Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 + MFW Camera Craze

Why yes, this is a rare second post today. A friend of mine, the Frugal Scrapper, is running a Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 Challenge at a local scrapbook store, and even though I have until the middle of March to get my February tag in for her challenge, I realized sometime this afternoon that if I want to get in on Tim's prizes I needed to get my tag posted today.

Check out the Ever After blog for details if you are local - I won the January random draw & have added a couple of new Distress Stains to my collection!

This is Tim's tag for February:

And here is my version:

I love, love, love these Mini Blueprint stamps, although my little Queen of Hearts looks a little lost next to the larger version!

With so much being computer generated these days, you would think the big sheaths of paper blueprints would be a thing of the past like phones attached to the wall, but trust me, my kitchen table is covered with prints regularly.

In going through my embossing folders, trying to find something that would work for the tag, I realized I could get away with using the bottom corner of the Alterations Holiday Words folder. It might be technically a Christmas folder, but all you can see here is "enjoy" and "love".


I also made a quick card with another blueprint stamp for the Moxie Fab World Camera Craze Challenge. 

I kept this one super clean & simple. The camera image panel is wrapped with a piece of Tim Holtz filmstrip ribbon and adhered with foam dots. The sentiments are from Favorite Memories by Ali Edwards from Technique Tuesday and are being inked up for the first time after sitting at the bottom of a basket for way, way too long.

I am linking the cards & tag to the Simon Says Anything Goes challenge and the card also gets to be linked to the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog Challenge: the stamp you love (but don't use). What a genius idea for a challenge!

That's it for today - thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Anything Goes with CFC91 + CQC178 + MFTWSC113

I have a card & a couple of tags to share today.

First up is this tag for the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge to add silver to a project.

CFC91: The object of this game? Simple! Add silver to your CAS project.

It can be a card, layout, tag, whatever...as long as it's CAS and has at least a touch of silver

I won Casual Fridays Stamps Only You stamp set during the February release countdown & was thrilled to ink it up for these tags. I masked the dot border and heat embossed it, adding three silver sequins when done.

I realized I was already working with some of the colors from the ColourQ Challenge, so made a couple of ink & sequin changes for the second tag.

This card is based on this My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch - details on the challenge can be found here at their Splitcoaststampers Forum.

I started with papers from My Mind's Eye Memorable collection and created a base panel that is embossed. A number of Squiggle Border die cuts are layered and cut to fit the bottom of the sentiment panel.

This Happy Birthday sentiment is one of my favorites and is from MFT's Let's Toast stamp set, as is the  "to you" that is selectively stamped to fit the tag. 

Since Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp this week, I am linking the tags & card to their challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Edited to add: boo hiss, I'm too late for CFC91 - a sick boy required some attention and schedule rearranging this morning :(

Papertrey Ink February 2013 Blog Hop

Eek, why didn't someone tell me that Monday is the 25th and that means the PTI February Blog Hop is today, not Tuesday? I'll tell you my messed up calendar story if you stick around to the end, but get to the Blog Hop first.

Nichole's challenge this month was to create something monogrammed. You can find the details over here at Capture the Moment.

There are some great inspiration photos, but I did a little bit of my own thing here.

These are monogrammed post-it note covers for a few crafty friends. 

Super simple to make, the wonderfully thick PTI Smoky Shadow card stock is cut & scored just a smidge bigger than the 3x3 post-its (or note pad) that is to be adhered inside. 

The monogram panel is made with the Headline Alphabet die, the circle from Hello Sunshine, a Nestabilities Label die and a PTI Half & Half die.

I wanted to create a really clean & simple cover, so used the bracket die from Headline Alphabet to make a notch to slip the end of the Half & Half die into to close the cover.

A little washi tape fits perfectly along the spine!

Now onto my messed up calendar story: my aunt from Scotland gave me a 2013 calendar that has Monday in the first column, running across to Sunday. Most (all?) North American calendars run Sunday through Saturday. I haven't used a calendar like this for a long time, but did grow up with them, so was able to adjust pretty quickly.

I have been referring to the Scottish calendar a lot over the last week or so, and when I glanced at my iCalendar and saw the 25th was in the second column, I mentally said to myself "blog hop Tues". Perfect, I can finish my little project Monday night.

With a few minutes between morning drop offs, I decided to check out the new Make It Monday and quickly discovered a Blog Hop under way! I thought I had an evening to finish off my monogrammed covers, so please ignore any stray glue bits that I haven't cleaned up.  It will be evening before I can head over & see what everyone else has been up to, but I am intrigued by the little sneak I've had while linking up.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Flame Take Two + SCS Love Fest

Melissa's Design Team card for the CASology challenge: Flame started me thinking about using a flourish die to create a flame. I mulled over the idea for a few days before finally pulling out a few dies and experimenting with a design to create this card.

The burning pot is made by using a PTI vase die to trim the top off a small jar die cut and the flames are  created by selectively cutting a Memory Box Elegant Scroll die cut. I struggled with what to use for a sentiment and would have loved to find something like "keep calm and order take out" hiding amongst my stamps, but in the end just went with the "keep calm" from a "keep calm & carry on" Rubber Soul stamp.

The pot is adhered with foam tape to allow the flames to curl around it.

There is a Love Fest celebration going on over at Splitcoaststampers and the Simon Says Stamp challenge is Die Crazy. Very few of my cards do not have some sort of die cut on them these days, but I did make this one specifically with the Simon Says Stamp Love Fest challenge in mind.

I also had time to make something for the Taylored Expressions Love Fest Challenge A Little Love Goes A Long Way to create a set of cards 3x3 or smaller. I pulled out my TE Spectacular stamps and dies to create this trio of cards.

The designer papers are from the Echo Park Sweet Girl collection. A 3x3 space doesn't leave much room for embellishing, but I really wanted a pair of glasses on each card!

There are a ton of challenges during Love Fest and great prizes from the member companies, but you only have until the end of the month to play along!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MFTWSC112 Encouragement + CASology Flame

I have a couple of cards to share with you this morning. The first one is for both the My Favorite Things Weekly Stamp Club and the Love Fest challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.

The MFTWSC is a sketch challenge that you can find here and the Love Fest challenge is titled "Make My Day" and the details can be found here.

My daughter has a big exam coming up in a couple of weeks and this card is to give her encouragement and a reminder to keep a positive attitude as she prepares. I'm confident she will do fine, but testing has never been easy for her.

I used an arrow shaped label made with an Accent It die and sentiment from Off the Charts to point to the quote from Clearly Sentimental About New Beginnings. The stars are MFT Star Stax and the papers are all from the Authentique Renew Collection.

The arrow label means this card is also being linked to the Simon Says Stamp Use An Arrow challenge.

The second card started out as a one layer, CAS card for the CASology challenge and ended up with a few layers.

The flames are obviously candle flames - the cake layers, candles and sentiment are all from MFT's Who's That Birthday Girl.

The set comes with a stamp of 4 candles, but I didn't want the even rows, so masked and stamped the single candle many, many times. I know you don't usually put candles at the bottom of the cake, but I was going for the look of an overwhelming number of candles - kind of a dig at how old most of my friends are getting. 

It was fast & easy until I hit the last row and dropped my stamp, leaving a second generation candle floating just to the right of the top cake layer :(

I pulled out a few dies, trying to figure out how to save the image but the placement of the floating candle made it very challenging. I was thrilled when I realized the Nestabilities Classic Diamond shape would save the day!

Copics were used to color the candles and flames and stickles add a bit of sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Handmade Pinwheels & Sweet Sunday Sketch Take Two

The first pinwheel I made for the PTI Make It Monday #104: Handmade Pinwheels challenge never made it on the card I posted yesterday. Details of the challenge and Ashley Cannon Newell's tutorial can be found here at Capture the Moment.

When I was putting together the pinwheel bouquet, this one was put aside as too big - it needed a card of its own!

The same Lacey Square Nestabilities die was used to cut the chartreuse panel and the pinwheel. The Tremendous Tag dies are quickly becoming a favorite of mine - they are the perfect size for sentiments from Mega Mixed Messages and Daily Designs Sentiments!

The embossed part circle cut out of chartreuse panel was also sitting on my desk waiting to be used, so I quickly made a sympathy card using the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #178 again. Details of Karen Giron's challenge can be found on her blog here.

A couple of sentiments from a sweet Technique Tuesday stamp set are used along with designer paper from the My Mind's Eye Memorable line.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Make It Monday #104: Handmade Pinwheels

Make It Monday from Papertrey Ink is back with a tutorial from Ashley Cannon Newell and a challenge to use a handmade pinwheel on a project. You can check out her tutorial here and join in the fun.

I liked the border Ashley added to her felt pinwheel and wondered if a square cut with a scalloped edge die would offer a similar look, so pulled out my Lacey Square Nestabilities and cut a few different sizes. The ends definitely looked funky when adhered into the pinwheel shape, but a quick snip to round them off made a world of difference.

Last night I decided to create a bouquet of flowers with the pinwheels, but in the light of day I can't decide if I like it or not.

The card is based on Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #178 from Karen Giron.

What I do like is these colors together - the Simply Chartreuse panel is embossed with an older Cuttlebug folder and the circle cut out is backed with a chartreuse chevron designer paper.

I also used the chevron paper with a Half & Half die and Daily Designs Sentiments stamp to make the sentiment panel.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Two Cards, Three Challenges

I am doing a happy dance today because I have several uninterrupted hours to myself after a couple of weeks of very little "me" time. I don't know about you, but I need my "me" time.

Cath at Moxie Fab World put out a challenge to make a card based on the current Camera Craze. These sweet little camera dies from My Favorite Things were patiently waiting on my desk, wondering if they were ever going to meet my Big Shot, so I paired them with the MFT Peek-a-Boo Squared die and a stamp from the Technique Tuesday's Favorite Memories set.

My second card is for the CASual Fridays Challenge #90 Black & White plus one.

I used the current retrosketch for this one.

It may look like I took the sketch very literally, but this little spectacle die from Taylored Expressions has also been sitting on my desk for a few weeks begging to be used, so how could I say no?

The card is probably heading to a dear friend as her annual belated birthday card. I am hanging my head in shame, because it really is embarrassing that I can never seem to get a card in the mail to her on time.

I have another hour before I have to pay attention to others, so I'm heading back into the office.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MFTWSC111 Sympathy Card

I used the My Favorite Things sketch challenge to make a sympathy card this week. This is one type of card I struggle with and always say I will keep a few on hand, but somehow find myself scrambling when we need one.

Here is the sketch:

And my card:

I used a couple of sentiments from the MFT Clearly Sentimental about Sympathy stamp set along with a Fishtail Flag, Mini Rolled Rose and Mini Tab Die-namic. The flowers are MFT felt and centered with MME enamel dots. All the papers are My Mind's Eye and the vintage lace trim is from my stash.

A  My Favorite Things gift certificate is up for grabs at Splitcoast Stampers just for playing along, so join in the fun on the MFT Forum!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink 6th Anniversary Challenges Take Four

The 6th Anniversary celebrations are in full swing over at Papertrey Ink and Capture the Moment. You can join in the fun and check out the contests here.

I am working my way through the Papertrey Ink Design Team members, trying to CASE some of their favorite cards from 2012 that were highlighted on this post - after all, isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Today I am inspired by this card from Jessica Witty.

Even though I really was drawn to the bright and bold color scheme, somehow I ended up with a more muted and monochromatic palette.

I used the same Background Basics: Herringbone stamp as Jessica, along with a sentiment from PTI's Daily Designs Sentiments, patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle and the brads from my stash.

Today Nichole Heady challenged us to use one of these 5 sketches to create a card.

I used some new My Mind's Eye paper and embellishments that I won from Moxie Fab World to make this card based on Sketch #3.

Embroidery floss is threaded through the cardstock buttons, but otherwise everything is from the MME Notable collection. The sentiment is from PTI's Daily Designs Sentiments stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink 6th Anniversary Challenges Take Three

We have three babies due in the extended family over the next 6 or so weeks - one for sure a girl, one for sure a boy and a mystery third. When I saw the 6th Anniversary Contest this morning at PTI's blog was to create a tag or gift bag inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I knew it would be for a baby gift.

Head over to Capture the Moment for all the details and to join in the fun!

This is the tag I pinned:

And the one I made using PTI's Friendship Jar Stamp set and Jar dies, along with some My Mind's Eye Papers and a Tiny Tag.

It's a tag with a tag!

I also made a card CASEing this one from PTI Design Team member Cristina Kowalczyk, whose CAS style I so admire. She highlighted it as one of her 6 favorites from the past year.

My card is for the sweet little baby girl that will be here in a week or so.

The sentiment stamps are from Mega Mixed Messages and Daily Designs Sentiments and the little hearts are from the With All My Heart stamp set. once again, I used My Mind's Eye paper.

I'm not sure how well you can see it in the photo, but alternating flags are popped up with foam adhesive and edged with a little Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink 6th Anniversary Challenge Take Two

I managed to make another card for the Papertrey Ink 6th Anniversary celebrations - you can find the details over here at Capture the Moment. 

This time I took inspiration from Design Team member Danielle Flanders. I have to admit, I thought her border die cut was colored with ink when I first saw this card, but love that it is made from cardstock scraps. I followed Danielle's tips from this blog post and had my card made in no time at all.

I admit to keeping even the tiniest scraps of PTI cardstock, so had plenty of bits and pieces to choose from in making my card. 

I did change the orientation of the card and the moved the top sentiment to the left side, but there is no question where my inspiration came from!

It looks like I might get away with a little late night crafting for the next week or so - just no heat embossing or hammering.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MFTWSC110 Good Times

My mother-in-law is coming for a visit, which means two things for me: the house is getting an early spring cleaning and very little craft time for the next week or so. There will be a lot of delicious Greek dinners and I plan to have her help me finally make a few window valances (sewing is an approved craft LOL) but I will have to be fast and furious with any sliver of opportunity to paper craft.

I'm taking a break to post the card I made for this week's My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge. You can play along - just check out this post at Splitcoast Stampers for the details.

The papers are from a very eclectic pad American Crafts and the sentiment is from MFT's You Make My Day stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink 6th Anniversary Challenges

There is a lot of celebrating going on over at Nichole Heady's blog in honor of Papertrey Ink's 6th Anniversary. You really need to head over to Capture the Moment for all the details, especially since today Nichole is highlighting the 2013 Designers and offering a free printable!

No celebration is complete without a challenge, so I have taken Dawn McVey's free printable and used it to make this card.

Yesterday Nichole introduced the 2013 Design Team and each Design Team member highlighted six of their favorite cards from the past year. Again, there is a challenge to create a card inspired by one of those hightlighted.

I plan to make a few cards, but once again, went with Dawn McVey and this card.

I was surprised to discover I don't own the stamp set Dawn used (it is now on my official wish list), but had a few appropriate sentiments to choose from in the Hello Sunshine set.

I did veer off a bit from Dawn's design, but there is no question where the inspiration came from.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie