Gate Fold JUGS Challenge

Hi gals, today's Just Us Girls technique challenge is to make a gate fold card. If you've never done one before there are several tutorials to help you. Beate Johns has this tutorial for you or you might want to check out Gina K's video on StampTV how to make a Gate Fold card --- With a Twist. (There are two elements on the card - one on each "flap" of the card)

My card follows the StampTV tutorial to make the card "with a twist" so I made a card for my dear friend for Thanksgiving. I think he and his wife will like it :-)

I used some GinaK Pumpkin Spice card stock as my base then inked up Theresa Momber's Autumn Beauty stamp set. I colored the images with copics - and cut a slit in the wagon so I could slide the pumpkins "into" the wagon.

The DP is from Autumn Abundance (PTI) - the plaid makes such a perfect masculine base!  I also used it to decorate the inside as well. The sentiment on the inside comes from Gina K's So Grateful set.

And now - a special little treat --- Dana has a birthday this week so I want to shout out to her HAPPY BIRTHDAY girlie! Hope it's one of your best ever. I had already made my Gate Fold card when I realized it was Dana's BD so my card is not a BD card :-(  but the birthday wishes are there all the same - BTW I am putting a real BD card in the mail to you Dana - be on the lookout!

Please stop by Dana's blog and wish her a happy birthday then pop over to the rest of the team (sidebar ->) and check out their creations as well. We are also delighted to have a new Featured Designer for November - the very talented Cheryl Rowley - leave her a little love as well if you can.

Hugs n Smiles!

Simple Scarecrow - Made Easy!

Hi all  - we are in the midst of a My Time Made Easy release. I'm sure by now you've been WOWed by some of the amazing projects from the DT. I am highlighting one of the new templates today called Any Way You Slice It.  I supposed when most folks see it they think of a slice of pie - or maybe cake  - or Lauren showed us how to do a Tree - or Catherine did a Pilgrim's Hat - etc etc... Well I decided to turn this little slice of goodness into a scarecrow.

 I started with Kraft paper as my base and cut out the template with my Cricut. I then used some of the new digital papers this month called Fall Foilage - great fall color palette - to decorate the sides and back. I made my scarecrow's face by using different punches and hand cut the little triangle hat. Adhered some straw-like hair and my little goodie box was ready to go.

Here's a close up of his face...

 
Here's the back - I LOVE this paper.

And using the new Trendy Tags 4 here's a tag I made for this little guy. The box is filled with Werther's butterscotch candies but I forgot to photograph it open  - WOOPS.

Hope you enjoy all that Lauren has provided for you this month - there's more to come so stay tuned.  Check out the other team members for what they have also.

Lauren Meader (owner)
Catherine Doucette

Debbie Marcinkiewicz
Monique Hansen

 
Supplies from My Time Made Easy LLC:

Pretty Packaging Templates:   Any Way You Slice It

Pretty Impressions © Stamps: Thankful

Pretty Printable © Digital Paper: Fall Foilage Stripes

Pretty Pieces © Cut Files: Trendy Tags


Other Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft
Ink: Memento
Embellishments: Button and Twine, fun fiber

Hugs n Smiles,

JustRite Fall Colors

I've been super busy with work and haven't had as much time to play along with some of my favorite challenges lately. I was happy that I found a few minutes of time to make this fall card for the JustRite Friday challenge.

I used the beautiful watering can image from Autumn Blessings Borders and Centers set coupled with the  Joyful Hearts Borders and Centers sentiment.

I colored up the image with my copics then cut it out with a oval nestie. I recently came across my stipple brush when cleaning my stampin' studio so I did some stippling on the oval behind the image and on the golden layer of the card after it was run through the woodgrain PTI embossing plate. Used my MS punch on the Terracotta Tile layer. Added a few golden rhinestones to the sentiment square (cause I love a little bling). I finished it all off with a piece of some super fun fiber instead of ribbon. I also discovered that my colors work nicely with the Shabby Tea Room this week too. Not often I get to combine TWO challenges any more :-)

For the inside of my card I used a sentiment from the Autumn Blessings set. Just in time for the upcoming fall holidays! Thanks to JustRite for the inspiration and motivation.

And thanks to all of my cyber friends and followers for stopping by. I hope your fall is filled with abundant blessings and that you enjoy the days of Autumn.

Hugs n smiles.

Autumn Blessings

Whew - it has been an exhausting day of autocrossing. I won the "family prize" of being the first one to do a full 360º spin out in our Mini! LOL I had this card done last night but was too tired to post so here it is now - although brief.

This card is for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge #63 AND Stamp TV's color challenge for the week. I worked with Gina K's soft sand, green apple and chocolate kiss papers plus PTI's summer sunrise.

The sketch is from iheart2stamp.


Sunflowers are from Theresa Momber's Autumn Beauty (available from Gina K Designs.) Masked, colored with copics, cut with nesties, light sponging. A few clear stardust spica for the center of the flowers.

Buttons and ribbon are PTI.

Sorry no more time to write more - I'm plum worn out AND I have to get these posted NOW.

Thanks for looking.

My Time to Create Template Challenge

Happy Saturday stampers! You know what that means - it's another My Time to Create challenge from our fabulous Lauren Meader AND this week it's a template challenge. I am so addicted to Lauren's templates that I couldn't wait to work on this challenge. Your task this week is to use any one of Lauren's My Timeless Templates (remember there are two free ones so ANYONE can play along) to package up candy! How sweet is that?!?!? (Yes, pun intended)

Ok I've had this idea in my head for a while so I finally put it all together... there will be several pics in this post so scroll on down to see them all. I decided to make Thanksgiving favor boxes/place cards. Even more special is a little twist for the candy inside... more about that in a minute. The template is Tucked Away - at this point it's my most favorite - I use it all the time. Most of these are the petite versions but one of the favors (for my DH) is the larger size. The stamps on the top label are from Theresa Momber's Autumn Beauty - as is the leaf image on the name tag. The names were just printed on vanilla CS on my computer in a deep brown then punched and sponged before adhering. Some of the papers are from Gina K, a couple of those are Digital papers - the rest of the papers are from PTI's Autumn Abundance which I ADORE. Since I have time I'll probably finish making the set with all papers from the PTI set so they "match" sort of and I'll probably make my DH a petite version so there is no "Favor Box Envy" going on at the table. *grin*

Now, the idea here is that each family member/guest will select their favor box from the centerpiece and place it at their chosen dinner spot at the table. What they WON'T know until they open it up - is that yes, there is candy inside - I chose to fill them with hershey nuggets. But very special nuggets...

Have you ever had a Dove chocolate? And when you open up the tin foil there is an inspirational saying printed on the inside of the foil? Well I can't do that so I did "I'm Thankful For Labels" instead. I will ask each family member to send me a list of THREE things they are thankful for about each member of the family. I will then print all of those up onto label sheets, wrap the nuggets with the thankful for saying for each person. Then, as part of our Thanksgiving tradition, everyone will have multiple sweet thoughts from various family members to carry them through the next several days as they eat their sweet treats.

Here's a sneak peak at a couple of the labels for my husband's candies... little silly things that will let him know I am thankful for him. (and yes he does the dishes AND the laundry so I have more stampin time!)

Now scoot over to the rest of the DT and see what they have in store for you. (I've only listed the ones I know are playing - the rest of the team is in my sidebar) Come back when you are done and link to Mr. Linky (or on Lauren's blog) and show us what you create. Can't wait to see what you do.

Lauren
Kristen
Dana
Lisa
Tracey
MacKenzie
Tamara
Odette
Alicia

Have a lovely weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspiration Mosaic Quilts

I finally got a chance to work with Melanie Muenchinger's stamp set, Inspiration Mosaic, (available through Gina K Designs). I put it to use to make two quilt cards. Now, I am NOT a sewer but I love quilts so this was my way to make a paper quilt.

This first card was designed as a thank you for my colleague, Cathy, who made a t-shirt quilt for my daughter. We gathered all of Dee's favorite t-shirts from college and Cathy made them into a spectacular t-shirt quilt. ABSOLUTELY fabulous. (Dee hasn't seen it yet so I'm not posting a pic.) I wanted my thank you card to reflect the concept of a quilt so I turned to Melanie's Inspiration Mosaic stamp.
I started out by stamping the mosaic onto a piece of white CS (my "master quilt"). Each quilt piece was stamped onto designer paper from PTI, cut out then adhered to the master quilt. Two of the solid pieces of CS were stamped in Versamark with the words thank you and grateful as a subtle sentiment on the front. Once the "master quilt" was assembled I ran the whole thing through my CB with the swirls embossing folder. A big fun flower with a button center was my final touch.
I added a couple of strips of DP to the inside with a thank you senti. The best part about this card? My quilter friend loved it so much she is framing it for her wall in her quilt room!!!

I thought this was so much fun that I made another quilt card from Inspiration Mosaic. This one is for the Color Challenge on Stamp TV this week. I used GinaK's Pumpkin Spice, Green Apple, SU! So Saffron and Vanilla CS. I followed the same process as the first one only I CB'd each piece before I adhered it, instead of the whole master quilt. For the wreath I stamped the mini sunflower image from Theresa Momber's Autumn Beauty in a circle using Butterscotch Vivid Ink then colored with copics, cut with Nesties, and sponged a bit of So Saffron. I added a fun bow from some fun fibers, and a few buttons to finish it off.

Thanks for looking! Have a great week :-)

My Time to Color Challenge MTCC06

Fall colors are coming up everywhere and today's My Time to Create challenge is no exception. We have a BEAUTIFUL color combo to work with. I love the colors in this snippet but boy did I struggle to figure out which of my papers would best represent these colors.

I finally settled on Cranberry Crisp (but once it was done I think I should have selected more rust), Ripe Avocado, White, and Dark Chocolate. Although this was a color challenge I was also drawn to the fabric here so I incorporated a lot of texture in my card using my CB. I also picked up on the fall leaf print (SU!) for my focal image and since I seem to be running low on thank you notes I used the thank you sentiment from PTI's Vintage Picnic to finish this off. I added some fun fiber in the form of a ribbon, a prima flower and button with a Rain Drop center.

I hope you will play along with the My Time Team and show us what you come up with. Please link your creation to the Mr. Linky here or on Lauren's blog so we can see your work and don't forget, Lauren will be featuring the Top Five in her My Time to Shine!

More inspiration from the talented Design Team girls can be found here:
Lauren
Kristen
Tracey
Alicia
MacKenzie
Maria
Tamara
Odette
Dana
Lisa

Thanks for stopping by - have a lovely weekend! I look forward to seeing what YOU create.

Autumn Beauty "Scraplings"

Do you know what a "scrapling" is? Even though I've been stampin for several years I had not heard that term. Apparently it means a little card made from "scraps". (Duh?!?) There doesn't appear to be a standard size for scraplings but I decided to try one - ok several! *grin* I had quite a few scraps of vanilla CS from a recent project so I went with cards that were 2 x 4-1/4 (some scraplings are only 1-1/2 x 4.) I also had some scraps of Apple Diamonds digital paper from Theresa Momber's new All About Autumn paper so I set out with those two items and my new Autumn Beauty stamp set to make some scraplings.

Here's the set I came up with - now aren't those just the cutest darn things? I've usually make 3x3 cards when I need just a note but I'm IN LOVE with these little darlings - I included a snap of them with one of them in my hand so you can get a visual size reference.

Now - these little notes are just the perfect size to tuck into a lunch box or briefcase, to lay on a pillow, to set on a keyboard or desk or punch a hole and tie on as a tag on a gift bag and in doing so you wouldn't need an envelope. BUT, I really wanted to figure out how to make an envelope for these. I turned to a video tutorial by Lauren Meader (click here) on how to make a custom sized envelope and they turned out great.

Envelope Instructions: For my scrapling which measures 2 x 4-1/4 I cut my envelope paper to 3-1/4 x 10-1/2 (don't use cardstock - it will make the envie too bulky - I just used really nice quality paper and printed my digi paper borderless - or use a DP.)

Score the 3-1/4" side 1/2 from both edges all the way down
Score the 10-1/2" edge at 3" and 7-1/2" (I made the 3" section my TOP because I wanted the sunflowers on the top folded piece.)

Cut away the excess from top and bottom.
Trim top inside corners of the 1/2" scored parts if desired
*(see pic further down of the envie with the card inside it to see what I mean about trimming the inside corners.)
Punch top edge with your favorite border punch.



Apply adhesive to bottom flap edges (I use 1/8" scor-tape so it won't let go)







*(You can see where I cut away the inside corners.)
Fold, tape, insert scrapling!

If you are giving these away as a gift you can add a small piece of scor-tape just under the flap so the recipient can seal the envie before giving it.



Four finished envelopes... Remember these cannot be mailed. I did stamp two of the envelopes with the small sunflower image - it just so happened that the way the digi paper was cut then folded two of them had plain fronts - sunflower stamp to the rescue! I stamped off once in brown then stamped three images - no time to cut, mask but they are still cute in the corner.

All packaged up as a simple little gift (although THIS batch will probably be MY gift to me to be able to use these myself.)

Want some more eye candy? Theresa has two more super Guest Designers this month and they are both sharing some fabulous ideas with you today as well. Check out Karen Knegten's page on Stamp TV and Jennie Harper's blog. Both of them have some Autumn Beauty to share with everyone as well. :-)

Thanks for looking and heartfelt thanks to Theresa for the invitation to Guest Design for her. I love this set and hope you will try it yourself. You won't be disappointed.

Double Take - Blog Hop

Hi all. It's time for an Autumn Beauty Blog Hop. As one of Theresa Momber's guest designers this month I was invited to play along so here's my project. I'm calling it double take because it's the same image done up in two entirely different formats, one CAS and one with multiple layers and embellishments. I fell in love with the mailbox image the moment I saw this set. I think there's nothing more fun than going out to your mailbox and getting a card or letter - I mean email is fast and efficient but nothing is better than REAL mail. After all, isn't that why we do what we do as stampers??
When I first stamped the mailbox image and colored it I was delighted with how beautiful it was, all by itself. I quite often use the embossing with Nesties technique (you can see Gina K's video on it here) to highlight a focal image or I sometimes sponge an image while it is still inside a nestie die. So I got to thinking "wonder if I can sponge the nestie die itself and THEN emboss with it." So I inked up the smooth side of my Labels 4 metal die with dark chocolate palette ink, centered it over my image and ran it through my CB. Card #1 (on left) was born. (On my first try the ink wasn't very even so be sure to run it back and forth through the CB a couple of times.) I added two of the sentiments from Autumn Beauty and the card was done. Just CAS (which is usually really hard for me.) Here's a close up of card #1 -->

Now - card #2 came about after I did everything I had done above for card #1 BUT I decided to cut out the colored mailbox image with a larger Label 4 nestie die. I then placed the smaller die in it's embossed spot and sponged both the inside and the outside for a double layer sponge effect. I used Pumpkin Spice for my CS base, added a mat layer of Golden paper from Theresa's digital paper set, All About Autumn, scored a smaller piece of Green Apple paper to mat the image. I used a piece of CB'd Pumpkin Spice instead of a ribbon (didn't have a good color match) for horizontal interest. I've included a close up of card #2 also. Finally I finished it off with 4 golden rhinestones for a little "bling". At this point I didn't have room for a sentiment on the front so I used the inside for the sentiments. -->

SO - what do you think? Card #1 or Card #2? Have a preference? Hop along now and see the rest of the ideas from everyone who's blog hoppin' with us. You'll want to be sure to see work from Theresa's other two Guest Designers, Karen Knegten and Jennie Harper, as well as several of the senior DT gals. Since I'm not sure who's hoppin' besides Karen and Jennie, please go to Theresa's blog or Gina K's blog and follow the hop from there. Thanks for stopping by. Have a GREAT weekend. I think I'm finally ready for fall :-) Hugs y'all.

Happy Fall Y'All

It sure does seem like fall around here but I'm holding out for a few more days of summer weather, hopefully. I recently posted that I was asked to guest design for Theresa Momber and her new set Autumn Beauty this month. You can read a little bit more about me on her blog post (if you are interested.) Maybe it's a good thing that it feels like fall so I was in the mood to work with fall colors.

For this card I chose Theresa's nifty scarecrow and corn stalks for the focal image. I colored the scarecrow and corn with Copics (Theresa has a great coloring tutorial on her blog for how to color the scarecrow). I cut out the image with my new Octagonal nestie and sponged some sky and ground while the CS was still in the nestie. The entire octagon is popped up with dimensionals.

Once my focal image was done I set about designing a card and layout for it. I chose a 5x5 square since the focal image was fairly large. I wanted to work with Gina K's newest cardstock colors, Pumpkin Spice and Green Apple and I also added GKD Ivory and Chocolate Kiss layers. I used the small corn stalk image and stamped with versamark to create a patterned background on the Pumpkin, swiss dots CB for the green to add texture. Instead of a ribbon I used a snippet of some really fun fiber I found recently at Hobby Lobby - the tassles reminded me of the corn tassles and the colors were perfect for my CS.

I stamped the sentiment in the new Butterscotch Vivid ink, cut out with the petite oval nestie and sponged with So Saffron ink then mounted on a tiny scalloped pumpkin nestie. As a final touch I stamped and masked then stamped again a set of pumpkins. Colored them and then cut them out and adhered them with pop dots. The copper self adhesive nail head embellishments (GKD) were perfect accents for my cut away corners.

I have always decorated the insides of my cards so that the recipient finds something of visual interest when they open the card. I kept this one simple yet in line with the theme - I love the sentiments in this new set! Created a frame for the sentiments and then masked and stamped a couple of corn stalks.

I truly love Theresa's stamps. She is an artisite extraordinaire. The images not only stamp out sharp and crisp but the detail in the images themselves makes coloring them a joy.

Have yourselves a great week. Be sure to come back later this week on Friday evening for an Autumn Beauty Blog Hop!!! It will start at 10:00 pm CST so if you're an East Coaster then come by on Saturday morning. You'll see some fabulous creations from Theresa, the senior GKD Design Team members and a couple more guest designers!

My Time to Create Sketch Challenge

Happy Saturday everyone. Hope you had a great week and are ready for a super holiday weekend. This week we're happy to bring you a sketch challenge from the lovely and talented, Lauren Meader. We hope you'll play along with us and link your creation to the Mr. Linky on Lauren's blog. Lauren will be posting the TOP 5 from this week's entries in her My Time to Shine feature.

Mr. Linky can be reached from HERE also.

When I looked at this sketch I was immediately drawn to a central focal image. I was in need of a "get well" card and turned to the sentiments in Everyday Button Bits. Since it's been unseasonably cool in Chicago, (I swear last weekend was fall here!) I also wanted to work with autumn colors.

Here's the card I created from this sketch. I used the larger plaid from Autumn Abundance paper (PTI) for a warm, homespun feeling. I added a smidgen of the autumn leaves paper matted with scarlet jewel and then my main focal image (I did extend the tree with a copic and a ruler to accommodate 3 buttons) matted on dark chocolate. I sponged the main image panel before I removed it from the nestie die then added three buttons in fallish colors.

I stamped the sentiment on a simple ivory panel and added some piercing accents - wanted the sentiment to stand alone but it still needed "something".

A couple of orange snaps added the final touch. I recently read Nichole's article in the latest edition of the Papertrey News about the "Rule of Threes" which I am familiar with from graphic design concepts and as I evaluated this project I think I hit that most of the time. I did "break the rule" with only 2 orange brads but that was following the sketch :-) and I only have one yellow button but I think it works ok.

Please stop by the rest of the design team (below) to see what they have cooked up for you. Have a delightful and safe Labor Day Weekend. Hugs n Smiles....

Lauren
Alicia
Dana
Jen
Kristen
MacKenzie
Odette
Tamara
Tracey

Guest Designer for Theresa Momber!!!!!

If exclamation marks are any indication of excitement you'll all guess that I am just TOTALLY beside myself excited to be a guest designer for Theresa Momber this month. Not only am I honored to be selected for this but I'm darn near shakin' in my boots to "measure up!" (I know not everyone admits their stampin' fears but I do!)

I am getting a chance to share some projects with Theresa's newest set, Autumn Beauty for Gina K Designs and it IS a beauty. This is my first card with this fabulous new set - when I first saw it my question was "can I put those pumpkins in the wheelbarrow?" I have a wheelbarrow like this on my front porch and I fill it with pumpkins each fall. I've not totally mastered the art of masking and I did try it with this but each time the pumpkins looked more on top of the wheelbarrow than in it. So, instead I cut a slit in the wheelbarrow with my utility knife, cut out the pumpkins and slid them IN. It took a couple of tries but once I got the angle right it worked out great and I was happy with the effect. (Isn't that Theresa one smart cookie! *grin grin* I bet she figured that out when she designed the set!!)

I set about decorating the inside, too. I stamped and masked the pumpkins across the whole bottom and added a corn stalk. When we visited a pumpkin patch one year I was amazed at all the variety of colors of pumpkins. I tried to get the white pumpkin effect in my set but I don't know if there's a copic to achieve that with or not so I used E51 and made them pale but not really white. I showed the card to my DH, and after appropriate oohing and ahhhing, he said - wow your inside could be a whole 'nother card! Hmmmm maybe I just got an idea... (thanks honey for being so supportive.)

So - there you have my first work with Autumn Beauty - you don't even want to know how long it took. *grin* Fortunately I was chatting with my daughter in Germany while I stamped so the time passed quickly. I can't wait to do more with this set - it is chock full of fantastic fall images that are SO beautifully illustrated.

THANKS, Theresa for this opportunity - you've got another winner on your hands with this new set.

Other deets: Mesh Texture cuttlebug folder, Gina K new paper colors Pumpkin Spice and Green Apple. Nesties 4 dies (sponged the image while it was still in the die), Rustic wood buttons, some ribbons, even one of the copper nail heads for "bling" without being bling.

PTI Blog Hop

It's Blog Hope time again with PTI. This month the theme was FALL - colors or images or textures or fabrics. I chose to make a gift box using Tucked Away Template. I am so in love with these templates and this one is super snap to do up. I filled it with assorted mini chocolates (in fall wrappers of course.)


Then I made a quick and simple tri fold card to go with it.

The card uses the new Autumn Abundance paper from PTI and Vintage Picnic stamp set. I actually suffered a wee bit of "buyers remorse" when I first ordered Vintage Picnic thinking "What will I ever do with that set?" Well - I use it ALL the time - it's got so many great images and sentiments - I can use it year round.

No time for more details cause I'm rushing to get this posted. These last two days have been CRAZY because school started Monday.

Here's the inside of the foldup card -->