Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas!

Pajama Party Challenge #4

The last challenge of the night was from Geeta, who used "Some Kind of Wonderful" in lieu of "Twilight" to challenge everyone to use some kind of sparkle on their cards.

I was a bit too ambitious and Quickie Glued fine green glitter all over the branches of the Evergreen Branch, which left me also covered in glitter by the end. (If you zoom in on the photo, you can even see a few wayward flecks on the card itself.)



All in all, I enjoyed getting my hands and stamps inky again, so hopefully you'll see some new cards from me again real soon!

Pajama Party Challenge #3

Challenge #3 was all about finding inspiration from this movie poster for "Breakfast at Tiffany's."



More than the focal image, I love the little vignette off to the right, so I focused on that in my card:



Despite not being able to mat the city skyline panel, I think this card is my favorite of the evening's cards.

Pajama Party Challenge #2

The second 30 minute challenge of the evening was based on the movie poster for "Dirty Dancing." The colors on the poster are light pink, dark pink, black and kraft, so the challenge was to use only those colors.



I thought I'd try and change things up with an asymmetrical layout, and I think I like it.

Aaaaand We're Back. . .

No matter how uninspired or tired I'm feeling, there is one thing that can always get me making cards again. . .a good ole A Muse party! Tonight, the gals over at the Lounge hosted a Pajama Party with a movie theme that really got my wheels turning.

The first challenge was based on "Pirates of the Caribbean," and the challenge was to make a card for a kid. My eye immediately wandered over to my little penguin friend, and the sentiment just seemed perfect.

July ATC: Turtles!

Well, I've been busy as a bee with my new graphic design class and haven't had time to stamp much lately. Can you believe that even though it's called graphic design, I have to draw all of my designs by hand??? Crazy! I haven't actually drawn anything for a school assignment for at least 10 years, so it's been a rough learning curve. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying the challenge.



Enough about me, and on to my ATC. Thank goodness for Tracy and her monthly ATC group to motivate and inspire me! I did this turtle-themed one for July using a Denami Designs turtle and a Wordsworth sentiment. I really tried to do some shadowing on the turtles with my Copics, and I used a clear Glaze pen on their shells. Cute and simple, just the way I like it!

See you soon!

Denami Blog Hop!

Hi there, and welcome to my stop on the Denami Blog Hop! You should've just arrived here from Virginia Larsen's blog. If so, welcome! If you're just joining the hop, you may want to start at the Denami Design blog.

The theme of today's hop is Cuddly Critters, and I've got a darling one to share with you. Have you met their cute little mouse? I'll admit, a mouse isn't usually the first critter I want to cuddle with, but once you see Denami's, you'll understand why I just fell in love with the little guy. Wanna see?



I love how easy it is to have him and his friends peeking out from the holes in my hunk of homemade Swiss cheese. Fun!

Be sure to comment to be eligible to win one of those two $20 Denami gift certificates (given to people who comment along the hop), and thanks for stopping by!

Next stop: Laurel Beard's blog.

Pink and Navy

Well, I don't have a lot to show for four days off. Somehow, the weekend whipped by in a flurry of activities away from home: a doggie playdate, a museum visit, a trip up to Sacramento to celebrate the four year anniversary of Paper Garden, and the movies "Bucket List," and "Machete." I did manage to make this simple card though.

My card stash is seriously lacking in birthday and thank you cards, so I'm making it my mission to make some in a variety of themes. Here's the first quickie. Last week, my boss came in wearing a navy dress and a pink sweater, and I loved it as a color scheme. I added gray and light blue, and voila! a card was born.

Have a great day!

The Dog Days of Summer

Holy cow! Can you believe that it's September already? August just whipped by me. Every weekend we had something going on, from a visit to our county fair to a wedding to a trip to Reno to a comedy show. I'm looking forward to September being the dog days of summer and a little mellower.

Speaking of dogs, today's cards were quickies that I made up using strictly scraps from another project I was working on. The coordinating scraps were all sitting together so I figured I'd try and use them up.

The patterned paper is by Heidi Swapp. From a cardmaker's perspective, it's often hard to find smaller patterns on 12x12 paper for making cards, but this one fits the bill nicely. The blue paper is by Coredinations, and the yellow is by Bazzill. The stamps are from a mini set from Basic Grey that I picked up at my LSS.



Have a great day!

Have a Rockin' Birthday!

Hello, and happy hump day! This week is flying by for me. I recently signed up for a graphic design course at the local community college, and between that and my volunteering, I am becoming one busy girl!

Nonetheless, birthdays must be celebrated! This card is for an uber-hip friend that's really into music. She travels all over the country to see bands play and writes articles about it so naturally, I had to make her a rock star card.

The cardstock is all by Bazzill. I drew the star shape in Illustrator and cut them out with my Cricut and the Sure Cuts a Lot software (which is living up to its name!). I love being able to draw my own shapes and cut them out. The starry foiled patterned paper is by Die Cuts with a View. The purple striped paper is by Echo Park and it's actually Halloween-themed on the back. I love it when I can use holiday papers for non-holiday purposes!

The rock star image is by A Muse, and he's one of my favorite stamps. I couldn't find an appropriate sentiment in my collection, so I actually printed this one onto the cardstock using my printer. I was amazed at how well the paper took the printer ink, and I'll be doing that more in the future.

The finished card measures 3 5/8 inches by 8 1/2 inches and fits nicely in a #10 business envelope.

Have a great day!

Simon Sees, Part 2

Happy Monday! Did everyone have a good weekend?

Hubby and I spent the weekend in the biggest little city in the world, taking in the bright lights and the clink-clink-clink of slot machines. Despite all of the distractions though, all I could think about was coming home and stamping!

I whipped up this cutie using leftovers from another card. I always make a few focal images at a time and pick my favorite for the card I'm working on, and occasionally, the extras are cute enough to be made into cards themselves. That's what happened with this little guy.

I used this sketch for inspiration:



All of the deets can be found here, except for the ribbon, which is from Michael's.

Have a great week!

Happy "Bee" Day!

Today is my mom's birthday, so of course I had to do something to commemorate the occasion. She HATES celebrating her day with a passion, but I think I managed to find a safe solution to let her know I care.

I got her a dozen roses, and then made a custom flower pick to go with it. I freehanded the bee on black cardstock, then added the yellow stripes over the top. The wings are punched circles that I drew outlines on in black pen, and then glittered with baby blue Stickles. I wrote my note with a white Uniball Signo pen (love that pen!), so it would stand out on the black cardstock.

I'm hoping that she'll be able to show off the flowers at work while secretly knowing the occasion.

Have a bee-utiful weekend!

One Last ATC. . .

Here's the last as-yet unpublished ATC from my collection so far this year. This one features a petunia stamp by Karen Lockhart. The patterned paper is part of the Botanique line by American Crafts, and I drew the dotted border on the orange cardstock myself.

See you soon!

To A Deer Friend

One of my friends is away at camp this week, so I thought I'd send her a little mail. I love this little deer (who's actually a Rudolph, but shh! don't tell!) and the silhouette trees provide the perfect backdrop for him. I had tried masking him and stamping the trees behind him, but I didn't get the detail that I had wanted. So, I ended up stamping him on a separate piece of paper, trimming him out and attaching him to the tree panel.



Just for fun, I also decorated the outside of my envelope to match my card. I just stamped Rudy again on the outside, and colored him with my Copics (keeping a Post-it on the inside to prevent bleed-through to the back).

Hope she likes it!

Cat's Pajamas Customer Blog Hop!

When Alma at the Cat's Pajamas posted that they were doing a Customer Blog Hop, I jumped at the chance. They've been one of my favorite stamp companies from the beginning, and the fact that they're made here in California just sealed the deal for me. Plus, could their stamps BE any cuter???



I dug up one of my old favorite fellas, Simon Sees, for this "29 again" birthday card. The sentiment is from one of the clear sets, and it worked perfectly for my friend's 30th birthday.

The patterned papers are from All My Memories (Swanky Design 3) and Scenic Route Paper Co. "Stripes Cabernet and Cream," and the stamps are of course by The Cat's Pajamas. The sketch is from here.

See you soon!

A Forest Wedding

In a couple of weeks, DH and I are lucky enough to be guests at a commitment ceremony for two of my good friends. This clever couple is doing it as a weekend-long celebration at a local campground, complete with a progressive dinner one night and a potluck for their wedding meal.

In keeping with the outdoorsy fun theme, I thought I'd make up a card to match. I used the A Muse Pine Tree Silhouette stamp that I won for this card (thanks A Muse!), an A Muse sentiment from the Everything's Rosy release, and some wedding chickies by Denami Design. The card is topped off with some ribbon I bought in 2005(!) that I finally finished off. Love using supplies I already have--the hoarding has got to stop!



Best wishes for a beautiful day!

Christmas in August. . .

I know, I know, Christmas in August? I don't know what to say, except that A Muse's new candy cane paper is cute and I had to play with it for this month's A Muse Challenge, "Stick to the Pattern." I also hadn't played with my row of houses in a very long time and Tracy's Sketch Challenge was calling me and a card was born!

Can you see the glittery Diamond Stickles on the roofs and snowbank?



All items by A Muse, except for the pearls from Queen & Co. Thanks for looking!

May ATC

Here's my ATC for May 2010. The little chick is by Denami Design, and the sentiment is by A Muse.

I Ruff You!

Hi there!

I'm still recovering from the weekend. On Saturday, we took a long drive (10+ hours in one day!) to a beautiful wedding just outside of Yosemite National Park. The scenery was amazing:


Royal Arches


Half Dome


Bridal Veil Falls

The only downside was that we didn't get home until 1am on Sunday morning. Needless to say, my sleep schedule is all out of whack and I haven't created anything since then. However, my ATCs just came back from the group I'm in, so I thought I'd post a pic of my ATC for this month:



I love this little stamp by Taylored Expressions! The sentiment is by A Muse, and I die cut the bone using my Cricut. The heart is glittered with Stickles.

Going back through my ATC binder, I noticed that I have a couple others I never shared, so keep an eye out for those later in the week!

Ghosts in the Trees!

I've had the idea for this card ever since I saw this Birch Forest with Leaves stamp at the A-Muse-A-Palooza event I attended last week at Stamp on Over. It's a haunted forest!

The ghosties are actually part of an old clear set, Simple Celebrations, which I just love and use all the time. With a little masking, I was able to make them pop out of the forest and howl their hellos.

Coincidentally, this card also works for this month's A Muse Lounge Challenge, "Holidays in July." I'm sure that this challenge was intended to get us all thinking about Christmas, but I always find it difficult to start my cards when it's sunny and hot outside.

When do you start your Christmas cards?

Sketch Challenge #91

Here's a rose-themed birthday card I did for Tracy's Sketch Challenge #91. You can see the challenge here.



The stamps were from the Clear Design: Cupcakes set by Hero Arts.

To a Sweet Friend

After volunteering for a week at Girl Scout camp with one of the nicest ladies ever, I had to get her a little something. Bobbin (her camp name) loves cake decorating, so I broke down and got her this:



Doesn't it look like the organizing thing of a cake decorator's dreams?! I wish I could find something that handy-dandy for my stamps!

Anyway, of course I had to whip up a card to go with it. I pulled out one of my clear sets from the Cat's Pajamas and got to work.



The patterned paper's from a paper pack I found at Target (by Colorbok), and I made the die cut using my Cricut. Hope she likes it!

Pajama Party Challenge #4: Summer Food!

The last challenge is to make a card inspired by summer food or beverages, so I went the drink route, quick and easy.

Thanks for looking!

Pajama Party Challenge #3: Water!

The third challenge was to make a card based on the word water. After a failed attempt at a school of fishes in the ocean, I decided to scale down my efforts and made a fish bowl instead.



Since I wanted to cut a very unique outline, I ended up attaching a white card base to the back of it (2.75 inches x 2 inches folded). I think this may be my favorite card of the bunch, just for its shape.

Pajama Party Challenge #2: Beach Party!

The second challenge is to create a card based on the idea of a beach party. Rather than a human party, I thought it would be fun to party animal style. The blue/white notecard is by A Muse, and it really made putting my scene together a breeze.

Pajama Party Challenge #1: Hot!

Tonight was the A Muse Pajama Party in honor of the Halloween/Christmas release, and although I've been out of the card-making loop for a while, I jumped at the chance to play. I started up a bit late, but I did keep to the 30 minute time limit. (You can find out more about the challenges at www.amuseartstamps.com.)

The first challenge was to make a card inspired by the word "hot."

When I think of hot, I think of being a little kid in the summer in the hot California sun, and nothing cooled me off better than a treat from the ice cream truck. I picked up this adorable Doodlebug paper a couple of weeks ago, and it was just calling my name as I was scrounging for supplies, so onto the card it went! I also especially love the striped ribbon by May Arts.

Almost a One Layer Card. . .

There is really no way to describe how hard one layer cards are for me. They’re so mind-bogglingly challenging, they’re like my kryptonite. The few times I’ve done them, the cards I’ve made look. . . naked! So, it should come as a surprise to no one that this month’s A Muse challenge “Taking Off Some Layers,” really had me stumped.

I finally settled on using the Car Load stamp to make a simple birthday card. I figured by drawing the frame it would give some cohesiveness to my design, but even then, I just couldn’t walk away. It still needed something. So I broke down and added the purple present after the fact.

Is it truly a one layer card? I’m not sure. All I know is, this is probably the most minimalist card I’ve ever made. Now I’m off to mail the darn thing before I feel compelled to add something else to it.

Thanks for visiting!

Party Recap

Well, I survived the two parties in 10 days. And, for posterity, I thought I'd note what I did in case I ever need to coordinate things like this again.

The first party was a bridal shower fiesta. The wedding colors are orange, yellow and teal, so we decorated appropriately:















I found the directions to make these here.


In the same issue of Martha Stewart Living, she had these cute fruit cups that were just delicious!
















My friend did the food, which consisted of a do-it-yourself shrimp fajita bar, guacamole, chips and salsa, and homemade ice cream sandwiches for dessert. All in all, a great event!

Then, I co-hosted a retirement party for my boss' boss on Thursday evening at a local restaurant. Since the majority of the work was done by the hotel, I offered to do the guest book and make favors.

The guest book was actually a series of 4x6 notecards (idea here). They were bordered in the party colors and decorated with a photo from the honoree's career. We strung them up on a simple clothesline and pinned them so everyone could see the funny photos, and then the next day I put them all into an album for her to keep.














For favors, we brainstormed words that defined the retiree's career, and I made up a simple design on the computer to attach simple candy boxes that each hold 3 Hershey Nuggets. I learned how to make the box portion of these favors at a stamp convention in Las Vegas last year.


















To make the boxes, I cut my cardstock into 2 1/4 by 6 inch rectangles, then scored them lengthwise at 1 3/8 inches. Since I was making 60 of them, I found that the easiest way to do this was to masking tape where the cardstock should line up.
















This will leave you with two halves, the 1 3/8 inch half and the 7/8 inch half. Then, I scored four lines going the short way (the 1 3/8 is higher in this photo):










Cut triangles out from the 7/8 inch half (to allow the box to fold up more neatly).










Then crease all the folds and assemble! I usually attach the sides before assembling the bottom.

After a couple of hours, you'll end up with this:















A whole line-up of favor boxes!

Gift Card Holders

With the end of the school year comes the need for end-of-school-year gifts. My go-to graduation/special occasion gift for people ages 10-20 is iTunes gift cards, so I spent a couple of days making up gift card holders for everyone all at once.

To get the process started, I did a search in Google Reader for gift card holders, and came across this one by Tori Wild that's just darling. I made a tester one using the template she provided, but I really wanted horizontal ones, so I adapted her idea and made my own.















For my gift card holder, I cut a solid piece of cardstock (in this case, black) to 12inches by 2.75 inches. Then, I took my long strip and scored it at 4 inches and just under 8 inches to form the base of my holder. To make a pocket, I cut the right panel on the diagonal from the fold.












To decorate it, I cut two patterned paper panels (red polka dots in the above photos), each 3.75 inches by 2.5 inches and attached one to the front and one to the middle of the inside (behind the diagonally cut piece.) Once the patterned paper was attached, I used a skinny piece of red line tape at the bottom to create the pocket.

To create the belly band to hold the whole thing closed, I cut a 1 inch by 9 inch green strip of cardstock and wrapped it around the holder, overlapping it at the front. I stamped my image and layered it on more cardstock before adhering the whole panel to the green strip (to hide the seam).

These are a cinch to make, and it was fun to make up several graduation ones, all coordinated with the graduates' school colors.