maria's craft room

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #63

  Hi everyone!  With all of the World Series excitement around here I'm surprised I managed to whip one together for Beate's weekend sketch challenge.  I don't love this card, but I think it's because I tried to use fall/autumn colors.  I'm not a huge fan of what I do with autumn colors.  However, as you know I AM a huge fan of the Phillies.  Oh my goodness I am just beside myself with excitement.  As I type this they lead 6-2 over the Rays in the 6th inning and are well on their way to pulling ahead 3-1 in the series.  Even our pitcher, Joe Blanton, just hit a home run!!!  Remember this post from May?  I so wish I was sitting in that same seat tonight.  Or better yet, tomorrow when my favorite pitcher, Cole Hamels, takes the mound.  But I digress.  As far as the card goes it's pretty straightforward except for the spring moss layer.  I embossed it with the Cuttlebug leaves folder and then swiped it a few times with my antique linen distress inkpad.  Thanks for indulging me with my love for the Phillies.   And thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

Supplies:

Ink:  SU close to cocoa; Ranger antique linen distress ink

Cardstock:  Papertrey kraft, select white, ripe avocado, spring moss and dark chocolate; paper is SEI

Stamps:  Papertrey Mailbox Greetings, Borders and Corners Circles

Other:  Papertrey ripe avocado twill ribbon, 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 circle punches, SU scalloped circle punch, American Crafts chestnut medium brads, Cuttlebug leaves embossing folder

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #62

  Good morning!  Surprised I'm posting again so soon?  Me too!!  It's going to be a wonderful day.  Ever wake up and just know that you're going to have a good day?  The weather here is gorgeous, too.  Crisply blue autumn sky and chilly breezes carrying the first of the falling leaves.  I like those leaves...as long as they stay out of my gutters!  Well I finally managed to finish another of Beate's  weekend sketch challenges.  I took a few liberties with it so that it fit a standard A2 card, but it's close enough.  Since she included a circle in the sketch I decided to embrace the circular theme and use some patterned paper from Papertrey.  I embossed the base with dots, distressed and stitched the middle panel and - of course - added some buttons.  Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Until next time...M

Supplies:

Ink:  Papertrey dark chocolate

Cardstock:  Papertrey spring moss, aqua mist, select white; Papertrey Everyday blessings patterned paper

Stamps:  Papertrey Floral Frenzy

Other:  Papertrey ribbon, SEI buttons, sewing machine, SU distressing tool, Cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder, 1" and 1 1/4 " circle punches

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #58

  Hello there!  Hope all is well.  I'm having a fantastic day - beautiful weather, new craft supplies and the house all to myself.  Ahhh...it's like a mini vacation!  So I took some time to play with Beate's WSC.  I sort of changed the design from a square to a rectangle, but you still get the idea.  I used my new Papertrey set, Rustic Snowflakes, and I (finally) incorporated one of my Heidi Swapp acetate snowflakes.  I've had them so long that they were *gasp* dusty!  And check out the polka dot paper - it's actually part of the packaging for another Papertrey set.  I love it!  I'm hoping that it's a sneak peek of colors to come.  Guess what?  My cell phone rang this morning and it was Courtney!  What a fantastic surprise.  It was so nice to get to talk with her and hear her latest update.  So different from just exchanging emails!  (She and her family were displaced by Ike.)  All I can say is that I've met some of the nicest people through craft blogging.  So go put yourself out there...start a blog...leave comments on other blogs...you just never know who you will meet!  Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...M

Supplies:

Ink:  SU basic black; Papertrey aqua mist; Palette new canvas

Cardstock:  Papertrey select white, aqua mist and spring moss; SU old olive; SEI unk aqua; Papertrey packaging from Made of Snow set

Stamps:  Papertrey Rustic Snowflakes

Other:  Papertrey aqua mist twill, SU old olive grosgrain, SU 1 3/8" circle punch and scalloped circle punch; sewing machine, Heidi Swapp acetate snowflake

Beate's WSC #57

  Hello!  How's your weekend progressing?  Things are moving pretty slowly around here.  I think we're hoping that all of the yard work will magically take care of itself.  I'm even a day late on posting an entry for Beate's latest weekend sketch challenge!  I've had these flowers punched out and in a pile on my desk for a few weeks.  It feels great to finally use them.  I used a Souffle pen to add the dots to the plum pudding layer and a distressing tool to add some interest to the lavender moon petals.  The husband is taking a nap (relax...the Eagles don't play until tomorrow night) so I couldn't fire up the sewing machine.  I went with faux stitching done with a SU marker.  I'm not a fan of faux stitching but it works in a pinch.  Ooops.  I just realized I didn't correctly follow the sketch challenge.  Oh well!  I had fun and that's all that matters.  Here's a closeup of the flowers:

      I like to lightly bend up the petals on these to get a dimensional effect.   No special tools needed...just a stubby fingernail or two!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'll be up late tonight for Papertrey's release party so maybe - just maybe - I'll have something else to share later.  Or I could just go to bed early and set the alarm to get up in the middle of the night.  Hmmmm.  Tempting!

Until next time...M

Supplies:

Ink:  Papertrey plum pudding

Cardstock:  Papertrey vintage cream, plum pudding, lavender moon, Guidelines patterned paper

Stamps:  Papertrey Floral Frenzy

Other:  SU 1" and 1  3/8" circle punches, Marvy flower punches mega and giga, Papertrey plum pudding grosgrain ribbon,  SU distressing tool, Souffle pen, SU elegant eggplant marker

Beate's WSC #56

 Hello and happy Sunday!  I hope your weather is as beautiful as it is here at our house.  The sky is that perfect September blue with not a cloud in sight and there's a cool breeze floating in the windows. Ahhh.  My favorite weather!  Deuce is having a ball lounging in his bed in the patch of sun streaming through the back door and the husband and I are watching football and eating pizza and ice cream.  Want to come over?  We have plenty to share!  It's time again for Beate's weekend sketch challenge and in honor of the start of the official NFL season I decided to make a card for my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles.  Whadda ya think?  Is it masculine enough?  Check out the Eagles logo.  Would you believe it's actually a temporary tattoo?  I experimented and it's possible to use them much like you would a traditional rub on.  My favorite part is the lacing on the side panel.  It reminds me of the top of football pants. Hmmm...football pants...is it me or is it getting warmer in here?  Time for more ice cream!!!  Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Until next time...M

Supplies:

Ink:  none

Cardstock:  SU handsome hunter, basic black, chocolate chip, going gray and basic gray; Papertrey select white

Stamps: none

Other:  official Eagles temporary tattoo, Sizzix football die, Cuttlebug mesh embossing folder, white souffle pen, Crop-a-dile, SU silver eyelets, SU distressing tool, May Arts ribbon, white embroidery floss

Beate's WSC #54

Hello again!  Beate's back and has issued a new weekend sketch challenge so of course I took some time to play along.  I made a deliberate effort to get out of my comfort zone on this one and I used...gasp...primary colors!  Including orange!!  I've had this particular orange Heidi Swapp blossom laying on a shelf for months and it's a bit of a relief to finally do something with it.

 

The card is not quite square, a 4.25 x 4.5 base of pure poppy.  The patterned papers are all SU, and I used a combination of Marvy scalloped circle punches and small circle Nestabilities to create the layers on top of the blossom.  The only detail not obvious is that I popped the sentiment piece up on foam tape, a double layer over on the left side to compensate for the thickness of the flower layers.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

Supplies:

Ink:  SU basic black

Cardstock:  Papertrey select white and pure poppy, SU summer picnic patterned papers

Stamps:  SU warm words

Other:  Heidi Swapp blossom, mega and giga Marvy scalloped circle punches, small classic circle Nestabilities, SU pumpkin pie 1/4" ribbon, Papertrey pure poppy satin ribbon, Copic Spica black glitter pen, SU paper piercing kit, SU large pewter brad, foam dimensional tape

Weekend Sketch Challenge #53

Ahhh.  Sunday.  That pretty much sums up my day!  It's time for Beate's weekend sketch challenge and this is my take on it.  The overall size of this card is 3.5" by 5.5" and it begins with a base of Papertrey's kraft cardstock.  I changed the sketch a little bit because...well, honestly, I lost track of what I was doing and had a bit of an oops moment.  Hey, it happens!  It probably happened because I was so exhausted from cleaning.  (Stop laughing.  I'm serious!  I really did clean!)  The husband insisted we shampoo the carpets and sort through various collections of junk, etc.  Sigh.  Anyway, I used Papertrey's new Birds of a Feather stamp set and created the pattern in the background by stamping the feather stamp with sahara sand ink.  The cream layer was sponged with Palette burnt umber ink and the bird image was stamped with SU's cool caribbean.  The blue cardstock is Papertrey's aqua mist and the chocolate ribbon is from May Arts.  I'm actually running out of it!  It's my favorite brown ribbon of all time.  See the circle around the bird image?  That was my way of somewhat fixing my mistake with the sketch.  First I punched a 1 1/4" circle out of some chocolate chip cardstock and then I went back and centered a 1 3/8" circle punch over the 'hole' and that's how I ended up with such a skinny circle.  I had to use my glue pen to adhere it to the card.  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a great week!

Until next time...M

Supplies:
Ink:  SU cool caribbean, sahara sand, Palette burnt umber
Cardstock:  Papertrey vanilla cream, kraft and aqua mist
Stamps:  Papertrey Birds of a Feather
Other:  May Arts ribbon, SU 1 1/4 and 1 3/8" circle punches, glue pen

Weekend Sketch Challenge #52

Hello.  It's Saturday morning so that means doing housework in my pj's and working on Beate's weekend sketch challenge.  I found this sketch to be very easy to use.  The base is SU soft sky, the white layers are Papertrey's select white, and the middle layer is SU kraft stock.  I sponged the edges of both white pieces with sahara sand ink just to soften the look a little bit.  The images are from Penny Black's Fresh New Day set and I paired them with a sentiment from Papertrey's Honey Bees.  Coloring the focal piece was fun!  As you know I only own two Copic markers, so any marker work I do has to utilize my SU markers.  I've found that I can incorporate a lot of the tips and color layering techniques that are out there for Copics.  In this piece I was able to add depth to the flower faces by starting with my lightest color first (barely banana) and then shading the edges with so saffron.  I first colored the petals with summer sun and then went over them again with so saffron and I ended up with an almost exact match for my ribbon, PTI's summer sunrise.  Give it a try sometime!  I did outline the entire image with my W1 warm grey Copic marker.  It makes the image pop a bit.  Thanks for visiting! 

Until next time...M

Supplies:
Ink:  SU basic brown, close to cocoa, sahara sand, soft sky, white craft ink
Cardstock:  SU soft sky, kraft, Papertrey Ink select white
Stamps:  Penny Black Fresh New Day, Papertrey Honey Bees
Other:  swiss dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, Papertrey summer sunrise twill ribbon, SU markers and blender pen (for soft sky ink), clear glaze pen (bee wings), SU distressing tool, W1 Copic marker, American Crafts brads

Weekend Sketch Challenge #51

Hi everyone!  I'm so excited that summer is finally here.  While I love interacting with the kids, my job has a completely different rhythm and flow during the summer.  Now that the school year is over I feel like celebrating...hence this this card for Beate's WSC.  The base is berry sorbet (I was going for bright!) and I layered on some of Papertrey's pink patterns papers.  The focal piece was stamped on Papertrey white using berry sorbet and spring moss inks, and I cut and embossed it with my small rectangle Nestabilities.  Some stitching, spring moss twill and Bella's baubles complete the look. 
I must be feeling great because today I also put together another set of cards for my sister to use.  I'll share those in a post later tonight. 

Until next time...M

Supplies:
Ink:  PTI berry sorbet and spring moss
Cardstock:  PTI berry sorbet, white, spring moss, PTI pink patterns papers
Stamps:  PTI Piece of Cake
Other:  sewing machine, PTI spring moss twill, small rectangle Nestabilities, green Bella's baubles (Stamping Bella)

Weekend Sketch Challenge #50

Hi everyone - happy Saturday night to you.  I reclaimed the computer from the husband but it wasn't easy!  Here's my take on Beate's WSC #50.  I sort of goofed a bit on the design but it's the thought that counts...right?  The focal image was stamped on PTI white and then punched with my SU scalloped circle punch.  I mounted it on a circle that was cut and embossed w/my Nestabilities.  I've seen this a lot lately and I think I'll keep trying it.  I used my SU ticket corner punch on the spring moss layer and added Robin's Nest dew drops (water collection) using Tombo multi mono adhesive.  The patterned paper was a "stash find".  It's from a pack of baby boy designer papers from Creative Memories that I've been hoarding.  And can you believe it?  I didn't break out the sewing machine.  I feel like such a slacker!
And yet I have a couple more posts to put up tonight.  I finished the onesies for my sister and I received a RAK from Fran!  You're going to love her latest - the colors are gorgeous.

Until next time (very soon!)...M

Supplies:
Ink:  Papertrey (PTI) spring moss
Cardstock:  PTI white, aqua mist, spring moss, Creative Memories designer paper
Stamps:  SU So Many Scallops
Other:  PTI spring moss stitched grosgrain ribbon, Robin's Nest water dew drops, SU scalloped circle and ticket corner punches, small circle Nestabilities, SU distressing tool

Weekend Sketch Challenge #49

This has been the best day so far.  I've had the house to myself (well, with Deuce for company) and I've been doing whatever I want, whenever I want.  I ate Oreos for breakfast, paid the bills (had to do that), read part of a book, danced around the house while listening to David Cook on my iPod (hey, it's exercise) and OF COURSE played in my craft room.  I hope each of you get to have some fun time this weekend, too. 

This is my version of Beate's current weekend sketch challenge.  Something is funky with my blog right now and I can't do a regular link to Beate's blog - I'll stop back later and see if I can fix that.  It's a 4.25" square base of Papertrey's new lavender moon cardstock and I topped it with some Memory Box patterned stock from their Sprout collection.  What I love about this card is the giant Foofala button.  I don't even really like purple...I think I'm just really into buttons right now.  Anyway, this Cinderella is about to turn back into a pumpkin so I'd better get moving.  Someone has to clean the house!  Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time...M

Supplies:
Ink:  SU basic black
Cardstock:  Papertrey lavender moon, spring moss and white, Memory Box Sprout collection
Stamps:  Papertrey Urban Design Shapes by Design
Other:  sewing machine, SU scallop, 1 3/8 and 1 1/4 circle punches, distressing tool, Papertrey spring moss satin ribbon, Foof-a-la happily ever after button, McGill 1/16" circle punch

Weekend Sketch Challenge #48

Hi everyone - hope you're enjoying your Sunday.  It's a perfect Sunday afternoon here:  overcast and raining.  I'm serious!  It's perfect because it's great napping weather, and what better time to nap than on a lazy Sunday afternoon? 
As far as the card goes, this is my take on Beate's current weekend sketch challenge.  It's such a simple sketch that I had trouble with it.  Ever find yourself overthinking something?  That was me two hours ago.  Finally I decided to use ribbon in place of two of the papers and this is what popped out.  With only a few exceptions all products came from Papertrey.  I even managed to use one of the clear Maya Road blossoms that I've had sitting around ever since Papertrey first started to carry them.  I'll need to keep these out on the craft table because I suddenly see so many possibilities for using them.  Thanks for visiting.  Hope to see you again soon!

Until next time...M

Supplies:
Ink:  SU basic black
Cardstock:  Papertrey's lemon tart, spring moss and stampers select white, Papertrey's Father Knows Best designer paper
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink Simple Little Things (anniversary set)
Other:  distressing tool, sewing machine, Prima blossom, SU crystal brad, Maya Road sheer blossom, Papertrey Ink saddle-stitched spring moss ribbon, lemon tart grosgrain ribbon

Weekend Sketch Challenge #47

Happy Saturday to you - I hope your day is going well.  I've run errands for most of the day so far.  I even had my hair cut!  (Anything to avoid cleaning the house.)  Luckily it's time for another of Beate's weekend sketch challenges.  I decided to use her sketch to make a card to take to my mom tomorrow.  The base is aqua mist, the layer and focal piece are Papertrey white, the patterned stock is from Memory Box and the green is a strip of certainly celery that I embossed with my swiss dots folder.  The focal image is a Penny Black stamp that I just received in on my order from eP .  It's part of the Critter Party set and once I saw it I just had to have it.  I stamped it in basic brown and colored it with SU markers.  I don't have oval Nesties yet so I used my oval Coluzzle to cut the oval and I used the giga scalloped oval punch to create the matting.  I added some bling to the cupcake by using crystal stickles and I *gasp* used a Copic marker for the first time.  I decided that -for me- lots of Copics aren't in the budget right now.  However, I've really enjoyed seeing how certain ones can be used to outline and enhance colored images.  So I bought a cool gray and a warm gray and I used a warm gray (Copic sketch marker W1) to outline this image.  To my eye warm gray goes with browns and cool gray goes with blues/blacks.  Some SU ribbon, SEI buttons, distressing and machine stitching finish out the design.  Thanks for visiting...have a great day.

Until next time...M

Supplies:
Ink:  SU basic brown
Cardstock:  SU certainly celery, Memory Box Inspire cardstocks, Papertrey white and aqua mist
Stamps: Penny Black Critter Party, Papertrey Pond Life (sentiment)
Other:  SU distressing tool, SU markers, Copic sketch W1 marker, crystal Stickles, Coluzzle system, Marvy giga scalloped oval punch, SU blue bayou stitched ribbon, SEI chick a dee buttons, linen thread, dimensionals, swiss dot Cuttlebug embossing folder