Cute Card Thursday - By the Seaside

Well, today is the last Thursday in July, so it is my last guest design post for Cute Card Thursday.  This week's theme is "By the Seaside."  I bought a Fiskars wave border punch a few years ago for our Pacific Coast trip layouts.  I thought it would be good to pull it out again for this card.  I used some papers I got from Hobby Lobby years ago (seem to be a version of MME with a Hobby Lobby exclusive color palette) to make this ocean themed layout.  After following the OWH Sketch #181, I realized the card was just too plain.  So I remembered how to origami fold a fish to add to the card.  And I think it adds the perfect touch.  Now jump on over to Cute Card Thursday to see the other great projects from the design team!

Cute Card Thursday - Oranges and Lemons

Time for another Cute Card Thursday challenge!  This time it is "Oranges and Lemons."  I decided to go with the colors orange and yellow for this one.  I found another fun OWH sketch to use, and then I went digging through my orange and yellow papers.  I found a nice variety that I thought would be perfect for a sunburst look.  And then there was the yellow and orange grid that was perfect for the background.  Next was to find what to put in the middle of the burst.  And this Hello Sunshine sticker from Echo Park fit perfectly.  The pop of blue makes it stand out a little with all of the yellows and oranges elsewhere.

Cute Card Thursday - Good Luck!

Here is my card for this week over at Cute Card Thursday.  The theme is good luck charms.  Since i didn't have anything western in my collection (for horse shoes), I did a little googling to find other good luck charms.  And I came across the lady bug.  I thought a lady bug card would be so easy and cute to do.  I decided to make it a little more mature by using some WP papers in red and black.  I made the bug by cutting two big circles (one in red and one in black) and then a little black circle piece for the head.  The hardest part was the antenna!  I knew without them it wouldn't look right.  But, they are so small it was very hard to do.  I free cut them and glued them, but i am not perfectly happy with them (although it is still cute).  And once again I used a OWH sketch for this card, and I will mail all of them out probably next month.

Now it is your turn!  Create a card (or other paper craft) with some sort of goog luck charm and link up!

Cute Card Thursday!

I am the guest designer over at Cute Card Thursday this month!  Thanks to a sick kid and then travels, I forgot to get my post schedule for the first reveal (oops).  Cute Card Thursday has fun challenges every Thursday.  Although card is in their title, they welcome any projects that fit the theme for the week.  So, you should definitely join in!  The challenge for this week is Stars and/or Stripes!  And here is what I created:

I used one of the Operation Write Home sketches for this card.  Since I am not great at sending cards, I wanted to make cards that would go to a good use.  So each card I make this month as a guest designer will go to OWH!  For this card, I used some EP Ties and Seasons papers.  I wanted something that was a little patriotic with blue and red without screaming Americana.  And I think these papers worked perfectly for that.

Now it is your turn!  Don't forget to link up by Wednesday night for your chance to win a fun prize!

Beach Wall Art

Today over at Practical Scrappers, we are showing off ways to use scallops.  So, I pulled out my Kiwi Lane scallop templates and created this cute wall art for my kids' room.  I used some scrap 6x6 papers in blues, yellows, and tans, and created a beach-y background.  Then I used some kraft paper and my Silhouette and cut out the letter B and the frame.  I wanted something summer-y for them, and this turned out perfectly.

I am also entering it into the Paper Girls Challenge #33- The Beach!

learning - A LGS Reveal

 This week's amazing sketch over at Let's Get Sketchy is by the amazing Bev Code.  I love that it has a mix of hexagons, banners, and arrows!

I recently sorted my papers by color, and decided I had a TON of blue papers.  So, I started this layout looking through my drawer with turquoise paper.  I was immediately drawn to the gingham paper with the pink, blue, and green on it (the back side is a blue and white polka dot).  Then I remembered Rochelle's color challenge for this month, and thought I could really make this work!  I pulled out some of my MLS papers to go with the MME Hip Hooray paper and the dug out a piece of light pink NS paper to use for my hexagons.  For the banner, I just used scraps of the hexagons - each triangle is about 1/6th of a hexagon - and stitched them together with twine.

For the arrows, I decided to try stamping them.  I made an arrow template out of scrap cardstock, and then I used my MME border stamp and the three colors of ink to make the arrows.  I topped them off with a piece of the gingham paper and some twine to bring it all together.   The journalling is about what I have learned from my kids - how they have made me grow in the last 5+ years.   The first ever S.W.A.T challenge made me dig deep and really think about myself.

For the embellishment cluster, I used some Crate Paper pieces mostly as well as a few other random pieces I could find.  The title I cut using my Silhouette and the French script font.

Design Team News and a Tractor Birthday Card

Time for some exciting news - I have been selected to continue on the Use It Tuesday design team as a member of Term 4!  We have a lot of fun exciting challenges coming up, and I hope you will join us in them!

And now for my most recent creation - a birthday card for a five year old that loves tractors!

I used MLS Simple Life for this one.  The farm papers are just perfect for a card for this little boy.  And the tractor stamp worked perfectly as well!  I stamped it using Stampin Up Wild Wasabi ink that my MIL got me for Christmas.  It is close enough to John Deer Green to keep this little guy happy.  And the sentiment is a Stampin Up stamp she also got me.
As for the design, it is based off of this month's sketch over at Artful Delights (ASC #28).  I love the simplicity of it - it made for a quick card for this little boy.

And just before I posted this I noticed one mistake - I didn't finish fussy cutting the popped up tractor!  There is extra white around the front wheel.  Oh well.  I don't know if they will notice.  I will just blame my kids wanting my "extra" tractor pieces while I was working on this card for it!

Let's Get Sketchy #27

I know what you are thinking - how does she have the layout done when it was just posted seconds ago?  Well, in case you missed it, I made the design team for Let's Get Sketchy!  I am on the A team, so my layouts will be on the first and third Mondays.  Here is the first sketch and my take on it:

I used Echo Park Times and Seasons with a random piece of solid cardstock for this one.  I added some twine (actually it is more of a yarn for dish clothes), black thread (for the stitched circles) and a Stampin' Up button.  The title is done out of EP Times and Seasons alphas and Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type.  Oh, and that firetruck is a button I had around.  It was the perfect finishing touch to the layout.

Now, it is time for you to create!  If you need more inspiration, head over to the Let's Get Sketchy blog and see what the other Team A members created!

Use It Tuesday - Embossing

My first DT team challenge over at Use It Tuesday is embossing.  Well, I am not a huge card marker, so I don't have a dry embossing machine.  I did have some embossing powders at some point (bought pre-2000), but I think I threw them away.  So, I had to get a little creative.  I did a Google search, and found this idea.  

You punch out a punch of circles (or other shapes),  and you layer them on your paper to give an embossed look.  To save myself a huge headache, I decided to randomly place the circles.  I just covered teh background paper with glue and threw them on.  Then I moved them as necessary to get a fairly even coverage.  I put the larger circles on first and then let some of the smaller circles add a third level of dimension.  Once I had my background, I got to work figuring out how to finish the card.  I used the MCM #90 sketch.  I had the grey tag in a box of random "pieces," which gave me the idea to go with a blue and grey color scheme.  I then used some Studio G washi (from WalMart) and a scalloped border cut out of white paper for the line across the middle.  The sentiment was part of the paper pack that I got the background paper from, and I finished it off with a button and some Twinery Twine. 

So how long have I had these pieces in my stash?  The tag and blue paper/sentiment I got from my MIL in September (so 10 months ago).  She bought them at a yard sale, who knows how ancient they really are.  The button is at least 1 year old.  I have a ton of white buttons, some from before I was married (almost 10 years ago) and some from two bags of buttons I bought from Oriental Trading last year.  The twine I got last fall too, and I have a HUGE roll of grey.  Luckily because I have so much, I don't hoard it a ton.  But the washi I am hoarding.  It is fairly new (April maybe), but this was the first time I had use this color (and I have only used a tiny bit of the others too because I don't want to "waste" it).

Exciting News!

Guess what?

I was selected to be on a design team!

Can you guess which blog I am designing for for the next 6 months?

Well, it is Use It Tuesday!

I have done some of their challenges before.  It is a great challenge blog that gives you the push you often need to use what you have already in your stash.  I know most of you, if you had to admit it, would agree that you hoard scrapbooking/paper crafting supplies.  It is just so hard not to.  They are just so pretty and cute and fun!  But, the whole point in buying them is to use them (instead of them collecting dust on a shelf).  So, the ladies over at Use It Tuesday have a challenge twice a month.  There normally aren't any prizes because well, they don't want to add to the hoarding problem.  But, we pick two awesome projects submitted from each challenge to spotlight, and a project is selected at random as the "winner" as well.  The winner gets to join the design team in preparing a project for the next challenge.

So, get ready to come join us in the challenges!  I can't wait to see what you create.

And without further ado, here are the other ladies I am designing with:

Heather Bolli (DT Coordinator) http://landofstamping.wordpress.com/

Tess Davis http://bradsmom06.blogspot.com/

Tammy Lever http://tampatha.wordpress.com/

Haven Amacher http://www.haven-amacher.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Umpleby http://sucw.blogspot.com/

Caroli Schulz http://chileanhappyscrapper.blogspot.com/

Danielle de Konink http://picsandcheesecake.blogspot.nl/

Marjolaine Walker http://www.twelvestonesscrapbooking.blogspot.ca/

Cathy Clouston http://paperribbonthread.blogspot.ca/

Victoria Lau http://rainemomentstogether.blogspot.ca/

and:

Sami:  http://www.thescrapmaster.com/

Siobhan:  http://the-monkey-hut.blogspot.com/

ScrapbookSteals PM Power Team

I decided to "throw my hat" into the design team call for ScrapbookSteals.  Since the call is super easy (email in 5 of your favorite projects and your blog url), I thought it wouldn't hurt to try.  I am not holding my breathe because I know a lot of talented ladies are applying, and there are only three spots open.  If I don't get selected this time, I will just try again next time!

I emailed in my five projects over a week ago, but I thought I would share them with everyone as well.

Card using Authentique Uncommon

Altered picture frame using MME Alphabet Soup

Tag mini album using MME Miss Caroline

8x8 layout using Fancy Pants Little Sprout and black matting

12x12 layout using MME Fine and Dandy, Stella and Rose, and Ooh La La