Beach Bubbles!

It's the third Monday of May and time for a themed challenge over on the Cards in Envy blog that I host.  For this challenge, I picked the theme of "Make Your Own Background."  There are MANY fun ways to make your own background.  You'll want to check our our blog post on Cards in Envy to see all the wonderful and different ways the Design Team made their own background for their card creations and for details on how they did it! Be sure to visit the blogs of each Design Team member.  There is a link above each one's card along with their name and blog name in the Cards in Envy post.

For my card, I decided to do a technique I learned from Operation Write Home.  I don't remember who to give credit to as I'm not sure if it was a technique tutorial or on a blog hop or what,  BUT I did file it away in my mind to use it some day and it was perfect for this card!  I took small bubble wrap and folded it  into a size that was easy to hold on to and pressed it down into some Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise ink.  Then I stamped a white card background with the inked bubble wrap!  I love the look this left and instantly knew I wanted to use an adorable beach digi from Di's Digi Stamps.  I colored her up with my Copic Markers.

Copic Coloring List:

• Skin E00+E02+E13+R81
• Hair Y00+Y21+Y23
• Hat E41+E43
• Swimsuit R81+R83+R85
• Trim on Swimsuit R00
• Sand Pail Y04+Y06+Y08+B24+B28
• Sand E30+E31+E34
• Sailboat R46
• Sail YR82+YR68
• Ocean B01+B04+B06
• Sky B0000

The banner is cut from My Mind's Eye Kate & Co. "Cambridge Ct." and the brads are from the same collection. So summery! Perfect for a beach card!

This was a fun and simple card to make, but perfect for mailing! And perfect for the Cards in Envy challenge!!  The challenge runs through June 2nd so you have lots of time to make a fun background of your own and share with us!  Hope to see you there!

Pillows, Cushions, Classes Oh My!

It's been a busy week!  

I spent the afternoon on Sunday, Mother's Day, experiencing quality time with my daughter by sewing cushions for her vintage camper. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the day.   She helped with the measuring, cutting and pinning and gave me moral support while I did the sewing.  We still have three more small cushions to cover this afternoon and/or tomorrow.  Last night before the numerous thunderstorms hit, I finished sewing the throw pillows.  They turned out really cute and I love the fabric she chose!

We only had rain, lightning and a bit of small hail here at our house last night. But some neighboring towns suffered lots of damage with many homes damaged by wind and large hail or demolished by the tornadoes.  Many people were hurt and so far six have died in these storms.  I feel so sad for those people.  So many different areas were hit by these ferocious storms.  In a situation like that you have to stay alert and listen to the weather reports to try and follow where the storms are headed and still it can take you by surprise.

On another note, I'm excited to share that I will be teaching a mini album class at my local scrapbook store, Cat's Creations Scrapbooks in June!  At the recent retreat, many ladies wanted to know how I made my hidden hinge albums so I contacted Cat and made arrangements with her to teach the class.  I will be working with My Mind's Eye "Find Your Wings And Fly" Collection using the "Up & Away" paper kit.  I'm excited to work on this album this weekend so I'll have photos to share for Cat's Event page.  A few ladies have already signed up for the class!  Here's a sneak peek of some of the papers and stickers I will be using.

There will be two options for this class.  You can sign up for the session to make the album using Bazzill cardstock and chipboard which is the "Bare Bones" class.  Then you can sign up for the "Pimp it Up" class on the same day and decoorate your album pages with the above paper kit (included with your kit fee.)  Or you can take your assembled album home and use your own papers or a different collection to make it in a style that you like.  I think this will be so much fun and if you are a local peep in North Texas, check out Cat's Creations Scrapbooks facebook page and click on EVENTS.  The class size is limited because of the details in creating the album hinge, spine, cover and pages, so don't wait too long to sign up!

Oh yes! I forgot one other thing I've been doing this week!  Re-vamping my blog!!  After having the same header and background for several months I decided I needed something different.  So I bought an inexpensive blog background and header.  But then felt the header was too plain for me so I took different photos of various craft projects I've done and made a collage for my header.  I'm liking it!  The background and fonts and blog post titles and sub-headings in the side bar are still from the set I bought at Beautiful Dawn Designs.

Have a crafty happy day and my thoughts and prayers are with all who were affected by the storms.

Flowers and More Flowers Mid-Challenge Inspiration!

Hello! Wow! It's hard to believe the month of May is half over!  Today I'm sharing a gorgeous card created by one of my Top Three Winners from the April Challenge!   Pat K of Paper, Markers, Ink, Oh My! graciously agreed to make a card as a Guest Designer and what a design!  This card earns a double WOW (with capital letters) from me! Simply gorgeous! I hope Pat's stunning card will inspire you to join in on my May Anything Goes {With a Twist} challenge-create a paper project using "Flowers and  More Flowers (3 or more)."

I love how Pat arranged the flowers on this card along with the adorable image with flowers.  The lace is so pretty and that butterfly is wonderful! And I love, love, love that piece of burlap!! Thank you Pat for creating such a beautiful and inspiring card!

You still have plenty of time to join in on my challenge!  It ends May 30th at 11:59 p.m. Central Time.  To read more about the challenge and find the challenge linky, scroll up to the sticky challenge post above or click  >HERE<.  And  be sure to visit Pat's blog Paper, Markers, Ink, Oh My! for even more inspiration!

Sassy Angel

I didn't add a sentiment to this card as I just couldn't think of what to use with it, so I left it blank.  I think it would work as a miss you, birthday, thinking of you or any occasion card.  I love this image.  This is "Sassy Angel" by Sassy Studios, the sponsor for this fortnight challenge with Seems a Little Sketchy.  Of course I colored her with my Copic Markers.

Copic Coloring List:

• Skin E0000+E00+E11
• Cheeks & Lips R81
• Hair Y15+Y19+E35
• Shoes W5+W1
• Dress YG03+G43
• Wings B00+B01
• Cloud B000+B0000
• Shadow and Background W0+W00
• Halo Y28
• Eyes B21+B32

I love how this card turned out.  I followed Seems a Little Sketchy's  Sketch #39 and used papers from We R Memory Keeper's "Winter Frost" 6x6 paper pad.  I also used a "Gucamole" green cardstock to mat the image and added some gray satin ribbon, sheer white ribbon, a Prima lace flower and two leaf stick pins.

Now, it's your turn!  Create a card following the above sketch and link it up to the Seems a Little Sketchy challenge for sketch #39.   As always, there will be a prize from our sponsor for a random participant plus there's a bonus way for you to enter so be sure to check it out on Seems a Little Sketchy!

In Memory of my Mother

Today's new challenge at Digi Haven is "Mother's Day or Floral."  My mother passed away in April of 2011 and I no longer make Mother's Day cards unless it is for Operation Write home but the deadline for this year was months ago so I made a Floral card for this challenge.  Though it may not say "Mother's Day", it is in memory of my sweet Mother.

Our sponsor for this fortnight challenge is My Grafico and the design team was given the "Fancy Flowers" set to work with.  I chose this lovely poppy and printed it up in two different sizes and colored them with my Copic markers.

Copic Coloring List:

• Poppies R20+R22+R24
• Centers of the Poppies W4+W5+W6
• Leaves YG03+YG63+YG93+YG95

After I colored the poppies, I covered them with Glossy Accents to give them some dimension and to make the color deeper and fussy cut them out.  The papers for this card are from Prima's Doddle Deux 6x6 pad.  I used Queen & Co.Trendy Tape (black with white dots) and yellow rick rack.  The bow is tied from black elastic thread.

So, do you make Mother's Day cards?  If, yes, then come join us for the Digi Haven challenge and if you don't, come share a floral card.  One random winner will receive one Digital Stamp set from My Grafico.

I hope to see you there.  

Live, Laugh, Love

I think that's what we should all do.  Every. Day.  "Live, Laugh, Love."

This was such a simple card to create.  It is made entirely of paper.  The center section is cut from one piece of 6x6 paper with the sentiment and patchwork heart already printed on the paper.  I followed Sketch #4 from Cards in Envy.  The papers are all from Simple Stories "Harvest Lane" 6x6 paper pad.  I used brown cardstock to layer the decorative center and punched the paper flowers from different scraps of cardstock.

We are having another sketch challenge on Cards in Envy and I would love to see what you might create following this sketch:

The challenge runs until May 19th.  Remember a card for the Cards in Envy challenge must be first class postage friendly.  No lumpy bumpy embellishments and no square cards bigger than a 5x5.  The A2 card with a flat design like this one that  I created is perfect for our challenges.

Have a great day!