Happy Anniversaries

Notice that I typed "anniversaries", and that's because my parents will celebrate 45 years of marriage on the 7th, and my husband and I will celebrate 16 on the 6th!  

I chose the latest Poppy sketch to inspire this card for my mom and dad

Here's a close-up photo

If you haven't been over to Poppy Sketches yet, you need to pop on by and join in.  The sketches are combined with a color scheme and the Design Team will provide you with great inspiration!

I dug into some goodies from the latest Swag Bag from Paper Issues, some Lawn Fawn stamps, cut that adorable heart frame using my Cameo.

Because I felt like it

That's the reason I'm sharing a card today.  It's procrastination at it's best!  I have a million other things to do, including cleaning the house for company this weekend, but....

I made a card instead based on this sketch and these colors from Poppy Sketch #4

Here's my card

So on Mother's Day I treated myself to a trip to Craft Warehouse (like I needed an excuse), and I picked up some yummy paper from the MME Market Street "Ashbury Heights" collection.  

The stamp is new (to my stash, that is) Technique Tuesday.  And those gorgeous sequins are Hazel & Ruby.  

It's hard to tell, but the background is cut down and layered a bit and what appears to be brown is actually shiny gold stripes.

The vellum leaves are thanks to my Cameo -- *sigh* it always comes through for me!

Now that I've had some creative time, I suppose I need to go clean...

Pow!

Happy Birthday to our neighbor and friend Clay who just turned 9!

Here's a card I whipped up for the girls to attach to his gift.

I had such fun making this - especially since it meant pulling out goodies from Paper Issues, and sharing it with my friend (his mom) who is quite crafty herself!

A closer look at the vellum and others embellies

I have some unfinished cards on my craft table - not sure if they will ever get done.  At this rate I will probably have to repurpose the "toppings" and use them on different cards.

More fun with Watercolors

Here's my card I promised, now that it's dry, and I'm linking it up to the Moxie Fab challenge Styling with Stencils Challenge.

I used the same Jillibean Soup stencil as on {this} card. But I wanted to use just a fraction of the dots.  I created this card for a somber occasion, and it makes me thinking of tears or raindrops.  

Here's a close-up look

I used natural light for these photos, and I think the second photo looks more true-to-life.

I used a perfect medium pen coupled with some perfect pearls.  The sequins are from Hazel & Ruby.

I'll be working on a few more cards this afternoon and I hope to get those posted before the day is over.

Playing with Watercolors

This is not my first adventure playing with watercolors, but it's been a while and when my mom asked me to make some cards without a sentiment, I thought it was a good time to get messy.

I used a flat sponge, a round sponge and a semi-wide brush to create these cards

No trick photography on these, the paint colors really are that vibrant

I tried to photograph a third card, but the dimensional glue I used on the sequins was not try, and that just doesn't look good.  So I will try another photo in the AM when the light is good and see if that turns out.

I have a couple of challenge cards I'm working on, and I can just finish them I'll be sure to share them.

I've been busy recently -- we took an overnight trip up to Seattle and this was one of my favorite moments

If you've seen Chihuly's glass work in person, then you know how stunning it is!  It was a family favorite.  We also visited the Space Needle, EMP, and the Seattle Aquarium.  And I won't even get started on the food...yum!!

You Did It

I have about 5 minutes to post before running my littlest dancer to her hip hop class.

So here goes...

Today is the start of a new challenge blog called Poppy Sketches

by Laura Davis

And in an effort to bounce around and try as many sketch challenges as I can, I decided to plunge right in on the first sketch

It's a sketch with a color challenge and this is what I imagined

I'd like to tell you all about the yummy new ink I bought from Papertrey Ink, but I think this close-up picture will do a better job

Um, can ya tell I'm in love with gold right now?

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do a floral thing -- it seems the DT did, so I went with this fabulous Teresa Collins paper that made me think of overlapping flower petals.

I have another card to post and details from my oldest daughter's recent trip to Washington D.C.  I'm one proud momma and I have to share.

The short version is that she went to represent the state of Washington to advocate for diabetes research.

Back soon with more crafty business...

Thinking of You Part II

Here's another sympathy card -- it wouldn't have to be, I suppose, but that is its intended purpose in this case.

There's a new challenge up at Moxie Fab World, so I am submitting this to the Stencils: Styling with Stencils Challenge.

I've had this Jillibean Soup stencil/stamp set for a few weeks, so this was a great opportunity to use it (the stencil only).  I used my Copics to create the dots, and as they bled into the paper they created a really cool effect.

The sentiment (same one as yesterday, so I can't recall the manufacturer), was stamped on adhesive-backed fabric from DCVW.

The sequins are a random mix, but primarily from Doodlebug Designs.  I rounded two of the corners with a punch from Stampin' Up.

The sun is shining and I'm off to run some errands...

Thinking of You

Here's a quick little post with a sympathy card that I needed to make

No challenges, just because I wanted to play with my Copics and some Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

I don't recall who the stamp manufacturer of the sentiment is - I've had it for about 3 or 4 years now, but it was perfect for this design.

Here's a close-up image

I colored around a chipboard butterfly (Stampin' Up, I believe) which I used as a mask.  

I'm still working on thank you notes -- that'll teach me to put it off *wink*

Kind and Lovely

I had that stunning moment recently when I realized that I never sat my oldest daughter down to write thank you notes for her birthday (which was more than a month ago!).  So I decided to put a little more effort into creating some extra special cards.  Of course, this takes time and so they will go up on the blog one at a time.

Here's the first one

So the gold cardstock with the white threads running through it was one of my impulse purchases.  Gold is definitely "in" right now, and I wanted to give it a whirl.  The sentiment stickers were a must have - I was eyeing them the last time I went shopping and I couldn't resist them this time.  They are Maggie Holmes from Crate Paper/American Crafts.  It was all I could do not to buy up the whole collection!  

The stars, clear sequins and the giant & are from Paper Issues Swag Bags & kits.  Pink sequins are Doodlebug.  Patterned paper is Teresa Collins.  I spritzed it with some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Primrose.

Here's a close-up of the glittery, shiny gold goodness

On a completely separate note, but along the lines of "Kind & Lovely", I had a "YAY ME" moment recently when I received an honorable mention award from the Fusion Challenge Blog.

I was so very proud of my card, and it meant a lot to have received recognition for it, so thank you for that!  I will be playing along whenever I can because I adore the idea of their challenges.

I made a completely unnecessary and frivolous purchase at Craft Warehouse today, but I am pretty excited about this one set of items in particular

Notice the price tag in the corner - American Crafts scissors from $29.99 down to $7.00 - um, yes please!  I always resent having to spend $$ on boring old supplies like glue, tape and scissors, and yet they must be a part of our crafty collection of things, so I'm happy to have stocked up.  My daughters get their hands on all of that stuff and I never see it again (until many months later when I do a thorough cleaning of their rooms!).

Alright, back to crafting - I have a few more thank you notes to create...

XOXO DS141

Wandering around blogland yesterday and found this sketch at The Deconstructed Sketch.

I was immediately inspired to create this card

I've definitely fallen in love with the sequin craze, but my other new addiction is paper straws.  I found these at Target over the weekend and put them to use right away.

The patterned paper is from the Crate Paper Love Notes collection, the woodgrain stamp is Lawn Fawn (colored with a Tsukineko Memento marker) stamped on white card stock and cut out using a Spellbinders die (and my handy dandy Cuttlebug), the cork circle is My Little Yellow Bicycle, and the other little embellies are from the Paper Issues monthly Swag Bag (which means I don't recall the exact manufacturers, lol).

Here's a close-up

I have the whole day in front of me and maybe even more crafty time.

If so, I'll be sure to post again later...

You're Somethin'

I've known about the Fusion challenge (clever idea!) for a while now, but have finally had time to play along.

Here's the challenge

And I used both the sketch and photo as inspiration to create this card

I layered card stock (All Bazzill) by punching holes, each one slightly smaller than the layer on top of it.

The stamps are Lawn Fawn sentiments, yellow sequins are from a Paper Issues Swag Bag, teal sequins are Doodlebug Designs. Punches are EK Success, and I'm not sure about the wooden heart.

Here's a close-up with some fancy photo editing

I'm super excited, this is the first Saturday in weeks that I didn't have to run around all over the place, so that means some crafty time all to myself!

I could clean the house, but.....

Happy Birthday

To my nephew, who turned 8 on the first of this month!

He's a cutie (but he probably wouldn't want me to say that) and I needed to create a "boy" card.

I turned to sketch #15 at Seize the Sketch, which you can find HERE

Great sketch!  And here's my card

You can see I smushed it down, but stuck closely to the sketch otherwise.  I went a little star crazy, playing with some goodies from the March Swag Bag from Paper Issues.

The stamp is from a Lawn Fawn set of sentiments.

I have several cards in the works, but lately it seems it takes me several days to complete one.  That's okay, though, sometimes I think they turn out better that way because otherwise I would be too rushed and I think it would show.

Crossing my fingers that I get some time to craft this weekend, have a good one!

Bee-utiful You!

I'm playing along with the Hexagons: Happy For Hexagons Challenge at Moxie Fab World.

I picked up a Heidi Swapp stencil the other day that is meant to be paired with some color mists, but I used it to trace some hexagons.

I created a bee hive on a card and this is what it looks like

I wanted them to have that hand drawn look, so I pulled out a Copic pen to trace the hexagons and then I added color with my Copic markers.  I wanted one of the hexagons to stand out so I used atyou Spica glitter pens and some dimensional adhesive (for a 3D look).  And of course I had to add a bee, thanks to some SRM Stickers.

Here's a close-up of the the extra special hexagon. 

I used my black Memento marker (Tsukineko) to create the "bee-utiful" using a Scenic Route clear stamp that was spelled the correct way. 

The "You" is from a Lawn Fawn clear stamp

If you look closely at the letters, you might see some sparkle.  I traced over the letters with a glitter pen.

I put a lot of work into this card, but I would do it again in a heartbeat because I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of Love

I've got a couple of cards to share.  The first is the latest sketch at Seize the Sketch

It sort of looks like the sketch...

~ Cardstock Bazzill Basics ~ Stamp Lawn Fawn ~ Stickers Fancy Pants ~ Other Stuff Tag, Sequins, Acrylic Arrow

Most of the items on the above card came from the February Swag Bag from Paper Issues.

These swag bags are the coolest - loaded with tons of embellies so I can have a little bit of everything.  I was so inspired by the latest bag of goodies that I created this card, just because

I added some zig zag sewing in the corners and an SRM sticker, otherwise the rest is from the swag bag.

I hope you are having a LOVELY Valentine's Day!

My Style

Wow, it's been nearly a month since I posted last, but I do have some good reasons.  A trip to Disneyland, the flu (that's a nasty business!!) that invaded my home for nearly two weeks, and my birthday (yesterday) all kept me crazy busy.

But I did sit down last night and play along with the very FIRST challenge over at

If you don't know Gloria, she is an amazingly talented designer who has created for several wonderful Design Teams (and she's a former 365 Cards DTer), and now she has her own challenge blog.

First up is to create a project featuring your signature style.

Boy that's hard to describe, but this card that I whipped up last night pretty much does it

I chose some double-sided Crate Paper patterned paper loaded with hearts and it became the card base.  The inside looks like it was painted with watercolors

And it's sturdy enough to just use the patterned paper without sticking it on cardstock.

I would generally describe my style as CAS, but I incorporated my favorite items/techniques into this particular card.

I added some silk ribbon, stitching, and heart-shaped pearls (Doodlebug Designs).  This card is all ready to give to one of my Valentines (my hubby & two daughters).

XO

I'm beginning to explore other challenge blogs out there, and thanks to my bloggy friend Rose, I discovered this sketch from Sieze the Sketch

Sketches are definitely tough for me, but I really liked this one and I imagined hearts instead of stars

Cardstock Papertrey Ink~Patterned Paper Crate Paper, Teresa Collins~Other items Chipboard Heart, Heart Punch, Sewing Machine Stitching

Your eyes are not deceiving you, the stitching and 'XO' banner are meant to look crooked.

Getting started on my Valentines and this puts me in the mood to make more.

I'm hoping to tackle a few more challenges before the week is up, so it might be a regular love fest on my blog.

You're a Star

It's a new year, and I'm jumping back in to my own personal crafting.

It feels strange not to post a challenge every day, but it also feels good to think exclusively about what I want to create.

I met the loveliest crafters in blog land through 365 Cards and I do not regret one second of the time I spent running it.  I could not have done it without all the fabulous designers who joined me in my adventures on the team.

Okay, here's a card I created for the latest Moxie Fab challenge to use constellations and/or stars

Cardstock Bazzill Basics~Star Sassafras Lass~Sticker SRM Stickers~Twine American Crafts~Other items Rhinestone & Sparkly Felt

It's a shooting star, and I will tuck this card away to give to someone extra special.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog and please leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by.  Then I can be sure to drop by your blog, too!