SCS Card Kit Swap - High Hopes Bunny with Bouquet

I'm excited to be participating in yet another year round exchange with a few of the SCS ladies.  This swap involves putting together an entire kit of pre-stamped images along with coordinating patterned papers and embellishments to shower the recipient.

My month is April so I've begun receiving a few kits from the other ladies already.  This first one is from Pansy (C-mouse) and here's the lovely kit contents of what she sent me:

Lots of yummy stuff!!

Here's the first card that I was able to create at the all day crop I was at yesterday.

I had so much fun using my Pastel Chalk Pencils that I pulled out of my stash. I don't remember using this set much.  I don't even remember where I purchased them or why I even own them. They were definitely purchased in the 200-2005 era though.  Well, they saw the light of day yesterday.

I tried using grey and black first at the top of the ears, but didn't like the way they were blending when I laid down the white chalk so I quickly abandoned them for the blue.  Unorthodox coloring for a bunny using blue to highlight his depth, but it came out better than I hoped.  Interesting that chalk doesn't spread or dilute in color like other color mediums I've played with.

Out of the set of 12 pastel chalk pencils, the ones pictured above are the colors I used on this High Hopes Bunny with Bouquet.

I tried to do the cute little guy justice by making him as fuzzy cute as possible!!

I incorporated the lovely coffee stained MFT Decorative Doily diecut and the lovely olive green grosgrain ribbon Pansy included in the kit she sent me along with some scraps of Basic Grey Persimmon PP.  The rest of the embellishments came from the goodie bags I received from the hostess of the crop.

I used this SCS Card Sketch as inspiration for my card layout design.  Please excuse the fact that I forgot to retake a photo of my card AFTER I corner rounded the right top of the card. That's what lack of sleep from a whole week will do to you...don't see things clearly.

There's still plenty of materials from the kit Pansy sent so I'll be working from this stash for quite a while.

Thanks for visiting!





"Bunny with Bouquet" Card
Paper: BSU Kraft CS; Basic Grey Persimmon PP; Best Creations Gold Glitter CS
Stamps: High Hopes "Bunny with Bouquet" 
Ink: Cretacolor Chalk Pastel Pencils; Ink/EP Unknown 
Embellishments: Target $1 Bin Colored Twine & Paper Clip;  Prima flowers;  Kaiser Rhinestones; MFT Die-namics Decorative Doily Duo Dies
Size: 4.25" x 6.5" rectangular 

SCS March 2016 Virtual Stamp Night Event "Brighten The Grey" Challenge MAR16VSNH #StampinUp #Upsydaisy

Plugging away at those challenges over at SCS's current "Here Comes the Sun" Virtual Stamp Night Event. Hostess Sabrina (cook22) is calling for cards to "Brighten The Grey." The rule for all the challenges is to complete the card in 1 hour or less - eek! 

Here's my entry for Sabrina's MAR16VSNH Challenge:

I've just recently received Upsy Daisy.  It's one of those classic SU sets in my mind which I didn't purchase at the time it was out, but glad I have my hands on it now.

Double stamped it for a quick clean silhouette of flowers in Going Grey and Yo Yo Yellow using my trusty ole' Stamp-a-ma-jig from SU - yep, I'm probably one of the last Misti holdouts!  The card is much brighter and cleaner in real life, my photo dulls it for some reason.

But this card came together quickly with simple matting and a few quick gems/ribbon for accents.

Challenge #3 out of 14 Done!

Thanks for visiting!


 


"You're On My Mind" Card
Paper: Bo Bunny; Misc Handmade Paper; Yellow CS
Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy
Ink: SU Yo Yo Yellow; SU Going Gray
Embellishments: SU Stamp-a-ma-jig; MFT Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX ; Kaiser Rhinestones; May Arts Ribbon 
Size: 4.25" x 6.5" rectangular 

SCS March 2016 Virtual Stamp Night Event "Round and Round" Challenge MAR16VSNH #StampinUp #FifthAvenueFlorals

It's that time again for another 2 day Virtual Stamp Night Event at SCS this past weekend. There are a whopping total of 14 challenges with the ongoing theme of "Here Comes The Sun." Hmm, the hostesses and event planners must not live in So Cal?  It's been sunny and actually hot this past week. This one is for Hostess Melody's (lacyquilter) "Round and Round" Challenge.

I pulled out the already completed circle cut and matted Basic Grey Sultry pp card base from years ago when I was working on this DT project in 2008.  Yes, I'm a hoarder and save everything since I might need it or could use it one day, right?  I had tossed it to the side because my hand cut scallops along the outside circle border didn't neatly match up at the end with the beginning.  So I salvaged the base, because I still so love Basic Grey, by adhering various watercolored blooms from the SU Fifth Avenue Florals set to hide my oopsie.

I so enjoy SCS's VSN events because it really forces me to dig into my stash and crack up supplies that have never seen the light of day.  This Fifth Avenue Florals just screams so New York and Kate Spade to me, and it was one that I had coveted for so long, so I was so happy to finally own it even after it was long retired.  This is one of those sets I'm going to resolve to use at least 5 times because I've had it for like a year already!  So, four more projects to come.

2 Challenges out of 14 Done!



 


"You Only Live Once" Card
Paper: Canson 140lb Watercolor Paper; Basic Grey Sultry
Stamps: SU Fifth Avenue Florals
Ink: Canson Angora Water Colors; Stampendous White Opaque EP; Clearsnap Vivid Sienna 
Embellishments: Michaels $1 Bin Heart Shaped Color Dot; Niji Water Barrel Brush; Martha Stewart Circle Cutter; Scalloped Decorative Scissors
Size: 6" x 6" Round 

SCS Mystery Image Swap - March 2016 MFT Birdie Brown "You are Super"

Super Girl says You're a Super Friend! I've always loved this Super Girl image from My Favorite Things.  It's been on my wish list forever.

This month in March, Joanna (Queenbee Jo) over at SCS sent us all this darling stamped girl, accessories and sentiments from the "You are Super" set to play with.  She even sent along two different cityscape skyline dies for us to use.

So here's my Super Girl card with shiny don't hate her because she's beautiful hair, super girl shield and word bubble sentiment! Had to throw in some red glitter a la easy glitter tape.

I'm not really sure why I went with the patriotic theme in my background patterned paper selection. Maybe I was thinking of Captain America when I was coloring in that shield?

I've been watching new coloring tutorials and applied some of what I could remember.  I've never used a hint of Copics B00 before and I love the way her hair came out.  With this close up, you can see I messed up with color bleeding outside the lines on the bottom right dress area.  Now you see why she ended up with a shield? tee hee!

Here are the Copics I used for her hair and skin color.  I busted out Y17 for once for all the yellow you see. 

But I really don't have any primary blues or reds. So I ended up reaching for my SU Watercolor Pencils set to finish her Super Girl costume. I also added a pop of white sharpie marker pen work on her boots. 

Because the sentiment Joanna sent along was stamped with plenty of space in between each of the words, I decided to carefully die cut the phrase "Super Friend" as you can see below.  Usually, this type of precision aligning would require a lot of praying for it to work out because I'm too cheap to waste my non existent washi tape stash by using a few pieces to tape the metal die in place.

I remembered to pack my new magnetic platform I just received from Joann's during their most recent online 50% off sale. Oh my gosh, this was so worth the splurge!! It worked like a charm with success on the first try! Saving so much time since additional attempts with limited supplies were not necessary.

I forgot how much joy new crafting toys can bring.  Thank you Joanna for the opportunity to play with this adorable little Super Girl.  And I hope Kelly likes it as this is on it's way to her on Monday as part of our rotating mail out schedule for the Mystery Image Swap.

SCS is hosting their "Here Comes the Sun" themed Virtual Stamp Night this weekend, so I'm submitting this one for Hostess Carla's (Covington Crafter) "Give Me A Head With Hair" Challenge MAR16VSNK since I made it a point to try a different hair coloring approach this time.

Challenge #1 of 14 - done!


Thanks for visiting!

"Super Friend" You are Super Card
Paper: Cryogen White #89; ? PP
Stamps: MFT Birdie Brown "You are Super"
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Copics (Hair) B00, N1, C5. C7, C9; (Skin) E00, E51, YR21, R 20; Super Girl Outfit - SU Watercolor Pencisl & Wink of Stella Gold 
Tools: SU Word Bubbles Framelit Die; Memory Box Cityscape Silhouette Border Die; Creative Memories Star Punch
Embellishments: American Crafts Best Creations Red Glitter Tape
Size: 5.75" x 5" rectangular 

"Butterfly Silk" A Special Wish Card

I'm losing steam due to having limited supplies on me.  Unfortunately, my scrap items in storage aren't convenient for me to access often, yet buying more just doesn't seem prudent. I just can't do it because I know how much I have in storage. Sigh!

I don't do well planning ahead, but in order to avoid unnecessary expenses, I'm going to have to schedule a good chunk of time to access my storage soon to exchange/grab new scrap supplies in order to keep feeding my creative mojo.

Upon seeing this new week's Featured Stamper was Rokale and her Asian Lady card in her gallery, it motivated me tonight to make do with one of the extra images that Imke sent me for the January Mystery Image Swap. This was my first attempt at coloring, but didn't like the lack of blending of her kimono or the way I colored the sleeves.  So I used my 2nd coloring attempt for that final card.

I had to find a work around not having enough white clean space on the cardstock Madame Butterfly was stamped on, so I ended up attaching the left over greeting that also came from Imke on the top left corner to hide my practice marker strokes.

The gold cording...sigh, I have reels of it in my storage.  Today, while at a family baby shower, I salvaged this small piece of gold cording from a gift wrapping discard, lol, and repurposed it for this card.

Yep, slim pickings are what I'm resorting to.  But I got one done for SCS FS473 Challenge.

 


"Butterfly Silk" A Special Wish Card
Paper: Kurasawa Origami Paper; Bazzil Brown CS
Stamps: Crafter's Companion "Butterfly Silk"
Ink: Copics (Hair)C5. C7, C9; (Skin) E51, YR21, RV 23; (Kimono) YR09, R46; Wink of Stella Gold 
Embellishments: Gold Cording; Fancy Pants Resin Flowers "Holiday Hues"
Size: 5.75" x 5" rectangular 

SCS Card Sketch Challenge #552 Thanks Tim Holtz Crazy Birds Card

I'm still having tons of fun with my Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and Kuretake Gansai watercolors. This time, I decided to stamp a few of the birds and color them in advance so I could take out my Crazy Birds dies for a whirl.

They cut like a dream and these are pretty easy to align.  I can tell I have a little too much white border on the bottom right design of my stamped bird image, so hopefully next time, I'll get it perfectly right.

I was inspired by the current weekly Card Sketch #552 over at SplitCoastStampers, but made a few minor tweaks with placement.

Made this card as a very belated thank you to my fellow blog team member and friend Lynn to thank her for her incredibly generous support of a Card Donation Call I'm hostessing at SCS to benefit cancer patients at the Ronald McDonald House locations.

I'm hostessing the month of Jan 2016, and in addition for my call for cards which will be donated to the Pasadena, CA location, I'm also committed to donating a minimum of 10 cards each month to each of the monthly hostesses so that a different RMH location throughout the US can be highlighted.

Lynn sent me a whopping 162 cards WITH envelopes for the Pasadena location. 

Here's a sample of her GORGEOUS cards that she sent.  (I apologize for the low lighting; I couldn't find my DSLR at the time and had to rely on my iphone camera.)

I haven't yet made my way to the center yet to drop off by have set up an appointment with the Center Director to meet with her in a few weeks to drop off. I'll be sure to post pictures so Lynn can see how her generosity has impacted others.

Thank you so very very very much Lynn! 






"Thanks" Crazy Birds Card
Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper; Misc PP; Vellum
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Bird Crazy 
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Kuretake Gansai Watercolors 
Embellishments: Oval SB Dies;QK Nesting Cookie Cutter Basic Phrase Dies
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular 

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