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

A Dedicated 12th Woman Seahawks Fan Birthday!

OVER THE MOON!!!

THIS WAS ONE OF TEN

OF MY 2017 CARDS RECEIVING

A 2017 SCS BEST OF FAVORITES!!

I was checking on challenges opening at Splitcoasterstampers and found three that motivated me to get started on a card I will be needing in the month of November.  See more about these challenges in "The Story" below the finished card presentation. 

My oldest son's long-time girl friend has a birthday in November, and she is an avid Seahawks fan...a real 12th Man/ 12th Woman!  An explanation of what this means is in "The Story" below the finished card presentation.  As you can see, the perfect card for Katrina's birthday has to be a card with a Seahawks theme, using layers of Seahawks colors: navy, gray (silver), and lime green.  It should also have lots of icons that depict football and Seattle as well!  Take a peek below...I think Katrina will love her card!

I finally finished this card's inside decor just in time for delivery to the birthday person!  I created the inside to coordinate with card front, and its verse with a Seahawks fan theme!  Take a look below:

Ingredients:  Papers:  Stampin' Up--Night of Navy cs; The Paper Company--Textured Linen cs (Cool Mint pack); Scrapbook Customs--Poster Diagonal Mascot/ Grungy Dots.  Darice Glitter paper--Silver, Lime (color Copic modified).  Dies:  Savvy Dies--Space Needle (Lg); MemoryBox--Cityscape Nightline; QuickKutz--Washington.  The Paper Company: Stickabilities--Football.  Pretty Pink Posh: Sequins.  

THE STORY

The first Splitcoaststampers' challenge I spotted was the new Inspiration Challenge, which features a company called Frontgate.  Browsing around their website, I came upon a sports game, called Galaxy Football Toss Game.  The game is very colorful and reminds me, to some degree, of the Seattle Seahawks colors and that inspired me to get started on a card I knew I needed in November.  But, this wasn't the only challenge that inspired me to get start on this same card.  Another is the Traveling Teapot challenge, where we are to create a card depicting apples or a city, i.e., The Big Apple...mine, of course, will be Seattle, Washington, home of the Space Needle and the Seattle Seahawks.  After deciding that my card would be a Seattle sports card, I saw the Free for All challenge: "Did You Say the Kitchen Sink," which requires "lots of stuff or layers or both."  Now, for me this wouldn't be difficult as it's right up my alley for the type of cards I love to make!

For those of you who are not football fans or who do not know about the Seattle Seahawks, their fans are called the 12th Man.  Why are they called this, you might ask?  As there are 11 players for each team on the playing field for each play, the Seattle fans represent the Seahawks' 12th Man, though they are not actually on the field but rather in the seats.  We are such dedicated and savvy fans, we know when to make noise and when not to, which helps our Seahawks team and often unsettles their opponents when playing in our home field, Century Link, thus giving our Seahawks great home field advantage.  The Seahawks organization retired the number 12 jersey in honor of their fans in 1984, and  authentic jerseys are made and sold in the team store specifically for the Seahawks' fan base.  In 2016, Seahawk's fans took on the nickname, "The 12's, to denote fans specific to the Seahawks and no other organization.  A flagpole was also installed at the south end of Century Link, and the 12's Flag is raised by a celebrity in honor of the fans before each and every home game.  We LOVE being 12's!

Celebrate a Friend With Her Bowling Ball!!

Happy Days!  This card was chosen as a

SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS FAVORITE OF

 WEEK ENDING - NOVEMBER 20, 2016

I have a friend whose birthday I will soon be celebrating by taking her to lunch and sharing a little gifting benevolence.  One of her favorite hobbies is bowling, so I thought I would make her a bowling birthday celebration card, using a little vintage framed image that I came upon a few months ago.  I saved it to my computer's vintage image stash of pictures for future use.

About a month ago, I pulled out the bowling lady image to get a head-start on my card and worked on it a bit to enhance the colors and remove some vintage writing that I did not care to include on my card.  I then re-sized it to fit my die-cut frame I planned to use.  Not having time to begin my card, I put it away for my return from my travels south to Oregon with my daughter.

Today was the day to get started on this bowling card for my friend.  While I was away for over two weeks, I couldn't do any crafting, but that didn't stop my mind from visualizing my vintage bowling picture and how it might look best in a card layout.  With those ideas in mind, I found some papers that would go well with the Fall season and the image colors, and then I worked on finalizing my design layout and got to work.

My bowling card is now done, and in retrospect, I wish I had introduced a bit more red into my card, because of my bowling lady's little red skirt and bow, but all in all, I think I'm pretty satisfied.  I hope my friend likes her card when she finally gets her birthday luncheon!

Take a peak below at my finished inside card design and little verse I concocted for my friend's late birthday card!

Ingredients:  Darice Kraft cardstock.  BasicGrey patterned paper--Pyrus: Cordata (both sides), Pyrus: Regul.  Authenique word paper--Strong: Clever.  DCWV Glitzy Glitter Stack: Antique Gold.  Stamps--My Favorite Things:  Essential Sentiments.  Dies--Spellbinders: Deckled Rectangles LG, Rectangles LG (frame);  My Favorite Things: Chevron Stripes.  Punches--WRMK Deco Corner Chomper; EK Arrow Border.  Recollection Pearls: Dark Red.  Fishtail Flags: hand-cut.  Colorbox: Chestnut Roan (edge distressing).  Size:  5" x 6".  (SplitcoastStampers Thread: November 20, 2016 #43).

Birthday Greetings to a Mariner's Fan!

My October is FULL of birthdays as you may have already notice from previous blog posts.  The next card needed is for my youngest son, Mark, whose birthday is also October 8th.  I have made many birthday cards for Mark over the past eight years of cardmaking, depicting his many talents and interests. . .vehicles, dirt bikes, tools, a bear beerfest, and Seahawks football are some ideas already used.  I find as I work on other cards, my mind will subconsciously be thinking about designs that I might be able to use on upcoming cards needed.  I pondered, "What shall I do for Mark this year?  One interest that I have not yet covered is Mariners baseball.  I wonder if I could make that work?" 

When the time came to get started, the Mariner idea was right there with some half-formed ideas, knowing that I needed to keep it fairly simple as my time was limited due to an upcoming trip.  For another birthday, I had been thinking of doing a simple cupcake card, but so far had not gone there.  I began to do a little online surfing and "googled" baseball cupcakes, and out popped this picture...I was stoked...what a great idea. 

My creative juice really began to move and jell.  I had seen a punch art cupcake card using circle patterns to make the cupcake icing...see the link here, and thought baseball circles would work perfectly.  Then my brain took another leap and thought. . .Mariner logo baseballs would be even cuter!  From there, I was really on a roll and went looking for bats online as an embellishment addition. . . they leaped right into vertical layers for my cupcake liner.  In addition, I did use them on the inside for an embellishment as well.  Take a look below at the inside and outside of the card created when my juices finally simmered enough to finish my card for Mark.  I think he will really like this new addition to his stash of Mom-made cards!

Ingredients:  Cardstocks: Stampin' Up--Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory (retired).  Bazill--Navy, Huner Green.  Stampin' Up stamp: Big Day (verse).  Cuttlebug EF: Happy Birthday.  Cottage Cutz die: Birthday Candle Border (modified).  Online images: Mariners baseball (colored/ resized), wooden bats (black & white/ resized).  Copic Markers.  EK Punch: Bubbles Corner (modified).  Size:  5" x 6".  

Birthday Son is a 12th Man Seahawk Fan!!!

Happy Days!  This card was chosen as a

SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS FAVORITE OF

WEEK ENDING - OCTOBER 5, 2014

My youngest son, Mark, is having a birthday in October, and we are celebrating early because it falls mid-week!  I usually pick a theme for my birthday cards that represents something about the person for which it's made.  The first card I made Mark was an Accu-Cut die of an old pick-up that matched his first "car" when he was a teen-ager.  The next year I made a card embellished with metal tools...he's quite the handyman and a carpenter by trade.  The following year it was a Copic-colored dirt-bike rider on his bike.  Last year's card depicted Mark's love of camping and the outdoors with a bear lumbering into the campsite with two foaming beer steins in paws...don't know if the bear stole the beer from the campsite or was bringing his own BYOB for a campsite visit!  

This year I decided I would make Mark's card with our football team, the Seattle Seahawks, as the theme as he is quite the 12th Man Seahawk fan.  He even has the Seahawks' stretch bird streaming complete around his walk-in closet, which he just added to his master bedroom by going into unused attic space!   The streaming bird is compliments of his wife's artistic drawing and painting abilities...it looks absolutely great...just like the logo stretch bird shown below! 

I decided to make the focal point of his card a T-shirt with a Seahawks' graphic by using my My Favorite Things Masculine Graphic Tee die and a Space Needle die from Impress Stamps.  First, I went online to look for a Seahawk's graphic that could be added to my t-shirt front.  I then chose a shimmery navy paper for the background of the  t-shirt with a touch of shimmery green at the neck and sleeve edges.  I chose some patterned paper possibilities, and the rest of my card design fell into place very swiftly.  I love it when that happens!  I am really pleased with the finished card design, and I think Mark will be surprised and very pleased as well.  He is always so appreciative, as are all of my kids, with my card dabbling art in honor of their birthdays, holidays and special events!

And the inside and verse created follows:

Recipe:  Paper - SU cardstocks - Night of Navy/ Lucky Limeade; SU Printed Poetry dsp (stripe);  DCWV  Lemoncello stack (houndstooth); DCWV Shimmer stack (navy/ green); Bo Bunny Learning Curve Recess (navy grid); Recollections Glitter Opal.  Dies - My Favorite Things Masculine Graphic Tee; Papertrey Medium ZigZag; Savvy Space Needle; MemoryBox Alpha.  Punch - SU 3/4" Scallop Circle.  Other - Lyon Metallic Yarn.  SU Candy Dots.  (SplitcoastStampers Thread: October 5, 2015/ #4).