Sew Saturday

It's been sew long since I had a Sew Saturday post.   In late May I cleaned up my sewing room, putting everything away, and didn't sew for 3 weeks!  <gasp>   It was sort-of nice to have a clean sewing table and fabric folded on shelves and in drawers, but it is so much nicer to be in the room playing again.

At the end of May I showed you my finished Modern Metallic quilt.  Here is one of the stars left over from that quilt.  I've decided to add about 4" to it and use it for the Astronomical star block challenge.  http://www.quilts.com/pressreleases/y2013/FQF13QuiltChallengeFlyer.pdf

Even though I haven't been spending time in the sewing room, I have been hand sewing the binding on my baseball quilt.  Washington doesn't always know it is summer.  I tried to take a picture of myself working on the quilt, but all you can see is me in my coat.  Here I am wearing a long sleeve shirt, a lightweight hoodie and my coat with the jean/flannel quilt on my lap on top of a fleece blanket.  Yep, I was cooooold.  Tomorrow is the last day of baseball season and I am hoping to get the last 8 inches sewn down.

A few days ago I decided that my sewing room had stayed clean long enough, so I pulled out the Michael Miller fabric for the challenge our South Sound Modern Quilt Guild is participating in.  NEVER would I have picked out these fabrics myself, so it is kind-of fun to play with them. My hope is that this will be my finish for July.

What have you been sewing lately?  Does sewing/quilting take a back seat for you in the summer or do you play with your sewing all year long?

May 2014 Thank You Cards

...Finally!  I usually try to post my thank you notes in the first two weeks of the month, but that wasn't happening this month. ;)  Too many graduations for that.  I do have thank you cards made, and that is the first step.  Hopefully I will get them all filled out and sent before this month is over.

Whenever a new catalog comes out I try to use the new InColors for my thank you card so you can get a first hand look at them.  I just love the shades of color you get from these deep new colors.

Note-  If you are reading this post in an email or viewer, you may need to go to my blog to view the video above.  :)  Click on the post title to go there now.

If you placed an order with me in the month of May, one of these cards should be in your mailbox soon.  (along with a small sampling of all the new colors)  I may send them out to my June customers as well, if life does not settle down here soon.  ;)

Thank you for supporting my business.  I truly do appreciate each and every one of you.

2014-2016 In Colors

Work of Art

Kinda Eclectic

This morning I had about 30 minutes between dropping my son off for cross country practice and leaving again to go pick him up.  I decided to pull out one of my brand new stamp sets and play.  :)

It's not my typical style of cards, but I love the way it turned out.  Sometimes it is fun to just be a kid and play.  :)   Did you notice this card only used one stamp set?  It truly is an eclectic mix.

eta: I'm adding this to a new to me challenge, AAA Cards, that I found thanks to my friend, Kristie.

#8 Inspire

Supplies:
Stamps: Kinda Ecclectic (SU)
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Tangelo Twist, Wild Wasabi.
Accessories: Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Butterfly Punches (SU)

Small Butterfly Punch

Kinda Eclectic

Elegant Butterfly Punch

Blendabilities and Sneak Peeks

Yesterday I took a few minutes to open up the new Blendabilities I got from Stampin' UP!   These are alcohol markers, similar to Copic, made in SU colors.  I've been very excited to try them.   For now they are only available in a limited amount of colors to demonstrators only.  (perks of the job)  SU just posted an expected release date of July  1st for the first 7 sets of colors!

Coming July 1, 2014

I'll be filming a video soon to give you the scoop, but wanted to play a bit first.  ;)  You can probably see that I used some retired sets.  That is because at the time I played with them my order from the new catalog had not arrived.  It is now in the house and I can hardly wait to get my new stamps inky.

The new challenge went up today at StampNation. It's a sketch challenge, and a very good one at that.  I'm going to be using this sketch on a few cards next month.  It's a great one for large focal points or sentiments.  I decided to give my new Blackberry Bliss color and Work of Art stamp set some love.  Aren't the gradient colors of Blackberry Bliss yummy?

Here's a peek at what the rest of the design team came up with.  What will you do with the new sketch?

Before I go I wanted to let you know what the weekly deals are for this week.  I'm seriously debating on finally getting the envelope liners.  If you've tried them, let me know what you think.

Blackberry Bliss

Work of Art

Artisan Label Punch

Tangelo Twist

Yesterday one of the members of StampNation was asking about the difference between Stampin' UP!'s current orange colors (Tangerine Tango and Pumpkin Pie) and their new In Color (Tangelo Twist).  It's a good question, so I decided to run down to my stamp room and do a comparison.

It was interesting to see how "off" the colors were compared to the lids of the ink pads.  First I stamped the color, then I stamped off below so I could see the range of color.  I then decided to add a punch of coordinating cardstock to each color.  Which one is your favorite orange of the bunch?

Tangerine Tango

Tangelo Twist

Pumpkin Pie

You Rock!

Boy, does it feel good to be back in the stamp room again.  :)  This week the challenge at StampNation is being sponsored by Altenew.  They are a new stamp company that has bold, graphic, yet classy designs.  It's been fun to work with their stamps.  I was so inspired I decided to make a second card for my blog so I could share it with you.

I also turned my "practice" piece into a card as well.  These will be great for my boys. They can give them as graduation cards, birthday cards or even thank yous.

I was inspired by the current CAS*ology challenge for this one.  I knew going in that I wanted this card to be clean yet also graphic.  The current challenge is Celebrate.  Perfect timing for all the graduations we have been going to.  Congrats to CASOLOGY for their 100th challenge.   Thank you for helping me to create CAS cards.  Your challenges and awesome designers have taught me so much.

CAS*ology100

Of course, I made another card exclusively for the design team at StampNation.  Here is a sneak peek of my card, but you will want to head on over to the forums to see all the different ways the rest of the design team used their stamps from Altenew.

Did I mention there are prizes this week too?  Altenew is giving away 2 stamp sets to a lucky member that participates in this week's challenge.  You don't have to use Altenew stamps to enter the challenge, but if you have some we would love to see you use them.  :)  See you in the forums.


You Rock! Card Supplies:
Stamps: Sohcahtoa (Altenew)
SU Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow
Misc: Black/Gray Baker's Twine, Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Friend Card Supplies:
Stamps: Super Script (Altenew)
SU Ink: Coastal Cabana, Lost Lagoon, Pool Party, Soft Sky
Misc: Aquapainter, Versamarker, White Embossing Powder, Gold Embossing Powder, Itty Bitty Punch Pack (SU), Crystal Effects

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing dad's out there and those who fill the role of father in someone else's life.   A very special happy Father's Day to my husband.  He is a fabulous father to our two children and my biggest support.

Our family
Michael, Me, Tyler and Scott

And, to my Dad who fought cancer last year and won.  I'm so grateful he was able to make the trip up here to see his grandsons graduate last week.

My Dad and Mom at Tyler's graduation

 Scott, Michael, Monica(my FIL's wife) and my husband's dad in orange

Stampin' Celebration Sketch

Are you ready for the mid-month challenge at Stampin' Celebration?  This time it is a sketch challenge.

SC81

Here is what I came up with.  It didn't come out quite the way I had planned in my head.  I think that is what happens to me when I spend more than a week away from my stamp room.  ;)

Be sure to head over to the Stampin' Celebration blog to see what the rest of the design team came up.  There are some fabulous cards and layouts.  Then give the sketch a try and create something yourself.  I can't wait to see what you come up with!

P.S.  I just noticed that I didn't use any stamps on this card.  That doesn't happen very often to me anymore.

Natural Talent

There are some creative things that just come natural to me and there are others that simply do not.  Over the years I have found out that even "I" can learn if I have a good teacher.   Maureen Merritt is one of those teachers for me.

Her "Clean and Simple" (CAS) style must come naturally, but she has honed it into a fine art that she shares with all of us at StampNation.  She has been doing written and pictorial tutorials for a couple of years now, but last month she added videos to her classroom!  I'm so excited, because watching videos and then trying out the ideas myself is one of the best ways to learn.

Check out her video above to see part of her first ever video and then check in to StampNation on Friday when she will have her second video up.  I'm so proud of you, Maureen!  Thank you for teaching this girl who loves to layer  how to make CAS beautiful.

Color Wash

My baby just graduated from 8th grade this morning.  I have another graduation card for you today.  Is anyone surprised?  :)  The challenge this week at StampNation is to make a card using the color washing technique that Catherine showed us in a recent video.

Here's the sneak peek of my card. If you change the sentiment and remove the graduation cap you could easily make this a Father's Day card.   Below is a sneak peek of what the rest of the team made.  Be sure to check out the challenge forum to see the full cards and enter your own card into this unique challenge.

Not yet a member?  Clicky to find out more and join now.

Graduation Card

Need a super quick card?  Try adding stickers to a background paper.  It feels a little bit like cheating, but the grads will love all the dimension.  Plus, you can customize it to the school colors.  :)

MIA

Sorry I have been a bit MIA this week.  We are in crunch week.  The boys are almost done with school and that means there is lots going on.  Both boys are graduating. One from high school, the other from middle school.  We've had honors awards night for both boys, baseball games, field trips, and trying to get our house/yard ready for a big party after the graduation this weekend.  I've been a bit busy, and stressed.

I will be back to my regular posting in another week or so.  In the meantime here is a sneak peek of my card for this week's StampNation challenge.

Here is a sneak peek of what the entire design team came up with.  Can you guess what the theme is?  Be sure to head on over to the challenge forum to find out what it is and enter your card.

Thank you for being patient with me while I put my family first for a couple of weeks.  Your SU catalogs should be arriving soon, if you don't have them already.  Please feel free to email me if you need anything.  cr8tvblessings@hotmail.com  

Beach Stampin' Celebration

June is here!  We've been working all year to get to graduation month.  That is what it is called in our house this year.  There is something going on every night this week leading up to Tyler's graduation on Sunday and Michael's the following Wednesday.  It's going to be a busy two weeks!

For the rest of the Stampin' UP! world June 1st means the new annual catalog is LIVE and you can order!!!!   New InColors, new ribbons, new stamps and so much more.   Clicky to go to my store and find your new favorite thing.

PDF

June 1st also means it is time for a new challenge at Stampin' Celebration.  This week we are taking you on vacation.  :)  Boy, could I use a few hours on the beach.  Use the inspiration photo below to make a tag, card, or scrapbook layout.

SC80

Then, be sure to enter it in the challenge at Stampin' Celebration for your chance to win bragging rights.  ;)   Here is what I created using this bright colorful inspiration photo.

It was so easy to make.   First, I stamped the sentiment onto pattern paper, then I die cut them out with the On Film Framelits using my Big Shot.  You can see right where your framelits will cut, making it easy to fit your sentiment inside.

To add just a touch of dimension I chose a few of the arrows and popped them up on dimensionals.  It's hard to see in the picture, but it made a huge difference in person.   Be sure to head over to Stampin' Celebration and see what the rest of the design team has come up with to inspire you.

Stamping Supplies
Stamps: Hip Notes (SU), A Dozen Thoughts  (SU)

Paper: Tempting Turquoise (SU), Hello Sunshine (Lawn Fawn)
Misc: On Film Framelits