Saturday, October 29, 2011

Nuts About You!

Hey everyone...so, I went on a scrapbooking retreat with my mom and a bunch of our scrapbooking friends last weekend.  It was SO much fun and while everyone else was scrapping to their heart's content, I was making cards.  I need to get caught up and share all of my creations and this is the first one that I'll be sharing!  I made it for the very first "RETRO-fresh" Challenge over at the TGF Farm Fresh Challenge Blog.  In order to participate, we have to use a stamp/stamp set that is at least 6 months old.  This month's theme is, "Animals", so, I decided to get a little squirrelly....





I hope you like it!  When I first saw this ADORABLE stamp set, Forest Friends, from The Greeting Farm, I just HAD to have it!  The little squirrels are SO cute and I just ADORE this sentiment...the rest of this stamp set is FABULOUS, too!  In fact, I'll be back in a bit to share another card that I made using this same set!

Supply List:
Cardstock: Kraft - PTI; Black - Misc; White - PTI
DP: MME - Lost & Found - Sunshine
Stamps: TGF - Forest Friends
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels 18
Accessories: Copics; Twine - CTMH; Button - CTMH; Black Bling - Recollections

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

DYSU #43 - Halloween

Hey everyone! So glad to have you with us again at Do You Stack Up?! This week we are getting in gear to celebrate the spookiest holiday of the year! That's right... we want to see your Halloween creations!




This week's Sponsors:









Stitchy Bear Designs
$10 Gift Voucher




Sassy Cheryl Designs
$5 Gift Certificate





Prairie Fairy Designs
$15 Gift Certificate



Ok, so here is what I came up with:




I hope you like it!  I used papers from Echo Park Apothecary Emporium as well as this ADORABLE Hallo Witch digi from The Greeting Farm.  I had a bit of trouble colouring her hair but, in the end, I was quite pleased with how this card turned out.  Please see below for a detailed Supply List.

I hope you will join in on the Halloween fun with us over at DYSU, this week!  I can't wait to see what you come up with!


UPDATE:
I forgot to add that I took inspiration from the following sketch from Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday #32 from a few weeks ago!



I am entering this card into the Ribbon Carousel Challenge - "BOO" with Ashley


Supply List:
Cardstock: Orange - SU! - Peach Parfait; Black - Bazzill; White - Bazzill
DP: Echo Park - Apothecary Emporium
Digi: The Greeting Farm - Hallow Witch
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Classic Circles SM, Scalloped Circles SM
Accessories: Copics; Twine - CTMH; Button - Misc.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

DYSU #42 - Trees

Welcome once again to a new challenge here at Do You Stack Up?!  This week we want to see Trees on your projects!






This week's Sponsors:



Bugaboo Stamps
Winner’s Choice of 7 Digis

The Stamping Boutique
Winner's Choice of 5 Digis
Hope Jacare
Winner’s Choice of 3 Images



Well, here is what I came up with for this week:




I was given this cute image by Stamping Boutique to use this week.  I coloured it with copics an then coloured the background with chalk.  I used DP from Echo Park Dots & Stripes and paired it with white cardstock that I embossed with the Cuttlebug Forest Branches embossing folder.  The rosette was made with The Sizzix Sizzlets Decorative Strip Die called Mini Paper Rosettes from the Tim Holtz line.  I used a pearl brad from Recollections for the centre of the rosette.


Well, I think that about sums it up!  I can't wait to see all of your lovely creations involving trees....please come and play with us this week, we would love to have you!


Supply List:
Cardstock: SU! - Rich Razzleberry; White - Bazzill Double Thick
DP: Echo Park - Dots & Stripes
Digi: Stamping Boutique - The Owl's Silly Costume
Stamps: TGF - Spooktacular (sentiment, sold now only as a Digi Set)
Ink: SU! - Rich Razzleberry
Copics
Dies: Spellbinders - Classic Rectangles; Sizzix Sizzlets Decorative Strip Die - Mini Paper Rosettes (Tim Holtz Collection)
Accessories: Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug - Forest Branches; Ribbon - Celebrations (Michael's); Pearls - Pizzazz Aplenty; Pearl Brad - Recollections (Michael's)

Friday, October 14, 2011

Heavy Metal

Hello again!
To see my first post for today, please scroll down or go here.  


I am back with another card.  This one was made for the Flourishes Heavy Metal Challenge.  This time, they want us to use something metal or metallic on our project.


This is my take:





For metallic accents, I used this gorgeous handmade paper that I bought at one of my LSS's...I think it's made in Thailand...but, it could be India...LOL...I don't know the name of the brand but, all of their papers are fabulous!  


Well, I didn't stop there!  I also used an antique gold satin ribbon on the card and made a matching ribbon flower that I learned how to make in this tutorial.  It was my first attempt to make one of these flowers and I think it turned out pretty well!  


As if that weren't enough, I then added SU! Glass Glitter in Champagne to the main image mat.


Ok, I'm going to retreat back to my craft room again and see if I can make a card for the Flourishes Name Game Challenge in time...we'll see, it's going to be tight since I have somewhere to be in an hour or two....eek!


Thank you SO much for stopping by!


Supply List:
Cardstock: Neenah
DP: Misc. Handmade Paper (one is actually printed burlap)
Stamps: Flourishes - Sweet Days of Summer
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Accessories: Ribbon - Celebrations (Michael's); Glass Glitter - SU! - Champagne; Rhinestone Brad -CTMH (on the flower)

Zinnias

Hi there,
Today I have a card that I made for the Flourishes Show Me Challenge.  To participate, all you have to do is go to the Flourishes Tutorial Library and find new a technique or project that you'd like to try and make it!  I chose Frames Created With Nestabilities Dies.


Here is my resulting card:





I had a bit of a tough time trying to do the double embossing on the frame as I have a Vagabond, not a Grand Calibur but, it is lightly embossed, just wish I could have gotten it to emboss deeper...other than that, this is a super easy technique and I'll definitely be doing it again!


For the image, I used Zinnias by Flourishes.  It was my first time inking it up and it was lovely to colour...I am really happy with the fall colours I used on this one...


Well, that's it for now...I will be back shortly with another card.  If you would like to know the Specific products that I used, please see the Supply List below.


Thanks for stopping by!


Supply List:
Cardstock:  SU! - Dusty Durango, Chocolate Chip
DP: SU! - Autumn Meadows
Stamps: Flourishes - Zinnias
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Copics: E40, E41, YR14, YR16, YR18, Y13, Y15, YG93, YG95, YG97
Embellishments: Ribbon - Celebrations (Michael's); Pearls - Recollections (Michael's)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

DYSU #41 - Scraps

Hey everyone! So glad to have you back this week at Do You Stack Up?! 
This week we want you to Use Your Scraps!


This week's Sponsors:





A Day For Daisies
$16 gift certificate


Just Some Lines
$15 Gift Certificate


Pink Cat Studios
Winner’s Choice of 5 Digis

Here is the card that I made with my scraps:







It may not look like I used scraps but, every piece of paper that went into this card was a scrap..even the card base!  I used to always use 12x12 paper so, I do have a lot of larger scraps...

For more inspiration, head on over the the DYSU blog and check out the projects from the rest of the DT and our FABULOUS Guestie, E.T.!
Ok, now it's YOUR turn!  I hope that you'll join us in the fun over at DYSU and create something with your scraps!

Supply List:
Cardstock: SU! - Rich Razzleberry, White - Bazzill
DP: MME - Lush
Stamps: Flourishes - A Year in Flowers, With Gratitude
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Old Paper
Copics: V04, V06, V09, YG93, YG95, YG97
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Ovals, Scalloped Ovals
Embellishments: Pearls - Recollections (Michael's), Ribbon - Celebrations (Michael's)

Monday, October 10, 2011

You don't know Jack...

Hey there!
I hope everyone in North America is having a great long weekend!  Up here, in Canada, it is Thanksgiving Day and our neighbours to the south have Columbus Day (which I think is also a stat)...


So, I whipped up this quick little Halloween card and to be honest, part of me likes it, and part of me feels like I could make it better...but, I don't have the time to fuss around with it right now as I have to leave soon for my Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws....I think I'll just attempt a NEW Halloween card later in stead...


Well, here it is:







It was a quick one and I think it's all pretty self explanatory so, I'll just put a supply list at the bottom of this post in case you're curious about some of the products I used...


The LO was inspired by this FABULOUS card that the talented Jessica Diedrich made:



There you have it, a nice SHORT post after the post that never ends (my last post was SUPER long), LOL, hope you like it....thanks for stopping by today!


I am entering this card into the following challenges:



Supply List:
Cardstock: Black - Misc.; White - Bazzill
DP: Echo Park - Splash (orange), Dots & Stripes (black & white polkadot)
Stamps: The Greeting Farm - Spooktacular
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Old Paper
Copics: YR14, YR16, YR18, YG93, YG95, YG97, BG10, W4, W6, W8
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Classic Circles, Scalloped Circles; MFT Die-namics - Open Zig Zag Border
Accessories: Ribbon - May Arts (bought from Flourishes); Button - CTMH; Twine - CTMH - Black; Bling Flourish - Recollections

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Thinking of You...and Totoro, too!

Well, Flourishes has a SUPER fun challenge for WCMD...they ask that you find a photo of your favourite animated character and use that as a colour inspiration!


Well, this was sort of a tough decision for me to make but, Totoro is DEFINITELY my number 1!


Here he is:



Isn't he CUTE?!  Hehehe..definitely one of the best animated shows ever!  I LOVE Studio Ghibli (a Japanese animation studio) and recommend that, if you haven't, you should watch My Neighbor Totoro as well as Grave of the Fireflies.  The latter is set during WWII and is a very tragic story based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka.  Roger Ebert considers it to be one of the most powerful war movies ever...My Neighbor Totoro, on the other hand, is MUCH more light-hearted!


Anyway, enough rambling from me...I interpreted Totoro's colouring to be grey, pale yellow, and neutrals (black & white)...however, my yellow didn't turn out to be so pale!


Here is my card:






Well, as most of my cards, it is pretty straight forward but, here goes...I used the GORGEOUS new Blissful 6x6 paper pad by Authentique for all three patterned papers and I did some faux-stitching to add some interest....I actually used a paper piercer to make holes then just drew the stitches from hole to hole for a more realistic look.  As for the black criss-cross stitching, I used my SewEasy to pierce the paper and then hand-stitched it with black embroidery floss.  I stamped the sentiment on white cardstock and cut it out using Spellbinders Nestabilities Ovals and sponged it with SU! Daffodil Delight.  Then I cut a frame out of black cardstock using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 18.  This FABULOUS sunflower image is from one of my absolute FAVOURITE companies, Flourishes and is called Sunflowers (duh).   I coloured it using Copics (see Supply List below for specifics) and then fancy cut it and popped it up on foam squares.  Next, I added these beautiful rhinestone flourishes  which I cut apart and pieced back together to make it fit the space the way that I wanted.  They are from Recollections and I bought these recently when there was a big 50% off sale on all Recollections embellishments at Michael's.  Last, I added a few black rhinestones from i-rock to the sentiment just to polish it off....I hope you like it!


*UPDATE*
I forgot to mention that I won this Sunflowers set by Flourishes along with a huge prize package including 5 other Flourishes sets, an Impression Obsession stamp, 3 6x6 paper pads, some ribbon and embellishments over on the very sweet and talented Julie Koerber's blog.  THANK YOU so much, Julie, you're VERY generous!

I used Chupa's current Sketchbook Saturday sketch #31:


So, I had been mulling around my Totoro colour scheme for days before I actually put it into play and I noticed that the There She Goes Color Challenge had the same colours...a FABULOUS colour combo that I love and also just happens to coordinate with my newest 6x6 paper pad by Authentique (Blissful)...SWEET! 
 I know that I would've played along at TSG anyway but, since I only own ONE TSG stamp set so far and it's the Poppies set which I couldn't use with this colour combo anyway,  I decided to just make one card for both (neither challenge stated that I couldn't)!  I actually won that BEAUTIFUL TSG Poppies set over on Iwona Palamountain A.K.A. Chupa's blog...THANKS, Chupa!

I have a pretty long Wish List over at TSG now, so, hopefully soon I will be able to start building my collection...I actually just won a Mini stamp set from them during their birthday celebrations and I chose Flying By which was designed by Iwona Palamountain...ummm, can you tell that I'm a BIG fan of hers?  So the collection is already starting to build but, I really love the designs by Torico and Chris Dark...heck, ALL of their designers are great, but, I have A LOT of Torico on my list in particular and I'm hoping to get some sets for Christmas this year!  Fingers crossed!



I also decided to enter this card into the Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful challenge.  This month is "The Beauty of a Technique" and they want you to be inspired by a technique...maybe a new technique you've never tried, or maybe an old favourite.  I used quite a basic technique...it's an oldie but, a goodie! I used stitching...both faux and real.  I never usually think to use this technique but, when I do, I find it adds SO much visual interest to my cards...I REALLY need to use this technique more often!  I saw a tutorial somewhere quite a while ago showing how to do faux-stitching and that's where I learned to pierce the paper first...this makes the stitching look SO real that you have to look VERY closely to see that it's faux!  As stated above, I also pulled out my good old SewEasy (the one that I HAD to have when it first came out and now NEVER use) to pierce the paper for the criss-cross stitching and then hand stitched with embroidery floss.  Forgive me for being redundant.  I REALLY need to invest in a sewing machine...lol, not that I remember how to use one....the last time I sewed was in grad 9 (12 years ago) and I was NEVER a master seamstress!  However, I think I can relearn...especially since I'll only be using it for basic stitching on cards anyway!


Well, that's all I've got right now...sorry for all of the rambling and THANK YOU for bearing with me through all of that, LOL.

Here is a list of all of the challenges that I'm entering this card into and the appropriate links:

- Flourishes Wacky World Card Making Day Challenge (Totoro -grey, yellow, neutrals - black & white)
- TSG124 Color Challenge (yellow, grey, neutral)
- Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful Challenge #15 - The Beauty of a Technique (stitching - faux or real)
- Lily Pad Cards - Simon Says Stamp Presents a Bling Challenge (I realized I had forgotten to enter this card into this one, oops)

Supply List:
Cardstock: Black - Misc.; White - SU! - Whisper White
DP: Authentique - Blissful
Stamps: Flourishes - Sunflowers; SU! - All Year Cheer
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black (image); Versafine - OnyxBlack (sentiment); SU! - Daffodil Delight
Copics: Y11, Y13, Y15, Y17, E44, E47, E49, R22, R24, R27, Copic Multiliner - Black - 0.3mm
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Ovals SM, Labels 18
Accessories: Bling Flourish - Recollections (Michael's), Rhinestones - i-Rock, Embroidery Floss - Black - We R Memory Keepers - SewEasy; SewEasy - We R Memory Keepers; Tim Holtz Vagabond by Sizzix

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

DYSU #40 - Brown



Hi everyone and welcome back to a new challenge at Do You Stack Up?! In many areas, the weather is starting to turn a little chilly and the leaves are changing. The scent of autumn is in the air and with this wonderful season upon us we begin to think of the colors of the season. This week, while you don't necessarily need to make an autumn themed project, we would like to see you use the color Brown.




This week's Sponsors:





Copic Marker Scrapbooking
6 Copic Ciao Markers (North/South America), Martha Stewart punch (rest of the world)


Crafty Emma
£10 Gift Voucher (exc p&p) 


Delicious Doodles
Winner’s Choice of 4 Digis

Here is my card for this week's challenge:







I was given this ADORABLE Mr. & Mrs. Owl image from Delicious Doodles to use and I paper-pieced them using Abbey Road from MME for the main body, kraft for the eyes, and white for the rest, colouring those parts in with Copics.  I perched them upon a Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 16 die-cut which I sponged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Old Paper and matted it with a larger Labels 16 die-cut which I embellished with Kaisercraft Adhesive Pearls in Chocolate.  The background paper is also MME Abbey Road and the sentiment,  which is from CTMH Soul Mates stamp set, was stamped in SU! Early Espresso.
Well, that's all for now, folks....I really hope that you'll join us and make a project using the colour brown!

Supply List:
Cardstock: Brown - Bazzill - Misc. (Java???); Orange - SU! - Dusty Durango
DP: MME - Abbey Road
Digi: Delicious Doodles - Mr. & Mrs. Owl
Stamps: CTMH - Soul Mates
Ink: SU! - Early Espresso (sentiment); Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Old Paper (sponging)
Copics: Green - YG93, YG95, YG97; Orange - YR14, YR16, YR18; Aqua - BG10, BG11, BG13
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels 14
Accessories: Pearls - Kaisercraft - Chocolate