Saturday, February 28, 2009

Just Under the Wire!

Whew! Every month my good friend Joanne (Sleepy in Seattle) and I challenge each other to use some of those unloved supplies that we bought long ago with good intentions and then promptly hoarded away. This month it was chipboard. And like a good hoarder, I didn't use ANY all month LOL!! I realized today that it was the last day of the month and I HAD to use my chipboard today!! So I went to my stash and tried multiple different things with it. Now I remember why I don't use it, I can't get it to work on my cards!! It hates me!! I finally picked out an oval scalloped frame piece by Maya Road that came in a cute metal suit case. I painted it using a sponge and some Mica Gloss by Judi Kins in Rose Gold. It made it kind of metallic shinny looking, prettier IRL than it looks in the photo. Anyhow, I centered it around a stamped Inkadinkado Morphic Bird that I double stamped, once with Cranberry Crisp and once with Baja Breeze. I layered it with Marrakech Basic Grey DP, Cranberry Crisp, Bravo Burgundy and Baja Breeze. Added some jewels for sparkle and ran the bottom layer through the Big Shot with the Houndstooth Cuttlebug EF. Finished this off with 5/8" satin ribbon by Celebrate It. Thanks for checking in!!

Thank You Card!

Supplies Used -- Ink: Pretty in Pink, River Rock. Paper: White CS, Me and My Big Ideas Fashion District stack. Accessories: Silver Satin Pearl EP, white satin 5/8" ribbon, Fiskars border punch, Fiskars Texture Plates set #4.
We had dinner with a couple of new friends at their house last night and we had such a great time, so the first thing this morning I got up wanting to make them a Thank You card. I had a peak at the IC over on SCS last night before going to bed so I kinda already knew what I was going to focus on. The Inspiration challenge this week is to create a card inspired by any of the items for sale from the great collection of stuff from Room Service Home. So I chose this bathroom stand "Conservatory Basket Stand $225". (No, don't plan on running out and buying that pricey thing any time soon LOL!!) I just liked the contemporary look of it, and our friend's home seemed to be decorated mainly in white contemporary furniture (it was so pretty) so this image helped me get started on the card. I stamped the "Classic Stripes" background stamp from SU in Versamark and used Silver Satin Pearl EP by Stamp a Mania for the background. Layered it with pink DP from Me and My Big Ideas (can't seem to put that stack away!!) and white CS that I die cut with Nestibilities Labels. The image is from SU Happy Harmony set stamped in Pretty in Pink. The Thank You sentiment is Fancy Flexible Phrases stamped in River Rock. To finish it off, I threaded white satin ribbon from Celebrate It through the bottom part of the card and added a bow. Thanks for checking in!!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Fun With Alphabets!

This week, Chrissi's Belli Challenge (CBC56) is to use Monograms or Alpha sets! I knew I bought those things for a reason!! LOL!! Actually, the cards I made for today's challenge use the SU Jumbo Outline Alpha set that I love...ever since I bought it, I haven't bought any others!! Seriously, it is such a versatile set!! For the Belli Challenge this week, I used it in two ways: This first one I stamped out the word of my choice and colored the letters in with copics -- I purposely jumbled them up so I didn't have to worry about alignment. I added a little Inkadinkado birdie and the "at the Nest" sentiment. This 2nd card I stamped the Jumbo Outline Alpha letters onto my most favorite-est DP of the week, Me and My Big Ideas stack (do you recognize it!!?), cut them out and assembled them in a jumbled fashion onto more M&MyBI DP. I punched the Fiskars border punch onto some Chocolate Chip CS and threaded some satin ribbon through the holes. Then punched a SU scallop border through that piece and punched some 1/8 holes through the scallops. ( I'm loving the punching lately...can you tell, hee hee!!) The word "Happy" is a stamp by Hero Arts. I'm thinking I'll probably embellish this card a little more when I'm ready to give it away (a big ole Prima or something, right??), but for now, "it is what it is..." Anyhow, if you have any unloved Alpha sets or monograms in your stash, pull them out and give this fun challenge a try!! Upload to SCS using keyword CBC56. And please check out all the other Belli Challenge Designer's cards for more inspiration!! Janette Olen - Guest Designer Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Very Cool!

This very sweet award was passed on to me from Ellena in Russia aka Gvendalen, Ocean of Imagination. I hope you'll pop in and see her blog, she's very talented and has a wonderful stamping style. I'm honored to post this award on my blog!! And as such, I will need to pass it on...I will be posting names later!! Thanks so much Ellena! I'm thrilled to have it!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Girls of the World

This week for our Doubledog Dare Challenge, Julia (aka Create With Me) provided us with a downloaded file she got from Allison's blog "Stamping When I Can" awhile back. (Side Note, I just got back from Allison's blog in hopes of finding the file to share with you here on my blog, but I got totally lost; i.e., immersed in her blog posts. She's got so MUCH stuff over there!!) I don't know how to upload a Word Doc to my blog (sorry), but if you want me to email it to you, just leave me a Comment or email me! The file is a page of the cutest little girls from around the world! Everyone of them is adorable!! I've colored 3 of them so far, but for tonight and for my DDC, I'm posting this little Gypsy. Isn't she cute?? I kept it pretty simple since she IS so cute {wink}! She's colored with only a couple of colors of Copics (RV10 and R85), matted onto white and a Chocolate Chip scallop oval. The DP is Me and My Big Ideas Fashion District stack (I LOVE this stack!). The boarder is the MS Border punch and the sentiment is Chit Chat Rub Ons from SU. A little bling added to finish it all off! Thanks for checking in tonight all! Hugs,

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Soft and Sparkly

Supplies Used - Paper: Me and My Big Ideas DP, SU River Rock, Soft Sky. Sizzix Texture Plates #4, Ticket Punch, MS Layered Daisy Punch, Jolee's Jewels, Cricut Storybook Cartridge
Did lots of stamping and crafting yesterday but didn't spend a lot of time photographing and uploading, so I'll have to get caught up on that part throughout the week. But first! This week's Featured Stamper is "SgtStamper". I love checking out a gallery I haven't been to before. She has one of those galleries where you just want to sit down and Case a bunch of cards on every page of her collection! I don't even know how I settled on this one for today "Korean Thank You", but there's so much more in there, I hope you'll check it out! I stayed with most of her design elements but changed up the materials used. Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Talking to the Birds

Today a pile of new Sugar Nelli stamps arrived from the UK! Oh happy day!! The card shown here is called "Talking to the Birds". So sweet!! I love all the images -- lots of coloring ahead!! I stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black ink, colored her in with copics following SCS's Color Challenge and Sketch Challenge for this week. I used my Fiskars boarder punch to punch the holes for the ribbon at the bottom and a Paper Studio punch to create the lacy border across the middle of the card. Thanks for stopping by!

Inchie Invasion!!

Today is Belli Challenge day! Chris challenged us to use Inchies on our cards. I had no idea what an Inchie was, so I was very curious and excited to learn something completely new! I was pleasantly surprised to find out that these little cuties are fun, fast, easy and can be used on just about any project! So I set out to make a "few" and just kept going and going... Here's a what I came up with: Big Cards:
A Matchbook: Teeny Framed Picture: Teeny Card: I do tend to get carried away ... So, these are really fun!! The Belli Challenge is of course open to all ya'lls!! Come join us and give it a try -- upload to SCS using keyword CBC55 and leave a comment on Chris Dickson's website Creating With Chrissy! Then come see what the other Belli Challenge DT members came up with!! Joanne Travis Joan Irvin Holly Brown Chris Dickinson Courtney Fowler Ceal Pritchett Christi Thorsen Danita Hollander Shelly Koskinen Karen Gibson Lee Murphy Shannon Bracken - Guest Designer Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A Flourishes Challenge

Supplies Used - SU Echos of Kindness (Level II Hostess) and Dias Felices stamp set. Fiskars Border Punch, Dk Blue Velvet Ribbon. Paper: Pacific Point, Bashful Blue, Black, White. Colored with Copics.
So, I don't know about you, but this is all new to me and I'm not get ANY SLEEP these days!! I'm just now figuring out that there our Challenges for challenges about challenges on every day of the week and every day of the week there is a new challenge and a new blog and more talent popping up! So, for some, this may be madness, but for me, it's like Christmas, and I'm totally slap happy picking out challenges to try and make cards with all the requirements!! I've been blog hopping and finding the most amazing and talented people out there. Wow, I had NO IDEA that this blog world thing was so vast and unending!! Anyhow...I came across the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge, which I had heard about, saw cards posted for it, and wondered about what the heck that was all about. So what I found out is that there's one every week posted here, and you can use your Flourishes stamps if you have them...or if you don't, you can still participate. The cool thing is, that you see the cards made with the Flourishes stamp sets by some of the most talented stamp artists ever!! Seriously, all my favorite stampers are part of this Design Team!!. And of course you'll drool over the awesome Flourishes stamp sets and want to shop for Flourishes stamps!! (what recession??). So I jumped in tonight -- this is my first Flourishes Challenge card and this week it is to use flowers!! How fun and perfect is that!! I don't have Flourishes stamps...yet...but I do have this really cool SU Level II Hostess set called Echos of Kindness. Its gorgeous, prettiest set since the long retired Petal Prints. I just love it. Anywho, I stamped one of the images several time across white CS, colored them all in with the softest Copic colors I have, then mounted the panel on Black, Bashful Blue and Pacific Point. Stamped the sentiment from " Dias Felices" that translates to "Thinking of You". I love love love my Spanish language sentiment stamps!! To finish it off, I added some Dazzling Diamonds to give it some sparkle and roped it off with a dark blue velvet ribbon. Thanks for stopping by all!

Monday, February 16, 2009

One of These Things is Not Like the Others!

Supplies Used - SU Cheap Talk, bling from HL, SU Patterns Pack Designer Series Paper II
This was created based on some of those cute cards I've been seeing where there are just rows of butterflies and nothing else. I somehow stumbled across a new challenge on a new blog called "The Pink Elephant" blog and the challenge this week is to add bling to something! So the birds have bling! (I am always amazed at the never ending blog world out there, I just love it!!) Go check this one out girls!! I used the SU Cheap Talk set, just the small bird and stamped it on the back of 6 different scraps of the DP from SUs Patterns Pack and cut them out. Used dimensional foam to pop them up and put them each in their own little scored square. Super duper easy. But somehow, aside from their different patterns, one lost his feet, and I didn't even notice until I finished the card. I thought it was kinda cute...and now this card reminds me of that intro song from Electric Company (if you have to ask, it was way before your time!) that goes "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is "kinda" the same, can you guess which one is not like the others, now it's time to play our game!". Have a great stamping week!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

A Card for Mr. Bogey

Supplies Used - Paper: SU White, Choc Chip, So Safron, Patterns Pack DP Series II. Ink: SU Choc Chip, Versafine Black, Copics. Stamps: SU Echos of Kindness. Accessories: Nestabilities Petite Ovals, SU Sizzlits Lots of Tags, Sizzix Texture Plates Kit #4
Our friends lost their beloved dog and companion this week to cancer: Mr. Bogie. He was as much a part of their family as any child. I know that this will be a difficult time for them. This is the card I made for them. My card was inspired by this week's Featured Stamper over on SCS; Julie Lacey -- see her gallery here! Every card in there is pristine, perfect color combos, perfect sketches, just beautifully done. What a wonderful collection to choose from! This is her card that I chose to CASE. It's probably easier to say what I didn't change just because she has such lovely details that I couldn't replicate. I kept the layout and used the Petite Oval Nestibilities like she did. Everything else is a variation of what you see here. Happy Stamping everyone!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

My Studio

I know everyone can relate. It just made me laugh tonight, so I snapped a pic and thought I'd throw it up on my blog. I've been stamping most of the evening, getting my Challenges done and trying to figure out what I'm going to do for next week's card club (yikes!). I finally stopped to get some pictures and take a brain break (I think a martini is in order, don't you?!?) and as I looked back and saw my desk as I walked away, I was quite amused, how the heck did that happen??!!

The Funny Card!

Supplies Used: Stamps: Ann-ticipations (Egg), River City (sentiment). Paper: SU Lovely Lilac, Patterned Prints, Bazzil Black, something very bright green that I had. Fiskars border punch, Lilac colored satin ribbon. Nestiblitities Scalloped retangles. The sweet and always adorable Anne Harmon (aka JDMommy and Inking in RED) challenged the Doubledog Dare Gals to make a Funny Card! Way back when, Anne and I had some laughs over some funny stamped images and it became the basis of our friendship. I adore this woman! So I am not suprised at all by her challenge and I hope all of you who enjoy getting a laugh out of a card will try this one!! Upload to SCS and use keyword DDC!! Hugs,

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Just Too Cute Not to Share!

I just loved this. Something about the simplicity of a pink paperclip. What's not to love, right?! Someone emailed this little "project" to me at work today and I stopped right there and made four of them to use right away! Just for fun! Just because I could sit at my desk and craft for two sweet minutes!! It just doesn't get any better than that! Have a good evening everyone!!