The Paper Players 110

Now that September is nearly here the days are shorter and nights are noticeably cooler.  I find myself gravitating towards cards using more fall-like colors.  Of course, the upcoming season also means Halloween and you may have read here a time or two that I really love making Halloween projects.  The sketch challenge this week at The Paper Players got me thinking about an old favorite pack of Halloween DSP called Halloween Night and thus my card was born.

In case you're wondering, the pretty purple-ish paper you're seeing is not Wisteria Wonder.  Is is the long-retired Vintage Violet and one of my all-time favorite colors.  I can't think of a Halloween project without thinking of this paper!  The witch is from Halloween Hoot and although her face is colored a little darker than I wanted, she is pretty darn cute!  I'm not at all sure that witches are supposed to be "cute" but I couldn't resist that description about this ol' gal.  It's like she's kicking up her heels to dance a little jig!

Lately I've been experimenting with Photoshop and how I edit my photos and the resulting blurry photos are making me wonder whether I need to schedule a visit with my eye doctor pronto, or go back to the old way I edited.  I've got a long weekend coming up so I hope to do some more experimenting.  If my cards look a little blurry I apologize, and hopefully I'll figure out what to do soon.

As always thanks so much for stopping by!  I really appreciate you taking the time to visit and comment!

Create With Connie and Mary 216 - It's a Scavenger Hunt!

There are some awfully fun things going on over at Create With Connie and Mary this week.  Not only do we have a fun color challenge, but there is a Scavenger Hunt going on.  And the prize?  One lucky winner will receive a subscription to the 2012 Create With Connie and Mary Holiday Edition!  Be sure to head on over to Create With Connie and Mary to read the rules of the contest.  But be sure you keep on reading here, because I've got a clue to share!

Now, on to my card.  As I contemplated what I wanted to do for this fabby color challenge, I came across a sketch that I had used previously to make a card.  I really liked that card so I decided to use the sketch again for my card this week.

Are these fantastic colors or what?  I stamped the flowers from Summer Silhouettes in Rich Razzleberry, then fussy cut them out.  I've got a simple layer of Night of Navy and Lucky Limeade which I jazzed up a bit with some Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine.  I thought the flowers were a little plain so I added a Basic Rhinestone to the center of each one, then added a few more randomly around the design.

Preview week at Create With Connie and Mary is winding down and with it, is your chance to sign up for the 2012 Create With Connie and Mary Holiday Edition at a discounted price.  But for this week only, you have a chance to win a subscription by hopping around the Design Team blogs and collecting some important clues in our Scavenger Hunt.  My secret Create word is is, so write it down and head on over to Create With Connie and Mary so you know what to do with it!

Thanks for stopping by today!  The Design Team has got some fabulous cards for you to get your creative juices flowing so be sure to stop on by.  Then grab those stamps and inks and join us.  Remember this is a Stampin' Up! only challenge so don't sneak any other stamps or paper in there!!

Freshly Made Sketches 50

Sometimes it's funny how ideas for making a card come to me.  The other day I went into my stamp room to make my card for this weeks challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  I was kicking around some ideas in my head when I happened to look down and spotted a small piece burlap ribbon that I got somewhere or another.  It was like a light bulb went off in my head and I knew just how I wanted my card to look!

My card base is Naturals Ivory cardstock which I hardly ever use but discovered matches the Orchard Harvest DSP quite well.  I used some of the Cajun Craze patterned paper as well as the More Mustard checkered paper from that pack.  I love how these colors paired with the burlap make a warm, and somewhat rustic card.  I thought about putting some pretty leaves on this for my focal point, but for the second time that night I looked over and saw my long-forgotten Spice Cake buttons and realized the big More Mustard one tied with some Linen Thread would be perfect!  Who would have thought that twice in one night I would be inspired by just casually looking around my stamp room!  I ought to try that more often!!

I hope you have time to look around your crafting space and see what you can find.  Then put it all together and join us for this sketch challenge.  My friends at Freshly Made Sketches have created some wonderful cards to inspire you, so be sure to stop on by check them out!

Lesley Croghan

Cindy Hall

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Allisa Chilton

Jen Sannes

Ann Schach

Linda Suarez

Jennifer Brum 

colourQ 152

I'm not at all ashamed to say that many elements of my card today for colourQ is a shameless copy of a card that I made at the  Stampin' Up! Regional in Providence, Rhode Island this past Saturday.  That being said I do, however, love the Clockworks stamp set and as I made my card at the Regional I resolved to use it soon.  Arielle's latest colourQ challenge provided the perfect opportunity.

My only complaint about this card is the faint coloring on the stop watch.  (That would be the very light gray image you see stamped on the Crumb Cake grunge image).  I used the new Basic Gray stamp pad and to say I'm disappointed with it would be an understatement.  The new Basic Gray is not even remotely close to the old Basic Gray (it's much lighter in color).  The other day I sent an email to demonstrator support to let them know my observations regarding this ink pad color and they are sending me a reinker to see if the problem is with the stamp pad (too dry) or the ink. They told me that I'm only the second demonstrator to report the issue so I'm glad that I sent that email.  It could be that I got a bum ink pad, but at least now I'll know and if it turns out to be the ink, at least Stampin' Up! will know.

The layout of my card comes from a somewhat liberal interpretation of the Unscripted Sketches challenge this week. 

By the way, when I make a card I've got my stamp in one hand and my stamp-a-ma-jig in the other because I can't sleep at night if I've stamped something uneven.  So, it's particularly refreshing to stamp images like these.  The whole idea of these grungy images is that they are stamped randomly and with abandon!  And I secretly love to let it all loose!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Mashup Meets retro sketches

I finally made it back into my stamp room to make something for fun.  I went to the Stampin' Up! Regional in Providence yesterday and about a week or so ahead of time was invited to join a group of about 25 ladies who would be doing a swap.  So all last week I was frantically trying to put together a card - I even brought stuff to work so that I could cut and assemble on my lunch hour!

The Regional was lots of fun.  The day was filled with lots of advice and everyone there received a free stamp set and a Christmas scrapping kit.  A few lucky ladies won some other free stuff along the way.  By the time I got home I was too tired to do anything creative so I spent the night catching up on blog visits and commenting.  

But today I was anxious to my fingers inky and as I did some sponging on this card my fingers are literally inky!

 

I used the colors from Friday Mashup, Midnight Muse, So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise, and Soft Suede as well as the sketch from retro sketches.  I cut the leaves out of the pretty Naturals Composition specialty paper with my Autumn Accents Bigz Die.  Then I sponged them with combinations of all the ink.  It's difficult to see in the picture, but the acorn was sponged with So Saffron and a little bit of Soft Suede.  And one of the leaves looks green because I sponged it with So Saffron and Tempting Turquoise and since yellow and blue make green that's what I ended up with!  Oops!

Well, it's back to my stamp room for me.  I've got loads to do in there in preparation for my DT challenges this week.  Thanks for stopping by!

Create With Connie and Mary 215

It's Thursday and that means it's time for a challenge from Create With Connie and Mary!  This week Connie and Mary have got a sketch for you and it's got some things that I love on a good sketch:  lots of layers! Take a look:

I've got to say that lately two of my favorite stamp sets are Everything Eleanor and Papillon Potpourri.  This is probably no surprise to anyone who is a frequent visitor here (apologies if you are tired of seeing me use these sets)!  So I was quite happy to use both sets on my card today.

The DSP is from Patio Party and the sentiment from Word Play is stamped in Midnight Muse on the fancy layer from Everything Eleanor which I stamped in Baja Breeze.  I cut a butterfly from the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die in Primrose Petals then layered one that I stamped from Papillon Potpourri on top.  A few Basic Pearls add some pizzazz.

It won't be long now before the Holiday Edition 2012 of Create With Connie and Mary begins!  And before you think it, I know it's only August, but we all know how quickly time flies and soon enough the holidays will be upon us.  So if you want to get in on the fun, head on over to Create With Connie and Mary and take advantage of the early bird pricing.

And while you're there be sure to check out the sketch and inspiration from the design team.  I hope you can join us!

Freshly Made Sketches 49

Today over at Freshly Made Sketches I'm the hostess and I've put together a sketch with some shapes that can easily be switched out for just about anything you can think of.  Our super-amazing design team has made some jaw-dropping cards with lots of fun details so be sure to pop on by and check them out.

I've made a few Halloween cards recently and I seriously considered doing another one for this sketch, but then I remembered this awesome stamp set that I got recently from The Alley Way Stamps.  Those little ornaments have got some personality (the girly one on the right reminds me of Mrs. Potato Head from Toy Story!) and I thought they'd be perfect in place of the circles on the sketch.  I added the holly and the adorable reindeer to finish it off.

The pretty designer paper with snowflakes is from Wintergreen, a holiday set that I've been reluctant to cut into, though I couldn't possibly articulate why!  Last year (or was it the year before) I made a pledge to not buy any new paper and instead to use my existing stash of holiday designer paper for all my Christmas cards.  Well, I've still got a huge stash left so I think I'm going to renew that personal pledge again this year.  I figure that eventually I'll get to the bottom of that pile!

I hope you have time to join us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  So grab those stamps and show us your shapes!  Here are some quick links to the design team.  You've got to check them out!

Cindy Hall

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Allisa Chilton

Jen Sannes

Ann Schach

Linda Suarez

Jennifer Brum 

colourQ 151

When I got my first look at Arielle's colors for the colourQ challenge this week, my first thought was Halloween.  My second thought was that I had an excuse to dig out my favorite skull stamp, which only ever sees the light of day when I make a Halloween card!

This card didn't turn out quite the way I envisioned when I started.  I made it this weekend while I was trying to solve a problem with my Internet connection, so I was a little distracted.  I changed my mind at least five times about the best way to add the Tempting Turquoise before I settled on this Chevron embossed cardstock and the companion bat.  I actually think the real star of this card is the skull.  It's from a stamp set called From the Crypt and it is hands-down my favorite Halloween image.  If you look closely at the swirly images around the skull you'll see bats, jack-o-lanterns, tree limbs, and scary ghosts.  It's awesome!

The layout for my card is the sketch from one of the Anni-VERVE-sary challenges.

Don't forget to head on over to colourQ and check out the challenge this week as well as all the inspiration from the design team.  Then ink up those stamps and join us!

retro sketches 25 and Anni-VERVE-sary

Hallelujah, I am back online!

Friday night McAfee did an update for the security software I have on my laptop.  By Saturday morning - NO INTERNET!  At first I didn't realize McAfee was the culprit and I spent several hours researching and talking to Verizon technical support.  I thought for sure my WiFi card was bad and went out to buy a new one and when that didn't work I realized that there was probably a software issue that was blocking my Internet access.  Long story, short it was some update that McAfee did, so I have temporarily disabled it so that I can get back online and get back to my blogging "business."

I made this card yesterday for the latest sketch challenge at retro sketches and also decided to add in the color challenge for Verve's Anni-VERVE-sary challenges that have been going on all week.

The DSP is from Woodland Walk which features Garden Green and Chocolate Chip.  The flowers are stamped in Regal Rose because I had a brad to match (!) and also because all my other pinks looked too washed out.  All the stamps that I used are Verve, which are not required for their challenge, but since it's their anniversary I thought it only fitting!

Well, I'm off to do some other things online before I re-install my security suite and see if that messes things up again.  Luckily I've been able to get online with my iPad so I could at least keep up with blog visits and commenting.  I tried to see if I could post to my blog using Safari, but I couldn't (the page didn't display correctly) and the Blogger app is total junk (IMHO).  I've got four blogs and no matter how many times I switched blogs on the app, it would only let me do a post to one of them (and it wasn't this one)!

Thanks for listening to my rant and for stopping by!

Create With Connie and Mary 214

This week at Create With Connie and Mary is a great color challenge that uses a couple of the new In Colors, Midnight Muse and Gumball Green as well as the bright and cheery Daffodil Delight.  These colors are fabulous together!

I've seen some pretty cards where flowers are created by layering some cardstock punched with the Boho Blossoms punch and I wanted to give it a try for this card.  I started with the flourish from Everything Eleanor stamped in Gumball Green then I punched the largest flower in Midnight Muse and the smallest in Daffodil Delight.  I had a little trouble deciding where to place them on my flourish because I didn't want to cover it too much, but I think they look ok!  Once I had them placed I thought the flowers looked a little plain so I added a Basic Pearl in the Center.

I really like how this turned out.  It's simple and yet elegant.  To keep it on the less-fussy side I wanted a simple sentiment to go with it that wasn't too fancy so I used this one from Just Believe.  The good thing about a card like this is that it's easy to reproduce and can be used for a lot of different occasions.

Head on over to Create With Connie and Mary to check out the inspiration from the design team, then link up your own creation!  We love to see what you do!

Freshly Made Sketches 48

Welcome to another addition of fabulously designed sketches from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches .  This week Tui has designed a sketch that I know you're going to love.  It's got lots of space for DSP, ribbon, embossing, stamps - you name it, this sketch is calling for it!

The color challenge at Dynamic Duos was calling to me this week to complement this sketch.  How could I resist a couple of old favorites like Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink?  I paired those colors with another old favorite Crumb Cake and a little Whisper White.  The flower and leaves are from a PTI set and I added a Certainly Celery button in the center to give it some polish! Luckily I had some baker's twine on hand to add to the button.  I have a big skein of crochet thread that I use frequently to tie buttons but I discovered the other day that my kittens have absconded with it.  I searched all over the house for it, but no luck so far.  Hopefully it will turn up soon!

Now I don't want to tell you what to do, but I think it would be a good idea if you headed on over to Freshly Made Sketches and checked out the design team creations.  This is an amazing bunch of ladies whose designs will just blow you away!  I know you will be inspired to create something right along with us!

Here's a list of the designers but you can always start at Freshly Made Sketches. The beginning as it were.

Cindy Hall

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Allisa Chilton

Jen Sannes

Ann Schach

Linda Suarez

Jennifer Brum 

colourQ 150

When I first saw Arielle's colors for the challenge this week at colourQ I was very nervous.  (Actually, I will confess that this happens to me frequently but I think I hide it well).  For a few days I was mentally tossing a few ideas around in my head and then I just decided to throw caution to the wind and make a card with no clear direction using the latest Deconstructed Sketch as my layout.  For me, this is generally a very daring thing to do, because there's no telling what I'm going to end up with.  But I gamely grabbed cardstock and patterned paper, a few stamp sets, some Nestabilities, ribbon and whatever else I could find within easy reach and started layering them on.  Luckily halfway through this card, I realized that I actually liked it.

The Daffodil Delight DSP is from Beyond the Garden and I chose it because it's a relatively soft version of a very bright yellow and wouldn't overpower the other elements of the card.  The pretty rose and leaves are from a PTI set and the ribbon is the delightful Daffodil Delight Seam Binding.

I sure hope you have time to check out the cards my fellow design team members at colourQ have made this week.  Once again, they will amaze and delight you.  You might even find a scrapbook page to get your creative juices flowing.  And don't be afraid if you don't have the exact colors.  Even Ryan knows that you can use something close!  Just don't forget to join in and link up your project!

Color Throwdown 204 and Unscripted Sketches 171

It's a good thing my mother doesn't read my blog because I am about to reveal her age (and she might not like that)!  She's 77 and a few years ago she decided to take up bowling and joined a local league.  Well, it's too bad she didn't do it when she was younger because she has proven to be quite the bowler!  The last couple of years she has finished first in her league and with that honor comes a little cash prize.  Yesterday, she decided to celebrate her big win and took my sisters and me to lunch.  I wanted to send a thank you using a stamp set I just got recently.

The color inspiration for my card comes from The Color Throwdown and the sketch is from Unscripted Sketches.  

I bought this set just so that I would have something appropriate on hand to make her bowling-related cards.  I didn't really have anything that would simulate the bowling alley, but I thought the distressed argyle pattern kind of gave the impression of the lane.  I think she'll get it at any rate!

I'm going to mail this to her and I wish I could see her face when she gets it!  I think she's going to love it!

Well, this morning started our raining, but now the sun is coming out and I can already tell it's going to be a scorcher.  I've got errands to run then lots of cards to make for the upcoming week, so I'll try and keep cool in my stamp room.  I've been trying to clean it up and organize things because it's getting quite out of hand lately!  Thanks for stopping by!

MOJO253 and Hand Stamped Sentiments 130

I've been trying to use some of the new In Colors recently and then I stumbled on the mother of all In Color challenges this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  At first I was a little intimidated by trying to use all five colors at once, but I took a few days to think about it before I came up with this using the latest MOJO sketch.   

I started with some Very Vanilla which I layered with some Midnight Muse and another layer of Very Vanilla which is embossed with PTI's Guide Lines impression plate.  I layered some stitched Midnight Muse DSP and some Summer Starfruit DSP from Comfort Cafe.  The layered flower is Verve and although it's hard to tell in the picture, the big layer is stamped in Raspberry Ripple and the smaller one in Primrose Petals.  A little Primrose Petals Dahlia finishes off the center of the flower.  The leaves are stamped in Gumball Green using a Verve leaf.  The sentiment is from Much Appreciated.

Once again we've got another hot day on tap.  Although the sun is not out the humidity is pretty high and everything and everyone is hot and sticky!  Later on I'm off to Plymouth for lunch with my mother and sisters.  Hopefully, it will be a little cooler at the coast!

Thanks for stopping by!

Create With Connie and Mary 213

Today Create With Connie and Mary has brought a square sketch challenge for you!  I have a soft spot for square cards so I was in love with this from the get-go.

Since my stash of DSP is mysteriously growing again (she said with a wink), I thought I'd use some of my new Comfort Cafe and let the colors from that be my guide for this card.  The gorgeous herringbone pattern paper is Midnight Muse and I added some layers of Summer Starfruit, Cajun Craze, and Pool Party in the opposing direction.  Then I started waffling about what image to use for the floral focal point.  I couldn't decide on what flower would look best here, so I substituted a butterfly!

The larger butterfly is cut from the Beautiful Butterflies Sizzix die from one of the Comfort Cafe patterns and the smaller one is stamped on Very Vanilla from Papillon Potpourri (which is fast becoming my new favorite butterfly stamp).  I added a row of Basic Pearls down the center of the butterfly because pretty much everything deserves a row of pearls, don't you think?

I've purposely left off a sentiment on this card because it will be so easy to add one for a future occasion.  There's plenty of space for one and I love the versatility of having a card I can use for just about anything when I need one!

Don't forget to pop on over to Create With Connie and Mary so that you can be inspired by the fantastic creations from the design team.  Then link up your own Stampin' Up! only creation.  I can't wait to see what you do!