TESC149 Challenge

Here is this week's sketch from Taylored Expressions ...

I admit that generally I steer clear of anything with banners with maybe the occasional exception of a small one with a sentiment on it!  For some reason I just don't do well with them ... but I thought I'd give it a try.  I have this new reindeer stamp that has been waiting for a little attention so thought it would be pretty embossed in red with a twinkly little nose!  Well ... sadly she was a little bigger than my sketch really needed so after a few different "tries" I cut her out, popped her up, and added the snowflake! 

Miss you!

I needed a card for my daughter to give her 17 year old brother who loves his guitar and rock n' roll ... so what better than to enter in this week's TCP challenge and use the SFYTT sketch!

This guitar paper is so cool in real life - sparkles, guitars are embossed and glossy - love it! 

TE Blast from the Past Blog Hop!

I'm excited to be part of Taylored Expressions' Blast from the Past Blog Hop.  This month's theme is Trick or Sweet.  I've had my projects finished for a couple weeks now and am excited to finally be able to share them!  Enjoy!

The sketch design is by Sankari Wegman, one of the members of TE's Baker's Dozen Design Team.  I had a great halloween paper pad with very unusual choices in it as well as some Scrabble tiles from a themed game one of my kids never played with.  So ... together they created a very halloween-y card!

During one of my frequent trips to Michael's, I found this set of little jars - perfect for "thinking of you" type gifts.  So ... here is what I came up with ...

... Eat at Your Own Risk ... yes, a little creepy!  I couldn't resist using the "drippy" punch to go along with the gorey eyes.  Finding small "eyeballs" was the biggest challenge as not too many would fit in the jar otherwise!  (These are actually bubblegum rather than the chocolate ones.)

... Witch's Pot ... aren't these candy corns unusual?!  Since they seemed "girly" to me, I had to create a witch-themed jar.  The bubbles are glazed although they don't show up too well and the hat ... well ... it just had to have feathers on it!

... and lastly ... some Spooky Treats ...

Enjoy the hop! 

Mojo Monday & City Crafters Challenges

Today I am posting a Thanksgiving card using the Mojo Monday sketch and the City Crafters' inspiration picture ...

Week 79 - Harvest Festival

The stamped sentiment is from JustRite Stamps and paper, twill ribbon, buttons, and rhinestones from Papertrey Inc.  It's hard to see in this picture but the sentiment and leaf are "popped" for dimension.

SSSC139 Challenge

This week I am using the new TE nativity set - isn't it darling?  I love the donkey!

Here is the sketch for this week ...

Christmas Tree cards

A special holiday edition of a craft magazine I'd ordered came so I got inspired to play with a couple new stamp sets and die cuts that I'd ordered.  It also works well with the Christmas Card Challenge this week ...

This card is more elegant in person than the picture shows but this JustRite stamp set ("O Christmas Tree") is definitely one I'll use many times in the weeks to come.  The background is embossed with the Cuttlebug "Allegro" music folder.

Then I noticed some scraps from a Christmas paper pad I'd used last year so put them together and cut out a tree from a new triangle die set I just got from Spellbinders. Not as cute as I had in my head but can't always be successful!

Up, Up and Away!

< This project earned me "Spotlight Artist" recognition on the City Crafter Challenge Blog - thank you! >

While chatting with a friend yesterday, she mentioned that for her mom's birthday they were giving her a hot air balloon ride.  Somehow we got onto the subject of presentation and I said I'd make her a balloon to go with the gift certificate. 

After some trial and error, here is how it turned out.  My crafty friend had a paper lantern which I painted then hot glued narrow ribbon onto, cut a circle to cover the largest end of the lantern and punched small holes where I wanted my skewers to go.  (There were other ideas tried but this turned out to be the most stable and successful method!)  I trimmed the skewers to the length I needed and hot glued them into the basket (which I'd already decorated).  Then, pointy end up, put them through the circle to the height I wanted and they stay!  I think she'll be pleased.

I entered this into a 3D challenge at City Crafter (http://www.citycrafter.blogspot.com/) ...

The card I made to match ...

SSSC137 Challenge

When I learned that a friend was expecting a baby boy in March, I thought this would be a great layout to work with the stamp set.  With the exception of the cream cardstock, all the paper and stamps are from Taylored Expressions.  I think the mommy and color combo are great!

SSSC136 Challenge

For this challenge I thought the forest paper from Basic Grey's "eerie paper pad" went so well with the gal from the Waltzing Mouse stamp set. Doesn't she look as if she's creeping through the woods and the bats hanging from the limbs ... eerie!

TESC146 Challenge

I've had this stamp set "Close to Nature" from Stampin' Up for quite a while and thought it went so well with PTI's paper pad.  This sketch made it a perfect match!

SSSC135 Challenge

Aren't these Halloween PTI dies the cutest?  The paper is a pad they had last year and of course had to use my cobweb embossing folder for the background on the circle.  I used some white ink to make the webbed image show up a little better and made the bats wings 3D.  The fangs on the pumpkin make me smile!

SFYTT Challenge

Here is my card for the September SFYTT Challenge.  The bird is 3-D and ribbon some of the tea-dyed seam binding I did a while ago.  I like this layout and will definitely use again!

TESC 144 Challenge

Here is another card for the TESC 144 Challenge.  This is some new paper I got a couple weeks ago and I thought the new PTI mum die went perfectly with the flowered paper.  (The mum paper and sentiment paper are PTI as are the sentiments.)  I had to move my flower around a bit so it doesn't match the sketch challenge perfectly .. oops!

TESC 144 Challenge

This is a very loose interpretation of the sketch but I was inspired by it so am going with it!  The items on the card were ones we received as part of the recent Southern California Shop Hop giveaways.  I loved the items but have laid them out differently than the example at the store to more closer match the sketch.  The "net" and vintage tags with paperclip are probably my favorites!  It's larger than a card so plan to display on a stand as it makes me smile!