Happy New Year!

Hello folks, sorry about the long absence. after returning from my long awaited trip to my birth place, Colima Mexico, the holidays kicked in. I had one week for Christmas shopping and plan a lovely Christmas dinner for visiting family..... who had time to make a card, right? lol.
 Now, that I have plans to ring in the new year, I found the some time to share with you my latest creation.

My card is inspired by this weeks Mojo Monday sketch. We have the choice between the circle or the square version... I went with the easier one I think.. the square version.

I've always thought of New Years as a black and white event so I went with it. I started off a plain white base and layered every piece with basic black. For the designer piece, I purchased a set from the local craft store from "Me & my big ideas". It contains different filigree designs and some with felt, which I thought helped me a lot with construction of the middle pieces because it prevented them from moving. Next, I cut four pieces of plain white card stock and embossed with Cuttlebug D'vine swirl folder. Then, cut another smaller piece and stamped balloons on one side using SU! Bitty Birthday, it was tricky but I made it work. And for the last piece, I used SU! A Brand New Year stamp and raised it with pop ups next to the balloons. And for an added touch, I used a sheer piece of ribbon.
 For inside the card, I just used another piece of the same designer paper and layered it with some basic black. For the sentiment in the middle I used SU! wonderful words set.
Well folks thanks again for stopping by and for being patient with me. I promise to post more creations frequently in the new coming year...
Also I'd like to extend a great big "Hello" to The U.K., Russia, South Korea, Germany, Australia, India, Canada, Greece, Malaysia, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago... Wow! Thank you so much for stopping by! And to all the my other visitors thanks for reading all my rants and complaints. Here's to you and all your love ones... May you have a fantastic New Year and best wishes!! Tootles

Happy Holidays

Hello folks, thanks for stopping by. Todays card will probably be my last for the time being. See, I'm flying out to Mexico with my mom to see my father and the house I was last in almost 25 years ago. I was 13 years old when my father purchased this house. It's located in a perfect spot.... 10 minutes from the ocean resorts, and 20 minutes from the city. The weather is just what the doctor ordered and I can't wait to get there.

It's too bad I'll only be there for two weeks, but I prefer spending christmas in the States. I'm cutting it close to the 25th, but I felt like this was as good a time as ever to go while I still have the chance. so I wanted to post a card to send my love to all for this season to my return on the 18th. This card took me a week to put it together, what with my on going battle with this horrid cough, and getting last minute items for my trip.

I gotta say that my favorite piece of the card is the sentiment part! I love layering and elevating with the same color card stock then and stamping images on the edges. And since I didn't have a lot of Christmas designer paper I improvised by using one of my discontinued Stampin' up wheels and used that for the belt of the card? And since there was other prints working on this cards, I just used solid colors for the rest of the pieces to not over-whelm the centerpiece.

And last I wanted to rep the colors used on the front of the card inside the car..lol I used the scalloped edges for each color which I thought makes an awesome 3D effect. And I kept it simple with the little sentiment in the middle. I hope you like and have a beautiful and awesome Christmas everyone... Adios!

Winter wonderland Snowman

Hola friends, thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a great weekend, my was very windy. The weather in Southern Cali is what my friend would call "bipolar"? It changes from one extreme to another. ...lol. It really doesn't help my cold situation, because I've basically been hibernating since Monday of last week. It's been extremely cold for my taste during the night, and we've had fog. rain, and really gusty winds..... I know there's no such things as tornado's or hurricanes in L.A., but I imagine that's what the winds may sound like if I ever experienced one? Anyway, since "the weather outside is frightful".... lol. I thought I'd make this lovely card featuring a snowman in a "winter wonderland" motif. Again I'm experimenting more with lifting the backgrounds inches off the base card, it just gives it a more special feel to the card other than just the centerpiece to be the focal point. The snowman stamp I've had for quite some time. I like that it has it's own shadow as oppose to me adding the light blue hue to give it that effect. also it gave me the chance to finally use some of this SU! Baja Breeze striped ribbon.

And for the inside I wanted to play with another scene, by cutting piece of the same color card stock, Baja Breeze, and edge it with embossing glitter. Unfortunately the camera didn't capture it as I liked but trust me, it looks very pretty..lol And lastly I just wanted to add a simple sentiment, so as to give it room for a written message. I hope you like it. Tootles

Supplies

Paper: SU! Baja Breeze, Whisper white
Stamps: SU! Serene Snowflakes, Inkadinkado snowman
Ink: SU! Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Stazon black
Accessories: Baja Breeze striped ribbon, pop-ups
Tools: Spellbinder Scallop circles (large)

Your kindness warms my Heart!

Hello Folks, I hope you had a pleasant and hearty meal this Thanksgiving. As for me I could be doing better... I've been ill with the flu these days, but I at least have my love ones and a roof over my head, so I can't really complaint, right? So I mustard up some strength and made a trip to the local craft store for their sale on paper and stamp sets. I found this really cute set from "Fiskars" called Latte Love. It has a variation of tea cups, mugs and coffee containers with cheeky phrases like "you're tea-riffic", "thanks a latte" etc. The best part about clear stamp sets is that you can shape them to whatever angle you want. I wanted to fit the focal point with the phrase all in one to follow the sketch from "Taylor Expressions". I just missed it's deadline but I really liked the sketch that I still wanted to make something with it. I hope you like it?

Supplies

Paper:  DCWV Christmas classic, SU! Chocolate chip, Very Vanilla, Crumb
Ink:  Stazons black, SU! Real Red, Baja breeze
Accessories: Crumb 1/4" ribbon, silver brads, button, twine, pop-ups
Tools: Cuddle bugs "D'vine swirl, Seeing spots,

Um from Umbridge Birthday

Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by...Today's card was inspired by Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland..... particularly the scene where Alice runs into The Queen of hearts, she introduces herself as "Um from Umbridge". I really fell in love with the dress they made her from the once she went into the Queens castle.

Well this was my inspiration, so the hard part was yet to come. It took me about two weeks to implement this onto a card?! I knew that I wanted to use the same colors shown on the picture but how do I use the same sheering of the dress. I kept in mind the McQueen card I did months ago and try to come close as possible to the design. For days my desk was in disarray.. failed designs, different drafts of cut pieces of black and white design paper and no success?! Then finally a break... Monday rolled around and Mojo Monday came to the rescue... after studying the sketch I knew I could come up with my card.

I started with a plain white base, then layered it with basic black. I used Real red cardstock for the left side and embossed it with Cuddle bug's "seeing spots" for texture. For the right side I used a stripped black and white design paper I purchased from the local craft store. now here comes the head scratcher... how would I add a sheered look for the card....? Then it hit me that I still had scraps of the chifon from my halloween costume... I stamped black hearts with "Stazons" black ink and to my surprise, the ink did not bleed through... so I didn't have to wait for it to dry. I then hit the sewing machine and sewed on the middle to then pull the thread for a ruffle effect.

To avoid the lift of the ruffle, I secured a piece of Real red 1/4" ribbon from the top of the card and use strong adhesive tape and strapped it down on the other end. For the centerpiece, I used the plain white paper layered with black and added the final piece.

I used my Spellbinder, Nestabilities scallop circle edge, sponped Baja breeze in the middle for shadow and added my digi-dressy Camille from Greeting Farm. And just like "Um's" dress I added itty bitty little hearts and stripes on her dress. And for the sentiment I used , what esle but the SU! Itty bitty birthday set of course..lol.

And here it is, the finished product... It took a while but it paid off in the end..I hope you like it.

Autumn Greetings

Hello and thank you for stopping by. Today's card is inspired by Taylored Expressions sketch artist Jami Sibley.

So far this is one of my favorite sketches this month. I wanted to make a fall or autumn card, especially since I recently purchased a clear stamp set from Inkadinkado called Autumn foliage. Very pretty for set for thanksgiving or fall cards and crafts by the way.

Even though I mentioned the the new set I purchased I did find it hard to implement those images on to this card so I just used the sentiment and save it for another sketch.. so stay tuned...lol So for the base of the card I used SU! Crushed curry card stock followed by Very vanilla and for texture I used My minds eye Quite Contrary set and embossed it with Cuttlebugs D'vine swirl folder. For the middle pieces I used the Martha Stewart doily edge punch and a piece of the SU! Bella Rose dsp (retired) brown polka dot paper.  For the centerpiece I used the Nestabilities Labels 3 to cut out the Crushed curry and Vanilla white. On the Vanilla piece I sponged the edges with SU! Baja breeze ink. for my sunflower and leaf images... I wish I remembered where I purchased it... it was so long ago... I just remembered that the place I purchased it from was called Stampa-Barbara.. neat, huh? lol And for the finishing touches, I used the Inkadinkado called Autumn foliage and for a splash of added color I used the black and white checkered ribbon... pretty huh..I hope you like.

Sweet always birthday card

Hi eveyone, I hope you're having a spectacular Halloween weekend... I know I have. I didn't realize how many costumes I owned... I had two parties to go to and I had 4 costumes to choose from of what was already in my closet from previous years.... It's one of my favorite holidays.

Okay, todays card is inspired from another verve sketch...... I don't own any of their pieces, but I hope to purchase some soon.

For the base of the card I started off with a basic SU! Whisper white cardstock, followed by Chocolate chip and Regal rose and for a pattern piece I used Pumpkin pie dsp. For three background pieces I used SU! Sweet always dsp. For the two larger pieces I used Pumpkin pie layered with another pumpkin pie pattern piece and Regal rose cardstock layered with the Whisper white stamped with the Fiskars Make a wish quote sentiment and I used the birthdat hats from SU!Party hearty set , flipped them upside down to give it a banner effect using the different colors shown on the pattern pieces. And for the finally touch I used a scalloped circle punch used the SU! Bitty birthday set for the 'happy birthday" sentiment. For the little cupcake I used the SU!Short & sweet set and finished it with a 1/4" chocolate chip ribbon and added some sparkle with the rhinestone brad.... I hope you like it... Happy Halloween!