A great big thank you!

No card today and probably not for a few more. I've got a few sick boys in the house and busy being the catcher of all things gross. I did want to take a minute to celebrate my place in the top three over at Winter Wonderland. It really made my day at the beginning of the round of sickness. And then today I found out I won at For Fun Challenges! I'm so excited. And once again it made my day, especially with the last of the boys coming down with whatever this crud is this morning.

Outlook

This week PTI's make it Monday challenge is to color on a non-neutral cardstock color. The idea was interesting to me because I always mean to try it, but never seem to have the time. And while I didn't really have the time here either, I squeezed it in (I should have been cleaning up the house, but oh well.).



I used copics on sweet blush cardstock.

I am also putting this in the For Fun Challenge this week - Flowers and sentitment as the focal point.

Thanks for looking.

Supplies: Stamps-Gina K. Designs(sentiment), unknown; Cardstock-PTI, Stampin Up, unknown(cardbase); Ink-Brilliance, Colorbox Chalk; Copics; Stardust Glitter Pen

Sending a rainbow

I love this card yet, it is a little bit sad. I was inspired by a few challenges. Card Patterns (sketch), Stamptacular Sundays (Are you talking to me?), and Paper Sundaes (Embossing). I was looking through my index when I came across this sentiment which I have never used and am not sure where it came from, although I *think* it might be from Serendipity from awhile ago. And then I remembered I bought this beautiful ribbon at the local store even though butterflys aren't my thing.

I thought the two came together well and made for a simple, no fuss card.

Thanks for looking!

Miss you

My Time Made Easy has just started up a new blog and with it a new challenge...Pretty Palette. It is a color challenge, which I am fairly new at. This week's colors are a little bit girly and whole lot of springy (it that a word?) red, light pink, ivory, and light green. The question was what to make. Then I came across the latest challenge over at Papertake - Mom thing or girly. The pieces came together to create this little card.

I know I've used this little lady from Stamping Bella recently, but she's just so cute I brought her out to play again. The background set is from My Time Made Easy and the sentiment is from PTI. And while this card isn't for my mom, it is for the "Mom I was supposed to have."
Thank you for looking (and letting me know what you think).

Supplies: Stamps-Stamping Bella, PTI, My Time Made Easy; Cardstock-unknown from the stash; Ink-Brilliance, Versafine; Punch-Creative Memories; Copics; Flowers-Prima; Brads-Making Memories

Shiny and Bright

I recently did the math on the coming year (ok, so it's not really coming, it's here, but you get the idea) and realized if I want to send handmade cards this holiday season they will HAVE to be done before July. Yes, you read that right. There are many things going on and I simply cannot be sure the time for card making will be there in the fall, so I am starting NOW. My plan is really to find three designs I like and repeat as many times as needed. Sometimes you just have to take the easy road. KWIM?

So to jump things off right I went looking at the Christmas challenge blogs for a little inspiration because really my soul is celebrating spring right now and no part of me is looking forward to winter.

And so here is my sparkly card.

I embossed the snowflakes in white and then essentially colored with glitter. I added a little sentiment and a few extra pieces of bling. Of course, the picture doesn't do this one justice...The card base is made from shimmery paper too. I think maybe a little bit of the cheery spring excitement made it's way through.

Challenges:
Winter Wonderland - Embossing Wet/Dry
One Stop Craft Challenge - Diamonds are...

Thanks for looking.

Supplies: Stamps-PTI, Cardstock-Unknown, Ink-Brilliance, Glitter-ART Institute, Sparkle and Sprinkle, Embossing powder-Ranger, Bling-PTI

Lucky Me!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! This card is for my son. He'll be getting it later this afternoon after school - and after we make the shamrock cookies to celebrate the day. This particular card was made for the latest challenge over at Happily Ever Crafter - a St. Patrick's Day card with the colors of the Irish flag and a shamrock.

Now, I admit, I deviated slightly from the colors, but as I said yesterday, I just think St. Patrick's Day needs at least a little bit of gold. I kept the card very simple and took the Irish flag pretty literally (can you see it?) so now we can talk about Ireland and find the flag and the country on the map and what not.

I'll also be putting this up on One Stop Craft Challenge - Clean and Simple.

Thanks for looking (and maybe letting me know your thoughts).

Supplies: Stamps-PTI, STampin UP; Cardstock-Unknown from the stash; Embossing powder-Ranger; Ink-Colorbox, Tsukineko

Good Luck

A friend of mine is headed on a trip this weekend and while it isn't technically a St. Patrick's Day trip is seemed like a good idea to send her off with a little something green and a little luck for a good trip, especially since she's leaving on St. Patrick's Day.

Over at Papercraft Star the challenge this week is a photo challenge with the theme of St. Patrick's Day. I love photo inspiration challenges. Love them. They are my favorite so I couldn't pass it up.

First up is the inspiration.



Look at all that green. But it isn't the typical, basic, grass green that one normally sees for St. Patrick's Day. And it's much more refined than my typical thoughts of beer and the green river up in Chicago.
When I looked at the picture I was drawn to the idea of "other" greens and the clean look of the picture. I also remembered the white plates and glass vases. So, after much thought, I came up with this.

I chose a lighter, more spring-like green and kept the whole thing pretty simple and clean. I also swiped the edges with gold because you can't have St. Patrick's Day without at least a touch of gold. Then added a tag that says "Good Luck" since there will be wine tasting (and hopefully buying) on this trip.
Of course, I couldn't forget the back.

The back came from the glass vases filled with green candies (I assume) and the decorations on the cake. I filled a piece of acetate with shamrocks and put it over white glossy paper, then added a smaller shamrock like the one on the front. I finished if off with a white, pearl liner around the edge.
Thanks for looking!
Supplies: Stamps-Stampin Up, Papertrey; Cardstock-Stampin Up, Unknown; Ink-Brilliance; Ribbon-Pink Hedgehog; Template-My Time Made Easy; Paint-Ranger

Papertrey Make It Monday

It's been awhile since I've posted, yet again. I'm in the process of taking inventory of the art room which is a pretty large task. And I have discovered, there is simply no way to work while in the middle of it. I've tried, but things get lost in the shuffle. So work can only be done at good "break points" to keep the mind clear.

Which brings me to today's Make It Monday post for Papertrey's Make It Monday Challenge. This is last week's challenge. Today's challenge will go up a bit later on Nicole's blog. This week was all about distressing.

I took the distressed look through the whole project. I started out by making the background with A Little Argyle using distressed inks. I love the worn feel of the pattern with the imperfect inking. I took the Library Card and stamped it with distressed ink and then roughed up the edge a bit. And to give it a little more I took the notebook page from School Times, stamped it with distressed ink and then roughed it up a bit and inked it up a bit more.
Thanks for looking!
Supplies: Stamps-PTI, Cardstock-PTI and unknown, Ink-Ranger, Distressing Tool