Heather's Card

I posted this image large, so you can see all the details. I only make these gushy fancy cards  for very special people.  It's not a go-to design for me. After it was completed, I sat back and saw that I needed more contrasting papers. I was concentrating so hard on matching the dp, so it all came from one dp package. But I should have included other papers I now see. Ah well, I'm no Becca Feeken. I'm told by the recipient that a friend of hers who also makes card did admire it, so that's good enough for me.

So almost except the base and first mat layer are diecuts from Spellbinders. Flowers and leaves and pearls I picked up from the LA California garment district. Fun place, but quite crowded, to visit.
Lots of distressing and a little dry embossing. The sentiment is from a long ago retired SU set. The little butterfly is a Cherry Lyn die cut.

Will be uploading my mid-post DT submission for the Challenge at Simply Create Too
Hope you're getting ready to have a fun weekend. It's getting mighty warm in my neck of the woods.

Blessings,
Erica

P.S.
I just discovered a most fab blog thing. I found out how to put links into my posts much faster if they're in the sidebars of my blog. Hmmm, what else might I discover if I would only just stop oogling other blogs and concentrate upon my own?

Cheap DSP and the Mojo Monday Challenge

A few weeks ago, when I knew I had less than $5.00 left in my monthly craft budget, I dared to stop by Jo-Ann's. I was determined to get something for less than $6.00 to 7.00 and then subtract my 40% coupon which would result in my staying well within my budget.

What a find. Studio"G" Paper Packs by Hampton Arts. They are rather odd in their weight...sorta between cardstock and heavy-weight paper. The packets contain 15 sheets single sided 6" x 6" pieces.
Each pack is all of one hue. Here I used the green one. I loved the patterns (15). And I bought them in pink, blue, purple and the green. They were $1.50 each. Well, what fun, right, except, I could only use the coupon on one package. Not much of a savings, but I walked out of Michael's spending what I planned to and I like what I got...mission accomplished....this time.

So following the MoJo sketch challenge, here's my card.

Lots of die cuts used, an SU die cut too from a new set called Secret Garden Framelits. Some Studio G stamps, and a bit of bling (used to cover a tiny mistake I made). The card is a 5 x 5, since the challenge says square or round.

Hope you're having a Blessed week.
Stay tuned, I have a tiny haul from Walmart I picked up today. It was just over $15.

Erica

Simply Create Too Challenge...Use your country's flag colors

Happy Friday stamping community. Well, a traditionally fun month for the USA is coming up. It's usually warm throughout the continental states now, so we can break out the grills if we haven't already done so. Here, it is likely to be 110 or so. We've begun our monsoon season as well, so it could end up being dusty and raining.
Wherever you live, I hope you have the best of holidays. And if you hail from another country, please play along with our challenge so we here at Simply Create Too can broaden our horizons.

Red, white and blue are my colors. Easy peasy to combine. I used SU's real red for my base, SU's night of navy and a scrap of white.
I embossed the white banner made with a banner die from DieNamics using a Cuttlebug folder. Then I die cut the blue mat with a Spellbinders die. My musical sheet image from Stampendous is stamped using Memento Paris dusk. This image doesn't have words so it's quite useful.  The Sentiment was in a grab bag from Hampton Arts purchased long ago. I stamped in SU's pigment whisper white and embossed with detail embossing powder in whit. My embellies are glittering stars from my stash and SU night of navy ribbon.

I hope you can find some time to play in our challenge no. 40, and show your patriotism if you'd like.

Blessings,
Erica

It's a Different Kind of BINGO

It's a different kind of BINGO over at Simply Create Too, challenge no. 38.

I had purchased a big background stamp image from SU and knew I could incorporate it into my card.

I went for the letter "N", but put my winning chips are under the letter "I". The challenge for the letter "N" used red, a bow, 3 layers, flowers and a punch or die. In that order, my red is in my dap from SU, my bow is a green ribbon from SU, the dsp is in 3 layers and I used red resin flowers from SU. These flowers are placed on little squares of SU so saffron cs diecut with an SU punch. I got it all.

If you look to the left, you'll see the Simply Create Too team has many new members. During my blog absence, we grew by leaps and bounds. Our fearless leader Diane, saw a need and filled it by giving us all some breathing room with the expansion of the team. Please go check-out the links. We're a talented bunch. and then go play in the BINGO challenge.

Blessings,

Erica

It's Time to Get Gone

Get Gone as in RETIRE. Unfortunately, the gentleman who this card is going to is kinda' being forced out. As with many of the small cities and towns in Arizona, the economy and job security were severely hit. My dd needed something to remind her co-worker that there is life after working hard for many years. I hope he will be able to put it all behind him in a good way and move on toward the rest of his years.

Dark Green card base, off-white mats and various stamps from all over the place, an EK Success border punch and arrow punch and several inks...and I finally got it together.

Blessings,
Erica

Some White Pigment Ink Craftiness

Sometimes, I  look at the 20 or so containers of dry embossing powder, and wonder, did I really need all the colors? In my on-going, yet almost done, craft purge, I just haven't been able to toss even one of them. But when I do, I am going to keep white for sure, followed by black, of course, a little red & green for Christmas, and then silver & gold for so many things, and copper...it's so elegant, then I must keep pink & blue for babies, and that brown...after all it was tough to find. Ah well, you get the idea.

So here, I did indeed use white. Now that color is a story in itself. One must have the right powder. Don't confuse it with transparent, which shows up white in the jar. Then there is the hunt just the right white pigment ink. My search ended with SU's craft white. The secret to using it is to re-ink the pad often, as in every 3rd use or so (if it has been stored for a while).

I wanted a simply masculine-style birthday card, so I used SU's night of navy as a base and stamped and embossed. My mojo is up & running, and when that happens, I don't make note of what stamps I'm using. I'm also making a supreme effort to keep a tidy new craft room, as it is the first one seen upon entering the house from the garage. One does that often in Arizona. I will answer any requests though.

Blessings,
Erica

StarKitty...just doin' her J.O.B

Well some of us have very important things to do it would seem. My 5 yr. old black cat whom the family adores, (some after professing they were not cat-people), was in our backyard with me a few days ago. While I tended to some potted plants, she was quite busy. Needless to say, I screamed and ran inside. After stalking around in front of the door begging to be let in so she could play with her new "toy," I ran quick to get my cell and took this interesting photo. StarKitty didn't know which end to play with first. Of course, once dispensed to lizard heaven, she was whisked inside and her mouth got washed thoroughly...no she didn't mind.

A more post-worthy card to come tomorrow.

Snack-Time