Challenges, Challenges, Challenges!

I've missed my beloved challenges because I went back to work (teaching) after a week-long vacation. So on Thursday evening, I had one of my stamp club meetings and had some time before they came to make a quick card. I really liked the color and sketch challenges this week, and then when I saw the ways to use it challenge (use music as your inspiration), I remembered this bg stamp and it all came together (quickly)!

The bg stamp is sheet music from Rubber Stampede. I've had this stamp for a very long time and it's never seen ink! Oh the shock, the horror of it all! Come on, I know you have some of those, too! We all do! Anyway, I stamped it in black and mounted it on black (I decided to mount all my layers on black). I pulled out this patterend paper from SU's Ginger Blossom. Since I couldn't use any other colors, I took a piece of river rock and mounted it on black also. This bird was already stamped and waiting to be mounted on something. I stamped him when I cut and mounted the stamps and put him in the box for future use. I cut him out, but didn't like the way his feet looked, so off they came! I used river rock for the oval and black for the mat. They were both punched out with the marvy punches. The oval and rectangular river rock pieces looked too bare, so I stamped them with Itty Bitty Backgounds. I also pierced a hole in each of the scallops, but it's hard to see in the picture. If I had had more time, I would have found another pattern paper to use or even the cuttlebug, but like I said, I was pressed for time. The bird has diamond stickles on him. I'm ok with this card, but I think it could be better. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe
Stamps: Always, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Rubber Stampede music sheet
Paper: River rock, black, whisper white
Ink: Black
Accessories: Diamond stickles, marvy punches, dimensionals, paper piercer

Bloomin' Beautiful!

I have a group of teachers and friends coming for a class on Thursday, and I needed to make one more card. One of the girls asked if we were doing Easter cards. I have two SU Easter sets. One is retired and the other we've already used. So I thought I'd use this new set, since it's going to be available March 1, and turn it into an Easter card (or whatever other type of card they want). I tried several techniques on this image: coloring on whisper white with markers, using watercolor paper, markers, and the blender pen. They just weren't giving me the look I wanted. So I went to the SCS gallery and saw one that used watercolor crayons. I have two sets and only used them once! So I decided to try them. I got the look I was going for and it was very easy (something else I was looking for). The image was stamped in Stazon and the flowers were colored with two shades of pink and the leaves in two shades of green, then they were blended with the blender pen. If I needed more color, I just colored over it and hit it with the blender pen again. I also used the white signo gel pen for the centers of the flowers. The vase was colored with a yellow crayon, then the shading was done with a darker gray crayon and blended. I took a light gray crayon and created a shadow beneath the vase. I also took a light blue crayon and shaded around the image. I knew I wanted to use some pattern paper and the new Cuttlebug folders I just got, but it was late and I was stuck on a layout. Again, I went to SCS gallery (thank goodness for SCS!), and came across this card. I hate to case lately, but I really liked this layout and it had everything I wanted in it. I used a small piece of pink ribbon to tie the bow with the yellow ribbon. It's 11:00 p.m. right now, and I have to say I'm tired but happy with the outcome of this card. Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe
Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful, sentiment unknown
Paper: So saffron, certainly celery, regal rose, watercolor, so saffron dp
Ink: Black Stazon
Accessories: Watercolor crayons, blender pen, ribbon, paper piercer, mat pack, cuttlebug and folder, dimensionals, word window punch, white signo gel pen

I'm All Mixed Up!

Well, not really! This was the title of today's Technique Lovers Challenge TLC157. We were supposed to *mix it up* with different patterned papers that we wouldn't normally put together. So, I came up with this dizzy card! I started with Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday sketch #26. I really liked this sketch today, but it took a lot of time figuring out the measurements for this! (Thank goodness one of the subjects I teach is math, with fractions being a big part of that!) I think Julee's sketch was for a square card, but I got it to work just fine. Once I decided on a sketch, I looked for paper. Not a difficult task, you may say, but when you have the stash of paper I have (and I'm sure you have it, too), that is a difficult task! I settled on SU's Ginger Blossom and chose the floral, dotted, and striped papers. The base of the card is river rock, then ruby red on top of that. The rectangles I believe are 1 5/8" x 2 1/2". The squares are 1 1/8". I used Oh So Lovely because I needed a long, thin image. This worked perfectly! When I punched the circles and layered them, they looked too bare. Out came the paper piercer. The circle still looked bare, so out came PTI's Mixed Messages because I needed a sentiment. There are a TON of small sentiments in that one! I was hoping to find a birthday one in there as this is going to my Aunt Vi for her 80-something birthday this weekend. Lo and behold, there was one in there that fit perfectly on that circle! Once I put it all together, the squares needed something, so I punched four flowers from Three For You, put a brad in the middle, and place it on the card with a tiny dimensional. Now I needed something to balance out the other side of the card, so I punched the smaller photo corner in the striped paper. That seemed to do the trick for me. There is glitter on the image to pretty it up a bit! I think I mixed it up pretty good, don't you? Well, thanks for looking and have a great evening!

Recipe
Stamps: Oh So Lovely, PTI Mixed Messages
Paper: River rock, ruby red, very vanilla, Ginger Blossom dp
Ink: Black, mellow moss, ruby red
Accessories: Punches: circles, Three for You, photo corner; brads; paper piercer; dimensionals; glitter

Shower Invitations

My nephew is getting married in June and the shower is in April. I offered to do the invitations. Here's the one I'm thinking of for the shower. Nice and very simple!

I used all Papertrey Ink products for this card. The cardstock is theirs (Stamper's Select White cardstock) and is the only white I'll use for the base of a card. I love SU's whisper white, but not for a base because it is too thin. PTI's is very sturdy. The rectangular nestability die and Cuttlebug were used to emboss the scalloped frame. I then stamped the cake in pretty in pink, the flowers in rose red, and the leaves in certainly celery. The sentiment was also stamped in rose red. Once I stamped the sentiment, I turned the paper over and determined (with a small pencil mark) where the sentiment was. Then I used the Scor-pal to *draw* the embossed lines. I gave it a nice finishing touch. I got that idea from Nichole's blog here. I put diamond stickles on the middle of the flowers, and that's it! As they say *easy peasy*! I'm not sure how I'm doing the information on the inside yet. That will probably be computer generated on vellum or maybe pink cardstock. This literally took me 5 minutes to do! I also want to make the Thank You cards for her as a gift! Let's see, 5 minutes times 45 invitations and about 50 thank you cards.....wow! I better get started! Thanks for stopping by and have a great week (I have to go back to teaching after a week-long vacation...bummer, not much time for stamping!)!

Recipe

Stamps: PTI Piece of Cake

Paper: PTI Stamper's Select white

Ink: Pretty in pink, rose red, certainly celery

Accessories: nestability die, diamond stickles, Scor-Pal, Cuttlebug

Sweet and Cheerful!

Today's inspiration challenge IC116 is this colorful room.

I took from it the colors and the rectangular figure of the refrigerator from this piece. I searched my stash of stamps for something long and tall and came across this retired SU set, Sweet Treats. I thought this would make a great birthday card for a young girl. I then went to my other stash...paper. I was thinking bashful blue and gable green, when I saw this textured blue and green paper I had gotten from my local stamp store, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff. They resemble those two colors, but seemed to be a better match for this inspiration. I also picked out regal rose for the pink in the inspiration. The ribbon also seemed a perfect match. It wasn't my first choice. My first choice of ribbon had white, green, and a darker blue in it. I was going to use brocade blue instead of the pink, but I needed to color my cake in the pink, so I chose the regal rose and this ribbon. The yellow in it matches the yellow stickles I used on the candles! See? It all works in the end! I used Toy's sketch #5 for this also. The cake is colored using a blender pen and the ink from the lids of Tempting Turquoise and Regal Rose.

Speaking of stickles....everyone knows how much I love my stickles! BUT, I always have a problem remembering to let them dry before I do anything with the card (come on, admit it...it happens to you too!)! Of course, it happened today. I was photographing the card (and having trouble with getting the lighting right for these colors again) and it toppled over onto my hand. You guessed it! Stickles on my hand and a smudge on my image. Well, I was NOT going to redo the image, so there you have it! Hope you have a great day and stop by again!

Recipe
Stamps: Sweet Treats, Short and Sweet
Paper: Regal rose, whisper white, green and blue textured paper (unknown)
Ink: Tempting turquoise, regal rose, gable green, black, going gray
Accessories: Punches: large and small ovals, ticket corner, blender pen, stickles, glitter, ribbon, dimensionals

Link Me To Feedblitz!

Hi everyone! I just signed up for Feedblitz. What is that? It's a subscription site that allows you to link to my blog. Once you sign up (see the subscription on the sidebar above my picture), you will get emails letting you know that I've updated my blog. It's totally safe and secure, and I do this with a lot of the blogs I read. It's a nice feature because we all check our email daily, and you will automatically be notified when my blog has been updated and you can link to it directly from the email! I hope you sign up! Let me know if you do and leave me a comment! Hope to be back later with an Inspiration Challenge (my favorite)!

Open a Window

I was so happy when I saw today's Ways to Use It challenge WT154. I'm not a big WT fan, but I was thrilled with this one - to use a window in your card. I have had these stamps for a long time. They are from Great Impressions, and I used to be in a club where if you bought so many stamps from the collection, you'd get the featured stamp of the month free. This was one of them! I loved this stamp and had it tucked away in a drawer and was so happy to be able to pull it out once again. I stamped the window image in black on vanilla paper and used my Prismacolor pencils to color it in. Then I stamped the brick pattern around it in more mustard. The vanilla was too "clean" looking, so I sponged more mustard and then stippled creamy caramel and close to cocoa to dirty it up a bit (buildings aren't clean, right?). Once that was done, I took my exacto knife and "opened the window". It was very stuffy inside! On another piece of vanilla, I stamped "Easter Wishes" and a vine from a retired set, Etruscan (love that set), and adhered that behind the open window. The birds were stamped, colored, cut out, and adhered with dimensionals. I ran some ribbon around the green panel, adhered the main image with dimensionals. I added the green metallic dots and some glitter to the flowers. The base of the card was stamped with canvas in so saffron because it looked too bare. Very easy card once I decided what to layer the main image on. Very cool challenge and stamps! Hope you have a great day! I am on day four of my mid-winter break and have done nothing but stamp! Sounds good, but I have a to-do list a mile long that I have not gotten to! Today's the day for that! Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps: Great Impressions, Canvas, All Holidays, Etruscan

Paper: Very vanilla, so saffron, handsome hunter

Ink: More mustard, close to cocoa, creamy caramel, so saffron

Accessories: Ribbon, metal dots, dimensionals, Prismacolor pencils, exacto knife, glitter

Hello New Stamps!

Wow! It took longer to photograph this card than it did to make it! It needed a certain light because the colors in the card are so light, and I'm no photographer, so it took about 15 pictures just to get this one! These are all new products from Papertrey Ink. I just received them yesterday, and put them away in their cd cases and added the new printed labels on the case last night. The labels are wonderful, because now you can see what's inside. With the clear stamps it's sometimes difficult to see what the stamp is, especially if it's a tiny stamp like a lot of these particular stamps are.

Anyway, when I saw today's sketch challenge SC164, I decided to use my new products. Everything on this card, with the exception of the whisper white SU card stock and certainly celery ink, is from PTI. The base is the new Aqua Mist color. I stamped it with the polka dot stamp from Polka Dot Basics in aqua mist Pallette ink. (I had to use my cuttlebug B-plate again beause I didn't have an acrylic block large enough to accomodate this stamp. The only problem with using it is that the plate is thin and difficult to stamp with, but it works in a pinch!) Then I stamped the flower stems in certainly celery and the flower head in aqua mist. The flowers are from Women of Life and the sentiments are from Shapes by Design. Whew! I didn't realize I used all three sets in this card! The dp is also from PTI, called Everyday Blessings. I tried to do a very clean, simple card that Nichole Heady usually does. I hope you like it. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

**I edited this photo because I did not like the way it photographed and because it was missing something. So, I added those white metal dots. I think it looks much better!**

Recipe

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Women of Life, Shapes by Design

Paper: Aqua mist, whisper white, Everyday Blessings dp

Ink: Aqua mist, certainly celery

Accessories: dimensionals

Watercolor Posies

I pulled out some watercolor paper today and tried my hand at watercoloring again. I bought one of those aquapainters by EK Success (I think), but I couldn't get the darn thing loaded with water. I tried and tried, and only got a couple of drips in it. So it's going back tomorrow! I went back to the paint brush and cup of water! This set is Posies for You by Anna Wight. I used reinkers and the lids of the SU ink pads. I've been doing that pail in blue everytime because I have a pail that I use as a flower pot and it looks just like this! The sketch is based on Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday Sketch #24. I flipped the sketch vertically because that's the way my image went and I just added two larger brads in place of the strip of dots in the original sketch. I'm not too sure about this card. It's sort of growing on me. Remember, I was just playing around today! Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps: Posies for You

Paper: Brocade blue, very vanilla, marigold morning, close to cocoa dp, water color paper

Ink: Brocade blue, marigold morning, close to cocoa, always artichoke, black stazon

Accessories: Cuttlebug, ticket corner punch, round punches, dimensionals, brads, daubers for sponging

Blooms in Crazy Colors!

This was a crazy color challenge, and believe me it was a challenge! The CC154 colors to use were pumpkin pie, orchid opulence, and certainly celery. Who would have thunk it? It's sort of growing on me, but I would have changed a few things on this card. This layout is from Toy's Friday sketch challenge. I tried to stay true to the sketch, but I should have moved the big bloom up higher instead of centering it on the white cs. I probably could have used a narrower ribbon. I had one with white dots on it which would have looked good and we know dots are in! Other than that, I think it's ok. The background is stamped in Canvas, the big bloom is Friendship Blooms, which is from the Sale-a-bration catalog. You can get this for FREE with a $50 SU purchase! I stamped the flower in black and then again in pumpkin pie just for the little flower in the middle. I cut that out, put a black metal dot in the middle, and put it on the big flower with a dimensional. The sentiment is from A Little Birdie Told me, and the circle is from PTI's Borders and Corners {circles}. I used the Spellbinder's nestabilites for the scalloped rectangles and then used them again to emboss. This is a great tool! I need more shapes! The black metal dots I purchased at JoAnn's for a $1. Need more of those too! I can see a multitude of uses for them and they are self-adhesive, which is awesome! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

Recipe

Stamps: Friendship Blooms, Canvas, A Little Birdie Told Me, PTI Borders and Corners

Paper: Certainly celery, pumpkin pie, orchid opulence, whisper white

Ink: Certainly celery, pumpkin pie, orchid opulence, black

Accessories: Nestabilities, circle punches, ribbon, black metal dots, dimensionals, dauber for sponging

Chick on an Egg

This is another Easter card made with a stamp from Paper Inspirations. This one is called Chick on an Egg. Their stamps have a very vintage look to them and I'm really enjoying them. This set has the main image and several sayings for differnent occasions. They are red rubber but unmounted and stick to the acrylic blocks. I didn't have a block big enough for this, so I used a plate from the Cuttlebug. I read about how someone did this on SCS! Great trick! I inked up this stamp in Close to Cocoa and colored it with Prismacolor pencils. Very easy to do! It's mounted on Basic Grey's new Two Scoops line of paper. The ribbon is very cool...it's velvet and in a sort of ric-rac design. I used the nestabilities scallop die for the sentiment, which is also stamped in Close to Cocoa. Thanks for stopping by, and please scroll down to the other two cards I posted today!

Recipe

Stamps: Paper Inspirations: Chick on an Egg

Paper: Barely banana, very vanilla, Basic Grey: Two Scoops

Ink: Close to cocoa

Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, nestiabilities, velvet ribbon,dimensionals

Envelope Pouch

I don't know who comes up with these things, but they are pretty cute! This is for today's Technique Lovers Challenge TLC156. This is actually an envelope and the large tag punch was used to create the handle. Seemed simple enough, only this took me a long time because of those brads! There are brads behind the bow...the ribbon is threaded through them. The only problem is that the paper is too thin to keep them in place properly! They kept falling out! I wasted about three of them!

I used Hand Stitched (retired) background stamped in Regal Rose. I thought it looked like a basket weave. The image is from Spring Gifts (also retired) and is colored with Prismacolor pencils. I used the nestabilities to frame them. I think this is one I won't keep. I'll just salvage the image! Thanks for stopping by! Scroll down to see the other post for today.

Recipe

Stamps: Spring Gifts, Handstitched

Paper: Regal rose, gable green, very vanilla

Ink: Regal rose

Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, nestabilities, eyelets, cropadile, ribbon, large tag punch, large oval punch, vanilla envelope

Featured Stamper Challenge

Yesterday's Featured Stamper (FS54) was Betty (gbedwright). She has an amazing gallery and it was difficult to choose just one card to case. I chose this one because I really liked the layout and I had just purchased a set of birds (and one owl) by Inkadinkadoo called Birds Galore. I hadn't used it yet, and this was the perfect card for it! This card size is 5.5" x 5.5". I used a rectangle instead of an oval because it fit better with the image and I only have rectangular Nestabilities and wanted to emboss the edges. I stamped the image in black, then colored the swirls and some of the leaves in groovy guava and mellow moss with my blender pen. I chose the swirly groovy guava dp to match the swirls in the bird. I left off one of the flowers on each corner because they just didn't seem to fit right with the rectangle. The flowers were punched with the Three for You punch and the white dots in the middle are metal self-adhesive dots I got at JoAnn's the other day. They had a bunch of metallic-colored ones for a $1 that I picked up too! Can't pass up those $1 bargains! Whoever thought of that was a genius! What's a buck, you always say...until the buck turns into $20 or more at the register! (Sigh) Anyway, the main image is on dimensionals and I did put some diamond stickles on the bird. He seemed so dull without them! Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo: Birds Galore, A Little Birdie Told Me (for sentiment)
Paper: Mellow moss, black, whisper white, groovy guava dp
Ink: Mellow moss, black, groovy guava
Accessories: Punches: Three for You, large and small ovals; nestabilities; stickles; blender pen; metal dots; dimensionals

New Stuff!

I went to my LSS store today, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, and got some new "stuff"! Check our Sharon's blog. Sharon is the owner and the sweetest person! The store is awesome and always filled with the latest stuff in stamping. This is a stamp by Paper Inspirations. I really like these stamps and have a couple, but I always had trouble coloring them. Well, I recently took a class at BSS on Prismacolor colored pencils and decided to try them on this. I think they worked perfectly! The key to using the Prismacolor pencils is the blender pencil. It takes away all the lines you get when coloring. This was stamped in Adirondack Pitch Black, then mounted on rose red. The dp is something else I got today...Basic Grey's new line of paper called Two Scoops. I bought a sheet of each design. The base of the card is Barely Banana. The sentiment, from A Muse, was stamped in rose red and punched out with the yellow Marvy scallop punch. I sponged rose red around the edges. This wasn't supposed to end up as a card. I was just playing. In fact, the back side of the image is an unused inside of a Valentine card that I never used! Read on about another card.

Recipe
Stamps: Paper Inspirations
Paper: Barely banana, rose red, whisper white, Basic Grey Two Scoops dp
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, rose red
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, scallop punch, dimensionals


The new stuff in this card is the paper. This is Dutch Girl by Cosmo Cricket. I've always liked this paper, and decided to purchase a few pieces. I like the way this card came out, except for those velvet flowers! They really look nicer IRL! I was trying to do Beate's weekend sketch challenge, but it really didn't turn out the way I had planned. The main image is supposed to be over to the left more, but then the flowers wouldn't fit. I was going to use these pearl brads I just got, but then thought to use these flowers. I should have stuck with the pearls! Oh well, it's done and it's late.
I made this card for Cheryl Rowley. She gave me this set and I've only made one card, so I felt bad. I want to send this to her thanking her for the set. She does a lot of water coloring and is awesome at it! Check out her gallery and see what I mean. This is my feeble attempt at water coloring. I don't know if I have the wrong brush or what, but I had trouble shading and controlling the color. We'll see what advice she can give me for the next attempt! Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe
Stamps: Posies for You (Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper Designs), Stem Sayings (sentiment SU)
Paper: sky blue, rose red, very vanilla, Cosmo Cricket's Dutch Girl
Ink: Rose red, wild wasabi, brocade blue, close to cocoa
Accessories: Maya Lin velvet flowers, pearls, paper piercer, dimensionals

Birch, Bark, & Birds Inspiration

Today's Inspiration Challenge IC115 was this great painting by an artist named Charley Harper. His work was featured on the CBS Sunday Morning show. This is a great show, especially the last 5 minutes. They always film something from nature and show it without any voice-overs. It's really great. My husband and I always turn it on just for those last few minutes! Anyway, Todd Oldham wrote a book about this man and it was featured on Sunday Morning. Harper's work is very contemporary with clean lines and very abstract images. This is the one Stephanie chose for the inspiration:First of all, I love these colors! I'm always drawn to blues, brown, and black. I always have been. I had a brown bedroom when I lived at home and have a brown bathroom in my own home now. I wanted to keep my card simple with straight lines. The only paper I had like that was this striped piece from Au Chocolate. But, it had no black, which is what I needed. So idea! I took my copic black marker and filled in the narrow vanilla stripes with black! It did the trick and was the look I was going for! The bird, from SU's Natural Beauty (retired) was colored with a blue copic marker and I left some white on him like the ones in the piece. I layered him on some gray because I saw gray in the inspiration, and then I used my basic gray taffeta ribbon and some black and brown scraps of ribbon to tie the bow. I was going to run the ribbon horizontally, but the inspiration piece had some vertical stripes, so I tied it that way. The image is on dimensionals. I probably never would have made a card like this, but that is what these challenges are for...to stretch your imagination and further your creativity. ~TFL!~

Recipe

Stamps: Natural Beauty

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Black, Going Gray, Very Vanilla, Au Chocolate

Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black

Accessories: copic markers, taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Send Someone a Heart

My mother-in-law sent this to me today. There was a poem that went along with it that said:

Never take someone for granted

Hold every person close to your heart

Because you might wake up one day

And realize that you've lost a diamond

While you were too busy collecting stones.

You were supposed to send it to everyone you don't want to lose in '08. So I'm sending it to all of you! Have a great day!

Three Ring Circus

This card is for SCS Limited Supplies Challenge LSC155 Round and Round We Go. We were only allowed to use round stamps or punches. Even the ribbon had to be round, so I chose the ribbon as my starting point. It has blue and brown dots on it and that's where the color combo came from. I used Cool Caribbean (retired), Close to Cocoa, and Whisper White. On the Cool Caribbean piece, I stamped On the Spot (retired) in cocoa. The flowers are from Big Flowers and I chose this flower because of the dots around it and because it was the most colorful when stamped. It matches the circles in On the Spot. I stamped the flowers in both the blue and cocoa. I think I may have strayed a bit from the challenge, because I used the Three For You punch for the middle of the flower. Oh well, it just looked better. The HPH brads are in the center of each flower. The flowers were punched with the 1 3/8" SU punch and were backed with Creative Memories
1 1/2" punch. They were placed on the card with dimensionals. The ribbon is tied in a knot to also represent a circle.

I staged my card a bit. I've seen others do this and it just makes the card a bit more interesting. Let me know what you think! ~TFL~

Recipe
Stamps: On the Spot, Big Flower
Paper: Cool Caribbean, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Ink: Cool Caribbean, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Punches: SU Three for You, 1 3/8" circle, CM 1 1/2" circle, dimensionals, HPH brads, ribbon

Today is a Good Day!

Why you may ask? Well first, I only worked a half day because I had an eye doctor appointment. (Did you every try to drive after they put those drops in your eyes to dialate them? Pretty difficult, huh? Well multiply that ten-fold when there is snow on the ground and the sun is shining! I really needed a pair of those cataract sunglasses!) When I came home (safely, thank goodness), I found these in my mailbox! I am in a copic marker club over at Gina K Designs and this is the first installment of six! I didn't expect them this soon! I have 30 more on the way for the next 5 months! I already have a few of these to add to my collection! They are really a lot of fun to use! Lastly, today is my last day for a whole week's vacation! Our school is on its mid-winter break, and the best thing is that I get more time to stamp (after I cross off some of the things on my to do list)! So hopefully, you will be seeing a lot more action on my blog! Stop by later...I may have something to post for today's Limited Supplies challenge at SCS...using circles! I have to see what I can come up with!

The Right Shoes

I happen to LOVE shoes!! I have many shoe stamps, and when I saw the Ways to Use It challenge (WT153) on SCS today, I knew exactly what I was going to do! Julia titled it "The Height of Fashion", and we were to use fashion as our inspiration. Well, since I love shoes (I don't even want to admit how many I own, but let me tell you it probably goes into triple digits!), I decided to do a shoe theme. I pulled out this stamp from My Sentiments Exactly that I have had for a long time and never inked up (imagine that). This shoe reminded me of a favorite pair of shoes I had almost 20 years ago (I'm giving away my age, aren't I?). They were gray alligator pumps and I used to wear them with a pink and gray dress I had and also a pink and gray skirt that I wore with a gray sweater. So, you can see where the colors for this card came from. It came together very easily once I knew what to do with the empty space left on the vanilla piece after I stamped the shoe. The sentment is another I never inked before. I don't know who makes it, but it's a great sentiment!

This card also qualifies for the WTC152 from last week, Going Dotty. The challenge was to use dots, so I used the dotted patterend paper and the cuttlebug for the dots on the pink panel.

Thanks for looking and let me know what you think!

"Til the next time that we say goodbye, I'll be thinking of you."

Recipe

Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly (shoe), sentiment unknown

Paper: Basic Gray, pretty in pink, very vanilla, charbon dp

Ink: Basic Gray

Accessories: cuttlebug, SU taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, slit punch

Happy Valentine's Day

You're probably wondering what the heck these things are! Well, these are what I gave my students for Valentine's Day today. The picture is not very good, and I do have a story behind them. I was planning on making chocolate suckers with the heart molds I knew I had (in my mind!). I kept putting off making them, and of course yesterday developed a bad headache (or possibly a migrane). I took a nap and was feeling better by 7:30 p.m., so I was going to make the suckers. Guess what? I didn't have the molds for Valentine's Day! I have every other holiday but that one! Now what do I do? I decided that all they were going to get were "credits". This is a system we use on our team. Each student is given a "credit card", which is simply an idex card, that they have to carry with them to all classes (they are 5th graders). They can earn credits for various things, such as having their agenda signed, giving an awesome answer to a question, doing a good deed, etc. They can, however, have credits taken away for the obvious reasons, and may use them to purchase school supplies that the teachers keep on hand. Once a week, they can shop in our credit store. I buy a variety of things from the dollar stores, sales bins, etc. This system hopefully teaches them responsibility.
Anyway, I decided to give them 25 credits. So, I punched red hearts out and wrote "25 credits" on it. I was feeling guilty, because I always have a gift for them. I then remembered this new mini muffin pan from Wilton that I purchased and never used. I broke out my free box of brownie mix I got at the grocery store with a coupon and voila! Mini brownies! I put them in the little bags I was going to use for the suckers. They fit perfectly! I then stapled the hearts to the bag. I know I could have done a much better job, but I was in a pinch and this worked out well. I think the kids were more excited about the 25 credits than the mini brownie!
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

Shower Favors

My nephew is getting married in June. I can't believe he is a grown man. I remember him when he was just a baby...so cute with blonde hair and blue eyes! He was (and still is) such a sweet boy!

Well, anyway, his fiance's shower is in May, and I came across this idea from Judy Morrow's blog. These were from Michael's and were on sale for $16.99 for a package of 20. They can be found in the wedding aisle. It's hard to see in the picture, but I punched a real red scallop circle using the yellow Marvy scallop punch. Then I used the 1 1/4" SU punch and shimmery white paper. The stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Sweet Love set. I adhered the circles to the tin lid using a large glue dot. Sheer red ribbon went around the lid. The thank you tag was made using the word window punch. The sentiment stamp is from SU's All Holidays and the heart is also from Sweet Love. I tied it on with a piece of white thread. I may get jump rings used in jewelry making to attach the tag. I filled the jar with M & M's before decorating. Her girls are wearing red for the wedding, so I thought these would be nice. I was thinking of adding some rub-ons to a few and put only one on each table. Whoever had that jar would be able to take the centerpiece home. I was also thinking of adding white M & M's to the jar. What do you think? Leave me a comment!

I was hoping to do the TLC155 challenge today called Ink, Spray, and Smash, but it doesn't look like that will happen. I still have papers to correct and it's already almost 9:00 p.m.! It'll have to wait til tomorrow! TFL!

"Till the next time that we say goodbye, I'll be thinking of you."

Recipe
Stamps: PTI Sweet Love
Paper: real red, shimmery white
Ink: real red, black
Accessories: jars from Michael's, sheer ribbon, glue dots, M & M's, punches: word window, yellow scallop, 1 1/4" circle

Featured Stamper-Sarah Green

Today's Featured Stamper on SCS is Sarah Green. Her style is very eclectic, in my opinion. She puts together cards in a variety of ways and doesn't stick to just one design style. I chose to case this card for a couple of reasons. First, I just love that stamp from SU's retired hostess stamp, Oh, So Lovely. I had to cut and mount this set today (can you believe I never used it?). Second, I loved the layout. As you may have read before, I have a difficult time with layouts. I thought this was a fabulous one! So, here's where I went with it. I chose SU! retired Recollections dp. I've always loved this dp! I then chose the cardstock: cranberry crisp (retired) and river rock. Next, I started playing with the dp. These seemed to work well together. Each piece was cut to 1 1/8" x 3 1/2" to fit on the cranberry layer just underneath it, which measures 5" x 3 3/4".
The main image was stamped in Adirondack pitch black ink (I was told that this is the best ink to use when using copic markers; I don't know if it's the *best*, but it works very well with no streaking) and the stems were traced over using a mellow moss marker. The flowers were colored with copic marker #R59 and some color was lifted off with the blender marker (this is not the SU! blender pen--it is one specifically used for copic markers). I then used my white signo gel pen to put stamens in the middle of the flower. Next, I inked up the background stamp in mellow moss and stamped it over the flower. *Love You*, from SU's Short and Sweet, was stamped in cranberry crisp. Lastly, I added the green jute and sheer cranberry ribbons. The main image is on dimensionals.
I am giving this to my husband for Valentine's Day. He told me not to give him a card, but how could I not? He has also made some cards for me in the past! I should post them some time. They are quite hilarious!
Congratulations to Sarah! I hope she is basking in all her glory today!

" Til the next time that we say goodbye, I'll be thinking of you."

Recipe
Stamps: Short and Sweet; Oh, So Lovely
Paper: Cranberry Crisp, River Rock, Recollections dp, very vanilla
Ink: Cranberry Crisp, Mellow Moss, Adirondack Pitch Black
Accessories: copic markers, signo white gel pen, ribbon, dimensionals

Valentine's Day Gift

Aren't these the cutest things? I saw this on Nancy Riley's blog iStamp and thought they would be a cute gift for my girlfriends. We are going out with our husbands tonight for dinner at a cool Italian restaurant called Mangia. I'm going to give these to them.

They were very easy to do. I changed my dimensions a little from Nancy's. I cut the Regal Rose paper to 1 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored it at 2 1/4" and 3 1/4". Stamped the image from Happy Heart Day on Whisper White and punched it with the smaller tag punch. I colored the hearts red and glittered them up. I then punched the larger tag from Real Red paper. Next, I layered them and put them on the regal rose (near the top). I punched a hole with the crop-a-dile, put the two nuggets inside, put the eyelet in, and set the red eyelet. I then snipped the edges to follow the lines of the tag and ran some red sheer ribbon through it. The nuggets stay in nice and tight. Pretty easy and cool little favor! Happy Valentine's Day!

Scroll down to see the other post for today! TFL!

Recipe

Stamps: Happy Heart Day

Paper: Regal Rose, Real Red, Whisper White

Ink: Black, red marker

Accessories: ribbon, eyelets, crop-a-dile, Hershey's Nuggets

One of a Kind

This card was created for SCS Inspiration Challenge (IC114). The inspiration was bedding from a company called Soft Surroundings. Here is that gorgeous, soft bed we were given as inspiration:


Doesn't this make you want to jump right into it?
When I looked at that picture, I thought about the stripes around the perimeter of the bed and those great colors. The pattern on the bed also inspired me to find a flower of some sort. I hadn't cut up my One of a Kind from SU! set yet, so I thought what better time to get it mounted.

A problem I usually have is the layout. I rely on a lot of sketch challenges for that. Today, I am using Toy's Friday Sketch Challenge (THSC#3). Once I had that, it was a breeze! I found this striped paper in my stash that I didn't even know I had. I don't know where it's from...probably one of those stacks that I bought at AC Moore or JoAnn's. The colors were perfect for this inspiration. The card is a 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 square. I stamped the image in ruby red and then again in forest foliage and cut the middle flower out and mounted it on the original. I used the build-a-brad and punched a 3/4" circle from the dp for the center. I ran the creamy caramel strip through the cuttlebug using the circles and flowers (I don't know if that's what it's called or not!) folder. The circle images were stamped in ruby red, forest foliage, and caramel on vanilla, punched with the 1" circle and mounted on 1 1/4" circles in the same color. Very easy card. It came together very quickly!

I had my club meeting on Thursday, and everyone loved the cards we did. Some saw my blog and liked that I previewed the cards before the class so they could see them ahead of time! I'm wondering if next time I should only show close-ups of part of the cards to keep them in suspense! Is that mean? Hmmmmm..... Let me know what you think! Leave a comment so I can decide what I should do! Thanks for stopping by!

**Late breaking news** I just received the "Twisted Sentiments" set from My Favortite Things in the mail today. The sentiments are hilarious! Here are a few of my favorites:

• My other ride is a pole
• Who are you callin' a hoe?
• Nice package
• Size matters

There are a few others, but check out the link to see them!

"Till the next time that we say goodbye, I'll be thinking of you!"

Recipe
Stamps: One of a Kind
Paper: Handsome Hunter, creamy caramel, ruby red, unknown dp
Ink: Forest Foliange, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Circle punches: 1 1/4", 1", 3/4" ; build-a-brad; cuttlebug and folder

Stamp Club Cards

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I have been mia since I just started this blog! I had a busy weekend and was preparing for my stamp club tomorrow! I have created some cards I really enjoy and hope they will, too!

This first card was done to showcase the So Many Scallops Sale-a-bration set and the new Ginger Blossom dp. I combined two previous layouts I'd done before and came up with this one. I really like the way the ribbon is tied. It gives it a much more interesting look. This layout also allowed me to use three different patterns from the dp. This is actually the second card I made. I didn't use the ticket corner punch on the first one, and it just looked like something was missing (to me, at least)! I love the ticket corner punch! It is probably one of my favorites and I couldn't live without it! Many of my stamp club girls have ordered it, as well, and bring it with them all the time because they know how much I use it!

Recipe
Stamps: So Many Scallops
Paper: groovy guava, vvanilla, ruby red, Ginger Blossom dp
Ink: ruby red
Accessories: SU ticket corner, slit, scallop, and boho blossom punches, Marvy punches, ice circle brads, offray ribbon, paper piercing tool, dimensionals


This next card is a blatant case of Petal Pusher's card found here. I was searching the gallery for inspiration on the branch from Embrace Life and came across this card. I had seen Nichole Heady do this on her blog, Capture the Moment. She is the creator of Paper Trey Ink, in case you have been living under a rock! She is an awesome artist and you should check out her blog and purchase some of her acrylic stamp sets! I never thought I would buy acrylic stamps, but they are wonderful! I've been enjoying them a lot!

Anyway, back to this card! I was leary about doing this with my club, because I thought it may be too time-consuming, but it came together very easily. I think they'll be happy with it (I hope!). Basically what I did to cut the pieces was cut a regular 4 1/4" x 5 1/5" piece of card stock. I then cut a 1 1/2" strip from the bottom, and cut that in half at 2 3/4". The remaining piece was cut into thirds, then two of the thirds where cut in random pieces. Each piece was sponged for definition. Once done, it was put back together on the river rock base, and then the images were stamped in old olive and colored with groovy guava using the blender pen. The flowers were simply stamped on the dp in chocolate chip and cut out. Brads were placed in middle and they were placed on the card with dimensionals. The sentiment, from Never Ending Joy, was stamped in chocolate chip and punched out with the key tag punch.

I usually can't let a card go without putting some sort of glitter or other accents on it, but this card does not need it! I think the Asian feel to the design lends itself to be a simplistic design. It was not easy for me to leave it alone!

Recipe
Stamps: Embrace Life, Never Ending Joy
Paper: river rock, very vanilla, groovy guava, Ginger Blossom dp
Ink: sahara sand, old olive, groovy guava, chocolate chip
Accessories: HPH brads, key tag punch, dimensionals, blender pen



This next card I did a while ago using Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday sketch challenge from a few weeks ago. You should check out her blog as well. Those sketch challenges, I find, are really helpful. For this sketch, I again used Embrace Life. I got the color combo from SCS color challenge 148 found here. We were to use barely banana, wasabi green, and blue bayou. Side note here: If I have a "card maker's block" (similar to a "writer's block"?) I usually go to the sketch challenges to get my layout, then head over to the color challenges to get my colors. I find this really helps break through the block!

Back to the card again! I stamped the barely banana base and smaller piece with the flower in blue bayou. I highlighted the flowers with my white signo gel pen. It gave it a nice soft feel and didn't look so bare. I also added some glitter to the smaller yellow piece. The head of the flower was stamped again on yellow and place on dimensionals also (after it was glittered up too!). Lots of layers make this card stand out. The leaves are from Paper Trey Ink (don't remember which set; for my class, I found some leaves from In Full Bloom to use).

Recipe
Stamps: Embrace Life
Paper: barely banana, wild wasabi, blue bayou, very vanilla
Ink: blue bayou, wild wasabi
Accessories: ticket corner punch, white signo gel peb, word window punch, dauber for sponging, dimensionals, glitter

This last card was another I did a while ago using A little Birdie Told Me set. The bird and umbrella on this card were paper pieced. For my class, I change it to using ink and a blender pen (we just did paper piecing last class). I did add the white dots with my signo white gel pen. I also grounded the bird by doing some shading. I punched a small oval from a scrap and used it as a template to sponge a "shadow" under the bird. This way, he doesn't look like he's floating in air (although birds do "float in air" don't they?). Hmmm.... The other interesting thing about this card are the raindrops. I laid some crystal effects dots and covered them with glitter. Now that I think of it, I also cased this card here. I did change it up a bit for the color challenge that week.


Recipe
Stamps: A Little Birdie Told Me
Paper: soft sky, blue bayou, real red, wwhite, blue bayou dp
Ink: blue bayou, black
Accessories: SU punches: large and small ovals and photo corner, crystal effects, glitter, stamp-a-ma-jig (for umbrella placement), brads, ribbon, dimensionals

Well, thanks for reading all this and stop by again! Feel free to leave a comment! It's always fun to read them!

"Til the next time that we say goodbye, I'll be thinking of you!"

Shabby Chic Room Inspiration

Today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS (IC113) was based on this great room:

I had an immediate idea on how I was going to create my card. The rug reminded me of the Wanted set from SU. I also thought of using Sky Blue and Creamy Caramel. However, once I put the card together, it looked like a kindergartener did it! So, I scrapped it and looked back at the inspiration piece. I noticed the diamond tufting on the sofa and the flower vases on the mantel. That's when it all clicked! I got out the Scor-Pal and created the diamond embossing. I added the Creamy Caramel dots for definition. Then, what to use for the flower pot? I remembered this Anna Griffin stamp I've had for a long time and stamped it in Creamy Caramel. It looked too blah, so I took a copic marker (#B00) and lightly colored the entire stamp in that blue. I didn't want to introduce any other colors like green or red into the image. I scallop punched it, mounted it on Creamy Caramel (cut with the Creative Memories cutting system), and added the HPH (the brads reminded me of the buttons on tufted sofas!). I also rounded the corners because the sofas had a roundness to them. Voila! It was done! I'm much happier with this one than the first one! Sometimes those "immediate ideas" don't pan out! ~TFL!~

Recipe

Stamps: Anna Griffin, All Holidays (sentiment)

Paper: Naturals White, Creamy Caramel, Soft Sky

Ink: Creamy Caramel

Accessories: Giga scallop punch, CM cutting system, dimensionals, HPH, corner rounder, daubers for sponging

Hello World!

Well, I've finally joined the world of bloggers! I knew it would come soon, but not this soon! I don't even have a decent banner set up yet, so my site is "under construction", but still works!

This first card I'm posting has some meaning to it. I received this Posies for You set from Cheryl Rowley who I found out lives near the Buffalo area. I was so happy to meet someone from this area, that I sent her a PM and we became buddies. She was sweet enough to send me this complimentary set designed by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper. Thanks, Cheryl!

The sketch from this card is from Holly McMillen (Toy) who is an even closer neighbor (only 2 miles away)! We met today at Starbucks for over an hour, and I got so much information from her! I was even inspired to get on the blog wagon, something I had been thinking about for a while. Thanks, Holly! ~TFL!~

Recipe:

Stamps: Posies for You

Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, brocade blue, copic markers

Paper: Summer sun, brocade blue, wwhite

Accessories: Offray ribbon, daubers for sponging, stickles, dimensionals , 1" and 1 1/4" round punches