Teal, Travel and Torn

On Monday - the 365 Card Blog posted a challenge by my friend Gloria - 3 T's - Torn, Teal, and Travel!! Gloria likes LOT'S of layers on her cards and someday when I 'grow' up I want to be just like her - but we all have our own unique style, so I doubt that will ever happen - I tend to like clean and simple designs. Cards that are very symetrical.So, when I saw her challenge - and the paper from the previous card posted (scroll down to see) I decided to try for a messy kind of look. Afterall - torn, means worn - so I crumpled up the paper - because when something is torn, you crumple it up and throw it away, right? I have had this travel set from Stampin' Up! for AGES - I think I bought it from someone as I don't think it has EVER seen ink!! I stamped it with versamark first, that is on the brown piece, but didn't think it would show up very well, so over-layered with the vanilla piece.Then I started playing with the flowers - I think I need to take a floral design course just so I can do a proper arrangement on my cards. The bow was added as an afterthought. Inside I stamped this sentiment: "Everyday is a new adventure" - Gloria will understand that - after our recent lunch together. Even with all the 'messy' - my fingers are really inky today - I still ended up with more of a CAS kind of card - oh, to aspire to a higher form of card making!! :)
I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at my card - now on to the next one - or get ready for work. It is THUNDERING and LIGHTNING here right now - how cool is that? After RECORD highs on Monday - and now this rain - very cool.

~Paula~

A Change of Pace

For quite some months now I have been coloring cute images - and I LOVE it - however, after creating calendars for a Magnolia Swap and submitting entries for DT, I was ready to do something a LITTLE different. So, I went back to the 365 Card Blog to see wht they had going on. It has been FOREVER since I played in their challenges and this week they have Sparkle Creations week - so I decided to join in. This card is for the Sketch challenge that they posted on Sunday - yeah, I am already behind - but I plan to catch up and do ALL the challenges this week - just because! So, Yesterday I received an order from Paper Wishes. I get their email newsletters and when I saw they had come out with a TEA stamp set I just HAD to have it - and along with it, I ordered this GORGEOUS paper. Ok, so you can only see a portion of it on my card, but truly it is really pretty. I also just got another order of Wild Orchid Craft flowers in this week too, so added just one. I think the red really stands out and I love the way it looks. Since it is sparkle week, I thought I would need to add some sparkle - not sure if that is a requirement or not. I recently bought some of that smooch - WOW - have you tried that stuff? I have a couple tubes of the mist and then this one bottle of the paint (I guess that is what you call it) I used that to 'tip' my rose. I then added a bit around my sentiment. I think it gives JUST the right touch.

Well, back to my crafting - wonder how much I will get done before I have to head off to work.

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon.

~Paula~

Elegance in White

I have been so very busy this week with work and trying to finish up the calendar swaps that I am doing that I have had hardly any time to do anything else. However, I decided that I REALLY wanted to do the challenge over on the Paper Craft Planet - All Things Sugar Nellie - which was to do a white on white card. This card has been forming in my head ALL week and I am barely making it under the wire. While the UK is asleep - I am uploading my card, so that when they awake, they will see it! :) I used one of the New Manga's - isn't she lovely? I decided to use a textured Bazzill for my base - which I have not done before, but it was nice to have this choice. Since I wanted just a hint of blue, I took a piece of dotted swiss bazzill and matted it with bashful blue. I then used a piece of lace from Wild Orchid Craft - this lace is BEAUTIFUL. I just got this new oval in the mail today - and my Manga was just a little too large to be stamped inside the oval - so I decided to cut her out and I sponged VERY lightly around her with bashful blue. I added the light blue pearls all around the oval and then for the final touch added the flowers. It is amazing how simple and yet how difficult it was to create this card. I loved doing this and I like the way it turned out. I used the sketch from The Sugar Bowl and the theme is birthday, so I added the sentiment on the inside with the addition of the bow. I sprayed both inside and out with Vanilla Smooch - LOVE this stuff - it gives such a shimmery finish to the card - I hope you are able to see it in the photos.I probably went overboard using it - I think I will have to get more or I am going to run out.
Well, it is late and tomorrow I need to get back to working on the calendars - I REALLY need to get them finished up.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have enjoyed my card as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you.
Do come back soon -
~Paula~

Playing with Fall!!

Interesting heading, yeah? Well, I have been working on the Magnolia Calendar swap - coloring my December images and decided to take a break and do something a little different. I am SO thankful for my Magnolia friends on the Yahoo forums! They inspire me to create and try something new and they have been generous in supplying me with images that I don't yet own, so it makes creating so much more fun. On my browse around the internet the last few days - I have found quite a few different challenges - so, I set about to create ONE card that satisfies MANY challenges - and I think I have accomplished that!
I started out coloring this cute little Tilda with colors that I love in the fall - the leaves change to reds, orange, yellow and purple. I chose to use the orange and purple colors.
I don't often get to use my Nestibilities Scallop dies for my Magnolia images because I have to use the largest one and then I don't get to nest them, which I LOVE to do. Well, I was THRILLED that I was able to use them on this sweetie. I colored a big pumpkin and was going to use that, but when I started to put everything together, I went in search of a sketch to help me along and found the sketch at 7 Kids College Fund worked perfectly for this one so I set aside the pumpkin and will use that on another card later. Instead of using my flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, or some of the other flowers I have around, I decided to take up the challenge on Totally Tilda and create my own flowers. I cut the flowers using my Sizzlits Birds and Blooms die and then crumpled the flowers - which was NOT easy to do since they are so small. I then distressed the edges with ink. I added a bit of lace to satisfy the challenge at Just Magnolia which was to 'lace it up' or use lace on your card. I think adding the bit of antique lace just 'tied' (pun intended) it all together.
Another first with this little project was making it into an EASEL card. Now, I am not sure if I have ever done one of these, but if I have, it has been so long ago that I simply do not remember. It was SO easy to do. I think I might have added another layer to the green so that it might stand a little more securely - however, I think with the rhinestones and the flower, it should be just fine.
I colored my image with my prisma color pencils, inked the edges of my scallops and flowers with Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant. I used rhinestones from my stash and the lace is from Stampin' Up! The green paper is from my pad of Bazzill basics Dotted Swiss.

I have entered this card into the following challenges:

Just Magnolia Challenge Blog Week 73 - Lace it Up
Totally Tilda Challenge Challenge #5 - Make your own Flowers
Magnolia-licious Highlites Challenge Blog Fall Theme
7 Kids College Fund Challenge Blog Challenge #4 a Sketch with a Fall Theme
Magnolia Stamp Lovers Create Something Halloween-ish
Sugar Sweet Paper Treats September Challenge - create something using Fall Colors.

I really need to get back to coloring the images for the calendars so I can get those done and sent off. However, there are a couple more challenges that I plan to work on - One is a White on White Sugar Nellie for the Challenge over at 'All Things Sugar Nellie' at the Paper Craft Planet.
I will also be creatiing a Magnolia Christmas card for the Magnolia Christmas All Year Long Blog hop that takes place on the 25th. So make sure you come back and see what I have made for these challenges.

Thanks for stopping by the spa today - I hope you have had a wonderful visit and that you have been inspired.

~Paula~

Magnolia Calendars

Today has not been as productive as I had hoped for - however, the day is not over yet either and who knows what I might accomplish between now and time for bed. I have managed to get a few things done though - the laundry from last week is finally folded and put away, I completed the magazine that I edit and got the rest of the articles off to the publisher, I stopped by my LSS and picked up some of that new smooch and smooch spray - so will have a play with that later on. I had a bit of grocery shopping to do as well - but I am sure you didn't come here to read a journal of EVERYTHING I have done for the day - so let me tell you what I DID accomplish in my craft station. Well, how about if I just SHOW you. Awhile back I signed up to do a Magnolia calendar swap - in fact, I am such a glutton for punishment that I signed up to do TWO swaps - SO, this is the first one. I chose December because Christmas is my favorite time of year. I have had the calendars printed and stamped with the snowflakes for quite some time. I also have had the letters and numbers cut - I did those using one of my Big Shot dies - that took awhile to cut. I had to use Magnolia images on my calendar (of course, it is a MAGNOLIA calendar) - so looking through ALL the Christmas images I finally decided on this cute Lantern Tilda. I also thought it might look sweet to have another little Magnolia image at the top - so one of my Magnolia Buddies stamped up this cutie and she is SO fun to color and quick. Well, in the process of getting my pieces together - I got some more images from another stamping buddy and she sent me an image of the snow covered fence, so I thought - this would look so fun behind my Lantern Tilda, so I had to order that and wait for it to arrive - which it did in lightning fast speed. When I got all my coloring done and everything in place, I stood back and I like the way it turned out. Of course, I still have 11 more to go and then the OTHER calendar - oh, and they are due to the hostess by the 30th!! Yikes - better get a move on!!
I decided to enter this in a couple of challenges for the week - over at the Stamping Scrapping Challenge blog it is anything goes and you can use any image (doesn't have to be a Magnolia) that the store sells. You know the fence I mentioned? I got it from this store - GREAT, no FANTASTIC service!!
The other challenge I am entering this project in is over at the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge which is to use a grid of some sort on your card or project. Well, my calendar fits that challenge perfectly - and the prize if you are selected? A $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamps - how fun is that?
Well, that is it for now - on to finish up those 11 other pages and maybe throw in another card or two for some other challenges. There are just NOT enough days off in the week!!

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings and do come back again real soon.

~Paula~

Friends are Special

This week on the All Things Sugar Nellie Forum at Paper Craft Planet the challenge was to use TWO Sugar Nellie images on your card. Well, that WAS a challenge for me - but not for long. I started out by cutting my white cardstock to the size I wanted for my stamped panel as I had an idea in my head as to how I wanted to do this. When I got the images stamped - I was happy with them - but it took me a few days before I could actually color them - it has been VERY busy at the Spa this week - so I haven't had time to play in the PAPER Spa!! So these two cuties look to me like they are missing each other, and I thought about my friend Lisa who lives in Alabama. I met Lisa fairly recently and we hit it off like we had been friends forever. She spent two weeks in San Diego recently (that is when we met) and has been back home now for a couple of weeks. I have missed her phone calls because work has been crazy - so I decided that I would send this VERY simple card to her. This card is WAY off what I usually do - I like using ribbon, and flowers and embellish more than I did here - but I didn't want to cut the panel apart, so I left it as is. I know - it is quite BORING with no embellishments other than the little pearls - but I had fun making it - especially as I thought about Lisa - who is CRAZY for purple!!
I hope you have enjoyed looking at my simple card - check out the Paper Craft Planet - Sugar Nellie forum - we have alot of fun over there every week - and if you are chosen as the weekly winner you get THREE Sugar Nellie stamps of YOUR choice - how can you go wrong!!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed your time here.

~Paula~

Black and White and Blue All over!

Swaps are fun! You get inspired by what others make and it is so much more fun to see something in real life than on a computer screen. Somehow, the colors are more vivid - do you agree? Well, I have been involved in several swaps the last couple of months and the card I am featuring today is a card I put together for another Magnolia swap. I had the choice of choosing to use either pink and brown or black and white with one additional color. Well, when I looked at the list of participants, many were using pink and brown - so I chose to use black and white with one additional color. Now, I probably fudged a bit because I just couldn't see my sweet Tilda without SOME color on her face.This was not as easy as it first would seem. I saw a few cards online that gave me an idea - but they were Sugar Nellie images - those would have worked great - but since this was a Magnolia challenge - I HAD to stick with a Magnolia. I got some stamps in recently and was happy to use my new Tilda - and I even knew what colors I was going to use - I had the turquoise chosen quite some time ago - I don't know if that is because my oldest daughter really likes that color - or what - but that is what I decided. Now, I have a bunch of ribbon in black, white and turquoise from a photo book I was working on last year that I knew would go along too - so when I saw this musical ribbon - I just figured it went along quite well with the idea of the card. When I finally figured out how I wanted it to look - it went together rather quickly. I used Tempting Turquoise for my card base and a retired DSP from SU.I matted my image on a piece of black cardstock that I embossed with one of my new texture plates. I often will pop images on my cards - but on this one, I have everything flat with just the roses to give dimension.
I hope you have enjoyed my creation - now off to get ready for work.

Enjoy the rest of your day and if you would like to stay in the spa for awhile longer, feel free to take a browse around.

~Paula~

Card Share

I haven't had much time to make cards this week - with work at the Spa picking up and spending some time with my mom and brother on Monday (my usual day to craft) - it just hasn't happened. But I received a GORGEOUS card in the mail this week from another card maker that loves using the Magnolia Images. This card is a Halloween card - and I am not crazy about Halloween - however, this card is just plain adorable.

There are so many fun things about this card - from the stamped image of the owl to the bat embellishment, to the dots on the ribbon. This card came from Deb Heinritz and she makes fantastic cards.She adds some fun embellishments to her cards too. In addition to this gorgeous card - she included the stamped images used on this card as well as several more so that I can play with more of these adorable Magnolia's. I don't have alot of the Magnolia stamps, but have found a generous bunch of stampers out there more than willing to share their images with others. So much so that I have a little ziploc bag stuffed with images to color. The world of crafters is so generous, I love being apart of this creative world.

Well, I have to run off to the Real Spa - and make other people happy with my magical hands - or so they say -

Thanks for stopping by today. I am hoping to get some time this evening to make some more cards - I have a few swaps to finish up - so come back soon.

~Paula~

Design Team Call - Last Day!!

Today is the last day to submit information for the Pixie Cottage Design Team Call
I was visiting another blog this morning and saw the announcement and then went and looked at the stamps from this company - OMG - you have GOT to see these images. If you love to color (and I DO) then you have got to check them out - ADORABLE!!! You can find them here

~Paula~

Sugar Nellie Challenge #43 - Mistletoe

Have you seen the new Sugar Nellie Stamps? OMG - they are QUITE Adorable. Yesterday challenge #43 was posted here and the prize is YOUR CHOICE of either the New Sugar Nellie Country Cousins OR the new Sugar Nellie Manga Christmas. Yep, that is right - your choice of one of those SETS!! That is FOUR stamps just for posting a card and hoping that random.org selects yours. Of course, I would rather you not post as that gives me MANY more chances! :) This is my card: I had started coloring this image awhile back, but didn't like the way it was turning out - so I set it aside. Well, then I saw the sketch challenge and thought - hmm, that would work. So, I pulled out my FAVORITE DSP from Stampin' Up! This season - Deck the Halls and got to work - trimming, and cutting until I finished up my card. Of course, I didn't do a square (hope that doesn't disqualify me) but I followed the rest of the sketch and even threw in a few buttons - (the theme this time around). In addition to the DSP, I used brads from Basic Grey, and buttons from my stash. The ribbon is the gorgeous Early Espresso Satin ribbon - just love this stuff. And my cardstock base is Always artichoke with my new nesties cut from Cherry Cobbler.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed your visit. Come back soon and see what other projects I am working on.

~Paula~