Thinking of You

What a day I had yesterday raking and mowing leaves and picking up a TON of apples that fell on the ground from our apple tree.  I actually enjoyed it though. :) There's nothing like working outside in the fresh air and getting a bit of exercise.  It was nice having my daughter out helping me pick up the apples too.  She only got hit a couple of times on the head when we were picking good ones from the tree to make dried apples with. lol  Believe it or not I still have quite a bit of flowers blooming here in Michigan.  A lot of pansies and snapdragons.  Also my skunk plants (I don't know what they're actual name is, but they kind of smell like a skunk so that's what I nicknamed them. lol) and one rose that I cut off and brought inside.  Looking at my flowers made me want to make a card with one, so I used the Freshly Made Sketches 111 for today's card and put a flower on it. :)  If you want to know how I made this flower check out my post HERE.  I used a scallop punch instead of deckle scissors though.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Express Yourself

Clasic Stampin' Pad:  Rich Razzleberry

Card Stock:  Rich Razzleberry,

Always Artichoke & Naturals White

Punches:  1 1/4" Scallop Circle & Bird Builder

Framelits:  Apothecary Accents

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer  

Nature & Northern Lights

What did I see the other day?  A tutorial over on Splitcoast Stampers on how to make a card with Northern Lights using sponges.  Well, if it involves sponging I'm all over that!  I had to get my sponges out and give it a try, but first I checked out a bunch of pics of the northern lights.  There is such a variety of color and shapes, and they are so beautiful to look at!  I've seen them in person a few times and the last time it was actually a bit red.  What an amazing sight!  That's why I added the verse on each card.  I did do my sponging a bit differently than the tutorial, but after looking at the pics I knew exactly how I wanted to attempt to make my cards. :)

I was going to throw this piece away because the first time I stamped the trees on they weren't dark enough. :(  Then I thought I'd highlight them with a white gel pen, but it ended up looking terrible.  That's when I remembered I had the stamp-a-ma-jig (I know, Red Hot Stampers, not the thing-a-ma-jig! lol).  Whew, I managed to save a piece and make a card.  The trees are a lot whiter in this pic than in person though.  I just can't get the white to not reflect so much when I'm taking the picture.

This is actually the first piece of card stock that I sponged.  I liked it so much I just kept going! :)

The theme for this card from this week's Paper Players theme challenge #170...Wildlife.  I couldn't make a card without at least one animal. :)

Like usual I had to take a pic of the group. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

First Card

Stamp Sets: Lovely as a Tree

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Pool Party & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Pacific Point,

Pool Party, Coastal Cabana & Pistachio Pudding
StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Argyle

Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window

Candy Dots:  Neutrals (Black)

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Second Card

Stamp Sets: Evergreen

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Pool Party & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Pacific Point,

Pool Party, Coastal Cabana & Pistachio Pudding
StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Argyle

Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window

Candy Dots:  Neutrals (Black)

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Third Card

Stamp Sets: Walk in the Wild

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Pool Party & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Pacific Point,

Pool Party, Coastal Cabana & Pistachio Pudding
StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Stripes

Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window

Candy Dots:  Neutrals (Black)

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Sailing Chevron Birthday

I made today's card to practice up on my sponging technique since I plan on having a sponging class.  Let me tell you this is definitely not how my card started out!  I had actually sponged a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Natural White card stock, but couldn't figure out how to put that size onto a card without it being boring.  So I gave up last night and surprise, surprise I couldn't fall asleep.  That's when I started thinking about the different sketch challenges I went through yesterday and how I could use one of them to put my pic on the card.  So how did I come up with it?  I used the Mojo Monday sketch challenge #318 to layer my sponged picture on, but knew I needed a bit more.  So I used the chevron half of the Friday Mashup challenge #134. I know my daughter will love it because there's no white! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp  Sets:  The Open Sea & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Island Indigo, Night of Navy,

Basic Black & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Island Indigo,

Cherry Cobbler & Crushed Curry

StazOn:  Black

Punch:  1 3/8" Square (for chevrons)

Sponges

Pleasant Poppies

Today's card is for Try Stampin' on Tuesday's next sketch challenge, and the twist is a bit vintage.  Not sure I really did the vintage part, but I did manage to figure out something for the sketch.  I must say I've been using the Naturals White card stock a lot lately.  I actually hadn't bought it until just a couple of months ago, but I love it.  

A quick peek at the inside of the card too.  Don't forget to check out what the other designers made on Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE.

Stamp Sets:  Pleasant Poppies, Simply Sketched & On Your Birthday (retired)

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Perfect Plum

Ribbon:  5/8" Seam Binding in Very Vanilla

Blender Pen

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Birthday Lion

Today's card is for my nephew who turned two.  What kind of card do you make for a two year old?  I looked up punch art lions and saw a lot of cute ones and picked one and put it together.  I heard he liked the card because he roared when he saw it. :)  I used the Paper Craft Crew card sketch challenge #65 for the card's design.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, 

Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede & Crushed Curry

Stampin' Write Marker:  Soft Suede

Embossing Folder:  Perfect Polka Dots & Stripes

Punches:  Blossom, 1 3/8" Circle, 3/4" Circle,

Owl Builder (heart & eyes) & Scallop Edge Boarder (retired)

Lovely as a Tree Anniversary

Today's card is inspired by the sketch challenge Freshly Made Sketches.  Yesterday was my 23rd anniversary and I had to have a card for my hubby.  I don't want to be accused of making cards for everyone but someone in my family! lol  We went to P.F. Changs for dinner, a movie, then to FYI for some ice cream...well, yogurt really.  Yummy!!  Anyway, I used this set for another masculine card a couple of weeks ago and it turned out great, so I thought I'd make another one using the same technique...triple layer.

I know it doesn't look like much, but there are trees on the inside of the card.  I like to stamp it lightly on the inside, then write over it or stamp over it with a darker ink.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Sahara Sand & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Sahara Sand

Punches:  1" Square & 1 1/4" Square

Ribbon:  3/8" Taffeta in Soft Suede

Creative Crew Creations for November

Welcome to November!  It's hard to believe it's already here.  Where has the year gone?!  Just to warn you my first post for this month is a long one since I'm going to combine all of my Creative Crew projects into one post instead of doing four this month.  I tried to keep my projects and little more simple this time.  I like to go all out and need to learn to do simple but elegant.  So let's start from the beginning...

Oh November, the time of sweaters & blue jeans, cocoa & fires, and just about every kind of yummy food you could ever be thankful for! This month we're going to take ourselves a trip down memory lane and remember what we have to be thankful for.

The first challenge...DSP/Color Focus: Since we're starting Sweater Weather why don't we take our trip down that road first. Show us Chocolate chip, Crushed Curry, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Tangerine Tango all getting happy together.

Since we've had our leaves on the trees for so long here in Michigan I figured I'd use the Lovely as a Tree set using the colors from the first challenge.  

I like to stamp the image on the inside after I've stamped the first time.  It leaves the same image just a lot lighter so you can write over it.

The second challenge...Creative Focus: KITS! We have a mountain of kits to choose from, they make a class or a workshop easy peasy! The next part of our trip takes us into packaging territory, show us something with the Pretty Packages line on pages 158 & 159 of the main catty or any of the kits or packages in the mini catty, tell us why you choose what you did.

The reason I chose this kit is because you can make so many cute things using the bags and tags and add anything you want to it to match what you're using from the kit.  Plus I have an open house coming and I'm trying to figure out ideas for some of the make and takes. :)

Just a close up. :)

The third challenge...Holiday focus: Did you know that November 26th is national cake day? Trip number three is to be inspired by the cake pictures and show us what creation one of these cakes led you to, please see the attached ideas.

I usually like color, but I love black and white cards as well.  Since it's November and a month to be thankful I thought it would be nice to make a thank you card that's clean and simple.

I had to make a matching envelope too. :)

The fourth and last project...Scrapbook focus: The last leg of our journey is to take that walk down memory lane and share a favorite childhood memory, event, toy, or treat on scrapbook page, mixed media project or with This & That!

Well, a scraper, scrapbooker (not sure what you call it!) I am NOT!  But I didn't want to do a mixed media this time, and I don't have a This and That journal so a scrapbook page it is.  I decided to make a quick page of when we brought our kids to Disney World with my brother's family in 1998 and for our fifteenth anniversary in 2005.  I made quite a few visits there while growing up, and it's also where we went on our honeymoon.  Love that place! :)  I think it's time to go back!! :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Lovely as a Tree Card

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree, Dictionary & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Chocolate chip, Crushed Curry, Sahara Sand, 

Soft Sky & Tangerine Tango

Classic Stamp Pads:  Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, 

Crushed Curry & Tangerine Tango

Punch:  Modern Label

Candy Dots:  Neutrals Collection

Decorative Bag

Stamp Sets:  Festive Flurry & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay

Framelits:  Festive Flurry

Ribbon:  3/8" Ruffled Stretch Trim in Coastal Cabana

Tag a Bag:  Gift Bags & Accessory Kit

Jewel:  Basic Rhinestones

Thank You Card

Stamp Sets:  Hello Doily & Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Basic Black & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Smoky Slate 

StazOn:  Black

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Scrapbook Page

Stamp Set:  Everything Eleanor

StazOn:  Black

 Card Stock:  Basic Black, Real Red, 

Pacific Pride & Garden Green

Punches:  1/2" Circle, 3/4" Circle, 1" Circle & 1 3/8" Circle