SCS Baker's Dozen Card Swap Comes to an End

I've been remiss in sharing the remainder of the cards I've been receiving from my swap partner Dawn Mercedes for the last of our Baker's Dozen Card Swap over at SCS.

Card #10 - Love how she uses washi tape!

Card #11 - Love the ombre card base and love the humor with the pair of shorts!

Card #12 - Loved this sentiment that she personalized and her handwritten note for me.  I definitely needed her cheery encouragement. 

Card #13 - Lastly this delightful little card arrived on my birthday yesterday.  Another personalized sentiment to encourage me on my present journey.

Thank you so much Dawn, for your friendship, for your lovely notes, for your inspiring card making style, and for your encouragement and support. I absolutely had a blast getting to know you this round.  It was SUPER fun! 

 

Go Batty! with Blinged Out Bats - SCS Baker's Dozen Swap Week #9

I'm a wee bit behind here in sending out my cards for the SCS Baker's Dozen swap as my exchange partner Dawn has caught up.  We're now even with 9 cards exchanged each. We're currently in Week #11 and I gotta get my Card #10 and #11 out! eek!

Speaking of Eek....look what I got in the mail this past weekend? These blinged out bats are certainly the star of the show, but how can anyone miss those darling little Halloween themed shaped eyelets on the bottom border?  Dawn Mercedes is a DT member over at the Eyelet Outlet, so these must have come from there.

She's certainly ushering me into the Fall Season, but it's hard to get a sense of seasons changing when living in Southern California.  We're in a multi year serious drought and were thrilled to have gotten a very small and light shower yesterday morning.

I'm also getting the hang of using www.picmonkey.com to edit my pictures since I really have to retire my old Sony Vaio pink laptop and it has my old copy of Photoshop installed on it.  I did check out the new version of  Photoshop and am not keen on spending $9.99 a month for this cloud version. My old software isn't compatible with Windows 10 on my current laptop and PC.  Oh Boo!!

I'm all about FREE and definitely prefer PicMonkey to even the free online version of Photoshop Express.  But I'll keep tinkering with both eventually.

www.picmonkey.com

Just happy this pic I'm sharing of Dawn's super cute card does her justice.  The previous one I shared wasn't crisp enough and it was due to my amateur photography and photo editing skills. There's only room for improvement as with all things!

Thanks Dawn!! Love my Go Batty card!!



 

You are Spooktacular! - SCS Baker's Dozen Swap Week #8

They're coming in one after the other over here!! This is the latest from my Baker's Dozen Swap partner Dawn.  I've been so busy with work that I really needed this in my face reminder that OMG Fall is here!  Holy, Halloween is right around the corner!

I'll have to go poke around my storage boxes to dig up my Halloween, Fall and Christmas themed stamps!!

I don't think any of these are washi tapes, and if they are, Dawn's definitely the undisputed Washi Tape queen! Love the way she created her ray of background patterns to show off her beautifully water colored set of spooky potion bottles.

Thanks Dawn!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day Weekend! Thanks for visiting!

You're Berry Sweet - SCS Baker's Dozen Swap Week #7

I just cleaned out the front porch and look what I found?  Eek! This envelope is an old one based on my partner Dawn's sweet note inside.

I truly love the way she uses washi tape.  She must love it the way I love patterned paper! It was so sweet of her to send me some washi tape! I have no idea where to buy this.  Everything I see at Michael's doesn't appeal to me as it's all Recollections stuff.

Here's the inside of the card that she decorated too! I really need to start doing the insides like her and another one of my blog mates, Kelly, does.

At this point, it's week 9 and we're heading into the last 1/3 of our swap.  I'm so not ready for this to be over because I'm having so much fun receiving fun mail every week!

Thanks Dawn! And thanks for visiting!



 

Washi Chevron Anyone? SCS Baker's Dozen Swap - Week #6

It's been awhile since I've posted and honestly since I've been crafty.  In the meantime, I'm getting lots of lovely mail from my SCS Baker's Dozen Swap partner Dawn.

I received this bejeweled washi tape chevron card last week and am just getting around to bragging about my swap partner.

This girl is seriously showing me all kinds of ways to use washi tape!! I only own two rolls. Guess I better get on it and get my collection going.

We're entering the second half of our Bakers Dozen Swap and I can't tell you how much I'm loving getting something delightful in the mail instead of just junk mail and bills.

Thank you so much Dawn!! I love it!

A Hot Chili Card to Enjoy in Hot Cali!! SCS Baker's Dozen Swap - Week #5

While I'm dying in this heat, I received this hilariously clever card from my swap partner Dawn.

It's a hot chili card she says for me to enjoy in hot Cali!

Love how clean and well designed her cards always are.  She used sequins AND bling this time.

I keep mentioning how she decorates the insides of her cards but keep forgetting to photograph them to share.

We're officially at the half way point now of our Baker's Dozen Swap.  My 7th card just went out today!

Dawn, if you're reading this, I absolutely looooove it!! It's hilarious!

Flutterby SCS Baker's Dozen Swap - Week #4

Ohhh, I just had to post this lovely I received today from my swap partner Dawn.

We're both catching up in our swap as she's been down with computer and now cell phone problems.

I'm learning lots from Dawn's style and craftsmanship such as how she

• uses sequins on this card 
• decorates the inside of a card regardless if the base is dark or not.  She goes the extra mile. 
• decorates the outside of the envelope including using super cute postage stamps!

I'm caught up with mailing my week #4 & #5 a few days ago and have my next few cards ready to go in the next couple of weeks.  

This has been SO much fun!! 

Define Normal with Tim Holtz' Crazy Birds and Kuretake Gansai Watercolors Cards for SCS Baker's Dozen Swap - Week #4

Work is whopping my BEE-hind so I'm playing mad catch up with my swap cards to my weekly partner Dawn.  I've been having a blast texting with her somewhat regularly in between.  It seems she's having computer issues and I'm weathering long hours and long commutes, so I thought the sentiment of this card, "define normal?" seemed appropriate.

Finally got to play with my newly acquired Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps I just got at the recent rubber stamp convention last month.  I also happened to pop into a Hobby Lobby when I read somewhere on SCS of ladies finding the Kuretake Gansai watercolor set there. Ohhh, hello 40% off coupon?

Just like Jennifer Mcguire said her video tutorial, these Kuretake Gansai watercolors are very rich, creamy and buttery feeling when handling them.  I decided to make a color swatch before I started just to really see the true colors of cake pan.

Here's my first try using both the bird stamps and the Kuretake Gansai watercolors.  Hmm, I was impatient and didn't wait for the Momento ink to dry or did I heat emboss it to set it, so there's a bit of smearing.

I was hoping for my birdie to be a bit more happy primary color orange-y as that's Dawn's favorite color, but it came out a bit more distressed than I was intending.  Oh well, it definitely looks very Tim Holtz-y distressed.

Yes, I just made up a word.

Dawn seems to be the washi tape queen so she's inspiring me to use more washi tape in my designs and to decorate my envelopes.  Problem is, I only have one set that I ordered from SU earlier this year.  I'll have to make some time to browse the aisles at Michael's and pick up a few fun bright colors.  I remember seeing some super fun ones from Heidi Swapp.  For now, this will have to do but I think it should be brighter to anchor my very heavily colored crazy bird.

I had fun experimenting with new products and new mediums.

Entering this card in CASology's Week 158: Precious White Space Challenge.

Thanks for visiting!





"Define  Normal" Card
Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper 
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Bird Crazy & Crazy Talk 
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Kuretake Gansai Watercolors 
Embellishments: SU Watercolor Wonder Designer (gold dotted) washi tape
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" rectangular 

Chirp Up! Card for SCS Baker's Dozen Swap - Week 3

I'm really enjoying the Baker's Dozen swap on SCS in which we are partnered up with another crafter and are to send a handmade card every Monday for 13 consecutive weeks.  Get it? Baker's Dozen?  I think it's adorable and it's been super fun so far.

Just wanted to share the lovely cards I've been getting from partner Dawn Mercedes who's been just wonderful sending loads of sunshine my way.

The first card on the left, you've seen before as I've shared that in a previous post.  The middle and right cards are the most recent cards I've received from Dawn.

I can't tell you what a difference it makes to come home after a long day at work to find these cheerful cards from Dawn. Her style is so different than mine so I'm learning a lot from her.

I was in a hurry when I was mailing my third card to Dawn so I was only able to get an iphone snap shot of my card just I was at the post office.

This one was using up mini pinked circle punch outs from my previous bee themed Bzzz...You're one in a Buzzillion card.  It came together pretty quickly and I was tickled pink when I received Dawn's third card.  She also embossed and used yellow with her sunshine theme.  Looks like we were in synchronicity eh? 

Thanks for visiting!

"Chirp Up!" Card
Paper: SU Whisper White; Misc Yellow CS
Stamps: SU Very Punny
Ink: Memento Black; Zig Writer Brush Pens
Embellishments: Spellbinders Large Pinking Circle Nestabilities; Lifestyle Crafts QK Tide EF
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular 

Sending Sunny Thoughts Every Monday for SCS Baker's Dozen Swap

I think creating so many cards for the SCS VSN kinda knocked the wind out of me, so I took a much needed breather from crafting.

In the meantime, I was thrilled to be able to join a new ongoing card swap called the Baker's Dozen on SCS in which we are partnered with another stamper and are to send each other handmade cards on every Monday for the next 13 weeks.

I honestly can't say that I stamp that often, so in addition to it being super fun to receive fun mail every week, this is definitely going to be quite a challenge especially my free time has decreased considerably. That means I'm definitely going to have to schedule down/me time for sure!

I was paired with Dawn Mercedes who happens to be the swap hostesses too! She sent me this very sunny cheery card. I absolutely love the way she used washi tape! I have very few rolls since this trend kicked off during my 4 year crafting hiatus.  You can see her blog post here and much better picture for this card she created:

I sent her my watercolored PSX Iris card as my first last week.

Today, the second Monday of our swap, I sent her this card that I watched as a demo at the Rubber Necker booth at the Rubber Stamp Convention that was held this weekend by A Stamp in The Hand. I absolutely fell in love with this flower stamp.  The high pigmented colors were from Color Bursts powders that was mixed in with water barrel brush. Then it was embossed to dry before the 2nd outline layer was stamped in clear embossing ink, and embossed with gold powder.  I too love that pencil drawn sketch frame around the flowers which is another stamp.

Since these were in a lovely bright orange, I thought to send this off to Dawn since orange is her favorite color.

I sure do miss learning all sorts of new stamping techniques when I attend stamp conventions.  I was short on time and cash, so hope to return again when they return in November later this year.

I'll share my Rubber Stamp Convention experience and buys in a separate post later this week.

Thanks for visiting!!