Pile on the Love

I'm headed to my MIL's for dinner tonight (I'm quite excited that I don't have to cook!) and I wanted to make her a fun Valentine's card to go with the box of chocolates I've got for her.

Since it seems that most challenges out there are for Valentines I was really able to pile on quite a few challenges:

Pile It On: To the One You Love
Just Us Girls: Split Negative Technique
Stars and Stamps Technique Challenge: Heat Embossing (heart stamp was embossed with red and white)
Curtain Call Color Challenge: Real Red, Kraft and Vanilla (or white in my case)
Card Positioning Systems: sketch
Cute Card Thursday: In the name of Love
Creative Belli Blog: Ribbons (XO behind the heart)
Our Creative Corner: Something Old (the ribbon has been in my stash for at least 2 years!)
Stampin' for the weekend: Valentine Theme
Creative Card Crew: Valentine
Penny's Challenges: Valentine/Love
AllSorts Challenge: 3,2,1 (I used 3 colors for paper, 2 colors of embossing powder and 1 ribbon)
The Pink Elephant: Valentine

Wow, I think that's all!

Anyway, I'm off to play with my nephews, but after work tomorrow it's a bit more crafting for me. If I'm good and get my schoolwork done I plan on making the most of my day off on Monday too. Thanks for stopping by, and if you have time check out this week's Unscripted Sketch!

Smiles,

10 minute Christmas

I love snow days....just not when they fall on my day off!!! I had lots planned for me time, and crafting time and spend a few hours of it out clearing the driveway. Speaking of which I need to clear it off a bit more now! I did manage to get to the basement and create a couple cards. I'll share the other one for later this week, because this school year is kicking my butt and I can't seem to get anything done during the week.

I went downstairs with 2 things in mind....clean and make a quick card. This was both, amazingly enough!

The sentiment was sitting on my desk mounted and the celery green piece was floating around befor I ran it through the big shot--I embossed it with a striped plate, flipped it over and embossed it again to give it an argile look. The heart was from a pack I found at AC Moore for 50 cents. It's a nice rustic metal heart, though the picture makes it look black. This even fit a couple of challenges, which I haven't had the luxury of playing in lately. I used Sparkle's Christmas card challenge sketch, the OCC challenge to use blue and green and also it was a 10 (okay maybe 15) minute scrap pile challenge. Now I'm tired and it's off to finish the driveway!


Smiles,

4 cards, 9 challenges!

Wow, I was in the card making groove today! After spending a sweating morning in my classroom, I got my hair cut and retreated to the AC and a cool basement. I've got four cards to share, and it culminates with a great card piled with challenges! Details are at the bottom.

First up is Mojo Monday, with a Tuesday sketch. This came together so quickly, except the flower because I didn't have the right color so I crocheted one while I relaxed on the couch.

Second is a special card that will be going to wounded marine, Ben. You can read more about it HERE and maybe help out too! I used the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge and took inspiration from Pals Paper Art. I loved the striped rug and thought a rainbow of color would go well!

I had fun playing along with the first sketch over at Get Sketchy. It took a lot of snipping with the leaves but I love fall cards and the leaves needed to be realistic.

Last is my Pile it On card which I did my best to pile on the challenges.

Pile It On: masculine (it has to go to a guy because a girl would notice my crooked green panel!)

Our Creative Corner: Christmas in August

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: red, olive and black

Card Positioning Systems: sketch

Whimsy: use ribbon (which is hard to do on a masculine card!)

I'm exhausted now, and have got to get to some work for the classroom. Back into the sweltering classroom tomorrow morning!

Smiles,

Mojo Card

Paper: Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, Pale Plum, Washington Apple dsp, unknown dsp

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Stamp: Feathered Hope (retired SU)

Other: ribbon, scallop edge punch, corner rounder, crocheted flower, brad

Feeling Blue card

Paper: Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue dsp, Basic Gray dsp, Real Red, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, YoYo Yellow, green, Razzleberry

Ink: Black

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo Friendly Advice

Other: markers

Falling Leaves card

Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, unknown dsp

Ink: Olive stazon

Stamps: Give Thanks (SU), sentiment unknown

Other: colored pencils

Pile It On card

Paper Whisper White, Basic Black, Old Olive, unknown red

Ink: Olive Stazon, Black Stazon, Real Red

Stamps (SU): Button Bear, Made From Scratch

Other: square punch, ribbon, white embossing powder

A small pile

I wanted to play along with this week's Pile It On challenge, but the challenge was NO patterned paper. Hmmm....that left me without many challenges to go along!

I used the sketch from Pals Paper Arts second challenge and the colors were inspired by Our Creative Corner. They've got a beautiful harvest picture and though I used more blue than necessary I'm sure there were families harvesting the crop together. Three challenges isn't bad, but I was hoping to really pile it on! Without using patterned paper I tried to rough up the look by attacking my Kiwi Kiss with my Chocolate Chip ink pad. I'm not in love with it, but what do you think?

I've got to get ready for my day now, because I have a lunch date with my nephew. I dont' go on dates with 2 year olds often but his mom's headed to the dentist so I'm taking him to McDonald's for lunch and to play. I think I got the better end of that deal!

Smiles,

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Creamy Caramel, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Stamp (SU!): That's Nice

Other: twine, dimensionals

Fun to Grow Up

Rain, rain GO AWAY!!! I know we had three days of sun but I can't take any more rain so I feel it's my right to complain! Stuck in on a gray, rainy day I went crazy with my card making. I discovered Pile it On early last week but forgot where I found it. Luckily Dalis played along with this week's Unscripted Sketch and I found the challenge once more.

The whole idea behind Pile It On's challenge is to complete their challenge and combine it with other challenges. Not as easy as it sounds by here's what I did:

Pile it On! use 3 or more embelishments (I used ribbon, buttons, twine)

Our Creative Corner - red, white and blue

Sweet Stop Sketch Saturday - this week's sketch is found here

Created by Courtney challenge - use buttons

From Courtney's Closet 47 - inspiration from Libby's adorable daughter's outfit. So cute!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - cut it out, pop it up (I did with the words TV and cookies)

High Hopes Challenge 38 - use polka dots (paper and ribbon)

I'm pretty sure that's all, though I know there are more challenges to use red, white and blue. But I think that's enough! For now I need to turn the computer off because I'm hearing thunder and I think I just saw some lightning. YIKES!

Smiles,

Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Brocade Blue

Ink: Real Red, Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip, Black Stazon

Stamp: Inkadinkado Kid's Quotes, SU On Your Birthday

Other: ribbon, glue dots, cuttlebug, buttons, twine

Lots of Dots

I just had way too much fun stamping today! And I managed to create a card that fits many challenges....all by accident, how fun. I started out with Stacey's Jewelry Color Inspiration which is my favorite color challenge, and these bright colors are cheering me up on an extremely blah day in New England. Since the jewelry Stacey chose seemed dotty to me I went ahead to use my new Martha Stewart border punch which is also for this week's Our Creative Corner challenge (ya 50% coupons at Michael's!). I went a bit crazy with the dots. Stamps, border, paper piercer...

I didn't have anything Summer Sun but then I found this ribbon that also had some Tangerinish stitching on it. I just LOVE ribbon with stitching. My favorite part of the card however, is how I dressed up the border. I put 1/2 inch circles of Brillian blue behind the punched out circles and put a pearl in the center of each. How will I ever use this punch any other way?!?

When I took my picture (inside thanks to the rain) I also decided to play around with the white balance on my camera. Lisa Spangler has an awesome tutorial HERE. This was my card picture taken before I adjusted the white balance.....

No more white blah pictures! And in reading LeAnne's blog I discovered that this card also fits the Rubberneck Wacky Wednesday challenge to use an oval.

I'm officially exhausted now! Tomorrow is Friday though....WOOHOO!

Smiles,

Paper: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Tangerine Tango

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Stazon

Stamps (SU!): Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Thank You Kindly

Other: Martha Stewart border punch, Michael's pearls and ribbon, paper piercer, oval punches, corner rounder, glue dots

Jewelry Color Inspiration

After quite the day at school (children who wouldn't listen, whiney children, a crying child at dismissal, sand all over the floor, stolen Pokemon cards--Pokemon cards period!--and a screaming, crying child that I dragged to the bus with the asst. principal) I needed to make a card! So I sat down with Stacey's colors for this week's Jewelry Color Inspiration and Our Creative Corner sketch for this week.

There wasn't much stamping on this card. I drew the stems for the flowers, which were stickers! Feeling much better now, though I'm jealous of all you on summer vacation already! 13 days to go....but who's counting?

Smiles,

Paper: Garden Green DSP, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, pink (as close to pretty in pink as I could)

Ink: Certainly Celery

Stamps: Refuge and Strength (SU)

Other: Sandylion stickers, pink ribbon (unknown)

Hope is.....mojo

I love Mojo Monday and somehow didn't play yesterday even though I had it off!!! I was too busy finishing the Cards for Heroes bloghop and checking out the Stampin' Out Alzheimers awesome site. There are tons of challenges, contests and giveaways, including this Mojo sketch. I joined in because of my grandparents--I'm lucky enough to have memories of them from an early age but my younger cousins aren't as lucky. Anyway, this evening I had a chance to head to my basement and work on it. I morphed the sketch a bit, but basically stuck with the inspiration.

This also is for this week's Our Creative Corner Challenge to have the sentiment as the focal point. I love this quote from Emily Dickinson, and haven't inked up the set in awhile. Susan used it recently HERE and inspired me to dig it out. I'll try to use the images soon, the quote just jumped out at me for this particular sketch. Be sure to check out all the other creations with this sketch. I'm sure to be back daily with creations for SOA!

Smiles,

Paper: Baja Breeze, Creamy Caramel, Garden Green DSP, Very Vanilla
Ink: Timber Brown stazon
Stamp: SU Feathered Hope
Other: Making Memories antique brass brads, blue ribbon

Mom is...LOVE!

When I came upstairs with this card for my mom, my husband thought it was for his mother. So I went with a similar idea for her Mother's Day card using this week's Our Creative Corner sketch.

I flipped the sketch to suit my stamped sentiment, but love the simplicity of this layout. I'll be sure to use it in the future. And it was a hit with my MIL!

Smiles,

Paper: So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Delicate Dots DSP

Ink: Ballet Blue

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps from AC Moore

Other: Making Memories antique copper brads

Celebrate!

Celebrate good times, uh huh! Now I'm singing Kool & the Gang. Which makes me think of my dad because we would sing Celebrate continuously until my mom made us stop. Then Hallmark came out with music cards and it was definitely one I had to buy! Onto the card.....

I was planning on following Saturday's Our Creative Corner sketch a bit more closely, but the stars jumped off my table so I had to go with it. I even have this awesome itty bitty star background stamp from SU--it's one I inherited from my mom so I don't even know the name. I figure this is a good masculine birthday card to have on hand, or maybe I'll have to throw a 4th of July party.

Don't forget to go to Unscriped Sketches and try out the first sketch challenge!!!!

Smiles,

Sweet One

Today's OCC challenge was a color challenge: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, More Mustard and a neautral. I don't actually have More Mustard so I thought I'd go with Creamy Caramel--not like mustard but next to it on the SU chart! After I decided that and got things started I came across this ribbon already tied in a bow and that seemed like a match to me. I threw the card together before I went to work today, so most of the details and stamps used have flown out of my brain for the day.

DH is on his way home from a basketball game so I think I'll use this time to catch up on some Grey's Anatomy.

Smiles,

Jazzy Inspiration....Celebrate!

I thought I'd try my hand at this week's Our Creative Corner sketch, and I combined it with some Jazzy Inspiration (note, turn down the volume before heading over to check it out!). Whoa, I went a bit overboard I think. But I had fun and that's what counts, right?




One of my favorite parts of this is the ribbon--I have a bit of an addiction to ribbon. Especially if I don't have to pay for it. I'll take a scrap of ribbon anywhere I can lay my hands on it. I was at a wedding this summer and there were cookies as favors tied with gray and pink ribbon. Everyone was eating their cookies and the ribbon was lying around. I took mine and my husband's of course, but when I saw the waitstaff throwing ribbon away I began picking up stray ribbon and trying to be discrete about it. I've got quite the stash!
I had fun with the balloons too, and glittered up the polka dots and stripes. I'm not sure if you can see it--my photo isn't great in the waning sunlight. I was also inspired by Denise, The Paper Landscaper, who always does the inside of her card as well.

Thanks for checking it out!

Smiles,


Paper: Whisper White, Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, Basic Gray DP, Candy Lane DSP
Ink: Black, Tempting Turquoise
Stamps (SU): On Your Birthday, Tag Time
Other: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Word Window punch, ribbon :-)

OCC sketch to try

I wanted to get right to work on the OCC sketch challenge for today...but my sick husband had other things to say about that. He's been battling a nasty virus all week and requested breakfast, so I made him scrambled eggs and toast. Finally I headed to the basement and here is my take on today's sketch:

I flipped the image to accomodate my stamped image. I'm not sure of the name of the set--it's one I inherited from my mother, and neither of us ever inked this stamp up. It took much longer than I would've liked and now it's time for me to be off to work. Enjoy the rest of your day...hope the sun is shining for you like it is here in NH!

Smiles, Caryl