Gallery Idol 2011 Submission

Well, I decided to create a card for the PaperCrafts Gallery Idol 2011 contest. Today.

My sister and her husband are buying their first home. I'm really excited for them and so I thought I would make a congrats card for them tonight.

As I was thinking about what to create, I remembered a card I made (waaay back) here and decided to use that same idea. This time I used my Cricut and Gypsy to create the base, welding and flipping so that I would have a pocket which was much easier than the last time!

I cut the roof off the outer pocket and cut another house to create the insert. Since my sister's bedding is a grey with bright pops of colors I decided to pair some grey script paper with some Basic Grey papers. All from my stash. I love the little crystal doorknob and wreath on the door. And the lace trim.

Happy Birthday!

My brother celebrated his 30th birthday this year and suggested golf stuff or gift cards to golf as ideas from his wish list. I was able to make his card this morning before we all gathered for lunch to celebrate his day and the Fourth of July.

The image is from Magenta; not sure if they still make it or not as I've had it for years. It was fun to sit and color and my little man sitting nearby creating a card for his uncle at the same time, sharing colored pencils and listening as he learned to draw a flag from his daddy. I think my brother was pretty impressed with that card....might have been his favorite although my sister got him a singing one that brought back great memories of our childhood so there might have been a tie!

Hope your day was wonderful for our nation's birthday! Our time with family was terrific but now we are home and I'm figuring out what to do next. Normally we would be heading to the local fireworks show in an hour or so. The rains just have not come this spring and early summer so not only have fireworks been banned in the city (they usually are) they are banned completely. Someone told me from the whole state but I'm not sure if that is true or not. Either way, no fireworks this year. The city is doing a laser light show instead and I have to say I just think that is lame LAME. I hope they bring back the fireworks next year!

Waiting

is not one of my strengths.

I received word this week that two recent swaps are winging their way back to me. Can't wait to spend some time in my rocker soaking up all the beauty from this swap and then time in my creative corner creating with tidbits from this one.

I also can't wait for this swap to come in. I love bling and perhaps wearing this while I do the dishes will make the task more pleasant?

I did manage to get a set of ATCs completed for my local stamp club. Our theme this month was "Domestic Animal". There was quite a bit of debate last month on what was meant by the theme - domestic, domesticated, domestic to where (or should that be who? whom?)

I found this sweet old childrens book at an estate sale awhile back and even though the covers were missing and it had pencil lines on almost every page, I snagged it because I knew that my little man would get lots of giggles out of the story of a puppy named Wiggletail.

And I was right.

I scanned in one of the pages, resized him and cut him out. Applied color to my watercolor paper base in a variety of ways - just playing around - to get the look of sky. Then added some vintage book paper colored with ink to simulate the grass and the sun.

It's very one-dimensional and I wish I could've thought of what else to add. Days later I think of a collar of course. My little man awoke from naptime about the time I was thinking of sentiments. I asked him once what he thought the little puppy was saying and for the next 15 minutes he had me in stitches. Of course, they got more elaborate so I just stuck with a simple please.

I hope you've had a chance to giggle this week too!

Swapping

 

I thought I'd share what I sent Jessica for her Very Vintage Spring Ephemera Swap. I had it in my head it was due mid-month but I think I might have mixed that date up with the Birdsong Tag swap.

A few weeks ago I found a really large sized dictionary at an estate sale along with some sheet music.

I ended up putting my items together in a page protector. I also added some grocery stamps and a booklet, an old canceled check* and a playing card (I bought them for the case and was happy when Jessica announced this swap as I knew they would be my submission).

We were supposed to include a ___ with our information on it. I scanned the ATC I made last month for my local stamp club and printed off my info on the back.

* Please tell me that you think an old canceled check is cool. My DH thinks I'm loco and that nobody would want some old check.

Parle de Fleur - A Tiny Book Swap

I thought I would share what I sent off for Michelle's Tiny Book Swap. 

By folding and cutting, you get the above to form a little book. I sent off all my little books so can't really show you what it looks like all folded up.

I hemmed and hawed over what theme to choose before finally settling on using these vintage flower images.

I also wanted to use image transfers. It's a technique that I have done many times in the past. But apparently I've lost my edge. I can't even tell you how many mess-ups I had. The above photo is the front and back cover. Same flower image - although the one on the front was a 'mess-up' that I decided wasn't too bad.

I'm not sure how accurate my French is but I do like it. I don't feel too terribly bad as I'm fairly certain that if my college French professor saw it she would just shake her head and laugh. My Texas drawl used to crack everyone up. However, my sister is pretty affluent in French and I'd bet the farm (if I had one) that she is cringing right now.

I had to finally settle on printing my images on transparencies and using them that way as I was flat out of time to mess with pulling off transfers any longer. Lots of ink and layers on all the pages.

I tried to keep everything cohesive by using the same two colors, two laces and two papers (text and music) on each page.

I really love how the pages took shape and came together. Folding them was a challenge and I'm still trying to figure out why my last page is off. But that's for another day.

Petite Inspiration Box Spring Swap

Heather @ Speckled Egg hosted another Petite Inspiration Box swap with a Spring theme and I was blessed to be paired with two sweet girls. First I'll share the items I swapped with Jessica @ Kids Napping? I'm Scrapping

The theme was Spring and I grabbed some moss in a sheet and planned to do flowers and birds for the outside of my boxes. But then --- I ended up going in a completely different direction! I was wandering through a Wal-Mart and spied some strawberry labels with the canning supplies. I knew that Jessica liked strawberries because she told me so and I also knew that she has a serious obsession* for labels.
* her word, not mine.

And since I love the arrival of Spring Strawberries in the Supermarket I figured that would work as a theme!  I found a bag of trims at the local thrift store. I bought the whole bag just for some pink ball trim for this swap. Both my partners received some but you'll have to spy a glimpse in Lisa's photos tomorrow. Also in the bag was the big aqua bow. Totally cool. I wanted to keep it for myself. And then I found that enameled pink and tied it all on with some pink tulle so that Jessica could salvage then and use them on other projects if she wanted.

Jessica is a Button Floozy and so I was digging around in my button box and found that weird looking thing on the left. But I wondered what would happen if I painted it? Would it look like a strawberry?

A little? Right? And some more buttons and such that I included for her. See that one in the middle. I saw a strawberry button on etsy but couldn't make myself pay that much for a button. So imagine my glee when I saw that one in my button box one day. It was a little present from God and I got totally giddy. I left the patina on it as Jessica is a Button Floozy and would know (1) if it should stay or go and (2) how to make it go if she wanted far better than I. See that sparkly one in the lower right? What a saga to get that little bit. I found them on ebay and there were several in there and the price was a steal. So I nabbed them so that I could put one in Jessica's box and one in Lorraine's Things with Wings box (later post). Then I noticed they were coming from Hong Kong. They took soooo long to get here. I held off Lorraine's box waiting for them -- and then finally sent it without it. They finally arrived just as I was ready to send this box off. Talk about bad timing!

You can see the labels that started this box in the center. I also included some vintage papers in both boxes, rolled up with some vintage pink ribbon. I made sure that Jessica got dictionary pages for "berry" in her pack.

I also was paired with Lisa from Happily Scrappin' Today. Oh I had such a fun, FUN time putting her box together too! I went reading through her blog and found pictures of her scrap space. She told me she liked pink and dress forms --- and her space really showed that!

Why does Blogger do that? I used some vintage flowers and a miniature dress form to decorate Lisa's box. I thought that would fit in the box --- but it was a little tall. I also decided to paint and shabby chic the dress form up too. I layered lots of paint on it and finally achieved a look I was happy with! I sure hope Lisa loved it too!



I used a vintage hankie to wrap up the goodies in each box.

I knew that Lisa liked milk glass and angels. I couldn't pass up that little milk glass sugar bowl. Again, I thought it would fit in the matchbox and again, I was a little off on estimating my sizes. I found the pom-pom trim at the thrift store in a bag of trims. There was the pink stuff, some very cool brown embroidered ribbon, odds and ends and a really weird yellow yarn octopus. The little aqua envelope is a "zipper helper". It is marked Blackburns on the back which is a department store that we used to have here years and years ago. Often times I'll see hat boxes and such with Blackburns on it at estate sales in the area.

I can't wait for you to see what I received from Jessica and Lisa. They are both vintage and awesome and completely me!

A Little of This and A Little of That

Hmm.

How do you start a blog post when you haven't posted in almost a year?

I have been creating; not as much as I was or as frequently but some here and there. I really wanted to share with you a few swaps that I've recently finished.

First, I'm gathering up items for this swap and if you love shabby and vintage, you should check it out!

The first one was an Altered Matchbox swap hosted by Vintage Dragonfly. The theme was Things with Wings and was so much fun to put together. I created this little treasure for Lorraine at Over the Rainebeau.

I knew Lorraine liked aqua and pink and all sorts of things with wings. I spied that little birdie one day and decided to just focus on birds. Although I had the hardest time getting the bird to stay on the nest! And the little matchbox was filled with all kinds of goodies!

JoAnne, the swap hostess, sent a magical box to me!

It's so darling and I love it! She decorated the outside with tons of embellishments and has that over the top look that I love (but never seem to be able to actually do). So much inspiration packed into a little box. She also sent me this gorgeous tag:

The next swap was a seaside theme and I opted not to participate this round. But I have seen some of the photos in the Flickr group and they are beautiful! If you are interested in a swap like this, check it out - she'll post the next theme soon.

The Diedrich Dare: Out with a Bang!

Hello girls! Long time no see!

I did make a card this week for the Diedrich Dare challenge for July. During the summer, the challenge is just once a month. And sadly, this is the last challenge for Whimsical Wednesdays. Jessica and her kids decided to end the challenge. They are exploring new avenues of creativity. This was such fun in the time that we had. I met Jessica, seems like forever ago, when we were on a design team for a now defunct company. She is sweet and caring and genuine and I feel incredibly lucky to know her, to have designed with her and to call her friend. I actually feel that way about all the girls that are DareDevils - past and present.

SO...

...let's talk about the challenge. It's an inspiration challenge this week using this photo from therecipegirl.com:

Oh man! It's a cupcake which is wonderful. But the fact that it's a Fourth of July cupcake is SUPER wonderful! Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays! I was inspired originally by the frosting and intended to use the Shaving Cream background somehow but that idea got swept aside as time whittled away. And in staying true to my style, I kept it clean and simple.

I used my Cricut to cut the cupcake, layered it, tied a bow and popped it onto the kraft base. Now I just need to find a friend with a Fourth of July birthday! Hmmm - oh yeah! THIS lovely lady that I get to work with on the Cuttlebug Challenge fits the bill I do believe! Happy Belated Birthday sweetie!

Jessica has put together a terrific prize package for our final challenge! Here's the list of prizes:

♥ Choice of TWO digi stamps from Baby Bud Designs


♥ "Sweet Message" stamp set from The Greeting Farm (4x6 set)

♥ "A Good Book" stamp from {Ippity} stamps

We'd love to see your creation inspired by the image this week. You've got one week to upload a link over at The Diedrich Dare before we close our doors on Wednesday, July 14th.

Sugar Creek Hollow June Blog Hop

HeLLo girLs! Sugar Creek HoLLow is kicking off June with a fabuLous bLog hop for you today! We are aLL using the same sketch and you reaLLy must take the time to go and see aLL the designers (Linked beLow) and their creations - they are SUPERB!!! You can start the hop at Joan's bLog if you need to go back. You shouLd have come from Donna's bLog - and oh.my.WORD. Wasn't her card FAAAABuLOUUUUS!?!?!?!?
I Loved it (aLthough I've Loved aLL the sneak peeks from the team to be honest). You wiLL coLLect a Letter at each bLog that wiLL speLL out a very speciaL word so it's a good idea to start from the beginning! The prize is a big basket of crinkLe ribbon, images and cards from the design team!

Here is the sketch our precious DT Coordinator JoseLine created for our hop today!

Father's Day is right around the corner and Tracy has designed a great set to commemorate this day! Father's Day was used on this card of mine and I wanted to use it again for today's card too. I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for awhiLe and this was a perfect chance to get it out! It's aLso a perfect exampLe of how you can use this set for more than just a Father's Day card. More bang for your buck - that's a popuLar Texas saying around here!

I don't have a pink cowboy hat but I think it wouLd be pretty fun to wear one. I do have red cowboy boots; they were quite the rage back when I was growing up! LOL!!But CowgirL Up is another famiLiar saying you hear from time to time here in Texas and I wanted to pay homage to that idea. Today's Texas GirL is sassy and feminine and resourcefuL! That being said, I'm aLso going to Link this card up for Texas Tuesday!

Before you head on over to Mary's bLog to see her creation and get the next Letter, pLease Leave me a comment Letting me know what you think of my girLy use of this mascuLine set - AND Let me know what Letter my bLog has for your secret word! Mary is joining us as our June Guest Designer so be sure to Leave her a note of weLcome!

And in case you've gotten a LittLe Lost, here's the compLete List in order:
Joan


Marsha

Dani

Stephanie

Loretta

Linda

Kristina

Donna

Cassie - You are HERE!

Mary (http://moejoedesigns.blogspot.com/)

JoseLine

KeLLy

Nancy

Tracy

Sugar Creek HoLLow BLog

The Diedrich Dare: All About Inspiration

Good morning girls! The DIEDRICH DARE will be taking a bit of a break....HOWEVER....we are issuing a challenge TODAY AND the 1st week of July to keep you busy...and just to keep you intrigued? We have one HECK of a PRIZE!

Today's Challenge is a WONDERFUL inspiration piece that sweet DareDevil Sara sent because she knew Jessica would love what it said. It just so happens it makes for an EXCELLENT summer challenge too! Here's the photo:

I immediately loved the colors. I always admire bright, happy colors although I don't typically create with them. And so I decided to really step out of my comfort zone and use bright, happy colors!

The stamp is an old PSX stamp; do ya'll miss PSX as much as I do? I'm not a big Alice in Wonderland fan but I've always loved this quote about imagining impossible things. Love it in the Lime Green. Love the polka dot ribbon even more I think!

I hope this card makes you feel bright and happy!

Now...here's the deal. You have ALL MONTH to play along. There are NO restrictions on number of entries, etc. You just have to link it up here and we have to be able to see the inspiration piece somewhere on your card or project.


Entries will be accepted until JUNE 30th, 2010 at 8pm CST.
The catch? Well, ok, it's NOT a catch..it's more like LOOT....TONS OF IT! CHECK THIS OUT:

ONE lucky winner will receive:

*TWO Kraftin' Kimmie stamps of Choice, sponsored by Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!
*This HUGE prize from Tamiko's:
1. Spellbinders Frameabilities Scalloped Edge Frame
2. 1/4" Scorepal tape
3. Sticky thumb adhesive tape
4. Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad
5. Robin's nest tear drops
6. Robin's nest dew drop
7. Robin's nest mini dew drops
8. 2-3 bags of Lion coffee (a little something from Hawaii)
*A FREE Digital Image sponsored by Daredevil herself, Sara Henton
*TWO Rubber Stamps from a newly released BabyBud Designs (manuf. by C.C. Designs) sponsored by
   Daredevil Krista VanTol!
* ONE 4x6 Set of choice from The Greeting Farm

Can you BELIEVE the generosity of these sponsors??? I am SUPER stoked for this and it's nothing we've ever had the privilege to offer our players before. I cannot WAIT to see who the random winner is! Thank you to each and every one!!

Take a spin over to the Diedrich Dare blog to see the featured team member this month. And check out the rest of the team members too!

Andrea Murdock ♥ Darla Wilson (on hiatus)  ♥ Heather Schlatter 

 ♥ Jacquie Peifer ♥ Jessica Diedrich ♥ Kim Ross  

Kris Palakiko  ♥ Krista Vantol ♥ Randi Wall ♥

Rebecca Ednie ♥  Sara Henton