NOW EVEN TOUGHER!

I didn't think the challenges could get much harder on Paper Secrets CYAO challenge but this weeks took a lot of searching for needed materials.  Fortunately I have a large stash and just needed to make a few modifications.  The challenge was to use the Mojo Monday sketch but to include 3 of the following:
2" wide ribbon
handmade pinwheel
heat embossed background stamp
doily
raw unpainted chipboard alphas
clothespin

I have a great background stamp and some gold embossing powder, and the shape had to be square or round and the only square cards with envelopes I have are red so that narrowed things down a bit.  I knew I had some wide ribbon but discovered that most of it was not wide enough and a few were too wide.  I opted to cut down the too wide to the 2" requirement so I am now down to my last choice.  I went in search of my chipboard and tried to think of how I would use it.  I thought about a monogram - but for what or whom?  Then I searched out letters and found that NOEL would fit so now I am ready to create.  I also had a chipboard square that I thought went well with the design.  I wanted to put something inside of it and had some real searching to do.  After trying several things I discovered this little red cardinal on a circle.  This worked perfectly and would also meet another challenge over at Shopping Our Stash who has a challenge to use an animal or bird on our card for this week.

Here is the sketch:

and here is my creation:

Not sure if I will get to more creating this weekend as it is Michael's birthday but if I do I'll be sure to post!  Hope that you have enjoyed stopping by.  Have a great weekend!

ANOTHER CLEAN AND SIMPLE PAGE

To scrap another page of me from the whale watching trip I chose a sketch from Feeling Sketchy.  It had nice clean and simple lines which I felt would make a great companion page from the one I made earlier today.  Here is the sketch:

Here is my page:

More to follow from the trip soon - even that great dolphin tail!

A SPECIAL CALL

Today's first layout is for a special call - specifically a Design Team call over at Sketches in Thyme.  I have just discovered this site and absolutely loved the clean and simple lines of the sketch for the call.  I chose a recent photo of me from a whale watching trip that Michael and I made earlier this month.  No...didn't get any photos of the whales - in fact, because of the impending hurricane we did not get out far enough to even see any whales this time.  We did see several hundred dolphin and well, not a great photo but I did catch a dolphin tail before it disappeared back under the water.  Keep watching my blog and I'm sure you will get to see it.  Here is the sketch:

and here is my take on it:

I used some great papers I had on hand by SEI as well as Tim Holtz tissue tape and Distress Ink, some navy  and white cardstock, and a few gems.  It came together quick and easy and seems just perfect for that photo.

Hope that you enjoyed your first glimpse of my whale watching trip - more to follow soon!

THANKS TIMES 3

Tonite I decided to work on some thank you cards with my challenges.

Card #1 was done using inspiration from the color palette at Color Throwdown as well as Tuesday Throwdown's use of fall colors and Try it on Tuesdays with lots of layers.

The palette:

Card #1:

Card #2 was inspired by the color palette over at Play Date Cafe and the clean and simple challenge over at Dutch Dare.

The palette:

Card #2:

My last card was done with inspiration from Do You Stack Up whose challenge this week was to use scallops as well as Party Time Tuesdays with an Anything Goes.

Card #3:

And a thank you to you all for stopping by to see mine!

START OF THE DAY

Today I am starting off with a clean and simple card that was inspired by the color palette at the Color Room and a sketch from iSpy sketches.

The palette:

The sketch:

and finally my creation:

Stop back later for more!

CARD OF THE DAY!

For today's card I used a color palette from My Time Made Easy and a sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Here is the color palette:

And the sketch:

I finished it all off with the sentiment:
     Life is measured in moments
          Live every moment
               Laugh every day
                    Love without regrets

Here's the card:

Hope you have enjoyed today's card.  Thanks for dropping by.

PLAYING WITH PENCILS!

Today I created a layout using the sketch/challenge from Colorful Creations Twisted Blueprints as well as the art supply challenge over at Child's Play.

This was the sketch:

The added twist to this sketch was to use letters and stars.

Here is the inspiration from Child's Play:

And here is my layout:

These were the pictures of my baby on his last first day of middle school a few weeks ago.  They grow up so fast!  Thanks for stopping by!

O CHRISTMAS TREE!

Tonite I decided to work on a few more Christmas cards.  Inspiration for the first card came from Always Playing with Paper's Merry Monday challenge.  The challenge calls for making a Christmas card using this great clean and simple sketch:

Here is card #1:

My next card comes from the Mojo Monday Round or Square challenge sketch.  I opted for the square.  Here is the sketch:

Card #2:

And for my last card I used the sketch from Critter Sketch challenge #134.  Here's the sketch:

and finally card #3:

It was great getting to use these little trees I had in my stash as well as the variety of paper scraps.  I hope you have enjoyed my little tribute to the Christmas tree.

IN SEARCH OF SANTA

My next choice of challenge was from ABC Christmas and the challenge was S is for Santa so I went in search of a Santa embellishment in my stash.  I came across a great batch of Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather chipboard and decided to run with it.

Here is my first card:

My next challenge was by Fab N Funky and it was something with wings.  I had a great little angel in the chipboard pack and decided she would be perfect.

Card #2:

And just because I had another Santa I went for a third card to this series.

Card #3:

Hope you have enjoyed my early holiday joy!

ANOTHER FROM THE FAIR!

This page was inspired by the Childsplay Challenge blog classic toy challenge for this month which had a big Tonka Truck.  I couldn't find any photos with dump trucks (though I'm sure there are some somewhere) but I felt the inspiration when I saw this picture of my son on a big farm tractor at the fair.  I used this week's Guest Designer Sketch from Colorful Creations to put it all together.

My inspiration:

and the sketch:

and now for the layout:

Thanks for dropping by again!  More to follow later today I'm sure!

AT THE FAIR

This morning I decided to work with this great photo of my eldest son and his Dad at the Fair back in 1997. I chose my colors by using the orange accents in their shirts and this fun sketch from Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  Besides the papers I chose I used some Distress Ink in Persimmon to do the edges and the circle pattern in roughly the center of the page.  The twist to the challenge was to use a mixed alpha title so I chose numbers from one font and my letters in upper and lower case from another.

Here is the sketch:

and here is my layout:

Don't forget to stop by later today to see what else I've created.  

GETTING TOUGHER!

The challenges in the Paper Secrets CYAO challenge are getting tougher.  This week's challenge comes from Friday Sketch Challenge, and the 3 items to be used had to be chosen from these 5.  *Digital Stamp Image   *Blending Pens/Watercolors  *Corrugated Cardboard/Paper  *Glossy Accents/Diamond Glaze  *Handmade Fabric Flower.  That is where it got tough for me.  First I selected Watercolors as I do not know how to use blending pens and I had a great piece of paper I watercolored for something else leftover.  I couldn't use a digital stamp as my printer doesn't work and I normally use Glossy Accents to adhere things so it wouldn't be seen.  That left me with Corrugated Cardboard which I took from a hot cup wrapper and cut to size and inked and a fabric flower which I had cut from a piece of denim pants that were used for cutoffs.  I had not checked Friday Sketch and using the sample on Paper Secrets I thought there was a box around it so I made the design the center of my card instead of the whole card.  Here is what I worked with:

I used the Watercolor paper as my base.  The corrugated are the strip accents and the flower is obvious and centered with a button.

Here is my card:

I'll be having company for the weekend so I don't know how much more creating I will get to do until late Sunday but I'd love you to stop by again soon!  Have a great weekend!

TRIPLE HEADER!

Tonite I made another set of 3 cards.  The first was inspired by Tuesday Throwdown whose challenge this week is to use photo or deco corners.  I have these wonderful Sizzlet corners and was happy to get a chance to use them again.

Here is card #1-

Next up was inspired by Word Art Wednesday using a wonderful scripture on friendship.

Card #2 -

Last in the set comes from a sketch from Mojo Monday.

Here is the sketch I worked with:

and Card #3 -

Hope you have enjoyed checking out my latest trio!  Time to hit the hay!  Sweet dreams!

HAVE A LOLLIPOP!

This morning's card comes to you with inspiration from Lollipop Crafts.  Their challenge this week is to get out your punches and be sure to use two different ones.  I made this quick card using a border punch and a circle punch.  I loved the bright cheery colors.

Have a fun day and be sure to stop back later to see more!

WELCOME BABY GIRL

Kaboodledoodles challenge this week was all about babies and children so I decided to create a Welcome Baby Girl card.  I searched my paper stash and found some pretty pink and brown plaid paper to start off with and then hunted down some baby embellishments and stamps.  Here is the outcome:

It got late before I knew it so I'm off to bed.  Tomorrow is another day!  Sweet dreams!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A BIT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Just this morning in my emails was a post about crafters getting ready for Christmas.  I am doing a show in October and realized that I should be spending some time making Christmas themed cards and projects.  It was time to work on cards and I started flipping through a list of challenges and came across Always Playing With Paper's Merry Monday challenge.  It was a suggestion to start on your Christmas cards and it came with an awesome sketch.  I grabbed some paper and got started.

Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

For my next stop I went to Use it Tuesday who was having an anything goes for using your stash.  I decided to go with another card with the leftover paper and I was using a card base from a box of cards I've had at least a year.  Now it was time to look into my Christmas stash.   There with the embellishments I found these great little wooden shapes that I have probably had for at least 10 years!  Just perfect!  I loved that sketch and decided I would modify it a tad and use it again.

Card #2

I had a bit more of the paper left and one red card base so I decided to go for it and do a bonus card using another of those cute little wooden shapes.

Bonus

I feel very accomplished making this cute little set of Christmas cards and now I had best get in gear and get off to work.  Come back tonite to see what my other creating will be.

Hope you have enjoyed this little bit of early Christmas!

MORE CLEAN AND SIMPLE LINES

I found another clean and simple card sketch over at Critter Sketch Challenge blog to work on before bed.  Here is the sketch:

and here is my card:

and now I'm off to bed.  Tomorrow is another day - just perfect for creating.  Sweet dreams!  Please do stop back and see what tomorrow will bring.

FEELING SKETCHY!

Ready to create another card so off I was to visit 'Feeling Sketchy' to view their sketch for the week.  Another fresh and easy, clean and simple sketch.  Here it is:

and here is my card:

It's getting a little late but hopefully I will have one more creation before I'm off to bed.  

Thanks for stopping by.