Home Sweet Home

Doesn't this look like a picture postcard?  This was the view from our balcony of the condo in San Juan where we just spent the last nine days.  Reminds me of SU's "Cool Caribbean", doesn't it?  But I am glad to be home and rarin' to stamp something!  I apologize for not commenting on all the wonderful cards I skimmed through last week---my email box was FULL of lots & lots of creations, but I just didn't have time to look & comment on each one...so forgive me!  We also had to go to a funeral today, as soon as we got back from vacation---never a fun thing.  But I am unpacked, ready for a new month!  I must tell you also, I got my new SU mini catalog---some real cute stuff in there!
Hope to post something soon!

Color Throwdown #31

Another week and another awesome Color Throwdown Challenge! Tammy has chosen Kiwi Kiss, Bashful Blue and Night of Navy as her colors. I felt they had a masculine tone, so that's what I went with this week. How about you? What can you come up with using these colors? We want to see, so post your creation on your blog or online gallery (use CTD31 as your keyword) and link it to Mr Linky on the CTD blog so we can all peruse it!

I broke into a new set that had never seen the ink of day called Totally Tool from SU. This card will be for a man at my church who literally is there almost every day, fixing something, motivating someone else to fix something, or is at home, thinking about fixing something. And those are the kind of things that never get noticed.....so this is for him!

This is the inside....the sentiment on the stamp is actually both lines, I just masked off the bottom line from the front image, and masked off the top for the inside image.

Although it is difficult to see in the photo (grr), the saw blade is paper pieced using Brushed Silver. The sketch for this card is actually one from World Cardmaking Day featured on SCS in October 2008. I had saved it and thought it was a fun sketch to try here with my three CTD colors. The Kiwi & Bashful Blue are both stamped with Polka Dots from PTI; the Night of Navy is wheeled with SU's retired Dotted Lines jumbo wheel. I added some brads, piercing, twill tape and HPH to give it a "manly" look. I hope he likes it!

We sure hope you'll play along! You may be chosen as the Featured Stamper of the week OR a Guest Designer for the month! Let's see what the others have come up with:

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Cathy - Crafty Thoughts
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• and Maria, our Guest Designer for February - Scraps by M

• Stamps: Totally Tool, Polka Dots, PTI; Dotted Lines Wheel
  
• Paper: Confetti White, Kiwi Kiss, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Brushed Silver
  
• Ink: Craft White, Kiwi Kiss, Night of Navy, Stazon Black
• Acc: Brads, Twill, HPH, Wide Oval Punch, 1/16" punch, Tool Kit, aquapainter
  

This Week's Featured Stamper

Woohoo! I have chosen a Featured Stamper this week! Wanna know who it is?

Missing Mojo Monday

Well, today there is a new Mojo Monday, but since I have no access to stamps I decided to post a card I made using last week's Mojo Monday sketch, but with a little adjustment. I had "inspirational" help from a couple sources on this card! Kay had a pretty yellow & green card, and I had already been toying around with that color combo in my head. I'll fill you in on the other inspiration in a bit. So here's the card:

I used another card from K&Company's Hannah pad, and stamped it with a Cornish Heritage Farms scrapblock called Aged Sheet Music. It's very subtle. The little strips from BG's Lily Kate as well as the main image are also stamped with Sanded in Sahara Sand to give them a vintage look. The little daffodils are from Always in My Thoughts, colored with an aquapainter and reinkers. The sentiment is from PTI's Mixed Messages. Do you see the little embellishments on the top & bottom? The inspiration for them came from Sharon at No Time to Stamp. She bought jewlery findings at her local craft store and made her own "pretties" and doodads for her card. I promptly went out, bought some and never thought about them again until I saw this post of hers--aren't they pretty? So I dug through my stuff, found mine, thought they looked vintage enough and glued them on with a dab of Crystal Effects. I added some little yellow bling and my taffeta ribbon and my card was done. It aggrevates me that my photo looks blurry...it is quite nice IRL!

• Stamps: Always in My Thoughts, Mixed Message, PTI, Sanded, Aged Sheet Music, CHF
  
• Paper: Hannah Pad, K&Co; Lily Kate, BG; Confetti Cream, So Saffron, Bashful Blue
• Ink: Always Artichoke, Stazon Black, Ballet Blue, So Saffron, More Mustard, Sahara Sand
  
• Acc: Double Hole Punch, Taffeta, Distresser, Circle Punch, Aquapainter, Jewelry Findings, Bling, Dimensionals, Crystal Effects
  

Damask Surprise

I had been hankering to make a card with the flourish from Friends 24-7 ever since I saw Dawn McVey's new Damask Designs set from PTI. You can see some of the creations she made here. Her style is very bright & colorful, which isn't the norm for me, but I could see lots of possibilities with her set! (I would love to have it, but I will stick to my SU one for now!) I started by scoring some lines at the bottom of my Confetti White cardstock, then used my Stamp-a-ma-Jig (better than the last time) and began stamping my flourishes in Sahara Sand. I added a "formal" bow in SU's wide Regal Rose ribbon. I finalized it by adding "thinking of you" from Trendy Trees. It was nice, but a little bland.
I was thinking it needed a chipboard swirl, when I remembered my new little diecut, Swirsl Scribbles! I cut one from Pretty in Pink cardstock, coated it in glue and added some MS glitter. A glittery little surprise swirl peeking out from a "formal" design!

• Stamps: Trendy Trees, Friends 24-7
• Paper: Confetti White, Pretty in Pink
  
• Ink: Sahara Sand
• Acc: Scorer, SAMJ, Glue Pen, MS glitter, Swirls Scribbles DieCut, Regal Rose Wide Grosgrain ribbon
  

Button Be Happy

This is for a new challenge on SCS called "CAS", which stands for Clean and Simple! That's my style! Which might be interpreted "Lazy and Easy"! Anyway, I used another K & Company's Hannah Card Pack--these are great, you just take a piece off the tablet, cut off the edge, fold on the score and you have a beautiful card, inside & out! This week's challenge was to use a button. I stamped a little tree from Trendy Trees on a subtly striped card and added a red button from Button Bouquet. The sentiment is from the retired set, So Many Sayings. Despite my best efforts and using a Stamp-a-ma-Jig, my words still look like they are going uphill/downhill! Here is the inside of the card:

Slightly wilder than the outside, huh!? I stamped another little tree in Sahara Sand on the lower corner--this will be a card to keep in my stash for future use! I'll just add a sentiment to fit the need!

• Stamps: Trendy Tree, So Many Sayings
• Paper: K&Co Hannah Card Pad, Very Vanilla
• Ink: Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, Sahara Sand
  
• Acc: Button Bouquet, Hemp, SAMJ

Just a note: while I am away, I am using Blogger, which is not my favorite....so if the posts look weird, that's why!

Color Throwdown #30

It's Week 30 of the Color Throwdown Challenge, and it is my turn to pick the colors!  As a kid, ORANGE was my favorite color, and it still is one of my favorites!  I love the intensity of Tangerine Tango, so I chose that, plus Brilliant Blue and Ballet Blue as my colors this week--a challenge for sure!

Now, I have to admit that this is probably not one of my most creative attempts....nothing exceptional here today, sorry!  I am going to be away for a few days, and packing and getting ready has been on my mind, so my attempts at taking what was in my brain, and applying it to paper, were a little feeble.  But my DH thought it was "neat" card, so maybe there is hope!  It was intended as a boy's birthday card, so no glitter, no ribbon:

The TT panel is textured cardstock, and on it I have stamped the little swirl from Trendy Trees, although it is probably difficult to see.  The dragonfly is stamped on vellum with Craft Ballet Blue and embossed with Clear EP.  The other bugs are popped up on dimensionals and I added a few (mis-aligned) eyelets for some more circular interest.

We would love to have you play along with us this week, and you could possibly be chosen as the Featured Stamper next week!  Post your creation on your blog or online gallery (use keyword CTD30) and link it to Mr Linky so we can all see it!  Now lets see what the other girls have come up with!  I think you'll be excited to see their exceptionally cool creations!

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Cathy - Crafty Thoughts
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• and Maria, our Guest Designer for February - Scraps by M

• Stamps:  Bugs and Kisses, Trendy Trees, IBBG
• Paper:  Text. Tangerine Tango, Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue, Vellum CS
• Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Brilliant Blue, Craft Ballet Blue
• Acc:  Clear EP & Heat Tool, Eyelets & Cropadile, Circle Punch, Dimensionals, White Gel Pen

Mellow Yellow Daisy

Just a quick post before the end of the day and we gear up for all our meetings & activities this evening!  I have been lurking around the Cuttlebug Challenge blog, and today's challenge was to make something yellow.  BettyBee was inspired by the 1966 Donovan song, "Mellow Yellow".  Don't worry, BettyBee, I remember that song too--as the original version!  Anyhoo, I don't have have a lot of DP in yellow, so I searched my Basic Grey stash and came up with a pretty stripe from Cupcake, so off I went:

A fairly basic card, nothing to jump up & shout about, but it is pretty with the spring colors of yellow & green, and that is certainly something to look forward to!  Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps:  Short & Sweet, Flowers for Daisy, Gina K; Say it with Scriptures, ret SU
• Paper:  Confetti White, So Saffron, Old Olive, Barely Banana, Cupcake, BG
• Ink:  Stazon, So Saffron, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana
• Acc: Nesties, CB Swiss Dots, aquapainter, Button Latte, string, Twill, Taylored Expressions, sponge dauber

Vintage Get Well

I needed to make a get-well card for a family member and I just keep gravitating toward this new SU set, Friends 24-7.....I have made so many cards with it already, you're probably sick of it! But it is just so versatile, I can't help myself! This time, I stamped the image right on the K & Company Hannah Cardstock Pad DP and colored it in with markers. Doesn't the image look like it was MADE for this paper? I scalloped the edge with a MS punch and layered it on a piece of Blush Blossom (a color I NEVER use) that was also scalloped. The whole thing was mounted on a Mellow Moss card. The sentiment from Always in My Thoughts was punched out with the Wide Oval Punch and I threaded some Kraft taffeta ribbon through the oval. A little tiny bling finished it off! I just love this vintage look and it was a quick, easy card to make!

Don't forget to stop back tomorrow to check out the Color Throwdown--it's my turn to choose the colors!

• Stamps: Friends 24-7, Always in My Thoughts
• Paper: Hannah Cardstock Pad, K&Company; Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss
• Ink: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip
• Acc: Markers, Wide Oval Punch, Taffeta Ribbon, Rectangle Punch, MS Scallop Edge Punch, Dimensionals, Bling
  

Ruff Day?

I scrambled today to do the Mojo Monday sketch....I am going away for a few days on Wednesday and my time is running out!  So this will be quick!  Here's the sketch:

And here's the card:

I used a new set called "Dogs" from Inkadinkado along with a Whippersnapper set called "Good Dog" (sentiment).  I don't really have very many chalk inks and I find that is what works best with clear stamps, so I combined Versachalk in Split Pea and SU's Kiwi Kiss to get this oddly-colored doggie!  The DP has all kinds of words--fetch, good dog, etc., but of course it is all covered by my image!  Oh well, I managed to use a couple of the words for the little strips.  I colored in a few spots with my black marker, added the Kiwi Kiss stripes to the bone with a blender pen, and added some retired Old Olive twill and black gingham ribbon to the sentiment!  Done!  The inside is stamped so:

I think this would cheer someone up, don't you?  Have a great evening!

Sweet Chocolate Challenge

Happy Valentine's to everyone! I know you are probably sick of Valentine's cards by now, but I needed one more for DD who is visiting tomorrow for her birthday dinner! Plus, look who she is bringing:

This is Chase, her new "baby"! Isn't he sweet? A Welsh Corgi Cardigan, he flew in from Montana to Philadelphia on Thursday!

Her card was inspired by two challenges, a sketch from Our Creative Corner by none other than Laurie Schmidlin, and to use chocolate as a theme from Stamp Something. So I used some DP with chocolate brown colors in it as well as a chocolate-frosted cupcake! I used a little creative license and added the ribbon at the bottom instead of in the center.

I was circularly challenged today, as my CB and Nesties were being used by my friend! So I made do with some punches--not quite what I wanted, but it will do! The sentiment is from PTI's Green Thumb-- "sweet pea" that I partially stamped in Chocolate Chip; the cupcake is SU's Darling Dots, loaded with some MS glitter. Twill is from Taylored Expressions. And now, some MORE RAK's I received this week! My mailbox was jumpin'!

This beautiful card and bookmark are from Dana. The card opens as well as the little mini card on the front.
Sweet!!!

This is from my upline, Pennie. Sweet & simple!

This is from Kay--I LOVE this card! Love that Sweet Stems in Tangerine Tango!

And a beauty from Denise! Such pretty colors and the embossing works perfectly with this image!

Thanks, everyone! Now it's off to make my Valentine's dinner!

An Inspiration Award

One of my blogging friends has given me an award! It comes from this website. What a pleasant surprise and a nice way to encourage someone! I am not going to pass it on to anyone specifically, because each and every one of you encourage me in your own way. You never know what small comment or gesture will mean to someone in a big way! I know that there are many people who visit and leave comments, and many more who don't. I appreciate all my visitors and have made friends in places I never thought imaginable! Blessings to you all!

Stretching

Today's SCS challenge was to "stretch yourself" by using things you don't normally use.  That is a pretty broad requirement, as I have lots of stuff I use only occasionally! I needed a b-day card for DD, so off I went:

Okay, here are the things that I don't normally use:

1. Stitching
2. Rickrack
3. Chipboard
4. Prima flowers
5. The color purple (the actual color of those flowers but hard to tell in this photo)
6. Pearl Ex (can you see the shimmer?)
7. Big bling

I don't like using some of these things because they make my cards bulky, but since I will be hand-delivering this to my daughter, it didn't matter.  And actually, I never owned Primas before in my life, and no chipboard like this, so how did I get them?  I won some fabulous blog candy from a "retired" CTD gal, Kim!  Just take a look at this:

And that doesn't even include the little Maya Road lunch tin full of chipboard, because it was sitting on my desk and I forgot to add it to my stash!!!  Can you believe it!  See the bottle peeking out from behind that beautiful card?  Full of sweet purple flowers!  And  lots of BG and PTI paper!  And clear stamps!  And if I was really smart, I could have used the tape in the new tape gun because it matched my seldom-used Euphoria BG paper!   But I could ramble on forever!  Thanks again, Kim!

So, to highlight some things:

• Baroque Motifs was stamped in Craft white, then Pearl Ex was "swished" on with a paintbrush, wiped off excess with a swiffer cloth, then lightly hairsprayed
• Glittery swirl chipboard was coated with Craft white, then sprinkled with Heat & Stick powder, then heat set; MS glitter added and heat set again
• Birdie chipboard was covered with Euphoria and sponged with Baja Breeze
• Rickrack was sewn on with my not-working-quite-right old Singer
• Primas were layered, then a big rhinestone stuck on
• Sentiment is from a retired SU set, Sweet Shapes and punched out with Large & Wide Oval punches

Whew!!  Thanks for visiting!

Loads of Love

I made a very quick card this morning for my dad; I have been making Valentines for weeks, but they are all sparkly and frilly---not good for a dad!  So I pulled out my sadly-neglected Loads of Love set and made a fast card:

I wanted to put everything up a little higher, or add some ribbon to offset that empty space, but being the bad daughter that I am, it needed to go in the mail TODAY, so no time to rip and reposition.....because you KNOW what would happen if I tried to take that panel off...been there, done that!  So here it is, in all its bottom-heavy glory!  He'll like it, I know!  The image was colored in pastels; the heart embellishment is from PaperTrey's Love Songs, mounted on some nesties.

I also have been getting Loads of Love in my mailbox:  lots of wonderful cards, and some AWESOME blog candy, which I hope to show you later, as well as a sweet award!  Not enough time in the day!  But here are some of the nice cards:

from Maryanne

 

 

 

 

 

 

from Robyn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

from Pam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

from Beth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and from Darlene!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like Pam says, I am sending YOU a great big hug, too!  Thanks, ladies!

• Stamps:  Loads of Love & Accessories, Love Songs, PTI
• Paper:  Ruby Red, RHR Patterns, WW, Basic Black
• Ink:  Palette Noir, RHR
• Acc:  Pastels, Blender Pen, Nesties, Dimensionals

Color Throwdown Challenge 29

Danielle came up with a great color challenge for today! I think Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose & Chocolate Chip is a fun, fresh combination!

Check out the CTD blog to see how she came up with this combo! Post your own creation on your blog or an online gallery and make sure to add it to our new Mr Linky! Remember, you might be chosen as the Featured Stamper!! Be sure to use the keyword CTD29!

I chose Trendy Trees and a sentiment from "Winter Schminter" by Whippersnapper for my another little square card today. They just seemed to go together:

The background DP is from a Simply Scrappin' Kit from last year's SU catalog, and the oval DP is Bella Rose. I added a little Felt Fusion flower and Button Bouquet button for my embellishment! I apologize also for the photo--a late night photo shoot is never a good idea! Be sure to check out what the others have stamped today; there are some beauties there!

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Cathy - Crafty Thoughts
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Maria - Our February Guest Designer - Scraps by M
  

• Stamps: Trendy Trees, Winter Schminter, Whippersnapper
• Paper: WW, Simply Scrappin' Girl (ret), Bella Rose DP, Chocolate Chip
• Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
• Acc: Felt Fusion Flowers Too, Button Bouquet, Nesties, Grosgrain Ribbon

Three-fer!

Three 4x4 cards today---I am stuck on making these little things!  I am still trying to make some samples with my new sets for my club girls.  I'm gettin' there!

The first one qualifies for the Pink Elephant Challenge, thanks to a new bloggin' friend, Maria!  Their challenge is to use pink, black & white:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This uses Darling Dots and Sweet Always DP, Regal Rose ink.  Can ya see all the glitter on the "flower"?

The next one again uses Darling Dots and some textured In Color cardstock:

I had so much fun with this card!  Piercing on textured cardstock really adds dimension and makes your embellishments pop!  I used a round Nestie as a pattern and just punched around the circle!

 

And finally, a sad little boring card using Trendy Trees.....this is the Eeyore of all cards----I am not even sure if I want to send it to anyone, it is rather depressing:

You know how you have an idea in your head of how something should look when you're finished?  Yeah, this isn't it!  Paper is Confetti Cream & Always Artichoke along with Candy Lane DP.

Well, I have to work today, so no recipes!  Be sure to check out tomorrow's post for the Color Throwdown!

Mojo Monday #73

I had my whole card finished for Mojo Monday when I realized I used the same DP for last week's sketch!  Aahh!  So I made two!  Both of them took way too long and I am not 100% happy with either of them.  Here's the sketch:

And here's the first one:

This uses Tea Party DP, Sweet Stems for the flower and Always in My Thoughts for the sentiment.  The image is stamped on vellum cardstock in Stazon, then colored on the back with markers.  I realize I did not do the side panel quite right--this whole card was a comedy of errors.  It was finally put together with Tombow glue because I ripped it apart so many times there was no place left to tape! 

And the second:

I NEVER put flowers on my cards--well, hardly ever--because of the bulk, but I finally broke down and got some Pretties.  I dyed this one with Baja Breeze ink and added some Not Quite Navy with a paintbrush, although you can't really tell in the photo.  The sentiment on this one is a tad bit crooked; it was stamped in Baja Breeze and I colored the word "friend" with my black marker.  After these, my stamp table is being cleaned up for the day!!!

• Stamps for Card 1:  Sweet Stems, Always in my Thoughts
• Paper:  So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Vellum Cardstock, Tea Party DP
• Ink:  Stazon
• Acc:  Nesties, markers, grosgrain ribbon, Button Latte, Glue Dots

• Stamps for Card 2:  All Holidays
• Paper:  Baja Breeze, WW, Basick Black, Urban Garden DP
• Ink:  Baja Breeze, Stazon, Not Quite Navy
• Acc:  Curly Label Punch, Black Marker, Black Grosgrain, Pretties, 5-Petal Punch, Button Bouquet, Baja Reinker, Paintbrush