Are you a Bag Lady?

I know a few people who fall into this category, myself included. LOL! 

I thought of this idea when I saw Lauren's Saturday Sketch. I started by choosing my paper...Basic Grey Gypsy 6x6 pad. I was looking for both a fun colour combo and papers that had a dense pattern so I could paper piece the bags. I coloured the straps with my Pumpkin Pie SU marker and added a little silver to the buckles with my Zig painty pen. Then I cut out the bags. The stamps are from MFT's Tote-ally Fantastic set in the Who's That Girl line. LOVE that line!!! 

I ran the background through my houndstooth cuttlebug folder then stitched around the edge for a bit of a fabric feel. The sentiment was cut out with long rectangle nesties. 

The bags are 'hanging' from SU rhinestone brads, and there's one in the center of the Primas too. I had the hardest time with the two accents at the top...everything I tried looked too much like a pair of eyes staring back at me...creepy! So I finally thought to add the pumpkin word window punches under the buttons and that seemed to do the trick for me...no more eyes.   :)

This card just makes me laugh...I love the sentiment. I know exactly who I should send it too, question is, do I have the nerve!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Good Coffee and Good Friends

I finally had some time today to play with Lauren's Saturday sketch. I must admit, this one stumped me a little so I thought long and hard before deciding which stamp set to use. I knew I wanted to use smaller images in the two small circles and not just embellishments, so I finally landed on using My Cuppa Joe from Gina K Designs. 

I stamped the two mugs and the coffee pot with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury 80lb white. I coloured the images with copics then cut them out with either circle punches or circle nesties. I chose to go with pinks and browns because my Bittersweet paper was still out on my stamp table and I wanted to use it again.  :)

The card base is Gina K 120lb pure luxury, followed by some Chocolate Chip. I stamped the sentiment with versamark and embossed it with white EP so it would stand out against the chocolate background. I pierced along the top and left edges of the chocolate piece. I found it needed some bling to spice it up so I added a row of Cotton Candy Bella Bonbons beside the sentiment. Then I tied a little pink gingham bow onto a mini library clip and attached it to the coffee pot circle. The very last thing I did was coat the coffee pot with crystal effects so it would look glassy...then I set it aside in a safe place to dry. The layers are all popped on dimensionals so it adds a lot of height, which doesnt' really show in the photos. 

I love coffee and I love friends, and I love chatting with friends over coffee. It's such a good excuse to get together! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Miles Buzzin' By

I'm back on my boy birthday card kick, well, for today anyway. My friend Leslie {waves...hi Leslie!} sent me this a-dorable little Miles (the dragonfly) Huggabugg from Stamping Bella a while back and I thought Lauren's sketch would be a perfect opportunity to use him. Plus, he's the sweetest little dragonfly evah, so I turned him into a birthday card for another of my nephews. During the summer, at the cottage, the kids are reminded that dragonflies are our 'friends' and my nephews like to try and get them to land on their hands. Sometimes if we time it right, we're there when the dragonflies are emerging from their larval skin. It's super cool to watch them unfold themselves, dry their wings in the sunshine and fly away. I know...I'm a nerd, but nature is so interesting! Ok...enough entomology...on to the card.  :)

I started by stamping Miles with Memento Black onto Gina K pure luxury carstock, then I coloured him with copics. I wanted him to be bright and vibrant, just like the papers I'd chosen to use from October Afternoon's Night Light series. Since this is a boy card I didn't make his wings all shimmery, but I sure wanted to! Instead, I painted crystal effects onto his glasses for the look of real lenses. I cut him out with my Coluzzle then finished off his wings with my scissors. He's layered onto a circle of the green patterned paper then onto a circle of Not Quite Navy, which I cut out with a nestie and pierced. 

The card base is Gina K 120lb pure luxury, followed by Pumpkin Pie, which I ran through my 'Diamonds in the Rough' cuttlebug folder. I know SU paper is coloured all the way through, but I still sanded the raised areas to give it just a slightly lighter shade of pumpkin for a little definition. The other base layers are also from the Night Light series of papers...sooooo colourful and fun! My Janome sew mini has been neglected lately (well, that's not true...I tried to use it on my Elzy card yesterday but it was jammed for some reason, so I re-threaded it today and it's working like a charm) so I ran a straight stitch along the patterned panels for some interest. 

For the sentiment, I didn't have a stamp like this so I turned to my computer and printed both the outside and inside sentiments. A few paper layers, a button, and the outside was complete!

Then I moved to the inside of the card. I knew I'd be inserting a gift card so I made a pocket with layers of paper. Another line of stitching ties it all together nicely.

This is the first one that has to go in the mail in the next day or two to make it to Canada in time for the big day. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

A Little Tree just for Leslie

So, I know I said I'd be moving on from Christmas cards, but I can't seem to tear myself away from them. This Elzy image has been stamped for a few weeks now (since Dec 6th actually), just waiting patiently for colour. And, Leslie asked for more Christmas cards, so I'm happy to oblige.  :)

The layout for this card is from Lauren Meader's Saturday Sketch. I flipped the sketch to make it work. This would also make a fabulous scrapbook page layout.

The Elzybells image, Girls with Tree, was stamped with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury. I bet you can guess what comes next...LOL! Right...I coloured it with copics...surprise!  :)   You can't see it in the photo but I added a little sparkle with my Stardust pen to both the image and also to the patterned paper. 

The card base is Gina K 12olb white with a layer of Imaginisce Snowy Jo - Snow Soiree. The floral patterned paper is also from Imaginisce Snowy Jo, Santa's Secret Garden. I used my corner rounder on all the panels. 

For accents, I used my very first ghost flower!!! Oh my...they're super fun and I have no idea why I waited so long to use one (probably has to do with the 'hoarding' problem I have!). The ghost flower is Heidi Swapp's Gel Blossoms. I layered it with a Prima and tied on a button with SU silver cord. 

I seem to be in a groove with cards that don't have a sentiment on the front, but I don't find the cards are missing anything. How about you...do you like making cards without sentiments? I'm curious if I'm the only one out there so let me know how you like to build your cards. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen