Thursday, April 30, 2015

#TGIFC01 Color Challenge Debut!

TGIF!  Wow, this was a full week for me and I sure am ready for the weekend.  How about you?  If you didn't already have a reason to look forward to the weekend, now you do:

http://tgifchallenges.blogspot.com/2015/04/tgifc01-welcome-to-tgif-challenges.html
 

That's right...it's a new challenge!  This one is brought to you by some amazing designers that you may have heard of before...If this is the first that you've heard of it, you NEED to click HERE and see what we're all about.  Here is my offering for the challenge:




 
I was inspired by the Balloon Bash stamp set and especially the #yourewelcome part of the sentiment...it made me chuckle and I'm surprised that I never noticed it before.  Perfect for my smart-mouth sense of humour Lol.  I combined the HB stamp with the #yw sentiment by just colouring the #yw with marker and lining it up under the HB.  Then I used the Ornate Tag punch on both ends and threaded the ribbon.  The Silver Glimmer paper was run through the Big Shot with the Starburst Framelit then punched with the Confetti Stars  Punch to show through to a piece of Pool Party CS that I also ran through the Starburst Framelit.  Added the stringy things, tied a bow, and it was a wrap!  (Literally).
 
Well thanks for hangin' out with me.  I hope that you will head over the TGIFChallenges.com to see what the other designers have created for you.  I would also like to see what you are inspired to create with these awesome colors.  Post it at the challenge for a chance to win bragging rights and a cool blog button...maybe more!
 
Come back here on Sunday for another CYCI challenge.  I actually have to go no to finish my project for it...Yikes!  Talk about down to the wire!  TTYL :-)
 
 
 

Sunday, April 26, 2015

CYCI #67 Golden Mother's Day!!

This week we have a special Mother's Day edition at CanYouCaseIt.com!

www.canyoucaseit.com
 
This Mother's Day is a fresh experience for me.  For those of you who are familiar with my stamping journey, you know that I am relatively new to this; this is my first Mother's Day since  I have become a Real stamper.  Growing up, I usually remembered to get my Mom a card and a gift, but sometimes (unfortunately) she would have to settle with just a phone call :-( Sorry, Mom. However, Mother's Days have been much more consistent since I have been married to a cardmaker. Lol!  Now I understand why...the blogosphere and social media sites are chock full of reminders of the upcoming holiday (Thankfully!!).  And now I am doing my part to remind YOU to appreciate your Mom or another important Mother-figure in your life.  I am grateful for this week's challenge because it encouraged me to make a card that is fitting to send to MY Mom.  Here it is:
 
 
 
 
 

It started with the flower... I sponged a sheet of vellum with a combination of Strawberry Slush, Blackberry Bliss, and Hello Honey.  Then I punched a number of flowers from the sheet using both the Fun Flower Punch and the Pansy Punch.  I crinkled up the flowers and stuck them together (slightly askew) with glue dots. I finished off the center of the flower with a Very Vintage Designer button.  The card base is Very Vanilla, and the card front is a piece of Irresistibly Yours DSP (oh, how I love you...) that I sponged with gold ink.  It's a wonderful affect and works well with the other designs in the paper pack; the photos don't do it justice!  I embossed the sentiment from the Four You set in gold on vanilla and embellished it with doily, then finished the card with a few swirlies of Gold Baker's Twine and assembled!  Ready to send! Or better yet, perhaps I'll have a chance to hand deliver!
 
So now it's your turn!  Visit us at CanYouCaseIt and share a pic of the card that you are making for Mother's Day.  We also have an awesome design team that will inspire you if you need a little nudge, so head on over there to check out their creations.  Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you again later in the week! 
 
 


Tuesday, April 21, 2015

A Special TGIFC Announcement!

You: "What the heck is a TGIFC announcement?" 
Me:  Well, it's special. That's why I called this my Special TGIFC announcement. 

You:  "But doesn't TGIF stand for Thank God It's Friday?  Well it's not Friday...Why are you saying TGIF today?" 
Me:  Again, this is a Special announcement, therefore I am not bound to any rules.  However, if the TGIF is distracting to you, lets just say it means "Thank Goodness It's Fun."

You:  "But what about the C?  You said TGIFC."
Me:  Ok, listen...if you stop asking so many questions I can get to my Special announcement.  Please just listen.

You: "ok, sorry."
Me:  It's fine.  Now that I have your attention; I present: 

(insert oohs and ahhs and cheers and applause here)
 
 
You: "Oooo...what is that?!?!"
Me: I"M NOT DONE WITH MY ANNOUNCEMENT YET!!!  Please, let me finish...
 
You: "...you're a bully..."
Me:  I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's late and I'm on a diet. But that's no excuse to treat you this way.  I'm just so excited about my Special announcement that I can't wait to tell the World!!
 
You:  "Well go on then, I'm listening..."
Me:  Ok, here it goes:
 
I am honored to be a part of the brand new Challenge site TGIFChallenges.com!  We have such an amazing group of talented designers and some fresh ideas for challenges, so I really want you to check it out!  I'm so thrilled to be involved...all I can say to describe it is "amazing" and "talented" over and over again...hard to describe it any other way.
 
As I write this, we are currently in the process of introducing the Design Team.  Our first challenge will go live on Friday, 1 May, 2015. Click HERE to visit the site and meet part of the team, and I promise that you'll keep coming back for more!
 
Now, are there any questions??
 
You: "That sounds so exciting!  Who else is on your Design Team?"
Me:  Yes, it is exciting!  You will have to visit the site to see the other team members.  Link is above.
 
You:  "Can't you just tell us?"
Me:  No, I can't.  Well, I can, but I won't.  I'm just trying to tease you a little.  But it'll be worth it ;-)
 
You:  "What are some of your challenges?  What will your first challenge be?"
Me:  Nope, not telling.
 
You:  "...you are a tease..."
Me:  Yes, I know.  All in good time.  Just check back here or go to the TGIFC site and all of your questions will be answered...
 
You:  "Well, thanks for sharing anyways!  We are excited too and Congrats on the new site!"
Me:  Thank you very much.  I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a wonderful thing :-D
 
You:  "So you know that you're just talking to yourself, right?"
Me:  Ummm...I guess I'll let you go now.  Don't forget, May 1, 2015 will be the first challenge and visit TGIFchallenges.com to meet the team!
 
 
 


Sunday, April 19, 2015

CYCI# 66 For the Troops!!!

Hi!  Welcome back.  This week, I have double duty; first up is the CanYouCaseIt.com challenge...today we bring you a Designer's Choice Challenge, meaning that I (and you) can make a card with no parameters, just whatever pops up into the creative crevices of our think tanks!

www.canyoucaseit.com
 
I chose to make a patriotic Father's Day card:

 
 
Thanks to my trusty Guy Greetings set for another great inspiration!  This time with the addition of some leftover Irresistibly Yours Sale-a-Bration DSP and the Star Punch to add some texture, I created a Naval themed Father's Day card...
 
Which brings me to my second objective:
 
http://operationwritehome.org/
 
I made this card as part of a group of Father's Day cards that will be sent for Operation Write Home, an organization that supports and encourages our nation's armed forces.  Please click the badge above to learn more!
 
Hope you check out both operationwritehome.org and canyoucaseit.com this week.  In fact, why not combine the two and support our troops for OWH and post your design to CYCI!  We would love to see what you come up with! 
 
That's all for now. Hope you are having a great day and I'll see you all next week :-)
 
 
 

Sunday, April 12, 2015

CYCI# 65 Workin' Hard CAS

 Welcome back to another CanYouCaseIt.com Clean and Quick - 10 minutes or less Challenge.

www.canyoucaseit.com


This time we have the added challenge of limiting our card to 2 layers. Here's what I came up with....



Ok, so I know it doesn't look that simple, and it isn't entirely clean, (and I have a confession...it took a lot longer than 10 minutes to make) but I was sure to adhere to the 2 layer limit!! Lol. I guess I focused on that part of the challenge and figured that it would stay simple. Plus, I had a great idea for the card and really wanted to make it work :-)   Oh well... looking back on it, it really was a simple design. I used the Wood You Be Mine and Adventure Awaits stamp sets. I random stamped the wood slice in Early Espresso on Chocolate Chip CS then embossed the Adventure Awaits typography in the middle. I stamped the axe, colored it with Early Espresso and Silver, and fussy cut it (probabaly the hardest part of the card, but still fairly easy). After that I used the axe to chop out the center of a piece of Adventure Bound DSP. Added the sentiment from @SoSocial, mounted it all, and Poof!!  See, it took way less than 10 minutes to read about it, so there!  LMBO! 

Well thanks again for joining me for another fun card...now please go visit CanYouCaseIt.com to see what other creations await. I'd also like to know if any of my readers are participating in the challenge, so please drop me a note below! 

See you all next week; ta-ta for now :-) 


Thursday, April 9, 2015

OSAT - Hoppy Mother's Day!!


Welcome back!  Thanks for joining us for this month's Mother's Day hop! 

Perhaps you are coming from the very talented Holly Stene...weren't her projects gorgeous??  I've been following Holly through my entire Stampin' career and I'm very happy to be linked with her blog.  If you haven't visited her yet, click HERE to check it out, but then be sure to continue on to the rest of the hop-hosts to see their creations that were made just for your viewing pleasure.

Here is my first offering for you.....



This is a color combo of Coastal Cabana, Blackberry Bliss, and Basic Gray.  The card came together as a happy accident as I was brainstorming for my project and glanced down at my creation station to see the makings for what turned out to be my finished product.  My motivation for creating was my wonderful wife and mother to my children...and she also happens to be my Stampin' Buddy!  I invited her to create something for you, and she made this awesome card set and basket...




Isn't it adorbs!?!  Thanks Sweetie!!XOXO (link to more awesomeness in the sidebar...visit Paper Paradise!)

Well thanks for stopping by!  Now continue hopping on to Diane Squires at StampandEmbellish.com to get some more inspiration for your own Mother's Day projects!  Just push the button...you know you want to...

http://stampandembellish.com/2015/04/osat-blog-hop-mothers-day/

And after you're done there, keep going and visit my other Stampin' friends...

Tina 

Hope you had fun and I'll see you in a few days!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

CYCI #64 - Yummy Color Challenge

Happy Easter!!!  What a marvelous day to celebrate!  Thanks for joining me for another CanYouCaseIt challenge.  This week we have............(drum roll, please).............

A Color Challenge!!!

www.canyoucaseit.com
 

 
I wanted to do a little something different with these colors and highlight the black... I haven't made anything like this before, so I figured what the heck, I'll just roll with it.  That's what a challenge is for, right?  So here's my card:
 
 
 
The black card front is actually chalkboard paper and the butterflies were sponged with a pinkish orangey crisp-cantelope-like-ish chalk ink (I know,...it's a stretch).  It lightens up a lot after it dries, so if you want to try this at home, I would suggest sponging the chalk ink first and letting it dry a little, then sponging the  color that you want on top of the chalk ink.  That's a new segment that I like to call "My Stampin' Tip of the Day!" (Lol!)  The "hello" was die cut using the Hello You thinlets, I punched the butterfly "stencil" using the Bitty Butterfly and finished them off with a few rhinestones, and finished the card with the flower from the Itty Bitty punch pack and some simple white Baker's Twine.
 
Thanks for visiting with me...now head on over to canyoucaseit.com and enter your own cantaloupe-pudding creation for me to see!  While you're there, check out the other designers cards....  Heck, actually just go and check them out anyway!  I've already seen them and they're quite impressive :-) 
 
Hope that you are enjoying/have enjoyed your Easter and I'll see you soon with another paper creation!  TTYL