Just a Couple of Cards....

Hey there!!  A couple of cards today for several challenges.   It's a dreary Washington afternoon (ie it is drizzling!!), but I'm thankful that we aren't having early snow like they are in the eastern part of the US! 

My first card is for two challenges:  CR84FN color challenge (yellow, grey & steel blue) and the Crafts Meow sketch challenge.  I recently acquired a few Crafts Meow sets so this is my first time participating in their sketch challenge.   For my card I used the CM set called Butterfly Kisses.  I'm not, as a rule, a fan of silhouette images, but every time I saw someone make a card using the sweet little fairy girl from the set my desire to get the set grew.  Finally a week or so a go I took the plunge and bought it.  I stamped the fairy in grey ink on some My Mind's Eye Sunshine paper and then added the pearl to the center of the flower and some Diamond Stickles to her wing.  I added the scalloped edges, the ribbon and flower and I was done. 

The second card is for the current Moxie Fab challenge:  Textured to Perfection.  I recently was introduced to Linda, the Funkie Junkie, through my sweet friend, Sue's blog.  I checked out Linda's blog and saw that she had an Etsy store and that she carried burlap and in several colors, too!  I have wanted to get some burlap for the longest time, so I bought some from her recently.  I used a piece on my card.   The butterfly is from a Pink Paislee ephemera pack and the sentiment is from My Favorite Things.  Not a ton of texture, but you know... less is more!

Wishing You....

Hey There!!  Happy Saturday everyone!  Time for another Less is More post.   This time I'm combining this week's Less is More challenge (to use stars) with the current One Layer Wednesday challenge (to use just red and white).   My card today makes me happy, happy, happy!  I just love the simplicity of using this gorgeous Penny Black sentiment stamp along with a single little star from the PTI set "Merry Little Christmas".  I did add a bit of bling to the center of the star, too.   And all that white space????  Sigh......  happy!!

Well... that's about it!  Hope everyone has a fabby weekend! 

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Penny Black & PTI; Ink:  SU! Riding Hood Red; Gem:  KaiserCraft.

Lil' Pumpkin....

Hey there!!  Wow... it's Friday evening!  Can't believe I haven't posted anything all week but my Timeless Tuesday card!   I have actually made somethings this week, but they have all been for challenges at Splitcoaststampers and so I haven't posted them on my blog.

My card today is for the current Shabby Tea Room challenge.  The challenge this week was to make a card using the beautiful inspiration photo that incorporates the colors of black, purple and orange and twine or raffia.   For my card I used a My Favorite Things Pure Innocence set called "Lil' Pumpkin.  I'm just in love with the Pure Innocence line of stamps.  They are just soo stinkin' cute.  The layout for my card comes from this week's MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge.   I did a bit a paper piecing, as well as coloring the image with Copic markers and then trimmed it out.  The pumpkin portion of the image was stamped a second time, colored and then a portion trimmed out.  This piece was adhered to the image using a pop dot for a bit of dimension.  I added a bit of bling as well to give it some of the sparkle that you see in the inspiration photo.  The sentiment is a SRM sticker.  I managed to get the required twine in by adding some pieces of knotted twine to the top of the pumpkin.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Royal Velvet, Plum Pudding & Vintage Cream; Gina K. Black; PP:  BasicGrey Eerie; Gems:  KaiserCraft; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Ink:  Tuxedo Black; Sticker:  SRM

Happy Thanksgiving....

Hey there!! Wow... October sure has flown by!!  Here today with my last post as the October guest designer for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday.  I had so much fun being a guest designer for Flourishes and want to say a big thank you to Flourishes for asking me to be part of the Timeless Tuesday team for the month!  And I also want to say thank you to everyone who left me such sweet comments on my Flourishes cards... you really helped to make this month special!!

The challenge this week is being hosted by the super, super talented Maki Jones and she has challenged us to used leaves or a tree (no FLOWERS) on our project.  For my card I went with one of the very first Flourishes set I ever bought... Autumn Flourish.  I stamped the solid leaf from the set on Rustic Cream cardstock using several different inks and the rock & roll method of inking.  The leaves were trimmed out and spritzed with some Smooch (Log Cabin).  The card base was stamped with one of the scrolled leaf images using VersaMark Dazzle in Champagne.  The layout for the card comes from this month's Something for You to Try sketch.  This is my first time using a sketch from SFYTT, but hopefully it won't be my last! 

You can find all the details on this weeks challenge by clicking here.  Now... go check out the fantastic creations from the design team:  Maki, Tammy, Silke, Beate, Mona, Heather & Cindy


Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft & Rustic Cream; SU! designer paper; ribbon & twine:  May Arts; Ink:  Stampin Up! & VersaMark Dazzle; Stamps:  Flourishes Autumn Flourish

A Simple Flower....

Hey There!  Here with a quick post for a card I made for two challenges:  ColourQ and CAS-ual Fridays.  I'm really squeakin' this one in for ColourQ as their collection link closes in mere hours!! 

Yesterday I got a new stamp set from Stampin Up! called "Every Moment".  When I saw the set I fell in love with the simple, but elegant line drawn images.  For my card I used the single flower, butterfly and sentiment from the set.  The challenge this week at CAS-ual Fridays is to color your project so I got out my Copics and figured out marker equivalents for the ColourQ colors of lime green, pumpkin orange and raspberry.  The other two colors are dark, dark brown and white.  I love the complete simplicity of the card and all that yummy white space!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Stampin Up!; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Early Espresso; Copic markers

it's Christmas....

Happy Saturday everyone!! Time for my regularly scheduled Less is More post and this week I am way ahead of the game!  I usually don't have my card done until noon my time, but today I had it done by 8:30 AM!!  And to top it all off... I got another card done, as well.  That leaves me a TON  of time this afternoon to work on some other papercrafting things I need to get done... YAY!!

Okay... on to my LIM card.  This week Chrissis and Mandi have given us LIMettes something easy to work with polka dots!!  Not hard for me to find something polka-dotty and I almost went with my PTI Polka Dot Basics II set until I spied my Penny Black "Starlit" stamp sitting out on the counter.  I had gotten it out a few days ago with the idea I would use it to make a tag for the current Penny Black challenge, but that never happened (although it may still get made into a tag.).    The "Starlit" stamp is perfect for the challenge since the tree is made up entirely of little polka dots.   I stamped it in PTI Pure Poppy on Rustic Cream, matted it with Pure Poppy cardstock and then added some clear rhinestones (SU!).  The ribbon is also PTI's Pure Poppy.   The sentiment is from the WMS set Frame It.  Super clean and super simple.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Rustic Cream & Pure Poppy; Stamps:  PB Starlit & WMS Frame It; Ribbon; PTI; Ink:  PTI;  Gems:  SU!

Heartfelt Wishes...

(For my Flourishes Timeless Tuesday post click here.)

Hey there....  Happy Friday!   Here with a card for this week's Shabby Tea Room challenge.  The challenge this week is being hosted by my uber talented in real life friend, Cindy and she provided us with a beautiful inspiration photo.   Her other requirement for our card was to use dry embossing somewhere on your project.    The layout for my card comes from this week's Sketchbook Saturday sketch courtesy of Chupa.  If you haven't checked out her sketches, you really should because they are fabby! 

For my card I used the Hero Arts background stamp Fabulous Flourishes and inked it up with the following SU! inks:  Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron & More Mustard.  After stamping the cardstock and ink distressing the piece with Rangers Old Paper & Tea Dye inks, I ran it through my Big Shot in the SU! embossing folder Framed Tulips.  The edges were distressed a bit further with a distressing tool.   The sentiment, also from Hero Arts, was stamped using VersaFine Vintage Sepia inks.  I applied some Old Paper DI to the Prima roses to tone down the colors.  The leaves were die cut using a Sizzix die.  I finished off the card with some ivory seam binding that I colored by applying Tea Dye DI with my foam application tool.   

Thank you to everyone who left me such sweet comments on my last post!  Thankfully I'm over my migraine and getting back to normal (whatever that is!!!)!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft & rustic cream; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Ink: Stampin Up! & Ranger; EF:  Stampin Up!; Seam Binding:  Stampin Up!; Flowers:  Prima

Bringin' Out the Red and Green...

(For my Flourishes Timeless Tuesday post click here.)

Hey there!  Have a couple of Christmas cards today.   One card is for two challenges and the other is for a third challenge.  Normally I would do separate posts for these cards, but I have a migraine today and I just don't feel like doing two posts.

The first card is for the current One Layer Wednesday challenge to use stripes on your card and for the Paper Players to make a CAS Christmas card using red and green.   Lately I have been seeing cards made using strips of double-sided tape and glitter.  I had never given it a try and thought I would use the technique for my OLW/Paper Players card.  My stripes aren't exactly straight, but pretty darn close for just eye-balling it!  The holly leaves and sentiment are from the PTI set Holiday Button Bits.

My second card is for the current Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light challenge to make a holiday card (Christmas or Thanksgiving) and use only ODBD stamps.  This card is also red and green so it would work for the Paper Players challenge, too, but I'm only entering it in the ODBD challenge.  Since I'm still not firing on all cylindars, creatively, this card is pretty darn simple.  I used the ODBD Poinsettia Background stamp and a sentiment from the ODBD set Blessed Christmas.

Supplies:  Stamps:  PTI Holiday Button Bits & ODBD Poinsettia Background & Blessed Christmas; Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Handsome Hunter; Ink: SU! Handsome Hunter Craft, Cherry Cobbler; Ribbon:  SU! Cherry Cobbler seam binding; Scor-Tape; Dark Green Art Glitter; PTI dark red buttons

Happy Haunting....

Hey there!!  Its time for another Timeless Tuesday post!!  I have been having so much fun being a guest designer for Flourishes.  I can't believe my month is almost over {sob!}!  But... onward and upward!! This week the challenge hostess is the super talented Silke and she is challenging everyone to make a Halloween card. 

I am seriously in love with all the new My Mind's Eye collections and today I used the MME Mischievious collection for my card.  The stamps are from the Flourishes set "Witching You a Happy Halloween".   I stamped the little jack o'lantern three times using Tuxedo Black ink, colored them with Copics and trimmed them out.   Three little bats were stamped, trimmed out and coated with Diamond Glaze.  The wreath was created by diecutting black and orange cardstock using the Memory Box Grapevine Wreath die.  I cut a piece of patterned paper, distressed the edges and stamped it with the sentiment. I hug the wreath from a glittery black brad using black, orange & white bakers twine.   The entire piece was then adhered to the card based and the pumpkins and bats placed around the wreath.

You can find out all the details for this week's challenge here and check out the fabulous projects from all the design team gals:   Silke, Heather, Tammy, Beate, Maki, Mona and Cindy.

Time to Celebrate...

Hey there!! Saturday is over in some parts of the world, almost over in my part of the world and I'm just finally getting my Less is More post done.  Usually I get my LIM card done by noon, but today was obvisously different.  My whole week, in fact, has been different to say the least!  I worked and that always throws me off.   Add to that the fact that I was extremely tired this week, as well and that is a recipe for absolutely no mojo or crafting time!   And the challenge that Chrissie and Mandi set for us today did not help at all.  They want our card this week be related in some way to a cocktail.   I'm going to be completely honest and state up front that this challenge had me pretty stumped as to what I would do.  I tried looking up some cocktails to see if I could get inspired that way.... and got nothing.   I don't have any clever stamps that evoke a cocktail, either.   But in between taking the boys to swimming and dropping my oldest off at a birthday party I remembered that I had a set of drink stamps from DeNami Design and so I decided to go with that.  I finally got a chance to get something made with one of them this evening.

My card is a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 inch square.  The drink image was stamped on white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo black ink and then colored with Copic markers (BV0000, BV01, BV13 & BV17).  I used my Quickie Glue pen to add a bit of glue to the edge of the glass and the umbrella and then added a bit of glitter.  The piece was matted using dark purple cardstock.  The sentiment is from a My Favorite Things  a la Modes set "Time to Celebrate"

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & royal velvet; Ink:  Tuxedo Black; Copic markers; Stamps:  DeNami Design & My Favorite Things; Glitter:  Art Glitter

Flourishes Name Game Challenge

Hey there!  Hope your week is going well... mine has been absolutely CRAZY and there is no let up until Monday!  I have been working (something I don't do very often) and it has thrown me completely off schedule.  So... there isn't much time for crafting... boo hoo!  But, I did find some time last night to make a card for one of the Flourishes release week challenges, The Name Game.  The challenge is to use different crafting supplies/techniques on your card that correspond to your initials, in my case:  RJD.   My three items:  ribbon, jewels and distressing.

I got out my Flourishes Peaches and Cherries set and colored up the cherries image with my Copic markers.  I die cut the image with my Spellbinders Labels 2 die, ink distressed the image and they applied some matching want2scrap nestabling in black (the jewels).  I cut a piece of My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 2 Rosy paper, distressed the edges and adhered it to my card base.  I custom colored some ivory silk ribbon with a Copic marker and made my bow using the Bow Easy.  A matching button from the Rosy collection was added to the center of the bow and the bow was adhered to the card.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI cream; Gina K black; PP:  Lost & Found 2 Rosy; Spellbinders Label 2 dies; want2scrap labels 2 nestabling; ivory silk ribbon; Copic markers; Flourishes stamps; Memento ink

Timeless Tuesday .... Holiday Sparkle

Hey There!! Here with my card for this week's Timeless Tuesday challenge (FTTC139) and this challenge is a super special one.   If you play along with this week's challenge you will have the chance to win this month's ENTIRE Flourishes release!  How awesome is that??? Super awesome in my book!!   You can check out all the details right here.    And I have one more exciting thing to share.... I'm going to be giving you a sneak peek of one of the new stamp sets being released this month called Holiday Sparkle.  The challenge this week is to make a card with an ornament on it or to make an ornament.

For my card I used some super beautiful patterned paper from My Minds Eye called Lost & Found Christmas.  I stamped the pine bough from the Holiday Sparkle set on PTI's Fine Linen using Crushed Olive ink, trimmed it out, applied some Diamond Glaze and added some Flower Soft in Polar White.  I stamped the santa ornament on cream cardstock with Rich Cocoa ink, colored the image with my Copics and trimmed it out.  I used my Gold and Silver Spica pens to add a bit a sparkle to santa.   The layout for my card comes from Chupa's current Sketchbook Saturday sketch.

Now off you go to check out what the Timeless Tuesday design team of Silke, Tammy, Beate, Maki, Cindy & Heather have created, as well as the Flourishes design team!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Fine Linen, Vintage Cream; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Copic Markers; Flower Soft; Spellbinders plain & scallop circle dies; Long Rectangle die; Stamps:  Flourishes Holiday Sparkle

Some One Layer Love...

(For my Timeless Tuesday post, click here.)

Hey there... Saturday and time for my Less is More challenge card.  Had hoped to get this post done sooner, but we did some rearranging of the computer and printer and so things were down for a bit.   Anywhoo... the challenge today is to use a heart or hearts on our one layer card.   As I read the LIM post my thoughts immediately went to a card I had made earlier in the week for the Splitcoaststampers color challenge.  The combo was a tricky one (orange, dark yellow and really dark brown) so I had decided to keep it really simple and produced this one layer card:

Now, I knew this card would not work for this week's LIM challenge because the heart was popped up and therefore considered in some circles to be another layer.  So I rethought the card and this is what I came up with:

The card is a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 inch square.  I stamped the heart from the SU! set Punch Potpourrie using dark red (Cherry Cobbler) ink.  I then stamped the heart again on Eclipse tape, trimmed it out and placed it over the first heart as a mask.  The little swirly vine from the SU! set Vintage Vogue was then stamped using teal ink.  The sentiment is also from Vintage Vogue.  I stamped the little flowers in teal, punched them out using my Boho Blossoms punch, added the red pearl and adhered it to the card.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  SU!; Ink:  SU!

Que-ing Up Some Colour...

(For my Timeless Tuesday post click here.)

Hey there!!  Happy Friday!  Here with a quick post before I have to run off to work.  My card is for the current ColourQ challenge. ColourQ is one of my most favorite challenges, but I haven't participated lately because I haven't had the time and I haven't had the creativity.  After a few weeks off I decided to give it a go with this week's colors. 

I inked up my new acquired PTI set "Harvest Berries".  What a beautiful set!  I also got the matching dies.  I love how the PTI dies make it so easy to cut your cardstock and then stamp the image.  I am a bit puzzled by one die that Nichole included in the Harvest Berries die set though.  It is that little die that makes teeny tiny round holes... sorry, but I don't need a die that makes teeny tiny holes... I can do that with my teeny tiny hole punch!  Anyway... a pretty simple straightforward card design today, but I really like it!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Gina K. black & brown; SU! wisteria wonder; Stamps:  PTI Harvest Berries; Dies: PTI; Ink:  SU! Pear Pizzaz; Gems:  Hero Arts

Give Thanks....

(For my Flourishes Timeless Tuesday post, click here.)

Hey there!  I seem to really be into making cards using fall colors right now... not a bad thing considering it is fall!!   Have a card today that works for at least four different challenge.  My super sweet blogging friend, Brenda, always wonders how I manage to combine more than two challenges.  It really isn't that hard... I have seen some gals who make one card that works for 24 challenges!!  So... here are the challenges this card fits:  Paper Players - use music in some way; Freshly Made Sketches - the layout; and CR84FN - color combo.  This card also works for the Moxie Fab World - Tuesday Trigger.  Oh... and I will also be entering this card in the current Penny Black challenge going on over at the Penny Black Flickr group!  Yikes... that's five challenges!! 

For my card I used the absolutely gorgeous Penny Black Butterfly Suite stamp.  Penny Black has some of the most beautiful collage stamps, EVER, IMHP!  I stamped the image twice on cream cardstock using Memento's Rich Cocoa ink.  One image was diecut using a Spellbinders circle die.  The other image was colored with the following Copic markers:  Y21, Y23, Y35, Y38, YR01, YR02, YR07, YG93 & YG95.  The flower and the butterflies were trimmed out of this piece.  Some Paprika Stickles were applied to the butterflies.   The patterned paper is from the My Mind's Eye Sunshine 6x6 pad.  I love the new My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 2 papers.... they are absolutely gorgeous and I love that they are doubled sided, too.  There is a sentiment on the card, but I think it is a little hard to see as I stamped it on the patterned paper using the Rich Cocoa ink.

Originally I had only thought about putting this into the Paper Players, Freshly Made Sketchs and CR84FN challenges, but the richness of the colors just made me think of the yummy parfaits in the Tuesday Trigger photo.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream; Gina K. Brown; Stampin Up! Pumpkin Pie; MME Sunshine PP; Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa; VersaMark; Stamps:  Penny Black; Taylored Expressions; Copic Markers; Stickles

Timeless Tuesday - FTTC138!

Hey there!  Here with a card and some super fantastic news to share!  A few weeks ago I mentioned in a post that I had been feeling kinda down, but that I had just gotten some really good news that had perked me up.  I couldn't share that good news, but now I can and I'm so freakin' EXCITED!!!  What is my good news you ask???  Well... I'm guest designing for one of my MOST FAVORITE stamp companies EVER.... Flourishes!!!!  YAY!!  I can't tell you how excited I was when I got the email from the fabulously talent Tammy (the Timeless Tuesday DT coordinator) asking me if I wanted to guest design for their Timeless Tuesday challenge.  I didn't hesitate one minute to email her back and say YES!!!  

Okay... enough about my good news, on to this weeks challenge and card.  The super talented Heather Jensen is hosting this week and has challenged us to make a card based on this beautiful inspiration photo.  For my card I chose to use the Flourishes Zinnias set and color it with the following Copic markers:  Y06, Y08, YR02, YR07, E50, E51, YG03 and YG23.  After I was done coloring I trimmed it out.  The card layout is based on this week's JUGs sketch challenge.  The cardstock and patterned paper are all from PTI.  I didn't have any green gems so I colored clear gems using my YG23 Copic maker. 

You can find all the rules for the challenge here.   Please make sure to check out the projects from the Timeless Tuesday design team:   Tammy, Heather, Cindy, Beate, Iwona, Mona and Silk.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Cream, Kraft & Spring Moss; PP:  PTI Autumn Abundance; Ink:  SU! Pumpkin Pie,Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers; Stampin Up! Clear gems; SU! Very Vanilla Seam Binding; SU! Scalloped Edge Punch

For You....

Hey there... Saturday is upon us again.  Time for another Less is More challenge and this week I'm combining the LIM challenge with the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge.   That Chrissie and Mandi (the LIMettes-in-chief) sure know how to picks some hard challenges.  This week is a color challenge and they want us to base our entry on the color of our eyes!!   And the other part of the challenge... that color has to be the main focus!   Ugh... my eyes are brown!!   I don't often make brown the focus of anything, either.  But this is Chrissie and Mandi so I rose to the challenge!     The CAS-ual Fridays challenge is "Feeling Loopy"... meaning we need to use loops of ribbon, etc. on our project. 

I used a favorite Stampin Up! set called Echoes of Kindess and colored the image with Copic Markers.  The cardstock is from Gina K. Designs (brown) and PTI (cream).  The patterned paper is from Stampin Up!  I kept the "loopy" portion of the challenge pretty simple, as you can see.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI, Gina K. Designs & Stampin Up!; Ink:  Rich Cocoa; Copic Markers; Ribbon:  PTI; Stamps:  Stampin Up!