One is a Lonely Number

One is very lonely number when it comes to layers if you ask me.  However, that's what they are asking us to do this week at the Merry Monday Challenge Blog. So after much angst, debate, and internal dialog I came up with this one layer card.

And ain't half bad if I do say so myself. I think it is that interesting knot that makes it, otherwise it is kind of ho hum.  I used frosted lace glitter glue on it so the snowflakes are all frosty looking.

Whew! I fussed over that card all week. Okay, really most of that was trying to figure out where in the heck I put the Christmas embossing folders (and you know what? I don't actually remember where I found it). I'm glad that challenge is done and over with. Next week they will probably have us do heat embossing or brayering or something equally horrifying.

The Fine Print: Snowflake embossing folder and greeting by Stampin' Up--Northern Flurry and Ornamental Pine, frosted lace glitter glue by Ranger, bling and embroidery floss from my stash. 

Beaded Inspiration

This week over at Inspiration Destination the theme is Anything Goes! Oh wait! That's what the theme is every week. However, the design team is featuring lots of young lady stamps this time which inspired me to pull out this stamp and have a go at it.

It wasn't just the design team who helped me to dream up the card, it was these pesky beads:

These were passed out at my stamp club last month to challenge folks to make something with them. You could do with them whatever you liked. I ended up unstringing the beads and making jewelry for my little lady stamp. I also fancied her up with a piece of eyelash twine.

The Fine Print: Lady stamp by Hero Arts, fancy printed vellum by Hot Off the Press, photo corners by Recollections, and twine from my stash. 

World Domination!

I was going to post my master plan for Global Domination but it seems like too happy of a day for all that malarkey, so you'll just have to settle for this perky recycled card instead.

The Fine Print: It's recycled because it is made with recycled items--tags cut from paper bags, twine from a sales tag, and letters cut from envelope liner. 

Bling it on!

This week at the In The Pink Challenge we are tasked with using gems, sparkles and any other sort of bling that tickles our fancy.  Of course I had to pull out the embossing folder that I bought specifically to bling the heck out of. I suppose I could have added a little more sparkle by cutting my heart out of glitter paper, but I am quite pleased with how my pink creation came out.

The Fine Print: Embossing folder by Ecstasy Crafts, heart die by Simon Says Stamp, flowers, ribbon, and bling from my stash. 

Workdesk Wednesday

It has been far too long since I've hooked up with Julia and the folks at Workdesk Wednesday.  Do check it out if you fancy a sneak peek at the places others create.

The reason I  haven't joined in a while is my desk is tidy by Wednesday, all cleaned off and made cat proof by the middle of the workweek. No, this photo isn't an anomaly; it is from Sunday when all the real playing happens.

My desk is chock full of things I've worked on, want to work on, and was working on. Some of it got used and some of it is still waiting to get used, but all nicely stacked up with no twine, plastic, small bits, or other cat tempting objects in reach.

Cats sure are bastards, aren't they?

What did you just call me?!

The Fine Print: It seems like Valentine's cards were in full swing along with some winter, Chirstmas and challenge ones. I haven't been focused on any one thing lately, jumping from this to that.

B is for Bauble

Actually, B is for "Blimey, I'm never going to get this card finished." I had so many troubles making this card for the ABC Christmas Challenge. First I stamped and embossed the image upside down, and then at the wrong angle and then again with not enough oomph for the embossing powder to stick. I was about ready to call it an evening when it finally all came together.

This is such a simple card that it shouldn't have caused so much angst. I don't have green ink or green EP so I had to use the cheater method. The thing with that is you have to clean and dry your stamp before going in for another round (or a third or a fourth). Also, I don't know who makes that fabulous bauble. It fell off a Christmas card I received last season so of course I had to use it!

Just to show that baubles will not get the best of me here is another card with them. This card was much more cooperative and went together in a jiffy.  I'm going to take this card over to Scrappy Mo's Rudolph Challenge. I'm up to ten Christmas cards made already.

The Fine Print: The cheater embossing method to emboss with dye ink is to first ink your stamp with Versamark and then the colored dye ink over it, stamp quickly, add powder, and emboss.  Stamps, ribbons, "Joy" and embossing folder all by Stampin' Up "Ornamental Pine."

Inky Butterfly

Well, check this out! I finally actually made a card for Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge instead of writing down the current theme and ignoring it for 3 weeks.  This time the theme is I is for Inks. I have this real love of butterfly dies but I can ink one up by stamping one out just as well.  Here's proof:

I even fancied up the inside as well. So that's me finally doing the butterfly challenge. If you make quick like a fox you can join in too but don't dilly dally.

The Fine Print: Stamps "Butterfly Basics" and die "Butterfly Framelets" by Stampin' Up, green and purples inks by Memento, gray inks and heather baker's twine by A Muse Studio.

3, 2, 1...

This week Shopping Our Stash asked us to do a countdown. We were to use three of one thing, two of another, and one of a third. Interestingly enough that sounds easier than it is. In the end I persevered and got two Valentine's Cards out of the deal. And better yet I used up random stuff from my stash, some of which has been around for quite awhile.

This card has three square brads (came in package with red and green so probably supposed to be a Christmas thing), two different patterned papers, and one glitter on acetate heart (made more than a decade ago).

This second card has three punched hearts (from a little used punch), two strips of ribbon (from my extensive stash of green ribbon) and one glitter sticker embellishment (still more in that pack).

The Fine Print: Swirly heart stamp by Hero Arts, glitter sticker by Pooch & Sweetheart, scallop heart square die by Spellbinders, heart punch by Stampin' Up, all other bit unknown.

Brrr... It's Winter

I'm wearing gloves as I'm typing this from my bunker deep in the frozen tundra. I hope I can get this message out to the masses before I slip into a deep frozen forever sleep.  Okay, so I'm a bit of a drama queen but I really am wearing gloves.  This Southern Arizona Lizard does not like winter. Or cold. Or snow.

Except on paper.

So how lucky for me to discover Double D Challenges with their winter time challenge to use this collage for inspiration. I latched onto the bright red cardinals right away as all those cool sepia tones were just too cold for me.  This is the card I came up with:

I really latched onto that red and used warmer brown tones for my card. I'm sorry if the pattern and the die cut boggle your eyes. My camera is a real piece of....  work. It does much better in the bright sunshine (which we are lacking being winter and all).

The Fine Print: Stamps by A Muse Artstamps, die by Spellbinders, paper by DCWV, and seam binding from a sewing store. Happy winter my friends, stay warm!  

A Rabble Rousing Cup

As soon as I saw that the Merry Monday challenge this week was hot beverages I just knew I had to make something with last season's controversial Starbucks cup because I'm such a rabble rouser!  Do you remember all that hoopla over a mere disposable cup? Remember all the sleep that was lost over it?! Remember how the fate of the free world rested on Starbucks next move?! Yeah, me either.  I don't even remember what the hoopla was about.  I vaguely remembered something about a plain red cup (the horror, the horror).

Hopefully my plain red cup won't cause as many problems and disrupt democracy. If it does though, just pop the lid and drink deeply because that heart warming Christmas beverage is rum, with a shot of cocoa.  It does a body good!

Having Christmas cards made before the holidays does a body good too, so think about joining in on the weekly Merry Monday challenges and getting a head start. I'm up to 8 cards made now. Go me!

The Fine Print: Controversial hot cup die by A Muse Studio, warm heart greeting by Taylored Expressions, stitched circle by MFT, dotted paper by DCWV, and paper scraps from my stash.

Use Your Stuff--Patterned Papers

Challenge number #207 from the Use Your Stuff gals is to use 3 or more patterned papers on your creation this week.  Well, true confession time: My name is Princess Judy and I'm a paper addict. In the early days of my blog I often referenced "my 8-foot stack of paper" which is shown below in two 4-foot stacks.

And that my friends was but only a portion of my paper stash. I've since paired it down but I could probably still open my own paper store.  Anyway, all that to say this challenge really spoke to my inner hoarder.  However, just to make it hard on myself I wanted to make a Valentine's card and only wanted to use the stuff that was already in little pieces and not cut into a pristine sheet of 12x12. That really limited me because most of those bits and pieces didn't go well together.

Then I found this cool card base that came pre-printed with two different patterns on it and matched this strip of pink polka dots I have. I used a found bow and cardstock scraps to make this card. I'm really pleased with how it came out. Since I used snippets I'm also joining Pixie's Snippet Playground along with the Use Your Stuff challenge.

The Fine Print: Girl stamp by Stampin' Up, patterned card base by CTMH, pink polka dots by DCWV, scraps and bow from my stash.

O is for Older Than Dirt

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is asking us to celebrate those of certain advanced age..., those who have taken many trips around the sun...., those who are over the hill but not yet under it..., you know, the old farts.*  And it just so happened that I was in need of a birthday card and this mildly snarky and grumpy creation was born.

This is one of those Flap Fold cards that came from Splitcoaststampers. They are fun because they give you extra space to decorate but a little bit frustrating in that you have to find small enough stamps for the circle.

The inside greeting reads "another birthday, another gray hare!"

* Old fart--anyone older than me, of course.

The Fine Print: Gray hare creature and greeting by Taylored Expressions "Party Grumplings," fancy HB greeting, punches and designer paper by Stampin' Up.

Feeling Floral

You know what is nice about not buying every craft item that comes across your path?  When you do buy some it is a special occasion and you can make time to play with it right away instead of running across it in your stash 6 weeks/months/years later and feeling guilty.

I made this birthday card with brand spanking new stuff (that Christmas money again). I'm quite tickled with this botanical bundle and hope to play with it again soon. I have some other new goodies too! I would say "stay tuned" but this is one of those weeks where I won't have time to breath let alone play (hence this scheduled post).

The Fine Print: Stamps, dies, and designer paper by Stampin' Up "Botanical Garden" bundle and "Remembering your Birthday."

Destination: Inspiration Lane

I've been keeping my eye out for challenges that inspire me to use my stuff and do something different or at least something I haven't thought about in a long time.  So when I came across a blog called Inspiration Destination I knew I had to check it out.

Their weekly challenges are always Anything Goes and while that paints a pretty broad stroke and didn't really channel me in any one direction or the other, the sheer number of participants from all over doing whatever they wanted was very inspiring.

I decided to jump out of the card making box and make a tag for Valentine's Day. I'm rather proud of this as I don't usually do anything remotely artsy and I think this came out rather well. I enjoyed finding different bits of this and that to add to my tag including all those scrumptious fibers (remember when they were all the rage?).  There is another punched heart tied into the fibers like a secondary tag.

The Fine Print: Cat stamp by Taylored Expressions "Tag-a-Long Valentine," greeting by A Muse Artstamps, both heart die by Simon Says Stamp, arrow die by Taylored Expressions, border punch by Fiskars, doily, and Love You washi by A Muse Studio, fibers from my fiber stash (which is embarrassingly extensive).

Use Your Stuff--Brads

I just ran across another one of those challenges geared towards inspiring you to utilize what you have on hand. It's called Use Your Stuff and their current challenge #206 is to use brads. I have lots of brads. I have brads in lots of different colors, matte colors, shiny colors, with different colored jewels on top, padded brads, rounded brads, flat brads, big brads and teeny tiny ones. I even have a few in random fun shapes.

For this challenge I used one of my favorite large brads. They were a gift from Leslie, The Crooked Stamper, who had no idea why such big brads existed.  Why to make people like me happy, of course!  Since I just discovered this challenge it is due to close in a few hours, but why don't you slap a few brads on something and play along?

The Fine Print: Friend die by Walter & Winnie, flower punch by EK Success, twine by A Muse Studio, and designer paper from Echo Park. This card is for a local card exchange where the theme is "words, words, words." I think I got a few words in there.

Very Important New Flash

We interrupt your regular boring blog programming with this Very Important News Flash: Princess Judy actually made a shaker card! This would be the very first ever shaker card she made since people discovered how to make them without using foam core board. She used sequins as her shaker material. It was almost like she knew what she was doing!

We now return you to your regular boring blog programming.

The Fine Print: Stamps by Paper Smooches. The top photo is the card front and the bottom photo is the inside.

Hey, By Golly!

Here are some more Holly Jolly Christmas challenge cards. I'm really enjoying all these challenges to inspire and motivate me to get my holiday cards done early. I'm already up to seven made.

This cutie card is from a progressive digital image challenge. If you play along one month you get the next month's image for free.  That's always interested me because you have no idea what the next month will bring so that's a fun mystery to look forward to. So I finally jumped in and bought the first image from From the Heart Stamps to play along.

This image is called Cozy Kittens are aren't they just so sweet?! To keep with the holiday theme I used the included holiday greeting but you could make a nice winter card with them as well.

This next card was inspired by the Merry Monday challenge to use plaid. I used designer paper for that card but in the process ran across this roll of plaid washi tape. I was too lazy to dig out another stamp set but that's okay because these grumpy critters are so much fun!

I'm submitting these cards to the ABC Christmas challenge and the weekly Christmas Card Challenge from Sparkle Creations.  A is for Anything Goes for both challenges so you have the choice of grumpy or cute to fit every mood.

The Fine Print: Cozy Kitten and greeting digital image from From the Heart (nifty place, check them out), fancy oval die by Spellbinders, designer paper by Basic Gray, flowers from Prima.  Holiday Grumpling cat and dashing greeting by Taylored Expressions, warm wishes greeting and snowy day background by A Muse Studio, plaid washi tape from my stash. Stay warm my friends!

Stars and Stripes

Here's a new year card I made earlier this month, you know, when the year was newer and shinier. Have you noticed that it is getting kind of tarnished already? It must be from all that celebrating/hard living we've done already.

In an effort to get more creative and do some more blogging I am entering this into the Crafty Addicts Challenge #6.  The theme is CELEBRATE! I could do that all month long.

The Fine Print: Stamps by Stampin' Up "Making Spirits Bright" (confession time: first time I've used this set), stars die by A Muse Studio, stripy paper by DCWV, and glossy marbled card base from my stash.

Perfect in Plaid

This week's Merry Monday challenges us to use plaid and Shopping Our Stash asks us to use something new. I guess I can kill two birds with one stone.  You know, if I were the bird murdering type.

I had plenty o' plaid in my stash to choose from and got to play with my brand spanking new stamp set called Holiday Grumplings. I bought it with my Christmas money, because shouldn't you buy Christmas stamps with your Christmas money?! I just love that grumpy look paired with the Joy punch.

Here is the inside of my card with a strip of plaid in there too. So much for jingling all the way....

 

The Fine Print: All stamps by Taylored Expressions, "Holiday Grumplings" and some other holiday critter set for normal people, JOY punch by Martha Stewart, designer paper from DCWV, and ribbon from my stash. I'm hoping I'll find time to play with my other new goodies this week, also purchased with Christmas money but not Christmas-y. A girl can dream! 

Pestered Panda

Yesterday I was a flustered panda. See, I got put on phone duty all day and I had to make appointments for the counselors.  Who calls an institution of higher education one week before classes starts and wants appointments with counselors?

The answer is: people who are woefully underprepared to come to college. There were a large amount of students who needed to meet with a counselor to get cleared for this semester due to academic crappiness (we're just calling it what it is) but frankly calling a mere days before classes start doesn't show signs of success. Amazingly the majority of them had appointments previously and just plain failed to show up.  That really smacks of failure.

I also had to put up with a large amount of young adults who were incapable of making a decision. Maybe mommy made all the decisions before now. I'm not sure, but when the switchboard is backed up 6 deep I can't spend 15 minutes with you on the phone trying to decide if you want an appointment in the morning or the afternoon. I lied to a number of them.  "Oh while you were waffling someone took the afternoon appointment. You can have the morning one."

But then I got to go home and make myself a nice stiff drink a large leafy salad and make this lovely card.  It is going to be a birthday card to a friend.  Isn't it lovely? Well, actually it was frustrating too.  See, last year I bought those wonderful butterfly dies but did not buy the companion Watercolor Butterfly stamp set.  I wanted to CASE a really cool card that a friend sent me but lacked all the parts. So after much finagling I came up with this version. The inside is decorated with the greeting and more of the ferns, see:

The Fine Print: Die and fern stamp by Stampin' Up, designer paper by Basic Gray.