so i know i’ve been posting a lot of NON-crafty stuff recently so i just wanted to pop in and share a card i slapped together the other day.  again, apologies for the picture.  still haven’t figured out a good setup, especially at 10:30pm.  so you’re stuck with the built-in camera on my laptop.

i used a super fun card kit… don’t remember from who or from what swap but since i’ve managed to build up quite a collection of these suckers i just randomly grabbed one and forced myself to make something.  i am really not a card maker, and am soooo out of practice as a scrapper too, so i’m happy with how it turned out.   trying to get some posts lined up for the weekend since we’ll be gone… but i’ll definitely be back on monday!!  taking my laptop with me and though i don’t expect to have internet, i’m hoping i can get some pictures uploaded and edited so that when i do have a moment of internet access, i can post them!!

lovies, =o) kel

i had fun playing with Rileys in this sketch card swap hosted by my friend Melanie on SCS… but the only real problem i had (and still have!) is that my coloring is HORRIBLE.  aside from small investments in crayola color  & watercolor pencils, i have NOTHING.  i know a lot of people use Bic permanent markers to color and i did that for a while but stopped for 2 reasons:

1) to everyone else in this house, they’re just colorful permanent pens and people tend to walk away with them, and

2) i was never happy with the colors i *had* to use because i didn’t have any other options.

so i made the decision that i will be investing in copics within the next month or less… it all depends on when i take the plunge!  and i’m leaning towards the ciao for starters because they’re cheaper… and also because i read somewhere that you can change the tips and i figure that even though there are less colors in the ciao line, you can just pick up whatever individual colors you need as you go.  there’s just so many to choose from i don’t know where to start!!  i definitely want some skin/hair/people tones but other than that i’m drawing a blank!!  i will probably go with a set (72a or b) and see how that works for now.

and without further ado, here are my cards.  SOOOOOO not happy with the coloring.  and again, we had to use a sketch, SC144 to see how i interpreted it.  this is actually the LAST card swap and one of the last swaps i’ll be participating in for a while.  of course there are always exceptions but i’ll make them as i need to.  and you know i’ll need to.  ha!!

sorry the scans cut off at the bottoms… and also, the teal has some monochromatic mod block patterns on it that got messed up with the scan.  one day i’ll take proper pictures and replace these scans.  but not tonight!!

have a great week!  i’m looking forward to being PRODUCTIVE and reclaiming a schedule.  what are you up to??

lovies, =o) kel

something new i’m hoping to start up…  every friday check back for something new and free!  either something i made or something i found and loved and wanted to share with all of you!

to kick-start this week, i just wanted to also share something simple i made up for his teacher’s christmas gifts… it was super simple to make and the teachers all LOVED it.  each teacher/staff member got a set of 5 cards (except for his own teacher, who got 10) + envelopes.  and like i said, it was so simple to do.

download the .pdf file here {Scraps_teacher_thankyou.pdf} and print it out on some nice 8 1/2″ x 11″  cardstock.  I printed them on white which was nice but i think i’m gonna play with colors the next time i print them out… maybe a cream or tan that’s not quite as dark as the square.  cut it in half lengthwise to get (2) 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ pieces.  then fold those in half to get your  4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ cards.  if the .pdf doesn’t work for you  then shoot me an email (or lemme know in the comments) and i can try to send it to you in a different format.

Happy New Year!!!  i’m working on my list of goals for the year… as well-intentioned as i am, i’m the WORST with follow-through (if you can’t already tell by my blog!) so i tend to keep my list of resolutions/goals simple so i don’t feel so… well… guilty at the end of the year (of couple months, depends on when i give up!! lol)

lovies, =o) kel

like the title says, i’m busy playing catch up with my monthly card swaps. maybe i AM in a little over my head!! haha. these are all for molly’s 6.42 (or is it 6.44 now??) swap… april’s theme was “anything goes – show us your style”, may’s was weddings/flowers, june – patriotic. i don’t actually have patriotic stamps so i hope some 4th of july stuff is a good enough substitute!!

my may cards… i chose to go with wedding because i have a few of them coming up and one i am planning =o) and it can’t be mine because i’ll be celebrating my 7th anniversary on the 23rd!!

my june cards. again, no “patriotic” stuff, so hopefully 4th of july stuff is an acceptable substitute!

my april card. (i sent the other group’s april card out IN april. go figure! lol) i used the current card sketch (SC232) to make it… kinda shifted the main image grouping over to the middle and used some tulle in place of the middle horizontal strip… i tried to scrunch the tulle to look like a bow because laying it flat just didn’t work for me.

I will be most likely MIA this weekend… will be overnighting at a hotel because the in-law’s house is being tented and they needed a place to stay… what better excuse to need to spend the weekend on the beach in a hotel??

lovies, =o) kel

i dunno… what would you call 515am???  haha.

anywhoo, i’ve been a busy bee… working on catching up on monthly card swaps!!  i’ve got 4 down, i think something like 8 more to go!!  haha.  

well, i’m not so much in the chatty mood right now, seeing that its waaaaaay past my bedtime and i need to be up in a few hours.  so here goes the cards.  enjoy!!

totally misplaced this kit from MARCH thinking that i’d sent it out, and then not being able to recall what i did with the kit, went searching and lo and behold, found it at the bottom of one of the many piles in my craft room!!

i don’t do girly stuff!!  haha well, i always say that but i find myself doing a little bit more as i do more card swaps.  and i’m enjoying it!!

love these stampavie stamps.  i used some poor paper to stamp the image on though, so the colored pencils didn’t color as smoothly as i had hoped.

i love changitos!!  haha.  have i said that already?? =oP  but the ribbon that came with the kit was just too cute!!

LOVE these stamps… i assume they’re from The Greeting Farm… their entire stamp collection SOOOO reminds me of Harvest Moon and super kawaii anime characters.  and that’s totally the appeal for me!!!

off to bed, gotta squeeze in as much sleep as i can!! 

lovies, =o) kel

i know it’s long overdue and i apologize… but i found my mojo again  these are all cards for monthly card kit swaps.  

the rules for the swap: there’s a hostess designated for each month for 6 months. when you’re the hostess, you mail a package to each person in your group at the beginning of the month. the package contains enough images and PP for each person in the group to make 6 cards… one for each group member and one for themselves to keep.  this is my catch-up for a handful of them.

apologies for the white face/arms… i finally caved and bought colored pencils with a peach color so i can do people!!

the kit i sent out for june… highly dislike monkeys but i love changitos!!!

this butterfly collage is something i would NEVER buy on my own but i actually enjoyed working with it!

working with this cupcake stamp made me realize that i have a TON of themed boy stamps (pirate, animals, stuff my kids like) and holiday (christmas and halloween, my 2 favorite times of the year!) but not a lot of general theme stuff like birthday and baby and stuff that i actually have a need for.

this was a digi-stamp from melissa…  i hadn’t really heard of them before this but it’s worth looking into!  and the crystals in the centers of the flowers are actually pink (like the CS)

sorry for the weird scan, the knot in the ribbon threw it off.  another kit i sent out, the PP i sent was the blue paisley, not the black/silver glittered stripes… i let Amare pick the stamp because it was his birthday month

and that about does it for me for now… still working on a ton of stuff so i will remember to post pictures when i get a chance to!!

lovies, =o) kel

posting a bit late but here’s my card for the Crafty Critter Challenge #4 hosted by Kelly…  a tad bit late but i couldn’t get the card to upload!!!  i promise i tried multiple times but it didn’t work until now!!

“My challenge for you is to create a card using flowers… you can stamp them… use primas… draw them… flower brads … cut the card out as a flower … whatever you want to do … the possibilities are endless … I just want to see some flowers … ”

stamps by Autumn Leaves, mustard ink by Stazon, PP from KI Memories

my card for the crafty critters challenge #1.  sorry it scanned weird but it’s a full card… it looks square-ish but i promise it’s not!

“create a card of any size that is “critter” related. That is right, use stamps, stickers, embelishments, anything that has a critter or critters on it. the second part of the challenge is to use the colors green and yellow. we are getting in the mood for spring!!!!!”

i hope dogs qualify as critters!!!!!  this also doubles as one set of cards for a pet lovers card swap i’m signed up for too.

lovies, =o) kel

… on my blogging.  a week late in fact.  but i have cards to share!!  hopefully that will help!!  but i WILL be back in the next couple-a days to share more.  including a card for our very first craft critters blog card challenge.  apparently there is a specific memory card i need for my good digital camera… i knew i needed a SD card but didn’t realize that there were HIGH CAPACITY cards and regular cards… my camera isn’t compatible with HIGH CAPACITY cards and guess which one i got?!? =o)

these cards were for two swaps to the same hostess… Scrappy’s I LOVE swap (2x-full, 2x-3×3) and Hip-Hop Easter swap.  I also did an ABAC (anything but a card) for her easter swap (my first ABAC!) but couldn’t take a picture for the above stated reason.  i’m pretty sure you can tell which one is the easter card.  the fun thing about these cards are that they’re all from card kits!!  the quarterback ian, easter, butterfly and changito cards are from a round robin swap hosted by traceyc0301, and the baby one is from… a year of card kits i think?  either way, i didn’t have to do a lot of searching for supplies, most of it was already coordinated for me  and apologies for the white faces… i use what i like to call the “ghetto-copic” pens, aka sharpies.  and unfortunately, sharpie don’t make no flesh colors.

lovies, =o) kel

I am in a weight loss group on SCS and we have challenges almost weekly. This week’s challenge was “Discontinued and retired” – use old stuff to make a card.  I kinda cheated (I think… I am new to challenges!!) by using the exact layour, paper and embellies… in essence, using the exact same card as I did for a swap I was in.  I had extra stuff (and it was all still spread out on the floor like usual!) so I just threw another one together.  I hope that’s okay, and if not I really am sorry and let me know the “rules” so I can do it right next time!!!

=o) kel