You Always Lift My Spirits

Courtney issued a sketch challenge over on Practicing Creativity's blog as part of their release celebrations this month and I put this card together and have been trying to figure out what's off about it.  I tried fun clouds made with print, then I tried white clouds just glued to the page, then I raised and embossed the clouds...  And now I am trying to accept that I don't have time to redo this card.  Love the bit of glitter on the balloon, was trying to do something from the PTI Make It Monday glitter challenge the other week, but my pieces of scor tape ended up in little pieces.  What sort of adhesive should I have used to make the glitter go all the way across the balloon?  If I had more time I would've taken this apart and tried something else, but in the end the car packing/kid organizing took priority.  So, here's my second card for the sketch challenge.  Next up getting the kid sorted for bed after spending 4 hours in the car.

Materials: Practicing Creativity Look Up Additions balloon & sentiment, PTI Mat Stack 3 Collection & die, Hero Arts clear design banners, PTI cloud dies, Cuttlebug embossing folder, vellum, black card stock, Versafine black ink, Copic BV17, Martha Stewart glitter, Fiskars rotary scallop cutter

I'm falling for you

Courtney issued a sketch challenge over on Practicing Creativity's blog as part of their release celebrations this month and I've been trying to find the time to make something all week.  After seeing Kerrianne's beautiful card I thought I should really pull out Fall Fest which I won last year when they released it and have sadly been neglecting ever since.  And speaking of neglecting, I haven't played with my friends at 365 Cards in months, so this card hops back on that band wagon for their "trendy" challenge, b/c I think twine is the thing right now (check out the fun Paper Crafts Connections post right here). Super simple, but just my style.

Materials: Practicing Creativity Fall Fest leaf banner, leaves and sentiment, PTI Notebook die, Versacolor Camilla red ink, Versacolor Bamboo green ink, Versafine black ink, Studio G orange ink, Tim Hotlz Antique Linen Distressing ink, The Twinery Mandarin twine, PTI kraft card stock, cream card stock from Ben Franklin

3 cups of coffee

I love Karen's little stories on her blog posts and I keep thinking I should come up with something witty... I think today's would be go something like, "we awoke with a startle, everything was moving. After the earthquake finally stopped we had a hard time going back to sleep, so I started my morning a bit groggy and needed 3 cups of coffee." Or maybe I'd say something like "she always loves drinking her coffee out of the favorite mug with her bathrobe every morning, yet this morning after she's had her caffeine fix she procrastinated (again) from all things and made a card, dressed head to toe in her ski gear while she waited for her ride."

Okay, but back to me... this card is for 365 Cards' Friday Favorite (favorite food or drink challenge) and uses Kim's Off the Wall Craftiness colors. Karen's got a sketch for the Practicing Creativity September release and while I didn't intend to make a card with the sketch in mind, obviously Karen's card was on my brain b/c my card looks a lot like the sketch. I put the sentiment on the inside though (it says "I like it a latte.").

Materials: Inkadinkado Dawn Hauser coffee cup stamp, Stampin Up Red designer paper, blue paper, misc. ribbon/yarn from stash, Versacolor red ink

for you- tangerine & teal

I am a very literal person, sometimes I have to remind myself to take a chill pill. I was feeling bad that I made my other two cards for Kim's Off the Wall Craftiness with the "wrong" color. So I made a third! And since I'm trying to win Courtney's stamp set I might as well use her sketch from her Practicing Creativity blog (double my chances?). Now if I had your stamps Courtney I would've used them, but obviously I've got Dawn's W Plus 9 set out, and I figured I'd just keep playing with them. But this time I've used Versacolor Marigold instead of Canary and picked an orange piece of card stock out of the summer card stock pack that I used the last time. Terrifically Thrilling Thursday is celebrating anytime cards and I think this card works well for that theme.

Materials: W Plus Woodgrains silhouette stamps (flower, sentiment and woodgrain), Versacolor Marigold ink, Stampin Up black ink, Versmark, teal card stock from Ben Franklin, orange card stock from Spotlight

Welcome to wedded bliss club

A CAS card using the Play Date Cafe's colors and Practicing Creativity's sketch.

Materials: White card stock, Stampin Up red riding hood red card stock, pink card stock from scraps, Hero Arts flower, Stampin Up sentiment, Stampin Up red & pink inks (can't remember which ones, sorry), Stampin Up black ink, Fiskars rotary scallop cutter

Sunglasses Card

This card is another one of the sketches over at Practicing Creativity's release contest. I love taking a sketch and turning it and making it something totally different then the original card. I don't have any large ovals, so I thought I'd try something different, and ended up going with these cool die cut sunglasses. Great way to combine challenges. Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat is to use die cuts this week. I think the card also works well for this week's KL Stampin N Scrappin "summer and beach" theme. Die Cut Dreams is celebrating the beach this week too.

Materials: My Mind's Eye patterned paper, Die Cuts with a View sunglasses die cut, Stampin Up blue card stock, Hero Arts sentiment, vellum, Stampin Up black ink

Sailboat Card

I've been drooling over some of Courtney's stamps over at Practicing Creativity for awhile, so I figured I'd better get crafting if she's giving away a $50 prize for the winner of her sketch challenge. And because Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat is having a challenge this week to use a die cut I went digging through my various misc. stickers bin-- and low and behold, found a packet of die cuts that a friend gave me over 4 years ago. I wish I had a spiffy die cut machine, but I don't- so these will have to do. But, I thought since Courtney's on a nautical theme, what better then to use a boat on my card! Die cut Dreams is celebrating seaside themes, this card works pretty well for that!

Materials: White card stock, My Mind's Eye patterned paper, Stampin Up blue card stock, Die Cuts with a View sailboat die cut