Blogger's Challenge (Feb. 29th)

This week the Blogger's Challenge was to use the Sympathy card on pg. 44 of the Spring/Summer 08 Collection as our sketch. Well, I need a birthday card for my niece and I just put together my Janome Sew Mini (which I've had for months), so I wanted to sew on the card. This is the end result. It is hard to tell, but I actually colored the flower with Apricot Appeal first and then highlighted areas with Regal Rose. The stem and leaves were colored in Certainly Celery first and then highlighted with Mellow Moss. I then spritzed the stamp first and the stamped it on the Watercolor paper.

I'm not big on the Dotted background piece, but I had already glued it down, so I went with it. My sewing was not straight whatsoever, so I then went back and purposely made a 'wave' line over top. I thought it looked better this way.

Supplies:
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, It's Your Birthday, Dotted BG
CS: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Watercolor Paper
Other: Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip - Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Thread (stitching), Mini Mister

Be sure to click on the Blogger's Challenge link to the right to get to the blogs of the other challenge players!!

January Stamp Club Projects

Yes - I'm finally posting the projects that my stamp club made back in January. I've had this ready for some time, but just never got around to posting.

A simple card, but I love it! This card was inspired by a swap card I received awhile ago (sorry don't remember whose card though). This would definitely be a great card to make as Thank Yous or something else that you might need to mass produce.

All Supplies SU:
Stamps: Beautiful Thing, A
CS: Bashful Blue, Always Artichoke, VV, Le Jardin DSP
Ink: Bashful Blue, Always Artichoke
Other: Bashful Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Stamping Sponge (for around the flower), Stampin' Dimensionals (underneath the flower)

This card we made at our quarterly SU Demos meeting. Again - it's simple design really appealed to me. The most tedious part of the card was cutting out each flower. I don't use Kraft cs hardly ever, but will definitely be pulling it out more often.

All Supplies SU:
Stamps: Time Well Spent (Hostess)
CS: Kraft, Mellow Moss, Handsome Hunter, VV, Porcelain Prints DSP
Ink: Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip
Other: Moss Gingham Ribbon, Stamping Sponge, Stampin' Dimensionals

This I thought would be a cute project for little Valentine's goodies. I had intentions of making these for my girl's teachers, but it never happened. I saw these little heart tins online, but didn't want to spend the money. I found these at Michael's - 30 tins for $15.99 (they were on sale). Each of my club members made one during the class and then got an extra tin to alter however they wanted on their own (at home). I did have 30 of these - I knew I wasn't going to be using them all!! :)

All Supplies SU (unless noted):
Stamps: Time Well Spent (Hostess)
CS: VV, Fall Flowers DSP
Ink: StazOn Black, Ruby Red, Wild Wasabi
Other: Aqua Painter, Silver Brad, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Heart Tins (from Michael's), Stampin' Dimensionals, Sticky Strip

Thanks for stopping by!!

Sky Watch Friday (on Sunday)

Welcome to Sky Watch Friday!

How to participate in Sky Watch

1. Post your sky picture on your blog. You do not have to use a picture with only the sky in it and the picture can be taken whenever and not just on Friday.
2. Come to Strolling through Georgia and sign in on Mr. Linky
3. Enjoy the beautiful sky pictures of the other bloggers.

Again - I'm late, but I didn't take this picture until Sat. night. This is the historic Boone Hotel (Boonsboro, MD) after a fire Friday destroyed it. It is owned by the author Nora Roberts and her husband. It was in the midst of renovations and was set to open in June. Estimated damages are $2 million. While there isn't much of the sky - it is in the background. I took other pictures as well and was just astounished at the damage that was caused. Even buildings across the street were damaged from the heat.

Edited: The $2 million in damages estimate was for all 7 buildings that were part of the fire. I'm sure a good bit of that is tied up in this hotel, but the estimate given is for all buildings involved.

I've been perusing Dot's blog and love looking at her pictures. She hosts Sky Watch Friday, so if you want to participate feel free to do so!

Ok - so this is supposed to have been posted yesterday, but I forgot (even though I took the pictures earlier in the week!). These are in no way good pictures, but thought I'd share anyway. I love seeing different pictures and wish I had the proper skills to photograph, but alas I think I do better at making cards.
This pictures was actually taken during the day when it was snowing. If you look closely, you can see the snow on the tree. :)

Then as I was heading back inside, I thought this would make a great picture. I like how this one turned out. This is our flag and the tree in our front yard behind it. I need lots more practice and plan to try to take an 'outdoor' picture each day.

New Stamping Goodies

Ok so over at Papertrey Ink, if you had purchased 12 sets from Feb. 07 - Feb. 08, then you qualified for their FREE Anniversary set! Well, after counting how many sets I had purchased it came to 11!! So, of course, I needed to order another set. :) They also have free shipping over $40, so I added the square nesties to my order. They are my first nesties and I can't wait to play with them. The set pictured above is Spiral Bouquet.

Then Verve Visual was having a sale on lots of goodies. So, I got 2 sets Seeing Stars and Serenity (which I used in my last card I posted). I also got paper and Stickles - all of which were on sale! Gotta love those sales!!

Ok - I'm done posting for today I promise! I just had to share all the goodies that I got this week.

Blog Goodies I Won

The other week I participated in a blog candy contest on Kim's blog. Well, I won - ok so I think I won by default by hey...I'm not complaining!! Look at what everybody missed out on!! Yeah me!! Look at the goodies - Basic Grey rubons, metal charms, little itty bitty primas (in a cute prima tin), some Fall embellies, A Muse notecards, and that beautiful card Kim made. What a happy mail day it was! I was on my way out the door when I spotted the envy in my mailbox. I of course had to grab it and open it while I was driving (sshh - don't tell). Sad I know, but I couldn't wait! I did wait until I was at least at a stop sign or red light. :)

This is the above card up close so you can see it better. LOVE the colors and how the black really makes the whole card 'pop'!!

Thanks so much Kim for the awesome goodies and beautiful card!! I really appreciate it!

Blogger's Challenge (Feb. 15th)

The challenge this week for the Blogger's Challenge was to use the layout on pg. 42 (happy birthday card). I had this finished last night, but didn't feel good and never got a chance to post. Be sure to check out the other Challenge players - just click on the Blogger's Challenge icon and it will bring up the other player's blogs.

A bit about the card - I used SU textured card stock (first time for me) and LOVE it!! I love the added texture and look it gives to the card! I created the scallop using my slit punch (can't find my corner rounder). I unfortunately needed 2 sympathy cards this week.

Supplies:
Stamps: Serenity - Verve Visual, Out on a Limb - Papertrey Ink
CS: Bordering Blue (textured), Sage Shadow, Elegant Eggplant, Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Going Grey, Elegant Eggplant
Other: Bordering Blue & Sage Shadow markers, Stampin Dimensionals, Stamping Sponge, Slit Punch, Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Purple Striped Ribbon

Friendly Walrus

I made this for one of my best friend's who is going through a rough time. I'm trying to send her cards weekly if I can. So, this one is heading on its way out tomorrow for her. I used the sketch challenge from SCS - SC163. This was also for another challenge from an Inky Antics message board member (Doodlepie). The challenge this month from her was to use this walrus image, the 3 patterned papers, and the orange prima flowers (which she sends to us - how awesome is she!!).

I watercolored the walrus image with my Aqua Painter and inks. I sponged the card base, all mats, and the flowers with Tempting Turqouise ink. The walrus image, the single flower, and the white polka dotted flower are all on Stampin' Dimensionals.

I had fun with the items she sent and the challenge! Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Walrus - Inky Antics, Mixed Messages - Papertrey Ink
CS: Only Orange, Patterned Paper (unknown), Papertrey Ink white
Ink: Black, Going Gray, Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Only Orange, Tempting Turqouise

Other: Black Sakura Glaze Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Dauber, Aqua Painter, Prima Flowers, Brads

Princess Birthday Wishes

I made this card last night for a belated birthday. I used another one of the GinaK Designs release party sketches for it as well. This particular sketch was posted by Julie and can be seen over on SCS. I had already had the image stamped and colored from a previous project, so I pulled it out and went from there.

What Princess doesn't LOVE sparkle and glitz?! I added Crystal Stickles to her tiara, bouquet, sash, and shoes. You can never have too much 'bling'! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Birthday Beauty (SU), birthday wishes (Papertrey Ink - Mixed Messages)
CS: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Papertrey Ink white, Basic Grey LilyKate
Ink: Black StazOn
Other: Ivory Grosgrain Ribbon, Slit Punch (for scallop border), Crystal Stickles, Stampin' Dimensionals (under the bouquet and main image), Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pen

Here is another image - I was trying to show the dimension, but it didn't work out quite well. :) Hopefully you get the idea.

Hope you have a wonderful day!! We got a bit of snow today, so that'll be fun to drive in on my way to work. The schools were closed already for voting here (polling places). My preschooler had school up until this morning - closed because of the weather. Too bad work wasn't closed. :D

Sorry so Long!

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. Sorry about that! Is it just me or does time just fly anymore?! I thought things would be less hectic once the holidays were over, but it doesn't seem like it.

That said - I did find a bit of time last night to take part in the GinaK Designs release party over on SCS. Never been to a release party? Well, there are challenges, contests, sneak peeks, etc before the big reveal of what is going to be released that particular night. Here is the link for the GinaK Designs member company section over on SCS. Check them out - there are other great companies there too!

Now onto the card. This one I made for the first challenge - sketch challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps: Trio of Flowers - GinaK Designs, Beautiful Day - A Muse
CS: Sage Shadow, Papertrey Ink white, Basic Grey Two Scoops
Ink: Black StazOn
Other: Maize Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mega/Giga Scallop Circle, Copic Markers, SU Markers, SU Window Punch, MAMBI icons (gems)

I made this next one for my DH for Valentine's Day. Not only did I make 2 cards last night, but I'm ahead of the game and already have his card made BEFORE Valentine's day!! Usually, I'm late with it or he just doesn't get one. I know sad! Now for the deets on this card.

This one was made for another sketch challenge for the release party last night. I sponged the DSP and the piece with the fish with Real Red ink first. Then I went back and sponged Going Gray over that for more definition.

Supplies:
Stamps: Fish - GinaK Designs, Happy Valentine's Day - Inky Antics
CS: Real Red, Papertrey Ink white, Basic Grey Two Scoops
Ink: Black StazOn, Real Red, Going Gray
Other: Stamping Sponge, Copic Markes, SU Markers, MAMBI icons (gems)

Hope you have a great day and stay warm! It is a nice 8 degrees out right now here!! Burrrr!!! I'll have more projects to post later, but now I need to head to work.