Valentine's Mojo Monday!

I hope that you have all had a wonderful Holiday season! I've had a wonderful time with the boys this past month. This post is going to be super quick as I am taking the boys to McDonalds to run off some much needed energy (it has been super cold in CO and they are a little stir crazy)! LOL!


I made this for Julee's Mojo Monday sketch challenge # 17. I don't know why I always feel compelled to use Cat's Pajamas stamps for Julee's challenges (maybe because it was some of her fabulous card creations that turned me on to this line of stamps in the first place). If you have never visited her blog before, you're really missing out on some fabulous creations.


This card is so much cooler IRL! I wish it wasn't so hard to take photos of acetate cards. I stamped the Heart Circle, Medium Heart Circle and Small Heart Circle with White Staz-On on the acetate. I then stamped the Candy Box in Basic Grey on Rose Red cardstock. This was attached to the acetate with glue dots and then backed with Basic Grey cardstock from behind. I then stamped Cupid Kitty on Shimmery White cardstock and colored with watercolor crayons and my Copic Spica glitter pens. I cut this piece out with my Circle Nestabilities and then layered Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, and Basic Grey scalloped layers behind this piece. I then topped the white layer with some bling by Heidi Swapp. The sentiment is called I Love Mew! I then added some Cloud 9 Rain Dots randomly to the acetate layer.


Off to McDonalds!

Monochromatic Thomas Kinkade

I made this for today's Ways To Use It Challenge over on SCS. The challenge was to make a monochromatic card. I need some "bulk" Christmas cards that can easily be mailed without a lot of extra postage and hassle from the post office. I think that this design is it. I usually really love to pile on layer after layer on my cards, so this is a HUGE departure for me and feels a little strange. In person the card is so much prettier and sparkly (the light to take pictures isn't the greatest on this cold Colorado afternoon). This is my one and only Thomas Kinkade stamp (so far). I fell in love with it when I first saw it debuted on Cornish Heritage Farms. I also used my Holiday Wishes sentiment set from Papertrey (the card is embossed both inside and out with Detail Silver embossing powder). The card base has been stamped with one of my favorite background stamps from SU (Linen).


Card Deets:
Stamp Sets: Village Christmas (Thomas Kinkade), Holiday Wishes (Papertrey), Linen (SU)
Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Brushed Silver, Papertrey Stampers Select White
Ink: Bordering Blue, Blue Bayou
Accessories: Silver Cord, Rectangle Nestabilities, Detail Silver ep

Love Puppy

I absolutely adore how this card turned out! Should I have been making a Valentine's Day card? No...I still have a ton of Christmas cards to work on. However I needed a break from the Christmas card scene and when I saw the sketch challenge over on SCS, this idea immediately popped in my head. When the inspiration happens, you just have to put ink to paper, KWIM! LOL!



I don't know if you can see it, but I stamped the Small Heart Circle in Pretty in Pink in the background behind the puppy (stamped off once). Love Puppy was watercolored with a mixture of reinkers and Copic Spica Glitter pens.


Thanks for looking!


Card Deets:
Stamps: All by The Cats Pajamas (Love Puppy, I Ruff You, Small Heart Circle)
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Shimmery White, Love Lines (Cloud 9 Designs)
Ink: Staz-On Black, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose
Accessories: bling, Nestabilities, eyelets (Making Memories), Swirls embossing folder, Crystal Stickles

Splitcoast Featured Stamper Challenge

I made this card for the featured stamper challenge over on Splitcoast. The featured stamper this week is LilLuvsStampin. Charlene has a beautiful gallery. I decided that I wanted to case this particular card. This was a card that she had made with a small group of stampers that like to challenge each other every week. I remember that this particular challenge yielded many beautiful cards (so much so that I wanted to play too)! Well, I finally played.

The object of the featured stamper challenge is to CASE a card, but to change up at least three elements. I kept the same layout (why mess with perfection). I did change up the color palette, stamps sets used, and the corner punch used while pretty much keeping to the overall feel of her card.

The base card is Bashful Blue (I'm still learning how to use my Photo Elements program...I obviously have a lot to learn when it comes to color hue). I then used the Simplicity punch on all four corners of my Papertrey white cardstock. I really loved the Polka Swiss patterned paper used on the original card, so I used my Polka Dot backgrounder from SU to try to make my own. I stamped the backgrounder using White Craft ink on cardstock weight vellum, and then embossed with detail white embossing powder. I then used my Antique Linen distress ink pad dtp to grunge up the paper a little bit (to match the feel of the designer paper that I had chosen). The next layer is used Figgy Pudding paper from Basic Grey layered on Bashful Blue. The focal image is a retired SU set called Lace Snowflakes (I'm a sucker for Snowflake stamps). I stamped the snowflakes with White Craft ink and embossed with Winter Wonderland embossing powder. These snowflakes sparkle so much IRL! I layered this on top of white cardstock. The ribbon is some of the new Bashful Blue taffeta from SU. I then added a chipboard snowflake (by Making Memories) that I had also covered with White Craft and Winter Wonderland embossing powder to the bottom left. There is a blue rhinestone brad in the center.

Hope you like it!

Long time no post

I finally stamped!! Sorry for the long delay between posts. Life has really just been smacking me hard lately. I was laid off from work on November 14th after being with the company I worked with for 10 1/2 years. I'm making the best of it and have been enjoying spending time with my two boys. I figure that I'll start looking for new employment opportunities at the beginning of next year (after all, when will I EVER have time to take the whole month of December off again?). I also have a case of Bronchitis that just seems to not want to go away. I guess I really have no excuse NOT to stamp every day if I wanted to. I swear, I almost feel busier now that I'm not working. LOL! My house has never been so spotless!

I made this for Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch #14 on her blog Poetic Artistry. Julee has some awesome weekly sketch challenges that are just perfect for kick starting your Mojo (or lack of in my case). She also is a super talented stamper and the creative genius behind a new line of stamps (Verve Visual). Please check out her blog if you have never seen it. I promise you won't be disappointed.

My Mojo was seriously lacking last night. If you only knew how many pieces of my precious Shimmery White cardstock made it into the circular file, you would know how lacking my Mojo was. It could also be that I was very distracted by a playful Lab puppy who kept retrieving things for me (i.e. stuffed animals from the beds of my children, glass ornaments from the Christmas tree, etc.). If my cat Rocky would let him, I swear that he would bring Rocky to me. Anyway, what do you think of my first card in what feels like months?

Stamps:

A Winter Song (Elzybells), Snowflake Serenade (Papertrey), Punch Pals (SU)

Cardstock:

Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Kraft, Shimmery White

Ink:

Soft Sky, White Craft, Staz On Timber Brown

Accessories:

Nestabilities, Hero Arts rhinestones, WWC, Icicle Stickles, Snowflake embossing folder