Spotlight

We've started moving :). After Monday next week, I probably won't blog for about a week with all there is to do and the transferring of phones and computers, etc. I'll soon play catch-up with my fave blogs once we get settled.

Squeezed in this quickie card last night. I missed the premier of Project Runway because of SYTYCD. But I got to watch some info on the contestants on Comcast. Love this group!

Traci Bautista is offering a free downloadable journal making kit here. The cut-out flower is from there. The stamps are from TGF. Then I did some glitter magic! :)

Welcome Home

Good Wednesday afternoon, peeps!

Today, I've got some Cosmo Cricket (Joyride) goodness for you in the form of a card. (The purple paper is Love, Elsie).

One of my dear friends' daughter is back home from a dance competition/ road trip. Wanted to make this welcome card for her.

I used Honey August stamp as the main image. Pardon her face coloring -- she got a bit too much sun :).

Enjoy your night! I'm excited for SYTYCD!

D.J. Corn Chips

there was this one time...

i went to a party and a d.j. allowed me to spin! i had total control over the entertainment, and the hype of mixing beats was too cool for words!

of course, the music probably didn't sound that good. but it was all about the experience, right? and the scrapper that i am? of course, i got a picture! :)

and once i locate that pic, you'll see turntable josh again on a lay-out!

i just knew i had to have him when sparkle debuted her new company. he's probably my favorite out of all her stamps.

for the card, i used bam pop for the pp. i think it's got a perfect funky vibe. then i finally busted out with my hambly rub-ons & lemme tell you...it took a lot of self-control not to use more than one. buwahahaha! i wanted to use them all -- tape deck, microphone, everything! added some ribbons and voila!

have a funky day, everyone!

A Nurse's Wish, Hope, and Belief

I have a friend who just graduated from nursing school. She had straight A's, a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing, and 9 years of experience as a medical secretary where we work now.

Yet she didn't make it in the 22 spots of the new grad program at work. There were 80 applicants. Just goes to show you that in this economy, even healthcare jobs are hard to come by. That's too bad because it's not like there's a shortage in sick people :(.

But my friend will persevere somewhere else, if not our hospital. When one door closes, another opens right?

I made this card for her. Included the map because I know she will go places. The good thing about nursing is you could go almost anywhere.

Used lots of Cosmo Cricket Joyride - the graphic papers symbolize "charting." The Swiss Pixie Nurse Nora stamp is from ATS. Used a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiments are from an old card kit I purchased.

Have a great day!

LCOM's Upcycling

Can you guess who's hosting today's challenge at Let's Capture Our Memories? :) It's time to 'go green' and I even wrote the post today so hope you visit!

Win these

Or a Guest DT spot on the week of August 9th

And of course, you get to post this on your blog!

Play at LCOM this week! The challenge is to UPCYCLE (use an item that is not your typical scrappy embellishment on your card).

I used giftwrapping (paper with alphas and animals), a toy (crown), and a notebook cover (girl and transparency) for my teen cousin's birthday card.

To see the other CDT's upcycled items, go here:
Jerusha Borden
Danielle Casello
Anita Mulcahey
Corinne R. Mercado <----You are here :)
JJ Sobey
Emily Thompson
Melissa Wright
Sandi Johnson (CDT Coordinator)

Happy Monday!

A Thousand Thanks

Good Saturday afternoon, everybody!

I am sooooo happy that I finally got to color one of my new stamps. And lemme tell you, I have been dying to try out Amy's line of Sweet November Mermaids and friends!!

This one is Coral Reefweaver (with Moki). And, boy, is she fun to color!! I'm having a great time learning to add textures and such to her tail :).

She's taking a break from swimming to say thanks (Rhonna Farrer rub-ons). The rest of the supplies are from various Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients kit.



And please visit my bloggie friend, Yvonne's post. She made such an adorable lay-out of Mattie! I just love her take on his picture! Thanks, Yvonne!

XOXO,

iPhone Snaps

What I love about the iPhone is that it takes pretty good pictures. And that it has apps to edit them so they end up looking cool like these:






1. new chair. 2. new kitchen. 3. new backyard.

Yes, we got our new house!!! YESSSSSSS!!!!! :) :) :)

Happy Saturday!

Goal

Have you ever seen yourself in a picture and thought,

"Wow, I look like I'm gaining weight,"

and then see that picture years later and think,

"Wow, I looked pretty good!!!"

Buwahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!

That's what I feel about this picture here...



Used lots and lots of Studio Calico Continental kit. I really need to lose some weight for my friend's destination wedding so the travel theme fits in.





I've been visiting Kristina Contes' facebook page and the Effer Dares and Tina's blog. Became inspired to do more of an artistic page rather than the "cute-sy" cards I've been making lately.

As for the goal .. I started a support group for my friends and I. We have a private blog called "The Brown Girls' Fitness Blog." :)

TGIF!

TE's Blast From The Past Customer Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog, everybody~!

Am super excited to be part of the third customer blog hop at Taylored Expressions!



An optional challenge was to use Sankari's sketch so I thought I'd try it!



Used these cuties from Whales In Love A La Carte set. They are adorable! I've colored them with my Copics and added some Craft-T metallic Rub-ons. I also tried Rachel's shading tips from Color Me Copic. I was used to blending from light to dark so it was refreshing to try this new technique!

I used PP from KI Memories and Cosmo Cricket. The ribbon is from My Little Shoebox. Those whimsical chipboards are also from Cosmo Cricket! The punch is from Martha Stewart.

Please stop by and see the rest of the customers' STELLAR creations!!



Thanks for stopping by,

Home Inspired

It's Monday and I'm off after working the weekend! Yippee!

LCOM's challenges this week are:

1. to take a household item and use it as an inspiration for your card.
2. use supplies that are older then 2 months.

You can do one or both to play!

I just love these sofa pillows in our living room.



They were purchased at FINDecor, which is my favorite home design store. If it wasn't so far and if parking wasn't so bad in San Francisco, I'd go broke. Actually, I haven't been there in a couple of years but I'm excited to go back after we get our new home.

I like the graphic lines on the pillows and the colors complement each other well. For the card, I used the same squares and rectangles but was inspired to go with the nature theme from the pillow's leaf silhouettes. And when I saw these critters from Basic Grey, I thought they were cute AND the perfect color.

Hope you get to play! Cards are due on Saturday at 12 noon, AST. For some inspiration, visit the rest of the CDT crew:

Jerusha Borden
Danielle Casello
Anita Mulcahey
Corinne R. Mercado <----You are here :)
JJ Sobey
Emily Thompson
Melissa Wright
Sandi Johnson (CDT Coordinator)

If you win, you get a prize OR be a Guest DT in a couple of weeks!! And these badges will be yours!





Have a wonderful summer day!

Creativity Unleashed

Hi everyone! Good Sunday morning to you!

Like I said yesterday, I have another book to show you from a class I took about five years ago with Traci Bautista.

The thing I loved about Traci was that she allowed us to do whatever we wanted. I know that type of teaching technique doesn't work for everybody but it sure "unleashed" my creativity -- and that's what Traci wanted to teach us most of all.

For this class, she provided the basics to bind this intricate "star" book. I embellished the pages after. Because it was hard to open and I needed to re-glue the back and front pages, I only took pics of a couple of pages.



Aren't the textures and shimmering effects gorgeous? She had given us a clear sticker sheet and gave us paint flakes and glitter and paint to put on it (& go wild). I chose to make it an Asian theme and put Jolee's stickers.



This is the view of the star book from above. Please excuse my dirty table and the book covers had to be re-glued after this :(.





And some views of the inside. I needed to put my candle in the front to hold the pages open.

I'm such a procrastinator! Only posting pics up now....and I still haven't filled the pages! :)

Vintage Book

About 5 years ago, I was fortunate enough to take classes from Traci Bautista. This was before her books and national tours, and I learned so much.

I always thought Traci was ahead of her time. In her classes, we learned to transfer images, play with paints, and stamp on many different mediums.

I made this book for my parents during one class and I never posted it. The instructions were to bring in colored and black & white copies of older pictures. The album is much more vintage-like than my style but I thought it came out beautifully.

And the book? We learned to bind it ourselves! Speaking of...I wonder where I put her notes??













I have another book to post tomorrow so stay tuned!

Thanks for coming today!

Girl Power

Good Friday morning, everyone!

My Studio Calico kit came and I was inspired to make a lay-out. Found these old pictures of my girlfriends and thought it'd be perfect with Sunghee's girly TGF soldier.

Sunghee made a tank during the end of our Royal Battle term to show our strength as International Ink (although we didn't win). Sunghee's links aren't working at the moment, otherwise I'd link her creative and oh-so-cool battle tank.

Anyway, for those of you who didn't know, Sunghee sent me a whole bunch of her 3D projects a couple of months ago. Wasn't that sweet? I used them to decorate for the candy bar at my son's bday party but unfortunately, they did not last. I saved some of the images to 'recycle.' (With SG's permission of course).

As for our TGF team, International Ink, I'm happy to say that Sunghee, Sheena, Tanya, Stephanie, and I still keep in touch. It's nice to have bloggy girlfriends who support your craft and give you tips on both stamping and life!

And if you haven't noticed, there, in the layout, is my biggest supporter (& enabler) friend of all -- Jo (in red), who got me started on TGF stamps and Copic Markers!

In a couple of months, we get to become Copic certified. They're finally coming to our side of town, yippee!!!

Anyway, I am going off on TOO MANY tangents! Back to the lay-out:





Lots of Studio Calico with Dear Lizzy and punches!

And this girl get-together is so funny and inspirational! I think all women should do this!!

Have a wonderful weekend! I'll be working but will catch up on your blogs next week!