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Botanical Cherry Blossoms

Botanical Cherry Blossoms published on 5 Comments on Botanical Cherry Blossoms

PP287, CAS - Botanical cherry blossomSo I told you that I was supposed to head to Denver on Wednesday….well, the weather had other plans and crazy enough, I ended up back at home for another night (YAY!!!).  Well I had a little bit of time to play (very little) in the morning before heading back into the fray and I just had to do a little bit of coloring on a new stamp set.  This Botanical Garden set from Altenew is just gorgeous and I wanted to color it to look like my cherry tree which is just starting to bloom.Cherry BlossomsI really wanted to use my new Chameleon Markers that were sent to me by the fabulous Ilina Crouse.  She is a master with these and I am determined to learn to use them well.  I only used the pink on for today and the way they blend seamlessly is really cool.  Again, I was working quick but I look forward to more time with them.  I added some Copics markers for the green.  The sentiment comes from another set I just got called Butterfly Kisses (Mama Elephant) and I’m in love with the fonts and sentiment choices on this one!    I played along with The Paper Players Celebrate Spring theme and with Addicted to CAS #84 code word Delicate.  PP287 ColorsOk, I’m really out on my trip now and hoping for some flyer friendly weather tomorrow.  Today….not so much.  Thanks so much for stopping in today!  See you soon.

ATCAS - code word delicate pp287Supplies (affiliate links included):

Stamps:  Botanical Garden (Altenew), Butterfly Kisses (Mama Elephant); Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Copics, Chameleon; Paper: Thick Whisper White, Basic Black, Pink Pirouette; Accessories:  Misti, Perfect Accents

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SUOC65 – Hello Green

SUOC65 – Hello Green published on 5 Comments on SUOC65 – Hello Green

Are you dreaming of the beautiful greens of spring yet??  Well, I have to admit that my house is holding out for one really good snow (with enough for sledding) but after that, bring on the spring!!!  But to brighten up our cold, icky days (at least here in VA) this theme from SUO Challenges seems particularly refreshing!  We are “Going Green”!  Of course there are a couple of interpretations of this but I went literally and chose one of Stampin’ Up’s fabulous greens for the focus…Lucky Limeade.

SUOC65 - Hello GreenI will admit that it took me a while to warm up to Lucky Limeade.  Maybe I am a late adapter??  Funny enough though, I find myself turning to it more lately.  So I decided to go all out on it to see what happened.  I chose two prints from the pretty Tea for Two DSP and went from there.  The large banner simply has two pieces of the striped paper that were matched up so that it would be wider.  I thought this pretty flower from Oh, Hello would be a nice addition and give one little pop of another color.  In this case, it is Calypso Coral.  I stamped the sentiment onto some Very Vanilla and then punched it out with my 2-1/2″ Circle Punch.  After stamping the flower, I cut it out and put it on the circle to give an “out of the box” effect.

pp134To point me in the right direction on this card, I use this awesome sketch from The Paper Players.  Great one, huh?  

Well, I can’t wait to see all of your green this week.  It is sure to be another fantastic gallery!  I’ll be back tomorrow with the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  Until then, I hope your day is great!

Stamp:  Oh Hello; Paper:  Tea for Two DSP, Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade; Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral; Accessories:  2-1/2″ Circle Punch, Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon, 1-3/8″ Square Punch, Dimensionals

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SUOC57 – Fall Elegance

SUOC57 – Fall Elegance published on 11 Comments on SUOC57 – Fall Elegance

With the leaves in deep color here in the Eastern US, the SUO Challenges theme this week seems perfect – Fall Elegance.  Sadly I think most of my leaves will be gone in the next couple of days due to this storm hitting the Eastern seaboard.  I hope that all of you reading this who live in the affected areas remain safe during this event.  (I am pre-posting this just in case I lose power)

I suppose this card is appropriate for this storm but it is actually for the principal at my children’s school.  He is a wonderful man and loved by our boys and suffered a family loss.  When I think of fall and elegant there is one stamp that simply MUST be used…French Foliage.  I love these leaves. I love the other stamps.  It is awesome!  I wanted to keep the palette fairly muted except for the leaves and I am happy with how the leaves look like some in my yard right now.  I stamped the script in Basic Gray (it was stamped off first to keep it subtle) and then added the post mark and the water marks.  The leaves were first inked in one color (More Mustard for the bigger leaf, Cajun Craze for the smaller). Then I sponged on a secondary color at the edges using a sponge dauber (Cajun Craze for the bigger leaf, Basic Gray for the smaller).  I cut them out and then sponged additional Basic Gray ink on them.  The sentiment is from the Petite Pairs set and seemed perfect for this card.

I used a sketch from this week’s The Paper Players challenge.  Nance really came up with a great one!  I turned it on its side to make it work better for me.

I hope that I will be able to update you by tomorrow (and that our power stays on).  Regardless, I will have a post because I am pre-posting it as well.  We have a wonderful new sketch all ready for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Until then, have a great (and safe) day!

Stamps:  French Foliage, Petite Pairs; Paper:  Naturals Ivory; Ink:  More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Basic Gray; Accessories:  Neutrals Buttons, Linen Thread, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

Birthday Banner

Birthday Banner published on 12 Comments on Birthday Banner

 

Like I said yesterday, I had a little extra stamping time this week and got to play along with some awesome challenges!  When I first saw the colors over at Fab Friday, I thought that Mindy and the team were a little crazy.  I mean really, Sahara Sand with Basic Gray??  Of course then I saw the team’s examples and knew they were on to something!!  I also saw that The Paper Players has a CAS challenge from Nance Leedy up this week for banners.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

I started with the base of Sahara Sand and put a layer of Basic Gray next to it.  Wow, they are so great together and I had no idea.  I don’t normally use Sahara Sand but this has changed my feeling about that!!  I had some strips of this Basic Gray polka dot paper left over on my table from yesterday’s card so I started playing around with the idea of the banner.  Funny enough, incorporating in the So Saffron was the hardest part.  I played around with all kinds of backgrounds to the banner before I had the inspiration to try a piece of First Edition DSP.  I used my Blender Pen to add a little bit of color to the flowers and knew I had found the answer!  I thought it would be fun to add some little elements to the banner and pulled out some buttons, punches and embosslits to see what I could come up with.  I am so happy with the result!  Now I have a card all ready for a special birthday coming up in a couple of weeks (one of my sisters-in-law).  I love it when I get ahead!

Well this is certainly a recent record.  Four posts in a row!!  Sadly the pace will slow back down over the next few weeks.  I have had September on leave from United (due to my husband’s deployment) but will be back to work in October.  I have a big check ride (flying test) during the second week and need to hit the books and get ready for that.  Of course I will have my normal challenge posts and hopefully an extra one in there somewhere.

Thanks so much for dropping in today.  I hope the rest of your week is fantastic!

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP, First Edition DSP, Sahara Sand, Basic Gray; Ink:  Basic Gray, So Saffron; Accessories:  Blender Pen, Linen Thread, Neutrals Buttons, Subtles Buttons, Basic Pearls, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit

 

Fab Friday (on Thursday)

Fab Friday (on Thursday) published on 22 Comments on Fab Friday (on Thursday)

 

My friend, the oh so talented Mindy Backes,  has started up a brand new challenge called Fab Friday.  The design team over there are some stamping “rock stars” and are a group I admire so much.  So of course I had to play along on their first challenge!!  The first one is a sketch…and you know that I cannot resist a sketch!  This one is really great and I had such fun with it!

Here is the final proof this week that the Seasonal Stamper’s Disorder (my inability to stamp in anything other than the “seasonal” colors) has taken over completely.  Bring on the fall colors!  Naturally, with fall colors come the most wonderful set, French Foliage.  Love this one so much!  I found an old piece of Cajun Craze textured card stock in my stash and it was just the right size for a card base.  Meant to be!  I did some distressing and decided that adding texture to the More Mustard panel with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder was needed.  Perfect!  I love these leaves cut out so I just stamped, cut and sponged the edges a bit.  For the sentiment, I pulled out my new 7/8″ Cotton Ribbon from the Holiday Catalog (you didn’t think I could pass up a new ribbon did you?).  It is designed to be stamped on so I used it for my sentiment from Made For You.  I have to say that this card makes me happy!  Not sure why, but it does.  I LOVE, LOVE fall and I particularly love it in Virginia!

*Blog Candy*

In case you missed yesterday’s post, I am giving away some blog candy for coming up on 100,000 blog hits.  I will be giving away a clear mount Googly Ghouls stamp set.  All you have to do is comment on this post, Tuesday’s SUO Challenges post or yesterday’s Freshly Made Sketches post to be entered.  I’ll select one winner from all the comments (sometime after 6p Eastern Time on Sunday, Sep. 9th).  Feel free to comment on all of them for more chances.  Sorry but SU rules don’t allow me to ship outside of the U.S.

I mentioned stamping rock stars before.  Well, this card is also for another set of my favorite stampers…The Paper Players!  Their theme this week is Leaves Are Falling.  Awesome!

Make sure you take the time to go see what each of these groups has created.  You will be so inspired to join in!

Don’t forget to leave me a note!!  I can’t wait to send the Googly Ghouls to someone!!  Thanks for stopping in today.  See you again soon!

Stamps:  French Foliage, Made For You; Paper:  Cajun Craze Textured (ret), More Mustard, Early Espresso, Naturals Ivory; Ink:  Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso; Accessories:  Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Eyelet Border Punch (ret), 7/8″ Cotton Ribbon, Neutrals Button, Linen Thread, Sponges

French Foliage Birthday

French Foliage Birthday published on 5 Comments on French Foliage Birthday

Well, this isn’t a post with new products but it is a post, so I’m happy.  I can’t say enough about the cool sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week and I used it again here.  I also wanted to celebrate The Paper Players 100th Challenge.  They want you to choose any of their past challenges and play along (not anything goes).  I chose challenge #62, a theme challenge – birthdays.  This one is near and dear to my heart because I was chosen as Headliner with this card.  Being chosen by this group of stampers out of that pool of talent was such a big deal to me and I still remember how excited I was to be selected!

I made a masculine birthday card for a friend of our family turning 40.  I turned to a go-to set, French Foliage.  Always perfect for a masculine card!  I still have some of the awesome Well Worn DSP from last year’s catalog and love it with this stamp set.  I let the paper be my guide for colors and stamped leaves in Crumb Cake and Cajun Craze.  The circle is punched with a 2-1/2″ Circle Punch and stamped with the background words from the stamp set.  Some Linen Thread and a Very Vanilla button are the final touches.

Congratulations to the team at The Paper Players on their great success.  Thanks for all the inspiration you have provided to so many!

Back on Wednesday with a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  I appreciate you stopping by!

Stamps:  French Foliage, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Well Worn DSP, Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Naturals Ivory; Ink:  Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze; Accessories:  Linen Thread, Neutrals Buttons, 2-1/2″ Circle Punch, Sponges, Dimensionals

 

For Rita – A Surprise Blog Hop!

For Rita – A Surprise Blog Hop! published on 22 Comments on For Rita – A Surprise Blog Hop!

It is Wednesday and that means Freshly Made Sketches has a new challenge for you but we also have a surprise cooked up for our dear friend Rita Wright!  Yep, a surprise blog hop in her honor.  Conveniently enough the sketch this week is hers (we just turned it into this lovely hop badge).

For those of you who don’t know, Rita is pregnant and getting ready to take a leave of absence from our design team.  She is a wonderful stamper but an even more wonderful person!  The teams of Freshly Made Sketches and The Paper Players have joined together for this hop.  You are sure to be wowed and we hope that Rita sees how much we love and respect her for all she does.

For my card I took inspiration from this post from Rita.  The fabrics for little Laila’s quilt are so pretty and I thought this paper from Twitterpated DSP and the images from Joie (SAB ’11, French version) were perfect.  Rita, I wish you all the joy that you and your family so richly deserve.  Hugs to you, my friend!

If you have been hopping around already, you probably came over from Jen Mitchell at I Create.  The next blog on the list is Kathy Tanner at Stamping Still.  Here are all the participants:

We have a team blog where we post our pictures and we had to keep the secret so the Freshly Made Sketches team also designed “decoy” cards so that Rita wouldn’t get suspicious.  We have all been so excited about the big day on this!  Here is my other version of the sketch:

I am so thrilled to be a part of this little party in Rita’s honor.  Make sure you drop by Rita’s Creations and leave her a note.  You can be a part of the fun too!

Rita’s Card — Stamp:  Joie (SAB ’11); Paper:  Twitterpated DSP, Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray; Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray; Accessories:  Perfect Pennants Die, Big Shot, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Basic Pearls, Dimensionals

Card 2 — Stamps:  Bright Blossoms, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Summer Smooches, Whisper White; Ink:  Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo; Accessories:  Big Shot, Adorning Accents Edgelits, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Neutrals Buttons, White Baker’s Twine

Paper Players 90 and a new sketch

Paper Players 90 and a new sketch published on 22 Comments on Paper Players 90 and a new sketch

I haven’t gotten to play with many challenges lately and really wanted to join The Paper Players this week.  Timely because I needed a baby card for a sweet little boy and these colors just beg to be used for that!

I recently found a new sketch challenge that I thought would be great for this, too.  Sadly I missed their deadline but the sketch was just what I needed.  I’ll try to make the Retro Sketches on time next time!

I wanted this one to be a very clean card and this layout leans towards Clean and Simple (CAS)!  I don’t really have many baby stamps and have seen some variations of this boat lately.  I knew it would be a great choice!  As I went through my designer papers for the sails, I had every intention of following the PP90 challenge for colors.  Somehow I had a mental image of them and chose these papers….sadly, not the actual challenge colors.  I had already finished the card before I figured it out so I thought I should give credit since they were my inspiration.  In any case, I love this card and it was well received by the new parents.

I have some cards from my Vintage Card Class to show you over the next few days.  My boys are on spring break so I’m off to run around with them.  Hope your week has been great!

Stamp:  Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Twitterpated DSP, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White; Ink:  Not Quite Navy; Accessories:  1 3/8″ Circle Punch, White Baker’s Twine, Dimensionals

PP84 – Sweet Birthday

PP84 – Sweet Birthday published on 7 Comments on PP84 – Sweet Birthday

Don’t fall over from shock!  I’m posting and it isn’t even a Tuesday or a Wednesday.  Yes, I got to stamp!!  I am enjoying getting some time but I find it easier to start with a good layout right now.  Thankfully, The Paper Players had a great one this week.  I’m getting in right under the wire.

I need at birthday card for a sweet little girl named Lily.  Of course I have my Patterned Party set that I typically use right now for kid cards but with a name like Lily, her card simply demands flowers.  As I was searching around the stamp drawer I came across this Sweet Summer set from last year’s Sale-a-bration.  Loved it then, love it now!  It seems perfect to use with the sketch (turned on its side).  So Saffron is such a pretty yellow and I used the striped paper from Just Add Cake DSP.  I still seem drawn to my watercolor stamps and this is an easy watercolor to do.  Some So Saffron Taffeta Ribbon tied with a little flower button and the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes to finish.

I’m planning on some more stamping today for next week’s design team work.  More great challenges so make sure you come back to see them!

Don’t forget that this year’s Sale-a-bration is going all through this month.  You’ll love the sets for years to come!  Thanks for stopping in today.  See you again soon!

Stamps:  Sweet Summer (SAB ’11), Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Just Add Cake DSP, So Saffron, Whisper White; Ink:  So Saffron, Rose Red, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Basic Gray; Accessories:  So Saffron Taffeta Ribbon, Subtles Buttons, Jewelry Tag Punch, White Thread

Petals for you

Petals for you published on 15 Comments on Petals for you

Just a quick card today…a birthday card for a dear friend!  She is a beautiful and elegant person so I wanted a card to match.  What fun to make a card like that!  I have Open Stamp at my house and it is so fun to get together with my friends.  They make wonderful cards and have such great creativity.  Today was our day to stamp and I used the sketch challenge from Splitcoaststampers.  The sketch is very similar to yesterday’s card and is fun to use!

The focus of this card is on the Paisley Petals DSP pack.  What beautiful paper!!  I chose the neutral pattern as the background and then some flowers to cut out of another sheet.  The Bravo Burgandy print adds a great pop of color.  Finally, I pulled out some Always Artichoke Seam Binding and made another “potato masher” bow from yesterday’s tutorial.  The sentiment comes from the hostess set Precious Butterflies.

Hope you like this one as much as I liked making it!  Because it is a birthday card (the inside says “Celebrate”), it also qualifies for The Paper Players Challenge to make birthday cards this week.  I’ll be back tomorrow with another project from the Creative Crew Challenge.  Thanks for stopping in today!

Stamp:  Precious Butterflies; Paper:  Paisley Petals DSP, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla; Ink:  Always Artichoke; Accessories:  Always Artichoke Seam Binding, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

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