More is More

Happy Friday!  Time for another fun sketch from Taylor.  This one is really easy and super versatile so I’m really looking forward to what everyone on the sketch crew has come up with.  When you want to play with a sketch how do you proceed?  With a stamp set or a main image or with colors or papers?  This time my card took a little different turn from my original thought (which is nothing new for me – LOL!)  When I first saw the sketch I could just picture another card for the Dragonfly Card Drive.  Then I got in my stamp room and started to envison Tena from Bakery Business baking up a batch of birthday wishes (in fact I still want to make that card.)  Then I remembered how I’ve been wanting to play more with the TE A la Carte images Animals in Love.  I looked through them and decided the owls would be perfect for this sketch!

Next I rummaged through patterned papers and Key Ingredients and decided this would be a great time to break out the pack of October Afternoon Cherry Hill I’ve been wanting to play with. You know I love to use pops of black in my cards and at the CHA SuperShow one of my favorite samples was a card created by Karen Giron featuring these owls in black rather than the brown I would have always imagined.  Ever since I saw that card I’ve wanted to stamp these cute owls in a black tree.  The image was stamped in Brilliance Black and heat embossed with clear eP.  It was then colored with a combo of Copics and Spica  Glitter pens – it’s really shimmery in person.  Card base is SU Kiwi Kiss as is the ribbon.  I added some red rain dots and black stickles.  Sentiment is retired SU.  Line of hearts is from Animal Love Sentiments.

Now let’s check out what the rest of the Sketch Crew has created this week:

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend.  Make time to stamp!

So, did you get your free IHOP pancakes or free grilled sandwich at Jack-in-the-Box today?  I got the JitB sandwich and it was pretty yummy…and only three cars in line in front of me.  Cool beans.

I have a sympathy card to share with you today.  It actually started out as a birthday card, but somehow switched mid-stream as I needed both.  I recently got the new SU bird and branch punch and the first thing I wanted to do with it was punch it in a dark color cardstock and put it behind a panel of vellum.

I first tried the bird in Basic Gray SU cs, but the vellum muted it too much so I decided to use black instead.  Of course the tricky thing about using vellum is always how to attach it without having the adhesive show.  I’ve been wanting to make a nestie label window for awhile and this was the perfect opportunity. I used 2 sizes of Labels 5 and just put them down on a Spellbinders magnetic mat and cut the Pink Pirouette frame.  I also used the larger of the 2 to cut the dp panel and the vellum panel.  Once that focal panel was all put together it was adhered to the card with foam tape for some dimension.  The sentiment (from SU Teeny Tiny Wishes) was stamped directly on the vellum.  I added a few dots of liquid pearls to the frame.  The textured blue dp is SU retired and the mat behind that is SU Basic Gray.  The ribbon is gray taffeta and there’s that crochet trim again.  I think I’ve used it on every card since I got it and now I’m almost out.  AAACCCKKKK.

I like to keep sympathy cards fairly simple and I was really happy with how this turned out.  I’m anxious to play with that punch some more.  If you’ve made something with it, I’d love ot see it…please leave me a link in the comments section.

Had my shower, in my jammies and off to watch American Idol.  Saving LOST on dvr for tomorrow night with Curt.  I hope you’re having a great week. Thanks for stopping by.

Popping in to share a fun Valentine that I never had a chance to post.  There’s no stamping on this card.

I actually had these chipboard hearts all painted and ready to go from quite awhile ago.  When I very first received two bottles of Maya Mist from TE (Cherry and Gold) I just wanted to play with them, so I dug through my stash and found these chipboard pieces (pretty sure I had picked them up at eP awhile back) and started spritizing! Once they were dry I stuck them in an envelope and set them aside for Valentines.  I was so glad I came across them a few weeks ago.  Oh and at the same time I created the background piece.  I didn’t want to waste all the Maya Mist left on the wax paper after spritzing my chipboard, so I embossed a piece of red cardstock with a CB folder and then I wiped some of the Gold Maya Mist over it.

The card is super simple with some crochet trim and some SU square rhinestone brads.  Looking at this card again reminded me that I want to get some more colors of Maya Mist.  It’s not something I want to use every day, but it really is fun to play with and gives a great effect.

This promises to be a busy week as I need to get all our tax info prepped and sent off to the tax lady.  UGH!  One of my least favorite tasks and every year I swear I will be more organized to make the next year easier.  At least next year at this time I won’t be dealing with all the records from my SU business – that is always the worst part!  How about you?  Are you done and filed already or have you not started yet?

PS I apologize for the funky no-space between my photo and text.  The text wrap feature I used to use on my blog is currently broken and I’m not sure when it will  be fixed.  Please bear with me on that.

Happy Friday.  It’s time for another fun sketch from Taylor PLUS a very special opportunity for you to use your stamping to be a blessing to someone.  Today Taylor is kicking off a Dragonfly Card Drive to benefit the neo-natal unit at Sanford Medical Center in Sioux Falls SD.   Families who have suffered an infant loss are given a dragonfly card while they are in the hospital as something to hold on to, cherish, and comfort them after the quiet time spent with their son or daughter.  In addition to the cards, the parents receive a small ring with a poem, a prayer shawl for the mother (symbolizes God wrapping his loving arms around the patient to comfort her), baby footprints and baby molds (if the parents wish).

We’re asking you to help us by sending in your hand made cards featuring any dragonfly image.  You can use the dragonfly from the TE set Discover Your Wings or any dragonfly from any stamp company.  My sample today features one from Stampendous.  You can use today’s sketch to get you started or you may use any layout you’d like.  You have until March 25th to get your cards in.  As a special thank you, Taylor will be holding a drawing for a Gift Certificate to the TE Store.  Your name will be entered into the drawing once for every card you send in.  All the details are on Taylor’s blog today. 

Please also grab the badge and display it on your blog (and link it on your FB status as well) to help us get the word out!

Here’s my sample for TESC101 and my first card for the Dragonfly Card Drive.

I rummaged through my stamp collection until I came across this dragonfly and floral image from Stampendous and I was so excited at how the size of the images was just perfect for the sketch.  I wanted a soft vintage look so next I went looking for some designer paper and rediscovered a Basic Grey 6×6 pad called Perhaps that I got a few years ago.  The soft pretty colors were perfect.  I paired the papers with SU River Rock (dang I really really miss that color!) and Prism Razzleberry Md.  I just really had fun playing with this card.  The dragonfly was actually paper pieced with small pattern from Perhaps and then covered with Glossy Accents and a little glitter.  It was mounted with foam tape to the Nesties Label 5 frame that had first been embossed with a CB folder.  The floral image was colored with Copics and then the entire panel was covered with Versamark and clear ep and heat embossed.  The crochet trim is from TE.  The sweet little flowers are by Prima and were a gift from my wonderful friend (and fellow Sketch Crew member) Lori.  The started out ivory and I simply colored them a bit with a copic marker.  Sentiments are SU.

Now let’s see what the rest of the Sketch Crew has created:

Wouldn’t it be fun to get some friends together to create some cards for this great cause?  Check your calendar and set aside some stampin’ time!  Have a great weekend!

Yesterday I mentioned that it was a tough day.  That was because a big change at Splitcoaststampers was announced to the Moderators and Dirty Dozen Alumni yesterday and the community announcement was made today.  You can read all about it by clicking here.  The idea that the site has been sold by Name Media to Internet Brands doesn’t bother me, but I found the departure of both Daven and Jenn to be devastating.  I’ve been involved with SCS since 2004 and have been incredibly fortunate to develop friendships with the entire Admin Team of Daven, Jenn, Beate and Lori.  Having been in the Dirty Dozen and vounteering as a Moderator over the past few years I’ve had the privilege of seeing SCS behind the scenes.  I know the mountain of work that goes on to keep the site running smoothly and I honestly just can’t imagine SCS without either Jenn or Daven.  They are both immensely talented and I know they will be hugely successful in whatever lies ahead for them.  If you’ve been at all involved at SCS please go over and post a message of appreciation on this thread.  I have made life-long friends, developed creatively far beyond anything I could have imagined, grown as a person. and started this blog all because of SCS…and I am overflowing with appreciation for Daven and Jenn and Beate and Lori for the countless hours they have poured into that truly awesome community.

I had planned to share my last class card today and I guess it’s appropriate for today’s post.

This is a very sweet and simple card featuring the TE stamp set Love is Everywhere.  Card base is Kraft cardstock and designer paper is from SU.  The girls had a choice of the image shown or a park bench with the sentiment “missing you”.  Of course I had to use the Corner Chomper again.  This card is the same layout as one of the Kraft cards I posted last week – it’s a great simple layout.

Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll be back in the morning with my sample for TESC101 and a way you can *give back* through stamping.

Hello friends.  Having a bit of rough day here – I’ll share more about that tomorrow – but I wanted to take a minute to share a couple more of the cards we created in my class last Friday night…’cause blogging makes me smile 🙂

It was really fun to be able to do anything I wanted  – no vendor restrictions – in my class this month. I figured my girls would enjoy trying out Copic markers so I designed two versions of the same card in two color palettes to make sharing markers easier.  Half of the girls made one card and the other half made the other version.  I suggested they stamp and color 3 of the images so they could pratice a bit and because coloring is just fun and relaxing!

Here’s the bright version using SU Flamingo designer paper.

The sundae dish was covered in Dazzling Diamonds glitter after being colored.  Image was cut with a rectangle nestability run through the Big Shot.  Card base is Summer Sun and ribbon is something I had in my stash.  Images on both cards are from the TE stamp set Sprinkled with Love.  That set was soooo popular at our CHA SuperShow booth that we actually sold out of it.  It really is a great versatile set to have!

Here’s the soft pastel version of the card.

Card base is So Saffron and designer paper is SU Tea Party.  Ribbon is SU also.  We were laughing in class because I’m going a little crazy with using my new Corner Chomper tool on everything.  It may be just a touch of overkill to use that tool on thin designer paper but you know how it is when you have a new toy!  *grin*

Thanks for stopping by – hope you’re having a great week!

Good morning and Happy Presidents’ Day!  It’s not a holiday around here as Curt has to work and I have a dentist appointment.  Ummm yea.  Thought I’d pop in really quick to share a card I made to Congratulate Taylor on the success of her very first retail booth at CHA.  She’s received the card now, so I can share.

I forgot to photograph the inside of the card before I wrote my personal message, but the stamped sentiment says “success is oh so sweet”.  The main image and inside sentiment are both from the stamp set I designed for TE Sweet Occasions.  It was fun to pair up this image with paper from a Basic Grey 6×6 pad – Infuse and with the felt embellishments from SU.  Of course I had to add KaiserCraft rhinestones.  When do I ever make a card without them?  LOL!  One of the things I love about this set is how versatile it is….both in terms of occasions and styles.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!