Busy, busy!

This is convocation weekend at Mount Allison University, which is located in Sackville - and oh my, was the market ever busy yesterday. Lots of new faces, and I *really* have my work cut out for me building my stock back up. Luckily, today being Mother's Day, we're off to Truro so I can poke around Carsand-Mosher and pick up some new crafty goodies :)
As usual, Sunday is catch-up-on-challenges day here on my blog, so instead of eleventy billion different posts, I'm going to combine them all into one gigantic marathon post. Bear with me! Let's start with Tuesday Morning Sketches #145, where we're working with this sketch (linky closes Sunday night!):

This week is their Judged Challenge, and that means a twist - this time around is to use die cuts. 

Supplies: kraft patterned paper from Basic Grey;
green & cream pp, and butterfly die cut from K & Co;
sentiment from The Cat's Pajamas; Vintage Photo distress ink;
Hero Arts lace, Offray ribbon;
standard small circle Nesties; brown rhinestones;
butterfly on envelope by Martha Stewart

The butterfly & circle are die cuts, and after seeing Sally at Cinnamon Sally make a wobbler, I wanted to try one too! So.Much.Fun. I used wire that I pulled from some wired ribbon - I have no idea of the gauge but it worked perfectly for me. Here is the link to the tutorial Sally posted, which is where I learned what to do!

Next up is the "Sweet Tooth" challenge at Simon Says Stamp, which is open until Tuesday night. I had lots of fun with this card - the first time using this fun crepe paper (which I had to go back & get in every colour...)

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Konnichiwa;"
Hero Arts sentiment; Palette Noir ink;
chipboard cake & present from Martha Stewart;
orange gems

I found the crepe (this stuff is thinner than party streamers - only about 1" wide) a lot easier to ruffle than ribbon, and even readjusting it on the double-sided tape wasn't a disaster. Score!

Next up, Crafty Creations Challenges #169 - Frame it! It's also open until Tuesday night. 

Supplies: all papers from stash; gold paint pen;
PSX sentiment; versamark & pirate gold EP;
Martha Stewart hydrangea punch;
Basic Grey number stickers; pearls

A friend's in-laws are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary - not an occasion I often get to make cards for! I purposely (lol, let's go with that) decided I liked the accidental stray embossing powder. For the frame, I punched eleventy billion flowers from some gold handmade paper, and then using an embossing stylus & foam mouse pad, made a little divot in the centre in each flower for dimension. The pearls & number "50" were coloured with the gold paint pen.

Shopping our Stash this week (#51 - next week is their first anniversary!) is to use 3 or more patterned papers. The linky there closes on Monday night.

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye;
moon chipboard from Fancy Pants;
stars from Martha Stewart;
Sakura Stardust pen; sentiment from Stampin' Up;
Mustard Seed distress ink; standard oval Nesties;
hand buttons from Dress it Up

Little Red Wagon #132 is to "Mist-ify Us" - I am a sucker for a fun pun ;) (Also, for lame rhymes.) I have a hard time getting a perfect 'splatter' spray, so I tend to go for as even a look as I can get.

Supplies: distress inks: Broken China, Dusty Concord,
Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass;
standard small circle Nesties;
die cut flower from K & Co;
turquoise Ranger spray, Tsukineko Pssst spray (sparkle)

After inking, I dripped water on the paper for the droplets- the sprays just add shimmer

 Well, there's 5 cards & five challenges....to recap:

Tuesday Morning Sketches #145 ending tonight.

Simon Says Stamp "Sweet Tooth" ending Tuesday night. 

Crafty Creations Challenge #169 - Frame it! ending Tuesday night.

Shopping our Stash #51 - three or more patterned papers ending Monday night.

Little Red Wagon #132 - Mistify Us - ending Tuesday night.

And, if you made it this far, I have a question - especially for those coming via particular challenge links! - do you prefer individual posts for each challenge? Or this type of big post? Thanks in advance for letting me know.

If you celebrate it, I wish you a Happy Mother's Day - and with craft shopping capped off by the best Zumba class going, I'm pretty sure my day is going to rock :)

xoxo,

Jessi