Where Do You Find Inspiration? /NAC #70

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Hey y'all. Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you are ready for a Safe and Enjoyable end to 2013. It's Tuesday, so that means the Nacho's have a New Challenge for you. It's a Color Challenge to end the year. I hope you'll play along with us.

So today's project started a little differently for me and it made me think, "Where do you find your Inspiration?" I don't know about you, but sometimes inspiration strikes me in the weirdest ways and it's often surprising where it goes from the initial starting point. That's how it was for me with today's project. Also, I often Seriously Overthink things. Do you do that or is it just me? Also, I think it's fun to look back and see where your Inspiration started and how it evolved to it's end point.

So here's today's project I actually did it 3 ways, like I said- over thinking-

So at first I was really stumped by this week's color combination-

And then I remembered I had these from Thanksgiving and had thought they would make a pretty card-

Ok- not exactly the same color but it was close and it was a start. Then I had to figure out a layout. I don't know about you, but I absolutely love card sketches. I have a board on Pinterest just about sketches, in fact one for cards and one for scrapbooking. I had recently seen this sketch and thought it would be fun, especially since I have the Tape it stamp set in both Clear Mount and MDS-

Still a lot of open space though. AUGH! So, I started thinking and it struck me that maybe if my guy made a card from scraps in my stash he might do something simple and then maybe slap some Washi on it so my card was born.  I cropped and used the little heart flowers to go with my original "flower inspiration".

The card ended up a little darker than I planned so I played around with the combo and came up with these as well-

I just re-colored the layers and washi and changed the font styles and colors. I like the pink one the most but it definitely wouldn't be something I could give my man. LOL :) The green one was the last and it's definitely the most middle of the road but I still like it too.

You know what happened next? I looked at my team members projects and really realized just how much I had over-thunk it! Oh well. It's a creative process and the best part of doing this in MDS... I didn't waste any materials during my experimentation. YEA!!!

Well, that's all I have for you this week. I hope it inspires you to play along with us this week. Most of all I hope it inspires you to really step out of your comfort zone and try something totally different. You might be pleasantly surprised. I would love to hear what inspires you and/or how you come up with your ideas and I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated!

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 and Happy New Year's early!,

Shan

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A Beautiful Reminder / NAC #69

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Hey y'all. Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you're having a great day and are looking forward to time with your families and loved ones. It's Tuesday and of course that means it's Challenge Day with the Nachos. This week we have a Sketch for you.

I have to say I had a really hard time getting started with this one. I had so many different ideas for a card, but none seemed just right. Dontcha just hate when that happens. So I decided to try a Scrapbook page. I scrolled through pictures that I had taken recently and came across some that I had taken of my Christmas Cactus and I knew what I was going to do. I don't know about you, but when it comes to indoor plant growing, I'm pretty much a Plant Serial Killer. There's only 3 things I can keep alive. Aloe, last year's Poinsettia, and my Christmas Cactus, and I even managed to kill one of those last year. Apparently a lot of fertilizer that looks like potting soil, is not the same as potting soil! Who knew!?! Poor baby cactus didn't even have time to bloom. My older cactus though has managed to survive despite my lack of skill or perhaps in-spite of it for 11 years. Not only does it give me beautiful blooms at Christmas time, but every year in late June it gifts me with them again. What a Beautiful Reminder of the Christmas Season.

Here's this week's project-

Ever have one of those serendipitous moments, where you go "WOW! Didn't mean for that to happen, but it's kinda cool!"? That's what happened with this background. I had originally color filled it with a solid color, matching it to part of the petals. And then I was trying to get my pictures into the photo boxes and all of a sudden, the picture was there in the background under the color. I don't know about you, but I was just stunned. It looked like a beautiful piece of 12x12 DSP. I added some of the ribbon from last year's Sale-A-Bration and I was finished. :)

Here's the sketch we are playing with this week-

I turned it on it's side and flipped the sentiment too and that's all. 

Here's another pic of the main flower in the background. I simply lightened up the color and it just gives a sweet glow to the picture-

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed my project and I hope it inspires you to play along with us. I can't wait to see what you come up with. Who knows, maybe you'll have a little Serendipity too.  If you have questions or just want to leave me a little blog love, be sure to leave your comment in the space below.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated!. 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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Hello Kitty Fun Fold / NAC #68

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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday. Hope you're week is good so far. We have a New Color Challenge @ Nacho Average Challenge this week and I'm so glad you stopped by to check it out. You probably know by now that Color challenges are not my favorite. There's just too many options! I was really struggling with this combination. I had No Idea what I was going to make. :( Then I needed to make a Birthday Card for a co-worker. She's from China and guess who she loves? Too Easy...it's Hello Kitty. Then I just had to figure out how to make her. Pinterest and Google Images to the rescue. There were lots of different versions, but Lynn Pratt's inspired me the most. My sizes weren't coming out quite like hers but I'm sooo happy with how it turned out. Here's my card-

How cute is this!?!

Here's a close-up of my sweet, little kitty-

Dontcha just want to pick her up and
 put her in your pocket and carry her around?

I used our Gingham Garden Washi Tape for the bottom of her dress. For her shirt I used Whisper White c/s & lightly sponged it with Daffodil Delight before using our Perfect Polka Dots EF. It's so soft and sweet. I used Smoky Slate to sponge all the edges for shadowing. I used a Little Pool Party and  my Scalloped Circle punch for the sky background.

I'm sure you have figured out our Color Combo already but here's the chart-

This was the first time I had tried the Twisted Fold card. It was pretty easy, but here's two things I don't remember seeing or hearing anywhere- 1- It won't fit in a regular envelope. This is a good chance for you to use your Envelope Punch Board to make one. However, by the time I finished making the card it was midnight and I was just too tired to traipse back up the stairs to find some DSP. :(    2-  It's bulky and doesn't lay flat at all. It does stand pretty though. Hmmm trade-offs.

Here's the inside-

There's not a lot of room to write on the pull out card (Right side with the sentiment). I know this is a bonus for a lot of people but we have lots of people in our office so I put another panel on the Left side. The cutting of the panels gave me a little trouble and I had to cut it twice to get both panels. I'm sure that was my issue.  :) You can't really tell by the pictures but I used my 2-way Glue Pen and Dazzling Details on the frame around the sentiment. I also sponged all the edges and folds. Funny how I used to hate sponging and now there's hardly a card that doesn't have it. Gotta figure out how to do it in MDS. Hmmm- maybe with the torn edge tool. Maybe you'll see that on something soon.

Well that's all I have for you today. Oh, I'm happy to report that my friend was so excited by her card. She loves it and it sits on her desk where everyone can see it. I hope you liked it too! If you like today's card or have any questions about it, make sure you leave me a note below.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! 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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Masculine Thank You / NAC #67

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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having a good day and an Awesome week. We've spent the last few days with snow and ice and are expecting another 2-6 inches today. YUCK!!! Today's card reminds me of Fall which seems like just last week since we were in the upper 60's. WOW! What a difference a few days can make.

This week the Nacho's have a sketch challenge for you. I needed a card for our Resident's going away  (I get to make all the clinic cards) and wanted to do something a little different. Here's what I came up with-

I'm so excited with how this card turned out and happily our Resident really liked it too! I've really been loving the emboss resist and I thought it made for a surprising "Pop" of color and a beautiful Masculine card. I don't know about you, but I find them so hard to do! Believe it or not this was a really simple technique. Sponge on different colors, Stamp in VersaMark and Heat emboss, Brayer your top color,  rub the color off the embossed areas and Surprise! you have a beautiful image. Let me know if you have any questions.

This week's sketch is super versatile & I can't wait to see what you come up with-

Here's a closer look at the embossed portion. I just love the colors peeking through. So pretty. Ah, I mean so Masculine. :)

I added a little embossed leaf to the inside for my little something extra and my card was done-

Don't you just love the font on the sentiment. It's from our Photopolymer set. L.O.V.E. it!. Know what else I love and am thankful for? This little beauty-

Nacho's getting so big! She's crawling all over the place and is even pulling herself up to stand like a Big Girl! 

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked my card and I hope it inspires you to play along with us this week and to maybe try something new. If you have any questions about today's card or the technique, make sure you leave me a message below.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! 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 storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe-

Shan

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Floral Birthday / NAC #66

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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Holiday weekend. The Nacho's have a color challenge for you this week. You know they're not normally my favorite, but I definitely can't say that this week. It's been a rough 2 weeks for me and I'm so happy to bring you today's card. It uses 3 of my favorite colors and it brings a smile to my face, something that has been mostly absent the last 2 weeks.  I hope it makes you smile too. Here's this week's card-

 I don't know about you, but with all the fancy folds and techniques, sometimes I forget about the really simple techniques. I've been enjoying emboss resist lately and I think it was just the "pop" of color this card needed. This card was for one of my good friends birthday. I spent Thanksgiving Day with her. They're kind of like extended family. I used my square framelets to create a "Polaroid" type layer in. I sponged the inside and outside to add a little depth, along with some dimensionals. The sentiment was colored in with my Stampin Write Markers.

In case you haven't figured out the colors, here they are-

You know I couldn't leave the inside plain so here's a look at it-

The Happy Birthday is from Sketched Birthdays. I just colored the inside and left the banner un-colored.

Ok- so here's one more thing that makes me happy. I got to Face-Time with her twice on Thanksgiving Day. Her infectious little smile is the result of seeing herself live on the I-Pad. She was so excited to see that smiling baby!!! Look at those toofers. My sweet, little Nacho turned 8 months old this weekend. Love this little girl.

Well, That's all I have for you today. I hope you liked my card and that it inspires you to play along with us. I can't wait to see what you come up with! If you have any questions about today's card, don't forget to leave me a message below and I'll be sure to get back to you.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated. 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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