Merry Christmas Tree

It's only a few days before Christmas and I finally found some time to make a card.  This card is for two challenges.  The CAS-ual Fridays challenge is combined with the 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge.  The theme is a CAS Holiday card in less than 10 minutes.  Well it's a miracle but I did it, and with 1 minute and 17 seconds to spare.

I had an idea to make a Christmas Tree out of the Scalloped Circle Punch and Word Window punch from Stampin Up. For the Tree I punched out one scalloped circle and cut three scallops into a triangle for the top, 4 scallops for the middle and 5 scallops for the bottom.  I used the word window punch for the tree trunk.  I used foam dots to adhere the tree above the sentiment.  I punched the star out and popped it on top.  Then I added the rhinestones.

Here's my stop watch:

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card.

Here are the links to the challenges:

CD #9

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Christmas Gift Tags

I've been absent from my blog for a few weeks now.  Luckily there are no major problems keeping me from blogging.  I've just been very busy working on projects for the craft show I'm doing in December at the Medical Center where I work.  I've known about this for a year now (I had a table at this show last year too) but really just started working on my projects a couple weeks ago.

I tend to get so focused on designing that I don't take the time to mass produce anything, then at the last minute I'm rushing to finish making everything.

Last night I made up a few dozen gift tags.  I wanted them to be easy to mass produce so I kept the design simple.  Really it doesn't get much simpler than this.

   

 
I used Cherry Cobbler and Kraft Paper.  The snowflake is punched out of white glitter paper.  I stamped the kraft cardstock with white snowflakes and added a piece of twine to the end.  The tag base measures 4 inches x 2.25 inches.  The Kraft paper is 3.75 x 2 inches.  The corners were punched with the ticket corner punch, which is probably the second punch I ever purchased.

I'll be back soon with more pictures of my craft show goodies!

Thanks for stopping by!
  

MANLY STRIPES

I got a chance to make a card this morning.  It's always a good day when it starts with a card.  I've been thinking about what elements I would want in a CAS masculine card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  When I saw the colors for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge, I knew they would be perfect for a masculine card.  

Here's what I came up with:

I used a textured paper for the card base.  The rectangle is very vanilla.  The stripes are more mustard and old olive quarter inch strips.  I used dimensionals to pop the vanilla cardstock up on the base.  Keeping the design CAS and the colors masculine to combine the two challenges.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts Big Hugs stamp set.

I changed up my photo location to try something my friend Wida blogged about earlier this week.  I usually use a photo tent and take pictures in my basement.  There isn't a lot of natural light in my basement.  Wida is using the light from a window to photograph her pictures and I thought I'd give it a try.  So far I'm happy with the picture quality using this method.  It was a cloudy day today and I still think the lighting on this picture is better than what I would have gotten using my light tent.  You can find Wida' post HERE. 

Here are the links to the CAS-ual Fridays and Play Date Cafe challenges:

CFC77

PDCC156

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card! 

 

2013 Printable CD Calendar

Today I have a 2013 Calendar to share with you.  I created the 12 month designs digitally.  When printed out they fit in a standard CD Jewel case.  These will make nice little gifts this Christmas.

 

 This calendar printable is available in my Etsy Shop.  You can find the listing by clicking HERE.

Poppi Penguin Birthday

The card I'm sharing today is for my Nephew's 3rd birthday party.  The party is tomorrow.  I'm getting the card done just under the wire as usual.  Most of my cards are geared more towards adults so I don't have a lot of kids cards.  It was so much fun making this card!

  
I combined 2 challenges in this card.  For the layout, I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch sketch.  I popped the star off the corner for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge to have a tag or element going over the edge.   I had a yellow polka dot ribbon stapled to the top of the card where the star now is.  It just looked like it didn't belong there so I carefully pulled it off and left a gaping hole in the top left corner.  I covered that hole with the yellow star which I punched out of a scrap of yellow paper that had been embossed with the chevron embossing folder from Stampin Up and a small red star. 


The image is Poppi Penguin from Bugaboo Stamps.  I used primary colors for the base and the elements.  The base is real red, the top layer is Night of Navy (even though it looks black in this picture).  I embossed the Night of Navy with the PTI canvas embossing plate. The base layer and stars and sentiment are all adhered with dimensionals.

Thanks for checking out my card today!!

Here are the links to the challenges:

CTS#2

CFC75

  

For The Girls...and a new Digi Stamp

This week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is to make a card that celebrates the women in your life.  Since October is Breast Cancer awareness month, I thought it was only fitting to make a card inspired by such a great cause.  Saturday (October 13) I'll be walking in our local Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event with my friend and her Mom, who is a 30+ year survivor!

I'm super EXCITED to tell you about the sentiment I used on this card!  
I created the sentiment using My Digital Studio. It's printed on Papertrey Ink white CS.  I added a couple rhinestones and colored them pink with a regal rose marker, which matches the card base.  The card base is embossed with the linen embossing folder from PTI because I just LOVE that folder ♥


If you're interested in getting the digital stamp that I used on this card for your personal use, please mention it in the comments section and I'll be happy to send the file out to you. 

You can find the CAS-ual Fridays Blog challenge post by clicking on the link below their badge:

CFC73

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card today and remember Mammograms save Lives so please make sure you stay up to date on your screenings!



 

Blog Banner Inspired

This week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is "Toot your own horn"  they want you to use your blog banner as inspiration.  How FUN is that?  I enlisted the help of this week's Retro Sketch for the layout of my card and this is what I came up with....

All of the supplies I used are from Stampin Up (except for the white cardstock which is from PTI - IMO that is the BEST white CS).  I used the SU My Digital Studio software to create my blog banner so I thought it was only right to use SU supplies for my card.  The color scheme on this card is actually the same color scheme I have in my bedroom.

I used the Gallon, Quart, Pint color concept from Julie Day's post for this same challenge.  It reminded me about the post I read on the Moxie Fab World blog about this concept a few weeks ago.  You can read the post HERE.

My gallon color is white, my quart is Baja Breeze and my pint is chocolate chip.
 
Here are the links to the challenges - just click on the captions to get to the challenges:

CFC72

RS#31

Thanks for checking out my card today!

Wow, September has been BUSY!!!  I haven't had a post for almost 2 weeks.

This week I've been working on some more digital designs.  I thought I should do some funny cards for something different.  I used the Bugaboo Digital Stamp Stella One More Candle for the image.  I made up my own sentiment - hehe. 

Here's what I came up with.....

 Inside Reads....

I wanted to keep this very CAS so it can be easily reproduced for those times when I just need a quick card.  I colored the image using GIMP and then used MS Word to import the picture and add the sentiment.  I cut it out and mounted it on black cardstock.

I think it still needs something more, but I can't decide what I should add to it.  One thought I had is I could add some paper piercing to create a border.  Or, I could add glossy accents to the candles.  I'd love suggestions from my crafty friends.  What would you do?

I decided to try taking my photo on my window sill the way my super talented friend Wida does for her cards.  I've been having so much trouble with lighting in my photo tent lately and the lighting on this was perfect.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my CAS Digital Card.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

For the past few months I've been dealing with some personal health issues.  Luckily, I'm well on the road to recovery....hopefully there won't be any more speed bumps on that road.  It's been difficult and emotional but I realize that it could always be worse.  One thing I've learned through this is that I have a lot to be Thankful for.  I have some absolutely AMAZING Friends and Family that have been supportive and loving.  I am not the best at letting people take care of me...but the reality is that sometimes in life you're going to need someone to take care of you.  In those times when things have been the most challenging I came to see how LUCKY I am. This card is just a simple and heartfelt THANK YOU.

Besides gratitude, this card was inspired by a couple challenges.  This week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to use Black & White and another color - I chose RED.  I'm also entering this card in the Moxie Fab World Repetition challenge using my stamped flower as my repeating image.  I stamped a row of 4 flowers followed by a row of 3 flowers to create a repetitive pattern.  Then I colored the centers of the flowers with a red marker.  The flower and sentiment are both from Hero Arts.  (I finally figured out what to do with those little stamps - LOL)

Last, but certainly not least, I'm THANKFUL for my Blog Followers/Friends.  It's nice to know people that really understand what I'm talking about when I describe how I made my card :)

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Here are the links to the challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays - CFC70

Moxie Fab World - The Repetition Challenge

 

Happy Birthday - Embossed - CFC69

I'm back with another card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  The challenge is to create a card using embossing.  Here's my card:

I am in need of some masculine cards so I made this card using masculine colors.  The chevron pattern on the bottom is dry embossed and the sentiment in the middle is heat embossed.  Even though this card is very simple, I really like the layout and how simple it is.  This is something I can whip up quickly when I need a card.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card today!

CFC69

 

Thinking of You Butterfly - CFC69

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a GREAT weekend!  My weekend was pretty GREAT!  Now that it's Football season, I get more time to craft.  My team won yesterday in a very close game.  Go LIONS!!!!

This is a Thinking of you Card that I made for the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  This week's challenge is to use embossing (either dry or heat or both).  I used 2 embossing folders on this card - 3 if you count the embossed butterfly.  I stamped the sentiment on the base layer and let it dry before I embossed it with the linen embossing folder.

Supplies:

Paper:  Baja Breeze, Basic Black.  

Stamps:  Hero Arts

Ink:  Memento Black

Accessories:  Chevron Embossing Folder (SU), Butterfly Die (SU), Linen embossing folder (Papertrey Ink)

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card!  I'll be back tomorrow with another card for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge!

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Banner Anniversary

This week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to use Banners or Flags on your card or project.  I started out with some great ideas, but they just didn't look right when I was putting them together.  Finally I ended up with a very simple (ie: CAS) banner over a fancy glittery heart with an anniversary theme.

For this card I used some beautiful chevron DP from Crate Paper.  I sponged the edges just a bit to add a little more dimension and used dimensionals to adhere it to the base.  The heart was cut from my red glitter paper and adhered with dimensionals as well.  I used kraft paper for the base and banner.  To dress up the banner I added a pearl to each end.  The sentiment is from one of my favorite stamp sets, Everyday Sayings from Hero Arts.

My wedding Anniversary is coming up in October.  I don't usually make cards for any occasion more than a month before hand, but this card just seems perfect for our anniversary.  It's not too fussy, which is good for a masculine card.  

 

CFC67

Got Ippity - Inspiration Blog Hop

You've reached the final stop on the Got Ippity blog hop!  For this hop we used this picture as our inspiration:

These colors are so beautiful!  I decided to make a couple totally different cards for the hop.  For my first card, I tried some watercoloring.  I used chalk inks with the water brush to create the focal point.  The sentiment is from the Love in Return stamp set from Unity's Got Ippity Line. 

My second card is a ONE LAYER card!  I don't think I've ever done a one layer card before.  I used the Counts as Fruit stamp set for this card:

Thanks for hopping with us today.  Be sure to comment on all the blogs in our hop for your chance to win a prize!  Here's the entire hop line up:

Maria

Martha

Vicki

Michelle

Lisa

Julie

You can find the Love in Return, Counts as Fruit, and all the stamps used in this blog hop on the Got Ippity website!  Got {ippity}.   Be sure to pick Maria Levine as your Ippity Chick! 

 

Quick Cupcake Card

I TRIED to do the 10 Minute Card Dash.  I tried twice and just couldn't get a card done in 10 minutes.  BUT, I did manage to make this card in 13 minutes and 20 seconds, which for me really wasn't bad at all so I thought I should share it anyway....

 

I used the Got Ippity stamp set Counts as Fruit for the image and sentiment.  The sentiment reads:  "Because of the Cherry it counts as fruit".  Now, I wanted to put some crystal effects on the cherry but my bottle is jammed and I couldn't get it open.  I probably would have made the 10 minute time if I wasn't fussing with that bottle - LOL.

This card is for my twin sister.  Our birthday was yesterday.  She's also my very best friend.  She's my person.  You know, the person that knows you so well you can tell them anything and they love you.  She's been there through all my life's joys and challenges.  She's that person.  I LOVE her more than I could ever express.  She'll love this card because I made it and she'll be baffled at why I love to make cards but she'll still love it. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!!!!  XOXO 

Be sure to check back tomorrow.  I'll have my blog hop post for the Got Ippity design team.

Let's Get Digital...

Let's Get Digital, Digital, I want to get Digital....for some reason I have replaced the word physical from Olivia Newton John's song with the word digital and unfortunately, it's stuck in my head.  

Aren't these nuggets adorable?  I created these using my new MDS 2 software from Stampin Up.  The PDF file for these labels is available in my Etsy store.


1.  Here's what the labels look like when they came off my printer. (I know the coloring on this picture is bad)
 

2. Here are the supplies I used:

3.  Here is what they look like finished

Each strip measures 1" wide by 3 1/8" wide.

4.  and here is a link to my Etsy listing for these printables:

Hershey Nugget Wrappers

 
Do you have an Etsy store?  I'm trying to expand my Etsy social network so if you do have an Etsy store, let me know and I'll add you to my circle.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my Hershey Nugget wrappers today.

Make a Wish

We finally made it to FRIDAY!!!!  The only days I enjoy more than Fridays are Saturdays and Sundays so TGIF!!!!  One of my favorite things about Friday is that CAS-ual Friday's posts their new challenge.  I know I'm a bit of a geek when I'm looking forward to new card challenges - LOL.  This week's theme is to make a card that is inspired by something you would see in the sky.

Here's what I came up with....

I used the Less is More Sketch for the layout.

Less is More #78

CFC64

I used the new Stampin Up Basic Black ink pad for the first time on this card.  I liked the way it inked the wheel stamp.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card today!

August 2012 Desktop Wallpaper

Happy August!!!

August is one of my FAVORITE months.  I LOVE Summer and the warm August weather is finally hot enough for me.  August is also my BIRTHDAY month.  That in and of itself makes it pretty awesome.  So when I set out to make my August calendar page / desktop wallpaper I knew I wanted it to be FUN.  I ended up making several different desktop wallpapers for August (4 to be exact) because I like to have lots of choices.  It's kind of like having extra purses or shoes - can you really ever have too many wallpapers to choose from?  I made them all very simple and used pictures I found online and added the August calendar to the image using My Digital Studio Software.  They really came together very quickly.

For my first wallpaper, I used a beach image:

Second, I chose this YUMMY Shortcake Popcicle Image.  The image and the recipe can be found here:  Strawberry Shortcake Popcicle

 

My Daughter's favorite wallpaper is this third image using this beach scene with palm trees.

 

 And Finally, I used this Pretty Flower desktop background 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my August Desktop Wallpaper!