You're Fintastic!

I made this card for this week's Pals Paper Arts PPA129 sketch challenge.  The fish image and sentiment are from Gina K. Designs Best Fishes set and the rope border image is from Waltzingmouse Stamps.  The patterned papers are from Graphic 45's Tropical Travelogue collection.

Thanks for stopping by!

Outlines - Lovely with Lace

Good morning and welcome to a new Outlines challenge!  This week's challenge is 'Lovely with Lace' - any theme goes, just incorporate lace.  For my card I decided to go with a black, tan and creme color scheme, based on the Graphic 45 Curtain Call Collection papers I used.  I stamped Pointed Posy (D1044 Small and E1043 Medium) and Clematis Med (E111) using Versamark on three different patterned papers and embossed with gold and black embossing powders.  I cut the flowers out and layered them using foam tape.  I added size 12 Colorado Topaz Swarovski Crystals to the center of the top flower and to the ends of the sentiment panel.  For my lace element, I layered two different lace ribbons and threaded a thin gold and black ribbon through the holes in the top lace layer.


Please be sure to look up the details for playing along with this week's challenge over at the Outlines blog and also check out the great cards the rest of the team has made:


Jeanne Streiff - Inky Paws

Jenny Gropp - One Krafty Kat

Kecia Waters - Stamping Deets
Lisa Silver - Silver Stamping

Sue Kment - Sue's Stamping Stuff

Thanks for stopping by!

RI SOTW - Fairy Kiss

Today we are showcasing a new Stamp of the Week at Repeat Impressions - Fairy Kiss (4305-I)!  As soon as I saw this paper from Graphic 45, I knew I had to pair it with this image. I colored the fairies with Copic markers to match the paper.  The flower embellishment was made by layering some ruffled netting ribbon on a Cosmo Cricket Gluber (a 2" round glue dot, basically) and then adding a Maya Road jeweled flower in the center.  The Love much (3110-F) sentiment was stamped directly on the patterned paper using Versafine Vintage Sepia.

Please be sure to make your way over to The House That Stamps built to get the details on buying this whimsical image for 50% off this week only!  While you're there, be sure to check out the cards the rest of the design team has made using Fairy Kiss!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Ship

Happy Friday! This is a birthday card I made for Tim's brother, whose birthday was last Friday.   He's a nautical guy, so these two Flourishes sets (A Guiding Light and Antique Map) fit the bill perfectly.  My layout is from this month's Sketch for you to Try. 

I stamped the Antique Map image for the background panel on the front, and on the inside.  The compass rose paper is from Graphic 45.  My sailor's knot was tied based on Barbara Anders' tutorial.  The sentiment is from Flourishes' Tag Lines set, and I added a trio of black rhinestones below it.  Not too bad for a masculine card, eh?

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

A Birthday as Perfect as a Rose

Good Monday morning!  It's a dreary, rainy morning here - fitting for a Monday!

This is a birthday card that I made for my mother's recent 90th birthday.  I used a Thomas Kinkade stamp and coordinating sentiment.  The image is paired up with Graphic 45 paper (Tender Missives from the Le Romantique collection) and some gorgeous two-toned blue and copper ribbon.

The image was colored with a LOT of Copic markers and then aged using Distress Inks. Matching pale blue pearls were added to the scalloped borders.  For the inside, I used the same papers and a similar layout.

For you cat lovers, Repeat Impressions is offering an adorable kitty stamp for this week's Stamp of the Week, so be sure to head over to The House that Stamps Built to check out the details.

Come back Wednesday for another Belli Challenge!  Thanks for looking!

RI Sketch Challenge - Jacko'lantern Cat

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another Repeat Impressions sketch challenge!  This time I've used one of my favorite Halloween stamps - Jacko'lantern Cat (#806).  The sentiment is also from Repeat Impressions (#2309-G, Spooktacular).  I colored the kitty with Copic markers and paper pieced the pumpkin.  I cut out the eyes, nose and mouth of the pumpkin and then colored them in using a yellow Spica pen to give it a nice 'glow' from the inside (click on the picture for a larger image). 

The papers for the circle elements are from Reminisce (Jack Stripe, Midnight Stripe and Esmerelda Stripe) and Graphic 45's new Halloween In Wonderland collection. I used several brads (pumpkins, bats and crescent moons) from Making Memories and added some doodles around my image panel using a black Spica marker.

Please be sure to head over to The House That Stamps Built to check out the great cards the rest of the design team has made using this sketch!  While you're at it, why not play along with us? Just use the sketch to the right to make a card and add a link to your project over on today's post on The House That Stamps Built!  We'd love for you play along for your chance at a $25 Repeat Impressions gift certificate! Submissions to this A2510 Sketch Challenge will be accepted until 5pm (EST) on September 7th.

Thanks for stopping by!

Boys and their Toys

Talk about a day late and a dollar short....here is the Father's Day card I made for hubby, but never got around to posting.  I was cracking up the entire time I worked on it - I just love the expression on this guy's face.  He is from Crafty Secrets' Favorite Fellas stamp set. 

The car is an actual photograph of the Porsche 911 that Tim and his brother bought to use for Driver's Education events at race tracks.  These are events where they get to drive on the track, in a 'spirited' fashion, but not in a racing atmosphere.  I re-sized the photo of the car to get it to work with this stamp, and then I had to do a little surgery and cut the roof off the car.  It's not a technically correct representation of the car, but what the heck - call it artistic license!

I used some patterned paper that was a vintage map of the U.S. and then placed a Tim Holtz compass rose mask on top and sponged around it.  The sentiment is from the same set and is so true of my hubby - he is the king of boy's toys!  The Happy Motoring paper is from Graphic 45's Transatlantique collection.

For the inside, I cut a strip of text paper that has some applicable quotes such as, "We do not remember days; we remember moments." and "a happy memory never wears out." and I highlighted them using Copic markers.  I used a checkerboard border punch on some white card stock and then layered on black card stock to replicate a checkered flag.

On a  personal note, we found out recently that Tim has Cubital Tunnel Syndrome which will require surgery.  The surgery will re-route the ulnar nerve so that instead of running under the funny bone, it will be moved so it's on top.  He will end up with a 7 inch incision on the inside of his right arm.  The surgery will only prevent further nerve damage (he currently has numbness and very little strength in his right arm), but it will not reverse the nerve damage that has already occurred.  So we are a little bummed about that at the moment.  But, on a positive note, his retirement countdown clock is reading 331 days today!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Belli Challenge #92 - Rub-ons!

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week the challenge is to use rub-ons.  For my card, I started with a Card Positioning Systems' sketch (CPS170) and used this week's Stamp of the Week (#4304-K Fairy’s Fun/Dragonfly) over at Repeat Impressions (it's available for 50% off this week only!). 

I combined the image with some of Graphic 45's Botanicabella papers and Stampin' UP! twill ribbon.  The image was colored with Copic markers and the background was airbrushed.  I added a rub-on border from Cosmo Cricket to the twill.

For the inside of my card, I made use of the 'punch trash' from the vertical layer on the front of the card, and combined it with a leftover strip of the patterned paper.

Please play along with us this week and pull out some of those long lost rub-ons in your stash!  In order to participate, link your project to today's Creative Belli blog post.  Don't forget to head over to the Creative Belli blog and check out what the rest of the design team members have done with their rub-ons!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Wine Tag

Happy Thursday!  A good friend of ours, and fellow wine lover, had a birthday this past weekend, and since he already has EVERYthing he needs, we usually give him a bottle of wine.  Instead of making a regulation birthday card for him this year, I made this wine bottle tag using my new Grape Scene stamp from Stampendous.  I colored the scene with Copic markers, and paired it with my favorite Graphic 45 Botanicabella paper (this one is called Eden's Symphony).   The card stock is Papertrey Ink's Terracotta Tile.

For the back side of the tag, I used three different stamps.  The top sentiment is from Impression Obsession, and the other two stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics set.  I cut a leftover strip of the check side of the Eden Symphony paper using a Martha Stewart border punch and then layered a strip of the reverse side of it on top.  The narrow strip at the top is the leftover piece from using the border punch - waste not, want not!

Hope you're having a good week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet Birthday Wishes

I made this birthday card using this week's sketch over at Card Positioning Systems.

I picked up this paper from Graphic 45's Domestic Goddess collection specifically to use with this stamp from Papertrey Ink's Everyday Button Bits set. I created my sentiment by combining parts of two different sentiment stamps from the set. I colored the stamps directly with Stampin UP! markers (Old Olive and Real Red).

The accents on the right side of the main image were cut from a scrap of the patterned paper using a 3/4" square punch and popped up using foam tape. I replaced the two square elements on the left side of the focal image in the sketch with a bow made from Papertrey Ink Ripe Avocado satin ribbon.

That's about it! Thanks for looking! Enjoy your week and be sure to check back on Wednesday for another Belli Challenge!

Crafty Secrets Get Well

TGIF! It's been a long, busy week. We are expecting house guests next weekend, so I have been in a cleaning and straightening up frenzy when I haven't been working. As my mother always likes to say, there's nothing better for a house than a good company scare....so true!

Earlier this month I posted a card folder that I had made for my mother for her birthday. The folder contained four get well cards. The first two cards I posted were both made using Papertrey Ink stamps. Today I am showing the other two cards, which were made using Crafty Secrets' Feeling Yucky set. I love the whimsical, vintage feel of this set. This first card has the little nurse with her ginormous hypodermic needle. I think she has a sinister little look in her eye! She sort of reminds me of the nurse who gave me my flu shot this week...my arm is still sore ;-)

The background paper is from Graphic 45's Renaissance Faire collection and is called Romantique. The little nurse and her scary needle were colored with Copic markers and I added Glossy Accents to the syringe. The background of the stamped panel was airbrushed while it was still in the die.

For the inside of the card, I added a matted strip of the patterned paper and a sentiment from the Feeling Yucky set.

This second card has the weepy little duck from the set, along with some patterned paper containing a similar little tweety bird. It's actually Easter paper, but what the heck! The duck was also colored with Copic markers and Glossy Accents was applied to his tears.

The band across the middle of the card is a strip of the same paper I used for the butterfly birthday card I posted last Sunday, mounted on a scalloped-edge strip of coordinating card stock. The triple-looped bow was made with May Arts' silk ribbon, using the Bow Easy tool.

For the inside of this card, I added a small strip of the patterned paper, making sure to include one of the little chicks, matted on several layers of card stock, including one that was cut using the Martha Stewart Checkerboard border punch. The sentiment is from the Feeling Yucky set.

That's about it for me. Hope you've had a good week. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!

Fair winds and following seas

Greetings! Sorry I've been MIA this week. I was out of town for work and had planned to post a few things, but it turned into a really busy week and I was just too pooped at night to even think about it!

I made this card for my brother's 50th birthday, which was 10 days ago. He is having a party tonight to celebrate, so today seems as good a day as any to post the card since I couldn't post it on the actual day. The stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Out to Sea set, the polka dot paper is from Papertrey Ink's Bitty Dot Basics Paper set and the Compass Rose paper is from Graphic 45's Transatlantique collection.

The Compass Rose image was stamped and embossed twice using Versamark ink and American Craft's new ZING! Glitter embossing powder. The fist image was cut out using a Labels Three Nestabilities die and the background was airbrushed using two colors of Copic markers. The center portion of the second image was cut into four 3/4" squares and matted on black inchie squares, which were then placed on top of the first embossed image.

My father was a doodler and one of his favorite things to doodle was a Compass Rose. When I saw this Compass Rose stamp and the Compass Rose paper, it just seemed like the perfect combination for a card for this milestone birthday. There was only one problem - my brother didn't remember that our dad used to doodle Compass Roses....Oh well, I tried!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Belli Challenge - Peachy Keen Stamps

Happy Wednesday! Hope your week is going well so far! Today is another Belli Challenge and this week our challenge is to use water based markers - NO Copics! Uggghhh - now that really is a challenge, as I learned the hard way! Our challenge this time is sponsored by Peachy Keen Stamps and the winner will receive a $25 gift certificate from Peachy Keen.

Each of the Belli design team members was provided three Peachy Keen images to choose from for this challenge. I selected Sleeping Teddy and decided to make a baby card with a vintage feel. The designer papers I used are from Graphic 45 (Baby and Bride Collection - Unforgettable) and Stampin' UP! (Juntos). My card layout is based on 2 Red Bananas' sketch from Sunday.

I colored the image with Stampin' UP and Zig Beach House watercolor markers and added some sparkle with a clear Spica pen on the hat, blanket and star. The diaper is covered with Doodlebug Designs flock and I added a Tim Holtz mini safety pin. The ribbon is American Crafts Elements.

Be sure to check out what the other Belli Challenge girls have done with these cute images:

Anne Harada
Anne Harmon
Ceal Pritchett
Chris Dickinson
Danielle Marcus
Deb Daniels
Fern Riley
Holly Brown
Joan Ervin

To play along with us, create a card or project using only WATER BASED MARKERS ~ NO COPICS, and share your link with us using Mr Linky below today's Belli Challenge post. We can't wait to see what you come up with! If you post to SCS, PCP or any other online gallery please use keyword CBC72 so we can find it.

More Krafty Kat Goodness!

Several months ago, Jenny provided each of us Krafty Kats with a wooden letter of our first initial, and challenged us to alter it. I really enjoy doing altered projects occasionally so this was a fun challenge. I started out by giving my 'R' a couple of coats of paint to coordinate with the Graphic 45 Botanicabella papers that I was planning to use.

Once it was dry, I figured out which portions of the papers and coordinating tags I wanted to use. I tried to select ones that were significant to me, since the letter represents my name. I chose the seahorse and some of the sea elements to represent my love of diving, the grapes for my love of wine, the artichoke tag for my love of .....well..., artichokes, and the butterflies and dragonflies because I love them, too! I also selected a couple of butterfly brads that I have been hoarding for a long time. I cut the papers to fit the different sections of the letter and adhered them using decoupage glue. Once all the papers were in place, I went over the whole thing with one more coat of the decoupage glue to seal it up.

Since the artichoke tag had slots in each end, I needed some ribbon. Even with my somewhat significant stash of ribbon, I wasn't able to find one that was 'just right', so I whipped out my wide ivory silk ribbon from Sharon's ribbon store and proceeded to airbrush it with a Copic marker! It gives the ribbon a softer, more tie died look than taking the marker straight to the ribbon. But, you've gotta hold on to that ribbon, or the airbrush will blow it all over the place!!!

After I posted my Belli Challenge card on Wednesday, I realized I could have used this project as my sample for that, too. So, to my fellow Krafty Kats, if you haven't altered your letter yet, and to anyone else out there with a fun, alterable wood item, dress it up and enter it in the current Belli Challenge!

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

How great is the wonder...

Greetings! Sorry I've been MIA, but we were on vacation last week in our favorite diving destination, Saba. It had been three years since we were last there, so it was nice to be back and catch up with our friends there. Saba is a five square mile island that rises to almost 3,000 feet, so it's small and hilly. It's located 28 miles southwest of St. Maarten and we stay in a village called Windwardside, shown in the first photo. The arrow points to the house where we stay - Shell Cottage. Our first visit to Saba was in 1988 and on that trip we met the owner of Shell Cottage and we've rented it ever since, except one year when we rented the cottage next door.


The second photo shows a closer view of Shell Cottage. It's fairly secluded and sits at about 1,500 feet elevation with a beautiful, unobstructed view of the Caribbean Sea.

The diving is great and there are several really good restaurants within walking distance, so it's a very relaxing place for us. Our days consisted of diving in the morning, lunch at Shell Cottage, an afternoon nap and dinner out. Not bad!

OK, enough vacation talk, on to today's card! I love this whole Botannicabella line of Graphic 45 paper. The dragonfly paper was perfect for my little dragonfly fairy stamp from Repeat Impressions. I stamped the image using Memento Rich Cocoa and colored it with Copic markers, then cut it out using a Spellbinders Curved Rectangle die. While still in the die, I airbrushed the background and then doodled the dots around the border after it was removed from the die.

I layered the velvet flower ribbon on top of some sheer two-toned rust and gold ribbon to cover the seams of the two pieces of patterned paper. The tag is also from Graphic 45 and was randomly stamped with the dragonflies and sentiment (also from Repeat Impressions).

Not much to it, but it's a cute, whimsical little image. Hope you're having a good week so far! Thanks for looking!