Bubbles or salts?

Have you ever made a card for NO reason at all?

I was perusing through one of my embellishment drawers the other day and came across this deck of cards. The one on top caught my eye and then I remembered that I had the perfect stamp to go with it. Here's what I came up with for no reason at all...
This little cutie is from Whipper Snapper.

I added some dew drops for bubbles and used a glitter pen on the water to make it SPAR-KA-LAY!

I have no idea who I'll be sending this card to, but I'm really happy with how it came out. Maybe I'll throw in a spa gift certificate or a package of bath salts and give it to a friend of mine who's going through a rough time right now.

I challenge you to do the same thing this week and just make a card for no reason. Go through some of your old embellishments and see what you find. Get inspired and crafty! Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

I hope you all had a fabulous week. Can you believe that it's almost May?! I'm so happy that the weekend is finally here. As most of you know, Friday is challenge day over at the CSAYL blog. This week we've got a sketch for you. Oh, how I love love love a sketch!Here's what I came up with using a Whipper Snapper cutie...
I used the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder on my frame to give it that little somethin' somethin'. Dry embossing is a great way to add some interest to part of your project without taking anything away from the focal point.

If you'd like to play along with us this week, hop on over to the CSAYL blog to link your creation. Who knows? We may even ask you to be a guest designer *wink wink*!
Thanks for visiting me today. Have a super weekend.

10 minute turtle

I just found out that my sons teacher has a birthday coming up. The kids are out of school soon for Winter break, so I had to come up with something quick and simple to deliver tomorrow.The image is by Whipper Snapper and the layout is from Karen's Sunday sketch. I used SU Bermuda Bay for the base and stamped one of the images from Circle Circus on the background. The main image is matted with Melon Mambo, which I paired up with a striped pattern from Memory Box.
To finish it off, I added some buttons. Not my favorite card, but I think my sons teacher will like it.

That's it for me today. So much to do and only 10 days until Christmas.
Yikes!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

Happy Monday!
Today is the final challenge of the year over on the CSAYL blog and I hope you'll play along with us. The challenge for today is to create a diorama card.

Here's what I came up with... This cute little guy is by Whipper Snapper and the sentiment is from an SU set called "Polar Pals".

To check out what the rest of the design team came up with, be sure to hop on over to the challenge blog. And be sure to leave a link to your project while you're there!

I'm off to a field trip with my daughters 1st grade class today.
I'll chat at ya some more tomorrow :-)

This one is for Nana...

My cabana boy scheduled this post for me so I wouldn't get sand in my keyboard.

My Grandma just celebrated her birthday and I wanted to share the card I popped in the mail to her before I left for Hawaii. Nana just loves to get mail, so I wanted to send her something bright and cheerful to make her day. I thought this little cupcake mouse by Whipper Snapper would definitely do the trick.

The patterns are both by Scenic Route, which I paired up with some SU Pink Pirouette.
Hope you're all having a fantastic day!
Hugs,

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

I hope you're all enjoying your holiday weekend. Today is challenge day over at the CSAYL blog! The challenge for today is:

USE THE PAPER PIECING TECHNIQUE

I was uber-excited when I found out what the challenge was. Paper piecing is by far my most favorite stamping technique. It's so so so simple to do, and it really pulls a project together. No messy inks, powders or fancy folds. Just stamp and cut - easy peasy!

Here's what I came up with...
Every penguins clothing should match the card they're on - don't you think?

The adorable image is by Whipper Snapper and the papers are by SU.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out the CSAYL challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team came up with and leave a link to your creation. We had lots of great entries last week for our "Traditional Colors" challenge, but I thought that this one by Peggy was just beautiful!

Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with this week!
Until next time...

"My Time" sketch challenge

The minute this post goes live at midnight, the kids and I will be landing at Newark airport in New Jersey! We left San Francisco at 3pm, but with the time change, we landed at 11:59am. Am I crazy to be driving from the airport to my Aunts house from 12-2am? Perhaps....but sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get an AWESOME deal on airfare! Let's just all pray that there's a Starbucks on the way...

We'll be staying with family for the next week, but since I offically have stamping OCD, I've got all my posts, challenges and projects scheduled to magically appear every night at midnight as usual.

Here's Lauren's sketch challenge for today... Here's what I came up with...
Remember "Do The Hula" from Stampin Up? I fell in love with this set when it first came out. The base is Tempting Turquoise cardstock and I used the hibiscus image from the set and Versamarked it to create my own patterned paper for the background. The pink patterned paper is from an SU Simply Scrappin kit that was retired a while back. To finish it off, I added some sugar coated Doodlebug brads to the top right corner and a yellow button to the ribbon.

And yes.....
Since I was working with a sketch challenge today, I also made a Christmas card!
For this one, I used Elegant Eggplant for the base and accented with Close to Cocoa and So Saffron cardstock. The little penquin is from Whipper Snapper and the snowflake and postmark images are from SU's "Winter Post" set.

To add a little sparkle, I put Doodlebug Sugar Coating on the ball of the hat and added some jewels to the strip of Saffron cardstock.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team did with the sketch.
They are all linked on my sidebar ------------>

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I'll be back with a scheduled post on Monday.

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

Happy Monday!
Today I have our weekly challenge from Christmas Stampin' All Year Long.
This week we have a sketch to play with that was created by the uber-fabulous Maria Bell. Here's what I came up with...
I used some Winter cuties by Whipper Snapper for this one.

For the blue background behind the stamped image, I just popped a Copic marker into my Stampin Up airbrush tool and stamped the same image onto a piece of scrap paper.

Next, I cut out the animals as close to the black lines as possible.
(these will be your masks)

Then I layered them on top of my colored image and spritzed away!

After you remove the masks, the background will be spritzed but your colored images will be untouched.

To create the look that I was going for, I put the masks back on and sponged Soft Sky ink onto the background in a small circular motion.

Easy-peasy!
Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team did by clicking here.
Are you up for the challenge? This is Christmas card #33 for me! It's not to late to get started! Play along and leave us a link on the CSAYL blog!

"My Time" to color...

Yay! It's Saturday!

I've been looking forward to this long weekend all week! Before you kick back and relax, Lauren has a color challenge for you. Here are the colors... I absolutely loved the colors we had to work with this week and they totally made me think of Summer. Here's what I came up with while in my "Summery" mood...
Isn't this little guy just adorable?!
He's from Whipper Snapper. I colored him in with Copics and then just scrounged around in my scrap drawers for coordinating papers. When I was done, it looked like it was missing something, so I decided to add a little awning above his head. The awning from "Meet me at the Cafe" by MFT fit perfectly.
Are you up for the challenge?
Hope you'll play along with us.
Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team did:
Lauren Meader
Dawn Easton
Kendra Wisenbaker
Alicia Weiman
Tamara Harder
Jen Tapler
Dana
Kristin
Lisa Kind
Odette
Pam
Tracey Cuccia

And be sure to stop by design team member Jen Tapler's blog to read about a very exciting event that she has coming up SOON! It's called Stampin' Out Alzheimer's and you definitely won't want to miss it! If you'd like to make a donation towards Alzheimer's, there's a link on the top right of my sidebar. Let's see if we can help Jen reach her goal of $2500!!

Have a super holiday weekend!
I"ll be back on Monday with a sketch challenge from "Christmas Stampin' All Year Long".

Just in case you've been under a rock for the last two weeks, Lauren has changed things up for her Saturday creative team. Instead of a sketch challenge EVERY Saturday, here's the new schedule.

1st Saturday - Sketch Challenge
2nd Saturday - Inspiration Challenge
3rd Saturday - "My Timeless Template" Challenge
4th Saturday - Color Challenge
and every so often, there will be a 5th Saturday in a month - Technique Challenge

To get May started off, here's the sketch that we all used today...
And since Lauren's birthday is right around the corner, she gave us an additional challenge to make this sketch into a birthday card. Here's what I came up with...
The main image is from a set called "Meet me at the Cafe" by My Favorite Things and the sentiment is from "Full of Life" by Stampin Up. While working on my sketch this week, I discovered that I don't own a SINGLE stamp with a vertical sentiment. Hmmmm....I'll have to remedy that problem asap.... In order to get my sentiment on, I had to modify the sketch a little, but I think it still works. The pink polka dot patterned paper is by Scenic Route and I paired it up with some Elegant Eggplant and Kiwi Kiss cardstock.


Well, you know me.....
Since I was working off of a sketch this week, I also made a Christmas card.
This festive little guy is by Whipper Snapper.
Are you feeling inspired? Are you going to play along with us this week? Be sure to check out what the rest of the team came up with:
Dawn Easton
Kendra
Maria Levine
Tamara Harder
AND be sure to welcome our 7 new members!
Dana
Lisa
Odette
Jennifer
Pam
Tracey
Kristen

Have a super weekend! Hugs,