Weekend Cards

Hey there! Happy weekend! We have a very busy weekend this week. I had girls night last night (so fun!) This weekend we are going to a birthday party for my aunt, who is visiting from out of town. Also, in addition to our regular weekend church/running club/ swim practice, we have a party to go to celebrate a friend's Confirmation! Not to mention, I've been working hard to catch myself up, since I missed so much being gone these last weeks. So, the gist of all this is that I needed a quick Confirmation card for a teenage boy, and a birthday card for my aunt, who's turning 60. For my aunt's card, I used this month's Sketch For You To Try. I'm trying to play every month over there! You can see my card above there, used this SU! stamp on the inside, but no stamping on the outside (yes, I am feeling ok, just that every once and again, it happens!) 

and here's the Sketch:

On both cards, I used my new Authentique Celebrate 6" paper pad. Love these fun colors! :) I also used silver card stock, black, Poppy Parade, Island Indigo, and Marina Mist; between the 2 cards. You can see the sparkle from the silver card stock a little better on this pic.

For the Confirmation card, I went fairly simple. Being that it was for a teen boy, I didn't want it too fussy.

I used a lot of dies on both cards. The cross die/stamp is Verve. the star dies are from My Favorite Things. The stacked label dies are from Papertrey Ink, the scalloped circle is Spellbinders, and the fishtail banner is from Lil' Inker, but I cut it thinner than the die cuts. 

 For the inside of the Confirmation card, I used the "Dude" stamps that I love from Verve. 

and here's a couple more pics...

hope you like them! Have a stellar weekend. :)

xoxo, Noelle

supply list: DP: Authentique; solid card stock: Stampin' Up!; stamps: Unity, Verve, Stampin' Up!; embossing folders: Cuttlebug; dies: Verve, Lil' Inker, Spellbinders, Papertrey Ink, My Favorite Things; Cricut cartridge "Base Camp" for numbers; gold gems and rhinestones: Recollections

DUST IT OFF! Several old stamps, dies, and embossing folders mixed with new papers make for some fun, quick cards! 

The Rainbow Will Come

Well, hello, hello! Did the world stop spinning or am I actually playing a current challenge?? **GASP** it's true! ;) Just bein' silly of course. But, I was pretty happy to have a productive day, most of it boring-productive, but this card was fun-productive, yea! I had bought several new sets from My Favorite Things a little over a month ago. The only one I'd used yet was the Funny Bunny set on the boys Easter Basket Tags. But today, I thought it would be really fun to do a rainbow card with this awesome Rainbow Die-namics, and this sweet A La Mode The Rainbow Will Come. Love this cutie with her big umbrella! It has been SO warm here, like summer, and also like summer, thunderstorms! So, she's out singing' in the rain! ;) I used the sketch from this week's MFT Wednesday Stamp Club 69. 

Now, I admit, it's a wee bit possible that I went a teensy bit overboard with this card! I mean, there is Copic coloring, paper piecing, fussy cutting, die cutting, multiple layers, etc., etc., etc.... It's a little busy, but I still think the friend I'm sending it to will like it! :)

I think her glittery boots turned out particularly fun! Who wouldn't want a pair of red glittery rain boots, I ask you? :)

I added some Aleene's Paper Glaze to the puddle, and her boots are Stickled, plus some tiny rhinestone bling to her jacket and her earring. :)

Well, that is all for me today! I hope you like my happy card. :) Big hugs! 

Noelle

supply list: stamps: MFT; dies: MFT, PTI, and Spellbinders; papers: The Girls Paperie and Stampin' Up!; gems;  Frosted Lace Stickles; Paper Glaze: Aleenes; Copic markers

Life's Journey Fish card (CQC134)

Hey there! Getting back into the swing of things this week with a simple card for this week's ColourQ! Here's the pretty palette:

I wanted to incorporate the "ocean" theme that was on this funky pillow, so I pulled out my fish stamps. my idea for this card was a card that inspired me on Pinterest, this card, by the uber-talented Makiko Jones. Loved the layers (and of course, love the colors, you know me and blue!) ;) I wanted a more delicate feel than the edger punch she used, though I do have that same punch. I wanted a more delicate feel to go with the feel of the inspiration photo, so I used stamps that had the same feel, delicate lines, elegant. The fish was stamped in burgundy on the Pool party card stock & then I sponged some pastels on him in the challenge colors. This is a more CAS card than my usual, but you know how I'm trying to expand my horizons! :) Well, that's it for me today, I hope you will come play along at ColourQ this week!

big hugs, Noelle

supply list: solid cardstock/inks: SU!; stamps: Inkadinkado and Martha Stewart Crafts; punch: EK Success; pastels and mini daubers

PS: Arielle COMPLETELY cracked me up with the ColourQ version of "Handmade Ryan Gosling" today,  one of my fave Pinterest graphics, they are stinkin' hilarious! :)

 

TCP Blog Hop Handmade Flowers

Hey there folks! It's time for the blog hop for The Cat's Pajamas! I sure have enjoyed playing along with the Cat Pack for this new release, some great new products and so fun to see what everyone did with them! 

You should have come here from Nancy's blog. If you need to start at the beginning, head to Julie's blog, and start there! The theme is handmade flowers, and I used this new hearts border CutUp to make a BIG funky flower! :) You know what a freak I am about this shade of blue, and I love this funky look. :) Not sure yet if I will use this to add a pop of color to my home or if I'll give it as a present. 

I started out with this white frame from Hobby Lobby. I spray painted it blue, and while it dried I worked on the flower. I die cut a whole lotta teal and blue felt with the new CutUp, and just kept wrapping it around itself until I had this big bloom. Felt is easy to work with in that it kind of holds together until you have your flower done. I punched a piece of scrap card stock and hot glued the flower to the punched piece. Then I trimmed the edges of the card stock, and the final touch was to wrap some glitter tape around the base of the flower, to hide the hot glue yuckies, etc. here's a closeup on the big blue bloom.

The leaves were made by using the oval from the Circus Panel CutUps, and then scoring them in the middle. I used one of the sentiment stamps from the new set "Bloom." Before I put the panel with the flower into the frame, I threaded some big dotty ribbon through the top of the frame and tied it with some thin stitched ribbon and a button. Go bold or go home, right? I know I sure did that with this project, LOL! Now you can pop over to Dancing In Pajamas to see what Alma has for you, and to end the Hop! 

Thank you TCP, for letting me play along as Swanky Stamper! I also wanted to say THANK YOU so much to all you lovely people who have popped by here (some of you every day this week, thanks!) to see what I had cooking' for TCP. It was such a weird week for me personally, but I am so happy I had this opportunity! And I am so grateful for all the kind comments about my sweet Gramma. 

xoxo, Noelle

TCP Sneaky Peek Week! day 7: "Quality Time"

Well, hello, hello! And, we have reached the 7th and FINAL day of Sneaky Peek Week! Go to Dancing In Pajamas blog to learn more! Are you making up your wish list yet? ;) I just love this sweet new set called "Quality Time."My kids all LOVE reading time at night. I have to be honest and tell you it's my hubby who has the patience to sit and read aloud for half hour to 45 minutes every night, so that's kind of why I was thinking this was a Daddy Bear and Baby Bear.

My son, Collin is a TOTAL bookworm! He's always got his nose in about a half a dozen books at one time. So, I though that making him a bookmark would be a fun project. Also, it cracked me up that the book the Bears are reading is "Beary Potter!" Collin's VERY fave books of all time are Harry Potter. in fact, he was Harry Potter for Halloween 2 years in a row! I think he would have gone as him again last year, but I suggested he give something else a go. ;)

I added his name, so his bros won't "steal" his new thing. I had some papers that are printed like book pages and some book-printed paper in my stash, worked out great for this!

I tried to keep this as flat as possible, since I didn't want anything to get crushed in books, or for the bindings of the books to be taxed too much. But I couldn't resist ONE single button. :)

Well, I hope you will check out what the rest of the Cat Pack has for you today! And don't forget, the Pajama Party is TONIGHT on Splitcoaststampers, and the Blog Hop starts at midnight EST! See you then! :)

big hugs! Noelle

TCP Sneaky Peek Week! day 6: "Wish"

Hi there! It's Day 6 of the Sneaky Peek week at The Cat's Pajamas! This sweet set is called "Wish." I love Mr. Bun hanging out on the moon, fishing for stars! No new CutUps on this card, but I did use the Big Scallop, and Circus Panels CutUps. This card was one of those ones that I just wasn't quite sure where it was going until the very end! I knew I wanted the sky to look as if the sun was rising, but I wish I'd had more Copic Colors to give that "hombre" effect. Bun was paper pieced and the moon was dry embossed and paper pieced as well. 

I ended up using this DP because it reminded me of jammies. This is kind of a "dreamy" set, wouldn't you agree? I think this could make a really sweet baby card, particularly if you went less bold with the colors, more pastels. Tried to make the stars "glow" by giving them little halos of light around them.

I "clipped" a punched star to the corner of the card, for a cute little accessory. 

Well, I hope you like my card! Make sure to check out what Alma and the Cat Pack have to show you with this cute set! :)

xoxox, Noelle

Beautiful Moments in difficult days/Flowers for Gramma

Hey folks, hope you all are doing well. This week was one of the roughest I think I've ever had, but I am coming back out of my shell now! Thank goodness I had all my TCP projects and posts ready to go. That was such a blessing! This is a really long and personal post, so if you're not up for that no worries, but I wanted to share about this day.

Anyway, as you may already know, my amazing Gramma passed away last week. The Memorial service was this morning, and I have to tell you, last night I was laying in bed awake, alternately dreading today and wanting it to be over with. I woke up this morning with that sick feeling you get when you wake up and realize that, yes, this thing that tears you up inside is really happening. I got dressed and ready to go.....

When I was growing up, my Gramma took care of me in the summers, and before and after school, when I was sick, etc. So, we spent a lot of time together. I grew up in Colorado Springs, CO; the home to Pikes Peak, which is not the tallest, but is one of the most famous mountains in CO. My Gramma was such a strong Christian, and she taught me so much about Jesus. Always as we would drive around town, she would look up at Pikes Peak and say "I can see Jesus so clear in the Peak today." I would always ask her to show me how Jesus was on the Peak, and she would try, but I could never really see it. After she passed on Tuesday, one of the thoughts I had was "Now I'm never going to see Jesus in the Peak. There's no way I'll see it now." And, I do not know why that thought struck me so, as it wasn't something Gramma and I had discussed in years. She hadn't even driven a car in the last decade of her life, but, for some reason this was really bothering me. Maybe it was because this last 2 years have been rough, and sometimes it's hard to see Jesus when things are difficult. I don't know.

Anyway, back to this morning. Hubby, the boys and I were driving down to the Springs. We were still about 40 miles north of the city. the day was gorgeous, perfect CO day. Blue skies, puffy white clouds, green ground, purple mountains majesty, the whole shebang. (One of the reasons I will always be a CO girl, is the sky here. everything is so clear, and it's easy to see even hundreds of miles away on a clear day.) So, I'm driving, and I'm almost irritated by this weather. I felt I couldn't enjoy it, I felt somehow as if the weather should match my dark mood. Just at a perfect moment, I looked up... and, I saw Him! I saw Jesus in the face of Pikes Peak! Immediately I felt all my anguish melt away. Tears flowed down my face, it was a total God moment. I felt like Jesus was saying to me "Even when you can't see me, I am here. I am always here." And, I also felt like that was my Gramma's final gift to me. I know she is at peace. 

She had lived in a nursing home for the last 9 years, and she was on Medicaid. So, my aunt and Mom were responsible for covering any costs associated with the Memorial Service. Of course, flowers from the funeral home were very pricey (I think one arrangement would have been more than we paid to do all these), and even from a florist they would have been expensive. We all agreed, we didn't want anything somber or "funeral-y." We decided the whole family would wear bright colors and we wanted to use flowers and things that she would have liked. I offered to do the flowers, it was something i could easily do, even from where I live, which is about 90 minutes away. I love arranging flowers and I knew I could do it for a fraction of the cost that they would have paid a professional. Anyway, I did all these; 4 large vases, a wreath, a few candles, and 10 small vases for just around 130$. If you know someone who's having a wedding, baptism, or other kind of service, this is a great idea to save. This is what I started with:

This HUGE pile of flowers came from Costco and Safeway, and cost about 90$.

Most of the vases and candleholders came from my kitchen cabinets, but I did buy these bowls, the gems, ribbon, and one other large vase. 

There were 10 small shelves and one large shelf on the wall at the front of the little chapel. That's why I thought these little arrangements would be nice. They looked really nice up there! Here's how they turned out:

 pretty, I know she would love these... And here's a closeup on one:

I made a wreath with her photo in the middle, these are silk flowers, a grapevine wreath, and a pretty frame from Hobby Lobby. The whole thing cost about 25$ and would be a nice gift for someone who has lost a loved one, or even for a wedding or baptism, you could use a photo of the couple or the baby being christened. 

There were four large vases, my favorite is the one I did in this pitcher she had for decades and gave to me several years back...

and the other 3, they are all a little different...

Now, if you wanted something more formal, you could always go with all the same kind of flowers, or all the same color flowers, etc. But we really are celebrating her life, and who she was, so we wanted bright colors, casual style, etc. We all dressed in bright colors too. To this day, every time I get dressed, I hear her voice saying "Honey, you really should have some color by your face." :) So, to my friends, if you want to know why I wear a lot of color, that is why! Here's all of it together again:

....and, I don't know if you can tell, but this is the first post I'm doing using my new camera! Hubby and I bought a great new camera a couple weeks ago, and it takes fabulous photos. It's not an SLR, but it's bigger like that, and I can see that the larger size really does make a difference in the pictures. I hardly had to edit these at all, and I just used the auto setting. :) I think you will see the real difference once you see card photos. :)  Hope you are all well! There are still a few Peeks left for TCP, so keep checking in.

xoxo, Noelle

TCP Sneaky Peek Week! Day 5: "The Mustache Set"

Hi there! We are on Day 5 of Sneaky Peek week at The Cat's Pajamas! When I first got my package of stamps and dies, I was the most intrigued by this set "The Mustache Set," and it was the first one I took out and used. In the past, I haven't been able to wrap my head around this mustache trend that's been going around, but when I saw these stamps, I couldn't wait to use them!! I LOVE anything "punny" and there's some really cute sentiments in this set, and I now get the versatility factor as well, this card could be for Father's Day, Dad's birthday, encouragement for anyone, so fun! 

My idea was that it would be fun, to create a mustache that could be taken out and used for photos, or just for being silly! Here's my unwilling model. can you see the pout behind that big mustache? ;) Here's a closeup on how I made this removable. A piece of foam core board was sandwiched between that front panel and the main card. See the hole where the skewer was pushed through? 

I made a faux frame, by die-cutting some card stock with the Circus Border CutUp, and adhering it behind and around the edges of the white panel that had both stamping and die-cuts on the front.

I used both the mustache CutUps set and the mustache border die on this card, too fun! 

Well, I hope you like my "fun{tache}tic" card! Make sure and check out what Alma and the Cat Pack did with these fun new goodies! :)

big hugs! Noelle

TCP Sneaky Peek Week! Day 4: "Aye Aye Captain!"

Hey there friends, It's Day 4 of Sneaky Peek Week, and if you've been here at all this week, you know I'm enjoying playing along as "Swanky Stamper" for the new release at The Cat's Pajamas. I am terribly sorry if I haven't returned your comments yet. This has been a tough week as my sweet Gramma did go to Heaven on Tuesday morning. I am so glad that I was with her so much in the weeks before she passed. Lucky for me, I had all these projects made, posts written, and ready to go for this week, so I haven't been around much on the blog this week, but it's all taken care of. Gotta love it when you are actually prepared (for once!) So, pardon me if I haven't gotten back to you... My poor family has only had one cooked-from-scratch meal in the last 2 weeks! But I'll get back soon, hopefully I will get caught up before the Blog Hop!!

And just HOW CUTE is Captain Bun? LOVE him :) I also used the inspiration this week from TCPTUES206. Here's the pics: You can see I used the chevron pattern from the tape as the main DP pattern, and I did go red/blue; though the blue I used is more of a teal/green blue.



I stamped Captain Bun, colored him with Copics and fussy cut him out. I used my fave older TCP CutUp, the Big Scallop CutUp to create the "waves." My thinking was that in using the "life is but a dream" sentiment, that Capt. Bun is sailing at night, because he's a super tough sailor and isn't afraid of sea monsters! ;) Hence the darker colors and the moon behind his boat.

I used the Circus Panel CutUp for the sentiment.

At the bottom of the card I used some UBER-ANCIENT pieces of hardware, I think these are pushing 10 years old, and these are my last 2, but they seemed as if they had a "seaworthy" feel. I used 2 different colors of twine to make a bow through the hardware, thought that added to the nautical feel.

Well, that is it for me today. Go check out what fun things that Cat Pack has to show you!! :)

xoxox, Noelle