Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #31 and Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #55

I'm really excited that I had time to do both of these challenges last night.

I loved Taylor's sketch (TECC#31), so making a card came easy to me. I pulled out some old BoBunny papers from my scrap file. I used Ruby Red and Old Olive papers and the old Mixed Greetings stamp set from Stampin' Up, along with an old clip from their hodgepodge hardware. I'm not sure where the ribbon came from, but it was perfect!

Beate's sketch (WSC55) was a bit more of a challenge, but I like it. Again, scrap papers from my file, I think they were also old BoBunny papers. I used Buckaroo Blue cardstock and With Gratitude stamp set from Stampin' Up. The leaf was stamped using Color Box chalk pads first, then layered True Thyme ink on top for depth. I also used my spritzer with caramel and banana markers on the leaf. The smile sentiment came from Wordsworth. I love pulling buttons out of my button jar, and these 3 coordinated well with the colors.

I got word today that my new stuff from Stampin' Up has come in, so I can't wait to get going on my Christmas cards and other things soon. Off to hang out with the girls, have a great weekend!

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #30, late!

I really liked the sketch on Taylor's TECC#30 last Friday, so even though I didn't complete it by her deadline, I wanted to share that I did, in fact, do the challenge. All products used in the challenge were by Stampin' Up, retired or otherwise. Stamp set: Like it a Latte. (Thanks on envelope is from Heartfelt Thanks.) Colors: Olive, Burgundy, Coral. I used the "out of the box" technique for the top of the steam. I made 4 of these and will be using them for birthday thank-you's to my family. I'm hoping to mail them out tomorrow if I get them written.

Off to see the new challenge...

Valentine's Day- Candy Bar Pouch

I saw this on Splitcoaststampers during the winter months. At the time I had 3 other girls on my team at work (now there's one more). I whipped these up for each of them, trying to customize to their personalities at least a little bit. Instructions for this project are available on their site for the Hershey bar size, I made it bigger for these big Dove bars. Basically you just pull the ribbon/bow and it pulls the candy bar right out.

I used some Daisy D's floral paper for the one on the left (above) along with pink and purple cardstock. I used an old All Year Cheer set by Stampin' Up! for the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment and I sponged the circle's edges and the floral paper using purple ink. The bottom of the pouches were crimped. The left one has pink taffeta ribbon. The one on the right was done with old Stampin' Up! Valentine's papers. You can barely see, but I stamped some hearts across the pink cardstock above the crimped edge and above the XO paper. Much cuter in person.

This was also done in purple. I inked up the cardboard flower, I heat embossed the sentiment in white. I used 2 random designer papers (one is from Stampin' Up!, the other is just an old scrap), the green ribbon was taffeta, and I used the stitched purple ribbon to coordinate with the cardstock. I had fun doing these, and my coworkers thought they were a cute surprise!

Thanks for looking!

Starting back simple...

I am trying to get back upstairs to do more crafting. My time is almost non-existent now with 2 kids. But I had a rare opportunity last night, and opted to fore go some sleep time to do a couple of things. Taylor is having "Cupcake Challenge #29" and so I decided to start with it. I broke out some stuff I bought a long time ago and hadn't really done much of anything with. Stamp set is Carte Postale by Stampin' Up! and it's coordinating scrapbook papers, combined with Basic Grey cardstock.

I also used grey and pale plum inks for the Merci circles. These were simple to do with my circle punches and I instantly was able to write out 2 more thank you notes for baby gifts!

Next I have the window and flowers from Stampin' Up!'s new set called Window Dressing. I got to use it at the catalog premiere party that my friend Heather hosted. I stamped the images and then took it home, along with the new In Color cardstock in Pacific Point which is very nice. I added some Basic Grey cardstock for matting. The images were watercolored with Earth Elements colors, including Not Quite Navy, which was very close to the new color.

As I said, I was keeping things simple to start back. Thanks for coming to check it out.
P.S. I have some pics from a simple Valentine craft that I made for my 3 coworkers. I'll post soon.