Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #35 - Happy Bday Card

Good Morning All,

What a crazy night it has been - we have had major rain - major wind - and the lightening was so bright that I couldn't sleep - so I thought I would finish up my card for Taylor's Cupcake Friday Challenge - what a great sketch to play with! This card is made for my friend Mikaila whose birthday is today! Happy Birthday Kali!!!! Miss You!

First things first - I  don't think this is a card that I will be mailing (Kali - that means you have to come home again soon! and stay longer than you did last time!) because it's wee bit on the 3D side. I love the fun DP that Taylor has with this kit and I couldn't really pick one - so I thought it would be fun to do both and fold a corner over.... I was going to flatten it out a bit - but then changed my mind and left it a bit upstanding :) 

I love Taylor's stamps - and couldn't wait to use this sweet little cupcake ready to blow out her cake. I colored the stamped image and then paper pieced the cupcake liner, painted the tongue pink, added a larger brad that I stickled with orange glitter and then glazed the cupcake and cake. The green cardstock, brads, DP & ribbon is from Taylor's kit. The magenta background cardstock was partially embossed with flowers. I went over the sentiment in white get paint.

I sometimes will read on people's blog that the card that they made was just like the idea that they had in their head - and I am always amazed - because that rarely happens around here .... I kinda had a different vision for the card - but kinda ended up liking how it turned out...

 Anyhoo.... it's time to start the day - the wee ones are up - and I thought I would make them some waffles and fruit - -- and by "make" - I mean, "warm up" :)

Wow - so Monday has begun!! Well - hope all of you are having a wonderful start to your week!

Thanks for coming over for a visit!!!

Ciao for now!

Sankari :)

Another Trifold card for Laura's 2S4U

Good Saturday Afternoon Everyone,

I have had this idea in my head since yesterday - and it was nice to finally sit down and make this card this afternoon. I used Laura's sketch from 2S4U - and used the same kinda trifold card thing that I made for THIS previous card for Laura's sketch - except instead of velcro - I used ribbon. I love love love this paper - and I had this idea to cut the paper in such a way that when you open it you would see a full flower and then when you keep opening it - it would reveal a place to write a message. And although, I have had this card in my head since last night - it turned out kinda different than I imagined.... but I still kinda like it :)

The trifold card is mounted onto a piece of cardstock (kinda burgundy) and then everything was dotted in little paint drops (of course :). The curved part of the folded edge has scallop edging created by corner rounders. I was going to stamp a sentiment inside - but it just looked kinda pretty without one....

Alright - time to give these little ones a bath! 

Thanks for coming over for a visit!!!

Ciao for now,

Sankari

Special Card for Alzheimer's Day

Afternoon All,

When I came home from work - so thankful its Friday - all I wanted to do was surf around a little and relax. In my blog surfing, I came across THIS beautiful and amazing post that offers everyone the chance to contribute to a good cause as well as a chance to win a generous amount of blog candy in recognition of World Alzheimer's Day, over at Cammie's blog. Alzheimer's is a 

fatal and progressive brain disease that destroys brain cells. Cammie wanted to do something special for those who are the caregiver's for those who have Alzheimer's and so she asked everyone to create a card for this amazing group of people. So I made this card for the caregiver's at the Artman house in PA. 

I used Laura's beautiful sketch this week from 2S4U - I loved the little flourish on the right hand side and decided to use that to make a little flap for the card.  I tried to keep the card simple-ish. 

The curve-y part of the flap was made using my Creative Memories Decorative Trimmer. There isn't a sentiment because I didn't want to cover the pretty paper - which is actually gift wrap  - (the same gift wrap in white on the front and then the same pattern in red on the inside). 

The button on the bow on the front, has painted dots around it and a little red bling in the center. I used a clear velcro swatch to close the card together and when it opens up there is centered box for the note of the card. 

I have pictures of before and after the note was written to the staff at the Artman house. There is a scalloped edging on the inside of the card as well as some Prima flowers embellishing the bottom.  

All in all, this was such a special card to make for those who take care of those with this disease. Hopefully this card will help brighten someone's day and let them know that their care makes all the difference in the world.

The deadline for the blog drawing is 8pm central - but even if you can't do it by then - you can still make a card and send it either to the Artman House or to other caregiver's of this disease in your area. Thanks so much for looking and for coming over for a visit.

 

Ciao for now,

Sankari

Address for the Artman House:

 

To the Staff at the Artman House

250 N. Bethlehem Pike

Ambler, PA 1900

Card Recipe:

Paper: Gift wrap, cradstock from scrapbasket

Ink: Burgandy gel pen

Accessories: Ribbon from American Crafts, Paint, Circle punch with scalloped edge from Martha, Velcro adhesive, Prima flowers and Making Memories brads

Shows watched: I usually note down what show I watch while card making (because its usually at night after the wee ones are sleeping)- but this time  since it was during the day- I listened to the melodious sounds of my three year old and one year old trying to make music on their little tykes piano player.... I don't think I have much hearing left :)

Happy Holidays Card - Sprinkles Style :)

Morning All, 

Here is a quick card that is combining three challenges. The colors from the ladies at the Color Throwdown , the sketch from Jen's Sketch for You to Try and from TCP tuesday's challenge this week was to make a card with the famous Sprinkles (the swankiest kitty of them all :) The colors from the CT ladies were to use Olive Green, Real Red and Kraft. And so it seemed like a perfect time to bring out Holiday Sprinkles. 

I love Sprinkles - this kitty has got such great attitude and style :). The sketch this week looked like fun and the colors from the throwdown are great for a holiday card. I haven't used any Kraft so I used something that had a similar color. This card was put together kinda fast because I have to run and finish class. 

I also just wanted to thank Julie of Inspirational for featuring my Button Tree Card - I was so excited and totally honored! Thank you so much! 

Sorry for the quick post and for disappearing a bit this week - I need more hands and more hours in a day to get everything done - but anyhoo - today is friday and just that alone makes me soooo happy!!!!!

Hope all of  you are having a great Friday!!

Best wishes, 

Sankari

Card Recipe:

Stamps: TCP Holiday, SU! Mini Mates

Paper: Scraps from the basket

Ink: Martha Black

Accessories: Offray Green, paint, stickles, scallop punch, dimensionals, circle punch

Shows watched: House 

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #34 - Trick or Sweet!

Good Monday Morning!

Hope all of you had a good weekend! Ours was jam packed with lots of birthday parties, picnics and potlucks. I also went to the store to get some paint and started painting a wall down in the basement. It was something that I just felt had to be done, something that I was thinking about for a while - and so when the kids were asleep - I taped off the walls and started painting away! I chose a really pretty color - in between a yellow and orange called daffodil. A friend of mine is coming over next weekend to help me paint a small mural as the border to the wall....Can't wait to show you guys the finished product later. 

I wasn't able t craft till last night when all the wee ones were tucked away into bed - and then I was so psyched to pull out my new stamps from Taylored Expressions for Taylor's Cupcake Friday challenge!!! This week's sketch is found to the left. Taylor had encouraged us to get creative with the stitching aspect of the sketch and also the beauty of a card when it is decorated on the inside as well.

So here is what I came up with: my first Halloween card... ever! I just realized that I have never made one before (whaaaa?)!!! It was an awesome way to make my first one because these images of these cupcakes in their halloween costumes is just waaaay beyond cute! The stamps are a dream to stamp and clean and the images produced are very crisp. It was sooo much fun to make this card! Everything on this card is from Taylor's Halloween Key Ingredients Kit. 

I stamped all the cupcake images and then cut them out. The bottoms were paper pieced with 

gray metal paper. The rest of the images were colored with Prism pencils and the witches hair and part of her broom were painted with brown paint. I used Taylor's brads for the kitty's nose, the pirates green bow and the witches cape. The cupcakes were stacked onto a strip of green cardstock and then was faux stitched using purple paint. The strip that was to become the "folder" for the stacked cupcake tab - is a piece of cardstock from Taylor's Halloween pack (all paper is from TE). The top opening was punched out the a 2" circle punch and then outlined with the scallop rim from my scallop punch. 

The folder was faux stitched with purple paint. The square mini card on card front has scalloped border (corner rounder) and is matted using the square punches from Creative Memories. The sentiment reads: Trick or Sweet. The ribbon slit was cut into the mini card  (the purple ribbon was adhered onto the orange ribbon). 

The inside pumpkin cupcake has the same paper piecing and has the pumpkin grooves outlined in stickles. I loved the sentiment which reads: " When mummies roam and pumpkins gleam, May sweets be yours this Halloween."  

Can't wait to make more fun Halloween cards! Hope all of you are having a great Monday!

Thanks for visiting!

Ciao for now,

Sankari :)

Card Recipe:

Paper: Taylored Expressions Halloween Key Ingredients Kit, Paper Company gray metal paper

Ink: Staz-On Black

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Stamp a Sweet Impressions: Trick or Sweet set

Accessories: corner rounder, square punches from Creative Memories, Scallop punch from SU!, 2 " circle punch from Fiskars, Prism color pencils, Stickles, orange Offray Ribbon and everything else is from TE key ingredients kit.

Shows watched: The Three Amigos!

TCP Tuesday - Birthday Card

Good Morning Everyone,

I think today is my official catch up day to catch up on some of my favorite craft challenges that I have been missing in the last 2 weeks. Things here have been rather busy on the job front, on the family front and on the home front. I think I definitely needed some stamp therapy to help nourish my heart :) I just realized that I posted 5 cards today! You can't even imagine the mess that my craft corner is in - it is no longer a corner - but the scraps and bits of ribbon and storage boxes are spread all over our room.... somehow cleaning up a craft mess is not as fun as creating it :) LOL!

I have missed participating in the TCP tuesday challenges - and was psyched that I had a little time to create some things this week :). The colors were very yummy autumnal colors and even though I wanted to make a fall card  - I needed to make a birthday card for a dear friend - so I went the b-day party route instead. 

I have to say that I LOVE the way these stamps stamp... they are just yummy, clean and crisp.

The green, orange and brown cakes were paper pieced and then glazed and stickled and finished with a cherry brad to top them. The white paper was dry embossed with flower pattern, and then the corners were rounded and matted. 

Well, today is filled with activites - from a parade at the town square, to a picnic at lunch to a birthday party in the afternoon and another one in the evening - phew! I am tired just writing about it :) Well, I am off to get things ready for the parade and to finish making my potluck contribution to the picnic (where I hope I have some time to wrap the present for the party right after that....) Alright, parade! here we come!!!

Hope all of you are well!

Thanks for visiting,

Ciao for now,

Sankari :)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: The Cat's Pajamas

Ink: Martha Brown

Paper: scrap pile cardstock

Accessories: Making Memories Brads, Platinum Stickles, Liquid Glaze, Gold Paint, brown & green prism color pencils, corner rounder, ribbon by Offray.

Show Watched: Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey - man, this show can be addicting :)

3 Color Throwdowns in One

Good Morning All,

I have been missing doing all the awesome color challenges at the Color Throwdown site with all the amazing lovely ladies who design absolutely beautiful cards every week. Last week I made a card - but didn't have time to post it - so I am posting it this week along with this week's throwdown colors. 

The colors this week were so pretty - baja breeze, chocolate chip and old olive. I loved the softness of the baja breeze and wanted to make a softer kind of card. The card was created on Photoshop and matted on the green and brown cardstock. I also added a liquid glaze on the brown bamboo - can't really see it in the pic though and also added a double bow with green and brown ribbon. This was made for a friend who had surgery last week and has been in our thoughts and prayers. 

This card was made for last week's challenge colors to honor 9-11. This card is really simple (I am sorry for the pic - but the light was not quite right for taking pictures) - the background is dry embossed, the sparkles and celebrate sentiment is from DCVW summer paper pack. I added red and blue bling to the sparklers, red and white paint, brads and ribbon. 

This last card was made for a color throwdown challenges from over 5 weeks ago! I missed doing this one when we were visiting family in Minnesota. I love these colors together - they look like sari colors. I have been trying to figure out some samples of simple christmas cards that can be mass produced - and this one came out kinda nice. It was beyond easy to make - this was a 10 minute card - no joke! The triangles were made from cutting squares in half ( I used my Creative Memories square punches in 4 sizes), the circles were punched out with my circle punch, the flower was punched out using my Creative Memories Medow Maker punch. Then I added some ribbon, some painted dots, a button with some stickles and handwrote the sentiment with a gel pen.... The size was a fun one to work with - it was a left over scrap - that looked to cute to go in the trash - I think I might be making a few more of these because they were so quick.

I can't wait to catch up on the rest of the Color Throwdown challenges that I have missed. They are really great challenges and I love looking at the design team's cards - they are all so inspiring. Hope all of you are having a wonderful Saturday and that you get to throw some colors down soon!!!

Thanks for visiting!

Ciao for now,

Sankari

2 Sketches 4 You - Kazan's Sketch Challenge

Good Morning Everyone,

Here is a card for the sketch challenge over at 2 Sketches 4 You. I was bummed that I missed Kazan's Challenge 2 weeks running, and so I had to carve out a little time this week to take a jab at her awesome sketch this week.

This is a card that I made for my dearest husband Keith. I wanted to make a special card for him to thank him for all the wonderful things that he does for the family - all the things that I appreciate and never want to take for granted. So I made him an extra special glittery card with the sentiment: Me {heart} U. 

The whole card is much more shiny than it shows up in this picture  - the background paper is metallic silvery glittery - the letters are pure silver glitter and the ribbon is a really pretty sheer sliver glittery ribbon. The center square was painted with some red, magenta, pink and white paint and then everything was dotted....  I think i went a little dot crazy. I couldn't stop.... :) LOL - it's actually very therapeutic to dot.... 

And now a little tribute to Keith: 

I feel so lucky to be married to my best friend. He is always so sweet and balanced and easy going - and takes the stress out of any stressful situation. He always brings a smile to my face with his sweetness. He gives the best hugs and is always so supportive and encouraging (he even subscribed to my blog - so sweet!) My favorite thing is to dance to the hits of the 80's with Keith - it totally cracks both of us up - I am sure it will be a source of embarrassment for the kids when they are older :) LOL!  Keith - you totally rock my world! Love you Boo!

I am so thankful for all the little and big things that make life beautiful - for all the people in our lives and for all of you awesome blog friends that I have in this magical world of blogland :) Sending all of you sunshiney smiles :)

Hope all of you are having a great weekend!! 

Thanks for coming over for a visit,

Ciao for now,

Sankari :)

Card Recipe: 

Paper: Paper Company (Gun Metal) and scrap cardstock for the rest

Accessories: Paint, Silver Offray Ribbon, K & Company Silver Chipboard

Shows Watched: Monk on Hulu

Transition

Hi Everyone,

I usually post cards and craft projects on my blog- but I felt moved to post this news that I just received. I just found out that a classmate of mine passed away earlier this month after a 14 month battle with lymphoma. He was 34 years old - and is survived by his parents, his 2 sisters, his wife and their two sons Eli (4) and Reed (1). 

I went to his blog - and was just blown away by David's strength and was inspired by his story and struggle. If you have a chance - you can read his story here.

The reason that I post this story here is because I was so moved by something David wrote almost a year ago when it seemed as if chemotherapy was working - what a beautiful way to look at life - I am inspired by his outlook and his strength:

"With renewed strength, my mind has come back to life, and a recurring theme today has been that there just ain't many important things in life. I feel liberated and carefree. Guy cuts you off? Who cares. Business deal goes south? There are others. Eli wants a hug? I held on for a full two minutes (as long as he would let me) and if Heaven and love can be wrapped into a physical feeling, then I felt it at that moment. Now that's important. That's living." 

These past few weeks have been so busy - and reading David's words tonight, shifted things back into perspective. It is such an inspiring way to live. 

Sending all of you beams of sunshine :)

Best wishes,

Sankari

Give Thanks Card - KW #23 Color Challenge

Hi Everyone,

Good Morning! It's hard to believe that its been a week since the last time I blogged - life here has been just a whirlwind of activity from teaching, to visits from friends to juggling 3 part time jobs. Every night I have been itching to make a card but never have enough time - but one of the things that gets some craft mojo flowing is Kristina's Color Challenge. 

KW had 5 yummy fall colors for the challenge. I haven't really made any fall cards yet (I have been holding onto summer and can't believe how fast this year is flying!) and this felt like the perfect way to dive into fall. Here is a little tree that I made. I drew an outline for the trunk and then cut it out of metallic brown cardstock. I used my scallop punch on green cardstock to create the background leaves and then adhered buttons in shades of pumpkin, saffron and olive onto the tree. The tag was punched out with a mini tag punch and matted to the olive cardstock and then attached to the tree with a sheer olive ribbon. I wrote the sentiment "Give Thanks" in archival brown ink. The border above and below the tree was created by adhering a shiny burgundy ribbon to the sheer olive  ribbon and bordering the tree.

The inside of the card has the saffron cardstock matted onto the olive cardstock that has a scalloped edge created with a corner rounder. The burgundy ribbon and the saffron cardstock is hard to photograph because of the shininess/shimmeriness of the material... but other than that... all in all this was a fun card and was really a great group of colors to work with. I love fall and love the crispness in the cool air and the slight change in the color of the leaves. I can't wait to get the sweaters out :) and get to my neglected knitting bag with unfinished projects. 

Anyhoo... I am off to make lunch and finish lesson planning for the week. Hope all are well. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Ciao for now!

Sankari

Card Recipe:

Paper: DCVW cardstock, Metallic brown paper from Paper Company (used for tree trunk)

Accessories: CM Archival pen (brown), SU! scallop punch, buttons from button stash, ribbon from offray, corner rounder, Fiskars Tag punch

Show watched: Sense and Sensibility on Hulu.com (totally inspired by Brooke to watch it again!! love it every time!)

KW #22

Hi All,

Here is a quick card for KW's color challenge. I don't have time to post all details as I am running for a meeting - but just wanted to get this in before the challenge. 

The flowers were cut out from DCVW cardstock, the buttons are from my stash along with the ribbon. The leaves were my doodles drawn with my burgandy gel pen - the sentiment was handwritten and then dotted with white paint. 

This was a fun color challenge - but definitely a challenge.  Hope all of you are well! Sorry this is so quick... Thanks for visiting! 

:) Sankari

Friendship Card - 2S4U Sketch

Good Morning Everyone,

Even though today is Wednesday, I feel like today is Monday morning - I don't know how the week has already started and that we are half way done with this week already!! Whaaa? Anyhoo... it felt great to make a card again - my little craft corner was packed away this weekend to make room for a visit from my inlaws and a surprise visit from my SIL and her nephew. I finally was able to unpack my corner a little and attempted a card using Laura's Sketch challenge from 2S4U. I was so bummed that I couldn't do Kazan's sketch last week - but the good thing, is that there are always more challenges on the horizon :)

The sentiment on the card (on the umbrella stick) reads: Friendship is a cozy shelter from life's 

rainy days. It's been raining here the last few days and suddenly everything has gotten more autumnal - amazing how quickly the change of season can happen. I am kinda excited for squash season, and crunching fall leaves, and wearing sweatshirts and walking around the farmer's market with some hot cider.... I love fall.

Anyhoo - back to the card: the umbrella top was paper pieced and stickled. The tag was punched out with my CM tag punch. The scallops were punched from 1" circles and then were dotted with some white paint. The inside of the card has a wavy cardstock that was created by using the decorative trimmer from CM and then dotted. 

And as a beautiful surprise my husband and family and friends totally surprised me with a Big Shot (I didn't even knew my DH knew that I was thinking of putting it on my Xmas wish list - he gets major points for organizing this great gift!) - so I got to run some of the paper through it to do a little embossing - I 

suddenly want to emboss everything :)

Well, I am off to .... wake up this morning. Hope all of you are well and are enjoying some sunshine on this Weds. morning!

Thanks for coming over to visit!

Best wishes,

Sankari

Card Recipe:

Stamps: SU! The Fine Print

Ink: Staz-On Black

Paper: DCVW

Accessories: Tag punch and Decorative Trimmer from Creative Memories, Offray ribbon, Crystal Stickles, white paint 

Blog Candy Winner!!!

Good Rainy Monday Morning to all,

Thank you all of you who posted such lovely birthday wishes and such lovely birthday traditions! You all had some beautiful ways 

to celebrate birthdays and I can't wait to incorporate all of your traditions into my next birthday! I wanted to print out all your comments but my printer didn't work this morning, so I wrote down all of your names and put them in our big orange party hat. 

My son had already left for preschool this morning - so I had to enlist the help of our daughter (1 

1/2 years old :) to pick out a name. As soon as she saw the hat - she wanted to wear it - (which is kinda hilarious since it covers her body till her knees :). We put all the names in the hat and then she picked a name....... which is................

ALYSSA! Alyssa posted this comment about her birthday traditions. 

Happy Birthday! My favorite birthday tradition is to celebrate my birth-MONTH! My poor husband has to treat me even more like a princess than he already does for the entire month of September!! :) Hope your day was wonderful and you get to continue the good feelings throughout the next year! Thanks for the chance...

(I am liking the sound of a birthday month!!! what a great idea!) Congratulations Alyssa - hope you enjoy the board! It is really a lot of fun to play around with ! Please let me know your address so that I can get that out to you right away!!!

Thanks to everyone for all your wonderful wishes - I don't think I have had such a great birthday in such a long time!!! 

Best wishes to all,

Sankari!

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #32

Good Morning Everyone,

Do I smell cupcakes baking??? 

Is it Friday?!!!

YES and YESSS!!!! 

Because its the most wonderful day of the week: It's time for Taylor's Friday Cupcake Challenge and this week is awesome becauseTaylor just announced that she is releasing a new line of stamps called: Stamp a Sweet Impression and let me tell you, from the tempting sneak peeks that I have seen - they are SO awesome and beyond cute!!!  You will have to go check out both her stamps and her awesome storage system that will available starting at midnight (EST) on the 5th.

Well, I was already looking forward to this week because it was my birthday (and while I am excited about everyone else's birthdays, this was the first time in a long while that I have been excited about my own). To even make it more exciting, Taylor picked me to be the Featured Cupcake Sampler this week! 

Woo-hoo! I was so honored and excited and surprised! THANK YOU TAYLOR!!The best part is that I got to participate in the new release of her sweet stamps. As soon as I saw this stamp, I was in love!! and couldn't wait to make a card for this week's sketch - which is awesome! 

I love the half-circles in the sketch and  the sentiment that immediately popped into mind was: Wish Big! So this is what I came up with:

 I love this little guy blowing out his cake!!! I colored this set with my Prism pencils and then covered it with liquid glaze. The little cherry on the cupcake is a red brad, there are yellow brads on the cake and teal star brads on the corners. The sentiment was made in Photoshop and then cut out with My Creative Memories Circle cutters. I outlined around the circles in both little droplets of teal paint and red candy cane 

stickles. I wanted a big bow for the Wish Big sentiment and I love that you can see the fun cardstock through the ribbon. This card was beyond fun to make! 

Well, you know what they say ... time flies when you are having fun... I couldn't stop after making this card - so I made another one with Taylor's sketch (I couldn't get this sketch out of my mind because the half circles reminded me of cupcake tops - seriously - all I see these days are cupcakes! :)

So I thought I would make another simple card with two cupcakes next to each other:  

I used my new Stampin UP! scallop punch (courtesy of my awesome buddy Brooke!) and punched out some aqua cardstock and folded it in half and adhered them together to create the tops. For the cupcake bottoms, I went to the pantry and got 2 baking cups that I folded and wrapped and adhered them side by side. 

The little "cherry" is a button with red thread and little burgandy paint droplets on the edges. The edges of the cupcake tops are lined with waterfall stickles and the edges of the pink cardstock are edged with Martha's metallic ink. I wrote the sentiment (happy b-day dear you) around cupcakes in a brown archival pen from CM. This card was so much fun to make too - and very simple :) But then again, how can things not be fun when you are working with cupcakes :)

I love Cupcake Land :)

Thanks everyone for coming over for a visit!

Have a fabulous weekend and hope you give Taylor's fun sketch a try!

Best wishes,

Sankari :)

EDIT: just realized that the OCC theme for this week is birthday - so I am so excited that I can offer these cards for the challenge :)