Candy Anyone?

It is getting close to that time of year, when we hand out candy to the adorable kids in the neighborhood. What is your favorite candy? Well, I can tell you what candy is NOT my favorite - Can you guess? Yep - you are right, it is candy corn!!! However, for Tuesday's challenge on the 365 card blog we were to use candy corn for our inspiration because Pam - who posted the challenge LOVES candy corn. Now, let me tell you WHY I don't like candy corn. When my sister and I were younger, we pooled our money together to buy some candy - and we decided on a big bag of candy corn. Not sure exactly how that decision was made - but it was. We ate that whole bag between us in a short amount of time, and I tell you - I didn't NOT feel good after that!! Too much candy is NOT a good thing - of course, if you are talking about CHOCOLATE, I might have to dicker with you on that one. :) I am not real crazy about this card - but then, I am not crazy about candy corn, so it goes hand in hand.

I have a couple other cards I will be posting today - not sure if I will have time this morning as I have a full day at the spa - but do come back later and take a peek.

~Paula~

Coloring Sketches

There is alot going on with this card. I followed the sketch for Challenge #5 on the 7 Kids College Fund Challenge Blog The sketch is for a square card - originally, I was planning on using black for my card base, however, I couldn't find my black cardstock - it might have gotten misplaced among my reorganizing - in the meantime, I used one of my CB folders to emboss the purple and then ended up using it as my base. I guess I must have gotten distracted because I had plenty of the purple at hand to use - oh well - it came together rather easily once I decided how I wanted to use the different colors and shapes. The challenge also asked that we use two images, so I had already colored the pumpkin some time ago and the Magnolia was already cut out and I just had to color her. The color choice came from Day 220 on the 365 Card Blog The colors are PERFECT for Halloween cards - which I typically DO NOT make - however, I couldn't resist this sweet little Magnolia. Since my stamps are all boxed up for the moment - I didn't know WHAT sentiment I was going to use. I knew I had a 'trick or treat' sentiment - but where?? So, I found these cute little stickers - I do NOT usually use stickers on my cards - but this one worked quite well and then I added the bats for that little extra! No flowers on this card - I tried - however, they just didn't work with the pumpkin! I also used a bit of sheer orange ribbon around the die from Tim Holtz. This die is called Styled Labels and I am finding it quite versatile.There are two dies on the same block - but I have yet to use the other one - and have started out to use that one on the last couple of cards I have made. :)
I hope you enjoy my card - and your comments are so appreciated.
Thanks for stopping by the spa where I hope you have found inspiration.
~Paula~

I LOVE Christmas!!

Yeah, I know - we haven't even gotten through Halloween yet and I am already talking about Christmas. Well, in my opinion - we can just skip to Christmas - all the lights,A the music, bundling up - that is if you live somewhere where it is cold enough to do that! Anyway, I have discovered yet another NEW blog that has challenges and this one is dear to my heart - it is a Stampin' Up Only blog I use alot of Stampin' Up products - so this fits right in with what I like. So, their challenge for #3 is to make something using products from the Holiday Mini. Well, I just happened to have a card that showcases JUST that. I LOVE the Deck the Halls Designer series paper and the Cherry Cobbler - this is my NEW favorite red. The pearls are not from the mini catalog - but they are new in the catalog and they are WONDERFUL - I especially love the little tiny ones - I used those here on my card.
I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at my card. Please stay awhile, I have alot more for you to look at -

~Paula~

I LOVE Sketches!!

I love sketches. To me - they are the backbone of inspiration. When I am at a loss for how to do a card, I often will find a sketch that I can use to create my card. I don't even have to look at how others used the sketch - though sometimes it does help - but often, I can use the sketch and go from there. Today, I am just looking at sketches and creating with them. I used this sketch from the The sketch - as you can see - is quite simple allowing for lots of 'white' space. I needed a change of color too - so I chose these blues and a simple sentiment. I still feel like it needs just a little bit more of something, but just not quite sure what! Perhaps another flower? It isn't quite balanced - may just have to add one. Yeah, I think that is it!! Here is the card again with the additional flowers in the spray. I also added a bit of vanilla smooch and some diamond stickles. I also added some small pearls all around the spray. You can't see that because I added it after I took the picture. :) Maybe I am just tending toward a more 'cluttered' card? Could it be that I have migrated to that end of the spectrum? Hmmm, not so sure. I still like clean and simple cards with beautiful embellishments, but not over done. With all the flowers and pearls I am using lately, I can see another order into Wild Orchid Crafts. They really do have beautiful flowers and pearls and for such a great price too.
What kind of crafter are you? Do you clean up your space in between? Or do you craft away with the mess all around? I like my space tidy and I like my HOUSE tidy - but with 4 teens - that is harder to do.
But, I do need to get to the house now - I have crafted all morning (you would think I would have had more done) - and now I need to spend time on the house and organizing more stuff.

Thanks for stopping by - I appreciate all your comments.

~Paula~

Double Challenges

This week I have decided to play along with the challenges on the 365 Card blog again. Of course, I am already a day or so behind, but I am catching up - in a round about way. This card is for Day 218, Monday's challenge, which was to 'make the most of it'. The idea is to choose a paper company and then a line of paper from the company and choose three patterned papers from that line. So, I chose a paper from Basic Grey that came out a long time ago, but I fell in love with it when it did - Bittersweet. I chose my sketch from Twisted Sketches #027. On Twisted sketches, along with the sketch, the twist was to use 'love' anyhow, anyway. One of the papers I chose has hearts all over it - it is the base card mat - but then I added the double hearts to the flower arrangement just because I had them and have not had the chance to use them. Yesterday while I was taking a break from reorganizing, I ventured out to the LSS and found this Tim Holtz die. There are two on the same die, so that is nice and I had planned on using the other one. I have very few sentiment stamps at my disposal right now - so when I saw this one, it didn't quite fit the width of the die. So, I decided to stamp it in two sections - with the 'you are' first and then the 'awesome' under the scallop - however, when I stamped that - I did it upside down! lol So, I set that aside and grabbed this die. I am not as crazy about this one as the other - but I decided it was cut, so might as well use it.
Now, I REALLY need to break out of this BROWN theme and go with something brighter - though I DO like the look of the brown, This one just seems SO plain to me!! Oh, I did spritz it with some gold glow smooch. I also picked up a few more colors of the smooch - this stuff is SO fun!!

Thanks for stopping by - hope you enjoy your day.

~Paula~

Brown is my New Favorite Color!!

Now, why in the world would I say that? Brown on a card is lovely - I prefer GREEN in nature, not brown - but on a card - this is so fun! So, when I saw the challenge for today on the 365 Card Blog to use Brown, Bling and a Banner - I couldn't wait to get started on my card. Unfortunately, I had a VERY full schedule at work. I thought about how I would create my card all day - so as soon as I got home, I got to work creating. I had already chosen the papers I wanted to use and I decided to do alot of layering on my card. At the last minute, I decided to make it an easel card. These kinds of cards are so fun to make and they really add a wonderful dimension to the finished card. The banner I got from another stamper - but I didn't have a stamp for the sentiment, so I decided to hand-write it. I decided to create this card for my friend Gloria. I had lunch with her earlier this week and enjoyed the visit so much, just wish we could have more visits like that.
When I saw the 'bling' requirement, I wondered if pearls qualified as bling? I had originally planned on using rhinestones, but thought that the pearls looked much better with the flower arrangement. I really like the way the flower arrangement turned out. The flowers and pearls are from Wild Orchid Craft and they are the MOST wonderful embellishments I have ever used. On the inside of the card I placed a row of pearls on the designer paper and then added a bit more of the vanilla cardstock to write a short note.
I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at my card. I have alot of stuff coming up in the next coupld of weeks, so may not have much time to papercraft - but stop by the spa anyway - you just never know what you might find.

~Paula~

The Three P's!!!

It is FRIDAY - for most people it is the start of the weekend, but for me, I have one more day of work and then it is MY weekend. However, tonight, I took up the challenge on the 365 Card blog for today. The challenge was to use polka dots, paper piercing and pop dots. Well, I have quite a bit of designer paper and I was SURE that I had some polka dots somewhere - and I was right. This paper is from a retired designer paper pack from Stampin' Up! and I just happened to have a piece of Orchid Opulence - which is one of the coordinating colors for this polka dot paper. So, once I chose my paper - then I had to decide what I wanted to do with my card. Well, I recently got this new set of stamps from Paper Wishes. I LOVE everything Tea - and couldn't resist buying this wonderful set. On the back of the stamp package there is an idea for a card, so I took my card sketch and idea from that. I used another piece of DP from the same package and edged it with this beautiful lace from Stampin' Up! I stamped the Teapot with chocolate chip and then colored the rose a bit with orchid opulence. I pierced the top left corner and the right bottom corner and then pierced around the handle and the spout. After matting this, I popped it off the card front with my pop dots. I don't often do the inside of the card, but decided that this one just had to have the inside completed. So I stamped the teacup with the chocolate chip and then added my sentiment. It is a simple card, but I like the way it turned out and once I decided how I wanted to go about creating it - it came together rather quickly.
Thanks for stopping by the paper spa this evening - I would love it if you left a comment - it really makes my day! Come back tomorrow to see what the challenge is and how I am inspired by it.

~Paula~

Day 214 - Fabric, Floss and Fringe

Yesterday on the 365 Card Blog the challenge was to use fabric, floss and fringe - hmmm - this was one I had to think about for a bit. The image started to form itself in my mind - but I had to wait until this evening to create the project. I have had this lavendar stamp for a long time - it is a clear stamp and I am not even sure where I got it. It is clear mounted on a clear block. I have a few of these kinds of stamps - I am not sure if you can find them anymore. The fabric I used on my card I have also had for a few years. It is actually a violet pattern, but I thought it worked well. I took a bit of it and 'fringed' the edge. I have ALOT of floss as I also do cross stitch, though it has been quite a long time since I have actually sat down to do any.
So, that is my card for this challenge - I have another one to show you as well so stay awhile and see what else I have created this evening.

~Paula~

Day 213 - the three B's

I am back with another Magnolia Card. This time for the 365 Card Challenge Day 213. We were to use a BOY, BLACK and BUTTONS. I don't have too many boy stamps - at least not that I wanted to go looking for - but I did have this image of Edwin from the Magnolia line.Since it is getting close to Halloween, I decided that this was a perfect image to color - afterall - isn't Dracula's cape BLACK!! I found another piece of designer paper from my stash - this one isn't as old as the last, maybe a couple years - and some of you might even recognize it as one you have yourselves. Anyway, in a search through my buttons - I found these that went ok with the whole design - still not totally sure on that one. Now, I SERIOUSLY do not have ANY stamps that say Happy Halloween - or something related - so I decided that I would use this invitation sentiment - wouldn't this be cute to send to a young boy for a Halloween related birthday party?

Hope you have enjoyed my card - Come back again soon and stay awhile.

~Paula~

Day 212 - The three G's

This morning I took some time to do a couple more of the 365 Card Blog Challenges. On Tuesday, they posted the challenge to use the three G's - Girl, Green and Glisten. Well, the girl and the glisten were easy for me - but GREEN? I just REALLY don't do green - other than for accent, so this was a real stretch for me and took me out of my comfort box. BUT, I am happy to show you my finished card. It seemed that when I thought I was done, I had to add one more thing, and after I got home from work, I thought about adding another - but decided it was good and I should just leave it be! I started with Certainly Celery - which I really do like - and added a piece of OLD, I am talking REALLY old designer paper. I might have bought that paper more than 7 years ago!! Seriously! Anyway, I thought it went fairly nicely with this SWEET Tilda who is blowing fairy dust - and yeah she got some smudged on her face!! lol I decided to try my hand at the pleated ribbon that is all the rage right now - it went fairly well and then I added a bit of stickles to each of the loops. I also got out some more of that smooch that I used yesterday and added some highlights to Tilda's hair. I also added some stickles to the flower arrangement (getting better at that, don't ya think?) And then sprayed everything with a bit of gold lame smooch. All in all I think my Green card turned out fairly nice - however, that does NOT mean it will be my go to color - just saying!!

Thanks for stopping by - I do have another card I will be posting shortly and then I just might get some time to make a couple more of the cards for the challenges - trying to get caught up before tomorrow.

~Paula~