2 Sketches 4 You #59

Hey there! I'm just popping in with a quick post for this week's 2 Sketches 4 You, just barely in time as usual! The mojo was seriously absent today, which is what always seems to happen when I've been too busy to craft for several days and then finally find some time to sit down and stamp! So I abandoned my plan to pair the sketch up with a color challenge and just decided to do a Halloween card. I LOVE all things fall and Halloween, so this was fun! Here's the fab sketch by Kazan:

I first pulled my colors from some Heidi Grace patterned paper I bought at the end of last season. I wanted to use this super cute $1 stamp from Studio G that I picked up at A.C. Moore a couple of weeks ago, and I realized that it would fit nicely into the Mat Stack #2 die from PTI. How fun is that?

I stamped the image with black dye ink, then added some black glitter glue to the bats and spread it around with a tiny paintbrush. It gave them a nice bit of dimension and sparkle. I then used Glossy Accents to fill in the cloud to give it some shine. The outside of the die was shaded with a black colored pencil and odorless mineral spirits.

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Summer Sunrise, white), Bazzill (black)

Patterned Paper: (Heidi Grace)

Stamps: Studio G (bats), Papertrey Ink (Distressed Stripes)

Ink: Inkadinkadoo (Black), Martha Stewart (Curry)

Tools: Papertrey Ink (Mat Stack 2 die), Spellbinders (scallop circle die), EK Success (border punch)

Accessories: Queen & Co. (rhinestones), Studio G (black glitter glue), Glossy Accents

Coloring medium: Prismacolor Premier colored pencils, odorless mineral spirits

I made some striped patterned paper with PTI's Distressed Stripes. I totally love this set! It makes it so easy to pull together all of the colors from the rest of the card. I would probably use it more if I had more colors of ink!

Okay friends, that's all for tonight! I hope I'll have a bit more inspiration tomorrow to play with a couple more challenges before they expire. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Curtain Call Act 43, CardPatterns 77, & Wee Memories 18

Hello friends! I'm back from NH and a fabulous couple of days at Story Land. This was our kids' first trip to an amusement park, so they were a bit overwhelmed but had a fantastic time! I highly recommend this park to anyone with younger kids, as the rides were just the right speed and size for my 5 and (almost) 3 year olds. The gorgeous views of the White Mountains alone make it worth the trip! We will definitely be going back for a longer stretch of hiking and exploring in the future.

And not a minute too soon, I have a card today for three challenges ending tonight. Sorry my photos are a little fuzzy, but the lighting wasn't the greatest. I paired up a very challenging color combo from Stacey's Stamping Stage with the sketch at CardPatterns. The buttons qualify it for Jenny's Scrappy Saturday challenge, though I admit they are not the most creative use of buttons, brads, or bling!

Disclaimer: several large pieces of cardstock were harmed during the creation of this card. Despite repeated attempts to revive them and produce something presentable, regrettably they had to be placed in the recycling bin.

All joking aside, I had serious problems with this bold color combo! Stacey, you are not the only one whose first attempt ended up in the trash! I finally decided to make a smallish sized note card using a set I have neglected for a while from Autumn Leaves and a sentiment from Stampin' Up's Just Believe set. I did wind up using brown to stamp the sentiment, since it was all I had that worked. I'm actually pretty happy with the way it turned out. I don't think this will become a go-to color combo for me anytime soon, but I enjoyed the challenge!

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Simply Chartreuse, white), Stampin' Up (Pacific Point)

Stamps: Autumn Leaves (Mindy's Flowers), Stampin' Up (Just Believe)

Ink: Martha Stewart Crafts (Fennel, Pumpkin), Papertrey Ink (Dark Chocolate)

Tools: EK Success (border punch, corner rounder)

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

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I appreciate all of your best wishes for my daughter's birthday, and your comments here on the blog, as always. Have a great weekend!

WMSC #10 & Embellish Color Challenge

Hi there! It's been pretty quiet on the old blog-o lately, as I've been busy entertaining family. My baby girl just celebrated her 5th birthday this weekend, and we are headed to an amusement park in NH today and tomorrow. I have missed several fun challenges in the last week that I wanted to find time for, but hopefully things will settle into a more regular schedule soon and I'll have more time for crafting.

For today, I wanted to share my take on two challenges. The current challenge at Embellish Magazine is a darling color combo along with the style of "quirky, cutesy, and clean". The challenge is sponsored by Lawn Fawn, so it was the perfect opportunity to break out my new stamp set, "Bake Me a Cake". I paired it up with the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge, which really lends itself to a clean style.

Let me first say that I am so impressed with this Lawn Fawn stamp set. I don't do the cutesy style very much, but these stamps make it easy and the quality of the stamped image is fantastic. I decided to use several of the stamps to build a birthday cake. I stamped them on Vintage Cream cardstock using black dye ink. I then used Prismacolor colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits to color the image. This is a new technique to me, but I've been wanting to try it as an alternative to Copics. I added some sparkly detail to the candle flames and the icing with a clear Spica glitter pen, though you can't really see it here.

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream, Melon Berry), Bazzill (kraft)

Stamps: Lawn Fawn (Bake Me a Cake)

Ink: Inkadinkadoo (black)

Tools: Spellbinders (circle die), ProvoCraft (embossing folder), EK Success (border punch)

Accessories: Papertrey Ink (buttons, jute twine)

Coloring medium: Prismacolor Premier (colored pencils), odorless mineral spirits, Spica glitter pen

The rest of the card is pretty self-explanatory. An embossed background and some twine tied buttons keep the card clean but cute. I kept the inside clean and simple, too.

Okay folks, that's all I have for now. I should be back on Friday to catch up on my reader and comments for all of your lovely creations. Thanks for stopping by today!

Curtain Call Act 42 & Sweet Sunday Sketch 80

Happy Friday friends! If you haven't seen my earlier post about my email account being hacked, please scroll down! Some of you were in my Yahoo address book and may get a suspicious email from me, so please don't reply to it. I have changed my password and everything appears to be working fine now, but I will be cautious using that account for a while.

In other news, I have a new card for today for two challenges ending very soon. I just had to find time to play the Curtain Call Color Challenge this week! These colors had me thinking whimsical and Halloween, as you can see. I paired the colors up with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

Okay, so I don't usually do cute and whimsical, but I could not resist this little witch! Isn't she darling? I stamped her onto Rustic White cardstock with Dark Chocolate Ink, then stamped her again onto the orange and green cardstock and paper pieced her face, hands, and clothes. I added some shading with my watercolor pencils, which I haven't used forever! It was a lot of fun and I hope I'll have a chance to do it again soon.

The word "wicked" was stamped with letters from a Doodlebug Design alphabet. I also used a spider web stamp from Inkadinkadoo to make the orange patterned paper, and PTI's Distressed Stripes to make the little block of green paper. Everything was sponged with Creamy Brown chalk ink.

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Rustic White, Dark Chocolate), Bazzill (Mango, Guacamole)

Stamps: Studio G (witch), Inkadinkadoo (spider web), Papertrey Ink (Distressed Stripes), Doodlebug Design (alphabet)

Ink: Papertrey Ink (Dark Chocolate), Clearsnap (Creamy Brown)

Accessories: Derwent watercolor pencils, Copic markers, buttons, DMC floss

Here's a peek at the inside, where I added strips of orange and green stamped with the Distressed Stripes and another spider web in one corner.

I really like the fun and simple design, and I love how the witch turned out.

I had hoped to squeeze in one more card today, but my parents are here for one more day so I should come out of my craft cave and be sociable! I hope you have a great Friday and a fabulous start to your weekend!

My email was hacked!

Hi everyone!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that my email was hacked sometime overnight. Some of you were in my address book and may have received an email, supposedly from me, with the subject "My Plight!!!!!". Please do not reply to it, as the "Reply to" address is not mine.

The hacker changed my email password and cleared out my address book, but I have reported it to Yahoo. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you! I never open suspicious emails, but a friend of mine was recently hacked and I suspect that's how they accessed my email address.

I have changed my email password so I assume it's safe to use my account, if you need to contact me. I will let you all know if I find out anything else!

Waltzingmouse sketch #9

Hello friends! I apologize for not getting around to all of your blogs to make comments this week while my parents are visiting. I am trying to keep up with my reader but not doing the best job! I also can't wait to spend a bit more time at my craft table. I managed to work on a card this morning that has been in my head all week for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge.

I knew I wanted to use some of my crochet flowers, so I picked a patterned paper from October Afternoon that I've been hoarding and made up a few flowers to go with it. I added an embossed Vintage Cream panel and some stitching, matting it on a piece of Ripe Avocado cardstock.

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream, Ripe Avocado)

Patterned paper: October Afternoon (Ducks in a Row)

Stamp: Papertrey Ink (Mega Mixed Messages)

Ink: Papertrey Ink (Ripe Avocado, Chai Tea Dye)

Tools: ProvoCraft (embossing folder), Spellbinders (Labels 4 die)

Accessories: Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream buttons), crochet flowers, avocado buttons, DMC floss, thread

Okay, time to put the kiddos to bed! Thanks for stopping by tonight! I hope to be back with a card or two tomorrow!

Giveaway WINNER!

Thanks so much to all of you who left such lovely comments about my 100th post and my crochet flowers! Now it's time to announce the winner of the giveaway. I used Random.org to select one comment, and the result was:

#8 Diane Jaquay!

Congratulations, Diane! If you'll email me your choice of flower colors and your shipping address, I'll drop your prize in the mail.

Thanks again for all of your support and encouragement! I had a lot of fun with this giveaway, so you can be sure there will be more in the future. Have a great Wednesday!