Under Mama's Wings by Sandra Caldwell

Did everyone enjoy the weekend?  I ran away with my mom and my sisters for a girls' overnight away.  We played Yahtzee and watched movies and had a bunch of fun.  We laughed over memories and made new ones.

I made this card for one of my sisters. Each is a godmother to one of my kids, so I always give them cards as well as my own mom.

Queen Kat Designs released a new image from Sandra Caldwell that was perfect for my Mother's Day card.  It's called "Under Mama's Wings".  That is one tired looking mama bird, but she also looks happy to me, happy to be able to hold and protect two healthy young ones.

I too am happy to have two young adults as my children, one married into a family with a daughter of his own, and the other about to embark on the adventure of her life, graduating from high school next month.

You can always find the perfect images and stamps for whatever you're feeling, whatever you want to say to someone.  Check out the Shoppe for the most fun, funky, fantastical, gorgeous images!! You'll love what you see!

Butterfly Cookie by Diane Carubia

I hope everyone enjoyed Mother's Day yesterday.  I had gone away with my  mom and sisters to a girls' overnight out and came back early afternoon to kisses, hugs and surprises.  Later I spent an hour ruthlessly cleaning out my craft room, putting aside a few treasures for crafting friends and filling a trash bag for the Goodwill store.  I felt empowered!

Once that was done, I sat down and played with a Squigglefly May digi release from artist Diane Carubia.  It's called "Butterfly Cookie".  I made a card with a pocket on the front,as that is this week's challenge over at the Squigglefly Challenge Blog.  I adhered my Copic-colored image to my pocket and into it I placed a small tag on which I stamped Happy Birthday!  Then I added the butterfly to grab the tag.  It's peeking out of the pocket.  I threw on some paper flowers and the Butterfly sentiment to embellish and my card is ready for the challenge.
Did you know that Squigglefly gives one lucky participant free digi images each week, as long as they use a Squigglefly image and follow the challenge guidelines.  What's more, they offer FREEBIES for you to start your collection!
It's a win-win situation, so run on over and play today!

Pretty in Pink

I really am trying to push SPRING the last few weeks because in the Chicagoland area, it's just not happening.  Although the weather is finally shifting to a more normal pattern and the temps are s-l-o-w-l-y climbing up, so there is hope for us.

So, today I made a pretty Springtime card in shades of pink.  I used a brand spankin' new May DIGI release (that's right, a DIGI from QKD) called New Dress by Kathy Cyr.

I had a handful of leftover pieces of patterned papers in shades of pink, so I ran with it and ended up with this card.  I love the yellow butterfly playing peekaboo and adding just a pop of color.

You can find New Dress at the QKD Shoppe, along with lots of rubber and digi's!  Have fun!
And while you're having it, ask yourself if you've ever considered becoming a design team member for QKD.  There is a Royal DT call going on right now:

Queen Kat Designs Stamp Co. (www.katstamps.com) announces its latest search for loyal, dedicated and excited Royal Court members! You must be a STAMPER and card maker to apply. We are a stamp manufacturer that makes laser etched rubber stamps and digital stamps. We are looking for people who LOVE to stamp and can do so on a deadline with a smile!

Term Dates: June 1, 2013-Dec 31, 2013 (7 months)

*Must love to color!*

*Must be willing to try new techniques and use layers and embellishments in your projects.*

*Must be able to do a minimum of 5 projects a month*

*Must be able to blog 1 time a week on your own blog*

*Must be able to blog 1 time a week on our company blog*

Work Description:

*5-6 Hand stamped projects a month (photographs only, you keep your projects)

*1 Blog post a week on your personal blog (using 1 of the cards you made for your monthly quota)

*1 Blog post on the Queen Kat Designs Blog

*Participation on the QKD Facebook Fan page at least once a week (with a sample that you have made)

*Check in on the Court’s private message board at least 3 times a week to make sure you’re up to date

*Must be able to upload your monthly projects once a week to our gallery on Splitcoaststampers.com

Perks of the team:

+Worldwide exposure to your work through our blog and Fan Page

+Free Digital or rubber stamps each month of your term (mostly digital)

+A generous product discount on any stamps and digital stamps we carry

+The Coveted Royal Court Blog Badge

+And more…

Please see info below and take your time to prepare a well thought out application.

A.    Make 3 projects showcasing your best work and blog about them on your blog with a link to the Queen Kat Designs Royal Court Call.  (Cards must be new for this call and can use any stamps and products you want. Of course we are partial to QKD stamps but welcome submissions with any stamps.)

B.     Email us the link to your blog post to: royalcall@katstamps.com with the following (all in 1 email please!)

C.     Include the following information in the body of your email: Your full name, mailing address, phone number, blog or website address, email address.  Current bloggers only!  This call is open to anyone in the world.

    

General Questions…

1. Would you say you are primarily a stamper, altered artist, or a scrapbooker?

2. How long have you been stamping/ scrapbooking? What techniques do you like to play with? What are your favorite products? Ie: Distress Inks, Dylusions Sprays, Masks, etc.

3. Have you participated in any other design teams? If so, please explain (guest designer, regular designer, for store, for manufacturer), and if currently on other teams, please list those teams and your commitment. Please list the work load and the length of your commitments as well as names of companies.

4. What is your motivation for participating in our design team?

5. Do you currently own any Queen Kat Designs stamps? If not, why not? (Please be candid)

6. Are you able/ willing to make at least one post per week to promote our products?

7. Are you able/ willing to commit to a 7 month term with QKD at this time? (Yes! We do extend terms if all goes well)

Applications are due by May 17th at 10am MST!

New Royal Court members will be contacted by May 20th via email.

Send everything in 1 email to: royalcall@katstamps.com

Please put Royal Court Call in the Subject Line

Color Me Blue

Or green, or pink, or any color really, as long as you keep your card monochromatic--shades of the same basic color.  That's theis week's new challenge over at Squigglefly Challenge Blog.

I happened to choose BLUE.  I chose it because I don't see a lot of colored images of girls colored in blue.  Most of the time it's pink, but my girl here is a rebel, and made sure mommy dressed her in her favorite color.

This May Squigglefly digi release from the very  talented Lynne Stansbery is called "Blow Me a Kiss".  I love her, and I know you will too!

I used up more of my leftover stash from previous projects.  I used a couple of rubber stamps, one of scattered hearts that my girl is blowing to a lucky recipient, the other on the inside, a sentiment stamp that simply reads:  Love Ya Bunches.  The card design is a Z-Fold, which is one of my favorite cards to make.

Are you in the mood to make a pretty card, perhaps for your mom?  Or from your young one to your mom? Squigglefly offers you "Blow Me a Kiss" as well as plenty of other fantastic digi images with which to play.  You have a week before Mother's Day, and a week to play in the Squigglefly challenge.

Have fun!!!

Mini Tag Book Challenge

I joined a Facebok group called The Craft hole on Facebook, and from the get-go was challenged to step out of my comfort zone with a new (to me) project-a mini tag book!
Yes, I had never made one before.

This is my cover.  We were given a youtube tutorial to follow, with a margin of personal tweaking allowed.  Most tag books I've seen are bound together at the "other" end.  I like that this one is bound at the sides.

I was gifted with a handful of beautiful patterned papers that lent themselves wonderfully to flowers and fairies, which run amok in my tag book.

The dimensions are roughly 4x6, and we were asked to use six pieces of paper in our books

Each mini layout as the pages are turned has at least one pocket in which the tags are nestled.  My tag on the left hides a sentiment that reads:  There is no greater treasure than a good friend.

I recently received a package from a very good crafting friend, Holley, filled with charms of all kinds, and the tag handle uses one of these charms.

The fence is cut from the Creative Memories punch system, and the sentiment grow is a Cricut cut.  If you look closely at the flower on the right, you can almost see a face stamped on it.  That's a QKD stamp, and I've used more throughout the book.

I have lately been dabbling in mixed media, so the next set of pages showcases a paper doily, ripped designer napkin, inking, acrylic paint, another QKD stamp, all held together with a bit of Mod podge and finished off with a couple K&Co chipboard stickers.


Turning the page, I used a couple images on them.  In fact, two of my favorites, both from QKD.  On the left is Blue Haired Fairy, and on the right is Just Breathe.

The Tim Holtz Idea-ology metal charm reads:
Reality has limits, Imagination is boundless.

I agree!

I printed the digi Just Breathe in three different sizes and after coloring them, I fussy cut them out and layered them on the page.   My sentiment fits the page perfectly: Earth laughs in flowers.

Almost done, thanks for hanging in there! LOL
A small handmade journal is tucked in the pocket.


And we finally come to the last set of pages!

Just a couple quotes from the Quote Garden about fairies and flowers, the perfect ending to my challenge project.

I hope you liked it, and are inspired to try one yourself!

Making Lists

Are you a list maker?  I am!  I like to cross off the things I've listed on my to-do list.  I like to make sure I get everything on my grocery list when I go shopping.  I  like to know what I've got stashed in my closet during those last few shopping days before Christmas.
I love lists!!  And I get tired of having to buy pretty little books to keep my lists in, so I made a few this week and wanted to show them off.

The first notebook I made uses a Queen Kat Designs April release from artist Sandra Caldwell.  It's called "Four-Eyed Flower.  I colored it with Copics and, after making the "cover" from patterned paper, I fussy-cut the image and popped it onto the front flap.

Here's the inside:

I didn't do much to the inside.  I just added a few stickers and some gold lace border.

The next notebook I made is for a challenge from my Yahoo group, Your Scrapbook Place.  Every day this month, we receive a new challenge and have 24 hours to finish and post a photo of our projects.

This challenge was to make a special notebook called Purse Papers.  There is a tutorial on Split Coast Stampers with instructions and a template, if you click on the link.



Anyway, I tweaked the instructions a bit.  Instead of stamping on white cardstock, I used double-sided patterned paper.  My booklet opens the opposite direction, too.  But I like what I created!

Please don't laugh at my Christmas theme!  I just happened to have the paper in front of me.  And the box of Christmas embellies was just an arm's length away.

The booklet stays closed with the help of the ribbon. tied into a nice neat bow.  I added some die-cut pine trees and the sentiment sticker.  To really get into the whole winter thing, I used white acrylic paint for some snow effects.

When opened, a pretty pocket holds some sheets of paper, decorated with a (of course) Christmas-themed stamp.  I inked the edges and added a few candy cane hearts.

So I am in notebook heaven, ready to make more lists, and cross items off of them.  I should save up all my old lists and place them in a time capsule.  It would certainly showcase how I have lived my life!!

Spring is All A-Flutter

Today I made some Springtime ATC's, using up my overabundant stash of papers and stickers.

It seems that every time I give away or use up some of my paper stash, I am "gifted" with more of the same  from my crafting friends!  Two weeks ago I was bragging about giving away and using up about 3 inches of 12x12 paper; the next day a dear friend gifted me with a goodie bag filled with crafting items, including two NIP paper stacks from DCWV!!
Last week I found a bag of 12x12 loose patterned papers in front of my office door, left to me from a fellow crafter who teaches at the school I work at!!  I love the gifts, but I swear I am never going to have to buy paper this whole year--ever again (secretly rubbing my hands together like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons and going mwa-ha-ha//or is it more like Gollum holding the "One Ring That Binds Them All" and whispering over and over "my Precious, precious")?
Either way I'm beginning to feel like a hoarder!!  I MUST get my crafting room to rights, and I will never do so if I keep adding to it!  Time to "gift" my own crafting friends (mwahaha, so there).  I wish paper weren't so heavy or I'd mail off a ton to every cardmaker I know!!