Mojo Monday Sketch #73

Participating in sketch challenges has been very beneficial to me. I try different card layouts, I actually make cards, I'm using more embellishments, and I get to see some awesome cards made by other stampers. I guess if there is a downside it is that I'm also seeing some really, really great stamps that I don't have!
This card is for the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge At first I wanted to try making a valentine's day card, but decided I didn't really need another one. So I made something I could give one of my friends. . . for a birthday, a thank you, for any reason. I can wait and add an inside verse later.
Two great things about today's card: I used some retired SU stuff - the ribbon and hodgepodge hardware. I kinda decided that I should try and use what I have before spending more! That's not always easy.
Paper: Brocade Blue, So Saffron, Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla
Ink: Mellow Moss
Markers (to color the flowers) mellow moss, brocade blue, so saffron
Accessories: small oval punch, ribbon (from Theatre pack), hodgepodge hardware, button, linen thread

Busy, Busy Cupcake Day

Last Friday Taylor posted her Cupcake Challenge #52 It was the one anniversary for her cupcake challenges on her blog. There were 8 other sketches to try from 8 of her friends. They were all great, but I only had time to make 3 of them.
This card is Taylor's sketch.
Bree has a pink cap with a cupcake applique'. It is so cute. I used her cap as inspiration for my cupcakes on this card and the next 2 cards. She said it is a "beautiful card" and so I guess she gets this one.
The only stamping I did was the "sweet" sentiment and the little red heart. The cupcake is made from Bella Rose designer paper. I used the scallop edge punch for the top of the cupcake paper and the 1 3/4" punch for the cupcake. The pretty in pink layer is embossed with the CB Swiss Dots. The "sweet" flower is punched out with the boho punch. I added flower fusion with pink brads. What a fun card to make!
This is Stephanie's sketch. Again I used Bella Rose designer paper. I made the cupcake with the designer paper but replaced the ribbon with a rhinestone brad.
I used the chocolate chip marker to define the edges and add dots to the cupcake. The cupcake is actually attached to the inside of the card. I punched a 1 1/2" hole on the front of the card. It's had to see but I used a stipple brush to give the cupcake a background.











Monika's sketch was a bit more challenging for me. I have a mega scallop punch which is great, but it was difficult to cut through 2 layers. It would definitely be easier to use the scallop circles with the Big Shot. (Those are on my list.) Again I used Bella Rose designer paper for the cupcake. The pink with brown stripe ribbon came from Gary's store (I ordered a roll when I had to order merchandise bags...so easy to just slip a little roll of ribbon on the order.) The pink organza ribbon is from the many rolls of ribbon left over from Julie's wedding. I'm thinking about getting red suckers and attaching them to the inside. This could be Bree's valentines for the kids in her Cubbies class. I guess I could change to colors to blue and brown for the boys.
Vicki's sketch took me away from cupcakes. Bree needs a birthday card for one of her friends. The card base, the ribbon and the ink for the sentiment are certainly celery. I stamped the tugboat with tempting turquoise craft ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. The blue strips and wave are bashful blue designer papers. The life preserver is attached to the boat with black hemp. The circles on the turquoise layer were made with a cuttlebug embossing folder. And last of all, there are 2 rhinestone brads. At this age, I don't think her little friend will even notice the bit of bling!

Mojo Sketch Challenge #69

Yesterday I went with Jill to take Ty for his 2 week check-up. He's doing great. Bree wore her big sister shirt and kept a close watch as the nurse practionor checked him out. So cute!
Anyway, we were gone most of the day and after they went home there was little time left for stamping. Well, I guess there could have been...but I couldn't miss Jack Bauer and 24!
So today, after working on tax stuff I took the Mojo Monday challenge.
This is another weekly sketch challenge that is definitely worth checking out.







Along with the challenges, I am trying to use some of the stash I have collected. You know...things you find on sale or clearance and think "I can use that." But then they come home with you and get buried in a box or drawer and quickly forgotten about.
So when I saw the round circles on this challenge, I remembered the buttons. . . packages of buttons. . . white ones, red ones, green ones, yellow ones...you get the picture. Yes, they were still in a little storage drawer just for buttons! It didn't matter that the red ones were not "real red." They were close enough. The patterned paper is from an Old World pack given to me for Mother's Day (or maybe my birthday?). There was a small piece that was perfect for this card. The other papers used are SU real red, pink pirouette, and basic black. I stamped sanded background stamp in both pink pirouette and real red inks on the pink paper. And I sponged some ink on the edges to distress it a bit. I don't have any nesties (they're on my wish list), but I do have a couple of punches that I was also very happy to use. The heart flowers and sentiment are acrylic stamps I purchased at a store last year. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the dots on the scallop circles were made with a Glaze Gelly Roll pen.
Wow...that felt good! I made a Mojo Monday card and used up some stuff!

Just a Little Sweet

This sketch is from Taylor VanBruggen's weekly Cupcake Challenge. Her blog is awesome and is full of "sweet" stuff that is guaranteed to inspire. But be careful! You may find yourself suddenly craving a treat from your favorite bakery (Apple Annie's in Wilmington).

On her blog are links to some other great samples using this sketch. I think there are some scrapbook pages made using this layout...so if you're a also a scrapbook addict, check out the links.









I made up my mind to participate in this week's challenge. I decided to use a tiny little cupcake stamp (even tho cupcake images are not a requirement in the challenge) and I made a tiny (3x3) little card. I used SU chocolate chip and pink pirouette paper. The polka dot "ribbon" is a strip of paper from Bella Rose DSP. The cupcake is an incentive stamp from SU and actually has a candle on top and the words "make a wish" under it. So I used the chocolate chip marker to color just the cupcake and then used the fine tip of the marker to finish the line on top where the candle had been. The pink icing is done with stampin pastels. Baja Breeze flower fusion are under the cut out cupcake. "Sweet" is from Everyday Flexible Phrases which is a retiring set and is only available until January 18th. There was a container of glitter on my table, so I couldn't resist adding just a sprinkle.
I enjoyed the challenge and hope to try one again.

New Years SCS Challenge

With Christmas and the new grandson, I haven't been able to do much stamping. So I decided to try some of the New Years Eve challenges on Splitcoast. The first challenge was to make a card for a friend incorporating a "food" stamp. This was the perfect choice. The sentiment says it all! One of my very best friends enjoys coffee just like me.
I used the cuttlebug dotted swiss on the card base (front). The layer under the coffee cup is retired SU designer paper. Both the cup and the sentiment are stamped in close to cocoa. This is one of my favorite color combos.







Another challenge was to use a retired stamp and another was to use stamps with an Eastern Influence theme. This stamp (from Calming Garden) fit both categories. I really like the set, I just rarely use it. So it was a nice to dust it off and ink it up.
On page 9 in the Fall/Winter Idea & Catalog is a color scheme for eastern eclectic. So I used this to choose the colors for the card...tangerine tango, so saffron, very vanilla, and old olive. The different colors on the stamp are achieved by using markers to ink the stamp. I also used Sanded background stamp to give some texture to the old olive layer.







This card was more of a challenge. You were limited in what could be used...like 1" of ribbon, 2 brads (or buttons, or flowers), certain colors, 1 punch...stuff like that. The color choices were a bit unusual for me (not something I usually use). This is sage shadow and chocolate chip. The patterned paper is from my ever growing stash of retired designer papers. I'm trying really hard to use them up. The flowers and sentiment are from Pocket Silhouettes (absolutely love this set). I used sage shadow and chocolate chip markers to color the image, then used the curly label punch.
I saw another challenge today that I would love to try, but I will probably be heading to Jill's to wash her dishes and play with Bree while she tends to the new baby. Sweet!

Note Card Folder

I think these folders are a nice way to give someone some cards or notes. Many of the ones I have seen contain monogram notes. But I chose to just make four cards. Two of them say "to you from me" and two say thank you. I could not remember where I placed the directions for the folder, nor could I find it on Splitcoast or Sudsol. So I just looked at some other samples, took a 8-1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock, folded it in half, folded it to make the inside flap, and that was it.
As you can see, I trimmed the inside flaps which makes it easier to close (and it looks better). The ribbon is threaded through to hold the envelopes and the cards in place and then it's tied to keep the folder closed. I used the Inspired by Nature set on the outside of the folder.
On two cards I used one of the stamps from Pocket Silhouettes. I used the Not Quite Navy marker and the blender pen with kiwi kiss reinker to color the flower. The designer paper is from Urban Flowers.
For the other two cards I used the sanded background stamp and the flower/vine from Fresh Cuts.
After making this first one, I see how easy the folders are to make...definitely faster than boxes. And four cards don't take long to make either. So this is definitely a great project for quick gifts for teachers, co-workers, friends...

Top Note Christmas Tree Card

The top note die strikes again! Look how easy it is to make a card. I stamped the tree and star from the Wondrous Gift set. The tree is stamped in encore silver, the star in encore gold, then both embossed with clear SU embossing powder. I used the double circle punch to make little ornaments from night of navy card stock. I used Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive to attach them to the tree. You can use either the horizonal slot punch or the double rectangle punch to make a slot for the ribbon to slide through.

Using crystal effects on the little blue ornaments adds a 3-D effect to them. It's difficult to see that in the photograph, but they really do look like small, round, shiny ornaments. Allow enough time for them to harden.

The words "Christmas" and "joy" (from Everyday Flexible Phrases) added to the top of the top note layer would be a nice touch. For the inside I will use a computer generated verse printed in Night of Navy on white card stock, then use the top note die and cut it out to match the outside.

On the finished card you can see the snowflakes stamped on the Brocade Blue layer.

Stamps: tree, star and snowflake from Wondrous Gift (109467); snowflake from Season of Joy (110384)

Paper: Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, Whisper White

Ink: Encore gold, Encore silver

Accessories: Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon, horizontal slot punch or double rectangle punch, double circle punch, clear embossing powder, crystal effects, Big Shot, Top Note Bigz die

Kitty Thanks

A couple of weeks ago my neighbor took care of Kitty while I was in Ohio. While there I bought her some candy coated chocolate sunflower seeds to say thanks for taking such great care of Kitty (and also the little cat someone abandoned). The sunflower seeds have been sitting on top of my desk waiting to be delivered. Why the wait? Well, I was supposed to make some cards to go with them. So I finally made them today. I used 2 of Beate's weekend challenges from SCS as inspiration. The cards have 3 basic colors: So Saffron, Ruby Red, and Close to Cocoa. (The thank you card on the right is in barely banana and is embossed with a cuttlebug folder. I don't know why I grabbed this paper instead of the saffron. But it's close enough.) All of the images on the cards are from the Pocket Silhouettes set and were colored with markers.
So, what do candy coated chocolate sunflower seeds taste like? I'll let you know...I bought another container for me!

Christmas Card

I've been busy making cards for an upcoming class. Although this is one of my favorites, it will not be one of those cards. I used a 2"x5 1/2" piece of designer paper from Holiday Treasures. I had to select a section of the paper with the red poinsettia in a position where I could trim the top of it. Because of this I will be limited in the number of cards I can embellish with this paper. That would be fine for making a few, but not for making multiples for a class.
I also like the simplicity of the card. It's not difficult to trim the poinsettia, just time consuming. But you do get faster with practice.
Kiwi Kiss card stock: 5 1/2" x 11"
Riding Hood red: 5 1/2" x 2 1/2" (approx)
Holiday Treasure designer paper: 5 1/2" x 2"
Riding Hood Red Classic ink pad
Sentiment from Best Yet

Upsy Daisy Challenge

One comment I hear from many people is, "I'm just not that creative." They love coming to classes where everything is done for them, but don't think they could make cards (or scrapbook) on their own. It really is not that difficult. There are so many wonderful inspirations out there. The first card is like one made by Maria Pobre, a Stampin' Up! demonstrator from Guam. The only difference between her card and mine is in the coloring of the flowers. Mine has more orange.
The image is stamped on the very vanilla card base, a strip of garden green is added to the bottom and a black ribbon is added. Easy!
Then I took the same card idea, thought of someone and her favorite colors, and went from there. I used naturals ivory for the card, mellow moss for the accent color, and pale plum, perfect plum and mellow moss for the daisy. So who is this friend who likes plum (well actually purple)? I hope she is visiting my blog today. If she is and comments, I have a surprise for her.

Card #3 For this card I went to the new in-colors. I used Baja Breeze and Pacific Point for the daisy (garden green for the stem). I used the distressing tool on the bottom panel.
All of the flowers are colored with stampin' write markers (or in the case of the in-colors, a blender pen and ink refills). Use the lighter color first, then use the darker color on the edges of the flower, color the stems and stamp.
Your challenge - use this layout and make a card. If you don't have this stamp, just use one that is similar. Then take the same layout and same stamp, choose different colors and make another card. Be the first to send me a picture of your results and I'll send you a set of four cards made with the upsy daisy set.
Remember the Upsy Daily stamp set (as well as Heard from the Heart) is on sale this month. You can order through my Stampin Up site by clicking on the "Order Here" button on the left and following the link.

Purse in a Box

I followed Andrea Walford's directions to make this "purse in a box." I'm glad I used retired dp for the first one, because I made lots of little mistakes. I didn't line up the paper correctly on the sides...but overall, it turned out okay.
I love the new stamp set Upsy Daisy (#11672) and love that it's on sale this month.
The sentiment "Birthday celebrations" is descriptive of the contents.







Birthday Cards! I only made four, but the purse could easily fit a few more. I used the daisy stamp on 2 of the cards and used stamps from Pocket Silhouettes (#111626) on the other 2. This stamp set is also on sale until the end of the month. (Check out the sale here.)

Thank You Trio

I needed to make 3 cards for Bree to give to her preschool teachers. I still have quite a bit of retired designer paper left, so I used some on these cards. And now I still have quite a bit of retired designer paper left. I think I need to find bigger projects.
Any way. Bree loves chasing butterflies, so I knew she would love having some on her cards. I stamped the image, then used the paper snips to cut it out. The snail is from a retired SU set. He's so cute with his little buggy eyes. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder (thanks or thank you) on each card, used the scallop edge punch and added a ribbon. Voila! Finished!

"Swap" Cards

These are four of the cards I received in the card swap I mentioned in the previous post. The first one is by Kim Innis. The images are from the Happiness Always set (a level 3 hostess set in the new cattie.) These colors - old olive and tangerine tango -look so good together.













This card by Karenlee Atkin also uses the same stamp set. The butterfly is cut out and is a great touch to the card.
















Susan Wright used the Wow Flowers stamp set for her card - and the new in-colors - pacific point and baja breeze. You may not be able to tell from my picture, but Sue put crystal effects on each "dot" of the flowers in the center panel. Looks great! Sue posted my card on her blog. To see more of her work...check out Sue's blog






The last card is made by Jenn Rivera. It's a stunning card. Pink and brown are one of my favorite color combos! The two rows next to the word amazing are made with the paper piercer. "Amazing" card! Jenn's blog

My "Swap" Card

I recently swapped cards with some other SU demos and this is the card I made. The diagonals on the old olive layer were made using my scor-pal. If you don't have a scor-pal or another scoring tool, you can still make this layer. Use grid paper as a guide; start on the diagonal and make pencil marks every half inch; score the lines here; turn paper and make half inch scores in the other direction and score.
I stamped the image with elegant eggplant craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I used re-inkers to color the flowers and leaves. It's hard to see, but I stamped the canvas background on the so saffron paper before I punched them out with the small oval. I like the texture it adds.
I plan on posting pictures of some of the cards I received from the swap. It's always fun to see what others have made.

Happy Birthday Bree

Tomorrow is Bree's birthday...she'll be 3! It's been a busy week in the Snyder family. 2 anniversaries and 1 birthday. Bree will be having a "jungle" theme birthday where else but at Jungle Rapids! Jill and I made her invitations. We used the Zoofari stamp set. There was a lot of punching and coloring going on. I don't have any "vine" stamps so we used a stamp from the Baroque Motifs to make them. We really liked colors from the Bold & Bright family, but Jill decided on these softer colors...they look a bit more like a little girl's colors -regal Rose, mellow moss, brocade blue, and so saffron.









This morning there was another Chat & Challenge on Sudsol, so I used the pattern to make Bree's birthday card. I used the new in color - kiwi kiss and was supposed to use tangerine tango...but I picked up another similar color -pumpkin pie. I was in a hurry...but I guess it works.





Ever since I saw a tutorial on spring cards, I have wanted to make one. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. The "spring" is a vine with monkeys hanging from them. I hope Bree enjoys her card tomorrow. Now I just need to get it in today's mail.

Happy Anniversary Jill & Chris

Today is Jill and Chris' anniversary. I made a card for them similar to the one I made for Julie and Shannon. These were the colors in Jill's wedding. I hadn't discovered Stampin Up yet...the colors would have been perfect (mellow moss and perfect plum). This card was so simple...paisley embossing folder for the card front and swiss dot embossing folder for the plum paper band. I used the same stamp that I used on Julie's card...just changed the colors. And the little green flower in the middle is a rub-on. That's it!
FYI the fern behind this card is from Jill's wedding. We bought 35 ferns (most were boston ferns) to decorated the church. I don't remember if I kept any others...but this is one of 2 that I still have. They're outside my front door and come in during the coldest winter weeks. Happy Anniversary Jill and Chris!

Happy Anniversary

It's Julie and Shannon's wedding anniversary! 2 years. The card is mellow moss and chocolate chip. Those were the colors in the wedding. The asparagus fern in the background is from the reception. Julie and I painted 24 clay pots white and added either pink or green sheer ribbon around the top. Each pot had 1 plant with some height in the center and 2-3 plants around it - asparagus fern, or some kind of ivy. These were used on the center of the tables at the reception. We made the favors - small brown boxes with a homemade truffle inside. I think we made about 225 of those (well, I made the boxes and was very happy to have help from my family with the truffles.) I don't know how I got sidetracked - talking about wedding stuff. I just want to wish Julie and Shannon a very blessed and happy anniversary.
But I will confess that even though there's a lot of work involved, I love planning parties and weddings!

Sneak Peek Challenge Card

The stamp and designer paper is from a new set in the fall and winter catalog. The cardstock is also a new color: riding hood red. I used a blender pen and reinkers to color the image (also new colors - pink pirouette, riding hood red, and kiwi kiss). All of the new stuff will be available for purchase beginning August 12th. Unfortunately there's lots and lots of new items in the new catalog I need...well I guess I mean want!
I almost forgot...the scallop edge is made with the new scallop edge punch - no more using the corner rounder to make the edge. This is so much faster! The card layout is from a Sudsol challenge this week.

Today's Chat & Challenge

As you can see, I'm still choosing this year's "in colors" for card challenges. Next week - new colors (the man in brown should be bringing me a box this week! :)
I guess thinking of getting a package of goodies made me think of getting a Christmas gift. So I pulled out one of my favorite set from last Christmas used Wild Wasabi and Blue Bayou colors to make my card. You can't tell from the photo but I embossed the tree by using my versamark pen, glossy glaze enamel, and heat gun. It's nice and glossy!
I know it's too early to think of Christmas, but for me it's time to think of cards and projects to make, especially ones for classes! And with Jill's baby due at Christmas, I plan to be way ahead...well, at least that's the plan!

Mini Card Assortment

Mini cards (3x3) are some of my favorite cards - the perfect accompaniment to a gift. I like to make sure I have a variety on hand not only for me but also for Jill and Julie. I think I like them because there's less space to write inside, so I don't have to think and think about what to say. So bad! Anyway, my mom's birthday is the 22nd so I made some of these to send to her.