My Graphico Digi Stamps Blog Hop :)

Good Morning Everyone,

I am so pysched to be part of the Paper Craft Planet Blog Hop today, where we have a really fun challenge for you today -- it's a product challenge, sponsored by MyGrafico. To play along, create ANYTHING using one of the MyGrafico images -- they have a ton to choose from, but if you're trying to cut costs, here's  a link to some free images.  

Post your project in the Paper Craft Planet photo gallery, and use the tag "PCPgrafico". (Here is a tutorial on adding pictures to the gallery, if you need it.)  MyGrafico has generously  offered a       $10 store gift certificate  to one of our lucky challenge players

I was never quite sure about digital stamps - until I realized that you can resize things, print the images on different paper, and that its always there waiting for you on your computer!  This morning for our blog hop - all DT from PCPlanet used the Forest Friends digi stamp set for our cards. I used the tree and bird stamp set from and loved working on it and playing around with it! Here are two cards that I created using the same stamps:

For this card - I used Jen's Sketch For You to Try from this last week and used the bird stamp and one of the tree stamps from this set - in photoshop I created a little scene (and flipped one of the birds so it faced the other way).

Card Details: Paper: Ann Griffen,  and scrap, Stamps:Forest Friends digi stamp set from My Graphico and the sentiment stamp is from Year of Sweet sentiments from Taylored Expressions, Accessories: Circle Cutter from CM, ribbon from TE

I LOVE this tree (I think I am getting to be a tree image addict :) I could have printed it directly and colored it in - but I colored the images in photoshop and then printed it out twice and cut out some of the leaves and birds to give it more dimension. My DH's aunt and uncle are coming over today and we missed celebrating their golden anniversary - so I made this card last night for them. After making this card - I had an idea for another one - and it was so easy to use the same images and change it a bit in photoshop - and create a silhouette kind of image from the tree and just have the birds be colorful - so here is the second card (printed out two and then cut and popped up some of the leaves and birds on dimensionals):

Card Details: Paper: Scrap paper, Stamps:Forest Friends digi stamp set from My Graphico and sentiment is from Doctor's Orders from Taylored Expressions, Accessories: Circle Cutter from CM, EK success punch,  EK success punch, K&Co rhintestones, white color pencil, ribbon from my MIL's stash :) and corner rounder.

It was so much fun to make this second card  - can't wait to make some more (I resized the images so that they were about 2" or 3"). This is one of the nice things about digi stamps and it was fun to create a silhouette kinda card :)

If you haven't worked with digi stamps before, here are some little info tidbits:

• You do NOT have to have a photo editing software.  You can just open and pri these jpg images.
• If you have a photo editing program, the images come in both jpg and png files.  You can resize the images and combine them into scenes with just a click of the mouse.
• Digital images last forever and require very little storage space!
• There are several great tutorial videos over on Paper Craft Planet that will show you how to use digital images, if you have any questions.

Check out the awesome creations that the rest of the Super Novas came up with:

Adela Rossol

Lynn Mercurio

Kim Burmeister

Wendy Price

Tammy Hershberger

Erika Martin

Lori Tecler

Jessica Fick

Susanna Boyd

And now, it's your turn!  Take the challenge and let's see what you make! 

Thanks so much for visiting my little corner! 

Hugs!!!

Sankari :)

PS - I have to say that this is the craftiest vacation I have had, LOL!!! :)

 Hope you are all having a fabulous Weds!

Thinking of You Card

Happy Wednesday Everyone,

How are you all doing? I am as always excited about Wednesdays - because the weekend is within sight :) lol! Its been so long since I did a TCP challenge (The Cat's Pajamas) - this week the uber talented Jen del Muro is the hostess with the mostess and this week she has a color challenge for us (light pink, light yellow and light blue - with any shade of brown as an optional color).  

Jen also has a wonderful sketch challenge (Sketch for You To 

Try). So, I thought I would combine her sketch with the TCP color challenge that she is hosting - its such a fun combination of spring colors - so I had to pull out Taylor's newest stamp release: Branching Out.

 I love this stamp set -it is so super cute - and thought I would try a little something different. I wanted to go for a spring blossom tree - so I stamped the tree onto Basic Grey Paper and then paper pieced all the leaves from pink cardstock. I then stamped the tree branch in Adirondack Expresso and then dotted the tree in pink liquid pearls for a kind of flowery effect and then covered the whole thing in stickles and coarse crystals from Martha Stewart. Its pretty glittery in the sunlight - but its hard to tell in the picture. This is such a whimsy set - and so its so much fun to let the imagination take flight and go all whimsy (sure, trees can have pink leaves, lol!!) 

Card Details:

Paper: Basic Grey (I don't remember which one), blue is handmade/tissue paper, rest is from stash

Ink: Adirondack Expresso, Staz-on Black

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Branching Out

Accessories: Brads (Making Memories), blue rhinestones, buttons from stash, stickles, liquid pearls, Martha Stewart Coarse crystals, dimensionals

The light blue paper is a really soft pretty handmade paper that is kind of like tissue paper - its so pretty that I have been hoarding it - but I am trying to be better these days about actually using all the paper in my stash (so that I can buy more! lol!). 

Well, I am off to finish cleaning up the house - we have had two sick little ones - and its amazing how quickly the house can go from "somewhat clean and presentable" to "national disaster zone". Hope you are all in good health and are enjoying your wednesdays!!

Thanks for coming over for a visit to this little corner :)

Ciao for now,

Sankari 

The Best things in Life are....

Good Morning Everyone,

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! I am so excited to share with you some exciting news! In December, I participated in Melanie Muenchinger's Hand-in-Hand sentimental journey challenge to create a card/project where hands are being featured. The winner of her challenge would get to be a guest desinger for Melanie in January and feature her latest stamps that are being released in January. I was soooo happy when Melanie selected my scrapbook layout and I got to be part of the release party of her newest stamps for Gina K. Designs. Melanie just released her newest set of awesome stamps called the The Best in Life.

Melanie is the senior illustrator at Gina K. Designs and has some amazing stamps that she has created and her blog: Hands, Head and Heart is just filled with amazing cards, projects and stories. Check out all of Melanie's stamps here and check out all of Gina K.'s amazing products here.She is someone whose work I have totally admired and I was so excited to be picked! YAY! Thank you Melanie!

Her newest stamps are sentiments that express what the best things in life are - they are sooo versatile and I just loved playing with them! you can mix and match sentiments and create your own new phrase of what the best things in life are. Melanie just posted a tip sheet on how you can use the stamps and what some different ideas for them are - you can check out her tip sheet here. Here are two cards that I created using her stamps:

This first one - I created using Melanie's The Best things in Life stamps and Gina's Warm and Cozy Christmas stamps and mixed the two together using Julee's awesome Mojo Monday sketch #70 I really loved making this card - because it was something I wanted to give to my MIL who is always so supportive and always such great care of our kids. These two little munckins in the their coats look just like our son and daughter. I loved the sentiment - from God - because no matter what your religious beliefs - children are a miracles. I paper pieced all the children's clothing and added alot of dimensionals to the card.

The second one - I created a card for a very special friend and the sentiment that I created from Melanie's stamps are: "The Best things in Life are shared" - I loved this! This card was created using the colors (black, kraft and pink) from the fabulous ladies at the Color Throwdown and uses Jen del Muro's sketch from last week.


I loved using Melanie's stamps for this card for my friend. She is such a sweetheart and is always sharing and taking care of others. The sundae's on the card have liquid pearl and the glass on the sundae's have a liquid glaze on them. I have so many ideas spinning around in my head on projects to use with Melanie's stamps - there are so many.

The thing that i like the best about her stamps is that she has sentiments that really fit everything you could want to describe and share in a card or layout or project. They are just so versatile. Please go check out Melanie's stamps and her awesome blog! She is not only an amazingly talented artist - but after having a chance to email back and forth and talk with her on the phone (we have to do it longer next time Melanie! :) she is just so sweet, kind and encouraging. I absolutely adore her!

I hope your sunday is restful and relaxing!! My sunday is unfortunately looking like a laundry kind of day - oh well! :) Hopefully, I can get some stamping done too!

Thanks for visiting!
Ciao for now!
Sankari :)

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge - #12 - An Affair to Remember

The challenge for this week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge is to create a card, scrapbook layout or altered project inspired by the 1957 Oscar nominated movie: An Affair to Remember, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. I hope you all take a peek at this challenge and play along! Its a great way to watch a movie, make a card and hear everyone's stories about their favorite parts of this movie :). Come on and check it out here.

This is one of my father's favorite movies and one of my favorites too! I remember watching this when I was little with my dad - although back then I missed some of the meaning of the dialogue. He was totally excited that we were doing this movie this week - we had a lovely talk about our favorite scenes from this movie and then we got into a whole conversation about the best Cary Grant movies :) I loved hearing my dad's stories of how old he was when he watched these movies and what his experiences were. I know watch this movie differently, because now when I watch some scenes, I know that they are my dad's favorites :)

This week, we are visitng my in-laws for Christmas vacation and I had a chance to watch this movie again with my mother-in-law and father-in-law. We are all just absolute fans of Cary Grant - that man defines elegance and grace - he is just classic. I loved sitting and watching this with my in-laws and sighing here and there at the same time with my MIL - by the end of the movie - we were both crying (even my FIL had a little tear)... sigh - i just love this movie!

Watching it again - I forgot how brilliant the dialogue is - it is so humorous and savy and this movie is full of very very smart writing. I mean this movie was released in 1957!!! AND it is SOOO clever in the writing - seriously - you have to see this movie if you haven't seen it yet! This movie has been voted as one of the most romantic movies of all time by the American Film Institute. This movie inspired Sleepless in Seattle with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, The movie Love Affair with Warren Beatty and Anette Betting and Mann with Amir Khan and Manisha Koirali. An Affair to Remember totally inspires love and is such a classic love story.

I love Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr's back and forth banter - so cute and clever and charming. I had so many ideas for making a card - but the two that I picked were inspired by 1) the fact that they both agreed to meet at the Empire State building 6 months later and 2) the song called: TomorrowLand.

The first card is inspired by the 6 month meeting place of the Empire State building. Deborah Kerr exlaims that it is the closest thing to heaven. I wrote the sentiment: You were heaven sent" inspired by this part of the movie. I use Jen's Sketch for You to Try for this sketch. This is the sketch from December 20th.
I loved the little circles on the bottom of the sketch and had fun making a little circle collage of purple-y colors.

Watching this part of the movie when he is waiting for her to meet him at the Empire State Building is just too sweet - esp. when you see him waiting in the thunder storm. Sigh! I love that the Empire State Building is a symbol of their love and a symbol of them being close to heaven. This is a little card that I have to save for my little tweetheart for Valentine's day :)

I also loved the song Tomorrowland - it was so sweet and the lyrics are just too sweet. The handwritten senitment: "May your troubles, like bubbles, vanish in the air" are the actual lyrics from the movie. I used bubble wrap over the DP in this card to represent the bubbles from the lyrics of the song....( on a sidenote, doesn't popping bubbles always help one's problems vanish into the air?)

I used Kazan's totally fun sketch from 2 Sketches for U. Love the circles in this sketch and love the wavy wavy wavy border. It was perfect for the bubbles in this card project. I punched out some DP from Provocraft with my CM circle punches and then cut out a similar circle from packing bubbles that I then adhered to the DP circle. The shiny silver paper is from paper Craft, the gray one is from my stash, the bottom DP is also from ProvoCraft. The buttons are from my MIL's stash (she was so sweet to let me raid her button stash) and I hand wrote the sentiment.

here is a side view - you can see the packing bubbles from this view. I totally love this song and I love the lyrics -  here are some more of the lyrics: "There's a wonderful place called tomorrowland, and its only a dream away, and the moment you get to tomorrowland, you'll forget about today. You'll forget every care, and your troubles, like bubbles, will vanish in air. Ask me how do you get to tomorrowland. Close your eyes, make a wish and you're there."  I totally loved this song growing up... always felt like a daydreaming kind of song... so sweet.... you can watch the video on YouTube here. 


here is a closer view of the bubbles:


here are both cards side by side:


I loved making cards for this challenge and I loved using these awesome sketches too! I seriously have fallen in love with this movie again - and with Cary Grant even more - sigh! If you haven't watched this movie - I would totally suggest renting it, snuggling on the couch with some popcorn and enjoy this beautiful era of filmmaking.

We would love it if you would play along with us! Go and check out the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge Blog for more details! Its so much fun to see what everyone comes up with from the same movie!!

Can't wait to see your lovely creations!!

Thanks for visiting today! We are traveling tomorrow back to Iowa - so I will have a chance then to come around and visit all my awesome blog buddies! Hope you have been enjoying the holiday season!!

Sending you merry and bright wishes!
Lots of love always,
Sankari

Color Throwdown with Jen's Sketch for You to Try

Good Morning Everyone,

I have been slacking

on doing some challenges - so today's post is actually three separate posts using 6 different challenges (how crazy is that!) But for the simplicity of listing the card ingredients - I am posting it all separately.

This card is inspired from the fun colors from the ladies at the Color Throwdown and the sketch from Jen's Sketch for You to Try. I love these great colors together and decided that I needed some blank sentiment cards - so I just enjoyed the sketch without worrying about the sentiment. This last weekend - I wanted to give a card to someone - and I couldn't find the right card with the right sentiment - so I think I need to make some more all purpose blank ones.

I really had fun with this sketch and all the circles. The bow is a tribute to Donna from Butternut Sage designs - who had a great tutorial for this bow - but mine didn't quite turn out the way her gorgeous bow did - so I made do with how it ended up.

Can't wait to try out the beautiful colors from today's color throwdown!!

Hope all of you are keeping well on this Wednesday!

Thanks for coming over for a visit!

Ciao for now,

Sankari

PS. If you need more challenges please come over to our new challenge site called Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge. Every Saturday, Brooke and I pick out a movie from which you can draw inspiration to create a card, layout or project. Click HERE for me details - come on over and play - we wold LOVE it if you would join!

Card Recipe:

Paper: from my scrap mountain! yay! a few more pieces are getting out of the scrap pile :)

Accessories: Ribbon from Offray, Brads from Making Memories, Martha's Mini Scallop punch, CM circle cutting system, paper piercing. SU! Scallop Punch

Shows Watched: Lipstick Jungle on Hulu

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 

Happy Holiday Card

Hi All,

So today I made a card that wasn't for a challenge!! Wow! It felt good just to make a card and I loved this sketch from Jen that she created a few weeks ago that I had to make another card using the same sketch. 

This was an almost no stamp card! The only thing that was stamped was the design in the pink DP, in VersaMark and then embossed in clear EP. The sentiment is a rub-on, and the stockings were from DP and then stickled. Oh and some liquid applique for the "fuzzy" part of the stockings. And then they were hung with care on a piece of rolled cardstock. 

I felt a little relief in making something x-mas-y after a slew of b-day cards. I am just so amazed at how quickly the month of August is flying by - and then its September - which is one of my favorite months (can you guess why?!). 

Alright - tomorrow is a big day - so I bid ye adieu and goodnight!

Sleep tight!

Thanks for coming over for a visit!

Sankari

Card Recipe:

Paper - DCVW

Stamps - Beyond the Basics from Stampin Up! (for the background)

Ink - VersMark

Accessories - Clear EP, Metallic brads from (?), Ribbon (Offray), Stickles (Gold)

Jen's Sketch for You to Try & Color Challenge from the Verve Divas

Hi Everyone,

Here is a card made for Jen's Sketch for You to Try.  What a great sketch and boy can I use some sketch ideas - for all the birthdays this week. I feel like everyone's birthday is rolled into this week along with school starting and a million other things that have to get done before the week is through... phew! I am just tired thinking about all that :)

So, I think that is why it was fun to sit down and take a breather and make this card. It was also made for a color challenge from Charmaine from Meet the Verve Divas Challenge - the challenge is to make a card black and white card with a splash of color.

I love a black and white card - with a splash of ANY color - so it was hard to choose - but I went with a violet color. I love how this came together - and I played around for a while trying different flowers and other embellishments in the top right corner  - but it felt too busy next to the sentiment so eventually, I decided on a bow - but kept it kinda centered on the right side. I have to say that I love this stamp set from TCP - it is just so much fun to stamp and to color! 

So let's see... 3 birthday cards down... only 3 more to go and 2 anniversary ones too... but from the looks of it now - they might just be getting a happy anniversary phone call (LOL!) ....  

So preschool starts tomorrow and then on Friday is our turn to bring snack (how quickly it all begins!) I am thinking muffins and popcorn - any suggestions?

Hope all of you are well - and are enjoying the thought of the upcoming weekend is that looming on the horizon! Speaking of which I be off to clean all the bits of lunch that are looming on the floor (can you really use looming in that context... well, regardless - I still need to go and clean it :)

Thank you for visiting!

Ciao for now,

Sankari

Card Recipe:

Paper: Gift wrap, DCVW cardstock

Stamps: TCP!! I am lovin' this set

Ink : Staz-on Black, 

Accessories: Stcikles (Black,Platinum), Brads (Making Memories), Ribbon (Offray), Pearls from Martha

Show watched: Psych

Hang in There Card

Hello All, 

I getting ready to go to the post office yesterday to mail a card for Mackenzie's Aunt (if you would like to make a card for her please click here), but then I wanted to make a card for Mackenzie herself since she is also going through some roughness during this time. So I made this quick card using the SU! Mini Mates set and I followed the fun fun fun sketch that you see in the top left corner, provided by Jen dM from "i {heart} to stamp". I love her fun sketches!

 

I really loved this little guy hanging from the tree - he is so cute. I colored him and stickled him and then layered him on the 

alternating pink and brown cardstock. The ribbon is from Offray, the buttons are from my box of random buttons and the Prima flowers have brads from Spare Parts. The dots are from Martha's Craft Paint and I scalloped the pink cardstock with my corner rounder. 

I hope Mackenzie enjoys it as much as I did making it for her :) I really enjoyed this sketch - it was fun way to include color and break up the visual space

I can't believe that today is almost done - where did the day go? I think when you have kids running around - time just flies - and then all of the sudden the day is over and here I am cleaning up again for the umpteenth time - sheesh!

Hope all of you are well

Thank you so much for visiting me, 

Have a good night :) 

Sankari

KW Color Inspiration Challenge #17, OCC Faux Emboss Challenge

Hello Everyone,

It's time for another KW Color Inspiration Challenge and a technique challenge from the ladies at the OCC. When I saw the picture of that Kristina posted for the inspiration below - I had to get started right away. The colors to use were  Regal Rose, Rose Red, Sage Shadow and Whisper White. And from the ladies at the OCC (Our Creative Corner) the challenge was to dry emboss - but since I don't have the tools for that, I did the faux dry emboss.

When I saw the dress - I fell in love - I love that dress!!! -it has a simple elegance to it and touch of soft spring. I think my card has a lot of white in it because after the last post of bright cards - I think I needed to shift from the bright spectrum to something softer. As I mentioned in my last post, I need to make a slew of birthday cards - so thought this might a perfect one for a friend of mine whose birthday is coming up at the end of this month. 

 

 The layout for the card comes from Jen's sketch Inspiration that I made a card for (click here) and I really loved that layout - so I decided to use it again for this card. The dress is a stamp from My Sentiments Exactly (I folded the dress to mimic the pleats) and the ribbons are from Offray. The faux dry embossing was made using the smallest Fiskar circle punch on white cardstock and layering the background of the dress with it. 

Alright, going to go make breakfast now (Waffles! here we come!!)

Hope all of you are having a beautiful day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sankari

In Everything Give Thanks

Hi  Everyone, 

What an intense night it was over here - full of lightening, rain, downpour, hail and more rain. This morning, we were in a thunderstorm warning and lost internet for a bit. But now, its bright and sunny and H-O-T and humid - hard to even believe that it rained at all. 

Hope all of you had an enjoyable weekend. Ours was full of cleaning and housework (that is still not done) and also filled with going to the park, to a birthday party and an impromptu trip to a restaurant for dinner - (YAY! to spontaneity!). 

Anyhoo - I just wanted to post a card that I made for Jen's Sketch for you To Try - what a fun sketch challenge! I loved the off kilter image and had to try it when I saw it a few days ago - but couldn't get to it with all the built up laundry and housework  that have been neglected. And even though all of that is still not done - I took a break to make a quick card. I wanted to make a card for a fellow Virgo sistah of mine and so I opened the SU! Happy Harmony set: and got busy. 

The background paper is actually gift wrap (it was so pretty - I had to make a card out of it :), the brads are from Spare Parts, the Prima flower was dabbed in Martha's metallic bronze ink, the ribbon is from Offray and then the last touch was to dab some stickles (gold) on the flowers. The flowers were stamped in Martha's Silver ink and then embossed in Clear powder. I embossed with Polysparkle powder the swirls from the SU! 2 step flowers set onto the brown cardstock for a quick fun DP. The card measures 3.5" by 4.38" which is a really nice small size to work with. 

This was a really fun card to make because I was making it for someone special - those cards are so much fun to make. So now, I am going forth to finish off my extra long To Do (which is always being added onto thanks to my 2 wonder kids :). How are you all doing on this Monday?

Hope you are all having a great start to the week!

Thanks for dropping by for a visit :)

Ciao for now,

Sankari

Happy Anniversary Card (2 in 1 Challenge)

Hello All, 

Just a quick post today - this is a card that was inspired by the Ladies at the OCC (Our Creative Corner) and also from Jen's Sketch For You To Try. The inspiration challenge for this week at the OCC was to make a card from this beautiful dining set and the sketch from Jen was really a great one incorporating a square and a 2 half circles:

   

I loved the warmth of the colors of the dining set and I also needed to make an anniversary card and when I saw Julee's card over at Verve - I was totally inspired to make this card. The rose sentiment was embossed in gold and its hard to see its full sparkle power - but it really makes the card kinda fun. I took the photo in the bright morning sun light - so its hard to read the sentiment (Happy Anniversary), but I didn't have time to take another pic - oh well. 

Since I have to make this a quick post (there are a ton of errands and paper work in store for me today! aie!!!) I will post the card details later. 

Hope all of you are well, happy and healthy!

TTYL,

Sankari