Creative Sketches Week 17 A Valentine Card

Of course I am chasing myself this week and got my challenge card done in the nick of time, just barely. The 4th week of the month is always a holiday card and that may become a stretch for me or it may not since I am designing holiday cards for the troops all the time. I quickly looked through my newest stamp sets (some of them haven't seen ink yet, gasp!) and decided on my Valentine Defined set. Then I remembered that I had the matching Love Impressions rub-ons and went "hmmmm, what can I create with those?" I don't use rub-ons very often, so I challenged myself and this is what I came up with. Not too shabby. I used Real Red, Pretty in Pink and a hint of Wild Wasabi on this card. The patterned paper is from our Patterns Designer Series Paper Stacks and I added some Real Red 5/8 ribbon for a finishing touch. Back to the grindstone. I have an event with 20-25 Junior and Senior High School students this weekend making more cards for From Our Hearts. Got to keep cranking out kits.

Four Things to Share and Happy Anniversary

 One of my favorite blogs to subscribe to Understand Blue posted a list of Four Things on Sunday so I thought I'd pass it along. Might give you a wee glimpse into me, might not :0) No one believes half the stuff I like anyway. They all think I should be a died in the wool country girl. Not me. Especially if it involves lots of country music.

1. Four shows that you watch:

• Biggest Loser
• Extreme Home Makeover
• Any house show on HGTV like Property Virgins, My First Place, Income Property
• So You Think You Can Dance

2. Four things you are passionate about:

• Pink Ribbon Awareness
• Rescued furbabies
• Music and Dance
• Helping others whenever I can

3. Four words/phrases you say a lot:

• Dude
• Really????
• Are you kidding me????
• Have a wonderful/fabulous/terrific day!

4. Four things you've learned from the past:

• Never hook the jumper cables where you think your husband told you to hook them.
• Murphy's law really does interrupt your plans.
• Trust your gut feeling.
• Do not cook in your best clothes.

5. Four places you would like to go:

• Canada
• Scotland
• Australia
• Caribbean

6. Four things you did yesterday:

• Slept for 13 hours
• Counted the Cards for the Troops made on Saturday = 253 :0)
• Took Reilly on a longer than usual walk since we missed Saturdays
• Had my first quiet day home in a week of running

7. Four things you are looking forward to:

• Matthew and Stephanie's Wedding
• My 50th birthday party
• Our Anniversary trip
• Warmer weather

8. Four things you love about winter?

• Brisk and crisp air not frigid
• A wee bit of snow from time to time here in Oklahoma
• Snuggling
• Pets that keep my feet warm

What are your favorite four? 


 Here's a quick card post too. It's the anniversary card I made for my daughter and son-in-law. I used the sentiment from the Hostess Level 3 set Occasional Quotes, real red and black cardstock and this paper I fell in love with at our local scrapstore. Quick and easy but elegant too.

Creative Sketches Week 16 Punches

 My Creative Sketches card gets to serve 2 roles as the sketch challenge and is a card for my new hostess club. This card showcases the new Ice Cream Parlor designer paper, ribbon and buttons from the soon to be released Sale-a-Bration catalog available next Tuesday Jan. 25th. The Build a Cupcake Punch and Create a Cupcake stamp set are from the new Occassions Mini Catalog. And there is just a hint of the new red Glimmer Paper in the cherry on top of the cupcake. This was a really fun card to design and create.

My second card also qualifies for the sketch challenge and is a design for my new club. It features the current Filled With Love promotion bundle. Love the paper in this bundle and I'm thinking I might just need to order myself a second package before it's gone. This card features the Full Heart Extra Large Punch and the Scallop Trim Border :Punch. A simple and quick card with lots of WOW factor. Pink and black is one of my favorite color combos. The Melon Mambo, Basic Black and Pretty in Pink go so well together.

Hopefully I'll be back next week with another sketch challenge. I'm starting a new round of Cards for the Troops events for From Our Hearts and with a wedding to prep for in just 5 short months, life is definitely going to be busy.

Creative Sketches Week 15 Black, White, & Silver

 Whew, just under the wire again. It's been a crazy week so far. It was wonderful to sit down and focus on creating a card. I had an idea then of course went a whole other direction for this challenge card. Our Creative Sketches challenge this week was the colors Basic Black, Whisper White and Brushed Silver. I chose quite a mix of old and new with this card. I'm working on a series of cards to showcase the new Occasions Mini Catalog for my new club so I chose the Build a Blossom stamp set and matching punch and the sentiment from the new Thanks for Caring set. In the background is the Baroque Motifs swirl and I used the Eyelet Border and Curly Label punches.

It's a bit hard to tell from the picture but I stamped the flower petal with black ink on the brushed silver cardstock. then punched out the petals. I didn't like the bulk the ends created in the center where they are layered so I trimmed them a bit. After I was happy with the placement I taped them down. I used a 3/4 " and 1/2 " circle punches for the center with a large basic rhinestone. The only thing not SU! on my card was the ink used for the Baroque Motifs swirl.  I used Brilliance Moonlight White but you could just as easily use Whisper White Craft ink and heat set it.

Hope you enjoy this weeks offering. The goal is to get some more cards done and posted sooner rather than later. Especially my new club designs.

A Whole Lot of Pink Going On

 While I have been on break from Cards for the Troops events and in between holiday happenings, I have been working on getting my art space back in working order. Not quite there yet, but I have placed some inspiration on the walls. And yep, true to form, there's a lot of pink in my room :0)

This butterfly is what you see as you enter the door. On the other side of this very short wall is a 7 ft long closet to treasure for storage. The wall hanging below it was a giftie from the ByHand list's 12 days of Christmas swap. Wendy made this piece and it was too lovely to relegate to the Christmas box after Christmas.

 This is the wall opposite the entry so it's the 2nd thing you see after you enter the room. New display shelves in hot pink to match the hot pink curtains peeking through on the right. As soon as I unearth some of my art treasures, they will be displayed here. The pink ornament was my giftie for the 12 days of Christmas and a few friends. It's a pink ribbon inspired ornament that says "Hope" on one side and "Believe" on the other. The angel was a gift from my friend Christy and also too pretty to hide in a Christmas box.

 This is one of my message/inspiration centers. The upper canvas is a personal art piece and the memo board at the bottom matches the butterfly from the entry way. Just waiting for notes and cards from friends to inspire.
This center is just to the left of the above display wall and below the display wall my work table sits with Cricut, Big Shot, Sewing Machine, large Carl Cutter and Scor-it board. Have to have a place to start processing all the Cards for the Troops.

 Here's a close up of the "Words to Live By" canvas. I took a class at A Whole Lotta Scrap where I hold some of my Cards for Troops events and of course had to tweak it to match my room since the original had red instead of pink. I added my own words of inspiration and now I have a nice little art piece for my room.

I wanted a dress form of some type in my room and when I found this hanging one thought it was the perfect place for my ribbon rings. This piece sits on a narrow bit of wall next to the closet doors. You have to be leaving the room to see it or turn around after you enter. The remainder of my walls are lined with shelving to house a huge collection of art supplies and of course true to any artist that's been creating for more years than I like to count, does not all fit in one room. However, this is my main art space and maybe after a wee bit more organizing, I'll have some more pictures to share.

Hopefully I can get my challenge done this week and posted. I am sooo far behind. But things certainly start to look brighter as I get more organized.