Caardvarks Sketches

My sister just graduated from college so I created this card for her using Kazan's sketch now featured at Caardvarks. I love Kazan and Laura's sketches from 2 Sketches 4 You and I'm excited to see two more exclusive sketches at Caardvarks. I used my Sassafrass Lass Oliver and Friends stamps once again and used pastel pencil to add color and definition. My sister loves glitter and beachy colors so I hope she likes it. I might try Laura's lovely sketch later this week for a birthday card.

Cat's Meow

I missed scrapping these past two weeks and so when I got back I immediately started on Scrappy Jo's Weekly Sketch #4. It's a great sketch and so many others did a fabulous job with it. Check out their takes on the sketch here. I used Basic Grey Romani and Euphoria and my brand new Chatterbox chipboard. I visited a great little LSS while in Florida where I was able to get the Euphoria paper pad and chipboard. In other very exciting news I was chosen to be one of Scrappy Jo's DT members! I'm very excited and will be designing cards and card sketches for them in Nov-Jan. Until then I will be writing product reviews and sharing tips on the forum so come join in here. Also come visit the store and enjoy 15% off your first order of $10 or more with the code JMREF. Last but not least I'd like to thank my awesome boyfriend for helping me set up all the new blinkies you see on the side of my blog and creating a blinkie for my blog to use in my signature at forums.

Back from Florida

Very early Sunday morning we got back from Florida after driving since 6 am on Saturday. We really enjoyed our two weeks and stayed in a lovely house. We got one of those five park passes and enjoyed SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. SeaWorld was my favorite mostly because they have some amazing animal shows but their rollercoaster, Kraken, is awesome as well. Thrill rides and wildlife exhibits were definitely the main attractions on our vacation. Some trip highlights would be feeding dolphins at Seaworld, riding Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure. watching my grams star in the ride Disaster at Universal Studios (they use volunteers to make a movie clip every ride, very unique) and watching Shamu Rocks, a show, at SeaWorld. A great family vacation with something for everyone.

Greetings from Florida

I'm now in Florida so no scrapping or blogging for the next week or so but make sure to check out all the updates about the July celebration at Scrappy Jos including the announcement of new DT members.

My Sketch World July Sketch

I found this sketch at My Sketch World and knew it was perfect for some photos I had. I was happy to find an excuse to use my Sassafrass Owl stamps once again and use up some old DCWV paper. I used some more hand-stitching to incorporate the circle into my LO.

2 Sketches 4 You Sketch #4

I just discovered 2 Sketches 4 You and I love it. Their sketches are fresh and fun. The creations that everyone links back to the site are fabulous and inspiring. I can't wait for more and I'm thinking about going back to play with past sketches. Here's my first card based off of Sketch #4. There's a new sketch every week and some fun prizes so be sure to check them out.

Scrappy Jo's July Weekly Sketch #2

When I saw the sketch here at Scrappy Jo's I knew just the pictures for it. This LO about my cousins graduation was very fun to do and included some more hand stitching which I'm enjoying and I was definitely encouraged by Stacey's articles at CPS. At first I thought I should use the school colors but it felt way too boring and in the end I did incorporate the orange and black anyway.

Embossing

So this weekend I decided that I really have to try heat embossing. It seems to common place in the scrapping world and very easy so I finally bought a heat gun, some embossing ink and silver embossing powder. I had to try it right away and this card is the results. Next time I will def be using a dryer cloth keep the powder from sticking where I don't want it. I used CPS Sketch #72 for this card. I feel like the card came out very simple and isn't my favorite. But I've moved on and am now working on some other sketches for pages and its going much better.

Combined Challenges

I combined a sketch challenge at Scrappy Jo's with a theme challenge at Scrap Your Crap, The sketch can be found here. I've had fun getting to know the girls at the forum there and am very excited about the July celebration that includes a weekly sketch challenge. Come to the board here if you want to join in. The theme challenge was a patriotic project so I made a card. I love to make cards but have less occasions to use them than the cards I could make so I think I will take up the suggestion of the girls at Scrap Your Crap and send some include the latest to soldiers.

CPS #71

This week I got a little distracted. On Monday I started volunteering at my library. It wasn't terribly exciting the first day but its definitely something to break up the day. After we get back from Florida I plan to see about getting something temporary like possibly babysitting. Anyway I also started a new knitting project after picking up a book from the library. It's going to be a shrug and the pattern is perfect for me. Lots of practice knitting but nothing too complicated. But I did manage to get a card made. I used the CPS #71 which was very fun. My cousin will be swimming with dolphins on her birthday hence the theme of the card. I used a vellum saying on solid background and took another stab and handstitching by trying to make some orange "waves." I love the dolphin which isn't meant for scrapping and is kind of like those foam stickers you see at the crafts stores now. I Also this weekend my new binder scrapbooks arrived and I'm really happy with them. The page protectors I bought at a bargain price work in them and its a simple yet accessible way to store them.