Simple Sweetness

Here is a sweet & simple card using mostly Papertrey Ink products. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!.

My daughter and I went to Kings Island yesterday and had lots of fun. Even though she was just tall enough, I couldn't talk her into trying out The Racer. It's one of the smaller "big person" size coasters. She did enjoy the two smaller coasters in the kid area (big enough for adults to ride). We rode those multiple times.

Happy crafting!
Sharon

50th Anniversary

This weekend is my aunt & uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. Here is the card I made for my Mom to give...Stampin' Up! cake and PTI sentiment. Cased it from Moster's card on SCS.

The month of May is always busy...lots going on for my job, DD school stuff, birthdays galore, trying to finish up a Purdue class, nice weather hits....you get the picture! Any posts the next two weeks are short & to the point!!

Happy crafting!

Sharon

Digi Papers

Gina K has some free (not sure for how long) digital papers to download and try out! I used Floral Elegance for this card. When I printed these, I did it as a 5x7 page, because it re-sized the image. I used the "Thumping Technique" for my stamped image. Gina has a challenge over at her new site, StampTV, using this technique. She has some awesome TV quality videos showing you how to do this, amongst other things.

Happy crafting!!

Sharon

Lauren's Saturday Sketch

This is the first card I've actually made using one of Lauren's sketches. I keep checking them out (along with all her other fabulous work!!) and finally played along! This is also keeping with the theme of a "Summer in Winter" card for the Stamp Something challenge. That thought is what many of us here in the U.S. need to think of right now! Beautiful spring flowers will be on their way soon! Our daffodils should bloom about two months from now.

I colored in the image from Stampin' Up! with Bic Mark-it pens and sponged some blue for the sky.

This was made using leftovers from the above card. I was going to copy, but didn't have enough of the green. Pieces were sort of laying here & there on the card when I realized I could easily make this into SCS sketch challenge 213! This will be a great "thinking of you" or "happy day" card. I'll wait to know the occasion before adding a sentiment to the left of the flower image.

Happy crafting! Sharon

Jazzy Inspirations

I made this card for Jazzy Inspirations challenge blog. This week it is Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage album cover. As I'm digging through my stash...there is no gray, there is no kiwi kiss green. So, I come up with this close shade of green, silver ink (pretend it's gray!), and some silver chain cord. The album has a minimalist look to it, and so does my card. Once I found the "goodies" to make the card, it came together very quick! Gotta love that! Stamps are from the Happy Harmony set from Stampin' Up!.

Happy crafting!

Sharon

Whimsy Wednesday

Last night (Wednesday) I had a lot of fun playing along with the Whimsy Wednesday stamp night at the Whimsy Stamp Group on Paper Craft Planet. I made two challenge cards, and even won a free stamp for the birthday challenge! This card also used the sketch challenge that Jeanette created for us. For my prize, I picked the cute little frog from Whimsy! Looking forward to creating with him! Had I not been busy doing some shoveling in our lane, I might of had time to participate in one more challenge!

The second card was made for the color challenge: Use blue, green, yellow and one neutral. This one just snapped together very quickly. It helps that all the papers were in the same Basic Grey Urban Prairie pack!

There is the most adorable blog candy up for grabs over at Melissa's site. Take a look at her past posts and marvel at the things she comes up with! Wow!

Happy crafting!

Sharon

Verve Love

Obviously I love to do sketch challenges. No different this week! I have several that I will be sharing. Julee at Verve is having a "Looking for Love Release Party Challenge" this week for the new sets that will become available Friday evening. One color and three sketch challenges, with prizes to be given away! I've not made my cards in order of the challenges, and won't be posting them in any particular order. This card is for the Day 3 Challenge. I used PTI Sweet Blush for the cardbase, Chocolate, and Kraft on the panels. DP is Basic Grey Bittersweet. Stamp is SU! Greetings Galore that I masked so I could separate the image and sentiment. Unknown ribbon & flower.

Happy crafting!

Sharon

Valentine Cards

This was made for the Holiday Extravaganza Challenge 12 at SCS. I knew I liked the layout and this was a quick (for me) card. I did not add any layering, as any of my pink card stock shades just didn't look right. Hmmm, chocolate might have worked, but I wanted a card the was for sure light enough to mail without extra postage. The DP is from my new Bittersweet Basic Grey 6x6 pack. Stamp is SU! Quick & Cute. I also inked the edge of the image panel with the same shade that I used for the heart.

Last night I spent a bit of time straightening my work area. There is a counter there!! And, this morning I took a few moments and cut several card bases. This is something I've always said I should do, to help things go quicker when I want to make a card. I won't need to fool around with getting the base ready. I only did white, as I see that being used a bunch in upcoming days for Valentine cards.

This is a card my daughter made this morning. She "helped" cut the card stock and fold (I did the measuring & lining up for her...she used the cutter). She then grabbed an embossed card cover, used a lace heart from a pack I bought at Target $1 Spot to take to school, and also used a stamp from the dollar spot. She "posed" the layout for the photo shoot.

On the inside she used a couple more stamps from the same pack. She said she will add a note to "look on the back" because she used one of the "hand stamped by" stamps I use and added her name.

Happy crafting!
Sharon

Jazzy Inspirations 2

I created this for the second Jazzy Inspirations challenge. This card took me a bit to figure out how I was going to do the red & black. The first piece of design paper looked too much like a summer picnic, the second looked too much like a flannel shirt (not what I think of with jazz music!), and the third time was a charm. It helped that by then, I picked out a sketch for the design, and that enabled me tie everything together. The design paper is wrapping paper from a gift my husband received (love to reuse & recycle!) from his Grandma. Stamp is SU!. Sketch challenge 205 from Splitcoast Stampers was used for the layout.

Happy crafting!
Sharon

New Year's Eve

Daughter is busy watching the Disney Channel, and I'm staying awake by reading blogs & SCS. Very excited to receive my order from I {heart} Papers today! My Labels 1 Nesties are here!! I used them right away for the sketch challenge on the Stamp Something blog.

I now own 4 Copic markers...slowly picked up at Hobby Lobby with the 40% off coupon. I now own a "skin tone" color and used it today, along with Bic Mark-it and Sharpie pens. The design paper is from Target $1 spot. It was in an eight pack of 12x12 paper. They also had coordinating gemstones & gemstone brads!!

Happy Crafting!
Sharon

With Sympathy

A co-worker's Grandmother-in-law passed away, and I needed to make a quick card to get out in the mail tomorrow. She will be out for several days, and I wanted the card to reach the family before she returns. Embossing and I are not friends yet. The powder seems to stick on other parts of the card, even after wiping it down with a dryer sheet (have never found an embossing buddy at Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann's). I gave up the embossing idea and just stamped in a gold ink. Flower is SU! Happy Harmony and sentiment is from Hero Arts. Used my nesties to cut and emboss stamped panel, and used a gold metallic pen to trace rectangle.

On a happier note, I am sending out the baby card I made!! Baby decided to meet the world early this morning and joins three other siblings at home!