Changes

Have you ever made something that you’re not quite happy with?  Well, think about what would make it better and change it.  You can do that more than once, too.  Here’s what I did with a card:

 

This seemed a bit bare, so I added to it:

 

Better, but not quite:

 

Much better.  In fact, I’m putting this one up for the MFP SpeedyTV Sketch With a Twist Challenge for this week.  When you’re adding, just do a little at a time until it seems right to you.  It is more difficult to take away, though not impossible.

My husband and I do this with cooking, too.  We try a recipe following the recipe, then discuss what we like and don’t like and what might make it better.  Then we try it again with our changes until we get it to where we really like it.

Thanks for spending some time with me today!

Winter Warm Up

We are ending the winter season and its finally starting to warm up.  I’m sure it is a lot warmer here in Phoenix than it is many other places in the Northern hemisphere, but it’s still cool enough for a nice warm bowl of soup.  Here is a recipe card I made with my husband’s amazing split pea soup recipe.

Sending a recipe card with a favorite recipe is a fun way to encourage a friend.  You are welcome to try my husband’s soup recipe, too.  I never liked split pea soup until he started making it this way.

Check out the MFP SpeedyTV Friends of Speedy TV recipe card challenge this week to get many more fun ideas.

Thanks for spending some time with me today!

For the Birds

The Simple Salutations challenge on MFP SpeedyTV this week is to use a winter bird.  That kind of had me stumped as I figure birds live all year.  Anyway, I went with this cute bird button (3D sticker) that I thought went well with the greens I used.

 

The greens go together much better in person than in this photo.

Supplies:

• Ivory Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight Card (Gina K.)
• Green Paper (Recollections)
• Hairy Green Thread (Adornments – EK Success)
• Green Ric Rac (??)
• Bird Button/Sticker (K&Company)
• Tree Silhouettes Stamp Set (Gina K.)
• Bamboo Leaves ink (Memento)
• Brown Brush Marker (Marvy Uchida)

On the tree stamp, I used the brown marker to go down the center of the tree and out along some of the branches, then used the green ink pad to tap over it.  I was pretty impressed with how the green kind of softened the brown without covering it completely.

Thanks for spending some time with me today.  I have been playing with a sketch in my head and trying to figure it out for a few weeks, so hopefully I’ll get that one done tonight or tomorrow.

Teal for Fall

I love the color teal and think it is a perfect color for Fall.  So, when I was figuring out what I wanted to do for a sketch using some of My Favorite Things, I definitely wanted to use teal.  Now, My Favorite Things has some amazing products and I wish I could have them all.  However, life gets in the way, so I have a few.  The past couple of weeks have been a bit stressful around here, so I wanted to do something fun and hopefully bring a laugh to more than just me.  Here’s what I came up with:

To make this hilarious (I had to explain it to my son before he thought it was funny), teal card, I used papers from Cardmaker’s Creative Pack Citrus (Hot Off The Press), teal ribbon (Celebrate It 360), Teal Zeal ink (Memento), rhinestones (Darice), Banner Basics Two (Spellbinders), Clearly Sentimental About Audrey Hepburn (My Favorite Things), and Die-Namics Contempo Cage (My Favorite Things).

I have to tell you that My Favorite Things has an amazing die that would have cut out my center piece perfectly and quickly, but since I don’t have it, I spent quite a while trying to round the top of the piece and get it right.  They are having a new release on October 16 from 8-10 pm EST, which I am really looking forward to.  Go check out the amazing stamps and dies they offer.

Thanks for spending some time with me today!

Three-in-One

I completed three challenges in one card today.  However, it did not turn out quite like I had envisioned.  The first challenge was a sketch on CardSwap, the second was a CAS done in pink regarding love and hope for StampTV, the third was a distressing challenge on SpeedyTV.  The distressing is a bit overboard, but it pretty well follows the sketch and definitely the pink CAS.

 

Supplies:

• Worn Lipstick distress ink (Ranger)
• Rosebud ink (Memento)
• Blushing Pink embossing powder (Stampendous)
• Labels Ten (Spellbinders)
• Clear glaze pen (Sakura)

First I taped down my base card, ripped some paper and taped it down over the top leaving space between.  I then inked it with the distress ink.  After that, I took a rectangle of paper and cut the label out of the middle.  Then I inked the center area.  Stamping the sentiment on came next, followed by stamping the flowers on my inked area and embossing.  I then used some tape to pull up a bit around the edge of my card and inked that.  The sentiment didn’t stand out much, so I went over it with the clear glaze pen.

Thanks for spending some time with me today!

A Day of Creating

Last week started off pretty well, until I tried to clean the shower on Tuesday evening.  When we moved into our house almost 20 years ago (good grief), there was a crack in the grout about half way down our shower wall.  I didn’t know what to do as I was only 23 and had two kids (my folks had always taken care of everything when I was growing up).  Anyway, a few years later, the tiles just below that crack got bumped and pushed back a bit.  I called a countless number of contractors to come give us an estimate on fixing it as I had never done tile work before and my husband wanted a “professional” to fix it.  After all those calls, one person came out and looked at it, then said he’d have to have his tile guy give us a call before they could do an estimate.  That call never came.  I duct taped it up and we continued to use the shower.  This is at least 6, maybe 10 or 12 years later and as I was scrubbing the shower, the tiles below that area pushed in a bit.  My husband decided God just wasn’t going to help us, even though he has.  Good grief, how does my husband think the wall lasted for this long after I duct taped it together?  Besides that, God led us to someone from church who will do the work for an amazing amount.  (We figured it would be a WHOLE lot more.)  Then, we went and purchased all the tile, wall board, etc. and that was less than expected, too.  Me, I see God watching over us tremendously.  Especially as I had been praying about this.  I guess my husband figures God isn’t involved since we actually had to spend money rather than have it suddenly be provided for us.  AHHHHHHH!!!  So, he didn’t go to church with me today.  Yes, there’s more to it than this, but this is just what it is this time.  Anyway, I needed to make some cards this afternoon, when my son and I got home from church.  So, here they are:

 

Yesterday was World Card Making Day 2012 and I didn’t make a single card.  There was a challenge posted at StampTV to do a single layer card that looked like more than one layer, so I did this one.  My background masked area was too small for my image, so it barely shows around the edges, and I didn’t mask like I should have, but it was still fun to do.  I used the Holiday Basket set by Gina K. for this.  The stamping was done using Memento inks and the coloring was done using Koh-i-Noor Woodless colored pencils and Bic Mark-It markers.

 

This one was done for a challenge at StampTV to use an image stamp for the background and have the sentiment as the focal image.  I used the Wild About You set by Gina K. and Memento inks for the background on an aged parchment paper.  This is also for the SpeedyTV challenge to use distressing, hence the aged parchment paper and inking around the edges.

 

This last one was for a StampTV challenge to use two different patterned papers, as well as a SpeedyTV sketch challenge.  The patterned papers are the silhouette image and the small rectangle at the top.  I’ve been wanting to use this silhouette piece, which came from a friend in a swap a while ago, for several weeks.  This was the first time I could make it work.  The sentiment is from the Vintage Chic set by Gina K.

Still not back to my normal happy self, but I am feeling a bit better.  Please keep my husband in your prayers.  He just needs to see how God is working around him.  Thanks for spending some time with me today and listening to my whining.  I’m feeling a bit better, now and I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.  I know God is good and ALWAYS provides!  He has a plan for my husband, too.

Bird Sketch

I’ve been trying to come up with the perfect birthday card for one of my cousins, and I think this is it.  It also fits the sketch challenge for My Favorite Things on Split Coast Stampers this week.

 

Supplies:

• Die namics Contempo Cage (My Favorite Things)
• Elderberry Ink (Memento)
• Black Card (Recollections)
• Cardmaker’s Icy Rainbow Creative Pack (Hot Off The Press) – all other papers
• Classic Diamonds and Labels 18 (Spellbinders)

Thanks for spending some time with me!

Dog Days

I won a fun stamp set called “Fabulous Dogs” from MFP SpeedyTV.  As this set has a poodle on it and our dog is a standard poodle, I was anxious to use it.  This is actually being entered in two challenges, a sewing challenge at StampTV and an animal salutation challenge at MFPSpeedyTV.  Yes, I did actually sew through my card.  I’ve done it before and had problems, but this time I used a thick card panel for my front and was actually able to sew through it fairly easily.

 

Supplies:

• Fabulous Dogs (Mark’sFinestPaper)
• Various Verses (Gina K.)
• Ladybug Red and Tangelo ink (Memento)
• Once Upon A Time card panel (DCWV)
• Assorted papers and baker’s twine

Thanks for spending time with me today!

Thank you!

It is so very important to say, “Thank You” to people.  Our society has gotten so rude that we rarely say “Please” and “Thank You” anymore.  It really makes a difference to people when we do take the time to be courteous.  Last week, a lady at church did something for me.  It can’t have been easy, because I know she has many things that she is involved in right now, so thanking her is high on my list of things to do.  Fortunately, today’s StampTV challenge is to make a thank you card and give it to someone.  This was the perfect challenge!  I also wanted to participate in the SpeedyTV sketch with a twist challenge, as I love the stamp set that is the prize.  The twist was to add lace to the sketch.  It wouldn’t have been a problem as I saw the perfect piece in my lace bag, yesterday.  A couple of hours after sorting through and untangling lace, I found all sorts of amazing lace and trims and finally found the piece I was looking for.  Whew!  I have to find a better way to store lace than in a kitchen trash bag.  There is lace in this stash that I’m sure is older than I am (part of it is from one of my grandmothers).  There is even a piece that matched my wedding dress.  It’s always fun to find things that would be just perfect for a certain idea.

Now that I’ve rambled, here is the card I came up with.

This wasn’t the piece of lace I had been looking for, but after a bit of trimming here and there, I got this one to about the right size.  It is really beautiful lace, though you can’t see it through the teapot.

Supplies:

• Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight Ivory (Gina K.)
• Springtime Silhouettes (Gina K.)
• Always Time for Tea Die-namics and stamp set (My Favorite Things)
• Bahama Blue ink (Memento)
• Assorted papers and lace

Thank you so much for spending some of your time with me today!  Enjoy your weekend.

End of Summer Fun

Here are a couple of cards that I made for challenges this weekend.  It is getting close to the end of summer, so I’m having some fun.  Hope you are, as well.

 

Both of my parents, all of my uncles, one cousin, and my children all went to Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix AZ.  The school colors are green and gold.  I know the background paper looks more blue than green, but it really is a rich, dark green.  This card was done for the Sketch Challenge on Speedy TV this week.  I did put the sentiment in a different place.

Supplies:

• Gina K. – Various Verses
• Memento – Cottage Ivy
• Assorted flowers, paper and ribbon

 

 

This one was done for the Technique Challenge on Speedy TV, which was a Criss Cross Card.  Had fun with this one and tried to do a scene of a park near the sea.  This was also entered in an outdoor scene challenge on Stamp TV and a scene challenge on CardSwap this week, too.

Supplies:

• Gina K. – Hope Grows, Enjoy the Sunshine, Follow Your Dreams, Faithful Florals
• Koh-i-Noor – Woodless Colour Pencils
• Sakura – Glaze pens – gray, red
• Recollections – papers
• Memento – Cottage Ivy, Bamboo Leaves, Pear Tart, London Fog, Canteloupe, Ladybug

Thanks for spending some time with me today!  Now, go out and enjoy the end of Summer in your own way.