Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Cloudy with a chance of...


...YOU! Yep, friends: I'm thinking of you! You... and... well.... DAWN McVEY! Horray! Dawn has posted a new color challenge! And YOU know, you're happy to cavort in the colorful playground of her cute lil' inspirational swatch and the requisite color comparison consideration! {Do YOUR colors translate?} It can be so hard to tell for sure. These computer screens can be tricky little viewers! Well, here's my attempt to catch her attention with the use of her gorgeous color combo.... Ready, set... ADD color!




And here's the playful swatch!




I will admit that I'm so partial to color combos that feature a lot of different color! Five works mighty fine for me! Love that blue! {I sure hope I got close with my choice! Doh!} I was hopeful for inspiration that could really make these colors "happy" together (in card format!) and I'm so powerless over this background stamp! Once I decided to make a cloudy sky, the rest of the story just fell into place! Here's a detail shot of the birdies, and you might notice that I got busy with the Martha Stewart multi-heart punch which worked mighty happily with this adorable Hero Arts tree!




Birdies and heart-poppin' happy thoughts and a color FESTIVAL to celebrate the day!


Hope yours is off to a good and delightful start, friends! I am looking forward to seeing what you do with these fabulous colors and, oh, pretty much anything else that you've made! Yipee!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Hero Arts
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Rub-On - Stampin' Up!
Heart Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts
Scallop Edge - Traced from pre-made scallop paper and hand cut

Monday, September 28, 2009

How sweet it is!


Got sweet tooth?

Me, too!

Here's some sweet that you DON'T have to feel guilty about!




Sweet B A B Y! Samantha, from Scrapmaster's Paradise, threw down some seriously YUMMY colors this week and I had to get busy with them straight out of the chute! No fermentation needed! These colors are ripe for the pickin', if ya know what I mean!




Not only was this a delicious combination, but I was finally able to catch up with the "Get Sketchy" girls who seem to be having too much fun over at their challenge site, so YEAH! I'm delighted to add some "sketchy" to my "scrapmaster..."






I was compelled to sprinkle in some "home grown" character to my Stampin' Up! cherries... (I created an epoxy look with Crystal Effects and then glued on some happy faces for EXTRA sweet cherry goodness!)



Hee Hee! Ain't they happy lookin'!?! I love the versatility of Crystal Effects "effects" just as long as you can WALK AWAY DURING THE DRYING TIME! Don't even LOOK! DON'T EVEN TALK in front of drying Crystal Effects! Shhhhh! Seriously! Don't touch until YOU ARE SURE the glue is dry!!!!! (Sometimes this is SOOO much more easily said then done!) I know this! {Don't ask how I know: I just DO!... You probably do TOO! But the lesson always bares repeating: especially if there's a wonderful effect at stake! It's WORTH the patience!}

Here's the whole shebang!



How sweet it is to nail two challenges with one card (I know some of you ladies do three times that, but for me two is pretty significant.... My lil' brain is fragile! tee hee) So, dear and lovely friends... It has been SO sweet sharing my adventures in card crafting with you! I hope your week is getting off to a nice {and SWEET} crafty start! Can't wait to "talk" with ya some more! Have a SWEET day!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Buttons & Twine - Stampin' Up!
Arrow and Corner punch - Stampin' Up!
Scallop edge and Flower Shape - traced from d/p (Bazzil) and chipboard (S/U!)
Chipboard Letters - Martha Stewart Crafts
Crystal Effects Dimensional Glue - Stampin' Up!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Super Crafty Sunday!

"Whoooooooooooo! Yeahhhhhhh! Go TEAM!!!!! Yahoooooooooo!"

It's Sunday, friends! Some of you may have a "FAMILY MEMBER" {it could even be YOURSELF! I don't judge...} ... who is VERY into sports. Especially, FOOTBALL! So, while you sip your coffee, catch up with your computer and prepare to {hopefully!} get some craft on today...

GIVE IT RIGHT BACK! Giddy-up, friends! Let 'em hear you! Make something fun and then give out a big, ol' WOOOOT~ WOOOOOOOOOT! That's what I'm doing: I just finished a card! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO! If you didn't know better, and you walked past "Scrapland!" you might think I'm watching "the big game!" Well, yeah... sort of!




The big CHALLENGE is more like it! Let's have a replay of these gorgeous colors and a review!



In FABULOUS jerseys, adorned in stripes and swatches of olive, rose red, mustard, regal rose and CHOCOLATE... The challengers: C O L O R T H R O W D O W N ! The coach, "E-ster" will try to get them in line... Let's have a closer look!





On the other side of the field, we have"CARD PATTERNS!"Take a look at their formation! Gorgeous! Er, uh, I mean: IMPRESSIVE! Impressive use of the fabulous play! (There's a ribbon on the field!!!! )




So, as you can see, there was an enormous amount of action on the "field" today! The referees would like a review of the sentiment... {scroll in s l o w motion}




And the crowd goes wild: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" {that's crowd noise! tee hee}




The final play is nearly complete. Both sides played an excellent game and the "coach" got her craft on! Yeeeeeee Hawwwwwwwwwwwww!

I hope you get to give out a mighty "WHOOOOT- WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" yourself! I'll be listening!



Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up! & Staz On
Stamps - Dawn Houser/Inkadinkado (Cowgirl); Stampin' Up! (Background and Sentiment)
Embossing Plate - CuttleBug
Ribbon - from a great RIBBON SWAP! {Yipee!}
Punches - Stampin' Up!
Water Color Wonder Crayons & Aqua Brush - Stampin' Up!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Human nature is funny....

It really is. I can't help it... And now I'm admitting this... {*gasp!*} in public....

Sometimes, I want things I haven't got.



Here's a cute, wintery scene, with adorable stamps, a whole collection, actually! But the main images, the penguins... left me wanting.... I WANTED MORE! MORE! M-O-R-E!


See, the little 'uns! They are THE same! But that wasn't enough for me... So many of these adorable images from My Cute Stamps have closed eyes, and that's what makes them so stinkin' cute! But I wanted MORE! Yes, friends, that's greed talkin': I wasn't satisfied with two images. So I did a little surgery to the body, and added eyes! Open eyes! {I just ripped a little circle out of some sticky Post-It material and used it to mask the wee little face of the baby penguin, inked it and then removed the Post-It, stamped, then drew in the eyes, OPEN, re-added the beak and VIOLA!} Then, using the same drop of Rich Razzleberry re-inker that I colored the mama penguin with, washed with extra water, I dressed this lil' penguin as a baby girl! Same color + water = HALF TONE! That's my naughty little secret about how you can make colors go a step further and still remain, well within the boundaries of a color group... like THIS one from Scrapmaster's Paradise!


Mmmmmmmmm. Pretty COLORS!


This was a truly exhilarating card to make! I just had these colors in my head ALL week, had nothin'... and then suddenly: I remembered this cool cloud stamp I picked up recently! Stamped it Tempting Turquoise, but it was a little more powerful than what I was thinking of for a winter scene, so I covered it with some card stock vellum... Then I got the idea for a reflecting pond! Yipee SKIPPEE (*wink*wink) Some snow flakes, ROCK CANDY Stickles for snow.... And then, it all came together.... Sans sentiment. Doh! I always get tripped up by the sentiment! Once again, I foraged! {It's TRULY all in the hunt!} So many thoughts, no applicable sentiment.... Then, suddenly:


I would have NEVER matched these images unless I had traveled the road {albeit, a frustrating road at times.... } I did tonight, to find a sentiment in my... well... VAST collection-o-stamps.. Anywhoo, I was moved by the Mama and baby penguins and once there was a boy AND a girl, I just thought of, well, myself! And me wee kids... They DO make my life a beautiful thing! So this lil' card ~ is for them!


Thanks, AGAIN, for letting me share tales from the creative journey with ya'll! There's still time to jump into Samantha's fun color challenge at Scrapmaster's Paradise! I hope you'll give it a try!


Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Vellum - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up; Hero Arts; My Cute Stamps
Ink - Stampin' Up!; Brilliance
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Scallop Border Punch - EK
Snowflake Sequin - My stash!
Rock Candy Stickles - Tim Holtz

Thursday, September 24, 2009

TRULY, happy we're friends!

Sweethearts of my blog~life: this is for you!




It had been a few days, and I've been thinking A LOT about the beautiful and talented friends I have made, since signing up for "life with blog" not all that long ago... *happy sigh*! With some of you, I have had delicious opportunity to get to know you a bit {or A LOT!} better, and others just make me smile with kind {and sometimes downright hilarious comments} and/or the sheer delight of seeing your shiny image in my beloved followers medallion (I don't know what you call that!?! Doh!) Anywhoo, I've been giving a lot of thought to my blogging and crafting here in cyber space, lately~ and just feeling all swoony and thankful.... And, apparently, a burning need to share that! HA HA! Hope you don't mind.

Anywhoo, another burning desire I've had... is to participate in this fun color challenge by Lauren Meader. I haven't had the time to make it to her challenge to quite sometime, and these colors just called to me in a way that I could not refuse.... Oh, and then there's my ROCK STAR, IRL friend, Miss Dana G. from Paper Daydream! {Yipee!} She's one of Lauren's talented designers and SHE made a JUICY sample that just had my stamps JUMPING from my work top, THROWING themselves towards these colors... and what's a stampy girl to do...? Get inky, SISTAS! Speaking of color:




Mmmmmmm, I smell me some fall! I made the rounds of what the D/T had done with these and ooooow, me oh my! Lot's of interpretation, indeed! What a fun and tantalizing palette and I got a little more excited and added a skosh bit more color! And, for little old me... A trip WAY out of my box!




Can you see the absence of drop shadow!?! And what about those eyes! No touch up with fine tip markers.. *gasp! I left them... AS IS! This is me TRYING to be crisp and graphic: letting stamps dance and show the beauty of the chosen colors! {Note the LACK of extra materials/ no stacks of card stock, stamped, embossed, inked or sewn... this is sort of... au natural!} Big, big, BIG exit from my box! Seriously big. When I say simple is COMPLEX in my weird brain, I'm NOT kidding.

(Did we discuss blogging being cathartic? Fo-gitaboutit!)




I know a little somethin' about man's best friend.., but I digress... "Man's Best Friend", the set from Stampin' Up! NOT retired, btw.. It's DORMANT, but you can still order it... (same as Sip by Sip, just in case you were still scratching your head about where that one went... ) I, for one, love this set! I used nearly every piece (sans fire hydrant) but added this great tree, once again, from "Forest Friends" because it's just so fun!

Speaking about "Man's best...." WHAT!?! How 'bout "people's best friends!" Here are some of mine, IRL!


Nacho (center) and Oatmeal (aka ~ Oatis, Oatie, Oatster.... you get the nickname drill...)


That's Scout peeping from behind Oatis with her devastating eyes! Such a great dog! Oh, they all are! But boy has Scout taught me the value of good Germans! Heee Hee Plus, she made lil' Joe (as seen in this post a ways back - scroll down once you get there, if you're interested!)


I'm thinkin' that this picture of the "three amigos" does an excellent job of illustrating why I love this set sooooo much!



Whoooopeee! This is what I call, HAPPY stamping! I hope you've had some lately! Stamp on!

xo-

Elise

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Sizzix dies/machine - Sizzix/S/U!
Stamp and Write Markers - S/U!
Ribbon - Making Memories

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Excellent pay-off for playing with YUCKY paper...

You know about YUCKY paper. The kind that doesn't have very beautiful color and that no amount of ink and glitter can make beautiful... BILLS! Bills and all of that other "tree-killin'" dribble that gets stuck in my mail box and then clogs the arteries of FUN PAPER CRAFTING TIME... That's what I was dealing with today. Yesterday, I cleaned house and vacated to let the pest control man do his magic... Big girl stuff: lot's of it. No pretty stamps, glue or bling. Just WORK. {*WAH!}

Who knew that a little post could pick a girl up so HIGH! Yeah! Just wanted to share that I put my head down and WORKED hard, and THEN got some SERIOUS love from fabulous SAMANTHA at Scrapmaster's Paradise for my recent Halloween Card! That's good karma working it's magic!


Thanks, Samantha and all of you talented Design Divas at Scrapmaster's Paradise! I am humbled and thrilled! {Maybe next time I won't procrastinate so long on my "yucky" paperwork! Tee Hee} Those crafty gals have the next round of colors and fab samples up for inspiration: if you've never partaken, let me, highly, recommend the fun! Have a great day!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

A Message For You:


I hope you don't take this the wrong way... This is actually a message of encouragement! Wellness! Healing!!!! But it's kind of masqueraded in a funny package. Bare with me... {it's for the Moxie Fab Home Item challenge... 'Nuff said!}:




Check out that beautiful, old fashioned hand mixer! Is that a gorgeous piece of artwork! It's from Cosmo Cricket, of course! It just takes my breath away, for some reason! I've been staring at it for weeks and then when Cath, from Moxie Fab World announced this challenge, I'm like, "oh, yeah, BABY! I'm going to take this little artifact to the DANCE!"

That's what I said to myself... And then "myself" said, "NOW WHAT!?!"

I couldn't stop thinking of the Michael Jackson song, "Beat It." Then, that made me sad. I wanted this card to be funny! But it just wasn't working. So, I thought and thought... and thought some more. I kept starring at this gorgeous Cosmo paper...



There's GREAT images on both the front and the back side of this FANTASTIC paper, and I'm having the darndest time parting with ANY of it. I used this winking gal for a fun card a ways back... but BOY is it hard to let go of paper that has just as great fun on one side as it does on the other! Doh!

I perused THOUSANDS of stamp sentiments! Old and new rub-ons, ANYTHING I could think of and then finally, I thought about the old computer. I'm such a purest with my STAMPING! This was a might scandalous for me.... but it really helped my process!



I realized, I couldn't get past this "BEAT IT!" I just couldn't let it go. So, then, how to make it funny...? But not crude funny... I was thinking of a Ferris Bueller farewell, "go on, get out of here already!" Then, for some reason, I thought this would make a great retirement card... "Go on! Retire already: beat it!" Something like that! But I couldn't make it work, logically, without chancing that it could hurt someone's feelings! Especially a retiree! {We take care of my husband's 95 year old grandmother and it's amazing how little it takes to make her angry and get her feelings hurt... sigh... What a conundrum!}

I got so caught up in the 1950's house wife, wearing pearls and sewing children's clothes, baking cakes from scratch... the whole shebang! Then I decided that no matter what, I was dumping this "ancient piece of tackle" from my stash:



Oh, gosh. So, then I'm feeling married to my materials and I still don't have a recipe to tie it all together.... Oh the SHAME! Then... a solution! Tucked in the POCKET of my imagination........



I printed, "BEAT IT! BEAT IT! GO ON AND BEAT IT" again and again, horizontally across some vanilla card stock.. and then this sentiment: "I BELIEVE IN YOU!", vertically and larger. I tucked it in a journaling pocket created for the outside of the card.... {the pocket piece is anchored by that cute lil' ribbon from American Crafts, so that the sentiment pops out but cannot be removed from the pocket!}

THEN, a sentiment for the inside:


And NOW! A card to make someone smile during a less than perfect time! Made with love and a little humor.... A perfect recipe for a SMILE! Ahhhhhhhhhh! {Now for some Laurence Welk music, pimento olives on cello frilly toothpicks while I wax the kitchen floor!}

Hee Hee

NOT!

So, friends. Thanks for exploring with me today. It was like a historical, moral and creative therapy session... Just let GO of the paper!



You guys make my day! Hope I helped make yours... a bit more ENCOURAGING!



Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket; Making Memories
Computer Font - Julius
Ribbon - American Craft
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Thread - Guterman
Pinking Shears - (?) They are REALLY old!
Charm - Michael's

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Have a HOLLY, JOLLY day!

I love that in "blogland" it can be Christmas EVERY DAY! Or Halloween, Valentines Day or even Arbor day, just because we're "in the mood!" It's one heck of a perk! Speaking of perks! Who knew that making cards for challenges, COMBINING challenges and creating friendships across the internet/WORLD, could be so... intoxicating!?! I've been making cards and crafting - for a while, but playing with you all, here in blogland is simply one of the happiest additions to my life in a long time! So, for today: it's Christmas/Winter/sketch & color challenge day! In fact, it's a HOLLY, JOLLY day!


I am full of gratitude and excitement as I share this card with you. I was shocked and amazed to receive this fun and fabulous honor from Card Patterns for sketch #31, when they included me in the top six selection of talented card makers and then invited lil' old {and I do mean that} ME to be a guest designer for this, sketch #33! TA DA!

Here's the GREAT and fun sketch from Card Patterns! When I first saw it,
I scratched my head for a minute or two.. but then got an idea. A colorful, wonderful, crafty idea! What if I combined this sketch... with these colors?

Yes, friends, sprinkle some Card Patterns and Color Throwdown and WHAT DO YOU GET!?!?

CHRISTMAS DAY!
{Or at least that's how happy this project makes me feel: Christmas DAY kind of happy!}


I trotted out ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that inspired me for this card! I "threw down some serious tackle!" A little glitter, a trusty embossing plate! Some water color work, direct to paper with the craft ink and even a skating pond made of Crystal Effects! Good, clean, card makin' fun! And I couldn't have done it without the inspiration of the talented design team from Card Patterns and these delicious colors from Color Throwdown! Go CHECK THEIR SCRUMPTIOUS SAMPLES OUT! Making stuff is FUN! Making cards with these fabulous challenges is FUN -NER! {I know, MOM! and teachers across the blog... But "funner" just sometimes sounds like MORE fun without the "more!" } Anywhoo, friends. I'll quit the rambling, so you can giddy up with some card crafting of your own! I can't wait to hear from you and see what YOU do! Go on: make somethin'! Git yer CRAFT - ON! Yeeeee Haw!

Oh, and one more little thing.... THANK YOU! Once again, thanks to the lovely and talented D/T from Card Patterns for bestowing this fabulous opportunity upon me: I am so appreciative of your kindness! This was such fun! Yipeee! Thanks, again!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up! (Sentiment & Snowflakes); Hero Arts (Grid + Flourish Background Stamp)

Ink - Stampin' Up!
Scallop Square Die - Sizzix/Stampin' Up!
Ribbon - Making Memories
Snowman Embossing Plate - American Traditionals
Glitter - Stampin' Up!

Friday, September 18, 2009

It's A Skelly Kind of Day....

Get ready for a "bone shakin'" good fun, friends! I'm bustin' out some serious Halloween love!


I've been in full "stamping festival" mode this week.... Stamp, stamp, stamp! Let the horsies RUN! That's what they're born to do! So are THE STAMPS! It' s such a shame to only stamp once. It's like a tease for the lil' piece of rubber.... STAMP like you mean it! Even in you only use one or two images, make sure you stamp A LOT on a scrap... Multiple colors, multiple times.. this is how you THANK your stamps for being so beautiful! And then SAVE them! YOU never know.... {yes, I'm a wee-bit of a hoarder... THAT'S BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW what you might need and when or WHY!} So, with all of that ranting and raving... I just want to share the good word: STAMP! Stamp SOMETHING! {I love STAMPING! BTW!}


I am so excited to toss this card into the Card Patterns mix, this week! {Last round was 'bery, 'bery good to me!} And I am still a little floaty and giddy over the honor of being in the top six! AND with the weighty and WONDERFUL honor of guest D/T contributor for the NEXT round, {YIPEE!}, I definitely wanted to make a card for THIS week's sketch to join in on all the fun, fun cards I've seen by the D/T and on some of my favorite blog buddies' sites... So, this sketch was definitely a fun source of inspiration for this little Halloween skelly celebration!


And since I'm getting a little better at combining challenges, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with the current color challenge offering by Scrap Master's Paradise: check 'em out!

Here's a close up of the main skelly dude! He's stamped with black Staz On, on the underside of a Tim Holtz FRAGMENT! I then stamped with the leftover ink on white, cut out the image and flipped it over to the white only side and used Crystal Effects glue {sparingly} to dot in the eye sockets and around the edges where white meets black, to glue the white directly to the underside of the fragment. That way I can add more glue to the back side of the white skelly to adhere it to the background paper. Gluing fragments is a lot like using transparency and vellum, since the art of gluing is in it's subtlety... With proper planning, it's no big thing!

I continued the glue "subtlety" under the spiders and the sentiment... If you click on the picture, below, so you can really see the magic of the layered images and the fun use of the gigantic Fragment square! To finish off the gorgeous designer paper from Stampin' Up!, I had a piece of white c/s already cut from my large, scalloped square from Sizzix/Stampin' Up! It was beautiful, by itself, but a little too clean for my ghostly card, so I used my super huge pinking shears to enhance the edge in a spookier way... In a sense, I just created a deckle, but a much sharper and fangy-ier {nice made up adjective!} one, by re-lining my scissors a few times, following the original scallop edge.... I'm really pleased with the effect! If we weren't about to face a THREE digit heat wave all of next week, here in Sonoma County, I'd be dragging out the Halloween boxes for sure! I'm definitely in the mood for some candy corn, or somethin'!

So there! Are YOUR bones shakin'? I hope you get some "stamp ON!" in you life today, or this weekend! Have a fabulous Friday, dear friends of the blogland! Thanks for letting me share my love of STAMPING, card crafting and good old fashioned HALLOWEEN fun with y'all!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up! & Staz On
Stamps - Stampin' Up! & Tim Holtz
Acrylic Tile - Tim Holtz

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Serve me some HUMBLE PIE!

I'm just a humble pup, folks. Wow! This turned out to be a surprisingly great day! Look at this:


My cute lil' gal on the night of her first 4H meeting of the year! She's official now, friends! She's been "sworn in" as an officer! The girl (with a lil' help....) will be the club historian: so it's bound to be a fun year! I'm basking in the light of my wee-one, becoming ... not so "wee.." {*SOB!} I am blessed and humbled by her commitment and dedication to her club... AND... Oh, yeah, I am blessed and humbled because while we were out... this was announced:


H- E - L - L - O, happy day! That just made mine! And, uh, pretty sure tomorrow AND the next day, too! WOWEEEE! Thank you, CARD PATTERNS! What a cool challenge site, and let me just add that they have some phenomenal sketches to work from, and DON'T that make a gal's day a bit easier! Check them out! And, oh yeah! They've asked me to be the guest designer for next week... so REALLY: go play! {I'll join you, too, just as soon as I stop doing cartwheels across my living room!}

But for now: a quick card to express my priorities... and celebrate all things card crafty and fun!



Words to live by! What a kick! I'm LOVING and consuming this fab paper by Cosmo Cricket! YUMMY! Some fun and kitchy imagery to remind us that we're girls, under all of this paper crafting! So glad Cosmo made some paper to match this hilarious sentiment stamp by Dawn Houser and Inkadinkadoo! I do, I do, I do love it so!

So, there's some "card" to share. I'm SO giddy and swoony and {DON'T say "too much Pumpkin Spice Latte!" I'll deny it! Hee Hee} ...... H A P P Y ! Happy to have found you all... FANTASTIC friendships and fabulous places to get m'craft on! And a joyful world to share it ALL! I love BLOGLAND! Yee Haw!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Stamp - Inkadinkadoo
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Punches - Stampin' Up! & EK Success