A First Job

Hi everyone! We are finally enjoying a nice day here in Buffalo, NY! It's been unusually cool and we are aching for some hot weather! It's sunny and warm today, so let's keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way for a while!

Some of you may know that my DH has a "little brother", Brad, that he came in contact with through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. We met him when he was 7 and he is now 16! (I say "we" because I'm as much a part of this as my DH is!) He's like our adopted child and he's a great kid! Well, Brad just got his first job and started on Monday. He's working for a country club in the area and will be fetching golf carts, cutting lawn, and doing various odd jobs that only a 16 year old can do! I was so proud of him that I had to make a card for this accomplishment! I was at my LSS last week and picked up this Riley stamp that I thought would be cute for this card.
I colored the tractor in true John Deere colors with copic markers. I don't know what type of tractors they have at the country club for cutting grass, but I thought this was appropriate. Brad knows how to operate these machines, as we have a huge one at the cabin that he has used to cut the grass. I used summer sun and always artichoke cardstock and ran them through two different cuttlebug folders. I actually started to make this last week for the SCS Ways to Use It challenge. The challenge was to use corrugated cardboard. I had been keeping a Starbucks cup sleeve (the one that keeps your hands protected from the hot cup) for months. I think I remember Dawn Easton using it as an embellishment once, and I have kept one handy ever since. I punched a star from it with my large SU star punch. It was a little tough to punch, but it did the trick! On top of that, I placed the "Way to Go" sentiment from PTI's Star Prints set and punched it with a circle punch and sponged some close to cocoa ink around it. I added three brads to the bottom, and I was done! Very simple card...nothing fancy!

I think Brad liked the card...he smiled, gave a little chuckle, and thanked me. Boys are so stingy with their words! Thanks for stopping by today! I really enjoy your comments!
Recipe
Stamps: Tractor Riley Moose (Hanna Stamps); Star Prints (PTI)
Paper: Neenah white, kraft, summer sun, always artichoke
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, close to cocoa, various copic markers
Accessories: Star punch, circle punch, rectangle nestie, Starbucks cup sleeve, brads, cuttlebug folders, dimensionals

Happy Birthday Katie!

Today is Katie Cotton's birthday (she is the owner of Paper Makeup Stamps) and I made this card for her. I used Katie the Makeup Fairy image, of course! Yesterday's Ways to Use It challenge on SCS was to use bold and bright colors. I used Regal Rose and this Sweet Always dp which had pink and orange in it. I thought that was pretty bold and bright! Katie is stamped on PTI white with Memento Tuxedo black ink. I colored her with various copic markers. I used a dauber and Regal Rose ink around the image, and as soon as I did that I knew it was a mistake! I don't like the way that looks. I need to get a nice soft brush for this technique and nix the daubers! The sentiment is part of the Fairy Sentiments set.

I carried the dp onto the inside of the card and punched the edge with the eyelet border punch. The sentiment is from PTI's Wishing You set.

I hope you can stop by Katie's blog today and wish her a Happy Birthday! Thanks for stopping by today and have a great Friday!
Recipe
Stamps: Katie the Makeup Fairy, Fairy Sentiments (PMS), Wishing You (PTI)
Paper: PTI white, regal rose, Sweet Always dp
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, regal rose
Copic Markers: E00, 02, 15, 37, 99; RV00, 10, 13, 14: YR02, 16, 68; W-3, 7; C-3, 5; R32
Accessories: Candy dots, oval and scallop oval punches; nesties, star dust stickles, eyelet border punch, dimensionals

Argus is Foiled Again!

Meet Argus and his friend Teddy. Aren't they sweet? This is another stamp from Paper Makeup Stamps. Katie has a cute line of monsters and aliens along with her Beautiful Day Fairies. This is the first time I'm using one of the monsters, and I just love this guy! He's "foiled again" because I played in the Ways to Use It Challenge on SCS today, which was to use foil on your card. Well, I made my brads from small pieces of foil! Pretty cool idea, using foil! I also used yesterday's Sketch Challenge for this card. I just turned the sketch to accommodate Argus.

For some reason, I thought Argus should be green and orange. I looked through my stash for paper to match and I still had some of this retired SU Jersey Shore (love that paper) and matted it with Wild Wasabi and Brilliant Blue! The sentiment is also PMS called Heart Happy and fit it the large tag die perfectly. I tied some orange gingham ribbon through the holes. The main panel and sentiment are up on dimensionals. After I took the picture and was downloading it, I realized I didn't add any SPARKLE to my card! What was I thinking? I think it's because I'm sick and just wanted to finish this and get to bed early! I guess I can add it later! Thanks for stopping by today! Love all you comments...they are appreciated!
Recipe
Stamps: Argus with Teddy, Heart Happy (PMS)
Paper: PTI white, wild wasabi, brilliant blue, Jersey Shore (retired SU)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black
Copic Markers: G21, 24, 28; E33, 35, 37; YR04; W-3
Accessories: Tag die, ribbon, aluminum foil, dimensionals

Home Tweet Home

Don't you just love birdhouses? I do. I'm always looking at them at craft shows, JoAnn's, or anywhere I find them. There is just something about a pretty birdhouse that catches my eye. This birdhouse stamp by Impression Obsession was no exception. I bought it a while ago at my LSS because I just loved the rustic feel of it and I knew it would be fun to color...and it was! I used copic markers to color it. The sunflower looks really dark because I think I put too many stickles on it. It doesn't look as dark IRL. I popped up the watering can and the sunflower to give it more depth. Once I colored it, I stamped the top part of the birdhouse on a post-it note to create a mask so I could create the clouds in the background. It turns out that I really didn't need the mask because the Soft Sky blue was so light it wouldn't have done anything to my main image. I stamped the Summer Sun base (I don't use this color enough...it's really a rich color) with Weathered bg stamp in Creamy Caramel and mounted the main image on Bella Rose dp. The sentiment is from PTI's Out on a Limb and was cut and layered using Nestabilities. The ribbon is SU's chocolate twill. This layout is from today's sketch challenge at SCS and also for Thursday's Ways to Use it Challenge (use copic markers).

Here's the inside. I searched for a watering can...I knew I had to have one somewhere, and lo and behold I found one in MFT's Can Ya Dig It. I also stamped a little flower in the middle of the can because it looked too plain. The Bella Rose dp was punched with SU's scallop border punch. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by!
Recipe
Stamps: Tweet Sumertime (Impression Obsession), Weathered, In My Thoughts (SU), Can Ya Dig It (MFT), Out on a Limb (PTI)
Paper: Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, PTI white, Bella Rose dp
Ink: Adirondack black, chocolate chip, soft sky, copic markers
Accessories: SU twill ribbon, stickles, nestabilities, scallop border punch, dimensionals, dauber

Be-Jeweled Challenge!

Hello again! I am incorporating two challenges in this card today. Verve Visual Stamps is celebrating an anni-VERVE-sary and for 12 days they are having sketch challenges (yea!!!), my favorite! This is the first one (they are already on day 7, and I don't think I'll get to do all of them, but you never know!). I am also combining this with today's Ways to Use It Challenge #178. We were to use jewels in our design. That was very easy with this one. This tree from Believe by PTI was what this sketch needed...something tall and skinny (unlike me, ha-ha)! I colored it with pink and green copic markers and added the red rhinestones. The star on top is something I picked up at a discount store in the scrapbooking section. I layered the tree on Certainly Celery. The Pink Pirouette was run through my cuttlebug and I used SU's scallop border punch for the top piece. I put Certainly Celery ribbon around that piece. The dp is SU's new Bella Rose. It looked holiday-ish to me. The base and triangles are Riding Hood Red. Pretty simple, but these layers drove me crazy! Here's the inside. This would be too much to do for a bunch of cards, but I think it's kind pretty for someone special. Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps: Believe (PTI)

Paper: Riding hood red, pink pirouette, certainly celery, PTI white, Bella Rose dp

Ink: Adirondack black, copic markers

Accessories: Rhinestones, star, cb folder, certainly celery ribbon, scallop border punch, dimensionals

She Scores!

Using the Scor-Pal, that is! Today's Ways to Use It Challenge is to use scoring in your card. Well, I knew immediately that I needed to pull out SU's Blossoms Abound. Can you believe I never inked, much less cut it up and mounted it? I bought it just for this type of technique...scoring and clear embossing. I've always thought this stamp should be on tiles, so that's what I made it look like (I hope!). This is a two-step stamp set, so I first stamped it in PTI's Lavender Moon (the lighter color) on Vintage Cream cardstock, then used the next stamp in Plum Pudding (the darker shade) and, using the stamp-a-ma-jig, overstamped it to get the shading. The stem and leaves are also two-step stamping. I stamped the branch in Wild Wasabi and stamped the leaves in Certainly Celery using the SAMJ again to line it up. Then I took the piece to my Scor-Pal and scored it on the diagonal every 1/2". I inked it up with Versamark and clear embossed the entire piece. Very easy! I had trouble, however, matting it. I was inspired by this card I saw on SCS yesterday. Let me tell you that it took a long time to come up with this layout (sketch challenged...I told you!). I didn't have the long rectangular nestabilities (now on my list), so I had to cut one and a half scalloped rectangles and tape them together. Because of the busy pattern, you can't tell and I was happy! The rest came together easy...an SU pink taffeta bow, PTI sentiment using circle and scallop circle nesties. The main image and the sentiment are on dimensionals. This is going to a friend who recently lost a loved one. I've been delinquent on sending a card. Well, thanks for stopping by!
Recipe
Stamps: Blossoms Abound, PTI Mixed Messages
Paper: PTI Plum pudding, vintage cream, guidelines dp
Ink: Plum pudding, lavender moon, wild wasabi, certainly celery, versamark
Accessories: SU pink taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, nestabilities, clear embossing powder, Scor-pal

Challenges, Challenges, Challenges!

I've missed my beloved challenges because I went back to work (teaching) after a week-long vacation. So on Thursday evening, I had one of my stamp club meetings and had some time before they came to make a quick card. I really liked the color and sketch challenges this week, and then when I saw the ways to use it challenge (use music as your inspiration), I remembered this bg stamp and it all came together (quickly)!

The bg stamp is sheet music from Rubber Stampede. I've had this stamp for a very long time and it's never seen ink! Oh the shock, the horror of it all! Come on, I know you have some of those, too! We all do! Anyway, I stamped it in black and mounted it on black (I decided to mount all my layers on black). I pulled out this patterend paper from SU's Ginger Blossom. Since I couldn't use any other colors, I took a piece of river rock and mounted it on black also. This bird was already stamped and waiting to be mounted on something. I stamped him when I cut and mounted the stamps and put him in the box for future use. I cut him out, but didn't like the way his feet looked, so off they came! I used river rock for the oval and black for the mat. They were both punched out with the marvy punches. The oval and rectangular river rock pieces looked too bare, so I stamped them with Itty Bitty Backgounds. I also pierced a hole in each of the scallops, but it's hard to see in the picture. If I had had more time, I would have found another pattern paper to use or even the cuttlebug, but like I said, I was pressed for time. The bird has diamond stickles on him. I'm ok with this card, but I think it could be better. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe
Stamps: Always, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Rubber Stampede music sheet
Paper: River rock, black, whisper white
Ink: Black
Accessories: Diamond stickles, marvy punches, dimensionals, paper piercer

Open a Window

I was so happy when I saw today's Ways to Use It challenge WT154. I'm not a big WT fan, but I was thrilled with this one - to use a window in your card. I have had these stamps for a long time. They are from Great Impressions, and I used to be in a club where if you bought so many stamps from the collection, you'd get the featured stamp of the month free. This was one of them! I loved this stamp and had it tucked away in a drawer and was so happy to be able to pull it out once again. I stamped the window image in black on vanilla paper and used my Prismacolor pencils to color it in. Then I stamped the brick pattern around it in more mustard. The vanilla was too "clean" looking, so I sponged more mustard and then stippled creamy caramel and close to cocoa to dirty it up a bit (buildings aren't clean, right?). Once that was done, I took my exacto knife and "opened the window". It was very stuffy inside! On another piece of vanilla, I stamped "Easter Wishes" and a vine from a retired set, Etruscan (love that set), and adhered that behind the open window. The birds were stamped, colored, cut out, and adhered with dimensionals. I ran some ribbon around the green panel, adhered the main image with dimensionals. I added the green metallic dots and some glitter to the flowers. The base of the card was stamped with canvas in so saffron because it looked too bare. Very easy card once I decided what to layer the main image on. Very cool challenge and stamps! Hope you have a great day! I am on day four of my mid-winter break and have done nothing but stamp! Sounds good, but I have a to-do list a mile long that I have not gotten to! Today's the day for that! Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps: Great Impressions, Canvas, All Holidays, Etruscan

Paper: Very vanilla, so saffron, handsome hunter

Ink: More mustard, close to cocoa, creamy caramel, so saffron

Accessories: Ribbon, metal dots, dimensionals, Prismacolor pencils, exacto knife, glitter

The Right Shoes

I happen to LOVE shoes!! I have many shoe stamps, and when I saw the Ways to Use It challenge (WT153) on SCS today, I knew exactly what I was going to do! Julia titled it "The Height of Fashion", and we were to use fashion as our inspiration. Well, since I love shoes (I don't even want to admit how many I own, but let me tell you it probably goes into triple digits!), I decided to do a shoe theme. I pulled out this stamp from My Sentiments Exactly that I have had for a long time and never inked up (imagine that). This shoe reminded me of a favorite pair of shoes I had almost 20 years ago (I'm giving away my age, aren't I?). They were gray alligator pumps and I used to wear them with a pink and gray dress I had and also a pink and gray skirt that I wore with a gray sweater. So, you can see where the colors for this card came from. It came together very easily once I knew what to do with the empty space left on the vanilla piece after I stamped the shoe. The sentment is another I never inked before. I don't know who makes it, but it's a great sentiment!

This card also qualifies for the WTC152 from last week, Going Dotty. The challenge was to use dots, so I used the dotted patterend paper and the cuttlebug for the dots on the pink panel.

Thanks for looking and let me know what you think!

"Til the next time that we say goodbye, I'll be thinking of you."

Recipe

Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly (shoe), sentiment unknown

Paper: Basic Gray, pretty in pink, very vanilla, charbon dp

Ink: Basic Gray

Accessories: cuttlebug, SU taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, slit punch