It's Sketch Girl Time!

Today's card is for the 2nd Sketch Girl Challenge. Be sure to check out the Sketch Girl Blog and the creations by all the other Sketch Girls. There is a bonus this week...once the Sketch Girl Blog reaches 100 followers, 3 followers will each win a stamp set :>) Head over to the blog to check out all the sets and be sure to play along!!Turn the sketch on it's side and here is my card...
Now this card is also uses the SCS color challenge for the week - Pixie Pink, Apricot Appeal and Certainly Celery. I just love the little stick figure families that can be found on cars - after spending hours driving on Tuesday, I was inspired to take a stick family and turn it into a "welcome baby" card. My friend is expecting a little girl so the SCS colors for the week fit perfectly. I went a little crazy with the ribbon, by creating gathers with my sewing machine, then I paper pieced the clothes on the family. The bow on the side is done by making a slit in the CS, laying a loop of ribbon and then pulling a separate piece of ribbon up thru the slit around the loop and back down to form the center - perfect bow every time.
Details: SU CS & DSP, SU All in the Family Stamp Set, Michael's ribbon, chipboard number and the sentiment is done thru MS Word - SU Scrap Baby font.

I can't wait to see what you create using today's sketch! If you upload to a gallery, be sure to tag your creation with SG2.

Smiles, Julie

Sitting Pretty

Hi there! Today's card is for the Little Paper Shop's 7/20 Sketch Challenge and Jessica's Birthday. Her B-day was on Thursday, but I firmly believe that it is never too late to celebrate (and who doesn't love have your Birthday celebration last more than one day!). I am also including a huge THANK YOU to LPS for sponsoring challenges each week...the cute image on this card is the one I won a couple weeks ago!
Details: Stamp LPS Katie Cupcake, Paper SU retired DSP, stash buttons, offray ribbon and dimensional.
This is a quick post :>), busy couple of days ahead.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Smiles, Julie

Less is More

I need to remind myself that once in awhile, less is more! I am so excited with how this card turned out! The detail that makes it for me is the stamped image in Versamark on the background paper. It looks so elegant on the vanilla paper and adds a subtle touch, because it is more like a watermark. It went together so fast, once I pulled out the sewing machine :>).
Details: SU Certainly Celery & Vanilla CS, SU Certainly Celery ink and Versamark, SU Baroque Motifs stamp set

Well I should be reminding myself that less is more even outside of card making. We are celebrating my Sons' 2nd Birthday tomorrow - yes, the twins are turning 2!! I have been focusing on the party most of the week, but need to head to my crafting table right now and finish up a few things. I will share a pic or 2. Or, what I should really do is challenge myself to get the party scrapbooked by the end of next weekend (seeing as how I have yet to scrapbook when they turned 1...)!
Smiles and enjoy your weekend!!
Julie

Perfect Peaches

I was once again perusing the challenges over at StampTV. I focused on challenging myself to finish at least one scrapbook LO. I am so happy I looked, because the 7/14 sketch challenge is great!

With the leaves on top and grass beneath I wanted to recreate the photos from our visit to the peach orchard last year. The leaves were double stamped in Old Olive and then I also fussy cut some out of Old Olive and layered them on. I sponged the Apricot Appeal paper and buttons with Rose Red ink to make each look more like a peach. The grass on the bottom is actually a pine needle stamp.

Details: Everything is SU - Simply Seasonal (grass) and Best Blossoms (leaves) stamp sets {branch is from a really old set :>) }, Old Olive and Rose Red Ink, Old Olive, last year's green in color and Apricot Appeal CS, Apricot Appeal buttons, and the title and phrase are typed in Word with the SU Scrap Baby font.

Enjoy picking your own peaches this year - we will be back to the orchard this year!

Smiles, Julie

Joyful Ballerinas

I recently won blog candy from Cindy (she is so sweet :>, check out her blog). With the candy came a wonderful joy fold card (here is the tutorial from SCS). I am sure that I made this style card at least once in the past, but it is so nice to be reminded to use it again. This card is for a swap that I am taking part in for UStamp (see side bar for a link to all the fun). It is my first swap, so hopefully I am not breaking some unspoken rule by posting the card, LOL. One of my sweetest friends let me borrow a couple of her stamp sets, including All in the Family. As soon as I saw the tutu accessory, I knew I wanted ballerinas and the SU Raspberry Tart paper is still laying around my work area - I keep reaching for it, so why put it away?! If you are tired of seeing it, don't worry because sadly I am down to just scraps. I wish now that I had bought more, because there are such wonderful prints to choose from, including the small dots that I used to paper piece the tutus.
Details: SU Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi & Rose Red CS, SU Raspberry Tart DP, SU Black Ink, and Wild Wasabi Ribbon. Techniques: Paper Piercing and Paper Piecing.

Smiles, Julie

Put on Your Sunglasses...

'cause this one is bright!
Here is my card for the Sketch Girls, based on the 1st sketch challenge. This is "One Cool Cat".

Such a cute little gal with drink in hand and flower flip flops. Plus, this digi stamp can be found free, here. I paper pieced the whole thing, used a CB embossing folder for the inner tube, and then added a CB flower with circle punch center for the sun. Details: Cool Cat digi stamp created by Tim Hunter for Hambo Stamps, SU Pacific Point, Rose Red, and Going Gray CS, Yellow Creative Memories CS, stash DP, and CB Swiss Dots.

Be sure to play along with the Sketch Girls and share your own version of the first challenge. If you upload to a gallery, use tag SG1.

Here is to hoping that your own weekend is sunny!

Smiles, Julie

Sketch Girl's Challenge

Yay! I just found out that I get to be a Sketch Girl :>) Today is the offical start of Sketch Girl, which is a bi-weekly sketch challenge. The Sketch Girl blog will be home to all the sketches in one place, so click on over and add yourself as a follower to get updates as soon as a new sketch is added. In the future, there will be a contest or two with prizes and who doesn't love a prize! If you make the sketch and upload to a forum, please use keyword SG1.

Now, I do not have my first card done yet, but I will share with you by the end of the week!! Be sure to play along! Check out the link on the sidebar to visit my fellow Sketch Girls :>)

Smiles, Julie

One in a Million

My daughter found a yellow lady bug yesterday, so delicate and pretty, one of the few "bugs" that I actually like. I am sure that yellow lady bugs are common somewhere, but in my area, we only have red ones. It is the first yellow lady bug I have ever seen, so it inspired me to make a lady bug card. Red, White, and Black are also this week's color challenge at Stamp TV {lady bugs bring luck too :>)}.
Details: SU Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White CS, SU Very Punny and Mini Medleys stamp sets, CB embossing folders, Buttons and ribbon.

Now, I have to admit, I started out with this RED card. I wanted to have the yellow lady bug pop and making it all red seemed the way to go. Now I just wish that the photo actually looked red, and was clear LOL!

Details: SU Real Red, Basic Black and Banana CS, CB embossing folders, SU Very Punny stamp set, SU flower punch, recollections brads, and glitter.
I have tried various times of day and different angles, but it always comes out bright, blurry and horrible. Just trust me that IRL it is cute :>) Because I could not take a good pic I decided to make the red, white, and black card!!
There is tons of embossing and I even used my scorer to make lines on the solid black "ribbon" at the top. The sentiment was typed in Word. I was thinking of my daughter when I made this card, so I needed to add a little bling with the brads and glitter, yes there is glitter on the yellow bug even though you can not see it :>)

Both cards are based on Jen's SFYTT from this week! Check out Jen's blog to play along.

Smiles,
Julie

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com

Now, you all know that I love my Cuttlebug and I will be forever thankful to my sister for buying it for me :>) Check out the site and become a follower and with a chance to win $1,000 it sounds like a good idea to me :>)

Smiles,
Julie

Tag Album

I am participating in UStamp with Dawn and Friends, which started on Thursday. UStamp is an online community where SU demonstrators from around the world are sharing projects. Today's pics are the first project I made, a 6" x 6" mini album that uses tags as pages.

I made the background paper on the cover and then kept the circle theme throughout. I love the way the "pages" open, it creates interest and also made it more complicated for me to figure out where to put my pics and journaling, LOL! DETAILS: SU Fun with Shapes Stamp set, SU Real Red, Whisper White, Brilliant Blue and Old Olive CS, corner rounder, circle punches, buttons and ribbon.
Although this is an "album", my plan is to put it on a 12x12 sheet and add it to another album.

UStamp is going on for the rest of the month, so join in the fun. In addition to the projects, there are chats, and prizes have also been mentioned :>)
Smiles, Julie

Everything Old is New Again...

Over at Stamp TV Gina has a video on poppin' pastels. Now, I have had my pastels for more years than I would like to count and it has been at least a few years since I last used them :>) Gina's video encouraged me to pull out my pastels and try poppin' again! And surprisingly, pastels do not go bad!! The layout is based on Jen's SFYTT found here. This card is for Whimsy Stamps' weekly challenge. This week's challenge is to make something with a Birthday theme.
Use Versamark for your image and then dauber with pastels. Such a simple technique, but I really do love the results. Especially tieing it in with new techniques such as paper piercing (which really is not that new, I just never used my piercer until recently). I cut a square out of scrap paper to contain my pastels and create a clean box around my main "Happy Birthday" image. I kept this simple, as I am trying to build up a stash of "guy" cards :>)
Details: Versamark, SU Alphabet Soup and Love Ya Bunches stamps, SU & Coredinations CS, K&CO. Wild Saffron DP, & SU buttons.

Grab your own pastels and start poppin'!

Smiles, Julie

Catching Up

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I was actually away from my stamping supplies {shock, horror, I know :>) }, so I am sharing a layout I did a couple months ago. This is my daughter Miranda, from Christmas 2007 - I told you I am behind on scrapbooking!! I actually read something on-line yesterday about not being intimidated by scrapbooking. It mentioned that you do not have to scrapbook every event, that your child is not going to want 200 albums when they go off to college - LOL, so true! I will need to keep this in mind as I attempt to scrapbook the last 5 years :>).
Details: SU Very Vanilla CS, Offray Ribbon tied in knots, stash buttons, SU circle scallop punch, chipboard "M", and K&Company DP Peppermint Twist (this paper is the best, I bought it this past Christmas and there are so many great prints in the pad, it can be used for more than just Christmas too). The large tree is paper pieced (in retrospect, I think I should have used dimensionals to pop it up).

My layout is based on this sketch from PageMaps .

If you have never visited PageMaps before, be sure to check it out. There are sketches for both cards and layouts, plus, there is a contest each month.

Well, I am off to blurf for inspiration! And also to find out suggestions on how to take photos of scrapbook layouts...I kept getting a reflection from the photo, even though I was not using a flash. If you have any tips please feel free to share!

Smiles,

Julie

Red, Orange and Yellow

Happy Fourth of July! Yes, it is the Fourth of July and I guess I should be posting red, white and blue. Today, however, it is red, orange and yellow. This is a color combo that is not on my go to list {LOL}! In fact, the only reason I am using it is because it is this week's challenge at Whimsy Stamps. And it really is a challenge for me, I am a fan of blues and pinks.
This little guy is looking for a party!
Details: The image is actually from a DB - Party Animals, SU Real Red & Orange CS, Creative Memories DP, watercolor pencils, stash buttons. Techniques: paper piecing and piercing (of course!)

Enjoy your day - surprisingly it is not raining {yet}!

Smiles, Julie

Swinging on By

Today's card is for The Little Paper Shop sketch challenge. This challenge has a twist, cupcakes must be used. I decided to add in a cupcake by making background paper, because I wanted to use my Katie Swing digi stamp as the main image for this sketch.

Then I had one of those "Ah Ha" moments :>)

Yes, she can really swing!! LOL

The great thing about digi stamps is that I was able to print out a mirror image easily and then I modified it to look like the back of Katie. So fun :>)!

Details: LPS Katie Swing Digi Stamp, SU cupcake stamp and Pocket Full of Posies, Sentiment created in MSWord, SU whisper white and rose red CS, SU DP, SU Rose Red and Groovy Guava Ink, and brads.

Enjoy your weekend!

Smiles, Julie

Sweet and Simple Sewing

My latest gift set is for a neighbor who is retiring. It started with the SCS card sketch challenge from last week.

After finishing the card, I whipped up another Ready, Set, Wrap box from Papertrey Ink {it really goes together fast, honest :>)}. I wanted it to look like a summery purse, so I pulled out my sewing machine to add detail. Of course, there is some paper piecing in there too.
Details: Everything is SU!

I like the idea of making a card set using this layout and switching out the patterned paper :>).

Smiles,
Julie