3CTC27, A Special Birthday!

I made this birthday card for my son Bryan. He likes handcrafted cards a lot. He has even taken some my things and made his girlfriends (past and present) cards for special occasions. He really likes the color blue so I try to use it when I make him a card. This card also works for Kerry's Thursday challenge, 3CTC27, use a vehicle of some sort.

This card started out with the High Hopes ant carrying the plant because I thought it fit him being a landscaper. As you can see I couldn't make it work without being corny or too flowery so on to plan B. I went for a bit of a retro look with this card, a classic truck that has been chopped and tubbed out like they use to do in the 40's and 50's. When I Cuttlebugged the panel in the back I went for a cobblestone street look. The plaid DP added a timeless, classic look sort of.

When Peggy and I went to the stamping convention in Springfield we found a booth that was selling all links of the charms the car package had this hub cap so it went with the whole them of this card. A perfect finishing touch. Male cards are so hard to put embellishments on, bling and flowers just don't seem to work.

I am happy with the way the card looked when it was done. I am sure Bryan will like it because I made it, he is such a sweetie. I need to give it to him soon or I'll keep adding to it or changing it, I can never leave a card alone most of the time when I want it perfect.

Supplies

Stamps: SU, The Artful Stamper

Paper: SU Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, DP SU

Inks Memento black, Copics

Accessories: Cuttlebug Folder, MM brads, SU silver cording, Michaels ribbon and Karen Foster Charm

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look a my birthday card. I really appreciate you leaving me such wonderful comments on my creations.

Have a wonderful day,

Mary

Family Vacation, 3CTC26

It is hot, hot, hot here today. I like the heat but this is too much! I have been working to try to use up all the summer images that I have done and not put on a card yet. This cute bear family looks like any average family on vacation at Cape Cod right? The image is one of Dustin Pike's.
This is a second card that I made for Kerry's Thursday Challenge, 3CTC26, use a digi image or paper on your card.

I like that he didn't put in a lot of detail so I could add it myself. On Papa Bear's shirt I added the white lines with my white Signo pen. On Brother Bear's swimsuit I added the stripes and little Sis got a polka dot bikini and bow. I decided to go this route instead of paper piecing so as not to waste DP running it through the printer. I also tried to give the impression that the sister wore her sunglasses in the sun and when she took off the glasses the outline was left. I also tried to give most of the family a pink tint from a day in the sun!

The whole back round was colored except the towels. The top half of the bears is double popped up to give them a real 3D effect. I made the card itself a little different this time. I knew I wanted to use my cheesecloth BG stamp. It didn't show up so well behind the stamped back round so I made the card front, mounted it on the blue card and then backed the blue card on the stamped cheesecloth back round. The only thing doing it this way is the card doesn't stand up on its own.

Supplies
Stamps: Dustin Pike, SU, Rubber Stamp Tapestry, All Night Media, Amuse and Seaside Stampin' Ink
Ink: SU Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Copics
Accessories: Cloudmaker, White Signo Pen, White Pearl Paint, SU Glitter, Hero Arts Star Jewels and Crab Punch

Thanks so much for stopping by to see my creation. I hope it made you smile and maybe brought back a memory of a day at the beach with your family.

Enjoy the day,
Mary

Hot Days, Cool Treats, 3CTC25

I have been playing a lot this week since summer school ended. I have three weeks until we start school for the fall. I have had this cute Sugar Nellie stamp for a while now and just got around to using her. When I saw Kerry weekly challenge, 3CTC25, was summery I knew she would be perfect for it, after all who doesn't cool off with an ice cream when it's hot like right now.

The colors that I used for this card are definitely not colors that are in my comfort zone. I thought this paper screamed summer though and luckily it matched the colors enough that I colored the image with. Did you notice the flowers in the corner? Rubber Stamp Tapestry's blog showed how to fold regular Prima type flowers to get a totally different effect with them. I used my CTMH flowers because they came with these leaves. I really like the look that you get without having to spend money on new flowers! The brad in the center of the circle is a SU Build a Brad. I stamped a RST flower and colored it, punched it out and put on the brad. I have had these brads for a long time I just never think to use them, unfortunately I have a lot of stuff that I forget about using.

Supplies:
Stamps: Sugar Nellie, SU, Rubber Stamp Tapestry
Paper: SU Old Olive, The Paper Co. Shimmer white, Papertrey White and DP Basic Grey, Sassafras
Ink: Copics, Memento Black, SU Bashful Blue and Pixie Pink
Accessories: Nesties, MS Punch, SU Build a Brad, CTMH flowers, Stickles, Crystal Effects, Michaels pearl stickers and ribbon

I hope you enjoyed my card. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, it is very much appreciated.
Enjoy your day,
Mary

Crazy For Ants!!!!! 3CTC13

This is a High Hopes stamp that I fell in love with because it makes me think of my son, Bryan. He is a landscaper that has his own business and is always working around our house trying to fit our yard into his busy days. He lives in his workboots and they are never tied all the way so they look just like the ones on this cute ant. Bryan, like this ant, loves to be outside and so he always has a smile on his face while he's working. I couldn't resist making the ant blue, my favorite color to use!

I am using this card for Kerry's challenge this week, 3CTC13, make a card that has flowers on it. I made this card when we were up in Vermont and just never got around to posting it. Since it is going to be a busy week at school I decided this card would work since it has a flower as an embellishment.

Peggy and I went to the CK convention in NH Sat. and I bought LOTS of stuff. It was a good convention this year. Basic Grey has a lot of really pretty 6x6 packs. I bought 6 of them there along with 16 more Copics because they were a great price, too good to pass up. I use so much of the BG paper, like on this card. I love that the designs are sized small for cards. If you ever get the chance to go to a convention you really should go, they can be very inspiring, lots of make and takes and you meet some really nice people. Beware though they also take all your money like it did for Peggy and I yesterday. We are going to Springfield, MA to a stamping convention in the beginning of June, guess I should save some money quick!

Supplies:
Stamps: High Hopes, phrase unknown
Paper: SU More Mustard, DP Basic Grey and SU
Ink: SU Bashful Blue, Memento Black, Copics
Accessories: Nesties, white Signo pen, Cloud Maker, Prima flower, CTMH flowers, Hero Art jewel brad and misc. colored brads

Peggy and I have a few more of these cute ants from High Hopes so you will see more of them as soon as I can get some cards made using them!
Thanks you for your comments they are truly appreciated.
Thanks for looking and please stop by again soon,
Mary

Happy Mother's Day, 3CTC12

This is the Mother's Day card that I made for my mother. It was not the card that I planned to give her but as usual I waited til the last minute to finish my card and when I went to match the paper to the image that I colored it looked horrid together. The more I tried to match it the worse it got. I finally gave up and started from scratch and this is what I ended up with. My mom likes simple things so I tried to keep this as simple as I could and still be happy with it. I am glad she really liked it when I gave it to her yesterday.

I also made this card for Kerry's Thursday Challenge, 3CTC12, A Mother's Day card with lace or ribbon. The heart was made with two different Rubber Stamp Tapestry sets so I could try to match the DP behind it. The word MOM was spelled out with My Just Rite rectangle block set.

The heart is also dotted with Stickles so it really sparkles IRL. I even decorated the inside after Kerry convinced me that it makes the card look finished.

Supplies:

Stamps: Rubber Stamp Tapestry, Just Rite

Paper: SU Lovely Lilac, Old Olive, Neenah white and DP Basic Grey

Ink: SU Lovely Lilac, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Lavendar Lace, Old Olive

Accessories: MS punch, SU punch, Dew Drops, Stickles, Misc. brads and unknown ribbon

I hope you enjoyed looking at my Mother's Day card. I love stamping with these little peg stamps so I will have many more cards with them in the future.

Thanks for stopping by.

Check back again soon,

Mary

3CTC9, Water Color Crayons and Perfect Pearls!

I am so happy that this week is school vacation!!!! I want to be able to have the house to myself and create. I did everything that I have to this week yesterday and today. We had our hot water heater kick the bucket about a week ago and I just today moved everything back to my stamping area. The water wasn't near any of my stuff but I wasn't going to take the chance that it was even in the same half of the basement. Everything is back to normal and I can find everything again!

I made this card for Kerry's Thursday challenge, 3CTC9, make a card using a technique. I love techniques so this was so much fun. The hardest part was, which technique? I decided on a back round colored in water color crayons on the diagonal, then spritzed with water. When it dried I tapped the whole thing with Versamark and then brushed Perfect Pearls on it. This way it softened it and gave it a shimmer. I colored it in my favorite colors, blue, purple and green.

The image is a Whipper Snapper stamp that I love and a friend let me stamp some so I could play with it (thanks Michelle). I colored it with Copics and Stickled the flowers. I kept the card pretty simple so I wouldn't hide a lot of the back round. One tip I can share with you that I learned at a Rubber Stamp Tapestry class was to punch a small hole in your CS and then take a brad and put the ribbon between the posts on the back of the brad and then slide it into the hole. It gathers up the ribbon and holds it tight when you spread the brad apart behind the CS. I put a flower on the brad first then the ribbon. It gives a nice finish to the card without having to tie a knot or bow.

Supplies:
Stamps: Whipper Snapper and Rubber Stamp Tapestry
CS: SU Pacific Point, Lovely Lilac, Neanah White, GP white
Coloring: SU Lovely Lilac, Water Color Crayons, Copics, Memento Black
Accessories: Nesties, Perfect Pearls, Stickles, CTMH flowers and brads, Michaels ribbon and misc. brads


I hope you try this technique it looks wonderful in any color combination you like.
Thanks for stopping by and looking at my work.
Please leave a comment if you like this technique, I really appreciate your comments.
Mary

3CTC7 Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made this card for Kerry's Thursday Challenge, 3CTC7, Eat It. I never realized how many food stamps I don't have. I did find this cutie that I bought last year along with about 20 others. They are clear mini stamps. I bought 2 sets for $2.50 at a LSS in NH. I only bought 2 because I thought that was a bit pricy for a small set. About two months later I was poking around in Joanns and in the dollar bin I found about 30 more different sets by the same company for a dollar a set, that is how I now own so many of these cute sets.

This card changed so many times before I finished it. I colored the bear (I am not really sure what kind of animal he is, I just know he's cute) then started digging through my DP to find something cheery. These two are new from my LSS. I love the bright colors, especially the blue dotted one. I had the image on a white oval and the card was almost done but it was too much white against the bright DP so I decided to cut him out and pop him up on an oval punched out of the same DP as the backround. I decided after that the card needed some ribbon and couldn't decide what color I liked best on the card so I ended up using all three. I really liked the end product, but I still don't think you'll see me cutting out alot of what I color. It's just too easy to mess it up and have to start all over!

Supplies:
Stamps: Clear Mini Stamps by Inkadinkado
CS: SU Bliss Blue, Pixie Pink and DP Melissa Frances
Ink: Versafine black and Copics
Accessories: Nesties, Dew Drops, Michael's ribbon and Signo white pen

I hope that enjoyed this card, thanks for Looking.
Thank you for your comments I really appreciate them!
Please check back soon,
Mary

Happy Birthday Kerry!!!

This card was made for Kerry's Thursday challenge, 3CTC6, it had to be a purple B'Day card with lots of glitter. I don't remember if she said "lots" of glitter or just glitter but I love glitter so I don't think you can ever have too much on a card, KWIM!

A good friend, Michelle, let my my sister Peggy and myself stamp some of these really cute Whipper Snapper images. Thanks so much Michelle! I really loved this mouse and thought of him right away for Kerry's card. It was brought to my attention the other day that all the cards I have made lately have been square cards. I was going to make this only the regular size but couldn't make everything fit right on it and didn't want to take anything away from it so it's square once again.

Tomorrow is Kerry's B'Day so I wanted to make sure I wished her a very Happy Birthday filled with lots of fun! How many candles should this little mouse place on the cake, Twenty-four maybe?

Supplies:
Stamps: Whipper Snapper, The Artful Stamper, SU
CS: SU Lovely Lilac, Shimmer paper, sticky glitter paper, and DP Reminisce
Ink: Lovely Lilac, Memento black and Copics
Accessories: SU glitter, Nesties, CB embossing folder, misc. brads and LSS ribbon

Thanks for looking, please leave a comment about what you like about this card if you have a minute, it's very much appreciated.

Visit again soon,
Mary

Long Time Coming!!!

Do you know how awful it is when your computer is not working!!! Mine has been running exceptionally slow during the weekend but I just thought it was a temporary thing, then Monday when I got home from school I realized it was not working at all! I did everything I could think of to try and get it working again, no such luck. Many calls to our cable company got it working only to have it last a short time and then out it went again. Finally by tonight after some new equipment and a very nice cable lady, it is fixed. Oh what withdrawals our whole house was having without it.

I did this card for Kerry's inspiration challenge last Thursday, 3CTC4, I finished it on Monday. Did I mention I decided I don't like inspiration challenges, too many choices for me. I did decide it wasn't going to get the best of me so I decided on choosing the colors and making it a BDay card. I couldn't find any DP that had the colors so I made my own with RST peg stamps and Stickles. I couldn't upload the card until tonight right before Kerry posts a new challenge tomorrow, better late than never, right?

Kerry I did think of you the whole time I was making the card because of the CS that I used. Remember when Peggy and I first started coming to your stamp camps and we refused to spend the money on SU CS. We figured Michaels was just as good and cheaper! You kept trying to tell us we were making a big mistake! Oh how we should have listened to you right away instead of months later I think it was when I finally bought the SU to match the inks. To make this card I dug out that old Michael's CS for those bright colors and cringed at how thin it was and not very good to work with. I have a huge stash of it still in the cellar.

Supplies:
Stamps: Rubber Stamp Tapestry and SU
CS: Michaels brights and shimmer white
Ink: SU Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Gable Green, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange
Accessories:SU glitter, Nesties, MS punch, hole punches, flower punches, and corner punch, Stickles, brads

I have my card just about done for Mary Jo's Monday Lunchtime Sketch, I'll post it tomorrow after school. So check back then.

Thanks for looking
Mary

3CTC3 Green is my Favorite color?

Green is not a color I will reach for at all unless it is to compliment something like flowers, or grass in a picture. I am a blue, purple, brown kind of person. I think the only time I use green as my main color is for St. Patrick's Day cards. I don't usually make many of these either because I have a hard time thinking in green! When I saw Kerry's Thursday challenge , green card with 3 embellishments,I laughed because I had just posted the ONLY GREEN card I thought I would be doing this year! Ha, guess not!

To change my creative thoughts I pulled out something I haven't used in years, my card templates. These are plastic templates, Deluxe Cutes makes them, that you place over the card and then proceed to cut and fill in the shapes with pieces that you have cut to fit. Using these make everything just the right size and evenly spaced. You can modify them like I did by taking out a small square and putting in the scalloped circle. It is a little time consuming but looks nice when it is done. After all the shapes are in place I just decorate most of them with a stamped image, phrase or embellishment and the card is done!

Supplies:

Stamps: Ann-ticipations, DRS and dollar stamps

CS: SU Green Galore, Garden Green, Gable Green, CTMH, DP, ass't scraps.

Ink: Garden Green, Green Galore, Versafine black, and Copics

Accessories: Template by Deluxe Cuts, Nesties, Liquid Applique, Stickles, ribbon, buttons, and rhinestones

I hope you liked this card. If you like the color green or just want to try some really fun challenges pop over to Kerry's blog and play along!

Thanks for looking and I hope you check back soon!

Mary

3CTC2, Blue, Brown, and Buttons

Kerry this is an apology to you I had your Thursday challenge card just about done Thursday afternoon but then...

Last week was our first week back to school after a wonderful week off. It kinds of reminds me that Spring is close and we are on the home stretch for the end of the school year. It can be a tiring week so when Thursday came and I fell asleep on the couch right after dinner I just shrugged it off. Friday I was tired again but still just said that I was glad it was the end of the week. Friday night I woke up and boy was I feeling awful. An awful sore throat, headache, chills one minute and sweats the next. Saturday I got up and felt not any better but dragged myself out of the house because I had an appt. for a haircut and didn't want to cancel it. Needless to say I wasn't any better Saturday night or Sunday. By Sunday night I was worse and ended up at the ER. Five hours later, 1:00 am, after being poked, drilled and medicated, they sent me home. I had a temp of 103 and major case of strep throat and an ear infection. Thank goodness for the snowstorm today because school was canceled. I will hopefully only have to miss tomorrow the doctor said by tomorrow night I should feel alot better and be able to swallow.
I did finish assembling your card today and scanned it (it came out a little darker than it should have) I hate being this late but couldn't even think about cards. I really like your challenges keep up the creative ideas!!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts, Wordsworth
CS: SU Choc. Chip, Baja Breeze, and DP SU (I love the texture on it)
Ink: Baja Breeze and Choc. Chip
Accessories: Nesties, SU punch, Michael's ribbon, misc buttons and pearl stickers from Michaels

I am going to try to do MJ Monday's challenge card tomorrow, so check back to see if I get it done it looks like a fun sketch!

Thanks for looking,
Mary