Thursday, April 30, 2009

CPS-113 Feel Better Bunny




This is my first time joining the CPS (Card Positioning System) Challenge. I had colored this shy bunny last weekend, and when I saw the sketch I thought it would be perfect! The fun part about sketches is seeing past what is one the page. I chose to not use a zig zag behind the focal image on this buny card, and i also elongated the card. I had so much fun with the sketch that I quickly made another card using the same sketch.


For this sketch I had to mask the happy birthday stamp so it fit on the frame. I had precut the frame on my silhouette for another project, and had also stiched the pink background. I like the effect of doubling the ribbon. It helps me out when I need a wider ribbon but don't have the exact right one in my stash. Hope you enjoy my entries, I'd love to hear what you think!
Supplies:
Shy Bunny
Patterned Paper: SEI Dill Blossom, KI Memories
Cardstock: Neenah
Ribbon: Basic Basic
Stamp: Bunny (Whipper Snapper), Sentiment (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Memento
Happy Birthday
Patterned Paper: American Crafts
Cardstock: Archiver's
Stamp: Heidi Swapp
Ribbon: Celebrate it Basic Narrows

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Wedding Cards

Tonight I wanted to play with Cuttlebug embossing folders. I bought a cuttlebug even though I have a Silhouette just so I could make embossed papers. Once you start you will find yourself wanting to texture everything. Plain cards will be a thing of the past. But I digress...

Once I had embossed the gray paper, I decided I also wanted to use the Amy Butler fabric brads that I got on clearance at Archiver's awhile back. I think I paid $2.50 for a 12 pack. I could not pass them up! The brad above is very large, and I felt it held its own as the focal point on the card. The card below I used two of the smaller to accent the bow. I actually tied the bow intending to put the large brad over it, but then I decided it was too pretty of a bow to cover up.
Clean and classy wedding cards that could be replicated in the colors of any wedding.


Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampin Up (Basic Grey), Wausau (Light Gray and white)
Brads: K and Company
Stamps: Hero Arts (Congratulations), Studio G (Mr. and Mrs.)
Embossing Folders: Cuttlebug
Ink: Stampin Up
Ribbon: from the stash

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

KWerner Challenge #50

It's KWerner Challenge #50! I have only been playing for 9 challenges, but it is always a fun test of my creativity. Tonight (and the last week actually), I wanted to make a simple card. The colors were very fun, and I tried to make a balanced card. Hope you like it!




Supplies:
Cardstock: White and Brown (Archiver's), Turquoise, Yellow, and Red (Stampin Up)
Stamp: Technique Tuesday

Monday, April 27, 2009

Debbie's Blog Candy

Have you seen this blog candy? Its at Debbie's blog! Go and check it out.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Krafty Kards

This was a very fun weekend. I was able to relax with my family and helped make 125 thank you cards (yes you read that right) for my friend Michelle's sister Jen, who is having a baby in July. There were 4 of us, but Susi and I were the only "experienced" crafters. See this post for examples of some of the cards we made. We did of course, make different cards and incorporated some papers Jen had from her Teaching Assistant. It was a very fun and productive Sunday.

So tonight I wanted to make cards that were not baby-like. I used my new Basic Grey stamps (Enabler Alert: All three of the image stamps were in the new $1.99 stamp sets from Basic Grey. There are 3-6 stamps per pack, although some of them are tiny. But they are fun...and they are at Archiver's. Just sayin')

I also continued my love affair with Kraft cardstock. I seriously have an L-O-V-E of any card that is put on Kraft. It is becoming the first paper I reach for after I color an image. The first card I used Primacolor pencils right on the Kraft. I used a blending pencil to burnish the pencil into the card, and a white pencil to add some highlights. The card with the leaves I used my Copics to play with the retro- feel of the leaves. And below is the retro birdy. He is colored with Copics as well. The sentiment stamps are all from Hero Arts, although not from the same sets.
Have a great week everyone!


Supplies:
Stamps: Images (Basic Grey), Sentiments (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Kraft, Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink), White (Neenah), Green (SU)
Ribbon: Orange (American Crafts), Ocean Tides Twill (Papertrey Ink), Twine (Walmart)
Ink: Memento
Colored Pencils: Prismacolor
Markers: Copics

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Mother's Day Cards


I found a pack of Amy Butler Purse embellishments at Archiver's and I thought they would make the perfect embellishment for Mother's Day Cards. Then I found the matching paper at Michael's - how fun is that? These cards were so easy to put together, and I love how they came out!



Supplies:
Purses: K and Company
Patterned Paper: K and Company
Stamp: Papertrey Ink
Ribbon: from the stash

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Paper Challenge #4

Time for another paper challenge! Four of my friends at work and I swap patterned paper every month and then challenge each other to make cards for each other. You must make at least one card, but extra points are given for making more. This is the paper I got from Joan; it is from My Mind's Eye. I don't usually work with pink, so it kind of sat on the side for awhile so I could think about what to do with it. I wound up with 4 cards for each person for a total of 20 cards! Love that! I even used some of the crocheted flowers that I am addicted to making.

Scroll down to see the four cards I made; I'd love to know what you think. Swap paper with your other card making friends or even pick paper yourself. Link your projects in the comments section.











Supplies:
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Papertrey Ink, Wausau Paper
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug
Stamps: Hero Arts, Stampin Up
Rubon: American Crafts
Die Cut Machine: Silhouette
Twine: Walmart
Bling: Kaiser
Ink: Stampin Up, Memento
Button: Foof-a-loof
Crochet Thread: DMC (Flower pattern my own)

See what Tiffany did with my paper here.
See what Randee did with the paper she got from Tiffany here.
Janie challenged herself and made some fab cards here.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

SFYTT- Argus and His Teddy

This card is a bit more complicated then the simple thank you notes I made for my friends yesterday. This is Argus and his Teddy from Paper Makeup Stamps, and I like him colored Blue. I was playing with my Copics, and did a few variations of him. I like him blue. I didn't know how to incorporate him into a card until I saw this weeks SFYTT. I did shift the placement of the oval, but I think it helps balance the button and the patterned paper. Hope you like him!

Here are the Copics:

Supplies:
Stamps: Argus and his Teddy (Paper Makeup Stamps), Sentiment (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Memento
Patterned Paper: KI Memories
Brads: Queen and Co
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink
Twine: Walmart
Cardstock: Neenah
Markers: Copic
Button: Fancy Pants

Monday, April 20, 2009

Simple Thank Yous


A friend of mine asked me to make some simple Thank you notes that she and her sister could make to send after her sister's baby shower. The emphasis was on the word "simple". These ladies have never stamped before and claim to not be crafty. They walked into Archiver's and said "Our friends told us to come here", and walked out with a piece of patterned paper, some ribbon, and cardstock that matched the party invitations. So I made 4 options for them. They can mix up the white or kraft backgrounds, pick one of the cards or make some of each design. I hope they like them!







Supplies:
Cardstock: Wausau Paper (white), Papertrey Ink (Kraft)
Patterned Paper: Reminisce
Ribbon: RibbonFX, Celebrate It
Stamps: Technique Tuesday
Ink: Memento

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Owl be thinking of you

This was a good weekend. It was a crazy crazy week last week and I needed to decompress. I spent a lot of time playing in my room on Friday night and was practicing coloring with my Copics. I feel like I am getting better! I won't point out the flaws on this card, because I think the overall feeling is a good one. On Saturday I went to a different Archiver's then I usually do and it was a lot of fun. My best deal was some white grograin for $0.04/yd (I took 20 yards for a bank breaking $0.80, remember, you can color ribbon with copics to coordinate with your projects). I also got the ribbon on the card above for $0.25/yd. The deals were terrific! For this card I busted out the Cuttlebug. I had resisted getting a bug because I had the silhouette, but the embossing folders were too fun to resist. The swiss dot is just my favorite. I have a couple other folders that I will play with later this week. I have to get my paper challenge cards done; I am very behind.

Here are the Copics:

Have a good Monday!
Supplies:
Stamps: Owl (Whipper Snapper), Sentiment (PTI)
Paper: Stampin Up, White (Neenah)
Ribbon: Fancy Pants
Markers: Copics
Ink: Memento

Friday, April 17, 2009

Simple Mom Card


It doesn't get much simpler then this...I love this coffee mug stamp from Hero Arts. I colored it with Copics (W1, YG91, and R27) and then stamped the sentiment (Papertrey Ink). I did cut out the mug and pop it off the card. I also used the super thick 120 lb weight Neenah paper. It is fantastic for a card base, but it sucks up a lot of ink from copics, so I would recommend the 80 lb for coloring images.
Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts (mug), Sentiment (papertrey ink)
Cardstock: Neenah
Ink: Memento
Markers: Copics

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Grandma You're Special

I have been crocheting these little flowers at work during lunch. I keep giving them to my crafty friends for their cards, so I thought it was time I actually used one on a card. My Grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was 10, and when I saw all the crocheted flowers in stores I thought they were pretty cute, but there was no way I was going to pay for a crocheted flower. Enter Grandma. She worked up a pattern, and then I refined it slightly and it resulted in the flower above. I dug through my stash of yarn and found a bunch of colors that I had gotten on closeout at Hobby Lobby for $0.68 - that's what I call a deal! Needless to say, this card is for my Grandma.

Supplies:
Stamp: Hero Arts
Paper: K and Company
Carstock: Stampin Up
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink
Button: American Crafts
Twine: Walmart

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

With Sympathy


I picked up this stamp at my LSS a couple weeks ago and didn't have the right colors of Copics to do it justice. So I had to treat myself to a new batch *grin*. Admitedly, i need to practice my blending a bit more. I thought that coneflowers were a bit more blueish, but they really are purple. And the cone is supposed to be redder, but it didn't look right. This image could lend itself to many things, but it said "Sympathy card" to me.

The Copics (I forgot to add W1 to the pile I photographed)

Supplies:
Stamp: Cornish Farms
Cardstock: Neenah (White), Stampin Up
Ribbon: May Arts
Markers: Copics

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

April Card Exchange

Each month some of my co-workers and I have a card exchange. This month's theme was "same stamp set" and we all were required to use Stampin' Ups Pocket Silhouettes. We ahve been doing the card exchange for almost three years and it is so fun to see how far everyone has come. I also loved this month because it was fun to see how many different ways this stamp set could be used. Judge for yourself -which ones do you like? Do you have this stamp set? Play along and link your creation in the comments!


My Card!
Tiffany's Card (More creations on her blog)

Teresa's Card


Susi's Card



Alyson's Card



Randee's Card (See more creations on her blog)


Joan's Card


Chris' Card


Sandy's Card




Monday, April 13, 2009

Groovy Thank You

Tonight I worked on a couple of projects, none of which are completely finished. I am letting them mellow a bit. I made this card over the weekend. It was a very fast card. The ribbon is the yummy berry sorbet from PTI, it may be my new favorite color to use on cards. And yes, the base of the card is Kraft (I can't stay away from that). Tomorrow is the card exchange, and I plan on posting all of the group's creations.

Supplies:
Carstock: Kraft (PTI), Pink (Archivers)
Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants Designs
Ribbon: PTI
Stamp: Hero Arts

Sunday, April 12, 2009

A Mother's Day Card

I had time Saturday night to play with my new stamps from Papertrey Ink. For this card I used the Mother and Life sets. I stamped the wildflowers first in sahara sand, kiwi kiss, baja breeze and lavender lace. Once I had a pattern I liked I went over the flowers with some twinkling H2Os. This card really sparkles! The sentiments were stamped using Memento Rich Cocoa. The ribbon is May Arts. This card took a while to stamp and paint, but I think the results are worth it.

On a fun note - I just found out one of my submissions to the September issue of CARDS Magazine was accepted for publication! I am beyond excited!

Supplies:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Kraft (Papertrey Ink), River Rock (Stampin Up)
Ribbon: May Arts
Other: Twinkling H2Os

Saturday, April 11, 2009

KWerner Challenge #49


When I saw the colors friday, I thought to myself "Oh how fun". Then I got home and pulled out the papers on Saturday and I thought "Am I the only one that thinks Pacific Point looks rather...Smurf colored?" (Seriously, it is very Smurf colored.) So then I started thinking about the Smurfs and their little mushroom houses, and that is how this card came about.

All the cutting was done by my Silhouette. I was going to use Kiwi Kiss on the 'srooms themselves, but it didn't look right. Neither did adding ribbon or any other accents. I think it came out very whimsical and fun. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampin Up
Stamp: Hero Arts
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Thursday, April 9, 2009

What do you think of these Easter Baskets?

My son has 5 teachers in his daycare classroom where I am the parent rep. I thought it would be fun for Easter to take up a collection for Easter baskets and this is what I wound up with. Walmart has a fabulous section that had the candies by color, so I just went through and picked out some of each. The hard part was to make sure that none of the candies were made in a facotry that also processes nuts (which means no M and M's). I did add a name tag on the wooden sticks in the baskets.

So what do you think? Would you like a basket like this?

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Easter Boxes and my opinion on Bows

I made these boxes for some of the support staff at my son's daycare (just wait until you see the baskets for the teachers tomorrow!) I use my silhouette to cute the boxes from Easter colored DSP from KI Memories, and ribbon by Basic Basic (from Michaels).


They really were easy to make. Thanks to my mom for helping to fill the boxes, she really stuffed them (peanut free candy only!)
And about bows; in my left brained opinion, when you tie a bow the tails need to be pointing down. This takes some fussing with the ribbon, but you can bet I fuss with them because it is annoying to me to see the tails go in different directions. I think it goes back to my mom, on all of our packages the bow tails always pointed down :)
And another thing..I have worked out my pattern for crocheted flowers! Look for those on some cards in the next week!
Supplies:
Cardstock: KI Memories
Ribbon: Basic Basic
Stamps: Amuse