Every Little Bit x 3

I’ve got three cards today, all using the same awesomely sweet sketch from Stampin 411 and the new Every Little Bit set from SU:

The first is my weekly Christmas card, which fulfills the Little Red Wagon challenge 39 for Christmas in July:

Sentiment is from Punch Pals.  The next is a hostess thank you card:

and this sentiment is from Three Little Words.  The final one is the One-Layer Wednesday Simplicity challenge, Square Outlines:

 

This challenge is to use an outline stamp, stamping it in color, and then leaving it alone!!  This one uses Cajun Craze, Garden Green and Chocolate Chip, and again, the sentiment is from Three Little Words.  One-layer simple cards are a challenge!!!

So that’s it for now—gonna watch a movie with my daughter!  If you have any questions about the cards, shoot me an email!

SC291 Vintage Halloween

I just love the new SU set called Greeting Card Kids….these sweet little vintage images are right up my alley!  I had this Halloween image already colored last week, but since I’ve been a bit busy this week, hadn’t had time to make it into anything!  Yesterday’s SCS Sketch #291 seemed like a good fit, so I made a Tangerine Tango card and added some new Love Letter DP for my creation:

I really love watercoloring, but it is time-consuming and I always feel like I am in a big hurry, but I did relax and take my time with this one!  I added some naked buttons, a little nestie mat and some narrow taffeta ribbon atop a Perfect Polka Dots-embossed mat.  She is a sweetie:

An aquapainter and reinkers, some Stazon and watercolor paper and I am happier than a pig in mud!  Thanks for visiting today; I am still glowing from my beautiful birthday celebration yesterday!  Thanks again, everyone!

• Stamps:  Greeting Card Kids, All Holidays
• Paper:  Tangering Tango, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Love Letter, Watercolor
• Ink:  Stazon, Misc reinkiers
• Acc:  Nesties, Aquapainter, Narrow Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals, Modern Label Punch, SU buttons

A Birthday Thank You

This morning I got up, went to church to do our biggest day ever for Kid’s Fest (which is our church’s version of VBS).  In one class, I had 86 3rd-5th graders trying to do a craft.  Blessedly, I had plenty of helpers, but still….you can imagine!  We got through it, I came home and wanted to take a rest and put up my feet, but thought I would check my emails first----whoa, 90 emails!!! What was up with that?  I did some investigating, and look what I found:

and a cute little birthday blog hop set up by Arielle here.  Oh my goodness, was I surprised!  Touched, flattered, flabbergasted, you name it!  THANK YOU so much to everyone who participated so far!  It is a blast to see what everyone’s created!!!  I appreciate your thoughts and wishes---it makes getting older SO much better!!!  You are all a blessing to me!

Color Throwdown 103

Tammy and I take turns scaring each other with our color challenges!!!  Even after seeing the beautiful fabric she used as her inspiration:

I was not sure I could pull this off!  I began searching in my DP stash and found some pretty BG Porcelain paper and mounted it on a 6 1/4 x 4 1/4” Certainly Celery card base.  I then inked up my new SU set, Artistic Etchings:

I was moving along at a great pace, happy with what I was stamping, THEN, I realized that when you over-stamp an image previously stamped with Riding Hood Red ink, your newly-inked stamp picks up some of that RHR ink—even if you don’t want it to!  Grrrr!  See that multi-colored “amour” in the top left corner?  Not ‘sposed to be that way!  Oh well, I wasn’t about to redo it, so it’s gonna have to do! I stamped the RHR panel with the retired French Script background stamp and added a fun gingham brad and ribbon in Certainly Celery.  Seriously, I do like this combo---kudos to Tammy for choosing such a nice inspiration piece!

 

 

 

Be sure to check out the CTD blog for all the details on how YOU can play with us---you don’t need these exact colors, but we do ask that you use something close!  You can see all the designers’ samples right here:

 

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Laura --Lil’Inker
• and our Guest Designer for this month, Makiko Jones – MakInk Studio

Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps:  Artistic Etchings, French Script
• Paper:  Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, River Rock, Riding Hood Red, Porcelain, BG
• Ink: Certainly Celery, River Rock, Riding Hood Red
• Acc:  Eyelet Border punch, Gingham ribbon, Gingham Brad (both from my stash), dimensionals, sponge daubers

ColourQ 43

Each week, Arielle amazes me with the inspiration pieces she comes up with for the ColourQ.  This week, I was amazed AND stumped!  The colors are awesome but I just was not sure how to translate them into a card!  I had no Peach Parfait ink, only paper, and no DP remotely resembling this gorgeous bargello-style design.  So I dug out some retired Bermuda Bay DP and a Nestie Blossom diecut and went to work:

I did manage to get a little zig-zaggy design in there from the Pinking Hearts border punch!!!  The Square Lattice embossed background gave it a bit of texture.  And how about that cool brad in the center of the flower---SU’s new Antique Brads…..SO cool!  I just love them and want to HOARD them!

I added a little chocolate pearl to the center, as well as to my swirls, just for  a little fun!  The sentiment from Cornish Heritage Farms, stamped on a Nesties Tag diecut, is one of my favorites. 

So hop on over to the ColourQ to see what the Royal Court has designed today!  You’ll want to play along too when you see the tempting creations they have! And thanks for visiting today!!

• Stamps:  A Garden Is, CHF
• Paper:  Naturals White, Whisper White, Peach Parfait, Early Espresso, Thoroughly Modern DP
• Ink:  Early Espresso
• Acc:  Felt, Sweet Pea Felt Flowers, Antique Brad, Blossom & Tag Nestabilities, Swirls Scribbles Diecut, Old Olive Twill, Pinking Hearts Border Punch, Chocolate Pearls from LSS

APP8 Inspiration Challenge

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Today Lesley has a beautiful inspiration piece for us at Always Playing with Paper:

I used the sketch from the Pals Paper Arts this week:

I needed a few thank you cards, so this is my first one—I loved the little blue & yellow flowers on the bowl at the bottom of the photo, and even though the blue is not the same shade, I chose some new Blueberry Crisp DP along with Daffodil Delight to make a bold daisy card, using the Daisies die and a couple punches.  The little open circle border was a case from my friend Donna; it is the scallop edge punch, punched out with the 1/8” circle punch!  So clever, that girl!  And I figured out a new trick myself!  I always struggle with making the notched ends in my little pennants---I simply used a square punch, lined it up at an angle, and voila!  A nice even v-shaped end!  And to follow with the “wonderful”, here is the inside:

I just love these colors together!  Be sure to check out what the other Paper Players have created this week, and play along with us!!!  Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps:  Warm Words, Short & Sweet, Defining Alphabet, Itty Bitty Bits
• Paper:  WW, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Blueberry Crisp DP
• Ink:  Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight
• Acc:  Taffeta Ribbon, Daisies Die, Square Lattice EF, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Square Punch, Small and Large Oval Punches, brads, 1/16” punch, Scallop Bordern Punch, 1/8” punch, dimensionals

Purrfect Day

You’ve heard of the dog days of summer?  How about the cat days?:

Poor Pumpkin…it’s just too hot for her to do anything but lay on the picnic table!  I just happened to make this card today and when I went outside, I had to laugh when I saw her lazing like this!  So here’s the card:

I always like to have a couple hostess packets ready when I go to a workshop, and I enclose a hand-stamped card with the packet.  I like to use Hostess sets, obviously!  This Long Fellows set is fun and easy to use; this one uses Elegant Soiree DP, the Scallop Trim punch and some Brights buttons.  I used ink and an aquapainter to color in the image which was stamped on Naturals Ivory.   Thanks for visiting and STAY COOL!

• Stamps:  Long Fellows
• Paper:  So Saffron, Tangerine Tango textured, Elegant Soiree DP, Naturals Ivory
• Ink:  Stazon, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango
• Acc:  Aquapainter, Bright button, floss, Scallop Trim punch

Summer Birthday F4A22

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s SCS challenge was Cool Summers and Hot Winters!  LOL!  We were to make a summer card with cool colors or a winter card with warm colors.  My BIL’s birthday is next week, and he lives on the beautiful Isle of Palms in SC; my sister and I both love vintage stuff, so even though he may not appreciate the images on this CAS card, I know my sis will!  I chose some purple, blue and green scraps of BG paper along with an image of three handsome men in their sexy bathing attire from Graphic 45’s On the Boardwalk:

When I trimmed the scrap of green herringbone, I had a little square frame left from a previous punchout, so I used that to frame my birthday greeting, which is from a new SU set called Perfect Punches.  I already had a Crumb Cake card laying on my desk, so I used that for my base.  I did a computer-generated sentiment for the inside:

Oooh-la-la!  I have had SO much fun with this DP!! I hope he gets a kick out of it too!  Happy Birthday, Russ!

• Stamps:  Perfect Punches
• Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic Grey Nook & Pantry & Wisteria, Graphic 45 On the Boardwalk, Confetti Cream
• Ink:  Elegant Eggplant
• Acc:  Square Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Dimensionals, computer

Christmas in July 2010

Last night I had my first Christmas card stamp camp of 2010….it is hard to believe this is the fifth year for these camps!  16 dedicated stampers crammed together in my tiny house to make some simple Christmas cards.  Despite the heat and crowded conditions, they all seemed to enjoy themselves!  Here’s what they made:

We used an assortment of new as well as retired SU sets—if you have any questions about what was used, shoot me an email.  I am gearing up for VBS next week, so my posts will be short & sweet, if any at all!  And the week after that, we’ll begin holding our breath for the arrival of our granddaughter---but you know how that goes!  It may be a couple more weeks, but I hope she doesn’t make us wait too long!

Color Throwdown #102

I am the Color Throwdown hostess this week and I chose some cool colors in an effort to offset our 90 degree temps!!! What do you think of these:

I also needed a boy baby card for a special friend and I thought these colors would be fun!

Although I used my standby, Nursery Necessities, for the sailboat image, I dipped into my new stash of fun buttons from SU---don’t they make you happy? I usually don’t like naked buttons, but I was too lazy to thread these all up, so I hope the new mom doesn’t mind! The “happy” from Define Your Life seemed an appropriate sentiment, and those little birds marching across seemed a cute little diversion to break up all the empty space! I did perch a little one atop the flag…..they are from Itty Bitty Bits. I had fun making a cloud stencil from a post-it and sponging my sky, too! This also qualifies for the Stampin Royalty challenge today: Splish Splash!

I hope you’ll have time to play with us this week!If you want to check out what the other CTD designers came up with using my combo, you can see them all here:

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Laura --Lil’Inker
• and our Guest Designer for this month, Makiko Jones – MakInk Studio

Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps: Nursery Necessities (ret), Define Your Life, Itty Bitty Bits
• Paper: WW, Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, Hostess Prints DP (ret)
• Ink: Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, Wild Wasabi
• Acc: EK Success Punch, Buttons, SAMJ, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Post-it Note, Sponge

CQC42

Isn’t this little skirt just as cute as can be?  What fun fall-like colors Arielle’s chosen for us today----and I need to think fall to try to stay cool!  Man, is it hot!  In fact, I think you might need shades to view this bright card!  This is a tad bit out of my comfort zone, as it is an eclectic gathering of images and embellishments:

I used this week’s Mojo sketch 148:

along with some BG Ambrosia paper and an assortment of SU cardstocks.  I’ve also got two new SU sets, some dry embossing, some bling and I experimented with dying some seam binding, then gathering it up to use as my ribbon embellishment!  Phew!  Here’s a close up of the ribbon:

 

It was dyed with SU’s Smooch Spritz in gold.  I used the Square Lattice EF and the Beautiful Wings Embosslit; the new sets were Perfect Punches and Butterfly Prints.  You may also be able to see the pretty swirl from Vintage Vogue stamped on the Real Red center panel!!!  I left the inside on this card blank and will add my sentiment when I need a card.  Hey, why don’t you play along with the Royal Court this week---check out the ColourQ blog to see all the details and to check out what the talented designers have created.  You can click on the blinkie on the right sidebar and it will take you right there!

• Stamps:  Perfect Punches, Butterfly Prints, Vintage Vogue
• Paper:  WW, So Saffron, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, BG Ambrosia
• Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Real Red
• Acc:  Blender Pen, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Curly Label Punch, Butterfly Punch, Bling, Smooch Spritz, seam binding, lots of glue dots and dimensionals, Nesties

CAS76

Good morning, peeps!  I have been away for a couple days and boy, how the email and reader posts pile up!  Please don’t think I am ignoring you…..it’s the season for gardening, canning, weeding, VBS, stamp camps, vacations and whatever else summer can throw at me!  Somewhere in there, there’ll be a baby, too!  So please forgive me if I seem to be MIA!

I did not get to stamp my Saturday Christmas card, so the pretty sketch at SCS today for CAS76 was just the ticket. Here we go:

I used a sweet vintage chipboard piece from my Brenda Walton box, added some seam binding trim, then mounted it on a panel of one of SU’s new In Colors, Pear Pizzazz.  On top of the Pear Pizzazz, I added a mat of Very Vanilla that was embossed with the SU Finial Press EF.  Some ribbon loops were added using a gold-threaded satin & organdy ribbon I had in my stash!  Really clean and simple!  Thanks for looking today!

Paper Players Sketch Challenge 2

Yeehaw!  Lesley has a great sketch for us to play with this week over at Always Playing with Paper!  I managed to play with some new SU goodies before I left!  First, here’s the sketch:

And here’s my card:

This uses Out West along with the new Love Letter DP; my old faithful Sanded background stamp provided a rustic backdrop.  I am thrilled that SU came out with this set.  It makes a great masculine card, and I love the artwork style.  The images were all stamped in Riding Hood Red, but before stamping, I went over some of the details with a Chocolate Chip marker…I love the effect of it!

I lightly stamped Sanded on my main panel and hat as well.  I trimmed a wide striped grosgrain ribbon down to a more manageable size and fringed the edges; the three little brads have a little linen thread entwined around just for a little more interest.

Now gallop on over to the Always Playing with Paper blog to find out all the details and to see the other Paper Players’ creations!  And play along!  It’s a fun sketch and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!  Oh, I almost forgot to show you the inside sentiment!  Yeehaw!  Another new set!

• Stamps:  Out West, Sanded, Curly Cute
• Paper:  Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red Texture, Chocolate Chip, Love Note DP, Naturals Ivory
• Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip
• Acc:  Vintage Brads, Choc Chip Marker, Wide Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Circle Punches, Linen Thread, Dimensionals, Daubers