CASE du jour

You may recall I had to put my sweet kitty down 2 weeks ago. :( I got many beautiful cards, and I thank you all. It meant a lot to me. One of my sweetie-head Tweeps, Miss Lisa of Papergrace Designs, sent me this amazing card:

What's not to love? A heart with tiny kitty foot prints on it and a rainbow of baker's twine. Check out those eyelets! I smelled a CASE, because, sadly, I sell a lot of pet sympathy cards at my markets.

I played with my idea last night and this is what came out:

The sentiment was sent to me by another Tweep, and I adore it! What a wonderful way to think about the part of your life that was shared by your beloved pet.

My hearts were punched with the small SU heart punch (!); the rest of the images are from the Lawn Fawn Critters in the 'Burbs set. Since I'm working in about 3 square inches of space on my table, I've been pulling remnants from the table to try and disappear them, so the dog was stamped on a piece of water color paper - hey, it was there. I'd never colored with Copics on water color paper, but I like it! I'll do a more serious experiment another time; last night it was just a matter of convenience. :)

In hindsight, I don't like those knots in the twine. My next version of this card will have a raised white layer so I can wrap the twine and stick it to the back and not have it show. Tonight. I'll make that one tonight. Heck, everything is still out ...

Speaking of tonight, it's THE WEEKEND! Whoot!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sketchy Sunday {TG015} + Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger

It all started with this week's picture for the Moxie Fab World: Tuesday Trigger: Porch Play:

HELLO! I saw Poppy Parade, Baja Breeze and Daffodil Delight. My mind went into high gear, and it's been there for 2 days. I also remembered this week's Sketchy Sunday sketch from Tiff's blog:

Aaaaaaaaaaand, I remembered my new MFT items out on my desk. Several of you commented about them yesterday, and I believe I saw the word "covet" more than once. Too bad. MINE!

After several false starts with the MFT doily die, this came out:

In fact, it came out almost as I'd planned it. Well, except that I didn't get the quadrant thing right and the doily was off, so I had to trim the card, so it's a little short. Oh, well, I meant to do that, right? ;/

The deets:

MFT doily die used to cut a piece of SU Baja Breeze DSP, probably retired.
PTI dies used to cut the three flowers out of a piece of SU Poppy Parade DSP.
SU Daffodil Delight button is actually 4 die-cut buttons glued together for dimension.
SU white baker's twine, Baja Breeze ribbon, sentiment (SAB), and card base.

I'm pretty happy with it. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

WOTT & WOYWW (got 'em all covered)

There's a new kid on the block! The Crafty Frugalista has started a new blog feature called What's On Tap Tuesday (WOTT), which is the equivalent of the current Stamping Ground's WOYWW, but on Tuesday, and on this side of the pond. And if they get enough players, they might even have prezzies.

Why am I telling you about it? Because I like taking one for the team SO MUCH, I've jumped into that pool with both feet. AND, because I haven't gotten crafty since my Stamp Camps, so I have nothing else to share with you.

Let us begin.

Here is my craft table this evening:


It's just as bad, if not worse, than last week's WOYWW, with the addition of a recent MFT order, still untouched. Let's take a closer look at the new goodies:

Yes, I was weak. And I do have a plan for at least one of those dies, and it hope it sees paper this week. While we're here, let me show you that stamp peeking out on the bottom left:

Two stamps from Whiff of Joy that I had to have, and have not seen ink yet. I'm absolutely certain someone in the Blogosphere enabled me to need these and I purchased them, from the UK, I think.

In hindsight, I think I'll call this a BUNCH of potential. A B U N C H.

So what's on YOUR craft table? Come on, show us if you dare! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Hambo Hoedown #10 - Greatest of EASE...L

Once again, I'm doing last week's Hambo Hoedown challenge the day before the deadline. I took this afternoon off of work so I could finish and file my taxes before tonight's Stamp Camp, and I found I had enough time to make the Hambo challenge card! Yay!

Here is this week's image (free to players from last week):

I immediately went through my stack of printed (and un-used) sketch challenges and decided on this one - FTL135 from Clean & Simple:

Here is the first card I made:

As I went to post it, I realized I'd once again NOT READ THE WHOLE THING and forgot it was an easel card challenge. I mean, look at the title: He Flies Through The Air With The Greatest of EASE...L Um, it's in the freakin' title! Sigh. But never fear! I am the queen of the save! Observe:

Ta-da! An easel card. Yeah, so what if I had to go to the link at Splitcoast to look up how to do it. Actually, I think I should get extra points for using my still-unused-before-today edger die from PTI since I used it TWICE here - once on the outside and once for the inside piece that saved me and made this into an easel card.

I may even sneak this card in to the Simon Says Stamp "use Spring colors" challenge. Yes, I may.

AAAAAND, every piece of paper on this card, except for the base, is from the Heaplet. I win. :)

Let's hope that next week I read the whole challenge before I start the card. Hey, first time for everything, right? ;/

Thanks for stopping by!

Jingle Belles Rock - Week 15

I think I've got it this time. This week's Jingle Belles Rock challenge was to use the following elements on a card:

1 - as white as a ghost
2 - a present
3 - a bow or knot
4 - a touch of traditional Christmas colours

And where my first attempt earlier this evening was only 50% there, I think I've nailed it this time:


Present - check. Bow - check. Mostly white - check. A touch of traditional colors - check. Bada-bing, bada-boom.

Okay, then, let's talk details. The prezzie is the Hero Arts Antique Brocade (thank you for the enablement, Libby - I love this stamp!) stamped in Versamark onto SU Naturals White card stock and embossed with white EP. I stamped two of them, and cut one up for the prezzie "lid". The edges of both pieces for the box were inked in Old Paper Distress ink. The ribbon is from my last OMG I NEED MORE RIBBON moment. I love that it's two-sided! The other piece of SU Naturals White card stock was embossed with the SU Finial Press folder, and I turned it over so the flat side is up. I stuck the whole thing to a Kraft card base, and put teeny tiny red and green bling in the impressions of the embossed image. The tag was a last-minute thang so I could use the 'merry' sentiment from my SU Tiny Tags set and my maybe-used-for-one-class Jewelry Tag punch. There. I've justified their purchase. ;/

Ooooh, I did both heat-embossing and dry-embossing on one card! Sweet.

Okay, that's it for tonight. Tomorrow I plan to work on my taxes some more (I'm up to charitable donations, and my records are all over the place... you know, online giving is one thing, but finding those receipts later? Gah!), get a mani/pedi (because I'm worth it), and prep for my Stamp Camps which are Sunday and Monday. In between all of that I plan to reward myself by doing a few more challenges. I hope.

Thanks for stopping by!

(Not Quite) Jingle Belles Rock - Week 15

You people may not believe me when I say I need a keeper, but I do. I was so happy with the card I made for this week's Jingle Belle's challenge, but I FAILED TO READ THE DIRECTIONS! As a result, this card doesn't qualify, but since I made it, I'm posting it anyway. Here you go:


What's wrong, you ask? The challenge specifically stated to include these elements:

1 - as white as a ghost
2 - a present
3 - a bow or knot
4 - a touch of traditional Christmas colours

Do you see a present? No. Do you see a bow or a knot? No. Sigh. This card actually doesn't lend itself to the prezzie element anyway, so I can't even add it. Okay, I'm going back in to try again. Grrrr.

Thanks for stopping by!

Moxie Fab World: Tuesday Trigger - A Burst of Blooms, Part Deux

I went in for round 2 for the Moxie Fab World: Tuesday Trigger - A Burst of Blooms. Last night's card was not what I really wanted to do, so I tried again tonight. Still not what I wanted, but it is what it is.

Here's the trigger again:



This time I used one of the new 3-way punches that will be available in the SU Summer Mini. One punch, three coordinating shapes. Looove! Here's my card:

See those fleurs? They are made of 2 of the 3 punch shapes from one of the new punches. That's right! One punch - three shapes. The bottom layers of the fleurs are the solid shape, the top layers are the "middle" shape - just a little detail. The third shape (not shown here) is way more detailed, almost like a tiny doily. I would have used that shape for my top layer, but the Dimensional was clearly visible through the mostly-open center of the punched shape. (duh)

The leaves are cut from another of the solid shapes. The clouds are the top of the cup cake punch. And did you notice: I used eyelets. I DID!

This is still not what I had in mind, but I can't seem to get THAT to work. There's still time. Or I could move on. I need some irreverence in my week. Yes, I can feel it rising to the surface. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Moxie Fab World: Tuesday Trigger - A Burst of Blooms

Another Tuesday (past, of course) and it's time for another Moxie Fab World: Tuesday Trigger. This week they gave us this photo:

I've thought about it all day while I was attending The Day Job. It reminded me of my Grandmother's granny square blankets, so I pondered that option. That led to quilts, and I thought about my PTI quilt set. Then I thought about the "flow" and how it wasn't all square. Then when I got home, my SU Pre-order from the upcoming Summer Mini was on my doorstep. (squee!) Then I sat down to craft, and I did something completely different. I did this:

(Sorry about that glare. I suk as a photographer.)

I'm not sure you can even tell, but I tried to get the flow-y not-square thing with that hand-cut piece of white card stock. For the flower element I used a flower stamp from the new pre-ordered SU Fabulous Florets set. The bright colors (GAH, I KNOW!) are the three (THREE) new SU embossing powders from the Summer Mini. Looooooooove them. The Wild Wasabi card stock is embossed with one of the two folders from the Sizzix Country & Flowering Foliage Set (not SU). I needed to use them, you see, because I discovered I actually have two sets of the embossing folders. Sigh. I smell a give-away coming soon to a blog near you.

The sentiment is from the same SU stamp set, and the buttons are from a pack of Bo Bunny buttons that just happened to be out on my desk and the green was a PERFECT match. Being a perfect match , it disappeared into the background, so I had to add a few more buttons, not only for contrast, but to make sure it was un-mailable in anything other than a bubble envelope. ;/

Oh, notice that string I tied through the buttons? That is also SU. Mmm-hmm. We'll carry two colors of baker's twine AND plain white. You can die it any color you want to do the matchy-matchy, but tonight I wanted white.

And those poorly-placed leaves? Sigh. I try, I really do. ;/ Handy tip: Don't rock your stamp so you end up with Versamark and embossing powder where you don't want it, and you resort to drastic embellishment antics in an effort to hide the grievous errors. Just a suggestion.

So that's my card for the Moxie Fab challenge. Okay, it's my first card. I have another idea that might actually work out a little better. We'll see.

Thanks for stopping by!

WOYWW96

This post (second one this evening!) is for this week's What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday (WOYWW) #96. I've never played this before officially, though I have revealed the mess that is my stamping space. Many, many times I've revealed it. It may get straightened, but it has never been clean. Okay, the day I set up the table it was clean, but not since then.

So today I'm taking the plunge, and in addition to just blogging it, I'm going to link to it over at Stamping Ground, so more than my three (maybe four) readers can share in what all we stampers know is "situation normal". I love taking one for the team.

And here it is:

That is actually an incredible amount of grid paper showing. Seriously. Okay, let's do the numbers:

From left to right:

1. Three (3) metal tins of chalk pencils. I've sharpened them all and used them not quite once. I promised someone I'd make something using them, so I cannot possibly be expected to put them away.
2. The "Come let us ignore you" stamp I used on my card for this week's Jingle Belles Rock challenge. Not clean, not put away.
3. The stamps I just used to make the card-in-progress.
4. Some Maya Road chipboard silhouettes that Lydia (of Understand Blue) enabled me to purchase. *shakes fist towards TX*
5. Some Bo Bunny buttons that got opened and used on that card-in-progress.
6. My black Memento ink. I <3 that stuff.
7. Pens and markers. Usually this spot is reserved for my Memento black and brown markers and my white gel pen. It now holds, in addition to those, about 10 more Memento markers I got during my last LSS shopping event, and my gelly roll glitter pen. I'm not quite sure where to store those Memento markers, so there they sit.
8. The three (3) new colors of SU Embossing Powder that will be available in the Summer Mini. I just used them on that card-in-progress.
9. Copic markers I used to make my Hambo Hoedown card. Those will be put away tonight. Really!
10. A new punch from the SU Summer Mini that I have staged to use next.
11. The card-in-progress for my Moxie Fab World: Tuesday Trigger - A Burst of Blooms card that I posted earlier.

So there you have it: my workspace. It's mine, and I love it, mess and all.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hambo Hoedown #9 - Bright and Hot!

Once again, I'm slipping this in under the wire. Stoopid taxes have distracted me for two days. So ANYway, this week's image for the Hambo Hoedown challenge is this cutie-patootie caterpillar:


We were also supposed to use HOT PINK and BRIGHT GREEN. Hot pink, AGAIN?!?!?! What is this evil plot with blogosphere challenges lately to force me to use (gah) pink?!?!?!

I rummaged through the Heaplet looking for anything with pink and green in it, and found some remnants I'd used from two other cards to make this:

It's tough to tell because of my lack of photography skills, but there is glitter pen on his antennae and the spots on his back. I guess you'll have to trust me on that one. ;/ Oh, and do you like the 84 different shades of (gah) pink I used?

The good news is I opened and used that fun word set from Sale-A-Bration. I think I''ll get a lot of use out of it, too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think Turbo Tax has finished loading, and I must get that stuff done today. My life rocks.

Thanks for stopping by!