Unscripted Sketch #168 Piggyback - Use an Animal

This piggyback sketch was a blast!

I found so many different funny phrases (listed below) using a cow theme that it was hard to decide which one to use.  I searched "funny cow phrases" and just about fell off my chair laughing!  Some of them were hilarious!

My favorite phrase practically had me rolling on the floor laughing.  Dear hubby thinks I'm nuts for sure!  Anyway, it wasn't really suitable for a card (unless someone has some good ideas) but here goes:

"If a cow laughs hard, does milk come out her nose?"


... is it just me or can anyone else remember laughing so hard that your beverage comes shooting out your nose?  Sick sense of humor maybe?


Here are a few of the others:
- Moo-chas Grasses!
- Do unto Udders as you would have Udders do unto you
- Sha-moooo, the killer cow!
- Nobody Udderstands me!
- Cow-a-bunga dude (picture a cow wearing a Ninja turtle head band!)
- Cow's it going?

I'm sure we all have a cute cow stamp or two (usually in the $1 bin at Michaels) so feel free to use any of these phrases.

The DT created some C-A-U-T-E critter cards so check it out here.  We would love to see your critter creations this week.  Also, don't forget that the Christmas in July celebrations continue for the whole month of July at the Unscripted Sketches blog....and remember, there are prizes!

SU Regal Rose card stock, Tasteful Trims die (small ric rac), SU texture plate, Cow stamp - Michaels

Stamp It! Cards Week: The Hello Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

Found time today to get this card uploaded to the Stamp It! Cards Week: The Hello Card Challenge.  Like I said in today's previous post, there are five fabulous challenges to enter and the deadline is July 23rd....so get crackin' people!

Love this color combo:  SU Pool Party and Poppy Parade.  Use my new SU Suzzix Edgeability die as well as Memory Box Stamp/Die set (sorry, forget the name). The baker's twine is from The Twinery (love the quality of their products!).  The bit of sparkle dust bling is Martha Stewart.

Happy crafting everyone!

Stamp It! Cards Week: The Birthday Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

I wanted to enter at least one of the five fun challenges in the Stamp It! Cards Week Challenges! at the Moxie Fab World but the beautiful, warm and at times, somewhat illusive summer sun seems to be getting in the way....but in a good way!!!

So, I had to settle for just one card.  I adore this cute cow stamp ($1.50 at Michael's) and decided to create a herd of sweet bovines. A bit of fussy cutting and some masking and the herd was born.  Don't you just love the expression on their faces?

The 'girls' were stamped with Black Stazon ink, SU paper, SU Tasteful Trim die and SU impression folder.

As I mentioned above, there are FIVE fabulous challenges to enter, but hurry cuz the deadline is July 23rd!  You can also find the links to the challenges in the side bar of the Moxie Fab World blog.

OLW96: Birthday Blings

Last minute decision to 'bling' up my DT card that I made for the Unscripted Sketches challenge and enter it into the One Layer Wednesday challenge at Susan's Simplicity blog..

I seldom 'bling' things up and if I do it is minimal.  So this card, in my usually blingless world, has a whole lot of bling!  It is hard to tell in the photo, but the four dots inside the smaller flower are blinged up with some sparkle dust colored with a Copic marker.  The three rhinestones have also been colored with the same color.  The stones do lose a bit of their sparkle when they have been colored, but plain silver bling just didn't cut it on this card.

Two very important lessons learned here: 
1) Always, ALWAYS use the stamp positioning tool on a finished card....especially when not wearing glasses
2) test the green ink color of the sentiment before stamping on a finished card!

Scroll down to my Unscripted Sketch post to get the rest of the details on my card.

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #167

Wow! Challenge is the key word this week.  It was late Thursday night and my mind was blank.  I must have tried at least five or six different ideas and finally settled on this.....at 1:00am!

I decided to use a vinyl stencil that I found at the dollar store.  The stencil is sticky on one side and adheres firmly to the paper.  Be careful though when peeling the stencil off your paper - they do rip easily.  There are tons of different stencils available and they were all priced at $1.  I used some rubbing alcohol to clean the stencil once I was finished coloring.

I used Copic markers on Papertrey Ink card stock.  This card stock is amazing with Copics.  I saturated the images as I colored, trying to get a watercolor look.  In hindsight, I probably should have used watercolor paper to get the markers to bleed a bit more.

The three flowers were intended to represent the sketch elements.  I felt something was missing so I stitched rectangles around the images.  My machine was not a fan of this heavy card stock! Some stitches are uneven but there are enough uneven stitches to make it look intentional !!!

Don't forget that the Christmas in July activities continue over at the Unscripted Sketches blog!

Skip on over and check out the latest challenge. The DT has some interesting interpretations of this sketch.  We would love to see what you create..  

Happy crafting everyone!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

I'm so happy to have you visit my blog to celebrate Christmas in July.  I hope you have been following along with all the activities.  If not, hop on over to the Unscripted Sketches blog and check out the fun, fun, FUN.  Of course, there are tons of prizes and tons of chances to win!  You are not going to want to miss a day of the celebrations!

I would like to share a bit of my world with you.  One of my  favorite summer activities is playing outside!  My DH and I love to spend time puttering in the yard.  It is a constant work in progress....but it is fun, relaxing and a bit of a workout!

The highlight (at least we think it is) of our yard is our pond.  It was my birthday present from our son a few years ago.  Yes, the hole was dug by hand and yes, I helped!  It does take quite a bit of time to maintain, but it is all worth it!  We have several fish (koi and goldfish) that have grown to monster size.

Our pond in summer

.... in spring

.... and in winter (actually early spring).

Some of the Koi and goldfish

Now while we are on the subject of pictures.....I am sure  many of you struggle with taking a good picture of your projects. In the past, I would snap at least 9 million photos of one card ....outside, inside, in the sun, in the shade....trying to get a good quality photo!

Well, fret no more!  Follow these simple instructions and create an inexpensive light box that will make your world  picture perfect!  If any of my directions are confusing, please e-mail me at ggreener@mymts.net and ask for clarification.

Also, please remember that this is a very rough version.  My real light box is much neater than this!!!

Step One:
Select a sturdy box and cut off the top flaps (Photo #1 and #2)

Photo #1

Photo #2

 Step Two:
Cut out inside panels from three sides of the box.  Make sure to leave at least a 1" border. (Photo #3)

Glue down the bottom flaps. Gluing down the flaps will give you a nice solid and even base to set your card on (Photo #4)

Photo #3

Photo #4

Step Three:  NO PHOTO AVAILABLE but please read!
Paint the inside of the box (the frames and the top & bottom with some white paint.  I used regular latex house paint.  Don't skip this step as you don't want dark colors to cast shadows inside the light box.

Step Four:
Adhere tissue paper or a light weight white cotton to the two sides and the top (this is where the 1" border comes into play).  I initially used tissue paper but found that it tore too easily so I switched to cheap white cotton pillow cases ($4 at Walmart).  I used my husband's hockey sock tape to secure the material to the sides. Seriously, hockey sock tape is the next best thing to Crazy glue! (Photo #5, Photo #6, Photo #7)

Photo #5

Photo #6

Photo #7

*** I left a bit of the top showing in this photo just to give you an idea of this process. Completely cover the top of the box.
















Step 5:
Cut a piece of poster board about 1/2 inch narrower than the inside width of the box (Photo #8).

Photo #8

Fit this piece into your box to establish the length you will need.  You want the piece to fit inside the box with a bit of a curve.  Do not crease the paper to fit the box.  Think ski slope.  You may have to play around with the length a bit so that the poster board sits snugly up against the inside front edge (Photo #9).

Tip: I used some scrap paper first to get the dimensions that I needed and then cut the poster board based on those measurements.

Photo #9

Step 6:
This last step will depend on whether or not you have a place to permanently keep the light box (Photo #10 and #11).

Photo #10

Photo #11

I used some old lamp bases (plus a garage sale find or two).  I placed the light box on top of a small filing cabinet, set the lamps on some cardboard boxes (told you this isn't high tech). Our basement is under renovation right now so I was able to secure the top light directly on to the wall..

It is important to have a light source from the front as well.  I use a small table lamp base that I move around manually, depending on which angle I will take the picture.

Tip:  If your card has some dimension to it, you might have to move the front light either from side to side or top to bottom to get rid of the shadow.  Contrary to this, the shadow might also be used to highlight the depth/dimension of your card.

You might also consider setting up your light box on something that is table height or higher to make it easier to photograph your items (much easier on the back!!!)

Step 7:
The key here is the type of light bulb to use!  I used the Sylvannia brand, but there are others.  What is important is that they are:

23 Watt, 120 Volt CFL Daylight bulbs. A daylight bulb provides a 'natural' light' and keeps the colors quite true.

So there you have it!  A few easy steps and you are on your way to stress free (and time saving) photography!

I hope you have enjoyed my spotlight session during our Christmas in July celebrations.

Please come back and visit again soon!

Unscripted Sketches #166

Hello visitors!  Glad you stopped by today.  

Have you visited our Christmas in July festivities at the Unscripted Sketches blog? If not, then scoot on over there now and find out how you can win some great prizes and get to know a little bit more about the design team members!

This sketch was a doozey!  I actually had one other card made but felt it was just too busy.  I may post it later.

The trickiest part about this card was lining up my hole punch on each panel so that everything lined up when the card was assembled!  Took a try or two on some of the pieces and I'm sure if someone took a ruler to this it probably would be out a schmick or two!

Just a reminder that my "Designer Spotlight Day" is July 10th.  I would love to have you stop by a take a peek at some pictures and also the super easy but very worthwhile project I have lined up to share with you. 

Just a wee hint:  It could make your world picture perfect!

Button, twine, sentiment & Rich Razzleberry - Stamping Up; Close to My Heart white paper.

Happy crafting!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Christmas fun in July.....fun projects, designer spotlights, a daily song bingo game (some of you know that I love Bingo) and prizes, LOTS OF PRIZES!!!  


Unscripted Sketches has some awesome plans for the month of July.  In addition to the other fun activities, each DT member will be featured on specific spotlight days.  Visit our personal blogs (the links will be available on the main US blog) where we will share pictures, projects, recipes, stories, ideas, and much, much more.

You are not going to want to miss a day of these celebrations (or the daily Bingo songs)!  This is a perfect time to get to know what the team members do in their "other" lives.

Stop by the Unscripted Sketches blog to find out all the details.

My personal spotlight day is July 10th.  Please stop by, say hello, take a peek at my pictures and my project.  I would love to have you visit for Christmas in July.  HO HO HO....at least there is no snow!