Here Kitty, Kitty

I've updated this post in honor of the first ever The Cat's Pajamas Customer Blog Hop! May I present the first card I ever made using TCP stamps...

I just got some fabulous new stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, had to get them inky, and this card was the result! There's a lot going on here - from the new technique of using one stamp to create the background pattern, to heat embossing it, to the cat "collar" of the fuzzy spotted trim, the rhinestone, and the fun cat stamp and kitty paws around the sentiment. I had a coworker in mind as I was finishing it up - she loves cats and has also been really supportive of my card business. When I gave it to her on Monday, she just loved it.

This week is busy for me and I'm getting ready to travel for my "real" job so won't be able to participate in a few challenges I had hoped to. Looking forward to what next week brings!

Harvest Festival

This evening I packaged up all of my cards - 3 plastic shoe boxes full!, made table signs, business card flowers, and stamped my Etsy shop info onto a bunch of bags all in preparation for the Coyote Valley Elementary School Harvest Festival tomorrow! This is the first time I've "shown" my cards to the general public and I'm both nervous and very excited at the same time!

If you don't see a link to my shop on the left-hand side of this blog, it is becuase the shop is on vacation for the day so I don't accidentally sell any of the same card in real life and online at the same time. Yikes! Not to worry, though, it will be re-opened this weekend with lots of new goodies - I've been a busy bee getting ready for the fair tomorrow so whatever I bring home will be available for purchase! Here is a taste of some new items to come...

New Challenge Site

Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential
To kick off their new challenge site, there will be a huge giveaway this Friday the 25th with the very first challenge going live this Saturday! The end of this celebration blog candy is Friday, September 25th, and will announce the winner on their blog the next day, Saturday, September 26th (the winner will have LOTS of goodies to play with for several challenges to come!) Spread the word!

Pretty Woman

This week is the 50th challenge on the Cinema Saturday blog and the movie is Pretty Woman! I remember seeing the movie at the theater when I was in college and loved that it was set in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. 'SC wasn't too far away and it was a nice change of scenery to hang out on Rodeo Drive, lol. My best friend, Jeannie, and I used to "shop" for splurgy $20 Chanel lipstick which was absolutely the only thing we could afford!! I've seen it a number of times over the years and quite recently on Encore.

The black, red, and white colors of the card were inspired by the black tie evening Edward and Vivian have in (my favorite city, but I'm biased...) San Francisco. The paper piercing and the rhinestones symbolize the beautiful necklace Vivian wears on that date. The diva stamp is one I treasure as it was a gift from my husband when I first started getting back into stamping this past Christmas. I always think of her along with the "You're absolutely fabulous" sentiment from my Stampin Up! set so thought it would be the perfect addition to this sassy card. This film is a great reminder to all of us that we are fabulous, no matter what cards life has dealt us and deserve only the best!

This evening I was encouraged by my wonderful hubby when I was feeling insecure about something. He is so precious to me and and he reminded me that I am absolutely fabulous and should never forget it! My very own Edward - man I love that guy! :)

Supplies:
Cardstock - Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White, SU!
Ink - Basic Black, Real Red, SU!
Stamps - (I forgot the brand of the diva and will update asap!)
Rhinestones - Martha Stewart
Twine/Glitter - my stash
Nestabilities - Labels 8

Birthday Boys!

September is a special month since it is both my dad and my little brother's birthdays! My hubby and I bought back some special gifts from Europe and while I was getting the box ready to send this week, I realized I didn't have cards for them! How can I call myself a card maker if I don't have cards for my brother and my dad? I sat down immediately and made these two cards -


This card is for my dad and I think he'll really like it! I had to spend some time going through my supplies looking for "man card" stuff, lol. I think we all suffer from "man card" syndrome at one time or another. After looking through the stash for a birthday card for my husband's best friend, he commented that was what I needed, and boy, was he right!

The card below is for my little brother (he'll be 14 - I can hardly believe it!!) and I'm wondering whether it still may be too girly. The only items I have are some pirate stamps that feel way too little boy (though they would have worked for my dad!) or the super manly dad/grandfather type stuff like boats and trees. Definitely not for a teenager! So, teenager stuff is still on the list though I already have more than I know what to do with!


Happy birthday, Dad and Wade! I love you both very much!!

What Fun!

I know it has been forever since I've posted but needed something to do since I've had to stay hush-hush with my latest post (draft format only until tomorrow!) Last week I found out I had won the Audrey Award with my interpretation of Forrest Gump from the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge and was asked to be a guest designer this week! The movie is a secret until tomorrow but check back and you will see my card featured. What an honor - thank you so much Sankari and Brooke!!

I've also been busy crafting up a storm for the Coyote Valley Elementary School Harvest Festival on the 25th. I've never "shown the goods" at a craft fair before and I'm nervous but excited to show my creations in public. Here is one Thanksgiving card I made that I like a lot - I scalloped the lower edge so it shows a bit of the confetti lining and the decorative paper at the top is fuzzy!

I am having such a ball making these little cards and am very thankful to have a hobby that brings inspiration every, single day!

Guest Designing from Helm's Deep!

I am so honored to be a guest designer this week! When Sankari asked me, of course I said yes, but there was true panic as I wondered whether I could honor this movie, this challenge, and you all with my creation this week.

When I think of LOTR: The Two Towers, there are a few things that come immediately to mind - the big battle scene, Aragorn's attraction to Eowyn, in spite of his love for Arwen, and the dichotomy of Frodo and Sam's mistrust of Gollum but their understanding of the need to follow him. All of that on one card...including embossing...what to do? I know! Black and white to show the character struggles and something metal for the battle.
I knew immediately that for the black/white, I wanted to try a new trick my friend Maya showed me - to emboss white powder on black cardstock and black powder on white cardstock. I chose an image that spoke Elven to me (I really don't have very many options here, lol), cut the strips of paper, taped them together then stamped the image in Versamark ink and heat embossed them. My husband thought they looked like a gate and I made my first attempt at a

tri-panel card. I'd never made a card with this layout before and wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I really like it!

Depicting the Battle of Helm's Deep was tough! I tried to represent the metal of the armor and weaponry by using embossed aluminum foil! I simply took a sheet of foil from the roll in the kitchen and ran it through my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder. Voila!
My final zhuzhes were adding the ribbon tie to close the card, a vellum interior liner, and ruby rhinestones. Fun!

Thank you all for your continued inspiration and for the honor of being a guest this week! I can't wait to see what you come up with!!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #16

I am actually really pleasantly surprised at how this turned out and I actually kinda like it!! (insert sheepish grin here) When I saw the colors for Dawn's Challenge this week, I thought "cool, I'm working in that color scheme already" as I've been making a bunch of fall-themed cards for a harvest festival I will be attending at the end of the month (yay, my first craft fair!!) Anyway, as I pulled the stock from the stash, I have to admit the kraft threw me for a loop and I wasn't sure how to pull it in. Anyway, long story short, I used it as the base and used the orange as an accent color. I'm not sure how well you can see them, but I have some great orangy rhinestones I used to zhuzh up the stars in the witch's vapor trail.

Supplies:
Stamp Set - All Hallows Eve (Inkadinkadoo)
Cardstock - Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla (SU!)
Ink - Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie (SU!), Tea Dye (PTI)
Misc - Nestabilities Labels 8, SU! Dimensionals, ribbon and gold rhinestones (my stash)

Taming the Wild Beast

I have really been trying to tame my craft supplies but to no avail! Every time I get anything out to use it, it invariably stays on the table resulting in the large pile of papers and goodies you see here:
I end up with the tiniest little stamping area you see over the paper pad (I love using these inexpensive easel pads for my glitter and stamping spill-over. And, they are perfect for backing up the paper piercing tool, testing stamps, ink colors, etc. Cheap!) and have more topple-overs than I care to admit. :)

This past weekend, my hubby and I went to Home Depot and bought some shelves to try to tame some of the clutter. I actually have a great storage nook but without shelves, I run into the same leaning tower of Pisa problem. Grab something that is supporting something else and, look out!

Soon I will be the proud owner of three new shelves and I am so looking forward to some better organization and clutter management. One day we will have a bigger house, too, where I just may have a whole room!