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?

Paper Smooches Sparks Trend Watch: August 2012

So I'm back from my exciting day and got right into my craft room. I will share some pics with you and tell you all about it, probably tomorrow, so stay tuned! In the meantime, I wanted to make sure I get entered into this week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge with this card:

This week's challenge was to make a travelicious card.

So for Paper Smooches stamps, I used 3 sets: "Get Outta Town," "Metropolis," and "Alphadot." The United States is from an Amuse set. That cute little Bingo card I got today at Absolutely Everything it is from Simple Stories. There are a bunch of different cards on one 12x12 sheet.

The houndstooth paper is from My Mind's Eye. The cardstock is PTI. I also used the PTI double ended banner die for the "travels" sentiment which I created using Alphadot letters.

Phillip laughed saying that the mountains don't go there, but those who know me know geography is not my strong suit...at least I got the palm trees and NYC in the right general area ;)

This card took me a long time to make, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It is not CAS by any means, but definitely fun (and we know after this morning that CAS is not that easy for me!) I hope you all had a wonderful weekend :)

Cloud 9 August Blog Hop

Okay, this is cutting it really close! I don't think I've ever turned in a card this close to the finish before, but my friend, Suzanne, created this awesome blog hop, and also let me borrow her stamps to play along, so I need to get this card linked up! Without further ado, here it is:

Here is the sketch for this month's hop:

I LOVE sketch challenges, but I don't love this card I made :( I really wish I gave myself more time to change it up. That empty space in the middle is killing me! I guess CAS will never be my style! Although I do like to challenge myself and create them sometimes :) So I used Fresh Picked stamps and dies for this card. The polka dotted washi tape is from Target and the sticker tape underneath is from Pebbles. Jen got a big prize package for being in the top 20 in Gallery Idol and she shared some of it with me! This tape was in there, and I must say I've gotten a lot of use out of it so far :)

That ribbon? Is denim!! Its from SU. I like it a lot. The pearls are from Recollections and the cardstock from PTI.

I think if I had time to doctor it up, I would have had an embossing folder, or maybe another color of cardstock on top of the blue. Oh well, next time I know to give myself more time and not wait until its an hour until close! Off to shower...I have the most exciting day planned! I'm sure you'll be seeing some pictures as it is crafting related :)

Paper Dolls Challenge #51

Hi everyone! It was my turn to host this month's challenge over at The Paper Dolls. It's my birth month, so I decided to make a birthday card challenge, with a twist...use birthday wrapping paper on your card! So here is my creation:

As you can see, I used my SU circle punch to cut out a couple of the cakes from the wrapping paper.

Paper Smooches front and center, of course :) 

I colored the sweet dog with Copics. That is a PTI Mat Stack behind him, and PTI cardstock, and the PTI double ended banner die for the sentiment.

The little pearls on the cake are from Recollections. The Twine is from the Twinery.

PTI actually had a challenge for the blog hop last December to use left over wrapping from your Christmas gifts and I had fun doing it, so I thought it would be fun to repurpose this challenge into a birthday one. If it sounds fun to you, please join in and play along with the Paper Dolls, here!

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 :)

Freshly Made Sketches #46

This incredibly adorable owl is from the brand new Paper Smooches set, "Spookalicious." I was taking a PS class at my local stamp store and browsing, they had this set before it was even released online! I had to have it :)

Here is the sketch I used for my card:

So all those buttons? To cover up some clouds I stamped, but didn't like. I think the buttons turned out cute :) They're from PTI. The sentiment I created using the Paper Smooches "Alphadot" set.

The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye, and the Mat Stack is from PTI (Mega #5). The double ended banner die is also from PTI.

The scallop punch is from SU and the cardstock all PTI.

I'm very pleased with the cuteness factor in this card. I'll also enter it into the Guest Designer search for Paper Smooches that just opened up today. One day I am going to get a Guest Designer spot!

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!