Change your view!

Hello again, it's post number 2 tonight. I was on a roll this evening. I made this card for two challenges: Freshly Made sketches #30 and Color Throwdown #187.

Here are the challenges:

I flipped the sketch on it's side and went from there. I was playing with Paper Smooches stamps again! Love the colors in this challenge.

Here's the supply list:
card stock and patterned paper: DCWV
Stamps: Paper Smooches
ink: Tsukineko; Clear Snap
punch: EK Success
markers: Marvy Uchida
accessories: Grand Calibur; dies by Spellbinders; Cuttlebug embossing folder (swiss dot)
adhesives: Tombow; Scrapbook adhesives by 3L (foam squares)

It's way past my bedtime, so I'm off to bed now. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Chris ☺

Go to your Happy Place!

Hi all! I hope that you are having a great weekend so far. One of my sisters and her son came out for a visit this past week for Easter. Loved having them here! It's so much more fun razzing each other in person than over the phone! LOL!

I was working on the below card for the Mojo Monday challenge #236. So as I'm working on the card, my neighbor is trying to mow his yard, but the mower keeps dying on him. (side note: he spent some money last year having it repaired.) After about a half hour, he puts the mower away. Then I hear a bunch of loud banging coming from his basement. I'm not sure if he was killing the mower or hitting his head against the wall repeatedly! LOL! After that, he got in his car and drove off. I haven't seen him since. True story. ☺

Aaaannnnyyyywwwaaayyy, here is the card I made:

Just so you all know, I hand stitched this card using my handy dandy Sew Easy by We R Memory Keepers. (I do own a sewing machine, but it hasn't seen the light of day in quite a few years. Plus, I'm not entirely sure it even works.) I love the look of stitching on cards, but since I have to do it by hand, I only do it every once in a blue moon.

Here's the sketch:

It was a lot of fun making this card, but you probably won't be seeing stitching on my cards again anytime soon.

Here is the supply list:
card stock: Bazzill; DCWV
patterned paper: Heidi Grace Designs (fish); K&Co. (yellow floral); orange from scraps
markers: Marvy Uchida
stamps: Paper Smooches
ink: Tsukineko
Twine: Doodlebug Designs
adhesive: Tombow; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
accessories: Grand Calibur; dies by Spellbinder; floss by DMC; Sew Easy by We R Memory Keepers; decorative scissors by Provo Craft

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great rest of the weekend!

Chris ☺

Freshly Made Sketch #29

Happy Saturday! It's a gorgeous day here in MD, though a bit windy. It's not stopping anyone from being outside working on their lawns and flower beds!

This card I made using the Freshly Made Sketch #29.

Here's the sketch:

I've been wanting to use this sheep stamp for a while to make a punny birthday card. It came out ok, but I'm not happy with my stamping (I'll blame it on the wine I was drinking. Yeah! Yeah!)

Here's the supplies:
card stock: WeRMK (beige); The Paper Co. (black)
patterned paper: We R Memory Keepers - Family Keepsakes
stamps: My Cute Stamps (sheep); Paper Smooches (happy); Fiskars (birthday); Studio G (two ewe!)
ink: Tsukineko; Clear Snap
adhesive: Tombow

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Easter!

Chris ☺

Mojo Monday #235

Happy Tuesday all! I cranked out a card in the afternoon instead of at night to get better lighting when I photograph it. Only took me a few months to figure that one out. DOH! Aaaaannnnyyyywwwaaayyy, here's the card I created for Mojo Monday challenge #235.

and the inside of the card. Does anyone else feel like the card isn't complete if the inside isn't done also?

...the sketch:

I was fortunate to be one of the lucky winners from Graphic 45 when winter CHA was happening. I won the Olde Curiosity Shoppe collection and this is what I used for this card. (If you have this collection, isn't it FABULOUS!? Even though I didn't use it on this card, my favorite is the "when pigs fly" patterned paper!) I used Unity Stamps - She flies with her own wings set on the front, and the shine stamp out of the March KOM. I wanted to use the chipboard butterfly/flower (look closely at it: is it a butterfly or a flower?!), and the She flies set went perfect with it, I thought.

Here's my supplies list:
card stock: Bazzill
pp & chipboard: Olde Curiosity Shoppe by G45
stamps: Unity Stamps
ink: Tsukineko; Clear Snap
accessories: Grand Calibur; Spellbinders dies; black dots (I've no idea who these are from!)

As always, another great sketch from Mojo Monday. Thanks for stopping by!

Chris ☺

A rose by any other name....

Ok, I know, corny title. But I was trying out a couple things with the below card that I've never tried before: string art, and paper roses. Here it is:

I'm entering this for the Color Throwdown CTD185. Here's the inspiration:

I've been wanting to try the string art and incorporate it into a card for a while now and I knew this challenge was it! Also, I broke out a new die that I got but never used, until now. It's the rolled rose Die-namics from My Favorite Things stamps. First try with a rolled flower die and I think it turned out Ok. When the hot glue dried, I dampened the edges and rolled them back a bit so they looked more realistic. (don't have a water spritzer so I used my fingers - it worked fine!)  I popped a Prima pearl in the center because it wasn't tight enough. If anyone knows a trick to making a tiny center please let me know.

I love to try things that are outside my comfort zone and I think this card came out pretty much the way I planned it to. (probably better! LOL!)

Here are my supplies:
card stock: Bazzill; The Paper Co.
patterned paper: Echo Park (Dots & Stripes Metro) and DCWV (Mariposa)
stamp: Hero Arts
Ink: Tsukineko
adhesive: Tombow; Glue Dots; glue gun
accessories: flowers/pearls - Prima; Die: rolled roses Die-namics by MFT Stamps; Floss - DMC; Grand Calibur; Slice

Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you think!

Chris ☺

Make Mine Dirty!

Hi all! This is the second post I made today. I'm on a roll! Woo Hoo! I was back up in my craft cave and made this card for Mojo Monday #234.

 and the sketch:

You had a choice of making a round or square card and I chose the square. I bought these stamps about a month ago, and when I saw this sketch, I knew it was time to ink them up! These are Bugaboo Stamps sold by Totally Stampalicious. I used my Marvy Uchida markers to color the image. (Guess all those Art classes in high school came in handy after all! LOL!) I absolutely love how this turned out! All patterned paper is from Echo Park's Happy Days collection; card stock is Bazzill. I added some red leather cord for the bow. I'm mean really, you HAVE to have red leather cord if you're gonna drink dirty martinis! (wink wink!)

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment!

Chris ☺

Unity Stamps March KOM challenge

Wow, it has been forever since I've blogged! What with getting the flu, Spring cleaning and having my sister-in-law and niece fly out for a visit, I think I've only blogged twice in March. I can't be having that! So, here is a card that I created for the Unity Stamp KOM challenge.

and the sketch:

I did alot of fussy cutting with this card: basically everything except for the sentiment. All stamps are from the March KOM. I had a lot of fun with this kit!

Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by!

Chris ☺

My Favorite Things MFTWSC62

I'm on a roll tonight. This is my second post this evening! I've been up in my happy place (a.k.a. my craft room) playing with paper, stamps and ink again! This is a card I made for the MFTWSC62 challenge.

and the sketch:

I had a blast making this card! All the stamps are from Paper Smooches. For the three small panels, I stamped a flower in 6 different colors, 3 green and 3 yellow, using Marvy Uchida markers. I stamped and colored the bee yellow cut him out and adhered him with a foam square. I then used my paper piercer to make a flight path for him across the three panels. All the patterned paper is from DCWV except the dark grey strip which is from Echo Park. I distressed all the edges and drew some stitching on a couple of the panels. The sentiment I masked a few times to get it all on one line and to put some space between the e and n in 'been'.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope that you have a great rest of the evening!

Chris ☺

Freshly Made Sketch #25

Hi there. I'm so happy to be feeling better finally after having the flu for what seemed like forever. Here's a card that I made for the Freshly Made Sketch challenge #25.

and the sketch:

The paper is MME, the stamps are from the Easter Icons set from Stampendous, and the ribbon is from May Arts. I used a punch from Martha Stewart to weave the ribbon thru the card stock. I really like how this card came out.

I'm so glad that I'm getting over the flu. Feeling so good that I'm sipping a glass of wine while blogging! Oh Joy and Rapture!!!

Have a great evening!

Chris ☺

Sweet Sunday Sketch #153 and Color Throwdown #182

Oh blog, how I missed you! About two weeks ago, Andy came home from work with a cold. So naturally, I go into sanitizing mode: washing hands practically every couple of minutes; wiping down all surfaces with Clorox wipes; opening windows to get fresh air when the weather permitted. Andy was fine after a few days, and I thought I was in the clear. WRONG! The flu slammed me on. my. ass! That was last week Tuesday. I'm still somewhat congested, but thankfully feeling close to my normal self again. (or as close to normal as I can be. If you know my family, you'll understand! ☺) I haven't made ANY cards/layouts in all that time. I was going into withdrawal! So today, I was ecstatic to go play with paper, ink, and glue up in my craft room. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Here is a card that I made for SSSC153 and for CTD182:

Sorry for the bad light. I just took these shots a bit ago and it's dark outside. And the sketch and color challenge:

All the patterned paper is from the On The Boardwalk collection by Graphic 45. The pre made card base is from Bazzill and the rest of the card stock is from DCWV. The ribbon is from my stash. Those stamps on the inside? They are from Unity Stamps March KOTM which I just received in the mail today! Kismet!

I hope the remainder of this flu goes away soon. I'm missing my wine! 10 days and counting without my vino! Oh the humanity!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great evening!

Chris ☺