Let's Face It

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm laying on my bed with my little sister, editing pictures and writing blog posts... What better time to do that than 2 a.m.?

My big project tonight was making place cards for dinner at Grandma's house tomorrow. She asked me to make a couple extras of the ones I made last time, but I forgot what they look like and I forgot to look at them when I was over there this afternoon. SO... the only logical thing to do was to make all new ones :-D

Once I got all of those finished, I had enough energy and creative juice to put together a card for today's (well, technically yesterdays... but I haven't been to sleep yet, so it's still "today") challenge at 365 Cards. I've been waiting for a reason to use this sentiment stamp...

What a great encouragement as we set out to indulge in an abundance of tasty goodness! Just laugh it off, people! Laugh it off. And speaking of tasty treats...

I was making a cheese ball this afternoon (which turned out just lovely, by the way) and I was playing around and made this little dude:


For size reference, those are just sliced almonds. He's not very big, but I thought it was funny and I was proud of myself. Lol. And finally, I would like you to meet "Georgiano" and "Chuck." 18.95 lbs and 18.65 lbs, respectively.


It's probably a little morbid to name your Thanksgiving dinner, but we did it anyway. They're already in the oven! My favorite part of thanksgiving is waking up in the morning and smelling that AMAZING aroma of turkey and spices and herbs. YUMMMMMM!! It's gonna be so awesome.

Keeping It Real... simple

Today's card isn't very pizazzimous (Yes, it's a word-- I just made it up.), but I always love the black/red/white color scheme. It just looks so elegant. The challenge at 365 Cards was to incorporate a knot into the design...


Voila. A knot. I almost like it better than bows. They're also easier to tie than bows. Haha.

Also, just throwing this out there... if any of you are in the St. Louis-ish area, you might wanna check this out. It's a production that my church has put on for the last several years. It just gets bigger and better every time! Here's the promo video, and you can get more info HERE.

Drummer Boy '09 from DrummerBoy on Vimeo.

If I Had a Green Thumb... It's Red Now

I'm playing catch up today :-) I don't have a whole lot to ramble about today except to say that I'm so glad it's a two-day week!

This first card is for 365 Cards' Sunday sketch challenge:


And here is my card for today's challenge which was to "Try a Technique" and use thumbprint art!


Thanks so much for looking!

Can't Wait!

YAY!! Thanksgiving is only days away! This year my brother will be home for the holiday weekend-- last year he was still away at Marine Corps boot camp. Then there's the craziness of Black Friday shopping! My sister and I are usually amongst the other nut-cases standing in line in front of Target at 5 in the morning :-) Not sure what the plan is for this year. Hehe.

Anyway, here's my card for today's challenge at 365 Cards. The challenge was to color a stamped image using anything but markers. I'm usually more of a colored pencil girl, but this time I used watercolor paints to color the leaf and acorn. It was a bit difficult because I stamped the image on some homemade paper which turns out to be VERY absorbent. After a few tries, I was happy with how it turned out:



Thanks for looking! I love reading your comments :-)

Simple?

Why is it that the simpler I try to make things, the harder it is? It just boggles the mind. After chopping up a few pieces of perfectly good patterned paper, I groaned and said to my little sister, "GINA!!! I can't DO this!" She pretty much ignored me and went back to playing her guitar. lol

After a few swings and misses, I finally came up with something for the "Simply Put" challenge over at 365 Cards. For a twist, I went with an oval shape. The hardest part of this card (I mean, after finally coming up with a design) was finding an ink color to stamp with. I have all the basic rainbow colors, but not much in the way of jewel tones. So I inked my stamp with black, stamped on a scrap of paper and then inked it again with red. There was enough black left on the stamp to make a dark reddish color... it actually matches pretty darn well ;-) I got to use my die cut machine again for my "embellishment."

As always, thanks so much for checking out my work ;-)

Keep It To Yourself

The challenge for today at 365 Cards was to design a "congratulatory card that uses decorations on the outside of the card to help convey the message on the inside of the card."

So here's mine:



I think it's pretty obvious that I'll be congratulating someone on their new tractor...

Ha. Just kidding. Sarcastic am I.

Also, just for grins, here's a Christmas card I made a couple days ago... Turns out pastels don't photograph very well ;-) But thanks for looking!

One Month and One Week

It's getting closer... I'm one of those people who are totally opposed to playing Christmas music until the Friday after Thanksgiving. But I have to say, making Christmas cards puts me a leeeeetle bit more in the Christmas spirit. ;-)

I've got another Christmas-ey card today. This is for 365 Cards' Ad Inspired challenge today:

<--- Here's the ad.













For the most part I pulled my inspiration from the colors-- shades of blue and a touch of brown. I really wanted to work in some stripes, but it just wasn't working for me. The white dots kind of mimic the pattern on the bed.

More Warm Wishes

Today's card doesn't necessarily look anything like yesterday's card, but I used a lot of the same ideas...


The challenge at 365 Cards was to use this color scheme:





It was kind of hard to tell if that fourth color was white or gray, but I didn't have any gray paper anyway, so I went with white. Lol.

My main tools for this card were my Creative Memories circle/oval cutting system and circle punches. Almost every piece besides the nose and the top of the hat were created with one of those tools.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your comments!!

It's Monday.

Made another card today! Woot.

This card is for 365 Cards' recipe challenge, Day 261.


















- 4x4 card
- red background (check)
- snowflakes (check)
- one ribbon (check)
- stamped sentiment (check)

The papers are all Bazzill basics, and I got to use my new Cricut Expression machine to cut the snowflake. I'm super excited about that!

Thanks for looking :-)

Back in Business!

Or so to speak :-)

There are many reasons why I haven't posted in such a LOOOONG time. First, a general lack of ideas and motivation to create --much less, post-- new cards. Life got really busy for a while and it was enough to throw off my crafting groove. THEN my laptop became possessed got a virus, so it spent a few days "in the hospital." To top things off, we had new carpet put in the basement which is where my work space is. Since we had to move everything out of the basement, my supplies and tools were stacked all over the kitchen table and living room floor. Long story short, someone made an "oopsie" and part of the carpet had to be replaced. So it was a full two weeks of that ridiculousness before I could start putting all of my things away. But here I am, sitting at my newly organized workspace, making a mess and loving it :-)

I've really missed participating in some of my favorite challenge blogs!! I'm looking forward to spending some serious time doing that this week! So to kick it off, here is my card for 365 Cards sketch challenge:


The paper is from an old "Stack". The flower is painted chipboard. It's pretty simple, but I like it. Thanks for looking!

Ad-ing It Up

Yay! I finally got a chance to sit down and make some cards!

Every time I get a new issue of my paper crafting magazine, I always come across some kind of ad that just really stands out to me-- whether it's for a new line of designer paper or some new event or product. So I've been thinking it would be cool to cut out some of these ads and create cards from them. I figure I can't sell them or anything, so it's a fun way to build up my personal stash.

Here's what I did this weekend:

Excuses, excuses.

I started a new job on Monday. Which isn't really a good excuse, but that's the one I'm using. I haven't made any new cards this week! It's so terrible. I've thought about it many times, but it just doesn't happen.

But this doesn't mean i don't have anything to show you... I'll be working on these cards, hopefully, tomorrow. A friend from church asked me to create some cards for a client whose business is called "Telephone Doctor." She told me that the design could center more around the "telephone" part, but if I could somehow work in both ideas, that would be better, so here's what I came up with. I'll be making a set of each version:

Workin' On My Scavenging Skills!

Okay, so... Today the challenge at 365 Cards was to use a toile pattern on our project. Of all the things in scrap-land, this is one thing I just don't have! I thought about printing a pattern off the internet, but our printer doesn't always cooperate. I poked around in my fabric stash, but I pretty much knew there wasn't anything like that in there. I did find a dress of my sister's that would've worked perfectly, but I have a feeling that she wouldn't have been happy to find a chunk of it missing next time she put it on. :-)

Next, I went through two boxes of wrapping paper and a box of gift bags ('cause that worked yesterday. lol) hoping that maybe, just maybe there was something in there. No such luck. So finally I found what looked like a stash of old "emergency" cards for several miscellaneous occasions. ONE card had this pretty floral toile pattern, so I said to myself, "I can work with that!" I felt a little bad about cutting up a perfectly good card, but it was reeeeally boring and we never would've used it anyway. lol.

So anywho, here's what I came up with:

I Like Big *BOWS* and I Cannot Lie

Ha. I'm so funny. :-P

ANYWAYS... here's a card for Day 167 at 365 Cards. The challenge was to create a card that looks like a wrapped gift.


The paper I used for the background is actually from an old gift bag. It was too beat up to use on it's own, but there was a big enough piece that was undamaged to justify keeping it for later :-D Even better-- it's sparkly! Which is perfect for "Art Glitter week."

I don't know if you can really see it in the photo, but I used clear embossing powder over the stamped sentiment. I didn't have a light blue ink pad, so I inked the stamp with royal blue and then stamped it a few times on scrap paper to take most of the color off. Then I inked it with my embossing pad, which also has a blue-ish tint to it. The color is almost perfect!

Boom de clap de clap

I've got that ridiculous song stuck in my head and it won't get out. I don't even KNOW the whole thing. Lol.

I've two new cards to show ya today. The first is for the recipe challenge at 365 Cards. This challenge seemed WAY easier than it turned out to be! This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I started, but I like the end result. My biggest challenge is usually finding patterned paper that matches-- in colors that I like. These papers are from DCWV. The roses are based off of a tutorial I found.

There IS glitter on here. The photo doesn't quite do it justice, though. Haha... You can see it on the bottom edge of the green. Both the glitter and the embossing powder are from CTMH.

I found a new challenge blog yesterday, ABC Challenge. They're just starting another round, so I thought I'd jump in. This week is "A" for "Anything goes with the added option of animals." For this card I made one of my paper-pieced puppies :-) I love making these. Maybe one of these days I'll put together some kind of tutorial thing.


Thanks for looking! I love reading your comments :-)

Stars and Flowers

It's been another late night (or is it early morning??), but I whipped up a couple of cards that I think look pretty good ;-)

My first card is for 2 Sketches 4 You. I LOVE how the flowers turned out. I ran across this tutorial and loosely followed it to make these blooms from paper punches.


The flowers are attached with foam squares to lift them off the card for just a little extra "pop."

My second card is for the daily challenge at 365 Cards as well as this week's Color Throwdown challenge.


These colors were fun to work with! The challenge at 365 Cards was to make stars the dominant shape on the card... I used 8. I think that should work. Lol.

Kid Quotes

It's 1:38 a.m. as I begin to type this. My Facebook status says I was "going to bed" about an hour ago. So why am I still up? Because I just HAD to come back and see if there was anything new on Blogger. And there was. Pam had posted the challenge for 365 Cards. It called to me.

At first, when I saw the colors we were supposed to use, I was like "HUH?" (I'm not very articulate at this hour. lol) It seemed like a strange combination, but after a couple minutes of head scratching, I had an idea. I think it was that weird orange-ish color that was throwing me off-- so you'll notice that I used it very sparingly. But it worked perfectly into my plan. Haha.

How 'bout these quote stamps-- are they cute or what? I love them. But enough yakkin'. Here's my card. I'm really going to bed now.

Thanks for looking! Goodnight y'all.

What day is this?

Oh, yeah. Monday. And it's been a loooong one. I made a couple of cards today for the challenges at 365 Cards. I had a hard time getting the creative juices flowing, but here's what I finally squeaked out...

For Day 162's Sketch Challenge, a VERY simple card. I pulled out the glitter for this one. I haven't used glitter in quite a while, and it didn't take me very long to remember why. I am sparklier than Edward Cullen and so is my table, the carpet and everything else in a five-foot radius. lol.


The color on these photos is a little off today... weird.

This next one is for Day 163's masking challenge. I love doing this! It always looks like such a mess of paper and ink until you pull off all the masks and then... VOILA! I used chalks to color the dress and rose.

Ad-Inspired

Today I decided to back track a little and do Monday's ad-inspired challenge on 365 Cards. I saw it and loved the photo, but I didn't have time to do it earlier this week!

My goal was to copy the table and the vase of tulips, but still keep it simple. I think it turned out pretty good :-)


Thanks for looking!

Yay!

So, I'm super excited about this... I got to be the guest designer for today on 365 Cards challenge blog!! It's reader appreciation week-- you should check it out. There's been some fabulous stuff this week.

Here's the card I submitted:


All of the patterned paper is Amy Butler. Oh, how I love that paper :-) I created the tag using a circle cutter on an old-ish Creative Memories journaling box. Then I created the scalloped circle with some decorative scissors. I attached the two together with an eyelet, then tied them with a piece of hemp cord. Ta-da.

In other news... hmm... well there really isn't much "other news." I'm just excited to be a part of this! Thanks for checking it out :-)

Birthday Boy

Ah! I was gonna sit down and post something this weekend, but boy oh boy! It got busy fast. I didn't get around to doing any blog challenges this past week, but I'll show you what I did work on. My little cousin "Eef" turned 8 years old this past Thursday. We celebrated on Friday night with all the family. He's quite the little character and I know he'll do great things one day-- I fully expect him to be one of two things: 1) NFL Quarterback or 2)Late night comedic talk show host. Although, recently he's expressed and interest in becoming my mom's "clown assistant." Oi.

Here's the card I made for him:


It's not very complicated, but I had fun distressing the edges with a nail file. This cardstock has a great texture, but it has a white core so it always looks a little funny to me with a clean edge. I adhered the "8" with foam tape to make it pop a little bit.

My mom usually does the honors as far as writing in the cards, but this time she asked me what she should write. She jokingly started with "Roses are red..." and then I, JOKINGLY, finished with "Gas makes you farty/You're turning 8/So let's have a party." Would you believe she actually put that in there!!??!! LOL. And now you've got a little taste of my goofy family.

I Ain't Clowning...

...but my mom is. Lol. No, seriously.

Anyway, she asked me to make some clown-themed cards. It took me a while to figure out how to make a "cute" clown and not a "gives-children-nightmares" clown. These guys aren't too creepy...


I haven't quite decided how the finished card is going to look, but I wanted to show you what I had so far. I used a CM circle cutter to make the little curvy pieces for the hat brim and mouth, then rounded off the edges. The "hair" is pieced together with three 1" flower punches. Tiny little stars for eyes, then to finish it off, a red circle for a nose. A flat red nose would've been fine, but I filled them in with Diamond Glaze for a little extra pop and shine.

Keepin' it Simple

It's already 2:15am, but guess what! I managed to do a whole week's worth of challenges from 365 Cards! Woot.

For these three cards I kind of went back to my clean-and-simple look. This first card is for Day 138 where the challenge was to use a quote. From the mind of an 8 yr old... Haha. I love this stamp :-) I paper-pieced the cake together.


Next we have a card for Day 139's Paper Piecing challenge. This was fun... I hadn't really used this technique before.


And finally, for Day 140- Paint! I like using paint on cards. For this one I splattered the paper, then painted the flowers on top.

A Fairy Happy Brithday

I was able to get two more cards done today! The first is for a lady from church who asked me to create a card for her husbands 50th birthday. The only "idea" she gave me was that he like to wear those hawaiian shirts. Lol. I haven't quite decided if this is gonna work. I used blue and brown to try to make it a little more guy-ish... I'd be grateful for any input!


This second card is for 365 Cards' "I'm in a Bind!" challenge. I punched holes in the two pieces of paper and then laced them together with some hemp cord. I paper-pieced the fairy together from tiny scraps... complete with little vellum wings. haha.


Thanks for looking!

Fantastic Four.... I'm baaaaack!

I am so beyond happy to have paper back on my craft table! It's been over a month since I've posted any new cards. Ridiculous. I've got four cards to show you, so I'll keep the words to a minimum-- enjoy the pics!

This first card is for a friend who is getting married this weekend. I found this paper on clearance at Archivers. It has a pretty shimmer to it.

The next three cards are my catch-up projects for this week's challenges at 365 Cards. This first one is for Sunday's sketch challenge.



I'm SO happy with how this one looks-- inside and out!! The challenge for day 135 was to create a card with a window.



Last, but not least, this one is for day 136. The challenge was to create a card with black, red and white.

Thanks for looking, everyone!

Hi everyone! Just checking in to let you know that I didn't fall off the face of the earth :-) I've been working on some non-paper projects, which I might post some pictures of later. My mother and a couple of her friends have decided to beccome clowns. lol. Her friends don't sew, so I'm making their costumes. I've got one more to make this week, then it's back to business. Also, my brother was home on leave this past week, so we just hung out with him the whole time ;-) But hopefully by Monday I'll have some new fun stuff to post!

Bon Voyage

SO, today's challenge at 365 Cards was fun! We had to use fabric somewhere on our cards. Lord knows I have fabric laying around... sheesh.

The fabric I used on my card is cut from a vest/skirt combo that I took from my grandmother's things after she passed away. She sometimes had a... umm... eccentric taste in clothing, but I just really liked the pattern on this particular piece. The buttons were kind of cool too, so you'll see one of them on my card. I told myself I'd make something out of it, but here we are over a year later, and it's still just sitting there. So I'm very glad to finally have a reason to use it! The pattern has a travel/safari theme to it, so I thought it would be fun to stick with that and make a "bon voyage" card. Here it is:


Thanks, for looking!

Oh, the Wackiness!

Yes, this is the second post for today, but I thought I needed to break it up a little bit.

Today on 365 Cards' blog was a "wacky color" challenge-- Blue, Pink and Orange. I had fun with this one. I'm finding out that I am NOT a fan of orange, but it's there :-) Haha.

I also combined this with Card Patterns' Sketch #17, which you can see HERE.


*EDIT* A couple of you asked about the bird ;-) I made him from an oval punch (for the body), two heart punches for the wings, and a small hole punch for the eyes. The feathers on his head are the negatives from a lacey corner punch and his beak is cut from a scrap! He was fun to make.