Spooky Halloween

It's Halloween, so of course you know what type of card I need to share...This card was for a StampTV challenge from a couple weeks ago called words, words, words. We were only allowed to use a sentiment stamp. My response was thank goodness for PP, PP, PP!

I realize that my card is leaving the page...I think goblins are fooling around with today's post! Oh well!!

My 2 year old sons point to everything Halloween related and say it's spooky! So have a spooky Halloween...boo!

Smiles,

Julie

Details: CS SU, Stamp GKD Spooky Silhouette, bat punch Martha Stewart.

Pink Snowy Hills

I have seen quite a few cards with hills in colors other than green and wanted to give it a try. My little snowman is nestled amongst pink hills :>)
I am once again combining challenges, this card is for the StampTV potluck Friday challenge to use snow on a card and I am using the CPS sketch of the week. How does everyone feel about combining challenges? I know there is at least one site out there that encourages it... I have seen that many blogs state it is okay, so I am going for it! I love challenges and combining challenges can make it more challenging.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamps PTI Tree, PP Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, and CS SU.

Sketch Girl 8

The month has flown by and it is time for another great sketch from Sketch Girl. Here is my take on the sketch and this time around I went with a Christmas card. I love this stamp set from PTI that created the sentiment and "trees" aka leaves on this card, Holiday Tree. I need to play some more and decide what I am going to do for my mass produced assembly line Christmas cards.
Sketch #8 has lots of layers - I may have altered the sketch a bit, but the basic layout is there :>)Why don't you check out all the other Sketch Girls creations for inspiration and play along?!?!

Annie
Alyssa
Bonnie
Chris
Eve
Harriet
Jennie
Jessica
Katie
Randee
Sara
Tiffany

Side note: I was going to make a Halloween card, but it just did not come to me. This means that there is someone out there I owe a card to...you know who you are, or at least you will when your housemates get a card and you do not!! I promise to make it up to you!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: PP - Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, CS - SU, Stamp - PTI Holiday Tree, Ribbon - SU.

Floral Color Challenge Combo

Today I took the latest Raspberry Suite color challenge and combined it with the Just Us Girls challenge to make a 3-dimensional flower.Just Us Girls has a tutorial to make a beautiful flower out of tissue paper, but since I do not own any nesties (I know, shocking), I decided to go with a layered circle flower.
Here are the Raspberry Suite colors, love 'em!Smiles,
Julie
Details: CS - SU Vanilla and Kraft, PTI - Raspberry Fizz, Stamps - PTI Holiday Tree (I used the small snow flake to make the polka dots on the kraft) and GKD Ribbon Stripes, button PTI.

Ruffle Those Feathers!

Normally the saying goes "don't ruffle my feathers", but I decided to just that on my fave digi stamp of late, Owl, from Little Paper Shop. Cath over at the Moxie Fab World blog put up a challenge last week to use ruffles on a project and I knew right away I wanted a ruffled belly for my owl!One of the benefits of a digi stamp is that you can make it any size you want and I made this one into the actual card itself. I took the owl image and made it as big as my PP, 6", in MS Paint. I printed him out 2 times, one time on the PP and again on white CS. I glued the PP to scrap CS to give it more weight and then cut out the image outline and belly. The ruffles were machine sewn onto a scrap piece of paper and I used super sticky tape to adhere to the PP owl's open belly area. I cut out the nose, eyes, and feet from the printed piece of white CS and colored with a brown copic. I then folded a piece of white CS in 1/2 and lined up the owl so that the fold was about an inch from the top of his head. I traced the rest of his body onto the CS and cut it out to create the card base. I used more sticky tape to attach the PP owl to the base.
Was this a little work, yes, but was it fun, yes!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp - LPS Digi Owl, CS - PTI White, PP - Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, marker - brown Copic, and ribbon - Michael's.

Verve Kinda Day Part III

This is the final installment for my Verve day. I admit, I did not do anything but make cards this morning, shhhh don't tell my DH! This one has another buttony bow for Joanne's challenge found here.Well, that is it for me for tonight. Enjoy your weekend!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - Verve Up, Up and Away, PP - SU Slumber Party, CS and Ink - SU and PTI, SU spiral clip, and PTI twine and buttons.

A Verve Kinda Day Part II

Hi there,
Here is another card for the Verve sketch challenges same papers and stamp set as my previous post (of course) :>). This time around, I pulled in a challenge from Joanne B. who is celebrating her Birthday with blog candy over at "just a little something". Joanne's challenge is to use one of her favorite things, a buttony bow.Making this card made me realize that I need to buy more ribbon. I do not use it a lot on my cards because it create lots of bulk, but it is oh so pretty (esp. the stuff I was eyeing from PTI!). Speaking of PTI...I got in my order this week from their latest release - YUMMY!! Needless to say there were some buttons in there and I bought their white paper for the first time - so nice and heavy, I think it will be perfect for embossing (SU's white is great for layering, but has not worked as well as I would have liked for embossing).
I will be back with another Verve card with a "buttony bow" in a bit!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - Verve Up, Up and Away, PP - SU Slumber Party, CS and Ink - SU and PTI, and PTI twine and buttons.

A Verve Kinda Day

Today was all about Verve for me. I had the morning free and a list of Verve release sketch challenges. I love Verve stamps, but only have one set, so I put it to work! Up, Up, and Away is the perfect set because it can even be used on "guy" cards.
Each card has a slightly different style and technique, but the colors and papers are all the same. Once I started I kept rolling and now plan to put a group of these together as a gift set.This one is in the style of Verve's guest designer this month, Jessie Rone, lots of layers and her signature - a spiral clip!!
I will be back to share more Verve - I finished all 5 sketches!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - Verve Up, Up and Away, PP - SU Slumber Party, CS and Ink - SU and PTI, SU spiral clip, and PTI twine and buttons.

Going Batty

Halloween is creeping up and I still need a few cards! I saw the Martha Stewart bat punch used on one of my fellow Sketch Girls' cards and thought it was the cutest thing...once it is on sale it is a must have!
My card is based on the StampTV layout challenge from 10/15. I spread the bats out, but otherwise stayed true to the sketch.
Well, this is a quick post, my priority of late has been sleep! I have been soooo tired each night. Hopefully I find lots of energy over the next couple days because there are a ton of cards I want to get done this week! Also, I need to find some ideas for a treasure hunt for my daughter's Daisy troop. We are having a Halloween party on Thursday night, but are hoping to do a treasure hunt vs. games. If you have any ideas, please share!!!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - GKD, Paper - Basic Grey Eerie and SU Plum and Black, Ink - SU Black, Really Rust and Perfect Plum, Black Rick Rack and Martha Stewart bat punch.

Simply Kind with Sketch Girl 7

I don't know if it is because I have been eyeing PTI all week, but I decided to keep it simple for this week's Sketch Girl. I pulled in my faves, buttons and stitching and used stamps to create my patterns. Here is the sketch so you can play along. Be sure to check out the other sketch girls' projects too!!

Annie
Alyssa
Bonnie
Chris
Eve
Harriet
Jennie
Jessica
Katie
Randee
Sara
Tiffany
and our Guest Designer Amber
Smiles,
Julie

Details: Stamps - PTI Everyday Button Bits & GKD Ribbon Stripes, Paper - PTI Ocean Tides and SU Chocolate Chip, Ink - SU Chocolate Chip and Color Box White, Buttons - PTI and stash, and twine.

Soaring

The challenge on the Just Us Girls blog this week is paper piecing. I love to paper piece, so of course I had to play along! I pulled out my fave Verve set, Up, Up and Away and then paper pieced the balloons and layered them on my fave K&Co. cloud paper.I kept the layers minimal and left off embellishments on this card because it is heading to the Sunshine Society. My MIL volunteers for the society in her town, which amongst other things, sends out Birthday cards to every resident over 80. She asked if I could save any free cards I got in the mail, etc, but of course I have to make some! I figured I better leave buttons off this card though to limit bulk and avoid any special mailing requirements.
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to spread some sunshine today!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Sets - Verve Up, Up and Away, sentiment PTI Everyday Button Bits, Paper - SU Bashful Blue CS, SU PP (the free one from earlier this year) and K&Co. PP clouds, SU Night of Navy Ink, and some crazy stitching...just tried a new stitch on my machine.

Baby's 1st Christmas

The challenge this week on the Little Paper Shop Blog is non-traditional Christmas Colors. I have been doing a lot of cards lately, so I decided to go the altered route this time around. Baby's 1st Christmas is traditionally found on an ornament, so I figured why not also have a photo display too?!The large reindeer is another digi freebie from Little Paper Shop! You have to check out the forum (and the store) for all these cute images and more. I printed the reindeer on pink and cranberry CS, then paper pieced him to give a little dimension. I also sponged on some cranberry ink to give him a little color and soften the pink.My sister picked up the wood block for me at Michael's (she is always out shopping and sweet enough to keep an eye out for whatever the latest thing is I am looking for!). I added a couple layers of white paint, then a mat from Wild Wasabi Green CS and topped that with Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses - the reindeer print which matches the cute digi :>).
Enjoy your day!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp - LPS digi Reindeer, CS - SU Wild Wasabi, Cranberry Crisp, light blue in color from a 2008?, PP - Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, Ribbon - SU Wild Wasabi, wooden block from Michael's.

My 3-D Kick Continues

The first challenge on the Creative Clear Stamps blog is texture. After creating the 3-D ornaments, the next thing I thought of was a Christmas tree - what better way to have texture on a card? :>)In addition to the tree, ribbon and buttons add to the texture too. The sentiment is from CCS and it fits in perfectly with the "little" tree.
To make the tree, I folded a scrap piece of paper in half and free hand cut out a tree. I then folded my PP in half and traced my template on and cut out 6 trees and glued them together. Not as easy as a punch, but it works! Lauren Meader's video tutorial can be found here.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend and hopefully I have inspired you to try this fun technique! Be sure to share your creations :>)
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp - CSS Holiday Sentiments, CS - SU, PP - Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, Buttons - PTI, and stash ribbon.

Sew Simple Set

One of my friends creates jewelry and sells it at craft fairs...I have been trying to convince her to make gift boxes and little cards to go with her jewelry. To entice her I put together this quick set and pulled in the challenge this week from the Crazy 4 Challenges blog - sewing!
There is straight stitching on each piece, even the mini paper purse. Well this is a mini break from my 3-D creations :>) there are more to come!
Smiles, Julie
Details: PTI Template - Ready Set Wrap, SU Cranberry Crisp and Very Vanilla CS, SU Cranberry Crisp Ink, and SU Baroque Motif Stamp set.

Christmas Ornaments Part II

First off, thank you so much for all the wonderful comments you left on my WCMD Challenge cards. You all make me smile! The Japanese inspired card seemed to get the most votes and I had so much fun making it, that I had to do it again. This time I am adding layers and PP and I am also using this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch challenge (which GKD is sponsoring!)...
I just love the effect of the 3-D ornaments and it is so easy to do! Here is the link to Lauren's video tutorial - link. She uses tape to hold the circles together, but I used glue and it seems to be working fine. I put the ornaments together on the way to work yesterday (it was not my turn to drive) and only managed to get a little glue on the car {sorry}! This time I went with four circles to fill it in more. I fussy cut the tree branches and then wrapped embroidery floss around the branches to make real loops. I did use tape to hold the floss down and then I added a little more glue to attach the ornament.I have another 3-D idea, so I have to warn you that you are going to see this technique again in the next couple days :>) I also decided that I am going to make a bunch of these ornament cards to give to people that I can hand deliver. I would love to do it for everyone, but I have a feeling these are not going to fit well in an envelope LOL!
Did you notice I have a new badge on my sidebar? It is from Creative Clear Stamps. Last week, I saw that CCS was having a blog hop thanks to Jennie Harper's blog (she is on the DT). I played along and won a free stamp set. I decided to go with "Holiday Sentiments" because I can never have too many...the sentiment on today's card is from that set (I can not believe that I received it already in the mail!). CCS also has a texture challenge this week so be sure to check it out - I hope to play along with my new stamp set!
Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!
Smiles,
Julie

Details: SU Old Olive and PTI Sweet Blush CS, Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses PP, SU Simply Seasonal and CCS Holiday Sentiments Stamps, Stash ribbon and some sewing, and I almost forgot...embroidery floss!

Around the World in a Day

In celebration of WCMD, Papertrey Ink is sponsoring 4 challenges, each with a specific country to use as inspiration. Here are my cards for all 4...
First up is Japan. My immediate reaction was oragami and I started off by making a crane. After realizing that a crane was not going to fit on a card I decided to go with a technique Lauren Meader shared for creating 3-dimensional elements. These ornaments remind me of oragami in the broad sense of the term...
Next up is Mexico, where inspiration came from clay and tiles.
Then it is on to India, with jewel colors and sparkles.
Finally, we are headed to Australia, where the challenge was to use dotted outlines or masking.Well, that was one whirl wind tour (as I squeezed in as much time as I could find to finish these!).
Smiles,
Julie
Details:
India - SU Lovely Lilac and Whisper White CS, SU Taken with Teal and Lovely Lilac Ink, Image SU Painted Posies, Sentiment PTI Everyday Button Bits, and Michael's jewel brads.
Japan - SU Kraft CS, SU Old Olive Ink and the brown is a copic marker, SU Simply Seasonal Stamp Set and Small Script for sentiment, and Basic Grey PP Eskimo Kisses.
Mexico - SU Kraft and Cranberry Crisp CS, SU Cranberry Crisp, Blue Brocade, and Really Rust Ink, PTI Everyday Button Bits stamp set, and PTI Buttons.
Australia - SU Cranberry Crisp CS and Ink, SU Vine and Berry Stamp Set and White Gel Pen.

A Z Fold for Baby

I am back with my second post for today and another WCMD challenge. This one is a card to welcome my cousin's baby...hopefully she is too busy with her new daughter to check out my blog :>). I will have to get it in the mail ASAP.This challenge over at SCS is from Scor-Pal, to make a Z fold card. This was the first time I have seen a Z fold, but it was easy to do and there are great directions provided in the thread.
How cute is that fold?!?! The circle under the bow at the very top slides between the aqua and scalloped pink to hold the card shut. The scallops are up on dimensionals, so there is space to stick it right in. I did not go the traditional all pink route with this card...I have this great Basic Grey PP that pulls in aqua and even a little black. Still feminine, but not a true baby colored card. This way I was able to make Mom and Dad hip clothes LOL!
Have a great week and be sure to let me know what you think!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp - SU All in the Family, Paper - SU Pink Piourette and PTI Aqua Mist CS , Basic Grey PP, Ink - SU Basic Black, PTI Button, Stash ribbon and brads.

Happy WCMD 2009

Yes, I know, yesterday was really WCMD! Today I am posting my card for the Raspberry Suite Challenge and the Unity Challenge on SCS for WCMD.I was inspired to pull out my beads and add a few as I created my button flowers.
The yummy Raspberry Suite colors are:Unity's challenge on SCS for WCMD is to use a quote or phrase as the main focus of your card. Hopefully my card meets the requirements, even with the flowers offsetting the phrase. How could I leave off flowers with a phrase like that?
Well, I hope you all got to make a card or two in celebration! I am hoping to fit in a couple more challenges before tomorrow, but we will see what time permits and where my mojo decides to go!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: SU Kraft, Very Vanilla, and Red CS, PTI Everyday Button Bits Stamp Set, SU Chocolate Chip Ink, Buttons, beads, and sewing.