One last CAS Challenge for April

Hello blogland!  It's Friday and that means a new Clean and Simple Challenge at Simply Scrapping Crafts.  This week's challenge:  use a non-craft item on your project.  I have to admit, this one really made me think outside of my comfort zone - and it took me a while to come up with something for my project.

But once I got an idea, I think it turned out pretty cool.  My non-craft item is the big white flower made from....white Michael's plastic bags! 

How did I do it?  I cut up a few bags, taking off any portions with writing, and making rectangles of the cut pieces.  I then layered 3 or 4 pieces, turned my iron to high, and put the rectangles between two towels.  I then began to iron the pile and kept the iron moving.  This can take a few minutes, but the plastic rectangles melt together to make a leathery feeling swatch.  I used the Tim Holitz Tattered Florals Sizzix die and cut two of the large, medium and small flowers; creased all the petals in half upward to give the flower some dimension; used a small hole punch on all the centers and used a large K&Co. brad in the center.  Whatcha think?  I'll definately be making these again, lots of fun!

Be sure to stop by SSC and check out all the challenges - something different every day of the week!

Monthly Blog Hop from Simply Scrapping Crafts

Hello blogland!  If you've come here as part of the monthly blog hop from Simply Scrapping Crafts - welcome!  Our challenge this month was to make something for our current season.  I live in the US and spring is finally here - flowers and trees are waking up and birds are chirping and singing.  With this in mind, here's my project to share with you:

This was a really fun project to make!  The cardstock is from Colorbok and the ribbon is from Michaels.  The birdcage and bird are grunge board that I cut using a Tim Holtz Alternations die from Sizzix.  I used some Starburst Stains from Lindy's Stamp Gang HERE:  Cocoa Bean Copper for the cage and Winter Jasmine Gold and Tibetean Poppy Teal for the bird.  After this was dried I covered the bird in VersaMark and several coats of UTEE embossing powder.  After it was cooled, I bent and cracked the UTEE on the bird.

It made a great effect - almost looks like the lines of it's feathers.  I added a copper pearl for the eye and some copper brads at the bottom of the cage and I was done.  A happy little spring card to make someone smile. 

Be sure to check out all the things we have going on over at Simply Scrapping Crafts - daily challenges, Copic classes, card workshops, and much more.  Enjoy the rest of the blog hop!

Happy Easter!

Khrystos Voskres! Christ is Risen!

Voyistynu Voskres! Truly He is Risen!

 

 

Happy Easter!

 



A new Clean and Simple Challenge

Hello blogland!  This week has just flown by and I have a new CAS challenge to share with you from Simply Scrapping Crafts.  Our challenge this week was to use paper piecing on a project and I had a blast with this one.  Here's my project:

I chose a My Favorite Things Pure Innocence Stamp for this project.  I stamped it once on white cardstock then stamped it again on this DCWV patterned paper and carefully cut out just the dress and after coloring the original stamped image with copic markers, I added the cut piece right on top.  Easy peasy!  I added some Stampin' Up chocolate chip ribbon, a few I Am Roses mini roses that I edged with Distress ink, rounded the card corners and I was done!
Come check out the other great inspiration samples for this week's CAS challenge at Simply Scrapping Crafts HERE and the great prize from this month's sponsor My Favorite Things.

A tisket, a tasket, a little Easter basket

Hello blogland!  First, I want to wish a happy 25th birthday to my daughter Amy!  My post from yesterday didn't post for some reason, so this is a belated shout-out to my birthday girl:

Next, here's a cute little Easter basket all ready for some treats.  I made it for this week's Cricut Challenge over at Simply Scrapping Crafts.

This week's challenge was to make a project using these features on the Cricut: Fit to page; Fit to length; or Real Dial size.  I used the Easter 2010 cartridge to make this simple little basket and used the Fit to Page feature.  Easy peasy!  Be sure to stop by Simply Scrapping Crafts each day for another great challenge! 

New Stamps at Stampers Best

Hello blogland!  It's another cold, rainy day in NJ - so much for spring!  But what better way to spend a rainy day then playing with new stamps!  I've been playing with some new stamp sets from Stampers Best - have you checked them out lately?  Take a peek at these:

Butterfly collage

Spring Tiles

Grunge Chandelier

These are just a few samples of the new releases at Stampers Best that you can find HERE.  They offer deeply etched red rubber stamps either mounted or unmounted and the best cling cushion made - I love it!  Are you in the mood for a sale?  If you sign up for a FREE Premium Membership and enter the coupon code mbs10off during check out you'll save 10% off your first order- easy peasy!  Go check out Stampers Best - you won't be sorry!  Later this week I'll have some completed projects using my new stamp sets.

A new Clean and Simple Challenge

Hello blogland!  Ah, finally Friday!  This week just flew by :)  I have another Clean And Simple project to share with you today from the weekly CAS Challenge at Simple Scrapping Crafts.  The challenge this week was chosen by the very talented Amy Everson and she chose a monochromatic theme.  I thought that would be simple....until I got started.  I wanted to reach for different colors, but instead chose shades of orange:

Card Recipe: Stampin' Up and DCWV cardstock; misc. stamps; My Favorite Things lace border; Prima embellishments; glue dots and 3m glue.

Once I got going, this challenge was really fun!  Please stop by SSC and check out the other great inspiration projects from my fellow CAS team members HERE.  Our sponsor for this challenge this month is My Favorite Things and they've given us a great prize for one random winner. While you're there check put the other great weekly challenges - there's something for everyone! There's even a Design Team Call still going on for a few more weeks.



I'm having the best week :)

Hello blogland!  I'm just having the best week - how about you?  I can hardly believe it - I've gotten another lovely blog award this week from the fabulously talented Lisa at Paws4thought.  She is the new Copic Challenge Director at Simply Scrapping Crafts and one of the nicest people - please go check out her blog and leave her some love.

This special award comes with the rules that I must follow in order to accept this award.

• Thank the person that gave this award to me and link it back to their blog.
• Share 8 things about myself.
• Pass this award to 8 other individuals that I have recently discovered and am inspired by.
• Leave a comment on their blogs so that they can pass along the recognition!
• Pass along an award of recognition to some other lucky stylish bloggers out there.

Ok, here we go:

1. I love to cook, but cannot make a good hard boiled egg.
2. I kicked a very bad coffee habit about 10 years ago, but still crave it
3. I have a very bad paper hoarding problem
4. Chocolate still gives me a migraine headache - sad, right?
5. My newest craft obsession is Copic markers
6. My newest Kindle book is "Water for Elephants"
7. I'd rather be outside playing in the dirt than inside playing in my craft room (sometimes)
8. I'm the foster mother to a box turtle and 4 of her babies

I'm going to leave this lovely blog award up for grabs for any of my followers, it's just too hard to choose who to give it to and I think you all deserve it.  Thanks again Lisa, I'm honored and grateful.

My First Tilda Stamp

Hello blogland!  Wow - this week is just flying by!  Here it is Wednesday already :)  I want to share a card I made with my very first Magnolia stamp - meet Tilda:

I had such a ball coloring this little cutie!  I entered her into a bi-monthly challenge over at Simply Scrapping Crafts in the Magnolia Lovers Group HERE.  Stop by and see all the lovely creations from these talented artists!

Simply Scrapping Crafts is still looking for a few more Design Team Members.  Go HERE for all the details:



It's wonderful place filled with talent, challenges and friendship - stop by and join us!

Ready for Easter Goodies

Hello blogland!  I have another little project to share with you - it's my project for this week's Cricut Challenge over at Simply Scrapping Crafts:

Our challenge this week is to show the differences in using the correct speed, blade depth and pressure.  Here's the project recipe:

• Die cutter: Cricut Expression
• Cartridge: Easter 2010
• Size cut: 2.5"
• Pressure: vellum, 3; cardstock, 4
• Speed: vellum, 3; cardstock, 4
• Blade depth: vellum, 3; cardstock, 6

Easy peasy when you take just a minute to use the correct settings.  Please stop by SSC HERE and join in the Cricut challenge this week!

A new Clean and Simple Challenge

Hello blogland!  Boy am I behind in my blog posting this week - I have a new Clean and Simple challenge to share with you over at Simply Scrapping Crafts.  Our challenge this week was to make either a card or layout based a this sketch and here's my card:

This was a fun challenge - I wanted to use several punches and dies for this card and I used three.  The scallop border on the left and the yellow rose were made using metal Die-namics dies from My Favorite Things - I love 'em!  They cut so well, so clean through so many different materials.  I used thick yellow felt for the rose and the Die-namics cut through it like butter!  For the three small top note shapes I used a Stampin' Up punch and added some Prima bling.

Be sure to stop by at SSC and check out all the challenges we have going on and come join the fun!  See you there!

A lovely blog award

Hello blogland!  How's your weekend going so far?  They sure do fly by fast, don't they?

I got such a lovely surprise when I read the comments on my last blog post - The Versatile Blogger Award from the very talented and oh-so-nice Yvonne at OneCreativeMama.


Thanks so much Yvonne - I'm honored!  The rules to accepting this award are to thank the sender, tell 7 crafty things about yourself and share this award with 10 fellow bloggers.  Ok, here we go:

1. I have a paper hoarding problem :)
2. I also have a stamp hoarding problem, but I love to use my stamps
3. I'm finally done removing my wood mount stamps from the wood blocks and have them all stored in CD cases and they're all catalogued
4. Sometimes my ATG gun and I don't get along too well
5. I love my Cricut and Gypsy but don't use them nearly enough
6. I could color all day with my Copic markers
7. My newest favorite tool are Die-namics metal dies from My Favorite Things

After making my list I saw that it was just about the same list as Yvonne's, so I'm putting this award up for grabs to any of my followers who would like it.  Be sure to stop by Yvonne's blog and check out her beautiful work! 

Another CAS Challenge on SSC

Hello blogland and happy Sunday!  I didn't get a chance to post this yesterday but I have another Clean and Simple card to share with you:

I made it for this week's CAS Challenge over at Simply Scrapping Crafts - go check them out HERE.  I used one of my new favorite Die-namics dies from My Favorite Things and you can find them HERE - it's the 1/4" Rosette die and is so easy to use.  After I cut out the 2 strips, I used a Martha Stewart Eyelet Border Punch on one side, shaped the flower, secured it with a glue dot at the bottom and under the button and viola - done!  The border strips at the top of the page were scraps and match the colors on the button in the center of the flower.

Be sure to stop over and join the fun at SSC - we have a great new sponsor in the CAS Challenge this month: My Favorite Things and they will be sending a $25 gift voucher to a random winner drawn on May 1.  Plus the call is still on for a few more Design Team members so stop by and check it out!