Sketchy Winter Wishes

Have you heard the news? Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenges are baaaaaaaaack!!!! Woo hoo!!! This is my card for TESC135. You'll find all the details right here on Splitcoast, and there's a prize for one random winner too!!!

When I looked at this sketch I saw snowflakes, and I knew it would be perfect for my Project Christmas 2011...this is card #10.

I stamped the snowflake from Winter Wonderland with Memento Rose Bud ink then cut it out with the coordinating winter wonderland snowflake dies. The patterned paper is Doodlebug Winter Wonderland, although you don't really see much of it. Another thing you don't see much of is the blue scalloped strip I added along the diagonal edge, cut with my small scallop border die. Some satin ribbon, hot pink rhinestones and machine stitching finish the card nicely.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Fairy Good Day {MFTWSC13}

It's time for lucky sketch #13 with the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club!!!

I inked up a this sweet Believe in Magic Pure Innocence girl and dolled her up with pink and grey. Can I just say that I adore her sweet skirt and fairy wings!!! I had to glitter them up. Most of the image is coloured with copics and her top is paper pieced. I added a little rhinestone to the flower in her hair and decked out her wand with an SU floral brad (which totally reminds me of a mini version of the dizzy doily die-namic).

The patterned papers are from the My Mind's Eye Stella Rose Hazel pad. I used three fabulous die-namics to jazz up my card...Hearts a Plenty, Button Quartet, and the Faux Crochet Border.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch for a chance to win a gift voucher to the MFT boutique!

Here are the sketch details:

There's a prize each week for one participant, chosen at random. You may use any stamps and supplies that you wish. Each week a keyword is assigned to the sketch, and this week's keyword is MFTWSC13. All you need to do to enter is upload your card to the gallery at Splitcoast and enter the given keyword in the keyword box during the upload process. After the deadline (noon Eastern on Tuesday) we randomly choose a winner from that week's entries and the winner will receive a $15 gift voucher. If the winning card uses MFT stamps, the participant will earn a $5 bonus, for a total of a $20 gift voucher!

Be sure to head over to Kim's Blog to view the entire list of design team participants...there's plenty of inspiration for you with today’s sketch!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Mister Old Fart

Today is my dad's birthday so I made him a hilarious card using one of the Gus birthday images from Bugaboo Stamps.

The saying cracks me up and it's perfect for him, because he is an old fart (said with much love). Today he turns the big 80!!!! Happy Birthday Dad!!! I know you don't read my blog (because you don't have a computer) but hopefully the well wishes will get to you anyway.  :-)

I printed the image onto Choice Snow White and coloured it with copics. I gave his overalls the look of real denim by colouring them first, then dabbing them with denim fabric that I soaked with colourless blending fluid. The effect is pretty subtle, but I love the result. Then I added a coat of clear glaze pen to his glasses and didn't even think that the printer ink might bleed...eek! I'm not used to using digis...sigh...I guess if I really squint hard it just looks like his glasses are tinted or something. It was the last thing I did on the image after the card was all put together, so there was no "re-doing" it. The papers are from my Basic Grey Life of the Party pad...perfect manly colours! I added a sparkly yellow ribbon and some star accents, which I cut out with my stacking stars die-namics. The layout is from the Sweet Stop Sketch blog, SSS101.

I have to say that my dad's been driving my mom crazy the past couple of weeks with the "you only turn 80 once" line. Turns out she's having to throw multiple small parties for him to appease him and as a cover up for the big surprise party we have planned for him in just over a week. Shh...don't tell him!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Spring

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, SSSC110.

I'm trying the whole Spring theme again...hopefully it'll send out good vibes to Mother Nature to warm us up a little! It's gorgeous and sunny this weekend, but so deceiving as the temperature and wind are c-o-l-d!

I used my Hello Spring set from Taylored Expressions. The image is coloured with copics and I popped the lamb's head and the birdie for dimension. The little buggies are paper pieced with patterns from my Jillibean Soup Blossom Soup pad. I used a couple of spica glitter pens to colour the flower on the sentiment panel and added yellow Twinkles to the flowers in the buggy.

The background paper is embossed with my circles impression plate and the orange scallop was done with my small scallop border die. I couldn't resist adding yellow brads to the wheels and a green twine bow.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation on Karen's blog. Now it's time to hop around and see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers came up with.
Dana White - she's off today
Jen Tapler
Lynn Put
Sarah-Jane Kale'
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

From boring to beautiful...

I have a fun project to share today...a little something I made for my flight instructor. The name plate in her office left a lot to be desired (see the before photo below), and frankly, as the chief flight instructor at my flight school, and a totally awesome person, she deserved better.

Now I didn't just spring this on her out of the blue...I'd given her a card in the past so I know she's a fan of all things crafty. So when I mentioned that her name plate needed a little jazzing up, she enthusiastically agreed!

The finished size is 2x8 inches. First I cut a piece of chipboard for a solid backing. Then it took me a little while to come up with the background paper, but one night it hit me...use an actual sectional chart!!! I had a couple of outdated sectionals on hand so cut out the appropriate areas. Vicky teaches at two locations, Norwood and Providence, and the area just below the airplanes on each name plate shows the respective airports.

I used the plane from my PTI Fly Away set and coloured it with copics. I added a little felt cloud using the small flat-bottom cloud die from MFT then added a little rhinestone swirl for a girlie feel. The little cities below the plane are from the Little City 2000 font at dafont.com...thanks for this font tip Regina!

The letters were done on my Silhouette machine. It was a Christmas gift and I haven't spent any time learning how to use it, so there was quite a learning curve figuring out how to do the letters and the mat, but well worth the effort.

It took me a couple of weeks from first mentioning the idea to the finished product, and when I installed the name plates last week, Vicky was thrilled (and so was I!).

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Friends with Fred {MFTWSC12}

It's time for sketch #12 with the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club.

I decided to ink up our furry friend Fred Bear Oopsie Daisies. Isn't he just so cute with that little grin on his face and the bouquet of flowers!?!

He's coloured with copics and I added yellow rhinestones to the flower centers for  a little sparkle. I used an actual piece of thin cherry wood veneer for Fred's backdrop...it was super easy to cut with my nesties!! I cut out some fuzzy felt grass with my fresh cut grass die-namic and added an upsy daisy die-namic bloom.

You can't really tell because I covered up most of it, but I used my jumbo scallop die-namic to cut out the orange strip. I seem to have omitted the small tab layer...frankly I had all my layers adhered then I looked at the sketch again and saw the tab...doh! Oops! The patterned papers are all from my new Jillibean Soup Dutch Mustard mini pad. I adore that so many companies are now making smaller paper pads...the patterns are so much more in scale for cards! Thank you paper makers!!!

Here are all the sketch details:

There's a prize each week for one participant, chosen at random. You may use any stamps and supplies that you wish. Each week a keyword is assigned to the sketch, and this week's keyword is MFTWSC12. All you need to do to enter is upload your card to the gallery at Splitcoast and enter the given keyword in the keyword box during the upload process. After the deadline (noon Eastern on Tuesday) we randomly choose a winner from that week's entries and the winner will receive a $15 gift voucher. If the winning card uses MFT stamps, the participant will earn a $5 bonus, for a total of a $20 gift voucher!

Be sure to head over to Kim's Blog to view the entire list of design team participants...there's plenty of inspiration for you with today’s sketch!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Spring

Happy first day of Spring!!! It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, SSSC109.

I just love how the evenings are so much lighter and brighter now that we're into daylight savings time. Another sure sign of spring around my house is that yesterday I switched out the snow tires on my car for the smooth riding summers...yay! But don't worry, I already know that if it snows now I'll be sure to get all the blame! LOL!!!

I'm celebrating Spring with this super cheery and colourful card. The image is Spring a la carte from Taylored Expressions. It's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto choice snow white and coloured with copics. I added sparkle to the flower with two Spica glitter pens and made the letters super glossy with three coats of clear glaze pen. The papers are all from my Spring Project Pantry.

Once I had the basic layout done I jazzed it up with a few of my favourite TE dies: clouds, picket fence, and friendship blooms.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation on Karen's blog. Now it's time to hop around and see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers came up with.
Dana White
Jen Tapler
Lynn Put
Sarah-Jane Kale'
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Bellarific Christmas Peeps

I played along with this week's Bellarific Friday challenge. It was a sketch, and you know how much I love a good sketch!!

This is Project Christmas 2011 card #9...Yay!! The image is Christmas Peeps from Stamping Bella. Are they not the most adorable little peeps decorating this huge tree!! The image is coloured with copics and I gave the ornaments a coating of clear glaze pen before sprinkling on some glitter.

The patterned paper is Basic Grey Mitten Weather and I'm finding it a little busy. In hindsight I probably should have used the polka dot paper instead...sigh. I added plenty of sewing, some punched snowflakes and purple glitter dots to finish it off.

Don't forget to pop over to Bloggabella to see all of this week's entries.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

HB2U {MFTWSC11}

It's time to get sketchy again with the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club. Can you believe we're already into week 11?!?

I must confess, I was quite intimidated with this sketch when I first saw it. I really wondered how I was going to manage all those layers and at first I couldn't figure out what image to use. Well I'm really happy with the end result so the lesson is, don't let the sketch defeat you! :-)

I've been dying to use my All Star a la mode and she seemed perfect for this but she required that I flip the sketch and use the mirror image...no problemo! She's coloured with copics and I stamped her again onto orange paper so I could paper piece the flag and give it a little dimension. I wanted this to be a birthday card for my SIL so I wrote in the sentiment on the flag.

The fun colours are all pulled from the patterned paper which is Kaisercraft Bubblegum Hills. I used my little open scallop strip die-namic to add the white border to each of the orange strips then I dotted it with pink Twinkles.

Here are all the details you need to know to play along:

There's a prize each week for one participant, chosen at random. You may use any stamps and supplies that you wish. Each week a keyword is assigned to the sketch, and this week's keyword is MFTWSC11. All you need to do to enter is upload your card to the gallery at Splitcoast and enter the given keyword in the keyword box during the upload process. After the deadline (noon Eastern on Tuesday) we randomly choose a winner from that week's entries and the winner will receive a $15 gift voucher. If the winning card uses MFT stamps, the participant will earn a $5 bonus, for a total of a $20 gift voucher!

Be sure to head over to Kim's Blog to view the entire list of design team participants...there's plenty of inspiration for you with today’s sketch!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Exciting News at Taylored Expressions

Today we're celebrating at Taylored Expressions because we've just become the newest Member Company at Splitcoast, the largest stamping community on the web!!! Talk about an exciting time!!! We know so many of you love to hang out at Splitcoast and we hope you'll stop by the TE forum and say hi!!!

Taylor is hosting a challenge to celebrate the Grand Opening of her Member Company Forum. All you have to do is upload a new card or other creation featuring Taylored Expressions images to the SCS gallery using the keyword tayloredexpressions (NO spaces) to be entered into the random drawing. Get all the info and find out what the prizes are by clicking here. Even thought TE is all about RUBBER, to make sure everyone has a chance to play, Taylor is giving away several FREE digital images this week! You won't want to miss this!

I just had to make a card to celebrate. I paired Friendship Blooms with the current Splitcoast sketch challenge, SC323, and I'm not quite sure how it all happened, but there isn't a stitch of colouring on this card...gasp!! The scalloped eyelet border die created the perfect division for the diagonal panel.

I used the leafy branch die and some paper from my Basic Grey Hello Luscious pad, along with the friendship blooms dies to create the focal point.

I've seen so many wonderful butterfly embellishments in blog land lately so I gave it a whirl with my butterfly dies. I used the smallest butterfly, cut it out three times for each butterfly, then stitched them together and added some tiny pearls for the bodies. I just love the dimension from all the layers.

See you soon in the TE forum at Splitcoast!!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen