Some Valentine Challenges

I did a couple Valentine cards yesterday to make as samples for my clubs that will be meeting this month. For my first one, I used Arielle's Colour Q#14 color challenge as well as the sketch challenge#24 from Pals Paper Arts:

(By the way, today I am using Blogger to post instead of Windows LiveWriter....I hate Blogger, just so you know, if it looks wonky.)

This really looks much better IRL than it does here.....I chose to use Old Olive instead of Kiwi Kiss, as I wanted this to be made with all current SU supplies. I heat embossed the heart with Versamark and Regal Rose ink and clear EP, sponging in some color on the background and coloring the flowers with a blender pen and ink. The DP also really matches perfectly IRL....don't know why it looks off here. It is from the Sweet Pea stack in the current Occasions catalog. Really, I don't know when the last time I used Orchid Opulence was....so this was definitely a challenge!

My next card uses sketch challenge #132 from Stamping 411:

I had a lot of fun making this one---lots of different images and little embellishments and glitter! This Sending Love DP is full of sparkle!!! Here are some closeups of the hearts:

And this is my sentiment embellishment made with several circle punches, the Boho Blossom punch and glitter!!! Thanks for visiting today!!

• Stamps: Always, Define Your Life, Very Vintage Wheel, I {Heart} Hearts, Best Wishes & More, All Holidays
• Paper: Old Olive, WW, Orchid Opulence, Sweet Pea DP, Sending Love DP, Pretty in Pink, VV, Real Red
• Ink: Versamark, Regal Rose, Orchid Opulence, Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose
• Acc: Clear EP & Heat Tool, Rose Red Stitched Ribbon, Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Ribbon, Old Olive Grosgrain, Silver HPH, Pinked Hearts Punch, 3-Flower Punch, Circle Punches, Small Heart Punch, Corduroy Brads, VV HPH, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
  

Vintage Thanks

I have to face it...I am obsessed with vintage images. Since I found the The Graphics Fairy (thanks, Barbara!) I am constantly being tempted by the lovely images she shares! This one is extra special because I love wild birds, too! Although I have never seen a Canada warbler...or any warbler, for that matter!

I have a small collection of vintage postcards passed down by my maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather, but of course, I would never use one on a card, so this is the next best thing! Doesn't this look REAL?? After printing the digital image, I added a little more distressing and mounted it on some vintage paper from K&Co's Evergreen Mat Pad along with a panel of K&Co's Ancestry DP. I stamped some vintage images from the Bee set by Cornish Heritage farms, and a sentiment from SU. A couple buttons and a gingham bow was all it really needed to finish it off. This is a really BIG card! But I love it! I almost don't want to part with it, but I know I can print another one! Thanks for visiting with me today! I developed a nasty cold yesterday, so I am taking it easy today!!

Color Throwdown is Back!

The 74th Color Throwdown is back after a little break, and we have added a new member to our team! We are excited to have Kristin from Mindless Creativity join the CTD! I have admired her creations for a long time and she is as sweet in person as everything she makes! I know she'll fit right in!

In fact, her colors for this week are sweet, too: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip and Dusty Durango. They happen to match some special digi papers she designed herself---no mindless creativity there!!! Check out the CTD blog to see for yourself!!! You can find out all about her papers and there might even be something special for you to win!! Then create something, post it on your blog and link it back to Mr Linky so we can all see it.

To get started today, I used the Mojo Monday Sketch #120:

Then I chose some of Kristin's paper---I printed it out a little smaller than full-size, because I didn't want my little Huggabug to be too overwhelmed:

My little bug is stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa ink and colored with Copics. Truthfully, when I first did my card, I FORGOT the Dusty Durango!! So I colored her little slippers in DD, and added an embossed DD butterfly from SU's new butterfly Embosslit:

Pretty snazzy, eh? In case you're wondering why DD is even a color for the challenge, you can see one of the butterflies on the digital paper is actually a dark orange:

Can you see it there? Cute!!! So now let's see what you can create with this palette! Have fun! Click on the links below to see all the designers' creations today, including our guest designer for January, Deb Horst!

And oops, I almost forgot to show you the inside of my card...this will go to a sweet little Scottish lady at my church who, every year, makes traditional shortbread for me....yum! Thanks for visiting today!

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Cathy - Crafty Thoughts
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Kristin - Mindless Creativity
• Guest Designer, Deb Horst - Sendable Sentiments

I {Heart} My Friends

One of the greatest things about being a Stampin'Up! demonstrator is that I get to make cards for my friends who just happen to be my customers!

I made these two cards to send home with my customers' orders:

They're both basically the same, but I used two different heart diecuts for the Crushed Curry hearts. There is glitter on the smaller heart..... can you see it here? This was a fun, easy card to make....the colors are so bright & cheerful! Hope you enjoyed them and I hope my customers do too! And remember, today starts Sell-a-Bration as well as the start of the new Occasions mini catalog! If you'd like information on either of these, just shoot me an email!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Color Throwdown challenge! We've all had a nice break and are ready to create! Hope you can play along too!

• Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts, Friends 24-7
• Paper: Pink Passion, WW, Crushed Curry, Razzleberry Lemonade DP
• Ink: Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Passion
• Acc: RR Ribbon, Hearts Diecut, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Very Vintage

A quick card for you today; hopefully later I can do the CAS challenge at SCS....I have an idea in my head!

I am working on techniques for my club and thought I would use my new Very Vintage jumbo wheel with the emboss resist technique. I am still waiting for my Vintage Vogue set to arrive...the first one I got was in French! Oops! Very pretty, but not what I wanted! So what do you think?

The center panel is stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I took a sponge dauber and added Rich Razzleberry ink to the unembossed areas. I also used the new heart border punch on the this monochromatic card. Do you think it looks silly with the hearts upside down on the top panel? Let me know!! Cardstock is Rich Razzleberry and Confetti White; ink is Versamark and Rich Razzleberry.

Oh and here are a couple more Christmas cards.....

A cutie-patootie from Julia:

A lovely creation from Chris (mudmaven):

An awesome, embellishment-filled, lotsa fun card from my CTD teammate, Broni:

And a sweet old-fashioned card from my friend Toni:

And last, but not least......a cute little Merry Chris-moose from my creative friend MaryAnne:

and you can see she added a little bag of goodies with this little fella!

Thanks for being patient while I showcased all my RAKs. I get so much positive feedback from my blog friends and I love to show off their creativity! Thanks for visiting today!

JUGS Challenge #14

Welcome to 2010! I have learned many times NOT to make resolutions (I am very poor at keeping them!) but I still feel like a new year is the perfect time to TRY to start a new habit! So after my cookie-binging of Christmas, I think I'd better keep an eye on my eating habits!! How about you? Well, enough about that, it's Saturday (although it doesn't FEEL like it) and that means a JUGS Challenge! Today it is a lovely sketch, which is just what I needed to get me started:

And here's my birthday card for a special friend:

I am beginning to try some new techniques to teach my clubs this year, so this is my first attempt at the watercolor crayon/spritzing technique. I am not even sure what the exact name of this technique is!!! Some teacher I am! Anyway, it turned out pretty nice, but I'll keep practicing. One of the resolutions that I AM going to try is to "tag" my posts so I can find them more easily....I may need you to keep me on top of it!

Are you sick of Christmas cards yet? I actually still have some more to share with you....I am getting to the end of my pile, though!

This is a cutie from Jen:

And a wonderful easel card from Linda:

And an awesome creation from Pam:

Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps: On Your Birthday, Of The Earth
• Paper: Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Watercolor, Tall Tales DP
• Ink: Always Artichoke
• Acc: Watercolor Crayons, Spray Bottle, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, Circle Punches, Corduroy Button

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to all my friends!  You have blessed me so much this year with fun, laughter and tears!  I hope the coming year brings you health and happiness!

I love this antique post card--thanks to Barbara who found a wonderful blog called The Graphics Fairy!!  It has so many wonderful vintage and antique images, it makes one's head spin!  I do have a quick card to show you this morning, then it's off to dismantle the tree and take down the decorations.   This image is a digital image I found through Lisa Foster; you can see HER wonderful cards (much more creative than mine) here.  Lisa knows how to embellish and brings life to this little guy!  Mine is a little more "subdued" as I am still learning those Copics!  Here you go:

This is actually a thank you to someone special!!!  I hope she likes it!

And a few more of the last Christmas cards I received:

A beautiful silver-embossed card from Ruth:

and a sweet one from Anna:

and an iridescent beauty from Juanita:

Enjoy your day and thanks for visiting!