Friends Having Fun and Some Little Cards

Have you heard the news about Friends Having Fun yet? It’s a brand-new challenge blog that is just about to debut!  And this one will be a little different – fun is the first priority for this site!  Challenges will be weekly, and will rotated among four teams – see below for the challenge themes and the team leaders:

Alison – Color Challenge (week 1)

Dani – Sketch Challenge (week 2)

Sarabeth – Recipe Challenge (week 3)

Erica – Pop Culture Challenge (week 4)

In addition, each team is looking for 3-4 friends (design team members) who would like to have fun!  All the details can be found here and the deadline for submission is this Friday, March 12th.  Details are still being worked out for the debut of the challenges, which is now tentatively scheduled for late March.  I will be sure to update here! 

Now, feel like seeing some little cards?  There are times when I seriously love making smaller-scale cards like the three pictured below.  They come together quickly and the size forces me to really keep them simple.  

This first one is my fave of the bunch – I absolutely loved using that sentiment stamp (by Verve Stamps) and that designer paper (by Pink Paislee).  Putting them together just made me happy!   I think I need to use that stamp again really soon – as a matter of fact, an idea is coming to me as I type this….hmmm….

The Twilighty card below went to the winners of blog candy prizes from the recent Twilight Tuesday Farewell Blog Hop.  It was a bit bittersweet making this final Twilight-themed project, but I HAD to use that sentiment from Beth’s StampInsanity Stamps set (called Otherworldly Loves).  Although I may very well make more Twilight-themed projects in the future, this definitely felt a bit poignant since I was officially done with my Twilight Tuesday duties when I mailed out the blog candy prizes and these cards.  I hope that the prize winners liked them!

And this last card also resulted from that Twilight-card-making session – exactly the same as the card above with a different sentiment and die cut shapes in the center. 

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

What I Used:

Anything is Possible Card:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Ruby Red cardstock, Pink Paislee designer paper

Stamps:  Verve Stamps

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Ruby Red

Accessories:  Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch, Kaiser red pearls, dimensionals

Twilighter and Thank You Cards:

Paper: Papertrey Ink vintage cream and black cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Riding Hood Red cardstock; K & Co. designer paper

Stamps:  StampInsanity Stamps Otherworldly Loves set (“Twilighter”); Verve Stamps (“thank you”)

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  Spellbinders Nestabilities labels dies, dimensionals, K&Co adhesive jewels

Bird Song

Hey everyone!  I’m back with a card to share today.  How’ve you all been? 

This card I made for my dear friend, the lovely Beth of StampInsanity.  I needed to thank Beth in a big way for a gift she had given me – the gift of THE BROTHERS.  She lent me her entire set of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books, and I adore them so much it’s not even funny.   If you haven’t read the books yet, READ THEM!  They’re amazing! 

If you’ve read the books, you might get my (admittedly vague) reference to the 5th book in the series, Lover Unbound, that I included in this card.  (Once I explain the reference, that is!  It’s not obvious – lol.)  I was really touched by the events in that book with Vishous and the birds – I will say no more for those who might want to read the book – and this card was inspired by that.   But hopefully it’s nice to look at if you have not read the books, too, so see below!

I absolutely love this stamp (the sentiment) by Verve and I was really excited about using it for this card, along with a bird stamp by Inkadinkado. 

I added a bird charm attached with a bit of chain and glittered up the bird image a bit – you can see that below.

I will be back again soon to share more stuff – I have been working on SO MANY projects lately that I’m honestly losing track of all of them!  They’re all in various states of completion, which is why I have not been posting much lately.  Bringing them to completion – that is what I need to do right now!  I can’t stop myself from starting new things before I’m done with other projects.  It’s just too exciting – I HAVE to!  In any event, I hope to share more here soon. 

Thanks so much for visiting!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Brocade Blue and So Saffron cardstock; Bo Bunny Summer Cottage designer paper

Stamps:  Verve Stamps (sentiment); Inkadinkado (bird)

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Brocade Blue

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Victorian embossing folder, Spellbinders Nestabilities petite circle dies; brad; dimensionals; Sakura Jelly Roll pen in clear; chain and bird charm; Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch

Meet Fluffy!

And who is this Fluffy, you ask?  OUR NEW KITTEN!  Look at this gorgeous girl!! 

She is nine weeks old, and has been with us for one week, and is already firmly ensconced in our family and our hearts.  We are enjoying every minute with her.

And my TWO gorgeous girls….

This is one of my favorite pictures (of anything) ever.  Here is the start of a beautiful friendship.

So I had a little camera malfunction lately and now that it is resolved, I will be back very soon to share some crafty stuff – finally! 

Thanks so much for visiting!

Twilight Tuesday Farewell Blog Hop!

Wow.

It’s hard to believe that the day has come – but here it is – Twilight Tuesday’s final challenge!  So that means that it’s time to celebrate Twilight Tuesday’s run from 2008 ‘til present, we’re doing a BLOG HOP!  

In the blog hop, there is a TON of stuff to see — tons of projects by our lovely and talented Design Team, and a boatload of blog candy prizes!  As a matter of fact, you are in the right place for a blog candy prize right now – I am offering a prize and the details on that are below!  Whoohoo! 

And here is the sequence for the blog hop (featuring the members of the Design Team in reverse alphabetical order) – you should have arrived here from Margie’s blog.

Tonya, Twilight Tuesday’s Founder!

Rebecca
Margie
Julie – you’re here!

Jodi

Jen

Erica
Donna
Dani

Beth
Alison

And the Blog Hop ends at Twilight Tuesday.com!

And that blog candy! 

Several members of the Design Team are offering blog candy prizes today and I am one of them!  My prize is the Twilight movie DVD!  For those who were taking note of the many versions of the DVD that were released, this one is the “Three-Disc Deluxe Version” from Target.  Click here for more info. on this particular version.  To enter into the random drawing to win this DVD, simple leave me a comment here on this blog!  Easy!  Comments may be left until midnight on Friday, February 19th.   Please note that winners are limited to entrants from the U.S. 

And it’s finally time for my project for today!  Today’s theme, by Rebecca, is the love of books, and she asks us to use printed text in our project. 

I went through soooo many drafts and different versions of this project before I settled on this one, which is very, very simple.  I was trying pages from the books, long quotes – you name it.  And I kept thinking back to Tonya’s use of the final line in Breaking Dawn (the final line in the entire series) in her post announcing the closing of the site.  I thought that was an incredibly moving way to announce the end of Twilight Tuesday, and here it is:-

And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever.

So…I had to work that final word, forever, of the series into my project.   This card is definitely very simple for me, but I really just wanted to keep my farewell to Twilight Tuesday very simple.   I have an enormous amount of emotion going on at the moment – the main feeling being one of gratitude.  This has been an incredible ride.  I owe so much to Twilight Tuesday — to the people behind Twilight Tuesday in particular.  It’s all for love. L.O.V.E.

Now, go, keep on hopping!  The next stop is Jodi’s blog!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock, Bazzill Bling red and white (diamond) cardstock; Making Memories glitter designer paper

Stamp:  Artful INKables Fictionally Inspired set

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  Prima flower; Spellbinders Nestabilities labels dies; adhesive heart gem; ribbon; dimensionals

The Key to My Heart

Hello!   Want to see my latest adventure in beading?

I am not totally sure exactly where I might be going with all of this, but one thing I know now is that I want to make stuff that I, and others, might actually use on a regular basis.  I don’t actually wear a lot of jewelry.  I do enjoy it a lot but I just find it gets in my way too often.  So while I might move on and make jewelry, I also want to make things that you can use everyday, but just happen to be all beaded up!   So I’ve got beaded charms hanging from my journals and my daughter’s backpack, and basically hanging from every surface around the house.  (My daughter’s been beading right along with me, so yeah, there are beads EVERYWHERE around here now!) 

And that is the long story of how this keychain was born. And you can tell it’s for me since I am obsessed with the color blue. I’ve got a little something  hanging from each of the three strands – a fleur de lis charm from one (a shape that I LOVE), a large round bead from another, and a large blue glass heart bead from another.  There are a bunch of Swarovski crystals here, clear ones and dark blue/sapphire colored, and they shoot off the most beautiful sparkles of light in the car!   I love seeing that!

Here are a couple of photos — one of the whole keychain, and one that is a little more close-up —

Thanks so much for visiting — see you again soon!

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge: Touchy-Feely Valentine

Oh my goodness, I feel like I have been away for so long!  A little injury has slowed me (and my crafting!) down a lot lately, but things are improving now – yay!

So here is my better late than never project for this week’s Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge theme.  Donna has come up with this week’s theme, and here is what she has to say about it:

Craft Portion: Make a VALENTINE’S card/project for your favourite character or for YOUR valentine… but…. with texture!! That’s right I want you to add things like lace, raised embossing, distressed edges, fuzzy fibres, metal, cloth, cracked glass, leather, flower soft, sandpaper, anything that adds texture!

Comment Portion: Tell us your favourite Valentine’s story…Or if you haven’t got one, Tell us who you would like to snuggle up on Valentine’s day with from the Twilight Saga.

Click here for further details about the challenge and how to play along.  And as always, our Design Team has fantastic projects to display for this week’s challenge – please go and check them out!

Alison ~ Dani ~ Donna ~ Erica ~Jen ~ Jodi ~ Margie ~ Rebecca~ Tonya (who expects to be a little late)

And here is my card for this week – one that features fabric!  I have lots of fabric on hand since I often make fabric-covered journals, but I rarely use it on cards.  Donna’s challenge gave me a great opportunity to give it another go.

Here’s a closer look at the fabric heart.  I die-cut the fabric with a Spellbinders heart die and backed it with batting to give it lots of dimension.  I am loving the feel of this thing — it’s puffy like a little pillow!  I’m not sure that comes across in this photo, but hopefully you will take my word for it.    The background of the card is also embossed, adding in a little bit more texture.

Thanks very much for visiting – I’ll be back again soon!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream and Smokey Shadow cardstock; Stampin’ Up!  Riding Hood Red cardstock

Stamp:  Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer

Ink:  Stampin’ Up!  Riding Hood Red

Other Materials:  Cuttlebug:  Sizzix embossing folder, Spellbinders Nestabilities heart die and curved rectangle die; fabric; batting; Sakura Jelly Roll pen in clear; buttons; ribbon; dimensionals.

HWCQB6MU9JVV

Stamp Happens Sketch Challenge, With a Chance to WIN!

My dear friends Tonya, of the Stamp Happens Shop, and Beth, of StampInsanity Stamps, are doing a joint Sketch Challenge, and this one has a PRIZE!  

A winner will be randomly selected from all challenge entrants and will receive a free StampInsanity set called Zeke & Maddie.  This set is adorable and perfect for Valentine’s Day – check it out here!

I love a good sketch – and this challenges happens to be all about love too!  That is the one rule to this challenge – to create something based on love or Valentine’s Day.  Oh, and to link back to the Stamp Happens Shop as well.  Click here for all the details and play along!

And here is my challenge card.  A very simple one at that, but definitely about love, in all its pink, Cupid-ish glory!   The designer paper on this card is BoBunny from their Persuasion line (and from Tonya’s shop).

Have a great day & thanks so much for visiting!

What I Used:

Paper: Papertrey Ink white cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Regal Rose cardstock, BoBunny Persuasion designer paper

Stamps:  Pink Paislee

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Regal Rose

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Sizzix embossing folder and Spellbinders Nestabilities curved rectangles dies; dimensionals, Kaiser pearls

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge – Seeing Red

Hey – it’s Twilight Tuesday time! Our Design Team member Erica has chosen today’s challenge theme, and it’s all about the color red.  Here’s what Erica has to say:

Create a project either using the color red or expressing what red means to you. Comment portion: Tell your best “red” story.  Is it that great red dress that caught everyone’s attention?  Have you “seen red” before?  Anyone like Red Velvet Cake?  Anything goes!

Click here for further details about the challenge and how to play along.  And as always, our Design Team has fantastic projects to display for this week’s challenge – please go and check them out!

Alison ~ Dani ~ Donna ~ Erica ~Jen ~ Jodi ~ Margie ~ Rebecca~ Tonya

Here’s my project for today – lots of red here!  And lots of photos too, so you can get a closer look at some of the details.  I used this week’s Mojo Monday sketch for this card as well.  (Sketch + deadline = a big help!)

A closer look at the stamped portion —

And the beaded pin —

Thanks so much for visiting – have a great day!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock, Bazzill Bling Red Carpet; Basic Grey Wassail designer paper

Stamps:  Cornish Heritage Farm

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Victorian embossing folder; Vintage corner die; Spellbinders Nestabilities petite circles dies; ribbon; dimensionals; Kaiser pearls; beads, wire. 

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge – Our First Color Challenge!

Happy Tuesday!  Twilight Tuesday has a really cool thing happening for today – our very first Color Challenge!  The challenge colors for this week feature the colors of lovely Edward’s features.  Alison is our hostess this week; check out her description below: 

The first color is Butterscotch for his eyes (when he isn’t hungry!), second is Alabaster for his pale, pale skin, and third is Reddish-Brown for his fabulous hair!

As always, be sure to visit the lovely members of our Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge Design Team to see what they have in store for this week’s challenge! 

Alison ~ Beth ~ Dani ~ Donna ~Erica ~ Jen ~ Jodi ~Margie ~ Rebecca

And here is my project for this week – an ode to Edward.  Hehe.  It seems that every so often I need to do an ode to Edward, and this is my New Moon-era version. 

This card looks better in person – I could never get an accurate photo of all the glitter!  But see that glitter cardstock there?  This stuff is the nicest glitter paper EVER.  I transported this stuff home with me all the way from Texas!  (Tonya!  Hey girl!)  During my visit with Tonya,  of course we had to do a little crafty shopping, and I found this glitter paper at a store local to her.  It’s the BEST – it’s sort of soft to the touch and the glitter does not fall off of the paper.  I don’t know how they do it – you’re usually covered with glitter when you use paper like this! The paper is made by a company called Best Creation – look for it!  Trust me – it’s amazing stuff – SO bright and sparkly! 

I only wish you could see the glitter better on this card!  It is so very bright and shiny in real life that I had to stop myself from embellishing the card any further!  I used a gold glitter cardstock (covering the Butterscotch for Edward’s eyes) and a bronze glitter shade (for the Reddish-Brown of his hair).  Some Bazzill Bling paper in an “Alabaster” shade called String of Pearls stands in for that pale Cullen skin tone.  That is the shade of the embossed background of the card.

I was absolutely THRILLED with this sentiment (Beauty is Soul-Deep) for Edward – does that capture him or what?  He doesn’t seem to fully comprehend his beauty, nor does he really believe (at some points in the books, at least) that he is capable of having a soul.   But we, the readers, know better, don’t we?  Of course we do!

Thanks so much for visiting – have a great day!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Creamy Caramel cardstock; Best Creation glitter cardstock in gold and bronze; Bazzill Bling in String of Pearls

Stamps:  Artful INKables from the Fictionally Inspired set (Edward name stamp); sentiment from Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink:  Brilliance Ink in Coffee Bean, Papertrey Ink Vintage Touch distressing inks

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Sizzix embossing folder, Cuttlebug tag die, Cuttlebug Vintage corner die, Spellbinders Fancy Tag die, and Spellbinders Nestabilities petite oval die; brad; EK Success corner punch.

Photo of Robert Pattinson from The Twilight Saga: New Moon, property of Summit Entertainment

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 59 – Sparkle!

Hey everyone & Happy New Year!  I’ve been away from blogging for a bit but I’m back today with a Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge! 

Today’s theme for TTIC59, brought to us by Margie, is all about sparkle!  Margie challenges us to “start the New Year with a bit of Sparkle! Create a project using something that sparkles or shines – glitter, bling, etc.”  And for the comment portion of the challenge, you can share your inspiring resolutions for the New Year!  Click here for all the challenge details and play along with us! 

We have something very cool happening this week – a new Design Team member has joined us – Jodi!  Welcome, welcome, Jodi!  Visit Jodi at her blog, Inked Inspirations, to give her a big Twilighty welcome!  And visit the other Twilight Tuesday Design Team members to see their sparkle for this week.

Alison ~ Dani ~ Donna ~Erica ~ Jen ~ Jodi ~Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

So my sparkle for today comes from a new little crafty thing I’m doing – I have been wanting to make beaded charms for a while for the journals that I make (to hang from the bindings) and I finally starting working on that lately!  Amazing how quickly a fun idea turns into a big old obsession for me – within a couple of days, I made about 2 dozen of these little charmy things!  It’s been SO much fun. 

I’ll post more about these charms, and the journals that they will go with, soon, but for now, here’s a quick look at my craziness.  I was not kidding about the obsession part…  

For today’s project — I had a Twilight-themed journal in mind for a while and this was a great opportunity to finally get that done and share it!  This is an 8”x8” journal covered with some really beautiful Bo Bunny paper from Tonya’s Stamp Happens Shop.  This paper is from a holiday line, but I think it still works really well with a Twilight theme. 

Here is a look at the entire journal, featuring an Artful INKables stamp:

And a look at the charm, in action!

And here is the charm on its own, so you can see it a bit better:

Thanks so much for visiting!

What I Used (for the Journal):

Paper:  Bo Bunny Press St. Nick-Noel designer paper from the Stamp Happens Shop

Stamp:  Artful INKables from the Into the Moonlight stamp set

Ink:  Versafine in Onyx Black, Papertrey Ink Vintage Touch inking system

Coloring:  Copic markers

Accessories:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Five