PTI and CPS #153

It's been awhile since I participated in a CPS sketch and this one was right up my alley! I chose to work with Erin's colors for this challenge and whipped up this card using the CPS sketch.

I love simple cards although I generally have trouble with all the "white space." This one suits me though and I'm pleased with it! All PTI supplies.

Thanks for stopping by!

CPS104

Good morning everyone!
Just a quick post for CPS 104. I am not sure these colors in these amounts are working out for me, but it was fun to challenge myself to go a little nuts anyway! I used Background Basic: Retro for the yellow strip and Damask Designs for the main image. Sentiment came from Mixed Messages. The green colored glitter isn't correctly showing in this photo, it's a bit brighter IRL. All products except buttons and glitter come from PTI.

Happy Thursday.

CPS #102

It's been quite a while since I've done a CPS sketch. I used to participate regularly, but had fallen off the blogging bandwagon for a while after my Dad died. The most recent challenges on Nichole's blog for Papertrey Ink have induced me to get back up on that creative horse and have a go at things. I don't have any photo editing software on my home computer, so the past few cards I've posted have been a bit off color-wise, but this one is the worst! It's vintage cream CS base, with PTI patterned paper and Lavender moon cs. I did some paper piecing with the pram (baby carriage) and was happy with how it turned out. Simple cards aren't my first love, but I occasionally pull them off!

Supplies
Paper: Vintage cream, lavender moon, kraft CS (PTI), patterned paper (PTI)
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings (PTI)
Ink: black (Ranger)
Accessories: cream lace (MM), scallop scissors (Provocraft), white gel pen

CPS #48

Can you believe that CPS has had 48 different sketches? Amazing! I used this week's sketch to make two quick cards for some friends.

The first uses a BG stamp (polks dots) by CHF, a small piece of PP by DCWV, and an old Sizzix die-cut that I just had to have and never used! I used prismacolor pencils to add some shading to the leaves and smoothed it with gamsol. The SUPER LARGE green twill came from a package of Martha Stewart pillows that I bought a few years ago, isn't it fun? I have about 30 yards of the stuff!
The second card is a bit more traditional.

I used SU's linen BG stamp, RubberStampede's Cherry blossom branch and Verve Visual's sentiment stamp! I used a blender pen to color the image, popped up three of the flowers (hard to see), and cut the entire image into three pieces before mounting it. Added some SU ribbon and called it done.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Laugh and Live more!

Do you ever have a great idea in mind but can't quite execute it onto paper? Well, this is one of those times. I know how I wanted this card to look...but it didn't! *chuckle*
I started with the CPS sketch for this week, and then dug out the main image I wanted to use and a piece of PP (7 Gypsies). I was having trouble deciding on colors and tried 3 or 4 different ones. This card was torn apart so many times last night, I think it might have identity issues! But I'm leaving it alone for now, because I DO like it...it's just not what I started out to create. Something about that blue book-plate is not right.
I love this main image stamp used here. I try to reserve it for special occasions so I don't get bored with it! It is from a sheet of UM rubber by PaperBag Studios, called "Laugh". I last used it here for a swap in February.
Sentiment is by TAC. All CS is Bazzill, Impress ink, Palette Hybrid ink and versamark were all used, ribbon is from my stash, button brads from MM, sponging, piercing, and my Sizzix were also used.

I'm wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, it's FRIDAY!

Entering another contest...

I actually had no intention of enter the CPS/CardMaker Magazine contest, but this card came to me in a dream. Seriously! I dream of card layouts frequently, and Tuesday night I dreamed up this card. Strange, because I'm not what you would call Rah Rah Patriotic. I'm guessing that I had seen snippets of paper while making other cards and my brain remembered them, and assembled them in some sort of order!

Well who am I to ignore my dreams?! *grin*
ETA: Photo has been updated and gold chocolate wrapper covered heart button has been replaced. Sorry to disappoint those who loved the chocolate wrapper! *wink*

Can I tell you how difficult it was to cover those chipboard letters with Very Vanilla CS? Goodness! I've covered chipboard with paper lots of times, but never CS before. What a pain! It's so much harder to cut out! The stars are CS covered chipboard too. The PP is by Flair designs, lacing brads from Oriental trading Co., gold elastic cord from SU!, card base and blue CS by Bazzill. The small heart was a button that I covered with shiny gold paper and laced some red embroidery thread through. The shiny gold paper is from my stash...it is actually the wrapper from baking chocolate squares! Tee hee. I wanted to age things a bit, so I distressed the edges of both main pieces and also the chipboard letters with distress ink. I think it helps to tie in the aged bronze brads.

So are YOU going to enter?

Am I in a color rut??

I seem to be reaching for pink and green more often than not lately. See evidence here, here, here, here, here, and here! I don't even really like pink, but it's been my "go to" color lately. It seems to pair well with every other color I grab and that makes it easier to be creative.This card is another based on CPS' sketch #24. I used my Papertrey green thumb set, and one stamp from SU!'s Think Happy Thoughts set. PP is from Chatterbox, velvet ribbon from MM, diamond EP from Joann, Ink is Versamagic chalk, and Ranger archival.

SIDE NOTE: Our family is going on vacation tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll be able to post until I return. We'll see how much access I have to a computer. *wink*

Two for Tuesday, CPS and childhood.

Surprise! I have 2 cards to show you today...amazing, isn't it? The first is for CPS sketch #24. I really do like sketch challenges as I think that's my hardest decision when creating a card--the layout. When I first saw this LO, I knew immediately what stamp set I wanted to use. (hee hee, get it? *slapping my knee*) This card came together in about 35 minutes!

I actually used three different stamp sets for it; Wanted, Starstruck, and Think Happy Thoughts, all from SU!. Throw in some touches of silver (EP, photo corners and ribbon slider buckle), some sponging, a piece of PP perfect for the whole ensemble, some soft velvet ribbon, and some CS from Bazzill, and you can see why it came together so quickly.

NOTE: If anyone can tell me who makes this PP, I'd be eternally grateful. I like it a lot, but have no idea where I got this piece.

The second one I've actually been working on for 6 days. Crazy, I know, but it wouldn't come together the way I wanted, so I kept putting it aside and coming back to it later.

It's a tribute to childhood secrets. You know, the ones you tell your bestest friend and hope that she keeps forever? I know my BF has kept some crazy secrets of mine for more than 20 years! Not sure why it looks all wonky on the right side, but it isn't really IRL. The boy image is from Paperbag Studios, one of my all-time favorite stamp companies, the word MUSE is from Ma Vinci's Reliquary, and the sentiment and measuring tape BG are from my huge stash of UM rubber that I have no idea on the origins of! Brown ribbon is SU!, yellowish is from my stash along with the key and keyhole. The crown is from ArtChix Studio.

CPS #23 and the LAUNCH!

Just a simple card cooked up last night in about 30 minutes. My brain couldn't wrap around this week's CPS sketch very well, so I had to back up and K.I.S.S. I think I was trying to overdo it with "extras" and too many embellishments. Last night I decided to start over and use different stamps and paper and keep it simple. It worked!

Actually, when I was digging through scraps of CS, I saw these three colors together and it was one of those light bulb moments, you know? "WOW, those are kinda funky, my brain said, why not"? So, in keeping with the goofy yet fun colors I decided to use these stamps from SideShowStamps.
I stamped the circus elephant on the green, and again on light pink and dark pink. I cut out the light pink one and adhered her to the green, then cut out her decorative throw from the dark pink and pieced it on top. I colored some parts in with white gel pen to make it stand out more too.
I stamped a diamond BG (Hero arts) onto the pale pink panel with versamark ink to keep with the fun theme and doodled around the burgundy CS with my white gel pen. The strip of PP matches perfectly, doesn't it? I found that in the scrap pile too, but I'm not sure who makes it. After adding the pink brads (MM) and the white ribbon with the sentiment on top I declared it done!

TA DA!........................................

So, I'm sure by now most of you have read about the unveiling of the new stamp designs and online store, right? It was announced yesterday that VERVE VISUAL is the mastermind of none other than our very own Julee Tillman! Go here to read about it and be sure to wish her a happy belated birthday too! She has so much talent (have you ever drooled over her cards at her blog Poetic Artistry?) and that fact that she has designed her own line of rubber stamps is testament to that! Verve Visual is officially opening on August 1st, so be sure to sign up for email updates so you don't miss a thing! (You can do that HERE.)

CPS # 21

I don't know if my mojo is back, but last night's card was a breeze to make! It all just fell together in 15 minutes. I LOVE it when that happens.
I had the CPS sketch in front of me and I grabbed my crate of 6x6 Designer paper, and flipped through it looking for some diamond shapes. I pulled out a bunch of PP but it wasn't calling to me. Then I found one, and behind it were 4 more sheets of coordinating PP and I just knew it was the ONE!
I stamped the bird image on white, colored it with prisma pencils and gamsol, added some stickles (you can't see them in the photo very well), and matted it with a paint chip card from K-mart and some black CS. I also doodled around the edges and pierced a trail for the birdie. I like how it looks like it's kickin' up it's heels!
I cut out some flowers from the PP and pop-dotted them around the main image too.
The sentiment is from TAC, and the ribbon is from my stash.

Oh, and if anyone was wondering, the title of my post yesterday and the first sentence were CASED from one of my very favorite poems as a child. Disobedience (James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree), by A.A. Milne.

Happy Independance Day! (and salt potatoes)

To all United Stater's, I wish you a very celebrational 4th of July! And to all of you NYers (and other North Easterners), bring on the SALT POTATOES! *hee hee* That's MY favorite part of the celebrations anyway, that and sparklers! My DH (originally from WV) had never even HEARD of salt potatoes when we started dating, can you believe that? *insert shocked face*

They were a part of my everyday life during the summer months as a kid, and as a teen too. They only cost $1 at all the state and county fairs, and most of the ice cream shops sold them too. We ate them at every BBQ and outside party I'd ever been to. I insisted we have them at our wedding even! Yum. New baby potatoes, boiled whole (in their skins) in super salty water, then smothered in butter!
ETA: See here for a definition of salt potatoes. I will also post my own photo tomorrow, because mine are "special"! Also, see here for a blog post about salt potatoes and how they originated.

Anyway, this card was based on the #20 sketch challenge at CPS. I tried to go "traditional" and that really IS a challenge for me! It wasn't until I was done with this card and had already photographed it and uploaded it to blogger that I remembered that I have a ton of star brads in many different colors that I've had forever and need to be used up. Oh well, next time.

SUPPLIES: PP by Wild Asparagus, CS by DCWV, star clips from Scrapgoods July 2005 kit, ribbon from SU!.

SWEET!

I whipped this baby up last night in about 10 minutes! Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? (*grin* Please excuse my reference to the A-Team show!) It's for CPS sketch challenge #19.
I've had a bunch of this PP for more than a year now, and I like it so much I've been hoarding it. It's only been used once before, for my friend Bobbie's BD card LAST year (which, come to think of it, I don't think I ever got around to sending her...oops). It's by We R Memory Keepers, the Urban Window Diner collection. It's really high quality, double-sided, CS-weight paper. Plus I used some of their matching ribbon too. And they have cool chipboard and alphas that match also, but I didn't use them on this card.

SUPPLIES: PP and ribbon by We R Memory Keepers, cherry stamp by SU, word stamp by Fontwerks, white CS by Bazzill, ink by Versamagic, and Memories.

CPS sketch challenge #18

I've really been enjoying the sketch challenges posted at CPS, but never seem to have time to do one! (I'm sure none of you know ANYTHING about not having enough time! *wink*)

A few days ago I attempted the newest one and was just not happy with the results. Then I began thinking that the reason I "card craft" in the first place is for my personal benefit. I get "alone time", I can let all this creative energy out, and I have my own space or sanctuary in which to do it. Paper crafting is very meditative to me. So why not post my "not-so-good creations too? Really, we are our own WORST critics, right? *grin*

SUPPLIES: PP by Scenic Route Paper Co., CS is Bazzill, Sentiment stamps is by Hampton Arts, Big flower stamps is by Fontwerkz, and the center little spikey flower is from papertreyink, Ribbon is SU, ink is SU and Ranger Archival, brad is Joann's, and I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the top section.

ETA: You know, now that I'm seeing it here in Blogger, I like it better! Maybe it was the lighting in my studio, maybe it was my mood, but now that I see the photo here, the card doesn't look as bad as I remembered it.

I won!

Can you believe it? A card I entered in the contest at CPS was one of the many to receive a prize! I'm thrilled and terribly honored that my "apple" card was liked by someone enough to be awarded a prize! Some of the other winners announced so far have FANTASTIC looking cards. I can't wait to see what the grand prize winning card looks like!

CPS sketch contest

I've been a lurker at CPS for a while and really admire the fantastically creative sketches they post. I've even attempted a few, but only in the privacy of my own studio. *grin* I saw last week that they were having a contest and decided to come out of hiding and give it a shot! It's a fun sketch, and quite versatile. My problem with contest sketches, is that I never know just how much changing one can do to the original design, you know? I mean, should I take it and really run with it, or should I stick to the plan? I just don't know. You are allowed three entries though, so I did all 3 this weekend. One of them won't be posted until tomorrow though...it's just not quite "on" in my terribly critical opinion. I might be able to see it differently tonight.

Here's the link directly to the contest. Entries are due by May 31st.

I liked how the alternate backgrounds affected this card! SUPPLIES: Basic Grey PP, DCWV cardstock, SU cardstock, Hero Arts ink, black ranger ink, brown ZIG marker, apple brads unknown, apple and sentiment stamps by ScrapGoods, Pop dots.
Here's my second entry:
SUPPLIES: SU cardstock, Bazzill CS, DCWV PP, MM brads, Leaf stamps by SU, sentiment by Hero Arts, ribbon is unknown, inks are Kaleidacolor spectrum, StazOn, and Impress, ZIG markers, corner punch, pop dots.