Thanks, with Gratitude PS Sparks Challenge!

So again I find myself attempting a Paper Smooches Challenge. I'm just loving on my Paper Smooches stamps lately and their challenge blog is giving me some inspiration (I've been having some trouble in that area lately so I need all the help I can get).

So based on this week's inspiration photo, I came up with:

I had made a process video, but when I took out the sd card to upload the video, none of the actual picture showed up, just the audio. In the past when this has happened, it has taken reformatting the sd card to make it work again....sigh! I really wanted to show start to finish of this awesome lean and simple card, oh well, maybe next time.

Thanks so much for coming over to take a look. 

Have a wonderful day!

Market List Clipboard

In the great "use my stuff up" attempt this year, I decided to make a clipboard for myself. My roommate used to work at a grocery years ago and has a tendency to refer to the place where we purchase food as "the stupid market." I have been hoarding up some Amy Tan paper and decided since the magnet fell off the back of the pad of paper kept on the fridge, this would be a good project.

Of course I added a bit more color to the page with some Art Anthology mists. They really are my favorite sprays right now, I love how bold they are and I love the bottles (*swoon). 

The pen I just happened to have on hand... I'm not sure how much longer the ink will last, but it's easily replaceable.  The bottom right corner is a bit dinged as I didn't realize when I first made it that I needed magnets that stuck out more because the back of the clipboard isn't perfectly smooth. (Sigh) But I still think it looks great! And, it's not too bumpy to actually use! (That was some major self restraint, so I just embellished with spray and some cutouts from a scrap of Amy Tan paper. I do still have bits and pieces of that paper collection still, I'm sure you'll be seeing more, but it's AWESOME so what can I say... such bright and happy colors, just like I LIKE ;)!

Birthday Card... Red, White and Blue

So I snatched up an Authentique Paper Pad over a year ago because I LOVED the line... it was kind of a red, white and blue semi bday themed line. Then it sat in my stash unused... Recently I got it out and made this card.

I hand cut the chevron which I think might be my favorite part. I paper pieced the cupcakes, the stamp was a gift to me and it was by Memory Box. The baby cupcakes in the paper are so cute!

I'm sending this out to a friend as a VERY belated birthday card. Oh well, better late than never... besides I just found the perfect birthday present for him.

Have you tried hand cutting a chevron randomly from a piece of paper? I suggest you try it, you might love the result.

Prepping for the future... or Trying to have some cards on hand ;)

I usually get into a panic when I realize that today/yesterday/tomorrow is someone's birthday or some special day that I'd like to send them a card, heck sometimes I just make cards because I have an image that makes me think of them. I was playing with gelatos recently (I have one set right now and am LOVING these colors so...) and wanted to play with some fun Lawn Fawn Stamps in my stash. I put together a few cards that could be birthday and some could really work for any occasion. I'll probably add sentiments when I get ready to send them out, but I'm loving how they turned out. I also used different 6x6 pads I had in my stash. The gelatos I just colored and brushed over with water on some thick watercolor paper. Then I stamped my images over them using black momento ink. I just got a black Faber Castell Big Brush Pen this weekend when I went to Scrapbooks Plus so next time I play with these, I'll probably use that.

This card for sure will get another strip of paper along the bottom with a sentiment... looks like I had more paper down there, then changed my mind... or a ribbon could cover that. I do love the gelatos, and I had a thing going where I wanted an ombre effect, can you tell?

The smiley hearts just make me smile right back at them. OMGoodness I love these little cards. 

I hope you've enjoyed the cards today, I had a blast coloring with those gelatos. I also picked up some more Art Anthology sprays this weekend while I was at Scrapbooks Plus. Things I should have gotten but didn't include an awesome pallette knife set that I looked over and could't quite convince myself I'd use... and some stencils but as soon as I got home I thought of a project for them, of course ;)

Hugs!

3 Bears and playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks!

I love Paper Smooches stamps, I don't have NEARLY as many as I'd like, and I just acquired two more sets, my previous ones were all sentiments and the new ones have stuff... like stuff to paper piece or color ;).

Anyway, I remembered that they do a challenge blog and decided to play along this week.

Here's a link to the blog.

And here is my entry.

The papers in my layout are all by Webster's Pages, the title letters are Making Memories Puffy Alphas (from forever ago in my stash) and two different sets of American Crafts Thickers. (The punched butterflies are made with a Martha Stewart Punch and some Pink Paislee paper from the Daily Junque Collection.) I paper pieced the awesome little gnome (Forest Whimsy) and placed him atop a shape I cut from some Bazzill Kraft cardstock. The papers and photos are edged with brown sugar Jenni Bowlin Ink. There are some random words (Chit Chat) stamped in with my handwritten journalling. The typed words are cut from the Basic Grey Snippets collection pad of 4x6 tags/journalling blocks. Those buttons are from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose Collection. 

I'm still busting my stash and so happy to have used so many things in this layout. I love, LOVE this little gnome and think he'll be showing up on more outdoorsy layouts, I have a ton of pics from this trip... and the other stamps in that set will get some use too! (OH and how about some holiday cards with him... I'm bubbling away with ideas here...)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Check out Paper Smooches and the Sparks blog! 

Coupon Holder... or making something that you think would be MORE useful.

I'll be the very first to admit that I'm a TERRIBLE couponer. Some days I can get the ones I might use all clipped out but having them in a place I'll remember to pick them up, now that is another story. In trying to "use my stash" this year, I decided what I needed was a coupon holder on the fridge. I made this:

It's been on the fridge for several weeks now... um I can't remember to use it yet, but those colors are really pretty ;).

Lamp Re-Do... THANKS Art Anthology!

So I've been wanting to buy a new lamp, but mostly just wanting the two matching lamps that are in the apartment that are kind of outdated to be more... with the times. So today I finished a re-do of one of them.

Here is what the lamp looked like before:

I used some alcohol inks to color the flower design on the body of the lamp, then decided that I should focus on the shade. So I took it off and tried coloring it with some tattered angel sprays, that was utter failure, the shade is made out of unnatural materials so they didn't fix. I didn't really know what to do because at that point the shade was pretty much trashed. Then, I remembered I had some burlap.

That was better already. Then I got out my favorite Jen Starr spray, Studio Blue. I tore some canvas (also just sitting in my stash) into some strips and sprayed the heck out of the canvas until I got a lovely coloring.

After I got the canvas died, I formed a big Heidi Swapp inspired bow, trimmed it with a scrap of pink lace, then used a copic marker to colorize some flatback pearls, attached them to the top, then got out some lovely Maya Road trim I've been hoarding and sprayed out the rest of my Tattered Angels Olive vine bottle on this trim which I attached to the bottom of the shade.

Here is the final result:

Sigh!

I think it looks so much better! Now to decide how to decorate lamp #2, it'll be going in a different room (of course... I don't want a matched pair of lamps in the same room...). 

Let me know what you think... I couldn't love that bow more!!!

So I'm having a bit of trouble... Or the post that didn't show up... then techy difficulties...

I thought I had this post scheduled to go up on 5/23, but it didn't happen, and after that, my power cord to my Macbook died and I had to order a new one which arrived a day later than expected, and that's kind of a long story... I knew the cord was going but thought I could finish uploading pics and getting posts all ready to go up for when I'd be travelling. None of that happened. So I'm going to let you see the layout that I made and get back on schedule ;).

Journal Cards are Pink Paislee and Amy Tan Doily here from Maya Road

The papers are all older from Basic Grey as well as those yummy stickers. The glittery letters are  American Crafts Thickers, the brads are from My Minds Eye and those pink letters are Authentique. None of those products are new, they were and have been in my stash (except those glitter thickers, they were a find recently at Big Lots).