Thanks a Latte

I've been on a crafting roll lately.  I think it might be avoidance.  My house is a mess; my novel is languishing in my imagination; and I have about four loads of laundry waiting to be done.  But hey, I'm listening to music I have to perform soon and haven't learned well enough yet.  Plus, I've made a lot of cute cards.  Like this one which combines Mojo Monday #301 with Color Throwdown #250:

The coffee images are from Verve Better With You.  The label and stamps used to make the yellow background paper are all CTMH from various sets; coordinating label cut out from Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  The sequins are all white and colored with Copics YR15, R29 and BG75.  The cup was colored with BG10, BG0000 and Colorless.  The java background was stamped with Versamark on Kraft; same for the coffee cup sleeve.  Sentiment, coffee cup, and steam swirl stamped in Momento Rich Cocoa.  All other inks CTMH: Lagoon, Crème Brulee, Hollyhock.

Okay...I've wasted enough time.  Time to get dinner started so my darling hubby doesn't start complaining about me not getting anything done.  He's fine with the mess, but food is another story.

Until next time,
Becca

Summer Card Camp Week One

It's only been two days, but I've already picked up some fun tips from the Summer Card Camp.  I've combined the color swiping and text as background techniques with this week's colors and sketch.

Stamps are all CTMH, only one of which is current: Sentiment from Avonlea Workshop on the Go; background text from State of Mind, background circle from Connections, and figures from Sightseer (current). 

Ink is all CTMH: Honey, Smoothie, Crystal Blue, and Sunset.  Background and under embossing is White Daisy pigment ink.

Blue paper is CTMH Sky.

The stitching is not holding anything down.  It's just there to provide a frame.  My original idea was to stamp with White Stazon over a thick plastic bag.  That didn't work out so well.  I have to figure out how to get a wider stitch length, and I needed to sew much further from the edge.  Anyone need a frayed piece of plastic?

The photography was really tricky on this.  Trying to capture the white background text was pretty difficult.  The swipe colors are much closer to the challenge colors before photoshopping.

Since I combined multiple stamp images, I'm linking this up over at Heart2Heart for my second entry in this week's Mix & Mingle challenge.

Until next time,
Becca

Sweet Birthday Wishes

When you are in the Army, sometimes you are far away from family on special occasions.  That's when your Army family comes in handy.  One of my friends is having a birthday today.  A couple weeks ago she called me up to ask if I would do her a huge favor.  Her husband forbade her to make her own birthday treats, so she asked if I would be willing to bake some gluten-free cupcakes.  She would even pay me to do it.

You.
Will.
NOT!

My kids are grown and gone, so I haven't had the pleasure of treating someone to birthday cupcakes for years now.  Plus, I've been desperately needing to justify purchasing the CTMH Artiste cartridge with all its cupcake liners before I spend another boatload on the new CTMH Artbooking cartridge.  In the end I didn't use the cupcake liners, but I did pull out the Artiste cartridge to make these sweet treats:

I bought the frosting roses at Hobby Lobby.  They were expensive, but totally worth it (and I used my 40% off coupon so that helped).  The cupcake liners were on sale in the 4th of July section (HL).  The bottoms of them are blue and white stars, but you're not going to see them so I figured that was okay.  After I finished baking the cupcakes, I added a second liner so the greasy doesn't show through.

I am linking this up to Heart2Heart: Mix & Mingle challenge.  We are supposed to use either paper from three different packs or stamps from three different sets.  The stamped circle is from Connections, the "Sweet Birthday Wishes" is from an old wood-mounted Super Set, and the veins of the leaves are from Something Splendid.  All of them are CTMH and all are retired, but no one said I had to use current stamps for the challenge.

The swirl is cut from Artiste p. 46.  It's actually a button.  The leaf is from p. 54.  Had it not been for the challenge, I wouldn't have thought to add the veins.  LOVE how it turned out.  Shapes were cut from Ruby and Olive with the edges sponged in coordinating ink.

Until next time,
Becca

P.S.  And here she is picking up the tray.  She was surprised...and pleased.  Yay!!!

Summer Card Class 2 Pre-Class Challenge

I learned so much from participating in the Clean & Simple Online Card Class, that I decided to take the Summer Card Class.  There are two pre-class challenges.  One is a color combination and the other is a sketch.  I decided to combine the two since the class starts tomorrow!

The stamps are all CTMH.  I cut down the large doily so it was more proportional for the card.  I white embossed over vellum then used a brush to watercolor Smoothie, Sky, and Slate ink over top.  I used very little water so my color was fairly bold.

The background vellum is sewn on, and the greeting tag is stapled.  I used a small dab of Liquid Glass on the back of the doilies to adhere them.

I really like how soft and feminine this turned out!  Can't wait to see what new and exciting projects we will have during this three week class.

Until next time,
Becca

Christmas Chalkboard

I am crazy in love with this weeks Mojo Monday sketch.  And the list of prizes to celebrate their 300th post ain't so bad neither!  They are also offering a 20% discount, so I ordered from their "Christmas in July" sale and got my stamps in two days!!

Sentiment is Verve from the Peace on Earth set.  The snowflake was cut with CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and embossed with Versamark and Bridal Tinsel powder.  This powder is old CTMH and I'm not sure if anyone else carries something similar.  The sparkles are also CTMH.  The banner is CTMH Sunny Yellow cardstock embossed using a Martha Stewart scoreboard.  The black panel was dry embossed using a Sizzix folder then brushed lightly with CTMH White Daisy pigment ink.

I added black and white sequins (oh...am I in love with these little sequins) from Hobby Lobby.  I even got them on the sale rack for 71 cents.  Score!  I used a yellow Prismacolor pencil on the background behind "SAVIOR".  Because the sentiment is more rectangular than square, I added the swirl (also from Peace on Earth) to give it the extra width.

I'm not really sure why I chose black and yellow for a Christmas card, but I really like it.  Here's hoping I win one of those fab prizes!

 

Until next time,

Becca

 

Live Inspired

If you are looking for the Color My Heart card, please go here.

This morning while cruising around Pinterest, I found a tutorial on masking.  Since the Heart2Heart challenge is masking, I decided to copy the idea from the tutorial and use this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

As suggested in the tutorial, I pulled out a boatload of stamps and just kept going.  All supplies are CTMH unless otherwise noted:

• stamps: Live Inspired, You & Me, Air Mail, and Make It Count (all retired, sorry)
• ink: Slate, Black, Ruby, and Versamark for embossing (with silver detail embossing powder from somewhere not clearly marked on my jar)

I love how this turned out because it's not my normal style.  Usually I'm too intimidated by the graphic, almost grunge look.  The tutorial made it look so easy I thought I'd give it a whirl!

Until next time,
Becca

happy...

Sometimes you need a happy birthday card, sometimes happy anniversary, and sometimes it's happy whole other occasion.  Why not create a couple happy (fill in the blank on the inside) cards?

This week's Color My Heart dare uses a paper packet I don't have, "Surf's Up."  I used Crystal Blue, Sorbet, and Ponderosa Pine (which are regular-line colors included in the pack) then substituted Honey for Surf's Up Gold.  I cut several strips in various widths and glued them to printer paper before cutting with Artiste.  Even though the printer paper is thin, it's still two layers of paper so I set my cutting machine gage to full pressure and a slow cut setting.  It should also be noted that I recently replaced my blade as I'd been using the one that came with the machine for the past four years.  I'd say I got my money's worth!

The only non-CTMH product on these cards are the sequins on the top card and Baker's Twine on the bottom one (Island Indigo from Stampin' Up!). 

I already have plans for these cards.  I've got a couple teenage family members with birthdays soon.  I think the fun and funky look will suit them perfectly.

Until next time,
Becca