Click or Treat

Don't you just love Google? I thought this was too cute!!

Just Us Girls #5

The challenge over at JUGS#5 this week is to make a holiday card with a photo. I've been trying to come up with a design for a Christmas card for a friend, using a photo of the beautiful gate to her home. This is one of the samples I made, and since it fits perfectly with today's challenge, I thought I'd post it. I embossed the sentiment at the top of the picture with gold ep and also embossed the gold scalloped circle, along with the tiny house image inside. The stamps are from PTI. The ribbon is from Michaels and I used Hunter Green and Really Red on this one.
Thanks for the great challenge ladies........and if you have time, click the JUGS link above for the details to this challenge. They're giving away freebies just for playing along before the deadline:)
Enjoy a Happy Haunting Halloween Everybody!!

Carol

ETA: For those wondering how I embossed on the photo without melting it - I printed the photo on regular paper, not photo paper.

Another Halloween RAK!

Mr. Mailman just delivered another surprise Halloween RAK today! It must be my lucky day!!This fantastic card is from the incredibly talented Wendy Aungst and you can find her great blog "WeeBeeStampin" right HERE. I have her blog listed on my sidebar too, so go check out some more of her awesome cards when you get a chance!
This is such a great little card and so beautifully detailed!! Wendy has cut out all those adorable witchy boots and popped them up!! My tired old eyes can't cut anything that tiny with such precision, but Wendy, you've done a great job on this card! The inside says " Don't let the goblins get you, Watch out for witches too... And have fun every minute, no matter what you do." How cute is that?! Thanks Wendy, your card just makes me smile all over my face!! I absolutely love this and have a spot reserved for it in my scrapbook of received RAKS!! TYSM for thinking of me this Halloween! You totally ROCK my friend:)

A Halloween RAK

I received this GORGEOUS Halloween card recently from the extremely talented Denise Marzec, otherwise known as "peanutbee." You can find her fabulous blog here. I'm just amazed with all the fabulous details on this great card, and the image with those curled up toes and cobweb skirt just blows me away! Denise, you really put a smile on my face when I received this card, and I'll treasure it for years to come since it's going into my scrapbook of hand-made RAKS. Thank you so much my friend, you're such a thoughtful person!!
Here's wishing you a very happy (and DRY) Halloween. Yes, it's supposed to rain again today *sigh* I think I see some feathers growing on my body?

Carol

Purple is Pretty!

Two days in a row of using purple. I love it! Today's WT242 challenge on SCS is to use purple pretties, which is any shade of purple. Since purple is my favorite color, I had no problem coming up with something. I started with a piece of Prism Majestic Purple cardstock. I stamped the Many Merry Messages image on wc paper with versafine onyx black and clear embossed it and colored the snowmen in shades of purple and blue with Tombow markers. I added a few dabs of liquid applique for the fur on their hats. I sponged the image with lavender lace while it was still in the labels 4 die. The sentiment was done with a G Studio stamp in elegant eggplant. I layered that on a piece of lavender lace cardstock that was cut with the top note, and embossed with the CB snowflake ef. A few pieces of bling, a hank of ribbon and matching covered button and voila! Done!
Thanks for your visit......the door's always open :)

Carol

BTW, did anyone catch the first World Series game last night? How about that phantastic Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee and the job he did? That was the first time I ever saw a baseball player catch a ball behind his back and I LOVED it!! GO PHILS!!!

CTD66 and SC252

Today was a win-win situation for me with challenges. I love both the color combination and the sketch! I love when that happens :)

First up is the Color Throwdown #66 to use Elegant Eggplant, Bordering Blue and Rich Razzleberry. I also combined that challenge with the Splitcoast Stampers SC252 sketch challenge. I used some of the beautiful Basic Grey Wisteria papers along with some Vintage Cream, Bordering Blue, and Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I stamped the flowers with Versamark using the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set, then embossed them with white ep and cut them out. I made a flower in Eggplant too, but there wasn't enough room on the card for it, so I'll save that for another project one day. The sentiment is by Verve and stamped in Rich Razzleberry. I added some silver pearls for accents and done!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Wednesday!

GO PHILLIES!!!

Carol

Tuesday Triple Play

My card today works for three different challenges. The Midnight Madness Sketch challenge#25, the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge#39 to use border punches, and the Splitcoaststampers color challenge CC242 to use Black, Kraft, and Melon Mambo. I actually surprised myself that I squeezed all 3 challenges into one card........and on the same day the challenges were posted! Maybe this will be a new trend for me??
I started with Kraft and stamped it using the IttyBitty Backgrounds in cool grey. The image panel was first stamped with the Basketweave from Flourishes in Versacolor Sand Beige. I stamped the tree from Flourishes Forest of Trees in Versafine Onyx Black and pierced the edges, doing faux stitching with white and black gel pens. I used a MS arch lattice border punch on the Melon Mambo horizontal panel beneath the striped ribbon. The scallops and circles were cut with SU! punches and stamped with cool grey using a leaf image from the Autumn stamp set by the Paper Co. I dotted the scallops with the white gel pen. I used an antique brass HPH ribbon slide - dipping it in Versamark, then black ep and heating it to turn it black. Both ribbons are by SU! and the black pearls are by Kaiser.
Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Carol

VLVOCT04 Window Wreaths

When I saw the sketch for this weeks VLVOct04 challenge, I immediately visualized 2 wreaths hanging above a double window for some reason. I set out to create that image I had in my head and this is what I came up with. I used an old Fiskars shape cutter to cut the window..........a tool I rarely used since I bought it several years ago, but today it was the perfect item to have on hand. I cut the window out of SU! dsp and layered a background in the window from Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding. The overall background dsp is from a DCWV luxury stack. I made the wreaths with a MS fern punch and dotted them with liquid applique and red liquid pearls. The sentiment panel was done with a G Studio stamp, and layered on a Nestability tag done with BG and SU dsp. I tried to drape the teal colored sheer ribbon to look like a swag, but I'm not sure if I acheived the look I was going for?!

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a fine Monday!

C4C8_Navy Christmas Card

It's been another rainy weekend here in PA, so I decided to make another card while my stuffed shells are baking in the oven. I made this for the Crazy4Challenges#8, where this week the challenge is all Geometric. We're supposed to use 3 different geometric shapes, so for mine I used a square, a triangle and a circle. I used Night of Navy for the card base, and added white, PTI bitty box dsp and Bashful Blue. I scored the white panel diagonally just for interest, but I liked the way it turned out once I finished with it. The sentiment is from PTI and stamped with night of navy and bashful blue. The vertical panel was embossed with the snowflake ef and a few snowflake Geo sparklers were added for a touch of dazzle. I used a scalloped circle, and plain circle punches for the sentiment.

That's it for me in my stamp room for this day. I'm going to eat dinner and watch the Nationwide race that just came on a little while ago. Have a wonderful evening!!!

Just Us Girls #4

I recently began playing the Just Us Girls challenges (JUGS) and this week for #4, we're challenged to add a 3D flower to our project. They posted a great video tutorial by Mona, so go check it out and see how easy these flowers are to make!

I used yellow and lime green tissue paper for my 3D flower, and cut them using the Blossom Nestability and a leaf shapeability. I know the leaves weren't really intended for flowers, but I thought why not?! I like how they look with the flower. I didn't brayer my tissue paper, I just smeared my ink pads (celery and so saffron) all over it randomly since they were already colored. I added some PTI bitty box dsp, a gemstone brad, and a sentiment stamped in Versafine Onyx black ink (from the Sincere Salutations stamp set). Quick, easy, fun, and I really like the look of this 3D flower! Thanks for the great challenge ladies, and as always, thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your weekend!!

Carol

MMSC24 three days late!!

This card is coming 3 days after the challenge was posted, but it's taken me that long to come up with something! LOL I was about to skip this challenge, and then decided to try a little harder. The Midnight Madness Sketch challenge can be found here and this is for #24. My card strayed a little from the original sketch, but this was what I came up with. I love the BG Indian Summer dsp, and I thought the Inkadinkado image would go perfectly with it, but it just isn't working for me! I think the wc paper is too bright and I probably should have sponged it to tone it down. I colored it with Tombows and a wet brush and embossed the entire image afterward with clear ep. I used a Dusty Durango base and Crushed Curry accents on the corners. I used Nestabilities Petite Ovals for the main image and a Marvy scalloped oval punch for the smaller Durango panels underneath. I added some snippets of matching ribbon, some Topaz colored gemstones and finally finished this card, but I must admit my heart just isn't into this one. Ah well, we'll all have days like that I suppose.
Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific Friday..........the weekend is almost here!

Carol

A Free Verve Digital Download!

Julee (from Verve stamps) is offering a free digital download of these mittens and sentiment (plus another sentiment) until Friday when her newest stamp sets are released. Check out the forum here if you want these cute images! I already made all my sketch cards for the release challenge, but I couldn't resist trying out these cute digital images. I'm not good at coloring on regular cardstock and my printer won't accept wc paper, so I opted to emboss these mittens with lavender ep. I colored the tops with Tombows and added Geo Sparklers. The whole panel was sponged with Bashful Blue while still in the die. The sentiment panel (don't you just love these fonts???) was also sponged with bashful blue and a few more Geo sparklers were added. The ribbon is from a bobbin ribbon and the bow was made with a bow-easy. The felt snowflakes have a decorative button attached that's tied with purple hemp. I know the colors are non-traditional, but I find them very pleasing to my eyes:) This is a 5.5 square card, so next I'll have to make a matching envelope for it.
Thanks for stopping by and make this a great day wherever you are!!!

Carol

Verve October Release Sketch Challenges

I've made these images a bit smaller since I'm posting 5 at once but you can always click on them to enlarge them. These are for Verve's October09 release challenges forum found here. Julee posted 5 sketches to be completed by Friday night before the new sets are released. Why don't you check it out and play along? She's even added a FREE digital d/l of one of her new images until Friday evening!! There's still enough time to complete your cards and get them entered and you just might win some free stamps! The above image is VSOCT09E, and as you can tell, I used the same dsp and cardstock for all of my cards. It's called Bamboo and from a CTMH paper kit that I've had for quite some time. I used the Flourishes basketweave stamp on the main image panel, along with Verve's Because of You floral image. A punched border with a MS arched lattice punch and finally a paper flower, a flower made with the Nestabilities blossom die and a HPH vanilla brad.

This card is for VSOCT09D. For this one I stamped the panel first with the Baroque Motifs in bamboo ink, and then overstamped it with a stamp from Echoes of Kindness in Versafine Onyx Black. The clip is HPH antique brass with a little piece of raffia, and the half-circles were done with 2 different punches. A touch of sponging, distressing and piercing finished this one.

This is for VSOCT09C. I used the UpsyDaisy image, embossed with Versamark and black ep. The sentiment panel was done with an Inkadinkado stamp and the Modern label and word window punches. 2 black Kaiser pearls and a couple pieces of ribbon were the finishing touches for this one.

This is my favorite of them all and it's for VSOCT09B. For this I used a Verve stamp, some old buttons from my grandmothers button box and a beautiful piece of silk ribbon. I tied some tan hemp in the larger button. The corners of the sentiment panel were notched with a pair of scalloped scissors.

And finally this card is for VSOCT09A. I stamped the floral spray on a piece of softly colored dsp and added a few Champagne Kaiser pearls The larger flower is a single Verve stamp which I stamped on dsp and embossed with a mixture of black and brown ep. The dark brown papers in this pack are too dark for brown and too light for black - they're somewhere right in the middle, so it was difficult to match the embossing powder color. The sentiment is a Verve stamp that came with an order and I just love the fonts!!
All I need to do now is make a little box, and perhaps a couple more cards and I'll have a nice gift set of cards for someone:)

Thanks for stopping by and spending a little time with me :)

Carol

ETA: The designer paper I used on all these cards is by CTMH, and it's called Silhouette, not Bamboo. It coordinates with Bamboo colored ink.

Triple Challenge Tuesday!

I made a quick card for 3 different challenges today. This is for the Flourishes FTTC38 challenge to watercolor, the Mercy Kerin MTTSC44 sketch challenge, and the Splitcoast stampers CC241 color challenge to use Bravo Burgundy, Cameo Coral, Very Vanilla and optional Always Artichoke.
I began with a square card, using PTI Vintage Cream cardstock, and used Cameo Coral, Bravo Burgundy and Artichoke. I stamped the Flourishes Sweet Peas image on wc paper with Versafine onyx black and embossed it with clear ep - then colored it with Tombows and a wet brush. The ovals were cut with Petite Nestabilities, and the sentiment was stamped with an Inkadinkado stamp and layered using the modern label and word window punches. The dsp is SU retired. The tiny flower is actually a piece of ribbon I've had for ages. It's all flowers strung together, so I just cut one off, added a Kaiser pink gemstone (along with a few others) and this card was done!
Thanks for stopping by on this great Tuesday..........wishing you all a most fabulous day!

Carol

Mojo109 and JUGS3

I made this card for the MoJo#109 sketch challenge and the JUGS3 color challenge to use aqua, red, and cream. I substituted Baja Breeze since I didn't have aqua, and used PTI vintage cream and Ruby Red. The dsp is retired Ski slope and the snowflake image is from the snow swirled set. I used some red Geo sparklers on the snowflake and just noticed that one fell off, so I'll need to fix that. The circular panel was stamped with a G studio stamp in ruby red and a silver geo sparkler was added to the center of that. The vertical panel was faux stitched with a white gel pen and the ribbon is from a bobbin spool. The circles were cut with punches and Nestabilities. The bow was made with a Bow-Easy using riding hood red ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by on this sunny Monday. It's great to see the sun shining again :)

Carol

The twins turn 6!

I got a phone call last night at 5 requesting 2 cards for her great grandchildren's birthdays for today! Whew! I got them finished thankfully! I kick into overdrive when I'm under pressure and things just somehow always come together for me. These are the cards I came up with.
For the girls card I used pretty in pink and a leftover piece of that awesome plaid paper I used earlier this week. My granddaughter loved that dsp, which is the main reason I decided to use it on this card. The cupcake was paper pieced and the frosting has white Flower-soft and silver glitter on it, while the cherry is done in Christmas Red Stickles. I used a DCWV sticker, a paper pincher clip, and the CB Happy Birthday ef.
For the boys card I used a scrap of sporty dsp from my stash, and paired that with durango and black. I embossed the sanded panel of Coredinations paper with the Cuttlebug numbers ef, and the star with the Cuttlebug houndstooth ef. The stars were cut with a Sizzix die and wrapped with copper cording. The sticker is by DCWV and a paper pincher clip was added.
Thanks for stopping by and spending a little of your day with me here............I always enjoy having you :)
Make it a great Sunday!

C4C7

Here's the sketch challenge #7 over on the Crazy4Challenges blog for today.

And here's the card I created for the challenge. I used a Flourish tree image and colored it with markers before stamping it on wc paper. I sponged the edges with creamy caramel and layered it on a piece of wild wasabi textured cardstock. The dusty durango panel was stamped with the Flourishes basketweave backgrounder stamp using potter's clay ink. I LOVE the look of this backgrounder stamp! The striped panels are from a Debbie Mumm glitter stack from Jo-Anne's and punched with an EK success small scalloped border punch. I added a few snippets of curry and durango ribbon with a copper leaf brad on the outside and the inside. Click the photo and you'll see a little of the inside. I stamped the curry cardstock base with dandelion ink using 2 tiny leaf stamps from a Jo-Anne's Autumn stamp set. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts stamp set, done in chocolate chip.

Thanks for the great challenge ladies, and thanks to everyone for stopping by. It's a dreary day here in PA and it's pouring down rain (again). Definitely a good day to stay indoors and STAMP!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!!

VLVOct03 and StampinB's challenges

I made this box for the StampinB's #28 challenge, where Vicky Gould asks us to make a Halloween card. OK, I cheated - this is not a card, but it is for Halloween :) This box holds 2 pair of Halloween socks for my 3-yr old DGD that's going in the mail next week. I used the twick or tweet set on the tag punches and adhered them onto a 2x4 tag I made. The papers were from a glitter stack from Jo-Annes and the box was made from Tangerine Tango.
This card was made for the VLVOCT03 sketch challenge with a twist to use fabric on our cards. I used a couple pieces of denim and cut them out with Nestabilities. I colored the image (from stampabilities) with derwent wc pencils, embossing the whole image with clear after coloring. I used ballet blue, navy and PTI dsp, adding twill and some punched circles. I added a HOTP button brad and some punched navy cardstock, covered the CTMH liquid glass. The sticker is by DCWV.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday!

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #23

Here is my card for this weeks MMSC#23. This sketch really gave my brain a serious workout !! Whew!! I finally decided on using the BG Indian Summer dsp along with SU's IN colors of Razzleberry, Durango, Curry and Melon. I used a stamp from G Studio and stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black, then embossed it with detail clear. I colored it with glittered markers, and after it was dry I added some Champagne shimmer paint. It still needed something more, so I finally added some magenta stickles. I added a crocheted flower and button, tying the button with the same piece of embroidery floss I made the flower from. Some ribbon and a few gold pearls later and this card was finally done!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!

CTD #64

This card is for the Color Throwdown #64 which is to use Baja Breeze, Black/Brown, and Sahara Sand. I don't have Sahara Sand, so I used the closest match I could find. I'm not sure if I used black or brown, because the darker paper I chose from CTMH is a combo black/brown color. I used Baja Breeze dsp and punched the flowers from Baja with a Carl punch, and a smaller flower with a $1 punch. The layers were punched with the scalloped square punch from the darker color. A chocolate pearl was added to each center. The ribbon is Baja Breeze tied with a little piece of brown fiber. The sentiment is by Trendy Trees and was colored with both black and brown markers to coordinate with the paper.

That's it for me today............I hope you're all enjoying a fabulous Wednesday!

Better Late than Never!

I'm a day late and a dollar short with these two challenge cards, but that's nothing new for me! LOL I had my granddaughter for the day yesterday which pretty much commanded my full attention. First up is the FTTC37 which is our choice of four similar sketches. I chose sketch A for mine and stamped my just-received Flourishes Forest of Trees in Hunter Green. I put some polar white flower-soft and dazzling diamonds on it for some sparkle. The dsp is from a Jo-Anne's glitter stack (thanks Heidi). I used a G studio stamp set for the circle sentiment, stamping the snowflake off once with Baja Breeze and the sentiment with Hunter Green. I used a 1-1/4, 1-3/8 and a Marvy scalloped punch for the layers, a Nestability for the circle, and Dew Drops for interest.

Next up is Mercy Kerin's MTSC43 sketch challenge. First I smeared my small CB embossing folders with Pretty in Pink, then embossed them, and layered them with PIP cardstock. I stamped the card stock base with PiP ink, using the Stitched backgrounder. The main panel was cut with the Nestabilites Labels 4 in PiP and white. The sentiment by Verve was done in cool grey, and the ribbon and button were from my stash. The butterfly was done with a MS punch and the 3mm pearls are from Hero Arts.

Now I need to work on Wednesday's challenges..........and most likely they'll be posted on Thursday :) Ok Pat, I can hear you chuckling all the way back here in PA LOL

Have a wonderful day everyone!!

My Mojo's Running a Little Late!

I finished this card yesterday, but with the Phillies game being so exciting, I forgot all about photographing and posting it until this morning! LOL How 'bout those Phillies! What an exciting game that was!! Bring on the Dodgers :)
On to my Mojo#108 card. I flipped the sketch this time and used navy as the main color. I stamped Dasher in Night of Navy and added some champagne shimmer paint to his antlers. The PTI white panel was embossed with the petals-a-plenty ef and matted on a layer of PTI bitty box dsp. I stamped the card base with a snowflake from the Snow Swirled set in white craft ink. The sentiment was stamped in Night of Navy with a G-Studio stamp. The ribbon was in my stash and I embellished it with a MS punched snowflake, with a smaller navy snowflake inside, then topped with a Stampendous silver geo sparkler snowflake. You can probably see that better if you click the picture to enlarge it.
My granddaughter has the day off from school today, so she wants to come spend the day with us again. I wonder if she's caught the stamping bug from her grandma?!?! Could be!!
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!

Viva La Verve Oct01 & Oct02

I had time yesterday to play catch-up with the VLVOct challenges 1 & 2. This is the first sketch challenge, and the twist is to make it "shabby chic." I struggled with this, probably because I tend to create on the more dramatic side. I was pleasantly surprised when it was finished, because I actually like it! All the dsp was from HOTP, and the pastel cardstock is from a DCWV pastel stack. The stamps are by Verve and stamped in Cameo Coral and Sandy Beige. I used the MS doily punch, and stitched everything with my machine. I added some primas after sponging them and added a few buttons and ribbon. The darker circular panel was done with the faux suede technique and looks more like cloth than paper.

This was the VLVOct02 sketch challenge and the twist was to use no orange or brown on your card. No problem!! This pink passion card was actually much easier for me to create. I heat embossed the black panel first with Versamark and clear ep, and then dry embossed it with a CB herringbone ef. The stars were cut with a sizzix die, and gemstones are by Kaiser and Heidi Swapp. The pink ric-rac was from my stash and the brads were green, but I dipped them in versamark and embossed them twice with white ep. The stamps used are by G Studio.

Thanks for dropping by on this chilly Monday. Have a great day and Go Phillies!!

C4C6 Truly Thankful

Happy Saturday Everyone! This week over at the Crazy4Challenges blog, Vicki challenges us to create a card with a thankful theme since she, along with all of our Canadian friends are celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend. I created a card that simply says "thanks." I embossed the foil with the Cuttlebug Victorian ef and layered it on PTI dsp. The floral image from Echoes of Kindness was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and colored with Tombows. Stickles were added for a little sparkle. I scored around the edges for a little interest and the sentiment was stamped with perfect plum. A few silver pearls (thanks Silke) were added as a finishing touch.
That's it for me today..........we're dachshund sitting for a neighbor and having our granddaughter over for the day. It all begins at 7:30 am, so I've gotta get in gear!
Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Summer's Last Hurrah!

I won this awesome Giant Sunflower Stamp set in last month's Kitchen Sink Crew Challenge, so of course I had to use it for this month's KSCC#18! This month Angela challenges us to make a card as easy as 1-2-3! One pop dot, 2 embellishments, and 3 different stamped images. For this belated birthday card I used one pop dot beneath the little tag. My 2 embellishments are the ribbon and eyelet, and my images came from 3 different Kitchen Sink Stamp sets; the Giant Sunflower, Autumn Squirrel (sentiment), and the Honey Bunny (grass). It's done on a white card base with black, crushed curry and red. The CC panel was embossed with the CB Herringbone ef. I'll list all the stamp colors used at the end of this post.

If you've never played along yet, get your Kitchen Sink Stamps out and give this challenge a shot! There are prizes involved and I've won several times already.....so what are you waiting for? Click the link above, read the rules, and you might win too!!

Have a great Friday everyone and thanks for sharing part of your day with me :)

Carol

ETA: I realize now that I didn't correctly follow the rules and used 3 stamp sets instead of 3 stamped images so I'll have to try again :)

inks:

sunflower - dandelion, ink daubers in canary, marigold, bronze & copper

leaves - new sprout, bamboo leaves, cottage ivy

grass - certainly celery, wild wasabi, hunter green

ladybug - rose red, real red, black

MMSC22

This is the sketch for this week's Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #22 found here.

I used all white cardstock and went around all the edges with a gold deco paint pen. I dry embossed snowflakes on the panels with a stencil and a light table. I embossed a piece of white cardstock with Versamark and sprinkled it with gold ep, and embossed it. I punched the snowflakes from that with 2 different sized punches. The main image is Dasher and he was stamped with Versamark and embossed in gold too. I had some shimmery gold ric-rac that I glued around the edges for a frame. I added a few gold beads in 3 different sizes for accents on his antlers and the snowflakes. This was a great sketch and makes for a pretty Christmas card!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Carol

CTD#63, SC249

My card today is for the Color Throwdown #63 to use dark brown, dark yellow, olive, and kraft. This card also works for the SC249 sketch challenge. First of all, I'm glad the CTD called for using dark yellow, because it gave me an opportunity to use the Crushed Curry cardstock and ribbon I have on hand. I just cannot force myself to like that color, so I'm anxious to use it up so I don't have to look at it anymore! LOL I used a Tim Holtz stamp and colored it with Marvy markers and stamped it on Cottonwood cardstock. I also used prism dark birchtone, and old olive. A MS arch lattice punch was used for the borders, along with some CC ribbon. The sentiment is by Hero Arts, and the gemstones are topaz colored.

Thanks for the great challenges and thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Carol

FTTC36 & MTSC42

For today's Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #36 challenge, Makiko Jones challenges us to make a pink card in honor of October being breast cancer awareness month. Makiko is also a Flourishes blog team guest designer for the month of October. Congrats Maki!! I also used the sketch challenge from Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge 42, where Silke Ledlow is the "guest muse" of the month! WTG Silke, congrats to you too!
I paper-pieced the butterfly with SU dsp after stamping with Versafine Onyx Black on PTI white cardstock and pretty in pink dsp. I used the same PIP dsp for the circle cut with Nestabilities. The darker pink cardstock mats were scraps from my stash and done with Nestabilities. I pierced the main panel, and added some silver pearls (thanks again Silke) and a ribbon with a button tied with silver cording. The sentiment is by Verve done in black and pink. I colored those little darker spots in the butterfly's wings with a pink glitter pen.
We probably all know someone who's battling (or battled) cancer, and I think a hand-made card sent to them shows a huge support system that they all need so desperately. I say this from personal experience. Show someone some love today with a card you've made - it can really make a difference!!
Thanks for the great challenges ladies and thanks for spending a little bit of your day visiting :)

Carol

Birthday RAKS

I wanted to share some beautiful birthday cards I received recently from some of the greatest blogging card makers and friends I've come to know! First is this gorgeous Autumn themed card from LeAnne of WeeInklings. Her coloring skills are just AMAZING and I love how she used the tab punch with the corduroy button on this great card! I really love the sentiment on this beautiful card too! Thanks LeAnne {{hugs}} You're a extremely talented and wonderful friend and it's been such a pleasure getting to know you :)

This beauty is from none other than Silke Ledlow. I've long admired her fabulous cardmaking skills and this card is incredibly detailed. It has her signature silver pearls (click the picture) all over the cake, and some perfect layering and embossing. Silke also totally surprised me when she sent a fabulous box of goodies for which I'm SO grateful! Thanks g/f...........it's been such a joy getting to know you!! {{hugs}}

This great card is from a designer that I've long admired..........Denise Marzec of the PaperLandscaper. This girl just doesn't know how to make a bad card! Everything she creates is magic! This card is beautifully colored and detailed and of course it's done in my favorite color!! Thanks and {{hugs}} for this wonderful card you surprised me with! Maybe one day we'll meet in person and we can talk NASCAR since we're both such big fans :) You know I'm a happy camper after yesterday's race *wink wink*

This beautiful card is from Jill, aka JD from RibbonChallenged. Jill lives right around the corner from me, and I had the pleasure of having her at my home recently where she taught me some of her fabulous cardmaking skills, such as Iris Folding. This beautiful card is so detailed with paper folding that I can't imagine the patience it took to create it! All of the diamond shapes in the circle are cut and folded pieces of paper!! The center is layered to look 3D, and you need to see this IRL to fully appreciate the time it takes to create something like this! Thanks Jill, this is a beautiful card and I'll always treasure it. Big thank-you {{hugs}} and prayers going your way today for both you and your Mom. I hope you're both doing well today.

Am I a lucky girl or what? Last year I started a scrapbook for all the RAKS I've received, and all of these treasured cards will have a special place in that book!! Ladies, you've all made my birthday very special and I send my heartfelt thanks to each of you for making me feel so loved!!!

Have a wonderful Monday and thanks for stopping by :)

Carol

FS139_Clownmom

I made this card for the FS139 challenge which this week is honoring Clownmom aka Lois Bak. I patterned my card after this card in Lois's great gallery. I kept the layout the same, but changed dsp, colors, eliminated the flowers and added a sentiment panel. Instead of a stamped image I added some die cut leaves in keeping with the Autumn theme. I used colors from the Earth Elements family, plus some dsp from a matpack from JoAnne's. (thanks Heidi) I used various colors of Twinkling H20's on the leaves, and added a touch of glitter after they dried. I used a MS fern punch, and an EK rock fern punch and Shapeabilites for the leaves and acorns. The sentiment was done with a KSS stamp in Chocolate Chip, and it was punched using the modern label punch.

Congratulations Lois, this is a well-deserved honor :)

EHWCMD6 & EHWCMD7

Here are 2 more cards I made for the challenges over at Ellen Hutson's classroom for World Card Making day. The first was a color challenge from Sharon Harnist's EHWCMD6 to use light blue/poppy, vanilla bean, and cream or natural white. I used Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip, and Cottonwood for this card. I stamped the tree image on Caribbean with Versamark and embossed it with clear ep. I embellished it with Kaiser Blush and Chocolate pearls. The sentiment was stamped in Chocolate chip and I kept this card a relatively basic design. The great color combination doesn't really require much else..........at least not for me.

Next up is a Christmas card I made for Debbie Olson's EHWCMD7 challenge to create a holiday card. For this one I used heavy-duty aluminum foil for an accent. I stamped the snowflake (CTMH) in versamark and embossed with red ep. After it dried, I used a glue pen to mark highlights and added some dazzling diamonds for sparkle. If only my camera could have picked up the glitter *sigh*. You can click the picture to enlarge, and perhaps you might see it better. The snowflake brad was white, but I dipped that in a Versamark inkpad, then in silver ep and hit it with the heat gun. The scalloped circle was made by adhering some foil to a scrap piece of cardstock, then I used a Nestability to cut it out. For the sentiment panel, I used a Nestability label, cutting one from white and the other from foil-covered cardstock. I cut the foiled label lengthwise to layer it underneath the white. The dsp, ribbon and sentiment stamp are all by SU!, while the white card stock is from PTI. The tiny silver pearls were a RAK from Silke Ledlow(thanks g/f)

Thanks for the great challenges over at the CLASSroom and thanks for spending a little time with me here today. Enjoy your Sunday!!

EHWCMD1 & 2

I played along with Ellen Hutson's CLASSroom today for World Card Making Day. They have 7 challenges for you to play along with and there are prizes involved, so click the link above and check it out! The first card (EHWCMD1) was a challenge by Cindy Lyles where she asks us to try and arrange three Inchie Squares (or one-inch squares) on a simple card, and stretch the image over the three squares. I used the Ever After stamp set, stamping the image on wc paper & coloring with markers. I cut it into 3 pieces and layered it on scraps of tangerine tango and hunter green, using a piece of Haiku dsp. The borders were punched on Hunter using the MS arch lattice punch and the sentiment is from Kind Thanks and stamped in Hunter green. Ribbon is from my stash. This card was made using Susan Roberts' sketch challenge EHWCMD2. I tweaked the sketch a bit and eliminated the small horizontal panel since my sentiment was already on the main image. I used a scrap of dsp from my stash, along with green, purple, black & some more tangerine tango for the card base. I used my scalloped scissors to notch the corners and added 3 halloween colored brads. The jack-o-lantern face was hand-drawn onto the smallest of the 3 Shapeabilites Blossoms. The skeleton was colored with glazepens, and I added 2 punched pieces of white for the eyes and dotted them with a black pen. The bottom border was punched using the MS goo punch, and the felt ric-rac was in my stash forevah!
I hope to get a few more of the challenges done before the deadline, but it was fun to play along with these 2 so far! I hope you're all enjoying WCMD wherever you are!

C4C5_Sew Happy

Happy World Card Making Day Everyone!!

This card was made for Crazy4Challenges where Vicki challenges us to use any kind of sewing on our cards. I chose to use my sewing machine and do some real stitching this time. The dsp is all from SU, using a Tangerine Tango card base. I love this new twick or tweet stamp I just got and had to make a card with it. The MS goo punch was used for the border, adhering it with 2 word window punches and mini black brads. The spiders were done with a MS punch and the eyes and scalloped circle were dotted with a white gel pen. Tag punches and Nestabilities were used for the image panel, and the pumpkin was colored in using a glaze pen. The gold cardstock is from my scrap stash.
Since it's raining, I'll probably spend most of the day making cards. It's just one of those kind of days, KWIM?
Enjoy your Saturday and thanks for checking in :)

Carol

A Razzleberry and Plum Birthday Card

I've been working on customer orders more than challenges this week, but I managed to work this card in with the SC248 sketch challenge anyway! I tweaked the layout just a tad bit, but I like it better this way. I used some white PTI, Razzleberry, Olive, Pale Plum, and Cottage Wall dsp for this one. I think this color combo is my current favorite because I seem to reach for it more than any other lately. The border was created with a MS punch, and the squares were done with Nestabilities. The flowers were punched with a Carl punch and a SU button was sewn on with white embroidery floss. I pierced the larger sentiment panel around the edges, stamped it with a Hero Arts stamp in Razzleberry, and added 3 Kaiser blush pearls. A touch of SU Razzleberry ribbon and this was done in no time!
Thanks for stopping by and do have yourselves a wonderful Friday!!

Carol

A Dachshund for Debbie

My neighbor Debbie recently rescued a sweet little dachshund named "Maddy". We lost our precious dachshund several years ago, and Debbie brings Maddy for visits with us every week or two. She's such a sweet dog and we love it when they come :) Anyhoo......Debbie has a birthday coming up in a few days, so I made this card to surprise her. I've had this stamp for quite a while now, and I can no longer read the name on the side of it, so unfortunately I don't know who makes it. I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black on wc paper and embossed it with clear ep. I colored it with Derwent wc pencils and a damp brush. After it dried, I covered the whole image with Versamark ink and clear embossed the whole panel. I used the CB birthday ef on both the Soft Suede and Bermuda Blue and used a pair of scalloped scissors to notch the corners. The sentiment panel was stamped with a Hero Arts stamp in Soft Suede and layered on a Nestabilites label diecut. I cut a 2nd label in soft suede, cutting it lengthwise and layering it behind the original, adding some soft suede polka dot ribbon. I can't wait to see Deb's face when she gets this card because she's totally in love with her little doxie........and so are we!!!
Thanks for stopping by today, make it a good day no matter what you're doing!!

Carol