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.)

Girly Shoes

We were away all weekend with no computer access. Does anyone else feel lost when that happens? I had this post slated and ready, all I had to do was find a computer and hit publish, but I never got near one all weekend!
Isn't this card fun? I had a great time creating this one. It's good to make something just for fun sometimes, and this card fit the bill for me when I needed some "me time". The awesome patterned paper is from Paper Mojo. I buy paper from there in huge sheets and then cut it into usable sizes. The legs/shoes stamp is from Sideshow Stamps, and I have no earthly clue what company makes the sentiment. I'm pretty sure I bought it at a rubber stamping convention at one of a hundred booths selling piles o' rubber. I do know that that quote is attributed to Bette Midler though, because I cut that part off the stamp (just for this card).The melon CS is Bazzill, the blue and white are SU!. The ribbon came from a swap, the button brad is MM, and I used a white gel pen to outline the edges of the scalloped oval and to faux stitch. I used Prisma color pencils to color the image in. I sure wish I had more flesh tone pencils, I had to use quite a few layered on top of each other and blended to get the shades I wanted.

Children's books...

Crazy title, I know. But I adore children's books. I collect them faster than I do craft supplies and that's saying something! I can't pass up a yard sale, tag sale, or book store without searching for at least ONE kid's book. I have shelves and shelves of them...seriously, just ask my husband. My friends and family (including my DH) give them to me for Christmas, birthday, etc. because they know a children's book is the perfect gift for me.
Now, with that said...I am finicky about what books I keep and what I get rid of. It has to be well written. It has to have incredible illustrations. I'm not a Disney character book fan, nor a little golden book fan. Give me Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle, Else Holmelund Minarik, Arnold Lobel, Ezra Jack Keats, and Robert McCloskey any day!
I recently grabbed a book from one of our bookcases to read to our littlest munchkin. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and Shiela McGraw. It's about a mom rocking her baby back and forth while softly singing: "I'll love you forever / I'll love you for always / As long as I'm living / My baby you'll be." As the child grows, she continues to sing this while rocking him, from the toddler years through the teen years and on up until he's an adult. There comes a point though, that the mom is too old and sick to hold her son, and the roles are reversed. I cry every time I read this. I'm a sap for sure.

All this background info was meant to lead up to today's card. I made it for my Dad. He's 83. He's lived an incredible life, from fighting on Iwo Jima in WWII to raising 7 children, 6 of them alone (there are 30 years difference between me, the youngest, and Janet, my oldest sister) to hiking the Appalachian trail from start to finish more than once.
Recently, we've realized that my Dad needs to be in a full-time care home. He can no longer live on his own because his dementia/Alzheimer's has grown progressively worse. I won't go into details, because they are sad. He's in a VA hospital right now to be stabilized for 90 days while my siblings and I choose a "home" for him. I feel too young (30) to be "losing" my Dad. He was 53 when I was born though, so he's come a long way and been there for me EVERY step of the way. From elementary band concerts, to high-school plays, from college graduation to my wedding, my Dad has been there cheering me on.
This is for you, Dad.

INSIDE:

It says, "Owl love you forever..." on the front and "...my daddy you'll be" on the inside. Owl stamp by Sideshow stamps, letter stamps by Karen Foster, ribbon from Michael's, ink is StazOn and SU!, prismacolor pencils for coloring.

Going retro again!

I gave myself a challenge. Sometimes I take SOOO long to design and complete one card, so last night I set a timer and told myself I had to make a card in 10 minutes or less. One that I wouldn't be embarrassed to send, that is! *chuckle*

I surprised myself and actually did it! I think this card took me around 8 minutes. And it would have been done quicker, only I wasted precious time frantically searching for my clear EP (I hadn't put it back where it goes *rolling eyes*), and 2 of the stamps I used were just plain rubber and I ran out of the double-stick tape that holds them to the acrylic block! Whewww.
The mushrooms and the sentiment are from Sideshow Stamps. They have the best retro images! The polka dot circle is from Purple Onion Designs, and the other double circle is from Scrapgoods. Ribbon is from MM, ink was Ranger black archival, Cat'e Eye chalk, and Hero Arts versacube. All Cs is from SU!, clear EP is from Sparkle & Sprinkle. I used Zig markers to quickly add some color to the mushrooms. ETA: I also used white gel pen to color in the dots and circles on the Kraft background.

I'm hoping this qualifies for the Bingo sketch too!

8th BD creature card

Our oldest (Sticky-fingers) is having a birthday soon so I've been fiddling around with what type of BD card I want to give him. He loves creatures of any kind, so I made this one up last night using some of my Sideshow stamps. He also likes to do crafty things with me and I've discovered his love of using ribbon and fiber on his projects, so I know he wouldn't mind the funky green ribbon on this card. I bought some really tiny rub-on letters from a dollar store a while ago and I'm going to put "Sticky-fingers is" all around the edge of the white circle. The center is an old type-writer key embellishment I bought years ago. I only bought a few, and 8 happened to be one of them!
I had so much fun coloring in these funky, retro images after stamping them with black ink!
SUPPLIES: PP is unnknown (from a Self-addressed kit in June 05), stamps are Side Show Stamps, ribbon is from www.Reallyreasonableribbon.com, white card base is from DCWV, CS is SU, ink is Ranger Archival, prismacolor pencils.

Coming to the show?

I am fast becoming addicted to Sideshow stamps! I like the 'uniqueness' of their images, and how eclectic their stuff really is. I have purchased everything from retro, to cute, to artsy from them. (I promise I'm NOT affiliated *chuckle* just a happy customer!)

Here are three cards I made up last night. Actually, all three have been in various stages of completion for many days now, but I got a chance to finish them up last night!

The flower image is from Sideshow, the sentiment is from Papertrey, and the PP is Basic Grey. Square pink brads are MM, green card base is SU, grey CS is Bazzill. I stamped the flowers in flower image with a pale grey ink onto the BG paper to tie it in with the flower accents on top. For those, I stamped onto pale yellow vellum with chalk ink, clear embossed them, and used a Galaxy white marker to color on the back. I punched out circles of inked CS and applied Crystal effects and glitter to make the centers. After cutting them out, they curled on their own and I pop dotted them onto the card front. A very simple card as far as LO goes.

I had a small piggy bank JUST like this stamped one when I was little. Only it was white with pinkish flowers on it. I made a few different versions of this card using the pink color but they just didn't look "right" to me, so this one ended up being the final draft.

I based this color combo off the SU ribbon originals I had and went from there. I stamped the retro sparkle star with three colors of chalk ink (that matched the ribbon exactly) randomly onto white CS. I then stamped the piggy bank in black and colored it in by sponging yellow ink on it and using small grey blending stumps to pick up ink and color in the flowers and leaves. I then used my french grey prismacolor pencils to added highlights and shading.
I matted it with a giga scalloped circle punch, then pierced holes and ringed them with white gel pen. Ran a piece of kraft CS through a cuttelbug folder, added some more ribbon from SU and I was done!

This masculine card is based on a sketch at Julee's blog. I had stamped both the "frightened man" and the sentiment a week ago, and had chosen some PP from Chatterbox to make this card, but it just wasn't coming together until I saw the sketch Julee posted, and then it worked! This card is late for it's destination. Inside it says, "I hope your job interview goes just as well!" and I made it for a male friend of mine who was interviewing for a new job. The sentiment (I think) came from a bin of UM rubber at a stamp convention I went to in Vegas last April at the Carmen's Veranda booth, but she's no longer online and I can't link to her stuff. I have a bunch of funny sayings from that company and was sad to see that they went out of business. PP is Chatterbox, CS is SU, ribbon is unknown, and ink is Ranger archival.

Rough around the edges?

A friend of mine isn't feeling well so I made him up a card last night. I enjoy creating masculine cards, it seems to challenge me and keep me on my toes!
I've been using this PP from Cosmo Cricket's WANTED line for awhile, but just couldn't figure out something to use the "cowboy" paper with.
Then, last night, my new shipment of stamps from Side Show Stamps arrived! I was having fun looking through them and saw this cowboy stamp I ordered and immediately and light bulb went off in my head! Both the cowboy image and the sentiment are from Side Show Stamps, and I thought they went together well because the cowboy has his hands on his hips.
Inside the card I wrote, "I heard you were feeling a little rough around the edges...Hope you're feeling better soon!"

I stamped the cowboy image twice, once on wood grain paper, and again on red patterned paper. I cut out his "chaps" from the red paper and adhered them to the first image, colored in his bandanna, used a gold paint pen to highlight his cuff links, distressed the edges, and set 3 star eyelets randomly around him. I matted him twice and using pop dots, adhered him to the card base. I then set 4 more star eyelets in the corners and threaded jute twine around the perimeter of the card, tying a knot and loop for added texture on the left side. Then I finished it by stamping the sentiment "Hey Hipster!" directly below the cowboy.

SUPPLIES: PP from Cosmo Cricket, Ivory and chocolate chip CS from SU!, stamps from Side Show stamps, star eyelets from my stash, jute from my gardening supplies, and ink by Memories.

Far out Baby!

Since purchasing some stamps from Sideshow Stamps earlier this month, they've just been in a heap o' rubber on my desk, feeling very forlorn and useless I'm sure. Last night while my husband gave the kids a bath, I spent 17 minutes in my studio and created both of these cards! Don't you just get giddy when a card comes together so quickly?!I stamped the owl image (so retro 70s, isn't she?) with timber brown Staz-On and used Pearl-ex pigment powders to 'color' her in. I used distress ink on the edges and mounted it on brown CS. Then I embossed the "Far Out!" image with white EP on the same brown CS. After looking at the colors for a few minutes, I choose some PP to match. Basic Grey Stella Ruby was the winner! I added a ribbon (actually the back side of a brown/green/pink ribbon from American Crafts) and 3 shiny metallic eyelets, and I was done. This LO was based on a Super Sketch Sunday challenge on Amy's blog. I went with #6, and kept it simple.I did the same thing here by stamping the image (in black) first and coloring in the eyes, then finding some PP to match. Basic Grey to the rescue again! This time it was Scarlett's Letter that jumped out at me. I wanted to mat the monkey with my giga scalloped square punch, but he was too big, so instead I tried using my corner rounder punch to make larger scallops. I read about doing that somewhere and hadn't tried it yet. As you can see, I totally FLOPPED on that! It looks horrible. I might need to practice a bit on aligning each side so I don't end up with wonky corners! Adhered him to the card with pop dots after adding some ribbon and I was done!
Whew. I can't believe I made 2 cards in about 15 minutes! I usually take HOURS, seriously. But I am glad that I used 3 of my new Sideshow Stamps!