The Perfect Sentiment: Anything Goes!

I am back to invite you to join in on another fun challenge over at The Perfect Sentiment!

This time it's "Anything Goes", but you must CASE- as that is our "twist" this week:-)

Our challenge this week is being sponsored by The Digital Emporium, and our winner will receive their choice of 3 digital images! You have until next Tuesday at 100:00PM EST to get your card in and have a chance at winning this week's prize.

I would love it if you'd CASE my card of course, and I will tell you it really was a fun one to make. I do think there could be endless possibilities here; I am actually considering CASEing myself, lol! I loved making this card for many reasons:

For starters, I used a lot of my faves on it. I really like browns. And with some cream added, and a few touches of SU!'s beautiful Baja Breeze blue, this is one of my favorite color combos.

Another fave of mine: toile. I love anything toile. This was my first time using the Elements of Style stamp set, and boy is this one beautiful set of stamps! The flowers are so pretty. I considered watercoloring them but ultimately decided to just stamp them in Sahara Sand ink onto white card stock and to give them some "pop" I cut them out. I also used the same floral stamp all around the edges of my card base.

The bird and butterflies were punched out, and I adhered the bird using dimensionals. A little pearl was added for the bird's eye.

I think the kraft colored ribbon matched really well and added a little softness to all the darker shades of brown. I also put some little pearls on the butterflies, too.

The textured patterned paper is awesome and adds a wonderful feel to the card.

And don't you just love this frame? It was actually made by my friend Lidia who has a wonderful Etsy shop called Breaking Barriers. You can check out her beautiful work and lovely items for sale HERE.

Well.... have I inspired you? I sure hope so! I would love to have you CASE me- or any one of my fellow design team members at The Perfect Sentiment. Be sure to visit their blogs to see all of their wonderful "Anything Goes" cards here:

Jennipher

Sami

Jan

Abby

Kimberly

Rochelle

Shaunna

Stacey

Tere

Theresa

Jessica- guest designer

Rita- guest designer

Thanks so much for joining me again for another challenge from The Perfect Sentiment!

Items used to make this card include:

SU! Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze Card stock; PTI white card stock; SU! Parisian Breeze patterned paper

Stamps: SU! Elements of Style; Punch Potpourri; Blessings From Heaven

Ink: SU! Sahara Sand; Baja Breeze; Early Espresso

Accessories: Martha Stewart butterfly punch; SU! Bird punch; Adhesive pearls; SU! Kraft Taffeta ribbon; hand made polymer clay frame

Perfect Sentiment Challenge: Encouragement!

Encouragement. How often could you think of someone that could use an encouraging word? Well I think it's a wonderful reason to send someone a card. Sometimes something as simple as finding a little note in the mailbox with an encouraging message is all it takes to really brighten someone's day and provide just what is needed when things get to be a bit "too much".

So this week our challenge for you over at The Perfect Sentiment is to make a card with an encouraging sentiment on it. And for the "twist" to our challenge: Use the provided sketch to inspire you!

Our prize this week will be for a free digi image from our wonderful sponsor Pattie's Creations!

I had fun with this sketch, but didn't have to think too hard on what I was going to use. As soon as I saw the inspiration sketch, I just knew I would use a doily. However... it wasn't until I remembered my new Cheery Lynn Design's die that I considered making my own doily :-)

And for me, lace is always one of my favorite embellishments anyway, so with the lacy doily, I decided this pretty crocheted lace trim would be perfect. I love the color!

I also like stripes and flowers together, so I picked these pretty papers from Stampin' Up!. The light pink flowers on the paper I used for the doily are very subtle and faint, but if you look closely I think you can see them ;-)

I added 3 flowers to the top right corner to represent the three little things on the sketch.

And I put my encouraging sentiment within the circle. I used Stickles to add a little touch of glittery bling to my card.

And there you have my interpretation of this week's sketch challenge.

For more inspiration, please check out these other cards from our design team:

Sami

Jan

Abby

Kimberly

Rochelle

Shaunna

Stacey

Tere

Theresa

Jessica- Guest Designer

Rita- Guest Designer

I hope you will head on over to The Perfect Sentiment for all the details so you can join in the fun and submit your creation this week. Just be sure to submit by Tuesday at 10:00 PM EST, and use the keywords PSC08. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

I'd like to take this time to wish you and all those near and dear to your heart a very happy, healthy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Items used to make this card include:

Card Stock: SU! Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry and Pink Pirouette

Patterned Papers: SU! Parisian Summer designer paper

Ink: SU! Rich Razzleberry

Cheery Lynn English Tea Party doily die

SU! Scalloped circle punches and circle punch

Pink Stickles

Webster's Pages crocheted lace trim

Sentiment Stamp from SU! Refuge & Strength stamp set

Christmas Wreath

With only a few days until Thanksgiving, I thought it would be the perfect time to start sharing Christmas cards with you! This one I made for Classy Cards 'n Such. I used several items from the store which I would love to tell you about.

The main focus, of course, is the "wreath". I made it using Cheery Lynn Design's English Tea Party doily. This die is amazing, as the details are so beautiful and it all cuts out so well!

For the center of the wreath, I used a dimensional floral sticker from K& Company. And around it I put a circle of gold Nestabling rhinestones. These are awesome; all you do is pull up the whole circle and stick it down. No need to try to evenly place rhinestones one by one!

For my sentiment, I used one of the Nestabilities Fancy Tag dies. I stamped onto SU!'s brushed gold card stock and cut it out using a Nestabilities oval die.

You can read more of the details over on the Classy Card's 'n Such blog. And if you place an order at Classy Cards 'n Such, remember to use the code SARAH-10 to receive 10% off your entire order! :-)

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my first Christmas card for this season. I will be sharing more with you in the weeks to come, so please stop by again soon. If you'd be so kind as to leave a comment, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for visiting me today!

Oh, Baby! You've Got Us In Stitches!

It's time for another challenge over at The Perfect Sentiment, and this one will have you in stitches. Literally! :-)

The sentiment: for a baby card. The "twist": Stitching!

You may use any kind of stitching: Hand sewn, machine sewn; faux....

But somewhere on the baby card must be some stitching.

Here is my take on this fun challenge:

You have to look a little closely to see my "stitching". I did it using a gold glitter pen- along the bottom of the punched pink "fence"...

... and all around the oval frame....

... and even zig-zagged, way down at the bottom behind and in between the pink crocheted flowers.

Some day I plan on learning how to do the "real deal", because I love stitching on cards! My sweet friend Cyndy has promised to give me a lesson on the little sewing machine I bought just for this purpose. She'd better have the patience of Job though, as I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to using a sewing machine ;-) But this challenge really has me wanting to learn, so hopefully I will be back before long with a card filled with stitches made with actual thread! Until then, my faux technique will have to suffice.

Now it's time for you to take on the challenge and see what you can come up with for a stitched baby card. All details can be found here on the Perfect Sentiment's blog.

Be sure to enter, because this week our sponsor is: Cindy Coutts Designs. She will be giving away a mini Stampin' Up Set, "Something For Christmas". You can check out Cindy's awesome blog HERE. She's doing a 12 Days Of Christmas series and I'm sure you won't want to miss it! Thanks, Cindy, for sponsoring us this week!!

And for more inspiration, check out all of the DT's blogs to see the wonderful stitched baby cards they have come up with:

Jennipher

Abby

Jan

Kimberly

Rochelle

Shaunna

Stacey

Tere

Theresa

Jessica-Guest Designer

Rita- Guest Designer

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you will leave me a comment and let me know what you think. And I hope you'll play along with us, too! Wishing you many blessings today!

Items used in making this card include~

SU! Textured Regal Rose c/s; SU! Pretty In Pink , Pink Pirouette and Old Olive c/s

Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up! dsp - Springtime Vintage

SU! Old Olive satin ribbon

Spellbinder's oval dies

Martha Stewart punch

Mark Richard's pink pearls

Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen

SU! Mat Pack and paper piercer (for zig zag stitching on bottom)

Stamps: SU! Puns From The Past (buggy) and Buggies & Booties (sentiment)

Cameo Card: Romantic, Vintage, Shabby

I am back again with a card I am really anxious to share with you. For those who have followed my blog for some time, you will not be surprised to learn that I loved making this card! It has so many elements in it that I consider to be among my favorites.

There are things that look elegant; things that look vintage. Things that make you think of romance, and an era of time gone by. There is a shabby-chic look to it, and a Victorian romance feel. I love how this card came out!

Many of the items I used (the patterned paper, the black lace, the ecru lace, the tag die and the pearls) can all be found at Classy Cards 'n Such. Please check out their store and their blog; you'll love both! And be sure to use the code SARAH-10 and you'll get a 10% discount on your entire order :-)

I love cameos! (Does that surprise you? lol!) This one was done using a stamp and then cut out and placed on dimensionals onto black card stock which was die cut using a tag from Spellbinder's Fancy Tag 3 set. Is that an awesome frame, or what? And I think the pearls all around really set the cameo off, don't you? I had fun working with placing it just right under the birds that are printed on the paper.

Oh, such beautiful lace! And by putting one on top of the other really added some great texture, especially so near to the distressed edges of the natural card stock. And as you can see in the close up, I stamped the base layer with a cheesecloth stamp in black ink, which looks very cool along side of the black lace.

And keeping with the romantic feel, I had to add a beautiful flower. Love this blue trellis rose from Prima!

Since I love using Scripture stamps, I thought this was a lovely one to compliment the card. It is from a Mother's Day set from Our Daily Bread Designs, but I think you could use it for many other occasions/reasons as well. I have also linked this card to ODBD's blog for their "stamping in time" challenge.

Thanks so much for visiting me and looking at my cameo card. Making it really got my "vintage mojo" going and I have since been working on a few more cards of this style. I will be posting them soon!

You know I always love your comments and will say "thank you" in advance ;-)

I hope you will come back and visit me agin soon!

Items used to make this card include:

Base card stock- Papertrey Ink

Natural and black card stock- Stampin' Up!

Pattern Paper- Webster's Pages (HERE from Classy Cards 'n Such)

Ecru Lace (HERE from Classy Cards 'n Such)

Black Lace (HERE from Classy Cards 'n Such)

Spellbinder's Fancy Tags Three dies (HERE from Classy Cards 'n Such)

Cameo image stamp- Waltzingmouse Stamps

Cheesecloth Background Stamp- Stampin' Up!

The Perfect Sentiment: All Occasion Challenge

We are ready for another challenge from The Perfect Sentiment!

Last week's Thanksgiving challenge was so much fun; I loved seeing all the great entries that came in. Thank you to all who played; hopefully you will want to join us again this week! And to those who have not yet played- please get ready to be inspired- and to have a shot at a great prize, and join in the fun!

This week the challenge is to make an all-occasion card. The twist: To use this inspiration photo!

Well, I must say: this was an absolute challenge for me! I knew right away I just had to use those wonderful colors and duplicate them as best I could- and find a way to get lots of texture and some dimension going. I love the ruffles and the different materials in the picture and wanted to portray the feeling of what those fun pillows must look and feel like in real life.

Here is what I came up with:

I was really happy with how I was able to get the ribbons all together. But the center image was what stumped me! I tried a couple of different ones before I ended up with this one.

I considered coloring it, but in the end I felt that I really wanted the accentuation and all the colors to come from the ribbons which represented the pillows in the inspiration pic. The sofa kind of reminded me of the stool in the photo- the same color as the cushion, and just kind of "there", holding the pillows. So, I felt it best to leave the image just as it was so that the ribbons would remain the focus.

Here you can see some of the texture up close. My base layer was texturized using an embossing folder, as were all of the other card stock layers (except the image).

I love the colors of the ribbons, but also the textures. Isn't the pom-pom one awesome?

So there you have it. That's what this cool picture inspired me to make. What will you be inspired to create?

Please send your card in to us by next Tuesday at 10:00PM EST, and with the key word PSC06. (All the details can be found on The Perfect Sentiment's blog.)

Thanks to our sponsor, we have a great prize that will be awarded to our winner:

5 digital stamps of the winner's choice from Robyn's Fetish!!

You can check them out at http://robynsfetish.com/shop/

And just one thing before you go off to work on your own card: Be sure to visit all of The Perfect Sentiment's design team members blogs! They have come up with some really wonderful cards that I am sure will inspire you!

Jennipher

Sami

Abby

Jan

Kimberly

Rochelle

Shaunna

Stacey

Tere

Theresa

Jessica-Guest Designer

Rita- Guest Designer

Thanks for visiting me again this week! I'd love to hear from you so if you'd kindly leave a comment I'd so appreciate it! Have fun creating; see you again soon!

Supplies/ card details:

Card stock: SU! Baja Breeze base

SU! Groovy Guava layer dry embossed with Sizzix embossing plate and sponged with Groovy Guava ink

SU! Certainly Celery layer dry embossed with Sizzix embossing plate and sponged with Certainly Celery ink

SU! Apricot Appeal layer dry embossed with Sizzix embossing plate and sponged with Apricot Appeal ink

Various ribbons used- including SU! Marina Mist satin; Groovy Guava Stitched Grosgrain and Tangerine Tango Pom Pom ribbon.

Sentiment/ Image from SU! Please Be Seated stamp set stamped in Soft Suede ink onto SU! Very Vanilla card stock and die cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities die.

My First Card For Classy Cards 'n Such!

I was so excited to share my latest news with you this morning! And now, I am back again to show you my first card as a guest design team member for Classy Cards 'n Such!

This is what I came up with, using several wonderful items from the store:

The beautiful patterned paper is from Prima's Romantique 6x6 paper pack.

I love the soft white swirls and flowers along the edges and in the corners.

I stamped the sentiment (from SU! Refuge & Strength set) onto white card stock which I had die cut using one of the Spellbinder's Fancy Tags Two dies. I added a coordinating silver Nestabling rhinestone tag over it.

After hanging a silver cross charm from white satin ribbon, I added a sweet little Lotus Bloom from Webster's pages on top of the bow. I love these flowers!

Notice how nicely the bow came out. That's because I used my Bow-Easy :-) What a great little tool that is!

Pearl stickers in the corners add a nice soft touch without covering too much of the pretty paper's print. Behind is a layer of vellum card stock which I had distressed. Everything was layered on top of a gray card stock base.

So there you have it: My first card for Classy Cards 'n Such! Please be sure to stop over to their blog to see my card there- as well as all the great cards from the design team!

And don't forget- you can receive a 10% discount on your entire purchase at

Classy Cards 'n Such by entering the code SARAH-10 when you order!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I'll be back soon with another card featuring several more wonderful items from

Classy Cards 'n Such!

Classy Cards 'n Such Design Team

Happy Monday! To start the week off, I have some news:

I have been chosen by Classy Cards 'n Such as a guest designer for the next 3 months!

I am so excited about this opportunity to create with and share some really great new products!

Classy Cards 'n Such is a wonderful online store that carries all sorts of terrific items for paper crafting. I can hardly wait to show you some of the things I have been using and what I have done with them. Keep your eyes out for my first card to come later this week!

In the meantime, head on over to Classy Cards 'n Such and check out all they have to offer. From papers, ribbons and trim to dies, embossing folders and tools to rubber stamps, rub ons and stickers to rhinestones, pearls and bling..... well the list goes on and on so you'll just have to go and see for yourself :-)

But that's not all! I have a surprise for you, too! When you order from Classy Cards 'n Such, just use the code SARAH-10 and you will receive 10% off your total order!

How awesome is that?!

So start your week right and get on over there and have fun shopping! And please be sure to check back with me later this week when I share my first Classy Cards 'n Such creation!

Happy Monday!

Perfect Sentiments Challenge: Thanksgiving!

It's November! (Can you believe it?!) And over at The Perfect Sentiment our challenge this week is to make a Thanksgiving card. Of course, as with all the challenges at The Perfect Sentiment, there is a "twist" to it. This week it is to incorporate brads or eyelets in your Thanksgiving card.

When I made mine, our temps were in the 80's, so it seemed pretty early to be creating this Fall card. But, in the few days since, our nights have been cooling down and we are supposed to get some daytime highs only in the 60's this week. For Southern California, that's getting quite chilly! And looking at the calender and seeing November now, well, my card doesn't seem quite so seasonally inappropriate anymore!

Here is what I came up with in hopes of inspiring you to play along with us:

I hope you can see there is a lot of texture in this card. For starters, I roughed up the edges, and chose felt for the falling leaves. The satin ribbon adds some softness.

This rosette made using Tim Holtz's die was a great way to add texture and dimension for the center of the card. The large brass brad in the center is one of my faves from Stampin' Up!

The other brad I used was for the bird's eye. And as you can see here, the die cut doily in the background also gives some added texture.

I outlined the oval frame with copper Stickels and love how that looks. Then, I added another falling leaf.

After the card was finished, I sprayed it with a lot of Tattered Angel's glimmer mist in their Wheatfields color. I love all the shimmer from it!

I hope this card inspires you to play along with us this week. You have until 10:00EST next Tuesday to link your card up over at The Perfect Sentiment Challenge Blog, using the keywords PSC05 Thanksgiving. (All details can be found on the blog.)

Our sponsor this week is Stacey from Stacey's Creative Corner. And yes, she's also one of our wonderful design team members from The Perfect Sentiment :-)

Stacey will be donating this prize to our lucky winner:

(Regretfully, if you are a prize winner who lives outside of the United States, we are unable to award you a physical prize. By the time we have to do the customs paperwork and everything associated with sending parcels out of the United States, it always costs more than what the prize is worth in most cases, and this includes Canada, unless you have a Post Office Box in the United States. APO and PPO box addresses are considered US.) If you live outside of the U.S. and you win we will award you with a digital prize that can be sent electronically via email. Thanks for your understanding.

Please be sure to hop on over to check out Stacey's blog and to see her great Thanksgiving card, too!

And for more inspiration, you can see all of The Perfect Sentiments design team's beautiful and inspiring Thanksgiving cards by clicking on their names below:

Jennipher

Sami

Abby

Jan

Kimberly

Rochelle

Shaunna

Tere

Theresa

I am also linking this card up to the following challenges:

The Paper Players -Add a Fall element to your card

Stampin' Sisters In Christ -Use Fall colors in your creation (crimson, orange and gold or similar).

Moxi Fab World -Medallions challenge (Thanks, Rochelle!) :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you will be inspired to join in and make your own Thanksgiving card. And if you'd take a moment to leave me a comment, I'd truly appreciate it!

Wishing you many blessings,

~Sarah

Items used to make my Thanksgiving card include:

Card Stock: Stampin' Up! More Mustard; Close To Cocoa

Patterned Paper: K & Company

Ribbon: Michael's Basic Basic satin olive

Felt leaves from Target's dollar bin

Brads: Stampin' Up! large Antique brad on rosette, and vintage brad on bird's eye

Stampin' Up! Oval hand held punches

Stampin' Up! bird and branch punch

Tim Holtz rosette die

Cheery Lynn Designs Doily die

Copper Stickles

Tattered Angels Wheatfields Glimmer Mist