Work it, girl.

When I saw the sassy poses of the ladies on this Unity stamp I thought of the phrase, "Work it, girl!"  And, whenever I look at the Runway Inspired Challenge site, that RuPaul song, "Supermodel" pops into my head - "You better work!  Work it, girl!"  So what better challenge to use the phrase for than the RIC challenge!  Aside from RuPaul, my inspiration for the card came from the colours in the picture (green bag, mustard strap, purple sunglasses, white and beige dress) and the graphic background.  I couldn't find any stripes I liked so I went for the blue grid instead in keeping with the graphic feel.  The dots around the ladies are highlighted with lavender Stickles and the ladies themselves are covered in Glossy Accents (that green bag looks kinda shiny to me...).    I'm also going to enter this over at the Wee Memories Anything Goes challenge. 


I know my posts have been sporadic lately but I'm now officially going on a blogging break for a week or so.  Got a lot going on and am not going to be seeing the inside of the Craft Cave any time soon.  So before I go I just want to wish you the very happiest of holidays and sent out big festive hugs to all! 
Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Kraft) PTI
Stamps:  (Image from Nov 2011 KOM - Take Your Time) Unity Stamp Co, (Sentiment from Smitty's ABCs) Lawn Fawn,  (Grid Background) Hero Arts
Inks:  (More Mustard, Not Quite Navy, Wisteria Wonder) Stampin' Up,  (Jardin Moss) Palette
Gems: (Lavender Ice) Queen & Co
Glitter:  (Lavender Stickles) Ranger
Other:  Glossy Accents

'Tis the Season

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted.  Just like everyone else I've been busy busy busy trying to get things done during this crazy time of year!  Also, most of last weekend was spent finishing up that 72 card special order and I was more than happy to finally hand it over on Tuesday!  Today I'm supposed to be doing some cleaning but instead I snuck off to the Craft Cave to get a little carding done.  So much more fun than vacuuming...  :)


Today's card is for 4 challenges.  The colours are taken from this week's Just Us Girls challenge which I had to play along with because my buddy Lynn is the hostess!  :)  (Hope it's okay that I snuck some yellow in there...)  My inspiration is from the photo collage at Jay Gee's Nook (in particular the gift bag in the lower left hand corner).  I also wanted to play along with the Inkspirations Christmas Creations Challenge as, sadly, this is their final challenge.  And last but certainly not least I'm joining in with Use It Tuesday's Holiday challenge.  I've had that poinsettia die in my stash for a few years now and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've used it.  That music background also had quite the layer of dust on it when I pulled it out too!  That's it for now.  Later, gators!
Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Pcaon, (Kraft) PTI, (Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Music Background) Hero Arts, Banner from Bannerific) Lawn Fawn, (Sentiment from Boughs and Bells) PTI
Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko
Die:  (Poinsettia) Marianne Design Creatables

Fashion Inspiration

Have you seen the latest challenge blog on the block?  It's Jen Rzasa's Runway Inspired Challenge.  I wasn't sure if I'd play along since I'm not much of a fashionista but I am trying to push myself a bit more in the challenge department so I thought I'd dive in.  I thought the sentiment was appropriate as fashion is supposed to be fabulous!  :)  


I had hoped to work on some cards tonight for tomorrow but I'm knackered and I'm working a long shift tomorrow too so hopefully I'll be back on Saturday!  Until then... 


Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Daffodil Delight) Stampin' Up
Patterned Paper:  (Obviously Orange Grid) Doodlebug Design
Stamps:  (Sentiment from Birthday Sayings) Hero Arts
Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko
Embossing Powder:  (Butterscotch) Adirondack
Die:  (Star) PTI

Let's Hang Out

I managed to avoid the call of the Angry Birds long enough to get 4 cards completed yesterday including this one for the Embellish Banners Colour Trends Challenge.  I made my banner out of flowers and leaves.  Don't think I've made too many banners out of flags actually.  I tend to make them out of other things like this one and this one.  
Gotta jet to work - it's my long day today.  Hope you all have a wonderful one!  :)  






Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Garden Green, Soft Suede) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Tree, leaf and sentiment from Hang Ups, Flower from Friendly Flowers) Paper Smooches
Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Garden Green) Stampin' Up
Punches:  (Flower) Woodware Craft Supply, (Corner Punch) Marvy Uchida
Gems:  Doodlebug
Copics:  YR16, V06

Colourful Vines

***This is my second post of the day.  Please click here for my Paper Smooches Sparks / Young Crafters Unite card.***

I sat and stared at this Just Add Ink inspiration photo for ages and actually nearly gave up on it.  I didn't want to go the purse route as I made a purse card just last week and I don't have much silver stuff kicking around at the moment.  That left me with the colour palette which I found a bit scary!  However, after going through just about every stamp set I own I settled on PTI's Background Basics: Vines set and the coordinating die. Despite my initial colour fear I ended up having fun with the card and with breaking in the stamps and die.  And speaking of dies, Young Crafter Unite, here I come with one more entry!  :)      

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade, Pool Party) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Vine border from Background Basics: Vines) PTI, (Sentiment) Hero Arts
Inks:  (Lucky Limeade) Stampin' Up
Dies:  (Leafy Vine Border) PTI

Punch:  (Corner Punch) Marvy Uchida

Thanks Ever So Much

I've got 2 posts for you today and I am determined not to forget them like I did my Play Date Cafe post yesterday. Doh!!  Major blond moment but I have an excuse as I got an early Christmas present - an iPad!  I was very excited and more than a little distracted so I totally spaced on my post.  It's not going to happen today though (even if those Angry Birds are calling my name...)  Okay, onto the card.  This is only the second time I've managed to play along with the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge.  I love the inspiration photos Kim provides and I must play along more often (add that to the New Year's Resolution List!).  I'm also going to enter this little number over at Young Crafters Unite's die cutting challenge.  


I was thrilled today to have my twig and ribbon card featured on  Freehand Scraps' Ten Fabulous Christmas Ideas post.  Pop over if you have a chance because they have some super cute ideas.  :)
Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Bashful Blue, Pacific Point) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Flower from Friendly Flowers, Sentiment from Pretty Phrases) Paper Smooches
Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko, (Fresh Snow) PTI

Embossing Powder:  (Butterscotch) Adirondack
Die:  (Nestabilities Labels Seventeen) Spellbinders

Impression Plate:  (Linen & Canvas) PTI

Gems:  Doodlebug

Read the Directions!

This project ended up taking ages as I didn't read the directions properly for 2 challenges!  I loved the colours for last week's ColourQ challenge and decided to make a card with a book theme for the Celebrating Hobbies Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.  Luckily I stopped by Christina's and Kasia's blogs and it finally sunk into my thick skull that we were supposed to make anything BUT a card.  So change of plans.  I decided to stick with the theme but I'd make a bookmark instead!  Brilliant!  So I made my bookmark and was very pleased with it until I reread the rules at Moxie Fab - "Create a paper crafted card".  DOH!!  So I came up with a little card to tuck my bookmark into but by that point the ColourQ deadline was way past so now I'll only be entering this puppy over at Moxie Fab.  Moral of the story - don't get distracted by the pretty pictures - read the fine print!  :)  

Before I go I want to share a couple of pictures from this year's Christmas Boat Parade on Saturday night.  Over 70 boats took part and it was a perfect, clear, calm evening for the event.  This boat was my favourite:

They had the Star Wars theme blasting and everyone on the boat was dressed up like characters from the movie.  (Sorry the photo's not so great - had trouble figuring out what settings to use!)  A few other cute ones:

Oh no!  De po-po locked up Santa!

Charlie Brown kind of looks like a cyclops in this picture...

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (Kraft) Gina K, (Poppy Parade, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Image and sentiment from Books a'Flutter by Ippity, Sentiment on bookmark from Oct 2011 KOM - Faith, Hope, Love...Live By It) Unity Stamp Co
Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko, (Poppy Parade) Stampin' Up

Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White) Ranger
Die:  (Half & Half) PTI

Ribbon:  Craft supply (Think it was from some Doodlebug packaging)

Leopard Print Girlfriend

Happy Friday, everyone!  I'm so excited to rejoin the fun of Friends with Flair over at Unity.  I've missed hopping along and seeing everyone's creations each week.  I used the colour palette from this week's Colour Throwdown challenge and made a girlfriend card for the Celebrating Realtionships Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.  Can't go wrong with purses and leopard print when it comes to your girlfriends!  Okay, going to try and get one more card made before I head off to work.  Have a great day!  
Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy, Soft Suede) Stampin' Up, (Cream) Craft supply
Stamps:  (Purses and Sentiment from Oct 2010 KOM - Take Time To Laugh, Leopard print from Mar 2011 KOM - Just You) Unity Stamp Co
Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Bravo Burgundy) Stampin' Up
Dies:  (Mat Stack 3, Double-Ended Banners) PTI

Gems:  (Round) Doodlebug, (Square) Craft supply

Copics:  R59, YG95

Joy Joy Joy

Take note:  A Tuesday Trigger post that isn't going up at the last minute on Sunday night!  Whoop whoop!  I recently won a gift certificate to Lil' Inker Designs and my Jingle Joy sentiments and dies arrived just in time for this challenge!  The baubles made me think of the Lil' Inker bell so I cut them from origami foil to get that shiny look.  I was also inspired by the floor boards in the picture and used some woodgrain embossed card for the background.  Since the stamps are Chrismasy, but all that grey is not something I'd usually equate with Christmas, I'm going to enter this in the non-holiday colours portion of the challenge at The Paper Players.  And with all those dies how could I not enter it in the latest Young Crafters Unite challenge?  

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill Basics, (Basic Grey) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Jingle Joy Sentiments) Lil' Inker Designs
Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko
Dies:  (Bell & letters) Lil' Inker Designs

Impression Plate:  (Woodgrain) PTI

Growing Up Without Getting Old

***This is my 2nd post of the day.  Please click here for my Inkspirations/Create post!***

Back again as promised and this time with a card for CAS-ual Fridays and Young Crafters Unite.  CAS-ual Fridays is back with their super fun Tic Tac Toe board and YCU wants us to use die cutting on our cards.  I went for a diagonal choice on the board and came up with scallops, kraft and aqua.  I diecut a scalloped rectangle frame from aqua paper and used it to highlight this great Frank Lloyd Wright quote.  I used Hero Arts' Flourish background behind the sentiment and cut the legs off the star brad and popped it on with a Glue Dot for a little shine.
Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (Kraft) PTI, (Tempting Turquoise) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Flourish Background) Hero Arts, (Sentiment) Cloud 9
Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko, (Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up
Die:  (Nesties Classic Scalloped Rectangle Large) Spellbinders
Impression Plate:  (Linen) PTI
Brad:  Craft Supply   

Christmas Birdie

Hello hello!  Just popping in with my first of two posts today!  This card uses the colours from this week's Inkspirations challenge and as it's a Christmas card I'm entering over at the Create blog. I used the Hero Arts Magical Background on the card base to give it a bit of interest but kept everything else pretty simple with some paper piecing and a touch of bling.


I feel like I've been away from Blogland forever!  It's been a crazy few weeks with getting ready for Art in the Park, puppysitting for Franklin, extra shifts at work, naughty doggies and the beginning of all the holiday socialising - dinners, open houses, work parties...  It all seems to happen at once!  I've really missed playing with challenges and visiting everyone to see what they're up to and I'm working on catching up with everyone at the moment - so many gorgeous projects out there!  I've been so excited to come back to find a few challenge recognitions too!  Thanks to Lily Pad, Market Street Stamps, A Passion for Papertrey and Moxie Fab!  I also have a card published in the December issue of CARDS (my first pub!) and since it uses Unity stamps I received $25 and a free stamp set from them as part of their publication incentive program.  Not too shabby huh?  It's like Christmas has come early!  Off to do a bit more work but I'll be back later with another post and more catching up.   
Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill Basics, (So Saffron, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Bird with Holly, Magical Background) Hero Arts, (Sentiment from Pretty Phrases) Paper Smooches
Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Wild Wasabi) Stampin' Up
Gem:  Doodlebug
Copics:  Y21, R46, R85

Red, White & Green

I've been trying to get some card sets made up in preparation for the Art in the Park event in a couple of weeks and this week's Just Us Girls challenge to use red, green and white came along at just the right time to help me out.  In my Christmas stash I found some red, green and white Pebbles stickers so I paired them with the sentiments from PTI's Tremendous Treats and some Nestabilities to make a cute set of coordinating cards.  I even had two sets of the stickers so there's 2 sets of cards done and dusted!

I spent the afternoon hanging out with Franklin.  He's moved out of the sleepy puppy phase into the manic toddler phase!  And he's getting so big! 

Peace Love Joy

Today I finally pulled out my Christmas paper stash.  For someone who doesn't use much patterned paper, it's a pretty big ol' pile o' stuff!  After much fussing and hemming and hawing I managed to use two different pieces of patterned paper on my card!  (Pausing to receive pats on the back...)  At this rate I might use it all up before I start collecting a pension!  :)  Anyway I used it to create a card for A Passion for Papertrey's Christmas challenge.  I used the Christmas Tree die and a sentiment from Stylish Sentiments: Holidays.  I also broke out my long neglected Distress Inks and used Vintage Photo on the edges of the kraft cardstock and Peeled Paint on the tree.   I really must remember to use them more often... 
Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a set of Christmas cards.  I'm working in the morning and puppy sitting in the afternoon so it'll be  busy one!
Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (Kraft) PTI,  (Pear Pizzazz) Stampin' Up
Patterned Paper:  (Forever Christmas Cards Paper Stack) HOTP
Stamps:  (Sentiment from Stylish Sentiments: Holidays) PTI
Inks:  (Vintage Photo & Peeled Paint Distress Inks) Ranger
Dies:  (Christmas Tree) PTI, (Star from Die-Namics Stacking Stars) MFT
Glitter:  (Goldenrod & Xmas Red Stickles) Ranger     

Harvest Berry Thank You

***This is my 2nd post of the day.  Please click here for my Tuesday Trigger/4 Crafty Chicks post!***

The solar lights are set up (way easier than I expected), the dogs are swum and dinner is on the stove!  Luis is feeding the hounds while I type this up and then they are sure to conk out.  Tired dogs = peaceful evening.  :)  

The card is my entry for The Colour Throwdown.  I got the Harvest Berries stamps and dies in my last PTI order and am finally putting them to use after seeing them everywhere.  They really are pretty versatile.  Hoe you all had a lovely weekend!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (Cream) Pacon, (Basic Grey, So Saffron) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Leaves from Harvest Berries, Label and sentiment from Mat Stack 1 Collection) PTI
Ink:  (Basic Grey, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron) Stampin' Up
Die:  (Harvest Berries, Mat Stack 1) PTI    

Lollipop Trees

I love this Unity birds and trees stamp.  It's the reason I bought this set.  It immediately came to mind when I saw the picture for this week's Tuesday Trigger at the Moxie Fab World.  How awesome is that bag?  Love those little lollipop trees all over it!  I'm also going to enter this card over at 4 Crafty Chicks for their paper piecing challenge.
   
I'm hoping to get in some more crafty time later today but first Luis and I are going to put in some solar lights along the driveway and then take the hounds for a swim.  Enjoy your day!
Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill Basics, (Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Trees from April 2009 KOM - Fresh Beginnings) Unity Stamp Co, (Sentiment from Mat Stack 3 Collection) PTI
Ink:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko
Die:  (Nestabilities Labels Ten) Spellbinders

Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White) Ranger