A Little Mojo Jump Start

I took a little time off,  just a little over a week this time.  We've had some more snow events, which should lead to stamping, but not this time.  I have been manning the snowblower and I am so out of shape, it totally wipes me out.  I used it twice yesterday!  The big question...when will this winter end?  Not soon enough for this gal!

So, today I made it into the craft room.  I had a few supplies sitting on the table that had never made it into a card (a challenge since past.)  I divided the supplies into two cards, so they will have similar themes.  This is the first, for Mojo Monday.

I used lots of papers from the Sale-A-Bration pack Sweet Sorbet.  It looks fabulous paired with black. The flower was one of the supplies sitting on my table.  It's made from vintage seam binding and a button from my stash.  The sentiment is from Regarding Dahlias.

The rest of the week should be kinda quiet.  I say kinda because we have another storm coming on Thursday.  It's still uncertain what path it will take, but more snowblowing may be in my future!

Hope you are having a warm and wonderful day!

Stippled Blossoms - Birthday

Hello, all my stamping friends!  Despite the crummy weather here, I'm in a very cheerful mood.  In the past couple of weeks I was chosen as a card challenge winner a couple times!  Last week the anniversary card I made for my brother and sister in-law was chosen by the ladies at Just Add Ink as their inspiration challenge winner!  So, I will be adding their badge here shortly!

I little further back, I made Headlines with my one layer card over at the Paper Players!

I haven't been making a lot of cards...but I have been enjoying the ones I do choose to make, and the challenges I have chose to participate in.  Today is another example of that.  I chose the color challenge over at Just Add Ink.  

Along with the sketch challenge at Techno Stamper!  It's Mary Jo's 300th sketch!  Can you believe it?  I think that's amazing she's kept it up so long!

 

So, here's the card .....

This is for my other sister in-law, who's birthday is coming up in about 10 days.  Some of my favorite things about this card?  The double stamping of the sentiment...it kinda gives it a 3D effect.  The embossing on the rose that gives it more dimension and depth.  Then, the combination of the wood stamp background (on an unusual color, no less) with the softness of the flower.  I hope she likes it!


As I said, the weather here has been cold and snowy and I'm about done with it!  Hubby was gone last week and yours truly had to shovel and snowblow!  I'm still a little sore...although not as bad I was expecting!  We got another 3 inches of the white stuff today.  I think we are right at our annual average and we still have plenty of opportunity to go above that!  The weatherman says we usually get another 12"-17" in February, March and April....oh, boy!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Just Add Ink 200th Challenge Celebration

I was very lucky last week.  I happened to check my Feedly just about the same time Just Add Ink added their weekly challenge.  It's their 200th challenge!  It was lucky for me because they were looking for their 500th "like" on Facebook and their 800th blog follower and sending a little surprise to those readers.  I was the 500th "like!"  So, I just had to find time to do this challenge.  It's a great inspiration photo.

A scene like this would be so welcomed now.  I am so tired of the relentless snow and cold!  As luck would have it, I needed to make an anniversary card for my husband's brother and his wife, so this was a great jumping off point.

I used the sentiment from Petite Pairs along with Gingham Garden paper and washi tape.  I adhered the washi to a strip of paper to make my banner and stamped the washi with Stazon ink.  The leaves are wings from the Bird Punch.  The flowers and rhinestones are dollar bin finds.

It felt sooo good to make a card after a week off!  It's snowing again tonight...maybe no school tomorrow.  So, you never know, I may be home bound and making cards again tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Watercolor Wonder Cards - Round 2

I finished another "set" of Watercolor Wonder cards. 

My favorite is this "Love" card.  This idea started over at Rita Wright's blog.  She made a couple really clever cards using this stamp from Countless Sayings I.

 I still love this Hello, Doily stamp.  I must ink it up more often.  I used the sentiment from Regarding Dahlias, the leaves from the Bird Punch and a retired brad with a tissue paper flower.

A simple get well card using Thoughts and Prayers.  I purposely tried to keep these cards very simple, so they would be easy to replicate.  I used markers and the "thumping" technique to color the leaves.

This is Kenna's favorite.  She loves alligators.  Truth be told.  I had to cover a boo-boo, so I went with the alligator from Wild About You.  The speech bubble is from Valentine Defined, both retired, but I was making lemonade out of lemons KWIM?  Anyway, the sentiment is from the coming Sale-A-Bration set, See Ya Later.

Finally, my least favorite.  I struggled with this patterned card both times I used it.  It's very pretty...it doesn't need much help.  Maybe that's my problem, I tried to do too much with it....it's OK.  The sentiment is from Sassy Salutations.  I love this sentiment set!  I had a friend order it during a sale and I thought to myself, "That's kinda neat, maybe I'll get it, too."  I'm sure glad I did...thanks Crys!

So, I may try one more round of these cards.  Maybe inspiration will strike.

BTW - Kenna got her car!  The one we were negotiating the other day.  It's been to the shop, to get a few things tweaked and it's ready to drive next week!  Oh boy!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Stay warm as we prepare for Polar Vortex...round two!

So Very Grateful [Love this Set!] Valentine

I didn't think I would be stamping on Monday.  We had plans to go buy Kenna her first car.  Well, negotiations came to a stand still pretty quickly and we left with no car, no need to get plates, no calls to the insurance company...nothing.

After catching the season-ending episode of Sleepy Hollow I headed to the craft room!

I used this sketch by Mary Jo for the Lunchtime Sketch Challenge over at Techno Stamper.

I stayed to the sketch....almost completely.  The rectangle up top was my only sticking point.  I played with this element for hours...literally...I'm sorry to say!  I'm so glad it turned out in the end!

 

There are three types of thread on this card!  I tried at least three different ribbons, too.  None of them made the cut...ha! ha!

My favorite element?  And where I started?  The Crumb Cake heart embossed and water-colored using my newest favorite set, So Very Grateful!  

This lead to another challenge over at Splitcoaststampers, "Using White on Kraft with Watercoloring."

Now, I have the rest of the day to get some things done!

Countless Sayings ...One Layer Card

I found some time to play today during the football games.  It's not what you're thinking...I was watching the games and stamping.  Mostly doodling, trying to get some ideas out of my head and generally "playing around."  When the second game ended I was ready to put my plans to paper!

I really wanted to play with The Paper Players again.  Love them so much! They have such good graphics for their challenge pictures, too.  I save them on my computer and sometimes print them off, 4 challenges per page.  A good graphic helps remind me of the requirements of each challenge.

Today's requirement?  A one-layer card.

Lots and lots of masking on this card, but I think it was worth it.

The spray I used is the retired Blushing Bride Smooch.  The set, a new photopolymer set called, Countless Sayings I.  I improvised with the arrow fletchings (that's the feather parts...I had to look it up) and used the "X" in the set.  All the stamps came from this one set.  I had to add a little more and settled for a few rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping today!

Congrats...to a Stamping Friend

I needed to make a card today for a stamping friend who is retiring from her day job!  Yay, Bonnie!

I thought the bright and cheerful colors that LeAnne chose at The Paper Players challenge would make a great card for such an occasion.

Again, I wanted to use some of my new stuff.  So, I thought the new Sale-A-Bration set Banner Blast would be a good choice.  (I ended up using it inside the card.)  I used the coordinating punch, too.  After playing around, I came up with something totally off the wall.  I punch some strips that I could weave some paper through.  Very clean and simple, not usually my best work, but I think I like it.  I had to resist the urge to do more, though!

The background paper is another pattern from the Fresh Prints stack in the new Occasions catalog.

The sentiment is a retired Sale-A-Bration set, Congrats.  I didn't have any other retirement sentiments and I've always liked this one...it had lots of different "congrats" sentiments.

I had to show you inside...and my boo boo.  I practiced the banner across the sentiment, then when I stamped it, I didn't follow my plan!  I messed up the order.  Not a huge deal, but I think it's easier to read the sample.  The Pear Pizzazz is harder to read through.

On another note, I was fortunate enough to get some recognition for last weeks Paper Players card HERE.  LeAnne chose my card:

I am super excited about this, and I will be adding it to my sidebar soon!  It needs an overhaul...badly!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I really do appreciate you stopping by!