Dynamic Duos 4 and Retro Sketches 13

It's like baby-ville around here lately.  That's right - don't adjust your set - you've arrived at the right blog.  I just don't normally do all that many baby cards.  But my cousin and his wife are expecting a baby soon and I needed a card for the shower next month.  By some strange cosmic interference, the colors this week at Dynamic Duos and the latest retro sketch were absolutely perfect for what I had in mind.

All I can say is good thing I bought some baby stamps recently.  I think this is the third baby card I've made this year alone.  And that's saying something - because I've had a long baby drought.  Yesterday, of course, was the baby blog hop in Rita's honor and today I switched gears to make a boy card in lovely shades of blue.

The hand stamp is from Baby Prints which I embossed in white.  The "baby" stamp is from a retired sentiment set called All Year Cheer II.  I did a little zig-zag stitch around my tag, just because I love doing that and I think it adds a little pizzazz to something that would otherwise be kind of blah.

I'm so glad you took the time to stop by!  See you soon!

It's an FMS Baby Blog Hop

Hello everyone!  And a very special hello to Rita!

Today is a very special Freshly Made Sketches day.  Usually we show you a sketch and some fabby samples from the clean team.  Well today, we've got that and more!  

Our own Rita is having a baby soon and after this week will be taking some time off from Freshly Made Sketches.  She designed the sketch this week and thinks we all made some pretty nice cards, but what she doesn't know is that we all made baby cards to celebrate this special event!  And even better, this week we're being joined by some old friends for a baby blog hop!

I found this very cute DSP in my stash.  I don't know what it's called but it's got some great colors like Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink.  Great colors for a baby card, I think!

So hop along with us as we celebrate our own sweet Rita!

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Hall

Erna Logtenberg

Jen Mitchell (that's me)!

Jennifer Timko

Kathy Turner

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Nance Leedy

Tui Nathan

Tara Murphy Bourgoin

colourQ 139

Well, Tuesday means it's back to work for me after a lovely three day weekend.  But Tuesday also means that it's time for a new colourQ challenge.  

I got some help for this card from the Unscripted Sketches challenge.  I stamped the big flower from PTI's Rosie Posie in the corner.  It's hard to see in the picture but the horizontal Crumb Cake layer is embossed with the Stripes embossing folder.  The smaller, blue layered flower is also PTI and the sentiment is from Pretty Postage. 

I hope you have time to join us this week at the colourQ.  I'm always amazed at the creativity that is inspired by this color challenge.  So head on over to have your socks knocked off by the amazing design team, then create something fabulous.  And don't forget to link up, for heaven's sake!

Paper Players 97

I spent this weekend trying to get my new vegetable garden ready so that I could plant my veggies.  I am glad that I can report that I was successful!  In fact, as I sit here typing this I am contemplating my dirt-covered feet and realizing that today was a good day in the sunshine tilling the earth!

My card today is for The Paper Players where LeAnne has cooked up an awesome sketch.  I started making this card yesterday and finished it up tonight.

To me, this sketch was tailor-made for showing off some DSP, so I figured I'd start off by picking a patterned paper and let my card evolve from that.  I looked through several candidates before settling on this subtle Sahara Sand print from Sweet Pea.  I followed it up with some accent colors of Chocolate Chip and Old Olive with my flowers colored in some dusky pinks.

The sentiment is from Perfectly Penned and - I can't believe I'm saying this - I've had that stamp set for nearly a year and it's the first time I've inked it up!  My Chocolate Chip stamp pad is the worst ever and I wanted the sentiment to really show up, so I inked it in Versamark then embossed it with some ancient SU! embossing powder called Powder Stack Earths.  It's not as good as the current embossing powder, but it gets the job done.

I'm sorry to say that it's back to work for me tomorrow.  I wish every week featured a three day weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!   

CCMC203

I love a good challenge and the sketch this week at Create With Connie and Mary was just that!  But that's what a challenge is all about so I dove feet first into this one.  (I didn't want to get too crazy).

I visited the lovely colourQ Compendium for some inspiration and decided on colourQ 32 for my colors of Kiwi Kiss, Groovy Guava, Crumb Cake, Basic Black and Whisper White. I was a bit undecided at first about what to do for the circle, but then I spied the retired Fabulous Flowers in my pile of stamps that I really need to get rid of and thought the big flower from that set would look nice inked up in Groovy Guava and layered on some Basic Black.

My little tag is just some layered Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss and some retired DSP from Urban Oasis.  I added an Antique Brad and some Linen Thread then finished the whole thing off with a sentiment from Something to Celebrate.  I think the colors qualify for man-card territory (in this case Father's Day) and since my father happens to like flowers, I'm not sorry that I added one!  

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm pretty pleased with how this came out, despite my earlier trepidation.  And I think if you haven't already done so, you should check out this challenging challenge at Create With Connie and Mary.  Challenges are fun!

Stampin' Royalty 125

There are some very pretty colors for the challenge this week at Stampin' Royalty.  The colors are perfect for spring and since we've been having a wonderful spring in my neck of the woods I just had to participate!  So I created a card using one of my all time favorite stamp sets.

It's been a long while since I inked up Best Blossoms, but I had a hankering to see those lovely flowers so I brought them out for this card.  I hand cut out some leaves then crimped them and sponged the edges a bit.  I thought they looked a little lonely so I cut out some Little Leaves and layered them together.  The pretty DSP is from Twitterpated and the sentiment is Verve.

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 36

Wednesday is the day when I get to show off the sketch from my favorite sketch challenge Freshly Made Sketches!  This week Tui has given us a great sketch that I'm pretty sure you will file away to use again and again.

I grabbed some of my retired Walk in the Park DSP for the small squares.  (I love to squeeze in a bit of Kiwi Kiss when I can)!  The big layer is stamped with the lovely grass from Inspired by Nature and the sentiment from Happy Everything is stamped over it.  Then I punched a couple of flowers from the retired Trio Flower punch, added a couple of basic pearls and Voila! A card that was pretty easy to put together, but looks good too!

Now head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and check out the design team inspiration.  Then link up your creation!

Here are some quick links to our amazing DT!

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Cindy Hall

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Rita Wright

Erna Logtenberg

Tara Murphy Bourgoin 

colourQ 138

This week at colourQ, not only are the colors totally cool, but the inspiration behind the colors that Arielle found is enough to make me swoon!

I. Love. Shoes.  Hello, my name is Jen and I love shoes.  In fact, I have been called Imelda Marcos.  My closet has so many shoes in it you'd think I was compensating for a childhood where I was barefoot all of the time.  And the sad thing is that I don't own any kind of shoe stamp.  Oh, the horror!  So, although I couldn't do this image justice I did the best I could with some flowers.

I stamped one of my favorite Verve floral stamps in Poppy Parade, then fussy cut them out and added a More Mustard button to the center.  The leaves were stamped in Crumb Cake.   To add some interest to the Pool Party layer I stitched a zig-zag around it.  This very cool layout is courtesy of the Sketchbook Saturday challenge, although I've just realized that I forgot the ribbon!  Yikes, I hate when that happens.  Apologies to Chupa!

I hope you have a chance to play along with us at colourQ!  The design team has got some fabulous inspiration for you, so head on over to check it out then upload your own creation!  Don't forget to link!

Triple Treat Challenge

I seem to be getting better at combining three challenges because I find myself doing it more often lately.  Tonight I made a card combining the color challenge at Create With Connie and Mary with the sketch challenge at retro sketches and the CAS polka-dot challenge at The Paper Players.

The stamped image is, of course, one of my favorites from Raining Flowers.  Instead of leaves I highlighted the layered flower with a flourish from Sizzix called Scribbles Swirls (which, incidentally, makes some excellent reindeer antlers)!  I added some Basic Black grosgrain ribbon layered with some Pool Party ribbon and a Basic Black button.  

This is a great color combo and I'm so glad that Connie and Mary have been giving us some color challenges that encourage us use up some of our retiring color stash.  Poppy Parade is a lovely color and though I probably didn't use it as much as I should, I think I might miss it a little.  {Sniff}

This is a late post for me as I usually schedule them ahead of time for the morning, but I wanted to get this one in for the color challenge before it expired.  I hope you'll come back and visit on Tuesday where I've got a very cool color combo to show you for the latest colourQ challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dynamic Duos 3 and FTL191

One thing after another prevented me from doing any kind of creating this week, but Saturday night I had plans to catch up on what was going on with my favorite weekly challenges and find some inspiration.  I had been working outside in the garden all day and was exhausted but I wasn't going to let that stop me!  The colors at Dynamic Duos caught my eye and with the FTL sketch, I made this card.

I love to use black on a card, usually as an accent, but for this one I decided to let it really make a statement by using it as my big vertical layer.  I added some dry embossing to it (the dessert option on the challenge) then finished it off with the big daisy from the Sizzix Daisies #2 die. The sentiment is from Occasional Quotes.

I really tried to post this card last night, but I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I think I may have even snoozed a bit while hovering over the keyboard!   I've got another busy day ahead of me, but I'm going to try and get some stamping done for some of my other favorite challenges!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 35

I must be on a bit of a butterfly kick, because for my card this week for Freshly Made Sketches I've used my Sizzix Beautiful Butterflies die again.

Our sketch designer this week is Jennifer Timko who has created this one that has so many possibilities.  I decided to dip into my never-ending stash of designer paper and created the main layer with Not Quite Navy paper from Urban Garden.  The patterned layer on the butterfly is from the same pack.  I created the scallop layer from the Tasteful Trim Sizzix die, which I finished off with some hemp and a Baja Breeze button.  The sentiment is from Tiny Tags.

I can't wait to see what everyone creates with this versatile sketch.  And if you need a little inspiration, head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and check out the amazing design team creations.

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Cindy Hall

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Rita Wright

Erna Logtenberg

Tara Murphy Bourgoin 

colourQ 137

When I sat down to make my card this week for the amazing colors that Arielle has mixed up for us this week at colourQ, I had something quite different in mind.  But as these things usually go, I deviated from what I originally planned and wound up with this instead.

I tried a little watercoloring on the wee flowers from Growing Green.  The other day I mentioned to someone at work that I like to watercolor because it's somewhat forgiving.  You can lay down color in a slap-dash manner and it still looks pretty good.  But after seeing this, I think I need revise my opinion or at least practice more.  It looked so much better in my brain when I envisioned what this was going to look like!

The latest sketch at Unscripted Sketches provided my layout.  I liked the idea of the four different blocks and originally planned on using designer paper for them.  But then I got thinking about baker's twine and ended up twining some Lucky Limeade baker's twine around some cardstock to approximate the four blocks.

Now it's your turn.  Click here to check out the inspiration from the amazingly talented colourQ design team.    Then, as the man says, go ahead, grab your stickles and join us!

Retro Sketches 11 and Dynamic Duos 2

I love Saturday.  Not only is it the beginning of a two-day vacation from work, but it is also the day when there are a lot of challenges that are on my list to check out each week.  Unfortunately, I always seem to run out of time and don't always get to participate in all of them, but today I was lucky enough to combine two of them:  retro sketches and Dynamic Duos.

The big butterfly was cut with the Beautiful Butterflies Sizzix Bigz Die:  I layered some So Saffron cardstock with some DP that I found in my stash that matches extremely well.  I don't know what it's called or where it came from, but it provided a nice addition to my little butterfly.  The sentiment is one of my favorite "happy birthday" stamps from All Holidays.  

Today I spent some time in the garden doing some weeding, mowing the lawn and getting some flowers ready for planting and I'm pooped!  I'm lucky that I had some energy to find my way to my stamp room, but now that I'm here and I've made this card, I find myself completely tapped out and I'm heading off to sleep.

Thanks for stopping by!

MOJO 240 and Color Throwdown 191

The colors this week at Color Throwdown are so gorgeous I thought it would be easy peasy to put a card together.  Not so, I was soon to discover.  I picked the MOJO 240 sketch as my layout because it had lots of layers and I figured that was a good thing when working with such a diverse bunch of colors.

It took me quite a while to figure out how I wanted to use these colors, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure I like the result.  But after putting so much time and thought into a card, it seems ridiculous to hide it away, so I've gone ahead and posted it anyway.

On my Elegant Eggplant card base I added some Pool Party cardstock and designer paper.  Then I added a Certainly Celery circle with some Wintergreen DSP.  (This is actually a winter-themed paper  pack, but it's the only Certainly Celery DSP I own!  And yes, I'm pretty sure those are snowflakes)!!  I used a little poetic license with my pointy banner because although the base is Elegant Eggplant the DSP I used to layer over it is a bit of Concord Crush from Lap of Luxury.  The two colors actually look pretty good together!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dynamic Duos and Cards & Things 119

I have long suspected that Lesley is secretly a superhero.  And now her super powers have been revealed:  she is the mastermind behind the Dynamic Duos!

The first challenge, if we choose to accept it, is to create a project using Pool Party and Lucky Limeade.  How could I resist?  And I got a little help from the latest Cards & Things sketch challenge.

I hope you're not tired of seeing this awesome PTI flower, because I'm not tired of using it!  It's absolutely perfect for layering and always looks good with a brad or button in the center.  The very pretty DSP is from Everyday Enchantment and uses both of these colors beautifully.

I just made it under the wire for this inaugural challenge, but I highly recommend you head on over to check it out.  There's an amazing design team, loads of inspiration and I'm hoping that maybe if I play along long enough some of the super powers will rub off on me!