Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #44

Happy Tuesday and welcome to the last CTO challenge for the year! CTO is having a design team call that ends today, so if you haven’t applied yet, get busy! With that said, while I have enjoyed my time on the CTO Design Team I decided not to reapply. I wanted to give others a chance to be on a DT. And, the second reason was because I made it to the 2nd round of the Spellbinders Design Team Competition. Which brings me back to reason number one, had I not been on the CTO Design Team, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have had the confidence to try for My Creative Time or Spellbinders. So, everyone needs a chance and I’ve learned that you really never know unless you try. I’ve been making cards for only one year, so I feel really blessed and thankful to have come this far.

Now, the challenge for this week is to make a shaped Christmas card. I’ve had this card planned since the summer! Can you believe that? I think this is my third card with a snowflake, so I guess that means I have a things for them. This is a Gypsy designed card. The snowflake is on the Christmas/Noel Cartridge. The base of the card and the top layer are Aqua Mist from Papertrey Ink. The second layer is Kraft from PTI as well.

Now, here is the deal, I have a stamp that says. “Seasons Greetings.” It’s not a photopolymer stamp – it’s acrylic and I think when I pulled it off of the acetate, it stretched. Long story short, it doesn’t stamp straight and since I really wanted to use that sentiment, I decided I would just write it myself. I highly doubt that you will see me writing my sentiments like you see here. I got a new computer and I haven’t purchased the newest version of Microsoft Word, or transferred the files from my old computer, so I have a serious lack of fonts.

The card itself is simple. I will say that just so it wouldn’t look flat, I adhered the top cut with dimensional adhesive. When I want a little dimension, I highly prefer the Stampin’ Dimensionals, when I want more, I used the Sticky Doos from Hobby Lobby. To finish my card, I took some adhesive gems and adhered them to the points of the snowflake. Really simple to make.

That is it for me. I am so thankful you took the time to visit my blog. I hope everyone has a super blessed day and just incase I don’t post again before Sunday, a very Merry Christmas. I work retail and I’ve been super busy lately.

Celebrate the Occasion Challenge # 42

If you’re looking for Day #6 of MCT 12 Days of Christmas Hop, click here!

Welcome! This is my second of two projects for today and it’s a card for Celebrate the Occasion. But, before I get into the card, I’d like to announce that CTO is having a Design Team call!! The call will run from today until December 20th. I’ve had an amazing time on the DT, so I definitely encourage everyone to apply. Good luck!

We’re celebrating Christmas this week and the requirement is to not use ANY green! I’ve known for a while that I wanted to do a Christmas card with navy, and this is the first one I came up with. I might try again and add a little red or green, we shall see. It’s a standard A2 card. The base is Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening. I used a TPC Studio stamp set appropriately titled, “Snowflake,” and my trusty VersaMark Dazzle to stamp the background. Love the embossed snowflakes! For the sentiment, I cut two mats from my Imagine – one in DCWV Silver Shimmer cardstock and the other in my regular white cardstock. I took the same stamps, inked them in VersaMark first and then into Bashful Blue ink from Stampin’ Up. I then took the, “Peace,” stamp and followed the same steps, except I used Night of Navy ink. Because I couldn’t help myself, I decided to use clear embossing powder on them as well.

To finish the card, I tied a knot with some grosgrain and added two rhinestones to the center of the Bashful Blue snowflakes. Used the .5” setting on my corner rounder and it was a done deal. Super simple. Does not have to be a snowflake – just an image that works well in the background.

Thanks for coming by! Don’t forget to stop by the CTO blog to get the scoop on applying for the Design Team. Have a blessed day!

November Harvest – Celebrate the Occasion

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend and that THIS week is off to a great start for you!

It’s team 2’s turn this week at Celebrate the Occasion, and our challenge this week is a make a Thanksgiving card and use a button. And this is what I came up with.

My card base is a standard A2 and is Papertrey Ink New Leaf. My patterned mat is Vintage Cream and measures 4” x 5.25.” I used a Studio G stamp set from the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, as well as a Stampabilities set from Hobby Lobby called Fall Holidays to create the background. My inks are from Stampin’ Up (Lucky Limeade, Cherry Cobbler, and Chocolate Chip) and Jenni Bowlin (Malted Milk).

The pumpkin die cuts are from my Imagine. Once again, I used one of the stock images come preloaded on the machine. I really need to start using the carts that I continue to shell out money for. Anyway, the Orange Zest pumpkin was cut at 2.4” and I embossed it using the Perfectly Paisley Cuttlebug folder. The middle pumpkin was filled with a pattern from my go to cart, Ancestry, and is sized at 2.5.” I inked the edges with Tea Dye Distress ink. My last pumpkin was cut at 2 from Vintage Cream cardstock. I stamped the polka dots with Tangelo ink from Memento. I adhered the orange pumpkin directly to my card. I used dimensional adhesive to adhere the largest pumpkin, And the smallest pumpkin was adhered with a combination of both. I stamped my sentiment in Chocolate Chip ink on Vintage Cream cardstock and used my scissors to trim it. I adhered it to my card with dimensional adhesive as well. To finish off my card, I took some brown bakers twine from Martha Stewart and a Autumn Mix button from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed day!

Fall Card for Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #32

 

Hello all! It’s Tuesday and that means it is time for another challenge from Celebrate the Occasion.

 

For this week’s card, I went Cricut-less! I think I mentioned it, but I have really been getting into stamping a lot more and I’m excited to see what all I can come up with. Never fear though, because I will still be using my machines! I made a video discussing the card and I want to apologize now because it is kind of shaky. I’m sorry! I’ve found the tripod I want so that will be over soon.

I stamped the inside using Early Espresso and VersaMark Dazzle with clear embossing powder.

The awesome twill ribbon is from Stampin’ Up! The wonderful Norma from PinkBlingCrafter sent me some. It’s in the clearance section for $3.49. Visit Norma’s site to order some!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day.

Holy Adhesive Batman!

 

This week at Celebrate the Occasion we’re doing birthday cards (using a sketch), and it just so happens that yesterday was  my mom’s birthday.  And the card that I made was for her. So, I bet you’re wondering what adhesive has to to with my mom’s birthday. Well, I used 4 different adhesives on this card. And I burned my finger with hot glue. More on that later.

I used Flower Shoppe to make the flower.

The stamp that I used has very fine details, got to love Versamark ink.

I left the inside blank because I wrote my mom a message.

The flourish is from Prima – Say It in Crystals in clear.

Starting with the flower. I have to say I love it. And, knowing myself, I think I might use this cartridge way more than I should. So, I’m just going to put that out there right now. It’s found on page 16 and it’s called Fun4. I cut out six layers starting at 3.25” and ending at 2”. I used the red patterned paper because my mother’s favorite color is red. Actually, that pattern paper was one of the very first sheets that I bought when I got started last year. And, I am so happy that I finally got to use it. I still have an entire sheet, and I’m thinking that I’m going to either use it on something for Valentine’s Day or fancy Halloween layout. Who knows?! And, I digress!

If you end up buying Flower Shoppe, I high recommend that you invest in a glue gun with a fine tip. This is the one that I bought, here. I had been using my trusty orange glue gun from way back, but it produces a lot of strings and the nozzle deposited a bit too much glue, therefore burning my fingers.  I will go a bit further and say that you only need the glue gun when you’re dealing with thicker paper and cardstock. The red pattered paper was lightweight so I used Scotch Quick Dry for those.

Here are the details:

• 5.5” x 5.5” Card Base, Papertrey Ink True Black
• Mat I, Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel
• Mat II, DCWV All Dressed Up Dancing Polka Dot
• Flower: Flower Shoppe Cricut Project Cartridge
• Fun4 page 16
• All Dressed Up Dancing Polka Dot
• Colorbok Red Roses (Jo-Ann Open Stock)
• Darice Rhinestone
• Black 5/8” Offray Double-faced Satin Ribbon
• Embellishment: Prima Say It in Crystals Clear
• Black Colorbox Pigment Ink (Flower inking)
• Versamark Dazzle in Frost
• Black Zing Embossing Powder
• Fiskars, “Make a Wish Quotes,” Stamp Set
• Inkadinkado, “Artistic Flourish,” Stamp Set
• Inside Mats: Colorbok Red Roses and Paper Company Cream
• Zots (to keep the ribbon down as I don’t have a sewing machine)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother! Thanks for coming by. Have a blessed day.

Celebrate the Occasion Design Team!

 

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be serving on the Celebrate the Occasion Design Team for the next 6 months! We have two excellent teams, and we hope you’ll join us in celebrating the occasions that make life amazing!

Now, I have to say, I didn’t really think that I was going to be selected as my entry is relatively simple. I made these for my cousin Leah’s upcoming birthday. She’s have a slumber party at the Shoals Marriot. Nine years old and wanting to have a slumber party at a 4 star hotel spells trouble for my aunt. I can’t imagine what she’s going to ask for when she turns 16.

Anyway, I used Simply Charmed to cut out the cute ice cream cone and since my aunt calls Leah, Strawberry, we’ll say the pink represents strawberry ice cream. Between me and y’all (Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, I am from Alabama after all.), I personally think that’s a ridiculous nickname, but whatever. What’s next -  pistachio, cumquat, rhubarb? I digress!

Here are the details:

• White A2 Base
• DCWV Purple
• Paper Company Green, punched with Martha Stewart Loop Punch
• DCWV Black (Cone base)
• Paper Company Kraft (Cone)
• Paper Company Cream (Cone highlights)
• SU Real Red (Cheeks)
• Doodlebug Designs Plaid Paper
• Pink 3/8” Offray Satin Ribbon
• Sakura Gelly Roll Stitching
• Tuxedo Black Memento Ink
• Fiskars Simple Stick All Year Cheer Stamp Set (I love that they’re rubber, but I can use them on a clear block. They stamp great.)

Again, it’s a pretty simple card, but I would love to share with everyone how I type the insides of my invites with Microsoft Word. If I can get a tripod and figure out the logistics of shooting tutorials, I think that would make for a good one as it’s not hard to do and it would come in handy, I think.

As always I thank you for taking time out of your day to come by and read my rambling! Comments are always welcome and I would love it if you stopped by the blogs of my fellow design team members and showed them some love!

Have a blessed day!

Elegant Stocking Card

 

Celebrate the Occasion is celebrating Christmas in July and this week, the challenge was to make a shaped card. The design team did wonderful job and I was inspired to make this card for the challenge.

I used the Seasonal Gingerbread Cricut cartridge to get the stocking shape and using my Gypsy, I mirrored, flipped, and welded two to make my card base.

Instead of stamping a sentiment, I decided to use a small damask stamp from the Fiskars Simple Stick All Year Cheer set to make a patterned background. If you look closely, the damask has a slight shimmer, and that’s because I used a Dazzle Frost Versamark pad before sprinkling on some black Zing embossing powder.

I have to say, I really love heat embossing and I highly recommend it. All you need is a heat tool, watermark or pigment ink pad, and embossing powder. To start, I purchased clear powder, but it comes in an array of colors.

Here are the details:

• Kraft Card Base
• Stampin’ Up Real Red Layer
• DCWV Black
• American Crafts Zing Embossing Powder in Black
• Frost Versamark Dazzle Ink
• Black Double Faced Ribbon from Offray
• Sakura Gelly Roll Stitching

I’m really loving Christmas in July, it’s helping me think about cards for December. I’ve got 5 months to make my snowflake card come to fruition!

I hope you enjoy it, and I thank you for stopping by. Have a blessed day!

Christmas in July

 

This week at Celebrate the Occasion, we’re celebrating Christmas. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. And not because of gifts, I love the decorating. If I could put the tree up at the beginning of November, I would. It takes me an entire day to decorate the tree and no one is allowed to help. It’s that serious.

Since I’ve gotten into paper crafting, I find myself getting into stamping a lot more. I still love my Cricuts (We have a new member on the way . . .), but I don’t want everything I make to look the same. One of the requirements for the challenge was that red not be used. So, I challenged myself to make a card that still evoked the spirit of the holiday, but in non-traditional colors.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the result, but Sara told me that she like it, and since she is always the first person to see my projects, I trust her judgment. She’s like my crafting cheerleader, and I love her to death.

I did use my Expression to cut the scallop and the circle for the stamp. Both of the cuts are from Storybook – one of my go-to cartridges. The stamp is from the TPC Studio Christmas set. This was the very first stamp set I bought last year when I started making cards. Here are the full details:

• Brown A2 base; open stock Hobby Lobby
• Paper Studio Kraft Layer, 4” x 5.25”
• Paper Studio Mint Green Layer, 3.375” x 5.125”
• Patterned Layer; My Mind’s Eye Out & About
• Brown Offray 5/8” Satin Ribbon
• TPC Studio Christmas Stamp Set
• Memento Rich Cocoa Ink
• Scotch ATG Adhesive
• Storybook Cricut Cartridge

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed day!