The 12 Kits of Christmas: September

It's the end of September, and time for my monthly 12 Kits of Christmas post.  If you are wondering what you have stumbled into, please click here for more information.  This month's kit was generously provided by Kara of KandRdesigns.  Just take a look at all the goodies she sent.  One of the most fun parts about this group is getting to play with stamp sets and dies I don't have, and this month was no exception.  Kara provided us with  so many fun  elements--die cuts, stamped images, and papers to play with.  Kraft and Aqua Mist featured prominently this month, which were just so much to work with.

Time was a bit short for me this month, with Sarah's Bat Mitzvah a mere week away.  We are expecting a lot of family and friends to fly in from out of town.  Our first guests arrive in 4 days.  I was only able to complete 3 cards, which is kind of low for me, but I have so many wonderful leftovers that I will be able to use as soon as life slows down a bit here.

I had such fun playing with all the goodies in Kara's kit, and now I am eager to see what everyone else has created.  I know I will be glad to have saved so much, as I'm sure I'll see so many creations I will want to CASE.  Thank you so much, Kara, for sending such a wonderful kit.    If you are curious about anything used to make these cards, head over to Kara's blog, where she will have information on the supplies she sent.

 

 

Here is a list of the other members of The 12 Kits of Christmas.  Please stop by their blogs and check out what they have done this month.

 

Renee of It's a Patchwork Life

 Cathy of Empty Nest Crafter

Suzanne of The Card Yard

Marybeth of Marybeth's Time for Paper

Joyce of Cards-by-the-Sea (that's me!)

Amy of Stamp-n-Paradise

Christina of Sea Glass and Sentiments

Kim of Cupcakes, Cards and Kim

Kara of KandR Designs

Jessica of The Paper Parade

Jeanne of A Kept Life

Sharron of On Papillon Wings

 

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Retro Sketches #30 and ColourQ #156

Time for crafting has been scarce lately, as the Bat Mitzvah is just one week away.  However, I couldn't resist whipping up a quick card for this week's Retro Sketches #30 using this week's ColourQ #156 colors.  I should be working on seating arrangements....

The sketch seemed perfectly suited for one of my very favorite techniques--stamping a background.  I used my brand new-to-me Beautiful Blooms II set to create this background, and then gave it some texture with my Picnic Plaid Impression Plate.  I used a stamp from Lawn Fawn's Belinda's Borders to create a bit of faux stitching at the edge of my sentiment flag.

Here is a peek at the inside of the card, where I added one more flower.

Supplies Used (PTI):
Stamps:  Beautiful Blooms II, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Lawn Fawn Belinda's Borders
Paper:  White, Terracotta Tile
Ink:  Terracotta Tile, Orange Zest, Autumn Rose, Classic Kraft
Other:  Picnic Plaid Impression Plate, Double Ended Banner Die

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PTI September Blog Hop

This month's PTI blog hop is all about wrapping it up, using felt and fabric.  My true confession is that I completely forgot about the hop, and had to create something very quickly in order to participate.  Since I didn't want to miss out on the party, I threw together this wine bottle tag, using my new Do Me a Favor stamp set.  I used the PTI button die to create a button out of Scarlet Jewel felt--I qualify!

I am eager to see what everyone else created, and get some good ideas for holiday gift packaging.

I am also entering this into this week's CAS-ual Friday #71:  Fall Fun.  What could be more fun than bringing a bottle of wine, complete with a fall-inspired tag, to a friend's house to share.


Supplies Used (PTI):
Stamps:  Do Me a Favor, Turning a New Leaf
Paper:  Scarlet Jewel, Rustic Cream
Ink:  Scarlet Jewel, Canyon Clay
Other:  Wine Bottle, Tag Sale, Fillable Frames, Button dies, Felt, Rustic Jute

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ColourQ #155

I have a card for this week's ColourQ #155.  I was inspired by a card I saw in the Papercrafts Design book, which was also recently posted here.  I wanted to try some color blocking using triangles.  I used the smaller of the two triangle dies from Tranquility Trilogy. 

When I have more time, I think I'll try this with some of the triangle banner dies.  They are smaller, and I think it would be fun to see what kinds of patterns I could create.  This design reminds me of the pattern blocks my daughters used to play with years ago.


Supplies Used (PTI):
Stamps:  Tranquility Trilogy
Paper:  White, Autumn Rose, Lavender Moon, Simply Chargreuse, Lemon Tart
Other:  Tranquility Trilogy Die

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Make it Monday and Color Throwdown

I'm playing along with this week's PTI Make it Monday #83:  Card Isle Inspiration, and using the colors from this week's Color Throwdown #210. 

Here is the card I found at Target:

I loved the idea of a trio of owls, all stacked up.  I noticed that the middle owl was a bit of a jokester, and he was doing something different.  I used that adorable Paper Smooches owl again.   I changed the card from a Halloween card to a birthday card, and had the middle owl hold a birthday greeting balloon.  I used this week's Color Throwdown color scheme.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  PTI Birthday Bash Sentiments, Paper Smooches Spookalicious, Hero Arts Birthday Messages
Paper:  PTI:  Kraft, Simply Chartreuse, Vintage Cream
Ink:  PTI Hawaiian Shores, Memento Rich Cocoa, VersaMark
Other:  Clear embossing Powder

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Retro Sketches #29

I was so excited to see this week's Retro Sketches challenge.  The sketch is based on a card by Laurie Willison, that I remember very well.  I loved it then, and I love it now.  I cased it here back in January.  

I have been drooling over this darling Paper Smooches owl, and my dear friend, Kim, from Cupcakes, Cards, and Kim was so sweet and sent him to me yesterday.  I used that owl to make a non-traditional Bat Mitzvah card for my youngest daughter, who is in love with all things owl.  The theme of her Bat Mitzvah party is owls, and her color scheme is pretty close to Hawaiian Shores and Aqua Mist.

I used some of my newly learned copic coloring skills on the owls.  I know that Sarah loves this little owl stamp as much as I do, and I think she will be so excited to get this card. 


Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Paper Smooches Spookalicious, Alphadots, Lawn Fawn A Birdie Told Me
Paper:  PTI White, Hawaiian Shores, Dark Chocolate
Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa, Hawaiian Shores
Other:  PTI Take 3 Die, Woodgrain IP, Copic markers

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Waltzingmouse September 2012 Blog Party

It's time for the September Waltzingmouse blog party, which is all about fall.  I don't have any Waltzingmouse sets that are fall related, so I made do with fall colors and some images from French Country.  I followed this week's sketch challenge.

For some reason, the picture didn't turn out very well.  The colors are PTI Kraft, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartreuse, Canyon Clay and Dark Chocolate.

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, 5773.

L'Shanah Tovah 

(wishing all my friends a good year)

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Four-of-a-Kind #13

Howdy Pardners!   It's my favorite time of the month again--Four of a Kind posting time.  I think most of my readers know what is about to happen, but if you are new, please click here to get the scoop.  

This month, Cathy is our hostess, and she sent us a kit chock full of Waltzingmouse goodness, featuring Back in the Saddle as well as lots of fun patterned papers, rustic jutes, and even a piece of burlap.  I always hope for a self assembling card kit, as those are usually the easiest to work with, and this month was no exception.  I have been super busy getting ready for my youngest daughter's Bat Mitzvah, and haven't had much time to craft.  Fortunately, the goodies in Cathy's kit pulled themselves into 5 cards in less time than it took my 10th grader to complete her History homework.  Yay for that. 

Here is a picture of what Cathy sent:

 

Photo courtesy of Cathy

 

 

Here are my cards:

 

 

 

And, my favorite of the bunch:

This was such a fun kit to work with.  It features a stamp set that I don't have, and was not even on my wish list.  Who knew country western could be such fun?  Thanks, Cathy, for putting such a fabulous kit together.  Even though I made 5 cards, I have lots of goodies left to use to case anything I see in the future.

Now you can head over to the other members of our Four of a Kind group to see what they have created with the same kit.  That is one of my favorite parts of our little group--the BIG reveal.  

 

 

Cathy Weber:  Empty Nest Crafter

Kim Heggins:  Cupcakes, Cards and Kim

Renee Lynch:  It's a Patchwork Life

 

 

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Card Making Classes

Recently, I was lucky enough to attend two different classes at two different local papercrafting stores.  

My first class was at Paper Tales last week, where I had the pleasure of meeting and being taught by the one and only Kim Hughes of Paper Smooches.  Kim showed us several interesting techniques, including stamp kissing, masking, and glittering.  Plus, she brought all of her stamp sets for us to play with.  It was so fun to meet Kim, and also to get to stamp with some other gals who live in the San Diego area.

Here are the cards we made:

There was a fifth card, but I botched the stamping, and haven't had a chance to fix it yet.

Here is a picture of Kim and me, in front of the store's Paper Smooches display:

The next class I took was a Copic Coloring class at Gee Gee's Stamps and Stuff.    This was supposed to be a class for people who already owned Copic markers, and who just wanted more practice using them.  Imagine my surprise to find that I was the only one in the class!  For a $10 fee, I got 2 hours of one on one instruction.  I learned a lot, and hope to have some time soon to put what I learned into practice.  Here is a stamped image that the instructor provided for me to learn coloring and shading.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed that I'm not posting or crafting much.  Not to fear.  I hope to be back to a regular schedule in a month or so.  In the meantime, I am busy getting ready for my youngest daughter's upcoming Bat Mitzvah. 

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Happy Birthday Kara

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARA

Today, I am helping to celebrate the birthday of my blogging friend, Kara of KandRDesigns.   It seemed appropriate to break out the red, white, and blue for a Patriots Day birthday card.  And, something told me to use Mat Stack 3 for Kara.

Kara--I hope you have a very happy birthday, and many many more.

Here is a list of all the gals participating in Kara's birthday blog hop.  Thanks, Kim, for organizing this birthday blog hop.

Joyce (that's me)

Cathy
Tracey 

 Jeanne
Marybeth
 Jessica
Sharron
Kim

And, if you would like to leave Kara some birthday love yourself, please click here.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Playful Pinwheels, Verve Big Wish, PTI Garden Variety

Paper:  PTI White, Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy Patterns

Ink:  Memento London Fog, PTI Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening

Other:  Mat Stack and Layerz 3, Garden Variety Die, Pinking Die, toothpicks, rhinestones

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Casadia

Last week, I stumbled upon Wida's blog, Beachorado,  and learned that she was in the midst of a very fun project.  She and lots of her friends had embarked on a CASing adventure that she called CASADIA.  In this game, each person has cased the card of the person in front of them.  You can see the chain below.  It's almost like a game of telephone, as the cards migrate further and further away from the original card.  As you look at all these incredible cards, you can see who made the card, and you can click on their name to go to their blogs to see more about how their card was made.

Wida was kind enough to let me play along, so scroll down to see what I came up with:

Laura Bassen

Jennifer Rzasa

Wida Miller

Shirley Bee

Amy Tsurtura

Lorena Canto

Ashley N Newell

Lalo Ik

Julie Hoffman

Jennifer Ingle

Julie 

Are you still with me?  Here is my card, that I cased from this card above by Julie:

Brighter Skies (by me)

I loved Julie's paper pieced umbrella, clouds and supportive sentiment, so that is the direction I took my card in.  I had just returned from Michaels with a brand new MME Reunion 6X6 paper pad, so I used those papers in my card, along with an umbrella from  Scattered Showers, and the Heart 2 Heart stamp set.

Well, this card is pretty far from where we started with the original card.  I remembered seeing that card when it was first posted, and wanted to see if I could case that one, too.  Here is what I came up with:

Happy Birthday

My card is a fun and colorful take on Laura Bassen's original card.  I went with a sentiment in the negative space behind a die cut, and used colored twine on the side for the buttons.

CASADIA has been great fun.  Thanks, Wida, for allowing me to play along.  If you would like to join in on the fun, please click here to get in touch with Wida.

Supplies Used (PTI):

Brighter Skies

Stamps:  Heart 2 Heart, Scattered Showers

Paper:  Kraft, MME Reunion

Ink:  Fresh Snow, Memento Rich Cocoa

Other:  Heart 2 Heart & Scattered Shower Dies

Happy Birthday 

Stamps:  Avery Elle Framed Fonts, Star Prints, Tag it's

Paper:  White, Aqua Mist Patterns 

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Winter Wisteria, Hawaiian Shores, Orange Zest, Aqua Mist

Other:  Celebrations Die, Twinery Twine

 

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