3 Scrap-a-licious Cards

I came up with these 3 cards very quickly using my scraps. Almost all of my cards for almost the past year have been made with scraps but it's like I haven't even put a dent in the vast sea of my scraps! I just get such a kick challenging myself and seeing what I can come up with using a piece of scrap. Instead of doing 3 different posts I put them all together into one post.





This one I literally did while I was standing. Not sure why I never sat down! There was this little black polka dot DP sitting on my desk and I figured I would try to make a quick card out of it. I found this scalloped circle which I cut out using my Cricut months ago but never used. Took a hole puncher to it and punched holes around the outer edge. I then grabbed 3 stamp sets from Peachy Keen to make up the image and the sentiment. I used PK-540 FunShine Faces for the face on the cherries, PK-408 Gingerbread Doll set for the sentiment and PK-239 Faceless Fruit for the cherries. I colored the cherries in with my Prismacolor pencils then dusted it with MS glitter. One of the many reasons why I love my Peachy Keen Stamps is that I accidentally stamped my image on the textured side of the paper and yet the cherries are so crisp and clear it almost looks digital!

I designed this card to fit the following challenges:

Lord Have Mercy Sketch challenge
Colour Create Red, black and off white color challenge
Crafty Catz Fancy Edge and Ribbon challenge



Next I came up with a simple card using a stamp set from Stampin Up that was given to me by a friend. IT is rather old (1992) so I don't know the name of it. I am having such a fun time using her stamps! I designed this card to fit the following challenges:

Midnight Madness "PriscillaStyles" Sketch Challenge
Color Throwdown Pink/white, Brown & olive color challenge
Raise the Bar Three of a Kind challenge
Clearly I Stamp Hip to be Square challenge



Last but not least I did a Christmas card! Totally out of season I know but I came across this scrap while wading through my pile of scraps and decided to try to fit it into some challenges. Hey maybe by this point I will have some cards done in time this year! I used a stamp from the set by Brenda Walton's Spirit of Christmas.
It is very simple but you know what I like it!!! Plus when you have a whole bunch to make you have to keep it on the easy side! Plus if someone throws it away I won't feel so bad :(

I designed this card to fit these challenges:

Winter Wonderland's Monochromatic Christmas
The Stamping Boutique sketch challenge

My first easel card!!!~~~ 2nd post today

I finally did it! I finally completed an easel card. I don't know why but it totally intimidated me but it was the easiest thing ever!!!

I followed the sketch over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. The challenge over at
Everybody-Art was to do an easel card which was what inspired me to finally try one.

I broke out some of my new paper from Close to My Heart and at first I started having some palputations using my "good paper". I then talked myself off the edge and decided it was okay since it was for my Mom :) My friend gave me this stamp from Stampin Up! and I just loved the sentiment so I used that as my main image.

I submitted this card to these other challenges:

Simon Says Vintage w/flowers
Paperplay For a Mom challenge
Stamp Somethingrecipe challenge
Saturday Spotlight Clean & Simple challenge
Allsorts Mother's Day challenge

Happy Birthday using Valentine's Left overs

This was my first attempt at using my Copics. I know it is horrible but you gotta start somewhere right?? The bad thing is, is that I got 3 sets with one of each color in it so it was hard to do shading. I am not happy with the outcome but I have a huge headache and could no longer concentrate....so it is what it is!

The challenge over at Die Cuts R Us was to make a non Valentine's day card with your Valentine's leftovers. I think possibly I took it to far! I used up every scrap that I had which made me happy. I even had a little piece leftover so I used my circle punch to make a paper flower. I used my leftover ribbon from one card and the only papers I had from the other project. Awhile back I made a Love ornament in a box and I had the leftover cut out from the center. So I cut it in half to fulfill the sketch over at Papertake Weekly. I dry embossed some of the scraps with my Cuttlebug using the swiss dot folder for the Just Buggin' challenge. I used an adorable Tilda Magnolia stamp for the Just Magnolia birthday challenge.

The other challenges I submitted this card to are:

Charisma Cardz Birthday card with a twist challenge
C.R.A.F.T. Ribbon & Sparkle challenge
Stamp Scrap Doodle sparkle challenge
Cute Card Thursday Ribbon Challenge
One Stop Craft Pink challenge
Crazy 4 CHallenges 3 Textures challenge
Scrap & Stamp Texture challenge

A very quick layout...

I stumbled upon the Imaginisce challenge blog today. They had a great sketch challenge that I wanted to take part in. The only problem is that it had to be done by today. So I quickly came up this layout using Imaginisce papers that I had in my scrap pile, that made me happy :) The pictures stink because I took them at night while I was half asleep. The middle picture I popped up with pop dots but it is hard to make out.

Family Memories

This is sadly the second scrapbook layout that I have done that I am in. The pictures came out pretty bad making the colors looks extremely bright but they are not. My batteries were dying and the girls were due to wake up so I had to hurry.

I followed the sketch over at Stuck On U Sketches. The challenge over at A Spoon Full of Sugar was to use distress inks. I distressed each flower as well as the sentiment. I sewed around the edges which is hard to see on the circle and the border. To fulfill the challenge over at MygraficoI used some chipboard out of my stash for the sentiments to give the layout some dimension. I cut out several flowers making them a couple layers each and crinkled them up for the flower challenge over at the
Flourishesblog.

Supplies used:
Stampin Up Ink
Cricut Mini Monograms, Plantin Schoolbook & Home Decor cartridges
Close to My Heart "Magic Moments" paper
Scor-tape
Martha Stewart border punch

Butterfly wishes.....

This was probably the fastest card that I ever made. I took a couple of days off due to this week being the anniversary of the day my kids went to Heaven. For some reason this year was harder than the last. It has taken me a couple of days to get back into my craft room but I did manage to get in there today. If you saw the room you would be mortified!!! It is beyond messy and if I wasn't to embarrassed I would take a picture of it to show you all.

But I did manage to get a very simple card done while the girls were sleeping AND work out. I based this card around the color scheme over at SPCC. Also a major factor in this card was to use only one paper for the challenge over at the ABC challenge blog. I then took a couple of the challenges listed below to put together the final design of the card. It is a very quick card but I really like it. It is hard to see in the picture but after I stamped the image I used my glue pen and sprinkled on some Martha Stewart glitter for a sparkly affect. I used the swiss dot folder to emboss the card base on my Cuttlebug so it didn't look so plain.

Supplies used:
Stampin Up! Inks ~ Mellow Moss & Creamy Caramel
Swiss Dot embossing folder
Inkadinkado Patterened Bugs stamp set

Challenges I submitted my card to:

Creative Belli Butterflies OR Dragons challenge.

Stamp Something Spring CHallenge
Cupcake Craft Friends challenge
The Corrosive "Wings" challenge
Paper SUndaes Glittery Spring challenge
Rosie D'sFriendship challenge
Practical Scrappers Stamps challenge

Hanging out with our LIttle Man

This is a first for me! I did a layout without matting my pictures and it was a quick LO that didn't take me long at all!!! I made this with the Close To My Heart Felicity set....I am loovvvving it :) Very simple. This was taken at my brothers wedding in McAllen, TX. It was so darn hot that we were wetting napkins and placing them on my son (wedding was outdoors). Our faces are dripping with sweat it was so unbearable.

My parents gave me a wonderfully big chin that all my kids love using as a pacifier. I think I have a picture of all my kids sucking on my chin. Since I nursed all of them I think they get confused..The angle of the picture makes my chin look even bigger. If the circumstances would of been different I would of never even scrapbooked a picture like this. One of my biggest regrets is that I don't have many pictures at all with Mikey & Annie because I was miserable with the way I looked. It is now a decision I regret emensly. So with the twins I try to take as many pictures as possible even though it looks like I have showered in days!! Scary or nice they still are treasured memories.

I have a really, really long hallway that branches off in several directions so my goal (and truly my first decorating attempt since we moved in 3 years ago) is to saturate my hallway with frames upon frames of my children & family. So I am on a scrapbooking kick for awhile.

I submitted this layout to:
Scrap and Stamp Saturdays followed their sketch challenge

Mygraficoplaid challenge

Flourishes"All About Me" challenge

Color Throwdowncolor challenge

My little Ray of Sunshine

I decided to do a scrapbook layout with pictures of my daughter which were taken at a time in her life that was very rough and most would not want to remember let alone scrapbook it. My daughter was hospitalized when she was a little over 2 years old. These pictures were taken right before we realized how sick she was. She looks so sickly in the pictures but even that memory to me is a cherished one. After several hospitals and two blood transfusions she rebounded and boy she had some spunk!!! But as you can see her she wouldn't do anything that a normal kid did which is how we realized she was sick. These pictures were taken on Easter of 2005. You would put her down and if you left her she would be there until you came and got her..which is why she literally drew around herself. I thought those were the hardest times that I would ever encounter...boy was I wrong. I know I over did the layout but I couldn't bare to throw any of the pics away or not use them so I just put them where ever I could fit them. When it came to my son..the picture he was in had an ex of my sisters so I cut him out and had to stick him somewhere since it wouldn't be complete without him!

The white part of the layout is where I will journal eventually. But everytime I picked up the pen I would just put the pen down and walk away in tears. I wanted to do a very bright and cheerful layout...these colors are not something I would normally pick but they match the colors in her outfit.

I cut out the title on my Cricut with the Hello Kitty Font cartridge, then embossed it on my Cuttlebug. THe "I" in spring looks like a J but that is how it is on the cartridge for some reason. I stamped an orange and a lime with Peachy Keens Faceless Fruit (faces are Everyday CHaracter stamps) set and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils.

CHallenges I submitted this to:

Cute Daisy May Bright & Cheerful challenge
SPCCcolor challenge
Cuttlebug"Stitch-It" challenge
Crafty Creations"stitching" challenge
Simon Says StampsRecipe challenge
Pixie Dust Studio"Charmed" challenge
Cute Card ThursdayMetal challenge
Bitten By The Bug 2Spring challenge

You are my shining star

I can't believe it is snowing again!! ARRGGHHH!!

When I saw the challenge over at Raise the Bar and Frosted Designs I just wanted to cry. The challenge at Raise the Bar is to use a stamp that will be forever yours and to tell the reason why. Well I have lots of stamps that come in handy, I think are adorable or I use often but this stamp set as a special meaning to me anyway...



I picked the Close to My Heart Wishing Star stamp set. And my special story behind it or reason is my children. When my son was around 4 1/2 I was doing a side job that took my away from them day time into the night time. They were not used to this since I was a SAHM. I would literally work from sun up to sun down. Well my MIL forced me to stop and come over for dinner..Making a long story short we just finished eating and we were sitting around the table. I was pointing to everyone at the table and asking my son Michael "DO you know who they are" going down the line of everyone sitting there, just being silly. And then I pointed to myself and since I was working so much and they didn't see me I asked him "Do you know who I am" and (getting choked up here)he turns to me grabs my face in his little hands and says "Mommy, you are my star!" My mouth fell open and I just sat there sobbing at the dinner table. I just couldn't believe that came out of his mouth! It is a moment I will never forget and a memory that I will treasure always. When I saw this stamp set I knew I had to have it because now my son Michael and daughter Annemarie are My Stars!

What is great about this set is that it has all different possibilities. This was just a quick card that I came up with and since I had to stay with a man theme and the color green it was a bit challenging. I may challenge myself further and see how many cards I can create this week in different ways just using this stamp set.

Besides the two challenges above, I also based my card on these challenges at:

Humble Pie to use Spellbinders. I used my Nestabilities Classic Squares Large. I know it is hard to make out but I embossed the edge on the blue cardstock.

2 Sketches 4 You sketch challenge

The Pink Elephant to use ribbon

Cards for Men challenge to use the color green.

I am not completely crazy about this card...maybe it is the colors which are really not me. I tried to jazz it up a bit by adding some additional Jolee embellishment stars.

Up Up and AAWWWWAAAYYY!!

Isn't this image adorable??? I got it from Pollycraft. I had so much fun with this one. I was going to add a sentiment but I decided to leave it blank. It could be "Sending you my love" or birthday, get well wishes ANYTHING really!
And of course I used my scraps which makes me love it more! I am about to dig into my DP packs and sheets. I feel like a shark circling its prey!

I made this card last night & this morning to fit a few challenges. I wanted to keep it simple making the image the focal point. I followed the color theme of Pink, red, brown and white over at Colour Create and the sketch over at
Get SKetchy. I printed it out twice, cut out the balloon and colored it with my Prisma pencils and used lots of dimensional pop dots. I sewed the mats, and the balloon panels as well as across the balloon.

The other challenges I submitted this card to were:

C.R.A.F.T. digi coloring challenge
Saturday Spotlight"Around the House" challenge. I used baby wipes (gotta lot of those!), needle & thread and cotton balls for the clouds. The baby wipes I used to make my sky by rubbing the wipe on the ink pad.
Bee Crafty"Sew Cute" challenge.
Corrosive "sew it up" challenge
Cupcake craft"Keep it Simple" challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope everyone is getting pampered like they should. Unfortunately my hubby has to work so I will be flying solo but I will have my little ladies with me. They will surround me with alot of love and throw in loads of dirty diapers just to make things interesting! LOL!

Here is a quick card I came up with yesterday. I used a Cuttlebug folder that I never got to use before. I also used three different stamp sets. I used the hearts from Close to my Hearts Childhood Portrait, the birds are from CTMH Alphabets and the sentiment is from Peachy Keen's PK-260 Sweetie Pie Peepers. I left it generic so it can be an "anything" card. Oh and Yes!! This is a scrap card!!!

I followed the color theme over at The Playdate Cafe and the sketch over at Papertake Weekly. I also designed the card to fit into the
Polkadoodle, the Crazy 4 Challenges blog and the
The COrrosive CHallenge blog.

I am off to butter up some homemade English Muffin bread that just came out of the oven....hhhmmmm that is how I am gonna spend my day with fresh buttered bread! What a life!

Breaking in my New Stamps!

I just got a new package filled of love yesterday! It was filled with my Peachy Keen Stamps!!! Boy was I like a kid on Christmas morning!! I am still using my scraps but I am kinda getting bored of them so I may start tapping into one of my many thousands of pieces of DP very soon!




For my first card I picked the onion stamp from Peachy Keen's
PK-271 Faceless Veggiesstamp set. The first thing that popped into my head was to make the onion cry. I used the teary eyed stamp from Peachy Keen PK-505 Too Much Fun Faces for the middle of the onion. I wanted a phrase that would go with the crying fit the onion was having so I embossed the sentiment "MISSING YOU".

Challenges:

2 Sketches 4 You ~ Sketch challenge
A Spoon Full of Sugar 1 DP, 1 Emboss, 1 Button, 1 Ribbon challenge
Charisma Cardz Think Male challenge
Our Creative Corner Something Old challenge...I used lots of goodies for this challenge! I used some of the very first embellishments/Ric Rac ribbon that I bought from QVC about 7 years ago, a Versa Marker pen that I completly forgot that I had and a Stampin Up! Stamp set called SO MANY SAYINGS that I have never used from 2007 which in itself is pretty sad!



For this card I used my new Peachy Keen PK-275 Faceless Flowers 12 Petal Pointed and
PK-276 Flower Centers. What is good about the flower center stamp set is this can easily become a background design stamp that you can make to suit your needs.

The Corrosive Challenge - Sketch
The Color Throwdown Sage Shadow, Blush Blossom and Riding Hood Red color challenge
Allsorts3-2-1 challenge.

Showing some Love to a friend

Here is a very Clean and Simple card that I whipped up quick tonight using no DP just scraps. I even used scrap ribbon that I had cut off my bow on one of my last projects...hehehe that made me giddy :)I plan to mail this to my friend to let her know that I miss her and love her like a sister! We unfortunately moved away from each other which is hard because we used to spend alot of time together :(

Supplies used:

Ink: Stampin Up!
Close to My Heart - Childhood Portrait stamps
Stampin Up! - Petite Patterns stamp
Red Embossing powder
Mounting/pop dots

Challenges I submitted this card to:

Cupcake Craft
Sweet Sketch Wednesday
Simon Says
Crafty Creations
Pixie Dust Studio
Cute Card Thursday
Doodle Palace

My Yummy Gift for a SPecial Friend

You know those friends who go out of their way for you? Well I have a special friend who listens to me rant and still wants to talk to me the next day! She has done so much for me I wanted to come up with a little something to show her how special she really is! At times I just don't know how to repay her kindness and the only thing I am good at..or shall I say I enjoy doing is cooking. I came up with this whole idea based on the darnest,cutest stamp set by Peachy Keen! Now if you don't know this by now I am very CHEAP when it comes to my craft supplies. Since I am a hoarder I am afraid of using certain things because I won't have it or it is to nice to use etc. etc. Well to show this friend how special she is and how much I value her friendship I thru caution to the wind on this one. I used my GOOD (and brand spankin new) paper, huge strips of my glue tape instead of cutting it into little squares just for the corner,...and I even changed the bobbin on my sewing machine and threaded with new thread!! I did manage to get a few scraps in there to make myself feel better. Not to mention sitting there cutting out those itsy bitsy marshmellows. I stamped each one, colored them and then "toasted" them with some ink. It took me sometime to get this all done because I was busy trying to dig myself out of like 4ft of snow and trying to take care of two little babies and one BIG baby. I had some other visions for it but since I am need to get this to that person ASAP because it is a perishable item I had to leave some ideas behind.
But I do hope they get the point...that alot of love went into this...What is the most important thing is that I had alot of fun doing this project and it made me smile...I hope it does the same for the recipient! Tucked inside this glass jar is some homemade Hot Coca on a stick. It is homemade marshmellow and fudge on a stick that can be swirled thru warmed milk, hot coffee or simply eaten by itself. I am also going to give this to the kids in my neighborhood for Valentine's day (just the stick & tag).

Okay here is my supply list. If anyone would like a tutorial or some pics/details on how I did all of this please let me know.

I got the idea for this project from the Peachy Keen's PK-08 Hot Cocoa stamp set. I also used Peachy Keen PK-490 Everyday Character Face Assortmentstamp set for the face on the cup. I just get such a kick out of the faces on the marshmellows. It is like some are bracing for the hot liquid they are about to be dunked into and others are accpeting their fate of being dissolved and have a smile on their face! I got this jar at TJ MAXX. I stuffed several sticks of pure joy inside...yummy! Maybe I need to go and taste test one now!

My fellow blogging buddy Maria over at the Joyful Stamper had a post awhile back that showed hot cocoa on a stick. I saved that recipe along time ago but I had no idea where it was so I contacted Maria and she graciously pointed me in the right direction...THANK YOU MARIA!

Other suplies I used:
Prismacolor Pencils,
Stampin Up' Crystal Effects
Stampin up Ink
White embossing powder
Close to My Heart "That's Amore" paper pack
Close to My Heart Alphabets stamp set
Martha Stewart border punch & adhesive ribbon
Tons of pop dots and tape
Nestibilities

Now I combined several challenges into this as well. Rather than do a separate post for each item I combined them all into one post so you can see them as the set. SOrry if this upsets anyone!

Challenges:

Verve Stamps
PolkaDoodles
Kaboodle
Peachy Keen Stamps
Mygrafico
Magical Crafts Fortnightly

No DP Valentine Day Card

Shocker...another Valentine's Day card made out of scraps..I know, I know! But you know I really like this one and it was really quick and easy. I found some scraps that fit my card perfect. I broke out a stamp set that I never used before but bought ages ago by Close to My Heart called Adorable Background stamps. Since one of the challenges I had to do Love without hearts I added a Key charm to symbolize "A Key to my Heart" type of thing. This really doesn't have to be just for Valentine's Day.

The challenges I submitted this card to are:

Pixie Dust Studio'sBorder challenge. I used my Martha Stewart Lattice punch.

PaperPlay'sLOVE themed challenge

SPCCcolor challenge. I didn't have the Rich Razzleberry so I used the closest color I had and stamped it on pink cardstock which lightened the color a bit so it wasn't so dark (I like it :)

The Pink ElephantValentine's challenge.

Stamptacular Sunday Love is in the Air challenge. The catch here was that you couldn't use any hearts.

CPSsketch challenge

Everybody-ArtValentine's challenge

DCRU Love CHallenge

Well I am off to get prepared for yet ANOTHER snow storm! We are expecting about 18 inches on top of the 25+ that is already on the ground...YIKES! I am also working on a yummy project that I will post soon...

My "Mask" - 2nd post

The challenge over at the Cuttlebug Challenge was to create a "mask" for our project and add our choice of coloring agent. I pulled out a small tree that I had cut from my Cricut probably last year sometime and never used. I just decided for some reason to use that. I pulled out the first scrap that I found grabbed a baby wipe (with twins..plenty of those laying around!) and used some ink to create my design. I decided to add several colors of green to mimic the leaves on the trees even though my mask was a leafless tree. I then matted the image and put it ontop of another scrap that I embossed with a CuttleBug folder which I believe is called something like weathered stripes or weathered wood. I thought it was kinda neat because it reminded me of the bark of a tree. I followed the sketch over at the Card Patterns blog.

PaperTrey Ink Card

Papertrey Inkis having an amazing contest this week. It brings back some great memories....Paint By Numbers!! I loved doing paint by numbers (maybe because that was the only way I was able to paint :). They are coming out with these adorable acrylic paints that come in the cutest little paint cans.

We had not only to follow a sketch but a color palette. It goes by the first letter of your blog name. I was lucky and got some awesome colors!! Because I discovered it so late I didn't have much time at all. The contest ends tomorrow and we are expecting another 8-12 inches on top of the 24+ inches we already got! So who knows if I will even have power tomorrow. With that said I had tonight to come up with something. They made it really easy giving us all of the dimensions. This is what I came up with. Unfortunately I finished at about 11:00 at night so the pictures are pretty bad..sorry about the glare!

3rd post ~ A Scrapbook page!

Since it is getting towards the anniversary of the accident I tend to go into a scrapbooking mode of my two little angels. I started out in the craft world scrapping but lately I have been doing cards etc. But I am switching gears...I try to keep busy pretty much from now until almost the end of the month. After I get thru this I have my little ladies 1st birthday to plan!

Here is a page I did of my hubby & my Son Michael. We took them out to Wendy's after a doctors visit where they got shots. They were soooo good we treated them to junk food!! Great parents aren't we :)

The picture was taken on a cell phone. I got it printed out as a surprise for my hubby. My son is proudly showing off his "Handsome Hair". Mikey used to always ask Daddy...."Daddy give me some handsome hair" which worked out well because I stunk at it!

I based my page around these challenges:

Lord Have Mercy I based the layout around this sketch
One Stop Craft ChallengeColors were apple gree, clotted cream and chocolate
Allsorts CHallenge we had to Distress and use buttons or bows or both
Colors - green, blue, black, & Brown

Supplies:
Ink: Stampin Up! Chocolate Chip
Paper: Close to My Heart - Twitterpatted
Stamps: Stampin Up!- Collage Alphabet & Close to My Heart
Distress Paint by Tim Holtz - Peeled Paint
Various buttons

Second Post ~ 2 cards

I am a busy little beaver today..Totally enjoying my time holed up in my craft room while wearing completely mismatched clothes! But they are comfy so that is all I care about!!





My first card is using a Stampin Up! stamp set from 2000 that a friend just gave to me. She didn't put the name on the carton so I don't know what it is called. It was super quick and simple. The challenge over at Cupcake Craft was "Four Legs & Furry" so I picked this stamp. I followed the sketch over at Paper Maniac and used the color scheme to fulfill the challenge over at Die Cuts R Us/DCRU.



On my second card I was able to use up some of my chipboard. I have a rubbermaid container of just chipboard. The heart image I used was from Inkadinkado, stamped in Stampin Up pink ink. I followed the sketch over at Get Sketchy. The
challenge over at Saturday Spotlight was "Teeny Tiny" so I did a small card with a tiny little heart. I made it to fit the Crazy 4 Challenges Valentine theme as well as the no red Valentine theme over at
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle.