Splitcoast sketch challenge

To try and get back into the groove of card making, I decided to try this weeks SCS193 challenge.


I decided to pick a Halloween theme for this card. Apart from the fact I took the photo on an angle which makes the card look lopsided (oops!), I think it turned out OK. Not great...just OK.




I stamped the tree and owl image from Stampin' Up's House of Haunts stamp set on Whisper White card stock, sponged Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Barely Banana classic inks onto the card stock working from the base up and then layered it with Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive card stock.

I had some of Stampin' Up's Halloween designer paper left over from last year, so i whipped that out, sliced and diced it, layered it with Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive card stock again and then put it all together.

Cheers,
Marie

Back on the wagon...

Hi all,
Wow, it's been forever since I have posted to the blog. Life has definitely taken over these past months.

This is the card I made for the regular swap for my monthly Inner Circle Swap this month.








Stamps: Stampin' Up! Upsy Daisy stamp set
Paper: Stampin' Up! Upsy Daisy designer paper, Always Artichoke, Going Grey, Bashful Blue, Very Vannila
Ink: Bashful Blue, Going Grey
Misc: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip ribbon, generic buttons


I will be sharing more cards with you over the next few days.


Happy Stamping!

Marie

Circle Top Card

This month's mystery challenge for my monthly card swap group is the Circle Top Card. Here is what I have created for my swaps. I really liked this challenge!





For these cards, I used;
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla cardstock, Boho Blend Simply Scrappin' Kit patterned paper.
Stamps: Stampin' Up! "Time Well Spent: stamp set, Savvy Stamps "One Little Flutter" sentiment stamp
Misc: StampingBella Baubles, Martha Stewart Ombre Bow Stickers (ha! and you thought I became a ribbon tying queen...I wish!)

Simple Birthday Card

Sometimes, quick and easy is exactly what I need to get my card making mojo going again.

Life has been hectic lately between work, business travel, home life etc. Here is a simplistic approach to a birthday card that I made the other night. I am about to head back into the craft room to craft for a couple of hours. Stay tune for more creations!

For this card, I used SU! Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock, Only Orange, Real Red, Blush Blossom and So Saffron SU markers as well as SU! Bitty Birthday Stamp set.

Blog Candy Winner

And the winner is........

#10 Lori!! Congrats Lori!!!

Lori, please email your address to me at marie@stamplounge.com. I hope you enjoy your candy!!

Decor Elements Wall Art

I have to say, initially I was lukewarm about the new Decor Elements line from Stampin' Up! I decided to order one and see what it looked like. Well! What can I say, as soon as I saw it in person, my head started to spin and I felt a new love affair beginning! Crazy isn't it?!

I am not one for sticking things to my walls (i think that might change soon!) but new exactly what I was going to do with it. I am totally into creating wall art and this was perfect for the green/black canvas.

I was pleasantly surprised how easy the transfer was from paper to surface. Now I suppose I have to order different ones and start more art wall projects.

This little fella, is currently sitting pride of place on my fireplace mantel until a permanent home can be found for him.




Thanks for looking and don't forget to enter for Blog candy 2 posts down!

Inner Circle Swap Cards - June

YAY! My technical issues with uploading photos has been fixed!

Here are the cards that the were made by the wonderful group of ladies who participate in my monthly card swap club. I love all these cards!











If you would like to join my monthly card swap, please email me at marie@stamplounge.com

Celebration and Blog Candy!

Wow! My blog just received its 25,000th visit! How totally amazing that you are all checking in with my on my crafting journey - THANK YOU!

To say thank you, I will be giving away some blog candy. As I cannot currently post pictures to the site....yeah, still working on that technical glitz... I will describe to you what I am giving away and will post a picture as soon as I can!

What will be included, 2 stamp sets, assorted ribbons, rub-ons, 12x12 paper and some die cuts.

To enter, please leave me a comment with the number of your posted comment and I will use the random number generator tool to pick a winner at 9:00am PST on Saturday July 19th. Please check back on Saturday to see if you have won and instructions on how to provide me your address.

Thank you again for sharing my journey and good luck on the blog candy drawing!!

Technical Issues

Hi all,
Just letting you know I am having technical issues uploading photos to blogger. Once I can overcome that, I have Inner Circle Card swaps to share as well as my recent Decor Element Wall Art. Can't wait to share both of those with you all!

Cheers,
Marie

Card Of The Week Sketch Challenge #3

We had another great Sketch Challenge for Card Of The Week this week. I can't seem to just do one card! :)

Here was the sketch for the design team which will be posted today on the site;




This card I used a transparent journaling sentiment from My Mind's Eye and paired that with Blush Blossom, Sage, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip card stock from Stampin' Up!. For the weathered edge, I cut my sage card stock 1/4 inch larger than the sentiment layer and wet the edges and turned them up with my fingers. I stitched the bottom layers together using a zigzag stitch and added some bling to the corners.


For this card, I used a collage stamp. I stamped the image in versamark and heat set a my own custom mix of black embossing powder and fine glitter, and then simply layered the image on black card stock and mounted that onto the card base with dimensional pop ups.

Card Of The Week Sketch Challenge #2

Hi all - I am a day late uploading my cards for the Card Of The Week Sketch Challenge as I have misplaced my camera battery charger! I was lucky enough, moments ago, to be able to use a friends camera and get these shots...phew :-D

Pop over to the Card Of The Week site and see the great sketched by the other girls!

4th July Parade

We had so much fun yesterday attending the 4th of July Parade and Fireworks in town.

Happy 4th July weekend everyone!

Some great news!

Woohoo! Great news! I have been selected as Susanna Boyd's First Design Team Member for the Card Of The Week site! Yiiiiiiippeeee!!!! I am SOOOO happy I am flying around on cloud nine!

Be sure to jump over to the Card Of The Week site at http://cardoftheweek.ning.com/ or click here to browse around, share your cards, view others work and participate in a cool new paper crafting community!

Thanks Susanna!!!!!!!

My Beautiful Mother...

I adapted the Card Of The Week Sketch Challenge to this scrapbook layout. Yes, I am starting to scrapbook again. As you can see, this is pretty simple as I don't have much scrapping mojo right now but I am working on it. I have 3 scrapbooks to make for my family...wowsers!

Once I get a little more creative, I think I will go back and add some additional embellishments but I want to live with it for a little bit before doing that.

I took this photo of my mother when I was in Australia recently and we were having our hair done for my sisters wedding. I love the natural color of my mothers long beautiful hair. It starts off snow white on the top and slowly turns gray as it gets longer. She had her hair pulled into a french twist for the wedding and it looked absolutely stunning. Love you Mum :x



All paper is from My Mind's Eye except for the Stampin' Up! Pretty in Pink card stock I used to run through my printer for the sentiment. I glued on some baubles also for this simple scrapbook layout.

Card Of the Week Sketch Challenge

Do you love sketch challenges? Well if so, Susanna Boyd who created the great new paper crafting community site Card Of the Week has started Sketch Challenges! Yahoo! Here is my take on the first ever Sketch Challenge. If you haven't check out the Card Of The Week site yet, hop on over, browse around and sign up! :-)




I love this sketch so much, I am going to apply it to a 12x12 scrapbook layout that I have been twirling around in my head all morning...more to come! :-)

Shabby Chic Wedding Card

It's so warm here, I was easily distracted all day. I did manage to head over to Aaron Brothers to take advantage of their Buy One, Get One for a Penny Sale. I picked up some artist canvasses and a couple of frames that will go well with some of the family shots I took while in Australia. They are now in the "Projects To Do" pile.

I can't wait for my Stampin' Up! Decor purchase to arrive...I have my wall art project already worked out and I am chomping at the bit to get started on it. I prepped my wall art surface this afternoon so I can create away as soon as it arrives.

OK...well, enough rambling :-D

I was trying to get my card swaps done for this month but no brilliant idea was coming to me, so I made this pseudo Shabby Chic Wedding Card instead. I picked up some really elegant paper and printed transparency sheets while in Australia and I think they work pretty well together. I cut the paper down to size and mounted it on some Shimmery White Card stock. Stamped the Bride from the SU! "She's all That" stamp set, punched her head out with a 1 3/8" punch, layered it on a scalloped punched piece of pretty in pink cardstock, added some "hairy" ribbon I had on hand, threw a couple of Baubles on it and mounted the whole piece onto Blush Blossom card stock and wallah! As in a lot of my cards that I make for my stockpile, sentiments are deliberately left off just in case I want to use it for a bridal shower card instead..you just never know!




OK...back to those swap cards!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Cheers,
Marie

Back home and May Inner Circle Card Swap

Hi everyone!
I am back home after two glorious weeks in Australia with my family. It was so nice to reconnect with my family again after 4 long years. As a kicker, my sister tied the knot. The wedding was beautiful and a good time was had by all.

Here are a few snapshots taken when my mum (mom), sister and I went to the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. On the weekends, it's amazing. You can purchase everything from Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, Meat, Eggs, Clothes and Souvenirs...fun fun :)



I thought a few of you would get a kick out of this. The American "Doughnut" truck has been a staple at the Market for as long as I can remember. Of course, they have Australianized the Doughnuts by coating them in granulated sugar as opposed to frosting them or rolling them in powdered sugar.



These "doughnuts" are so friggin' delicious, it is criminal. Who would have thought you could eat 4 of them at one sitting!!...ohh....me of course :)

These were my primary motivation for going along! :-) Yes, it's weird what you miss from the Motherland :-D


OK, enough of my that :)

Here are the long awaited cards from the May Inner Circle Card Swap. As usual, I was totally loving opening each envelope to discover the great cards within. Mine are in the previous post.

These are the cards made for the regular swap:







The challenge for last month was the Criss Cross Card and here are the fabulous creations of each lady who participated in the challenge.

Card Swaps...

Every month I host a card swap and have a great group of ladies participating throughout the US and Canada. These are the cards I made for this month's card swap.

For the regular swap, I used the Stampin' Up! True Friend Stamp set, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal and real Rust cardstock and coordinated it with some 5 Gypsies paper and some ribbon I had on hand.



The Challenge for this month was the Criss Cross card. I used Stampin' Up! retired Just Delightful Scrappin' Kit to pull these cards together. I loved this kit and I only have one left! :-D


As I am heading to Australia for two weeks tonight and not all swaps are in as yet, I will swap them out and take photos of each card and post them when I get back.