Lantern Banner

I am loving all of the adorable banner images that are coming out lately and when I saw this stamp set from American Crafts with lanterns on a wire, it made me think of a banner only with a twist and I couldn't wait to ink it up and play with it.

I decided to make a CAS card, which is actually more difficult for me than making a card with lots of layers. I tend to gravitate toward more patterned paper and less white space and loads of layers, but I enjoyed deviating from my usual style and going with something more clean and simple. I did add some stickles for a faux glass look and some liquid pearls for the hardware that connects the lanterns to the wire, which doesn't come out real well in the photo, but came out really realistic in person.

I absolutely love the new Stella and Rose collections from My Minds Eye. I can't get enough of it. To be totally honest, I can't get enough paper in general and really, really need to use every sheet in my craft space before I buy another sheet but I'm afraid I'm just too weak. I just love pretty paper!

Supplies
Patterned Paper - My Minds Eye
Card Base - The Paper Company
Ink - Tsukineko, Papertrey Ink
Ribbon - American Crafts
Stamps - American Crafts (Images), Hero Arts (Sentiment)
Stickles - Ranger Industries
Liquid Pearls - Ranger Industries
Border Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts

Jessica's Shower Invites

My friend Jessica from work is fairly new to CO. She is also a California native, so I feel like she's a bit of a kindred spirit and I definitely appreciate what it's like to be away from longtime friends and family.

Well, Jessica has a GREAT reason to be in Colorado. That reason is true love. She and Josh are getting married in May in California. I am so happy for her! I have seen her and Josh together and I see something so special in them. God created them for one another and you can see it and feel it when you around them.

Jessica had a bridal shower in California during a recent visit, but we wanted to throw her another shower here in CO. She and Josh are starting their lives as a couple here and we wanted her to feel like this is home.

Jess has been VERY busy planning her wedding and traveling back and forth from CA, so she got the guest list to me a little late....which meant an evite for this event! Don't you just love evites when time is of the essence? There were a couple of guests that didn't have email so I made a couple of handmade invitations. Jess and Josh's colors are brown, orange and green, so I made invitations to coordinate. I also made some other crafty items for the shower but I can't post yet in case the bride visits the blog!

On the inside of the cards, I printed all of the shower details onto vellum and then backed it with green CS and attached with little orange brads. I didn't post a picture because our address and phone number are on there and I don't want to post publicly.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzil, The Paper Co, Stampin' Up!
Brads - Making Memories
Vellum - Stampin' Up!
Cricut Cartidge - Storybook, From the Nest
Nestabilities Die
Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug

Jen's Sketch Challenge 04-11

This month Jen has another fabulous sketch with another amazing sponsor (and one of my favs) - Unity Stamp Co! I have been using Unity stamps for a little over 2 years now and they are amazing! I first discovered them through a fellow stamping friend and joined their kit of the month club, which, if you are new to stamping (which I was at the time) - is a GREAT way to build up your stamp collection. You get a full 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of deeply etched red rubber stamps of the absolute highest quality every month delivered right to your door. Each month they send you a combination of sentiment and image stamps and you have the option of opting out of a particular month's kit if it doesn't suite your fancy...although I am quite certain they all will! I was a member of "the club" for 18 months and the ONLY reason I ended my membership was I had lots of stamps I had yet to ink up and I thought I would save my money each month for other product. I still love my Unity stamps and I am still inking them up, even a little over a year after I ended my membership. And, I LOVE that now I can get Unity stamps at Archivers, including the Itty Bitty sets. Love. Onto my card for this month. I wanted to make a card for my wonderful hubby's birthday. I have such a hard time with masculine cards, which I think is pretty common. I ended up using the Curtain Call paper collection from Graphic 45, which is the same paper collection I used for the altered tray I did for Valentine's Day. It's not completely masculine, but it can be adapted for masculine cards, which is what I did here. I used this adorable pocket stamp from Unity and made a little tag to go in the pocket. I also added some hearts because I love my hubby so....he is one of the best gifts God has ever given me! Anyway, I hope you enjoy my submission and I hope you will play along!

Supplies Cardstock - Bazzil Basics Patterned Paper - Graphic 45 Ink - Stampin' Up! Stamps - Unity Stamp Co., Stampin' Up! Punches - Stampin' Up! Ribbon - Michael's Tag - Paper Reflections Brad - Stampin' Up! Distress Tool - Tim Holtz for Tonic

Jen's Sketch Challenge 03-11

Time for another fantastic sketch by Jen del Muro. Our lives have been very insane lately and time I haven't had much time for crafting lately, so when I do sneak in a few moments or hours, those moments are treasured to me. Our priorities are right and we are doing what we need to do, but still I wish there were more hours in the day.

I find that when I do steal away a few moments, I make them count and make projects for specific events coming up. One of these days I will have time to just sit down and create but right now I don't have that luxury so when I sit down in my craft room, I make specific projects for specific people and that is ok!

I am a very blessed woman with some a-mazing friends! I made this card for my dear, sweet friend Leisha who I have known since High School. Leisha and I were friends in High School, but not super close. We always got along really well and admired each other, but we never developed one of those solid friendships.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and we re-connected on Facebook. We started chatting over private messaging and then she met Jay and I at Disneyland with her kids on my birthday. Her kids had season passes and I got in free for my birthday, so they met us there and we all had a blast together! Ever since that day, Leisha and I have been very close. We have such a special bond and I love her with all my heart. She is in CA and I am now in CO, but thanks to Skype and free long-distance on our cell phones (and Facebook of course!) we are able to stay in contact. She is the most wonderful mother and friend and I have tremendous respect for her.

Supplies

Cardstock - Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper - Stampin' Up!

Ink - Stampin' Up!, Versamark

Embossing Powder - Stampabilities

Stamps - Unity (Image), Verve Stamps (Sentiment)

Brads - Making Memories

Nestabilities

Valentine Love (Cont'd)

Here's the card I made for Nicole using that same collection. So fun!

Supplies
Patterned Paper - Stampin' Up!
Cardstock - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up!
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up!

Valentine Love

I made this simple little card for Kendall for Valentine's Day. I always try to find little gifts to give the girls for every holiday. Not that they need anything, but I like to just let them know throughout the year how special they are by giving them a handmade card and a small treat.

This year I found some cute little photo boxes that had a small bag of candy and a little stuffed animal in them. I realize the girls are 13 and 16 but they still like their stuffed animals. The gifts were small and inexpensive, but it's always fun to get something special to make an otherwise ordinary week a little less ordinary.

I made this card using some new product I got from Stampin' Up! I just love the colors on these papers and the stamps are adorable! I am really loving the new cling stamps and packaging that are now available. I still think there is nothing that can compare with stamping with a wood-mounted stamp, but they just take up too much space. As a result, I am only purchasing the stamps in the new packaging from SU now and they stamp just as well with the same precision and accuracy.

Supplies
Patterned Paper - Stampin' Up!
Cardstock - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Border Punches - Stampin' Up!, Martha Stewart Crafts
Corner Rounder - We R Memory Keepers

Valentine Altered Frame

This was a fun project for me! I have been eyeing these gorgeous frames by 7 Gypsies for months now but just never had occassion to create one until now. Since Jay spoiled me so for my birthday (still need to do a post on that....) I told him he was totally off the hook for Valentine's Day this year. Meaning, he didn't have to get me a thing and I would be fine with that! He didn't quite listen....he had roses in a gorgeous heart-shaped vase sent to me at work (which I loved and was completely surprised by) but since I had given him a pass this year, I didn't want to get him anything expense because then he would feel badly which is not what I intended at all!

So, I decided to give him a gift from the heart. I wanted to make this gift romantic, but without being too girly-girly. I happened upon this gorgeous new line from Graphic 45 called Curtain Call and knew it was perfect. It's filled with music and cinematic images and the colors are black and cream and it's the perfect balance of romance and masculinity.

I was really happy with the way the project turned out overall. I know when I get a few more of these under my belt they will look better and better, but for my first attempt, I was pretty happy with the results.

And, most imporatantly, I was able to bless my wonderful hubby who is ALWAYS a blessing to me!

I cut the frame for this image on black cardstock (Bazill) using my Cricut Sentimentals cartridge and I hand-painted these Prima roses using Ranger alcohol ink mixatives. I just placed a few drops onto my craft mat and then picked up the color using a paint brush. They are super shiny and absolutly stunning!

For this panel, I used an epoxy sticker from Cloud Nine Designs and took the Love and Heart chipboard shapes from Maya Road and painted them with some Red Pepper paint from Ranger and then sprayed them with some Graphite glimmer mist from Tattered Angels. The small tag is from the die-cut sheet that came with the collection. I added a small brad from Making Memories to the top of it.

On this panel, I took some trim from Making Memories and outlined the frame. I used Glossy Accents to adhere the trim because it dries so quickly and has such a strong hold. The tag was cut using my Cricut (the patterned paper is from the same Graphic 45 collection) and I just hand wrote a small message using a Prismacolor fine line marker.

On this panel, I cut another frame onto black cardstock (Bazill) and them took some black flowers (Kaiser Crafts) and topped them with smaller red flowers (Bazill) and finished them off with some decorative brads from Making Memories. The epoxy sticker at the bottom is from Cloud Nine Designs and I backed it with some Riding Hood Red cardstock from Stampin' Up! so that it would stand out.

I kept this panel rather simple. I cut out another frame using black cardstock with my Cricut and then finished it off with some beautiful Prisma mesh flowers.

And finally, I cut another frame on black cardstock using my Cricut then took some letter stickers from Making Memories for the J&S and then took a dimensional sticker from Jolee's Boutique that I colored with some Copic markers.

Some detail on the Prisma flowers I colored with my alcohol ink mixatives.