Christmas in June card challenge

I made this for the card challenge over at karelj.blogspot.com. We had to do something Christmasy without using white or primary red or green, and had to use a metallic element. So I decided to use this stamp I got at last months stamp show and gold embossed it on black mica paper. Pretty dramatic, don't ya think? Then I stamped it again on a blue spruce type color paper and embossed it and cut it out. Then I repeated that on cranberry paper. Look closely--I even cut out and glued on those tiny red berries. How's that for headache-inducing detail? Anyhow, I backed it all up with some gold foil cardstock and added some sparkly brads. A lot of work but it sure is a different christmas card. What do ya think of the black? Thanks for taking a peek! (And I'm off to the chiropractor today--yippee, hopefully I'll be cured!)

Smile

Well, I haven't felt much like smiling this week or being creative. My 6 month struggle with sciatica and back pain is really taking a toll. BUT I'm finally listening to my husband and will be seeing a chiropractor on Monday so I am confident better days are ahead! In the meantime I have to give my chemo buddy something to smile about, and her issues are certainly much larger than mine, so I came up with this for her. She loves red so I decided to go with bright cheery colors and keep it simple. I used the Cord'inations papers on this and a Quickutz embossing folder. I even had Primas that were just the right colors (how could I not, I have a huge stash!).

I apologize to all of my wonderful blogging buddies that I have not collected awards and visited your blogs lately. I'm not able to sit very long this week--I'm more comfortable moving around. So the good news is that my housework is all caught up and after I see the chiropractor on Monday, I can just morph here and have a visit with you all! I know you have fantastic creations I can't wait to see and I sooo miss seeing what you've done. And now it's time to move around again (ouch!). Thanks for taking a peek!

Polka Doodle Birdhouse

Whew! I think I got this done in time for the Polka Doodle challenge. Hope so--I worked on it all evening! The challenge was to do a card in the shape of a birdhouse with a stamped image and using their paper download. That's my background paper. It's looking pink but is actually a citrusy orange. My stamped image is the yellow flower. It's an Autumn Leaves stamp cut out several times and layered. The bird is from joys Of The Seasons and it has a slight shadow under it, as does my scalloped trim. The flower stem and bottom flowers are Fancy Pants rub-ons. Gotta hurry over to Polka Doodle and post this! Thanks for taking a peek!

Card with Angelina fibers--fun!

I blew off an entire afternoon playing with this stuff! I bought 5 colors of Angelina fibers (do a Google search-lots of places sell it) at the stamp show and finally got brave enough to try it out. It really was easy. Ink a stamp, lay various fiber colors on the stamp, cover with a piece of parchment paper, and iron for a few seconds. The fibers fuse together and your stamped impression shows through! That's the most use my iron has gotten in a year, seriously! I kept trying it with different stamps --wasn't fond of the results with large background stamps. But always cute with smaller ones. You can also make a fiber sheet by piling this stuff on parchment paper, covering it with more paper, and ironing over it. It fuses into a sheet that you can do all kinds of stuff with. I was able to use it with punches, but you have to be careful as it is thin and can get stuck. It also embossed beautifully in the cuttlebug! It's so shimmery and cool and is great for dragonflies, butterflies, and flowers. Comes in a ton of colors, which I now MUST get more of! Well, anyway, about this card (forgot why I was here)! The background is a dark turquoise which I used the same dragonfly stamp on with my Versa watermark pad. It gives a faint impression of dragonflies flitting about. That's mounted on a pale yellow pearlized cardstock for contrast. For the stamped sentiment, I used one of those cheap-why did I buy this thing-multi-colored inkpads that I thought I'd never use but still couldn't toss away. (Come on, I know ya all have em!). I thought it worked great with all the shiny colors of the Angelina fibers. The colors of the fibers seem to pop more against dark cardstock. This is the most fun ironing has ever been. For once I can't wait to get out the ironing board again! Thanks for taking a peek!

Card with fun foam

Goodness, I'm so far behind here! Several wonderful bloggers have given me blog awards that I've yet to post and pass on. I'm behind on challenges I want to do, and have some fun cards I need to post. Yikes! I better get busy.

So, anyhow, this is a card for Cricut Card Fairies and is for a lover of all things yellow. I saw some cards where fun foam was used with the cuttlebug dies and had to try it. The cuttlebug dies and the nestabilities cut this stuff beautifully! Wouldn't cut in my cricut, and stamping on it didn't work either (ummm, guess all that experimenting is why I'm behind here. But aren't ya glad I saved YOU all that time?). But it is fun in the cuttlebug and I didn't even have to change or adjust my "sandwich". I used the Core'dinations white wash cardstock (don't know where you can get it, I bought it at the stamp show), ran it through the cuttlebug and sanded the embossing. Then I distressed the edges but good--works well with this paper and looks great. Added some orangy buttons just to break up the yellow a little and used craft glue to attach the fun foam sentiment. Oh, I also tried the foam in my punches but it's too thick to fit in, so don't waste your time. Rats, I thought that would be cool. Well, I'll just have to go buy more dies to continue the fun with my fun foam. Thanks for taking a peek!

"Friend" ad challenge card

Over on the Cricut message board an Ad challenge was posted to make a card using the ad layout or the colors (blue, brown, and tan). With Father's Day coming up, everyone is making Father's Day cards with these colors, but I no longer have a dad to do that for. So I challenged myself to use these colors for a feminine card for my chemo card buddy. Hope I was successful. (Egads--tell me if I was NOT so I don't send it to her!). Anyhow, I obviously used the cuttlebug birds and swirls folder on the background. The green swirl was cut from Home Accents. I think it's the first time I've used that cut, and I really like how it looks on a card! Then the flowers were cut from that old stand-by, Walk In My Garden. Someone had given me these cute little metal bookplates, and I wasn't sure how to use them. But I knew instantly it was just right for this card. It framed my FRIEND stamp perfectly. I used gem brads in the flower centers to help feminize the card a bit. What do ya think-is this ok for a woman? Thanks for taking a peek!

My First Blog Award!

Wow, I got my first blog award from Leanne! How sweet was that of her? Go check out her blog. She has REALLY good taste--her background is the same as mine! LOL! Thanks Leanne-you're too nice!

There are a few requirements to accepting the Honest Scrap Award and they are as follows. A) I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link. B) I must list 10 honest things about myself. C) I must put a copy of the The Honest Scrap logo on my blog. D) I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers and list their links.

So, ok, 10 honest things about myself. That was hard as I live a very ordinary existance.

1) My biggest blessings are my kids and grandkids. I am nothing without them.

2) I come from a very blended family. I have 5 full-blood siblings, 1 half sibling, 2 step siblings, 1 adopted sibling, and 1 deceased baby sibling.

3) I love pink, blue, and purple. I seldom wear or use red, orange, and yellow.

4) I use to dabble in creative writing and had a children's short story, a poem, and a religious essay published.

5) My husband and I have built homes for Habitat For Humanity in NY, SC, AL, and Conn.

6) I am very shy.

7) I am very intuitive. I have "known" of deaths, miscarriages, and baby genders of those who are close to me before they happened.

8) I swear when I play golf.

9) I proposed to my husband through a picture of our favorite word game saying "Will you marry me?".

10) I don't particularly care for chocolate and never crave it.

So, now to come up with 7 worthy bloggers that I would like to pass this award on to:

Teese

Julie

Wendy

Lauren

Victoria

Jo

LoopyLou

Thanks ladies for the support you've shown me as I ventured out into blog land! You are all fantastic people as well as talented artists!

Criss Cross card for Polka Doodle

This weeks Polka Doodle sketch challenge lent itself quite nicely to a criss cross card. I've always wanted to do one but never had, and thought it would make for a special card for my granddaughters' 2nd birthday next week. I have a terrible time with putting patterned papers together, and we had to use at least 3, so I picked up this Martha Stewart paper. All of the sheets look so adorable together! I stamped and colored the Lily stamp twice and popped dotted the top layer. "Wishing You" was printed on purple cardstock on my computer then glued to some purple ribbon. The flower is a bunch of Primas layered together with a button from Fancy Pants in the middle. My whimsical little sun is a Studio G stamp. I used it on a circle cut from George, then glued that to a foam circle cut with my scalloped nesties. The inside balloons are from George and the words from Alphalicious and Stamped. Can you believe I used 6 different prints and a solid from this paper pack? Wow, Martha makes card making easy! Thanks for taking a peek!

Easy colorwash card

I made this card in just minutes (no small feat for me!) with Cord'inations new colorwash cardstock. I love this stuff! I rolled a piece through the cuttlebug then sanded the embossing. The colorwash coating is pretty heavy and takes 150 grade sandpaper. So cool to see the color coming through. The corners were trimmed with my corner rounder punch-gives such a nice finished look. Then I stamped my sentiment on another piece, sanded the edges, and taped it on. I finished it off with some purple rain dots in the flower centers. I really like the rain dots when you want to send a nice flat card. They don't poke through the envelope like brads and pearls do. How easy was that? I pumped 4 of these out in no time for Cricut Card Fairies--maybe now I'll get caught up! Thanks for taking a peak!

my stamp show goodies

Look at all the great stuff I got at the stamp show. Actually, my husband bought me a lot of it! He watches the demos while I'm shopping, then tells me all the stuff I need to buy. I'd be crazy to argue! I can't wait to try out the Angelina fibers--they look so awesome on butterflies and flowers. Lots of great stamps of course-my fav thing for card making. The whitewash Core'dinations cardstock had the coolest look when it's embossed in the cuttlebug then lightly sanded. Really can't wait to try that! And hubby got me chalks, Marvy inks, color dusters, and a technique video so I can try some new things out. Woo hoo! I'm going to be busy for quite awhile!

Yummy juicy cherries for Polka Doodle!

This is my entry for the Polka Doodle card sketch challenge. (I wanted to post the sketch here, but I'm a little challenged myself!) But I have to brag about my cherries--don't they look like they are bursting with juicy goodness? I colored the stamp with 2 shades of red and blended it with a prisma wax blending pencil. I have never used these before but I really like them! Then I dabbed on a little red stickles (ya know I include stickles every chance I get!), then I slathered on a good helping of Liquid Glass (by Close To My Heart). The circles and scallops were cut out with nestabilities. I stamped little cherries on the background paper and heat embossed with white. And it may not look it, but I used my cricut on this. My weird shaped sentiment stamp is on the caterpillar from Walk In My Garden. He may be hard to recognize without head and legs. I doodled little black dots on the sentiment to match the ones that were on my mini cherry stamp. So do you think this is challenge-worthy? It's going to my chemo buddy. Hope she likes it. Thanks for taking a peek!