Sweet Baby card for 3 challenges

I know a couple of people who are pregnant at the moment, so I thought I'd make at least one baby card so I don't leave it till the last minute (I'm a horrible procrastinator!). This week I used the sketch from Pink Elephant challenge and - in proof of my procrastination - am getting it in by the skin of my teeth! I'm also entering this card in Stampin' for the Weekend challenge which has an "Anything Baby goes" theme this week. Cute Card Thursday's theme was "New Beginnings" & that fit just perfectly.

I've seen other people stamp the image on the paper & then stamp it again, cut it out, & pop it off the paper and I've always liked the look of it. So, I tried that on this card. It's not as cleanly done as I've seen others do but I'm pleased with it for my first try.


Front:


A little closer:


Closer still....:


3-D detail:




Supplies:

Paper: pink by Bazzil, patterned from Nana's Nursery (girl) stack, plain from my stash
Stamps: Our Craft Lounge cling rubber stamps from the "Tree-mendous Love" set
Ribbon: from my stash
Colored with colored pencils



I just wanted to take a minute to tell you about an awesome giveaway: The Scrapping Cottage Blog is trying to reach 500 followers and, when they do, they're giving away a $250 shopping spree in their store! Click here to find out more.

Check out Prima's favorite picks & the beautiful things people have made with them! I don't know if these are available where any of you are but I've never seen them in my area - that's probably a good thing as I'd have to have them & don't have the cash to spare at the moment! Click on the picture to learn more.

A card for my Grammy

My grandmother is one of the few people who regularly corresponds with me by snail mail & I "owe" her a letter. In fact, bad granddaughter that I am, I've owed her a letter for a while but wanted to send a handmade one rather than store-bought & it's taken me forever to get around to it. I know she'll appreciate the time spent on it so I'm pretty sure she'll forgive my flakiness! At least I hope so :)

The whole color scheme for this card started from the watering can/flower ribbon; it's not a color combo that I'd use all the time but I do like it. I wanted to make this card a little 3-D, so I popped the flower w/ some foamies. Now I'm wondering if I should've popped the whole image but it's glued down now - too late! Something to try next time I guess.

I've entered this card in a few challenges as well: I used the sketch from PaperPlay Challenges - by Mandy - for challenge #31. Cute Card Thursday had the theme 'Lazy Days' this week for a summer themed card. Nothing says summer like flowers & gardening! Stamptacular Sunday is a 3-D challenge; I know it's only a tiny bit of 3-D so I'm not sure if it qualifies, but I thought I'd try anyway. Finally, Crafty Cardmakers challenge for this week is Complimentary Colors - check out their color wheel lesson, it gave me some ideas for future combinations.

The orange cardstock is very lightly textured & I ran the 3 blue rectangles through my Cuttlebug in a flowered embossing folder. Image is stamped on white cardstock & colored with colored pencils. I cut out the flower & popped it with foamies for a 3-D effect. Haven't got up the nerve to try decorating the inside yet so it's completely blank.


Front


Trying to show the 3-D aspect




A close-up



Supplies used:

Papers from my stash
Stamp by Penny Black
Ribbon from the $1 bin at Michael's
Dew Drops from The Robin's Nest
...........................................................................................................
Some goodies!!!!!

Moni is celebrating the 1 yr anniversary of Everybody-Art-Challenge by giving away some stamped images, ribbons, & more. Closes Aug. 31.

Sassy Designs is giving away 100 stamped images to their followers - this is another challenge blog I just stumbled onto. Closes Sept. 27.

Carolyn has a massive assortment for her blog candy! Check out the inside of her cards - maybe she'll give me some ideas. Closes Sept. 22.

I just found Ingvild's blog the other day & had to become a follower right away - she has a romantic, victorian style that I just love. And her candy is fabulous! Closes Sept. 30.

Jo has new Basic Grey papers & more in her blog candy. Closes Sept. 5.

Maria's candy is a huge assortment of goodies including stamps, ribbons, & more. Closes Aug. 31.

Emma's celebrating her blogoversary with a beautiful array of images, embellishments, & more. Closes Aug. 31.

Erika is giving away some goodies from her stash. Check out her CHA pictures too - I'm jealous! Closes Aug. 29.

Vivi is celebrating 100 posts by giving away 100 Tilda images! I want to win this one! She does quilling - something I want to try........ Closes Aug. 30.

My first ever blog award

Wow! What a pleasant surprise to receive this friendship award from Cheryl - thank you so much! I just recently found her blog & she has some really beautiful things there. I especially like her victorian scrapbook page with the adorable pictures of her little girl. The tool belt for Dad is pretty cute too - full of sweets, now that's my kind of tool belt! Drop by & visit her blog - you'll be glad you did.

Thanks again Cheryl, you made my day!

Do you know Mo?

I haven't tried digital stamping yet as I don't currently have a printer, but I think I know where I'll be getting my first digi from. During my blog hopping I found a link to Mo Manning's blog & fell in love with the cute images there! Mo is an illustrator of children's books & she's making her art available as digital stamps. I've been making a mental list of which ones to get - maybe I should start with one though ;) Anyway, if you want to see what I'm talking about, check out Mo's blog or her shop - you won't be sorry, unless it's because you're spending too much money there!

Another treasure I found yesterday is Helen's blog, Scrap A Little, which has several neat tutorials for flowers & more. Some I'd seen, some I hadn't but I'll definitely be going back - her instructions are clear & I like that it's a picture tutorial rather than video (sometimes video goes too fast for my brain!!). Anyways, figured I'd pass it along since I thought it was informative.

I have a card in the works but don't know if I'll get a chance to post it tonight, if not I'm shooting for tomorrow. Here's some sweets in the meantime...........

Crafty Suzy is celebrating 2000+ hits with some cupcake candy. Closes Sept. 6.

Beccy's had some good fortune lately & is sharing the wealth. Closes Sept. 16.

Check out Linda's generous candy to celebrate 15,000 hits! Closes Aug. 31.

Melissa is having a huge 'just because' giveaway! Closes Aug. 31.

Caz is having an embellishment blog candy with lots of goodies. She's just accepted a DT position with Squiggle Stamps - I'd never heard of them before but they have some adorable stuff! Closes Aug 26.

Happy together...........6 years & 5 challenges

As promised I'm back with the anniversary card I made for my sister & her husband - happy 6 years Jenny & Paul! Since I'm not giving them the card until tomorrow, when they come over for dinner, I told my sister she's not allowed to look at my blog before then. Is it sad that you're seeing the card before she is? Normally I would have waited until later but I used the sketch from Friday Sketchers this week & I figured I may as well post it.

I really like the turquoise/red combination and, although this isn't quite what I envisioned, I'm very happy with the way the card turned out. Besides Friday Sketchers #65, I've also entered this card in Stampin' for the weekend "Days Gone By" challenge, Color Throwdown #56 - my colors are a tiny bit off but I think they may be close enough, Crafty Cardmakers #1 - Blossoms, and Papertake Weekly Challenge #100 which is your choice of any of the 99 previous challenges - I chose My Favorite Things as I absolutely love all things victorian! That makes 5 challenges - not bad considering I didn't really plan for any of them except for Friday Sketchers!


Front




A few detail shots





Inside




The couple is stamped in brown ink & embossed with clear embossing powder. I thought about coloring the image in but thought this was really a case of less is more. The papers have a glossy/glittery aspect to them & I was afraid adding anything else would be too overwhelming. Hopefully Jenny & Paul will like it too :)


Supplies used:

Patterned papers from Jen Wilson's Laundry Line by My Minds Eye; plain paper from my stash
Sticky pearls from Martha Stewart Crafts
Flowers cut & red strip embossed with my Cuttlebug
Blue Darice ribbon
Stamps: Victorian couple from Inkadinkado, "Happy Anniversary" & "together" from Fiskars Romance clear set


One more thing.......Rach is at it again - she has another adorable Rachelle Anne Miller stamp up for grabs on her blog!

Another giveaway by Rach

Today Rach is giving away a clear stamp by Rachelle Anne Miller from Stampavie! In fact, she usually has a little giveaway each & every day - I just don't always get the chance to blog about it :) There are no R.A.M. stamps in my collection yet but only because I haven't gotten around to purchasing any - they are adorable. Closes today at 10pm.

I have another card to post but it's an anniversary card for my sister & I have to wait until I've given it to her or she's agreed not to look at my blog! Keep an eye out for that today or tomorrow.......

Looking for a challenge

I've been browsing around looking at all the different challenge blogs out there - it really helps sometimes when you have a specific sketch, color scheme, or theme to work with. I don't know, I guess it just helps to get the creative juices flowing. There are even more challenge blogs out there than I thought! It seems like I see a lot of the same ones on other people's sidebars, but I did find a couple of new ones.

I was quite pleased to find a House Mouse challenge blog because I think their stamps (Happy Hoppers & Gruffies too!) are really cute, and I actually have some! Looks like they're on vacation right now but hopefully I'll be able to enter their next challenge on Aug 31.

If you're ever looking for a challenge, I found a whole list of them on Boni's blog. She's posted all kinds of beautiful cards & the "Are women born this way?" video alone is worth the trip. Hope you head over to her blog the next time you're blog hopping.

Not a challenge blog, but if you want to see something adorable check out the new babies at Michelle's place!

And now......a little more blog candy.........

Carolyn is celebrating a year of blogging with a fabulous giveaway. Closes Aug. 18.

Check out Naoual's sparkle-y candy! Closes Aug. 22.

Elisabeth Bell wants to know what you do in your free time. Closes Aug. 23.

Bev has an adorable Tilda Magnolia stamp for her weekly Simon Says giveaway. Closes tomorrow.

Dianne just posted her new blog candy & is already planning for more! She has links to lots of challenges too.... Closes Sept. 7.

Georgia has had over 6000 hits on her blog. She makes some pretty amazing cards - even more amazing when you realize she's only 13! Closes Aug. 29.

Jacqui's blog counter is over 130,000 and she's got some fabulous stuff up for grabs! Closes Aug. 22.

Kim is celebrating the start of her new Magnolia Only blog with, what else but, Magnolia candy! Closes Aug. 20.

Launch of La-La Land Crafts

Irina at Everything Paper Crafts is officially launching her own stamp company: La-La Land Crafts! The official Launch Party is taking place in a couple of hours at Cranberry Hill Mercantile in Sunnyvale, California - tonight! If you're not close enough to to check out the stamps in person, La-La Land Crafts online store will be opening at 11pm PST &, for the first 24 hours, they are offering a storewide 10% discount. Since I'm on the east coast I don't think I'll be able to stay up until 2am (my time) for the unveiling but I'll be sure to check it out tomorrow. Irina's been giving sneak peeks on her La-La Land Crafts blog & it looks like they're going to have some really cute designs. You may be able to snag some blog candy by spreading the word about this new venture - there's a lovely assortment, including a couple of Magnolia stamps! Candy winner to be drawn tomorrow @ 10pm PST.

If you have a moment take a look at the blogs for each of the DT members - they have some real talent & it's no wonder they were chosen. I make my little cards & I'm completely happy with them until I see the things other people make - there are so many interesting techniques & creative people - they're on a whole other level........

Phew! My blogs are back!!

Thank goodness - my followed blogs are back! Not that the blogs themselves disappeared but my "following list" vanished. I know I'm not the only one who was having problems with it, so hopefully everyone else got their lists back safe & sound too. Despite knowing that Blogger was aware of the problem, I was a little nervous that a blog or two would be missing but it looks like they're all there. Last night I was scrambling around trying to bookmark as many of my regular stops as I could remember but now it looks as if that wasn't necessary. Oh well, that just means I have a backup if it happens again!

A quick blog candy note..........

Tab is having 2 giveaways with Magnolia stamps, pretty papers, & embellishments. Be sure to spend a little time browsing her blog; she makes some pretty fantastic cards! Winners drawn Aug. 22.

Carly's blogoversary is coming up & she's celebrating with 2 giveaways too! 1 is the Magnolia Stamp Club kit from Summer 2008 & 1 is a handmade box full of images. Check out all the cute stuff she has on her blog. Closes Sept. 23.

Ta-dah! The first card I've ever posted!!!

I finally figured out how to get pictures from my camera to the computer & it was actually pretty easy -- too bad I didn't take the time to figure it out sooner!

So....here's the first card I've ever posted on my blog. I followed the Mojo Monday sketch from a couple weeks ago; I really like a lot of their sketches although I haven't used many of them. Check out their blog if you haven't already! I've entered this card in Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #63 - Floral Fantasy (flowers on the stamp & I know it's hard to see but the paper is floral patterned as well) & the Papertake Weekly Challenge - Four Seasons (mine represents spring to me) - hope it's not too late!

Front of the card


Close-up (you can kinda see the embossing & Stickles)



I kept the inside simple


I love this stamp that I used for the back - it's not as big as it looks - I just zoomed in.




I used those foam sticky pads to pop the circle up off the card. The image is embossed in black & colored in with colored pencils - it's a little hard to tell from the pictures here but the girl on the left is in pale pink, on the right in blue. I shaded the edge of the circle with light green - not sure if I like that element but I'm pleased with the rest of the card.


Supplies used:

Paper from Basic Grey 6x6 Sultry stack
Pink velvet Offray ribbon
Stickles in Pearl (I think - I can't find the bottle at the moment)
Marvy scalloped circle punch
Stamps: Little girls from See-D's "Flutter By Butterfly" set (image cropped to fit the circle); Thank you from Stampin' Up's "Best Blossoms" set; Handmade stamp from Inkadinkado
Colored pencils


And now for a little something sweet....Blog Candy!

Stephanie is giving a $150 gift certificate (to the store/site of your choice) away in appreciation of 25,000 hits & 100+ followers. Closes Aug. 28.

Carole has 2 - yes, two! - blog candy giveaways to celebrate joining the Sugar Nellie DT. Not sure when this one closes so you'd better hurry!

Bev has over 400,000 hits & 1000+ followers & is thanking everyone with some pretty fantabulous candy. Closes Aug. 17.

Bea is giving away the perfect assortment to make a Strawberry Tilda card. Closes Aug. 15.

Leanne is moving to Dubai & giving a set of Gorjuss Girls stamps as a going away present. Closes Sept. 1.

Rach is giving away a Tilda by Magnolia. Hurry - closes at 10 pm Aug. 11.

Claire is thanking her visitors with a variety of goodies. Closes Aug. 21.

Sarita is giving away a unique assortment to celebrate her blogoversary. Be sure you check out her craft room while you're there - talk about making me jealous!! Closes Aug. 15.