Birthday Sketch Challenge from CPS

I am still working on building up my birthday card stash and I used the Sketch Challenge this week at CPS for inspiration.

Masculine birthday cards are a bit of a challenge for me and this sketch helped me with that. This may be one I use a lot.

This image is from Stampin Up!

Bye Bye Teacher - CPS 151

My son's teacher is taking a new job and today is her last day with his class. My daughter also had this teacher when she was 1 year old and they both loved her. Using the sketch this week from CPS, I made this card for her.


We will miss her very much and I just hope my son can recover from this tragedy in his life. I guess as long as the new teacher knows how to get his lunch out for him, he will accept it.

Color Challenge and CPS 150

This card was for the Color Challenge at SplitCoast this week AND for the CPS Weekly Challenge.

The colors I used were Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue, Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa. The stamp set was also Stampin' Up! Say it with Scripture. I used my Cuttlebug with Nestibility Dies to cut out the shape with the sentiment.

Christmas Card Challenge 2010

I will be ready this year for Christmas! I get busy making other people's cards at Christmas that mine end up being rushed and not like I want them. So, I found a group last year that I knew I was going to join this year in January. It is on Splitcoaststampers.com and they challenge you to make 10 Christmas cards every month starting in January and ending in November. What a great idea!!


So, this is my January entry. I used Stampin' Up! A Wish for Peace and Night of Navy paper and ink. I inked my dove first with Versamark (sticky ink)and then with the night of navy. This gave it a navy color but the Versamark gave it some 'stick'. Before the Versamark dried, I sprinkled it with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder and used a heat gun to set it. This made my dove very sparkly but it does not show in the photo too well.


It is so much easier to sit and make 10 cards then to sit down and know you have to make 100! This will allow me to use a few techniques that are more time consuming that I would if I were making them all at once. I can see this presenting one problem though, with 11 different designs that I know I will love, I am going to stress about who gets what card. Oh well, guess I will worry about that in November.

CPS Sketch 149

I played the CPS Sketch this week, I took a break for a while but I am going to try to do better of making a card everyday. In order for me to make a card everyday, I am going to have to play along with challenges or I will end up with a bunch of cards that all look the same.

I tried to keep this card gender neutral as well as occasion neutral. So, it came out feeling neutral when I was done :-) I am not digging it, I think because I don't like the color green. Green, however, is my daughter's favorite color and she was 'helping' me with this one (she is 4). So whenever she is involved, green is usually the color we use. She also picked out the image from my journal notes pad from Crafty Secrets.

The stamps I used were all from Crafty Secrets as well.

New Year's Eve Card Making

It will be no surprise to my friends that I am not out on New Year's Eve but they may be surprised that I am still awake at 11pm :-) I made this card tonight in hopes of keeping myself busy and not going to bed before midnight. I won this set of stamps from Clear Art Stamps a few weeks ago. I thought I would try it out with a few challenges from Split Coast this week. A color challenge, CC251, and a sketch challenge, SC261.

I colored the image with Stampin' Up! markers.

CPS Year in Review

CPS Challenge this week was to pick your favorite sketch from this past year. I looked through them decided to do CPS 110.

The sentiment is from CTMH My Farm and the wheat is a single stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms. I brayered Only Orange from SU! and stamped the background script in Only Orange. The wheat and sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip from SU.

Sketch Challenge 253

I think Sketch Challeges are my favorite type of challenges because they really get my brain going. I tend to always use the same basic layout when I am left on my own to make a card but with a sketch challenge, I usually love the end result because it is so unlike anything I usually create.

For today's challenge (which was actually from last Wednesday but I just got around to doing it today) I used paper from Die Cuts With A View and didn't even use any stamps. I really like the layout and it emphasizes the focal image with the small triangles on the side.

Frugal Stamper Tip: All the paper used in this card was scrap. When choosing a layout where you are wanting to use up scrap, pick a layout with small pieces so you can use up all those odds and ends in your scrap drawer.

Birth Announcement Challenge

This week at CPS they had a nice sketch challenge I used to make this card. I used my justrite oval stamper, tiny letters and monogram set to create the monogram. I added a few small blue buttons which matched the embossing on the brown strip. Hope you enjoy!

No Time Challenge

I have been out of town for a few days and was happy to come back and make a few Christmas Cards. Sharon had a great challenge today and it worked with where my brain has been hanging out. I have been in a creative rut for a few weeks and this is not good since I need to be working on Christmas Cards and I can not come up with anything I like.

The stamp I used was one I won from the World Card Making Day challenges and it is from Magnolia Stamps. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up! Flaky Friends. I colored the snowman with SU markers and topped his star with gold stickles for a little sparkle.

Crafty Secrets Journal Notes

I have a few more favorite things to add to my arsenal of supplies. The company Crafty Secrets has a product called Journal Notes and they are indeed a crafty secret! This pad is filled with vintage images to make quick work of beautiful cards. One part of the page is the image and the other part is a place to write a few words or maybe even a grocery list.

The snowman card I used the image and the journal area as part of this card. The bow I tied with my new bow easy. I added some clear stickles to the snow line to add sparkle to the snow.




For this angle image, I used a metallic paper for the background that I embossed with my cuttlebug. I mounted the sentiment (also part of the journal note) with silver brads. I again used my bow easy for the small white bow.



Both of these cards were created for challenges on splitcoaststampers.com.

World Card Making Day

I was just thinking how cool it would be if my birthday was on World Card Making Day. I could be given the day to play challenges all day, making cards and go to the stores around town today giving away free stuff to celebrate the special day. OH well, it isn't so my husband took our daughter camping and I am home with my 1 year old today. I love him to death but he does not make it easy to sit and make cards.

Splitcoaststampers.com had a day full of challenges and here are my cards I created while playing along.

Challenge A - Make a quote or saying your focal point.



Challenge B - Make it pop




Challenge C - Go 80's




Challenge D - Gratitude, Chocolate, and a Sketch



Challenge E - Color Challenge



Challenge F - Make an ornament



Challenge G - Color Challenge & Challenge H- Sketch Challenge (I combined them)






Challenge I - Z Fold Card

Challenge J - Color Challenge




Challenge K - Sketch

Challenge L - Sketch

CPS 134 Sketch Challenge

I haven't done a challenge in a few weeks but when I saw the sponsor was one of my favorite companies, I had to play. It was a nice simple sketch from CPS and it gave me a chance to use some of my flowers. I have to admit, I never use them because I know what they cost (I am Frugal!) but the 4 jars I have of them are covered in dust so I figured either use them or throw them out. The Frugal in me won out and I used them. I am glad I did, I think it made a very nice Thanksgiving card. So, dust off some of your unused supplies and use them, you never know, you may just like it!

Happy Birthday Jenn

One of my very best friends from College has her birthday tomorrow (yes, this card will be late) so this is for her. She just had a sweet little baby boy a few months ago so I hope she does remember about her own birthday! Since she has probably been seeing blue from head to toe since little baby boy was born, I thought I would pink her up a little and make sure she does not forget what that color looks like.

The layout for this card was from a sketch challenge from There She Goes Stamps this week.

The sentiment is from Stampin Up Sincere Salutations.

CPS 129 Sketch Challenge

This card is for the challenge this week at the CPS Blog. I liked this sketch and thought it worked well to use up a few small pieces of designer scrap paper I had left over from another project. The sentiment is from SU Sweet Little Sentiments.

SC241 Happy Birthday

This card was for Wednesday's Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast. The stamp set is from Inkadinkado and I colored the image with Stampin Up markers. The designer paper is DCWV and was just some scrap I found in the drawer. Gotta love scrap! I added a little bling to the diva's belt to jazz her up just a bit.

Clean and Simple Thank You

These 3 cards were for the Monday Clean and Simple Challenge on Splitcoast. The challenge was to use a little bling on our cards. I had 3 metal Thank You stickers left over from something so I made up these 3 cards using the metal stickers and glitter paper.



I did not use any stamps on these cards and they were very easy and quick to make.

2 Sketches 4 You

2 Sketches 4 You has a challenge on right now and since I needed to make a wedding card for my brother-in-law this weekend, I figured this would be perfect.

All the paper I used was scrap, expensive scrap, but scrap none the less. I stamped the monogram in versamark then heat set with gold embossing powder. I used the wedding ensemble set and a monogram set from JustRite. I kept everything simple since the background designer paper was already gold embossed and very sparkly.

Age is only a number, mine is unlisted...

I used a new set from Inkadinkado called Humorous Birthday. I played the Clean and Simple Challenge today on Splitcoast, you can see the challenge here.

I used my Stampin Up markers to color the lizard? gecko? tadpole? Anyway, you know what I am talking about. Not much else to tell.

Enjoy!

CPS126 Sketch Challenge

The challenge I played today was from CPS and you can see the challenge here. I love sketch challenges and I have learned this site has a new one every Sunday and they are all sponsored by different stamp companies so you get to see lots of new products and do a little shopping!




I used my new set from There She Goes again, I am really glad I got it. There is a strand of raffia behind the circles but it ended up more hidden than I had planned, oh well.


Frugal Stamper Tip: The little flowers were from a small scrap of designer paper. I punched them out with a 3/4 inch circle punch and then matted with other circles punched out from other scraps. So, NEVER throw those scraps away, you never know when you will be able to use it. Nearly everyone of my cards has scrap on it somewhere. All of the paper used for this card was scrap except for the large sand background.