A Cup of Joe . . .

In an attempt to make something worthy of the newest release from Emma's stamps, I thought I would make an 8 1/2 X 11 layout to showcase her newest release.  If you want to see them in their entirety, check out her shop at My Creative Time

I stamped the small backgrounds before I stamped the cups.  That way, I could make sure that I had enough of the background to cover the cups.  Then I used craft paper for the lids after I stamped the cups again and cut out only the lids.  This is called "piecing".  I used the die to cut out the cup and label in turquoise then pieced the other parts on top of it.  The turquoise background was inked with CTMH chocolate ink and I stamped the size (from the new release) on top of the label.

I took a scrap (again) for the dark brown background and randomly stamped the coffee cup, the coffee beans, and one of the phrases all over it and inked the edges in the same chocolate brown ink.  I cut one inch off the width and length of the red gingham paper and sewed it to the white cardstock.  I then inked the white cardstock and lightly stamped the coffee beans in each corner.

I cut a piece of craft cardstock (4 1/4 X 6 1/4) and adhered it to white cardstock for the mat.  I took that mat and used a piece of the same turquoise cardstock to make a third mat.  Before adhering the mat to the base, I took a piece of $1 ribbon from Michaels and ran it the length of the base and adhered it.

I used another stamp from Emma's former release (Cherish This Moment) to stamp a journaling box on white cardstock and matted it on the same turquoise cardstock.  I stamped title (from Emma's new release) and matted it on turquoise cardstock.

After everything was assembled, I put the page together.  The recipe is as follows:
*Stamps - "You Are Perk-fect", "Coffee Break", and "Cherish This Moment"
*Ink - CTMH chocolate
*Paper - craft, turquoise, white, and red gingham from Hobby Lobby
*Ribbon - $1 from Michaels

Hope you like it.  All comments are deeply appreciated.  Thanks for looking.  :)))

It's Birthday Time!!!

It's my son's birthday (Happy Birthday, Jay!).  Can you tell?  I wanted to make him a card so I decided to make a Cricut-less card and use this opportunity to enter it into Emma's challenge.  Isn't it cute???

He loves to travel so I tried to incorporate his love to see new places with a birthday card and voila!  He's getting a suitcase!  Don't ya just love it?

Recipe:
* polka dot 8 1/2 X 11 paper from the sale bin at Michaels
* cream 8 1/2 X 11 paper for printing sentiment and names of places
* scrap craft paper
* scrap red paper
* scrap brown paper
* scrap light green paper
* brown ink

I cut the polka dot paper in half to get an A2 size piece (4 1/4 by 5 1/2) and folded it.  I used my Corner Chomper to round the corners (1/4 size).  I cut two 1 inch pieces of brown scrap paper in half diagonally to get the corners.  I rounded those as well.  Then I cut brown strips 1/4 inch wide for the straps.  With the small piece of brown paper left, I cut a 1 inch round piece with my paper punch and then cut 3/4 inch from the round piece to form the handle.

I inked each piece separately and adhered all the pieces to the places.  Before I forget, I cut a slit in the top of the card so I could fit the "handle" into the suitcase.  I taped the bottom of the circle down on the bottom of the inside of the card because I planned to mat the sentiment and cover it up.

I printed and cut out the names of the destinations and double matted them on light green paper first, then red paper.  I also cut out a rectangle for Jay's name out of cream cardstock and hand-cut a tag to back his name.  I zig-zag stitched the two together and tied the tag to the handle of the suitcase.

After I printed the sentiment, I inked and matted it to red cardstock.  Then, I adhered it to the inside of the card.  I inked the entire outside of the card and set it out to dry.

I hope he likes it.  Do you?  Still using my scraps . . . gotta love it!

Emma's Challenge - 54

Hi guys! This page is in response to Emma's challenge 54 (and our need to find a new home for these sweet kitties). I happened to be at a crop this weekend and used this to advertise the need for a new home for these kitties.

The paper is from DCWV and from two different stacks. The cat head, mouse, journal tag, and cat border is from Doodlecharms. The word "kitties" is from Doodletype, and the word "Free" is from Cricut Office. I faux stitched the title in black ink. I also pop dotted the mouse and used the MS punch "layered arches" to cut the border strip on the side and was 2.25 inches wide before punching.

Hope you like it. And . . . if anyone would like some free kitties and if you live in the panhandle of Florida, let me know. :-D

Emma's Challenge or Peachy Keen Stamps- ???

I think this was a challenge for Peachy Keen Stamps and I don't think I made it in time, but I'm putting this card out there. It's not actually entered in a challenge. I made it using only the Life Is A Beach cartridge. I used DS because my Gypsy needed charging.

The only part that used a new sheet of paper was the sun. Everything else was cut using scraps. I used google eyes for the shark because he needed to have some fun too! The fish on the side are colored using scraps of glitter paper and inks and the seaweed is the negative scraps from another cut several weeks ago. I pop dotted a couple of the waves to give it dimension. The sentiment is typed on my computer using colored ink. I couldn't get the font on the cartridge small enough so I resorted to my trusty-rusty computer.

Enjoy and check out Emma's blog at http://www.creativetimeforme.com/

Another Throwback Challenge from Emma . . .

Hi guys - I made this card in 2 steps, vacation and home. The base was made while on vacation because my husband had to spend some time working (yeah, I know - vacation, really?) By the way, after 12 different pictures, this was the best one. Sorry I couldn't fix the blur -

So, anyway, I used two different paper lines (DCWV and K and Company) for the colored papers background. Is it considered tacky to mix and match different lines? Oh well, when your options are limited, you do what you can using what you have.

I had been all around to different Michaels looking for the MS border punch, Layered Arches, and decided to use it for the teal strip. After all, I used what I had because I wasn't going to spend any more $$$ that I needed for the vacation.

I digress . . . anyway, the challenge called for Paper Dolls for Everyday and I had no idea what to do. I pulled out my Peachy Keen face stamps and couldn't resist this cute little face. I cut out the face from PDE at 2.25 inches and the hair to match. I pulled scraps of ribbon that I could tie around the hair and typed the sentiment on my computer in brown ink. I used brown ink to define the face. I didn't have any chalks but I did have a rosy pink pigment ink. I used a Q-Tip for the ink and made sure most of the ink was off before I swirled it around on the face. Then, I used pop-dots to make her stand out. By the way, I started her on vacation but finished her at home.

Hope you like her! I thought she turned out to be cute! Enjoy . . .