You are a Fabulous Work of Art

Hello to all my blogging friends. I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

My honey is on his last business trip of the year (Yippee) so, I made him this card to put under his pillow when he comes home.

I was playing with the You Are a Fabulous Work of Art stamp set on another card (I will show you later this week for Sketch Frenzy Friday) and made this "old school" type of card. Do you remember when this style was the thing? I think it was the beginning of CAS. SU and Penny Black had several stamps in this linear format.

I used Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White card stock.
Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black and Rich Razzleberry ink.
That was all! Clean and Simple (CAS).

Here is a look at the inside.

I hope you have a great day and find some time to create something fun too.

Chat soon,
Patrice

Gratitude!

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

This week last year we were doing the closing paperwork on our house, and it has been two years since we moved to West Virginia. Leaving all our Family and Friends  behind was really scary but, we trusted God and moved a cross the United States. If you have never driven across the US I highly recommend it. This sure is a beautiful country!

It took us awhile to establish ourselves here and grow new friendships. Our son is coming for a visit from CA today and a new friend of mine is driving me to Baltimore Airport at 11:00pm this evening. Thank you Linda! Now that's a true friend right!! Wow, we are so Grateful that Jeff loves his new job, to have gotten this house and to have our many wonderful new friends and neighbors.  We can really say West Virginia is our new Home! My friendship with Linda is icing just on the cake!

The man in brown came yesterday but, I couldn't play with my new goodies because I was cleaning house. You know how that is when guests are coming to stay! This morning I had a few minutes to create a card that I am leaving in Linda's back seat as a little surprise when she finds it.

The stamp set is from For All Things and I also used the Bigs Autumn Accents Die to make the focal image.

I used several new goodies from the new Holiday catty such as Autumn Wooden Leaves and Color Me Autumn DSP.

The other elements included in making this card are:
Card Stock- Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry and Calypso Coral.
Ink- Cajun Craze and Pistachio Pear.
Misc- Linen Thread, 1/2" circle punch and the Woodgrain Textured Embossing Folder.

Here is a look at the inside.

I drew the two sets of little leaves near the sentiment with a Cajun Craze Marker. I thought that it needed something in that blank space. When I glued the little bow to the stamped leaves image at the lower left the ink bled so I punched a 1/2" circle to cover the spot. No one will be the wiser smile! This is the glue I used (Tombow Aqua Mono Liquid Glue). I won't use that glue again  over ink.

Hope you have a great day today and you find a little quiet time to create something fun.

Chat soon,
Patrice

Labor Day Weekend a beyond

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

Well let me tell you, I am so pumped I can't stand it! We are almost finished with the kitchen. We have the major painting done, all the big walls and now that we have seen what it looks like we are going to paint the trim and re-do the bathroom to match!

Here are a few before photos. We had not painted the kitchen when we moved in. It was a sort of  pinkish/ cream color with a stencil on the top.

But, I did strip off all the wall paper and that was a huge job. I did that last summer.

White walls

Now a few during
Poppy Parade

Now for the after look

So Saffron it looks beige in the picture. It is a creamy light yellow

 Old Olive green

I caught Jeff on the Mower driving by while I was taking photos LOL
We are going to paint the doors and trim Early Espresso a lovely warm brown.
 I love SU colors lolol.It looks so warm and inviting. It makes me want to study in my kitchen lol.
I am in my second week of a WV Univ. Extension Master Gardener course. I am so excited about that too. Gardening in WV is very different than Calif. (Better)



I went out in the garden after I took the photos of the kitchen, look what I brought in. The garden is still producing but slowing down.

Thanks for stopping by.
Chat soon,
Patrice

Punch Happy

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

I created a card for a group of ladies that I swap with on a monthly basis. I don't think I have ever told you the name of our little group? We are called  the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Card Club"  (STCC for short).
We create cards from monthly themes. Last  months theme was to create a card that was stamp-less!!! OMGoodness! What was I going to do with "No Ink" ?
I looked around my stash and pulled out a few (LOL) punches. Well, a few got to be several and well, by the time I was finished I had a whole bunch pulled out. We are a small group of 9 swappers so I could spend a bit more time creating something really fun for them.
I ended up creating a whole outdoor garden scene. I hope they liked it as much as I had fun making it for them.

 Here is the card.

 This is the list of the Punches and the Embossing Folder I used to create all of the images.

First off, all of the foliage pieces were created with the Bird Builder Punch, using Garden Green or Old Olive Card Stock. I cut, tweaked and trimmed the leaves and branches to suit my needs.

The Tree was created with the Woodgrain TI Embossing Folder and the Large Oval Punch. I used Early Espresso and  Close to Coco card stock. Close to Coco is a retired SU color that I just loved. I cut the Early Espresso card stock in half and at a slight slope and made a notch at the top to create a branch effect near the butterfly. I added a large branch to the tree trunk offset at the center of the card so the bird could have a place to rest in it's nest. I tried to match up the impressions so it wouldn't look like it was just put in there.

The Butterfly-  Bitty Butterfly Punch in Rose Red and Blushing Bride.

The Sun was created with the 1" circle and the Boho Blossoms Punches, using Daffodil Delight and Cajon Craze card stock. I cut out the center of the largest flower from the Boho Blossom trio to create the sun's rays and attached that strip to the back of the 1" circle. Then trimmed it to match the corner of the card.

The Owl was created with the Owl Builder Punch. The vest was cut out using a retired piece of unknown DSP.  The eyes were punched in Pool Party, Night of Navy and Pumpkin Pie. The little heart was punched in Night of Navy.

The Bird was created using the Bird Builder Punch, using Taken with Teal, Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist and So Saffron. I hand cut a little yellow beak and dotted the eye with a black marker.

The Nest was fussy cut out of Close to Coco card stock and attached to the bottom of the bird. I glued one leaf from a branch of the foliage to the back of the nest to make it stationary, then cut the branch off.


The Flowers were created with the Boho Blossom Punch, using So Saffron and Early Espresso for the Sun Flower and Wisteria Wonder and Pink Pirouette for the smaller flower under the owl.

The Sky and The ground were trimmed to fit. I used Soft Sky and Pear Pizzazz card stock.

It really was a lot of work, but when I do something with may pieces I find it is much easier to create each element at a time ( 9 Birds, 9 Owls, 9 Trees...) rather then make one entire card at a time.

I hope you enjoyed this "No Ink" card as much as I did and are inspired enough to give it a try.


Thanks for stopping by.
Chat soon,
Patrice

Sketch Frenzy Friday 9/5/14 Happy Birthday

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

I am so HAPPY today is Sketch Frenzy Friday, because I can now tell you that we have several new design team members that have just been added to our lineup!

I would like to introduce to you
Terri Tank from - http://www.mystampvault.blogspot.com
Carol Reed from- http://marcospolo67.blogspot.com
Karen Gibson from http://www.kraftingwithkaren.blogspot.com
and coming soon  Elizabeth Kratzer

These talented ladies are from my summer VC-Rocks group. I know you will be  very please to see their creations. Each one brings a different style and take on Stampin' Up products.  Please check out their blogs and give them some love. Welcome to the SFF Design Team ladies I am so glad you have joined us.

This weeks sketch was my design. I tried to do the less is more thing, but I don't think that is in my blood (Smile). I didn't design the sketch solely for myself because I would have added a lot more elements lol. I knew the DT members would be really creative with it. When I create a sketch I think about the end product. What will the cards look like when following the sketch. Of course colors and textures will always be different but the over all look of the cards in most cases will be similar. That's the beauty of sketches. Everyone has their own take on it.
Here is this weeks the sketch.

This is what I came up with.

The card base is Crushed Curry. The first layer is Basic Black, the second layer is Pool Party and the third Background layer is from the Flashback DSP pack.
The back rectangle piece used the same layering colors. The Flower is punched with the Blossom punch. I punched out two flowers. One flower piece was cut in half plus a little extra off each end. This allowed me to be able to make the center flower layer appear a little smaller and I was able to give it a bit of a curl for dimension.  I punched a 1" circle and added several random dots using a white gel pen for the center of the flower. As a special note; the DSP flowers had a touch of black at the tip of each little flower. I wanted to enhance the tips of those flowers to match my flowers black center so I used a Basic Black Marker and colored over each flowers tip to darken the dots. Doing this really coordinated the DSP and the flower focal image and gave it some pop! I added several loops of Black 1/8th " Taffeta Ribbon just for fun and added texture to the flower. The sentiment and Banner are from the Itty Bitty Banner stamp set and Framelits. I used Whisper White and Basic Black card stock and Basic Black ink to create the banner.

The Flower is so cute I might be able to mount it on a pin and wear it as a broach. What do you think?

Here is a look at the inside.

The sentiment is from the Yippee Skippy stamp set. I always try to coordinate the inside of my cards whit the card front. I think it adds a little bit of a custom finished look to my card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope this sketch, card and ideas have given you some inspiration and you will want to create a card  from it. If you do we would love to see it. Please share it on the SFF blog here: http://www.sketchfrenzyfriday.blogspot.com/

Have yourself a little fun and create a card!
Chat soon,
Patrice

Traveler and Kitchen update

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

I told myself that I was going to try to post at least three times a week to keep my Mojo flowing. That means I have  stamp more to create cards.   YIPPEE!!!!

Ever since I got the stamp set Traveler, I have wanted to create a card from it!

I love the vintage look and feel to these stamps. I see a vintage camera in the set and that gives me another idea for a card that I will have to explore.

For this card I chose the Ocean Liner and Passport stamps and gave it a go.

This is what I came up with;

It really took a quite a while to create this card. I just couldn't match up color, paper, stamps and ink with the vintage look I was trying to create. But,after sever remakes I think I finally have it the way I had imagined it would turn out.

I used Natural Ivory card stock for the card base.
Kraft card stock for all the images and tags and second layer.
Early Espresso for the first layer. I used Early Espresso  ink and Markers on the images themselves. I found that using the Early Espresso marker to outline the Ocean Liner and Passport really helped them to stand out. To me they didn't look like they had enough dimension to them.
The DSP is since retired. It was called Soho Subway. It was a great DSP set from last years catalog.
I used the little tag punch for the luggage tag in the top  right hand corner.

News From The Home Front

Now that the garden is slowing down, we have started working on the first floor. I'm so excited that my kitchen is finally going to get painted. I chose my favorite SU Colors- Poppy Parade, Old Olive and Very Vanilla.  Here are the first few pictures. I may not use the Old Olive because I am still not sure how that will work into things, it is a lot of color?

Before

During- Look how low the ceiling is, Jeff almost has to duck his head to get into the living room lol. Old houses are interesting.

After

We bought this home last year and we spent most of the year re-doing the upstairs it is beautiful and creating our garden.  The home was built in 1891.The front half is a log cabin. The kitchen, dining room and the 1/2 bath was an add on probably around 1960 ish. When we moved the dining room furniture to paint (a large china cabinet) we found some mold on the drywall. Yikes! Jeff said We have to get a plumber to look into this. He also said I may just get a new kitchen sooner than I thought? I don't know what all this is going to in tale, but we are painting around it for now. I love this color it is so bright and cheery! We need to do a quick second coat and two of the four walls are done. The second color that will go around the Kitchen sink wall will be Very Vanilla, as my cabinets are a very dark brown wood and the Poppy would be too dark there. (Real wood cabinets are a rarity).


Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you were inspired by this card and find some time to create something fun.

Chat soon,
Patrice

Paper Craft Crew #107

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

I am sad to say VC_Rocks if over for the summer. We had such a great time. I was kept supper busy stamping, swapping, challenging, blog hopping and creating. But most of all the chatting with my Rocking Friends. That was my 5th summer and it was fun. Chat soon ladies. Have a great Holiday Season.

Now that I have my Mojo flowing, I am in the mood for some sketch challenges. I told myself that I was going to blog at least 3 times a week throughout the Fall and Winter.
I found this great sketch over at the Paper Craft Crew  PCCCS #107
http://www.papercraftcrew.com.

This is what I came up with;

I created the flower by using the smallest watercolor image from the Work of Art stamp set, stamping it in a repetitive circular motion. Then fussy cut it out and mounted it with Stampin' Dimensionals. I added a 1/4" circle punch of Crushed Curry to the center and a ring of little Basic Pearls. In lieu of the three circles, and scallops I used three leaves and a row of waves. The leaves are from the Kinda Electic stamp set. A little Lost Lagoon bow and ribbon met that requirement. I really like the wispy look of the Linen Thread I added around the flower.

Here is a look at the inside

I sure hope you enjoyed this card and were as inspired as I was to create a card from this awesome sketch. Thanks ladies for the fun. I am glad to be back stamping to your challenges.

WHAT"S NEW ON THE HOME FRONT!

What a busy weekend we had painting! We scraped, power washed, sanded and painted the back yard deck. It was hard work to get it prepared just to paint but oh so worth it! We have to put one final coat on it next weekend but this project is almost in the bag.

Here are the before and after photos

Jeff was pooped out from all the scrubbing and cleaning we had to to prep the deck for painting, yet he still kept going. 

He finally finished the painting and now look at it!I am so pleased with how it turned out. I love this man of mine.

I am so tickled with the look  of this desk. I told him next year we have to get new deck furniture. He said whooh one thing at a time my sweet lolol

Tomorrow I will show you pictures of the painting we are doing in the kitchen. Can I say Poppy Parade??????


Chat soon,
Patrice