Butterfly {Dreams}

I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly........oh no....wait...that's Sound of Music...not quite where I was headed here. But, with spring in the air, I have butterflies on the brain. And since there is oh so often a song singing its notes in my head, its not a huge leap....right?

Okay, okay, so I imagine you came here for something other than the inner workings of my brain, yes?! So, I'll spare you the adventure that would require a five point harnass and show you.....a card!

I've had this fantastic butterfly lady stamp in my collection for over fifteen years now and I love her! She's a butterfly who just seems to be made of {dreams}. I stamped & embossed her with fabby pink foil embossing powder, also from my old stash.


Then! I decided to try one of my friend Elise's (Mamacow Creations) coloring techniques.....using Stampin' Up!'s watercolor wonder crayons with an Aqua Painter (taking the aqua painter brush tip to the tip of the crayon and then laying it on the paper) to add some pinks & purples to my fabby butterfly lady. (Okay, I definitely need some practice here, but I had fun trying this for the first time.) After cutting her out, I wanted to pop her up, but not so extreme like with foam, so I cut out three itty bitty strips of white cardstock, adhered them together, and then to the back of her body. See, she has lift! (Those Sound of Music lyrics are floating through my brain again!! :>)

Add some printed vellum with a fun K& Company rubon sentiment, bracketed with some Cosmo Cricket chipboard pieces (that were painted pink and decked out in Tim Holtz's Distress Stickles) and The Butterfly Lady has a safe place to land. (If you are noticing a difference in the colors, the first two shots were in the sun and the last one was shot in the shade.....and then my camera battery said it was tired and wanted a charge.)

The weather here has been like easy summer days this week.......we've been running in the 80's. And with tomorrow being the first official day of spring, it will be nice to have the sun out this weekend.

Does it look like spring where you live? Do you have any spring like activities planned this weekend? We're hoping to get some work done in the backyard, plant the parsley, sage, and chives that came home with my daughter and I this week, and clear out some room for the tomatoes that my kidlets are dying to plant! Happy Friday! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hibiscus Burst - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Vellum - Dollar Tree (I've had it in my stash for over five years now...lol!)
Stamp: Butterfly Lady - Hippo Heart

Ink: Versamark
Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Stampin' Up!
Rub On: K & Company
Chipboard: brackets - Cosmo Cricket
Other: embossing powder - from stash....and it has mysteriously disappeared, if it just as magically reappears, I'll update the info.; Paint - Delta & Making Memories; Worn Lipstick - Distress Stickles by Tim Holtz for Ranger; Bling - Stash (off brand from Walmart)

Lisa's Poppy Seed Challenge & Fabric Fun for EBTKS

Wow! As busy as this week is, I'm so happy to have crafted a bit of time for some paper, ink, stamps, bling, and fabric!

I had fabric in mind to play along with the Everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge. Actually, I thought I was going to use some of the fabric that I bought recently, but instead found myself digging through my old stash and even using a wee piece of the pink gingham that was in my daughter's nursery!







And I was so excited to see Lisa Johnson diving in and starting her own challenge, that I knew I wanted to include her three Poppy Seeds in my card!







I made my fabric circles essentially the same way I created them HERE (for a scalloped paper flower) and HERE (with an Easter egg dye paper towel)......only with fabric. Once they were layered, I pinched the fabric in the middle, threw in a couple of stitches, and then sewed a button on top with embroidery floss. I really love how it came out and will have to make one again!

This little sweet sentiment is from my stash from about fifteen years ago and its one of my favorites. Isn't that exactly what a card is meant to do, no matter what the occasion is??!

A couple of last details to share......I stamped that little flower stamp all over the lemon tart card base in Versamark for a subtle pattern (you can click on the photo to enlarge it) and then stamped it again, in teal, on either side of the sentiment. A couple pink crystals and my happy little card is complete.

I'm off to enjoy some of today's happy moments......my daughter is going to her second dance class with her Grammie and I'll be heading back to my son's school to watch him perform Tiki Tiki Tembo, which they have been working on this trimester in Drama class. He tells me he's the Old Man in it and has to walk very slowly. :> Should be fun!

What's making you smile today?



(I'll be back with a supply list this evening!)

I'm back and here's my supply list:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Lemon Tart - Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Flower - Stampin' Up!; Sentiment - Love You To Bits
Ink: Versamark; Taken with Teal - Stampin' Up!
Fabric: Stash
Button: Stash (I think its Autumn Leaves)
Thread: Coats & Clark
Embroidery Floss: Bazzill
Bling: Lisa Bearnson

Detailed Fun with Just Us Girls & EBTKS

Come & Color, I did....but not with markers, pens, or pencils. But, I did have so much FUN with these colors for the Just Us Girls 21st challenge! I mean there were little giggles, lots of smiles, and oodles of delight as I played!

And all that delight is most definitely in the details! But, before I tell you about those details, let me share where the rest of the card came from.........the current sketch challenge from Everything But The Kitchen Sink! I have wanted to play along with the EBTKS crew from the beginning...thank goodness I finally did! :>

Okay, okay, back to some of those details! I cut some lovely K & Company printed paper into four squares, used some temporary adhesive to adhere them all butted up against each other (as in one big square) and then using coral and raspberry ink, I inked up some fun stripes. If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now (or again) that I feel just like a kid when I get all inky....instant happy pill!


Next, I spread out those four squares, adhered them to a piece of raspberry cardstock, pierced around the edges, using the Tim Holtz Clear Design Ruler (I LOVE this tool!), and hand stitched with vanilla embroidery thread. Matting the whole thing onto a chocolate card base, I turned to the rest of those fun details.

That fab scalloped square chipboard frame took a quick bath in some ivory paint and then went for a good soak in some of Tim Holtz's Distress Rock Candy crackle paint. I stamped that wonderful sentiment (that oh so fits my love of the little things in life!) in brown StazOn onto vanilla cardstock, cut it out with a circle Coluzzle (still do not understand why it was discontinued!) and it too went for a soak in Rock Candy. And when they started cracking like mad, can you see why giggles were escaping me?! When they were all dry (the cardstock curled, but I simply bent it back and smoothed it out), I rubbed some coral ink onto it and rubbed off the excess.....its a very subtle effect, but it does add to it. I also did the same dry rubbed ink on the sweet vanilla wood button.

The last bit of details rest in the fibers. I layered the stitched raspberry ribbon on top of chocolate ribbon...I just like the subtle extra bit of chocolate in the middle of the card. Now the stitching on that raspberry ribbon is white and that just didn't work. So, I took a Q-Tip, dabbed it in some Distress ink and ran it over the stitches. Again, very subtle, but it took the edge off of the white stitching and made it applicable to the color challenge, which calls for vanilla, not white! I tied the whole bow together with some brown embroidery floss and that sweet vanilla wood button!

Big Thank Yous to both the JUGS & EBTKS teams for creating their fabulous & fun challenge sites! So glad I crafted some time to play!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week! I'm off to celebrate some of the cherrished details in my own life.....in fact, one is smiling at me right now, while nibbling on her carrot! :>

And don't forget my Blog Birthday Giveaway is still going on!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate & Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Purely Pomegranate - Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: K & Company

Ink: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Timber Brown - StazOn by Tsukineko; Old Paper Distress Ink - Tim Holtz for Ranger
Stamps: Life Bundle - Kolette Hall
Chipboard: Scalloped square frame - Stampin' Up!; circles/Chips (2 circles under the sentiment) - Bazzill
Paint: Ivory - Delta; Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint - Tim Holtz for Ranger
Ribbon & Fibers: Purely Pomegranate Saddle Stitched, Chocolate Chip grosgrain - Stampin' Up!; Chocolate embroidery thread - Making Memories; Vanilla embroidery floss - DMC
Button: sweet flower wooden button - La*di*dah for Ki Memories

Tim Holtz Tag & Christmas Teacher Gifts

Rocky Candy, how I love you....let me count the ways..... Well, if I truly did count.....this post would go on and on and on and on and on and on and ON! {And since I'm already a chatty gal, I'd rather just leave room on the post for that chatter!} But, needless to say, I LOVE the stuff, both the Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint alike...thank you Tim Holtz!

Here are some of my tags that I made based on his first inspirational tag from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas:

I made five total. These three went on top of the blank Stampin' Up! tags I made for my son's teachers' Christmas presents this year.

In addition to the uber fabulous Rock Candy Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint, I loved how I made my snowmen! I do not have Tim's fun snowman stamp, so I punched out three circles, taped them together, layed them on top of Grunge Paper (I didn't even realize it was Grunge Paper and not Grunge Board, until he did a tag later down the line with it.......then I went back and looked and what do ya know!!! :>), traced and cut out my snowmen.

Next, I inked them up with black ink and embossed them twice with clear embossing powder. I inked up the snowflake stamp with Versamark and then pressed it down into the embossed snowman while the embossing powder was still warm. When it cooled down, I removed the stamp and it left a snowflake depression in my snowman (Thank you Claire for showing me that technique! :>). And then I added the white paint, followed the rest of Tim's instructions, and I had SO MUCH FANTASTIC FUN!!!! I felt like an inky, sticky kidlet making these and I think I had a permenant Chesire smile etched into my face! :>

Using assorted Stampin' Up! tag stamps, I made fifty-four tags, eighteen for each teacher. I used my Spica glitter pens to add some sparkle, some crystal Stickles for snow, and threaded each one with coordinating embroidery thread.

To present them, I threaded through each set of tags with a double strand of silver cord, put a signed large Tim snowman tag on top, and tied them off. School let out a week before Christmas this year, so these were practical for the teachers to use on their gifts. Practical, crafty, and fun makes for a great gift in my book and hopefully, in their books as well. These three women have been wonderful assets in our son's life and we are thankful for all of them!

Supplies:
Cardstock: White - Georgia Pacific; Certainly Celery - Stampin' Up!; Pure Poppy - Papertrey Ink; turquoise & blue - Stash
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue - Stampin' Up!; black - India Ink; Faded Jeans, Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Weathered Wood - Tim Holtz Distress Inks for Ranger
Stamps - Stampin' Up! (all except snowflake....$ stamp from stash)
Other: silver ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Grunge Paper & Board, Stickles, Distress Crackle Paint, Spica glitter pens - Copic; Paint Dabber - Adirondack; Versamark ink; clear embossing powder, embroidery floss & fibers - Stash

Stop the presses.......

........I stamped a card! Waaahooooooo! I know its been a bit and I'm so sorry for that. Life has just been a wee bit busy and the first thing a lack of energy seems to zap, is my creativity. Grrr... Now, even though, I still feel as if I am a cat chasing her tail some days, I decided to craft some time for myself to ink up a stamp that I've had sitting out for awhile now. I absolutely love the detailed images of Mostly Animals stamps and this sunflower is from my stash from back in my early stamping days......about fifteen years ago.

Did you know that you can emboss with your Distress Inks?? Remembering hearing (okay, so I didn't hear it...I read it!) on the 2Peas stamping board (a couple of years ago) that you can emboss with Distress Inks, I thought it was about time I finally try it out for myself! Even though they are dye inks, they do stay wet long enough to pour on embossing powder and heat. Sooooooo....add another dozen ink colors for me to emboss with....yay! (There are way more than a dozen colors....but that's about the number that I own.) Does this add to your collection of colors to emboss with? Or are you an uber cool stamping encyclopedia and already have this knowledge incorporated into all those fun files in your brain?

Even though I had much more elaborate plans for this beautiful stamp, once I stamped and embossed her, I found that I liked the detailed line image so much that I chose to leave it as is. Wanting a bit of color on the card, I punched a trio of butterflies to flit up the card from some Stampin' Up! DSP left overs I had on my table, inked the edges with the same Distress Ink, folded them up, glued them on, and added a touch of bling for some sparkle. Actually, while the pic doesn't show it, there already is a bit of sparkle embossed into the image. Do you remember that orange glitter I had covering my old stash of embossing powder, glitter, and flocks? Well, there was a touch of it left on the rubber of my sunflower stamp that I absolutely could not get off.......until I stamped it on my card and then it was embossed in for a permanent home. Now, I'm really glad its there as for some reason, it just works!


Here's one more trip down memory lane..............back in May, I shared with you some wonderful Strawberry Charm of and from my sweet boy. Well, here is strawberry number four....kind of. That plant has flowered and fruited many times now. But, the noisy blue jays that visit us in our backyard every afternoon this year have been eating them all summer long!! My sweet boy got so excited every time he saw a "pretty white flower" because he knew that a strawberry that he planted, watered, and nurtured would follow that he could eat. We kept encouraging him to keep taking care of it and more would come. Well, either the blue jays found something more interesting to eat or the tomato cage with the reflective strips tied on is working or my sweet boy's timing has improved because he has been able to reap the benefits of his care taking as he harvests and eats the last four ripened strawberries from his charming strawberry plant. Now he wants to grow tomatoes, eggplants, lettuce, zucchinis, and a whole host of other fruits and vegetables!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bashful Blue - Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up!
Stamp: Sunflower - Mostly Animals
Ink: Tea Dye - Distress Ink
Punch: Butterflies - Martha Stewart
Other: clear embossing powder - Stash; Hemp Twine - Stampin' Up!; Bling - Me & My Big Ideas

Holey Hybrid, Batman!

First, for those that were asking, yup, yup, I did get wet at the party. I struck a deal with my son though.....he could squirt me as much as he wanted on my back if he would keep it out of my face. :> And yes, he and I both had a fantastic time at his friend's birthday party!! :>

Just a little something simple to offer up today. What is unusual, at least for me, is that this little simple something is hybrid! Actually, the fact that it is hybrid IS what makes it so simple. I was poking around my friend Dana's blog, Paper Daydream, at the end of last week and clicked on over to The DigiChick blog, where she is a member of their Hybrid Chick Creative Team, and found their Friday Freebie.....and you can't beat free, now can you? Well, actually, yes you can.....it is Cute AND free! So, I had to take advantage of it and give this hybrid thing a try.

Now, I do have some other digi stamps already from a couple of different places, but this week, I have been a little short on time and definitely short on creative energy. Hubby left really early Thursday morning for a Guys' weekend at his friend's cabin and six days later, he is returning later today! Yay!! You see, Hubby is a homebody and consequently, its quite unusual for him to be gone. May I take my hat off to those of you who have spouses who do a lot of traveling or have a spouse in the military who is deployed! One of my closest friend's husband is in the army and is quite often gone throughout the year and she amazes me! :>

Okay.....on to my super simple hybrid card! I opened the images in Microsoft Word to size them, printed them out on Georgia Pacific cardstock (per Dana's recommendation as my old printer was quite moody with the heavier stuff), detail cut a bunch of images out (I still have a few more cut out and waiting for a card, so don't be surprised if you see more from the freebie set!), and then they sat on my desk for a couple of days! I told you I was short on creative energy the last few days. ;-) When I picked them up late this morning, I found some old Stampin' Up! dp, adhered the images and the Purely Pomegranate ribbon to it and then mounted the whole thing on a 4 1/4" x 4" Purely Pomegranate card base......and the whole super simple hybrid card is complete...and in record time! I am a slow crafter, so I will definitely keep this in mind when I need a card fast!

School starts up again for my son on Thursday and we get to meet his teacher tomorrow. While I am So not looking forward to having to set an alarm at 5:40am again, I think we all are looking forward to the school routine and coming adventures. Not to mention, autumn is my favorite time of year! Crunchy leaves (albeit, they take longer to turn colors, fall, and get crunchified in California), a kidlet's birthday, Halloween, Early Thanksgiving at my Aunt's, actual Thanksgiving at home, Christmas tree selection and decoration, Christmas, and the cozy days afterwards. I love the Fall! What are you looking forward to in the coming months?

Supplies:
Cardstock: Purely Pomeganate - Stampin' Up!; white - Georgia Pacific
Patterned (DP) Paper: Stampin' Up!
Images: Danielle Engebretson for the Digi Chick
Ribbon: Purely Pomegranate - Stampin' Up!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #13 & CPS 126

Having just about run out of Berry Sorbet, I was scrambling thinking how I could still participate in Dawn's latest Color Challenge. Then I thought to pull out my pad of Papertrey Ink's Bitty Dots. It is the only PTI patterned paper that I own and I'm oh so glad I do!

I was attempting to complete CPS's sketch 126 in time as well, but I hopped on here just moments too late. Oh well, it provided a great road map for me to create my card with and the absolute perfect excuse to pull out some of my PTI buttons (not that I need an excuse for that, right?!).

With the colors and the layout already decided for me, the whole card came together quite quickly. I think what I loved most was just how happy these colors are. I can't help but smile when I look at them!

Since this was the first time I have stamped and played with this little birdie, I was figuring out how she ticks. When I cut her out, I left the part of the body where the wing would go intact, but the white of the cardstock was glaring, so I simply inked up a sponge and lightly sponged in some red ink. I adhered her cute little polka dot wing with 1/16" foam dots to the body and again used foam dots to adhere the body to the card. I punched the circles with 1 1/8" and 1 3/8" circle punches, layered them, and adhered the tied off buttons with Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. I drew in the birdies legs and feet to complete her.

A fun, happy little card was born from a little inspiration from Dawn McVey and CPS. I'm looking forward to see how one or the other, or both, inspired everyone else who played along! A great big thank you to all who stop by here and of course, I just love hearing from you! Your comments tickle me as pink as this birdie's wing!!! Have a fantastic weekend!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy - PTI

Patterned Paper: Bitty Dot - PTI

Stamps: Everyday Classics - PTI

Ink: Real Red, Regal Rose - Stampin' Up!

Other: Embroidery Floss - Making Memories; Rub Ons - Stampin' Up!; Pen - Zig; Vintage Buttons - Papertrey Ink

Papertrey Ink {Texting} Blog Hop

Edited to Add: Okay, so you all are gonna think I'm either color blind or just plain nuts! When I craft in the living room, which I have been doing a lot of lately (to be with the fam), I do not have the best lighting. And when I'm cooking something up paper style and on the fly when I realize late in the game that oh my, Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop is that night after paying Miss Dawn McVey a visit earlier in the day, it would seem my ability to see color goes down the drain (well, I really don't think that is it.....more like I needed to shake my marble jar and make sure all all those marbles are in there are ready to play!) Okay........sooooo.............here it comes...........are you ready for it?? (I'm not) Okay, holding my head in shame here..........it would seem the reason the photo was coming out so stinkin' pink is........because.....that cardstock was not really Melon Berry.....but, rather, Berry Sorbet!!!! (I'm rapidly melting into a puddle of goo right now as I type this.) Please forgive me for forgetting to shake that marble jar as I was racing to create, post, and link in time! I must go now as my kidlets are asking why there is nothing but a puddle of goo where their Mama once was.

Hop, Hop, Hop! Its time to blog hop, Papertrey Ink style! This month we are to include text on our creations. And here is what I came up with!! I love text and fonts and the whole nine-yards, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has created! :>


Just as an FYI, the cardstock that looks pink here, really is Melon Berry. I do not know why it is reading so pink...except for the button! I used the CPS 125 sketch for this Papertrey Ink Blog Hop challenge.


This is a Pure Poppy card base, layered with a text stamped piece of Melon Berry. The next piece of Pure Poppy is stamped with a script (its hard to see) with Versamark and then stamped some of Life's fabulous images on top with Versafine, Sepia. A piece of chocolate ribbon (the very ribbon I use to sew new tags onto a kidlet's Teddy Bear as they are worn out :>) is run across the card. I stamped Melon Berry and Pure Poppy cardstocks with the flower stamps from Everyday Classics in Versamark and cut them out. I layered them with foam tape and glued a Melon Berry button tied off with some chocolate embroidery floss on top.

Here's a close-up in the hopes of trying to show that script stamp. Have fun hopping tonight and I look forward to visiting you! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Versamark & Versafine
Stamps: Life & Everyday Classics - Papertrey Ink; French Script & By Definition - Stampin' Up!
Ribbon: Offray
Button: Papertrey Ink

A little {hope} & A little {heart}

After a round of drama tonight at the kidlets' bedtime hour (you know the kind, whether you have kidlets or not..............when someone goes from tears to all smiles, up and down within minutes??), I needed just a little bit of ink, bling, hope, and heart to bring me back to my happy place. And I needed it pronto! So, that meant something simple, something with sparkle, something with texture.....but, simple. And that is exactly what I have to share with you here!

When I made my Round Two effort at an anniversary card for hubby last month, I was playing with felt and had cut out these layered hearts. Since I went a different direction with the card, I did not use them. But, almost every single time I sit down, I pick them up and play with them. Tonight, I knew they had to finally find a home................and I'm back in my happy place!

Thanks for stopping by. And the comments that so many of you have left me always leave a Cheshire Cat-like smile on my face....thank you!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampers Select White & Kraft - Papertrey Ink
Stamps: sentiment - Stampin' Up!
Ink: India Ink Black - Stewart Superior
Bling: Me & My Big Ideas
Other: Felt

Taking Kindly to Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #12

Yippie! I was able to craft some time today to play along with everyone for Dawn McVey's Color Challenge #12! Do you know how happy I am?! But, I better get to completing this post pretty darn quick or I'm going to miss that deadline. We don't want that, right? heehee

Dawn chose this gorgeous foliage for color inspiration this round. I pulled Stampin' Up!'s retired Purely Pomegranite, Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream and Raspberry Fizz, and some light green bling to jump in the sandbox and play together.

Inking my flourish first in Versamark and then in Purely Pomegranite dye ink, I stamped it and embossed it several times on the Raspberry Fizz cardstock. Actually, I was warning my daughter of the dangers of a hot heat gun, so she wouldn't accidentally burn herself in her curiosity and I wasn't thinking and inked my stamp up in reverse! So, now I have a pomegranite stained Versamark pad. Its not fabulous for my only clear, tone on tone ink pad, but I ended up making it work really well for this card. I stamped a flower medallion onto Vintage Cream cardstock with my now tinted Versamark and it produced a soft pink that works nicely with the card and keeps the cream from being such a jolt to the eye. I then overstamped the "kind" sentiment and cut it out. I put it on a pop-dot and placed a line of five pieces of light green bling below it. The whole layered piece then was adhered to a Purely Pomegranite card base.

Here is one more shot of it. The first full length pic was taken in front of a window and consequently, does not pic up the embossing well. This picture was taken in full sunlight and it picks up a glare off the silver of my camera (which is why I usually prefer to take pics in the morning or evening, but I wanted to play along and had to go with what the sun was giving me! :>). However, it does show off the embossing a bit better.

I hope you all are able to craft some time in your day for fun, creativity, and a little play.....even grown ups need it! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranite - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream, Raspberry Fizz - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Versamark - Tsukineko; Purely Pomegranite dye ink - Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Baroque Motifs - Stampin' Up!
Embossing Powder: Clear - Stash (a rubber stamping store that I used to work for sold it, but I'm not sure who packaged it and they went out of business in the '90's)
Embellishment: light green bling - Bling It On by Lisa Bearnson

MTCC 03 & some friendly little mushrooms...

Well, this color challenge was really a no-brainer for me! Dana's picture of her little childhood table for Lauren's My Time To Create Color Challenge is just too cute and brought back memories of my little table toppped with tiny square tiles....with the same '70's color vibe! My Dad has it right now...........hmmmmm.......I wonder what it would cost to ask him to ship it here???? Okay, before I head off on quite a tangent....which I do often, I'll stop myself!

Isn't that mushroom with the ladybug (in the pic) just adorable??!! I immediately thought of a little mushroom I have that has not seen ink in years. When I got it out, I realized it would be too small on its own, so I dug into an old foam set of stamps that also has not come out to play (this one since the '90's!) that I was pretty sure had a larger mushroom stamp. I was delighted when it did!

On some cream cardstock, I stamped my two old friends (aka friendly mushrooms!) with Versafine ink. Initially, I was going to color them in, but after I saw them on the chocolate cardstock, I just couldn't. I like their graphic look, I like them uncolored. I did pop them up though. I popped the middle mushroom up on 1/8th" adhesive foam and the little mushrooms are up on 1/16" foam.


To mirror the petite images, I wanted a smaller card, so I cut a piece of Dark Chocolate cardstock down to a 4"x4" card and then layered a strip of Really Rust cardstock atop a piece of More Mustard. Wrapping a piece of New Leaf satin ribbon around these layers completed the four colors that we were given from the picture. I tied a bow with the satin ribbon, separate from the piece wrapped around the card, and secured it with a button, threaded with hemp twine and adhered with Fabri-Tac.

My friendly little mushrooms, Dana's picture, and Lauren's color challenge brought me some happy little fun this afternoon! Quite honestly, after cutting hubby's hair for the first time today, I needed a little stampy ink time for me. Good news though......his hair cut came out really well! That is good news, right???? I think I just added another item to my 'to do' list. :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate & Vintage Cream - PTI; Really Rust & More Mustard - Stampin' Up!
Ink: Vintage Sepia - Versafine
Stamps: Small Mushroom (little one) - Leigh's Wishing Well; Medium Mushroom from Land of Make Believe - Rubber Stampede
Ribbon: New Leaf satin - PTI; Hemp Twine - Stampin' Up!
Other: green button - Stash (best guess, Autumn Leaves)

KWerner Color Inspiration #55...my 1st time playing along!

Amazingly, I have never played along with one of Kristina's color challenges before. But, that ended today. I have a couple of new books by my bedside and I am so tired of pulling the nearest thing to mark my page....a paper clip, a barrette, and my old standby, a kleenex! So, a bookmark seemed to be calling my name.

With Kristina's colors in mind, I riffled through my stamps and pulled out quite an assortment that have most definitely not received the love they deserve. First, I cut a piece of More Mustard down to size. Next, I stamped an antique map of Africa. Then, I stamped the sentiment and the Tim Holtz clock with Versamark and embossed with russet embossing powder. I stamped some vines randomly all over the cardstock (these were not embossed) for a tone on tone effect.

Not wanting to add any cream cardstock to the bookmark, I went through my options to include the color. Cream ink? Nope, don't have it. Cream rub-ons? Nope, none in a shape that would work for me. Hmmmmmmm.......what else do I have?? Then it came to me!! Prismacolor colored pencils!!! PC914, Cream, at my service! I know this seems so simple, but its a major light bulb tip moment for me!!! With my pencils, I pretty much have any color that could be used in a color challenge, even if I do not have it in ink, cardstock, or ribbon! I used the cream colored pencil to color the edges, as you would ink the edges with an ink pad. This light bulb moment just tickled me oh so pink....er, um, cream colored?!

I finished the bookmark off with a Making Memories pebble clip at the top and matted the stamped More Mustard carstock on to a piece of Really Rust cardstock. One thing I want to note, I know that the embossing powder looks a bit different in color to the cardstock, but they really are the same color in real life.

I typically do not collage stamp. Yet, I had so much fun here and really like how it came out.....not to mention, all of the unused stamps and supplies that are feelin' the love with this simple little creation! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: More Mustard, Really Rust - Stampin' Up!
Ink: Versamark - Tsukineko; Weathered Wood Distress Ink - Ranger
Stamps: Antique Maps - Sunday International; Decorative Flair (vine) - Stamped In Ink; Sentiment, Special Occasions - Marcella by K&Company; Clock, Life's Possibilities - Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous
Embossing Powder: Russet - The Herbarium
Embellishment: Travel Pebble Clips
Other: Prismacolor Colored Pencil

Gettin' Inky!

Would you believe I sat down with a piece of plain white cardstock? Well, it was Papertrey Ink's white cardstock, so it was thick enough to hold up to some heavy inking and a little paint! But, just look how colorful white can be!

I cannot tell you just how much I love getting inky. I've been asked how I get so much on my hands or would I like gloves on more than one occasion, but truth be told, I want the ink and the paint on my hands! Looking down and seeing colorful fingers reminds me that I found time to play. And like the rush that I get when zooming down Splash Mountain, landing with giddy fits of laughter or whizzing around inside Space Mountain at Disneyland, feeling the air rush through my hair, grinning ear to ear the whole ride, I feel like a kidlet at play seeing the colors marking my hands. So, ink on, I say!!!

Now, back to how I obtained those inky & painted hands! Starting with a piece of white cardstock, I inked it up, first with the yellow, blending in the red, then two shades of purple. A light wash of yellow pearlescent paint went over the bottom yellow portion for just a hint of glimmer. Next, I moved to my tree. I grabbed some sheets of Grungeboard that the fantastic Tim Holtz has given us, drew (I so cannot draw, so I did my best!) a shape on the back of the sheet, and cut it out. Did you know that Stampin' Up!'s Craft & Rubber scissors cut grungeboard easy as pie!!! Large chunks, small slivers, it really doesn't matter. Now that we're not using them for rubber so much, its nice to know they won't sit neglected and lonely in my tool bag! Okay, back to the tree....when I achieved the shape I wanted, I painted on a coat of silver pearlescent paint, then a coat of black acrylic paint. I began sanding the grungeboard and did not love the effect I was getting, so I backed off to a really light sand and liked the amount of the silver pearlescent paint that was showing through. With one more really light coat of the silver, following with a clean, slightly damp brush (to make sure the final coat was indeed light and allowing a lot of the black to show through) my tree was finished and back to my background, I went.

Using India Ink, I inked the edges, all the way around in black. Next I stamped some swirls up in the night sky and some foliage on the ground below. A night sky is in need of some sparkling stars to twinkle and shine above, so on they went. I used a combination of my ATG and Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive to glue my tree to my background and then matted it on Pure Poppy cardstock before putting the whole thing on to a True Black card base. And voila!


My little Princess, who is oh so girly, but can keep up with almost any boy is starting to get into all kinds of crafty goodness..................and I love it! She has a coloring printout of Disney Princess Jasmine that she has colored and intensely worked on cutting into the edges of it with my neglected decorative scissors and every time she sits down to work on it, she says, "Mama, I'm going to work on my 'Project'." It doesn't look like much when I read it in text here, but I hear her oh so cute voice saying it that just tickles me to no end!

When I inked up the cardstock with the yellow, red, and purples, she got so excited. She obviously had great plans. "Mama, you can put some pink on it and see?! Glitter!!", she says as she picks up the industrial sized Martha Stewart garnet glitter off of my table. When she got up the next morning, there was utter disappointment on her face and in her voice when she saw the black, inked on the edges. "Do you like it?", I asked. "Um, no." She doesn't hold back, "You can put pink on it! Mama, I tawt you were gonna put sparkle on it?!" Its more of a demand than a question. She's mildly satisfied with my end product, but does insist that the stars should be on the tree, rather than in the sky.

My craft desk is in our bedroom (thank you kind, tolerant hubby!), but I've been crafting in the living room lately (again, thank you kind, tolerant hubby!). Consequently, my creative process almost always involves my kidlets. So, I suppose my daughter would really appreciate seeing something sparkly and pink soon and my son would love it if those Star Trek stamps that I have from fifteen years ago would come out and make their way on to something for him. But, first I better get my act together and make some Father's Day cards....asap!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy, True Black - Papertrey Ink
Ink: YoYo Yellow, Real Red, Lovely Lilac, Elegant Eggplant Classic Inks - Stampin' Up!; India Ink Black - Stewart Superior
Stamps: Bronc Buster, Pocket Silhouettes - Stampin' Up!
Paints: Black - Delta Ceramcoat; Yellow & Silver Pealescent Paints - Yasutomo
Embellishments: Grungeboard - Tim Holtz; Clear bling - Bling It On by Lisa Bearnson

Moxie Fab World Citrus Color Challenge

As I began pulling colors for the Moxie Fab color challenge, I saw just how many different directions we can go! I realize its more Moxie FAB to use current and new products, but I ended up with a couple of retired SU In Colors, River Rock (which I never liked, until now...yes, Elise, you can thump me now!) and Wild Wasabi, in combination with a current color from Papertrey Ink, Lemon Tart. There are several other combinations that could be made from current SU colors or using Lemon Tart, Spring Moss, and Ripe Avocado (or New Leaf) from PTI, and a huge number of combinations from Bazzill or any number of great companies out there with great springtime launching into summer colors!

Planning in my head what I wanted to do, I grabbed a one inch circle punch and started punching out Lemon Tart and Wild Wasabi circles. I started arranging them on the River Rock card base to match that picture in my head and no matter how hard I tried to put them in a larger circle, they kept inching back into a line......acting like the caterpillar that they looked like sitting there on my card. So, I decided, why fight it?! A caterpillar it is. Running the circles through a Xyron, made it easy to attach them to each other and the card. A little TIP: If you take a stylus and trace around the outside (and the inside, if it has any cutouts) before you remove the top liner/cover, you will not have any of those annoying little Xyron webs that used to drive me batty!

Looking for antennae options, I pulled out my Love & Happiness rub-ons that were an SU sellabration goodie a couple years ago. I'm embarrassed to admit, I had not used them yet, not a one!! Actually, I'm really horrible about remembering to use rub-ons!! Oh the horror!! I have them. I love them when I see them. I admire them on other people's projects. But, I forget to use them!! Consequently, it may be a very simple card, but I'm proud that I did indeed remember to check out my rub-on stash!!! I cut out one flower stem (in Old Olive, I believe), that I cut into two pieces and used that for that for the antennae stems and two little dots for the antennae bulbs. I then cut the same two dots from the Chocolate Chip sheet and used them for the eyes. And voila, a little rub-on personality for my caterpillar!

"Thank You so much" is a sentiment from Dawn McVey's fabulous set, Damask Designs and was stamped in Wild Wasabi. The edges were all inked with more of that great color (too bad it is no longer). After I completed inking the card, the sentiment was beginning to get lost, so I took a Spica Glitter Pen in Melon and traced over the top popping the sentiment back out and giving it just a little bling!

Time to get one kidlet down for a nap and convince the other that the sun really will eventually come out today.....it is 2:30pm on June 1st, afterall! Oh well, I took advantage of it being cooler as well as all the gardening inspiration that I'm finding on so many blogs this week by pruning and weeding out back this morning. We transplanted a graphed apple tree that will have six different kinds of apples.....once it starts producing fruit. Its a happy little guy and I love looking at him out my kitchen window. Even though its getting late, I want to at least get my herb garden going and hopefully, get back to growing some veggies. I SO do not have a green thumb, but I get points for trying, right? What are you all growing in your gardens, this summer? (Or, if you are on the south side of the equator....hi Sarah!....what do you like to plant during your growing season?)

Supplies:
Cardstock: River Rock, Wild Wasabi - SU!; Lemon Tart - PTI
Ink: Wild Wasabi Classic dye ink - SU!
Stamps: Damask Designs - PTI

Embellishments: Love & Happiness Rub-ons - SU!; Melon glitter pen - Spica by Copic

Other: 1" circle punch - EK Success

Background Inking

When I saw this video tutorial on Tami's blog, Dapple Designs, on making distress backgrounds lighter and brighter for spring, I knew I would try it. Eventually. Thankfully, 'eventually' finally became 'now' over the last two days. I was a little short on time, but it was really easy to break this up by making the backgrounds on Saturday and putting it to work on a card on Sunday.

Using all four SU classic ink yellows, I swished and swirled my paper into the ink I pressed on to my craft mat. Just a side note here: I've had my craft mat for about a year now and this is only the second time I've brought it out! Smack me on the head now please! What have I been thinking....or not thinking, to be more precise! This is one fabulous simple little necessity to have in your crafting tool bag! And flashing back to the card..... It took several passes. I also forgot about using any water. The excitement to ink up the cardstock took over, I think. In the end though, I really like how it turned out. And without the water, it gives the paper a texture that is almost like suede. I really recommend checking out Tami's blog and seeing what great inspiration she has there!

Breaking out SU's Best Blossoms again, I stamped the flower in three colors and the stamp with the leaves on the stem several times and then cut them out. I adhered the two flowers on the outside with 1/16" foam tape and the one in the middle with 1/8" foam tape. The bottom layer of the ribbon is satin ribbon, with the wrong or back side facing up and on top of that is the pink twill. I adhered them to each other and to the card with my trusty ATG.

So much inky fun was to be had that I inked up two more backgrounds, one with purples and one with blues, that I hope to use in the near future!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, New Leaf - PTI
Stamps: Best Blossoms - SU; Thank You - Rubber Soul
Ink: Summer Sun, YoYo Yellow, So Saffron, Barely Banana, Positively Pink (retired), Cameo Coral, Regal Rose, Garden Green - SU; Vintage Sepia - Versafine
Ribbon: Hibiscus Pink twill, New Leaf Satin - PTI

MTTC 01 & CPS 113 & IAP1

Combining three challenges into one card is kind of fun! Now I know why some people create their own challenge of seeing how many challenges they can combine into one project. I always think that I cannot do that, but evidently, I'm wrong!

I combined Lauren Meader's first color challenge with Card Positioning Systems weekly sketch challenge with a challenge at the Stamp Shack for Ink-A-Polooza this week.

Would you believe that I do not own a single sheet of darker gray cardstock?! Oh the horror!!! But, I did dig out a piece of corrugated gray........not sure what to call it....thicker than cardstock and thinner than cardboard and a squishier consistency than tag board. I bought a multi-color pack of the stuff back in 2000 when I started scrapbooking. Maybe I ought to find a 'use your stash' challenge since its nine years old!!

Colorful simplicity was the name of the game here. The whole card is created simply with layers of cardstock, the stamped image popped up on 1/8" foam squares, and a little tiny bling with some Spica glitter pens. First I traced the word 'thanks' with silver. Then I went back over it with red. I discovered a little trick when I did this. When I decided to use the red over the silver, I dotted the red pen with little tiny dots right next to each other. It then looks like a line drawn, but the sparkle effect is amazing!! Whatever sparkle you think you are getting with your Spica glitter pens, try dotting with them and you'll be amazed at just how much more sparkle there is. I am without much sun right now as we are expecting rain (please, please, please rain! its been Very dry here this season), so I don't think I'm capturing the difference here. That might be something I'll have to do though in the near future. :> In the meantime, if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the sparkle a lot better!


Supplies:
Cardstock: Lemon Tart, Spring Rain, Pure Poppy - PTI; corrugated gray - Stash
Ink: Charcoal Chalk ink - Colorbox
Stamp: Lexicon of Love - SU
Other: Red & Silver Spica Glitter Pens - Copic

PTI Blog Hop!!

It's Hoppin' time!! This is the first time I am officially hoppin' and I'm looking forward to checking out what everyone has created this month! Creating a background was the challenge this month, so quite quickly I reached for one of my favorite sets, Guide Lines. I think I love it so much because of how unique it is! Combining the Guide Lines grid with a fun little image from Boxes, Bags & Tags I stamped up a tone on tone background with Versamark on the New Leaf cardstock that arrived on my doorstep from PTI just a few days ago. I couldn't make up my mind which ribbon color I preferred and then I realized, I didn't need to choose! I could use both by layering them...funny how the simplest things can just tickle you so! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft, New Leaf, Raspberry Fizz - PTI
Stamps: Guide Lines, Boxes, Bags & Tags - PTI; One of a Kind - SU!
Ink: Versamark; Chocolate Chip - SU!
Ribbon: Raspberry Fizz grosgrain, New Leaf Satin - PTI
Bling: Bling It On - Lisa Bearnson
Punch - Spiral - SU!