The 12 Kits of Christmas: July 2012

This month's beautiful kit was created by our very own Christina of Sea Glass and Sentiments. Boy did she send SOOO much stuff! I seriously could have made at least 3-5 more cards, but I stopped because of our new monthly addition that you'll learn more about at the end of this post. 

Did you just happen by and have no idea what the 12 Kits of Christmas is? Well check out my first blog post in January, here, which explains all the details. Now on to the cards!

So I actually have 3 favorites this month! Both bird cards, and the one with the red bow and branch. This was such a great kit to work with, Christina!

And a new addition to our monthly cards...a Case! Everyone has a lot of supplies left over from other kits and decided that it would be fun to case a card from one of the other members each month. (I have to start saving some more supplies, now!). So for my first Case, I chose this card from Christina: 

Now I didn't have the woodgrain impression plate, so I used some Amuse woodgrain paper. I also didn't have another red window cut out, so I used green, and used my own embossing folder for the snow which was slightly different from her's, but you get the idea ;) Thanks for such a great card for inspiration, Christina!

Want to know the ingredients to all these wonderful crafty goodies? Here is a supplies list:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (Riding Hood Red, Old Olive), Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream)

Patterned paper:  Authentique (Wonder)

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse (Big Bloom Poinsettia, Vintage Labels 18), Hero Arts (Big Pine Bough), Inkadinkadoo (Holiday Words--tree), Practicing Creativity (Retro Christmas--candy cane stripes), WPlus9 (Poinsettia Patterns, Winter Wishes--sentiments), Papertrey Ink (Fresh Alphabet)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Riding Hood Red, Old Olive), Memento (Tuxedo Black)

Tools:  Spellbinders (Labels 18 dies), Memory Box (Perched Reed Bird, Twigs & Berries dies), PTI (Photo Finishers Dies)

Accessories:  Etsy (ivory seam binding), AC Moore (red satin, olive stitched ribbon), May Arts (twine), Queen & Co. (Twinkle Goosebumps, pearls), Bazzill (paper leaves)

Now that you've seen all that I've created, please head on over to the other girls' blogs to check out their creativity!

Suzanne: thecardyard

Cathy: EmptyNestCrafter

Joyce: Cards-by-the-Sea

Kim: CupcakesCardsandKim

Amy: Stamp-n-Paradise

Kara: KandRDesigns

Sharron: OnPapillionWings

Marybeth: Marybeth's Time for Paper

Jeanne: AKeptLife

Jessica: The Paper Parade

Christina: SeaGlass&Sentiments

Renee: ItsAPatchworkLife

Paper Smooches Sparks: Picture Perfect Challenge July 2012

As I'm rushing to get this card uploaded, I realize that this challenge has two weeks! Oh well, here I am "early" ;)

This is the inspiration photo from this week's Sparks Challenge:

I was inspired by the kraft, the blue, and the 3. As you can see, I used some Sea Breeze Versa Magic ink to give the blue smudges like the photo has. The yellow washi tape was to represent the yellow in the flower. It is from Target.

This cute flower is from the Paper Smooches Perky Plants set. The "thanks" is from PS Simply Said.

The cute raindrop paper is from My Minds Eye, and the twine from the Twinery. I designed my card with 3 sections to represent the three pictures in the inspiration photo.

I had a really busy weekend! On Saturday I took a step class, went to the Eye Doctor, went to the Driving Range with Phillip, then to a Paper Smooches class at my local stamp store (the cards were great! I'll have to post them :), then to dinner with friends! Then today I kept busy with a Body Pump class, shopping, finishing up my 12 Kits of Christmas cards (that's tomorrow night!!) and a couple of other challenge cards. I'm pooped, so I'm headed up to bed now, lol. Hope you had a nice weekend, too!

Retro Sketches #21

I have a bunch of birthdays coming up in the month of August, including several men, so here is a masculine b-day card using this week's Retro Sketches sketch and of course Paper Smooches!

Here is the sketch that I used:

The tag is from PTI and so is the cardstock. The label die is from Nestabilities. The grid background is from Market Street Stamps.

The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye and the ribbon is from SU. The red twine is Martha Stewart.

The corduroy button is from SU.

Also, before I leave tonight, I wanted to let you know about some great blog candy that is being offered up by my friend Moriah's dog, Cad! Check it out here :)

Papertrey Ink July 2012 Blog Hop

Hello Friends! I'm glad that I was able to whip together a card last night to join in on this month's Blog Hop Festivities. I am so jealous that I missed all the Stamp-a-Faire fun that I knew I couldn't miss out on today. Here is my card:

These are the colors that were our inspiration for this month's hop:

Everything I used is from PTI except the pearls which are Recollections from Michaels.

Notice the strategically place pearls in the sentiment?? Great for covering up an ink smudge! And you thought I put them there intentionally ;)

Sorry for such a quick post today. I'm actually at work finishing up my post (shhh!!!) so that it can be part of the blog hop. I look forward to checking out everyone's creations later on!

Retro Sketches #20

We have no power at our house right now (which is very strange because we live in the Historic District right down the road from the center of town, so we've only ever lost it for like 5 min max and its always back on) except for one lamp.......my OTT lamp at my desk!!! And thank goodness for that, because I just finished this card and I want to link it up to Retro Sketches before it closes, heehehehe. So here is my card:

Here is the sketch I used:

It all started with this adorable Crate Paper patterned paper that I got at Absolutely Everything when my parents were visiting. Then I thought that my Vegestastic Stamps from PS would go well with it, and the peppers in 3 colors came to fruition!

The gingham paper is from PTI, and so is the cardstock. The embossing folder is a SU Sizzix folder.

I really like the Farmer's Market feel that this card has :) I wonder if I was inspired from our first visit to the local Farmer's Market this year? We are very lucky that it is right down the road on the Common, and we are within a 5 minute walk. We got eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, blueberries, and even ravioli! It is a great Farmer's Market. Now here's hoping the power comes back on soon, I don't think I'd sleep well without the AC :(

Paper Smooches Sparks: Designer Drafts July 2012

I need a few thank you notes, and you know I love playing along with the Sparks challenges, so here is my take on this week's sketch:

Just love this professor from the Smarty Pants set from Paper Smooches :) The sentiment is from the Sentiment Sampler.

This cute patterned paper I found on sale at a local stamp store and I immediately thought of this set. The paper is from Imaginescense. The twine is from the Twinery.

All cardstock is from PTI.

Hope you had a nice weekend!

Runway Inspired Challenge #15

My new stamping friend Jenn is the creator of the Runway Inspired Challenge Blog, so I decided to play along this week to support her (and because it is a really cool blog, so you should check it out, too!) Phillip is going to be traveling to London for work soon, so I thought it would be fun to make him this card with my Amuse British Invasion set:

Here is the inspiration photo:

I was inspired by the colors and the "weaving" pattern. So that is what I did, I created a weaved paper pattern with PTI cardstock. Those two little white strips were scraps...can't believe I was able to put such a small scrap to use!

The heart is from a PS set (almost all of their sets have hearts in them!) but the sentiment and stamps are from the British Invasion set.

Hope you have some fun plans for the weekend! I'm going to a card class with a friend on Sunday and am hoping to go blueberry picking on Saturday :)

Retro Sketches #19

This silly card is for Phillip for our anniversary today. I know that he'll like it...he always jokes about this song he knows that talks about a "Laundromat Mamma" and this new PS set is so cute :)

I used this week's Retro Sketches sketch for my card:

The spiral punch is from SU, the patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye.

The silver twine is from SU and the buttons and cardstock are from PTI.

Here we are 9 years ago when we tied the knot in Mt. Dora, FL on July 12, 2003:

We have packed a lot of life into our 9 years and sometimes I feel like it has been at least double that amount of time, but I wouldn't change it for the world.