September Stamp of the Month

It's been a long time...

But I squeezed in some time to create with Close To My Heart's September Stamp of the Month, Thriller. It's a fun one for Halloween. I used the houndstooth stamp from Noted Backgrounds, distressed the paper a bit and sponged the edges to get this quick and simple card:

While shopping at Target, I came across some "gourmet" candy corn and thought of CTMH's colors: hydrangea, bubblegum and white daisy. I brought them home, rebagged them and created a fun topper for the bag also using Thriller and Noted Backgrounds:

My kids can't wait to dive into that gourmet candy corn! This set will probably go to a teacher and then I'll make some more for the kiddos.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Teacher Gift - All Boxed Up

I made a set of 4 cards w/ decorated envelopes for my daughter's 2nd grade teacher's end of year gift. I wanted a little something beyond tying them with a ribbon or putting them in clear envelopes. I knew I could count on Lauren Meader's My Timeless Templates. She is the queen of gift presentation! All Boxed Up is the template I chose for my cards. Her templates are so fabulous! They are easy to put together and they come with several unique examples of what you can do with them. And before each template is released, she posts so many ideas and examples on her blog - always so beautifully done.

Everything!

Close up of the cover

And inside with the cards peeking out just a little.


The cards:

I went with Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #7 Color combo. I just love her color combinations, and will get to them all hopefully!




I used CTMH colors: Watermelon, Sweet Leaf, and Olive.
Stamps: Damask Designs, Polka Dot Basics, and Friends 'til the End (PTI), Boutique Borders, Say it in Style, Cottage Floral, Post Marked (CTMH)

Thanks for looking!

Happy Creating!

Stair Step Card

This was a fun card to make. The card is a standard size and the steps make it fun to add different elements. I made this card for my dad's birthday. The trees, the owl and the deer all remind me of him. As much as I HAD to have the stamp set they belong too, sadly, I haven't used it that much. But no regrets - I still love it and will use it again....sometime! That darling little fence came from one of Martha Stewart's punches - I love those!

School's coming to an end next week so I'll be working on some teacher gifts this weekend. Maybe I'll get around to posting them soon.

Happy Creating!

Tickled Pink Card

This card uses the I Am stamp set from the Tickled Pink special through CTMH last month. It came with papers too, but I opted to use Notebook papers and its color scheme. I like the pop of black, so I used ribbon for the flower stem which also gives the card a bit of texture too. I don't usually go for colors that aren't typical like that so I've stepped out of my box a little. The design is from Jeanette Lynton's Originals book. I've used many of the card sketches in the book and love flipping through it for inspiration too.

Happy Creating!

June 2009 CardMap

Here's my contribution for the sketch Becky sent me for June 2009 CardMaps. I love this Sassafras Lass Paper so much! It's just so happy and whimsical and the colors make me smile. The line is appropriately named, Happy Place. :-)

I added a tree from CTMH's Treetops Stamp Set, an owl from Sassafras Lass's Olivia and Pals set, and the tree branch and toadstools from Whoooo Loves You (also CTMH). The sentiment is from Stamping Bella. I sanded the 3 cardstock squares and did a little background stamping on the bottom two. The colors matched up pretty well with CTMH colors: Honey, Holiday Red, Dutch Blue and Clover Meadow.

Don't forget to check out all the sketches new this month at the PageMaps web site.

Happy Creating!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #2

I'm running late! Here's my creation for Dawn's Color Challenge this week.
More details to come...

ETA: Okay I made it....here's the swatch:



I love these colors! My card colors are a bit dark - lighting wasn't great but I was in a hurry! The "teal" is definitely a brighter teal in my card than it shows here. CTMH colors: Ocean, Sweet Leaf, Cocoa and White Daisy
Stamp Sets: Noteworthy, Confidential, Argyle Backgrounds (CTMH) and Teacher's Apple (PTI)
SU! Punch for the notebook edge, Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Buttons for CTMH and Basic Grey
Other: Sandpaper, White Embossing powder (for journaling lines)

Thanks for another great combo, Dawn!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #1

Another color challenge! I don't usually use bright colors in my crafting even though I think they are really pretty. I tend to use more autumn colors or earthy tones. Dawn McVey always does such a fabulous job with her color combos. I'm always amazed by her cards. So I was excited to see her first color challenge posted on her blog last week.

Here are the colors:

So pretty!

Here is what I did with the colors:



CTMH colors: Watermelon, Creme Brulee, Orange, and Cocoa
Stamp sets: Friends 'til the End and Around and About Sentiments (PTI) and Boutique Borders (CTMH)

I got out my Martha Stewart punch for the scallop border and my Nesties for the scallop circle. Buttons are from my stash.

I made my own random stamped paper using the smaller flower from Friends 'til the End and the Watermelon CS is stamped with one of the stamps from Boutique Borders.

I have some leftover random stamped paper that I will definitely be using soon. With the smaller scraps I made a 3x3 card:



Thanks Dawn for a great color challenge. I'm looking forward to more!

Get out your bright colors and create something today or soon...

Happy Creating!

Kim

Happy Spring!

I was drawn to the colors again this week in the Bellarific Friday challenge so I played along using Happy Forest. Click on the link above to see all the samples. The colors are so bright and cheery. I'm looking forward to seeing more color now that Spring has officially arrived. Time for flowers to bloom and the trees get their new leaves! Spring is my favorite season...tied with Autumn!

CTMH Cardstock colors are Sweet Leaf and Orange. I like how the cuttlebug swirls folder matches the swirly tree. The ribbon is Special Value ribbon from Michael's that I found on clearance for 25 cents! Gotta love a bargain!

Happy Friday, happy creating!

Kim

Stamping Bella Weekend Cards

Welcome Marvelous Monday! :-)

I worked on a couple cards over the weekend to practice my coloring. I bought a few more copic markers last week. I'm a novice and haven't looked at any tips or online tutorials so there's really nothin' fancy here, but I do love coloring with them. They are smooth and easy to use. Other markers can leave coloring lines that drive me bonkers. There's nothing like spending time coloring in an image and then not being happy with the results. Frustrating.

I'm looking forward to getting more copic colors!

My first card uses sweet little Daisy BittyBloom. She's so adorable.

CTMH colors: Honey, Twilight, White Daisy, Black and Sunny Yellow.
The ribbon is Maya Road. I used yellow stickles for the flower center.

I love my Nestabilities. I used the scalloped circle and my Coluzzle circle template too.

I reorganized my craft area a few weeks ago so my Cuttlebug is out and more convenient to use. I've probably used it more in the last couple weeks than over the last couple years I've had it. Crazy, isn't it? But when a tool isn't out or I don't have space where I'm working I usually won't bother. I'm so glad I got it out. It's a great crafting tool that adds so much without a lot of time or effort.

Next up is Minivanabella. She is me, although I am a shorter version and not as skinny.



I love Twilight and Sweet Leaf. I added in some pink for the girlies. I've been really drawn to cards with black accents so I tried that here too. On this image I mixed my copic markers with my CTMH markers and I also pulled out some watercolor pencils. The picture seemed pretty blah to me and then it hit me....ground the images! So I added some pavement and sky. That made a huge difference.

My Cuttlebug got a workout again for this card with the scalloped circle and I used an embossing folder on the black CS - it's just hard to see in the picture.

I used my new Around and About Sentiments stamp set from PTI for the circle sentiment and heart. It's another PTI favorite of mine. I stamped an image from Damask Designs in Twilight and colored it in with Sweet Leaf on the photo corner too. Those cute black flowers are from Stamping Bella. CTMH's Itty Bitty Brads fit the centers perfectly.

Until next time, happy creating!

Mojo Monday meets Bellarific Friday

Happy Friday!

I was able to complete another project in time for Bellarific Friday this week. The other participants can be found on Stamping Bella's Blog --> Bloggabella. I love the color combo. I used CMTH colors: Cranberry, Heavenly Blue, Black, Bamboo (although I think Colonial White might've matched Emily's colors better - it was too late once I discovered this...). I added Honey to color the flower. The challenge was to use the colors and add a button somewhere on the card. I also chose to use the sketch for this week on the Mojo Monday Blog.

I stamped my Houndstooth stamp (Hero Arts) on Cranberry CS and used Damask Designs (PTI) in Black ink on the Bamboo CS to make my own patterned paper. The sentiment also comes from Stamping Bella. My coloring needs a little help so I'm going to be working more on coloring images.





Happy Creating!

Mojo Monday March Contest

I won't get as far as saying I'm getting better at getting a project done in time for a contest. This week, everything just fell into place at the right time. Mainly, new stamps from PTI arrived a couple days ago (yeah!) and this sketch gave me the perfect reason to get them out and ink them up.

I love love love the new Friends 'Til The End Stamp Set. While I was shopping, I added Damask Designs, Dawn McVey's first stamp set designed by her. There are so many possibilities (as with so many sets!), that I couldn't resist.

Okay, so those are the two sets from PTI that I used on my card. I also used Simple Stitches (CTMH). I just finished up a layout the other day using one of CTMH's new paper packs, Emporium. The colors are so yummy. :-) So I used the same color scheme on my card: Vineyard Berry, Twilight, Crystal Blue, Sweet Leaf. I added Vineyard Berry ribbon and stickles to the middle of the flower. I popped the flower with foam dots and that cool label on which the flowers are random stamped is done using a Nestabilities die by Spellbinders.

The sketch:

and my card:

Over The Rainbow

I created this card for a color challenge contest last month. Although, it was more of just a color challenge for me since I wasn't able to get to it in time to be eligible for winning. It's a fun color combo and one that I'd like to use again with different stamps and papers. The stamp set is the first set I bought from Papertrey Ink - Beautiful Blooms. I love PTI stamps and the design team always comes up with such neat ideas and beautiful creations each month during releases. PTI just celebrated their 2nd Anniversary last month. Nichole Heady certainly knows how to throw a party. It was so much fun logging in each day for a couple weeks to see what she was up to and what was coming next. It's going to be another great year of stamps and guest designers and new products!




CTMH Colors I used: Twilight, Holiday Red, Creme Brulee, Olive Green

PTI colors:

Try something with these colors today (or tomorrow...or soon!)
Happy Creating!
Kim

Sweet Contest for January PageMaps

Becky Fleck is having a contest over on her blog. It was a great opportunity for me to get a LO done and enter a fun contest.

Here is the sketch:




And here is what I did with it:




This is a LO of my DS 2.5 yrs ago loving every moment of this cotton candy chow down. I don't let my kids have many sweets so when they get a special treat, they devour it. My daugther completely devoured hers, but Trevor here couldn't finish the last several bites. I would've happily eaten the leftovers 'cause I happen to love cotton candy too (and didn't get one for myself...) but as the pictures show, he didn't just grab bites with his fingers so the leftovers were sticky and gooey - yuck. No thanks! Anyway, I was happy to find this BasicGrey paper that had some touches of pink so I could actually get away with pink on my son's layout! Woo hoo!

I used waxy flax in some of the buttons, some old SEI letters, a Maya Road felt arrow, my circle coluzzle for the circle, some of CTMH's new clear shapes and stamped some of the papers with CTMH's new Boutique Borders and an older set, Spot-On-Backgrounds.

Thanks for looking. Have a great day!

Happy Creating!

Happy New Year!

I don't think it would be very realistic of me to say my New Year's resolution is to update my blog more often. I do have some things to share but uploading, editing and posting took a backseat to December activities and I'm sure they'll end up in that backseat again many times this year.

I thought I was being so good that last post...woo hoo...3 posts in one week or something like that. Unfortunately other things get neglected when I focus on crafting and blogging so finding that balance is key I suppose. Maybe that'll be my goal for 2009 - balance - just like Oprah.

So I created a SideMap for Becky Fleck this month. I wanted to do so much more but had to keep it simple in the end because of time.




This is my sweet daughter last month. I had her all dressed up, hair done and ready to get her picture taken. She wouldn't have anything to do with it. Try as he might, the photographer could not for the life of him turn her frown upside down. And he tried. He's really good but even the best can't make a determined kid change her mind. So we got home and I did my own photo shoot in our backyard. I think I managed to snap a few good shots, but didn't get that portrait setting I was wanting by any means. Oh well. I still ordered some of the serious pictures the photographer took so she can see just how stubborn she was as a toddler. They are pretty cute even though there's not a hint of happy in the pictures.

I love that Basic Grey papers don't need much embellishing since the patterns are usually so beautiful. I added a stamped heart, a chipboard bird (with another stamped heart on its body), the two tags and stamped a flourish background on the pink cardstock. Simple and speedy!

Go to PageMaps to check out all the new "maps" for the month!

I have more cards and such to share for another day. Come back....sometime in the near future.

Happy Creating!

Record Breaking

Two posts in one day and 3 cards! Wow. Don't stop me now. LOL.

Okay, so I had all the colors out for Marjorie's Color Challenge this last week (Outdoor Denim, Tulip, Ocean, Crystal Blue) and I always end up with scraps that are too big to throw away (I really don't throw any scraps away actually - not good for organization!). So I decided this week that I'd make at least 3 cards using the same color combo. I ended up checking out a couple other sketch challenges this week that I brought to my craft corner.

I love my Bellas but I haven't used them in a while so I hopped on over to the Bella Board and found the Bella Sketch Challenge for the week.

Here is BSC55:




Since my cuttlebug was out for my other card, I was motivated to use it again for this card. The embossed cardstock really makes a difference!

Besides Prezzie Bella, I used CTMH's Oct SOTM (Annotations) and Spot-on Backgrounds for the polka-dotted flower.

For my 3rd card in this color combo, I worked with the Mojo Monday Sketch 61 for the week.




I used an old CTMH booking set for the snowflakes, Magical Christmas and Say-it-in-Style Stamp Sets. I've become the proud owner of a couple Martha Stewart Punches recently and the scalloped border is one of those. I touched up the snowman's snowflakes with some stickles and those gems are from the $1 bin at Michael's (last year sometime...). The ribbon is from Michael's too (in the Christmas ribbon section - which I LOVE!).

Be sure to scroll down for my other post from today that shows my 3rd card.

Have a great weekend!!
Kim

Blog Candy Inspired

There's nothing like some fun free crafting goodies to get the creative juices flowing! Marjorie is celebrating 40K hits on her blog with some blog candy. Not only do I follow her blog because of her color challenges, but she always posts such inspiring cards and layouts. She's a mommy of two young girls and it is inspiring to see how much creating she is able to do too...and post! So here is my card based on her sketch. It also uses the colors she posted for her last color challenge. I used (shhhh, don't tell anyone) a SU! stamp. I only have it 'cause my sister gave it to me for my birthday. :-)



All CTMH cardstock here with the SU! stamp (I think it's called Big on Christmas). I ran the Tulip cardstock through my cuttlebug with the swiss dots embossing folder (love that folder!). I sanded the dots to expose the white core. I used a booking stamp set from a few years ago for the snowflakes on the Heavenly Blue CS and sanded the textured Ocean CS. I added some red and ocean ribbon that I probably got from Michael's and put an Outdoor Denim button on top. The stamped image is on pop dots to give the card some dimension.

Here is the sketch I followed in case you'd like to give it a try too.



Thanks for looking!
Happy Creating,
Kim

Love is Blooming

Another post so soon? Yes, I'm back with more and it's only been 2 days since my last post. We'll see how long I can keep it up!

I made this card for Marjorie's Color Challenge a week or so ago. The colors are: Tulip, Petal, Pansy Purple and Creme Brulee. I also used Taylor's Sketch TECC40 for the card layout.

Mostly CTMH products were used with a couple exceptions. I love the hearty tree from Stamping Bella . The sentiment from CTMH's Blooming Flourishes stamp set goes along with it perfectly. I also sprayed this card with the Maya Road Gold Metallic Mist. I love the shimmer!

Here's a closer picture of the shimmery goodness:



I have more to show you but I'm out of time for blog posting so come back soon and I will too!

Happy Creating,

Kim

Color Challenges

I need to get better at this blogging thing. Maybe when my youngest in another year older and in preschool. So it's been a month since my last post and I still haven't gotten to the last PageMaps book challenge. I don't think my friend has either so we don't feel too guilty. I haven't done much creating in the last month. I did try some, but when I did, I couldn't get much together and that's always frustrating. The color challenges always give me a kick start. I also picked up a couple card sketches from the blogosphere recently that got the wheels turning too. Now if my 2 year old would just nap instead of figure out ways to get out of her crib tent, I might be able to do some more!

I created the following cards for Marjorie's color challenges (MCCx).

First Up: MCC35 - Goldrush, Creme Brulee, Sweet Leaf, Smokey Plum




You can't really tell in the picture, but I sprayed the card with Maya Road's Gold Metallic Mist. It's really cool! It adds a neat shimmer to the paper as if you bought it that way.


Next up: MCC36 - Orange, Topiary, Pansy Purple, Sunflower and Black



I saw this really cute card on Jennifer McGuire's blog and wanted to try it out. I typically create the standard 4.25 x 5.5 inch card when cardmaking but I do like to try other folds and sizes every so often.

Supplies: Abudance Borders, Whoooo Loves You, Spot on Backgrounds and Hodge Podge Alpha sets. (All CTMH). I used my nestabilities for the scalloped circles and a black marker for the design inside the scallops on the front.

And the inside:

I've run out of time for posting. I'll try to come back before another month is up! Maybe tomorrow....

Thanks for coming by!
Happy Creating,
Kim

Weekly Challenge #4

My friend Debbie and I got behind a week on our Pagemaps Book Challenge. This is the challenge from 2 weeks ago and I still have yet to create a page from the last one we assigned ourselves. Life happens. Maybe I'll get to my scrapping table tonight.

I loved playing with the bright colors in this layout. I don't usually do bright, but they are cheery and fun, especially for a little girl who, in this picture, is one. :-)

The papers are from CTMH's retired paper pack, Retro Flowers. I've had these papers for a couple years, maybe even three now and finally used them. The flowers are a mix of CTMH, Maya Road and Prima. I love the felt birds from Maya Road (actually I love all the felt embellishments they make!). I added Stickles to the chipboard letters and stamped a few flourishes along with my wish for my daughter from CTMH's Sept '08 Stamp of the Month. It says, "May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy."

Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by!
Happy Creating!
Kim

Challenges

I started participating in color challenges earlier this year with a fellow Close To My Heart Consultant, Marjorie, over at Mommy Scraps. It was the first time I'd ever done paper crafting challenges and I was hooked! The color challenges really took me out of my box and helped me try things that I don't think I ever would've thought of on my own. Not only did I use color combinations that I wouldn't have used on my own, it also helped bring out stamp sets that had been sitting uninked in the drawer for far too long. There are days when I want to create yet I will sit at my desk wondering where to start. Most of us paper crafting hobbyists have so many papers, stamps, embellishments, etc. that I think it is just a bit overwhelming at times. When I do have time to create, it's usually not much time at one sitting, but I certainly don't want to spend that precious time staring at my various products wondering where to begin! Whether it's a color challenge or a sketch challenge or product challenge, it's a good starting point. And when I've finished my project, I not only have accomplished something, whether it's making a card for someone or scrapping some more pictures from my mountain of photos, I've also learned something new. And that feels good! It has often helped with my next project too. And it gets you going - sometimes all we need is a gentle kick and the ideas start flowing.

When my friend Debbie over at Creatively Speaking also bought the Pagemaps book earlier this month, she thought it'd be fun to have a weekly challenge, randomly picking a page and giving ourselves a week to complete it. So far we've done three and it's been great!

So if you find yourself staring at your stamps or papers, log on to one of the many challenge sites or sketch sites and get going! You'll have fun, I promise!

Marjorie has done 31 color challenges. I think I've participated in about 15 of them, with every intention of catching up on the ones I've missed. The nice thing about challenges is there really is no time frame (unless there is a contest associated with it and you want to try to win!). So I don't feel the pressure to keep on top of every challenge that interests me. I joined in Marjorie's 31st challenge this week with one of Close To My Heart's new colors. I hadn't opened the stamp pad yet and this gave me the perfect excuse.


I don't think the Star Struck stamp set will ever get old with me. I also used the July Word Puzzle, Happy Birthday, and Journaling Jots stamp sets. I used a star punch to punch out the small "honey" and the one "cocoa" stars and popped them for added dimension. Everything else looks self explanatory I think. I LOVE the SU! notebook paper punch. It's so very handy that you can line up your next punch to make even punches every time -very cool.

The color combo is Olive, Juniper, Honey and Cocoa. Great boy colors!



And now for our 2nd Papemaps sketch challenge:




I'm trying to use up my stash I've been hoarding for too long....

I got out the retired Building Blocks paper kit from CTMH. The ABC border is from Rusty Pickle (I've had it for a few years now) along with some stickers (ack, stickers!) that have also been sitting in a drawer...still in the packaging. No stamping on this one - I can't believe it! :-)

I even got out one of my DCWV quote stacks and found one that went well with the pictures of my sweet baby boy (who is not such a baby now at 5 years old). Once I had the pictures and supplies figured out, it didn't take me long to complete this LO. I had looked at the pictures several times before and wasn't sure how to lay them out, but seeing the sketch and knowing the paper I wanted to use kicked this one page creation into high gear.


Our 3rd challenge:

Stealing Snuggles. My 3rd child is not a snuggler. My husband and I are a little sad about this since she is our last. So when she fell back asleep on the couch after her nap one day, my hubby took advantage. And I was able to snap a few pictures of the rare moment.

I've been wanting to scrap these pictures for a few months now and without the sketch, I never would've done circles with 2 of the photos! Circles can be tough to incorporate in a LO but they are a lot of fun and bring a fresh look to your pages.

I painted, stamped, used buttons, brads, ribbons, felt stars, sheer letters, bling...lots here on this one!


I hope you enjoyed the products of my challenges this week! Now go out and challenge yourself today or tonight and get something done!


Happy Creating!
Kim