Moxie Fab Thanks Blog Hop!

Today I'm participating in a very special (and enormous) blog hop for the one and only Cath Edvalson!  

You should have arrived here from Leigh Penner's blog, but you can find the full list of participants at the Moxie Fab World blog.

Like many of you, I was saddened when I found out that Cath would be saying goodbye to the Moxie Fab World and Paper Crafts magazine.  Cath has been such an incredible source of inspiration to those of us in the world of paper crafting, it's hard to imagine what it will be like in the blogosphere without her daily posts.  Not only did she make the Moxie Fab World the go-to source for everything trendy and beautiful, but her posts were always engaging, enlightening, and written in a friendly voice that made it feel like we were having a chat.

Cath, thank you for showing us that it really is a Moxie Fab World!  You will be missed!

My card for Cath is simple to keep the focus on the message.  I used an inset die cut "thanks" and the coordinating stamp from Simon Says Stamp, Echo Park paper, and Studio Calico wood veneer stars.

Cardstock:  WPlus9 (White)

Patterned paper:  Echo Park (A Perfect Summer)

Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp (STAMPtember Stamps Thanks)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Island Indigo)

Tools:  Simon Says Stamp (STAMPtember Thanks Craft Die), Papertrey Ink (Linen & Canvas impression plate)

Other:  Studio Calico (wood veneer stars)

To continue on the hop, your next stop is Heidi Van Laar.

Thanks again to Cath, and thank you for stopping by today!

Moxie Fab World Birthday Tags & Wraps Challenge

How's it going, friends?  I'm still on vacation--just two more days visiting family, two days on the road, and I'll be home.  *sigh*  I think I'm looking forward to high-speed internet most of all.  The connection here is so dreadfully slow, I haven't been able to browse as much or leave many comments, but I hope to remedy that next week.

I do have one more project to share with you that I made before I left.  It's for one of the challenges in the Moxie Fab World celebrating the latest special issue, Birthday Creations.

Cath has challenged us to make a birthday tag or gift wrap, so I whipped up a simple tag and stamped it with banners from Mama Elephant's Soiree.  I used a craft knife around the sides of three of the flags to curl them up for dimension.

I was dying to use the metallic gold twine from The Twinery, so I heat embossed some tiny gold stars on the tag to coordinate with it.  I wrapped a book (my favorite gift to give) in turquoise tissue paper, wrapped it with twine, and attached the tag.

Cardstock:  WPlus9 Design Studio (White)

Stamps:  Mama Elephant (Soiree), Lawn Fawn (Critters Ever After)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Pool Party), Memento (Tuxedo Black), Versamark

Tools:  Spellbinders (circle die), hold punch, corner rounder, craft knife

Other:  Zing (gold embossing powder), The Twinery (gold metallic twine), tissue paper

There's still plenty of time to play along in the Birthday Creations challenges, so be sure to check all of them out!

Have a good one!

Moxie Fab World Birthday Ensemble Challenge

Cardstock:  WPlus9 Design Studio (Kraft, White), Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy)

Stamps:  Lawn Fawn (Good Fortune)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip, Real Red)

Other: Papertrey Ink (twill ribbon), DMC floss, twine, takeout box

There's a birthday party ensemble challenge going on in the Moxie Fab World to celebrate the latest special issue, Birthday Creations.

The challenge is to create 3 items as part of the ensemble, and I knew just what I wanted to do.  My party ensemble was made using Lawn Fawn's Good Fortune set.  Those fortune cookies are the cutest!

Item #1 is this birthday card, which would make a fun table decoration for the party guests to sign.  I stamped the take-out box directly on the white panel, then stamped the chopsticks and fortune cookie on kraft cardstock and fussy cut them.  The cute little heart is from the Good Fortune set, too.

The second piece of my ensemble is a favor box for party guests to take home.  I got a package of plain white boxes at a party supply store, where they were much less expensive than the ones at Michaels.  I tied red twill ribbon around it and added a cookie with the fortune "thanks".

The last item in my party ensemble is a cupcake pick.  We only have cupcakes in our house for the kids' birthdays, so I decided it would be dangerous to buy one just for the sake of my photo.  :)  So you'll just have to imagine it in a cupcake.  And the best part is that you can imagine it in any flavor you want.

That's all for today!  Have a great start to your week!

Moxie Fab World Birthday Sketch Challenge

It's a birthday celebration over at Moxie Fab World, with lots of fun challenges in honor of their latest special issue.  I'm away from home this week and next, but I had a chance to work on a few of the challenges before I hit the road.

First up is this great sketch by Betsy Veldman, with the added challenge of making a card with either all stamping or no stamping.

Not surprisingly, I chose the stamping option and kept things very CAS.  I stamped three of the cupcakes from WPlus9's Sweets & Treats in colors inspired by the magazine cover.  A brush of glitter on the frosting adds interest in the absence of embellishments.

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (Melon Mambo), WPlus9 Design Studio (White)

Stamps:  WPlus9 Design Studio (Sweets & Treats, Sweets & Treats Fillers, Strictly Sentiments 1)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Gumball Green, Certainly Celery, Daffodil Delight, So Saffron), Memento (Tuxedo Black)

Other:  Zig Wink of Stella clear glitter brush

Have a fantastic weekend!

For Cath (sans CHA) with Love Blog Hop, CAS-ual Fridays #37, & CR84FN47

Hello, crafty peeps!  Are you ready for a mega-fun blog hop in honor of Miss Moxie Fab herself, Cath Edvalson?

The idea for this hop came from talented crafters Lorena Canto and Virginia Lu, and there are dozens of amazing designers participating!  Cath recently shared the news on the Moxie Fab World blog that she would be unable to attend CHA this year due to severe pain in her shoulder.  To wish her a speedy recovery and thank her for keeping us up-to-date on all things trendy, we're sending her well wishes with some creations just for her!

I was also inspired by the sketch this week at CAS-ual Fridays and the sweet colors at CR84FN.

One of my go-to sets lately has been PTI's Faux Ribbon.  I used it on this card to stamp rows of circles in Real Red, Regal Rose, and Pool Party.  I added a Pure Poppy felt flower with a button center and a Tiny Tag stamped with the sentiment "feel better".

The eyelet border is CASEd from my friend Karen Baker's design for CAS-ual Fridays this week--I knew it would be perfect with these circles.

The Aqua Mist panel is debossed with PTI's argyle impression plate, which I thought was a fun contrast to the circular elements.

All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless noted

Cardstock:  Aqua Mist, White

Stamps:  Faux Ribbon, Tiny Tags

Ink:  Real Red, Regal Rose, Pool Party (Stampin' Up!), Versamark (Tsukineko)

Tools:  Argyle impression plate, Tiny Tags die, Beautiful Blooms dies, Eyelet border die

Accessories:  Pure Poppy felt, Aqua Mist button, DMC floss, thread

To see the rest of the cards on the hop, all you need to do is stop by Lorena Canto's or Virginia Lu's blog for links to the participants.

We hope you're back in tip-top shape very soon, Cath!  Best wishes to you for a speedy recovery!

Moxie Fab World Map to Your Heart Challenge

Hi there, crafty people!  I'm so happy I had a chance to squeeze in a challenge last night.  This one is ending tonight over in the Moxie Fab World, so you'll have to run if you still want to enter!

The Map to Your Heart challenge asks us to incorporate a map on our project.  I didn't have any real maps laying around, but I did have some journal cards from October Afternoon's Road Map collection that fit the bill.

I took one of those journal cards and used a frame die to cut out a space at the bottom.  In the negative space, I stamped a globe and a sentiment from PTI's Masculine Motifs.  The globe was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder.

I die cut a tiny heart from another journal card with a plaid print and added some hand stitching around the edge of the map before adhering those elements with pop dots.  

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Aqua Mist)

Patterned paper:  October Afternoon (Road Map collection)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Masculine Motifs)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Real Red), Tsukineko (Versamark)

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames #11 die, Heart Prints die, Linen & Canvas impression plate), corner rounder

Accessories:  Stampendous (clear embossing powder), DMC floss

Pretty simple, but I like how it turned out.

Thanks for visiting today!  I hope your week is off to a great start!

CAS-ual Fridays #29 & Get Inspired by Fashion Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

 Hi there!  My friend, Karen Baker, has a wonderful sketch over at the CAS-ual Fridays challenge blog this week, and this is one of the many challenges I've been missing lately.  I paired it up with this fashion inspiration in the Moxie Fab World, part of a week of challenges to celebrate their new special issue, Card Creations:  Get Inspired.

I wanted to capture the look of the houndstooth fabric in the photo, so I stamped PTI's Background Basics:  Houndstooth onto Vintage Cream cardstock, cut around it with pinking shears, and debossed it with the Linen & Canvas impression plate.  I added a stitched border to reinforce the fabric theme.

The jeweled brooch on the jacket inspired me to make a rolled flower with cream colored seam binding and a brad that had been gathering dust in my stash.  The leaves were cut with a Sizzix die from SU's Pear Pizzazz cardstock.

I stamped an elegant sentiment from WPlus9's Very Vintage Greetings on the cream card base, then debossed it with the other side of the L&C impression plate.  I popped the houndstooth panel up on foam dots and stitched a simple frame around it.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream), Stampin' Up! (Pear Pizzazz)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Background Basics:  Houndstooth), WPlus9 Design Studio (Very Vintage Greetings)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Pear Pizzazz)

Tools:  Sizzix (leaf die), Papertrey Ink (Linen & Canvas impression plate), Fiskars (pinking shears)

Accessories:  seam binding, brad, thread

I'm noticing that my photos once again look darker on Blogger than they did when I edited them, so just imagine them a little brighter.  *smile*

I'm home today with a sore throat, laryngitis, and two kids with pink eye, so it sounds like the perfect excuse to do some stamping.  Hope you find some time for yourself today, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating Hobbies Challenge in the Moxie Fab World--National Sewing Month

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a great weekend so far.  Hubby and I got some Christmas shopping done yesterday, and by the time we were done I was exhausted!  But it feels good to have gotten a good chunk of it done.

Over in the Moxie Fab World, Cath spent a week celebrating the release of the new Paper Crafts special issue, 365 Cards.  Although I can't find it locally just yet, I thought I'd play along with one of the challenges issued during last week's festivities.  For the Celebrating Hobbies Challenge, you can make a card to give to someone during National Sewing Month.  While my card isn't specifically for that occasion, it definitely has a sewing theme!

I wanted to use a fall-ish color palette, so I chose Papertrey Ink's Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate, and Aqua Mist.  I used PTI's Quilter's Sampler to stamp a quilt on a square of Rustic Cream cardstock and colored it with Copic markers.  I used the Linen & Canvas impression plate to give the panel the look of fabric, then stitched it to a Dark Chocolate mat.

A get well sentiment from the set was stamped on a double ended banner and embellished with a pair of scissors, also from Quilter's Sampler, that I cut out by hand.

All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless noted

Cardstock:  Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate, Rustic Cream

Stamps:  Quilter's Sampler

Ink:  Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!), Copic markers

Tools:  Double ended banner die, Linen & Canvas impression plate

Accessories:  thread

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Operation Julie's Smile, CR84FN39, & Textured to Perfection

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm thrilled today to be participating in a special blog hop for the sweet and talented Julie Ranae.  If you are following along on the hop, you should have arrived here from 

the blog of Vera Yates.  If not, make sure you stop by the Sweet Stamp Shop blog to start at the beginning and learn how you can win some fabulous prizes while helping a fellow stamper.  

There are over 120 blogs participating in this hop, so if you encounter a broken link at any time, just head back to the Sweet Stamp Shop blog for the full list of participants.  You have all weekend to visit and comment, so take your time and have fun!

Please keep reading to learn more about Julie's story and how you can help give her back her smile!

“The creative blogging community is coming together this weekend to help one of our friends, Julie Ranae.  You may know her as the Design Team Coordinator for many wonderful companies from bakers twine, die cuts, rubber stamps and more.  What many people don’t know about Julie Ranae is that she has had some pretty major dental surgeries in her lifetime due to medication she had to take as a child.  It was in her plans to think about having all of her teeth  replaced at some point in the next 5 years, a decision that was pretty easy to plan out.  But then it happened…she chipped her front teeth on a weekend a month ago. The dentist told her there was no way to save them & that it was his recommendation that she give in and have them all her teeth removed soon, but for that day, they needed to get her front teeth done so her gums could begin to heal. He said he would 'work out payments with her to have ALL this work done...but when she called to make her appt for the first step of impressions, they told her the amount of money that was needed and that the 'payments' applied only to the two teeth that were extracted that day. Her husband Paul was with her & that too, was his understanding as well. So this is how she has found herself in this situation…Needing at least $4000 to get started and another $3000 to finish the process…a total of $7000.

Nicole Rixon, owner of Sweet Stamp Shop put together this benefit after finding out about this situation and before Julie Ranae knew it, it took flight!

Because she is an event organizer by trade, she has taken on the job of organizing all of the blogs in this hop as her way of ‘working overtime’ for what she needs, the same as if she were able to work overtime at an outside job to pay for the work to be done.

It is the goal of all of these generous friends & sponsors to help make this situation more do-able for our friend so that she can share a brand new smile with all of us soon.

If there is anything you can do to help with a financial donation, there is a donation button ready for you to click.  Any amount is appreciated and ALL DONATIONS will be eligible for prizes from our sponsor pool of over $2500.”

You can find the donation button on my blog's sidebar, and on all of the other blogs along the hop.

Now to share the card I've made for today, with Julie in mind. 

I combined the colors of the current CR84FN challenge with the Textured to Perfection challenge in the Moxie Fab World to create a fall-inspired card of encouragement.

I cut a piece of cream felt with pinking shears and embroidered vines in two shades of orange (although one looks red in the photos) and yellow.  This was adhered to an Early Espresso card base and embellished with buttons.

I stamped a sentiment from PTI's Think Big Favorites onto a strip of Vintage Cream cardstock, notched one end, and adhered it with foam dots.

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (Early Espresso), Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Think Big Favorites #4)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Early Espresso)

Accessories:  Papertrey Ink (felt, buttons), DMC floss

I'm so glad you stopped by today for this special post!  Your next stop on the hop is Carisa Zglobicki.  Don't forget to leave a comment here before you go for a chance to win prizes, and please click on the donation button to help our friend, Julie.

Have a great weekend!

Card Ideas for Paper Crafters Vertical Sketch Challenge & CTD #159

Hello there!  I'm happy to say that the worst of my cold is behind me, and hopefully this will be a productive week.  I'm just sneaking in a card for the Vertical Sketch Challenge over in the Moxie Fab World.  I paired it up with the current colors from The Color Throwdown.

I started by cutting a heart from a scrap of paper, then traced it onto Cherry Cobbler cardstock three times and cut out the hearts.  Two are debossed with a music score and the third is stamped with PTI's Background Basics:  Sheet Music.  I sponged the edges of all three hearts with black ink for definition.

The black cardstock panel is also debossed with the Music Score impression plate, with a sentiment from WPlus9's Spring Post heat embossed in white in the bottom corner.

The top panel is white cardstock stamped with Background Basics:  Houndstooth using Pacific Point ink.

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (Cherry Cobbler, Pacific Point), Papertrey Ink (True Black, white)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Background Basics:  Sheet Music, Background Basics:  Houndstooth), WPlus9 Design Studio (Spring Post)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Pacific Point), Clearsnap (Frost White), Inkadinkadoo (Black)

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Music Score impression plate)

Accessories:  Michaels (ribbon), Stampendous (embossing powder)

There you have it:  a not-too-girly love note well ahead of Valentine's Day.  I think the houndstooth helps to tone down the mushiness.

I hope you have a great week ahead of you!  Thanks for spending a little bit of it here with me!

Horizontal Sketch Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

Well, hello again!  Thanks for stopping by tonight!

I just couldn't resist playing along with the Horizontal Sketch Challenge for Card Ideas Week in the Moxie Fab World.  After all, Cath was so sweet to share my first published card on her blog as an example of this sketch!

This time I flipped the sketch horizontally because it seemed to work better with the teacups from PTI's Tea for Two Additions.  I used papers from DCWV's Amber Autumn Stack to die cut and stamp the cups, then added some basic shading with Copics.

I stamped the tea bag and a sentiment from Tea for Two Additions, then the phrase "warm wishes" from Tiny Tags onto a Lemon Tart cardstock panel.  I debossed the edges of the panel with the Diamonds impression plate to frame the cups, which are adhered with foam dots.

The yellow panel is mounted on a kraft card base with a strip of patterned paper along one end.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Lemon Tart, Kraft)

Patterned paper:  DCWV (Amber Autumn Stack)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Tea for Two Additions, Tiny Tags)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip)

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Diamonds impression plate, teacup die), Martha Stewart Crafts (Scoring board)

I'm off to rest, as I have been battling my first head cold of the season.  Yuck.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Tuesday Trigger: Garden Glory

Hey, look at me!  I made a card!  *smile*

I was looking forward to the weekend so much, thinking I would get lots of crafting done.  Too bad my mojo booked a vacation.  I had the hardest time getting anything to work on paper, but I finally finished a card for the current Tuesday Trigger in the Moxie Fab World:

This shouldn't have been so difficult for me.  After all, these colors were practically screaming my name!

Enough complaining.  How about some details?  I started with an Aqua Mist card base, which I stamped and heat embossed with a frame from the Mat Stack 1 collection and a sentiment from WPlus9's Very Vintage Greetings.  The fonts in this set are divine!  The frame is meant to reflect the color and shape of the chair back in the photo.  The whole panel was then debossed using PTI's Linen & Canvas impression plate.

As an ode to the green and white pattern on the chair, I die cut two strips of Victorian Lace border from New Leaf cardstock and adhered them to a strip of white.  I love the graphic pattern that results.  The strip is layered over Dark Chocolate cardstock embossed with woodgrain, like the dark brown table in the photo.

To pull in the botanical print on the pillow, I stamped a morning glory from Very Vintage Greetings and colored it with Copics, then cut it out and popped it up on foam dots.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Aqua Mist, New Leaf, Dark Chocolate, white)

Stamps:  WPlus9 Design Studio (Very Vintage Greetings), Papertrey Ink (Mat Stack 1 Collection)

Ink:  Clearsnap (Frost White), Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip), Copics

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Woodgrain, Linen & Canvas impression plates, Victorian Lace border die)

Accessories:  Stampendous (embossing powder), buttons, DMC floss

I hope to settle into more of a routine this week that involves some stamping time!  It's so hard to get in the groove after not doing it for several days.  Does that happen to you?

Thanks for stopping by, my friends!  Have a great start to your week!

Color Throwdown #156 & Square Sketch Challenge

Well hello, strangers!  Can you believe I'm actually back with a card today?

As you might remember, I went back to work last week after spending the last 6 years at home with my kids.  It's a part-time job, but I was still exhausted every afternoon last week while adjusting to the new routine.  I am the new lab technician for the Health Sciences department at a local college, and I am loving the job so far!  I have a lot of flexibility and independence, which works perfectly for me and allows my hubby and I to coordinate our schedules so that one of us can still be home with the kids when they are not in school.  I feel so fortunate to be back at work doing something I enjoy after such a long hiatus.  Thanks to everyone for leaving your words of encouragement, and for your patience during my absence over the last week!

To get back into the crafty swing of things, I decided to use some lovely colors from The Color Throwdown with the Square Sketch Challenge in Card Ideas Week in the Moxie Fab World.

This is the first time I've played with PTI's Mehndi Medallions stamps and impression plate.  Oh my loveliness!  I just adore the highly detailed impression this plate leaves!  *swoon*

I also took inspiration from Maile Belle's interpretation of the sketch as seen in the challenge post.  I layered a hand-cut Plum medallion over the impressed cardstock, then gave it a Saffron center by stamping the medallion onto Saffron cardstock with Versamark, heat embossing with clear powder, and punching out the center with a 1 inch circle punch.

The sentiment banner was cut with PTI's Double Ended Banner die and stamped with a sentiment from Birthday Basics.

I thought about adding some scattered bling or glitter pen details, but I really like the simple elegance of the medallions as is.

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (Perfect Plum, So Saffron), Papertrey Ink (Kraft, white)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Mehndi Medallions, Birthday Basics)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Perfect Plum), Versamark

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Mehndi Medallion impression plate, Double Ended Banner die), Martha Stewart Crafts (circle punch)

Accessories:  Stampendous (clear embossing powder)

In other news, we are in the midst of Tropical Storm Irene right now (recently downgraded from a hurricane), but the rain and wind have been manageable here.  My thoughts are with those along the East Coast where the impact of the storm has been much greater, and where flooding continues to be a threat.  Stay safe, friends!

See you back here soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ideas for Paper Crafters--Horizontal Sketch Challenge

Did you happen to see this card today over in the Moxie Fab World?  Well, my friends, I just about fell out of my chair when I saw it!  That's my first Paper Crafts publication!!

I'm so excited to be able to share this card with you, and Cath made it even sweeter today by featuring it as part of today's horizontal sketch challenge.  I do hope you'll play along with this sketch--I love seeing so many different ideas using the same design!

I hope to be back with something new very soon, but for today I think I'll just bask in my 15 minutes of fame.  Thanks for indulging me!

Have a great day!