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ColorLab 35

ColorLab 35 published on 9 Comments on ColorLab 35

This week’s ColorLab Challenge colors are really wonderful to use!  I think Elegant Eggplant is such a pretty purple and it is wonderful paired with Old Olive!  Of course, I love a brown for the neutral so this was pretty much tailor made for my stamping style.  I still had Inspired by Nature in my stamp area from yesterday’s project and decided it would work again here.    I love coneflowers and after I got this set, I planted a bunch of them in my garden.  I guess art inspired life in this case.

I used direct marker to stamp to ink up only the small flower.  One of the things I love about this set is that you can use the whole image for a lot of impact or only the small flower for a different scale.  The Old Olive DSP comes from the Brights Designer Paper Pack (what a handy pack of paper that has been!).  The scallop punches (Edge Border and Oval) are a perfect combination and I finished with some more of the retired Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon.

Glad you were able to stop by.  I can’t wait to see your beautiful projects with these colors! 

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes, Inspired by Nature; Paper:  Brights Designer Paper Pack, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White; Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive; Accessories:  Scallop Edge Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon (retired)

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Thank you Moments

Thank you Moments published on 9 Comments on Thank you Moments

I have a set to show you today that includes 10 thank you notes for a friend. 

Ever since I first saw the current Stampin’ Up catalog, I have been inspired by page 97.  I knew that I wanted to use the palette there to make some cards.  Well, it certainly took me a while but I finally got to do it.  I made 4 1/4″ square cards and used a version of the box I created here.  I did make the box a bit deeper to accomodate more cards.  The colors I chose were Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Perfect Plum.  What a pretty combination.  I’m sure you can see the influence of the catalog page!  The images were colored using a Blender Pen mixing Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso and Perfect Plum ink.  I love how calm this feels!

Inside I designed two styles of cards and added the Inspired by Nature flower with the same colors.  To help balance the box, I put the button on opposite sides.  The sentiment comes from the ever-useful Teeny Tiny Wishes.

I’m glad you were able to drop in today.  I’ll be back tomorrow with another ColorLab Challenge…you are going to love the colors!!  Hope you have a great day!

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes, Inspired by Nature, Every Moment; Paper:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Naturals Ivory; Ink:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Perfect Plum; Accessories:  Blender Pen, Neutrals Buttons, Linen Thread, Mini Glue Dots, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Bone Folder

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Zoo Friends

Zoo Friends published on 13 Comments on Zoo Friends

The Friday Mashup team was kind enough to choose me as a Mashup Maven last week so I was able to get a preview of this week’s challenge:

It is an inspiration challenge!  How fun!  Somehow, when I see the animals together I think of Fox & Friends so that was where I started.  I also found a new challenge called Try Stampin’ On Tuesday and they have a fun sketch this week.  I pulled out the animals in the set to figure out who I wanted to use and kept thinking about some cute wagons and arks I have been seeing with this set.  It was also fun to pull out some colors I haven’t used in a while, specifically Tangerine Tango.  This orange was really perfect for the giraffe and I love the paper choices with it in the Brights Designer Paper Pack.

I created the wagon out of 1/4″ strips of Early Espresso and added a little piercing to mimic the hardware on a wagon.  A piece of Old Olive was cut to fit behind and I snipped it to look like grass.  The handle is simply a narrow strip of card stock with a single scallop from the Scallop Trim Border Punch.  Buttons for the wheels were the final touch.  I added a little more piercing to the Tangerine Tango panel and to the corner of the image for texture.  Finally I punched the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes with the 1 3/8″ x 5/8″ Oval Punch and created a layer behind using the same punch.

Hope you get to play along with this fun challenge.  Thanks, again, to the design team for choosing me as a Maven!!

This has been a busy week of posting.  I love that I have had the opportunity to show you some different styles!  Thanks for joining me again today and I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Stamps:  Fox & Friends, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Play Date DSP, Brights Designer Paper Pack, Early Espresso, Whisper White; Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso, So Saffron; Accessories:  Neutrals Designer Buttons, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Paper Snips, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Oval Punch

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ColorLab 34

ColorLab 34 published on 19 Comments on ColorLab 34

I am back today with the ColorLab Challenge for the week!

More spring fabulousness (ok, not really a word but you understand)!!  But I have a confession.  Any stamper who has worked with me knows that Chocolate Chip was a go-to color for me.  The key part in that is the “WAS”.  As soon as Early Espresso showed up on the scene, my poor Chocolate Chip was left unused and almost forgotten in my drawer.  It is so bad that I was literally down to my last sheet of card stock when I started this card.  Of course, once I started I was reminded why I love that color so much in the first place.

Fortunately, because I am a ribbon hoarder collector, I still had some left over Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon to use.  I saw this amazing flower technique over at Kathy’s blog, Stamping Still.  She found the tutorial written by Kelly Acheson that is fantastic.  For once, I followed it pretty much exactly.  This layout comes from the Paper Players PP39, a clean and simple layout.  I cut the edges off some extra ribbon and applied the heat tool to those edges for the horizontal piece of the layout.  I added a little sponging to the edges of the designer papers from Greenhouse Gala DSP and added a retired sentiment.  Unfortunately, I need this for a sweet friend.

Thanks for stopping in to see me today.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a Friday Mashup card.  Hope you have a great day!

Stamp:  Warmest Regards (retired); Paper:  Greenhouse Gala DSP, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White; Ink:  Chocolate Chip; Accessories:  Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon (retired), Basic Pearls, Sponges, Dimensionals

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First Edition Moment

First Edition Moment published on 14 Comments on First Edition Moment

I had a little time today to play some challenges that I love.  What a bonus!  Stampin’ Celebration is one of my favorite inspiration sites and they have a really pretty piece this week.  At least on my computer, I saw River Rock, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla as the way to go.  I also found a great sketch over at the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge so off to stamping I went.

The colors really made me want to play with my Every Moment stamp set.  This was one of the first sets in this year’s catalog that I completely fell in love with!!  I have also seen the friends of this little chickadee on my bird feeder lately.  Hopefully I captured his colors closely.  I used some of the First Edition DSP in the background for some visual texture and sponged it with Soft Suede and Early Espresso on the edges.  The image was watercolored using River Rock, Soft Suede and Early Espresso.  I really LOVE those colors together!  For the last detail, some Espresso Satin Ribbon was cinched in a bow using an Antique Brad.

I had some trouble capturing this card.  It just seems prettier in person but you get the idea, at least.  So happy to have you drop in today.  I’ll be back tomorrow with another ColorLab Challenge.  Until then, have a great day!

Stamp:  Every Moment; Paper:  First Edition DSP (Occasions Mini), Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Watercolor, Naturals Ivory; Ink:  River Rock, Soft Suede, Early Espresso; Accessories:  Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Antique Brads, Blender Pen

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SUO Challenge 15 – Birthday Party

SUO Challenge 15 – Birthday Party published on 16 Comments on SUO Challenge 15 – Birthday Party

This week over at SUO Challenges we have a fun and useful challenge…make any birthday card!  Well, I ALWAYS need to have birthday cards around so I was particularly happy for this one.  I thought I would shake it up a bit and try a new-to-me fancy fold.  I have made varients but have never done a criss-cross card.  Oh, I know…hard to believe, especially when they are so fun to put together.

The key to success with this fold is designer paper so that is where I started.  I pulled out my much loved remnants of Play Date DSP and based my colors on it.   As soon as I looked at the paper, I knew I would use the numbers as the belly band.  Then I went to my Brights Designer Paper Stack and pulled a Real Red design and a Tempting Turquoise design…I knew I had a winner!  After seeing this tutorial, I decided to make my card 4 1/4″ square so I cut two pieces of Early Espresso card stock to 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″.  Score them both at 4 1/4″ and cut the upper triangle off one half of each using your paper cutter (just like the tutorial except you will have a square instead of a rectangle).  I used my trusty Sticky Strip to attach the two pieces together.  For the designer papers, I started with a 4 1/8″  square of both the Real Red stripe and the Tempting Turquoise dots papers and cut them on the diagonal.  A piece of the Play Date DSP So Saffron dots paper was also cut to 4 1/8″ square for the back square panel.  I attached the designer papers and then secured the triangle panels using Sticky Strip (again, as shown in the tutorial).  I cut off a row of numbers from the Play Date DSP and attached it to another Early Espresso piece of card stock.  Because I didn’t want the belly band to be removable, I attached the band to the card and secured the two ends in the back with more Sticky Strip.  Using my 1 3/8″ and 1 1/4″ Circle Punches, I punched out Early Espresso and a leftover piece of So Saffron DSP.  The cupcake from Party Hearty was stamped on Whisper White and cut out.  I popped the top of the cupcake up on a Dimensional and added a Turquoise button from the Brights Designer Buttons.

The inside came together quickly.  A Whisper White piece cut to 4″ square where  I stamped on the party hats from Party Hearty and added the sentiment where you could see it peeking out.  It was layered on an Early Espresso piece cut to 4 1/8″ square, with a loop of Real Red 5/8″ Grosgrain  tucked in as a tab. Something was still missing so I added another Tempting Turquoise button to finish the look.

Hint 1:  Since you are using different DSP’s for this, you are perfectly set up to make two cards.  I love to design once and stamp twice.  Much more time efficient and you have another card for when you need one in a hurry!

Hint 2:  Your Stamp-a-ma-jig is your best friend when trying to get the sentiment placed properly.  This is one time where you really need those words centered!

Hint 3:  Because the wide grosgrain is so nice and substantial, only put the front part of the loop between the Whisper White and Early Espresso.  Attach the back part of the loop to the back of the pull-out layer using Sticky Strip.

Shelli Gardner, CEO of Stampin’ Up, is “Crazy for Cupcakes” in this month’s So Shelli Challenge and so am I!!  I have been a fan of the cupcake in Party Hearty for quite a while so I am thrilled to submit this to her challenge!  Creative Sketches is doing a fancy folds challenge this week so I will post it there as well.

Thanks so much for dropping by today!  I hope you have fun playing with your Stampin’ Up birthday sets this week.  I look forward to seeing your submissions at SUO Challenges!

Stamp:  Party Hearty; Paper:  Play Date DSP, Brights Designer Paper Stack, Early Espresso, Whisper White; Ink:  Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Early Espresso; Accessories:  Sticky Strip, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper Cutter, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, Brights Designer Buttons, Dimensionals, White Thread

Birthday Flower

Birthday Flower published on 1 Comment on Birthday Flower

I’m back with a card a made recently for a sweet little girl named Lily.  Isn’t that a beautiful name??  It seems only appropriate that I would make her a flower card.  I had so much fun playing with the Blossom Petals Punch a week ago that I punched out a few more petals for this one.

I love how this flower makes for such fun and easy cards!  Perfect for the new stamper (or the experienced stamper pressed for time!).  I punched the petals out of Rose Red, Baja Breeze and Pear Pizzazz and sponged around the edges in their respective colors.  The DSP base is from Elegant Soiree, my latest favorite paper.  I created a little tag with a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and tucked it under a little white button.  And…done!

This punch is so wonderful when paired with Build a Blossom but I love it all on its own, too.  It is available from the Occasions Mini (121808) and you will have fun with all the possibilities! 

Thanks for stopping in for a quick look.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Stamp:  Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Elegant Soiree DSP, Baja Breeze, Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White; Ink:  Baja Breeze; Accessories:  Blossom Petals Punch, Neutrals Buttons, Thread (non-SU)

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ColorLab 33

ColorLab 33 published on 10 Comments on ColorLab 33

I am back with another ColorLab Color Challenge and these are so pretty together!

Marina Mist is such a pretty blue and it works so well with the Pear and Regal Rose!  The only problem…I am almost out of Marina Mist.  The horror!!  So my card today is primarily Pear Pizzazz and I am preparing another order for more supplies.  *smile*  Thankfully it is still Sale-a-bration and I can take advantage of the free products.

When I think of Pear Pizzazz, Greenhouse Gala DSP immediately comes to mind so I pulled it out again today.  I do love this paper!!  Natually, Friends Never Fade had to join it since they are designed for each other.  I used a layout from Splitcoaststampers that seemed perfectly suited to the flower stamp.  The flower was inked up using markers directly to the stamp.  Don’t forget to breathe on it after you finish inking to get a clear image!  I tied a little bow out of the Pear Pizzazz 1/2″ Stitched-Poly Ribbon and attached it to my banner using Mini Glue Dots.  Those little dots are seriously wonderful (and strong!).  I do apologize for the color on the picture being a bit washed out.  I did some editing but I just could not get it as clear as it is in person.

I’m so glad you stopped in today.  Don’t forget to go see what the rest of the design team has created.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a sweet little card I made last week.  Until then, have a great day!

Stamp:  Friends Never Fade; Paper:  Greenhouse Gala DSP, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White; Ink:  Marina Mist, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzazz; Acccessories:  Pear 1/2″ Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

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Summer Soiree

Summer Soiree published on 12 Comments on Summer Soiree

My thanks to the Friday Mashup team for choosing this as one of their Mashup Maven choices!

I have said before how much I love that the Sale-a-bration offerings coordinate with catalog/mini products.  The match-up between Sweet Summer and Elegant Soiree is one of my favorites!  Time is running out to get Sweet Summer and the other SAB offerings so make sure you get this one before it is gone.  You can click on the SAB icon on my sidebar for more details!  This week’s Friday Mashup #35 is a sketch challenge.  At first it looked to be a bit of a hard one, but the basics came to me pretty quickly.  This was also supposed to be a card for Creative Sketches CS23C, a beautiful color combination.  As I sat looking at my finished card I realized I forgot to add Bashful Blue.  Ack!  I was stamping on Sunday with my sweet boys running around so that probably explains the omission.

I started by stamping the branch on Very Vanilla card stock in Basic Gray.  I colored directly pen to paper with Old Olive on the leaves then punched it out with my 1 3/4″ Circle Punch.  Basic Pearls were added onto the stamped image and then onto the Basic Gray buttons from the Neutrals Designer Buttons.  Next, I chose a piece of the Elegant Soiree DSP that had a little of the leaf image in the corner and that dictated mirroring the sketch to make it work.   I punched a little piece of Very Vanilla paper with my Scallop Trip Border Punch and added some of the tiniest pearls to it.  The bow is made with retired Basic Gray Tafetta.  Finally the stamped image was popped up on Dimensionals.

It was nice to get some bonus stamping time this weekend and I look forward to a little more this week.  Thanks for stopping in today and I look forward to having more to share soon!  Have a great week!

Stamps:  Sweet Summer (SAB); Paper:  Elegant Soiree DSP, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla; Ink:  Basic Gray, Old Olive; Accessories:  Neutrals Designer Buttons, Basic Pearls, Basic Gray Tafetta (retired), 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Dimensionals

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ColorLab 32

ColorLab 32 published on 12 Comments on ColorLab 32

More spring colors this week from the ColorLab Challenge!!  Take a look:

Maybe because Lent has started officially, but they remind me of Easter egg colors.  Sadly, I don’t have any Easter egg sets so I had to get a bit more creative.  This also looks like a palette for a spring garden bed so I went off in search of the right flowers.  I found them in my trusty Fifth Avenue Floral set!!  I just love watercoloring these beautiful images!

Using my blender pen and Watercolor Paper, I swirled on some Blushing Bride and then touched on some Rich Razzleberry at the tips of the petals.  A little So Saffron direct to paper for the centers and the flowers were done.  I cut one out to pop up on a Dimensional for texture.  The sentiment is from the Occasions Mini set called Say It Simply…still love it because it is perfect for so many cards.  I embossed the Very Vanilla card stock with my Big Shot and the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder using the square technique shown here and added a bow with Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon.

I hope you have fun with these colors this week.  As always, I can’t wait to see all the creative things you do with them!  This card also qualifies for the Stampin’ Sisters in Christ challenge 79, stamping with flowers.  Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great rest of your week!!

Stamps:  Fifth Avenue Floral, Say It Simply; Paper:  Watercolor, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla; Ink:  Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron; Accessories:  Big Shot, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals, Blender Pen

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