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Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Those are the famous opening lines of Shakespeare's "MacBeth," but they remind me most of Halloween. 'Tis also the season for lots of Halloween challenges, so I thought to change it up and create a cute candy wrapper. I just returned from my trip from Germany and brought a few yummies along. These make great treats for two special, fun boys that I know. I hope they like 'em...
Stamps: (Midnight Feast, Halloween Party) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - True Black, Kraft) Papertrey Ink; (Printer Paper - Persimmon) Paper Source
Ink: (Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versamark) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Stamp 'n Stuff Embossing Powder - White) Stampendous!; (Drippy Goo Border Punch) Martha Stewart; (Baker's Twine - Red) Stash
I love love love the drippy goo edge punch. I can't get enough of it for Halloween...and red is somehow the perfect colors. I decided to add some fun ties with some Baker's Twine. Alison sent each of us DYSU gals a little extra surprise in our last physical product, and I finally put it to good use! Thanks Alison!
Here an up close look on the witch wrapper. I thought the baker's twine makes a great focal line towards the label. Not sure if you can tell in the picture, but the red paper is watermarked with "Trick or Treat" in a very cool font.
My second wrapper has skulls. Which boy doesn't like cool skulls? ;) Decided to give the twine some fraying, cause it just looked to prim and proper. Not sure If i like it, maybe I should have tied a bow after all.
Go check out the rest of the Paperplay Challenge Design Team to see what kinds of be-witching projects they have up their sleeves and come play. We come around and leave love on your blogs.
Our sponsors this week:
For good measure I would like to throw this card into this week's Wee's Memories Challenge...It's been ages since I have had a chance to play along...
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!
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.
Stamps: (Little Frieda Daisies) The Craft's Meow
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - White) Papertrey Ink; (Mimosa) s.e.i.
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger
Embellishments: (Portrait Collection - Chipboard, Sew Brads) Crate Paper; (Tulle) The Craft's Meow Kit
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 ;)
This is so exciting because it is my first time setting a challenge for the rest of my Papertrey Princess sisterhood. I've been absolutely smitten by this year's stripes fashion - never mind the fact that they aren't very slimming, but stripes are hot now! So taking a queue from the fashion industry, I challenge my fellow Papertrey Princesses to use stripes in some form or fashion.
Stamps: (Frame-It, Itty Bitty Banners, Text-It) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Vintage Cream, Pure Poppy) Papertrey Ink; (TCM's Portrait Collection Paper Pack B) Crate Paper
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger
Embellishments: (Multi-colored Tiny Twinkles) Taylored Expressions; (Steel Dies - Up, Up and Away, Baker's Twine - Pure Poppy; Vintage Buttons - Pure Poppy) Papertrey Ink;
I spied someone ordering this wonderful chocolate milkshake the other day - topped with whipped cream and a wee little cherry. After going home and kicking myself for not ordering one, I decided to put that craving into a card and use the color inspiration from it.
My flower is created by using the balloon die from Papertrey Ink. I inked up each balloon / petals with a text font to give a tad bit of visual interest and curled each balloon / petal upward for some dimension. I'm always looking for ways to stretch my bang for a buck in my dies and stamps. So here are balloons acting as flower petals :)
Here an up-close look on the center - it's filled with more Papertrey goodness: Baker's Twine wrapped carefully onto a circle of card stock (which reminded me of a big lollipop wheel of peppermint!) and a nice big ol' button to finish off the center of my flower.
A quick birthday sentiment for the card, using my newly acquired Itty Bitty Banners from Waltzingmouse.
And since this challenge is about stripes - my pattern paper is from the latest Crate Portrait collection, which I snagged from The Craft's Meow. I actually bought a few kits from The Craft's Meow to try them out and was really excited by what it included: buttons, accent stickers, chipboard, brads from the same collection, as well as little doo-dads like a piece of felt, burlap, some tulle (although I'm not sure if they were included in the Portrait collection or my Graphic 45 Kit) And if a kit isn't incentive enough, the store is ran by the sweet & lovely Lisa Hjulberg. So go check out the store, if you haven't heard of it :)
And because I'm not the only gal that loves me some Twine, I would like to enter this in this week's Wee Memories challenge, who is also a big fan of twine.
Don't you love the word play on the challenge title "Tangled Up"? Too cute...
And because Moxie Fab Cath has put up a challenge to "incorporates a hot air balloon(s) in an innovative way" and I'd like to think that my flower counts! Here is to my first Moxie Fab entry ever...Check out Cath's My Beautiful Balloon Challenge - you never know, you might be the next Moxie Fab chick...
Embellish Magazine Challenge is one my favorite challenges to partake in, because it pushes my boundaries when it comes to themes & color combos. I'm not a bold, colorful person, and tend to grab blacks, krafts, browns, whites and let the stamping, pattern paper, or color penciling do the color-talking. Anyone else out there feel the same? So this week, Embellish is challenging me to two areas: masculine cards (arg!) and colors.
Another fun challenge that is going on this week is happening on Jenny's blog. The WeeMemories team is sponsored by My Favorite Things, one of many companies whose stamps I adore. This doesn't get any easier, since the theme this week is:
The tricky part for the creation process was wrapping my head around blues, green and red as "masculine" colors prescribed in the Embellish Magazine Challenge. I get the gray and blue, but the red was way too cheery.
You know what I really liked the most of this challenge? The visual poster - two weeks ago you heard me swoon about the macarons; this week you'll hear me swoon about planes. Ashley sure knows how to put these posters together, right? I fly a lot and often find myself living at the airport (for better or for worst) for the past two years or so. The best parts are sitting at the gate and watching planes land and take off. It's quite fascinating to see all the operations go back and forth - the lil truck that pushes the plane from the gate back, the dudes with their glowing sticks to help navigate the plane in and out of the gate, the baggage wagon zooming back and forth. Perhaps I should have been an aerospace engineer or a flight controller. But alas, I detract.
What I meant to say is that this card was inspired by my loads of travel and my joy in finally being able to use my impulse purchase. Yes, I picked up the little airplane punch at Michael's about half a year ago and it hasn't made a debut on any projects yet - hey, it was on sale for $2 and better late than never ;)
Stamps: (Goin' Places) My Favorite Things; (Free Spirit - Sentiment) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Spring Moss, Spring Rain, White) Papertrey Ink; (Key Ingredients Kit - Winnie's Walls) Taylored Expressions
Ink: (Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versamark) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Steel Dies - Cloud 1 & 2 Die Collection) Papertrey Ink; (Airplane Medium Punch) EKSuccess; (Embossing Powder - Ebony) Martha Stewart; (Double-ended Art Markers - Cool Greys) Prismacolor
I started punching out nine little planes and colored them in a monochromatic gray from 90% cool gray up to 10% cool gray. I knew that I wanted to play around with layering them and making it look like a plane was taking off into the sky - exactly against what background, I was still unsure.
Then I remembered that I had to incorporate fun colors and what better way of utilizing these fun, bold colors by breaking in some negative space in the form of clouds? Planes live in skies which have lots of clouds...
It still looked empty at this point and then I remembered I had a fun city scape in My Favorite Things "Goin' Places" stamp set. A little embossing action and a city skyline was quickly created - easy peasy.
That's when I realized I needed to add a sentiment - preferably masculine looking. The "Bon Voyage" sentiment was too cursive for my taste, so I pulled out my handy-dandy and trusty Waltzingmouse "Free Spirit - Sentiments" to make it work. I actually could not find a fitting sentiment for what I was looking for and was about to pull another set out, when a bunch of lightbulbs lit up in my head. You see, I was thinking "How sad, I'm not sure where the little jet plane is flying to..." when it occurred to me, this card is perfect for when someone leaves...and I have plenty of friends that keep leaving the area to venture into other jobs or they go back to their home countries.
If you made it this far - kudos to you reading my ramblings. Hope you like this little card. As you can tell, when I create cards, I often don't have the entire card designed out. I let myself be inspired by my stash. Also, sometimes that perfect sentiment is exactly not the one I had in mind and "making it work" often forces me to think outside the box.
So, what kinds of cards throws you out of your comfort zone?
Another Mami Doodles challenge is starting today and I hope you like the theme. We are celebrating Spring amongst the team.
My spring indicators are very unromantic: my nose starts running like a leaky faucet and my eyes get itchy and watery. But this time of the year gets me excited, because it means warmer weather. Warmer weather means I get to switch into T-shirts and skirts and other fun things like sandals and flip-flops! :)
But alas, we have been having lots of downpour here lately so I have not been able to indulge in any of the above Spring-related activities (aside from the sniffling nose and itching eyes). But rain is good - it feeds our little flowers-to-be. So to make myself feel better I have been chanting "April Showers, Bring May Flowers..." And this card is what ensued:
Stamps: Rainy Day (Mami Doodles); (Scattered Showers, Polka Dot Basics) Papertrey Ink
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - White; Dotty Biscotti) Papertrey Ink; (Basic Card Stock - Cream; Scrap Pack - Blue) Recollections
Ink: (Momento - London Fog) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Glossy Accents) Inkssentials; (Nestabilities - Label Ten) Spellbinders; (Premium Ribbon - Fall Blue Squares) American Crafts; (Perfect Pearls - Perfect Gold) Ranger; (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Cool Cord Brad) Nikki Sivils
Elisa has done it again and created a dear little digi. I decided to paper piece her umbrella and boots. Some Glossy Accents for water is never a bad idea and here she is - trying to stay dry in all this rain!
Since the theme was rain and I had settled on polka-dotted pattern paper to paper piece the lil girl's umbrella and boots, I thought a "sky" with some gray spots would be the perfect complement her colors. After all of that was decided, the sentiment, ribbon and brad fell into place. Here a closer look on the sentiment...
Since playing along with the Wee Memories crew has been a while for me, I thought I'd throw this card into the ring. Their theme is "anything green, or anything Spring"
This pick-me up counts, right?
I hope you'll feel inspired to go craft a spring card. Mami Doodles have been releasing a few digis for this month and they are just adorable. In the mean time, Happy Friday, everyone! Any exciting plans for the weekend?
The current Scrap Our Stash December Challenge is near and dear to my heart. It is through this wonderful group that I got my first "recognition" for anything crafty and dear Kathy gave me a chance to be a Guest Designer. And now I have been on this team with a bunch of talented, fun and caring ladies - it's been an amazing journey thus far.
So when this month's challenge is in honor of Scrap Our Stash turning the big ONE, I thought what better then to post a birthday project that I had not shared with you.
This birthday project was actually a CASE study on Claire's really creative work. I fell in love with her boat, so when a friend had a birthday coming up, I knew that the perfect gift was going to be a gift card for a day's worth of sailing. He has picked up sailing as a hobby this year and went to sailing school to get his license. What I love most about this friend is that when he says he wants to learn sailing, he'll actually follow through and go get that sailing license. The only sad thing is we were not sure where he goes sailing, so we could not gift him a gift card. Instead we had to give him his sailing trip in the form of cold, hard cash. I hope, he didn't mind.
Stamps: (Half Pint Heroes) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Boyfriend) Cosmo Cricket; (Basic Card Stock - Cream) Recollections
Ink: (Pigment - Black) Color Box; (Memento - Paris Blue) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Toothpick)
Here another up-close look at the captain's face. It really looks like my friend ;)
Funnily enough - I popped over to see what my favorite wee Memories crew was up to this week to find this challenge...
Someone has been gracious enough to give me a little break with all my crafting madness still in progress. At least I can throw this one into the mix and have a little play time...
Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Those were my thoughts when the weather temperatures dropped to below 0 deg Celcius. I was Monday in Boston and could not believe me thinking The Great White North is warmer than Massachusetts. On a great note, this week marks my last business travel for this year ;)
Can't wait to be back later, since I have my huge holiday production to still work on. In the meantime, here is a Waltzingmouse Sketch contribution with a wee, little twist - har har.
I hear you guys groaning. I thought it was punny way to share the current wee Memories challenge with you. And here the actual sketch from Waltzingmouse.
When I first saw this sketch, my brain associated Pokémon ball. I could not get this image out of my head. Thankfully the wee Memories sketch gave me something new to focus on and I finally moved on to "cold" and "snow." Before you know it, I had snowflakes on the mind!
Stamps: (Compliments of the Season) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Preppie Pack - Blue) Bazzill; (Basic Card Stock - White) Recollections
Ink: (Momento - True Black) Tsukineko;
Embellishments: (Stickles - Diamond, Perfect Pearls Metallic - Perfect Pearl) Ranger; (Nestabilities - Standard Circle SM, Classic Scalloped Circles SM)
My Stickles were lined up like little toy soldiers on my desk from a few cards ago, and I decided to put the Diamond Stickles to use. The white section was cut into a fun wave to simulate a mountain of snow. And I am so in love with the little flourish scrolls!
In the mean time, I really pray and hope it does not snow on Friday, because I do want to make it home. Last business trip, my 5p flight was cancelled and I was chillin' (quite literally) at the airport until the (delayed) 9:30pm-ish flight departed at 20 minutes past the hour.
Needless to say, I really need every waking and free moment at my crafting sweat shop desk. After all, the holidays are fast approaching...Anyone else feeling the home stretch?
I wanted to share some exciting news. Korin from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps featured a card of mine on their challenge blog. I never had anyone say "Hi Ren-Yi! Love your card! How creative :)! In fact, I love it so much, I featured it in our Sweet Stop post today" out of the blue. I was tickled! Ok - so little things make me happy ;)
I mentioned how November is Crazy Birthday Month! I thought I would pull out my Elzybells out and give them some inky love. A real shocker, right? It's not a Waltzingmouse Stamp ;)
I remember reading that wee Memories was having a Birthday-theme challenge this week. And here the proof that my memory isn't failing me:
The cute birdie in Elzybells and the hot craze for tweets really inspired this card:
Stamps: Little Birdie Told Me (Elzybells)
Paper: Paper Basics Card Stock - True Black (Papertrey Ink); Oasis (SEI); Basic Card Stock - White (Recollections)
Ink: Pigment - Black (Colorbox); Perfect Match Pigment Ink - Terra Cotta (Papertrey Ink)
Embellishments: Soft-core Color Pencils (Prismacolor); Jewel (Memory Box)
I dared to add a lil bit of gems to the center of the flowers for a boy card. I hope I am forgiven. Here an up close look of the party animals:
Thought keeping the sheep a lil grey and plain and making everything around it dazzle color was the way to go. And a big happy birthday shout out to wee Memories!
Wow can you believe Sweet Stop Sketch is already on their #80? Congrats on the huge milestone!
And since it was "free for all" challenge at wee Memories, I thought I'd throw in this card too!
Stamps: (Nutcracker Sweet) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Avocado) Papertrey Ink; (Boxer) Basic Grey; (Basic Card Stock - White) Recollections
Ink: (Earth Elements - Close To Cocoa, More Mustard, Old Olive) Stamping Up!; (Tea Dye Duo - Chamomile) Papertrey Ink
Embellishments: (Vintage Buttons - Poppy Red, Rustic Jute Button Twine) Papertrey Ink
I thought it would be fun to section the tree off, and blended colors for the tree.
Well, hope it tickles!
You may remember the Caring Hearts Card Drive that my dear friend Vera is trying to organize. I'm currently working my crafting space like a mini sweat shop station, because I am trying to create cards for the good cause. And what better starting point than to play along with some challenges? Here are two that this card fits so well to:
A fabby sketch from the Sugar Babies from the Sweet Stop Sketch. Don't you think? Also - did you hear that Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is turning Three?! There is a wonderful blog hop on November 9 to celebrate - I'm marking my calendars! :D
The fantastic thing about this second challenge is this week's Wee Memories Challenge.
It is in support for Vera's Caring Hearts Card Drive. And I could not resist, but to make yet another card to add to the bunch. Everything for a good cause, right?
Stamps: Waddle I Do?, Snow Friends (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: Paper Basics Card Stock - True Black (Papertrey Ink); Dasher - Bunny Hill (Basic Grey); Basic Card Stock - White (Recollections)
Ink: Pigment Ink - Black (Colorbox); Brilliance - Pearlescent Ice Blue (Tsukineko)
Embellishments: Ribbon - White "Joy" (Michaels); Softcore Color Pencils (Prismacolor); Nestabilities - Labels Ten (Spellbinders)
Here a close up of Stanley, the waddling penguin:
If you want to participate in Vera's Caring Hearts Card Drive you have until Nov 15, 2010. It's really a lot of fun and for a great cause - and if that's not enough, there are prizes to be had!
Welcome and thank you for stopping. You should be coming from the talented and fun Paulina (aka PrettyPinkPosh). If you happen to stumble here by way of another means, I'd like to encourage you to start from the beginning of this wonderful blog hop.
The beginning happens to be also my dear friend Vera's blog (who I met at CHA this year!) - the amazing person that put this Card Drive together. The card accumulated from this drive will be sent to the elderly that are in nursing homes or care centers. The goal is to bring some smiles to their faces during the holidays (i.e. Thanksgiving, Winter/Christmas).
What is even more amazing, many of Vera's favorite (and my favorite) stamping companies are throwing in some delicious prizes to support this good cause. You have until November 15 to create a Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Winter Holiday card and upload it to this blog post. More details about the card drive are also posted over there. So, what are you waiting for?
Another amazing thing - Vera is part of the Wee Memories DT. And the entire Team is backing her with this week's challenge as a way to get the word out there. Isn't the team spirit just amazing?
Oh right, I suppose you want to see a card. (Did I mentioned I got sandwiched between two crazy talented ladies whose work I adore and draw many of my inspirations from?! I feel a tad intimidated by their talent - so lower your expectations by manifold ;) br/>
Here's my contribution to help inspire you to make a card. The best part? It is a super simple layout which you can tweak however you want.
Stamps: Turtle Tot - Love is in the Air (Stamping Bella); Bountiful Basket Additions (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Paper: Paper Basics Card Stock - White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Earth Elements - Close to Cocoa (Stamping Up!)
Embellishments: Softcore Color Pencils (Prismacolor); Essential Color Glitter Set - Brownstone (Martha Stewart)
Think of what smiles this little card will bring to those spending the holidays alone in a nursing center! It is a great cause and I hope you will consider supporting it by sharing your creative gifts with these strangers.
Now off you go to be inspired by the brilliant Sarah Martina Parker. Oh how I adore her and her work.
