Hopeful Leaf

Tonight I sat down to work on a card for the Hope You Can Cling To challenges at Splitcoast Stampers.  I love that they are posting a new challenge each day this month and then having us send the cards we make to the MD Anderson Cancer Center.  That's here in Houston, so of course I want to do as many of the challenges as I can!  Jason's mom received some care there before she passed away so we are very familiar with them and the good work that they do.  

Do you remember this sketch?  I used it for my FMS one year celebration card a few weeks ago.  I remember when I first saw it originally on the blog.  My first thought was 'man, I'm glad I'm on a break so that I don't have to do THAT one'.   :)   Now it's kind of my favorite sketch...  Funny how things change, right?   

Here's my card for the first challenge that was presented by Lydia.  We were asked to make a card that reflects us and our stamping style.  I have no clue how I'd define my style, so I tried to think of a few elements that I enjoy putting on my cards.  I love mixing embossing folders to give a card several different texture elements.   I also love using nontraditional colors for my stamps.   Finally, I like a nice clean card.  I do some sponging and distressing sometimes, but I prefer them to be clean.   Here's what I ended up with once I put it all together.  :)   I even used my favorite DSP, Spice Cake.  

Stamps:  Gently Falling, Falling Leaves (retired)

Ink: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Soft Suede

Paper:  Soft Suede, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake DSP (retired and hoarded)

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Woodgrain  and Stripes embossing folders, Neutrals buttons, Pool Party Baker's Twine

I went shopping yesterday and came home to find Laila in this cute outfit.   It was one of the first ones I bought for her and I love it.  Her daddy did a great job getting her all cute and ready to watch football.  :)

Prepping for Club!

This week I have the pleasure of stamping with my two clubs and I'm so excited!   There is nothing better than getting together with a group of ladies who share your love of paper crafts.   I have been working on some ideas and here are the first two projects that we'll be making.   Aren't they pretty?!   I wanted to make the little sour cream containers and after seeing how darling they were, I had to make a matching card.  

Now I'm no expert, but I think this just might qualify as a vintage card.  I love when the idea I have in my head turns out even better than I thought it would.   :)   I'm going to stand by my statement that you can't make an ugly card with the Spice Cake designer paper.  I'm ordering a second (and maybe even a third) pack of it on my next order!   If you don't have it yet, I'm serious when I say GET IT NOW!    :)    

Stamps:  Day of Gratitude

Ink:  Soft Suede, Pool Party

Paper:  Soft Suede, Pool Party, Spice Cake, Very Vanilla

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper and Perfect Polka Dots embossing folders, Top Note die, Lots of Tags sizzlit dies, XL oval punch, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, sponges

As a demonstrator, I get an awesome magazine from Stampin' Up! each month called Stampin' Success.  In the September edition, one of the articles featured these adorable sour cream containers.   Sour cream?   There's none in there, but they are shaped like the containers you'd get in some restaurants.   :)    You can add some fun treats or candy and use them as a favor or gift.   Did you see the fabric?!   I bought some AND I used it!   I'm terrified of anything related to sewing, but these were easy and no sewing was required.  

Stamps:  Falling Leaves
Ink:  Soft Suede
Paper:  Soft Suede, Pool Party, Very Vanilla
Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Square Lattice and Stripes embossing folders, tag punch, Spice Cake fabric, Early Espresso Baker's Twine

PPA109

Last night and today I took some time off of "work".   I decided to just stamp with no thoughts of what was retired, what my customers might like, etc.  It's nice to just have a fun day doing whatever strikes your fancy.   My goal is to get back to participating in a challenge every day.   I enjoyed doing it before and my skills really improved during that time.  

This card was made for the Pals Paper Arts challenge to use Calypso Coral, Riding Hood Red, and Basic Gray.   Not being a fan of the coral and red, I definitely found this one to be a challenge!   As I looked through my stamps, Paisley Prints caught my eye.   I LOVE paisley and had to buy this set last year right before it retired.   I figured it was time to use it again, so I inked up my leaves and got busy.   The slightly cooler temperatures we've had the last 2 days has really helped me get in the mood for fall.     I never thought 90 degrees would feel like fall, but when you've had a summer of 100+ temperatures it kind of does!  We have some nice lows at night this week, so I'll be cuddling up in my blanket and enjoying them!

Stamps:  Paisley Prints (retired), Falling Leaves
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Riding Hood Red
Paper:  Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP stack
Accessories:  Basic Gray taffeta ribbon (retired), In Color Dotted Brads
Tools:  Paper snips, paper piercing tool

Two challenges

This first card was made for the colourQ challenge.  Of course I missed the deadline for that one; I always seem to have issues with that challenge deadline!    I need to do better next week and get it submitted on time.   The challenge was to combine a past colourQ challenge with a sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping.   I loved the fall colors of Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzazz, and Peach Parfait from challenge #50, so I used those for my card.   I did do a bit of distressing, so it's not a total CAS card.     

While I had all those gorgeous colors on my desk, I decided to do a card for the sketch challenge over at Just Add Ink.    I left out the peach on this one and I think this just might be one of my favorite new color combinations!     It is a super fun sketch, so go check it out!

I'm still alive!

Don't you hate it when your real job interferes with the job you LOVE?   I finally found some time to craft this week and wanted to share a couple of projects with you.  These are two of the lunch box notes I designed for my upcoming class.   It was my first time using two of the new colors, Blushing Bride and Early Espresso.   Love them!  

I saw these cute treat bags on a few other websites and of course I had to make some for myself!   :)   I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and his endless patience!   He made a funnel for me to use to get the candy in the bag and it made them so simple to make.   I can't wait to make up more of them for Halloween and Christmas.

Bad Blogger!

I just realized how long it has been since I posted.  I need to make a point to make something and post every day.   I'm writing it down, so I hope that will make me stick with it!

Yay for new stuff.   I was so excited to get my big box of goodies on Friday!   It was my first order as a demonstrator and it was great to get to order from the new catalog.  

This pinwheel card was one of my projects from last week.   I think I ended up making 5 or 6 of them and I like them.   This uses some retired pumpkin pie designer paper.   If you want to make your own, check out this tutorial by Barb.

Love this new stamp set!  It definitely has a learning curve associated with it, but I have more fun every time I try to use it.   I have bookmarked so many ideas for it and am going to work on a few of them today.   This first one was inspired by Tessa's card here.  Fun!   I love the crumb cake card stock.  I'll try to post the recipe later.  I am anxious to get in my room and get creative!

Early Start for Fall

What a fun new set!  I am going to be teaching a card-making class at the local public library and I plan to center it around this set.   They asked for a fall theme and it just doesn't get any more fall than this!  I decided to do last week's clean&simple sketch and here's what I came up with.   I can't wait to work on more projects and ideas; I already have a spinner card in mind!