Welcome to my Cupcakery.....My Time Technique Challenge and Stampin Out Alzheimer's Exclusive

Well happy weekend everyone! It's time for another challenge from Lauren Meader and the My Time to Create design team! And if you've been following along with me this week, you know that the Stampin Out Alzheimer's week of fundraising, challenges and prizes is wrapping up this sunday, May 31st. You can still get in on the fun by donating a mere $5 to have access to freebie downloads, challenges and a great community (see the donation box on the right). One of the amazing freebies is the totally cute *SOA exclusive* CUPCAKE template I am using today designed by the generous and talented Kellieh Ratzlaff at the Digichick. Check her out!

my project:

The technique challenge this week from Lauren is dry embossed vellum with coloring from the back side for highlights. This is actually very cool and looks like white powder embossing without the mess. I chose to use the technique on the hearts and dots "sprinkles" on my cupcake.
I first stamped my hearts and dots on the backside of the vellum with versamark ink. I then traced the stamped shapes with a stylus and a foam mat underneath. Then colored in the shapes, again from the back side. The light shining through this 3-D shape really illuminates the images. I also couldn't resist a layer of spray adhesive and fine clear glitter from Martha Stewart on the vellum. I do love my sparkle!
The top is held closed with a corsage pin threaded with beads. The green bead was dyed with Tim Holtz Alcohol ink in celery. The wrapper is two pieces of 2" x 12" paper from K&Co that has been scored with a Scor Pal at 1/4" intervals and accordian folded. This was adhered with liquid glue around the template cupcake. I also trimmed the top edge of the wrapper with pinking shears.

A look down inside the cupcake wrapper....

This cupcake is roughly the size of a gourmet large cupcake so plenty of room inside to fill with treats! And, thanks to Grandma D for the gorgeous hunk of vintage glass. The stand is actually the base to a large punch bowl.

Want more dry embossing? Check out these projects from the My time to create team! Can't wait to see what you make. See you soon!

Lauren
Alicia
Maria
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Tamara
MacKenzie

Thanks so much for stopping by. I love hearing from you!

Supplies:

template: Kelleigh Ratzlaff at the Digichick

vellum

paper: K&Co

pens: Zig scroll and brush

versamark ink

stamps: Papertrey Ink

glitter: Martha Stewert

punch: Stampin Up scallop circle

Tools: stylus, scor pal, fabric tac, scotch liquid adhesive, pinking sheers

alcohol ink: tim holtz in celery

other: ribbon, corsage pin, beads, green twistel

Schoooool's Out for summer! (almost)

Hey everyone! Just a quickie today! School IS almost out for my 2nd grader and today was the last day of preschool for my youngest (gulp! says the mommy!).

Like I suspect many of you are doing, I had lots of teachers and helpers I wanted to thank. Including some preteen and young teen youth leaders in my daughter's youth group. Here is a QUICK way to give them a little something. And I MEAN quick because I had 10 minutes to "creatively" wrap their gifts before leaving for pickup time. (I should have been a fireman as I seem to accomplish the most based on whatever fire is burning the hottest ;) But that's a whole other story that could probably use it's own blog. LOL!) SO back to the gifties...I snapped up packs of Red Vines in the candy aisle at the grocery store and flew home for a little custom wrap.

I typed up "thank you! thank you! thank you!" on my Word program, choose a different font and color for each pair of thank yous and then hit copy and paste to fill a copy weight sheet of paper with our gratitude. I broke out a star and this totally cool thank you sentiment from the new Papertrey Ink Star Prints set and stamped them on white cardstock, punched and adhered to a scalloped circle for a gift tag. Simple, easy and cute I thought.

And the cards you saw earlier in the week have started to go out. This bucket full of thanks was for Shelby's preschool teachers. Each card has a coffee gift card inside and a packet of flower seeds stuck to the back. I planted them in floral foam packed into the bottom of the $1 aisle bucket and hid my mechanics with tissue paper . This was delivered today and was a happy sight among the teachers as they plucked their individual flower out of the garden....*sigh* they get me :)

Thank you for stopping by today. Have a great one!

Color Inspiration #53 (two posts today)

Happy wednesday people! Post number two today so be sure to scroll on down to check out my flip flop tan ;) And now it's time for a color and sketch challenge! I combined Kristina Werner's challenge with a sketch being shown over at the Stampin Out Alzheimer's site. It's not to late to join in all the challenge and giveaway fun over there. For a mere $5 donation (check out the donate link on my side bar), you are in!

my card:

Now, sing along with Bad Company if you know it..."don't you know that you are a shooting star, yes you are, dontcha dontcha dontcha dontcha dontcha knoooooowwwww..."

(hee hee, thanks for humoring a little rock and roll indulgence this morning)

So being a girlie scrapper, I had to scour my paper supplies to come up with this cool DP from Cherry Arte. I added the card base and a bit of black cardstock, otherwise all the color on this card is from one double sided sheet of paper. The stars are popped on foam tape for a 3 dimensional effect.

I also pumped up the center on the focal point using the new star stamp set from Papertrey ink. White embossing on black cardstock, yum!

And because it was interesting to me (and maybe intersting to you?), here is my card next to the remains of the Cherry Arte paper...still plenty of life left in her for a scrap page or another card. Thanks Kristina for helping me to find this lost piece of primary colored DP in my stash...it was a fun departure from my usual.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a superstar kind of day!!

Supplies:

Paper: Cherry Arte, CM

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: SU!

Embossing powder: SU!

Other: foam tape, star punch (fiskars)

Time for a Flip Flop Tan!

Whether my whisper white legs know it or not, summer is a comin! Eeeek! I think I'll start with just a flip flop tan! hee hee even better if it's a paper one ;)

This FABULOUS digi mini kit called "Flip Flop Tan" was one of the FREEBIES for all participants in the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's event (see the donate button on my side bar). You can still join in all the challenge and giveaway fun for a mere $5 donation this week. I wanted to try my hand at a hybrid card (that's card, not "car") so I downloaded this sizzling hot summer kit and started pasting into just plain old Word. Worked like a charm and everything is adjustable and maneuverable. I can't wait to try a layout next! (I can't believe I just said I want to digi scrap! WOW what a light bulb moment!)

I added the Refresh stamp from SU!, ink, pink and blue cardstock for the card base and a dot of stickles. The label, the stripe paper, the dot paper, the stitching and the flower.....all DIGI! Cool! Thanks for stopping by!

Finished card size: 5 1/2 x 2 1/2

Supplies:

Digi Kit: Flip Flop Tan by Sweete Shoppe Designs

Cardstock: Papertrey and CM

Punch: SU

Stamp: SU

Ink:SU

Other: stickles

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #7

Howdy friends! Happy Tuesday! I've been busy in my craft room cooking up a handful of thank yous + one congrats card to check a few to dos off my list of cards I need. Dawn McVey's color challenge was the perfect prompt for creating my pile o cards. I mixed and matched inks, ribbons and papers but these are two of my fave combos:

card #1

card #2

And here are all the different combos I cooked up as a result of this challenge and the supplies I had on hand. Finished card size 4 1/4 x 3 3/4".
What a surprisingly fun color combo to play with! I really liked the ripe avocado next to the raspberry fizz. I will definitely try those two again...after I replenish my ripe avocado stock that is ;) Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Stampin Up! and Papertrey Ink (Faux Ribbon)

Ink: Stampin Up!

Embossing powder: SU!

Die: Tope Note by Sizzix

Scallop Scissors: Fiskars

Other: ribbon (raspberry fizz by Papertrey Ink), buttons and craft gems

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop and Moxie Fab

Happy Blog hop! This month's PTI blog hop called for the use of the trendy color yellow. No surprise this color has also shown up in this week's color challenge from Moxie Fab and Papercrafts magazine. What a happy combo.

Moxie Fab challenge link

We have friends who are expecting a little girl soon and their baby shower is this week. I also happened to be digging through the yarn drawer for my girls to practice braiding and came up with this oh so soft baby yarn and had a flash of a card that could be as snuggly soft as a baby blankie...and came up with this...

I wrapped and wrapped the yarn around the front side of the card, securing the ends with a bit of my adhesive friend and yours, FABRI-TAC. The cardstock is heavy duty Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart so it can hold up nicely to the wrapping without causing the cardstock to bow. I next stamped the "sweet little baby" sentiment from the Bitty Baby Blessing from Papertrey Ink with Always Artichoke ink from Stampin Up! on white cardstock. This is run through a sizzix machine with the Top Note die. A little Kiwi Kiss ink on the edges does the trick to define the curvy edges of this die. I adhered the top note cut to the yarn with more fabri-tac. The green cardstock colors are spring moss and ripe avocado from papertrey and they were cut using nestabilities in the sizzix machine. My favorite embossing plate from cuttlebug, the swiss dots, was used on the scalloped oval to echo the lemon tart bitty dots paper I stamped the cute Bitty Baby Blessings ducky on. I also accented the oval with the dotted oval border from Papertrey's Borders and corners Oval in Always Artichoke by Stampin up!

I love all the different textures and mediums on this card. It feels so fresh and baby soft, just like a newborn! Check out all the layers in the side shot below. The yarn background looks like a great place to take a nap don't you think?

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate you!

Supplies:

Paper: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Stampin Up!

Dies: Sizzix and Nestabilities

Embossing plate: Cuttlebug

Other: ribbon

A gift for mom

Two Sundays ago, we celebrated the fabulous moms in our lives on Mother's Day. My mother in law certainly qualifies as one of the fabulous and dear ones and I wanted to package up a fresh supply of summer essentials for her along with a shopping card so she can treat herself to a little something new for an upcoming road trip. A From the Desk of Timeless Template by Lauren Meader was the perfect packaging solution. Lauren's templates make custom packaging soooo easy. This particular one is one of my current faves. It can be used as one big container as I have done here or there is a custom box divider if you plan to use it more like a file box.

The paper and embellishment choices I made all stemmed from the adorable department store gift card. I worked with the blues, yellow and browns from the card to dress up the box. Although it is tough to see in the pictures, I scored horizontal lines in the kraft paper around the box and it really gave it a designer look. I'll have to try that again and get more detailed pics. The flowers are sizzix dies and the leaves are hand cut. The stamp set is Life from Papertrey Ink using the Vintage Cream ink (love!).

What's a custom gift box without a coordinating card? This card whipped up quickly with more of the same paper, dies, ink and stamps and then I adhered a bamboo skewer to the back so it could poke out of the box.

Since this box was delivered by hand, I had a blast making the elements 3 dimensional and enjoyed the freedom of letting it all hang off the side. The effect was so fun! You know what else was great? My dear MIL left the box packed for a while just because she liked looking at it all packed up just so...is this a woman after my own heart or what?! It's no wonder we are so close!

This is just a quick shot of the rectangle of cardstock I taped to the inside of the front panel to form a 3 sided envelope to hold the gift card. It looked sweet poking out of the front half circle window I cut with my coluzzle.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

Supplies:

Template: My Timeless Template by Lauren Meader for Papertrey Ink "From the Desk of"

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink and Creative Memories

Dies: Sizzix

Punches: Martha Stewert

Ink: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Tools: coluzzle, paper piercer and Scor-pal

Other: craft gems

MTTC 02 My Time to Color Challenge and a reminder of an important event

Happy Saturday bloggers! It's time for a new challenge from Lauren Meader and the My Time to Create Design team! This saturday's challenge is to create something using the color scheme below. Are you ready???? It's 6 happy colors of the rainbow! Let's get crafting.....

The Challenge

Looking for some inspiration? Check out the design team links below and then return to Lauren's blog for a Mr Linky and share YOUR project inspired by the yummy colors above....which happen to make me want Popsicles right now in case you wanted to know ;)

Here are the links:

Lauren
Alicia
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Tamara

and me, Dana Gustafson! No need to click just keep reading ....

My project:

I finally dusted off my Cricut and jumped into die cutting for this one. The flower shaped card is from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cut at the largest setting. I originally cut the card in white with the flower center cut out but I decided later it needed a border for all those colorful dots. So I hand trimmed the white flower down and adhered it to a new blue card base. The circle center was pierced using a piercing tool and a circular embroidery template. Works great! The embossing thread was hand stitched on the pierced circle and then I used the ends to secure a colorful button for accent. The scallop circle was cut at 2" on short stack shift setting from the Alphalicious cartridge to accent the center of the flower and the whole center was popped up on foam tape.
The rainbow dots were hand stamped using the Polka Dot Basics from papertrey Ink. As I illustrated here, stamping something like this is a little easier with grid paper. And a little practice ;)

Before signing off for the day, I'd like to take a moment to remind everyone about the important event coming up organized by my fellow design team member, Jen Tapler. In honor of her dad, she has created and organized a pay to play online forum complete with craft challenges, tutorials and over $1000 in sponsored prizes for a mere $5 donation. Her dad is only 58 years old and he is in late stages of Alzheimer's disease. She is bravely sharing her story and raising money to fight this terrible disease. It is also a story near and dear to my heart as I watched my grandfather slowly slip away to Alzheimer's as well. I have displayed her fundraising ticker that has a direct donation link on the top of my sidebar or please visit Jen's blog for her story and details on the Stampin Out Alzheimer's event. I'll be there for the week of creative fun and celebration of life and I hope you will be too!

Thanks so much for dropping by. I appreciate you!

Supplies:
Paper: CM and Georgia Pacific
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Diecut MAchine: Cricut with Bags tags boxes and more and Alphalicious cartridges
Ink: SU!
Other: button and embroidery template from Darice

More Clearly Vintage Motif

Hello friends! Back again today with MORE from the Clearly Vintage stamp set Motif. It's so gorgeous! And has tons of choices on the 6 x 8 inch sheet of stamps.

Today a little something quiet and reserved for a precious great aunt who recently passed away. She was a lady in the true sense of the word. Kind, considerate and strong. She will be dearly missed by her family and friends as well as our community in which she was highly involved. So in her honor...
Like most, I have a hard time making sympathy cards. Despite a lovely stamp I own that says "with sympathy" I just rarely can stamp that on my card. I typically skip that particular sentiment and opt for a hand written message wishing the loved ones peace in their hearts. Just works for me that way. I also like to use bird images on sympathy cards. Birds in flight always make my heart feel hopeful and I like that message :)
The gray background for the bird and the elegant design stamped in grey on the kraft cardstock are both from Motif. Aren't they beautiful? I added a bold striped ribbon and the elegant half pearls from my friend Elise by SU! Thanks girlfriend! You know how much I love these!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I love hearing from you :)

Supplies:

Paper: SU! and Georgia Pacific

Stamps: Clearly Vintage and Studio G

Embossing plate: Cuttlebug swiss dots

Ink: SU!

Punch: SU!

Pearls: SU!

Ribbon: Value Ribbon from Michaels

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge - Week 6

Just one more for today :) Had to get in on the week 6 raspberry suite challenge from Dawn McVey and decided on a wise owl graduation card. Perfect for the wise graduate...
I had fun with this cute owl from Sassafrass Lass. A couple of google eyes make this card shakable and full of fun...just perfect for a girl I know who is graduating PRE-SCHOOL! Yep, my baby is ready for the big leap to kindergarten. She's ready...it's good one of us is :)

The other stamps are from a cute Studio G set from Michaels. I love those dollar bin items!

Thank you for stopping by...

Supplies:

Paper: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Sassafrass Lass, Studio G

Punches: CM and SU!

Scissors: Fiskars scallop

Other: ribbon (target $1 spot), google eyes and Zig brush tip marker

Help Stamp out Alzheimer's

Hello friends. I am here to help promote an important cause co-coordinated by my stamping and blogging friend, Jen Tapler. Stamp out Alzheimer's is near and dear to her heart and she has been working hard along with Susanna Boyd of Papercraft Planet to promote this worthy cause. Please check it out at Jen's blog. Here is an excerpt from her post about the event:

Susanna and I, along with a group of generous sponsors and challenge hostesses, have teamed up to create a temporary online community where members can take part in a variety of challenges, contests, classes and workshops, and download several free products (a special digital kit, a printable 3-d template, tutorials, etc) in different papercrafting categories (stamping, cardmaking, paperscrapbooking, digi scrapping, hybrid, etc). All this for a suggested donation of $5. 100% of these funds will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association to help with their efforts to provide and enhance care and support for all those affected by this heartbreaking disease. So far the response from the papercrafting industry has been amazing and we have received hundreds of dollars worth of prizes to be given away throughout the event by our generous sponsors.

The ticker on my sidebar shows the funds raised so far. Please consider making a donation and joining in the crafting challenges in honor of all those who struggle with this disease. Don't forget to check out the link above to Jen's blog for more info! Thank you!

Color Inspiration #52

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's time for a color inspiration from Kristina Werner. This one is especially dear to me because the inspo picture was taken by my dear sister in law, Traci! Yay Trace! You go girl!

With lots of tossing around of supplies, I came up with this last night. I LOVE the vintage aqua color and wanted to keep the vintage vibe going. Along with the pti vintage buttons, I stamped a beautiful vintage lace image from Clearly Vintage. This stamp set is called Motif and has been created from actual vintage images. So cool! Check her out!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Paper: PTI kraft

Printed Paper: PTI Bitty Dots

Ink: SU more mustard

Stamps: Clearly Vintage Motif

Corner Rounder: EX Success

Ribbon: Michaels value ribbon

Got my scrap on

Well, it's always good to scrap some memories isn't it? You wouldn't know it much from my blog but I'm actually a very dedicated scrapper :) It's true I have been on a card bender as of late but can I wax poetic a bit on what scrapbooking is for me? The following are some VERY simple layouts that truly are about preserving the memories of our family...never mind the cool advances in product and technology...this is just scrapping to remember and cherish the life and times we live. Our oldest is wrapping up her second grade year and I am so pleased to be saving her class photo and preserving her signature, RIGHT NOW, at the end of second grade. It was her idea to add the cursive so "she could remember when she learned cursive" ...is she a good scrapper already or what? This handwriting thing is something I've been meaning to do but finally captured it in the moment. SO happy with that.

And a little for my youngest. This is last year's school picture which captures her so well....the traces of a temporary tattoo on her arm that shows! her sweet little smile and the often worn hair do of her first year in preschool.

Also, tickled to be using a charm I've had kicking around for 5 years or more! yipes!

And Shelby's class photo for this year along with her writing sample. This is so precious to me as she has just mastered writing her own name, without help in the last month or so of preschool. She graduates in two days! This is big, big time in our world.

I have more to share later from what was scrapped this past weekend but I am really just enjoying the moment of recognizing the growth of our little girls into fine young people. It is for this reason alone if nothing else, I scrap the memories. The pages are the perfect way to honor our every day and are like little children themselves.

Thanks for stopping by today :)