to get an early start on my holiday card making.

PRODUCTS USED:

STAMPS:  Birch Trees (Impress Rubber Stamps), Polka Dot Basics (PTI), Merriest Wishes – sentiment (Hero Arts)
INK:  Provincial Gray (Fresh Ink), VersaMark (Tsukineko)
PAPER:  Ultra Smooth Solar White CS (Neenah Classic Crest), Enchanted Evening CS (PTI), Wild Cherry CS (French Poptone)
ACCESSORIES:  Silver Satin Ribbon (Midori), Birds & Branch Die (Taylored Expressions), Stampin’ Dimensionals (Stampin’ Up!), Silver Embossing Powder (Zing/American Crafts)

 

How will you be celebrating World Card Making Day?  Do you have fun plans with your crafty friends to crop all day?!   If so, I’d love to hear all about them!

 

I can’t wait to visit the rest of the World Card Making Day bloggers on today’s Blog Tour – I hope you enjoy them, too!  Thanks so much for stamping by today!  Have a great day!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #22–Feeling Loopy!

Hola Kids!

So sorry that I haven’t been posting too much since last week.  We’ve been babysitting our grandson, who is a very busy toddler.  Creative time is at a minimum as it’s all I can do to keep up with him all day!!  As much as I adore him, there’s a reason why 52 year old women were not meant to have babies.  Oh my goodness, am I tired!  LOL


I am popping in today to share this week’s CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #22, which is called Feeling Loopy.  The challenge for you is to create a clean and simple design that includes a ribbon loop or tab.

Our wonderful sponsor this week is the Ribbon Carousel, who very generously provided each of the Girl Fridays with some DEE-LISH Halloween themed ribbons.  Oh my, are they yummy!!  I believe that Ribbon Carousel has provided a wonderful prize to this week’s TGIF winner, so please be sure and pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge Blog to see what it is – and check out the awesomeness that the other Girl Fridays created for your viewing pleasure!  Thank you, Ribbon Carousel!!


I tend to take a very literal approach to challenges, and this one is no exception.  LOL  As soon as I saw the title of the challenge, this fun little cocktail stamp popped into my head – perfect, right?!  I, myself, am a lightweight when it comes to alcoholic beverages, so it doesn’t take much to get me “loopy”.  And the yummo-licious purple satin ribbon went perfectly with my fun cocktails, don’t you think?

That’s it for me today, friends.  Thanks so much for stopping by to visit me here.  Hope you have a fantastic weekend!!

P.S.  You DO know that tomorrow is World Card Making Day, right?!  I have a fun little project that I'll be posting tomorrow to celebrate the day and will be participating in the Paper Crafts Magazine WCMD Blog Hop.  How about you?  Do you have any fun plans for WCMD?

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #22–Mini Cards!

Hola Peeps!

 

Welp, you’ve done it again, people – you all blew us away with your beautiful fall paper piecing projects.  Oh my!!  It’s so much fun to see how you all interpret these challenges – so much amazing innovation and thinking outside the box!

 

This week’s CAS-ual Fridays challenge will no doubt bring out some delicious designs, as well.  To play with us this week, you’ll need to create a clean and simple mini card (or cards) design that’s 4” x 4” or smaller.  Fun, right?!!

This week’s sponsor is AnnabelleStamps.com, a super fun online Australian stamp company.  I believe that AnnabelleStamps.com has provided a yummo-licious prize package for this week’s TGIF winner, but you’ll have to pop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge blog to find out what it is.  While you’re there, be sure and check out all the other fantasmic inspiration from the other Girl Fridays.

This challenge was so much fun for me!  I had recently purchased the most delicious Mehndi-type stamps from Impress Rubber Stamps.  Then I came across this photo on Pinterest (click on the photo to be taken to the original post).  My mind exploded!!  Amazing, right?!  So I chose some of my fave colored cardstock and coordinated some bright colored embossing powder and away I went!  The sentiments are from a couple of the Mat Stack sets.  This card set was super easy, and came together instantly – it’s so nice to have card sets like this around for those times when you just want to send a cute little note along with a gift.

PRODUCTS USED:

STAMPS:  Doodle Ornate (Impress Rubber Stamps), Mat Stack 1, Mat Stack 3 and Mat Stack 4 (PTI)
INK:  VersaMark and Onyx Black VersaFine (Tsukineko)
PAPER:  Blue Raspberry, Sour Apple, Razzleberry and Orange Fizz CS (French Poptone)
ACCESSORIES:  Apricot, Cricket and Aqua Embossing Powder (Zing/American Crafts), Black self-adhesive rhinestones (Kaiser Craft)

I so hope that you’ll play along with us this week!  I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!  Thanks so much for stopping by today – your sweet words mean the world to me!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #15 – Sketch

 

Hi Peeps!

I’m back today to share the latest CAS-ual Fridays Challenge with you!  Hopefully you’re having as much fun with these challenges as I am!  This week we have a super fun sketch to inspire your creative juices.

Our sponsor this week is Clear Dollar Stamps and they’ve provided a wonderful prize for the TGIF Winner, but you’ll have to hop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge Blog to find out what that prize is!  Thank you Clear Dollar Stamps!

 

I had a blast with this sketch (remember THIS card?), and plan to keep it in my arsenal of go-to sketches whenever I get into a creative funk.  Sketches are usually my first source of inspiration when I’m stuck, and the Clean & Simple Stamping Blog is a wonderful site for clean and simple sketch designs.  This is sort of a re-do of THIS card – I was determined to make it work in a way that I was happy with, and this project, when finished, made me pretty happy.  I used the bajeebers out of my A Muse Stamp Positioning tool (sadly, it’s no longer available) for this one, as I had to stamp the main image four different times – once on the card base, and then again on the other three CS panels, so that the card base image would line up with the color blocking image.

PRODUCTS USED:

STAMPS:  IMPRESS RUBBER STAMPS (Doodle Ornate), A MUSE ART STAMPS (Many Thanks)
INK:  PAPERTREY INK (Fresh Snow Pigment Ink), A  MUSE STUDIO (Fern Pigment Ink)
PAPER:  NEENAH CLASSIC CREST (Solar White Ultra Smooth CS), PAPERTREY INK (Raspberry Fizz, Simply Chartreuse, and Hibiscus Burst CS), FRENCH POPTONE (Pink Bubblegum CS)
ACCESSORIES:  SCOR-TAPE (ScorPal), STAMPIN’ UP! (Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and Stampin’ Dimensionals), ZING/AMERICAN CRAFTS (Clear Embossing Powder)

That’s all for me today, kids!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you’ll join us in this week’s CAS-ual Fridays Challenge!  Have a great day!

Pucker Up! – PDCC93

Hola Gal Pals!


I’m back with another challenge card – I told you I had a goooood crafting weekend, right?!  And I’ve seriously been having a blast!  Today, I’m sharing a project that I made for the current Play Date Café Color Challenge.  This is only the second time that I’ve played with this challenge . . . it’s a fun one, for sure!  Check out those yummy colors – delicious, right?!  In addition to the colors, I was inspired by the citrus picture in the collage.  My final inspiration came from the sketch challenge over at Denami Designs, even though my card doesn’t qualify (I didn’t use any Denami Design images because I don’t own any – gotta do something about that!)

PRODUCTS USED:
STAMPS:  IMPRESS RUBBER STAMPS (Lemon Slice), PAPER SMOOCHES (Fruitastic), PAPERTREY INK (Polka Dot Basics)
INK:  TSUKINEKO (VersaMark)
PAPER:  STAMPIN’ UP! (Regal Rose CS), FRENCH POPTONE (Wild Cherry CS), NEENAH CLASSIC CREST (Solar White Ultra Smooth CS)
ACCESSORIES:  WE R MEMORY KEEPERS (Corner Chomper), ZING/AMERICAN CRAFTS (Rouge and Cricket Embossing Powder), DIVINE TWINE (Green Apple Baker’s Twine), PAPERTREY INK (Hibiscus Burst Button and Linen Impression Plate), STAMPIN’ UP! (Stampin’ Dimensionals), GLUE DOTS (Craft Glue Dots)

That’s it for me today, friends!  Believe it or not, I have another challenge card to share with you tomorrow, so stay tuned!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Best Wishes!

 

Hello Crafty Friends!

I’m popping in today to share a project that I created with the intention of submitting it for the Moxie Fab World Stamp It Challenge . . . needless to say, I forgot about it and missed the deadline.  Oops!  LOL

 

 

I was actually in the process of reworking it, when I got distracted by a cute little boy . . . my grandson.  I was having way more fun playing with him and completely forgot that I needed to finish reworking this project before the deadline!  LOL  It’s a little off-center, and looks a little wonky at the bottom.  But I really like the theory behind my original idea.  I may still try and redesign this . . . maybe today!  We’ll see what the day brings.  The mehndi image is from Impress Rubber Stamps and can be found HERE.  Delicious, right?!

 

That’s it for me today, friends!  I plan to stamp my little fingers to the bone today – Mr. Brown is expected at my door any minute now and will be bringing me some brand new, delicious Papertrey goodies!!  Ooohhhh how I love Mr. Brown – don’t tell my hubby, though, okay?!!  Thanks so much for stopping by today – hope you have a great day!!