October Anniversary and Birthdays

I've been busy lately making cards for birthdays and one for an anniversary.  First card is for my friend Ginger who celebrated earlier this month.  Here's her card:

Stamp: Stampin' Up "So Happy For You"

Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock and designer paper, "Patio Party"

Accessories: Martha Stewart 3 butterflies punch, lacy butterfly ribbon

 I used Splitcoaststamper sketch SC407 (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/card-sketches-f41/sketch-challenge-407-%7Boctober-17-2012%7D-t562728.html)

Here's the inside of the card:

 Stamp:  Gina K Designs "Inside and Out"

Paper:  Stampin' Up cardstock and designer paper "Patio Party"

Accessory: Martha Stewart butterfly punch around the page punch

 

 

The second birthday card is for my friend Patty.  Patty loves butterflies and Autumn colors as much as me so this was a fun card for me to make:

 Stamps: Stampin' Up "Papillon Potpourri", Gina K Designs "Friendship Blooms"

Paper:  Stampin' Up cardstock and Basic Grey designer paper "ambrosia/winsome"

Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folders, Nestability dies,

 Stampin' Up punch "Elegant Butterfly", ribbon

 

I used mojomonday sketch 263 as seen here:

 

  

 On the inside of the card I used the M.S. butterfly punch and more of the designer paper.

 

 

Here's a birthday card I made for my super, wonderful, awesome, gracious and loving sister-in-law Tina:

 Stamp: Gina K Designs "Inside and Out"

Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock, designer vellum paper (retired), 

variety of designer papers (companies unknown)

Accessories: Nestability oval dies, Memory Box "Elegant Scrollwork" die, variety of prima flowers, gold embossing powder, versamark

 

I used Jen's the Deconstucted Sketch No.74 as my layout as seen here:



 

 

This is a card I made for our dear friends Joy and Rich's anniversary today. I decided to enter this in SCS Clean and Simple challenge CAS192 (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/clean-simple-cards-f239/cas192-theme-harvest-10-15-12-a-t562616.html) and SCS color challenge CC397 (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/color-combinations-f43/cc397-vanilla-chocolate-pie-10-16-12-a-t562684.html):

Stamps: Stampin' Up "Grand Cornucopia"; Stampabilities "Happy Anniversary"

Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Martha Stewart maple leaf punch, copic markers, ribbon 

Inside of the card is with a computer generated sentiment 

I think it takes me almost as much time to upload pictures and prepare this post as it does to create the cards!  Blessings!

A Dueling Darling Mystery???

It's the 15th of the month and time for another duel between the Dueling Darling Divas and the Dueling Darling Dazzlers.  Since the Divas are minus one this month, Melina, of the Dazzlers, challenged us Divas to create a card with our team leader in mind.  So for the Diva's she asked we use the theme "Animals" because our Diva leader Kelly is such an animal lover and also to include buttons on our card 'cause buttons find their way on to Kelly's cards a lot.   So here's my card:

For my "animal" I chose Riley the Moose because I know Kelly really loves Riley.  In fact, she's on the design team for Riley.  Because we did not actually recieve a kit this month, I went into my stash of card kits I've received from past card kit swaps and found this one.  It was perfect for this swap as it include the theme with the buttons.  I did add the maple leaf punched layer in Stampin' Up's Chocolate Chip cardstock, The sentiment circle from SU's Circle of Friendship (retired) and layered with the punched circles in Chocolate Chip, Old Olive cardstock.  I did a little stitching on the striped d.p. piece and layered it with the Chocolate Chip ribbon that was in the kit and attached the buttons to the ribbon.  I chose to use this Splitcoaststampers sketch SC406 and tweeked it a little bit by turning it on it's side.  Here's the link: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/card-sketches-f41/sketch-challenge-406-%7B10-10-12%7D-t562391.html

The big surprise is Kelly doesn't know we're doing this in her honor until today.  Kelly is one of the most loving and generous people I know.  She is a faithful servant of her Lord and is always there to lend a hand, to lift someone up whether in word or deed.  She's also one super wonderful and devoted wife and mom.  Along with her super busy schedule she takes time to make some of the most beautiful cards you'll ever see.  I'm always thrilled when I receive one of her creations.  I can't think of anyone more deserving of recognition than our sweet KELLY!  LOVE YOU GIRL!!! Be sure to check your mail box for some happy mail soon!

Be sure and check out the rest of the Divas here:
Kelly: http://www.sandcastlestamper.blogspot.com/
Barb: http://inkingintoretirement.blogspot.com/
Carol: http://lostinmycraftroom.blogspot.com/
Jamie: http://butterflystamper71.blogspot.com/
LJ: http://buckygirl.blogspot.com/
Tami: http://blueinksdesign.blogspot.com/

Next check out the Dueling Darling Dazzlers starting with their team leader
Jeanette http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/
April: http://aprilsalley.blogspot.com/
Darlene: http://accordingtobijou.blogspot.com/
Debbie: http://theinkigloo.blogspot.com/
Melina: http://me-craftyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Michelle: http://me-craftyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Paola: http://paola-sama.blogspot.com/
Terry: http://itstotallyterry.blogspot.com/

I love to hear your comments. Thanks for stopping by!

Papercrafting with Friends!

Today my friend Fay hosted my friend Kadie and me at her home in Federal Way.  After a yummy lunch we spent some time papercrafting.  I was so pleased that Kadie who is a certified Copic instructor and who also has acquired Copic coloring skills way beyond her training took me up on my suggestion and gave us a hands on tutoring in coloring with our Copic markers. Here's the results:

Here's a close-up. 

 

 Fay and I had the opportunity to try a new techinique this summer at a Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Expo in Puyallup, WA, using adhesive, extrafine glitter, stickers and copic markers.  I provided the supplies and here's our efforts:

 

We had a lot of fun visiting and crafting and eating a delish cheesecake topped with a huckleberry sauce created by Fay.  Our friend Paola who lives about 150 miles north of Federal Way was not able to join us so she surprised us with a call from her home in British Columbia, Canada.  Hopefully next summer we'll have another papercrafting get together with more of the SCS sistahs attending.

Crazy Quilt of Dueling Darling Kits

Its dueling time for the Dueling Darlings and I'm late!  In case you haven't already heard the D.D.s are a group of friends that met on Splitcoaststampers (SCS),  participated in each others card swaps, visited each others blogs and decided to take our papercrafting addiction to the next level by "dueling".  My group the Dueling Darling Divas "duel" it out with the Dueling Darling Dazzlers on the 15th of each month with each group using a different card kit with the same theme!  The purpose is to see what we come up with using this theme and the image that was picked and how the divas and dazzlers created with their respective kits.  We've been doing this now for 2 years.  Debbie, a Dazzler, came up with a unique and fun challenge this month to use the materials left over from the kits we've received over the last 8 months and create a card.  Here is my mine:

I took the challenge literally "to use something from every kit" I received. So in that spirit I used diagnonal rays of patterned paper taken from seven different card kits.  (I got the inspiration from Kristina Werner's video tutorial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKO_Heae1ek ) Kind of creates a crazy quilt look don't you think?!!  The medallion, flower, button and twine were also taken from different kits as was the chocolate brown cardstock panel, white "dotted swiss" embossed panel and craft cardstock base.  The only thing that didn't come from one of the card kits was the adhesive to put the card together. : )

Check out the rest of my team Diva's creations here:

Kelly: http://www.sandcastlestamper.blogspot.com/
Barb:  http://inkingintoretirement.blogspot.com/
Carol: http://lostinmycraftroom.blogspot.com/
Jamie: http://butterflystamper71.blogspot.com/
LJ:      http://buckygirl.blogspot.com/
Tami:  http://blueinksdesign.blogspot.com/

Next check out the Dueling Darling Dazzlers starting with their team leader
Jeanette  http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/
April:     http://aprilsalley.blogspot.com/
Darlene: http://accordingtobijou.blogspot.com/
Debbie:  http://theinkigloo.blogspot.com/
Melina:  http://me-craftyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Michelle: http://me-craftyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Paola:     http://paola-sama.blogspot.com/
Terry:     http://itstotallyterry.blogspot.com/

I love to hear your comments!  Thanks for stopping by!!

Birthdays, Birthdays, and more Birthdays!!!

I've been busy making birthday cards for family members over the last couple weeks.  First birthday was for our niece Justine.  The card I created was inspired by a gorgeous dress my sister-in-law gave her.  Here are pix of the dress and card:

 This is a section of the dress that I used as inspiration for her birthday card

 

 This is the outside of the card.  Green cardstock was stamped with a leave image both in green and black.  The flower was made from a Stampin' Up stamp and punch with adhesive rhinestones and stickles added for the bling.  The white leaves are die cut from a Memory Box die.  Sorry I don't have the specific names with me right now.

 The inside of the card has the negative Memory Box leaf die to show the green layer underneath.

Do you think I captured the essence of the dress with this card???

By the way, our niece was thrilled with both the dress and the card!

 

 Five days later our nephew Michael celebrated his birthday and we were pleased to spend part of it with him.  Here's the outside of the card. Circles were made by stamping several Stampin' Up Circle Circus stamps with Versamark and embossing with silver embossing powder and punched out.  The waves die cuts were made with a Memory Box die

 And here's the inside of Michael's card.

 

 

 The card is for my sweet and very special cousin Linda.  She is such a blessing to my family and does so much for so many.  She'll be celebrating her birthday tomorrow, Sept 2nd.

 

Last and certainly not least is the birthday card for our son John who celebrates his birthday on Sept. 4th.  I really wanted to do something unique and special for my firstborn.

 This is a two-sided card.  One side was stamped with this Stampin' Up stamp with the balloon basket.  Attached is a die cut for the balloon with a shaker plastic with a variety of coins for the "shaker" part.  In the background are some cloud die cuts with a Memory Box die.

 The other side of the card features a pocket card.   

Here's the tag pulled out of the pocket.  Another pocket was attached to this.  On the tag pocket I stamped a Stampin' Up birthday sentiment (again I forget the name...sorry!) Inside this pocket is a check for the birthday boy! 

What do you think?  Was this a unique birthday card??

 

That's it for today! 



Creating Glass Art!

Yesterday my dear sister-in-law Justine treated me to a glass art experience where I got to make a piece of glass art with the help and guidance of an experienced glass artist.  What a wonderful experience and I have this beautiful piece of art glass to show for it.  Here are some pix  of the process:

 Here I'm selecting the color chips that will give my glass piece color and design

 The tray with the order of colors.  The darkest color shown here is a translucent amber when it's in the glass.

 This is my instructor, guide and glass blowing guru Billy showing me the first step with the molten glass which includes constant turning.

 Billy is guiding me here in picking up the colors on the tray and attaching to the glass.  This will occur several times between the glass going in the "glory hole" and picking up more molten glass.

 Here the glass is being rolled in a wooden form

 I'm blowing in the glass as Billy turns it

 Here's the finished design coming out of the "glory hole"



Here's the glass before it's removed from the stick and a "foot" is placed on the bottem and placed in the oven for the cooling down process.

24 hours later my finished piece!



Getting My Game On!

It's the 15th of the month and time for another duel with the Dueling Darling Divas and The Dueling Darling Dazzlers.  I'm on team Divas and our intrepid and spirited leader Kelly sent the Divas this awesome kit with the theme "Are You Game?!" in celebration of National Scrabble Week.  Well, the challenge was to try something new and the theme didn't have to be about Scrabble just any kind of game using the elements in the kit.  Here's a rundown of the kit:
Designer Papers
1.  Kraft/black playing card DSP: Graphic 45 "All Decked Out" and "Bits and Pieces"
2.  2 sided Yellow polka dot DSP:  Bo Bunny Vintage Buttercup
3.  Red Chevron DSP:  Glitz in Town "Yours Truly Chevron"
4.  The other yellow DSP:  My Mind's Eye "Nostalgia"
5.  Red and white lace DSP:  Jenni Bowlin "Lacy Border"
6.  Black and white DSP:  Jenni Bowlin "Deco Chain"

Embellishments
Kaisercraft Flourishes die cut wood pieces "Playing Cards" (mine was a spade)
Buttons from Basic Grey and American Crafts
Prima Flowers
Martha Stewart Glitter backless brads, Kaiser bling
Ribbons: black/white diamond check "Celebrate It", Yellow by PTI, Red and black from Offray

We were challenged too use at least two of the DSP, at least one ribbon, your wooden charm, one bling and one button.  Here's the card I made in answer to the challenge:

I love to play card games, board games and just about any kind of game so this was a fun challenge.
I used both pieces of the Graphic 45 DSP.  I cut out the "playing cards" from one and arranged in a fan shape like a playing hand.  My wood "spade" die cut was arranged over one of the spades on the "card" front while I placed a black bling on top of the other spade.  The "heart" and "diamond" on the other two "cards" were enhanced with a red bling.  This darling image called "Pair of Aces" is from Whipper Snapper.  I colored with Copic Markers to coordinate with the Graphic 45 DSP, added a ribbon bow to the bow on the lady's bow alond with the Martha Stewart glitter backless brad on her heart.  The ace of spades received a clear button with a twine bow over the largest spade. The image was layered over the playing cards with dimensionals. I decided to stick with the neutral theme of the Graphic 45 papers and add just a pop of color with the red ribbon, bling and a red cardstock panel. I think I managed to meet all the requirements of the challenge.  What do you think?

Please check out the other Divas starting with our leader Kelly here:
http://www.sandcastlestamper.blogspot.com/
Barb: http://inkingintoretirement.blogspot.com/
Carol:  http://lostinmycraftroom.blogspot.com/
Jamie: http://butterflystamper71.blogspot.com/
LJ: http://buckygirl.blogspot.com/
Tami: http://blueinksdesign.blogspot.com/

Then check out the Dazzlers starting with their leader Jeanette here:
http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!