Crafty Cre8tions

HMFMC113 - Best Birthday Wishes

2012-02-18T04:00:00.022-05:00

The House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge is "Make Wishes Come True". I had the perfect stamp to play along with this challenge and it was the first time I was inking it up! I bought it on clearance with the sole purpose of making a card for my mother-in-law.

Aside from Christmas cards....what is the earliest you've made a card for someone? My mother-in-law's birthday isn't until May...so I'm VERY early, but I guess I'll just be very prepared (as long as I don't misplace it!)

Now, my mother-in-law LOVES anything HOT!! The hotter the better!!!! So, these jalapeno theme will be right up her alley! I love that he's going to light the candles with his hot breath!!

I tried to do a couple of fun things with the card layout, but the image is so large - it takes up most of the card front - so, I ended up keeping it simple. The image is colored with my prisma pencils and the sentiment is from MFT.

The challenge runs for two weeks, so you still have time to play along!!! Hope you're having a great day!!!!

Thanks for your visit!

Hero Arts Challenge - Valentine's Day Card

2012-02-17T04:00:00.021-05:00

I recently uploaded a bunch of cards to Flickr and participated in my first Hero Arts challenge. There are a few challenges for February, but I decided to participate in the sketch challenge part because I was in need of a Valentine's Day card for Frank and didn't want to have to think about the layout.

I also wanted to use this "Key' stamp. I'll be honest - as I was putting the card together, I really wasn't happy with how it was going...but then it started to grow on me.

I stamped and embossed the keys and then cut it out with a circle Nestie and layered it on a scallop nestie. Before adhering that to the card base, I stamped the key stamp in Versamark a few times. I stamped an extra key and cut it out, layering it on a button. I created the sentiment on my computer.

Here are the sketches for the challenge. I used the first one for my card!

And...of course Buddy and Nolie had to give their daddy a Valentine's Day card too! They wanted to keep it simple because, you know...they have paws and not hands...so I helped them 'just' a little:

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Thanks for your visit!

Anniversary Card

2012-02-16T04:00:00.024-05:00

Well, now that Frank has been given the anniversary card I made for him, I can now post it on the blog (his Valentine's Day card will be posted tomorrow!!)

It's been a while since I colored up a Magnolia stamp, but I knew I wanted to include this little girl with her apron of hearts for his card. I also wanted to use the tree because I could personalize the 'heart' carved out in the middle of the tree with our initials.

So, after stamping and masking Tilda and the tree.......the card needed a bit more...so I grabbed my Magnolia fence stamp and added that to the card. Then.........I lost my desire to make a 'scene'. I actually put the card away for two days because I just didn't have the umpff to do all this coloring!!!

But, after giving myself a break....I picked it back up and here's the finished card!!

(I encourage you to click on the card - because a much better picture of it will appear). I don't know why Blogger makes my cards blurry :(

So, after all the wishy washiness of making the card.....I absolutely LOVE IT!!!!!!!! I used my prisma pencils to color in the images and distress inks for the background. I added glossy accents to the hearts in her apron and I finished it with a Papertrey Ink sentiment!

I also cut out and popped up the 'heart' on the tree - that's why there's a shadow cast in the picture!

Hope you're having a great day!!!!!!

Thanks for your visit!

Special Day & a fun card!!

2012-02-15T04:00:00.029-05:00

Well.........today is a special day.........it's the 15th of February and Frank and my 15th wedding anniversary!

I'm one lucky girl to have Frank in my life! Even though he calls me his "future ex-wife" LOL. (That's his personality and I'm glad he's got a great one!) So, Happy Anniversary Babe!! I love you!!!

Now - on to a fun card I made for our friend Lee's 50th Birthday - which we all celebrated last night!
The six friends below went in on a gift together and I was in charge of the birthday card (well, of course!!)

Frank wanted to use a picture from vacation - so I printed out the picture below twice on cardstock. (I wish I had used photo paper....but...I didn't have it on hand). I put one of them down on black cardstock and then cut out the other picture to be popped up.

Here's a view of the 'pop'

And for the inside - I went a little nutty cutting out each of our heads. I tried to choose pictures where our mouths were open as if we were speaking the words! LOL - it makes me laugh when I look at the inside!

I used a variety of stamps for the inside sentiments: PTI, Lawn Fawn and Inkadinkado

So - just a fun card!!!

Have a great day!

Thanks for your visit!

Eat Cake Graphics - Sittin' Pretty!

2012-02-14T04:00:00.026-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!! (If you celebrate this holiday - hope you have a great love-filled day!!)

I'm back with another Eat Cake Graphics card!! Can I just say how much I love these stamps?? Have you gone to their site yet to check them out? You should!!!

When I picked out this wagon from the store, I already knew I'd be popping a few of the pups in it for a card! He he he - I love how it came out! Again, I used a lot of masking on the card. (Directions will be below). I also used Mark's Finest Papers sentiment and paw prints.

Directions:
1) Stamp wagon with Memento Ink onto card base AND onto masking paper.
2) Cut wagon from masking paper and cover on wagon on card base.
3) Stamp three pups using Stamp-a-ma-jig for alignment. Stamp three pups onto masking paper.
4) Cover card base pups with masking paper pups.
5) Use ruler to create road/sky separation.
6) Use Distress Inks and cloud template to make sky
7) Use random inks to make road.
8) Remove all masks and color the wagon and pups with prisma pencils.
9) Add glossy accents to pups tongues!

Thanks for your visit!

LIM54 - Hootin' Birthday

2012-02-13T04:00:00.022-05:00

Warning - I'm not lovin' my card today.......but I'm posting it anyway! The Less Is More Challenge this week is to make a one layer card with stripes. I knew I'd use my Impress background stamp for my stripes, but then I was left with the "what else to do?" question.

I ended up punching a circle from a post-it note to make a mask for my main image. With the post-it in place, I stamped the background using Distress inks.

Next I grabbed two Papertrey Ink circle stamps to give some interest to the open area. And then again.....another pause.......what do do next? Well.......I grabbed a Hero Arts Owl with a PTI sentiment and decided this would do for a masculine birthday card. I kept wanting to pop things up but had to remember the one-layer challenge - although, I might get axed from the challenge because is my card really "Less is More?"

Oh well........

The good news is - I really like the next four days of cards I have set to post!!! Have a great Monday!

Thanks for your visit!

Frank's Christmas Gift

2012-02-11T04:00:00.033-05:00

I meant to write this post up a while ago, but since the few projects I made recently can't be added to the blog until next week - I thought I'd show you what I gave my hubby Frank for Christmas!!!

In October 2010, we were in Savannah, GA for a wedding and went into this art gallery that had the best paintings of dogs! We purchased three of them to represent Lily, Nolie and Layla. They hang in our hallway. After adopting Buddy.........and Frank's super duper LOVE for him.........I thought that having a portrait done of Buddy by the same artist would be a terrific Christmas gift. So, I contacted the artist, Steven Schuman, and he said he would do it!!

I had to send him a few pictures of Buddy and he picked this shot to paint:

Steven sent me progress updates of the painting:

The painting wouldn't arrive in time for Christmas....so I had to think of a creative way to give Frank the gift. I decided to print off the 'progress' shot and I hand cut it into a puzzle.

I packaged up the puzzle for Frank to open.

Here is a picture of Frank putting together the puzzle on Christmas Eve with some company

It's coming together!!!

On about January 7th, the original painting arrived and here it is hanging on our wall!!

Isn't it AMAZING??????????

I still have to take a shot of Frank with Buddy AND the painting.

You would think that would be easy to do....but we just haven't done it!

If you have a beloved pet that you'd like re-created in this style....I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Steven!!!

Thanks for your visit!

PB Challenge 287 - Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-09T04:00:00.033-05:00

This week on the Penny Black Challenge Blog - the challenge is to CASE Debby's card (see 2nd picture). Good thing this cute PB stamp fell into my basket the other day. Funny how things keep falling in my shopping basket, huh??. This is a long card 4" x 8", which I rarely make, but I had a few envelopes that would work and the image is pretty big - so it worked perfectly.

I colored up this cute hedgehog with my prisma pencils. I masked him and then created the clouds. Then popped up the balloons on dimensionals. I used two different PTI stamps to make the sentiment. Finally, I added some enamel accents to the balloons - although the picture doesn't do it justice.

Here's the inspiration picture. Come play along!!

Thanks for your visit!

Eat Cake Graphics - Appreciate What Is...

2012-02-08T04:00:00.037-05:00

Well, it's always fun to come back from vacation and have new stamps waiting for you!!! I was so thrilled to open our week's worth of mail to find my first Eat Cake Graphics stamps and just HAD to make a card on Sunday! Since I have the honor of being on their design team, I was excited to complete my first project.

So..........here it is:

I used "Mr. Pattersville enjoys view" and "Lighthouse". I'll go into some detail on how I made the card.

First up - I stamped Mr. Pattersville on cardstock and another on Eclipse masking paper. I covered him with the mask and then stamped the lighthouse on cardstock and another on the masking paper.

I ripped up a piece of Post-It Note to make the beach area and used Distress Inks and a dauber to create the sand. I used the other end of my Post-It and covered the beach to make the ocean with more Distress Inks. I added some white gel pen to create the waves and the water's edge.

With the mask staying on the lighthouse, I then created the clouds with my cloud template and Distress Inks.

After all of that was done.........I colored in Mr. Pattersville and the lighthouse with my prisma pencils and gamsol. After showing the card to my hubby....he felt it needed a bit more...so I stamped another hat and game Mr. Pattersville some dimension. I added a rhinestone to the lighthouse 'light' and a few more for some interest.

Lastly, I used a Hero Arts sentiment. Hope you like my first project using Eat Cake Graphics stamps!! Be sure to stop by their site because Holly's got a lot of GREAT stamps!!!!

And since my post is 'water' related........here's the beautiful water of Anguilla:

And my hubby and I on the boat :)

Thanks for your visit!

Back from Vacation!!!!

2012-02-06T04:00:00.004-05:00

Hello!!!!!! Just popping in to say we're back from our vacation! We took a trip to the CuisinArt Resort in Anquilla with a few friends and had a wonderful time. We got back Saturday night and Sunday was spend loving up on the dogs, doing laundry, hosting Super Bowl and cheering on the Giants! Yah!!!

I also received my first Eat Cake Graphics stamps so I had time to craft up my first Design Team card!!! Hopefully I'll get to take a picture of it today and post it shortly!

So....I'll make my blog visit catch ups this week and hope to get a few cards posted!!!

See you soon :)

Thanks for your visit!

Bonnie in the Window......

2012-01-29T04:00:00.018-05:00

A few weeks ago I was in my local stamp store and saw this cool window die from Poppy Stamps. I don't own a 'window' stamp - so I thought it would be a great purchase! So, for my first card using it - I wanted to make a doggy looking out the window. Here's the card:

This Skipping Stones dog stamp looks just like my neighbor's pup Bonnie. She comes up to play with Buddy and Nolie and they have a good time. I thought it would be fun to send the card to Bonnie's mom.

It took some 'thinking' to get the card done because I wanted the background to be of the inside of the house. So, I made some blinds and wall paper. I stamped the window die cut with a wood grain stamp and embossed the 'house' with a PTI wood grain folder.

I cut a few Sizzix trees and grass (which - um.....yuk.....) - time for another purchase!!

So, I'm pretty pleased with the result. Hope to have some more fun with this die cut in the near future.

Speaking of future...........I'm going on a short blog break!! Be back soon :)

Thanks for your visit!

FTL174 - Thank You

2012-01-28T04:00:00.007-05:00

Just a quick post today - here is another Thank You card I sent out to friend's who sent a nice little gift in memory of Lily Pumpkin Pie. I went back to my DCWV dog pack - because it works so well. I followed last week's Clean and Simple FTL#174

Thanks for your visit!

Much Love

2012-01-27T04:00:00.016-05:00

Hello!! Hope you are having a great week! I decided to go back to my new favorite Hero Arts background stamp and make another card. This time I stamped it out on watercolor paper with Stazon and colored it in with Distress Inks and water. (last time I just used the sponge daubers to color)

I cut out a Sizzix oval tag, stamped a MFT sentiment and added a few pearls.

My only regret is that my Stazon didn't totally stamp the background in black. I re-inked the pad before stamping. Anyone have any tips on better coverage?

Thanks for your visit!

I Wheely Love You!

2012-01-26T04:00:00.011-05:00

Quick post today showing a card I made last week just for fun!

I started with this Stamping Bella bicycle embossed with silver powder. I colored them up copic-like with my Marvy markers. I used enamel accents to make the white on the wheels and created the sentiment with Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABC alphabet.

Thanks for your visit!

Lily Pad Cards Challenge

2012-01-25T04:00:00.025-05:00

As I said in yesterday's post, I crafted a bit this past Sunday. One of the cards I made was for the Lily Pad Cards Virginia's View Challenge (that's a mouthful!). We had to take inspiration from the photo posted on their blog (pictured below my card) and make a project based on that.

I bought an Inkadinkado acrylic heart set on clearance a few months ago and knew this challenge would put that set to great use! So, I started embossing all the hearts in white powder on water color paper. Then I grabbed a bunch of my yellow, orange, pink and red Distress Inks and used them to color in my hearts.

I cut out the hearts and then laid them out on the card, popping a few of them up. I used a Papertrey Ink sentiment to finish the card.

Here's another view:

This card was a lot of fun to make, although it took me a bit of time! Below is the challenge inspiration if you want to play along. You've got until February 2nd!

Have a wonderful day!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for your visit!

LIM 51 - Special Blessing

2012-01-24T04:00:00.017-05:00

Sunday was a crafty day for me after taking Nolie and Buddy to the park for a hike in the snow. I checked out a few challenges and decided that I wanted to take part in the Less Is More Week 51 challenge. The challenge was to make a card with a cut out. This was the second card I made on Sunday - so I actually used a scrap piece from tomorrow's card for one of my main elements.

Here's the card:

I was playing around with my Distress Inks and water color paper and ended up with the main panel on the card. I took my Sizzix heart die and die cut that piece and the main card. I shaded the heart so the color transferred to inside the card and I trimmed the right side of the card adding the scallop edge.

I finished it with an embossed Inky Antics stamp and added a few hearts and bling!

You have until Friday to play along with the Less Is More challenge!

Thanks for your visit!

Thoughtful Thanks

2012-01-23T04:00:00.011-05:00

The past two week's was definitely a rough one........losing Pinky and Lily and sending Taz to Forever Home. I have so many thoughtful people in my life - that I knew I'd send out some Thank You notes to them. Here are a few quick cards I sent out using DCWV paper and a Papertrey Ink sentiment:

Just a quick post..........hope you have a great Monday.

Thanks for your visit!

Challenge Tri-fecta - Happy Birthday

2012-01-22T04:00:00.031-05:00

Wow - this might be the first - or - the first in a looooooooooooooooooong while, but I'm entering today's card into three challenges. I know my blog friend Cheryl enters her cards into like TWENTY challenges - which I find AMAZING........but, for me.......three is probably the tops! This was the perfect storm of sketch challenge, color challenge and technique challenge.........so.......finally - here's the card!

I haven't made a shaker card in a long while, so I had to refer to the Splitcoast Stampers tutorial for a quick refresher course. I used a Papertrey Ink stamp to stamp the background of the shaker card and use it again on the front panel. It definitely looks a bit boring on the blog :( but in real life it makes a greater impact!

So, what are the challenges you ask?

Hand Stamped Sentiments#101 - Shaker Card

Freshly Made Sketches #18

And

Color Throwdown #175

You have until tomorrow the 23rd for all three of these challenges if you want to come play along!!

On another note - thank you for all your lovely notes about Lily's passing. We're actually doing OK. I had a harder time with Layla's passing and I think I know the reason. Lily was blessed with 9 years of a princess' life. Layla was only with us for 2 years and I think that was much harder for me because I wanted to be able to give her more for a longer time. Know what I mean? But - thank you again for those that have commented on the blog, sent me cards, called or emailed. We do appreciate the outpouring of love.

Thanks for your visit!

SFYTT-January - Where hope grows...

2012-01-21T04:00:00.011-05:00

miracles blossom.

I made this card last Sunday for the Sketch For You To Try January Challenge and the ColourQ challenge. But.....I missed the upload for the ColourQ - oh well.

I colored up this There She Goes stamp with my prismas and added some black enamel accents to the center. I used some Cuttlebug folders, American Crafts paper and a Verve sentiment.

Here's the SFYTT sketch - if you want to play along:

Thanks for your visit!

Friday's Reflection - Lily Pumpkin Pie

2012-01-20T04:00:00.048-05:00

So, I put off this blog post for a few days because I just felt I was on a run of sad posts. So after giving you blog readers a couple of days of happy cards, I'm fessing up that we said goodbye to our Lily Pumpkin Pie on Tuesday. There's nothing worse, but it was her time and I vowed not to let her suffer in order to keep her with me any longer. Lily's FAVORITE time of year was winter, so wouldn't you know on Monday night....snowflakes fell from the sky? On Tuesday morning she got to lay outside in the snow for a bit too. It made me happy that she was able to enjoy some snow on her last day.

I thought I'd show you a few of our favorite pictures of our 'first born'

This is Lily during her first week home with us. We adopted her in December 2002
from Pet Rescue in NY - which is a GREAT rescue group!! She came up from West Virginia with two other siblings.

Yes - we did have a first birthday for Lily and Hayley (Cindy's dog)

Lily always had the best head tilt! Here she is with Nolie

This is one of my all time favorite shots. First, because I was able to catch the action.

Secondly, Nolie looks like the most viscous animal on the earth (which couldn't be farther from the truth)

And third - Lily's doing her Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon move

Lily didn't always love going to the park like Nolie and Layla...but she'd sit for a pose

as long as needed if 'C-O-O-K-I-E-S' were involved.

She didn't mind a close up either

And this shot is from this summer taken on my cell phone. I just think the pool reflection is awesome.

So Rest In Peace little girl. We will see you again.

Thanks for your visit!

LIM Week 50 & RIC#4 - Many Wishes

2012-01-19T04:00:00.003-05:00

I had a really great crafty day last Sunday and was able to make a bunch of cards before we hosted some friends for the Giants game. This card is for two challenges. First up is the Less Is More Week # 50 - One Layer 'bird' challenge. The second challenge is for the Runway Inspired Challenge #4 - based on the picture below my card.

This gave me a great opportunity to use my never-inked-up Hero Arts bird stamp. I bought this quite a while ago and it just sat on my shelf until now.

The stamp only has three birds on it (red/orange/yellow) - so I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp out a few more of the birds to cover the bottom. I used a There She Goes sentiment to finish it off.

Here's the RIC #4 inspiration:

You've got until tomorrow to enter a card if you want to play along with the Less Is More challenge and until January 27th for the Runway Inspired challenge!!

Thanks for your visit!

JUGS119 - Collage Time

2012-01-18T04:00:00.005-05:00

This week on the Just Us Girls blog - Challenge#19 is to make a collage. I have to say I've never made a collage before, so this took a few trial and errors. Here's the card I came up with for the challenge:

I started off embossing a Savvy butterfly stamp. Then I used a variety of brown inks on Memory Box, Hero Arts and Studio G stamps. I didn't want to clutter the rest of the card, so I just punched out some hearts with a MS punch and used a Studio G sentiment.

My collaging needs a bit of work, but I'm happy with my beginner's result.

Thanks for your visit!

PB184 & CAS173 - Misc Cards

2012-01-17T04:00:00.019-05:00

Hi all,
It's Monday and I'm typing up my posts for the next few days. It's very quiet in the house now that Taz is down at Forever Home. They've already let us know he's doing great and ALREADY making progress! Go Taz!!

Today's cards were made following the Clean and Simple FTL#173 and the 'anything goes' Penny Black Saturday Challenge#184. I made a few using the same image, just changing up the paper and the sentiments.

Here's the Clean & Simple Sketch:

Thanks for your visit!

HSS100 - Best Fishes

2012-01-15T04:00:00.023-05:00

After going through my Google Reader last week (gosh it gets filled up quickly!!)...I came across the Hand Stamp Sentiments blog and their current challenge is to use pleats or ruffles. I thought that would be a fun challenge. In my head, I decided I wanted to use pleats as ocean waves (not sure how that thought came to me) - so then I had to find a fish stamp in my stock. I found an Impression Obsession stamp and thought it would work perfectly. Before I go on more.........here's the card:

After coloring the fish with my Prisma pencils, I played around with the layout. I used my Cuttlebug swirl folder for the water and then did the pleating for the waves. I grabbed my Lawn Fawn letter stamps and stamped out the sentiment and then added a balloon. The balloon and fish fins are all covered with glossy accents, but it was a rainy day when I took the picture, so this is the best one I could take!!

Here's the details if you want to play along. Entries are due TOMORROW at noon!

Hope you have a restful Sunday!! Go Giants!! (that's for you Honey!)

Thanks for your visit!

Taz...........

2012-01-14T04:00:00.018-05:00

Nothing crafty today........another doggy post if you can stand it! Today is another bittersweet day in the life of Maria........today we hand off Taz to Forever Home Sanctuary in North Carolina for some rehabilitation work. The girls at Forever Home have done a wonderful job working with Haylee - the dog we sent down there in the summer and I knew they'd be perfect to help Taz rehab through some of the issues that have come up since living with us.

Yesterday, Patty - another shelter volunteer and I drove to Virginia from CT with Taz and stayed overnight. We're scheduled to meet FHS at 11am today at a dog park in Alexandria (they were kind enough to drive 3 hrs to meet us).

I know he'll do wonderful down there and I think he and Haylee will soon be BFF's and enjoy roughhousing together. Lily, Nolie and Buddy will enjoy having some peace in the house again. And my poor Lily is starting to fail, so I'll turn my full attention to her for the time we have left together.

Forever Home Sanctuary recently received their 501(c) status - so if you were ever interested in donating to a great cause - I recommend them!!! OR............if you're looking to add a four legged friend to your family - check out the great dogs they have up for adoption! Taz will be up for adoption in a few months too!!!

Thanks for your visit!