CAS Washi Card

Good morning everyone! Are you at work today or off playing and enjoying this holiday weekend? Me...well I have to work a little but will be outta here as early as possible to get my weekend started! I don't have any specific plans, just going to play it by ear for the most part. However, I do need to get crafty for the Addict blog, The Shabby Tea Room and for my upcoming classes at The Stamp Pad here in St. Louis. 

Recently a friend of mine purchased a roll of washi tape that's 2" wide and filled with encouraging little sayings. It's actually called "quotes" and I found it on Amazon in case you're interested in it, she purchased hers here locally - Hazel & Ruby Fat Roll Washi Tape 2in X 26ft  Color Block Quotes.

Well, like all of us at one time or another, when she set eyes on this Washi she knew she had to have it but when she got it home she had no clue what to do with it! I can't tell you how many times I've done that with different stamps, dies and embellishments, lol!! So, after mulling it over a few times she gave it to me and said "do something!!!". Like any good friend would do, I accepted the challenge! Honestly, I was thrown for a loop myself! It sat on my desk giving me the stink eye for several days before I even touched it....it scared me! Finally I knew I HAD to do something with it so I tore a piece off and put it on a piece of scrap paper and started carrying it around with me...hoping against all hope that something out of the blue would pop into my mind. One evening while waiting on dinner at a restaurant I pulled the dreaded piece of scrap out and was looking at it, turning it in different directions...just playing with it in general. Finally the thought popped into my head "why do I have to keep it in one piece, why can't I cut it up?". FINALLY...an epiphany!  I mean, yeah, I could use it as is and tape down lengths of it next to each other to make a full background but that seemed the easy way out. However, in hindsight, maybe what I did here was take the easy way out anyway....

I wanted to keep it simple but yet make the Washi the highlight of the card. I made a white A2 card base, cut a piece of white cardstock and ran it through a polka dot embossing folder then mounted it with pop dots/foam tape to the card base. I cut out blocks of the Washi that I had adhered to white cardstock and attached them to the card and finished it all off with a smattering of sequins that I added Stickles to. What do you think, did I take the easy way out, lol?? What would you do with Washi like this??

Well that's it for me today, I hope you have a great weekend!!!!

Pretty little gift set

Hi everyone!! This week is half over already, is it going by fast for you too?? Summer has finally landed here in the Midwest and we are seeing triple digit temps....yikes! I can't complain though, it's been one heck of a nice summer so far even if we haven't had any rain!

Well, I wanted to send someone a thank you gift for helping me out with something so I made a little card and thought I'd put a gift card of some type in it. A couple of days later I had an epiphany and decided that a gift card wasn't the way to go. We have a certain something in common....our love for a certain little drink called a Lime-a-rita. I decided to buy her a pretty little glass and a HUGE cans of Lime-a-rita, lol!  However, just any ole bag with my pretty card wouldn't look right so I decided I needed to make a matching gift bag. You can get plain white (and kraft) bags at the big box craft stores in a package but I ended up getting this one in a 4 pack at my local dollar store.

My friend's not a girly girl, definitely more tom-boy than girly.  However, I still wanted it to be feminine so I decided to make the bag and card like I normally would, but just change out the bright frilly type colors I would normally gravitate to for darker richer colors.

Here's a little close up...........

Card:

I started out with a navy blue A2 sized card base and layered on a piece of charcoal that I had stamped with DeNami's medium polka dots background (larger dots) then made a white panel using the smaller polka dot background and a couple of petit four sets. I layered that on along with a doily, and a piece of charcoal cardstock that I edge punched on both sides (to make a little band). I finished it off by adding a punched scalloped circle tag and sheer navy bow.

Bag:

For the bag I basically did the same thing as I did for the card. I did distress the bag with Momento London Fog ink to knock down the brightness a bit. I layered on some Charcoal cardstock then layered on the white panel that I had stamped with the medium polka dots background that I had used earlier along with the same butterfly and flower. I added a piece of navy cardstock to make a base for the tag and added the doily then made a tag to match everything. After I had it all put together I decided it needed more ribbon than just the bow so I carefully pulled up the tag and sides of the charcoal panel and added a length of ribbon. I was much happier with the results then. The ribbon seems like it "anchors" the focal point to the bag now.

DeNami Stamps:

• medium polka dots (larger polka dot background)
• mini polka dot background (smaller polka dot background)
• garden accent stamp set (flower)
• decorative butterflies stamp set (butterfly)
• everyday stamp set (sentiments)

Well, I actually made this set several months back, and she LOVED her little gift! Not only did the gift itself fit her but the card and bag did too. Next time you need to give a little gift why not try making a cute little matching bag too?

The Shabby tea Room #233 - celebration

Hello and happy Monday!! Okay, okay, I know that Monday's blow, but I'm trying to be optimistic!!! hehehe ;)

Welcome to a fun new week at The Shabby Tea Room! This week we are asked to "celebrate"!

 Rules: 'celebration theme' using pink, flowers and a lace element

Our sponsor this week is Digital papers By Janet and I knew just the perfect patterned papers I wanted to use!! 

 I started off by die cutting a cream card base then layered on 2 patterned papers from our sponsor, Digital Papers By Janet, that I printed out and die cut. I finished it off with a fun focal point tag that I had die cut and stamped.

•  Papers By Janet: Super Cupcake Set
• Pretty Pink Posh: Stitched Borders die 1, stitched duo 1 (tag), 4mm sparkling clear sequins, 8mm sparkling clear sequins, chevron yellow twill ribbon
• Paper Sweeties: cookie dough sequins
• Lawn fawn: Penelope's Blossoms
• DeNami Design: Calligraphy Happy Birthday (check it out...it's on sale!!)
• DeNami Design: Polka Dot Background

Tea Time Terrific Top Three first place winner will receive three collage files.

Tea Time Terrific Top Three second place winner will receive two collage files.

Tea Time Terrific Top Three third place winner will receive one collage file.

Please link your creations at The Shabby Tea Room by Sunday, August 31st to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, September 1st. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 1st as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

 Well that's it for me today...see ya on Wednesday!!!

Classic Black & White

Happy Friday...are ya glad this week is done? My week isn't quite done yet, I am teaching a card making class featuring Flowersoft at a local stamp store tomorrow. Sunday will be my day of running errands and housework...so much for having a weekend, lol!

Today I want to share a classic little color combo with you...

As I said on Wednesday, this card is very easy to put together. I started out with an A2 sized card base in black then layered on a white panel that I had ran through a dry embossing folder. I attached a length of sheer ribbon around it and glued it down flat on the front where it meets (covered by the center square). I made a panel layering black and white cardstock for my sentiment. and attached it flat to the card front. I punched 3 scalloped squares out of black cardstock and cut 3 white squares from white cardstock. I stamped a design on each white square (making sure I remembered that I was using a diamond shape so I stamped using a corner as the bottom instead of one of the sides) before laying them onto the black ones. When I had the panels layered I simply attached them to the front of the card using foam tape/pop dots. To finish it all off I added a pretty little bow  to "anchor" sentiment. 

I don't think you can ever go wrong with just black & white...it's timeless and classic. However, you can jazz it up by adding just a little pop of color. For example I could use a different color ribbon like red, yellow or even a pretty teal, skys the limit on the color selection. I could also stamp the sentiment in a color that matches the ribbon color. How would you change it up and add color?

Stamps:

• Small Swirl Corner
• Elegant Floral Leaf Sprig
• Mini Dot Wreath

That's all for me today, I hope you have a great weekend! I'll see you back here on Monday with a new challenge for The Shabby Tea Room.

Dropping you a line

Hello everyone and HAPPY WEDNESDAY! It's going to be a happy happy day for me because if the USPS tracking info is correct, my latest purchase of Copic markers will be waiting for me when i get home from work...WOO-HOO!! The holes in my little collection are slowly filling up. I found a couple of places online that are helping make them more affordable, if you're interested just send me an email. I don't know if you say my facebook posts, but I'm now officially certified in basic and intermediate Copics! Ohh my gosh, the classes were fun and I learned sooo much! It was a lot to take in in a short time so I'm glad that I'm OCD when it comes to taking notes, lol!

Alrighty, enough about all of that. You're here to see a card, right? Well, originally I had a little card showcasing DeNami stamps to show you today, however, it's the opposite of what I was just talking about! I figured if I'm talking about Copics and how excited I was about taking the certification classes that I should at least show something I colored so I'm switching gears, I'll save the non-colored DeNami card for Friday, mmkay?

Isn't that fishie just adorable? I created a scene using several little stamps in the set then colored it all in using Copics and added a TON of yummy DeNami glitter- Strawberry Freeze, Extra Fine, Champagne, Citrone and Misty Blue. You can never have too much glitter can you?

Alrighty, I'll see y'all back here on Friday with a classic black and white card that is easy to put together and requires no coloring featuring several DeNami stamps! 

The Shabby tea Room - challenge #232 - Summer Dreams

Hi everyone and welcome to another fun week over at The Shabby Tea Room! This week it was my turn to pick the theme. I came upon this beautiful picture and was just drawn to it. Ohh how I wish this was my home....

Doesn't it look like a place where you could curl up with a book and relax? I'd love to spend a couple of hours there ;)

This weeks rules: create a card or project inspired by the photo using a home and/or garden theme, flowers and colors from the photo!

This week our sponsor just happens to be Creations By AR. Did you know that I'm on their design team? Adela creates wonderful 3D patterns to play with. Everything from gift bags to home organization and LOTS of goodies in-between! All of the files come in a PDF for hand cutting as well as several options for machine cutting (I use the SVG one). What I like about cut files is that they're fairly cheap and once I have the file I can use it forever!

Creations by AR is all about paper crafting specializing in 3D templates, cutting files and digital images. Visit www.creationsbyar.com for inspiration!

I am pleased to offer The Shabby Tea Room participants a challenge discount of 10% off entire purchase during the week of my sponsorship.  The discount code is challenge10. 

Well, are you ready to see what I've made? I chose the darling watering can from Creations by AR. I wanted to keep it fairly simple so as not to take away from the watering can itself but couldn't resist adding a little bling, doily and tag! This file also comes with a little seed packet that you can make. What a darling gift set this would make!

ITEMS:

• Watering Can - Creations By AR
• Stitched Tag (stitched duo 1)- Pretty Pink Posh
• Solid Rose Accent stamp set - DeNami Design
• 4 mm Clear Sequins - Pretty Pink Posh
• Chevron Twill Ribbon - Pretty Pink Posh

Please link your creations at The Shabby Tea Room by Sunday, August 24th to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, August 25th. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 25th as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

 

Let's use up those scraps.....

Ugggg, I'm late again!!! My goodness, where is my head these days???? Thank you all so much for the well wishes for Moe! He's doing good today. His little paw (do 100lb babies have little paws, hehehe) is really raw between his toes and he doesn't want to put any weight on it at all. He's cast-less so his toes can have air and dry out properly. Since it's about 2 weeks too early to have it off we have to be extremely careful when he gets up to go out for a potty break and he is now wearing a "cone of shame"...my poor little baby!! He's taking it all like a trooper though and will be better in no time! Here's a few pictures of my precious little boy...

 

Well, after all that cuteness it's hard to switch gears and make y'all look at a card that I made, lol! Moe is a lot more fun to look at ;)

I was playing around trying to come up with a way to purge my scrap paper drawer. I just can't bring myself to throw away pretty patterned paper, even the smallest scrap!! I simply made some "flags" and layered them across the front of an A2 card base. I then added a solid strip of cardstock that I punched and added a piece of Washi (to pull in the purple) and ribbon to. To anchor the whole card I added a couple of punched scalloped circles that I stamped with a sentiment from the Assorted Greetings stamp set and a little circle frame called Double Circle Frame - both by DeNami Design. 

Well that's it for me today! I'm off to go sit in the floor and cuddle with my baby boy. Hope y'all have a great weekend!!

Happy Birthday To My Favorite Fireman

Hi everyone!! So sorry for the late post, my life is such a wreak some days!!I was supposed to write this up yesterday but had a slight hic-cup with my doggy. He had surgery on his knee 2 weeks ago. He completely tore his ACL and had a partial tear in another ligament and had quite a bit of scar tissue built up so they did what's called a TPLO. It's a pretty evasive surgery where they go in and reconfigure the bone structure so after months of trying other things that didn't work this was out last resort.  Yesterday I noticed that something was "off". As a mom you just know these things, right ladies? Well I took him to the Vet and they took off his soft cast & splint. They found that his splint (which is basically a 1/2 cast) was broke and dug into his paw which caused moisture in between his toes which is causing issues that no one wants to hear about. Think of what happens when we are on massive antibiotics...yeah, poor little guy!! He had to spend the night there which breaks my heart and made me a nervous wreak all evening! Needless to say, this post was the last thing on my mind! I was imagining all kinds of crazy stuff like the infection spreading to the incision and since they took the stitches out on Monday and were leaving the wrappings off that his leg would fall off...y'all know how we worry over our babies and tend to think on the crazy side! I was there on the edge, lol! This morning my mind is at ease and I know he's doing great and will be picking him up this afternoon...what a relief!!

Anyway, let's get on with today's post. I'm sure you don't want to hear about Moe's knee and my insane-ness!! For my birthday i received a few stamps from Paper Sweeties...WOO-HOO! It just so happens that 2 of my brother-in-laws are firemen so the darling fireman themed stamp set I received is a perfect fit in my collection!! Also, one of them has a birthday just a couple of days from mine so it was doubly fun receiving this wonderful stamp set and inked it up a couple of weeks ago to make him a card! 

I always struggle with guy friendly cards but somehow this one came together sooooo easily!! 

I started off with a kraft A2 card base the layered on some fun orange because I knew that I was going to color Jake's outfit in that hue. I decided to make a little panel for him and added a pop of bright color by adding the blue punched strip. I added a sentiment from DeNami (happy birthday) and fussy cut the helmet and hose to draw in the overall theme, plus the hose anchors the sentiment. To finish it all off I added the buttons in the upper corner. It just seemed to empty up there and this gives me my rule of 3 - the buttons, the focal point & the sentiment. 

Stamps:

DeNami - Happy Birthday script

Paper Sweeties: Jake & Jake Sweetcuts, Firefighters

Well that's it for me today. I'll see you on Friday!!

The Shabby Tea Room - challenge #231

Hi everyone and welcome to another fun week at The Shabby Tea Room! This week we have such a pretty and feminine inspiration picture!

This weeks rules: create a card or project inspired by the photo using pink, black, flowers and pearls!

How pretty is that little picture? I love the gold trim on the cup handle and saucer. I chose the colors and the tea cup for my inspiration and came up with this....

I used the darling little tea pot from Paper Sweeties' Tea For Two stamp set and paired it with some pretty patterned papers I had been hording saving for a special occasion. I think it all works perfectly with the solid cardstocks from The Paper Temptress.

Paper Temptress Items Used:

• Black Plike Text
• Pink Lemonade

This week's lucky winner will receive a $25 gift certificate from Paper Temptress!

Please link your creations at The Shabby Tea Room by Sunday, August 17th to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, August 18th. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 18th as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

fun & bright everyday cards

Hi everyone and happy Friday!! Today I have two cards to share with you. I just love bright and fun colors and sometimes it really shows up in my work. I needed to make a few samples for the little store that I teach card making at and I just love this little ticket die & stamp set and couldn't wait to see what I could do with it. It's fun to see how both cards are totally different yet use the same stamps and die.

That's it for me today. I'll see ya right back here on Monday with a fun new challenge for The Shabby Tea Room! 

Seasons Change....

You gals always bring a smile to my face even on a gloomy day! Your support and comments really mean a lot to me, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

This past weekend I sat down with my calendar to set dates for the classes I'm teaching at a little local rubber stamp store here in St. Louis and was shocked to see that the class I'm getting ready for will be at the end of August which means my next class will be at the end of September!! This means breaking out all the beautiful deep rich fall papers and autumn themed stamps! Am I ready for summer to be over, am I ready to put away the brightly colored papers and embellishments? I have such mixed feelings on this!! 

Well, weather I like it or not, time will not stand still so I rolled with the flow and pulled out some yummy autumn stamps and created my first card for fall...

I showed a little sneak peak of this card on Facebook yesterday. You may recognize the leaves on my focal panel being from the DeNami stamp set, Solid Leaves. Last fall I was introduced to a really fun medium called Goosebumps. You can do several things with it and one thing I learned was that I can stamp with it! I started out with a piece of cream cardstock then randomly stamped my leaves using the Goosebumps medium. It doesn't really show up when you stamp it on white or cream, but trust me, it's doing it's intended thing. I then used 3 colors of distress ink and distressed the whole piece...that's when my little leaves really popped out. The Goosebumps kind of as a resist and a little like a watermark all in one and it has just a snitch of dimension. After I was happy with my color blending I randomly stamped a little curly cue from the Leaf Accents set in a tan color. I finished off my stamping with one of my favorite sentiments, Hello Friend. I added some fall colors using a pretty patterned paper and some fall sequins I got last year from Lawn Fawn.

That's it for me today, I hope you like my first fall card of the season...see y'all on Friday! :) 

The Shabby Tea Room - challenge #230

Hello and happy Monday everyone!! Did you have a chance to follow along the hop on last Friday for Paper Sweeties' Birthday Celebration? If not, be sure to do so, there is a TON of yummy inspiration to be had! I have the entire hop list listed below in that post. 

And speaking of Paper Sweeties, they are the host this week here at The Shabby Tea Room! I pulled out some brand new images that I just LOVE!

Here's this weeks inspiration picture:

What a fun party that would be!

This weeks rules:Just to create something inspired by the photo! Easy Peasy, right???

Here's my little card:

I just loved that bright rainbow and couldn't resist picking up on that! I die cut little stitched panels then put them together for my background before adding the die cut stamped shapes and finished it all up with some jun sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Paper Sweeties Stamps & Dies:

• Showering you with love

As I said before, Paper Sweeties is this weeks sponsor for this weeks challenge! Paper Sweeties is owned and illustrated by Debbie Marcinkiewicz, and offers  high-quality, on trend acrylic stamps, coordinating metal dies and pretty embellishments.  Our heartwarming images allow paper crafters to create adorable dolls with interchangeable outfits and accessories ... plus so much more! We also have a wide variety of wonderful all-occasion sentiments, labels, frames and accessory sets - perfect for every paper crafted project!  You'll enjoy using your Paper Sweeties stamps, dies and embellishments to create projects for card making, scrap booking, party invitations and favors, home decor, gifts and so much more!

Winner will receive a $20 gift certificate from the Paper Sweeties boutique!
 

Please link your creations at The Shabby Tea Room by Sunday, August 10th to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, August 11th. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 11th as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!