Happy Birthday

To me! This year I decided to make myself a birthday card! I used Taylor’s Sketch #71 and there was no doubt I’d be incorporating a cupcake. A big, happy almost birthday to Taylor too, her's is Friday. A great month to be born! Though perhaps I'm biased.

Taylor's Sketch


Happy Birthday, Meg!

{Supplies: SU! Crazy for Cupcakes, DCVW patterned paper, CB swiss dots and happy birthday folders, Offray and Joann ribbon, Stickles – yellow and waterfall}

I even wrote myself a little note and set it out for me to find this morning. A lovely “surprise!”

Mid Week Post

A few weeks back I applied to the 2 Sketches 4 You summer design team. I wasn't selected but you can see the wonderful work of the ladies who were selected over at the 2S4Y site, here. I like the challenge level of their sketches, I definitely plan to participate in more!

These are the application sketches:


































And these are the cards I made:
Supplies:
All Night Media wood grain
Inkadinkado Doodle Flowers
Bazzil Dotted Swiss cardstock
SU! Friendship Blooms
Prima Flowers
Pearl stickers
K & Co. gems









Supplies:
Hero Arts playful animals
Stampendous Bee Day (party hats)
Sandylion birthday
DCWV papers
Lasting Impressions Lemon Tart paper
Stickles - diamond










Even though I wanted to hoard it, I loved the "Let's Party" card too much to not share it, I gave it to sissy-in-law for her birthday at the beginning of the month. I also made a similar card for my boss's birthday, stay tuned for that one next mid-week.

Loving Love

I didn't get up to too much crafting this weekend, but I did pull this card together for Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge! I've been wanting to play with my wood grain stamp using colors other than brown. I'll be playing with more of that for sure! More color with my mesh stamp too, most def.

This week's colors:











Loving Love.
Supplies:
Crafts Etc. cardstock
All Night Media wood grain stamp
SU! Short & Sweet
Offray ribbon
Candy dots - Raspberry

Lovely

I didn't think I was going to have time to make something for this week's Color Inspiration over at Kristina's. Gladly, I was able to whip this card up and still catch the last bits of daylight to get a picture! I'm also giving this one to mom for Mother's Day.

This week's colors:










Love You
Supplies:
Crafts Etc. brown cardstock
DCWV "mustard" cardstock and patterned paper
Basic Gray all natural stamps
SU! Short & Sweet
Candy Dots - Sun Yellow
Nestabilites label one

A Mid Week Post

I have a few cards sitting around that were made just for fun that I have yet to share. Since the majority of my posts occur around the weekends I though it would be fun to have some mid week posts with these cards.

Wonderful Cupcakes
Supplies:
SU! Crazy for Cupcakes
SU! Warm Words
DCWV papers
Favorite Findings buttons
Ranger Glossy Accents (on cherries)











Some hand stitching along the right... used a Cutter Bee bug to make the holes then hand stitched with regular white thread. Took forever! Not sure I'll be rushing back to that technique right away.

Best Wishes for 50 More

Kristina Werner is celebrating her 50th Color Inspiration Challenge this week! What fun! I only wish I knew about them back in the beginning. This will be my 6th color challenge, not quite 50 but still quite fun.

Kristina's Colors













Best Wishes
Supplies:
Prima screen pattern stamp
SU! Short & Sweet
Penny Black Love in Bloom
DCWV papers
Prima flowers
Pearl stickers
Favorite Findings buttons
red ribbon - source unknown
Nestabilities Label One







In keeping with this week's stricter rules of color conformity, there used to be barely visible tiny bits of green in the patterned paper - I colored them brown!

Mojo-in'

A new contest for me! The Mojo Monday blog has some great sketch challenges. I decided to play around with the one this week.

The Sketch:

















I actually planned the colors around the fabric covered brad. Came out light and springy!

Supplies:
Inkadinkado Doodle Flowers
SU! Crazy for Cupcakes (sentiment - rearranged to fit)
Versamark Dazzle - Frost
DCWV papers
Bazzil Dotted Swiss cardstock
Offray ribbon
Unknown flowers
K & Co. Classic K Margo Fabric stitched brad
Favorite Findings buttons
Stickles - Cotton Candy







Hard to see in the photo but I stamped little flowers on the sentiment square using the frost Versamark Dazzle.

DayGlo Inspiration

I looooove Kristina's colors this week!










I had the perfect image already stamped and colored! Although my card came out looking a bit 80s. Hm. Hadn't planned that. I am uncertain how it makes me feel.

Supplies:
Magenta hummingbird stamp
Stampin' Up! Crazy for Cupcakes (sentiment)
DCWV papers
Bazzil Dotted Swiss cardstock
La Di Dah Courtyard Felted shapes
Favorite Findings buttons
Ranger Glossy Accents (on the flower)
K & Co. gem

























I think it's missing a side pony tail and a snap bracelet.

She's here!

8 pounds 9 oz, 21 inches long, Lil H arrived today! So excited to meet her!

Happy Day of Birth
HA Number Zero
SU! Short & Sweet
DCWV papers
K & Co. gems
Stickles

Copic Colorings

Thanks to an awesome House/Pup sitting gig I had some spare cash to splurge on a sweet treat for myself: A set of Copic markers! WOO! I didn't mention last post but the duckie on the behbeh shower card was my first real Copic coloring attempt. I'm still learning and playing and loving them the more I go! I felt like sharing a few things I've colored this week that I find especially cheerful.

The tree is SU It's a Stretch and the animals are HA Playful Animals:

Tree

















Animals























I do have a new card to share (that I especially love) but want to get it in the mail before I post it, on the off chance the recipient checks my blog. I also hope to get some more cards made this weekend, I have a few birthdays and one birth day coming!

Final Three Christmas Cards

You'll see some similar themes in these final 3 cards. Like the previous post they all use: Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts patterned paper (again the blue is DCWV), American Crafts ribbon, silver stickers, and the Stampin Up! Merry & Bright set.

Tree "Ornament"

Another Blue Snowman

Rudy

This last one was another that needed a gift card holder. I actually used this sentiment in all my cards this year. It is from the Stampin Up! Wishing You Cheer set.

More Christmas Cards

When I used the snowman card from a two posts ago (here), I included a gift card. Naturally I wanted something a little fancier and/or more special than the holders that come with the gift cards. Using the same Doodlebug Let it Snow set, red ribbon, pearl stickers, and some DCWV paper I created the below:

















Variations on a Theme
After using the Stocking and the Merry Shorty from last time I decided that I wanted new cards for the rest of my list. They're all 4x4 and all use: Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts patterned paper (except the blue which is DCWV), American Crafts ribbon, pearl or silver stickers, white opal liquid pearls and the Stampin' Up! Merry & Bright set (not that I play favorites, but if I did it would be the green one!)

Red

















Green

















Blue

Christmas Cards!

Ho ho ho! 25 Days until Christmas! I've been pretty on top of Christmas this year - no last minute shopping or card making for me! It has been a little hard since it has been so unseasonably warm here. It doesn't even feel like fall so how could it possibly feel like Christmas? It didn't feel like Thanksgiving either, but I've been trying to work past that so the season doesn't just fly by me unnoticed.

Three more Christmas cards are now complete! I've really been feeling the 3"x6" for these:

Christmas Trees
Supplies:
Doodlebug Clear Expressions Let it Snow
Crafts Etc! Cardstock
DCWV & Lasting Impressions patterned paper
Nestabilities
Spool O' Ribbon
Lime Green Stickles
White Opal Liquid Pearls
JoAnn Sew Essential Buttons

Christmas Stocking
Supplies:
Stampin' Up! It's a Stretch
Lasting Impressions & Doodlebug patterned paper
Crystal Stickles
White Opal Liquid Pearls
Mark Richards Metal stickers
Offray Ribbon











This last one is a shorty so I haven't decided if I'm going to send it to someone or just keep it for myself since I think it turned out super cute. I got the idea for the lights from Nancy, one of the Hero Arts designers, she mentions it toward the end of this post here. None of my brads have ever come with turns so I went looking for some to play with. I ended up with silver which I colored with Bic Mark It permanent marker (sorry Sharpie!) and then Stickles'd for the lighted effect. I think it looks awesome! But perhaps I'm biased.

Very Merry Shorty
Supplies:
Stampin' Up! Short & Sweet
Lasting Impressions patterned paper
Offray Ribbon
Crystal Stickles
JoAnn Scrap Essentials photo holders (silver, colored with permanent marker)
Black braiding cord








Since I have plenty of time still, I may play with some more holiday designs if the inspiration hits. If not I'll just make some multiples of these and the one from the second half of my previous post and call it Christmas!

With a Cupcake!

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge # 38 take two! I already revamped my original idea from earlier today - cupcake now included! I like this one better because of the cupcake, so I'll be entering this one:

Dibs!
Supplies:
Imaginisce Penguin Dude stamp
Stampin' Up! Short & Sweet Cupcake
Colored with Prismacolor pencils
Inkssentials Glossy Accents on cherry
Offray Oatmeal Ribbon
DCWV papers
JoAnn Sew Essentials Buttons









The inside will say "The cupcakes are all yours today!"

I'm wondering if I should speak to someone regarding my apparent view that penguins are greedy...

Craftacular!

This week has been super craftacular for me. Not only did I craft on Monday and Tuesday, but Lysa and I went to a Stampin' UP! 101020 class on Thursday! I've really been on a roll these past two weeks. No guarantees on how long I'll keep this up for, but let me just tell you I've been enjoying it thoroughly.

Other things bloggy: You may have noticed that I changed my blog URL. Though now I'm in a quandary of how I should electronically sign my pictures. My blog title is still Designs By Meg after all, but I like Meg Becka too. Since it appears to be an impossible decision for me, today's card pictures are going to be nekkid. {Subsequent Edit: I decided.}

On that note, let's get started! This is the new Thank You card I made on Tuesday. I have about 5 extended family members to thank for 3 Day donations. I was getting pretty bored with making the same one over and over, so I came up with this to mix things up. I'm a little disappointed that there's no pink included at all since that is the color of support. I'm going to see if I can find a way (that I like) to pink it up a little. I also have 4 more Thank Yous to tackle, maybe I'll come up with something new and better.

Many Many Thanks
Supplies
Hero Arts Clear Design Thank You Messages















Now for the Stampin' UP! cards. This was really a fun night, and actually historic in that somehow it was the first time Lysa and I have ever crafted together! I got to use some new fun tools that I've always wanted to try but couldn't bring myself to buy just yet, like the stamp-a-ma-jig and glue dots. Not sure I'm going to rush out for the jig even though I really liked it. I probably will get some glue dots though, they were so much better than using liquid glue for ribbon in particular. There are ten cards total (101020 = 10 cards, 10 mins or less each, all for $20) so I grouped them together for some shots to share. It's hard to pick a favorite but I'm leaning toward the cupcake with the 'make a wish' sentiment in the first group. I absolutely love the note book paper punch! Which is apparently exclusive to SU and actually called the 'spiral punch.' I dig! I also love the mini clip and the glitter. Normally I'm not a fan of pink and orange together, but in both of the P&O cards below I think it works well. The SU cards were all designed by demonstrator and host Rhonda:

Group One













Group Two













Group Three













I have a few things I'm working on today, like the aforementioned Thank Yous, but also some donation reminders. Depending on my success I might even post again this weekend!