Orange Hello!

Today's card was inspired from the Paper Smooches Sparks Picture Perfect Challenge photo you see below.  Photo challenges are so much fun, and I am humbled by the talented contributors who entered this weeks challenge. So many amazing entries!  It really is worth looking at. This isn't one of my "best" cards, but it was one that I had a ton of fun with.  Sometimes I forget how fun embossing is!

I embossed orange ink on vellum using the Potpourri stamp set, which was perfect for the photo.  And I used the same stamp set with Versamark ink on the tan "hello" banner.  The patterned paper is an old Halloween line from Websters Pages.  I love that print!

 

Oh!  And remember this?

Yes, that's what I used to punch the "hello" letters from the woodgrain paper.  Old-school, isn't it?  LOL! I told you that I had fun!  :)

 



 

 



I took a class called Journey Into Card Making Mini Workshop with Julie Campbell at Two Peas in a Bucket and I loved it!  One of the design principles was symmetry.  I explored symmetry just recently in this post here and really enjoyed it.  Julie inspired me to try it again.  And with Valentines Day fast approaching, I incorporated the City Crafter Challenge Blog's challenge (Week 143 ~ Forever Mine) to incorporate hearts into the design.

 

 

I love the little meter and wanted to make that the focus even though it's tiny.  I actually purchased Echo Park's entire package of brads just for that little meter! :)  The rest of the items are a mish-mash of product.  I painted and glittered a small chipboard frame.  There's a vintage scrap of foreign text from a book and some Jolees heart embellishment hearts, as well as a Basic Grey sticker.



Martha Stewart Valentine Package Giveaway

Everyone loves a giveaway!  Check out this year's Valentine's Day items from Martha Stewart Crafts -- and enter for your chance to win some of them for yourself.

 

5 Winners chosen on Monday January 28th & 5 Winners chosen on Monday February 4th.  Good Luck! 
Note:  I'm not affiliated.... I like freebies. :)

Let's Bond

I tried something new here.  Which is half the fun, right?
Paper Smooches has a weekly challenge and this week it's a sketch challenge.  They call it A Designer Drafts Challenge.  For the challenge, I loosely followed the sketch and embossed the Great Chemistry stamp set along with a vintage prescription. 

 This is intended as a Valentine for a guy, (my hubby) but I had to girlie-it-up a bit with a ruffle. The ruffle is made with crepe paper and stamped with the Geo-Graphic stamp set for the polka-dots. (that's the "tried-something-new" part) I use that set a lot. I love that stamp set.

I love polka dots too. <3

Artistic Outpost

I love vintage.  No secret there.  And I love rubber stamps.  Artistic Outpost has some of the best vintage image stamps around.  I used "The Outpost" plate to make this card for their January referral program.

I have a hoard of vintage and antique papers that I like to pull out when using these stamps. I mixed them with some Basic Grey's PBJ.  And see the embellishment at the bottom?  I made that.  I added some cheap rhinestones to some vintage plastic buttons that I love.

And voila!  Some vintage bling!

Sketch With Color

I discovered a Sketch blog that has a fun twist; A color challenge is included as well!  Check out Sketch With Color and take a peek at it.  Since it's snowing here again and I am stuck in the house, I decided to give it a try.  Here's what I came up with:

The photo isn't the best, because like I said, the weather here is pretty cruddy and I didn't have any natural light. :(  But as you can see below, I had a great time with stamping and misting and gluing.  Oh my!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

There's another fantastic layout sketch at Let's Get Sketchy this week.  For this layout, I some of the Pink Paislee Portfolio and some of the  Crate Paper On Trend.  The On Trend line was a favorite of mine for 2012.

This layout came together super-fast because I followed the sketch closely. I love it when that happens.  :)

Blog Candy and Design Team Call

There's a new challenge blog, About A Boy, that's starting up. They are giving away an awesome Prima Blog Candy package here.  And if you're interested, they are looking for a new design team here.

Wishes Come True

Last summer my daughter was a Development Intern at The Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-South. She did a lot of great things while she was there, and although I didn't have any photos, I wanted to make mention of it in my scrapbooks so it wouldn't be forgotten. So these photos were taken at the time of her internship. I used a sketch challenge at Let's Get Sketchy.

I don't remember who makes the wood veneer frames that I've been hoarding.  But after reading the article on wood veneer at The Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog, I knew it was time to use them up.  After all, aren't all layouts "special"?  And that article has great tutorial links on making your faux wood embellishments.

More Smooches

I had to participate in this week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge.  They used an awesome vintage graphic, which I adore for inspiration.  The problem?  I don't really own that many Paper Smooches sets yet. (notice the word yet)  So I had to make do with what I had on hand at the moment.  And then I remembered a technique used by stamping guru, Kristina Werner, using the Potpourri Stamp set and voila!  Here's my submission for the challenge:

The background is a Jenni Bowlin paper.  I love using it as an element, but for this, I didn't want it to be the prominent feature of the card.  I like the little finger holes made with a hand punch. :)  It reminded me of the rotary dial holes in the old phones.  And the sentiment?  It is a portion of a sentiment in the Cyber Cafe set

Isn't this graphic awesome?

Boy, I just love a challenge! :)

I really, really do LOVE a challenge! 
My "baby" is 21 years old today.  (Happy Birthday Anna!)  And 2013 is off to a great start.  This year will be a year that I challenge myself to be even more creative.

I am not really a "cutesy" paper-crafter.  Now, whimsical, that's another story.  And I love these paper Smooches stamps.  My "Grey City" was done with the Metropolis stamp set for the "Anything Goes" Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.

And in the future, you will be seeing even more very soon.  My wonderful son gave my two new Paper Smooches stamp sets for Christmas that I haven't even opened yet.  Isn't he a sweetie?