Fleas Navidad

Hey there! Super quick post to share the Christmas card I made for my six year-old nephew this year! He adopted a wiener dog not too long ago, so I thought this would be perfect!

Here's what it looks like when it's closed:

And here's a view of it opened up (HA!):

That ADORABLE wiener dog, his hat, the punny sentiment, and the bones are from "Santa Paws" by Paper Smooches! (Thanks to my inky buddy, Michele, for letting me borrow that set!!) I'm going to enter this card into the Paper Smooches January Guest Designer Contest! 

Using the fold of the card as a guideline, I stamped the front of the dog (masking the tail end). Then I stamped the tail end and masked off the front. Then, I used a black Sharpie marker to connect the two and did some paper piecing to dress him up!

The strings of lights are from "Retro Christmas Backgrounds" by Practicing Creativity Designs and the patterned paper is "Dots and Stripes: Christmas Collection" by Echo Park!

I hope you like my creation!!! I had SO MUCH FUN making this card!! I hope my nephew gets a kick out of it!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

Coloful Dots

Hi there! Super quick post today to share a thank you card I made for our sweet neighbors!

I repeatedly stamped one of the panels from "For the Love of Dots" by Practicing Creativity Designs and then colored in a pattern with two Copic Sketch Markers. Super fun! The sentiment is from "Chatterbox" (also by PCD). And I finished the card off with some Mandarin baker's twine from The Twinery!!!

I know I've been MIA from blogland lately. Just super busy getting ready for the holidays and working ahead on DT stuff since we're going to be traveling quite a bit in December! Around the middle of the month I have a few days to catch my breath and promise to try to visit your blogs and leave you some love and holiday wishes!!!!

One more quick update: Today I attended my fourth Bar Method workout! YAY! It's really challenging, but I absolutely LOVE it!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a FABULOUS weekend!!!

A Virtual Birthday Party!

Hey there! Welcome to the party!!! Today a bunch of us are getting together in blogland to celebrate!!! What's the occasion, you ask? It's Karen Baker's birthday!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Karen!!!

It's a hop-style party, so if you're on track you've arrived here from Jen R's AWESOME blog! If not...no worries...click HERE to start at the beginning!

Each person along the hop is "bringing" something to the party! I decided to bring the loot bags!

These were really simple to make and are perfect little gifts for your crafty friends! I put three mini bundles of different colored twines (from The Twinery) into each glassine favor bag! Then I used stamped images from Practicing Creativity Designs, a sentiment and border die from Papertrey Ink, and some additional twine from The Twinery to create decorated tops! I made four different designs.

Here's a closer look at each one:

Karen was one of my very first friends in the blogging community!!! She's so SUPER DUPER SWEET and INCREDIBLY TALENTED!!! I'm so grateful to have her as a crafty friend!

(((HUGS))), Karen!!! Hope you have a FABULOUS birthday!!!

Next stop: Lynn's blog! She's bringing something SUPER FUN to the party!!!

And...be sure to stop by Karen's blog and leave her some sweet birthday wishes!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Supplies:

Stamps: Look Up! Additions (Practicing Creativity Designs), sentiment from Fillable Frames #9 (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Onyx Black Versafine (Tsukineko)

Cardstock: Rattan (The Paper Cut), Red Pepper Linen and Seaside paper pack (The Paper Company)

Patterned Paper: Indie Bloom (Basic Grey), Picket Fence (Lily Bee Design)

Die: Medium Scallop Border (Papertrey Ink)

Baker's Twine: (The Twinery)

Glassine Favor Bags: (Wilton)

Adhesive Tape Runner: (Therm-o-web)

Stapler

Thanks

Hi there! Quick post today to share a card I made for a couple of our guy friends/neighbors who recently hosted an AWESOME picnic in our neighborhood!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a FABULOUS weekend!

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Supplies:

Stamps: houndstooth from Retro Christmas Backgrounds (Practicing Creativity Designs), "Thanks" from Look Up! Additions (Practicing Creativity Designs), Fillable Frames #4 (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Onyx Black Versafine (Tsukineko)

Cardstock: Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Chiffon Journal (BoBunny)

Sprocket Gears: (Tim Holtz)

Mini Metallic Brad: (Making Memories) 

Pop Dots: (All Night Media)

Thank You For Your Hospitality

Hello! Quick post today to share a card I made for the hosts of our friends' baby shower a couple of weekends ago.

I LOVE paper piecing this apron image from TooMuchFun RubberStamps!! With all of the yummy patterned papers available these days, there are so many fabulous combinations!!

The sentiment is from Chatterbox by Practicing Creativity Designs! It has a totally retro feel to it that works so well with this groovy apron, don't ya think?!?!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a FANTASTIC weekend!!!

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Supplies:

Stamps: Polka Dot Background N133 (DeNami Design), Apron (TooMuchFun RubberStamps)

Sentiment Stamps: Chatterbox (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Cardstock: Kraft and Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink), Rattan (The Paper Cut)

Ink: Onyx Black VersaFine (Tsukineko)

Patterned Paper: Bitty Box Basics (Papertrey Ink), Dotty Biscotti (Papertrey Ink), Early Bird Collection (Cosmo Cricket)

Punches: Apron Lace Border Punch (Fiskars), Embossed Button Punch (Martha Stewart Crafts)

Floss: Lime (Janlynn)

Quickie Glue Pen: (Sakura)

Double-Sided Tape: (X-Press It)

Pop Dots: (All Night Media)

Zots: (Therm-o-web)

Adhesive Tape Runner: (Therm-o-web)

Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper: (We R Memory Keepers)

Trendy Bicycle

Hi there! Practicing Creativity Designs is hosting a super fun sketch challenge with a FABULOUS prize package (THREE FREE STAMP SETS!!! WOW!)! I absolutely LOVE their stamps, so I just HAD to play along!!!

Here's the sketch:

And here's my creation:

I actually used three different Practicing Creativity Designs stamp sets to make this card: The Whole Cycle, For the Love of Dots, and Chatterbox (for the sentiment inside the card---see photo below).

I used patterned paper from GCD's Homespun Chic Collection (Melody Ross) for the striped background panel and to paper piece parts of the bicycle!! I'm going to give this card to my friend, Rosemarie---her birthday is tomorrow! She's such a fun and funky person, and I could TOTALLY see her owning a bicycle that looks just like this!! Too cute! Here's a closer look:

So...what do you think?

There's still time to play along!! The challenge ends tomorrow! Click HERE for all of the details!

AND...Practicing Creativity Designs just released an ADORABLE baby stamp set too with darling images and sweet sentiments!!! Check it out HERE!!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!!

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Supplies:

Stamps: The Whole Cycle, For the Love of Dots, and Chatterbox (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, Onyx Black VersaFine, Smokey Gray VersaFine, Blazing Red StazOn, Fresh Green VersaColor (Tsukineko)

Copic Sketch Markers

Cardstock: Kraft, Stampers' Select White (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Homespun Chic Collection (GCD Studios/Melody Ross), Bitty Box Basics (Papertrey Ink)

Ribbon: Green (scraps from my ribbon stash), Lace (WFR Ribbon Company)

Button: Boutique Buttons (DeNami Design)

Floss: White (Janlynn)

Quickie Glue Pen: (Sakura)

Double-Sided Tape: (X-Press It)

Pop Dots: (All Night Media)

 

You Always Lift My Spirits

Yesterday I posted a card that I had made with one of the two sets I won from Practicing Creativity Designs. Well, today I made a card using the OTHER set that I won, Look Up! Additions, and a couple of images from You're Dandy and For the Love of Dots (both by Practicing Creativity Designs as well).

I used the sketch below from the most recent One Layer Wednesday (OLW) Challenge! I'm pretty much addicted to these OLW challenges now!!! They are so much FUN, and I'm really determined to get better at creating one-layer cards!!! Just think of the money I could save on postage if I could just master this technique!!! HA! Someday!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a chance to get inky this weekend!!!!

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Supplies:

Stamps: Look Up! Additions (Practicing Creativity Designs), cloud from You're Dandy (Practicing Creativity Designs), For the Love of Dots (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko), Rose Bud Memento (Tsukineko), Cyan Color Box (Clearsnap)

Copic Sketch Markers

Cardstock: Stampers' Select White (Papertrey Ink)

Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper: (We R Memory Keepers)

Fine Tip Black Marker: (PaperMate)

White Uni-Ball Signo Pen

Happy Birthday

Hi there! A couple of months ago I was the VERY lucky winner of TWO stamp sets from Practicing Creativity Designs!!! Today I used one of those sets, Nature's Wonder, to create this card:

I used Card Patterns Sketch #99, and I attempted to use the color combo from ColourQ Challenge #69. I used lavender ink (it's the only purple ink I own) and an amethyst V17 Copic Sketch Marker, but in the photo they look blue. Hmmm.

I was really happy with the way this turned out! I'm going to make more of these in different color combos---there's one combo in particular that I've already stamped out and LOVE, but I need to find a Copic marker that's the right match for it. Oh darn...more shopping! HA! I may even try adding a bit of distressing to give it a more rustic feel! Does that ever happen to you??? You finish a card and as you're preparing your post your mind continues to think of things you could have done differently?!?! Drives me crazy sometimes!

So...what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

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Supplies:

Stamps: Nature's Wonder (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko), Lavender Color Box (Clearsnap), Potter's Clay Memento (Tsukineko)

Copic Sketch Markers

Cardstock: Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Dotty Biscotti (Papertrey Ink), Basics: Booknote (Basic Grey)

Rustic Twine: (Papertrey Ink)

Punch: Round Binding Edge Edger Punch (EK Success)

Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper: (We R Memory Keepers)

Double-Sided Tape: (X-Press It)

Embellish Magazine Background Stamping Color Challenge

Hey there! The most recent Embellish Magazine Challenge is to use background stamping and the colors black, white, gray & yellow. I LOVE this color combo!!!

Here's what I came up with:

I repeatedly stamped the circle background builder from "For the Love of Dots" (Practicing Creativity Designs) and then colored a pattern using my Copic Sketch Markers. The ribbon is from American Crafts. I kind of scrunched it up on the ends to make it thinner and to make the one flower stand out.

If you look closely within the circles you can see some metallic accents that I added. Those are "Nailheads" (Mark Richards). Pretty cool, huh? Here's a close-up:

The sentiment is from "Signature Greetings" (Papertrey Ink).

Hope you like my creation for today! Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoy the Journey

Hello there! Courtney is hosting a challenge over at Practicing Creativity Designs! The prize: a Guest Designer spot for next month's release!!!! All you have to do is create a card using ANY Practicing Creativity Designs (PCD) stamp(s)! Click HERE for all of the details!

Here's what I came up with:

I used two of my favorite PCD stamp sets: "The Whole Cycle" and "Barefoot Summer" to create a festive Autumn scene. I also added that sweet little pumpkin (part of "Pumpkin Patch Border" from DeNami Design).

The aspen leaves are starting to fall from the trees around here, and I love to watch them dance in the wind. Last night my husband and I took a walk around our neighborhood and the leaves were all over the dirt roads, crunching under our feet. That's what inspired the idea for this card.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I did a lot of paper piecing on this card, which took a bit of time, but I'm happy with the results. I love the texture and color that it adds.

My friend Rosemarie was recently commenting on how much she loves old-style bicycles. We're having dinner together this Saturday, so I think I'll give this card to her with a little gift (maybe some homemade chocolate covered pretzels)!

So...What do you think?

PCD's newest stamp sets release TONIGHT!!! I can't wait! Hurry on over there and check out the DT's creations! You are sure to be inspired!! And don't forget to make a card for the PCD Challenge! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope your week is off to a fabulous start!

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Supplies:

Stamped Images: "The Whole Cycle" and "Barefoot Summer" (Practicing Creativity Designs), "Pumpkin Patch Border" (DeNami Design)

Stamped Sentiment: "The Whole Cycle" (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Ink: "Onyx Black VersaFine" (Tsukineko), "Timber Brown StazOn" (Tsukineko)

Copic Sketch Markers

Cardstock: "Kraft" (Papertrey Ink), "Yellow" (scraps from my scrap bin)

Patterned Paper: "Tarragon Leaves" (Jillibean Soup), "2008 Bitty Box Basics" (Papertrey Ink), "Sophie Dot" (Bo Bunny)

Quickie Glue Pen (Sakura)

Cutter Bee Craft Knife (EK Success)

Pop Dots (All Night Media)

Adhesive Tape Runner (Therm-o-web)

Finished Card Size: 5.5" x 4.25"

Bloom

This is the card I created using Kim's inspiration photo for the most recent Off The Wall Craftiness Challenge and Jen Del Muro's "Sketch For You To Try."

I used two of my favorite stamp sets from Practicing Creativity Designs: "For the Love of Dots" and "Barefoot Summer!" The ribbon is also a little something that Courtney included in one of my recent orders! Cute, huh? (Thanks, Courtney!)

I used VersaMark ink to stamp large dots on the light pink strip and small dots on the dark pink strip. I drew the stems in freehand. The sentiment fits perfectly in the label I die cut with Spellbinder's Labels Three.

Thanks for stopping by!

PCD Sketch Challenge

Hello! Here's a card I created for the most recent sketch challenge at Practicing Creativity Designs! Check out the deets for the challenge by clicking HERE!!

I used Karen's fabulous sketch (below) and images from "The Whole Cycle" (Practicing Creativity Designs)! I love how Courtney's sets always contain lots of separate pieces. For example, the flowers are a separate stamp, so you can add them to the flower basket on the front of the bike, use them as a border, or load up the cute little wagon with them like I did here! So much FUN! 

Here's a close-up:

Hope you're having a GREAT week! Thanks for stopping by!

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Supplies:

Stamped Images: "The Whole Cycle" (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Stamped Sentiment: "Chatterbox" (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Ink: "Tuxedo Black Memento" (Tsukineko), "Onyx Black VersaFine" (Tsukineko)

Copic Sketch Markers

Fine Tip Black Marker: (Paper Mate)

Cardstock: "Stampers' Choice White" (Papertrey Ink), "Rattan" (The Paper Cut), "Admiral" (Bazzill Basics)

Upper Crest Border Punch (Fiskars)

Patterned Papers: "Yellow Pin Stripe" (Little Yellow Bicycle), "Dried Egg Noodles" (Jillibean Soup)

Fabric Tape: (The Tinted Mint)

Twine: (May Arts)

Finished Card Size: 5.5" x 4.25" 

EBTKS Sketch Challenge #21

Wow! It's been such a LONG time since I've had a chance to participate in the Everything But The Kitchen Sink Challenge, and I'm happy to report that this time around I was able to join in! YAY! I love that the inspiration for their challenges comes from the very things we see around our homes every single day! For example, the sketch for this challenge was taken from Kelly Marie's washing machine! Cool, huh?

Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it:

This card was inspired by Carly Robertson's card in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of Paper Crafts Magazine (You can find it HERE). When I saw her card I immediately fell in love with it and thought I would try to create a similar "webbing" effect with the help of "For the Love of Dots" (Practicing Creativity Designs)! I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to ink up my new "Halloween Stamp Set" (DeNami Design)! Don't you just love that adorable little spider? HA! Too cute!

Here's a close-up:

So, what do you think? Have you started to make any Halloween or Autumn themed cards yet? It feels like Fall here in the mountains today. It's very cool and foggy, and I've already spotted some gold aspen leaves on the trees! I LOVE IT! This is my favorite time of year!

Before I sign-off I wanted to share some photos from the Rubber Stamp & Scrapbooking Expo this past weekend in Colorado Springs! It was AWESOME! I finally got to meet my blog friend, Paulina, in person!!!! YAY! She is super sweet and uber talented! I spent a lot of time at the DeNami booth visiting Michele, meeting Paulina and Nami, watching Nami work her artistic magic, and literally staring in total amazement at all of their GORGEOUS sample boards and products! I also met Maria and had a GREAT time watching her and my friend, Jenny, demo at the Rubbernecker booth! They totally sold me on masking and those Distress Inks from Tim Holtz!! WOW! I also met a wonderful lady while I was waiting in line to get into the show. Her name was Donna and she was so kind she shared her coupon for $3 off of admission with me! I never caught her last name, but I believe she's from the Colorado Springs area. What a gal! Don't you just love all of the friendly people you can meet through this hobby?

Me and Paulina:

Nami demonstrating (talk about inspiring!!):

I couldn't resist taking a photo of these adorable button and ribbon cupcakes created by DeNami Design!!! What a CUTE idea!

Well, this has been quite a LONG post! Sorry about that! Hope your week is off to a GREAT start! Thanks for stopping by!

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Supplies:

Stamped Images: "Halloween Stamp Set" (DeNami Design), "For the Love of Dots" (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Ink: "Onyx Black VersaFine" (Tsukineko)

Cardstock: "Kraft" (Papertrey Ink), "Purple" (a scrap from my scrap bin)

Cutter Bee Tool (EK Success)

Black Fine Tip Marker (Paper Mate)

Black Copic Sketch Marker (#100)

Crystal Stickers (Mark Richards)

Ribbon: "Orange Zest Classic Grosgrain" (Papertrey Ink)

Black Fiber/Paper (bought this ages ago at a LSS)

Spellbinders "Labels One"

Pop Dots (All Night Media)

Scor-Tape (Scor-Pal)

Finished Card Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

Jazzy Paper Designs Inspiration Challenge #8

Today is such an exciting day for me!!! Why? Because I'm the Jazz Cat of the Week over at Jazzy Paper Designs! YAY! This is my first time as a Guest Designer, and I couldn't be more thrilled!!! Tenia hosts really fabulous inspiration challenges based on album covers---WAY COOL! Click HERE for all of the deets and to see the incredible cards created by the DT!!!

Here's the inspiration photo:

And here's my take on it:

The lines on the left side of the inspiration photo reminded me of the lines on a hot air balloon. And the lines on the right made me think of banners. So, I immediately thought of "Look Up!" by Practicing Creativity!

I embossed the two hot air balloons on the left side of the card using Zing! Embossing Powder (American Crafts). I stamped the third hot air balloon on "Lemon Bliss" (Bazzill Basics) cardstock. Then I toned it down a bit by coloring parts of it with my black Copic Sketch Marker. Afterwards I still felt like it was a bit too much yellow, so I paper pieced some teal cardstock in there.

What do you think?

What do you "see" when you look at the inspiration photo? I'd love to see what it inspires you to create!!! So, hop over to Jazzy Paper Designs, check out the deets of the challenge, and GET INKY!!!! Enjoy!

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Supplies:

Stamped Images - "Look Up!" (Practicing Creativity)

Stamped Sentiment - "Fillable Frames #1" (Papertrey Ink)

Ink - "Onyx Black VersaFine" (Tsukineko), "Frost White Pigment Stamp Pad" (Clearsnap), "VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad" (Tsukineko)

Embossing Powder - "Zing! Powder" (American Crafts)

Cardstock - "Black" (The Paper Company), "Teal" (The Paper Company), "Lemon Bliss" (Bazzill Basics)

Copic Sketch Marker - #100 Black

Scor-Tape (Scor-Pal)

Adhesive Tape Runner (Therm-o-web)

Pop Dots (All Night Media)

Finished Card Size: 5.5" x 4.25"

CAS Circles

Hi there! Super quick post tonight as I'm right up against this challenge deadline! Here's a card I created for the most recent CAS-tastic Wednesdays Challenge! Click HERE for the deets! The challenge was to use circles!

I used two different sized circle punches (Marvy Uchida) to create all of the circles and then adhered them across the bottom of the card. The sentiment is from "For the Love of Dots" (Practicing Creativity) and is actually comprised of teeny tiny dots!! So cute! The paper piercing around the edge was a last minute addition because I felt like the card needed something else.

Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

CAS Birthday Card

Hey there! Have you seen the weekly challenges over at CAS-tastic? They post a new challenge every Wednesday! The most current challenge was to create a clean and simple (CAS) birthday card! (The challenge ends in about 8 hours, so I'm getting this in just in time!)

This was a toughie for me! I kept wanting to add scallops, buttons, bling, etc. I had to keep reminding myself to keep it CAS!!! (Couldn't resist a bow at the top though! Ha!)

If you visit my blog frequently you know that I'm addicted to coloring this design from "For the Love of Dots" (Practicing Creativity). I cut out three different length strips from the dot panel and then colored patterns on each one with a black Copic Sketch Marker.

When I stacked them I thought they looked like a present, so I added the bow to the top. Originally, I was going to make the entire card kraft, black & white, but I felt like it needed a little oomph! So, I added the raspberry fizz panel behind the present.

I think I'm still trying to figure out my "design style." I love how all of the amazing challenges out there inspire us to try new things!

So, now for some chit-chat! I have been absent from blogland for almost a week now because (1) my craft studio is such a mess that it's totally distracting me and I REALLY need to clean it up, and (2) I had a completely fun-filled weekend!

On Saturday I had a great time meeting and hanging out with some of my blog friends at a local stamp convention! These ladies are so incredibly sweet, and we totally clicked!! So much FUN! I met Michele, Jenny, Tenia, Lucille, Kazan, and Laura!! Check out their blogs! And trust me when I say they are just as fabulous in person as they are in blogland!!!

On Sunday the weather here in Colorado was GORGEOUS! So, my husband and I hiked Mount Morrison! We thought it would be about a two hour hike-----FOUR hours later we made it back to the truck! It was really steep, and there were a couple of times when I thought, "How in the world are we going to get down from here?" But...the views were incredible!!! We could see a long stretch of the Continental Divide, Bear Creek Canyon, downtown Denver, Red Rocks, etc.!! Well worth the treck! And boy oh boy are my legs feeling it today! Ha!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope all of the moms out there had a fabulous Mother's Day!

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Supplies:

Stamped Images - "For the Love of Dots" (Practicing Creativity)

Stamped Sentiment - "Enjoy the Ride" (Papertrey Ink)

Ink - "Onyx Black VersaFine" (Tsukineko)

Copic Sketch Marker

Cardstock - "Kraft" (PTI), "Stampers' Choice White" (PTI), "Raspberry Fizz" (PTI), "Black" (The Paper Company)

Gingham Ribbon (Morex Corp)

Adhesive Tape Runner (Therm-o-web)

Zots (Therm-o-web)

Finished Card Size: 4.25" x 4.25"