Saturday, April 30, 2011

Aaarrgggh!!!! The first post of VSN: Pirate Adventure!

Ahoy, there me hearties!  Tonight on the VSN Pirate Ship, we celebrated the Mini VSN!  We had 5 lively challenges, indeed!  SmileyCentral.com

1: Use of fabric.  Now, when ye think of me pirate ship, what sort of fabric do ye think I 'ave?  Well, I created a card using the back of leather for sails!  Now tha's usin' me thinkin' cap!

 2: A sketch challenge.  Me fine pirating friends aboard ship challenged us to create a card based on a drawing!  Now that's like makin' a blueprint of a map, I tell ya'!  Well, 'ere's what I came up with.  And I used me favorite song too!  "Yo Ho, Yo Ho!  A Pirate's Life For Me!"
 3: Create a card using an inspirational picture.  Avast me hearties!  But, me own eyes have seen many a beautiful sunsets and many a beautiful beaches along the coasts of this country!  I took the inspiration picture and I made it me own!
 4: A color challenge.  Now, me parrot is the only animal aboard ship, you know!  And this challenge was all for Pretty Polly!  Use green, yellow, orange and a splash of blue.  Well, I wouldn't be a pirate if I followed the rules, now would I?!  I did the exact opposite!  I used blue, with a splash of yellow, green and orange!  Me parrot loved it!  Harrrr, harrr!!!!
 5: Use woodgrain.  What's me pirate ship without the wood?  Not a seaworthy ship, to be sure!  I decided to create a boardwalk instead though.  And don't get yer panties in a twist because she doesn't 'ave a head!  And no, she was not beheaded!  This 'ere is a MFT stamp, "By the Seashore".  I made her walk on the boardwalk, because her seeing eye dog 'as a hard time pawing through the sand.  Since they're up on the boardwalk, that dog can direct her right quick on the way to get down the 'walk.  ;)
{5 a: This is a different view so that you can kind of see the ripples in the water made w/ the gel pen.}
And that be the end of this short little jaunt 'round the bay!  Git your sea legs ready fer the main sail on Friday, May 20 and Saturday, May 21!
You have until Monday, May 2 at 8pm to upload yer cards for the Mini to be eligible for the favorites gallery.
Go to www.splitcoaststampers.com for more details.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Pure Innocence Note Pads

Hi there!  Today I would like to share several note pads that I made for my husband to give to his secretaries.  He's in charge of 3 schools, therefore, he has 3 secretaries!  Lucky him!  LOL!  Maybe I could borrow one sometime!  ;)  As you all know, today was Administrative Day across the United States.  Well, my husband was actually on a math field trip to another school, so he wasn't able to celebrate today. 
He had asked me, after seeing the note pad that I made in the post below, to make him 3.  One for each secretary.  They all could be the same.  Well, they are, and then they aren't!

Here's what I mean!

 Here's the first one w/ a short name.  I was able to make it a true banner!  Did a little stitching, used several dies: MFT's spiral bound; Star nesties; Star punches; MFT's Banner die; SU! circle punch.
 And this is what I did w/ a longer name!  Same elements as the picture above!
And this is the card that will accompany the note pads, and other gifts that they may receiving.  I used Framed Greetings and the spiral bound dies from MFT.

I'm done!  Off to bed!  Whoo hoo!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Warning! Turn Sideways! {eyeroll}

Hi!  Frustrated here.  Blogger is being ridiculous, but I just wanted to show you this notepad that I made my cousin who held the Easter Egg Hunt yesterday.  I always make her something as a thank you for having us over.  This time I actually made something that she can use!  I have a bunch of those long note pads that you get in the dollar bins at Mike's, and I took one of those and created a cover for it.  So, turn your head sideways so you can get the full view.  In both of my photo editing programs, the pictures are straight up and down.  I download to Blogger and they come out sideways.  Go figure!  



This is a close up (sideways as well) of the roses and Stampendous butterfly that I won from Eva's blog during her Butterfly Blog Hop!  The roses are Kitchen Sink Stamps.  Paper is Melon Mambo dsp, Melon Mambo c/s, and Tempting Turquoise c/s, w/ the leaves punched w/ Certainly Celery c/s.
It turned out so well, and my husband liked it so much, I have to make 3 more for his secretaries for next week!  I always show him things that I make.  Like his opinion is really trusted!  LOL!  He doesn't know a stamp pad from a paper cutter!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday!  I had Easter at my house this year!  It was just easier since we're the only ones w/ kids on both sides of our families.  So everyone comes to our house and we cook like fiends!  It was great though!  The traditional ham, and the makings for ham sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, Napa Cabbage salad (ramon noodle salad), and corn chowder!  YUM!  That chowder came out beautifully!  I found the recipe on All Recipes.com while looking for crock pot recipes.  I had never had corn chowder before, but thought I would take a chance!  I'm so glad I did!  My husband and I LOVE it!  We make it quite often, just for the two of us!  The kids won't touch it w/ a 10 ft. pole!  It was a nice day though, spending the day w/ family!  And it just dawned on me that I didn't take a single picture!  Oh well!  We'll just have to have everyone over again!  LOL!

Have a GREAT week!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!!!  Today I have created several projects that kept me busy all morning!  This afternoon we headed to an annual family Easter Egg Hunt!  It was so nice to see family since we haven't all been together since Christmas!  We are a close Italian family, so we all like to get together whenever we can!  And we never want to leave!!!!

My cousins hold this event each year at their house.  They hide all of the eggs, over 200, I believe.  All w/ pieces of paper equaling the amount of money that can be received!  Usually $.25, and up to a couple $5.00 eggs if you can find them!  They also cook almost all the food for like 30 of us!  All they ask us to bring are salads or desserts.  I'm the appetizer and dessert queen in my family, so I said that I would make dessert.  I decided to make cupcakes, and I made little scenes on the cupcakes.  Yeah, I think I watch WAY too much Cupcake Wars and Food Network!  LOL!


 Happy Easter!!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Decades Swap

Hi!  Today I have a few cards to share w/ you.  I am participating in a decades swap, and I just wanted to share w/ you 3 out of 5 cards that I have completed so far.  I still have two decades to go!

Here we are w/ the Roaring 20's!  What works better than those fab Flapper Doodles from My Favorite Things?!


And how can you resist this?!  I went online to search fads, styles, culture for each decade.  For the 50's, I found blue polka dot everywhere!  I am using an image from a Crafty Secrets set.  Did a little paper piercing, but kept it simple.  This is also a layout from Card Patterns, but I didn't get my entry in on time.  Oh well!

 

 And this bathing beauty is a tribute to the 60's.  I'm sure you're sitting there thinking, HUH?!  Let me explain.  When I think about the 60's, I think about The Beach Boys.  They are my all time favorite band, EVER!  So, why not incorporate that into my creation?  So, I went through some of their songs on my playlists, and California Girls popped up.  I thought, now that would be perfect w/ this MFT set, Catch Some Rays.  So, I played around w/ the layout and different stamps, and this is what the finished product looks like. 

For the Birthday and Girl circles, I used MFT's newest stamp set Typeset Alphabet.  I took the letters and formed them into a circle on my block, lining it up w/ a nestie that I was going to use, and inked it right up.  Perfect!  So, just another versatile way to use an alphabet set!
 That's all folks!  Once I complete the other two decades, I'll share them here as well.

OH!  And I'm participating in the latest VSN (Virtual Stamp Night)!  Come and join us!  It's April 29th for the mini (kind of like an appetizer) and then May 20th and 21st for the main event!  The theme is Pirates!  And NOT the Pittsburgh Pirates either!  LOL!  It all takes place over on www.splitcoaststampers.com in the VSN thread!  I'll be there cheering everyone on!!!!  Come and hang out!  If you don't know what you do there, here's the details:  On April 29th for example, the evening festivities would start at say 6pm.  So, they post a challenge at 6 and you have 45 minutes to complete the challenge, using only what you have available.  (There will be a list of any product that you might need than you may not have).  Then, you post it, and at 7pm, another challenge is posted, you have 45 minutes to complete the challenge, post it, and then another challenge.  One right after another.  Til like 11pm.  I think that would be the last one. 

Anyway, if you're interested, go HERE to check it out!  Hope to see you scallywags there!  We'll all be on deck fer a swashbucklin' good time!  Aaaarrrrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Kitchen Sink Birthday gift

Today I created a quick little birthday gift for a friend of mine who celebrated her birthday last week.  She's one of those people who appreciates the things that I make, so I don't mind making things for her.  I had told her that I was going to create 4 blocks throughout the year for her.  Seasonal blocks.  I gave her the Winter block at Christmas time, so now it's time for Spring!
I looked online to see what flowers bloom in the spring and see if I had any Kitchen Sink Stamps in that flower.  I saw tulips, and pulled out the 3 Step Bitty Tulip Bouquet.  There are two different size tulips, so it was perfect!  I utilized both sizes, one for the block and the other for the card.


 Here you can see the closeup of the pattern that I created w/ my Scor-pal.  I wanted the embossing to be subtle, so that the tulip oval panel would really shine. 
And the block!  This turned out SO cute!  If I do say so myself!  I wanted to keep it for myself!  LOL!

Details:
Tulips: 3-Lady Bug (Memento); 2-Lady Bug (stamped off); 1-Lady Bug (stamped off twice); 4-Rhubarb (Memento); 5-Cherry Cobbler (SU!)

Stems/Leaves: 3-Bamboo Leaves (Memento); 2-Bamboo Leaves (stamped off); 1-New Sprout (Memento); 4-Cottage Ivy (Memento)(stamped off once on the card only).

Paper:
      Card: Cherry Cobbler (SU!), white
      Block: Marina Mist (SU!), white, green felt (MFT), Lovely Lavender (retired SU!)

Embellishments:
      Card: Scor-Pal dry embossing; brushed gold brads; oval nestabilities; Antique Linen (Ranger) Distress ink, Inkssentials Blending Tool, Inkssentials Blending Foam
      Block: SU! block; green felt (MFT); glue dots; SU! Butterflies Sizzlets

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Key to my Heart

I was found online by an artist in New England who has created a fence full of locks and keys.  That is the main theme of her project.  Tons of people have given her all different types of locks and keys and mementos.  She was searching online one day and happened upon my blog, and asked if I would like to submit something for her fence.  Well, if you know me, I NEVER say no!  And what a cool project this was!  How COULD I say no?!  Well, I finally was able to devote some time to create my special memento.  This memento is in my children's honor.  I created a key on my Cricut, made it pretty large, and cut it out on thin chipboard.  Then I did the same thing w/ SU! dsp.  I mirrored the image so that I could cover the back of the key as well.  I adhered the paper to the chipboard key, then sanded the edges.  I used an SU! heart punch for the 3 hearts.  I wrote the same message on all three, and then attached ribbon to the backs and popped them up w/ pop up dots.  I added heart brads to make them pop a little more.  I added a scallop border (also SU!), to the side to add a little dimension.  And pink and kiwi kiss corduroy buttons for some added detail.  And ribbon to hang it on the fence, and it was done!  Another thing checked off of my to do list! 


 These first two pictures are pretty much the same. 
And here's a close up of the middle of it.

If you would like to see her blog and some things that others have sent in, click HERE!
If this is something that you would be interested in, email me and I can forward your information to the artist!
esmetak@gmail.com

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this!  And I have actually been working on it in my head since she contacted me, and the image changed a half a dozen times!  But, this actual, physical key was NOTHING like what I envisioned!  Guess that sometimes happens!  But, since I consider myself an artist of sorts, I am all about helping fellow artists out!  So, if you don't want to create anything, at least stop by her blog and leave some love!

Bake Sale!!!

Earlier this week, my son's school held a bake sale to raise money for a new playground, in addition to their book fair that was also going on.  I, of course, said that I would definitely make brownies and cupcakes for the bake sale.  Those are easy to make, and not an all day thing.  Um yeah.....  About that all day thing!  I went to the store the day that they were due, and found cupcake wrappers (for lack of the real word!) where you can just place the wrappers/inserts???  on a baking sheet and fill them!  No muffin tins needed!  Whoo hooo!  You know I was able to cut my baking time in half just by doing that?!  I was able to fit 24 to 28 cups on one baking sheet!  Awesome!!!!  They were medium sized, not too big, not too small.  Since they were that size, I wanted to make something special and pretty and make people WANT to buy them!  I remembered that Jen del Muro had created a Poppin' Petals Treat Trio a while ago, and after purchasing the template from My Favorite Things, I used my Cricut and cut out 18 boxes.  I didn't do the individual boxes, WAY too much work for cupcakes!  And for this little bake sale! 

 An individual box of cupcakes ready to go!
 The empty box using hoarded SU! paper!
 Here are the cupcakes ready for packaging!
These are the finished cupcakes in their holders and bagged up individually for sale!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

A fun vintage thank you card!

Today I created a thank you card for a friend of mine!  She very kindly let us visit her while she was at work when we were in Michigan, and gave my children some University of Michigan goodies!  I wanted to thank her w/ a special hand made card!


 Details:
Stamps: Define Your Life (SU!), ticket by Tim Holtz
Paper: October Afternoon Thrift Shop, black, vanilla
Ink: Real Red, Vintage Photo, Onyx Black
Embellishments: black 3/8" grosgrain ribbon, nesties, red, green, and yellow brads

Shabby Chic - MFT

Hi!  This month MFT's Guest Designer challenge was to do Shabby Chic.  Since I didn't have any plans to leave my house all weekend, I had time to play along!  YAY!  I haven't had time to play in any challenges in quite some time, so it felt good to get my fingers inky w/ MFT goodies!

Ok, on to the card!  So, to me, shabby chic is vintage.  And that's what I created today.  My plan was to have a few layers, add a little sewing, and use some of the pearl shoots that I bought at Jo's a while back!  I LOVE them!  I might have to buy more just to use on my cards!  They are the perfect embellishment!  Well, I think so!

I also wanted to incorporate several dies, and keep the stamping to a minimum.  I wanted the dsp to shine, and not be hidden by stamps.  I think that the wishing you a beautiful day is a little large for this 4"x 4" card, but oh well!  It's on there w/ glue dots and isn't about to come off anytime soon!  I think I went a little crazy w/ the glue dots!  Anyway, I wanted to use the Decorative Doily die-namics in a different way, because I have to be different.  And after a quick peek at what some other people did for the challenge w/ the doily, I had to change it up.  I cut the doily out, then I cut it into a spiral and wrapped it like a rolled flower.  It turned out exactly like I envisioned it!  I added some pearls to make it look even MORE like a flower!  Then I took the Rolled Rose die-namic and did the same thing.    The Framed Greetings die-namic is above w/ the sentiment.



Here's a close up of the doily rolled up like a flower, and the other two rolled roses.

I tucked the pearl shoots up underneath the bow, and it's perfect!
For the simply scallops that you see, I wanted to something fun and different to them, so I stitched along the edges of the scallops!  Fun little detail!

And that's about it!  Wish me luck!  There are a bunch of awesome entries in the gallery!