Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sew Many Card March Sponsors


We have two sponsors:
FEB 26th -- MAR 31st
SOFT PENCIL ... OWNER -- ELIZABETH PUJALKA
Prize package -- $25 voucher to the Soft Pencil Shop

SPONSOR BLURB--

"Hello everyone! my name is
Elizabeth Pujalka and I´m the illustrator and designer behind Softpencil -Digital Stamps, home of Michu and his lovely friends, where you can find cute illustrations for your crafting needs.

My illustrations are a homage to the Nature and their creatures, where a sweet child, a simple flower or a fragile animal become protagonists. I invite you to know my whimsical world plenty of gorgeous characters and to
enjoy creating with them!"

SIMON SAYS STAMPS
FEB 26th -- MAR 31st
Sponsor Prize Package -- $10 Gift Certificate

Photobucket

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

birthday card


Yeah, I know Tuesday is almost over but I've been making so much headway with my craft room that I almost didn't stop to make my card(s).




I used Jaden saying hello to a butterfly image from Sew Many Cards and colored it with my Bic and Prismacolor markers. I also tried to follow the sketch from 365Cards. It's Sew Many Cards week there so I thought I ought to try and post to it too. I made my background by rubbing a Big and Juicy Herb Garden ink pad on it. I wasn't totally happy with the coverage (darker in spots) so I took my Studio G glitter glue in dark pink and smeared it across the blue/green ink. I also used that glitter glue on the flowers by Jaden's feet. I used an adhesive backed ribbon across the top of my card, and cut an oval with my Creative Memories cutting system on a scrap of dusty pink paper. On that oval, I stamped Happy Birthday and put dots around the edge. I took some mini tropical-colors flowers and glued them to the bottom right corner because it seemed like it needed something more. Then I decided the white rectangle looked too stark and straight so I used a tearing edge ruler to draw and color a torn edge look to it.

Thanks for looking at my card.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

SMC #9 Tool Challenge




First, the sponsor is Wags N Whiskers!!!



-- LET'S PUNCH IT! -- Use a punch or punches on your project.
Mine is the flower centers.
In
OUT

I used SMC's snail (previous Friday Feebie) to make this interactive card. I couldn't find any instructions for making one so I improvised my own. Obviously I had to pick what stamps to use. I chose these daisies stamp that I had gotten in a swap over a year ago to be my background. I colored the centers yellow and blended it out into the petals (you can see it still in the smaller flowers). Then I colored the leaves, green and the background, a purplish blue. I then cut a slit where I wanted the snail to "crawl" (I put a piece of paper where the slit starts and stops to help you see it). Then I had to put a pull tab on the snail. I didn't think I could just stick a tab on and expect it to glide. I figured I had to push the snail up a teeny tiny bit so there wouldn't be any friction. I also thought I had better add something to keep it straight or else it might wiggle all over the place. Here is is all put together. I used pop up adhesive to continue to help with the possible friction issue. I don't know if it really would be a problem, but I didn't want to find out so I erred on the side of caution.

Next, I punched sun/flower punches for the centers of my largest daisies. I punched 10 total. I then took gold Studio G glitter glue and glittered 5 of them. They were now my tops and the other 5 will have plain yellow petals showing from underneath. One was put on the end of the pull tab to decorate it a little bit, and the others were put in the middle of the biggest flowers. Then I attached everything to my card base.


I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges:
Challenge Up Your Life & Quirky Crafts: Flowers
Crafty Ann: colors of
LILAC, PINK and LEMON Hopefully you think I'm close enough
Magical Craft, Digital Tuesday & Crafty Card Makers: Spring
Stamptacular Sunday: Make a scene
PollyCraft: Sparkly Things
Stampin Royalty: Glitter
Simon Says Stamp: Spring and Glimmer
Anything shimmery, shiny, sparkly!
Fab 'n' Funky:"It's all in the technique"
Mo's Digital Pencil: 3 or more punches


Before I go, I'm going to remind you to visit the rest of the design team blogs and the challenge blog. Also, don't forget to pick up your Friday Freebie (you can find it at the Challenge blog or at the SMC store).

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Small Pleasures

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/makeover/101-small-pleasures-you-can-enjoy-every-day-1125425/

  1. coloring (yes, grown-ups can do it, too) That's become my favorite part of cardmaking.
  2. crisp cotton sheets Oh yes!
  3. soft skin
  4. old family recipes
  5. the first daffodils of spring
  6. sleeping in I agree
  7. an exercise endorphin high
  8. window boxes
  9. a perfect cup of coffee
  10. a genuine compliment (giving or receiving)
  11. the way babies smell
  12. a handwritten letter
  13. waking up in a good mood...for no real reason
  14. singing in the shower
  15. finding a couple forgotten dollars in your pocket to be promptly spent LOL
  16. doing something nice for your neighbor
  17. a home cooked meal
  18. laughing
  19. movie theater popcorn
  20. playing hookey
  21. a bubble bath ooohhh! I haven't indulged in one of those in years
  22. swimming
  23. an afternoon nap
  24. street musicians
  25. your favorite song
  26. saying thank you
  27. helping someone in need
  28. old fashioned photo booths
  29. fresh whipped cream
  30. inspiring blogs
  31. a glass of wine
  32. rainy afternoons
  33. the funny things kids say
  34. a novel you can get lost in
  35. finding the perfect piece of clothing...on sale
  36. clean laundry
  37. the wind in your hair I really dont like because the hair ends up in my face
  38. treating the person behind you at the drive-thru
  39. sharing an umbrella
  40. the smell of lavender
  41. a long walk that clears your head
  42. a bear hug
  43. The Beatles
  44. smiling at a stranger
  45. eating with chopsticks (Chinese food optional)
  46. butterflies
  47. staying in your pj's all day
  48. singing along to the radio and knowing all the words
  49. fresh herbs
  50. ordering in pizza
  51. happy endings...even if they're fictional
  52. flying a kite
  53. puppies
  54. root beer floats That sounds good too
  55. holding open the door...
  56. ...or having someone hold the door for you
  57. fountain soda
  58. white, fluffy towels
  59. sunshine
  60. spending an afternoon at a museum
  61. really great advice
  62. green lights all the way home
  63. the sound of rain hitting the windows
  64. sitting in a booth
  65. holding hands
  66. a great hair day with no effort
  67. building a fort with your kids
  68. when someone falls asleep with their head on your shoulder
  69. fireflies
  70. the perfect taco
  71. geraniums on a windowsill
  72. slow dancing
  73. the smell of fresh-baked bread
  74. cheesy, uplifting musicals
  75. great stories
  76. the smell of gasoline
  77. the cold side of the pillow
  78. love letters
  79. old friends...
  80. ...new friends
  81. a pull-through parking space
  82. a baguette -- crisp on the outside, airy on the inside
  83. when a dog licks your hand
  84. sitting at the counter at an old-fashioned diner
  85. using your favorite dishes
  86. reading your child a bedtime story
  87. Girl Scout Cookies
  88. flossing
  89. kissing someone you love
  90. the smell of onions and garlic cooking on DH's no-no list so we don't do it anymore
  91. hot chocolate
  92. jumping in puddles
  93. old photographs
  94. birds hopping on the sidewalk
  95. Ella Fitzgerald
  96. a spoonful of peanut butter straight from the jar
  97. your softest t-shirt
  98. a new magazine in the mail
  99. fireplaces
  100. having exact change
  101. bacon and pancakes cooking on Saturday morning
I'm going to add one more...Watching the fish tank. Too bad our nearly 7 year old goldfish named Roger died today. I've had 3 out of 6 fish die in the past two weeks (started with the oldest one (an algae eater) dying first, I just thought maybe it was his time). I've been trying to fix the tank but numerous water changes isn't fixing the problem and I'm afraid there will be more deaths. The one that's obviously been sick for about a week, wasn't the first to die. I hope I can save the tank and the remaining goldfish.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Friday Challenges

Friday Challenges


Thrusday Challenges

Thursday Challenges


Wednesday Challenges

Wednesday Challenges


Tuesday Challenges

Tuesday Challenges

Monday Challenges

Monday Challenges

Saturday Challenges

Saturday Card Challenges

Sunday Challenges

Sunday Card Challenges

Monday, March 22, 2010

CAC sketch 3-23







Here's a Get Well card featuring Jaden (an SMC image). I didn't leave room for the sentiment but I think it's self explanatory. LOL

I'm not entirely happy with this card. I am not unhappy with my color selection or with my coloring job, but I'm disappointed with the size of my "circles." I imagined skinnier silver edges but I ran out of in-between sizes with my Creative Memories templates and had to make do. I embossed the solid green with the cuttlebug Holiday Ribbons embossing folder. I made it into a center opening card instead of the traditional side or bottom opening (see bottom photo).


Challenges to enter:
No Time to Stamp - Clean and Simple texture
One Stop Craft Challenge - Let it Shine
Saturday Spotlight - Birthstone color (Emerald)

Friday, March 19, 2010

SMC#8: SKETCH CHALLENGE w/ a SPRING THEME

SPONSOR: CORNISH HERITAGE FARMS
CORNISH HERITAGE FARMS -- RICHARD & LIZ POMEROY -- OWNERS

URL LINK -- http://www.cornishheritagefarms.com/intro.php

Sponsor Prize Package:

Three New Release Stamp sets that will be pictured on the challenge blog

Cornish Heritage Farms (CHF) is owned & run by Richard & Liz Pomeroy. Why the name? Richard & Liz are originally from Cornwall, England hence the Cornish Heritage & the 'Farms' is the 100 acre farm in north central Montana where they live & where all the stamps are manufactured. Richard & Liz believe in producing a high quality product so all the stamps are deeply etched, red rubber. CHF is a diverse stamp company in the fact that it consists of a variety of different licenses & styles, ranging from very detailed (Thomas Kinkade) to simple line art (Tom Fun Collection) therefore offering something for everyone.

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Here's the card I made using the above sketch:I colored Talya fishing because that's a spring activity that we do a little bit of. Normally, I think of flowers first when I think of spring but something or someone chopped all the tops of my daffodil buds so I'm not going to have them this spring and I'll have to wait for other flowers to bloom. Then I got this yen to try pop up layering so I printed Tayla 6 times thinking that should be enough in case I made a mistake. I thought about what to layer and wrote it out then wrote it next to each image of that I wanted to color. Then I colored the parts and colored what was underneath the popped layers so white wouldn't obviously show. I'm finally starting to get my craft room put back into some semblance of order but I couldn't find my pop dots (not on the table where I thought I had them before I buried the table under stuff in an attempt to dry my floor - more about that in another post someday when I get it all put away) so I packed up the kids one afternoon and went to Walmart to get another package of foam pop dots. I started cutting out the middle layer (I had enough foresight to realize I can't cut the top layer, put it on top of the middle layer and then cut it out but I still got too anxious and ahead of myself as you'll see later). I can see that I need to find my Cutterbee scissors because it's difficult cutting small areas of cardstock (paper ok, but not heaver cardstock). Then I started putting pop dots on spots around the image. I even put some of the skinny edge foam under the fishing pole. Then I got excited, peeled the release paper from the foam and put it down on top of the fully colored image, then realized I haven't cut it out yet and won't be able to cut it in an oval, so I decided to go ahead an cut the third layer and stick it down too. Then I took my two green pieces of cardstock, cut out the oval out of the middle, and put the image in the cut out (I kept the ovals for something else someday). Now that I know my ovals are big enough to go around Tayla, I cuttlebugged my light green piece with the bubbles folder to add interest then glued my pieces together and to the face of my card. I got my Studio G glitter glue for the 'dots' in the corners. While that was drying, I opened up word and chose a fun looking font called "CK Anything Goes." I type "Happy Birthday" and printed it on scrap paper. Next, I took colored cardstock, taped it over the printed areas and printed it again. I filled in the open area of the letters with a dark green marker. I stuck the rectangles down (sticking my finger in the still wet glitter glue dot - uggh!).
Here's some other views of the popped up image.


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Now for the challenges (because you know I love hearing from you-I don't enter for the prizes)
Kelly Jo's Stamp Pad & Stacey's Curtain Color Call: dark green (Artichoke), light green (Celery), cream (Barely Banana) or white
Cards for Men, Artful Inkables, & Kaboodledoodles: Happy Birthday
Cupcake Craft Challenges & Fussy and Fancy#6: Green
Crafty Creations: Spots and Dots (bubbles folder & glitter glue dots)
Fab N Funky: New (Technique)
Pollycraft Monday: Sparkly and glittery (some glitter glue)
Crafty Catz: Something for the boys/men
Bee Crafty, Secret Crafter, All Sorts, Frosted Designs, & Crazy4Challenges: Spring
Cute Daisy May & Ooh-la-la Creations: Anything goes
(Ooh-la-la is one of those sites that inspired me to try this technique because they have freebies of color images that allow you to do the pop-up layering)
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Now, before I go, I'm going to remind you to visit the rest of the design team blogs and the challenge blog. Also, don't forget to pick up your Friday Freebie (you can find it at the Challenge blog or at the SMC store).

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

CAC sketch 3-16

Oh My Gosh! This time change is killing me. I am having a hard time sleeping (and then staying awake at work) so forgive me if I dont make any sense as I tell you about this card.
I followed the sketch but simplified it a bit. I colored this cute little pirate moose that I got in an image swap (so I dont know who made it) with my alcohol markers. I used a piece of the brown flower paper, and a piece of orange ricrak (bought off eBay many many years ago for my scrapbooking). I had a cute saying with "Arg!" in it but forgot what it was by the time I got the card made and my sleep deprived brain can't remember it. I'm not usually good at coming up with them. If you have any good phrases, let me know.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

SMC Challenge #7 - EASTER PROJECT

THEME CHALLENGE -- EASTER PROJECT ... Can be anything you would like to make

Weekly Sponsor: STAMPS ALIVE -- TERRI OLSEN -- OWNER

URL Link -- http://stampsalive.blogspot.com/

SPONSOR PRIZE PACKAGE -- CUTTLEBUG COMBO EMBOSSING FOLDER -- DAMASK

SPONSOR BLURB -- I started my business in 1993 to give me something to do. I had worked
all my life and recently quit to be a stay at home mom to my new baby.
I've always been interested in paper products and I didn't like paying
full price for some of the things I wanted. So I started my business. I
like to pass my savings on to others. I've made some really good
friends over the years. I've always been a small business I only
advertise word of mouth. Over the years I've kept as busy as I wanted
to be.

It has been very interesting to see the hobby industry change over the years. I had a "scrapbook" store in my basement before Las Vegas knew what a scrapbook store was. I've dealt with Provo Craft the entire 17 years I've been in business and that has been fun, to watch them change!!

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Now for my card...

I kept this card pretty simple. I colored Jovi with colored pencils using a texture plate underneath to give her a "hairy" look. I used a piece of scrap red to mat her on and red ink to distress the edge of the card. I couldn't cover up those pretty sketchy-looking flowers so I place Jovi to the side. I wrote "Have a Happy Easter" above.


Here's a second card I made this week following PaperCraftPlanet's sketch of the week.

I used the March bonus pack, scrap cardstock, and a couple of bic markers. I used glossy accents on the button.


Thanks for looking. Be sure to check out what the rest of the DT did at SewManyChallenges blog.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

CAC sketch Lucky 3-9

The sketch and the card made from it.
I colored Lucky Miki (found at Sew Many Cards) with my alcohol markers in just about every shade of green. LOL Gold and Green scrap pack papers were use to mat him. I used my fiskars punch to create my border in a pale green. I managed to find 6 green buttons that were the same (I toyed with two of three different types but did not find a combo I liked). Since I wanted to enter my card in one of the challenges listed below, I colored my white cardstock base with green ink directly from the pad, then colored with a light blue colored pencil the stripes on the bottom third (I didn't want to take a chance on messing everything up so I didn't do the entire card front). I used glossy accents on the shamrock just to make it stand out as something special.

Now for the challenges:
Pile it On: Lucky Me
Challenge Up Your Life: at least 3 buttons and stripes
Crafty Catz: Shades of Green with an Option of St. Patricks Day

Thanks for looking and I love your comments

Friday, March 5, 2010

Blog Hop Winner & DT Call

My Sew Many Cards March Blog Hop Winner!

Autumn0725
Please email Jeri Jeri@SewManyChallenges.com to claim your prize


The winner of the $25 Gift Certificate to SOFT PENCIL is .......

and the winner of the $10 Simon Says Stamp Gift Certificate and the complete line of Sew Many Cards New Release images is..........

Sew Many Cards DT Call!
It's that time again!!!


Design Team call for Sew Many Cards!
We would love to have you as part of the Sew Many Cards family!
Our new team will begin on April 19th and end on July 15th!
If you love to be creative and have fun at the same time then please email me for all the details at

Jeri@SewManyChallenges.com

Please put ~SMC DT CALL~ in the subject line.
You do NOT have to have prior Design Team experience to apply!!
We'll close this call on March 25th.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

SMC Challenge #6

THEME CHALLENGE -- PROJECT FOR A MALE..Can be for an adult or child.
SPONSOR PRIZE PACKAGE -- 3 digital images of their choice from the KLM Designs store. So please come play with us at the Sew Many Card Challenge for a chance to win. Must use a Sew Many Card Image which a freebie can be found at the Sew Many Cards blog.

I used Eris with Fawn You Lift Me image and Angela's new stitched font, and based my card on this sketch...It's a slightly older sketch from Techno Stamper Challenges
Here it is before the sentiment was added so you can see the paper tearing better. I chose to tear my paper because my boys are distructive (holes in knees, messy rooms, muddy clothes, etc.)

I'm going to enter this into the following challenges...
Rosie-D's Challenge: Friendship (Eris and Fawn look like they are great friends, don't they?)
Double Dutch Challenges: For the Boys
Polly Craft Challenges: Distressing
Paper Play Challenges: Just Because
Lexi's Creations: Any Thing Goes

Happy Friday



Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Happy Tuesday


CAC sketch 3-2

Here's the sketch to follow:
I used a bright floral background paper and some cardstock from one of those pound packs for the yellow and green. The yellow was embossed with swiss dots cuttlebug folder and the green piece was embossed with script. The pink lady is from a stamped image swap from a couple of years ago. I haven't decided if she'd look better if I add some colored pencil to her. It might make her "pop" but it might ruin it too. Maybe you all can tell me what you think.

Let me see if there's any challenges I can enter into:
The Secret Crafter Saturday: Stitching (in the flower background)
Bee Crafty: Embossing

As always, thank you for looking and for leaving me a comment. I appreciate them all.