CPS164 & SCH10

Squeaking in another card today—unusual for me!  If you’re looking for the Paper Players challenge, you can click here!

This is for the Card Patterns Sketch 164 and the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge 10, which is to use black and white:

The challenge allowed you to use one color on your image, but I wanted to challenge myself to only use black and white.  I just snagged this digital image of a child blowing on a dandelion puff, and it reminded me of a recent episode of Cassidy trying to eat one!  It was perfect for the challenge.  I used some digi gingham paper, lace, ribbon, an old button and a PTI sentiment on a little tag; I also added a little sparkle to the dandelion which you might be able to see here:

And here’s the sketch, too:

I have to admit, even though there is no “color”, I love how this turned out!  Have a blessed day!

Paper Players 94

Happy Sunday!  What a beautiful weekend we have been having!  I hope you have some time this week to play our Paper Players challenge….Nance is our hostess, and here is the challenge:

Aren’t these little cupcakes on their own little stands just the cutest thing?  I chose to do a “love” theme as my mom is gone, and I wanted to highlight those cute little birds perched on each plate!  The color palette from Pals Paper Arts this week of Baja Breeze, Calypso Coral and So Saffron was a close match, and check out this sketch from the girls at A La Card Monkey:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here is my love-themed card:

I pulled out a couple of retired sets to make this; a hostess set called Punch Potpourri and a background stamp called Floral.  I found some woodgrain DP that mimicked the table; I heat embossed the birds on vellum cardstock with white craft ink and white embossing powder.  The vellum circles behind them were stamped in white craft ink with the Floral stamp, and I flipped them over so that I had a softer image.  It’s a bit hard to see, but here’s a closeup:

There’s also a heart image in the set with some French-looking script; I embossed it the same way and diecut out a couple of tags as well as a little heart to help my sentiment show up better, and attached them to a scrunchy Baja Breeze seam binding bow that I tie-dyed:

 

If you’re a SU customer and are lamenting the fact that craft inks are going away, as long as you have a Versamark pad, you can still emboss in color!  To get the embossed “Love” tag, I simply inked my sentiment from Pennant Parade first in Versamark, then again in Calypso Coral, and stamped….then embossed with clear embossing powder.  Just be sure to clean your stamp before you ink again in the Versamark!!!  If you have any questions about my card, just shoot me an email!

I hope you’ll be inspired to make a Mother’s Day-themed creation and share it with us!  And be sure to check out the other Paper Players designers, and welcome Narelle Farrugia as our guest designer this month!

With temps in the high 80s, we were able to get some sandbox time…..and we had sand EVERYWHERE…..which led to some bathtub time!!  And be sure to check out the image on the shirt!!!

 

WeeInker Meeting

I’ve been trying to get to post some pictures of my downline/sideline meeting of the WeeInkers that we held last week!    Finally I have a few minutes, although laundry and mending are calling my name!

We had a brief business meeting, then got down to stamping and swapping!  Here are a few pictures of Barb, Carol, Lesley, Kathy, Laura and Shawn:

We also did swaps:

Every single one of these swaps was fantastic!  Barb’s had a separate piece of acrylic, diecut like a vase…..Carol’s had pockets and tags---so cute!  Lots of thought and creativity went into each and every one.  And I confess that I get to gabbing and socializing and I didn’t take pictures of all the 3D swap items we had, but I did get one of the tote that I won, made by the clever & fabulous Kathy!  Take a gander at this:

Kathy said the pattern came from the talented demonstrator, Lynn Pratt…..and  it is a wonder of paper, ribbon and brads!!! 

If it looks like we’re having fun,  and you want to too, now is the time to become a demonstrator!   You can sign up with Stampin’ Up! for $99, take advantage of free shipping and you can customize your kit!  Email me if you have any questions!  Then YOU’LL be a WeeInker, too!

CCMC200, MOJO239 & PDCC130

Oooh, I’ll tell you, I am really struggling with my creativity this week!  Maybe it’s spring fever!  The temps are rising here in PA!   Anyway, this is for three challenges:  Create with Connie & Mary’s 100th Celebration Challenge (make a celebration card using your favorite retiring DP and add a pennant or banner), the Mojo Monday Sketch 239, and the Play Date Cafe color challenge #130.  Here’s the sketch and the palette:

And here is my square card:

I didn’t like Blushing Bride when it first came out, but I love it now and am so sad to see it go.  This DP is from an old hostess pack, I know it’s already retired, so I’ve already broken the rules!!  But it is so pretty, I just had to use it.  The Crazy for Cupcakes set is retiring and I didn’t use it nearly enough!  I don’t have a BB marker, so I colored my cupcake with ink and a blender pen….not such a great idea when trying to cover a large surface!  I added some Dazzling Diamonds to make it look a little bit better, and some bling to the pennants to draw one’s eye away from the terrible coloring!

Well, I am sure someone having a birthday will enjoy it!   If you have any questions, shoot me an email!   And speaking of coloring:

Two-fisted, no less!  But the best part was that she actually PUT THEM AWAY!  (This is a big deal in our household!)  And isn’t that ruffled-star purple t-shirt a great inspiration piece???

OCC and FMS33

I had a few extra stamping minutes yesterday and eagerly tackled a couple of challenges.  Unfortunately, what was in my brain and what came out on paper wasn’t quite the same….it looks a bit mousey to me, and rather bland.  I think my mojo got washed away with the rain!   Here’s my card:

The challenge from Our Creative Corner, hosted by my sweet friend Anne Marie, featured a recipe:  embossing, ribbon, brads or buttons and watercoloring.  The sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches for this week:

I chose some softly-colored papers from My Minds Eye and an herb image from Herb Expressions to watercolor. I am not sure whether the colors were just too soft or what, but it sort of falls flat!  Another thing is that I rarely make Mother’s Day cards as my mother passed away in 2001 and my MIL passed away in 2010, so I really don’t have much reason to make one!  Anyway, I enjoyed both challenges and I kept at it.  In fact, I made this card, just using the sketch alone, as a simple “thank you” for one of my customers:

And Tuesday, before the sketch even came out, I had made this card….I had to chuckle when I saw the sketch, as it was so similar:

Both of these cards used some leftover cardstock that I had from another project; the card itself is about 3 1/2” wide, so it allowed me to hang the flower over the right edge and still fit in a standard-sized envelope!  If you have any questions about any of these cards, shoot me an email!

Pardon the extreme sunglare in the bathtub!  She seemed to think this was a fun place to play!!!

Monkey 106

I finally had a chance to play with the A La Card Monkey challenge this week!  Here’s the sketch/challenge:

I love blue, but I have to admit this sketch was a bit of a challenge for me.  I pulled out my Fabulous Florets and did some watercoloring:

Normally, I don’t watercolor on Confetti cardstock; I also don’t watercolor unless I have heat embossed my outline image or stamped it with Stazon, but I broke all my rules here!  I just stamped my images in Marina Mist and colored them with Marina Mist and Bashful Blue ink, but did not go all the way to the edge so the outline didn’t blur.  I added a little punched-out sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and a line of pearls:

Oh, and I embossed my Marina Mist panel with the Framed Tulips EF, although not much of it shows!  Thanks for looking today!

ColourQ135 & Retro Sketches 9

Happy Tuesday, happy  May Day!  I combined the ColourQ colors today:

with the Retro Sketches sketch 9:

for my creation this week:

One of my customers just ordered this Fashionable Hearts embosslit, and that got me thinking that it would be a good choice for these fun colors!  I also used the Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit and the heart Adorning Accents embossing folder!  In fact, there’s a lot more embossing on here than there is stamping!  The only stamping is the sentiment from Trendy Trees and the heart from Itty Bitty Bits.  Some Early Espresso baker’s twine “ties” it all together, and a little Sharpie-colored rhinestone adds a little bling:

The ColourQ courtiers have such a fun bunch of samples, you need to check them all out at the ColourQ blog!  I hope you’ll play along with us too! Can’t wait to see what you create!

Cassidy cornered Grampy sitting in the doorway while she was showing him some of her new toys…..the opportunity was just too inviting, so she got a book and said “sit” and she sat in his lap!

 

Thanks for visiting today!