My Sunday Purse

Entered into Lily of the Valley Challenge, (punch it)

Belli Blog Challenge, "C" embellies

Crafty Creations "stiches"

Stampavie "gift bag"

Papertake Weekly, sketch

Happy Day . . .  to all the little girls out there!  I made this paper mache purse finally.  I bought it back in November and put it off and put it off, finally the perfect occasion!  I think it has been turned into every little girls Easter Sunday purse, time to put the white gloves and bonnets on Girlie's!  

The image is from Lili of the Valley called "New Hat".  The perfect image for this occasion.  The Challenge at Lili of the Valley is "Punch it", so keep reading and learn how I incorporated it in the project.  The Die Cut is by Nestabilities.

Ingredients:

The DP is "Vintage" from Tim Holtz Ideaology, the punch used is by EK (the little heals were

perfect for this theme). 

Medium:

Copic Sketch ~ Skin and Dress = E000,E00,E21, R20 and Y11 on the dress

Shading = B000, B00

Hair is C00, C5

Hat, shoes and purse = RV00, RV000 and R20

The purse opens up for storage and closes with a clasp, every DP is sewn with white thread and hot glued onto the purse.  The seam, when closed, is covered with the pink and green flower ribbon from my stash and don't forget to slide in your favorite image for display in your Easter deco spot!

Embellishment:

Handmade ribbon rose (see tutorial on my blog tab)

Bling "Salt Air" by Cosmo Cricket

Flowers from WOC

Ribbon and Lace from my stash

Stickles on flowers

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

Every opportunity to look your best is another reason to!

Thank you for visiting,

Nellie in Spring

This is my favorite Sugar Nellie so far, it is specifically for a particularly tricky sketch over at the Sugar Bowl Challenge.  It turned out to be tricky because the sketch really would look better for a horizontally stamped image (that I don't have) or a larger image to fill more of the card.  I did my best, and I hope you all find her as stunning and cute as I have, and the bunny she's holding looks really comfy . . . although jangly! 

Challenges entered into:  Sugar Bowl Challenge 

Stamp Something Spring

Prairie Fairy Friday Oh So Spring

Stampin with the Dragon Spring

Wags 'n Whiskers Spring

Totally Gorjuss Spring has Sprung

Paper Play Distressing

Southern Girl Add an animal

 Ingredients:

"Bad Hare Day" is the name of the stamp by Sugar Nellie, the DP is Kaiser Craft "Candy Lane", the punch used is from Martha Stewart and the Stock paper is Bazill.

She has Stickles on her lips, silver on her buckles, and the bunny has white flower soft on tail and head

 This is a closeup to view the rolled up punched edge of the trim on either side of her as well as the other detail.

Mediums:

Copic: skin ~ E0000,00,21,R20  Hair ~ E42,E35,E50,E19 Dress/socks ~ R0000,RV00,RV13,RV17 shading~ C00,C1C2  the bunny is B000 and E00 grass is YG03,05,07

 Embellishments:

Charm is by Modern Romance, the butterfly is from my stash and the flowers are Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts

In the end, the inside of the card is finished off with yet a third matching DP from Kaiser and a large square of plain white for all your messaging needs.

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

Keep an open mind and try something new every day!

Thank you for visiting,

Paint Chips to good use

This card was a final ditch effort that turned into a marvel!  I found all of these ridiculous paint chips in my china cabinet drawer I have had for . . . well . . . two houses ago and never could make myself toss them.  I went to my USA stampers card class last week and the 5 card trade was for paint chip cards and here is what I made!

Started here . . .  I guess you could call this my DP!  (he he)

Then I gave my DP some dimension here!  The squares were punched out with my Stamp'n Up punch, the circles were all ready to punched on the chips and the flowers and yellow centers were punched with various tools of the trade I found as well.  All placed with a ruler and color coordinated pink and blue.

entered into Challenge: Anything Goes (make your own embellishments)

This is where it gets really good!  This is a Sitting Sugar Nellie stamp I think is super retro looking!  She is breezy and light hearted and ready to give that pale pink rose away to the one she is dreaming about!

I just had to add the fingernail polish! 

her dimple is thanks  to my .3 black pen

Medium:

Copic sketch E00,E11, R20, B22,24,26 and R20,R22,R24 for the socks, I know the hair has R19 for the auburn streaks and E50 for the light base but the other colors elude me.  (Sorry)

The inside has a sentiment from Fiscars that says "Inspired" and this card is for a little girl in my husbands Karate class that has started a campaign to support St. Judes childrens hospital.  I think anyone, that young, that naturally thinks of others deserves to be appreciated. 

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGH FOR THE DAY:

Put as much thought into making memories as possible and they'll come back to you!

Thank you for Visiting,



Love My Marilyn~like Mom card

Love is in the air, Valentine's, Mothers Day, Birthdays and soon Father's Day!  This card is the closest thing I could find to a Diva . . .  Marilyn look alike.  I love these stamps, they are glamorous and Betty Boop-like fancy shmancy if you know what I mean!  Not childish though, just classic style.  The stamp is 'Darling Marci" from LA LA Land Crafts.  The DP is Bo Bunny "Crush Collection, Bazill stock and Martha Stewart Edge punch "Dolly lace".  I just love the dove's in the bird cages and the color coordinated hearts pattern.

click to enlarge

Entered into the following challenges:  La La Land Gallery

Simon Says Stamp: Mothers
The Crafty Pad for the moms
Paper cutz Challenge
Pixie Cottage glitter / sketch

Medium:

Copic colors R20,22,32 - dress and shoes E00,R20,E21 - skin tone E33,53,Y26 - hair

      Embellishments:

                                                                                                                               she's holding 2 roses

flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts

Fiscars "wishes all around" sentiment

Stickles glitter for flowers and shoes

Nestabilities Die Cut for trim

To finish up this beautiful and different La La card, like all of the elements of the front page, the inside page is sewn all the way around and a large piece of white for a lot of love for mom is centered and cornered.

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

If you make something with your hands . . . any one that appreciates it is handing YOU a greater reward! 

Thank you for visiting,

My favorite Hug

Hello fellow bloggers,

There may not be a lot of followers to this portion of my Blog home, but you all really are deserving of these next few finds!  I wanted to share some pictures of my young'ns also that I ran across last week.  These bring back really fond memories for me and allow you all to meet me just a little more.  I recieved my autism donation stamps yesterday in the mail and welcome all of you to click on the chicken sketch in my side bar and join me in funding research on this disease.

The exploding Fairy Box, the Circle card, the Beautiful and inspiring Birthday card. All of them master pieces that I want to share from their perspective creators. Please. . .  always follow blog etiquette and give credit where credit is due by linking back to their origination's and then get crackin! I know I will. hehe

I also follow a ton of candy on the "Candy" tab above.  The Challenge tab is somewhat under construction currently but has numerous fun and rewarding challenges.  The most recent post is one I think I want to leave up top until I complete the pertinent challenge info, for both my reference. . . and for a great start up sheet for all of you.

Above is my special boy!  Beautiful in every way!  This was the "Worlds largest hug" campaign and that adorable teen is my girl. We encompassed the entire High School with the volunteers of our community for donations to Charity. A proud and rewarding moment.

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

Share what you can with them. . . And teach them to Share with others!

Thanks for visiting,

I C. C. Spring

     I've made my very first card today with a stamp by C. C. Design from All That Scraps called Fall Birgitta.  My goal was to make a card my very special sister in law would love to get.  When I went looking through my Color BoK DP's, I needed to find a very springy bright colored paper because I need the color to brighten my mood.  (It's going to snow this week) :)  The small designs in the paper really required a large image with  the ability to hold a lot of color in large areas.  This stamp, with its very simple and adorable design, was just perfect.  I got it in the mail 2 days ago and I couldn't wait to ink her up!

Challenges entered into:  My Partners in Crafting Crime, 3 buttons or more
7 Kids College Fund Challenge, Pink/flowers
Paper Cutz , Any theme of choice
Die Cut Dreams, Mothers Day or Someone Special
Scrap-Creations, Spring has Sprung

Ingredients:

Bazzill Card Stock, Color BOK Design paper from Walmart, Martha Stewart Optic Dot edge punch and Fiscars Sentiment.

I swear . . . if I didn't know any better . . . I can hear it!  This card is just screaming Tammy . . . come and make more of me!  I am such an Orange and deep pink/fuchsia kinda girl.  I could look at this all day!  She is so content and endearingly calling me.  Anyway, I just love this card.  (I hope it doesn't sell in my craft sale for Mothers Day so I can send it to someone.) hehe  It's really getting hard for me to part with these cards!

Mediums:

Copic ~ Skin, E00, E11, R20

Dress, R22, R24, RV17

Flowers, Y35, Y38, YR15

Grass and leaves, G20, YG05, YG07

Fence and Hair, E42, E43, E57 then E25, E35, E50

Background, B000, B00

Various Ranger Distress inks for contour and ground cover

My photo tent came today and with the Ott lights, I took these clear, shiny, and bright photos of her to share.  I've never gotten the glitter and extras to show up so easily. That photo tent is the best thing I've gotten this year so far! WOW! it really makes a difference. You can see the shading, glitter, white light marks and the grass detail also. I got it on Ebay for $17!  The photo local photo shops wanted $80.

I wanted to give the butterfly buttons a really special effect today, so I connected them to the green wires that I curl into vines from the Magnolia flowers and suspended them out and above the flowers like a real butterfly would do in nature. 

I finished off the inside with one of the punchout matching sentiments that come with the design paper and another coordinating DP, all of the elements are sewn together, Stickles glitter glue was added to the flowers,wings, and bow on dress as well as on the sentiment, the flowers are:  Cherry Blossoms, Shabby Chic Rose Coral and Vintage white cherry blossom from Magnolia.

I can't remember when I had so much fun designing and color coordinating!  This one was great to do and share!  Off to make my 5 cards to share with a "paint chips" design for my card class tomorrow night!

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

When you truly love doing it, it's always your best work!

Thank you for Visiting,

Quicker cards, shopping for that sketch and Challenge page update

I'll bet you're wondering . . . quicker cards?  I wanted to show you what I have just stumbled upon last week on my "unclesamrefund" shopping spree.  The Lili of the Valley website I purchased unmounted rubber stamps from also offers pre-colored/pre-cut design squares that some people call toppers.(not sure why?)  Yes, they sell 20 images total, 5each of 4 different designs from their collection of adorable images that come to you already colored and ready to set to stock and embellish (at an astonishingly low price). 

I made all 4 of these beauties in less than 4 hours and have decided to use them as my contribution to the "bring us something new"  portion of my monthly card class. Several of the ladies can't afford the latest mediums and/or their hands and eyes aren't what they used to be but they want to make top of the line greeting cards just like everyone else.  What do you think?   These are the Large cut toppers so the images are pretty big, but for simple, different and inexpensive . . . they win!  I didn't get photos of the other two because I gave them to the secretaries and principle(wife) of my sons Jr. High too quickly but I just couldn't resist!

click photo for link

Are we having fun yet? So . . . It really sunk in today that embellies, paper, and images are not the only things to look for when it comes to making great cards. It all starts out with the layout. After all, you could have the best of everything to add on and if the design isn't symmetrical and balanced, the card never seems to be right! So . . . I took a look around and found some real "buys" when it comes to sketches and blog pages with sketch catalogs! And of course, I needed to share them.!  You can find them in the sidebar of my shopping index tab from above.  I hope they inspire you when it comes to all of the choices we can put into each and every card!  Have fun window shopping those sketches!

I know this is another long post, but if you get a chance, jump over to the Challenges index tab and check out my new post on a daily break down of challenges I love.  I put a lot of work into it and it still isn't complete but I think there is probably enough there to feed your thirst for challenge!  Feel free to borrow them and get craftin! 

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGH FOR THE DAY:

It's not always ... "what can I get if I do this?" . . . Sometimes it's what will I learn if I do this?

Thank you for visiting,

Flowers, Buttons and Congrats!

I received two treats in the mail today, one from Holley for winning her candy draw and the other from Debbie in Australia just because I became her 500th follower!  Imagine that! I get to follow her and learn what she shares and she treats me!  Thanks Debbie and Holley, I just loved it all!  I feel blessed!

Evening!  So ...Uncle Sam has alotted me some new stamps and paper and yes flowers too!  Now, I would never be able to resist sharing my great finds. . . so check out the stores on my shopping tab and spread the word! 

First, Whiff of Joy has some adorable stamps designed by E.Bell like Willow and Oakley and Guardian and Angel that I can't wait to ink up.  Flat rate shipping for U.S. available at $2.45!  Secondly, really cute brand new, Girlie stamps are now available that I needed in order to make some vintage style cards for my boutique vendor, available over at Lili of the Valley where all orders over today's exchange rate of $34.75 U.S ships for free!  I still can't believe how fast I received the Cryogen paper I use for my copic coloring from Cutcardstock.  And last but not least, the balance of my much needed "browns" collection of Copic sketch markers from Carpe Diem for $4.87 each makes for a great day of deals! 

Just F.Y.I. a great variety of plastic sleeves and boxes that protect my product are available from Clear bags.  Something for every need!  Now I know that most card makers already have their favorite flower retailers, but I really found it easy to click and search some real beauties at Wild Orchid Crafts.

OK . . . Whew!  Done notifying all of you of some great finds. . . on to my new card.  So I designed this after the majority of the challenges I wanted to participate in; sketch, pink polka dots, flowers, buttons, my new Ribbon Hair Tilda stamp, and I am really working hard on the darker skin tones like my last Asian Beauty.  This tulip pathway is just beautiful and of course tulips are my favorite flowers!

My first attemps at African American skin tone!

Magnolia-highlights Spring Extravaganza!

This card is being entered into challenges at:  Stampin Scrappin (sketch), Magnolia Stamp Lovers (buttons/bling/pink, Cupcake Craft Challenge (pink polkadots), Stamptacular Sundays (Lucky duck), All That Scraps (buttons), LOTV (say it with flowers).The Crafty Pad (use a ribbon)Southern Girls Challenge (flowers)

There was a DT call that didn't work out today, but there is another DT call at Going Grey with Scrap Creations and I hope you'll all join me before the 20th of March in trying to represent them and teach others while on their DT team! 

INGREDIENTS: 

Base is from Core' dinations - DP is from Tim Holtz ideaology "Vintage Shabby" and Basic Grey "Sultry/dressy also Kaisercraft "Australia"

Fiscars "Cameo ovations" Sentiments , Nestibilities die cut "Labels Seven" , Martha Stewarts "Doily" punch from Michaels or Hobby Lobby

MEDIUMS:

Copic Hair= E33,E35,E37

Skin=E11,E33,E21,R34

path=E11,E37,E00

dress=Y21,Y26,Y35

shadow-B0000,B000,B00

grass=YG91,YG95,YG97

bow=YG03

rose= R20,RV34,YR12

tulips=YR12,RV00,RV17,RV29

DI= Walnut stain and crushed Olive

EMBELLIES:



I added Flower soft "Sunshine yellow" to the bows in her hair and Ranger Stickles in Eucalyptus and yellow to the bow and dress as well as flowers.  Flockpowder "cosmos" by Martha Stewart to gift box, smooch pearlized accent ink in "hotypink", and butterfly button/ribbon/flowers all from my stash.

I finished it off with a coordinating paper and doily cut based plain paper for signature with some crystal stickers.

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

If you need a penny, take it!  If you have a penny give it! 

I know this was fun for me to create and I hope as fun for you to see, thank you for visiting,

You May Also Like:

My first Challenge Award!

Good Day Everyone!  I had an exhausting but apparently very rewarding!  I went to my Challenge and Candy tabs to get them updated and low and behold, I actually placed TOP 5 in the Cupcake Craft Challenge #130 (Anything but squares)  with my House Mouse "Pink Cream Bunny" card below:

I was so thrilled, even as late as it is, I just wanted to share my journey.   This is unexpected, thrilling and greatly appreciated and I want to thank everyone over at Cupcake Craft Challenges for this unexpected privilege.

I'll be sure and display this reward proudly!

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGH FOR THE DAY:

It truly pays to persevere!

Thanks for visiting,