Color Wheel Challenge Swap

My very first swap with the Great Swaps girls was to do a card using a combo found on the color wheel. I randomly spun my wheel(as well as it will spin) and landed on Close to Cocoa. I paired it with Barely Banana and Sage Shadow. I love this little monkey from Zoofari, so I stamped him and colored him in with markers. I used the SU Close To Cocoa DSP and color blocked the back and put brads in all the corners. I then popped them up and the monkeys. The sentiment is from Circle of Friendship and I used my SU punches to punch them out and layer them. I think it turned out super cute!! I forgot to take a picture of it before I left home, and my brother(who I am staying with in San Antonio) has the WORST lighting, so everything I brought with me to post will have to wait until morning(I took this off the GSG group album-thanks for posting it Becky)!! Thanks for stopping by and being super patient during my absence!! Have a great day and thanks for looking!!
stamps-Zoofari and Circle of Friendship
paper-Close to Cocoa CS and DSP, Barely Banana, Sage Shadow, and Whisper White
ink-Close to Cocoa and Black Stazon
tools-circle punches, brads, markers

Hello From Texas

Hello all my loyal blog readers. I am so sorry for the long absence but as I had posted before I had decided to travel to Arlington Texas for the 3rd annual Shoe Box Swap through the SCS Get It Together forum. I have been so busy getting ready for it and then being here that I am just now getting the chance to post anything!! I have had the most awesome time and met some of the coolest people ever! I am now in San Antonio visiting my brother so I will be back later after I hang out with him to show you some stuff!! Thanks for visiting and being patient during my absence!! This is me with my super fabulous roommates Melanie M.(melmel) and Vanessa. They were so sweet to let me stay with them and we had a great time together!! Hey girls!!!

Prettie Wednesday

Two weeks ago Joni, our fabulous illustrator for Paper Pretties, challenged us to do a card using paper piecing, which I love and really don't do often enough(although this week I have been on a roll). I decided I would pick some paper first so that is why I settled on this paper from DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl stack. I picked my colors to match from the paper. I started out by stamping Sophie from the Paper Pretties stamp set Cuddle Me, both on Whisper White and on the DP. I then cut out just the dress(kinda hard, but I did it) and the hair bow(also hard, but I did it!!). Then I colored the rest in with my SU markers. I am not too sure about the brads at the bottom, but I had already punched the holes, so something had to go there!! This card is on it's way(or hopefully already) to Danielle, so I hope you liked it!! Be sure to check out the other Prettie Girls blogs to see what they have done for this challenge, and if you would like to play along leave me a link to your card, we would love to have you join us!! This week it is Christie's turn to challenge us, and she has challenged us to use acetate, yikes( I guess that means I need to get to work on Danielle's challenge from last week to do a masculine card!!)!! Don't forget to stop by the Paper Pretties website and check out Christies contest, its a good one!!
stamps-Cuddle Me by Paper Pretties
paper-Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, and DCWV
ink-Black Stazon
tools-brads, pink organdy, chocolate satin, SU markers

Another Long Card

Today's sketch challenge was guest hosted by Bonnie(raduse) and it is a wonderful sketch. For the sketch the base of the card measures 8x9 1/4, and it is to be scored at 3/4 and 4. Also, for the sketch your oval has to be an oval(so no altering, hehe) and it must hang over the fold line. I colored my tree from Lovely As A Tree with my SU markers and then highlighted some of the branches with my white gel pen. I then used my Cuttlebug and Oval Nestabilities to cut out the image and layers. I wanted to dress up the fold over panel so I put 4 decorative brads from Making Memories. The sentiment is from All Holidays and was punched out with my oval punches. If you can't tell, I sponged every inch of this card practically. It is really late here, and I need to go to bed, so that is all for me tonight. I will have more to post tomorrow!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!
stamps-All Holidays and Lovely As A Tree
ink-Chocolate Chip
paper- Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Confetti Cream and Close to Cocoa DSP
tools-decorative brads, olive grosgrain, cream taffeta, oval nestabilities, Cuttlebug, pewter brads, oval punches

Basic Pomegranate Sky-yum

I wonder how we never had this color combo before, it is fabulous!!!! Emily is swamped getting ready for our big shoebox swap in Arlington Texas(yes I know I live in Illinois, but I am still going!) and forgot to do the color challenge-the horror!! Tobi(jazzytobi) stepped up to help out and came up with this FANTASTIC color challenge(if I do say so myself!!). I started with my Flutter By stamp set from Paper Pretties and stamped her twice, once on Whisper White and once on Soft Sky DSP with Black Stazon. I then cut out just her dress and placed it on the white image. The rest was colored with markers and I added glitter to all her jewelry, because lets face it, she NEEDED some sparkle!! The sentiment is from the SU set All Holidays, and has to be one of my favorite sentiment stamps! I love the way it is written and the fact that you can use it for anything!! The rest is pretty simple, but if you have a question, please be sure to ask!!
ENABLER ALERT!!!! Christie over at Paper Pretties is having a contest to kick off our big news on May 1st. For more details go check out her blog and the Paper Pretties site, this is one giveaway you do not want to miss!!
stamps-Flutter By and SU All Holidays
paper- Soft Sky CS and DSP, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black
ink- Black Stazon and Purely Pomegranate
tools-Blender pen, black organdy and brad, glitter pen, pomegranate satin ribbon, white get pen, gray marker, Cuttlebug and Oval Nesties

Namaste`

I am gonna be honest with you, I have no idea what that word means, but it sounds super peaceful to me. Say it out loud a few times, don't you feel better now??LOL!! Anyway, I made this card last night for the My Favorite Things sketch challenge over on SCS but once I was done I was too tired to post it!! Cindy Haffner hosts this challenge, and always comes up with the most fabulous sketches!! I altered mine a little, because I made my main panel too wide, so I made it a semi-tent card, we'll call it a pup tent(you know, one of those one man ones). LOL!! I stamped the main image from Serenity Now in Black Stazon three times, one on each side of that super cute Cutie Pie paper from SU and once on Whisper White. I paper pieced her outfit and the wallpaper and colored the rest with markers. I paper pierced around the whole main image panel and then added some brads on either side on the main card. I am sure I am gonna get some comments about what Namaste` means, and that would be great, that way I don't have to wonder all day what it means!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!
stamps-Serenity Now by MFT
ink- Black Stazon
paper-Not Quite Navy, Rose Red, Whisper White, and Cutie Pie DSP
tools-white taffeta, oval punches, silver brads, SU markers, crafters tool kit

WOW!!

You should see this bundle of goodies I got in the mail from my pal Linsey(scraperlinsey)!! She sent me all this amazing stuff and one of the cutest cards EVER!!! I love all of it Linsey and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness!! Isn't she the best!! If you can't see it, there are scrapbook stickers, epoxy stickers, these super cute flower brads, ribbon, matching stickers, a zig painty to write inside my cards, and a Fiskars stamp set!! And would you look at all the bling on that card!!! That cow is really styling in her big sunglasses!! You are too good Linsey!! Thanks again for being such a super sweetie!!!

I received this GORGEOUS card from Laura(scrapnextras) yesterday too!! She wrote inside it that she dares me to be fabulous, and I just want her to know that I accept!!! Laura makes some of the most gorgeous creations and I am so happy for all the recognition she is getting here lately! On top of her Verve Visual designer spot, and getting chosed for the Dirty Dozen, I even saw one of her fabulous creations on Stampin Up's Stamper Showcase the other day!! I am a lucky girl to have her as a friend. Thanks Laura, I love it!! I really need to break down and buy the pretties kit from SU, because those flowers are awesome. If only I had known a long time ago that you could color them with your markers!! Thanks again Laura for making my day with this fabulous card!!

My last RAK came from Charmaine(charmwarm). This is her card to me from one of the Prettie Girl Wednesday challenges. Thanks Charmaine, it is even cuter in person!!!

I have two different cards of my own to post, so be sure to come back by!!

Tart and Tangy Two-fer!!

I don't think that is a word, but I despise making titles, so you get the first thing that pops in my head!! I completely forgot about the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS yesterday and wanted to participate. This weeks FS is Michelle(Sf9erfan) and she has a fabulous gallery!! I chose the first card she had posted in her gallery and changed a few things around. I started with a white base and then layered it with Real Red and some paper from the Summer Picnic DSP. The bigger circles were cut out with nesties and the smaller were cut out using my SU punches. I used markers to color the image and put some xmas red Stickles on the cherries. Instead of using the photo corners punch, I decided to use a couple of brads from the Stylized Silver Hardware from SU. The sentiment is from Sweet Serendipity and it was also colored with markers and then stamped. When I first saw this set and paper, I had to have it, so I am happy to finally get to use it a little!! Since I wanted to participate in the Technique Lover's Challenge today too, I decided to use what was already out on my table to make it. Today's challenge was a double open card(I think that's what they called it) and was super easy. Here is a link to the original, but I used the amended version that was posted with the challenge so that I could use 8 1/2x11 paper instead of 12x12. All the supplies were the same, except for the hardware. I decided to use white brads instead. That is all for me right now!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!
stamps-Sweet Serendipity and Tart&Tangy
paper-Real Red, Whisper White, Old Olive and Summer Picnic DSP
tools-markers, red striped ribbon, hardware, white brads, xmas stickles

Great Swaps Challenge

This weeks Great Swaps Girls challenge is posted over on the GSG blog and guess who this week's hostess is, ME!!!! This challenge is open to anyone who wants to play and I sure hope that you do! It may come as a surprise to some of you, and some of you definitely know better, but I am somewhat computer challenged. I don't know as much about computers as I should or need to. I wanted to do a sketch challenge for this week, because I love sketches, but I didn't know how to design and "model" of one. I was going to make a mock up with black, white and grey paper and decided to get brave and try making one in my paint program(just the standard one that comes with the computer) and I shocked even me. It is a little rough, but I did it!!

I don't think there is a whole lot to explain with this card, but what you don't really see is that there are crystal effects all over the pot, and all the flower petals are outlined with glitter pen. I used my markers and ink pads and an aquapainter to color this. Thanks for looking and don't forget to head over to the GSG blog to play along!!

stamps-Bloomin Beautiful and Circle of Friendship

paper-Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Whisper White and Afternoon Tea DSP

ink-Black Stazon

tools-page pebbles, crystal effects, aquapainter, SU markers, circle punches, guava ribbon, chocolate ribbon, gold brads, white gel pen

Brace Yourselves!!

I am about to tell you a story that is going to outrage a lot of you(hopefully, because everyone should be). I am not going to get into the gory details of the events of last night, but as you all know(if you have been reading my blog daily) my cousin in law Brandi got married this weekend. Since about 4pm on Thursday, I have spent every waking minute with the bride to be, and her family decorating, preparing, making flowers, rehearsing, you name it!! It was a gorgeous wedding(and that is why I have been gone so long, btw), and everything from the dress to the dessert was amazing. All day long I could feel a bad headache(what I call a migraine) coming on, and by the end of the toast(and my first glass of champagne), I couldn't hold out any longer. I finally got so sick, and my head hurt so bad that I had to leave the reception(crying about not wanting to leave the whole way to the car which does WONDERS for a headache-NOT!!)and go home and go to bed and I told Travis to stay at the reception. When he got home, finally, he woke me up and told me a story that had me sick to my stomach. During the reception, one of the guests found an opened wedding card on the floor in the lobby, from there, it went very wrong. To make a VERY long story short, one of the guests(and YES we do know who it was) got into the card box(mine I had loaned Brandi from my wedding) and stole the cash out of the cards. She was taking them to the bathroom, opening them, taking out the money, leaving checks and gift cards behind, and then putting them in the trash with paper towels over them. To top it all off, when confronted, she accused someone else, and they ended up questioning him(and a couple of others she pointed fingers at). Eventually, she finally gave in and gave back some of the cards she hadn't opened and all(or at least what she said was all) the cash she had stolen. Now yesterday and today, which should have been joyous days, have been completely overshadowed by one sick persons actions. I can't for one minute begin to imagine the kind of person it would take to do something like this nor do I want to. What's worse is the fact that today the bride and her parents had to spend the day calling around to people trying to find out how much money was in their cards so that they will know what to report(and what to get back from her). Honestly, I don't believe we will ever know how much she stole, and it's not even about the money. It's about the fact that she did this, and now it is like a black cloud over the whole day. Believe it or not, she WAS a close family friend, and someone that in the past, when she needed help, had come to the brides parents for it. In the process of her stealing all of these, she broke the church that my Mom had made for my wedding. I have kept it out in my house as a decoration since the day I moved in because it was gorgeous, and it really meant a lot to me. I cried when I had to tell my Mom what had happened, and she offered to fix it, but I refused, somehow it's not the same anymore. I had planned on keeping that forever, to use at my children(when I have them) and my nieces weddings and now I can't. If I know my mom, she will make a new one, but it will never be the same.
Sorry for that, but if you can't tell, I am still really upset. I stamped this morning as therapy, and I am getting ready to stamp some more. I made this card to give to Brandi today and for the the first challenge posted in the new Paper Pretties challenge forum by Danielle. She challenged us to make a trifold card, so I made one using this tutorial on SCS. I started with a Basic Black base and then layered it with Purely Pomegranate and some DP from the DCWV All Dressed Up stack. The main image is Cuddle Me from Paper Pretties. Her name is Sophia, and if you can't tell, I just love her. She is colored with markers and the dress and bow are covered with a Sakura glitter pen. I will be back later with whatever else I can come up with, I need some therapy!!
stamps-Cuddle Me and All Holidays
paper-Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White, and DCWV DP
ink- Black Stazon
tools- oval punches, black organdy, pomegranate satin, white brads, corner rounder, SU markers, aquapainter, glitter pen