PALS PAPER ARTS

This week's challenge at PPA is a sketch challenge by Margaret Moody.  I don't usually make square cards, and I could have made my standard 5.5" x 4.25" card, but I decided to make a 4.5" easel card.

I made an anniversary card for some friends who have been married for 37 years this Wednesday...that's a long time.  I thought that this sketch would make a great anniversary card.  What do you think?

Here it is standing up:

I hope you can tell where the card starts and the background ends.  I used Stampin' Up paper; Whisper white and Summer Sun c.s.and Night and Day dsp (I used 3 different patterns).  I used Summer Sun ink to color the pattern for the butterflies...cut with my Big Shot.

CSCC #80

I haven't done a challenge or posted on my blog since April.  May is almost over ...what have I been doing?

The ladies at Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge have been moving along, though.  They're up to challenge #80, and they have chosen "Becoming Jane" for this week.  Such a beautiful movie.

We were required to use flowers and pearls.  My inspiration from the movie was Jane's sister Clarissa.  For a party she wore a pretty pink dress with a ruffled neckline, and her pearl necklace.  She was engaged to a man that she loved very much, but he went to sea and never came back.

The sentiment is also appropriate for Jane who fell in love with a man who could not marry her and keep helping to support his family.

GUEST DESIGNING

This week's challenge is to make an easel card.  I've never done that before, but it was easy following the tutorial here - http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/easelcard/
I had gone to Michael's to find a die to cut an oval for last week's challenge.  I found it and the die to cut this cute snowman...I'll be making cards with him for years.
To be sure that the card front stands up, you neees to add an extra layer or an embellishment to the inside of the card.  I made a snowdrift of gathered white ribbon.

CSAYL #48

The challenge for this week is a sketch.  Mine is made rectangular instead of  square, so the proportions are a little different  Everything I used to make it is Stampin' Up, and for a change nothing is retired.  The stamps are Teeny Tiny Wishes and Season of Simple Grace.  The colors are Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue and White (bad lighting makes it look like vanilla)

In case you haven't noticed, I have a new badge on the side of my blog.  I won the Gift Set Challenge #2 and I will be the Guest Designer for challenge #49...I'm so excited!

OKLAHOMA!

Do I dare tell you that I saw Oklahoma in the theater in the 50's...it wasn't first run, but it wasn't that old either.  It's been a long time since I've seen it in any form, but I've been singing the music from it since saturday.

After learning about the Dust Bowl in history classes, I spent a lot of my life thinking that Oklahoma was pretty barren, but I've since learned that I was wrong.  I haven't been there, but I've been told that it's beautiful.  Although the movie was filmed in Arizona,  I'm using the film's landscape as my inspiration.  The blue sky, distant hills and trees are from the movie, the sunflowers are from my imagination.  I didn't see any in the parts of the movie that I looked at this week, but I'm sure there must be some in Oklahoma, somewhere.

The trees look barren, but I used my water color crayons and aqua painters to fill them with leaves...they just don't show up in the photo.  The gingham bow looks like it belongs in one of the girls' hair.

I can't wait until Carousel shows up on Cinema Saturday.  It's another great Rodgers and Hammerstein musical starring Shirley Jones and Gordon McRae (that I also saw in the theater in the 50's).

DIE-CUT CHRISTMAS CARDS

This challenge turned out to be a lot of fun.  I knew that I had some scrapbooking kits from Stampin' Up that included adhesive die-cuts.  I was surpprised to find that I had parts of 3 Christmas Simply Scrappin' kits.  I could make lots and lots of cards with them.  For now, I just made this one, but you may see more in the future.

The circular design and sentiment are 2 die-cuts, and the designs across the bottom are 2 more.

LITTLE MONKEYS

My youngest grandchild will be having her 1st Birthday soon.  She's so cute and girly to look at, but she moves at an amazing pace and pulls herself up on any vertical surface there is.  I can't imagine where she'll get to when she starts walking.

The Birthday card I made for her is a combination of girly and crazy little animal.

This week's PPA challenge is a sketch challenge that is really a perfect guide for this card.  The little monkey is just like all my grandkids...all over the place!