{Turn Your Face To The Sun...}

......and the shadows will fall behind you. That is such a beautiful sentiment.  This week I am playing along with the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger, and here this weeks inspiration picture:

I chose the colors, and wood grain as the inspiration for my card this week. If you follow my blog than you already know I love wood grain, so playing along with this weeks challenge was a no brainer

                            

    First I stamped the text background in A|S Pebble ink using the PTI set Background Basics Text. Next I
stamped the sentiment from the PTI set "Faith and Hope" in SU Early Espresso ink. I added a line of machine stitching and distressed the top edge with my SU edge distresser. I added a punched border from the SU Ribbon Scallop punch. The wood grain background was created with paper from the "Core Impressions: Cosmo Cricket Collection" that I picked up just yesterday at one of my favorite places to buy crafting supplies, Hobby Lobby! I sanded the embossed wood grain to reveal the sandy brown core. I SO love this paper! The wood grain butterfly was created using the A Muse Studio Wood Grain background stamp, A|S Cherry card stock, and A|S Cherry pigment ink. Next I ran the paper through my Cuttlebug using the A|S Butterfly metal die collection. I added two brown rhinestones from The Paper Studio. I finished off my card with a French Roast button from A|S tied with twine. I am so happy with the way my card turned out, and I love the shadow that I was able to capture while taking a picture of my card this evening, seems fitting doesn't it? Today I am also playing along with this weeks CAS-ual Fridays Challenge CFC26 using this sketch:

I am also playing along with this weeks  Wee Memories Challenge #74 - Brads, Buttons, and Bows .

   I hope that your weekend has been a good one. As always thank you for visiting my blog today and have a great week!

                                                  

{Amazing, Fantastic, Perfect Day!!}

  Hello friends! Wow, today was such a great day! I woke up bright and early this morning to discover, much to my surprise that I was chosen as one of 20 winners of the Paper Crafts Magazine World Card Making Day Contest!! I have been on cloud nine ALL day and still can't believe I am in the company of so many amazingly talented paper crafters.

   The card I am posting today is a fun Halloween card I created today. The adorable monkey mummy is a Stampendous Changito stamp. I love that cute monkey! I colored him with pro-markers.  The patterned paper is from Stampin Up. The polka dot background was created using the PTI Polka Dot Basics set. The button, twine, and ribbon are from Making Memories. The sentiment is from the SU set "Greetings Galore".

     Thank you for letting me share my happy news, and thanks to everyone for the sweet comments you leave on my cards. I appreciate them so much. I hope you have a great weekend and a safe and Happy Halloween!
                                             

{Faith and Hope}

Good evening friends, today I have a card for you that I created with the PTI set "Faith and Hope". As I stated on my last blog post, 100% of the proceeds from this set will be going to the "Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Livestrong the Lance Armstrong Foundation". That alone is reason enough to add this set to your stamp collection! Well, firstly there is a lot of pink on my card, but that is what makes it so special. The beautiful background was created with my Cornish Heritage Farms "Lace" background stamp that was stamped in A Muse Studio Shell pigment ink. I stamped the ribbon in Shell ink also. Next I stamped the sentiment that is a part of the Faith and Hope set in Onyx Black Versafine Ink. I added some pretty pink lace from Hobby Lobby and a button. Finally I finished off my card with some machine stitching.  Today I am playing along with the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp and Show - 1 color,  any color

Lets Ink It Up Challenge # 16 - Think Pink

{PTI October Blog Hop}

 Welcome to the PTI October Blog Hop! This month the inspiration picture is a beautiful collection of quilted fall pumpkins that feature a varitey of fabrics, and textures.

And now for my take on the inspiration picture!

   I used the colors and design of the picture to create my card. My card features the PTI set "Love Lives Here" and the matching die set, the background set "Tin Type" and the new set "Faith and Hope". 100% of the proceeds from the purchase of this stamp set will go to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Livestrong the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  Isn't that wonderful! I stamped the angel using SU's Soft Suede. The background was stamped using Tangerine Tango. I am happy with the way my card turned out and I can't wait to send it to a dear friend battling cancer. I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you for visiting my blog today!

{Make a Wish in Pink}

Good Afternoon friends! Today I am back with a card that I couldn't wait to post! For this card I used the adorable stamp set from The Crafts Meow called Butterfly Kisses. I stamped the main image in Stampin Up Pretty in Pink. To create the beautiful lace background die cut I used the Cornish Heritage Farms "Lace" backgrounders and Latte pigment ink from A Muse Studio. I am thrilled with the end result, it looks like REAL lace. Have I told you lately how much I love A Muse Studio ink? lol, ok, I guess I have but I do, I really really do.  The woodgrain background is actually card stock from A|S as well. I added scalloped trim using SU's ribbon scallop punch, and then I added a line of stitching on each side. I stamped the sentiment using onyx black Versafine ink. The pretty flower is from Recollections, and I added my favorite card embellishment, twine.  Now, it is a little difficult to see in the picture, so here is a close-up:

I was inspired by the beautiful card by Michelle Wooderson to try my hand at adding a "splash" of white acrylic paint. I followed the method she posted on her blog and I LOVE the way it turned out! It adds such pretty texture and dimension to the stamped image. Speaking of texture I am playing along with the "Textured to Perfection" Challenge at Moxie Fab World. My card is chock full of texture and dimension! I am also playing along with the following challenges:

Card Patterns Challenge Sketch # 137

Raise the Bar Challenge #79 - Pink

                                              

{House Mouse Halloween}

   Today I thought I would post two relatively simple cards I created using adorable House Mouse Halloween stamps! I stamped the images in Memento ink, and colored them using promarkers. I added punched borders, and Halloween themed ribbon from Oriental Trading that I have had for several years. I guess I just don't make enough Halloween cards so my ribbon has lasted awhile. I added a machine stitched frame to each card, a cute pumpkin accent and a button tied with bakers twine from "The Twinery".  There are strange shadows on my cards, but hopefully they still look presentable. *smile*  Today I am playing along with the following challenges:

Cards Create Blog Weekly Challenge - Halloween

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge - Halloween Colors

Clear It Out Challenge - Halloween

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Things with wings

The Pink Elephant Challenge # 120 - Photo Inspiration

ABC DT Challenge - Pumpkins

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

{Studio Stampers October Blog Hop}

Hello and welcome to the studio stampers October blog hop!  If you are joining us in the hop you should have come here from Kristen Watson's  blog, if not why not start at the beginning with Karen and hop on down until you get back to me.

   I can't believe I am posting a Christmas card already, but if you plan on sending out hand made Christmas cards this year than you probably don't want to wait too long to get started on them, so, I hope I'm able to inspire you today to get out your Christmas cd's and start making Christmas cards! Everything I used to create this card is from A Muse Studio! The stamp set I used to create my card is one of my favorite Holiday/Winter sets in the Holiday catalog, "Winter Stag". A card like this is not something I am used to making, but I have to say I love the way my card turned out! I stamped the fir tree in Fern pigment ink. I stamped the deer using French Roast which has become my favorite color out of all of our pigment ink pads! I used a blender pen and the lid of my french roast ink pad to add some color to the body of my stag. I wanted it to be a subtle hint of color, so I opted not to use copics.  The sentiment was stamped with onyx black Versafine ink, and I added toffee twine and a button from our Cranberry button collection. I have to say that I really love my A|S buttons because you get so many different styles of buttons all in one color. Sometimes your card needs a certain style of button and I love always being able to find the perfect button when I need it!

              I hope that you have had a good time on the Studio Stampers Blog Hop today, and just in-case you have not been following along you can get to the beginning of the hop HERE.

   This is the entire list of A|S Consultants participating in today's hop:

Karen Crisp

www.papernstamps.blogspot.com
Angela Schellenberg
www.gypsypaperie.blogspot.com
Kathy Hatzke
www.kathatstamps.blogspot.com
Lisa Chapman
www.piesafepapergoods.blogspot.com
Kristen Watson
http://branchandsky.blogspot.com/2011/10/studio-stampers-october-blog-hop.html
 Veronica Zalis

http://lk2thestarz.blogspot.com/2011/10/studio-stampers-october-blog-hop.html

                               Thank you for visiting my blog today!!
                                                     

{A True Friend}

Good Afternoon, today I am here to show you a card I created with a couple of challenges in mind. First, this weeks Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge. The challenge this week was to create your own custom made washi  tape. I admit at first I was a little bit nervous about the whole process, but, I gave it a try and I am so happy with the results! To create my washi tape I used the PTI Anniversary set "Simple Little Things". The flower and sentiment are from the Stampin Up set "True Friend". I stamped the strips of washi tape using A Muse Studio ink, French Roast, Orange, and Blackberry and three different stamps from my PTI set.  I stamped the flower stem in Close to Cocoa ink. I stamped the flower twice on vanilla card stock using blackberry, and then cut them out. I added an orange gem to the center and a pop dot to make it well, pop! The patterned paper background is from Lillybee Design (LOVE). I stamped the sentiment using onyx black Versafine ink, and finished off the card with stitching (of course), and twine tied with a button from the Buttercup collection by A Muse Studio.  The color inspiration for my card is from  Paper Craft Magazine Color Inspiration Challenge #9  using these colors:

Today I am also playing along with this challenge!!

The Paper Players Challenge #67 - Jaydee's Color Challenge

I thank you for visiting my blog today, and I hope you have a nice day!

{Playing With Color}

Good Morning Friends! Today I am finishing off my World Card Making Day Celebration by posting a colorful card I created to celebrate the much anticipated arrival of Fall. This time of year is my very favorite time of year, and soon Christmas card making will in full swing. I can't wait! To create my car I used a brand new set I just received (yesterday) from Hot Off The Press called "Bold Patterns". I bought it from HSN and it was on sale so I suggest going there to check out some of the clearance because they have some really good prices on some nice stuff! I stamped my border stamp in 4 different color of A Muse Studio ink, Orange, Grass, Papaya, and French Roast. They stamp beautifully with clear stamps and I was extremely pleased with the end result. I added twine, and rosette and leaf I created using a metal die set from Marianne Design, and a button from A|S. Today I am playing along with this weeks Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge - Thick Chipboard Accents. I only have a set of Christmas PTI's dies and truthfully I'm just not ready to start posting Christmas cards yet so I used my Marianne Design dies that seemed to do the trick. It is difficult to see from the picture but the leaf has several layers that I glued together with Tombo Multi glue. I used my sanding block to rough up the edges a bit. I must say that I love the way it turned out and have many more ideas on creating thick chipboard accents! I hope that you enjoyed the cards I posted for WCMD, and just in-case you missed it I am giving away some A Muse Studio goodies and more info can be found by visiting this post: 

http://lk2thestarz.blogspot.com/2011/09/world-card-making-day-eve-special-and.html

  I am also offering a weekend special on A Muse Studio Pigment ink pads! If you place your order through me, and not my website I will give you 15% our ink pads! If you've been waiting to try them out then this is your chance. You will love them!  Thank you so much for visiting my blog today and I hope you have a nice, relaxing Sunday. 

Today I am playing along with the following challenges:

CR84FN3 Color Challenge #39:

Creative Inspirations Paint Challenge  - Inspired by buttons