Lucky Dip & A Two-fer...

Hi Ya!! Another beautiful Saturday morning (yay!!!) and time for another fun challenge over at Less is More.  Since there are five Saturdays in the month of July this year that means the Less is More challenge is a  "lucky dip" challenge.  This week the head LIMs Chrissis and Mandi have challenged us to make "fruity" projects.    And shock of all shocks... I actually made TWO projects for the challenge!  

My first project is a little 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 square card made from Cherry Cobbler cardstock (I think Cherry Cobbler is now my absolutely favorite red.... EVER!!).  I stamped the cherry stem and the sentiment from the PTI Everyday Button Bits set using Pear Pizzazz ink.   Two dark red buttons were attached using Diamond Glaze.   The mat is either PTI's Dark Chocolate or SU!'s Chocolate Chip (not sure because they are exactly the same color!).  

For the second project I used the PTI mini sets Fruit Fusion: Berry and Tag-Its 2.  The tag was stamped using SU! Crumb Cake, punched out and matted with a scalloped circle punched from Crumb Cake cardstock.  The green paper is Pear Pizzazz.  The berry was die cut using the PTI berry die and then the image stamped using Cherry Cobbler and Pear Pizzazz.  Finished things off with some red and green bakers twine.

Thanks for taking a peek...

A Christmas CASE Study

Hi Ya!  Yep... that's right!  I have a Christmas card today.  You see, the current Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge is a Christmas card challenge!  You can never start too early on those Christmas cards, ya know??!!   I'm combining the Flourishes challenge with this week's CASE Study challenge, another beautiful card created by Dawn Woleslagle.  I love the whole white on white look with just a pop of color and so for my card I stamped the Penny Black Christmas Star on white cardstock using hunter green pigment ink, applied clear embossing powder and then heat set it.  The image was trimmed out and adhered over the image that I had stamped on the white cardstock panel that I would be adhere to the card base.  The sentiment is from the Flourishes set Winter Bouquet.  I used a PTI border die, Victorian Lace.  Not sure I really like how the border looks to be honest.

Anywhoo... thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! hunter green; Ink:  SU! hunter green & cherry cobbler; clear embossing powder; Hero Arts red gems; PTI border die; Stamps:  Penny Black & Flourishes

Black and White...

Hi Ya!  Didn't think I would be posting anything for a few days, but then I saw that the challenge over at the Stampin' Sisters In Christ is a challenge to make a black and white or black and cream project.  I went with black and white.  Grace's devotional this week is absolutely fantastic and a definite must read.  I love how she contrasted the negative thoughts that we all have from time to time with the positive, affirming word of God! 

For my card I used another newly acquired Layers of Color stamp:  Silk Moth.   I stamped the image on white cardstock using VersaMark watermark ink, applied black Filigree embossing powder and then heat set it.   The image was then trimmed out and popped up on a piece of white cardstock that I ran through my Big Shot in a Sizzix embossing folder.  To provide a bit more finish I added some black rhinestones to the image, as well as the embossed piece.   I didn't put a sentiment on the card as I just wanted to let the image shine.

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Gina K. black; PTI white; Stamps:  Layers of Color Silk Moth; Ink: VersaMark; Embossing Powder:  Filigree Black; Gems:  Black rhinestones

Butterflies....

Hi Ya!  Here with a card for a couple of challenges:  ODBD Shining the Light challenge to do some paper piercing (not piecing... although I did do some paper piecing) and The Paper Player's sketch challenge.   I didn't get around to making something for last week's ODBD's challenge and really wanted to play along this week.   But... I was feeling a bit stumped because I have not done alot of paper piercing on my cards.  When I have given it a try things have ended badly for the poor card.  So I thought I would just keep it really simple and do piercing on just a small portion of my card.   The Paper Players sketch this week was the perfect vehicle (so to speak) for my card.

I used the ODBD set Faith for the main image and the ODBD single butterfly stamp, as well.  The single butterfly has a matching die, but I didn't use it this time and just simply trimmed out the butterfly by hand.  The color scheme was dictated by the papers I used from the Webster's Pages WonderFall & Hollywood Vogue collection pack.  Because everything was quite muted with this card I decided to add some Diamond Stickles to the butterflies.  

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Fine Linen & Vintage Cream; PP:  Websters Pages; Stamps:  ODBD Faith & Single Butterfly; Ink:  Ranger Bundled Sage & Old Paper Distress inks; Diamond Stickles; SU! Photo corner punch

Its In the Bag!

Hi Ya!!  Well... our crappy weather came back (insert frowny face), but it looks like it will only be hanging around for a day or so and then clear off.  I can't complain though with so much of the country experiencing extremely hot weather.    My project today is for three challenges.   The JUGettes have challenged (JUGs #94) us this week to create and/or embellish a gift bag.  So I decided to combine that challenge with the current CR84FN challenge to use the colors of light pink, bright pink and yellow and the current Card Patterns sketch.  

A few weeks ago I got some new stamps from Layers of Color.  One of them was the beautiful cling stamp, May Bouquet.  So last week I inked it up and colored it with some Copic markers and then trimmed it out.  I had intend to make a card with it for the CR84FN challenge, but couldn't figue out a good design.  Thank goodness for the Card Patterns sketch!  After that everything just kinda came together.   Now I have a sweet little gift bag to give someone the next time I have a small gift to give!

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & Lemon Tart; SU! pink & bright pink; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black;  Stamps:  LOC May Bouquet; Embossing Folder:  Sizzix; Bakers Twine:  Impress; Punch:  EKSuccess

It's Saturday... Time for Less is More!

Hi Ya!! Its a BEAUTIFUL Saturday here in the Pacific Northwest (Washington State to be exact!) and it looks like were are finally going to have an extended period of warm, sunny weather (fingers crossed!).   And Saturday also mean a brand new Less is More challenge.  Today's challenge we are to use buttons or ribbon.  I decided to go with buttons, but may be back later with a card using ribbon, as well. 

There is also a new sketch over at Waltzingmouse and so I decided to combine the two challenges today.  Once, again, I went with some of my favorite WMS sets:  Dainty Doily, Victorian Frippery & Fancy Phrases.   Love, love, love those sets!  They are all so very versatile and easy to work with.   Because this is for Less is More I have kept everything very simple and went with a color combo I really love:  white, kraft and very dark brown (in this instance SU!'s Early Espresso).  I stamped the border, trimmed it out and then adhered it to the kraft cardstock and trimmed off the ends.  Buttons were adhered using using Diamond Glaze.  Not much more to the card then that!

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI White; SU! Kraft; Stamps:  WMS; Buttons:  DeNami Design; Ink: SU!

Orchids

Hi Ya!  Hope everyone is having a good week!  Unlike the rest of the country, the Pacific Northwest is experiencing an unusually cool summer.   Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, but we shall see. 

I have a card today for two challenges:  Flourishes and Card Patterns.  The Flourishes challenge this week is an inspiration challenge and Silke provided a really neat photo to spark our creativity.  The bright pop of color in the photo appears to me to be purple so that is the color I went with for my card.  Instead of using a bright purple, though, I used the more muted PTI purple, Plum Pudding.  I'm not a huge fan of purple, but for some reason I just love Plum Pudding.   The layout of the card is based on this week's Card Patterns sketch.  I generally don't do long cards, but I like the sketch and decided to make my card a long one.

The image is from the Flourishes set Orchids.  Because I was using Plum Pudding as my purple I colored the orchids with more muted tones as well.  I used the following Copic markers:  BV000, BV00, Y21 & YG91.  The small piece of Plum Pudding cardstock was run through my big shot in a Sizzix lattice embossing folder.  The sentiment was die cut using the 2nd smallest Spellbinders Labels 4 die. 

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Soft Stone, Plum Pudding & White; Stamps:  Flourishes Orchids; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI True Black; Sixxiz embossing folder; PTI Plum Pudding saddle stitch ribbon; Copic markers; Spellbinders Labels 4 dies

Tree of Blooms

Hi Ya!  A quick post with a card for CASE Study. Take a look at this stunning card from July's muse, Dawn, that we get to CASE: 

The other day I got a chance to make a trip to my very favorite stamp store, Impress Rubber Stamps, to get some things for a little cardmaking party my niece had with some of her friends.  While I was there I had to take a look at the new stamps from Memory Box.  As I looked through the MB stamps I came across this beautiful stamp called Tree of Blooms and knew I had to get it.... so I did!   I knew immediately that I wanted to use it for the challenge.

I stamped the tree using Memento Rich Cocoa ink and then colored the tree with the following Copic markers:  R11, R43, YG11 & YG41.  A bit of Sakura Silver Gelly Roll was added to the center of each little bloom.  The sentiment is from the PTI anniversary set Botantical Blooms.  The card was finished off with some PTI Sweet Blush Saddle Stitch ribbon.

Thanks for taking a peek...

Less is More Meets JUGs

Hi Ya!  Here with my card for this week's Less is More challenge use circles... not just one circle, but CIRCLES, as in more than one.  I'm combining the LIM challenge with this week's JUGs color challenge.    JUGette, Andrea, picked the beautiful combo of coral, blush and grey.    For my card I used SU!'s Cameo Coral and Pink Pirouette.  The grey ink is from Ancient Page.  The challenge this week at WeeMemories is CAS so I'm going to put my card into that challenge, too.

So... when I saw the LIM challenge this week I immediately thought of pretty much only one stamp set.... my Waltzingmouse Dainty Doily set.  It is completely safe to say that the Dainty Doily set is my MOST FAVORITE WMS set!  I love, love, love that set!  The sentiment is from the WMS set Fancy Phrases.  Anywhoo... the layout of my card is based on a Clean & Simple sketch from a week ago.  I changed the sketch up a bit by not stamping the sentiment on the middle circle and I didn't add the strip down the middle.  And in my quirky little habit I used all three colors twice.  I'm not sure why I do this, but when I have a color challenge that contains three colors I have to make sure I use each color twice!   And the card has that necessary CAS element... lots of white space!!  Sigh.....

Thanks for taking a peek....

More Flourishes Fun!!!

Hi Ya!!  One last card I made for this week's Flourishes release challenges.  This is for the CASE challenge they have going on.  For my card I chose to CASE this gorgeous card by the amazingly talented Silke Ledlow!

While keeping to the overall design of Silke's card I did change a few things:  I used oval dies instead of circle dies, used a different stamp set, different colors and instead of a square card I used a regular A2 size card.   I colored my sunflower using the Sunflower copic collection from Flourishes and can I just say that whoever picked all the color collections for Flourishes is a genius!!!  If you want to be able to color your images perfectly using Copics just check out the Flourishes collections.

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI white & kraft; Stamps Flourishes Sunflowers; Spellbinders Plain & Oval dies; Copic Markers; PTI Summer Sun Double stitch ribbon; Hero Arts gems; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Close to My Heart White Daisy

Flourishes Fun...

Here with another post!  This week Flourishes is debuting their new stamps for July and boy oh boy is it looking like it is going to be another spectacular release!  My card this time is for two Flourishes challenges:  Timeless Tuesday to use embossing and the Flourishes release week sketch challenge. 

For this card I used the Flourishes set Wreaths of All Seasons and colored the image with my Copic markers (YG91, YG93, YG95, YG97, YG99, Y21, Y23, YR31 and E11.  The color choices were based on the patterned paper that I used for the card.  I recently received the papers in a package of goodies I won in a challenge.  Unfortuately, I do not know who produced these lovely papers, sorry about that!   For the embossing I used a favorite Sizzix embossing folder that creates the beautiful lattice pattern the name of which I do not know, again!  As you can see, I stayed extremely true to the sketch.

Thanks for taking a peek...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Fine Linen & Vintage Cream; Bazzill forest green; PP:  unknown; Stamps:  Flourishes; Dew Drops; Spellbinders Plain & Scalloped Oval dies; PTI Fine Linen Double Stitch ribbon; Sizzix embossing folder

Clean & Simple Color

Hi Ya!  Here with a card for the current ColourQ challenge.  Haven't done a ColourQ challenge in a few weeks.  Last week's combo was really fun, but I just couldn't come up with an idea before the challenge closed.  When I saw this week's fun, cheerful combo I was determined to get a card done.  I decided to combine it with the current Waltzingmouse sketch challenge (another challenge I haven't been able to do for the last few weeks) and created this very clean and simple card.  

I used two WMS sets... my favorite Dainty Doily and Holiday Labels No. 14.  The label was stamped using SU!'s Marina Mist, the spiral doily from Dainty Doily using SU!'s Pear Pizzazz and the smallest doily using VersaMagic  Pumpkin Spice.  I cut the label using Spellbinders Label 14 die and the doilies using two dies from the Spellbinders Small Plain Circle dies. The sentiment was stamped using SU!'s Real Red.  I added some clear rhinestones to jazz the card up a bit.   And there you have it... a clean and simple, but colorful card.

Thanks for taking a peek...

So Happy For You...

Hi Ya!  Here with a card for the current Paper Players challenge (#55) to use the following colors:  Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake & Basic Grey.   I combined the challenge with the current sketch from Sketchbook Saturday.  The stamps I used are from the really cute Stampin Up! set Sew Suite.  The buttons were made using my Sizzix Sweet Buttons die.  Lots of stamping, trimming and ink distressing on this one.  Overall I like how it turned out, but I'm not happy with the photo.  It is a somewhat overcast day today and getting a decent photo was really hard.  I'm also going to put this card into the current JUGs technique challenge to make your own buttons. 

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Basic Grey & Crumb Cake; Poppy Parade & Baja Breeze dp; Dies:  Spellbinders plain & scallop circle dies; Sizzix die; Ink:  Ancient Page grey, Hero Hues Punch; SU! Crumb Cake & Baja Breeze, Ranger Old Paper Distress ink; Stamps:  SU! Sew Suite & So Happy For You.

you blow me away...

Hi Ya!  Been busy having fun with a brand spankin' new die that I got from My Favorite Things!  When I saw this die in their email newsletter it well.... blew me away!!   What die is this, you ask??  Well, its called Perfect Pinwheel and trust me it makes the most perfect pinwheels with very little effort!   Oh the possibilities, they are just whirling (tee hee!) around in my little brain!   My suggestion would be to get yourself to the My Favorite Things website and pick this die up for yourself!  You won't be sorry!  And one more thing.. the die comes with a fabulous sentiments set full of pinwheel perfect sayings!!

My card is for two different challenges.  The current CR84FN challenge to use pink, red and a neutral and the current Card Patterns sketch challenge.  My very dear blogging friend, Elise, is a design team member for Card Patterns and so I just have to play along with their sketches now and then.   When I saw the sketch on Elise's blog I had not yet received my Perfect Pinwheel die and so I had no idea what I would do other than a flower or something.  Then the mail arrived with my lovely die and I knew exactly what I would do!   The papers are from a Stampin Up! 6x6 pad.  I kept everything very simple because I wanted the focus to be on that really fun pinwheel.  The pinwheel die also include three little dies that create the center for your pinwheel, but for mine I decided to just use a button.  The pinwheel was secured to my card using hot glue for more stability.

Thanks for taking a peek...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI White; SU! In Color 6x6 pp; Stamps:  My Favorite Things Perfect Pinwheel sentiments; Die:  MFT Perfect Pinwheel; Button:  PTI; Twine:  The Twinery

Less is More... Things with Legs?

Now when I saw the Less is More challenge this morning I was pretty darn stumped!  Things with legs?? Ummm.... huh??  My first thought was "shoot I don't own a whole lot of animal stamps... what am I going to do???" (Not necessarily thinking about the fact that the card didn't have to be made with an animal/bird stamp!! there are plenty of other things with legs!!... doh!!)  So I started thinking and remembered that I had a couple of sets from SU! that would possibly work:  Fox & Friends and Valentine Defined. So I tried making a card with Valentine Defined and well... it sucked!!   So... back to the drawingboard.   Then I took a look at my SU! Slice of Life set and saw the little baby sleeper...  a thing with legs!!!  So here is my quick little card for the challenge:

I used my "go to" Waltzingmouse set Frame It for the frame and the sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment and the sleeper using Pear Pizzazz so the card could be for either a boy or a girl.  Add a bit of bling with the little gem heart. 

Thanks for taking a peek...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  SU! Slice of Life; WMS Frame It; Ink:  SU! Early Espresso & Pear Pizzazz; gem heart:  Hero Arts

Thanks a Bunch...

Back with another card.   Didn't do anything for days and now I'm a coloring machine, tee hee!  And I seem to be in a peachy-orangey mood right now.   Which is kinda funny because peach and orange are not two of my favorite colors, go figure!

Anyway this card is for several challenges.  Two different Flourishes challenges:  Bringing Back Beautiful (summer) and their Farm Fresh challenge.  I also used the sketch from Sketchbook Saturday challenge.  The stamp set I used this time is the Flourishes set Peaches and Cherries.  I colored the peaches with the following Copic Markers:  Y38, YR07, YR15, YG93, YG95 & YG97.  This is my first time coloring the large peaches image and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  The patterned papers are from Cosmo Cricket (Odds and Ends 6x6 pad) and Stampin Up! (In Color 6x6 pad).  I distressed the large scallop and the image with Ranger's Old Paper distress ink. 

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SU! Peach Parfait, Old Olive, PTI white; Stamps:  Flourishes Peaches & Cherries; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Old Paper; Copic Markers; Spellbinders plain & scallop oval dies; PTI Ripe Avocado ribbon; PTI buttons 

Gerbera Daisies....

Hi Ya!  Finally got a chance this week to take part in a CASE Study challenge!  I have wanted to for the longest time, but by the time I get around to thinking about making something the time to enter is up.   But this week I'm finally getting the chance.  I'm also going to be entering this card in the current Flourishes challenge to use the word "friend" on your card.

The brand new CASE Study muse is Dawn Woleslagle the incredibly talented stamper and the owner/designer of WPlus9Design Stamps.   You can see Dawn's amazing card that we are to CASE here.  For my card I decided to use the Flourishes Gerbera Daisies set.  I colored the flowers with the following Copic markers:  YR02, YR07, YR09, YG93, YG95, Y21, Y17 and Y38.  For the tag I used the Flourishes Country Charm Labels set and matching Spellbinder Grommet Tag dies.  The image was stamped using VersaMagic Pumpkin Spice ink and the sentiment was stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black.   To create the ribbon/tag treatment took a bit of doing, but I really love how it turned out.

Thanks for taking a peek...  and if you are interested in some really yummy new stamps Dawn is sneak peaking her new releases right now!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stampin Up! Peach Parfait; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMagic Pumpkin Spice; Copic Markers; Stamps:  Flourishes Gerbera Daisies & Country Charm Labels; Spellbinders Grommet Tag dies; Ribbon:  PTI Ripe Avocado; Buttons:  PTI Orange Zest; Twine:  PTI

Christmas in July

Hi Ya!  A card for the current Paper Players challenge to make a Christmas card.  And you know, it is never too early to start making those Christmas cards.  I combined the Paper Players challenge with the current Taylored Expressions sketch (TESC141) and used the Taylored Expression set Christmas Blessings for the card.  The patterned papers are from the BasicGrey Jovial 6x6 pad.   Cardstock is PTI Vintage Cream and Stampin Up! Cherry Cobbler.   No sentiment on the card because I put the three buttons where I think I would have put the sentiment... but I think the image says it all. 

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Cherry Cobbler; PP:  BasicGrey Jovial; Ink:  Ranger Forest Moss and Old Paper Distress Inks; Buttons:  PTI; Twine:  May Arts

Just Another Day in Paradise...

I wish I was in paradise, but I'm not... However, it is finally nice and sunny here in the Pacific Northwest and the last weather report I heard said that our warm, sunny weather is going to hang around for awhile... YIPEEE!!!   Not exactly paradise, but I will take it!   My card is for a couple of challenges:  JUGs and Wee Memories.  The Wee Memories challenge is to make a summertime card and when I saw the JUGs sketch, I thought two would be a good match.   Didn't take me long to decide to use the Hero Arts/BasicGrey cling set Lauderdale along with some Stampin Up designer paper I got a couple of years ago.   The sentiment is from Hero Arts as well.   Some sand colored Flower Soft was used to make the little beach.  The "coconut" is a corduroy button from Stampin Up!   I don't live in paradise... but I can create a bit of it on a card!

Thanks for taking a peek....  hope everyone in the US had a wonderful 4th of July!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI White; SU! Orange; SU! designer paper; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Ink:  SU! Tempting Turquoise, Kiwi Kiss & Close to Cocoa, Memento Tangelo; Buttons:  SU! cord buttons; Spellbinders dies

Blue Star...

Hi Ya!  Here with a card for the new Less is More challenge to use the color blue and not just one shade of blue, but several.  So when I started thinking about what I would do I knew that I would probably be using my distress inks for my card.  Then I went cruising around the blog-o-sphere and stopped for a moment at Penny Black challenge blog (#158) and saw that the challenge is to use your most favorite Penny Black stamp... one you would take to a deserted island.  Well... for me that stamp is the PB Christmas Star!  I adore that stamp and have done lots of other things with it besides make Christmas cards.   So, I had my colors and my stamp and so I got to work.

I stamped the Christmas Star twice on white cardstock using VersaMark watermark ink, applied clear embossing powder and then heat set.  I then got out my distress inks (Broken China, Faded Jeans and Chipped Saphire) and did some distressing using the emboss/resist method.  The two stars were trimmed out and the one inked with Faded Jeans and Chipped Saphire was cut in half.  I adhered the two pieces the white cardstock slightly apart and then the one inked with Broken China and a touch of Faded Jeans was adhered on top.  Some SU! glass glitter in Baja Breeze was added to the center.  I stamped the "to You" portion of the PB sentiment "to You from Me" in the corner and added the rhinestones.  I will be putting this card into the Penny Black Saturday challenge, as well as Less is More.

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Night of Navy; Ink:  VersaMark, Ranger Distress Inks; SU! Not Quite Navy marker; Stamps:  Penny Black; Glass Glitter:  Stampin Up!; Gems:  Hero Arts

A Crazy Idea

My card today was a crazy idea I got when I saw the Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge on Saturday morning.  I wasn't able to get around to putting my idea into card form until this morning... THREE HOURS before the close of this week's challenge!!  Yikes... nothing like cutting it close. 

Anyway... when I saw the sketch I thought it would be neat to try a ribbon treatment for the main element in the sketch.  It was a bit tricky tying the ribbon around the piece of cardstock using just thread and buttons.  After I was done I thought I should have stuck the ribbon down on the back, but then I would not have been able to make adjustments to the final placement of the ribbon. I'm not entirely sure I like how large the ribbon covered piece turned out.  It seems to large for my liking... but there it is!  This card will also be going into this week's ColourQ challenge as I used the colors of:  burgundy, navy, ruby red, grey & white.  Once again I reached for my favorite WM set, Dainty Doily to jazz the card up a bit.   The sentiment is from the WM set Fancy Phrases.   And boy oh boy... there are going to be new WM sets released today!!  I'm so excited to see what Claire (the brilliant girl!!) has designed for us.  There is at least one set I already know I want for sure!

Well... thanks for taking a peek...