DRS Designs Blog Challenge #1 - INCHIES

Today marks the official start of the DRS Designs blog challenges. We plan to run our challenges on a bi-weekly basis. Every other Monday a challenge will be posted on the DRS Designs blog along with inspiration from the design team. If you would like more info. on a particular project, just click the link for the individual design team member's blog. We would love for you to play along as well! There is no time limit, we just want you to be inspired and have fun! If you participate we would love to know and would love to see your project. Just leave a comment on the challenge post on the DRS Designs blog with a direct link to your project and we'll head over to check it out! If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword DRSC1.

So without further ado....

Challenge #1....INCHIES!!!

These 1"x1" squares are all the rage right now and a lot of fun (in some peoples opinions-LOL)!! You can use an image that fits within your square OR use a 1" portion of a larger image! Those of you who are followers of my blog know that I recently made my first inchie a few weeks ago. You also know that I'm not exactly a huge inchie fan. I find it hard, actually next to impossible, to work with (and cut) such a small piece of paper. For my challenge card I chose to go with the "several inches for one large image" option. It is hard to tell by the picture, but for my main image I stamped it on white cardstock and colored it, then I stamped it a second time on a piece of scrap white cardstock and colored it again. I layered it over the first image with non-permanent adhesive, cut it into 1"x1" squares, removed the top layer pieces and popped each little piece up with a dimensional. Considering my lack of love for inchies, I thought this card turned out pretty ok.

Here is a close-up of the image. You can see how I popped up the image better in this photo.Supplies used: All stamps are DRS Designs, Basic Black and Summer Sun cardstock from SU, Georgia Pacific white cardstock, Bazzil Bling orange cardstock, self adhesive gems from K&Co., Amuse ribbon, May Arts Ribbon, Prismacolor markers, Koh-i-noor colored pencils w/OMS, Art Institute glitter (Lion's Mane and Black), Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers embossing folder, Nestibilities ribbon slide die.

Check out the DRS Designs blog for some more terrific inchie cards made by the rest of the DRS Designs team!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you decide to play along with our challenge!

Color Throwdown #4

Hope everyone is having a great week. I have been too tired to stamp most of the week, but I didn't want to miss out on this week's Color Throwdown color challenge. I actually love this color combo. I never use Almost Amethyst, but it works great with this combo.
This card didn't end up quite as I had envisioned, but in the end I was pretty happy with it. It was a difficult one to photo again. You can't tell from this picture but I added some Art Institue Lion's Mane glitter to the edges of the flowers. It is actually very pretty in real life (IMO).
Supplies used: Sunflower stamp from Inkadinkado, Weathered and Noteworthy from SU!, Palette Noir Ink, Prismacolor markers, Koh-i-noor colored pencils w/OMS, Lion's Mane glitter from Art Institute and black rhinestones from Hero Arts.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Lovin my JustRite monogram stamper!!!

Yesterday I found a little time to play in my stamp room and I couldn't resist playing a bit with my JustRite monogram stampers. I absolutely love these things. I bought 2 different monogram sets plus the tiny letters, so I have a variety to experiment with. I totally love the tiny letters. The sky is the limit with these!
Supplies used for this card: JustRite Monogram stamper, Studio g clear stamp set, Stampin Up! cardstock, May Arts ribbon, Prismacolor markers, Koh-i-noor colored pencils, OMS, Stampin Up! Dazzling Diamonds glitter. (Sorry, I don't know the DP manufacturer).

I also wanted to share another blog award that I got from one of my sweet SBS-13 sisters, Kari.
Thanks Kari!! BTW, Kari makes some super cute headbands that she sells in her etsy store...you should check them out!
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

DRS Challenge

As part of the DRS Designs design team search process, they gave the finalists 3 stamps that they needed to create a card with. When I saw the stamps I thought they were great, individually, but together....definitely a challenge! The sentiment stamp was really large and since I typically have a hard time finding room for a sentiment on my card, let alone a large sentiment, the challenge was even greater. In the end I used the entire sentiment but I cut it into several pieces. Considering the challenge, I was actually really happy with the card I made.
To see all of the different ideas the DT ladies came up with using these 3 stamps, check out the DRS blog...challenge cards will be highlighted all this week!

I hope you are having a great Monday! Thanks for stopping by!

It's Sunday night....

and unfortunately X-Files Sunday nights are years in the past...that's ok though, I am still on cloud 9 after getting to see the "X-Files - I Want To Believe" yesterday morning. After all these years I'm still in love with Fox Mulder. I thought the movie was great! They left it open enough that they could have another movie or maybe just start the series back up...yeah, I know I'm dreaming...
I didn't get any stamping done this weekend. I have been really tired lately. Not just a little tired....abnormally tired. I'm heading to the doc on Tuesday to see if they can figure out the problem and give me my life back. You know I'm sick when I'd rather nap than stamp.
I'm hoping to have some energy tomorrow to make something while the kids are at preschool. Crossing my fingers at least.
In the mean time I got this totally awesome blog award from my friend Jen. THANKS JEN!!! This is a fun one...

So here are the award details:

1. You can only award this to 5 blogger friends.
2. Four of those must be hardcore addicts of your blog.
3. One must be a relatively new follower from another part of the world.
4. You must link back to the person who gave you the award

So you all know I don't always follow the blog award rules...So here are my BFF blogger (and a couple non-blogger) nominees...Kisa, Delia, Dawn,Mary Webb, and Deana. Thank you ladies for all being such great friends and for leaving me such nice comments on my blog!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Before I head out the door to go see X-Files (Tom is watching the kids so I can go this morning), I thought I would share a card I made a few days ago. All CS used is SU, DP is Basic Grey and SU, Stamps used "French Script" from SU and "Flowers and Holly" from TAC, and the black dots are from the $1 scrapbooking area at Joann's. I colored the hibiscus with colored pencils and OMS.


Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

And the winner is....

kim3timemom!!!

kim3timemom said...

I too love lots of stamp companies..but I would have to say Stampin up is one of my most favorites. Thanks for the chance to win.

kim3timemom@yahoo dot com

Kim, please send me an email with your snail mail addy and I will get your blog candy sent out right away.

For those of you wondering my favorite stamp set.....SU's Noteworthy. Sounds like a funny choice but I've used that set SO many times. I love the sentiments and design elements in it. Whenever I am stuck on a card I pull that set out. Best of all, it was FREE!!! Funny thing is, for a while I even kept a spare Noteworthy set, just in case something happened to my first one. If I had to pick a favorite stamp company...my current absolute favorite would be Inkadinkado.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am hoping to do some stamping, but not until after I go see the new X-Files movie...YAY!!!! Back in the day, my Sunday nights were dedicated to nothing else except X-Files. I can't wait to see the movie. For a great sneak peak, check out the movie trailer HERE. And as an extra BONUS for all of you Fox Mulder/David Duchovny fans...click HERE to listen to one of my favorite tunes! (yes, I know I'm a total geek).

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

SCS "non-raffle" to benefit midwest flood victims

Just in case you haven't seen it, Splitcoaststampers is having a "non-raffle" to benefit the victims of the midwest floods that happened earlier this summer. All proceeds go to the Red Cross to help these flooding victims. Click HERE for all the details.

Hope you all have a terrific day!

Color Throwdown and a Sketch Challenge

Good Morning! It has been a rough week around here. Both kids are sick. We were up all night worrying about Annabelle because even the smallest cold turns into a huge deal because of her asthma issues. She is up early this morning using her nebulizer. I'm hoping last night was the worst of it.
On a happier note, I have a card to share. I even managed to do 2 challenges with one card, yay! I saw this card layout on Melissa Phillips' blog LilyBean's Paperie the other day and knew I had to try it out. It is a fun one. I was also able to incorporate this weeks Color Throwdown week 3 challenge, sort of (I accidentally used Temping Tourquoise instead of Taken with Teal).
The stamps I used are from SU and Inkadinkado. CS is SU and DP is BoBunny. Glitter is Dazzling Diamonds from SU and the self adhesive pearls are from the Target $1 bin. Sometime between the time I made this and photographed it I lost one of the pearls off one of the flower blooms so I'll have to replace that but I thought I would share the picture anyway.


I hope you have a wonderful day! Don't forget to sign up for my blog candy HERE.
Thanks for stopping by!

Monday already?

I can't believe it is Monday already. Where did the weekend go? The kids started their 2 week summer preschool session today so I have 3 hours of ME time, YAY!
I have a couple errands to run but I thought I'd post a quick card before heading out.
This is a really simple card layout but for some reason I love it. I've made this same card with different colors and stamps many times and I always like how it turns out. This card was a little difficult to photo. The orange CS is Bazzil bling and it is hard to get a good picture. The stamps used for this card are all from DRS Designs. I really love how this card turned out!

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to sign up for my blog candy in the previous post!
Have a great day!

BLOG CANDY!

I wanted to post a little blog candy since I haven't had any in a while. Once again I am giving away an Autumn Leaves clear stamp set. If you are wondering why I keep giving away the same set, it is because Target had them on clearance for $3 a long time ago and I bought a bunch to use as blog candy and/or gifts. It is a fun holiday set! I'll also throw in a few other mystery goodies!
All you need to do for a chance to win this blog candy is leave me a comment on this post telling me your favorite stamp/stamp set ever...any brand/company. I will draw a name from all of the entries on Friday.
I hope you are all enjoying your weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Exciting News!!!!!!

A while back I applied for a position on the DRS Designs design team. I got an email yesterday letting me know that I made the team. I can't even begin to express how totally THRILLED I am. The team is made up of an incredibly talented group of ladies and I can't wait to get to know all of them. If you haven't checked out the incredible selection of stamps at DRS, I highly recommend it. They have tons of wonderful stamps to choose from and you can get them wood mounted or rubber only. You should also definitely check out the brand spankin new DRS blog too!!! I can't wait to start sharing more DRS projects with you.
I am joined on the DRS Designs team by these wonderfully talented ladies: Angel Rivera, Jennifer Emmi, Etha Schuette, Jessica George, Marie McClellan, Dawn Knight, Jessica Knutsen, Vicki Parson and Cathy Indelicato.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by! Check back later today for a card and some blog candy!

Inchie, ATC, Moo....WHAT?

Pamela, from FireCracker Designs has a challenge posted on her blog. The challenge is as follows: Create one inchie, one ATC, and one MOO card using the SAME FireCracker Designs Stamp set. You can use what ever FCD set you want, but all three pieces have to be created with the same set.

At this point some of you might be wondering what exactly an inchie, ATC or Moo is (I was wondering too)...Here are the definitions directly from Pamela's blog:

What is an inchie? Simply put, it’s a one inch square piece of art work…talk about tiny!! Just don’t go blind if you are trying this one for the first time!! We’ve also noticed, that all 1″ square punches are NOT all 1″! Punches have the bad habit of being measured at the diagonal (like your TV screens) and we artists, well, we like to measure our pieces straight across and up the sides…so double check your punch before you go crazy with these….if all else fails, stamp your image, and then use your paper trimmer to cut it up in 1 inch squares, pick the best one, and embellish it…lol

What is an ATC? Artist Trading Card has only one rule…they MUST measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches! Thought to have originated in Switzerland in 1997; they are about the size of the sports trading cards, and can be easily stored in the 9 pocket plastic sleeves designed to hold sports cards.

What is a MOO card? MOO is actually a British based printing company that offers mini calling cards. They are about the size of half of a standard business card. (got a ruler? measure: 1 1/8 inch x 2 ¾ inch). Artists have snagged up this idea to create their own mini pieces of artwork, and I LOVE the idea of using the back sides to include my blog information. What a fun way to hand out my web links!

I decided to take her up on the challenge. Until today I had never made and inchie or a moo (I have made an ATC WAY WAY back in the day).

I used the FireCracker set: Happy Hour for mine. I can say after making them, that I probably will NEVER make anything this tiny again. I had a REALLY hard time working on such a small area...It was fun trying though. Let me know what you think.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

CONGRATULATIONS KISA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My dear friend Kisa was the grand prize winner in the Lizzie Anne Designs anniversary card sketch contest. Check out her AWESOME grand prize winning card HERE

TGIF!!

Hope everyone had a great week. We have been crazy busy this week and I haven't had much stamping time. I'm hoping to find some crafty time this afternoon!

Since I don't have any cards to show I thought I would share some pictures I took yesterday when we took the kids to the county fair. They had a total blast. We went through all of the 4-H barns and had fun checking out all of the farm animals. The kids were excited that they got to pet a cow, chicken, rabbit and they got to hold a baby chick.
After the barns we hit the carnival. They loved this. It was $1 ride day (compared to the normal $3-4 per ride) so we let them ride pretty much everything they wanted to (thanks to a carnival fund from grandma Debbie). The only bad part was, it was HOT! and when I say HOT I mean REALLY HOT! Overall, though, we had an awesome family day!






I hope to have a card or something crafty to share later today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Weird, weird, weird...

Weird. This morning I tried and tried to get the picture of my graduation card to upload into my post. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. So I thought I would try again later today. So I took the kids to VBS, had breakfast with my mom, picked the kids back up and came home and checked my email. I saw a comment from Kisa that said "I like this one"...thinking she was just being totally sarcastic about my post with no picture I went to my blog and there it was...the picture I tried and tried to post this morning...in the post. I have no idea how it got there since it didn't seem to be working for me. Anyway....I finally jumped on the JustRite Monogram bandwagon. I bought the tiny letters and customized this graduation card. I actually had to make 3 grad. cards yesterday and thankfully the names were all short (jeff, tim and joe). I think these turned out pretty good. Now Tom can quite harping on me about getting these made (they are for his nephews/cousins). Now to get them in the mail.
Hope you all have a great day. It is a hot one here today so we will be hanging out inside where the temp is always a pleasant 74. Thanks for stopping by.

Blogger is not cooperating

For the life of me, I can't get blogger to do anything this morning. I will try again later.

Happy Tuesday

Hope everyone has a great day. We have a busy day today again...VBS, a playdate, a trip to the zoo...probably no stamping, but you just never know. Here is a card I made last week. To be honest it is a lot prettier in real life (IMO). The butterflies are stamped on and cut out of transparencies and the the backs are covered in glitter - they are popped up using dimensionals. All stamps are from DRS Designs, glitter is Art Institute and CS is SU.



Hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Monday madness

I'm posting my Monday post early because we have a crazy morning cut out for us tomorrow, and I'm not sure if I will have any blogging time what so ever. The kids both have vacation bible school starting at 9:00 tomorrow morning. I know that doesn't sound too crazy except for the fact that Beckett doesn't typically get out bed until then. It is going to be a real challenge getting us out the door on time.

Because I haven't figured out how to schedule a post, I'm posting my card that I was going to share tomorrow. I just got some of these adorable Riley Moose images from someone in the wishRAK group on SCS. I think they are just so stinkin cute. I colored Riley with colored pencils and OMS. I love the color combo of Ballet Blue and So Saffron. I thought it worked well for this card. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. CS, DP and the blue gingham ribbon is from SU. The solid blue ribbon is American Crafts.

I also wanted to share a couple cards that Annabelle made yesterday. She made them all by herself (except I had to help cut and tie the ribbon for her). I love how one opens to the left! The stamp she used is from Hero Arts.

Inside view:

I hope you all have a wonderful start to your week. Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas in July

I keep seeing Christmas cards popping up on people's blogs lately so I decided to start playing around with my new DRS designs Christmas stamp. From the first time I saw this stamp I knew that I wanted it, but I wasn't sure what I would do with it. For this card I decided to paper piece the Christmas bulbs and then create a sentiment with some rub-ons that I had laying around. The words "peace on EARTH" are all made with individual rub-on letters. To add a little more zing I added some glitter, double ribbon and some corner gems. I went with a simple layout again due to the size of the main image. Stamp is from DRS Designs, CS and ribbon comes from SU, rub-on letters are CK, the background DP is Basic Grey, the dp on the bulbs is from DCWV and from that handy SAMS club pack and the corner gems are once again from Target (sorry don't know the brand).
I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!