Makeup 4 the Weekend #42

Oh my! I just made it all the way through the Paper Makeup and Quixotic Paperie blog hop and there were such fabulous creations!! I'm thinking my take on this week's challenge was very literal and rather plain, but I did it yesterday and it's finished so I'm going to post it anyway. :)


My papers are from the Blushed Kaisercraft sampler pack I got at Paper Makeup Stamps and the sentiment is from the "When There's Nothing Left to Say" sentiment set. I combo'd organza and grosgrain ribbon to set off my sentiment. A CAS card for a heartfelt message.

Have a fabulous week!

A World of Make Believe

It's been a beautiful weekend here in central Indiana. I hope you are enjoying fall weather wherever you are. My card today was made with image, cardstock, papers, and embellishments from Paper Makeup Stamp's kit, Arelia's World of Make Believe, which can be found here. Isn't she just the cutest? The only thing on this card that isn't from the kit is the ivory lace. I colored Arelia with copics and used the large scalloped rectangle nestie. I sponged some creamy brown Cat's Eye ink around the image while it was still in the die. This card follows the sketch for Mojo Monday.


My mom (who is 88!) is coming to visit for a few weeks so my crafting time will be limited for a while but I'm so happy she is still able to come and stay here. She lives in Nebraska and my sister is bringing her to my house and I'll take her home in mid-October. She moves very slowly due to arthrytis but still knits or embroiders nearly every day. Enjoy any time you have with your family. It's precious!

Gettin' Sketchy

I followed the Get Sketchy Card Challege for this Thinking of You/Encouragement card. I flipped the sketch on it's side and used the Buggy Sayings set from Paper Makeup Stamps. My hubby actually picked it out the image because the card is for a colleague of his who is fighting leukemia. She has the same attitude as this bumblebee!

I was going for bright and cheery and the dp is from A Day at the Beach paper pack by The Paper Studio. I used by scalloped oval nestie for the sentiment and then I stamped the bee on it letting it go over the edge. I stamped the bee again and colored it and popped it up using a foam dot. I put stickles on the bees wings and created a little "fly line" with gold bling. Here's a close up that shows it a little better.
The edges of the scalloped oval are sponged with memento ink in angel pink. The yummy striped ribbon was a gift from my dd. :)

Hope you're having a great week!

A Little Card

This is a little card, literally. It is a gift card and is 3" x 3". It went along with my gift at a baby shower/brunch for a friend who is having their first child in October. It's a girl and her name will be Clara Rose. She's due on October 20 and her mom hopes she comes that day so her birthday will be 10/20/2010 :)

The papers are from the Echo Park Life is Good mini kit and the flowers are from the Will to Day Dream kit at PMS. The center of the flower is a sparkly brad from Spare Parts. There are two sentiments on this little card.


The one on the outside is a simple sentiment from Paper Makeup Stamps. I added the Little Baby soft and sweet poem/sentiment (also from PMS) on the inside. The card stock was textured so it didn't stamp as clearly as I'd hoped. The colors on this card are pink, brown, and aqua for the challenge from the Paper Makeup September Release party. There's still time to play. You have until midnight on Tuesday, 9/14 to enter and there are prizes!

Time for Fall

The M4TW Challenge over at Paper Makeup has a lovely poem for inspiration.

Autumn Fairy
The Autumn fairy weaves her spell
Spreads out her cloth of gold
Adorns the fields and woodlands both
With the riches of days so old

She makes the plants and flowers bloom
Displaying Nature's glory
For soon cold Winter's dismal gloom
Will tell a different story

-Author Unknown

My card was created as a thank you for colleagues who host an "end-of-summer/beginning-of-school cookout every year. I used fall colors and "Will" from The Will to Daydream PMS kit. The papers in the kit are wonderful, fun, mostly bright colors so the papers on this card are not from the kit. I wanted to have him laying on grass or leaves but was afraid to try to color that in and end up ruining my image since I thought he'd turned out pretty well. And I just don't have that "sponging" technique down yet either. I just need to keep practicing. :)

The inside is stamped with a sentiment from the Everyday Thanks sentiment set. The foks at the cookout are all colleagues from the College of Fine Arts so the Shakespeare quote is especially appropriate.

Thanks to you for visiting today!

Hoping for a Speedy Recovery

I used the JUGS #49 sketch challenge for a get well card for a high school classmate. He had a bad spill on an ATV while on vacation and broke multiple bones, has bad bruises and just generally really messed himself up. It will be a long recovery process for him but the bones will heal and he will get better. I hope this BooBoo Monster from Paper Makeup Stamps puts a smile on his face. I tried to keep it pretty simple since it's for a "middle-aged" guy.


The design team over at Paper Makeup has been showing fabulous sneak peeks for the September new releases. Stop by the Release Party in the PMS Forum on September 7 at 9 p.m. EST. There are prizes and maybe you'll win something!

Another challenge card

This has been a good week for me. Things are calming down at school and I was able to finish another card. This one is for the 2 Sketches 4 You challenge. Paper Makeup Stamps is sponsoring this week's challenge. My card uses the "Don't Tell God..." sentiment, which I love, but have never used! The dp is from Paper Studio's A Day at the Beach paper pack. The ribbon came out of the PMS 'Will to Daydream' kit and the decorative brad is one I still had from the PMS 'Celestial Possibilities' kit. I am happy with how it all came together. Brown and aqua/turquoise is one of my favorite color combos. And I just love all the "stuff" that comes in a PMS kit. The sentiment is stamped with Rich Cocoa Memento ink and is better in person than in my photo. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

It's a birthday card.

I'm not sure who I'm going to send this card to just yet but I love this image. "Tangii" was released earlier this summer at Paper Makeup Stamps and I just love it. Of course, I do love my Starbucks, too. I never wear my sunglasses on top of my head because I'm blind as a bat without my glasses so I'd run into everything if I tried that!! The Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge was to make a birthday card and I did this on Sunday and then our internet went out at home and it's still not back. They are coming tomorrow to see what the problem is but no home phone and no internet for three days is no fun. (Shhh, I'm posting this from work....;) So here's my birthday card.

The patterned papers are from the Summer Dreams matstack (I think) and the cardstock is from my stash that my dd gave to me. :) The flower is Prima that I fastened on with a button and some carpet thread. I finished the inside of this card so it really is a birthday card. Here is the inside of my card.

This also fits the Flutter By Wednesday challenge. I was the lucky recipient of a beautiful Danni card. I was surprised and honored to get one of her beautiful creations in the mail. "Just because" cards are the best!!

Have a "fairy" happy day!!

Let's celebrate 40!

Oh my, I'm tired. The days leading up to the first day of class and the first couple days of class make my office like a zoo when all the gates are left open. I love the students but sometimes they are very, very needy. (I'm an academic advisor to upper class college students and they should know how to change their schedule!)

This week's Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge is for the main image to be a circle and to use 4 of the same embellishment to celebrate a 40th birthday. My card uses several things from The Will to Day Dream kit from Paper Makeup Stamps (found here). The cloud paper, the orange cardstock base, the wonderful wordart, and the fun "sun" are all from the kit. The green flowered dp is Provo Craft's In the Meadow and the buttons are from my button stash. I strung the buttons/flowers together with embroidery floss and used copics to color in some of the letters on the sentiment.


Have a sunny week!

M4TW Color Challenge

Using turquoise, lime and kraft are the challenge for this week's Makeup 4 the Weekend at Paper Makeup Stamps. I've been traveling, having company (our two adorable grandsons stayed with us for 4 days while momma was at CHA), and then more traveling so I haven't crafted for quite a bit. I was ready to try to play this week! I used PMS's Angie and colored her with copics. My dp is from the Summer Dreams matstack and the matting behind my dp almost matches too well. You can hardly see it in the photo. I had trouble finding a good way to include kraft so it's pretty small, but it mats the sentiment! Angie has a cute heart shaped bubble but I covered it up this time with some turquoise rhinestones. My sentiment is also from Paper Makeup and can be found here.

The students are moving back to campus and things are started to buzz. Classes begin next Monday so it will be a crazy week. Hope life is good wherever you are!

Christmas in the Summertime

My life has been too crazy busy to do any crafting for a couple weeks but I thought I'd share a different kind of papercrafting that I enjoy. These Christmas ornaments are done on perforated paper and use embroidery floss and beads. These are kits from Mill Hill.



This one is on kraft colored paper, has the stitching done and I've started adding the white beads in Santa's beard and the red beads on his hat. They
are pretty hard to see in the photos.
















In the next two, I've completed the stitching and beading but haven't cut them out of the paper yet. They are about 2 1/2 - 3 " tall when completed.


Here's one more that is cut out,
backed with felt, and has a ribbon
added for hanging on the tree.



















Everyone remember that the Paper Makeup August Release Party is Saturday night (August 7) at 8 p.m. EST! I can't be at this one because I'll be at a Ball State Theatre reunion with former students but I hope everyone has a great time chatting. There are great new Everyday Fairies (Carter and Tangii are my favorites!), new Moodies, new Wordart and former digi stamps that have been "rubberized". Check it out here if you've haven't already.

Summer is slipping away so fast. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

New Tools!

I have a new toy (tool) to use. I bought a heat tool this weekend and some embossing powder as I really like other cards that use that technique. My first try was on a little circle card. I found the sketch on a Mojo Monday from back in June and it's actually more of a tag than a card since this one doesn't open. It just "turns over". It's quite small..only slightly more than 3" in diameter.

The tiny flowers in the half circle and the star were stamped with bright pink ink and then embossed with sparkle embossing powder. I stamped a sentiment on the back of the "card".



I was reasonably happy with my first try and I called my daughter to tell her about my purchase. This was quite surprising because I rarely (never) buy any stamping supplies without her guidance. After some excellent suggestions from her, I tried more embossing and here is card #2.

It doesn't show up in the photo but the silhouette flowers are embossed with clear embossing powder and have a lovely shine. The card is a pretty simple one as I was mostly practicing my embossing. Thanks for allowing me to share my experiments.

Details of the paper, ink, punches,etc.

Circle card: DP from the Summer Dreams matstack
Cardstock from Flower Shower matstack
Blossom and Lg. Circle nestabilities
Stampabilities bright pink pigment ink
A la mode Sparkle embossing powder
satin ribbon from my ribbon box
Star stamp and Sentiment from Starstruck set by Paper Makeup Stamps

Silhouette card: Cardstock from my stash provided by my dd :)
DP from the Summer Dreams matstack
Flower Stamps from Faith, Hope, Love set by Paper Makeup Stamps
Onyx Black Versafine ink
A la mode clear embossing powder
Sentiment first released as a "thank you for your order" from PMS but now available for purchase
organdy ribbon, satin ribbon, and buttons from my ribbon box and button box
Fiskar diamond punch

A little piece of felt

Where has the summer gone? I can't believe that July is half over! This week's Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge at Paper Makeup Stamps was to use felt. I had to go digging to find felt. I knew I had some when I made my grandsons' Ninja Turtles halloween costumes but if there was any left, it was nowhere to be found today. I did find some green felt that I use to back cross-stitched and beaded Christmas ornaments. I'll show one of the ornaments (the base is perforated paper) in another post sometime.

My card today uses papers and brads from the Celestial Possibilities kit at Paper Makeup. The sentiment is from the Friendly Flowers set (also PMS)


I wasn't sure it would work, but I cut my felt to back the big brad in my Cuttlebug with the Labels Two Nestabilities. I'm pleased with the way it sets off that gorgeous big brad.

Have a great weekend!

Color Throwdown #100

I had a good time last night talking with papercrafting friends at the Paper Makeup Stamps Release Party Forum. I learned about the Color Throwdown challenge by doing the Paper Makeup Blog Hop yesterday. What a talented group of ladies! It always inspires me so here is my card down bright and early this morning before heading off to NC to visit my 95 year old MIL.



The image is a fairy named "Rose" from Paper Makeup Stamps and the sentiment is from PMS as well.

I colored the image with copics and cut the image and the sentiment with the Labels Four nestie. I distressed the edges just a bit with Distress Ink in Tattered Rose.

The patterned paper is from Debbie Mumm's paper pack called Noah's Ark (found on sale last week at JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts).

The flower is prisma and just a little bling finishes it off.


Here's another photo at a slightly different angle. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

It's a window card

Happy Independence Day weekend to everyone! I have a three day week-end since my office is closed on Monday. Hooray!!

I've had the Celestial Possibilities kit from Paper Makeup since it was released and have not done anything with it so I decided that's what I would use to create a window card for the Makeup for the Weekend challenge. This is my first window card and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

After I put the rhinestone in the center of the blossom punch, I thought of the gorgeous brads that came with the kit :( And that corner still looks like it needs something else to me.

I used a scalloped rectangle nestie for the Celeste image and colored it with copics (although I do not have the coloring ability that my daughter has!). I added some stickles to the stars and moon. I used the blossom nestie to create the window and again for the patterned pattern that shows through the window. The sentiment is from the Dream Big set (also PMS). Here's the inside of the card.




The button (which I found in a drawer while looking for something else!) has stars and moons on it although it's hard to see if the first photo so
I took a closeup of the button.

I hope everyone's fondest dreams come true.

Babies are so wonderful! Good friends (and colleagues) had their first child last Tuesday. Catherine Rose, to be called Catie, arrived 6 days overdue. Since her parents are in the arts (her dad is a director) we all said she was just arriving fashionably late to make an entrance her dad would be proud of. My dh was invited to the hospital to take her photos and this is her first "headshot" at 12 hours old. Isn't she a cutie?


This card is one I made a few weeks ago in anticipation of her arrival. Catie Rose's nursery is decorated in lavendar and sage green so I made the card to go with her room. (It's true, she is very likely to be just a tad bit spoiled... :)



The sentiment is from the May release at Paper Makeup Stamps stamped with Memento ink in Bamboo Leaves. The dp is by Paper Pizazz, flower is prima, gemstones from The Paper Studio and Offray satin ribbon. Everyone have a babeautiful day!

All Things Food

I think I'm finally getting caught up after our trip to Nebraska. I loved spending several days with both daughters, both grandsons, and seeing lots of other family. My 88 year old mom was so excited to see the great-grandsons. But I must admit, those boys wear me out....and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I just love "summer" food; watermelon, hamburgers grilled outside, corn on the cob, potato salad..... There's no reason we can't eat those foods all year long but they just taste better in the summertime! My card today uses Paper Makeup Stamps' "Picnic Duo" for the All Things Food challenge.


I tried cutting out the image for the first time and that's no easy task! I colored it using copics after I cut it out and I'm thinking I should have colored it first but I didn't want to color it and then ruin it by trying to cut it out if it didn't work. :) I used the Labels Two nesties along with grass paper, DP from the Summer Dreams matstack, kelly green organdy ribbon and turquoise satin ribbon, a Prima flower with a SpareParts sparkly brad and some stickles on the fairy wings. My sentiment is also a Paper Makeup Stamp from the Lucky Me Sentiment set. My talented and generous daughter gave me a huge stack of various colors of cardstock for Mother's Day which I love but that means I don't have any idea what the color names are for the cardstock.

Hope you all are enjoying yummy "summer goodies"!

An altered notebook

I'm so excited!! Only one more week until my grandsons come to my house. I just talked to them tonight on Skype but nothing can beat real live visits. After they get to my house with their momma and have a couple days out of the car, we're heading to Nebraska for a family wedding where the 4 year old will be a ringbearer (this could be very interesting!). The trip will be made in our minivan with me (gramma), momma, Aunt Meme, and 2 boys (20 months and 4 years). Bopi (grandpa) and Uncle Brent get to fly....how did that happen? Luckily gramma's van has a DVD player so we'll be hearing lots of kid's movies on our way. All of this led to my project for Makeup 4 the Weekend.
I got a free notebook at a series of meetings I had to attend last week and thought this would be great to take in the car for the boys to draw in. Now I've not done any 'altering' in the papercrafting world although I've done LOTS of altering in my sewingcostume making days and thought I'd give altering this notebook a try. I covered it with green cardstock and then some dp that is called Jurassic from The Paper Studio. I added a Paper Makeup stamp image of Stegster that I colored with my copics and added 4 buttons to the side because 4 is the 4-year old's favorite number! I kept it pretty simple because I figured lots of embellishments wouldn't last long. :)

Have a great week!

Paper Makeup Challenge

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I made a card for the Paper Makeup Sketch Challenge. The sentiment is one from the Nature's Song set from Paper Makeup. DP is Love Flowers - The Paper Studio.



My hubby is away visiting his mom for a few days but it's a really busy time for me at work (which is why I didn't go along to see my MIL) so I don't think I'll get much crafting done, but the great thing is I don't feel like I have to clean up each time. I can just shut the door to my crafting space to keep the dogs out. No cleaning for me 'til Wednesday!

Have a great week!

A Mother's Day card

At my hubby's request, I made a Mother's Day card for my 95 year old MIL. She's a really classy lady and is still living alone but with someone coming in to help her with food and general care a couple times a day. My hubby is flying down to NC to see her on Mother's Day and he'll deliver the card in person. I'm not able to go because of job responsibilities next week. I don't think I'll need to worry that she'll see the card before Mother's Day if I post it now. :)


I used a PMS stamp -"Ashlie", prima flowers, double sided design paper that I bought a long time ago at Funky Munky Scraps and brads from Spare Parts. Hemie's (what all her grandchildren call her instead of grandma) favorite color has always been aqua so I hope she likes this. I wish I had a Happy Mother's Day stamp for the right hand corner. Maybe I'll try to print something on the computer and add it yet.

Everyone have a great day!