Coffee Lovers Spring and Summer Blog Hop - Now You Get a Discount

Another card for the Coffee Lovers Spring and Summer Blog Hop.  The end of the hop is looming near - Friday 6/1 at 6 pm Pacific time - so I'm trying to get at least one more card in for a chance at all those prizes!!

Today's card is a birthday card for someone approaching my age or older - which a lot of my friends are!  We're finding more and more discounts offered to us 'Senior Citizens'!  One of the many perks of reaching maturity!

I had this cute wooden coffee cup from Hobby Lobby.  I colored it with yellow and purple watered Distress inks (but it really just made brown on the natural wood!).  I filled the heart opening  on the cover with Autumn Red Crystal Nuvo Drops and the openings on the cup area with Golden Sunset Glitter Novo Drops.  The sentiment is from Literary Caffeine-ations from StampLorations.  The die cut frame is from the Mix and Mat Berry Boughs die set from PTI.  I watercolor washed the background with green and blue watercolor paints.  Inside I stamped "Happy Birthday" and a little coffee cup stamp.

I'm also linking my card to:

AAA Cards 

They are celebrating their 4th Birthday with a DT blog hop. 

 Check out their blog to see how you can win prizes!

CAS-ual Fridays

They are celebrating their 9th Birthday!

Stamps:  Literary Caffeine-ations - Stamplorations.
Ink:  Hero Hues Black
Paper:  Watercolor paper - Canson, Vintage Jadeite, white - PTI
Accssories:  wooden coffeecup - Hobby Lobby, Mix and Mat Berry Boughs die set - PTI, Autumn Red Crystal Nuvo Drops, Golden Sunset Glitter Nuvo Drops, Tombow glue,  watercolor paints, brush, water.

A Stenciled Birthday with Heart!

I have another bright and colorful stenciled card to share today. (see my previously posted card here). 

 I, once again, used 3 brandy new stencils by Dina Wakley - this time I used Tracks (for the background), The Basics (for the heart and sun), and Moon Faces - using Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass, Fired Brick and Mustard Seed and Archival Jet Black inks.  I stamped the sentiment from Woot Woot by Cas-ual Fridays Stamps on a white scrap and punched it with the Word Window punch from SU.  I layered the white stenciled panel to a slightly larger black panel - and layered that to my Summer Sunrise card base.  I love how bright, bold and artsy this looks!

I'm linking my card to this month's Cas-ual Friday challenge - Summer Lovin' - to use hearts in summer colors. My blue and yellow are obviously summer colors - and hopefully the red heart can be considered red hot like the sun at the beach!

 

I hope you'll stop by tomorrow when I'll have a Mixed Media project as a member of the Design Team for the very first Monthly Mixed Media Card Challenge!

Stamps:  Woot Woot - Cas-ual Fridays Stamps
Paper:  White, True Black, Summer Sunrise - PTI
Ink:  Ranger Distress Fired Brick, Tumbled Glass, Mustard Seed; Archival Jet Black
Accessories:  Stencils - Tracks, Moon Faces, The Basics - Dina Wakley, Word Window Punch - SU

Joy to the World - Sweet Pea

I have several DT posts coming up this week so I wanted to sneak these two challenge cards in before I ran out of posting time!

When I saw this Festive Friday Challenge 

 I knew that I'd pull out my sweet little star die  and this wonderful digital wood grain DP from  the Etsy Shop - All About Scrapping, that I won for a card I entered into a Stamplorations Challenge.  The sentiment from Verve seemed perfect for it - stamped directly on the paper in Archival Jet Black Ink.

I'm also linking this to Jingle Belles - to use at least 3 layers -  I know this card looks pretty CAS but there ARE 3 layers on it!

For my second card -  I needed a baby card for the baby shop that buys cards from me.  I've made cards with this peapod stamp and buttons before and the owner said they are quite popular and so she wanted more.  

I used my Stitched Mat Rectangle and Circle dies for the panels - the pea pod stamp is from Baby Button Bits by PTI.  I used the large green circle panel to suggest a pea in keeping with the theme! (I tried a half circle first but it just didn't look right to me!)

My design was inspired by the CAS-ual Friday's challenge - Three Things (to use three of something on just one third of the card front)

I used three buttons, 3 colors (2 shades of green and yellow (buttons)), and 3 layers - and the pea pod itself is on approximately just 1/3rd of the card!

I'll be back tomorrow with a Mixed Media Post for the eclectic Paperie Blog - I hope you'll stop by to check it out!

Joy to the World

Stamps:  Joy to the World/Plain Jane - Verve

Paper:  red Bazzill, white - PTI, woodgrain Digital DP from the Brown Grunge Texture Set - All About Scrapping Etsy Shop.

Ink:  Archival Jet Black

Accessories:  Star die - Savvy Stamps/Ellen Hutson, thick foam dots.

Little Sweet Pea

Stamps:  Baby Button Bits - PTI

Paper:  White, Limeaide Ice - PTI

Ink:  Archival Leaf Green and Jet Black

Accessories:  Stitched Mat Rectangle and Circle dies - Lil' Inker Designs, vintage buttons - PTI, foam dots, Glossy Accents (as adhesive for the buttons)

Oval Easter

I'm still building up my supply of Easter Cards for both sending to friends and family - and to sell at the Easter Sale two stamping friends and I are having at church in a couple of weeks.  Today I pulled out a cute Easter set - A Good Egg by Waltzingmouse and my oval Nestabilities to make this clean and simple card.  The image panel is die cut with an plain oval Nestability and the card is cut with a scallop edge Nestability.  I placed the die slightly above the fold of the card so the front and back stay together with the 'hinge' at the top.  The scallops also allow the card to stand up, if I used just the plain oval - I would have cut it off flat just a bit on the bottom so it wouldn't roll!

And since I need a lot of cards - and this one was so easy to make -  I made 4 of them while I had all the supplies out.  Don't they look festive all in a row!?!

My design was inspired by the Cas-ual Fridays Challenge -  to use ovals

 I just realized the challenge is called Good Egg -   and I used a stamp set called A Good Egg (!)

Stamps:  A Good Egg - Waltzingmouse, numbers - Karen Foster Snap Stamps/retired.

Paper:  Rustic Cream - PTI

Ink:  Archival Leaf Green and Orange Blossom, Ranger Distress Scattered Straw.

Accessories:  Classic and Scallop edge Oval Nestabilities.

Grey on Gray

I have 2 cards to share today - both done in shades of grey (or gray if you prefer!).   I chose to use greys for the Cas-ual Fridays challenge.  

For my first card I used a stitched mat rectangle to cut the Soft Stone cardstock panel.  I stamped the sentiment and frame using Grey Grout and Pumice Stone inks and added some shimmery enamel dots. Greys are great for sympathy cards - so quiet, soft and comforting.

For my second card I used the Seize the Sketch for my design - and although I used all grays (and white) and it is CLEAN -  I'm not sure if it's CAS enough for the Cas-ual Friday challenge with all the layers.

I used my newly purchased Buttons Stack dies, a stitched mat circle, and chevron die along with some more of the shimmery gray enamel dots.

I love how both of these came out!

Praying for you

Stamps:  Boutique Borders Sympathy - PTI

Paper:  White, Soft Stone -PTI

Ink:  Grey Grout - Color Box (MFT), Ranger Distress Ink Pumice Stone

Accessories:  Stitched Mat Rectangle - Lil' Inker Designs, Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye

Happy Birthday

Stamps:  Birthday Basics - PTI

Paper:  White, Soft Stone - PTI, Basic Grey - SU, textured grey - Coredinations, DP - Sn@p/Simple Stories

Ink:  Archival Onyx Black

Accessories:  enamel dots - My Mind's Eye, grey bakers twine, chevron die - MFT, foam tape, Stitched Mat Circle die - Lil'Inker Designs, button stack set die - PTI

Get Your Party On - In Blue!

I've got a birthday card - in blue - to share today - made for two different Cas-ual Fridays Challenges. The stamps are from the set Woot Woot.  I used three different textured blue cardstocks for the fun heart balloons from MFT.  I tied them with twine that hangs loose.  The balloons are up on foam dots.

Cas-ual Fridays - over the edge (my twine goes over the edge)

Cas-ual Fridays Stamps Blog - the Blue Challenge

Stamps:  Woot Woot - Cas-ual Fridays Stamps
Paper:  White, enchanted evening - PTI, blue Bazzill, blue Prismatics, blue - Coredinations
Ink:  Archival Cobalt
Accessories:  ocean twine - the Twinery, foam tape, heat balloon dies - MFT

Praying for You

I unfortunately seem to be needing a lot of sympathy cards lately -  so I took advantage of a couple of challenges to make one for my stash.

I placed a rectangle of patterned paper behind my Gothic window, layering the window over the Gothic arch with foam tape. I stamped my sentiment in Sepia ink on a sentiment strip using an MFT die.  I layered the whole thing onto a textured white panel from Coredinations. The sentiment is from PTI.

the challenges:

Featured Stamper Challenge - Split Coast Stampers -  I CASE'd this card by Tina (GardenDiva), changing it from an Easter card to Sympathy- and leaving off her flowers and ribbon - (I'm a CAS girl at heart!)

Cas-ual Fridays - Color Block (my patterned paper)

Stamps: Boutique Borders - Sympathy Set - PTI
Paper: white, Text Style Father Knows Best - PTI, Snow Cone white - Coredinations
Paper Size: A2
Ink: Archival Versafine Vintage Sepia
Accessories: Dienamics Sentiment Strips - MFT, Small Gothic Arch and Gothic Window dies - Poppy Stamp, foam dots

Word for 2014: Happy

So, the Cas-ual Fridays Challenge - In a Word, to use a word on your card that describes your hope for a new year  - got me thinking.

As you can see - I chose the word HAPPY.  But I chose this word - not for the 'ha ha' happy, or even that I want to be happy every day of the year.   I use HAPPY as what I want to strive to be -  through the thick and thin, good and bad, happy and sad -  to be able to recognize that through all the events that will happen to me this year -  to see the HAPPY in it - to be HAPPY that I am alive and able to feel all these things and to come through them all and get to a better place. 

On the lighter side -  I'm HAPPY that I will be able to use this card for an Anniversary, a Birthday or even a New Baby - all depending on what I stamp inside!

Here are the challenges I'm entering my HAPPY card in:

Cas-ual Fridays - In a Word

Inspired By #101

Color Q

What's your word??!!

Paper:  White - Bazzill, DP Sn@p/Simple Stories, gold - Marks Finest Papers
Accessories:  pom pom ribbon - American Crafts, One Liners - Happy die - PTI, washi tape - Darice, Lemonade Blend Sequins - Avery Elle.

A Happy Announcement and Happy Snow 2014!

 

I'm so excited to finally be able to let you all know that I was chosen to be on the new Design Team for the Fusion Challenge!  And today, Lesley is making the announcement of her new team on the Fusion Blog so hop over and check out who else is on the team! (they will also be posted on my side bar shortly!) The first Fusion Challenge of 2014 will be this coming Thursday, January 2nd.

 As I'm sure you know, the Fusion challenge runs every other Thursday - and  there is always a photo and a sketch inspiration -  you can be inspired by one of them or combine the two!  I hope you can drop by again on Jan 2nd and see my very first creation for the Fusion Challenges!

And since I'm here - I'm sharing a card that I made for the last PTI Make it Monday for 2013 - Angled Backgrounds.  I needed a thank you card to send to my husbands' brother and sister in law who live in Killington, VT.  They sent us a pint of Pure Vermont Maple Syrup for Christmas (yum!).  Since he skis every day, I thought I'd focus on snow while also celebrating the ringing in of 2014!  The challenge was to lay strips of patterned paper at angles to create a pretty background.  This was SO fun to do - and I love the look! Check out Ashley's how to video here

I used PTI Holiday Flourishes and Swirls paper for my background.  The dies are PTI By the Numbers, One Liners - Happy and Wonderful words - Snow
Here you can see how I popped up the words and every other number on foam tape.

I'm also entering this in the Cas-ual Friday's challenge.

Wishing everyone a very safe and happy New Year's Eve and a crafty 2014!   Tonight Kent and I are staying in -  he's recovering from shoulder surgery done last week and it's still pretty painful so he's dozing a lot on his meds. We will watch the New Year's Festivities on TV - probably switching between the New York City and Boston celebrations!

The Life that is Waiting for Us.

I find myself all ready for Christmas with time to spend in my craft room!  So I checked out some of the weekly challenges and made this card:

I'm submitting it to the following challenges:

Retro Sketches

 CAS on Sunday -  Happy New Year

Dynamic Duos I even got the 'sparkle' in!

  Cas-ual Fridays -Happy New Year

10 minute Craft  Dash Anything Goes   - this card took me 7 min 36 secs.

I don't send New Year's cards but thought this sentiment worked for the New Year concept of starting out fresh. "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us"  Joseph Campbell.  The stamp is from Rubber Soul.

I'm taking Kent to the hospital this morning for his shoulder surgery - he'll be there overnight but hopefully ready to go home by noon time.  He's been in such pain from it - he's excited to finally be getting it 'fixed'!

Before I go -  I wanted to let you know about the template sale Adela has going on over at Creations by AR
She's offering a free Swirl Top Box template and 40% of everything else!

Stamps:  Rubber Soul

Paper:  Bazzill off white, Pure Poppy, True Black - PTI, DP Enchanted/Authentique

Ink:  Archival Jet Black

Accessories:  red rhinestones - Michaels, foam dots, circle and circle pinking Nestabilities,

Waltzingmouse Snow Jar Tags

Today I am posting over on the new Waltzingmouse Inspiration Blog! I hope you'll head over there and see what I've created for today. All of the WMS Design Team have a day to post -  and the 15th of each month is my day!

Here's a peak at what I've made to show you!

I have always loved snow jars and even collected the cheapy plastic ones for a while - purchasing them on every trip we made - usually with scenes of the place we were visiting.  Then Martha Stewart published some instructions for making your own and I bought lots of little plastic trees, deer, elves and Santas to put inside baby food jars!  And now, with Claire's wonderful Jar Fillers - Jam Packed stamp set I can create snow jars out of card stock!   I used the brandy new Jar Essentials Die set to cut the jars and lids.

I'm also putting this in the Cas-ual Fridays Challenge -  Let it Snow!

And the Addicted to CAS challenge - Snowflakes

You'll find more pics and details about my snow jars over at the WMS Inspiration blog!  I'd love for you to check it out and leave me a comment there!  AND, while you're there check out all the December posts that the Design Team has done - there's lots of Waltzingmouse Inspiration for you!

You're Yummy Tag
Stamps:  Oven Fresh Gingerbread Joy - Waltzingmouse
Paper:  white, true black - PTI
Ink:  Versamark, Color Box Silver, Ranger Distress Old Paper, Memento Potters Clay, Cottage Ivy, Love Letter.
Accessories:  silver cord - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, foam dots, glitter - Blumchen and Company, Heat and Stick Powder - SU, corner rounder - Zutter.

Alpine Village Tag
Stamps:  Alpine Christmas, Nordic Winter - Waltzingmouse
Paper:  white, true black - PTI
Ink:  Versamark, Color Box Silver, Ranger Distress Old Paper, Memento Teal Zeal, Cottage Ivy, Love Letter.
Accessories:  silver cord - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, foam dots, glitter - Blumchen and Company, Heat and Stick Powder - SU, corner rounder - Zutter.

Be Merry Tag
Stamps:  Nordic Winter,  Oven Fresh Gingerbread Joy - Waltzingmouse
Paper:  white, true black - PTI
Ink:  Versamark, Color Box Silver, Ranger Distress Old Paper, Memento Cantaloupe, Potters Clay, Cottage Ivy, Love Letter.
Accessories:  silver cord - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, foam dots, glitter - Blumchen and Company, Heat and Stick Powder - SU, corner rounder - Zutter.

A Winner, a Branch and Winter!

A little business first -   here is the randomly chosen winner from all the lovely comments left on my Creations by AR post yesterday.  

A Touch of SOL said...

WOW...what a treat! Especially love the glitter tag...thanks for sharing your artwork!

Congratulations Marisol!  you've won your choice of one of the four templates I used yesterday.  Please e-mail Adela at  creationsbyar@sbcglobal.net  to let her know you were the winner from Julia's blog post and which template you would like!

And please check out Lyn Bernatovich's blog today - she is posting more inspiration using the templates and you could win one by leaving a comment on her blog!

Moving on to some of this week's challenges - I have two cards to share today.  First up is an anniversary card.  My design was inspired by the Cas-ual Fridays Challenge - Out on a Limb

 My tree branch is Woodland Branch from Memory Box and my sentiment stamp is from Sweet N Sassy.  I used my new Tipped Tops Die from PTI for the panel and added flower sequins for a little sparkle.  Inside I stamped 'Happy Anniversary'.

 My second card's design was inspired by the Freshly Made Sketch. 

 

I just got these beautiful snowflake stamps in the mail this week.  They are from a set called Sophisticated Snowflakes designed by Mona Pendleton for My Favorite Things - and they are just lovely - don't you think?!  I stamped them in 3 different Memento blue inks and added white sequins to some of the centers.  The Noel is from Starry Christmas - also from MFT.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  I'm off this morning to a little musical concert that my 2 1/2 year old grandnephew, James, is in with his day care class (how cute will this be!)  Then we'll go to James' parents for a pizza lunch.

Love is Like a Tree

Stamps:  Love is like a Tree - Sweet N Sassy

Paper:  white, vintage cream - PTI, DP Cappella Paper Pad/Basic Grey

Ink:  Archival Coffee

Accessories:  glue pen, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, flower sequins - Cartwrights, Tipped Tops Die - PTI, Woodland Branch die - Memory Bos

Noel

Stamps:  Sophisticated Snowflakes, Starry Christmas - My Favorite Things

Paper:  White, Hawaiian Shores - PTI

Ink:  Memento Nautical Blue, Teal Zeal, Paris Dusk

Accessories:  sequins - Neat and Tangled, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.