Creating Keepsakes (Go, me!!)

This is my 2nd post for today. Please click here or scroll down for CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #22 


Extra! Extra!
OK..OK..... I don't have anything published over Creating Keepsakes (yet)-let's CALM DOWN!!I have been a subscriber of Creating Keepsakes for two years now. Thanks to the generous yearly gift from my stamping bestie Karen P., I was inspired to be a scrapbooker. Oh Yes, I am!! I may be an addicted avid card-maker, but I am aspired to be a scrapbooker, too! It will be my dream (perhaps in my next life, if not in this life) to have a layout in the CK publication. Well, my small brush of fame with CK is today! Please check here 
Thanks to SRM DT assignment, we were asked to contribute ideas for SRM tubes storage for craft/scrapbooking supplies. Here are the two ideas that I had pitched in for the storage. I think ONE got chosen to be featured today! YAY-ME!!

  and this

If you have the time, please go visit "me" over Creating Keepsakes here. I will be back for World Card-making day tomorrow! 

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #22

Welcome to CAS-ual Friday's weekly challenge! The challenge is to use ribbon tabs or loops on your clean and simple creation.I decided to make a Halloween card without stamping!
Thanks to our generous sponsor Ribbon Carousel,

I got to use the gorgeous ribbons for this card. All paper are from Basic Grey.  As I was layering the paper and ribbons, I decided to circle punch the bottom border and then....I just added three small orange pearls! I think it's perfect for Halloween!

	Please link up your project to CAS-ual Fridays  by Oct. 5, Wednesday Midnight Eastern Time. I can't wait to see your "loopy" creations!

Border Punches!

Like most of you, I love border punches. But, really, how many do we actually use all the time? I swear every time I go to Michael's, I like to stand in front of the isle and stare.at.them  (this sounds CREEPY! But it's what we do, right? ) and think of the potential uses in each and every one of the punches. Until I see the price--GASP!! They sell around $25 US/Can each for the Marvy punches. The price often stops me drooling right there and then. Of course, it is a different matter when I arm myself with the 50% off coupon. Still, I try to limit my purchase and prioritize the "needs" to buy some more.... it's also bad for the environment as I am often told by my family members. 

Anyhow I used three punches that I have for the current CREATE Blog . I REALLY like this little exercise because this really get my punches out of the closet . I store them in the closet shelf as they are huge and unsightly. I chose three of them (two are scallop borders by Martha Stewart and Fiskars). The film strip-like one is from a cheaper brand called Recollections (only at Michael's). The leaf stamps are from Maya Road and the Envelop patterns are from Hero Arts. The oval sentiment is my favorite-SRM Stickers!

I purposely curled up the scalloped borders just a bit. I love the subtle dimensions that they give. The pattern paper is from Basic Grey. I am entering this card for Simon Says Stamps Challenge  (Anything Goes). There are so many new stamps that I want to get from that store....just need to compile a long list now.

 I will be taking part in the World Card-Making Day Blog Hop on Oct. 1, 2011. I will not be sending my cards in for the contest, but I really don't want to miss the fun of card-making. CAS-ual Fridays and World Card Making Day are coming up next!! I also have a little post about my stint with Creating Keepsakes (yup, I know!!!)

All about TEXTING!!

Hello! I am making another last minute entry for Lawnscaping Challenge #18 (getting texty). Details here . I took out my one and only Lawn Fawn Stamps and got right to work! I used the sentiment to create a little hill. First I embossed the sentiment in white and then applied Distress Inks over with the help of a strip paper (cut out from the stamped sentiment)---nothing too fancy!

I did the coloring  for the bike with Marvy Markers and added the dimensional Silver Liquid Pearl for the basket. I feel so blessed to be able to share my little cards with you every so often!
Thank you for cruising through card-making with me!

SMILE!

My attempt of making a circus card without any obvious circus stamps. Thought I would make the last minute entry for Paper Crafts September 2011 Gallery Challenge. I am also re-submitting this elephant card that I made for the Paper Crafts submission call for circus cards. It was my very first attempt to submit cards for publication. Even though it was a reject, it still remains to be my favorite circus card.

 

About this card:

Pattern paper:  Cosmo Cricket

Stamps : Hero Arts (Envelope Pattern and Playful Monkey)

Sentiment: SRM Stickers 

Embellishments: gems from Michael's (Reflections), twine

It seems that I in the mood for Playful Monkey as I also used it for my layout (see here ).  The most time-consuming part of making this card is cutting out the monkeys (see the tails!?).  Hope this makes you smile!

A LAYOUT--a goofy one, too!

 Paint and spray are the hard-to- control elements for projects....well, mine seem to be quite a bit"messier" than I had in mind. Not sure if I should enter the challenge, but it's good to share with you all.

 I had been itching to make a layout for David's photo. This picture was taken in Orlando, Florida back in Feb. David and Stephanie were at the gift shop and they have always loved to pose with the stuff toys since they were little. Somehow he got talked into posing with the toys in front of the camera! I love the goofy look of him and it always reminds me of the fun moments we had during our winter getaway. So when I saw the Embellish challenge (see here), I thought to give myself a challenge. Instead of a card, I made a layout based on the colors and used the Cosmic Spray that I don't use enough of.

I painted the borders of the layout with a small brush (Making Memories paint ) and sprayed the grey paper with the silver glitter. I have never had a messy and unruly border like this one before (what was I thinking???). I stamped the monkeys and frog and then colored them with Copics and Marvy markers.

The sentiments and zig zag lines are from SRM Stickers.

As you can tell, this layout is more of a stamper's work. There is not an inch of pattern paper or flowers or fancy embellishments. Well, that's the beauty of making a page, RIGHT? There is practically no rule (for me anyway).  Each photo has its own character and style....anything goes! If you have never scrap before, it's time to try and unleash your creativity (just overlook my messiness in this page)!! I am just happy to share and appreciate your stopping by! I know David likes it :)

Delightfully Random!

After working as a temp for a week (well, three half days really) at Dr. John's office, I find myself lacking time and mojo to make anything. I searched for the go-to inspiration-Tuesday Trigger (see Delightfully Random) to give me a kick start...

There are so many elements from this delightful photo--stitching, buttons, flowers, lace, birdie, envelope, banners, spools of threads.....everything hand-made.

I used some of the elements from the photo inspiration and try not to overwhelm the design. I may have already...? I know I could make the colors a bit more turquoise, more blue/green, more floral..., oh well. I'm just happy to MAKE. A. CARD.

And speaking of random delight, here's what came my way in the mail a few days ago. It was from the win at Two Peas (my project Desk Top Calendar ). Take a peek at the goodies. The set of stamps are some Hero Arts Flourish stamps that I have never seen! I need to get inky!

So glad that I get to share my random delights with you. Hope you are enjoying the beautiful Fall days out there. I now need to get some fresh air :)

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge # 21

ANOTHER fun challenge for you! YAY, it's FRIDAY! 

This week's challenge is to create Monochromatic card (using at least 3 monochromatic shades of colors of you choice plus chocolate brown)= 3+1 

Our sponsor: Stampotique

Thanks to the generosity of Stampotique, I got to use the stamps that Stampoutique sent me. I chose a few shades of yellow and brown to make this card.

So...what do you think? Please share your creation(s) to CAS-ual Fridays by Sept. 28, Wednesday midnight Eastern Time.

Crazy about FOX ( and a card fro Sabastian)

If you follow CREATE Blog , then you know that I will be making cards with Fox(es) ( details here )! So here I go again....I resisted for the longest time not to get that fox stamp at Michael's. BUT with the challenge that I am absolutely addicted to, I caved in . I have no. will. power when it comes to stamps. I think you can all relate :)

Card #1 

 
 Card #2
 
Card #3 I think this one is my favorite .
edited: I sent this card to a young and courageous boy name Sebastian. You can find out about  him here. Miss Brown who thought of this card drive is godsend, my blog friend Amy Tsuruta is amazing to help out with this card drive! HUGS to both of you!

Thank you so much for stopping by. Lastly if you haven't commented  at the SRM blog for Marvy Markers (24 of them), please go here Good luck! Lastly, I was very happy to find out about this sketch challenge win (here) over Moxie Fab! Big thanks to those of you who left me some love there!

extra, extra from the SRM Blog!! 

 MARVY PRIZE GIVEAWAYA set of 24 LePlume PERMANENT Markers (your color choices!) will be given away to a random comment provider each day of our feature. Additionally, a GRAND PRIZE of $400 worth of retail Marvy product will be awarded to one lucky winner at the end of the feature. To be eligible to win the Grand Prize, you must have commented during each day's feature. Good luck! Winners will be announced here at the Blog and at our Facebook FanPage on Friday, September 23rd.

SRM Stickers with Marvy Markers Feature

Hello dear friends! I'm very excited to share a project that I did with Le Plume Permanent from Marvy Markers. Back in the mid-90s, I had brush markers from Marvey for rubber stamping and now fast forward warped speed to today, Marvy has come up with this alcohol-based coloring makers. I find that there is really NO difference between Marvy and the other comparable brand such as Copics. Marvy markers have just one brush tip which is the side I use the most. The bottom line is the PRICE! Marvy sells for $2.99 EACH and they are made in Japan!  See color chart here. Need I say more?

 About the markers:

LE PLUME PERMANENT is great for comic, Manga, cartooning, designing, rubber stamps, clear stamps, landscape studies, gesture drawings, painting, and sketching. Available in 144 colors. 141 of the colors are alcohol based and permanent while the other 3 colors are opaque and pigmented. 

I made three cards to showcase the beautiful colors from the Marvy Markers.

 Sticker Sentiment-Wishing You Well

Marvey Markers are so easy to use. I really like the juicy brush tip. See those little windows? No problem! In case you went over the line, you can use the white marker that comes with a tiny tip to cover up. The colors are easy to blend in. For this sun flower, I did not have the perfect blending as I like the brush stroke showing on the flower. It gives a rustic feeling.

 Fancy Sticker Sentiment-Birthday
 For the next card, I made my own pattern paper strip for the sentiment and topped it off with the SRM Stickers. All I did was to color the white paper card stock with a ruler. I applied the same colors that I used for cute girl image (from Penny Black stamp).

We've Got Your Stickers-Sweet 

 The strips of border at the bottom is from Basic Grey. I added the faux zig zag stitching and white dotted lines and dots for interest. I hope that this gives you some ideas/inspirations about these marvelous Marvy Markers and SRM Stickers.  
Please comment in SRM Blog to win!  

Details: MARVY PRIZE GIVEAWAY
A set of 24 LePlume PERMANENT Markers (your color choices!) will be given away to a random comment provider each day of our feature. Additionally, a GRAND PRIZE of $400 worth of retail Marvy product will be awarded to one lucky winner at the end of the feature. To be eligible to win the Grand Prize, you must have commented during each day's feature. Good luck! Winners will be announced here at the Blog and at our Facebook Fan Page on Friday, September 23rd.
 Good luck! 

Give Thanks!

Today I want to give thanks to those of you who tirelessly comment in my blog and give me such  wonderful feedback, especially about this post . Here's a card I made -it is loosely based on this color combo over Hero Arts.

I used Hero Arts Silhouette Grass for the design and did some masking for the border and circle. It is one-layer! Raffia is my go-to embellishment for fall cards. The sentiment is from SRM Stickers.

 I will be back tomorrow and share my projects with Marvy Markers and SRM Stickers! See ya!

Did You Know/hear....

....the conversations that went on in my household in the last few days?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virginia: I didn't accomplish anything today.... (I was thinking about card-making/creativity wise, of course)

David (my 17-year old): Isn't it pretty much like this every day (he is talking about his dinner plan)??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paper Crafts Mar/Apr. 2012 submission: 1355 in total

475 for Spectrum of Color
301 for Sketches
246 for ABC/123
228 for Cameos & Silhouettes
105 for Masking

As I recite these astounding statistics to Dr. John, I told him my chance of getting an acceptance e-mail is VERY VERY slim....Dr. John: " Wow, it's even harder than getting into Med school"!! ( SO true)! I hope my cards are "smart enough"(LOL)!

Well...it turned out none of my cards are smart enough. NONE (zero, 0, zilch, .....) got picked...I hate to tell you how many I submitted this time. My world seemed to collapse on me (yup, it felt that way...at the time!) when I didn't get the happy e-mail last Thursday. That very day EVERY one in my family told me that I was super sensitive, touchy....and critical. THIS has to change!

 
And ....does Dr. John have any advice on my submissions?

1. Use the latest and best stamps and supplies. ( This is kind of true. None of my submissions have the latest stamps. I know PC wants the latest and it really helps to boost your chance of getting accepted! )

2. Quality over Quantity. (point taken!!). I think I was on a mission and made so many....and perhaps overlook at some aspect of designs.

He doesn't stamp or make cards, but he thinks that he knows a thing or two.

Lastly, I really just NEED to make cards that makes ME happy. PERIOD.  And at the end of the day, this is what matters most---a hug and a smile.

 Thanks for allowing me to share . Lastly here is one of the too many rejects...

I can see why it (for masking category) was not accepted. The obvious flaw is that the bikes are not in a perfect straight line. Well, that's perfectly fine in MY world. I am linking this card to Amber's reject blog hop.  Our handmade cards all need some LOVE every now and then (accepted or not).

Silly Scape Window Card

As soon as I saw the new release of the Silly Scape (Hero Arts digital image, see here ), I know I HAVE to get it. The beauty of the digit kit is that you can re-size it, however large and small. PERFECT for a lot of projects and cards!

 To join the fall fun and spirit over at Hero Arts monthly challenge,  I made a window card! It is rather easy and fun to make...just a bit of cutting and layering. The background sky was created with some masking. I punched out a circle with a small Post-It not and used the applicator to create the sky with distress inks. 

 I used my new Marvy Markers Le Plume Permanent Markers for the coloring. This Wednesday I will share my work with focuses on coloring and you can find out all about Marvy Markers over SRM Blog. You can comment here to win 24 Marvey Markers (before Sept. 23). The sentiment is SRM Stickers which is rather perfect for this design, in my opinion.

Also I added some silver Liquid Pearl around the red clock! I think I am addicted to that stuff now.  Hope you have a great day!

Vertical sketch-life is good!

Based on the Vertical Sketch Challenge over Moxie Fab World  , I made this fun card a while ago. I was going to submit to the last Paper Crafts submission call for "masking" category, but I didn't! I thought it was not good enough. I will share the thoughts about the submission on Monday's post.

It's funny how we judge our own work, huh?

This card reminds me of the cute little ice cream shop! The pleated ribbons really add the fun element to this card. Hope this makes you smile and think positively..."life is good", especially when you have some yummy ice cream!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #20

Hello, it's Friday! Hope you are excited about this mini challenge!!

 We are talking about Mini---4"x4" or smaller! 

Our sponsor:

If you have never made mini cards before, you definitely should give it a go! "Good things come in small packages"!! In this case, I decided to add lots of details to this little 4x4 card by creating a small circle window with a panel of a stamped flower. Add the butterfly and sentiment and that's it! The pattern paper used here are from Cosmo Cricket. Sentiment is from SRM Stickers!

 I can't wait to see your mini card. Please link up your card to CAS-ual Fridays
by Sept. 21, Wednesday, midnight Eastern Time! Go mini, go!

Cards with Toothpick Flags

It's OFFICIAL! I am addicted to CREATE Challenge. If you see my sidebar from my blog, you can see how many times I entered. NOT once that I want to miss it. Even when I was on vacation this Feb., I manged to submit! I just love the themes and idea that Paige comes up with. It really helps me to look at the supplies and design in a different prospective. This week's challenge is NO exception. Now how do you make a card with toothpick flags (details here)? Easy! Just get some toothpicks and make flags (LOL)! This was my first try...the little cute flags are from Lawn Fawn Stamp set called Cruising with Life. All sentiments are from SRM Stickers.

Lucky for me that I can use the good old 50% off Michael's coupon and "treated" myself  with this It's a Parade stamp! I say this as if I got myself some candy. ice cream,...or diamond!!. We paper-crafters are simply not high-maintenance people, right? (loud applause!!!!!) --thank you!

I was not entirely happy with the first card. So I made another...similar, but different! The cute butterflies on the flags are from SRM Stickers! Some Liquid Pearlescent Dimensional glue were added over them. I think you can see that I LOVE them and have been adding it to EVERYTHING. It's my new Glossy Accent!

These are uplifting cards and I think they are great for anyone at any occasions! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Another Take on Square Card

I think I warned you that I might try to make another square card..well, here it is!  Again, I am entering it for the Square Sketch Challenge at Moxie Fab World. 

I love the simplicity of the sketch and how refined it look with the perfect shape of square! 

 

 I did very little coloring with the help of Pattern paper (Basic Grey's Our Of Print). Only some distress ink shading and Prisma color pencil detailing were needed. I love the textured yellow in this paper pad. I snugged in the little sentiment (SRM Stickers) on the leaf!

I found that it is perfect for this Classic Bloom . Thanks to the 50% off coupon from Michael's, recently I treated myself some yummy dimensional Liquid Pearls that come in a pack with three little bottles. I added droplets of Buttercup and Platinum Pearl. LOVE the result!  These little bottles should really be on your wish list!

BUT, If you are really into coloring, here is your chance to comment to win some marvelous Marvey Markers over the SRM Blog. I am one of the lucky SRM DT to have these markers to work with and will have a post on the new Marvey LePlume Permanent Markers next week. Now that the kids have gone back to school, I need to get some more serious stamping and coloring done.

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

 I have been admiring Paper Smooches Stamps for a while now, but sadly I don't own any PS stamps-yet. I love the free digie and thought I should give the challenge a try. Please see details here . 

Isn't this bracelet gorgeous!? I printed out the digie here and got right to work. I first colored the flowers with copics which was rather easy to do, but the fussy cutting took a little while. I listened to the music on You Tube while I did the fussy cutting. After gluing some flowers, I realized it would have been too busy to have all the flowers around the ovals.

To balance it, I added my "specialty"--faux stitching!

After finishing the card, I saw the pile of leftovers and thought I could make another card.

I was determined that I am NOT going to cut out the flowers for the 2nd card...so this is the result. I used Matha Stewart circle punch and colored the center of the flowers with a silver gel pen. I sort of keep the design rather simple. I am entering this card for Paper Smooches guest design challenge (details here )..why not!?

This was so fun to do. I really didn't expect to make two cards from flower and sentiment images, but here they are! Lastly I would share my son's baked cookies with you....this past summer he has taken an interest in baking!

SWEET, huh? Thanks for stopping by!