Thanks For The Tip!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A happy Wednesday to you all!

Are you ready to be dared again by the Diedrich kids?! It's Whimsical Wednesday time again and the kids have an awesome sketch for you all this week! The sketch can be found on the WW blog and this week's Featured Daredevil is the very creative Darla Wilson.

I will admit that the sketch had me a little bit scared seeing all those layers on top of one another, but I quickly figured out that if I kept the colors to a minimum, then the layers weren't too bad. (And then I removed one, so it got a whole lot easier! LOL) I also wasn't sure if the layers had rounded corners or if each layer was rectangle on a circle base, so I rounded a few corners just to be on the safe side! :D

I've been so busy lately on Fridays, that I haven't been able to ink up any Stamping Bella's for Bellarific Friday, so I'm getting my fix today (and tomorrow)! I bought 'I-deserve-a-tip-abella' because I thought she could have anything stacked up on that tray (cupcakes, presents, a birthday cake, etc). For today's card I stamped out the word 'tip' with a Studio G mini alphabet stamp set I got way back. After I stamped it, I realised how similar the font was to the Stamping Bella sentiment I paired with the image. Weird how things like that happen. :)

Need to see more inspiration for this week's challenge? Check out what the other Daredevils created with this sketch!

Cassie Larson
Darla Wilson
Heather Schlatter
Jacquie Peifer
Jessica Diedrich
Kim Ross
Lisa Hjulberg
Lisa Slusser
Rebecca Ednie

We sadly say goodbye to Daredevil Taylor Usry this week. We're so sorry to see her go, but wish her well. Thanks so much for stopping by today!! Have a great day!

Supplies
Stamps: Stamping Bella 'I-Deserve-A-Tip-abella' and 'Thanks For The Tip'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Cool Caribbean, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Distress Ink 'Frayed Burlap'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP = Bo Bunny 'Back To Basics Collection - Tutu Dot and Alissa Twirls'
Access: Ribbon, EK Success Corner Punch, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals, Sponges, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles

TSG24: Sketch Challenge

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Good Morning!

Yesterday was definitely a strange day for me. I was home all day and managed to complete four cards (typically I finish just one), made an appointment for Syd to get her flu shot, cleaned the bathrooms, mopped the floors, vacuumed the carpets, dusted and went grocery shopping. It would have been an astounding day had I made dinner too, but I ended up picking up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store instead and called it a day! Phew! I'd love to have a few more days like that this year! hahaha

This week's There She Goes challenge (TSG26) is a sketch by the fabulous Jodi Collins!

Jodi, please forgive me!? I totally messed up her sketch! I had taken a peek at the layout and remembered all the details, but when I went to glue all the pieces together, instead of doing a mirror image, all the elements are all over the place! Doh! Sorry Jodi! Definitely check out TSG blog for the CORRECT layout and ignore my card! LOL

If you can look past my blunder, I used the recently back in stock Home Sweet Home stamp to create this manly man's card. To fit the image on a standard 4.25" x 5.5" card, I kept the accessories to a minimum and just added the wine bottle and glass on the mantle. Really should be a stubbie and glass if this card is for a guy though right?! :) The sentiment is also from the same set, which I love! I love sets that have sentiments included because then I don't have to dig through what little sentiments I have struggling to find something that fits!

Head on over to the There She Goes Blog and play along! One lucky participant will win a $5.00 Gift Certificate to the There She Goes Store...SCORE!!

Supplies
Stamps: There She Goes 'Home Sweet Home'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Close To Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Going Gray, Cool Caribbean, Sahara Sand, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - Cosmo Cricket 'Wated Collection - Slim Jim'
Access: EK Success Circle Punches, Ranger Glossy Accents, Dimensionals, Sponges

Cuddly MacBeth Card Kit

Monday, October 12, 2009

Good Morning!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was jam packed. Friday night started with a 4 year old sleep over party which was fun for Syd and us. She had her BFF from preschool stay overnight and they had a blast playing dress up, watching a Barbie movie in their pj's and eating popcorn, putting on a show starring a cheerleader and a singing Santa baby and eating Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast! I'm not sure who had more fun - the kids or me! :D

Then Saturday we had gymnastics and apple picking which I'm so glad we made a second trip because the Gala apples were ready for picking and they were so crisp and delicious! Then yesterday we went out for breakfast, tooled around Target for a bit, brought out the winter clothes and packed up the summer ones, then spent the afternoon and evening with our family in Massachusetts. A perfect fall weekend really!

In between all that I managed to make today's card but that's about all I did! Some weekends are just about spending time with family, right? Anyway, today's card is made up some yummy, yummy stuff I got in the mail from my dear friend Mary! It was her turn for this month's card kit and she sent Kadie and I this adorable bunny from Sugar Nellie and these equally scrumptious papers!

Mary has a very good eye for paper and embellishments and normally she goes bold and bright, but this month's kit was full of soft, sweet colors and textures. I didn't know which paper to go with so I used them all! :D

MacBeth reminded me of a well loved stuffed toy that brings comfort and a well used heirloom quilt brings that same feeling of comfort and content. So I used the papers to create a quilt like background to the image. I cut the papers into 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares, sponged the edges of them and then stuck them to a scrap piece of cardstock. Then I distressed the edges of the piece with my Tim Holtz edge distresser, sponged the edges again to hide the white paper and ran the sewing machine around the squares. Then I adhered it to some brown cardstock and layered it to some Bazzil Bling cardstock base.

MacBeth was colored with reinkers and a aquapainter, then cut out with a large circle nestie and matted with Bazzil Basics. After adhering it to the base, I spritzed the whole card with some Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist for some soft, pretty sparkle. (None of the colors bled! Phew!) Then I finished off the card by adding some of the buttons, ribbon and the gorgeous corduroy brad Mary sent. The tag was created with the little Mixed Messages sentiment and Martha Stewart's tag punch.

I'm dying to see what Mary and Kadie have done with their kits!! Please go check their's out when you get a chance. There's something fun about seeing what someone else does with the same supplies! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! See you tomorrow with another There She Goes challenge.


Supplies
Stamps: Sugar Nellie 'MacBeth', PTI 'Mixed Messages'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Sahara Sand, Cool Caribbean, So Saffron, More Mustard, Really Rust, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, Distress Inks 'Tea Dye, Vintage Photo'
Papers: Neenah Classic, Bazzil Basics, Bazzil Bling, PP - Unknown
Access: Spellbinders Large Circle Nesties, Ribbon, Button, Corduroy Brad, PTI Rustic Button Twine, Martha Stewart Tag Punch, Tim Holtz Edge Distresser, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals

Wonderful Marlene

Friday, October 9, 2009

TGIF!! I can't say that enough lately. How's your weekend shaping up?? Got any plans? We're planning to go apple picking again since we ate all of the last batch we picked. There are some serious apple lovers in our house! LOL

It's Friday and that means Jess has another Farm Fresh Friday challenge for you all! I think this is one you're all going to love. It's a sketch and it's a really FUN one too!

I finally inked up Marlene Monkey and I'm not going to lie to you - I had some serious fun coloring her in!! Marina's images are so unique and you can definitely pick her style out from the crowd. I love how she adds the shadow lines to her characters because it really does help with the coloring process. I don't quiet have to put as much ink down to create the shadows as I would other images.

The scalloped edges on the center panel were done with a corner rounder punch with the guard removed and the small scalloped edge was created with a really inexpensive decorative scissors. I don't know what I'd do without those things! I colored Marlene with my ever faithful reinkers, ink pads and an aquapainter brush and sponged the edges of the circle panel with Cool Caribbean ink and a sponge. I added some crystal effects to her eyes to make them glisten - it's a great little touch to your images.

If you want to play along with this week's Farm Fresh Friday challenge, just create your card and upload it to The Greeting Farm's gallery where you should find a section created for this week's challenge. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday October 14th, 2009 One lucky winner will receive some goodies from TGF!


Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a great weekend!

Supplies
Stamps: The Greeting Farm 'Marlene Monkey' & 'Wonderland - retired'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Close To Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Cool Caribbean, Certain Celery, Ruby Red, Cranberry Crisp, Pretty In Pink, Sahara Sand
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - The Greeting Farm 'Sunny Glen'
Access: Ribbon, Button, Spellbinders Large Circle Nestibilities, Fiskars Circle Cutter, EK Success Corner Rounder, Fiskars Decorative Scissors, Paper Piercer, Dimensionals, Sponges

A Nurse, A Challenge and Blog Hop Info!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

A happy Thursday morning to you all!

I have to share a funny little story with you that happened yesterday. When I went to pick up Syd from daycare/preschool she was out in the yard playing with her classmates. Syd's teacher asked to see her school pictures because I had just picked up the proofs. Anyway, a friend of Syd's rushes over and askes to see the pictures too. So I showed him and the teacher says to the little boy "Who's that in the picture?" He says Sydney, to which my Sassy McSasspants replies "Hello?? I'm standing right in front of you!?!" Sarcasism is alive and well in my not yet 4 and a half year old. I smell trouble in her tweens, don't you??

Today's card is for all the nurses graduating this year. As I was putting this card together I remembered that I had already used the 'get well soon' sentiment on the other Nurse Sophie card I made, so I racked my brain and decided that this would be a graduation card instead! :D (How's that for thinking on the run?! haha)

The sketch is from this week's Inspirational Sketches challenge IC#37. It's a very special challenge this week because Miss Mary is now a part of the IC design team!! Way to go Mary! Woohoooo! I'm so proud of you! I colored up Nurse Sophie with reinkers and an aquapainter brush and used some scraps of that great Cosmo Cricket paper I still had lying around.

If you weren't at the Hanna Stamps release party on Monday, then you many not know about this news:

Calling all Hanna Stamps and Riley fans!! We're having a blog hop where you are the stars!! That's right! A Hanna Stamps blog hop that you can participate in!! It's happening on October 19th and we want as many people to participate as possible! You can sign up and check out all the info ----> HERE! I'm so excited about this! Finally! A blog hop for everyone who loves Hanna Stamps! :D

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies

Stamps: Hanna Stamps! 'Nurse Sophie/Riley', MFT 'Essential Sentiments'

Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Going Gray, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Cool Caribbean, Sahara Sand

Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - Cosmo Cricket 'Girl Friday - ??'

Access: Ribbon, Spellbinders Small Scalloped Nestibilities, Martha Stewart Edge Punch, Decorative Scissors, Dimensionals

DDSC5: Ribbit Ribbit

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Good Morning!

It's Wednesday (how did that happen?!) again and it's time for another Whimsical Wednesday: The Diedrich Dare challenge for you all!

I wasn't able to play last week with all that I had going on. So since all the release parties are done for the month, I wasn't going to miss out on another throw down by the Diedrich kids!! Haha This week's challenge is an inspiration one and it's a fun one! Froggy cupcakes!! (Thank you to Cupcakes Take The Cake for the image!) Someone is one majorly talented baker!

I dug and dug and then dug some more to find a froggy stamp in my collection and then I remembered my good friend Jeanette had sent me a frog stamp from WhimsyStamps and I was off and running!

I used this week's Card Positioning Systems (CPS136) and the more I looked at it, the more it reminded me of one of Kim Teasdale's cards, sooooo...I took inspiration from Kim and matted my panels with black cardstock and machine stitched around each one for added depth. Mr Frog was stamped onto watercolor paper and colored in with reinkers and an aquapainter brush. Then the blue background was sponged on for better coverage. Then I added the sentiment and the eyelets and twine detail. The finished size is 5" x 7".

You should definitely consider playing along this week because a little birdy told me that this week is being sponsored!!! Woohooo! Marie and The Greeting Farm are generously allowing us to giveaway the 'Down By The Pond' set this week in honor of Nicky Diedrich who loves his frogs so much! So what do you have to do? Create a card inspired by the cupcake image, upload it to your blog, SCS or PCP and post a link back to it in the comments section of this week's Whimsical Wednesday post. If you upload your card to SCS, use the keyword DDSC5. Need more inspiration? Check out what the other daredevils have created this week:

Darla Wilson

Heather Schlatter

Jacquie Peifer

Jessica Diedrich

Kim Ross

Lisa Slusser

Rebecca Ednie

Sandra MacLean

Taylor Usry

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Supplies

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps 'Whimsy Frog'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Old Olive, Certain Celery, Cool Caribbean, Going Gray

Papers: Canson Watercolor, Bazzil Basics, PP - My Mind's Eye 'Laundry Line Collection - Natural "Aspire" Grown Up Spots', Basic Grey 'Aged & Confused "Sublime Collection" Alpha Pistashio' and 'Stella Ruby - "Drinks At The Savoy"'

Access: Twine, Making Memories Eyelets, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals, Sponges

Spooktacular Halloween - TGF Style!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Good Morning!

I thought I'd show you what I had created a few weeks back for my friend Kadie's The Greeting Farm card swap on SCS. I had to whip it up fast since I knew I would have no time to work on them later in the month, so I used the old Weekend Sketch Challenge (WSC95). You might recognise it; I used it on this card around the same time I was working on these.

It was such a quick and easy layout that I thought it would be perfect for the swap. I colored up six little mummies from The Greeting Farm's Spooktacular set (love their big heads! hehe) with Distress Inks and then cut them out using the Labels One Nesties. Then matted them onto some black cardstock and hand cut the 1/16" border (if anyone knows of an easier way to do this, PLEASE tell me! LOL) Then the other panels were sponged with Black Soot Distress Ink and I used up some more of that black glitter paper I found at Michaels. Doesn't look that spectacular in this photo, but IRL....ooo how it sparkles! :D

You should see the cards I got in return in this swap!! Whoa! You can really tell that TGF fans truly love these stamps and have a blast stamping with them! I even got an Amy original!! I'm pretty dang happy about that!

By the way, I've updated my store with some more recent cards, so take a peek and if you like something, just leave a comment. :) Thanks so much for stopping by.

Supplies
Stamps: The Greeting Farm 'Spooktacular'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Black Soot'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil basics, PP - My Mind's Eye 'NightLight Collection' and The Paper Company 12x12 Black Glitter Paper
Access: Button, PTI Rustic Button Twine, Spellbinders Labels One Nestibilities, Dimensionals, Sponges