MDSM45

My granddaughter turned ONE last week!  She did really well at her party....opening gifts, entertaining the guests and really enjoying her smash cake!

This sketch from MDS Monday really fit the bill to show off several pics of the occasion.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDS winner!

Check it out HERE!

Thanks, Ladies!

MDSM38

Another great sketch at MDS Monday!  I'm thinking maybe I need to use those shades with the bright colors of this layout!  I had a hard time getting these photos.  She kept trying to take the glasses off.  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM37

I love layouts with several photos because I take lots of photos, especially of my beautiful granddaughter.  This sketch from MDS Monday fit the bill.  Even then I had to pick out the 5 best ones!  It is getting hard to get really good photos these days as this 10 month-old girl is constantly moving....walking all over the place. So while she was sitting at the table I was able to get some good shots.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM35

For the sketch this week at MDS Monday I used some more photos from our last visit with our granddaughter and our daughter.

When I went to the post to get the link for this challenge, I realized that I had forgotten that most of the page was supposed to be neutral colors.  So I went back to my MDS program and reworked the page to fit the specifications for the challenge.  Below is my original page.  I really liked how it turned out and it is the one I will actually use in my photobook when I get it printed.  

Thanks for stopping by,
Carol

The Technique Twist 08 - Bokah

I have never even heard of Bokah before this challenge at The Technique Twist!  If I understand it correctly, in simple terms, the background is kind of blurry while the main image is in focus.  Well, my twist was to stamp my tree from Season of Friendship (retired) and add fall colored leaves.  I stamped off on my trunk and then used generational stamping with the leaves and used a plain round stamp to stamp some grass.  Then I spritzed it all with water to try to blur it some more.  My focal point leaves are from the Best of Autumn and the label if from Label Love.  Not sure I have done this right, but here is my card.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

Edited:  I was too late to add this to the Blog Post at Technique Twist!

MDSM34

Love this close-up of my little sweetie!  She has the most beautiful eyes!  I used the layout from MDS Monday.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM33

A nice, simple sketch this week at MDS Monday!

My granddaughter was having so much fun playing with the baby in the mirror when we were out shopping last weekend.  I got some great video along with these cute photos.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

Twisted Challenge 07 - Faux Patina

I had to give some thought to how to twist up this week's challenge from The Technique Twist of Faux Patina.  I have never tried this one before.  So I watched the video the ladies suggested.

I twisted the technique by using crisp cantaloupe for my base and using different colors for the flowers and stems and leaves.  I used crumb cake on my embossing folder, then sponged on crisp cantaloupe and then calypso coral onto my flowers.  For the leaves and stems I used wild wasabi, then garden green.  I then sponged on early espresso over the whole piece.  Dabbed on some versamark and gold embossing powder and heat set it.  I am fairly happy with my faux patina panel except for the gold.  I got a little too heavy with it and also have some places where the corner of the versamark pad shows up too much.  But remember this is my first one!

I layered my faux patina panel onto some wild wasabi and wrapped some calypso coral ribbon around that and added a couple of candy dot brads in the calypso coral.  Then adhered the panel to a crisp cantaloupe card base.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM32

Reaching back a few months for the pics I am using for the sketch from MDS Monday this week.  I found the poem on Scrapbook.com and I just realized that I didn't get the name of the author on my page.  And being a librarian, I know that is taboo!  The poem was written by Shelley Howington.  I will fix that on my page.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM31

The sketch from MDS Monday was a little time-consuming but fun.  And I can save the layout to use another time!  And, of course, there is my sweet little granddaughter!

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

The Technique Twist #6

I almost didn't do the challenge at The Technique Twist this week.  Bleach and I do not get along very well.  Bothers my asthma.  Then I saw that Jessica used a bleach pen for her card and thought I would try that.  I was going to use it to highlight my flowers from Flower Shop.

Well my pen was so old that it didn't work at all.  So I got out an old aqua pen and used that to brush on some bleach.  The bottom flower was the first one I did and I don't like it as well as the second, but I needed to get away from the bleach so I decided it would do okay for the card.  I set my flowers aside for a couple of days to let all the smell go away.

I am happy with the way this card turned out.  I doubt that I use this technique very much, but it was good to try it once.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

Top Three at The Technique Twist

My card shown here was chosen one of the top three at The Technique Twist.  Thanks so much, ladies!

MDSM30

Great sketch at MDS Monday this week!  Great fit for this cute pic of my granddaughter.  I love the look on her face.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

TTTC05 - Emerging Color Technique

Getting this one in as the last minute!  The challenge at The Technique Twist is emerging color.  I have done this once before so this one is not totally new to me as the other challenges have been.

My twist is that I used strips of different colors for the base of my design.  I used tangerine tango, pumpkin pie and daffodil delight and stamped En Francais with early espresso onto the strips.  Then I stamped Sunflower with Versamark and clear embossing powder.  After heat setting my sunflower image I brayered early espresso over the top of the whole layer.  Then I gently wiped over the embossed image with a tissue and out popped my sunflower with the French text.  I just added some retired ribbon and a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM28

The sketch at MDS Monday worked really great for this cute pic of my granddaughter.  She is starting to stand alone for a few seconds at a time.  She and her daddy went downtown to have lunch with Mommy and some playtime in the park.  Looks like she had a lot of fun with these blocks.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM27

I think my granddaughter played a little too hard before breakfast this morning.  My son-in-law sent these pics to me and I couldn't resist using them for the sketch from MDS Monday.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM26

The sketch comes from MDS Monday.  We were also challenged to alter a punch.  I changed the shape of the butterfly punch.  My photo is of my granddaughter that was taken back in March.  She has changed so much!

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

The Technique Twist Challenge 04

I tried another new technique thanks to The Technique Twist challenge for this week.  Faux Waxed Seal uses embossing powder that is melted then stamped.  My card is very simple.  And, as you can see from the photo below, this technique does tend to warp your cardstock.   But it was fun to learn a new technique.  Thanks for the challenge, ladies.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

I won at Pixel Maven's Retreat DigiChallenge

May layout was chosen first class for DigiChallenge PMDC-024.  You can check it out here! 

Thanks so much ladies!

MDSM25

MDS Monday gave us this sketch and we have to use a number on it.  My pics are of my 7 month old granddaughter.  I decided to use more sevens as my embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

My card wins again!

The Technique Twist team chose my card as one of the top three!



Check it out here!

Thank you very much, ladies!

Great Way to Try Out Paper Pumpkin!

If you have never tried Paper Pumpkin before, now is the time!

If you subscribe by August 31, 2013, you can get 2 months of Paper Pumpkin at half price.  You will pay only $10 (plus tax, where applicable) a month for your first 2 months.  It is a great way to try it out.  

If this sounds good to you, just go to mypaperpumpkin.com to join.  Click on "Add Promo Code" and enter the promo code PUMPKINDEAL to take advantage of the special price.  This deal is for new subscribers only.  And I'd love for you to name me as your demonstrator.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me for more information.

Thanks,

Carol Parcell

MDSM24

Another fun sketch from MDS Monday!

My granddaughter got her first tea set and she played with it for quite a while.  She seems to have a pretty long attention span for a 7 month old child.

I used Tea for Two dsp for my background and, of course, you have to have doilies for a fancy tea party!  I added the chocolate cupcake because Katie seemed to prefer the chocolate cake over the other in the set.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

PMDC-024

Aren't these colors luscious?  The color challenge at Pixel Maven's Retreat this week called for coastal cabana, very vanilla and baked brown sugar.  I thought they would look good with this cute pic of my granddaughter.  I think she is just the cutest!  Of course, I could be just a tad bit biased.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

CTS#37

I needed a birthday card for my son-in-law and came across the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch.  I knew immediately what I wanted to do.  His favorite color is red and later I found out that red and black were his school colors.  Love the Six-Sided Sampler set!

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

TTTC03 OH WOW!

Three challenges so far from The Technique Twist and they have all been lots of fun............but this is by far my favorite!

This technique is called water stamping.  I wanted to use By the Tide so I sponged Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise and Gumball Green onto a piece of naturals white cardstock.  Then I used water as my "ink" and stamped the coral and a school of fish onto the background.  When I first started I thought I was doing something wrong because I couldn't see anything happening.  But as it dried my "gorgeous underwater scene" came to life.  This is such fun!

I loved my piece so much that I didn't want to cover it up so I just put one little sentiment flag on it.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

MDSM23

The sketch from MDS Monday was a perfect fit for my pics of a beautiful rainbow after way more rain than we needed!

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol

PPA163

I created this card for my stamp groups to do this month.  It is also for the Pals Paper Arts color challenge for this week.  I did add another neutral color (crumb cake) so I hope that is not a problem.

I have some stampers who are also avid sewers and they went a little crazy when they saw the Six-Sided Sampler set.  I found this card made by Barbara Dykhouse and loved it.  But I needed something a little less feminine.  I changed up a couple of the stamps, the dsp and the colors, but otherwise it is pretty much the same.  

Thanks for stopping by!
Carol