Friday Sketch

Still working on the class projects, and still can't show them to you yet! Sorry!!! I tried a few more ideas. I really, really liked one, but think my ladies would string me up if I had them make it! Just too many pieces, too much cutting and putting through the Big Shot, just too much everything!!! I wish they were a bit more adventurous, but they usually want something quick and easy. Most of my ladies all have full-time jobs and very little extra time. So I'm glad they take the time to come and hang out with me, and I try to give them what they want!

Thought I'd take a break from class projects and work on a sketch challenge instead. Pals Paper Arts has some interesting sketches, so that's what I went with today. This week they're focusing on Breast Cancer Awareness, so the sketch challenge is PINK! I couldn't even think pink today after thinking Christmas so long. Instead I went to my trusty SU! Catalog and Idea Book and got inspired by a layout on page 107 and then tweaked it a bit.

Stamps: Great Friend

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, and Whisper White

Ink: Always Artichoke, Regal Rose

Accessories: Modern Label Punch, Paper Snips, Mat Pack and Piercing Tool, Siver Wire (retired), Silver Bead Duo, Soft Subtles Mini Brads, and Dimensionals

This is just a simple, clean card I needed to make after everything else I'd been working earlier. Hope you enjoy this quick card! And don't forget to peruse the SU! Catalog on a regular basis for some inspiration. It's all in there for you to use, and it's awesome! If you don't have your own catalog yet, I'd be happy to send you your very own inspiration book! It's priceless!!

Happy stamping,

Sharon

Holiday Best Ornament Card

Great day today! I feel like I got lots accomplished. You know it's a constant job planning projects for each month's classes. Today the first of 4 cards for November's classes has been finished! Hooray! I always feel good when the projects start to come together. But I'm nowhere near being finished, so it's back to the 'stamp mines' for me. Sorry I can't show you that card just yet. I need to keep some surprises for my class ladies! Hope they like it!!

I did take time out to work on a sketch challenge today. That was my fun for today!! Gretchen Barron has a lovely sketch here that I thought I'd try. Here's my take on her idea:


This is a pretty straight-forward card to make. What really makes it a bit different is using the Ornament Punch to make a reverse mask and sponging in the ornament shape. This gives a very soft image behind the wording. It's a nice way to use a smallish size stamp as your main focal point and not have it look too small.








Stamps: Holiday Best (Hostess Level 1) and Delightful Decorations
Cardstock: Real Red, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, and Very Vanilla cardstock with Merry Moments Designer Series Paper
Ink: Old Olive and Real Red pads, Real Red and Always Artichoke markers
Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, Ornament Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Sponge quarter, White Gel Pen, Mat Pack and Piercing Tool, Silver Mini Brads, Dimensionals, and Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon (retired)

Hope you like this card idea and play along with the challenge. It's always fun to see what others do with the same basic idea!

Happy Stamping!!
Sharon

BOO Hanger

Well, it seems to be that time of year when all the ghosts and ghoulies are out and about. I myself, much prefer a sweeter, gentler Halloween. I know - I'm such a wuss!! Anyway I made a Boo Hanger for my wall that is cute, and definitely NOT scary! lol It uses lots of fall colors and a few images to perk it up.

Stamps: Twick or Tweet
Cardstock: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Lovely Lilac with coordinating Prints Designer Series Papers
Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, and Lovely Lilac Classic Pads
Accessories: Chipboard Basics, Big Shot with Scallop Square Die and Serif Essentials Dies, AquaPainter, Circle Brads, Earth Elements Brads, Pumpkin Pie Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon, both Basic Black and Old Olive 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, purple ricrac from Ribbon Originals, Distressing Tool, Multi-Purpose Glue, and Paper Snips, and Glitter Pen (unknown)


This was so much fun to put together. My daughter and I spent time getting them together after I had gotten everything measured, cut, through the Big Shot, etc. We wanted to make several of these for family. This was a great way to spend an afternoon together. All totalled we made five of these. (Sorry I'm so late mailing yours Connie! You'll be already to use it next year!!)






It was fun to decide what accents to place on each letter. I loved how the ghosts look like they're floating up the side of the O. And the little witchy pumpkin fits perfectly inside the 2nd O.

We did disagree on whether to distress the edges of cardstock and Designer Paper. So some are distressed (mine) and some aren't (Heather's). In many ways our tastes are very similar, but we do differ on some things. And distressing is one of those things. She really doesn't care for it at all!! And on a project like this, either way works just fine.


Hope you enjoyed this project. Why don't you try one for yourself? Ooops, one tip I should have mentioned. We found it's so much easier to adhere the cardstock to the chipboard before you run it through the Big Shot. No sense in making more work for yourself having to line up the scallops of the chipboard and cardstock when gluing. So much easier when done ahead of time!

I had gone on some of my favorite challenge sites this morning and found one at Pals Paper Arts here that was "Anything But A Card". Is this project perfect for that or what!? Go check out what wonderful ideas people had for this challenge. Maybe you'll take up the challenge too!

Have a happy and productive Wednesday!
Sharon

Christmas Shaker Card

Hi there! It's been one heck of a week (almost) since my last post. Everything I put off and rescheduled when I was sick has been happening NOW! Whew! I'm so tired I can hardly function when I'm not teaching a class, having Hostess Club, doing an all-day crop at church, grocery shopping, and running errands. Gosh, I'm getting tired just writing about it. And the bronchitis is still hanging on so that makes everything just a little harder to do. (mumble, grumble, whine and complain!)

I was looking for some way to use the Sweet Centers stamp set and Cups, but I was having a teensy problem. Nothing was turning out as it should. So I switched the idea around a bit. I still used the plastic cups, but changed the stamp set and turned it into a shaker card. Doing a shaker card this way is so much easier than the old way with lots of dimensional tape, window sheets, etc. It's pretty much just punch and stick with the Sweet Treat Cups. You should give it a try!

Stamps: Season of Simple Grace, Sweet Centers, and Snow Swirled

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Old Olive cardstock with Merry Moments Designer Series Paper

Ink: Chocolate Chip and Old Olive

Accessories: Sweet Treat Cups, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Sleigh Bells Ribbon (love this!), Sponge Daubers, Chunky Glitter, Dimensionals, and Coluzzle set

By the way, did you notice the ornament hanger from the set used to make this into a snow globe? It's just the perfect size and shape for this!

I love how easy it is to work with these Sweet Treat cups because they have adhesive already on them! It's just a matter of filling the cup, peel and stick onto the backing cardstock. It can't get any easier than that. When was the last time you made a shaker card? Maybe it's time to try making another!

Happy stamping and stay away from the germs!

Sharon

Girlie Scrap Page

This has been a hard week for me. Seems like I haven't gotten over all the bugs I've been hosting this past month. Halfway through each day I run out of steam and really struggle to keep going. Not all that much has been getting accomplished because of this huge lack of energy. It's very frustrating when there's so much going on and I just can't keep up with it all!

The last two days I've been designing some scrapbook pages. The one I'm sharing today uses the Pick A Petal stamp set. At first this set looks so straight-forward - just flower petals and centers. But it's been lots of fun using those petals for out-of-the-box ideas the last couple of years. This time I opted to go back to the basics by making flowers! Wow, what a concept!! lol


Here's the first page. Whaddya think? It's a little bit out there, but my daughter thought it would be perfect for a little girl playing dress-up. The flower petals were embossed with white over Pretty in Pink cardsock. The centers were white embossed over Apricot Appeal. The 'leaves' are lengths of ribbon (maybe Green Galore??) that has been retired for awhile. (See, can't throw anything out - you never know when it'll be just what you need!!)

Stamps: Pick A Petal and Flight of the Butterfly

Cardstock: Gable Green, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose, and Vellum Cardstock

Ink: Green Galore Classic, Whisper White Craft

Accessories: Winter White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Big Shot with Go Go Boots Alphabet Dies, Sponge quarter, White Gel Pen, Clear Rhinestone Brads, Scallop Edge Punch, Paper Snips, and Dimensionals

One of my friends saw the page and was all excited until she realized all the elements were cut out and not punched. Sorry, no petal shaped punches here! She just hates cutting things out! But I don't mind the cutting at all. It's really kind of calming and gives you time to think of other things. Like what else needs doing before an all-day crop on Saturday!!

Back to work for me. Hope you're having a great week. Drink plenty of juice and take those anti-oxidants so you don't get sick. It's the pits getting back on your feet!! ;-)

Sharon

Punchy Class

Yes, I finally did host a Punchy Class after getting several requests for it. Funny, many of the ladies requesting the class didn't sign up for it. Hmmmm..... That always confuses me. Maybe it was just a bad night for them. Who knows. Anyway, we did have fun last night and made four projects too. But I'm only going to show you two of them. And the candy bar cover was made by Brenda and Dawn - two ladies that came to class! They made one for everyone who came to class. Thanks guys - you're the very best!!! We had made pumpkins like these last year on one of the cards during the fall season. I'm glad to see they remember the different things we've done and actually re-use the ideas! Yay!

The very last card we made was this cute little crow sitting on a hay bale. He was the most involved so I saved him for last. We had to work our way up to this level! lol Here's the list of punches used:

Scallop Circle, 1 3/4" Circle, Large Oval, 1 1/4" Circle, Wide Oval, 1" Circle, Boho Blossom, Small Oval, 1/4" Circle, Word Window, and 1/8" Circle

Whee-dawgies! That's a lot of punches there.

Stamps: Sanded, Woodgrain, and Teeny Tiny Wishes

Cardstock: More Mustard, Old Olive, Basic Black, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa, and Summer Sun

Ink: Close to Cocoa pad, Basic Black and Close to Cocoa Markers

Accessories: Big Shot with Texturz Plates Kit #4, Black Hemp Twine (retired), Neutrals Buttons, Paper Snips,Dimensionals, and Mini Glue Dots

This was the first project because it was the easiest. This acorn is just so darn cute!!!

Punches: Ornament, Wide Oval, Large Oval

Stamps: Grateful Greetings, Sanded

Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Soft Suede with Autumn Traditions Designer Series Papers

Ink: Soft Suede

Accessories: Sponge quarter, Piercing Tool and Mat Pack, Gold Mini Brads, and Dimensionals

Just loved making the acorns. I've made a few extras and I'm just looking around for a place to use them. Maybe I should try planting one to see if I get an oak tree out of it? lol

This is what Brenda and Dawn made. Very cute, right?? Shhh, don't tell anyone that they used some contraband DSP. I thought it was really cute though and quite looked nice even if it wasn't SU!

They used: Big Shot with Top Note Die, SU! Little Leaves Sizzlits Die, Designer Label Punch, and Small Oval Punch, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, and Chocolate Chip cardstocks.

Don't you agree that they did an awesome job on these? Thanks so much ladies - you're the very bestest friends!!

Well, that's it for today's post. Hope these ideas inspire you and make you get your punches out! On your mark, get set, start punching!!!

Think I'm getting a bit punchy here! (groan)

Sharon

Love Those Ornaments!

Yes, I really, really do! This is one of those awesome SU! stamp and punch combos that just makes me happy!! (doing the happy dance here!) Both items are great by themselves, but when you put them together, it's magic! So I just have to keep going back to the combo and creating something new with it. This time I used the Petals a Plenty embossing folder to add some texture to the background. Then for a touch of bling, I sponged on just a bit of the Champagne Shimmer Paint. It really makes the embossing look so pretty and elegant. Adding the layer of Brushed Gold cardstock and the ornament punched from the gold cardstock too are the finishing touches.


Stamps: Delightful Decorations
Cardstock: Real Red, Very Vanilla, and Brushed Gold
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Ornament Punch, Big Shot with Petals a Plenty Texturz Impressions, Champagne Shimmer Paint, Sponge quarter, Gold cording, and Dimensionals

Did you happen to notice the tiny strip of gold cardstock on the card? It's just one of those skinny strips that get discarded when trimming layers. You just never know when those little strips of cardstock will be just what's needed on a card. Honestly, I don't save all of the little scraps, just the specialty paper ones like this Brushed Gold. It's just too pretty to throw in the garbage. What a horrid thought! But if I saved everything, there wouldn't be room in the basement for me anymore! LOL
Hope you enjoy the idea. It really doesn't take much time to put together once you have the idea! I just might be doing a few more of these for sending out myself.

Have a great week,
Sharon