A Little Bubble Bath

Can't tell you how much I love bubble baths.  I really need to schedule more of them.  I used to take one once a week.  I have no idea why I haven't had a bubble bath in ages.  I think after I do this posting, I might hop in the bath for some me time.  Hope I have some bubble bath laying around.

I wanted to go for simple, chic, and elegant when creating this card.  I think I achieved what I was looking for.  Hope you like it. 

Challenges Entered

2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Bloggers Challenge - Make it Shimmer

Clear It Out - Colors (Any Color Medium)

Crafting for all Seasons Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes 

My Time to Craft Challenge - Use a Die Cut

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Pale, Pretty, Pastels
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Clean & Simple

Sew Many Challenges - Circles (hope my bubbles count)

Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog - Ooh La La 

The Emerald Faerie Garden - Anything Goes

The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes

Recipe
Cream Card Stock & Designer Paper (the designer paper is from some scrap I had laying around that I have had for a few years...have no idea who made it...I'm sure all of you can relate to that.)
Stamp from Burnt Cookie Rubber Stamps
Frame Die Cut from Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge
Prismacolor Pencils
Tea Bags for Staining
Tim Holtz Cotton Candy Stickles
Tim Holtz Spun Sugar Stickles
Tim Holtz Tattered Rose Stickles

Nadia's 1st Birthday Invitations

Hope you all had a great weekend.  My weekend was filled with gardening but I did get a chance to work on a few cards.  My good friend Beth's daughter (Nadia) is turning one in June.  She is so damn adorable.  I just love kissing on her cheeks.  Her brother (Adian) is also a little looker as well.  Beth and her husband Geoff sure make pretty babies.

Anyway...Beth asked me to come up with a design for some b-day invitations for Nadia (which is Aidan's name backwards).  This is what I came up with.

Nadia - The Birthday Girl

I wanted to go for some neutral vintage colors but had to add a little color (pink) to the card.  I added some Cotton Candy Tim Holtz stickles to the flag and also added pink ribbon and used pink thread for the machine stitching.  Only 24 more invitations to go.

Card Challenges Entered
Alphabet Challenge Blog - Clean and Simple
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes 
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Children Cards
Creative Card Crew - Cute & Girly
Diva's By Design - One for the Girls 
I Did it Creations Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
If The Shoe fits... Scrap It! - Clean & Simple
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes
Make it Monday - Anything Goes
Night-Shift Stamping - Challenge 67: Monochrom
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Anything Goes
Ribbon Carousel - Clean & Simple
Tuesday Throwdown - Baby/Child 
Truly Scrumptious Challenge - Challenge 57: Anything Goes

Recipe
Cream Cardstock
Nursery Rhyme Cricut Cartridge
Studio G Stamps for the "Join Us.." Tag
Tim Holtz Cotton Candy Stickles
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo
Machine Stitching
Pink Ribbon

Colors I Never Put Together

****HAVING DIFFICULTY POSTING THE INSIDE OF THE CARD WITH THE HAPPY B-DAY STAMPED TAG****
So had a little time yesterday after a long day of work.  My Aunt's birthday is coming up and I needed to make her a card.  It cam out so cute that I decided to make an extra one to sell at my little shop.

I was inspired by this week's Color Throwdown challenge in choosing the colors and Mojo Monday's sketch challenge.  Never thought about putting black, lime green, and basic gray together.

The flower is handmade.  My first attempt at making a handmade flower.  I found this great tutorial at Pretty Paper blog.  It was really fun to make.  I used cream colored cardstock and cut out circles in various sizes.  I then sponged the circles with lime greeen stamping ink and colored the edges with a sage green marker and added pearl and sage green glitter to the edges.  I think it turned out pretty well given my first handmade flower.  I really like how the card came out.  I think I will use the same color combos for some Halloween cards.

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge 191

Card Challenges Entered
Claudia & Company - Challenge 82: Birthday Card for a Girl
Crafts and Me Challenge - Challenge 35: Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - Challenge 119: May Flowers
Color Throwdown - Challenge 142
Mojo Monday - Sketch Challenge 191
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Bloom & Grow Challenge

Recipe
Black Cardstock
Cream Cardstock
Lime Green Cardstock
Lime Green Decorative paper with ash black circles
Grey Cardstock sponged in black stamping ink and the edges frayed
Flower Decorative Paper
Happy Birthday Stamp
Ribbon
Pearl and Sage Green Glitter
Beads

On the Road

It's getting a little late over here and I need to get to bed.  Just wanted to post this card up before hitting the fluffy pillows.  Will write more about this card tomorrow when I wake up.

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Card Sketch Patterns - Sketch 115 Challenge

Challenges Entered

Card Sketch Patterns - Sketch 115 Challenge
Cards for Men - Challenge 10: Someone Special
Crafty Creations Challenges - Challenge 118: Anything Goes
Flourishes Timeless Challenges - Timeless Tuesday 117 Challenge: Anything Goes
Little Miss Muffet Challenge - Tags or Banners
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenges - Challenge 5: To Die For
My Time to Craft Challenges - Challenge 140: Scallops 
Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
Stamp Something - Anything Goes Challenge 
Sugar Creek Hollow - Recipe Challenge
Tuesday Throwdown - Challenge #48: Die Cuts 


Recipe
The Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge - Car Die Cut
Cricut Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge - "DAD" Die Cut
Cream Cardstock
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Retro Grunge Paper
My Mind's Eye Complete Boy Paper
Paper I Bought and I have know idea who made it
Green, Black, Silver Cardstock for the Retro Car
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Sprockets
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo
Twine
Machine Stitching
Grommets

Road to Nowhere

Good evening fellow bloggers and anyone else who happens across my little blog.  A fairly productive weekend even with fighting off some bog.  Apparently there is something going around and I was privileged enough to catch it.  Oh well...at least it isn't as bad as the cold I had last December.

I'm trying to get some Father's Day cards done to post at my Etsy shop before the end of the month...can you believe it is already the 15th --- time sure does move fast.  I've been in a retro grungy sort of mood lately (might be because I am under the weather) so some of the latest creations have a 50s feel to them.  The Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge certainly has been very useful and has a ton of images I can't wait to use.  A lot of cool images to cure your retro urges.  I added some pearl glitter to the headlights for a little shimmer.

A close-up of the car and the panels.

A close-up of the greeting.

CPS - Card Sketch Weekly Challenge - CPS 218

I was inspired by CPS-Card Sketches Weekly Challenge - CPS 218.  This blog has one of the best sketch designs I have seen.  They are always coming up with something unique and fabulous.  I had a great time cutting out all of the panels and adding stitching to the borders.  The Tim Holtz Idea-ology Retro Grunge paper and sprockets really added a nice touch to the card.  Have I told you guys I am having a love affair with Tim.  Okay..not really with him...more like all of his products.  I would love to meet him one day to tell him face-to-face how much I love all of his stuff.


Card Challenges Entered:
Card Positioning Systems Weekly Sketch Challenge - CPS 218 
Creative Belli Blog - Challenge 117: Starts with an "S" Challenge (my "S" is sprocket)
Emerald Faerie Garden - First Challenge: Anything Goes
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes
Lothian Crafts Online - Easel Card
One Stitch at a Time Challenge Blog - Challenge 62: Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - Challenge 53 Anything Goes
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - Old Supplies Challenge (old supplies used: red buttons, sprockets, brad, and glitter)
Wags n' Whiskers Stamps - Challenge 54: Circles 
Sew Many Challenges - Anything Goes

Recipe
Cream Cardstock
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Retro Grunge Paper
My Mind's Eye Complete Boy Paper
Red, Black, Silver Cardstock for the Retro Car
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Sprockets
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo
Buttons
Machine Stitching
Embroidary Thread

Shaken, Not Stirred - Father's Day Card

Good evening everyone.  I had a great mother's day with my mommy.  We spent an hour waiting to have brunch at this great place in San Francisco - Brenda's French Soul Food.  Oh my GAWD!!!  It was worth the wait.  If you live in the city or are just here visiting...you should totally check it out and order yourself up some Crawfish Beignets.  I love my mom dearly.  We do a lot of things together.  I know this is going to sound corny..but she is my best friend. I look forward to spending many more mother's days (and everyday) with her.

So...its been awhile since I have posted.  April was a busy month with gearing up for our Annual Easter Party and work related adventures.  I'm hoping as always to be able to post some new creations at least once a week.  I know everyone (at least those who actually take the time to blog) says that --- but I'm gonna at least try.

Enough with the excuses and resolutions and on to a new card I created for Father's Day.  I can say that I always struggle a little creating Father's Day cards.  Probably because I do not have a lot of masculine looking do-dads (pun intended) to embellish the card.  I could go for the old stand by and make a tie card...but my pop doesn't wear ties.  I decided this year that I would focus on some unique looking "masculine" cards that any non-tie wearer would love.

Inspired by Card Patterns Weekly Sketch Blog's Sketch 114 Challenge, I went a little retro-Mad Men-chic with this card.  Here is the Sketch Challenge Picture...

Here is what I came up with...

I really loved the idea of the little border circles on the challenge.  I thought adding the olives would be cool accents. I used vellum paper and wrapped it around the center of the card.  I like the effect it gives to the paper underneath.  Here are a few more pics.

Materials Used:
Black Card Stock for the Base
Olive Cardstock from Bazzill Basics
Moonrise by SEI
Vellum Paper
Stamping Ink
Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge

Card Challenges Entered:
Card Patterns Weekly Sketch Blog - Sketch 114 Challenge
Sentimental Sundays - Anything Goes Challenge
Divas By Design - Anything Goes Challenge 
The Craft Pad - Spots & Dots Challenge 120
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - Give Us A Quote/Sentiment Challenge