Tilda and Edwin Skating

The Little Stamp Shoppe is a new online store here and the great thing for us Canadians is - they carry Magnolia Stamps!!!! YAY!!!!! They have launched a new challenge blog and this card is for the July Sketch Challenge. Yes, I know, cutting it close aren't I?



The very sad thing is that I have had Edwin and Tilda coloured since a couple of days after I got the stamp - BEFORE I got my PrismaColor Pencils. I must have coloured up 8 or 10 of these with my CTMH markers. See how nicely the colours match the Evensong Papers from CTMH that I used on the card! uh huh! No coinkydink there folks. Anyhow, it would be a shame to let these coloured images go to waste so I will probably use them up with the Evensong paper making a few more of these cards with exactly this layout. Mind you - I may have to get more Evensong paper to do it! We shall see.

The Details:

finished size: 6x6 inches
card base: 6x12 Colonial White CTMH
Designer Papers: Evensong PaperPack CTMH and New England Ivy Cardstock CTMH
Stamps: Magnolia Stamps Edwin and Tilda Skating, CTMH D1307 Annotations
Ink: I honestly forget which markers I used but the sentiment is stamped with New England Ivy and Cranberry.
Embellishments: Buttons and Flowers from my stash

Happy 50th Birthday - from Skoober

Happy 50th!

This is another card made for my co-worker who is turning 50 on July 31^st. Those of us who are attending his birthday brouhaha chipped in to get him a little something from his favourite outdoorsy shop (he is an AVID fisherman) and I was nominated to make the card.

I fretted over this card for DAYS!!!! Let’s see, already covered the fishing theme with the card I made for him from me. My dinosaur stamps are all too cutesy for a 50 year old. We have a few running jokes that involve him but I didn’t have anything in my stamps to kind of go with those ideas. So I decided I had to go with something that actually mentions his age – since he is the senior in our group.

I mentioned in my post for his other card (my blue fisherman Ian) that he is colour blind.So, I REALLY wanted to use the Fruit Fizz Lime Rickey paper from my July PaperCard Kit from PaperworksCo. Just so we could have fun asking him what colours he sees when he looks at the card.

I dug through my stamps and came across my Humorous Birthday Stamp set from Inkadinkado. I cut apart one of the stamps so that I could use just the sentiment – I didn’t think the old lady on the kiddie horse ride was quite the right image for a masculine birthday card.

Then I went thumbing through my huge binder of Doodlefactory stamps from StarvingArtistamps and chose Skoober. Yes, you’ve seen him before on my brother’s Father’s Day card. I just love this little guy It’s the googly eyes, sticking out tongue and the beanie. Coloured him up with my Prismacolor Pencils to match the paper I selected and off we go.

Okay so DP covered, sentiment covered, image covered…..layout? CPS126 to the rescue. The circles on the left of the sketch would be perfect with the circles on the paper! Sold! I grabbed the Bazzill Smoothies Yellow, white and black and my circle nestabilities and starting rolling through the Cuttlebug. As you can see, I stamped the Happy 50^th Birthday across the three circles and then background stamped each with some birthday candles as the white circles were just too plain. Matted the image with the Green Bling Card Stock and Black and then attached everything to a black card base.

Final Card Size 5 x 6.5 inches

Papers: PaperworksCo July Papercard Kit featuring Lime Rickey by Basic Grey

Stamps: StarvingArtistamps Doodlefactory Skoober

Inkadinkado Humorous Birthday (sentiment)

Studio G Birthday Candles

CTMH B1295 - Solos Zero, B1290 - Solos 5 and B1283 - Say it in Style

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, CTMH Sunkiss Yellow, Citrus Leaf

PrismaColor Pencils: 925, 913, 989

Nestabilities: Small and Large Circles

Suzie Makes a Wish!

Happy Birthday from Suzie!



So I was sifting through the sketches I wanted to do and realized I had not yet used the July Sheetload of Cards sketch! Now, I do have plans to use it for a batch of Christmas Cards but I won’t get to those until vacation time. Since I needed to make a card for my dearly beloved’s niece’s fifth birthday, I decided I could use it for that card.

I also wanted to use one of my Greeting Farm stamps which I *THINK* I have not yet used on a card. Suzie Surprise! I went sifting through my July PaperCard Kit from PaperWorksCo and found that I had not yet cut into my Tart & Tiny DP. Perfect! Oh, and the Green Bling cardstock! And the green polka dot ribbon.

I scalloped the edge of the Green Bling Cardstock using my corner rounder punch (paper guide removed) since all of my border punches are a little too fancy and I figured would make the card just a little *TOO* busy.

I attached my ribbon and set about colouring Suzie with my Prismacolor Pencils – picking up the colours from the papers. I have two more of her coloured up exactly the same and MAY use her on my ANYA-Versary Blog Hop card (note to self: MAKE the card!) unless I decide to use my Hippie Anya which is just smiling at me waiting to be used!

Decided I should put the sentiment on the cupcake and had a DEVIL of a time getting everything centred the way I wanted (one reason I like rubber stamps just a little less than clear ones). Next time, I’ll just cut the sentiment apart BEFORE stamping. The cupcake looked a little too plain to me so I went sorting through my Stickles and grabbed the Icicle “flavour” to edge the cupcake and covered the cupcake wrap.

Alrighty, done!

Finished Card Size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches

Papers: July PaperCard Kit from Paperworks Co Featuring Lime Rickey

Stamps: The Greeting Farm – Suzie Surprise

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

PrismaColor Pencils: 915, 916, 917, 927, 928, 913, 994, 993, 949, 935, 903

Embellishments: Ribbon from PaperCard Kit, brad to attach bow to ribbon, Icicle Stickles

Practical Scrappers

Practical Scrappers is a newly launched challenge blog that, in their own words, "is dedicated to making use of the supplies that we already have and are neglecting. Each week a challenge will be presented to use a specific embellishment or tool."

And really, aren't we all guilty of "oooh, I have to have that!" and then forgetting we even have it?

I actually considered answering the DT call (as a card-maker, not a scrapper since I tend to scrap purposely for other people, not myself, although I keep meaning too!) but I just never worked up the nerve...even had a draft email ready....

anyways, as part of the kickoff for the new site, there is a post about some blog candy they are offering once they reach 100 followers. Check them out....I'm hoping to be inspired to finally do some scrap-booking of my own -- and with a two week vacation about to start, I might just do that.

I think I will have to tweet about this too.....

Just happened upon this fellow Canadian Blogger

Congratulation to Anita who won the new release from StarvingArtistamps -- I'm jealous...I so love their stamps. I know something that just went onto my ever growing wish list.

She is offering a very cool blog candy over at her blog. Pay her a visit and check it out here .

.s.

Dorothy's Gift Card Set

Friday night and Saturday morning saw me churning out twenty more cards - 2 each of 10 designs using a card workshop in the Close To My Heart Wishes book (love it love it love it).

With four sheets of 12 x 12 cardstock and two sheets of 12 x 12 designer paper from the CTMH Bella paper pack - oh and 20 4.25 x 5.5 inch card bases (made from 10 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock), I made all of these cards. Which reminds me....anyone have a good source for pre-made envelopes?

I'm not going to go into too many details - the sketches are in the book.












Supplies used:

The stamp sets I used on these cards are all CTMH.
D1210 Moments, D1288 June Word Puzzle, D1327 Just Because, D1283 Say it In Style, D1258 Friendship Word Puzzle, D1306 Cottage Floral, D1333 Wishing Star, D1244 Solos "T", D1368 From the Think Pink Scrapbooking Set, C1364 TLC

Inks are all CTMH: HollyHock, Creme Brulee, Olive, Smokey Plum

Nestabilities Dahlia Die Cut

Cuttlebug Folders Swiss Dots, Script Texture, Textile Texture, Floral Screen

Embellishments: Ribbon, Brads, Sparkly gems

Tooting my own horn!

Lookie! Over at Tuesday Morning Sketches , my Carl the Cupcake card that i made for Noah was chosen for the Top 5 of the week!

How cool is that!

And .... I've been following The Cuttlebug Spot for some time now (fabulous creations) and today I saw this post . Oh there will be some very cute cards made with the cute die cuts I won - a lemonade stand and a lemonade pitcher!

okay, enough tooting. I will be back at SOME point to show you all of the cards I gave to my friend Dorothy for her birthday. But I am still recovering from having made 12 cards Wednesday night, 3 cards Thursday night, 20 cards Friday Night/Saturday Morning and one card on Sunday.....yeah, my energy was sapped after Saturday.

New Doodlefactory Release!

Gak! I just popped onto the laptop while dinner is simmering away (mmmm....beef curry - I do make a MEAN beef curry by the way) and saw a post over on the Starving Artistamps blog about the latest Doodlefactory Release!

I LOVE IT !!!! Here's a peek......



Oh they are too cute! Love the Dinosaurs.....Love the trees...there goes my resolve not to be buying new stamps when I have uninked ones sitting in my craft room!

So, go check out the post! You could win some candy - in the form of the new stamp sets!

Hope you are having a lovely weekend -- must go check on my curry!
.s.

Carl for Noah

And this is the card for Noah - my friend Dorothy's nephew who is sharing a birthday party with her tomorrow. I believe he may be turning 10 years old.



For this card I used Sketch #3 from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Carl is from Stamps and Smiles and was coloured with Prismacolor Pencils blended with Taltine. The image and sentiment panels were cut with nestabilities - circle, pinking circle and ovals.

The papers and ribbon are from my July PaperCard kit from PaperWorksCo.

The card measures 4 x 5.5 and the rest of the details are:
Prismacolor Pencils 904, 906, 927, 929, 928, 946, 925, 913, 915

I hope Noah likes his card!

Cuppy for Andrea

This little gem will be going to my friend Dorothy's niece, Andrea, as there is a joint birthday party I will be attending that will celebrate Dorothy, Andrea and Noah's (Dorothy's nephew, Andrea's brother) birthdays. Can't go to a birthday party without a card!



For this card I used the SASSC25 sketch over at the Fresh Batch. Cuppy is, of course, from Stamps and Smiles. She is coloured with Prismacolor Pencils blended with Taltine.

The papers, ribbon and brads are from my July Papercard kit from PaperworksCo . Loving those Lime Rickey Papers from Basic Grey.

The sentiment panels were cut using my nestabilities (circle and scalloped circle).

Card measures 5x5.

Hope Andrea likes it! I'm not really sure how old she is...maybe 8?

Additional details:
PrismaColor Pencil colours - 913, 917, 927, 929, 918, 928

Another gift set

Warning - this is a long post folks! 13 cards in total as I have made another gift set. This one for our office manager who is moving on to greener pastures.

This first card measures a mere 3.5 x 3.5 inches and was the mini-card/tag I attached to the basket of cards. I used Kazan's sketch 31 from 2 Sketches 4 You for the layout of the little card.



A cute little card for our little pixie of an office manager. She's barely 5 ft tall but somehow manages to keep a staff of around 100 or so computer techies in line. We will be missing her.

The first six cards you see below are all side folds. When I gave them to Marie-Andree she said "Ack! Did you know I am CRAZY about ARGYLE?"....nope, no clue. But she does wear lots of black so I thought these papers were an excellent choice. I have been hording them in my craft room for a few weeks now. Not wanting to make something to give away but....I did.








These six cards are tent-fold and use a sketch from the CTMH Originals series: Left Frame.








I just love the stamp sets I used for these cards. They are my go-to sets when I make these card sets to give away. In case you are wondering they are:
D1349 Be Yourself
D1283 Say it in Style
D1327 Just Because
D1187 For Every Occasion

Coolest thing about this project - the twelve cards for the set were made in three hours. Start to finish - choosing paper, choosing layout, choosing stamps, cutting papers, stamping images, assembling cards.

I also like the juxtaposition of the masculine and feminine - the colours and argyle and stripes somewhat masculine. The blinginess of the papers and the images - totally femme.


Cards all measure 4 x 5.5 inches.

Thanks for stopping by....and for reading to the end!

Have you checked out PaperworksCo yet?

I admit it...I've been stalking the mailman.....ooops, sorry, postal carrier. I WANT my new Aqua Amigos stamps from PaperworksCo .

I already have my July PaperCard kit....well, if you are a frequent visitor you know that .... my Hoboken, Luau and Fisherman Ian all used papers from that card kit.

And...I can't wait for the August kit to be revealed! If you have your July Papercard kit you will notice that Peggy put a code in it for you to enter on checkout when you order the August kit for a little something extra....and unless I miss my guess (if the code is a clue to the August kit), the kit would probably go very nicely with these new stamps!

And if you don't have the July kit yet -- there's still time. Plus, as you can see by the sidebar, Peggy has some deals on until July 23rd for the PWCO stamps!

I've been drawing up some sketches for ideas I have for how to use the new stamps.......can't wait to get them! Is it wrong for me to wish for icky summer weather so I can craft?

Some truths about glitter

So my dearly beloved felt the need to share this with me the other day.....something he saw on ToothPaste For Dinner
(a weird online comic site if you ask me)





hmmm...as he would say "My sense of humour is under-appreciated"

Very Excited about the Little Paper Shop

What a way to wind up a day at work. Get home, catch up on my blog reading to find that my little Fisherman Ian card was the winning entry in last week's Little Paper Shop Sketch challenge! Wowee!

I will be receiving the cutest little stamp - Beary Best Katie! You can bet that our younger nieces will all be receiving cards with this cutie on them!

Check out this week's sketch over on The Little PaperShop Blog! It's a lovely sketch by Cindy Haffner and if you submit a card for this challenge, you could win your very own Beary Best Katie!

Jumping for Joy! Jumping for Joy!


And this just ADDED to the excitement of getting my box of new nesties from PaperworksCo today -- three new pendants and their matching borders!......A crafting we will go....a crafting we will go.

Happy Birthday - The Hoboken Way

Okay then, back to basics. Something a little simpler perhaps? In a stripe?


For this card, I again used the July PaperCard Kit from PaperworksCo .

I wanted something simpler for this card (it is going to my Uncle for his birthday at the end of July) so I grabbed the stripey Hoboken paper and two of the cardstocks - the smooth white and vibrant blue - from the kit.

For the sentiment panel, I stamped the streamer image multiple times to create a background and then stamped the sentiment on top of that.

Easy peasy.

Here are the card details:

finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches (tent fold)
sketch: Tuesday Morning Sketches TMS#2

papers:
cardstock:

• white: 5.5 x 8.5 inches (scored at 4.25 inches and folded in half), 2 x 3.25 inches
• vibrant blue: 4 x 5.25 inches, 2.25 x 3.5 inches
  

Hoboken: 1.5 x 3.75 inches (x3)

Inks: CTMH Heavenly Blue, Holiday Red
Stamps: CTMH For Every Occasion (D1187), Holiday Jubilee (D1128)
Embellishments: Buttons from the July Papercard Kit from PaperworksCo


And here is fur-baby #1 - Packet decided he wanted to keep me company while I made the card. He is in charge of scheduling my breaks.


Hard to resist a demand for cuddles from this green-eyed cutie!

Thanks for stopping by!

.s.

Christmas in July - Part 3

And the last five cards from this post.

Christmas in July - Part 2

As promised/threatened, these are individual shots of five of the cards from the previous post.

Christmas in July

Okay so I am REALLY late in finishing these cards. I started them for my APRIL Christmas Card Challenge over on SplitCoastStampers and I am just finishing them now.




This is a group shot of all ten of the cards. I used the sketch from the December 2008 issue of Sheetload of Cards .

The papers are all from the Aspen Paper Pack from Close To My Heart.
The stamped snowflakes are from the following CTMH stamp sets:

• d1244 Snow Friends
• d1171 New Fallen Snow
• d1317 Feathery Flakes

The sentiment is from Verve Stamps Poinsettia Christmas

The inks are Twilight and Outdoor Denim from CTMH.

Hope you enjoy this little taste of Christmas in July.

The next two posts will be individual shots of each of the then cards. Or you navigate to them here and here .

Did somebody say "Luau"?

First of all, if you are my friend, Dorothy - back away from this post! You can come back AFTER your birthday party. I'm serious! I'll know if you are pretending to be surprised when you get this card! I will!


Okay, now that the house-keeping is done (Dorothy if that's you....I really meant it!) on with the details for this card. Ah yes -- the Divine Details if you will. Verve Stamps Project Parade day 1 poses the question: How do you come up with your design?

Well, for me it is always a combination of things

• first: the occasion. For this card, it is all about the birthday party theme.
• second: the papers. I got my July PaperCard Kit from PaperWorksCo on Monday and I thought the Banana Float and Katawba flip papers would be perfect for a Hawaiian themed card.
• third: the stamps. I happen to have picked up the Doodlefactory Tropics stamps from StarvingArtistamps a while back and turns out they were perfect for this card!
• finally: the sketch. Sometimes it is one of my own and sometimes it is a sketch from one of the many blogs I follow. This time it is from The Next Level . And it has a twist - the image is to be 3D (decoupaged).

So, what did Miss Long-Winded come up with this time? Well.....here it is....



Busy, huh? A couple of things of note about the stamped images:

• the little hula guy has his head and skirt popped up on dimensionals. And I curled up the bottom edges of the top layer of his grass skirt.
  
• for the palm trees if you are familiar with the stamp set you know that the two trees don't face in the same direction. The larger of the two trees faces in the opposite direction from the one shown here! How did I do that? Simple enough - ink up the stamp, roll over it with a brayer and then roll the brayer onto card stock. Proceed as usual to colour. Note that the image DOES turn out lighter than if you had stamped it directly so you may need to use a darker ink or tweak the outline before/after colouring.
  

The specifics of the card are below for those who might be interested:

card dimensions: 5 x 5 inches

Paper: PaperworksCo July PaperCard Kit
Banana Frost(edit:yeah I had this wrong, fixed now): 4.75 x 4.75 inches
Katawba Flip: 3 x 3 inches cut with 3rd largest of the small circle nestabilities
Yellow Bazzill cardstock: 3.5 x 3.5 inches cut with the 2nd largest of the large reverse scallop circle nestabilities, 1.5 x 2.25 inches cut with Cuttlebug Oval Slider Die Cut
Green Bling Bazzill cardstock (I used the non-bling side): 3.5 x 3.5 inches cut with the 2nd largest of the large reverse scallop circle nestabilities
White cardstock for image panel

embellishments: ribbon and brads from PaperworksCo July PaperCard Kit

Inks:
CTMH: Black, Chocolate, Citrus Leaf
PrismaColor Pencils: 941, 940, 930, 929, 912, 911, 913

Stamps:
StarvingArtistamps: Doodlefactory Tropics
CTMH: alphabet (not sure which one as the envelope doesn't say - I think it was a promo only)


Thanks for stopping by today - and big applause to you if you made it all the way to the end of this post! I appreciate that you took the time to visit!

The Aqua Amigos have debuted!

Are they cute or what? Meet Ollie, Wallie, Tommy and Carlos - the Aqua Amigos from PaperWorksCo. Check out the blog or the gallery to see the cute projects that the PaperWorksCo Design team created with these guys. Uber cute!

These adorable undersea creatures are the companions to the Safari Friends line that Peggy released a while back.

So guess what is on it's way to my mailbox now? Yup, could not pass up the deal that is being offered until July 23rd on these little guys ... and the Safari friends...and EVERYTHING else that PaperWorksCo carries.

This is the blurb from the site (I'm sure Peggy won't mind me lifting this)

So here’s the DEALS!

Each individual stamp is now 3.99. (from 4.99). This includes the safari Friends stamps too! We call it economy of scale lol

if you buy the collection set, you save 25%!!! thats like... buy three get one free!!! And who doesn't like free?!?

FREE SHIPPING ON THE STAMPS! (including Safari Friends as well): offer is good from now till the 23rd of july

BUY IT TODAY, and get exclusive access to future stamps.. that means you can get your stamps before it’s sold to the general public

if you buy any of the PWCO stamps from now till the 23rd of july, you get 10% off with the rest of your order... this applies to the ENTIRE store!!!! Make sure to put the discount code: "fiesta" in the discount section to redeem it!

Not to be an enabler but.....Peggy is my main source for Spellbinders . Cuttlebug you say? Yup. Copics ? Oh yeah, baby. And NO....I haven't jumped on the Copic bandwagon yet but....oh dear....this is so very tempting. 10%off. hmmmmm....plus the emergency craft fund that you can use on future orders. plus free shipping if your order is large enough and TRUST me ... it usually is! Oh and did I mention the new PaperCard Kits ?


Okay, enough yammering from me. I stamped a bunch of images last night to use with some cards I am going to make with MY July Papercard kit. Hopefully some of those cards will get finished today and I'll be back to post them.

Fisherman Ian - for a coworker

Ta da - another of my July birthdays can be scratched off the list! I cracked open my PaperworksCo July Papercard kit this morning and made my first card using the papers and embellies. I think it came out pretty decent if I do say so myself.



The designer papers in this month's kit are from the Lime Rickey line from Basic Grey. I thought the blues would be great with little Fisherman Ian from The Greeting Farm. I had stamped up a few of these little guys when we had our stamping get-together at Jenn's a while back. I knew he would come in handy soon! You see, the coworker to whom this is going is an avid fisherman. Ian was coloured with a combination of .... yes, Tattered Rose Distress ink for his face and Prismacolor Pencils blended with Taltine.

The panels are all raised on dimensional foam dots and the buttons are attached with glue dots. No I didn't sew them as I didn't want the stitching to show on the inside of the card. The embroidery thread you see tied through the button holes is just for show!


Details for the card:

sketch: Little Paper Shop
dimensions: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, side fold

papers: all are from the PaperworksCo July Papercard Kit

aqua cardstock: 8.5 x 5.5 inches, scored at 4.25 inches, front embossed with Cuttlebug Spots and Dots folder

white cardstock: 3 x 8.5 inches cut into 3 pieces as follows: 2 that measured 3 x 2 3/8 inches and then the leftover. The largest piece was then die cut with the largest of the small deckled rectangle nestabilities and the edges were sponged with CTMH Ocean ink.

Lime Rickey papers: 3 x 2 3/8 inches from Blue Moon and Boston Cooler and then die cut with the second largest of the small deckled rectangle nestabilities.

ink:
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tattered Rose
CTMH Ocean
Prismacolor Pencils 940, 1027, 946, 1024, 915

embellishments:
buttons are from the PaperworksCo July Papercard kit, embroidery floss is from my stash


I hope he likes it -- although he is colour blind and may have some difficulty with the colours on the card.

And don't forget, PaperworksCo has a big party planned tonight from 6pm to 8pm Mountain Time! The latest post on the site says there will be giveaways involving a scavenger hunt on the site!

What's New at PaperworksCo?

I honestly don't know yet! There's been lots of chatter over at the revamped PaperWorksCo blog about "something new" on July 15th - today! I can't wait to see what Peggy has up her sleeve. The last couple of weeks have been quite the tease, with lots of guesses about what is coming out!

I mean, after the launch of the monthly paper card kit on July 1st.....



How can you top this? I'm thinking the bar has been set high!

And yes....I was very excited to come home on Monday and find a nice pizza box (no pizza, dearly beloved was disappointed but I was thrilled) sitting on my front step with my July kit (and a few other things I must admit). It solidified my resolve to take some time off this week from work to play.

I expect to be back later today with some cards I'll be making from this kit!!! Honestly the picture (from the PaperworksCo store site) doesn't do it justice. Love the feel of the papers - if you know Basic Grey and Bazzill you know what I mean. And the embelllies....serious candy. Lovely bag of ribbons and buttons...and you know we all love ribbons and buttons!

So the big reveal is tonight between 6 and 8 PM Central time (they are in Alberta after all). For us locals, that's between 8 and 10PM Eastern! So, check out the blog then to find out what's going on! I'm thinking I'll be shopping tonight!