Rainy Day Projects

It's been raining here on and off all day which considering that we've been in a drought for the past year is absolutely FANTASTIC! I'm watching it lightning across the lake right now and it is a beautiful sight. What a great day it's been for working on projects.
The Pixie Cottage, a new stamp company with some ultra cute stamps coming out soon, is sponsoring a design team call. I spent the day working on projects to enter in the call, but then I went and checked out the competition and "Wow!" am I ever blown away! You need to check out the store when it opens just to see the work from their new design team because there is some great talent in the running for it.
Pink Daisy May

This project is for the Cute Daisy May challenge this week to use pink and ??? We could pick whatever color we wanted to go along with pink. So I decided to go with pink and pinker and then I threw in a little green, too, just to keep it interesting! This is just the sweetest image EVER! And do you love the flower? I took an inexpensive flower from a "silk" flower stem and inked it up with coordinating inks. The smaller flower in the middle also got a coat of Versamark ink and iridescent embossing powder. See it sparkle. I love taking plain (inexpensive) flowers and making them coordinate with my projects.
Christmas Treats

On this next project I was playing around with some ideas for Christmas (yes, I realize it's only September, but gotta start sometime!) Stampin' Up has these little treat cups and a coordinating stamp set. You punch a hole in the cardstock and slip the treat cups in from behind. Then, you just fill them up with some small goodies and cover the hole in the back. I wanted something a little non-traditional in terms of color, so I pulled out some of the new Bermuda Bay which I think makes quite a statement paired with black and white.

Too Cute to Spook

I also managed to get another Halloween card done. I'm not sure what I  will do with this one but it was a lot of fun to make. The little witch is from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I thought this little trick-or-treater would work perfectly for the Digital Tuesday challenge which was to include a digital image of a teen or child.
There's a lot going on with this one. The sketch is this week's sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches. I dusted off my cricut and with the help of Design Studio and SCAL I cut out the swirly oval  and the drippy goo border. The drippy goo is an SVG that I got from the talented Tamara Bennett. I cut it out in black and some DCWV glitter paper. The "Boo" sentiment is a dingbat I got from scrapNfonts for a $1 (the $1 sale continues through Tuesday). I used my copics to color in the little witch and then used my deckle Spellbinders die to cut out and emboss the image. I sponged around the edges before I took the die off. Since I didn't have any Halloween patterned paper, the patterned paper in the background was created using some PTI Black and White Basics patterned paper colored in with an orange copic marker.
Well, that's today's fun! Tomorrow I need to work on some projects for my students and I've got to start planning out the project my papercrafting class is going to do in a couple of weeks. Maybe it'll rain some more--I seem to be very productive when it does!
Project Recipe
(Pink Daisy May)
Paper: PTI Sweet Blush CS, PTI Berry Sorbet CS, Shimmery Green paper (source unknown), PP from Chatterbox Page Kit, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Sheet 59, PTI Spring Tags (sentiment)
Accessories: copic markers, cuttlebug, cuttlebug Victorian embossing folder, Spellbinders Label 4 dies, SU slot punch, SU eyelet border punch, PTI Berry Sorbet Ribbon, PTI linen thread, button (unknown source), flowers (Walmart), Versamark ink, Ranger Holographic embossing powder, heat gun

(Christmas Treats)

Paper: SU Whisper White CS, SU Black CS, SU Bermuda Bay textured CS, SU Night and Day DSP
Stamps: SU Sweet Centers, SU Teeny Tiny Wishes (sentiment)
Accessories: SU Sweet Treat Cups, Kaiser Kraft pearls (colored black with copics), PTI True Black Twill ribbon, SU Large Oval Punch, SU Scalloped Oval Punch, EK Success 1 3/4 circle punch, Tic Tacs candy

(Too Cute to Spook)

Paper: SU More Mustard CS, CTMH Black CS, PTI White CS, DCWV Spring Glitter Mat Stack, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS, PTI Black and White Basics PP (colored with copic marker E07), SU Tangerine Tango DSP (retired)
Stamps: LSS Cute Witch
Accessories: DB Fright Night and LD Classy Charm font (ScrapNFonts), copic markers, cuttlebug, SU Movers and Shapers Modern Label die, Spellbinders Large Deckles dies, Cricut Expression, Storybook and George and Basic Shapes cartridges, SCAL and Design Studio software, SU Modern Label punch

Cute Daisy Jumps Rope

I've got to get this post finished. I promised myself a good snack once I complete this (hee, hee, gotta bribe myself). I've been working on this all morning but it feels so good to have the time again to play! My son went back to college (miss him but I was tired of feeding him that's for sure) and my hubby is helping a buddy do some work. Hurray! House all to myself!
Funny how I had the whole summer to work on projects, but I seem to be more creative and motivated now that school has started up again and I'm back at work. I know a big part of that is that crafting is my after work and weekend treat, so it's more special now that I am limited in time.
But part of having limited time is cramming a whole lot into a little time slot! So, to be frugal with my time and participate in some of my favorite challenges, I combined some of them with this project. Digital Tuesday's challenge this week was "Hop To It". Something had to hop or jump. This little cutie from Cute Daisy May was just perrr-fect! And to meet the challenge over at the Cute Daisy May Challenge blog, I had to use blue and green, so I dressed my little girl in blue jeans and a green jacket and mixed in some of my retired SU Baja Breeze DSP and Green Tea DSP. So far, so good! Next up was the Dare U2 DigiStamp Challenge which was as easy as 1,2,3: 1 ribbon, 2 patterned papers, and 3 flowers. I pulled this velvety ribbon out of a scrap jar so I'm not sure anymore where it came from, but I thought it gave it an old-fashioned charm. To continue the old-fashioned look, I sponged the edges of just about everything on here. I gave my prima flowers a little shimmer, too, with some candlelight shimmerz. Then, I added in the Making Memories Wedding brads.
That does it! I think I've earned a tasty treat and then I'll see what else I can cook up (in the craft room, that is).
Project Recipe
Paper: SU Baja Breeze CS (retired), SU Baja Breeze DSP (retired), SU Green Tea DSP (retired), SU Old Olive CS, SU Chocolate Chip CS, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Digital Stamp (freebie!)
Accessories: SU 5-Petal flower punch, Carl Craft flower punch, Prima flowers, Making Memories Wedding brads, Candle Light Shimmerz, PTI Chai Distressing Ink, ribbon (unknown), cuttlebug, Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities, copic markers

Watering the Flowers

After 10 months of drought, I definitely know how valuable this little watering can is! This is a sweet little digital image from Cute Daisy May. The challenge this week on the Cute Daisy May Challenge Blog is "Floral Fantasy". Be sure to check out that challenge blog link. The design team did some cards that are over-the-top-drop-dead-gorgeous. There's a beautiful umbrella full of Flower Soft Flowers--scrumptious. And Michele Spera has some beautiful papers and flowers and rhinestones. Oh my! Just go look at all of them! They are really spectacular!
Now, back to my modest creation. Since my image doesn't have a lot of flowers, I punched out flowers with several different flower punches. I created a "vine" to join them with some green floss. I used some glittery cardstock from my DCWV Spring Glitter Mat Stack to add just a touch of shimmer here and there on the flowers. The layout for the card is the Splitcoast Card Sketch Challenge # 241. Now, I'm off to water some of my real plants before the heat kills them! Don't know who it'll get first though--me or the plants! Stay cool folks!
Project Recipe
Paper: SU Pink Piroutte CS (retired), SU Sweet Nothings DSP (retired), SU Ridinghood Red CS (retired), DCWV Spring Glitter Mat Stack, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Sheet 51
Accessories: Martha Stewart Cosmo punch, Paper Studio flower punches, Imaginesce button brad, Paper Studio red and pink rhinestone brads, cuttlebug, Spellbinders Classic Circles nestabilities dies, copic markers

Another Year with My Best Friend

Steve and I are celebrating our 17th anniversary today! Since we both had been married before and both had children we were raising from those previous marriages, we never had those "honeymoon" years, but we're certainly enjoying them now. The boys have all grown and moved off and we are enjoying being empty-nesters even though we do miss the guys.
Steve and I are each other's best friend even though we enjoy very few of the same things. He's got fishing buddies, drinking buddies, football buddies, and three sons to hang out with. I've got my mom and sister, several wonderful ladies I work with, and some fabulous crafting friends. But at the end of the day, there's no one I'd rather hang with than my hubby!
So when I saw that the Cute Daisy May Challenge for this week was "friends", I knew it would be perfect for my anniversary card for my husband. I usually buy him a photo card with a picture of two young kids (a boy and a girl) playing together, often in grown up clothes (you know the ones I'm talking about). So when I saw this image at Cute Daisy May, I had to grab it. Also, see that dark blue ribbon that matches my dark (SU Brilliant Blue) cardstock? I certainly didn't have any ribbon that color. I took some sheer white ribbon that I had on hand, and, you guessed it, colored it with a matching copic marker--Cool!

Then, because I've been dying to use my new Stampin'Up Movers and Shapers dies, I created a window for my image. I have to tell you, that I just love this effect. I'm going to have to create more of these windows. I didn't want to make this too frilly and have a bunch of embellishments that dh wouldn't appreciate, so after cutting out my window and creating a mat with a matching heart punch, I embossed the front with one of the new cuttlebug embossing folders. LOVE IT! I love that you can "peek" at the image and that there's a dark contrasting mat all in the shape of a heart which is just perfect for my one true love!

When he opens the card, he can see the full image. That's us in the picture. Yes, once upon a time, he had blondish hair and mine is still dark brown (thanks to my hair stylist and her magic potions). But isn't this image just so sweet! And the PTI sentiment is so perfect for this card. What a fun card to make! I hope he likes it, too! He is often amused by my crafting but I can tell that he's also kinda impressed that I do this stuff! Gotta love a man who encourages paper crafting!
Project Recipe
Paper: SU Bashful Blue CS, SU Brilliant Blue CS, Ginak White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Sheet 51, SU Best Yet (sentiment), PTI Heart Prints (sentiment)
Ribbon: White sheer colored with blue copic (unknown source)
Accessories: cuttlebug, cuttlebug embossing folder, copic markers, SU Movers and Shapers dies (heart and scallop oval), EK Success lrg heart punch, SU scalloped oval punch