Flower Power

Two totally different cards today, both with black and both with flowers! The first card is for SCS's Clean and Simple challenge, to use black, white and one Bold Bright color. I had some red felt hanging around on my craft table, so I thought I would pair it with some of PTI's Black and White Basics.

I used a sentiment and flower from PTI's Green Thumb; colored the flower centers with a Real Red marker. Button is from SU.

The next one is uses the Fall to Layout #42 from Clean & Simple Stamping. Here's the layout:

and here's the card:

This vintage-y card was inspired by the jacket my friend was wearing while sitting in front of me at church yesterday! Her jacket was actually a toile print in black and cream, with a black plaid collar. I don't have any toile, so I stamped my Floral background stamp in Basic Black on Naturals Ivory and antiqued it a bit with some Creamy Caramel. The plaid is from Crafty Secrets' Earthy Pad. I antiqued it too, although it still looks rather black & white in this photo!! The image is from a retired hostess set, Provencal; sentiment is from Sweet Violets by Flourishes. Added some buttons from my stash and some SU ribbon from Dress Up. The image is watercolored with reinkers.

Where Did the Weekend Go?

It zipped right by, that's for sure--yard sale, church, downline meeting, dinner, rain--it was all in there. So the only stamping I got in was at my WeeInker meeting. We had a wonderful, laugh-filled time doing our shoebox swaps:

Shawn's Dear Dad card

Penny's Party Hearty card

Alison's Just for You card

Lori's Birthday Wishes card

my Here for You card

(inside)

and Laura's Friend card....on which she demo'ed the pop-up Cake die:

Of course, I was about the only one who struggled with making this, so I had to photograph her sample!!! LOL! Very cute IRL.

I also demo'ed this cute little purse:

I saw them originally here; I changed mine a little bit and I do have some simple directions written if anyone wants them! I wish you could have seen the looks on my WeeInker's faces when they saw this! So much fun and easy to do, too! I have some other things to share, but I'll save them for another day!

It is finally a tiny bit sunny today but still cool and windy--I have read blogs where people had SNOW---come on! Let's have some spring already! I hope you have some time to stamp today!

Edited to add: sorry my photos are so far apart--Blogger is being funny today!

Fun Friday

I snuck in some fun stamping time this morning before the rest of the day calls me--the yard needs mowed, and other chores need taken care of---you know how it is! I had won a Taylored Expressions Birthday Boy kit from Laura Frederickson--and today was the first chance I had to play with it! What fun! All the products are color-coordinated--ribbon, paper, DP, brads & glitter! I did a little assembly line and made several cards; so easy when all your products are right there in the kit! I am not sure this is still available, but you can at least look at the DP here.

I inked up the little snail from My Cute Stamps' Little Forest Friends and colored him with some Copics and SU markers. I couldn't resist adding some polka dots from PTI's Polka Dot Basics, and then some sentiments: one from Verve's Petals and Stems, another from MFT's Essential Sentiments. Here is the inside of one of them: Of course, I had to use that perfectly matched ribbon and some yummy Waterfall Glitter! I used Brilliant Blue and Tempting Turquoise SU ink.

Last night, my SIL needed a wedding card, so I got out a set that was severely neglected, Fun & Fast Notes:

I quick snapped a photo from my kitchen table before she left! Image was stamped in Stazon and colored with reinkers and an aquapainter; it was then die cut with a Nestability Labels One die. I punched the border with a MS punch, embossed it with a CB Just My Type border and added some pearls and ribbon from Michaels. I used Shimmery White for the panel, Regal Rose and Pink Pirouette for the card.

Thanks for visiting today and have a great Friday! I may be back, who knows!

Altered Tin

Today's SCS challenge was to alter a tin--and after seeing all the wonderful creations, I am embarrassed to even submit my paltry little thing!  My friend gave me a bunch of these clear-top tins and they were just sitting around, gathering dust.....you don't have anything in your craft room like that, right?  So here we go:

I covered the side with some Manchester DP, and on the top added some Nestie-cut circles of Kraft and Always Artichoke, then stamped my little Trendy Tree on another circle of Manchester.  I stamped the spiraly-leaf thing a few times with Artichoke on Confetti White and punched it out, then popped it up on the lid.  I poked two holes on either side of the tree and added a hemp twine knot; the tag is also tied around the outside of the tin with twine as well.  I added a silver eyelet for the twine to feed through.

 

 

I'll put some goodies in here for my Dad for Father's Day....maybe some M&Ms! 

 

 

I was making some samples for my meeting, and after rooting through the scraps, die cuts, etc., that were littering my desk, I came up with this fun card:

Four layers of the Daisies #2 die cut in More Mustard form the flower; a big knot of Mellow Moss grosgrain forms the center.  The lady bug and sentiment are stamped in Riding Hood Red--gotta use it up before it retires!  Background paper is from the Hostess Patterns Pack.

And finally, I was experimenting again with stamping on SU's clear window sheets, and found a way to have the colors show up a little better.  You can look here for my first attempt.  This time, instead of letting the Stazon White ink dry, I applied the pastels immediately after stamping; they adhere to the ink and really stand out:

It's such a dreary day here, I hope you can see the effect in the first shot.  I mounted the sheet on a piece of Tea Party, and stamped my sentiment on another coordinating piece, then punched it with the small oval punch.  Funky Forest forms my monochromatic border on the Sage Shadow card.  I love this!

Thanks for visiting today!  If you need any info on any of these projects, just shoot me an email!

A Special Tweet

I am busily preparing for my downline meeting this weekend, PLUS a yard sale (why do I plan things this way??!), so I don't have anything to share yet today, but I did receive this wonderfully sweet card from Heidi!  Isn't it incredible?

Look at all these details!  She and her friend Carol share a blog called My Little Inspirations...you need to check it out, they have lots of creative creations!  THANKS, Heidi!  My day was happier when I received this!  I may have time to post later, if not, see ya tomorrow!

Color Throwdown #42

Hey, it's MY turn to choose the colors this week--Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron and Basic Black! 

I must have just gotten my Basic Grey Urban Prairie when I chose these colors!!!  Because that's exactly what I went for when I designed this card!  I had been hoarding that little bee paper, so I decided to use it today!  I got out my retired In Full Bloom set, and stamped the flower, leaves and bee on Shimmery White paper with some Black Stazon so I could watercolor them with my reinkers. The little bee was cut out and popped up, and the whole image was mounted on some oval Nesties because I wanted to use the Sweet Sunday Sketch #15 from Karen Giron.  

 

So here it is:

This is a BIG card--5 1/2" square.  This little baby will have to be hand-delivered to a special someone!  I used two BG Urban Prairie papers, some scalloped Nestabilities and a little CB tag die cut for the Papertrey sentiment. Some little fun embellishments are the itty-bitty bling down the center panel edges (and on the brad), some Twinkling H20s on the flower, Jelly Roll shimmer on the bee's wings, and some little Geo Sparkler stickers on the bees' wings on the DP.  I saw them on a card Janine made, and LOVED them!   Here's a closeup:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got them at Stamper's Dream, and they come in lots of cool little shapes and colors!!!

So let's see what you can come up with!  Post your creation on your blog or an online gallery, and then link it back to the CTD blog using Mr. Linky.  Use the keyword "CTD42" if you post it on a gallery, so we can find it easily!  Don't forget, you could be chosen as a Featured Stamper or even a Guest Designer!  If you don't have these exact colors, feel free to substitute!  Now lets see what the others have come up with, including our Guest Designer for this month, Darlene:

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Cathy - Crafty Thoughts
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Darlene - Dar's Crafty Creations

 

• Stamps:  In Full Bloom (retired), Mixed Message, PTI
• Paper:  So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Shimmery White, BG Urban Prairie
• Ink:  Stazon Black, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
• Acc:  Nesties, CB Tag Die Cuts, Geo Sparklers, Bling from Michael's, So Saffron brad, dimensionals,  Copic & SU Markers, Jelly Roll pen

Glitterfied

I was delighted to see the colors for Stacey's Stamping Stage Jewelry Inspiration #36 this week:

You can go here to check out the beautiful piece of jewelry that inspired them!  I have had this glitterized chipboard bird sitting on my desk for a couple weeks; I planned to use it on something but never did.  So I grabbed a couple chipboard flowers and covered them with some Lavender Lace craft ink , Crystal Effects and some Martha Stewart glitter and went to work.  These are all RAKs from Kim Crawford (thanks, Kim!) and come from Maya Road.  I also used the Mojo Monday Sketch #86:

 

 

So here we go:

 

 

You can really see the glittery-ness of it in the top photo, which I took outside!  I used some lace from my sewing box,  and I stamped a little sentiment from My Cute Stamps' Little Forest Friends onto an oval of acetate and adhered it under the left flower.  The bird's eye is a little Twinkle gem from Taylored Expressions.  TFL!  And why don't YOU go play Stacey's challenge!!

• Stamps:  Flight of the Butterfly, Watercolor Vine Jumbo Wheel, Canvas (ret), Forest Friends by My Cute Stamps
• Paper:  Confetti White, WW, Lavender Lace, Tempt Turquoise, BG Lily Kate
• Ink:  Lavender Lace, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Stazon White
• Acc:  Chipboard, Crystal Effects, MS Glitter, Acetate Sheet, Small Oval Punch, Grosgrain Ribbon, Cr Caramel Marker, Lace, Geo Sparklers Sticker, Twinkle Gem, Dimensionals