Sending You a Little Happy

This is great sentiment stamp from the Unity May 2010 kit of the month.  It could be used for any happy occasion or even a thinking of you card.  I love when I find a verstile stamp!  I made this card for the All Things Unity challenge using the sketch that was provided.

I used the Simple Stories Life Documented paper to create my card.

Simple Stories is a part of Memory Works, and the kits can be purchased at Archiver's, through many online stores, or through a consultant.  They are also going to be co-branding with Unity soon to have matching stamps.  Gotta love that!!  The little spoke-like images are from the April 2010 kit of the month.

New Challenge at The Studio

The card challenge at The Studio is to create a card using a photo.  Oh, I knew just what picture and stamp I wanted to use!

This is a picture from Mille Lacs Lake.  We are so fortunate to be the "land of 10,000+ lakes" here in Minnesota.  I whine about wanting to move south when we have these loooong winters, but the truth is that I would miss the sweet summer days on the lake.  Mille Lacs is north of us, and we go there often. 

I stamped directly on the photo with white Staz-On.  The sentiment from Unity reads: "go for long walks, indulge in hot baths, question your assumptions, be kind to yourself, live for the moment, loosen up, scream, curse the world, count your blessings, jsut let go, just be."  I love that one and I think this picture was perfect for the sentiment.

We'd love for you to play along at The Studio!  Link up your creation on the sidebar for the chance to win this month's prize!

All You Need is Love

I am just squeaking by to get into the All Things Unity challenge which is to make an easel or tri-fold card.  I decided I wanted to do a triangle tri-fold because I think it's such a fun little card for people to open!  Frosted Designs wants to see red, pink, and white and Let's Ink it Up is looking for romance/Valentine's cards.  It was easy to hook these three up together!

I used two Unity kits of the month - April and August. Don't you love the hearts and saying?  My paper is Bazzill and my ink is CTMH.  I randomly popped up those hearts for a bit more interest.  Here's the inside and you can see a little bit how it opens.

Hope you are having a happy crafting day!

Santa & Winter Wishes

I so wanted to use the image that Laurel provided for her blog candy challenge.  It's such a sweet vintage Santa, and I found it to work perfectly with kraft paper:

I used the sketch from CPS for the week, and this also fits the challenge for Frosted Designs - ribbon.  This is a much simpler card than I am used to making, and it was fun! The paper is Canvas Home Basics, the ribbon is May Arts, and the pewter brad is from CTMH's Mistletoe collection.

I used the sketch at Our Creative Corner for the next card. 

I made this card using two stamps - New Fallen Snow from CTMH and the Unity freebie from Paper Crafts magazine.  How generous were they to put a free stamp in the last issue?!  The paper is Midnight Frost from Bo Bunny, and the ribbon and gems are from my stash. This cards fits the Sentimental Sunday challenge - Let it Snow with a sentiment and Frosted Designs - ribbon.

It's Reveal Day at Let's Scrap!

This week at Let's Scrap, we have a card sketch for you.  I simply love this sketch because it is so versatile!

And here is my example for you:

I sure do love Webster's Pages, and I pulled out some of their paper for this challenge.  The Brave Girl stamp set by Melody Ross/Unity is perfect for this paper.  I chalked my brave girl's dress, wings, and hair.  I have found this to be my preferred method of coloring.  It is so subtle and soft-looking.  Once that was done, I applied glossy accents to the hair, wings, dress, and butterflies.  If you'd like to see a closer look, just click on the picture.  The scalloped circle was cut with my circle and scalloped circle nestabilities.  Those lovely gems are from Imaginisce and set with my i-Rock tool.  Have you used that tool yet? I think I would be quite content to just put gems on everything all day long - LOL!  It's so fun and easy!

Why not play along for your chance to win the Starstruck stamp set from Verve Stamps?  Hop on over to Let's Scrap to see a picture of the set and to post your entry!

A Layout and a Card

Oh, I was having fun in my craft room today.  I only got a few things done, but I've cleaning so that's always a good feeling!

I decided to enter the Page Maps contest.  It's such an awesome prize (aren't vendors just so generous?!) that I couldn't resist.  I wanted to making a page to go with my round owl page in the previous post, so I again pulled out some Adornit.  Here's the sketch and prize:

I am seriously in love with Echo Park papers and this set looks just grand!  Well, here's what I came up with:

As I said I used Adornit papers.  Note that I actually did stitch on the three sides.  That's a huge feat for me!  My sewing machine is an old, old black Singer with the knee pedal, so you will only ever see straight stitches from me.  But I love that machine and so I will use it!  I cut the letters with my Slice Basics 1 card.  Simple layout, but I love it!

I have a card to show you, too.  I can't seem to put down the Webster's Pages paper.  I combined it with some Unity stamps:

That little diamond background under the sentiment stamp is a background stamp from Unity.  I think that is my favorite Unity stamp!  So pretty when used like this!

Off ot make dinner for my hubby.  Hope you are all looking forward to a great weekend!  Don't forget about my blog candy!!  Click on the photo at the top of my right sidebar and it will take you to the post!

Easel Card

I have been creating every single day (and even into the night), but I realized that I have not been sharing!  A lot of the work I am doing is for design teams, so I'll have to wait until reveal day to show you those things!  I took some time off of layouts to make some swap cards for a group of my co-workers.  I have not made one of these easel cards before, so I had fun! 

Items used: CTMH Cherries paper and TLC stamp set; Unity stamp; Mark Richards gems; Kraft paper; random ribbon

I have the day off today - yippee!!!  Last night was kind of a tough night.  Machines didn't work, flowers and cartridges were missing.  That's always hard.  Those of you that know me, know that I take great pride in my teaching, so it's always tough when things don't go right.  But yesterday is past, and I'm here on my day off!!  It's a BEAUTIFUL day here (80 degrees and low humidity)!  I whipped up a tuna macaroni salad this morning  with all fresh veggies in it from the farmer's market.  Jerry and I are going to take the boat out on the lake tonight to picnic, enjoy the scenery, and relax.  Sound like a perfect night to me!!

Tomorrow is a New Day

This my second post for today so be sure to scroll down and look at the Sketches in Thyme sketch!

I saw that the challenge at StuckOnU Sketches has to do with embossing.  I am always ready to emboss, so I thought I'd give it a try!

In order to achieve this mixed look, I stamped this lovely Hero Arts stamp in Versamark.  Versamark allows a little time, so first I sprinkled CTMH Olive embossing powder where I wanted it.  Then I did the same with CTMH buttercup.  Once you put one embossing powder on the image, it will not pick up another color.  This technique is form Stampendous, and is called painting with powder.  I wanted some resist in the background, so I rubbed over the whole image with Wild Honey distress ink.  The phrase is from Unity, and I also embossed that in CTMH Olive.  Now if I had thought twice, I would have put a Father's Day sentiment on the card.  Evne though this has a flower on it, the colors are lovely for a masculine card.

Sending You a Little Happy

Quick post today using some Unity Stamps.  These stamps are from kits of the month - such a great deal!

I used CTMH white daisy, indian corn blue, and honey cardstock and did a lot of layering.  For inks I used Ranger faded blue jeans and wild honey.  I used a Ranger foam blending tool to get the two different colors on the stamps.

Enjoy your day!  I am off to teach some kiddos a mini album at Camp Creativity!

Back Online and I've Got a Couple of Cards to Share

I did not have to wait long for my power cord - yippee!!  What on earth would we do  without our computers?  I missed all of you and I can't wait to check out your pages to see what you've been up to!

I am loving my new Brave Girl stamp set from Unity.  Here's a couple more cards I made with that set:

I wish I could say I have gotten a lot of paper crafting done in the last couple of days, but I have been working.  Busy, fun days!  I have a day off on Wednesday, so I am looking forward to sharing some more work then!

Lots of Pink

At least a lot more pink than I am used to working with!  There is a challenge over at Play Date Cafe using some colors that I am not accustomed to working with.  I guess this week is all about true challenge for me!

I combined these colors with the sketch from OCC Sketch Blog:

Items used: Bo Bunny Petal Pushers; Petaloo Color Me Crazy flower; Unity stamps; May Arts ribbon, Stickles

I was truly inspired to do this other piece of artwork from a sketch I saw on Inspirational Sketches:

I love this sketch because it leaves the crafting world wide open!  I grabbed an Art Blanche clipboard from my stash and covered it with Bo Bunny Petal Pushers.  I built two flowers using paper, Bazzill flowers, Imaginisce flowers, and brads.  The chipboard phrases are Melody Ross, and the ribbon is May Arts.  Truly quick and easy!

Both of these pieces actually fulfill the challenge over Our Creative Corner, too - creations showing what summer means to you.  Summer is all about the flowers to me!

A Few Cards to Share

I have been working on some cards for OWH, and I thought I might as well squeeze in a few challenges along the way.  The first one I'll be showing you is a card for American Crafts.  The challenge is to use 2 or more American Crafts items.  I've used Dear Lizzy patterned and fabric paper, Thickers, and an embellishment from the I Do line.  The fence and banner are from the fabric paper, and I just cut them to size.  I put Ranger glossy accents on the rose to give it some shine.

The next card is a sketch from Clean & Simple.  I do have trouble in this area, so I always say this is a great challenge for me!  I've used the new Brave Girl stamps from Unity for this card.  I think this is a great stamp set for pages and cards.  The cardstock and patterned paper is CTMH, and the ribbon is May Arts.

The last card is my take on the CPS sketch for the week.  I really wanted to use a couple more Brave Girl stamps.  That border is Fiskars Upper Crest punch, the paper is CTMH, and the ribbon is May Arts.

How has your week been?  It's been very rainy here, but it is a welcome rain to our grass, plants, and trees.  I start teaching a new class at work tomorrow using Hero Arts and Glimmer Mist.  Take a peek here to see the cards I'll be teaching (Colorful Creations).  As always, I am VERY excited to be able to teach new ideas!!

I haven't been feeling the best this past week.  So I haven't been in my craft room too much, but rather saving the best of me right now for my husband and work.  All things pass though, so I quite certain that in a few days I'll be up to par again!  Keep checking my page because I've got some new products in my craft room that I'll be creating with in the days ahead!

Cards, Cards, Cards (and then a few more cards!)

I told you yesterday that I would have some work to show you.  So I am going to show you the fruits of my labor today.  I made 8 of each of the next cards that I am showing you this morning.  I have the card swap at work, Mother's Day bags to fill, and Operation Write Home cards to send.  Cards never go to waste in my house!!
First I'll show you a couple of challenges that I did.  The first is for Stretch N' Bubbles.  I was so blessed to win free images from them last week!  What a fun thing to open my e-mail and find such cute images.  It was hard to pick one to go along with this week's sketch!

This is the little mouse image.  I thought it would make a nice card for a soldier to send home.  I used Basic Grey Kioshi and CTMH's TLC stamp set.  I am still so new to coloring, but it's really fun to use all the different mediums to give it a go.  (Kim, I know you are out there - are you surprised?!)

The next card is a sketch from Card Patterns:

I used American Crafts I Do paper with CTMH's Soulmate stamps set.  The flower is from the bridal section at Michael's and the ribbon is Little Yellow Bicycle.

The next card is Graphic 45 paper and a retired CTMH stamp set and is for the card swap at work:

The following cards are very simple.  You know what is funny to me is that my husband likes these cards the best of all the cards I made yesterday.  I guess there is something to be said for clean and simple with a good stamp!

(stamps for this and the next card are SU! and Inkadinkado)

(stamps - Unity and SU!)

(Unity stamps)

Well, I think it's time to switch over to some altered items and pages.  I can't say there won't be a card or two mixed in, but I think I'd like to finish some albums I've been working on.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful spring day!  The birds are singing like crazy here, both my furry pets are snoring right now, and life is good.