a third sketch for the one sheet wonder adventure

This sketch came from Try Stampin' On Tuesday

stamp sets - Watercolor Christmas, Sheet Music; ink - Garden Green; card stock - Whisper White, Garden Green; designer series paper - Dashing Along (retired); Big Shot with Layering Circles framelits; 1/8" solid ribbon - Real Red

After four more cards:

I've now made 15 cards with that one piece of 12"x12" designer series paper, and 270 of my #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018.  There is one piece on my craft table on a card that's nearly finished.  I wasn't loving it when I went to bed last night, but it looks better this morning.  ;)

another sketch adventure for the one-sheet wonder

Today's sketch is from Sandy at The Paper Players and worked so well for the two narrow pieces of Gaynor's card 7 that I thought they had collaborated:

stamp sets - Holly Jolly Layers (hostess, retired), Christmas Punch (hostess, retired); ink - Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler; Stampin' Write marker - Cherry Cobbler; card stock - Whisper White regular and thick; Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler; designer series paper - Dashing Along (retired); Big Shot with Layering Squares framelits

It was card 6 of the one sheet wonder in my crafting, and I completed four more for 261 through 265 of #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018.

one sheet wonder adventure

 Have I mentioned my recent YouTube obsession?  I saw this no-waste one sheet wonder layout that Gaynor designed and shared on her channel,  Stamp with Joy  I had just counted my completed cards as compared to my mailing list and I needed 16, which is what Gaynor's layout provided.  How convenient is that!  Then I noticed that several of the sketch layout challenges this week seem to correspond, too.  I missed the deadline at one of them, but this one is in time for Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge:

stamp set - Timeless Tidings; ink - Versamark; Stampin' Emboss powder - black; card stock - Whisper White, Real Red, Garden Green; designer series paper - Dashing Along (retired); ribbon - Black 3/8" glittered organdy; Big Shot with Petals A'plenty embossing folder (retired); Dazzling Details - silver (retired)

That was the fifth card I made from the 12"x12" sheet, and number 260 of #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018:

more Christmas inspiration adventures

Yes, I am still struggling a bit with my inspiration for card making, it's so thoughtful of you to ask ;-) Last year Stampin' Up! provided a sample and instructions for a card.  I saved it but didn't get around to making it.  I found it in my "try this sometime" stack and updated the stamp sets and ribbon:

stamp sets - Beautiful Blizzard, Merry Christmas to All; ink - Real Red, Smoky Slate; card stock - Lemon Lime Twist, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Whisper White; ribbon - black 3/8" glittered organdy; basic clear rhinestones

I think it works for the prompt to Just Add a Big Bold Sentiment at Just Add Ink, don't you?

Also, I found some cards on Pinterest that I thought needed to be CASEd (Copy And Share Everything):

It looks like I was dreaming of a green Christmas!  These are 236 through 240 of #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018.  I seem to be three months behind schedule, as today is 324/365.  I guess that could have been expected after we spent nearly two months traveling.  Even if I don't catch up, it was worth trying.

a miscellaney of adventures

I recently completed cards 181-185 of #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018 which are also thing 65 for #DWPB100ThingsChallenge:

I posted the Christmas cards previously. I needed a Halloween card for next month's Card Buffet, and it redirected my attention (squirrel!).  I spent an evening  playing with the Halloween theme, just cutting and pasting in a little junk journal I received from a YouTube creator I follow:

This morning, I'm in default mode, creating cards again.  This one is going in the mail with a junk journal page I created for a swap.  I used the new Try Stampin' On Tuesday sketch and added some texture for the Tuesday Throwdown:

stamp set - Sassy Salutations (retired), ink - Wisteria Wonder (retired); card stock - Wisteria Wonder (retired), Very Vanilla; designer series paper - Afternoon Picnic (retired); Big Shot with Chevron textured embossing folder (retired) and Apothecary Labels framelits (retired)

I didn't realize until I was typing that pretty much all the supplies are retired, they just happened to coordinate with the tea-party theme we were given.  I hope the recipient likes her page :-)

♫ It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ♪♫ adventures

So, I once again took the summer off, traveling out west with no time for card making.  It put me seriously behind in my #365somethings2018 challenge, and I've had several mini-buying-spree failures in my #DWPB100thingschallenge.  But, as a friend pointed out, I've done better since I've tried than I would have done had I not tried!  Here is a photo of #365cards2018, numbers 171 through 175, which also qualified as Thing number 60.

I haven't given up yet - cards 176 through 183 are on the crafting table right now, and you won't be surprised that several of them qualify for card challenges :-).  You may not even be surprised that many of them are Christmas cards, since I'm also behind on the number of those I'd hoped to have completed by now. 

This first one uses a technique I recently learned from a fellow Stampin' Up!® demonstrator, using Epsom salts.  The results reminded me of a peaceful winter night sky, which will fit in at Jingle Belles:

stamp set - Itty Bitty Greetings; ink - Night of Navy; card stock - Night of Navy, Vellum, Silver Foil, Whisper White, Shimmer White; Big Shot with Stitched Shapes framelits and Seasonal Layers thinlits

I CASE*'d the Muse ChristmasVisions 108 using some retired supplies to capture the feel of the original:

stamp sets - Christmas Pines, Peaceful Pines (retired) ; ink - Whisper White Craft, Island Indigo (retired); card stock - Whisper White regular and thick, Coastal Cabana; designer series paper - Winter Frost (retired); Big Shot with Perfect Pines framelits (retired)

While I had the retired designer series paper out, I pulled out some of my all-time favorite for this CASE*.  Just before I glued it together I decided it needed just a touch of ribbon, so now it works for Winter Wonderland:

stamp set - Bells & Boughs (retired); ink - Versamark, Real Red, Crumb Cake (on envelope); card stock - Real Red, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla thick; designer series paper - Home for Christmas (retired); ribbon - 1/4" metallic woven (retired)

And then, my order arrived with new designer series paper, and the Freshly Made Sketch 354  provided a great way to showcase it without using it all up right away:

stamp set - Hearts Come Home; ink - Versamark; embossing powder - Gold; card stock - Real Red, Whisper White thick; designer series paper - Dashing Along

I'll leave you with cards 176 through 180 of #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018 and number 64 in my #DWPB100ThingsChallenge - the next four are done, so I should be back soon when I have a fifth card for the group shot:

*CASE = Copy And Share Everything

just a few more challenge adventures

In addition to the other challenges I've posted about this year, I set myself a personal challenge to use every new stamp set at least once before putting them away.  Pick a Pennant was another set I received free for attending OnStage this year.  It's also another that I wouldn't have ordered for myself, but only because I have another small alphabet set.  The pennants make this one unique, though, so I was glad to put it to use with the Color Throwdown palette:

stamp set - Pick a Pennant, ink - Soft Saffron, Calypso Coral, Pool Party; card stock - Whisper White, Lemon Lime Twist, Calypso Coral, Pool Party; Stampin' sponge

I love those little tassels!

I told you not long ago about #dwpb100things, and last week I made thing 13 by using the last bit of spray paint from the back of my cabinet to alter the Army green index card file box I've used for several years to house my ICAD collection:

I planned to cover the bubbled-up rust spot with lettering but they didn't balance out right that way.  Oh well, it's still far better this year than ever before!.  And speaking of ICAD, today marks the end of week two in #dyicad2018; I've counted each week as a "thing" so today's card completes thing 21!  

I'm attempting to keep it simple this year so I have a better chance of completing 61, so I decided on Sharpie markers and twice through the alphabet (upper and lower case) with a few numbers thrown in at the end.

I've also given myself permission to double count the cards I'm making for #365somethings2018, so cards 131 through 137 of my #365cards2018 are also thing 18:

I'm about 30 cards behind on this one, but still pretty confident I can hit 365 by December 31.  How are you doing on your challenges?  Let me know where to find you and I'll try to share some encouragement!

challenge updates adventure

I just, literally 3 minutes ago, clicked the Publish button for the previous post, which includes cards 86 through 93 for my #365cards2018, part of the #365somethings2018 challenge, and then realized that I neglected to show you cards 79 through 85:

The three cards on the left were all choices at the Card Buffet last week, so my guess is that I was still scrambling a bit to get everything done at the time.

While looking for the photo, I found that I've also neglected to show you this month's entry for #12PaperClipsOf2018:

The March theme is pets, or animals.  I tossed around several ideas, and had trouble making up my mind, as usual.  Then, for an unrelated project, I went off on an image search for pit bulls, and this little cutie looked like he would be perfect for a set of paper clips! 

I showed them to a friend recently, and later we were talking about ribbon.  I may have mentioned that I have a lot of retired Stampin' Up!® ribbon - I bet you can guess what happened next.  Do you think there's any such thing as too many decorated paper clips?  I think not:

paper pumpkin adventures

I subscribed to, and loved my Paper Pumpkin kits, for somewhere between 3 and 4 years, but I wasn't completing them in a timely manner, and my supplies were piling up.  (Oh, and I retired from my career and thought it may be a good idea to decrease my monthly expenses.)  Knowing there would be an extra gift in March for the 5th anniversary, I resubscribed.  There was a bit of hype, too, and so many people subscribed or resubscribed, that the kits were completely sold out the day before the final sign-up date.  You can see why everyone loves it:

The kit included everything needed to make four of each fabulous card and envelope!  I do love them, but I've never been a fan of making multiples, so after I completed one of each, I used the components intended for one more of each, to make the other six in this set:

I still have all the components for two more of each card!  I took a photo-op pause to report that these are cards 86 through 93 of my #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018.

Not wanting to make multiples contributed to my stockpile of kits.  I waited for other subscribers to post their ideas for alternative ideas, and then had trouble making up my mind which were my favorites to recreate.  This month, to avoid that, I immediately and proactively searched Pinterest, Facebook and YouTube for ideas.  My designs include many bits of the ideas I saw, but as far as I know, I didn't recreate any whole cards - something of a first, for me!

Paper Pumpkin kits include everything you need to complete a paper craft project, other than snips/scissors and adhesive.  Specialty adhesives, when needed (which is almost every month), are included - for the March kit we had a generous sheet of Stampin' Dimensionals and a sheet of glue dots.  If you're interested in receiving your own kits, new subscribers who sign up between now and May 10 get 50% off their first 2 months! You can find a link, in the sidebar on the right of my blogspot blog, or under the Specials dropdown of my Stampin' Up demonstrator website, that will give you more information and a chance to sign up.

adventure with pretty papers

We've had some unusually busy weeks here, and I was scrambling a bit to get everything done.  One of my tasks (one of the fun ones!) was to prepare thank you notes for the orders from a party.  Last month, I was lucky to win a paper share from Chris at BuckeyeInklings, and I need to get that paper on cards, so I used Julie Davison's sketch and measurements to put together a batch of cards, which also completed 72 through 78 #365cards2018 for the challenge #365somethings2018:

Chris generously shared paper from eight packages in the 2018 Occasions catalog, and only two are shown above - Sweet Soiree and Painted with Love, so you know I had more work to do.  CAS(E) this Sketch #263 helped:

stamp set - Amazing You (Sale-A-Bration); ink - Bermuda Bay; card stock - Lemon Lime Twist, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White thick; designer series paper - Myths & Magic; Big Shot with Layering Oval framelits

My favorite thing about this card, which I plan to send to my great niece for her birthday, is that the sweet little mermaid shares Jett's skin and hair color!  I still have some other mermaids that I think may be just right for my daughter's nieces, who have birthdays coming up in April.  

adventures with challenges, coffee and inchies

I'm taking a break from miscellaneous challenges for March, but I did draw  face each day in February for the 29Faces challenge, I'm caught up on the weekly photos for the Quirky Heart challenge, and I've completed more than 65 cards in my #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018.  Here are numbers 58 through 65:

They're not in any particular order, just however they fit into the frame; the one at the back center was the last of the batch, which I made for the Little Red Wagon Thanks a Latte challenge:

stamp set - Coffee Cafe; ink - Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede; card stock - Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz; designer series paper - Coffee Break; Big Shot with Coffee Cups framelits

Then, after thinking for far too long about what to do with inchies or twinchies for Jingle Belles Merry LITTLE Christmas, I finally saw the perfect sketch at Stick It Down.  For lack of any more original idea, I pulled out an old favorite stamp set:

stamp sets - Christmas Punch (hostess, retired), Post Script, Merry Merry Mistletoe (on envelope); ink - Sahara Sand, Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler; card stock - Sahara Sand, Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White; punch - Postage Stamp (retired)

The "postage stamps" are 1", approximately - the mats I cut for them are 1-1/4".  I think the old stamp really works well with the background stamp, which is from the current catalog!

adventure with retro circles

Before I could fall asleep the other night, I spent some more time thinking about all the pretty paper that takes up too much room in my storage drawers.  I was also thinking about the Retro Rubber Dotty For You challenge.  One of the new papers I used the other day would have been perfect, except that I hadn't used an older stamp, which is the main premise for Retro Rubber.  I remembered some older paper that would be even more perfect - circles AND dots! - so I decided to dig it out and sort through the older stamps, as well.  After I found a sketch at Try Stampin' On Tuesday, with the option of polka dots (!), this happened:

stamp set - Sincere Salutations (retired); ink - Old Olive; card stock - Old Olive; designer series paper - Sweet Pea (retired)

Sincere Salutations is the first stamp set I ever bought from Stampin' Up!®; they don't print dates on the sets any more, but this one is dated 2005.

While rooting around in the bottom of my oldest drawer of retired designer series paper, I pulled out some more pieces and made these, too:

stamp set - Sincere Salutations (retired); ink - Old Olive, Stampin' Write marker - Old Olive; card stock - Old Olive, Sahara Sand; designer series paper - Sweet Pea (retired)

stamp set - Teeny Tiny Wishes; ink - Versamark; stampin' emboss powder - Gold; card stock - Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie; designer series paper - Island Oasis (retired); Big Shot with Scalloped Oval Frame Bigz™ die

The last card is CASE'd from Kay Kalthoff, which I only know because there was a watermark on the printout in my samples binder - it was dated 2010.

I didn't make a very big dent in my over-stash of designer series paper, but at least I made an effort!  I also got a little bit ahead on my #365card2018 for #365somethings20118.  Here are cards 44 through 51:

current challenge adventures

If you've been following along, you will have noticed that I've had some "issues" with the cards I've posted recently.  My theory is that it's because I've been pushing myself a bit to keep up with the challenges I've accepted.  I'm grateful today that I'm current on all of them!  Here are cards 37 through 43, five of which went together without issue:

I'm hoping you noticed the Christmas card in the back row center - here it is again, as part of Twofer Card Challenge #2, where the prompt is Hearts:

Of course, I've convinced myself that I was particularly clever in using not just the EXACT same die for both hearts, but actually it's just one heart; I've used both the die cut and the negative from one pass through my Big Shot ;)  

The Christmas card was inspired by the Jingle Belles' prompt of A-Coloring We Will Go.  I colored the bird last month, and cut him out as well, but couldn't decide what to do with him.  When the new Twofer Challenge posted, I searched Christmas, Cardinal and Heart on Pinterest and found this felt ornament - wow!  Unfortunately the link no longer works, but it gave me the inspiration I needed.  I was still dealing with issues, though.  I attempted to cut the heart through the front of a card base - it was both crooked and off-center, necessitating some serious trimming.  Then I was a little rough with the bird and broke off the leg on the right - it's been mended, but doesn't he look a bit spraddle-legged?  Maybe it's just me...

stamp sets - Best Birds, Christmas Pines; ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Smoky Slate; Stampin' Blends; Stampin' Write marker - Basic Black; card stock - Whisper White, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate; Big Shot with Sweet & Sassy framelits and Woodland textured impression folder

And, making use of a NBUS stamp set that has so many options I temporarily had a bit of creativity paralysis, the companion card, a bit more Clean And Simple:

stamp set - Waterfront; ink - Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Peekaboo Peach, Fresh Fig, Always Artichoke; Big Shot with Sweet & Sassy framelit

nearly not an adventure

This card, which uses the Try Stampin' On Tuesday sketch which ends tonight and the Jingle Belles Text me prompt, did not really want to be completed and posted:

stamp sets - Christmas Punch (hostess, retired), Cozy Christmas (on envelope); ink - Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip (on envelops); card stock - Copper Foil, Old Olive, Early Espresso; designer series paper - Letters To Santa (retired); punch - Curly Label (retired, not sure I got the name right); metallic sequins

It took me days to decide what I would do and then find the text-y paper at the bottom of my box o' Christmas papers.  The Early Espresso ink pad that should match the paper was too dry; after I applied reinker, it was too dark.  The same thing happened with the slightly lighter ink, Chocolate Chip.  My fifth attempt at stamping, with Soft Suede, is the sentiment I used.  It seemed to need a mat, but it didn't look right when I glued it on white, so I disassembled it and tried copper, to match the sequins.  The sequins were about the only thing that went right,since the optional prompt (which I had forgotten) at Try Stampin' on Tuesday was metallic!  Finally, when it was done, I opened it to add a sentiment and found it was upside down.  I trimmed up the original Old Olive base and applied it to an Early Espresso base.  sigh.  

Meanwhile, over at the computer, the Internet connection disappeared.  It's working everywhere else in the house, including the laptop on which I'm typing this, but I don't have a good working relationship with this keyboard, so there's no guarantee that you see what I think I'm saying.  

Now that the card is actually complete, it is number 36 or my #365cards2018.  Here are cards 30 through 36 for #365somethings2018:

adventures with Christmas cards and other challenges

I'm still up-to-date with #365somethings2018 which is #365cards2018 for me. Here are cards 23 through 29:

Why, yes, there is a new Christmas card, on the left in the center row - I used the Fab Friday sketch and the Jingle Belles prompt "Text Me":

stamp set (on envelope) - Patterned Pines (hostess, retired); card stock - Real Red, Old Olive; designer series paper - Merry Music (retired), Christmas Around the World (retired); punch - Decorative Ribbon Border

I made another Christmas card today, using the expired (oops!) fairy theme from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, which I think paired brilliantly with the new Merry Monday prompt for pastel colors:

stamp set - Endless Wishes (retired), Christmas Fairy (from Cardmaking © Origin Publishing); inks - Sweet Sugarplum, Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette Sahara Sand; blender pen; Stampin' Write marker - Soft Sky; Wink of Stella - gold (retired), clear; card stock - Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sky; Big Shot with Deco Labels framelits (retired)

I'm not claiming the decision to make the fairy sparkly gold was as brilliant as the fairy + pastel colors pairing, though :\ I'm trying to reserve judgement on that for now.

For another challenge, I completed my #12PaperClipsOf2018 for the February "hearts" theme, and gave away three of them.  I'll use mine in my planner, to help keep me organized, and to qualify at Cut It Up! Challenge:

stamp sets - Labeler Alphabet, Heart Happiness; ink - Versamark; Stampin' Emboss powder - white; card stock - Real Red, Whisper White; punch - Cookie Cutter Builder; Big Shot with Sweet & Sassy framelits; Fine-Tip glue pen  

Finally, I'm also still up-to-date with #LlamasLoveLettering for January 2018, but I'll spare you a picture since there is much scribbling on that page now :0  I've learned to appreciate the "crop" requirement for Instagram posts!  

I could probably stick with a daily challenge for one more month, but I'm not really excited about doodling or lettering.  I've been toying with going back to the 4x4 format, which I originally tried for the 100 days project; maybe 28 faces...