Another {Happy Birthday} Card...

Hello!  I've been a busy girl this past week.  The kids only have four days of school left and my friend and I have been trying to do all the things we'd said we'd do together throughout the year (while our kids are in school).  We've been doing stuff maybe once a month and we just did four things in the last two weeks.  All the girl time has made my soul happy, though.  


It feels like FOREVER since I've had some serious studio time.  I made this card for this week's CPS Sketch.  It was so simple (like they always are) and perfect to get my mojo heading in the right direction.


I stamped the sentiment first, masked the sentiment and then stamped the lattice image.  Easy peasy for sure!


Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: Designer Lines, All Occasions 2 (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Green With Envy (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Glamazon Green (CSS)

Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch

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A {Good Luck} Card...

Hi there!  I was about to say Good Morning, but I guess that ship has sailed.  It felt so good to participate in a card challenge today.  It's been a while for me.  I printed off this week's CPS Sketch and jumped in with a new stamp set (Background Basics I) from Clear & Simple Stamps.

First I created the black and white background (not sure what the technical term is here).  I cut them into three equal pieces and adhered them to Glamazon Green card stock (which is my absolute favorite color).  And then I got a little hung up.  I didn't want to follow the sketch exactly but didn't know what I wanted to do differently either.  I finally settled on some green floss, wrapped around the panel many times and then I tied on the bow and tag.

The button is a silvery gray color, so it coordinates with the card instead of matching exactly.  I mounted the panel on white card stock to finish it off.


Just another little note about the buttons.  My daughter, Halle, separated all of my buttons by color over the weekend (they filled up a small coffee can).  I had bought some little jars at Ikea months ago and all they were doing was collecting dust.  I have about 9 little baggies of buttons with only 4 jars.  I guess that means another trip to Ikea in my future!  I'm so thankful to Halle for helping me out.  It was so easy to choose a button today.  

Have a great day!

{Good Luck}

Stamps: Lucky Charm, Background Basics I (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, Glamazon Green (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Tags Die (CSS), Green Floss, Green Button, Foam Dimensionals

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A {Happy Retirement} Card...

Hello!  I was in the mood to color today, so that's how this card came to fruition.  I colored the house with a mix of regular markers and copic markers.  I colored the house and then picked out my patterned paper.  There was no planning ahead of time to make sure it all matched, luckily it did.  This is the first time I outlined my colored image with a light gray copic marker.  It's supposed to make it look like the image is popping off the page.  It really does work, it's just hard to see since the sun was shining right on my card.

I usually make cards and take photos in the morning.  But today it worked out to be the afternoon and that sun (that FINALLY made an appearance) was right over my card.  Totally not going to complain, just picture my card without those darn shadows.  

That ribbon has been in my stash for ages.  I finally used the last bit of it on this card.  I love this patterned paper.  I'm sure you can tell by all the cards I've used it on lately.  It's double sided, which I love.  

I hope the sun is out wherever you are today!  Enjoy your day!!!

PS. This is also another card that uses this week's CPS Sketch.

{Happy Retirement}

Stamps: Holiday Home (Stampendous), A Guy Thing (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, On the Catwalk Cream (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Dish All the Dirt Brown (CSS)

Accessories: Circle Cutting Tool (Coluzzle), Edge Distresser, Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Stamping Sponge, Ribbon (Michaels), Blossom Punch (EK Success), Rhinestone, Glue Dots

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A {Sweet New Baby} Card...

Hi there!  I was really productive yesterday and got a lot done, including making this card.  I'm just now getting it on here.  I photographed it yesterday when it was a little overcast, today it is pouring down rain (again) and I'm sitting in front of a space heater as I type this.  This weather has been crazy!

How about we talk about this card.  It uses this week's CPS Sketch.  I did change it up a bit to accommodate the stamps I wanted to use.  We have a lot of expectant ladies in my family right now, so I might as well start stockpiling baby cards.

The sailboat was colored with regular old marker and then cut out and applied to the panel with foam dimensionals.  I die cut two blue ovals and tore the top edge to look like water/waves.  


Have a great day!

{Sweet New Baby}

Stamps: Precious Baby Boy (Hero Arts)

Card Stock: Kraft Like A Rockstar, A Blanc Check, Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Your Style Blue Me Away, Simply Blue-tiful, Creamsicle Cardigan (CSS)

Accessories: Stamping Sponge, Oval & Labels 9 Nesties (Spellbinders), Foam Dimensionals, Markers, Silver Brads

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A {Thank You} Card...

Hello!  I'm so glad to be back after a little unexpected hiatus.  Nothing happened, just the everyday things that pop up that you have to deal with.  Anyway, I'm happy to be back.

I used this week's CPS Sketch for my card.  I didn't intend for this card to be monochromatic, but I really like it.  It sort of adds to the CAS of it.   

Those heart stamps come from one of my favorite stamp sets, Icons I from Clear & Simple Stamps.  It was hard to chose an image to use since I really like them all, but the hearts really complimented the background paper.  Those stamps also work perfectly with this sketch. 


Have a great day!

{Thank You}

Stamps: Icons I, Icons Extra (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, On the Catwalk Cream (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Patterned Paper: Offbeat (Basic Grey)

Ink: Dare to be a Diva Red (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Accessories: Red Floss (DMC), Foam Dimensionals, Small Hole Punch, Red Rhinestones (Kaiser Craft), Stamping Sponge

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A {Congratulations} Card...

Finally!  I've have been working on this card all day long.  It's been such a busy day.  I've been squeezing in some crafting time in between running on the treadmill, doing laundry, parent/teacher conference, picking up kids from school, getting a few groceries at the store and attempting to make a new soup recipe.  The soup is simmering on the stove as I type this.  There's still laundry to fold and a salad to prepare.  Like I said, busy day.

So, here is my card for today.  It's based on this week's CPS layout that I don't particularly like, but it really intrigued me.  I had to give it a go.  This card uses the Silhouette a lot.  The letters were cut from the black patterned paper and then matted on yellow patterned paper.  The leaves and rolled up flowers were images I cute using the Silhouette.  I think these flowers look so much better than my first attempt. I guess practice really does make perfect.

I love the striped ribbon.  My SIL's was getting rid of some of her sCrap stuff and I rescued a few rolls of ribbon that I knew I could use.  

Have a great day!

{Congratulations}

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Origins (Basic Grey)

Accessories: Digitally Cut Images and Letters (Silhouette), Glue Dots

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A {Hope Your Day is Fabulous} Card...

Hey guys!  I was itching to get crafty this morning, but I did run on the treadmill first.  That's been my every-other-day routine for the past 6 weeks.  The other day I ran for 20 minutes straight!  That is something I never thought I'd be able to do and it feels great.

One of the reasons I was so eager to get in my studio this morning was because Papertrey Ink has started a new "Make it Monday" challenge.  This week's challenge was to include a vellum sentiment strip on your card.  I wanted to do something unique with the vellum so I decided to cut it so that the corners would fall in the middle of a flower and then put a rhinestone on that flower.  Kinda cool?

The layout for this card is this week's CPS Sketch.  This week's sketch was a little more complicated than their basic sketches that I'm used to.  I was still able to keep a CAS look though.

Thank you for clicking over to my little corner of the blog-o-sphere today.  You have no idea how much joy you bring to my day.  Have a wonderful day!!!

{Hope Your Day is Fabulous}

Stamps: Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Spring Moss, Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket)

Ink: Not Quite Navy (SU)

Accessories: Clear Rhinestones (Michaels), Vellum, Corner Rounder Punch, Foam Dimensionals

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A {Home} Card...

Hey there!  Happy Monday to you all!!!  I'm a bit tired today after staying up late and having to drive home after the SuperBowl was over.  The kids definitely had a hard time getting up and ready for school.  


This card uses this week's CPS Sketch.  I took a lot of liberties with this sketch, I hope they don't mind.  This card uses paper from the Echo Park collection called Life is Good.  This collection comes with a two sheets of stickers, one is alpha letters and one is images and sentiments.  I used both kinds on this card.  As soon as I saw the "home" sticker I remembered seeing a father and daughter on Ellen singing a song called "home".  It is a cute, whimsical song and the little girl is absolutely precious.  Click here to see the video on Ellen. So, that's how the sentiment came about.  


I used a white gel pen to draw an apostrophe between the "i" and "m"  but I just realized that you really can't see it at the angle I took the picture.  I also just realized that I didn't use any stamping on this card, that hardly ever happens!


Have a great day!

{Home}

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Life is Good (Echo Park)

Accessories: Life is Good Stickers (Echo Park), Green Floss (DMC), Foam Dimensionals

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A {Hope Your Day is Fabulous} Card...

Hi!  I have a quick card for you today using this week's CPS Sketch.  I'm once again using the same paper (Be-Loved by My Mind's Eye) yet again.  I think you all may need to hold an intervention.  If I can find some paper I like half as much as this I think I'll be okay.  

This card is pretty simple and straight forward.  I used a small hole punch to create notches to keep the floss in place.  I really love the different sizes of the brads and how they are positioned on the striped paper.  


Well, that's about it for now.  I did complete the first day of week 4 of Couch to 5K.  It was brutal but I made it.  I think I'm gonna go ahead and sign up for a 5K.  I should be a pro by May.  


Anyhow, thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to stop by.  Have a great day!

{Hope Your Day is Fabulous}

Stamps: Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Patterned Paper: Be-Loved (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: A Clean Slate (Clear & Simple Stamps), Pretty in Pink (SU)

Accessories: Floss (DMC), Small Hole Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Brads 

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A {Happy Heart Day} Card...

Hello!  Today I'm playing along along with CPS's 200th Sketch!  I chose to use these papers because they were still sitting out on my desk from the card I made yesterday.  I just adore the colors of the Love Me Do collection by My Mind's Eye.

The stamps I chose are from Clear & Simple Stamps.  The hearts are from Icons I and the sentiment is one that I created using Icon Extras.  To get extra mileage out of my sentiments, I sometimes cut the words apart.  The word "heart" came from the phrase "from the heart". Since they are acrylic stamps, they are super easy to line back up on the block when you want to put the phrase back together.  


Today Colin celebrated his birthday at school and the clown cake pops were a hit!  All the kids loved them and said they tasted great.

PS.  I ordered an actual light box so I can take better photos of my cards.  They are so hit or miss lately.  The card today is totally cute and the photo doesn't do it justice.  Ugh.  Can't wait till it gets here.  I would love to consistently take good photos indoors.


Have a great day!

{Happy Heart Day}

Stamps: Icons I, Icon Extras (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Dare to be a Dive Red (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Love Me Do (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Dare to be a Diva Red (CSS)

Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Light Blue Rhinestones (Kaiser Craft ), Stamping Sponge, Foam Dimensionals, Red Rhinestones Strip (Michaels)

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A {Happy Birthday} Card...

Hey guys!  Today I have a card to share that uses this week's CPS Sketch.  Once again I used some Offbeat paper from  Basic Grey.  I am not too crazy about this paper, but the more I use it I've been noticing that I like the sheets individually, but not all together.  On today's card I used one pattern for the background and just a little scrap for the small heart.  I think this works since it's mixed with a bunch of solids.  Not so overwhelming to the eye.  

I added some faux stitching and a red rhinestone as a finishing touch.  I hope you've enjoyed today's card.  Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: Essential Messages (Hero Arts)

Card Stock: Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Offbeat (Basic Grey)

Ink: Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: White Gel Pen (Sakura), Red Rhinestone (Kaiser Craft), Heart Punches (Paper Shapers), Edge Distresser

 

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A "Joy to the World" Card...

Since I was working on my Christmas cards over the weekend, I guess I'm still in holiday mode.  This week's CPS sketch as well as the Everything But the Kitchen Sink challenge were pretty similar.  I think this card would fit both sketches.  Paper Maniac is sponsoring the EBTKS one and giving away a $20 gift certificate.

I used papers from the 6x6 paper pad 'Tis the Season from Kaiser Craft.  There was a sheet of these different colored damask stripes that work perfectly for the sketches.  The newsprint patterned paper has writing about Christmas and Santa on it.

The sentiment is embossed in gold.  I love how it shows up so well on patterned paper.

I hope you all had a great weekend!  I'll share some pics of ours soon.  Have a great day!

{Joy to the World}

Stamps: Signature Christmas (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: 'Tis the Season (Kaiser Craft), Chestnut Roan (Color Box)

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: Gold Embossing Powder (SU), Gold Mini Brads, Gold Ribbon (Offray), Button, Foam Dimensionals, Glue Dots

 

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A "Hope you're feeling better" Card...

 Hello!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  Ours was super busy, but I'll let you know all about it in a separate post.  Fall break is over for the kids and we are back to the normal routine.  I love routine.  I am such a creature of habit.

Anyway, the card I made today uses this week's CPS sketch.  I love simple, so I immediately wanted to give this a try.  After I figured out what papers I wanted to use, I then had to figure out how to cut a perfect curve.  I thought about using my oval nesties, but the largest one wasn't large enough.  Then I remembered my Coluzzle.  It worked like a charm.  You don't hear much about Coluzzle's these days.  If you don't know, a Coluzzle is a circle and oval cutting device that SU sold before they came out with their new circle cutter.

Now that I look at my card, I'm realizing that I could have done this a much easier way.  I should have just cut a kraft oval, glued it to the card and then trimmed off the sides.  Oh well, next time.  The center panel is cork and I created a wavy banner for my sentiment.  I love that 3D effect.

Thanks so much for visiting!!!  Have a great day!

{hope you are feeling better}

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink) 

Patterned Paper: Apple Cider (Imaginisce)

Ink: Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink), Chestnut Roan (Colorbox)

Accessories: Cork, Red Rhinestones (Kaiser Craft), Heart Punches (Paper Shapers), Foam Dimensionals, Coluzzle

 

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A "There's No Place Like Home" Card...

I totally feel like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz with this card.  The funny thing is that the sentiment stamp actually says "There's no place like home for the holidays", but I thought the just "there's no place like home" would go perfectly with these houses from the Life is Good collection from Echo Park.  All of the papers on my card come from that collection as well as the striped sticker that runs beneath each row of houses.  

The layout of this card comes from this week's CPS sketch.  I love this one!!!  I'm still out of kraft card stock.  I though I would be able to buy a pack at Archiver's on my trek over the weekend.  No such luck.  So, once again I used a creamy caramel card base with brown sponged edges to give the same look as kraft.

Have a great day!

{There's no place like home}

Stamps: Holiday Home (Stampendous)

Card Stock: Creamy Caramel (SU)

Patterned Paper: Life is Good (Echo Park)

Ink: Chestnut Roan (Colorbox)

Accessories: Heart Punch, Flower Punch, Pink Rhinestone (Michaels), Foam Dimensionals

 

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A "Wishing you well" Card...

Hey guys!  I made this happy little card this morning using this week's CPS sketch.  All of the papers on my card come from a 6" x 6" paper pad called Hippy Girl from Kaiser Craft.  Not only are the colors and patterns to die for, but they also include 4 sheets of die cuts.  Most of the die cuts are labels and are perfect for stamping sentiments.  That's what I did on my today.

Please ignore the shadow of my head in this photo!  I wanted to make sure you can see the dimension of the sentiment panel as well as a close up of the burlap string.  One day I'll get this whole photography thing down.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit me today!!!  I hope are having a great start to your week.

{Wishing You Well}

Stamps: Everyday Classics (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Hippy Girl (Kaiser Craft)

Ink: Old Olive, Perfect Plum (SU)

Accessories: Burlap String (May Arts), Foam Dimensionals, Pink Rhinestones (Michaels), Stampin' Sponge (SU)

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Hope your day is fabulous...

Hey there!  I am really running behind today.  I was hoping to get this card posted much earlier, but hey, that's life!  Anyway, the card I made today uses this week's CPS sketch.   I kept the sketch the same but made my card a square instead of a standard A2 size.   I have to tell you that I've had those decorative brads for years.    I've tried to use them many times, but they just didn't look right on any of my cards, until now that is!!!

I know I've said this before, but those rhinestones are light pink.  I can never get them to photograph right.  It's so much prettier in person.

I hope you all have a great weekend!  I can't wait to get ours started.  We're having a family movie night tonight and then we are going to a winery tomorrow.  I can't wait!!!

{Hope your day is FABULOUS}

Stamps: Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft, Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Life is Good (Echo Park)

Ink: Close to Cocoa (SU)

Accessories: Jumbo Brads (Making Memories), Pink Rhinestones (Michaels), Corner Rounder Punch (EK Success), Foam Dimensionals, Stampin' Sponge (SU)

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