I'm a cover girl!!!

Yep, you read that right...I'm a cover girl, yo!  Last month, I had my first card ever published in CARDS magazine (August 2012, Sketch Challenge) and I was over the moon excited!  But this month, I have 3 cards published in CARDS, and one of them is ON THE COVER!!!  They didn't tell me it was gonna be on the cover, so you can imagine my surprise when I went looking for the magazine and saw this:

In addition to this card, I have another in the Style Challenge section as well as in the Vintage category.  Just a little excited...you understand!  :)

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - School is cool

Happy Monday to all!  I just got off work this morning, and have the next six days off!  Yay!  I have the best schedule ever!  I plan to do a TON of crafting and get caught up on several projects.  But first, I'm comin' at ya' with the new Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge!  Since it's the second week of the month, that means...

...it's a sketch challenge!  As I've said many times, these have been some of my favorite challenges since joining the SPARKS design team.  And this week's sketch is no exception, it's another great one that got me thinking.  Here is the sketch:

And here are the paper yummies:

As the sketch lends itself to a CAS style, I decided to stay true to that.  I thought the vertical element in the sketch looked like a giant pencil, so I used the sketch for a back to school card.  To create the pencil, I cut a piece of yellow cardstock to the size I wanted, then scored two vertical lines to mimic the barrel of a wooden pencil.  Then I repeatedly stamped the awesome chevron from Geo-Graphic in a yellow ink.  I cut a piece of pink patterned paper, and rounded the bottom corners for the eraser.  For the "metal" part, I cut down a scrap of kraft cardstock, but any color would work.  I covered it with Versamark ink, then embossed it with metallic pewter embossing powder.  Once I had the metal look I wanted, I ran the piece through my paper crimper.  I created the sentiment using the Alphadot set:

For the circular element in the sketch, I punched a hole in my ledger background paper to make it look like it was notebook paper.  I used a little ribbon scrap and a tiny staple to finish off the card.  It doesn't really translate in the photo, but I used a strip of foam tape down only the middle of the pencil, and adhered the left and right sides down flat.  Here's a close-up of the "metal" crimping:

 

How are you inspired by this week's challenge?  I'm really excited to see how other people interpret this sketch!  You can play along with the challenge here. You have until Sunday, September 16th at 11:59 PM EST to play along.  The winner will receive a $30 credit to the Paper Smooches store!!  And don't forget the check out the rest of Team 2's wonderful creations, and give em' some love!

Angeline

Erica

Jackie

Savannah

Thanks so much for looking! 

 

Supplies: cardstock: Core'dinations (kraft, yellow); patterned papers: Echo Park (dot, ledger); stamps: Paper Smooches (Alphadot, Geo-Graphic); inks: TPC Studio (turquoise, yellow), Tsukineko (Versamark); embossing powder: American Crafts; punches: We R Memory Keepers (corner rounder), Hampton Art (circle); ribbon: The Ribbon Boutique; stapler: Ranger

CFC68 - Scootin' off to school

Happy Friday, everybody!  Today I'm heading up to Phoenix to go to Hobby Lobby (for the second time this week - didn't realize I needed something the first time. Duh!) and I'm going to hit up a stamp store while I'm up there, since there are no LSS/stamp stores here in Tucson.  Lame-o.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.  Ya know what else I'm looking forward to?  This week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge!  YAY! There are some really exciting things in the works over at the CAS-ual Fridays blog.  The first thing (and the only thing we can disclose so far) is a new Girl Friday!  Yep, the very talented Piali Biswas is joining us, starting with this week's challenge!  And here it is:

CFC68: Create a Clean and Simple back to school project

The sponsor for this week's challenge is Pretty Paper Studio.  The winner of this week's challenge will receive a gift certificate to spend in their super cute store!

Ok, so onto the challenge! I love so many of the back-to-school-themed paper collections, but they tend to be geared toward younger children.  I wanted to go a slightly different route with my card, and make one for a "kid" going off to college.  With that in mind, I created this paper yummy:

I was looking for a way to incorporate the scooter from the Paper Smooches Spiffy Scooters set, and when I saw the stack of books from the Smarty Pants set, it just "clicked."  I stamped the scooter onto the graph patterned paper, colored in the lights, then stamped the stack of books onto the seat.  I stamped the apple on top of the books, then stamped the puffs of smoke and the flag coming out the back of the scooter.

I created the sentiment using the Paper Smooches Alphadot set, and stitched around the edge of the graph patterned paper:

I paper pieced the scooter, and popped the "fenders" up on dimensional tape:

Here is another view:

Are you at the top of the class?  We'd love to see your back to school project, and you have until next Thursday at noon EST to play along with this week's challenge.  And don't forget to stay tuned for the big changes coming to CAS-ual Fridays in the near future! Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: card base: The Paper Studio; patterned papers: My Mind's Eye, Basic Grey; stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Tsukineko; markers: Copic; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Americana