Stamp Act

CPS Challenge #48 ~ One of a Kind.....

Hi!!!!
I was totally inspired for the colors of my next card by a comforter set I saw at Kohl's.  It was by Vera Wang and was SO beautiful!!!  I made a mental note that I needed to do a card one day using those colors and today was that day!  This card sketch is based on this weeks CPS sketch challenge.  The base of my card is 5 1/2" square and is Basic Gray cardstock. 

The next mat is first Going Gray and then Barely Banana.  The Banana piece was stamped using Going Gray ink and the flourish from Kind Thoughts.  The strip on the side was stamped using the same ink and stamp on Banana and then matted with Going Gray.  I lined the flourish on the side strip up and adhered it on the card. 

For the focal image piece I stamped the butterfly from Kind Thoughts on the Whisper White cardstock using Basic Gray ink.  I stamped it again on Banana using the same ink.  I cut the wings of this butterfly out, bent up the edges and used Elmer's glue to adhere the wings.  The bling swirl is by Prima and I bought it HERE.    I a little of the bling off to have it fit and then used 3 of the little crystals on the top flourish and to dot the I on kind.  The one of a kind rubon is from SU!'s Cherished Memories.  I added the Prima flowers using some white brads I had in my stash!!!  Before I added my brads I mounted this piece on first Going Gray cardstock and then Basic Gray cardstock.  I used dimensionals to adhere it to the front.

Before I go, i want to do a little enabling!!!!  At Mothers & Daughters Creations, Tamara is getting a shipment (supposed to be tomorrow!!!) of some BRAND NEW Imaginisce stamps and paper!!!  OMG, it is so cute and the stamps are ONLY a $1!   Here are 2 of the cutest images ~

HERE is the link for these stamps and others that will be available and HERE is the link for the coordinating paper and embellishments!  You can thank me later!!! LOL!!! 

Have a great evening!

~Lynda

Just one more..... Christmas card!!

I promise that I will TRY to not make any more Christmas cards for a while!  This card is for CPS' Weekly Sketch Challenge.  Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

Yes, I have made a card similar to this before so you are not experiencing "dejavue" (I am not sure how to spell it but you know what I mean!).  I had to take the picture inside so the green Wild Wasabi doesn't really show well but the top part of the card is that color.  My base card is Very Vanilla textured cardstock and the decorative papers are Dashing by SU!.  The chipboard letters are from the lots of letters chipboard set.  The ribbon is vanilla taffeta and the hardware is Antique Brass from the Hodgepodge Hardware kit.  I also added Real Red SU! brads and grosgrain.  The bottom of the decorative paper was trimmed with my scalloped scissors.   

I have found that just a regular glue stick works great with adhering paper to chipboard.  I usually sand the edges and either sponge the edges or like the above card, I rolled the letters in my Vanilla Craft pad to cover the chipboard edge and provide a little edge on the front of the chipboard on the decorative paper.

I will be uploading another card ~ it isn't a Christmas card ~ shortly!!

Thanks for looking!

Lynda

Christmas in July!

I know, I know, it's September but CPS  and CardMaker Magazine have teamed up for a card design contest.  There are multiple themes you can choose from and they have the sketch right there for you to follow.   When I saw the sketch here ~

This is what I came up with ~

I chose the Christmas in July theme.  My friend Lisa let me borrow this set from her so I could work on card samples for an upcoming event that I am helping her with.  Well..... Don't tell her but I used it for a contest entry ~ SSSSHHHHH!!!!!!   I had a vision with the top part that I thought would look more like squares but instead of there being definite squares there, I have square open spaces ~ sortof....  OK, so they don't look like squares at all but you have to admit, this Santa is awesome!!!  I love this set and am so excited to get to use it ~ Thanks Lis!!!!

I colored the Christmas lights on the palm tree with gelly roll pens so they are shiny and Santa's swimming trunks were also colored with the gel pens.  The rest of the scene was colored with my watercolor crayons, blender pen and markers.  The clouds are stickers that I picked up at Michael's the other day because they were on sale for $.88 and I NEEDED them!!!  The maker is Sticko (pretty original huh?).  The top decorative paper is KI Memories and says Merry Christmas all across it.  I used my scallop scissors on the bottom and just used a 1/8" circle punch for the ribbon holes.  The ribbon is from Michael's.

You should go on over to CPS and check out the contest.  You can't win if you don't enter!!  Now quit foolin' around and go make a card!!! 

CPS Challenge #28

I just finished my entry for CPS' layout challenge #28.  This is actually a little photo album.  I used 4 clear envelopes which will hold 8 photos!  The base of the card is Sage Shadow ~ which I don't use very often but it goes quite well with the Outlaw decorative papers!!! 

The materials used for this little album was SU! On Board Trimmings, Large pewter brad, paper piercer, Mat pack, Karen Foster Western Pewter charm, Natural Hemp, 1" circle punch, velcro, acrylic paint, Bronc Buster, distressing tool, Brown marker, Elmer's glue

The dimensions of the top flap and bottom flap of album (Sage Shadow) are  ~ 7 1/4" x 4 3/4".  Both pieces are scored at 1 1/4" and the top flap is scored again at 2 1/2".  The top and bottom 1 1/4" scored piece are each folded in lay on top of each other on the inside of the album.  The top piece at the 2 1/2" score is to be able to open the front flap once assembled.

I used my Creative Memories circle cutter to cut the layered circles on the right.  I did faux stitching (I did X's for a change) around the entire circle.  I covered the chipboard star with Outlaw DP using a glue stick, cut around it and sanded all edges.  I also sponged the edges with Basic Brown ink.  I punched out a 1" circle from the Rust decorative paper and layered it on top and used my Crop-a-dile to adhere the large eyelet.  Also, I used the distressing tool on all edges (except the chipboard).

The top flap is covered in Outlaw DP with another strip of the DP glued right to the edge of the score for the top flap to open.  I also used the chipboard star strip which I used acrylic paint to cover and taped sage DP from the Outlaw paper to the inside of the starts.  I used Elmer's glue to adhere this on top of the decorative strip.  I stamped the bronc on the front as well as the smoke swirl using Basic Brown ink. 
Now to assemble.  Take the adhesive strips off of your translucent envelopes and tape the together.  Adhere the envelopes with the last envelopes adhesive under the inside flap on the bottom.  If this doesn't make sense, please ask and I can send photos if needed!!!  After getting the envelopes in place I put my eyelets in and tied my hemp with charm.  For the circle on the right end I used adhesive to tape the bottom of the circle to the outside of the bottom flap.  The top flap is held down with half a velcro dot.

Here is a look at the inside.  I didn't have time to add photos but the envelopes are from SU!

I got this pattern off SCS last year some time so if my instructions are not clear, I will find the one on SCS and forward them to you!  Thanks for looking!

~Lynda

What's Moo???

I made this card for CPS'  layout challenge #26.  The sponsor this week is Cornish Heritage Farms.  They have some awesome stamps so if you get a chance, check out their website!  I happen to have a bunch of their stamps so I was able to use one for this challenge.  They have a brand new line of farm animal stamps that are so cute!  I used Bossy the Cow and the What's Moo? sentiment as well as the Cow Print Backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms.  I also used Stampin' Up's Canvas Background stamp.

I colored Bossy with my SU! markers and stamped her using Basic Black ink.  I added eyelashes and used a touch of glitter on the ends because you can't have a card without glitter!  I made a bow out of silver cord and glued it on her tail.  The white flower is from Reminisce which I used a black marker to add dots on.  The pink brad is from Oriental Trading.  The base of my card is Pretty in Pink then a layer of Creamy Caramel stamped using my Canvas BG stamp and Caramel ink.  What's Moo was stamped using Basic Black on Creamy Caramel.  I also stamped the canvas on this piece to tie in with the other background.  I punched the sentiment out using the large oval punch and then just cut around it to mat with black. 

The Cow Print was stamped on Whisper White using a Versamark pad and heat embossing using black embossing powder.  I then matted this on Basic Black CS.  OK, the side strip is KI Memories polka dot paper layered with cow (or dog print ~ whatever works best for your card) ribbon.  I used Pretty in Pink reinker and dyed the white on the ribbon pink.  This is the funny part.  The triangles were not supposed to be there.  I wanted to just staple the ribbon down but my stapler ripped the paper and messed up the Caramel CS so at this point I was feeling rather irritated and decided to cover up my mess with the triangles.  I used silver brads to hold them in place.   I hate that when you are all done with a card or page and then screw it up.  Don't get me wrong, I screw them up at the beginning too!!! 

Yesterday the winners for Jacksonbelle's Lizzie Anne Challenge were announced.  Don't you think it is funny that when someone wins you always hear about it but when they lose, you don't ever find out and just assume the person must have lost!!!  Well.......  I lost!!!  LOL!!  That's OK though because there was some really awesome cards entered so if you get a chance, check them out!  Speaking of being a loser ~ when I finally was able to figure out how to add the Stamping Top 50 counter to my blog, it showed up and listed me at 450!  Not that I really had any expectations but 450 was a little up there!  I justified this in my mind by thinking that I was number 450 out of 500!!!!  Well, I thought that was kindof embarrassing but since it took me so long to add it, I certainly couldn't figure out how to post it without the HUGE number on it so I left it and now have moved up to number 273!  I wonder if they start you at 450 and then just try to make you feel better by moving you up a hundred or so?!?!!? 

Sorry, I got off track a little there...

Yesterday my DH and I took the kids to Monticello in Charlottesville, VA.  Monticello is Thomas Jefferson's home and is just beautiful.   We weren't able to take the kids on a long vacation this summer because we have animals to tend to so we have done a few day trips!  It was a beautiful day and nice to get away for a while.  Here is a picture of the house ~

We live about an hour and a half  away and don't get out toward the mountains very often so the kids enjoyed seeing some new sights! 

I will be posting later the 2 auction items I am donating for my friends crop which is tomorrow!  I haven't finished the 2nd one because my goodness, I still have until tomorrow to have it done!!!  I have known about this crop for 6 months so why would I start any sooner???  I am so excited because it is 12 hours of uninterrupted cropping!!!!  I should be able to complete at least 2 pages!!!  The crop is to raise money for St. Jude.   

Thanks for looking and have a great day ~

Lynda