Challenges, Challenges!

Coffee of the Day - Creme Brulee

I am probably breaking every cardinal rule of posting today, but I am combining 2 challenge cards into one post. mainly because I am so whooooooped and so busy with catch-up projects and just don't want y'all to have to wade through lots of stuff on my blog. plus I know you get tired of all of my blathering anyhow! grins!

so here goes.......

My first card is for the challenge today over at Crafts 4 Eternity. this is my first card as a DT member with them, and I am so excited! The challenge is a sketch and a recipe - use an inking technique and fabric. The card is a bit busy, but my guys did all really like this. It is going to a guy who is a good friend of ours. We have known Geoff and his family for over 10 years. He plays football and injured his wrist very badly this year. Ended up going to the Mayo clinic in MN for some pretty serious surgery that involved bone and nerve grafting, so will be out of school for quite a while. Anyhow, I used some fabric scraps, cork bits, strips of burlap, and knotted twine to create the bg. The piece of Basic Grey Boxer cs was burned around the edges to create an old world feel. I took a chipboard frame from Making Memories and inked it over with navy, then marked the circles with a silver sharpie. The image is from Digital Stamp Oasis.

Creative Card Crew - Get Well

Crazy 4 Challenges - 3 Textures

Incy Wincy - textures

My next card is for the challenge at Paper Sundaes, sponsored this week by The Stamping Boutique. As soon as I saw that pretty pink Vespa I showed you earlier this week, I knew I was going to have to create something with Tracey's adorable Princess Late Vespa image! The sketch challenge offered at PS this week seemed perfect! My papers are again Basic Grey, but this time from the Sultry collection. I painted parts with my pink shimmerz to give that extra bit of glitter that every Princess needs and of course, wants! Added some rhinestones to give a bit more glitz, as well as some vintage and new buttons. The lace trim seemed to be the perfect way to finish off the sketch. The SU! sentiment applies to both the Vespa and the Latte, of course! giggles! oh some day, pink Vespa, you will be mine...... some day! :D the larger Latte cup on the side in popped up on foam tape.

Stamp, Scrap, & Doodle Sat. - Sparkle & Shine

Treehouse Stamps - Bling

I hope you can play in some of these fun challenges with us!

A Digital Stamp Oasis Get Well :)

Coffee of the Day - Vanilla Macadamia

Several people I know have been sick so I thought it was time to make a few get well cards. I love this cute little butterfly and inchworm digi image from Digital Stamp Oasis, so thought it would be fun to use for one of them. I decided to pull out my Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper pad for this card as well as another card you'll be seeing. These colors are such fun to use!

I added some stickles to the circles on the mushrooms and shimmerz on the butterfly. just a bit of sparkle to brighten a day for someone not feeling so good! :) Toss on some buttons with ribbon and we are good to go! Thought to do something different by stamping the sentiment right on the punched flower. I think it turned out kinda cute!

Card qualifies for the following challenges:

Pile it On - get well

Crafty Sentiments - sketch and kraft cs

Creative Card Crew - get well

Flutter By - open

Creative Belli - Butterfly or Dragonfly

Stamp, Scrap, & Doodle Sat. - Charming

Stamp Something - recipe: DP, ribbon, buttons

Rain Rain Go Away..... but bring the snow! giggles!!!

Coffee of the Day - Vanilla Macadamia

Hello everyone! I was actually able to drink coffee today! yippppeeeee! also tried some card making..... not my best by any means, but hey - I got a card made! I think perhaps I will wait another few days before trying again, but it did feel good to get some ink on my fingers again!

I used this cute little squirrel friend from Digital Stamp Oasis. I was doing a bit of catching up on my over 3000 emails sitting in my mailbox, and came across this wonderful card over at Thinking Inking - a blog I visit as often as she updates. I CASE'd Debbie's adorable sketch layout (3rd project), but not to fear, my card doesn't even begin to come close to that adorable card! That is what inspired me to get crafting today. Of course I made to with the tools I have and what I wanted to convey with my card. Not only that, I was challenging myself with this glitter paper - some that I had picked up a while back as part of a pack even though the bright colors are not my style at all. I added some shimmerz paint to the flower center as well as the puddle. The rain has been higlighted with my glitter pen. The primas are dotted with fruit punch stickles in the center & then accented with punched leaves. Vintage buttons complete the scallop double border punch. Love the look of the big grosgrain bow! The sentiment is a rub-on from Basic Grey.

Challenges:

Fussy & Fancy Friday - Dazzle

Digital Tuesday - Animals

Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - Punches

Paper Sundaes - Glittery Spring

Pink Elephant - Ribbon

Pile It On - Flowers

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - digi coloring

Creative Belli - Ribbons

Please Feel Better Berry Berry Soon! :)

Yep, you don't hear from me for a week 'cause I am out sick, and then suddenly you get 3 posts in one day! it's like a great big banana split of fun with not one, but a whole jar of cherries on top! :)


I wanted to make a card for my son, Mick, who had a bit of an accident yesterday. He was out rock climbing with some friends - getting ready for a big trip they are planning to Kentucky over spring break. Took a tumble and sprained his ankle. (at least we are hoping and praying that is all that has happened) He is such a trooper, but I realized that I haven't made him a card in like, FOR-EV-ER!!! shame on me! I make cards for David all the time, but rarely do I make them for the boys anymore. I have GOT to do something about that. So I sat down tonight, looked at my notebook of challenges, and got busy.


I started with this cute little 'Sammy Squirrel Eats Strawberries' image from Digital Stamp Oasis. Mick loves strawberries almost more than anything else in the world. and I wanted something to make him smile. Kinda hard to find something to make a 17 year old young man smile when it comes to digis!!! but I knew this little fella would do the trick. I grabbed some fun K & Co. paper that just came in from my prize winnings from All That Scraps. I used the sketch challenge from Paper Take Weekly. Because this card it being tayored especially for Mick, it qualifies for the challenge over at One Stop Craft - to make something personal for someone. The darling felt strawberry is from Martha Stewart, as is the border punch I used. Added in some of my wonderful vintage buttons, and yep, he DID smile when I gave it to him! I think he was very surprised to get something from me. Since I used a digital image, this works for the challenge over at a brand spankin' new challenge site, I Love Digi Challenge Blog. You need to go check it out and add it to your regular challenge list. I plan to! :)

Other challenges :

Stamp, Scrap, & Doodle Saturday - Open challenge

The Craft Garden - card for a boy

A Spoonful of Sugar - Freestyle

News and a Masculine Card.....

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice

Good morning to all of you! I hope it is a glorious morning wherever you are! It is COLD and rainy here...... not cold enough to snow, but cold enough to make your bones creak and make you want a BIG cup of coffee or hot choco to keep you warm....... hey, who doesn't ALWAYS want a BIG cup of coffee or hot choco?!?! giggles! I have heard about a place called Mary Lou's in MA from my S2G teamie Ann that has PINK take out cups for their coffee!!! how much fun would that be?!?! road trip anyone?

anyhow, I digress as always........

I have several bits of fun news to share with y'all today. I meant to get to you yesterday with it but got sidetracked by life...... anyhow..... on with it you say? well here goes! :)

First off, I am now an official member of the DT for Digital Stamp Oasis!!! I know!!! Isn't that the coolest?! Ellie is just the nicest person, and I really look forward to working with her, her hubby, and the other PHENOM talented ladies on the team. You can see their work on the blogs listed in my sidebar. Please go leave them some congrats comments! I know it would make their day! Please join our group over at PCP. you know how much fun those groups can be! :) I have a card to share with you in just a sec.....

Next I want to let you know that in April I will be one of 2 Demo Artists at the Rubber Stamp Convention in Akron. I am super-dee-duper psyched about this! More deets will follow as I get them, but gosh, am I excited! I will be working with products by Ranger - the folks who make those distress Stickles I tell you about all the time.....

Now on to my card.....
I am using the ship digi by DSO and papers from the Basic Grey Marrakech collection. I haven't made a masculine card in a while, so thought it was high time. The watercoloring I do seemed a perfect fit with not only this image, but the whole feel of the card. The punch is from Martha Stewart, and I added a nautical button that I found at JoAnn's on SALE! wooo hooo - gotta love that! Thought a bit of heavy twine seemed to work better than lots of ribbon, although I like the way the ribbon accents the corner behind the button. The rub-on is from Stampin' Up! I am really getting into using rub-ons lately for my sentiments. yep, behind the times, I know, but so versatile!
This card fits several challenges:

• Pink Elephant - sketch
• Cooking It Up With Katie - 'non human' image, texture, something new
• Colour Create - kraft, blue, white
• Incy Wincy - Colour Me Wonderful
• Creative Card Crew - Punch It
• Simon Says Stamp - Punch It
• Stampin B's Design Team - Nautical Card

Digital Stamp Oasis Tuesday Challenge - Shabby Wild Roses

Coffee of the Day - it's actually tea today - Irish Breakfast - one of my fave blends! :)

My card today is for the Digital Stamp Oasis Tuesday Challenge to make something shabby using digi stamps. well shabby I can do! I don't have any of the DSO images yet, so I turned to one of my fave digi designers who offers free downloads of her wonderful creations - Mel Stampz. These flowers are from her 'Wild Rose' download. you might remember the parachuting bunny with flowers card I did right before Easter - that is one of hers also.

I'm using more of those way cool papers by Daisy D's - always perfect for shabby. gosh, I am really gonna miss this company! Everything is matted on a river rock base that was stamped with the SU! Sanded bg and then sponged in vanilla craft and edges inked in river rock. I did a big 'no no' in the digi stampin world for the flowers, I watercolored them! I am blessed with a printer (or the ink I should say) that allows me to watercolor to my heart's content without the inks bleeding. I painted each flower in butter cream shimmerz to add a little shine, since part of the challenge was to add some kind of 'bling' somewhere. I didn't think pearls or rhinestones would fit on this card, so I added some touches to the flowers. Each one was also dotted with a drop of liquid pearls in the center of the stamens. The red flower is popped up on foam tape for extra dimension. I matted the trio on a piece of watercolor paper sitting on my stamp table - perfect size and great texture. Also used one of my new FREE Inka stamps that arrived yesterday on the 'leaves' and flourish of the photo corners. Photo corners were inked in vanilla kraft, edged in river rock, stamped with flourish in same river rock, and then sanded to distress. Sorry to have rambled on, but there's lots of detail that doesn't always show in the scan.

Everyone have a great weekend! I'm still sick, seem to be getting worse - hence the tea rather than coffee, but at least I'm still able to get some stamping done! :) actually did 3 cards yesterday, which for me is HUGE! Stop and smell the daffodils today! :D

Jennifer

p.s. Head over to Jacksonbelle Embellishments through Monday for Lindsey's Spring Sale of 25% off everything in the store!!! Use the code SPRING09 at checkout.