Sending Smiles

Hello all!

This week I am playing along with Lucy's Lines Challenge over at Lily Pad Cards.

Here is Lucy's sweet and simple sketch. We also had to use a Penny Black stamp for out main image since they are sponsoring. Good thing I just bought some new ones huh ? ;)

Here is my card

I started by stamping the flower (To You, Penny Black) twice on each patterned paper (Tickled Pink, My Mind's Eye). I fussy cut out the whole flower of the first one. I only cut out the smaller folded over petals from the second one. I stamped the flower 3 times on white card stock then colored them with shabby shutters and a foam applicator. I cut them out with just enough flower at the top to adhere my paper pieced flowers. I layered the two flower pieces with foam tape and adhered them flat to the stems. *I also cut off their leaves*

I cut my kraft card stock to a standard size and rounded two corners. I adhered the flowers down flat then added two cut out leaves. Stamp the sentiment (Sending Smiles, Hero Arts) in jet black archival ink (Ranger).

For the twine I wanted them to be evenly spaced so I drew a light pencil line using a ruler then laid down a line of glue and adhered the twine. I trimmed off the edges and added my bow (made with my bow easy).

A sprinkling of hot pink pearls and I'm done :)

I'm off the play games with my girlfriends, Happy Thursday to you and thanks for stopping by!!



Miss you a bunch!

Playing along with The Play Date Cafe this week, love these colors.

Here's my take

be back later to give you the run down :)

Have a Candy-Egg Easter

and a Jelly-Bean Spring! :)

Happy Easter to all of you!

I'm quickly sharing my Easter project before going to have brunch with my husband's side of the family. Later tonight we will head over to my parents for dinner. *Yay* for quality family time :)

I am playing along with OTWC there are no colors this week just a theme, which is Easter!

Here is the whole package:)

Now the gift bag

The large gift bags ( I actually made 5 each a different color combo) are for my niece, nephew, and Hubby's God daughters. I know I said before that I was using that bag as their gift bags but i like these so much more ;)
I bought plain kraft gift bags 5 for a $1.00 :) I added some pattern paper (Paper Pizazz, Easter Eggs) as a base. The top border I punched a scallop edge (EK Success) then layered another color of card stock on top it. I ribbon I wrapped around and taped under the pattern paper then made my bows using the bow easy.

Close up of the tag

I created these adorable little Easter buckets using Buckets of Love stamp set (There She Goes). I created all the buckets for the tags, mini bags, and cards the same way. I stamped in jet black archival ink (Ranger) then colored them in with markers. To make them shine I added both Glossy Accents and stardust stickles. I then cut them out and adhered with foam.

These mini gift bags were made for the children of two of the guys I work with.

You already know how to make the bucket so we'll skip that :) I cut my color of cardstock to 3 3/4 x 5 1/2. For my border I layered kraft punched with a scallop edge (EK Success) under more of my base color. For the sentiment panel, I first stamped in that main color some candy (Also from Buckets of Love) and then the sentiment in black.

I made the cards the exact same way as the mini bag. All in all I made 5 bags, 4 cards, and 6 mini bags. I completed them all with 4 sheets of pattern paper and 1 12 x12 paper of each color (and I still have some left :)

I adore these images and they made some super cute gifts but I don't want to leave out the real meaning of Easter. I am blessed, so very blessed everyday. The fact that God loves us so much to make that sacrifice for us is overwhelming sometimes.

Today is a day for celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

HE IS RISEN!!

Penny Black Thank you

I have been dying to play along over at the Penny Black blog but all the stamps I have by them are Christmas! I finally got my hands on 4 new (well new to me ;) Penny Black stamp sets and this week I get to play too (Yippee!)

The Challenge is for Thank you cards. I decided to make my card inspired by  Kathy Racoosin. She is the whole reason I found Penny Black after all. She is so very talented I {heart} her style. If you haven't yet please go check out her blog :)

Okay onto the card

I started by cutting a piece of pink to 4 x 5 1/4. I embossed (ProvoCraft, Divine Swirls) and then used a white gel pen to draw dots on the swirls. I adhered this to a white card base.

I stamped the flower (To You, Penny Black) twice on orange paper. I did a little shading with an orange marker and then cut out one complete flower. I only cut out the center for the top flower. I embellished with some more white dots.  I assembled the flower with foam tape and filled the center with pink rhinestones. I also added stardust stickles to the natural lines of the flower.

For my band I punched (EK Success) a black strip which I adhered to a lighter orange strip. For the sentiment (Flower Gallery, Penny Black) I stamped in black (Jet Black Archival Ink, Ranger) on white and accented with a few more pink rhinestones. Everything was adhered flat, the only foam I used was in between the flower layers.

Wishing you all a gorgeous weekend and a Blessed Easter. God is good and I am so grateful :)

You Fill My Life with Love

Well we are having pretty nice weather for Easter weekend, how about you?

One of my favorite things about spring is the cherry blossoms :) They are one of the first blooms of the season and they are so lovely. This week at There She Goes blog the challenge is to make a monochromatic card. I decided to use the cherry blossom trees as my color inspiration.

I started by making my background first. I cut 4 of each color then stamped the background in walnut stain. The open heart is from Hero Arts, All Occasion Messages. The solid hearts are from Hero Arts, Whoo Loves You? The polka dots and xoxo are both from Hero Arts, Everyday Sayings. I sewed a border around each square with brown thread and adhered them all flat to a brown card base.

For my main panel I cut the ledger paper (Basic Grey, Basic Manila paper pad) to 3 x 3 3/4 then punched the edge (EK Success). I inked all the edges with walnut stain then rumpled the punched edge. I stamped the hearts and bucket (There She Goes, Buckets of Love) on to it.

I stamped the hearts (There She Goes, Buckets of Love) onto all three shades of pink. I cut out various hearts and glued them on top of the previous stamped image. The bucket (There She Goes, Buckets of Love) was stamped on brown. I did some shading with walnut stain and my H20 pen. Then colored the handle with a silver metallic gel pen.

I stamped the beginning of the sentiment (There She Goes, Buckets of Love) in walnut stain and the "love" with a pink marker. I added the ribbon and bow before adhering the whole panel with foam tape.

To finish off the card I added glossy accents and stardust stickles to various hearts. I also made the sentiment shine with some pink rhinestones :)

Moxie Fab The Gift Wrap

back again for another Moxie Fab Challenge!

This challenge was to make a gift bag, tag, wrap :)

My Husband has Godchildren . . more specifically Goddaughters all over the place. Every year on Easter we buy for all  the kids. This is going to be their gift bag. Soon t be filled with puffs, yogurt melts, movies, and outfits (usually something with argyle {heart})

This is pretty simple really. I cut the patterned paper (from my stash I have no idea who makes it sorry!) so that it would have a kraft border from the bag. I punched a scallop edge (EK Success) on my blue paper then cut it to 1 3/4. I layered a green strip cut to 1 1/4 on top. The purple ribbon is an off brand from my local store and  I used my bow easy to create the prefect bow!

Simple and pretty.

Moxie Fab Home Decor

Happy Thursday to you all!
I am having an especially happy Thursday because I just found out I'm the fresh face winner over at the Hero Arts blog! Holy Smokes I can't believe it! :) I'm so honored to be picked among such awesome talent!

Speaking of awesome talent let's talk Moxie Fab! Cath has such great inspiration over there. If you haven't been by there blog you *must* go, it's fantastic :)

This challenge is for Home Decor. I wanted a pretty simple picture to hang in my craft room which is painted a pale turquoise. Here is what I came up with

First let me apologize or the photo quality. Taking a picture while trying to prop it up against . . . well anything and then trying not to get the shine results in this *sorry* :(

I started with a teal background. I cut different size strips and punched them with 5 different borders (all EK Success) I glued them down flat to add a little interest to the background. I added a 1/4 inch strip of red to the top and bottom.

For the focal point I used the Large Flowers stamp (Hero Arts) and stamped once I white. I masked that and stamped again. Continue masking and stamping all t he way across. I colored the flowers with spun sugar, worn lipstick, barn door, spiced marmalade, and mustard seed. I outlined the details with stardust stickles and sewed on a button in the coordinating color. I cut the flowers out as one piece and adhered them with foam.

Here is a close up

I'm still trying to figure out if I'm keeping it :)

Friends Forever

Hello Hello!
I love playing along with The Playdate Cafe color challenges. They always put together colors I wouldn't normally gravitate to. This week the challenge is Green, White, and Brown.

The photo looked really clean to me, so I ran with it :)

I was flipping through Card Creations magazine, Favorite Occasions Vol.2 where there is so much talent! Charlene Austin (head over to her blog to see her amazing work) had a card with this gorgeous text heart. She had stamped thank you multiple times using different styles of stamps. I wanted to create something similar and this was my jumping off point, hehe!

I used the friend definition background stamp (Hero Arts) and stamped on white card stock in walnut stain. I cut out my heart and inked my edges in more walnut stain. I sewed around the border with brown thread.

I have some label shapes that I love problem is they are all cream, pink, and black :( I decided to make the tags to suit my color combo by cutting them apart, tracing them and reassembling the tag on my card. I started off with just white card stock. The next level is kraft with a brown faux stitch border. The top piece is colored with shabby shutters and outline with an olive marker. I outlined the olive with the thin end of my brown marker. I adhered the tag flat to a kraft card base.

To create my leaf embellishment I stamped (Delicate Leaf Clusters, Hero Arts) in shabby shutters and peeled paint. Before I stamped I spritzed with a little bit of water. I cut the leaves out and covered them in glossy accents. I adhered it left of center on my heart and added a brown floss bow. I popped the whole heart up on foam.

To finish off the card I drew a straight line 1/4 in from the sides using a thin brow marker. Then added the sentiment (All Occasion Messages, Hero Arts) in walnut stain.

Thanks for coming by and visiting! Hope you are enjoying your Tuesday evening :) I'm off to watch some TV with my hubby!!

I appreciate you

The past two weeks have been almost non-stop work for me but today, today is a day off :) Yippee!

I am playing along this week with Get Sketchy. I am always reaching for the same colors so I decided to peruse the Internet and find something different. I hope you like it :)

Here is the awesome sketch we are working with

and here is my take

I started with a standard size white card base. I cut a piece of yellow pattern paper (Soup Staples collection) to 2 1/4 x 5 1/2 and adhered it to my card base.

I created the teal piece by scribbling my teal marker (Marvy Bold) on my craft mat, picking it up with my H20 pen (lots of water) and coloring a white piece of card stock until I was happy with the result. adhere flat.

The punched (EK Success) a 2 x 4 piece of white and adhered it to my card.

The navy square was cut to 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 and glued down.

I created the rosette by scoring every 1/4 inch on white card stock cut to 1 1/4 x 11.

I stamped the butterfly (Hero Arts, Butterflies) on white and colored it with a yellow marker. I fussy cut it out and attached just the body to my rosette.

I cut the teal (DCWV, Cafe Mediterranean) to 1/2 and stamped my sentiment (Hero Arts, All Occasion Messages) in versamark. I then heat embossed in white. I cut a V to make a little banner and added it to my card with foam.

Some clear rhinestones and yellow stickles finished it off.

This card is a little different for me  . . . . what do you think?

Rainbow Card Set and Giveaway

This last post is a card set I created for my girl friend.

I am playing along with Wee Memories Color Inspiration. This picture inspired the Rainbow motif

I am also playing along with Hero Arts monthly contest. I used the sketch on the far right.

and last but certainly not least Cath over at Moxie Fab challenged us to make a card set

Here is a close up of one of them

and the whole set

So I love Jenni Bowlin's butterflies. I love the way they are packaged. I love the colors and patterns. I just love 'em!

but I don't own any of them. So I decided to make my own.

I used my cricut Sentimentals cartridge to cut out 30 butterflies. I trimmed off the antennas so I could fit more butterflies on the card. I stamped 5 butterflies for each card in the same color but with a different Hero Arts background stamp. I used all distress inks: barn door, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, peeled paint, broken china, and dusty concord. I wanted to use rhinestones for their bodies but didn't have enough black. Enamel essentials to the rescue! I love the way it makes perfect little circles.

I colored a strip of white with the coordinated colored and layered a white banner with a sentiment over it. The butterflies were adhered with their bodies flat and the wings popped up on foam. Each color has a different sentiment.

I finished them off by adding 3 rhinestones. There are no stickles on these cards, can you believe it? Me either!! 

Now for the giveaway! I used 6 Hero Arts set to make these cards. 5 background and 1 sentiment. The first person to guess all 6 correctly will win a little something special from me!

Off to work I go thanks for sticking with me :)

Thinking of you always

Third one of the day (catching up is crazy but sharing is fun!)

For this card I am playing along with OTWC again (These colors are way too fun) and using the sketch from Simon Says Stamp. I just love a sketch challenge don't you?

colors

and sketch

and card :)

I haven't used masking in a while and I thought this sketch was perfect for it!

I started by tracing my squares out in pencil. I masked off the main image square and stamped my flower (Large Flower, Hero Arts). I colored my flower in using scattered straw, worn lipstick, and a H20 pen.

For the background square I masked it off and stamped the polka dots (Fruit Salad, Oriental Trading) in Grass Chalk ink from Hero Arts.

I stamped my sentiment (All Occasion Messages, Hero Arts)  in jet black archival ink (Ranger). To make the squares pop I outlined them using a ruler and a black gel pen.

I added some stardust stickles (you know I have too lol) and green rhinestones to complete it.

One more share left then off to work with me!

One of a Kind

Back again second post of the day!

This card is for The PlayDate Cafe challenge.
Here are the colors

Now I have to be honest when I first saw the colors I was like "Oh Julie . . .what have you gotten me into?" But I really love the way my card turned out! So thanks for making me push the envelope Julie :)

I started off with a standard size card base. I stamped the flourishes (Dot Flourishes, Inkadinkado) in jet black archival ink (Ranger)

On a separate piece of white I stamped the butterfly (Butterflies, Hero Arts). I colored the butterfly using a blue and a pink sharpie marker (I know right? but it gives such a bold color!) I colored the body and outline with a silver metallic pen. Fussy cut it out.

I stamped my sentiment ( All Occasion Messages, Hero Arts) in jet black (Ranger). Then adhered the butterfly. I glued the body down flat and popped the wings up on foam.

I added some rhinestones (also colored with sharpies) and some stardust stickles to the flourishes and butterfly.

It's a little more blingy than I usually do but I {heart} it :)

So Happy For You

Yay! Computer is back and working great :) I can finally share the projects I've been making with you

This first one I made using the colors from OTWC and the sketch from Get Sketchy.

Here are the OTWC colors, super springy and fun

Get Sketchy Sketch which is awesome because you can go busy or clean. Love it!



combo colors +sketch + me and you get

I started off by cutting a piece of white card stock to 3 3/4 x 5 1/2. I then used my nesties small circles to cut a circle in the center. I left the die in place a traced around the outer edge with a black gel pen.

To fill in the circle I colored a 3 x 3 square with scattered straw. I stamped over it in worn lipstick using the reversed flowers and leaves )Hero Arts). I went back in my shabby shutters and my H20 pen to color just the leaves.

On  separate piece of white I stamped the flower, leaves, (Layered Flowers, Hero Arts) and the banner (Bannerific, Lawn Fawn). I colored the flower with scattered straw and the leaves with shabby shutters. For the banner I just added a little bit of gray where it curls. I cut them all out. For the leaves I did pare them down a little since I was using a smaller flower.

I rubbed some worn lipstick on white card stock and then punched a scallop edge (EK Success) on two pieces. I adhered these to the outer edges of my main panel.

I glued the stamped background piece down flat to a white card base. I added the circle cut panel on top of it with foam.

I stamped my sentiment ( All Occasion Messages, Hero Arts) onto my banner then adhered it across my circle.

Last I added my flower down flat and topped it all off with some stardust stickles.

Thanks for looking and don't worry I'll be back I have 5 days of crafting to post lol

Computer goes down . . . .

So I am posting this from a friend's computer because last Thursday my computer crashed :(  I shut it down at 6:00am, everything totally fine, I go to start it back up at 3:00pm and nothing ya'll. Just a black screen of death that said my files were corrupted (eek!) It wouldn't even start is safety mode!!

Apparently some files were deleted that my computer needed to boot itself up,

I was so worried because I was way lazy and thought it would never happen to me I was very busy and never backed up my computer. I was terrified all of my pictures would be gone! Thank the Lord there was nothing wrong with my hard drive and $60 later it's fixed.

How many of you have a back up? Take my super scary experience as a warning back it up!!

Anywho, I have several cards to share with you all and I get to pick my computer up tomorrow. So I'll be back then :) Hope your computer stays running smoothly!