Mojo Monday #80

Hi everyone! Here's my take on Mojo #80 that I made for a family friend- she and her husband are having their first baby in September :) I used my Cricut again for the die-cut... love this silhouette! The white, aqua, and red papers are K&Co, the green was a Target Halloween paper and the black is from a notebook bought at a dollar store. The sentiment is Hero Arts and the conchos (new to me, they look like brads but the have about 5 short prongs in the back) are Close to my Heart. I also used my Stampin' Up! scalloped circle punch, a circle punch by EK Success, and some Target ribbon. I really like how this card turned out, and I hope Jenn & Mike do too! Thanks for looking ;)

-Suzanne :O )

engagement card

Hi friends :) This is a card I made for my cousin who recently got engaged. She's not a girlie-girl, so I wanted to use a fun/fresh color combo! The patterned paper is K&Co, the aqua and black papers I found in my scrap stash, and I ran the aqua through my Cuttlebug. The white flowers, brad, and epoxy tag are all Making Memories and the ribbons are American Crafts. The inside sentiment is a Fiskars sentiment over a Hero Arts heart (sorry the color is off, it's more lime green in person). Thanks for checking in, hope you like this one!

-Suzanne :O )

Card Patterns #8

Hi everyone! Here's my interpretation of this week's Card Patterns sketch. I made this card for my grandmother's 94th birthday next week. I used all K&Co papers, except for the lace background (DCWV), the beige polka dot (packing from a Making Memories scrapbooking frame) and the cocoa cardstock (WorldWin). The image came from a swap which I cut out with my Fiskars ShapeCutters template, and the sentiment is Hero Arts. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of the rub-on I used for the inside of the card. It matched the picture perfectly... it said:

Here's a posy of flowers,
and a basket too,
with birthday greetings
all for you.

I really like this sketch- I'll probably use it again soon! :D Thanks for peeking in!

-Suzanne :O )

CPS 108

I was in the mood fun a springful card, but I have to stop taking sketches so literally! The green strips are not my style, and they're not even the same size because I was too lazy to measure :( Next time I'll try to think outside the sketch box by using ribbons or something pre-measured ;) Anyway, I used lots of ProvoCraft papers- I bought this pack a year or so ago, but it's really not my style at all. I think I just bought it because it was something like $3 on clearance, but since then I've learned to only buy what I LOVE. Regardless, I think the papers look nice here :) The sticker is K&Co (love the sentiment!) and the ribbon is from Michael's. I used my EK Success border punch again ;)

Hope you like it, thanks for looking!

-Suzanne :O )

Card Patterns #7

Hi everyone! Sorry my picture is blurry- I had a tough time photographing this card b/c I had to take the flash off due to the glossy chipboard oval piece. Anyway, I used lots of scraps on this card:
spring words: DCWV
green gingham: Making Memories
blue scribbless: KI Memories
purple cardstock: WorldWin

The chipboard oval is Miss Elizabeth's (dollar store!), the oval sentiment sticker is Joann's, the glitter on the bunny's nose is Doodlebug and the bunny and ribbon I got in swaps. I don't remember where I got the googlie eyes, but I thought they were a fun touch.

I tried doing this sketch a few nights ago, but I was tired and cranky and it wasn't working for me, so I had to put it away and try again, and I got a much better result than my first try ;) Thanks for checking in, hope you like my interpretation of Card Patterns sketch #7!

-Suzanne :O )

Use It! #3

Heidi won last week's challenge, so she got to pick the criteria for this week:

- Use some eyelets (because I know you all still have some).

***

-Use something more that 1 year old.

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- And just for fun, use something with polka dots!

***

I feel like I lost my "mojo" this week, and I'm not really pleased with this card, but I don't know why. It's just not my best card but I'm posting it anyway. The green paper is by My Mind's Eye, the pink is Stemma and the birthday paper is a scrap I've had *forever* so that's my something-more-than-1-year-old piece. :) The flower shaped chipboard is by Maya Road and the rub-on sentiment is American Crafts. I used my new EK Success border punch and the epoxy cupcake sticker (another item I've had forever) is by American Traditional (I think?). Everything else is Making Memories, including the orange paint I used on the chipboard. It's funny how I used 12 eyelets but when I looked back at the container, it didn't look like I used any at all! That's the thing with eyelets- they go on and on and onnnnn! :) Anyway, maybe you'll like this card more than I do, but either way, thanks for checking in!

-Suzanne :O )

Just Stinking of You

Hi everyone! The super-talented Heidi is being featured on caardvarks (go check it out! it's a sketch challenge sponsored by Hero Arts- how fun is that?!) and I couldn't miss a chance to play along. I made this card for my cousin who's serving in Afghanistan, so if this card makes him smile just for a second, it was worth it ;) The chipboard skunk (how adorable is he?!) and papers are by DCWV (Green Stack), the cardstock is WorldWin and the letters are Making Memories. Super simple card, but I love how it turned out. Huge thanks to Heidi for a fabulous sketch! Thanks for stopping by!! :D

-Suzanne :O )

Mojo Monday #78

Hi friends! I made this card for one of my friends who wasn't feeling well last week, and I used Mojo Monday sketch #78 as a guide. I flipped the sketch, but I'm not sure why as I'm looking at it now! :P Almost everything I used here is from swaps, except for the yellow cardstock (DCWV), the American Crafts ribbon and the copic ciao markers. I bought the markers at my LSS before they closed, and I'm not sure the owner ordered the "right" ones. I think everyone else probably has the regular copic markers... I'm not sure how the ciao ones are different, but it could also be that I don't really know how to use them! :) Anyway, it's not my best card (it's too busy, I know) but hopefully it brightened my friends day. Thanks for taking a peek!

-Suzanne :O )

blog candy challenge winners!

Congratulations to Christine and Jess for winning my very first blog candy! I skipped out on the voting part because I only got three challenges, but since I'm still waiting to hear back from Heidi I figured I would just go ahead with the two challenges that I already completed :) Okay, I'll start with Christine's challenge first:

She asked me to use:
1. a sketch from Sketch Saturday
2. two different Cuttlebug folders
3. pink, yellow, and blue
4. flowers and buttons

The patterned paper is DCWV (Spring Stack), the brackets, "egg hunt" die-cut and green brad are Making Memories, ribbon and pink polka dot flowers are Doodlebug, and the other 2 flowers are Prima. I think there's a lot going on on this card, but I really like it! :) Thanks for the inspiration, Christine, and for introducing me to a new sketch blog!

Next up is Jess, who asked me to use:
1. card patterns sketch #5
2. polka dots and stripes
3. purple, pink, and white
4. flower, buttons, sheer ribbon, shaped brad
I sort of groaned when I saw that Jess wanted me to do sketch #5, since I already had trouble with it, but I figured this could be a good time to redeem myself (and I was right!) :) It's been a loooong time since I left a white border on my cards, but I think it looks nice here, especially since white was one of my colors. I used medium groovy grape cardstock by WorldWin and pink Making Memories paper. I can't remember who made the flower brads, but I thought they were so neat that I never wanted to use them, so cheers to me for breaking my hoarding habit! :D They come with slits so you can tie a ribbon through them, so that's where I sneaked in the sheer ribbon. ;) The image and white ric rac came in swaps, the striped ribbon is from Michael's, and I ran a white punched circle through my Cuttlebug for extra polka dots :) I don't know why I didn't have as much trouble with the sketch this time, but I'm glad Jess made me try again! Thanks for the inspiration! :)

Hope you enjoy my blog candy challenge-inspired Easter cards. Thanks again, ladies, for playing along, I truly appreciate the kicks in the butt you gave me! :D

-Suzanne

PS- Any interest for a challenge blog? I'm toying with the idea... let me know if you have thoughts!

***Blog Candy Challenge***

Hi everyone! Spring is quickly approaching, and so I thought I'd host a little give-away in honor of the gorgeous weather we've been having here in New York! I bought these stamp sets last year, and once I realized I ended up with extras, I knew I wanted to post them as blog candy.

I've been sort of Easter-ed out already since that has been my main focus for making cards lately, so I'm looking to you for inspiration to help me finish the last few! :) You will have until midnight on Friday to post a comment containing the following information:

• 1 sketch (you may create your own or post a link to someone else's)
• 2 patterns and/or textures
  
• 3 colors (they may or may not look good together, but feel free to challenge me!)
• 4 embellishments (it can be 4 of the same embellishment or 4 different embellishments)

I'm not expecting an overwhelming response, so I will make a card for each comment. On Saturday, I will post all of my cards and let the voting start. You (and anyone else who peruses my blog) will have until midnight on Sunday to vote for their favorite card. I will announce the top two winners on my blog Monday morning!

It sounds like a lot for a little prize, but I thought it'd be a fun way to get me amped up again! I hope you'll play along and let me know if you have any questions!

-Suzanne :O )

Use It! challenge #2

Hi friends! I made another Easter card for danni's turn at the challenge on the Use It! blog. She asked us to:

•use spring colors on your card

•use 4 flowers (i have so many of these little flowers, i could create wallpaper with them, so i am challenging you to use @ least 4 flowers from your stash, they can be any size/material)

•use a tag (mine is a sheer one; i love these & have a ton of them in my stash, i don't use them enough. but, you could use any tag, it doesn't have to be a sheer one)

Since I've been Easter card-ing lately, I didn't think the spring color requirement would be a challenge, and I knew once I read the part about using a tag exactly which one I wanted to use. :) Someone had sent it in a swap, and I wanted to make sure I used it this year- I love the little bunny tails! It came with a stick pin through the bow but I took it out b/c I didn't know if it would make it through the mail.

Both patterned papers are from the DCWV Spring Stack and the purple vellum is a scrap that I ran through my Cuttlebug. The flowers also came from swaps, but in order to use 4 flowers I stacked 'em up ;) Since the tag was pre-made, this was a pretty fast card to make. I'm loooooving these challenges, I love using my stash! Yay :) Hope you like my take on the challenge, thanks for stopping in!

-Suzanne :O )

Card Patterns #6

Hello again! I made this for Card Patterns sketch #6, using almost entirely Making Memories supplies (the hippity hoppy sentiment is studio g and the yellow cardstock is a scrap that I ran through my cuttlebug). Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Card Patterns #5

Hi everyone! I made another Easter card using Card Patterns sketch #5 for a guideline. I had a little trouble with this sketch, but I'm not sure why. I think it was the two circles to the side that threw me off. Anyway, the green gingham paper is Making Memories, the Easter words and pink papers are DCWV (Spring Stack) and the rub-on glitter flowers are by Kurio. The egg behind the image is a playing card I bought at the dollar store, and everything is from a swap (see? I have been trying to use up my swap supplies!) I used my Fiskars border punch and colored the image with my watercolor pencils. Hopefully my next card will turn out better than this one! ;)

-Suzanne :O )

Mojo Monday #77

Forget Paas! I found myself a chicken who lays colored eggs! ;) I made this card for this week's Mojo Monday sketch and used mostly Making Memories (Garden Party) supplies. The purple and yellow cardstocks (behind the chicken tag) were scraps, the blue paper is KI Memories and the yellow brads I got in a swap. I added a bit of sheer pink polka dot ribbon and it made for a really quick and fun Easter card. Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by ;)

-Suzanne :O )

pregnancy card

Hi friends! The counselor I work for is a couple months pregnant and we were having a celebratory lunch (same time as Social Worker Week!) so I made this card for her.

The white/black patterned paper is K&Co and the aqua cardstock is DCWV. (The black is from a notebook I bought at the dollar store.) The red paper frill is by Doodlebug, which happened its way onto the card because I had it lying around on my desk and I decided it would work well here AND it would be great to get if off my desk. Yay- I love using things up like that! :D The "so happy for you" sentiment is by Hero Arts and the image is off of the New Arrival Cricut cartridge. I don't use my Cricut as often as I should because I don't have a set place to plug it in, but it came in SUPER handy for this card ;) I chose to leave the image as a silhouette because I think it would have taken something away from the card to give her an outfit and a skin tone, and then it would look like I was trying to recreate Lisa in paper form, and I didn't want to do that. Plus, I think it looks more "mod" to leave the image as a silhouette. Anyway, enough rambling, I hope you like this card as much as I do! :) Thanks for peeking in!

-Suzanne :O )

Use It! Challenge #1

Hi everyone!!! I am SO excited about this post, as it the first challenge at Use It!, which is hosted by the super talented Rae Barthel! The idea behind her challenges is to use what you've got, instead of choosing to use only new products. I think it's really going to help me pay attention to my stash and help clear out some of my old stuff that I don't use as often anymore. I think it's also going to encourage me to see my old stuff as new again, and that's a huge part of being creative isn't it? :)

For this challenge, Rae asked us to:

♦Dig through your stash and use one of your FAVORITE papers♦

♦use something (anything) that you have NEVER used before♦

♦use some ribbon♦

♦use a button♦

I have quickly become a girl who LOVES a challenge, so I got right to it when I got home from work today. I loosely based my card off of Rae's example, and I really love how this card came out.

The pink background paper is Making Memories and the Easter paper (one of my favorites, it's so cute!) is DCWV Spring Stack. I'm thrilled to say that I used up (YAY!) a spool of American Crafts ribbon (green gingham) and the purple ribbon on the buttons is from some sort of packaging that I saved (I love being thrifty!). I was thrilled when I remembered I had these large buttons (foof-a-la Bag o' Buttons- Savannah) I wanted to use up. They're so big they don't fit in my button jars, so they're just sort of hanging around. I think this is exactly what this challenge is supposed to be about! :D The something (anything) that I had NEVER used before is the clear transparency ribbon by Junkitz. I felt I had to put white cardstock behind it so the colors would show up, but all in all, I think it's a pretty fun card and I don't think it looks *old* at all!

I have to say, I was a little disappointed when I saw Rae's example for the challenge- her card didn't look *old* either! LOL I thought to myself, "oh great, this is going to be another one of those blogs where everything looks trendy" but once I finished my card I got the whole point about using old supplies in a new way, so cheers to Rae for helping me think outside the box! I hope you'll check out her blog and participate- the more the merrier! Thanks for stopping by!!!

-Suzanne :O )

Easter challenges...

Hi everyone! This is SO unlike me to be so far ahead of schedule, but I'm loving it! I started working on Easter cards last night, and I used a couple of challenges as guides. The first one is Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #58. Taylor is celebrating her blogaversary this weekend, so you should check out her blog and try to win some freebies! :) Below is the sketch and my take on it:


I got a bunch of stuff in an Easter swap or two last year, and I've really been trying to use up my stash. (See Rae Barthel's post on Monday for the very first Use It! Challenge) The square elements are foam embellishments on top of DCWV cardstock. The easter newsprint, dots and green gingham are from Making Memories' line Garden Party. The yellow patterned paper and purple cardstock were scraps and I jazzed up the purple with my Fiskars Treading Water punch. I used my Fiskars shape cutter for the ovals and used Colorbox chalk inks. The sentiment is a clear Queen & Co stamp (I got a set of 7 or 8 little stamps for something crazy like $2 at the CKC in Hartford last October :D). The aqua ribbon (Target's Club Wedd line) was a total score. I found it on the bottom shelf of my favorite dollar store among the curling ribbons (hello, they are SO not the same!). 15 YARDS for $1. Amazing.
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Okay, on to card #2. I combined two challenges into this one card- the sketch is from Mojo Monday #76 and Caardvarks is challenging us card-makers to use critters on their latest creations, which is hardly a challenge for me as I heart animals. Both sites also have a sweet prizes, so you should check out their blogs too! Here is my entry:



Again, more Making Memories paper and the die-cut is from the same line. More fabbie aqua ribbon, DCWV yellow cardstock, Scrapbook Factory purple beads (? I don't know what to call them- they're plastic dots, really) and a Studio G stamped sentiment. The image came from a swap, but I added just a touch of color to the ears and nose w/ my Copic marker (Blush).

Hope you enjoy both cards and happy Friday! :D

any occasion card

Hi all! Short post tonight... one of my old swapping partners asked me where I got the template for a doorknob hanger I made her, so I sent her the ones I had leftover and this card went with the package- no occasion, but a great reason to use one of those sentiments I never know when to use :) The blue paper is Me & My Big Ideas and the green floral I got in a swap. The ribbon is Target and the vellum quote is from Joann's. Someone made the whole journaling block, but I thought it would work well on this card. Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

lots of sketch challenges

Hi all! I don't usually post pictures of more than one card, but I've got a few challenges I want to participate in, so bear with me. I also want to point out that I added a quick comment section to the bottom of my posts. If you don't have time to write a comment but feel like one of the quick comment options suits what you think about my card(s), please feel free to click your mouse on the appropriate box. I always appreciate any and all feedback!! :)




The first one uses Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #57. I made it for Social Work Week (I promise I didn't make this up, in fact I didn't even know about it until one of the counselors at work mentioned it). We're having a celebratory lunch in my office on Thursday in honor of my school's social worker. He does so much and is a pleasure to work with, so he deserves some recognition. In thinking about how to make him a card, I wasn't sure what kind of image said "social work" to me, especially since I wanted to keep it masculine. A week or two ago I bought some Blackboard chipboard by Cosmo Cricket (Get Happy) and I knew it would work perfectly for this card. I chose the chair to represent the students who come to see him, so hopefully he doesn't look at his card and think "ummm... what?" LOL! All of the patterned papers are K&Co, the black paper came in a spiral notebook I bought at the dollar store (score!) and I believe the brads are Making Memories. The sentiment is Fiskars.


Next up is Card Patterns sketch #4. It's not my favorite card.. I don't know what I was thinking with the color combination. I think I was fine until I added the pastel yellow, but for some reason I wanted to use that scrap. At least I can recognize my mistakes now! :) Anyway, this card is for my cousin who's serving in Afghanistan right now. My mom has been sending him a card every week, so I try to keep them light-hearted but still masculine (hence the poor choice in pastel yellow). The teal paper is DCWV (Recycled Stack- first time using these FUN papers!), the brown cardstock is Making Memories and the yellow and orange are scraps. The chipboard tag is Miss Elizabeth's (from Dollar Tree), the monkey sticker is Me & My Big Ideas, and the ribbons are from Target's dollar spot. The sentiment is Hero Arts (LOVE this set of stamps!) I used my Cuttlebug on the orange paper and my Fiskars Treading Water punch for the scalloped border, to which I added some dark green brades. I think I'd like this card better if I'd used a sunny yellow, and not a pastel yellow. Eh.


Last up is my take on Sketches! {by tamara} #84. I can't believe how much St. Patrick's Day stuff I have left over... I made 8 or 9 cards and I feel like I put back as many supplies as I started with! Yikes! :) I'm sure the papers are familiar- shamrock paper is Provo Craft, orange polka dot is K&Co, yellow polka dot is Making Memories and the pot of gold and plaid papers are DCWV. The clear sticker sentiment is Reminisce and I got the giant sparkly shamrock in a swap, so I don't know who made that. I used a circle punch by EK Success and a Stampin' Up! scalloped circle punch as well. All in all a fast and easy card.

Hope you like these cards and thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

vintage thank you

Hi there! I've been meaning to post this card for a while... it's a thank you card I made for my mom to give to her friend. I used mostly K&Co papers here, except for the brown which is from the DCWV Sweet Stack. I used a Fiskars template to cut out the scalloped rectangle and added Recollections brads. I got the ribbon in a swap, but it's one of my favorites. It's sheer, but I think the swirls add that extra something special :) I used my Cuttlebug to die-cut the ribbon slider, added a few gems from Target and a Making Memories rub-on, and voila! This is one of my favorite cards because of all the layering and the I think pink/green/brown is always a nice color combo.

I'm enjoying a day off of work today because of the snow, and it's much-needed after yesterday. My boyfriend sliced his finger on a sharp can (he was cooking). After five or ten minutes he was looking like a ghost, so I was walking him over to the couch to sit down when his legs gave out and he staggered/fell into a bookcase and cut his cheek/eye area. He denies passing out, but it was pretty scary. I took him to the ER and they glued his finger and gave him an EKG and a tetanus shot and he was all patched up. I felt so bad for him, it was a pretty traumatic day but I'm super glad he's okay now. Anyway, I'm definitely relaxing today after what happened yesterday and I'm enjoying the snow- we haven't had any in a while! :) Hope you're all have a fabbie Monday!

-Suzanne :O )