2 in 1 today

I've talked about Case Study challenge before, most of the time I don't enter it's just not my style. I I did a while back cuz their muse (Jill Foster) is amazing. The current inspiration Dawn Woleslagle did a cute card so I decided to participate.

Here is the inspiration.

and here is my card.

I've been wanting to do an Asian card for awhile. What little furniture decor we have managed to get has an Asian flare to it. Who knows why a German and a half Mexican would be drawn to the Asian culture but we are.

The stamp is from Fiskars... Fiskars makes great cutting tools in both the paper crafting and the quilting world. I dare say their stamps are not as good. It was worth a try. The flowers are colored with Copic's. The paper is from a set I got at Joann's called Far East.

I'm really happy with how this card turn out so I'll be entering it into the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge as well. Sorry to make this short I'm helping my store Stamp Fever participate in the So Cal Shop Hop. I forgot how much work retail is. But the good thing is i'll get paid in products :D

I love Summer

The wonderful folks at Hero Arts have a monthly contest. I like to enter... it's a great way to get some good feed back plus a chance to win $50 in stuff. Anyone who dabbles in this hobby knows more stuff is required.

The theme this month is parties or summer. I adore summer it's one of my favorite times. When I was younger it meant no work and all play. (Now that I'm working less play is involved but that's ok i'll let retirement make up for that.) I was blessed to be born and raised in Southern California which means we have the summer period (about half the year) and the non summer period (the other half of the year). For the most part they are very similar. In the non summer period we have that rain stuff sometimes which freaks everyone out.. its kinda funny to watch actually. I digress.

I wanted to do a summer card however I don't have any beach stamps and in all honesty we can go year round. The other thing we get in the summer period is fruit, oh my the options are endless. Again we can get that year round if your willing to pay the bigger bucks, or have a back yard full of fruit trees.

After a few days of thinking I decided to do a sunset. shhhh its more of a non summer period sunset but I won't tell if you don't.

I kept it simple. I am a simple person however those colors are awesome..Let me just say Jill Foster is a great teacher and she does amazing things with the distress inks.

Distress inks: Broken China, Dusty Concord, Barn Door and my fav Faded Jeans

I also used Versamark for both the embossing and the sentiment

Stamps used: Find Joy and Delicate Leaf Clusters

As it's an evening scene and I wanted the thank you to sparkle. After trying a number of different options I settled with putting Stickles on the letters. The photo doesn't do it justuce. I am open to suggestions with how to make this more sparkly. Perfect Pearls didn't give it that shine I was looking for...now that I think about it I could have used glue and a paint bush with some glitter. Oh well hind site is 20/20.

Lawncaping Challenge #14

It's good to be home and crafting again. Oh how I missed you desk. I didn't miss my supplies only because I took a number of them with me. :D It was fun crafting with the cousin's even if it was only for an hour or so.

I've stated before I adore Lawn Fawn and with all the traveling I've done recently I haven't been able to participate with the Lawnscaping challenges as of late. Yesterday I made time in my schedule and got to work so I could get this card in under the wire. :D

As you can see the current challenge is stamp a scene, that's awesome I love scenes.. er that was until I sat down..I couldn't figure out want to do. I pulled all my sets out and picked one I have yet to use, Critters in the sea. I don't remember my justification for buying this set... I do love the ocean. Anywho here is my card:

Now you can't have an ocean scene without plants so I used Blissful Botanicals to fill in that gap. The other stamps are from Critters in the Sea.

If I did this card again I would do it in a different order but as I was just messing around this is what happened. That sand, which I glued on first, are clear beads. Sand isn't clear so I pulled out the Copic air can thingy and airbrushed it with a few shades of Earth tones. It came out pretty good. I ended up airbrushing the blue water as well. All the animals where colored with Copic's and then cut out. I added glossy accents to the animals but the photo didn't really show that so we ended up using a pre-glossy accents photo.

My Bff come down and heckled me as I colored. The plants where her idea as where some of the color choices so I can't take the credit for that. (Note to self stamp them on before you do the beads.) She also made me redo the Octopus which I wasn't happy about until this second one was created.. I love those little dots. You where right Sarah the first one was to dark.

And as always I don't have a list of the Copic's used. I am one step closer though.. this time I wrote them down. I just didn't bring the sheet with me. One day I'll have that for ya. Although does it really matter what colors I used? You can use any color you want. As Bob Ross himself said we are given "artistic licenses". Fell free to use yours. :D

Op I forgot to mention..yesterday I watched this video from Jess Larsen Design and learned how to reverse the stamps which is what I did for the fish on the far right. Very cool and fairly easy to do.

I'm Home!

It's funny how traveling sucks the time away. I miss the family so very much but I am very happy to be home. I missed the routine of things. what did I miss most? My bathroom. I can go any time and aside from Dk I don't have to share, nor do I have to worry about how long I'm gonna be.

It was funny Dk walked in the bedroom saying.. I missed you over flowing trash can.. I missed you pile of cloths on the floor. :) Needless to say we were glad to be home. Although I was not glad to see the over flowing trash can. We were gone less than a week yet if felt like we were gone much longer. Partly because we didn't have a regular meal schedule and last night was the first night I actually had 8 hours of sleep in a row.

Now that I'm home what I miss the most is family and friends. So much fun laughing and hanging out. It's a shame family is so far away. I'm sorry guys I just can't live there.. there is that snow stuff you have to deal with plus my family is here.

It was a beautiful wedding. I didn't get pictures sorry to say I was too busy working the food table. Dk was asked to do the food and I was his sue chef... I have to give a huge shout out to the MVP of the wedding, Maddy. Oh wow did that girl work. We couldn't have done it without her. We told her we would be happy to do her wedding just as long as she discusses the foods with us in advance before she gets her heart set on something.

You see The bride choose kabobs, caprice salad on a skewer and something else which Dk explained wasn't realistic so we ended up doing a roasted red pepper humus. All the food was amazing and thankfully we had lots of help with the bizillion skewers. (Yes that's 2 food items on skewers for 300+ people.) We were happy to do it and would love to cook for her again, however if someone wants skewers for that many in the future we will politely decline.

Of course Dk got rave reviews and people were coming back for 3rds. The only thing we had left over was a ton of bread and hummus. We took the bread toasted it, ground it up and added some seasonings and made bread crumbs for the bride and groom. We brought some home for ourselves to. There was the perfect amount of everything else. And the best part was the Mother of the Bride had a group of women in charge of clean up so once our last bit of food was out we were done and able to enjoy the rest of the festivities.

Dk missed cooking so much, ironically the first thing he made when he got home was kabobs, they went perfect with that hummus. It's good to be back and hopefully in the next few days I can get back to crafting.

I try to get a souvenir when I'm out and about, a memento of the trip if you would. What did Dk and I get this trip? Why a meat injector of course. lol That was our big memento. We also picked up 3 packs of Dublin Dr. Pepper, 2 lbs of Bacon and 2 bags of Vidalia onions.

We are huge Dr. Pepper fans. In Texas, the heart land of Dr. Pepper, it is made with pure cane sugar. The stuff we get here is made with corn syrup. There is a difference. It is rare we can find Dublin Dr. Pepper here and in Utah it was there in spades. So we grabbed some.

When your husband's passion is food and shopping markets that's what you see in other areas. So when getting the beef for the wedding we found that their bacon is super thick Danish style. Again that can't be found here so we picked up some and froze it. I'm excited to try that out.

The last time we got Vidalia onions was when the bff went to Georgia and brought them home to us. If they can be transported to Utah I see no reason why they can't be transported here, we had to get 2 bags. We should start a letter writing campaign. Tonight Dk is making French onion soup. :D

On the drive home at one of our stops we did pick up a refrigerator magnet so there is that.It was a great trip and with some small changes I'd be happy to go again. Although we are pushing the family to do a reunion at Disneyland in 2 years. Then I'd have the best of both worlds family and my bathroom.

Best Wishes to the Happy Couple!

If you read the last post you know I'm not at home and in Utah for a wedding. Of course I had to make a card for the happy couple. The bride is amazing.. she's beautiful, smart, talented and shes grounded.. I know hard to imagine but its true. My other reasoning is she follows my blog so I'm kinda obligated lol :D

I read/saw a video something like that a while back where the presenter stated she would make wedding cards based off the invitation. Fantastic idea! Except, no offense Katrina, the invitation came void of color. The last invitation we got (the wedding Dk went to in Alabama) same thing one color with text. At least Katrina had a colored envelope. Having no idea what the wedding colors were I went with my wedding colors white, black and red.

Here is the Happy Couple's card:

The sentiment is from Close to my heart. (actually I bought it knowing I'd have some weddings in the future.) Words don't describe how much I love that font.

For gifts we usually give gift cards... having been married semi recently (almost 4 years ago) the gift cards that came in for us were awesome as was the cash. Oh my do we have loving caring and giving friends. I'm sure Katrina, as she is loved by many, will get tons of that stuff so we decided to give a very special gift. What did we give you ask? Why a proper chef's knife and cutting board of course. Complete with care and feeding instructions.

Last month I went to girls camp... my main reason for going was a lunch where the girls made their own meal. Oh wow was that some serious work however I found out that a number of the girls had never opened a can before or had even used measuring spoons so I'm glad we did it. In prepping for this event. I had to obtain supplies and I asked around for a chef's knife. I was shocked to find out that most adults had no idea what I was talking about. As I'm sure all of you know what I'm talking about this following photo is not necessary but I'm gonna add it anyways.

That is a chef's knife.. they come in various sizes and prices. This particular knife is a work horse and it's less than $30. I won't go into all the details of the care and feeding. I'll be happy to answer any questions of course.

It was a pleasure being apart of your wedding Katrina.. you were a stunning bride.

Summer Card Camp wk3

Woo hoo I got a card done in time to get it uploaded and before I head off. :D It's week three of Card Camp :( Where has the time gone? It's been a great/informative class and worth every dime.

Here is this weeks color theme:

And here is my card:

I haven't decided If I love or hate it yet. See.. I love bright colors and the way I did this my intention was to have bright however it didn't come out that way. I do adore the background it looks like marble.

I white embossed the flourish on glossy paper than stamped it with alcohol inks. Cleaned off the white and stamped again.... rinse and repeat.... a few times. I added a splash of color with the bow and voila. I didn't want to add a sentiment, it didn't need it really. Of course I did add one on the inside. :)

This is a thank you card for a family that is hosting us while we are in Utah. We needed 3 spare bedrooms which is exactly what they had. I have no idea who they are yet very nice of them.

I hope ya'll have a good week.

Katie

Happy Birthday Poppy!

For some reason this post didn't go up last week as planned. There's no way it could be user error. :) here's the post..

Dk's Dad's birthday was just a week ago and of course I had to make a card.

A little background on Poppy.. to keep things simple.. he's a character. :D One of his best traits, like all good parents, is being notorious for asking Dk if he did stuff.. check the oil in the car.. plug in the portable batterie thingy... take your wife to restaurants shes likes. He's good at that. To keep him out of trouble he drives cars part time.

When I buy stamp sets I make sure I buy a set that has great pieces not just one good stamp. I can't justify 12-15 dollars for one stamp unless its a background stamp even then I have a hard time with it as mention in this post. Plus I can't afford to duplicate the same types of stamps so I try to buy sets that multiple functions.

With all that in mind I had to have this set:

That cat is just to cute to pass up plus and that car is perfect for Poppy. You've seen that cat before in this post. I have yet to use the hedge hog or the mice... I plan to shortly. With Poppy's b-day around I pulled out the stamp set and got to work:

I am falling in love with the Copic's and am grateful I was blessed with a huge assortment. You see DK has been a fan for years and years and formed a solid collection. I was quite happy when I found out Copic's and stamping go hand in hand.

My card:

I've encouraged you before to check out YouTube. Some amazing informative video's. I'll also remind you that not all video's are created equal. It's ok to shut the video off if after 10 seconds if your ready to gouge your ears out.. I do. Shut the video off not hurt my ears.

One of the folks I follow is Vicky Papaioannou she is one of the co creators of LilyPad Cards plus she has great video's. She is amazing at piecing things together. Which is what I did with the car. I colored the dog and body of the car with Copic's. Coloring the lights and tires the same way I cut them out and glued them on. Not bad for a first try.

Of course I don't have list of all the colors used, I need to be better about getting those listed for you. Sorry about that. That sentiment was just perfect. I tried doing it by hand however it wouldn't come out.. I kept getting ink on it... cutting to much off.. after the 4th failed attempt I decided to do it on the computer. I just love technology. The cutting is a bit choppy, proof of my frustration.

Happy Birthday Poppy, thanks for being a caring father who keeps us inline whether we like it or not.

Summer Card Camp Wk 2

I loved camp as a kid and still do. The best part about card camp is I get to sleep in my own bed and use indoor plumbing when ever I like. :) This weeks card camp color combo (say that 3 times fast) is:

I adore these colors. I loved it so much that I ended up making two cards. As I stated in a previous post I adore Jill Foster and her bold back ground colors. I've been wanting to give it a whirl for a while now and this color combo made that happen.

Here is my first card:

Inks Memento black, Distress inks are: - Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles and Spiced marmalade.

Stamps: For you Penny Black, Hero Arts Flower Dot Pattern (I am loving this stamp) and Hero Arts Find Joy

My second card:

Inks: Memento Black. Distressed inks are Barn Door, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Wild Honey and Spiced marmalade.

Stamps: Hero Arts Flower Dot Pattern (for the leaf) Penny Black to you (Flower), Hero Arts Friend Definition, and Hero Arts Find Joy (sentiment)

When I was playing with the Flower dot Pattern that flourish just jumped out and said use me as a leaf... it looks amazing, course I'm bias. Actually these cards look pretty good if I do say so myself.... practicing really does work.

I don't believe I'll be able to participate next week I'm going to an out of state wedding :D I am excited to be with family and am super excited for you Katrina.... the only thing better than marriage for me was getting Baptized. :D

Katie

Daisy Power

I had been eyeballing this stamp for some time:

I just couldn't bring myself to get it. The background stamps are expensive but worth it, but at the same time that was a Lawn Fawn set I could get or $13 I should be saving. I kept putting the stamp back figuring I'll get next time. The day before my last stamping 101 class I went down to Stamp Fever to buy some of the little things I needed for class. I added that stamp to the pile and then at the last min put the stamp back. I really don't need to spend more money plus it was a want not a need.

I show up the next day with the items we were requested to bring. I was asked if I brought black ink... er no.. that wasn't on the list. It's a staple to every kit I was told...oh.. I'm still new at this.. sorry. Thankfully the ladies were willing to share so no worries.

Nancy being the awesome person she is give us a quiz while we were piecing our cards together. The first question I had no idea what the answer was but the second question was... What are two items you should have in your stamp kit?

My hand bolted up at the speed of light and I was called on... why scissors and black ink of course..lol I made my way up to the front of class to collect my prize. (Nancy had brought in a number of items to choose from and everyone was given something. It was really nice of her.) To my surprise there it was my stamp in the pile of prizes :D YES!

Linda at Stamp Fever asked me to create a sample for the store using the stamp since I had been talking about it for months. Here's my sample:

Simon Says Stamp has a weekly contest.. I've entered it before and last weeks theme was lemon and lavender. So I made this card and set it aside. I even took pictures and started this blog post but then the 3 day weekend came... (Happy Birthday America) and I forgot about it. It's to late to enter into that contest but I'll still take it over to the shop.

Thanks Nancy for everything. I bet the Stamping 102 class will be just as good. Bummer it doesn't start til August.

Katie