My First Challenge Entry

So I lied...I couldn't stay out of my craft room for more than 24 hours. I'm just a little pathetic!

I've played along with some challenges before, but I've never actually entered any. I thought I'd remedy that today.

I'm playing along with Freshly Made Sketches #150 and Color Throwdown #306.

Keeping with my Christmas in August theme, I decided to make mine a Christmas card.

Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, More Merry Messages
Ink: Night of Navy, Wisteria Wonder (don't have Pale Plum), Pear Pizazz
Paper: Whisper White
Accents: Ribbon
Embossing Folder: Swiss Dots

Much Needed Time Off

I'm just writing a quick little note to let you know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth! I'm taking some much needed time off from my craft room.

I have quite a bit that I need to get done around my house with a potential move around the corner. (Not sure if it's happening just yet, but I'm getting a few things in order, just in case!).

I'll be back in a few days with some brand new posts, but until then, I'll be cleaning and reading a good book in my down-time. See you soon!

Work of Art

Time to mix it up a little. My brain didn't want to do any Christmas today, so I broke out the Work of Art set and made this quick card.

Stamps: Work of Art
Ink: Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray
Paper: Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Whisper White
Accents: Rhinestones, Washi Tape (Studio G)

CIA Part 5

I'm just not feeling very crafty today, but I took a shot at another Christmas card... After I made this one, I decided that maybe I should take a day off and try to get my mojo back tomorrow!

Just not up to my usual standard. I may just need a day to relax with a good book! I'll try to be back tomorrow with something prettier!

Stamps: Christmas Bliss, Endless Wishes
Ink: Garden Green, Real Red, Smoky Slate
Paper: Smoky Slate, Whisper White
DSP: random from my stash

CIA Part 4

Continuing with my Christmas theme...

Don't you just love the new Bright & Beautiful stamp set?! It's fast becoming one of my go-to sets! Keeping with m typical CAS (clean and simple) style, I left lots of white space. I stamped the largest star in Blackberry Bliss and the smallest star in Smoky Slate and then cut them both out (by hand, unfortunately, but I can't afford the star framelits right now!). The strip behind the star is a piece of Blackberry Bliss cardstock embossed with the Cuttlebug Baby's Breath embossing folder. I adhered that piece straight to the card base and then used dimensionals on the back of both stars. The finishing touch is the sentiment from Christmas Bliss.

Inside my card...

In case it's too small to read, I used the sentiment from Christmas Bliss which reads: May all the sparkle of the stars and all the peace on earth be yours this Christmas. I thought it fit nicely with my theme.

Love that Blackberry Bliss!

Stamps: Bright & Beautiful, Christmas Bliss
Ink: Smoky Slate, Blackberry Bliss
Paper: Whisper White, Blackberry Bliss
Embossing Folder: Baby's Breath (Provocraft)

Toasty Wedding

I decided to not focus on my friends' wedding colors this time and just focus on their personalities. They're both fun and I think this card will make them laugh. (In case you can't read it, the sentiment says: "Time to get toasty!")

I ran the card base through my Modern Mosaic embossing folder and then stamped the image on a panel and colored it with a blender pen and some So Saffron. I added a little bit of superfine gold glitter with a glue pen for more control. Then I sponged a white ribbon with some So Saffron ink (didn't have anything that matched!) and tied a bow. Attach the panel to a So Saffron back and popped it up with some dimensionals to finish it off.

Stamps: Making Spirits Bright
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, So Saffron
Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron
Accents: Gold Glitter, Ribbon
Embossing Folder: Modern Mosaic

Inspiration Found!

I wasn't feeling very creative over the past couple of days, so I didn't spend much time in my craft room. I spent some time getting caught up on my friends back in Indiana and watching Robin Williams movies (so sad!).

In the midst of all of this, I discovered that one of my friends from high school has actually made it pretty big in the music industry. (The second of my friends to become famous! The first being Kate Bolduan of CNN fame!) Tim Showalter, who grew up down the street from me (in fact, a couple houses down from Kate), is the Singer/Songwriter responsible for Strand of Oaks.

Tim was recently featured on Late Night with Seth Meyers plugging his new album HEAL. If you're a fan of great rock and roll (and I mean 80's and 90's style rock), then check out his new album. I get tired of the overly electronic music these days and his music is a throwback to all that was good about those decades. His writing style is highly personal (check out Goshen '97 - it's all about his Freshman year of high school).

Anyway, his success inspired the following card: Dare to Dream

Stamps: Kinda Eclectic, Loving Thoughts (retired)
Ink: Mossy Meadow
Paper: Whisper White, Mossy Meadow
Embossing Folder: Honeycomb

And now for a remembrance...

When I listen to Goshen '97 I remember Tim sitting in the back of our World History class (on top of his desk before class) singing Smashing Pumpkins with our friend Geoff. Crazy that he mentions the Pumpkins in his song! So proud of my classmate today!