Couch Potato

Isn't that what you wish you could be sometimes?  I know some days my husband comes home exhausted from a stressful day and the first thing he would love to do is lay down on the couch and channel surf.  He doesn't actually watch tv because for some reason he finds it comforting to flick through the channels. Anyhow when he comes home the tv stays off (most of the time) and instead he visits with the kids and helps me with finishing dinner.  This card is kind of like a permission slip to relax after a long day of work. I plan on leaving this for him on friday since I'll be gone with the kids for the weekend and he'll have all the time in the world to watch tv and putter around the house.  I wonder if he'll ever take the kids away for the weekend?  Probably not but I've promised my mother that I would take the kids to her place for a visit.

This card was created using the Sweet Shop Sketch #56 and the Wplus9 colour challenge.  I also got a chance to ink up the big dots in my new Practicing Creativity set.  I found making getting all those dots in different colours a challenge and that one was my fourth try.  I really should go to Courtney's blog and watch the tutorial.  I could have probable saved myself a bunch of time (and paper).

Anyhow, I hope you have a wonderful week and I hope to be able to share a couple more cards towards the end of it.  I managed to finish 5 cards this weekend!  I love it when I'm inspired!

Steps:  

1) cut square card out of cs

2) Trim yellow square cs and mat on dark blue cs

3) Trim white cs; stamp dots; clear emboss yellow dots; adhere to yellow cs

4) Stamp sentiment; attache ribbon; adhere panel to card

5) Punch 1 3/4" yellow circle and mat to 1 7/8" circle; adhere to card with foam tape

6) Stamp couch on white cs and cut; adhere to circle

Elements:

Paper: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Barely Banana, So Saffron dp, Whisper White

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, So Saffron craft ink

Accessories: Bashful Blue stripe ribbon, clear embossing powder, 1 3/4" circle punch, circle scissor

Stamps: For the love of Dots (PCD), On my Couch (PTI)

Twinkle Twinkle Baby Girl

Good day my crafty pals!  How are you all this fine Tuesday?  I'm relaxing after my trip to the dentist.  The freezing is just now starting to come out.  Why is it that the dentist and assistant always talk to you while your mouth is frozen and full of garbage?  It's not like they can really understand what your saying if you tried to reply. On the plus side of my day I have only one kiddie at home until 3 this afternoon.

On with the show.  Here's my take on The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #39.  My friend is finally having the baby girl she's been dreaming of in May and I decided to make her something special...hopefully nice enough to be a keepsake?

I used my new Scallop Trim boarder punch again and the hand stitching as well.  I don't know if you can see the glitter in the paper from the SU! Sending Love dsp but it is there.    I finished it off with a lovely pink organza bow and viola!  Don't you just love that Plain Jane sentiment?

That little girl is going to be one spoiled cookie and I can't wait to hold her!  Unfortunately she'll be living 12 hours away so I won't get to see much of her.  All my friends are having more babies and it kind of makes me sad that I don't have anymore around the house.  When I get to sleep through the night though I kind of rethink that thought :)

Paper: Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, Kraft, Sending Love dsp, background paper is from my scrap box.

Accessories: Scallop Trim boarder punch, pink ribbon, pink cotton floss, circle scissors, Very vanilla brads, pink watercolour pencil.

Ink: Close to cocoa.

More Button Fun

So here are a few more cards that I made using Maureen's stamp set and some of my scraps of "I wish" dsp.

The left gingerbread man card uses Sweet and Sassy Stamp Sketch #30 and the right card uses Card Patterns Sketch #43.

They're very simple which happens when trying to put together a dozen cards in a couple of evenings.  I thought I had made enough Christmas cards but I didn't take into consideration that I wanted about 10 to put away in boxes as Christmas Gifts.

Paper:  Chocolate chip, Real Red, Kraft, Old Olive, I Wish dsp.
Accessories:  Buttons, Red gingham ribbon, letter rub-ons, Oval cutting tool. small corner rounder
Ink: Soft Suede, Chocolate chip
Stamp: Not Stampin' Up!

Here's a cute and simple snowman card that I made using the same stamp set.  I used my own layout for this.

I lifted the middle of the sentiment with dimensionals just to give it a little something.  And I cut out another snowman head to lift up with dimensionals.  I added more character by using liquid applique on the snow man's hat. This card was extremely fast and easy.  I love buttons!!

Paper:  Whisper White, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, I Wish dsp

Ink:  Basic Black, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: White buttons, Liquid applique, Real Red and Pumpkin Pie markers, Ticket corner punch, dimensionals

A Simple Hello

With these cards I had every intention of posting them for the Sweet Sassy Sketch challenge but I just ran out of time to take the pictures and post them in time.  It also took two tries to get this card looking the way I wanted.  The bottom card is my first try.  I couldn't bring myself to post it without posting something better.  I wanted to use my new Flower dies and I figured the sentiment would work well using the letters from the SU! Billboard die.  That die is an excellent letter solution without spending a lot of money.   There's also a strip die called Naturally Serif for a different font solution.  You get both upper case and lower case letters.

Now I learned a few things the first go around.  Firstly, working with felt is difficult when your hands are really dry. Secondly, for small die cut letters it's best to apply envelope glue and then die cut when dry.  It makes less of a mess.  Thirdly, too many prints (whether stamped or embossed or on paper) can make it look too busy.  There was just too much going on in my first card.

My final attempt leaned towards the other spectrum, to very simple.  I even simplified my hello.  There is no print but there are a couple things that add some texture.  There's the felt flower layer, the embossed swirls and the Kiwi Kiss textured paper.  The bling always seems to add a little something extra and I've been wanting to work with this colour combo for quite a while but just never found a layout that could bring all those colours together.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this post and learned something from my experiences.  My favourite parts are the colours and the die cut letters.  What's yours?  Have a fabulous day and you're likely to hear from me again today as I have a couple of Christmas cards to share with you for the Get Sketchy challenge.

HI
Paper: Barely Banana, Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories:  SU! Billboard decorative strip die, Flower Layer original die, scallop edge punch, embossing folder, blue felt, rhinestones