Happy Holidays Snowflakes

A quick little card following the Paper Crafts Go-To Sketch #3. I wasn't exactly trying to do a Christmas card but when I started going through my stamps I came across the snowflake in my Waltzingmouse Stamps - Sewing Box Christmas set and thought it would do nicely for the sketch. I also got in a little bit of sewing machine practice in. :) A pretty easy card to make so it might be good to keep this one as a possibility for mass production come later in the year.

DETAILS:
Paper - Martha Stewart
Stamps - Snowflake (Waltzingmouse Stamps Sewing Box Christmas), Happy Holidays (Waltzingmouse Stamps Seasons of Love Tags), Ink (Colorbox, Studio G)
Embellishments - Corner Punch (EK Success), 1" Circle Punch (EK Success), Bling (Studio G), dimensionals

Graduation Card

Forgot to post this card on the day I was supposed to since I was so worried about the recipient seeing it before they got it.

So here's a little graduation card I did to try out my new distress ink, a present I received for my birthday. I tried out the water spritz technique after applying the ink. I like how as it dries you get to really see the final result materialize before your eyes. :) I will admit that the first scalloped circle went to the trash because I put WAY too much water on it. This second attempt was only one spray.

I also tried out my sewing machine once again. I really am liking the kraft paper with brown sewing around the edges and then distressing it. For one, this lets me somewhat hide the not so straight sewing job. I'm working on it but it's a practice makes perfect thing. Finally, a slight modification to the little graduation hat in the recipient's school colors and it was set.

Congrats once again Stephanie!

By the way, this card was my entry for the "Out of the Box" challenge over at Scrap Our Stash. Be sure to check it out. Great prizes this month!

Wedding Wishes

Getting in under the wire for this challenge over at PaperPlay Challenges. The challenge was to make a wedding project. I decided that since I will be needing another wedding card soon (July 24) that I would be ahead of the game and get one made. Now to make sure that I send it on time! HAHA!

For this card I thought I would try out my new ribbon threader punch. I improvised a bit by stacking the holes so my thicker ribbon could go through. I think it worked pretty nicely. I also tried out just using the water resist stamp pad by itself on the kraft card stock to add just a bit of interest in the background with my heart stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - Kraft (Wausau Papers), Green (Stash)
Stamps - Wedding Cake and "Wedding Wishes" (My Favorite Things - Going to the Chapel), Ink (Brillance White), Hearts (Great Impressions), Water Resist (Ranger)
Embellishments - Scalloped Oval (Nestabilities), Ribbon Threader Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Ribbon (Target)

A little Thank You

Over at Paper Crafts Connection they put out an open call for submissions for their 2010 Gallery Idol. My friend Belinda did the competition last year and got all the way to the Top 5! (Woot!) I know there isn't much chance for me to get that far but I thought it would be fun to make a little card audition anyway. The theme was "thank you."

I decided to get out my little Silhouette for this card. It doesn't always get a ton of love, but I must remember to use it because it is quite versatile. I cheated and cut out "Thank" in every one of my papers so that I would have all to choose from when I finally glued down the final choices. This also gives me an opportunity to make four other cards with the rest of the remaining letters. (Well, that is what could be assumed, except when I decided to outline the first layer of letters, my pen slipped and colored in the letter so I have two layers of letters on this card. But that still gives me three more card combinations to make!)

I finished off the card with a "you" stamp from my collection. I like the signature-style "you" paired with my more block-styled "thank." Simple and sweet, but always good to have on hand.

DETAILS:
Paper - Solid (Wausau Papers), Patterned (Basic Grey Offbeat)
Stamp - "you" (EK Success), Ink (Colorbox)
Tools - Silhouette Die Cut Machine, Museo font in Illustrator

Happily Ever After

Just a quick little post today. Finished this card for the wedding DH and I will be heading to this weekend. I wanted to try out the heart from Waltzingmouse Seasons of Love - Tags this time, since yesterday I played with the star. I thought it fitting for this wedding card that I needed. Also, the ribbon treatment is an inspiration from the Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz that was yesterday. I saw this and just HAD to try it!

Got out the old cuttlebug folders for some embossing action and even finished the inside because I wanted to write the message in a white gel pen. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (Wausau Papers)
Stamps - Heart (Waltzingmouse Stamps Seasons of Love - Tags), Sentiment (My Favorite Things Going to the Chapel), Ink (Excelsior and Colorbox)
Embellishments - Ribbon (Target), Brads (Recollections), Cuttlebug Swirl Embossing Folder (Provo Craft), Distress Tool, Bling (Studio G)

Waltzingmouse Stamps May Waltz - Birthday Cards

Welcome to my little piece of the blog space. I'm happy you could come by. I'm participating today in the Waltzingmouse Stamps May Blog Waltz with this post today, which has the theme of birthdays. As May marks the first anniversary of Claire's Waltzingmouse Stamps Store, it's only fitting to celebrate! We sure did at the very beginning of the month when she released eight stamps sets!

Four new stamp sets came to my little crafting corner last week just in time for me to use them on this birthday card for the waltz. My collection now has many of Claire's lovely designs to chose from but for this card I chose what could be called a Christmas stamp as the set includes many Christmas sentiments, but I think also fits for many other occasions. I had been eyeing the Seasons of Love - Tags set for a while now and this latest order had one coming my way. The heart and star were just too much! I had to have them! So I inked up the star today.

I'm playing around with distress inks lately and I also got a watermark resist ink pad. I used this on the star and then went over it with the Broken China ink. While I was doing the distress ink it started to curl a bit and I really liked the effect so I kept it for the final result. A look in my patterned paper scraps developed this little piece, perfect to go with the broken china color, don't you think?

I couldn't make the entire card just one color though so I threw in some cocoa with the ribbon and "Happy Birthday" from Say it with Style (love this set!). Finally, I did get a little ambitious with the cutting out of the inside of my star, which translated to cutting out a circle in the patterned paper, and finally the card base, but I like the effect of the sentiment going through to the inside. :)

So with that, there is my card for the blog waltz. Be sure to check out the forum thread here for everyone else's links. As I had a busy weekend this card is hot off the presses today, meaning I got a little inspiration already from all the others and there are some awesome projects! Don't miss it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Swapping Sistahs! Part 7

Today is the seventh installment of Swapping Sistahs! Belinda was our kit designer this month and she provided papers in lovely shades of green, grey, and brown. To change things up there was also a piece of vellum in the mix. As I love to do challenges last minute and I had just gotten my new Waltzingmouse Stamps in the mail, it seemed right to perform the challenge and play with my new stamps at the same time. For this card I chose to bring out Waltzingmouse Stamps - Earth Angel. Belinda always uses this set and she was the driving factor in my getting it from all the beautiful projects she's done with it. So this is a very Belinda-inspired card today that I am sharing with you.

I also got to try two new techniques with this card. I tried out my new Antique Linen distress ink (inspired by Claire Brennan's spectacular use of this particular color)...I know my use pales in comparison, but I do think it turned out kinda fun. Another technique I used was masking. I first had the little girl just as a little girl, but then I wanted to use the great sentiment "Friends are kisses blown to us by Angels" and well, I needed to make her into an angel with some a pair of the fun wings included in the set. So, I quickly tried my hand at masking! If I hadn't of told you, would you have noticed that the wings were a late add-on?

Anyway, the card was super fun to make. I can't wait to play with more of my new stamps this weekend so I can participate in the blog waltz (see top right sidebar). I hope you can join us too!

Back to Lima

Yet another page that I finished for Peru. This time we're back to Lima. After Cusco we stayed in Lima one more night before our flight back. We caught a few more pictures that we hadn't taken the first time. One of them was this one...the Lima traffic! When in Peru as a pedestrian, know your surroundings! It's not like they will run you over, but they want to get where they are going in a hurry and they aren't really going to stop just cause you are in the crosswalk. Hey, come to think of it, sometimes that just happens here in California too! LOL!

Anyway, this one is another filler page for the book just about the country in general. I thought this photo was an interesting night shot of the busy streets. I used road papers cause I don't usually scrap about cars and I had the paper, so I might as well take advantage of the opportunity. I also again used my little stencil from the Target $1 bin again too for the title. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Writing on the Wall

Finished another page for my Peru book last night. Ever getting closer to finishing! Most of the pages I have left are just ones that I want to do to include a few of the scenery pictures we took while we were there. This page is one of those. DH had fun taking shots out of the bus windows as we went around Peru. He caught a few good ones that tell stories of elections and history past. I picked three that I found interested and included them in this page.

For a page that is almost considered a "filler" page I wanted the pictures to still have center stage. What helped me for this layout though was a pretty neat sketch over at Scrap and Stamp Saturday. I found it interesting to have the main elements at an angle. Stamps used are from Autumn Leaves (both the alphabets for the title and the journaling lines). For the ScrapFIT #19 challenge, the challenge was to Use Your Stash - Nothing New. I'm especially trying to do that for my paper...I have WAY too much. And by using my stamps I'm going through many less alphabet stickers (but I like to hoard those anyway...lol!).

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (Martha Stewart), Patterned (Stash)
Embellishments - White Gel Pen (Sakura), Nestabilities Labels 1 (Spellbinders), Stamps (Autumn Leaves), Ink (Brillance, Studio G), Corner Rounder Punch (EK Success)

Challenges:
Scrap and Stamp Saturday - Sketch and Stamp
ScrapFIT - Use Your Stash - Workout #19

Graduation Card

Just a simple little project today. As it is graduation season, cards for the occasion are a must. I used some paper from my DCWV Le Creme stack with my Nestabilities Label 1. This card follows the sketch over at Paper Crafts Connection.

EDIT: I awoke this morning (5/10/10) with the surprise that I was one of the winners of this challenge! Woot! Thank you Paper Crafts Connection!

DETAILS:
Paper - DCWV Le Creme stack
Embellishments - Nestabilities Label 1, Graduation cap sticker (JoLee's), Congratulations sticker (stash)

Guinea Pig

I finally found the perfect way to scrap this page. By combining the prompt over at Creative Prompts 4 U and the summer theme from Scrap and Stamp Saturday, I was able to make the guinea pig page a reality. It's not every day that you have a picture of a guinea pig served up on a plate, so the page has to do the topic justice. I hope you agree!

Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges:
Scrap and Stamp Saturday - Summer Colors
Creative Prompts 4 U - Sketch

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (DCWV, Martha Stewart), Patterned (K&Co)
Embellishments - Stamps (Heidi Swapp), Ink (Colorbox), Thickers (American Crafts), Border Punch (Fiskers)

Happy Birthday Dad

When April and May come I always have a great need for birthday cards. Since making my own it's nice to not leave a Hallmark store with a whole handful. Unfortunately, making your own cards does make the potential of being late in sending them go up. This is one of those cases, as my dad's birthday is tomorrow. Oops! But, I think that he'll appreciate a handmade card at any rate.

I used the Card Patterns Sketch #62 for this card. While the sketch had room for three embellishments, lending themselves to flowers, I decided on one tree button to go along with my guy card theme. I also got out my new distress ink (thanks Steph!) for my first attempts at distressing with official inks! I enjoyed using it and I wouldn't be surprised if I quickly use it again. Course, now I might have to get more colors (darn Steph!), but isn't that how it always works with ink colors?

So, happy birthday Dad! Sorry this card will be slightly late.

And now, off to the post office!

Challenges:
Card Patterns - Sketch 62
Pile It On Challenges - Guy Colors
Simon Say Stamp Challenge - Birthdays/Celebrations

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (Wausau Papers, Martha Stewart)
Stamps - Waltzingmouse Stamps (Faux Fun Circles), Whimsy Stamps ("happy birthday"), Autumn Leaves (Alphabets)
Inks - Pine Needles Distress Ink (Ranger), Cocoa (ColorBox)
Embellishments - Tree Button (Joanns), Twine, Distress Tool

Saqsaywaman (aka Sexy Woman)

The layout I'm posting today is about the Saqsaywaman ruins (aka Sexy Woman ruins....cause that's how it sounds). These ruins are a little outside of Cusco. It is the same ones that offered the great vantage point to see all of Cusco that I did in a previous layout. Can you believe how big these rocks are and how far they were brought to create these great structures? Just look at the picture of DH and I standing by one of them and then the picture that shows many in a row. They are the rocks that form the teeth of the puma, the shape this particular ruin makes when viewed from the air.

For this layout I went with a two-pager. I kept the layout and papers fairly simple. It was my goal to make sure to showcase the really blue and beautiful sky in the pictures. The day was just perfect on our tour. I also enjoy using tickets when I have them. A bonus to these was that they had a map of the ruins on the back, so I cut one up and left one intact.

Here's also close-ups of the individual pages:

Thanks for stopping by!

Circuito Magico del Agua

It's almost the end of the day here, but I wanted to get another post up.

This layout is from our last day in Lima (and Peru) and our trip to see the fountain park. It was part of a tour that included seeing the fountains and experiencing a cultural dinner with dancing. It was good to do because it got us out one last time on the town to experience some night life. The fountain park was pretty impressive.

For this layout I used the brochure that we got as part of our tickets to the fountain park. It had little pictures of all of the different fountains and conveniently had all the names of them too. I was able to utilize this in the pictures we took ourselves, but still identify the fountain in the picture. I added white borders to our personal photos to carry on the theme from the little pictures. I don't usually put borders on my photos when I print them out, but sometimes it would be helpful. At least it is pretty easy to add white mats behind the photos to get the same effect.

I used some sticker alphabets that I've had in my stash for a while. I think they go pretty well with the theme of the page. I almost think the little images look like stickers too, but they aren't. :)

So, thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed your visit!

BTW, did you see?

Did you see the change that happened on my left sidebar?



It's official now. I'm on the design team over at Scrap Our Stash!

Thank you so much Kathy and the rest of the Scrap Our Stash team for such an honor. My crafting friend Stephanie made it on the team too. So look for pages the from Scrap Our Stash challenges appearing here soon.

Also, just be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash. They have some fun challenges going on and some prizes!

* May's challenge is to go "outside of the box." Do something you don't normally do in your scrapping.
* Coming May 15 will be Scrap Our Stash's first sketch challenge!
* Voting is going on now for the Spring Cleaning Challenge
* Become a follower of Scrap Our Stash and comment on the posts for a chance at a prize

See, lots of things going on. Hope to see you there!

Cusco

Thought I would share another page that I completed over the weekend. (Trying to space these out so that I have something new to post throughout the week.) This one is about our last day in Cusco before we went on the plane back to Lima. We learned from one of the student artists selling his work in the plaza that on Fridays there is sometimes a military parade. It just so happened that there was that next day and we had something to see before leaving. So sometimes it pays to talk with the local people a bit to learn more about the happenings. We would have never known otherwise.

This page turned out pretty simple, but I feel that it is effective. I was still working with my white gel pen so I just started doodling. The CUSCO is from a stencil that I got at the Target $1 bins. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday To Me

Today marks my 28th birthday...I'm getting old! Looking forward to tonight though when I have dinner with DH and friends. I got away with low key last year since I was traveling but this year DH organized a little fun for me. Isn't he sweet?

I have a fun layout to show today. I finished a few over the weekend as I try and complete our honeymoon book about Peru. Not too many pages left! This one is about our little friend we brought home with us. His name is Hubert (named after one of our trek guides). We had fun photographing Hubert around Peru. :)

For this page I had a little fun with my white gel pen to add a few bits of interest. I outlined the stickers I used in my title and the accent papers. We were going for the look of the Travelocity gnome for these pictures. It was fun to see the sites from a different, if blurry perspective.

DETAILS:

Paper - Patterned (K&Co), Solid (Martha Stewart)

Embellishments - Letter Stickers (Piggy Tales), White Gel Pen (Sakura), Circle Cutter (Fiskers)

Challenges:

Practical Scrappers - Stickers