Mojo 159

I haven’t done a Mojo Monday sketch for a long, long time!  I needed a thank you card, so using the sketch as my starting point, I chose a new stamp set I just got, Style Beautiful:

I can see so many possibilities with this set….and just not enough hours in the day!  I wanted to bling this up some more but thought it looked classy enough just the way it was!  The image was colored with Baja Breeze ink and a blender pen, then highlighted with a Jelly Roll glitter pen; it always disappoints me when you can’t see that effect in my photos! 

Anyway, the Elegant Soiree DP was a perfect complement to this image, and the black accents really make it stand out.  To get the bottom edge, I ran my paper through the Big Shot with the Top Note die just enough to cut the border, then reversed it back out again.  I used the little edge piece as an accent for my narrow black grosgrain ribbon. 

It’s pretty faint, but I used another image from the set for the background of my “thank you”, which is from Day of Gratitude.  And I want to thank you for all the compliments about my sweet little granddaughter!!  I am so glad you indulge me!  She does take away from my stamping time, but I know these days are precious, so I am enjoying them.  If I am not visiting & commenting, it’s only because I am tending to her little needs!!  And yesterday, when she woke up from one of her short little naps, here is what she greeted me with:

Shouldn’t we all wake up so happy & cheerful?!  There must be a lesson to learned here somewhere!  Enjoy your day and your weekend, everyone!  God bless!

JUGS 53

The Just Us Girls challenges are always some of my favorites, and this week is a special week—they’re celebrating their one-year anniversary!  They’ve got a bunch of cool stuff going on, so check it out.  They’ve given us a sketch, too, and although I have tweaked it just a bit, it’s still a great one:

I used some cute Candy Cane Christmas DP along with a  little critter from Merry Crittermas:

My three panels are there, honest!  I just covered one up with this little guy:

What a fun image to play with---can you see his glittery snow?  Thanks for visiting me today!!!

• Stamps:  Merry Crittermas
• Paper:  Real Red, WW, Baja Breeze, Candy Cane Christmas DP, RR Prints DP
• Ink:  Stazon, Real Red
• Acc:  Nesties, Grosgrain Ribbons, DD Glitter, non-SU Pearls, Small, Large & Scallop Oval Punches, markers

Several of you have asked about my babysitting---today was my third day!!  She is such a good baby, but so far we haven’t hit on a routine quite yet.  She is into boxing:

but then decided that napping was better:

Adios until tomorrow!

Color Throwdown 113

Another Wednesday, another CTD challenge! This week we have a little extra special thing goin’ on……our very own Laura Pryor has been hiding her talents, but they’re all out in the open now! You need to hop on over to the CTD blog for all the sweet details! But let me just say that it does involve a cute little stamp set!!! So let’s look at our colors today, courtesy of Danielle:

These colors are a bit subdued and classic, so I decided to make a sympathy card….no one likes to have to use them, but the occasions do arise, so it’s good to have them on hand:

I used the lovely hostess set, Because I Care, stamped in Perfect Plum and Early Espresso. See that nice little “flag”:

That’s the sweet little surprise….I’m telling you, you need to check this out on the CTD blog!!! I added some additional embellishments on the side: Vintage Brad, Victoria lace trim, some paper piercing and a Pinked Hearts punched edge. Pearls in the corners finished it off.

Now here are the links to the other designers! You MUST check them out this week---they are extra special!!!

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Laura --Lil’Inker
• Kristen – Mindless Creativity
• and our Guest Designer for this month, Carla Suto

Thanks for visiting!!!

• Stamps: Because I Care, Sentiment Flags, Lil’Inker Designs
• Paper: Very Vanilla, Perfect Plum, Early Espresso, PP Patterns DP
• Ink: Perfect Plum, Early Espresso
• Acc: Pearls, Pinked Hearts Border Punch, Victoria Lace, Vintage Brad, Dimensionals, Paper Piercer, Flag Diecut

ColourQ 53

Aren’t these fun colors Arielle has picked for us this week?  My mind was full of ideas, but I really was hankering to use the Kim Hughes Making the Grade set again, so I pulled out the little crayon and went to work:

This is going to make a fun, happy birthday card for some little person!!  I used a CB folder that was gathering dust, a big scallop punch and some fun buttons!  And here’s the inside:

Make sure you check out all the other creations the Colour Courtiers have created at the ColourQ blog and play along with us! We can’t wait to see what you create!

• Stamps:  Making the Grade, Birthday Centers, CHF; All Holidays
• Paper:  WW, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point & Pear Pizzazz Patterns DP, Baja Breeze Prints DP
• Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze
• Acc:  Traffic Jam CB EF; EK Success Scallop Punch, Dimensionals, Buttons, Corduroy Brad, Thread

Thanks for visiting!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for the Color Throwdown Challenge!

SSC171 & CAS87---not!!

Got a little stamping time today and my DGD is finally napping, so I can post. Truthfully, this is NOT a clean & simple card, although I did use the technique for today’s SCS CAS87 challenge…Faux Letterpress. I have used this before but never knew it actually had a name! You can find directions on the SCS site, but basically, you ink up the flat inside of your plastic embossing folder (as you run your hand over either side, the one that is NOT raised is the one you ink up) either just by smooshing your inkpad over the plastic or using a brayer, then adding your cardstock and running it through your Big Shot. Be sure to wash it off afterwards! You get this cool effect:

I used the Stamping 411 sketch171 and a CB embossing folder of autumn words, inked with Cajun Craze. The layers are matted with Always Artichoke and embellished with leaves from Day of Gratitude, which I received at Regionals. The little brads are SU’s Vintage Trinkets…so cute. I also used my new Color Spritzer—which will take a little practice! I admired the shabbiness of Ann’s vintage creations, so I shabbied up the edges as well. Here’s the sketch:

I cheated a little, as my panels were bigger in order to get all the words in!!! Now, here’s my reason for late posting:

Be sure to come back for tomorrow’s ColourQ challenge!

• Stamps: Day of Gratitude
• Paper: Naturals Ivory, Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Deck the Halls DP
• Ink: Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke
• Acc: Distressing Kit, Seam Binding, Autumn CB embossing folder; dimensionals, Vintage Trinkets, Color Spritzer

TSSC141 and Fun In Baltimore

A late-night post for me!  I don’t think I have done one of Mary Jo’s Techno Stamper Monday Lunchtime Sketches in a long time…maybe ever! And here it is Sunday night, so I thought I’d better hurry up!  This is sketch #141:

and since I needed a baby congrats card for my dear friend who also became a grandmother to a new little granddaughter last month, I made this:

I so wish SU hadn’t gotten rid of Creamy Caramel….that poor teddy bear just doesn’t look quite right in Crumb Cake.  I will have to voice my opinion about that!  The images are from Every Little Bit---I have gotten my money’s worth from that set already!  Did a little paper piecing, some embossing, added a little button and it’s ready to go.  Too bad my friend is in New York, I’m in Pennsylvania, and her DGD is in Texas….I need to get them all on Facebook!!!

Since I have this set already featured, I thought I’d also share a little gift I made for the girls in my downline and sideline who went to the Baltimore Regionals yesterday:

This was a really simple Post-It note holder that I literally whipped up in a few minutes; the post-it was in an apple shape:

and I thought the pie image on the front was a fun tie-in!  I also did some others with different images and DP, but of course, forgot to take pictures!  We had  a good time—made some great projects, and I even met up with my very first Stampin’Up demonstrator, Christin Rocha:

She lives near Baltimore and was a helper!  It was so great to see her! 

So I start babysitting my DGD tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll have some new pictures for you….maybe less stamping, though!  We’ll see!  Here is a sweet one to say nighty night:

PPA18 Monochromatic

I am the hostess again for the Paper Players---just worked out that way, I guess, and I have chosen monochromatic as my theme this week.  Some stampers have told me that they struggle with this, but I love using different shades of one color---especially blue!  So can you guess that that’s the color I chose this week?

I just received my Northern Flurry embossing folder, and in keeping with my Christmas-card-a-week theme, I thought a fir tree and some snowflakes would be perfect:

The tree from Lovely as a Tree was inked with Baja Breeze, then “touched up” with my Pacific Point marker….can you see the darker trunk?  I dabbed Versamark ink on the embossed snowflakes, then sprinkled them with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heated them up.  Too bad you can’t really see the dazzling effect:

The tree was dazzled with Dazzling Diamonds glitter as well, and the sentiment from All Holidays was embellished with some pearls.  A narrow ribbon finished it off.  Panels of Bashful Blue and Baja Breeze on a card of textured Pacific Point carry through the monochromatic theme.  And here’s the inside, with a sentiment from Occasional Quotes:

We’d love to see how you interpret the monochromatic theme this week—just visit the Paper Players blog to find out the details.  You can see all the other designers’ creations there too for some inspiration!  Thanks for visiting today!