Do You Like a Challenge? How About a Prize?

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted here in over a week! I was on a roll, but then got a bit busy and time flew by!

I'm not posting a card or project right now, I want to tell you about something else. I want to give you a little information first, but then I'll be telling you about a challenge with a PRIZE!

I am a member of a great little scrapbooking (and stamping, and cardmaking and other paper crafts) message board. I've been chatting with some of these ladies for years now. It's a much smaller board than most of the "well known" ones out there, but that's exactly why I like it. I have to say, that the big boards intimidate me. And while I like to browse them for inspiration, I never have felt comfortable chatting in the forums.

And I know there are others like me out there who would love a board to get some inspiration and to talk about scrapbooking, stamping and other things, but aren't crazy about the bigger boards. If you are one of those like me, then Paper Petal Memories may be right up your alley!

I have truly made friends on this board and have even had the opportunity to meet 4 of them in person! And yet another, I talk to on the phone every chance I get. These ladies are great. If you're looking for some fellow scrapbookers to chat with, then come check out the board! However, we talk about much more than scrapbooking!

Now for the challenge.....

Things have been a little slower on the board lately so we are trying to come up with some challenges to get the scrapping flowing again! Our wonderful site hostess, Kelly has put out a great challenge that includes a prize. I love this challenge, and am just a little partial to it since a while back when we did this before, I actually won! Go me! LOL!

Here is the challenge:

This challenge is for designer/patterned paper challenge, although you can create your own OSW (one sheet wonder). PLEASE READ ALL OF THE DIRECTIONS. I wouldn't want anyone to be disqualified from being a finalist for not following the guidelines.

You must use only one sheet of designer paper - you must use it all to create anywhere from 4-12 projects. At least 2 items must be non-card projects and at least 2 items must be cards (any size). Think you are up for it, I do!

You must use the following in your projects:
Stamp sets - any
Designer paper - 1 sheet - use it all
Cardstock - any
Ink - any
Embellishments - any

Important uploading guidelines: You must photograph the group together. These group photos will be the ones that are judged. You must list your items used, especially your patterned paper. Please forward your entry to me via email at paperpetalmemories(at)gmail(dot)com. This is going to be exciting to see what all of you can create with one sheet of paper!.

Judging:

You will have until Monday, June 24th at 8:00 PM CST to email your entry. I am giving you a month to put your minds to work for some fabulous creations! At around 12:00AM CST, I will post a new thread with a poll of all the finalists. You will vote on the grand prize winner! I will leave the polls open for 3 days.

Are you ready to know what the prize will be?? Are you?? Well, since the site has been dragging a bit recently, I decided to toss a good prize out there to see if that would get your creative juices flowing. I am going to send out a $25 gift card to either Hobby Lobby or Michael's your choice!

So does this sound like a fun challenge? Anyone can play along...so feel free to pass this information on or share on your blog. Who couldn't use an extra $25 to spend on this wonderful habit hobby we have?

Be sure to check out our other challenges as well. We have a layout sketch challenge and a card challenge (almost) every week. Be sure to check out the gallery as well!

Mother's Day Cards

My neighbor ordered two Mother's Day cards from me. She didn't give me any specifications, just as long as they were Mother's Day-ish!

So I made four cards and let her pick which two she wanted. I saved the other two for my Mom and MIL.

These are the two my neighbor chose:



After making the pink one, I liked the way it turned out, so I decided to recreate it in the blue. I was happy with the way they came out.
My neighbor liked them, and more importantly, so did the Mom's who received them!

A Couple of Layouts

I still have more auction things to post, but I thought I'd break away and post a couple of recent layouts.

Both of these were inspired by sketches at PageMaps.com. I love the sketches there!

This was the first sketch I used (this one is from May sketches):


And here is my layout - "Sweet & Sour"

Sorry about the shadow - I guess I was between the light and the layout!

Here's a close up of the journaling:


Here is the second sketch (From February sketches)


I flipped the sketch for my layout. I also added a pull-out tag behind the picture for the journaling.

The plain cardstock behind the title looks almost white, but it is actually grey.
I didn't take a pic of the journaling. But it basically explains the title. I call my hubby, "My Love". When I was trying to come up with a title for this page, it was he who suggested, "My {little} Love" since CJ is a "mini-Chip". And he is my little love, so it's perfect. Though, he's not so little anymore - he's only 1/2 inch shorter than me!!! This picture was actually taken in December 2005.

For this one, I used some chipboard letters from Cloud 9. I inked the tops with black. They were originally a beige color. I only inked the tops though, I left the edges the natural color. You can't really tell in the pic, but it makes them have even more of a dimensional look. For the brackets, I actually used a chipboard piece as the stencil, traced it and colored it in. I stamped the word 'little' on red cardstock. I can't remember the name of the stamp set, but each letter is a different font. The 'e' is a negative image, but is a little hard to see in the photo. You can click it to make it larger if you want to see it better. The heart if by Heidi Swapp, I believe. And the little circle with the date on it is a chipboard circle. I covered it with the red cardstock and punched a hole with my Crop-a-dile.

More Auction Pieces

I will eventually get through all these...I promise! Not too many more to go. (Hey...at least it's giving me something to post!)

There was a camping themed basket. Not a very easy one to come up with a paper crafting idea for. I was browsing Split Coast Stampers and got inspired.

First, I came across this. It is Jiffy Pop popcorn. I thought that would be cute. Then I saw somewhere on there something about S'mores Trail Mix. So I googled it to see what was in it. I found out it was Honey Graham's cereal, chocolate chips and marshmallows. But I thought I remembered someone using Teddy Graham's instead of the cereal, so that's what I did.

So this is what I came up with:


Just like the school paper in my last post, I've had this paper forever too. Probably from the same pack! I just covered the popcorn with it and made a tag using a scallop punch.

The trail mix is in an old peanut butter jar I had been saving. (I have lots of jars saved and stashed everywhere!) It was big enough that it held enough of the trail mix for a whole family to share.

I just used some of the paper to make a band and finished it off with a scalloped label. I decided the red lid worked just fine, so I just wrapped a green ribbon around it.
For a little more fun on the top, I did this:


And as a side note - that trail mix? Oh my word, is it so yummy! But I'll NEVER tell how much of it I ate!

Oh, and I used the mini chocolate chips instead of the regular ones. I think they were perfect.


Also, there was a "kitty" basket. And by kitty, I mean there was to be a real live kitten in that basket to be auctioned! I thought the kitty would need some treats, so I made this:

That's a Starbucks Frappuccino bottle. I made the label on my computer and attached it to the black card stock band. A paw print on the top and some cute paw print ribbon. Pretty cute, I think!

Oh - and if you live close to me and happen to be reading this....AND you happen to drink Frappuccino's - could you do me a huge favor and save me your bottles? I'll even come get them from you! And you don't even have to wash them out. Just toss them (gently) in a box or bag and I'll wash them myself! Thanks to anyone who's willing to help!
I have lots of projects I need these for, and if I drink that many of them, I'll never get the weight off that I'm trying to!

Back to School

I did this for the 'School Supply' basket, again, for the silent auction.

I have had this paper forever - it's from an old Slab stack of paper from Michael's, I think. Anyway, it was perfect for this project.

I used Mod Podge to adhere it to the clipboard. I used my Fiskars shape cutter to make the lettering in red. I adhered it to a piece of yellow, and then just cut around it. I then used the Mod Podge to adhere it and the red strip in the middle to the clipboard. I used red line tape to adhere the ribbon in the middle.

Then I attached some cork board and a stack of post it notes. I picked up the push pins at the Dollar Tree. They had a different color design on them. I removed it and added red cardstock. Then I coated it with Aleene's Paper Glaze to make the resemble the original glassy look they had.

I used the same paper to cover the notebook and to make the beaded pen. I attached the pen with some red ribbon and then tied a couple of red and yellow ribbons to the top of the clipboard.
And you can't really see it, but if you look super close, you might notice a binder clip in the top right corner, that is covered with the same paper as well.

Garden Inspired

This was another contribution to the silent auction baskets. There was a garden themed basket. I couldn't come up with much, but this is what I did.

I picked up this little notebook at the Dollar Tree. I took it apart and covered it then reassembled it.


Then I made a set of 3x3 note cards. Very simple, but I think they came out pretty cute.


I picked up a set of garden gloves (that happened to match the pinkish cards perfectly) at the Dollar Tree as well, I placed them in a small flower pot with a ribbon tied around it. I tied the cards with some ribbon and placed them in the center of the gloves. I didn't think to get a picture of it all ready to go. Too bad, because I think it looked quite cute all packaged together!

Inspirational Set

Our Homeschool group purchased a house a few years ago for holding co-op classes. They are now busting at the seams and raising funds to build a new facility. This weekend, they are holding a dinner theater and a silent auction.

For the auction, they have quite a few themed baskets. I decided to contribute by making some things for a few of the baskets.

I made this set for the Inspirational basket. I wanted to incorporate a verse and image on all the pieces. I chose the verse Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I found the image in MSWord and typed the verse right over the top of it.

First is a set of 5 note cards:


And a candle:


I picked up this little wood frame at Michaels. I painted the edges and back the same color as the main color in the paper. Then mod podged the paper on. Then I printed the image/verse on cardstock and slipped it in.


A quick and easy bookmark:


And a set of coasters:


And here is almost everything together. I forgot to put the coasters in before I took the picture.

Thank You Set

I made this set of cards for my shop. I really love the color combo, it is one of my favorites. (I think I love pink and brown even more though.)

The main image stamps in the first two are Rhona Farrer stamps. For the third card, I used a chipboard piece from TLC as a template. I traced the image and colored it in. The sentiments are all from the $1 Studio G stamp sets. The ribbon is from Michaels.

Personally, the middle card is my favorite of the three.

Monogrammed Note Cards

I made sets of monogrammed note cards for Christmas gifts for family and friends.

One of my friends used hers and needed some more, so she ordered a set of 12. I decided to use the same layout, but this time, I used summery colors. I didn't have enough of the paper to make all 12 the same, so I made 4 each of 3 designs.





The stamps are from Oriental Trading.

Simple, but fun. And she loved them, which is really what matters!

Welcome Baby Cards

Today I have two more cards that sold out of my Etsy shop. I definitely need to get busy making more baby/pregnancy cards!

I love how this one turned out - so pink, girly and sweet.
I Cuttlebugged the background, then matted it. The sentiment is a Studio G stamp, and I split the words up to make it fit the way I wanted. The bow is a pre-made one I had in my stash, and I just attached it to the ribbon.



I'm also pleased with the way this one came out. I used green for a gender-neutral card. "Welcome" is from the same stamp I used in the first card. I made the little bow, and was pretty happy with the way it came out.

I Really Am Back!

It's been WAY too long since I've posted regularly here. But I really am back. I'm back into the groove of making things. I've been quite busy and have lots of things to share, and I plan to stay busy making lots more!

A big reason I've been busy is I've finally gotten up the nerve to open an Etsy shop. I really hope I can do well with it. I need to get even busier making more things to put in there, as the pickings are quite slim at the moment. I've been busy with so many other things too, including catering a wedding reception last weekend. Now that that's behind me, I can focus on my business.

I've even gotten a couple of orders from friends, so I'm hoping word of mouth is going to work well for me!

Anyway, the cards I'm sharing are two that sold from my Etsy shop. I'll be back with much more in the coming days!!

I really love these two cards, and apparently I need to make some more like them since they were snatched up pretty quickly!

The stamp is one from the $1 bin at Michael's. I had been trying to get my hands on one for a very long time, but my store never had any. I wanted one so badly, I couldn't stand it. Then one day I just happened to check EBay at the right time and there was one on there about to expire. I got it just in time! Made my day that day!

In the first card, I paper pieced her dress, hat, purse and shoes. (Cutting out the tiny bit for the shoes was not the easiest thing in the world - my fingers are much too big for such tiny work!) The dress is the same patterned paper that is on the card, and the hat, shoes and purse use the same pink cardstock that the image is matted in.
The congratulations stamp is by Stampendous.



On this card, I colored in the image with colored pencils. The congrats stamp on this one is also from the $1 bin. The ribbon that is tied to the polka dot ribbon appears green in the photo, but it is actually brown.

That's all for now - I'll be back tomorrow with two more cards.

Have a fantastic week!