My Muse

Plum Thanks

I just received these lush black velvet flower brads from my dear friend, Gretchen - and I wanted to make her a thank you card. With the current Moxie Fab World Plum Crazy challenge and the Mojo Monday 111 sketch, I was doubly inspired:

Supplies  Stamps: Organic Fabric Flourish (Inkadinkado) & Handwritten Sentiments (Hero Arts), Ink: Plum Pudding (PaperTrey Ink), Basic Black (SU! Craft), Cardstock:  Black (Bazzill), Whisper White (SU!), Patterned Paper: Making Memories & 7 Gypsies, Other:  Square Nestabilities, Gem Pen Findings (Making Memories), Black Velvet Floral brad (Creative Imaginations), silver pearls (Michael's), clear embossing powder

For a little extra bit of shine, I added the crystal headed pin and embossed the sentiment. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Beauty is...

I am so happy to finally be able to participate in one of the Embellish Magazine Challenges. For any of you who don't know about it, it's a completely unique online magazine created by Ashley Newell. Her latest challenge is "Embellish for the Cure" in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Thanks for all the inspiration, Ashley!

I used Fall-to-Layout #60 from the clean&simple blog - a fabulous source for simple, elegant card layouts.

SUPPLIES Stamps: Ornamental Beauty (Cornish Heritage Farms Rummage Bin), Ink:  Black (Memories), Going Gray (SU! Craft), Paper:  Sweet Blush & Smokey Shadow (PaperTrey Ink), Whisper White (SU!), Other:  Raspberry Fizz Satin Ribbon (PaperTrey Ink), Crystal embie (Prima Say it With Crystals), clear embossing powder, Score-Pal, Moroccan Screen Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

THE WITCH IS IN.

I first saw this sentiment on a stamp in the $1 bin at Michael's - and thought it went so well with this image. The sentiment stamp didn't work with my card design - so I created a word strip with my computer. I trimmed the front of the card to reveal the word strip which is attached to the back of the card. Since the card wouldn't stand up on its own, I couldn't photograph it so you could see the entire card! Sorry part of the word strip is hidden by the holder. 

Stamp: Recollections, Ink: Basic Black (SU! Craft), Paper: Whisper White (SU!), Bo Bunny and Carolee Creations, clear embossing powder, Prisma colored pencils, Signo gel pen (Uniball), Orange Zest Extra Fine Polka-dot satin ribbon (PaperTrey), computer, Long Rectangle Nestabilities

Happy Haunting, dearies!

Birthday Dreams

I needed to make a birthday day card for a good friend and this week's Mojo Monday sketch gave me just the right structure to play with more of the Basic Grey Indian Summer papers:

This collection of papers is so gorgeous, it's really hard to choose which ones to use! 

Supplies:  Stamps - Your Dreams (Penny Black), Ink - Scarlet Jewel (PaperTrey Ink), Cardstock - Scarlet Jewel and Vintage Cream (PaperTrey Ink), Bazzill, Patterned Paper - Indian Summer (Basic Grey), Other:  gems (stash), Scarlet Jewel Satin Ribbon (PaperTrey Ink), Circle Nestabilities

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Peaceful Christmas Tree

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to put on some beautiful Christmas music and sit with only the Christmas tree lights. The world always seems at peace to me in these moments (hence the sentiment "all is calm") and I find it so relaxing and refreshing. It takes away the stress of the many holiday activities and reminds me of the true meaning of Christmas.

Several challenges lately have paired kraft, cream, brown, red and turquoise/aqua/blue. I had wanted to play along with some kind of card like this one, but didn't seem to strike the right balance of inspiration and time. So, for no challenge or publication call whatsoever - but just because... I wanted to share this card with you.

May your holidays be peaceful ones.

SUPPLIES:  Stamps - Festive Tree & ...Calm (Penny Black), Ink - Chocolate Chip Craft (SU!) & Pure Poppy (Paper Trey Ink), Cardstock - Kraft (PaperTrey Ink), Other - gems (stash), clear embossing powder, Vanilla Taffeta ribbon (SU!)

Thank You for WCM Day

Happy World Card Making Day, everyone!

It's a beautiful Indian Summer day here - so what better paper to use than Basic Grey's new Indian Summer line. The colors are so beautifully rich. As sad as I am to see the end of another summer, this kind of day makes it so much more bearable. Hope you are having a lovely day wherever you are and enjoying all the fabulous inspiration from artists around the world.

Just a few quick notes:  1) after months of wanting to make one of Nichole Heady's crocheted flowers, I finally gave it a whirl. I had to teach myself to crochet in order to make one - and after about the 10th time I pulled out the stitches, I finally got the hang of it! 2) I enlisted the help of Fall-to Layout #51 from the clean&simple blog and 3) I used a gold Krylon pen to outline the Basic Grey paper as well as add a few shiny dots on the branch under the sentiment. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Supplies  Stamps:  Loving Words (Technique Tuesday), Life & Vintage Labels (PaperTrey Ink)  Ink:  Scarlet Jewel & Summer Sunrise (PaperTrey Ink), Caramel (Adirondack)  Cardstock:  Scarlet Jewel, Summer Sunrise and Vintage Cream (PaperTrey Ink)  Patterned Paper:  Indian Summer (Basic Grey)  Other:  Button (Laura Ashley), 18K Gold Krylon Pen, Score-pal, Nestabilities Labels One, embroidery floss

Happy Birthday, Dee!

How fun to participate in another special Loonie Stamper's Blog Tour - and this time, for the fabulous Dee Woodland! I think Dee was one of the first people I connected with when I increased my focus on blogging. She has become a great bloggin' friend - and it is so wonderful to get the chance to wish her a very happy birthday. 

I thought it would be very fitting to use one of Dee's most challenging color combinations as my color palette for this special occasion. Here's the wild combo that Dee cooked up back earlier in the summer. I have to admit that when I first saw these colors - I thought they were so "out there" that I was pretty skeptical. But after working with them for a little while, I really came to like them. What good taste you have, Dee! I also enlisted the help of Fall-to Layout #50 from the clean&simple blog. 

Supplies:

Stamps:  Around & About Sentiments and Background Basics: Retro (PaperTrey)

Ink:  Scarlet Jewel (PaperTrey)

Cardstock: Scarlet Jewel, Ripe Avocado, Lemon Tart and Aqua Mist (PaperTrey)

Other:  Scarlet Jewel satin ribbon (PaperTrey), Flower punch (EK Success), Gem (Amuse), Score-pal, circle punches.

Sorry my photo is a little off - but I've got a new computer - and still trying to sort it all out.

Now - go and check out all those permanent "loonies" and the other temporary ones like me:

Roseanne

Avril     

 

Tracey  

 

Sue     

 

Steph              

 

Stampin Pam             

 

Donelda

Ashley          

 

Regan     

 

Dee    

 

Maria     

 

Jewels    

 

Char   

 

Wendy

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great one!  

 

You're My Favorite

Sometimes procrastination is a good thing - and sometimes it isn't. This is one of those days it has not been my friend. I did FINALLY get a card ready for this challenge - 15 minutes before the cut-off even -  but my computer completely locked up on me - and I couldn't even get a response from it until after the deadline had passed. Now, that is frustrating!! Even though I missed the deadline, I thought I'd post it anyway...

Supplies & Colors

Stamps:  Everyday Basics (PaperTrey)

Ink:  Berry Sorbet & Charcoal (PaperTrey)

Cardstock:  Whisper White (SU!), Spring Moss & Pure Poppy (PaperTrey)

Patterned Paper:  Bitty Box Basics (PaperTrey)

Other:  Dew Drops (Robin's Nest), large rectangle Nestabilities, corner rounder

Wishing you a good computer experience - and thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday, Reg!

Well, I have never officially met Regan - aka Stampy McStamperson (just love that name) - but she has most certainly become my bloggin' friend. When I really ramped up my blog activity - she was one of the first people I connected with. Char asked me if I wanted to play along and post a happy birthday card for her - and of course I did! So, thanks for being so Loonie and for sharing your wild and fun sense of humor and great talent with us all. Wishing you all the best, Regs!!

When I first saw this patterend paper, I immediately thought of this flowered Cuttlebug folder. The designs in the paper are almost a perfect match for the folder.  This card layout was inspired by Mojo Monday Sketch #97.  Note:  the fact that my card coordinates so well with the above banner is completely coincidental  :)

Details

Stamps:  None (sorry, Stampy - I intended to stamp the greeting - but ended up using the computer instead)

Cardstock:  Soft Sky, Riding Hood Red & Whisper White (SU!), Scarlet Jewel (PaperTrey)

Patterned Paper:  Giggle Kids Girl Foiled Flowers (Making Memories)

Other:  Bloom Dots & Swiss Dots Embossing Folders (Cuttlebug), Scarlet Jewel grosgrain ribbon (PaperTrey), light blue pearls (Joy! Crafts), dimensional foam tape (3M), circle Nestabilities (Spellbinder's)

Happy Friday, all!

Priceless

Hi, there! I've been out of pocket for a little while, but I'm back now. Hope you are having a great summer. I'm getting this entry in just under the wire - so I'll be brief!

 

I just got to see my dear friend, Gretchen, on my recent trip to Ohio - and we met for lunch and shopping at Archiver's. Sadly, we don't have an Archiver's here in the DC area, and so I always look forward to our shopping and lunch outing when I'm back in town. During this particular trip, I purchased the new Basic Grey Lemonade paper as well as the stamp set which had this little elephant and leaf (isnt that just the cutest little ear?). I thought it would be fun to send a card to Gretchen using some of the items we had seen in the store together. The leaf stamp has cute swirls in it, but these are nearly impossible to see in this photo.

Colors and Supplies

Stamps:  Girl (Little Yellow Bicycle), Priceless (Hero Arts)

Ink:  Versamark, Scarlet Jewel (PaperTrey)

Cardstock:  Spring Moss & Scarlet Jewel (PaperTrey)

Patterned Paper:  Lemonade (Basic Grey)

Other:  Glitter pen (Sakura), Dimensional Foam Tape (3M), gems (Amuse), Scarlet Jewel grosgrain ribbon (PaperTrey), square Nestabilities, Clear embossing powder (for the elephant), scalloped border punch (Fiskars)

Thanks for looking!