Monday, June 30, 2014

Sea Street for Freshly Made Sketches


My youngest grandson, Wyatt, turned one last week, and we went to his birthday party yesterday.  He is such a cutie pie and soooo close to walking.  He stands up on his own without having to hold on to anything, and he just needs to believe he can do it and he will be walking before we know it. The whole family is really into the Westcoast lifestyle and so I got out the new Sea Street stamp set to make Wyatt a birthday card.  I used the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge 142 sketch for the layout.




  • I also used the coordinating Maritime Designer Series paper for one of the panels on the card and copied its colour palette of Night of Navy, Coastal Cabana, Real Red and Whisper White.
  • I love the cute octopus image from Sea Street, but it is a nightmare to fussy cut!!  All those intricate curls and twists!  Don't attempt it unless you have lots of time!
  • The sentiment comes from two stamp sets.  Memorable Moments had the number 1 and the "st" to make "First". So Very Happy is the stamp set we were given at Leadership in January and I got the happy birthday with the great font from that set.
  • I used the Decorative Label Punch to shape the ends of the sentiment tag without inserting the whole thing into the punch.
It was a really busy weekend!  On Saturday, I entered the local festival parade.  The festival is called Westside Daze and it is a well-attended community event.  There were some iffy weather reports, but during the parade, it was sunny and hot and not a drop of moisture fell except in the parade's Wet Zone!  Here is my decorated car.






















I handed out candy and packs with a free card and my class schedule and contact info.  It was a lot of fun but hot and tiring.  My other grandson, Parker was in town but staying with his other grandparents along with my daughter and son-in-law.  We went over there to have a visit and some dinner.  Earlier in the afternoon, on a spontaneous whim, we bought tickets for the "Heart Concert", and so headed out to that in the evening. 
Wow!  In their early sixties, Anne and Nancy Wilson can still rock it out!  Amazing talent!  They ended the concert with a great cover of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven.    

And yesterday we drove to Vancouver, went to Wyatt's birthday party and drove home again all in one day!
I need a day off, suddenly!  

I hope your weekend was as much fun as mine!  What did you do?

                 

Speaking of fun, especially the kind of fun that makes you money, today - Monday, June 30 - is the last day that you can join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator for only $60!  Don't miss out on this opportunity to be part of a fantastic family of people who love to craft and share and inspire others to do the same!  I would LOVE to have you as part of my team, the Papercraft Cats!  I'm guessing you'll love the discounts, the products at a 20% discount, and all the extra money you'll have an opportunity to earn!  Ask me how.


Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

                                                                        Product List

Friday, June 27, 2014

Green Dahlias for As You See It Challenges


It's been a stressful week this week.  I've planned an entry in our local festival parade and I've been working 24/7 to get packets of info and cards ready to hand out.  And there has been no end of interruptions in that process, to the point where I'm about ready to tear out my hair!  (I don't know what good that would do, either!)  Then I looked at our As You See It Challenge this week and the theme is Shades of Green, with a little stopwatch in the top left-hand corner.

I knew what that meant - Speed Stamping!  If ever anything was going to drive me over the edge that would do it!  10 minutes to make a card start to finish!  I did a trial run two days ago and I wasn't anywhere near 10 minutes so I took my time and entered it in The Paper Player's Challenge.  I also realized that since I'd used the layout from the Paper Player's Challenge, if I had to wait until today to enter it would be too late. So I decided I would do a second card for As You See It Challenges.



  • If I had had more planning time, I would have realized that having to fussy cut two dahlias, from the stamp set Regarding Dahlias, would take up most of the ten minutes I had, but I went for it anyway because it was too late to change my mind. They were stamped in Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive!  
  • I found the DSP before I started timing and it's from the Sweet Taffy Designer Series.  It was perfect for this challenge with its two shades of green.
  • The sentiment is also from Regarding Dahlias and it's stamped in Always Artichoke ink which matches the colour of the cardstock base.  I used the Artisan Label punch to punch it out.
  • I also used some Mossy Meadow Stitched Satin Ribbon for some embellishment.
So, in regards to time, everything was ready to glue at the 10 minute mark, but I hadn't gone over yet.  Then the phone rang and it was my hubby.  Poor guy!  He got me at the height of the stress.  Took him awhile to make it home.  Can't say as I blamed him!  By the time it was all glued down it was 13 minutes, but that includes the telephone call which was at least a minute, so I estimate I finished in 12 minutes.  Kind of a fail, but... !

Afterwards, I decided to add some coloured pearls for a finishing touch and so I got out the Old Olive Blendabilities and colour up some pearls to add to it.  It really made a difference!


So there is my sad tale of woe!  Hope your experience is much better as you attempt your speed stamping challenge!  Have a great weekend and wave to me in the parade!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Perfect Blend for Mojo Monday


I have a thing about coffee.  I've never liked it because it was so bitter. And for years, I've done fine without it, other than those awkwards moments when someone has just poured me a cup without asking and I've had to tell them that I don't drink it.  My hubby didn't drink it for years either, for different reasons.  Then we got one of those single serve coffee machines.  My hubby started enjoying a cup every once in a while.  One morning, while he was inhaling the aroma of a cup of java, I told him that I could really use the caffeine in that mug, as I was slow getting started that day.  He convinced me to try it again and.... I actually really enjoyed it.  Well, truthfully, it was okay!  And I was so productive that day that I was sold!  You never know. Sometimes you can teach an old dog new tricks!!

Two things inspired this card:  One was the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday sketch.

Are you thinking that this card doesn't really line up with the sketch very much?  Well, let me just tell you that the other thing that inspired the card was a post on Julie Davison's blog on Slider Cards. I've always wanted to try that technique.  So with that in mind, take a look at the second photo:


  • Do you see it now?  I've been dying to use the stamp set Perfect Blend for a number of months now, but it never seemed like the right time until yesterday.
  • Of course, Early Espresso HAD to form the card base.  I added some of the new Typeset Specialty DSP to the base.  I love that collection, and especially the light weight of it.  In fact, I pulled out a sheet and cut it into the size I needed before I realized that I had pulled and cut TWO sheets.  Oops!
  • The other colours I used are from the Regals collection, Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze, as well as Very Vanilla for stamping on.  I used some of the Regals Designer Series Paper Stack for the lids and coffee cosies on the coffee cups.  I paper pieced them by stamping the same coffee cup on the Designer Paper and cutting out the little pieces and gluing them to the stamped coffee containers.
  • I won't go into how I made the slider work because this is a card we will be making at my Technique Night classes in July and I don't want to reveal my secrets!  Hahahaha! (Anyway, you can just follow the link to Julie's Blog to find out.)     
  • I think a variation that I might do another time would be to put a Starbuck's card on the inside panel where the third coffee cup is right now.  It would make a perfect little gift for a friend!
Do you enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning?  Or, like me, could you take it or leave it?  Let me know in the comments below!

  
Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!            


  Product List