TCP Tuesday #310

Hi friends!  It's been such a long while but I'm going to jump right back in to blogging with both feet.  The other day I had a burst of creative energy and was looking for a challenge to get my juices flowing... enter the bunny challenge over at The Cat's Pajama's.  I pulled out an older stamp set called "A Girl and Her Cake" and my Distress markers and got to work watercoloing.  On my desk I had twelve strips of leftover patterned papers from Heidi Swapp's September Skies collection.  I didn't quite know how to get ALL of the scraps off my desk, and then the lightbulb went off!  I used an old technique of punching circles to make a textured background.  Wouldn't you know that I used every single circle with just minor scraps going in the garbage?!  I LOVE when that happens.  I hate to waste anything!  lol  So here's my card:  

I matted the image on some old Bazzill polka dot navy cardstock cut out with a Spellbinders die.  The card measures 5.5 x 5.5 and I pulled out an old coral envelope I had in my stash that coordinated quite well with the patterned papers.  A match made in heaven:

I hope you like my card and that I can get back to posting regularly.  I have SO many cards over the past few years that I haven't posted, but I'm not going to pressure myself to "catch up."  I do enjoy having a log of my work though, it's so fun to look back and see how far I've come on this creative journey!  Thanks for stopping by, friends!

-Suzanne :O )

Woo-hoo!

Hi friends!  I'm back to share another card for the Poppy Sketches challenge!  Here's the most current sketch:

The sponsor for this challenge is Lawn Fawn, so I pulled out of my four stamps sets and puzzled for a while over the X in the middle of the sketch.  Then it occurred to me that I could overlap some logs and I went to work creating a scene with my Critters in the Forrest stamp set.  

I did a lot of paper piecing with scraps and then stamped the "woo-hoo"s in Versamark and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  I did the same thing with the bottom sentiment and added a couple of brown gems over the book plate die-cut.  I also decided to get crazy and stamp the envelope, too.  :)

I hope you guys enjoy my card, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

I'm back!

WHOWWWWWW!  That's me blowing the dust off my blog!  lol  I haven't been around for over a year, with good reason.  A LOT of good things happened last year, but I'll save that for another post because there are tons of pictures I want to share.  :)

I was looking around at some blogs the other day and spent some time looking at Lori Tecler's blog.  She always has a TON of cards to share and I love how simple her style is.  While looking at her posts, I came across one for Poppy Sketches, which appears to be a new sketch/color combo blog.  I thought I'd ease back into blogging by participating with their second sketch:

I have quite a few cards to make for May/June birthdays, so I used the sketch to make my brother's birthday card.  I pulled out my Stampendous stamps since they're sponsoring this time.  Here's my take, with the Changito Bday stamp set:

I started off by die-cutting the red polaroid frame with my Papertrey Ink die.  I stamped the image on my X-Press It cardstock and colored it with my Copics.  I haven't used my Copics in quite a while, so hopefully this doesn't look too awful!  :)  I cut the cardstock to fit behind the frame and then turned my attention to the gray cardstock from Bazzill.  It looked too plain but I didn't want to add patterned paper, so I took some of the small images from the stamp set and used my Versamark ink pad to clear emboss a pattern on the background.  I think it's the perfect solution to adding interest but not color.  :)

Instead of a literal circular element, I chose to tie a knot with some teal ribbon and add a cupcake charm (which I've had for ages!) with some baker's twine.  Any time my mom gets a bakery box, she saves the twine for me.  Isn't she cute?  :)

Here's a close-up of the image.  That wraps up this card for me.  I hope you like it and I will be back very soon to share all the things that happened in 2013 since I last blogged.  I stopped blogging partly because I was busy and partly because I thought no one was even reading my posts, but I realized that this blog is for ME.  It's amazing to look back on my old posts and have a record not only of the cards I've made, but of my creative progress and the things that were happening in my life at the time.  Yes, this blog is mostly just crafty, but it is also part diary, so I need to keep it going for myself.  I can't wait to catch up and keep my blog current!  :D

-Suzanne :O )

TCP Tuesday Challenge

Good morning, crafty friends!  Today I woke up and just felt like playing with my supplies.  I wanted to play along with this month's TCP Tuesday challenge to use one of their cut-ups or stamps in a new way.  I pulled out all of my stamps and my one cut-up die and thought and thought about what I could do.  I haven't used my rosette cut-up die much (mostly because I'm lazy) and then the lightbulb went off that I could just cut it as a scalloped circle and use it as a tree topper!  Off to work I went gathering the rest of my supplies and finally came up with this scene:

I used lots of paper scraps from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist (Life of the Party collection) and colored PJ and the clouds (from What a Blast) with my copics.  The pinwheel was paper pieced, but my only regret is using that blue houndstooth- it blends in with the background too much.  Anyway, the tree trunk is from Happy Camper and the sentiment is from Birthday Bunny

.

To finish off the card I added a red gem to the center of the pinwheel.  I'm not one to create scenes like this, but I *really* love it!  I wish I could live in a world with chevron grass and polka dot trees.  Sigh.  :)

I hope you like my card, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Celebrating 30

Hi friends!  Today is my good friend Tamara's birthday!  She's the first of my high school friends to turn 30- luckily I don't have to think about that until September.  ;)  I just got some new goodies from Papertrey Ink, so I used my By the Numbers dies on some Vintage Cream card stock and taped some fun patterned paper from SEI behind the negative space.  I stamped "Celebrating" from Big Birthday Wishes around the border and adhered the whole piece to some Hawaiian Shores card stock with some foam tape.  Inside it says "amazing years."  

This is a more clean and simple look for me, but I really like how colorful the numbers are and that the "30" is the star of the show.  I hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

PS-  I successfully made it through my new year's resolution to post every day in January!  That really made me feel good, and I'm excited to continue posting MUCH more frequently this year than I did last.  Thanks for continuing on this journey with me!

Money Holder

Hi there!  The pictures above are of a money holder I made last summer for my boyfriend's brother.  There was a last-minute scramble to come up with a gift, so I told my boyfriend he could just give cash and I would make it look pretty.  :)  Because we were in a rush, I don't think this is my best work, but I still wanted to share the idea.  

I started off with a bunch of supplies by Clear and Simple Stamps and some papers by K & Co.  The tri-fold card was made from this die:

As you can see, the die comes with that swirly shape, so I cut out some orange cardstock, stamped the robot from the set below in orange ink, and trimmed it out:

I stapled a scrap of ribbon and stamped a sentiment from the same set on the orange cardstock; the banner sentiment is from this set:

On the inside, I used another scrap of the blue polka dot paper that was used on the banner and stamped the sentiment from a retired set called Celebrate.  I glued the strip of paper down on the sides and bottom so I could stick in the money in on top.  I used a lot of different sets to pull this together, but this could easily be mass-produced or used for gift cards!  I hope you like my project, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Sweet 16

 
Hi everyone!  Just a super quick post today- I've been very busy the last few days working on filling an order for 200 (yes, two HUNDRED!) Thanksgiving cards someone ordered through my Etsy shop.  I still have a long way to go, so most of my free time has been devoted to getting those cards made.

Today's card is one I made a while back for my cousin's sweet 16.  I knew I wanted to use this die-cut by K & Co, but it was so large and busy that I had to keep the background small, so I just ran some cardstock through my Cuttlebug and let that be enough.

 

On the inside, I used another die-cut and created my own sentiment with some Paper Smooches alphabet stamps.  Pretty simple, but I really wanted the focus to be on that fun cake!  Hope you like it, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Paint the Town

Hi there!  I hope everyone is having a good week so far!  Today's card is the one I made for my dad's birthday, back in August (I told you I was way behind in my posts!).  I kept the layout simple, using up some old scraps (I think the striped paper is K & Co) and stamps by Penny Black.  I think I did a pretty good job coloring this piece, but I remember not being thrilled with how the flower pot turned out.  I suppose there's always room for improvement, right?  :)  

That's it for today, I'll be back tomorrow to share some zebra-themed valentines!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Make a Wish

Hi friends!  I'm headed to a craft gathering after work tonight, so I have to get my post in early today. This card was made back in October, when I was in the midst of getting ready for Halloween and my November craft fairs.  Needless to say, I didn't have much time (or creative energy!) to do side projects, so I think that's pretty evident in this card.  There are a lot of things I don't like about this card- my color choices, the patterned paper, and the old stickers.  Looking back, I'm not sure how I would have changed it, because I think it all started with the piece of patterned paper (which I don't really care for), so I picked colors I didn't like based on that and it went downhill from there.  

In any case, I think it's good for me to share the cards I don't like so I learn from my mistakes and grow from them.  The paper is SEI, the cardstock is PTI and the make a wish embellishment is Making Memories.  If I had to guess, I think the epoxy flower stickers are American Traditional Design (really old stuff!).  

Thanks for stopping by today- hopefully you don't hate this card as much as I do!  LOL  :P

-Suzanne :O )

Boxed Cards

Good morning, friends!  I mentioned yesterday that my co-workers and I exchange small gifts with each other for Christmas.  I work with so many delightful people, and they all help me do my job in different ways, so I like to give them something from the heart as a way to show my appreciation.  I made 18 sets of cards this year and packaged them in clear boxes so they could see right away what was inside.  I get my boxes from Denami Designs whenever I go to scrapbook shows.  (The cards are 4" x 5.5".)

I used lots of stamps from Paper Smooches and on the sympathy card, a two-step flower from Basic Grey and a sentiment from Impression Obsession.  That card and the birthday card use papers from DCWV and the other two cards feature patterned papers from My Mind's Eye.  All of the cardstock is Papertrey Ink.

I kept the cards simple (because I was in a time-crunch, of course); the only notable technique is the one I used on the birthday card- I stamped the butterflies in a dark ink and then flipped the stamp over and used a lighter ink to color the images.

I tried to keep the colors limited to blues, greens and yellows to give the set a somewhat cohesive look and I'm pretty happy with the results, considering I made 72 cards in two days!  My co-workers really loved the cards, too, and I think they enjoy getting something practical to use!  :)

I hope you enjoy my card sets too, and have a great Saturday!  Thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Creamsicle Cupcake

Hi everyone!  Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, so I thought I'd pop in to share the birthday card I made for her.

I have to say I'm making progress on my hoarding tendencies with this card- I finally broke into one of my Echo Park paper pack collections (Life is Good)!!!  I have a whole bunch of paper packs by all different companies, and all I ever do is look at the papers and stickers and drool over them.  LOL  Anyone else with me there?!?  hah!

Anyway, I based my card off of the current Sweet Sunday sketch:

I know a lot of people are using this sketch for holiday cards, but I swapped out the snowflake for a heart sticker from the collection pack and added a brown button threaded with some Cupcake Doodlebug twine.  The image is Sweet 'n' Sassy Stamps and I blew the dust off my Copics to color Cocoa and his orange creamsicle cupcake in.  My mom loooooves anything creamsicle flavored, so I thought it would be fun to color the cupcake that way.

The aqua cardstock is Papertrey Ink, and of course all of the patterned papers are Echo Park.  I have to say, it does feel good using some of those hoarded supplies- I really like how this card turned out!  :)  I hope you do too, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Birthday Wishes

Hi friends!  I'm surprising myself with this post, but I had to make a quick birthday card for one of my co-workers and decided I might as well play along with this week's Sweet Stop sketch:

A while back, when I was still involved with swaps, I hosted one where everyone had to create birthday focal points.  The entire yellow piece (including the sentiment and cupcake) was created by one of the swappers- the whole idea behind the swap was to make pieces that would be really easy to add to a couple of pieces of patterned paper, or even just a piece of cardstock, and call the card done.  I wanted to swap really intricate pieces that would make creating cards super easy whenever you found yourself pressed for time.  

Needless to say, one of those focal pieces sure did come in handy tonight!  After I had picked out my patterned papers, this card came together in about ten minutes.  In case you're interested, the maroon piece is Stampin' Up! and the green and blue are DCWV.  

I hope you enjoy this card and are having a happy Monday!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Birthday Wishes

Hey there!  I wasn't kidding when I said October was a month full of birthdays- my co-worker has one on Sunday, but we're celebrating at work tomorrow.  This is the card I made for everyone to sign; I loved the Sweet Stop sketch so much, I used it again!  :)

I'm assuming the image is Penny Black, but I can't say which one because I got it from a swap years ago.  I had fun using my Copics here- I really like how the basket turned out.  I'm not crazy about the apples, but I'll keep practicing!  :D  I used some DCWV patterned papers and Papertrey Ink cardstocks.  The border is a Fiskars punch and the sentiment is Hero Arts.  I also added some orange brads from Making Memories (a little hard to see over an orange flower.. doh!)

I hope you like my cute hedgies, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Birthday Panda

Hi friends!  I'm not SO last minute with this month's SFYTT, can you believe it?!  LOL  Life has been so busy lately that it seems I'm always juuuuust squeaking in before the deadline.

Anyway, I'm here to share the card I made for my mom's best friend's granddaughter's birthday last weekend.  I used some paper by Sassafras to give the allusion of hearing "Happy Birthday" as the cake is being brought out.  :)  The panda is an old sticker by Suzy's Zoo and the confetti pieces are K & Co.

I don't know that I *love* this card, but I really feel like I've lost my knack for creating single cards.  I've been spending the last 4 months or so stocking my shop with mass-produced Christmas cards, where my focus is using up sets of multiples in my embellishment stash.  Because my choice of supplies has been so limited, I feel like when I go to make a single card where I can use any image or embellishment that I want, I get overwhelmed!  LOL  Anyway, here's a copy of this week's sketch:

On a completely different note, Friday was my birthday, and I have to show you what I walked in on that night:

Chris had grabbed some of my stamps and markers and went to work on making my birthday card!  LOL  Here's the final result:

Pretty good for a first-timer, no?  :D  I hope you're all having a great weekend and enjoying the first days of fall!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Birthday Balloons!

 

Hi everyone!  Just popping in to play along with this month's SFYTT:

I have a LOT of birthdays to celebrate from the end of April through June, so I thought I'd just make a batch of four cards, all the same.  I started with some old patterned paper by American Traditional Designs and added some coordinating cardstock.  To make the focal piece, I pulled out a rubber stamp I found at Goodwill a few years ago but hadn't ever used.  It's a Stampendous stamp from 1993 (!), inked with several different Memento colors.  I've been neglecting my rubber stamps for years, but I've been trying to dust them off- they can still be cute!  :)  The sentiment is Stampin' Up! (I'm not sure of the set though, as someone gave it to me).  I hand drew the balloon strings, and that's pretty much it!  You can see a close up below:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day and are getting ready for a fabulous summer!  

-Suzanne :O )

Happy Birthday Pardner!

Hi everyone!  It's been a hundred years since my last post, but I've been focusing most of my energy on my Etsy shop.  I just saw the sketch challenge at The Cat's Pajamas blog, and I thought I'd use it to make my brother's birthday card.  Here's the sketch:

I used some papers from the Birthday Bash collection by Imaginisce and the adorable outlaw penguins from TCP's "It's a Western Thing."  I colored my friends with Copics and added a little gray shadow to ground them:

My cousin's birthday is right around the corner, so I made a similar card with the same stamp and papers:

The inside sentiment reads "happy birthday, pardner!"  LOVE that!  :D  It's so hard (for me) to make masculine cards, but I think I did okay here.  I hope you get a kick out of these guys and thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

1st birthday

Hi friends!  It's been a minute since I've posted.. no real reason except I haven't had the urge!  :)  Today I'm sharing a birthday card I made for a family friend, whose daughter turned one last week.  I used stamps by Crafty Secrets and lots of fun patterned papers by DCWV.  The gingham brad was in my stash, but I think I found it at Target's dollar spot.  The image was colored with my Copics and the sentiment is a rub-on from Joann's.  I hand-cut the banners out of patterned paper and I think it looks really cute!  I hope you think so, too, thanks for stopping by!


-Suzanne :O )


PS-  I know I'm late, but I really have to get the rest of my Valentine's Day cards posted.  Ack!  :)