Make a Difference

So, I adore all the little berry and floral Lockhart images that Sharon teases me with all the time, but I hadn’t had time to go through the agony of choosing and ordering yet. Then, my mom shows up with her 3rd (literally) load of stuff for a garage sale this weekend, and she has this adorable little Stampin’ Up! set from 1997 called Country Greetings.

I’m supposed to be purging, but I snatched it right up. It has a basket of berries, a cat, the quilt block and a few other things in the case. Of course, my mom isn’t an SU! purist, and there are some other stamps from other sets <gasp> mixed in the case. While I’m supposed to be clearing stuff out, I’ve decided that it’s ok….I can find a place to tuck this one little ole set.

This is for Beate’s Weekend Sketch Challenge, and I’m going to leave you to visit Beate, Cami, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon for other inspirations while I peddle my old junk all in the name of new stamp room furniture. Have a great weekend!

• Stamps: Country Greetings (SU! 1997), Polka Dot Scrapblock™, Pretty Pattern Backgrounder - both from Cornish Heritage Farms

• Cardstock: Sunflower Medium, Spring Willow Medium, Desert Coral Light Prism

• Ink: Espresso Adirondack

• Accs: Ribbon - May Arts from Jacksonbelle, Copic Markers, Dew Drops

I’m underneath a mountain of laundry and unopened mail as we’ve had a busy, busy week at the Craig house, so I’m keeping the blah, blah to a bare minimum. This is a super fast card for my sweet hubby who has really helped me this week! Hope you have a wonderful, restful weekend.

You can see lots of inspiration if you visit Beate Johns, Cambria Turnbow, Charmaine Ikach, Laurie Schmidlin, Mary Jo Albright and Sharon Harnist.

• Stamps: Everything - Stampin’ Up!

• Cardstock: Brown linen - Archivers, Spring Willow Light Prism, Poison Ivory

• Ink: VersaMagic Dew Drops: Jumbo Java & Gingerbread, Tsukineko Glue Pad

• Accs: Build a Brad, lace (Making Memories), Glitter

Having been an Stampin’ Up! demo for 7 years, I have done my share of swap cards. The hours of cutting and stamping…cutting, cutting, cutting… I don’t do too much swapping these days. But a few of my favorite hostesses, still tug at my heart strings when they open new SU! swaps. Jami and Lisa Martz are wonderful hostesses.  I simply can’t resist playing because the day the envie comes back…it’s like Christmas!

So, here is my contribution to the Occassions Mini swap for each of them. With no duplicate swappers (I hope!) I did the same design for both of them. I LOVE this owl, and I used it because Jami told me to! LOL! I do most things Jami tells me to! LOL! Anyway, I cut out about 30 of these little guys. He’s easy to color, his belly begs for glitter and the sentiment is adorable! 

• Stamps: Just Celebrate, Pretty Amazing and Paisley BG - Stampin’ Up!

• Cardstock: Soft Sky and Close to Cocoa with Cocoa Designer Paper - Stampin’ Up!

• Ink: Soft Sky, Close to Cocoa and Timber Brown StazOn

• Accs: Scallop Punch & Dazzling Diamonds, AquaPainter

 It’s Bible Study day and the kids are out of school early! I sure hope I can squeeze a little stampin’ in! Have a wonderful day!

It’s officially past time for me to share my Jami-swap. Jami swaps ROCK, but she runs a tight ship.  Last night Jami I got to have dinner with Jami! I got to pick up my swaps, in person. They are wonderful! I posted the springboard idea for this card a few weeks back in Bordering Blue with LOTS more brads.

• Stamps: Paisley BG and Spring Song - Stampin’ UP!

• Cardstock: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Ivory

• Ink: Really Rust, Timber Brown StazOn

• Accs: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Key Tag Punch, Vanilla Ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardware

Today most of my friends and roomies arrive at CHA, and I am going to a COPIC marker training  event. Enjoy your Saturday!

I loved Beate’s sketch for today, and it was the perfect time to practice for a swap that I need to complete…by today. This is the first set that I purchased from the new Stampin’ UP! Spring Catalog, Song of Spring. I was drawn to this bird image… Make sure you check out these awesome bloggers this morning for more sketch inspiration (I’m off to peek, but I’m quite sure they rocked it!): Cambria Turnbow, Charmaine Ikach, Jenn Balcer, Laurie Schmidlin, MaryJo Albright, Sharon Harnist

• Stamps: Song of Spring and Paisley Background by Stampin’ UP!
• Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue and Watercolor Paper by Stampin’ UP!
• Ink: Timber Brown StazOn, Bordering Blue & Chocolate Chip
• Accs: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Pewter Hardware, Key Tag Punch, Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Sponge Dauber, Sewing Machine.

Thanks for looking, and if you’re Jami…my swaps will go postal today.

A new box of goodies sits on the dining room table. Stampin’ UP! released a new catalog the first of January, and though it’s gorgeous it took me a few days to place my initial order. Last night I cut some rubber and put my mind to go SUO (Stampin’ UP! Only) on my sketch-take for Beate’s challenge. This set is called Pretty Amazing, and it is beautiful. Stampin’ UP! was my first rubber love, and I am always pleased with how their colors and images coordinate so beautifully.

Make sure you check out these fabulous bloggers this morning for more sketch inspiration: Cambria Turnbow, Charmaine Ikach, Jenn Balcer, Laurie Schmidlin, MaryJo Albright, Sharon Harnist .

• Stamps: Pretty Amazing - Stampin’ UP!

• Cardstock: River Rock, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and Ginger Blossom Patterened Paper

• Ink: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip and River Rock Classic

• Accs: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Build-a-Brad both Stampin’ UP!, Nestabilites by Spellbinders and sewing maching

Woo-hoo for Friday! Today’s sketch (Has Beate really been at this for 30 weeks already?) is in response to the support I received yesterday for the Divine Design challenge. Y’all were just ’so kind’, so open, so willing. Thank you for all of the comments and emails that I received. You sure know how to make a heart warm and be encouragers. 

It was fun to work the pieces of this challenge together. I thought the sketch was going to be easy-peasy, but em…all of the white space was tricky. Finally, I cut and and embossed the ’so kind’ sentiment with my Nestabilities and then laid it back into the negative white space. That seemed to give me the pop that I wanted without ‘extra’ stuff.

Make sure you check out these fabulous bloggers this morning:

Cambria Turnbow

Charmaine Ikach

Jenn Balcer 

Laurie Schmidlin 

MaryJo Albright

Sharon Harnist

• Stamps: Priceless by Stampin’ UP!
• Cardstock: Cryogen White and Purely Pomegranate by Stampin’ UP!
• Ink: Pomegranate Classic by Stampin’ UP!
• Accs: Ribbon and Pretties Kit for the stick pin by Stampin’ UP! and Nestabilities by Spellbinders

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. ~ Psalm 69:30

Sketch from the Card Maker’s Sketch Book by Tami Mayberry. Love that resource!

• Stamps: Bountiful Blessing - Stampin’ UP
• Cardstock: Curious Iridescent Cappaccino & Curious Iridescent White, Perfect Plum and Autumn Harvest patterened paper
• Ink: Palette Burnt Umber & Scattered Straw Disressing Ink
• Accs: Copic Markers, Nestabilities, Hodgepodge Hardware Copper, Cosmo Cricket Rub Ons, Stardust Clear Shimmer Pen, May Arts Ribbon

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s Beate Sketch time! I found this beautiful paper in my stash. It’s by Bo Bunny. I added the stamped images on Curious Iridescent White with this stem from Oh, So Lovely by Stampin’ UP! It’s stamped in Palette Burnt Umber and colored with Copics. I restamped the image on the soft blue paper, colored in the stem and then trimmed out the flower heads to adhere to the blue. Then I cut the circle medallion with my Nestabilities. The brads were white, I colored them in to match the blues in the pretty paper. Ribbon is Stampin’ UP!

I’m going to check out Beate, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon. It’s a weekend of celebrations for the Sketch ladies!  My friend, the most fabulous, Sharon Harnist is celebrating an acceptance to the Spellbinder’s Design Team. Well-deserved honor, for sure! And, certainly worthy of celebrating, Beate Sketch artist extrordinaire, Charmaine is snuggling and cuddling a beautiful ball of blue baby blanket this weekend as they welcome Baby Isaac to the family. Congratulations, Charmaine!

I’ve got 2 projects set up to show you over the weekend that I completed for my friend, Taylor’s trading card swap. Speaking of Taylor, she’s partying this weekend, as well….make sure to check out her blog. She’s celebrating 7 days straight for reaching 1,000,000 blog hits. Lots of fun, fabulous prizes each day! Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

My girls are 5 & 7, and their fall parties at school are so fun. Especially the kindergarteners, it is their first official school celebration, and they are so excited. This is a game that I have used since my oldest was in kindergarten, so I am not sure where I go the idea. I just put the balls in a zip-lock and get it out from year to year.

 The relay is played with plastic spoons. The kids line up, and carry their ‘pumpkins’ down the lane on the plastic spoon and drop in the cauldron. The team with the most pumpkins in the cauldron at the end wins. If you are on a tile floor, you’ll have ping pong balls going every which way. So simple, so fun.

I’ve been home bound with sick or hive covered children for 2 full weeks, so I’m looking forward to my night out with Wes and some friends. Have a wonderful weekend!