Card Feature

I am tickled pink to share some exciting news with you....I logged on to Betsy Veldman's blog yesterday and found out that one of my maculine challenge cards was one of three chosen to be featured on her blog!!  Woohoo....here's the snippet from her blog:

She is definitely one of my personal papercrafting "Superheroes" and to be featured on her blog is an amazing achievement I will always remember.  Thanks Betsy!

Masculine Color Challenge - Day 2

The ultra-sweet and mega-talented Betsy Veldman is issuing another challenge on her blog, this time incorporating a specific color palette to be used with a masculine card theme.  Are you up for it?  I am!!

Here's the color palette I selected for my starting point:

And here's what I came up with:

When I saw the color palette I immediately thought of a clean/graphic design so I grabbed some of my favorite goodies, including Stampin' Up and Papertrey Ink cardstock, along with Papertrey's Say it with Style stamp set that I just love. The tag punch is one of my first purchases when I began scrapbooking and I paired it with the newer Fiskars bracket border punch.  I thought the woodgrain embossing plate met the masculine theme along with a silver eyelet and some up-cycled clear stars which I die cut myself. Heidi Swapp chipboard letters completed the card.

I had so much fun with this color selection and challenge!

Orange Two Ways

I sat down yesterday afternoon during the rain shower outside and put together these two cards to pass out to two special people. 

This card uses a pad of die cut flowers and leaves I purchased a while back. I am determined to go through my stash and use what I have instead of bringing in more at the moment.  These designs are from the Carolyn Gavin Greenhouse collection from K&Company. I added some black stitching and a rub-on sentiment from Making Memories.

Next up is another card I made using the other half of the orange 12x12 paper I pulled out to create two cards each measuring 4.25 x 5.5 inches.

This card came together quickly by using Kristina Werner's card sketch from her latest "Finally Friday" video.  I love seeing what she puts together on Mondays and Fridays.

I used a Stampin' Up set from my stash called "For a Friend" and added patterned papers and die cut papers from my scrap pile.  The baker's twine is from Martha Stewart's line at Michael's.

That's it for today...working on a few things as usual...but, before I go, I wanted to share with you a cute present I ordered a while back for my sweety hubs...I snuck this picture of him while we were getting ready for our family shot:

I found, through one of my coupon sites, a link to order a customized t-shirt through Vistaprint and all I had to pay was the shipping (which was so inexpensive I can't even remember how much it was).  I hope he can keep it clean during our yummy BBQ dinner today.

Call Me Hard-Headed

It's been a long time since I've done anything crafty.  I've had all kinds of intentions...just not enough time to *sneak* away to produce anything.  I was supposed to have a "date" with my sewing machine a few days ago, but opted to go swimming with the girls instead.  Actually, a dunk in the pool sounds mighty good right now too.  :)

But, this afternoon, I put my blinders on as I was bound and determined not to blog-surf (or "blurf" as I call it) and to actually disregard what all my web "friends" are doing because ---- they are so productive ALL the time....and I put together this card for my sweet hubby for his special day on Sunday:

I realized really quickly that I was feeling a little bit rusty so I reminded myself of a challenge going on over at Betsy Veldman's blog. Go here to check it out. She wanted us to find a piece of masculine inspiration (menswear) and make a card with it.  Well, I didn't exactly go too far for my inspiration.  I went right over to my drawer of blue patterned papers and found this piece that got me jump started:

Ultimately, I like the way it turned out.  I call myself "Hard-Headed" because when I finally finished I discovered that I spent 3 hours or so by myself putting together this ONE card.  I tried a few other combinations but nothing was fitting "just right."

Oh well, that's the way it works out sometimes.  Thanks Betsy for the challenge!! 

No More Vanilla

I found this sweet print today and just had to share it.....

The sentiment made me smile and I immediately thought, "this will be my new motto," as I end my 40th year and head into the big 4-1.

I'm going to check this etsy shop out a little longer...she's got some really cute stuff.

Have a good one!

Early Birthday

My birthday is this week and we are celebrating early....not my idea, but my husband's....have I mentioned lately how good he is to me? I checked his e-mail this morning and this is what I found:

We always make "family" decisions at our house when it comes to the BIG purchases. And, I've had my eye on one of these since they came out. Today we are driving to the Apple store to pick one up! I can't wait!  I knew I was subbing all those long hard hours for something. :)

Another Area of Interest

Many who know me know that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE shopping at garage sales, thrift stores, consignment stores and basically anywhere I can get a good bargain. In fact, I have found so many wonderful things for my home by just being patient and being a good hunter for all things awesome!!  But, another way that I save our family's hard-earned money is by having my own garage sale twice a year.  I plan for weeks to make my sale really profitable.

Here's what part of my "gathering" pile looked like a few days ago:

I have a nice open space in my DR that I use as my "collection spot."  I begin at one corner of the house and I go through every drawer, every closet, every cabinet, every bookshelf, every cubby, and every container I can get my hands on to see what we have and what we are no longer using.  Those items are collected and then brought out to my garage several days before my sale.

Here's a small shot of the table set-up in my garage:

Through the years I have collected a total of six tables and one circular clothing rack that I pull out for every sale. Usually we have my car parked in the garage, but for a week we leave it outside so that I can have time to get everything ready.

Things that I do to get my items ready include organizing what kind of items I am selling: crafty stuff, home decor, children's toys, books, kitchen gadgets, tools and such.  I always make sure everything is clean and in working order. I also make sure I have instructions for toys and kitchen electricals and that all the pieces are included in my games and puzzles.  When all of that is done it's time to price everything.  (That's what I'm doing today.)

I've always try to have my sale with a friend or two, it's so much more fun that way. We price our things separately and then keep the sales tracked in a notebook. 

I'll be back with more details as I get ready...I'm off to get started on an early day by digging around in my attic before the sun gets too hot.

Scrappy Thanks

I went to my scrap pile last night and put together this quick card to give to our crossing guard.  I tucked in a small gift card and a note of thanks for helping us out this year.  He does a great job with our kids and we really appreciate him!

Glad that school is out --- bring on the lazy mornings and pj days!

Inspiration by Vera

I went with something different this year for my two teachers' end of the year gifts.  A few weeks ago I was browsing in a small boutique near my home and saw these really pretty Vera Bradley mini coolers...and they were on sale!!!  I snagged up two and made cards today to match their colors. 

The first design was easy to go with...I've worked with blue, green and brown many-a-times:

I meant to take a shot of the mini-cooler by itself, but forgot....here's a shot of the cooler which served as my inspiration piece, along with the card I made using two stamp sets from Papertrey Ink.

Here's the card by itself:

I keep going back to this simple side-open card style with the rounded right-hand corner.  It's pleasing to the eye I suppose. (oops- my picture seems to be a tad out of focus)

Next up, is the second mini-cooler and card combo....this pattern just kind of got busier by the minute.  When I finished and took a step back to look my first response was, "I would have never chosen those colors by myself!"

And here's the card up close:

A little busy and definitely not my usual style but it was fun combining all those different images and I was pleased with the end result. I added black punched flowers along with pink Prima flowers and brads.

I wish I had the Vera pattern names, but I've already bagged them up all neat and pretty. (edited- I added links with the pattern names.) I hope they like them and have a "happy Summer!"

With Sympathy

I must admit that although I haven't made too many sympathy cards in my lifetime, lately I seem to be making them quite often.  It's a sad thing to do, but as I reflect back on the time that my father passed away suddenly, I remember going back to the cards I received, with their kind wishes, time and time again and felt really good having the support of loving friends around me.

My good friend's Mom passed away recently and I put together this card to send her:

I wasn't really sure in what direction I wanted to go....I knew I wanted something a little "soft" to look at.  I remembered a technique that Heather Nichols demonstrated on her blog where she used a small spritz of water on to her cardstock and them stamped with pigment ink.  I tried it out and this is what I came up with.  I'm not sure if I did it right, and I was in a little bit of a hurry so I just went with my warped paper and glued it down as straight as I could.  I also referred back to this month's CARDS issue for an inspiration from Maile Belles using the Fiskars bracket border die.

All of the stamps, inks, ribbon and cardstock are from Papertrey Ink.

Not So Conventional

On my "To-Do" list were two new cards, one graduation and one engagement.  I decided to go the non-traditional route and came up with these:

This fun polka dot paper just happened to be sitting on my craft desk so I thought, why not? It's fun, it's cheery and I love the colors.  And, I had another reason to use my favorite twill tape.

The cupcake sentiment stamp is from JustRite. I found the wood stamp and itty bitty letter stamps at a garage sale for $5.00. It would have been perfect for my daughter's cupcake birthday party, but for now I put it to work as the focal point on my graduation card. Why have a boring ole' graduation cap when you can have a personalized cupcake?

Next is a "Congrats" engagement card using some pretty patterned paper from my stash. I'm not sure what the wedding colors are (or even if that matters) so I went with this combination:

I "borrowed" an idea from the latest CARDS magazine as my starting point - it just so happened that I had the same exact stamps that Maile Belles used on her birthday card from page 147. She used the Vintage Labels stamp set and her Spellbinders Labels One die. Her card was such a pretty design.

That's all for now...off to make more!