Favor and a card!

Before I get to the card and Laila, I have a HUGE favor to ask.   If you've been following my blog for a while you know that we lost our precious Eli almost four years ago to a disease called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).   It is classified as a "rare" genetic disorder so most families aren't aware of it until the day that they are told their child will die from it.   Because the community of those affected by it is somewhat small, research  and support dollars to help find a cure are not always easy to come by.   Thanks to social media, we've managed to win some contests over the last few years and work together to help with that.  Right now one of our organizations, The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, has a chance to win $1 million dollars through Chase American Giving Awards on Facebook. They will be using the money to help buy iPads for those affected by SMA.  This could allow them to finally have a means of communicating and open up a whole new world of interacting and learning!  If you have an account over there, PLEASE consider voting. It would mean so much to the families affected by this disease.  You can only vote once, so it's just a few minutes of your time.   Here's the link to make that happen: 

http://VoteForGSF.com/

Now back to our regularly scheduled program....

I missed the chance to play along with this fun sketch at Try Stampin' On Tuesday, but I pinned it for a later date and that just happened to be yesterday.  :)   I am trying to work on some teacher thank you cards and birthday cards for kids so I'm relying on my pinned sketches for inspiration.   My card isn't exactly the sketch, but it's close.  

Hopefully there's a sweet teacher out there who will one day love this card.  I thought the colors were so pretty together.  It's a combination from the Color Coach and I love it, but struggle sometimes to make it work.  It came together so easily on this one!  It really just depends on the stamps and type of card you are making with those color combos.  Sometimes it works out and sometimes not.   

Yesterday we had our picture with Santa day.   She's not looking too happy here, but I think the photographer captured some good shots.   I'll post the one we decide on once we get the proofs and pick one.  I didn't realize how bit that bow was until we got there.   I thought she needed one since the jammies were not super girly, but dang it's big!  

FM75: Back to School

I'm attempting to get back in the swing of things with my design teams, so here goes!    Holly has a perfect challenge for this time of year at the Friday Mashup this week.   I think just about everyone is back to school now, so why not make a fun card or project to celebrate?!   

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a "Back to School" themed project.
2. Or Make a project with "Sewing".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Back to School project with Sewing". 

I didn't mash it up this week as sewing is a bad word in my house.  :)  I wanted to make up some teacher thank yous for the local shop so this challenge was just perfect.  I LOVE the colors so much!   That Color Coach is great at suggesting combinations that rock!   

Stamps:  Greeting Card Kids, Perfectly Preserved, A to Z (retired), Thank You Kindly (retired)

Ink:  Midnight Muse, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Daffodil Delight, Blush Blossom marker

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Cannery framelits, Window Frame framelits, Festive Paper-Piercing pack, Paper-piercing tool, Stampin' Pierce Mat, blender pen

My girl is learning to hold things! 

CAS Paper Players

Clean and simple is an idea I continue to work on, so I thought I'd play along with this fun challenge from Anne Marie at The Paper Players.   I combined it with the CAS challenge today from Splitcoast which is to be inspired by the word school.   Now what I was thinking (and I am going to say I wasn't) picking the image I did, I do not know. Talk about some seriously fussy fussy cutting!  Yikes!    I already struggle with my scissor skills on a normal day, so this was most definitely a challenge.

People always seem to get paper piecing and paper piercing mixed up.  I actually did both on this one, but the piecing happens on the dress, bow, shirt, boy socks, and books.   Those tiny little spaces were awful to cut out let me tell ya!   I kept losing them my desk and was happy when I finally got them all glued down.  I love this color combination so much!  I think my current three favorite SU colors are represented.  :)

Stamps:  Greeting Card Kids, Thank You Kindly (retired)

Ink:  Staz On, Rich Razzleberry plus Crumb Cake, Blush Blossom, and Daffodil Delight markers

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Brights and In Color DSP stacks, Cottage Wall DSP (retired)

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels Framelits, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Snips

One of my favorite pictures from her 1 month photo shoot.  It's hard to believe that she'll be 2 months old next week.  The days are just flying by!  

Double the Challenge

Today I decided to work on the idea for Just Add Ink that I didn't have time to finish on Saturday.  After seeing this week's Mojo Monday sketch, I did change up things a bit.   I thought it was a neat sketch and lent itself to a more clean-and-simple card which is what I had time to make.  :)  

I chose primary colors for my card since it is meant for a teacher thank you card.  I added in a few other elements like the School Lines stamp and the spiral order punch.  Those both work perfectly with the school boy from Greeting Card Kids.   I stamped him on a scrap of Whisper White and then colored and cut him out.   He is popped up on dimensionals and stands out quite nicely.   :)    I will say that it is not a card that I'd normally make, but working outside our comfort zones is what makes us better stampers, right? 

Stamps: Thank You Kindly, Greeting Card Kids, School Lines
Ink:  Real Red, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, Blush Blossom
Paper:  Real Red, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Brights DSP stack, Whisper White
Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Stripes and Houndstooth embossing folders, Labels framelits, scallop circle punch, spiral border punch, blender pen

FMS 15: Be My Valentine

Time for our last sketch of the year at Freshly Made Sketches!   Cindy designed our sketch this week and boy did she challenge us!    I am not good with tilted anything on cards, so it took me a bit of time to figure out what I wanted to make.   I am officially done thinking about Christmas cards, so I moved on to the next fun holiday, Valentine's Day!   Crazy, huh?  

It feels a bit plain to me, but I wasn't sure what else to do with it.  I wanted to add some embossing, but I wasn't sure it would look right on the pink panels.   Greeting Card Kids is seriously the most adorable stamp set ever.  I love it!   I wish we had a few sets of them covering every possible holiday and event.  :)    

I hope you'll play along with us this week before the craziness of the holidays sets in next week!  

Stamps:  Petite Pairs, Greeting Card Kids, I Heart Hearts

Ink:  Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Daffodil Delight, Blush Blossom (marker), Staz On Black

Paper:  Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Brights and Subtles DSP stacks

Tools/Accessories:  Blender Pen, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, small heart punch, Pretty in Pink 1/8 taffeta ribbon (retired)

FMS6: Bright Hopes

It's time for another sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This one has a lot of fun elements, so I think you'll have a blast playing along with us!   Lauri Ingram is our featured designer this week, so be sure to stop by her blog to say hello.   She has some gorgeous clean cards on her blog and I love her beautiful creations.  

Here is my second take on the sketch.  I'll show you the first one in a bit.  :)     Jen Timko, one of my fellow design team members, made some beautiful cards with the Bright Hopes stamp set and I had to have it after seeing them.   Isn't it gorgeous?  It is such an elegant set of stamps and one I know I'll be using for years to come.   I paired the set with some equally elegant colors, River Rock and Cherry Cobbler.   I love how it turned out!  I haven't purchased the Cherry Cobbler embossing powder yet, so I did the next best thing and inked my stamp with Cherry Cobbler, then Versamark, and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. It gives it a much richer look than simply stamping it in Cherry Cobbler alone. 

Stamps:  Bright Hopes

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Versamark

Paper:  River Rock, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Neutrals Designer Paper stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Northern Frost Decorative Strip die, heat tool, clear embossing powder, embossing buddy, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Basic Rhinestones

This was my first card for the sketch.   I think it turned out nice, but it wasn't quite what I wanted for the challenge.   I do love non-traditional colors for Christmas and I can't say that I've seen many pink and brown ones.  :)    Greeting Card Kids is such an adorable set of stamps and I'm so glad I finally purchased it.   

Stamps:  Greeting Card Kids

Ink:  Blushing Bride, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Bashful Blue

Paper:  Blushing Bride, Early Espresso, Whisper White, 2010 In Color Hostess stack (retired)

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Fancy Favor die (for the border), Backgrounds #1 Texturz plates, Northern Frost Decorative Strip die, blender pen, mica flakes, Early Espresso taffeta ribbon (retired), In Color Glimmer brads

Be sure to stop and say hello to my fellow designers:

Tui Nathan

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Jen Mitchell

Cindy Hall

Jen Timko

FMS2: School Kids

Lesley prepared another awesome sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.   While the sketch is a square card, you can choose to either make one of those or do what I did and go with a traditional A2 card.   That's the fun part of sketch challenges; you can use them as a starting point and see where your card takes you.   :)  

School started back the week I was working on my card and it just so happened that Greeting Card Kids was in the order that I received that week.   Naturally I had to do a school inspired card!   I did go back and pull out a retired apple stamp because teachers need apples.  I can hear all you teachers groaning over that; I bet you have quite an amazing apple collection.  :o)    I decided to go all in with my school theme and try to make my background layer look like a chalkboard.   I don't think schools even have those though; it's all dry erase and smart boards now.   I guess the kids are lucky; the bad ones always had to go beat the chalk out of the erasers back in my day.   I can only imagine what that would do to my allergies...

I hope you enjoyed my card and I hope you'll join us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!   I can't wait to see what you create!

Stamps:  Greeting Card Kids, Apple Blossoms, A to Z
Ink:  Whisper White craft ink, Staz-On Black, Stampin' Write Markers: Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, Blush Blossom, So Saffron, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Whisper White
Tools/Accessories:  Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Baja Breeze seam binding, circle punches

I actually made this card first, but I thought it was too dark.   Switching the Baja Breeze and the Cherry Cobbler really added a brighter, cheerier feel to it and I like that one much better.  Don't be discouraged if your first attempt at a card doesn't turn out; study it, figure out what you don't like about it, and change it for the next version!    Sometimes taking a picture and looking at it on the computer screen will inspire me to go back and add or change something as well.