You Brighten My Day

Here are a couple of cards I made using the Sale-a-Bration set, You Brighten My Day.

My nephew and his family recently moved to a new home in Austin.  I made this card for them to celebrate their move.  I used a piece of the Adventure Bound DSP stack for the background and cut it with the Project Life Thinlet.  The houses are stamped onto Naturals card stock with the middle house heat embossed with white craft ink.  The little banner at the top uses paper from the Adventure Bound stack also.

This card is a CASE.  I love it!!  I stamped the light bulbs on Naturals card stock and cut each one out.  Then I popped them up on dimensionals and drew a black line to the bottom.

Each week, Stampin' Up! features a Sale-a-bration product to give you inspiration for projects.  This week, it's the You Brighten My Day stamp set.

Paper Craft Sketch Challenge

We're still in the deep freeze here.  I laugh when I hear some of my New York friends who moved here say that this is not the South they had in mind when they came here!  Guess we have it better than New York, or Boston, or Connecticut or .....!! Last night's low was supposed to be 10 degrees with a high of 19 degrees on Thursday!  You can bet I will not be going outside!  We had a little bit of snow late yesterday afternoon - or thunder snow as the weatherman called it.  All I know is it would snow for a little while and then the sun would come out; then a little more snow and a little more sun.  Sonny had to escape for a bit - he is getting cabin fever!!  He drove up to the post office for his day's entertainment.  He has left his truck at the top of the driveway so he can drive his Red Cross route today.    I ended up canceling my Stamp Club for Thursday and rescheduling it for next Thursday.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate!!

This is my card for Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge # 132.  I used My Digital Studio to create the card.

Here is the sketch:



Check out the cards from the rest of the Design Team here.

MDS Monday 101 - On a Tilt!

Time for another MDS Monday sketch.  The sketch this week is by Tami Hewlett (one of my favorite MDS designers!)  We are to put the focal point on a tilt.  The best way, I think, to do this is to first line things up nice and straight; then group them and put them at an angle.  Tami has a video tutorial on the MDS Monday blog.

I had to dig deep for these pictures!  They were taken 10 years ago on a vist back to Dallas.  Margaret and I were at my friend, Sharon's house having a few drinks out on the upstairs patio.  Sharon had recently joined the Red Hat ladies and we were having a fun time trying on her Red Hat accessories!  Did I say we were drinking???!!  Margaret's husband came to get us to go home and we got him in on our shenanigans!  I used a few overlays with this layout.



Here is Tami's sketch:

Adventure Bound Quick and Easy!

If you have seen the paper stack in the Occasions Catalog called Adventure Bound (pg 40) and wondered (like my sister did) what in the world would you do with it, let me just share a few cards I made with it last weekend.  It makes great masculine cards.

I used the "hello" thinlet and cut one from Soft Suede and one from Very Vanilla, added a little Tombow glue to the back and shadowed them.  "Just Sayin'" is from the great set, Crazy About You.

How about a nautical look?  I used the Circles Dies to cut my "porthole" and stamped the boat image with Staz-On Black ink onto Vellum paper.

What about a sweater on a cold day?  The buttons are made using the Simply Pressed Clay and Buttons and Blossoms molds (pg 208).  I used my Blendabilities to color the buttons.  The sentiment is from Sheltering Tree.

This may be my favorite!  I stamped the sun in Crushed Curry in the corner with the stamp from Kinda Eclectic.  I stamped the sentiment (Feel Goods) in Gold and embossed with Gold Powder.

Super simple on this one.  You Rock (from Crazy for You) was stamped on Vellum and cut out with the Word Bubbles Thinlets and backed with Gray card stock.

These cards are so quick and easy to make!!

Well. we got the "big" storm last night ... ha ha!!  A mixture of snow and sleet started falling about 3:30 - as Mom and I were leaving the doctor's office.  I had hoped to make a few stops after taking her home but decided I'd best get on over the bridge and home before the streets got slick.  We had a mix off and on until I went to bed around midnight.  I was hoping to see a winter wonderland when I woke up today but this is all I saw!

Nothing to get excited about!  It is pretty slick - at least that was what Sonny told me when he walked up the driveway to get the newspaper this morning.  I canceled my Tuesday Stamp Club and Sonny's Tuesday skeet shooting was canceled.  So now we'll see what else comes our way.  This is our forecast for now:

TODAY - Mostly cloudy. Highs in the mid 30s. Northwest winds around 5 mph.

TONIGHT - Mostly cloudy. Cold with lows around 19. Northwest winds around 5 mph.

WEDNESDAY - Partly sunny. A chance of snow showers in the afternoon. Snow accumulation around an inch possible. Highs in the lower 30s. South winds around 5 mph - increasing to west 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow 50 percent.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT - Partly cloudy. Colder with lows around 4 above. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Wind chill values as low as 7 below after midnight.

THURSDAY - Sunny. Cold with highs around 19. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Wind chill values as low as 9 below in the morning.

THURSDAY NIGHT - Mostly clear. Cold with lows around zero. Wind chill values as low as 10 below.

FRIDAY - Mostly sunny. Cold with highs in the mid 20s.

FRIDAY NIGHT - Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Cold with lows around 15.

SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT - Rain or snow likely. Moderate snow accumulation possible. Highs in the mid 30s. Lows in the mid 20s. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.

SUNDAY - Rain or snow likely in the morning - then rain likely in the afternoon. Little or no additional snow accumulation. Highs in the upper 40s. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.

SUNDAY NIGHT - Mostly cloudy. A chance of rain in the evening - then a chance of snow or rain after midnight. Lows in the upper 20s. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.

MONDAY - Partly sunny. A chance of rain or snow in the morning - then a chance of rain in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 30s. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forecast/w-Lake-Norman-of-Catawba-North-Carolina.html#ixzz3S1dB7IQJ


Not sounding real promising!!

So I will be staying in and making a few cards!!  Maybe even cleaning up my stamp room.

In the meantime, here are today's Weekly Deals.  If you decide to put an order in, please use my HOSTESS CODE #TECQMHTT

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Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

We're getting ready for the Big Storm this week!  Temps have been dropping for the past couple of days.  Tonight it is supposed to dip into the teens with the high only 32 tomorrow.  Snow and ice are predicted to start in the early evening and last 2-3 days.  I have already canceled my Stamp Club for Tuesday and I am hoping I will be able to have everyone come on Thursday.  Tomorrow I will be bundled up to go play bridge and then take my mom to her doctor's appointment before the storm hits.

I wanted to share the Valentine's that I sent to the grandkids last week.

I printed off these wrappers and wrapped boxes of candy that I got at the Dollar Store

I used the Mini Treat Die to make little bags that I filled with candy.

More Dollar Store finds - Valentine pencils.  I used the smaller panel of the Mini Treat Die to make these cute little pencil holders.

We had a pretty quiet Valentine's.  Sonny and I went out for breakfast and then to the grocery store.  Later that evening, we went over to Marianne and Greg's so I could help Marianne get ready for her first workshop.  We took a break and went out for Italian food.

I got some GREAT news today!  Remember this sketch I did for MDS Monday's 100th Sketch Challenge?  Well, I was notified on Sunday that I was a WINNER!!  They picked two top winners and I was told in my email that mine was chosen by a landslide!  So excited!  I win a MDS download (value $9.95).  I had a whole list that I had to decide between.  I have so many of the downloads that sometimes I have a hard time finding ones I don't have!!  But I decided on a punch and several embellishments that I didn't have yet.  Check out the other winners here.

How do you like my new Blog Banner?  I had fun designing a new one on Sunday.

MDS Monday 100th Challenge - from the West to the East

(NOTE:  This is a double page challenge)

I had time this week and decided to do another MDS Monday's sketch challenge for #100.  This time I used some of the pictures that Ashley and I took in 2006 on one of our cross country trips.  She finished her Residency at Fort Lewis in Washington state and the Army sent her to Washington DC.  So we packed the car, grabbed her cat, Taco, and headed east!  (And a few months later, Sonny and I took almost the same route as we moved from Washington state to North Carolina.)  Three years earlier, she and I had made the trip from Texas to Washington (and Sonny and I followed about six months later.)  And in another three years, she would be leaving DC, headed back to Texas and of course, I made that trip with her also!  So in six years, we hit the majority of the states in our cross country journeys. Now we just have to do the middle states (but hopefully, for fun and no more moving!!)

For this challenge, I used a Double Page Sketch from last December.  (Check out my previous sketch here when I was a guest designer.)

I wish my blog page was wider so I could put the two pages side by side so you could see how the map goes from page to page.

I used stamps and papers from various travel kits - World Traveler and Travel Journal.  I also recently downloaded the kit, Nifty Fifty which features the map of the US plus individual state outlines as a stamp and as punches!  I just did not have room to put all the states (or unfortunately, all the pictures) that we visited on this page!!  I used the dotted line from Compilation of Recipes to chart our journal from the west coast to the east coast.

This was such a fun page to make and brought back so many happy memories which is what scrapbooking is all about!!

Here is the sketch I used for this page.


There is a Blog Hop on the website for MDS Monday that you can follow along to see the designer's sketches HERE.

Paper Crew Card Sketch 131

How is your day going?  It's Wednesday which means it's once again time for the challenge at Paper Craft Crew.  I'm excited to share this week's sketch and my take on it using My Digital Studio.  Come and visit and have a look.

I love this color combo!

MDS Monday 100th Sketch Challenge!

Remember I blogged last week that I was going through old pictures and strolling down memory lane?!!  Well, one of the reasons is I wanted to find some great pictures to do a My Digital Studio challenge over at MDS Monday.  This is their 100th Sketch Challenge and they are giving away prizes!!  When I ran across these pictures taken several years ago (Cassidy is now a teenager!!), I knew they were the ones I wanted to use.  I remember this day so well.  We were in Tucson visiting Jeff and his family and we were babysitting.  It was a beautiful sunny day so Sonny and Cassidy found some bubbles and he taught her how to blow them.  She was so excited!

(Click on picture above to make it larger)

The challenge is running for two weeks and it started last week.  To enter the challenge, you select any of the past 99 sketches, create a new project, and link it to their website.  They have set up a Pinterest Board with all the past sketches.  That was the hard part!!  Which one do I choose?  But I knew I wanted a sketch that I could do the picture progression above.

The background paper is from World Traveler and I found the polka dot stamp in Beautiful Today and made it a watermark color.  I found this font that I love called Pea Ellie Bellie!  Don't miss the girl and boy sitting at the top blowing bubbles (from Storytime).   I found some stitching I liked in Family Fun and the Project Life Banner which I colored Lost Lagoon

I even made my own bubbles!!  I used a Circle Punch and color filled it with DSP from Watercolor Wonder and made them different sizes.  (Don't forget to add a drop shadow for extra dimension.)   I also used a few brads for my bubbles! Then it just had to have a little shine added.  To create the reflection,  I used the Freeform tool and moved the anchors around on the circle shape to get the shape for the shine.

So, the sketch that I used was # 65.  How do you think I did?  Would I win a prize??  It doesn't matter.  I just enjoy MDS so much!!

 

Make sure you go to the MDS Monday web site and check out the other sketches.

Thank You Cards

Are you in need of Thank You cards?  Well, these are a few that I included in my Stamp Club's purchases last week.  I always like to put a little something in their bags each month - ribbon, buttons, cards (which I don't sign so they can use them later ), etc.

The card above uses the Banner Blessings Photopolymer stamp.  You won't find this stamp in the catalog but it is available for purchase.  I really like it.  You can see a couple of other cards I made with the set HERE.  The other stamps I used in this card are Four Feathers and Gorgeous Grunge.  Doesn't the Certainly Celery go great with Coastal Cabana??

This cute little fellow is a single stamp that I have neglected!  I just think the little koala bear is darling.  The stamp actually read "thinking of YOU" but I stamped THANK from the Sale-a-Bration set, Simply Wonderful, cut it out and glued it on top of "thinking of"!  The Melon Mambo background paper is the Sale-a-Bration Irresistibly Yours DSP

This was a simple card.  I uses the Under the Tree DSP (from Holiday Catalog) and Hello You Thinlets.

Again .... Hello You Thinlets with the Sale-a-Bration Simply Wonderful stamp set and Best Year Ever DSP.

Simply Wonderful

In need of a few Thank You cards?  I made a few last week using different stamp sets.  These two use a set from the Sale-A-Bration catalog called Simply Wonderful.  I also used Best Year Ever DSP.

For the card above, I made the card base Hello Honey and the banner Calypso Coral.  It is a really simple card to make and who doesn't like quick and easy???

This card base is Calypso Coral.  The ribbon is the chevron ribbon but it is in Pumpkin Pie.  I thought it matched these colors really well.  I masked the "Thanks so very much" stamp for the top 3 "thanks" and stamped in Memento Black Ink.  I used different colors of Blendabilities to color in the "thanks."  The DSP is Sale-A-Bration Best Year Ever.

Lotus Blossom

I've been taking a trip down memory lane the past couple of days.  I am trying to get my pictures organized.  I found 10-15 CD's going back about 10-15 years so I have been going through them and transferring them to my portable hard drive, labeling them and deleting duplicates, etc.  Whew! I've been reviewing graduations, weddings, babies, etc!  Tuesday I ran across my son's wedding video from 10 years ago.  It was so sweet to sit and watch it all over again and reminisce when our relationship was better.  I still can't find the pictures I wanted that started me on this journey.  Back before the digital age, remember all the pictures we got developed and stuck in a box somewhere? Well, I'm afraid that is going to be my next task!

Oh well - on to a card that I CASE'd this weekend from Jan Tinkelberg.  She has a video on her blog (Stamps, Paper, Scissors) on how to make this card.  I can't take the credit!  But it is a gorgeous card using the Lotus Blossom.  It took me several tries to get it to look like I want but I finally got there.

Paper Craft Crew Challenge 130 and Blog Candy!!

It's time for my challenge from the Paper Craft Crew.  I got my card done in time and posted on the site .... I just didn't get it posted to my site earlier!!

Again, I fell back on My Digital Studio for my card.  I love the colors in this card - taken straight from the DSP - Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Sahara Sand and Black.  What do you think?

This month there is BLOG CANDY!!  You'll get:  Chevron Embossing Folder, Island Indigo Chevron Ribbon & the Banner Punch.



So make sure you check out the Paper Craft Crew Blog to see what the other designers have created using the sketch.

Mini Treat Bags

I really love these Mini Treat Bags and they are so easy to make and decorate.  I think they would be perfect for a little Valentine goodie!

This one I made at Allison's Stamp-a-ganza last month.  It uses the DSP from Sale-a-Bration.

This one is one that I made to give to my Club gals last month with a few candies in it.  I used the DSP Back to Black in the Annual Catalog.

I am feeling better but decided to go to the doctor just to make sure it wasn't anything serious.  I hate hearing the rumbling in my chest.  He listened and said it was just a touch of bronchitis but mostly this bug that is going around.  He said it was the worst he has seen in ten years!  He felt like I was on the road to recovery and didn't need an antibiotic unless I get to feeling worse in the few days.  Today was the first day that I didn't have to pop a couple of Alieve to get through the day.  By evening, I'm starting to fade but not like I was over the weekend.

The Weekly Deals (good until next Tuesday) are below.  My Hostess Code this month is:

TECQMHTT

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Painted Blooms

I'm writing this on Sunday - before the Super Bowl - so can't comment on the winner.  Just hoping for Seattle to pull out a win!

I have not felt good all weekend.  Hoping it is nothing but maybe a cold.  I started out on Friday just feeling achy with a bit of a cough.  But after taking an Aleve and laying on the couch for a couple of hours, I was ok.  The same thing on Saturday and Sunday.  My cough is in my chest and I can hear some rumblings in my chest but no fever or other symptoms.  I was wondering if I could have pneumonia but Ashley doesn't think so.  I'm going to wait it out.  If I still feel bad on Monday, I'll be calling the doctor to get checked out.  I'm scheduled to get a massage on Monday afternoon - so hopefully, I'll be ok for that!

I  made a bunch of cards this week - in the afternoon when I was feeling better!  I also worked a lot of my New Zealand scrapbook.  I only have one more city to scrap and after that, it will be just going back and adding embellishments here and there.  I think I'm up to about 38 pages though!!

This card was super easy to make!  I just cut a piece of the Painted Blooms Designer Paper and adhered it to the Blackberry Bliss card.  I just love this DSP and it's hard for me to cut into a piece!!  The sentiment is from a stamp set from Sale-a-Bration - Simply Wonderful.

Here are some other ideas using the Painted Blooms DSP:

 This next card uses the stamp set that coordinates with the DSP, Painted Petals (pg 19 Occasions).  The DSP in this card is from Sale-a-Bration - Irrestibly Yours.  I sponged it with Sahara Sand ink.  I used Rose Red for the card and flowers.  Again, the sentiment is from Simply Wonderful (pg 16, SAB).

Bokeh Technique

When I was in Spartanburg a couple of weeks ago, I made this card using the Bokeh Technique.  I watched a video on line so I would know what to do.  There are several You Tube videos - just search for You Tube Bokeh Technique and you'll find several.  They are all a little different so you just can figure out which one you like the best. Splitcoast Stampers also has a tutorial.

Bokeh is a technique that's been around in photography circles for years and is starting to pop up in card making I've noticed.  By definition, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image.  Not so sure that's what it is for card making but ....

Here's a sample of the bokeh technique in photography:

The way I did my card is:

• Use Painters Tape all along the edges of a piece of watercolor paper and taped it down to my work space.
• Use the Aqua Brush and brush water all over the watercolor paper.  Make sure it is completely wet - but not sopping.
• Pick up ink from the lid of the ink pad (or use reinkers) and lay down colors randomly.  (I used Coastal Cabana, Soft Sky and StrawberrySlush)
• Once you get the colors the way you want them, let it dry (or use the heat gun to speed it along)
• Carefully remove the painters tape.
• I punched 3 different size templates from Window Sheets (transparency) with circle punches (1", 3/4" and 1/2"). 
• Use daubers to "pounce" Whisper White ink in the circles or rub the ink in the circle templates onto the watercolor paper.  Move your template and keep adding circles of Whisper White ink.
• You can also use a pencil eraser for tiny circles.  I found I had to go over the circles I did with the template again once they dried.
• Let it dry (or zap it with the heat gun) and stamp your image.

For my card, I used the Butterfly Basics stamp set from the Occasions Catalog.  I punched the butterfly from the Irresistibly Yours DSP in Sale-a-Bration and sponged it with different colors.

MDS Monday Challenge

I have enjoyed not having to go anywhere for the past couple of days.  Tuesday I didn't even get dressed except to put on some soft warm lounging pj's.  I spent the day making a few cards and working on my New Zealand scrapbook on MDS.  Same thing for Wednesday except I did get dressed in sweats!  Don't you love days like that???  I remember when I quit working.  At the time, I was not involved in playing bridge, doing cards, etc.  I really don't know what I did during the day after quitting work - I think play computer games and read - but I do remember that I wore sweat pants and sweat shirts almost every day. Sonny called them my uniform.  I was sorta depressed at the time and missing my job but also enjoying the freedom of being able to do anything I wanted during the day.  That probably lasted about 3-4 months before I got a part time job and joined a few groups to do crafts, play bridge, go to coffee's, etc.  Now I wonder how I ever had time to work!!

Here is my take on the sketch for MDS Monday.

This week I dug into my pictures from our trip(s) to Hawaii several years ago.  I love the bright colors in this layout.  I used the kit Paradise Found.  Instead of the flag banner that is in the sketch, I decided to create my own lei across the page.  I used an alphabet punch for "Hawaii" and paper filled it with the same paper that I used for the background - just using different shades of the orange and yellow at the top of the page.

I hope you will take the time to check out the pages the MDS Monday Design Team made.

Here is the sketch that Cindy challenged us with:




And here is what is included in the Paradise Found kit:

You Brighten My Day for Paper Craft Crew Challenge

Since it's Wednesday, I'm over on the Paper Craft Crew Blog for their weekly challenge.

Can you believe I actually made a real card for the challenge this week???  I didn't use My Digital Studio - shocker!!

The card base is Coastal Cabana (what am I going to do when that color retires??)  I paper pierced little holes all around the Whisper White card stock.  On a scrap of white, I stamped several hearts from the You Brighten My Day stamp set (Sale-a-Bration set) in Coastal Cabana and Real Red and punched them out.  I used the Circles Framelits to cut the red and white circles.  I tied the Coastal Cabana twine and a bit of the Gold Bakers Twine around the card.  I used the Little Letters Framelits to cut "YOU" out of Real Red Glitter paper and popped them up with dimensionals.  The finishing touch is the gold and pink sequins on the card.

Here is the sketch for the week:

I hope that you enjoyed my Design Team card for this week's Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge. Take a minute to go over to the blog and check out the other designers projects and enter yours in the gallery.  Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit today!  Enjoy your Wednesday!!   I hope to be talking to Ashley later in the day to find out how her vacation on her Rock Boat Cruise went.  They left on Saturday and arrive back in Ft. Lauderdale later today.  I know she had a blast!