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 Mystery Image Swap - February 2016 Two Paper Divas & Reverse Confetti "Hello Good Friends"

With the other half away, I took advantage and spread out all my supplies to get some play time in.  How wonderful this is going to be that I don't have to clean up my table surface or piles for another month!

Here's my February submission for my group of a dozen other ladies from SCS.  This month, Tracie (taclary) sent us this cheerful watering can image full of flowers from Two Paper Divas.

Tracie states "this image is in honor of the friendships that I have made through SCS.  I am lucky to have each and every one of you as a friend. So February's challenge is in honor of the friendships that we have made through SCS."

I can't wait for her to see what I came up with and I hope that Dea, who's the next in our rotating recipient list, will like my card in person!

I really wanted to play with my copics since I never was an expert coloring gal.  There are lots of mistakes here and I managed to salvage it by using the pebbled dot texturizing technique on my watering can.  I have no idea if that's what the technique is called, but from looking at my coloring, I think you get the idea.

Since I decided to use the image without the perfectly stamped coordinating sentiment Tracie provided, I added some die cuts from Reverse Confetti to add to the Spring Friendship theme.

One last thing, I'm dying because my card suffered an accident at the very last minute when I was stamping an alternative friendship themed sentiment on the inside of my card.  The front of the cover made contact with my just reinker refreshed ink pad that was sitting right next to it!   Grr...I'm working on a desk that's about 3 feet wide and about 1.5 feet deep. I'm practically working on top of myself.  I need to clean up after myself much better to avoid this.  Unfortunately, adding color dots or sequins to mask my oopsie just crowds this card design so I've decided to just leave it as is.

I still think this card came out pretty cute!  Just for fun, I entered this card in the CASology challenge for their Week 185:Egg.

Thanks for visiting!







"Hello Friendship" Card
Paper: My Mind's Eye Now and Then Milo PP
Stamps: Two Paper Divas Bloom Wildly; Reverse Cnofetti Hippity Hoppity; SU Feel Goods
Ink: Copics Various;  SU Brocade Blue;  Wink of Stella Glitter  Yellow
Tools: Reverse Confetti Hippity Hoppity & Hello Dies; MFT Grass Border Die
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" 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

Look Hula's Turning TWO??

Awww, my niece is 2 today. I remember meeting her in the hospital when she was just barely 30 minutes old and it freaked me out to see the nurse holding her underneath the faucent by just one armpit while giving her her first bath.

When my sis in law told me that she was planning on a luau theme, I came across this Anya stamp from The Greeting Farm and just thought it would be PERFECT for invitations!!

Unfortunately, I got a bit derailed in my personal life the first couple of months of the year and never got around to actually working on them. :((((

I finally dusted off my Copics and made this little hula girl inspired card. Her birthday luau was a blast this past weekend!

I'm proud of myself for shopping out of my own stash entirely for the making of this card, which is in keeping with my New Year's Resolution:

• Obviously there was a reason why I was coveting SO MUCH Basic Grey Lollipop - remember THAT line? Because one day I was going to make cards for my niece! Lol! I loved it back then and I still love it now. These colors actually match the decor of her party. I drew in a few more bangs to make her look a bit more like my little niece. :)

• I also was able to dig up some really pretty satin hem like ribbon in my stash from Making Memories. Remember these from back in the days? Again, I must use what I covet! The green bluish daiquiri was perfect for this card!

I was inspired by two challenges in the making of this card.

1) Verve April Week #2 Card Sketch

2) The Pink Elephant #100 "Favorite Color Combo, Polka Dots and Crinkle Ribbon" Challenge

I put this one together rather quickly since this is my first crafty project in awhile and thus I couldn't find A LOT of my tools, i.e. where is my CM corner rounder? So a lot of this was hand cut by just eye balling it. I had also lent out Big Shot so I was tracing a lot of my dies (Spellbinders and MFT) for some of the decorative accents. Ahhh, little girl is worth it! :)

Happy Birthday little girl!



"Look Hula's Turning 2?"
Paper: BG Lollipop PP, Bazzil CS & Neenah Solar White 80# CS
Stamps: The Greeting Farm "Sing" Hula Anya
Embellishments: MM Ribbon; Michaels Dollar Bin Bling & Heidi Swapp Bling;
Accessories: Copic Markers, Spellbinders Ovals; MFT Ric Rac Die

Copics Used:Hair: C3, C5, C7, C9
Skin: E00, E11, R20
Ukelele: E25
Dress: B04, BG13
Flower: R20, R85

Gettin' my Verve On!

I've been a long time fan of Verve stamps and finally took the plunge last month during their end of the year sale when a good number of their stamps were 50% off and I had a coupon code for another 10% off. What a great way to use up the last of my ebay money.

Here's a quick card I made at my crop yesterday using the Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely line and this Verve Psalm 37:4 Plain Jane biblical verse stamp.


Here's the Viva La Verve sketch I used for my inspiration:

I obviously took liberty with some of the proportions of the panels in my interpretation. I "think" that's ok. :) I had a lot of fun with this one because I finally got to use my Rolled Rose and Rolled Flower Die-matics from My Favorite Things.

I've loved this DeLovely paperline when I saw it a couple of months ago, so I was very glad to take this packet of mostly small scraps and few large pieces from my friend Gen to see what I could make out of it. I thought it was a creative way to use all those itty bitty scraps I had with the MFT Die-namics. :)


Here's a look at my pretty pleated silver grey ribbon that I got from MFT :)

Hopefully, I'll have a few more finished items to share this coming week. Do check back this coming Wednesday as I'm participating in a blog hop with my Design Divas group.




"Delight Yourself in the Lord"
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Delovely PP & Elements; Joann's CS
Stamps:Verve Psalm 37:4 Plain JaneEmbellishments: Pleated Grey Ribbon MFT; Heidi Swapp Bling; Maya Roads Pins
Accessories: CTMH Ocean Dye Ink; SB Labels 3 & Mega 8; MFT Rolled Rose & Rolled Flower Die-namics; Mini Scalloped Decorative Scissors