New Stuff

I recently received an order of new supplies from SU--stamps, punch, and a "share" of lots of goodies and have been wanting to try them. This sketch from Freshly Made Sketches provided a good opportunity.

I struggled with this one. This is actually my third try at getting something worth sharing.

All the supplies except the button which is from my stash is from SU--some old, some new.

If your SU demonstrator doesn't do some kind of share package where you get samples of lots of different products, check out Lee Conrey. I wasn't sure what to do with the little ruffled paper cups but I think they look great as flower centers. I trimmed this one down a little and sponged on some of the pink color. I also sponged it on the doily also because the white looked too stark. The flower is from Mixed Bunch and punched out with blossom punch. The same flower stamp is repeated in the doiley.



 

Chickie B'day

This is the Case This Sketch challenge this week.

I thought that was so cute and wondered how a little tiny design would do. Keeping it CAS makes it work really well. Even though it is still cold here in Indiana, a little hint of spring is always welcome so I chose Aqua and yellow for colors. And, I just love all the DeNami chickie stamps.

I stamped the chickie on yellow paper and cut and embossed it with a Nestabilities. I colored the flower, leaf and beak with markers. To glam up the chickie I used yellow glitter glue on it. Then a scrap of polka dot ribbon and happy birthday sentiment from SU completes the clean and simple look. Here is the inside:

The chicken tracks is also a DeNami stamp. I thought it would look like doing the chicken dance.



 

Wood U?

The challenge this week at Cas-ual Fridays is using letters. I was inspired by a recent issue of CardMaker magazine using wood in their design.

I don't have any actual wood accents so decided to use this DP that looks like bleached wood. The 3 hearts add lots of texture. The red one is with argyle IP, the center is from a scrap of DP, the Kraft heart actually is run through crimper (hard to detect that in this pic).I bought this cute set of wood stamp alphabet several years ago at a yard sale. The label says PX design. I couldn't find them online so don't know if they are still in business. I tied it all together with twine. My husband's hobby is woodworking so I think he will really like this Valentine.

 

alligator

I am still on my mission to make children's birthday cards. So today's card if for challenges at Papercraft Star (use a frame) and Simon Says Stamps (anything goes).

The frame with alligator is from a scrapbook paper from Provo Craft. It has frames with 5 different animals. You may be seeing more of these. Love that when most of the work is done for you. I used a Fiskar IP to make the background kind of like alligator skin. Sentiment is old one from TAC. Add googly eyes and there you have it--super simple kid's card. Or I may save this for my husband's birthday. He has a fascination with alligators. We were able to see a lot of them on an airboat ride during our recent Florida trip.

 

Monsters

Using The Paper Players sketch, here is another card for my grandson's to give their friends at birthday parties. (See a cowboy one here). This is the sketch:

And my card:

It is hard to come up with little boy cards. I knew they would love this DP I found at Hobby Lobby with robot monsters. The vertical strip was a stripe on the paper. I duplicated that look by stamping different circles on the white card base. I cut out one of the robots and highlighted some areas with clear star gel pen. I love the big googly eyes. Left off the ribbon part of the sketch. I didn't think little boys would care for that. 

 

cowboy birthday

My grandsons get invited to lots of birthday parties. My daughter asked if I would make some cards for them to give to friends. They live in Texas, so I thought cowboy boots would be great. I didn't have a boots stamp so found this one in clipart. Colored them with markers blinged them a bit with silver star gel pen and then cut them out. Then to continue the cowboy theme, I glued the boots to a scrap of burlap that I "dirtied" up with Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink and SU chocolate brown. Adding a bit of twine continued that ranch theme. All on white cardstock to keep it CAS.Sentiment is an old one from The Angel Company.

This is for Cas-ual Fridays challenge of using markers.

 

Bandaid

I have been having major creativity withdrawl. It has been so long since I made a card. I was in Florida soaking up sunshine for 2 weeks and then spent several days catching up on things when I got home. Before I get to the card though I just have to share a couple of photos of the craft workspace my DH made from a loose sketch I gave him.

 But I realized after I put everything away, I have way too much stuff and could have used twice the space. But sadly :( I have such a small room. I love, love, love that ribbon organizer part. I think I am a ribbon hoarder!. Okay, my New Year's resolution was going to be using ribbon on every card until I had reduced my stock. But the first card I made, has NO ribbon. O well, I was never much on keeping resolutions.
So anyway, here is my card for Papercraft Star (use buttons), The Playdate Cafe (B&W, splash of emerald), and Pals Paperarts (sketch).

The sentiment and bandaid are from Lawn Fawn. Everything else from scrap file and button stash. I have a friend whose Mother fell and broke a hip. I hope this will cheer her up.

 

Love Owls

It is "anything goes" at Simon Says Stamps Challenge. Last year I had a successful sale of Valentine's at my gym. So I thought I would try that again and get started on some Valentine's. This is my 3rd one today. See the other's here. I am staying with the sketch from Pals Paper Arts with just a different orientations this time.

Do Not throw away or store that red Christmas paper. They will look great on Valentine's. These strips are both from SU Holiday Catalog. The owl stamp is an old one. Actually 2 separate stamps. I put them on the same block to stamp.I just noticed they are not straight. I guess the left one is leaning toward his true love? haha!! Coloring done with Tombow markers. The sentiment and tag punchs are also SU. I love the googly eye stickers. Makes them so cute. 

 

2 Valentines

Cold, snowy, blizzardy day here so I am taking advantage and crafting. I made 2 cards for Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge. My crafting resolution for the New Year is to pull out ribbon from my box of scrap pieces and design cards around them. I really need to use up some of them. So this is the perfect challenge to start that resolution.
Here is my masculine version:

 

I found this cloth tape measure in the box. It was old but still a little bright yellow so I sponged on SU chocolate brown. Ran the kraft card base thru Big Shot with CP wood folder and then sponged chocolate brown on the highlights. Red heart is cut with Cricket. The sentiment is done on computer and trimmed in a white heart shape. I used the negative image of a heart cut with Cricket, centered it over the sentiment, traced the outline and cut it out.  Accents are  hammer and copper brads.

 Here is the inside:

My second card is the feminine version of the same layout. Here there are 3 scraps of different design pink theme ribbons.

The white doily looked a little lost on the white card base so I sponged on some Martha Stewart pink geranium ink. The fairy stamp has lost her label so I can't give credit there. She is colored with colored pencils. I used a clear star gel pen for the wings and gold star gel pen for crown. There are actually stars in the image but I covered them with small pink punched hearts. Happy Valentine's Day sentiment is from SU. Haven't quite figured out the inside of this one yet. It will probably be for my granddaughter.







heart balloons

More of the Valentines I am making for Operation Write Home who sends hand made cards to our troops. If like me, you accumulate a lot of excessive cards just because you like to craft, send them to Operation Write Home.Check out their website for guidelines.
I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Here is my take on the sketch:

Ignore that Kraft background. It is just to make the white show on the scanner. I used white cardstock base, a scrap of ribbon. The white square was run thru Big Shot with lace IP. The ballons are SU colored with a water color pen. Since this will be mailed back home by some soldier, I didn't want a lot of dimension so I just drew in a ribbon to tie the ballond together.