Simple Card Saturday - hello friend

Happy Saturday! For this week's simple card, I'm sharing a card that I made for my monthly Christmas card class at my local Real Deals. I'm also playing along at CAS-ual Fridays:

CFC46: Create a Clean And Simple project based on a song.

I was inspired by Frosty the Snowman. Now for the paper yummies:I just love that lil' snowman and his birdie friend. Too cute!

I'm playing along here:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC46: Name that tune

The Ribbon Carousel Challenge RCC46: Anything goes

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), The Paper Studio (kraft); patterned paper: Recollections; stamp: Hampton Art; ink: Tsukineko; markers: Prismacolor; pom-pom trim: Michael's; white gel pen: Uniball Signo; corner rounder, hole punch: We R Memory Keepers, dimensional adhesive: American Crafts

Simple Card Saturday - One of a kind

Happy Saturday! For this week's Simple Card Saturday, I have a card using an adorable image from the Paper Smooches Zoo Crew set that was released this month. I love all the little animals, and they are really fun to paper piece. This week I'm playing along with the Young Crafters Unite Challenge, to use sewing or stitching:

CFC45: The Bold & The Beautiful-

create a Clean And Simple project using pastels and black

I'd been wanting to use the hippo from the Zoo Crew set, but just hadn't for whatever reason. Then when I got this cute gray-with-white-polka-dot paper, it hit me: make a polka-dot hippo that's one of a kind. And now for the paper yummies:

I stamped the Hero Arts Zig Zag background using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in crushed olive for a tone-on-tone background. I really love that background stamp! Then I paper-pieced my hippo and added the sentiment and the heart, which are from the Paper Smooches Word Salad set. I added Glossy Accents to the heart. The large scalloped punch is by EK Success. I tied some baker's twine and a button around part of the scallop, machine-stitched along the edge of the card, then popped the sentiment up on dimensional adhesive. Here's a closer view of my polka-dot hippo:

Love him! I'm playing along with these challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC45: The bold and the beautiful

Young Crafters Unite Challenge #8: Stitching or sewing

The Ribbon Carousel Challenge RCC45: Baking with The Twinery

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Core'dinations (green, blue); patterned paper: Recollections; stamps: Paper Smooches (hippo, sentiment, heart), Hero Arts (background); ink: Tsukineko (black), Ranger (green); markers: Prismacolor; scalloped edge punch: EK Success; Glossy Accents: Ranger; baker's twine: Divine Twine; button: craft supply; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer; dimensional adhesive: American Crafts

CAS-ual Fridays CFC45: Thanks for all you do

Happy Friday! I hope everybody had a great week! I'm back with a card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

CFC45: The Bold & The Beautiful-

create a Clean And Simple project using a pastels and black

This card is a little different than my usual style. I think I do "cutesy" better than I do "pretty", but I kept seeing all these beautiful cards with this Large Flower Background stamp from Hero Arts and thought it looked interesting. Then when Gayatri sent me a Valentine's Day card using this stamp and I got to see what it looked like in person, I definitely wanted in on the action. I stamped it on kraft cardstock and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I colored the big flowers and leaves with Prismacolor markers, and it really made the white POP! Here are the paper yummies:

After I colored what I wanted to, I used a craft knife to partially cut some of the leaves, then I curled them up to make them really dimensional. I backed the stamped kraft cardstock with some black cardstock for a little "unexpected" touch, since you don't see black cardstock anywhere else. Here's a close-up:
I added a scalloped strip, a sentiment by Papertrey Ink, some ribbon, baker's twine, and a button to finish it off. I'm playing along with these challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC45: The Bold and the Beautiful

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #161: Sketch

The Ribbon Carousel Challenge RCC45: Baking With The Twinery

The Pink Elephant TPE140: Get Krafty

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Recollections (kraft, black), Core'dinations (green); stamps: Hero Arts (flower background), Papertrey Ink (sentiment); inks: Tsukineko (watermark, black); embossing powder: American Crafts; markers: Prismacolor; craft knife: Fiskars; punches: Fiskars (scalloped edge), We R Memory Keepers (corner rounder); ribbon: The Ribbon Boutique; baker's twine: Divine Twine; button: craft supply

Paper Smooches April Guest Designer

So, you all know that I LOVE Paper Smooches stamps, right? I mean, what's not to love? Kim Hughes does such a fantastic job of designing some of the cutest images out there, the graphic sets that Karolyn Loncon designs are fantastic, and the sentiments are so unique. And they all work together so well. Plus they stamp like a dream! Well...(insert drum roll here)...I am pleased (ecstatic really) to announce that I have been chosen as the guest designer for April! And let me tell ya, the April releases definitely do not disappoint. They are super cute! I cannot wait to get them and start creating! Hopefully, they'll appear in my mailbox tomorrow. I just had to share my good news. This will be my first guest designer/design team work ever (besides my LSS), and the fact that it's with Paper Smooches is just unbelievable to me. I can't wait to share all my Paper Smooches paper yummies!

P.S. To see the card that won, click here.

Lawnscaping Challenge: Inspired by (A+ teacher thank you card)

Happy Wednesday (wow - I totally just had to suppress the urge to make a hump day joke. LOL)! I hope everybody's week is going well so far. Today I have a cute card to say thank you to a teacher. Originally, I started making this card for the Hero Arts 90 minute scramble on Flickr. But, since I joined the scramble over half way through, and then my lovely laptop decided to freeze every time I inserted my SD card, I missed the cut-off to upload my card. (I think Donna allowed my card even after the cut-off. So sweet.) Anyway, I went back later and added some finishing touches that I didn't have time to do the first go-around. I love the way it turned out. I'm playing along with several challenges with this card. One of them is the Lawnscaping challenge. I don't have any Lawn Fawn stamps (yet!), but they're not required. Maybe I'll win the challenge, and get my first set! LOL! I love their challenge this week:

You can see my inspiration at the bottom of this post. Now for the paper yummies:I found this really cute alphabet patterned paper at Michael's last week (and they were 6/$1.00. Score!), and it looks super with these patterned papers by Echo Park, My Mind's Eye, and Recollections. I paired them with some really cute stamps from Hero Arts, Papertrey Ink, and Mint Motif:
I am loving this natural-color quilting thread right now - it's so nice and thick. I used it to straight stitch along the top of the thank you banner. I also zigzag stitched down at the bottom of the card. For a fun button treatment, I stamped a star in a pale blue ink on natural cardstock and cut it out. I adhered it to the middle of this green wooden button, and filled it with Glossy Accents. I love the way it turned out. Here is a close-up:

I'm playing along with these challenges:

Creative Inspirations Challenge 155: Anything Goes

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge 161: Sketch

Lawnscaping Challenge: Inspired By

The Shabby Tea Room Week 106: Pennant Party

This is the card that inspired mine (from Kristina Werner - LOVE her!)

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Core'dinations (blue), Recollections (natural); patterned papers: Echo Park (yellow, green), Recollections (alphabet, red), My Mind's Eye (cream/graph); stamps: Hero Arts (ledger, thank you flags), Papertrey Ink ("notes", A+, star), Mint Motif ("teacher"); ink: Tsukineko (black), Recollections (pale blue); Ribbon: Hobby Lobby; wood button: Michael's; Glossy Accents: Ranger; sanding block: Making Memories; sewing machine: Kenmore; quilting thread: Americana

Happy Easter to a real cute chick

Happy Sunday! I hope everybody had a safe and sound St. Patrick's Day. Today I have another card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

CFC44: It's as Easy as 1-2-3 Create a Clean And Simple project using

1. A Pattern

2. An Image

3. A Sentiment

I found this cardstock at Michael's this week while they had their open-stock Recollections papers 6/$1.00, and I really like it. The name of the color is not on the tag and I forgot to look at the name at the store, but it's much lighter than kraft and you can still see white pen against it. And I LOVE me some kraft paper! It's great to have another, slightly different but still krafty, option. And you can't beat that price! I used this cardstock to make a shaped card (which I don't do often, but I don't know why. I like 'em). I used a Nestabilities die to cut the shaped card and a piece of patterned paper by Echo Park. Now for the paper yummies:

I just love that lil' chick with the bunny ears! Too cute!

I'm playing along with these challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC44: Easy as 1-2-3

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge: Things with wings

PaperCrafting Journey Challenge 5: Pretty pastels

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Recollections; patterned paper: Echo Park; stamps: Hampton Art (sentiment), Craftsmart (image); ink: Tsukineko; markers: Prismacolor; die: Nestabilities by Spellbinders; die cut machine: Cuttlebug by Provocraft; white pen: Uniball Signo; baker's twine: Divine Twine

Simple Card Saturday - Just sitting here...

Happy Saturday and St. Patrick's Day to everybody! I definitely had the luck of the Irish bestowed upon me, as I just found out that I'M GOING TO BE PUBLISHED!!! Yay! This will be my first publication, and I'm over-the-top excited. I cannot wait until August when I finally get to see my work in a magazine. I'm SUPER stoked!

Okay, on to my card for Simple Card Saturday. This week I'm playing along with the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays:

CFC44: It's as Easy as 1-2-3 Create a Clean And Simple project using

1. A Pattern

2. An Image

3. A Sentiment

I'm also playing along with the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger:

I was inspired by the lovely chairs and the neutral color palette with pops of color. For today's card, I wanted to paper-piece this cute chair stamp from the Hero Arts "Wishing You Were Here" set, which took care of both the pattern and the image components of the CAS-ual Fridays challenge. And of course this sentiment included in that stamp set was just perfect. Now for the paper yummies:

I wanted the "wall" behind the chair to look as if it had paneling or beadboard on it, so I used my Scor-Pal to create some vertical lines on the white cardstock:

I wanted my ribbon to go behind the chair but not cover up the legs, so I cut a slit in the paper on each side of the chair stamp and wove the ribbon through to the back, then out to the front again, and tied it in a bow. I finished the card off with some machine stitching and stamped the sentiment onto the patterned "rug". Here's another close-up:
I'm playing along here:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC44: Easy as 1-2-3

Cupcake Craft Challenge 183: Going Dotty

Friday Mashup #50 sketch

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger: Simple Elegance

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific; patterned paper: Recollections; stamps: Hero Arts; ink: Recollections; scoring tool: Scor-Pal; ribbon: Ribbon Boutique; craft knife: Fiskars; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

CPS Sketch 256 & CAS-ual Fridays

Howdy! I hope everybody is having a great week so far. Today I made a card using this week's sketch from Card Positioning Systems. Here's the sketch:

I'm also playing along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge:
I thought this would be another great opportunity to use my new Paper Smooches stamps again. Squeal! I'm just loving the March release, and I'm so glad I decided to join their monthly club! Now for the paper yummies:
I used the globe from the Smarty Pants set, along with the heart and sentiment from Word Salad. The patterned papers are by Echo Park. I colored the images in with Prismacolor markers, and added some Glossy Accents to the lil' heart. I added a couple lines of machine stitching, just because... Here's a closer look:
I'm playing along here:

Card Positioning Systems Sketch 256

CAS-ual Fridays CFC43: For Sentimental Reasons

CropStop Challenge 62: Rainbow of colors (use at least 4 colors - I used 5 if you count kraft)

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: A bit o' green

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Recollections; patterned papers: Echo Park; stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Tsukineko; markers: Prismacolor; circle die: Nestabilities by Spellbinders; die cutting machine: Cuttlebug by Provocraft; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; Glossy Accents: Ranger; dimensional adhesive: American Crafts; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

Happy birthday to you

Happy Wednesday! Today I'm sharing a birthday card I made using this week's sketch from Mojo Monday:

And now for the paper yummies:
I just loved this multi-colored plaid patterned paper from My Mind's Eye, and wanted to pull some of the colors from the plaid into my stamped image. I heat-embossed the stamp (by Hampton Art), then colored it in with Prismacolor markers and added Stickles to the bow. The sentiment is a rub-on from American Crafts. I machine-stitched some wavy lines along the edges of the patterned paper, and finished it off with some adorable ribbon from Making Memories. Here's a closer view:
I'm playing along here:

Mojo Monday Sketch 232

CropStop Challenge 62: Rainbow of colors

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge: Kraft paper

Cupcake Craft Challenge 183: Going Dotty

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Recollections (kraft), The Paper Company (blue, green), Georgia Pacific (white for stamping); patterned paper: My Mind's Eye; stamp, embossing powder: Hampton Art; ink: Tsukineko; markers: Prismacolor; Stickles glitter glue: Ranger; rub-on sentiment: American Crafts; scallop edge punch: EK Success; ribbon: Making Memories; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

Simple Card Saturday - Hang in there!

Happy Saturday! Today's card was inspired by a few different challenges. First off, I'm playing along with CAS-ual Fridays challenge "For Sentimental Reasons":

I'm following a sketch from Mojo Mondays:

And I'm also using an inspiration photo from the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge:

I love several things about this photo, but especially all the texture, stitching, and outlining. I also love the neutral background with the clean white felt and pops of pink and yellow. Paper Smooches has a new free digital stamp this month that is too cute. The image is tied in with the sentiment, so I thought that was perfect for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge. And then I added some more sentiment of my own. And now for the paper yummies:

I printed the digital stamp onto adhesive-backed fabric paper by American Crafts + Dear Lizzy. I love the way the stamp printed so cleanly onto the fabric! I rounded the corners of the fabric, then stitched along the outer edge. I also added some stitching right onto the lil' squirrel's feet. I added some white felt, which I also stitched. The white circular dots are a stamp by Fiskars, and I stitched just inside the stamped pattern. I finished the card off with a hand-written sentiment and some corduroy brads. Between the fabric, felt, stitching, and brads, this card has a lot of texture to it. Here are some close-ups:

I'm playing along here:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC43: For Sentimental Reasons

Mojo Monday Sketch 231

Paper Smooches Sparks challenge

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday challenge: Kraft paper

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Recollections; fabric paper: American Crafts + Dear Lizzy; digital stamp: Paper Smooches; stamp: Fiskars (white dots); ink: Joann; white pen: Signo Uniball; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; dimensional adhesive: American Crafts; felt, brads: craft supply; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

Paper Smooches March release and CAS-ual Fridays: welcome to the world

Happy Tuesday! I'm having so much fun with the Paper Smooches Stamps March Release. I love 'em so hard! I finally got to play with Zoo Crew, which has the most adorable little animals. I wanted to create another card for the CAS-ual Fridays current challenge:And I followed this sketch:

Since the sketch has this nice long skinny panel in the middle, I picked the giraffe (plus, she looks the cutest for a baby card). I stamped the giraffe onto some cute patterned paper using brown ink, then cut it out and placed it on some more cute patterned paper. Now for the paper yummies:
I pieced together the sentiment using a bunch of stamps from the Word Salad set.

I love the way it turned out! This card is playing along here:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC42: Hey, Baby!

Just Us Girls #126 Sketch Challenge

The Pink Elephant "Let's see those layers" challenge

Simon Says Stamp "Anything Goes" Challenge

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: card base: Recollections; cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white for giraffe's eye); patterned papers: Echo Park; stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Memento; scallop edge punch: Fiskars; corner rounder punch: We R Memory Keepers; ribbon: Michael's; button: craft supply

Simple Card Saturday - "Welcome baby" clear card

Happy Saturday (well, at least when I started this post :)! Today I taught a kids' class at Real Deals (an "all about me" chipboard book), and everybody's project turned out really cute. I was very impressed with all the kiddos and their books. Amy and I also made up some samples for upcoming classes, so I'll be posting those in the next few days.

For this week's Simple Card Saturday, I'm playing along with a few challenges. One of them is the CAS-ual Fridays challenge (I was a VIP in their last challenge - squeal!). Here is their challenge:

I'm also playing along with Young Crafters Unite challenge (I was also a recent winner there! Double squeal!). Here is their challenge:

I hadn't done a clear card in years, so this was a good challenge for me. I also don't have any clear cardstock, but I did have some "presentation covers", which I love. They're frosted rather than being completely transparent, but you can still see through them, and I LOVE the effect they give. Now for the paper yummies:

It may be difficult to tell from the picture, but the yellow striped paper with the big polka dots is actually inside the front of the card. The only pieces on the front of the card are the cardstock piece with the sentiment, the ribbon, and the felt baby buggy. I just ADORE the way the frosted presentation cover gives this card such a soft look! I had actually planned to use it on a different card, but wasn't wild about the way it was turning out. So it was sitting on my table when I started making this card, and I thought I'd just see how it looked. As soon as I put my patterned paper inside, it just clicked! Love it when that happens! Anyway, I stamped the big polka dots using the "Line Dots" cling stamp from Hero Arts. I really like the way it looks on the yellow striped paper! The sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink's "Simple Sentiments" set. I used Memento London Fog ink on both stamps. The felt puffy is from KI Memories. This picture shows a little bit better that the patterned paper is inside the front of the card:

And here's another angle, showing all the frosted goodness:

Love it!

This card is playing along here:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC #42: Hey, Baby!

Young Crafters Unite Challenge #7: Clear Cards

One Stop Craft Challenge #172: Button It

The Ribbon Carousel RCC 42: Anything Goes

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: presentation cover: GBC; patterned paper: SEI; cardstock: The Paper Company; stamps: Hero Arts (polka dots), Papertrey Ink (sentiment); ink: Memento (London Fog); felt baby buggy: KI Memories; ribbon: Hobby Lobby; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers

Paper Smooches March release: altered composition book

Happy March! So I think I've found my new love...Paper Smooches stamps. I bought my first set a few weeks back, and it only has sentiments. Well...while I do LOVE the set I had, it just wasn't cuttin' it. Their image stamps are just too cute to not have, so I joined the monthly stamp club. Every month for the next year, I'll be getting 3 brand new releases from Paper Smooches (and club members get them before they're released!). Squeal! March is the first installment I got, and I'm so happy with my decision to join the club. The 3 releases this month are Zoo Crew, Metropolis, and Smarty Pants (below). Today I am showing a project I made using Smarty Pants. This past Tuesday night, I taught a class at Real Deals where we made altered composition books. Some people made them for a teacher, and some made an everyday theme. ALL of them turned out super cute! Here is the one I made. This is the stamp set I used (Smarty Pants):

And now for the paper yummies:

I used a total of 5 stamps from the Smarty Pants set, along with the Ledger stamp from Hero Arts. I've had these patterned papers from Sassafras for.ever. I was so excited to finally use them, and I think they are PERFECT for this project!

I knew I wanted to use the little nerdy guy, and I thought his clothes would be super fun paper-pieced. So I gave him some awesome October Afternoon clothes, with a Sassafras tie. I wanted him to have the "thick disheveled white hair coming out the ears" look (ew), so after I colored his hair gray, I went back in with a white pen and drew some random strands. And he normally has a pointer in his hand, but I wanted him to hold the cute apple from the same set instead. So I stamped,colored, and fussy-cut the apple, then added some Glossy Accents. I also added Glossy Accents to his shoes to make them white patent leather, but you can't really tell in the photo. And I couldn't decide if he was wearing glasses or just had really big eyes, so I colored them in and either gave him glasses or glaucoma, I'm not sure which. I LOVE this guy!!! Here's a close-up:

Here are couple more stamps from the Smarty Pants set. I paper-pieced the pencil using the same paper as the nerd's tie, and colored in the rest with Prismacolor markers. I put the "lead" of the pencil right on the sentiment to make it look as if the pencil wrote it:

And I used the cute little star stamp from the set in a couple of corners on the ledger:

I added some random mini staples using my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, and completed my sentiment with some American Crafts alpha stickers. I think Smarty Pants is my favorite set from the March release...but I haven't used the other two sets yet. That could change!

My lil' nerd is playing along here:

PaperPlay Challenge: Something old, something new (old papers, new stamps)

Paper Pretties: Use your favorite stamp set

Ribbon Carousel: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: composition book: Target; patterned papers: Sassafras (apples, stripes, scalloped strip), October Afternoon (flowers, polka dots); cardstock: Recollections (kraft), The Paper Company (ivory), stamps: Paper Smooches (nerd, apple, pencil, star, thanks teacher), Hero Arts (ledger); inks: Tsukineko (black), Hampton Art (red), Ranger (distress); markers: Prismacolor; notebook edge punch: EK Success; stapler, Glossy Accents: Ranger; alphabet stickers: American Crafts; ribbon: The Ribbon Boutique; white pen: Signo Uniball