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

Knitted Sweets & A Hippity Hop!

Time is a concept that always seems to amaze me! When I was a teenager, I remember thinking that ninety years old would probably approach faster than the next couple of years. When you are waiting for a certain time to come (like a sixteenth birthday or graduation back then) time passes so slowly. And then when you are either really busy or even simply trying to slow down time to cherrish treasured moments with a loved one, time just speeds on by! I know its a cliche, but that's what is on my mind this morning as I'm realizing May arrives on Friday!

Two sweet delights were waiting in my daughter's Easter basket from my Mom, her Grammie. Mom was excited to find a great way to use the smaller left over amounts of yarn from other various projects. And I am just tickled that the pink beads and two blingy buttons on the cupcakes are from my grandmother's collection. So now, I am watching my daughter have tea parties with her princesses using cupcakes made by her Grammie with treasures from her Great Grandma on them. It just warms my heart. The bears were not from my Grandma's collection, but are vintage. Aren't these just so sweet?!

Mom wanted to make sure that her grandson had something fun too. Knowing that he loves bunnies right now, she knitted one for him! She said the knitting was simply a square that is folded and tucked a bunch of different ways. Since I don't knit, it looked pretty amazing to me! :> Thank you for your hand crafted goodness! :>

A Cup of Dye....Delightful Temptation!

Saturday before Easter Sunday, we dyed our 42 eggs, started cleaning up, told the kidlets for the umpteenth time to look with their eyes, not with their hands while the eggs dry, and hubby was about to take the mugs of dye back into the kitchen to dump them out before they too were dyed.

Wait!! No!! I see it!!! I quickly grab a paper towel, folded it into a small square and dipped the corners into four different dyes, unfolded it and let it dry! Isn't gorgeous?! All those bright colors! I just loved it! (The striped shadows on it are from the lattice strips above the table...whoops! didn't think about that when I took the pic! :>) I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew I would use it.

Gotta give hubby some credit.....his first question when he looked at it was, "Isn't that going to be bad to scrapbook since it has vinegar in it?" Holey Camole Macarole!!! He listens about this paper crafting obsession of mine!!! I told him that I planned to use it on a card, but wow!, I was definitely impressed!

A handmade flower was calling out to me and then I knew how I wanted to use some of my colorful paper towel! Again, as I mentioned in the egg card post, I cannot free hand cut out shapes. So, I drew some nested circles in MS Word, printed it out, cut them out and used them as templates to trace on different parts of the towel. I then cut out those circles, aligned them, used Taylor's Sticky Tape to adhere the layers together (I had to adhere each individual layer of the two layer paper towel as it started to separate with all the handling it was getting), and made my stem.

The stem and leaves are one piece of grosgrain ribbon simply folded back on itself and again, adhered with that fabulous Sticky Tape! Its like red line tape, but my absolutely favorite part of it is that when you peel off the backing to it (what would be the red film on red line tape), you can just put the backing down on the table!! I know this may sound silly, but that red film on the red line tape has Such static cling!! I can never get it off my fingers!! Sometimes I seriously think its gonna drive me straight to the looney bin!!! :> So, this Sticky Tape is my new best friend. I've had it for quite a long time now and never used it....but no more!

I love how bright, cheerful, and dimensional the flower is and yet, it will still lay flat in an envelope and can easily be mailed. I intend to do this again, but since the Easter supplies are put away, dye re-inkers will do the job!

Supplies:Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Raspberry Fizz, New Leaf - PTI
Ribbon: Stash
Other: Paper Towel & Easter egg dye

Siri's Blog Candy

Siri is offering up some really fun blog candy! Check out her blog and her fun crafting adventures! Definitely look at her hand made flowers as they are quite beautiful and unique! :>

Dazzled with Damask!

So, after my daughter discovered that I was making Easter egg cards for her and her brother, you would think I would learn the art of discretion a little better. Naw!! I made this card for my hubby for our anniversary (its not till June, but if I leave it to the last minute, it might not get done) and thought I would be able to tuck it away. I was discreet. He didn't see me make it or photograph it. Then I had a 'forgot to put all my marbles in my marble jar' moment.........the screen saver on our computer does a random slide show from our pictures files!!!! And, yup, you guessed it.....he saw it! So, back to the drawing board!!! And yes, I will make sure I don't download it to the family computer!

Now we return to our regularly scheduled program. Dawn McVey's Damask Designs has definitely become a fast favorite of mine (even if I wasn't able to put ink to it as fast as I would have liked....you know, those pesky responsibilities that get in the way of craft time!). First, I scored the outside double lines on the Scor-Pal, then stamped both the large damask and the sentiment, applied the different sized black bling strategically, and matted it on some True Black cardstock! Very simple, but I really do love how it turned out!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, True Black - PTI
Stamps: Damask Designs - PTI

Ink: Black Onyx - Versafine
Bling: Black Jewels - Jewelry Essentials