Luck o' the Irish

I wanted to make my folks a St. Patrick's Day card, since why not, so I pulled out the great Lucky Day stamp set by SP & Company. 

I made the shamrocks with a heart-shaped punch, and cut the cloud with an IO die. The cloud background is embossed with a Darice embossing folder, and I added machine stitching for the border. 

Inspiration/Challenges:
DRS Designs #62: Shamrocks/4 leaf Clovers
Inky Impressions #100: St. Patrick's Day or Green
Mojo Monday 283: Sketch Contest
SP Trends Challenge #5: Baker's Twine + SP & Company Stamps

Thank you for visiting,

Encouraging Daisy

Here's a relatively quick Flowerpot Card I made tonight, using a cardboard template. The leaves are a Sizzix die and the daisy, which is heat-embossed in white, is from the For Every Woman set by SP & Company Stamps.

Click images to enlarge & view detail

Cupcake Inspirations #69

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations 200th Challenge: Week #69
Scrapmaster's Paradise / Sonya's Challenge: Shaped Cards



Thank you for visiting,

Old-fashioned Pixels

So for the first time in this century (actually since 1996) I rang in the New Year without a cigarette. I would have crafted straight through midnight if not for the fireworks (we're only about 3 miles north of Baltimore's Inner Harbor) that woke up my dog Allen, who then needed immediate love and attention. I wouldn't have it any other way!

I quit smoking 7 weeks ago, and I did it with the help of cross stitching. I found myself a few projects and found it really helpful in keeping me busy.

So...I've been cross stitching all weekend. I made this simple pattern based on a rubber stamp design. I stamped the stamp itself in SU! Whisper White on black paper.

rotated 90° counter-clockwise

The "stitching" on the border of the card is actually a SP & Co. stamp; I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink.


Inspiration/Challenges:
CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge #4: Sketch
Allsorts: Black and White
Hotshot Crafts: Clean and Simple




Here are some other designs I made this weekend:

I couldn't find a free pattern for these Space Invaders characters, so I made them (thanks to the document grid in InDesign). I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this piece yet...

I designed these myself too, so that they would fit in these 1x1-inch bottle caps. I cut circles from magnet sheets using a Sizzix die and glued them onto the bottle caps to make magnets.

These patterns are available as PDFs; just shoot me an email if you want one or both. (CGsaysSomethingLoudly [at] gmail [dot] com)


And here are a couple of projects I made for Christmas Gifts:

My Mother-in-law's favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz, so I made this for her for Christmas. I got the pattern for this at Sewing Seed, and I plan on making the whole set this year. I found the frame for like a $1 at my mom's church's Thrift Store.

This was a gift for my mom; she mentioned how lovely white-on-red fabric would be, so I found a free pattern for a Coeur Fleuri. I colored the wooden frame with red Tattered Angels glimmer mist, and added liquid pearls on the front & sides. I covered the hoop closure with white Silk Crush ribbon from May Arts, and a plastic red bird charm from Popalicious Too (I received it in a blog candy).

Not bad for 7 weeks, huh?! So far, 2013 is looking good!

Thank you for visiting & Happy New Year,

Guest Designer at SP Stamps

Today I have the pleasure of presenting a project & tutorial for the SP Stamps Blog. I've been following the Scrapmaster's blogs for a couple of years now, and I've learned so much from her and her team. I've also acquired a nice little collection of SP & Company Stamps, although I don't have half of what I want, ha ha!

SP Stamps are some of my favorites to use for technique-specific projects, like this simple, embossed banner using the Christmas Emma and Stitchery Doo stamp sets. You can see the my tutorial and lots of photos on the SP Stamps Blog, but here's a taste:

As you can tell, this project was a bit hit; my husband helped me take these photos, and he gave me lots of ideas for more banners. Guess we'll be decorating this year! Plus, with all these cute photos, I'll also be scrapbooking this experience!

I'm entering this project into the following challenges:

LEJ Designs Challenge #4: Anything But A Card

Secret Crafter Challenge #197: Anything but a Card

Speedy Fox & Friends Challenge #109: Heat emboss your main image

Thank you for visiting, and be sure to check out the great products & tutorials at SP Stamps!

CPS Day 10...Glittery silly Dilly

CPS Sketch #26

I'm having so much fun making my way through all 15 sketches of Card Positioning Systems' 5th Anniversary Celebration! (All my cards for the CPS Celebration are archived here.)

I'm so tickled (and honored!) to have made the Top 3 for the Dilly Beans Freaked Challenge. Megan's images are so much fun to create with, plus my husband is also a big fan!

Thank you all for the awesome inspiration!

CPS 5th Anniversary Day 10: Sketch #26 (top right)

Dilly Beans Challenge: Love is in the Air

Can You Digi It? Stock Spotlight Saturday: Glitter Paper

I think it's pretty obvious that I had a blast coloring this image (Framed Zombie Hearts 4 by Dilly Beans) with my Copics! I added the stripes on the hair myself -- my first time being so bold! I had originally colored the face in yellows, but it felt too washed-out, so I went over it with Celadon Green (YG25). I used the colorless blender added shading to the neck. I used the Copic "dotting" method on the backgrounds and the wings. The hearts are actually cut out & popped up with adhesive foam.

The heart images on the right side are from Dilly Beans' Girlie Skellies pre-colored digi collage sheet. I made the wings from a coated glitter paper, using an angel-wings chipboard template from Maya Road.

The wavy paper in the middle looks so much cooler in person; it's Prismatic paper from Colorbök. Can You Digi It?'s Stock Spotlight Saturday inspired me to use this lovely blue glitter paper that Mom just sent me. Thank you! (Be sure to check out their DT's awesome projects and tips on coloring glitter paper with Copics.)

For the sentiment I used the "Rock and Roll" stamping technique I learned from Sami at SP&Company Stamps. I drew the cloud in pencil and then traced & embellished it with my black Copic (I really want a multiliner, but I can't decide which width I want to start with...any suggestions?).

Born to Love Volcanoes

I haven't made a thing all weekend, so I decided to have extra fun today and make a mess! I pulled out my chalk inks, the For Every Woman stamp set from SP & Company, and tried my hand at the Stamp Kissing technique as suggested by this week's Stampin' With Sami (SWS) Challenge (complete with video tutorial). I really like this technique, but I don't have many solid stamps...so sorry Sami but I mixed in a Hero Arts stamp! I picked up this neat "faded background" wood-mounted stamp at my favorite rummage sale, and it added really cool color effect. I used this technique to make the butterflies (from a SU! punch): I stamped the daisy in a darker purple onto the lighter purple of the background stamp and then stamped that onto a light blue paper.

I didn't get a chance to enter last week's SWS Challenge, which introduced me to the Rock and Roll technique, so I tried that on this card with the sentiment and big flower. I colored the big flower with a mix of light blue and lavender Copics.

The circle were cut/embossed in my BigShot with a Spellbinders die, and then I embossed the background with my favorite Sizzix texture folder. I ink-distressed teh embossed pieces with the same chalk inks I used for the butterflies. I wanted a lot of coverage, so I took the actual pink pad piece to the paper, getting myself quite chalky! If that wasn't messy enough, I really saturated the ribbon with Tattered Angels glimmer mist, but got my fingers in the way and ended up having a sparkly orange streak for the rest of the afternoon...took a good amount of scrubbing to get it all off!

Then, just for a little something extra, I added some stitching, using a lavender rope that I've had...oh, years!

Critter Sketch Challenge #101

Many, many thanks to the following for the inspiration; I had great fun making this, and I'm pleased with the result:

Critter Sketch Challenge #101: Color/Photo Inspiration (right)

i{heart]2stamp February Challenge: Sketch

Stampin' With Sami Challenge #6: Stamp Kissing Technique using SP & Company stamps

Update: This card won the Stampin' With Sami Challenge #6; granted, I was the only one who entered, but they offered me a GDT spot anyway, so it counts! Thanks Sami and all!

A Banner New Year

I had a great time visiting my parents in Arizona over the winter holidays, and wanted to make them a special thank-you card. What better inspiration than the very first Stamping With Sami (SWS) Challenge from SP & Company Stamps! I used their Pretty Pendants & the matching SVG files to create the banner for this tri-fold card.

I was really drawn to this week's Sketch Challenge at Simply Stamping, and I can think you can tell I had great fun with it! Other than the Pendants and the backing papers, all DPs & stamps are Stampin' UP!

Inspiration/Challenges:

Stamping With Sami (SWS) Challenge #1: Stamp Something! / Use your SP and Company Stamps

Simply Stamping Challenge #40: Sketch

Stamps: Pretty Pendants & matching SVG files by SP & Company, Stampin' UP!

Paper: Stampin' UP!, Recollections, Paper & More

Tools: Zip Dry glue, Versamark & Memento inks, Marvy heat tool, stamp block, Cricut & SCAL, hole punch, Crop-O-Dile II, Sew Easy straight-stitch tool & piercing mat

Embellishments: Recollections embossing powders & pop-tape, stash eyelets, baker's twine from Crop Girls, Copic markers, Crayola colored pencils, ribbon from Christmas present packaging(!)


Update: Wow, this card made the Top 3 for the Simply Stamping Challenge #40! Thank you!

a Real Red fingered dawn

I loved making Christmas projects last year with SP & Company's Ornamental Trees set, and when I saw SP Color Combo #128 (Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Lucky Limeade), I just had to pull out the set. I made a scene using these lovely triangles, and was inspired by Homer's epithet in The Iliad: rosy fingered dawn [ref.]. Although in this case it's a Real Red fingered dawn!

I matched my idea with the Card Positioning Systems Sketch #246 to make this Shabby Chic-ish card:

I used masking and emboss-resist to create the top panel.

Inspiration:

SP Color Combo #128: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Lucky Limeade

Card Positioning Systems #246: Sketch by Tami Mayberry

Stamps: Ornamental Trees by SP & Company, sentiment from Tim Holtz

Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Tim Holtz paper distresser, needle, Marvy heat tool, Martha Stewart detail scissors, ZipDry glue, Singer sewing machine, acrylic block
Supplies: natural paper & cardstock from stash, Recollections embossing powder & pop-dots, thread, Versamark, Inkadinkado & Memento inks, Paper Pretties ribbon


Update: Whoo-hoo, this card won SP Color Combo #128!

Autumn Camus #3

This is my third card using this Albert Camus quote Wordart freebie from Paper Makeup (my first card is here and my second card is here).For my color scheme, I followed Color Throwdown #165: Pool Party, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive.

I printed the sentiment onto China Blue linen cardstock from Mark's Finest Papers. I love this stuff. The blue changes depending on the light; for example, in these photos it looks almost white but in my living room it's a baby blue.

As with my second card I used the Vase with Gerbera Daisy stamp SP & Company's For Every Woman set so I used masking to incorporate a leaf stamp. I then used a reverse mask (Thank goodness for adhesive masking paper! Worth every penny!) over the whole thing and heat-embossed some green polka dots onto the vase (I did this for the Polka Dots challenge at Less is More, but totally flaked on the deadline!). This was tricky, but I love the see-through feel.

Because I was making this for Less is More, I tried to keep it CAS (Clean & Simple), which is why everything's stamped onto one layer. This seems simple, but it's certainly doesn't allow for mistakes! I colored the details with Copics, and punched the corners with my Martha Stewart flower corner punch.

The photo is too bright, but all the interior mats are embossed with polka dots:

Autumn Camus #2

This is my second card using this Albert Camus quote Wordart freebie from Paper Makeup (my first card is here). I wanted to revisit the idea of a vase with leaves in it (which I've actually done in real life, but our leaves are all wet and yucky right now). I also wanted to make a card for the current Digi Makeover Challenge.

The only vase stamp I have, from SP & Company's For Every Woman set, comes with a Gerbera Daisy, so I used masking to incorporate a leaf stamp. I paper-pieced the vase, and, as you can see, got lots of mileage out of my Martha Stewart flower border punch! I made Shrinky Dink buttons and sewed them onto the card with orange thread.

I followed the current Mojo Monday Sketch, where I got the tag idea. Mom recently sent me a baggy full of mini tags with color-matched eyelets, so I tied one onto the card with baker's twine. I colorized some of the Wordart text color, and hand-colored the tiny leaf.

Inspiration:

Paper Makeup / Digi Makeover Challenge 8: A Color Challenge

Mojo Monday #212: Sketch

Happy Travels with Deconstructed Sketches and Karen's Doodles

Inspiration:

Deconstructed Sketch No. 15

Stamps: On the Road Again by Karen's Doodles, Round Sentiments I set by SP & Company, dotted frame set by Fiskars
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill, Core'dinations, stash DP
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart scissors & border punch, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Marvy heat tool, Cricut & SCAL, Crop-O-Dile, Tim Holtz paper distresser
Other: ZipDry glue, Versamark & StazOn inks, Stampendous embossing powder, Sakura gen pels, Walk in My Garden Cricut cartridge, stash eyelets & brad
Copics: R35, YG67

Indian Summer dreamin', on such a summer's day

I really enjoy the challenge lists on Feline Playful; so much so, I joined their team! I'm starting on Monday, August 22, posting the Monday Winners. It's such a pleasure to be working with so many talented and inspired people. If you're not already a Feline Follower, I have it on good authority that we have some surprises coming up that you don't want to miss!

Thanks to Feline Playful, I found the new-to-me challenge blog Use It Tuesday, which focuses on projects that inspire you to use your hoarded supplies. How happy I was to see that one of the owners is everyone's favorite Scrapmaster, Sami. The current challenge theme is "Indian Summer", which they're allowing us to interpret as loosely as we want. Because I wanted to use my recently-won "Fall" image from Karen's Doodles (thanks also to Tip Top Tuesday), I chose an Autumn theme. Ah, I love Indian Summer -- it's like Spring with fancier leaves!

For the "hoarded supplies" requirement I used rub-ons and scrapbook paper that Mom gave me years ago. Like, 3 or 4. Maybe more... I really love rub-ons, and was glad to have an excuse to use the precious!

I'm also adding this card to this week's Link Party at Make It Monday, another of my favorite ways to find new projects and blogs.

Inspiration:
Use It Tuesday #13: Indian Summer
Make It Monday #50

Stamps: Fall by Karen's Doodles, Let It Shine set by Verve Stamps
Paper: Martha Stewart, Hammermill, stash
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart scissors, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Marvy heat tool, EK Success corner punch
Other: ZipDry glue, Versamark watermark ink, Recollections embossing powder, rub-ons by Gail Green for Royal & Langnickel Brush Mfg., Inc.
Copics: BG000, YG67, YG63, YG03, YR09, YR04, Y08, Y17, Y02, FY1, E11, E31, E50, RV02, E17, E13, C-1, C-5, B39, B18, FB2

Puppy Kisses & Fancy Stitches

I spied Bronte Kisses by Mo's Digital Pencil, and I just had to have it! All proceeds from this $1 digi will go to Pet Orphans of Southern California. This special set includes 3 lovely quotes, and I used one as part of the main image for this card. As you can see by the photo on the right, the resulting card was a big hit. (What you can't see is Allen, the white one, licking and then sitting on the card. It's fine though!)

I wanted the challenge of a color combo, so I chose SPCC's: River Rock (I used Kraft), Bashful Blue, Whisper White. For a sketch, I chose Mojo Monday. I was blown away by Julia's paper-pierced card, so I decided to try my hand at the Sew challenge at Do You Stack Up? (DYSU). I found all sorts of inspiration & tricks at Mel Stampz. Seriously, Mel's tutorials are so good that you totally believe you can do it!
I created piercing templates by putting a dotted "stroke" on a square (with the digi) and a circle. I did this in InDesign, but you can do it in Word too. I drew the "thread" with a gel pen and then used my awl to create the holes.

For a little extra something, I glued white ribbon to cardstock, and ran it through my sewing machine with 2 colors of thread. Funky! I love how my thread collection is a story of items hemmed...Curtains, bedspreads, slacks. All hemmed by Mom, I'm sure. She visits once a year, and it's still faster than waiting for me to do it!

The dogprint paper is simply stamped with watermark ink. The white background was embossed in my Sizzix. It's a happy accident that my only light blue ribbon also has a stitching theme!

I distressed the edges of the inside pieces; I like how the brown piece kinda looks like leather. I've never understood making dog collars out of leather, though: if you have more than one dog, it's like putting a chew toy on them!

Inspiration:
Mojo Monday #200: Sketch
DYSU Challenge #28: Sew, Faux or Real
SPCC #109: River Rock, Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Faux Stitching tutorial: Mel Stampz (with lots of great links)

Stamps: Bronte Kisses by Mo's Digital Pencil, StampCraft
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Tim Holtz scissors & paper distresser, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, awl, Sizzix Texture Boutique
Other: ZipDry glue, Elmer's gel pen, stash button, Celebrate It! & Offray ribbons, Versamark watermark ink
Copic markers: YR01, E13, FBG2, B0000, BG000, B05, RV02, E11, E31, E000
Update 6/25/11: This card won SPCC #109 as well as the random drawing at Mojo Monday. Thanks everyone! I love my Verve stamps from Mojo, and look for my SPCC Guest DT project in the coming months.

Culturally Inaccurate Blessings

I'll admit it's odd that I chose the sorta Buddhist colors of this week's SPCC challenge for my first try at the beautiful Rajastani Girl digi stamp I bought from Gillu's Gallery, and even odder that I ended up making my version of a Diwali card. The banner is made from actual prayer-flag squares Mom collected in Nepal. Nothing says American like a show of joyful confusion!

However culturally inaccurate it may be, I'm totally pleased with how it turned it out. Mom, if you're reading this, thank you so much for the paper (and, as always, the inspiration)!

I love love love that SPCC is including Copic colors in their challenges. I had two out of 3: instead of YR16 I used a combination of YR09 & YR04. Once I colored this beautiful image and found inspiration at Sketch Saturday, the rest of the card just fell into place. Don't you love it when you have everything you need?!

I even added some orange flocking to the large bells. I enlarged the digi to create these; it's not something you should do all the time, but I just couldn't resist! The bells swing on the brad.

Inspiration:
Color: SPCC #108
Sketch: Sketch Saturday #163

Stamps: Rajastani Girl by Gillu's Gallery, sentiment from Regal Greetings set by {ippity} Stamps
Paper: Recollections, Core'dinations, handmade from stash
Tools: HP printer & ink, Marvy heat tool, Fiskars papercutter & corner emboss/punch, Tim Holtz scissors & paper distresser
Other: ZipDry glue, ZIG glue pen, Stampendous embossing powder & flocking, Versamark ink, Sakura GellyRoll pens, Making Memories brad, CraftSmart embroidery thread, Offray ribbon
Copics: YR09, YR04, E08, E50, YR00, E13, E17, E37, RV11, RV02

A couple other things:
In case you haven't heard, Make It Crafty and Tiddly Inks are releasing Mix & Match sets. Both company's digis are so pretty by themselves that I almost hate to color them! Christy at Tiddly Inks is having a super giveaway through July 13 to celebrate, so check it out.

Also, I had tons of fun making my card for the Fathers Day Challenge at Scrap InnoVations, and, since I was the only one who entered, I won the candy! Thank you IslandV! I'm not always good at thanking ya'll for your RAKs and candies, but please know that I just get too excited and craftily distracted to reply in a timely fashion, and that I do adore & appreciate everything. Happy blessings to all!