Just Us Girls #143 - Stars and Sparkle

It's time for another challenge from Just Us Girls.  This is the 5th Saturday of the month and that means it's Wild Card week.  For this challenge, our sweet Maria has challenged us to use stars and sparkle on our cards.  It's close to Independence Day (Fourth of July) here in the USA, so it's a perfect challenge for those celebration cards.  Or not, if you so choose.

 I chose to be patriotic.  I just love our stars and stripes!  I chose this paper from Bo Bunny called Liberty.  The sentiment is one that my friend and former Paper Makeup Stamps DT member Shaela Odd created a few years ago.  I saved it because I just loved it.  I printed it on white cardstock and distressed it with Antique Linen distress ink.  The stars were cut out with a cut file that will be released tomorrow from My Time Made Easy called Magical Birthday Wishes.  I layered the small star onto the larger star and it made a cut out.  I cut the stars out of red and navy cardstock, ran them  through my Xyron machine, then covered them in Glitter Ritz glitter in Canadian Blue and Poppy Orange.  This glitter is very fine and burnishes to a smooth almost velvet feel and it doesn't stick to your fingers and face!  Love that!  And it really sparkles too!

I used this sketch from Card Patterns.  I'm so sad that this will be their last challenge, so I just had to play along for the last time.  

The JUGs design team has some great inspiration for you.  Stop by their blogs to see for yourself.  And I'd like to give thanks to Hannelie Bester for being our guest this month.  We hope you enjoyed her designs as much as we did!

JUGs blog

Andrea Matthews

Elise Durenberger

Lynn Mangan

Maria Levine

Vicki Dutcher

Hannelie Bester, June Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by today!

Just Us Girls #142 - Inspiration Photo Challenge

Happy Summer!  Today begins Day 1 of my summer!  I wrapped up my classroom yesterday for the summer and didn't have to get up at 5:00 am this morning!  Although I have a busy day today.  My niece Maria is graduation from high school today and her party is today as well.  We are so proud of her!  She wants to be a doctor and I hope she can endure the grueling studies ahead of her.  But she is a very determined young lady, so I don't doubt for a minute she'll achieve her goal. 

But I digress.  Today begins our 142nd Just Us Girls challenge.  Vicki has generously taken on the new inspiration photo challenges and she's come up with a great photo today.  Great for the beginning of summer...a picnic with hot dogs and chips!  Yumm-o!

 I went pretty literal with the photo.   I knew I wanted to use PTI's Vintage Picnic and Vintage Picnic Sentiments stamp sets for this card.  I used the die to cut the picnic basket out of white cardstock, then colored it with copic markers.  I stamped the flowers on a Spellbinder's die and colored that with copics as well.  I also used some Antique Linen ink to distress it.  The red checked paper is from Rosy paper pack by My Mind's Eye and the stripe from Basic Grey's PB&J.  I used a SU punch and Riding Hood Red paper for the border.  The ribbon is SU's Crushed Curry dotted ribbon.  The flowers are Prima and I added a silver and crystal flower in the center.  The banner is a die from WPlus9 Design Studio that seems to be getting lots of use lately!  I did add some Star Dust Stickles to the centers of the flowers in the basket that is hard to see, but it just adds some sparkle.

 The sketch is this one from Card Patterns.    Loved it!  I'm also entering it into the Moxie Fab World gingham challenge.

We have some great inspiration for you from the JUGs design team.  We also are bidding a fond farewell to our much loved Dana Gustafson.  She will be sorely missed, but life is getting busy with her family and it was time for her to move on.  We wish her well!  But you can still see the rest of what the team did at these blogs.

JUGs blog

Andrea Matthews

Elise Durenberger

Lynn Mangan

Maria Levine

Vicki Dutcher

Thanks for stopping by today!  I'm hoping to get some more stamping and posting in now that I'm on vacation!  I need to start playing for fun!  See you soon!

Pretty Palette #60

Happy Mother's Day everyone!  We are at our cabin with our family today relaxing, eating, relaxing, eating!  LOL!!  I'm sure we are having fun!  I hope you are enjoying your day!

Today I have a new Pretty Palette color challenge.  I kinda like this color combo!

I have been in love with this image from the recently released Dad's Day to Relax digital stamp set from My Time Made Easy from the first time I saw it!   I've always loved VW Beetles, and this orange one reminds me of my first car.  It was an orange Camaro!  I loved that car, but got lots of ribbing because it was orange.  I love orange!  Anyway, back to the card.  I colored the car with copics and added Crystal Effects to the windows.  The paper is Basic Grey's Marakesh.  The ribbon is from my stash of ribbon.  I think it came from AC Moore.

I used this sketch from Card Patterns.  Great sketch!

You can see more samples using this color combination from our design team at these blogs.

MTME blog

Charlene Cundy

Jackie Randolph

Mary Vogel

Romaine Rancier

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Mother's Day!

My Time Made Easy - A Year in Review and Pretty Palette #50

Hi everyone!  I have a double whammy from My Time Made Easy today!  We have our monthly Year in Review and current Pretty Palette challenge, so I've combined them.  Here are the Pretty Palette colors.  They are taken from the Under the Cabana digital paper pack.

For the Year in Review, we use something old with something new.  I'm using the new Round Off digital stamp set with the previously released Under the Cabana digital paper pack, the Berry Sweet Basket template, and Some Punny Easter digital stamp set.

This template, in its original size, is huge!  I wanted something smaller, so I reduced it to 50% of its original size.  So cute!  I printed out one sheet of the Under the Cabana paper and cut out the template.  I created the label using the new Round Off digital stamp set.  I layered the sentiment on there (from the same set) and added the bunny in the middle of the flower from the Some Punny Easter digital stamp set.  I colored them in GIMP so it matched the paper.

Here's a side view.  The template actually has some diamond cut-outs on it, but I chose not to use them because this paper looks like a basket weave pattern.  I used a SU flower brad to attach the handle.

Here's the card.  I used the same paper pack and digital image.  I just enlarged the image a bit to fit the card.  The brads are the same ones used on the the basket.

The card uses this sketch from Card Patterns. 

Now there are quite a few blogs that you have to visit for more My Time Made Easy inspiration.

My Time Made Easy Design Team

Lauren Meader

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Farida Rone

Katie Cotton

Linda Hammerton

Lori Hairston

Lori Kalus

Mara Campbell

Pattie Goldman

Tangii Crain

Pretty Palette Team

MTME blog

Charlene Cundy

Jackie Randolph

Mary Vogel

Pattie Goldman

Romaine Rancier

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a great day!

Pretty Palette #43

Hello my friends!  Today is Sunday which means we have another Pretty Palette challenge for you from My Time Made Easy.  I just love the colors for this week...pink,white, and navy.  Such a classy color palette!

My card for this palette began with the digi paper from My Time Made Easy.  I used three different paper packs for this and did something I've never done before.  I created my own striped pattern paper!  The blue patterns are from Tea Parlor Plum's Silent Night pack, the pink gingham is from Ga Ga for Gingham, and the other pink one is from the new Candy Kisses pack.  I inserted them into a Word document, cropped each one to 7"x1.5" and just stacked them next to each other.  I wish my sewing machine worked better so I could have run a zig-zag stitch between each one, but it just isn't working properly.

The paper with the tea cups on it was the inspiration for my card.   I love the A Spot of Tea stamp set and coordinating A Spot of Tea Pretty Pieces Cut file.  I cut the tea cup using the cut file, then stamped the outline of the tea cup in Night of Navy ink.  I then stamped the floral design in navy also, then inked the coordinating flowers and leaves in pink and green.  The sentiment is from the same set and is also stamped in navy.  I added the Martha Stewart flowers and a partial pearl flourish I had to mimic steam coming from the cup.  The pink base was scalloped on the left side with a border punch and I added a pretty pink dotted ribbon to finish it off.

This sketch from Card Patterns was the inspiration for the four different pattern panels I created.  What a lovely sketch!

Stop by the MTME blog to see what the Pretty Palette design team has created with these colors.  We have a new member, Jacki Randolph, joining us!  We are so happy to have her on board!  Welcome Jacki!  Here are links to their blogs. 

My Time Made Easy blog

Charlene Cundy
Jacki Randolph

Pattie Goldman

Romaine Rancier

Thanks for stopping by!  It's a longer weekend for me with Martin Luther King day tomorrow.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Recipe
Stamps:  A Spot of Tea (MTME)
Paper:  Neenah white, pink pirouette, Tea Parlor Plum's Silent Night, Ga Ga for Gingham, Candy Kisses (all MTME)
Ink:  Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink, Garden Green
Accessories:  A Spot of Tea Pretty Pieces cut file (MTME), pearl flourish (Want 2 Scrap), roses (Martha Stewart), scallop border punch, dotted ribbon, dimensionals

Pretty Palette #41 - Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Hard to believe it's already 2012!  Remember when we were all worried about going from 1999 to 2000?  Wow!  Twelve years later and look how far we've come!  I hope you have a fabulous 2012!

This week, the Pretty Palette challenge DT is celebrating the new year with some fun, bright colors.  We hope you enjoy them!

I had so much fun putting this card together.  I had been planning on using this Ring in the New Year cut file from My Time Made Easy for this challenge for a while!  Using my Cricut and SCAL program, I cut the base of the bell in Marina Mist, then cut the other pieces in Concord Crush, Real Red, and Daffodil Delight cardstocks and assembled it all together.  Love the outcome!  I did not have a sentiment for the new year, so I created one in Word and printed it out on some bright yellow computer paper.  The clock and ribbons are buttons I won at Buttons Galore & More.  They were the perfect addition to my card!  The papers are from Basic Grey's Junebug paper pack.

This sketch from Card Patterns worked wonderfully for my card.

For more inspiration and to link up your Pretty Palette creation, head on over to the following blogs.

My Time Made Easy blog

Charlene Cundy

Pattie Goldman

Romaine Rancier

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful 2012!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Seeing Spots

I have to interrupt this blogpost to ask you if you saw my cousin Caitlin Koch's performance last night on the X-Factor?  She performed at Simon Cowell's home in FRANCE!!  She was AMAZING and I'm hoping she makes it to the next round.  We'll find out on Sunday night!  I hope you are watching too!

Happy Friday everyone!  This week at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long we are being sponsored by one of my favorite stamp companies...Paper Makeup Stamps!  I might be a little biased because I'm on their design team, but I've been on it almost since the beginning, and I've seen them grow into a wonderful company with many versatile stamps!  And they are offering a $15 shopping spree to their store for our winner this week at CSAYL!

Our challenge this week is called Seeing Spots....you must use polka dots on your holiday creation.  Here is my card for this challenge.

I love this Snow Happy set from PMS!  It's been used quite a bit by myself the PMS design team!  It's got a homespun feel to it, so I went that route with my card.  I started with this great sketch from Card Patterns.  It gave me the opportunity to use four different patterns (two of them polka dots).  I stamped the snowman in Memento Tuxedo black, colored it with copics, and cut it out.  It's mounted on a base made from Vintage Cream cardstock and Bravo Burgundy cardstock, which was run through the Swiss dots folder.  I added some vintage seam binding (from Debbie Marcinkiewicz's Etsy store) and a tag made using the Little Moments PMS stamp set.  The wooden heart button is from Prima and the other from PTI. 

Are you ready to see more inspiration from the CSAYL team?  Stop by the CSAYL blog and enter your creation there too.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - "Gimme the Bird"

Pretty shocking title, huh?  Well, it's not as bad as it seems!  At Christmas Stampin' All Year Long this week, we are challenging you to use a bird on your Christmas card!  We are sponsored by Pink Cat Studio this week.  If you play along, you could win 5 free digi images from PCS! 

I've chosen the Christmas Chicks to use on my card!  It just made me smile when I saw these cheerful little chicks!

This is a digi image, so I was able to color it in GIMP.  Then I took a copic marker in a darker yellow and just hilighted the yellow a bit.  I sponged in some clouds and added Star Dust Stickles for some "snow".  The patterned paper is from an old DCWV Christmas Stack.  The satin ribbon is from Offray.  I made it into a double bow (free-handed) and added a button tied with floss.  I stamped a small sentiment on the bottom.

The sketch is from this week's Card Patterns.  I'm also entering this into the Buffalo Stamps and Stuff challenge Monday Idea Challenge to Mix It Up - mix different patterns and colors, which I think I've done here!                                         Stop by the CSAYL blog and see what the girls have done with their bird cards!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday!

Pretty Palette Challenge #4

Today is Sunday and time for another Pretty Palette challenge from My Time Made Easy. I love this week's colors! My seafoam is more blue now that I look at it! LOL!! I used A Spot of Tea for the tea cup and sentiment and Argyle Amazement for the flowers on the cup. The actual tea cup is a cut file also called A Spot of Tea. The papers are from Once Upon a Springtime from Graphic 45. I added the bling flourish to mimic steam from the cup. The lace is from my ribbon stash and the pretty rose is a Prima. I used this week's Card Patterns sketch.

We've added a few more designers to our Pretty Palette team. Please stop by their blogs and leave some love.

Laurel Seabrook

Lori Kalus

Lynn Mangan

Romaine Rancier

Sharon Gregory (Shaz)

I hope you join us at the Pretty Palette challenge on the MTME blog.

This also qualifies for the Our Creative Corner challenge...It's a Tea Party. Thanks for stopping by!

Pretty Palette 03 Color Challenge

Happy Sunday! Are you enjoying your weekend? I'm at a bridal shower today for a relative of my hubby's.

Are you ready for another Pretty Palette color challenge? Here are the colors for this week. I used the Moxie Fab blog header as my inspiration for these colors (although it was changed for April already!). I thought it was such a pretty combination. Here's the bridal shower card I made using these colors. I used some new products from My Time Made Easy on this card. The senitment is from the new Sentimental Occasions stamp set designed by Kristin Eberline. The label and oval were cut using the Occasional Label cut file. The apricot label and the oval were stamped with the Occasional Labels stamp set. The patterned paper is Mabel from My Mind's Eye. I paired it with SU's Apricot Appeal cardstock. I used a new punch from EK Success for the scalloped edge and a Martha Stewart punch for the butterflies. Peach colored pearls and apricot shabby seam binding were added as the finishing touches. I used the sketch from Card Patterns.

You can see more inspiration on the MTME blog. We've added three design team members and we're looking for a few more. Leave a comment on the MTME blog if you are interested.

Thanks for stopping by today!

New Color Challenge from My Time Made Easy

Hi everyone! I'm here today with news of another new challenge from My Time Made Easy. Every Sunday, I'll be hostessing this challenge and I'll try to have some really fun colors to work with! I hope to see all of you playing along with me! Here are this week's colors.


I picked these colors from a dp in the October Afternoon Thrift Shop collection. Here's how I used them. My mom's birthday is today and this is her birthday card. I started with an ivory base and added the certainly celery cardstock and dp. On the middle section, I ran a piece of certainly celery through a cuttlebug folder and distressed it a bit with tea dye distress ink. (I also distressed the other layers with this ink.) The scallops were punched with a Martha Stewart punch with red riding hood cardstock. The ribbon is seam binding from Debbie Marcinkiewicz's etsy store.

For the center piece, I used the Framed Elegance cut file and stamped it with riding hood red ink with the frame stamp from Framed Elegance stamp set. The butterfly is from Bold Botanicals and was stamped on the frame with memento rich cocoa ink and once again on a scrap piece of ivory carstock. I colored both with copic markers and then cut one out. The body of the butterfly is adhered to the frame and star dust stickles were added to the wings.

I hope you'll stop by the new MTME blog and play along. There are some prizes to be won if you play all month long and we are looking for a DT for this challenge! Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine Greetings

Hi everyone! I was so excited to have this three-day weekend arrive and guess what? I came down with some sort of bug! I wasn't feeling that great all week, and then yesterday it hit HARD! I was on the couch all day! And today is better but not much! However, I did get down to my craft room to stamp later in the day.

Yesterday, while I was on the couch, I did get some productive commenting in and looked at some interesting challenges. I loved Mona's CR84FN color challenge of red, kraft, and brown...my type of yummy colors!I love sketches and the Card Patterns sketch this week caught my attention. So I combined the two and came up with this pretty Valentine's card. I started with this paper from My Mind's Eye called Lush. I remember seeing my fellow PMS member, Tina Hale, use it and had to order it. That was about 6 months ago! I was waiting for the perfect card to use it on! Now I changed the sketch a little (sorry Card Pattern team), but I wanted a heart on it for a Valentine card. The kraft on this card is from a Starbucks sleeve. I love my Chai tea and went out for a bit today to get some fresh air and my tea, so I decided to incorporate it into this card. The velvet button is threaded with some brown and white baker's twine. The sentiment is from an SU set called Grateful Greetings stamped in real red. I added the red glitter dots on the opposite side from the sketch because it suited my card better. I left the brown grosgrain ribbon hanging off the edge a bit...I just like that look!

Thanks for stopping in today! I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Recipe
Stamps: Grateful Greetings (SU)
Paper: Vintage cream, real red, Lush (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Real red
Accessories: Nesties, glitter dots, corner rounder, grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals