Chat & Challenge #207 - My WWME Card

Bet you thought I wasn't doing Chat & Challenges over at Sudsol anymore, eh? I have been doing them all along - they just haven't been making it here to my blog! This week - I needed to make a specific set of cards to send as post-Weekend notes from the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend my hubby and I helped present this past weekend. It was the perfect way to celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary too! Woohoo!

The sketch that inspired my design came from fellow SU! Demo Gretchen Barron. Thanks Gretchen!

I used a combination of current and retired SU products for this design in order to reflect what I wanted to.

Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment and Love You Much (both current); Everyday Flexible Phrases and Expressive Flexible Phrases (both retired), WWME Stamp (non-SU)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Crushed Curry and whisper White (all current), Ridinghood Red DSP (retired)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (curret; Ridinghood Red (retired)
Accessories: Punches - Heart to heart, Scallop Oval, Large Oval & 3/4" Circle (all current), stampin sponge
ENJOY!

Cinema Saturday #55 - "Hocus Pocus"

This week is being consumed with a general malaise due to some family members being ill. Yuck! I pray all of you are remaining healthy and/or will have a speedy, uncomplicated recovery if you are already ill.

Anywho - The Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge this week is the movie "Hocus Pocus", with the added challenge of creating something Halloween related. Since I am not able to create something new this week, I wanted to share a link to the Halloween projects I created last year - I thought they were all so cute! Hopefully you'll find som elast minute inspiration here. ENJOY!

Cinema Saturday #54 - "Finding Nemo"

I am so excited to be a Guest Designer for this week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge! This week, CSCC also has a Special Sponsor and Guest Designer - Taylor Van Bruggen. I am familiar with Taylor's site, and her awesome weekly Cupcake Sketch Challenges! Taylor is offering some yummy Blog Candy for the CSCC this week - so be sure to play along for your chance to win!

As you can see, Taylor's pick for our movie inspiration this week is "Finding Nemo", and she included a special Color Challenge (shown on the right side of the banner above). I used Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Only Orange & Whisper White on my design.

My first thought for "Finding Nemo"was the love of a father for his children, which reminded me of the "Mrs. Doubtfire" Challenge two weeks ago! But that SU! "Summer By the Sea" (retired) image is so 'two weeks ago'! (heehee) My next thought was the same stamp set, but the image of the little boy building a sand castle. This image reminds me not only of the beach and the sea, but also of the 'home' Nemo leaves behind in search of adventure. Then I thought about a clown fish made out of punches. So how to incorporate the two ideas? Why a birthday card with a 'gift' attached - a clown fish jumbo clippie bookmark! I went to the Disney "Finding Nemo" website and looked at gallery pictures there to try to re-create a clown fish for the clippie bookmark. I like the outcome, and it got thumbs up and smiles from my kids too!

Here is a look at how the inside of the card looks, for those paper-crafters like me who need to have a visual to "understand" a concept. The oval was cut out of the folded over Tempting turquoise card stock, using a Nestabilities and my Big Shot. In order to keep the card the standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" - I needed to trim about an inch off the bottom - so that when the clippie bookmark was attached - it would still be the correct size, and fit in the standard A2 envelope. I used Mini Glue Dots in the corners of the inside layer, so the clippie could easily slide in and out.

The clippie bookmark 'Nemo' fish was made using SU! punches - Wide and Small Oval for the body and fins and hand punchs 1/4" and 1/8" for the eyes. I also used the Modern Label Punch for the tail fin. The background scallop ovals are Nestabilities. A Pop Up Glue Dot holds everything to together on the jumbo clippie.

Retired SU! stamp sets "It's Your Birthday" and "God's Blessings" in Brilliant Blue Classic Ink finish off the card, along with some sponging of Tempting Turquoise Classic Ink on the cover.

Thanks to Taylor for the color combo challenge - I always enjoy trying new color combinations, especially when they are still inside my comfort zone! THANK YOU Sankari and Brooke for awarding me the Audrey Award, and giving me the chance to be a guest designer this week! I look forward to seeing everyone's creations...ENJOY!

Cinema Saturday Guest Designer!!

Woohoo! I was chosen to receive the Audrey Award by Sankari and Brooke over at Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge, from Challenge #52 - "Mrs. Doubtfire"! Along with this suave blog decor, I also get to be a Guest Designer for Challenge #54 which begins this weekend! Check out the CSCC blog all day today to see the sneak peeks as they are revealed, and try to guess which movie is our inspiration for the coming week.

I have found these challenges so enjoyable, and I think you will too! So head on over and start playing along - who knows, maybe YOU will be the next Audrey Award recipient!!

And check back here tomorrow too - cuz I'll be posting my Guest Designer design along with the Challenge details. ENJOY!

Cinema Saturday #53 - "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"

This week's movie inspiration over at Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge was "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (or the prequel "Elizabeth") with the additional challenge of incorporating a crown in the design.

I admit, I was taken with the crown idea over anything else! I did choose the deep, rich colors of Fall to go with the golden crowns. At first I thought of doing a bookmark, thus I went in search of a Scripture verse that spoke of crowns. I found several ideas for different cards in Scripture verses and with the crown image! I so enjoy these weekly challenges because I never know what inspiration I will have, and I love seeing what everyone else who plays along is inspired to do too!

This design uses the SU! stamps sets "Gifts of the Earth" in the current Holiday Mini, as well as the retired set "Cool Cat" (for the crown.) Colors are Chocolate Chip, Dusty Durango & Confetti Cream. I used the Aquapainter and Watercolor Wonder Crayons to color in the 'bounty'. I haven't used the WCC for a looong time - I missed them! :) The crowns are in Encore Gold Metallic Ink, and I printed the Scripture verse on my computer and punched it out with the Wide Oval Punch. Oh yes, I almost forgot the Fire Rhinestone Circle Brad in the layered crown!

This is a card for some friends of ours who are farmers. I am hoping this will offer some hope and encouragement to them, a they are facing a second year of tough weather and delayed scheduling first getting the crops planted, and now getting them harvested! Please pray for ALL farmers - that they may persevere and yield abundant harvests.
ENJOY!

Cinema Saturday #52 - "Mrs. Doubtfire"

Three consecutive Cinema Saturday Creative Challenges for me! Woohoo! This week's movie is "Mrs. Doubtfire", with the extra challenge of a pocket or something that opens. So much inspiration to choose from for this movie! For me, however, what stands out the most is the love of a father for his children. I immediately thought of this image from the retired SU stamp set - Summer by the Sea. One of the few images I have seen that portrays a father and a child. I chose to make the focal image a 'pocket' with a sentiment that slides out from underneath by grasping the SU! Star Designer Brad. I also used the retired designer series paper Muirfield. The colors are Baja Breeze(retired), Very Vanilla and Not Quite Navy. ENJOY!

First Christmas Card Sample!

I realize that some demonstrators start in Summer coming up with Christmas designs - but I just can't seem to do it! lol Even October is early for me - because I've got Fall on the brain. However, the procrastinator in me appears to have gone on holiday for a couple of days, and I am planning out personal Christmas cards for my family and my folks. I DO have to get the supplies ordered now if I want them to be done before New Year's Day!

This design is for my parents. My mom loves poinsettias, and we both share a love for Nativity scenes as well. So when I saw the SU Holiday Mini with the NEW Textured Impressions Folder "Petals-a-Plenty", I knew I would be using it for my parents cards this year.

Then I saw a beautiful card by fellow demo Patty Bennett - but there was something different about it - there were no dry embossed flowers in the center of her card! I visited her site and learned how to do this - I had the inspiration for this card now!

There are actually two ways you can achieve this look - 1.) by directly cutting an oval (or whatever shape you desire) out of your Embossing Folder (and at $7.95 each, this is definitely a feasible idea!) OR 2.) you buy a wood mat for a frame with your desired shape from the craft store (I got this one for 99 cents!), and use it as a layer in your Big Shot sandwich when dry embossing the card stock. Way Cool! I used Bravo Burgundy for the poinsettia dry embossed layer.

I used a Nestabilities Classic Oval for the Very Vanilla mat - heat embossed the Holy Triptych image in Gold. Then finished off the card by touching up the center trios of the flowers with the Zig Gold Painty pen for a little extra glitz. (I got mine from SU, but we don't carry them anymore.)

Simple and beautiful - with two of my mom's favorite things! ENJOY!

No Layers Challenge

I made this card for a challenge from the GinaK release party last week - NO LAYERS! Sounds easy doesn't it? Not necessarily! Easy for some, quite the challenge for others! :) I used the GinaK set Comfort and Peace.

I really liked the way this design turned out - and it was fast and easy. I did do a little cutting to make the rectangle template for sponging to create my "faux" layer.

First, I used SU! Embossing Buddy, Black Embossing Powder and Heat Tool with Versamark ink. I could have just used black ink too - but I wanted the shine of the embossing powder to add texture andinterest. Then I used my rectangle template, and oval punch - attached with a little temporary adhesive - and sponged on SU! Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango and Soft Suede. VOILA - Done! ENJOY!

Cinema Saturday #51 - "All About Eve" Challenge - Part Deux

TWO inspirations for this weeks Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge - I know, I know! WOW for me! giggle

Still following the apple theme inspired by the main character Eve - this design uses retired SU! designer series paper Summer Picnic. This time - I focused on the "ultimate role" Eve manipulated to get - which did indeed catapult her into the stardom she had always dreamed of - the star role as Cora. Thus my glittery apple "core" - isn't it cute? I created it using the Round Tab Punch out of Confetti White. Then I punched another one out of Real Red and used my Paper Snips to cut off just the top and bottom edges, and attached them to the Confetti White core. For the seeds, I punched the smallest flower in the Boho Flower Punch, and used my Paper Snips to cut out the seeds. The criss crossed Chocolate Chip 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon shows how, for Eve, all paths lead to the temptation of the sparkling apple, the ultimate role of Cora. And Eve certainly tasted of the fruit and learned the knowledge of good and evil because of it. Ooo - cards with symbolism - heehee! ;)

On the other hand - being just a card, I needed to make it a card I could actually send for any general reason. So I chose the verse, "Each of us is God's special work of art." from the retired stamp set Words of Wisdom. I used my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write to color each part of the verse, so I could stamp it separately and punch it out using the Word Window Punch. It goes along with the apple and apple seeds - did you know that the numbe rof seeds in an apple indicates how many times a bee visited the blossom? We learned that on a homeschool orchard field trip last Fall! (This verse is also the lesson Eve failed to learn - couldn't resist adding more symbolism! lol) ENJOY!

P.S. All supplies used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.

Cinema Saturday #51 - "All About Eve" Challenge - Part One

I had never seen, or even heard of the movie, "All About Eve" - but the Cinema Saturday blog had a YouTube link to watch it (in 13 parts! lol) - so I did! It was an enjoyable movie. (The blog also has a link to the movie story summary if you want to check it out.) The second part of the challenge was to include bling in the design - my first thought,of course, was GLITTER!

This design was my first inspiration from the movie as the main character, Eve, was 'masquerading' as someone she was not. She was tempted by the allure of theatre acting, and did whatever it took to make her dream come true. Thus the apple symbol on the mask - for Eve and her temptation. Well, *I* thought it was clever anyway! :) I used SU! Basic Grey and SU! Textured Basic Black card stock. And I had fun creating the mask out of the largest of the Nestabilities Labels Four set, SU Small Oval Punch and Paper Snips with Two Way Glue Pen and pewter glitter. The apple image is from the reitred SU! stamp set Mini Medley, covered in red glitter. The sentiment is from the SU! stamp set Warm Words, stamped in Real Red on the SU! Modern Label Punch and highlighted in Lipstick Spica Glitter Pen. ENJOY!

P.S. I forgot to add that I chose the gray/pewter color - because I felt Eve lived in gray, shadowy areas while everyone else lived in black and white.