Challenge #1 of the Labor Day Weekend VCMP 2013

I got the first challenge done!! It's from Nancy at 

http://brujahrose.blogspot.com/2013/08/labor-day-weekend-vcmp.html

I finally used the Fiskars medium hexagon punch I won at Achiver's a few weeks ago.

The card had to be a winter theme. I had purchased the hexagon patterned paper at Tuesday Morning and thought it would be fun to use the hexagon punch with the paper. I used a Hero Arts stamp from one of their Winter/Christmas tag sets. The little snowman is a sticker from Pat Catan's. The words were brads from Oriental Trading.

Ai Floral Frenzy Week Two

I was reading my various blogs subscriptions and read about Art Impressions' Floral Frenzy Week Two Challenge. http://artimpressionsstamps.blogspot.com/2013/07/challenge-113-floral-frenzy-week-two.html   I have many of the girlfriends stamp sets and I had colored a few of them while watching TV. But I hadn't used many of the images.

I used girlfriends at the Movies set with Graphic 45's cinema themed papers for my first card. I love the cinema papers and items. I got them at Tuesday Morning, buying several double-sided papers and the paper with the die cuts too. I added jewels and pearls as necklaces and earrings to the girlfriends. The Challenge was Floral so I had to have at least 5 flowers on the card. I added the  glittery, jeweled flowers along the bottom of the card and one to one of the girlfriends' hat.

My second Challenge card used this birthday set. I used DCWV papers from a 4x6" stack and from a 6x6" stack. The black numbered paper seemed too dark so I matted the image on some pink and purple papers, the colors of the girlfriends' dresses. I like the other sentiment that came with the set "Could I borrow some Weight Watchers points?" I added some rhinestone flowers and a bit of glaze pen around the candle flame. I used colored pencils to color the image. 

Now I check off an item on my summer list - entering a challenge. I haven't entered many challenges before other than adding my card for OWH Sunday sketches. 

Have a great Summer.

Sketch #170

Sketch #170

I had to use my film strip punch with this stamp - Riley as a flying money. I used some more Graphic 45 paper from Tuesday Morning spree. The sentiment is from Impression Obsession's Oz Collection that I purchased at Archiver's one night at Table 7. I added green ribbon and green oval jewels to complete the sketch. I used colored pencils by American Crafts to color the Riley.

Sketch #176

Sketch #176

Another sketch I completed at the early June quilt retreat. My sister and her best friend are the event planner and I help out some. I am usually the only scrapbooker there and I don't know much about quilting and don't go on the shop hop so the retreat can be a great time to get lots of cards done. 

I used Graphic 45 papers for this sketch's cards. I think I used 3 different papers from the Circus theme and some scrap yellow cardstock. I added flowers to the cards for the brads in the sketch. The blue flowers are paper embellishments by Graphic 45. I purchased the Graphic 45 paper at Tuesday Morning and still have a lot of the paper left. I used Paper Smooches stamps.

National Craft Month - March 19 - Graphic 45

I .. Have...to ...stop...going...to ......Tuesday......Morning!!

Yup, I stopped by today and found more Graphic 45 double-sized paper. The 3 papers I purchased on Tuesday are shown below. The middle paper is Wizard of Oz paper. It has munchkins on one side and the other side is words about Wizard of Oz.

The other two papers are actually punch-out tags with a pattern on the backs of the tags. The circus tags has red stars which is the same pattern as green paper I purchased a few weeks ago. The black tags are the cinema themed paper.

I have had this Graphic 45 Wizard of Oz stamp set by Hampton Art for a bit and have stamped the shoes (embossed in red) and the home saying but then I didn't have any cool paper for the images. Now I can complete the design, using this companion Graphic 45 paper. 

Yeah!!!

OWH VCMP 2013 Challenge #2

Slowly, I am finishing the OWH VCMP 2013 Challenges. This one is Challenge #2.

Challenge 2:  My theme is 'All Creatures Great and Small; Cards for Kids!' 

http://deliteful-gifts.blogspot.com/2013/02/owh-vcmp-all-creatures-great-and-small.html

I had the little owls in the stickers/embellishments drawer for a while. I got them on clearance at Michael's. I cut the moon and the branch on my Cricut. The paper is from Tuesday Morning or Big Lots because it is a package of 25 sheets. I love the foil stars! I used a marker to highlight the moon's face. I printed the sentiments on my computer and matted them on  little bits of scraps. I think the card turned out cute and I hope a kiddo likes the owl's googly eyes. Hopefully, you agree. I think I have 15 of this card. I ran out of owls or I would have a few more. 106 was the previous total so 106 + 15 = 111 cards for the weekend.

One more Challenge to go for the OWH VCMP 2013. Still puzzling about it. Maybe I can work on it tomorrow.

OWH VCMP 2013 Challenge #7 and Sketch #159

I actually have 2 coffee cards for this Challenge and I don't even like coffee!

Challenge 7: What better challenge for first thing in the morning then a caffeine challenge? So, find your stamps or dies related to coffee, tea, soda, or chocolate and get crafty! 

http://sparklewithin.blogspot.com/2013/02/owh-vcmp-caffeine-challenge_3834.html

My first card is one I had finished using sketch #159 and I had forgotten about it. The poor card never got its own post. : (  

I had embossed the brown cardstock with my Cuttlebug and then the pieces sat on my shelves for a bit. I thought they looked like coffee cup rings so I used it on this card. The little cup, beans, and sentiment are from a small stamp set but I don't remember the maker. The steam is actually a separate stamp too. I stamped the cup in the aqua-y blue and then ran the same color over the embossing. I probably should have used a darker brown but I liked the blue color on the cup. A bit of twine of blue and white at the bottom completes the sketch. I should have stamped the sentiment on another piece of paper and then mounted it so my card followed the sketch a bit closer. But the piece of paper I used for the cup and sentiment was precut paper and I didn't want to mess with it. 

My second coffee card is not from an OWH sketch but I just made it up while I was at Archiver's on Friday night with Table 7. I loved the shiny diamonds on the paper from DCWV Green Tea stack and I had the cup with the diamonds so I used a square and turned it for a diamond. I matted the cup on green and blue to compliment the DCVW paper. The green is that blingy, shiny paper but it is difficult to really see the foiled paper in the photo. The stamp set by TPC Studio was a bargain at Tuesday Morning from a shopping trip end of last year. I stamped the cup in lime ink and used a blue marker to color the diamonds on the cup. I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark's majestic blue and matted it on the green paper but on the plain side. I thought about adding some other embellishments but the paper has  shiny bits to it so I didn't add anything else to the card.

Thanks for stopping by. I have a few more Challenges from the OWH VCMP 2013 to post.

OWH VCMP 2013 Challenge #5

I loved this Challenge #5 as for me, it was easy!! I usually make multiples of my cards so I can send some to OWH and keep some! And the Challenge had a sketch for me to use and it was an economical one too. I cut the 6 cards and could use the strip leftover on the cards too. And I hadn't done this sketch #63 yet so I could check it off my list of OWH Sketches to do.

Challenge 5: So my challenge for this VCMP is to take OWH sketch #63:

and use one entire piece of 12x12 paper. You should get a minimum of six A2 cards from one 12x12. http://thecrookedstamper.blogspot.com/2013/02/disappearing-act-with-sketch-63.html

I had purchased a bunch of paper at Tuesday Morning the other day. It was all from Graphic 45 and I got 25 sheets per package so I'll be using it a lot. I loved this blue paper Extravaganza from Graphic 45's Le Cirque Collection. It sorta doesn't go with the rest of the Le Cirque papers which are elephants, clowns, and such but the collection is fun vintage.

I cut 6 bases and then cut the strips for the bases. Unfortunately I cut the 2 sheets (for 12 cards) differently which I didn't notice till I was adding the striped strips to the bases. One strip is horizontal and the other is vertical. I cut the scallop of some sheets of doily-like paper. I had typed the sentiment on my computer for a different card about a year so I thought I could use it again on this mostly blue card. I added a few jeweled flowers of various blues and whites to complete the sketch.

Thanks for stopping by. I have a few more Challenge cards to post so see you soon.

Sketch #35

Sketch #35

I'm still working on trying to make a card for each OWH sketch and I'm running behind. I did do this one during Christmas break when the boys had gone back to their apartments.

The bear is a freebie from Meljean's, which I colored with Copic markers. The paper (TPC Studio's Little Lovin' Best Friend Tree) is from Tuesday Morning ( a package of 25 for $1.99). The paper was double-sided so I used the back as the band in the middle. The foil hearts ran across the top and bottom of the front of the paper and I cut very carefully to save the hearts. I used only 2 of the foil hearts.

Top Ten (ah, Twelve) Cards of 2012 for OWH

 1. This one with the AE's girlfriends created lots of peals of laughter in the office as I gave a few of these to friends/coworkers. I used some numbered paper tape from the stash.

2. Truck is from Stamper's Best. I used the Martha Stewart punch that I finally found online.

3. This little monkey was in a contest on the We R Memory Keepers's site but I realized it too late to get the vote out for it. The sentiment is from Hobby Lobby and the monkey is from Michael's .

4. I did a pink girly version too of this birthday card. Clear stamp set on sale at Tuesday Morning.

5. I love this stamp! I think it is a Fiskars clear stamp. It reminds me of my son and my future DIL, who played French horns together in college orchestra.

6. I love Dearie Dolls!! This little cutie is one of hers! You can find her free digi stamps at http://deariedollsdigis.blog.com/ . I used some red, white, blue ribbon on this one and a cute little sentiment that I got a garage sale.

7. Another favorite of mine is Riley. Here he is Mailman Riley. Riley's home is at http://www.rileyandcompanyonline.com/home so check him out there. I used the red, white, blue bakers twine I found online and ordered 2 rolls of it for OWH cards. 

8. DCWV stacks are my downfall. I created this card from one of their Christmas stacks.

 9. I seem to collect bike stamps and finally used one for this card. My older son rides bikes in triathlons. I really like this stamp set from Hero Arts. It has another cute sentiment in the set too.

10. Arrggh! a pirate card!! The little hats were on clearance at Archiver's and the pirate paper was from a DCWV stack.

11. I love bears and this one is from a British set I bought on my trip to Russia on Spring Break. Enjoy life is from Stampin' Up sale at an expo.

12. This card is another one I sent to OWH and gave a few to coworkers/friends. They loved the sentiment from Create with TLC. She has daily freebie digi stamps at http://createwithtlc-createwithtlc.blogspot.com . The lettered paper was in a fall DCWV stack.

Ok, that's my Top Ten (Twelve) Cards of 2012. I had blogged about some of them and others were neglected in blog posting. 

Hope you enjoyed my cards.  Happy New Year!! Time to welcome in 2013!

Sketch #2 and #19

The heat is keeping me inside though my craft room is still a bit warm but I'm busy crafting. Fortunately, we have power as many around the Central Ohio area doesn't have power due to the storm that went through on Friday afternoon. Some areas are predicted to NOT get power back till after the 4th of July or later. Again, I feel lucky we do Have power. The City of Westerville worked really hard to get the power back on for us citizens.

Anyway, my time in my craft room produced the following 2 birthday cards.

Sketch #2

I used the star paper by Making Memories that I had found at Tuesday Morning a while back. The little guy was a Freebie at MelonHeadz. Love her freeebies! Here's her link if you haven't checked her website out. http://melonheadzillustrating.blogspot.com/  The little guy was going on another design but he just didn't fit on it. I used some ribbon from Hobby Lobby and since I used it down the side, I didn't want to use more ribbon as on the sketch so I added some star brads from the stash. I haven't put a sentiment on it with the ribbon printed with "Birthday Boy" as I kinda like it as it is but maybe it needs one. I didn't have any pink ribbon to make a girly version.

 Sketch #19

I did Sketch #19 as another birthday card. I have birthdays in July so birthday cards have been on my mind. These 2 designs might be a bit young for my personal birthday card needs but I think they will be great for my box to OWH. The black paper with the candles was a clearance item at Joann's and the sentiment stamp was from that set by Stampendous! that I bought at Tuesday Morning. I had to use this sentiment with the candles on the paper. I added a scallop cut rectangle and a party hat by K & Co. ( on sale at Meijer's), and a silver "Happy Birthday" from the stash.  I added a thin strip of black ribbon to cover the paper edge. I love the rectangle punch by Marvy and I found a smaller one by Dovecraft. I use them frequently, either together or separately.


Well, I'm back to crafting. Still have lots and lots of OWH sketches to do. It's my personal summer challenge to see how many sketches I can use before school starts again!

Thanks for dropping by. Stay cool.  Later!

Sketch 115

I finally made it to Table 7 and just in time. A big storm came through and was blowing so hard. The stoplights were all out for a long while but I was safe in Archiver's. Several people came in after the storm moved on. My hubby even stopped by for a bit as our house didn't have power from about 5 PM till 3 AM. During the storm, I sat at Table 7, where you can't see the windows and crafted several cards.

Here's Sketch #115.

Here's my card using the Sketch #115. I made a blue/green version and a pink/brown one. The jewel really just jumped on the image and I can't remove it without tearing the paper. Some of the other girls cards did get some pearls but along the bottom under the image. 

I got the Stampendous! stamp set at Tuesday Morning for $1.99 on our road trip to Florida. 

I think I will be using this cute set a lot.

 I also purchased at Tuesday Morning 5 packages of paper. Each package has 25 sheets of the same design and they cost $2.99 or $3.99 each. I won't use all the paper but I'll share with my GFs at Table 7. Three of packages were Graphic 45 paper. All the papers are double-sided. It will be fun to get them opened soon.

I got another design done at Table 7 last night. I had purchased the Note to Self 6x6 pad at Archiver's and used the 2 musical papers to make a bunch of cards. I used a sentiment from a Fiskars stamp set and the black/red/white twine by Queen and Co. I used a small Fiskars punch for the hearts, borrowing it from Archiver's for a bit.

Thanks for stopping by.