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.

More Christmas Tags

Here are 2 more Christmas tags I made for the Splitcoaststampers swap.

The tag on the left uses patterned paper, Coluzzel tag and the Sizzix tag die and was paired with a green ribbon with red edges. The second tag uses the SU! 5 petal flower punch. 2 red flowers and 2 green flowers are used to make the flower and since I didn't have any yellow brads, I embossed a silver one with yellow EP. I used a cream paper for the tag, once again the larger Coluzzel tag and the same green/red ribbon.

Christmas Tag Swap

I joined a Christmas tag swap on SplitCoastStampers. It took awhile to get into the Christmas spirit, but just in time, inspiration struck!

The first tag that I made used some holly paper I've had forever. (I've been doing a lot of using stuff I have had forever and not ever used before for these SCS swaps!) I used my old Sizzix tag die and then the old Sizzix holly die. I cut out the tag and then xyroned the paper and put it on white cardstock and cut out the tag by hand. For the tag on the left, I xyroned the wrong side (shouldn't do things that early in the morning) so I embossed with my ultra thick clear EP. I used some green/maroon cardstock for the holly diecuts that matched the colors in the decorated paper and used the holly leaves for the "to" and "from" which I hand wrote. I edged the tag with a gold pen - something I learned at a convention several years ago, but don't remember who showed me - and finished it with gold ribbon.

I've often used my Sizzix lightbulb diecuts for tags, but this needed something "more" so I used some pine tree paper to make the tag (once again backing it on white cardstock) and using thin twine for the cord, tried to make it look like the lights were strung on a tree. I tried green twine first, since most cords are green, but it didn't stand out much on the background, so I changed to the brown. I used silver EP on the end of the bulb and added clear Stickles to the small cutout on the light as a reflection.

I bought this patterned paper for this swap, but then didn't know what to do with it. So this turned into a very simple tag. I used an old coluzzle to cut out the tag, Big Lots paper for the red and the green. I've had the little green tag forever; long ago I had use of a punch/die and cut out bunches to "use later". Well, it was finally later! LOL I attached the green tag with a white brad and here is my simple tag.

Card Candy - Flowers

Here is the last of the card candy for the SCS swap, flowers:

I'm not a big flower person, so joining this swap and making flowery things is a big deal. The first one is pink flowers from Prima, 2 layers, with a white brad for the center. The tag is punched from SU's Baroque Motifs in Adirondack's Salmon. The background paper is DCWV and the flower brad is something I had and never used - until now!!! The vase is a Punch Bunch punch, punched out of some recycled paper I got at WalMart...I don't recall the name of the company, but it alludes to the fact that it is recycled paper. I then used more Prima flowers, once again 2 in different shades of peach with white brads for the center. The pansy is a Sizzix die, an original red one called Pansy. I cut out one of SU's purples, but I don't know which one, then white, then green scraps, so I don't know what brand. On the white, I used the purple flocking powder from Michael's $1 bin and then Yellow Stickles. The topper is from a paper pack I bought when I first started doing this about 7 years ago. I've used quite a few items I've had forever and never used making the candy for this swap!!! Always a good thing!!! :)

More Card Candy

Here is the graduation card candy for the SCS swap:

The topper, the book and the tassel sentiment are all SU, from Tassel Time. The two die cuts are Ellison Thin Cuts. The books sentiment is hand written. I've included, but aren't shown, different color ribbons for the diploma, so the user can choose an appropriate color. SU circle and scallop circle punches were used. And, once again, deckle scissors were used! :-)

Flower card

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!!!

Card Candy - Father's Day

For the card candy swap I've joined, I also choose the Father's Day category. Here is my creation:

The topper is cut from ivory cardstock I got from Office Whichever and has the sentiment piece on it. The sentiment is from Auntie Amy's and is stamped on scraps using Adirondack's Cabin Fever ink. The saw, hammer, drill and screwdriver are Dustin Pike images colored with copics. Two of my drills have cords, but the other two are cordless, LOL! The golf tag and hardware tag are punched using SU's tag punches, while the saw tag is an Ellison Thin Cuts (Tag #7). The campfire tag is cut with Sizzix Tag Set.

The golf tag uses SU's Tropical Turf roller and Sporting Goods. The golf tee and the background tag are colored using Bic pen.

The campfire tag uses SU's Roughin' It, with the logs stamped with basic brown and colored with copic XXX, and the flame colored with generic orange and red markers and then colored with yellow copic XXX. The mosquitos are embossed with clear EP.

The hardware tag is SU's Builder Bits roller and embossed on black paper with Stamp A Mania's Silver City EP. This is the absolute best silver EP I've found. I tried multiple brands of EP and *none* work as well as Stamp A Mania's. The background tag is cut from silver envelope linings.

Card Candy - Travel

Here is the packaged travel card candy mentioned in a previous post.

Card Candy - BBQ

Previously, I mentioned a card candy swap on SCS. Here is my creation for the BBQ/Party category.

The hamburger is punched from scraps, using a light brown, dark brown, red, light green and yellow using SU's large oval punch for the bun and burger, the small oval for the tomatoes, the scalloped circle for the lettuce and I just cut a triangle for the cheese. I used SU's Itty Bitty backgrounds for the sesame seeds with More Mustard.

The salt and pepper shakers and the ketchsup and mustard bottles are Dustin Pike images, colored with copics. The gingham paper is from Paper Studio's Back to Basics pack. I cut the K/M background with the deckle scissors and used the curly label SU punch for the salt/pepper background.

I used Sizzix's watermelon (yellow, original) die, cutting out a green and red from scraps and coloring the green with my black copic so the seeds are black. I then used the scallop circle punch to cut bites out of the watermelon slice.

The topper is SU's Top Note die cut from grass paper I've had forever, the BBQ letters are from Colorböx's alpha stax stamped with an ant stamp of unknown origins.

Card Candy - Travel

I've joined a swap on Splitcoaststampers forSpring and Summer Card Candy. This batch is for the travel category.

Card Candy is a piece you could put straight on a card/scrapbook page without having to do anything to it. An image, a saying, etc. and usually consists of a minimum of 2 layers and possibly an embellishment. There are usually 4/5 pieces of candy in a package.

The first piece is an interstate sign. The die is from ProvoCraft and was cut out of white, blue and red paper and put together. The "66" is cut from white paper using Sizzix's Playground sizzlets.

The next piece uses white and navy paper and the ink is Adirondack Denim. The base layer has little passport stamps - the stamp is an ATC stamp from either Lost Coast Designs or Stamp Camp. I don't recall which - they are generally together at the conventions I go to - and I can't find it on either web page and punched with SU's small oval, large oval and scalloped oval.

The Traveler stamp is from a set of travel words from Impression Obsession.

The round piece is a stamp from Inkadinkado, stamped with Adirondak Cabin Fever on ivory paper from Office ??? and matted on DCWV paper.

The elephant stamp is from SU's Balmy Breezes and stamped with Color Box Antique Pewter on grey paper, cut with Fisker's stamp scissors, matted on white and matted again on the grey, once again cut with the stamp scissors.

The tag is SU's Hiways and Byways background stamp, colored with copics and matted with red paper and punched with SU's tag punches. I left the interstate sign blank so the user can add their favorite highway number.

Card Remake

One of the Splitcoaststampers forums that I occasionally participate in is for Clean and Simple (CAS) Cards and one of the regular weekly challenges is to give a card a makeover. I chose a card I made that I didn't like. I was trying a monochromatic theme, but just didn't like the end result. Here's the original card:

For this Makeover challenge, I colored the leaves with orange and yellow watercolor pencils and used gamsol to blend the colors. I then matted the card on a matching orange/yellow paper. Here is the end result:

I'm much happier with this version and will save it for fall and send it to someone.