Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #13 - A Year of Choices (And Some Changes)

It's the first of the month. That means it's time for another challenge over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge. We are celebrating our 1st Birthday!! It's been an awesome year and we have lots of fun things planned for our birthday celebration. Be sure to check out this month's challenge post for some amazing inspiration.

We are also implementing a few changes to our challenge rules, so be sure to remember the following when creating your June post.

1. You must include the challenge graphic.
2. You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs to be eligible for prizes and recognitions.
3. You may combine with 4 other challenges.

Also, our sponsor this month is Maya Road and they are offering 2 prizes filled with Maya Road Goodness to our 2 lucky random winners.

Our theme this month is "A Year of Choices." You can pick out any theme we have done over the past year. How fun is that? For my project I used several themes: Spray Inks, Around the House, Stamps and Flowers.

I made a very Patriotic American Shadowbox. Since Memorial Day was last week and the 4th of July is coming up and I bought an awesome new Unity Stamp Company Patriotic Stamp set, I was in the mood to make some thing red, white and blue.

Michaels has had these 7 Gypsies Shadowboxed in the Clearance section a while now and I finally picked one up.

To create the background I brushed on some Decorate Twinkles Glitter Paint in Blue Galaxy.

Then I sprayed on Decoart Spray Ink in Primary Cyan and Maya Road Spray Mist in Strawberry.

Here's the final project.

When I was trying to decide what to do, I thought my big Unity Flag Stamp would fit perfectly in the big opening - and it did!! I also used the smaller round star with stripes Unity stamp. I used Decorate Media Matte Medium to adhere the stamped images to a piece of thick chipboard before I adhered them to the box. I stamped Let Freedom Ring on a Maya Road Ticket and stenciled a red star on the ticket with Decoart paint and an Andy Skinner Stencil. I attached it to the shadowbox with a Maya Road Mini Clothespin in White.

In the lower left corner of the box I added a Maya Road Kraft Flower that I colored with Stampers Big Brush pens in red and blue. Then I added a wood 4 and 3 blue Maya Road flowers. For the rest of the embellishments I used stickers from various companies. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will play with us this month!!

Donut Delight

I made this card for the current Curtain Call Challenge - Donut Delight. I used Stamps and Dies from Clearly Besotted Stamps called "With Sprinkles". The inks and papers are from Papertrey Ink - Lavender Moon, Hibiscus Burst and Aqua Mist. Thanks for stopping by!

Rachel's Birthday Blog Hop

Today is a special day. It's Rachel Kleinman's birthday. Yay!! Rachel is my crafty BFF. She's also co-founder of the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge with me. She is so nice and fun and super crafty. Unfortunately, she has had a not so great week so I asked all the Design Team Members from the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge to create birthday cards for her and have a little blog hop in her honor to wish her a happy birthday and help her feel better.

Here's a selfie we took last month. She came to visit me and we spent a few days in Charleston, SC. I've grown up in SC and love it here. It's so much fun to show off the cool places in my state to first timers like Rachel. We had a great time. 

This is the card I mailed Rachel. We both really love Papertrey Ink and I made this card a few months ago for a Make It Monday challenge. I thought it would be perfect for Rachel because she loves these colors and like me she loves the PTI graphic images. So, here it is.

I want to wish Rachel a very Happy Birthday and an amazing year ahead that promises to be VERY eventful. Now, you should move along to Lynn Adams blog to see the pretty card Lynn made for Rachel. Also, be sure to head on over to Rachel's blog and wish her Happy Birthday. I know she would love that! Thanks for stopping by.

Denami Polka Dots Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog. Today, I'm participating in the Denami Polka Dots Blog Hop. I'm so excited to participate again this monty.

I love Denami Stamps and I thought this Happy Birthday stamp was just too cute. For this card I embossed the stamp with Wild Wasabi Embossing powder. The polka dot paper was a scrap in my stash. The other papers are all from Stampin' Up. I think the stamp is so pretty that it didn't need too much embellishment so I just framed it with some papers that matched the polka dots and I think this is cute and cheery birthday card. Thanks for stopping by!

Be sure to check out the rest of the participants on the hop and leave comments because 2 lucky commenters will receive a $20 gift certificate to the Denami Store. 

If you're following the hop you should've come here from the blog of the super talented Linda at http://creatingingodsimage.blogspot.com/ and your next stop will be the blog of the very gifted Dana at http://kismetartlife.blogspot.com/ If you just found out about the hop and want to start at the beginning go to the Denami Blog.

Thanks for stopping by!!

The Play Date Cafe #168

It time for a new color story at The Play Date Cafe. This week our colors are Cranberry, Raspberry, and Petal. Perfect for your last minute Valentine cards. However, I decided to make mine a Birthday Card because I've already made tons of Valentines and I always need birthday cards!

The ink and papers I used are from Stampin' Up. The stamps I used are from this week's FAB sponsor Avery Elle. If you haven't checked out their stamps yet, you should go take a look. They are awesome. I think you will love them. And, one lucky winner this week will win a great prize from Avery Elle!

Materials

1. Card stock - Select White (PTI) Rose Red, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up)

2. Inks - Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette (Stampin' Up)

3. Stamps - Fanfare, Knotty (Avery Elle)

4. Punches - Circle (Stampin' Up)

Avery Elle Challenge

I just got in my first stamps from a new company called Avery Elle. I decided to enter their first challenge on their blog. The challenge is to make a project that sums up your personal paper crafting style. I used a stamp set called Fanfare because I really love the graphic nature of the stamps. I also used a purple and aqua/green color scheme because it's one of my favorite color combos. When asked to describe my style I usually say it's colorful and relatively CAS. I think this card sums that up. I'm rarely subtle with color and sometimes I'm just over the line of CAS. Thanks for stopping by and go check out Avery Elle if they're a new brand to you. I think you'll love their stamps. 

Materials

1. Cardstock - Select White, Hawaiian Shores, Plum Pudding - Papertrey, Ink.

2. Ink - Hawaiian Shores, Plum Pudding - Papertrey, Ink.

3. Stamps - Fanfare - Avery Elle

4. Punch - Circle - Stampin' Up

PTI Monochromatic Cow Birthday Card

I'm going to add this to the Moxie Fab Gingham Challenge since it's still open. Click here to join in all the fun!

Recently, I ordered a few Papertrey Ink stamp sets and dies. I really love their stamps and I just couldn't resist this new set called On the Farm. My grandparents had a farm with cows and pigs and this set reminds me of the family farm in Clover, SC. I'm entering this card into the PTI Make It Monday Challenge. It's my first time participating in this challenge. The challenge this week is to include a bordered, masked sentiment. I watched the video they have on the site by Betsy Veldman that shows how to do this technique.

If you follow my blog you know I'm not much of a "masker" so this was a challenge for me. I die cut the PTI banner die on some mask paper that I have and have never used. I put the banner on the card and stamped over it. It wasn't too hard and I was happy to finally use my mask paper. I had the idea to stamp some brown cows in rows and the stamps made excellent images - I'm very happy with  their quality. Thanks for stopping by!!

Materials

1. Card stock - Whisper White, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up)

2. Gingham Paper (A Muse Studio)

3. Stamps - On the Farm (PTI)

4. Die - banner (PTI)

5. Ink - Rich Cocoa (Memento)

6. Marker - Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up)

7. Mask Paper (Inkadinkado)

Happy Birthday Teri!!!

When I woke up this morning I saw on Facebook that it was Teri Anderson's Birthday. Teri is one of my favorite Paper Crafts Magazine Go-To-Gals. You should check out her blog sometime if you've never been there - she makes great cards! I decided to take out another one of my new Hero Arts stamps and make a quick virtual card for Teri. 


I'm also entering this card into the current Wee Memories Challenge - Anything Goes. Thanks for stopping by!

Here's my card. 

Materials
1. Card stock - Pool Party, Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder - Stampin Up
2. Decorative Paper - Stampin' Up
3. Stamps - Wish Big, Essential Messages - Hero Arts
4. Ribbon & Twine - Calypso Coral - Stampin Up
5. Die - Nestabilities
6. Ink - Basic Black - Stampin Up

Happy Bday Day Dad & Some Way Too Long Updates

Hi everybody! I've been so busy, I haven't made a card since my button wreath Monday morning. I actually woke up in the middle of the night, checked my I-phone to see what the new Cupcake Craft Challenge was and thought of that wreath all night and had to make it as soon as I woke up. That's the only time I've had this week to make anything!!


When I got home today, I had an hour before my parents picked me up to go to dinner for my dad's birthday. So, I quickly made him a birthday card and here it is. 

Materials

1. Card stock - Gray (Studio Calico)

2. Decorative Paper - Destination (Studio Calico)

3. Fab Rip (Studio Calico)

4. Sticker - No 1 (Amy Tangerine-remarks)

5. Letters - Natural Chipboard (American Crafts)

So, why have a I been so busy? Well, the manager at my local Michaels asked me if I would be interested in teaching card classes there and I said yes. So, this week I've been in training to become an official Michaels employee. Even though I'm just teaching some 2 hour classes, I still have to do training like a full-time employee so it's taken a lot of time. I'm going to observe some classes Saturday and then I get to start creating and teaching my own classes. I can decide on the topic and supply lists and I'm very excited to plan my first classes. I have so many ideas floating around in my head and I can't wait to get some time to put them on paper and get organized. 


Now for some more news. On Monday I received an e-mail from the managing editor of a popular card magazine asking me if I would be interested in making a set of 6-9 cards, tags, etc... for an article. I was very flattered and I said yes. But, of course this means coming up with some ideas and implementing them and the deadline is November 15. So I have another set of ideas in my mind that I need to get on paper and eventually on some cards, tags, altered items etc... More later on this. 


And in the middle of all these fun things, my first creations for the Gel-a-tins design team will be due in November and I've really been putting some ideas aside that I can use with my new Gel-a-tin stamps. They are so awesome and I can't wait to get to use them. Now, if I can just manufacture some time, I'll be good!!


Finally, last Sunday I went to the fair with my friends and their son Reece who is basically my adopted child. I'm including a photo of me with Reece on a tractor (he loves tractors) and a picture of me with the big red dog I won for him at the water gun game!! It was a really fun day and he's almost 3 and the perfect age to enjoy all the rides, animals and fun at the fair. 


Sorry this post was so long. My regulars know I rarely venture outside my card recipes. 

Life of the Party Birthday

I wanted to do a kids birthday card and decided to use the new Hero Arts and Basic Gray stamp sets called Life of the Party. I used decorative paper on the card for accents and paper piecing to add interest to the cones & pinwheel. 

Materials

Card stock - white (Stampin' Up)

Decorative Paper - Life of the Party (Hero Arts)

Stamp Sets - Life of the Party, Life of the Party Dots (Hero Arts)

Ink - Baha Breeze, Black (Stampin' Up)

Tools - paper snips (Martha Stewart)

Instructions

1. Create card from card stock - finished size is 5 x 5

2. Stamp background dots on card. 

3. Adhere strips of decorative paper to the card

4. Stamp figures on white card stock and cut out with paper snips

5. Stamp figures on decorative paper and cut out the tops of the figure with paper snips

6. Adhere decorative paper pieces to white stamped figures

7. Stamp ticket and cut out

8. Color in stamped images

9. Adhere images to card with foam tape