Simply Lit

We've lived in our house for over 10 years now, and during that time we've relied on our super lawnman, both for his hard work at keeping our property looking decent and for his friendship. He recently gave us a lamp (his landlord gave it to him, and he decided he didn't need it, and he knows I do a lot of crafting that strains my eyes) and yesterday I finally put it together and it's perfect! So I decided to make him & his wife a special card. I was literally finishing it up when he came by... my husband spoke to him while I finished it up! I wanted to keep it really simple yet elegant & fun, and I'm pleased with the result.

Due to a embossing tragedy, this plastic embossing folder has a big dent in it; but I really like its "electric" design, so I went ahead & used the embossing folder on a piece of letterpress paper and then cut an aperture with a circle die. I backed it with another piece of letterpress paper before inking it.

I inked a Hero Arts gradient background stamp with drops of Sunshine alcohol ink, spritzed it, and stamped directly on the piece several times.

The light bulb was cut on my Silhouette Cameo from glittery blue adhesive vinyl; I added the heart-shaped element using SCAL software.

The sentiment is from the Let It Shine set from Verve Stamps (you can see my many uses of this set here), and I inked it with QQ Navy chalk ink & TH Faded Jeans distress ink to give it full coverage over the yellow ink.

Had lots of fun with this project, and my new lamp really helped too!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Country View Crafts' Challenge: 30 mins or under
Less Is More #317: Sketch 19
Ooh La La Creations: Embossing (dry)

Thank you for visiting,

Sunny Verve

I used a Recollections stencil and the Let It Shine set from Verve Stamps (you can see my many uses of this set here) to make this sunny card:

The zig-zag strip was made with scrap paper using SEI's Patchwork Chevron Technique.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Mojo Monday: Sketch #446
Verve Stamps: Tropical Chic

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Summer Coffee Mojo

I am a big coffee drinker; I like to brag that I drank coffee way before it was cool (the pre-Starbucks days) and my friends tease me about my preference for black iced coffee, no matter the weather! So when I saw the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Summer Blog Hop, I just had to make a card and hop along.

I was also inspired by Mojo Monday Sketch #400 and Verve Stamps' Eat Me, Drink Me challenge. I used a sentiment & two sun stamps from Verve's wonderful Let It Shine set (you can see my many uses of this set here) to make a summery card.

The sun stamps are heat-embossed in yellow. I used an SU! coffee bean stamp to heat-emboss some white, whimsical clouds. The birds are from an ArtsyFartsy stamp set, simply stamped in black.

The cup is from a a Heartfelt Creations die set. I stamped the sentiment in bronze onto the off-white mulberry paper. The doily was cut from a coffee bean-patterned DP with a Sizzix/Eileen Hull die in my BigShot. I backed it with cardboard from actual coffee cup sleeves.

I notched the corners on the blue paper with my favorite Marvy corner punch, and added a slight frame of with copper paper.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Amusing Challenge: Anything Goes + no digis
Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog Hop: Summer-themed Coffee, Tea &/or Cocoa project

Mojo Monday: Sketch #400
Verve Stamps June Inspiration Challenge: Eat Me, Drink Me

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting, and be sure to check out the gorgeous projects at the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Summer Blog Hop!

Simply Firefly

One of my favorite things about summer is the beautiful fireworks each evening, in the form of lightning bugs. They are much quieter than the human version of fireworks! I decided to get a little artsy and make this firefly shaker card:

The shaker is made from the plastic safety cover off of a Fiskars paper-trimmer blade...so glad I kept one! It has a little bump in the middle, but I felt like that gave the "body" some dimension. I filled it with a chunky glow-in-the-dark glitter (Martha Stewart brand). A lightning bug got into the house the other day and I wanted to recreate the surprise of its glow in a dark room. I couldn't get a good photo of it in the dark, but it does glow!

The wings and antenna were cut on my BigShot with a Memory Box die. The top wings, antenna, and body background are a shiny black paper (Recollections), and the bottom wings are vellum.The bases were cut with a Spellbinders die (included the base card; I cut it from a folded piece of paper.) The top is a shiny green (Recollections again), and it's glued  onto a black piece that I embossed with the die, cut out, and decorated with Holographic embossing powder (Sweet Stamps). I added some red Stickles as a border, reminiscent of a firefly's coloring.

The sentiment stamp is from the Let It Shine set by Verve Stamps. I heat-embossed it with a glittery white, and added a sprinkle of the white and holographic glitters to the card. That was supposed to look "whimsical" but I'm afraid it just looks messy!

I'm always inspired by our garden, and I'm glad I finally got around to making an homage to these real-life fairies of summer.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cut it Up #48: Twilight
Just Add Ink #221: Just Add Shakers
Simon Says Stamp: Shake It
Tando Creative Challenges: Come Fly with Me

Thank you for visiting,

Shine On! -- Anything Goes at Sunshine Mail

It's time for a new Sunshine Mail Foundation Challenge (November 15 - December 1). Our theme is "Anything Goes" and the only real rule is that you send in at least one card (it doesn't have to be the card you enter in the challenge; Donation guidelines here).   

We're also having a big giveaway to collect lots of cards for a bunch of request special requests. We all make so many cards, we can definitely send in one or two to give a child a smile! You can enter the giveaway here.

Our sponsors are Di's Digi Downloads and Big Heads Stamps, two really fun digi stamp companies, and I used Renoir by Big Heads:

The outer frame is modified from the Frame 2 cutting file that came free with my Silhouette software. I used baker's twine to sew the border onto the frame.

I digitally placed the polka dot background (digi paper by Mel Stampz) into the image, but I also fussy-cut the image out, for a bit of dimension. The umbrellas are printed on a shiny white paper, same as the outer frame. I colored the image with Copics, and heat-embossed the sentiment (Verve Stamps) in gold. The cloud is popped up with foam tape.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crazy 4 Challenges: Let's frame it
Ooh La La Creations: Stitching
The Paper Girls: Cut it out! (Die or Fussy Cutting - This has both)

Thank you for visiting,and hope you'll join the Sunshine Mail Challenge,

Mountains & Wookiees

I could not resist the Pin it, Spin It, Win It! challenge at Opus Gluei. Basically, you link up a new project inspired by something you saw/pinned on Pinterest. I was looking for some paper background ideas, and found this great image, pinned from Say Yes to Hoboken:

Source: sayyestohoboken.com via CG on Pinterest

Like the person I repinned this from, I was especially drawn to those lace-covered mountains. I have some paper doilies in my stash, so I hand-cut some triangles from scrap paper and folded bits of doily on top. The lace border is adhered on top with double-sided tape, which I then covered with glitter. The sentiment is from a Verve Stamps set, heat-embossed in hot pink and cut out with an IO die.

Cupcake Inspirations #218

I'm entering this card into the following fab challenges:
Card and Scrap: Use lace or ribbon
Creative Card Crew #40: The Great Outdoors
Cupcake Inspirations #218: Photo Inspiration (Pink, Yellow, Green)
Opus Gluei Challenge #160: Pin it, Spin It

Update: I was the random winner of the goodie prize pack for Opus Gluei Challenge #160, and also made the Top 5 for Cupcake Inspirations #218.

***
But I couldn't stop thinking about those sweet little Eggs... I felt like they really wanted to inspire me! And so they did...

I have a special place in my heart for decorated eggs...You might remember the hanging teacups I made. I still had some of the plastic eggs from that project, so I made... a Wookiee treat egg:

The egg is actually orange, so I painted it with brown acrylic paint. Then I used a ZIG glue pen to apply Flower Soft to it, and glued a painted button on the bottom. The eyes are plastic bubble gems, and I used Glossy Accents to adhere them so that they would really stick. Then I used some ZipDry glue to add a ribbon "bandolier."

In the spirit of the pin that inspired both of these projects, that's my Galaxy Paper Tots matchbox playset in the background. Many thanks to everyone who inspired these projects, especially the folks at Opus Gluei.


Thank you for visiting,

A Day at the Shore with Sunshine Mail

Happy July! It's time for a new Sunshine Mail Foundation Challenge (July 1-15). Our theme is "Birds" and the only real rule is that you send in at least one card (it doesn't have to be the card you enter in the challenge; Donation guidelines here).

Besides this challenge, we hope you'll join us for the Sunshine Mail Foundation Blog Hop the week of July 8 -12. You can hop some or all of those days; there will be a new sponsor each day, plus new DT projects for you to check out.

Also, the Sunshine Mail Foundation is July's featured organization for Split Coast Stamper's July Cards for a Cause Drive/Challenge.

I used Heidy and Little Bird by our sponsor, MilkCoffee Stamps:

I cut the image out with deckle scissors, and colored it with Copics. The card itself is a 4.25 inch circle, which I cut on my Cricut was the Camping Critters cartridge. I cut the orange "sun" with a Sizzix doily die.

I made the "sand" by inking up the paper with Whisper White ink and heat-embossed with Brown Sugar powder. 

Several years ago, Mom sent me a sheet of chipboard birds. I was thrilled, but promptly put it away and have only used it once since. It seemed perfect for this project. I painted it with white acrylic paint, and stamped the Verve Stamps sentiment in Memento brown ink.

I used some actual fishing net that Mom sent. It's heavy, so I adhered it with Glossy Accents.

Fetch-a-Sketch #53

{PIN}spirational Challenge #63

Inspiration/Challenges:
Creative Creations Challenge Blog: Shaped Cards
Fetch-a-Sketch Challenge: Sketch #53
Lexi's Creations: Summer Holidays
MilkCoffee Challenge: Summer Fun
Paper Crafting Journey: Anything but a Square
{PIN}spirational Challenge #63: Photo Inspiration
Use It Tuesdays #59: Bring On The Sunshine + Hoarded supplies (I've had the chipboard bird for years)
Whimsy Inspiration: Shaped Cards


Update: This won the prize for Fetch-a-Sketch #53!



Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join this week for the Sunshine Mail Foundation Challenge,

April Showers bring May Flowers

This week at Pile It On we're working off of the theme "April Showers bring May Flowers", which certain has been the weather's theme here! We have plenty of April flowers already, the yard is speckled with purple and yellow. 

Our challenge is sponsored by Gingerloft, so I used her Flower Field digi stamp:

The current Gingerloft Challenge is Torn & Distressed, so I made a grassy border with torn strips of Core'Dinations cardstock. I sanded it, and ink-distressed it with Wild Wasabi (SU!).

The top rainy border is made up of the negative parts from the Die-namics Notebook Edge die by MFT. I cut it on several blue papers (Core'Dinations again), and sanded and inked the pieces with Faded Jeans distress ink by Ranger.

I colored the image with Copics and Sakura glaze pens. I added a little Barely Banana SU! ink to the edges of the white background and the cloud die cut (Impression Obsession). The sentiment is from the Let It Shine set by Verve Stamps, and I stamped it in blue Brilliance ink.

The butterfly and flower and wood embellishments by Prima, colored with matching Copics and Sakura glaze pens. Love these!

This card was inspired by many fun challenges (see below), including the Support Your Favorite Charity challenge Sweet Pea Stampers; I chose to support the Sunshine Mail Foundation by sending in this card. Here's the inside, all signed and ready to go:

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Art Impressions Stamps Challenge #107: Layer it Up
2. Crafty Calendar: Sunshine & Showers
3. Cute Card Thursday #266: Can't Stop the Rain
4. Die Cuttin' Divas #112: Flowers + Die Cut
5. Gingerloft Challenge: Torn and distressed
6. Papertake Weekly: Weather
7. QKR Stampede: Favorite Things ("droplet" die cut, wood embellishments, sentiment, leaf ribbon)
8. Stampin' For The Weekend: Die Cuts/Punches
9. Stampin With The Dragon: Spring Has Sprung
10. Sweet Pea Stampers: Support Your Favorite Charity (Sunshine Mail)

Thank you for visiting and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Arizona colors

I was really intrigued by this week's "Your State" challenge at Speedy Fox and Friends, so I tried my hand at an idea my friend had while he was visiting. I have some cut-out masks from a cityscape project, and I used that to make a mountain like you see in Arizona. Although I now live in Maryland, I consider Arizona my other home... that's where my folks live, and where I was living when I met my friend. I used the same wood-stamping technique that I used on my Portlandia card to make the little "quail".

Inks: SU! Barely Banana, ColorBox, Versamark watermark ink, Versamark chalk ink
Wood bird used as stamp: Prima
Stamps: sentiment from Verve's Let It Shine set, cactus from My Favorite Things' Fred Bear Out West set, bubble border by Annabelle Stamps
Papers: SU! Whisper White, Core'Dinations
Embossing Powders: ZING! Brown Sugar, Lemonade Scentz by ColorBox  
Dies/Cutting Files: Card frame and Cityscape/Mountains designed in SCAL and cut on my Cricut, Banner die from a•muse studio, Button from SU! Embosslit, scallop scissors for corner rounding

Inspiration/Challenges:
Annabelle Stamps Challenge #157: Sketch
Color Throwdown #231: Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade
CAS-ual Fridays #92: Stamp your own background
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 148: Your State

Thank you for visiting,

Pilin' on the Sunshine

This week at the Pile It On challenge we're groovin' the on theme Sunshine.I really like this time of year in Maryland... Spring is starting to show her signs but it's still definitely winter. We haven't gotten a ton of snow this year, but I like the occasional snowfalls (that don't require shoveling)! And I especially love sunshine in the winter... the sky seems bluer, and of course there's no sunshine like sunshine off of snow.

Anyhoo, soon we'll be having some nice bike-riding weather, so I used our sponsor MilkCoffee Stamps' Bicycle with Flower Basket to make this Spring-y card:

I colored the image with Copics, and used blender solution and some Aida cloth to create a pattern on the basket. Using Glossy Accents, I added Flower Soft's "Spring" mix to the flowers on the bike.  


The sentiment is from the Let It Shine set by Verve Stamps, and I stamped it in black Brilliance ink (such a gorgeous, true black!).

For the background, I used a shiny black paper (Recollections) as the backing for the DPs (Jillibean Soup and Graphic 45), and machine-stitched a zig-zag border in white.

I used a sponge dauber to distress the edges of the blue pieces with Faded Jeans and the white pieces with Antique Linen inks. I added Key Lime Stickles to the large star.
For the green "ribbon" I heat-embossed a Chevron pattern (Viva Las VagasStamps) with Peacock embossing powder. I finished off the card with a bicycle charm from Prima.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafts and Me: Add a Charm
Digi Makeover Challenge: Anything Goes
Fetch-a-Sketch #44: Sketch
Penny's Paper-Crafty: Anything goes
Sparkle & Sprinkle February Challenge: Color
Stamp n Doodle: Anything goes
Whimsical Designs: Going Green

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Wingin' it with Card Cupids - Week 2

It's the second week of Card Cupids' "Wings" Challenge, sponsored by Wings and Willows, and I just had to use their adorable Rainy Day digi stamp again. This time, I colored it with watercolor crayons.

The background & sentiment were made with the Let It Shine set from Verve Stamps. This is such a great set to use for backgrounds; in this case, I heat-embossed the suns in white. I stamped the sentiment in blue and then heat-embossed the sun in transparent yellow on top.

Inspiration/Challenges:

Alphabet Challenge: L … Lace

Craftymess: Sun or Moon

Digistamps 4 Joy: Weather

House That Stamps Built: Outdoors/wildlife

Man, I've been feeling like that duck these past few days ... especially yesterday, when it poured all darn day! I'm not really complaining, though, because it did bring some lovely, cool weather. And after the huge storms a few weeks ago, it was practically a drizzle! 

Update: This card won the random prize draw for the Weather Challenge at Digistamps 4 Joy. Thank you!

Wishing you sunny days,

Here comes Summer! - OSAAT Challenge #111

Starting today, I'll be participating weekly instead of biweekly with my wonderful teamies at the One Stitch at a Time challenge blog. Looking forward to working with more fun StitchyBear Store images!

This week our challenge theme is Here comes Summer! I used Boy with Flowers by Sylvie Stamps:

This card uses no designer paper; I created all the BPs myself, using the Let It Shine set from Verve Stamps. I heat-embossed the sun/flower images in Translucent Yellow (Stampendous), and colored the flowers with Sharpies.I based my color palette on that pretty printed ribbon. I distressed the pieces with Mustard Seed distress ink (Ranger).

Hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time for our Here comes Summer! challenge.

For entries using a StitchyBear Store product (be sure to add a # after your name when entering), the prize is 3 Promarkers from Creative Craft World. You're welcome to enter the challenge using different products, but instead you'll be entered into the draw to win a $3 coupon to StitchyBear. Can't wait to see your projects!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Craft Your Days Away Challenge #44: Just for Children
Craftymess Challenge #7: Distressing & Embossing (Dry or Heat)
Creative Card Crew Challenge #9: Ribbon
EmergencyCrafters Challenge: Bold & Bright

i{heart}2stamp April Challenge: Sketch
One Stitch at a Time Challenge #111: Here Comes Summer!
Pixie Dust Studio Challenge #124: Embossing
Poodles Parlour Challenge: Anything Goes
Scrapalicious Challenge: Flower Power

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting!