Challenges (Variable)

Gratitude for River Rock

October 17, 2010 Jentimko 9 Comments

My stampers here know that River Rock became my go-to color when it was first introduced as an In Color by Stampin’ Up. It is quite a color chameleon, frankly. I love how it skews green when paired with blues and moves toward brown when paired with brown family. It is absolutely lovely with Soft Suede and the introduction of Early Espresso completed the set for me. So why haven’t I made more cards with this color??!! Can’t tell you (other than I am also in love with Cherry Cobbler and Cajun Craze and Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizzazz……)! Imagine my joy when I saw the Pals Paper Arts inspiration picture this week. Lots of River Rock leaves, Soft Suede tree trunks, a Very Vanilla Sweater…take a look:

I also found this great sketch from Karen and her Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 89:

I found some very old DSP and knew it was just perfect. One of the leaves from Day of Gratitude got the Ilina Crouse treatment. I knew this technique would be great with lots of color combinations. Today it is River Rock, Soft Suede and Early Espresso. The tip from Pals Paper Arts is to remember layers and I added a torn layer underneath the image panel. I thought it would add balance to the frayed ends of the ribbon. Here is the final result:

I am thrilled with the masculine feel of this card and may do a birthday variation, too. Hope your weekend has been full of fun. My kids had their first leaf pile jumping of the year…one of my favorite things! Thanks for stopping in!

Stamp: Day of Gratitude; Paper: Retired DSP, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Early Espresso; Ink: River Rock, Soft Suede, Early Espresso; Accessories: Espresso Satin Ribbon, Linen Thread, Neutrals Buttons, Sticky Strip, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals

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Fall thank you

October 5, 2010 Jentimko 14 Comments

Thanks to the SUO Challenge team for choosing this as Top 3 Winner!!

I mentioned yesterday how much I have to be thankful for and I continued on my thank you card trend today. While I was at Regionals, my fabulous upline gave me some fun goodies to play with so I “had” to use them today. Brandi knows that I can’t resist a pretty ribbon and she gave me a whole pack of samples to use (expect to keep seeing them). One was the beautiful Victoria Crochet Trim. How did I not already have this?? Rest assured, it has been ordered now! She also included some Antique Brads which are particularly great with the Crochet Trim. Of course I used the Day of Gratitude set again. Here is the result:

The sketch comes from Stacey Schafer who is a guest designer at 2 Sketches 4 You this week. I used her bonus sketch. This card also meets the requirement for the Stampin’ Up Only Challenge #3 to use products from the Holiday Mini. Finally, it is another card for Shelli’s October Challenge .

The leaves are stamped using a technique taught last weekend by the very talented Ilina Crouse from My Creations. You ink up the image and then sponge another color on the edges using a sponge dauber. Love the look! I going to be playing with variations of color and this technique for a while.

Hope your week is going well. I’m going to be working on more fun stuff for my hostess clubs that meet next week so expect to see those soon.

Stamp: Day of Gratitude; Paper: Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla; Ink: Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, Versamark; Accessories: Victoria Crochet Trim, Antique Brads, Dimensionals

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Day of Gratitude

October 4, 2010 Jentimko 7 Comments

This is, in fact, the name of a new stamp but the phrase means so much more. Gratitude is an attitude! I know that I run through my life so quickly sometimes that I forget to say thank you to the many people who bless my life. Something about the change to fall weather reminds me of all the things for which I am thankful. Today, I am infinitely thankful for my weekend. I was so lucky to attend Stampin’ Up’s Regional in Baltimore on Saturday and have an entire day of stamping, fun, business training and swaps. I know…that is a lot to be thankful for! Now consider the fact that I got to be with my wonderful upline Brandi and I have even more to be happy about. But the most amazing thing is what happened for me to have this opportunity. My husband is in the Air National Guard and travel is the nature of his life. Even with the best laid plans, many times he simply must be gone when we thought he could be home. Last weekend was one of those times. I had never been to an official Stampin’ Up function and could not miss the opportunity to go to a Regional so close to home. I signed up knowing the risk that he wouldn’t be here. Sure enough, that is what happened. A dear friend and a wonderful sister-in-law stepped up to watch my boys so that I could take this time for myself. How can I even express my gratitude to them??!! Both boys had a fantastic weekend and I was able to enjoy my time knowing what good hands they were in.

Fortunately, part of the package of goodies for Regionals was the Day of Gratitude stamp set from the Holiday Mini. The entire set is so beautiful and the projects on Saturday that used it were so much fun to create. There is nothing more inspirational to my stamping than a new set so of course I needed to use it right away. Even better is that the set expresses exactly how I am feeling. Here is one of the cards for my gracious helpers this weekend:

This card uses a few challenges. The first is the So Shelli Challenge (from Shelli Gardner) to create a project using Fabulous Fall as the motivation. The Our Creative Corner challenge this week uses these colors:

They pretty much say Fabulous Fall, don’t you think? The sketch is from the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and was so fun to use.

I hope you have a wonderful week and, just like the stamp says, your common days are transformed into Thanksgivings.

Stamp: Day of Gratitude (Holiday Mini); Paper: Cajun Craze (smooth and textured), More Mustard, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla; Ink: Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Old Olive, Early Espresso; Accessories: Neutrals Designer Buttons, Dimensionals, Thread (dyed using Early Espresso marker)

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Seasonal thanks

September 23, 2010 Jentimko 8 Comments

One of my dear friends was over stamping on Tuesday and left a couple of sets accidentally. I admit that “borrowed” stamps are almost as fun as new stamps and it could not go back to her house until I had put a little ink on the rubber. Now add to it that one of the sets was Lovely as a Tree and you can understand why I couldn’t resist. Yes, I know what you are going to say. How is it that I don’t own this set??!! Good question and no good answer! Furthermore, I didn’t even use the trees. Yes, I know…I SHOULD hang on to it for another couple of days just so the trees get some ink too! But, she is a really, really good friend and I’m sure she’ll be missing this and what kind of demonstrator hijacks her friend’s stamp sets and…well, you get the point. I’m just glad I got to play a little with the set!

I recently discovered a challenge that I love called the Stampin’ Sisters in Christ Challenge. Their challenge this week is Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To everthing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” With the changing of the seasons, you are to use fall colors and/or leaves. Wait…I have leaves from the Lovely as a Tree set…hmmmm. Pals Paper Arts posted their PPA61, a sketch challenge created by the wonderful Margaret Moody. I always love her sketches (hop right over there to see it!).

I originally intended for this to be a much more complicated card. I have been playing around with the idea of doing cracked glass for my next club meeting and I thought this might the right card for it (maybe it still will be). But when I held the stamped panel up to the layout, it just seemed done. I think it is good to go with your gut feeling on that so I did. I used the wonderful Watercolor Paper and my blender pen to put the color on the leaves. Conveniently enough, some of my trees are starting to turn already so I looked at a fallen leaf for my color inspiration. With the lack of rain we have had in VA, my leaf had a bit of brown on the edges and I incorporated that in. My ribbon is the retired Chocolate Chip 1 1/4″ Striped Grosgrain Ribbon. I have to admit this would be prettier with the current Early Espresso ribbon but I had to finish up this before I would allow myself to buy it. I simply can’t encourage my own ribbon hoarding. I’m sure you have your own little stashes and know what I mean! In any case, here is my final result:

You can click on the picture to see more detail. I have always loved this quote from the Inspired by Nature set and it really seemed to fit with the biblical quote for the challenge. You see, I find that when challenges present themselves, good friends always step in and help you know that God is watching over you. It also seems like those are the times when you don’t have a spare moment to make a meaningful card. This one is going into my little box for one of those days. I hope that you find some inspiration in the words from Ecclesiastes, too. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Lovely as a Tree; Paper: Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Watercolor; Ink: Early Espresso, River Rock, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, Stazon; Accessories: Wide Striped Ribbon, Neutrals Designer Buttons, Linen Thread

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Rejoicing in CAS

September 22, 2010 Jentimko 11 Comments

Now I have to admit that I almost didn’t post this card because it is similar to another I’ve already posted. The reason I changed my mind is that I wanted to show you how the addition of a textured panel can really take the card up a notch. My layout today is a slight modification of the OWH Sketch #35. They post wonderful sketches every Sunday, most of which are the Clean and Simple style (all the better to make lots of cards for heroes). I mentioned last week that there is a new challenge, SUO Challenges, and they have a new challenge up – SUOC2. They are, in fact, the reason I decided to post this card. While my little panel is a small example of how much the Big Shot can add to your stamping, I thought it important to show how this tool can help you add dimension. When I am stamping in monochomatic or subdued tones, texture becomes very important. I love how the Square Lattice Embossing Folder adds that certain something to this card. On the stamped panel I used watercolor paper for its lovely blending qualities. On both Mary and Joseph’s headpieces, I finished the watercoloring by adding shimmer paint. Champagne Mist was used on Joseph and Frost White on Mary.

Here is a closeup of the shimmer paint.

I continue to love this set! It lends itself to clean and simple cards that put the focus squarely on the Holy Family itself. I got a bit behind on my own Christmas stamping with my OWH card drive so this one (and the ones I will make like it) will go a towards my little stash of personal cards. I hope you have a great day…thanks for stopping by!

Stamp: Rejoicing in Christmas; Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Watercolor; Ink: Stazon, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake; Accessories: Shimmer Paints, Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Big Shot, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

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Fall mushrooms

September 17, 2010 Jentimko 15 Comments

Ok, having mushrooms means that you have damp ground and goodness knows we can’t seem to get enough rain here in VA. However, I can create little whimsical mushrooms! While it was not my usual style of set, when I first saw Funky Four in the catalog I just had to smile. Something about those little mushrooms (and the rest of the set, for that matter) are just really cute. So I got it! I didn’t think about it or rationalize it, I just bought the set. I am so glad I did!

I saw the color challenge over at The Paper Players this week and knew that I had to play along. Really, you must go look at the cards they made…gorgeous!! The colors they chose were Old Olive, More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Early Espresso…oh so pretty together. There is also a brand new challenge, S-U Only Challenges, and their first challenge is “Fall”. So, my brain started crunching and realized how great those colors would be with my funny little mushrooms. I had also found a great sketch over at Unscripted Sketches that would be perfect. Ready with the three challenges, this card came together very quickly. I colored onto the stamp with my markers and stamped the main image panel. I then added the sentiment from Apple Blossoms (Hostess Level 2). I liked the idea of color blocking for this layout but wanted to add a little more interest so I chose a piece of Play Date DSP for the side panel (it coordinates perfectly with the Funky Four set!). This card is for my dear brother-in-law so I avoided the bow and put on a button instead. Yes, I’m really glad I went with my impulse and got these mushrooms!

See, I bet they make you smile, too! Nothing more for today…thanks for stopping in. I hope you have a beautiful weekend!

Stamps: Funky Four, Apple Blossoms (hostess); Paper: Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso, Play Date DSP; Ink: Old Olive, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso; Accessories: Espresso Satin Ribbon, Neutrals Designer Buttons, Thread

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Clean and simple fall colors

September 13, 2010 Jentimko 10 Comments

I’m still recovering a bit from my Operation Write Home extravaganza so this will be short. This is one of the cards for my box being shipped to OWH later this week. I’ll have a picture of the box all loaded up in tomorrow’s post. The Clean&Simple layout 107 is a great one and I used it to create a card during my open house. I also leaned on Stampin’ Celebration for some inspiration. Believe me, with all that stamping, I needed the inspiration to keep the ideas moving!

I love the colors in this picture! One of the things I did to help everyone maximize their stamping was to pull out all my sets (current and retired) and had people bring some of their stamping favorites. You know the sets…the ones where every card is one you like. One of my friends brought over her Watercolor Trio and I had to use it (I also used it in my previous post’s card). I started with some Cherry Cobbler, added Soft Suede and Early Espresso, and then some Daffodil Delight as the yellow. The card is pretty self explanatory so I’ll just show it to you.

I left off the sentiment because so that the recipient can use it for any purpose. I found myself making more cards like this than usual to give our deployed heroes more options.

Don’t forget to take a look at Operation Write Home to see if there is a stamping event near you this month!! Have a great week.

Stamp: Watercolor Trio; Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Whisper White; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight; Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding (Holiday Mini), Scallop Trim Border Punch

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Stampin' Royalty Guest Designer

September 8, 2010 Jentimko 9 Comments

Yep, that’s me! A Stampin’ Royalty Guest Designer! Wow!! Imagine my surprise when I got the e-mail asking me to do this. I have never had the honor of being a designer so this was really big for me! (Yes, lots of exclamation points) After my immediate reply to say yes, I had to worry about living up to the standard set by the Goddesses. Before I got too panic-stricken, Sandra sent me this lovely picture as an inspiration challenge (you’ll recognize it from the catalog) and I knew this would be fun:

These little pennants are so cute! I loved them the first time I paged through the catalog. I started thinking about what to make and I couldn’t get the Birthday Bash Suite items (p. 52-53 IBC) out of my head. Soooo….I went with it. Using the Party This Way pennant as my guide, I cut out some triangles from my Play Date DSP and strung them together much like the little bucket on pg. 52. The thread was dyed using my Chocolate Chip marker and I punched holes with my Paper-Piercing Tool to make it easy (and uniform). Before I attached my banners, the words from the tag punch in Party Hearty were stamped on the So Saffron panel. I’m sure you can tell that I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to make that happen (what would I do without it??). I then attached each pennant with a dimensional. Something was still missing and I realized that part of what I love about the inspiration picture was the buttons. So out came my Brights and Neutrals Designer Buttons! Finally, I cut another panel from the Play Date DSP and added a border with my Scallop Edge Border Punch to mimic the scallop edges of the large pennants in the picture.

I just love the colors in this!! It will be going to a dear friend of mine for her son who turns 1 next week. How fast that first year goes!

Thank you so much to the Goddesses for letting me join them this week. Make sure you go see all the lovely work they have done with this challenge! Thanks for stopping by…have a great rest of your week.

Stamp: Party Hearty, Party This Way (as a guide); Paper: Play Date DSP, Real Red, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip; Ink: Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Brights and Neutrals Designer Buttons, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals, Scallop Edge Punch, Thread

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A Pals Sketch Birthday

August 31, 2010 Jentimko 2 Comments

The son of a dear friend turns one this week and I needed a card, of course! In a dramatic turn from ALL of the Christmas cards I have been working on, I pulled out my Play Date DSP to see what I could come up with. The Pals Paper Arts this week was designed by Margaret Moody so of course it is fantatic. Make sure you go check it out! I have done a similar card concept before with the numbers but, as I mentioned then, the numbers are what made me buy this paper. I love the idea of highlighting the specific birthday using the monochromatic and the mulitcolored papers! That is what I did again on this one. I love the bold colors in this DSP and I let the paper do most of the work. After I got the numbers panel completed, I needed a little something for balance and tied on a button from the Brights Designer Buttons collection. I layered the Oval Punches and used the phrase from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Didn’t this turn out cute? The mommy of the little boy loved it and I’m happy that it highlights the special birthday.

Now, since I can’t let you go without SOMETHING from Christmas, I have a close-up of one of my cards from the Stampin’ Addicts Blog Hop last weekend. I shined a light on the card so that I could capture all the shimmer from the Shimmer Paints I used. I am not normally a “glitter girl” but the sparkle from this card is so pretty in person. I hope this gives you more of a feel for it.

Thanks for stopping in today. Tomorrow I will have close-up pictures and details about my cracked glass card from the hop. Have a great day!

Stamp: Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Play Date DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Large and Small Oval Punches, Chocolate Chip Wide Grosgrain (ret), Brights Designer Buttons, Dimensionals

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Christmas is in the air!

August 30, 2010 Jentimko No Comments

It may be the end of August but Christmas is in the air around my house. I continue to work towards making cards for my Operation Write Home challenge. Only two more weeks until the big “stamp-a-palooza” known as an Open House. Today I am posting two more cards made for my donation box. But first, as promised in the Stampin’ Addicts Blog Hop post, I have some more pictures of the candle I made using Rejoicing in Christmas. The picture shown over the weekend shows the subtlety of the colors but didn’t quite show the shine on the candle. As I mentioned in that write-up, I watercolored the ink onto the tissue paper and then applied Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint on top. One of the unexpected effects of this was that the Shimmer Paint took on a gold-leaf feel. Here are some pictures that show this a little better:

Now on to my cards for today. The first uses this week’s OCC Sketch Challenge 30 which is a super layout. The start of this card was actully the tag. As part of the “creative process” for the blog hop, this was a leftover piece. Not one to waste a good scrap, I realized that it fit perfectly into the sketch. I pulled out my friend Dasher again (really, I do have other sets but he works with so many things!). The result is a card I really like and that isn’t too complicated to replicate. The ribbon, I confess, is non-SU and was tied onto a gift box from Mother’s Day (perfume). This nice piece of grosgrain was just waiting for the right card. Here is the result:

The final card for today uses last week’s OWH Stars & Stamps Sketch Challenge 31. This is one of those go-to layouts that will work time and time again. They have a lot of super ideas over there, by the way, so check them out! I pulled out some retired SU paper from last year, Christmas Cocoa DSP. The snowflake paper immediately inspired another tone-on-tone card. I sponged some Soft Suede on the Whisper White paper and then added a little Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint with a sponge dauber. Dasher was out and I threw a little more ink on him. While I certainly want each card for OWH to be special, I also need to make as many as I can. For me that means staying with one “theme” per stampining session. I am encouraging my participants to do the same so we can fill a nice big box for those heroes!! Ok, the rest of this card explains itself so here it is:

Thanks for dropping by today. Tomorrow I will have a birthday card (for a change of pace) and on Wednesday, some more details on my cracked glass card from the blog hop. If you missed the hop, please go over to Stampin’ Addicts and take a look at all the wonderful projects from Stampin’ Up’s new Holiday Mini.

Candle:

Stamp: Rejoicing in Christmas; Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard; Paper: Tissue; Accessories: Blender pen, Aquapainter, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Heat tool, Espresso Satin Ribbon

Card 1:

Stamp: Dasher, All Holidays; Ink: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black; Paper: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Naturals Ivory; Accessories: Neutrals Designer Buttons, Ribbon, Shimmer paint (on tag with sponge dauber)

Card 2:

Stamp: Dasher, Short & Sweet; Ink: Soft Suede; Paper: Christmas Cocoa DSP (ret), Soft Suede, Whisper White; Accessories: Neutrals Designer Buttons

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