CIC44 - Hugs and Kisses

Whew I made it and with time to spare.  I wasn't sure I'd get this done in time to participate in this weeks Cupcake Inspiration Challenge but I did it!

Wow there's a lot going on with these cupcakes.  I really liked Hope's comment...
looks like Valentine's Day blew up, right???  That really made me chuckle.  I wasn't sure how I was going to pull this one off as it's really hard to find DP that matches that explosion of color.

I did find a piece of DP in my stash from KI Memories that I felt was pretty close so I went with that.

My focal image is from a retired SU set (Alphabet Soup) which I had yet to ink up.  I colored the letters with various SU markers to match the colors of the inspiration photo.
The sketch I used is an old TECC sketch

 I embossed the Lavender Lace panel with the Hearts Embossing Folder and added some ribbon from Papertrey ink and a heart charm (Making Memories) to complete my card.  I think it turned out pretty cute (if I do say so myself).

Card Stock: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Lavender Lace, Whisper White, Pink Passion.

Ink: Lavender Lace, Pretty in Pink, Yoyo Yellow, Certainly Celery, Real Red

Other: Scallop Border Punch (SU), Nestabiltie Dies, Heart Embossing Folder, Heart Charm, Grosgrain Ribbon, Foam Mounting tape

CIC26 "But she got Cat!"

Hello! - I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. The weather here was beautiful and Saturday night my hubby and I attend a wonderful BBQ at his bosses house. It was our very first time being invited there for a "social" function. Their place is absolutely gorgeous and the landscaping was amazing. Wish I would have taken our camera but I thought that might have been a bit (odd) IYKWIM.
To start this week off how about another Delectable looking Cupcake for Hope's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge. Aren't those Chrysanthemums just gorgeous! They almost look real. I struggled at first with what I was going to do for this challenge and my original idea wasn't working out because I couldn't find the tutorial that I wanted (I need to bookmark those things)so I kept searching through my stamps and happened upon this sweet image of a cat sitting among some Chrysanthemums and I knew it would work perfectly for the challenge. Next I picked out a sketch and decided on Taylor's Inspiration Sketch for this week.
Stamps: Garden Cat and Take Good Care Greetings - (Hero Arts)
Details: Card Stock: Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Blush Blossom, Tangerine Tango, Designer Paper (source unknown - because I had this forever).
Inks: Palette Noir Black, Prisma Color Pencils
Accessories: Circle Nestabilitie Dies, Scallop Oval, Lg. Oval punches, Brads (Queen and Co.), Sewing Machine.

If you're still reading and wondered about my Page Title it actually came from a commercial (I'm not sure what was being advertised) but there were little kids in school having a spelling bee and some football player. The little girl is asked to spell cat and the football player thinks he's going to "ace" the spelling bee until the teacher says, "Spell Chrysanthemum." To which he replies, "That's not fair, she got Cat!" It made me chuckle every time I saw the commercial and I thought it was fitting for the image I chose to use.

Now it's your turn to be inspired by these yummy cupcakes. Don't forget to leave a link to your card on Hope's blog using the Mr. Linky feature.

TESC80 - Monster Mash

THEY DID THE MASH, THEY DID THE MONSTER MASH...

I had some time today to play so I thought I would play along with this weeks TESC over on Taylor's Blog

I found this adorable Monster stamp (Studio G) in the $1 bin at JoAnn's and couldn't resist using it for this card. The stamp actually has a sentiment (Our Little Monster) on the side but I masked that off as I only wanted to use the monster by itself for my card. I stamped my monster twice on WW cs and once on some DP (SU-Ghostly Greetings-retired)and paper pieced his coat. He was colored with Prisma color pencils. I also cut his hair out and raised it up with mounting tape. I masked him off using Eclipse Tape and sponged Summer Sun ink around him and layered him onto Only Orange cs. and added 2 small purple button brads and some stitching on the side with black thread. His bolts were colored with a Silver Spica Glitter pen.

I added another piece of the Ghostly Greetings DP along with a punched spiderweb border and some stripped ribbon. This was layered to a fun and funky plaid (Karen Foster) and I stamped the sentiment (also Studio G and a $1 bin find at JoAnns)with Versamark and embossed with Black EP. This was layered to Lovely Lilac and Basic Black.

I'm thinking of giving this one to my hubby for Halloween this year.
Don't forget to drop by Taylor's blog and check out the other cards using this sketch and then why not give it a try yourself and leave a link to your card using the Mr. Linky feature on Taylor's blog.

Owl Inspiration

It's been awhile since I've played over on SCS with the Saturday Inspiration Challenge but I thought I would give it a try today.

I went to the Curiosity Shoppe and found this picture which I used as the inspiration for my card.

I also used the sketch on Taylor's Blog for Cupcake Friday and the Sew Simple Challenge on The Greeting Farm Blog for this card.

My card base is: Chocolate Chip layered with Kraft stamped with the Woodgrain BG in Creamy Caramel. I did some "faux stitching" around the sides and bottom of the cs and added 4 brown brads to the corners. Next I stamped a piece of Basic Gray Lemonade DP with the frond stamp from SU Paradise stamp set in White Craft ink and distressed the bottom edge and also machine stitched on the DP.
The Owl image is from The Greeting Farms-Deer Friend stamp set and the sentiment is from McSplendid Farm. I colored the Owl with Prisma Color Pencils and sponged some Cool Caribbean ink around the owl and stamped the sentiment with Chocolate Chip ink. I stamped the frond leaf again on white cs with the Cool Caribbean ink and cut it out. I mounted the leaf along with a brown button tied with hemp twine to complete my card.

I'm not sure if the faux stitching works or not but I'm leaving it as is. I love how the leaves stamped in the white turned out though on the DP.

TECC75 - Grateful

Wow it's great to have Taylor back with her wonderful Cupcake Friday sketches.  I had some time in between making potato salad, bean salad, rhubarb cookies (which are yummy by the way) and decided to play along. 

I wanted to use some of my new SU stuff and chose the Falling Leaves stamp set as my starting point.  I also paired it with the new Autumn Traditions Designer Paper.

I stamped the leaves in More Mustard, Always Artichoke and Eggplant Envy on Shimmery White card stock cut with Nesties and layered onto the same colors of card stock.  My panel is Ruby Red Textured cs with a Scallop Lace border trimmed with Always Artichoke and Zig Zag stitched with my Janome Sew Mini.

My sewing is a tad crooked but I'm still new to sewing on cards so even though it's not perfect I'm posting it anyway. 

I used my Label Nesties and added the "Grateful" sentiment with Eggplant ink and used More Mustard Grosgrain ribbon and a Leaf Shaped button with some linen tread for an accent.  The leaves on the main panel are raised with foam tape as is the sentiment.

Be sure to stop by Taylor's blog and check out everyone's take on this fun sketch by clicking on the Mr. Linky links.  Have a great rest of the weekend.

Dizzy - Cupcakes A Swirl

Dizzy my head is spinning.....Well not really but that's what those fun circles in the latest Cupcake Inspiration Challenge brought to mind when I first saw them.  Hope really does a great job finding such fun and interesting cupcakes to challenge your creativity and this one is no exception.  I love the colors, they look so refreshing and pretty together.  For my card I took my inspiration from the colors, the flower and the circle patterns.  Next up I decided to use Taylor's Cupcake Friday sketch and this is the result of both challenges.  For this card I embossed the circle embossing folder on Cool Caribbean cs and brayered Close to Cocoa ink over it.  Then I stitched a piece of DP (DCWV) and distressed the edges.  I layered this to Cameo Coral and a base of Chocolate Chip cs. 

I stamped the cupcake (Hero Arts) on Whisper White cs and colored it with Prisma Color Pencils.  I added Crystal Glitter (Art Institute) to the frosting and popped up the flower with mounting tape.  This was layered on 2 pieces of Designer paper (Bo-Bunny) and Chocolate Chip cs.  I stamped the sentiment with Chocolate Chip ink and added a Coral flower along with a Brown Felt flower and Turquoise brad to complete my card.

 

Be sure to stop by both Hope's and Taylor's blogs to see what others have come up with for these challenges.  Have a great day.

3CT Country Chicken

Welcome to Three Clover Thursday Challenge day. - This week our challenge was (Black, White and one other color). I must admit that I struggled with this a great deal. Oh don't get me wrong I love Black/White together but when I started working on my card ideas my "Mojo" just wasn't there. I wanted to try and use something other then (Red) as my extra color

since that is quite often a combo that you see together. I started out with something totally different but didn't like it and then I decided to just go with the Black, White and Red color combo anyway. Then I wanted to use the Cupcake Friday sketch from Taylor' blog but nothing I was putting together was working. I worked until midnight on Monday and finally gave up. Then Tuesday morning I decided to go with this idea and it suddenly came together. I'm not sure where my Designer Paper is from but I like the "Country" feel it has so I decided to use the Rooster Image from the retired SU set, (Provencal) and I like how it all turned out. My flower was originally white but I dyed it black. (Note to self....Wear Gloves next time!!!) - I added Prima Flowers, a large Red Gingham brad, and black brads to complete my card.

Okay so you see TWO cards here. My second card is one that I say in the magazine that SU Demo's receive and I just changed the color scheme to fit the challenge and added a couple of touches that weren't on the sample show. If you have any questions on how either of these cards were made feel free to email me and ask. Don't forget to visit the other Design Team members blogs and check out there cards as well.

Owl Be There (TECC59)

Had a chance to play today and hopped on over to Taylor's Blog to check out the Cupcake Friday challenge sketch.  I don't often make square cards but I like the way they look and the fact they allow for a little more room to create then a standard card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) has.                                                 I decided to use this adorable Owl image (The Greeting Farm) that I recently purchased.  I paired it up with some wonderful paper from Cosmo Cricket (Mr. Campy: Nature Walk.  I colored the owl image with Prisma Color Pencils blended with Gamsol.  For the eyes I stamped them again and highlighted the lids using Yellow Citrus Fluid Chalk ink and brushing it with Aztec Gold pearl-ex powder.  Then I lightly sponged some light teal ink around the image and used a scallop square punch (Marvy) Then I layered it to Close To Cocoa and Chocolate Chip.  I wanted the circle piece behind the image to resemble the "moon".  I achieved this look by using So Saffron cs and highlighting it the same way as I did the Owl's eyelids.  It's so shimmery in real life. I layered this circle to another of More Mustard and added 3 Rhinestone Jewels.  The middle layer is Chocolate Chip and the other side of the designer paper.  It looks like woodgrain.  I added some ribbon (May Arts) and stamped my seniment with Chocolate Chip ink on a Nestabilities Tag Die.  I added a bright red button and some teal thread.  The card base is Chocolate Chip layered with More Mustard and the designer paper.  The focal image and sentiment were raised using foram mounting tape. 

I love how this turned out and hope you do as well. 

Be sure to stop by Taylor's blog and click on Mr. Linky to view everyone else's cards using this fabulous sketch.                                                        

TECC58 - Spring Has Sprung!

I have a confession to make.  I "cheated" on today's sketch for Taylor's Cupcake Friday challenge.  Can anyone figure out what I did?  -  You see I have an extremely difficult time cutting squares evenly and not only that but all the images I tried were either to big or two small for what I wanted to do.  Then I remembered that I had this cool stamp (Magenta) that already had 9 square panels built right into the actual stamp.  So I colored all three panels and then cut them out and mounted them onto a background square of Lovely Lilac cs.  I colored the flowers wit Prisma Colored Pencils and cut out and layered the middle flower only.  I highlighted the flowers with a Yellow and Orange Spica Glitter Pen.

I'm also going to confess that this isn't my favorite card that I've ever done and in fact I'm not even sure I like it much at all but after several hours of working on it and the fact that my fingers are pretty much numb now (due to my Carpal Tunnel issues) I'm going to call it a day and post it anyway.  I hope it brightens your day.

Card Stock: Lovely Lilac - Kiwi Kiss, Designer Paper (DCWV), Whisper White

Stamps: Flower Trio Panel - Magenta, Sentiment from Studio G

Other: Nestabilies Tag Die, Flower (Hero Arts), Dew Drops, Ribbon (source unknown)

Inks: Palette Noir Black, Prisma Color Pencils

TECC57 - Springtime Wishes

Hello! - Time for another Cupcake Friday sketch from Taylor's blog.  -  I've missed the last couple of weeks but found some time today to do this weeks.  I was over at my mom's looking through some of her stamps and saw some really adorable stamps that she has so I borrowed a few and stamped them out (for future use).  I decided this little Duck just couldn't wait to be colored so away I went.                                            The stamp is called (Friend Duck - Uptown Designs). Don't you think it's just the sweetest little duckie ever!  I paired it with some designer paper (Die Cuts With A View) that I've had for a couple of years now.  I like the collage of Springtime sayings and pictures and based my color scheme according to the colors in the paper.                                                                          My card Base is Certainly Celery layered with Cool Carribbean (now retired) and then the designer paper.  I embossed a strip of Pretty in Pink with my Cuttlebug and an Embossing folder (With Love).  Then I added 3 Frosted Brads (Doodlebug Design) to the flower centers and 3 small brads (Queen and Co.) to the bottom and layered it to a piece of Close to Cocoa card stock.                                                                                                      I colored my little duckie with Prisma Colored Pencils blended with Gamsol.  I added some Melone (Art Institute) Glitter to the flowers, Cut out and raised up the tulip with foam mounting tape and layeed this to a piece of Apricot Appeal cut with a Rectangle Nestabilitie Die.  I added Pink Gingham ribbon and mounted the image with foam mounting tape to complete the card.  I didn't stamp a sentiment because I figured this could be used for either a Spring card or an Easter card and will probably stamp my greeting on the inside.

Now if our weather would just warm up and become more "Spring like"  I'd be perfectly happy.  In the meantime I hope this card brings some sunshine and cheer to your life.  Don't forget to visit Taylor's blog and click on the Mr. Linky's links to see all the other cards people have done using her wonderful sketch. 

Hugs and Springtime Wishes coming your way.

TECC54 - Cheery Cherry Cupcake

Time for another Cupcake Friday sketch from Taylor's Blog and this week I've got a Cupcake on my card!  You don't have to use them but if you've got them then why not use them!  -  I used this sweet cherry top cupcake from the new SU Hostess set (Darling Dots) for my card and paired it with (Summer Picnic - retired) designer paper.  For th cupcake image I stamped it using markers in, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Old Olive on Whisper White card stock.  This was then layered to a circle of Real Red and mounted on a Labels One Nestabilities Die.  I stamped the sentiment (Hero Arts) with Palette Noir Black ink on another piece of the Summer Picnic Designer paper.  The corners were rounded and this was mounted onto a piece of Bashful Blue card stock, distressed with the Cutter Kit and Bashful Blue ink.  I added 3 Old Olive brads.  I also used a piece of Bashful Blue card stock ran through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dot embossing folder and layered that to a strip of Real Red Card stock.  The Cupcake image was mounted with foam mounting tape. I also highlighted the Cherry with a Red Spica Glitter Pen. -  I love how cheerful this card looks.  Be sure to check out the other cards made by various partipants by going to Taylor's blog and clicking on the Mister Linky button which will take you right to each participants cards. Have a great week.                             

Hello Birdie

Oh I am so excited about this weeks Cupcake Friday sketch over on Taylor's Blog http://tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/2009/01/taylored-expressions-cupcake-challenge_30.html  - First it's a really great sketch and 2nd I am more then happy with the card I created for the sketch (toot, toot) - Hey once in awhile we just have to toot our own horn!                        My first order of the new SU Catalog arrived Friday night and I had a chance to play today.  I just think these little birds from (Cheep Talk) are just so adorably cute.  I couldn't wait to ink them up.                       For this card I stamped the branches with Kiwi Kiss ink and then stamped my birds with Pacific Point ink.  Next I stamped the birds again (on Whisper White and cut out jsut the birds bodies and layered them over the main image with foam mounting tape.  Then I stamped them again on Bashful Blue card stock with the Pacific Point ink and cut out the wing and raised it up with foam mounting tape.  I then added 2 punched flowers in Summer Sun and 2 small green brads (Queen and Co.) to the flower centers.  I mounted this image onto Summer Sun card stock.  The hardest part for me was cutting "outside the box" with my birds but I managed it.

The sentiment was stamped with the Pacific Point ink as well.

I used my new, Good Morning Sunshine designer paper and layered that onto some Pacific Point cs that I punched with the new Eyelet Border punch.  I added some White Grosgrain ribbon (American Crafts) and a 1/4" punched circle of Summer Sun and a small blue brad. This was layered onto Kiwi Kiss stamped with the Canvas Background stamp in Kiwi Kiss ink and layered to the base card of Pacific Point. At the top I added 3 Dew Drops.  I just love the nice Spring feel of this card and believe me I am so ready for Spring and I hope this card gets you in the mood for some Springtime weather and fun too.  Don't forget to visit Taylor's Blog and check out the other cards being made using this sketch. 

Mice Are Nice

Wow I had hoped to particpate in more then one of Taylor's Cupcake Friday sketches to help celebrate a year of wonderful, fun cupcake cards and sketches but alas it just wasn't meant to be.  For starters I have been having major issues with my right wrist (going numb, burning and tingling in my fingers, losing sleep, pain) so I just haven't been stamping all that much.  I've had a bit of relief that last 2 days so today I finally managed to do one of the sketches.

I chose this one from http://vickichrisman.blogspot.com/ because I really liked all the different layers it had.  I had spotted some paper on my desk when I was cleaning and decided to go with that as my color scheme for the card.  This is also part of the Blogger's Challenge this week (Week #84 - Theme, Birthday cards/projects).  So don't forget to check the other members out by clicking on the bloggers challenge icon on my side bar.

I also got to use my new Whiff of Joy stamp (Isn't that mouse just the most adorable thing you've seen in a long time!).  I colored the image with Prismacolored Pencils and blended with Gamsol.

Details:  Card Base: Real Red layered with Certainly Celery embossed with the Circles CB folder. I stamped the sentiment (SU) with Always Artichoke ink before embossing. I layered strips of designer paper (Artic Frog) and a piece of Pretty in Pink card stock that I embossed with a Martha Stewart border punch.  I added Always Artichoke Grosgrain ribbon.  My focal image was mounted on Tempting Turquoise cs and both were cut using my new Labels 2 dies from Spellbinders.  I added Red and Green jewels (Me and my Big Ideas) and raised up my image with foam mounting tape.  The flame and sprinkles on the cupcake were highlighted with Spica Glitter pens.

TECC51 - HAPPY 80th Birthday Mom

HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY MOM!!! -  January 18th - This picture was taken in July and is one of the nicest photo's I have of my mom.  She hates having her picture taken so it's really hard to get a natural looking picture of her.  This is the first of the tomatoes she had from the plants she grew last summer so I took a picture of her with it and she was so excited about it that she smiled naturally for the camera instead of her usual sober look.  Anyway my mom is my dearest friend and this is a milestone birthday for her so I felt it was only fitting to share a photo of her with my viewers.

My post is a day early but I wanted to get the card posted ahead of time as it's part of the Cupcake Friday Challenge.  I've missed the last couple of sketches but thought I'd do this weeks and decided that I'd just make my mom's birthday card using the sketch. 

I went with flowers and butterflies because those are a couple of my mom's favorite things.  Then I remembered that I had some paper by Chatterbox that had poppies on it that I thought would work well for my card.  Once I started making the card though I decided to not use the poppy background paper but went instead for the striped pattern.

I stamped the poppies (Oh So Lovely - retired SU) with Palette Noir Black ink and colored them with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol.  I masked the flowers and sponged Barely Banana Ink around them while my paper was still inside the Nestabilities Die.  I stamped a second set of poppies and cut the flowers out and raised them on my main image with foam mounting tape.  I added the buttersflies from (Beyond the Basics - SU) by coloring them with Ruby Red, Really Rust, So Saffron and Always Artichoke markers).

I layered this onto a scalloped rectangle of Always Artichoke.  Then I realized that I needed another panel as the strips in the sketch go under the main panel so I added the So Saffron Panel. 

The Main Card is Always Artichoke layered with So Saffron and a Textured Piece of card stock in a dark red color from Chatterbox.  I added 3 punched circles of Really Rust with dark green brads (Queen and Co.).  My sentiment is from Sincere Salutations) and was stamped with Bravo Burgundy ink and I pierced underneath the sentiment for some added insterest.  I added 2 punched butterflies to the focal image to complete my card. 

I even stamped the inside of the card (which I don't do often but I like how it turned out.  I hope my mom will like it.  Be sure to check Taylor's blog and see all the enteries for the Cupcake Friday Sketch.

TECC45 Jolly Old Elf

One of the things I look forward to is seeing the new sketch on Taylor's Blog for Cupcake Friday.  I love her creations and how yummy they always are.  It's also inspired me to get out of my comfort zone and also gives me a starting point for my own cards (which always helps when your mojo is tired).  For this card I went with a retired stamp set from SU called, (Jolly Old Elf).  It must not have been a popular set because I could only find 1 card on SCS where someone had used that set.  I personally love it.  The different Santa's are so unique.  I chose this one because of the ong beard he had as I figured it went so well with the oval shape in the sketch.

My card base is: Always Artichoke - Or at least I think it is.  I found some paper in my stack that was also suppose to be Always Artichoke and yet it had a slightly different shade to it so I'm just guessing that what I used is the AA card stock.
I layered some Cool Carribean (a retired color that I miss) along with some designer paper by Basic Gray.

I stamped my Santa on Whisper White card stock and colored him with Prisma Color Pencils.  I cut out the hat and added white liquid applique and a generous sprinkling of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.  The star was colored with a Yellow Spica Glitter Pen.  The hat is raised up on the image with foam mounting tape.
I mounted him to an oval of white edged with Cool Carribean ink and then layered to a larger scallop oval of Always Artichoke that I pierced with the Crafters Tool Kit.  I added a piece of Cranberry Crisp (retired SU) and an embossed border of Whisper White.  I stamped my sentiment (Perfect Ending) with Cranberry Crisp ink.  I added three 1/2" circles of Cranberry Crisp cs along with three green Christmas Tree brads (Making Memories) and tied a piece of Artichoke Grosgrain ribbon around the Cranberry piece of card stock.

Yet another Christmas card done!

TECC44 - Bow Wow Christmas

One of my favorite things about Friday is Taylor's Cupcake Sketches.  This weeks sketch was a fun one.  I have trouble though with these type of sketches because I can never seem to get my squares to look even or find the right size needed for the card.  So try not to notice the little things that are slight "off" on this card.  No Cupcakes used this week.

I wanted to use "Traditional" Christmas Colors for my card but little did I realize how hard it would be to find traditional colors on background papers.  Our LSBS did not have a single pattern in traditional red and green.  I ended up scouring through my scrap piles of papers and came up with a couple of patterns that pretty much fit.    I stamped the adorable dog (Whipper Snapper Designs) on Whisper White Card stock and colored him with Prisma Color Pencils and cut him out.  I added Red Fun Flock to the bow and White Liquid Applique and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to his hat.  I cut out circles of red and green with my Nestabilies Dies and stamped the snowflakes (SU) and added DD Glitter to them. 

I embossed my snowflakew with my Cuttlebug and the Snowflake Embossing Folder after I stamped the sentiment first with Black Ink.  I added red/green striped ribbon and tied a knotted bow. Then I piereced the edges of the red card stock and rounded the corners.  The image was mounted with foam mounting tape.

Here is a Close Up of the little dog so you can see the details on him better.

Details:  Stamps: Cozy Critters (Whipper Snapper Designs) Snowflakes from Festive Favorites - (Retired SU)

Card Stock: Real Red, Glorious Green, Whisper White, Designer Papers (Source Unknown).

Ink: Palette Noir Black, Prismacolored Pencils & Gamsol.

Other: Cuttlebug, Snowflakes Embossing Folder, Stripped Ribbon (American Crafts) Circle Nestabilities Dies, Paper Piercing Tool, Corner Rounder Punch, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, White Liquid Applique, Foam Mounting Tape

Warm and Cozy Christmas

Hi,  Wow I can't believe how fast time seems to be flying.  Thanksgiving is less then a week away now.  I had time today to do the sketch over at Taylor's blog for Cupcake Friday.  I was so excited when I saw that Laura had been chosen as the featured stamper this week.  I just love her blog and the way she does the different sketches each week - Fantastic!     I finally got a chance to play with a new stamp set that I recently purchased.  The stamp set is called, Cozy Critters and can be found at Whipper Snapper Designs.  This set was illustrated by the fabulously talented Anna Wight (Sweet Miss Daisy).  I just love how adorable this little cat is and for those of you who know me the kitty image was a natural choice for my first one to ink up from this set. 

I watercolored my image with ink pads and an Aqua Painter.  Then I masked the image and sponged the grass using an oval stencil and also sponges a soft sky leaving my border white by
          keeping the paper inside the Nestabilites Die while I sponged on the color.  I stamped and watercolored the hat then added Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and cut it out and mounted it with foam mounting tape.  Then I added snowflakes using white Liquid Applique.and some glitter for extra sparkle.  I mounted this on a scalloped rectangle of Ridinghood Red Card Stock and layered it onto Kiwi Kiss cs with foam mounting tape.

My card base is Ridinghood Red layered with Always Artichoke and designer paper by Basic Gray. I colored the Sentiment from the set with Ruby Red and Always Artichoke markers.  I layered this to Artichoke cs and added a punched out snowflake (the reverse side of the DP) that I embossed with Iridscent Ice EP and layered with a smaller white snowflake and a tiny red brad.  I added 3 larger red brads (Queen and Co.) to the side along with punched circles of Artichoke card stock.  This was raised with the foam mounting tape. 

After I had the card completed I realized that I should have cut my sentiment a tad shorter to match the sketch more closely but once you stick that foam mounting tape down it's not coming off without ripping the paper so it's staying put.

I hope you like this card as much as I did making it.

TECC42 - A Thanksgiving Scarecrow.

Time for another Cupcake Friday Sketch from Taylor at Taylored Expressions. - Today I haven't been feeling well as I started catching a cold on Friday. I think the strain of the super busy week last week finally got to me. At any rate I wanted to participate but my creative mojo sort of was a bit on hold. However...I did come up with a card. There is however absolutely NO stamping on this card and no cupcakes either :o( I hope that still qualifies it for the sketch though. It's not the fanciest thing I've ever done but I do think it's cute and I hope you will as well.

Details: Card Stock: Really Rust, Old Olive, So Saffton, Only Orange, Very Vanilla
Scarecrow Stickers (Yep, I used stickers) from Sandylion
Rectangle/Scallop Rectangle Nestabilite Dies
Leaf Punch (Retired SU)
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Square Punch, Paper Piercing Tool.

The sentiment was computer generated. A quick and easy card for when you just aren't feeling up to stamping. It's hard to stamp when your sneezing and blowing your nose!

Oh and for thos who may want to see here is a picture of hubby's arm 3 days after the surgery. Pretty Gross huh? He's doing pretty good though and has hardly taken any pain pills.

TECC41 - Jolly Old St. Nick

Time for another great Cupcake Friday sketch from Taylor.  For this week I chose not to use a Cupcake Image (It's not a requirement but if you have them, "Why not use them?") since I am in need of Christmas cards I went with a Christmas theme for my card.

Stamps Used:  Jolly Old Elf (Retired SU) I love this set and haven't used it much so I thought I'd dust it off and give it some love. Frosty (for the sentiment) also Retired SU.

Card Stock:  Ridinghood Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla 

Designer Paper: Scenic Route

Other: Punch - Martha Stewart

Circle Nestablities Dies (Spellbinders)

Cuttlebug Swirl Embossing Folder

Old Olive Brads

Ridinghood Red Taffeta Ribbon

Iridescent Ice EP

If you need details on how this card was made feel free to e-mail me.  I'm in a bit of a rush this morning so I'm not including the details of how I made this card.

TECC40 - We Wish You A Merry Birthday!

Time for another Cupcake Friday Sketch.  This week's sketch is really a fun one and very versatile.  In fact I have several ideas rolling around in my head to use with this sketch but they will have to wait since tonight is Halloween and also the start of the PBR Bull Riding Finals (Yes, I love Bull Riding) so I'll be busy passing out Candy and watching Cowboys ride bulls!

For my card today I chose to use this adorable image by Penny Black, Inc.  - I bought this set for my mom and she graciously allowed me to use it for this card.  (Thanks Mom!).                                  My card base is Handsome Hunter (a color I rarely use).  I layered that to Real Red.  Then I added some designer paper by BoBunny (Shabby Princess line) and a Cuttlebug Strip of Brushed Silver.  I layered on another piece of HH ran through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dot embossing folder and brushed lightly with a Craft White ink pad.  I also added a couple of strips of the HH card stock on the top and bottom of my designer paper.             

I colored my focal image with Prisma Color Pencils blended with Gamsol.  I stamped a second image and colored and cut out only the Cupcake.  The frosting, flame and dots on the scarves are all highlighted with Spica Glitter Pens for extra shimmer.  The sentiment was stamped with HH ink.  These were layered on Rectangle Nestabilities.  The small cupcake is from Inkadinkado (Mini Clear Stamps).  I added a pink faux jewel.  The sentiment there is also from Penny Black and was stamped in Real Red ink and layered onto Circle Nestabilities.  All images raised with foam mounting tape.  I added 2 silver brads to the upper right hand corner as well.

This card will work well for anyone with a birthday in December.