Monday, August 29, 2011

How Sweet it is...

Hi There!

Today is bit of a tough day for me as it was one year ago that I lost my sweet sweet grandmother. I take comfort in knowing she is looking over us and smiling!

There is a challenge over at Our Craft Lounge to use Lot's of Dots! Well, this made me think of my grandmother and smile because she and I had a playful banter back and forth over polka-dots!  When I was little she would always buy me new underwear for school, Christmas and my birthday or just cause :-) She always said she was going to buy me panties with polka-dots. Now we all love polka-dots, they are fun and cute, but she was talking Minnie Mouse people. (Teasing of course)  We had this between us even after I was married.  So, I had fun playing around with different dots in my stash to create this card and think of her today. I used the stamp set from Our Craft Lounge called Summer Sweets.
My pinwheel was created with some dotted paper I had in my stash and I added some Shimmerz to bling it up just a bit.
I am playing along with the sweet Jules and her Crafty Snippet Challenge as I worked with all my scraps to create this card including the base.  The backside of the green pattern paper is polka dots, but I didn't want to take away from the ribbon, so I flipped it and actually liked this side better!

Hope you are off to a great week!
~Tammy~

Friday, August 26, 2011

Boo! DeNami Designs Sketch Challenge!

Boo to you all!

It looks likes us East Coasters are really dancing with Mother Nature this week. First we had a very surprising earthquake, and now we are getting ready for the effects of a hurricane!  So, I better get my card posted because who knows what will happen.

This is my fun little card for the DeNami Designs Sketch Challenge!

I flipped it as seen here and put my creative spin on it!
On my candy corns, I stamped two darling stamps from The Halloween Stamp Set with my glue pad and then covered them in black glitter.

Next I created a bottle cap embelli and used Crystal Effects to seal it. These embellies also make the prefect magnets as I have already filled the back of the bottle cap, so all you have to do is take it off the card front and add a peel and stick magnet. Easy peasy!

Before I go I wanted to share another Fascinating Friday Feature with you over on Noor's blog! I spotted this young lady sometime back and what wowed me was how she hand draws many of her own backgrounds.  Today we are featuring Marie / Legojenta.  Please head over to Noor's blog to learn more about this fabulous talent!

Have a Fabulous Friday!
~Tammy~

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Even The Smallest Star Shines in the Darkness.

Hi!

Well, it's hard to believe that summer really is winding down. Where did it go?  I know I have had my head in boxes and I have been working on home improvement projects, so I guess we are late in the game with taking some time to enjoy the things in life that summer brings!  Which brings me to my card today!

My little man in the house has had a BIG struggle with water.  When we lived in Hawaii, he had a fear of it early on, so I was slow with getting him lessons. Because I knew it would be a waste of money! When I finally tried, it was not pretty. He did the cling of death to the side of the pool and even would throw up. It was regression and money down the ol' porcelain hole! We took about a year and half off! Sure made living on an Island and going to the beach, well not fun! Ironically, when we leave the Island, and live with my parents, with their help and encouragement (and his maturity), he started getting over this fear!

I was late in the game due to life circumstances and finding a place trustworthy to try lessons again and the wait paid off because man oh man is my little guy a fish now. He has done a 180. He graduated to the next level within four days of being in this class, and has had the best coach! She has got the best personality and totally fit for this job.  I am sad tomorrow is his last class with her. He will continue on in a different level to weekly classes, but she won't be his coach.  I wanted to give a NOTE OF APPRECIATION, and I thought the sentiment from the Gina K. Deisigns Best Fishes set was perfect.

Ok, sorry so wordy! I am just so proud! He has come so far!!!

Here is the card! I used the SFYTT Sketch. First time playing, and it was a lot of fun, and I added a few extra layers! :-)
Couple close ups!
Here is the awesome sketch!
I stamped and cut the starfish from cardstock and then painted him with Shimmerz in Wintergreen! I love that stuff! I bought mine a very long time ago.

My cardstock is Stampin' UP! and my pattern papers are from the Cosmo Cricket line Snorkel! 

Thanks for sharing a proud moment with me! I hope his swim coach likes it! 

Till next time!
~Tammy~

Monday, August 22, 2011

Jolly Wishes with some Jingle Belles & Clean and Simple Stamping!

Hey all!

The Clean & Simple Stamping blog provided the sketch for the Jingle Belles Stamping blog this week!

Here is the sketch provided by Clean and Simple Stamping!
Fun Sketch right!
Here is a close up view of the snow!
I just love this set by Wilson Designs.  It's so versatile! At this time, Kim is taking some time off from releasing new sets, but is filling orders on currently stocked items. I also wanted to take this opportunity to say that Kim is an amazing designer, and I have enjoyed working for her so much!

I am also adding this to the fabulous Jules Crafty Snippet Challenge since a majority of this card was created from scraps! 

Thanks to Julie, I am also playing along with (new to me) Christmas Stampin' All Year Long: Non-Traditional Colors.  Thank you Julie!

I had fun with some non-traditional colors again! Don't be surprised if you see that frequently from me! :-)

Well, one more Christmas card down! Yipee!
Thanks for stopping on by! 
~Tammy~

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Seasons Greetings!

Hello there!

Still working on finding a home for crafting supplies as we unpack. The process is very slow as we have other projects to complete, and as time permits and certain aspects are finished we try and put away what we can find a home for. Always fun trying to find places in a new home that always had a place in the old. We had some crazy packers and has made the unpacking and sorting challenging. I still have yet to find many of my crafting items even going in search for some. I have yet to find a majority of my dies and embossing folders...(just to name one). the ones I have found were the ones on my crafting table before pack out or the ones I have picked up since moving. Some of the stuff we have found they packed has been a real hoot! It's been an unreal experience.

Having said all that, as I was finding a home for my DeNami stamps, I couldn't help, but want to get inky.
Sorry for not having a better photo. It's been cloudy all day!
So, there sat on my desk were all my glitters looking for a new home hmm I decided to take a little break and make a card to play along with the Jingle Belles challenge: Bling on the Holidays!  I adored the soft colors from the Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Challenge this week, and the prize up for grabs is a Christmas set, so that inspired me to go forward with a Christmas creation. I sat and looked at what Christmas DeNami stamps I had and decided to make a simple little card! One of my favorite stamps is the The Large Winter Tree because there are so many ways you can be creative with it.

First stamping the tree in Pink Pirouette, I then decided to use my Glue Pad and stamp one of the stamps from the Elegant Floral Stamp Set.   Next I used purple saphire glitter by Martha Stewart to get my glitter on! I stamped the Seasons Greetings sentiment in my glue pad and added more purple saphire glitter. I tied a Pink Pirouette ribbon and bow and added a flower with some bling to the center.  For the middle layer I did some background stamping even though you can only see the edges. I used the Medium Brushed Flake and the small snowflake from the Winter Fun Stamp Set.   For the card base, I continued on with the background stamping and used the Medium Polka dots. I inked the card base and second layer in Craft White by Stampin' Up and inked Pink Pirouette on the focal panel.

Here is the color combination I used!

So there you have it! Simple, but I got some more mileage out of several of my DeNami stamps! :-)

Hope all is well!
~Tammy~

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Thank You So Very Much

Hi all!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

I needed a thank you note and with unpacking and organizing my crafty things I found a stamp set that I had not inked up yet from Walzing Mouse Stamps, so I challenged myself to ink it up and I used the colors from the Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo challenge to work with.
I have not found all my inks, so I worked with what I could.  I did find Soft Suede so that was easy!
I used the Waltzing Mouse Vintage Labels 10 and the sentiment is from Mint Motif. As I unpack, something I am finding I have an abundance of, is ribbon! I can't help it! I love it, so I added some silky ribbon and a fun little button to my bow.  I distressed my edges with Soft Suede ink then following up with Vintage Tea Stain inks.

I am going to play along with Ribbon Carousel: Get Edgy (distressed edges), and  4 Crafty Chicks: Twine

I hope you have a wonderful weekend my friends!
Till next time!
~Tammy~

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Thank You for Your Kindness

Hi there!


The wonderful thing about challenges is they spark your creativity! Karen Baker has started a challenge...just for fun...and just to inspire! It's called Carbon Copied.  She and one other artist will use the same stamp set and the same challenge. What a fabulous and unique idea! Her first challenge blog is JayGee's Nook and using the Papertrey Ink Iconic Images.  I thought I would play along too.

Here is the inspiration photo at JayGee's Nook
I am also adding this to Scrapmaster's Paradise: I love Being Purple Challenge and Jules Crafty Snippet Challenge.

I used three different stamps sets and snippets from my craft box to create this Thank You card. The off white paper actually has the look of linen. I believe it is from a paper stack from DCWV. My lavender panel was created by background stamping Mehndi Medallions from Wplus9 then I used a border punch for a little decorative trim. Next I used Hero Arts Old French Writing, the sentiment and cameo focal image are from Papertrey Ink's Iconic Images. I love the distressed images in this set. I added some ribbon and button embellishments, and finishing off with a little fancy flourish by Jolee's Boutique. I forgot to mention that I added some white craft ink to the edges for a softer look!

Thanks for taking a part of your day and visiting with me! I must stop playing and get back to work.
~Tammy~

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Home is where....

the Army sends you!  Another true statement indeed being the wife of a military man!

Moving brings on new challenges in so many ways! For example, it's late, and I am trying out new options for photographing at night. In doing so, I rushed to take this, and I failed to see my card was not sitting even on the cloth! Given that I am also having trouble at the moment with uploading, I am just going to let it go! (*wink*)

I am way over due to make some change of address cards, so I thought I better start playing around with some options! As I am still unpacking and have piles of my crafty supplies looking for a new place to call home, I came across this stamp by Hero Arts and thought that might be a jumping off point. We will see if I can take the time to get creative to come up with some other options, but I thought I would share this with you!

The City Crafter blog is hosting a challenge called Home Sweet Home and they want to see a "House" on your project, so I thought I would share my card over there.  Look at this adorable inspiration photo they have posted! 
The card is a clean and simple design which is what I need if I am going to mass produce.  I just so happened to have three white panels laying on my desk from pulling out scraps from another project and this is what I came up with! I love this stamp, so I may play around for another option if time permits! 

Thanks for visiting with me! I appreciate it always!
~Tammy~

Friday, August 5, 2011

If Friends were Flowers...

I'd pick you! So true isn't it!
Back home in Florida there is an adorable little girl turning 6 and she is having a Garden Party for her birthday, so as I was unpacking things I came across this much neglected set called Green Thumb by PTI....so instead of finishing up the task of unpacking and sorting (no fun), I got distracted with playing with paper. (fun) Doesn't take much!! 

I started off with a light green card base I found in my scrap pile along with this pattern paper from TAC.  I remembered that the CR84FN challenge colors this week were Celery, Lavender and Gray, so all I needed to do was add the gray in there somewhere. Looked around the scapbox and found an already cut piece, but it was boring, so I created my own background with some of the flowers from the Green Thumb set using VersaMark ink. This gives it a nice subtle background! I laid the stamps on my stamping block and created a repeat pattern. 

Next I stamped the watering can in Momento London Fog and fussy cut it out. Stamp the stems from the set and I decided to use some rosebuds I had and I loved how it gave the card dimension.   After adding the sentiment and buttons, I wanted a more rustic feel so I distressed all the edges and inked the card base in Craft White Ink by Stampin' UP! I added a ribbon that was laying on my craft table still looking for a home (trying to organize a new home is not fun), and that was it!
Here are the pretty colors I played with:
I am also playing along with Jules Crafty Snippet challenge 30! Goodness I have a ton of scraps to use, and I am working on it, but not sure the pile will ever go down! :-)


It's Friday again, and that means another fabulous artist feature over at Noor's Fascinating Fridays Paperies Designs Studio.  This week we are featuring Mary Dawn of My Pink Mexico! I have enjoyed looking around this talented ladies blog and I thought she would be perfect for a feature. A fabulous spotting indeed! Please head over to Noor's to learn more about Mary Dawn and then stop by her blog and show her some love!

Hope you have a fascinating Friday!
~Tammy~