Kindergarten Scrapbook

I am not a scrapbooker. I tried for awhile, but I think I just didn't have the patience and found those big pages a little bit overwhelming. However, I do enjoy doing theme scrapbook projects on a smaller scale from time to time. My son started Kindergarten this year, and I wanted some way to document his first year of school. This is what I came up with. There aren't any pages yet. I kind of ran out of steam. That image took me just about forever to color.


I'm also submitting this project for three different challenges:
Simon Says Challenge - Back to School
Friday Sketchers - Sketch shown below
Pile it On - Round + multiple challenges - there are circular shapes in two of the papers, the circle at the bottom right, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and round brads

The album is a plain chipboard album that I covered and embellished. I chose the House Mouse image Teacher's Pet for the back to school theme. I received the image in a swap, and unfortunately, it's not the most neatly stamped image, but it's the only one I had. I distressed the papers to help tie everything together. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits. I rubbed some white artist pastel over the chalkboard to give it a chalky appearance. I'm not sure that shows up very well in the photo. I covered the chipboard letter with paper and added the brads and the star button. The button was actually white. I used my alcohol inks to change the color. I also used the alcohol inks on the brads to make them the right shade of green as I didn't have any the right color. The words were printed on the computer, torn out and distressed.

Supplies

Stamp: House Mouse - Teacher's Pet (Stampabilities)

Ink: Old Paper and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks (Ranger); Lettuce Alcohol Ink (Ranger)

Paper: K&Co.

Tools: Circle and Labels 1 Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Swiss Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Embellishments: Ribbon (Bo Bunny); Notebook paper tag (K&Co. Tag Pad); chipboard letter (Making Memories); metal photo corners (Oriental Trading); button, twine, brads

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits; distressing

Cupcake Box - Simon Says and Whiff of Joy Challenges

I found this cute little cupcake box template a few days ago through Mel Stampz blog. Mel has an awesome blog with lots of tutorials, templates and generally cool info. Some information comes from her and some are links that she gives to other Web sites and blogs. She has a whole page of links for cup cakes - cards, recipes, boxes, etc. This template I got from Sharon's blog, which was linked on that page. It looks like a miniature Chinese take out container and is perfect for one cupcake or muffin. There's even a little insert that goes inside to hold the cupcake in place.

I made the little box for this week's Simon Says Challenge - Anything BUT a Card. Since I used Henry Celebrating Mouse and it's pink and brown - it also qualifies for the Whiff of Joy challenge. As usual, things did not go as planned. I think I have a hard time visualizing how big things really are. I intended to put Henry on the side of the box, then tie the ribbon on top with a little tag that said Happy Birthday, but Henry is way too big to fit right on the side of the box, so he got made into a tag and tied on top. I used a pattern cardstock for this box, but you can also use plain and stamp on it or embellish as you like. I was just trying to keep it easy for myself and I have tons of pattern cardstock that I got in a giant pack at Costco.

This was such a fun and easy little box to make. I think I might use these at Christmas time for little goody boxes for my coworkers. Unless I find something else that catches my fancy before then - which is very likely. :) I think it would also be really cute to put a muffin inside and give it with a mug and some coffee or tea as a breakfast package. So many ideas, so little time. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Supplies
Stamp: Henry Celebrating Mouse (Whiff of Joy)
Paper: Pink and white polka dot pattern cardstock (Costco); brown and white are scraps
Tools and embellishments: Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); cup cake box template (Sharon Rivera - Artful Avocations); ribbon
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Tilda with Lilacs

I started out making this card only for this week's Just Magnolia challenge, but when I looked through the other challenge blogs I follow, I found it also fits the Simon Says Challenge and the Stamp Something challenge. So it ended up being a three-fer. :)

This week's Just Magnolia challenge is a sketch, which I have posted below. For the image I chose Tilda with Lilacs. I wanted to try my hand at coloring Tilda's hair red like my friend Susan did in a card she made earlier this week. I think mine turned out a bit more orange than I wanted, but still not bad. I may have used too much of one of colors. I'm not sure. I made the flowers in the corner with the Flower Creations 3 Spellbinders die. I've had this die for awhile, but this is the first time I've used it. The leave are made with two different Martha Stewart punches.

The theme for Simon Says Challenge this week is buttons and bows. I only have one button, but I do have two bows. The Stamp Something challenge is charms, which I added in the lower left corner tied to the ribbon.

Supplies

Stamp: Tilda with Lilacs (Magnolia)

Paper: Cardstock (Bazzill); DP (My Mind's Eye)

Tools: Rectangle and scalloped rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinder); Flower Creations 3 die (Spellbinder); scalloped border punch (Fiskars); rose leaf punch and frond punch (Martha Stewart)

Embellishments: ribbon, pearls, button, green bead cord, charms (all from my stash)

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Finished card size: 6" square

Mojo Monday 97 and Simon Says Challenge

I have another two-fer today - Mojo Monday and Simon Says Challenges.

I chose the Happy Hopper image called Bunny Bath for this card. My friend Kari sent this image in for the House Mouse and Friends Merry Go Round swap that I am currently hosting. I thought the image fit the sketch for Mojo Monday perfectly. The sketch is shown below. Since I am using this card for a swap, I decided to stick with an A2 size. I think a 5x7 might have been a better fit for the size of the image. I just have a really hard time making A2 cards anymore. They seem so tiny. :)

I also thought this image was perfect for the Simon Says Challenge this week, which is distressing. Had I stamped this image myself, I would have used kraft cardstock to fit with the rest of the card. However, since it was stamped on white, I used Vintage Photo Distress ink to help blend it in better. I also tore the top edge of the paisley paper, roughed it up and edged it with the Distress ink. Finally, I sanded the edges of the scalloped circle and hit it with a little distress ink as well. In addition, the papers I used have a distresed look. Distressed/shabby used to be my usual style for cards, but I don't much of it anymore. It was fun to use my old techniques again.

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Hopper - Bunny Bath (Stampabilities); sentiment (Technique Tuesday)

Paper: Kraft cardstock and red cardstock (unknown); paisley DP(Creative Imaginations); striped DP (no-name giant Costco pack)

Embellishments: Circle, scalloped circle and long rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinder); metal photo corner (Oriental Trading); Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger); buttons, twine

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits; distressing

Finished card size: A2 (4 1/4 x 5 1/2)

Harry Needs a Hand - Simon Says Challenge

I finally had time to make a card for this week's Simon Says Challenge. The image I used is a freebie that I downloaded from Mo's Digital Pencil called Harry Needs a Hand. I just love Mo's illustrations. Even if you think you don't like digis, you should check out her blog and her Etsy shop. She is quite talented - and a very nice person too. :)

The challenge for Simon Says Challenge this week is a sketch, which I have posted below. I just realized that I have my 2nd layer of paper turned the wrong way - oopsie! LOL! Oh well. I really like this sketch. It's simple, but still interesting and very versatile. I'm going to be filing it away for future use.

Supplies

Stamps: Harry Needs a Hand (Mo's Digital Pencil); Sentiment (Martha Stewart)

Paper: Green and red cardstock (unknown); DP - Christmas Stack (DCWV)

Embellishments: Ribbon, metal frame, buttons, twine

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Finished card size: 6" square

Simon Says Paper Piece!

Believe it or not - this is my very first ever attempt at paper piecing. I have always liked seeing the technique on other people's stamping, but never felt moved to try it myself. I often need a little push to try something different. I finally got the push I needed with this week's Simon Says Challenge, which is to use the paper piecing technique. How fun! I can't believe I never did this before. :)


The image I used is Magnolia - Rainy Tilda, and I paper pieced her raincoat and boots. I was going to also paper piece the umbrella, but I thought it was getting a little too busy, so I just left it plain red. I colored the non-paper-pieced parts of the image with my Prismas. I kept the layout and embellishments simple this time. I was still hungover from my snowflake extravaganza last night. :)

I 've also been giving myself little color challenges from time to time. I'm trying to challenge myself to use different color combos or colors that I might associate with one thing for other themes. I usually think of red and green for Christmas cards, so I challenged myself to use these colors for a non-Christmas theme card. These little self-challenges kind of take me out of my comfort zone a little bit.

Supplies
Stamps: Rainy Tilda (Magnolia); Sentiment (Hero Arts)
Paper: Green and red cardstock (DCWV); DP - Wild Asparagus (My Mind's Eye); the paper used for the coat and boots is a digital download called Nanny's Garden from Raspberry Road Designs
Embellishments: Circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities (Spellbinder); buttons, ribbon
Techniques: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits; paper piecing
Finished Card Size: 6" square

Just Magnolia and Simon Says Challenge

It's been a few days since my last card. I have just been so busy this week at work, I'm totally exhausted in the evenings and haven't had much mojo. I finally found a little bit. I created this card for two challenges this week - Just Magnolia and Simon Says Challenge.


The Just Magnolia challenge this week is a sketch, which I have posted below. The Magnolia image I chose is Tilda in Jeans. I like to perch the sitting Tildas on the edges of circles, so the sketch worked well for that. I colored the image with Lyra colored pencils (except for the face, which is Prisma) and popped her for added dimension. For the flowers I used my retro flower punches and buttons. I also added a punched butterfly, some ribbon and a butterfly charm. I stamped the sentiment directly on the background. I sponged the inner circle where Tilda is sitting with sky blue pigment ink. I also chose a bit of a different color combo for me. I don't know if I have ever used green and orange together, except for Halloween cards.


The Simon Says Challenge this week is Happy Mail. They requested that you create a card for an ill child and send it through Post Pals (UK) or Make a Child Smile (US). Both of these organizations are awesome. It is so beneficial for children who are going through such a trying time to receive positive and happy thoughts from people and to know that they are cared for. Since I am in the US, i will send my card through Make a Child Smile. I hope that you will check out these organizations and consider using some of your own cards to make a sick child's day a little brighter.

Supplies
Stamps: Tilda in Jeans (Magnolia); Sentiment (Hero Arts)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); blue pigment ink (Colorbox)
Paper: Orange and green cardstock (Bazzill); DP (Kay and Co.)
Embellishments: Circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities (Spellbinder); border punches (Fiskars); retro flower punches (EK Success); Royal butterfly punch (Martha Stewart); buttons, ribbon, twine, gems, butterfly charm
Technique: Lyra colored pencil
Finished card size: 6" square

Create Joy

I managed another two-challenge card today. Maybe in a day or two I'll be caught up on my favorite challenges. This week shouldn't be quite so busy with work and home life. This card is for this week's Simon Says and Whiff of Joy challenges.

The Simon Says Challenge this week is a pink and brown color challenge. That's another pretty easy one for me. I love pink and brown (and blue and brown and green and brown :) I used pink and brown cardstock and my DP is also mostly pink and brown, although there is some yellow and green in the striped paper. I also used mostly pinks and browns to color the image. I had to make her jeans blue though. Other colors just don't look right to me. I also added a pink flower that I found in my stash (no clue where it came from) and pink and brown ribbon. The little charm, which I made from some beads that I had, has pink beads on it. I stamped the sentiment with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and inked the edges of the image, sentiment and card base with Tattered Rose Distress Ink. I highlighted the raised parts of the embossed piece with Tattered Rose as well.

This is the first time I have submitted a card for the Whiff of Joy challenge, although I have been following them for quite some time. I just can't seem to get all my challenges in that I want to do. This week's challenge is a sketch which is shown above. In addition to meeting the challenge theme, submissions must use a Whiff of Joy image. The one I used, Willow with Cookies, is one of the few Whiff of Joy images that I own. I have several that I have received as RAKs and in image swaps. I love these images. They are just so sweet. There are definitely more of them on my wish list.

Supplies

Stamps: Willow with Cookies (Whiff of Joy); sentiment (Hero Arts)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersFine); Vintage Photo and Tattered Rose Distress Ink (Ranger)

Paper: Pink cardstock (unknown); brown cardstock (Bazzill Basics); DP (Costco)

Embellishments: Circle punch (Creative Memories); scalloped circle punch (Paper Studio); ribbon (Michael's); flower (unknown); charm (handmade - beads and findings from Hobby Lobby)

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Finished card size: 6" square

Nature Does Not Hurry - An ATC

Here's is something a little different from me. Well, actually if you know me and my past work, you would not think this is so different. My style seems to have changed a bit lately, but there was a time when most of my work was distressed, shabby, grungy, collage-y, etc. That was before I discovered mice, hedgehogs and little kids with no faces. :) It was kind of fun to do something like this again.

This is also different for me because it's an ATC. I rarely do ATCs. I don't collect them or trade them really. I do like to do them to try techniques, etc. I also do swaps for them from time to time and sometimes use the ones I get as focal points for cards. This one I made for a bee theme swap that my friend Chris is hosting. The only thing I knew when I signed up for the swap was that I love that bee stamp I used and that I wanted to use it. I had no other ideas at all. I figured the rest of it out today when I saw this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge.

The challenge this week is "Let's craft with Tim." The objective was to create something using Tim Holtz products or something inspired by his style. Well, I LOVE Tim Holtz so I came up with an idea pretty easily.

The background for the image was created with Adirondak Alcohol Inks on glossy cardstock. I also used two different colors of Distress Ink on the quote. It probably would have been a little more "Tim -like" if I had torn the quote and made it more distressed looking. I thought I was going to do something different and already had the quotes punched out, so I just left it that way. The image is a collage of three different stamps and is kind of "grungy" looking, which is very much inspired by Tim Holtz's style, even though they are not his stamp designs. I stamped the bees and flower first, then masked them before stamping the background. Finally I added the little antique copper photo turn as an embellishment. Since there was so much other stuff going on, I didn't really want to get crazy with the embellishments and I thought that kept with the overall distressed look of the design.

It was really fun doing this style again. As much fun as I'm having with the "cute" things I've been doing lately, I don't think I'll ever stop liking this look either. I guess I'm just "eclectic". :) Now I need to go make five more of these so I can get them in the mail. Be sure to check out the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog to see how others were inspired by Tim.

Supplies
Stamps: Bee (Magenta); Daisy (Club Scrap); Italian Poetry (Hero Arts); quote is computer generated
Ink: Timber Brown (StazOn); Adirondak Alcohol Inks - Butterscotch, Latte, Lettuce, Copper Metalic Mixative (Ranger); Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Antique Linen, Vintage Photo
Paper: green cardstock; white cardstock; white glossy cardstock
Embellishments: antique copper photo turn and brad (unknown)
Techniques: Alcohol Ink background; distressing; masking

Make a Wish

I have mentioned several times that I love doing the challenge blogs. I could happily spend my days making cards and doing challenges. But I also must work and take care of my family, so I can only do so many challenges in a week. This week I got lucky - I managed to do four of them with this one card - House Mouse and Friends, Mojo Monday, Cupcake Craft Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Challenge.

The theme for this week's House Mouse and Friends Challenge is birthday. There are so many great House Mouse, Happy Hopper and Gruffies stamps with a birthday theme, that one was kind of tough to choose for. I chose Make a Wish - it's super cute, and it's small enough to fit the sketch I was using.

This week's Mojo Monday sketch is below. I don't think there has been a Mojo Monday sketch that I didn't like, This one is very versatile and super simple to work with. I think I will definitely use it again.
My third challenge for this card is the Cupcake Craft Challenge. The theme for this challenge is called "2-2-2". We were to use two colors (plus a neutral), two ribbons and two shapes. Technically, I don't know if I met the two colors or not. I mainly used green and blue, but I had to use a couple other colors for the mice :). For the ribbon I used a wide green ribbon and a more narrow blue and green ribbon in the center. I also created a bow with both. The two shapes are rectangles and circles.

The final challenge is Simon Says Stamp, which was just posted today. The theme this week is animals. That was probably the easiest of the challenges to meet.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps: Make a Wish (Stampabilities); Sentiment (My Sentiments Exactly)
Paper: Cardstock (DCWV); DP - Wild Asparagus (My Mind's Eye)
Embellishments: Circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); ribbon (unknown); blue brads (unknown)
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits
Finished card size: 4 1/2" x 6"

Happy Mother's Day - Spoil Yourself Silly!!

Today is Mother's Day here in the U.S., and I want to wish a happy one to all my blog buddies! I hope everyone has a fabulous day! I'm just enjoying my day by relaxing and doing a little crafting. My DH is making one of my favorites for dinner - BBQ! Yum - can't wait!

I thought this card was an appropriate wish for Mother's Day. I'm also taking care of three of my favorite weekly challenges with this one - Penny Black Saturday Challenge, Sketch Saturday Challenge, and Simon Says Stamp Challenge.

This week's Penny Black challenge was to use black, white and one other color. This is one of my favorite color combinations, and I love it with pink, red, yellow, green and on and on. For this one I chose blue. I thought it was going to be a pretty easy challenge until I tried to figure out what image I wanted to use. It was very difficult to use only shades of black or blue on any of the images I have. For almost all of them, I needed at least one other color besides the three I was supposed to use. I finally got as close as I could with this one by coloring the cat and mouse in shades of gray and using the blue for the tub and bowl. I still had to use a tiny bit of pink for the ears and noses, but not as much as I would have had to use of other colors on the other images I have. I do have some images that I could have left uncolored, but nothing was really coming together for me on those, so this one will have to do.

The image above is this week's Sketch Saturday sketch. I pretty much followed it to the letter this time. For the circular elements, I created flowers using my punches and the different papers from the card.

For the centers of the flowers I used buttons, which leads me to the third of my challenges - Simon Says Stamp. This challenge was a 3-2-1 recipe, which called for 3 buttons, 2 papers and 1 ribbon. I'm never quite sure if the 2 papers is supposed to include the cardstock or it means 2 different patterns of designer paper. I interpreted it as the latter and used the black and white leafy swirl paper and black with white polka dots. I also used white, blue and black cardstock, so if I was only supposed to use two total, I blew it. :) Hopefully they'll still like my card.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope all the moms out there have a wonderful and joy-filled day!!

Supplies

Stamps: Image (It's Your Day) and sentiment (Penny Black)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)

Paper: White cardstock (Georgia Pacific); black cardstock (scraps); blue cardstock (DCWV); DP (Me and My Big Ideas)

Embellishments: ribbon (Hobby Lobby); buttons (from my stash); flower punches (EK Success); square and long rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); scallop border punch (Fiskars)

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Finished Card Size: 5 1/2" square

1-2-3 Challenges in One

Well, it may be just 2 1/2 challenges. :-) I'll get to that in a bit. This is for this week's Cupcake Craft challenge, Simon Says Stamp Challenge and Cute Card Thursday challenge. I apologize in advance for my photography. I still need to put that light box together. :)

The Cupcake Craft challenge this week is a sketch and this is the one where I'm not quite sure my card fits right. The sketch is below. The image is a bit too big and my circle is a bit too small so I kind of rearranged a bit. I'm submitting anyway because I was trying and I think it's close.

This week is the first Simon Says Stamp Challenge. The theme for their first challenge is yellow and green. I will tell you right off the bat that this is my most dreaded color combination. I usually go out of my way to avoid it. So I thought that was a good reason to give it a shot. I'm not sure why I'm afraid of this combination. I think it's because of the bedroom I had when I was about 10. This was 1974 and it was very bright yellow and very bright green. So every time I put these two colors together that's what I see. For this card, I tried to keep the tones a little softer and the image helped bring them together for me too.

The final challenge for this card is today's Cute Card Thursday Challenge. The challenge this week is to use citrus colors. As soon as I saw the challenge I knew what image I had to use.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon!

Supplies

Stamp: Citrus Puckers (House Mouse - Stampabilities)

Paper: All paper and cardstock DCWV

Embellishments: ribbon (unknown); brads (Making Memories); classic and scallop circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid