Puppet Time

Hi there! Sorry it has been a bit since I last posted. I have had lots of things going on here that have kept me from posting on my blog. My kids were off for fall break which got extended thanks to a snow storm. It was extremely fun to have a snow day and we spent the day doing fun things together while it snowed.

One of the things that we did during their break was to make some puppets. My oldest son is in a puppetry class in his middle school (it was an elective that was picked for him and when I saw it I have to confess that I groaned a little). Turns out that he LOVES the class and adores his teacher!!! Who knew?! Anyway, as a result, he has been interested in puppets and how we have used them recently in TV shows and such. It also spurred my youngest son to be interested in it, too. So one day during their break we looked up a how-to tutorial and I found myself working with my two boys to create two puppets. It was so much fun to create something with them! And the best part was that they didn't watch any TV or play video games for hours on end that day. :D

The puppets turned out nicely and the boys had so much fun messing around with them. They even took them with them when they went to church (the puppets had to stay in the car). They were excited to show their friends their creation. And then I got an order to make two more puppets from some friends of theirs. LOL. I never thought the puppet thing would catch on.

So that's what I've been up to lately. Making puppets and not cards. I really want to make some cards this week but because of the school's bookfair I may have to yet again put it on hold. We'll see.

Hope you have a great week!

Where Has the Time Gone?

I guess that should be the name of my blog since I always feel like time slips away from me so easily! I have been so busy with my boys' school that I haven't had much time for crafting. I am helping out with the book fair for their school, going to meetings, trying to meet other moms since we are new to that school, setting up "playdates" (not sure what you call it when they're in 4th and 6th grade), and going to parent-teacher conferences. Whew! And when I do have time to hit the craft table, it's to make gifts for their teachers or for friends. I never remember to take those pics in the wee hours of the night when all I can think of is how tired I am and how hard it will be to get up in the morning... I hate feeling like I rush from one thing to the next but that is how my life seems to be right now. It's just a season and I know it will slow down again.

Here is a card that I made to play along with a couple of challenges. Over at Card Patterns they have a cute sketch that I used to make my tag. And the color scheme came from ColourQ challenge #108.

I wanted to try a distress stain resist element to my project. SweetSteph Card Creations has a tutorial here. I am loving the Tim Holtz distress stains and couldn't wait to try this out. Remember what I said about not having time to craft in the last two weeks? I had some of these distress stains that have been sitting there, unopened! so sad...

Anyway, I used a stamp set from Tim Holtz since I liked the grunge look these stamps had. I used versamark to stamp the starburst image on some manila paper. After heat setting some clear embossing powder, I got out my stains and started to apply them. I have to play with it some more because dabbing straight from the bottle is just too heavy for me. If you have any tips, I'm all ears.

Once I got that all set with my heatgun I looked through my scalloped dies and realized that it looked kinda like a shell. So that is the theme I went with. A beach/surf theme of sorts. I made the card to be a sort of encouragement card. A reminder to get up and try again.

Thanks for looking! I hope you have a fantastic weekend. My kids are on Fall break starting today so I'm not sure how much time I'll have to craft. I have some ideas of some projects I'd like to get started but we'll see. :D

Final Post for Tonight!

Whew! I feel like I am on the home stretch of a blogging marathon. I usually do a post or two over the course of a week... but I'm on my third one for the night!

This last card that I made combined two more challenges. One is from the folks at CAS-ual Fridays and the other is from Sassy Lil' Sketches. Both were a blast to use!!! For CAS-ual Fridays CFC24 I had to make a halloween card without using the color Orange. Seriously?!!! okay, I always like how OTHER people can think of non-traditional color schemes for holidays. Me, however?! I'm hopelessly traditional.

I tried, folks. Really I tried. Not including orange was bad enough but I couldn't think of any other colors that looked right to me other than purple and black and charcoal and green.
The second part to my card is the lovely sketch SS0S8 at Sassy Lil' Sketches. Sometimes that is half the battle right there coming up with a LO for a card... and with creative minds over at SLS they did some of the work for me. I took the sketch and turned it on its side. I framed the tree silhouette with a piece of burlap for texture. I used some cream tulle, a stitched felt pumpkin with metal flower doodad, and some stitched leaves to add a little more femininity to the focal point. And that's it from me for one night!

Have a great evening!

PS. I found out that it wasn't too late to enter the Paper Issues 31 Days of Halloween. So I did! Hop over there to see some amazing projects for Halloween.

Sweet Day!!!

And while I was feeling quite creative, I decided to go ahead and make two more cards! This one is for two challenges, Mojo Monday and ColourQ. I love it when I can combine a sketch and color challenge all at the same time.

For this card I needed to use grey, black, tangerine, and yellow. Not terribly difficult, right?!! My first thought was to make a cute card with a giant candy corn on it. See, it's that fall thing that I told you I'm addicted to. But when I thought about it some more, I wanted to make something that wasn't fall themed after all. But what to make with all those colors? A little light bulb went on and I thought Citrus fruits!!! They are happy and orange and yellow. So here's what I ended up with:

I really liked the way it came out. It reminds me of those old encyclopedias that I used to look at when I was little that would have a black and white picture next to the text of the item I looked up. I didn't want to emphazise too much color but just enough to make it all pop.
The sketch that I incoporated is Mojo Monday #210.

Autumn Elegance - Ribbon Reel Challenge #12

Autumn is in full swing here and I just love making cards that showcase my favorite season. I made a thank you card for Ribbon Reel's Challenge. I also thought that it would work for the Shabby Tea Room's Challenge.

There are so many things to like about the fall. I love the natural earthy colors that get a little glammed up right before the season changes even cooler. Red maples, golden aspens, pale ornamental grasses blowing in the crisp breeze... what's not to love?

I wanted some of those things to come across in the pale card with just a hint of warmth. The challenge at Ribbon Reel was to create an elegant autumn card with orange, neutrals, and flowers. Sounds great to me! I tried something new by making some rosettes out of ribbon. It's not too difficult, just a little fussy trying to get it to lay just so. I stamped a verse on the main flower using PTI's Beautiful Blessings Stamps. The verse is 1 Corinthians 13 and is just a mixture of parts of verses in that "love" chapter. The sentiment simply says, "It's the little things that matter most". When someone does something out of the goodness of their heart and full of love, it really does show. Attitude can be such a little thing but in can make a huge difference!

As always, thanks for looking!

Materials used:

Inks and paints: fresh snow (PTI), Tea stain distress ink (TH), sugar maple (Glimmer mist), cream paint
Paper: fawn, cream, shimmery pumpkin (Bazzill), Simply Chartreuse (PTI) and cardboard; patterned paper "I do" wedding (EK)
Stamps: Beautiful Blessings, Gratitude Journal, and Bitty Background Basics (PTI)
Dies: Mat Stack 1, Beautiful Blooms 2, and Sending You (PTI)
Embellies: Summer Sunrise ribbon (PTI), Organza ribbon stained with sugar maple glimmer mist, cream crocheted lace, small brad, and machine stitching

Live by Faith

Hello, there! I have been a busy little bee these days helping out with my kids' current school and still helping with their old one, too. Talk about both pokers in the fire! I just have to figure out how to make do with only a little sleep. LOL can't say that it's working yet.

Anyway, I want to post this card that I made. I also want to enter it in a couple of challenges and it's down to the wire. The thing that I really liked about this card is that I tried a new technique called Black Magic. I had to look this up on Split Coast Stampers; they have a great tutorial if it's something that interests you. JUGS is having a challenge to use Black Magic on a card. I wanted to pair that up with a Mojo Monday sketch that I saw last week. Too late to enter that challenge but I loved the sketch all the same! I also wanted to used the color palette over at CR84FN. It is just a very warm, feel good color combo; like a cup of coffee and your favorite afghan on a brisk autumn morning!

And I do love kraft so much! To me it goes with so many seasons and it's so versatile. Over at the Kraft Journal they have a Make it Monday with Kraft Outlet using lavish layers and, of course, kraft. So happy that I got my new PTI Tag Sale die. I love adding that extra tag for some layers plus this little die has a great border embossed right into it. The zigzag stitching was also fun to tie the red weathered barn panel to the rest of the card. The inside says," one day at a time" and "Praying for you".

Card deets:
Cardstock: kraft, brown, red and charcoal
Stamps: it's a 2step stamp that I got at SU a long time ago. don't remember the name. Beautiful Blessings (PTI)
Ink: Tim Holtz distress inks (walnut, tea stain, antique linen), Fresh Snow (PTI)
Other: scallop paper punch (EK), Tag Sale #3 die (PTI), Distressed Stripes embossing folder (TH), Nesties scallop circle die, Tim Holtz ticket, machine stitching

I have to get off to bed so thanks for stopping by! Your comments are always appreciated. :D

Our First Snow of the Season

I just thought I'd pop in here to show you pics of our first snow. I know what you must be thinking! Yes, I did say snow and yes it's still the beginning of October. But the great thing about Colorado is that it can snow one day and completely disappear in two. I just love all of the sunshine we get here because it makes the snow so fun when it comes.

Both of my boys enjoyed playing in the snow. There is something really exciting about the first snow when you're a kid! Even our cat, Felix, wanted to join in! I love seeing the world through their eyes when the future holds so much excitement and possiblity. :)

and new friends!