Are you up for a challenge?

Here's my sketch challenge for today! Depending on how this goes, I'll be posting a different sketch every week. I'd love for all you creative gals out there to play along with me. Post a link to your creation in the comment section of this post by Friday and I'll share your link and card with my blog readers. (If you upload to SCS, title it MS002)

Here's my take on the sketch:

Happy stamping!

She's at it again...

Kristina just posted another color challenge and I had 20 minutes to sit down and play along. Here's my entry...
I used my favorite flourish stamp by Inkadinkado and inked it with Soft Sky and Close To Cocoa. I versamarked the Print Pattern background stamp and was thrilled that I had an opportunity to use that hardware piece that's been sitting in my drawer for over a year! To finish it off, I sponged Close To Cocoa around the edges and put some ribbon on top. I'm still deciding if I like the ribbon or not...

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my sketch challenge! I will post a link to everyone's entries. Til then...

Class Project #2

The ugly stamp challenge continues! To read more about it, click here. For this card, I used the Borders Mini stamp in the top right of the photo.

Can you see where I used it in the card below? It's a little hidden, but I used it on this card so it still counts!! I stamped the image in Wasabi and punched it out with my 1 1/2" square punch. I stamped the little critters from "Bugs and Kisses", cut them out and attached them with dimensionals. Once they were on the square, I thought it would be cute to make it into a spinner card.

Spinner cards look uber-complicated, but they are SO easy to make. All you do is sandwich a ROUND dimensional between two pennies and attach your image to one of the pennies. The dimensional has to be round, or it won't spin. Then you just use the Word Window Punch to create the opening. There's a tutorial on SCS that can give you step by step instructions.

The card base is Whisper White, which is something that I rarely do, but I thought it was a nice contrast to the bright stripes and colors of the "Jersey Shore" paper. I used my ticket corner punch on the pumpkin pie cardstock and did a little paper piercing to three of the sides. Can't wait for the gals to make this in class on Sunday.

A crab and some cake

After my friend Tammy saw the cake I made for my daughter's birthday, she asked me to make one for her sons 10th birthday this weekend. Not only did I see this as an opportunity to make another fun cake, but this was an opportunity for me to make a card too! Any excuse right??

I decided to go with "Crab & Company" and the matching wheel. I used brilliant blue for the base and my "On The Spot" background. All of the patterned paper is from the "Jersey Shore" line. I only had one strip of brown paper, so I used my wheel on it and then tore it into sections so I could layer it.

I colored the crab with my Really Rust and Pumpkin Pie watercolor crayons and colored the hat, gifts and cake with my Copics. Ohh..and I finally had another chance to use one more of those cork stickers that I talked about in this post! After that, I added some Stickles and some google eyes and got busy baking the cake.

Here's what the inside of the card looks like.

Luke is a major Notre Dame fan, so this cake was custom made just for him! I made the "ND" logo out of white chocolate that I tinted blue. I outlined the logo with this glittery gel that's made by Wilton - It's super sparkly in person. The "Rock On Dude" is an inside joke with the family and was MANDATORY for the cake!
Happy 10th Luke!

Class Project #1

May is quickly approaching and I've been super busy working on the projects for my next class on the 4th. If anyone knows where April went, please call me and let me know...

I'm really excited about this class for two reasons #1: I'm raffling off a brand new Cricut machine to one of my guests! #2: I'm answering a challenge that was given to me at my last class.

I'm not sure what I was thinking, but at my last class I told everyone to bring a stamp set that they've had for awhile, but have never used because they can't come up with any ideas for it. We all voted on the worst..um I mean the best set to use and I promised to use it for EVERY project for the next class.

I'm sure the suspense is killing you. Here's the set that was chosen for the challenge.

Icky right? This ugly little set is called "Borders Mini" and thankfully was retired from the SU catty long ago. Believe it or not, I was able to come up with a project for each stamp in the set! I'll be sharing each one of them with you over the next several days.

The first project uses the checkerboard frame. Call me crazy, but for some reason, every time I looked at that stamp, all I could see was a seed packet. Maybe all of that gardening I've been doing lately has finally gone to my head!

So what do you think? I used the new Carousel Notecards from the mini catalog as the base. I used my paper piercer around the scallop border and then went over the holes with a white gel pen. Then I took a few images from the new "Blooms & Bulbs" wheel, colored them in and cut them out. Ta-da! They fit perfectly inside the checkerboard image!! Woo-Hoo! I was a happy little stamper!

This card gave me the perfect opportunity to use a set of mine that has sadly never seen ink. Do any of you remember "The Wheel Thing"? It was in a mini catalog a while back and I thought it had a lot of potential. I inked up the wheelbarrow with Chocolate Chip and used a large black eyelet for the wheel. Cute right?

Here's a close up of the embellishing that I did with the yummy new felt flowers and "fire" rhinestone brads.

You put the lime in the coconut....

Kristina posted another fabulous color challenge last night!

In between loads of laundry, playing Uno with my daughter and cleaning up the house I squeeeeeeezed in some play time for myself. This was a really tough color challenge for me and my first two cards when straight into the garbage.

For some reason, every time I looked at these colors on my table, I thought of the beach. I remembered that I've been hoarding *ehem* saving this really cute pattern paper that I got by Flair Designs. I cut out the image of the hula girls and mounted it on So Saffron cardstock.

I adhered some strips of orange pattern paper to the Pumpkin Pie cardstock, did some paper piercing and made a scalloped edge on the bottom of it with my corner rounder. Unfortunately, you can't see the scalloped edge on the finished card - Oh Well.

I tore up some scraps of sand paper that I had and thought the surfboards from "Do The Hula" would be cute stuck in it. One was stamped with So Saffron and the other with Sahara Sand. I added some Stickles and a hula skirt to the bottom of the card with my scissors and Voila!

Come play with me!

I took a poll a while back to see if anyone was interested in me posting a weekly sketch. So, without further ado - here it is...my first official sketch challenge! I'd love for you all to play along with me. If you do, make sure to put a link to your creation in the comments section of this post so I can check it out! If you upload it to SCS, be sure to title it MS001 so I can search for it.

Here's my take on the sketch. I thought it was the perfect way to use up some of those skinny strips of scrap paper that we all have.

I used the chocolate covered strawberries from the retired set called "Oh So Sweet" and cut them out so I could cluster them together. The card base is SU's Close To Cocoa, and the sentiment is from Amuse and goes perfectly with this stamp set. The polka dots on the top of the card were made with a small background stamp by Savvy Stamps.

This gave me the perfect opportunity to use my new Sakura Glaze Pens - oh my gosh...how did I ever live without these things?! It's difficult to show in a photograph, but the pens give your image a similar effect to heat embossing. I used the yellow pen on the seeds and the clear pen to go over the chocolate.

I hope some of you gals join me in my sketch challenge! I'd LOVE to see what you all come up with!!!

I'm a sneaky little stamper...

My husband took a nap after watching the golf tournament today and it was just enough time for me to sneak up to my workshop and do Taylor's Cupcake Challenge! Yeah for me!

I really liked the sketch and it gave me an excuse to use up some of this SU pattern paper that seems to be multiplying. It was in an old simply scrappin' set called "Creative License" but it matches perfectly with the "Jersey Shore" line.

Do you remember the old stamp set called "Oh So Sweet"? That was definitely a must have for me and I was happy to be able to use it today. I'm really hoping that there are some new cupcake or chocolate images in the new catalog in July. Keep your fingers crossed!

For this card, I used my Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Not Quite Navy and Bordering Blue SU markers to ink up the cupcake images. I stamped each image twice so I could pop up the paper cups on dimensionals. The sentiment is by Savvystamps, but I thought it went perfectly with this set. To finish it off, I added some Stickles and some organdy ribbon through a hole I made with the slot punch. I know these are not the "typical" colors for a chocolate card, but I think it turned out okay.

A very bright hello

So this card is definitely not my usual color scheme, but it's nice to change things up a bit. I made this at my stamp club a couple of weeks ago where we got to play with the new die cut blooms in the mini catalog. These are a must have! You get 1 sheet each of Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red. They match nicely with the felt flowers also.

The leaves were made with the oval punch on Old Olive paper that was put through the crimper and the background paper was made using the Big Flowers set from page 95 in the big catty. I embellished with the yummy new Old Olive poly-twill ribbon and the "fire" rhinestone brads.

Thanks for poppin' by today! Have a wonderful weekend! I have to go check the barbecue before I burn dinner!!

Scalloped Kitty

As some of you know, my daughter just had her 5th birthday party and she wanted a Hello Kitty theme. You can see the massive cake that I made for her by checking out this post.

Today was our first opportunity to work on her Thank You cards, so we made a special trip to one of our local scrapbook stores to go on a Hello Kitty paper hunt. Of course, they only had one sheet left, so we looked for some other coordinating papers to help us get inspired.

When we got home, I grabbed my SU 1 3/8" circle punch and their new 2" scallop circle punch - love that thing! What do you know - Hello Kitty fit perfectly in my punch! After that, the rest just kind of came together. All of the pattern paper is by Sandylion and the cardstock is SU Regal Rose. For the background, I used my SU On the Spot background stamp with Versamark. I did the scalloped edge with my corner rounder and used the mat pack to do some paper piercing. She can't wait to pass these out in the morning.

Oh, and look what I got today from Tiffany at My Crafty World. What a nice surprise to get - thanks girl! I'll have to think of some gals to pass this on to.

Stamping on acetate

Wanted to share this card that I made in my stamp club a couple of weeks ago. I used the "Essence of Love" set in the SU mini catalog. First thing I did was stamp the main image in Staz On onto the acetate. While that dried, I stamped the image up the side of the card in Tempting Turquoise. I mounted the butterfly on the top of the acetate and tied a ribbon around the top. After it was done, I thought it was a little boring, so I whipped out my handy dandy paper piercer and mat pack and did some decorative "poking".

Time for another color challenge

from Kristina!

Translated into SU colors - Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Bashful Blue & Close to Cocoa.

This was my entry:

I used some of the new SU rub-ons to make a shaker box that I filled with micro beads and mini flowers from a punch in the $1 bin at Michael's. I used close to cocoa ink (stamped off once) on the French Script background stamp on So Saffron cardstock. The pattern paper is SU's Le Jardin - which you may be seeing more of soon because I've got a bunch left over from my last workshop.

A very special sale...

It seems like everyone's life has been touched by cancer in some way. My husband has lost an Aunt and an Uncle to it recently. A close friend of mine has skin cancer and I just lost a dear friend in January to Lymphoma.

In honor of everyone who has lost their battle or is still courageously fighting, I wanted to tell you about a fellow SU demonstrator named Tish. I did not have the pleasure of knowing her personally, but Kim over at My Favorite Things was very good friends with her husband and has posted the following on her blog:


"A few months ago, I posted about a friend, Tish, who’d been diagnosed with a very rare form of ovarian cancer. Tish battled through 6 rounds of chemo only to discover two additional tumors, one on her spine and one in her stomach. Since her diagnosis last August, the family has held the motto of DRIVE ON! in dealing with this aggressive cancer and fought a valiant fight. Tish lost her battle early Tuesday morning, and I found out about it late last night. Tish leaves behind two beautiful, young sons and a hubby, Todd, who I worked with for several years in my past life. I know Todd much better than I knew Tish, and know just how difficult this has been and will continue to be for the immediate future. Prior to Tish passing, a benefit was planned to help the family recover from the mounting medical bills and ensure a bright future for the boys, Tucker and Tanner. The benefit is still underway, but with a more solemn feel. My husband and I are donating some items to a silent auction. The content of the gift card is about $200 in MFT merchandise, and I know every little bit helps. But I want to do more. Todd was the most compassionate, tender-hearted *boss* I’ve ever had, and I want more than anything to really help this family. So what I’ve decided to do is two-fold: 1) Starting tomorrow, I am offering a 10% discount on ALL stamps on the site. Use the coupon code Tish at checkout to receive 10% off all all the stamps in your shopping cart. (It won’t discount your other merchandise, just stamps.) The coupon code will run from Tuesday, April 15th-Friday, April 18th. 2) I will donate 10% of ALL proceeds (including money spent on other items on the site) to the family at their April 26th benefit. FYI - The discount applies only to retail orders… I am making it my goal to personally pay for the FL College Pre-Paid plan for the boys during an entire year which will be about $1200. Please help me reach this goal. And should you feel moved to do so, I am quite sure they would love some happy mail."

(And given that Tish was an SU demo, those hand-made cards WILL be appreciated!) Please send them to:

Todd, Tucker and Tanner Rayburn
1558 Muir Cir
Clermont, FL 34711-6545

For those of you who have the time to make a card and send it to the Rayburn family, please put a link to your card in the comment section of this post so I can share it with all of my readers.

I couldn't help myself...

I HAD to make another dress card. My sons teacher gave my daughter the cutest dress this morning and I thought this card would be a perfect thank you card to give her when we pick up my son later this afternoon!

Once again, I was able to use that yummy pink SU ribbon that I've been hoarding, ehem...I mean saving for something special. I used the tiny flower punch from the $1 bin at Michael's for the little pink flowers. For the bottom of the dress, I used the new rub-ons from SU, accented with pink Stickles and scalloped the bottom edge.

I love how this card came out - and so fast too! I decided to make myself a template, because I have a feeling that I'll be wanting to make more of these *grin*.

My first "shaped" card

This is the card that my husband and I will be giving our daughter tomorrow for her 5th birthday.

She's never been a shorts and t-shirt kind of kid - she wears dresses EVERYDAY. Not casual summer dresses. I'm talking about what you would wear for a holiday family portrait or a very special occasion. We must get asked about three times a day, "O boy, don't you look pretty, are you getting your picture taken today?" Thank goodness for Costco! They have the most beautiful dresses during the holiday seasons and at $18 a pop, I can stock up for the entire year!

Well obviously I had to make a very girly card for her. I've seen so many shaped cards and thought I'd give one a try. My first attempt went into the trash, but my second one actually looked like a dress. I finally had the perfect card to use my yummy pink crimped ribbon that I bought from SU last year. I also used some scraps of black organdy and black velvet ribbon that looked nice with the pink and white. I added some "bling" on the top to keep it clean and simple and some ribbon roses that I picked up at a fabric store last month. For the bottom of the "dress" I took the guard off of my SU corner rounder punch and created a scallop border. I love this technique because I've never been able to cut a straight line!

A 15 pound Hello Kitty cake

What a crazy day....fabulous...but crazy!

I was with my sister-in-law last night scrapbooking, making cards and having some much needed "girl time". Before we knew it, it was 2am, and time for me to head home. When I got home there was a 25 pound box from Stampin Up waiting for me and it was just begging to be opened! After fondling my new SU goodies and organizing all of my customers orders, I finally made it to bed at 3:30am.

Five hours later I was in the car heading back over to my sister in laws to pick her up and check out the "garage sale" at our local scrapbook store. We got some SUPER deals that I'll be sharing with you later this week.

At 9:30am we were on our way to Sacramento (after a MAJOR caffeine fix at Starbucks) to check out the 2008 Stamp Expo.

By 2:00 we were at Chuck E Cheese with my kiddos. (That was their reward for being dragged around to look at stamps all day - also known as child abuse)

On our way to Chuck E Cheese, we passed a Payless Shoe Source and saw that BOGO was going on, so after all of our tokens were gone, we headed over to Payless. Of course my sister in law and I didn't find anything in our size, but the kids each got a new pair of shoes.

By 4pm we were back at my house and it was time to start making my daughters birthday cake. Her party is tomorrow and she requested a three tiered wedding cake with a Hello Kitty on top. My daughter is famous for her birthday cake requests. Last year it was a pirate ship with all of the Disney princesses tied to the mast. So, after 5 hours of baking, cursing at the fondant and lots of smoothing and stacking, here's was I came up with.

The look on her face was SO worth all of the work that went into this. I swear this thing weighs at least 15 pounds!

Thanks for checking in today. I'll have some stamping stuff to share with you tomorrow. I'm off to bed...