Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Thank you with Unity

I needed a thank you card and today's sketch was just the thing!

The image is from Unity Stamp Company. I used the Friends and Flowers Simply Scrappin Kit I had on my desk from my FS card from Sunday. Yep, the whole kit was still there! Been a busy couple days with the bathroom remodel and such.

But, back to the card, I stamped the saffron BG piece tone on tone with Aida Cloth. Each of the flowers on the branch have stickles and micro bling on them. The satin edge organdy is from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts in Cranberry. The sentiment is from Hanna Stamps, Things Hanna would Say -what a great sentiment stamp set, they are small, so they fit into just about any layout! The stripes at the bottom and the circles on the center panel are all stickers from the kit. Love it when you don't have to think, these kits ROCK!



Card Deets:
Stamps – flower brancy by Unity Stamp Co., Aida Cloth and Things Hanna would Say
Paper - Saffron, rose red, choc chip, cool caribbean
Accessories - stickles, ribbon, micro bling


My Tuesday Favorites

Yes, I know it's Wednesday!! But, yesterday I had demo going on in my bathroom and it was crazy around here. Ever see 3 and 4 year old boys when there is "handy Matt" here taking out cabinets? Ohhhhh, let's just say my 2 boys were in heaven yesterday!

Anyway, for this week's favorites, I decided to go way back to March 07, it was quite a stamping week for me. I had my FIRST ever card mentioned by the famed smitty2004 in her Sunday Favorites thread on SCS, and for icing on that HUGE cake my Enjoy the Latte card was also mentioned! Here they are:

I got the image of this cute little dress from my friend Shirley (squirrellyshirley), she came over for a stamping session and I stamped a few (still have 1 or 2!). It is a long retired Michael's dollar stamp. You can see the original SCS upload here.


This card was made with the goodies from my first big SU order. Like it a Latte still remains among my favs, but alas it has been replaced as my FAV coffee set by Flourishes, Coffee with Friends. I also used my first ever BG stamp, Print Pattern. Just don't use that beauty enough! You can see the original SCS upload here.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Flowers for my friend, Julia

Wooohooo! This week's featured stamper on SCS is Julia (artystamper). Not only is Julia crazy talented and super nice, but she is one of my fellow Double Dare Challenge gals! Congrats, Julia on being today's FS! Very deserved, my friend.

I cased this simple cute card from Julia's gallery. I kept the same clean layout with the contrast sentiment in black. I changed up the circle arrangement, stamp set and the paper. I used the FABULOUS stamp set by PaperTrey Ink, Green Thumb. I borrowed it from my friend Heidi and I SO LOVE IT! Seriously, gonna buy it!! There are stickles in the center of the flowers and randomly on the DP. I masked some of the flowers to stamp some background flowers and leaves. Thanks for the inspiration Julia!

Card Deets:
Stamps – Green Thumb
Paper - DP from Scrappin Kit Friends and Flowers, banana, white
Accessories - Circle nesties, stickles, paper piercer, white gel pen



Thursday, July 24, 2008

My lavendar double challenge card

For all of you who have been playing in my Dirty Girl Challenge -THANK YOU! I am working my through commenting on all the entries. There are over 175, so it will take some time. I took a break today for some stamping!

I combined yesterday's SCS sketch 186 with this week's double dare challenge. This week Anne (Itsapassion) challenged us to make a card inspired by something in our kitchen! Well, the timing couldn't be more perfect. I keep a floral display on my kitchen hutch and rotate it with the seasons. Well, embarrassingly enough, I hadn't changed my display from the fall (yes, I know it's JULY!) and Tuesday morning I finally changed it to my spring/summer arrangement! So, my card is inpsired by the lavender colors in my floral arrangement. In reading the rules of the challenge I was also supposed to combine the card with one of the Dirty Dare challenges... I didn't do that, I am SO sorry ANNE!! Oops!

I chose this 2 Scoops Basic Grey paper for it's circle detailing that matches the vase on this great MFT stamp, Lavendar. I colored the image with prismacolor pencils and added some dew drops in a couple of the circles. I used some of my Prisma papers and allowed the textured side of the Iced Teal piece to show. I stamped it with Sage Shadow using the swirls from Priceless. The cool striped organdy ribbon is in 5/8" from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.



Card Deets:
Stamps – MFT Presents Lavender, priceless
Paper - Prisma papers in Iced Teal, Frosted Cobalt, Nautical Blue Dark
Accessories - dew drops (the Lily Pad bottle), stickles, corner punch, dragonfly charm






Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tuesday's Dare to get Dirty challenges

Yesterday I mentioned this week is the Dare to get Dirty '08 challenges for the Fan Club over at SCS. Well, today I am hosting a challenge! Whoo hoo!! Be sure to hop on over there and check it out.

There are 3 challenges: mine, Christine (ChristineCreations) and Julie's (JulieHRR). The deets of the challenges is TOP SECRET! You just have to go there and see -LOL!


My sample card for the challenge uses a RAKd image of Classic Pickups. I colored it with Watercolor Crayons and my new Niji aquapainter brush. The background panel is stamped with Aida Cloth. The chocolate grosgrain is from Heidi's store (Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts)and the brads are from my LSS.


Hope to see you at the challenge!!



Card Deets:
Stamps – Classic Pickups, birthday basics by PTI

Paper - Choc chip, blue bayou, white and Tres Jolie DP
Accessories - WWC, aquapainter, antique brass brads, dimensionals, grosgrain



Monday, July 21, 2008

Come join the Dirty Girls for a week of challenges!

For all you SCS Fan Club members, today starts the week of challenges with the Dirty Girls -past and present. Every day there will be new challenges and something new, chat threads. This year we wanted to add something else, more personal interaction. So the chat threads will be open and you can ask questions to the Dirty Girls about techniques, tips or anything!

There are even prizes -you knew there had to be! If you complete ALL the challenges by August 1st you will be entered in a drawing and 4 lucky people will win some super fun stuff. But wait there's more (I just HAD to say that), if you check in Tuesday morning you may see a familiar face hosting a fun challenge that's near and dear to my (uh...I mean, her) heart!!

For more info, you can hop on over to the Dirty Dare '08 thread to see what is going on. Not a Fan Club member yet? No problem you can check it out here and for $25 a year you can help support SCS along with many perks. Membership is immediate, so you can play in today's challenge.

I hope to see you all there!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Casing Susie!

I have long admired Susie's stamping style as I pretty much am in love with ALL the Verve girls -LOL! I was super happy to see that Susie (susiestampsalot) was this week's SCS featured stamper! I chose this card to case as I didn't have much time to stamp today with all the Elzybells excitement going on. AND I wanted a chance to use my brand new Treading Water punch I found at my LSS (Craft Warehouse).

I kept the general layout and changed the colors, stamps used and as I don't have any square nesties (yet!) I don't have scalloped squares. The flower stamp is a $1 stamp that my mom gave me in a HUGE bag from a garage sale. Let me tell you, I weeded thru some pretty funky stamps, but found some cute little gems! The sentiment is from Verve's Thankful Blossoms. I just love the whimsical sentiment with the doodley flower! The primas and button are from my vast stash. I have stickles both in the center of the stamped flower and on the primas.

Card Deets:
Stamps – Dollar stamp, Thankful Blossoms by Verve Stamps
Paper - Brocade blue, Bashful blue, white, apricot appeal
Accessories - Primas, blue bling, cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, treading water punch, blue button

Exciting news to share!!

I have been asked to join the Elzybells Design Team! I just love the stamps over at Elzybells and am super excited to join the team. Here is a list of the other talented ladies that I share this honor with:

Alex Eaton, UK
Angel Rivera, USA
Beverly Rousch, USA
Charlene Austin, Canada
Dawn wheeler, UK
Deborah Southard, USA
Eva Costigan, USA
Frances Byrne, Australia
Inge Groot, The Netherlands
Jeanne Streiff, USA
Katie Stilwater, USA
Kim Fee, UK
Kitty Frampton, UK
Maria Adams, UK
Michelle Short, UK
Pam Fraser, UK
Paula Williamson, USA
Rachel Hope Baird, USA
Shannan Teubner, USA
Stephanie Mayne, UK
Tobi Crawford, Canada

I don't have blog links for everyone as Elizabeth hasn't updated her blog yet. I recognize several of the names on this list and am very excited to get to know EVERYONE on the team! ETA: With the help of "detective" Shannan, I have most of the blogs now and have them listed on the right side in the DT section! Thanks Shannan!

You can pop on over to Elizabeth's blog and give a shout out to all the girls!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Stay Tuned!

I will have some fun and exciting news to announce to you all tomorrow! No, it's NOT that I finally picked out the granite countertop and tile flooring for my bathroom -although I DID! LOL!

Come back tomorrow and check it out. Any guesses? Post a comment...

A simple purple flower


This week's Stamp Simply challenge from Sharon (notimetostamp) was to use the color purple and flowers. And, as usual, keep it simple. I decided to use the Heartfelt Thanks flower as the 2 step stamping is easy and there is no coloring involved!

I used my Flourishes background stamp Damask for the panel behind the image and the sentiment is Flourishes Many Sentiments set. The black striped organdy ribbon is from Heidi's store and I added a tiny bit of yellow stickles in the center of the flower. If this card looks familiar, you are right. I copied the layout of my Featured Stamper butterfly birthday card posted below! That is another tip for a simple card, copy a layout that you have already done.
Card Deets:
Stamps – Heartfelt Thanks, Many sentiments, Damask
Paper - white, black, pale plum
Accessories - paper piercer, yellow stickles, organdy ribbon


Friday, July 18, 2008

My first cupcake challenge

I finally played in Taylor's cupcake sketch challenge -only took me 25 weeks, LOL! I was inspired by this totally cute card from Denise (Peanutbee). I REALLY love this sketch. What fun with all the circles, such a happy sketch!


I used a cupcake image I received thru the PIF Forum, I think it's from Hero Arts. I dug into my "must have", never used Cupcake DP by Basic Grey. I love the soft colors and they match perfectly with PaperTrey Ink's color spring moss, lemon tart, and sweet blush. I did some piercing on offsetting corners and used Bubblegum stickles on the icing. The sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Basics and stamped with Spring Moss. Both the image panel and one of the top circles are on dimensionals.


Thanks for the fun sketch Taylor! I hope to play more often.


Card Deets:
Stamps – Birthday Basics, Cupcake by Hero Arts

Paper - lemon tart, spring moss, sweet blush, Cupcake by Basic Grey
Accessories - bubblegum stickles, paper piercer, hole punches, yellow striped grosgrain from Michael's





Thursday, July 17, 2008

Embracing the alphabet for my double dare


This week's Double Dare Challenge was from me! I challenged everyone to use the alphabet someway, somehow on their card, no rules about color, layout or which letters to use -just use the alphabet. I was inspired by my hugs stash of chipboard letters. I used some from my Cosmo Cricket collection. The flowers in this paper coordinates with the set Embrace Life really well, so I went with that. I used Julee's Mojo46 sketch for this card. I designed this card around the word LOVE. I tried LIFE, but felt the Embrace Life flowers lended more towards love.

Today I bought a decent watercolor brush (Kiji) to give my watercolor crayons one LAST try before selling them on EBay, and you know what? I like them!! I watercolored all the images on this card. I need a bit more practise, but I am pleased that my expensive purchase last year won't go to waste! The Sentiment panel is up on dimensionals as is the center circle.

Card Deets:
Stamps – Embrace Life
Paper - Ruby Red, Cosmo Cricket (from the huge QVC kit)
Accessories - Nesties, circle punches, gold brads

The 2 day sketch card

Man, sometimes when you start a card, everything flows great. The colors come to you right away, images are stamped perfectly the first time, etc. And sometimes they don't! That was this sketch card. Whew, this little guy took 2 days, morphed from butterflies to flowers, several different colors and DP in the trash bin -oh, and the kicker -I accidentally made it 5 3/4" wide, so now it WON'T fit in my envelopes!! Mama said they'd be days like this... (be sure to check out this month's Fan Club gallery for a card by me that epitomizes that saying). Anyway, it's done now and here it is!

This is for SCS sketch 185. I really like this sketch, it's great for showcasing horizonal images. I used some of my new Basic Grey Euphoria pad and framed it with Rose Red and Gable Green. The images are from Verve's Thankful Blossoms and the sentiment is from PTI Birthday Basics. I used some of Heidi's (Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts) wide striped organdy in a pale green color and her rose red grosgrain. The centers of the flowers have a bit of punched green and silver brads and stickles on the swirly parts. Both center panels are popped up on dimensionals. I finished it by adding a piece of my silver Hodgepodge Hardware.



Card Deets:
Stamps – Thankful Blossoms by Verve Visual, Birthday Basics by PTI
Paper - rose red, gable green, Basic Grey Euphoria
Accessories - silver brads, circle and flower punch, small rectangle nesties, ribbons, hardware, stickles




Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I've been tagged 3 times!

OK, I am the world's worst tagged person! I have been tagged three times, the first by Denise (Peanutbee) The Paper Landscaper, the second time by Alison (Newstampinaddict), Stamper's Ramblings and the third time by Leanne, Wee Inklings. All last month! Ugh... All three gals are talented stampers and have great blogs, be sure to check them out.

Each tag had different parameters, so I will kind of morph all 3 together and give you five random facts about myself, five things on today's To Do List and tag five other stampers!

Random things:
1. I grew up on a horse ranch in the Applegate Valley in Oregon, we raised black and white pinto Arabian horses.
2. I graduated from college with a Bachelors in Small Business Management
3. I am one of the PICKIEST eaters ever! Seriously, I am worse than Meg Ryan's, Sally.
4. I went to 3 different high schools
5. I am a TV-aholic! Seriously, I watch just about everything on TV!!

To do list:
1. Chose final granite countertop piece between Lowes and Quality Home Supplies
2. Mail out my ribbon PIF and Blog candy
3. Pack lunches for the boys for the park tomorrow
4. Do blog post about the Dare to Get Dirty in '08 challenges
5. Do my card for my DDC challenge - called Alphabet Soup

Now to tag... I am tagging these 4 stampin friends:
1. Janette, Stampin with Style
2. Linsey, Outside the lines
3. Miss Boo, Designs by Boo
4. Lori, Paper Sunshine

Have a great evening!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Butterfly birthday

Yesterday was the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS and this week it was Stephanie Hargis! What a terrific gallery. She has such a clean style of stamping. I chose this cutie to case and kept with her minimual layers.

The butterflies are from Verve's set Fluttering By. Oh, those are some cute butterflies! I stamped them in Pomegranite to matching the dark color of the "doodle-y" stripes of my DP. It came from the Basic Grey Euphoria pack. I used pink stickles and clear dew drops on each butterfly. Very sparkly IRL! The sentiment is from my PaperTrey Ink Birthday Basics set.

Card Deets:
Stamps – Fluttering By, Birthday Basics
Paper - Pretty in pink, cool caribbean, white, Basic Grey Euphoria
Accessories - dew drops (clear), pink stickles, paper piercer, satin ribbon


Saturday, July 12, 2008

Christmas in July! Mojo style!

This week's challenge with my DDC friends was from Charlene (LilLuvsStampin) and it was to make a Christmas card in July! Not just a Christmas card, but we had to use Brocade Blue and had to use Julee's Mojo45 sketch. Well, it is a super sketch that I was planning to use anyway, so that was a no brainer.

When I think of blue Christmas cards, I immediately think of snowflakes. So I borrowed Shirley's Winter Wonder set by Verve and went to work! The picture is so washed out from the light, but I tell you, the sun is NOT cooperating with my window of late, so this is the best I could do.

I was so excited about this card, I even bought some new amazing blue and silver specialty ribbon by Offray. It ended up being buried behind the image and sentiment panel, but it's there and just lovely!

The santa image is by Rubber Stampede called Santa Collage and is retired (boohoo). I got it thru WishRAK, isn't he a regal santa? I colored him with prismacolor pencils and the snowflakes in his beard are colored with a bashful blue marker and matches the Verve flakes perfectly! I used the Verve sentiment and the snowflakes are stamped on the white horizonal panel. I put tiny bling all over this, both on the sentiment and the image panel. I framed all the white pieces with my shiney silver paper. Man, I wish the picture was better, it is so sparkley IRL!! Thanks for the great Charlene!

Card Deets:
Stamps – Winter Wonder by Verve Visual, unknown Santa image
Paper - Brocade blue, white, shiney silver
Accessories - swiss dots CB folder, tiny bling, sponge, silver wire ribbon, Offray specialty blue/silver ribbon, silver brads


Friday, July 11, 2008

We have a WINNER!

And the winner is....










BEESTAMPER, Beverly!! Congrats Beverly, your name was picked from the hat by my youngest son -once I could get him to let go of the whole pile!! You are the winner of my first Blog Candy!! Thank you everyone for playing and listing your top 5 record albums. It was alot of fun to read everyones favorites!
Beverly, I have your address and will get the goodies postal in the next day or so!!

This is a picture of Ryan just before I interupted his game of stabbing the lawn -LOL! This is the best pic I could get since he BARELY stood still. All the other attempts were a total blur! But now you know why there was dirt on his hands.
Well, have a great Friday evening everyone and congrats again to Beverly!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

What a challenge!


Today's sketch challenge was pretty tough. But, it is very pretty and worth all the effort! I used my current favorite set, Coffee with Friends by Flourishes. The designer paper is from my huge My Mind's Eye Everyday Tango pack. Such pretty colors. All the cardstock is from my Prisma paper pack in the colors of Black, Rose Light and Blush Red Medium. I let the yummy texture side show on all the panels.

I paper pieced both the mug and the saucer and split up the sentiment to fit on 3 panels. I love clear stamps, you can stamp them any way you want! I just carefully inked the words one panel at a time. I got a little "paper pierce happy", but once you do one panel, have to do them all!! It's hard to see in the picture, but I lightly stamped a flourish on each of the smaller panels in Regal Rose and the steam of the mug is lightly gone over with a Sakura Clear star pen.

Have a great Wednesday, and don't forget to scroll down and enter Blog Candy giveaway I have going on, you have 2 more days to enter!


Card Deets:
Stamps – Coffee with Friends
Accessories - paper piercer, dotted organdy, black brads, tag punch, Sakura clear star pen

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A Starry Baby card


I just LOVE this cute teddy image from Bundle of Joy. I actually don't own the stamp set, all the images I play with are received from WishRAK. I used my last precious one for this card! I combined challenges today. I used the colors from SCS color challenge and made a star card for Julee's Starry Challenge that celebrates Verve's becoming a SCS Member Company!

I used the stars from Verve's Polka Stars set stamped in guava, banana and choc chip. I pierced either side of teddy's neck and tied a small piece of gold cord (from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts) to make a bow. I thought the cord was just the thing to "tie" (no pun intended!) the gold brad accents. I colored the sweet teddy with prismacolor pencils, gamsol and blending stumps. There are tiny splashes of itty bitty background stamping in banana and guava on the image panel. The banana panel is run thru the Bug with the Swiss Dots folder. The tags are punched from both sizes of SU oval punches as are the stars.

Have a great Tuesday and don't forget to scroll down and enter for my Basic Grey blog candy on this post!

Card Deets:
Stamps - Bundle of Joy, itty bitty backgrounds and Polka Stars by Verve Visual
Paper - choc chip, barely banana, white, guava, SU DO
Accessories - SU oval and star punches, cuttlebug, mini star punch, gold brads, gold cord



My Tuesday Favorites

I am really starting to look forward to Tuesday mornings. I quickly log onto SCS and check out the colors for the Color Challenge (today's are: Guava, Choc Chip and Banana -yummy!!) and then I browse my gallery and pick a couple old favorites of mine!


This card was made for the Featured Stamper challenge on 9/30/07. I had just received that cute little bird from the WishRAK and couldn't wait to use it! Since then, I purchased that set and use it quite often. You can find more details at my original gallery post here.






I made this card using my SU hostess set Oh, So Lovely and So Many Sayings. It was for the Sketch challenge 146 and I made 3 cards that week! I really love that sketch. You can find more details at my original gallery post here.


Have a great Tuesday and don't forget to scroll down to enter for some Basic Grey blog candy on this post.


Monday, July 7, 2008

A simple wedding card


This card is simple, yet elegant. I used my current favorite wedding set which is Wedding by Inkadinkado. This week's Sketch For You to Try by Jen, was perfect for this card! I embossed the 3 items (bouquet, dove/heart swirls and cake) in detail white on Very Vanilla and then sponged Soft Sky over it to make it pop.

The DP is specialty wedding paper I found at target and I paired it by some unknown pale blue/silver shimmer cardstock. I used a small pale blue flat backed pearl to accent the 3 squares and sentiment panel. Sorry for the shadows on the picture! The sun is NOT cooperating with my stamping window today.
Don't forget to scroll down and enter for some Basic Grey blog candy!

Card Deets:
Stamps
- Wedding by Inkadinkado
Paper - Very vanilla, unknown shimmer cardstock, wedding DP
Accessories - mini pale blue pearls, white embossing powder, versamark, paper piercer, mini heart punch


BLOG CANDY time!!

Yep, it's that time! My 1 month blogaversary is on this Saturday, so how about a little Basic Grey for some blog candy? Who doesn't love Basic Grey?! I am offering some {un}dressed chip board from the Infuse line (these are adhesive-backed, so kewl), some magnetic tie backs -the round ones, and a pack of fiber from the Obscure line. I've also thrown in some Primas and 2 1yd spools of elements ribbon (twill and double stitched) similiar in color to River Rock.

All you have to do to enter is tell me what your top 5 "desert island" records are. What is a desert island record? Well, first I think I'm dating myself here, but back in my day music was records, nowadays you find music on CDs or the computer! Anyway, your top 5 records you would chose if you were stranded on a deserted island. Mine (in no particular order) are:

1. Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins
2. Back in Black by AC/DC
3. The Best of The Smiths, vol 1 by The Smiths
4. The Colour and the Shape by the Foo Fighters
5. Promises and Lies by UB40

You have until 5pm (Pacific time) Friday to enter, and the winner will be announced Saturday the 12th. I haven't a clue on how to use the random number generator, so I will have my oldest son draw a name of all the entries from a hat! I look forward to hearing what albums everyone loves! Thanks and good luck!






Thursday, July 3, 2008

A black and white experiment

OK, so I have never made a black and white card before (I won't count the sympathy card I tried to CASE last year... don't ask it was a DISASTER!). This was actually hard for me to make. I can't tell if this was an experiment gone horribly wrong, or if this turned out good....
I was inspired by some cute black and white flower and butterfly epoxy stickers I found at Michael's in their dollar section. They are soooooo cute, I had to attach a pic for you, see what I mean?

I decided to use my current favorite set from Flourishes, Coffee with Friends. I used the blank cup image and put the sticker in the middle. It was looking a bit TOO black and white so I lightly colored the cups with a pink prismacolor pencil. The pink bling was planned from the start and I rather like how the ticket corner punch allows for plenty of room on the scalloped rectangle. I used my small rectangle Nesties for this. I added the 3 pink ribbon tags at the very end to break up the really large black and white DP panel. The sentiment is from Flourishes, Many Sentiments.

Card Deets:
Stamps - Coffee with Friends, Many Sentiments
Paper - white, making memories black and white DP
Accessories - epoxy stickers, pink bling from Js, pink grosgrain, nesties, dimensionals



Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Easy breezy beachy!

This week, I combined the Sketch challenge 183 with my Double Dare Challenge. Francie G challenged us to create an outdoor scene card. I chose to do a summer card. I am not much into "scenery" cards persay, so I used images from my new Studio G sets (from Michaels) -with kind of a collage feel. I used some retired SU DP that I received thru WishRAK from my friend Sherrie. I don't know the name, but I loved the beachy feel of the colors. The bling is from a new $1 line at Michaels. You know Michael's hit and miss, but this last visit I hit the Jackpot! Even black bling!! Whoot- whoot!

I colored these little images very lightly with my blender pen and ink squished in my lid. I outlined all the images and sentiments with my new clear Sakura Stardust pen. In case you haven't made it over to SCS sketch thread today, here is the sketch. Very versitile and I see many possibilities with it!

Card Deets:
Stamps - Studio G clear stamps
Paper - bashful blue, brocade blue, mellow moss, retired DP
Accessories - square punch, dimensionals, bling, blender pen