Card Camp - Week 2

Last week was the first week of Summer Card Camp, and I was sorry to miss the beginning, but I'm back now and have 3 cards to submit for this week.  How's that for make-up work?!

Here's the first one:

I CASE'd a card I created a few weeks ago.  (Is it OK to CASE yourself?)  I loved the technique I had learned, and loved the card when I made it.  I gave it away to a friend for her birthday the day after, so I wanted to create another one, this time with this week's color combo. 

After Kristina's video today, I'm digging through all of my patterned paper to make a 4th card.  We'll see if that happens!  Off to finish the third one before I get to the patterned paper!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

P.S.  Thanks to Tami Hartley for drawing my name from her comments for the Summer Camp giveaway!

P.P.S.  I received an email from Paper Crafts Magazine today letting me know they chose one of my cards to be published in their January/February issue!  My first publication - so excited!

Less is More and Amber Ink

HI!  Long time, no blog!  

I'm back from my trip to California, which was wonderful.  Fourteen hours at Disneyland and I lived to tell about it.  Turns out my 6-year old is a HUGE fan of roller coasters - the bigger the better.  I had to suck it up and get on all of them with him; roller coasters and I never really got along very well.  Turns out, I did better than I thought I would, mainly because my son would giggle the entire time.  Hearing that beautiful sound made it worth it!

We also went to Legoland, the San Diego Zoo and Natural History Museum (dinosaurs, you know!)  There was also plenty of time spent at the beach.  It was a great trip.

Waiting for me when I got home was my third assignment for Amber Ink, which is sponsoring July's challenges at Less Is More challenge blog.  This week the challenge is:

SHADES of BLUE

I was so excited to find some awesome iPaper on Amber Ink's website.  You can find the paper I used in the card here. 

Here's my card:

After printing the paper, I die-cut the mat, and cut a strip to adhere to the inside.  The bottom of the card is punched with an EK Success punch and opens to the strip on the inside.  The sentiment is also from Amber Ink, printed and punched.  Even though it is a clean and simple card, I wanted to add a little bling to it, so I lined the circle edge with blue rhinestones. 

Here's a close-up so you can see the iPaper more closely.  I don't even have a top-notch printer, and the paper looks awesome!  

You can play along with the challenge at Less is More by clicking here.  The winner of the challenge receives a $25.00 gift certificate to Amber Ink.  With the great prices and great selection, you will be set up for some great cards and layouts!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!  Now that I'm home, I'll be back soon with more cards and layouts soon!

Amber Ink Project 2

So, I was digging around the Amber Ink store the other day and found some beautiful paper.  Not having ever used digi-paper before, I must admit that I was a bit skeptical.  I don't have a color-laser printer at home, so how good can the paper really look if it's not printed on a top-notch printer?

Well, let me tell you.  One push of the print button and I was H-O-O-K-E-D.  It can look awesome!  If you have been afraid to plunge into the digi-paper, fear no more.  Amber Ink has some great choices, fun colors and a good price tag.

Here's what I made with this paper and this sentiment:

For the sentiment I just loaded it into my photo-editing program, changed the colors and printed.  To add a little texture and dimension, I stitched around the edges and popped up the sentiment.  

Just for fun, I also bought this same paper in the pink version.  So pretty.  Off to go use it now. 

Go on over to Amber Ink  and pick you up some new paper.  You'll be glad you did.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Be Back Soon!

I've scheduled a blog post for Monday, but other than that, I'm going to go and dip my feet in here for a bit.  Be back soon!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday Meets Amber Ink

Today is my first official day as Torchbearer for Amber Ink - supplier of awesome digi-stamps, digi-papers and clear stamps (if you are patient for the mailman!)  Did you follow my advice yesterday and poke around their blog and store?  Totally cool, huh?  You buy, download and print.  How much easier could it be?

This week, Amber Ink  is sponsoring the sketch contest over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.  You could win a  $15.00 gift certificate to Amber Ink!!  Here's the great sketch we have been given:

 

You know how much I love sketches.  They give me just the jump start I need, and I can make my project as simple or embellished as I want - depending on how much time I have, of course.  

So, here's my project for this week's sketch:

I used the sweet little super hero boy you can find in Amber Ink's store here,  along with the sentiment you can find here.  All I had to do after downloading the images, is open them in my photo-editing program, choose colors and print.  The little hero up there reminds me of another little boy I know. 

To add a little texture to the card, I embossed some star stamps on the red panel and applied a strip of blue felt stars to the white strip.  The sentiment was popped up for dimension.  

I hope you can join in on all the fun at Sweet Sketch Wednesday this week, and why don't you go ahead and discover how easy digi-stamps can be. Amber Ink  has some great ones - and so affordable!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

I'm Kinda Excited!

 

Did you see it?  My name?  It's up there ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!!!!

Thanks to my friend, Renee, for passing the blue torch of Amber Ink to me yesterday.   Now, I get to spend the next month making cards and layouts with their awesome products!  They have digi-paper, digi-stamps and clear stamps!  You can see the announcement on the Amber Ink Blog here. 

I'll let you in on a little secret.   

I've already made 3 projects with their stuff.

Shhh!!  

I'll show you my first project tomorrow.  

Until then, you may want to visit the other members of the team this month.  You won't be disappointed:

Penni at Lazy Cat Cards

Nina at Ninarsku 

Cammie at Cuttin' Up 

Lynette at My Life in Haysville

And while you are out there in blog-land, looking around, stop by Amber Ink and see what all the fuss is about.  Believe me - you'll be glad you did!

See you tomorrow with my first project!

Thanks a Million!

This card is for one of my husband's college buddies.  They were roommates.  Both engineering majors.  My husband was electrical engineering and his buddy was chemical engineering.  Can you imagine the brain-power in that dorm room?  Wow.

I had heard the roommate's name long before I met him, heard every story ten times, so when I did meet him, I already knew him, already loved him.  My husband admired him greatly, not only for his brain but for his personality.  To my husband, this guy was the smartest guy in the world, but he could carry on conversations with anyone and not let on just how smart he is - just be an everyday guy.  Oh, and funny.  He was so funny and outgoing - not at all the stereotypical engineer.

My husband was like that too.  Smart, funny, full of personality - didn't fit the stereotype either.  That's probably why they loved each other so much.

After my husband's funeral, we all gathered back at the house, of course.  His roommate began to talk about my husband and how much smarter MY husband was than he was.  How my husband pushed him to think differently, make better grades, taught him how to study, and that he wouldn't be where he is today if it weren't for my husband.    I was shocked to hear him say that.  How funny is it that each of them thought the other to be the intellectual superior? 

His roommate talked about the first time they were doing homework and my husband pulled out a Hewlett Packard 28S graphing calculator - which was about a $400 calculator back in 1988.  He said, "I knew at that moment, that this guy was serious and knew what he was doing." 

I knew exactly which calculator he was talking about.  My husband used it up until 2006 when he had to upgrade to a new one. 

So, after boxing up my husband's technical books, I emailed all his engineering buddies telling them that they could have any books or other engineering stuff they wanted.  Guess what the roommate wanted?

Yeah, the calculator.  

So, it's his.  I'm mailing it to him on Monday along with the manual - yes, my husband still had the manual.  And I'm including this card, thanking him for being a good friend for all these years.

Does it kind of resemble a calculator? That was the intent.  And the colors are their college colors.  I hope he likes it.

The number stamp is from Technique Tuesday, and the sentiment, which I selectively inked, is from PTI's Inside and Out Thank You. 

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today!

Celebrate You!

Wednesday was my sister's birthday - my OLDEST sister.  I like to rub it in a little bit, actually a lot. 

And in my true nature lately, I just mailed her card today, although it was created and ready in plenty of time for her birthday.  I just hadn't gone to the store yet to get her the traditional birthday gift from me.  I went on her actual birthday to get her gift, and should have mailed it with her card that day, or even yesterday, but I didn't. 

That's OK.  She'll understand.  She hasn't given our other sister her birthday present yet, and it was in October.  So, I think I'm good.

Here's her card:

I used two of my new stamp sets from Stamps of Life on this one - the dictionary4me and scream4icecream sets.  Love them both.  Again, to add a little sparkle I outlined the cone and icecream in my Sakura Stardust pen.  I hope they never stop making that thing - LOVE it!

The Kraft panel was stamped with my favorite background from PTI's Tin Type, and the sentiment is from Inside and Out Birthday. 

I love pink, cream and Kraft together.  I forgot how yummy it is until I started putting this together. 

This will be my last card for Jenny's challenge at Wee Memories.  It ends tonight.  I think this is #9 for me.  She may reconsider giving us unlimited entries after seeing all my stuff!  You have a few hours left if you want to play along.  Here's the link.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today!

A Week With Springtime Doodles - Day 7

Here we are.  I'm glad you have made it to the end with me in "A Week with Springtime Doodles," the cute set that  Beth Silaika designed for Papertrey Ink.  Here it is:

  

  

Today's card might be my favorite.  It uses my favorite colors, some of my favorite patterned paper, and a few of my favorite images from Springtime Doodles.

Here it is:

This time, I decided to try out my watercolor pencils one more time with this set, and I'm glad I did.  The blending gave it just enough shading - love that! I stitched around all of the panels of patterned paper to give the card a little extra something.  The bee, left tulip and right yellow flower are popped up for some dimension, and the flowers and bee are all outlined with Sakura Stardust pen to give the card some sparkle.  I used the "thanks" sentiment as leaves today - thought that was something different.  Instead of matting the focal point on a solid piece of cardstock, I inked the edges with yellow and green. 

This was such a fun week, and I can't wait to try out even more images from this great set!  You'll be seeing some soon.  Here are all the cards together:

Did you catch Erin Lincoln's comment on the PTI forum about this set?  Last week she said she had just used Springtime Doodles on a release week project and that it goes perfectly with one of the new sets being released. 

I waited...

and waited...

and waited...

patiently...

to see her project and which set she was talking about. 

Then, yesterday - this appeared:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!  Wow - it blew me away.  The set she was highlighting was Happy Trails!  Guess I'll add it to my ongoing wish list.  Honestly, I just want to make this card.  So - very- cool!   I'm going to print it out to stare at.  It just makes me happy.  You can see Erin's post and other amazing projects here.

Well, there it is.  A Week With Springtime Doodles already over.  I hope I have enabled you a little this week.  I'll be back with another week of something or another soon.  In the meantime, I'll just post my random makings. 

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

P.S.  This will be one more for Jenny over at Wee Memories.  Have you played along yet?  Here's the link.

A Week with Springtime Doodles - Day 6

We are nearing the end, and I have to admit, I'm a little sad.  Here we are on Day 6 of "A Week with Springtime Doodles," the cute set that  Beth Silaika designed for Papertrey Ink.  Here it is:

  

  

Today's card is a little different.  I'm using Raspberry Fizz, which I have always been afraid of, but recently discovered to be an AWESOME color.  I'm also using a bit of a different design on the card base.

Here's my card:

Bright, huh?  I finally figured out how to use some Martha Stewart doilies I bought a few months ago.  I stamped the butterfly on separate cardstock, colored it with my Bic Mark It Markers, and added some glitter, Sakura Stardust pen and a trail of gems to give it some sparkle.  After cutting it out, I adhered it to the doily.  Here's a close-up: 

I lifted up the wings a bit to give it some dimension.

I mentioned above that the design of the base is a bit different.  That's because the left panel opens like this: 

And then finally the full opening is:

That's one of the tricks I learned in a class at the convention last week.   There is the typical scor-line in the center of the base, and then on the front cover, in the center is another scor-line to fold in the opposite direction.  It's something a little different and fun.  The sentiment, stamped on Hibiscus paper, is from Butterfly Dreams. 

Jenny, at Wee Memories, is going to get sick of me, but I'll submit this one too!  Here's the link if you want to play along. 

Well, I have one more card with this set to finish out my week.  It may be my favorite one of all of them.  Hope to see you here then. 

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

A Week With Springtime Doodles - Day 5

Have you stuck with me this long?   Here we are on Day 5 of "A Week with Springtime Doodles."
Have you found any favorite images from the cute set that  Beth Silaika designed for Papertrey Ink?

  

  

There are a lot to choose from, that's for sure!  I'm afraid a week won't be long enough for me to use all of them, but I'll try. 

I'm using 3 images and a sentiment on today's card.  Here it is:

Do you recognize the cloud in the left corner?  It's the same image I used to create the flowers in yesterday's post!  Cool, huh?  I love that dragonfly image, and it was very easy to color.  The wings were highlighted with Stickles.  I accented the waves with some more and put down some rhinestones.  When I started this card, I had intended it to be a masculine card, but with the glitter and the rhinestones, I think I went the other direction.  The "hello" sentiment is also from this set.  I inked the edges with Spring Rain to give it a little more detail. 

Here's a close-up of the dragonfly:

And again, I was able to use some patterned paper that I bought a while ago and hoarded.  I just cut right into it and used it...just like that.  If I can do it, you can too!  Go on and give it a try!

And again, I'm submitting this card to the Wee Memories challenge.  Jenny has given us two-weeks to enter as many projects as we want to and with any theme, I'll enter it over there - again!  Here's the link.  

I have a couple of more days with this set and two of my favorite cards from the week still to share.  Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!  See you tomorrow!

A Week with Springtime Doodles-Day 4

Today is Day 4 of  "A Week with Springtime Doodles,"  My new favorite set that  Beth Silaika designed for Papertrey Ink.  Here it is:

  

  

Today's card is for this week's Make It Monday, hosted by Betsy Veldman.  You can see the video and link up your creation if you click here. Honestly, I didn't think I had any tissue paper, and then I went and dug around in the guest room closet, and found a lot.  Isn't everybody's tissue paper in the guest room closet?  That's not weird, right?

Here's my card:

I created all the flowers with tissue paper.  There are 2 layers of each color.  I glued them on some white paper and set them aside to let them dry.  I stamped the stem and leaves and then ran it through my Big Shot with the Woodgrain impression plate.  I used the medium scallop die on the two colors of blue to mimic the sky and added the green rhinestones on the bottom to mimic the grass.  When the flowers were dry, I adhered them down, some with pop dots to add dimension, and added the silver centers.  Then everything was mounted on a piece of Royal Velvet cardstock. 

Betsy put me a little out of my comfort zone with her technique this week, which is what Make It Monday is about, I suppose.  

And you know, I'm going to enter this in Jenny's challenge at Wee Memories.  With  two-weeks to enter as many projects as we want to and with any theme,why not?   Here's the link if you want to play along.

Three more days of highlighting this set!  Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

A Week with Springtime Doodles-Day 3

I'm back with Day 3 of "A Week with Springtime Doodles." I'm so glad to hear that I am enabling some of you all a little bit.  This set is turning out to be a lot of fun - A LOT - and if you passed it on before, you may want to take a second look. 

Here's the cute set that  Beth Silaika designed for Papertrey Ink.

  

  

Today's card is Clean and Simple (CAS) and I'm submitting it this week to the CAS-ual Fridays challenge blog.  I'll give you details about that below.  For now, here's my card:

 

 

I began with a piece of Lemon Tart and embossed the cute daisy image from the set in white Zing.  I colored in the daisy with my Bic Mark-It Markers, and then stamped the stem and leaves in my Jenni Bowlin Seed Packet ink.  The sentiment is from the set as well, and I stamped it on a piece of white cardstock cut with my Double Ended Banner die.  After matting it on some patterned paper (yay - I used some more!), I added the buttons at the bottom corner to give it some balance.  I matted the Lemon Tart on a piece of Summer Sunrise and then secured it to the Kraft card base.  Kraft + yellow = Yummy!

 

The CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is super fun, and the girls have given us a lot of options!

See what I mean? The pattern I chose is on the diagonal - Emboss, Dies or Punch, Buttons.  I may try to incorporate this challenge into another card this week. Fun time!  

And again, since Jenny has given us two-weeks to enter as many projects as we want to and with any theme, I'll enter it over there - again!  Here's the link.  

 

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today!  Come back tomorrow for Day 4 - already - time flies when you are having fun!

A Week with Springtime Doodles-Day 2

I'm back with Day 2 of "A Week with Springtime Doodles." This is part of a summer-time event here on my blog.  Hopefully, I can highlight several sets before heading back to the classroom in August.

My first set for this summer is Springtime Doodles by Beth Silaika..   Here's the cute set that Beth designed.

  

  

Today, I'm using that cute dandelion stamp, with a technique that I have seen several times, and always wanted to try, but never did.  You know the feeling?

Here's my card:

So, what's the technique?  I used the back of the dandelion stamp to stamp the colored circles in Summer Sunrise, Hibiscus Burst and Hawaiian Shores.  After the colors dried, I turned it over and stamped the dandelion in Versa Mark and heat embossed with white Zing.  I stamped the stem and leaves in my new Jenni Bowlin Seed Packet ink I bought at the convention last week.  (That's the same ink I used on yesterday's card too.)

I recently did some cleaning out and organizing in my scrap room, so I knew that I also wanted to focus on using some patterned paper this week - which I failed to do yesterday.  The striped paper you see here is from Echo Park's Sweet Summertime collection.  I cut a strip for the top and bottom and then stitched them to the flowered panel. 

The big task was deciding what color the base would be.  I finally settled on Hawaiian Shores - an awesome color for anything!

I'm entering this card in Jenny's Anything Goes at wee Memories.  This time it's a two-week challenge with unlimited entries - so why not?  Come play along!

I'll be back tomorrow to share more of this wonderful set!  Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today!

A Week with Springtime Doodles-Day 1

Last summer I spent a week highlighting two of my favorite stamp sets from Papertrey Ink, Flower Garden and Wishing You.  I wanted everyone to love these sets as much as I do, and it was fun to push myself to think of different ways to use the same set.  That was my motivation.  

Now, a year later, I thought I would highlight a few other sets this summer.  My first set is one that has been unloved in my stash for a long time.  It was a set I loved at first sight when it was released, but I just never seem to be able to make it work for me.  So, I wanted to concentrate on this set for a week and learn to love it.  

The set I'm highlighting for the next seven days is Springtime Doodles by Beth Silaika.

See what I mean?  Love at first sight!  I think my main problem in the beginning was that I didn't have the right tools for coloring.  I'm certainly not a Copic girl, but I love my water colored pencils.  Those don't seem right for these images though.  Last Fall, I found some Bic Mark-It Markers on another blogger's site and decided to try them out.  LOVE them!!  (But if you like to blend your colors, you may want to stick with Copics.)

Here's my first card using my new favorite set:

I stamped the lady-bug image in Staz-On and colored it in with my markers.  Then I added some Glossy Accents to the bugs to give them some dimension and glitter on the antennae to give the bugs some sparkle.   Then I had to walk away for awhile and let it dry.  That's hard to do.

Here's a close-up:

When the Glossy Accents had dried, I stamped the leaves and added the sentiment, which I printed from the computer.  Three little rhinestones and I was all finished.  My love for this set was returning!

I'm entering this card in Jenny's Anything Goes at wee Memories.  This time it's a two-week challenge - come play along!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!  Come back tomorrow for a very Spring-y card using Springtime Doodles!

Special Delivery

This card is for two of my favorite challenge blogs.  This week Jenny at wee Memories made it easy on us and gave us an "Anything Goes" challenge.  I love it when she does that.  You can get the details and submit your project here.

CAS-ual Fridays gave us a sketch to use, and I love, love, love sketches.  All the details can be found here. 

As you know, I just returned from the Scrapbook Convention.  Having recently been pushed into single-parenthood, I was challenged to figure out what to do with my son while I was on my new adventure.  That's where aunts and uncles come in handy, don't you think.  My brother-in-law took him for the day on Saturday to Fossil Rim, which to hear my son describe it is "a grassland zoo."  He fed ostriches, saw zebras, cheetahs and lots of different animals that are not typical to the Texas grassland.  After, they went to the dinosaur park to experience the dinosaur fossils of Texas.  It was quite a full day of fun for him and I very much appreciate my brother-in-law taking him.  So, I made him a card - complete with a white truck like his.

Here's my card I created for both challenges:

Having my newest stamps from The Stamps of Life ready, this card was super simple to create.  Having great tools, like impression plates, make cards look so detailed, but you don't have to spend a lot of time to achieve that look.  I used the impression plate on the blue mat and inked the blue paper to resemble clouds so that it would follow the top part of the sketch.  The hills were cut and stamped to resemble the road, and all I had left to do was stamp and cut out the truck.  Super fun and super simple!

More later!  Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!