The Final Round

I was picked as one of the 10 finalists in the CAS fall DT search!  Yea!  I was quite shocked and became giddy with excitement when I found out.

The last few days my head has been filled with ideas of twos.  Our card for the final round has to have a 'couple' of something on it.  It wouldn't be hard to make a card with two brads, or pearls, or images, but when you have to make one with two of something, it becomes exponentially harder.  You all know how that is!

I had several ideas, but only made two (a couple - heehee!) of cards.  I knew I would never be able to make a decision if I had more than two to choose from.  They are both very different, and I hope I picked the right one to submit.  You never know what the judges will be WOWed by.

Here is the first one I made.

I wanted to do everything in two's, so I have 2 pumpkins, 2 fibers in a double bow, 2 mini rhinestones, and a sentiment with 2 words.

I like it.  Kind of.  I think the bow looks out of place and competes with the pumpkins.  It didn't WOW me, so I made another completely different card.

There are two 'couples' on this one.  Two bulbs, and a two word sentiment, but I think it has a lot more WOW factor.  At least I hope it does, because this is the one I submitted.  The bulbs are sponged around their perimeters to make them glow, and are accented with glossy accents.  I hand drew the cord.  I'm hopeful they will be judging on creativity, because this is about as simple as it gets!

Supplies used for pumpkin card:
Stamps - autumn harvest, teeny tiny wishes
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - Memento black
Accessories - Copics, taffeta ribbon, hemp twine, bow easy (my knock-off), mini rhinestones, SAMJ

Supplies used for bulb card:
Stamps - jolly bingo bits, Christmas greetings
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - real red, garden green
Accessories - artichoke marker, glossy accents, daubers, SAMJ

I feel just like I did in high school when I was trying out for something...nerves, adrenaline, self-doubt, excitement, hope. ACK! The anticipation is killing me!  My stomach will be in knots until Thursday night when we all find out!  This is going to be a looooooong week!

So tell me. Did I submit the right card?  What do you think?

K

CAS fall DT Search

The new design team search is in full swing over at SCS, and I am happy to say that I was chosen to move on to the second round!  Woohoo!  Yea, me!

For the first round, we were to make a card using at least one punch and to the theme of 'teacher's pet' since schools are just getting started.  Here is the card I made...

The first punch that came to mind was my spiral punch to make notebook paper.  I decided to write a paper about the best teacher, written by no one else but the teacher's pet.  I had to use some very creative omitting to get "written by" and "The teacher's pet" stamped.  They are all little snippets from PTI's teacher's apple and sentiments sets.  Not using my SAMJ allowed for a typed feel to the text.

Of course I had to add an apple for the teacher, and used a second punch for the leaf.

Supplies used:
Stamps - bold alphabet #s, PTI teacher's apple and sentiments, CHF lined paper
Paper - GKD PL white, kraft (I know it's supposed to be crumb cake, but it will always be kraft to me!), old olive
Ink - baja breeze, real red, Memento black
Accessories - choc chip, kraft, cherry cobbler, and old olive markers, spiral and XL two-step bird punches, dimensional, Sakura white jelly roll pen.

Now, on to the second round...

This round, we were challenged to make a fashion statement by using designer paper on our card.  It did not have to be in the school theme.

I have a ton of DSP, but using it on a CAS card is difficult for me.  Clean and simple to me is not busy paper.  A little of it goes a long way on a CAS card.  I decided to use paper piecing for my DSP.  That way, it wouldn't be too overpowering, and I love how it turned out.

I used my $1 clearanced fun flock again on the p***ywillows, added a little gloss to the topiary leaves with a Sakura glaze pen, and created a little dimension by popping up just the center pot.

Supplies used:
Stamps - blooming with love, stampendous sentiment
Paper - GKD PL white, delicate dots DSP
Ink - Memento black
Accessories - Copics, celery taffeta ribbon, fun flock, glaze pen, dimensional

I love when a card turns out better than I had imagined, and this card did that for me.  *patting self on back*

I just hope the judges like it as much as I do!

Have a happy Wednesday!

K

OLW Stamp a Scene

I am just now getting caught up on some of this week's challenges.  The first week of school has turned out to be just as busy as our summer was.  What happened to all the free time I was supposed to gain?  Ha!  Maybe next week!

There's always hope, right?

Here is a card I made for Susan's OLW challenge to stamp a scene.  I chose to use a scene stamp instead of creating my own.  I had a quick card in mind, and didn't want to spend the hours it would normally take me to figure out a scene.

I chose to use muted colors for a serene feel.  The flowers started out with flower soft on them (my attempt to use yet another neglected supply), but they were way too heavy.  So I scraped it off and used some fun flock I got on clearance for $1 instead.  (And yes, I bought every color they had on clearance.  But don't tell anyone!)

Supplies used:
Stamps - summer by the sea
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - going gray
Accessories - tacky glue, fun flock, ribbon

This was a great challenge.  Sometimes it's not easy to do a scene on a one layer card.

Have a great weekend!

K

Gingerbread Men make me Happy!

The CAS challenge on Splitcoast this week was a sketch challenge.  And one I am very familiar with.  It has been my go-to sketch for a while now.  So it wasn't really a challenge to make the card, but it was a challenge to find the time to do it!

I decided to use one of my many neglected wheels for this card.  Now I know what I can do with all of my other wheels...use them to make cards!!

The hearts are glittered with dazzling diamonds to make them look like sugar cookies - yum!  I want to eat them up!  And the little gingerbread men make me smile.  (Probably because I can imagine the taste when I bite their little heads off!)

Would somebody please get me some sugar... chocolate... anything?

Supplies used:
Stamps - gingerbread man wheel, so many sayings
Paper - GKD PL white, cherry cobbler
Ink - Memento black, Versafine black
Accessories - Copics, glue pen, DD glitter, wavy border punch, ribbon

Have a happy day!

K

Jolly Ornaments

This is my second post today...I'm on a roll!

This is for Susan's OLW15 challenge to use color in an unconventional way.  Pink and Christmas is about as unconventional as I could think.  Ornaments come in all shapes and colors, but if it weren't for Susan's challenge, this card would have been shades of red and green.

Don't you love how challenges make you think outside the box?  I sure do.

I made my little ornament hooks out of my wire works that I've had for over 5 years.  Even though they get used very rarely, they always come in handy for something.  The hardest part of this card was getting the bows tied at just the right spot.  That took more time than anything else!

I think if I did this over again, I would leave out the embossed oval.  I really don't like it on this card.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Jolly bingo bits, teeny tiny wishes
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - markers:  regal rose, razzleberry, pumpkin, turquoise, melon mambo, pacific point
Accessories - nestabilities oval die, big shot, linen thread, wire works, SAMJ

Hope this inspires you to use color in a new way!

K

The Cutest Little Onesie

I needed to make a baby shower card for one of my co-workers, and wanted to use a little onesie stamp.  The only problem was, I didn't have one.  I thought for a brief moment (about 0.000001 sec) about using a digi stamp.  I haven't ever gone there, and I really don't want to.  I get into enough trouble with rubber stamps.  Besides, I wouldn't know where to start to look.  I'm not ready to know.

Yet.

So, I did the next best thing...made my card a onesie!

There are many different templates for onesie cards, and this is the one I ended up using.  Thank you, Lauren, for posting the tutorial.

I added a strip of scallop border trim to the sleeves.  The mom-to-be chose a lamb pattern for the nursery, so I drew my own lamb on the front and used liquid applique to make it wooly.

Supplies used:
Stamps - none
Paper - pink pirouette, whisper white, blush blossom
Ink - none
Accessories - 1 3/8" circle, scallop circle, and scallop border punches, button brads, scor pal, liquid applique, Zig writer

It was really quite easy to make, and makes the cutest little card.  Make one of these, and everyone at the shower will be oooing and aaahing.

Enjoy your weekend!

K

A Trendy Tree

Today's color challenge on SCS really spoke to me.  It seems like I have been using a lot of poppy lately, and this color combo is a real winner.  Baja, poppy, and crumb cake (it will always be kraft to me!).

I used another set that I haven't been able to do much with even though I've seen tons of lovely cards made with it.  I wanted to use my new PTI cloud dies, and this scene just made itself right in front of my eyes.

Isn't this an awesome color combination?  Poppy tends to be very bright, but pairing it with the soft baja and kraft crumb cake softens it just enough.

I made the clouds 3-D by popping them up on dimensionals, then glueing the edges down.

Supplies used:
Stamps - trendy trees, love ya bunches, PTI mega mixed messages
Paper - crumb cake, poppy, baja, textured white, GKD PL white
Ink - crumb cake, poppy, black
Accessories - dimensionals, PTI cloud die, rhinestones, SAMJ

I'm not sure where my mojo came from, but I'm sure enjoying it!

K

CAS garden challenge

Have you ever had a stamp set that you fell in love with when you saw samples, but couldn't do anything with it once you got it?  I've had several, and most of them ended up in my for sale box after just one attempt at trying to make them work.  Isn't that pitiful?  One try, and out they go?  It takes me long enough to make a card anyway, that if I have to try too hard to make the stamps work, it isn't fun anymore.  Stamping should be the easy part.  After all, that's why I don't draw my own images; it's too much work.  And I'm not much of an artist.

When I saw this week's CAS challenge on SCS to make a garden themed card, I knew what set I was going to use.  It was one I fell in love with, had to have, and ended up banishing to my shelf ever since my first attempt at using it.  It was way too much work the first time, but there was something about the set that made me want to work at it again.

I'm so glad I tried it again, because now I like it, and I'll be using it a lot more.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as CAS because there is a lot going on, and there isn't much 'white' space, but it was very easy to make.  It's just a bunch of punches!

After I finished this card and uploaded it to my card file, I noticed that the first card I made with this set also used the same "get well wishes" sentiment.  Guess I feel that these are healing flowers.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Awash with flowers, teeny tiny wishes
Paper - marina mist, celery, GKD PL white
Ink - wasabi, celery, melon mambo, pretty in pink, marina mist, bashful blue, daffodil delight
Accessories - punches:  word window, modern label, large oval, ticket corner, EK lattice chain, half pearls, dimensionals

Can you believe I didn't use my SAMJ on this?  I can't remember the last time I didn't use it on a card.  SU!'s clear mount stamps are so awesome, I could just eyeball the 2 step images.

What do you do when you have trouble with a stamp set?  Do you work at it until you get it, or do you give up like me?

Bad Karen, bad!

K

The Same but Different

I recently got some new stamps from PTI (yes, out with the old, in with the new!), and had a little time to play with them today.

I created two cards using the exact same image, yet they are very different from each other.  I used different colors and changed the size of the image panel.  Different sentiment fonts help to evoke different moods.

Take a look...

I started out making this one.  When I was playing around with different colors for the flowers, I decided I should make a blue one, too.

I had different sizes of scraps of white, so that is how the image panels came to be different sizes.  That in turn dictated a different layout.

I stamped the branch twice with wasabi and celery to get a shadow effect.  I was off a little with the blue flowered branch, and it just looks blurry.  Kind of like what I see when I'm not wearing my reading glasses.  I finally broke down and bought some, but I refuse to wear them.  The only reason I bought them was so I could read the fine print on a bottle of medicine in an emergency.  Besides, my arms are still long enough!

Anyhoo...

Supplies used:
Stamps - short & sweet, wonderful words, PTI beautiful blooms
Paper - GKD PL white, poppy parade, pumpkin pie, marina mist, pacific point
Ink - wild wasabi, certainly celery, poppy parade, pacific point
Accessories - trio flower punch, fancy photo corner punch, daubers, rhinestones, nail heads, dimensionsals, SAMJ

Which one do you like better?  I'm having a hard time deciding.

Hope you have a great weekend!

K

P.S.  Check out my for sale thread on SCS.  Lots of great retired SU! stamps, ink, paper and some brand new Cricut cartridges at great prices!

Music to my Eyes

Whenever I go to a craft store, I always browse the stamp aisle to see if there are any new stamps I can't live without.  The keyboard stamp I used on this card caught my eye, so I used my 40% off coupon to buy it.  I'm really glad they didn't have the storage jar I was looking for, because then I wouldn't have been able to buy this stamp.

I started playing the piano when I was in kindergarten, played the clarinet and tenor sax in band all through high school, and both of our kids play the piano now.  I love music stamps, and their teachers always appreciate the cards I make for them.  So this made a nice addition to my music stamp collection.

This started out as a OLC, but I smudged it when I was using my SAMJ to stamp the keyboard.  It turned out better because I ended up stamping another keyboard and matting it in black.  It really makes the keyboard pop.  I love the curvy line of the sentiment to add a little interest to an otherwise line-y card.

I plan on making a bunch of these to give as music teacher gifts.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Stampendous and Stampabilities
Paper - GKD PL white, basic black
Ink - Memento black
Accessories - SAMJ

K

Ten Years!

My husband and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.  He surprised me (kind of) with a weekend getaway sans kids to San Francisco.  We had talked about going, but it didn't come through until the day before we were to leave.  Talk about frantic packing!!

We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the cooler weather.  (It was in the 60's)  I will post some pictures as soon as I get them downloaded from my hubby's camera.  I decided to leave my (heavy) Nikon at home, and I'll share a funny story about the lesson I learned from doing that.

For now, here is the card I made for him.

Do you recognize this layout?  I have been using it a lot.  I think it's time for me to break its mold and come up with something else.

Supplies used:
Stamps - love it, small script
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - riding hood red
Accessories - dimensionals, ribbon, half pearls, SAMJ

You won't believe the first thing that came out of his mouth when he opened the card.  He said, "Hmm, clean and simple."

I think I'll keep him for at least 10 more years!

K