A Sparkly, Sprinkly, Sketch Challenge (Try saying that 3 times fast!) SSC #264/ My Challenge #30

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday to you. I hope you had a great weekend!

Although I didn't get as many cards/projects made as I would have liked, I did get some fun ones done. I also got all of my new stamp sets conditioned, got some laundry and yard work done and even got my car's state and emissions testing done. Which it passed, thankfully. You know what that meant? It meant that after $400.00 for new front brakes (2 weeks ago) and $30.00 for emissions testing, it was in fabulous shape for the thieves that stole it last night! Yep, I said stole it. Have you ever walked out of your house and just knew something wasn't right but couldn't quite put your fingers on it? That was me this morning. I walked out and was about to get into my SUV and thought "Something isn't right here." What was it....Think, Think, Think... I turned around in a circle and that's when it hit me! I was standing in an empty- parking space.!!! *Palm to Forehead* Silly me, I look up and down the neighborhood to see if it has somehow magically moved during the night to another space, but NOPE, still no-where to be found. Thank-God, I had my SUV. I left for the commuter lot and called the police who I will call again this evening when I get home so they can come and do the paperwork. The good/bad news, it wan't just me they hit. Someone stole my best-friend's dad's truck out of his driveway last night too. He lives about 15 minutes from me. Those were some busy thieves! What a way to start the week!

Wanna know a better way? Today's card. It's another sketch from those fab ladies over at Stamping 411. I have to say when I first saw it, I was a little worried. It really had me stumped. I was going through all of my stamp sets in my mind, trying to figure out what I could use. I was really hoping to use one of my new sets but nothing was coming to mind. And then it hit me, and here's what I came up with-

Birthday Card featuring
Cupcake Builder Punch and Patio Party DSP

Can I just say how excited this card makes me? No, really. Like I'm on a sugar high from all those sweet, sugary, little sprinkles. *Happy Dance*

You probably know how literally I interpret sketches by now. All I could see were those three butterfly areas, What in the world was I going to do? Then I thought of my cupcake punch and the matching stamp set and I knew just what I wanted to try.

Here's the sketch-

I think the only thing I'm not sure about is the little bow on the cupcake wrapper. I was really happy without it. I'm not sure...what do you think? Otherwise, I'm so excited. I just want to take a big ole bite out of it. Best part...Calorie free. Lol!

Here's a closer look-

It's kind of hard to see, but I used my Simply Scored to make the cupcake wrapper and then lightly sponged over it to give some dimension and depth. I used vanilla scented embossing powder mixed with some Dazzling Diamonds for the "frosting" and then added my sweet little candy sprinkles and topped them with some sparkly, sugary,shine. Both DSP's are from the Patio Party collection and my base and scalloped circle punch is Raspberry Ripple and my mat is Primrose Petals. Even though my Bakers Twine is Cherry Cobbler I love how it matches. I mean seriously...if you didn't know, you wouldn't know. Right? I love how with SU, everything coordinates so easily.

Here's the inside

Birthday Card featuring
Make A Cupcake and Cupcake Builder Punch

The sentiment is from the Make A Cupcake set as is the image. I used Crumb Cake and Primrose Petals and stamped off 1x for the Crumb Cake and 2x for the Primrose Petals. More confetti sprinkles and a lot of love from Tink and my card was complete! Yea!!! :)

No Monday Musings today as I am musing enough about my stolen car. Why can't stuff like this happen before you spend all that money? Those new brakes were one of the reasons I'm not getting on a plane to SLC and my first SU Convention tomorrow. Oh well, who am I to question the timing of things in God's Great Plan for my life? It is what it is. I guess that means I have an extra parking spot for my class participants. Glass half full and all that.

For my friends out there headed to convention... I hope you have a wonderful time. Take lots of pictures, get lots of cool swaps, take copious notes and come back ready to share with the rest of us. But most of all, have fun. My good stamping pal Michelle invited me to do a 6x6 recipe swap with her and I am sooo excited to say I did my first ever convention swaps, my first scrapbook type swap and my first hybrid swap all rolled into one. I'll be posting pics of them later this week.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are so very appreciated. I hope you like today's card and it inspires you to make/do something fun today. I love hearing from you and read all of my comments and try to respond to most as well. If you liked today's card and have just a moment to drop me a line, you'd make my day. If you wanted to +1 or Pin it, I've added those buttons to my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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Just Try, Try, Again.... SSC #260- Part Deux

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Hey y'all. Happy Humpday! I hope you're having a great week so far. :) It's a scorcher here in the DMV today, 90's, close to 100 with the humidity and heat index. Lucky for me, I'm getting my walking & running done inside. You know what I 'd love to reward myself with....ok, besides a refreshing beverage, a nice cupcake. However that would pretty much use up my all the activity points I just earned so how about I share a calorie/points free version? Ok, so you can't taste it, but I hope it makes you smile anyways, and just think everytime you smile you're using up calories. I like burning calories! According to this article quoting a plastic surgeon, it takes one more muscle to smile than to frown. Just one more reason to smile today. :D Anyways, hopefully this card will make you smile.

Oh, and before I forget- to all those people that let me rant yesterday about my frustrations over the card I made, thanks for not telling me to "Be Quiet" and to "Just Deal". To those of you that took the time to message me or leave nice comments, Thanks so much!!!! You made my day and really made me glad I had persevered and pushed on instead of giving up. Bear Hugs to you, "Grrrrrrrrr". :)

So, I decided to give the Stamping 411 challenge another try. Here's what I came up with-

Celebrate Card featuring
2012-2014 In Colors, Patio Party DSP , Friendly Phrases & Cupcake  Builder Stamp Set & Punch

Here's the sketch-

I stuck to sketch, just turning the orientation. I decided since this was my second attempt, I would challenge myself just a little extra. First- I used one of new In-Colors, Summer Starfruit, for my base and a mat. In case you haven't read it here before, I think this is the "Peach Parfait" of the new In-Colors. Still not sure I like it, but I'm determined to give it a shot. I think it looks best with really saturated colors and of course, our DSP's make it look pretty good...maybe it'll grow on me. Second, see that Baja Breeze seam binding.... OMGoodness! Do you know how many times I pulled that up and then stuck it back down? Soooo many! I'm sure it's hard for those of you that don't know me IRL to imagine the absolute "fits" it gave me to not have nice neat ruffles and folds. The OCD was in high gear let me just tell you! I kid you not, I spent at least 15 minutes laying that ribbon down. LOL!, Silly I know. Are you smiling yet? Boy-Howdy do I wish SU had kept the pleated ribbons. No muss, no fuss, no fits.  Oh well, I like how it turned out in the end.

If you're not smiling yet, look at this-

Yep, that's my studio assistant, Bitty Kitty, looking down at me from her perch at the top of my stamping area. Of course in her mind, she's not my assistant, I'm hers. She's just making sure I get my cards done to help pay for her mortgage. Those of you with cats will totally get that. Those without...just imagine what she's thinking of me and my meltdown over ribbon, that should make you smile!

I should have taken a closer picture of my little cupcake, but I was tired and forgot to. But if you look real close, you can see the added details. I first thought about getting out my paper crimper, but since it just retired I wanted to see what I could do to get the same look without it. I punched my cupcake base out of Crumbcake c/s, using my Cupcake Builder Punch, and then using my Simply Scored Tool, made score lines ever 1/8th inch. when I flipped the c/s over it looked like a cupcake wrapper. Score! I then swiped a sponge with some left over Soft Suede on it, over the ridges to make them stand out more. The "frosting" was stamped with Primrose Petals. I stamped off three times then stamped onto Very Vanilla c/s and punched it out with my Cupcake Builder Punch as well. I then outlined it with Tombow and then put swirls of Tombow in the center for "frosting swirls" and dipped it in a mixture of Vanilla embossing powder and Dazzling Diamonds. I can't find the blog link to it but I think it was Selene Kempton's blog that had a project using this combination and called it Frosting. Works great like this, but also with heat embossing. I popped the frosting portion up with Dimensionals.

Here's the inside-

I inked up my new set Friendly Phrases in Midnight Muse and stamped onto a piece of Very Vanilla c/s. I then stamped my cupcake using Crumb Cake and Primrose Petal, both of which were stamped off first. Next, I let Tink have her way with the frosting. No dimensional frosting here like the front of the card, just enough to make it shine (and smell good).

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's card and I really hope it inspires you to re-try something you wish you had done a little more to your liking before. I'd love to hear what you think. Your comments always make my day. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have an Amazing day filled with lots of smiles. Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms, than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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Happy 29th Birthday To Me!

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Hey y'all! Hope you're having an Amazing day!

I am. It's my birthday. Yep 29! I think that's pretty Amazing, especially when you consider my kids are almost 20! LOL!

It started at midnight with a call my from my precious girl telling me how much she loved me. Doesn't get much better than that does it. My mom called me this morning. Still waiting for my son to call, but I think he's working today and I saw him last night, so I'm sure it's coming. I got to sleep in this morning. (Score) I've heard from lots of friends today and had a late carb filled pancake breakfast at IHOP. (YUM) BTW, I highly recommend the EggNog & the Pumpkin Praline pancakes. I got My Digital Studio as one of my presents, and I'm getting ready to go to the invitation only party at VS's for a little shopping with my mom's card and my birthday gift certificate from VS's and will get to see some friends too. Like I said its been a pretty good day.

I just wanted to do a quick little post here today. This is not my birthday card, but I think it's sooo pretty. I made it for one of the girls I work with. Although I do a lot of Bling, and a lot of shimmer and glimmer, I don't think my cards are usually all that "girly", but boy this one was all soft and girly and I have to say I really liked it.

Here it is-

I used Blushing Bride cardstock for the base and then used some Gold cardstock that I ran through the BigShot with my Tulip Frames Embossing Folder. I layered Blushing Bride inside the framed area as a background for my scrumptious little cupcakes.

This was the first card I had made with the Create a Cupcake Stamp Set and Cupcake Builder Punch. Love It! I used Very Vanilla and Blushing Bride for the frosting with a ring of Dazzling Diamonds around the edge for a Sugared appearance. Some Real Red Cherries and a candle to top things off, made things so easy. I put them together with Tombow and adhered them with dimensionals. The sentiment is part of the same set.

Here's the inside-

The sentiment is from the same set. I just love the cute little font!

For my sweet little cupcake I inked the stamps by coloring them in with my Stampin Write Markers and then Stamped off once so the image would be lighter and then stamped onto the cardstock. I then let Tink do her thing and she made it shine! Don't you just want to take a bite out of it?

Well that's all for today, like I said a quick little post. I'm off for some quick retail therapy, see some friends and then get back for a webinar on MDS before another 29th has come and gone.

If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

I hope you are having a Great weekend and the rest of it is Amazing too. Come back tomorrow to see what I have for you. We had stamp camp yesterday and OH THE STORIES!!!!

See you soon!
Till then,

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It