September SFYTT

One of my sons is in need of a Birthday card for another party this coming weekend.  We are on a party streak, with 2 more B-days this weekend.  Plus, I know there is another on the way the following weekend.  Then we celebrate a big 0ne for my husband in October too!  B-days are just one more excuse to craft - as if I actually need an excuse :>)

Ooooo, I am super last minute with this card!  I have been playing along with SFYTT all year, so I do not want to miss a month now :>)
Here is the sketch.  There are just a few hours left to link up!
Smiles,
Julie
Details:  Stamp - Space Boy YNS, PP - Bo Bunny, CS - SU, Ink - Momento, and corner rounder punch.

CSAYL - CAS

Whenever I am stumped I pull out the aqua paper.  Today, it was ocean tides that came to the rescue. 

This one is for the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge to create a CAS Christmas Card.  I took a couple weeks off from Christmas cards, but I really like the feeling of having another one done!!!  I sooooo hope to avoid the Christmas rush.  Or at least hope to reduce the amount of last minute pressure I put on myself to make everything!!!
Smiles,
Julie
Details:  Stamp - Verve, CS, Ink and Button - PTI, twine - stash, embossing - swiss dots Cuttlebug and scallop border punch.

Missing the Green Monster

Baseball.
America's favorite pastime.
Errr, I think it should be crafting, but I will go with baseball today because I am sharing a "baseball" themed card.  I decided that my sons should each give their own card for the party they went to over the weekend, so I quickly put together a little baseball fun with "Baseball Boy" from Your Next Stamp. 

The Birthday boy's favorite team is the Red Sox hence the color combo.  As I was taking a pic of my card I realized I should have added a panel of green to represent the green monster at Fenway Park.  Alas, my card is "missing the green monster", but it has plenty of "red"!  I used sketch #148 from Eat Sleep Stamp's Sketchy Thursday and flipped it. 
Smiles,
Julie
Details:  Stamp - (Baseball Boy) YNS, CS - PTI, Ink - Momento, Copics, Twine - The Twinery, Embossing - Tim Holtz, PP - Basic Grey and Tag svg - Perfect Presentation.

You're an A+

Yes you are an A+.
For stopping by.
For saying hi.
For always inspiring me.
Thank you :>)
Today's card however is earmarked for one of my children's teachers. All 3 of my children have teachers who are an A+. My DD saw the card first though and quickly asked if she could give it to her teacher.

All the images on my card are from the "Owl Be Seeing You in Class" set from the Craft's Meow. Not only are the images fun, so is the title for the set :>) I can't get enough of Jenny Suchin's sets!!! I am currently drooling over the Halloween set and based on peeks at the October release there may just be turkey owls (hmmm, turkhoot?) on the way. My card is based on the September sketch challenge on the Craft's Meow blog. It is also for the Raise the Bar challenge "things with wings".
Have an A+ kind of week!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamps - (Owl Be Seeing You) The Craft's Meow, CS - PTI, Ink - Momento, Embossing - (Typeset and Swiss Dots) Cuttlebug, Ribbon - PTI, Brad - stash, copics and Cork - Home Depot.

More Pups on the Way!

First, I have the paper kind to share with you!

This little cutie is the pup from YNS' Kite Flying Fhiona set.  I had cut out a bunch a few months ago and when I saw that the latest YNS challenge is paper piecing well it was time to pull 'em out!  Plus, I need a "boy" b-day card for this weekend (or more appropriately, my sons' need a card to give).  Now in addition to the YNS challenge, my "boy" card is also for Yvonne Yam's guest designer challenge from Lynn Miller to recycle! The recycling is the plastic "stick" the flag is waving from. In it's former life it held a lollipop :>)  The layout is based on sketch #133 from Card Patterns.

Now you know when I use this stamp one card is never enough and I also need a "girl" card for next weekend. 

My card is just 3" x 3".  I took inspiration from the latest CAS-ual Friday's challenge to make a mini card and combined that with the Paper Player's CAS Animal or Plant challenge.

Part of the reason I may love this little pup stamp so much is that he looks like my own pup, Bolt.  He truly is the sweetest and I love him even after he gets loose and I have to chase him around the neighborhood!  Even after he digs up my potted plant, digs huge holes around the tree in our FRONT yard, rips a hole in my DD's comforter to bury a bone in the house, or when he chews the kids toys that are left on the floor (that at least helps keep the amount of toys in check!).  Believe me, he has a few habits that I would love to break, but regardless his sweet personality outweighs all the digging and chewing!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamps - (Kite Flying Fhiona) YNS and sentiments & Circles (For the Love of Dots) Practicing Creativity, CS - SU and PTI, Copics, PP - Basic Grey, Twine - The Twinery, Ink - Momento and SU, Stickers - SRM, and a recycled plastic lollipop stick.

A Doodlelicious Diva Hop

Ready for some fun???
The new Whimsie Doodles Doodlelicious Divas are hopping and we would love for you to join us!!!
Learn a little bit more about each of us, check out some yummy eye candy and have a chance to win a Whimsie Doodle image of your own!!!
So, if you arrived here from Helen's blog then you are at the right spot.  If you are just stopping by to say hi, then hello right back at ya and now you should bop over to Emily's blog to start at the beginning of the hop - you do not want to miss a thing!

Let's start off with the eye candy...here is Hoot and he is super cute!

Hoot may be designed for Halloween, but he makes a super cute addition for Birthdays too!  He is part of the Halloween Hootanannies Set available here.
Hoot is available as both a plain image (Halloween Hootanannies) and a tag with To and From (Halloween Hootanannies Gift Tags).  I used both images on my gift set.

My CAS card is based on the CAS135 Sketch Challenge on SCS.  I saw Leigh Ann's card here and had to copy her idea to turn one of the strips in the sketch into a banner - thanks for the idea :>).

Ooooo, what girl doesn't want a new purse for her Birthday???  The Hoot tag is a fun way to dress it up.  Change out the colors and you could have a tag for any holiday (I have visions of red and green dancing in my head!).

Now how about a few Doodlelicious Things About Me...
1. My first paper crafts project was heat embossed stamping. I know, what a way to start!  I received stamps and the powder etc as a gift.
2. When I'm not paper crafting, I enjoy sleeping.  Hee, hee, hee, this response comes after staying up late earlier this week to finish today's project so that I could give it as a Birthday gift!
3. My favorite Whimsie Doodles image is the penguin from Christmas Greetings he is just the cutest!
4. My favorite paper crafting technique is paper piecing.
5. My favorite embellishments are buttons.

Now that you have seen and read, you are ready to hop on to the next Doodlecious Diva, Kim.  If you get lost anywhere along the way then check out the Whimsie Doodles Blog for all the details and a full list of stops on the hop!

Here are the challenges that I am entering my creations in:
Make it Monday - Anything Goes
Challenge Up Your Life - Paper Piecing challenge #52(on owl tag)
Ruby's Rainbow Challenge #12 - For a Girl


Thanks for hopping by!!!
Smiles,
Julie
Details:  Images - (Hoot - Hootanannies) and (Hoot - Halloween Tags) Whimsie Doodles, Sentiment - Verve, Ink - (Chocolate Chip) SU, PP - (So Sophie) My Mind's Eye, CS - PTI, Buttons - PTI, Embroidery Floss - DMC, Template - (Carry Clutch) MTME and my Cricut.

Boo to You!

Ready for a challenge?

Ready to win yourself some Whimise?

The Whimsie Doodles' challenge has gone monthly!  That means more time to play (until Sept. 25th) and win yourself some fun Whimsie Doodles' images!  September's challenge is inspiration by photo.  What inspires you from this great photo?

 For me it was all that white and the banner.

 

Those bats are a new image from the Whimsie Doodles September release - Halloween Hootenannies.  There are 8 fun jpeg images in the set.  Each image is 3.5" x 2.5", but I wanted something even smaller so I reduced the size down to about 1" x .75".  I then printed out 3, flipping one to get the eyes going in a different direction.  I really like the look of cutting the front flap shorter so I am doing it here again, plus it went so well with sketch #157 from Clean and Simple Stamping.  The sentiments are both SRM stickers - sooo easy to use and I am lovin' the results!!!
Smiles,
Julie
Details:  Image - (Hootanannies) Whimsie Doodles, CS - SU and PTI, Twine - The Twinery, copics and Sentiments - (Treats) SRM Stickers.

Flashback Friday 15.0

The Flashback Friday 15.0 challenge is to repost your first fall card.  Well, I went back to 2009 and  found this one:

Such a cute image from Little Paper Shop, but unfortunately it is no longer available.  To see the original post head on over here.

Now I have to reshare another one too, just because it was one of my favorites from 2009 and also a LPS image...

See how easy it is to repost?  So easy that I could not resist sharing 2!  Be sure to link up your repost of your first fall card to the Flashback Friday blog post here.

Fun stuff!!!

Smiles,

Julie

My Own Bloom

Ribbon
+
lots of Glue
+
6 Pearls
=
1 homemade bloom

Yes, I made my own flower!  And I have Erum Tasneem and Yvonne Yam to thank for it.  Erum is a guest blogger on Yvonne Yam's blog and she issued the challenge to create a flower.  She has a quick pic tutorial and I followed that to get this...

Now, at first I was a bit intimidated, because I have tried making flowers before.  Then I read what Yvonne thinks makes her Moxie Fab (yes, we all knew it, but now it is official - see here) and I decided I should give it a try.  Plus it was midnight and I was wide awake, so why not?  My finished product is certainly not my normal style, but I had fun and it really felt good to get out of my comfort zone.  I do know that I really should look for those Cosmo Cricket Glubers if I want to make more of these ribbon blooms, I imagine that it would have made the process even quicker (not that it really took that long at all).

My card is based on Card Patterns sketch #131 it really felt like the sketch was made for my giant bloom!  It is also for the latest Paper Players' Challenge, Birthdays - challenge #62.
Smiles,
Julie
Details:  Stamps - Verve, Ribbon - May Arts (courtesy of Leigh Ann Baird - thank you for the ribbon!!!), lace from stash, Pearls - Michael's, twine - stash, Ink - PTI and SU, plus lots of adhesive.

Frankie's My Fave!

How about an image that could be used on
a Halloween card,
a cheer up card,
or a Birthday card?
Welcome Frankie, who is my favorite image from the new Whimsie Doodles' release.  I started coloring him up and had so much fun with all the rips and tears, not to mention green hair!

Originally I was going with Halloween, but then the sentiment "rough day" came to mind and I just went with it.  I left the inside blank for now, so that I can add something along the lines of "It's tough getting old, Happy Birthday anyway!"?  Feel free to share more ideas :>)

My card is based on Card Positioning Systems sketch #234.
Plus, I also followed the craft itinerary for Desert Island Crafts challenge #15, with dry embossing, a sentiment, dimension (the main image panel is popped up), plus a touch of green (I might have used just a bit more than a touch!).
Smiles,
Julie
Details:  Image - (Frankie) Whimsie Doodles, CS - (Pure Poppy and White) PTI, PP - (Oliver & Max and Whiskers) Basic Grey, Embossing Folders - Sizzix, Sentiment - (Harold's Alphabet) Lawn Fawn, Embroidery Floss - DMC, dimensionals and copics.

Whimsie Doodles September Release

Whimsie Doodles' September Release Day is finally here!  All the new images can be found in the store.
Here is "School Lizzie"...

My card is based on August's week 2 sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketch.  I am always on the lookout for new sketch challenges and this one is "new to me"!  There are tons of other great sketches for cards and layouts, so be sure to take a peak.
Stop by the Whimsie Doodles' blog too and see all the creations from the rest of the DT - lots of yummy eye candy!
Smiles,
Julie
Details:  Image - (School Lizzie) Whismie Doodles, Sentiment - (Happy Fall) Verve, PP - (Max and Whiskers) Basic Grey, CS - (Crumb Cake) SU & (Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, White) PTI, Ink -(Tuxedo Black) Momento, Buttons (Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy and Ocean Tides) PTI, Embroidery Floss - DMC, Faux Stitching - sticker (We've Got Your Sticker Plus - Christmas) SRM, dimensionals, and Copics.

Whimsie Doodles Release Sneak Peek

Tomorrow is the September Whimsie Doodles' release! 
Let me just say there is some cuteness on the way!
Stay tuned, but here is a sneak peek for you :>)

If that is not enough of a peek, head on over to the Whimsie Doodles' blog for more.

BTW, we finally got our power back Wednesday afternoon.  I do not foresee any camping in my future.  3 1/2 days without power was more than enough for me!!!
Smiles,
Julie

Christmas Skating

Last month, I won a challenge over on the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog. The prize was the opportunity to be a guest designer - yay!!!
To make it even better, the sponsor for the challenge I am a guest on is Pink Cat Studios - yay!!!
The challenge this week is "Fancy Folds", create a card with an unusual fold.  The winner will receive some goodies from Pink Cat Studios!  Be sure to hop on over to the CSAYL blog and check out all the details.
Time to share my card...it's a Free-Standing Pop Up card.

closed

(or almost closed - this thing did not want to lie flat!)

Pop up cards are sooooo much fun!!!  There is a great tutorial on SCS if you want to give it a try.  Pop ups are actually easy to make.  I made a bunch of Pop Up Birthday invitations about 5 years ago.  I even included directions on how to "open" the card.  I had a non-crafty friend try to open the card and determined that instructions were a must!

What a sweet image.  I used Bird Ice Skating from PCS and reduced the size and flipped to make the 2 smaller skating birds.  Just a bit of paper piecing with the hats, some coloring and fussy cutting on the big guy.  The paper piecing fits in perfectly with this week's Pink Elephant Challenge TPE114.

Thank you MacKenzie for asking me to play along with you and the fantastic CSAYL team this week!  So fun and you really got me thinking with this challenge.  One more Christmas card down - yay!!!
Smiles,
Julie
Details - Image - (Bird Ice Skating) PCS, sentiment - (Merry Wishes) Verve, flourish - (Blue Skies) Verve, PP - (Eskimo Kisses) Basic Grey, CS - (Crumb Cake) SU, Ink - SU, copics, brad from stash, circle punches.