Best of 2017 Favorites @ Splitcoaststampers!

I'm in 7th Heaven!!!!  I've had nine of my 2017 cards chosen in the Splitcoaststampers' Favorites - Best of 2017 recently, and three of these were chosen twice!   I also had one card chosen in the CAS Favorites - Best of 2017.  Now that was really a surprise, because rarely do I make a clean and simple card!  I'm speechless and so grateful to the wonderful and crafty multitudes at Splitcoaststampers for giving me so many honors.  

As I have had my cardmaking curtailed in mid-December due some severe hand problems, especially the left, and a right knee flair up, I've been kind of down a bit without my hobby to entertain me.  I've also been absentee blog posting as some may have noticed.  With that said, I thought I would post those cards BESTed again for your browsing!  

Favorites - Best of 2017 Cards

Let It All Hang Out Birthday - posted 8/28/17

 Blog link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/08/let-it-all-hang-out-birthday.html

 First Christmas for a Little Husky Named Zhanna! - posted 9/4/17 (chose 2 times)

Blog Link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/09/first-christmas-for-little-husky-named.html

Christmas Card from an Oldie But Goodie! - posted 9/8/17 (chosen 2 times)

Blog Link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/09/christmas-card-from-oldie-but-goodie.html

Improving on the Christmas Oldie But Goodie! - posted 9/12/17 (chosen 2 times)

Blog Link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/09/improving-on-christmas-oldie-but-goodie.html

A Dedicated 12th Woman Seahawks Fan Birthday! - posted 11/5/17.

Blog Link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-dedicated-12th-woman-seahawks-fan.html

My Son's First Father's Day! - posted 6/18/17.  (inspiration from Dar Peterson).

Blog Link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/06/my-sons-first-fathers-day.html 

Anniversary Twosome Sail with the Breeze! - posted 7/31/18

Blog Link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/07/an-anniversary-twosome-sail-with-breeze.html

Birthday Jazz for Youngest Son! - posted 9/15/17

Blog Link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/09/birthday-jazz-for-youngest-son.html

A Peek at Fall! - posted 9/20/17
Blog Link:  https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-peek-at-fall.html

CAS Favorites - Best of 2017 Cards

New Hat for Spooky Kitty! - posted 10/27/17

Blog Link: https://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2015/10/new-kitty-face-card.html

Let It All Hang Out Birthday!

OVER THE MOON!!!

THIS WAS ONE OF TEN

OF MY 2017 CARDS RECEIVING

A 2017 SCS BEST OF FAVORITES!!

GOOD NEWS!  THIS CARD IS NAMED A SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS 

FAVORITE OF THE WEEK ENDING - SEPTEMBER 2, 2017!!

We are celebrating my daughter-in-law's birthday a little late this year, because we were camping when her birthday arrived.  It seemed only fitting to celebrate her and my birthday celebration together since we are only two weeks apart.

I made her a special card with my new Penny Black kitty stamp called an Uplifting Occasion!  I thought I'd add a little humor by doing a play on words in the birthday verse I composed.  I also like the idea of livening up the card with the Starburst Background technique.  Here is a Splitcoaststampers link to their tutorial: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/starburstbackground/

Take a peek below at Ginger's finished card, inside and out.  I think she will be delighted and get a laugh as well!

I thought I would enter my card into several Splitcoasterstamper's challenges:  Free for All: FA392 - choose your own "National Day".  My day will be National "Let It All Hang Out" Day; Dirty Girls' Monthly July Themes:  "Time to Relax."  Mine will me three challenges provided: CT0717 - make your showing how you Relax; WORD0717: make your card using things that fit NAPS - N=Nestablities, A= Aroma, P= Penny Black stamp, and S=Sponging; DINSP0717 - inspiration photo: a hammock.  Now, that was fun!

Ingredients:   Cardstocks:  Recollections--Essentials (Violet), Soft Side (Lt. Orchid)-inside; SU Sweet Sugarplum. Patterns: Recollections: Purple Ditsy Floral; K&Co.-Watercolor Bouquet-Purple; Floral Bouquet; Lang-West Plaza (damask/ sponged); DCWV Collage Art Stack (words/ sponged).  Darice: Foam Sheet.  Stamp: Penny Black-Uplifting Occasion.  Ink: Memento--Tuxedo Black; Copic Marker coloring.  Die: SU-Oval Framelits (lrg scallop).  Punch: EK Scallop corner-inside.  SU: Glimmer Enamel Dots. Bath & Body Works-Magic in the Air/ Diamond Shimmer Mist. Computer-verse. Technique: Starburst Background. Size: 5" x 6-1/4".

Celebrating My Brother on His Birthday!

My brother celebrates his birthday in the early days of May, and with my travels, I was a little behind getting my cards finished and off in the mail so his will be a few days late.  

I decided to use a card that I had already completed in a card class back in January that I brought with me on my travels.  The original card was designed by Luci Kirschbaum and I re-created my card exactly like the original design.  It features one of the new, fun stamp and die sets in the 2016 Stampin' Up Occasions Catalog.  I loved this card's design when I made it and knew I would probably save it for a Mike's birthday.

  

With the inside of the card totally blank, I needed to create an inside that complimented the front design by using paper layering, embellishments and a nice verse suited to my brother's birthday.  Below is my finished inside design to share before I ship it off in the mail:

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Daffodil Delight, Hello Honey, Whisper White, Pool Party.  Ink--Delightful Dijon, Basic Black.  Stamps/Dies--Sunburst Sayings/ Sunburst Thinlits.  Punches--1-1/2" Circle, 1-1/4" Circle.  Rhinestones.  EK Punch--Scallop Corner (inside).  Computer-made verse.  Size:  4-1/4" x 5-1/4".  

My Husband Celebrates His Birthday!

My husband celebrates his birthday today, and I wanted to make a special card that if you knew my husband, and then saw the card, you'd know right away that card was meant for him.   I was excited to see a stamp set in the 2016 Sale-A-Bration flyer this year named, Sky is the Limit.  I couldn't wait to add it to my stamping stockpile, and, of course, I knew just who would get the first card made with it for his birthday!

My husband received his private pilot's license when he was in his twenties and even owned a small plane with his father for several years until job promotions and transfers no longer made it possible for us to keep it.  But, he still loves to pilot his own craft, and he would probably love to buy another plane now that he is retired.

As it turns out the new Stampin' Up 2016 Occasions mini catalog has several products that fit into my aeronautical card theme.  There is a Sunburst die that looks very interesting, and I have had the chance to use it twice at two cardmaking events that I have attended.  I would like to add it to my collection, but I have not done so.  It would have been the perfect die for the card I had in mind for John, but I decided not to let that stand in my way.  Over the last several years, I have made several sunburst ray cards that were handmade, and I thought why not, it should work just as well, if not better than die.

I wanted my ray papers to have a sky theme to go along with the biplane stamp I planned to use, so I used the night sky constellation and the world map papers that are in the Going Places paper stack.  I needed at least two more patterns or types of paper, but I did not see anything else that jumped out at me, so I decided to make my own paper by stamping a Compass Rose onto black cardstock with White Craft Ink.  For my fourth paper, I decided to use an antique gold glitter paper.

As my card evolved, my sun got changed into a sentiment sun by under-layering the sentiment with gold glitter paper, plus layered over some vellum clouds as well.  I heat embossed my biplane in black, fussy-cut it out, and double popped it up to overlap the sentiment sun edge just a bit.  I added a trio of  black and metallic gold gems on the lower right corner to finish off my card front.  I'm pretty pleased with my homemade sunburst ray card, and I think it will please my hubbie as well!

Below shows the inside coordinating design and little birthday verse with a "flying" theme that I made for my husband's card.

Recipe:  SU products:  Cardstock--Basic Black, Naturals Ivory (retired), White Vellum, Going Places dsp stack (2016 Occasions); Ink--Craft White; Stamps--Sky is the Limit (2016 SAB), Going Global  (2016 Occ.); Punches--2" Scallop, 1-3/4" Circle; Embossing Powder--Black.  Other: Darice Glitter Silk-Kings Crown; Recollections Black Pearls; Studio 112 Gold Metallic Gems. 

Easter Bunny Takes Tea!

On  a roll, here is card number two for my Easter Stash.  This cute little Easter vintage image several years ago and stashed her on my computer for future use.  Do you ever find you are surfacing the web and find freebie images and put them away for a rainy day?  Along with Pinterest, this is another of my favorite past times.  I, of course, at this stage have more images than I'll ever use, I'm sure!

I thought this little bunny would be very cute with pastel Easter paper to add color to my card as there weren't many colors depicted in the image itself.  What better way than to do a ray card with multiple design paper patterns.  My next step was to address my little teatime bunny.  I sprayed my little image with adhesive spray and then dipped it into iridescent crystal fine glitter to make an almost frosted look to its surface.  I don't think the photograph really shows that detail much, and I apologize.  I then cut a circle frame using my Spellbinders Eyelet Circle die.  I also decided I wanted to use colored tickets for the sentiment, so I stamped up several different colors of cardstock with Easter sentiments, die-cut them with my Tim Holtz Ticket Strip, inked decorative lines around the edges, and added ink distressing.  Voila. . .three tickets just perfect for my card.   I think someone will be please when they receive this little bunny card!

Again, the final touch to complete the card is to decide on the inside creative design and the verse.  When that is finished, I know the card is totally done.

Recipe: Papers:  Stampin' Up - Pretty in Pink cs (card base), Pear Pizzaz cs.  Ray papers:  Imaginesce-For Peep's Sake: Spring Fling & Hot Chicks; WRMK-Cottontails 6x6 pad; Angel Co.-Country Cottage/ yellow; Authentique-Promise/ Four.  Spellbinders die: Eyelet Circles.  Sizzix/Tim Holtz die: Ticket Strip.  PTI stamps fr tickets.  Recollections: pink pearls.  Elmer's Craft Adhesdive Spray.  JoAnn's Iridescent Fine Glitter.  Stash: Lace, Organdy Glitter ribbon, vintage bunny image.  (Size: 5-1/2" square).  

Belated Wishes Little Niece #1's January Birthday!

Two of my nieces, who are sisters, have birthdays in January.  The oldest is first, and she celebrated her sixth birthday.  I had in mind to make a birthday card with balloons on it.  I don't have any dies to cut out balloons, so I decided to use my Spellbinder Ovals to imitate a balloon and found a good idea on Pinterest of using the owl's feet from the Stampin' Up Owl Builder Punch for the balloons "blow-up valve."  What a great idea. . .it worked perfectly!

I have seen numerous cards that have tied balloons to a bicycle die cut.  I thought it would be a great idea to tie my birthday balloons to the handle bars of the old-fashioned, penny-farthing bicycle from Stampin' Up's 2014 SAB Feeling Sentimental stamp set.  For some reason, finding just the right papers for my card became my next challenge.  After much indecision, I finally settled on October Afternoon's Cakewalk birthday papers for the major portion of the card's designer papers.  

I am pretty happy with the way this little card turned out, but just after I finished creating the card front, I realized the card will be late.  Evidentally, I entered the wrong date for Taylor's birthday in my date book.  This forced me to come up with just the right inside birthday verse acknowledging and sending belated birthday wishes.  I hope Taylor likes her finished card inside and out!  (Hmmm...do you suppose that's where the phrase better late than never came from?)

Recipe:  DCWV 12x12 Cardstock Stack (kraft).  DCWV Glitter Red.  October Afternoon: Cakewalk-Paper Straws (diag. stripe)/ Sugar Stix (ray collage).  BoBunny Double Dot: Buttercup Dot.  Carta Bella: It's A Celebration/ Candles (backside).  Pinecone Press: Sweet Plaid.  Stampin' Up Very Vanilla cs.  SU stamps:  Feeling Sentimental (2014 SAB); Happiest Birthday Wishes.  SU Ink:  Mossy Meadow.  Dies:  Lifestyle Nesting Scallop Squares ;  Spellbinders Ovals (balloons);  SU Stars Framelits.  SU Owl Builder punch: feet.  Stash:  Gold Metallic Twine; Glitter Brads.  Distressing: Colorbox Chestnut Roan.  EK Corner Punch: Medium Scallops.  Size: 5-3/4" square.

Easter Bunny Rays!

I just finished another Easter card using my newly acquired stash of vintage Easter digital images that I have been finding online and sprucing up in PaintShop Pro.  I just love this little "top hat" Easter bunny.  He looks so cheerful as he goes about the business of painting and decorating Easter eggs.  I thought he would make a perfect card for the masculine members of my family, yet he is so whimsical that I think the female members would enjoy him as well.

Finding papers that would go with his colorful clothing meant not using traditional Easter paper that's for sure.  I decided a "coat of many colors" card would be appropriate and that would best be achieved by making a sunburst ray card.  I ended up using some old My Mind's Eye Stella Rose papers I have had around for over three years...their colors were perfect.  I added a few pieces of Stampin' Up papers as well to achieve the mix I was looking for.  Here is the card I ended up with:

Recipe:  Darice Kraft cardstock (base); MME Stella Rose: Gertie, Hazel, Hattie/ So Sophie: Brothers & Sisters; Adornit Vintage Groove: Polka Dot Green (back); Stampin' Up Print Poetry: red flower, green quatrefoil.  Spellbinders die: Big Scallop Ovals SM, Ovals SM.  Vintage online digital image.  Elmer's Adhesive Spray.  Stash: crystal fine glitter.  Stampin' Up Ink: Baja Breez (lightly sponged image background).  HugSnug seam binding: Serbin Brown (olive), Goldenrod (colored w-Copic: YR23).  Stampin' Up button.  Stash:  tan scrapbooking floss.  Faux stitching (fine brown pen).  Inside: EK Scallop Corner punch.

Again this week, I have decided to enter my son's Easter card in The Shabby Tea Room's Week #214 challenge: Easter Sweetness, which requires the use of stripes and/or polka dots.  The inspiration photo and the title of the challenge surely tell you it must be an Easter card:

Be sure to visit The Shabby Tea Room blog to see all the other exciting entries in this challenge.  Click on the link below to be transport to the tea room!

http://theshabbytearoom.blogspot.com/2014/04/week-214-easter-sweetness.html

Welcome Little One...& a Shabby Tea Room Challenge!

One of my daughter's long-time, best friends had her first baby recently...it's a boy!  She was eight days overdue, and they were considering inducing her if she didn't get busy over that week-end on her own.  Guess what, it seemed the baby heard the ultimatum, and a trip to the hospital began at the crack of dawn that Monday morning, and it was apparent this new little person was on his way!  This coincided nicely with a challenge at the Shabby Tea Room #206, so I decided to play along.  Here is the inspiration photo for the challenge.

For information regarding the Shabby Tea Room Challenge #206 and to see my entry, click on the link below: http://theshabbytearoom.blogspot.com/2014/02/week-206-baby-shower-party.html 

I volunteered to make a baby card for my daughter to send welcoming this little guy into the world.  I've so enjoyed making the sunburst rays background card for my niece's birthday last month, and I just had to make one more and with the machine stitching added on this one.  I found a cute little colored digital image online, which I dropped into PaintShop Pro to clean it up and reshade here and there.  I then began looking for blue and green papers to compliment his room colors.  After my search was underway, I remembered that I had bought a DCWV stack full of little boy papers, and guess what...the whole pad was in blues and greens!  I was stoked and ready to begin.  I've just finished and my daughter rejuvenated her long unused poetry talents for the inside verse.  We hope Sarah likes her little guy's welcoming card shown below.

Recipe:  Papers: Recollections-Cape Cod pack-periwinkle/base; Frances Meyer-Baby Boy; DCWV-Baby Boy Stack. Spellbinders Scallop Rectangles LG, Classic Rectangles SM.  Stampin'Up punch: Modern Label. EK punch: Fancy Corners. Stash: 5/8" Baby Blue Satin ribbon, 3/4" White Crochet Lace. Vintage online digital color image.  Computer-made sentiment (Font: Christine).  Machine stitching.

Happy Birthday Little One!

Two great nieces, who are sisters, share January birthdays.  I was starting to think about Paisley's first birthday coming up at the end of the month,when I came across this cute little vintage baby girl image.  It inspired me to do a very girly vintage card in pinks...a color I don't seem to have used a lot in making cards, so I was excited to get started.  

After trying out a sunburst ray background card a few weeks ago and enjoying its effect and how easy it was to do, I was anxious to try it again but with sewing stitches.  I really thought this would be a very cute idea with this little girl image.  So, the hunt was on for papers in pink to fit the image.  I got a little carried away and used six different papers for my rays, plus another for a background mat as well.  I got out my sewing machine and added the machine stitching down the rays and zigzags to finish off the outer perimeter.  I think it really adds to the finished look of the card, and I am please with the results.

For the image framing and the sentiment background, I reinforced the cardstock weight by adhering the pink cardstock to a cream cardstock using an adhesive spray glue.  I used Spellbinders Lattice die to cut out the frame.  After cutting the lattice frame out, I sprayed the front surface with adhesive spray. While it was still "wet," I sprinkled it with fine iridescent white glitter with pink sparkles and tapped off the excess. A friend told me how she used adhesive spray to create the snow falling glitter on her Christmas cards. "The cheapest brand works great," she said.  And, it does work great and is very easy to do!

Below is the finished front and inside of Paisley's little birthday card with papers and embellishments to coordinate.  I hope Paisley likes her little "Can Can Cherub!"

Recipe:  Paper: Darice Kraft-base, BoBunny-Vicki B./ Perky-mat, Scrapbook Walls/ Rosey Bouquet, DCWV: Le Tres Chic Stack, Authentique: Cherish Two, Crate Paper: Farmhouse/ Handpicked, Anna Griffin: AG1467, DCWV: Garden Tea Party Stack, Authentique: Cherish One. Darice Pink cs.  Spellbinder Dies: Lattice; Rectangles SM. Stampin'Up punch: Modern Labels. Offray crochet lace. Stash: Satin-sheer 1" ribbon. Computer-made sentiment: Christine font. Homemade crochet flower.

A Little Ford Coupe for a Birthday!

Now for the other brother-in-law celebrating his birthday on January 5th as well!  Both of them are owners of antique cars, so I thought I would focus on this idea for this second brother, Jeff's birthday this year.  His automobile is a 1933 Ford Coupe, so I went on the hunt for a digital image that I could use my Copic colors on and hope to come as close as possible to the actual color.  It is blue, but I think my little coupe is a slightly different blue than the actual car, but it goes nicely with the papers I chose for the card...LOL!

I have been seeing many cards on Pinterest using the sunburst ray design as the background and I really waned to try it out myself.  I found several U-Tube videos with instructions.  It surprised me greatly as it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  I wished after I finished that I had done a little straight and zigzag stitching to finish off the sides of the rays, but oh well, maybe next time!

Note: There are eight colored flags in auto racing: green (start), yellow (slow...caution), red (stop), black (respond to concern), black/diagonal white stripe (suspended/ no response to black), blue/diagonal yellow stripe (slow autos must yield to faster...not in same lap), white (lead driver in final lap), checkered (winner crosses finish line).  In my card Jeff has been given two colors of flags:

• White on the front: he is lead driver on his final lap, and 
• Checkered inside: he is the winner crossing the finish line.  

I hope Jeff likes his little winning Ford Coupe that he will receive for his birthday!

Recipe:  Papers: Recollections-Dk. Green cs (base); DCWV-The Corrugate Neutrals Stack/ Kraft, The Shimmer Stack/ Dark Green; Heidi Swapp-No Limits/Champion; Graphic 45-A Proper Gentlemean/ Sophisticate, Bird Song/ Enlightment, LeCirque/ Wizards of Wonder, Renaissance Faire/ Romantique; Stampin' Up-Naturals/ Ivory. Spellbinders dies: Ovals, Deckled Ovals. Sizzix die: Tim Holtz Weathered Clock. Copic markers. Computer-made sentiment.

Following is the inside of the card designed using coordinating papers from the card front and a computer-made verse. 

Inside recipe: Papers: Recollections-Dk. Green cs (base); Graphic 45-A Proper Gentleman/ Sophisticate, Domestic Goddess/ Farmer's Market (checks); Stampin' Up-Naturals/ Ivory. EK Scallop Corner punch.