Get Well

Hi all. I was enjoying sitting on the deck reading 50 Shades Darker but it started to rain. Not complaining: we need the rain...and I needed to take a break from Mr. Grey. (LOL!)

This is a card I made for Mojo Monday #249.

Here is the sketch:

I've been trying to incorporate more stickers and bling from my stash on my cards, and this sketch helped. I used dp from MME (Lost & Found - Union Square). The stamp sentiment on the front is from Hero Arts and on the inside from Unity. The flower sticker is K&Co. The bling is from Recollections; black dots by Colorbok. Card stock is Bazzill and Core'dinations.

I made this for my Aunt who just had hip surgery last week, but is doing quite well. ♥

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a great evening!

Chris ☺

Got Cake?

Hi all. As usual, I'm posting at practically the last minute to get this card entered for a challenge. I'm entering this for both the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #162 and for the Color Throwdown # 200.

and the inside. (sorry, the picture came out really bad, even with the editing!)

Here is the sketch and color challenge:

Again I'm using scraps mostly for this card. The stamps are from Inkadinkado. I colored the critter with Marvy Uchida markers. The flowers are from Maya Road (green gingham), Sandy Lion (orange and blue) and the pink felt flowers are from Blumenthal Lansing Co. I used twine from Doodlebug and the dies are from Spellbinders.

Well, got to go. Mr. Grey is calling! LOL! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Chris ☺

Sail away with Sparks!

Good Morning! I'd like to share with you a card I made for the current Paper Smooches Sparks challenge: Designer Drafts.

Here is the inside of the card:

Here is the sketch:

This sketch just reminded me so much of a sailboat so I took that idea and ran with it. (or, sailed with it!) Not only is there alot of paper piecing, but there is alot of masking too! I used stamps from 5 sets on the front of the card: seagulls from Get Outta Town; the H and U from Circle of Honor (atten-shun!); the b from Good Gab (blessings); the heart from Hubby & Wifey (I masked half the heart to create the 2 and drew the bottom with a marker); clothesline from Pip Squeaks (the stripes in the sail). I love the idea that the sentiment on the front also doubles as the registration numbers on the boat! LOL!  The inside sentiment is from Metropolis. Plus I used a bunch of paper scraps to make the boat. (Yeah, that paper scrap pile just got smaller!)

This was such a fun sketch to work with. I hope that you play along too! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Chris ☺

Mojo Monday # 248

Hi all. It's been a while since I've blogged. My life has been hell this past week. Many of you were hit by that super storm from the Friday before last. We were too. We lost power for a few days and on top of that, our basement flooded. Again. Two times in two months, both on holiday weekends. It's a record for us truly. Needless to say, we have power again, and our basement has been dried, anti-bacterial-ized, cleaned, and all furniture that was moved (like the computer) has been put back. Here's hoping that the next big holiday will be flood free!

Anyway, here's a card I made for the Mojo Monday challenge #248.

and the inside:

The sketch used:

I pretty much kept to the sketch, but I incorporated the flower into the main panel design. I used paper from MME's Everyday Tango line. The stamps are from Unity (Quiet Essence set, sentiment from the March 2012 KOM) I stamped the image on green and paisley papers and fussy cut. The flowers I stamped twice and used foam squares on the second set to adhere over the first set of flowers. Ribbon is from Morex Corp.

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment. I love to hear from you! Have a great rest of the evening!

Chris ☺

If the shoe fits....

Happy Friday everyone! Holy crow is it HOT outside! I guess I'll just keep inking up stamps in my craft cave! Here is a card I made today for Unity Stamps Friends with Flair Friday.

and the inside:

No sketch used with this one. I totally winged it and went CAS (clean and simple). This super cute stamp set is an Itty Bitty called "If the shoe fits." I purchased it a while ago, but it never saw ink until today - in every color! I used Marvy Uchida markers to stamp the front panel, and Tsukineko Tuxedo Black for the inside. I used a punch from EK Success on the black card stock and popped the stamped panel up with some foam squares. Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful weekend and stay cool!

Chris ☺

BOOM!

Hey all! Do you make cards to celebrate July 4th? This will be a first for me, but I liked how it came out!

and the inside:

Here is the sketch once again:

If you've been wondering why I've been using the same sketch this week, it's because Karen Giron is having a design team call on her blog, The Sweetest Thing. This is for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, using sketch #161. Click on the link to check it out and play along!

For my card, I used Echo Park's Dots and Stripes Metropolitan collection. I stamped the star burst  on the red paper with the big polka dots. I wound up a piece of the red striped paper to make a fire cracker, used some white DMC floss for the wick, and added gold glitter to the end to make it appear that it was lit! The stamps I used on the front are from Paper Smooches (star burst and the star) and the inside sentiment is from Hero Arts. I used my scoring tool from Martha Stewart to score the stars and bent them so that they were more dimensional. The kraft panel is embossed with Cuttlebug's star embossing plate. The stickers (BOOM!) on the inside are from Colorbok.

Thanks for stopping by today. Gook luck to all the talented ladies trying out for Karen's design team!

Have a great day!

Chris ☺

Special....

Hi all! Today is another gorgeous day, so this hopefully will be a short post. I just picked up a boat load of flowers and I'm itching to start fixing my planter boxes!

This card I made using the Deconstructed Sketch #57.

the inside:

and the sketch:

Here is a picture of how I cut the decorative edge on the vertical strip of paper:

Of course, after I cut it, I realized it was too short. So this is what I did to make it longer:

It's magic! Wow! LOL! You wouldn't even know unless I told you! I used patterned paper and stickers from Echo Park's Happy Days collection. (Wow, no stamping on this card. That's almost unheard of!)

Glad you stopped by! Have a great rest of your day!

Chris ☺

Live in Color...

Hi all! Today is such a gorgeous day! And what am I doing? Blogging! LOL! I'm taking a time out from reading in my deck chair to post this card. I'm entering this for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #161.

and the inside:

Here is the sketch I used:

As you can see, I flipped it on it's side. As soon as I did that, I knew those flowers were going to be clouds. Can you just see those pennants flapping in the breeze?

The paper is from MME's Ooh La La collection. It's an older line, but still one of my favorites! I used three stamps sets from Paper Smooches: Eco Friendly, Spring Fling, and Simply Said. I inked them using Tsukineko black and for all the colors, I used Marvy Uchida markers.

Now, back to my beach, I mean, deck chair! (Oh I wish I were at the beach right now!)

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great rest of the day!

Chris ☺

So Berry Sweet...

Good Sunday Morning to everyone! It's shaping up to be another gorgeous day here in B-more. I think I'm going to give my dog, Colby, a bath outside today. (Shhh, he doesn't know that yet!) ☺

Isn't he a cutie? He's a Golden Retriever/Chow mix. We had him shaved for the summer - he loves that!

So, right before we left on vacation, the A/C unit pump that pumps the condensation water into our utility tub stopped working, overflowed and drenched part of the new carpeting we just had installed a few months earlier. (can you say 'stressed out'?!) Yep, right before we left for two weeks on vacation. Long story short, the company who installed the unit came out and fixed the pump. They also paid to have my carpets cleaned. My next door neighbor handled the carpet cleaning crew while we were away. (they did a great job) So to thank her, I made a card for her. I'm also entering this for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #161.

and the inside:

Here is the sketch I used:

The dp is from We R Memory Keepers; the stamps from Unity; flowers are Prima and Recollections; brads are from American Crafts. I used Marvy Uchida markers to color the strawberry panel. I changed it up a bit and used ribbon instead of the little banners.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a fabulous rest of the day!

Chris ☺

A birthday card

Hi all. I'm back from vacationing. We took a couple weeks and drove home to Illinois/Wisconsin. We celebrated my Dad's 80th birthday by throwing him a surprise birthday party; we spent a week up in the north-woods of WI to visit with my in-laws fishing, canoeing, pontooning the lakes and just having a great time. Then back down to IL to stay with my parents, helping them out as my Mom is recuperating from surgery to her wrist. We also hung out with family and friends throughout the week. Busy busy busy!!!

I didn't take ANY scrap-booking/card making supplies with me, and as much as I desperately miss my family, I was also excited to get back to my craft cave to start creating again!

This card I made for the current Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.

the inside.

This was a color challenge and here are the colors:

I used stamps from the Green Acres and Good Gab sets for this card. No patterned paper, all card stock. I embossed the chick and eggs (I cut one of them to look like the chick just hatched from it) and fussy cut them out of card stock. I used a corner rounder from Fiskars on two corners. Stamped the sentiment, used a light purple marker from Marvy Uchida to draw shadows, and popped the panel to the card base with foam squares. Easy peasy! I'm getting more into CAS cards. This one came together within an hour! (normally it's like 2-3!)

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave a comment. I read them all, and they are much appreciated! Have a great evening!

Chris ☺