Leftovers

I had some scraps that I wanted to use up. My scraps box is getting out of control. Found a sketch here that would work for the dimensions of my scraps.
When I was done, I wasn't happy to see the white spaces. So I filled them in by stamping random bird images from the Aviary set. Lastly, I added a rhinestone at the cage and a button. Now it feels complete.

Clean and Simple

This was done using the Clean and Simple sketch Challenge from splitcoaststampers.
I know the challenge was for Halloween images. But since I don't have any, and I'm not into the celebration, I decided to use the sketch for a more serene card.

Silhouette Sentiments

Came across this particular project and was super excited. A chance to use a stamp set that I have only used one other time. A color combo with cardstock that I had 2 out of 3 of. I didn't have Old Olive. But I used another green that I had, which I figured worked out okay. I like the happy mood this color combo and overall look. Well, I ended up totally CASE'ing this card, without having to alter anything, other than the ribbon choice.
I used Stickles on the bird and on the flowers on the inside.
Inside:

Waterfall

My daughter, 2 1/2 yrs old, always sees me making cards for other people. She has now started asking me to make and send her a card. One day, I decided to make her something. I wanted it to be different than anything else she's seen from me. I decided to make this waterfall card after seeing Dawn's version. I found further instructions at splitcoaststampers (where else?).
You pull the tab on the bottom to have the little cards flip up and down like the waterfall. Pretty simple and very neat looking. My daughter liked it (for a whole 10 minutes). She even showed grandma her special card and how to operate it.

A Challenge!

I was clicking around splitcoaststampers website, and decided to look into the challenges available there. I went into Color Combinations. Lo and behold, I had the colors in CC287. Here are the colors:
Itching to try these colors together, I went searching for a sketch. I found this one. Well, the only tree I have is from Thoughts and Prayers, so I took that out. As it turned out, my tree is a bit big. I didn't really have room for 2 panels on the sides, so I went without. I stamped directly onto colored cardstock. I colored the tree and leaves using markers.
I decided the other two layers were too plain and boring, so I used the Big Shot to emboss them.

Silhouette Sentiments

Saw this post and thought, finally, someone making cards to share using Silhouette Sentiments set. I had gotten this set because I wanted a somewhat somber looking set of stamps for sympathy cards. Seem to be making quite a few of those lately, unfortunately. I thought this was very nicely done. Kind of simple, but shows thought in putting it together.
This is what I stamped on the inside corner.

Thank You Kangaroo

I really like this kangaroo, so I decided to make another card. Believe it or not, I didn't copy this from anyone! :) I used the Big Shot to emboss the red and peach cardstock. Not quite sure if you can see it very well.
I just got some In-Color ribbon shares in the mail, and just couldn't wait to use them! Aren't these ribbons so cute? Also, this was the first time I used this Concord Crush color. Isn't it nice as a neutral?

Sweet Sunday

Some of the bloggers I follow do the Sweet Sunday sketches. This Sunday's sketch seemed simple enough for me to do, so I thought I'd give it a try. Here's the sketch.
The more compelling reason for me to try this was that "The extra challenge this week is to create a birthday card and mail it to Operation Write Home and they'll send our challenge cards on to those men and women who are serving in the armed forces." I've always thought it was very cool that people make cards to send to the troops. Now I think I will join the masses.

Here's my card.

New Baby

One of my cousins just had a brand new baby girl. I decided to break out this stamp set that I have barely used since I got it earlier this year. Isn't this just so sweet? I found the original card to CASE from here. Looks like she colored the image with a marker. I don't know how to do that well, so I sponged the edges instead. And I popped up the baby kangaroo with pop-dot.
I stamped a partial image of the mommy kangaroo on the envelope. Don't know if that looks weird. Oh well, too late now! :)

One Sheet Wonder

I have discovered something called "One Sheet Wonders," where you take a sheet of 12x12 pattern paper or stamped 8 1/2 x11 to make a set of cards. Before I found any templates for how to cut the paper, I had seen this post. However, the link the Stampin'Dad linked to was to purchase the template. Being the cheapie that I am, I didn't want to pay for it. I even started drawing up how the paper might have been cut. Then I thought, there's GOT to be something free online. Sure enough, found it on splitcoaststampers.com, my favorite site.

When I saw the template for this one, I had to sit down immediately and try it out. What grabbed me was the purse. When I make a set of cards, I like to make a "container" for them.
Here's the nine cards that were made, in addition to the purse. Wouldn't this make a great girlfriend present?
I couldn't believe it. I think I spent a total of two hours, cutting and putting the cards together. Since when can you make 9 cards and a 3d item for under 2 hours? This was so awesome. I am now driven to try all the OSW templates out there that I can find.

Gable Box

I saw this box from inkingaddict and I wanted to try it. It's super simple. Isn't it so sweet? I have also discovered where I normally would have used hot glue (with the fabric flowers), I used crystal effects. It works great! It just takes a little time to dry, and it's stuck on for good!
This post took me over an hour to finish. My computer is so freakishly slow. But I have more stuff to show off for later. I will need to find a quick solution to my technology problem. Sigh.

Holiday mock-up

So, originally my inspiration came from Jill's Creations. I was going to CASE the card on the left. But then I didn't have any pattern papers that were similar to what she used. Then my tag punch was too small. Again, it was late at night, so I didn't want to fire up the Cricut with my Tags cartridge. Lastly, I didn't have any suitable stamp that would fulfill this "hanging" idea.

Time to do a little creative substitution. I wanted to use blue as one of my holiday colors. Found this pattern paper in my stash that matches my cardstock (or vice versa). Had a piece of red gingham scrap. Not sure if it really matches well, but I'm just playing with ideas here.
Well, I'm not sure if I LOVE this card. But I don't dislike it. I kinda like how I folded the tag over and used a silver brad. When I was done, I thought the top left corner was a little bare. So I added some pearls with my Pearlpen. I wish I had silver. But since I didn't, I used Anthracite. I may get a silver one, if I'm going to make holiday cards that will need it.

Purse

How stinkin' cute is this purse? And it's done using ONE piece of 12x12. When I saw this tutorial, I couldn't resist. I had to play immediately. Plus, I just got a whole bunch of pattern paper from Stampin' Up's clearance rack. Great way to use those papers! And a great present for a girlfriend!
This came from Toni Sacrison's blog. You can download the instructions from here.

This is the inside of the purse. I have yet to make those mini note cards. Will show you those when I make them to fill up this purse.

Forever Young

This took me forever. I cut out the girls one night. Then spent the next couple of days wondering what I was going to do with the girls. Then I put them on cards one night. Lastly, I made a tote to house these ladies in. However, the first dimensions that I got was too small for the A2 cards here. So I had to redo. Then I made a box instead. But I didn't love it. I went back to the tote, redid with slightly different dimension.
The girls are cut using the Forever Young cartridge. OMG, this cartridge is awesome. The girls were pretty easy to assemble together. Then there were all kinds of flowers, including ones that I wanted in my head but didn't find in other cartridges. There were frames and phrases, too.

My tote's dimensions are 6 3/4" x11". Score on the long side: 10 1/2, 6, 5 1/4, 3/4. Turn to the short side, and score at 3/4 or 6, whichever is easier for you. Then, turn the paper so the long side is facing you, and the score line from the short side is close to you. Take your scissors and cut the score lines up to the horizontal score line. Does that make sense? Tape all tabs together.

Then I cut a scalloped circle from Storybook at 2 1/4". Cut it in half, adhere one half to each side of the tote. Used a 1" circle punch to punch out the top. Used Crop-a-dile for the holes to pull the ribbons through. I think my ribbons were about 6 inches in length each. Just tie a knot on all ends. You could use eyelets in the holes. I didn't feel like it.

I cut the flower from Forever Young. The middle part of the flower is from a die through my Big Shot. I topped it off with a button.

Hopefully my recipient will like this "labor of love." I must find some better ways to showcase these ladies, though.

Kid Birthdays #2

Just realized there's a bunch of children's birthdays coming up in September. I just love these cards. They're so easy to make. I changed up the dimension a little bit, so that I could make 2 cards out of one piece of 12x12. I also managed to use up a whole piece of pattern paper, one piece of colored cardstock, and two pieces of the white. Love my Fox and Friends animals.
I used my Cricut to cut my circles and the number for the age of the child. Thank goodness for the Cricut, because I just can't imagine having to buy the same shape (circle, in this case) punch in different sizes.
I bought the Around and About Sentiments from PapertreyInk. That's what's inside the circle. Isn't it cute? I put the child's age inside the circle. I wish I had thought of this earlier when I did the other cards. Oh, these sea creatures are from Look Who's Turning from Stampin' Up.
Here's a close up of that circle with sentiment and flower. I didn't play with this set when I got it. But now that I've looked at it a little more, I am going to use it a lot!