Life's a Bowl of cherries

There is a demonstrator group that I belong to that has weekly swaps.  In May, one of the weekly swaps was based on this photo:

 It's a cool photo. I had stamping insomnia from it. My mind was mulling over how to make a card that reflected the inspiration. Hmmmm.  A 1950s feel to me...some art deco too.  I like the colors.  I even like the Melon Mambo in there. :-)  And here is the card I made for the swap.

I liked the rounded corners of the marquee, so I rounded my layer corners.  I swiped a white craft pad over the layers of Tempting Turquoise to get the worn feel.  And why the cherries?  Well, my Grandma Daisy had a bowl very similar to the one in the stamp image.  And it was actually blue and red.  When I first saw the stamp set, called Cherish Friendship, it was Grandma Daisy's bowl that came to mind...and probably why I bought the set.  :-)  A 1950s bowl to go with the 1950s vibe of the card.  Makes sense in my mind. 
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I colored the bowl and cherries with water color pencils.  They seem to be my favorite coloring tool as of late.  My cherries are Mt Rainier cherries.  They have more of the yellow coloring than do Bing or Pie cherries.  Can you see the shine on them?  That's Crystal Effects that I dotted onto each cherry.  Now the image has a bumpy feel to it--like there's really something in the bowl.

Here's a picture of the side so you can see all of the layers.  It's like stairs! You can also see the bumpy cherries!  The three rhinestones adds the glamor of the theater marquee. 

Something I like about the stamping world is how we can be inspired by anything.  I can't wait to see what the other swappers make!  That part is always the most fun.

Thanks for stopping in.
Kristine

A couple more challenges with another sneak peek

Today is Mother's Day.  Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

Thomas has returned home from Disneyland and we are all so glad to have him home.  Three days is a looonnnngggg time.  We picked him up from the school at 8:30 this morning.  They left Disneyland at 11:30 last night and slept on the bus.  Lord, I admire the fortitude of his teacher and chaperons.  I'd be cranky, bleary-eyed and no one's friend by the end of the trip.  As I sit typing this, I can hear my children playing in the back of the house.  Lovely sound.  A wonderful present for the day.

In my last post I shared that Olivia and I had been using crafting as therapy for missing Thomas.  I have a couple more cards to share from yesterday.

This first card was a challenge card that Livi thought of.  She picked two colors from the Color Coach and we each had to come up with a card--without the help of layout/sketch.  The colors she picked were Chocolate Chip and Lucky Limade.  Thank God...finally colors that suit me!

Here is Livi's card.

If you have been a subscriber/follower for awhile, you will recognize that this color combo is way out of Livi's comfort zone.  She is a brights kinda gal.  She also has some vertical elements in her card, which is unusual for her.  Didn't she do a great job using the markers on the trees!

And here is my card.  I really like how this card came out.  I used the DSP from the retiring Nursery Nest.  The little owls are on the DSP and I cut them out.  

The sentiment is from a new stamp set called Itty Bitty Banners.  It's the perfect size. As I was making the card, I began to think of my dad.  His birthday is right around the corner.  He is turning 75!  Doesn't seem possible.  Hubby and I were talking the other day and figured out that my parents were our current age when we first started dating. (Did that sentence make sense? Not sure how to phrase that?) But anyway, if that is not a mind blower, I don't know what is.  But, I digress.  Thinking of my dad, an awful pun came to mind to put inside the card.  This kind of punniness is right up his alley.  Everyone else will groan.  He'll repeat it the rest of the day. 

There you have it.  Two more cards. 

Livi and I have spent some time today organizing my new stamps.  Being a former librarian, I tend to be organized.  Livi played secretary and did all the copying and filing of all the new goodies.  She's a gem.  She actually had a blast making the copies and getting everything into my personal catalog and placed on the shelves correctly.  There may be a wee bit of librarian in her, too. :-)  It helped her pass some of the time waiting for Thomas to take a shower and get himself refreshed from the bus ride. It's been good that Livi is keeping me occupied, too.  I have the overwhelming urge to constantly hug my son and just look at him.  I cannot tell you how hard it was to let him go on his own.  But I am restraining and not driving him bonkers.  I know a 14 year old boy/young man will only put up with so much huggin' from mom. :-)

Okay, enough time has passed.  Time for another hug! Watch out Thomas! :-)

Kristine

Playing with Olivia and a Sneak Peek

Note:  I have blathered a lot before getting to my card and the sneak peek.  If you are visiting just to see the sneak peek and a new product, scroll to the bottom.  If you don't mind a wee bit of blathering...read on!


I am so lucky that my daughter, Olivia, aka Livi, likes to paper craft with me.  She is 12, and I love that it makes her smile when we bring out the craft supplies and get down to a challenge.  This weekend we are missing Thomas.  He is her brother and my son.  He is 14 and off on a trip to Disneyland in LA with his school orchestra.  We miss him terribly.  I am very fortunate that my children love each other and consider each other best friends.  I know!  Can you imagine my surprise as each year they grow they continue to treat each other with respect and love!  It says a lot about who they are as people.  So we are missing Thomas and we felt a little paper therapy was in order.  So we have been doing some challenges.

Because Livi likes sketch challenges we started there.  She combed my bookmarked sights until she found a sketch she thought she could work with and like.  What she found was the Saturday Sketch Challenge at Stamping 411. Perfect! It's an older sketch, but that's what we used. Here it is:

Then to make the challenge a wee bit more difficult, we each picked a color from the Stampin' Up! Color Coach.  This had to be a focal color in the card.  Here's a picture of Livi selecting my color.  She's so funny.  Look at that cute face!

And wouldn't you know it, we each by happenstance picked colors for each other that we would NOT normally pick.  She picked Melon Mambo for me.  I picked Tangerine Tango for her.  We each gave a heavy sigh.  Oh the tortures of working outside a comfort zone! :-)  Then we got to work.  Lots of laughs, and Oh-my-gosh-this-card-is hard! later we had our finished cards.  One of the rules of our working together is no peeking at the other person's work.  We like the surprise of the finished card.  I ripped my card up a few times.  Livi sticks with her plan and is always okay with what she creates.  Say anything about our personalities?

First Livi's card.  Remember she had to use Tangerine Tango.  I love how she interpreted the sketch and made that color work for her. 

And here is my card.  Remember I had to use Melon Mambo.  I fudged a bit.  Although Melon Mambo is a main color, I think the Elegant Eggplant is more noticeable.

The stamp set used is a new stamp in the upcoming 2012-13 Idea Book called Betsy's Blossoms.  I received this set as a part of a bundle that Stampin' Up put together as an incentive.  If you reach a certain level in your title, you begin to get the opportunity to buy these bundles at a discount, or eventually you get them free!  I got my first discount bundle. Hehehehehe, grin.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE Stampin' Up! :-)  Love getting things for free or at a big discount. 

I think the set has a retro feel to it.  Yeah man...retro! 

Thanks for visiting today.  Thanks to you, my followers and subscribers.  You are da bomb.
Kristine

For Mom

I love Stampin' Up!  I really do.  But sometimes I see something that is non-SU that I must have.  So it happened last weekend when Livi and I went to a big craft store.  I saw this beautiful paper in the bargain bins.  It was love at first sight.  The roses on the paper spoke to me of times gone by.  So I bought it.  And I used it.  Everything except the designer paper is SU, but the colors are retired.  I have been rearranging stuff to make room for the new goodies to come, and I miss so much some of the colors of the past--such as Mellow Moss.  It was/still is a favorite.  It doesn't surprise me that Mellow Moss matches the design paper.  We are all drawn to certain colors.  Okay, now the card. This is my mom's Mother's Day card.  My mom does not own a computer, so no worries about her seeing it before I give it to her. :-) 

I decided to use the sentiment "family" instead of "Mom" because she is the glue of our family.  She has also never really thought much about needing a special day for moms.  She's all for another family day, however!  So it fits her better.

I fussy cut some of the roses out of the paper for the small pair above the circle and then popped them up on a dimensional.  Here's a side view of the card so you can see some of the dimension as well as the inside of the card (before I write in all the mushy stuff I write inside cards.)

Supplies: 

Cardstock: Brilliant Blue (retired), Mellow Moss (retired)

Designer Paper: Treasures by Shabby Chic

Polka Dot Embossing Folder, 2 1/2" circle plus and Circle Scissor Plus

This card fits the bill for two challenges as well. Cool. It is the Mojo Monday Sketch 240, and it fits the theme for the Paper Players Theme Challenge 94.   I thank the ladies at both challenges for helping me create my mom's card. :-)

I just realized there is no stamping on this card!  Huh? 

Thanks for stopping by.  Special thanks to my followers and subscribers.

Kristine

Sketch Challenge

My email today delivered a sketch challenge from the Stampin' Queens. I like the simplier sketches without so much layering. I thought I might be able to get a card made in the 30 minutes I had.  Amazingly, the card came together quickly.  Once I picked the stamp set, the rest just fell into place.  Gotta love it when that happens!  Here's the sketch:

  And here's my take on it:

Supplies:

Stamps: Love and Sympathy

Card stock: Very Vanilla and Bravo Burgandy

Inks:  Bravo Burgandy and Alway Artichoke

Always Artichoke Seem Binding, Basic Rhinestones, Extra Large Oval Punch

I used a stamp set I just bought called "Love and Sympathy."  I like the sentiment in the set and the font of the word "Sympathy." And this set is NOT on the retiring list. Big smile.  As you can see on the sketch, there are three "somethings" in the lower right side of the card.  I stamped three of the flowers and cut them out and popped them up with dimensionals.  A small rhinestone adds just a little flair.  Kinda reminds me of dew drops.

Amazingly there is actually nothing on this card that is retiring!  I lost of ton of sets to the retiring list.  I'm excited to see what there is to buy to replace them.  (Shhh, don't tell my hubby I want to replace that many sets. :-)  He doesn't need to know the extent of my addiction. Although with the fact that my stamping space is in our dining area, I bet he has a pretty good idea. Grin.)

I hope to not have to send this card out.  It seems to me that when someone dies, there are two more deaths that follow closely behind--as if God takes souls in threes.  An oddity I have noticed in my own lifetime.  Anyone else ever notice that?  And so as not to end on a morbid kind of thought, ...here are my beautiful blooming violets. 

    

Are they not GOR-JUS!  In real life the "blue" violets are actually a deep purple.  Think Concord Crush rather than the Pacific Point they look like in  the pictures.  I really need to figure out my camera settings to get the right colors. 

Thanks for sharing some time with me.  Special thanks to my Subscribers and Followers. 

Kristine

I've lost it

Somewhere out there is my mojo.  It certainly is not with me.  Mary Fish has designed a wonderful Mojo Monday sketch (#238), and yet I have worked and fiddled and started over and ... well, judge for yourself.

Supplies:  Wow Flowers

Card stock: Green Galore, Whisper White

Designer paper: Rainbw Sherbert

Big Shot Die: Flower, Daisies #2

Apricot brad and ribbon



{sigh}  You know what I would like?  Someone to tell me where this card went wrong.  I have not even peeked at the other Mojo enteries.  Maybe I'll know what is wrong when I see the other entries? Olivia likes it.  Maybe it is a tween card?  

Here's the sketch:

I cannot get the Mojo sketch picture to stay in the place I want it on my blog.  Ay yi yi...I should head back to bed.

Thanks for stopping in. 

Kristine

Sunshine

Today Reno is overcast, but warm.  I would love a downpour with maybe some thunder grumbles.  There is nothing better, to this native Reno girl, than a spring downpour leaving the soil smelling like nothing else, except maybe Heaven.  I have smelled rain in lots of places around the world, but nothing compares to the smell of rain in Northern Nevada.  I am biased, I realize, as this is my home. :-)  But the card I made today has nothing to do with rain.  It is all about the sunshine!

Supplies:

Stamps: Button Buddies, Pursuit of Happiness

Card stock: soft Suede, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight

DSP: Attic Boutique

Embellishments: Neutral buttons, Lucky Limade Bakers Twine, Brights brads

Dies: Top Note

For those of you who have received the free Button Buddies card kits, (see the link at the top of the page for card kits if you're curious) here is an example of one more card you can make with the Button Buddies stamp set.  I stamped the flower three times--once in Old Olive and twice in Daffodil Delight.  I then fussy cut them out by layers and popped each layer up on a dimensional.

  It is not visible in the picture, but I also painted each leaf and petal of the flower with the Smooch Pearlized Top Coat paint.  So when you move the card, the flower sparkles. A little sparkle is always nice.  The layout is from a card sketch designed by Lisa Hjulberg for Taylored Expressions sketch challenge 144.

One more share...

Another thing I enjoy about Spring in Northern Nevada are the blossoming trees.  They line the parkways, they peek out of yards, and they smell almost as wonderful as the rain.  My kids tease me because I think fruitless plum trees smell like tacos.  They do!  Flour-shelled tacos.  I call them taco trees.  The blossoms pictured below are from the cherry tree in my back yard.  The tree is loaded with blossoms.  The bees are busy doing the things busy bees do, and I am crossing my fingers for another bumper load of pie cherries come late July. Last year we had over 20 gallons of pie cherries off this tree--and that was with sharing with the birds.  They ate from the top branches, we gathered from the bottom branches.   At dusk, this tree looks almost glowing.  It's white is pristine and stunning against the oranges of the sky.  My favorite place to gaze all spring.



Thanks for sharing some time with me today.  A special welcome to a new follower, Samara.  Thanks to all of my subscribers and followers.

Kristine