Sew Many Cards Friday Freebie

Can you believe this cute little sandcastle is Angela's Friday Freebie?  Yes, you read that right FREE!!  Hurry on over to Sew Many Challenges to pick yours up as it will only be available this week!  This card looks so much better IRL as I used sand FlowerSoft along the bottom and you really can't see it in the picture.  That patterned paper is from Close To My Heart and it is from the Majestic Blue pack.  The cardstock is PTI kraft and SU Baja Breeze.  The "netting" in the back is drywall tape....got that fun little trick from my friend, Sandie.  It works wonderfully as you can ink it up and fray it easily.  It also is already somewhat sticky so it lays down nice but it is easy to peel up and move if you need to.  Plus one roll goes along way making it much more economical than the mesh made for scrapbooking.  I, of course, colored this with my copics....love those markers!!  Here are the ones I used today:

Sew Many Challenges Punch It Challenge & Wags N Whiskers

This week at Sew Many Challenges our challenge is to Punch It!!  What a fun challenge!!!  I used this cute little Hershey Crafting image which you can purchase here.  I colored him with the copics pictured below.  I was going in the direction of red/kraft but then I ran across this cute burgundy polka dot craft paper in my scraps and thought it was just too cute, hence, the different color red copics below as I ended up going a more burgundy route.  That super cute flower is made by punching scalloped circles out of paper from an old thesaurus.  Dawn McVey made an awesome tutorial which you can view here on how to make these super cute super easy flowers.   I then used my scallop edge border punch and made the ruffles along the bottom (you can see the dimension more in the copics picture below).  I again borrowed this idea from the wonderful Dawn McVey (see the inspiration card here). 

This week we have another awesome sponsor .... Lacey Stephens....owner of Wags N Whiskers.  Here is a little bit about Lacey:

I was a stay-at-home mom for 7 years so stamping was a great way for some "Mommy time".  But after stamping for over 2 years, my hobby became my obsession...so my obsession became my dream!  Now I own an on-line store!

Stamp and Create is a new online store carrying many popular brands of stamps, paper, and embellishments including:  Wags 'n Whiskers Rubber Stamps, High Hopes Stamps, Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, Whiff of Joy, Stampavie, Penny Black, The Greeting Farm, Basic Grey, 7 Gypsies, Shimmerz, Nestabilities (always 20% off), charms and more!!!  I am always adding new items to the store...so check it out at http://www.stampandcreate.com/. 

I had the honor of playing with this sweet image called Just for You.  Doesn't he just melt your heart?  Please note that this is a rubber stamp so this is the actual size.  I colored him with copics and used some patterned paper from October Afternoon Farm Fresh line and I just love that brown and blue together.  That blue is Stampin Up's Baja Breeze and the brown is Chocolate Chip.  I used a Spellbinders Polka Dot Frame to layer over my image.  I then took some blue and brown ribbons from my stash and used the Chatterbox Brad Maker to make a coordinating brad for the center of my bow.  Here are the copics I used on this card.

Well, that's it for me today.  Hope you will join us at Sew Many Challenges!  Can't wait to see what you make!

Cornish Heritage Farms (Sew Many Cards Sponsor)

We are so excited to have Cornish Heritage Farms as our sponsor this week over at Sew Many Challenges.  They graciously donated some amazing new release rubber cling stamps for the winner AND they generously gave the design team at SMC some to work with also.  I was thrilled to get this beautiful Peacock Scene Backgrounder stamp which was just released on the 19th.  It is so beautiful that I felt it didn't need much in the way of embellishing.  I just embossed it and then went over it with distress ink and just let the image shine by itself.  It is so intricate and beautiful but yet it was so easy to stamp due to the high quality of rubber and the deep etching.  Lots of times it is hard to get good coverage with big background stamps but this one was so easy...I got a nice crisp full image every time I stamped with it and I played around with it quite a bit trying different colors, etc.  I didn't even put it on a block....I just inked it with versamark and laid it down and put my paper on the stamp and just used my hand to ensure that I applied pressure to the entire image.  The little paper flower on the bow was made by using a Martha Stewart punch and then wetting the cardstock and wrinkling it....just as I did the flowers on the previous post using Christina's awesome tutorial.  I failed to write down the color cardstock I used but I'm pretty certain it is the 2 greens from PaperTrey Ink but don't quote me on that.  Hope you like it!

Sew Many Challenges - Spring Sketch Challenge!

This week's Sew Many Cards Challenge is a dual one - make a spring project using the sketch given over on the challenge blog.  I chose sweet little Jovi as my image to work with as she is just the cutest little bunny I've ever seen!  You can find her here.  I used some SU Bermuda Bay and PTI Berry Sorbet for my cardstock.  The patterned paper is from the Twitterpated line by Imaginisce.  I colored my image with the copics you will see below.  I used my nestabilities to cut my image out, however, I had already handcut a portion of her beautiful long ears so that they could hang over the edge and not be cut as part of the oval.  To do this just handcut the portion you want to hang over and then tuck it behing the cutting side of your nestie so it doesn't get cut when you run it through your machine.  Those flowers I made with the PTI cardstock using Christina's tutorial which you can find here.  These are super easy and super fun!  I used my computer to make my sentiment and added some ribbon and some leaves I cut with my sizzix die and there you go. 

We are so excited to have Richard & Liz Pomeroy from Cornish Heritage Farms as our sponsor this week!  They have generously donated three new release stamp sets that will be awarded to the challenge winners this week!  Here is a little bit about Richard & Liz and their wonderful company.

Cornish Heritage Farms (CHF) is owned and run by Richard & Liz Pomeroy.  Why the name?  Richard & Liz are orginally from Cornwall, England hence the Cornish Heritage & the 'Farms' is the 100 acre farm in north central Montana where they live & where all the stamps are manufactured.  Richard & Liz believe in producing a high quality product so all the stamps are deeply etched, red rubber.  CHF is a diverse stamp company in the fact that it consists of a variety of different licenses & styles, ranging from very detailed (Thomas Kincaide) to simple line art (Tom Fun Collection) therefore offering something for everyone.

Be sure to check back with me as I had the pleasure of working with one of their beautiful stamps!  I can't wait to show you!

I'm entering this one in The Pink Elephant Challenge for this week which is to make a spring project.  I'm also entering it in The Secret Crafter's challenge this week which is anything goes.  This will also be my entry for The Little Red Wagon challenge which is to use copics.

Soft Pencil Design (Sew Many Cards Sponsor)

I am so excited to have the chance to play with this sweet image called Two Cute Musicians from Soft Pencil Designs!  Doesn't the name say it all!!!  They are so incredibly cute!!!  I pulled out some fun papers I have had in my stash by Love, Elsie.  I printed the sentiment on my computer and then punched it out with the SU word window punch and layered that on the chocolate punched with the modern label SU punch.  (We should have some cookies with all that punch - he! he!)  I do love how those two punches work together! I added a little bling on the sentiment and the musical notes.  I have a photograph of the copics I used below if you are interested.

We are so happy to have Soft Pencil Designs as our sponsor over at Sew Many Cards this month!  It has been great fun working with their images!  Michu (cat) and Ratiny are so adorable!  Be sure to head on over to Soft Pencil Designs  and see Michu and Ratiny in all their adventures!   While you are there be sure to grab her blinkie as if you post it on your blog she will send you a FREE digital image!  Also, speaking of FREE don't forget that every Friday Angela posts a new FREE digital image over at Sew Many Cards!

Sew Many Cards Easter Challenge!

This week's challenge over at Sew Many Cards is to make an Easter project.  Well....I picked Jovi in Basket as who could resist that cute bunny - those ears!!!  You can purchase this sweet image here.  Don't forget you get a whole package of images free with just a $10 order, too.  The free package changes monthly so be sure to snag yours while you still can.  I colored my image with copic markers (see picture below for the exact colors).  That cute green plaid and the yellow polka dot patterned papers are from the Farm Fresh collection by October Afternoon.  The floral patterned paper is from the Berry SWEET collection by K & Company.  The base yellow cardstock is from Gina K's pure luxury line in Sweet Corn.  The ribbon is from Papertrey Ink in Spring Moss.  I printed the greeting out on my computer and then punched it out with SU's jewelry tag punch and then added some flowers and a brad I had in my stash.  The image and the background layer were cut using my nestabilities from Spellbinders.  Here are my copic colors:

Terri Olsen from Stamps Alive is graciously sponsoring our challenge this week.  She has generously donated a Damask Cuttlebug Embossing Folder for the winner!  Here is a little info about Terri:

I started my business in 1993 to give me something to do. I had worked all my life and recently quit to be a stay at home mom to my new baby. I've always been interested in paper products and I didn't like paying full price for some of the things I wanted. So I started my business. I like to pass my savings on to others. I've made some really good friends over the years. I've always been a small business I only advertise word of mouth. Over the years I've kept as busy as I wanted to be.

It has been very interesting to see the hobby industry change over the years. I had a "scrapbook" store in my basement before Las Vegas knew what a scrapbook store was. I've dealt with Provo Craft the entire 17 years I've been in business and that has been fun, to watch them change!!

Let me tell you from experience....no one does a sale like Terri!  She always has a GREAT special going on so be sure and check her site often as you don't want to miss out on the great deals she offers!  Those cute little eggs in my photograph of my project for this week were made from a Spellbinders set I just ordered from Terri.  Can't wait to see your projects!

Get Well Cards!

Even this sick little bear is so stinkin' cute!  KLM Designs has graciously sponsored this week's Sew Many Cards Challenge and I got the pleasure of working with this cute image from their store.  It is a digital image so you can size it to fit whatever project you are working on.  I picked red to work with as it is so nice and bright!  This image was so easy to color and I love that the sentiment is worked in with the image so all you have to do is color and embellish and you are done.  What a fast and easy card to make!  I cut this cute little bag on my Cricut using Tags, Bags, Boxes & More and printed my image slightly smaller.  You can purchase this image here.  It is a super cute set of 3 different images!  I hope you are playing along with this week's challenge as you will have a chance to win your choice of 3 images from KLM and....5 images from Sew Many Cards!!!

My original intent was to use this cute Eris image with the image from KLM Designs but they are both so cute that I decided to make two cards instead!  You can purchase this cute image here.  It is part of the 2009 (2) package so you get a whole wonderful package of 30 images which is on sale right now for only $10! 

BLOG HOP WINNER

Congratulations Maria!  You won that cute image of Morty Fishing!!!  You are going to absolutely LOVE working with him!  Here is what Maria had to say:

Maria Levine said...


Fabulous job! He is too cute!

Sew Many Cards Male Project Challenge!

Sometimes those male cards are just really hard to do!  This one wasn't though...this was actually great fun!  I used Fishing Tayla and I love working with those rich greens so that is where I started.  I've been on a fishing kick haven't I?  I had this wonderful plaid paper from Cosmo Cricket (Happy Campers) and I had this wonderful idea to add eyelets ... I don't work with them very often as I just don't think about it.....well.....I really felt silly when I just couldn't figure out how I needed to lace it up to get the look I was going for but...this is what I ended up with.  I should have used lacing brads (lesson learned) to get the look I wanted but it still turned out OK (let me know if you have any pointers).  You can purchase this sweet image here.

I am so excited to get to work with this sweet Soft Pencil design of Amy, Michu & Ratiny.  I kept thinking of Hanzel and Gretel as I worked on this card.  I just think this image is adorable!!!! I've been itching to use this Basic Grey patterned paper for a while and I felt this was the perfect image for those beautiful blues and greens.  I used my copics to color and then distressed around the edges of the patterned paper.  I used Versamark ink to watermark stamp my flourishes on that beautiful Bermuda Bay blue SU cardstock.  The green cardstock is from a Papertrey Ink variety pack and I am not positive but I believe it is called leaf green (it is their darker green).  The little butterfiles are from a Martha Stewart punch!  We are so grateful to have Elizabeth sponsor us this month!  Be sure to be watching my blog as I'll be posting another project done with one of her images soon!

Now...on to the challenge information for this week.  The only requirement for the challenge this week is that it be something for a male!  Yes, I know it is all fun to do the fuu fuu stuff but....I also know we are all always looking for something cute to make for those men in our lives so....here we go!  Be sure to step on over to Sew Many Challenges for more ideas.  Kathryn Myhre from KLM Designs has graciously sponsored our challenge this week so not only will the winner get Sew Many Cards images but also their pick of 3 images from KLM!  Here is a little information about KLM:

KLM Digi Stamps (KLM Designs) was started by a Mother & Daughter team. Kathryn (owner of KLM Digi Stamps) and Sue (Company’s artist) started designing digital stamps for their own creations. After much response & excitement to their designs they formed KLM Digi Stamps.  KLM carry’s a large selection of designs from clowns, which are the company’s signature design to digital sentiments. All images are delivered ZIP format. Each image file contains JPEG and PNG format files. Images can be resized, reversed and altered to your likings.

If you haven't been to her store you REALLY need to check it out.  She has some wonderful images and I love all the sentiments she has to offer.  When they say large selection they really mean it...wonderful variety of images so you can find something no matter what type of project you are working on.  I've been given the pleasure of working with one of the images from her store and I'll be posting a project with that image very soon also!

This card was made using today's Friday Freebie!!  Isn't that stitched heart just the cutest?  It looks so 3D to me!  Angela is so talented!  I didn't do anything special with my coloring just copics R14, R22, R24 and C3.  That cute red dotted paper is from the DCWV Doodlin' Around stack.  Be sure to head on over and pick up this cute heart as it will only be available for one week.  Can't wait to see your projects over at Sew Many Challenges!  Hope you will join us in this week's challenge and please stay tuned for more!

Scrapbook LOs

I've got to learn how to photograph my layouts better. They really do look lots better IRL! These are just some random layouts I've been working on. I have a whole box of pictures from 2000 that I'm trying to complete. I told myself that I have to complete all the tons of photos I have in boxes before I start working with my digital ones! I like my books to be in chronological order so I decided just to pull out a year and get started.