Thanks Teacher

Hi Everyone!  We are having our first relaxing day in a couple of weeks so I thought I would share a card I made for my daughters teachers using one of Mercy's Tuesday Sketch.   It's hard to believe that school will be over in just a month or so.  I really am looking forward to the summer.  It will be nice not to have to drive the kids to school and activities and in August we will be living within a 5 minute walk of the water park and come September I'll be able to walk both my Son and Daughter to school.  I'm so excited!!! 

Don't you just love the bold and fun colours of the Boyfriend collection by Cosmo Cricket?  It's one of my faves but I don't use it quite as much as I should.  I'm always waiting for the perfect inspiration to use it.  The great thing about not buying anything right now is getting the chance to use up the stuff I do have....I do however miss having some of the newer stuff that looks like it would be so much fun to play with.  But then I remind myself that the manufacturers are always going to be coming out with even more wonderful stuff and that the collections I really like right now might be on sale when I get around to buying them.  It makes my supplies a little dated but I'm not doing this to be published so it doesn't really matter does it?  When I post my cards I like to think I've inspired my blog friends to create with something they've already got stashed away.

How often do you buy supplies?  Do you buy the whole collection or do you just buy the pieces that you really love?  Taking a look at my inventory I'm going to buy only bits and pieces otherwise it just gets hoarded.

Steps: 

1) Cut card out of white cardstock (CS)

2) Trim base colour CS to 4 1/8" x 5 3/8"; adhere to card

3) Trim designer paper in three equal strips and adhere to CS.

4) Trim blue cs; punch ticket corners; add faux stitching with marker and adhere to card

5) Cut circle; stamp sentiment and stars; adhere to card with foam tape

6) Punch small star and adhere to sentiment panel.

Elements

Paper: Whisper White, More Mustard, Blue Bayou, The Boyfriend dp (Cosmo Cricket)

Ink: Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Old Olive

Accessories:  Ticket Corner punch, circle scissors, small star punch, black marker

Stamps: Best Teacher (Imaginisce), Starstruck (SU!)

I Heart U ~ Mercy Tuesday Sketch #58

Happy Monday friends!  I hope your week is off to a wonderful start.  This morning I got to enjoy a snuggle with my sleepy 2 year old and now I'm enjoying my morning with a nice cup of coffee so I'd say that I'm off to a great start.

This is what I came up with for Mercy's Tuesday Sketch using the Keys To My Heart set.  Sorry for the poor picture quality.  Not very many sunny days around here and no snow on the ground to reflect any light we do have. Yes, this card is very simple and could have maybe used some ribbon on the left hand side but I just didn't want to cover up the adorable argyle print that I carefully stamped (included in the stamp set).  My heart was pounding the whole time I was stamping that piece because it would only take one little misplaced step and then I would have to start all over again.  

I heart you
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Basic Grey, Real Red
Ink:  Real Red, Basic Black, Pixie Pink, Versa Mark, Going Grey
Accessories: Scallop trimmed boarder punch
Stamp:  Keys to my Heart (Practicing Creativity)

And here's another card that my daughter made.  She really likes seeing her cards on the internet so I've decided to occasionally post her cards as well.  I hope you don't mind.  She was thumbing through my Stamp It! Cards magazine and saw Dawn McVey's card "Thinking of You Butterfly" on page 22.  She wanted to make that one.  Of course I don't have all the materials so we had to improvise.  Here's what she came up with using my scraps and she made it for me this time!

Key to My Heart ~ MTSC 57

It's been a while since my last post hasn't it!  I've been really good about keeping up with everyone else's posts but I've been lacking the inspiration to create things for my own posts.  I have had a nose buried in a book instead this week. (My other form of escape)

Anyhow here's my card I made with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #57 from last week.  I know it's late!!  But I want to show Mercy that I do appreciate her sketches by showing her that I use them. LOL  This sketch gave me an opportunity to use the new Key to My Heart stamp set design by my blogging friend Courtney of Practicing Creativity.  My 6 year old daughter liked my card so much that she wanted to make her own.  So, like the proud mama that I am, I'm posting hers as well.

I let her pick any paper from my scrap bin and those are the papers she chose.  The only things I helped her with was the measurements (but she cut the paper herself), the boarder punch (her hands aren't strong enough yet) and tying the ribbon.  Everything else she did herself!  And she wanted to make the card for her dad.  Yeah she's a total daddy's girl.

Key to My Heart

Paper: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Sending love DSP, whisper white

Ink: Real Red, White Craft

Accessories:  Scallop trimmed boarder punch, White embossing powder, Whisper white ribbon

Stamp set:  Key to My Heart (Practicing Creativity)

Dear Father

Paper:  Whisper White, Summer Sunrise (PTI), Playtime dp (3Bugs)

Ink: Blue Bayou, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate

Accessories:  Scallop trimmed boarder punch, Certainly celery twill ribbon,

Stamps: Key to My Heart, Well Scripted (SU!)

Imagine That

I'm late for yet another sketch challenge.  That's what I get for starting a card on the cut off day!  I started Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge yesterday afternoon during my down time but I didn't quite realize how time consuming the paper quilting was going to be until my hour had past and all I had to prove for it were three 1 3/4" quilted circles.  Then one thing led to another and I finally finished my card around 10 PST last night.  Too tired and not thrilled enough with the end product to bother taking pictures.  This was one of those cards that didn't finish with the same fireworks that I had in my vision....but when I got up this morning I had a clear view and new appreciation for this card.

My first step began with cutting 3/4" squares from my scraps of Razzleberry Lemonade dsp and glueing them together on white whisper white cardstock to make a panel 2 1/4" x 6 3/4".  I then zigzag stitched the inside seams (not very well since my sewing machine kept skipping stitches) and then punched 1 3/4" circles.  I was surprised at how easily my SU! punched cut through the paper and sewing.  I punched three because I planned on making a couple more.

I used my circle scissor to cut the bottom layer for the quilted circle.  I used my sewing machine again to paper pierce my bottom panes and distressed the main panel edges with my scissors.

I put the card together and instead of brads, buttons I used purple bling.   Something was missing in the top left corner so I add a bit of bling there too.  I hope to get started on the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge tonight so that I'm not late for the Thursday deadline.  We shall see....thanks for taking the time to pop by my blog.  I hope you enjoyed what you've seen even if it is late.  IMO creativity and inspiration never has a deadline so thanks Mercy for your inspirational sketch.

Paper:  SU! Glossy White, Whisper White, Razzleberry Lemonade dsp, Crushed Curry

Ink:  Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry

Accessorries:  Circle Scissor, 1 3/4" circle punch, small corner rounder punch, NSU bling, Sewing machine

Stamps:  Sweet Centers, NSU sentiment

Deck the Halls with Buttons of Holly

Good morning All!  Amazingly I'm back with yet another post this week.  This is one of the cards I was busy creating.  I had stamped the Holly image at Maureen's house a couple of weeks ago as, sadly, I don't own that stamp set.  I finally got around to playing with it and found that Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #47 displayed the Holly very nicely.

I could have probably added some ribbon but as soon as I'm happy with a card I try to stop there.   And I liked the colour proportions of this card.  Super easy, inexpensive and yet elegant. Don't you just love the buttons?  Maureen you've got me addicted to buttons!!!  

Thanks so much for visiting.  Hope you are enjoying your week.

Paper:  SU! Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Real Red, SU! I Wish dsp.

Ink:  Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Ticket corner punch, Scallop border punch, buttons

Stamps:  Non-Stampin Up!

HO HO HO - Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #47

Sunday blessings to you all!  I'm back with a card to share and some sad news.  Our family is trying to cope with the loss of a friendly, warm, and intelligent man this week.  His battle with cancer has ended and so too has his pain.  If there might be anything that can bring comfort that thought will.  Of course with this sad news my heart hasn't been in the right place for stamping or creating.  I did manage to make a few baby cards for my friend which I will share tomorrow.  Baby cards are always a happy thing to focus on.

Today I managed find it in me to make something cheerful and bright for the holidays using Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #47 .  I didn't feel like stamping so I dug out the SU! rub-ons that I bought last season and a bunch of scrap paper.  I used gold floss for the stitching and the PTI vintage button that was part of the Blog candy I won over at Sketch Girl .

Anyhow it's nothing fancy but I'm sure someone will appreciate it this holiday season.  Thanks so much for stopping by to look.  I'm sorry I don't have a lot of new things to inspire you but I'm sure you understand.  Happy crafting!

Paper:  Glossy White, Real Red, Kraft, Soft Suede dsp, Christmas Cocoa dsp, Whisper white
Accessories:  Gold Floss, SU! Rub-ons Old Saint Nick, green button

Serene Christmas

Good Afternoon and Happy Monday!  Are you all recovering from a hectic Halloween?  I'm sure that at one point I enjoyed Halloween but at this point in my life there are other things I'd rather spend my time on.  I mean really....don't you think it's a bit crazy?  We spend weeks preparing or finding the "perfect" costume for one night where our kids go out and pick up a years supply of candy to get wired on!   I must say that the one event that we participated in and enjoyed was the school family halloween dance.  It was a lot of fun and the kids (even the toddler) had a blast!!  Halloween night itself I personally could do without.

How did you spend your extra hour yesterday?  I saw that many of you were able to get crafty...I wish that had been the case for me.  As it is, I was just able to sneak in the time this afternoon to finish this card for Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #45 .  I managed to finally break open the Icicle rubons (bird) from the new Christmas mini catalogue and the Serene Snowflakes for the back ground stamping.  Ahhh Christmas...now there's a something worth celebrating!!

Paper:  Bashful Blue, SU! Kraft, Whisper White, Night of Navy

Ink: Versa Mark, Bashful Blue, Ruby Red

Accessories: Blue gingham ribbon, Icicle Rubon (bird), scallop border punch, circle scissors

Stamps:  Serene Snowflakes, Snow Swirled (sentiment)

Two For One Holidays

Good Afternoon!  Hope you are having a Marvelous Monday and that you had a fantastic weekend.  I spent mine with my Mom and Sister.  And it was relatively relaxing since I only brought two of my three kids with me.  There is quite a noise level difference between two and three kids...at least that's what I've found.

Anyhow, I have two cards to share with you.  The first is for the Card Patterns Sketch #37 introduced to me by Allison at Stampin' When I Can .  It was a great way to show off the fabulous dp and matching cardstock stickers and I'm sure you're familiar with this collection.  The only thing SU! in this card is the Kraft cs.

Now from the same piece of 8.5 x 11 Kraft I had a piece left over that made a very nice 4.25 x 5 card inspired by Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #44.  I'm not really happy with the final product but it was worth a try.  I used the same dp collection and stickers plus I added some ribbon and bling.  SU! supplies include the ticket corner punch, Ruby Red ink, Ridinghood Red cs, and the sentiment is from the Snow Swirled stamp set.  At the very least I have another Christmas card completed for family and friends.

Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look.  I'm so glad that you do.  Have a wonderful week!  Cheers!

Simply Said - Not Simply Made

Good Morning Friends!  How are you?  Weather around here is still dreary but it looks like the sun is trying to get through.

Here's my efforts in making Mercy's Tuesday Sketch.  I used the cottage wall dp for this one two because I already had everything pulled out from my last card and I was still feeling in a razzleberry, butterfly type of mood.  As I started making this card (and I really had no idea where it was going to take me) I just wasn't feeling it.  I knew I wanted to make grass and stamp flowers.  I started with the inside panels and decided to use my sewing machine to paper pierce giving it an extra something.  Then I stamped the inside panel using the flowers in For All You Do stamp set.  I love getting two different colours from the same ink pad just by not re-inking every time I stamp the image.  I added the grass (made using just scissors) and adhered the center panel but it seemed to be lacking something and then I found bling that went very nicely inside the flowers.  Still missing something.  Butterflies!!! I punched those and added a little more bling and voila!  It turns out to be one of my favourite cards yet.  Thanks Mercy for this Challenge!!!  There are so many possibilities with this sketch.

Thanks for looking and hope you are all have a fine Monday morning.  I'm off to take my son to swimming lessons and then I should probably get some chores done.  Laundry here I come!

Paper: Cottage Wall dp, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Orchid Opulence

Accessories:  Bling, Butterfly punch, sewing machine.

Stamps:  For all You do, Simply Said

Wrap a Card

Lynette, a fellow blogger,  encouraged me to try this new challenge called Everything But the Kitchen Sink...sounds like my motto when I'm packing to go camping. Anyhow, the challenge was to use something from your mail to create and I'm assuming not your on-line scrap store purchases. {giggle} I didn't think much about it because I didn't see how I could make something pretty out of my bills (Winter proved me wrong). Then today my daughter received a birthday present in the mail from a close friend of mine and the wrapping paper was this amazing, upbeat, mod turquoise with silver foil. I new I wanted to make a card out of it as soon as I saw it and then I remembered the Kitchen Sink challenge and decided it was an absolute must. Because I was going away this weekend I wanted to get another sketch challenge completed so I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #41.  It could have probably even passed for a masculine card if I hadn't used all that bling but I couldn't resist.

Please forgive the quality of these pictures. I wanted to wait until tomorrow to take them but I'm not sure if I'll have time and I couldn't wait to share. (Yes Maureen, I know, I have to make that light box but it's hard when I'm inspired to make other stuff.) All the paper with the foil and silver is the wrapping paper (pictured on the right) and the colours of the cardstock are Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Basic Grey, Soft Sky, Silver vellum. Other SU! products used are the scallop circle punch, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, small corner rounder punch.

Okay, so now I mean it, you won't be hearing from me for the rest of the weekend especially since I have nothing left to show you.  I was going to do the latest Mojo challenge but there's just not enough time in a week.  Take care my friends and happy crafting!

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)