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

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

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.

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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

New Moon Blog Hop – Today’s the Day!

Welcome, welcome, blog hoppers!  If you came here from Monika’s blog, you are in the right place!  

Today to keep us all in the mood, I’m sharing a New Moon-related project that I made for a past Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge about the villains of Twilight.  And why am I sharing a previously-made project?  Because I am in a hotel room in Austin, Texas, as I type – and heading to the movie theater on Friday morning with Tonya and Beth!  WHOOHOOO!  Cannot.wait.

With this digital layout, I tried to sort of illustrate one of the scenes from the book, when Bella encounters Laurent when she revisits Edward’s meadow.   I had to include Edward as the figment of Bella’s imagination – you just HAVE to get Edward in there – and there is a nice reference to Jacob in there as well.  (Look for the wolf paw prints on the lower right hand side.)  I can’t wait to see this scene on the big screen!

Now, keep on hopping – it’s time to visit one of our very special guest designers, Beate Johns! 

Have a great time at the movie, everyone!

Twilight Tuesday: New Challenge and BLOG HOP!

Life got in the way for me and I wasn’t able to participate in yesterday’s Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge, but I wanted to provide the details.  The theme for yesterday’s TTIC54 is The Raven, giving you a chance to look a little closer at a Quileute legend.  

The other bit of news – we’re celebrating the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon with a blog hop on Friday, 20 November!  This will be so fun – we’ve got a bunch of special guests lined up and will be working alongside Artful INKables, who are doing their own blog hop that same day!  That means you can enter both the Twilight Tuesday blog hop and the Artful INKables hop using the same project.  There are a lot more details to be found at Twilight Tuesday, including how to sign up – click here and join us! 

And feel free to grab this blinkie for your own blog.  I can’t wait for the 20th!

Twilight Tuesday One Year Anniversary Blog Hop!

It’s a momentous day for Twilight Tuesday!– today’s challenge, our 52nd, marks the one-year anniversary of the Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge!  In celebration of this big event, we’re doing our first-ever blog hop!  There is TONS of fun stuff in store for today, including surprise blog candy stops and a scavenger hunt with awesome prizes, so you’ll need to be sure to go through the entire blog hop so that you don’t miss out on a thing! 

Just to get started quickly – the blog hop begins at Twilight Tuesday.com, and if you have arrived here from Lisa J.’s blog, you are definitely in the right place!  For all the details on the day’s events, visit Twilight Tuesday and get all the info.

So, let me tell you a little bit about our sponsors for today’s blog hop, who generously donated prizes for the scavenger hunt:

Stamp Happens Shop –  http://stamphappens.com/shop
Stamp Insanity Stamps – http://stampinsanity.com
The Greeting Farm – http://thegreetingfarm.com/shop
Unity Stamp Co. – http://http://www.unitystampco.com/
Die Cuts R Us  – http://www.diecutsrus.com/
Sassy Studio Designs – http://buysassystudiodesigns.blogspot.com/
Stars Fall Designs  – http://starsfalldesigns.etsy.com/

Yeah, that last one – that’s me all right!  I’m offering up a handmade New Moon-themed journal for one of the scavenger hunt prizes.  Want to see?

Here’s the front cover of the journal, which is filled with 40 pages of plain white cardstock for you to fill as you wish!  Draw, write, compose love letters to Rob – whatever you want!

And here is a closer look at the details on the front of the book – an image of one of the New Moon movie posters and a Prima flower that I can hardly bear to part with.  This flower – I just keep staring at it!

And now, it’s time to keep on hopping!  Your next stop is to my good friend Beth’s site, StampInsanity!  Beth is the woman behind StampInsanity Stamps and another sponsor for today’s events, so you won’t want to miss her site!  Thank you SO MUCH for visiting today – enjoy your hopping around! 

What I Used:

Paper:  The Paper Company gold cardstock; Bazzill Bling in brown; K & Co. designer paper

Accessories:  Zutter Bind-it-All machine with 8×8” chipboard covers, one-inch antique brass o-wires; Cuttlebug with Textile Texture embossing folder & Nestabilties rectangle dies; Making Memories brad and Crop-A-Dile

Photo of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson from The Twilight Saga: New Moon (film) property of Summit Entertainment

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 51 – Edward Cullen’s Greatest Hits

Hello everyone!  It’s Twilight Tuesday time – I have been away from my blog for a few days and it’s so nice to be back!  Today’s challenge has a really nice theme – it’s all about Edward.  We have covered Edward so many ways in so many different challenge themes, but we had yet to do a theme solely focused on his character. 

As always, be sure to visit our awesome Design Team to see what they have to display for this week!

Alison ~ Dani ~ Donna ~ Eve ~ Jacquie ~ Jen ~ Julie ~ Margie ~ Rebecca

(Erica is off this week and will return next week.)

So Jen issues the challenge for this week:

So for this challenge I want you to focus on your connection to Edward. What does his character mean to you?

For the creative challenge: Create a project that focuses on Edward.

For the comment portion: How do you feel about Edward’s character? Is it like, love or disdain? Have you read the partial draft of Midnight Sun? What did you think about reading the story from his point of view?

So what does the character of Edward Cullen mean to me?  Edward IS the Twilight saga to me; that is all there is to it.  I have worked Edward into as many of the past Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenges as you could imagine, so I just had to do a little retrospective of the projects today.

Here is my very first entry to the world of the Twilight Tuesday challenges – here is TTIC3, about “Edward’s meadow.” Another early challenge – "Whose Team Are You On?"  And my answer – so obvious. This challenge (TTIC12) was to choose our favorite Twilight quotes, so I just had to turn to Midnight Sun, which, although incomplete, is still my favorite part of the Twilight Saga.  Again – me = Edward-centric. Here is my project for the "Twilight Music" challenge – I had to go with Edward and Bella’s Lullaby. And for Twilight baseball? Yep, went with Edward again. Here is his baseball "scouting report;" the vampire baseball league was very interested in recruiting him. And this one was for the challenge on "Our Favorite Twilight Things" and I continue with my super-obvious choices and went with this guy — And I saved this one for last because it’s one my faves.  This digital layout was for the challenge on the ballet studio scene from Twilight.  I really like the story this one tells – I used small images at the bottom of the layout to show the process he goes through in that scene.  I think that Edward’s ability to save Bella from James’ venom is a serious turning point for the character.  After this occurs, he seems to realize that he won’t be able to hurt Bella after all since his love for her outweighs the temptation.  Sigh.  Oh, Edward.