Hello Happy!

My mom got me into stamping (Gee thanks Mom! 😉 ). When I first started, she gave me a set of blank notecards and some Stampin’ Up ink spots. I’ve had those notecards for a really long time now. The last online class I took was about using your supplies, Supplies on Hand and that spurred me to finally break these out. I also pulled out a bunch of the die cuts and chipboard that I’ve had for awhile. This is one of the first cards I made at my weekend retreat. The simple Kraft-like background worked well with the Waffle Flower Photo Inspiration and white space challenges.

 

I used the Waffle Flower Rock My World stamp set for the Hello, Laugh rock, and leaves.

The Close to my Heart blog also had a Choose Your Own Adventure type story and I followed along with that to get to my challenge. That challenge was to use the colors Goldrush, Honey, and Colonial White so I incorporated those too.

I didn’t finish using all the notecards, but I made a big dent and I hope to finish them soon!

And of course, Anything Goes at the Paper Girls Challenge Blog and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

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Party Panda Parties All Week!

Well…I’m back to reality from my crafty retreat. Bummer. But you can all still pretend I’m on vacation since I’ll be posting more of what I finished there. I was able to work three of my goals into this card: Using the flair buttons I got from…(who knows where), using papers from some of my Simon Says Stamp card kits that I love, but that have been piling up, and using the pieces of a Halloween themed kit I bought from a friend.

First up, the sketch. This one is from Retro Sketches.

Square cards are CRAZY hard for me…so I modified it to a good ol’ A2. But everything else is still there.

Next, add a panda. I mean, you should ALWAYS add a panda. And Anything Goes when the panda’s in da house! 🙂

My Pandamonium set from Mama Elephant is probably the most used stamp set I own. Thanks Makalah! So here’s the result:

I used the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit papers from April 2014. Simon Says “Make Something!” 🙂 I don’t usually use bright primary colors, but this seemed like a good opportunity. Added benefit? The heart flair button matches! Also, the orange polka dot button and the “button” brads from the Halloween kit were able to make an appearance! I just bought that arrow Close to my Heart washi tape from my friend at the retreat. Since I used it, I’m now completely justified in buying it.  I imagine he’s bursting in the door of the party saying “Hi!” and everyone turns, smiles and yells “Panda’s here!!!” 🙂

 

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Getting Sketchy with the Cats

I’ve said it before, but I really like using sketches. Having a slightly restrictive guideline really helps me. This time I went for an even more challenging experience and combined a sketch from the Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge with a theme and inspiration photo from The Cat’s Pajamas.

Tuesday Morning Sketch #272

Here’s my combined interpretation.

I caught Jack!

I used the basic sketch to make a Halloween card. Instead of the star that is supposed to be caught by the bunny in the Wish stamp set, I added a little pumpkin and paper pieced his fancy moon.  I thought the hanging down pumpkin mimicked the ornaments falling in the second inspiration picture from TCP.  Of course, I needed to stickle his nose and the pumpkin! 🙂 The sentiment is from one of my favorite Tim Holtz sets called Simple Sayings.

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Lawnscaping Halloween Challenge

I’ve made more Halloween cards this weekend than in the last several years combined so maybe my friends will be seeing a few in their mailboxes this year.

I chose the Halloween theme and went a little off-book with the colors changing the orange to a lime green that I really like.

I was able to use another die that I haven’t opened before that I’ve had for a while. It’s the 3×4 die behind my little critters and is called Solace from The Crafter’s Workshop. The little guys are from Lawn Fawn Into the Woods and of course, they needed some witchy little hats from Hats Off to You 🙂 I really like how this turned out and I hope you do too!

And of course, Anything Goes over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog!

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Papertrey October Blog Hop Challenge

Hi Again!

Remember me? 😉

I’ve always wanted to join in on a Papertrey Blog Hop Challenge, but the timing has never worked out. This weekend is my crafty retreat with friends though so I have “plenty” of time.

I choose this option to play with first. I love the minty blues with the pops of purple and pink.

 

I used the Blueberry Sky for the base and some new paper I just got from Pretty Little Studios Nature Walk collection. I found this great sequin ribbon in my pile of things-I-need-to-use-that-I’ve-had-forever. The stamps are from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is from Think Big Favorites #3 and the leaves are from Doodlie Doo.

Last post for a couple hours. Time to go back to making things! Enjoy the rest of the Blog Hop!

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All Out Halloween with AAA Cards

The pumpkins are upon us!

While at my retreat this weekend, I’m focusing on using papers and dies that I’ve had for awhile and haven’t ever used. This Tim Holtz pumpkin die is one of those. The bat is a borrowed punch from someone else here, and I used Distress Clear Rock Candy crackle on both the pumpkin and bat wings. I’m playing with the bright Halloween theme at AAA Cards.

Boo!

Allowing Distress Stain to flow into the cracks not only highlights the new crackle finish, but is pretty cool to watch happen. 🙂

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A Bright Fall

As we are sliding into Fall, we really need a bright spot. And I think this bird delivers!

Fall Forward

Isn’t he great?!? I used the sketch from A Cherry on Top and the Fall theme.

I added some Stickles to his wings and the flower to make him even more excellent.

And of course, there are the Anything Goes challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
The Paper Girls Challenge

 

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Take a Bow

Whew! It’s been awhile, huh?

Yeah, I missed you too 🙂

I’ve been busy doing real world stuff, but I should really work harder getting back here, so this is a start. I’m at a crafty little retreat this weekend watching A LOT of Big Bang Theory and hopefully making a bunch of cards for challenges. I have 9 pages of challenges to work on, so I had better get going. I will try and space these out over the next week or so. And I hear that NaBloPoMo is coming…

Anyhoo… First up is the challenge over at Curtain Call.

The theme is Burlap Banner and I knew I had some Burlap ribbon that has been in my collection for WAAAAY too long. I also got to use a great little die that I got from my mom (Thanks Mom!).

The thank you die is from Savvy Dies and I wanted to tie in the pattern on the circle with the pattern in the banner above. I also got to play with some sequins and my new feather stickers from Pretty Little Studios (I blame Ashli for this).

Because there’s a lot of “Anything Goes” challenges at the end of the month, this will also be entered into:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
The Paper Girls Challenge

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