Age Isn't Important for As You See It Challenges

Age isn't important....unless you're a cheese! Or a wine! While I agree with this statement, I don't think society does. Age creates a big divide between generations at times. I know I have been, in the past, somewhat judgemental about seniors. And I'm really sorry about that because I am becoming one myself. Why do we do that to people? Let preconceived ideas keep us from seeing someone as a human being first. But as a wise person once said,

                      

I was searching for ideas for As You See It Challenges #058, and I decided to go for humour. Part of my choice had to do with the Colour Swatch for Colour Throwdown this week as well. Check out both challenges:

The colour scheme is pretty unusual, and it made me think of cheese for some reason, hence the choice of images from the Giggle Greetings stamp set, which I haven't used for a long time. It is just a breath of fresh air to leave behind the autumn, Halloween and Christmas designs for a short time.

• I don't think I would have chosen this palette on my own, but it was interesting to try to work with.  I decided to use my Blendies on this image and it worked out well, considering that someone had not capped my Daffodil Delight Blendie (the lightest shade) properly and it had dried out. I experimented though.  I dipped the tip in some alcohol and was able to get a bit more ink out. Enough to finish this small image, but I think I will have to buy a new one.  I was hoping that the tips would soak up enough alcohol to get it working again, but no luck.  Maybe if I left it soaking longer?
• The DSP piece is from the Maritime collection, one of two in Real Red.  The grid design was more appropriate than the anchors!  
• I ran the Blushing Bride piece through the Big Shot with the Arrows Embossing Folder, but not before I inked up the inside top of the folder with some Blushing Bride ink straight from the pad.  That is what gives it that two-toned look.
• The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Remembering Your Birthday stamp set and the font seemed to fit the style of the image above it.

Make These Great Halloween Treat Bags

How would you like to make six of these cute treat bags for some special trick or treaters in your family?  I have a class coming up on Thursday, October 23 to do just that.  There are 2 spots still open.  You can register for that class here.

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

Giggle Greetings Wood-mount Stamp Set [131062]	Giggle Greetings Clear-mount Stamp Set [131065]	Remembering Your Birthday Wood-mount Stamp Set [131347]	Remembering Your Birthday Clear-mount Stamp Set [131350]	Maritime Designer Series Paper [133696]
Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [102482]	Blushing Bride 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131198]	So Saffron 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [105118]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [101650]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]
Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172]	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment [130998]	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Skin Tone Assortment [129370]	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment [130995]	Arrows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [132187]
Labels Collection Framelits Dies [125598]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

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

Sea Street Clear Stamp Set [133988]	Sea Street Wood Stamp Set [133985]	So Very Happy Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134234]	So Very Happy Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134231]	Memorable Moments Clear-Mount Stamp Set [126682]
Memorable Moments [132039]	Maritime Designer Series Paper [133696]	Night Of Navy 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100867]	Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [102482]	Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131297]
Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970]	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949]	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad [131175]	Decorative Label Punch [120907]
Paper Snips [103579]

Oh, Canada for Pals Paper Arts

I can't believe how far along we are in June already!  In a couple of weeks it will be July 1st, and here in Canada that means it will be our National Holiday which is only a few days away from our American neighbours' 4th of July! We call our July 1st holiday, Canada Day and we celebrate with barbecues, trips to the beach, parades and, especially with fireworks!!

When Pals Paper Arts published their challenge this week, the red,white and blue colour palette looked very patriotic and it would have been perfect for an American card maker to come up with a July 4th card.  If you took out the blue it would have been a perfect Canada Day colour combination, but that wouldn't meet the requirements of the challenge then would it?  But I was determined to come up with a project for the challenge and so I just kept the blue to a minimum.

It has been awhile since I made a card-in-a-box so I decided to do one with this challenge.  Just a word to the wise here.  This is NOT a quick and easy card.  It turned out to be darned complicated, but in the end, it did what I wanted it to do!

• I was just worried that my Canada Day promotion might look a little too American with the Night of Navy, but I'm sure all those maple leaves off-set that element! (Not that American is bad or anything, just not as appropriate in this case!  I don't want to hurt any feelings here, because I love my American readers!!  Just to be clear.)  There are three different maple leaves on this project.  
• One is the stamp from last year's Best of 25 Years collection, Best of Autumn.  Unfortunately, you can't order them any more, but it was the best maple leaf stamp I had a round, so I just had to use it.  Also, unfortunately, there is no die or punch that coordinates, so I had to fussy cut all of them.  Like I said, not a quick card to make.

• I wanted to make a Canadian flag, but I needed a small maple leaf and there are no stamps that would work, so I got out my new Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and used the little star.  After I punched it out of Real Red cardstock, I trimmed of the bottom two points and added a stem and I got a reasonable facsimile of a maple leaf for the middle of my flag.
• I also die cut a maple leaf from Red Glimmer Paper.  The die is Autumn Accents Bigz die and the leaves it cut added some sparkle and pizzazz to my card-in-a-box.
• I spritzed some creped filter paper with alcohol and Real Red Reinker and then used the Fringe Scissors to cut a fringe in it and also in some white Creped Filter Paper.  I rolled each of them up on little pieces of wooden skewers to form, well...either cheerleader pompoms or a representation of bursting fireworks.  You pick.

• The back panel has the sentiments, one from Regarding Dahlias (hi) and the other (Hip Hip Hooray) from Hip Notes.  I was trying to come up with something one would say on a Canada Day card.
• You can see a little more of the Night of Navy here.

• The cool thing about cards-in-a-box is that they fold flat and fit in a regular envelope.  This one....is a bit bulky because of the "fireworks", but you could still probably squeeze it in and use extra postage if you're mailing it.  Better yet, make one and take it to the host of your barbecue or party.  It won't cost you extra postage and your host will love it!

Here are this week's Weekly Deals:

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

Best Of Autumn Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134390]	Regarding Dahlias Wood-mount Stamp Set [130324]	Regarding Dahlias Clear-mount Stamp Set [130327]	Project Life Point Click Photopolymer Stamp Set [135787]	Hip Notes [wood] [133501]
Hip Notes [clear] [133504]	Maritime Designer Series Paper [133696]	Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]	Night Of Navy 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100867]	Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [102482]
Red Glimmer Paper [121790]	Creped Filter Paper [129393]	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949]	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970]	Real Red Classic Ink Refill [103287]
Paper Snips [103579]	Sticky Strip [104294]	Autumn Accents Bigz Die [127812]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]