CPS128

You know how when you're watching a movie on TV and at the beginning there's a little message that says "This movie was edited to fit your screen"? Well, this image was edited to fit the piece of sticky paper I had left.

This card is for CPS 128 challenge, and also for the featured stamper at SCS, sleepyinseattle, one of the stampers I really admire. I was casing this card, but the only piece of double-sided paper I had was tiny. (And I went to two Mike's and Staples looking for more. I almost bought some at Michael's about 2 months ago, and now they don't appear to sell it anymore.) In a way, that made it easier to fit the CPS sketch for this week.

The flower (from SU's Heartfelt Thanks) was stamped on white CS, covered with the sticky paper and covered with glitter. The rest is just layering. I used a corner punch on the three little tabs by turning the punch so it punched onthe diagonal intead of in each corner, and the result was a nice little point. The larger white panel was embossed with the CB Swiss Dot folder.

Etsy Inspired #48

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge #48 features Vol25, a shop that sells prints and other graphics. I loved several of the designs -- especially the bookwormy stuff (after all, I am the stamping writer). She even has bookplates. I don't have any booky stamps, however, so I moved on to another inspiration. I had the perfect stamp and paper to interpret this T.S. Eliot quote, however. And you have to love that cute little RV on this poster, don't you? (We just have a boring square white pop-up, and this litte trailer has so much more personality.)

I have had this dp forever and finally found a good place to use it. (I'm not really used to letting a piece of dp be the main image, so this is a little stretch for me.) The quote is from All Night Media. I combined this challenge with the Ways to Use It challenge at SCS this week -- the theme was pleats, so I pleated the ribbons, both beside the sentiment and in the corner treatment. Pleating does add a new texture to the card. There's a a cute little car charm dangling from the corner ribbon (from a box of charms I bought at a stamping consignment sale last spring, I think it was Making Memories but I threw away the label).

I love paint chips

I have long been a fan of using paint chips on my cards. I think they are fun to work with and add an unexpected element to a card. They are very versatile -- you can stamp on them or use them like designer paper. They look fabulous when run thru an embossing folder -- an embossed paint chip really resembles an old embossed tin tile that's been painted.

The VSN challenge I hosted Saturday required everyone to use a paint chip in their cards, and people were wonderfully creative. This card is one I made as a sample, but didn't really use. I'm not sure I did it within the 45-minute time limit -- I was listening to a Braves' game while working, and probably doing a load of laundry besides, and just didn't keep an eye on the clock.

I loved the lemony yellows on this chip and thought it would go well with Flourishes lemon set. (I also entered this in Flourishes' birthday challenge.)

Etsy Inspired #47

This week's Etsy Inspired Design challenge (#47) is for JulieAnn's Jewels. Julie makes some beautiful beadwork jewelry.

For my piece, I was inspired by both the colors and the design of her "rock crystal quartz with aventurine and sterling silver necklace and earring set". I silver-embossed the butterfly (from Stamps On Fire) on green paper, trying to match her green beads. The flourish (in place of the white beads) is a rub-on. Sentiment is from Club Stamp. It's clean and simple, for sure.

If you've been wanting to try the Etsy Inspired Challenge, Ashley is encouraging new players by offering special prizes this week -- you could win a gift certificate from Julie or to a papercraft supply shop. Just tell her I sent you when you post a link to your creation on the Etsy-Inspired blog.

Join me for VSN

Hope you all can join me at Virtual Stamp Night Saturday at SCS. (If you've never done VSN, it's a series of challenge, one posted each hour. You have 45 minutes to complete a card for the challenge.)

The theme this time is "food chef" and tomorrow's offerings are "Snacks". The first challenge goes up at 5 p.m. Eastern, and your's truly hosts the challenge that kicks off at 6 p.m. I can't reveal what it will be, but you will need at least one of the supplies on this list.

If you don't want to do the challenge, please join me on the chat thread -- We can talk about stamping, food, the new Harry Potter movie, or anything that interests you. I'll be chatting from 6-7 p.m. Eastern. Hope to see you, or at least your card.

Simply inspired music card.

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge #46 focuses on the shop Artistic Flair, which sells fused glass art. There are so many interesting pieces at this store that I made several false starts before finishing a card. (My ballerina stamp just wouldn't give me a good image; I tried a dragonfly with glitter but the glitter just didn't look right; I vaguely thought about doing something with the Eiffel Tower. ... Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to work?)

The solution came with Monday's Clean and Simple Challenge #25 at SCS, which gave me a sketch that worked well another piece I liked from Artistic Flair, a saxophone.

So, here's what I came up with. Stamps are from Club Stamp. I didn't have a sax, so I had to go with the trumpet instead. In honor of the colorful dots on the inspiration , I went with lots of dots on this card. (Surprisingly, the paper and ribbon work perfectly together but they are from separate source). Ribbon was from Hobby Lobby and the dotted paper came from a grab bag I got from Bits and Pieces--obviously a while ago, as they closed shop about 2 years ago).

EIC 45 and CPS124

Oh my poor, neglected little blog and all my neglected blog buddies...

It's been a very busy month, what with work, getting my son to and from day camp every day for a week, and VSN, but I have time today to tackle a few challenges.

This card is based on CPS sketch 124, and is also for Etsy Inspired Challenge #45, The Daily Pincushion, which features some truly adorable felt pincushions. (My Mom used to have one shaped like a tomato -- your's probably did, too; I think it came from Woolworth's.) As my inspriation piece, I actually chose a couple of really cute felt tags the shop sells -- I kind of combined design elements of both, and it really fit well into the CPS sketch.

I bought the blue DPs ages ago and stumbled upon them recently, so it was good to finally cut into them. The ribbon (someday I'll learn how to photograph satin ribbon) has a line of tiny beads down the middle, very cool, but a little hard to work with.

The flower stamps are from SU's Heartfelt Thanks. (I bought it at a stamping consignment sale, and this is the first I've used it. The original owner did an absolutely horrid job of trimming and mounting the rubber and I can't line anything up.)