To Distress or Not to Distress....

That might be the question.... and for me it was to distress, my card that is!  Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  The sun is shining, the temperature is perfect and Mt. Rainier is out in all its stunning glory!  I just love days like these.  Anywhoo... on to my card.

A few weeks ago I entered a little card I made in a couple of challenge.  One of them being the "white pages" challenge at Catered Crop and low and behold that little card was picked by the super talented Linda owner of Catered Crop as one of the "winning recipe" cards!!   As my British bloggy friends would say I was "completely chuffed" or very happy!  And because of that win I got the opportunity to participate in this week's "Quickfire" round for the new Catered Crop challenge No Stress to Distress.  How fun is that???  Super fun in my book!  So what to do, what to do.... I know!  Use the current Deconstructed Sketch.

I have had a 6x6 pad of Cosmo Cricket's Odds & Ends papers for ages, but had never used it so I decided to remedy that situation and use it for my card.  I made the card a 5" square as the Sizzix Doily die I wanted to use creates a rather large doily and needed a big space. I used two types of distressing for the card, ink distressing using Ranger's Old Paper distress ink and paper distressing using my handy distressing tool from Close to My Heart.   The banner was die cut using a My Favorite Things Fishtail Flag Stax die and the sentiment was stamped using Stampin Up! Cherry Cobbler.  The fishtail flag was then inked with Old Paper which for some reason causes the SU! ink to smear, but not to worry because I really like how it looks.  A Prima rose and some loops of twine finished off the card.

Thanks for stopping by... make sure to check out the Catered Crop challenge!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft and cream; PP:  Cosmo Cricket; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Ink:  Ranger Old Paper & SU! Cherry Cobbler; Rose:  Prima; Twine:  May Arts

Happy Birthday to You....

Hello friends!!  The week is half way over, the weekend is fast approaching and the summer is just flying by!  Can't believe I need to start thinking about getting my kids school supplies and new clothes!!  Yikes!!  

Anywhoo... have a little card I made using the current Desconstructed Sketch.  Last week I was super excited to see that Jen had picked the card I submitted to her last DS challenge as one of her weekly favorites!!  That had me smiling all day long!!  This week I'm totally bummed because I wasn't able to get the card entered in time!!  Shoot!!   Entering the card in the Flourishes Birthday Wishes challenge.  The papers are from the Cosmo Cricket Tea for Two 6x6 pad and the stamps are from Flourishes, of course. 

I hadn't done one of my litte ribbon/tag combos in a while and decided to make one for this card.  The tag was stamped using Memento Bamboo Leaves and the sentiment using SU!'s So Saffron.  The ribbon (as well as the papers) is from my July Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients kit.  The buttons are from DeNami Designs and the twine is from May Arts.

Thanks for stopping by.....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft; Bazzill cream & dark red; Stamps:  Flourishes:  Country Charm Labels & Botanical Bookplates; PP:  Cosmo Cricket; Ribbon:  unknown; Twine:  May Arts; Buttons:  DeNami Design; Dies:  Spellbinders Plain & Scallop circles & Grommet Tags

ODBDSLC28 with Buttons..

Another quick post today... this one for ODBDSLC28.  The challenge was to use "forgotten" embellishments like buttons, brads or eyelets.  I chose to use buttons.  I also used the Splitcoaststampers CAS challenge sketch for the card and some Cosmo Cricket DeLovely pp that I had already cut into squares.  The butterflies are from two different Stampin Up! sets:  Punched Posies & Punch Potpourri.   The sentiment from the ODBD set Friendship. 

My fellow Flickr friend, Nicky is having a giveaway on her blog.  Go check it out!

Thanks for taking a peek... have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI White; Cosmo Cricket DeLovely pp; Ink:  SU! Melon Mambo, Memento Dandelion; Stamps:  SU! Punched Posies & Punch Potpourri; ODBD Friendship; Punch:  SU! Butterfly punch; Buttons:  DeNami Designs Tutti Frutti mix

Friday Morning Post...

Here's a card I made last night for Repeat Impressions What If Wednesday (A1110) sketch challenge.  I was so fortunate at the end of July to be the winner of a $25.00 gift certificate to Repeat Impressions and I was able to get some of their lovely stamps.  If you get a chance, please go check them out... they have lots of great stamps and right now are sneak peeking some of their new Christmas stamps. 

I used some more Cosmo Cricket DeLovely paper for the card.  This happend primarily because I was sorting through a pile of cardstock sheets and scraps, trying to use a few of them up! The stamps are from the SU! set Just Believe.   I'am also going to put this card into Scrappy Saturday challenge #18 at weeMemoris because I used these really cool flower brads from SU! on the card. 

Thanks for taking a peek... have a lovely day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI White, Lemon Tart & Raspberry Fizz; SU! Tempting Turquoise; PP:  Cosmo Cricket DeLovely; Ribbon:  PTI Lemon Tart twill; Stamps:  SU! Just Believe; Ink:  Memento Rose Bud & Dandelion; Palette Cote' Azure; Brads:  SU!; Cuttlebug; Spellbinders Ribbon Tag

Squeakin' In, Again......

With my card for ODBD's Shining the Light challenge.  I seem to be getting later and later at getting my card posted.   Going to have to work on getting it done sooner in the week!  Anywho... this week's challenge was a sketch challenge.  I think what took me so long was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the sketch.  It finally hit me last night after I took a look at some of my 6x6 Cosmo Cricket pads.  I finally settled on the yummy Material Girl papers and the super fun ric rac die from PTI.  They came out with a new larger ric rac die this month and I so want it (along with the new ticket die!)!!  On my wish list it goes.   Back to my card, I also took a step outside my box with the color combo, but I really love how the card turned out.  I used the ODBD set Grow in Grace, one of my favorite ODBD sets.

Thanks for taking a peek.  Hope you have a lovely day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI - White, Pure Poppy & Lemon Tart; PP:  Cosmo Cricket Material Girl; Ink:  SU! Real Red; Stamps:  ODBD - Grow in Grace; PTI Ric Rac die; Kaiser Craft pearls; Cuttlebug; Spellbinders Large Scallop circle dies

The DeLovely ColourQ.....

I was so bummed last week when I didn't get to make a card for CQC39 due to a really bad migraine and so was really determined that I would get my card done for this week's challenge, CQC40.   Another lovely combo from Queen Arielle!  Boy does she have the talent for pickin'em!  Guess that is why she is the Queen!

Anywhoo... I was a bit stumped as to how I would proceed and then it hit me...some of the patterned paper from the new Cosmo Cricket DeLovely line would be perfect for two of the colors (Melon Mambo & Barely Banana, although the yellow is a bit brighter than Barely Banana, so I actually went with PTI's Lemon Tart).   And then I saw this week's sketch from Clean & Simple and my card was born.   So nice when things come together that way, isn't it?? I used one of my favorite SU! sets:  Great Friend.  I just pretty much love everything about the set from the butterfly to the sentiments.   Today is an outstandingly beautiful day in Western Washington, so I decided to take my card outside to take the picture. 

This has nothing to do with my card just a "yay for me" kinda thing, but today I won a lovely set from JustRite Stamps called Breathe of Spring, along with an oval stamper from the swell gals at JUGs!  If you haven't given JUGs or ColourQ a try, you really should.

Thanks for taking a peek today.... your lovely comments are so appreciated!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & Lemon Tart; SU! Bermuda Bay; PP:  Cosmo Cricket DeLovely; Ink:  SU! Cameo Coral; VersaMagic Turquoise Gem; Punch EKSuccess; Stamps:  SU! Great Friend 

A DeLovely Day...

in the state of Washington and a DeLovely day for a JUGs challenge featuring JustRite Stampers!  I have a few JustRite Stampers (and would love to get some more) so I pulled them out and used one of the centers & borders from the 10 Designer Centers & Borders set (using 1 5/8" stamper).  The papers are, as I hinted from the fabulous Cosmo Cricket line:  DeLovely.   So bright and cheerful and perfect for this bright, cheerful day!  Cardstock is, of course, from PTI:  Stampers Select white & Raspberry Fizz.  To jazz up the main RF panel I stamped it with the Climbing Leaves backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms.  (Sadly, CHF will be closing its doors in early August.  Hopefully, the owners will find a buyer.)  

The sketch is courtesy of the swell gals at JUGs since this week is their sketch challenge week.  One of the fun things about JUGs is that each week they have a different challenge (sketch, color, techinque, template & if there is a 5th Saturday in the month, its "wild card" time!).    I used a couple of EKSuccess scalloped circle punches and the SU! 1 3/4" circle punch for the image.  Ribbon is some yummy PTI Lemon Tart.  I added a bit of bling to the green buttons. 

Thanks for taking a peek.... hope your day is sunny, too!



Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; raspberry fizz; Ink:  Memento Pear Tart; PP:  Cosmo Cricket DeLovely; Ribbon:  PTI Lemon Tart; Buttons:  DeNami Design; Rhinestones:   Kaiser Craft; Punches:  EKSuccess & SU!

ODBD Challenge 19 - Bookmarks

Here I am racing again to make the deadline for the ODBD Shining the Light challenge!   This time the challenge is to make a bookmark, something that I have never done before.  But what comes to my rescure today, but my Splitcoaststampers WeeklyInkling newsletter with an article on how to make a bookmark!  Yay!!!!  I recently got a 6x6 pad of super yummy Cosmo Cricket DeLovely patterned paper.  I paired it with PTI's white and raspberry fizz cardstocks.  The yellow cardstock is from SU! (yoyo yellow, I believe.)   The stamp is from the ODBD set Grow in Grace, which has fast become one of my very favorite ODBD sets.  I finished the bookmark with a DeLovely chip sticker.  My picture is a little wonky because it was hard to take a photo of it actually positioned on the pages of a book.

Thanks for taking a peek.....

Supplies:   Cardstock:  PTI White & Raspberry Fizz; PP:  Cosmo Cricket DeLovely;  Embellishments:  DeLovely chip sticker; white silk ribbon; EK Success bracket punch; Cuttlebug; Spellbinders Labels 3 dies