I've really been creating...

I just haven't been posting!  (tisk, tisk)  I'll post all my updated cards this week so you can see what I've been up to lately.  Here is the first one to show you.  I've been hanging onto these felt lazer cut coasters from Micheals $1 bins for a while now.  Just waiting to find the perfect project for them.  When I saw this sketch for the CardPatterns #60 this week, they instantly popped into mind. 

I've been using this color combination alot lately, at least I'm consistant, it's the same colors of my home decor!  First, I turned the sketch on it's side, then used River Rock as the card base and attached a panel of Soft Sky (I wish this one was returning).  To the SS, I then sewn on a piece of this FANTASTIC TPS paper called Sweet Pea houndstooth blue (I must get more) and inked the edges with SU! White Craft.  Next,  May Arts white silk ribbon was used for the bow.  The felt coaster was then attached with several glue dots. 

I used my Labels 4 spellbinders for the sentiment, SU! Heard from the Heart with Close to Cocoa and White EP, and used my stylus to trace the inside of the die for a white frame on the vellum and stamped the back of the paper with Soft Sky and the SU! Houndstooth background stamp.  Finally, KaiserCraft bliss blue pearls to cover the holes of the button and attached it with a foam dot.  That's it!  Now who's birthday is this month....

Lolly, lolly, lolly...

get your adverbs here.... (did I just date myself?)  I made this 'ornament' for Paper Crafts current call.  I thought I was so clever, creating a large lollypop into a x-mas ornament.  After I finished it, and had taken the photos, then submitted it, I realized I HAD to have seen this somewhere before (I'm not that creative).  So if it's you, I honestly didn't mean to copy.  Lily will enjoy it atleast!

Calls

I have been amazed by some of the bloggers out there and all their accomplishments with their crafts.  It's also nice to put a face with the names I see in publications like Paper Crafts and Cards.  After I won the Moxie Fab Olympics of Stamping, I learned about 'calls' for publications.  So that's how these talented ladies are getting their work in these magazines!  I submitted some items for publication for Cards and Paper Crafts for their last call, but obviously didn't get anything in (I'm sure I would have been contacted by now), but I'm not giving up! 

Here is a wreath I made for Paper Crafts current call.  It's made of coffee filters and I decorated it to match the card I made (and won with) for the Moxie Fab Olympics of Stamping.  These are the colors I use when I decorate my house for the holidays; Soft Sky blue, Certainly Celery green, pearlized metallic Gold, whites and ivories.  I just LOVE this color combo, it's fresh and clean with lots of wintery-ness (is that a word?).  I embellished the wreath with snowflakes, glitter pearls and buttons.  This probably won't make it either, but it was fun to make!  Since I got the wreath form and coffee filters at the Dollar Tree, this cost me only $3 to make!  My kind of decoration!

Pickin' up some paper...

Still trying to get back into the swing of things...I decided to do a card for the Moxie Fab Pickin up the Pieces challenge.  I'm not really good at the paper piecing thing.  I don't think I have the patience to make all those intricut cuts.  Simple is better for me when it comes to cutting!  Instead of using patterened papers, I decided to dry emboss some Kraft paper with my Cuttlebug.  I picked up a new folder but forgot to write down the name of the pattern, oops!  I'll be sending this out to one of my girlfriends, she invited me to a party in a few weeks and I can't make it (bummer).

Penny Peep
Card Stock: SU! Kraft, white 110 lb paper, Penny Lane by My Minds Eye, SU! Designer prints Certainly Celery
Inks: SU! Chocolate Chip and Craft White inks, VersaMark
Stamp Set: TPS Whimsical Birds, SU! Spring Solitude, Papertrey Damask Designs (words)
Accessories: Cuttlebug folders, swiss dot and (?)  Kaiser Craft brown pearls, pink ribbon, thread, white EP

It's been a while...

Can you believe it's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post, and over 3 weeks since I last got creative?!?  Life's been overly crazy here, and I now seem to have some order to our house and our lives.  It was a bit hard to get back into the swing of things, my creative machine is a bit rusty.  I decided to oil up and try out the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger with some handcrafted satin yo-yo embelli's I made last week and my new Papertrey Impressions plate.  The yo-yo's happened to be the colors of the inspiration photo, so I just added a little Tempting Turqouise to it and Voila!  This one still has a bit of rust on it, so I'm going to try another challenge later.

Yo-yo thanks
Card Stock: White 110lb, SU! Kraft
Stamp Set:  Warmest Regards
Inks:  SU! Tempting Turquoise
Accessories:  Handmade satin yo-yo, brown button, SU! turqouise grosgrain ribbon, Hamble rub-ons, Papertrey polka-dot impressions plate, Nestabilities labels 4

Sports Nuts!

My husband is a major sports fanatic.  He collects baseball memorabilia mostly, but dabbles in just about every sport.  He has autographs lining the walls of our basement and boxes upon boxes of signed baseball cards, magazines and so much more! 

We have 2 daughters, but he doesn't seem to mind.  We have been taking Lily to baseball games since she was 10 days old.  She enjoys going to games with her dad, not only for the game, but for some major spoiling as well!  She generally returns from a 'Daddy Daughter Day' at the ball park with a belly filled with ice cream and arms filled with goodies!  While we were on vacation, Rob spent many days at spring training games.  The last game he saved for Lily watching the Pitsburg Pirates at McKetchnie Field in Bradenton Florida.  They had a day filled with face painting, speedball pitches and autographs.  A perfect DDDay for the two of them. 

We were leaving for home Tuesday when we discovered this photo of Lily, FRONT page CENTER of the Sarasota Herald Tribune!  Our little sports nut strikes again!  I think this is the 3rd photo in various local papers of her cheering on the players.  She is a natural born cheerleader!

Oops! I did it again

When you're sleep deprived, you tend to forget things.  Like where your keys are, where you parked, how to spell...I tend to make a challenge card and not follow the challenge.  I am thinking the entire time about the limits of the challenge I'm creating for, but somehow when I'm completed, it doesn't fit the challenge...at all. That's how this one started.  I like it even if it's now just for fun.  Maybe I'll enter it in the Stamping Royalty contest....hummmmm

Lace

Lace.  It's not just for grandma.  I'm not a huge fan of it, but once I recieved this great May Arts Lace from No Time to Stamp, I may be a convert.  This card is for the CaardVarks Lacy Days challenge with JustRite Stamps.  I would KILL for some of these, I love making monogram cards and their system is fool-proof (and I am a fool!)

I started by spraying water on cotton blend ivory card stock and stamping SU! French Script background stamp in Creamy Caramel.  I then dried it a bit with my heat tool, turned it over and stamped it again with the same stamp and ink.  I really like the feel it created.  I wrapped the great May Arts Lace Ribbon around the bottom of the panel and layered it with May Arts blue velvet ribbon as well.  This panel was then adheared to a 4.25 x 4.25"  Chocolate Chip card body.  The Baja Breeze was cut with a Spellbinders tag die and stamped the cherry blossom image from SU! Embrace Life with Chocolate Chip classic ink.  I colored the blossoms in with a UniBall white gel pen, then with a blender pen, used Creamy Caramel over the white to give it a softer color.  'Thinking of you' was stamped in Chocolate Chip from the SU! Warmest Reguards stamp set.  I finished it off my placing it hanging over the edge to give it a classic card size feel and adding brown pearls from Kaiser.
I'm still sunin' it up in Florida!  Wish you were here!

Puking Perfection

Ahhh vacation....or is it? Saturday before we left for this sunny place, Elizabeth was throwing up all night. I thought it was from drinking sour milk from a found sippy cup. Apparently not. My first night here in paradise I spent praying to the porcelan Gods, something I hadn't done since my parting days of yore. I had no fever, thowing up and a little bit of the ....well you know. It passed with-in hours, but left me jumpy for about a day. About 4 hours ago, my dad came down with it, left the condo and went to their house a few miles away. 1 hour ago, Lily tosses her cookies all over the pristine bed with it's down pillows and comforter.   Ahh the joys of a Kramer vacation.  This is the second Spring Training trip in a row where the family came down with a terrible bug.  I think this annual trip is cursed.

But, I have to take a moment and brag...isn't Lily adorable?  I made this shirt and headband for her last week for St. Patty's day (before Elizabeth's illness).  She loves it when I make clothes for her for school, it makes her feel so special, and she is!  She has been such a good girl lately, it's amazing to watch her grow up, I want to keep her small!

Grandma blessings

Hi ladies!
I may be on the beach right now, as I'm not sure when this is going to be posted - remember I planned ahead!  This card is for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge at PaperCrafts Planet and the Just us Girls Color Challenge. 
Simon Says Stamps is a local (central Ohio) company that sells only on the internet.  They have tons of great products and great prices, and they are very generous!  They donated gifts to every participant at the Hilliard Stamp Camp 2010 in May!  How great is that? 

The SSS Challenge was a sketch and the JUG challenge (love it!) was to use light blue, yellow green and brown.  Since I'm on vacation, I'n not going to go into the details.  If you're interested, let me know and I'll post it as soon as I get home.

Not so disturbing

Here is another card I made with the same paper and the Hambly rub-ons for the Moxie Fab Diggon on Doilies and Lace challenge.  I used copper as an accent color in this one.  I liked how the doily offset the white medailion, and the added verbage.  I'm not so sure about the embelly's.  I may cut them off.

It's GRAPHIC...shield your eyes!

Have you ever made one of those creations when you're not really sure how you feel about it?  This is one of those.  The image is intense, a bit disturbing and hard to look at.  Kind of like a train wreak...it's grusome, but you just can't look away.  I received these FABULOUS Hambly Studio rub-ons from my win on Moxie Fab's Tainter-Tude challenge.  First, the images are amazing, and second, if all rub-ons were made of this quality, I would be a rub-on queen!  Fantastic quality, great imagery, easy to use - get some - NOW.  I decided to use these for the new challenge at Moxie Fab, Diggin on Doilies and Lace.

Anyhoo - the doilies were fun and bright, very graphic, and not very doily-ish (I see doilies as soft, white and vintage - these are not that).  I thought I would combine them with some paper I picked up at Michael's for 15 cents, with a white and black image background.  I combined it with the teal doily set and the pink sewing rub-ons.  The combo is striking - I'm not sure if it's in a good way.  It still kind of disturbs me.

EEK!!

Can you believe it's been nearly a WEEK since I last posted? Life's been extra crazy around here.  Committments to Lily's school, charity work, getting puked on - repeatedly, and leaving for our vacation tomorrow afternoon, has had my head spinning!  I have been busy creating things, ant visors, chocolate covered ants on a stick, and wormy dirt pies for the school party, along with ashamrock t-shirt and headband for Lily's St. Patty's day fun.  I'll post the photos of her outfit later this week.
I'm flying to sunny Florida tomorrow, I'm looking forward to seeing my mom and dad...it's been 5 months since they moved there and I've been having MAJOR withdraw.  I'll be updating as the week goes on, now that I've had my lap top surgically attached to my wrists.  It causes problems with cooking, but blogging is a snap!

Even Fuzzier

Here is my creation for the Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC20.  I really liked the colors of this one, and based my creation on the 'soap' bucket.  The photo isn't very good, but I sewed the black grosgrain ribbon into ruffles to the burlap.  I'll have to post the specs on it later, I need rest

Feeling Fuzzy...

So, now I have the ear pounding cold that Rob and the girls gave me. Ahh...the joys of parenthood. I've been trying for a few days to get down to my crafting area to create something for Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger. I love the chairs in the inspiration photo. They remind me of visiting my grandmother's house during the rainy season. I would spend the rainy days reading in a chair similar to these, except hers were a rusty orange velour (teehee).  Feeling the way I do, my creating mojo is surpressed by decongestants.  Here is what I came up with.

Lovely

I wanted to creat a simple yet 'french' inspired card, but this one got away from me.  It's much busier than I wanted it to be.

Stamp set:  I'll have to look that up for you...

Cardstock:  SU! Always Artichoke, Whisper White and Certainly Celery, old book paper

Inks:  SU! Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Craft White

Accessories:  white and green buttons, Kaiser pearls, SU! Pretties pearl, MS border punch, white embossing powder

French Congratulations
This is a much simpler card than the previous one.  I did however want to use the book paper to pay homage to Grandma, but couldn't get it to look right here.
Stamp Set:  see above
Cardstock:  SU! Old Olive
Inks:  SU Old Olive, Craft White
Accessories:  Kaiser green and white pearls, white embossing powder

Oops! I'm late!

Well, not in the 'traditional' sense of the word.  It's been a crazy weekend, Lily started off sick, then me, then the baby, now Rob, mostly low-grade fevers and head colds, but enough to make us unproductive this weekend.  I really didn't get any major creating done this weekend, so I'll show you what I created for the PaperCrafting Magazine call for this fall.  We'll see if they get approved.  Halloween is my favorite holiday - tied with Christmas.  It's the one time of the year I can get dressed up, act like a fool and no one thinks any less of me.  My creation is for that wonderous Holiday.  Isn't it spooky?  

 Catstooth Kitty

Card Stock:  Basic Black
Inks: Craft Basic Black
Stamp set:  Houndstooth
Accessories: green buttons, orange heart button, sewing, black sequins, rhinestones

I'm a Gold Olympian!

WOW!!!  I can now brag to my uber-awesome-sport-talented sister that I am an Olympic Gold Medalist!!!  I entered 4 cards in the Moxie Fab Olympics of Stamping challenge, and my Season's Greetings card won the gold.  I'd like to thank my agent, the producers (aka Cath), my mom and dad, the little people (Lily and Elizabeth) that kept me from my creating space and my hubby that gives me crafting time on his days off.  Wait...thank you speeches are only at the Oscars, not the Olympics?  Oh well!  Thanks to you all!!!  Here is the card and the original post for the card.

Doin' it Doily

The hottest trend right now in paper crafting is vintage, lace, doilies, and images.   This style reminds me of trips to the antique stores in my home town.  Vintage lace tablecloths, dresses and aprons were always oohhed over, but never purchased.  That may be a good thing, as I would probably be hacking them up for my cards!

Moxie Fab this month is hosting the Diggin' On Doilies and Lace challenge, and I can't pass up a challenge Cath puts out!  I wanted to make the doily image more graphic, instead of soft and pretty.  Cath suggested to use contrasting colors, but with this creation, I decided to use blues and greens with different hue values to create the contrast.  I started by cuting out a large doily with my Cricut and used it as a mask on Soft Sky, then brayered and sponged Always Artichoke over it.  That's when the confusion set in.  The look it created was bold and left me debating on how to continue on with it.  It was beautiful plain, not at all vinage, and it needed something else.  My new obession is silk ribbon for my cards, so I paired white silk up with a strip of light blue velvet ribbon for contrast.  I then cut a much smaller doily out of vellum and stamped French Script in Soft Sky on it.  After seeing Scrapping Mommy's crochet flowers last week, I re-taught myself how to make them and added a white one to this card.  I struggled

with the layout for even more time, debating between  fussier and more complicated ones.  The layout I choose I felt honored the graphic nature of the background while highlighting the natural vintage-ness of a doily.  WHEW!!  That may have been a bit more technical than we all needed.

Yummy Yellow!

Isn't the color yellow yummy?  It just makes me happy all around.  Sunshine, jelly beans, baby chicks, daisies, lemonade...all things yellow that just make everyone happy!  I loved the colors Sarah picked out for this weeks Play Date Cafe color challenge, PDCC19.  I decided to finish up my mother's day cards for Rob's grandmother's and thought this would be a great one for Grandma Pud.  She reminds me of yellow.

Yummy Yellow

All items listed are Stampin' Up unless noted
Card stock: Summer Sun, Barely Banana, whisper white
Inks: Summer Sun, Barely Banana
Stamp set: Embrace life
Accessories: Cricut Mother's day 2010, Cuttlebug Swiss Polka-dot, non-su! polka-dot yellow ribbon, Pretties kit pearls, non-su pearls, non-su button, SU! tool kit and corner rounder punch.

Waiting to the last minute

Typical me, I'm waiting to the last minute to get my things done!  I spent the week in 'spring cleaning' mode, preparing for visitors and the new season.  I only had one chance to get into my creatin' space all week, and it took me over 2.5 hours to make a card!!!  Crazy I know!!!  I'll be posting that one later.  I was able to whip up these this evening, with many problems arrising.  Probably because I'm under a time crunch to get done and I hate to miss a challenge at Moxie Fab!  So here is 1 of the 3 cards I was able to do for the Olympic Stamping Challenge.

Vintage Love

I'm not a vintage person, but I just received a whole box of great vintage items and they inspired me!  I used a page out of an old book that I happend to have 2 of on my shelf, and cut out a page with a poem about Danish women.  It caught my eye, since one of my BFF's lives in Denmark, so Anne, this one's for you!  I embossed the Pirouette Pink background with my Cuttlebug and herringbone folder then lightly rubbed it with white craft ink and framed it with Kiwi Kiss.  The poem is inked with So Saffron along the edges and Regal Rose along the right edge.  I stamped the cherry blossom image from Embrace life in Close to Cocoa and filled in the blossoms with my Uniball white gel pen.  The sentiment is from Love Matters and is stamped with Chocolate Chip on vellum and backed with the same cotton blend ivory paper the card body is.  I stamped the cherry blossom image on the back and again colored the blossoms white, then lightly dabbed some Regal Rose in the center.  The flower blossom is also stamped on the

 cotton paper with Close to Cocoa and is colored in using a blender pen with the pinks and also with white.  I highlighted the stemen of the flower with mini pearls.  The lace and the velvet ribbon are May Arts.  WHEW!!!  What a day!

Going for the Gold!

One of my FAVORITE holiday's is Christmas.  Being a former Florist and Special Events Designer I like to think outside of the box when it comes to decorating my home for the holiday's.  I NEVER use red and green for my decorations.  My house is decorated with yellows, whites, blues and greens and that is the pallete I choose to use when I prepare for the season.  I love using oppulent textures and accessories, shiny glass bulbs, glittery snowflakes, lime green crystals, strings of pearls, satin and silk ribbons, Waterford Crystal ornaments hanging from the chandeliers...ahhh makes me want winter back - almost!  I decided to use those colors for this Season's greetings card for the Olympics of Stamping challenge at Moxie Fab, to pay homage to my yearly celebration indulgement.

Yellow Snow

Now there is a reason they tell you NOT to eat the yellow snow.  (I could resist the using this name)  I used an Autumn Leaves stamp set for the swirls on the White Pearlized Shimmer Paper and embossed them with Ranger Pearl Silver EP.  I them stamped SU's Snowflakes (I need a new set) with Certainly Velery and Soft Sky, then embossed with Ranger Pearl Gold the smaller flakes.  Lastly I stamped the larger flake again and used SU! Heat and Stick Powder and Dazzling Diamonds to highlight them.  The sentiment is from Holiday's & Wishes and is also embossed with the same gold EP.  It is stamped on Whisper White and layered on Kiwi Kiss paper.  The ribbon is May Arts Silk ribbon and is adorned with an SU! felt snowflake that I added a green pearl and glitter to.  This is a pretty good representation of what my house looks like, lots of shine and glimmer!

EDIT:  This photo was removed for publication.  Stay tuned for new on when and where you can see it again!

Fall Thanks

This is my least favorite card I made tonight.  Again, this is for the Moxie Fab Olympics of Stamping.  I used the Autumn Leaves stamp set and stamped it on more of that old book paper with Close to Cocoa.  I then used my aqua painter to add color to the leaves.  The copper leaf I found in my accessories drawer (who knows how long I've had it) and I liked the shine it added to the leaves.  I stamped the 'thanks' sentiment from teh Autumn Leaves set with StayzOn.  The Shakespeare sentament is from Sage Advice - by far my favorite verbage stamp set!  I added a cold embossed herringbone panel along the bottom for some added texture.  I didn't stamp it because I wanted it to be a subtle addition to the card.  The fabulous twill tape is May Arts and I shredded the edges up a bit.  I also added copper cording to the buttons to carry over the copper.

Try it! SvS03

It's another addition of Simple vs Sophisticated here at LilyBeth Boutique!  This is a weekly challenge to recreate a card you made this week in a different style.  I generally use many layers, lots of stamping and papers in my creations.  This I call Sophisticated (only because I couldn't think of an 'S' word for fussy).  My not typical creations have little or no layers, lots of negative space and limited papers.  These I call the Simple cards. 

The card I made to recreate was for the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab inspired by this photo.  Isn't it FABULOUS!!!  I love everything in this photo.  

Here is the card I made for the challenge.  I stamped the papers with Spring Solitude, then sliced them up and paper pieced the background.  I really like the effect.  I then used SU! chipboard letters and covered them with old retired SU! glitter (which I love and hoard)  I stanped the whitr tag with the flowers from Spring Solitude and used 2 different staps from For a Friend to get the 'appy' and 'rthday' for the sentiment.  I'n not too thrilled with the tag, but it's still cute.

The recreation is the Simple card, but it really looks complicated.  I made the flowers out of some DP I found to match and another flower with Cameo Coral and topped them with buttons.  The card is Cuttlebugged with Swiss Dots and the banner is stamped with 'wonderful' from Warm Words.  The end of the banner is dipped in more of that fabulous retired SU! glitter.  I really liked how this one came out. 

Trigger Tuesday Triumph!

I am LOVING the Trigger Tuesday inspiration photo!  Cath at Moxie Fab  picked a great one, I love the colors, the candy, the cake, the shoes, all of it!  This is the first card I made inspired by this photo, I made 4.  The crystal and bead border to reflect the rock candy in the photo, delicious!  It reminds me of 7th grade, when we used to race to the little country candy store after school, buy our treats, then race back to the bus before it left us behind.  I've also decided to enter this in the Olympics of Stamping challenge at Moxie Fab as well, since it's mostly stamped as well!

Rock Candy Birthday

all items are SU! unless stated otherwise

Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Pink Pirouette, Barely Banana, non-su white pearl metallic shimmer paper

Ink: Barely banana, Pink Pirouette, Stayzon black.

Stamp Set: Blooming with Happiness, Short and Sweet

Accessories: non su! beads and rhinestones, Dazzling Diamonds, retired yellow glitter, pink and ivory grosgrain, blue velvet (retired)

Floss Fun Winner!

The results of the Moxie Fab Fun with Floss Challenge was announced this morning, and I WON!  There were so many great entries, my favorite was from Stampin Mommy, I loved her crocheted flowers!  In my original post, I expressed how hard this challenge was for me, so to be acknowledged for this just makes me shine inside!  Thanks Moxie Fab!

Over Embellished?

I created 2 of the most over worked and over embellished cards today.  This is totally NOT my style.  The first one isn't too bad, but the second....could there be anymore elements?!? 

This first one is based on the card sketch at 2Sketches4U, but I flipped it over and added the pearls at the bottom for the strip in the sketch.   I had crocheted the flower last night out of embroidery floss, thinking I would make another card for the Fun with Floss challenge at Moxie Fab, but it got late and I decided to go to bed.  I couldn't let it go to waste, so I decided to use it today, hence the vintage style of this card. 

The color scheme is from the PTI March DT Challenge, and I used lisa Johnson's color scheme.  Since I don't have PTI papers, I used my SU! Whisper White, Blush Blossom, Kraft and Chocolate Chip.  The stamps are from the Verve "Because of You" stamp set.  I think this will go to Rob's Grandmother Tierney. 

This second one...I'm not sure what I was thinking.  Perhaps Rob laced my Crystal Light with something.  I was making it for the Embellish challenge, but will have to create something else for that.  I won't even go into what I did to it, I'd be typing all night.  This one will go to Rob's mom, she'll like it.  Let me know what you think!

Floss fun

When the Fun with Floss challenge was first posted at Moxie Fab, I was a bit turned off.  My opinion of embroidery floss crafts have been 'country kitchy', I've only ever seen it used for cross-stitch.  Now don't get me wrong, there are very talented cross-stitchers that make AMAZING works of art.  I tried it when I was younger, but never really could focus long enough to make a perfect final project.  My stitches were always off or uneven resulting in a sloppy creation.

  

I must remember these challenge creators are here for a purpose: create a challenge to make us think outside the box.  I picked up a few floss colors I liked and sat on them.  Inspiration didn't hit me - until last night.  It kept me up for a while as I contimplated the way to make a non-kitchy card with floss.  This is what I came up with.  The opposite of country ktichy style (I hope).  I used my SU! tools kit paper piercer to punch the holes out first then sewed them up into little squares. 

Originally I had stamped a sentiment where the button is, but I didn't like how it turned out.  I came up with the button with french knots to cover up the mistake and reflect the pattern of the squares and unexpected circle.  A little hello from Amazing to Zany and voila!

Hoppin' Happy!

I participated in at blog hop over at No Time to Stamp, it's a great site that is not only a blog but also a retail shop.  Sharon over there creates beautiful cards that have a french vintage feel and completes them off with GORGEOUS silk and various ribbons.  I found her blog a few weeks back and decided to get some of her silk and velvet ribbons this week.  I placed my order and played in her blog hop, which is if you didn't  know, a hop thru blogs of the designers of on the particular site.  Each makes a card based on the hop's theme.  When you visit their site, you post a comment (if you'd like) and you're entered into the prize giveaway.  For each post you make, a new entry. 

The reason I'm informing you of how this works, is that I won!  Sharon is giving me this Stamp Simply Webster’s Avenue Postcards from Paris Kit!  (are you jelous yet?)  I have been coveting her ribbons and had to break down to buy some, now I have even more to create with! 

Here's all this kit contains (and is for sale at her blog store)

• 1 pad Webster’s Pages Petite Papers (6×6) - Postcards from Paris/Sweet as Cherry Pie - 36 double sided sheets (some shown)
• 1 CD type package of 18 Journaling Cards by Webster’s Pages
• 4 packages of Kaiser Pearls - Blush, Bliss, Champagne, Chocolate
• 3 yds 1.5″ Striped Grosgrain Ribbon - Burgundy/ivory
• 3 yds 3/8″ Striped Grosgrain Ribbon - Brown/ivory
• 6 yds 5/8″ Twill - 3 yds each Brown and Ivory
• 4 yds 1.25″ Crochet Lace - 2 yds each Brown and Pink
• 1 yd 3/4″ Velvet Ribbon - Brown
• 2 yds Velvet Zig Zag Ribbon - Raspberry
• 6 yds 1.25″ Silk Ribbon - 2 yds each Taupe, Pink, Moss

Since I am a paper and ribbon hoarder, she is enabling my addiction...THANK YOU!!!!

Wants vs needs

It's so hard to teach my daughter the difference between wants in needs.  It's a tough concept for a 5 year old to grasp, it's also hard for a 38 year old.  I have been introduced to the SRM stickers.  I want them.  Do I need them???  Yes.  I discovered this fact as I created this card for the Cardvarks Stuck on You challenge.  I only have stamp sentiments, no stickers.  I did happen to find a rub-on so I could at least do this challenge.  I need to order some of these fantastic stickers.  I've been drooling over some of the cards people have made with this great product, you can't even tell it's a sticker!!!!  Amazing!

Mojo hoo?

I think I like owls.  Everytime I see a new item on the market with an owl I just think 'how cute!'  I just got this new set from TPC Studio called Whimsical Birds.  I loved this owl and had to get the set.  (it also didn't hurt that it was 1/2 off!) 

This card is for this week's Mojo Monday.  I inked the stamp with Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turqoise and Regal Rose markers and cut it out.  I shimmered it up with Art Accents Pink Princess glitter - isn't it cute!!!!!  I stamped the branch with Close to Cocoa marker on Creamy Caramel paper and made flowers and leaves with the Cricut.  The circle and the scallop backgound is also made with the Cricut (I'm LOVING my new Design Studio).  Swiss dot Cuttlebug folder on the right side of the Whisper White paper and stamped 'adorable' - cause he is!!

LOVE this combo!

I love this color combo, for everything!  This color blue is all over my house and my dining room is painted entirely this color.  It's so fresh and clean, it makes me aaahhhhhh....

When I saw the Play Date Cafe #18 color challenge, I was so excited!  I had to create a card right away so here it is.  I used Soft Sky, (my stash is quickly dwindling) and played with my Cricut again with the cut panel of Whisper White.  I like how delicate it is.  The second panel is glossy paper run thru the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dot folder.  I then rubbed it with a spone dauber with Soft Sky ink.  It made the dots pop!  I used my new embossing pad for my Nestablities and make the sentiment on glossy paper and used the die as a mask and inked the center part of the piece.  I'm loving this look!  I ran the edge of my Basic Black marker along the edge of the paper to make it stand out bit.  It's finished off with black grosgrain ribbon and 3 mini black buttons - too cute!

Stuck on SvS02

Hi Ladies!

It's been a crazy week!  I planning an event called Hilliard Craft Camp for the American Cancer Society and the work has taken over my crafting time.  I'm sad to miss my time in my stampin' space, but it's all for a good cause.  Anyway, who needs sleep, or a clean house, or clean children...I guess I do.

I did get to do some work tonight, but since I'm behind, I've crammed several challenges into these cards.  First challenge is Trigger Tuesday at Moxie Fab.  It's a delightful card made by designer Kimberly Crawford and is published in the current Paper Crafts Magazine.  I made 2 cards for this challenge to go along with the challenge on this blog Simple vs Sophisticated.  I made the simple one first (surprize!) which I love!  I used my Cricut with the Calligraphy Collection cartidge to make the quatrefoil pattern out of whisper white paper.  I layered it on So Saffron and basic Black.  The main pannel is Kraft and wrapped a retired SU! ribbon around it.  I stamped the 'thank you' sentiment with black craft ink and used Black EP on it.  It's finished off with a pearl for the 'o' in you and a shite button with black bow.  Very simple - although it took me forever to figure out the Cricut part, but well worth it!

The second card I made for the Trigger Tuesday challenge is not my fave, but I still like it.  I used the layout from the Makeup 4 the Weekend #17.  It had a lot of components.  Same colors, I used some So Saffron DSP and cuttle bugged a piece with Argyle.  I used the Happy Harmony retired stamp set and a rub-on I had in a drawer I found.  I finally got an emobssing mat for my Nestabilites which I used on the sentiment pannedl.  I wish I had black silk ribbon for this card, but alas, it's not in yet.  I used my black polka-dot ribbon with a pearl for the center of the bow.  I again used the Cricut to make the 'scallop' edging at the bottom of the kraft panel and finished each point with a pearl.  WHEW!!!

Perky Pom-poms

I love pom-pm trim!  When I saw the Tuesday Trigger photo at Moxie Fab, I was inspired!  I have it all over in Lily's room and when Elizabeth grows up a bit, I'll probably put it all over her room too.  The lamp is too cute for a bright little girls room, and here's my take on it:

Party Animal

I bought this stamp set for $1, I just couldn't resist this chick!  It's got this sassy little look on it's face, like 'Yea, it's my birthday...wha'd you get me?'

Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White

Inks:  Basic Black, SU! markers: Real Red, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie

Stamp Set:  I haven't a clue!!!

Accessories:  Pom-pom trim, non-su yellow polka-dot grosgrain ribbon, Blender pen, Crystal Effects, Cuttlebug Swiss dot, corner rounder


EDIT:  WOW!!!! I'm doing the Party Animal dance!!!  I was a Trigger Target for this card at Moxie Fab this week!!!!  Have I told you how much I love creating lately....

Oops I did it again!

I apparently, somehow deleted all our drives on the computers...again.  I have no idea how I do this, but it's not my first run at it.  Thank goodness my husband is computer literate.  It's fixed and I'm here to post my creations!  This is for the Mojo Monday 126 from last monday.  nothing like waiting until the last minute!  I used my NEW Verve stamp set I won 2 weeks ago from my Love card.  I am so excited for this set, it has the best phrases for mom's.  I plan on creating something for my mon's new house with this set.

Live with Purpose

I like how this card turned out, but I would have eliminated the top and bottom scallops, it didn't really go with the style of this card, but I didn't have anything else.

Cardstock: Whisper White, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky
Stamp Sets: Verve Because of You, SU! Simple Stripes
Accessories:  Marcella embellishment flowers, soft sky double stitched ribbon, Cutllebug embossing folder

Technical Difficulties

I have photos to download, but neither computer is reading our photo card....hummm  Mojo Monday card and Trigger Tuesday cards just waiting to be admired.   I will have to wait for my resident computer fixer to get home from work and perhaps he'll be able to solve this problem. Wish us luck!

And so it begins... SvS01

I have always said, I am two sides of one coin.  First, I love detailed, elaborate cards with lots of texture, embellishments and layers.  I also appreciate simple designs, pretty much the opposite of my general design aesthetic.  I have noticed that card design is now leaning toward the cleaner, simpler cards, something I don't excell at.
SO....  After being inspired by my win at Moxie Fab, I decided to start the Simple vs. Sophisticated Challenge!  This is how it goes...  At the end of each week, choose a card you made and create the opposite style card.  Here are my examples for the first SvS01 challenge:

I made this card for the Play Date Cafe color challenge PDCC17.  The colors to be used were Red, Brown and Linen.  I created this based on my 'It feels like Spring' card I made nearly 2 years ago.  The original one was damaged and I wanted to make another one just like it with different colors. 

Sophisticated Thanks

I don't have an ivory colored embossing powder, so I used white on this card.

Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, White Craft

Stamp Set: Spring Solitude

Accessories: Winter White EP, chocolate grosgrain ribbon, non-su! red velvet ribbon, red EP & red snaps

Simple Thanks

I used my Cricut to make the scalloped square set at 4".

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla

Inks: Chocolate Chip; SU! markers: Real Red

Stamp Set: Spring Solitude

Accessories: chocolate grosgrain ribbon, non-SU! red grosgrain ribbon & red rhinestones

That's it!  Join me for some fun each Saturday as I become Simply Sophisticated!!!  I will leave up Mr. Linky until Friday @ midnight.
I don't have any blog candy to entice you to play along with me, but perhaps you too need to get outside of your comfort zone!

Recycled to me!

So my cousin had a computer meltdown a couple of months ago.  She took her laptop in was told it was a lost cause.  So she bought a new and improved one.  Now to the north-end of the country...I re-organized my craft area, and didn't really have any room for the ancient computer I had.  I have been contimplating whether to get a lap top or just a flat screen monitor.
So my brilliant mom, heard Kathy's tale and asked what she was going to do with the old laptop.  Mom dumpster-dived it for me (not really) and sent it to my super computer fixer brother Mark.  Fixed in 1 day, he sent it to me just in time for my birthday on Monday!  WOW!!  So now I have a fun new toy to play with!!! I can't wait to do the Cricut design software on this!!!   

WOW!!!

So, I've been posting all month my cards inspired by Anne Tainter for the Moxie Fab Tainter-tude challenge.  These have been so fun to make, I've loved gathering the images and sassy phrases for my creations!  Wellllll...... I'm excited to share that I was one of the winners of the challenge!!!!  WOW!!!  Moxie Fab World is sponsored by Paper Crafts magazine, so to be picked by them is an incredible honor!!!  Out of all my entries, they picked this one for it's sassy phrase and sequin/rhinestone bling.  I have noticed, the designs they picked were simple in design, perhaps a new trend in card making????  Hummm....I sense a theme for the month of March coming on....Simple vs. Sophisticated.  Here are the links to the rest of my designs:
Taintor-tude 1
Taintor-tude 2
Taintor-tude 3
Taintor-tude 4

Bumps and Bruises...

I had a house full of guests this weekend.  My in-laws drove down from Petoskey, Michigan and stayed the whole weekend, and my brother & sister in-laws stopped by a couple of times too.  Gramma and Papa left this morning, but not until Papa wiped out in our driveway on the freshly fallen snow.  He's ok, but claimed there was a little ice on the driveway and to watch our step if we go out.  "A little ice" he said. 

The snow has been coming down all morning and early afternoon, so I decided to do a mid-snowfall shovel so it won't be such a chore later.  This photo is my driveway (yes its there) 5 minutes after I finished shoveling.  That's how fast it's coming down.  Anyhow, remember when Papa said we had "a little ice"?  My entire driveway is a sheet of ice, which was covered with 4 inches of snow.  This I discovered when I wiped out 4 times as I labored with the shovel.  I love snow, I love snow, I love snow, but I hate ice, I Hate ice, I HATE ICE!!! (unless its nursing my broken tail bone, as it is now...)