EBTKS + Embellish = Fabulous

Hey Everyone!  Today's day at work went very well and I'm happy to say it won't keep me up at night with worry.  Lots to learn but the ladies I work with are really fabulous and patient. 

This card was made for three challenges: EBTKS, CAS-tastic, and Embellish.  The current CAS-tastic challenge was to use three of several techniques on one card.  I chose image stamping, paper piercing, and inked edges.  This card really was simple but it packs a punch with those colours and paper piecing and piercing.

For the piercing bit I stamped and cut the leaf image, placed it on my cardstock and pierced the outline.  It give's a much more subtle affect than paper piecing or stamping but still defines the image.  Neat hey?  Those terrific patterned papers are from the October Afternoon Fly a Kite collection.  Love it!  I bought it for my birthday a month ago and finally got it in the mail last friday.  Haven't had much time to play around with it but I'll try to make some time this weekend.

Tomorrow I'll be working a full day and won't be home for dinner but fortunately for me (or probably more so for my hubby) my mother-in-law plans to have dinner ready for him when he gets home.  Today I'm grateful for a supportive family...what are you grateful for? You might be grateful to hear about Ann's Blog Anniversary giveaway.  Just head on over to check out her wonderful CAS creations and a chance to win!  You won't be disappointed.

Elements:

Paper: Kraft, Fly a Kite dp (October Afternoon)

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Small Ric Rac die (PTI), Hawaiian Shores button (PTI), paper piercer, dimensionals, large corner rounder

Stamps:  Feel the Sun (Verve), Signature sentiments (PTI)

Need a Lift?

I know lately I sure have and my friends have been there for me.  I am just so blessed by the amount of support that we've received in the last month.  It has been more than a week since I last posted and let me tell you it has been a busy one.  I've been sending out resumes and had my first interview in seven years and it went really well.  I was really thinking I would be on my work tomorrow but, unfortunately for me, the company had a better candidate.  The supervisor was kind enough to keep my resume on file just in case something came up and she is even willing to send my name on to any other employer she knows who needs an administrative assistant or bookkeeper.  How cool is that?

Despite all the outpouring of support from friends and family, my husband and I are becoming quite discouraged with the sale of our house.  So on top of not being able to get this job and not selling the house our fears are mounting.  It just goes to prove that you can make as many plans as you like but God is going to come along and make plans of his own.  In the meantime I'll keep applying for jobs and keeping the house clean for showings.

The cards I have for you today were ones that I sent for the last Embellish Magazine publication call but that too wasn't meant to be.  The good news is that now I have something to share with you, dear blog friends.  The black thread in the first card was meant to be the bicycle tire spokes.  I've seen the PTI Everyday Button Bits Bike done in Tandem before I just don't recall where.  Nothing new there but I liked the wheels and the colour balance in this card. In the bottom card I created my favourite balloon scene and use a black button and thread for the basket.

Anyhow, thanks so much for following my blog even though I haven't been giving much inspiration or encouraging comments for you. I will have another card to share with you Thursday or Friday.  Please check back. I trust that this post finds you all healthy and happy.  Happy Crafting!

EDIT June 26 ~ I decided to take Karen's advice and enter the bike card for the I WANT TO RIDE MY BIKE CHALLENGE IN THE MOXIE FAB WORLD.

Bring Your Own Sunshine

Sometimes it's as easy as smiling when you don't feel like it.  Do you ever find that smiling is the one physical act of happiness that can actually convince the rest of your body that you are happy?  It doesn't always have to be your brain telling you that you're happy and allowed to smile.  This verve sentiment reminds me of that.  Even as I was rushing the kids out the door and out to school I thought of this quote and added my smile.  My husband always says "Smile, it makes people wonder what your up to" my reply is  usually "It's easy for you to do because you're almost always contemplating world domination" and other things that men spend the majority of their time thinking about...or so I'm told. 

Anyhow, I've digressed almost too much and will now tell you about my card.  My inspiration came from this Card Pattern's sketch, the current Embellish colours, and some new PTI goodies that I ordered back in April before having bought our new house.  My 'supplier' of all that is PTI dropped them off last night and it was nice having some new materials to work with including the new anniversary set.  That was a nice surprise since I wasn't planning on having a new stamp set for quite some time.  Thanks for supporting my habit Maureen =) I'm hoping to sell the house soon so I can treat myself to a few goodies, starting with Courtney's new set at Practicing Creativity Designs.  The tree in that set is one of my favourites.

I'm feeling particularly chatty today so please forgive the long post.  Hope you are having a fabulous Thursday and if I don't chat soon have a wonderful weekend.

Elements

Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Raspberry Tart dsp (SU!)

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Crushed Curry, Cameo Coral

Accessories: Rick rack die (PTI), 1" circle punch, linen thread, lemon tart buttons (PTI), brown ruffle ribbon (SU! Flirty collection), foam tape

Stamps: Feel the Sun (Verve), Round & Round (PTI)

Nothing But Happiness

Wow hey?  My second post for this week!!!  Yesterday we had another house viewing so I was feeling a bit hopeful and found a little time last night to get this card started.  I went to bed early so I didn't finish  but I did this morning.  The house is clean, I've sent out a couple job applications and it's raining cats and dogs outside so I figured I deserved a bit of play time.

This card was made using the current Sketch Girl challenge along with the latest Embellish magazine colours.  I don't use a lot of Coral but this colour combo was enticing.  The Embellish also gave me a chance to brake out my favourite Labels 1 nestibilities and Top Note die.  I embellished with some cotton floss, unique Papertrey buttons and polka dots.  This was one of those cards where I had no idea what I was doing until it was done.  I just went with the flow and let inspiration be my guide.  I'm very happy with the results and hope you enjoy it as well.

Thanks so much for popping by.  I hope you have a fabulous day.  Happy Crafting.

Elements

Paper: Kraft, Cameo Coral, Early Espresso, Whisper White, SU! dsp

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Accessories:  Labels 1 Nesties, Top Note die (SU!), DMC floss in brown and yellow, Lemon Tart Buttons (PTI), foam tape

Stamps:  Polkadot Basic Background I (PTI), Blessings (Verve)

Dear Friend

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are enjoying a fabulous new week ahead.  We are quite busy around here.  My daughter was sick this weekend, the deal fell through on our house, and the kids had their piano recital.  This week we will busy once again showing the house (at least we hope so) and getting my daughter ready for her dance concert which takes up 4 days of the week between practices and rehearsals and the actual shows.  Hopefully this time around she'll actually stay up on the stage.  When she was three she became known as the little run away crab.  She's a couple years older now so that should help.

Anyhow, here's a couple of cards that I made for the Paper Crafts Go-to-sketch Challenge #3 using the Embellish colours.  I also have another attempt at that fall-to-layout sketch I did in my last post.  I used the same colours but no butterfly.  For all three pieces I used acrylic paint and my pattern tracing wheel as shown on the Paper Crafts Connection blog.  Pretty neat hey?  And it is so much fun.  For the green painting I even got to mix paint together (3 parts dark green with 1 part yellow).  And the black was so fun because it showed up so well on the craft that I did two cards with it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a peak and/or leaving me some love =)  I do hope you have a very wonderful week and if I don't respond to your lovely comments or I've missed some of your latest and greatest creations I'm very sorry and hope to catch up when things settle down around here.

Here are some close up shots and if you have any questions about the materials used feel free to ask and I will try to get back to you asap.

Sky's the Limit

I just had to play along with the latest Embellish colour challenge.  Ashley's colour choices are always so classy and the ladies that play along are so very talented.  I learn something new with each challenge.  I loved this colour challenge so much that I'm actually in the process of creating yet another card but without the butterfly.  

This card is also to fulfill this weeks CAS-tastic challenge requirements to add a little bit of green.  I also used last weeks Fall-to-layout sketch to help bring the colours together.  The Kraft butterfly was made using my PTI Polkadot background basics I with Old Olive ink.  I also sponged the edges of each butterfly with black ink to give the layers more definition.  The rhinestones weren't adhered exactly where I would have like them but once they were there they were stuck for good.

Hope you all have a fantastic and creative weekend.  May the sun shine upon you. I'm going to try and relax a bit but I'm finding that my nerves are just a little shot with all this wait and see going on with the selling of our house.  Have I told you yet that I hope never to have to do this again?  LOL. 

Steps:

1) Make A2 card from cs

2) Trim white cs and use embossing folder; mat to black cs; adhere to card

4) Die cut scallop border; stamp sentiment; adhere to card

5) Die cut butterflies; attach layers and button with floss; adhere to card

6) Adhere rhinestones to card

Elements

Paper: Kraft, Old Olive, Whisper White, black cs (PTI), sheet music

Ink: Basic Black, Old Olive

Accessories: Green button (Making Memories), black cotton floss (DMC), Beautiful Butterflies die (SU!), Perfect Polkadots ef (SU!), large scallop border die (PTI), green rhinestones (Kaisercraft) 

Stamps: Look Up (PCD), Polkadot background basics I (PTI)

Irish Blessings

This last week marked 6 months since the passing of my husband's cousin.  Un-fortunately the passing of time isn't making things any easier for my husband's aunt.  She says it's only making it harder.  Maybe because this is the longest she's ever gone without seeing her son.  This verse from the new Verve Blessings set came to mind as I think it would be something that her son would have wished for his parents.

"May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind always be at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand."

Coincidentally, I ended up watching Leap Year while creating this card for the current CardPatterns and Embellish challenges.  I must have been feeling my Irish roots on Saturday night.  The rich country side of Ireland was an inspiration in itself.  IMO the movie was cute but nothing amazing.  The verse panel is applied with foam tape for added dimension. I tried something new for the ribbon treatment and it wasn't on purpose. I just happened to run out of ribbon and decided it didn't look half bad the way it was.  What do you think?

Steps

1) Cut card out of CS

2) Trim CS 3 3/4" x 5 1/4"; stamp sentiment; tie ribbon around; attach 1" circles to the border; and attach to card

3) Stamp verse; trim and mat to cs; attach with foam tape

4) attach rhinestones

Elements:

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Bermuda Bay, Dusty Durango, Whisper White

Ink: Bermuda Bay,  Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, green rhinestones, 1" circle punch 

Stamps: Blessings (Verve)

Taking the Scenic Route

Hello friends!  How's your Monday going?  The nice thing about Monday's is that there are 4 more days in the week for it to get better.  And your reward for perseverance is the weekend.  Who am I kidding?...I loathe Mondays too!  Are your weekdays just a count down to the weekend?  It's like the weekend is the destination and the Weekdays our journey....one big scenic route one that is too often taken for granted.  My crafting can get like that....I'm so focused on the end product that I don't spend as much time focusing on the steps that got it there in the first place.  

This card for the Sketch Girl Challenge and Embellish challenge was a journey for me.  I stamped and stamped and stamped this scene until I got it exactly as I wanted it.  First, I played with the stamps then finally got to a 'prototype' scene and then did it for real keeping and getting rid of techniques or elements that I used in the draft.

The Embellishment colours are very vivid and I thought I could shy away from it and pick toned down hues or I could just go for and pick the brightest colours I have.  So much fun working with those Dandy sun rays.  I haven't met a Practicing Creativity Set I haven't liked.  Since January I haven't run out of ideas on how to use them.  I haven't gotten the latest set "For The Love of Dots" yet having a stricter budget but it's definitely on the wish list. I was going to add bling and sparkles to the sun but it really took away from the natural scene I created.  There is embossing for the clouds, the raised dandelion, and the sentiment. I've got an angled shot here that shows it much better.  Lots of dimensionals and paper piecing for some detail.  At the risk of sounding proud, I'd have to say this is one of my favourites.  Probably because of the amount of thought and work that went into it. 

I realize that black and kraft weren't in the colour selection but white really was too bright and I just couldn't bring my self to make pink, blue, yellow or green dandies.  The selection colours are the main focus of my project though and I'm willing to bend the rules just a bit to make a better piece.

Thanks so much for stopping by to see my work.  Happy Crafting!!

Paper:  Kraft, Whisper White, Pacific Point, Crushed Curry, Razzleberry Lemonade dp (SU!), Night Light Louie dp (Oct. Afternoon)

Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White Craft, Crushed Curry, Garden Green, Versamark

Accessories: dimensionals, black embossing powder, white embossing powder, 1 3/4 circle punch (SU!), 1" circle punch (EK success)

Stamps:  You're Dandy (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Let's Get this Party Started!!!

Good Evening my fellow bloggers?  How was your Monday?  Mine was pretty relaxed since it was an in-service day at my daughter's school and I didn't need to leave the house for anything.  I got some Laundry done, a workout in, and even a shower!!!  Not that I usually stink but showers aren't an everyday occurrence for me unless I workout.  And hey if I do stink I'm usually in my studio not bothering anyone! LOL.

Anyhow here's what I came up with the last time I was stinkin' up my studio!  I managed to come out with something fun and stylin' for the current Embellish Magazine challenge.  I struggle with layouts so FTL85 came in handy. I used the Argyle stamps from Practicing Creativity's Key to My Heart Set.  I didn't get the seems exactly right so I added some gold stickles.  Hope that doesn't break the rules of the challenge.  The challenge was to make something that reflects party and sparkles do that well don't they?  I used the SU! Snowburst set as Fireworks...again the gold sparkles helped reflect that.  The celebrate sentiment is from PTI Signature Greetings (I just masked out the "Your Day" part)

This card would make a great one for a New Year's Eve party or a Grad party. And I think it could pass for unisex.  What do you think?  It makes me want to paarrrrty!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week.  I'm off with the family to look at another house.  It looks promising....

Paper: Whisper White, Kraft, Black (PTI)

Ink: Basic Black, Real Red

Stamps: Key to My Heart (Practicing Creativity), Snowburst (SU!), Signature Greetings (PTI)

Accessories: Scallop border punch, Gold Stickles, large corner rounder punch, Basic Black grosgrain ribbon

Have You Heard?...

Courtney from Practicing Creativity (PC) is looking for a 3 member design team!  It could be you!  I know I'm just creating competition for myself but hey I don't have much experience under my belt anyway and I'm hoping that Courtney finds the right team to take her venture to new heights.  

So with my PC stamps and the current Embellish Magazine challenge colours sitting on my desk I was debating what I wanted to do with them.  What can you do with red, black, white and kraft without making it look tacky?  Elegant wedding card maybe?  One of my good college friends is getting married in August and red happens to be the wedding colour.  What could I do with the Key to My Heart set that I haven't done yet?  Well here you have it.

On the white panel I lightly penciled in four squares 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" and stamped the X pattern using the scroll stamp.  I don't even think I've used that stamp yet. Be sure to use Staz On ink....it makes the erasing of the pencil marks much easier.  Then I stamped in the small red hearts.  Unfortunately the stamp set didn't have the right sentiment for a wedding card so I had to dig into my stamp box.  The large scallop is made with the PTI die.  The fantastic thing about this die is that it doesn't matter what side of the paper you cut, both sides have the same smooth cut. No good or bad side.

Anyhow, I hope you've been inspired to show off some of your Creativity to Courtney.  Have a fabulous Monday and be sure to check back to see my actual entry for the Embellish Challenge.  This was just a warm up.

Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Black (PTI)

Ink:  Staz On Black, Real Red, Basic Black

Stamps: Key to My Heart (Practicing Creativity), Whimsical Words (SU!)

Accessories: Real Red satin ribbon, Large scallop die (PTI)

Fun with Buttons

Hello everyone!  Hope you have all been having a fabulous week.  We had a freak snow storm this morning.  It has stopped snowing and hailing and now it's starting warm up a little.  No snow left on the ground thank goodness but it was awfully scary taking the kids to school with slushy west coast snow on the road and no snow tires.  Unfortunately I don't know if our apricot tree is going to produce much fruit this year.  It started blooming only a few days ago.  I guess we'll find out this summer.

Anyhow....on with the card.  This was my practice run for the Embellish Magazine publication call.  I find it takes me a couple of cards to get into the colours.  I decided to use TESC107 as a starting point.  A fun sketch for fun colours right?  I used black cotton thread to chain all the buttons together.  I tried to go with a more whimsical approach to that; any button threaded every which way I could think of.  These colours were perfect for a birthday card with a paper pieced cupcake.  I think I got the colour balance right?  What I like most about this card is the black zigzag stitching.  The pink panel might be missing something?... 

Hopefully I'll have more to show you this weekend.  Happy Crafting.

Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Melon Mambo, whisper white, Razzleberry lemonade dsp (SU!)

Ink: Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, yellow marker

Accessories:  Lemon Tart buttons (PTI), Black dmc thread. circle scissor, sewing machine, dimensional

Stamps: Birthday Best (SU!), Whimsical Words (SU!)

Another Mojo Try :)

Here's another try at the Mojo challenge and the Embellish Challenge.  It fits the the Embellish challenge because it has a cross stitched border on the left and a scalloped trim on the circle made with 1/4" punched circles.  It doesn't have to be a full border does it?

I found it really hard incorporating the peach as it's not a colour I work with very often and all I had were scraps of Apricot Appeal.  It was definitely a colour challenge but there's no way I was going to let the colour peach discourage me!!

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful week wherever you may be.  Right now I'm enjoying some beautiful sunshine after a great fall of rain last night.  Just beautiful!  Thanks for hoping by.

Paper:  SU! dp, whisper white, pink pirouette, apricot appeal

Ink: Certainly Celery and Old Olive markers

Accessories: pink floss, 1 3/4" and 1/4" circle punch, pink brads, large corner rounder punch, Chipboard (Scenic Route)

Stamps: Key to My Heart (Practicing Creativity)

Embellished Birthday

Good Morning!  Here's my attempt at the current Embellish Magazine challenge to use green, blue, pink, and brown plus a birthday theme.  I must admit that the bright colours frighten me (plus I don't have much of those colours on hand) so I decided to use muted tones of those colours.   I used the FTL Sketch 76 with a little bit of my own twist.  The squares are made using the SU! scallop square punch and cutting of one scallop on two sides.  The coloured squares are adhered with dimensionals and the Close to Cocoa square is not.  Glitter was added to the stamped cupcake and balloons just to give this simple sketch a little bit more power.  What do you think?  Is it still too simple?  If I find time this week I may try the same thing but with brighter colours and a white background.

I thought I'd also share with you how one little  touch like rounded corners can make.  While taking the picture I seemed to me like the card was missing something.  So I took my large corner rounder punch to the bottom corners of my card.  It's amazing how one small detail can make such a big difference.

Paper: SU! Kraft, Groovy Guava, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa, Scenic Route dp (polka dot star)

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Square Scallop punch, Chocolate chip ribbon, Large Star punch, corner rounder punch, glitter, white button

Stamps:  Birthday Best, Birthday Bliss (SU!)

Ribbon Embellishment

Good morning everyone!  I'm back from my trip to Vancouver and getting back to the grind!  My dh and I had a wonderful time at his brothers 40th birthday party of Friday night in Vancouver's Gastown and Saturday I had an amazing time shopping with my daughter on Robson Street.  Things were very busy in downtown Vancouver with all the Olympic activities but it was exciting!  Some streets were closed off for art exhibits and other things related to the Olympics.  So besides the plethora of people it was relaxing without the usual downtown traffic.  My daughter was a little worried about getting lost and I don't think she's seen so many people in one place but it was a great experience for her.

Anyhow here's what I made last week for the latest Embellishment Magazine Challenge.  I picked up the heart ribbon with this exact challenge in mind and I got a chance to use my new heart border punch.  I gathered the Raspberry Fizz ribbon and attached with glue and then layered the heart ribbon to hide some of the glue. Ideally I had wanted to sew the ribbon down but my sewing machine just wouldn't do it so I improvised with adhesive.  The layout was done "wing-it" style because I really had no idea what I wanted to do.

For those of my friends who are interested: I gave my in-laws their Anniversary card and they were very happy with it.  My mother-in-law actually thanked me personally and not through my hubby!  I think I may have created a keepsake card :)

Paper:  Close to Cocoa, Tempting Turquoise, Sending Love dsp, Whisper White,

Ink: Tempting Turquoise

Accessories: Die Cut (Cupid, Pink Paislee), MS heart border punch, Raspberry fizz ribbon (PTI), Heart ribbon (American Crafts), Pink Gingham ribbon (SU), Tag corner punch (SU), 1/8" circle punch.

Stamps: Signature Greetings (PTI)

Dare to Dream

While I was writing up my last post for the Embellish colour challenge I had an epiphany and thought up a rough sketch of this card.  I knew I wanted to stitch in and scores stripes/lines into the card and keep it one layer.  After the sketch I tried to think of a way to incorporate it in with my favourite Cinema Saturday challenge. 

I was kind of in a pickle for the Cinema challenge because I haven't actually seen the movie "Australia" and I haven't had time to sit down this week and watch the almost three hour film.  One of the themes is about dreams coming true so I knew which sentiment I would use but didn't know what image.  Here's the thought process.

"Lady Sarah Ashley takes control of her husband's cattle station but has to fight to keep it."

"Her land becomes her home...there's no place like home"

"No place like home...Wizard of Oz...Somewhere Over the Rainbow which Sarah Ashley sings to Nullah to comfort him during the loss of his mother."

"Hot air balloons!!!  Like the one meant to take Dorothy home!"

There you go. That's how my creative mind works. Nothing more rewarding than when the ideas just naturally flow together. The stitching is hand stitched with floss. First I penciled in lines and then pierced holes 3/16" apart.  There are also scored lines (space at 3/16" apart) at the top of the card for added effect.  You should be able to see them better if you click on the picture.

Hope you enjoyed viewing this card as much as I enjoyed making it.  Have a wonderful Wednesday afternoon.

Dare to Dream

Paper:  Kraft, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry

Accessories:  cotton floss, score blade, linen thread, scallop boarder punch, plum pudding and scarlet jewel buttons (PTI), wisteria button (BG), glitter gel pen.

Stamps:  Everyday Button Bits (PTI)