There's always next time...

So I had made this card for this weeks Fusion Card Challenge.  Of course I totally missed the post deadline- doh!  With all the many things in my life sometimes it just doesn't get all done.  While I am bummed to have missed it, I still am loving this card and think it will be perfect for a friend of mine.  So....not all is lost and all is well and hopefully I will get to play next weeks challenge.

Until then, you can have a gander at my card anyway.  I had fun brushing ink spots on the cardstock to make a watercolory (that's a word right?!) background and in the jar too.  The flowers and sentiment are made from SU!s Field Flowers set- they are some of my fave flowers I own.  The jar is from Lawn Fawn Summertime Charm.  I can't seem to stop using that stamp, which I am sure is OK with LF. :)

So this is just a short post but wanted to share my card.  Come visit me next time when I actually make the challenge deadline- LOL!

PS- Did you know there is a blog hop over at Paper Smooches?  Check it!

The Bokeh Effect

Yesterday I wanted to make one more card for this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge #58- CAS Cards.  I knew I wanted to use my new to me set Lunar Lanterns (thanks Amy T!) but didn't have much else in mind.  I was throwing a few ideas around in my head and then it hit me, I had been wanted to try my hand at the Bokeh effect so why not combine the two, they would be a perfect match!  Here is the picture that I had seen that popped into my head when I was thinking about this, so beautiful!  The light bulb went off above my head...literally!

Being new to this technique, I remembered a while back Kelly Marie at Lawn Fawn gave a tutorial on how to achieve the Bokeh look and made it look so easy.   Well guess what?  It was easy!  I am super please with how this card turned out, good for the challenge, but also just fun to make and I got to use this trendy new technique.  I also got incorporate some sequins which is also super trendy right now.  I will mention that though I want to get on this sequin trend band wagon,  I have yet to buy any.  BUT thanks to my daughter's craft projects I find them all over the house, so no purchase was necessary for this creation. =)  Finally, I paper pieced the lanterns by using DP from LF Daphnie's Closet Collection.

This is so summery and fun, it makes me want to play in the sun and drink cocktails!  I am also playing the Fresh Squeezed Stamps Squeezapalooza Challenge- where I had seen the inspiration photo, but...unofficially.  I don't currently have any FSS so I an not technically eligible!  So what do you think, are you in the mood fro summer?  What are your favorite things to do in the summer or what does this card make you think of?

UPDATE- I am entering this into the Let's Get Trendy Now 3 Sequins Challenge!

Memorial Day Weekend

Hello-

Are you enjoying your weekend?  I am.  We are spending time together as a family, seeing some friends and working on some crafts too, a few of which I wanted to share with you today.

The first will honor the fallen veterans this Memorial Day weekend.  I made it for Operation Write Home.  OHM is a program to which you can make and donate cards for soldiers so that they may send them home to their families.  Click on the link above to find out more about it and how you can contribute.  When I found this weeks challenge for Paper Smooches SPARKShttp://papersmoochessparks.blogspot.com/2013/05/may-20-26-cool-shades-challenge.html I knew it was perfect for just this!  Check out these colors.  So I made this quick and easy and took a cue from Savannah O'Gwynn.  Savannah always uses a clear glaze pen to make her text pop.  I don't have a clear glaze pen, but I do have crystal effects, so I used that on the stamped hearts from the Healthy Vibe set.  This card only took me about 7 minutes to make, super easy.  Which brings me to my next card for the 10 Minute Craft Dash.

I made this card for the 10 Min. Craft Dash in 5 minutes and 46 seconds.  You might wonder how, and I'll tell you, super easy.  First, I used a template and some little ink spots to make the honey comb around the card, which took the most time.  Second, I stamped the sentiment.  Finally, whenever I die cute something if I don't use it I save it, so I had these butterflies lying around, all I had to do was tack them down and add the pearls.  So easy!  I like the way this card turned out, this is a great color combo and I love this sentiment.

Last I want to share the end of the year gifts I've made for my daughter's teachers.  I totally dropped the ball on appreciation week, so I wanted to get on this.  I got these fun sun jars and filled them with a super fun kitchen towel, some straws, some Sunkist candies, various flavors of crystal light and a spatula to stir.  The theme and colors are all yellows and oranges, lemons and lemonade.  I used my Lawn Fawn set Make Lemonade and their twine to decorate a few different parts.  I am submitting this for my final creation for the Lawnscaping DT Challenge too.

That is all for today, thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!

Gallery Idol, LF DT Call + Winner

Hi All-

I wanted to share two things with you today: 1- my three submissions to the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Contest and 2- the blog candy winner from my 500th blog post here.

First my submissions for the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Open Auditions Round.  The theme for open auditions round is birthday cards for kids and teens.  You can enter up to three times, and here are mine:

#1- A Roaring Good Birthday!  This one is for the little guys (or gals) who just love Dinos.  The stamps are all Paper Smooches, with the exception of the speech bubble which is Lawn Fawn.  There is a lot of paper piecing here and I used the masking technique to make the palm fronds in the front.  The googly eye, ribbon and wood chips finish it up nicely I think.





#2-Dripping with Sweet Birthday Wishes.  This one is more geared towards the little girls with the rainbow colors and the bling.  The trendy chevron DP from Doodlebug is along the bottom with the coordinating paper for the popsicles.  The stamps on this one are Here's the Scoop from Lawn Fawn and a sentiment from Saavy Stamps. Each popsicle is "dripping" to show the color underneath and the sweet birthday wishes.

#3- iPhone Addiction.  This is definitely for the tween/teen age group, you know the ones who can't put their phones down and are constantly texting even if the other person is right next to them?!  Oh, you do that too, oh well... ;)  This is just cardstock shaped to look like an iPhone with silver, black and white paper.  I used my Silver Jelly Roll pen for the silver highlights.  The words are done with PS Word Salad stamp set and the punctuation and "emoticon" (smiley face) are from the LF A Birdie told me set.

Side note- I'll also be submitting a few of these for other contests, the dino for the PS Sparks DT (which is over) and the others for the Lawnscaping DT call.

For the last little bit of business today I wanted to share the winner of the blog Candy from my 500th post found here.  I have three clear stamp sets to send, some number embellishments  a canvas tote that can be decorated and some cute girly fabric decor.  I had my daughter draw a name out of a had and the winner is...

Pamela who said, "LOVE the way you used this stamp set! And all those pattern paper!"  

Pamela, please email me and I'll send off your goodies!

Thanks for visiting my blog today.  Your encouragement always means so much to me!  

Riding the creation train

Last chance to win some blog candy, comment here

I am feeling unusually peppy on this Monday am.  Not sure what is going on but I think the signs of summer are giving me some extra energy. :)  The fact that I have had time to ride the creation train lately also helps. 

I'll keep this short and sweet today but wanted to share a card with you based on the newest Lawnscaping Challenge #58 and the Pinspired Challenge #9.  This card doesn't actually feature any stamped images, but the DP is all from the Lawn Fawn Pink Lemonade 6X6 paper pack, so I am hoping it qualifies.  I will also be enteringing it for the Lawnscaping DT Challenge. :) 

Quickly I'll share that I used two different wood chip embelishments from freckled fawn too, shown below.  I cut the arrow in half and snipped a little extra off to make it look like it was shooting through the love heart.  It was super easy and I love the way it looks.

Hope this bright card adds some cheer to your Monday!

Sunday is fun day!

Don't forget to go here to leave a comment to win BLOG CANDY.  Tomorrow is the last day and I'll draw a winner.

Happy Sunday to all!  Hope you are having a great weekend.  I've had a fabulous weekend!  Got to go on a date with my Hubby on Friday, we saw the new Star Trek, great movie.  Got up early Saturday to go on a garage sale adventure with friends, got some awesome crafts and some other stuff.  Then I was able to hang out with my girl and help her ride her bike.  Today we had some friends over for a play-date and have just had family time.  Such a great way to spend the weekend!  What about you, anything fun?  What is the weather like where you live?

Today I wanted to share a few cards with you for the Lawnscaping Challenge blog and Paper Smooches SPARKS blog design team calls. If you read my last post, you know how badly I want to be on either one of these.  So here are the cards:

Card #1- for Lawnscaping and Paper Smooches because it uses both of their products.  The Lawn Fawn set Summer Time Charm (Jar) and A Birdie Told me (talk bubble) is used here as well as the Paper Smooches Smarty Pants (Crayons), Word Salad (Sentiment) and Clipboard (the clip) and the Notebook die.  For the PS call you have to use one of their challenges so this is based on the anything goes challenge a few weeks back.  The Lawnscaping just requires using the LF product.  The paper and Washi are from Doodlebug design.  I LOVE the bright colors on this card, bright is my favie.

Card #2- is just for Lawnscaping DT call.  It uses the LF set Here's the Scoop.  I used the squiggly line from this set to make a splatter by stamping it around several times and then fussily cutting it out.  It is kind of a funky and different card, but that is why I like it.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp and the arrows are from Freckled Fawn.

Card #3- Finally last but not least is another for the SPARKS DT call.  This card goes to a challenge a while back that I didn't get a chance to play but had wanted to.  I love the smiles on the inanimate objects, it is just so fun!  This card uses PS Vegtastic and again some Freckled Fawn wood chips (I can't get enough of these!!!!).  I think the Hello is just perfect for this little group of veggies.

Well that is it for today.  I hope you like some of what you see!  Again, happy Sunday!

Can you taste it?

BLOG CANDY POST is below, scroll down or click here-

Have you experienced wanting something soooooo very much that we can taste it?  Dumb question, I am sure you have, I am sure everyone has.  In fact, find me a person who hasn't experienced that and I'll be so suprised I'll buy you a coffee or something.  I am currently in that phase with my cards.  I really, really, REALLY want to be on a design team for a company, blog and/or be published in a magazine.  It is just a goal along the way, something to stive for that gives my card making a little competative edge and motivates me a little more.  Well I never thought I would get there...and truthfully I haven't yet, now maybe I won't, but I like to think I WILL.  I actually believe it too! :)  Maybe it won't be today or tomorrow, but if I keep trying it will happen.  Are you with me?!

In the past I didn't have enough confidence to submit to magazine calls or anything like that but something changed.  I don't know what it was that made me think again or what triggered this, but it happened and I am so glad.  I've always had fun making things and cards and sharing them with others, and  that hasn't changed either.  I guess maybe now I am just more committed and am making time for myself (post work, post kid, post hubby, post school, post autoimmune disease, etc.) to make it happen.  Yay for me time!

Anyway, I know that was a little heavy for a Friday, but I had to share.  Now onto the good stuff.  Which are some cards for challenges and submissions for a couple of DT calls for my FAVORITE stamping companies!  Have I mentioned how much I love Paper Smooches and Lawn Fawn stamps (in no particular order here- they are equally loved for different reasons)?!  Probably only about 769 times!  Well being part of their challenge blog Design Teams would be so freakin' fabulous I can barely stand it!  Here are a couple of cards I hope they will consider!  And...I'll be posting more in the days to come so please think good thoughts for me.

Card 1- PS SPARKS Challenge and DT call

Based on the horizontal version of this sketch.  I used a lot of paper piecing for this card.  Sets used are: Smarty Patns, Spring Groves and Vegtastic.

Card 2- Lawnscaping Challenge DT call

I used the masking technique for the flowers on this, haven't tried this too much in the past, but I am at a place where I love it!  The sets I used are Cruising Through Life, Botanical Bliss and some flowers from Gnome Sweet Gnome.

BTW- Did I mention how much I am also loving the wood chip accents from Freckled Fawn and Studio Calico.  I've used them on almost every card of late.  I don't know if I'll ever get tired of them.  LOVE!  Thanks Amy Tsuruta for helping me locate the FF ones!

Thanks for stoppping by today!  HAPPY FRIDAY!

Bling Meets Flower Power... + BLOG CANDY!

....the result, LOVE!  Don't you think flowers and bling are a match made in heaven when it comes to paper crafting   Well I sure do!  I love them separately too, but together they are unstoppable like some kind of superhero- FLING.  Like, "girl, that's flingin'!"  :)  Yeah, i know, I am pretty dorky, welcome to my world! :)

Anyway, here is my brief post for today using a new Lawn Fawn set Botanical Bliss which I got for Mother's Day from my lovely family!  (Well done to them!)  I am not sure I executed this card very well, but my intentions were good.  I made this card for the Lawnscaping Challenge- Bling It (even though i just have 1 singular piece of bling) and the Simon Says Stamp Challenge -Flower Power.  Thoughts, constructive criticism, parts you like?  Let me know and thanks for stopping!

PS- did I mention that this is my 500th blog post?  Well it is!!!  Soooo I am going to give something away. :)  I'll have to look through my stack but likely some stamps, some bling, maybe some paper, goodies!  Comment by Monday, May 20th for your chance to win!

Just for the heck of it...

I've been on a roll with my Paper Smooches stamps, I just love them so and I can't seem to get enough!  There are a few new sets that I HAVE to have, but they aren't in my budget just now so I am going to have to wait...tic-toc, tic-toc, tic-toc...is it payday yet?!  I'll do my best.  Anyway I was playing here with a few of my sets just because I love them.  No occasion or person in mind, just creating.  Here is what came out of it.

Card #1  is made from the Woofers & Tweeters set as well as Cut Loose.  This little woofer is my fave in the whole dang set.  If I were to have a dog, it would be a Yorkie and look a little bit like this one in size and shape (but not color).  This pup is just perfect hanging among these clouds with this fab kite.  And I love, love this DP (can't remember what it is at the moment, sorry!) but the pastel clouds and patterns on them are fab.  This sweet little doggie and the kit just fit perfectly.  While we are on the subject please check out this card by Suzanne Bier using another one of the pups in this set.  She won the PS SPARKS nautical challenge with this- so well deserved!  So darn creative and cute, I love it Suzanne!


Card #2 is made using the goat in the Green Acres set.  He just seemed to want to be around (and eating...) wood.  Wood grain paper, wood chip shapes from Freckled Fawn, whatever.  I was even going to put something in the little goat's mouth, but decided it looked better without.  I  wanted this card to be bright but still masculine that could be used for any old occasion.  Again, I used some of the DP I mentioned above, though I can't remember what co. it is from. :(

Do you have anything you are going to do today just for the heck of it? Hope you likey and thanks for stopping!