A Teensy Bit of Mojo....

....ok, so I wrote earlier how my Mojo had up and disappeared!  Once it's gone it sure is hard to locate!  :)
So, I went in my craft room today to play with a few of my toys and to see if I could locate some creativity.  I'm not sure I was all that successful except I did get a card made!
This is a new Spellbinders and Hampton Arts set....clear stamps with coordinating Spellbinder dies.

 I embossed some plain white cardstock with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I stamped the cupcakes image with some Memento ink and then colored it with Copics and adhered it to the card base with some foam tape.  FUN! I also added a little rickrack that I made with a Papertrey Ink die.
I finished with some Glossy Accent and that was it!

4 hours later.....

Not really....this didn't take all that long....and I also stamped and cut out a whole bunch of images to keep on hand for the next birthday card in need of making!

Happy Crafting!

Mojo....Where Are You?

What is it about crafting that if you take a break from it...it can be hard to get going again?!  I had a relatively short out of town trip that kept me from my crafting room for a few days and since I've been back I just haven't had the desire to do ANYTHING!

So today I'm going to immerse myself in my craft room and see what I can come up with!  Please send me good crafting vibes!

Blast From the Past

Here is a card made with some old 2 step Stampin' Up stamps.  I love this set....I love tulips.  I made my own background with random stamps and various ink colors and then did the little front....same process and added a tad of Stickles.  And that was it.  And it only took me a couple of hours! LOL!  This was NOT a 5 minute and under card!

Love these pinks and greens together.

I entered this in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Challenge: No Rules! 
Anything Goes Challenge Blog: Challenge 74 Make Your Own Background

Going to have a busy next few days!

Happy Crafting to those who can squeeze a little time in to create!

Another 5 Minute-er

I've talked about it before but I am always challenging myself to reduce the time I spend on a card.  Sure I love technique and I'm just as happy as the next person to spend hours creating something that I just love!  But sometimes it's just fun to whip something out without spending a ton of time.  I saw a card on the Hero Arts blog this morning where Joy Taylor made a confetti inspired card that I just thought was the coolest...gotta be able to do it in less than three minutes....kind of card!
You can see hers HERE.  Cute, fun and simple, huh?

So I thought...I can do this very quickly and create a couple of cards for my participation in the Operation Write Home project.  Cards for submission there need to have little dimension, no glitter, etc.  I thought this would be perfect.

Here are my versions:

 One was done with Basic Grey papers....the other with My Mind's Eye.

I used random circle punches and just adhered them to the cardstock...some were mounted on foam tape or dimensionals.  I used a Hero Arts sentiment, as well....stamped directly to the card base.

Easy peasy...2 cards...less than 10 minutes FLAT!

I entered this in the following challenges:
Hero Arts Blog challenge: Clean and  Simple 
Clearly iStamp: Clearly Inspired Challenge #58: Circles

Happy Crafting!

RATTOONS!

When I was actively doing speech therapy with preschoolers a few years back I had a precious little boy named Ryan who could NOT get the "k" sound.  All "k's" came out as "t's".  Hence a "car" was a "tar", a "cat" was a "tat" and a "raccoon" was a "rattoon".  He loved to play "rattoons" with me.  He was very imaginative in his play and his rattoons had magic powers and were always stronger than the poor little rattoons he gave me to play with.

I miss little Ryan but I am happy to say that after a LOT of hard work....that little guy FINALLY picked up the "k" sound....and is now a happy little all boy 3rd grader.

Here's my Rattoon...er, Raccoon card:

Raccoons2Love is the new stamp of the month set from the Stamps of Life.  It's a cute little set.  My friend Melissa at Created by Sunshine Honeybee has a plethora of "favorites"....she has favorite wild animals, favorite domestic animals, favorite Snoopy characters, favorite Disney characters, etc.  I'm not a favorite sort of gal but I do kind of like raccoons especially when they take me back to days of Rattoons in the Jungle! :)

Here is the card I made using Papertrey Ink cards stock, a whole lot of embossing folders (3...count 'em), some dye inks from various sources, PTI ribbon, a DieNamic die for the little pennant and I think that's about it!  Whoops...oh, the frame behind the raccoon is also a PTI die.  And I used PTI cardstock and some Kraft cardstock I had purchased at Joann's.  The racoon and tree stump were stamped on Neenah Solar Crest with Memento ink and I colored the raccoon and the trunk with Copics.

Don't you love the way I "man-tied" that ribbon? 

 I popped ol' Rattoon Boy up on some foam dots.

 And here is the sentiment for the inside:

And that's my wish for you....that your day is just a little wild!

Update:  I entered this in the following challenges:
A Blog Named Hero: Challenge 10: A Krafty Crafter 
Paper Pretties Monday PPMC 52: Anything Goes 
Fresh Brewed Blog: FBC #109 - No Digis! Rubber Stamps Only
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Animal Antics
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Favorite Technique (my new is coloring with Copics)
TotallyPaperCrafts Challenge #130: Inspired by a Song (mine is WILD THING!)
Wags 'n Whiskers Stamp Challenge: Favorite Color Combination (I love blues and browns)


 Happy Crafting!

What's Black, White and Red All Over?

Do you remember that riddle?  It was a favorite childhood "joke"...and of course the correct answer was the "newspaper"!
But here I did a card with black and white and red all over.  And in my new favorite technique of coloring with Copics I pulled my reds (and a few greens and yellows) to color this flower.  I used 4 different reds to get the variations. I felt almost like a professional! :)

I added a little Diamond Stickles to the flower center.
I followed the top sketch that was posted on the Hero Arts blog.

Other supplies include:
Scalloped circle by Spellbinders
Black dotted paper by Papertrey Ink
Sentiment and flower stamps by Hero Arts
     Friends
     Blossom Art

 Zing embossing powder

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Hero Arts August Challenge
Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: Favorite Technique




Raining here in Georgia today....we need the rain BUT I don't understand why it can't just rain at night!

Maybe a good day for some coloring practice!

Happy Crafting!
     
    

Oooo la la!

I spent a little (well, a lot) of time yesterday playing with my Copics.  It was a lot of fun and without further ado here is the card I made using Penny Black's Mimi in Paris set.

I used some My Mind's Eye printed paper for the mat.  I cut the frame out with a Spellbinder's die and inked it with some Distress Ink and cut the little banner with a Die-Namics die.  The little butterflies were done with a Martha Stewart punch.

I added a little glossy accents here and there.  And my favorite thing other than my very impressive coloring (LOL!) is that I used some Liquid Applique for the little poodle's fur!  I've had that bottle for probably 7 or 8 years and it still worked and flowed!

 I pieced little Mimi together and just glued her flat to the frame but then decided to cut another frame and mount use some foam tape to lift it off the page a bit.

And that is it.  I think Mimi turned out so cute and I love this cheerful card.  But my blending has a long way to go! :)  Off to buy more markers!!!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Digi Doodles: Challenge 120 Things with Wings 

Simple Salutations Challenge 6 Butterfly

Crafting for all Seasons Challenge #33: Bright Colours 

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Challenge: Favorite Technique (my new favorite technique for the moment is coloring and shading with Copics)  

That Craft Place Challenge Blog: Things With Wings

Happy Crafting!

Coloring -101!

I took a Copic coloring class with Jenny Gropp at our wonderful local stamp store yesterday, Impressive Ideas.   Now I am a Googler and a Youtube Extraordinaire and I just knew I would go and be..."ho-hum, I know all of this!".  Well, I was so very wrong.  From the minute Jenny opened her mouth to speak I was learning, learning, learning.  And a lot of what I learned was that I don't know nothin' and have so much to learn!  It was a great class with wonderful information about the whole Copic system...and we ended with some blending practice.  Again...so much to learn and I need to practice, practice, practice! :)  But, we all have to start somewhere don't we?

I came home and decided to practice on this flower and just totally threw out everything I had learned because I didn't have the right colors! LOL!  I think Copics are going to be like paper...you NEVER have the right color! So I didn't get great blending on this although I think my leaf looks pretty ok....but I do like the way this turned out and is sort of op-artish, perhaps.

I used Close to My Heart papers and a stamp set (given to me for my birthday by my good friend, Christine!) as well as some Papertrey ink twine and a Die-namics die for the banner.  The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo black onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and cut out. The button was from "who knows where" (do you have that same line at your house?)....just a stash I had around.

Well, I had a fun time playing with my colors and can't wait to try again!  Now why is it Copic-101?  Because I need to go back to the cellar and start all over again.  I don't think I passed 101...need to start back at -101! ;)

Happy Sunday and Happy Crafting!

I Love Color and my Love Affair with Hero Arts Continues!

I love patterned papers.  I love to mix patterned papers but I have learned to love working with white paper and "doing your own thing".  Darlene at Darlene Designs has certainly been an inspiration in that respect.  When asked her favorite patterned paper or just paper, in general, she says she likes white paper because she can make her own patterns and colors.  She just does wonderful things with inks and do it yourself ways of making your own patterns and prints and I get so inspired by her.

And I love Hero Arts.  No surprises there....

So here's my card for today and I really had so much fun making it!  Interestingly to me it started out as a vertical card but at the last minute spoke to me to be horizontal!

I used 3 (count 'em THREE) Hero Arts sets.  But first I used summer limited edition Distress Inks: Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn and used a water color brush with a touch of water to paint directly to some watercolor paper.  When it was dry I stamped it with the small flower from Hero Arts Blossom Art. with some Archival Ink.  Then I used Kelly's TECHNIQUE at the Hero Arts blog to make my own buttons.

I've done this technique a long time ago but like many things these days had forgotten about it...so it was great to see a refresher.  I painted a few small pieces of watercolor paper with the Distress Inks and then stamped them with a little wavy looking stamp from the Hero Arts Untitled Postmark set.  Then embossed them with about 4 layers of clear embossing (the first time I accidentally used white embossing powder....well, duh....the watercolor was covered up!) and then tied some cotton floss through and adhered to the top of the flowers.

 I punched the butterfly out with a Martha Stewart punch and then painted it with the same colors giving a little "Op Art" effect.  I also embossed it with about 4 layers of embossing powders.

And last I stamped the sentiment with the awesome Hero Arts Live and Laugh set.

I'm happy with this little card because I used a few techniques I haven't used in a while...I love the color pops....it was so much fun to do!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Hero Arts Make Your Own Embellishments

Simple Salutations Challenge 6 Butterfly

A Blog Named Hero Freestyle

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Paint it Up!

Digi Doodles: Challenge 120 Things with Wings

Happy Crafting!

Three at a Time

I usually just make one card at a time because as I'm creating it I'm heavily into the "design" process and it just doesn't occur to me to create more than one at the same time.  I make a huge mess just making ONE 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inch card....I can't image what my desk would look like if I were to make more than one!

But I went against my rule on this one.  I used this very cute Penny Black set called ...wishes and instead of just embossing one of the circles at a time I did several.   Here's the set:

Here is my card:

 I simply embossed the little circle images with some Adirondack Embossing Powders, punched them out with a circle punch and then topped them onto a scalloped circle.  Slapped those babies on some black cardstock with some foam tape, embossed a sentiment and taaaaa daaaaa....DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....

 .....FINISHED CARD....er.....THREE!

These will work great for my Operation Write Home contribution!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:
 Cute Card Thursday: Challenge 228 Clean and Simple
DLART: Happy Birthday - Linky Party - Anything Goes 
A Blog Named Hero Challenge #9 Freestyle

Happy Crafting!

Cheap and Easy!

The card I made for today was really free (I know, hubs, nothing is free!) cheap.  OK, not really when you factor in the cost of the Silhouette Cameo and the Copics but really this card was done with just some white cardstock and one little ol' gem. 


I was inspired by a card I saw at Dixie Cochran's blog What's Next.  You can see her card HERE.  I think I had seen her card on Pinterest and then traced it back to her blog to see what products she used to make it because I particularly liked her background. I was excited to read she'd made it with her Silhouette instead of with a metal die which made me say to myself "Self, you have a Silhouette Cameo...get working!".  It took me two tries...the first one just didn't "do it for me" so I went back to the drawing board and made a template which I can then use over and over again!  I like that!


The little flower image is a Hero Arts design from the Silhouette Store and I love it.  I just cut it in white and then colored it with Copics and added a little blue Hero Arts gem to it.


The background was mounted on some foam tape to give it a bit more dimension, as we like to say.


So without further ado...here's my version:

Isn't that flower bunch the greatest?  Love the skinny little cut!
The sentiment is from a stamp set by Paper Smooches.

 The little gem is from Hero Arts.

I love the white on white.   

I've entered this in the following challenges (the Challenge Guru Sunshine Honeybee is my motivator):
Cute Card Thursday: Challenge 228 Clean and Simple
DLART: Happy Birthday - Linky Party - Anything Goes 
A Blog Named Hero Challenge #9 Freestyle

I have also entered this in the CASE Study 2nd Anniversary challenge which is to show off your "style" which you can see HERE.  What is my style...probably eclectic but my go to style is shown here...clean lines and bold splashes of color!


Happy Crafting!  Olympics are on...I'm watching the women's doubles right now.  Team USA's Williams sisters against the Czech Republic.  On serve in the second...USA leads 1 set to none!

UPDATE:  TEAM USA wins the Women's Doubles!  Way to go, Venus and Serena!

And the Winner IS....

....well, the Olympics won last night.  No paper crafting in my tv-less room.  I sat by the tv last night and watched Missy Franklin, Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps and many others compete in their events!  So much fun and so interesting to me!


But today after watching Team USA's Serena Williams totally annihilate Maria Sharapova for the gold medal I decided to do a little crafting.


Here's a card I made with the Stamps of Life Thanks2You set.  I stamped it on some purple cardstock and embossed it with white Zing embossing powder.  I love the look of white embossing powder against dark colors.

I cut it out with a Spellbinders die and then cut 2 additional layers with Spellbinder dies.  I added a little white cotton thread which I tied into a bow.  The sentiment which is from the Thanks2You set was also heat embossed and then punched out with a Stampin' Up punch.  All other papers came from the Lavender Stack by DCWV and were inked with Concord Grape Distress Ink.

Some of the layers were placed on foam tape to lift them up a bit.


I love this set .... so many possibilities with it and Stephanie Barnard does a great job in giving you lots of stamps with the sets she creates.  And the stamp wonderfully!


So what did I do hour after hour while I was watching tv?


I made a scarf with Paton Pirouette fibers/yarn.  I don't know if you call it a yarn or not.  It's more like a crocheted fiber that you can use to knit.

This one is purple and gray and has some shimmer to it.  It just is all ruffly and pretty.  I love it!

One skein makes one scarf and they work up so quickly!  Way cool!  My friend Cyndi made one for me with a black and white fiber that I just love and I thought that I might try my hand at it, as well.  It was a lot of fun!


I know the Olympics will win again tonight!  More swimming...track and field, beach volleyball.  It's going to be a great night!


Back to the Serena/Maria match.  Serena won 6-0, 6-1.  That is a huge beating.  I don't know of anyone who could have played better against Serena...especially when she is in the ZONE!  I mentioned that to my friend and she mentioned the only opponent she could think of might be Roger Federer! LOL!  Way to go, Serena!


A funny thing happened at the gold medal ceremony.  It was very, very windy.  The Stars Spangled Banner was playing and the flag as it was being waved was flapping around. Right about the time it got to "that our flag was still there.  Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave..."....well, our flag just flew right off the thing it was hoisted on and disappeared.  LOL!


Here is a video I found on youtube which isn't so great because it's a video of someone's tv but the whole thing is still kind of funny!

Happy Crafting and GO TEAM USA!!!

A Quickie!

I do not have a tv in my craft room.  I have asked for a tv in my craft room but it has never appeared.  I mean, how hard would it be to put a tv in my craft room I ask you?  I mean, I could drag a tv down there...lord knows we have enough tvs sitting around here...but it is a man-job to hook up the cable, you know? Oh dear hubs....where is my tv?
So my big dilemma last night was do I craft or do I watch the Olympics?  I really wanted to do both but like I said NO TV where my crafting stuff is!  But I had the urge to use this cute set by The Stamps of Life.  It's just adorable!  I've been making a few cards for Operation Write Home (making cards for those heroes deployed away from home) and this card which is simple and without a lot of layers or embellishments will be perfect to contribute.
I used Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz cardstock, ink, and ribbon.  I "Corner Chomped" the corners with one by We R Memory Keepers.  Simple, easy and got me back to the Olympics.

Great day/night for the Americans!  Tyler Clary, Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps....I loved watching Rebecca Soni again...and of course, cutie pie Gabby Douglas.  the USA rowing team....loved it all!

And of course, I've been watching hours upon hours of the tennis coverage.  Way to go Serena and Venus!  They are keeping the USA's hopes alive for a medal!

Happy Crafting and Olympics watching!

Our Little Girl

Well, I've been scrapping along this past week and did this layout the other day.  It's my attempt at the new and improved simpler style of scrapbooking.  I am still enjoying doing 12x12 layouts with all the embellisments and fun stuff but I am also "freeing" myself to do companion pages in a simpler format.  I've been using the sectioned We R Memory Keepers page protectors and I will say that the layouts can come together more quickly!

This is our little adorable baby girl, Taylor, taken when she was just a few months old and she's wearing her brother's sleeper.  She looks so much like him here!

Here is the left side.  The papers are from Simple Stories which is a great line for this style of scrapbooking, too.  All items came from that...I used an EK Success border punch and some Washi tape, as well.

The flower was cut on my Cameo with a design from the Silhouette Store.

The brad is Basic Grey.
And her is the right side...I took the photos out of the page protector on this one so there isn't quite the glare.  The bottom left photo actually has a clear overlay on it...so that's why there is some glare there.

Here is that photo with the overlay:

And here is the layout as it appears in the page protector.

And lastly I always like to show how they look side by side:

Off to the pool with the kiddos today...hope to get some more photos with my waterproof camera!  More fun photos to scrap!

Happy Crafting!

Cutest Photos Ever!

My daughter made me an 8x10 collage of photos (mostly taken with her iPhone) of my adorable grandson, David.  They are some of our favorite photos....and all were taken before he turned 2.  I just can't believe he will be 3 in just a couple of months!  That boy is growing like a weed.

The collage was on my refrigerator door for a long time but then I went through a "get everything off the refrigerator" moment and took it down.  And then...what to do with it?  Why slap it on some scrapbook paper, of course.

Here's my layout.  Made with My Mind's Eye products:

I would call it Clean and Simple...not much adornment on it...letting the pictures speak for themselves since there are so many of them!
I added a couple of glitter brads from We R Memory Keepers for the hubcaps of the vintage surfin' car!

 The little glitter button is from American Crafts and the bakers twin is We R Memory Keepers.

Wow...1st day of August!

Happy Crafting!