I LOVE the fall and I love making fall cards.  For Lauren’s Saturday Sketch I choose a gold background, shimmery brown accent and beautiful maple branch sticker from Jolees Boutique. The picture does not do this card justice. Its stunning in person … TRUST ME.  Click the image to see a bigger prettier version. Here it looks kind of plain. The card stock is all shimmery and sparkly in person and I scalloped the edge as suggested in the sketch.

Oh by the way I decided to start posting the sketch so that you can see what I’m working with so as promised here it is:

I used my favorite binding technique - ribbon. Mostly because my gold card stock was already cut into these rectangles and inorder to make a true card I needed to stick 2 pieces together some how.

Tonight we picked laminant flooring for our living room and kitchen. We are going to install it our selves which should be fun. We have a week off October 6th to the 10th we plan on completing several big home projects during that. I figure if Ty Penntington can build a house in a week surely we can make a few improvements!

My second Sketch Challenge in 1 week! Wow I’m on a roll with these! Sketch challenges are excellent for churning your creative juices. The best advice anyone has ever given me when it comes to stamping was to try every sketch challenge you possibly can.  I have only posted 2 attempts but I have used many sketch challenges for inspiration.

I decided on a another Halloween card. Autumn is the most wonderful time of the year!

 Paper: Black , White, Orange and Purple card stock, Halloween black dots patterned paper from K& company
Embellishments:  Stickles
Stamps: Pumpkin and Trick or Treat from Papertrey Inks’ Spooky Sweets

I love INKADINKADOO stamps! This card was made using the Flourishes set - a clear stamp set. Its by the very talented Brenda Walton. I stamped the swirl twice - once in its entirety and partially second time at the bottom of the card. The small flowers have diamond Stickles added to their centers and the bird is covered in black diamond Stickles. I cant seem to master getting them into photos.  I rarely use black as a card base but I think it paid off this time.

Of course I had to add a ribbon. It matches the mauve card stock used as a mat for the cream card stock with the stamping.

I’m anxious to see what other creations I come up with with this set. 

Paper: Black cream and mauve card stock
Embellishments:  Stickels and ribbon
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo’s Flourishes

So this is my first attempt at a nugget box. It’s a 3 piece box. The original intent for this box  was for it to be a favor for a shower that a co-worker and I put on for a fellow Co-worker. We ran out of time and ended up with no favor. No biggie…. it was a pretty informal shower. We were showering the babies father. The baby is a girl she due tomorrow and her nursery is pink and brown which was the inspiration for the colors of the box.

The box cover is a beautiful sparkly pink and the insert is a sable brown. I used primas to decorate the box and used iridescent seed beads for the flower centers. Unfortunately the glue used to secure the beads discolored the primas a bit. I kept going back and forth on the brown ribbon / bow but I think keeping it was the right choice

These are pretty easy and I wish I had been paper crafting when I got married, these are adorable favors for weddings or showers!

Paper: Sable and Rosebud by The Paper Company
Embellishments:  Primas and ribbon
Stamps: Merci from Paper Trey Ink’s Birds of a Feather

This is my first Sketch Challenge Click Here to view the sketch set forth by Lauren. I’m going to attempt Lauren’s sketch each week. I always check out everyone’s else’s work so I thought why not join in.

I love Halloween and fall and thought this would be a good opportunity to start on my Autumn Cards. I used the spider from Papertrey Inks’ Spooky Sweets I. Can you see his web??? I made it with Diamond Stickels. I added black Stickles to the spider to make him pop. Happy Halloween is embossed so that it would stand out better. 

Speaking of Halloween, I am anxiously awaiting Papertreys Spooky Sweets 2. I ordered a few days ago. I already have lots of good ideas for it!!!!

Paper: Black and Orange card stock, Halloween black dots patterned paper from K& company
Embellishments:  Stickles and green ribbon
Stamps: Spider from Papertrey Inks’ Spooky Sweets and Happy Halloween from CMC

This was a fun card to create. I made it for my brother-in-law, Jason, who is a huge Texas hold ‘em fan. I don’t know anything about poker so that was initially a challenge. Thanks to Wikipedia , I was able to learn enough to pull this card off. The idea of the card is that the player is very low on chips (the pot is stacked in the upper right and the players chips are at the bottom) and with a big pot at stake coupled with the very unlikely chance that the player is holding a King of diamonds for the Royal flush, most people would think to fold at this point in the game. I can’t exactly place it, but I think I have heard the sentiment "I don’t even fold my laundry" in a movie in reference to playing poker. Maybe Maverick? Its the only card playing movie I can think of off hand. Anyway’s, it reminds me of something funny that Jason would say so I thought it would be perfect for this card. I printed it off of the computer and mounted it on black to match the black embossed background. The tiny cards and chips are from Jo-Anns. They are by Jolee’s boutique. I used a white brad to attach the players cards so that you can lift them up and peek. Yet again I used ribbon to bind the card.  No stamping on the front, but I did stamp Happy Birthday on the inside. oh by the way, Jason DID have the king for the Royal Flush! Lucky Guy! 

Paper: White, red and black card stock
Embellishments:  Cards and chips by Jolee’s Boutique, white brad, ribbon, Cuttlebug Happy Birthday Embossing folder

Ribbon , Chalk (high lights the sentiment)

This is my second take on this beautiful card from Lauren Meader.  I like this one better than my first one.  I used smaller circles  this time for the flowers and the vine is a nice touch. Its hard to tell in the photo, but the word flowers is glittery. I went over it with a glitter gel pen. Again, all stamps are Papertrey and I used the ribbon binding technique.  The Sentiment is from PTI’s Green Thumb set.  I’m starting to like the idea of a card set using these stamped flower circles. I’d like to come up with at least 5 different designs, which shouldn’t be hard. I’ll post them when they are done.

It’s birthday season for us so I have been creating birthday card like crazy. I’ll be posting them soon.

Stamps Used: Papertrey Ink’s Green Thumb and Papertrey Inks Flower Garden Ink: Memories Waterfall Blue, Planetarium Blue, Golden Sunkiss, Peachy Keen and Whispers Savoy green. 
Paper: White Card Stock
Embellishments:  Adhesive Rhinestones by Brenda Walton, Black Ribbon by Spool o’ Ribbon, 1 1/4 inch circles cut with Cricut machine

I cased this card from my favorite blogger, the very talented - Lauren Meader.  I love the simplicity of it. Lauren’s version has been burned into the creative corner of my mind since I saw it mid June. I still like hers better… she has a vellum butterfly that really completes the card. I NEED that Martha Stewart Punch! I used my new favorite technique to bind the card: Ri bbon! Here is an excellent tutorial. All stamps used are Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is by Martin Luther and reads: "God writes the gospel not in the bible alone, but on the trees and flowers and clouds and stars." It comes from Papertrey’s Out on a Limb sentiment set. There are a lot of beautiful sayings that I am looking forward to using from that set.  I love the bling in the flower’s center. I think these may be worthy of creating a set. They will make a nice gift.

On a personal note, my mom and grandmother were in a nasty car accident yesterday. My mom was driving and they were t-boned on my gram’s side. She was kept over night in the hospital and Nathan and I picked her up today. She seems to be doing much better today. My parents also closed today on their new home. Its a beautiful old farm house and they are excited to get things rolling there. They have big plans. This weekend is going to be busy! Friday we are excited to see the new Batman movie. Saturday we are meeting some of our favorite people in the world at a new Japanese Steak House in Greensburg for dinner, and Sunday we are off to White Oak park for my cousin Aidan’s birthday party. He’ll be 8 and its a dinosaur theme. The kids are making garden stepping stones during the party. My aunt always has the BEST party ideas so even though its a kids party I’m excited for it! I’m going to try to post more often. I have been working lots of cool stuff but can’t seem to get it online. 

Stamps Used: Papertrey Ink’s Out on a Limb Sentiments and Papertrey Inks Flower Garden Ink: Memories Waterfall Blue, Planetarium Blue, Golden Sunkiss and Peachy Keen
Paper: White Card Stock
Embellishments:  Adhesive Rhinestones by Brenda Walton, Black Ribbon by Spool o’ Ribbon, Chalk (high lights the sentiment) and circles cut my Cricut machine.

Yea I know Easter was a week ago but I’m behind as usual.  The hubby and I are both sick this week. Monday I had a dermatologist appointment and the Dr. took 2 biopsy’s from my back. Tuesday I went to a heart specialist with my dad - he has to have angioplasty. So its been a rough week and I didn’t get any stamping in. So I thought I’d share these.  I made these Easter Cards for our parents. I cased a card from last year from over at Dawn’s Blog. These cards are beautiful in person!!!!! The sentiment is stamped in Black  on white, highlighted with blue chalk and then mounted onto a sage piece of card stock.  The background of the card is stamped with the small flower from Glorious gift and accented with a white Gelly Roll pen. The card with the ribbon has a Teal background and the one without a ribbon has an Ocean Blue background. I cut the flowers using my Cricut , covered them in diamond stickles, added a rhinestone to their centers and attached them using dimensional’s.

I really like the color combo and have a few more ideas for it.

Stamps used: Stampin’ Up! Glorious Gift
Paper: White Card Stock, Teal /Ocean Blue Card Stock, Sage Card Stock
Embellishments:  Cut Flowers, Rhinestones, Diamond Dust Stickles, Ribbon, Chalk

This is our Easter Card this year. I love sending Holiday cards to friends and family and Glorious Gift from Stampin Up! is obviously a very fitting Easter stamp set. I love this set and I’m looking forward to creating more with it. I stamped the He is not here sentiment in purple ink on vellum and embossed it in plum. I mixed a little purple glitter into the embossing powder to give it a shimery look. The vellum layer is attached to a white card stock layer that I stamp the flowers from Glorious gift onto in spring shades.That layer is attached to a plum layer along with a plum ribbon. The background of the card is stamped with the smal flower stamp from the glorious gift set in yellow and highlighted with yellow chalk. I made about 20 of these and they went pretty quickly.   Click on the image to see a larger version.

Stamps used: Stampin’ Up! Glorious Gift
Paper: White Card Stock, Plum, Vellum
Embellishments:  Plum Embossing, Plum Ribbon, Chalk highlighting