Sunday, November 7, 2010

Sugar Crash Crop Challenges

This weekend was cardmaking fun, fun, fun!

We had another crop over at the Cardmaker's message board...the theme was Sugar Crash...including sugary, glitzy glamorous!

There were 10 challenges in all, I hosted one, and participated in 7 others...all in all, a great cardmaking weekend!

Here are my challenge entries, in no particular order...

Bling for you - create two tags with glitter on them

bling for you gift tags

Welcome to Tinsel Town - use tinsel on a card

tinsel

Sugar and Spice - use sugar (a sweet sentiment) and spice (earth tones) on a card

sugar and spice

Glitz and Glam plus 1 - use silver and one other color

silver plus one

Fabulous Finery - decorate a chipboard wreath less than 6 inches in diameter

wreath

Foilin' for Fun - use foil on your card

foil

Sow's Ear to Silk Purse - use newspaper to make a holiday card and include some bling

sow's ear to silk purse

and my challenge was:

Extra Chips for Me! - use dressed up chipboard on your card

chipboard paint & glitter

For this one I painted the chipboard, then stamped snowflakes with glue and sprinkled them with fine glitter.

chipboard heat emboss

For this card I covered the chipboard with versamark ink, then sprinkled them with sparkly black embossing powder and melted it with a heat gun.

chipboard stamp & emboss

For this card I stamped the chipboard butterfly with a background stamp, ran it through the cuttlebug embossing folder to add the polka dots, then spritzed with smooch shimmer spray.

chipboard paper covered

For this card, I covered the chipboard leaves with a glue stick, stuck it to patterned paper, used an exacto knife to trim closely, then used sandpaper to distress the edges.

All in all, it sure was a lot of fun!

Thanks for looking,

Meredith

Winner for Sugar Crash Blog Hop!

Thank you so much for the lovely comments during the blog hop...I read and appreciate every single one!

I used random.org to chose a winner, and it chose #52

oh4theloveof said...

love the colors you used for the candy, they would be a fantastic edition to scrapbook pages, cards etc....thanks for sharing

I have notified her, and will get her prize out as soon as I have her address!

Thank you all again for participating, I hope that you all finished with new ideas for your paper crafting projects!

Meredith

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Sugar Crash Crop! Nov 4th - Nov 6th

Welcome to the next blog of the Sugar Crash Crop Blog Hop!!!

You should have come here from Carolyn King's blog, does she not have fabulous style? I love her daughter's 'couch' moment...lol. If you got here from another route...then be sure to click on over to Lora's blog to start, so that you don't miss out on any of the sugary sweet fun!

Why hop around? Well, there are 16 stops on the hop where you can win a prize or pick up a cool sketch or digital image. The only way to win the prizes is to leave a comment on that blog AND its always nice to say thank you for the freebies too. PLUS, our blog hosts have worked very hard and we want to show a little love and appreciation!

You are invited to participate in the Sugar Crash Crop at Cardswaps, too. There are 10 challenges to be posted over the next three days (November 4th thru 6th, 2010) and EVERY challenge will have a winner! What is the prize, you ask? A papercrafts book from Cardmaker Magazine!! Plus, one lucky crop participant will win a cardmaking kit that makes 50 cards! It is very cool, you must play along!

Now, on to my project!!!

With a theme like Sugar Crash...I needed something sweet...what could be sweeter than card candy???

What is card candy, you may ask? No, it has nothing to do with the quickly dwindling bowl of tootsie rolls on my table....well, unless you count them as a source of energy, that is!

Card candy is an embellishment that you make to put on your card...have you ever die-cut a shape? Punched a border? Stamped and matted a sentiment? Paper-pieced an image? Sure you have! Well, you've made card candy!!!

Sometimes, you can make up several coordinating embellishments, and store them together so that when you want to make up a card quickly, you can have them ready to go...sort of a compliment to a card kit if you want to do some card making on the go...

So, in honor of the Sugar Crash Crop, I made up some Christmas Card Candy!

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I used some stamps from Unity (mittens and sentiment) and Penny Black (joy seal), some fabulously glittery papers from My Mind's Eye (green snowflakes and red/cream swirl) and scraps from other projects (red cardstock and green linen printed paper), scarlet ink from TPC Studios, punches from EK Success (ticket, square, circle) and unknown (snowflake) and the great little loopy scalloped circles were cut on my Cricut using Make the Cut software.

Here is a different angle of the card candy, to show off the glitter better!

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I believe that the holiday season is my favorite time of the year! It is certainly a busy time, with my birthday, Christmas and my wedding anniversary all in one week! I love the cooler weather, I love pulling out the scarves to wear, I love choosing the new Christmas music to listen to this year...I love it all! I wish each and every one of you a happy holiday season this year!

You have until 11:59pm CST, November 6th, 2010 to post your comments on the blogs along the hop. (That includes mine, please!) Everyone that comments on my blog will be entered in the drawing to win a prize from me!

Are you ready for some Christmas card making? How about some card candy to start you off? The prize that a lucky blog commenter will win from my blog is a set of the card candy that I made above, plus, all the goodies that you see in the picture below!

It includes 6x6 patterned paper and cardstock, die cut shapes, punched border, alphabet fabric stickers, paper flowers and pewter metal embellishments!

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In addition, if you want to participate in the challenges for the Sugar Crash Crop go check it out after the blog hop and upload your completed projects by 11:59pm CST, November 8th, 2010. There are prizes to win there, too!

Your next stop along the hop is Ashley, she is such a talented crafter, you'll enjoy her project!


Here is a full list of the blog hop hosts...just in case you missed a stop along the way!

Lora

Carolyn King (Guest Designer)

Meredith <---------- You are here!

Ashley

Christy Croll (Tiddly Inks - Guest Designer)

Susie

Diana

Jane

Traci (Guest Cardmaker)

Angelina

Tami Mayberry (Guest Designer)

Irina

Ana

Margaret

Natalie (Chi Chi Memories - Guest Designer)

Laura

Sunday, October 24, 2010

All things Halloween

I wanted to gather some more of my Halloween cards for this year into one post...partly because I wanted to see what I had done in one place...partly to enter them in the Moxie Fab World Challenge to show off your creepy creations...

I'm not sure that too many of mine qualify for creepy...but they're all Halloween!

My 11 year old son and I joined a Halloween card exchange on my favorite message board here, and so with a little design help from mom he got to make eight cards to send out around the US and even one to Russia!

This is the card that he put together

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And he even decorated the inside a bit too

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We sure had fun putting all of these together! He wrote a quick note on the inside, signed his creation on the back, and mailed them off!

I borrowed his design, and with a few variations, made cards for my nieces and nephews...which is something that I have been meaning to do since my mom passed away a couple of years ago, because she was so great at sending the children cards for all the holidays...usually with a funny joke or cartoon included...

Here are some of the cards that I made

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This is one that I posted before, because I made it during the online crop...but I think that it is my favorite Halloween card from this year...I think it is so cool with all those skulls!!!

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Thank you for looking!

Meredith

After Halloween...

So, all the Halloween cards are sent...what card do you make next???

A 'night after' card...of course!!!

Actually, as soon as I saw the image for the Stretch n Bubbles Creative Chick Challenge this week, it reminded me of the images you see of Santa, sleeping it off, the day after Christmas...

So I printed up the digital stamp at 3" high, you can purchase it here if you did not participate last week, and printed up a couple of sayings to go with it...used scrap cardstock...and here is the result!

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This was fun...I'm sure glad that I'm participating in this challenge!

Enjoy,

Meredith

a bit of winter

I managed to play in my craft room for a bit more...I received the email with the new Clean and Simple Layout #113 and was inspired to create, with a few changes...

There is also a challenge this week over at the Cardmaker's message board to use inchies on your card...and I thought this layout was just perfect for it.

Here is the sketch

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And here is my card, outside

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and inside

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The images on the front were stamped quite a while ago...I stamped some before I gave away the stamps...just in case I wanted to use them...so they dictated the blue color scheme. The pink was added because I wanted some lightness, without adding something like silver... The inside stamp is from Unity, I'm finding more and more ways to use these stamps, they are so versatile!

I had fun with this one...and will probably be in the mood to make more winter/Christmas cards soon!

Enjoy,

Meredith

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Arghh!

So, because I participated in last weeks challenge, I got the image for Stretch n Bubbles Creative Chick Challenge emailed to me for free...but after looking at it, seriously, you need to click on over to their store to purchase it!!! It is the cutest little pirate girl!

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I know that the picture isn't exactly sharp...but I was trying to capture the sparkles with the camera...that's actually difficult! I'll take a picture outside in the light tomorrow, maybe that will be better...

I guess I was feeling the sparkle today...because this card is covered in it!!! I used the darling image and colored it in with pencils...then I added some stickles in silver to the sword, and black on her pants. Next, I added some clear glitter glue for the lace and ribbons on the hat and her coat. The sentiment was printed on the computer as well, in ms word using the Blackadder ITC font. The little treasure chest was cut using a cuttlekids die...I bought the pirate set almost two years ago...and have finally used it, yeah! More sparkle with the glittery patterned paper, that was a recent purchase in the dollar section of Target. The striped ribbon and silver skull and crossbones are both from the dollar section of Michael's.

I've got a very special recipient in mind for this card...but its a surprise...shh!

Enjoy,

Meredith

Thursday, October 14, 2010

World Cardmaking Day - Rehash

Well, that was a fun, fun weekend...Nathan (my 11 year old son) and I had a blast completing the challenges that we did...and we both grew our stash of cards!

I'll admit...it was just as much fun for me to keep checking on my blog and reading the fun and funny comments that were left, and seeing how many views my blog was getting...what an adventure!

I appreciate every comment that was left, and the kind comments on my project, and I'm looking forward to doing it again!!! The cardmakers forum will be hosting a crop and blog hop Nov. 4-6th...hope to see you there!!!

Here are the challenges that we completed for World Cardmaking Day:

Color Challenge: use brown, purple and orange

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I went to town with this one...stitching on the sewing machine and everything

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Nathan actually received a prize for this challenge...lucky dog!

Special pre-crop challenge: make a Christmas card with something gold and no ribbon

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I used a page kit from Hobby Lobby for this one, and the lace came from a lace swap I participated in a while ago...the opposite side is silver...too pretty.

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Nathan always enjoys heat embossing...

Build a Background: Create your own background from patterned paper

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I used a pack of 99 cent paper from Target and a dollar stamp from Michaels...awesome!

Just a Note: create a 3x3 mini notecard

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I used a card kit from a swap to make mine...

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Nathan was really digging the Halloween thing...

KISS and Monochrome: keep it simple and use monochrome colors

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Well...I kept the colors monochrome...I sort of missed the 'simple' part...I used watermark ink on the background paper, and brown/tan everywhere else...

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Nathan decided that he liked the look of brown...didn't he do an excellent job?

Recipe Card: use 4 brads, 3 flowers and 2 patterned papers and 1 image

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This one was so much fun...more difficult than I thought it would be, though.

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Nathan really enjoyed making his own patterned papers...apparently he liked the watermark ink...and he also enjoyed the mini cards....most of what he made were all mini...too cute!

Go Digi: use one of the free images provided by the generous digital designers along the hop to create your project

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I'm not much of a colorer...but this image was so easy to print on kraft cardstock and detail with a white paint pen...right up my alley! The image is from Stretch n Bubbles.

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I think that Nathan rocked this card, the shape, the coloring, his detailing on the lightbulb stamp...it all works so well together...

Inspiration Challenge: a picture was posted of four hankies, one of which was black and white with skulls

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This one was just so much fun!!! The embossed skulls came from a cuttlebug folder, I just used a circle punch to cut him out, and the stamp is from The Stamps of Life.

And last but not least...there was the 10 minute card challenge: create a card in 10 minutes or less...which was my challenge for the blog hop...and the challenge that I received a little prize package for...I have an entire post about it here, but I'll repost one of the cards on this post too.

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It sure was a fun challenge!

Enjoy,

Meredith

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

In the Halloween Zone

Woo Hoo! Thanks to the fabulous and fun Cardmaker's Cardswap forum mini crop for World Cardmaking Day...I'm in the zone!!!

Over at the Stretch n Bubbles blog they have a weekly challenge...they provide a digital stamp, and if you make and post a card with the stamp, and include a link to the store in your post, then next week the image is emailed to you! How cool is that...a free stamp every week!

On the first Wednesday of the month, the image is free to anyone...if you join in during the rest of the weeks then you need to purchase the image...this week, you can get the image from this post here...if it is later, stop by the Stretch n Bubbles store to pick it up!

This is the card I made with this weeks image...it came together so quickly!!!

I made the cauldron upside down...like there is some kooky magic going on...that's just how the drawing looked to me...(besides, I'm kind of a kooky person....)

I even colored...which is not usual for me...since I'm normally so critical....anyway, here it is!

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What do you think?

Card recipe: cardstock (white,purple, green): from stash, color core cardstock: Co'ordinations, patterned paper: K&Company, digital stamp (image): Stretch n Bubbles, sentiment stamp (happy halloween): Unity Stamp Company, other: spiderweb border: cut on cricut with svg file, shape around sentiment: ek success punch

Enjoy,

Meredith

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The perfect sketch

Have you ever wanted to make a card...but nothing works out? I sketched design after design, each one more complicated than the last, and nothing inspired me to actually pull out the cardstock...until I received the email from Clean and Simple #110 with this sketch...

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Isn't it just fabulous? These sketches are always so inspiring to me!

So, after seeing this sketch, I ran right to my craft room and whipped out the perfect card for a thank you card swap that I am in....

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The paper is from Basic Grey, the Lime Rickey collection...you know, if you haven't tried Basic Grey papers yet, what are you waiting for? They are a fabulous weight to work with, and the collections run the gammut from bright and cheery to subtle and sweet. Anyway, the button is from my stash, and the embossing folder is a cuttlebug one from Provo Craft. The stamp is one of many from the Thanks2you set from the Stamps of Life.

I whipped out 6 of these cards in under an hour...that's the beauty of working with a sketch and having everything fall into place...I love it!

Enjoy,

Meredith

Saturday, October 2, 2010

It's a Cardmaker's World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop!

You are on the CardSwaps World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Irina's blog. If you got here differently, make sure you start at the beginning and work your way around. Comment on every blog by midnight CST, October 3, 2010, to be entered in to a drawing for prizes. The full list of prizes are on Lora's blog.

My Challenge was....make a 10 minute card....

Which is a funny challenge to me, because I am a fan of Stephanie Barnard of The Stamps of Life, and she actually posts a monthly video titled, "30 second card (in 5 minutes) on her blog, and I always get a kick out of watching them...sorry, no videos here! (lol)

Ok, really...this was a lot harder than I thought it would be....really!

I wanted to get a couple of things out before I started the timer...here is my workspace, ready to go...

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I thought that it would be fun to make a halloween card...since I've got all that stuff gathered, waiting to make some with my son...

So, here is what I had after 10 minutes...

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That's it!!! I had the card folded, I had two of my inside mats cut...and I had one image stamped....how pitiful is that!!!!!

I thought it was hilarious! I guess I've never paid any attention to how long I spend making a card....have you?

So, more than 40 minutes later....this is what I had....

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Card Supplies: cardstock (green, black, yellow, white) from stash, patterned paper (purple moons, orange polka dots) K & Co, ink (black, watermark) Tsukineko (white) blanco, stamps (frankenstein) craft smart for Michael's (ghost, boo, spiderweb, spider, mini ghosts, happy halloween and trick or treat) The Stamps of Life spooky2scare and thanks2fall sets

An adorable halloween card, inside and out...but I'm still laughing about how long I take to create a card!!!!

Here are some close-ups of the details...

I made a gate-fold card...just cut your cardstock 11" wide by 4 1/4" high, and score it at 2 3/4" in from each short side...then they will meet in the middle!

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I cut the purple rectangle mat at 3 1/4" wide by 3 3/4" tall, and the black mat a bit smaller, and only adhered it to half of the front...so that the card could open...

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Isn't this stamp a crack-up? I got this one in the dollar bin!!!

I cut the mats for the sides (both front and back) at 2 1/2" wide by 4" tall.

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Here you can see my watermarked spider border....

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And the second side...aren't those wee ghosties adorable?

Lots of details...which makes for a much longer than 10 minute card!


Honestly, I thought I could do better, time wise...so I tried again....

Here is my work area ~ take two...

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This time, I decided to pull out a coordinated paper/embellishment pack. Maybe it was cheating....but I call it smart planning!

10 minutes later, I was much happier with my results....

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The front was done....and the inside just needed the sentiment....

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Here it is completed inside....took me about 12 minutes total....much better!

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Card supplies: cardstock (white) from stash, patterned cardstock and sticker embellishments lime rickey by Basic Grey, ink (black) Tsukineko, stamps (thanks, you rock) The Stamps of Life thanks2you set.

So, all in all, I learned that I'm not that creative when under the clock!!! How about you? Are you ready to give it a try? When you finish the blog hop, the last link will be to the mini-crop challenges on the Cardmaker message board....I'm going to have fun reading and seeing what others can do in their 10 minutes!!!

A bit about me ~ Like many, I started cardmaking as an offshoot of scrapbooking. I was attending regular crop nights at a local scrapbooking store and was exposed to lots of gorgeous rubber stamps and card samples ~ eventually, I decided to try my hand, and now, my pictures remain lonely and unprinted on my computer while I make cards every opportunity that I have! If you browse through my blog, you'll see that I try lots of different techniques and styles, but lean toward simple and slightly distressed with texture...


Now, on with the blog hop!


You have until midnight, CST, October 3rd 2010, to post your comment on each blog along the hop. Everyone that comments on each blog will be entered into the drawings for blog hop prizes. In addition, if you want to participate in the challenges for the mini crop at Card Swaps, go check it out after the blog hop and upload your completed project by midnight CST, October 3, 2010, in order to get in the drawings for more prizes!

Your next stop on the hop is Ana!
Here is the complete list of blogs participating...be sure to get them all!


Lora
Jeanette
Laura
Faith Skrdla (Designed 2 Delight)
Jane
Lori (representing Stretch N Bubbles)
Meredith <--- You are here!