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 

"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 

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 

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 

La-La Land Inspiration Monday {Lace, Pearls & Punches}

Monday, Monday........I'll admit, Monday's aren't my favorite days but it's Inspiration Monday over on the La-La Land Crafts Blog again. :)

This week, I decided to play with Dress Up Marci since our challenge was to use Lace, Pearls and Punches. Isn't she just perfect for this?

You can get Dress Up Marci as a rubber stamp or as a digi-stamp at the La-La Land Crafts Shop.

Copics Used:
Skin: E00, E11, R20
Hair: W25, E31, E50
Hat & Dress: R81, R83, R85
Flower on Hat: Purple Prismacolor Pencils

Thanks for popping my blog and don't forget to check out the other DT creations over at the blog today and again on Friday.

Happy Monday Everyone!




"When I Grow Up, I Want to Be Just Like You"
Paper: Creative Imaginations IOX PP; Neenah Solar White 80# CS, Bazzil CS
Stamps: La-La Land Craft "Dress Up Marci"; Phrase is Verve
Accessories: Copic Markers, Spellbinders Labels 14; SU Pop Dots; Prima Ribbon & Lace, Kaiser Pearls; Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch

La-La Land Sports Collection Release Party Blog Hop

Welcome to La-La Land Sports Collection Release Blog Hop for the release of another super cute series of SIX new Marci and Luka stamps.

If you didn't just arrive from Jeanette’s Blog then be sure to head on back to the La-La Land Crafts Blog for the full details.

You'll want to leave a comment on every blog you visit along the way to be eligible to win a $25 Gift Certificate to our store.

I got to play with the new Soccer Luka stamp here with some Pink Paisley Bayberry Cottage PP's.

Copics Used:
Skin: E00, E11, R20
Hair: E25, E31, E50
Uniform: Y17, C3, C5, C7
Shoes: C3, C5, C7 & White Paint Pen

I'm a fan of sketches and really loved this one from Splitcoast so based my card layout on this SCS Card Sketch #322

Yes, I took a small liberty with the sketch. :) Now keep on hopping to see what Cindy has for you today, and be sure to comment on ALL the blogs for a chance to win the $25 Gift Certificate!
Good luck and enjoy the hop everyone!



"So Proud of You Little Man"
Paper: Pink Paisley Bayberry Cottage PP, Bazzil CS & Neenah Solar White 80# CS
Stamps: La-La Land Crafts Soccer Luca; Verve Phrase Stamps
Accessories: Copic Markers, Spellbinders Mega Labels #8; MFT Cloud Die