Stamping Royalty Honorable Mention- PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!

Hello All-

I entered the Stamping Royalty Contest at Paper Crafts Magazine a few weeks back.  There were 1,300 entries, and although I didn't win on of the 15 slots (3 winners for each of 5 categories), I was an Honorable Mention for the love category with this card!!!  I made about 60 of these cards last year as a thank you to those that sponsored me in the MS Walk and it was well loved.

Anyway, I am sooooooooooooo excited I can't tell you!  I would be so  thrilled to win the prize pack (worth $750!!) given to only one of these 5 honorable mention cards.  So can you please vote for me?!?!?!  All you have to do is click HERE and follow these steps:

1. Click on the “Vote” tab to view all five cards
2. You have to register to vote to ensure that you only vote once per day (I know it is a hassle for some, but please do it for me!!!).
3. You can come back and vote each day.
Thank you so much for your support!!!!

:) :) :)
 

What inspires you- part 2

I know I mentioned Pinterest in my last post, and I have to tell you I absolutely LOVE Pinterest.  It isn't typically my habit to admit that I love something super popular.  I don't know why, but usually I avoid such things, I always think their reputation is over-inflated.  I really hope I don't make anyone upset by this...but for example...when the movie Titanic came out it was all anyone (...other women) talked about and they were weeping about how beautiful it was and blah, blah, blah.  Now don't get me wrong, it was an OK movie but it didn't move heaven and earth for me.  Because it was all anyone talked about all the buzz made me not like it.  I think I just got tired of hearing about it, overkill if you will.  So, what is my point, well basically that my MO is to not like super popular things for whatever reason.  So...when Pinterest was getting super popular I avoided it.  This was a little bit different because I knew I would like and it would be a time suck in my life.  But I gave in, I went and I pinned.  I am happy to report that I don't do it too much, just enough that I feel like I get good ideas and inspiration from it with out allowing it to be a time suck. Yay me!

So here is a Pinterest picture I just love.  It wasn't this exact image that inspired me to make this card, but it was this notion of kiddos and bubbles shinning in the sun, but isn't this guy cute to look at?!  I had the bubbles idea in my head and knew the Lawn Fawn set Summertime Charm would be perfect to make my own bottle of bubbles, so I did.  I was so excited when I thought to use the glow circles from the lightning bugs as part of a bubble wand, and I hand drew the rest.

That's all for today.  I have to work now, but maybe after if it is sunny, I'll take my kiddo out to blow some bubbles! :)

PS- there is another blog hop over at Paper Smooches today, be sure to check it out!

What inspires you?

Helloooooo.  Today I wanted to start by asking you a question and that is... Where does your inspiration come from? Do you find it in everyday arrangements in the home?  Does it come from nature?  Photos of the family? Paper Crafts Mag?  Craft Stores? Pinterest? Blogs?  I find my inspiration for cards and scrapbook pages in all of these places and so many more.  For scrapbooking, I love it when I have a moment with my child or family and I think, "Oh, I could scrapbook that!"  The thoughts take over and I am thinking of papers, textures, ribbons, everything!  My husband likes to say I am, "Geeking out" when this happens. :)  When making cards, another inspiration fave of mine is trying to match the card to the personality or style of the person receiving it (if i know who it is going to).  It is so fun when they open and love it and say, "it is just so me!"

Now I'd like to share today's card and inspiration with you.  I don't think it is secret that I like challenges and that is where a lot of my inspiration comes from, so this shouldn't be a surprise but I was inspired by two challenges.  The first was over at Moxie Fab World- the Wonder of Watercolor Challenge.  I love the soft colors of watercolor paints and this really spoke to me and I thought it would be fun to try.  The second is this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge and the theme is the first question I asked you today- Inspired by- What inspires you?!  I thought it would be fun to combine these two!

I started making this card by taking some watercolor paper, ink pads and my watercolor brush and added some light colors across the background.  Just a hint, not too much, not too little, just enough to show the color and what the sky might look like.  Then I took my Lawn Fawn background stamp and rotated it to give the effect of breezes moving too and fro.  I stamped this in gray so as not to overwhelm the watercolors.  Next I paper-pieced the little airplanes from LF Just Flying By set, I LOVE These Planes!  The blue polka dot DP seemed to pop just enough from the watercolor.  I made my own dashed lines for flight path, just how I wanted them.  I added my sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp set that seemed to fit, some embellishments and other touches.  My favorite part is the heart, which is a wood chip from Lawn Trimmings (a different co. from LF that sells embellishments, washi and paper) and made it bright red.  I was inspired to do the heart from a card I saw way, way back on the LF blog, I can't even tell from who or how long ago.  Their's was done in paper, but it was just so cute that the plane was carrying the heart.  I love this added touch to the card b/c I feel like the red just POPs out at you. :)

I hope this has inspired you to do some crafting OR you find some other wonderful inspiration in your day. :) Thanks for flying by!

Happy Friday!

Today's I want to share a with you a card that i made for my sister-in-law's birthday.  She lives on the opposite side of Washington from me.  I was thinking I should send her a little Seattle love.  This is what I came up with.

I was going for trendy, wanting to use some of the things that are really hot in the paper crafting world right now.  Such as neon (yes, the 80's have returned full force- smile), splatters and even using the some of the wood chip embellishments- the stars that I made black simply by pushing them against my ink pad.  I like the gradient of the cityscape, so fun to look at.  Of course, like I said, sending love from Seattle- it's flying high here on the space needle!

If you frequent this blog you know I post mostly in response to challenges.  I did not try to do this at all, hadn't even seen these challenges yet, but this card is PERFECT for two challenges.  The first is over at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog in which the theme is Travel and/or Cityscapes- no kidding!  The second is over at The Play Date Cafe, and this is the first time I've entered one of their challenges.  Check out these colors!  I couldn't have been more lucky in making this card to go with these challenges. AND better yet, I enjoyed making it and even more so, I hope my SIL likes it too!  Happy Birthday!

Thanks for stopping! :)

Made from Scratch

How about I share a fun little card with you today using one of my new Paper Smooches stamp sets- Nine Lives?  I just love this set, all of the stamps in it are so cute and I love the sentiments that go with them.   Punny and cute are my favorite kind of sentiments for cards, they just make me giggle. The only thing I would add to this set is a series of lines that look like cat scratches, it would be perfect for the "made from scratch" sentiment! :)


So this card isn't for anyone or anything in particular, just wanted to use this cute kitty.  I have to say, I was proud of myself for not stamping the little cat on white, I seem to always do that and color or paper piece.  But this time, NO!  I stamped on Kraft and added some black tips and spots on her.  I think she's a cutie do you?  I had fun adding the fish bones around her and then giving them a dash of color to match the color challenge over at the Paper Smooches SPARKS blog this week.  I also dug into my brads, I don't use many of those, and found these fun ones from Stampin' Up! that matched perfectly.  In the end I am pretty happy with this card and it was easy to make.  This would be a good design to use to make a bunch of cards.

Well thanks for stopping, hoping you have a good day.

Night Lights

Hello.  Today's card is featuring some of my favorite kind of night lights!  Stars and fireflies! :)

We don't actually have fireflies in my neck of the woods, I first saw them (in real life) when I was in Costa Rica in 2004.  I had no idea what was happening at I peered out into the jungle in the middle of the night, "what is that flashing light?!"  Dur!  Fireflies!  and the stars from there were fabulous too...sigh. Wanting to go back. :)

Anyway, I wanted to use my new Summertime Charm set from Lawn Fawn and so some kind of night scene.  This is where it took me. It makes me think of kiddos running around barefoot on a hot summer night with a jar of these guys in hand. SMILE.  I used my watercolor pen to add light color around the fireflies and some blue to the jar.  I also embossed the clouds with a polka dot embossing folder and simply punched some stars.  At the last minute I added the little wood-chip heart just for fun.

I can't say that I love the colors on this card, so I think I'll have to try another version.  If I am successful I'll come back here and share.  I do like the layout and concept though, so I am going to enter into this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge #55- Embossing.

Thanks for popping by!