Have a Delicious Day

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm a little sad that Summer Card Camp 2011 is ending this week; it's been a great class. This week these are the colors we are working with.

For my card, I used one of Kristina's sketches. I love using geometric shapes and repetition in my designs.

I stamped various images from the Yummy Treats set by Hero Arts using VersaMark ink and I heat embossed them with white embossing powder. I used a 3/4" square punch to punch our various parts of the images. I also used a VersaMark pen to darken areas on the cakes and cupcakes.

Finally, I added some Diamond Sparkles by PSX and mounted the images with foam tape. I also added a little bling around the sentiment.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Yummy Treats (Hero Arts)

Paper: Simply Chartreuse, white (Papertrey Ink), Taken with Teal, Tempting Turqoise, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up)

Ink: VersaMark, Taken with Teal

Tools: 3/4" square punch (EK Success)

Other: white embossing powder, VersaMark Pen, rhinestones (Michael's), Diamond Sparles (PSX)

Messy Crafters Anonymous

Is there such a group (Messy Crafters Anonymous) and is there a 12-step program for us? I loved Kristina's latest blog post about real crafters making real messes. I definitely can make a big mess in a short time. Do I love the mess? Definitely not! Do I save too many scraps? Yes. I clean up and put things away once I can't stand it anymore and I can't find basic tools. My crafting time is very limited, so putting things away and tidying up are not on the top of my To Do list most days.

Here is my desk right now. I'm not even showing you the floor, sister, but I think you get the picture. Haha!

Are you going to show your crafting space?

Oops! It's Past Your 9th Birthday!

Hi there! It's been a while on the old blog-o. Knock, knock...is this thing on? My in-laws were here over the weekend and the Little Guy started school yesterday. The regular busy routine starts again.

I'm back today to share a card I made last week for our friend, Joshua. I felt so bad because we missed his birthday party last Sunday. The day was overwhelming because my 5-year old niece, Alexa, broke her arm above the elbow and had surgery. We found out my second cousin, Matias, was killed in Denver. I was so distracted by all the tragic news that day, I totally forgot about Joshua's party.

I had begun work on this for the CARDS magazine blog when they were asking for star-shaped cards. I didn't have a chance to finish it by their deadline.

The template for this card comes from Kristina Werner when she created it for the Hero Arts blog. You can find the template here. The patterned paper is from The Boyfriend line by Cosmo Cricket. I used my Silhouette digital cutter to cut the 9 from Cosmo Cricket paper and several times from kraft cardstock in order to make my own chipboard. The sentiment comes from a retired Stampin' Up set. The original sentiment read "Oops! It's a hare past your birthday!" I just removed the word "hare". I was too lazy to take a new picture, but I added a "th" after the 9 so it reads "9th".

Thanks for stopping by.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Birthday Banter (SU!), Background Basics: Woodgrain (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Kraft, The Boyfriend (Cosmo Cricket)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Chocolate Chip (SU!)

Tools: Silhouette

Other: star card template (Kristina Werner), twine, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M)

Spread Your Wings and Fly

I'm barely on time with this one. Kristina's deadline is in less than 5 minutes! Ack. Here's my card for the Kristina's Reader's Choice Color Inspiration No. 4.

The colors this week are from a great bright and colorful photo. I remember voting on this particular image. I love jelly fish! I didn't want to shy away from the bright colors. I designed about 4 versions of this card and I kept coming back to the photo. The bright blue and pumpkin pie orange had to be dominate in my design. So, I went with it. The SU! butterfly stamps were a great surprise gift from Makeesha Byl who lives in Australia. Thanks, Keesh! I should've used the sentiment that came with the stamps, but I used a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Butterfly Dreams set. The Prima rhinestone pearls give my butterflies motion. That's it! Have a good day!


Card Ingredients
Stamps: Butterfly Dreams (Papertrey Ink), Butterfly Prints (Stampin' Up)
Paper: Pacific Point, So Saffron, Whisper White, retired SU! designer series paper
Ink: Bashful Blue, Pumpkin, Ruby Red
Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)
Other: rhinestones (Micheal's & Prima), foam tape (3M), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

Hola! Today is a special day in our house; my Sweetie and I are celebrating our shared birthday. We didn't plan anything big, since yesterday I was sick. I had a fever for most of the day. The only other symptom was my ears were more clogged than usual (I have seasonal allergies). I woke up fine this morning. It there such a thing as a 1-day flu? Weird.

The guys and I had an early dinner and thanks to The Pioneer Woman, I ordered the best mojito! She showed some photos yesterday and I guess I had mojitos on the brain.

I used the colors from Kristina's Readers' Choice Color Inspiration No. 3 to create this card. I also drew design inspiration from a card on page 11 of the Stampin' Up Summer Mini Catalog.

Adios!

Card Ingredients (All Stampin' Up Except Where Noted)

Stamps: All Holidays, Butterfly Prints, I {Heart} Hearts, Background Basics: Woodgrain (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery, Pale Plum

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Eggplant Envy, VersaMark (Tsukineko)

Tools: Big Shot with Fillable Frames #3 die (Papertrey Ink), heat gun, Tim Holtz Distressor

Other: Chocolate Chip/Vanilla ribbon, clear embossing powder, Old Olive button, foam tape (3M)

Thanks For Making Me Smile!

This card is late, but I wanted to participate in Kristina's Readers' Choice Color Inspiration No. 2. We were watching the Lady Gaga episode of Glee tonight on Hulu, and I lost track of time. Oh well! I can't get enough of both Lady Gaga and Glee.

The colors in the inspiration photo are beautiful. This card started with a die cut from my Silhouette. I backed the circle with a piece of vellum. The vellum already had the swirls in it. The rest of the card was easy to put together.

Have a great day!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Small Sayings (SU!)

Paper: Crushed Curry, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, patterned paper (SU!), vellum (an old piece from my stash)

Ink: Elegant Eggplant (SU!)

Tools: Silhouette with thanks circle card die cut, Word Window (SU!), Modern Label (SU!), Dotted Scallop punch (EK Success)

Other: white gel pen (Sakura), Zots, foam tape, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Sending Birthday Wishes

So many cards to make...so little time! Life is super busy. Here's a card I made for my sister-in-law's upcoming birthday. I hope she doesn't see this blog entry.

The colors used on this card come from Kristina's first ever Readers' Choice Color Inspiration No. 1. My card was literally the last entry before the deadline was up this evening.

Have a good one!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: white (Papertrey Ink), Going Gray (SU!), patterned paper (SU!)
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Mambo Melon (SU!)
Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Scallop Trim Border Punch (SU!)
Other: Baja Breeze ribbon (SU!), buttons (Papertrey Ink), foam tape (3M)

Fill This Day With Joy

Happy Earth Day! Today has not gone smoothly. My gmail account was hacked and spammed all my contacts during the middle of the night. A lot of you got a wacky email from me. Ugh!

I made this card for Kristina's 1-layer (no embellishment) challenge. I've never made a 1-layer card...ever!

We've been enjoying some days off for Spring Break. Today was a break in the rain, so I took a picture of my card near a sunny window.

When you were a kid, did you do this type of squiggly drawings on a piece of paper and then color them in with Crayons or markers? Well, I thought I was alone on this until I saw a YouTube video by Courtney and she mentioned the same. Well, instead of Crayons, I used my growing supply of Copic markers. I went to a stamping convention on Saturday and I tripled my collection! Well, that was easy to do since I only owned 3 Copics before. Haha!

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink), Look Up (Practicing Creativity)

Paper: white (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Black Sharpie, Copic markers

Tools: Corner Rounder (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Gray colored pencil (Crayola)

Birthday Card and a Blogaversary

Hope you're having a good weekend. We spent the day with family. My in-laws and niece are here from Southern CA for the weekend. My parents, sister, and niece are arriving in 3 days from New Mexico. So exciting!

Here's a card I made last week for a Cards blog challenge to use eyelets. I have SO many eyelets! How about you? These are tiny ones. I used this Papertrey Ink color combo and the new PTI set, Butterfly Dreams:

I wish I would've have made the Lemon Tart decorative border wider so you can actually see it. It's very hidden behind the ribbon.

I almost forgot that today is my 2-year blogging anniversary for Chavez Designs! I've actually been blogging for over 5 years on my son's blog. I started Chavez Designs to post a card in Kristina's first ever color inspiration challenge, so I owe it to her for getting me started on this blog. What made you start your blog?

It's been so fun meeting several of you along the way. I'm sure I'll get a chance to meet many more of you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink except where noted)

Stamps:  Butterfly Dreams

Paper: white, Lemon Tart, Spring Moss

Ink: Aqua Mist, Lavender Moon, Lemon Tart

Tools: Scallop Trim Border Punch (SU!), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Making Memories Eyelet Setter

Other: mini eyelets (Making Memories), Lemon Tart ribbon, foam tape (3M)

Happy Valentine's Day - Color Inspiration Challenge

Hola Paper Crafters! I made this card for Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #57. I really struggled with the design of this card. I tried so many different layouts. I worked late at school today, so I missed Kristina's deadline by about 5 minutes. Oh well, here it is anyway.

I created the focal point of the card with my Silhouette. I cut this heart design 5 times (4 of them in kraft cardstock and 1 of them in designer paper). I glued all the layers together to make my own chipboard. I love doing that! I attached a button with some twine. The rest of the card is pretty simple.

I'm going to CHA in Anaheim next week! I look forward to 2 days of crafting fun. For me, it's only a little over 1 hour flight. Once Tina (Travelingmama) said she was going, I told her I would definitely have to go. I mean she's in the US all the way from Morocco! Several other talented designers will also be there (Sankari, Kelly Marie, Amy Tsuruta, and Courtney Baker). I would love to meet Jennifer McGuire and Lisa Spangler from Hero Arts. Allison Kreft Abad from Hambly Screen Prints will also be there. I've met Allison before, but I definitely want to do the Hambly make-n-takes. Are you going to CHA? If so, let me know.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Card Ingredients (all SU! except where noted)

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Cameo Coral, More Mustard, retired designer papers, Kraft

Ink: VersaMark
Tools: Silhouette using downloaded heart design, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Scallop Edge Punch, Word Window Punch

Other: More Mustard button, linen twine, So Saffron ribbon, white embossing powder, foam tape (3M)

Congratulations!

The long weekend (Labor Day weekend in the US) is almost here. What do you have planned? We are driving down to the Los Angeles area to visit my in-laws and celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. So much to do before then!

Here's another card using the Medallion stamp. I loved how Kristina used Perfect Pearls on this stamp. This card is ultra-simple; no layers! I stamped and embossed the image. Added Perfect Pearls and tapped the back-side of the cardstock to get the Perfect Pearls to form a nice dome shape. I added an older medal embellishment from my stash and I was done. Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Medallion (SU!)
Paper: Cool Carribean (SU! retired)
Ink: VersaMark
Tools: corner rounder (Fiskars)
Other: clear embossing powder, Baby Blue Perfect Pearls, Congratulations embellishment (Making Memories)

With Love, From Me to You

Hi everyone! Where is the week going? There is not enough time in the day. I finally ordered from the new SU! catalog. I got my order on Monday. I had to have the Medallion stamp.

This card is for Kristina's Finally Friday challenge:

Create a card using patterned paper that was originally not intended for the topic of your card.

I used paper and chipboard from the SU! Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit to create this love-themed card.

I made my own heart chipboard by punching the heart out 5 times from kraft cardstock and gluing all the layers together.

I've had 1 bottle of Liquid Pearls for years...I don't think I've ever used it. After see this card by Kristina, I had to try something similar.


Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Medallion (SU!), sentiment (Feeling Groovy by Verve Stamps)
Paper: Kraft, Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit (SU!)
Ink: VersaMark, Riding Hood Red
Tools: 3 heart punch (SU!)
Other: Baby Blue Perfect Pearls, Tombo Mono-multi

CASEing Myself

This was the original card I made to submit to Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #56. I submitted this other card instead. I like this card, but I wanted a higher color contrast for the white faux stitching.

We are flying out to New Mexico this morning to visit my family. Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Heidi Grace
Paper: So Saffron, Riding Hood Red
Ink: VersaMark
Tools: QuicKutz Silhouette
Other: white embossing powder, Sakura white gel pen, Certainly Celery ribbon, Felt Fusion, buttons (Making Memories), foam tape

Happy Birthday - Crazy for Typography

This card is totally inspired by Kristina's work.

This card is for one of my nieces and it uses the colors from Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #56.








I loved Kristina's kraft words on kraft cardstock card. I also love the stitching she does. I cut a welded alphabet design (downloaded from QuicKutz) using my QuicKutz Silhouette. I love it! I was crazy enough to add faux stitching throughout the design...twice. The other card I started was with So Saffron cardstock. I'll publish it later. I used my paper crimper to "soften" some thin strips of Riding Hood Red and Certainly Celery paper. I used the thin strips to thread two of the buttons.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Heidi Grace
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Certainly Celery
Ink: VersaMark
Tools: QuicKutz Silhouette, paper crimper
Other: White embossing powder, linen thread (SU!), white Sakura gel pen, buttons (Making Memories-Chloe's Closet collection), glue dots, Tombo multi glue

Happy Birthday 2U

Hi everyone! One of my favorite people is having a birthday tomorrow. I made this card for her using Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #55. I loved the skirt, shoes, and feet of the inspiration photo. Kristina's boss has excellent taste!

The colors this week are:
basic gray, rust, mustard, and cream/vanilla

My little guy wants to play a game before dinner, so I'll make this quick. Have a good one and thanks for looking!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: flourish (Inkadinkado), sentiment (Birthday Whimsy-SU!)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Gray, Really Rust, More Mustard (SU!)
Ink: VersaMark, Really Rust, More Mustard
Tools: Big Shot, Scallop Nestabilities, stapler
Other: Maya Road chipboard (covered with More Mustard ink), clear embossing powder, Puffy Sticker (American Traditional), foam tape, staples, mini pearls (Michael's), Gray ribbon (SU!- retired), Prima flowers

Happy Birthday, Bethie!

(6.16.09) Edited to Add: Updated the photo; I was finally able to get the Taken with Teal to look correct.
Whew! I made Kristina's deadline. Here's a card for Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #54.

I made this card for my niece, Elizabeth. It's a very late birthday card. I used a layout in the US-version of the Fall-Winter SU! catalog (p.133).

I had trouble getting the Taken with Teal paper to look like it's true color. The photo is looking very Tempting Turquoise. I'll take a photo later to replace this one. I need to do Lisa Spangler's challenges to help my photos out. The colors this week are:



Card Ingredients
Stamps: Love You Much, So Many Scallops (SU!)
Paper: Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Green Galore, Rainbow Sherbert DSP, white glossy paper
Ink: VersaMark, Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal
Tools: Big Shot, Cuttlebug embossing folder, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 1/16" circle punch, scallop edge punch (SU!), scallop square punch (Marvy), stapler, Crop-a-Dile, scallop edge punch (SU!)
Other: Felt Fusion flower, foam tape, white embossing powder, rhinestone brad (Making Memories)

3 Cute Robots

Hi everyone! With inspiration like Kalino and his robot pencil sharpener, I had to create a robot card...just had to.! Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #53 was such a fun challenge. Thanks for using my little guy's photo, Kristina! It's been fun blog hopping and seeing Kalino's picture all over the place.

I love these robot images from My Cute Stamps. I ordered them several months ago. I stamped the "I {heart} robots" sentiment several times on white twill tape with Black StazOn. I paper pieced the eyes of the 3 robots to give them eyes looking in different directions.

Have a good one and thanks for stopping by!


Card Ingredients
Stamps: Birthday Whimsy (SU!), Space Ships & Robots (My Cute Stamps)
Paper: white, black (CA Paper Goods), Pacific Point, Pacific Point DSP
Ink: StazOn black, Pacific Point, Summer Sun, Real Red, VersaMark, Memories Black
Tools: Binding Edge punch (EK Success), 1/4" circle punch
Other: White twill tape (Martha Stewart), screw brads (Micheal's), white embossing powder, foam tape

My Son's Photo is Kristina's Inspiration Challenge

I almost fell off my chair this morning when I saw Kristina's Tweet about her latest color inspiration challenge. I clicked on her link and boom...I see my own little robot-loving Cutie Pie! What a treat. That makes my weekend! Hope you all have a chance to create something for the challenge by Wednesday, May 27 at 7 PM MT.

On April 11th, 2008, we took a Friday day trip up to San Francisco to take Kalino to the Exploratorium and to celebrate our wedding anniversary a day early. We laughed because Kalino kept calling San Francisco "Francis Cisco". Kalino loved the museum! He was 4 years old at the time. This kid has been in love with robots since he was 2 years old. Daily, he draws robots and creates robots with Legos and Kid K'Nex. He loved this robot pencil sharpener from the gift shop. We had to buy it.

After leaving the Exploratorium, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to take photos. The day was warm and there was no fog....amazing! I love the Golden Gate Bridge and all the vista points near the bridge. Kalino had his new robot friend with him the entire time. I sent Kristina the photo last month since it had colors we are familiar with using. Thanks for using my photo, Kristina!

Have a great day everyone.

Ahoy Little Sailor

Hi all! I may re-shoot this card later. My husband has the memory card for our SLR at work and I ran out of natural light here at home.

This card is for Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #52.

I thought the colors were perfect for a baby card. I need to make a variety of cards for a silent auction at my son's school next week. I better get busy! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the comments...I appreciate all of them.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings (PTI)
Paper: white card base (Judi-Kins), Baja Breeze - textured, Sweet Slumber Specialty (SU!), Sahara Sand, More Mustard
Ink: More Mustard
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, corner rounder (Fiskars)
Other: rhinestones (Michael's), foam tape

Celebrate Today - CIC51

Yeah, I love Fridays! Thanks for stopping by. Here's my card for Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #51.

The colors this week are:

I loved the star-shaped cards Kristina and Shari Carroll created on the Hero Arts blog in March. I used Kristina's star template for this card. I'm going to make another star-shaped card soon. Try it out; it's fun.

You can't really see in the photo, but I embossed a woodgrain texture on the brown scallop chipboard like Kristina did here.

Have a good one!

Card Ingredients Stamps: Starring You (SU!), Polka Dot Basics (PTI), Hello Circles (Hero Arts) Paper: More Mustard, Rose Red, Whisper White Ink: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Whisper White craft ink, VersaMark Tools: Dotted Scallop punch (EK success), Stamp-a-ma-jig, Martha Stewart Circle Cutter Other: Clear embossing powder, white embossing powder, brown/white polka dot ribbon (Michael's), Brown scallop chipboard Thicker (American Crafts), foam tape