Paper craft project no. 459: Trendy Leaves 2

    

Today we're officially releasing another new STAMPlorations stamp set: Trendy Leaves 2. This stamp set comes with coordinating CUTplorations dies -- yay! :o) We've got a mini hop for it -- hop on over the blog and leave a comment on the special stamp release post, as well as on the participating designers blogs for a chance to win this set.

To showcase this set, I made 3 cards:

Card #1: Grateful Beyond Words
Pretty simple one layer card. I stamped the leaves in coffee archival ink all over the card base, leaving a little room for the sentiment (Grateful Beyond Words) and then sponging Distress inks on the top part of the card and through a stencil (Art Splatters).

Card #2: Happy

I admit I got a little too diecut and layer happy with this one ;o) I cut a panel using the largest stitched rectangle die from the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting dies then stamped the leaves before cutting up the panel using the new Stitched Snow Hill edge dies and then adhering to my card base. Then  diecut and stamped a few leaves, as well as diecut two Happy.

Card #3: Thanks

For this last card, I played with my sticker labels. I stamped the leaves onto a sheet of 4x2 labels (10 in a sheet) watercolored them with Kuretaki Gansai Tambi watercolors. When the sheet was dry, I peeled off two labels and stuck them to my card base. I added some stitching and then hand-lettered the THANKS with a black Sharpie marker.

Check out what Lynne, Carol, Asmah, and MariLynne created using Trendy Leaves 2 -- leave a comment here, on their blogs, and on the STAMPlorations blog by Friday and you could win this set :o) And until September 13, Trendy Leaves 2 is 10% off.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

Paper craft project no. 458: Merry Christmas

We have a brand new challenge at Time Out. For the next couple of weeks, it's the Inspired by Words challenge. Here's the inspiration: “Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.” (Chad Sugg)

I took my cue from "trees" and decided to create a Christmas card for this year instead of a fall-themed card. Something to do with my wanting to play with new toys: the stitched snow hills edge/border dies and the Trendy Christmas trees stamps and coordinating dies. I first stamped one of the fun houses and then stamped the small trees where I wanted to place the stitched snow hills. On scrap cardstock, I stamped a couple of the Christmas trees, colored them with markers, and die-cut them. I layered the stitched snow hills on my card base, popped in the die-cut trees, stamped the sentiment, and the card is done :o)

Check out the cards the team + guest designer Rema made and then link up your own project inspired by the quote. CAS-ual Fridays is our generous sponsor for this challenge. We can't wait to see your creations!

Linking up to these fun challenges:

• NBUS #7 - Anything Goes with NBUS! (The stamps -- except for the house -- and dies are new.)
• Addicted to Stamps #209 - CAS
• CASology #213 - Stitch

  

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

Paper craft project no. 457: Seeking for ideal truth

I've been meaning to play in this month's One Layer Simplicity and I finally managed to get a card done before the linky closes in 10 hours. Between my business and being mommy to a super active girl (who is turning one year old in 5 days -- has it really been a year since I joined the mommy club?), I'm hard-pressed to find time to craft. But make a card I did!

For my one layer card, I stamped the big butterfly four times in blue (the other three I stamped off on scrap paper first before stamping on the card base). Then I created masks for the butterflies and stamped the newsprint background from HA. I artsied it up a bit by stamping some splatters and ink blots in blue and yellow. Then I sponged blue all around the card before stamping the sentiment about art.

Also would like to link my card up to 613 Avenue Create (Anything Goes), Crafty Creations #322 (Words/Letters on the Background), and Word Art Wednesday #245-246 (Anything Goes).

*****

The Kat Report

[Snapshots of life with my daughter.]

The Kat woke up at 4 a.m. and decided she wanted to stay up for a little while for some play time and cuddle time with mommy. Usually when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she wants a bottle and then promptly goes back to sleep after she finishes it. This morning, she had the bottle but didn't want to sleep. So play we did in semi-darkness.

A couple of hours later, she told me she was ready to go back to sleep. I picked her up from the Kat pen and started singing as I danced her to sleep. Two songs later, she was asleep. She slept for an hour, long enough for me to get a little bit of work done.

When she woke up, she had the biggest smile for me. I put her in the Kat pen so she could play and stretch a little while I prepped her breakfast. She loves pulling toys out from her toy chest (she's strong enough to pull the chest to its side since she couldn't reach her toys when it's upright), but she loves her books most of all.

*****

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

Journal Entry: My Whole Universe

[No card or project in this post -- just a short journal entry about the Russ family life -- which I thought I'd start sharing here every once in a while :o)]

Tonight is just like the other nights--at least that's what I think at first. I give the little one a bath; she splashes happily in the water and plays with her fishies and ducky and one-half of a pair of flip-flops. Daddy dresses her for the night and gets her a bottle.

We lie in bed--daddy on her right, mommy on her left, baby in the middle. She takes the bottle from her daddy and puts it in her mouth. We do high-fives and we tell her how proud we are and what a big girl she is for feeding herself. I caress her hand while her daddy hums and holds her close.

By the time she finishes her bottle, she is ready to sleep. With a sigh, she lets go of the bottle, pulls her hand from mine, and turns to her daddy for her nightly sleep cuddle. I watch as he engulfs her in his arms and holds her gently as she falls asleep, her face buried in her daddy's chest.

In that moment, I get another glimpse of my whole universe. I feel a tightness in my chest and I try to blink back the tears. "She's daddy's girl," I whisper.

He nods and says, "But she wants mommy here too when she goes to sleep."

I smile and say, "Yes, but you're the one she wants holding her at night and I think that's wonderful."

"I'm her protector," he says with pride.

"She trusts you and that's how it should be between a daddy and his little girl," I say with a lump in my throat. "How can your heart not melt when she obviously thinks the world of you?"

We wait ten minutes before putting the little one in the crib beside our bed. She rolls on her side and continues to sleep.

I can't wait for morning when one-half of my universe awakens.

–30–

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Paper craft project no. 456: It's about the journey

We have a brand new challenge at Time Out. This time around we're to CASE a card and put our own twist to our creation. We are CASE-ing this cool card by Julia Altermann of Just One More Card.

I took a few elements from Julia's card: the diagonally striped frame and the plane. My twist: I did it in one layer :o). I masked the center of the card base with a couple of post-its before stamping to create the diagonal chevrons (Mixed Media Grunge). I stamped the plane (Born to Roam), masked it before sponging the clouds using a stencil (ARTplorations Clouds), and then finished by stamping the sentiment.

Check out the cards the team + guest designer Jenny made and then link up your own project inspired by Julia's card. We can't wait to see your creations!

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)