SCS Sketch Challenge 431

O, Fair New Mexico, 
We love, we love you so,
Our hearts with pride o'reflow,
No matter where we go.

I've been homesick lately, so I've been thinking about a chile card for several weeks, but nothing I tried seemed to work. I was visiting SplitCoastStampers, and found this sketch challenge and suddenly, the card came together in my head. Here is the link to the sketch challenge, check out all the creations!

I don't remember where I got the chile paper, I think a LSS was going out of business :( so I bought all they had. One side is the green chile and the other side is red chile. In NM you will be asked (when ordering Mexican food) if you want Red or Green? I'm a green chile person but my husband is a red chile person, so in our house we make both kinds of enchiladas.

The phrase is from Stamp A Mania, the chile is from SU's Southwest set and is embossed with Stamp A Mania's Red Chile EP.  I used the Cuttlebug Southwest embossing border on the black strip.

Father's Day cards

Well, you can tell from the date of my last post when my job became very time consuming!!!  Here are the cards I made for Father's Day:

I was running low on inspiration and so I hopped on to SplitCoastSampers to see what others were doing.  Well, I found some cards that were absolutely fabulous and so I started creating my own - I need three!

Traffic Jam card

I found a card that used the Traffic Jam embossing folder from Cuttlebug.  I've had this forever, but haven't really used it.  I like how the simplicity of the card allows the embossing to stand out.   Here is the card that inspired this one.

Cardstock:  The card  base is a tan color from The Paper Cut, the darker brown is Sizzix suede and is embossed.  The blue strip, which has a slight design on it, is from a pack of paper that is made with recycled paper and from Wal-Mart.  I don't remember the company's name, but is has recycled in it.  Accessories:  Cricut All Mixed Up cartridge, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and Traffic Jam embossing folders.



Star card

I CASEd this card.  I used browns with a rust color as the accent.  I just love this mulberry paper from Marco's paper - it has speckles of different browns in it.

Cardstock:  Rattan from The Paper Cut, mulberry paper from Marco's Paper, scraps.
Stamps:  Happy Father's Day from Aunt Amy's
Ink:  Adirondack Cabin Fever
Accessories:  Large SU star punch, Cuttlebug embossing folders - D'Vine Swirls, Swiss Dots and one that I don't know the name of.


Squares card

I used the layout from this card and used this card as the inspiration to add texture by embossing.

Cardstock: Jellybean green by The Paper Cut, mulberry paper from Marco's Paper, browns/tans are unknown and the striped paper is from the Safari pack by The Paper Studio.
Ink: I used black ink to edge the brown layer.
Accessories:  brads, Cuttlebug embossing folders, Swiss Dots and ?.



Happy Father's Day!

Ocean Cards

I wanted to make an ocean birthday card for my aunt, but didn't like the first attempt, or the second attempt, or...

I finally came up with 3 variations...which do you like best and why?

The first card has a turtle. In the first, failed, attempts the grass didn't look very good when it was embossed with the bubbles. So with the turtle card, I only embossed part way down, but I'm not sure I like the abrupt stop of the bubbles.

The second card has a seahorse and different grass. The grass held up better to the embossing, so I think I like this one best.

The third card doesn't have the bubbles embossed on it. I will put it on the same orange background as the others once I've decided if I am going to emboss it or not.














Here is the inside.

For all cards:

Paper: SU Bordering Blue, DCWV orange

Ink: Adarondack's Lettuce

Embossing folder: Cuttlebug bubbles

Animals: Spellbinders Shapabilities From the Sea

Chalk: SU Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Olive Green

Stamp: Inspired by Nature by SU for the second and third cards and Potted Grasses from Stamp A Mania.

Toolbox Card

I "borrowed" a layout from a friend but the design is all mine...not that others might have come up with it also, but I didn't see any of them first! LOL

It is a masculine card; I think I'm going to use it for my Dad's birthday card.

Paper: black cardstock, silver envelope liner used as paper

Punch: Martha Stewart's Happy Birthday

Accessories: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Diamond Plate, screw brads

More Halloween cards

Here are a few of the Halloween cards I made this year. Some are a variation on the theme of the full moon I posted about earlier and all use the circular chipboard from Michael's I mentioned before.

One is covered in yellow paper and has 2 large die cut bats (Sizzix, old original yellow die) with rhinestone eyes. The wings are curled up to give some dimentionality to them. It probably won't survive the mailing, but I tried!

Another is also covered with the yellow paper for the full moon and has a Martha Stewart witch stamped on it, with some bats from SU's Halloween Backgrounds and a ribbon tied at the top.

The third was super simple, since it was just cut out from patterned paper from Michael's showing a crow on a gravestone.

The last one is covered in black with spider web embossed (Fiskar's texture plate) and then traced with a white gel pen. The spider is cut and embossed with a Cuttlebug die and has black lines added to the legs. Black plaid (with a tiny bit of orange in it) ribbon is the finishing touch.

Hospital Visit

Well, I changed cards for this hospital visit...My step-father had hip replacement surgery and I thought I was going to make a card similar to this one for him, but changed my mind.

 This card uses the little bandaid from on of SU's small-many-stamp-all-occasion sets and creamy caramel. The "body" and the bow-tie on the gown are from the SU set Sketch It. The body is the heart stamped in either the Apricot Blush or Creamy Caramel and turned upside down. I cut the gown out freehand (took 2 tries, lol) and used which ever green it was that matched the scraps of paper used for the gown. I don't recall, as I made this card almost 2 years ago.

Here is what I gave him instead. It is one I posted previously on my blog, but here it is again:

I just love Dustin Pike's dragons!!! The photo of the card isn't the greatest. I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder "Tiny Mosaics" for the green background, I thought it looked like scales! I colored in the dragon with watercolor pencils and then used gamsol to blend.

Stamp A Mania Cards

In celebration of Stamp A Mania's sale, here are some of my cards using Stamp A Mania stamps.

These two cards use SAM's rollers, the quail is a panel from the Spirit Dancer roller, while the other card uses images from their Southwest roller. Both use brown and cream/tan cardstocks from Big Lots, black paper, black ink and the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Diamonds in the Rough. The sentiments for both cards are from SU, the first is from a very old set ??? and the "friendship" is from Wonderful Words I. I used deckle scissors on both cards.

These cards are also made with SAM rollers. All three use their Ancient Relic roller for the background (I love that one) and the Petroglyph Herder and Petroglyph Hunter rollers for the main image. The top cards use SU's Creamy Caramel ink while the other uses SU's Basic Brown. The lighter paper is from Big Lots, while the darker colors are DCWV. I used the SW corner punch on all the cards. I'm not sure where I bought the eyelets.

I love this stamp. The chile roller is a clearsnap (I think) that I got from SAM and the chile is from SAM as well. I used generic green and red ink and paper.

This eagle is embossed with a mixture of SAM's Silver City EP (the **best** silver EP I've found...and I've tried bunches!) and Desert Jewels EP. I embossed on black paper and put it on SU's Tempting Turquoise.

More Card Candy

This time around it is Patriotic card candy.

The picture is not perfect because the scanner's field of focus is to narrow for the 3D firecrackers.

The topper is blue splatter paper I've had forever, cut with SU's Top Note die folded in half. The red is cut with SU's scalloped circle punch, the letters are Colorböx's Alpha Stax stamped with blue ink (?) using a little stick stamp from Michael's years ago. The firecrackers are patriotic paper scraps rolled with jewelry hemp for the wick. The stars were cut with the Sizzix Star #2...the smaller red die for the white, SU's larger star punch for the red one, and the blue one is Sizzix's yellow border star die which was then embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder. All paper used was scraps and I don't know the vendor. The photo corners were punched using SU's punch and once again were punched from scraps. The last piece of candy was punched using SU's curly label punch from scraps of blue paper that has darker blue stars on it (scraps) and SU's small star punch from more maroon color scraps...yes, I have bunches of patriotic paper scraps and this is a great way to use them!!!

Dustin Pike's Blog-iversary

I've been out of town, so I don't have any new cards for you, but Dustin Pike is celebrating his "Blog-iversary" with a fabulous sale of his digi-stamps. Go check it out!!! He also has some freebies!!!!

Actually, here is an older card using one of Dustin's images. I love his dragons!!! The photo of the card isn't the greatest. I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder "Tiny Mosaics" for the green background, I thought it looked like scales! I colored in the dragon with watercolor pencils and then used gamsol to blend.

Zoo Cards II

Here are some more of the zoo cards I made for my SIL. I utilized my Cricut for these with the Zooballoo cartridge. All of the animals are cut out on DCWV cardstock. The hippo's sky is chalked and the grass is done with SU's Terrific Turf roller, and the water is created with the Cuttlebug S'vine Swirls embossing folder and cut to look like waves/ripples in the water. The two koala cards and the giraffe card all use SU's Bamboo II background stamp and Old Olive ink. The first of these cards uses either Green Galore or Garden Green for the base while the other is white on Old Olive. The giraffe card uses drywall tape (it's so perfect - it already has adhesive on it!!!) to try and allude to a zoo cage. I'm not sure it worked, but...

Christmas Cards

Here are some of the Christmas cards I made for this year. Of the 26 different designs (some very similar) I created, these were my favorites.

This one is a Penny Black hedgie image that I colored with my copics and Bic markers, matted on generic red paper and then music paper I've had forever and don't remember where I got it.

The SU roller "Candy Cane Christmas" was used with Real Red for the background. The House Mouse Image HMJR1020 and colored with Bic Pens.

This one was sooooo simple. I was running short of time and so the cards like this helped! The background is embossed with the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder "Joy and Cheer". I don't remember where the sticker came from.

This card used the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder "Snowflakes" and the SU set of unknown name...it's my mom's and I don't recall what it's name is. The hat and mittens are stamped with Adirondeck's Cranberry. The hat is edged with flocking and the mittens are strung together with yarn.

Another simple card. I used the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder "Holly" and red Stickles. I think the paper is SU Forest Foliage.

I got this super shiny gold paper from someone via Craig's list and I don't know what company it is. I used the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder "Joy and Cheer" and used my Sizzix original die "Holly" with SU's Real Red and Forest Foliage.

House Mouse Halloween Cards

I love Halloween and these HM stamps are adorable. The first 2 cards I made the fronts as backgrounds, but then thought they were too cute to cover up so I added the mice to the insides.

For these cards, I used Perfect Plaids for the backgrounds:

I love this stamp, "Sweet Find", probably because I love candy corn, so I really enjoyed making these:

I got this background in a Splitcoaststampers Swap and thought it was perfect for this House Mouse.

Halloween Cards

I made Halloween cards over the weekend whilst watching TV with Johnny.

Baby Announcements

In a previous post I mentioned that I was making baby announcements for friends. Well, it took some time, but they (all 25 of them) are done. What should have been a simple thing was not. I stamped all the images I needed and then took them with me out of town to color. After coloring them all, I started cutting them out. I got all of the safety pins cut out and about a quarter of the babies by the time I got home. I started to put together the first card and discovered that the colored images didn't match the paper (both were Pretty in Pink). Shock and horror! So my first thought was that my pen was running out of ink, so I used my reinker to reink it. This still didn't work, so I borrowed my demo's pen. I very carefully checked the color with the paper after each image (yes, I'm a bit OCD haha) and it matched perfectly. So, I relaxed and colored in all 25 babies and 25 safety pins, and then cut out all 25 safety pins - they are the easiest. I also ordered another pen. The next morning, to my horror, they didn't match! Well, there are only 2 variables to this...the pen and the paper. I always buy GP cardstock, so I didn't think that would be the problem, but I had used a new ream of paper. So I went to Michael's and bought white cardstock. Guess what - it WAS the paper. The image matched the paper perfectly the next day, (I finally smartened up and only colored one image as a test!) so I finished the cards. What a mess. But, finally, all 25 are done and delivered. The moral of the story? Even if the paper is the same, it's the paper's fault! :)

White Cross Card

Here is a card I created for a swap on Splitcoaststampers. It was a White only swap and I had a hard time coming up with an idea. To make matters worse, there are a couple of *very* creative ladies in the swap that have signed up for (and created cards) for 11 spots! Their cards are amazing and I was always thinking that my ideas wouldn't measure up. Then inspiration hit and I came up with this card. I've had this stamp for several months and not used it, so it was nice to come up with a design using it. The cross is from Stamp A Mania (I love their stamps!!) and I used SU Dazzling Diamonds. The background is the Swiss Dots embossing folder, cut with the Victorian scissors. The cross has been cut out and popped up.