'Bee' Happy...It's Wednesday With MyGrafico

Good morning! If you haven't guessed already with the move to Wednesdays, we've made some (minor) changes at MyGrafico. Each week, we'll be alternating between sketch challenges and color/element challenges. Our design team has changed a bit too, including a special guest DT - be sure to stop by the Challenge Blog to check it all out.

This week's challenge is a sketch challenge. And here's the sketch created by our very talented DT leader Martha:

It's a great sketch to work with!! The DT worked with this fun set from Chi Chi Memories. It could be yours - just play along with the sketch and an image from MyGrafico. Post a direct link to your card on the Challenge Blog by Tuesday night at 10pm, and the winner will be announced on Wednesday.

Seeing this happy images made me think bright colors...which I realize I use quite often anyway - haha!! And here's what I came up with:

My favorite image was the little bee. I've been seeing a lot of bees lately - both on cards and zooming around all the fruit trees that are blossoming here. I did a little paper piecing on some DCWV cardstock in my stash...I really like their textured blue paper - the perfect cheery sky!

Well I hope you're having a great day! We're having unseasonable warm weather here - mid 80s!! So much better than the crazy amount of snow that fell not too long ago.

Details:

Stamps - Spring Is Here (Chi Chi Memories for MyGrafico); sentiment - Fillable Frames 1 (PTI); clouds - Cheer Up (My Cute Stamps)

Ink - Real Red (SU!); Copics

Paper - white, black, Summer Sun (SU!); dp - Swing Set (The Goods from American Crafts)

Accessories - black embroidery floss

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter with loved ones. It was a wonderful day here. Here's one card that I made to give out....didn't get time to photograph the others (see below), but I liked this one the best anyway!

The end of last week became very busy with my formal observation for the year, adviser-advisee with my high schoolers, and a get together with colleagues after school. Friday was so beautiful that I worked the entire day outside - you should see the perennials already poking out from the mulch! My plan for yesterday was to wash my car, do laundry, and work on cards. I don't think I'm meant to make plans....first I discover that there must be a crack in the pipe leading from my basement to my outdoor faucet - no car wash. Then my mom called saying she called an ambulance because she was having some chest pains. I'm so happy to report that she's doing just fine - we think taking the steroid for the lung infection she has too close to a nebulizer treatment (along with a little overeating at the Chinese restaurant) was the culprit. She's calling her family doctor tomorrow for a follow up. To put my mind at ease and to make sure she relaxed the rest of the day, I insisted she come to my house for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had a great day chatting and watching movies....guess I'll be doin' the laundry tomorrow :)


Details:
Stamps - Jelly Beans (My Cute Stamps); Polka Dot Backgrounds II (PTI)
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Fresh Snow (PTI); Copics
Paper - DCWV Spring Stack, white
Accessories - blue satin ribbon

A Little Perk Me Up

A while back I emailed Jennifer, the designer of the Zenware line at MyGrafico, about creating appliance stamps. After seeing the toaster from the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird line, I wanted stamps like it to create cards with fun sentiments. Jen has been soooooo awesome and created a terrific set. Here's my first creation with it:

With the percolater image, I used the Cheer Up set from My Cute Stamps to add a fun face and the steam cloud. I love how I can add a variety of expressions to other stamps with this set. I made another coffee pot that looks a bit sleepy.

And how perfect b/c the challenge over at MoxieFabWorld is to create a card with a household item as the focal point! I think I have a couple more up my sleeve before tomorrow night's deadline!



Details:
Stamps - Vintage Appliances (MyGrafico); Cheer Up (My Cute Stamps)
Ink - Night of Navy, Tuxedo Black (Memento); Copics (B23 & B32)
Paper - white cardstock (Georgia Pacific), Night of Navy (Stampin Up); dp - Bright Tints Yellow Gingham (Paper Pizazz), Alex's Random Dots (The Paper Studio), Alex's Plaid (The Paper Studio)
Accessories - Nestabilities Large Circle & Pinking Circle dies, green grosgrain ribbon (Ofray), pinking shears, Post It Note font, blue button (Foof-a-la), red embroidery floss, black fine tip marker, pop dots

Super Tuesday

It's another day to celebrate at the MyGrafico Challenge blog!! Hope you had fun yesterday with the Blog Hop - I know I did!! I will announce the winner of the triple decker cone a little later.

Today, one lucky follower of the MyGrafico Challenge blog will receive this SUPER cool Superheroes set! Just think of the fun you could have with this - birthday invites/coordinating pieces, thank you's (You're Super!!), or some caring card (I'm Here to Help).

I didn't think I had much use for it personally, and then I came up with this:

I created this SUPER birthday gift set complete with cards, coupons, and a matching envie!! This was so perfect b/c I wasn't sure what I was giving out to my elementary kiddos on their birthdays. Now that problem is solved!! I just love how my Superhero looks flying through the sky - I created it by adding cut out clouds (from the My Cute Stamps Cheer Up set) to some blue cardstock (DCWV). The coupons (which include the use of my chair, my computer, a homework pass, lunch in the classroom, and 10 minutes free-time) were made using MS Word and will be a huge hit.

So, would you like to win this set? Head over to the MyGrafico Challenge blog today and become a follower. One lucky follower will be randomly chosen and will receive this SUPER set!!

Details:

Stamps - Superhero (MyGrafico); Cheer Up (My Cute Stamps)

Ink - Copics (R27, R29, B24, B29, Y08, E47, E51)

Paper - white, blue (DCWV)

Accessories - red embroidery floss, Hey Arnold font, dimensionals

Na-cho Ordinary Card :)

The theme of this VSN is Paper Chefs - so all of the challenges are 'food' related. Today's mini challenge focuses around snacks. The 8pm challenge deals with one of my favorite snacks - nachos!! Here are the clever details of the challenge:

• Must have an earthly yellow (like So Saffron) to represent the corn chips
• Must include a red to represent the salsa
• Choose at least two of the following ingredients - refried beans (kraft or brown), cheese (orange or vanilla), guacamole, jalapenos, or cilantro (green), black olives (black), sour cream (white), red onions (purple)
• You must heat your nachos, so you must use an technique that involves heat.

Here's what I came up with:

I guess according to the recipe, my nachos would have corn chips, salsa, refried beans, guacamole, sour cream, and olives....hmmmm, I wouldn't make them that way in real life - they'd have to have cheese!! I did add heat by embossing my sentiment. I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of heat embossing....I typically get the powder everywhere and it's never 'perfect'...too bad because I love the look & feel of it!!

I do love how the card turned out! This is such a wonderful set from My Cute Stamps - I didn't get it with my first order and it was the first thing I added to my cart during my second order :) It's so versatile, so I bet you'll be seeing lots more cards made with it!!


Details:
Stamps - Spunky Nature (My Cute Stamps), sentiment from Trendy Trees (SU)
Paper - white, kraft, black
Ink - Real Red, Fresh Snow & New Leaf (PTI), Versamark
Accessories - buttons (Foof-a-La), black gingham ribbon, black embossing powder, white embroidery floss

It's All Green To Me

Here's my card for Cath Edvalson's Moxie Fab It's All Green To Me Challenge.



I had ordered the Go Green set from My Cute Stamps late last week, and I knew that I wanted to use them as soon as I saw the challenge. I also incorporated the cloud image from My Cute Stamps' Cheer Up set. Yes...I'm addicted to My Cute Stamps!!

I stamped the tree on kraft paper using Memento Tuxedo Black. The leaves & heart are colored with Copics while the truck is colored with pastels. The clouds were stamped onto kraft with Night of Navy, colored with pastels, and cut out. The peace sun was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored with pastels, and cut out. I thought stamping on kraft cardstock gave it a more recycled feel - perfect for the challenge. I added the sentiment (...I wish this sentiment was included with the sent) using rub-on letters from Creating Keepsakes.


Details:
Stamps - Go Green & Cheer Up (My Cute Stamps)
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Night of Navy; Copics (R32, G21, YG11)
Paper - white, kraft
Accessories - pastels, black gingham ribbon (Michaels), rub-on letters (Creating Keepsakes)

Ways To Use It - Bold & Bright

This week's Ways To Use It challenge was to incorporate bold & bright colors into your card/project. I've been looking at this EK Success paper by Stacy Clair Boyd in my stash for awhile, and I knew it would be perfect for today's challenge.



I used the monster from My Cute Stamps Eeek! A Monster set to create this 5 1/2 square card. The DP had a coordinating stripe on the back. I originally had this on the card base as well, but thought it was a bit too much. Instead, I punched a corner out of it with the SU photo corners punch. It's definitely a bold & bright, fun & cheery card!

Details:
Stamps -Eeek! A Monster (My Cute Stamps)
Ink -black, Copics (YG03, YG06, C-1, B00)
Paper - Dynamic Duo by Stacy Claire Boyd (EK Success), Tempting Turquoise, Orchid Opulence, white
Accessories - brads (inque boutique), dimensionals, SU photo corners punch


Thanks for stopping by!!

Exciting News & Yesterday's CC

This evening I had intended on working on some cards - I'm just loving the summer!! (with the exception of the humidity and my larger than life hair) But some exciting news around 5pm had me working on some travel plans for next week.

Around Easter, my students looked for other classes to participate in an cross-country egg-toss. The students were allowed to use a certain amount of a list of materials to pack an egg with the goal of it safely arriving at its destination via USPS. We had a lot of fun with this 'little' project tossing to schools in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and California with a 67% success rate (hey, "2 outta 3 ain't bad"). We twittered to find partner classes, blogged about our packages, and Skyped each other to watch the live opening ('catch') of the egg. I shared this information with a ed-tech group in May, and they want to partner with me to really pump up the project for next year including tracking devices on the eggs!! I was invited to a conference in Harrisburg to meet some students at a local university who will be working on this. My students are going to be so excited!

So instead of creating some new cards, I made reservations, checked out the program for the conference, and checked out what local stamping stores I can get to while I'm there! I've set a goal to post at least 30 entries on my blog for June, so I definitely didn't want to miss today. So here's my CC (color challenge) card from yesterday's challenge at SCS - a one-layer WHITE card. Even though it seemed a bit daunting, I actually like what I created. I'm really getting into the CAS cards.



I embossed a square in the center of the card with my nesties, stamped the posicle image, and then used chalks to shade in the square. I colored the popsicle with my Lipstick Red Copic marker and added the b&w polka dot ribbon. It just makes me think summer! And that I could go for a good Bomb Pop - yum!!


Details:
Stamps - My Cute Stamps Sweet Kawaii
Paper - white
Ink - black; Copics
Accessories - pastels, ribbon

Neopolitan, anyone?

I just couldn't resist!! I loved making my CAS card earlier that I figured I'd make it a set! Who knows I may have to add some more flavors...pistachio, banana, orange sherbet... :)






Details:
Stamps - My Cute Stamps (Sweet Kawaii)
Ink - black; Copics (BG10 - shadow; E21, E33, E51 - cone; RV10, RV21 - strawberry; E33, E35, E37 - chocolate)
Paper - Kraft, white - both; Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava - chocolate; Pink Pirouette, Basic Black - strawberry
Accessories - ribbon; SU double circle punch

Thanks for stopping by!!

Yahoo - I think it's going to be a stampin' day!! I created this adorable thank you for today's CAS (Clear and Simple) challenge on SCS and got my grass cut. I'm going to pop some laundry in the washer after this post, and it's back to the stampin' table for me - Yahoo!



Today's CAS Challenge was to incorporate Pinks/Corals, Kraft, and a color of your choice. I chose black! After finishing I thought that brown would look great too, so I think I'll make another - this time with a chocolate cone! This little cone comes from My Cute Stamps Sweet Kawaii set which is perfect for thank you's - I don't know about you, but I'm always in need of thank you's.

Well, I'm off to attend to that ever mounting stack of laundry.


Details:
Stamps - Sweet Kawaii (My Cute Stamps)
Ink - black, Copics (YR00, E21, E33, E51, BG10, 0)
Paper - Kraft, Basic Black, Groovy Guava, white
Accessories - SU double circle punch, ribbon, dimensionals


Thanks for stopping by!!

Bring Me To Your Leader

So, I know I've seen these really cool cards with a layer of coordinating ribbons used in the background, and I've loved them. I wanted to try my own. I gathered some ribbon, stamped my images, and laid everything on my card base. Ugh - wasn't what I was hoping for. So..I went onto the Internet to look for some inspiration before I glued anything down. Ugh...an hour later when I couldn't find anything that I thought I've seen, I glued everything down and decided that I need to move on.

So...here's my card. If anyone knows of these "ribbon-background" cards and where I could find them for some inspiration, please let this inquiring mind know!!



Details:
Stamps - Eek! A Monster! (My Cute Stamps)
Paper - kraft, Basic Black, white
Ink - black, Copics (RV29, RV02,YG03, BG01)
Accessories - ribbon (most from Michaels), pink gemstones (Hero Arts)


Thanks for stopping by!!

My Cute Monster

I ordered the most adorable stamp sets awhile ago from My Cute Stamps, and I've finally inked them up. I've been dying to get into my stamp room, but I had to clean up a bit of a mess from having a whole house fan installed. The guy was kind enough to put down a tarp when cutting a large hole in my ceiling - unfortunately the dust and dirt didn't fall directly down. The past few days have been spent scrubbing down everything in the second floor of my house (which now smells like Murphy's Oil Soap). The good news is that I have all of my clothes gone through (for my annual Salvation Army donation) already and I haven't been off of school for a week yet! Yahoo!! My goal is to have all my 'chores' done in the next 2-3 weeks, so I can enjoy the rest of the summer!!

So here's my card using the Eek!! A Monster!! set. I was inspired by Krystie Lee's card



I just love this set and can't wait to use it on some more cards! I finally used my Copics to color the image in and to create the tan background. I love all of my color options and look forward to getting better at using them.


Details:
Stamps - Eek! A Monster! (My Cute Stamps)
Paper - Kraft, Basic Black, white
Ink - black; Copics (E21, V17, BV00, BV02)
Accessories - ribbon, buttons


Thanks for stopping by!!