Sketch Challenge 02/28/09

Time for another one of Jen Del Muro's sketch challenges. This one was a little tough for me. I can't explain why, but I was having difficulty figuring out my color palette and I just wasn't sure what I wanted to stamp. I was in the mood for burgundy so I started by going through my pink/burgundy paper drawer and I found this cute DP that I bought in a huge pack at Costco. I first decided on the flower paper and then added the striped DP for the strip on the lower third of the card. Then I chose this beautiful yellow paper that I got from Tuesday morning and some Chocolate Chip from SU and started cutting and piecing everything together. I cut the corners of the lower part of the center panel to make it a little more interesting and used my Cuttlebug on the yellow paper to give it some texture. After I taped all of my panels down I used my SU scalloped circle punch in the yellow and then embossed this adorable butterfly from Unity's September Kit of the Month. The bottom panel was looking bare so I added the bow and flower brads and then finally the sentiment from SU and punched it out using my word punch.

It is definitely a different color palette than I have ever worked with before, but I'm happy I tried something new. Every endeavor is a learning experience and these challenges have really helped me to expand my thinking and grow creatively.

Kutless/Disciple/Stellar Kart/EsterLyn Concert

Last night we went to Mountainbrook Community Church in San Luis Obispo to see Stellar Kart, Disciple and Kutless together on their second tour. The last time we saw them was in March of 2006. I remember this distinctly because the Bunns were going to try to go with us but they were too busy getting ready for their move to Virginia :(. Aside from looking back on that difficult time emotionally, the concerts both then and now were outstanding. This year EsterLyn replaced Falling Up as the first act. EsterLyn is a fairly new band but they were really enjoyable to watch. They named the band after the lead singer's niece who was adopted from China. You can tell that the band has such a love for this little girl and for Jesus. We saw some growth in Stellar Kart and they were even more fun to watch this year. I also am starting to grow in my appreciation for Disciple. When we saw them in 2006 they were just too loud for me and I couldn't understand a word they were saying. Over the last 3 years I have listened to their CD's (Nicole and Kendall and Jay are all big fans) and I have grown to appreciate them more and more and this year I loved the show! They have so much energy and such a wonderful ministry. Kevin, the lead singer shared about Compassion International and just listening to him speak brought complete silence to a room filled with young people who minutes before were jumping up and down and banging their heads. We started sponsoring a child with Compassion after the last show and hearing Kevin speak reminded me that we need to start sending more letters to our compassion child. His name is Jibin and he lives in India. I will write another post about him later and share a picture. He is such a precious little boy and we are so blessed to be able to share what God has given us with him.

Kutless came on last and they were incredible! They are one of my favorite bands and the highlight of the evening was hearing them sit in a group and do a few acoustic songs. They did Take Me In, which is one of my favorite songs and they also did Sea of Faces and a third song that I can't remember at the moment. It was so intimate and we were just captivated. They are so talented and they can go from rockin' the house down to bringing everyone into worship in such a beautiful way. We were all exhausted today, but it was totally worth it!

Stellar Kart

Disciple

Kutless

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #43

Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration this week challenged me even more than last week for some reason. The colors all go really well together, but maybe because there were 5 colors (plus white) I struggled to come up with a design. I was originally going to do something with butterflies, but I wanted something more simplified and this simple flower stamp from SU's Merci stamp set ended up being exactly what I needed. I had finished the card and at the last minute decided to add the bling to make the simple flowers just a little bit more interesting. The sentiment is from Unity's February kit of the month and I sponged the edges of the Whisper White cardstock so that the white wasn't quite so "blaring." I did not have Real Red or Brocade Blue in my colection so I used Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze instead.

SFYTT 02/21/09

Time for another one of Jen's Sketch for You to Try challenges. I love this DSP from Stampin' Up. The colors are incredible and all of the papers are textured, which make them really interesting. I complimented the DSP with Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip cardstock. I used my Coluzzle to make the ovals and my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder for the main panel. I embossed the stamped image (from Unity's November KOTM) with white SU! embossing powder. The aluminum sentiment is from Colorbox (from the $1 bin at Michael's) and I added the rhinestones to give it a little bling.


Be sure to visit Jen's sight to see the beautiful creations everyone made using this sketch.

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #42

Time for another one of Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration challenges. I didn't think I was going to pull one off this week. The colors are gorgeous, but I wasn't feeling the creative juices flowing. So, I started off by going through my patterned paper to see what I had in these colors. I liked the Kiwi Kiss polka dots and found the More Mustard design and then saw the mushroom

stamp from my Unity February Kit of the Month and decided to do some paper piecing. I used the Really Rust stamp pad to stamp the flourishes onto the really rust cardstock on the bottom panel to make it a little more interesting. I also love the sentiments that came with this month's kit. Happy....just one word that means so much!

I have no voice right now and have been under the weather for about a week now, but I am still happy. I know how much I have to be thankful for. My voice will come back when it's ready and in the meantime, I have lots of time to spend creating!

Joyful Greetings

My Unity February Kit of the Month came on Tuesday and it was filled with some gorgeous stamps! I just love getting my new kits every month. First of all, they are extremely affordable ($25, plus s/h) and you get lots of stamps in every single kit. The last two months the stamps have been really big and I'm finding that even if there is a stamp or two in the kit that I'm not crazy about at first, they either grow on me or I find a use for them. That was the case with this card. I started out with the greetings tree and knew I wanted to do something with More Mustard and Chocolate Chip and everything kind of went from there. I decided instead of using Very Vanilla as my card base, I would use Kraft cardstock instead. When I started putting all of my elements together (before using any tape), I noticed that the Kraft base was going to be too bare. That's when I remembered my wheat stamp from January's Kit of the Month and I think it added just the right touch. When I originally saw this stamp, I thought, "Now what am I going to do with a wheat stamp?" And now I'm so glad I have it, because I think I will use it in the future as well.

I love the hardware on this card as well. I got it ages ago at Michael's but never used it. I think it fits the Enjoy sentiment just right. I'm happy that this turned out to be a sort of masculine card, because I am not good at making those. I know, I know, it does not contain motorcycles, tools of any kind, airplanes, or flames, but I think it still fits the bill. I'm going to give it to a friend at work for his birthday. It's a non-traditional birthday card, and he's a non-traditional guy. Perfect!

Kendall Adds to Her Awards Display

Today was the awards ceremony at Kendall's school for the 2nd quarter. Kendall got not one, not two, but three awards today! She received an award for honor roll (which she is extremely deserving of, because she works VERY hard in school and is extremely disciplined and motivates herself every single day. She also was named Student of the Quarter in both her Reading and Performing Arts classes. We're so proud of her. Congratulations Kendall!!!!

Cut it Out

I decided to participate in one of the Try a New Technique challenges at SCS. As I was going through the list, this one by Lynn in St. Louis instantly appealed to me. Probably due in part to the fact that I just got some new embossing folders for my Cuttlebug and this was a good excuse for me to try using another one.

Here is the challenge:

"Today's technique is simple. We're going to create a border or other page element by just cutting out part of an embossed design, patterned paper, or a stamped image, and use it as a part of your card. You can use a Cuttlebug embossing folder, or if that isn't available to you, dig out some of that patterned paper you've been hording (yes, I mean you!) and find a pattern that will give you images to cut around (this will all be more clear after you see my sample card). And if you don't have any suitable patterned paper or an embossing folder, you can alway stamp an image and cut around it. So let's get busy and "cut it out" today!"

I decided to use all three of the ideas she had. I cut around my patterned paper (from the $1 bin at Target), I cut around my embossed paper (an argyle design using my Cuttlebug) and I also stamped some images and cut around them (the hearts). I finished it off with some chipboard letters that I also got from the $1 bin at Target (those were pre-cut, I can't take credit for them!)


Although it has hearts on it, I don't particularly think it has to be another Valentine's Day card. I think it would be suitable for any day that you want to make someone you love feel special.

Happy Valentine's Day Sketch

It's Saturday....that means another one of Jen Del Muro's Sketch for You to Try (SFYTT). While Jay and Kendall were spending a little father/daughter time watching a movie tonight, I sat down in my craft corner and put together this card. I realized after I finished that I used Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive cardstock on the last one of Jen's sketches I did, but I really like the combination of these colors. I started by choosing my DS and found this cute DCWS paper that I got in a pad at Michael's a while back and then started putting together the cardstock that I wanted to use. I used my one of the new embossing folders I got for my Cuttlebug and did the panel at the top first and then decided on these cute SU stamps to use. The flowers I cut out with my circle punch (they have a dotted border around them, which I cropped out with the punch) and then added the colored brads for a little extra pop. I added the ribbon and sentiment last. I hope you like it.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Jay and I had a nice day together. We got up this morning and Jay made French toast (WW friendly version!) and we opened our presents to each other. Jay got me some black pearl drop earrings and a matching necklace and some Godiva chocolates (not so WW friendly but I don't care!) I got him a nice button-down shirt, The Prestige on DVD, and a $15 iTunes gift card. I also gave him the monkey kiss V-day card that I made (I could not resist!) We didn't want to deal with the crowds tonight, so we went to a late lunch at Applebee's and saw He's Just Not that into You at the movies. Such a funny movie, we both loved it!

We gave Kendall her presents on Thursday night so that she could wear her new shirt to the school dance last night. We got her and Nicole a little heart notepade, keychain with their initials on them, a photo album, a nail file, some Valentine socks and these cute shirts. Here are some pics. We didn't take any of ourselves today, sorry to disappoint!

Hope Springs

Everyone needs hope. Especially when everytime you turn on the news there are reports about unemployment rising, huge companies laying off thousands of employees, businesses are going under left and right, California is broke....the list goes on. I know that there is hope. God's love is greater than any financial crisis and it's important to hold on to what we have and look forward to tomorrow. I know I am so thankful for my family and my friends and my health and my job and for the mountains and the ocean and for the food that is on my table every night. I am hopeful for a better tomorrow, but I am also hopeful that I will never take for granted what I already have.

I wanted to make a card using my new Parisian Breeze DP from SU and as soon as I started putting it together, I knew I wanted to use the Hope stamp from Unity's Floral Fantastical set. The colors remind me of Spring and Spring is when winter is over and all of the flowers are beginning to bloom. May you all look forward to Spring and have hope that God will provide. May His love surround you and shield you from the worries of tomorrow.

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #41

I decided to do another one of Kristina Werner's Color Inspirations. This week, the colors are Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Basic Grey and Whisper White. I didn't have any Basic Grey, so the grey I used was from a cardstock pad that I picked up a Michael's a while back. The DP is also from a pad that I purchased at Michael's. I realized while making this card that on the last challenge of Kristina's that I did I used the Sock Monkey stamp set as well, but this little guy is too cute! I had the idea last night of putting hearts in his eyes and a huge kiss on his mouth and when I saw this color combination, I decided it would be perfect for what I had in mind. I think I am going to have to give this card to my hubby! Who else would I want to kiss?

Birds of a Feather

I made this card last night while relaxing and watching City Slickers. I finally got a chance to use my new cutting plates for my Cuttlebug and beautiful peacock stamp from Unity's January Kit of the Month. I love the pink and brown together. Poor Jay picked up the card to get a better look and I hadn't warned him that it was wet from the Stickles and we ended up with gold glitter all misplaced on the card and lots of gold glitter on Jay's fingertips. Fortunately, the Stickles were wet enough that I was able to fix most of the card. Now Jay's afraid to touch any of my cards! That'll teach him ;).