Sending Love

I decided to play along with the Sweeties at the Sugar Bowl where the challenge this fortnight (why is there not an American equivalent for this term? I always feel self-conscious when I use it, but what else is there?) is this fantastic sketch with the optional theme of Kraft paper.  Here is my take on the challenge:

I love Kraft paper--whenever I use it, I find myself humming "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music---brown paper packages tied up with string!  I even used a little twine to play up the association.  The red polka dotted paper was still on my desk from the Valentines I made earlier this month.  The pink envelope paper is from Fancy Pants--isn't it perfect for this stamp?!

This sweet stamp was my first Sugar Nellie stamp, and I think it will always be one of my favorites.  I love to use it for "thinking of you" mail.  The stamp is called Post Box.  It's no longer available from Sugar Nellie, but it has been re-released by Belles 'n Whistles. 

I'd like to enter this card in the Belles 'n Whistles Challenge where the theme this month is "Love and Hearts" and also in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge where this week's task is to use 3 papers. 

Thanks for looking!  Hope you have a great day!

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

I can't count the number of times I've vowed to make a Christmas card every week.  I can, however, count the number of times I have actually done it---ZERO.  I can also count the number of Christmas cards I've made this year---ONE.  This one.  LOL. Better late than never.  :)

 

When my cute husband saw it, he said "Wow, you're already doing Christmas cards? It's only September." LOL.   

I followed the fantastic sketch by Erika over at the Sugar Bowl where the added theme this week is to use your scraps.  The sketch is fantastic--I love that it's not overly complicated.  For some reason, though, I had a really hard time with it.  At one point, I think I had my entire box of scrap papers dumped out on my desk.  I finally settled on this red foil card stock that I recycled from some Bath and Body Works packaging.  I wish the foil photographed better; it seems to wash out the image.  The red velvet ribbon on the card is from the same package.  The stamp is an old Elizabeth Bell image from Sugar Nellie.  

Here's a little peek at the inside.  I've put a little more of that lush velvet ribbon on the inside.  

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Say Stamp---"Sing it"  (I hummed the Twelve Days of Christmas the whole time I was making this card. LOL).

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long---Photo Inspiration

Winter Wonderland---"Girly Christmas"

Thanks so much for looking! Have a great day!

Planting Some Love

Over on SCS, there is a fabulous challenge for Sugar Nellie Fans.  I hope they continue doing this challenge.  It's fun to have a challenge that is technique-based. I really enjoyed trying something new.  This week the challenge is to make a diagonal double pocket card.  I was pleased to discover that this intimidating-looking fold was actually quite easy and a lot of fun.  I'll definitely be using this fold again.  The only catch is that the fold needs double sided paper.  Now, I have a love/hate relationship with double sided paper.  I love it because it makes coordinating colors and patterns simple.  But, it feels like a waste, doesn't it?  I just hate gluing down one side of the paper--no one will ever see it!   Consequently, I don't have a lot of double sided paper in my stash.   Luckily, I had this bright and cheery sheet of 12X12 green polka dots that I recently snagged from my mother. It was perfect for this bright and happy feel of the card.

I used the stamp "planting some love" from Sugar Nellie.  This is one of my all time favorite stamps.  It's just so sweet!  I paper pieced her hat, shirt, gloves, and back pocket, and then I covered the flowers on her hat with diamond stickles.   It's super sparkly in real life.  I also added white stitching to her jeans.  Here's a close-up of the image. 

I'm entering the card into the following challenges:
Sugar Nellie Challenge #3 over at SCS: Diagonal Double Pocket Fold
Create4Fun: Circles
ABC Challenge Blog: "S" for Sparkle
Papertake Weekly: Cutie Pie

Thanks for looking!  Have a great day!

Picking Apples

Do you like sketch challenges?  If so, get yourself over to the Sugar Bowl.  There is a gorgeous sketch from Lilian for you to follow.  I really liked this sketch, and I know I'll use it again and again.

Here is my take on the sketch. Can you tell I was inspired by the plaid in Lilian's sketch?!   The "please include" option for the challenge is to use your favorite color.  I cheated a bit and included 3 favorite colors so I wouldn't have to pick just one!  Hee hee!  My favorites are Blue, Pink, and Green.  (and purple...guess I cheated a lot...LOL). 

The image is from Sugar Nellie.  It was one of the first stamps from artist Elisabeth Bell.  Her stamps are what drew me to Sugar Nellie, but they have a bunch of other talented artists too.  Right now I am in love with the Sugar and Spice stamps.  They are so cute.  I hope to add a few of them to my collection soon. 

This image is also perfect for this week's challenge at Charisma Cardz.  The theme is "Dreamining of Summer."  Nothing says summer better than running around barefoot, and I've used bright summery colors for this card (my favorites, remember).  It was fun to take a break from red and green. 

The end result is quite girly, so I'm also entering this card in Cute Card Thursday.  Their challenge this week is Swirly, Girly. 

Thanks for looking! 

The Sugar Bowl: Challenge 18

 

This week the challenge at the Sugar Bowl is this sweet sketch by Kathy.  The sweeties also want to see buttons on your card.  I've been wanting to play along at the Sugar Bowl for a while now, but somehow the deadline always slips past me.  Pretty sad, especially since it's a two week challenge.  LOL.  So here is my first entry. 

 The image is from Sugar Nellie's range of stamps designed by Elisabeth Bell.  The name of the stamp is Catching Butterflies.  I think it's so sweet and she looks like she's having so much fun.  It's one of my favorite stamps.  Here's a close-up so you can see all of the detail Elisabeth puts in her drawings.

Thanks for looking!

Truly Scrumptious #14: Anything but a Card

Recently I picked up a couple of notebooks at Michael's for $0.66 (not too shabby, eh?). I thought that they would be good to alter for the challenge at Truly Scrumptious. For this challenge we can make anything...as long as it's not a card. LOL. Altered notebooks seemed like a fun alterantive, so away I went. I had never altered a notebook before, but I figured that even if it was a total disaster, I'd only be out $0.66 and an afternoon. I used really different color schemes for the two notebooks. On the first one, I went with soft pastels, and on the second one I used the colors of the notebook itself.


This image is from a stamp line at Sugar Nellie drawn by Elisabeth Bell. These are some of my favorite stamps. I think they're so sweet. If you want some for yourself, they're available over at Funky Kits. I wanted to keep the overall look soft, so I set aside my prismacolor markers and I used my prismacolor pencils. The papers are from from DCVW Nana's nursery stack. I've been hoarding this paper because I like it so much, but I finally talked myself into cutting them...*gasp.* I kept every little scrap. LOL :)


I decorated the inside using the same papers.


And the back, since I had to hide the original cover for the notebook.

For the second notebook, I used a deeper color palette of purple and green. Since I used the same colors that are on the notebook, I didn't have to be as careful about hiding the original cover. YAY! The images are from Whiff of Joy, another stamp company that carries a line of stamps designed by Elisabeth Bell. I just love her images. I tend to get hooked on certain artists--have you noticed?! LOL. I used my Prismacolor pencils for the coloring on this one too.

If you noticed the giant amphersand on the front of notebook, you probably guessed that I decorated the back of this notebook too. LOL. hee, hee. My sister is always complaining that illustrators give girls blond hair while their beaus are brunettes. As a brunette dating a blonde, she finds this particularly annoying. I reversed this trend on this notebook as a little shout-out to her. Hi Lola! ;)

Thanks for looking!