Retro Sketches #32

Time for my weekly entry to the Retro Sketches challenge! You still have time to link up, so you should play along, too. I always love their sketches! Also, my friend Suzanne, is a headliner there this month! You should definitely go see her work, and the great work of the other DT members, too :) So here is the sketch we were given to work with this week:

I used stamps from Paper Smooches "Spookalicious" and "Halloweenies." The paper is from Making Memories and My Mind's Eye. The cardstock from PTI, the button from SU, and the twine from the Twinery. I'm slowly building up my collection of Halloween cards to send out this year...how about you?

Retro Sketches #31

When I was at Absolutely Everything for the bag lady sale this weekend, I bought this super fun October Afternoon paper, and these Paper Smooches "Boob Tube" stamps. This card is definitely busy looking compared to what I've been making lately, but it makes me smile :) It will make Phillip smile, too, I'm sure ;) Here's the sketch I used from this week's Retro Sketches challenge:

The other supplies used on this project are PTI cardstock, the PTI Christmas label die (cut in half for the sentiment), twine from the Twinery, and a library clip from SU. I just got all the rest of my new SU inks yesterday! I used the Tempting Turquoise for the sentiment. I don't think I ended up telling you on my blog, but at the stamp yardsale I had a table at last month I did amazingly well! Way better than I ever anticipated...enough to buy ALL the inks I wanted, more PS, and then some!

Retro Sketches #30

I'm getting a head start on my Halloween cards...can you tell?? ;) Here I used my two Paper Smooches Halloween sets. The eyes are from "Spookalicious" the spider, sentiment, and spiderweb are from "Halloweenies." When I first saw the eyes in the set, I knew I wanted to emboss them on a black base to make it look like spooky eyes were watching you from the night sky. So that's what I did...and I did it for this sketch:

The ribbon and card base are from Amuse. The cardstock is from PTI, and so is the double ended banner die. The twine is from the Twinery. This card was a fun one to make :)

I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was busy. I spent Saturday getting my kits for my hostess month of the 12 Kits of Christmas ready (and they're still not done, I'm waiting for the brand new PS Christmas sets that I should be getting maybe tomorrow, to add a few more goodies before I mail them out). Then Sunday I spent making a hat for my niece. She is having a Yo Gabba Gabba themed party for her 1st birthday in a couple of weeks. So I made her a fluffy orange hat that looks like the one the DJ wears in the show. I have one more thing to add to it then I'll post it for you all to see. Although it will look much cuter when you get to see her in it!

Retro Sketches #29

My weekly entry to Retro Sketches...My favorite challenge (well that and the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge, of course :) I used my "Spookalicious" Paper Smooches set to create these three different pumpkin personalities. Here is the sketch I used:

The patterned paper I used is from My Mind's Eye (I just love that Michaels carries their 6x6 pads now...and I can use a coupon!) The cardstock and Take 3 die I used are from PTI. The twine is from the Twinery. 

Oh and in case you didn't think you see enough Paper Smooches on my blog...get ready for even more! I joined the PS Club! I will now get every set released on the first of the month for a year! 3 sets a month, and I get to see them before she even shows peeks on the blog! So I've already seen the sets coming out on Oct. first and let me tell you, they are adorable (I am not surprised in the slightest!) I am over the moon to have joined this club, I don't know why I didn't before. Thanks, Amy, for the enabling suggestion! ;)

Retro Sketches #28

This past Saturday we went apple picking with a couple of our friends. We spent hours there, this place was huge! We took a hayride to 3 different orchards. I picked all Honey Crisp since they're my favorite, though :) Then on Sunday I spent all day in the kitchen canning. I made apple salsa, apple butter, and then apple pie (not canned). I've tried it all now, and the only thing was that the salsa was not liquidy enough. Anyway, I wanted to give them a little thank you note to let them know we had a great time. I used this week's Retro Sketches sketch:

I used Paper Smooches "Autumn Grooves" to create the little tree. I used the Amuse woodgrain paper for the trunk, and in a different color for the card base. The gingham paper is from Lilly Bee Designs, and the ribbon from SU. 

On another note, I'm still learning a lot about photos. Last night I think I figured out how to do the white balance, and I definitely think it made a difference. I also think I figured out how to keep the pictures larger rather than the one yesterday I was having a problem with. Hope you're having a great week so far!

Retro Sketches #27

Here is a back to school card that I created using this week's Retro Sketches challenge:

Here is the sketch:

I flipped the sketch upside down. All of these cute little images are from Paper Smooches, of course :)

The mini library clip is from SU, the cardstock is PTI, the twine is from the Twinery. I can't remember where the paper is from...I got one sheet of it in the clearance bin at a local stamp store awhile ago.

Thank you all so much for your comments on light boxes. I went over to Suzanne's tonight and she showed me her's. After that and all your comments I have decided to try making my own this weekend. So hopefully soon you will be seeing some great pics of my cards! It will be gradual as I know I have a lot to learn with photo editing, too, but I think just the box alone will make a big difference.

Retro Sketches #26

I finally own my very own wplus9 set! I just couldn't resist this scarecrow set when it came out :) So now I won't have to borrow Suzanne's stamps all the time for the wplus9 blog hop! Here the card I created for this week's Retro Sketches challenge:

Here is the sketch I used:

So I flipped the sketch on the side. That cool denim ribbon is from SU, the yellow is from Amuse. The frame around the sentiment is from My Favorite Things. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye. Did you guys know Michaels carries some of their paper now?! I'm super excited about that :)

This scarecrow is the star of the show! I just love him :) And see those bright vivid inks?? My new SU inks that I got for my birthday from Phillip. I LOVE them! If you haven't tried the new formula, you should. 1000x better than the old. Such a crisp, clear image in one light tap. I never used to get this look with the old pads. I'm going to be in a yard sale one of our local stamp stores is having and I'm going to sell all my old inks for $1 or $2 each (what do you think? they are all still really great, juicy, etc.) so hopefully I can replace all of them with the new ones :)

This card comes with a gift! A bottle of wine from my favorite winery up here. So I had to make a tag to go on the bottle.

Using the same elements from the card, of course.

I think they turned out quite cute and country :)

And now an update on my little Garrett. Garrett had surgery last week. He had been peeing a ton, but when he started going on the rugs in the bathroom and then on Phillip's clothes, we knew something was going on. (We clean his litter box twice a day, too!). His pee also had a red tint to it. Well, they found something called a bladder stone. His actual bladder is the size of a pea, and this stone was the size of a golf ball!! Poor little guy :( So he had the surgery and came home in one of these cones:

These pics were right before we took him camping with us. Which was crazy, I do not recommend having a cat with you when you camp. All he did was spew litter everywhere, and walk around on top of us all night "shoveling" our faces with is cone. Well on Tuesday we woke up and his wound was open and bloody. So we took him back to the vet. First they gave him a bigger cone (he had found a way to lick his wound even with the cone on!) and said he HAD to stay still. Well, he won't stay still at all. So the only solution we could come up with is that he is now living in the dog crate :( It is a large one that can hold his water, litter box, and room for him to lay down, but the poor guy. I hope he recovers soon so he can get out of "captivity!"

Retro Sketches #25

Last night, Jen came over for our weekly stamping night, and I got busy with some of my new stuff! Here is a thank you card I created with two of my new Paper Smooches stamp sets that I got with some birthday money, and paper from a My Mind's Eye paper pack my mom got me :)

Here is the sketch I used for this card. I changed it up a little bit, but the sketch is still there.

The horse silhouette is from the "Buckaroo" set and the sentiment is from the "Chit Chat" set. The frame behind the horse is from the PTI polaroid set that I ordered with this month's release items. I already cut out the polaroid for another card (you'll be seeing that soon as it's my PTI blog hop card!) and it was just sitting there, I thought, humm maybe I'll use this ;)

I used a Copic to outline parts of the letters so that they really pop. The buttons, ribbon, and cardstock are all from PTI.

This card came out with a real south western, Arizona type feel, what do you think?

Retro Sketches #24 & The 60 Second Crafty Dash!

Okay, I promised you guys pictures on Monday.........oh boy, what a busy week it has been! I apologize, but they are worth it :) First here is a card:

For this week's Retro Sketches Sketch:

Got this adorable PS bird set at Absolutely Everything when we were there on Sunday...LOVE it! And guess what? It can be a turkey in the fall :)

The patterned papers are from DCWV. The dies are from Nestabilities, the pearls were from the dollar bin at Michaels, and the cardstock is PTI.

Now remember how I told you I had the most exciting plans on Sunday? Well, it all started with a trip to the Nashoba Valley Winery for the best brunch "Evah!" Here Suzanne and I are after we stuffed ourselves silly with foods from Apple Cinnamon french toast to sushi. Well, we needed nourishment and energy for what was to come next.

And what was next you may ask? Well, a trip to Absolutely Everything (the best stamp store there IS) for the most exciting "Olympic" event........the 60 second dash! You have probably seen those grocery shows on TV where they get 60 seconds to run through a grocery store and fill their cart with as much food as possible? Well, that is what it was, but with crafty items! Oh a stampers dream. Jen met us at the store. Here we are hoping beyond hope for our names to be called!

So there were plenty of rules to go along with this contest. Including that everything must be in your hands/arms (no stuffing down pockets, cleavage, etc), you could get multiple dies from Memory Box (for example) but if you got duplicates of the same die, both were disqualified, if you dropped something, that's it, that item is gone. You had 60 seconds to run through the store grabbing as much as possible, but had to be at the checkout counter right when the time ran out. Suzanne, Jen, and I all had different game plans. I was going to hit the Sizzix die section first, grab a bunch of MFT dies and sets, possibly a few Paper Smooches, if time allowed (although I have most of them already LOL) and then end in front of the Copics, grabbing each color ;) Suzanne said she was just going to stand in front of the Memory Box dies and grab every single one. Whether she liked it or not, she said, "I'll find someone who likes it!" And for Jen, her big thing was a Big Shot. She had plans to grab it first and stack things on top :) Then she was worried she would get flustered so she told us to yell at her "Spellbinders!!!!" Next you will see the store owner giving us the rules, then drawing a name:

I couldn't believe how fast my heart was pumping! But the name was none of ours. The woman had a plan! She ran right into the Sizzix room, grabbed about 10 Tim Holtz dies, a Vagabond, came to the desk and said "I'm DONE!" We were like are you crazy?! You still have so much time! So the store owner said "Well, I haven't reached my limit yet...we are going to draw another name for a 10 second dash!" 10 seconds?! Can't grab much in that amount of time, but oh still worth it :) So the name gets pulled and she reads out Suzanne.....you should have seen how Jen and I looked at her...but then the last name was not her's. Suzanne said she learned her lesson from PTI Stamp-a-Faire last year when she thought her number was called and it wasn't, but she screamed anyway, LOL. The first woman we think got about $500 worth of stuff and the second got a 10 pack of Copics, the Copic storage bag, and a Nestabilities die, still must be about $150 worth. All in all, it was an amazing day that I won't soon forget....and I know they're gonna pull my name next year...I'll be ready!

This store has almost absolutely everything, for real! Stamping/scrapbooking-wise. And you can even shop online, all you out-of-towners :)

Can I tell you how lucky I am to have these girls as friends?

Retro Sketches #23

"Oh so happy to have you in my life." That is the way I feel about my good friend, Ann, who just took me out to dinner to celebrate my upcoming birthday. I love those words on the cute strip from the My Mind's Eye paper pack.

I used this week's Retro Sketches sketch:

And of course Paper Smooches stamps :)

Whimsical for sure. Hope you are having a good week, off to bed for me :)

Retro Sketches #22

The banana totally sold me on this Fruitastic set from Paper Smooches. See what I mean?

I used this week's Retro Sketches sketch:

The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye, the ribbon is from PTI, the corduroy button is from SU. The double ended banner die is PTI, and the twine is from the Twinery. I used the masking technique to create a bunch of bananas instead of just one.

I used the PS Alphadot set to create my own sentiment: "go bananas." The other sentiment is from Party Posse. I placed it on my block and curved it to fit the way I wanted on my card. I was working on my Copic shading, can you tell?

The border punch on the side is from Fiskars.

I had a blast looking through all the 12 Kits of Christmas cards yesterday, if you haven't had a chance to look, you should make some time, SO much inspiration!