Carol's Flower Pot Card

Today I'm off to my friend Carol's to celebrate her new home. I made this card for her. I had seen this tutorial a while ago and wanted to try it out. Since fall is just around the corner, I felt like making a summery, flowery card. Don't get me wrong, I like the fall, but I LOVE summer! The recipe:

Stamps: Petal Pizzazz

Paper: Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, Berry Bliss

Ink: Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Only Orange, Old Olive

Accessories: White Satin Ribbon

Retro - What ???

So Lindsey (who makes the best sangria) asked me to come up with some ideas for "retro" thank you cards for her cousin's shower. Now, my idea of retro is Mrs. Cleaver vacuuming the house in a belted-dress, but that wasn't exactly appropriate here. My other idea of retro is a sort of "mod" look. Rounded edges, that sort of thing. I wouldn't exactly call this "my style" so it was fun to think outside the box and make some cards that I probably would not ordinarily make. I only made two but I hope to squeeze a couple more in before I go on vacation, but I'm not sure I'll be able to since the next couple of days are chock-a-block full. This card uses the Color Throwdown challenge colors from last week and AVS03 (which is a MOJO sketch challenge from about a year ago(!!):






The recipe: Stamps: Simple Shapes, Matchbox Messages
Paper: Kraft, Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Mambo Melon, Whisper White
Ink: Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo
Accessories: EK Success Punch


This other card I actually like a little better. It was super easy to put together and the colors are unusual, which I like. I used the same Simple Shapes stamp set, CC232 Color Challenge and a Card Positioning Systems sketch from a while ago.



The recipe: Stamps: Simple Shapes, Artfully Asian
Paper: Taken With Teal, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla
Ink: Taken With Teal, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Taken With Teal Ribbon, 1/2" Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch

Christmas in August

I took a break from my Halloween contemplations to make this card for the Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge. For some reason, I felt like doing a Christmas Card, but I'm not sure what about this sketch lead me in that direction. I've done nothing the past couple of weeks but think about Halloween goodies, so maybe subconciously I needed a break. In any event, I like how this turned out. Clean, simple but colorful. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Season of Joy
Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Ski Slope
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Versa Mark
Accessories: Rich Razzleberry Ribbon, Scallop Border Punch, Crystal Effects
Techniques: Embossing

Blog Award

Laurie has nominated me for a Kreative Blogger award. I could hardly believe it when I saw it. I can't tell you how much I really appreciate it. Laurie's was one of the first blogs I started "following" because she always makes the most beautiful cards, tags, gifts and other things. AND she has awesome recipes too! Thanks Laurie!

In order to accept the award I have to 1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award. 2. Copy the logo and place it on my blog. 3. Link the person who nominated me for this award. 4. Name seven things about me that people might find interesting. 5. Nominate seven Kreativ Bloggers. 6. Post links to the seven blogs I nominate. 7. Leave comments on all seven blogs letting them know I nominated them. So here goes:

Seven things you {might} find interesting about me:

1. By day, I work in a bank - I'm a total number cruncher
2. I became a lifetime member of WW in May of this year
3. I have been married for sixteen years
4. I am a BIG Red Sox fan
5. I volunteer on the board of directors for the Friends of Borderland (a state park in Massachusetts)
6. I love to go shopping for antiques. For some reason I love other people's stuff!
7. I love to travel.

Here are the blogs I nominate:

Butternut Sage Designs
STAMPARADISE
Rain Puddles Designs
Stamps Paper Glitter
Stamping Block
It's A Stamp Thing

With Fiends Like This.........

I am SO glad that Mercy decided to start her Tuesday sketch challenges again. I wasn't able to participate in last week's challenge, but I wanted to make sure I made a card this week. I dug out one my all-time favorite Halloween stamp sets for this one (as well as some old in colors). I've been thinking so much about some fun things I'm going to make for Halloween that every card I think of has some kind of Halloween theme. I hope you like it. The recipe:

Stamps: Best Fiends, Sanded

Paper: Vintage Violet, Basic Black, Whisper White, Halloween Night

Ink: Basic Black, Vintage Violet, Basic Gray, Blush Blossom, Real Red, Old Olive

Accessories: Vintage Violet Ribbon

Technique: Sponging

Jane and Steve Get Married

My sister-in-law Jane got married this past weekend and this is the card I made for her and her new husband, Steve. I used the MOJO98 sketch challenge for my layout and reverted to my new favorite DSP, Nouveau Chic. The colors are so cool, I think I may try using it for some halloween fun. I'm experimenting with my card photos (again) and am trying out a new style a-la Kristina Werner. I love how she uses patterned paper for her backgrounds. It seems to really make the card pop. I also like the wide-screen format of her photos, but I haven't figured out yet if my camera has that feature. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how this looks. I couldn't bear to use my SU! paper for a measley background shot, so the other day, I went to AC Moore and picked up a bunch of Cosmo Cricket and Basic Grey paper (my favorites after SU!). The one in this photo is Cosmo Cricket. The recipe:

Stamps: Wonderful Words, Kind & Caring Thoughts

Paper: Sage Shadow, Basic Black, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White, Nouveau Chic

Ink: Sage Shadow, Apricot Appeal

Accessories: Sage Shadow ribbon, embossing powder