CFC 66 The Beach!

Happy Hump Day!

I'm not sure about you, but I can't believe it is Wednesday already. It seems like I blink and half the week escapes me. As (almost) I did with the Casual Friday posting deadline. I started this card over the weekend and left it lying on my desk in limbo for days! I only finished it up this morning.

CFC66: Create a project featuring something you might see in or at the ocean

I thought of the beach for two reasons, -- in order of importance, (1) I have this great new stamp set from CTMH that I LOOOOVE and (2) we are planning, Lord willing, to go to the beach in October with the piglets.

Here is my Clean and Simple card using the "Kick Back" stamp set and 3 strips of cardstock. The sentiment is from the "Card Chatter - Sympathy" stamp set. (Inside of the card says "thinking of you.")

Doesn't it make you wish you were sitting in that chair right now! I sure do. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great rest of the week. Pin It

Colour Q #150

Happy Day!

Greetings from Perfect Weather, TN. We are in pre-Fall bliss here. Can't ever remember an August this pleasant! I actually DON'T want to punch someone (the Hubs is even safe now) just b/c the heat and humidity is making me very irritable. It's a really nice turn of events (for everyone in my household - even the kitty cats are jubilant. Well, for a cat - you'd have to know them personally to realize they are jubilant.)

I'm taking advantage of the weather and outdoors babysitting my piglets to sneak in a post. The kids have burned up the driveway with their scooters and now moved to the trampoline. I'm actually using the table on our back patio for a TABLE!

This week's Colour Q colors stumped me at first, I must admit. But after seeing this card, I was inspired to use the bright, vibrant colors for Fall. As I've admitted to my own overwhelming vice with Halloween goodies, I'm also admitting Fall is a very close (if not even) second. So the inspiration pushing me to Autum artwork was very much welcomed.

I used the (retired) CTMH November Word Puzzle stamp set and Olive, Tulip, and Honey inks. Natural Hemp and Ocean colored-cardstock - voila! Card finito!



My fun little card:

Thanks for looking - hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Pin It

PPA #141

Good evening.

Two in one night. I'm yawning and going to have a hard time getting out of this chair to start supper, but I'm posting my other card if it kills me. I am no stranger to procrastination, but not today!

I was thrilled to see a sketch this week at Pals Paper Arts.



And, I think this one is fun. Since I've had Christmas cards noodling around in my brain, I decided to do another today.

This delicious paper is old Making Memories (clearance at Target - does it get any better than that? I think not!)

The CTMH stamp set is "Backwoods" for the trees and "Holiday Wishes" for the sentiment (A retired SOTM from 2011). The red gems are a combination of CTMH and Micheal's. The ribbon is from Michael's.

The two smaller trees are trimmed and popped up on foam tape. All edges are inked in cocoa ink, used to stamp the sentiment. Topiary green is the ink color for the trees.

Thanks for looking! Pin It

Freshly Made #48

I am digging on sketches lately. Every time I see a new one, I feel the itch to get in my crafty room and create something -- ideas muddling in my head and the excitement of a new challenge bubbling. HOWEVER by the time I actually get in my room and have time to work on something, I am blocked! Sketches are supposed to help a girl's waning mojo, so mine must be seriously broken. I just left my room in frustration yesterday with a card only partially finished. I hadn't even glued anything down to the base - just left it all askew on my desk. So today I finished it based on this Freshly Made sketch.

It really caught my eye this week and I was dying to do something with it. Maybe I was forcing it yesterday. I think I'm guilty of that more than I realize.  I still may do more with this later when the mood strikes. I think it'd be a great one for Christmas cards.

We know a little girl in my daughter's grade who broke her leg over the summer. Poor thang! So I wanted to send her a card.



My card uses CTMH "Splendor" paper and the Skipping Stones Design "Heartsong 2" stamp set.

Raise your hand if you, also, have trouble with "random" placement of jewels, gems, and stamps?! It looks like it should be so easy!! But every time I adhere another gem I think it looks too "in line" with the others. I'm open to suggestions if there is a trick I'm unaware of. If they weren't sticky on one side, I think I'd throw several up in the air and see where they landed. But something tells me I would not be able to leave them alone - I'd move something.

My stamp colors are Cocoa and 2nd Generation Topiary, both from CTMH. All edges are inked in Desert Sand. The blue bitty bling gems are also CTMH.

Thanks for looking! Pin It

Mom's Birthday Gift - Card Pack

This year for my Mom's birthday (only because I couldn't pull it off in time for Mother's Day -- TYPICAL -- more ideas but less time), I made her a card pack of all-occasion cards and a matching covered card box. The box is offered by CTMH and comes in plain, white chipboard for you to glam it up however you wish.

In my newest quest to clean out some of my stash, (I'm on a self-imposed moratorium of purchasing new supplies until I use up a bunch of old supplies. And, let me tell you two things really quickly: 1. It is no fun at all! NONE!  2. It's a pretty big motivator to move some inventory!), I used up an old kit from Fancy Pants Design called "Happy Together". I have no idea how I came by this kit, but it is pretty and I knew Mom would like the colors.

On the bright side, I used the kit up and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. I covered the box first, to ensure I could make it look like I wanted -- then worked on the cards with the scraps and other pieces that were not used yet.

All joking aside, it has been rewarding to get creative with what I already have and enjoy making use of it, rather than pining for new stuff like a kid who is never satisfied with their current toys. (I'm don't know ANY children like that. Ours are certainly not like that.)

Here is the covered box  (holds standard cards sized 4.25" x 5.5"):

As you can see, all of the edges are sponged in CTMH Chocolate ink. The chocolate stitched ribbon is also CTMH. The fun part about the top of the box is the transparency overlay with the flowers on it. Mom's "grandma name" in coordinating letter stickers adhered to that overlay beautifully and it was easy to line them up and move them around and not tear paper. (NOT that I know it would tear the paper. I'm just guessing that would happen if, say, a person decided to pull stickers off of a page they've already stuck them to and thought they were lined up, but then found, indeed there were NOT lined up. ... I'm just sayin'...Hypothetically, they would probably tear up. That's all.)

Here are the 10 all-occasion cards that were included in the box. (in no particular order)

I've added captions below for interesting tidbits.

This is a CTMH card pattern from the "Originals" book and the blue patterned paper is CTMH.
It matched perfectly!

Another CTMH card pattern (Loosely translated). CTMH ribbon, Mocha pearl
and sentiment stamp.

"Stitching" is from CTMH's Stitched Together stamp set.

Another piece of that same transparency overlay used on the top of my box.
The sentiment is stamped on the paper underneath the transparency.
It looked great in person -- good impact.

This is the first one I made for the set and it did NOT float my boat.
Discussion point:
Why do we seem to pick up speed as we go?

The beginning stages of this card were designed by my daughter.
Her waning enthusiasm finally relented to "Here Mom, you do it."
She picked the background paper and ribbon (and had me do it) then
dropped it like a hot potato.
The image next to the sentiment is a coordinating kit rub-on
that I "bedazzled" with Bitty bling.

Easiest card ever! Rub-ons and stamping (sentiment only) --
That's ALL folks!

A pattern from a card I've designed before that turned out to be one of my
favorites. I was happy to repeat the formula and just as pleased this time.
I'm loving the "simple" stuff these days.

Totally saw this in my head, but not like it wasn't inspired
by so many I've seen before.
I look at so many blogs, magazines, and catalogs
it's sometimes hard to remember where I had an idea
and many times it may be a hybrid design.
I love it and will definitely repeat this pattern. Very simple and great use of scraps.

Well, that was a lot of reading and if you hung in there with all of it, I'm impressed. My attention span isn't that long.

I hope you enjoyed the post and perusing the gift card set. It was definitely a big hit. Mom loved it when she accidentally stumbled across it in my craft room before I ever wrapped it and gave it to her. (Yes, you read that right. TYPICAL). I sat down and made all of this on a Saturday afternoon. I love making homemade gifts. As long as my family and friends continue to feign interest, I'll keep making the stuff.

Hope you have a great rest of the week!

Toodle-oo,
Mandy Pin It

DD#14 and Unscripted Sketches #170

Good morning --

This past Saturday I was able to play along with a few challenges while the Hubby was mowing the yard. :) I snuck into my room! Hee hee.

I picked Dynamic Duos color challenge to go with the Unscripted Sketches challenge and pulled out some of my beloved Halloween supplies. (It just makes me happy.)





The paper I chose is from some old Scenic Route (stars) and the CTMH "Hooligans" kit. The stickers are also from the same CTMH kit. The sentiment is stamped from the CTMH "Captured Moments" stamp set.

Thanks for looking! Pin It

CFC64 and PPA140

Good morning.

Day before school starts back here -- wow. Where did the summer go? I know the kids aren't totally ready for it to start back and neither is Mom! I've enjoyed not having to strictly enforce all the timelines and schedules and taking it easy. Homework and bedtimes - yuck! (It's like I'm still a kid!)

This weeks CAS-ual Friday challenge is "clean and simple projects featuring things you'd see in the sky".  I combined that with the color challenge from Pals Paper Arts.






I used CTMH's Cranberry, Crystal Blue, and Sweet Leaf. The stamp set is from Skipping Stones Design. I'm normally not a "bird" person, but I've found this one stamps up so pretty and is great for CAS stamped only cards! One of my new favorite formulas - not much paper, just having fun stamping!

All supplies, excluding the stamp set, are CTMH.

Thanks for looking and hope you are having a great week! Pin It

PDCC143

Well -- I couldn't help it -- I did the obvious with these colors. And since I'm excited to have busted out my first Christmas card of the year, I'm not all that ashamed, to be quite honest.

Last year was the first time, I made Christmas cards of my own design and it was more fun than I've had crafting in a while. Christmas stamps and paper run second only behind Halloween trinkies in my little paper/stamp obsessed head! I can not resist the Halloween stuff and I have the ridiculously full stamp drawer to prove it! AND I have a hard time parting with them.

I'll purposely go through my stamps, looking for some I no longer use - whenever I got to the Halloween drawer (that's right - it's OWN.    DRAWER.    ), I pull one out I don't use, almost put it in the pile and then snatch it back. ..."Well," I tell myself, "I might use this in the niece's / nephew's album. It would be SILLY to get rid of this now, knowing that we'll NEED Halloween pages for years to come." .... and, thus the stash grows and grows. Every time CTMH fall catalogs come out, and I hear the 'cha-ching' sound reverberating in my own head, I know it's only going to get worse. I guess there are far worse vices. Just please,  please, please don't tell the Hubs how bad my "stash" really is. If he ever starts snooping up there, I am done for! Fortunately, there seems to be a force-field around my room that causes him to recoil in horror. He walks past it only because he has to to access his big screen.    ; )

Now that I've aired the dirty laundry out here in the free-for-all cyber land, let's get back to the business at hand. I've done ALOT of actual laundry this week and I fear I'm rambling with excitement to talk about something I'm interested in. (ME!   --- kidding!) I'll talk paper crafting any time and you'll have to stop me or I'll go on and on.


Here are the Play Date Colors: I love the red and "Juniper" (CTMH term) green in this set!



My card is very simple - my Mojo is still on the mend. (From what I have NO idea. I just hope it fully recovers.)

Just some stamping and ribbon and bling. Foolproof recipe.

Supplies Used:
all CTMH -- Grosgrain ribbon; Juniper, Sweet Leaf, and Tulip inks; "All the Best" stamp set;
"Stitched Together" stamp set; Bling from Michael's.

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend. Pin It

Colour Q and Freshly Made Sketches

Hello - there.

Last post tonight - I promise! A Mary Higgins Clark book and the cushy comfort of my favorite bed is calling my name. I fear I have been away from both for far too long. I can't let them feel neglected.

This afternoon, I tackled the Colour Q #148 challenge. I love how happy the colors look. You have to smile when you see them grouped together. I also used the Freshly Made Sketches layout to piece my card together. I almost always seem to need a boost when it comes to the layout part. That aspect of my Mojo runs the slowest.

These colors match perfectly with my "Olivia" paper kit leftover pieces - another favorite from my infamous CTMH Archives. I used the "Trellis" stamp set to stamp the rose and leaves in Cotton Candy pink, Blush pink, and 2nd generation Pear ink.

I love how this one turned out.

The sentiment is stamped in Sunset colored-ink using the PaperTrey Ink Botanical Silhouette set. The Bakers Twine and adhesive gems are CTMH.

Thanks for looking and have a happy rest of the week. Pin It

H2H - Scraps Challenge

Raise your hand if you DON'T need this type of challenge for inspiration to plunder through the hallowed depths of your CTMH Archives! ... NOT ME. That's for sure.

I was excited to see this challenge from H2H: Make a project using your CTMH scraps- my only disappointment was that I didn't use up enough supplies. :) Perhaps I should challenge myself to make series of cards using only scraps! THAT might make a dent. (In other news, I have recently done that to make my mothers birthday gift - check back later for a post to see the kit. It was a big hit!)

I pulled out some of my "Lucky" leftovers to make a masculine birthday card for a co-worker. I am a big fan of this paper and the colors. I have recently become a fan of the Round Studs adhesives and want to put them on everything! Especially masculine projects - they are a great addition.

Thanks for looking - have a great week!

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Retro Sketches #22

Hello - there.

I'm on a marathon bloggin' session. Trying to catch up some posts before I move onto new crafty projects. I'll get overwhelmed and never share any of them - and thus the circle of life is forever stalled as I become more and more intimidated by my growing pile of "to blog" projects and, next thing you know - my blog is growing cobwebs and might even stink a little bit. -- Phew. Did I just say that all out loud? Excuse me.


I have been wanting to participate with Retro Sketches for several, several weeks but I think this is my first time. --> "Hello there. Long time listener - first time caller."


Here is the cute little sketch:


I think it's fun.

Here is my take on it - using some "Topstitch" from my CTMH Archives.

The butterfly stamp is from Skipping Stones Design. I colored it in with a Pink chalk pencil (General's) and Crystal Blue and Chocolate CTMH watercolor pencils. I used my CTMH blending pen to smooth it all out. The sentiment stamp set is from CTMH "Card Chatter - Sympathy". All is stamped in Cocoa ink.

Thanks for looking - have a fantabulous week!

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CFC 63 - Color Challenge

Whoo-weee!!! .... This week I'm living the old adage "Tired as a woman"! :) But it's a good tired - I'm having fun with it.

Today is actually my 14th wedding anniversary! - but, unfortunately, the hubby's work schedule precludes us from celebrating today. FORTUNATELY, my parent's were generous enough to drive up and babysit this past Saturday and we were able to go out for dinner Saturday night.

Back to business -- this week's Casual Friday challenge is to use these colors:



I used Crystal Blue, Indian Corn Blue, and Pear in the CTMH rainbow.

I also used my CTMH "Card Chatter - Sympathy" stamp set and the "so happy" stamp set from an old promotional kit (for the flowers).

Other products used:
CTMH Bakers Twine, Indian Corn Blue textured cardstock,
and button (source unknown -- I literally found it in my closet! HA - I'm not kidding!)

Thanks for looking and have a super week! 

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