Rock Star

Hello everyone...

Bear with me on this post. I received a phone call from the nieces this weekend asking me to make their invitation to their upcoming Birthday party. The theme is "Rock Star" so I headed out to get some appropriate stamps. Of course I was frustrated that I hadn't bought the Hannah Montana set I found on clearance Easter weekend but I didn't know how much use I would get out of it. Silly Me!

Anyhoo, I have been laboring over a layout all day and have come up with the following for the front.




Cruising for Hanah Montana inspiration on the internet I found that guitars and stars, pink and teal are the reining theme. Throw in a few crowns and glitter and we're good to go. I've tried to incorporate it all.

Let me know what you think and I'm on to the inside. My idea is a pull out ticket that contains all the details for the event - an afternoon at Justice for headsets, music, shopping and some spa action. Sounds like a great one - can I come?

Thanks for looking.

Cath

Some Awesome Blog Candy

Hello Everyone! While cruising through my favorite blogs tonight I found some wonderful blog candy available from Bev Rochester. Bev is celebrating her blog's anniversary and is offering up a whole bunch of wonderful stuff! I was drawn to Bev's great cards - she uses multiple layers, yummy papers and tons of embellishments but I also loved the connection with her last name! Home for me is - Rochester, NY. Bev is in the UK so that is far away from home but she is quite the artist. Check her out.

If you would like a chance to try for the blog candy link a post from your blog to hers. She'll be drawing a random winner on Thursday April 23rd. Better hurry and good luck!

PS. I'd like to thank my wonderful Goddaughter, Madison for her comment on my Missing Card post Monday. It's because of sentiments like that that I am encouraged to continue to create and post for you all. Love you!!!

Cath

The Missing Card

I told you I had another card but I couldn't find the photo so I made it again for you. I told you it was easy. Here's a look...



The daisy stamp is from Inkadinkado Personal Impressions and I used Stampin' Up! Pink Passion ink. While I love this stamp I think it's because it reminds me so much of the Papertry Ink Friends till the end set. It is definately on my wish list (hint hint). My sentiment is from the SU Warmest Regards set and I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I added the Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly punch with Swarkovski crystals and a yummy sheer black ribbon. I love the colors and the simple classic feel. I repeated the black bordered center inside as well.

Hope you all have a great week and thanks for looking.

Cath

A productive weekend...

Hello everyone!

I hope you were able to enjoy some sun and warmer weather. Saturday was just gorgeous here. We hit the gardens and DH did our first round of fertilizer for the year. As much as I wanted to get into my craftroom to create - I was loving the sun and fresh air. I decided that since Sunday was forcast for cooler overcast weather I would have to wait to create until then.

I was up bright and early and made yet another Mother's Day card to send on to Spirit Works. My inspiration was a card I found on Amy Sheffer's site - Pickled Paper Designs this weekend. I changed the colors and stamped images but kept the layout. Check it out...



I started with Periwinkle cardstock from Archiver's and added Kaiser DP because it incorporated the periwinkle in the flowers. I liked the way it brought in some cheery yellow and bright red as well. I stamped the butterfly from the Verve Thankful Blossoms set using Brillance Perlescent Yellow ink and added the Mother's Day sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black. With the help of my Nestabilities dies, I cut the circle and scalloped circle. I finished with the Friskars Lace border punch and satin ribbon I found at Mary Maxim.

I flipped the colors from the front inside...




I had another card to share that I know I took a picture of but it's gone now. Since I've packed all the cards to send to Michelle tomorrow I'll have to make another to show you. Hang tight - I think you'll like it. It was a real easy card and yet it was classic and sharp using Pink Passion ink and black accents on white cardstock.

Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by.

Cath

A little bit of everything...

Hello All,

I have a little bit of everything for you today.

I'll start with one of the Easter cards I made this year. I meant to post this on Sunday but I got engrossed in making new cards to show you.



The best part of this card is that I used two stamps that I have had in my stash that have never seen ink. They are the circular and square accents and come from Paper Parachute. I got them in NY when The Stamp Pad was going out of business. I like the non-traditional look they bring to this card. The Easter stamp I picked up at the end of the season last year - I had eyed it for awhile and finally caved in when it went on sale. The inside was cut using Mega Curved Rectangle dies from Spellbinders. I love them!

Here's a peek at the inside.



Next is a Baby card that I saw on Becca Feekan's blog (the Spellbinder Diva) and it uses the Cuttlebug, Nestabilities dies along with a Martha Stewart punch to come together. This was unbelievably easy.



I made these to send to Spirit Works so I stamped the inside image with a "hand knit" stamp - I thought this would be an appealing sentiment due to the venue. Here's a peek inside:



My last project was a male Birthday card. I have always loved this truck stamp from Stampin Up! and bought it specifically to send cards to John Morgan.




I used my Stampscapes Lakeside Cove Large for the background and just colored the lake in to be dirt. How versitile is that? I made a trip to Archivers on Saturday with the sole purpose of buying the Scor-Pal. They are finally carrying it and I had a 30% off coupon. Whoo Hoo.

I added a small sentiment on a Nestabilitie tag from the Tags 5 die. I honestly can't imagine making a card without using my Cuttlebug or Nestabilities.



Well that's it for now. Hope you are all well. The weather is supposed to get into the 70's here on Saturday so DH has added garden duties to our chore list. I don't know how much free time I'll get to create.

Enjoy your weekends and thanks for stopping by.

Cath

I'm Back!!!

Hello Everyone and Happy Sunday!

Whew - it's been awhile and it might take me a few posts to show you everything I've been up to but first, I'm ok. We were just on the road for a few weekends in a row and it's time consuming to do the laundry, pack, travel, unpack, do laundry and grocery shop for the week's meals. Throw in that Jessica got me hooked on the Twilight Series books by Stephanie Meyer and I was addicted. I was experiencing a creative brick wall and found solace in a good old fashioned love story so I procrastinated. I finaly finished book four yesterday so that I could get back to the land of the living!

My first project was to update the Blog. I've changed the layout and the background but still need to work on the header. I'm getting there so be patient (sissy). I've added the Copic Certification button since I successfully paid for and attended the Certification course in Buffalo on March 23rd. It was the best Certification course I've taken yet - all fun and no test! Hopefully my colored images can now look more like art and less like a Kindergartners first card! One good tip we learned and I'll gladly pass on to you is that Copic markers while permanent on your craft mediums (paper, fabric, metal) can easily be removed from your skin using Purell hand sanitizer. It's mostly alcohol based so it removes the unsightly markings on your skin. I'll get into some of the coloring techniques after I have time to practice. And you can rest assured I'll dedicate some more time to this on one of our craft days when I return to NY.

Next, so you probably know that the Final 4 College Basketball Tournament is being held in Detroit. DH being the College ball fan that he is - invited more than a few of his NY homeys to attend with him. We have nephews Chris and Jay Haacke, son Justin and Clarkson roomey Matt, Brother-In-Law twice removed Tom and nephew Scott in town. Having fed tmost of he guys dinner on Friday and breakfast on Saturday I reveled in the fact that I had the day to myself. I totally enjoyed the day in my craft haven. I started with a Mother's Day card to sell at Spirit Works..



I love the Martha Stewart Butterfly punch - with spring it just goes hand in hand. I saw the Fiskars Lace border punch on a card on Amy Sheffer's site and ran to JoAnn's to snag it. I love the way it blends with the swirls on the DP. I also finally splurged on real sponge dauber's instead of cutting sponges so that I could have a more finished look to my framing. I spent some time organizing all my scraps so that I could use them instead of cutting into new sheets so I am a little uncertain about the details but I'll list the ones I know below.

Here's a look at the inside:



Card Supplies"

Stamp: Inkadinkado (front)
Ink: Versa Magic, Jumbo Java
Paper: Bazzil cardstock, Autumn Harvest DP (dark brown), Alpine Forest DP SEI (white and brown), background - Baby Blue by Paper Adventures
Accessories: Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly punch, Fiskars Lace border punch, Teal satin ribbon from Mary Maxim, paper piercer, Spellbinders Label II die, Swarkovski crystals, inside sentiment done on computer in CK Bella font, sponge dauber


Baby Tags

Next up is a picture of the baby gift tags I sent to sell as well. I again used lots of scraps and have the bulk of my investment in the satin ribbon. Even that was a bargain though as I got it on the 75% off rack at Mary Maxim. You know me and my ribbon fettish - I couldn't resist!

I found some beautiful DP by K&Company at Michaels while visiting Linda in Maryland. We loved the weight, design and colors. I was able to get the Boy Small Wonders pack in 12x12 but could only find the girl version in the 4x6 pack. I recently found this paper in my local JoAnn's but again, they only had the boy version in the 12x12 pack. What's up with that? Any whoo the boy tags were used with the Boy Dp and the girl version was made with some randon pink baby DP. These were pretty easy to make - the hardest part was making the bow and punching through 6 layers of paper! Thank goodness the DH was nearby and able to lend a hand (on the hole punch - not the bow).




Mom's Birthday

Last week was my Mom's B-day and I couldn't post her card until after the event but I wanted to share it with you from the moment it was done. I totally cased this card and design from Amy Sheffer. She used the Citrus Stack DP - looove that paper. I know there were lots of layers but I loved the way the colors all came together and each seemed necessary to finish the look. I know I didn't design this but I was so happy to say - hey I can make that! The most time consuming part was waiting for the SU Crystal Effects to dry on the blue flowers and then determining the size of each layer. I immediately made a second card to keep in my stash as I loved this card. Notice that the Martha Stewart Butterfly is still fluttering by - I'm addicted and it's quite surprising. I was never really a butterfly fan now stars is a different story. I digress I know... here's the card.




I'm sure that this post is now longer than you were hoping for so I'll close and return later with the supplies list for this card.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Cath