So here are the details for my card. Cardstock was Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou and a cream color I had from a Michael's multi-pack. The cowboy was versamarked and clear embossed on the cream cardstock. I then went and used my 1 1/4 punch and punched a spare piece of card. I used the hole to sponge a blue bayou moon and I used the cut out to sponge chocolate chip, close to cocoa and just a little blue bayou over the rest of the card. I then distressed the edges and ran a brown marker over them to hide the cream color. My back panel was achieved by stamping the canvas background stamp in blue bayou and the paisley from the wanted set in choc chip onto a piece of blue bayou. On a spare piece of blue bayou I stamped the star. I then sponged every piece of card stock I was using on my card to give it a well worn look. I wrapped hemp cord around the back piece and stuck it to my card base. I don't have any sponges so all my sponging was done with cotton balls. I mounted my image onto blue bayou and then choc chip. I paper pierced the choc chip piece and after punching out my star I attached it to the image using an antique brass brad. I then stuck the the entire thing to the card using dimensionals. It was a lot of work and took a few days to finish due to chores and family time but I am very pleased with the outcome. Thanks for coming by to take a look. Be sure and check out those links.
I actually used this weeks SCS Sketch Challenge (SC170). The cardstock used is Rose Red, Almost Amethyst and Garden Green. Stamp sets were 'Along the Same Lines' and 'Birthday Whimsy'. I Versamarked the rose red cardstock with the present stamp from birthday whimsy and stamped Happy birthday in black in the bottom left corner. I found some cool DP that had candles all over it and mounted it onto the garden green. I wrapped some silver cord around and tied it. I colored my image using colors from the cardstock and the DP and mounted that on the almost amethyst. I am finding sketches more and more handy when my mojo goes awol. 
Oh and I got another award. It's the same one as last time but this time Gabby from http://confessionsofastamper.blogspot.com/ gave it to me. Thankyou Gabby. It is really lovely to know that people enjoy seeing what I manage to squeeze into my spare time. I'm not going to pass it on this time as I already have once but would like to point out my inspiration central. These are links to all my favorite bloggers. Go take a peak. I consider them all worthy of this award.
I used Wild Wasabi Cardstock and ink. I cuttlebugged the background and then wiped my ink pad over it so that the raised image could be seen. The sets I used were Hang in There and Warmest Regards, both from stampin' up. I stamped the image in black and then colored it in using various greens. I then stamped the sentiment also in black but left room in the middle for ribbon to be tied. I still don't seem to be able to tie the perfect knot which is frustrating. I would appreciate any pointers on that one. Thanks for looking.
The colors I chose were Not Quite Navy and Tempting Turquoise. I couldn't find the combination on my color wheel but they seem to compliment one another pretty well. I also used a cute DP of water which suited the whale image that I chose to do. I watercolored the image using my watercolor pencils and my aquapainter. It's a fairly simple card and was embellished using a sparkly wavy ribbon. I decided to make one more of these card as you never know when someone will get sick. I embellished that using a pale blue stitched ribbon and square silver brads. I hope the Get Whale Soon sentiment makes them smile.
So onto this card. It was my turn for swap choices again and I was feeling like doing something a little different so I picked this. I have made Paper Bag Cards once before but it was some time ago and I have had an urge to try them again. For this one I decided to christen my Pick a Petal SU set. I have a few in my cupboard that just don't see ink straight away. I am working on remedying that. 
My color choices for this card were Green Galore, Rose Red and Tempting Turquoise. For my back green piece I used a tear edge, normally I would do it myself but I wanted to make sure the torn edge was as straight as a torn edge could be. It was approx 5 x 5 inches once torn. The stamped white piece's measure 4.5 x 4.5 inches and the turquoise is 4 x 4 inches. I added a stripped ribbon from Jo-Ann's which seemed to match the rose color pretty well. Then I stamped and cut out all my petals there are 10 in total. I stuck half of them down and then placed the other half with dimensionals so they pop up at you a little. You still need to add just a little adhesive to the middle point of the petal or your center will not stay put.
I stamped the center and punched it out with a 1 inch circle punch. I punched out a 1 1/4 in the turquoise to go behind it. I then punched 2 little holes to feed my hemp cord through both the circles and the clear button. By doing this I saved having to stick the button to it and the possibility of you being able to see what adhesive I may have used. Also when I tied the hemp I put the tiniest amount of liquid glue on the knot so it ensures it will not come undone. I then stuck it to the almost finished card with sticky strip. The front was finished. Inside I repeated the white and turquoise card on both sides inside both for the purpose of writing on it but also to hide the bulky base of the paper bag which is on the left hand side.
I used Garden Green and Green Galore cardstock. I used Unfrogettable stamp set. I stamped a few images of one of the frogs and trimmed them down in various directions till I had 4 pieces that measured 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches. I got the little frog hole punch I think for a dollar from Michael's. I punched out 5 of them along the bottom of the card and then stuck the cut-outs onto another piece of garden green that I also mounted the images onto. I wrapped some organza ribbon around the green galore piece and then put it all together. It was a fairly quick card to make. I hope she likes it.
The card base is a lovely espresso color from Archivers. It is they're own brand and is textured. The DP is matted on Black cardstock as is the main image. I wrapped gold cord around the 2 panels either side and attached the main image to the left side. Then using Staz-on black ink I stamped the coin (All Night Media) onto shiny gold paper. I punched it out and backed it with a punched out piece of cardstock to make it firmer. I then used a dimensional to attach it to the right side of the card in just the right place so that it helps hold the card closed.
Ok this is just a quick one. It's my son's birthday today and I have to pop out to take cupcakes to his classroom. I got the cutest cupcakes ever they are shaped like chicks. He got to hatch some for real last year in school and has been chick crazy ever since and with it being almost Easter too. They're perfect. Here's a look, aren't they cute.
Anyways onto crafty things. I made these yesterday. They're for a swap on one of the groups I'm in. I am very happy with how they turned out. I was inspired by the actual post-it notes themselves for this one. Baroque Motifs was the perfect set for this. I used my new Blue Bayou Cardstock, Ink and Ribbon. I also used a lighter blue card to contrast and white to make it stand out a little. I also put the initial of the person on it to personalise it. I followed a tutorial from here http://emilygiovanni.com/?p=67 It is well explained and easy to follow. Thanks for looking.
As promised here are my finished Easter cards. That one sheet of DP made 11 cards in total with very little going to waste. This is 1 and 2 from the sheet on the previous post.
I used pastel colors as the eggs seemed to be mostly light in color and bold colors would not have looked right. This is 3 and 4.
My card bases were all a pastel green and I alternated between pink, purple and blue with my accent colors. This is 5 and 6.
Embellishments were either yellow ribbon or chicks from a multi sticker pack I got from Archivers. On card 2 the flowers are from Target I got a packet of over 100 reduced to sell to 68 cents. This is 7 and 8.
I hope you like them all. I know they are a little basic but that is all I had time for. I hope to have more time on my hands the next time I try this. This is 9, 10 and 11.
For my Easter cards this year I decided to cheat a little and do a one sheet wonder. I've had people ask me what this is and basically you use one sheet of either Designer Paper or of stamped cardstock that you have designed yourself and cut it up into multiple shaped pieces and with one sheet you can get about 10 to 12 cards from that. Here's a picture of my cute eggy DP and another of the reverse side showing how I plan to cut it up. This is for a 12 x 12 sheet although you can also do 11 x 8.5 if you are using cardstock. You can find templates on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ I found mine there in the gallery under One Sheet Wonders.
I am a procrastinator and always leave things to the last possible minute so these things are awesome when you have a lot to do in a short amount of time. This sheet makes 11 cards in total I will put them on the blog tomorrow when I will hopefully be finished. So far I am on card 6 of 11. See you soon and thanks for popping by to look.
I used lovely lilac, gable green and pixie pink cardstock. One of my favorite sets at the moment is Garden whimsy. I used this and small script. Inks used are pixie pink and lovely lilac. The pretty DP is from Jo-Ann's I didn't catch the brand as it looks like that was the piece I used on my card, sorry. The ribbon is $1 also from Jo-Ann's. The flower embellishment is from a packet my mom sent me from a shop in Wales called Lakeland. They have a website http://www.lakeland.co.uk/category.aspx/crafts although I'm not sure if they deliver internationally or not.
The card is square, 5 x 5 inches in fact. Not a card shape I generally make. Especially as the post office charge extra for it being a different shape. But seen as I don't have to mail this one I thought I would give it a try. His favorite colors are orange and blue so they are the main colors and I added a little green. I cuttlebugged the orange because of the shape I had to do it a couple of times but it lined up pretty well and you almost can't see the join. I think he's gonna love it.
I used creamy caramel cardstock on both the bra's and the pants as this cardstock seemed to be the most skin colored I had. I found the DP at Archivers. I had searched everywhere for a paper that would just jump out at me and scream "wouldn't I make a great Bikini' and this one did just that. I spotted the pom pom ribbon there too and took all they had left of it and thank goodness it was just enough. I found the pink check ribbon at Jo-Ann's again the colors seemed to go together really well. For some reason my printer printed out the template a little small so I had to enlarge it a little. But these ladies still fit in an invitation envelope.
The swap called for a tattoo of some sort on the panties so I found a real cute clear stamp from studio G which fit perfectly in the center of her back. You have to imagine you are looking at her back for the bottom and her front for the top. I am just thrilled with how these turned out. I hope my fellow swappers like them just as much as I do. Thanks for looking.
The card stock I used was Always Artichoke, Lovely Lilac and Black. I used the SU set Natural Beauty. Tools used were Scallop and 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 circle punches. Not forgetting my paper piercer and Marvy markers. Here is a link to the tutorial http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/faux_silk/ 
Anyway back to the card. I went looking on SCS for ideas and this is a case of a card I found on there. I used the Stampin Up sets True Friend and warmest regards. For the swap I had to make a matching ATC. I am not a fan of ATC's but don't mind doing the occasional one as part of a swap. The Cardstock used was Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou and Groovy Guava. The ink colors were Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou and Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi The flower on the card is the same size as the ATC the only difference is the added layer of flower in Blue Bayou with the Rhinestone sticker. Other tools used were paper piercer, white gel pen and distressing tool. Here's the link for the card I cased: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/765679?cat=11096 
