Upcycled Eye-patch

Mom occasionally sends me a box of crafting goodies, magazines, and motherly notes, and in one of the boxes she sent recently was this metal disc with lots of holes in it .... I assumed it was for crafting, but I couldn't figure out for what ... So when I talked to Mom, she let me make a few guesses (glitter applicator, bow-maker) before telling me it was her eye-patch from cataract surgery. Thanks Mom ha ha!

Her surgery went well, by the way, and her eyesight actually improved! Anyhoo, she & dad are visiting my aunt & uncle next week, and my aunt just had the last of several eye surgeries, so I thought I'd give them all a smile with this card! Don't you think Mom's eye-patch makes a great flower‽

I was inspired by Stephanie Lee's fabulous card featuring the customizable Eye Chart by Tom Blackwell (if you follow me on Pinterest, you've probably seen both ... they've been some of my most popular Pins). I bent up flaps on the eyepatch to give it some dimension, and painted it with orange acrylic paint. I cross-stitched the center in yellow, variegated embroidery thread and added a simple Spellbinders leaf diecut. I them framed the card with a black-edged white ribbon I bought from Can You Digi It? some time ago.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Addicted to Stamps CAS Challenge #2: CAS
2. Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-invent August Challenge: Anything Goes with recycled item + Bonus Round: Frame It
3. Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes

Thank you for visiting,

Jen's Sunshine Blog Hop

Many thanks to everyone who participated in the Hop! The Winners can be found HERE.

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Welcome to my stop on the Jen's Sunshine Blog Hop! I've had the pleasure of working with Jennifer at Pile It On, and boy does she keep everyone's spirits up! So Jen, this is for you and for all the Sunshines in my life!

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Paper Makeup Stamps & Party Time Tuesdays Challenge Blog proudly presents 

"Jen's Sunshine" Blog Hop

Today we take time to honor our friend and fellow crafter Jen Scull.  If you are here hopping with us, then I am sure you know Jen is battling breast cancer.  She has been fighting this nasty disease since February.  On behalf of Jen, we thank you for being here.

I made a Magic Picture card with an SVG file I made:

Original inspiration for magic picture cards: Extreme Cards & Papercrafting
Magic Card tutorial: SplitcoastStampers
My SVG file for Magic Picture Card: free download at 4shared.com

We ask as you hop along with us, please consider donating at least $1 using the paypal donation button at any stop along the way.  Your donation will go directly to Jen. Thank you.

It wouldn't be a hop without prizes.  To see a full list of the prizes up for grabs, please visit 

Paper Makeup Stamps

and

Party Time Tuesdays Challenge Blog

To be eligible to win a prize from our sponsors, collect the hidden letters located throughout the hop.  Once you spell out the secret phrase, please email Jenn Cochran at partytimetuesdays@hotmail.com.  This will get you entered to win one of several fabulous prizes.

This hop will remain open till Tuesday Sept.4th

Winners announced Sept. 7th

Happy Hopping!

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I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz - lace

Come and Get It Challenges - 3D Flowers

Eureka Stamps - Anything Goes
My Crafting Channel SVG Challenge #4 - Anything Goes + an SVG file
My Heart Pieces Digital Stamps Challenge - Your favourite colour (Love yellow! It was the color of childhood bedroom, and also how I painted my study in the attic)

Thank you for visiting,

More love for the Card Cuties!

You still have time to enter Card Cupids' Anything Goes challenge; the deadline is the 31st. The only requirement for our challenge is to send in at least one card to Card Cupids (the simple instructions are here). Our sponsor, MilkCoffee Digi Stamps, was very generous with supplying images to our DT, and I ended up making four cards rather than my "required" one! 

Here's a Birthday card for our ongoing Birthday Bundles Program for a Homeless Shelter in the Northern Virginia area, featuring Dragoo Enjoying Life:

The papers & sentiment are from Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine. The ribbon is my last, long-hoarded bit from Crafty Ribbons.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Marker POP Challenge #5 - Children
Pattie's Creations - Birthdays + digi
Totally Stampalicious - Anything Goes

Here's a card I made specifically for a Card Cutie, featuring Charlotte and Her Love Letter:

Thank you for visiting,

I spy something beginning with P... for Pile It On!

This week's challenge at Pile It On is another really fun one: We want to see you use anything beginning with P!

I used this oh-so-cute Pirate from Jellypark digi stamps, our fabulous sponsor.I tried use as many "P" elements as possible: Pirate, pencils (watercolor), pen (Copic, for edging on Pirate ship), pin, pearls, penny, and patterned paper: pinstripes, polka dots, plaid. I heat-embossed the penny with ultra-thick gold embossing powder to make a faux doubloon.

The sentiment is a freebie from TLC Creations (Thanks, Paulette!). It's also available as part of her Pirate Party set.

Thank you for visiting,

Feeling Charming, with Digis at OSAAT

We have an easy challenge for you this week at One Stitch at a Time: Use a digi. I used Peacock feather by Delicious Doodles to make this pendant & matching gift box:

For the pendant, I printed the image onto Shrinky-dink plastic and baked it in my toaster oven. The image for the box is printed on regular cardstock. I "painted" the images with purple glitter Stickles and blue Liquid Pearls. I made the box using free Digi papers from GTC's Crafty Corner.

Hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time for our "Use a Digi" challenge. For entries using a StitchyBear Digital Stamps Store product (be sure to add a # after your name when entering), you could win a collection of digis from the SBDS Artists. You're welcome to enter the challenge using different products, but will instead be entered into the draw to win a $3 coupon to StitchyBear. Can't wait to see your projects!

I'm entering this into the following fab challenges:

1. Allsorts - It's a Gift (Anything but a card) 
2. Avadares - Anything for August
3. ATCs & Cards With Attitude - Anything Goes
4. Can You Digi It - #16 Purple Please 
5. Craft Your Days Away  - #52 Anything Goes
6. Cute Card Thursday - bling
7. Dutch Dare Card Challenge - Bling
8. Paper Shelter Challenge - #78 Anything goes

Update: This won the prize for Can You Digi It? Challenge #16!

Thank you for visiting,

Blue Birdie -- Anything Goes at Card Cupids

Here's another card I made for the current Anything Goes challenge at Card Cupids, using another sweet image from MilkCoffee Digi Stamps:

Inspiration/Challenges:

Crafty Boots: Tweet Tweet
Deep Ocean Challenge #32: Deep Blue

EFG Challenge #30: Punches

Hope you'll join in with us for our Anything Goes challenge and be a Card Cupid! The only requirement for our challenges, other than the theme, is to send in at least one card to Card Cupids (the simple instructions are here). We're always getting requests for cards, so do check out the blog. The other day I decided to make a bunch of cards for the Card Request kids, just for fun! Hope you'll consider doing the same.

Update: My card won the random prize for the Deep Ocean Challenge #32!

Thank you for visiting,

Pa' ella

My husband works in the Technology department of Johns Hopkins Medical Center's Radiology Lab at their East Baltimore campus, and every Thursday they have a small Farmer's Market at lunchtime. He takes the opportunity to enjoy Max's Empanadas, but often brings me home this awesome Paella from another booth:

As you may know, I grew up (and met my husband) in Andalucia, Spain, as part of the large American presence there, and for me nothing says "Home" like paella ... my mom never made Apple Pie, she made Paella in the pan regularly oiled by Dad! It's a tradition they adopted during their 17 years there, but it's definitely become our family tradition. My husband's family spent 3 years in Spain, but they definitely adopted some of the culture as well; my MIL has a modern Teflon paella pan that browns the rice beautifully in the oven, despite my original doubts about such a modern version! To be honest, I cook my Paella de Casa in a non-stick skillet, and if I'm feeling really fancy I finish it off in the oven in a pre-warmed, glass pie dish. Not proper at all, but it works well enough!

Alota Rubber Stamps

So when I saw this week's Inspiration photo (right) at Alota Rubber Stamps, you know I about flipped (sadly, I missed the deadline!) Maria chose the theme for her favorite dish, Paella Valencia ... Paella is a basic Spanish dish, and I guess what I remember best is Paella de Andaluz ... but it's all good!

I made this card for a childhood friend (so it's Pa' ella, get it‽ "For her"). She's like me with paella -- she visits Spain fairly often and makes sure to take photos of all the delicious food for us to drool over!

I always like an opportunity to use my Dilo en Español stamps, and my friend is bilingual so this sentiment from their Queremos Pastel set worked beautifully. I stamped it in a simple primary red, but I had to try a few inks to find the right saffron-ish color for the medallion stamp, before settling on TH's Mustard Seed distress ink. And if you're wondering what the white paper is ... yes, it is a paper towel! I couldn't find the right paper, and while walking through the kitchen it just came to me. Wow, what a nice material to stamp with!

I ran across the great tutorial for these Patchwork Chevrons by SEI Crafts for Creating Keepsakes over a month ago, but this is the first time I've had a chance to try it. I modified the size to 1.5 x .5 inches, which I don't think is quite right but it worked! This double-sided DP seemed just right for this project ... it's been long-hoarded!

Following my "ingredients" theme, I made some tiny pea-like embellishments. I used my hand-held hole punch to make some small circles from the green part of the paper I used for the chevrons, and coated them with Glossy Accents. They didn't come out perfectly, but I guess they're a little cooked!

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps Challenge #37: Recycle Something + use a stamp (I guess this is technically reverse-recycling ... Although the paper towel hadn't technically been used before I stamped on it, I did use the rest of the paper towel to clean up my crafting!)

Hooked on Crafts Challenge #23: Let's Celebrate

Many thanks to everyone for the inspiration!

Thank you for visiting,

Anything Goes at Card Cupids, with MilkCoffee

It's time for another challenge at Card Cupids! This time we're sponsored by MilkCoffee Digi Stamps. I used their Let's Go Fishing and papers & ribbon from Smirk's For Him Collection to make this summery card:

Hope you'll join in with us for this challenge, and be a Card Cupid! The only requirement for our challenges, other than the theme, is to send in at least card to Card Cupids (the simple instructions are here).

Thank you for visiting,

BINGO is the game-o

This week at Pile It On we have an especially fun challenge -- BINGO! This theme was suggested by DT member Beth, but, just between you & me, I was the one who got to make the actual BINGO card. It was really fun!

Pile It On Challenge #33

I made a card for my cousin who collects piggy-things, using this wonderful Pig Fairy On Fence digi by Pattie's Creations. I grabbed this digi for a challenge at The Crafter's Digital Art Center (CDAC) back in March 2011, but I never did get around to making a card back then. My folks are visiting my cousin & her family right now, so that seemed reason enough to make her a card! I used the middle horizontal row of the BINGO card: Rafia, Image, and a Tag.

I'm 90% sure this DP is from My Mind's Eye, but it might be Echo Park ... the label got cut off at some point.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Clearly Inspired Challenge #57: Things with Wings
2. Crafts and Me Challenge #96: Use a digi
3. Cute Card Thursday Challenge #229: Tag You're It!
4. Digi Doodle Shop Challenge #120: Things With Wings
5. My Heart Pieces Digital Stamps Challenge: Use Designer Paper

Hope you'll join us this week and Pile It On! Thank you for visiting,

Backyard Beauties

It's "Anything Goes" week at One Stitch at a Time, and I got to play with the beautiful Sunflower Collage digi stamp by Gingerloft, available at StitchyBear Digital Stamps:

Isn't that such a lovely image‽ I colored it with Copics and distressed it with Antique Linen ink. The embossed backing paper was embossed with a texture folder and distressed with a mix of Antique Linen and black ink. The music-patterned paper is from an actual book of sheet music. All the edges were dry-distressed with my Comfort-Craft Distressing Tool. I cut the rosette from the sheet music with my TH die, colored it with the fluorescent yellow Copic, and edged it with black. The butterfly is cut/embossed with the Stampin' Up!'s Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die. I think this card sorta captures an overcast, hot August day ... in a good way!

Hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time for our "Anything Goes" challenge. For entries using a StitchyBear Digital Stamps Store product (be sure to add a # after your name when entering), you could win this month's SBDS Artist Collab set (right). You're welcome to enter the challenge using different products, but will instead be entered into the draw to win a $3 coupon to StitchyBear. Can't wait to see your projects!

I'm entering this into the following fab challenges:

1. Anything Goes Challenge #73: Summer Days
2. Chocolate, Coffee & Cards Challenge 19: Emboss
3. Fab 'n' Funky Challenge #133: Pearls
4. Fat Pages & Cards with Attitude: Add Texture / Anything Goes
5. Jellypark Challenges: Summer Bugs
6. My Sheri Crafts Challenge #91: Include an accordion fold (the yellow rosette behind the butterfly)
7. Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes
8. Simply Create Too Challenge #19: Anything Goes
9. Tuesday Alchemy Challenge #26: BINGO (Pearls, Digi, Dies)

Thank you for visiting,

Goin' Blue for Card Cupids

It's the second week of the Birthday cards for Kids or Shades of Blue challenge at Card Cupids, sponsored by Fresh Brewed Designs. 

My card features FBD's "Fairy Sweet" digi stamp, which I completely paper pieced. Well, the color on the dots on the mushroom was done with a Sakura gel pen, but everything else is paper. The vine is cut as a complete piece, which seemed easier than cutting out the tiny leaves separately. I did some faux stitching on the borders with a shiny blue Elmer's gel pen.

The sentiment digi stamp is by When the Scrap Hits the Fun, but I colorized it in blues using PhotoShop. I cut/embossed it with a Spellbinders die, and added dots with a different Sakura gel pen. 

My Card Cupids DT teamie Gina made a fabulous card using this same image; check them out side by side!

Inspiration/Challenges:

Craft Your Passion: Anything Goes

Lollipop Crafts Challenge #85: Monochromatic

Paper Play: Layer It Up!

Shopping Our Stash Challenge 63: Monochromatic (all of this paper came from my stash/scrap box; a couple of the pieces were previously uncut, but they have long hoarded for the perfect occasion! Her body, for example)

That Craft Place: Things with Wings

Totally Papercrafts: Monochrome

Hope you'll join in with us for this challenge, and be a Card Cupid! The only requirement for our challenges, other than the theme, is to send in at least one card to Card Cupids (the simple instructions are here). 

Thank you for visiting,

Don't Forget Winona!

This week at Pile It On, the challenge is to Add some Metal, and since we're being sponsored by StitchyBear Digital Store (SBDS) I just had to make a card!

I used Vintage Chevy by SBDS creator Delicious Doodles to create this silly "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66"-themed card:

My Grandma lived in Arizona, so I spent many a summer traveling much of the area of the classic old Route 66 ... Boy did I have fun reminiscing about those family trips while making this card!

The cactus is embossed/cut from a Sprite can using Cuttlebug's Disney Out West set.I can't believe how easy this is! The first time I did it I was sure the edges would be sharp, but they really aren't. I did round off the thorn that sticks up over the top, however. I sprayed it with Meadow Green glimmer mist from Tattered Angels, and I really like the result. The key is to dry it with a heat gun ... it makes such a neat pattern.

The Vintage Chevy is paper pieced from Recollections metallic papers and white cardstock, and I added shading & detail with Copics. I then added some white flocking to the seats, because that would be awesome!

I created the sentiment cut-out in SCAL, using one of their standard shapes & the font Glaser Stencil D. I added the line border by hand, and colored in the letters with a Sakura glitter pen.

I used the wooden California & Illinois pieces from Studio Calico's Abroad Collection ("It winds from Chicago to L.A. / More than two thousand miles all the way"), colored them with more Meadow Green glimmer mist, and added tiny dots with copper Liquid Pearls for -- you guess it -- Chicago & L.A.!

The brad has been in my stash forever ... seriously, at least 4 years. I've had the two DPs probably even longer. I've had the green variegated ribbon for quite a while too, but this is its first cut.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft - The Great Outdoors
Creative Belli Challenge #149 - vacation/travel
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge - Outdoors
Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #76 - Anything Goes with a Die-cut
Dude Time Doodles Challenge - Travel (+ masculine)
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

I don't know about you, but I never tire of the classic version of "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" as  performed by Nat King Cole, but I thought you might get a kick out of this tourist video with a more modern version of the song:

Thank you for visiting,

White + 1 at OSAAT

Hi all! This week at One Stitch at a Time we're looking for cards that use White + 1 other color (you can color skin & hair, but everything else needs to be white or the color of your choice).

I chose green as my second color, and used Winterville by Lil Diva Stamps:

Hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time for our "White + 1" challenge. For entries using a StitchyBear Store product (be sure to add a # after your name when entering), you could win a £10 gift coupon to Bunny Zoe's Crafts. You're welcome to enter the challenge using different products, but will instead be entered into the draw to win a $3 coupon to StitchyBear. Can't wait to see your projects!

I'm entering this into the following fab challenges:

Creatalicious Challenges - Christmas
Inky Impressions - embossing
Ribbon Carousel Challenge #64 - must include spooled item / Christmas in July
Tammy's Scrapin Corner - Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting,