sweetheart

I love the idea that I've made a Valentine's Day card without any pink!  This week's Wee Memories challenge is a sketch.  Mark's Finest Papers, Simon Says Stamp Challenge and City Crafter Challenge are celebrating Valentine's Day cards.

Materials: PTI Mat Stack 3 stamp and die, PTI Daily Designs sentiment, My Mind's Eye Love Me Do patterned paper, PTI cloud dies, EK Success 1 3/4th inch circle punch, Brillance Rocket Red ink, Stampin Up black ink, vellum, Making Memories white eyelets, white card stock

you warm my heart

I have to confess that after looking at a number of the recent PTI January Blog Hop cards I decided that I just "had to have" a number of new PTI sets.  One of the sets I'd seen that I knew would be perfect in my collection was the Warm Happiness.  I'm a total sucker for coffee stamps and already have a (cough cough) few fun coffee stamps.  I drew inspiration for this card from Julie's card and Janelle's card.  This week's City Crafter Challenge is "all you need is love" and I think this card is exactly the type of Valentine's Day card I'd like to receive (I even gave the DH the subtle hint).  Mark's Finest Papers is also having a Valentine's Day challenge this week.

Materials: PTI Warm Happiness Too sentiment, PTI Warm Happiness PTI Warm Happiness die, PTI Warm Happiness coffee steam, PTI kraft card stock, My Mind's Eye Love Me Do patterned paper, Spellbinders Nestabilites Label 8, Stampin Up black ink, Versa Color Bark ink, 

Etsy inspired bookmark

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge has a great little shop called La Pomme.  I was inspired by Savannah's card.  While I don't have any musical background craft supplies, I had been playing with my new PTI Book Print Impressions plate and loved the idea of an embossed letters background.  Jenny and the gang at Wee Memories are playing with Twine this week, so let's add this bookmark to their challenge too.  Mark's Finest Papers is celebrating embossing this week, hope you guys like my bookmark, sorry it's not a card.

I have been watching some videos on You Tube to try to figure out how to use my Big Shot and my 5 year old son decided that he wanted to make a video of my project.  He has this camera so the quality is pretty poor.  But I love that he wanted to take part in my project. 

Materials: Practicing Creativity The Whole Cycle Wheelbarrow, PTI Kraft, PTI bookmark die, PTI Book Print impressions plate, Versacolor Camellia ink, black ink, The Twinery Maraschino twine

kraft/orange/red fall cards

I'm still trying to make my fall cards for my girlfriend and last night I discovered a great use for my Waltzingmouse Stamps Big Blooms leaves. Love the way they look in red and orange on kraft.

This card uses the sketch from this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge.

This card uses this week's 2 Sketches 4 You sketch. And both cards work well for the Jenny's Wee Memories "Fall into Autumn" challenge and Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat "fall colors" challenges.

Materials: Waltzingmouse Stamps Big Blooms leaves, PTI kraft, brown twine, Stampin Up red card stock, orange art paper from stash, Fiskars rotary scallop cutter, Studio G orange ink, Versacolor camilla red ink, orange paper ribbon

3 pumpkins

There are lots of great fall themed challenge going on right now, which is perfect b/c I'm slowing making my through my fall card order. Today's card uses the super cute pumpkin from the PTI Daily Designs set. I think orange and kraft are a great combination. Jenny's Wee Memories theme this week is "fall into autumn." Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat Challenge is "fall colors." A Passion for Papertrey is doing punches this week and I've used a Fiskars tag punch. I've also included my son Ben's card. He really liked my jack-o-lantern card I made the other day, click here, so he wanted to make his own card.

Materials: PTI Daily Designs pumpkin stamp, PTI Daily Designs Sentiments Harvest, Studio G orange ink, Orange card stock, PTI kraft, Fiskars tag punch, Making Memories orange eyelet, Stampin Up black ink, fall themed ribbon from stash

Thank You Houses

I'm so excited to be taking in one of the Hero Arts Pairing Up "challenges." Joy and Jennifer did a pairing up week several weeks ago and they inspired a whole slew of crafters to join in the fun. I was paired up with Deb and we have decided on three fun pairing up themes. Today's theme is "moving" since the two of us are in the thick of moving things. I decided that I could use a nice stack of thank you/house cards to help get me through my move. I've been thinking of the phrase "it's take a village to raise a child", well I think it's something like that for moving, especially internationally. Please go check out Deb's card and come back and see what other fun pairing up challenges we've got in the works.

Mark's Finest Papers "Speedy Cat" challenge this week is 5 of anything- and I ended up with 5 houses (on accident).

Materials: Kathy Martin Digital Home Sweet Home houses, PTI cloud, Hero Arts sentiment, Stampin Up Baja Breeze and Kiwi Bliss designer paper, Anna Griffin patterned paper, PTI kraft, Stampin Up Baja Breeze and Kiwi Bliss card stock, Stampin Up black ink

Harvest card

Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge this week is to make a harvest card. I was trying to figure out how I was going to do that, when I stumbled upon Jessica Witty's Thanksgiving card in the Card Creations Vol 8 issue (pg 124) and I realized that I had that PTI pumpkin. I've used this week's Card Patterns sketch. I love that I'm creating a fall card, where in New Zealand there are small signs of spring poking up the yard (i.e. the daffodils).

Materials: PTI pumpkin and circle from Daily Designs, Gina K Designs Lovely Labels, PTI sentiment, Hero Arts tiny background leaf stamp, PTI kraft card stock, orange & white card stock from Spotlight, white gel pen, versamark, Stampin Up almost apricot ink, Stampin Up black ink, Making Memories black eyelet, orange twine, Fiskars tag punch, American Crafts black ribbon

Happy Hellos

A CAS card using the Color Throwdown colors and the clean and simple sketch. Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge this week is flowers and Tiffany Doodles is also celebrating flowers this month.

Materials: W Plus 9 Woodgrain Silhouette flower, Stampin Up sentiment, Stazon Purple ink, Stampin Up black ink, green ribbon, PTI kraft, Fiskars rotary scallop cutter

Cherry thanks

Sylvia was oh-so generous with the Color Throwdown party and gave away several Stampin Up sets as a thank you for the 280 comments she received on her blog. I love generous people. (This is a great place to throw in a random mention to Jenny's blog candy give away, click here to post a comment- she's spreading the word about her challenge and giving away a Hero Arts set). But back to my current thank you card-- thank you Sylvia for the great Stampin Up cherry stamp. I've used the Card Patterns sketch. Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge this week is thank you cards, so here's another entry to that challenge. And Everything But the Kitchen Sink is celebrating buttons this month for their household item. Thanks to Sylvia I had these cute buttons. Last month when EBTKS did tin foil I was able to get the entire family to play along, click here, so this month my 5 year old son wanted to play again. I absolutely love his creative ideas, I swear it wasn't my idea to use buttons as coconuts. And since I've used the great Cosmo Cricket paper with polka dots let's enter this in the Simon Says Stamp and Treehouse Thursday polka dot challenges.

Materials: Stampin Up cheery stamp, PTI sentiment, Cosmo Cricket Early Riser patterned paper, Ribbon, Fiskars circle cuter, Stampin Up buttons, white twine,Versacolor red ink, Stampin Up black ink

Ben's card: Hero Arts palm tree & sunflower, PTI cloud & sentiment, buttons, Versacolor ink

Black, white, green thank you

Trying to figure out how to photograph this one, here's a different take on the same card.

I saw LeAnne's post with the Stamping 411 sketch and was inspired to make this card. I know it's a bit of a loose take on the sketch, but when inspiration hits you might as well run with it right? I used the Play Date Cafe colors again and made a thank you card for Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge. Stampin Royalty is having a KISS challenge (Keep it Simple Sweetie) and this card is right up my CAS alley. I paper pierced the stamps onto vellum and glued them on top, so I'll enter this in the ABC Design Blog challenge.

Materials: Stamping up stamps, Hero Arts sentiment, Brilliance Moonshine white ink, black card stock, American Crafts green ribbon, corner rounder, Versacolor bamboo ink, vellum, Stampin Up black ink

Dad Card

I know already said how much I love CAS cards, but can I say it again? I tried another version for the Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge with ribbon, and it's pretty, but it wasn't quite working (I may try to fix it), so I went back to the kraft on the messy table and made another dude card. This one uses Practicing Creativity's You're The Man bolts (thanks Karen) and a Studio G Dad sentiment. Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge this week is masculine cards. I've already made one today, click here, why not make another? ABC Design Blog is celebrating paper piercing and I cut out the bolts, so here's another entry for their challenge.

Materials: PTI kraft card stock, Practicing Creativity Bolts, Studio G Dad sentiment, black card stock, Stampin Up black ink

Potato Optional

I think it's pretty obvious that I just love CAS cards... I think this one could use a little bit more, but I made it for Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge (square with a outline stamp). I'm open to suggestions on how to dress up a one layer card, I tried a few other ideas (which might become another card a bit later), but didn't find anything that stayed true to the challenge theme. Since Susan is on the Mark's Finest Papers DT I thought I'd make a masculine card for their Speedy Cat Challenge at the same time. I think kraft works so well for a guy card. Sentimental Sunday's is asking for something funny and I think this sentiment is great, makes me laugh.

Materials: PTI couch and sentiment, PTI kraft, Stampin Up black ink, cheap black marker, Corner rounder

One Layer Heart

Susan's Simplicity One Layer Wednesday Challenge this past week was water color. I had to convince my girlfriend to bring over her water color pencils, so my card entry is a bit later then normal due to scheduling issues. But, I decided to color in the heart with red/yellow/orange for Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat Challenge, because I knew Susan would appreciate doubling up on two things that she's involved with.

Materials: Stampin Up heart and sentiment, Stampin Up water color pencils, versamark pen, corner rounder, Stampin Up Black ink

Bright summery flowers

Stamp Simply has the above sketch this week and I started out trying to follow it, and then went for a slightly different layout and tried to figure out how I could get back to the sketch. So I tried paper ribbon tabs. I used Dawn's W Plus 9 Woodgrain Silhouette flowers and it made me think of her lovely post all about ribbon last month, click here. I think ribbon might have looked better, but I didn't have any in the red/yellow/orange theme I was working on for Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge. Jenny at Wee Memories is giving away a Lawn Fawn gift certificate (drool) for summer themed cards and while mine isn't hit you over your head summer, these colors do make think of warmth and sunshine, which is a nice alternative to my current cold and grey winter weather.

Materials: W Plus 9 Woodgrain Silhouette flower stamp, Versacolor Marigold ink, orange and yellow card stock from Spotlight, Stampin Up Red card stock, paper ribbon tabs

A Warm Hello

This card uses the Mojo Monday sketch, love taking a sketch and making it my own. I punched out the circles with a Stampin Up punch, so I'll yet another card at Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge (are you ladies sick of me yet?). The black circle with the white writing really does remind me of a chalk board (365 Cards) and the sentiment is Hero Arts, so I'll enter this in their July food challenge. Pile It On challenged us to use something Christmas related for a non-Christmas card, so I've used some Anna Griffin Christmas paper (for the circles). La-La Land Crafts & Crafty Ho's are doing B&W and one color. Crazy 4 Challenges is doing Black/White and red.

Materials: Cream card stock, Black card stock (both generic NZ brands), Anna Griffin patterned paper, Stampin Up Circle punch, Paper Salon coffee stamp, Stampin Up black ink, VersaColor white ink, white gel pen, Fiskars free hand cuter, ribbon from my messy stash

Elephant card

I'm trying to figure out what's off with this card, I've already taken it apart and redone it once... I think it's the SEI paper I used-- I thought something a bit non-linear would be fun (it's got a slight angle on it), but now that I look at it, I'm not so sure. I'm posting the card and moving on! I've used the Card Positioning Sketch and the ColourQ colors. ColourQ ladies I tried using a very bold bright pink card stock I found in my stash and after multiple attempts I couldn't. So I resorted so a small dot of hot pink on the flower. I used my Stampin Up square scallop punch for the four squares, so I'll yet another card to the Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge (to use a punch).

Materials: Stampendous elephant stamp, Stampin Up square scallop punch, Stampin Up pink card stock, grey card stock from stash, SEI patterned paper, pink marker, Stampin Up black ink

Can You Touch the Moon #1

I have been meaning to make some cards for Jennifer McGuire's Cards for Kids for months. I first found her website when I was surfing card websites and I thought it was a great project (not to mention some amazing prizes). My motivation to make some cards was partly motivated by the Pals Paper Arts color challenge (I thought they would be good boy colors) and the recent blog update by my friend Liz, who's daughter is currently having chemo for retinoblastoma. So I finally sat down and made 5 cards. I'll send one to Anya and the other four to Jennifer's Cards for Kids. Of course being me, I didn't make 5 of the same cards- why would I do something that simple? Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge this week is to use punches, and I made some comment on their blog about helping boost their numbers. So, here's another entry.

Materials: Paper Source rocket ship stamp, Stampin Up Black ink, Stampin Up Circle Punch, Stampin Up chocolate chip card stock, yellow and grey card stock from stash, sentiment written with Chalkduster font on Word and cut into pieces

Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC37- Sunflower thank you card

Another week at Play Date Cafe and another fun challenge. This color inspiration had a lot of options, but I decided to go with the sunflowers and the "provencal-style". I've got a lot of great patterned paper in my stash so it was fun to go hunting for just the right piece of paper. I even managed to figure out which paper it was (something I'm not very good at b/c I keep scraps and the pile is a bit large). It's K & Co Wild Saffron Petite Stripe Flat Paper. The sunflower & sentiment are Hero Arts. I used the Stampin Up small tag punch for the thank you, b/c Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Cat challenge this week is to use a punch. I put two little holes in the tag with the eyelet punch, thought it tied it together well with the dots on the paper.

Materials: K & Co paper, Hero Arts sunflower and thank you sentiment, Stampin Up Kiwi bliss card stock, Stampin Up Chocolate chip card stock, Cream card stock from Paper Plus, Versacolor Marigold ink, Stampin Up black ink, Stampin Up small tag punch, Making Memories eyelet tool

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