My first shaker card: SSS Happy Birthday

Congrats to Simon Says Stamp, who is celebrating their 7th birthday this year!  And, this week, the SSS Wednesday Challenge is Happy Birthday.  Coincidence? I think not.  

To celebrate, I pulled out the free birthday set SSS sent me with my order a few months ago.  And to spice things up a bit, I experimented with making a shaker card.  This is my first ever shaker card.  And a fairly new trend for me.  Guess I just started seeing these flat shaker cards this winter. 

I watched a great video tutorial... And, of course, now I cannot find which video, but if I find it later, I'll link it up! 

I received the sequins as a thank you gift from my last Verve order.  It's funny... I couldn't imagine why they sent me this little packet of really pretty sequins.  It wasn't until a  month or so later that I connected the sequins with the shaker card innards.  Sheesh.  

Not wanting to bite off more than I could chew, I made the small balloon the shaker.  I used the Cricut Explore Air to cut out the balloon. 

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIMON SAYS STAMP! 

Friend to Friend: MFT Sketch Challenge #269

As a recent brand convert, I am thoroughly enjoying all of the new product that I'm finding from these great shops/brands on the internet.  It's like a whole new world that I've been missing out on!  

I was originally introduced to papercrafting, specifically card-making, back in 2000.  I had just moved to a new town for graduate school and hadn't had much of an opportunity to meet people outside of school or work.  My boss invited me to a Stampin' Up party that she had been invited to.  It was fun and right up my alley, but not so much for my boss.  She made a purchase to be nice and I was a poor grad student.  Eventually, her purchase became my new crafting tools.  

For 15 years, most of my supplies have come from Stampin' Up.  I have always loved the broad lines of their stamps and the array of designs.  And, the color coordination they offer in inks and cardstock always made things easy for me.  As I've moved across Texas, I've hopped from demonstrator to demonstrator and participated in multiple stamp camps, classes, and crops.  

I won't go into why I'm no longer a loyal SU customer, as it doesn't really matter.  I still use the products that I have, but I doubt I will make as many purchases from them in the future.  Instead, I want to share my most recent purchases from the other brands!  

Lawn Fawn:  I just adore Lawn Fawn.  Their little critters are adorable and so versatile. These are some of the sets I've purchased recently.  My local scrapbook store, Scrapbook N More, carries some of the Lawn Fawn sets and is where I originally discovered their line.  I purchased Winter Alpaca there.  I purchased the others from ScrapbookPal.com (great customer service and prices).

    





















Simon Says Stamp:  What a great resource!  Not only am I in love with the store, but the multiple blogs definitely keep me on my toes!  I've participated in some of their weekly challenges and am constantly checking out their design team blogs.  These are my 2 SSS purchases.  I'll have to admit that the Circle Loops die really through me for a ... well, a loop.  I couldn't figure out how to pop the die cut out of the die.  Took quite a while to find the holes on the back that you poke to pop out the die cut.  Doh! 

 

WPlus9:  My mom is a birder, so I thought the Happy Birds set from WPlus9 would be a lot of fun!  And this is the set that I used for for my next card.  Yay! 



My Favorite Things (another great brand, but I haven't purchased any of their fun products yet) came out with Sketch Challenge #269 this week.  At first, I wasn't sure if I could come up with any way to use the sketch.  Really stumped.  

After many failed attempts to make my ideas come to life, I ended up with this card. 

Instead of adding a flag to the top, I used a 2nd bird from Happy Birds.  Not sure if it flows as well, but it allowed me to use the "friend to friend" stamp from SU.
And I used the small solid heart stamp from LF's Into the Woods in light pink.  I didn't want something too bright and didn't want to take away from the blue bird and banners that are popped out of the page.  

Thanks for stopping by for a look!

Wishes to You: MFT Color Challenge #39

Jumping online for a last minute card submission to the
My Favorite Things Color Challenge #39.
The color challenge includes these colors (or the closest thing you have to them): 

I dug out some of my favorite Stampin' Up colors: Cardstock in Real Red and Coastal Cabana, and Coastal Cabana for the ink.  And I colored the cutie patootie elephant and his balloon with colored pencils.  The elephant and sentiment stamps are from Simon Says Stamp Birthday Celebration. And the die cuts are Circle Loops from Simon Says Stamp.

                          

I'm home  tomorrow... a lucky, middle-of-the-week reprise from work.  So, I'm hoping that I get some time in the craft room to play with some other new stamps!  

Just be... SSS One Layer

This weekend allowed me some time in the craft room, but most of that time was spent working on a large order of Color Me Thankful cards for a friend.  

In between stages of card-making, I ventured to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog to see what Simon Says this week...
Simon Says One Layer!  

Layering mats of cardstock is such a great way to add depth, color and texture to cards, so making a card with just one layer can be more difficult that you think.  

I decided to use WPlus9's Happy Birds set that came in the mail this week for this challenge, and came up with several different ways to use these fun birds for this challenge.  

First, I used this funny little guy as the focal point.  He has the same pose that I use to soak up the sun when we haven't seen it in a while! 

The clouds, also from Happy Birds, are great for masking to double them up.  I used VersaMark Dazzle for the clouds, but they just didn't come out dark enough for me... next time, I'll pull out the ink that coordinates with the SU Marina Mist cardstock.  Verve's "just be" at the bottom of the card is also stamped with the VersaMark Dazzle.  


 Since this card didn't turn out quite as well as I hoped, I tried again... 
I used another of the cute Happy Birds and posed him sitting on a wire again.  The "trees" at the bottom are made using the same wire and the two leaves that come with the set.  












Since I chose to keep the solitary bird again, I kept with the "just be" sentiment.  I placed it inside with a few clouds.  

I can't wait to play with Happy Birds more!  

On another note, did you notice the cute box in the photos above?  I came across an old iPhone box the other day and just couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Turns out, it's the perfect size to store sponge daubers.  

Because the box is so tight, and fairly difficult to open, I glued ribbon on either side as tabs.  This gives more of a finger hold and makes it easier to open.  

With this crafty little upcycle, I'm entering the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  The SSS Monday Challenge theme is vintage, and this week they prompted participants to upcycle/recycle something that otherwise would've been trash.  Perfect! 

Elefant Love - SSS Create with Critters

This week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is to Create with Critters, and they are showcasing Lawn Fawn's products.  Can I just say that Lawn Fawn's stamps are cute cute cute!  I have just fallen in love with some of their little critters!  However, I haven't spent much time in the craft room this week stamping... so no Lawn Fawn creations.  

But, I did grab some of the free images offered in the Cricut Design Studio this week.  I fell in love with this sweet elephant and can picture a couple of different ways to use it in cards and scrapbook layouts.  With Valentine's Day in just a few weeks, I made these cuties to send to some special kiddos in my life.

New to Cricut Design Studio and the Cricut Explore Air (birthday present from BR in November), I'm still learning the tricks of the trade.  I recently watched a tutorial on welding images together and thought it was one of the coolest things that I couldn't do with my original Cricut.  I found the idea for my Elefant Love card from My 3E Scrapbooking's blog, which seems to no longer be active.  I like how simple this card is, yet still maintains a huge cute factor!  

I'm linking up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

Happy New House/New Neighbor! - Simon Says Something New

I decided to try my hand at the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge this week, too.  

The challenge this week was for "Something New", and they allowed quite a bit of freedom with this theme.  We could create a card with a "new" theme - new baby, new house, new job, etc.  or, we could try something new on our creation or used new products.  I chose to resurrect some old Stampin Up stamps and make a card for our New Neighbors.

I am continuing to practice my OMS blended pencil coloring, and looking forward to getting a better brand of pencils. Maybe if I win the Powerball this week...