A Little Toot

Teehee! I took a screenshot. Have you seen the 2 Sketches 4 You blog recently? That's ME! Little old me on the 2s4y Loves this Blogger! :) How cool is that?!?!?!

I have a funny story to tell you.

I met Kazan Clark at CHA. She told me that she had been to my blog and thought I was a talented card maker. To which I responded "No, you're talking about the other Ashley Newell." And she said "No, Ashley is on my DT, I'm talking about you." I got goosebumps! I could not believe that she knew who I was and had been to my blog! :)

Have a happy night everyone! PLUS, I have a BIG announcement in the morning!! :)

Happy Birthday Tiffaroo!

For some reason, I was under the impression that today is Thursday and Tiffany's birthday. I spent all last night trying to get the PERFECT birthday card made for Tiff. I redid this at least twice. But guess what? It's Wednesday and Tiff's birthday is tomorrow. Sigh...

I'm posting this card any how since I don't have anything else to share today. I had to pull out all the stops on this card because Tiffany is one of my best girls. A best girl calls for pulling out your best stuff so here's a little Basic Grey paper. This sketch is from 2 Sketches 4 You. The owl is from Unity's June 09 KOTM and the sentiment is from Unity's Birthday Chic. Then I just added some rhinestones from Michael's and a little coloring on the sentiment.

I hope you like your card Tiff! I wanted it chic and girly just like you. Happy birthday to my sweet friend/stamp twin! I'm so glad we're friends! Hugs!

More Dimension

Recently, Tiffany of IHeartArt and I were trying to give each other a little help on how to be better card makers.  I really like and respect Tiffany as a person and as a friend so it was easy to trust her and I knew that nothing she said would be mean or hurtful.

In this card, I'm trying to tackle a couple of the issues that Tiffany and I talked about.  I'm always saying how much I like texture and dimension in other people's cards.  I think it's because those are things I am lacking in my own cards.  So, here's my shot at trying to get a little better.

I popped the tree up on some Pop Dots.  Though I HATE the way the card looks from the side, since Pop Dots are really thick, the front of the card is pretty.  I used the dew drops for more dimension.  And for texture, I used this AMAZING Amy Butler paper that my good friend Jenny Bunny kindly gave to me.  

This is for Laura's Sketch 8 over at 2 Sketches 4 You.  

Combining Two Crafts

Ever since I was little, I've done cross stitching.  Granted, I barely ever finish the projects I start (I think this is why I'm such a good card maker) because I always want to do something HUGE like a quilt.  Who knew that I could just add a little cross stitching onto a card as an embellishment?

I saw this idea in Paper Crafts Magazine.  A sample card in there showcased a little bit of cross stitching.  I thought to myself "hey, I can cross stitch!"  Then when the DTGD challenge came out for using stitching, I knew that this was my time.

I'm a little unhappy with this card.  I tried to use Laura's sketch for Caardvarks.  I just think it's too simple but I have no idea what I could add to make it any better.  I also tried distressing for the first time, I used a paper sander.  

Here's the basic recipe:

Stamps: Unity Cupcakes A'la Yummy

Paper: white, pink, dark pink CS, DP

Ink: Pixie Pink, Basic Black

Accessories: floss, brads, stickles, markers, paper sander, circle punch

Techniques: stitching

Difficulty (1-Easy 5-Advanced): 2

  

2S4Y+Caardvarks=LOVE

The current Caardvarks challenge is CRAZY!  They have sketches from Laura and Kazan from 2 Sketches 4 You that we should give our interpretation on.  The prize is a guest design team spot, how cool is that!

I also combined this with Judy's Dare to Get Dirty ribbon challenge.  You can read more about DTGD here.  So, it's actually three challenges in one.  Woohoo me!  Way to multi-task!  Personally, I am in LOVE with this card.  

Basic Recipe:

Stamps: Studio G sentiment

Paper: cream, pink CS, Sandylion pink DP, Sassafrasslass Flower DP

Ink: Stazon Jet Black

Accessories: ribbon, paper flowers, brad, decorative scissors, gel pen

First Design Team Application

Laura and Kazan over at 2 Sketches 4 You are currently looking for a design team.  Though I have seen a couple design team applications on the internet lately, I had yet to apply for one.  Some where just too far away (required me to drive about an hour from here) and some just were right for me (more scrapping, not so much card making) but this one was just right.  So, here are the cards I made for their sketches.

This first card I made for Kazan's sketch.  I won't bore you with all the details, but I will just like some things about this card that are a bit different.  The pink ribbon at the top is actually tied into the card.  I punched holes in the card and tied it.  I think this gives a nice and different effect.  The ribbon along the bottom has little pieces of ribbon tied to it.  I actually took this off of a package I had gotten, the ribbon had lots of kinks in it so I cut it into small pieces.  I'm all about reusing.  
This second card was made for Laura's sketch.  The heart is actually chipboard.  I covered it with paper and punched two holes in it to make it look like a giant button.  I used the other little buttons to repeat the idea.  Also, I asked my friend Jenny of JennyBunnyCreations to make me these ADORABLE hat pins to use on my cards.  Isn't it lovely?  You can't really see it, but there's a little clear bead up top and then below that, there's a pink bead with beautiful bead caps.  

So, wish me luck!  Hopefully, I can finally start designing for someone else.  That would be awesome.  Maybe then, more people (namely my husband) will start believing that I can actually make a living out of my paper crafts.

Laura's Sketch #4

This is the first time I've blogged about the sketches over at 2 Sketches 4 You.  Every week they have a new sketch for you to try with prizes and everything!  It's super fun and a great way to get out of your comfort zone.

At first, I didn't really like this sketch.  The way it was split up didn't make sense to me.  I didn't know where my main  image should go.  I didn't know where the sentiment should go.  But all the sudden it clicked and I'm kind of in love with this card.  It all started with the pretty DP I got out of a grab bag.  I built the entire card around that.

Here, I've used half circles made with my 1 inch circle punch to create a scalloped type effect.  I wanted something a bit bigger than what I usually do.  Then I took a scalloped circle and cut it in half for my sentiment, so that the idea repeats itself.  I also colored the bottoms of some dew drops red with Sharpie which I learned to do from Lauren Meader's blog.

Basic Recipe:

Paper: White, pink, red CS, DP (I have no idea what it is)

Stamps: Inkadinkado Birds Galore, SU Warm Words

Ink: Memories Crimson

Accessories: dew drops, scalloped punch, circle punch, gel pen