CTS #73

Woo hoo, it's Thursday again!  I'm so SO ready to share this amazing challenge with you this week.  CAS(E) this Sketch is pairing up with Runway Inspired Challenge for an awesome two-week challenge.  The inspiration is AMAZING and I think you guys are going to go crazy with this.  Don't forget to link up to both blogs for double the chance to be a winner!  Here's the inspiration:

Here's how I interpreted the challenge:

My card came together really easily for this challenge and all from one 6x6 patterned paper pad!  I used the American Crafts Soho Garden paper pad for the entire card and not a single stamp!  The three flowers are cut out of a sheet of paper with newsprint and flowers.  I was going to add them as they were to the card but they were pretty dull without any color.  I decided that  I didn't want tons of color because the background paper had PLENTY!  ;)  So, with my copics, I went around just adding some highlights here and there and blending them into the flowers.  In the end, I LOVED the flowers and wanted to start coloring tons of them.  It's amazing what just a bit of coloring can do.  I added a bit of glitter paper to distinguish the line between the two patterned papers and a touch of silver with my "hi" diecut.  I must admit that I LOVE this card and I hope you do too.

Come join us at CAS(E) this Sketch and Runway Inspired Challenge!  Can't wait to see your creations.  Have a great day!

Another SWEET April Release!

I probably say this about every release but this is totally my favorite!  ;)  If you love critters with tons of personality, you are going to love this month's 2nd Sweet Stamp Shop release.  It's full of cuteness and versatility.  If you haven't checked out the Sweet Blog, make sure you do.  There is tons of inspiration from the design team and you won't want to miss it!  Now I get to show off the two stamp sets I got to play with for this release!

First up, the world's cutest owl set.  I just love Owl Be Genius for graduation, teacher, class, etc cards.  Heck, I'll be using this little guy on my mom's Mother's Day card...she's a sucker for owls.  I made two cards using this little guy and I have a ton more ideas in store!

My first card pairs Owl Be Genius with Monogram Alpha, Outline Lower Alpha, and Too Hip to make an awesome Grad card. 

I lined up my sentiment on my stamp press and stamped it all in black ink.  I also positioned my hat and stamped it in place.  Then I used a post it to create a mask for the "grad" part of the sentiment and my little graduation cap.  With the masks in place, I stamped in my sweet little owl.  With some coloring and a few bits of bling, it all came together to make a pretty fun little grad card!

My next card could be used for a graduation or just a note of congratulations!

For this card, I used a pocket scrapbooking card that seemed perfect for a wise owl.  I stamped my branch in place and colored it directly onto the card.  I stamped my owl onto lined patterned paper and then colored him a bit, placing him on the card front with a little dimensional adhesive.  I found this fun graph paper in my stash and some school related border stickers as well.  I made a fun little border on the card edge with the stickers, layered my owl card on top and finished it all off with some cool banners that totally fit the feel of the card.  Hope you like it!

Next up, Mr. Octopus.  He is SO cute and the laptop and calculator...just perfect in every geeky way.  LOVE!  I think Nicole really knocked it out of that park with this set.

He's perfection and the sentiments...ha ha!  So fun!  My first card is pretty straight forward but SO much fun!

Again, I let a fun pocket scrapbooking card be my guide.  Can you tell that I love LOVE pocket scrapbooking but I use all my supplies up on cards instead of in my scrapbooks.  Ha ha!  ;)  I colored my little Mr. Octopus and cut him out.  I knew I was going with black, white, and pink because of the pocket card but I love a little lime in that mix so that's what my guy was going to be.  When I first saw the "Gemme yo digits" sentiment, I seriously died laughing.  I love it and I knew I would be using it with this card.  So, I found a scrap of pink paper, stamped it on, layered it with another banner I had, and trimmed the edge to follow the angle of the other banner.  I love the fun little sentiment that the two banners make together.  I went through piles of patterned paper to find just the right background and this chevron paper was just perfect.  I knew I wanted a peek of pink glitter paper at the bottom but didn't want just a straight cut along those chevrons so, I trimmed off the bottom by hand to give a peek of glitter.  I hope you like how it all came together.

This next card, pretty much sums up the kind of day I was having when I made it.

Most of the time, I try not to craft on days where I'm feeling blah.  Usually when I try, I hate everything I make.  Thank goodness this day was the exception.  In fact, my day felt a ton less meh when I finished this card.  I started by stamping my background of gray scale octopi to really emphasize the blah nature of the day.  I trimmed off the rounded corners of a pocket scrapbooking card and added it to my background at a bit of an angle.  I got my color inspiration from the two banners I had that fit the feel of this card perfectly and decided to go for an orange octopus.  He turned out WAY too cute.  I knew he needed some things that made his day meh and some things that I would need to make my day less meh if I were him.  So, I started coloring his coffee and donut (Who doesn't want those on a meh sort of day?) along with the very peeved laptop and calculator.  They all just looked too cute together that they turned my crappy day into a great one.

I hope you enjoyed my cards and will come visit us at the Sweet Stamp Shop.  To make things even sweeter, Nicole is offering 10% off the new release today using the code AR10.  Get yourself over there, you won't want to miss it!  Have a great Tuesday and I hope you day isn't MEH!  ;)

CTS #72

Happy Thursday morning everyone!  I do hope you all are enjoying some nice springy weather.  We had a gorgeous day at the lake yesterday biking and playing.  We met some friends and just had a great time.  It was so much fun that I almost missed my 5:30 HIIT workout!  Luckily, I made it just in time but, boy, was I tired from all the sun and wind of the day.  I was hoping for a nice nights sleep since I was sure all the boys were tuckered out too.  Unfortunately, Micah (my 4 year old) was up several times last night with his nose all stuffy.  I hate allergies and interrupted sleep.  Poor little dude and poor mommy.  I'm typing this in sort of a sleep deprived haze so I apologize if it doesn't make much sense.  Luckily, today is CAS(E) this Sketch day and nothing can put a spring in my step more than that.  I just love Thursdays!  Are you ready for the sketch and my card?

I used some wafer board from WPlus9 for my background (LOVE this stuff).  I stamped some shapes from a Studio Calico set with Versamark to represent the squares.  I finished it off with a sentiment from my new set from Winnie & Walter and some fun sparkly stars and dots.  LOVE IT!  This is a super fun sketch and I have been making cards left and right using it.  I hope you will too and I can't wait to see your creations.

Make sure to stop by CAS(E) this Sketch to see all the other fabulous cards from the design team and to play along.  See you there!

  

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Happy Tuesday!  I'm up on the Sweet Stamp Blog and I'd love for you to come check out my peek at the sketch coming up this week at CAS(E) this Sketch on Thursday and the two cards I made using it.  I think you will really love what I came up with.  Here's a little glimpse of one of my cards:

I hope you will go check out my post!  I'll see you over on the Sweet Stamp Blog!  Have a great day.

CTS #71

Another Thursday, another awesome sketch! This week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge comes to us from Gayatri and I, for one, LOVE IT!!!  I know you will too!  Check it out:

I had a blast with this sketch!  Here's my card:

Imagine that...a coffee card!  ;)  I'm a sucker for a coffee card in case you didn't notice.  When I saw the sketch all I could think about were coffee rings, so I went with it.  I stamped them on a piece of patterned paper, paper pieced my cup, and found a fun banner from a Studio Calico kit.  I love how it all came together and I hope you will too!

Don't forget to check out the other designers' cards because they are AWESOME!  We hope you are inspired and will join us this week at CAS(E) this Sketch.  We just love to have you play along.  Now, I'm off to drum and piano lessons!  Busy busy!  Thanks for stopping by!

-Chrissy

Another Super SWEET Month!

Are you ready for another fun Sweet Stamp Shop release?  Well, you are in for another treat this month!  Two releases means twice as much Sweet goodness and, believe me, you won't be disappointed.  Hopefully, you are coming here from the Sweet Stamp Shop Blog and have already checked out all the amazingness created by the Design Team for this release.  If not, be sure to go check it out.  You won't want to miss it!  The ladies really blew me away with their creativity but it's no surprise with such awesome stamps to work with.

We've had a busy week with school and my oldest's state testing yesterday.  We drove 2 hours to get his testing done and, boy, am I glad that day is behind us!  Waking boys early, tossing them in the van for a 2 hour drive, and then a 4 year old not getting a nap...yup, LONG day.  I'm glad to be home and get to share some fun stuff with you guys now.  Ready for some cards?

First up, I used the Feeling Today set.

 I just adore this set!  The faces are SO fun and can be used in a ton of different ways and fit on tons of different stamps to give them just that extra bit of personality.  The check boxes...perfection.  They are awesome for making cards for pocket scrapbooking or, if you are like me, making cards to go on your cards.  Ha ha!  I'll show you what I mean:

This card uses a pocket scrapbooking card that was printed with "today".  I added the super cute emotions and "I'm feeling" to make this already cool pocket card, even more fun and perfect for this card.  I layered the card on some glitter paper and offset it just a bit on some awesome pink patterned paper to pick up on the embossed "I'm feeling".  A couple quickly created banners later and you have a super fun thank you card.  LOVE IT!  My next card is featured on the blog and I hope you liked it!

I'm a sucker for Pharrell's "Happy" and my boys know it.  Every time we hear it, one of them yells, "Mommy, it's your favorite song!"  LOVE THEM!  I used a bit of the song for my card sentiment by cutting up some older Sweet stamps to get the "because" and "I'm" to finish off my sentiment strip.  I placed my happy faces in order of happiness level to make a super smiley strip of emotion.  I love how this all turned out and I can't help but smile when I look at it.  I hope you feel the same way!  

Next up, I used the Emotions set which is also perfect for all your cardmaking/scrapbooking needs!

My first card uses some paper from Authentique.  Make sure you check out their site to see the amazing collections of paper and extras.  They are GORGEOUS!

This card uses the Flourish line of papers and stickers and it paired perfectly with the Emotions stamp set to totally capture a new parent's emotions.  I liked how the 6 x 6 pad had two of each paper design so I could use one as a base and one to cut elements out of to "pop" above my banner creating some dimension.  The strips of washi tape stickers were perfect to stamp my emotions on and added a super cute element to the card.  I think it makes a perfect baby card even without a "Welcome Baby" splashed all over the front.  What do you think?

My next card uses a grid pocket scrapbooking card to keep my Emotions stamping in line.  ;)

I placed all my stamps on my acrylic block in an orderly fashion before stamping on my grid card.  The grid made it super easy to keep everything straight and gave a nice subtle pattern to the background of the card.  I love how this stamp set can be used SO many ways, sentiment, background, etc.  It's really awesome.  I layered my newly created pocket card on some cool gray paper and then got to work on my sentiment.  I used Super Mom for my blammo bubble behind the mom which I stamped on some greenish paper I had laying on my desk.  I liked that this kept the card from being too monochromatic.  The "Mom" is from the set I'm going to show off next.  To finish things off, I added the "You" with some Thickers and the "must be" with some alpha stickers.  I LOVE how it all came together and if you are a mom, you know each and every one of those emotions all too well.  ;)

Next up, one of my FAVORITE stamp sets...Hats!

This stamp set is super duper cute all on it's own but it pairs with all the animals from Sweet Stamp Shop.  How cool is that?  I can just see little chef Kitty Cats, sombrero wearing Doggy Dogs, sheriff Foxes, nurse Hippos, not to mention the new Cheeky squirrel being a construction worker...too fun!

I only made one card with this set but that was only because I had so many ideas that I wanted to save for future Sketches 2 Ways posts.  I just couldn't keep my composure long enough to make another card.  Ha ha!

Also, this card turned out SO well and was so perfectly simple, I didn't want to mess with it.  ;)  I simply lined everything up on my stamp press, stamped it, colored it, and sat back to stare.  LOVE IT!  A stamp set that is so perfect in its simplicity but can be used in so many other ways is hard to come by but you will find it in Hats.  Just you wait until you get it in your hands!  You won't regret it.

I hope you enjoyed my creations using this first installment of April Sweet Stamps.  Nicole has even more in store for you all this month so make sure to LIKE us on Facebook and visit the shop to sign up for the Newsletter at the bottom of the page.  Also, don't forget to check out the YouTube page for an awesome release video!  Hope you have a Sweet day!

CTS #70

It's another wonderful Thursday morning and all is well here in Iowa.  We have a rainy drizzly sort of day but it is our crazy day of music lessons, so it really doesn't matter what the weather is.  ;)  Today, I put on my chauffeur cap and shuttle boys from drum lessons to piano lessons and everything in between.  My oldest is downstairs right this moment drumming away because we have not been good about practicing this week since we've been outside enjoying the weather.  Ooops.  Oh well, I suppose you have to have weeks like that on occasion, right? 

This week at CAS(E) this Sketch we have an awesome sketch to work with from Sam.  I think you are going to really enjoy it and I have made 3 cards with it already!  Can't beat that.  Here's this week's sketch:

 
Love it!!  Here's my card:

I used a cute little pocket card from Studio Calico to create my scene.  I knew I was going to use Sweet Stamp Shop's Doggy Dog set for this card and I just love how it all came together.  I added the little heart on the eye and drew in a tongue to give my pup that little something extra!

I hope you enjoy my card and will come join us this week at CAS(E) this Sketch.  We would love to have you play along.  Have a great week and I better get these boys in gear or we'll be late!  AHHHH!  ;)