Smash, burn and tear {?!} with Just Us Girls and OTWC

Hey blog friends!  I can't wait to share a card I got a little rough and tumble with in honor of the daddies and inspired by the Just Us Girls sketch87 and the OTWC54 colors!






As the title of this post indicates, I did in fact challenge my inner tough guy + mister fix-it with a little sentimental mixed in (the clocks and the passage of time as a daddy of two girls makes my hubs a wee bit sentimental at times *sniff*).  Starting with a distressed piece of scrap cardboard as my base was
just the ticket on this card.



A couple of whacks with a screw driver toughens up these once shiny silver brads and a piece of stained vintage measuring tape reminds us to stand up and be counted. And this card may even have a bit of a BBQ smell to it since I *might* have taken a flame to the cardboard.....  kind of a scratch and sniff sticker effect!  ;)



Oh my!  All that texture makes me swoon-y! ...just like my guy still makes my heart go pitty pat when I see him in the role of "dad" with our girls and the opportunities we've had to share a glance over their heads as we hold onto this parenthood world by it's wild, crazy and wonderful tail!

Speaking of wonderful, be sure and check out all the fabulous sketch challenge cards from the Just Us Girls team.  PLUS, we are excited to welcome Rosemary to our team as out featured designer for the month of June.  You can catch her wonderful designs at her blog Hey there...Rosigrl!.  Welcome Rosemary!  We are excited to have you as our JUG-sister this month!!

Kristin Eberline

Pam Imholz

Maria Levine

Lisa Kind

Andrea Matthews

Kathryn Berthiaume

Elise Durenberger

Thanks for coming by my blog today.  Have a great one!

Paper: Stampin Up! and scrap cardboard

Stamps: Stampin Up!

Ink: Stampin Up!

Other craft supplies:  tape measure, brads, sewing machine

 

Just Us Girls #79 and CPS 212...How do you say "bliss" in French?

Hey there!  I don't know how to say "bliss" in French but I am sure the combo of the Just Us Girls technique challenge + the CPS 212 sketch + the SU! Bliss and Artistic Etchings sets come pretty close to illustrating "bliss" in the stamp and ink form! 

This week Maria is challenging us to use the baby wipe ink pad technique on our projects.  Check here for a tutorial from Splitcoast.  No baby wipes?  Try a damp paper towel instead....just make sure you join us for this technique...it is unbelievably addictive!

Check out this wide open sketch from CPS!  I love the banner look across the top of the card space.  I chose to let a pretty cotton lace serve as my "banner".

Bonjour!  and oh la la!  I ADORE that Eiffel Tower stamp...especially layered over a baby wipe ink pad custom color combo of tempting turquoise and certainly celery dye ink reinkers from SU!  I utilized the masking technique to protect my medallion, Eiffel Tower and die cut edges (post it notes covered the edges) so that I could add an old favorite script text to my background from SU! Botanicals set in Going Gray.  I am loving all the depth that was created using just ink and stamps!

What's better than a "Bliss" set butterfly???? a BLINGED out "Bliss" set butterfly! Especially alongside the uber cute SU! floral embellie!

A large swirl from Want2Scrap completes the bottom corner and sets off the subtle bling in the butterfly.

OK, ready to join us in putting ink to baby wipe?!??  Now that's an unexpected combination if I ever did hear of one...but I SURE AM so glad I gave it a try!  Just ink, stamp and toss the wipe when you are done.

Check out the diva-licious creations from the Just Us Girls DT:

Kristin Eberline

Pam Imholz

Maria Levine

Lisa Kind

Kathryn Berthiaume

Elise Durenberger

And please also leave some love for the FABULOUS April guest designer, Teresa Kline !

Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by!

Paper: Stampin Up!, Creative Imaginations, Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Stampin Up!

Bling: Want2Scrap Swirls - Silver Rhinestone - Package of 2 - 4" x 4", Baby - Silver Rhinestones - 100 Count Silver - 2.5 mm

Dies: Spellbinder

Ink: Staz on and Stampin Up!

Flower: Stampin Up!

Craft Supply: cotton lace, sewing machine

 

It took JUGs to get me back...JUGs #57 wild card challenge!

Hellllllooooooooo blog world!  Or should I say...Buon Giorno!  Yep, that's right for those of you who knew and to a couple who guessed I was in Italy for a couple weeks and the prep and reimmersion into life equaled one long hiatus from crafting and blogging.  I hope you are still with me?  tap, tap...is this thing on?  Er hem, here goes!

It's saturday so time for a Just Us Girls post.  I'm hostessing this week's challenge so I had to clear a 2 inch square spot on my messy craft table and *gasp* make something!  This week at Just Us Girls I have chosen burnt edged flowers as my challenge technique for you all.  You may recall a post a while back from me HERE that had a version of this technique.  It was fun and different so I decided to call it up for the JUGs gals this week.  I hope you will join us in the fun.  Check out this link to Just Us Girls #57 for inspiration and a link to the tutorial we all used to make some stunning flowers.

Being that halloween is just around the corner here in the U.S. and this *mummy* will be helping at the school carnival tomorrow, I decided to fashion myself a ghoulish halloween corsage!

I used black satin and a shimmery silver tulle to accomplish this scary corsage.  For ideas filled with glorious beauty, be sure and check out the Just Us Girls blog.  The DT went a little heavier on pretty than I did. ;)

 Neato huh?  The black satin tends to burn and catch a little on fire ;) and the tulle tends to melt and bond like plastic.  Interesting...I felt very scientist + bunsen burner!

Here I am in beginning stages of the *experiment*

Hot glue gun works great to adhere layers together and then I glue gunned a pin backing to my corsage.

Here she is, in action on my new halloween t-shirt! 

In case you are looking for something a little less demented than my black flower, how about a pretty birthday wish for a our lovely Kristin Bueter!  Kristin's birthday is this week and the JUGs team would love it if you would join us in wishing her a very happy birthday!

I grabbed a brand new never inked SU! stamp called Elizabeth for the swirly floral sentiment frame and detail cut it out.  Then got my tape on with some green swiss dotted fabric tape and some cool damask printed packing tape from Michaels.   

More pretty doodads and lace for our beautiful Kristin....I promise the purple gems all match...the ones on the right must have been reflecting the purple seam binding!  Happy Birthday Kristin!  Big hugs and loves to you girl!

OK peeps, I think I here my little "ghouls" calling their "mummy"  (ha ha)...have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Merci!

HI everyone!  I am excited to share this card over at the Want 2 Scrap blog today.  I hope you'll hop over and check out the details.  I couldn't wait to put this shabby flower to work when I made it last week and I am so pleased with how the card turned out!   

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Bling: Want 2 Scrap
Paper: Webster's pages, vintage dictionary print, DCWV cardstock
Stamps: Stampin Up
Ink: Staz on, Ranger distress ink and Stampin up!
Flower cut file: Kelleigh Ratzlaff designs
digital vintage image: the graphics fairy blog
Die: Nestabilities
Craft supply: paper doily

City Crafter Challenge #13 Blog Guest Designer.....Sew glad!

Hello friends!  I am so excited to be guest designing for the fabulous City Crafter Challenge Blog!  I came across them several weeks ago and have been happily inspired ever since.  This week's hostess is Kirsty Vittetoe/Handmade Little Things and the super creative Kirsty has a fondness for cities in her challenges.  There has been Paris, Venice and now London!  The following swatch inspires us with red, white and blue items plus Kirsty has added an optional color of rose.

I stuck with the red, white and blue and added in a sewing vibe for my card!

Eeek!  I have been waiting for the right landing spot for this vintage sewing machine stamp from SU!  Can't believe it's taken me this long!  Anywhoo, I dug in my fabric drawer and pulled out some red, white and blue gems to make some mini yoyos for my teeny tiny yoyo quilt (I know, I don't know how my mind gets from one place to another either!) LOL!)  Check out Court Baker's video to learn how to make these adorable little fabric yoyos.  I also used a chunk of sewing pattern tissue paper for the card background and a salvaged seam binding wrapper that I had  to save a while back.  I peeled a hang tag reinforcement off of a tag on my desk top and applied it to a lables 4 diecut to give it a more antique store look and added some red seam binding plus button to round out the sewing theme.

OK, just one more gratuitous shot of my little yoyos!  *Sew* simple to make and *sew* easy to love! ;)

I hope you'll join in the challenge at the City Crafters Challenge blog and thanks *sew* much for coming by today!

Supplies:

Paper: SU!

Stamps: SU!

Ink: SU!

Buttons: PTI

Die cut:  Nestibilities

Sewing supplies: sewing pattern, twine, fabric, thread, seam binding, seam binding wrapper

Just Us Girls #40, JustRite Stampers and Wplus9....Funky and Fresh Baked

Hi there!  Happy saturday!  Time for some sketch challenge fun with Just Us Girls and color challenge fun with the Color Que #5  from Wplus 9.  Just Us Girls has some exciting news....this week we are sponsored by JustRite Stampers!  They generously sent stamps to the DT and have provided enough product for TWO prize giveaways for Just Us Girls challenge participants!  Check out Just Us Girls for details...one prize will be exclusively for those participants who use JustRite stamps on their challenge project.  Also, be sure and check out the JustRite blog for fabulous projects using JustRite stamps!

And as if the sponsor wasn't enough, we also have the honor of having Debbie Marcinkiewicz as our guest designer for the month of July!  I just adore Debbie's creations!  She will often put a shabby and vintage spin on her work and it just makes my vintage lovin heart go pitty pat!  Debbie also runs a wonderful challenge blog called the Shabby Tea Room.  Check it out for some serious eye candy!

Hard not to be inspired by the retro cool font of the "Fresh Baked" JustRite stamp.  This stamp is from the Homemade Treats Borders and Centers stamp set.  I also stamped with the image holding grooves of the 2 3/8 circle  stamping base in green and orange to create the circle with horizontal lines with double ringed border.  Cool!  I love all the options for customization of JustRite Stamps!

Now let's also talk a little Wplus9!   I used the super fun Funky Flowers set to create my own stamped background using orange, turquoise and dark brown inks.  Super fun and the images help reinforce the retro theme I was shooting for.  I also used bling colored with alcohol ink from Want 2 Scrap and a new cutting file for use with SCAL and cricut from Mari Koegelenberg called the Doily shapes set #1!  Be still my heart.  Mari!  You've made my day with these files...and I'm assuming since this is "set #1" that there may be a #2 on the way??  I'll be stalking you watching for it! ;)

I hope you will stop off and visit all of the Just Us Girls DT for all of the juicy details on their JustRite/sketch challenge projects this week.  You will find their names in my side bar!  Thanks so much for stopping by this week!  Now let's get stamping...there are JustRite stamps on the line!

Supplies

Paper: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: JustRite Stampers and Wplus9

Ink: Stampin Up!

Cut File: Mari Koegelenberg(doily) and my own design(spoon)

Bling: Want 2 Scrap

Alchol Ink: Ranger

Die cutter: Papertrey Ink

Craft Supply: Ribbon, button, floss, pearl, seamstress pin

Isn't De-lovely? Isn't De-beautiful?? ...PDCC33

When you are talking about the ladeis over at Playdate Cafe and the new Cosmo Cricket paper line, well, they certainly are De-lovely and De-beautiful!  ;) {oh please tell me you are old enough to remember Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely"?!  Don't leave me hanging here, friends!}  I recently picked up a mini pad of DElovely paper from Cosmo Cricket and on the double sided full size sheet, they have indicated there is "more on DEback" to see if you turn the paper over.  Now I don't know about you, but I was laughing out loud and had to share this discovery with the scrappy friends I was shopping and lunching with and now with all of you.  Very clever, Cosmo Cricket, very clever indeed! 

The gals over at Playdate Cafe used team member, Mona Pendleton's, color story this week.  Be sure and check it out for tons of amazing eye candy!  My bloggy friend Courtney is also sponsoring the super duper prize from her store, Practicing Creativity! Cool huh?

I layered strips of Delovely and used a piece of their elements paper for my focal point and sentiment.  Also some flower stamps and flower dies from Papertrey and a sprinkle of blingy bling from Want 2 Scrap!

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Supplies:

Paper: Cosmo Cricket Delovely and Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Stampin Up

Punches: Ek Success and Stampin Up!

Dies: Papertrey Ink

Bling: Want 2 Scrap

Craft Supply: Buttons and satin ribbon

Tuesday Trigger Time to Chillax.....UR Cool!

Looking for my Just Us Girls card?  Please click HERE

Time to CHILLout, relax, be COOL!  Summer is arriving finally in my neck of the woods and I could not resist the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger inspiration to celebrate warm days and COOL treats.  I made this tag for my daughter's friend who is celebrating the big #6 today!  Here's the moxie fab trigger...

YUM!  I couldn't wait to pull out the super duper cute Sweet Kawaii stamp set from My Cute Stamps to make my birthday package tag.

Fun huh?  I stamped my background paper randomly with the happy little ice pop trying not to overlap and crowd the little guys too much.  THEN the ICE-ing on the tag, the rainbow colored pop who takes center stage!  I stamped the image with black Staz on so the ink wouldn't smear once I started color blending over the top of the image with tempting turquoise, green galore and only orange from Stampin up!

Hmmm...was anything missing? 

Oh wait, this guy needs SHINE because he might be melting a little on a warm day.....

Yeah baby!  A little glossy accents gives this pop some POP!  hee hee!

Here he is in action on the gift my daughter and I wrapped this morning.  Can I tell you how much fun teaching a 6 year old how to curl ribbon with scissors is??  Alot of fun, actually, once I got over the fear she would cut off a finger or two!  She's way COOLer than me! ;)

Supplies:

Paper: Stampin Up!, CM and Papertrey

Ink: Stampin Up!

Stamps: My Cute Stamps, Papertrey Ink

Punch: SU! and nestabilities oval

Craft supply: black tinsel yarn, foam letters (target $1), stapler, pinking sheers

Throwdown {my} Shabby Chair......

Have I got you scratching your head with my post title?  LOL...here's the deal, there are three amazing challenges out there that I am DETERMINED to participate in this week and two of them are set to close tomorrow.  The third I have a lofty goal to make more than one project for and, like so many of you out there reading this, I am short on creative time lately.  Thus, I present you with my three-fer for the Color Throwdown Challenge #90, the Shabby Tea Room "comforts of home challenge", and the Three Cheers for Chairs Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.  Whew!

*sigh* oh do I love a cushy chair with pretty surroundings plus a good book.  This is one way I refresh and take little me moments whenever I can.  I would love a hideaway as gloriously girlie as the one above.  So far I haven't scored a vintage chair as pretty as the one above from the Graphics Fairy blog but I do have a color palette in my house that is very similiar to the throwdown colors this week.....especially in the celery color department.

I still love this set from Stampin Up called Handbill Headlines...hmmm, based on the last couple of posts, I must be having another honeymoon with some of my faves from SU! despite their earlier retirement.  I paired this juicy Refresh stamp with the sleek swirls from Papertrey Ink's Fancy Flourishes and a chandy stamp from Studio G that has been patiently waiting it's turn to be stamped.  Tiny bling from Want 2 Scrap accents the lamp shades and the center of the "F" on refresh.  Let's see, what else?  Oh!  That length of lace was a major score during a local thrifting session!  It is oh so pretty!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you can also throwdown your shabby chair and REFRESH soon!  And for all you mommies out there, I hope you get to do whatever refreshes and renews your heart and soul next sunday, May 9th, Mother's Day here in the states.

***if you are looking for my Just Us Girls sketch challenge card, please see the post below***

Supplies:

Digi: the graphics fairy blog

Stamps: Stampin Up, Papertrey, Studio G

Ink: Stampin Up

Paper: Stampin Up and Georgis Pacific

Chipboard: Tattered Angels

Buttons: Papertrey Ink

Bling: Want 2 Scrap

Punch: Martha Stewert

Embosser: Cuttlebug

Craft Supply: embroidery thread, lace, ribbon