Carpe Diem

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! It seems that Old Man Winter finally decided, now that my daffodils are up and confused, to make an appearance. I know that the girls in Europe would LOVE to trade places with me - it will be 60F here by mid-week, so I won't whine. I'll just enjoy some time inside. :)

This is my entry for the Viva La Verve sketch challenge that's at Splitcoast every Friday:

It's also for the challenges at:
The Pink Elephant - Use Pink. It's Ella's third birthday! Way to go - you've built a blog that has really endured. No small accomplishment.
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
... and VLV - use this sketch:

The recipe:
Paper is Echo Park - Victoria's Garden. Images are Verve (I'm in looove with that 'fly!) stamped with Momento. I used a seam ripper to distress the edges of layers. Ribbons are from Really  Reasonable Ribbon. That's a Nestie in the center, touched up with Rose colored Distress Ink.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop over today. Please leave a comment - I learn quite a lot from them!
Stay warm!
Elizabeth

Just! Like! You!

   Did your parents ever yell that at you when they were just that fed up? This, my dad's favorite curse, came at the end of many a stern lecture. "I hope you have five kids! Just! Like! You!"
    Well, whoever's the Patron Saint of Parents Driven Insane by Teenagers must've heard, because between the two of us, my sister and I have four of them. Just. Like. Us.
     For the record, I find that endearing.
     Here's the Valentine that's going to my sister's house:

It's also for the challenges at:
4 Crafty Chicks - Love Is in the Air
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - Love Is in the Air (Man, that stuff is going around!)
I {heart} 2 Stamp - This month's Sketch for You to Try:

   
What's the recipe?
Images are all My Favorite Things - Pure Innocence. Rolled roses are made using MFT's Die-namics Medium Rolled Rose. The little flags and pole are also Die-namics. Circles are all Nesties. Paper is Echo Park - Yours Truly. She's colored using Copics, and her little dress is paper-pieced.

Here's a better look at the roses. This die makes them easy-peasy!

That's a dark grey in the left panel. It didn't photograph well. I need to learn to better use the color editing on my PSE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Elizabeth

... and a Fail

I really liked the inspiration sample at CASE study challenges:

Isn't this fab? I love the bright colors underneath!

So, I wanted to try a sample with negative die cutting myself. Ran into problems - this is the biggest one.

See the tiny holes? They're the dots that let you line up the dies and stamps (which I'm not using.) I just couldn't come up with anything that would keep the guide dots from cutting. Grrrr.

 Here's my solution:

I covered them with random itty-bitty, glittery hearts. Ups the cute factor a bit, but really screws up the balance, knowwhutimean? My 12-year old thinks it's great, so that makes me happy, but as far as challenges go, this one's a fail.

Still, it was fun to try. :)

Recipe:

Dies - Verve

Papers - Echo Park

Hearts - K & Co.

Thanks for stopping by. Please come again soon. I'll do better, I promise.

XX

elizabeth

It Don't Mean a Thing...

... if it ain't got that bling! Which is difficult when doing cards for sons, husbands, etc. That's where I am now. How to give a card enough oomph without it going girly? That's a bit of a challenge. Especially since Valentine's is, basically, girly.

So, finding this sketch gave me a case of the happies. I think it's just what I needed to turn out a masculine-enough card that's still all about V-Day. I used some red Stickles to bling up the 'flower'.

... and here's the sketch:

It's from Iwona Palomountains's Sketchbook Saturday challenge.
It's also for:
One Stop Craft Challenge - On the Spot and Ribbon
The Pink Elephant - Favorite color combo - In winter, I love red, white, and black!
Paper Issues - All We Need Is Love
Paper Sundaes - Choose your favorite challenge from the past. I'm going with #90, favorite colors.

The recipe:
All images are Verve, all paper is Echo Park - Yours Truly. Scallop die is MFT. Label die is also Verve. Picked up the seam binding on Etsy.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate your taking the time. I hope you've had a lovely weekend!
Elizabeth

Dream Big

*Sigh* my one and only personal (as opposed to school) child turns 13 in about three weeks. While I certainly don't want him to be living here when he's 40, I must say that I'm getting a little weirded out by the fact that he'll only be around full-time a few more years. Have y'all seen the Disney commercial with the families and the teenage kids? One of the lines is "There are only so many mountains left to climb together." Aaaack! Yeah, that's pushing the buttons, Walt. Not cool.

So, here's his birthday card. It's got to be manly enough for him, but still kid-ish enough that I can stand it:

It's also for the challenges at:
The ABC Challenge - H is for Happy Birthday. My birthday wish for him is to continue to dream big. He's set a goal to earn a ROTC scholarship in the hopes of engineering airplanes and is already taking steps toward it. Makes the sky a good theme, even if hot air balloons don't blow stuff up.
Papertake Weekly - Die Cute Special. The big hot air balloon has a die that goes with the stamp. (I had to fussy-cut the little one.) Awesome poofy clouds are also teeny-tiny dies.
Bee Crafty Downloads - Celebratory with balloons. I think I'm celebrating. Okay, he is. Me, not so much.
Finally, this is my attempt for this week's Viva la Verve sketch challenge at Splitcoasters.

The recipe:
Balloon images, big balloon die cut, and cloud dies are Taylored Expressions
Die cut label, frame and sentiment are Verve. Edge die is My Favorite Things.
Papers are Echo Park. All stamping is done in Momento.

Have a wonderful long weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by...
Elizabeth

Birthday Wishes

So, it's only January, and already I'm behind on the Viva La Verve sketches at Splitcoast. Yes, that means it took me exactly one week to fail. Stupid working for a living! :)

So, this weekend I'm catching up. This one's ready for a friend's birthday on Feb. 7, which means I still need to knock out a birthday for my turning-into-a-teen son, Valentines, and an anniversary. Yup. Plate's full. I love having pretty cards to give, but have you noticed that after you start giving these, if you do a store-bought one for someone, they wonder what's wrong? Better kick it up a notch!

As long as I'm at it, I thought I'd enter challenges at:
Crafty Creations Challenge - something new. I got the flowers/sprig stamps and dies for Christmas. Yay!
Cupcake Craft Challenges - something new. Great minds think alike!

Recipe:
All images and die cuts are Verve. I dressed up the flowers a little with some Diamond Stickles. PP is Echo Park, most from Yours Truly, though the music's from Victoria Garden.

While I was putting this together, I began to wonder, "Exactly how many zowie-patterned papers can one use before making herself carsick?" Ha! Pattern-on-pattern can be a little tricky. I'm still thinking the pink sprigs might be a bit much.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today. I genuinely appreciate it. Please come again soon! In the meantime, I'll be face-down in a pile of patterned paper!

Enjoy your weekend,
Elizabeth

Rise Above Fear

Whipped up a quickie last night. My friend, Kim, has begun a quest to improve working conditions for the teachers in our area. Last week, she arranged a meeting with a state representative for several of us, and is trying to make a difference. I'm proud of her.

It's also my attempt at the Sweet Sunday Sketch


Thanks for stopping by today! Happy New Year!
Elizabeth