Monday, August 29, 2011

August Design Challenge Cards

Can you believe the month is almost over?  Where did it go?  Although I'm ready for cooler weather, I'm not ready for the summer to be over quite yet.

Anyway, it is time to post our August design cards and here they are!  First, here is the design challenge sketch and colors:


Here is my card.  I had come up with my card this week and then realized I had forgotten the colors!  I was going to do a Christmas card!  I thnk I'll use this sketch for one of my Christmas cards - I like it!  I thought the colors would go well with this Fluffles stamp.  I found the corner of the image too blank, so added a bow.  I just love to add bows - I think they finish off any project!


Here is Michelle's card - isn't it adorable? What a cute card for a new baby! I love how she cut out part of the turtle and popped it up with a dimensional. It definitely adds depth - love that!  The pearls are an excellent touch; so soft on this card.



I think I like this sketch because it reminds me of a present.  It will go well with any gift!

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day!


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Happy Birthday, Ellen!

Happy Birthday, Ellen!  I wish you a very happy day!!!  I know you will be enjoying your garden, swimming, and reading :)  Hope it is a wonderful day - just like you!



I just had to use this image - it cracks me up and I think it will crack Ellen up too.  We have a good time and laugh a lot.  I've had these beautiful frames for a while and just never had the chance to use it until now.  I thought it was perfect for this image and I matched it with some old dsp I've had sitting and waiting for the perfect card.  I was so happy to get to use the seam binding too.  The pearls just added that little something - they were already on the frame, but I added to the sentiment piece.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Happy Birthday, Shelley!

Happy Birthday, Shelley!  I sure hope you have a terrific day.  May it be filled with all of your favorite things and be a relaxing, fun-filled day!  I miss you!



For Shelley's card, I used the Friday Mashup challenge - sketch only - found here.  This was a very simple sketch and one that was perfect for my new DSP.  This paper comes with lacy die-cuts.  I decided to cut two of them out and layer them as the focal point of the card.  I fastened them to the card using matching pink brad.  I sure hope Shelley will like this card - the paper and lace just reminded me of her. 

Thank you all for looking and have a wonderful day :)

Monday, August 8, 2011

Happy Birthday, Michelle!

Happy Birthday, Michelle!  I sure hope you have a wonderful, fun-filled, family-loving, and chocolatey good day :)  Love ya!



Michelle has a dog and I was itching to use this stamp!  So, I paired it with the Taylored Expressions sketch challenge 98 found here.  I wanted to use some DSP, so found some retired paper that had chocolate chip in it.  I love how this turned out.  That dog is just too cute!  I used some retired buttons to match and cut thin strips of paper to use as the "thread" in each.  There was too much white space in the corners of the image, so I used the corner punch to cut out some of the matching DSP and added it.  Because the buttons were so high, I decided to pop up the image using dimensionals. 

Anyway, thank you for looking and I wish everyone a very happy day!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Happy Birthday, Michael!

Happy Birthday, Michael!  I wish you an awesome birthday - hope all your dreams come true.



Michael and I share a passion for Hawaii.  We both think we could live on any beach on any island and be happy!  Well, that is if we have a cocktail to go with that beautiful beach :)

I found this great scrapbook/stamp store on Maui when my husband and I vacationed there last year.  I bought a ton of stamps and haven't really had a chance to use them yet.  I just love them all and it was hard deciding which to use other than the "Hau'oli La Hanau" (Happy Birthday in Hawaiian) stamp.  The paddles came in a pack that is more for scrapbooking, but I wanted to use it, so I did!  The honu (turtles) came in a pack with 8 different sizes.  Aren't they cute?  I have a pack of these flower charms and they remind me of the beautiful plumeria on the islands.  I thought it would be a nice touch hanging from the ribbon. 

Michael - hope you like this card made especially with you in mind!  Love and Hugs!!!!

To everyone, may you have a wonderful day.  Thanks for looking :)

Saturday, August 6, 2011

August Design Challenge

Here is our August sketch and color challenge.  Please feel free to play along!  Thanks and have a great day :)

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Happy Birthday, Diane!

Today is the first of many August friends' birthdays :) 

Diane - I hope you have a very, very happy birthday.  May your day be filled with fun, good wine, and may your cats be extra good today!



For Diane's card, I used the Card Patterns Sketch 112 found here.  I like this sketch a lot.  Since Diane loves cats, I had to use one of my fun cat stamps.  I've had this one for a while, but haven't had the chance to use it.  I tried stamping it on colored card stock, but it just didn't work.  Sine I have a pack of kitty designer paper and matching card stock, I decided to use it for the base.  I bought this adorable pet paw punch and it was perfect for this sketch.  I punched out a paw print from the paper and built a brad that went through some SU! retired ribbon that happened to match the paper...love when that happens!

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Monday, August 1, 2011

July Swap Meeting Card

Here is the card I made for the annual July stamp swap meeting I attend.  I love the new SU! hostess butterfly stamp set and wanted to use it for the card.  When I saw the one "wreath" stamp, I knew I wanted to use ribbon to "hang" it.  I had originally designed the card using Rich Razzleberry ribbon.  Luckily, a friend told me it had retired.  I hadn't realized that!  One of the rules to our swap is that only current catalog items can be used.  So, I scrambled and thought about changing the card altogether, but liked the ivory satin ribbon; it was a good compromise.  I used the Naturals White paper for this card - it is such a beautiful paper; nice heavy weight, and very rich in feel and look.  It goes well with natural colors.  I stamped the corner images in Early Espresso.  The wreath is stamped using Rich Razzleberry ink on RR paper.  I stamped the sentiment in Night of Navy.  One of the rules to the swap is that you must use an embellishment.  Since I use ribbon on just about every card I make, I don't think of it as an embellishment!  So, I decided to add some pearls to the flowers. 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!  Stay cool!