Cardabilities Sketch #78 - Love/Anniversary card

  This is the anniversary card I made for my husband.  Last weekend we celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary.  My, how time flies!  Shouldn't it be twenty-two months, not twenty-two years?  It still feels like we are on our honeymoon and he is as handsome as ever.

  When I saw this sketch by Karan Gerber, I knew it would become my anniversary card for Doug:

  I started with a doily that I rescued from under my salad bowl at a local restaurant.  It was a large doily, so I knew this would become a big card.  Then I went in search of a heart.  I found one in my Tim Holtz grungeboard.  I have owned three packages of this stuff and had never opened it <*sigh*>.  I had no idea what to do with it, so I watched a Tim video on youtube.  Tim inked his directly with distress ink, then rubbed it in with the foam tool.  Yep, it was that easy.  I used "worn lipstick" and "barn door."  While searching for a heart, I found some KI Memories papers and card stock sticker sentiments that I purchased in 2005.  (While pretty old, I actually have stash that is even older.)  I layer the different papers around until I found the layering I desired.  The final dimensions of the card:  one sheet of card stock, scored in half:  5.5" x 8.5"...ginormous.

  The sentiments were perfect:

"Grow old with me, the best is yet to be."

and

"Love is friendship set on fire."

  In keeping with the integrity of the sketch, I snipped the authors names to create the pennants; Robert Browning and Jeremy Taylor, respectively, and I added a small white button from my stash.  I made the grey twine bow to coordinate with the grey card stock layers.

  It was very rewarding to use the grungeboard I purchased in 2007 for the first time and to my 2005 KI Memories collection scraps.

  I hope I have inspired you!  Use your stash and the sketch and link up at Cardabilities.  I hope to see you there :)

Happy Sunday!

Washi It Up challenge: Make washi tutorial

  Ever since 1987 when I was dating my husband, we have celebrated our half birthdays (when we remember!)  I created this card for our twin girls to give to Doug for his half-birthday earlier this month.

  My inspiration came from the "Washi It Up" challenge at Little Tangles:  Use Washi or Make Your Own Washi.

Make your own washi tutorial:

1. Apply strips of double-sided tape to a sheet of way paper.
2. Add napkins or tissue paper to the tape strips.
3. Trim off the extra napkin or tissue paper (but keep the wax paper on the back side.)
4. When ready to use, cut a piece of your strip, peel off of the wax paper, and have fun!

Add some Neat and Tangled

 "Sparkle and Shine" stamps:

  The three washi tapes I used came from my blog friend, Leslie Hanna, who purchased these for me at Target.

Happy Thursday! (and Happy 46.5 Birthday to my hottie husband)

Life is better with you in it, Echo Park

  It's my turn on the Shop Pumpkin Spice store blog.  If you have followed me for a long time, you know that Shop Pumpkin Spice is my favorite online store because the prices are below retail and the shipping costs are lower too.  I think this Echo Park "Victoria Gardens" was my first purchase from the Shop Pumpkin Spice store.  The i-rock tool and gems were a later purchase, and one package is a lifetime supply...definitely one of my favorite tools and embellies.

  Most of my Echo Park collections are now very thin.  They are my go-to collections when I need inspiration.  Sometimes the paper inspires me, but often it is a sticker element that catches my eye.  Today it was the latter;  I chose the rose sticker, placed it on a scrap of card stock, and fussy cut it.  Then I perused the papers to coordinate.  The sentiment is cut from the "Journaling Cards" sheet, and the other two papers are "Rose" and "Sunshine."  I lightly inked the edges with a black ink pad for a definition.

  I am a slow crafter, but for once I actually made this card in about 30 minutes!  Woot woot :)  I made this card for my mom, who has been a huge help to me; especially this past year with the move to our current home.  She has helped me transform the house into my dream home.  There are still several home improvements to make, but the progress we've made in the past 14 months is amazing.  Thanks, Mom!

Happy Tuesday!

Cardabilities sketch challenge #77

  Today starts the new three month DT term at Cardabilities.  I am happy to have been selected to continue for another term (June-August).  Some of my former DT sisters are returning as well, and there are new ladies to meet too.  I hope you will hop on over to greet this new DT and to see the lovely cards created using the sketch.  I'm walking on the wild side...my card is landscape vs. portrait:

Supplies:
All of my supplies came from the current Artful Delight card kit (June 2013) except for the white card stock and the red outline "ticket" which is from So Sofie Savvy "Never Enough" by MME.  Yes, the Hero Arts "Typewriter Notes" stamp set is included also!  I am supposed to be on a craft spending freeze, but I couldn't resist this newest Artful Delight kit :)

Happy Saturday!

For some BERRY sweet people...water bottle tags

  I try to come up with teacher gifts for holidays, teacher appreciation, and end-of-year and I don't repeat the same gifts because my twin girls have had some of the same teachers since pre-school.  For the end-of-year gifts I decided to make water bottle tags.  I attached 3 powdered flavor mixes with glue dots to my card stock tag.  I created the tag from my Cricut Imagine, stamped a sentiment, and added a Bazzill jumbo brad.

  These are a few of their fifth grade Autism teachers, who have known Julia and Kathryn since my twins were four years old:

 (5th grade promotion)

  Oof!  I am fighting back tears over this picture.  We will miss the wonderful staff more than they can imagine.  I honestly feel like I have the two most-loved girls in the world.  Everyone at this elementary school has embraced my daughters.  And not just the teachers!  There are so many typical children that have taken the time to enter Julia or Kathryn's "world" by doing the things my children enjoy.

Here are my girls on the last day of elementary school (last Thursday):

And the rest of the water bottle tags I made:

  Happy Wednesday!

Little Tangles: Just Say Hello Challenge

   Wahoo!  This is my first post as a Little Tangles Challenge blog designer.  How about a game of "I spy"?  How many "Neat & Tangled" stamps do you see in my card? (Answer at the bottom of this post.)

Here is a hint: 

  Challenges run on the first and third Thursday of each month.  And the first challenge for the month of June is "Just Say Hello."

  Please stop by the Little Tangles blog and see what Amy, Barb, Charlene, and Ren-Yi have created for this challenge.

  I am entering my card at Let's Get Trendy Now!3:  Handmade Embellishments (my fussy cut flower)

Supplies:
stamp set:  "Fresh Blooms"
papers:  Simple Stories "Summer Fresh"; kraft card stock; Bazzill (yellow) card stock; white card stock
ink:  Darkest Night hybrid ink
pens:  white gel pen; black marker
embossing folder:  Tim Holtz/Sizzix
Frosted Lace Stickles
white mini brad

Did you play "I Spy" with me today?
The answer:  
There are four stamps used from the Fresh Blooms set on my card (small bloom-on navy floral and large yellow polka dot; large bloom-on green polka dot and red gingham; hello; bee)

Pop on over to Little Tangles and just say hello :)

My Big News!

    A twine flower!  The stem and leaves are hand-sewn, but I created the "flower" by punching a circle from white card stock and running it through my Xyron.  Easy peasy!  The sequins are attached with glossy accents.

  As of June 1, 2013 I have been blogging for six years.  I don't know where the time has gone, but it has been a wonderful journey so far.  This is my 1,140th post.  Holy guacamole.

  I started my blog as a way to share my cards with my paper crafting friends in NC (I moved to Virginia from North Carolina three years prior to starting my blog.)  What I did not expect was to make friends who share a passion for paper, stamps, and ink from all over the world, and some surprisingly close to home!  About five years ago I became friends with Leslie Hanna, The Crooked Stamper.  We actually found a local stamp store that is roughly half way between her house and mine.  We have met there on a few occasions, but she has also visited me in my home several times too.

  Last summer Leslie suggested I check out a new stamp company called "Neat & Tangled."  I was completely smitten!  I ordered two stamp sets:  "Fresh Blooms" and "Little Tangles."  When my order arrived I received a hand written thank you note and some pretty pink-and-white baker's twine with my two stamp sets.  I used that twine for my "flower" above.  The chevron stamp (from the "Little Tangles" stamp set) is stamped in red, offset and stamped again in pink...a technique I recently saw on Leslie Hanna's blog.  Earlier this month I also acquired the "Sparkle & Shine" stamp set, which I used as my sentiment.  And the Raspberry Red sequins?  Yep, that is also sold at Neat & Tangled in a variety of colors.  Sequins are my newest obsession.

  In early May I applied to be on the "Little Tangles" challenge blog design team.  Today I can officially announce that I am a Little Tangles designer for the remainder of 2013!  I hope you will stop by tomorrow when the new challenge is announced.

  This is also my first time being on a design team with my blog friend, Amy Tsuruta!  I am pretty sure she is one of the sweetest bloggers on the planet.  Please also welcome Charlene Bopp, Barb Murphy, and Ren-Yi Lo.  I have already gotten to know each of these ladies via emails and I already consider them friends :)

I am entering my card at Let's Get Trendy Now!3:  Sequin challenge.

  Please come back tomorrow for the fortnightly challenge!
Happy Wednesday :)

A pretty pair of Thank You cards

  Last week I found so much eye candy out in the blogosphere, yet I could not get a card to come together.  After three days I finally managed to make a card, but it was an epic fail.  I tried again, and made a scene card (previous post) that I was really happy with!

  I continued to play, but nothing evolved.  Sometimes cards come together quickly, and other times it can take hours...or days :)
So I went with my crafting roots...make a card from scraps. I pulled out a quart-size Ziploc bag of My Mind's Eye scraps.  The hexagon patterned paper already had that hole in the middle.  I layered on kraft card stock, added a My Pink Stamper sentiment, and a button.  Voila.

  I had used that hexagon (the hole) on this previous card:

 Take a peek at this gorgeous stamp set:

*  I cut the "Thank" and "You" in half so that I could stack the words vertically on my acrylic block.  The blocks sold at Shop Pumpkin Spice have etched grid lines...easy peasy to line up your word stamps!  It's okay to cut your stamps...see how versatile they can be?

Supplies:

paper:  My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart "Be Happy"; Bazzill kraft card stock; Paper Accents white card stock

stamp:  My Pink Stamper "Around the Corner"

acrylic block

ink:  My Pink Stamper Darkest Night hybrid ink

button:  BasicGrey Picadilly collection wood button

Happy Tuesday!

Shop Pumpkin Spice monthly hop and challenge

   Welcome to the Shop Pumpkin Spice monthly hop!  My DT sisters and I have some Moo-ey or Father's Day inspiration for you today.  I promise you will want to hop along with this hop!  There is crazy good talent on this DT...you won't want to miss a thing.

  The hop starts with Heather; if you are hopping along, you arrived here from Saundra.

  I tried to come up with a Moo-ey Dad card, but I ended up girly and Moo-ey.  My window is cut a total of 5 times for a faux chipboard technique (I usually use 4 cuts, but today I tried 5):

*I used foam tape under the curtain and the cow.

  I added glossy accents to the cow and flowers for additional dimension and Tim Holtz distress ink to the embossed brick for depth.  The brick embossing folder I used is also by Sizzix/Tim Holtz.  The papers are BasicGrey 6x6 "What's Up".  Both the black hybrid ink and "Moo-ey Doodles" stamps are from My Pink Stamper.  My window is a 4" Cricut cut from "Creative Cards."

(Store links embedded...why pay retail?  Shop Pumpkin Spice!)

  Your next stop on the hop is Carissa.

I am entering my card in the challenges at:

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges:  Use Foam Tape

and
BasicGrey Challenges:  Fun in the Sun

Happy Saturday!