Conspiracy of Love

Here's my take on another beautiful sketch by Cindy over at Crazy 4 Challenges.  Again, my picture doesn't do the card any justice because I haven't gotten around to making that light box yet. I think it's pretty just the same.  With this sketch I decided to showcase the Serene Snowflakes with white shimmer paint on dark paper.  It shows up beautifully.  And yes those are eyelets!!!  I don't know about you but I don't use eyelets much these days. I have so many that I collected before I discovered the simplicity of brads.

I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday.  My daughter is at school and I think the little guy might even have a nap today.  It could be just a quiet afternoon with me and my preschooler.  Thanks for stopping by and leaving me with such encouraging comments.  I truly appreciate it.

Conspiracy of Love
Paper:  White linen CS, SU!  Night of navy,  Bashful Blue
Ink:  Not Quite Navy
Accessories:  Snowflake eyelets, white shimmer paint, bashful blue stripped grosgrain ribbon
Stamp set: Serene Snowflakes, Grateful Greetings.

Mommy Needs a Couch Day!!!

Hi all! Hope your week is going by fantastically even if it is busy. Mine is going very well but man...I would love to have a lazy day in my own house to sit back and relax. It makes me reminisce of the days without kids when I could turn on the fire place and curl up to good book or watch all the chic flicks I could digest and simply enjoy doing nothing. And now I know that even if I was given one of those days I would fill it with all the things I can't (or don't like to) do with the kids like sleep or scrapbook or grocery shop. Right now I'm just thankful that I'm not having a couch day due to illness and neither are the kids. Life is good!

I made this card for one of my friends who is also a busy mother of three young girls and whose Facebook status lately has been lacking in enthusiasm (ex. Ugh, blah) LOL. It's sounds to me like she's getting worn out from the daily grind of school and extra-curriculars. I'm right there with you Tara!! It's too bad you lived so far away and then we could have a couch day together watching those chick flicks and sipping wine. The men could take the kids. Hopefully they'd come back with all six of them..hmmm..let's not think about that. So here's to all you busy mothers out there (whether the kids are young or grown)! And here's to our friends (with or without kids) who are there to give us support! Motherhood would be harder without you.

PS: I didn't manage to finish a Christmas card with this sketch (I decided to go to bed early) but maybe tonight.

Couch Day
Paper:  Old Olive, Cottage Wall dp, More Mustard, Elegant Eggplant, SU! Kraft
Ink:  Soft Suede, Old Olive, Perfect Plum
Accessories:  Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and 1/4" circle punch, Elegant Eggplant ribbon, Paper piercer.

Personal Challenges

Okay so my blog friend Maureen from Buttons & Bling inspired me to give Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenges a try.  I really liked this sketch and it just so happened that I was up-to-date with all my other favourite sketches {gasp}.  While I was working on the first card I decided I wanted try out a Christmas card as well using all my new goodies.  It was there that it occured to me that if I did two cards for each sketch and one was a Christmas card I could have my cards done by the end of November and mail them out.  So one of my personal challenges is to make a Christmas card with each sketch.

Another one of my personal challenges is to stop putting my foot in my mouth.  Sometimes I say things meaning well but it just comes out all wrong!!!  And then sometimes I say things when it would have been better just to shut my mouth and walk away.  People don't need my opinion all the time....or even some of the time.  And then there's times where I say things defensively and it would be just better for me to just let it go.  Anyhow I made this card for those moments when I need to say I'm sorry! and also as a reminder to myself to watch what I say or how I say it.

Now to the fun card.  I got a bunch of Christmas goodies in the mail last week.  I liked it all because it didn't come in the traditional reds, greens and golds.  If you have the same paper, the SU! Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive colours work well.  I'll let you know what other colours work well when I've had more time to play.  So what do you think?  Don't you just love that chipboard tree.  I found that while it's suppose to be a sticker, it didn't stick too well and I had to use some glue.

Thanks so much for taking a peek.  I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and I'll hopefully have more to post tomorrow.  Enjoy your week.
I'm Sorry
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry, Razzleberry Lemonade and white
Ink:  Old Olive, Pumpkn Pie, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories:  Wild Wasabi ribbon, ticket corner punch, 1/4" circle punch
Stamps:  Simply Said , Hard to Say 


Merry Christmas
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, NSU dp
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry
Accessories:  Old Olive ribbon, ticket corner punch, the rest is not Stampin' Up!
Stamp:  Season of Joy (Sentiment)

Spooktacular Halloween - Mojo 105

This week I got a nice little parcel in the mail from my on line scrapbook supplier. As some of you know I am a sucker for designer paper!! It is what fabric was to my mother. I have loads of it piled up waiting to be used and yet I still feel the need to spend more money on the newest stuff. And the current collections are amazing.

So for this fun sketch I decided to pull out my new halloween dp and the matching die cut stickers. No stamping needed!!! Although I'll probably put a sentiment inside the card. I used my fav Stampin' Up halloween colours: Basic Black, Old Olive, Pumpkin pie, and Elegant Eggplant. I also used Grey for the card base, Elegant Eggplant ribbon and the Stampin Up! circle punches (1 1/4" and 1 3/8"). The rest is not SU!

My favourite part of this card is the scallops and that eerie looking purple bat. Looking at it now I should have spent a little bit more time on the orange and black squares maybe distressing or sewing or, if I had an embossing folder, I would have embossed the orange CS. Something that would have brought more attention to the bat without overpowering it. Either way this was an excellent sketch to play with and I learned how to make those scallops with my circle punches.

If you don't hear from me this weekend, I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend with family and friends and getting some me time in your craft rooms.

Crazy 4 Christmas!!!

Wow! Two posts in one day, isn't that amazing? And this one is a double whammy because Cindy over at Crazy 4 Challenges came up with this amazing yet simple sketch so I was able to make two in an hour yesterday.

I used my scraps of paper that I had left over from prepping for my first workshop. The white demask design is flocked and it is from the Christmas Cocoa specialty paper collection in the Holiday Mini. I also pulled out the Champagne Shimmer paint to add some power to that serene snowflake and an antique gold brad. Looking at it now I could probably add a greeting up at the top left corner.

After I finished that card I decided to try again except this time not to take the sketch so literally and give it my own interpretation. I decided to flip the sketch and add ribbon instead of brads and change up the paper from the collection. I also applied shimmer paint because I was just having too much fun.

So what do you think do you like the image horizontal or vertical? Ribbon or brads? Flocked or not? There are so many different things that you can do with this sketch. I have a feeling I'll be using this sketch on a regular basis. (Hope you don't mind Cindy).

It's amazing that we are still enjoying some really hot weather here in BC, Canada. It reminds me of the year my daughter was born. It was the very end of September and all she was wearing was a diaper because it was so hot. I can't believe my baby is going to be six years old on Sunday. We are having a princess tea party. We're going to make princess crowns, decorate our own cupcakes and then sit down and have a tea party.

I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful week and fabulous weather. Thanks so much for dropping by. Tomorrow I'll be posting my card for the current Mojo Sketch.

Paper:  Soft Suede (again), Kraft, Real Red, Christmas Cocoa dp
Ink:  Soft Suede, Champagne shimmer paint.
Accessories:  Red brads, Sleigh Bells Twill ribbon , ticket corner punch, antique gold brad
Stamp set: Serene snowflakes

Heart Air Balloon

Good morning everyone!  I actually had a decent night sleep.  Only one wake up last night when my two year old climbed into bed with us and then all three kids slept until after 7 this morning. Life is better with sleep wouldn't you agree?  Yesterday was a fabulous day because I was able to complete two challenges and for one challenge I made 2 cards!!

This is my take on the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #35 . It's a week late but I liked the sketch so much I wanted to give it a try. I decided to use 2 stamps from the Sweet Centers stamp set to may a Heart air balloon. What do you think? Does it work? Last night I was a little disappointed with it.  I thought maybe it was just too busy, too much going on, but then when I got up this morning to take the pictures I decided I really liked it. The colours are fun and the balloon is something new. It will be perfect to give to my daughter for Valentine's day before she goes to school. I'll make something a little bit more masculine for the boys.

Paper:  whisper white, Razzleberry Lemonade dp
Ink:  Pumpkin pie, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo
Accessories: NSU pink grosgrain ribbon, Circle Scissor, dimensionals
Stamp set:  Sweet Centers, Grateful Greetings.

Happy Everything - Get Sketchy #6

Is it really the end of Tuesday already? Where does the time go? It goes whether you're having fun or not doesn't it?  My week is filled with dentist appointments, music lessons and school activities. I haven't decided whether I'm going to the Parent Advisory Council Meeting tomorrow night. It would be another busy evening and it's hard to try and get homework and music practices done in between it all. Some days I find it hard to prioritize everything. And it's hard to get into a routine when my husband doesn't understand the importance in sticking with it. It's not that he's not helpful,  he just doesn't understand what needs to get done or have the same way of prioritizing so I find myself constantly delegating which is exhausting. Who said being the boss was easy? {wink} Ah well, there are many more weeks to get into the groove and get it right.

Anyhow, today I finally found the time to finish Get Sketchy #6 without patterned paper. It's nothing fancy but I like it. I knew I wanted to do something Masculine and I wanted to use my scrap pieces of paper (I have a lot of that). The River Rock was one of the last pieces I had and it had a couple of score marks which I decided to incorporate into the paper and created a pattern of my own. The Soft Suede pieces are inked and distressed around the edges as well as inked on the surface to give a bit of texture and dimension.  I figure it would have been too plain otherwise especially since I wasn't using any dp.  I chose to stick with the stars for a more masculine theme and because I don't use my star punches as much as I want to. Finally, I chose a sentiment that could cover something more than just a birthday if I wanted it to.

While I didn't get the card done before the end of the weekend, it is done before Thursday and these days that is a miracle. I hope you are all having a fabulous week and the beginning of fall is not too cold.  We just got a new wood stove insert installed so my basement will be nice and cozy warm at night when I'm crafting.  {big dreamy sigh}

Paper:  Soft Suede, Blue Bayou, River Rock, Soft Sky, Old Olive
Ink:  Soft Suede, Blue Bayou
Accessories:  Small and Large Star punches, Scoring tool, Velvet star brads
Stamp Set: On a Pedestal