My favorite challenge is back!

Hehe! More tags from me today! Tracey's Tag You're It Challenge is back this month and I'm excited to participate! The theme is "Love is in the Air" and I made two tags using the Close To My Heart True Love stamp set.

This first tag is most appropriate for the theme since it includes balloons floating in the air. Nothing special here other than the stamps, kraft cardstock and Copic marker coloring of the image.

The second tag uses the little girl from the same stamp set and I also used some old-school chalk to color the background a bit. The Valentine's Day sentiment is from a different stamp set but it's been around for a long time and I'm not sure who made it any more!

Six months later...

Apparently I'm just not going to post on here much! Checking in today to share the Christmas cards I made for my kids' teachers, and enter them into Unity's FWF.

This first one is simply made on a printed kraft cardstock using the adorable stamp from Unity's Magic of Christmas kit. The Christmas sentiments in this kit are so cute! The fun polka dot stripes at the top are from a really old Close to My Heart stamp that I adore! (Sorry about the shadow on the right...I should have reviewed my pics before sealing these cards into an envelope!)

I also made this fun little card using some 6ish year old CTMH patterned paper along with two of the stamps from the awesome Unity Tags, Glorious Tags kit that was sold around Christmas time last year. I love this kit! It has a lot of holiday stamps but some are also versatile to use all year round. 

Finally, I've got a super simple card combining paper from the CTMH set and the same Christmas stamp from the Unity Magic of Christmas kit. Simple but still a lovely card to give with a small gift for my son's teacher! 

Merry Christmas!

One Friday this summer

I'm  not much of a blogger apparently. I read lots of blogs. But preparing and writing posts myself...not much at all! This week I bumped into a new challenge blog as well as the fact that it's FWF at Unity and I've been sufficiently motivated to post a little something myself.  But it's been a busy day!

First we finished up a week of soccer camp:

Then we got our free slurpees at 7Eleven:

Now the kids are chilled out after a tiring week and I was able to finish my tag that was inspired by the inaugural Tag You're It challenge! Here's the inspiration photo.

And here is my tag! I mostly used the colors and tag shape.

 The tag base is from the latest Unity SMAK kit, All in the Numbers. The papers are old scraps - CTMH and MME I think. The little birdie is Colorbox and the sentiment is CTMH. 

It's a wonderful summer weekend now. Enjoy!

Holiday Tags

I like making tags, but my very favorite are definitely Christmas tags! A month or so ago I bought a new Unity Stamp kit called "Tags, Glorious Tags!". Just perfect for me! Here are my first two tag creations with it...

I used the Tags set and also one Close to My Heart stamp that I already had in my stash. Papers are from an older DCWV holiday pack.

Thanks for taking a look...and an early Merry Christmas to you!

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween!

Here's a fun card I made using Unity Stamp Co.'s Bones About Halloween. I had no idea the skeleton was going to be so huge when I ordered this stamp set! I still think the kids will have fun with it when I let them have a chance to stamp with it though. I'm using one of their favorite jokes for this time of the year...

The front

And the inside!

I also used one of my favorite alpha stamp sets from Close to My Heart and used my Silhouette cutter for the banner and frame on the inside. Happy Fall everyone!

Friday!

Friday is here again and I thought I'd post a card I made last week for a friend's birthday on the Friends with Flair board. The sentiment and frame are by Unity Stamp Co. The big flower stamp is by Close to my Heart. The papers are pretty old My Minds Eye (I think.) Thanks for taking a look!

It's a beautiful life!

Sadly, a childhood friend of mine is currently in the final stage of losing her mom to cancer. The diagnosis is only about a month old and it was too late for treatment. Her family and mom were a big part of my life as I was growing up through elementary school and junior high. Even though I haven't seen any of them for more than 15 years, I feel a real bond with them. For sure, this is a family that embraces all the fun, togetherness and joy in life. So even though right now life is as horrible and painful as it has ever been for them, I know my friend's mom would agree with the sentiment of this card.

Credits: Stamps: Sunny Happy Skies, Tiny Vintage Banners, SMAK 12/11 Make Every Day Count all by Unity Stamp Co.; 
Inks: Close To My Heart; Papers: My Minds Eye

I didn't realize it until I stamped it out, but I LOVE that sentiment! Its part of a stamp that is kind of like a journaling space, part of last December's SMAK kit. I masked off the accounting paper style lines that were next to these words. That balloon is so fun too...I'll have to remember to use it more!

All the stamps are from Unity Stamp Co, and I'm entering it in the current Ippity Chick Challenge, and also sharing it on this weeks Friends With Flair!

Getting crafty with a Stamping Class

Wow! Long time, no blogging! I'm not sure why, but posting just seems like a hassle and I never get around to it, although I think of doing it often. I think I will make up for that with a big long post now! :)

So, my most recent creations to blog about are from an online card making class that I took the last two weeks called Stretch your Stamps. Wow! It was full of great ideas, lots of videos demo-ing the different techniques, etc. It was focused on cards but I've been thinking of all the ways I want to use those ideas in my scrapbooking pages too. I really enjoyed the daily dose of craftiness and I've already got my eye on another class they offer that will help me use my Silhouette die cutting machine a lot more.

Day 1 was all about background stamps. The class had a big supplies list, giving me an opportunity to buy all  the stamps they were using before hand, but I have a lot of stamps that don't get too much use so I figured I could get by with what's on hand. I found a relatively new (to me anyway!) Unity Stamp Co. number background that works perfectly for birthday cards.

 

Credits: Stamps (numbers, arrows, sentiment) Unity Stamp Co.

Everything else - Close To My Heart
Card design based on a card by Dawn McVey (shown in the SYS class, not her blog)

I also made these fun birthday tags using some older background stamps from Close to My Heart. These came out super cute and are perfect for the many birthday parties my kids go to. Can't have enough little cards around for them to use!

Credit: All materials but the twine is from CTMH.

Twine is natural hemp from the hardware store.

Punches (circle, scallop, corner rounder) from EK Success, Tag punch by Creative Memories

Day 3 was using alphabet stamps and they had some really fun ideas. One idea was to use them boldly on envelopes. I used one of my favorite alphabets of all time - Rustic Alpha by CTMH. I'm not too thrilled with the other two stamps on it, but wouldn't you love to get a fun envelope like that in the mail?

I've got two very different uses for the Day 4 graphic stamps I found in my stash. The first one is a card using bug stamps, which I love, but haven't used much. One of my boys has bug pajamas that say "Don't bug me" on the front and he just adores them. So I made this card and will give it to him at some point. The bugs are big and graphic and I used the masking technique that was shown in SYS. 

Credits: Stamps (bugs) and inks by CTMH, stamps (flag and background) by Unity Stamp Co.

Alpha stamps by Wordsworth

My other graphic stamp item is another birthday tag. I used two circle stamps and three colors of ink to make a nice background. Layered it with a trendy ticket to say Happy Birthday! The other cool thing about this tag is that I used Helmar scrap dots (which is actually tube glue, not dots!) to both attach the many pieces of ribbon and raise up the tag. Cool product.

Credits: Stamps (circles and sentiment) by CTMH, 

Stamp (ticket) by Unity Stamp Co., cardstock and inks by CTMH

Skipping all the way to Day 10 and border stamps, I loved the demonstration of a simple border and sentiment card, so I got right to work on making my own little 3x3 card. Perfect for a lunchbox note, isn't it? I'll definitely be making some more fun little cards like this!

Credits: Border and heart stamps by Martha Stewart, Alpha stamps by Scraptrends

Pink Inks by CTMH, Brown ink by Martha Stewart

So that's all I've made so far. There were a lot of other ideas that I hope to get to using one day! I'm really looking forward to using label stamps in decorative ways and also there were some stunning cards using colored pencils, so I'll definitely be giving that a try. Stay tuned!

Friday...a few cards I made

Every Friday one of my favorite stamp companies has a sharing event called Friends with Flair. While I'm partial to clear acrylic stamps, I have recently become infatuated with Unity Stamps, which still stick to my stamping blocks, but they are made of traditional red rubber and foam. Last weekend my friend Karla and I finally got a chance to spend some girl time together stamping and creating. I wasn't in the scrapbooking mood, so I made a few cards instead.

First are the little mini cards I made with Unity stamps and scraps of paper and stamps I had around. The kids are always needing little tags and cards for the many birthday parties they go to, so I decided to get ahead of the curve a bit and have some on hand.

So here's my first Unity share! The diamond background on the pink cards is made with Unity's All you need Aug 2010 KOM. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Unity's Favorite Sentiments set. On the blue tag, I used another part of a stamp from the Favorite Sentiments. I'll probably punch a hole in that one and add a ribbon or string when we use it.

I also made a more regular sized card using some Sassafras paper and a Close to my Heart stamp. The card design is from a Two Peas in a Bucket challenge. I always love being able to use up a bunch of scraps on a card. Those layered banners came out cute!

Thank You

Here it is! My first craft post. These cards are for my daughter's Daisy Girl Scout troop leaders and the second one works perfectly for the EBTKS #17 sketch right now! I kept these cards clean and simple since 6 and 7 year old girls are going to be signing them. Plus, my card making mojo seems to be missing! (Although I do love the first one!)

It's a daisy...get it? The flower/pot/stem are all from a CTMH set. The sentiment alphas are by Wordsworth.

This flower is similar to the patches the Daisy scouts earn for their uniforms. The sentiment on this one is CTMH alpha and the nice big flower stamp is by Stampendous.