I'm On a Roll!

Wow! My third post today! I guess this is what happens when I have a busy week and can only really take time to craft on the weekend.

This card was made for The Challenge #36 and Simon Monday Challenge.

 

 

Okay, so you may think I'm crazy, but I really did use the Challenge's inspiration photo. The challenge is to celebrate teachers. Well, I'm a licensed teacher and I come from a long line of teachers in my family and most of my friends are still teachers. My husband's job has us moving A LOT, so it's very hard to maintain a teaching job when you up and move during the school year...so I'm not teaching...

 

Anyway, long story short, I truly feel that our teachers are superheroes. Not only do they teach our children, but they are also psychologists, mother/father figures, disciplinarians, and so on and so on. It's one of the toughest and most rewarding jobs a person can have. Even though I don't have any children yet, I can truly appreciate what it is that my friends and family are doing. I think that getting a non-traditional thank you card as a teacher is a wonderful surprise. So...

 

 

As a teacher, I know I would have loved to get something like this. It's not a typical apple or pencil card, but I think it conveys thankfulness in a really cute way!

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Tiny Heroes (Mama Elephant), Wish Big (Mama Elephant)

Dies: Cityscape (Mama Elephant), Tiny Heroes (Mama Elephant)

Paper: Night of Navy, Black, Daffodil Delight

Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics

Other: White and Gold Embossing Powder, Clear Wink of Stella

 

I'm also going to enter this in the Simon Wednesday Challenge since it's Anything Goes this week!

 

 

 





Casology Week 148 and ShowCASe Your Style #16

I don't normally participate in the Casology Challenge, but I really liked their cue card this week. It also seemed to fit with my idea for the ShowCASe your style challenge. So I combined them and I'm going to enter them in both.

When I first saw the inspiration for ShowCASe Your Style, I immediately thought of my castle and dragon stamp from Sweet Stamp Shop. I'm a huge fan of fantasy movies, so that's just where my mind wanders!

This was a simple card to put together. I stamped the images and then colored them with copics and fussy cut them out. Then I created a watercolor card panel with some distress inks and trimmed it with my Stitched Rectangle dies. I die cut both cloud borders and then just added them to the panel. I heat embossed the sentiment "birthday fly by" and then simply stamped the second sentiment in black near the bottom. Easy peasy.

I also added some glossy accents to the horns and spikes on the dragon and the heart on the castle. For some shimmer, I added some Clear Wink of Stella to the dragon's belly and the flags on the castle. I tried to take a picture, but it's hard to capture it.

I'm also going to enter this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes!

Supplies:
Stamps: Royal Wish, Dragon (Sweet Stamp Shop)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (Simon Says Stamp), Delicate Cloud and Puffy Cloud borders (Poppy Stamps)
Paper: Whisper White, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Assorted Copics, Distress Inks - Broken China, Stormy Sky, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire
Other: White embossing powder, Clear Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents, Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Masculine Father's Day

My husband asked me to make him a masculine Father's Day card to send to his dad. I guess he thinks my cards are too girly to come from him! Anyway, I thought about it for a while and then realized that I have the perfect images for a "masculine" card.

I used some recent purchases from Sweet Stamp Shop to make this card. So much fun! Beer Wishes and Festival 30 came together to create the perfect manly card.

PS - I'm linking this up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything goes!

Supplies:
Stamps: Beer Wishes, Festival 30 (Sweet Stamp Shop)
Dies: Circles (SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Hello Honey, Let's Polka (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Assorted Copics
Other: White embossing powder

PS Sparks Designer Draft and CAS One Layer Cards

Even though I haven't posted in a few days, I've still been creating. I have 3 cards to share with you today.

First up is a card I created for the Paper Smooches Designer Draft Challenge over on their Sparks Blog.

 

 

And here's my take on the sketch...

I did a lot of die-cutting for the background, but I wanted it to be super simple to make the focal point my cute puppy. I just love coloring puppies!

Supplies
Stamps: Birthday Buddies (Paper Smooches)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS), Stitched Circles (SSS), Landscape Trio (Mama Elephant), Grassy Fields (MFT), Sunshine Layers (WPlus9)
Paper: Whisper White, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics

For my next 2 cards, I took a cue from Addicted to CAS. Their code word this week was: Animal.

I'm still in love with My Favorite Things' From the Herd set. I haven't put it down since I got it and today was no exception.

I'm entering this first card into the challenge. I just really like how it turned out. The colors really pop and the sentiment makes me smile. I think I'm going to send it to my brother in the next couple of days. He's going through a rough time and I think he'll appreciate getting some mail.

This second card is sweet, but the colors just weren't doing it for me. I'll probably try to recreate it using different colors later because I just love that sentiment and this little trio of piglets!

Supplies:
Stamps: From the Herd (MFT), Green Pastures (MFT)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics

Happy Birthday, Superboy!

My nephew turns 7 in a few weeks, so I started planning out a card for him. I just got some happy mail from Sweet Stamp Shop and I just couldn't resist these super sweet images from Super Boy. Gavin has had glasses since he was just a tiny boy, so I thought he'd really like this card

And the inside...

And if you'd like a side-by-side...

I am super in love with this card! This is just perfect for him and this set couldn't have been released at a more appropriate time for me! (In case you were wondering, there is also a girl version: Girl Power!) If you've never looked at Sweet Stamp Shop before, I highly recommend them. It's a small, home-owned and operated business from southern California. Nicole Rixon is the owner and she is super wonderful. Her stamps are high quality and the sets are adorable. She even does planner sets if you're into them. Go check her out! You'll love her, too!

Supplies:
Stamps: Superboy (Sweet Stamp Shop), Just the Basics (Sweet Stamp Shop)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Let's Polka (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Mustard Seed + Wild Honey + Spiced Marigold (Distress Ink for watercolor), Assorted Copics
Other: White embossing powder, Glossy Accents (glasses lenses)

Best Fishes!

I'm still obsessed with water and fish. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because I'm living in the desert and I would just love to be able to go to the beach and actually see water or maybe it's just that summer is coming! Either way, I've made another card featuring both water and fish!

I'm entering this card into 2 different challenges. The first at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog. Their challenge is to use a Stencil in your design. My background was created by using the Waves stencil. The second challenge is over at Colour Me. They have a beautiful color combo this week: Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, and So Saffron.

To create the background, I sponged Bermuda Bay and Pear Pizzazz over the stencil and then cut it out using Simon's Stitched Rectangle Dies. I created the sentiment by using Mama Elephant's Landscape Trio Dies to cut an irregular strip of Pear Pizzazz. I then heat embossed the sentiment and the fish in white. The fish were all colored with Copic markers that closely matched each color. I added clear Wink of Stella to their fins for some sparkle and glossy accents to their eyes.

Supplies
Stamps: Best Fishes (SSS)
Dies: Best Fishes, Stitched Rectangles (SSS), Landscaper Trio (Mama Elephant)
Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Assorted Copics, Versamark
Other: Waves stencil (SSS), Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), white embossing powder, clear Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents

Bring the Sunshine!

Another challenge entry card, but it's using one of my favorite ever sentiments. I used the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's Bring the Sunshine set and the image is from MFT Stamps' Green Pastures. I love how these look together when you add the sunshiny background stripes!

This little farm girl combined with this particular sentiment makes me feel right at home. I grew up in a small farm town in northern Indiana and my parents used to sing me to sleep with this song. This card just makes me smile!

I'm entering this cutie in the Less is More challenge this week. Their theme is Hello Sunshine and I think this fits that theme pretty well.

Supplies:
Stamps: Bring the Sunshine (SSS), Green Pastures (MFT), Diagonal Stripes (SSS)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Lemon Chiffon (SSS), Smoky Slate, Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics
Other: Lemon Meringue Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Reflections Flowers

I'm a huge fan of floral cards, but I've been burnt out on them lately. However, I really love the Paper Smooches Reflections stamp set because they're not traditional flowers. The Challenge has a photo for inspiration this week, so I used the fun round look of the flowers and the soft yellow color and combined them for this card.

 

 

I'm also going to enter this card into the Simon Monday Challenge, ShowCASe Your Style, and Paper Smooches. (Wow, right!?)

 

 

The Simon Challenge is to create something using the letters X, Y, or Z. I chose the color yellow for my flowers. Paper Smooches is anything goes this week, so it was super simple to create this card using their products while still sticking to the friendship theme of ShowCASe Your Style! 4 birds with one stone...even I'm impressed!

Supplies:
Stamps: Reflections, Calorie Free (Paper Smooches)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Versamark
Other: Gold Embossing Powder

Down on the Farm

I'm terrible about sending birthday cards on time, so it's nice to have a few belated cards to send out when I inevitably remember on the day of someone's birthday that I haven't sent a card yet!

This cutie is courtesy of My Favorite Things. I recently ordered a few of their new release items and I had these colored for a few days, but just got the opportunity to sit down and create a little scene for the finished card.

I just couldn't resist how sweet these images are! Coming from the Midwest, these little stamps are just perfect for friends and family. (Even though I'm from northern Indiana and hills are practically unknown to us!) I used 2 new sets for this card - Green Pastures and From the Herd. They coordinate perfectly!

Supplies:
Stamps: Green Pastures, From the Herd (MFT)
Dies: Green Pastures, From the Herd (MFT), Stitched Rectangles (SSS), Rolling Hills (MFT)
Paper: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Gumball Green, Assorted Copics, Fake Tan (Lawn Fawn), Sea Glass, Maliblue, Sea Glass (SSS)

Simon Monday and The Challenge 34

I'm back! We had a ton of fun in Vegas with our friends, but I'm glad to be back home with my fur-children and my craft room. Travelling is always fun, but sometimes it takes you some time to recover when you finally get home!

I started playing with my ink and paper today with some inspiration from The Challenge #34.

These colors always remind me of fruit and with summer coming up, I just gave in and played with some fruit images.

I'm submitting this first card to The Challenge because I just love how it turned out. I used Papertrey Ink's Bowl of Sunshine for the fruit, but I swiped the sentiment from MFT Stamps You're the Sweetest set. I added some Wink of Stella to the fruit for some glimmer, but it's really hard to capture in a photo.



Supplies:
Stamps: Bowl of Sunshine (PTI), You're the Sweetest (MFT)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS), Bowl of Sunshine (PTI)
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White
Ink: Fake Tan, Sunflower, Mowed Lawn (Lawn Fawn), Sahara Sand, Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Suede
Other: Clear Wink of Stella

This next card I made for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Again, I used the colors from the Challenge because they were on my desk and just went with my fruit theme. The challenge this week is to use Simon Exclusive products, so I broke out some stamp sets and had fun.

I used the You're the Sweetest and Lemonade sets for this card. It's so easy to change up the type of fruit with just a simple color change!

Supplies:
Stamps: You're the Sweetest (SSS), Lemonade (SSS)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS)
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Mowed Lawn, Sunflower, Fake Tan, Black Licorice (Lawn Fawn)
Other: Yellow Baker's Twine, Moonshine Sequins



Party!

My husband and I are leaving for the weekend for a trip to Vegas. We have a couple of friends (actually husband and wife as well) that we're going to meet for a few days. We haven't seen them in over a year and today just happens to be Kit's birthday. We're really looking forward to spending some quality time with them and meeting with some family that lives there as well. We'll be back sometime Wednesday night, so don't worry if you don't hear from me for a bit!

I wanted to create a card to give to Kit while we were there. I just got some new My Favorite Things stamps and dies in the mail, but the cow image wasn't quite what I was looking for. The Paper Smooches cow from Chubby Chums seemed to fit with the image in my head just a little better, so I used that image and matched it up with a sentiment from the From The Herd stamp set by MFT.

I layered a bunch of die cuts for this one, but I like the way it turned out. In hindsight, I would have moved the cows down a bit and the fence up a bit because you lose the middle of the fence behind that center cow. Oh well, they can't all be perfect! I die cut a small circle from white cardstock and used my copics to trace in a few craters to give it a realistic touch. The sentiment and stars were stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed in white. So fun to make!

I'm entering this little cutie into two challenges. The Challenge #33, which was a sketch and Paper Smooches Anything Goes. For the sketch, I turned the squares and the butterfly into my 3 cows and the flags in the upper corner into the moon. Not a very literal interpretation, but it was an inspiration!

Supplies:
Stamps: From the Herd (MFT), Make A Wish (Mama Elephant), Chubby Chums (Paper Smooches)
Dies: Grassy Fields (MFT), Rolling Hills (MFT), Circles (Stampin' Up)
Paper: Midnight Muse, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics
Other: White embossing powder

You Make Me Happy

When I was a little girl, my parents always sang me a song before bedtime. My brother's song was Rock-a-bye Baby and mine was You Are My Sunshine. Whenever I see quotes from that song, it takes me back to those nights when I was tiny. I haven't actually gotten to see my parents for a little over a year now since we live on opposite sides of the country. I guess I'm feeling a little sentimental...

Which is perfect because the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is to get "get sentimental".

I recently purchased the falling rain background stamp from Simon and I was super excited to use it with Abby's Spring Showers. I was looking through my stamps for a sentiment and stumbled on this one and it was like fate.

I first stamped the sentiment and heat embossed it. Then I masked off the sentiment to protect it and I stamped and heat embossed the background stamp with clear glitter embossing powder. It's super shiny and pretty in real life. Plus, I added glossy accents to her boots so they look wet.

I tried to capture it in a picture, but it's really hard. Let's just say that I'm pretty happy with it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Abby's Spring Showers (SSS), Falling Rain (SSS), Bring the Sunshine (SSS)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS), Sunshine Layers (WPlus9), Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics
Paper: Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Wild Wasabi
Other: Clear Glitter embossing powder, White embossing powder

Spotlight Coloring

I was browsing through the lovely and talented Kristina Werner's blog the other day and I came across a post about spotlight coloring. I loved how it looked and since I was bedridden at the time, I thought coloring would help me pass the time. I broke my doctor's rules and sat down for a few minutes to stamp a couple of panels randomly with some images and then immediately got back in bed and pretended like it never happened! I was right, coloring in bed definitely made the time pass a little faster!

The next day, I broke some more rules and put the cards together. It only took a few minutes, so I don't think it really counts! The good news is, I'm not on bed rest anymore, so I should be back to normal for a little bit.

Kristina used watercoloring for her card, but I didn't really have the ability to use watercoloring at the time, so I used my copics. I'm not sure I like my result as much as hers, but it still turned out pretty cute.

My gray areas turned out much darker than hers, so next time I'd probably just use maybe 2 light markers and not try to put so much contrast in them.

I used a heart instead of the typical circle for this one and I kind of like the effect. I definitely think this is something I'll try again later.

Supplies:
Stamps: Let's Roll & Baked with Love (Lawn Fawn)
Paper: Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Strawberry Slush
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics, Versamark
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS)
Other: White embossing powder

Birthday Candles

Just a head's up, this will probably be last post until next week. I had a slight accident this morning and I messed up my back, so I won't be able to work for a little bit (just bed rest). Long story short, we got a new mattress and apparently it's not good for my back and it caused me to have severe spasms this morning. I've been realigned and everything's good, but the chiropractor wants me to take it easy for a while until things settle. (Oh, and return the evil torture device they call a new mattress.)

I already had this card made up and ready to go, so I figured I'd put it up and then retire to my guest room for a few days!

I used the candle image from the Simon Says Stamp Big Birthday Wishes set. To make the greeting, I used Lawn Fawn's Claire's Alphabet. The only extra thing I did for it was to add some Clear Wink of Stella to each of the flames to make them sparkly. I thought about adding glossy accents, but I wanted to keep this card simple and easy to send in the mail.

And the inside (because the outside is slightly cheeky)...

 

I thought a sweet sentiment inside would balance the funny sentiment on the outside. It's definitely a simple card, but I like how it turned out!

I'm also going to enter this card into the Simon Says Stamp Monday and Wednesday Challenge. You can enter up to five times, so since this week's is Anything Goes for both of them, it's easy to enter multiple times!

Supplies:
Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes (SSS), Claire's Alphabet (LF)
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White
Ink: Black Licorice (LF), Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Tangelo Twist, Strawberry Slush, Wisteria Wonder, Bermuda Bay.
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS)
Accents: Clear Wink of Stella