ATC Swap

What do you guys think of ATCs- Artist Trading Cards? I always love the ones I see in real life- so artsy-fartsy and cool looking! I had never joined a swap of these before and my lss just started a club so I thought I'd join and see how it went. I tried to be arsty-fartsy and use some different techniques. Here are the five I made for the swap- the theme was spring:







I can't wait to see what I get in return! Most of the people who are swapping have their own unique style so it should be pretty fun. I still don't know if I'll collect them or make cards with them. What do you do with ATC's?

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

-tessa

A Spring Day Card

The stamps in the A Kind Word set are just perfect for what I'm feeling right now... like spring should be here and I should be outside swinging and playing with baby kitties! Hee! Unfortunately, for us over on the east coast, winter is still here and we may even get some more snow tonight! Yuck! Here is my pretty spring card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: A Kind Word set
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; Pretty in Pink, Ruby Red, Dusty Durango, Creamy Caramel, Sage Shadow, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue Classic inks
Paper: Sage Shadow, Kraft, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink cardstock; Watercolor paper; The Write Stuff DSP, Sweet Pea DSP
Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, Aqua Painter, Signo White gel pen, paper piercer, Corner Rounder punch, Hemp twine, Perfect Polka-dots embossing folder, Dimensionals

I had fun coloring and piecing this little girl together. I decided to cut around her toes to give her a little more dimension and movement. Here is a closer look:



Well, I better cut it short today- we have a furniture delivery and I'm afraid they'll be here before I'm dressed if I don't pop in the shower soon! Enjoy your day!

-tessa

10 Things Page

My local scrapbook store is putting on a blog challenge to use products with a household goods theme. I picked up some of the fun new papers there last week so I thought I'd play along! Here is my page:



It's a pretty simple page but I like how it turned out! I picked the coffee cups paper because my hubby loves coffee but ended up doing a page that has nothing to do with it... since the page is about the things I love about him, I guess it works!

Can it already be Wednesday? Where did this week go? I hate it when time flies like that!

Hope you are all enjoying your day! Thanks for visiting!

-tessa

Snow Day Banner

Well, I decided to embrace the snow and make a banner! I figure I can display it next year when we are wishing for snow... hee!




A closer look:



I think I might add some sparkly snow drifts to some of the letters... maybe next winter!

Thanks for looking,

-tessa

Pretty Valentine Card

Good Morning!

It's another snowy day... 6 in a row for us! I made this card a few nights ago and I really love how it turned out:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts set, Well Scripted set, En Francais set
Ink: Old Olive, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink classic inks
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip cardstock; Sweet Pea DSP
Accessories: Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine, Latte' button assortment, 1 3/8" Circle punch, Dimensionals

The layout for this card came from one of Cosmo Cricket's great designers. Isn't it a great one? I had to try it! I created the scallops by punching out a circle and tracing it on to the patterned paper. I love the look of the larger scallops right now and I've found that the 1 3/8" circle is the perfect size!

Off to get busy on the rest of my day! Not that I've got any where to go because of the snow... hee!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-tessa

Valentine's Tic-Tac-Toe Card

Can you tell I've had a little time on my hands? With my hubby home this week, and nothing going on because of the snow, I've had lots of time to play with my stamps! I've also had lots of inspiration from different challenges online! (Thankfully!) This time I'm playing along with the Embellish Magazine Challenge:



I love turquoise and pink together! I really wanted to throw in a little red but decided to stick with the challenge. I love how this turned out though:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: A Happy Heart set
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Pink Pirouette classic inks
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise cardstock; Candy Lane DSP
Accessories: Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, Hemp Twine, Perfect Polka-dots texture plate, dimensionals

I've had this set for over a year now and haven't used this stamp yet... do you have sets like that? I seem to go for the same ones over and over again and have a few that barely ever get inked up! I think I'll challenge myself to use some of these this week... might as well- we are getting more snow!

OK! Off again to create something new! Thanks for peeking!

-tessa

I Love You, Friend...

Today I'm sharing another card I made over our snowy weekend... it is still going on, too, just in case you were wondering... 10-20 more inches starting at noon today! Luckily we've had our power on the entire time and we were able to stock up on lots of yummy goodies yesterday to get us through this next leg of the winter storm...

My friend Andrea posted a challenge on her blog, Twilight Sparrow last week to use this painting by Emily Martin from the Black Apple Shoppe as inspiration for a card or paper craft.



Of course, I made a card. It was a little tricky since I didn't have a hedgie stamp, an airplane stamp, or cute little kids stamps... I just took the colors in the painting and the theme of love and friends. Here it is:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Vintage Vogue set, Picture This set
Ink: Basic Black, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron classic ink; Versamark
Paper: Going Gray, Real Red, Crushed Curry, Old Olive cardstock; Baja Breeze textured cardstock; The Write Stuff DSP
Accessories: Basic Gray Satin ribbon, Crystal Effects, half back pearl(Pretties Kit), Close to Cocoa corduroy buttons, Hemp twine, Clear embossing powder

I wanted to go for a simple look to make the flowers stand out and added some softness by inking around the edges of the background pieces. It is a little different then most cards I make but I like it!

Thanks Andrea for the challenge! I wish I had a cute hedgie stamp to play with! Hee!

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

-tessa

Ready For Spring...

Being cooped up in the house for four days because of the snow makes you yearn for spring... sunshine, flowers, and blossoming trees! That is what I was thinking about this afternoon when I made this card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Season of Friendship set, Cute and Curly set; Sprinkles
Ink: Old Olive, Rose Red, Soft Suede Classic inks; Versamark
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Kraft, Rose Red, Crushed Curry, Whisper White cardstock; The Write Stuff DSP
Accessories: Curly Label Punch, Hemp Twine, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Latte Button Assortment

The sketch for this design was inspired by Just Add Ink's latest challenge:



I thought it was a great sketch- simple looking but the circle makes it interesting... and a little tricky! Hee! If you have time, give it a whirl!

Hope you are enjoying your afternoon!

-tessa

Love You Much Card

Good Morning!

Hope you all had a great weekend... we are still in weekend mode here in the DC area... snowed in- and more snow coming tomorrow! I wonder if my hubs will work at all this week?? Hmm... At any rate, I had lots of time to make cards over the weekend! Hee! I even played along with some challenges. The card I'm sharing this morning was inspired by Rhonda, The Stamp Scrap Diva's sketch challenge from last week:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Love You Much set; I {Heart} Hearts set
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay classic inks
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Whisper White cardstock; Razzleberry Lemonade DSP
Accessories: Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain ribbon, Crystal Effects, Perfect Polkadots texture folder, 1 3/8" circle punch, aqua painter, Clear embossing powder, dimensionals

I watercolored the letters and then went over them with Crystal Effects to make them shine. Everything else is pretty straight forward- it was a fun sketch to work with! Thanks Ronda, for the inspiration!

My goal for today is to create a light box of some type to take better pictures... I've been trying different areas of my house for the best natural light but they still aren't coming out how I would like them to... if you've got any tips, let me know!

Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by to take a peek!

-tessa

I {Heart} You

I had a little time to play this afternoon! I stamped a clean and simple card to play along with the girls over at Just Add Ink. I was a top pick in last weeks challenge :) Hee!



Their challenge this week was to create something with hearts so that is just what I did! This card is a case of one of my own cards that I did back in November with leaves instead of hearts...



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts set; A Happy Heart set
Ink: Soft Suede, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum classic inks
Paper: Kraft, Perfect Plum, Whisper White cardstock; Thoroughly Modern DSP
Accessories: Paper Piercer, White Signo gel pen, Scallop Edge punch, Crystal Effects, Dimensionals

This card was just what I needed to get back into the swing of things! My mojo has been missing lately... I kept things really simple this time and I think it really helped! Hee!

Hope you are all enjoying your day!

-tessa

Sweet Pea

A quick and cute little project for my new baby niece- Sweet Pea baby headbands! Here is Seyla modeling her new accessories:



What a sweetie! I was lucky enough to get snowed in with my sister and her family over the weekend. The kids spent the day playing together and my sister and I spent the day crafting and painting our nails. So fun!! I also got a good share of cuddling with the baby-hee!

Anyways, just a short and sweet post today... my card mojo has been kaput but there are a few challenges I want to play along with this week so hopefully they will help me through!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

-tessa