A hard decision....

After unsuccessfully trying to juggle so many things this summer, I have decided to take off the rest of the summer from my blog banner and watermark design work. I am trying to spend time with the children, work on my craft critique articles, create projects for Our Craft Lounge and work on Papertrey Ink stamp designs. I will re-evaluate my design work in the fall. Please understand that this was a tough decision for me and I would love to help everyone out, but I just do not have enough hours in the day. My family is my top priority and will always be my top priority!

Thank you for understanding!

FS127: Meow, ME WOW!!!!

I had a birthday party to go to with the kids today! Max, this ADORABLE little man from our neighborhood is turning 3 and the younger three kids went to his airplane themed party. His mom is so creative, she made airline tickets for the invitations -- had adorable barf bags for the goodie bags (with goodies, not barf)....had an airplane cake, foam airplane toys....just cute stuff!

So I made this card to go with the gift. It is based on Kelly's card {Sending my love}.

changes:
*colors
*stamp set
*I used wide brown grossgrain ribbon, not sheer ribbon
*I used a scalloped circle
*added buttons
*moved sentiment

This is old SU! designer paper which I had in my stash. I used foam tape to adhere the buttons. The image is stamped with black soot (Ranger) and colored with copics. Sentiment printed on the computer, then trimmed. Main image and sentiment sponged with walnut ink. Simple card for an adorable boy!

Stamps: Our Craft Lounge: Boy's Toys
Paper: White, designer paper (SU!)
ink: black soot & walnut (ranger), copics
misc: buttons, foam tape, ribbon (Mayarts/starlitstudio), scalloped circle punch

FS126: Not a B-gin-r

This is a card I made based on Sandra's card {welcome little one}. I changed the colors and the stamp set. I loved the angle of the main image so I decided to give it a whirl. I liked the look of the brown and blue, but felt this card needed to be more patriotic!

I started with some kraft cardstock. I used some cranberry cardstock, dry pressure embossed with the swiss dots folder, then I used a piece of textured blue at the angle. Instead of the ribbon, I used the stamped piece of flag. I colored the flags with copics, trimmed them and added them to the card. I added some of the WT225 "Out of the Box" cardboard (using the star punch, I created a star, sponged with walnut stain and spritzed with walnut gold glimmer mist.) I put a button with ribbon threaded through it on the star with some foam tape. Main image colored with copics and sponged with walnut stain.

Happy 4th of July (well, now it's the 5th)....

stamps: Let Freedom Ring {Our Craft Lounge}
paper: kraft, cranberry, white, blue (textured), corrugated cardboard
ink: black, copics, walnut stain
misc: swiss dots cuttlebug folder, tattered angels glimmer mist (walnut gold), buttons, mayarts ribbon, foam tape, punches (marvy)

WT225: Feeling Patriotic

With family visiting for the upcoming holiday, we have been out visiting historic sites in Saratoga the past few days. This morning, I had a few moments to stamp and was able to create a cute Patriotic card. I used the Our Craft Lounge Let Freedom Ring stamp set. Oh man - this is a FUN one to color! I also participated in the WT225 Out of the Box challenge on Splitcoast. You were to use corrugated cardboard on your card. I know you cannot see how beautiful this shines in the photo, but the cardboard was spritzed with gold tattered angels glimmer mist. It sparkles so nice! It was hard to adhere to cardboard efficiently to the card because the riding hood red layer was dry pressure embossed with the swiss dots folder. There are some misc. buttons on the bottom of the card. I hope to play more later....maybe another Out of the Box challenge.

Tonight was supposed to be the first swim meet for the kids - we rushed back from our tour of Phillip Schulyer's mansion in Saratoga for the meet, only to have it cancelled. It has been raining so much here in Upstate New York, that it feels more like Forks (I am waiting for Edward to emerge from the field in the back yard, or maybe see Jacob lurking in the woods by the side of the house)....ahhh! A girl can dream....


stamps: Let Freedom Ring {Our Craft Lounge}
paper: Riding hood red, white, blue (textured), corrugated cardboard
ink: black, copics
misc: swiss dots cuttlebug folder, tattered angels glimmer mist (walnut gold), buttons, mayarts ribbon, foam tape, punches (marvy)

CAS21: Fishin'

I made this for the CAS (clean and simple) 21 challenge (make it sparkle). I used stickles on my card to make the water droplets off the tire glisten. I also added some stickles to the tire (to make it look wet and sparkly) and to the thermos and lunch pail. The main image is from Our Craft Lounge's Bear-ly Fishin' set. This set reminds me of my late father in law who LOVED to fish. He was in the river every spring...loved hitting Lake George in the summer and was a fixture in the Schroon River (I even have a photo of him fly fishing in the shores of the river). This would have been a perfect card for him. He had the thermos and the lunch pail, plus the silly hat! I used Lime Rickey paper to break up the celery. It woks well with the celery and blue bayou. I used some blue bayou stitched ribbon in a simple knot on the bottom. The cuttlebug dry pressure embossed bottom was a late addition to the card. A simple dot pattern from the With Love folder. Main image mounted on blue bayou cardstock. Some blingy brads on the top corner of the main image. Main image is stamped in black, colored with copics, then mounted to the card with dimensionals. The little fish (bottom right) is colored with copics, trimmed and mounted with dimensionals to the card.


Stamps: Bear-ly Fishin' (Our Craft Lounge)
paper: celery, blue bayou, white, Basic Grey Lime Rickey
ink: black, copics
misc: ribbon (blue bayou stitched/SU!), stickles, brads, dimensionals, With Love cuttlebug folder (dots)

FS125: Dawn L

This week's featured stamper is Dawn L. I made this card for my friend who lost her dad this week. I cased Dawn's {Blue Mels} card. I used slightly different colors (blues and designer papers were different). Dawn used digital stamps, I used the OCL stamp set Just Bugz. I stamped the flowers on white paper with black soot ink. I added the stems and leaves with a black sakura gel pen. Then I colored them in with copics. The corners were rounded on the top and bottom of the card, but not on all four sides like Dawn's card. I stamped the flowers on the blue bayou cardstock with black ink, then used my white gel pen on the flowers to highlight them. Finally, I used the MS edge punch on the main image and the layer I mounted it on. I used striped may arts ribbon instead of sheer organza ribbon, but kept with the same color. The flower that is popped up on dimensionals is stamped on designer paper and trimmed with scissors. Finally, I edged the bayou layer with white ink to soften the edge. Then I added some stickles to the center of the flowers. I liked the soft feel of the card with the blues and greens and thought it would make a nice sympathy card. I loved the original card image and was glad I could recreate the look with the Just Bugz set.

Changes from original card:

colors (slightly)
ribbon type
stamps (vs. digital)
didn't round all corners
different edge punch (on main image)



stamps: Just Bugz {Our Craft Lounge}
paper: white, designer paper (SU!), blue bayou
ink: black soot, white craft, copics
misc: MS edge punch, ribbon (mayarts), stickles, dimensionals, corner rounder, white gel pen (ranger)

FS124: {Christy S.} Happy Father's Day

Back from a wonderful birthday celebration weekend with my darling/delightful/delicious husband! Thank you Val/Cami for taking over for me last weekend!

This week's featured stamper is Christy S. This is a card I made for Todd based on this Christmas card Christy S. made.

Celery base with argyle cuttlebug on the background. The stamp is Bear-ly Fishin' by Our Craft Lounge. Colored with copics and mounted on some navy cardstock. I used some hemp instead of ribbon to make it more masculine.

Changes from Christy's card: colors, stamp set, hemp instead of ribbon. Congrats Christy!

This is the last week of school for my kids, and things have been extra emotional this week! I am going to be back more next week - thanks for being patient with my absence!




Stamps: Our Craft Lounge {Bear-ly Fishin'}
paper: celery, navy, white
ink: black, copics
misc: cuttlebug (argyle), hemp