Make your own designer paper.

Good morning and welcome to this weeks challenge at CSAYL. We're creating our own designer paper using stamps. Our fine sponsors for today's challenge is the fabulous Perfect Presentations Templates.

They have some really  fun templates to work with and the best part is they've done all the hard work so all you have to do is trace, cut and embellish.  I chose to work with their My Little Bag  template.  This is my project.

To get my project started, I traced the design on some sage card stock and then cut, scored and folded it.  Following the instructions that come with the template, I then glued my pieces together.  For the designer paper I stamped snowflakes  and swirls onto some navy card stock.  I added a scalloped punched circle layered with and embossed circle and snowflake to the bottom border.  For the border I attached a piece of white corrugated card stock and a row of jeweled flowers.  To finish it off I added some faux stitching, a ribbon handle and a vclcro closure.

Be sure to stop by the CSAYL blog and see all the awesome designs the team created.  We'd also be thrilled to have you join in on the fun.  You could be the lucky winner of a template of your own.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Some Exciting News!!!

I've known this for a little while but had to wait til now to share it with you all! I'm part of the amazing Cooking With Cricut design team.

We'll be sharing cards and projects that contain cutting files and digital images as well. The team is off to a fabulous start with some awesome designs so be sure to check them out.

This weeks challenge is love-sweetest day for the upcoming Sweetest Day on the 16th.

I chose to start off with this cute digital image and a card.

I printed the image on watercolor paper and colored it with reinkers and a watercolor brush. There is glossy accents on their eyes, noses and her bow. I pulled out some of my scrap paper for the background and added lots of layers that include, a glossed heart, ribbon, primas, a big ole button and a sentiment oval cut using my Cricut and George cart. Card measures 5 1/2 x 5 1/2.

It was super easy with such a fabulous image as inspiration!

Now for even more inspiration, be sure to check out what the other team members prepared for you!

Abby Grimaldi

Adrea Travis

Alidalis Acevedo

Beanie (Sheryl) Mason

Brandilynn Dowse

Cathie Rigby

Christel Bonner

Cyndi Budhi

Gaby Villasenor

Jenna Fletcher

Jennifer Hudson

Kassidy

Kristal Andrew

Madison Womack

Marji Franklin

Michelle

Valine Campbell

Isn't that a talented group of crafters?!!!

Thanks for stopping in and sharing my excitement with me!

Have a blessed day!!! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

She used to tie her hair up in ribbons and bows....

Sign her letters with X's and O's. That's the song I had running through my head this morning while I was making this card. Now I can't get it out!

I made this card for this weeks Mojo Monday sketch challenge found here. I had a hard time with it at first but when I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it, I really, really like how it turned out. This is one of my favorite color combos!

Thanks goes out to Jessie and the Crazy 4 Challenges challenge for the color choice.

I had these Rhonna Farrer hearts from Hearts and Stars already stamped and waiting to be colored so I went to work with my Copics to finish them off.

I paired it with some yummy black and white designer paper from Mixed Media Pack and added the x's and o'x and ribbon and I was done. I love it when cards are simple and look great don't you?!!

Now that I've finished this I'm off to do another challenge. Gotta get as much stamping done as possible. Monday it's back to work and business as usual!

Have a great day! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Sketch #80

Good morning my blogging friends! I've been having trouble with blogger for the past couple of days so cross your fingers this works.

Welcome to Thursday! You all know what that means. It's time for another sketch challenge brought to you by the wonderful Tamara over on the Sketches blog. Here is the fabulous layout she designed for us to use this week.


Sketch 80
My interpretation.

I made a card earlier in the week using these same colors and liked it so much I decided to use it for my challenge card. The flower and sentiment were made with the Cricut and George Cart. For the flowere I layered two of them and embossed them with the Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots Folder, then I added a Prima and Pearl Brad. The background was stamped with Flourishes (Rhonna Farrer) and heat embossed. I added color with a Copic marker and some tiny Primas. Thats another one of those Thicker's (American Crafts) behind the flower.

Stamps: Flourishes. Paper: Black Textured, White, Pixie Pink. Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black. Extras: Cricut, George Cart, Cuttelbug, Floral Fantasy & Swiss Dot Folder, Adhesive Pearls, Brads, Primas, Copic, Threading Water Punch, Piercing Tool, Thicker, Gel Pen, Black Fabric Paint (flower centers).

That's pretty much it! I can do white cards, but I still have to add a lot of layers cause I'm such an embellishment junkie, you know. *Hee hee*

Make sure you stop by the Sketches site and check out all the fabulous samples the design team created and we would love for you to join us. Make sure if you do that you link back to the site so we can see your wonderful designs. Remember, one person is selected each week to be featured for their design and who knows, it could be you.

Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by. TTFN

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. It's amazing just how busy a person gets at this time of year. I know I'm not the only one. We're all busy, but isn't it fun?

For today's card I chose to play with my Penny Black stamps. I just love her cute little images. I actually made this card about a week or so ago but I haven't been in my stamp room since and forgot to post it. *GASP* I really need to free up some me time. KWIM?

Anywho, back to the card.

I stamped the image using my Brilliance Graphite Black and then coloring it with my Copics (B00,B02,BG15,E00,Y21,YR23,C-1,C-7) and my SU Sahara Sand for the bottom shadowing. Once I colored my image I then sponged Choco Chip and Cocoa around the outside edges. The papers are Caribbean, White, and Daisy D DP. I used my Martha Stewart Border Punch for the white and then embossed up to the scallops with my Snowflake EF. I stamped the Caribbean with my Rhonna Farrer Swirls stamp using Apricot. The snowflake embelly was made by me using my scallop punch, Martha Stewart Punch, stickles, a pearl stick on and a felt snowflake from JoAnns. I added the gold ribbon, velvet ribbon and sentiment circle (studio g) to give it that final touch.

I hope you all are enjoying all the hustle and bustle that comes with this season. We are enjoying a blast of cold air today after some serious storms yesterday. Can we say tornadoes? Go figure. So glad they didn't actually touch down here because me and my whole family slept through the sirens. That's all I have for now. Gotta go to work! Have a fantastic day! TTFN

Sketch 62

Sorry to be posting this so late in the day. I intended to get it auto posted last night so it would go up first thing this morning, but sleep won over. So I won't keep you waiting any longer. Here is the sketch for this week.

Here is my card for the challenge.

I started by stamping the flowers (Rhonna Farrer) across the red CS with pigment ink. I then heat embossed clear EP over them. When they cooled I sponged on real red ink to make them stand out a little more. The sentiment was made using my cricut and george cart. As you can see, I used the ATC from yesterday's post and added a layer of white textured CS behind it. Throw in some ribbon and brads and you have a card that came together quickly.

Make sure to pop on over to the sketches site and see what the other team members came up with. They are all fabulous as usual!

We would love for you to do the sketch with us and if you do make sure to leave a comment with a link to your card so we can check it out. Just think, you also have the chance to be featured on the site. Pretty cool, huh?

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day! TTFN

Sketch #61

Good morning! Can you believe it's Thursday already? You know what that means. Time for another sketch. Tamara came up with another great sketch for us to try. It's perfect for those square cards (which I love) but you can adapt it to whatever size you like.

Here is what I came up with for the sketch.

My panels are 1 1/2 inches by 3. I inked up my Saldago Sprig stamp(Stamp Happens)using my markers(SU), then dotted the flowers with glue and sprinkled Violet Pearl Ex and let dry. While they were drying I inked and watercolored my butterflies (Rhonna Farrer) and ran my background panel through the cuttlebug and floral ef. All I had left to do was the sentiment, some sponging, cutting and assemble. Easy peasy!

Make sure you stop by the Sketches site and check out the fabulous cards the team came up with. They did an amazing job. We would love for you to do the sketch with us and if you do, leave a comment with a link on the Sketches site and you could be our next featured stamper.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by! TTFN

It's sketch time and I should be sleeping

Hello my blogging friends! So sorry I've been MIA but this new job is kickin my hiney, big time!!!!!
I've been a night owl for quite some time now and I'm having to switch gears and become a morning person and my mind and body are rebelling, so bear with me. It'll get better once I finish training. Not so many hours to put in. That said, on to what you really came her for, the sketches card for this week. Here is sketch #60.

And here is the card I made for it.

I painted this chipboard flower with black paint and then dotted it with turquoise stickles and placed at the top of my flourish (Rhonna Farrer). I kept the colors simple so I didn't distract from the flower. Whaddya think? I think I'm gonna give this to the nice lady who has been helping with my training. I told her I was into rubber stamping and I would show her one of my cards, but I think I'll give it to her instead.

I am setting this up for auto post so I haven't had a chance to see what the other team members have done, but I'm sure they did an awesome job. Hope you get the chance to do the sketch and remember, if you do, post a link to the Sketches site and you could be our featured stamper. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! TTFN

I can see clearly now.....

My card is done! While I was sleeping/dreaming this morning, I saw visions of the card I wanted to do for Amy Rohla's challenge on SCS. I got out of bed, sketched it out on paper and grabbed a quick bowl of cereal. I then went to work on the card. Everything went together just as I had planned it. Yeah! Check another challenge card off my list. Guess what? When I went to post it I discovered that I hadn't followed the guidelines. My card was too big! I can't tell you how many times I've done this. I really should have written it down. All well, it still didn't change the way I felt about the card. I still like the way it turned out. I just have to make another card that fits the guidelines if I want to check that challenge off my list. I should have known something was up when everything was going so smooth. LOL
So the challenge was to make a card with something clear on it so I chose to try an acetate card (I did one a while back and it didn't work out so well). This one turned out just fine.

Stamps: Hearts & Stars (Rhonna Farrer). Papers: White, Pumpkin, Red, Acetate. Inks: Real Red Pigment Ink. Accessories: Cricut, George Cartridge, Mini Mono Cartridge, Circle Punch, Ribbon, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots EF, Pumpkin Marker.

The sentiment was made using my Cricut and George cartridge set on 1 inch for the white and shadowed 1 inch for the red. I also cut the orange panel from my Mini Monograms cartridge and then I just cut off the scalloped edges on the top and bottom. This card is 3.5x 8.5 and fits in a legal size envelope.

I'm gonna clean my stamp room tomorrow before I can stamp anything else. You should see it! It looks like a bomb went off in there. Sometimes I create better if things are out on my desk but when I get down to a 10 x10 inch square space and piles of paper falling over, it makes it kind of hard to be creative. KWIM?

Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping in to see me! TTFN

Watercolor challenges and a little more

Howdy and Happy Saturday to you! Hope your getting all inky this weekend. I know I am! I missed my stamp time and have been trying really hard to get my stamping fix. I've been busy checking out the challenges on SCS and had the chance to do a few more of them. I don't think I'll be able to get to all of them, but I'm sure gonna give it my best try.
Here are a couple of the cards I made last night and today.

Both of these cards were for Christine's (ChristineCreations) watercolor challenge. The Changito card is also for Julie's white card challenge. I think I'm getting the hang of this watercolor thing. It sure helps if you have good watercolor paper to work with. Mine is Acquarello watercolour paper by Fabriano that I picked up in the art section at Hobby Lobby. Both of these were done using re-inkers and my aqua painter.
The Robin card is for Laura's (scrapnextras) distress it challenge and Julia's (JuliaS) sew it challenge. Don't you just love that cute little Robin. He's from Stamp Happens and I've had him for some time but I think this is only the second time he's seen ink. Poor little guy!

I also got the chance to do Joan Ervin's silhoutte challenge. At first I started to reach for my Blush stamp from Penny Black, but while I was searching for it, I came across my Seaside Sketches and thought that the little girl would make a great silhouette stamp. All I had to do was stamp her image and then fill her in with my black marker. I then sponged the colors of sunset around her and framed her in to emphasize her image a little more. I am very pleased with the results.

Card #1 Stamps: Changito's Love Balloons (Stampendous), Sentiment (Studio G). Paper: Acquarello watercolor (Fabriano), Pixie Pink. Inks: Black Pigment Ink. Accessories: Ribbon, Black EP, Aqua Painter, Reinkers.

Card # 2 Stamps: Robin (Stamp Happens), Sentiment (Studio G) Paper: Kraft, Cranberry, Chocolate, Acquarello watercolor (Fabriano), DP. Inks: Black Pigment Ink, Chocolate. Accessories: Aqua Painter, Reinkers, Sewing Machine, Sponge Dauber, Dimentionals, Ribbon.

Card#3 Stamps: Seaside Sketches, Print Pattern, Happy Harmony,Flourishes(Rhonna Farrer). Papers: Tempting Turquoise, Soft Sky, White, Black. Inks: Black Stazon, White Pigment Ink, Pink, Turquoise, Saffron, Sky. Accessories: White EP, Ribbon, Brads, Sponges, Sponge Dauber.

Happy Stamping and have a great day! TTFN

Sketch # 48 and other stuff

Happy Thursday to you all! It's time for another sketch card for Sketches {by tamara}. As usual, she hit another home run with this one. I love what the other ladies on the team have done with it and I sure hope you get the chance to check out their fabulous work.

We would love for you to do the challenge with us and if you do, please add a link to Tamara's blog so we can check it out!

Here is my card for this week's sketch.

Recipe
Stamps: Butterfly (Rhonna Farrer), Sentiment(Stampin Up). Paper: Cranberry Crisp, Kraft, DP (the paper studio). Ink: Cranberry, Black Stazon. Accessories: Felt Flowers, Buttons, Cuttlebug & Swirls Folder,Piercing Tool, Circle Punch, Square Punch, Sponge Dauber, Metallic Markers (Sharpie).

I had all of the supplies for this card already sitting on my desk so I just went with it. The butterflies were colored using metallic sharpie markers.

I'm sorry that I've been away for the last couple of days. Tuesday was my oldest daughters graduation. They had so many kids (1261) in their graduating class that they had to have the ceremony at Reunion Arena in Dallas. Here are a couple pictures of the group.

Isn't that an amazingly large Senior class? They had four different processional lines and entered from four different areas. It was a good thing, she told us where she would be coming in at or we would have missed her entrance. The cool thing was that we got to see a close up of her as she walked across the stage to recieve her diploma. Notice the jumbotron in the picture. I only teared up at the end when the kids all linked arms and sang their alma mater. All in all, I was really pleased with the whole thing and now I have a graduate in the house. One down, two more to go! Here is my beautiful daughter's Senior picture! I'll be getting her graduation pictures in about three weeks. We are so very proud of her!!!!
That's all I have for now! I've gotta get busy and make some Father's Day cards since it's just a couple days away! Hope you all have a great day! Thanks for stopping in! TTFN

Jumping back in with a challenge from Bitten By The Bug

Regina over at Bitten By The Bug has posted another card contest and I just couldn't resist playing along. The challenge was to make a baby card using either blue and lime green or pink and lime green with ribbon somewhere on the card. The contest runs til March 31st and there are some really cute cards already posted. I chose to make a boy card.

I used my Mini Monograms cartridge for all my cuts for this one. Pages 82,83 and 116 shift letter only 2 inch and 2 1/2 inch setting-pages 84,103, and 116 letter only, 2 inch setting-page 129 shadow, shift and 127 shift, stitched.
The papers are SU's bordering blue and gable green and white. The DP is from My Minds Eye's Wild Asparagus big block.
I used my SU Toy Box for the plane and Rhonna Farrer's Hearts and Flowers. I also used my swiss dot cuttlebug embossing folder. I think I'm gonna give a pink on a try now.

Happy Easter to you all and thanks for stopping by!

Mojo in blues and greens

Just a quick post! It's late and I need to head off to bed! I have been down for the last three days, sidelined with a kidney infection! Boy, I tell you, if it isn't one thing it's another. I got me some antibiotics and good rest and I'm feeling much better now!

I spent most of the day with my mom cause she was feeling sad and lonely and she was missing me. I was missing her too! She has a bad cough and I just hope and pray that it doesn't turn into pneumonia. She has a low white count and we have to be really careful with her. Please say a prayer for her!

I did get the chance to stamp tonight! Just as soon as everybody went off to bed, I headed for my stamp room. I wanted to do Julee's Mojo Monday sketch and it was just perfect for Maria's slit flower frame. The layout called for an oval instead of a circle! You should check out her wonderful tutorial on this! She did a Youtube video and it's fantastic! Anyway, here is what I came up with.
The image is from Rhonna Farrer. I used my paisley and dotted swiss embossing folders. The DP is from My Minds Eye and the pearl brads I picked up in the wedding section of Michael's. You get 40 of them for $3.99! I just couldn't pass that kind of deal up!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! TTFN

My first shaker card

I was blurfing this morning when I came across this great card made by Danielle Lounds who is one very talented lady. Her blog is filled loads of beautiful creations and I could spend hours in there. Her card inspired me to make a shaker card. I've never made a shaker card before and I love to try new things so I thought I would give it a go! Here are the results.

I started out by using Mel's bandana technique substituting butterflies for flourishes. I was in a positively pink mood today so that's the color that I chose to start with. Add scallops, ribbon and buttons and the end result is a card that any girl would love to have. I went to visit my mom tonight and showed it to her and she loved it! She is my biggest fan and my greatest inspiration.

On a personal note. I am getting ready to start going back to the Gym. My body is starting to resemble Violet Bearegarde's from Willy Wonka when she chews the gum! I don't have a juicing room and sitting on the sofa watching The Biggest Loser every week is not taking inches off my frame, so I'm gonna have to do it the old fashioned way. EXCERCISE! Wish me luck!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! TTFN!

Recipe
Stamps: Autumn Flowers (Rhonna Farrer)
Paper: Glossy, White, Positively Pink, Acetate
Inks: Black Stazon
Accessories: Buttons, Ribbon, Beads, Dimentionals, Reinkers
Tools: Gel Pen, Markers, Giga Scallop, Corner Punch

Whew! I didn't think I was ever gonna get back up and going.....

Howdy everyone! I have been having computer issues for the last week and haven't been able to do much blogging. Anytime I signed on to the internet, my Explorer just kept opening window after window. It was too hard to blurf and close the pop ups. I spent two days working with my virus protection and techs to finally get it taken care of. DH had turned off my pop up blocker and not knowing much about computers had a screen pop up on him telling him that we possibly had a virus and needed to install their virus protection, so he did. It was a total scam.
Everything is all better now, thank goodness.
I finally got the chance to get back into my stamp room this weekend and I made another card for the Bitten By The Bug challenge. The deadline to submit entries is February 29th.
When I think of spring I think of flowers! This was made using my George Cartridge and the flower cut on page 120, using both the flower key and the flower shift key. The word "spring" was also made with the same cartridge at 1 inch using the shadow effect to make the letters thicker. The ribbon is from my sweet secret sister on SBS2. Isn't it purty? I have no idea who she is, but she sure has good taste!
I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone for their wonderful word of congratulations. You all are the best!!! I still don't have my copy of the magazine so I'm not sure what pages my cards are on. My friend Suzy (thank you, Suzy) was sweet enough to scan them and send them to me in an email, but I couldn't make out the page numbers. I will let you know as soon as I find out.
I'm gonna go now and try to catch up with everyone's blogs and that gonna take a while!
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Recipe
Stamps: Flourishes (Rhonna Farrer)
Paper: Old Olive, Barely Banana, DP (My Minds Eye)
Ink: Old Oive
Accessories: Ribbons, Brads, Dimentionals
Tools: Cricut, George Cartridge, Gelly Pen, Word Window Punch (SU), Sewing Machine

Jen's Sketch Challenge

I actually stamped this card yesterday, but didn't get the chance to post it until now! I don't care how old your kids get, you still worry about them when they are sick. I didn't get much sleep last night because Bree is still sick. It's officially the flu! DH and I were worried that because of her high fevers and sore throat that she might have strep, so I took her to the DR. today and it wasn't strep, thank goodness. Poor baby, she is such a trooper and doesn't complain much at all. She's been sleeping a lot, but that's what she needs!
This card was made for Jen's sketch challenge. I love her sketches and haven't gotten around to doing them for a while, but since DH has been working long hours I needed something other than housework to fill my time. In my opinion, stamping should always come before housework. I just wish I could convince DH.
It's pretty self explanatory. I did use my hobby knife to cut around the top flower so that it would lay over the scalloped square. The flowers were heat embossed using Black Pigment Ink and Black EP. The butterfly was embossed on Vellum with stickles added to make it sparkle.

Recipe
Stamps: Blush (Penny Black) Flowers (Rhonna Farrer) Baby Dear (Inkadinkadoo)
Paper: Barely Banana, Basic Black, Vellum, Striped paper (the paper factory)
Ink: Black Pigment Ink
Accessories: Ribbon, Ribbon Punch, Black EP, Word Window Punch, Brads, Craft Knife, Heat Tool, Stickles

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Beats's weekend sketch challenge

It's been a long time since I've done one of Beate's weekend sketch challenges! Today, I made up my mind that I was going to get one done and so I did.
I went with my Flowers set(Rhonna Farrer) and stamped the image on white CS with black pigment ink and then heat embossed with black EP. I watercolored the image with my aquapainter and markers. I used my hobby knife to cut around the flower so that it laid over the ribbon. The DP is from My Minds Eye. I went over the image with ice stickles! Man is this baby sparkly! The stickles sure made the image pop! The card stock is River Rock, Wild Wasabi and Chocolate Chip (SU)! I need a little more practice with my watercoloring to get it where I want it, but I'm improving.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Color Challenge

I made this card for the color challenge on SCS. I used my Flower stamps from Ronna Farrer and the sentiment from Sincere Salutations. I don't have the in colors so I had to sub, but I still think they look pretty nice. I glued the BG paper to the Bashful Blue and ran them through the Cuttlebug. I also stamped the flowers again and colored in one of the flowers and popped it up using dimentionals. The sentiment was made using my colluzle and faux piercing.

Recipe
Stamps: Flowers by Ronna Farrer, Sincere Salutations
Paper: White, Night Of Navy, Bashful Blue, DP from The Paper Factory
Inks: Basic Black, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Ribbon, Primas, Jeweled Brads, Coluzzle, Markers, Dimentionals

Mondays Technique challenge

I made this card for the technique challenge. I've never done tole flowers before and didn't like the first one that I made. It is in the garbage. This was my second try at it. Much better. I used the flower from Delight In Life and the stamp from Ronna Farrers Flowers for the stem. I also used the cuttlebug for the white CS.

Recipe

Stamps: Delight In Life, Flowers by Ronna Farrer, Sincere Salutations

Paper: Yo Yo Yellow, White, Always Artichoke

Inks: Black Stazon, Yo Yo Yellow

Accessories: Ribbon, Markers, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder, Stickles, Coluzzle, Sponge, Hardware, Dimentionals