Wednesday, July 1, 2015

#Time Out Challenges and the Mess on my Desk

Happy Hump Day!! I cannot believe it is JULY already. My vacation is flying by and I don't want it to. I like the summer. I actually have the time to get things done!!

This week has been very busy. Yesterday I was a cleaning machine. I took everything off my counters and cleaned them, as well as washed most of the outside of the cupboards. Then I straightened out one of the closets. My goal for the summer is to go through all of the closets in this house. I also washed, folded and put away a ton of laundry.

Another goal is to kick it up at the gym. I went Sunday and Monday but pooped out yesterday. Part of it is because I have bruises all over my legs from a mishap I had at the gym on Sunday. I dropped my I pod shuffle when I was on the elliptical. As I was bending down to look for it under the machine, I fell forward over my elliptical onto another. My left ankle is now swollen as well as the bruise that covers the entire knee cap of my left knee, bruises on my shins and on my right thigh. If I was a person on the treadmill in back of me, I would have laughed my butt off. To make matters worse, I went to the front desk to have them help me because I thought the shuffle was inside the feet part but it was stuck UNDER it in a place I could not see at first. Yes, I am a dork. So today I took it easy.

My Zig Clean Color markers came today. Yeah!! I had to go to the post office to pick them up and of course I had to rip the package open to look at them.


Did I use them? No. My desk was covered in an unfinished scrap book page that had a ton of pieces. I did not want to mess the page up so I will use my markers tomorrow.

When I got home, this is what I found on my kitchen table.


My dog likes to get on the kitchen table while we are gone so he can look out the mudroom window. We have tried everything to get him to stop it minus taking the chairs out from the table completely. If there is any type of paper on it when he finds his way up, he will shred it with his paws and his teeth. This is the work that Charlotte did at Chinese Camp yesterday. So yes, sometimes dogs do eat kids homework!!! Little stinker.

Finally my card!! I used the inspiration photo from Time Out Challenges to get my creative juices going. Here is my card:


This is the inspiration photo that I had to use.


I primarily used the colors for my card. I originally tried to use pieced chevrons but wound up throwing everything out and starting over. I knew what ever shape I used, I was going to attempt to utilize some of the mess on my desk as card elements.

I started this card by die cutting the Horizontal Stripes Cover Plate die by Paper Trey Ink from five different pieces of card stock, as well as my sentiment.


I then sat down and placed different colored strips into one of the die cuts. Next I die cut two circle frames, one from a scrap piece of patterned paper and one from some white glitter paper.


I was not sure which frame I was going to use so I played around with the design a little bit to see which one I was going to use.



I decided for this card that the pattern paper looked the best. Besides, it was also the same color and had some of the shapes from the inspiration photo. The bear still looked kind of blah so I decided to go back to the Pandamonium set by Mama Elephant to see what decorative element I could use to spruce it up.


I decided to use the stick and the large lantern image. I stamped both of them and colored the large lantern in with Copic Markers.


I then used the matching dies to cut the images out with my Big Shot.


Now it was time to assemble the card. First I adhered the cover plate pieces to a white A-2 card base. Next I glued down the circle frame and then the sentiment.


I then covered the back of the Panda the stick and the lantern with foam adhesive. Since these images were the focal point, I thought it was important to give them some dimension.


My last step was to cover the lantern in clear Wink of Stella, glue on the tiny google eyes and adhere the pink enamel heart.


This card is a bit bright but I LOVE how it came out. I have enough to make a few more of these cards, which I will do at a later date. None of my "extras" can go to waste!!

That is all for today. I hope you all enjoy this first day of July. Thank you for stopping by!!

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Saturday, June 27, 2015

Freshly Made Sketches #192, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday "Anything Goes" Challenge with Avery Elle's "Furry Friends" Set

Happy Saturday!! It has been a busy day for me today. My husband Chris and I walked this morning to the local farmer's market on our green. We live in a small town and we are lucky enough to be able to walk to many places. Chris bought himself a steak (local farms sell local meat that they raise themselves) because I am going out with friend's tonight and some fresh cookies. I bought some dog treats for Zach, dried lavender and some flavored olive oil. Everything is locally grown and made. I am big into supporting home grown businesses and Glastonbury is a town that does a lot to promote them.

Later, my sister Jen and I went shopping. She is on crutches due to surgery to her ankle and I was her clothes carrier. I haven't had one on one time with her in a while so it was nice to get out with her.

Today I am sharing a card I created the Freshly Made Sketches #192 challenge and Simon Says Stamp "Anything Goes" challenge.


I used a cat from Avery Elle "Furry Friends" stamp and die set as my focal image.


My inspiration for this card was the sketch below:

I started by stamping, coloring and then die cutting the cat. I then stamped a couple fish and a ball of yarn from the same stamp set. I made sure while I was stamping that the cat fit in-between the two. I colored in the yarn ball, created some shadows and then used a circle die to cut it out. 


I set that aside to create the card base. I used a piece 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" Lawn Fawn patterned paper and adhered it to a top folding A-2 sized card. I then mounted a 3 1/4" by 5 1/2" piece of stamped, white card stock over the card base. I then layered a thin piece of blue card stock on the right side.


Next I adhered a piece of blue patterned paper that I die cut in to circle. With foam adhesive, I then adhered the circle that I had stamped the scene. The cat was then adhered in the middle of the white circle. My last step was to adhere some sequins.


I actually am really happy with how this card came out. It was simple, the colors are my colors and it did not take me forever to create. That is a winner in my book!!

I intend to actually send this card to Chris' Aunt that we stayed with on vacation. She LOVES cats. In fact, she rehabilitates them. When we were there, she was nursing five kittens and has four cats of her own. I am allergic to them so they were gated in two separate rooms away from me. I HAD to play  with the kittens, though. They were so cute!! I did pay for it but it was worth it.

I thank you for taking the time to stop by today. Have a great night!!

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