Oh you sweet little {deer}

Happy Tuesday friends! Coming to you today with a sweet little stamp set from the SU! spring mini catalog. The Forest Friends set is too cute for words...so I didn't use any on this card! ;) I just let the stamps tell the story. The little deer was stamped on cardstock and detail cut out. I then adhered it to the front of a folded acetate card with crystal effects and added a layer of crystal effects over the whole image. Makes the deer really shiny and sticker like. The tree, also part of the Forest Friends set, was colored with Zig brush pens and then stamped on the background cardstock. I "painted" ala Elise at mamacow creations with an H20 pen and ink from SU! dye ink pads. Green galore for the grass and ballet blue for the sky. The cloud was stamped with tiny dots from Papertrey Ink, hand cut into a cloud shape and the edges inked.

I am not sure where this little card will go yet but when I do decide who to send it too, I think I will write in white paint pen in the "sky" area (like sky writing) or write on the back of the card. This card is 2.75" x 3.75" and would make a perfect gift tag methinks.

Here is the background by itself when the card is opened. Doesn't the H20 pen do a great job of moving ink around? Trust me, I am no watercolor artist....the pen does most of the work ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you day is filled with sparkle!

Supplies:

acetate: re purposed the backing from a set of PTI stamps (clean acetate with Un-du to remove any stamp residue)

stamps: Stampin Up and Papertrey Ink

Ink: Stampin Up

Pens: Zig scroll and brush, H20 brush

Other: crystal effects (SU!)

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

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

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

MTTC02....a gift for each girl

Hi everyone! It's that time of the week again for a My Time to Create Challenge from Lauren Meader and the MTTC Design Team! Woohoo! I am posting this via the blogger scheduler as I am scrapbook retreating this weekend. Double woohoo. I'll be back to blog land on Monday to see what everyone has made. Can't wait! So this week's challenge is to use a My Timeless Template from Lauren and Papertrey Ink to make a birthday gift. It should include a butterfly and/or the color purple. There are tons of timeless templates to chose from over at Papertrey Ink...and two are free so no excuses not to try one. Watch out though they are addictive. Before I get started with what I made, the links to the design team...check 'em out!
Lauren
Alicia
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Tamara

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

For my project today, I am paying tribute to the very first template I ever tried, the FREE Stocking Stuffer! This template includes a pattern for a cutie stocking (great for holidays, babies, and anything calling for a boot or sock). Today, I replaced the stocking with a cut from the Top Note die made by Sizzix for SU!

The fronts:

and the backs:
With just a tiny bit of trimming on the bottom to get a flat edge, this Top Note die works perfectly with the dimensions of the inner box. On the front the die cut is standing on end and on the back it is horizontal with the flap overhang being wrapped around for additional support. I can't decide which way I like best!

Inside these boxes are some goodies for my girls for when I get back from vacation. I like to bring them something fun and the template was an easy way to get adorable packaging. Inside are a bottle of bubbles (50 cents each), a roll of tape ($1 and they will love it, they go through tape like crazy) and a baggie of hello kitty stickers (50 cents). SO for $2 per girl plus the template (free) and some bits of supplies I have a delightful giftie. These would make terrific party favors too.

The handles are attached with brass office brads and are sturdy enough to actually carry the package by. They also swivel like a real purse or tote. Fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Supplies:

Template: Stocking Stuffer by Lauren Meader for PTI

Die: Top Note by sizzix for SU

Paper: CM

Ink: SU

Punch: CM and EK success

Other: ribbon and brads(office supply), safety pin

Say thank you with flowers

Just a quickie to share an easy way to say thank you or hi or happy spring! The flowers are Cricut cut at the 5 1/2" size in the shadow setting of the smiley face flower from New Arrival. I also hand cut circles for the center. A little inking and crumpling, vintage lace doily, and a vintage-y button. The faux stitching is a sharpie white pen...I even "back-stitched"...heee hee, an attempt at covering a pen mishap which kinda made it look more authentic.

A wooden skewer makes a great "stem" to attach the flower to and a packet of seeds for planting. The cute little bee stamp from Papertrey Ink covers the price on the seed packet (which, at a mere 20 cents, is a very affordable gift to attach to your handy work.) The stem can be hand held, poked into floral foam into a cute container or stuck into the dirt of a flowering plant for giving which is what we will be doing this week for Teacher Appreciation bring flowers to your teacher day. These would also look adorable with a photo of your student as the flower center. I plan to also attach a piece of cardstock to the back of the seed packet with a note from my daughter on it to her teacher.

Super fun, fast and easy as can be! Thanks for coming by, and I hope you day is blooming with beauty!

Supplies:
Paper: CM
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Honeybees
Pen: Sharpie
Cricut cartridge: New Arrival
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink Chestnut Roan
Other: button and vintage doily

MMTI 01 - My Time to Inspire 01 Challenge

Woohoo! It's another challenge from Lauren Meader And oh what challenge it was for me...for some strange reason, I have a hard time with purples. I love the colors and shades of it but making something in purple takes me a bit of processing...so there will be lots of technique on this card. Translate as, plenty 'o reading here if you've got the time)

The Inspiration Piece

And my card......

Before I launch into the hows and whats of this card, let me first direct you to the super talented and inspiring blogs from the My Time to Create design team. Leading off with the super talented and purple loving Lauren Meader! The challenge details and the Mr Linky for YOUR creation can be found on her blog. Join us! I can't wait to see what you make!
Lauren
Alicia
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Tamara

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

OK, so lots of stuff going on n this card but let's start with my favorite....the flowers! They were first cut with a rounded flower shape, then embossed with the SU! damask pattern, then inked with white chalk ink, crumpled up and then inched down the center of each petal for a more dimensional look. Do you need all that? No, I don't think so but the early steps did not produce what I wanted. I will next time, cut, crumple and pinch. The daisy layer on top is cut from vintage text book paper using another sizzix die and inked with Lovely lilac ink and the whole thing was topped off with a button. These flowers were inspired by the pattern on the bodice of the dress which also has a celery diamond in between each flower. I interpreted those with some hand cut leaves above. Next up was the paper ruffle. I wanted to emulate the flouncy skirt in the photo...you know the kind... they are perfect for twirling! I used more vintage book text and stamped it with a flourish from SU!, sewed a whip stitch down the length with embroidery floss, gathered the paper and trimmed the loose end with cloud Fiskar paper scissors.

The finer details come in the form of swiss dots embossing on the purple card base and the kraft cardstock. I also roughed up the edges of the chocolate carstock with a distressor from SU! Some scalloped edging from two different punches, more stitching with embroidery floss and liquid pearls with fine purple iridescent glitter finish this card off. I was quite pleased with my efforts in the dressmaking/cardmaking shop today and have conquered the purple challenge for this week! Hooray!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I am looking forward to seeing what you make with your time this weekend. And to all the mothers either reading this or in your lives....Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!

Supplies:

Cardstock: PTI, Bazzill, Georgia Pacific

Stamps: SU! Finest Flourishes

Patterned Paper: PTI and vintage book print

Dies: Sizzix flower layers #3 and Flower, Daises #2

Punches: Martha Stewert

Ink: SU!

Embossing plates: SU! and Cuttlebug

Other: Liquid pearls, fine glitter (walmart), buttons, embroidery floss (dmc), paper distressor(SU!)

PTI Spring Fling challenge

Hey everyone :) It's Sunday evening here and I spent most of the day at a 4-H event with the family. It was a good old fashioned BBQ, raffle and mini fair. Despite the rainy morning, it was quite a lot of fun! AND a good excuse to make something :) A simple little folded envelope to hold some seed packets. A perfect and inexpensive gift for spring!
Over at Nichole Heady's blog, there is a little inspiration challenge going on. I chose Becky Oehler's graphic to work from.

I borrowed the headboard shape, the button accents (are those wall buttons the coolest or what??!), the color scheme, the floral garden look and the white on lime stripes from the sheets and this is what I got....

This cool chicken statue from Joann's was crowing my name when I walked by. I was really hoping to win him back today during the raffle but he went home with someone else. darn! Anyway, back to the spring fling challenge. I used a cool image of a rooster from SU (French Provencial set) and then PTI'd the rest. All the flowers are from Honeybees and the double pinstripe on the bottom is from Faux Ribbon. This is a new set to me and I am loving it! The double pin strip was stamped and then embossed in white and it really popped against the spring moss. All of the cardstock is PTI too.

Another fun first on this card was sizzix cutting some cork. It comes in thin sheets (I got mine at Michaels) and the daisy above cut without problems at all. Thanks to Dawn McVey for the buying tip :)

Well, that's it for today. The rooster crowed early at our house this morning so I think I will get some shut eye now. Hope you had a fabulous weekend and thanks so much for stopping by.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (PTI)

Stamps: PTI and SU

Ink: PTI, SU and colorbox

Embossing powder: Joann's

Ribbon: offray

border punch : martha stewert

Daisy sie: sizzix

Other: buttons, cork, round punch for hole reinforcement, seed packets.

mytimess32 and bonus birthday card ...and blog candy giveaway

Happy saturday! Saturdays are the best since it's time for a new My Time to Create challenge with the Fabulous Lauren Meader! Check out the sketch challenge and bonus birthday challenge here and then carve out some time to get crafty!

The challenge team has been cooking up some challenge goodness for you...see the peaks above! I have listed their names on my sidebar under the My Time clock blinkie. Check out the links for more sketch inspiration from Lauren Meader, Lisa, Odette, Jennifer, Pam, Tracey, Kristen, Dawn Easton, Kendra, MacKenzie Bruckler, Maria Levine, Tamara Harder and me, Dana Gustafson...no clicking neccessary for me, just scroll down ----> :)
Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Tamara

The sketch .... head over to Lauren's blog to post YOUR creation on the Mr Linky :)

And my card....ain't life grand? I have meaning to ink up this amazing chandelier from SU! for a while now but just didn't have the "right" plan for it. Along came Lauren's sketch and Dawn McVey's Damask Designs and I was off to the ball! :) I was going for a sort of vintage grandma's dining room meets the grand ball sort of thing. The damask image was stamped in light pink to create the PERFECT "wall paper" for my chandelier. I also stamped the Fleur di lis type image in gray over my new fave cardstock, Aqua Mist from PTI. The diamond print on charcoal is an embossing plate from SU!. More on that section in a minute.

The chandelier was the perfect palette for bling so it received mini gems on the bottom crystals and in the middle area. A scallop lace punch finished this panel off.

The ain't life grand sentiment, another LOVE in this set, just barely fits on the SU! label punch..this too called for a little bling.

And back to the charcoal panel of cardstock. I first ran it through the SU! embossing plate and then rubbed a versamark pad over the top to really bring out the pattern of the embossing. It's quite dapper in real life! I completed that panel with the aqua mist vintage buttons from PTI (LOVE!) and more bling to make them shine! This panel reminds me of a shirt front or a tux vest..something like that!


And next up...a happy birthday and SWEET WISHES to my new blogging friend, Lauren Meader! Her birthday is May 3rd and, girlie, this virtual bday card is for YOU! I hope you like rainbow sherbet!

This card uses the totally adorable sweet chocolate set from My Cute Stamps! There are a ton of images in this set, here I chose to go with the ice cream cone, chocolate chip and the sweet wishes sentiment. I started by sponging the pink, orange and lime inks onto white cardstock and then stamping with the ice cream stamp over the top. Then, stamped the image again on kraft cs for the cone. I detail cut both pieces out and adhered them to another piece of kraft cardstock. The icecream needed some shimmer so it is loaded with fine clear glitter and then popped on foam tape. Again, I used the diamond pattern embossing plate from SU! and cut out the oval and scallop oval with Nestabilities.

The chip and sentiment were stamped on orange cardstock I "frosted" a bit with white ink and more clear glitter. The line of dots is also stamped from a PTI set and I added the white dots around the sentiment with a sharpie poster paint pen...looks like sprinkles everywhere! This shot also illustrates the fun dimension the ribbon and chipboard button add.

A close up of the shine on the ice cream...the clear glitter is just enough to make it glisten. Looks good enough to eat!


OK, now on to the blog candy.... I will be drawing a name from the entries on the post from Tuesday for a gift certificate for a My Timeless Template designed by Lauren. Now is your final chance to enter your comment on that post! You have until 6pm PST today to comment. I will draw a name and post the winner tonight so check back to see if you are the winner! Don't miss out on this!

OK, that's it for now! I hope you've had a little fun with me today....have a good one friends!

Supplies:

Ain't life Grand

Cardstock: PTI, bazzill

Stamps: PTI, SU

Ink: Pallette and SU!

punch: Martha Stewert and SU!

Embossing plate: SU!

Other: ribbon, gems, and buttons from PTI

Sweet Wishes!

Cardstock: PTI

Patterned Paper: KI Memories

Stamps: My Cute Stamps and PTI (line of orange dots)

Ink: pallette and SU!

Punch: su! and cm

dies: Nestabilities by Spellbinders

chipboard flower: Colorbok

Other: glitter, hemp twine, ribbon ($1 michaels), sharpie poster paint white pen

MTTC01 as sweet as jelly beans and don't forget, blog candy

Hi all! I finished up my card for the My Time to Color Challenge #1 over on Lauren Meader's blog. Check out the challenge and play along! Also, see the next post for a blog candy giveaway here on my blog! Here are the colors Lauren posted for us to play with:

I needed to make 6 thank you cards for family members who made sure to make my girls' Easter extra special. I thought it would be a good time to break out this sweet set from My Cute Stamps. Have you seen these? Really cute stuff over there and they shipped with lightening speed! I used stamping and paper piecing of the animals and flowers for a fun and colorful effect. The bunny's ears are also popped up with a bit of foam tape and if you enlarge the card, you can see the pale blue coloring detail on the fun loopy font used for the sentiment. This technique brought me right back to 7th grade and doodling on my binder for some reason ;) There are actually five stamps used on this card and I wanted to make sure they lined up just so and could be repeated 6 times for the thank yous I need to send. Below was my trick for getting that done.

I simply arranged my stamps face down on my trusty SU! grid paper that is always on the work top. Then I used my largest acrylic block to adhere them as a group. Ink them up, stamp on precut cardstock, and repeat. OK, not a ground breaking tip but it was a light bulb moment for me today. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by....your interest truly makes my day!

Supplies:

Paper: white CS by Georgia Pacific, Bazzill (gray), and Papertrey Ink Bitty Dots

Stamps: My Cute Stamps

Ink: SU! Going Gray

Border Punches: SU! (scallop) and Martha Stewert (lattice)

Ribbon: Costco

Other: Fabric writer in shiny red, iridescent pink glitter, button, gem, embroidery floss, Zig Writer

purse - o-nality comes in all sizes

It's PTI blog hop night! So excited to be participating again. Tonight is also the first blog hop using Lauren Meader's fab timeless templates!!! HOORAY!

I have used Lauren's purse-o-nality tote a few times already but this time I mixed it up by reducing it's size by about half. This tiny tote is the perfect size for a lipgloss sized gift, or a little pair of earrings. Something fun and girly!

The top has been embossed with clear embossing powder and the flowers from the Life set have been embossed in black. A little bling and it's done. I love it and I love Lauren's templates!

Thanks for stopping by and can't wait to see what all of you do with YOUR time tonight :)

This is a comparison between the template at full size and how my mini version turned out :)

Supplies:

Template: Purse-o-nality tote from Papertrey Ink/Lauren Meader

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Hibiscus, CM black

Stamp: Life set from Papertrey Ink/Lisa Johnson

Ink: versamark and Colorbox black

Embossing powder: clear UTEE, black

Other: gem

Thank you for your hospitality

Happy Wednesday everyone! Is it just me? I kept thinking today was Tuesday all day. But here it is Wednesday night! That's what happens when we go back to school I guess. I lose all sense of who what when and where. I'm sure I'll have it down by the time summer break rolls around. ha!So how about a little pineapple in honor of some great hospitality we received 2 weekends ago? Hubs and I had a fabulous dinner and visit with friends that had been a long time coming. As always, they were most gracious hosts! This pineapple stamp from SU! has long been awaiting such an opportunity for thanking some special friends. It's a nice, large image that accepts ink rolling for color variation very well. I chose more mustard and really rust for the pineapple and wild wasabi and kiwi kiss for the stem. The stem was stamped twice for a leafier look. I also used the stem stamp horizontally on the cream background that peaks out on the right end of the card.

The golden looking inked background behind the pineapple image was cream cardstock. I started inking just the edges with really rust and before I knew it, I was rubbing it on from edge to center in swirls. The cream cs is all but invisible but I loved the effect...very tropical golden sunset if I do say so :)

To finish it off, a simple sentiment peeking out from the edge and some lime green twistel tied around the fold. The clutter-maker in me wanted to add more but, really, I decided I loved it as is :) Cool!

Thanks for stopping by...I really appreciate it! Have a sunny day!

Supplies: (the shortest list yet I think!)

Cardstock: Georgia Pacific

Stamps: SU! and Papertrey Ink

Ink: SU!

Other: twistel