I Create

Color Throwdown 178 and FTL 177

2012-02-11T17:52:00.000-05:00

Today was a lazy, rainy day and I was anxious to get in my stamp room. But after running a few errands this morning, I found myself puttering around the house doing some cleaning so I didn't have a chance to be creative until late this afternoon.

I thought the Color Throwdown challenge this week was a little unusual for this time of year, but it's got all sorts of colors that I love so started my card there. I don't have any Summer Sun so I substituted Crushed Curry, which is pretty close. I even substituted Daffodil Delight for the little flower buttons. In real life these are so close it's hard to tell they're not the same color!

Then I checked out the sketch at Clean&Simple and thought it was pretty unusual so I wanted to give it a try.

I almost ran into a snag right away. My card is 4 1/4-inches square and I didn't have a scallop Nestie big enough to create that partial circle. Then I had an a-ha moment. (It was actually more like a "duh" moment). For Christmas I got an electronic cutter that I had been dreaming about for at least a year. I've been experimenting with it, but I hadn't used it in a few weeks and actually sort of forgot about it. Thank goodness I remembered it, because the great thing about it is that you can take any shape and make it whatever size you want! So I just used a scallop circle and made it big enough fit my card!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players 81 and MOJO 227

2012-02-10T05:00:00.000-05:00

This week the challenge at The Paper Players was to make a project with a flower. How could I possibly resist this? I'm all about flowers! I hardly ever make anything without a flower!

I used the awesome MOJO sketch and broke open a couple of new things for this one. I used the Twitterpated designer paper along with a Twitterpated button to highlight the center of my flower. The flower, leaf, label and sentiment are from Verve. And the embossed background is from a PTI impression plate that my nephew got me for Christmas!

I really like this one despite the fact that I made a mess of the bow. I scrunched up the totally awesome seam binding ribbon which usually translates to a fool-proof bow (because any messiness looks intentional), but it still looks awful. Hopefully whoever gets this card will think that I meant it to look that way!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 21

2012-02-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

It's Wednesday and time for another great sketch at FreshlyMade Sketches.

I recently got some new goodies and decided to break them out for my card. I just love trying out new stuff!

I used one of the sheets from the Everyday Enchantment designer paper available for FREE in the Sale-A-Bration catalog. I'm not sure I would have thought to put Pool Party and Poppy Parade together, but they look great together. All the papers in this pack have a lovely tea-stained, vintage look to them that is so pretty.

For the longest time, I couldn't decide what I wanted for my circular layer. I wanted to use one of my new stamps, but nothing was clicking for me. In the end I went with an old favorite, Raining Flowers. I added a simple "thank you" sentiment stamped in Pool Party that shows up much better in real life. All in all, I think this is a simple card with some interesting colors.

Now don't forget to check out the other fabulous FreshlyMade Sketches design team creations, because they are really something to see. Lots of inspiration there, I'm telling you!

colourQ 123

2012-02-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

I don't mind saying that the colors Arielle picked this week for us at colourQ were pretty tough! I went back and forth several times before I settled on this card.

I chose a lovely Regal Rose dsp from a pack called Patterns Pack II for the larger layer because I thought it would set the stage nicely for the Greenhouse Garden flowers which I stamped in Peach Parfait and Poppy Parade.

And did you notice that the scalloped edges of the Regal Rose cardstock and DP don't match up? For reasons I have yet to figure out, I did not match up these two things when I cut them out using my very awesome new Edgelit Die. But luckily when I put the two together, their very asymmetry was interesting to me and I put them together anyway. The result is what you see here.

I hope you have an easier time with these colors than I did, so be sure to check out the colourQ challenge and show us your creation!

Color Throwdown 177 and MOJO 226

2012-02-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

I loved the colors for the challenge at Color Throwdown this week. I've made no secret of the fact that I love adding a Basic Black accent to a card and when I get to pair it with a vibrant color such as Melon Mambo I'm in heaven!

My layered flower is from a PTI stamp. I added a Melon Mambo brad from Sweet Stitches in the center. The sentiment is from Verve. The layout is from the MOJO sketch challenge this week.

Well, today is a big day. My home-town team the Patriots are playing in the Superbowl against the Giants tonight. I'm hosting a Superbowl Festival at my house and I've been busy making assorted snacks for everyone. A little bit later I'll make some chili (yum)! I'm nervous about the game, but I wouldn't miss it for the world!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paper Players 80 and Cards & Things 106

2012-02-02T05:00:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night I sat down in my stamp room and started to put together a card for The Paper Players sketch challenge. But somehow everything got all balled up (as my grandmother would say).

First, my little flower accent had to go on the bottom left of the square layer rather than the top left because of the layout of the Dream Big sentiment. Speaking of that sentiment, just before I was ready to lay down the double-sided tape and afix these layers for all eternity, I realized that the sentiment is actually supposed to go on the bottom! So I had to cut down the dsp layer to accommodate something. I ended up choosing the "dreams" sentiment from Fabulous Phrases because it kind of, sort of makes a nice thing to say: "dream big dreams." Sheesh!

The colors are courtesy of the latest Cards & Things challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 20

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

For my FreshlyMade Sketches card this week I decided to go through the giant stash of designer paper I have that never seems to get any smaller. The Thoroughly Modern paper caught my eye mainly because the combination of Rose Red and Bermuda Bay is fabulous together.

Lesley's sketch this week is long and narrow and has loads of room for interpretation! My card measures 3 x 6 (inches). I started with a base of Sahara Sand and then layered some Bermuda Bay with the stripey paper. I stamped the Curly Cute sentiment directly on the Soft Suede designer paper then went over it with clear embossing powder to make it show up a little better. I stamped the flowers in Rose Red, cut them out and layered them with dimensionals. An antique brad finishes off the center.

This week at FreshlyMade Sketches we welcome our Guest Designers Kim S. and Tracey Vidal who will be with us during the month of February. They both are frequent players with our challenge, so it will be fun to create with them this month. Welcome ladies!

I hope you can join us this week at FreshlyMade Sketches. We love to see what you create!

Our oh-so talented design team:

Lesley Croghan

ColourQ 122

2012-01-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! I have some very exciting news to share. Today is my debut as part of the ColourQ Royal Court Design Team! I can't tell you how excited I am to be part of this talented bunch of designers! What I can tell you is when Arielle extended the invitation to me I nearly fell off my chair!

I've been a long-time ~~stalker~~ participant of the ColourQ challenge, but I never imagined that one day I would be part of this group. And to make this all the more sweet, this week's challenge was sure to get my creative juices flowing because it included one of my all-time favorite accent colors: Basic Black!

Of course, based on this wonderful image my first thought was to do a Valentine's Day card, but once I got going my card morphed into something else entirely. And I can't forget to say that my layout is courtesy of the awesome sketch over at Create With Connie and Mary.

I used some Real Red designer paper from the Christmas Cocoa collection (hopefully one day soon I'll use all that paper up) which is layered on some Basic Black. The bottom of that layer is embossed with the Stripes embossing folder which is a wonderful way to add some interesting texture. The flourish and the flower are from Creative Elements and the simple sentiment is from Everyday Flexible Phrases.

I sure hope you'll join give these colors a try and join us at the ColourQ this week!

Less is More 52 and Stampin' Royalty 108

2012-01-28T23:25:00.000-05:00

I don't usually do inspiration challenges. In fact, the card that I've made here may just be the first card I've made for an inspiration challenge!

The challenge is courtesy of Stampin' Royalty. Despite my trepidation I wanted to participate so I decided to really look at the challenge picture and break it down into elements.

For me, that's not as easy as it sounds. I'm a number cruncher by day so I'm not used to dealing with subjective elements like what you find in an inspiration challenge. Give me a sketch and I can follow. Give me some colors and I'm ready to get inky. But give me a nice colorful picture of some flowers and a birdcage and some fruit and I'm well on my way to information overload.

But I think I pulled it off. I combined the elements of flowers with some of the colors in the picture. I used Lucky Limeade for the leaves, Pacific Point for the flower and a Daffodil Delight button for the center of the flower.

I used the Less is More sketch because I think I need the simplicity of a good CAS sketch to keep me grounded.

It took me FOREVER to make this card because I waffled a hundred times (or so) about which flower to use for this card. I had high hopes that I was going to be much more productive in my stamp room today but there's always tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown 176 and Viva la Verve

2012-01-27T05:00:00.000-05:00

I started making a Valentine's Day card for the Color Throwdown challenge, but I wasn't happy with how it turned out, so I turned it into a birthday card with a flower. Shocking, I know.

I love this flower from Array of Sunshine. It's perfect for fussy-cutting and layering. I stamped it twice in Rose Red then cut out different sizes and layered them together. The leaf from the same set is stamped in Crumb Cake and then rock-n-rolled on the edges with a bit of Chocolate Chip. The colors are a little bit non-traditional for a leaf, but I think it looks pretty good (and I don't have to step outside the precept of the color challenge). My layout is courtesy of one of the January Verve sketch challenges.

Thanks for stopping by!

ColourQ 121 and Cards & Things 105

2012-01-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I see a sketch challenge and it's a no-brainer for me that I want to participate. And sometimes I see a color challenge and I'm itching to get inky. This week these two worlds collided for me with the ColourQ and Cards & Things challenges.

This is two days in a row that I've made a card with this flower stamp from Verve. It's one of my favorite flower stamps. This one is stamped in Riding Hood Red and finished off in the center with a More Mustard button. I tied a little bow through the button with some bakers twine and I wish someone would explain to me why one side of the twine curls and twists every time I try and tie a bow with it. (You can see it in the lower loop on this bow). I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it, but it's very aggravating!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 19

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

Wednesday is, of course, Freshly Made Sketches challenge day and this week we've brought you a sketch from me!

I love making square cards and my favorite are ones that are 4 1/4-inches square. The size is adorable and as a bonus fit in an A2 envelope. If you live in the US, this lets you avoid the surcharge that comes from mailing a square envelope.

My card base is Chocolate Chip (a color that I feel like I've been neglecting a lot lately) and I added a layer of So Saffron and some designer paper from the Sweet Pea designer series paper pack. The flower and sentiment are stamped in Rose Red and the leaves are Old Olive. I found some So Saffron brads so I added those in the lower left corner.

Our Freshly Made Sketches design team have all cooked up some amazing inspiration for you so be sure to stop by and show them some love. Then head on back to the FMS blog and link up your creation!

Less is More 51

2012-01-23T05:00:00.000-05:00

The other day I made a tent card that I was originally going to link up to this week's Less is More challenge to make a card with a hole it it. But the card was a whole lot "more" than "less" so I decided to go back to the drawing board.

Then I thought I'd incorporate the colors from the ColourQ challenge while I was at it but I ended up wasting so much time trying to figure out what to do for my card that I missed the ColourQ deadline. Rats! I also discovered that it is clearly beyond my photographic capabilities to get a decent picture of a card with a hole in it. I wanted to photograph the card open showing that the sentiment was stamped on the inside of the card and visible through the hole, but each photo I took was worse than the last. The hole was creating a terrible shadow that I didn't know how to fix. I ended up putting a bit of dotto on the inside of the card to hold it closed and took the photo you see here.

And the colors look way off too. The sentiment is stamped in Rich Razzleberry and the edge of the hole is lined with Bravo Burgundy. The other two circles are Wisteria Wonder and Island Indigo. I alwalys have trouble photographing cards that are predominately white, but this one was a doozy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown 175 and Just add Ink 101

2012-01-21T14:52:00.001-05:00

The other day my blogging buddy and fellow Massachusetts cardmaker Kim made this adorable tent card. I just had to give that technique a try.

At first I was thinking of making a card for this week's Less is More challenge to "cut it out" as in make a card with a hole in it. Perfect for the tent card. But I don't this qualifies as the type of clean card they're looking for so instead I used the Just Add Ink sketch and the latest Color Throwdown colors of ivory, kraft, olive, and red.

I think I over-dosed on the red shimmer paper, though. It was incredibly hard to get a decent photo of the card because the glimmer paper kept creating glare and it was just about impossible to show that there's a big hole in the middle of this card.

But see, there really is!

It's snowing here today and I feel like having some comfort food so I'm off to make a pot roast. Then hopefully I'll make it back into my stamp room so that I can get ahead on some of the cards I'd like to make for a few of my favorite challenges. Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 18

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to another exciting week at Freshly Made Sketches! Last week an amazing 85 people participated in our challenge. I guess that means there's a whole lot of love in the world for clean cards! For this week's challenge, designed by Linda, I went way into the vault and found some retired designer paper called Parisian Breeze that hadn't seen the light of day in ages!

The designer paper is extra special because it's quite heavy-weight and is textured. I love it, which means that I hoard it and have tons of it left! I stamped the flower from Simply Soft in Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze onto watercolor paper because the texture of it is very similar to the texture of the dsp. Then I highlighted the stamens of the flower with my Chocolate Chip marker to make them stand out a little more. Finally, I used a bit of Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon adhered with a retired brad from a set called Sending Love.

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has some wonderful inspiration for you so be sure to stop by and show them some love. Then head on back to the FMS blog and use the linky tool to show us your creation!

A thank you card for three challenges!

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Kind of by accident, I made a card that met the requirements of three challenges this week! I hardly ever do that!

First, I thought the color challenge at the Paper Players was VERY interesting. I never would have thought to put these colors together, but once I got going on my card I liked them very much. Then I decided that the Sweet Sunday sketch challenge would be just the thing to show off this unusual color combo.

I stamped the flowers in Calypso Coral with my Greenhouse Garden stamp set, and cut the leaves from the Little Leaves sizzlet. It's funny that at one time this was my "go to" stamp set. I couldn't seem to get enough of it and found myself reaching for it again and again. Then something new must have come along and I forgot all about it. I always feel a little sad that some stamp sets seem to languish unused, while other ones seem to see ink all the time. Maybe I'll try to use some of the oldies-but-goodies a little more often!

Once I had this card all together, I remembered that the Friday Mashup challenge this week was for a thank you card and some designer paper. I was able to mash this one up and squeeze in two pieces of designer paper: some Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz.

That's some challenge! Thanks for stopping by!

Less is More 50 and Unscripted Sketches 141

2012-01-16T10:03:00.000-05:00

I had a very productive card-making day yesterday - I just love when that happens. And I've got the day off from work today so hopefully I'll be productive again. This is the first of the cards that I've been making.

The challenge this week at Less is More is to make a one layer card with the subject of birds. I remembered that I had this cute stamp from Happy Together so armed with the very CAS sketch at Unscripted Sketches I put this together.

I'm not sure why but for some reason this is the second time that I've participated in a Less is More challenge recently and felt the need to hand draw a square to fit around my stamped image. I don't know - I just took one look at the sketch and that's where my thoughts went. For this one I punched out two squares from cardstock and then used them as templates to draw them on the cardstock. I stamped the bird in timber brown Stazon so that I could color it in with a Daffodil Delight marker. Apparently I didn't wait long enough for the ink to dry, because it ran a smidge on the wing. The square and the sentiment were done in Early Espresso.

Thanks for stopping by today!

ColourQ 119 and Sketchbook Saturday 45

2012-01-15T11:23:00.002-05:00

Today is one of those days where I think everything has gone wrong with a card. I actually started making this last night hoping I could get it finished before the football game started, but nothing was coming together as I wanted so I abandoned it.

This morning I thought I'd start fresh with a clear head. I had been eye-balling the color challenge at ColourQ and although I found it a ~~little~~ lot intimidating, I wanted to try it. Then I saw the great Sketchbook Saturday sketch and thought I could put the two together. That's when everything went awry!

I couldn't find my Bow-Easy so I had to tie that ribbon by hand! Not an easy feat for the worst bow-tier in history. So as I'm fussing over that and struggling with getting all these colors to come together in some semblance of order I check the ColouQ blog and see I've got less than two hours to finish it and get it posted. So slapped it together, ignored the bow, and here it is.

That was hard! But thanks to the gals at ColourQ for including Going Gray in this challenge. I really miss that color!

Merry Monday 2

2012-01-12T22:53:00.001-05:00

My friend Lesley has recently started a new challenge aimed at getting us to make one Christmas card a week. Every Monday, she provides us with a Merry Monday sketch for inspiration and our task as participants is to make a Christmas card.

I wanted to participate in this challenge for a couple of reasons. First, I really believe that if I make one Christmas card per week it will really take the pressure off. I always seem to be scrambling around in December because I haven't got enough cards made, so starting now will give me plenty of time to make what I need. Second, I STILL have tons of Christmas designer paper left (despite my self-imposed challenge to use as much of it as I could this past holiday season), so participating in the challenge will ~~force~~ encourage me to use more of it!

So without further ado, I present my first Christmas card of 2012. I used some of my Wintergreen dsp, the tree stamp from Perfect Presentation and a sentiment from Contempo Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 17

2012-01-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

It's Wednesday and this week at Freshly Made Sketches we've got another great sketch challenge for you designed by Rita.

I had a hankering to make a card with some bright and cheery colors this week for the challenge. I'm not one for winter and all the cold and sometimes dreary weather that goes with it, so I thought it would be nice to make a card that celebrates spring.

I used some Melon Mambo cardstock to highlight the white of this card. Then I thought it would be nice to add a little Old Olive, so I used both colors for the vertical ribbon layers as well as the layer that I used for the flowers and leaves. Those flowers and leaves are from Fabulous Florets which hadn't seen any ink in a while. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the leaves are embossed with clear embossing powder which not only makes them look nice, but makes them sturdier when they are fussy-cut.

The FMS design team has cooked us some really awesome cards to give you some inspiration for this sketch so be sure and hop on over to their blogs to check them out. Then head on back to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to show us your creation!

PP77, CCMC184, SSC237 {Whew}

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's not very often that I combine three challenges to make one card, but I managed to do it for this card!

The Paper Players challenge is "All You Need is Love" so I made a Valentine's Day card with the Love You Much stamp set. I combined it with the color challenge at Create With Connie and Mary and the sketch challenge at Stamping 411.

It's fun to sometimes use non-traditional colors for holidays, so that's why I thought I'd make a Valentine's Day card with Blushing Bride, Pool Party and Soft Suede. But by the time I put this together I wasn't at all sure that I liked the result. I thought about coloring in the "love" sentiment with Blushing Bride but I was afraid that the Soft Suede outline would run. I ended up by lightly sponging the embossed Pool Party vertical pennant. I'm not sure that it jazzed this up all that much, but it looks a little better to my eye.

I also remembered that I mentioned last week that I wanted to share some photos of an ink pad storage system that I received for Christmas, and then I completely forgot to upload the photos! So here it is:

This holds 96 ink pads plus markers and ink refills! Oh my! Here's a close up.

It came unfinished, so I stained it then gave it a couple of coats of polyurethane. I love it. It's big, but it is exactly what I needed to keep everything organized. Santa is so awesome!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

ColourQ 118 and Deconstructed Sketch 33

2012-01-08T11:20:00.000-05:00

There are certain Stampin' Up! colors that I really love and even though they are retired I still have the ink and some cardstock left. Lucky for me I have some Cameo Coral and Cool Caribbean so I didn't have to make a substitution for this week's ColourQ challenge.

The Cherry Cobbler looks really dark in this photo, but in real life it looks great with the Cameo Coral. I added a little stitching to the edges of the Cool Caribbean cardstock because it looked really plain all by itself. I inked up some of my new Christmas goodies for this card and used the latest Deconstructed sketch for my layout. The flower and leaves are from PTI and the sentiment is from Verve.

The weather has been very strange this weekend. Here we are into January and yesterday the temperatures were in the sixties! More like spring than winter! I don't like snow or cold weather all that much so I'm not complaining!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

PPA126 Color Challenge

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

The new year has brought a return of the challenges that I can't seem to live without! Today I've made a card for the Pals Paper Arts color challenge.

I embossed the vertical Not Quite Navy layer with the Elegant Lines embossing folder. Then I added a couple of layers of Baja Breeze. I sponged the layers before adding a scrap from the Walk in the Park dsp to the top layer.

The flower was cut from the Sizzix Tattered Florals die and then stamped with Stitched background stamp. I sponged the edges then crinkled them up before I attached them with an Antique brad.

The layout for my card comes from a February Viva La Verve challenge. As I've mentioned before I've got a binder where I've printed out several compendiums of sketch challenges. I turn to it whenever I need a little inspiration, which is how I came up with the layout for this card.

I thought about stitching the vertical layer (as in the sketch), but decided to dry emboss it instead. I only wish that I had run the cardstock through the embossing folder twice so that the top of this layer wasn't so plain. (Why do I always think of these things too late)!

Thanks for stopping by today!

MOJO 222

2012-01-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

I actually started making a card for the MOJO sketch challenge on Monday. But I hit a snag and had to put it aside for a few days.

I had consulted the ColourQ Compendium and decided to follow #78 for this card, which was Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Kraft, Early Espresso and White. I stamped the flowers and leaves onto Whisper White before I realized that Whisper White looked terrible with the designer paper that I used from Woodland Walk. But I had already spent time fussy-cutting them out and was in no mood to re-stamp them onto Very Vanilla and cut them out again. So I put it all aside and went back to it last night.

In addition to using Very Vanilla instead of Whisper White, I ended up switching out Early Espresso for Chocolate Chip since I wanted to use this wide grosgrain ribbon and corduroy button. So I guess in the end, I didn't really follow the color challenge at all! But I'm still really happy with how this turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 16

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

After a little holiday break, Freshly Made Sketches is back with a brand new sketch designed by Tui Nathan. And we also welcome two new guest designers for January, Nina Forsythe and Jen Sannes.

This is one of those sketches that is timeless and completely adaptable to whatever you can imagine. And judging by the cards made by the design team, (and I've seen them all) the possibilities are endless!

For my card, I used a base of Basic Gray, then added a layer of Kiwi Kiss cardstock and some Urban Garden designer paper. I used my much-neglected basic gray corduroy buttons as the focal point and added a sentiment from Much Appreciated. The ribbon across the center is some Basic Gray satin ribbon.

I hope that you have a chance to participate in our challenge this week. For some inspiration make sure you visit the fabulous Freshly Made Sketches design team.

SSSC149

2012-01-01T21:57:00.001-05:00

New year's day found me volunteering for the "First Day Hike" at Borderland State Park and not so much motivated for stamping. But in the afternoon, I was a little bored so I figured the best cure for that was crafting. So into my stamp room I went and emerged with this.

The layout is courtesy of the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and the colors are sort of a take on a past ColourQ challenge. If you click here, you will see the ColourQ compendium that is a great resource if you're looking for a little color inspiration. I used #32 for this card, only I substituted Calypso Coral for the Groovy Guava.

I used some Crumbcake dsp from Welcome Neighborhood and some Calypso Coral dsp from Berry Blossoms. The flower and leaves are both Verve stamps.

I've had today off from work so I took the opportunity to de-Christmas the house. The tree is away and the candles are gone from the windows. I always feel a little sad when I put all my festive Christmas decorations away. The house always seems a little boring afterwards. Here's a little pic of the angel on top of my tree.

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Pin It

CCMC182

2011-12-31T18:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally made it back in my stamp room. I've been taking a bit of a break the last few days, but I wanted to get back into the swing of things before I completely lost my mojo.

I am self-proclaimed challenge junkie, and a lot of my favorite challenge sites are on holiday hiatus so I've been somewhat lost. Luckily, Create With Connie and Mary was hosting a sketch challenge this week so I chose that for my layout.

I used a bit of Melon Mambo dsp from a pack called Ice Cream Parlor, which I think was a Sale-A-Bration set from earlier this year. Then I dry embossed the Pretty in Pink layer with Elegant Lines and the Basic Gray layer with Stripes . I heat embossed the larger flower with Melon Mambo embossing powder and I dug out some really old Stampin' Up! embossing powder to do the smaller flower in pink. I finished off the center of the flower with a Melon Mambo button tied with a bit of baker's twine. I hand cut the leaves then, folded in half, ran them through the crimper. (Folding the cardstock in half before crimping ensures that the lines run the same direction from the center on both sides of the leaf). I sponged them a bit with Old Olive ink, too.

I hope that you all enjoy a safe new year's eve and many wishes for a wonderful, crafty new year!

Pin It

PPA Best Dressed Surprise

2011-12-29T20:39:00.000-05:00

I don't have a card to share today, but I do have news that I'm excited about.

This morning at work I checked out the latest challenge at Pals Paper Arts. Only what I found was the Pals Paper Arts picks for Best Dressed 2011.

The Pals each chose a card from the winners each month, and I'm so proud to say that two of my cards were chosen!

This card was chosen by Margaret Moody for the month of May.

And this card was chosen by Mary Fish for the month of June.

I still can't quite believe that I made it onto this best dressed list. Especially considering all the amazing talent that we see each week for the PPA challenges. I truly feel honored! So a big heartfelt thanks to the amazing design team at Pals Paper Arts. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us in 2012!

ColourQ 117 and Less is More 47

2011-12-28T20:16:00.000-05:00

To my eye, the color challenge this week at ColourQ just screamed for a CAS card. And since the ladies at Less is More are all about CAS, I checked out their challenge this week. They had a pretty interesting one to make a card with just One Word.

The ColourQ challenge invited us to add one color of our own choosing to a combination of black and white. I just love the adding a bright color to elements of black so I chose Melon Mambo for my card. I inked up a Verve flower and stamped it off the edge of the cardstock. (I can't take credit for this idea, because I went to my "binder of sketches" and found the FTL 54 sketch, which I thought was pretty cool).

To make the square outline I lightly drew a square with a pencil (using a piece of cardstock as a template). Then once I stamped the flower and the sentiment, I went over the pencil marks with a Basic Black marker (using a ruler to keep the lines true).

I actually made this as an A2 card first but decided there was too much white space, so I made this version which is 4 1/4-inches square. It's much more proportional to the flower and sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Skektchbook Saturday Challenge 43

2011-12-27T20:11:00.004-05:00

Last April, for my sister's birthday, I made her a lovely box (following the Stamping 411 tutorial here), that I filled with cards of various sentiments. If you're like me you've got loads of cards hanging around, so it's nice to be able to give them to someone who can use them. As luck would have it, shortly after I gave it to her she needed an "emergency" gift so she gave the box and cards to someone else. Now, I have finally made a replacement for her.

She's been patiently waiting for me to have enough cards in my stash to make a suitable replacement. I feel guilty that it took me almost eight months, though! This is the lid, which I made from Rose Red cardstock and embellished with some designer paper from Thoroughly Modern designer series paper. The inspiration for the layout is from Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday challenge.

For the flower I stamped En Francais onto some Very Vanilla cardstock, then cut out three flowers from the Sizzix Tattered Florals die, crumpled them up, sponged them with Soft Suede, and stuck them all together with an antique brad. The "for you" sentiment on the scallop circle is from Great Friend.

The base of the box is Soft Suede, which I think looks fabulous with Rose Red. And the crumpled flower? I think it looks terrific and I'm pretty sure that my sister will like it too. It looks so much better in real life, which seems to be always the way when I try to photograph these things.

I'm so glad that the Christmas craziness is over now, and life can get back to normal. I'm looking forward to trying out some of the fun stamping things that Santa Claus brought me. I got an awesome storage rack for my ink pads that I hope to have ready for some pics later this week. Stay tuned. I think you're going to want one for yourself!

And in the meantime, thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate your visits!

MOJO221

2011-12-26T15:56:00.000-05:00

I'm off from work today and after running some errands this morning, I found myself at loose ends and anxious to play with some of the goodies that Santa Claus brought me.

First I inked up and colored this fun stamp for the MOJO sketch challenge. I used a So Saffron scrap from the retired Walk in the Park designer paper series (love that paper and wish I had more!). I love this image, but what I really love is the snarky sentiment that pairs with it.

As soon as I saw it, I knew right off who was going to get a card made with it! Here's the MOJO sketch:

And finally here's a quick pic of my photography assistant, who periodically jumps into my light box to check things out and make sure everything is A-Okay in there.

Thanks for stopping by!

CCMC181 and PPA125 {Tag}

2011-12-23T20:47:00.000-05:00

I really didn't think I'd make it into my stamp room this week, but I found myself with some extra time tonight so I thought I'd do a quick project and combine the white and silver color challenge at Create With Connie and Mary with the Tag challenge at Pals Paper Arts.

I embossed the holly sprig from Bells and Boughs in silver and then layered it on some silver glimmer paper. I cut another smaller circle from glimmer paper and attached it at the top with a hole in the middle so I can add some silver cord later. It's quite sparkly and festive in real life!

I'm sure I won't be back here for a few days so I will just wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all enjoy a wonderful, safe holiday with your family!

Stamping 411 Sketch 234

2011-12-19T21:51:00.000-05:00

For some reason I got to thinking about watercoloring yesterday. I hadn't done any of that in quite some time so I thought I do a little practicing.

I love using the leafy stamp from Growing Green to watercolor. I colored it with a Wild Wasabi marker then dragged the color around with an aqua painter. The companion designer paper is from Woodland Walk and the sentiment is from Much Appreciated. The layout is courtesy of the Stamping 411 sketch challenge.

Now, you might be wondering what is up with that tie-dyed ribbon. That is an experiment gone awry! Several months ago I tried to dye a piece of Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon. I soaked the ribbon in some water that I had added a few drops of Wild Wasabi ink to. But the ribbon wouldn't take the color and this is what I ended up with. I'm not sure why, but I saved it and I came across it as I considered what ribbon to use on my card. It's actually kind of pretty in real life and the colors go perfectly with this card! That's some serendipity!

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown 172 and Sketchbook Saturday 42

2011-12-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

I was so happy to see the fun colors this week at the Color Throwdown. So I plunked myself down in my stamp room last night to see what I could come up with.

I stamped the big flower from Raining Flowers in Versamark then heat embossed it with Melon Mambo embossing powder. I layered that onto one of the flowers from the Fun Flowers Sizzix die, which I dry embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. The scrap of designer paper is from the Welcome Neighbor paper pack.

I got loads of help on this card with the colors at the Color Throwdown and also this great sketch from Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday challenge. And it also fits the challenge for wet or dry embossing at Scrapbook Essentials.

Well, I've cleared my schedule for this afternoon so that I can watch the Patriots play. It's going to be a great game because we'll be playing the Denver Broncos and the NFL's latest wonder boy Tim Tebow. Should be fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

FTL 171 and Our Creative Corner Holiday Color Combo

2011-12-17T18:31:00.004-05:00

This has been a busy week and today is the first day I've had a chance to set foot in my stamp room and do something meaningful in quite some time. And I was very discombobulated when I got there! It took me a long while to get my thoughts together and figure out what I wanted to do.

I ended up with this card which I made for the FTL sketch challenge and the color challenge at Our Creative Corner.

I used some designer paper from the Sweet Pea collection and I paired it with a Baja Breeze layer behind it. The I found some nice Real Red scraps from the Ski Slope designer paper pack, which I used on the center square. I used the Northern Frost decorative strip die to cut the snowflakes from the silver shimmer paper and some Pink Pirouette, whereby I discovered that the shimmer paper is just a tad too thick to cut cleanly with the decorative strip die. It made a tight sandwich through the Big Shot, but I ended up fussing with the cutout quite a bit to release it. In fact, the small snowflake ended up with a tear and some missing shimmer because I was apparently a bit too rough trying to wrestle it out. I'm pretty sure that no one but me would notice that it is missing a tiny bit, but I know it and it bugs me!

Right now this is a card, but I may alter it a bit and put it on the front of a gift bag because I just discovered that a gift certificate I bought for my godparents is languishing without some pretty Christmas packaging. Must remedy that!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 15

2011-12-14T07:30:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy the last few days trying to get my Christmas cards organized and out in the mail that I haven't spent any creative time in my stamp room. Last night I tried to put make a card, but nothing was coming together so I quit! Luckily I made my card for the latest Freshly Made Sketch a few days ago!

I hope you can join us because this week Cindy has given us a really fun sketch. It really got me thinking!

There are so many possibilities with those rectangles, and I can't wait to see how everyone interprets this versatile sketch. Since I've been trying to put away my Christmas stamps for good this season, I decided to go with some fun colors and a birthday theme.

The Berry Blossoms designer paper provided this gorgeous color scheme. And as I was looking at the flowers on the designer paper it occurred to me that I hadn't used my Flower Daisies Sizzix die in a long while and it would make a nice addition to my card. I cut out three of the flowers to layer together then used a white flower punched from the Boho Blossoms punch and a Lucky Limeade brad to finish off the center.

This is our last sketch for 2011 so that the design team can take a little break. But we'll be back on January 4th with another fun sketch. This is also our last sketch with our talented guest designers Lauri and Christy Q. It's been a lot of fun having them on board and seeing their beautiful cards each week.

But now it's time to check out the inspiration from the design team and then let's get inky together one last time this year!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Lauri Ingram
Tui Nathan
Christy Q
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright

Paper Players 76 and SSSC147

2011-12-11T17:56:00.001-05:00

Just when I thought it was safe to put away my Christmas stamps along comes this great color challenge from my friends at The Paper Players.

I took one look at it and knew that, for me, gold meant embossing. And maybe some gold cardstock. And maybe some gold cord. So, with an Idea in my head for all that gold, I went in search of the perfect sketch and came across the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

That big layer was just perfect for my Dasher stamp. He always looks swell all decked out in gold embossing powder.

I used a couple of sheets from Jolly Holiday because they were just circles made of Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla. I used a little bit of gold cardstock peeking out behind Dasher and then I rounded up some gold cord and twirled it around the biggest layers three times. And since I think that embossing powder and the gold cord qualify as dressing up my card, I think I'll add this one to the Pals Paper Arts challenge of Puttin' on the Ritz.

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Mashup 36 and Sketchbook Saturday 41

2011-12-10T20:48:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I thought I was done making Christmas cards. My stamp room is overflowing with them and I'm totally fine if I don't see another poinsettia, snowflake, wreath or what have you until next year. But then the challenge this week at The Friday Mashup included snowmen, which got me thinking about the cute guys in Snow Much Fun, which got me thinking that I could maybe do one more Christmas card. For old times sake and all.

The challenge was to make a card with a snowman, and/or make a card using the colors Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze and Basic Gray. I definitely planned on using the colors, but I really wasn't sure about the snowman owing to my previously mentioned aversion to all things Christmas. But the more I looked at this adorable graphic, the more I realized that the dudes from Snow Much Fun deserved one last hurrah.

So then I went over to Chupa's blog and checked out her latest Sketchbook Saturday sketch and, combining the two challenges, sat down to get all inky.

Actually getting inky for this card was not all that easy. I had a hard time translating what was in my brain to what was appearing on my card and I almost scrapped the whole thing. But I took a short break and by the time I got back in my stamp room I managed to settle down and create this. It actually has a nice clean look to it that I like and the colors are great together.

I've been experimenting with the custom white balance setting on my camera to {hopefully} help me get a better picture of a card that has a lot of white in it. I took a picture of this card with the automatic white balance then again with a custom setting and I can actually see a difference. It is far from perfect, but I plan to keep experimenting with it until I get something I'm really satisfied with.

Thanks for stopping by!

CCMC179 and Cards & Things 99

2011-12-09T21:39:00.001-05:00

It's been ages since I've made a round card, so when I saw the challenge this week at Cards & Things I knew right away that I'd want to participate.

So I spent some time tonight surfing around my regular challenge sites to see if I could come up with a color challenge that would go with this great sketch. There were quite a few that caught my eye and I hope I have time this weekend to make some cards for them, but for this card I decided on the Create With Connie and Mary challenge.

I was going to make another Christmas card, but honestly I think I'm tapped out. It feels like I've been making Christmas cards since July (I'm sure I haven't, it just feels like it), so I thought I'd make something that had no connection to any holiday or special event. I inked up one of the stamps from the retired Artfully Asian in black Stazon, then colored it with Lucky Limeade and Poppy Parade markers. The sentiment is from Fabulous Phrases. I finished it off with a Basic Gray button. I so wish that I had dropped the "smile" sentiment down a bit to give the button a bit more room, but I was too lazy to re-do it so this version stays.

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a lovely comment. I really enjoy reading them!

MOJO 218 and ColourQ 114

2011-12-08T05:00:00.000-05:00

The ColourQ colors this week provided a challenge that was a refreshing change from all the Christmas colors I've been using lately.

I suppose I could have made a Christmas card with these colors. And I'm sure that some of the talented participants in the challenge will have done so, but I felt like I wanted to do something different. A little help from this week's MOJO sketch and I was off!

I had kind of forgotten all about Cool Caribbean but luckily I still have the inkpad so I colored the butterfly with it using my blender pens. It actually looks more vibrant in real life. I almost added a sentiment at the bottom of this card because I thought it looked a little bare, but decided I liked it the way it was. I can always add one later!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 14

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

This week at Freshly Made Sketches we've got a sketch brought to you by the lovely and so very talented Jennifer Timko.

I've made cards with a similar layout before and I've got to say that this has got to be one of my all-time favorite sketches. It is so versatile!

I feel like I've been neglecting Chocolate Chip lately, so I thought I'd dig it out for this one and pair it with Old Olive. The patterned paper is from Holiday Treasures, and my wreath is made from one of the snowflake stamps in Snow Flurries. I randomly stamped the snowflake in a circle then drew some circles in Cherry Cobbler to look like berries. Easy peasy!

It can be a little tricky making the squares proportionate in a card like this, so I saved the first one I ever made to use as a reference. The card itself is 4 1/4-inches square. The Chocolate Chip layer is 4-inches square, followed by four Old Olive layers that are each 1 13/16-inches square and finally the designer paper layers are 1 5/8-inches square.

Our wonderful Freshly Made Sketches design team have some gorgeous samples to share with you this week. I know because I've seen them all and I let out a big gasp when I saw them! So make sure you check them out. Then head on back to the FMS blog and link up your creation.

Paper Players 75 and Inkspirations 98

2011-12-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

I think I must be channeling some previously unknown psychic abilities because on Friday when I first saw the Inkspirations color challenge I thought it might be fun to use the colors for a Christmas card.

Then I find that this week the The Paper Players challenge us to use non-traditional stamps or colors to create a Christmas card! How cool is that?

Once again I turned to Perfect Presentation and the wonderful tree stamp in that set. I don't know what little Christmas fairy persuaded me to get that stamp set so many years ago, but I am eternally grateful to her because I can't believe how often I use it this time of year. Not only does it have this great tree, but it has tags, and a snowman, and some round sentiments that are so useful. It's long been retired, but I'll never part with it!

I also used one of the snowflakes from Snow Flurries to to stamp a background on the So Saffron layer. One of the other snowflakes from that same set I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Wild Wasabi embossing powder. I punched those out and mounted them on dimensionals. The sentiment is from Contempo Christmas.

I haven't decided who will be the recipient of this card. I think it's got to be someone who will appreciate the irony!

Now, I need a little help. Last year I loaned this stamp to my sister and I recently got it back. But I don't remember what stamp set it came from. It's on purple rubber, which used to mean it was either a hostess set or was from a Mini (I'm not sure which). If you recognize it, please let me know where it goes! I'll be forever grateful!

Thanks for stopping by!

PPA122 and FTL169

2011-12-03T19:28:00.001-05:00

I really love how Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler look together, especially when I'm doing a Christmas project. And lucky for me the challenge this week at Pals Paper Arts uses those colors plus Very Vanilla. Then I saw the FTL sketch challenge at Clean & Simple and I got an Idea.

I'm {somewhat} sure that the tree shape from the sketch challenge can be substituted for another shape, but based on my Idea, I decided to go literal with this one.

This card marks the first time that I used the Snow Burst embossing folder (unbelievable, I know)! And my tree is simply four scallop circles, sponged on the edges and cut in a triangle. I paper pierced the smaller Very Vanilla layer and popped it up with dimensionals so that it would stand out from the card base of the same color. I really like how this turned out. It's simple and lets those fabulous colors take center stage. And as I was getting ready to post this card, I realized that I left off the sentiment. But I decided not to go back and add one, because I think it looks pretty good without one!

Thanks for stopping by!

ColourQ 113 and Cards & Things 98

2011-12-02T20:32:00.001-05:00

I loved the colors for the ColourQ challenge this week. Especially when I scrolled down to look at all the submissions so far. I think it's so neat when you see all those cards assembled in once place with a common color scheme. I decided to combine that color challenge with the sketch at Cards & Things.

The other day I was making a project for a color challenge and accidentally made it using Sahara Sand when I was supposed to be using River Rock. So I thought it was a bit of poetic justice that this challenge uses Sahara Sand. At least I grabbed the right color this time.

I don't think I've used my snowflake punch very much this year, so used it here to punch out three flakes in Night of Navy, Bashful Blue and Whisper white after I stamped Simple Snowflake onto each piece of cardstock. A little Night of Navy button finishes off the center nicely. The sentiment is from Perfect Presentation. It's part of a stamp that contains a star, so I just inked up the word with my Marina Mist marker to get the "peace" sentiment you see.

What a crazy week it's been for me. I went back to work on Tuesday after being on vacation for 18 days! I spent the first day basically just reading and responding to emails, and the second day opening and reading my snail mail. It's wonderful being on vacation, but so hard to catch up when you go back! Then to top it off, I was busy a couple evenings with meetings, so tonight is the first time I've had a chance to spend in my stamp room. Now that I've got this card posted I'm off to see what I've been missing in the blogosphere all week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 13

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Freshly Made Sketches! This week, the lovely and talented

Lesley has given us a gorgeous, versatile sketch to work with.

I was getting a little worried that I hadn't made enough Christmas cards so I figured I better add to my stash just in case.

I paper pieced the poinsettias from the Deck the Halls dsp. That's something I don't often do, but I really like the result. Then I cut out the holly leaves and the music from the same set. The sentiment is from Bells and Boughs.

Our wonderful design team has some great inspiration for you, so be sure to check them out. Then head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to upload your creation. We can't wait to see what you do!

MOJO217 and PPA121

2011-11-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

I think I just made it before the linky widget expired for the Pals Paper Arts challenge this week. The challenge was to use pearls and I almost didn't make a card for it until I spotted the MOJO sketch and was struck with Inspiration.

I nearly made a around card this time around because, oddly enough, I had some round scraps in my stash that were just begging to be used. They will continue to beg, because I needed the additional space that a square card gave me.

Santa came a little early this year and brought me a new Sizzix decorative strip die called Festive Greenery that I couldn't wait to use. It's got holly, berries, branches, arborvitae leaves and some flourishes. I cut out the holly leaves in Always Artichoke, the arborvitae leaf in Old Olive, the branch in Early Espresso and the berries in Cherry Cobbler. I used the holly leaves with the scratchy side showing because I thought it looked pretty neat, especially after I sponged them with some Always Artichoke. The scratches took on a little more ink so the leaves have a cracked paint look to them. I took a little liberty with the placement of the sentiment vis-a-vis the sketch and now I wish I had lowered it a bit.

I'm in the home stretch making the Christmas cards that I will need this year, because I'll have to get them out in the mail within the next week or two. I hope I have enough, but I like this one quite a bit so hopefully I can more of them if I need to. It actually came together pretty quickly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown 169 and Deconstructed Sketch 28

2011-11-28T05:00:00.000-05:00

The Color Throwdown challenge combined with the sketch at Deconstructed Sketch just called out to me to use my Snow Much Fun stamp set.

For some reason when I see blues I want to make snowmen! Go figure!

I wanted to use this ribbon with the white stitching, but it's rather wide. Along with my scallop border I think it's a little out of proportion and makes the card look top heavy, but the snowman is just so darn cute I like it anyway! I colored the little birdies with Baja Breeze in the hopes that they might pass for bluebirds, but they don't! Oops!

It's back to work for me tomorrow after a long, but very satisfying vacation. I wonder if all my co-workers even remember what I look like! Ha!

Thanks for stopping by today!

CCMC177 and Paper Players 74

2011-11-27T15:25:00.001-05:00

I wanted to make a holder for a CD that I got for my nephew for Christmas. The color challenge this week at Create With Connie and Mary gave me the perfect colors to make a masculine-inspired project. Then I thought it would be fun to adapt the sketch challenge at The Paper Players to fit the CD.

A funny thing happened on my way to making this project. I was typing away at this post and uploaded the picture only to realize that I used Sahara Sand instead of River Rock. Argh! I hate when I do that! So back I go to recreate the holder in the correct color. It actually was a little blessing in disguise because my original had a design flaw that was bugging me so this gave me the opportunity to fix it.

The long Night of Navy and Lucky Limeade layer is actually a belly band and the tilted layer and the to/from tag are attached to it so that whole thing slides off to get at the CD inside. The tree is from Perfect Presentation which I inked up in Lucky Limeade then embossed with clear EP. I mounted it on my tilted layer which I tried to dress up with a bit of faux stitching. In real life it's kind of muddy and I wish I hadn't done it, but I'm sure my nephew won't be so critical! The tag is from the aptly named To & From Tag and I added the button and baker's twine to jazz it up a bit. I followed a tip from Nance at Canopy Crafts about using a straight image on a tilted panel, which I like very much!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Mashup 34 and FTL 168

2011-11-25T21:20:00.001-05:00

As soon as I saw the sketch this week at Clean&Simple I got it in my mind to use my Dasher stamp. I had been neglecting it all this Christmas card season and I aimed to rectify that.

Then I saw the Friday Mashup challenge and immediately recognized that this was a match made in heaven! The mashup was to make a Christmas card using the colors of aqua, chocolate and white.

The problems began when I began to search for my Dasher stamp. I couldn't find it anywhere. But I made sure to look in every nook and cranny before I panicked. Once I figured it was truly missing I sat down to figure out if I had perhaps loaned it to someone. I called my sister and sure enough, she had it. Then my nephew very graciously offered to drive to my house to give it to me so that I could make this card. What a sweetie! Disaster averted!

I used Taken With Teal as my aqua for the color challenge, and squeezed in a bit of matching designer paper from the Sweet Pea pack. I suppose I could have used Tempting Turquoise instead, but I like the richer color of Taken With Teal. I embossed the stamp with some EP called "Espresso" but it's really anything but. It actually looks darker in this picture than it is in real life, but it will have to do.

I hope that everyone has recovered from their "Black Friday" shopping. I did not venture out into all that craziness, but I hope that if you did, you got a great bargain!

Freshly Made Sketches 12

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today I'm very excited to share that I am the hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches! This is the first time I have ever designed a sketch and I sure hope that everyone likes it.

I decided to interrupt my regular programming of autumn and Christmas themed cards to bring you a card with a decidedly spring-time look.

I broke out a couple of Verve stamps for this card and layered them on some Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, and a Basic Black Scallop circle. I had a hankering to use my crimper (why do these urges hit us out of the blue sometimes?) so I crimped some Pear Pizzazz, wrapped it with a bit of linen thread and finished it off with a button. The itty bitty sentiment is from Tiny Tags.

The design team has some amazing inspiration for you so be sure to stop by and show them some love!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Lauri Ingram
Tui Nathan
Christy Q
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright

Friday Mashup 33 - It's a Tag!

2011-11-22T20:36:00.001-05:00

I've been making tags for Christmas presents and thought that I'd try and turn the sketch challenge this week at The Friday Mashup into a tag.

And since I've been staring at some rosettes and my mini paper rosettes sizzix die has been neglected I decided to go the full monty and mashup the challenge!

I flipped the sketch to make the tag go the long way. The base is Always Artichoke and matches perfectly with some of my Wintergreen DSP. I added a layer of the musical notes from the Newsprint DSP because I saw it on another tag somewhere and thought it looked really cool. I sponged all the edges in Early Espresso to give it a vintage feel. And the little Merry Christmas sentiment is from Delightful Decorations.

Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow I'm hosting my first sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches so I hope you'll pop by to check it out!

Paper Players 73 and Stamping 411 Sketch 230

2011-11-21T10:25:00.000-05:00

I absolutely loved Jaydee's challenge for us this week at The Paper Players. The challenge is to make a card that is clean and simple using the colors Night of Navy, Whisper White and silver.

The design team cards are absolutely gorgeous and really got my creative juices flowing. So I thought I'd make a card combing this challenge with the sketch at Stamping 411.

I wish I didn't have such a hard time getting a decent photo of a white card. The color is always off. Argh! But anyway, as you can see, I substituted the square scallop from the sketch for some plain rectangles because I really wanted to use the tree from Season of Joy and it didn't look so great on a square. (What I really need are some rectangle scallop dies and my problem would be solved)!

I embossed the tree and the sentiment (also from Season of Joy) in silver embossing powder. And I don't mind saying that in real life, it looks fantastic. Not a stray piece of embossing powder to be had! Thank you Embossing Buddy!!

I'm in the home stretch of my vacation and today I'm homebound while my car is getting a ding on my bumper fixed. My plan is to stay focused and finish up my Christmas cards. And if I can squeeze it in, I'll try to work on some Christmas treats too.

Thanks for stopping by!

PPA120

2011-11-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

I made a card for the Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge this week. It involves a snowman...with a bit of a tan.

When I saw the sketch, I got it in my head that I wanted to use one of the snowmen from Snow Much Fun. Then I got it in my head that I wanted to use some of my Jolly Holiday designer paper. So I put the two together.

It wasn't until I started to color my snowman that I realized something wasn't quite right. I think it's rather hard to tell in the photo, but this card is made with Very Vanilla. Including the layer with the snowman stamped on it. When have you ever seen an off-white snowman? I'll tell you. Never. But rather than scrap the card and start all over, I kept my somewhat strange colored snowman. He's kind of growing on me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown 168 and Sketchbook Saturday 38

2011-11-19T11:00:00.001-05:00

I don't mind saying that I was a ~~little~~ lot intimidated by the colors this week at the Color Throwdown.

The colors look great together, but I was unsure if I could pull something off that I actually liked. Especially since I feel like I'm out of practice and my mojo is apparently on vacation. But then I saw Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday challenge and I had an Idea.

Admittedly I changed my mind a couple of times about what stamps I was going to use as I was putting this together, but I'm happy with how the end result turned out.

The So Saffron DP is from the Sweet Pea pack. (Seriously, I have so much of this paper, I'll be old and gray before I ever use it all up)! The friend sentiment is from Simple Friendship and while I was originally going to use the butterfly from the same set, I ended up going with the one from Great Friend. I inked it first in So Saffron then sponged it lightly with Riding Hood Red. Then I heat embossed it with clear EP before I cut it out. A few pearls down the center and I was done!

Not too shabby for a sunny Saturday morning. I think I might stick around in my stamp room for while longer today to make sure my creative juices keep flowing. Thanks so much for stopping by!

CCMC176 and Inkspirations 96

2011-11-18T21:22:00.001-05:00

This week has just flown by! I can hardly believe it's Friday already and I've barely set foot in my stamp room all week. Since I've been on vacation I've been so busy cleaning the house, running errands and doing some Christmas shopping that I haven't had time for much else. But I was determined to get some stamping done so that I don't completely forget how to do it!

I thought the wonderfully CAS card sketch at Create With Connie and Mary was pretty awesome, and I thought it would look good paired with the color challenge at Inkspirations.

I was originally going to make a card using one of the snowmen from Snow Much Fun, but as I was perusing my stamp sets I came across a few neglected ones and thought I'd show them some love.

The poinsettia is from Season of Joy and I tried to jazz up the center with a bit of Dazzling Details, but unfortunately I think it looks like a blurry, blobby mess. The sentiment is from Perfect Presentation which I cut out and popped up on dimensionals.

Sorry about the helter-skeleter photo. I'd like to blame it on my new eyeglasses but I'm sure that's not the case! Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 11

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

This week Linda has created a wonderful sketch for us to play along with at Freshly Made Sketches.

This sketch has so many possibilities! When I saw it I was almost immediately reminded of a card I made a while back. I decided to tweak a few things and make a new updated version of it. I really like how it turned out!

The striped DSP is from the retired Urban Garden and the herringbone DSP is from Urban Oasis. Both of these papers allowed me to dig out my beloved Kiwi Kiss cardstock. I used Inspired by Nature to stamp some grass in Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. Then I added the sentiment from Upsy Daisy stamped in Basic Gray.

My nephew's birthday was last week and since he's away at college we've decided to celebrate his birthday on Thanksgiving when the whole family will be together. I thought this sketch and these colors would be perfect for a masculine card and I intended to keep this one simple. Then I found myself powerless to resist adding the button, even though I know the unspoken rules of masculine cards state that things like buttons and flowers are not allowed! Hopefully, he'll forgive that little bit of embellishment!

Now, don't forget to check out the other cards the super-talented Freshly Made Sketches design team has made to inspire you, then head on over to the FMS blog and link up your creation!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Lauri Ingram
Tui Nathan
Christy Q
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright

ColourQ 111 and PPC41

2011-11-15T20:23:00.001-05:00

The color challenge this week at ColourQ has a nice autumn theme, so I thought I'd ink up one of my leaf stamps for it.

Then I came across a new (to me) challenge called Scrapbooker's Paradise so I thought I'd give their newest sketch a try.

I did a little rock-and-roll on my leaves from Gently Falling in Pumpkin Pie and Rich Razzleberry. I think I even added in some Pear Pizzazz on the little one. This is a "two-step stamping" set so I heat embossed the outline with gold embossing powder (even though it doesn't look like it). I tried to replicate the sheaves of wheat in the image graphic with one of the stamps from Tropical Party. Close, but no cigar, I say to myself. But I still kind of like it!

I'm on vacation this week and next and I foolishly thought that this would give me oodles of time to spend in my stamp room. How wrong I was! I seem to keep finding things to do around the house, coupled with trying to get some Christmas shopping done, so find myself neglecting my stamping. I hope I'm not the only one that is better at managing my time when I have loads of things to do rather than when I have nothing to do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paper Players 72 and FTL166

2011-11-13T18:40:00.001-05:00

I spent the better part of last night and part of today trying to make a card for a particular color challenge, but I couldn't seem to make something that I was happy with. So I abandoned what I was working on and instead focused on LeAnne's color challenge at The Paper Players. These Christmas colors went perfectly with what I had in mind for the FTL sketch challenge.

This color challenge gave me an excuse to use my retired Wintergreen DSP and I also used my Artichoke Denim Jean Ribbon for the first time. I inked up the sentiment stamp from Season of Joy colored with my River Rock, Riding Hood Red, and Always Artichoke markers. And I have quite a bit of Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon so I made a little bow for the top of my tag. As I was putting this card together, I realized that my Bow-Easy has disappeared, along with one of my sanding blocks. (I suspect the kittens are behind this). So as a result I had to tie this bow by hand (oh the horror)! I could have used a fork to tie this one (as suggested by my blogging friend Jen Timko), but I was too lazy to go downstairs and get one!

Thanks for stopping by!

CCMC175 and Stamping 411 229

2011-11-12T18:54:00.001-05:00

I recently (unintentionally) conducted an experiment. I have spent several days away from my stamp room and have concluded that this is a mojo killer. Earlier today I sat down at my table with the intention of making a card combing the Create With Connie and Mary color challenge and the Stamping 411 sketch challenge.

I wasted a lot of time staring at my stamps and wondering what in the world I was going to make. I couldn't seem to make a decision. So I stepped away for a couple of hours because this usually helps to clear my head. I don't think it did. I'm still feeling out of sorts.

But I persevered and I used my old favorite French Foliage to make this poinsettia from the small leaf in that set. I stamped it in Craft White onto some Cherry Cobbler cardstock. I added some Basic Pearls in the center which looks nice and covers up the messy part where the ends of the leaves meet. The sentiment is from Four the Holidays.

I'm off to get back to my stamp room to get my creative juices flowing. I've seen some nice challenges that I'd like to participate so I better get cracking! Thanks for stopping by today!

MOJO214 and ColourQ110

2011-11-10T04:30:00.000-05:00

A great sketch from MOJO combined with a fabulous color challenge from ColourQ make for some fine inspiration!

Oh, I wish I could make cookies like that! Alas, I have to settle for making cards out of in-edible cardstock!

I do like how the card turned out, I just don't like how the photography turned out. Recently my fellow FMS design team friend Linda lamented about how hard it is to take photos of white or very vanilla cards. No matter what I do the card always appears to have the wrong color. I use a light tent and although the card seems well-lighted, my camera always seems to have other ideas! Some day I'll figure it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 10

2011-11-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

It snowed here last week, so I guess I had snowflakes on the brain when I finally settled on an idea for Rita's fabulous sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

Oh, the possibilities with this sketch! I had a thousand thoughts running around my head as I contemplated the card I was going to make this week. Finally, I settled down and made this one.

It had suddenly occurred to me that Not Quite Navy and Brushed Silver would look fabulous for the layers on this sketch. So I dug out my retired stamp set, Snowflakes and heat embossed the biggest snowflake and the sentiment in silver embossing powder. I added a little bit of silver cord and ta-da, my snow-inspired, winter wishes card was born!

So, don't forget to check out the samples from our amazing design team for loads of inspiration, then head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and show us how you have interpreted this sketch!

PPA118 and CCMC174

2011-11-06T20:58:00.000-05:00

The last few days have been very hectic. Between my sick father and a sick kitten, I haven't had much time to get my fingers all inky. But tonight after visiting my father at the hospital and seeing that the kitten seems to be on the road to recovery, I was determined to get in my stamp room for a little while. I decided to make a card for the Pals Paper Arts color challenge combined with the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary.

I love the idea of the monochramatic color scheme of the PPA challenge. My first thought was that it would make an interesting Christmas card, then I thought I would make an autumn-themed card. I ended up going back to the Christmas theme.

In the end, I'm not sure it's Christmas-y enough, but it has a certain appeal, I suppose. It's clean and not fussy, plus the colors are somewhat unusual for a Christmas card which makes for something visually interesting. I used a few scraps from the Christmas Cocoa designer series paper and the sentiment is from Perfect Punches. I'm also happy to say that I got to use one of those big Spice Cake buttons. When I first saw those buttons in the Holiday Mini I wasn't interested in them at all until I saw that the 1 1/4-inch punch fits perfectly on the inside. I thought that was interesting enough to get them and although this is the first time I've used one, I am determined to use them more often. (Ha. Ha. How often have I said something like that)?

Thanks for stopping by!

MOJO 213 and ColorQ 109

2011-11-03T05:00:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been struggling with the MOJO sketch since Monday.

I just couldn't settle on a design that I liked. I thought the interesting color combo at ColourQ would help.

Even combining these two fabulous challenges, I still struggled. I finally ended up with this.

I think I had the most trouble with that small vertical layer behind the flower in the graphic. I just couldn't decide what to do there and I tried a few variations before I used a bit of striped grosgrain ribbon gathered in the center. The polka-dotted designer paper is from Jolly Holiday, the flower is Verve, and the sentiment is from Tagtastic and Vintage Labels. I topped the flower with a pumpkin pie corduroy button.

I'm not entirely sure that I like the end result and if I have time I might try something else with this interesting color combo.

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 9

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

This week at Freshly Made Sketches we've got a wonderful sketch designed by Tui. There are so many possibilities with this sketch, I can't wait to see how everyone interprets it! And this month we are joined by two fabulous stampers, Lauri Ingram and Christy Q as our guest designers.

I've been anxiously awaiting the perfect opportunity to ink up my brand new Field Flower stamp set, and this sketch is absolutely perfect for it. I had been seeing a whole lot of fabulous cards made with this set, so I had to have it!

I stamped the stem and leaves from Field Flowers in Old Olive onto the wonderful Newsprint designer paper which I then layered onto some Basic Black and Calypso Coral. Then I stamped the flower from the same stamp set twice in Calypso Coral and cut them out so that I could position them onto the stem where I wanted them. The sentiment is from Fabulous Phrases and is punched out with the Word Window punch. It's then finished off with an Antique Brad.

Now I hope that you'll join us this week at Freshly Made Sketches. And if you need some inspiration, be sure to visit our amazing design team.

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Cindy Hall

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Rita Wright

Lauri Ingram

Christy Q

Friday Mashup 30

2011-11-01T04:30:00.000-04:00

I so wanted to mashup the challenge this week at The Friday Mashup.

The mashup challenge is to make a card using this sketch and to use up something from our stash that we have been holding onto for some crafting purpose or another. I've got loads of ribbon that I have saved from various gift bags or boxes, buttons, plastic containers and who knows what else floating around my stamp room so I figured I'd be able to do this challenge with no problem.

The problem was that I had no idea what recycled item I wanted to use! None of my ribbon looked quite right so I ended up using an old button. And as you can see, I went with a Christmas card theme because I've begun to realize that it's November 1st and I have not seriously considered what I want to make for Christmas cards this year. Yikes! For this card I used the retired Holiday Treasures designer paper and the Snow Much Fun stamp set, which I think is going to end up being my stamp set of choice this year. I stamped the image in Timber Brown Stazon and colored it in Baja Breeze, Old Olive, and Riding Hood Red with my blender pens. It is just about impossible to tell from the picture, but I used Dazzling Details on the buttons, the pom-pom at the end of the hat, and the snowball.

In case you haven't heard of this tip I'll tell you that quite often when you squeeze something like Dazzling Details onto your cardstock the shape of the blob (for lack of a better therm) can be a bit pointy. If you want a more rounded look, just tap the underside of the cardstock and the blob will flatten out a bit. I generally "flick" the cardstock using my middle finger and my thumb. I'm not entirely sure how to describe "flicking" but it's the same thing as when you use those fingers to "flick" a bug off your arm!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Paper Players 70 Fall Themed Challenge

2011-10-31T04:30:00.000-04:00

Last week, I started to make a card and for some reason I never got around to finishing it. I saw it yesterday when I was poking around my stamp room and realized that it was perfect for the challenge this week at The Paper Players so I set to work finishing it up.

The card was a Trifold Pocket Card. It was something that I hadn't made in a long time and wanted to try again. You can find the instructions for it here.

I used some retired designer paper called Apple Cider, which uses Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Wild Wasabi and River Rock. I stamped the leaves with the small leaves from my new Gently Falling stamp set and the sentiment is from Tiny Tags. As you can see from the pictures, the inside slides out of the sleeve and has a blank spot to write a note.

Thanks for stopping by today!

FTL164 and CCMC173

2011-10-30T10:13:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post today to show you a card I made for the sketch challenge at Clean & Simple combined with the color challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.

For some reason I almost never remember to use Island Indigo even though I really love its deep and rich color. And these challenge colors look great together.

I used a square scallop nestie to cut the Island Indigo square then layered some Baja Breeze and a small scrap of designer paper from Urban Garden on it. The sentiment is stamped inside a Framed With Love stamp. The sentiment itself and the big bold flower is from a Verve set called Great Friend.

Thanks for popping by. I'm off to Borderland State Park to be a judge in our Canine Howl-o-Ween Costume Parade. We got some snow last night (ugh!) so I hope it's not too muddy over there. I only got about an inch of snow, but just an hour or two west of here got almost two feet! I hope this doesn't set the stage for another bad winter!

ColourQ 108 and MOJO 212

2011-10-28T05:00:00.000-04:00

The ColourQ color challenge this week seemed to suggest Halloween, but I wanted to go into a different direction.

I actually wanted to break out some of my Halloween stamps, but I resisted because I thought it would be a little more interesting to try something different. And this week the MOJO sketch was perfect for what I had in mind.

I envisioned something with a lot of white space so that the So Saffron, Daffodil Delight and Peach Parfait would stand out. And I always think that a bit of Basic Black adds a perfect contrast, so I added that with the brads, the twine and the scalloped layer. I used only a touch of designer paper from Beyond the Garden. The rest are layers of the other colors in the challenge. (The yellows look awfully similar in the photo, but I did use both of them here)! The sentiment is from Pretty Postage and the flowers are from a Verve set called Kind Words.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Paper Players 69

2011-10-27T05:00:00.000-04:00

This week at The Paper Players is a sketch designed by Nance.

I was intimidated by this sketch at first. I wasn't at all sure what I wanted to do for that vertical layer, or for that matter what I was going to do for those flowers. So I poked around with the supplies that I had and ended up letting the colors of the Well Worn designer paper be my guide.

Once again I found myself turning to an old favorite, French Foliage, for this card. I inked up the leaves in a combination of Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy and Early Espresso. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would use a color combo like that to ink up leaves, but I have to say it looks really good. A little twine, a button, and this card is good to go!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Freshly Made Sketches 8

2011-10-26T04:30:00.000-04:00

I don't mind saying that I had a bit of a tough time this week with our Freshly Made Sketch.

I was indecisive about a theme, and a color combo. I started out with a base of Crumb Cake then waffled about what other colors I wanted to use. Then I stumbled on the Inkspirations color challenge and liked the colors enough that I wanted to use them for this sketch.

Then I waffled some more before I decided to use my brand new Stripes embossing folder and ink up Triple Treat Flower for the first time.

I've seen some people ink up the embossing folder with a brayer before embossing the cardstock, which creates a nice effect, but I was too afraid to try it. I had already waffled enough with this card and I didn't want to attempt something I'd never done before in case it came out horrible and I had to start again!

But on the plus side, I love this flower! How awesome is it that there is a punch for each segment so you can easily create a flower made from multiple colors!

Now don't forget to pay a visit to our awesome design team and our special featured designer Holly Endress. Then head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and link up your creation!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright

Color Throwdown 164 and Pals Paper Arts 116

2011-10-22T10:38:00.000-04:00

Well, apparently I had another Halloween card in me. The color challenge at Color Throwdown told me so!

Then I saw the sketch challenge at Pals Paper Arts was perfect to show off my favorite skull!

I used up some Halloween designer paper from a couple of years ago called Cast-A-Spell. I love that paper and I don't have very much left, so I use it sparingly to try and make it last! And of course, that gorgeous skull (saying that seems a little weird!) is from the stamp set From the Crypt. I heat embossed the image in black because it always shows up best that way. It is layered on some Rich Razzleberry and an Old Olive scallop square.

Tonight I'm off to volunteer at an art exhibition that the Friends of Borderland is hosting at the mansion at Borderland State Park. It's a great event that we put on every year. So if you live in southeastern Massachusetts and looking for something to do tonight, come on by. We'd love to see you!

ColourQ 107 and Viva La Verve

2011-10-20T05:00:00.000-04:00

It was only a matter of time before I stumbled on a color challenge that would give me an excuse to ink up my new Gently Falling stamp set. This week's challenge at the ColourQ was just the thing.

Isn't that a great bunch of colors? Since there's a big "boo" in the image graphic, my first thought was to make a Halloween card, but then I thought it would be more fun to transform these colors into something different. And of course, I needed an interesting sketch to turn my idea into a reality. I chose one of the October Viva La Verve challenges.

The other day, I confessed to having a fascination for leaf stamps. I didn't even know that I had one until I realized that I owned two sets of leafy stamps: French Foliage and Autumn Splendor. Then to my surprise the Holiday Mini came out and it had another leaf stamp Gently Falling and I found myself captivated by it and all the cards I'd seen made with it. It was a given that I would need that stamp set!

I really like how this turned out. Quite often when I sit down to make a card, I have a vague idea what I want it to look like, but my process is somewhat fluid in that I decide a lot of the elements as I progress. I started this card out as nothing more than an Early Espresso base and a bit of designer paper from the Berry Blossoms set. Where I ended up with the Pumpkin Pie circles I originally wanted to use the Curly Label punch but it was too big. Then I had grand ideas of circles, but realized my fussy-cut leaves would substitute just as well for one of them. I even changed my mind about the sentiment a couple of times before ending up with this one from Posy Punch.

The whole process is one of the things I love about creating cards. I can start with a simple idea and let the whole thing evolve. I guess the creative process is part of the reason why we all do what we do when we sit down (or stand, as is often the case) to create. I love what I do and I hope you do too!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for reading my ramblings!

Freshly Made Sketches 7

2011-10-19T05:00:00.000-04:00

It's Wednesday so I hope you'll join the Freshly Made Sketches crew and take a look at the fantastic sketch we've got for you this week.

For me, there's nothing like a clean sketch as a great jumping off point for a project. Of course, at Freshly Made Sketches we like clean cards, but not necessarily clean and simple, so you can add embellishments to your card to suit your taste. This week, I decided to do another Christmas card in my never-ending quest to find one that I really like this holiday season!

I have a confession to make. A while back I said that my stash of holiday designer paper had grown to such massive proportions that I wasn't going to buy any new ones this year and instead concentrate on using up what I had. So far so good, but I did have a moment of weakness and bought the red and silver glimmer paper. I couldn't resist it and I'm not ashamed to say that this stuff is completely awesome! It has just the right amount of shimmery goodness and I don't regret caving at all! You can see that I used it here for my scallop circle.

My card base is a bit of textured Soft Sky cardstock that I found in my stash. I followed that up with some designer paper in Always Artichoke from the retired Wintergreen paper pack. The image is from the new Snow Much Fun stamp set. I don't usually go for that kind of stamp set, but these guys are so cute and I saw lots of cards made with them that really got my creative juices flowing that I decided to buy it. I colored it with my blender pens and markers. I finished it off with an Always Artichoke button and a couple of flowers punched from the retired Trio Flower punch with an added pearl in the center.

Now for loads of inspiration you should definitely pay a visit to our wonderful design team, which this week includes Sandra Azzopardi as our featured designer. Then make sure you go back to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to show us what you've made!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright

Paper Players 68

2011-10-17T05:00:00.000-04:00

This week the challenge at The Paper Players is to make a clean and simple Christmas card using the colors red and green.

I think I can do that. I've been trying to make Christmas cards lately in the hopes that I'll stumble upon the one design that I think I can easily replicate for this Christmas card season. It has not happened yet, but I'll keep plugging along! As is my usual, I like to combine a couple of challenges, so I chose one of the October Viva La Verve challenges for my sketch.

I love square cards, and I love circles on cards because it gives me an excuse to use my scallop nesties, so I jumped on this sketch challenge right away!

The designer paper I used comes from the retired Merry Moments set which gave me a chance to use Garden Green, a color I like but don't use very often. The stamped swirl is from Snow Buddies and the sentiment is from Christmas Greeting. I cut a couple of the snowflakes from the Northern Frost decorative strip die and finished them off with a glimmer brad. Oh, I almost forgot that I used a bit of the velvet ribbon from the holiday mini.

Lately I've had to find some creative ways to get to do some stamping. A couple of months ago, I adopted a couple of kittens from a local shelter and I have found that they like to be wherever I am. For one thing, they like to climb up my legs when I'm standing at the kitchen counter trying to make dinner. And when it comes time to get some stamping done, they see this as an opportunity to take a nap on my laptop, or right in the middle of the work area on my desk, or on my lap! They're really quite adorable and I've put a cuddly pet bed in my stamp room, so that they can nap there when I'm working, but that doesn't always work and sometimes I have to just give up for the night!

This is a picture I took of them watching Top Gear shortly after they adopted me(!) They're a bit bigger now, but just as adorable!

FTL106 and Creative Sketches 52

2011-10-16T11:43:00.000-04:00

I was unfortunately in need of a sympathy card, and although the color challenge at Creative Sketches would make a fabulous autumn card, I thought it would suit my purpose as well.

Then I poked around blogland and found that the FTL sketch gave me some ideas.

Here's what I came up with.

I think it's sort of soft and serene and although I think the button adds a little bit of fun, I decided to go with it because it finishes off the center of the flower quite nicely. It seems like it's been a while since I made a card using Crumb Cake, which is odd since it's one of my favorite colors to use. So it's nice to look at this one and see all that Crumb Cake space!

Well, I'm off to the grocery store before the Patriots game starts, then I'll hole myself up in my stamp room and try to create something while watching the very handsome Tom Brady run around the field!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Lab Challenge 55

2011-10-15T05:00:00.000-04:00

This month at the ColorLab we've got an interesting color combo for you!

And we've also got a terrific guest designer joining us! Paula Stewart of Sweet Shoppe Cards is joining us this month and she's got this great clean stamping style that I just know you're going to love.

I mixed a little bit of the old and the new with my card. The designer paper I used is from the Beyond the Garden pack, the sentiment is from Just Believe, and the flower is stamped in my brand new Creative Elements stamp set. I can see a lot of potential with that stamp! May layout is the sketch challenge courtesy of Cards & Things.

Now it's your turn to visit the ColorLab design team and load up on the inspiration you will find there. Then hop on over to the ColorLab and use the linky tool to show us your creation!

Juanita Golson
Jennifer Weide
Paula Stewart - our guest designer this month

Thanks for stopping by!

MOJO 210 and Color Throwdown 163

2011-10-14T05:00:00.000-04:00

There was something about the latest MOJO and Color Throwdown challenges this week that made it impossible for me to resist.

It could be the multiple layers, or the scallop border, or the Early Espresso. In the end, I'm not sure that it matters at all, because the sketch is great and the colors are perfect for it so I combined them and created this card.

My niece, who was feeling a bit under the weather when I made this, will be the recipient of this card. The card base is Early Espresso as well as those circles at the top. They are simply one-inch circles that have been sponged on the edges with Early Espresso to give them some definition. The Baja Breeze designer paper is from Greenhouse Gala. The flower is from the Greenhouse Garden stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Freshly Made Sketches 6

2011-10-12T04:30:00.000-04:00

It's Wednesday so that means it's time for another great sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches!

Who wouldn't love a card that has many layers, circles, scallops and ribbon? I know I do!

I went with a Christmas theme this week and used scraps from some retired designer paper called Dashing and Ski Slope. I paired that with a retired set of snowflakes called (appropriately) Snowflakes and the tree full of sentiments is from the Perfect Presentation set.

This week Lauri Ingram is joining as our special featured designer and, of course, our own Clean Team of Freshly Made Sketches designers have got some great cards for you to see. Be sure to check out the cards the design team has made and then go on over to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to show us what you've got!

Here's our fabulous design team:

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright
Lauri Ingram (our featured designer this week)

Paper Players 67 and Sketchbook Saturday 32

2011-10-11T20:39:00.001-04:00

After a VERY busy long weekend, I finally got a chance to sit down in my stamp room and get my fingers all inky. I chose Jaydee's very awesome color challenge at The Paper Players and the Sketchbook Saturday sketch as my inspiration.

Since these colors are obviously all about autumn, I bet you thought I was going to make a card using my French Foliage stamp set. Well, surprise!

I actually own another leafy stamp set, Autumn Splendor, and I thought it would be a nice change to ink it up for these challenges. I did a little rock-and-rolling with these leaves, but I wasn't entirely happy with the results so I ended up sponging the edges of the leaves as well. I think they look better all inked up this way.

I seem to have a fascination with leaf stamps and I don't know why. In fact, the big brown truck paid me a visit today and delivered the new stamp set Gently Falling, so I hope to give that one a go really soon! I've seen lots of wonderful cards made with that set, so I've got lots of inspiration rolling around my head!

Thanks for stopping by today!

A La Card Monkey 77

2011-10-07T22:47:00.001-04:00

Today I have the distinct pleasure of being the guest designer at A La Card Monkey! This week the designers have created a sketch for you that is all about autumn leaves!

And of course, when I see autumn leaves I immediately think of one of my all-time favorite stamp sets French Foliage.

What a great layout! I used the colors from the Stampin' Royalty color challenge to create this card, along with the First Edition designer paper. And of course I used the fabulous French Foliage stamps for the focal point.

Don't forget to stop on by A La Card Monkey and join us with this awesome challenge!

MOJO 209

2011-10-06T19:38:00.000-04:00

The saga of me trying to use as much of my Christmas designer paper as I can continues today with the MOJO sketch.

This card features some paper from Holiday Treasures and Merry Moments. As I was assembling this card and trying to figure out what I was going to do for the circle in the sketch, I stumbled upon the Sizzix die for this bird. I cut out two: one in Chocolate Chip and one in Riding Hood Red, which you can see peeking out from behind the Chocolate Chip one. I thought it was a fun deviation from the circle.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Freshly Made Sketches 5

2011-10-05T04:30:00.000-04:00

Wednesday is, of course, challenge day at Freshly Made Sketches and today I'm pleased to introduce you to two new members of our design team, Cindy Hall and Jennifer Timko. I'm so happy to welcome them to our Freshly Made Sketches team. I know that you are going to love their cards just as much as I do. And this week we've also got a new guest designer Anne Marie Hile helping us out.

Now, on to the sketch this week. It's got some great lines and a circle, which I always find hard to resist.

My card base is River Rock and is layered with Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy and some of the patterns from the Well Worn designer paper pack. I love stitching my cards, so I dragged out my mini sewing machine and quickly sewed around the edges. The leaves from French Foliage are stamped in Early Espresso and the smaller one is rock-and-rolled with Cajun Craze and Early Espresso. I decided at the last minute to add the small leaf in the center which I colored in Always Artichoke. A Cajun Craze button finishes it off. The sentiment is from the hostess set Posy Punch. I inked it up in Versarmark and heat embossed it so that it would show up nicely.

I was greatly inspired by this stunner by Erna Logtenberg when I made this. It's a fabulous card and I put it straight away into my faves. Thanks for the inspiration Erna!

Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some fantastic cards for you this week. I hope you'll stop by their blogs for a ~~little~~ lot of inspiration. Then pop back on over to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to show us what you've created. I can't wait to see what you do with this sketch!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright
Anne Marie Hile (Guest Designer)

Two Challenges for My Friend

2011-10-02T17:49:00.000-04:00

Create With Connie and Mary has a great color challenge this week.

I mentioned the other day that I love color combos that add a little black, so it was a no-brainer for me to pick this challenge to participate in. I thought the sketch at Stamping 411 had great possibilities, so I chose it for my layout.

I ended up not embellishing the sketch all that much. I think I still haven't quite found my mojo after my creative hiatus this week. I'm having a hard time deciding what to do, but I will keep plugging along.

Yup, this one's pretty simple. A few layers of Sahara Sand, Basic Black and Pool Party. The stamped images are from Pocket Silhouettes and My Friend. I finished it up with some Basic Black grosgrain ribbon layered with the Pool Party ribbon with the curly edges. A Basic Black button tied with some crochet thread and I was done! I like it, though. Simple and pretty!

Thanks for stopping by today!

MOJO 208 and Picture Perfect Creations 73

2011-10-01T19:35:00.001-04:00

Boy, have I been MIA this week. Long story short, my Dad has been in the hospital since last Saturday. I just picked him up today and brought him home, and this is just about the first time I've sat down in my stamp room and tried to be productive. Since the hospital is quite a distance from my house, this week has been nothing but a series of late nights.

I'm so behind on everything, including commenting on blogs that I love to visit. And to top it all off blogger is having issues again with commenting. It seems like blogs where the comments are embedded as part of the post are unable to receive comments from me (and I suspect others). So I apologize for my silence this week!

Now, on to a card that I actually started on Monday and have finally gotten around to finishing. I made it for the latest MOJO sketch and the color challenge at Picture Perfect Creations.

I wanted to make a card using these colors primarily because I love adding a little bit of black to a card. Especially when it has a bright color like Calypso Coral and a complementary color like Old Olive.

I used the Berry Blossoms designer paper layered on some Calypso Coral for my squares and rectangles. The flowers are from the gorgeous Raining Flowers stamp set and the sentiment (which does show up better in person) say "happiness always" and is from a retired Sale-A-Bration set called Whimsical Words.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Freshly Made Sketches 4

2011-09-28T04:30:00.000-04:00

We've got another great sketch for you to try at Freshly Made Sketches this week. And LeAnne Pugliese is joining us at Guest Designer!

I can hardly believe that we're up to our fourth week already! It's been such a treat to check out the submissions to our challenges. I love to see how everyone interprets the sketch, and I always learn a new thing or two. Often, I'll see something new and I think "now why didn't I think of that!" So keep 'em coming.

For my card this week, I've continued the Christmas theme.

The card base is Chocolate Chip and the designer paper is called Jolly Holiday. I finished it up with some Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive accents, including my snowflakes. The tag is from Two Tags, a Stampin' Up! exclusive Sizzix die.

I hope you have a chance to join us for our challenge this week. Our design team has lots of inspiration for you, so hop on over to their blogs and show them some love!

Then don't forget to hop on over to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to show us your creation!

Paper Players 65

2011-09-27T04:24:00.017-04:00

I've been plugging away making Christmas cards lately, but I still haven't settled on a design that can be easily mass-produced. Last year I made so many cards for challenges that I almost had enough to satisfy my Christmas card list, but this year I'd like to have a design of one or two that can be recreated fairly easily in case I need to make some in a hurry. I'm not saying that I sometimes forget to send cards to people, it's just that sometimes I forget to send cards to people. Hey, we old folks are forgetful sometimes. Just you wait, it will happen to you too!

So in this spirit, I found The Paper Players sketch challenge very helpful in my Christmas card quest.

Now, some of you might remember that I've been busy trying to use up my Christmas designer paper from years past. The one you see here is called Holiday Lounge and it's another reason why I saved what Ruby Red and Taken With Teal cardstock that I had on hand. The designer paper has a very cool, seventies, sort of retro look to it. I never seem to make a card that does this paper justice, but I actually like this one quite a bit. I softened the edges by sponging some Sahara Sand on pretty much every white surface you see, as well as all the designer papers. It really does help to soften the overall look of the card and I'm glad I did it (despite some initial misgivings about it)!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown 160 and Stamping 411 Sketch

2011-09-25T04:08:00.034-04:00

I've taken a little break from my Christmas cards to participate in the Color Throwdown challenge. The colors are awesome and the inspiration from the design team was very..........inspiring!

Add in the wonderful CAS sketch this week at Stamping 411 and my creative juices got going.

I had a general idea in my head how I wanted this card to look, but as I got assembling all the pieces I realized that I didn't know what stamped images I wanted, which meant I had trouble deciding how to proceed. Despite all the stamps I have, sometimes it seems like I don't have exactly the one I want! I eventually settled on a sentiment from Whimsical Words, a Sale-A-Bration set from last year, and an image from Simply Soft, a hostess set from the current catalog. I opted to forgo the bow in the sketch, because I wanted to keep the layout of my card pretty clean.

I love working with colors like these. There's just something about them that catches my eye and I'm happy to send a big thank you to Danielle from the Color Throwdown DT for picking them!

Thanks for stopping by!

A La Card Monkey 75

2011-09-24T17:38:00.000-04:00

This week the challenge at A La Card Monkey is a sketch with a Christmas theme. No problem for me since I've been trying to squeeze in as many Christmas cards lately as I can.

My card has a couple of things on it that I don't think I've used before. On that note, I wish someone could explain to me why I have a strange compulsion to buy cool crafting things, then never use them. I suspect I'm not alone in this, so maybe we should form a support group!

First I used some never-before-used chocolate chip ribbon from a set called Masterpiece. I also used a mini library clip. I've had those for ages and never thought I'd get to use them, but I decided it looked pretty good with my tag here. I had debated about using a button, but I didn't have any chocolate chip ones and nothing else I thought of looked good to my eye. Then I remembered the library clips and my tag was saved!

The pleated flower was made from some Holiday Treasures designer paper using a Sizzix decorative strip die called Mini Paper Rosettes. In fact, all the designer paper on this card is from that set. The sentiment came from the Delightful Decorations stamp set.

I actually got the idea for this tag from a very nice tag that is featured in the Holiday Mini. That tag had a few more layers and some stamp sets that I don't have, but I like my version too!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

MOJO 207 and ColourQ 103

2011-09-23T23:46:00.000-04:00

This has been a very busy week for me and tonight is the first time since Sunday that I've had a chance to sit down in my stamp room and create something. I'm quite sure that my mojo has deserted me because it took forever for me to decide what I wanted to do!

I ended up making a card for the latest MOJO Monday sketch challenge. MOJO Monday has been on vacation for the last couple of weeks, so I think I was the victim of some pent-up demand for their sketch.

Then I turned to the lastest ColourQ for my color palette. The colors this week are attention grabbing.

Not the sort of colors I would expect to see in late September, but perhaps that is why this challenge appealed to me so much. Wisteria Wonder is the new "purple" that I think is just wonderful. I've hardly used it, but that doesn't mean that I don't love it.

I knew that the Berry Blossoms designer paper included some of these colors, so I used some of it for my card.

I'm not sure you can tell, but the little flowers have been colored in both Calypso Coral and Poppy Parade. The sentiment is stamped in Poppy Parade. Initially I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the little bow treatment in the sketch, but ended up going with a bit of scrunchy ribbon tied in a bow.

It's good to be back in my stamp room and I hope that this weekend I can spend some more time there. I'm so behind on the challenges that I like to do, that I'd like to sneak a few in before they expire. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Freshly Made Sketches 3

2011-09-21T04:29:00.040-04:00

Hello everyone! Today is our third challenge at Freshly Made Sketches! We've had such an unbelievable response to our clean sketch challenge. It seems that a lot of people appreciate a clean card! So, it's no surprise that we've got another great sketch for you to try this week.

The other day I said that I was going to try to use up the Christmas designer paper that I had in my stash rather than buying any new paper this year. I'm committed to this challenge, so I dug deep into my stash for my card today.

For this card, I used a small piece of designer paper from a set called Wintergreen. This set features colors like Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, and Soft Sky (at least I think it's Soft Sky). I saved what I had left of Sage Shadow specifically because I had this designer paper, so that's what I used for my card base. The larger stamped image is the wonderful poinsetta stamp from the Bells & Boughs stamp set, which I stamped in Always Artichoke and colored with my Cherry Cobbler marker. The two holly stamps are from the same set as well as the sentiment.

So now it's time for you to check out the inspiration from our Clean Team of Freshly Made Sketches designers. This week the talented Nance Leedy is joining us as our guest designer. Once you see what the Clean Team has created I'm sure you'll want to show us your creation too!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 135

2011-09-19T04:33:00.003-04:00

This year I have decided to not buy any new Christmas designer paper. (I think I may have just heard a collective {gasp} from blogland)! After I took an inventory of the Christmas stamps and designer paper I had in my stash, I realized that it would be quite a self-imposed challenge if I were to use what I already have instead of buying some new stuff.

I've used a bit of it already, but now I've got to commit myself because I've told all of you about it! Incidentally, I have 11 packs of designer paper with a Christmas theme. They're not all full packs, but some have quite a bit left. So in this spirit today I made a card for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge so I could get a jump start on using this stuff!

The paper I used here is from a set called Merry Moments. It's got all sorts of colors that I love working with: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Old Olive, Garden Green and Very Vanilla. This card uses some of the Old Olive and Real Red paper. I even decided to use some Old Olive and Real Read for my snowflake. Very non-traditional I know, but I think it works here!

Thanks for stopping by today!

FTL158 and Create With Connie and Mary 167

2011-09-18T16:43:00.000-04:00

My first thought when I saw the latest color challenge at Create With Connie and Mary was of a Halloween card.

But I saw that quite a few cards from the design team were all about autumn, so I thought I'd make a card with that theme instead. I saw a neglected stamp set in my stash called Autumn Splendor so I inked that up for this card and used the Clean and Simple Stamping sketch for my layout.

This sketch was perfect to let leaves take center stage. I inked up two of them then cut them out so that I could layer them. Even though you can't see it, the top one is popped up with dimensionals. The sentiment is from Pocket Silhouettes.

I also did something I almost never do. By wrapping the linen thread around the card base, it is exposed on the inside of the card. I really don't like doing that. And I mean I really don't like doing that. I don't like ribbon showing on the inside of my cards or even the little metal things on brads. I usually have enough layers on my cards to hide these messy details, but on this card I didn't want a layer on top of the textured Basic Gray cardstock that I used as my base. So I ended up cutting another piece of Basic Gray and layering it on the inside of the card to cover the thread. Problem solved!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Card Patterns 132 and Cards & Things 87

2011-09-16T04:30:00.024-04:00

The color challenge this week at Cards & Things was too good to resist!

I see a challenge with Crumb Cake and I cannot resist it! Add some Early Espresso and all my creative juices start flowing. Then add a bit of Pretty in Pink and Rose Red and I'm in heaven! Now all I needed was an awesome sketch challenge to go with this fabulous color challenge. Enter the Card Patterns sketch.

Square card + CAS layout + awesome color challenge = card I love to create!

I actually tried a couple of things for the focal point of this card before settling on this. The larger flower layer is colored with a Rose Red marker and the smaller with a Pretty in Pink marker. The center of the flower is colored with Early Espresso. And I mananged to find some Pretty in Pink brads to add above the flower. I've had those for ages so it felt good to put them to use!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Lab Challenge 54

2011-09-15T04:36:00.025-04:00

Today is the 15th which means it's time for another great color challenge from the ColorLab!

Great colors for a Halloween card, wouldn't you say? Yesterday it was a Christmas card, today it's a Halloween one. I keep going back and forth between those holidays lately and it's been a whole lot of fun!

The other day, I made a Halloween card with what I consider to be the best skull stamp ever. Well today's card features the best witch stamp ever! It's from a set called Best Fiends (from the 2006 Holiday Mini) and along with this witch features a couple of characters that look a lot like Count Dracula and Herman Munster. It's one of my all-time favorite Halloween stamp sets and I'll NEVER part with it!

I watercolored my witch to give her a Lucky Limeade face and a Rich Razzleberry Robe. Add a little Basic Gray and I finished off her hat. Look at that adorable face that only a mother could love! I also colored her stripey socks with some Lucky Limeade. (Whenever I see striped socks, I think of Witchy Poo from H.R. Pufnstuf. I guess you could say this old girl is my Witchy Poo)!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and don't forget to head on over to the ColorLab and check out the samples from the design team. Then join us by using the linky tool to show us your creation! Don't forget you have a whole month to join in the fun!

Freshly Made Sketches 2

2011-09-14T06:34:00.053-04:00

I'm so excited to be bringing you a card I made for the second sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches! We had an unbelievable turnout for our first week with 41 participants! So I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their support. I had so much fun looking at everyone's fabulous cards and marveling at everyone's talent. I can't wait to see what's in store for us this week!

Lesley has cooked up another great sketch for us. Have a look!

So on to my card. I've been thinking that I really need to get going on my Christmas cards, so that's the theme I chose for my card.

I used Chocolate Chip as my card base for no other reason I handn't used it in a really long time. It used to be my go-to color for a lot of my cards, but since Early Espresso came along, I have been neglecting it. I was feeling a little guilty so I used it along with some retired designer paper called Ski Slope.

For my stamped image, I used the gorgeous sentiment stamp from Season of Joy. I oh-so carefully inked it up with Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Old Olive and Baja Breeze markers. I was a little nervous that the image wouldn't stamp cleanly, so I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that it looked almost perfect! I colored in the snowflake again with some Baja Breeze, punched it out, and layered it with dimensionals over the original image. I think it's a little hard to see in the picture. And I also used a red glimmer brad on the center of my snowflake and I'm almost embarrassed to so say that I think this is the first time I've used one of those! I bought them last year from the Holiday Mini and never used them. (Oh the shame)!

Now it's time for you to check out the samples from our amazing design team. Then you should definitely head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and link up your project. I can't wait to see what you create!

and our guest Designer Ann Schach

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge 220

2011-09-13T04:55:00.013-04:00

I've been in a mood lately to use up some of my old designer series paper. So for today's card, which uses the Stamping 411 sketch, I found and used some paper called Apple Cider.

Among other colors, it features Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, and River Rock. Although I still had some bits of Really Rust cardstock left, oddly I didn't keep the ink so I substituted Dusty Durango instead. I was pleased to see the colors are pretty close.

I rock and rolled the leaves in Dusty Durango and Chocolate Chip. (Really what is it about those leaves that somehow demand the rock and roll technique)? A vintage brad captures a small bit of crochet trim ribbon and the sentiment is from Matchbox Messages.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

PPA110 and Deconstructed Sketch 18

2011-09-11T04:07:00.016-04:00

This week the challenge at Pals Paper Arts is to make a Halloween project.

As soon as I saw this challenge I got it in my head to use the best skull stamp ever to grace the stamping world! Of course, I'm talking about the skull stamp from the retired SU set, From the Crypt. I chose the newest Deconstructed Sketch challenge for my layout.

I took a little liberty with the oval layer. And by "liberty" I mean that I made it a circle.

Forgive me, but I had to do it. That fantastic skull wouldn't fit on an oval! As per my usual, I heat embossed the image in black. Stamping it in black ink just doesn't do it justice. And if you're wondering what the designer paper is, let me tell you that I went so far into the vault to get it that it could be weeks before I emerge! It's from a single-sided designer paper set called Halloween Night. And since I have every mini since I started my Stampin' Up! journey I looked it up and found it in the Holiday Mini from 2006!

Now, I hope you don't think I have a morbid fascination with skulls after reading this! I just love Halloween stuff. The scarier the better! And this stamp is just so awesome! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Color Throwdown 158 and FTL157

2011-09-10T09:37:00.001-04:00

This week the color challenge at the Color Throwdown features an old favorite and a new one.

The old favorite is the light gray for which I used SU's retired Going Gray. I was so disappointed when that color was retired, especially since there was nothing to replace it. I have small amounts left but that was enough to use on my card. And my new favorite? The delicious Island Indigo, of course!
A little help from the Clean and Simple Stamping challenge and my card was born.

I really love how the Peach Parfait looks against the Island Indigo. I keep looking at this card and thinking tht it reminds me of Moroccan colors. I don't know why, I've never been to Morocco, but these colors (especially Island Indigo) seem to bring to my mind the vibrant and rich colors of a bazaar.
The flowers here are from the gorgeous Raining Flowers stamp set. The larger flower was stamped off once so that it wouldn't be quite as dark as the smaller flower layered on top. Both were mounted on dimensionals. The sentiment is from another old favorite, the retired Great Friend.

The weather here is beautiful after several days of gloomy rain. I hope to spend some time outside with the sun on my face, but I also hope to spend some time in my stamp room getting a head start on some cards I need to make. I wish the weekends were longer and that I didn't have to work on Monday, but we do what we can!

Thanks for stopping by today!

ColourQ 101 and Inkspirations 85

2011-09-08T04:56:00.037-04:00

The other day I was looking at some designer paper that I had in my stash and I came upon some called Cottage Wall. One of the colors featured in this paper pack was Orchid Opulence and I thought I'd never get to use the scraps I had in that color since the color was retired and nobody ever thinks of those retired colors anymore. Well, to my surprise this week the ColourQ challenge features this forgotten color!

And it also features some other fabulous colors. Anyone who visits my blog (and a big heartfelt thank you to those who do!) know that Lucky Limeade has almost replaced Kiwi Kiss in my affections so I'm all over a challenge that features that color. Then I see it's paired with Pool Party, a color that I don't have a lot of experience with. But I see that it pairs really well with the other colors so I'm anxious to try it out with my card. I ended up choosing the Inkspirations sketch challenge as my layout.

At first I was a little apprehensive about attempting this challenge. It seemed like there were so many layers that I wouldn't know what to do with. But I talked myself into attempting it and once I broke it down, I realized that those layers were very manageable.

After my white base I added a Rich Razzleberry layer that I scalloped on one side. To this I added my oh-so-rare Orchic Opulent designer paper. I topped that with some more Rich Razzleberry cardstock. To create a little visual interest, I stitched each layer of Rich Razzleberry. I topped it all with some flowers stamped in Pool Party accented with some Lucky Limeade leaves.

I'm pleased with how this came out. The colors are unusal and vibrant. I'm glad I attempted these two challenges!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches Debut

2011-09-07T04:00:00.032-04:00

Good morning everyone! I'm so excited to announce that today is the beginning of a brand new sketch challenge. It's called Freshly Made Sketches and I do hope that you'll hop on over and check us out.

Today is our debut sketch designed by the stamper who never sleeps, Lesley. Check it out:

Our challenge is to keep your card clean. Not clean and simple, just clean! Not sure what we mean? Be sure to check out the samples from the design team for loads of inspiration. Now on to my card!

I chose a color combo of Early Espresso, Old Olive, Peach Parfait and Bermuda Bay. I used one of my favorite stamp sets from the new catalog, Array of Sunshine, which is a hostess set. I even managed to work in some Early Espresso bakers twine. I can already see a tendency to hoard that bakers twine, so I'm trying to force myself to use it more!

So let's get sketchy everyone! You can find the challenge here with a linky tool to show us your creation. And here's where I introduce our amazing Clean Team. Stop by to check out their creations!

and our Guest Designer Jaydee