Blogger's Challenge...Inspiration!

Happy Friday Friends! What a long week! We will be in school for most of the month of June so I have a feeling that the remainder of the weeks are all going to feel quite long! Let's hope not though! My card today is for this week's Blogger's Challenge. Lisa Somerville has given us some inspiration to come up with our designs this week. With summer just around the corner, she picked out some wonderful pictures to inspire us. If you would like to play along, just add your link to the bottom of this post. I would love to see what you come up with too!

Here is my card. My favorite nautical set in my collection is Stampin' Up's Along the Shore (retired). I paired that up with the Happy Birthday sentiment from the retired Warmest Regards set. The main image is stamped on a scrap of Confetti paper and it is accented with Sahara Sand and Basic Black card stock and ink. I also added one of my newest My Favorite Things Die-namics. This one is called the Stacked Open Scallops Die-namics. (It seems to be out of stock at the moment, but I'm sure Kim will have it back in very soon.) I added a few mini pearls to each scallop to dress it up a little bit. Very simple card, but sometimes that is the best kind.


Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit! Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back very soon. Until then...Toodles! :D

Wish!

Happy Monday Friends! It has been raining here for two days and the rest of the week looks about the same. Hence the not so wonderful photograph...lol! This is my attempt at Sketch #19 from the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club. You can find the sketch and all of the details to play along on Kim's MFT Blog. I started off with my furry friend...Fred Bear. He is colored up with Copic Markers (BG72, BG75, E33, E35, YR16, and YR18). All of the patterned papers are from the Stella and Rose collection from My Mind's Eye and they are layered with Chocolate Chip. My other accents include the Die-namics Hearts a Plenty die and the Die-namics Fishtail Banner die. The button and Baker's Twine are from Papertrey Ink. I thought that Fred looked a little bit like he was making a wish with his eyes shut and with his sweet bouquet of daisies. That is where I came up with the word for my banner. I'm not certain who will receive this card, but with the word wish, I can use it for birthday wishes or even get well wishes. I used the Coolvetica Alphabet set from The Cat's Pajamas for the letters on the Fishtail Banner. This is the first time that I've used a banner on a card, but it won't be the last! Thank you for stopping by for a visit. I'm off to finish watching DWTS. Enjoy the rest of your evening...Toodles! :D

Challenges!!

Happy Friday Friends! I hope that you had a good week! I'm thrilled that Friday is here and now we can have a couple days of rest. I combined two challenges for today's creation. This week's Blogger's Challenge is a fun sketch from Lisa Somerville. You can find the sketch and all of the details to play along here on Lisa's blog. This week's TCP Tuesday challenge is a color challenge. You can find all of the details over on Alma's TCP Blog. Here is a peek at the color combination...Gray?? Oh my! This was a HUGE challenge for me! I couldn't find a single sheet of patterned paper with any gray of any kind on it in my stash! Mind you, I have lots of patterned paper! I couldn't find any gray buttons in my stash either...ugh! What's a girl to do? Well, with the help of my Copic Markers (or should I say marker...C3 to be exact) and a sheet of gray Core'dinations card stock, this is what I came up with.

The main image is from the Big Bear set from The Cat's Pajamas. The sentiment is from their Field of Pinwheels set. I made the flag with Laura Pryor's Sentiment Flag Die. The gray scallops were made with The Cat's Pajamas Icing CutUps. The circles follow along with Lisa's sketch and they were made with different sized Nesties. The plaid patterned paper is from the Campfire collection from October Afternoon and the green card stock is Papertrey Ink's Simply Chartreuse. It was the closest thing to Spring Moss that I had. I added lots of stitching, some ribbon, and a Simply Chartreuse button with a little bit of Baker's Twine (it had a touch of gray...yippee!) to finish this one off. Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit! Have a lovely weekend and until next time...Toodles! :D

I Love Fred Bear!

Happy Monday Friends! I hope that you enjoyed your weekend. If you dropped by yesterday, then you knew that I'd be back today with something crafty. After school, I finished up my card for Sketch #18 from the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club. You can find the sketch and all of the details to play along right here. I started off with Fred Bear and the Butterfly and I colored him up with Copic Markers (E30, E31, E33, Y21, Y32, YG13, YG17, and YR18.) I love my MFT a la modes and Pure Innocence girls, but Fred Bear is so sweet too. He is layered onto some Jillibean Soup papers and the MFT Die-namics Dainty Doily Die. In fact, all of the patterned papers that I used today are from Jillibean Soup. My other accents include some Making Memories brads and some sewing machine stitching. Short and sweet for today! Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

Buttons! Buttons! Buttons!

Hello Friends! We spent the day in Boston. The weather was wonderful and it was so nice to get away together as a family. After dinner, I headed up to my Stamping Room and decided that it was a good time to get my card completed for the TCP Tuesday Challenge. You can find all of the details here on Alma's Blog. This week's challenge is to use buttons. As you can see, I didn't get too creative, but I'm happy with how my card turned out. I've had this Ewe Complete Me set from The Cat's Pajamas for quite some time now, and today was a great day to use it. This card is for my sweet husband. I think that he will appreciate it. He did such a wonderful job planning today's adventure into the big city, so I thought that I'd slip this one into his brief case as a little surprise. The main image is colored up with a few Copic Markers (BG01, BG02, C1, C3, R37, R59, YG17, and the Colorless Blender.) The Pure Poppy card stock and buttons, the banner die, and the Beautiful Blooms patterned paper are all from Papertrey Ink and the die that the sheep are layered onto is the new My Favorite Things Decorative Doily Duo Die-namic. I did a little bit of sewing around the main layer to complete my creation. Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit. Hope that you had a beautiful day! I'll be back tomorrow. Until then...Toodles! :D

Nature Inspired

Happy Friday Friends! My card for today is for this week's Blogger's Challenge. The theme is Nature. If you would like to join in the challenge as well, just head on over to Lisa Somerville's blog. The link is here. I found this new Outlines stamp the last time I stopped by my LSS and I just had to buy it! It was so much fun to color up with my Copic Markers (B02, B12, BG000, G24, R81, R83, V12, V15, Y21, YR12, and YR21). The main image is mounted onto a layer of rose colored card stock. The yellow patterned paper is from Memory Box. I added some stitching, some Baker's Twine, and a rose colored button to finish it off. Thank you for visiting with me! Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there! I hope that you enjoy your very special day...Toodles! :D

To My Favorite Teacher!

Happy Sunday Friends! It was a beautiful day here in New England. In fact, the whole weekend was lovely! We had a lot going on, but I still managed to squeeze some crafting time in. It is Teacher Appreciation Week at our school. To celebrate the occasion, my little guy always brings his teacher a bouquet of flowers, some chocolate, and a handmade card, of course. I combined the sketch from the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club with this month's My Favorite Things Guest Designer Contest. The theme for the contest is "Blue Jeans and Bling". This sweet a la mode girl and sentiment are from the My Favorite Things You Rule set. She is colored up with Copic Markers (E000, E01, R20, YG11, YG13, YR21, E99, B95, B97, and B99). The denim flower blossoms were made with the MFT Die-namics Flower Trio and Leaf Trio. I added a rhinestone to the center. The leaf was cut out with some of the same gingham paper that I used on the vertical panel from the sketch. The two horizontal strips were also cut from denim. The flowered paper is from October Afternoon and the ledger paper is from My Mind's Eye. I added stitching around all of the patterned paper layers and they are layered onto some Night of Navy. One of the reasons that I love to participate in the My Favorite Things challenges is that I always find myself trying something new. I have always wanted to try these rhinestone flourishes that everyone seems to be using, and if "bling" wasn't part of this month's challenge, I probably wouldn't have given them a try! It's always fun to try new things, and I really like how this all came together. Thank you so much for visiting with me tonight. I'll be back soon with some more crafty things to share. Until then...Toodles! :D

Well, Hello!

If you would like to see this card a little bit better, just click on it. I had a difficult time resizing this one because it measures larger than the cards that I usually make.
Hello again! This is my second post for today. If you would like to sneak a peek at my stamping space at my home, just scroll down to my other post from today. Here are the details for this creation. I combined two of the challenges from The Cat's Pajamas and this is what I came up with. The sketch is from last week's challenge and you can find all of the details here if you would like to play along too, and the color combination is from the TCP challenge that you can find here. The image and sentiment are from the Field of Pinwheels set from The Cat's Pajamas. This little bunny is just too cute and I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him in the last TCP release. I used a few Copic Markers to color him up (BG11, Y11, and YR16). All of these patterned papers are from the Summer Days pack from Echo Park and they are layered onto Stampin' Up's Pumpkin Pie. I finished things off with some ribbon, a Doodlebug Designs button, and some Aqua Divine Twine. Thanks SO much for visiting with me tonight! Hope that you had a Happy Monday...Toodles! :D

My Stamping Space!

Hello Friends! Frances, our wonderful Design Team Coordinator for the Right at Home Scrapbooking store, thought that it would be fun for some of us to share our crafty spaces. So today, it's my turn to share. This is the view as you walk into the room. Last year, my husband built this beautiful desk for me. It is similar to one that I had seen at a Pottery Barn store. It has a huge drawer that pulls out. I keep my large Memento ink pads, Baker's Twine, Stamp-a-ma-Jig, Scor-Tape, and a few other odds and ends inside. Everything is right where I need it. On the top of the desk is everything else that I use each time I sit down to work. My tray for neutral scraps, my Making Memories Carousel (filled with crafting necessities), and my OTT light are on the left of the desk. The blue polka-dotted bowl (from Target) houses all of my Die-namics, CutUps, and PTI dies. My Janome Sew Mini sits on the front part of the desk and I just pull the chair over from the computer desk when I need to sew something. The bucket (also from Target) filled with Copic Markers is within arms reach as well as my paper cutter. Then I do most of my work on my Scor-Mat.

This cabinet (from the Bathroom section of Target) houses my rolls of ribbon (in the purple bin...a gift from my parents) and most of my stamps. You can see the Papertrey Ink sets on the top left. Then the pink cardboard bins (from Target...Yes, I LOVE that store...lol) are filled with all of my stamps from My Favorite Things, The Cat's Pajama's, Stampavie, and Penny Black. I have a few Lockhart stamps placed here and there on the shelf and then a few cards and projects set out for inspiration.

These storage units (from Michaels) are just behind the desk and they house all of my patterned papers, my large colored ink pads, my ribbon scraps (large Mason jar), some more projects for inspiration, and my jars of Papertrey Ink buttons. The large cupcake cookie jar (a Christmas gift from my darling husband) holds all of my mini ink pads (Memento Dew Drops, Colorbox Cat's Eyes, etc.) The tin bucket (you guessed it...from Target) is filled with October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket paper pads. All of my other paper pads (mostly from My Mind's Eye) are on one of the top shelves.

Here is a close up of this area.

This is one of the baskets that I keep on the floor next to the desk. I use it for paper scraps. Each color family has a file folder and when I need a particular color, I start here. I have a few for patterned papers too. These are separated by company. The other basket has file folders with the individual colors written on them. These folders hold full and half sheets.

So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed my crafty area! I LOVE having my own space to work in. I find that I am much more creative since I took over our guest bedroom...lol! Thanks SO much for visiting with me today...Toodles! :D