Happy Birthday- Sketch Saturday #315

I've been busy making cards again and I am back with one to share.  This week I was inspired by the sketch at Sketch Saturday:

I pulled out one of my older kits of paper for this one.  I had picked up some glittery iridescent embossing powder at a garage sale last week and decided to use that on here.  I stamped the design and then sprinkled it with the powder.  It is hard to see in this photo, but it gave it a really pretty shine! I finished it off by stamping the sentiment and attaching the brads. 

Happy Birthday- My Scraps and More Mini Challenge #3

Good morning!  Today I am sharing another card.  This card was inspired by the Got Talent mini challenge last week. The challenge was: ADD a title or sentiment to your FRAME, USE a border punch somewhere on it.

Well, this meant another hunt for a frame!  This time I found one in the sample of paper I received from the Prima booth a couple of years ago at Scrapfest.  I stamped my sentiment on a scrap from cutting out the frame and then tore around it and attached it to my frame.  I also fussy cut the pink decorative frame and the bird stamp from the same set.  I used a border punch and a flower punch on a coordinating piece of blue paper.  For the background, I dry embossed a piece of Bazzill Bling paper.  I sanded it and and then inked it a bit to give it the same feel as my embellishments.

Easter Fun- My Scraps Got Talent Challenge #3

Amid all of my card making, I was able to complete a layout!  I won the May kit from Scrapbook Circle in a giveaway on the Bella Blvd. blog and I have been itching to break into the kit and create something with it!

I was inspired by this week's My Scraps Got Talent challenge: you are going to use AT LEAST FIVE bold, and different type of pattern papers on your page (that means each paper has to have a DIFFERENT print on it. so not two different papers with stripes, I want to see FIVE different patterns)

AND add a frame on your page (But NOT around your photo)

This didn't sound so hard until I started rummaging around and realized I don't have much for frames in my stash and there weren't any in the kit either! I ended up finding a wood veneer one and coloring it with some Gelatos.  The other things that I added from my stash were a couple of spray inks, the bunny stickers and the journaling spot.

As you can probably tell, I decided to do the misting AFTER I had my photos and papers attached.  I used pieces of scratch paper to mask off what I didn't want sprayed.  I had mixed results.  In the bottom left, the mist bled underneath the paper (I used a little too much mist).  In the top right, my paper wasn't lined up quite right and there is a white border around my patterned paper.  For the challenge, I used 5 patterned papers, 1 for each quadrant of the layout and strips of the 5th to run across the center and pull it all together.

Materials- 

Cardstock- Bazzill

Patterned Paper- American Crafts, Pink Paislee, Heidi Swapp

Die cuts and transparencies- Heidi Swapp

Stickers- Me and My Big Ideas, American Crafts

Mask- Heidi Swapp

Inks- EK Success, Ranger

Journal Spot- Making Memories

Pen- Zig

Love- CAS(E) This Sketch

Hello!  It's been a busy week here.  I have completed a few projects, but haven't had time to post them until now.  I am starting with an anniversary card I made for my husband.  Our 10th anniversary was Thursday!

I was inspired by the challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch this week.  It is a combined challenge with Fusion which is a blog that combines sketches with photo inspiration challenges.  Here is the photo and sketch inspiration for the week:

The colors in the photo immediately inspired me to pull out the Basic Grey "Porcelain" collection.  I stamped some swirls on the background paper and heat embossed them with gold.  I also heat embossed and fussy cut the butterfly.  I inked the edges of my background and banner with Forest Moss Distress Ink.  I was inspired by the gold cord wrapped around the napkin in the photo.  I took some gold thread and wrapped in around my banner for the card. I used my Cricut to cut the sentiment and I added some Platinum Stickles for some sparkle.

Congrats Grad

We were invited to two graduation parties this year.  Unfortunately, we were unable to make it to either as we had prior plans.  We did send a card to each of the lovely graduates though!  I again made two cards that were to same because it is just quicker.  I was inspired by the paper that I pulled out for this one.  It is some patterned paper I have had for quite a while, and I am trying to use up.  I also pulled out my Stamping Gear to make the half circle.  As you can see, I alternated colors of ink as I went around the circle. To color the cap, I wet down a brush and picked up some color from the corner of a Distress ink pad and painted in the cap.  I used the same colors for the sentiment.

Father's Day- Mojo Monday #349

I have another Father's Day card to share today.  I actually made two of these, one for my dad and one for my father-in-law.  These cards were inspired by this week's sketch at Mojo Monday:

I used some My Mind's Eye patterned paper and washi tape for the majority of this card.  I stamped the sentiment and the image on the circle with Versa Mark and used gold embossing powder on them.  I gave the flag with the sentiment a bit of dimension by popping it up on some foam adhesive.

Father's Day- Bitten by the Bug 2

Hello all!  Guess what?!  I have more cards to share! Today I am sharing a Father's Day card that was inspired by the challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2- make a Father's Day card using a Cricut cut.  Easy enough, right?  I have a couple of newer cartridges that have some great masculine/ Father's Day cuts that I was itching to try out.  I ended up selecting this car from the Holiday Cakes cartridge as well as the license plate cut from the same cartridge.  I stamped my sentiment on the licence plate and stuck a couple of "Phillip's head" brads through the holes.

Have a great day!

Sketch Saturday- Whooo's 2?

I'm back with another birthday card, this time for my niece who's 2nd birthday we celebrated this past weekend.  I was inspired by the Sketch Saturday sketch:

I have a bunch of collections that I am reaching the bottom of and this is one of them.  I love the bright colors, especially for a toddler's birthday card.  I fussy cut the owl from one of the patterned papers.  I made the circle background with a mask and some Distress Ink.  After I had attached the owl, I went over the eyes with some Glossy Accents to make them shine.

Anniversary card- My Scraps and More Love Challenge

I am back with another card to share.  This time it is an anniversary card.  I didn't use a sketch either, but this is kind of one of my go-to designs. 

My Scraps and More has their summer "Got Talent" contest going on and the mini challenge for last week was to make a loved themed project using products that were a least a year old.  I used some Basic Grey "Porcelain" which is a few years old.  The rose sticker is from another Basic Grey collection that is even older.  The rose sticker is where I started with this card.  Then I layered some green papers for the background, and added a couple of strips of grey tape. I felt like the flower sticker needed something to make it stand out more, so I fussy cut a flower from the green background paper.  I popped up the rose with some foam tape and added some clear glitter glue around it for some sparkle.  Finally, I stamped the sentiment and cut the banner.

CAS(E) this Sketch #79- Happy Birthday

If you have followed my blog for a while, you may recall that there are A LOT of birthdays and anniversaries in our families in the months of June and July, which results in me posting lots of cards during that time.  Well, get ready, because here they come!

The card I am sharing today is a card for my sister, who turns 30 today, and is based on sketch #79 at CAS(E) this Sketch:

This sketch was perfect to use up my scraps from my June calendar layout.  To make this card, I dry embossed the background cardstock and swiped some white Distress Stain over it to accentuate the texture.  Then I stuck on the scraps.  I stamped the sentiment and mounted that piece on some navy cardstock.  I popped that piece up with some foam tape. There you have it, a quick card that used up my scraps!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 6-8-14

I have my photos ready to go again this week.  It was the last week of school and the weather was amazing!

Denim (or lack thereof)

I guess we don't wear a lot of denim around here.  I went back a few weeks and couldn't find a photo of anyone in denim!  The closest we have is the khaki skirt my oldest is wearing below as part of her school uniform.  This photo is from the last day of school.  I am also participating in the Photo Connections class at Big Picture classes and one of our assignments was to take a photo of a group and have them get close to form some visual connections.  

Fuel
We went to the zoo on Wednesday.  The radiated tortoises were eating some breakfast when we walked by.

Light
This female grey wolf was laying under some trees.  She happened to lay with one eye in the spot of light, and I caught it!  I love how it accentuatess the color of her eye.

Perspective
There is a splash pad at the zoo.  We brought the swimsuits and the kids had a blast playing in the water.  I took this shot of my youngest as he was on the other side of the splash pad area.

Watch
We celebrated Father's Day a week early because we will be spending the actual day of Father's Day with friends.  Here my oldest is watching my husband read what she had written about him at school.

June Calendar Page

Well, I was a little slow getting this done this month, but it's done!  I found the blog, "Stick It Down" a while back and bookmarked them, because they have monthly two page sketches!  And they are a lot of fun!  Check out the one that was posted May 27th:

I used some more of the Fancy Pants "Collecting Moments" for this layout.  I love the pretty colors accented with the navy!  As you can see, I followed the sketch pretty closely, except for the placement of the journaling. I had a lot for this month, so I spread it over the entire page. When I ordered this collection, I also ordered some button and chipboard accents, which I used here, along with some buttons from my stash.

Materials:
Cardstock- American Crafts, Die Cuts With a View
Patterned Paper and Stickers- Fancy Pants
Buttons- Fancy Pants, Jesse James Co., and Oriental Trading Co.
Ink- Tsukineko, Ranger
Embossing Powder- JoAnn Crafts
Font- Fawn Script
Eyelets- Making Memories
Stamps- KI Memories, Hero Arts
Gem- Michael's

My Scraps and More Sketch #84- five

A new sketch was posted today at the My Scraps and More Sketch blog!  This week is a single photo layout, which I don't do often, but this one came together pretty fast!

I use single-photo sketches mostly for portraits and this one was no exception.  This is my oldest daughter's 5-year portrait.  I decided to go with pale pinks and greens from the old Basic Grey "Porcelain" collection.  I did some stamping on the background cardstock to add some texture and then layered my papers over that.

I found those wings in a grunge board pack I had and decided to make a butterfly out of them.  I first covered them with white Distress Stain, then painted them with some pale green paint, and finished them off with some pink Stickles for some sparkle.  To make the body, I ran a thick line of Liquid Pearls between them.  I finished the cluster off with some flowers and gems.

Make sure you stop by the blog and check out what the rest of the team did!

Materials:

Cardstock- Die Cuts with a View

Patterned Paper and Stickers- Basic Grey

Flowers- KaiserCraft and Prima

Pen- Tsukeniko

Ink- Clearsnap, American Crafts, Ranger

Stamps- Stampin Up, Hero Arts

Punch- EK Success, American Crafts

Gems- Jolee's, Michael's

Chipboard- Advantus

Paint- Liquitex, Plaid

Glitter Glue and Liquid Pearls- Ranger

Scrapping Everyday Miracles June Challenges

Yesterday was the first day of June, which means new challenges at Scrapping Everyday Miracles!  We have three challenges, once again.  Here they are:

Challenge #1:  The Theme Challenge

Theme: Each new day is a gift.

Scripture Inspiration:

James 1:17  ^"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

Challenge #2:  The Layout Sketch

I loved all the photos in this sketch, so I had to use it!  I didn't follow the photo sizes, but I did follow the placement for my layout.  I also went with the torn diagonals of paper for my background.  After I had those pieces laid on my plain cardstock, I decided it needed more.  I used a lettering template as a mask since this was a page about school.  

I pulled out (and used) a bunch of rub ons for this layout.  You can see the cluster here:

Challenge #3:  The Card Sketch

I made this card for my in-laws anniversary this past week.  I dry embossed some yellow vellum for my base layer and then added a couple of different patterned papers on top of that.  I stamped the sentiment of a printed piece of chipboard and finished it off with a twine bow.

Make sure you stop by the blog and see what the rest of the team did and play along!

Layout Materials:
Cardstock- Stampin Up
Patterned Paper- My Mind's Eye, American Crafts
Ink- October Afternoon, Studio Calico
Rub ons- Fancy Pants, Hambly
Stickers- October Afternoon, Fancy Pants
Journaling spot- Making Memories
Die Cutter- Provo Craft
Cartridges- Makin the Grade, Cricut Classic Font, Cindy Loo
Flower- Prima
Bards- October Afternoon, Echo Park
Gems- Michael's
Pen- Zig, Sakura

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 6-1-14

Wow, can you believe it is June already?!  The weather has finally turned warm here, I even let my husband turn on the AC today. ;)  We have all been enjoying the weather! Great weather means lots of opportunities to take photos for the scavenger hunt!

Make Mine a... Beach!

We had a playdate at a local park this past week.  They had a "story walk" that had a photograph of each letter of the alphabet made out of something in nature and then some more information about that thing.  At the end of the walk was a lake and a beach.  My kids had a blast playing in the sand and water.  My 3 1/2- year-old spent the majority of his time digging and moving sand.

 Quirky
Ugh, my youngest... he is crazy!  I was cleaning the floors last weekend and he saw it as an opportunity to practice his gymnastics skills!  He flipped over that bar on his high chair about a dozen times before he got sick of it.

Morning Ritual

Ah, my darling youngest... again.  I spend a good part of every morning before we take my oldest to school trying to convince my 3 1/2-year-old to 1) finish his breakfast and 2) clean up his dishes.  I was not persistent enough this day and Mr. Pickles (his nickname) found it and finished the yogurt and made a lovely mess.

What Were They Thinking?
This is another shot from the park playdate.  I KNEW there was a beach at this park, but I didn't pack any swim clothes.  My 2nd oldest (in the front) had a very wet skirt by the time it was time to go home...

What's in Your... Backpack?
I am testing this baby carrier for a local market research company.  I used it for our "story walk" to keep my always adventurous youngest contained.  He seemed to enjoy it, even though he doesn't look too thrilled here.