Etsy Inspired #50

Quick little post here. I tried to get a card made. And I tried. And it didn't work. Nothing I tried was working at all. Until this morning, it finally clicked. Mrs. Kwitty's Cottage is the shop and this cute little tag set was my inspiration.

Deets:
Paper & Ribbon - Stampin' Up
Stamp - Unity July '09 KOTM
Ink - Colorbox chalk in yellow citrus

Hip Hop Hangover - for the last time?

Yesterday was the very last official Hip Hop. What is in store from now on is anybody's guess. Only Angela knows right now - and she's not telling. We have to wait for September 17 to find out. I have it on good authority that we will like it. Knowing Unity, I'm sure we will, but a little piece of me mourns the loss. I have made so many friends through Hip Hop. For this, I am eternally grateful.

It was thinking of these friends that led me to create today's card.
I do this for all of you. Thank you, all. Hip Hop!

EtsyInspired Birthday Bash!!

Hey there, everyone! There's a party coming up and you are invited! Etsy Inspired will be celebrating its first birthday on September 5th! There will be a big blog hop starting with Ashley at 7am Pacific. Then, at 11am Pacific, there will be a chat, with prizes and awards, at the EtsyInspired forum at Paper Craft Planet.

Now, here's the other news. Ashley has some blog candy up for grabs. You can enter until 11:59pm Pacific on September 4th. This is gonna be some massive candy, too. I've already got my fingers crossed and it's making it awfully hard for me to type! So, check out her website, be EtsyInspired, and join the festivities. The more, the merrier.

One teensy little thing before I go.

To Ashley and the team:
Congratulations on your One Year Anniversary!!!

Etsy Inspired #49 - MelissaKate

Guess what? Yup, two posts in one day.

I figured I felt mostly well enough to throw together a card for Etsy Inspired - and to take a picture of the one I did last week while I was at it - that I should go ahead and do it. So what if it was only an hour before the deadline and nobody was home to help me lift bins or reach things off shelves. Right? Okay, yeah, I overdid it, but it was worth it!

This week's shop was MelissaKate. I really love some of her photography, but it was this set of owl cards that was my inspiration.

I hadn't inked up this set yet, and I have a swap partner who likes red. Add owls and red and this is the card I came up with.

Deets: Unity stamps, Memento & Distress Ink

The penguins are from last week, but between school related stuff and my back, I didn't get to post it. The stamps are Memory Box, and I think the penguins are adorable. The inspiration for this card is a print called Togetherness from the shop vol25. If any of her prints look familiar, it's because she designs for both Unity and Stamping Bella!
A big GIGANTIC thank you to both Ashley, of Heart Hugs Designs, and Katie at Paper Makeup Stamps. And, of course, my sweet friend, JennyK, who played along last week, thereby making me eligible to win the $25 gift certificate to PMS!! Thank you ladies!!

Another Hip Hop Hangover

I know, it's been a couple weeks since I've participated in the Hangover Hop. It's good to be back!

Unity has an awesome new kit aimed at Scrapbookers and it's available for pre-order this weekend. It's called Le Chic Vintage and you should definitely check it out. I think it's going to be great for collaged ATCs, too, so don't be surprised to see it prominently on this blog. Also, Unity has a whole bunch of journalling boxes and a few other stamps at a deep discount this weekend. We spent less that expected on van repairs, so I got to spend a little that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to - like on that pre-order!

So, what have I got this week? Last weekend was VSN - Virtual Stamp Night, for the uninitiated. I was lucky enough to hostess an hour, even though I was rather medicated and needed a little assistance from one of the organizers (thanks Cav!!) My challenge was Paper Lasagna. Each card needed a base (noodles) and at least one mat (meat or veggies). For each mat, the card needed a patterned paper layer (sauce) and an image (cheese). To top it off, since lasagna wouldn't be complete without some sort of seasoning, there needed to be at least one embellishment.

When I first posted the card, I'd forgotten the embellishments. Remember what I said about being medicated? Yeah...not only that, but I was unable to lift or bend, so everything had to be brought to me. It actually went very well, all things considered.
But you can't have the hostess not follow her own rules! So I went back and, many thanks to my youngest daughter who got the Prima flowers and the rhinestones for me, seasoned my lasagna. I think it also tied the colours together better.
If you want to see what's been taking all my time lately, check out my school blog. The top entry is only one of 3 projects I've been working on the past several weeks.

Krafty Tweet Card

Happy Monday everybody. Yes, I'm being cheerful because if I'm not, well...sometimes you just have to laugh, right? Let's just say that it looks like it's going to be another Monday all week long.

I'm working on swaps again, in the middle of school projects. I am learning so much about Adobe InDesign that I'm dreaming about the program. The scariest part of that is the dreams are taking the form of video tutorials just like the ones that accompany the book Adobe InDesign One-on-One by Deke McClelland. Now, if you've ever heard Deke speak, you'd know why it's so scary and you'd all be laughing at me right about now.

Okay, so you guys are probably laughing at me anyway.

I owe my friend, Bobbi in San Antonio, a letter. I hate writing to people when I think I'm going to depress them, so I haven't written, but I need to just do it anyway. I'm making her a card to go with the letter while I'm making swap cards.

I don't know if this one will be for a swap or for Bobbi. I'm not sure it's quite special enough, although it did come out pretty cute. What do you guys think?

I'll post the deets for this one over on Splitcoast by the end of the week. I've got several to upload over there, so I'll just do a mass upload, but this particular one belongs to Sketch Challenge 237.

Etsy Inspired #47 - Julie's Jewels

Before I get to the cards, I just want to thank everyone for the good wishes. The spousal unit has been sent home from Combat Skills Training. He is doing okay and is under the care of a doctor. It's not nearly as bad as they made it sound to begin with, but they have determined that he is undeployable at this time. I'm glad, in a way, because I won't have to worry about him being in the sandbox, but at the same time I feel awful for the family of the man who now has to take his place. The spousal unit and I are both feeling some guilt over this one.

The children are ecstatic, however, so for this I am deeply grateful.

Now...cards. What have I been up to, other than holding my family together? Well...it's EtsyInspired time, of course! I have both this week's and last week's cards to share.

This week, the store is Julie's Jewels. JulieAnn sells lovely beaded jewelry and home decor items. The one I chose to be inspired by is this sweet bracelet with little silver butterflies. I pulled the colours out and used the floral images in the background.

Deets:
Stamps: Unity Butterfly Beauty & SU! Simply Said
Paper - SU! Almost Amythest
Ink - Stazon Cactus Green, Versamark
Etc: Silver embossing powder, MS Doily lace edge punch

Last week's shop was Artistic Flair. It's a neat shop with lots of fused glass pieces. Some of them are jewelry, but some are simply art. The one I chose was a really cool art piece of the Eiffel Tower. As soon as I saw the piece, I knew what I wanted to do, because two of my daughters are taking French, so I made the first of two Christmas cards for their teachers. I will make a second to match before December, though I may use a red base for the second one.Deets:
Stamp: Penny Black - Christmas in Paris
Ink: Versamark
Paper: DCWV, unknown glossy white
Etc: Obsidian embossing powder
Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Red Pepper, Cranberry, Meadow
Oregano and Gold Mixative

Don't forget to check out Ashley's blog, Heart Hugs Designs. If you are new to playing this week, please tell her I sent you. You and I will both be in the running for a $25 gift certificate from Katie Cotton of Paper Makeup Stamps. I don't know about you, but I love Katie and her stamps, so please mention me and my blog if you play!

Have a good one!