ColourQ 97...

Hey there... after spending the last day or so coloring up a storm with my Copic markers I decided to make something that required absolutely no coloring.  Made this little card using the current color combo from ColourQ.  Hadn't done a ColourQ challenge in ages because of one thing or another (lack of time, lack of talent, etc..) so was determined to make something using this week's colors.  The color choices are bold and bright with a bit of softness thrown in for good measure. 

On Wednesday my most recent PTI purchases finally showed up on my doorstep (yay!) and one of those purchases was the newly release set Half & Half.  Thought it would be fun to use that set for my card.  I die cut the strip of Tangerine Tango polka dot paper with one of the dies that match the set and then cut a piece of white cardstock to fit inside.  I stamped one of the little flourish bits included in the set on the bottom using Melon Mambo ink and the sentiment using black.  A piece of Melon Mambo cardstock was run through my Big Shot inside the SU! Elegant Lines embossing folder.  After putting everything together I finished off the card with a few black rhinestones and some Spring Rain buttons. 

Thanks for taking a peek....

Flourishes x 3....

Hi Ya!  This week is release week at Flourishes and that means sneak peaks of the beautiful new sets (and Flourishes ALWAYS releases the most beautiful sets!!) and fun challenges.  Today I have three cards made for three different Flourishes challenges.  First up is my card for their Shades of Sunset challenge: 

For this card I got out my Ferns & Fiddles set and used the emboss/resist technique.  I stamped the fern image on cream cardstock using VersaMark watermark ink, applied black embossing powder and heat set.  Three distress inks (Scattered Straw, Aged Mahogany and Dusty Concord) were applied, the piece was matted with kraft cardstock and adhered to a dark purple card base.  The sentiment from the set was stamped on cream cardstock using black ink and then inked with Scattered Straw.

The second card is for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge to get fruity.  For this card I used the set Peaches & Cherries.  I cut the scalloped edge using a PTI die and then stamped the small peaches and cherries images from the set in each scallop.  The images were colored with Copic markers (R24, R27, Y35, Y38, YG63 and YG67).  The sentiment was stamped on a small die cut tag and attached to the ribbon using a small pin.  A pretty simple card, but I really love how it turned out.

The third card is for their scavenger hunt challenge.  You had to hop to eight different blogs and pick up each element that you need to have on your card.  The elements are the colors pink, green and white, patterned paper, bling, ribbon and something square.   This time I used a Flourishes set Humming Along.  I colored the image with the following Copic markers:  RV23, RV21, RV25, YG00 & YG03 and then die cut it using a Spellbinders rectangle die.  The patterned papers are from LilyBee Design and Cosmo Cricket.  I die cut the gingham paper using the largest die in the Spellbinders Rectangle Fleur De Lis die set.  The sentiment was diecut using a small square Spellbinders die.   Finished the card off with the green bling and a green silk bow.

Whew!! That was a long post!  Thanks for taking a peek....

The Places You Will Go....

Hi Ya!! Hope everyone's week got off to a good start.  Have a card today for the new Paper Players challenge to make a school themed card.  When I saw the challenge I was kinda like "well... hmmm... what school themed stamps do I own?" and the answer is... not that many!  I have a Kim Hughes set that she designed when she worked for the now out of business Cornish Heritage Farms called "Making the Grade".  The other school themed set I have is the Taylored Expressions set "The Places You Will Go".   And the winner... "The Places You Will Go"!    The layout of the card comes from TESC143.  Because I really needed to use the Dr. Seuss quote "The more that you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you learn, the more places you will go" with the hot air balloon image I decided to make the card an easel card.

The papers I used are from the Lilybee Designs Picket Fence 6x6 pad and the Cosmo Cricket Odds & Ends 6x6 pad.  In retrospect I think I would have used cream colored cardstock for the card, but I had the white cardstock close at hand and so I went with that.  Overall, though, I really like how the card turned out.

Speaking of places you can go today the hubster and I took our two boys to Mt. Rainier National Park for the day.  We headed to the Sunrise area of the park.  I love Sunrise because it is easier to get to than the other more popular Mr. Rainier destination of Paradise, it is less crowded and the views of the mountain are simply outstanding.  I love living in Washington and having Mt. Rainier in my backyard.  Here are a couple of pictures I took... one of the boys standing on some snow left over from this last winter and the other of the mountain.  We got so much snow this last winter in the Cascade Mountains that people were able to ski until June and the road to Sunrise was closed until late June.

Thanks for taking a peek....

Sweet Peas

Hi Ya!  Here with a card for a few challenges.   The current Flourishes Timeless Tuesday is favorite flowers and one of my favorite Flourishes set is the Sweet Peas so I decided to use that set for the challenge.  I'm also putting this into the Flourishes Bringing Back Beautiful challenge to make a CAS card.  Finally I used the new color challenge from Embellish of yellow, pink, green and kraft.  There is a second part to the Embellish challenge and that is to color your image and so I colored the Sweet Peas with Copic markers (R81, R83, YG03 & YG23)

I stamped the image, colored it and then die cut it using a Spellbinders large rectangle die (2nd largest in the set).  The green cardstock was die cut using the largest die from the small rectangles set.   The corner pieces were die cut using dies from the Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Accents set and then inked with white pigment ink.  I added the bit of bling, but not sure I really like it.  The patterned paper is from the DCWV mat stack Lemon Flower.  

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:   Cardstock:  PTI kraft & white; PP:  DCWV Lemon Flower; Copic makers; Spellbinders dies; Flourishes - Sweet Pea; rhinestones (unknown)

Red, White, Blue & a Thank You!!

Hi Ya!  Saturday morning and time for a new Less is More challenge, but first I must take care of a few thank yous.  The first Thank You goes to Chrissie and Mandi, the creators of the Less is More challenge, for picking me as their challenge winner for the month of July!!  What an honor!!!  Thanks so much ladies... your challenges are brilliant and I can't image what my Saturdays would be without a little Less is More!!  And now a very big thank you to all my fellow LIMettes (and you know who you are!!) for all the lovely comments you leave me week after week!  Ladies you all totally ROCK!!

Now... on to my card.  This week Chrissie and Mandi have challenged us to use the colors from our country's flag and since I live in the USA that means the "Star Spangled Banner".   When I thought about what I would do I knew I had no choice but to make a card using stars.  And so here is my little card for today.  The star is from the Hero Arts set, Galaxy of Stars and the sentiment is from Waltzingmouse.  Since the star is full of the word star I decided to make a it a "congrats" card.  I think it would be a good graduation card.   I also including a photo of the flag as requested by Chrissie and Mandi.

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & SU! Night of Navy; PTI Bitty Star Basics Pure Poppy; Stamps:  Hero Arts & WMS; Ink:  SU! Night of Navy & Riding Hood Red

Belated Birthday Wishes....

Hi Ya!  Today was another absolutely gorgeous day here in Washington!  And so on this beautiful day we headed up to Seattle and the Boeing Museum of Flight.  Our little guy was in HEAVEN because he LOVES cars, trains and airplanes.   The Museum of Flight is a really cool place for big people, too.  They have the only flyable B17 "Flying Fortress" bomber, a Concorde and Air Force One (used by five presidents including Kennedy and Nixon!).  So, after all that I wasn't sure I would be getting anything done today, but I did get a quick little card done for three challenges:  CR84FN, the Paper Players and the SCS CAS challenge.

The color combo over at CR84FN is probably one of my favorites so far:  lavendar, grey & celery green.  I could have made a far more elaborate card using the Paper Players sketch, but I decided to keep the card really simple because I also posted the cards on Splitcoaststampers for this week's CAS challenge to make a belated birthday card.  When I started to make the card I was going to use one of my "go to" sets SU!'s Fast & Fabulous, but then decided that I really needed to try out the PTI anniversary set Botanical Silhouettes so I used that set along with a sentiment from the Waltzingmouse set Fancy Phrases.  As I started putting the card together I realized that turrning the sketch on its side was going to work best for me.  I really love how the card turned out. 

Thanks for taking a peek...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SU! Basic Grey & Certain Celery; PTI white; Stamps:  PTI & Waltzingmouse; Ink:  Ranger Milled Lavendar Distress Ink, SU! Certain Celery, Ancient Page grey; SU! border punch; PTI Lavendar Moon ribbon