It's a bonanza card week!

Wow, participating in the crop was fun, fun, fun!

On Saturday I did some paper piecing



Used some glittery paper



And followed a sketch



Then I took a break for a day....but today, I was back in the craft room, revved up to go again!

Today I chose to make a window card



And a waterfall card...I just love waterfall cards!



That's all for now...enjoy!

Meredith

More Challenge fun

I tell you, what a blast! Between the games and the camaraderie, who knew that playing with online friends could be such fun! If you haven't yet, come on over to the Cardmaker Swap forum, and join in the fun!

Yesterday was a bonanza cardmaking day for me, four cards! All with different techniques...what a blast.

First was the 'keep it zesty' challenge...use citrus colors as your main colors...how summery!



I used papers from a Miss Elizabeth pack for this one...what used to be sold at Dollar Tree...and I was going for a 'shop front' look with the border punch I chose (Martha Stewart). The flower is a Bazzil paper flower, inked up, and the sentiment was cut with the cricut.

Next came the 'make something marvelous' challenge...use purple as your main color and include some lace. Let me tell you, finding purple in my craft room was not as easy as it should have been! And lace...where's the lace???



But I managed! The lace is actually a paper sticker on a roll...the packaging is gone, same with the papers...but they turned out fairly well!

Next in line was the challenge called 'card say moo...'....say what??? It was a great challenge, a real stretch for me, but one I'm not sorry I decided to try. Are you ready for this? The challenge is to use sweetened condensed milk to stamp an image...then you heat emboss it...sweet!!!



It really gives an elegant, old-time look to the stamp...and the detail of the stamp comes through surprisingly well! I'm not sure I'll be using this style regularly...but it was neat to try!

Last card of the day was very different from my normal...but what a cute idea! The challenge was titled 'can I water your garden', and we used this watering can template to print out a watering can to then decorate as we wished! That simple!



I loved how simple it was, and love the idea of using this as a teacher gift from my youngest son to his teachers this year!

I hope to squeeze more cardmaking around the chores today...

Enjoy,

Meredith

Make it Marvelous in May Crop

So over at the Cardmaker message board we are having a four day crop filled with games and challenges...this is the third one since I've joined the board, but the first one that I have participated in....fun!

Yesterday I managed to get a bit of time in the craft room and joined in my first challenge, "Dress your hat". We each took a flapper hat template and dressed it up...they are all so cute!

This is my first version, obviously, I'm not quite over my black and white kick...



But after looking at it for a bit I thought it needed just something a bit more...



Better, no?

The next challenge I participated in was the 'birds and the bees' challenge...just include either a bird or a bee on your card...easy and fun.

For this one, I brought out my cricut machine, using the Home Decor cartridge I cut the bird and branch, then popped them on a card...so simple!



I'll try to make some more today!

Enjoy,

Meredith

Sketch Challenge on Cardswap board

Over on the Cardswap message board they have weekly challenges, and for this week's sketch challenge I made up this birthday card...



The pp is from Miss Elizabeth (DollarTree) I sure wish that they sold the scrapbooking papers still...they usually had some great patterns...

The stamps are from a new company for me, The Stamps of Life. Frankly, I love this lady's style! I have been watching the releases since last September, and have finally taken the plunge and subscribed to the monthly releases...now I'll have to play catch up on the earlier ones! Anyway, the stamps I used on this card are the balloon and birthday circle from the HappyBday2You and the messages inside the balloons from the banners4all set. I think that the interchangability (is that a word?) of the elements of each set is what has me hooked on this designer!

Enjoy,

Meredith

$1.00 stamps

I love cherries...I love eating them fresh in the summertime, I love the bright red color, I love the super sweet taste, the portable size...I think that they are great!

Naturally, they make a fantastic subject for stamps too! Studio G (by Hampton Art) makers of the ever popular $1.00 stamps made a set featuring summer fruits this year...and I picked up a few.

This card seems very summery! And notice that I'm not completely over my black and white phase yet!



Enjoy,

Meredith

A Formal Affair...

It all started with a paper pack...I bought a Paper Studio stack of black and white printed papers, and now I can't stop playing with it! First I made the Snoopy card...I was playing with the instructions from StampTV on how to make a split negative image.



The great thing about split negatives, is that you end up with two cards by default!



Next, I found inspiration from the cover of the May/June issue of Papercrafts magazine...the yellow 'embrace happiness card just shouted out to be lifted! I used this tutorial from splitcoast stampers to make the tissue paper flower as my circle accent, doesn't it add something great?




Here's a close-up of the flower...



Then...it's May...and here where I live, May is Graduation time! There are 8, (count them, Eight!) students graduating from high school this summer and fall in my church group...so into the crafting room I went!

The result is this fabulous set of Graduation cards, all in black and white, none so fancy that they can't be mailed, and all different, but similar enough to make them easy to put together in assembly line fashion...



This one is my favorite, I just love that stylized floral!



A closer view of the popped up element...



And just a little something for the inside.



The stamps are all from a bargain Hampton Art set that I found at Michael's, a 4x6 sheet of clear stamps, a clear block and an ink pad all for $5.99...wow! There was only the one set that I saw, otherwise, I would have purchased more as a gift!

Honestly, the part that took the longest was using the word stamps and white ink to make the bottom background paper used on the front. I had to step away and come back to it the next day...I kept smudging the ink and messing up the background!

Enjoy, Meredith!

Confounding the cat!

Does anyone else have a cat that likes to play with toilet paper...as in...shred the toilet paper all over the bathroom?

Like this...




It leaves a mess all over the floor...and since I'm trying to sell my house...not such a good impression, you know?

Well...I stumbled across this fantastic post over on Craftster cat proof toilet paper and I was inspired!!! I found the perfect fabric (kitchen curtain leftovers) and whipped up a cover...voila!





I just wish that I had a video for when my cat discovered it! It has definite signs of attack...a few pulled threads...and it is not a perfect solution...as my cat still manages to claw at the exposed sides a bit...but as far as I am concerned, it is brilliant!!!

I'm sure that the cat will find something else to claw soon...