It is with a sad heart that I share with you the passing of Sydney Davies. She was the inspiration behind my Ronald McDonald House Charities stamp drive and an amazing girl. She battled her cancer and “fought like a girl”. My whole community is grieving today. While I never had the privilege of meeting Sydney, I am in awe of the hearts she has touched with her courage.
It is another fabulous Wednesday and I get to share a new Freshly Made Sketches Challenge with you. This week’s sketch is courtesy of…me! I know this is kind of a classic sketch but I love how it leaves room for lots of interpretation. Just take a look at the design team to see what I mean. All those wonderful cards from one sketch! Love it!!
Leave it to me to design a sketch and then change it! That is what happens when you design the sketch well before you make the card! Hmmm…. In any case, I am so happy with this card. We made this one at my Holiday Catalog Class last week and we all had a good time with it! The star of the show are Stampin’ Up’s Glimmer Papers, both Silver and Champagne. The Snow Flurry Die creates this amazing snowflake and is just perfect for the sketch. I tried a number of colored backgrounds before I settled on this tone-on-tone Very Vanilla. I always love this look and was so happy that it works well here. The sentiment is from More Merry Messages and was sponged with Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint then stamped (I used a Sponge Dauber). It keeps the sentiment subtle but adds another element of sparkle! Because apparently all that shine wasn’t enough, I finished the snowflake with a Vintage Faceted Button and a Basic Rhinestone. The button picks up the shimmer from the snowflake and is so awesome!
I can’t wait to see what everyone makes with the sketch this week! Make sure you hop on over to the challenge site to see all the inspiration! Thanks for stopping in today. See you again soon!
Stamp: More Merry Messages; Paper: Very Vanilla, Silver Glimmer Paper, Champagne Glimmer Paper; Accessories: Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Sponge Daubers, Big Shot, Snow Flurry Bigz Die, Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Vintage Faceted Buttons, Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals
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
Wow, it was quite a week over at Freshly Made Sketches with the big one year anniversary! The entries were all so spectacular and the design team ended up choosing two Queens of Clean (because it was just too hard to narrow it down any further!). Congratulations to LeAnne and Narelle! I’m so excited to work with them during October. This week we are back to new sketches and wow does Tui have one for us! The design team has come up with some awesome inspiration with this cool layout!
It seems that I can’t count because I obviously used the wrong number of strips behind the image but I think I kept to the intent of the sketch. Somehow, these were just the sizes the panels “needed” to be and this is all the fit! All the work here is really done by the Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP. I mimicked the angles in the patterns in my cuts to the DSP. I kind of like the overall effect. The mummy just called out to be used again so I popped him up on a Dimensional and added the sentiment. The button is really a Cajun Craze button from the Regals set but it really goes well here. The texture on the circle and the background is from the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.
Ok….I hope you enjoy this fun and challenge sketch! You’ll be glad you tried it and we can’t wait to see what you make!
I got a little extra stamping time this week so I’ll be back tomorrow with another card! Yea!! Have a super Wednesday!
Stamp: Googly Ghouls; Paper: Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP, Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Very Vanilla; Ink: Basic Gray; Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Googlies, Regals Buttons
Our theme over at SUO Challenges this week is near and dear to my heart – For the Kids!! Let’s face it, kid projects and cards are always such fun to make. They bring out the kids in all of us who create, I think! The team has come up with all kinds of awesome ideas so get ready to pin and CASE!
I went with a really clean card for this one. Why? Because these were mass produced!! I made them as birthday thank you cards for one of my sons and needed to make quite a number of them. The best part is that while it is clean, it still has some great little elements that make it special. First of all, I am in love with this little alien from Blast Off. My guys love this set and they actually helped me choose this fellow and his color (Lucky Limeade). I stamped him and the planet on Whisper White and the punched them out with my 2-1/2″ Circle punch. Then I stamped another alien, fussy cut him and popped him up on a Dimensional. I used the new Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack to pierce a circle and then put the punched circle up on some more Dimensionals. The sentiment is from Made For You.
Making cards like this is fun, especially when the kids pitch in to help. I hope you will share your projects for the kids with us this week!
Back tomorrow with a new Freshly Made Sketches challenge. I hope you are having a great week so far. See you soon!
Stamps: Blast Off, Made For You; Paper: Whisper White; Ink: Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Real Red, Daffodil Delight (all Stampin’ Write Markers); Accessories: Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Paper-Piercing Tool, Stampin’ Pierce Mat, Stamp-a-ma-jig
I am so excited to be a Monday Guest over at the Pink Paper Bakery! This is a group of Stampin’ Up demonstrators who work together on this fun blog! So much inspiration and talent! They asked me to share a card with them and I think I have just the right one.
I have been seeing the Triple Time technique everywhere and finally gave in to trying it after seeing a card by the amazing Ann Schach. She changed up the layout a bit from some others and I loved the effect!! I knew that the snowflakes from Snowflake Soiree would be fantastic for this technique and got right to work. Another super talented stamper, Dawn Olchefske, has a tutorial on the technique that I viewed before giving this a go. The key to the technique is the illusion that you have stamped multiple times and and magically lined them up perfectly. While I do love my Stamp-a-ma-jig, even I would not have the patience to line everything up for multiples of this card!! LOL! So I started with a base of Very Vanilla (3-7/8″ x 5-1/8″). I cut two rectangles of Very Vanilla to 1-7/8″ x 2-1/8″ and another one rectangle to 2-3/8″ x 3-3/8″. As per the tutorial, attach them to the base using a repositionable glue since you will need to pull them back up and attach their “frames”.
Once you have these in place, stamp your images. You will need to apply a little extra pressure to the stamping to minimize the gap that will happen where the layers meet. Now I like to use 1/8″ borders (and did here) but a wider border is a bit more forgiving in the “magic” of this technique. You may need to play with it a bit to find what works best for you. After I stamped, I embossed the image using the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder. I found that this helps in the reassembly part since you can use the embossing pattern as an additional guide.
You can see the gaps I was talking about in this picture. Now, you carefully (take your time) pull the layers apart and then attach the back border panels (frames) to the layers. I used Early Espresso for this with the panels as follows: 4″ x 5-1/4″, two panels 2″ x 2-1/4″, 2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″. I’m guessing this makes the measurements above make a bit more sense. *smile* The base of the card is Cherry Cobbler.
I folded a small piece of the Early Espresso 3-1/2″ Tulle Ribbon in thirds and tied on a Brushed Bronze Button with some Linen Thread. The middle panel is raised up on Dimensionals. Finally, I added the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes (I inked only part of the stamp with a Stampin’ Write Marker) that was punched with the Jewelry Tag Punch and attached with Mini Glue Dots.
I hope you like this card as much as I do! I made this with my Holiday Catalog Class last weekend. We all agreed that the technique takes a little patience but is well worth it!
My thanks to the Pink Paper Bakery for letting me be a guest! I’ll be back tomorrow with the latest SUO Challenge. Have a great day!
Stamps: Snowflake Soiree, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler; Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake; Accessories: Big Shot, Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Early Espresso 3-1/2″ Tulle Ribbon, Brushed Bronze Button, Linen Thread, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots
Happy Wednesday to you all!! It is a very exciting day and the whole team at Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating the first anniversary of the challenge! You’ll notice that I don’t have a sketch posted….hmmm. That is because we are opening up EVERY sketch from the last year as a choice. Good luck with that because I had a very hard time choosing!! Click on over to the blog and there is a link to all the previous sketches. Not surprisingly, the team has outdone themselves. We are even welcoming back Rita Wright and Linda Callahan for this one!
I went with this awesome sketch originally created by Linda Callahan. I loved so many cards that were made with this sketch and I thought it would be fun to make one really different than my original.
I am so completely in love with the new 3-1/2″ Scalloped Tulle Ribbon and have been wanting to make one of these flowers with it. It is so easy now that Stampin’ Up has the new 2-1/2″ Jumbo Sticky Rounds. I simply tied a knot in the end of the ribbon and stuck it to the middle and started wrapping in circles. You twist the ribbon as you wrap and I love how some of the loose scallops add to the look of the flower. I applied the ribbon straight from the roll of ribbon so I don’t have a length for you. I do recommend this technique, though, since you won’t waste one little bit of the ribbon that way! A Naturals Ivory panel was embossed using the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder and then lightly brayered with Crumb Cake ink to highlight the pattern. Now that background panel on the base…you’ll notice it matched the embossing folder perfectly. Nope, it isn’t a stamp….I used the embossing folder to stamp it! Just brayer the ink onto the folder and carefully stamp it down. Now of course it doesn’t hold ink like the rubber but the effect is pretty for a card like this.
This is what it looks like when the panel is stamped with the folder. Cool, huh? I love so many of the patterns on our embossing folders so I think I’ll be using this technique again.
I want to take the time to thank Lesley Croghan and the whole team at Freshly Made Sketches! I am so inspired by your artistry and so grateful to have the privilege of working with you all.
I was looking back to my post for the first challenge and my card was for the 10th anniversary of 9-11. I guess that is fitting since my post yesterday reflects on that in a different way. What a great year it has been for this challenge and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone makes for this one (and all the challenges in the upcoming year!). Hope you will be able to join us!
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Crumb Cake, Naturals Ivory; Ink: Crumb Cake; Accessories: Brayer, Big Shot, Lacy Brocade EF, 3-1/2″ Crumb Cake Tulle Ribbon, Jumbo Sticky Rounds, Jewelry Tag Punch, Basic Pearls, Dimensionals
I have written a before of my personal experiences on September 11, 2001 on both the 9th and 10th anniversaries so today I will simply ask you to remember. Remember where you were, how you felt and how you wanted the people you love near you. It is easy in our day to day lives to focus on the small. That day, though, many of us forgot the small and petty things in our lives and re-evaluted what was really important to us. The best way to remember, then, is maybe to go back to that feeling. Because I will just bet that the things that became important were not things at all but the people you love so much.
I recently had the privilege of flying a brand new arrival into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. When we fly around the country, planes fly to specified points and sometimes on specified routes (like highways in the sky). In order to facilitate getting traffic in and out of busy airports there are arrival corridors and departure corridors. These arrivals, too, are like roads and you fly from point to point on the way in. The brand new arrival is called the “Freedom” 1. In actuality is is called the FRDMM ONE because the points all have 5 letter names. When we fly this, I promise you that your crews will never forget. The points:
HONNR BRVRY COURG (Honor Bravery Courage)
WEEEE WLLLL NEVVR FORGT SEPII (We Will Never Forget Sep 11)
ALWYZ STAND TGTHR (Always Stand Together)
and finally:
LETZZ RLLLL (Let’s Roll)
It is emotional to fly that approach from each point to the next but the fact that they built it says everything. So today, I remember and I celebrate that my deployed husband returned yesterday (a week early). Talk about what is important. The smiles on my boys faces when they were surprised by daddy was worth more than anything in the world.
I wish you a safe and peaceful Patriot’s Day!
In memory of:
United 93: Jason Dahl, LeRoy Homer, Lorraine Bay, Sandra Bradshaw, Wanda Green, CeeCee Lyles, Deorah Welsh
United 175: Victor Saracini, Michael Horrocks, Robert Fangman, Amy Jarret, Amy King, Kathryn Laborie, Alfred Marchand, Michael Tarrou, Alicia Titus
American 11: John Ogonowski, Thomas McGuinness, Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean D. Roger, Dianne Snyder, Amy Sweeney
American 77: Charles Burlingame III, David Charlebois, Michele Heidenberger, Jennifer Lewis, Kenneth Lewis, Renee May
Thanks for all the wonderful comments last week and I really appreciate everyone who reads my blog! I have to say that 100,000 hits is quite an amazing number to me. I never thought that when I started this blog back in January 2010 that anything like this would be possible. I wanted to use it as a way to share what I love and to grow as a stamper. Never would I have imagined the friends that I would develop along the way! How grateful I am for the generosity and kindness in the stampers I meet in person and online.
Without further waiting….the blog candy winner is Nanc (I used a random number generator). I will send you an email and get your mailing address from you. Hope you enjoy the Googly Ghouls!
This week will be a little calmer for posts but I have been working ahead for some upcoming challenges, a class this week and a surprise guest blog visit. Make sure you come back on Wednesday for the One Year Anniversary of Freshly Made Sketches! It is going to be so much fun!! See you soon!
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
