HE SHOOTS! HE SCORES!

Well, maybe not this time.

You may have thought this set of cute basketball images from TAC was just for scrapbook pages, thank yous for coaches and maybe a few boy birthday cards. But the possibilities are endless! Doesn't this basketball look like he's having one of "those" day? I couldn't resist, so I used my own handwriting for the sentiment. I didn't want it to look like a Halloween card or a masculine card, so I added the apricot flower DP and the popped up punched flower.

Stamps: Nothin' But Net - TAC
Paper: pumpkin pie, basic black, apricot appeal & DSP, white
Ink: black
Accessories: SU markers, 5-petal punch, button & thread, Michael's Halloween ribbon

SCS Sketch Challenge Cards

When I first saw the sketch, I freaked out! It looked so hard! And then I went to bed late because I came up with 2 ideas. LOL!

This is My Story

I just had to say that! Because Mothermark is the hostess this week.... and obviously there has to be a story about this card because why else would I make such a thing.

What is that thing you ask?

Robot Clones

What in the world?

Well, like most teenagers, DS is obsessed with video games, TV, and $$. But unlike most teens, my DS is also obsessed with robots and clones... and when you combine them... it's even better... supposedly. LOL! Who is supposed to understand teenagers anyway???

Well, this was the only thing that popped into my mind when thinking about the 3 little triangles. I'm going to try and make something prettier tomorrow. :)

This card is slightly larger than a standard A2 card. I won't be needing an envelop for it, so it's OK with me. :)

Stamps: Toy Box, Family Phrases, Background Basics
Paper: real red, basic black, kraft, white
Ink: black
Accessories: markers, paper piercer, eyelets
Techniques: faux stitching


Ladybugs

No story for my second SC184 card... except maybe that yesterday I found a Copic marker that matches cool caribbean! :)

Stamps: Fluffles - Stampendous, Stampin' Up - Itty Bitty Borders, Polka Dots & Paisley
Paper: cool caribbean, basic black, real red, white
Ink: black stazon
Accessories: Copics for coloring, SU black marker for dots, ribbon

By the way, I'm loving stamping with my unmounted stamps.

Before & After Challenge #4

Each week, I'll have you choose a card of your own to redo. Each week there will be a different element to change. The rest of the card should stay the same or close to it. For fun, tell us why you chose the card you did! Post it back to this thread for everyone to see. If you use SCS, please use the keyword: BAC04.


BEFORE

I like the basic idea of this card. The inside has a cute verse for a newborn baby. But there are 2 things that just had to be changed: It needed to be lightened up... more white space maybe & the background just seemed.... hmmm - wrong. LOL!






AFTER

Color: rose red and blush blossom was changed to this week's color challenge: chocolate chip, groovy guava, and barely banana. And I used a mostly white background to keep it "lighter".

Background: I used stars to match the image and verse inside the card. To get it to "blend" in better, I stamped of with groovy guava using Itty Bitty Backgrounds.

Other Minor Changes: I changed the embellishments a bit.

Stamps: Cute As A Bug, Classic & Itty Bitty BGs, sentiment border from Hero Arts
Accessories: CM custom cutting system, Marvy scallop punch, brads, ribbons, markers & guava reinker

These cards measure 4.25 square. I use A Muse 4.5 square envelopes.

OMG! 3 DAYS

I took me 3 days to unmount my stamps! My fingers are soooo sore! But I knew if I stopped, I would put off finishing it. For now, my background stamps will stay on wood. And I haven't unmounted the alphabets yet since I haven't been scrapbooking like I should.

But the rest.... unmounted. I filled 3 large Stampin' Up boxes! Wow! I had no idea I owned that many stamps. The space I have gained in absolutely incredible! As soon as I have my craft room cleaned and reorganized the way I like it, I'll post pictures. It's a huge mess right now with extra clamshells cases and piles of sets for sale or trade. Yup! You heard that right. These are just the stamps I'm keeping!

Deciding what was OK to mount was very hard for me. I am very bad about selling and trading sets. I'm getting better at choosing stamps I will use for a long time. Which is good, because unmounted stamps don't sell or trade well.


Due to cost, only my sentiments and verses are mounted on EZ Mount right now. Eventually, all my stamps will be in binders. This 2.5 inch binder stores almost all of my sentiments. It holds 5 pages of stamps (front & back). In between each page of stamps are stamped images for finding and locating what I need. (It also helped me see that a couple were upside down! LOL!) The stamped image sheets are in page protectors. There are 5 sets of stamps on the page you see in the photo.




What to do with all those clamshell cases?

Consolidate.

There are 4 sets of small background stamps in the extra large case. I have these carefully mounted at a corner of the wood blocks and line them up well when I'm stamping.... I don't want to mess that up. The large background stamps are displayed on a bookshelf. I've never had room to display them before! Wow! Maybe I'll start using them again! LOL!

The medium case holds 4 sets. They are labeled on the index card. I was careful to keep themes together while placing different styles & colors of rubber together in one shell so I could easily identify which set the stamps come from. Some of the boxes also holds individual stamps. I will slowly be mounting these on EZ mount and placing them in a binder. For now, I'm using the naked rubber on the acrylic blocks with Tack 'N Peel from Tsukinek.... cheap!

The tiny case holds photo corner punches I received from my PIF friends! These little ones are sooo awesome! They hold lots of things like embellishments and other small supplies. The larger one are great for holding mat stack sized designer paper, markers, and more! Some of mine are holding game pieces!

The cases I don't need are being sold. People buy these things! Even the blocks (new ones only) can be sold on Ebay. Cool!

Now I need to catch up on stamping, blogging, and challenges. I will post the new week of challenges soon. First, I think the family wants dinner. Geesh!