UNITY SALE!!

Just had to add one more quick little post, because I saw in the Unity forum at SCS that Angela (Mrs. Unity) is having an end-of-month clear out sale!! Here's her post (click on the image for a bigger view, this one is the biggest Blogger will allow):25% off your total order!!! Isn't that awesome? Go to Unity Stamps, and use the Coupon Code SEPT931!!

Okay, 'nuff said! *wink* Scroll down to see today's eye candy!
~Michelle

Busy Busy Busy...

I know, you're wondering where I've been, and why I haven't been blogging...

I've been busy making stuff! But not cards, this time. I've been working on jewelry for a craft fair coming up next weekend, so I figured I'd check in and show you what I've been making:

Those a just a few of the goodies, I also have earrings and some polymer clay work that I'll be selling, along with GOBS of cards (or course!).

I'll be back tomorrow with a card for Unity's Wednesday Challenge/Customer Hop, so stay tuned! Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Hip Hop Thursday Challenge!

Today in Unity's Hip Hop Thursday thread, Jeanne (Jeanne S on SCS) posted a challenge to create a card using your favorite Unity sentiment, and favorite patterned paper. (*ETA: I won the challenge!! and this a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e kit: Daisy Days! *Doing a happy dance*) Since I change my nid so much *wink*, I went with my current faves: 'Remember... Happiness is a way of travel, not a destination' from August's KOTM, and the Two Scoops collection from Basic Grey, and created this card:
I {love} how it turned out!! Maybe just because it's made with my favorites, but I love the pink with the Wild Wasabi card base! (You can see one spot on the scalloped piece of DP that the Wild Wasabi matches.) I started with the card base (standard 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" when folded), and added a 2 1/2" strip of the Two Scoops paper, scalloping one edge with my corner rounder. I did a second-generation stamping of my sentiment onto Whisper White using Cranberry Crisp ink (i.e. inked the stamp, stamped once onto scrap paper, then stamped onto my WW panel), and mounted it onto a scrap of the Two Scoops paper that was just a hair bigger, then mounted with foam tape onto another Whisper White panel. I added the big brackets from Making Memories, and three tiny 'flowers' cut from the same dp (have to use every scrap!) with light green rhinestone brads for centers.

Side note funny story: those 3 brads were ones I had planned to use a few weeks ago on a card I made for Juices. While getting ready, they *very* mysteriously DISAPPEARED. I searched for them for like 15 minutes, then gave up and decided to use light pink brads, coated with Stickles (which turned out to be a great alternative). So today, while cutting my paper, I felt something loose under my paper cutter, and turned it over (thinking something was broken). Lo and behold, there were my brads!! They had gotten stuck to the underside of the magnet that holds the replacement blades in their holder!!

Okay, enough blah blah... Go check out Hip Hop...it's probably still going! *wink* And be sure to go to Angela's blog to check out the new stuff and specials!

Thanks for stopping by today!!
~Michelle

Supplies Used:
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White (SU!); Two Scoops dp (Basic Grey)
Ink: Cranberry Crisp (SU!)
Stamps: Remember Happiness (Unity Stamp Co.)
Other: Foam tape (3M); rhinestone brads, Glitter Jigsaw Chipboard (Making Memories)

Unity Junkies Wednesday Challenge #5

It's Wednesday!! And you know what that means...tomorrow is Thursday (HIP HOP THURSDAY, to be exact), so the Unity Junkies are doing another challenge to gear up for the craziness tomorrow! *smiles* Unity is releasing 4 new singles and 3 new sets!!

Anyway, back to the challenge. Sherry (SherryLC05 on SCS) challenged us to use paper piecing, which (if you follow this blog for more than a day), is of course one of my most-favoritest techniques! YAY! So, I made this card, using today's Sketch Challenge (SC195):
Which is cute, but I thought it really could have something *more*...which gave me a lightbulb moment, and I decided to make a second, so that these two cards also fit the More Is More Challenge in the Fan Club gallery! So, I started with the same tree, same layout, and same basic papers....
But added even more layers, using some of the other papers in the fall pack from Target's $1 bin, addid panels of the word DP to the two back panels, a panel of the red circle-embossed paper behind the main panel, and a second paper-pieced tree behind the first for some extra layering. I also added foam tape behind the main panel to pop it up, and a second layer of foam to the sentiment circle. Then, I tied on a layered knot:
Which was not as easy as I would have thought at first! It's hard to hold all those little bits of ribbon while tying a knot!

So which do you like better? I'm really liking the More is More version...
Be sure to check out the Wednesday Challenge thread for the other creations, and to play along!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Supplies Used:
Paper: fall collection dp (Target $1 bin); Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, and Old Olive cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon (Tsukineko); Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Stamps: Giggle Grove, September KOTM 'Friendship. Love. Miracles.' (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: fall collection brads (Target $1 bin); foam tape (3M); ribbon (various/unknown)

Coordinated cards by the Juices...

Finally getting these uploaded! Yesterday was a busy, but fun, day...we spent the day at a park in San Luis Obispo for my DH's work picnic. There was awesome BBQ, an egg-themed competition for the adults, and bubble-blowing for the little guys...they were adorable! Anyway, today has been a bit slower, so I have some time to show you what Melinda and Chris did for Thursday's Creative Juices meeting.

I know they didn't plan it, but their cards are nicely coordinated for this blog post! *wink*

First up, Chris (aka Razzleberry)'s card:

She used the Tart & Tangy stamp set from SU!, and the coordinating Summer Picnic papers, and the background Old Olive cardstock was dry embossed with the Distressed Stripes folder. The brad is actually just a typical brass office brad, made to match with some Cat's Eye ink. Isn't the card so cute? This would be a great card to make a bunch of, to give someone as all-purpose cards! All you'd need is a box to put them in! *wink*

Melinda (aka Passionfruit) came up with this card for us to make:
It's hard to see, but it's on a white card base (and I also apologize for the rather severe angle, but my light box was not cooperating, and the card kept falling over!). The flower is actually an Autumn Leaves Rhonna Farrer clear acrylic stamp image (you can see it in Versamark on the orange panel as well), stamped 4 times in the same spot, rotating it slightly each time. Love the spirograph effect it has! I love this quote from Helen Keller...this would be great for someone heading out on their own, graduating from college or making some other big life change. (Melinda actually had this sentiment made at a rubber stamp shop because it's a favorite of hers).

Thanks for stopping by today!
~Michelle

SEPTEMBER KOTM IS HERE!!!

And I made a card within 20 minutes of opening the box! *wink* The images in this KOTM are so cute, and smaller in scale, so they're perfect for card-making. As soon as I looked at them and saw the little bird image, I remembered this great bedding set from Pottery Barn that my dear friend Melinda (aka Passionfruit) showed me last night at our CJ meeting:

And, it was perfect with today's Limited Supplies challenge: to make a card with ONLY 3 colors, and with white as the main color. Don't you just love it when everything works together like that? *smiles*

So, I chose white, red, and chocolate chip, and created this card:

I started with a standard card base in Whisper White, and stamped the sentiment in the bottom corner in Real Red. Then I stamped the bird image on a separate piece of white, cutting the image down to a 1 1/4" square, using the 'out of the box' technique. I matted it with a 1 3/8" Real Red square and a Chocolate Chip scalloped square punched with my purple Marvy punch. I tied the red ribbon around the card, then adhered all my pieces, using foam tape under the white square and the Chocolate Chip scalloped square. Seriously took me less than 20 minutes!

I'll be back in a bit with card images from last night's Creative Juices meeting! Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, and Chocolate Chip cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Real Red (SU!)
Stamps: September KOTM 'Friendship. Love. Miracles.' (Unity Stamp Co.)
Other: Foam tape (3M); ribbon (Club Wedd by Target)

Card Numero Two!

As promised, here's the SC194 card for my Creative Juices meeting tonight...had some serious issues with it, but I think I'm happy with how it turned out. As you can see, I used my Basic Grey Two Scoops paper again! *wink*


I cut the DP to fit the panels in the Sketch Challenge, and attached them to a white standard card base. Then I used my Technique Tuesday stitches stamps to 'stitch' over the joint lines with Not Quite Navy. I stamped the round tree from Giggle Grove once on a white panel, and again on the pink swirled dp, and attached the dp tree with foam tape. That panel is matted with a Bayou Blue textured cardstock panel (1/4" bigger), which was attached to the card base with foam tape after adding a white twill tab with a rhinestone brad to the corner. If I hadn't struggled with it so much, it would have taken me almost no time whatsoever...all the stuff was already out from the previous card! *sigh* Oh well, can't win them all...

Thanks for stopping by! Gotta go cut paper for Juices tonight! *wink*
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Whisper White, textured Blue Bayou cardstock (SU!); Two Scoops line dp (Basic Grey)
Ink: Not Quite Navy (SU!)
Stamps: Giggle Grove, Mix Up of Cuteness (Unity Stamp Co.); stitches (Making Memories)
Other: foam tape (3M); twill tape (Martha Stewart Crafts); rhinestone brad (Making Memories)

Two cards in one night!

DH went to bed early last night, so I had a chance to do a bit more playing!

The first card I made is a CASE of this one by Jennifer Buck, a DT member of Unity and one of this month's new Dirty Girls at SCS!! In honor of her induction, Angela posted a challenge to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) a card from the new Dirty Girl. (In case you're not an SCSer, the Dirty Girls are members of the Dirty Dozen, a group of 12 stampers that serve 6-month terms, with 2 new members each month, and the 2 at the end of their 6 month terms leaving each month.)

For my card, I kept the same set (Giggle Grove), but changed the stamp used. I also changed the colors, and used a patterned (or Designer Paper, aka DP) instead of the Cuttlebug embossed background, and paper-pieced the image rather than coloring. I kept the layout and layers.

I started with a half-sheet of Wild Wasabi cardstock, folded in half for the standard 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card size. Then I cut a panel of DP 1/4" smaller in both dimensions, a Very Vanilla panel 1 3/4" smaller than the base, and another VV panel 2" smaller than the base. I stamped the Giggle Grove tree twice: once on the smaller VV panel, and once on a piece of the DP, and paper-pieced the circles, popping them up on foam tape. I tied a piece of ribbon around, then adhered it to the larger VV panel with more foam tape. I taped everything to the base, and Voila! It was a fast, super easy card, but I love how it looks! Thanks for the great card to CASE, Jen!

Next up, I made a card for tonight's Creative Juices meeting, using yesterday's Sketch Challenge 194 (SC194)...which I'll be posting after gymnastics! *wink* It still needs something, and I need to figure out what that is before I take the pic! bwahahahah! So I'll blog ya later! *smiles*

Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Wild Wasabi and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!); 'Spumoni' from the Two Scoops collection (Basic Grey)
Ink: Jet Black Stazon (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Giggle Grove (Unity Stamps Co.)
Other: Foam tape (3M); ribbon (American Crafts)

Color Inspiration 23 - Autumn Leaf

Two color challenges in one day! This one is for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #23...and I'm just barely squeaking in under the time limit!! Here is the image for the Color Inspiration, and the colors to be used:

Doesn't it just make you so ready for fall? We've had a bit of the fall-ish weather, though we don't have the brisk coldness in the air just yet!

Anyway, onto the card....
I started with a base of Chocolate Chip (11" x 4 1/4", folded in half to create a standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card), and embossed just the bottom edge with the 'Swiss Dots' Cuttlebug folder. I cut a Pumpkin Pie circle and a Bravo Burgundy circle using my Coluzzle, then scalloped the BB circle with my corner rounder. This leaves one scallop a bit short, so I tied the chocolate satin ribbon over it. *wink*

I stamped the 'leaf' image (actually a tree from Giggle Grove!) onto Very Vanilla, and colored with Prismas in shades that matched the challenge colors, to look like an autumn leaf. Then I stamped the 'friend' on one of the edges and cut it to fit inside a Hodge Podge Hardware label holder.

I adhered the layered circle to the card base with foam tape, and the leaf to that with dimensionals, and attached my sentiment/label holder to the bottom right corner.

Thanks for stopping by! Blog ya later!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Bravo Burgundy, and Very Vanilla (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Stamps: Giggle Grove, Remember Happiness August KOTM (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: foam tape (3M); dimensionals and Hodge Podge Hardware label holder (SU!); ribbon (Club Wedd for Target)

Raspberry Blue Ice Cream

It's another Unity Challenge Wednesday!! This week, our challenge was to make a card using PINK and BLACK (and if you have them, Unity Stamps, of course!), given to us by none other than the Queen of Challenges and newest DT member herself, Jeanne S!!

Here's my offering for today:


I love these papers by Basic Grey (Aged and Confused Sublime Collection), and I've had them forever! As soon as I heard Jeanne's challenge, I knew I was going to use them! The ice cream cone (from Mix Up of Cuteness) is paper-pieced from a paper called "Raspberry Blue"...hence the title of this post. *wink*

The base is an 11" x 4 1/4" piece of Alpha Berry cardstock, folded in half...I've been really into folding my cards this way lately, for some reason. Then I used one of my last pieces of the polka dot pattern (don't remember its name), matted with textured Basic Black cardstock for a panel behind my image. I stamped the 'cool' on the bottom left corner in Stazon Jet Black, and added a line of mini pearls. The ice cream cone is 'popped up' on two different layers: the ice cream itself, and behind the scalloped black square. Before adding the square, though, I tied on a piece of picot-edged satin ribbon (cutting a small sliver out of the fold for the ribbon to go through).

Go check out everyone else who's playing on this thread (<-----click there!!) and leave the girls some love! *wink*

Thanks for stopping by today! Disney pics to come later, as promised!
~Michelle

Supplies Used:
Paper: textured Basic Black cardstock (SU!); Aged and Confused Sublime Collection (Basic Grey)
Ink: Stazon Jet Black (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Mix Up of Cuteness (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: foam tape (3M); scalloped square punch (Marvy Uchida); ribbon (American Crafts); adhesive pearls (Michael's)

MOPS activities...

Sorry I've been MIA...it's been a crazy couple of weeks! Even though my boys aren't school-aged, it's still the time of year when all the activities start up. For me, that means MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) and Tuesday morning Bible study (we're doing Beth Moore's Stepping Up ...it's fabulous!).

As I think I have mentioned before, I'm our MOPS group's 'craft chick', and for our first meeting last week, we made these business card holders (sorry, I only have a picture of the unstamped version...we stamped the outside with the Wild About You animals, since the year's theme is 'Adventures in Mothering'):
Inside is a pocket to hold the business cards:
I also made nametags for all the ladies who would be attending (8 each of 5 designs for our groups...giraffes, elephants, penguins, alligators, and lions), for the kiddos (theirs aren't pictured, but they're the elephant and the alligator, cut out around, and laminated to be pinned to their backs), and for our wonderful workers who watch all the little Moppets...they have the ones in badge holders.
So, as you can see, I have been busy! This past weekend we went to Disneyland and California Adventure on Friday and Saturday, and the boys had a blast! I'll post some photos later to show you some of the highlights. *wink*

Hope you have a fantastic day, and remember to stop by tomorrow to see my card for the Unity Customer Challenge hop! Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: unknown dp and cardstock (it's been handed down in the MOPS craft box!); pre-cut paper from nametag holders (Avery)
Ink: Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Rose Red, Apricot Appeal, Not Quite Navy, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, More Mustard (SU!)
Stamps: Wild About You (SU!)
Other: chipboard (Office Depot); Velcro squares; pin-back nametag holders (not pictured), vertical badge holders (Avery)

Family Tree Unity Sketch Challenge

Today in the Unity Forum is (was) the Wednesday Customer Challenge...and I'm just now getting mine posted! As you can see by the daylight in the photo, I really did have it done earlier today:

The challenge was to make a card based on this sketch given by Latisha (aka 1busymomof2), making sure to keep the square card format and the scallops:
And so I did! I started with a 4 1/4" square card base (4 1/4" x 8 1/2" cardstock), added a square panel of a large floral dp (it's about 4 3/16" square), then the rectangular panel of polka-dotted dp, and faux-stitched around it (using my paper-piercing tool and a ZIG marker, which I rested briefly in each hole to make it look more stitched). That seemed a bit dark though, so then I went over the edges of the rectangle and my 'stitching' with a Cotton White Stazon ink pad to tone it down a bit.

I stamped the tree twice on Whisper White, and cut one into a square, then colored the other with Prismas, cut out, and popped up on dimensionals. I mounted the WW square to a square of Mellow Moss, and a scalloped edge of some blue polka dot dp under the left side. I stamped 'family' also onto WW, and put it into a metal Making Memories scalloped frame that is a *perfect* match to Mellow Moss. I tied a knot around the card, mounted the framed sentiment over the top with foam tape, and added a button to the corner of my image panel (that's for you, Maren! *wink*). A fairly simple, pretty quick card!

Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to go to the Unity forum tomorrow for new singles and a new set!! Can't wait to see the goodies Angela has for us!!
~Michelle

Supplies Used:
Paper: Mellow Moss, Whisper White cardstock (SU!); floral and polka dot DPs (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Close to Cocoa (SU!); Stazon Cotton White (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Tiny Trinity (Unity Stamp Co.)
Other: metal frame (Making Memories); Button (Daisy D's); ribbon (Martha Stewart Crafts); Prismacolor Artist Pencils (Sanford); scalloped square punch (Marvy Uchida); paper piercing tool (Tim Holtz for Tonic Studios); ZIG Writer; foam tape (3M); hemp twine

Cuppa Love

Three posts in one day!! Can you believe it? This is the card I made for today's Limited Supplies Challenge (LSC184) - to make a card or project with a coffee image and the color orange. Happily, this adorable image was in Unity's August KOTM, or I'd have *no* coffee images to work with. I've also realized that this is the 3rd patterned paper that I've altered *with orange*...apparently my paper stash is seriously lacking in the orange department, since I have to keep coloring parts of other colored papers in with my Mineral Orange Prismacolor!

I stamped the image on Sahara Sand with my Chocolate Chip ink pad, and colored in with Prismacolors. I love how using the Sahara Sand let me color the cups and the steam with white, and have a colored background. I colored the hearts and some of the swirls with a beige color, to look like cream or foam, and edged the tray with some more orange to tie everything in together.

I matted the image twice, with very thin mats (maybe 1/16"...probably closer to 1/32"!) of Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip, and mounted it to the card with foam tape, after adhering my custom-colored DP panel and tying on some satin ribbon. I stamped the sentiment 'Stir it up' directly on the bottom right corner of the card base with Chocolate Chip. Here's a close-up of the mats around the image panel and the coloring on the DP:
Thanks for stopping by today! Have a fantastic weekend!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, and Close to Cocoa cardstock, Au Chocolat dp (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Stamps: image from August KOTM 'Remember Happiness', sentiment from Lovin' from the Oven (Unity Stamps Company)
Other: satin ribbon (Club Wedd by Target); Prismacolor Art Pencils (Sanford); foam tape (3M)

Birthday Creative Juices!

Wednesday was the birthday of my dear friend, Melinda (aka PassionFruit), and because he DH was on-call, we decided to have Creative Juices (our monthly-ish stamping get-together) on her birthday! Really, what's better than stamping on your birthday, right? *wink*

First up, I'll show you the card I made Mel for her b-day...if you've been to my SCS gallery in the past week, you may have already seen this:

The base is a piece of Wild Wasabi, cut to 8 1/2" x 7 3/8", then scored halfway on the short side to make a card that fits in a standard letter envelope (the Scor-Pal has special lines on it just for this kind of fold, marked with a small triangle/arrow). The finished size ends up being ~8 1/2" x 3 5/8". The background paper is from Scenic Route - I knew Mel would love the green, and to make it coordinate with my image, I colored some of the stripes in using an orange Prismacolor. (This is something I've been doing a lot to get 'custom' papers that coordinate with other papers or the way I've colored an image...check out Friday's post - I colored the polka dots in with orange there, too.)

The image and the sentiment were stamped in Chocolate Chip, and the image was colored with my Prismacolor pencils...now that I've fished them back out, I'm in love with them again!! I'm so much better at coloring with pencils than markers, especially with the Prismacolors, since they blend so well. I mounted both on Soft Sky panels, and adhered the matted image panel to the background with foam tape. The ribbon for the sentiment is adhered to the back on the right side (after I tied the knot in it), then runs all the way around teh back, and through the Hodgepodge Hardware loopy thing, then attached to itself with two more brads...love how that looks!

NOW - on to our Creative Juices cards. Mine was already posted on Wednesday (the 'Way of Travel' card with the cute little campers), so I'm just going to show the other two cards we made. (FYI: Kathryn (aka Spicy V-8) and Dolores (aka Jamba) were also there, but we don't all make cards to share, or we'd be up all night!! *smiles*)

This card was made by Chris (aka Razzleberry, aka my DMIL):

The image was stamped on an embossed white panel, then colored in with colored pencils. We added the two little black eyelets, adhered the black panel to the back of the image panel, attached some rick rack to the bottom, and then everything was adhered to the light blue base (I think it's Bashful Blue). Quick, but super cute, and a perfect masculine card.


Melinda (aka PassionFruit, aka the Birthday Girl) made this cute little cupcake card, using the new Cupcake Affair set from Verve:

The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye (it's from Mel's huge pack that *she* bought at Costco...lol!), and is a full quarter-sheet size (5 1/2" x 4 1/4") on top of a white card base. The image(s) and sentiment are stamped using Chocolate Chip, and then we colored in the flowers with Blender Pens and a Certainly Celery inkpad, and accented the centers with some green Stickles. The image circle is matted with a Certainly Celery circle. We adhered everything to the patterned paper, and tied on some brown satin ribbon.

Thanks for another great night of stamping and fun, Juices!! {{hugs}}

Back in a bit with the card I made for today's LSC!
~Michelle

Supplies used (Indulge birthday card):
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, and Soft Sky cardstock (SU!); striped paper (Scenic Route)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Stamps: August KOTM 'Remember Happiness' (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: foam tape (3M); Prismacolor Art Pencils (Sanford); HodgePodge Hardware (SU!); grosgrain ribbon

Unity Polka-dot Challenge

This was a super-quick card made for a challenge posted in Unity's Hip Hop Thursday forum yesterday. The challenge? Make a Unity card, using polka dots.

I ran upstairs, found the blue polka-dotted background paper, and a scrap of Pumpkin Pie already cut to 5" width, and half a sheet of Chocolate Chip for my base. So I colored in the polka-dots with a Mineral Orange Prismacolor to match, cut a scalloped edge with my corner rounder on one side of the Pumpkin Pie, and adhered the two together. On a scrap of Very Vanilla, I stamped this tree from Giggle Grove, then stamped it again onto a coordinating, smaller-scale polka dot paper, and paper-pieced the circles, popping them up using foam tape. I matted it on Chocolate Chip, tied on some satin ribbon, and adhered it to the background with more foam tape. After it was stuck to the base, I decided it needed a sentiment, so I found this one from my July KOTM, and stamped it in the corner using my Stamp-a-ma-jig (love that thing!!).

Voila! A card done in less than 25 minutes, including taking a photo, editing the photo, and posting it on SCS! Whew!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back later with our projects from Creative Juices on Wednesday!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie cardstock (SU!); patterned papers (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Stazon Timber Brown (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Giggle Grove, July KOTM (Unity Stamp Co.)
Other: foam tape (3M); brown satin ribbon (Club Wedd by Target)

Scrap Apple

This one's just a quick little apple card I made from the many scraps that have accumulated on my desk. I found the polka dot paper first, and used other scraps to round out the card, using yesterday's Sketch Challenge, SC192...though I did change the main image panel to a circle instead of a rectangle.

I stamped the image in Old Olive, then colored it in with Prismacolors. Then I punched it out with my pink circle punch, and punched out a Pumpkin Pie scalloped circle with my purple punch. I folded a piece of Whisper White to make the base (the only non-scrap on this card), then a panel of Bayou Blue, then my two dp pieces, with some Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon across the seam. The scalloped circle is on foam tape for some dimension.

Then, it looked a litle naked...so I added the glittery 'hello' letters that I found yesterday in the clearance bin a Target, and to tie in the sparkle, added Stickles to each scallop and to the polka dots on the background paper.

And now I've got a question for you: How do you store your scraps, and does it work for you? Do you remember to use them?

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to go Hip Hop in the Unity forum at 10am CST (8am PST) today!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, and Blue Bayou cardstock (SU!); polka dot and green dp (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Old Olive (SU!)
Stamps: Mix-up of Cuteness (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: glitter letter alpha stickers (Making Memories); Stickles (Ranger, Inc.); Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon (SU!); foam tape (3M)

Two more goodies!

First, another Unity Customer Challenge card, as promised earlier:

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. All the colored paper (other than the Chocolate Chip base) is My Mind's Eye DP from a *huge* stack I got at Costco months ago for some ridiculously low price...I think it came out to less than $0.03/sheet!

The trailers are stamped, colored with Prismacolor pencils, then cut out and popped up on dimensionals. (For those of you that are Creative Juices...this is my card for tonight!)

The second card is for this weekend's Inspiration Challenge (IC143 - Hotel Fox)...the challenge was to draw inspiration from one of the 61 rooms, each individually designed by one of 21 designers. I chose this room:

And here's my card:

The trees are paper-pieced on Creamy Caramel stamped in More Mustard, and the swirly 'grass' is actually the swirl from the Unity July KOTM journaling block (and idea I got from Cyndi Bundy in this post on her blog). It's paper-pieced from Really Rust stamped in Creamy Caramel. That entire scene is popped up on dimensionals, with the little owl from July's KOTM peeking out from behind the trees to say 'Hi there'! I wish the shimmer and sheen of that woven ribbon showed up on camera...it's got an amazing coppery shimmer to it IRL.

Thanks for stopping by (again)! Have a creative day!
~Michelle

Supplies used (Way of Travel card):
Paper: Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!); blue 'solid' and green and blue polka dot paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamps: August KOTM 'Remember Happiness' (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: Prismacolor Artist Pencils (Sanford); dimensionals (SU!)

Supplies used (Hotel Fox card):
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, and More Mustard (SU!)
Stamps: Giggle Grove, July KOTM, Mix-up of Cuteness (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: Hodgepodge Hardware label holder, dimensionals (SU!); ribbon (Michael's $1 bin)

Show your true colors!

Lately (as I'm sure you've noticed, if you read this blog regularly!), I've been all about the Unity. You could say I'm a Unity Junkie since I got my first order...So today's Unity Customer Challenge is right up my alley! The challenge today is a color challenge: make a card using Unity Colors (chocolate brown and teal, with a bit of cocoa thrown in...check out their website or blog if you want a visual), with the option of throwing in *one* other color. I opted not to on this card...

Are you getting the not-so-subtle subliminal message? Let's just say that tomorrow is Hip Hop Thursday in the Unity Forum, and it'd be a good time to INDULGE in a SWEET THING! *wink* If you'd like to play along with today's challenge, you'll find the post for that in forum as well after 10am CST (8am PST).

This card is also a CASE of NikiE's card that you can find here, for this weekend's Featured Stamper challenge (FS82). I used the same layout and similar colors, but changed the stamp set and the sentiment holder, using a label holder rather than a die-cut tag.

I stamped my favorite cupcake from Cupcakes a la Yummy three times on Very Vanilla, cutting each one out after coloring with Blender Pens. Then I stamped the top three times on Chocolate Chip so that the icing would be *really* chocolatey. The cupcakes are on dimensionals on their Very Vanilla panel. I stamped 'indulge' on the Creamy Caramel background using Close to Cocoa. Added some matting and a sentiment in a Hodge Podge Hardware holder, and Voila! Easy peasy card!

Have fun looking at everyone else's offerings! I finished another color card last night, which I'll have up shortly.

And before I go, I just have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MELINDA!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAM!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Cool Caribbean, Creamy Caramel, and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Cool Caribbean (SU!)
Stamp: Cupcakes a la Yummy, Remember Happiness (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: Dimensionals, Hodge Podge Hardware label holder (SU!); grosgrain ribbon

Feeling Yellow?

Today's Color Challenge (CC182) is to make a monochromatic card, using shades of *any* color. Sounds easy, right? Not so much...you have to decide which color!

So, I looked through my paper stash and found some flocked (fuzzy) yellow paper and matching vellum that I bought *years* ago, and decided I'd go with a monochromatic yellow card. The base is a 5 1/4" square (finished size) of yellow textured Bazzill cardstock, with the front edge scalloped using my corner punch. The layout is from this weekend's Sketch for You To Try from Jen del Muro's blog, I {heart} 2 Stamp, adapted to a square format.

I cut panels of the flocked cardstock and vellum, then matted them with Very Vanilla. Since it had a bit of an old-time/vintage feel, I decided on this little teapot from Mix-Up of Cuteness, and a comforting sentiment from the Unity August KOTM 'Remember Happiness'. Both are white embossed, the sentiment on a So Saffron panel, and the teapot on Very Vanilla, then colored in with a Blender Pen and Apricot Appeal ink. I punched a circle and a scalloped square from Very Vanilla, and a square from So Saffron, and assembled my card, adding white brads at the corners of the two background panels and white 'candy dots' on the sentiment panel. I used foam tape under the teapot and the scalloped square.

Thanks for stopping by! See you in the morning...my post is scheduled for 8am PST *wink*
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: So Saffron and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!); textured yellow cardstock...not sure of the actual color, but it matches So Saffron! (Bazzill); Yellow Vine Flocked cardstock and vellum (K & Company)
Ink: Apricot Appeal (SU!); Versamark (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Mix-up of Cuteness, August KOTM 'Remember Happiness' (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: foam tape (3M); brads (Making Memories); candy dots (Pebbles, Inc.)

Lonely Love Bird

Another Unity challenge card! (I'm trying to beat Jeanne, the Queen of Challenges (aka Jeanne S on SCS)...which is hard, because this is her job, not just her hobby!)

This card is for yesterday's Technique Lover's Challenge (TLC184) - Black Magic. A fun technique, and I got to use my Prismas again! So I started with the image...the Black Magic technique is to stamp on a dark background with white or cream craft ink, then color in using Prismacolor pencils dipped in Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS). The OMS softens the pencil, giving you a really smooth, rich color. The resulting image often has a bit of a night-time effect, so I immediately thought of this image (So & So Loves... from Unity), because it'd be so cool to have the birch trees look like they were lit my moonlight! I used varying levels of French Grey to give the bark a moonlit look, using 90% on the left side, and gradually fading to 30% on the right side of each tree. Then I went over the lightest areas with Cream to add a slight yellowish cast.

Since I didn't have any 'red' paper that matched the bird I colored perfectly, I edged a panel of Real Red with the Poppy Red and Crimson red pencils I used on the bird, then lightly colored over that with the French Grey 30% to tone it down. The heart is from one of the sentiments in August's KOTM, and was stamped with Fired Brick Distress ink, then clear embossed.

(As a side note, the three jumbo snaps really are the same color IRL...but for some reason the middle one looks darker in all my photos!)

Have a fantastic day, and be sure to come back tomorrow morning to see the card I made for Unity's Customer Challenge Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Basic Black, Sahara Sand, and Real Red cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Medici Marble (Fresco chalk finish); Fired Brick (Distress by Ranger)
Stamps: So & So Loves..., 'Remember Happiness' August KOTM (Unity Stamp Co.)
Other: Prismacolor Artist Pencils (Sanford); foam tape (3M); jumbo snaps (We R MemoryKeepers); black grosgrain ribbon