Hello Everyone! Today's card is my entry into the Taylored Expressions Challenge – #113. I liked this sketch - cuz there's a lot going on! I had purchased, but not used yet, a new paper pack from Die Cuts With a View. It's called Songbird and I got it at Michael's. It has some really cute little sentiments and the colors are great. It also has some sparkle to it!

Here is the sketch image:

Here is my take on the challenge!

A side view and a little peek inside! I added lots of dimension with all the layers and my favorite foam tape. Isn't that bird the cutest thing? The sentiment only said "Happy" so I added "Birthday" with a PTI stamp and some brown ink.

Close up of the flower embellishments:

One thing I do a lot is make my own embellishments out of patterned paper. This paper pattern scale is way too big for a card. But, the flowers individually are perfect for adding on to a card! I cut out three of the flowers and popped them with foam tape. I also cut out extra leaves to add to the top part of the card since I liked that little extra green for balance.

This is an extra card I'm throwing in – just a simple card with a nice sentiment – not too busy but nice nevertheless. I colored the Stampin' Up image with my Copic markers and then cut the shapes with my nestabilities (LOVE them). I cut the card out of the giant sizzix square – also from Stampin' Up.

Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain…for purple mountains majesty, across the fruited plain…America, America, God shed His grace on thee! What a great song and what a nice sentiment as we enter the most patriotic of seasons – Summer! We have Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and then Labor Day – all purely American traditions.

Today my card is my entry for The Shabby Tea Room, Week #10 Challenge. The "rules" were to use either Stars & Stripes or Red, White and Blue. So, of course, I did both! Funny that I had just made a Red, White and Blue card a week or so ago…hmmm…must be something on everyone's mind. It's a great combo – how can you go wrong?

Here is my card for today:

I started by making the big flag in the background. I simply tore strips of bazzill paper to make a rough flag. I used silver star shaped brads to make the blue part. Reminiscent of one of our first flags. I had the old travel tags that say New York and Boston. I stamped the sentiment in Denim blue Adirondack ink. The background is kraft paper with stars stamped in white pigment ink.

The stars and stripes flying proudly in our front yard! God Bless America!

I must say that I am having a shabby good time with these challenges from The Shabby Tea Room Blog! The challenges are putting me back in touch with my shabby chic side! I love the combination of a big floral print with a stripe with a checked pattern all in a beautiful muted color pallette. Does anyone else remember when shabby chic was all the rage? I loved loved loved Rachel Ashwell and her show and her books.

So, another week in the Shabby Tea Room contest for me! You can find their blog by clicking here. Go check it out…or better yet…enter a card too! This weeks rules only called for the use of chipboard. I went through my giant bin of chipboard shapes and found…a teacup! Also a cute little heart. That got me started, and served as my inspiration.

Here's a close up of the chipboard tea cup and heart. I covered the tea cup shape with patterned paper to look like an antique. Then I inked the edges with brown ink. I painted the tiny heart with salmon colored craft paint and then covered it in glitter to add a pop of sparkle. I had the button, ribbon and the rose in my bag of tricks already.

The process begins…

I am in LOVE with this blue paper. It is actually flocked and furry!! MMMMM.

A friend at work commissioned some Father's Day cards – which put me to the test. Masculine cards are something I don't do that often. If I do, it's usually leaves or trees or something made with the Cricut. I dumped out lots of stamping bins and found some good masculine images of boats and lighthouses. I wanted to enter the TESC challenge so this is one of the cards I came up with! You can find the sketch over at Taylored Expressions Blog! 

The Sketch Image:

I really wanted this card to have a vintage feel to it. I crumpled the cream paper with the central boat image and then flattened it out again. I distressed the edges with brown ink. I tore some of the blue paper to look worn also. The background paper reminded me of old mattress ticking or sail cloth. It already had the vintage look to it. Added some Scrapper's floss to mimic rope. You can never go wrong with red, white and blue as a color scheme. I like how it came together! The sentiment was printed on the computer.

How are you this lovely breezy day!? It is so beautiful today that I am uplifted and energized. Have you seen all the supah cute banner cards posted on the interwebs and blogs lately? I love that look because it's so cheerful and happy. Well… I've been wanting to make my own banner card for a long time…and lo and behold…it finally happened! One of my sweet friends just earned her Master's Degree and that calls for a HOORAY! Here is the card I made for her:

I attached the flags onto scrapper's floss and then popped them off the page with foam tape.

Here's the side view with a peek inside – there's a little birdie flying by!

Here are some of the materials I used! The giant cloud stamp is from Hero Arts (do you love that?)…The punch is from Marvy. The alphabet I used to spell hooray is an old rub on set from Making Memories. The little birdies are (what else) Martha Stewart punches.

Tonight is my monthly stamp club meeting! Yay! it's a group that gets together the first Wednesday of every month to potluck, stamp and gab and it's wonderful. I look forward to seeing those crazy gals each month. We do card swaps too – woohoo! Tonight instead of a card to swap, I'm bringing little paper strawberries that I made. Stephanie at Paper Garden had these as a make-n-take a long time ago and my little berry has been sitting in my craft room ever since – and now finally I made a whole bunch!

I cut the strawberries out of different red papers and the tops out of green polka dots! The sentiment is from Amuse stamps and the strawberry is an old Stampin' Up image. I colored the strawberry stamp with my water based markers from SU! in Rose Red and Green Galore.

My little strawberry patch is ready to go! Inside are dark chocolate kisses….mmmmm.

Close up of the sentiment.

Have a sweet day!

Today I have a little story, a card and a funny picture! Over at The Shabby Tea Room Blog I got an honorable mention for my last entry!!! Woo hoo!!! I love that blog and the entries are always beautiful and amazing. I was honored to be mentioned! Get it…snort snort. Anyhoo…I was excited about this development. It's the card I made last week with the pretty Victorian house and the shabby flowers.

My card for today was commissioned by my best customer – TJ. She needed a new home card for her gal pal in New York. We decided on a cool retro color scheme and then the ideas started flowing. Okay – how much, seriously, can you love the PTI couches, chairs, etc.??? Oy. Three Cheers for Chairs! (This is also a Moxie Fab Card Challenge!)

This little cozy scene used SEVEN stamps! LOVE it! I used my Copics to color in the rays of light from the lamp, the photo on the wall and the vase.

This is the inside. Both the sentiment on the front and the one on the inside were printed on my computer using a font called Annual. You know I had to make one more chair!! I really enjoy paper piecing these projects. Not too much detailed cutting.

OH! Okay, one more thing. This is a totally random reference and I know ONE other person out there is gonna crack up. I am a Bravo tv junkie. I'll just admit it right now. I also have recently become a DWTS junkie. Think of these two voices: Chad from Million Dollar Listing and Evan Lysacek… Am I right?? If you are the one other person that gets that – email me! I want to be your friend! Okay – bye now.

Hi everyone! I am so excited to report that Copic Camp weekend was a success! It's Sunday night and I'm taking a moment to sit down and let it all sink in. I'm re-acquainting myself with my boys who have been inundated by women all weekend! We had a great time of stamping, laughing, eating and learning together at Copic Camp. I taught two 5 hour classes on the techniques, tips and tricks to Copic Markers. There were 6 people on Saturday and 7 on Sunday. I know I had a great time! I'm pretty sure I got everyone hooked on Copics. Thank you to everyone who came! Your enthusiasm is contagious and I enjoyed spending time with all of you – and making some new stamping friends along the way. Stamping chicks rock! Okay, here are some pix to share…

Saturday's group:

This was Shauna's first card EVER! Good job girlfriend!

Caroline brought this beautiful cake to share with everyone. She is a fantastic baker/cake decorator. Um, only thing is, I forgot to take a before picture! Here's the after! It was delicious and didn't last long.

Shauna brought these gorgeous roses from her garden. Look how she put that pretty doily underneath the flowers to make a sweet bouquet. I am enjoying these flowers so much!

Here is Sunday's group!

This looks pretty serious… Markers everywhere and deep concentration…

Here's to a great week ahead – cheers! 

FRIDAY! GLORIOUS FRIDAY! We made it! Whew…had to get that off my chest. Lots going on with me this week and here it is FRIDAY! Today's card is my entry to The Shabby Tea Room blog contest #7 titled The Comforts of Home. They had a lovely soft image to work from that I fell in love with instantly. Can I just say that I adore this color pallette? MMMMMM. It was easy to get the old creative juices flowing for this challenge.

Here is the beautiful image! Could you just die? That stack of pretty quilts all piled up like that contrasted with the weathered wood. Go-jus. Really. It sets a mood for sure.

Here is my entry for the challenge combining the image with the sentiment "Comforts of Home." I incorporated most of the colors with the patterned paper and gave the feel of the stack of quilts via using different patterned papers.

I stamped my images in brown ink. Then I grunged up the edges of the paper with my distresser and some light brown ink. I took the image of the house and the sentiment and crumpled the paper a bit to make it less "perfect." I mounted the house with foam tape. The little flowers were part of a giant hydrangea silk flower….then I put some soft pink brads in the center. 

I am in love with this new edge punch from EK Success!!! Giant scallop – perfection.

Before I sign off for today – I want to let you know that I probably won't be blogging this weekend. I am holding my first ever Copic Camp weekend at my house! Classes from 10-3 both days talking about Copic Marker techniques, tricks and tips. I have 14 people coming and I am really excited about it. I love to share my, um, obsession about Copics! I'm making a nice lunch and we're doing two card projects too. I taught classes for four years at one of my local stamp stores, but it's been quite some time ago. I forgot how much fun it is to get ready and teach/share with other cool, crafty women. I will take pictures and post all about it on Monday!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!