Happy Birthday Baby!

I guess she's not a baby anymore... (sniffle)  My baby is 6 years old now.  It's amazing how the time flies when you have children.  It seems like yesterday when I dropped her off at her first day of pre-school and cried on my way out of the building.  Now she wants to do everything on her own, dress herself, do her own hair, go to the potty by herself when we're at a restaurant (I have to say no to that one).  I tried to hold her on my lap today for some snuggle time, and the two of us didn't fit so well on the cuddle chair anymore.  It's hard to let go of the little things like that, so I told her I would buy us a bigger chair for cuddling (I'm so logical!)

It's tradition in our house for me to make the girls cakes.  At first it was for my own pleasure of making a sweet creation, but Lily has been putting in her requests for the last 3 years.  Since we love to watch the cake challenge shows on the Food Network together, she imagines now, big 3D cakes for every occasion and she can certainly come up with some doozies!  Last year she wanted a butterfly with moving wings sitting on a flower...yea, she is totally my daughter.  After explaining that I was unable to make a moving cake, this is what I came up with for her 5th birthday.  Not a Challenge worthy cake, but she really liked it. 

This year she wanted a Tinkerbell house with fondant icing and a Tinkerbell on top with 'magic' sprinkles coming out of her wand to make everyone fairy size - just like at Disney...   How do I get myself into these things?  Rob explained that the 'magic' has to stay with Tinkerbell in Disney and since we weren't having a big party palooza this year, we talked about down-sizing her cake for our small family party of 8.  After seeing some ideas on the internet, she decided she wanted a rainbow cake with m&m's.  Thank goodness she forgot about the m&m part 'cause each color is $5 bucks a pound!!!!  This is what I came up with for this year's sugary perfection!

Here is the post baking, pre-icing photo.  I made 2 batches of white chocolate cake batter (doctored plain white cake mix).  I took out 6 -1 cup scoops and placed them into separate containers to dye with food coloring into the colors I wanted.  I then baked each 1 cup serving in my 8" round baking pans, (I only have 2 8" pans) at 2 pans per cycle of 15 minutes of baking and 15 minutes of cooling, it took almost 2 hours to bake.  The rest of the un-dyed batter I placed into 2 6" round pans and baked until done.  I made icing to match the layer colors and used them to layer the cake and then I froze them for the night. 

The next morning I cut off the bottom of the layered cake and shaped it into a rainbow and placed the ends on the 2 6" cakes. (I really like making 3D cakes)  I piped colored icing for the rainbow with a small star tip and piped the clouds with a large star tip with white icing.  This could be done flat if you are afraid to go 3D, but it's really not as hard as it looks!  Below is the cake cut...how fun are all these colors?  I really looks like you are eating a rainbow!  Wouldn't it be a hit at a kids party?

Here she is peeking thru her cake!

I don't know where the time has gone...she is so beautiful!

Elizabeth enjoyed the cake too!

Can you relate?

I just saw this on this blog The Idea Room.  I can so relate! 

Not a favorite

So I CASEd this from the latest Paper Crafts StampIt Magazine.  The original idea was from Maile Belles (page 78), I really liked the monochrmatic look and with the current Color Throwdown #89 challenge, I thought it may work well.  It's sort of a miss.  Not my fave, but not terrible either.  If you want the spec's on this let me know, I'll post them up!

Thanks Grandma

EDIT:  I made the ColorQ royal court with this card!  Thanks for the acknowedgement ladies!

This is a thank you card for Rob's Grandma 'T'.  She is always so generous with our family and she gave Lily a nice gift for her birthday.  She always deserves an extra special card from us.  This was made combining 2 challenges (crazy, I know!)  First the 2S4U #50 bonus layout challenge by Heather, a great simple layout allowing the elements to shine!  Second, the ColourQ challenge.  This is the first ColourQ challenge I have done but I've been watching their site for a while now.  They always come up with interesting color combinations, and this was no exception!  I used a May Arts striped burgandy and ivory ribbon and colored the ivory stripes with a YoYo Yellow marker.  Next time I would use Pumpking Pie. 

P.S. No such luck on getting to bed early, it's currently 2:21 a.m.  Perhaps I'll be able to sleep in???

Thanks Grandma!
Card stock:  SU! Green Galore, Whisper White and YoYo Yellow, vellum paper
Inks:  SU! Pumpkin Pie (I don't have the tangerine color) SU inks Bravo Burgandy, Green Galore, Pumpkin Pie and YoYo Yellow,  and SU! YoYo Yellow marker
Stamp Sets:  Delightful Dahlia (Paper Trey)
Accessories:  green beads, green glitter, May Arts striped burgandy and ivory ribbon, blender pen

Busy, busy, busy!

I was having so much fun creating this week, that I lost track of time!  Last night I was up until nearly 3 a.m. (...yawn...stretch...)  I made this card on Tuesday for this week's 2S4U challenge and Caardvarks Celebrating Core'dinations Challenge.  I really love these Hambly silk screened rub-ons, the graphics are adorable and the quality is amazing!  I did have to cut it down to fit on this card, but it was very easy to do.  Thanks to Cath at Moxie Fab for sending me these, I'm now a rub-on fool!  My in-laws are coming in the weekend, so perhaps I will be able to create a card for the bonus sketch by Heather before the sun rises tomorrow.
I mirrored the sketch for this card and ruffled the tulle on my sewing machine before I attached it.  I'm going to send this to my friend Anne across the big blue ocean in Denmark for her belated birthday.  At least I made the card on her birthday...

Celebrate Anne

Cardstock: TPS pink chandeliers, SU! Pink Pirouette, Basic Black & Pretty in Pink

Inks:  Black Stazon

Stamp Set:  Damask (Papertrey)

Accessories:  Hambly Rub-ons, pink tulle, Martha Stewart scallop punch, Spellbinders Labels 2, Zva pearls

It's a bonus!

I love that Kazan and Laura at 2Sketches4You always provide us with 2 sketches each week!  This is the bonus sketch from last weeks challenge.  It's a cute little 4.25" card.

Dear Friend

Card stock:  110 lb cotton blend ivory, TPS Sweet Pea Houndstooth Blue

Inks:  SU! Close to Cocoa, Versamark

Markers:  SU! Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Blush Blossom, Blender Pen
Stamp Sets:  Delightful Dahilia (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Ranger gold and silver pearlized EP, SU! River Rock stitched ribbon, Prima pearls, Zva Creative Pearls, burlap, Delightful Dahilia die, SU! chipboard tag

Better late than never?

Last week was a crazy one!  There were so many things I wanted to get done, (creatively) but I had to move other things up the priority list.  Like laundry, cleaning, bathing...just kidding!  I did have to get all those things done, but I also hosted a fundraiser at my house on Thursday, baked a cake for Lily's birthday, made a cheesecake for the fundraiser, and worked as a Special Events Designer again for 4 days.  My old boss had 3 corporate events to produce, one event had over 100 tables so she needed some expertise on her team (I think I broke my arm patting my own back).  How do you ladies handle life and work outside the home?  I am in awe of you!  I barely made it out alive!

I wasn't able to get into my crafting space until the end of the weekend.  I missed all kinds of challenges I like to partake in, and was disappointed that I missed this week's 2S4U event.  They were also checking out all the entries scanning for future Design Team members, so I missed that (tear...weep)  Since I am trying to complete all the challenges I missed, I decided to go ahead and do this challenge now. 
The challenge was to use this sketch and to incorporate SRM stickers.  If you haven't seen these stickers at work, check out the samples the DT made here.  They just disappear into the paper!  I didn't have any of these stickers left, so I  used a card stock sticker from Cosmo Cricket.  I decided to turn the card 45 degrees and used my coveted May Arts silk ribbon stash.  Isn't that ribbon to die for? 

Adore

Card stock:  110 cotton blend ivory, SU! River Rock, Webster Pages designer paper

Inks:  SU! Regal Rose

Accessories:  May Arts olive silk ribbon and pink ric rack velvet ribbon, coral button, Kaiser Craft red rhinestones, Spellbinders oval die, Cosmo Cricket card stock sticker

one of those days

Have you had one of those days when everything you do is difficult?  This card happened on one of those days.  This was the first time I used Stickles (what???  about time, I know!) and I didn't realize it takes a while to dry.  I think I smudged the polkadots about a bizzilion times!  I was getting so frustrated (my blood pressure is rising just thinking about it)! I was creating this for the Paper Crafts April Gallery Challenge the theme was "Shimmer and Shine" which is totally up my alley...so why was this so hard?  Who knows, it must have just been one of those days.  Let's hope it's behind me.

Daring Day

Card stock: SU! River Sock, 110 cotton blend ivory cardstock, Memory Makers polka-dot paper, vellum paper

Inks: SU! Chocolate Chip

Stamp Set: Dare to be Fabulous

Accessories: brown stickles, brown Kaisercraft pearls, Hambly screenprint rub-ons, May Arts velvet ric-rac, brown tulle, sticky strip

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!!!!