A bunch of "thanks a bunch!" + blog candy

A neighbor is having her first baby and she had a huge shower in PA (last week on August 23rd). She needed 50 thank you notes for the shower gifts. She contacted me a month ago and she had a picture of a very similar card she saw on SCS. I couldn't find it myself, so I don't know who to credit with the design. (If you know, tell me, and I will happily edit my post!) The original had designer paper where I have the Real Red card stock Cuttlebug embossed with Swiss Dots. I practiced my water coloring using reinkers, then markers, then my SU! friend, Sue, loaned me her SU! water color crayons. I had never tried them, but they are easy to work with! I may be investing in these...
I was not a fan of the sock monkey, and I expected to really not like him after making 50 cards. (I usually prefer my one-of-a-kind cards.) But you know what? I like him! He is pretty cute. I will be delivering these tonight. Phew!
And now for some blog candy from my friend, Tara. She will ship anywhere in the world, so head on over to Happily Ever Crafting to enter.

Happy Monday!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday :) This card was inspired by my sweet Stampin' Up! friend, Tamra Davis. I love So Saffron, and my mom's favorite color is yellow. I made this at Tamra's house when I was in North Carolina this past week. We returned home late last night. Tamra has a laser cutter and SU! has agreed to let her sell acrylic shapes that match SU! punches. I purchased 3 dozen from her :) Doesn't it look cool behind the butterfly? I bought some to go with my curly label punch, scallop oval, modern label, the butterfly...you may be seeing them a lot on my blog! If you are interested, contact Tamra. Anyway, I loved this card. Thanks, Tam!

Be Inspired # 46- Cuttlebug Challenge blog

Cosmo Cricket is this week's sponsor at Cuttlebug Challenge blog!!!! I used "The Boyfriend" papers and ribbons from Cosmo Cricket. I love Cosmo Cricket, but I usually buy their girly papers. Guy stuff is harder for me. I have to say that with each of the four projects I made using The Boyfriend papers, I fell in love with this collection. It's trendy, fun, and cool :)
Shall we check out each item? I'm in the back-to-school frame of mind:
Isn't this little back pack adorable? I used Core'dinations color core card stock and the Provo Craft Cuttlebug "Diamond Plate" embossing folder. I found the tutorial on split coast stampers.

Magnet picture frames for a locker: I used Cosmo Cricket chipboard frames from my stash; perfect to put a boyfriend picture or pop idol. I was thinking of my LFL (lovely friend Lauren) so I used Daniel Craig pictures. LFL is very happily married to LHJ (lovely husband Jeff), but Daniel Craig is Lauren's back-up guy. But I am wondering if Daniel Craig knows terms like "vellum", "embossing", etc. LHJ does :)

Then I covered a small clipboard that I purchased at Staples with Cosmo Cricket "The Boyfriend" paper (pencils) and striped ribbon, and Core'dinations paper on the bottom.

What items can you create? I want to see! Then go to Cuttlebug Challenge blog and upload your creation to Mr. Linky. The prize this week is yummy Cosmo Cricket!!!

A Five Minute Card & Five Awards

Yes, literally, a five minute card. The swirl, lady bug label, and flower are all from a K&Co. kit that was on sale at ACMoore. It was on sale for $15 and was valued at $45. I can't pass up a deal, right? Except that I have never used anything from the kit *sigh*. I was working on some Cosmo Cricket projects this week (they are the sponsor for the upcoming challenge at Cuttlebug Challenge blog, so come back Wednesday to see my post!) I came across this Cosmo Cricket base card that I had never used in my Cosmo Cricket stash. I needed a little break from my Cuttlebug Challenge projects, glanced at my K&Co. $15 deal (I do guilt well), and decided they coordinated well enough. The brad is DCWV. I found a dark grey scrap in my card stock scrap bag, mounted the lady bug label, die cut "hi" from a QuicKutz font, and called it done. A $15 card ;)




These five (5?!) awards are from my LFH (lovely friend Heather) of Rica's Haven. If you don't follow her already, I highly recommend it! She creates gorgeous cards, and she is an equally fabulous friend to have.

I am going to pass these awards on to the five most inspiring blogs I have seen today:
1. Chat (who I have actually followed for a long time...actually "lurked". I was too afraid to comment much because her blog is so awesome!)
2. Kay (her cards are as pretty as she is!)
3. Steph (an amazingly talented blogger, and super sweet)
4. Nathalia (be prepared to be awed!)
5. Jenn (maybe her blog should be named Simply Elegant???)

Okay, that's all from me until Wednesday. I am packing and taking the girls to North Carolina to see some friends and do a lot of stamping, laughing, and chatting. I'll be gone all week, so other than Wednesday, I don't know when I will post again. I will be checking in on your blog, though :)

BasicGrey Challenges # 2 : Color Challenge

BasicGrey Challenges blog has a tri-color challenge this week, and it reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream: chocolate, vanilla (cream/ivory/yellow), and strawberry (pink). I used BasicGrey Infuse papers. Remember the challenges run for two weeks, so you have lots of time to enter your creation. The DT created lots of beautiful cards, so hop over there and check 'em out!

Recipe:
BasicGrey papers: Infuse collection
card stock: Stampin' Up! chocolate chip
marker (doodling): Stampin' Up! chocolate chip
dimensionals (bunny tails & sentiment): Stampin' Up!
punches (sentiment): Stampin' Up!
die cuts (main image): Stampin' Up! Top Note die
black ink: Ancient Page
stamps: My Favorite Things
ribbon: stash...from either Michael's or JoAnn's

Happy Saturday!

Caardvarks & My Stamp Box Challenge + an award

Caardvarks' current challenge is sponsored by MyStampBox. The challenge is to use MSB logo colors,: black, white, and hot pink. I have had this acetate frame for a while, but could never make it work. I planned my card around this item :) I looked through Julee's Mojo Monday sketches (this one is #74). Then I went in search of papers. You know I chose BasicGrey! This is from the Urban Prairie collection that Michael's had on clearance last Spring. The "love" n slide is Making Memories and the ribbon is American Crafts. I used white linen and black linen card stock. Inside the frame is various rub-ons. I know you are thinking, "What, no stamping?" Some days are like that...
This lovely award is from my Cuttlebug Challenge blog DT sister, Roe. She is a sweetie! Please check out her wonderful blog, Creative Liberties. Now I am supposed to list five things I like:
1. My wonderful husband
2. My beautiful girls
3. Skeeziks, our furry daughter (some people might say "cat")
4. Chocolate
5. Decorative papers

Now to pass this on to five more bloggers...
Chrissie
Chris
Steph
Deanna
Lauren

Happy weekend! I'll be posting another BasicGrey card tomorrow; y'all come back now, ya hear?

A Gift for You

Paper Popsicles, Core'dinations color core card stock, and Scor-it are sponsoring this week's challenge at Cuttlebug Challenge blog. The challenge this week: make a shape card! I chose to use the present image from Paper Popsicles to cretae my card.

I used Provo Craft Cuttlebug embossing folders: Herringbone on the "ribbon" and Stars for the "lid". I used a Scor-it to make the vertical lines on the green box base.

To create the tag I used 3 SU! punches and a sentiment stamp by My Favorite Things (MFT).

Hop over to Cuttlebug Challenge blog to play along...link your project (not your blog) to Mr. Linky . I'm headed there right now to see what my 'bug sisters made !

***Don't forget today is the last day at the Caardvarks blog hop; some of my Cuttlebug Design Team sisters are on the design team there as well***