Heidi Swapp Chat Project Life Arrows "Smile Like You Just Won the Lotto!"

Yippee!! All 10 SCS VSN Challenges Completed! 

Even though I didn't scrap continuously over the course of the Virtual Stamp Night Event, I honestly am just breathless because today was a marathon to get the last two cards finished, photographed, edited, draft blog entry with all supply info, and uploaded to both gallery/blog!! I don't think I've ever made 10 different cards in a week, ever! I definitely need a breather after this event. 

However, I'm happy that I can now go into production the rest of this month by making multiples of many of my cards to build up stock to send to each of the monthly hostesses in the ongoing Ronald McDonald Card for a Cause donation.  Definitely less stressful when it's just mass production once card concept has already been completed.

So this is the very last challenge calling to use only the scraps from the event.  

Challenge Title: Go to your Happy Place (Include scraps resulting from previous VSN Challenge creations)

Hostess: JBgreendawn (Stacy)
Keyword: JUN15VSNJ

The little banners were perfect to use up all those solid cardstock scraps I had as a result of the last couple of cards, specifically:

• Bzz...You're One in a Million Card - I have tons of smaller yellow pinking circle die cuts. 
• Rainbow of Sweet Treats Birthday - The bright colored solid cardstock.
• You're Fabulous Dress - The bright colored solid cardstock from above.
• Live, Laugh, Hula - The bright colored solid cardstock from above finally gets mostly used up.  

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I truly believe in manifesting what you want out of life by just changing your outlook daily. 

Recently, I came across this book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo which was trending on the New York Best Sellers List earlier this year.  Marie Kondo is a professional organizer in Japan and she advocates that the process of tidying up by keeping ONLY what brings you joy and to purge the rest is actually an incredible transformative catharsis in increasing happiness and satisfaction in one's everyday life.  

Yes, I started purging like a maniac after a life time of pack rat tendencies.  It truly was liberating to just be surrounded by what brings me absolute joy! Imagine getting dressed in a closet with only clothes you love NOW.  This process is what brought me back to my crafting supplies because I realized how much I appreciate and still find joy in about 99% of my supplies. The rest, I purged by selling or donating. 

So, the idea of smiling everyday like you've just won the lotto is how I feel when I choose to only surround myself with what brings me joy.  It's exhilarating and brings about so much clarity in life. It's a very healthy form of building and maintaining self esteem and helps to manifest only the joyful things in all aspects of my life.  

Recognizing joy, appreciating joy, and wanting more of that joy is my happy place.

Plus, I just freaking love Heidi Swapp! 

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I'm so happy that I participated in this Virtual Stamping Event because I really learned a lot.  Even though I unfortunately uploaded to the SCS gallery about 2 minutes too late, I'm still proud of myself for churning out 10 different cards within a week.  

It was the rule to complete the card within an hour that was most life changing.  

The one hour time limit really pushed me to
1) just make do and use what I have
2) not every card has to be a multi layered master piece
3) go for the finish instead of mulling over a million options, and
4) clean up after each card.  I've never made that many cards before in one week! 10 completed cards, wow!

During each of the 10 challenges, I was shopping out of the few things from my storage unit that I threw into boxes to use.  So it was a trip to use only what I had on me. No running out the door to buy the PERFECT item to compliment the idea stewing in my head.  Instead, JUST MAKE DO WITH WHAT I HAVE.  

While not everything I created was the multi layered masterpiece I would have preferred, it was certainly the frequent sensation of getting it done, multiple times, day after day that was new to me. Amazing! 

Additionally, I learned I take about an hour to photograph, edit, draft blog post with all supply identifications, and then upload to gallery/blog. So I need to take that time into consideration. 

Ha! I can't believe I'm going to share a picture of my current work space, which is part of the challenge.  This is my geeky BF's computer desk in the corner of the bedroom.  Things are toppling off the edges as I work so I have supplies on the floor and on another chair behind me. I pretty much have to clean up after each crafting session.  

I'm so grateful to all the hostesses for organizing the event! Thank you ladies! I had a blast!

Thanks for visiting!


  

"Smile Like You Just Won the Lotto" 
Paper: Bazzil CS & SU Smooth White CS
Stamps: Heidi Swapp Chat Project Life Arrows 
Ink:  SU Positively Pink; SU Lavendar Lace; SU Tempting Turquoise; SU YoYo Yellow
Accessories: Heidi Swapp Chat Project Life Arrow Die; Lifestyle Crafts/QK Tide EF
Size: 4.25 x 5.5"

Live, Love, Hula Imaginesce Penguin Hula

Almost at the finishing stretch of the SCS Virtual Stamp Event Challenges.  This is my 9th card submission to the event!

Challenge Title: Happy Dance
Hostess: Brenda (aka tessaduck)
Keyword: JUN15VSNA

Again, using up scraps.  Tried to make this a little fun for me by fringe cutting into the stamped green hula grass skirt (Glorious Green ink onto the Green Galore cardstock).

Yup, I used the MojoMonday #402 card sketch again. This sketch just really appeals to me!

• The Green Galore you will see a lot of because I have tons of those already pre-cut at 4.25 x 5.5" for a SU Demo project in my previous life.  
• I'm happy I finally got to whip out the new Lifestyle Crafts / QK Tide Embossing Folders I bought on clearance with a coupon recently at Joann's. 
• The floral pp is left over from this birthday card I made for my 2 year old niece, who's now 6. 
• I don't even know where I pulled out the double sided May Arts ribbon from.  But you can clearly see how it's still wrinkled from being recently untied to use on this card. 

Ok, 2 hours left to clean up, start on the last card for the VSN Challenges event, photograph, edit, and upload to blog and SCS.  It takes me about an hour just to do the photographing/upload/blog write up! So I need to get to it! 

Thanks for visiting!

 

"Live, Love, Hula" 
Paper: BG Lollipop PP, Bazzil CS & SU Smooth White CS
Stamps: Imaginisce Penguin Hula; Sentiment Computer Font is Minstral
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; SU Glorious Green; SU Pink Passion; Copics Y38 & R85
Embellishments: May Arts Ribbon 
Accessories: Spellbinders Circle Nesting Dies; Lifestyle Crafts/QK Tide EF
Size: 4.25 x 5.5"

"You're Fabulous" Dress

Using up nothing but scraps and partially completed projects for this card for my 8th challenge completion.

Challenge Title: Happy TogetherHostesses: annsforte3 (Ann), tessaduck (Brenda), Joan7356 (Joan or Sassy), berlycece (Kim), LuvLee (Lee), Shoe Girl (Lisa), Scraperwannabe (Misti), gregzgurl (Sue), JBgreendawn (Stacy)Keyword: JUN15VSNI

So glad you could join us tonight for Happy VSN! We are a very happy group of individuals here that host the VSN Challenges! We work together, give each other support, and love card challenges. Of course all of us have special interests that are our go to items or techniques when we are stamping. 

So for our Happy Together challenge each of us has an item that we love to do or add to our cards that you must incorporate into your card. Use all of the items happily together on your cards!

The challenge is to use or do all of the following items on your card in some form:

• annsforte3 aka Ann - use some kind of stencil on your card
• tessaduck aka Brenda - use sponging on your card
• Joan7356 aka Joan (Sassy) - a stamped image
• berlycece aka Kim - use ribbon
• LuvLee aka Lee - use the color, PINK!!!! (Total shock, right?)
• Shoe Girl aka Lisa - use some sparkle
• Scraperwannabe aka Misti - use some form of coloring
• gregzgurl aka Sue - Make the card square!
• JBgreendawn aka Stacy - use foam dimensionals

So here's my card using an already stamped dress image, colored in with watercolors which I had rejected at the time because my watercolors were muddy, then embellished with Stickles. I already had the back panel done from yet another class with the swirl punchies punched out with the green Stickles.

I highlighted in pink the "favorite" elements on my card. 

I simply paired these items together with some trimming, mounting dress on foam dimensionals onto a frame die cut from Spellbinders, and finished it off with the sentiment from Verve. 

Thanks for visiting! 



  

"You're Fabulous Spring Dress" Card
Paper: SU Whisper White; Bazzil CS 
Stamps: Uptown Designs Dress (?); Verve Uplifting Phrases (sentiment) 
Ink: SU Marvelous Magenta; Momento Tuxedo Black
Embellishments: Stickles Bronze, Green; Family Treasures Small Swirl Punch; Spellbinders Label 3Size: 6" x  6" square 

A Rainbow of Sweet Treats Birthday

7th SCS VSN Challenge done!

This one took me just 10 minutes as I had a long day of meetings and commuting today.  This is all the brain cells I have today.

I originally wanted to color in the birthday cake with copics and then mat it on coordinating solid cardstock and patterned paper, but I'm pooped.

So it's the grungy element from my new Reverse Confetti stamp to the rescue.  I just shopped through my box of scraps to match up with the stamped background pop a bit more.  The stamped elements easily came together as I just went down my row of SU Rich Regals ink pads.

So I call uncle and am heading to bed on a VERY early Friday night.

Challenge Title: Bake Up Some Happiness
Hostess: annsforte3 (Ann)
Keyword: JUN15VSNH

In retrospect, I probably should have matted the color in larger rectangles so that all four sides of the stamped image has a colored border.

G'night! Thanks for visiting!





"Rainbow of Sweet Treats Birthday" Card
Paper: SU Whisper White; Bazzil CS
Stamps: SU Sweet Treats; From the Herd (sentiment); Reverse Confetti Color Me Happy 
Ink: Memento Black; SU Pink Passion; SU Only Orange; SU YoYo Yellow; SU Gable Green; SU Tempting Turquoise; SU Brilliant Blue
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular 

These Happy Days are Yours and Mine (Oh Happy Days!)

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days,

Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days,

Thursday, Friday, Happy Days,

The weekend comes, my cycle hums

Ready to race to you

These days are ours

Happy and free. (Oh Happy Days)

These days are ours

Share them with me.(Oh baby)

Goodbye grey sky, hello blue,

there's nothing can hold me when I hold you.

feels so right you can't be wrong,

rockin' and rollin' all week long.

Saturday, what a day

Groovin' all week with you

Who doesn't wax nostalgic with a big smile on their face when reminiscing this song? Richie Cunningham, his baby sister Joanie, Potsie, Ralph Malph and The Fonz....Ay!

I literally whipped this card together tonight for the Happy Days 50's Retro Challenge because I had all these solid cardstock scraps at my disposal.  What a difference it makes to re-organize, again, and put away, again, all my scraps in ROYGBV order again! I'm definitely learning to clean up after myself more often during this VSN event.

Note: My reds may be off. My night lamp sucks so I did my best as I'm intent on using up my scraps. So, if they're off a bit, it's good enough for me. 

I merely trimmed down the solid cardstock scraps to mat, and just stamped the two images. Miraculously, I got both images down perfectly on the first try (using wood mounted stamps!).  

The upper left corner of the stamped white cardstock looked a bit empty so I decided to finally use the handmade embellishments I received in a swap a decade ago.   This lovely lady was incredible with her attention to detail and designed an incredible set of 50's themed embellishments.  I think this card was finally worth using her precious hand made items! (Unfortunately, I lost the label with her name on it to credit her properly here in this post.)

Here's my card taken on top of a laundry machine:

I only used two of her photo corners decorated with the vinyl records and her gorgeous pair of furry dice. As you can see, the glue has yellowed and has seeped through to the front due to my many years of storage.   The "yellowing" just adds to the authenticity of the look and feel of the era! 

At the last minute, I decided to dry emboss the diner's blue cardstock panel for interest. 

Here's what the 50's themed Handmade embellishment set looked like.  Yes, I'm a very very lucky lady to have been in this swap. I can't remember what I made, but those were the days when detailed, dimensioned paper pieced stickers were incredibly popular, i.e. Jolee's stickers.  Back in those days, we scrappers were crazy about handmade items to swap!  

Challenges:

1. Challenge Title: Happy Days! 50's Retro Theme
    Hostess: Lisa (aka Shoe Girl)
    Keyword: JUN15VSND

2. Color Throwdown #347 - Colors were a perfect 50's themed palette. 

I definitely had a lot of fun with this card.  Thanks for visiting!





"One is not born a woman, one becomes one" Card
Paper: SU Smooth White; Bazzil CS
Stamps: Renaissance Art Stamps LLC Large Glamour Pin Up; Stampland One is Not Born a Woman
Ink: Momento Black
Embellishments: 50's Themed Embellished Photo Corners and Dice (from a swap return); 
Accessories: Cuttlebug Seeing Spots EF; Dimensional Foam Tape
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular

A Little Blue Birdie Told Me..."So Sorry You Hurt"

Going strong with the SCS VSN Challenges. This one is my 5th that I decided to combine with the current Verve Mojo Monday Sketch.  Verve is one of my favorite stamp companies and I'm so happy they're back after a long hiatus!

Here's my card featuring a little blue bird per The Bluebird of Happiness challenge at SCS.

I'm not a huge fan of these papers I used, but was trying to make do with all the scraps I had.  Gosh I miss getting DT monthly kits full of coordinated papers and items. Definitely made sitting down to create MUCH easier. I really need to start making my own kits by shopping out of my own stash more.  I think this - the searching all over the place for coordinating patterned papers and embellishments - is what is slowing me down.

Happy I got to do a little bit of paper piecing, but I'm looking forward to having the time to really do it properly. This is just adding color into a stamped image.

Challenges:

1. SCS VSN Challenge Title: The Bluebird of Happiness 
   Hostess: LuvLee (Lee)
   Keyword: JUN15VSNG


2. Verve Mojo Monday Sketch #402 

3.  Penny Black Wings & Things June 2015 Challenge

Thanks for visiting!






"So Sorry You Hurt"

Paper: Pink Paisley Bayberry Cottage PP, BG Sultry (?); (Blue background with brown dotted pp is unknown); Bazzil CS
Stamps: My Little Shoebox Home Tweet Home; Verve Heartfelt Stamps
Ink: Memories ArtPrint Brown; SU Ballet Blue; SU Bliss Blue 
Embellishments: Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities; Foam Pop Dots
Accessories: SU 2013-2015 In Color Sequins
Size: 5.5  x 4.25" rectangular 

Be Mindful of Your Shenpa...and Choose Your Daily Happiness - SU Travels Abroad

Poking through more boxes, I found a few more large ziplock bags of left over scrapbook layout materials.  I tend to like to keep all coordinated items together because it's just that much easier to dive right in and continue using it up.

These patterned paper from Glitz were left over from a layout I made in May 2009 for my Book of Me (BOM) projects to address my feelings of low self esteem.  I still love these patterned papers and wish I had bought more of it at the time, but I guess I have tons more of others to keep me occupied for a lifetime.

I started off with making some quick candles by trimming some mustard colored cardstock scraps down and distressing them with SU Only Orange.  (Sigh, my TH Distress Ink pads are in storage and so are my sponges.)  The flames were just free hand cut and I was originally going to pop dot them on top of each other for a dimensional look.

But rediscovering these scraps made me go back to my shabby chic / collagey style preference so I decided to pull out the Buddha image from the SU Travels Abroad set to make a birthday card for one of my best friends.  He and I chat a lot about Buddhist and New Age philosophies for self help/development purposes as we often try to support each other through life's many trials. 

Lately, I'm on a kick with the Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron, and her video speeches on the concept of Shenpa.  Basically, (in my own attempt to understand this) how we get in our own way by subconsciously falling into repeated patterns of either self sabotage/self soothing.

Shenpa is the urge, the hook, that triggers our habitual tendency to close down. We get hooked in that moment of tightening when we reach for relief. To get unhooked we begin by recognizing that moment of unease and learn to relax in that moment.

If you'd like to read more about the concept of Shenpa, click here.

So I made a Birthday card for my good friend to always be mindful of his own Shenpa tendencies and to avoid his own self manufactured habitual traps that only serve to bring him down.

I wish I had my sponges, and my matte gold liquid pearls to create a faux Mala Bead look around the edges of the purple decorative label edges to further the theme.

The card above ended up being a shaker card per this SCS Happy VSN Event Challenge:

Challenge Title:Choose Happiness DailyHostess: Sassy (Joan7356)Keyword: JUN15VSNF

"I am in charge of how I feel and today I choose happiness." ~ unknown

"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." ~ Groucho Marx

"Deep down inside she knew that the choice was hers - so she chose happiness" ~Queenisms

My challenge for you today:

So often when happy events occur you see confetti, streamers, balloons. For this challenge you will make a shaker card with the theme of "Choose Happiness Daily".

Something that when you or anyone else looks at it a smile and sense of happiness comes over them. Fill that shaker with confetti, sequins, etc. A "Happy" sentiment should be included.

So my card says "Shenpa" on the outside, and on the inside, I printed out through my printer to say "Be mindful of your shenpa so you can prioritize choosing your daily happiness because you deserve it.  Happy Birthday my friend." 

This should be interesting to post in the mail to him. Lol, hope the beads don't explode during transit when I mail this. 

Thanks for visiting!





"Be Mindful of Your Shenpa...and Choose Your Daily Happiness" 
Paper: Glitz "Sparrow" PP; Bazzil CS; Michael's Metallic Gold CS
Stamps: SU Travels Aboard
Ink: Memories Artprint Brown; TH Distress Inks Old Paper & Worn Lipstick; SU Only Orange
Embellishments: Misc Seed Beads (from a swap return); 
Accessories: QK Lemonade Alpha Dies; MFT Bracket Tab Die; Dimensional Foam Tape
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular

If You're HOPPY and You Know It, Clap Your Hands

For hostess Kim aka berlycee's "Clap Along" challenge (JUN15VSNB) at SCS to use hands for the ongoing Virtual Stamp Night event, I've had to really think outside the box because I don't have hand stamps or many animals/figures with their hands.  Then I saw the current Muse #122 inspiration featuring a trio of balloons and a sentiment.

This is what I whipped up this morning featuring this little frog from the Very Punny set from Stampin' Up! Another set I never was in love with all these years and almost sold last month.  But, as the trend is now for simple clean cute images, I decided to hold on to the set.

Thanks Kim for incentivising me to finally use it!

So you see 3 pairs of froggy hands, too, right?  Waving them up in the air, like they just don't care!

The sentiment is a verse from the popular nursery rhyme that's been a favorite of mine due to an adorable memory of my now 6 year old niece from back when she was just learning how to walk as a toddler.  She would nod her head, clap her hands, and actually get up on her feet and wobbly turn around in a circle whenever we'd stream this song on youtube for her IPad.  I swear, this was just like yesterday? And now, she's SIX!!

I printed the sentiment on my computer since I have no such stamp and just made space in between the lines to adhere the die cut word "hoppy" made out of green paper scraps.  Thanks to the CASology #151 Challenge for the push to use a nursery rhyme for a kid themed card. 

My trio of "hoppy" froggies was inspired by this week's Muse Challenge #122 card cue as aforementioned. 3 balloons translated to 3 froggies and then I just drew in the dashes by hand for their springy hopping pattern. 

Thanks for visiting!

"If You're Hoppy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands" Card
Paper: SU Whisper White; SU Gable Green; Making Memories PP
Stamps: SU Very Punny
Ink: Memento Black; Zig Writer Fine Tip Pen
Embellishments: QK Lemonade Alpha Dies; Spellbinders Label 8 Mega Nestabilities; SU 2013-2015 In Color Sequins
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular 

Bzzzz...You're One in a Bazzillion! SCS June 2015 Virtual Stamp Night Event "Bee Happy" Challenge JUN15VSNE & CAS328

Ever since I saw this card using Spellbinders stacked on top of each other in an ombre formation by Kalyn Kepner on the Paper Smooches site, I've been dying to CASE the idea. 

I didn't want to copy it outright but was inspired to create my own version to satisfy two recent SCS challenges.  

1) Challenge Title: Let the Sunshine In   
    Hostess: Paula (mrslaird)    
    Keyword: CAS328    
    Date: Week of 6-8-15

2) June 2015 VSN Challenge Title: Bee Happy! (Include a bee somewhere in your project.)
    Hostess: Misti (aka Scraperwannabe)    
    Keyword: JUN15VSNE    
    Date: Saturday, June 13, 12 P.M. EST

I missed out on completing the CAS Sunshine challenge last week, so I'm rolling it into the Bee Happy VSN challenge.

I die cut out an opening on the front of the card so that my little bee could peek out from the inside of the card. 

I'm not thrilled at the final stacking placement of all my shades of yellow, but since I had to get this done under an hour, I decided to put some time into giving the little bee a bit more oomph!

His little body was stamped on some yellow cardstock and pop dotted on top of a layer of velum wings.

I also pop dotted each of the yellow layers.

This CAS style is pretty new to me since I used to enjoy a much busier and layered look in my card creations from many years ago.  But I'm learning to walk away and keep it simple.  This one hour max rule has been a good thing.

Funny, I never liked this SU Fine Print SAB set and was about to list it a few months ago in my latest purge. But darn it, I loved this bee stamp so I decided to hold on to it. So happy I got to use it!

2 done, 8 more challenges to go for the Virtual Stamping Event!

Finally, I knocked off another item on my 2015 Let the Year End with Beauty:

16. Stacked nesting dies. 

Thanks for visiting!


 


"You're One in a Bazzillion"  Card 
Paper: SU Smooth White; Misc Yellow,  Metallic Gold & Vellum CS Scraps
Stamps: SU Fine Print
Ink: Momento Black
Embellishments: Spellbinders Large Pinking Circle Nestabilities; Foam Pop Dots
Size: 4.25  x 5.5" rectangular 

SplitCoast Stampers June 2015 Virtual Stamp Night Event "You Are My Happy" Challenge JUN15VSNC

I'm so excited to be able to play along the 2 day Virtual Stamp Event going on at SCS this weekend. There are 10 challenges and the ongoing theme is Happy.

Hostess Sue (gregzgurl) is calling for cards to show a special someone how "You Are My Happy." The rule for all the challenges is to complete the card in 1 hour or less - eek! That in itself is stressful enough since I'm a slow poke!

Here's my entry for this JUN15VSNC "You Are My Happy" Challenge:

Thanks to the other day's attempt with heat embossing my Etch-A-Sketch cards, I decided to try heat embossing this flower stamp in order to use watercolor to color. It's a style trend I've seen a lot on the web.

The heat embossing and water coloring was actually quite fast. I think it helped that I made a color swatch of my Canson Water Color set because it made it so much easier to know which colors to use.

Once I watered down the embossed areas, I merely dabbed on the lighter of the green and blue violet colors on first before touching up with the darker versions.  While the water colors were drying, I then adhered the sequins.

Funnily enough, what took most of the time within the hour was
1) Choosing color/shape of sequins
2) Choosing location and number of sequins to adhere!

Whew! 1 down, 9 more challenges to go!

What's more, I was able to tackle another one of my 2015 Let the Year End with Beauty:

16.  Watercolor medium for coloring in flowers/roses. 

The color choices were inspired by this week's current Muse Challenge #121.

I've never been a green person, but this inspiration card featured a lot of green, so I decided to emphasize a fresh green on my card by attaching the SU Gable Green cardstock.  I took a liberal interpretation of their navy and sage green and made my versions of the color more springy for my card's purposes due to the Iris stamp image.

Thanks for visiting!






"You Bring Out the Happy in Me" Card
Paper: Canson 140lb Watercolor Paper; SU Gable Green
Stamps: PSX K-3192 Iris ; MFT All Smiles (Sentiment)
Ink: Canson Angora Water Colors; Stampendous White Opaque EP; SU Brocade Blue; Memento Black 
Embellishments: SU 2013-2015 In Color Sequins
Size: 4.25" x 6.5" rectangular 

CASE Time for a "From the Herd" Stamp Set - It's Pasture Birthday Etch-A-Sketch Card

CASE-ing, Copy And Share Everything, is a fabulous way to get the creative mojo going, so I'll be doing this regularly the rest of this calendar year as per my  2015 Let the Year End with Beauty Resolution.

I've seen this adorable Etch-A-Sketch card design all over SCS and Pinterest, so I just had to CASE it as soon as I got my From the Herd set a few weeks ago during the Retirement sale.  I've seen so many adorable cards with this set that I just had to have it.

This is just such a fun and nostalgic design for those of us that still remember what an Etch-A-Sketch is.

CASE Credit:

SU Demo Tami White - who features an Etch a Sketch card design using the SU Sketch a Birthday Set back in August 2014, which is the earliest date I could find.  {Thank You Tami!} 

I unfortunately don't know who it was that created the first Etch-A-Sketch card using this From The Herd set, or I'd for sure give credit here. 

Thank you to whoever it was that came up with this.  Here are my versions.

Attempt #1:  

• I eyeballed and trimmed out the inner rectangle from the front Real Red cardstock panel. But I just don't like it. 
• I also used Going Grey ink on generic gray cardstock scraps I had, and the imprint was really faint. Don't like it. 

Sigh! So I broke down and bought a die set while I was at Michael's today using a 50% off coupon. So this Becky Higgin's Project Life Die set came out to just $9.99.

PRODUCT REVIEW: I almost had a heart attack when I opened the package.  

• They're taped extremely well like the old Spellbinder dies, but the dies themselves are soooooooo thin and flimsy!! I thought I had bent and/or broke them just trying to get them out of the packaging. I should have just forked over $24.95 and gotten the framelits set from SU, but I gave in to both price and instant gratification.  

• They also didn't yield a clean cut as I had random stray shavings along the cut edges.

• These don't leave an embossed edge either.

• I'm not very confident that these will cut through thicker cardstock or specialty paper due to how flimsy they are. I may just return these and get the SU ones instead.  

• For my purposes below, they performed adequately, but I'd rate it a B-. Nothing for anyone to rush and buy immediately.

Attempt #2:

With the 3" x 4" sized inner rounded rectangular die in hand from the BH Project Life set from American Crafts, I was excited to make another version of the Etch-A-Sketch card that I just knew I'd be much happier with!

If you've ever wanted to know what 15 year old embossing power looks like, zoom in on my photo below.  I cried because the embossed greetings just did come out crisp like I remember it used to.  I did make sure to reink my Versamark pad generously and not to press too hard onto my cardstock with the inked up polymer stamp to achieve as crisp of an image as possible.

I'll have to crush and sift all of my EP's to make sure they're not all clumped together. I'm pretty intent on using my stash rather than tossing it to buy brand new. Ain't no one got that kinda money to throw around!

For the sentiment, I didn't like the SU Gold metallic because this particular one from SU looks dirty to me.  I was hoping for a brighter gold, so I switched to an opaque white so that the sentiment would pop more.

But I definitely liked the image when stamped in Momento Black ink on this Recollections metallic silver cardstock. The cardstock was slick, so the Momento was perfect for rich permanent color that dried pretty fast.

Finished them off by die cutting some 1" sized circles with one of my Spellbinders nested circle sets. I didn't realize that it would leave a nice embossed edge. Yup, first time using these dies since my punches are in storage. The white circular die cuts were pop dotted on the bottom inner corners for the Etch-A-Sketch dials.  Finally I whipped out my trusty old Creative Memories corner rounder on all 4 corners for the finishing touch.

Since these were so easy, I went ahead and made a handful of them for upcoming monthly Ronald McDonald House card donations to other hostesses located throughout the US.

I've committed to sending a minimum of 10 cards to each of the monthly hostesses so that each RMH location can be featured on a rotating basis.

CASEing is a great way of completing a handful of super cute cards for the cause.  If you'd like to donate some of your handmade cards to this cause, I am collecting throughout the rest of 2015 to donate to the Pasadena, CA location.  Click here for more information.


Thanks for visiting.



 


"It's Pasture Birthday Etch-A-Sketch"  Card CASE
Paper: SU Real Red; Misc Red CS; Recollections Metallic Silver CS
Stamps: SU From the Herd
Ink: Momento Black; Versamark
Embellishments: American Crafts Becky Higgins Project Life Die; SU Metallic Gold EP; Stampendous Opaque White EP; Spellbinders Standard Circles Large (smallest die); CM Corner Rounder; Pop Dots Dimensional Foam
Size: 5.5 x 4.25" rectangular