I'm off again on another business trip, but this time I had to cross the Big Pond. So fun time zone adjustments to deal overcome. I had a chance to sneak in a visit with old friends - a good mechanism to adjust to the current time zone - and we started talking about Eurovision. I never had a chance to share this song, but last year's Eurovision was a German (yay!)
Interesting song, right? I remember hearing it the first time and not being too overwhelmed by it. But the more I listened to it, the catchier it gets.
So if you're like me and don't like it off the bet, I'll challenge you to give it a few more goes. See if you start tapping your foot or bobbing your head...and if so, HA - told you so ;) If not, go and post a song of your choice on Marcea's blog and join in on the fun. Happy Monday or almost Tuesday, wherever you are!
It's been raining and pouring - makes me wonder if my little town is having an identity crisis. This time, last year, I was already enjoying my second or third kayak ride. But not this summer! So, what does a girl in despair of summer need? Crafting themes to inspire an "indoor summer." Scrap Our Stash's May Challenge is to use Flowers.
So the irony with flowers is, I love them a lot. But they don't appear in any of my projects, unless I stamp them, or create them from scratch by abusing my balloon die...so, what's really going on?
Thankfully, Kathy tasked us to use flowers from our stash. I have plenty and am not sure I made a noticeable dent...but it looks like a cute bouquet.
Well, I would love to hear inspiration on how you use your flowers. I could use a few inspiration pointers. And who knows, maybe I'll send a random commenter on this blog post a random assortment of flowers ;)
So, come join in on our Scrap Our Stash'sMay challenge. You have a few more days to enter - and there is a long weekend ahead :)
Did the new Design Team members knock your socks off during our last challenge? Our new additions to the design team are all amazing - love their spunk and energy. The entire Mami Doodles team have been also been faithfully visiting all the fun entries. So, to those that played along...thanks for bringing on inspiration :)
We hope you'll join us this week because it's all about having fun: Let's Party! And I know that each of you have something to say about this...Thank you, Lisa, for this great idea!
Elisa didn't give our little Party Dress girl a name, so I am naming her Pepper - inspired by her dark hair (it's not quite black, but pretty dark). I really wanted to make this card cheery, so when I found my imaginisce glass stickers, I knew I wanted to make a creation with those awesome balloons. If you look really carefully, I gave the balloon strings a lil bit of a surgery (aka trimming).
So before you knew it, the whole color scheme for Pepper came together. The subtle stripes on the red balloon inspired Pepper's dress and the yellow polka dotted balloon inspired her party hat. I debated adding more polka dots to her leggings, but opted against for fear it was too much.
Instead I opted for distressed dotted paper (*smiles*). To offset the warm colors on Pepper, I chose to go with a green aqua and blue for the prezzie. While playing with this card, I happened to stare at my Emma's Shoppe border stickers that I had pulled out for another project. And then it kind of clicked - aqua prezzie & aqua border that looks like a little festive banner - perfect little embellishment without being too loud.
Since I was so good at restraining myself for loud embellishments, I decided to go all out with the sentiment. I put my newest Waltzingmouse set "Say It Loud" to the test. A little bit of distressed heat embossing to match the fun distressed dots pattern paper...Well, I like it - it makes me want to party. Luckily the weekend is here!
Well, what'cha waitin' for (*wink wink*)...go check out the rest of the Mami Doodles DT work out and pull out your best party music and come join our party.
I've been swamped with weddings that either have occurred or are getting ready to happen. It's been a wonderful year for many of my friends to tie the knot and I am so lucky to be part of it. So when I hear this week's PaperPlay Challenge theme - Blossoms & Blooms - I knew it was the perfect setup to create something wedding-ish. This week we are being sponsored by Whiff of Joy. Unfortunately, I don't own any of this company's great stamps, but one lucky player gets to win a stamp set :) Isn't that exciting?
So without further ado, here's my Blossoms & Blooms card with a wedding twist:
Stamps: (Roses In Bloom) Waltzingmouse Stamps Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Aqua Mist) Papertrey Ink; Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko; (Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Antique Linen) Ranger Embellishments: (Stamp 'n Stuff White Opaque Embossing Powder) Stampendous!; (Phrases - Portrait Collection) Crate Paper
This card reminded me (yet again) that I wanted to add Detail White embossing powder to my shopping list! Grrr... but I think this card came out pretty nice. It's Tiffany's & Co. meet Vintage, right?
An up close look on this brilliant sentiment. I love the font - so classic. And Portrait Collection is really one of the Crate Paper collection I can't get enough of. I scored some at The Craft's Meow, which offers great customer service & super ship time. About a year ago, I was a in-store shopper; now I just get my supplies online, cause it is so much easier (and I can't wait to get the cool stuff :)
Alas, I'd like to enter this card into this week's Wee Memories challenge. The theme is "Stamp It" - always a good excuse to dust those rubber or acrylic ones off, right?
Anyways - hope you feel inspired by the card. Go check out the other creations by the lovely PaperPlay Design Team. I really love working with this bunch of super fun & supportive gals. And they always come up with some brilliant designs. I bet after you have completed your blog hopping, you'll be sure to play along. Because blossoms & blooms can go on any kind of card!
I heard this one watching one of my usual TV guilty pleasures. Probably Grey's Anatomy, but don't hold me to it. But I really loved it so much, that I have finally post it.
I really love her voice. It's not a diva pipes when comparing to Christina Aguilera or Beyonce. Brandi has this nice rock and roughness to her voice, which allows her to really belt out those sections - makes them special :)
If you feel like you want to join in on the music sharing, come post a song of your choice on Marcea's blog. Hope you're having a fantastic Monday!
One of my besties (can you call a really close guy friend a bestie?) had a birthday. He loves to travel. He loves to fly planes. He knows the ins and outs of most airports. He knows the pros and cons of each frequent traveller perk. He's visited 48 out of 50 states...So it was only natural to make a card with a plane inspired by this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch.
See the cute little plane? And do you recognize the drool-worthy banners?!
It is my favorite time of the month: a blog waltz with Waltzingmouse Stamps. I had to miss last month's due to my travels, falling sick, and bad time management (<-- there I said it ;) Not this month, siree! In fact, I even finished this card a week early, just so that I had no excuse! :) In case you don't know about this fun event, you can read all about it here. Join in next month and waltz along, won't ya? It's a waltz of endless inspiration and super talented ladies!
This waltz's theme is Masculine Cards! Yes, we have those sweeties in our lives that need some love & appreciation. Sure the other gender confuses us: I mean who doesn't jump into the air and squeal "CUTE" when they see glitter, scalloped borders or ribbon? Yet, masculine cards have really grown on me ever since I adopted my first guy-ish stamp set Free Spirit, and they have practically have become my favorite challenge (thanks to Claire) to think outside of the box. So without further ado, here is another man-ly creation using my latest favorite Waltzingmouse stamps:
Stamps: (Back in the Saddle, Way Out West) Waltzingmouse Stamps Paper: Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft) Papertrey Ink Ink: (Memento - Tuxedo Black, Versamark) Tsukineko; (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar, Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Vintage Photo) Ranger Embellishments: (brown thread) stash
This was a really fun card to make. I masked off a frame and stamped on the background from the Way Out West set. Then decided to stamp on a silhouette of the rider with black to make him stand out more. The rest of the background is the woodgrain pattern (which I "heart" oh so much) from Way Out West stamped on with Versamark. After everything dried, I flipped the card open to scored the frame from the back side of the card to create the frame and distressed the edges with trusty old Vintage Photo. This gave the whole card a nice old, western look (think: yellowing newspaper found flying around in ghost towns!)
The fun part was stamping the sentiment onto a panel. I used the little separator from "Gee Thanks - You're a Real Wing Dinger" to use onto my sentiment "Yeehaw - It's Your Big Day" Amazing what a little bit of masking can do to stretch your stamps' utility. Next I went nuts with my bone folder and distressed the Kraft card stock, inked it up with more Vintage Photo love. It looked a lil plain, so I decided to hand draw a made-up stitched line with pencil, pierced equal spaced holes onto the pencil line and back-stitched the entire "frame." I tried to make it look as "messy" or machine-stitched as possible - but every stitch was made by hand and lots of love :) Hope you enjoy this masculine card. It's for a special, big milestone birthday! Can't wait to see what the rest have created. Thanks for stopping by & have a wonderful day...
I finally got around to watching Ponyo, another Miyazaki masterpiece that I have not checked off my list yet. The opening scene begins with this happy, cheerful flyover of the city, all the vibrant colors of the anime (or cartoon) really coming to life, all accompanied with this haunting, beautiful opera written by Hayashi Masako & Joe Hisaishi. It sent such chills down my spine that I had to share this with you this week:
The YouTube video won't embed, so just hop on over and listen to this "in concert" version. Isn't the singer absolutely brilliant? Hope you're having a music-inspired week!
If you're reading this post, then Blogger is finally up. This is my second attempt and I have tried to repost some of my lost items...If you see something missing or have a comment gone unanswered, give me a quick shout-out. But onwards with the actual show...shall we?
We're having a fun new challenge at Mami Doodle today! The theme is Spots and/or Stripes. I love all things spotty and dotty - polka dots, big and small. I love the textures and the interest that it can bring...So thank you, Wendy, for this brilliant idea. And while you're over there - leave her some love :)
I'd also like to tell you of two other exciting news:
Mami Doodles has a "new" store site up. (I say "new" because I was not able to announce it at our last challenge, because I had to sit that one out) I love it. It has a nice, sweet, clean design. I'm sure Elisa would love to hear your feedback too.
We have new additions to the Mami Doodles Design Team. This is their first week on the job, and I am already loving all their designs. Say "Hi" to Lisa, Stephanie, and Manuela. Make sure to stop by their blogs and give them some welcome love! You'll be stunned by their creations!
Now that I have you all ears and excited about the changes, are you ready to come spy my little card? I used an oldie but goodie Mami Doodle digi called "Tina and Spotty." This digi's name actually jumped into my head, when I heard this week's theme and is the basis of my inspiration. The card comes with lots of spots & dots galore ... can you count 'em all? ;)
Stamps: (Tina and Spotty) Mami Doodles; (Frame-It) Waltzingmouse StampsPaper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Sweet Blush) Papertrey Ink; (Basic Card Stock - White) Recollections; (Two Scoops) Basic Grey Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Walnut Stain) Ranger Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Stickles - Diamond) Ranger; (Spool ' o Ribbon - Cream) Offray; (Cute as a Button - Burlap Button) Nikki Sivils
So, Tina and Spotty actually also comes with a spot-less doggie, but where is the fun in that for this challenge? To add more spots & dots I paper pieced Tina with some fun Two Scoops paper and colored in the rest to match the pattern paper. I could not make up my mind if I should have made her coat or her dress spotty. But when I get dressed - I try to pair the more colorful shirts with glittery embellish with a plain cardigan or jacket to make it more subtle. So using that same logic, I gave Tina a spotty dress and a solid jacket for subtleness.
I went a tad sponge happy with the Walnut Stain and thought how plain it still looked. But with Stickles to the rescue, I "colored" in the raised dots..! It creates such a fun effect! The card just needed a quick little sentiment to finish it off -- and there you have it!
Sorry for the long post, but I hope this has you excited and motivated to come play along with our growing Mami Doodle Family. The new gals are fun & sweet - go see for yourself!
It's time for a PaperPlay Challenge and this week's theme I'm super excited about this week's theme made my heart skip a beat: Celebrating Summer of course! Summer makes me long to dip my feet into the cool, cool water, or bury my fingers and toes into the sand. Summers also mean I can whip up a batch of home-made ice cream :)
This week we're sponsored by the talented Melissa Jenkins of Meljens Designs. Winner gets to choose *four* digital images, and if you haven't had a chance to spy at her blog, they are super cute! Whimsy & fun for any occasion.
My card spotlights "Cutie Crabbie" and I tried something out of my comfort zone - more layers and scrappy.
Does this card not make you smile? I knew right away when I saw this darling image that I would want to make a dent into my Heat Wave pattern paper that I picked up for a great price (80% off) from a TJ Maxx (I'm a paper addict and I can't resist a good bargain). One of the sheets was a collage of sentiments, so I went to town and cut out the ones I wanted to bring onto my card.
I outlined Mr. Crabbie with a brilliant red and colored him with some softer orange. I love how he just pops off the card - nice and cheery against the blue, green, sandy and darker shades of brown. I couldn't help but salvage the card after I fussy cut him out - added some Stickles to match the bling of the paper.
So I hope you're inspired to come play along with us at PaperPlay challenges. Go check out the amazing creations from the DT and leave them some Summer Lovin' (two points to the person that gets that music song's reference).
I can't wait to get some kayak trips and hikes in. Are you excited about the summer? Do you have any plans that you can't wait for?
A missed my last week's Music Saves My Soul, but for a good reason. I was out of town and visiting a special certain friend for big B-day. We painted the town red by going on a shopping spree and filling our bellies with delicious food. I'm sure her hubster was relieved that we went shopping - who else can spend hours in an Anthropologie, right? ;)
If you have followed the music that I like, I'm sure it hasn't been easy to categorize. And there is an easy explanation - my heart swings from country to aria, from pop to rap, from techno to R&B. Recently I have been tagging songs on my iPhone that I like, or making a note of the song when I am watching a show that sounds inspiring. So, when I need a song to share, I'm just plucking it off my list ;)
This song is an absolute fabulous. The lyrics are so touching. If you care to share a video with the rest of us Music Saves My Soul addicts, then pop on over there to leave a link!
I hope your week is wonderful! Anything exciting planned?
It's been a while since I had a chance to make something for one of my favorite challenges Embellish Magazine Challenge. When I saw that this challenge revolves around square card, I got all giddy. I love making lil square cards, cause they go so well with a gift.
With the summer nearing, I really loved this sweet little color palette.
At wee Memories this week, they are featuring a challenge called C.R.A.F.T.S. - Use Color, Ribbon, Acrylic, Flowers, Twine and/or Stamps. And because I can't really follow directions to a tee, I used a flower chipboard and some floral pattern paper, tulle instead of ribbon, and a sentiment for my stamps :)
To my dismay, I must have been on some color high. When I pulled out some s.e.i. Mimosa paper, I was so sure there were pink and yellow hues with some bridging into the orange/peach. It even has this beautiful luster to it, but when looking at this picture it really just looks orange and red.
I absolutely adore the Crate Paper's Portrait Collection - something about that blue hue in that set that makes it just all together perfect.
If you look carefully, you can tell that there is this luster on the paper. It's what makes s.e.i. paper so fun. But note to self - check the color palette! I blame it on being out of practice ;)
