Welcome Home

I'm popping in with a last minute entry for the AAA Card Challenge where we have to use 1 image with the optional twist inspired by TV.  We often have HGTV on in the background when we're puttering around the house and Fixer Upper is on quite regularly.  When Chip and Joanna show their clients their new house they always say, "Welcome home."  

Funny story about Fixer Upper - I caught the end of an episode a few weeks ago and thought the husband from the couple whose house was being renovated looked very familiar.  Turns out that's because he was my first boyfriend!  I remembered afterwards that

his family was originally from Texas (they lived here in Bermuda for a couple of years) and he went to university at Baylor so its not surprising he's ended up back in Waco.  So weird to see someone pop up out of the blue who I haven't thought about in forever.  Know what's even weirder?  That makes 3 boys I've kissed who have turned up on reality tv shows.  Either there are too many reality shows or I kissed too many boys in my youth!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Pistachio Pudding, Basic Grey, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamp:  (Sentiment from Warm Welcome) SugarPea

Ink:  (Pistachio Pudding) Stampin' Up

Die:  (Welcome, house) SugarPea

Other:  (Nuvo Oyster Grey Crystal Drops) Tonic

CASology #311

Welcome to Week 311 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

My brain flipped and flopped for ages over this cue word but I kept coming back to flipping houses.  I know acquiring a new home is not the same as flipping a house but I decided the house purchased in this instance was a flipped house.  Sometimes I just have to go where my crazy brain takes me.  :)

Looking forward to seeing what direction the cue word takes you.  Check out the gorgeousness from the rest of the design team then play along!

Anna Uhras

Bharati Nayudu

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas 

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Marcie Sharp

Melissa Chipperfield 

Rachel Bergfeld

Sue Symens

**This is a 2 week challenge!**

Link your creations to the CASology blog by Monday, 10 September at 9am (CDT).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink

Stamps:  (Sentiment from No Way) Avery Elle, (Door from Where Your Heart Is) Simon Says Stamp

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Clear) Hero Arts

Markers: (R17, Y00, Y17) CopicGems:  Recollections

CASology #254

Welcome to Week 254 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

This started out as a one layer card but, as usual, I inked outside of the masked off stripe and ended up with a mess.  Clearly I need to mask off EVERYTHING that I want to stay uninked!  I liked the ombre effect of the inking though and didn't want to chuck it so I just cut out the stripe, popped it up on foam tape and added it to a new card blank.  It adds some dimension so I think I can say this way a successful save.  

Looking forward to seeing what direction the cue word takes you.  Check out the gorgeousness from the rest of the design team then play along!

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas 

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield 

Rachel Bergfeld

Sherrie Mannion - Taking a break

This week's guest designer:

Sue

This week's sponsor:

Rubber Dance Stamps

Link your creations to the CASology blog and remember that the deadline for entries is Monday at noon (CDT).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Real Red, Island Indigo) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Fill in the Blank) Avery Elle

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukeniko, (Island Indigo) Stampin' Up, (Twisted Citron) Ranger

Dies:  (House) Avery Elle, (Heart) Simon Says Stamp

Other:  (Nuvo Oyster Grey Crystal Drops) Tonic

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Hi there!  I'm popping in with a card for the current Curtain Call challenge.  I knew what I wanted to do as soon as I saw the inspiration photo.  That doesn't happen very often and it's even less often that I get a card in this far ahead of the deadline.  :)  Anyway the card came together really quickly thanks to these cute little Paper Smooches bird house dies (as well as the tiny birdie).  Love when it all goes smoothly!  

    

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Sumer Fresh) Simple Stories

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Home Sweet Home) Market Street Stamps

Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Dies:  (Bird House) Paper Smooches

CASology #196

Welcome to Week 196 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

I broke out an NBUS Paper Smooches die for my card this week and paired it with an older PS stamp and a Market Street Stamps sentiment.  How cute is that birdhouse?  I'd love to have a striped on like that in my yard!  Hmmm... weekend project?

Looking forward to seeing what direction the cue word takes you.  Check out the gorgeousness from the rest of the design and then play along!   

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield 

Sherrie Mannion

Tracey McNeely

This week's guest designer:

Lisa

This week's sponsor:

Cindy B Designs

Link your creations to the CASology blog and remember that the deadline for entries is Monday at noon (CDT).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Night of Navy) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Family Ties 6x6) Pebbles

Stamps:  (Bird from Forest Whimsy) Paper Smooches, (Sentiment from Home Sweet Home) Market Street Stamps

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Bird House) Paper Smooches

Gems:  Recollections

CASology #180

Welcome to Week 180 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

This word is "open" to lots of interpretation!  I thought of an open door which led me to this Simon Says door stamp and the idea of a welcome home card.  The sentiment is from Avery Elle.

Be sure to check out all the fabulous cards from the rest of the design team and then play along!

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester 

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield

Sherrie Mannion

Tracey McNeely

And this week's guest designer:

Rachel

Link your creations to the CASology blog and remember that the deadline for entries is Monday at noon (CST).

I'm also going to enter this in the Simon Says Wednesday New challenge.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink

Stamps:  (Door from Where Your Heart Is) Simon Says, (Sentiment from Home Sweet Home) Avery Elle

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Markers:  (R27, Y17, C1) Copic

Gems:  Recollections

Where The Heart Is

Hi there!  Just popping in super quick before I dash out the door and head back to work.  This card is for the current CAS(E) This Sketch challenge.  This is a super simple design but I really love how it turned out.  I paper pieced the little bird house, coloured the leaves and that was it!  I also patted myself on the back for the use of some NBUS.  :)  Hope you all have a lovely evening!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) PaperTrey Ink, (Real Red, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (All from Rustc Spring) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up

Marker:  (Gumball Green) Stampin' Up

Four for Sunday

Another weekend is coming to a close without any more painting getting done. Luis and I are slowly working through the interior of the house and I mean SLOWLY!  LOL!  We had planned to paint the next room (we've only done 2 out of 7 so far) and put up some new bookshelves.  However, it was pouring all day on Saturday and after running around doing errands in the morning we arrived home damp and cold and not in the mood to do any work.  So instead we set up the sofa nest and watched more of Sons of Anarchy (only the last half of Season 6 to go!).  Today we swam Atticus and then Luis stained the wood for the shelves and I worked on cards.  We'll paint next week.  Maybe…

Anyway on to the cards!  I have 4 to share with you for 4 challenges.  First up is the card above which is based on the Freshly Made Sketches design.  I tried some watercoouring with Distress Inks here.  I'm pretty pleased with it for a first try and am actually looking forward to playing around a bit more with this technique.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Ranger, (Sahara Sand) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Flower & leaves from Freestyle Florals, Sentiment from Lovely Mums) Mama Elephant

Inks: (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey) Ranger

Embossing Powder:  (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Washi Tape - Crafty Basics

Gems:  Recollections

Next up is a card for the Muse challenge.  I love Marion's bright and cheery design!  I think my inspiration is pretty obvious.  the main difference is that I used dies to create my little scene instead of stamps and ink.  I also used stripes on my yellow background instead of spatter.








Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Stripe from Background Basics: Super Stripes) Papertrey Ink, (Sentimetn from Home Sweet Home) Avery Elle

Inks: (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Stitched Polaroid) Lil' Inker Designs, (Bird, house & leaves from Folk Art Florals) WPlus9

Now for a colour challenge from The Colour Throwdown.  I had never heard of Vera Bradley before a friend mentioned it to me in passing in late 2013.  Then just a few weeks later I was in Boston and stumbled upon a whole Vera Bradley store!  Funny how that works…  Anyway I've never been much of a pattern person but I thought a lot of the stuff in there was really bright and fun. As is this card I guess.  My pink is a lot darker than the one in the photo but it's there in the string and the stars.  





Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Night of Navy) Stampin' Up

Dies:  (Birthday tag) Neat & Tangled, (Balloons & string) Lil' Inker Designs

My final card is for the Colour Me… challenge and uses these new (to me) Paper Smooches glasses dies.  Actually I've done pretty well with the NBUS overall in this post as every card has at least one NBUS item on it!  (Takes away a bit of the guilt from making a few orders recently…).  That's it for me tonight.  Not sure if I'll have anything new tomorrow as I'm working on a few special orders including 20 receptionist themed Easter cards!!!  I don't ask, I just make 'em.  :)  Have a lovely evening!  

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (So Saffron, Marina Mist, Sahara Sand) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Ampersand from CL567) Hero Arts, (Sentiment from Big & Bold Wishes) Papertrey Ink

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Glasses) Paper Smooches

Gems:  Recollections

RetroSketches #32

Happy World Card Making Day!  Have you all been finding time to get your craft on?  Hopefully I'll be spending most of the day working on some special orders I have and maybe squeeze in a challenge or two.  For now though I'm excited to announce that I'm a co-Headliner at RetroSketches for the month of October!  I know, I know - I always profess to have a sketch allergy but I figured this would be a good challenge for myself.  Not to mention the fact that the RetroSketches team consists of three super talented ladies who I'm proud to play along with:

Arielle Gordon

Kasia Curry

Laurie Willison

I used a paint sample for the orange bars and the image and sentiment are Paper Smooches.  What do you see in this sketch?  Can't wait to see your creations!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Kraft) PTI,  (Island Indigo) SU
Stamps:  (Chair & sentiment from Vogue Abode) Paper Smooches
Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Twine:  (Mandarin) The Twinery
Punch:  (Corner rounder) Marvy Uchida

Love Lives Here

Good morning!  Popping in to play along with The Paper Players' clean and simple paper piecing challenge - I love me some paper piecing!  I needed a new home card for some friends and these Purple Onion Designs stamps by Stephanie Ackerman were the perfect fit!

I was so excited yesterday to see a waterspout!  I know we have them around here fairly regularly but this was the first time I'd seen one for myself and not on tv or in the newspaper.  It was surreal though because I was standing on my dock in the bright sunshine and off in the distance the sky was black and this skinny little waterspout was gliding along.  So cool!   

Cardstock:  (White) Gina K
Stamps:  (Home Sweet Home, The Bird House) Purple Onion Designs
Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko

Publications!

Since I'm catching up on things these days (like RAKs), I thought I'd also do a little horn tooting and show you guys my first publications!  The above card can be found on page 44 of the January/February 2012 issue of Paper Crafts.  Interestingly, it was the first idea I had when I read the call for submissions.  I couldn't seem to get it right though so I made and submitted a bunch of other cards instead.  Then at the last minute I gave it one more try, sent it in and this was the only one to be chosen.  Funny how things work...  


I also had two cards published in the December 2011 issue of Cards.

Please excuse the appalling photos!!  These were taken way back in April or May when my photography skills were still extremely raw (ie non-existent).  I'm grateful they chose them despite the photography!


I also wanted to thank both Jen of The Sparkle Within and Jane of Create and Show for passing the Liebster Blog Award on to me.  You should stop by their blogs and check them out if you haven't before.  They both have lots of gorgeous cards and layouts on show!