Oh Crab...

So many great challenges are happening this week and I want to play along with them all!!  :D  I know I won't get to spend all weekend in my craft space so I won't get to play along with them all so I knew I had to at least make one card tonight.  I narrowed down my choices and decided to use the sketch from CPS:

The inspiration photo from the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge:

I see distress, ocean theme, blues/greens, and that vertical stripe pattern

And finally, since they just arrived a couple of weeks back and I hadn't used them yet, I decided to make it with an acetate card which fits Young Crafters Unite's challenge:

Once that was all settled, I had a plan and attacked!!  Here's what I came up with - 

I found it a little difficult photographing it because I kept getting glares in the acetate.  I used some washi tape (which was my self challenge this week) for the vertical stripes on the circle.  The tape was actually a bright aqua color so I distressed it with some Vintage Photo ink and it toned it down giving it the look I wanted.  The crab is also colored with Distress Ink (Fired Brick and Worn Lipstick).

The waves are on glossy photo paper with some alcohol inks and a felt applicator.  I used Ranger's Stream, Meadow, and Snow Cap.  Then ran it through my Cuttlebug with the wave die... super simple!  I lined the front circle up with a circle I cut to fit right behind it - for a little more color and to cover my tape for both the inside and the outside.

The inside says "Belated Birthday Wishes."  I had no luck getting a picture of that, but it's a sentiment from Paper Smooches Word Salad set.

Have a crafty weekend!

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 

PAPER: Neenah Solar White; Office Max cardstock; glossy photo paper

STAMPS: Paper Smooches Word Salad and Chubby Chum Pals

INKS: Distress Inks - Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick, Walnut Stain; Memento Tuxedo Black; Alcohol Inks by Ranger - Stream, Meadow, Snow Cap, and Alcohol Blending Solution

OTHER: Aqua wash tape (can't remember who makes it, but I bought it at AC Moore), alcohol ink felt blending tool, MFT wave die, finger daubers, Tonic edge distresser, Uniball Signo white gell pen, Spellbinder's Standard Circles Large, Tiny brads from stash, Snail adhesive, Foam tape/dots

Quick Share and Store Update

I just wanted to pop in a share a card I whipped up with the February set from Stamps of Life, umbrella4u:

I was channeling purple today :)  It's a 3 x 3 card, great for a gift bag or flower bouquet for the sickie.  I used some more stamps from the same set for the inside:

The reason I did such a quick card on my day off is because I'm feverishly working on getting my Etsy store updated!  I added a new shop banner (which matches my blog banner) and I'm getting things listed!! If only my computer could upload the photos quicker... I'd probably be done (if only!).  So if you're in the need for a card, one you may have seen in a previous post that caught your eye maybe, have a look at my store. (you can also click on the tab under the blog banner)  Thanks in advance for looking :)

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 

PAPER: Lavendar paper (i think from Michaels or AC Moore), Stampin' Up! Whisper White

STAMPS: The {Stamps} of Life umbrella4u

INK: Vivid Purple, Kaiser Craft Amythest

Dazzling Aqua

I decided to play along with this weeks iCopic challenge kind of at the last minute.  The challenge this week is to use the BG family.  It's not one that I usually gravitate towards so I wasn't super inspired at the beginning of the week.  But today that changed!  I grabbed my image, colored away, and ended up with this little cutie:

I used some Dazzle stickers (as I challenged myself to this week!) and kept it pretty simple.  Still need to practice with those BGs and Rs.

Challenges:

          

Next week, my challenge is to use some washi tape.  i have a nice little stash but I never seem to use it.  

Have a great weekend!

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 

PAPER: Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up! Whisper White

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black

STAMP: The Greeting Farm's Beanie Anya

COPICS: Hair - E35, E37, E29; Skin - E50, E51, E00, R20; Clothes: BG10, BG23, BG49, BG72, BG75, R35, R37, R39

OTHER: Corner Chomper Aqua, Dazzle Stickers

Happy Valentine's Day!

I said if all worked out, I'd have a little non-card project to share.  Well they kind of worked out (I was super ambitious so not 100% how I wanted them, but it's new so I need more practice!)

I baked cookies!!  I found this recipe on the Glorious Treats blog.  The picture there was what I was hoping for, but alas, cookie decorator, I am not.  I made the batter.  Rolled the dough.  Cut the hearts.  And baked.  I let them sit over night and finally iced them the next day.  I tried flooding the icing.  This was my first try -

 

You can see the piped outline in the top row of hearts and the flooded icing on the rest.  I was planning on adding some decorations - dots, hearts, sections of colors - but once I got started, I thought it was best to stick with the basics for the first go around, so solid flooded cookies it was.

Of course one of the cookies broke before it could be iced and so not to waste it, I gave it a test and it was Deeeeee-LISH-OUS!  I can't want to try it with the icing.  Most of these will be taken to work with me, but I wanted to save at least one for the hubby.  I made a little cookie box card just for him - 

 

 

When he unties the bow, he'll find a cookie stashed away - 

(just for the picture I added a cookie that wsn't fully iced since they were still drying at the time)

  I based the cookie box front on the final day's sketch for CPS's 5th Anniversary celebration (#231) - 

 It's been a blast playing along with the 15 day celebration!

Happy Valentine's Day!

--Angie

SUPPLIES -
PAPER: Stampin' Up! Real Red, Neenah Solar White, Core'dinations Pearl Black
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Real Red
COPICS: C0, C1, C3, C5, C7. C9, 100; Spica Lipstick, Garnet, and Silver
STAMPS: Stamping Bella Robot Love, Lawn Fawn Itty Bitty Backgrounds
OTHER: Stampin' Up Stain Ribbon,

Hello Ian

Today, I'm sharing a card I made using the 14th day sketch for the CPS 5th Anniversary (#45):

I have a little stack of new supplies sitting on my desk that I've been wanting to use before I put them away and I used a few of them on this card:

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 The Ian image reminded me of a little newspaper boy (it must be the hat!) so I paired him with the Hero Arts Newspaper Background.  I stamped the newspaper on Pool Party paper with Versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Then I inked over the background with Island Indigo so the Pool Party would come through.  I love this technique and don't use it enough!  I used the same ink colors to color in his colors.  He's such a sweet image.

I usually color brown hair but today I decided to try something new.  I need to find the right combo for blondes but I like how this one turned out.

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 
PAPER: Stampin' Up! Pool Party card stock and dsp; Neenah Solar White
STAMPS: The Greeting Farm's Hello Ian, Hero Arts' Newspaper Background, Verrsamark
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Pool Party, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight, and Early Espresso
COPICS: skin - E50, E51, E00; hair Y21, Y32, E35
OTHER: Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Glue Dots, Tombow Mono Multi Glue, Snail Adhesive, Glue dots, Buttons, Sponge Daubers, Pool Party Seam Binding Ribbon

Sparkly Congrats

Just a quick card for Day 13 of the CPS 5th Anniversary using sketch #121:

I wanted to use a new die set I got that happens to be stars and I liked howthe star on this sketch and left it as is -

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I didn't have a sentiment that fit in the star, so I (carefully) wrote congrats across the star and added dashed lines around the edges to ground them a little to the background... quick and easy!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day - any plans?  If all goes well, I'll have a little non-paper project to share :D

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 
PAPER:Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Neenah Solar White, Silver Glitter paper
DIE: Sweet and Sassy Stars
INK: Stampin' Up! Basic Black Marker

Week 6: Paper Piecing

This week I challenged myself to use some of my paper stash by paper piecing.  Todays card has no paper piecing but I did do some paper piecing through the week and you can see them here and here.  For today's card, I turned CPS's day 12 sketch (#118) into something inspired by the current Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge -

And here it is...

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I loved the felt heart with the pinking around the edge.  I immediately was drawn to the Smoocheroos set and that adorable little monkey.  I stamped him and colored him with Copics.  I used Distress Inks and masked clouds to create the sky that he is floating through.  I stamped the I heart U from the same set on red glitter paper, popped them up and attached some twine.  I cut the heart with pinking shears. The background is stamped from hearts and XOs from Chubby Chums, spiffy Scooters, A Little Lovin', and Word Salad in addition to the Smoocheroos.

That monkey is just too cute :)

My self challenge this week is to use Dazzles in some of my creations.  I've amassed quite a collection because I love how they look, but I don't seem to use them very often.... but this week I will!!

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 
PAPER: Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake and Real Red, Neenah solar White
STMAPS: Paper Smooches - Smoocheroos, Chubby Chums, Spiffy Scooters, A Little Lovin' Word Salad
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Real Red, Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans Distress Inks, Jet Black Stazon
COPICS: E31, E35, E37, E30
OTHER: Pink Felt, Pinking Shearts, Sweet & Sassy Cloud Die, Ink Blender, Red Glitter Paper, Foum Tape, Souffle White Gel Pen, Maraschino twine from the Twinery, Paper Piercer, Snail Adhesive

Gorjuss Paper Piecing and Crochet

Today I'm playing along with CPS's anniversary, Day 11 sketch #170:

And

 
Here's my final card:

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 I am super happy with how this turned out!!  I started with the Gorjuss image on some white cards stock.  I colored her skin, hair and yellow clothes with my copics.  I pieced her coat, shoes, hat, and the foxes.  For her coat, shoes and hat, I stamped her on some Crumb Cake paper then stamped a background stamp over that to give it some texture.  I masked her and the foxes with some masking paper then used a blending tool to cover the white with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Ink (I didn't have any "vanilla" paper and the white was just to bright with the brown and tan so this was my workaround!).  Once I had removed the masks I realized she needed to be ground so I added some shading with my Copics.  Here's a close up of the final image:

As I was deciding exactly what to do with the background, I couldn't decide how to incorporate the scallops from the sketch.  I tried a few of my scalloped punches, some lacier than the others and still wasn't satisfied.  I sat there staring out the window trying to figure something out.  As I turned my head back to my punches, I saw a flash of yellow yarn and it hit me - I could crochet the scallop!!  Here's a close up of my final scallop:

 To make the scallop, I punched every other hole of the eyelet size on the Stampin' Up! Mat Pack.  I used a US 0 hook and some Patton's yarn.  I single crocheted in the first hole, chained one, double crocheted four times in the next hole, chained one, and repeated alternating single crochets with the four double crochets.  It was a little awkward crocheting on card stock, but I am loving it!

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 
PAPER: Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Neenah Solar White
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Stampin' Up! Early Espresso, Distress Inks - Antique Linen and Vintage Photo
STAMPS: Gorjuss  Little Foxes, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Stampin' Up! Sanded
COPICS: ground - C1, C3, C5; skin - E50, E51, E00, R20; hair - E35, E37, E29; stockings - E55, Buttermilk and Lipstick Spicas
OTEHR: Lifestyle Crafts Dainty Embossing folder, Inkadinkadoo Masking Paper, Cutter Bee Scissors, Crystal Lacquer, Stampin' Dimensionals, powder tool, heat gun, clear embossing powder, Tombow Mono Multi Glue, Snail Adhesive, Stampin' Up! Mat Pack, Crop-a-dile
CROCHET SUPPLIES - Patton's yellow yarn, US0 crochet hook

Sending Love in a Hot Air Balloon

Happy weekend!!  Today started off with I smile when I saw I was picked as the Primo Stamper for the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.  I loved that card when I was done with it so I'm glad Kim and her DT did too!

This weekend I'm catching up with all of the CPS anniversary sketches and I'll have at least one card to share every day and hopefully an extra special project that I'll be working on this weekend.  For today, I'm using sketch #26, for day 10:

I also decided to use the colors from this week's Play Date Cafe's challenge:

For whatever reason, when I saw the colors I immediately thought of a hot air ballon and the diamond pattern that some of them have so I set out to make my own background paper.  When I was searching through my stamps deciding which to use, I found a set that I forgot I had and haven't even used yet.  In the end, I was pretty happy with what I ended up with:

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I created the background by cutting 1/2" strips of the four colored papers and glueing them on a piece of copy paper on the diagonal.  Then I cut that into 3/4" strips and placed them onto another piece of cardstock that I ran through my xyron to make sure it was super adhesive.  I flipped every other strip 180 degrees and lined them up to form the pattern.  I used the same colors to paper piece the ballon that I finished by covering it with crytal lacquer.

It took sometime to make the background, but I think it was well worth it!  And since I paper pieced the background and ballon, it'll be playing along with CAS-ual Friday this week too:

Stop by tomorrow to see how I use CPS's sketch for day 11.

Have a great weekend!

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 
PAPER: Stampin' Up! Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Neenah Solar White
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Night of Navy
STAMPS: Ain't Love Grand Stampin' Up! Hostess Set
OTHER: Tombow Mono Multi Glue, Snail Adhesive, Spica Lipstick marker, Crystal Lacquer, Glue Dots, 5" Xyron, Stampin' Up! Brights Buttons, Tonic Distresser, Finger Daubers

Since I didn't have any craft time this weekend, I made up for it today!  I got a couple of new stamp sets from Sweet and Sassy this weekend and put them to use today.  Still playing along with CPS's 5th anniversary celebration, here are the cards I created today -

Using day 7, sketch 242

I made this card using Cocoa in the donought -

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 I used Memento Desert Sand Ink to stamp this image.  I wanted to try color an image with lighter lines.  I layered his face in the doughnut to add some dimension too.  The doughnut is paper pieced and finished off by adding some crystal lacquer to the icing.

Next, I used day 8's sketch, #102

I thought about using a new star die set to replace the heart in the sketch above, but when I saw that iCopic's weekly challenge was hearts, I left it as a heart and added hearts along the bottom of the image panel as well -

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In addition to the CPS sketch celebration, this card is playing along with iCopic and Lawnscaping:

And to finsih off the day, I used day 9's sketch, #5 - 

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A little hard to see in the picture, but the apple was lacquered for that candied look.  (I even left some of the aire bubbles in the lacquer since every candied apple I've had was full of bubbles.)

I think Cocoa the mouse is just too adorable.  I can't decide if I like him as a grey mouse or brown mouse more (I'm leaning toward grey!)

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 
DOUGHNUT COCOA:
Stamps - Sweet and Sassy So Sweet Cocoa
Copics - Ears R01, R20; Cocoa E30. E31, E33; Nose C3. C5, C7; Shading C0, C1, 0
Ink - Memento Desert Sand, Stampin' Up Read Red
Paper - Stampin' Up! Real Red, My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary Jack and Jill
Other - Stampin' Dimensionals, Snail Adhesive, Tombow MonoMulti Glue, Rouge Zing Embossing Powder, Zig Embossing Pen, Judy Kins Detail Scissors, Red Ribbon, Uniball Signo, Tiny Attacher

CUPCAKE COCOA:
Stamps - Sweet and Sassy So Sweet Cocoa
Copics - Ears R01, R20; Cocoa E33, E35, E37; Nose C3, C5, C7; Cake E29; Shading C0, C1, C3, 0; Spica Lipstick (21)
Inks - Memento Rich Cocoa, Distress Inks Fired Brick and Worn Lipstick
Paper - Basic Grey Perhaps
Other - Uniball Signo, Snail Adhesive, Stampin' Dimensionals, American Crafts Foam Dots, Tombow MonoMulti Glue, Stampin' Up! Large Heart Punch and Heart to Heart Punch; ink Blenders

APPLE COCA:
Stamps - Sweet and Sassy Cocoa's Tasty Treats
Copics - Ears R01, R20; Cocoa C3, C5, C7; Nose C7, C9; Apple YG61, YG63, G94, R37, R39, R59, Stick E31
Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black,
Paper - Stampin' Up! Real Red, My Mind's Eye Lime Twist
Other - Marschino Twine from the Twinery, Large Oval Punch from Stampin' Up!, Red Rhinestones, Tiny Attacher 

Keeping the Mojo Flowing

Back with two more cards today!  CPS's fifth anniversary celebration is really getting me in the crafting mood.  Tonight I created two cards based on their latest sketches for the anniversary celebration.

The first one is for day 5 of the celebration using sketch #38 -

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Pretty quick and simple... once I saw the sketch the idea hit me.  The thing that took the longest was getting that flower made.  I've only made one of these before and was not happy with the outcome, but this one I like and it's a great way to use up some of my ribbon I have!

This card will be playing along with:

CPS 5th Anniversary Day 5 (#38)

The second card I made was inspired by Day 6, sketch #37 and by all of the pregnant girls I know (I know at least 6 at the moment!!).  Not all of them are finding out the sex of the baby, but the ones who have are all having girls.  So here's hoping one of the others has a boy ;)

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I found the Giraffe tag from We R Memory keepers in one of my drawers and had to use it.  This card was even quicker to make than the first one!

This little cutie will be playing along with:

Simon Says Stamp - Animal Antics

CPS Day 6, #37

(using Baby Mama with Tina Fey as my movie)

Well, I hope you liked my two quick cards for today.  Have a great weekend!

--Angie

SUPPLIES - 
Congratulations card:
PAPER - Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White
INK - Stampin' Up! Real Red, Versamark
STAMPS - Stampin' Up! A Word for You and Mixed Bunch
OTHER - Red Ribbon, white embossing powder, Glubers, Bling, Corner Chomper


Giraffe card:
PAPER - Stampin' Up! Marina Mist and Daffodil Delight (solid and DSP)
INK - Stampin' Up! Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, and Early Espresso
STAMPS - Stampin' Up! Sprinkles
OTHER - We R Memory Keepers Giraffe Tag, Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip Scalloped Ribbon, rhinestones, Diamond Stickles, Corner Chomper