invasion of the monkeys

I made this card for my niece Kaitlyn. I wasn't able to go to her party as it was the same weekend as CKC and I had already scheduled and paid for my classes before we were invited to her party. My kids had a blast though!

Don't you think sock monkeys are the cutest? I love sock monkeys! I can't remember ever having one or knowing anyone who made them. In fact, I can't ever remember seeing one in person... how sad is that!! Jody made a few that she posted on her blog and really love what she did with them. This one and this one really inspired me to try piecing them. This was my first attempt. I made the scallop with my SU slit punch.

Recipe:

dsp, basic black and whisper white card stock from Stampin' Up

Card base from DCWV

Copic marker and Stampin Up basic black ink pad

let's play with ribbon

So as promised, I am sharing some of the fun stuff I learned at my classes at CKC. Today, I am sharing some fun things from my ribbon class with you. I had a duh moment with almost all of the techniques we learned. Some were very simple, others more complex.
The first ribbon technique I want to share is this simple french board style tag pocket. To achieve this look, all you need to do is cross two (or more) ribbons adhering them at the ends only.

Another super easy ribbon treatment is with this one we did on this puffy sticker. Think about this on chipboard too. For this, we started with one end of the ribbon and attached it to the back of the sticker and crossed it over the front of the flower going between each petal with a slight rotation in the back of the flower.

I think this flower brad technique was my favorite! This was just a bit more complex than the other two. This one was done is by opening the brad prongs all the way lifting them off the back of the gem slightly. You don't have to use a gem brad though. In the center of the ribbon, pinch your ribbon bit and twist a few times. Tuck the ribbon under one of the prongs and push the prong back into it's original position flat against the gem. Repeat this for the other prong. Make a third ribbon twist and place this one in the center. Arrange the ribbon petals and clean up the edges.

And some reminders of some techniques that have been around the block a few times:

• photo corners, wrap a bit of ribbon around the corner of a photo attaching the ends to the back
• knots, use a loose double knot for another look
• tie on a group of ribbon with a longer srtip of ribbon (as shown on the letter D here)
  

And here is my completed project from this SEI class at CKC. I love these word books!

cuppa anyone?

So, last night I was clearing off my craft counter (note I said clearing and not cleaning. All I really did was tossed it in a box for sorting later) and I came across a scrap of DCWV Nana's Nursery striped paper and a Blue Bayou card base. They match purty well. I also had a SEI tag (from last years CKC convention) in my french board. I knew right then that I had to make a card (I worked so hard shoving everything off the counter after all!).

Last week, I checked out the non-raffle prizes (are they called prizes if it's not a raffle?) and saw the most adorable stamp set by Flourishes! It was sold out, but I got my name on a wait list and snatched one up right away when they came back in stock. I *had* to ink my new set.

For this simple card I paper pieced the cup and saucer and popped the image panel up so that I could slide that cute SEI tag in. The edges of the cup piece and the tage are inked and the image is outlined with a Copic marker.

Recipe:
SU Solid card stock
DCWV Patterned paper
Flourishes Coffee with Friends stamp set
SEI tag
Target $ Spot Ribbon
SU Basic Black and Ranger Tattered Rose distress by Tim Holtz inks
Copic E21 Marker

ckc

In case you missed me, I spent all day Friday and Saturday at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge, PA. It's a great convention and just about twenty minutes from my house. All day on Friday I volunteered and on Saturday I took five SEI classes. I made some really fun projects and I also learned some new tricks! Over the next week or two I will put together some tutorials for you and share some of the projects I made.

I didn't get to meet any of the big names over at CK but I did meet Heidi's Swapp's Mom! She is so sweet! Her CK name badge said "Heidi's Mom, yes THAT Heidi!" It was so cute! Oh, and the daughter of the owners of SEI... her name is Lindsey and she is a doll!... taught all the SEI classes I took. She is so funny and talented! During our first class she was talking pretty fast and ran her words together. She was trying to say "cut" with "and" and ended up adding an "n" to the word cut... yeah she said *that* word! The whole class busted out with laughter! It was really funny. Her face was almost as red as her shirt!

dirty challenges

This last week they had some challenges for the Fan Club members over at SCS. I haven't been stamping a lot the last few days but I did get to play in a few of the challenges.

For Jody's ribbon challenge (who can resist a ribbon challenge? surely not me!) I wanted to use this fun Dasiy D's ribbon that I got from Jacksonbelle Embellishments. I went with the colors of the striped ribbon and used Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke and Elegant Eggplant cardstock from Stampin' Up. The inkadinkado birds were colored with reinkers and a blender pen. Heidi Swapp gems were used along the scallops I made with my SU slit punch. I really love the scallops that punch makes and I have decided against the new scallop punch from Stampin' Up because it's so easy to make scallops with the corner rounder and the slit punches.

My second card was for Jenn's inspiration challenge. Jenn selected a stunning black and white wedding cake with a huge lime green ribbon. I chose the colors and some of the cake details as inspiration. I punched two black squares with my nesties and attached them with some adhesive along the top. I used some SU Wild Wasabi designer paper stamped with a sentiment from SU. I added a white mat that just barely peeks out from under the DSP. A knot of white May Arts ribbon was added to tie it all together.