TAWS Blog Hop

Hey friends!  It's time for the blog hop hosted by The Alley Way Stamps!  The new stamps sets will be released on June 1st, and today all of the Design Team are showing off some super creative cards featuring some of the new stamps sets!

My card features this fun robot from Bot Time.  I don't know about you, but I think she's a girl robot because there's something about her wide-eyed look that seems awfully feminine to me!  I colored her up with Copics, fussy cut her and layered her on some white cardstock that was stamped with some of the fun images from the stamp set.  

Now for some fun stuff!  One lucky person will win all three stamp sets from this new release!  And if you want to be that person all you have to do is comment on the blog hop.  Here are the ways you can win.  You can pick and choose which ones you want to do, but the more you comment the more chances you have to win.

1. Comment on The Alley Way Stamps Blog
2. Comment on the Design Team blogs (you'll find the links below)
3. Post about it on Facebook or your blog
4. Like us on Facebook

You have until 9:00 May 30th to leave your comments (and leave one for each that you do).

AND, there's a fun mini set that is yours FREE when you spend $40 or more during the month of June!  You don't have to do anything special.  If you spend $40 this stamp set will be added to your order automatically!  

Here is your hop order.  If you get lost, just head on back to The Alley Way Stamps to get on your way again!

 

 

 

Freshly Made Sketches 88

If you are looking for my TAWS sneak peek post, click HERE!

It's time for me to be the hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches.  I designed this sketch thinking that the rectangle shape in the center could be used in a multitude of ways.  I can't wait to see how you all interpret the sketch!

My nephew is graduating from high school this year and I've been kicking around some ideas for cards and at the last minute decided this sketch might make a good layout.  I still have a few other ideas to try out, but I thought this was kind of fun.  The colors of Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie are the school colors (my alma mater, by the way).  The school mascot is a tiger, but I don't imagine they go around saying the tiger is the color of pumpkin pie!  

The lovely ladies at Freshly Made Sketches have designed some great cards this week, so be sure to head on over and check them out.  I hope you have time to join us in the gallery this week!

Supplies

Stamps:  Seeing Stars (SU)

Accessories:  Modern Numbers die (Papertrey Ink), washi tape

TAWS June Sneak Peeks Day 3

We're only a couple of days away from the June release at The Alley Way Stamps!  Today we're showing sneak peeks of Tropical Hideaway.  Just wait until you see all the fun stamps in this set!

This gorgeous flower deserved to be colored with bright colors and I continued that bright theme by adding a small border of Melon Mambo around the edges of my card.  The layout for my card comes from the Sunday Stamps sketch challenge and I owe the pretty colors to the Fusion challenge.

Since it's sneaky peeky time, you have a chance to win this stamp set just by leaving a comment on The Alley Way Stamps blog.  And if you share THIS POST on your own Facebook page you'll get another entry.  Be sure to leave a separate comment for each!  Comments close at 9:30 PM TAWS time.  

Good luck!

colourQ 191

Yesterday, spring finally decided to make an appearance in New England so I was able to get outside and do some work in the garden.  I'm woefully behind but I did manage to get the tomatoes and cucumbers planted.  Yum!  The good weather is expected to continue so next up is summer squash and zucchini.

But enough about vegetables.  I know you really came here to see the new colourQ reveal.  This week we've got some pretty eclectic colors, but I know that our faithful colourQ-ers will have no trouble cooking up some fabulous inspiration in our gallery!

I was having some trouble making these colors work then I checked out the latest sketch challenge from Create With Connie and Mary and suddenly the light bulb went off in my head!  I knew exactly what I wanted to do and exactly what stamp set I wanted to use.  Serendipity, baby!

I hope you have time to join us this week at colourQ!  The design team has created some beautiful cards for you so be sure to check them out!

BE Inspired 29

It's time for a brand new BE Inspired challenge from The Alley Way Stamps!  And that means you could win some free stamps!

This photo made me feel patriotic with the red, white and blue colors.  And if you click on the inspiration photo to enlarge it, you will see that some of the sprinkly bits are actually stars.  So I grabbed my KA-POW stamp set because I thought some of the images looked a lot like fireworks and made a card for the 4th of July.  I'm a little early, but I couldn't resist!

Now, how about those free stamps I mentioned?  Well, all you have to do is make a project using images from The Alley Way Stamps inspired by the photo.  And don't worry if you don't have any TAWS stamps because you can download freebies right HERE!  Then link up your creation HERE.

One lucky person will chosen as the Top Pick and will win a stamp set of their own choosing.  Then another lucky person will be chosen randomly and will also win a stamp set of their choosing.  Easy peasy, right?

I hope you have a chance to play along with us.  The challenge will remain open until 12:00 noon, TAWS time (MDT) on Thursday, June 6th.  Good luck!

Freshly Made Sketches 87

Hello everyone!  It's Wednesday and that means it's time to reveal the new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Jen Timko is our hostess and she's given us this great CAS sketch.

I felt like I had been neglecting Wisteria Wonder since forever, so I really wanted to use it on my card this week.  I liked the idea of keeping it simple with a white background and some black for an accent.  Coincidentally, the other day while poking around Pinterest I found a website that was all about washi tape and it got me thinking that I haven't been all that inventive with it, so I was determined to use it on my card this week.  So I took a strip of Whisper White and covered it with this black and white script washi tape.  I put the tape on at an angle to make it a little more interesting.  I think it looks pretty good.  It's like I created my own DSP!

I wrapped a little crochet thread around the narrow vertical layers then added my favorite funky flowers.  The sentiment looked a little lonely so I stuck on a few black rhinestones for a little pizzazz.

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has got some great cards to inspire you this week so be sure to head on over there to check them out.  Then join us in the gallery, because we love to see what you do with our sketch!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Funky Florals, Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  washi tape, crochet thread, black rhinestones (KaiserCraft)

colourQ 190

It's time to get your man-card supplies out because the challenge this week at colourQ is perfect for that hard-to-make card!  Since June is right around the corner, I took the opportunity to make a card for Father's Day.

I followed the Deconstructed Sketch for my layout and used the fab new stamps from Verve called Strong Anchor.  After making this card I've decided that I need a 2-inch circle punch because as much as I love my dies it's so much easier to stamp your image and align the punch around it then to cut your circle and use a stamp positioner to line your image up with the shape.  (As you can see by the slightly off-center rope circle).      

I've been watching the news about the devastation in Oklahoma after the tornado on Monday and it feels a little strange to be posting a happy-go-lucky card when so many people are experiencing loss on a devastating scale.  Maybe a little normalcy will be good for people who need it, I don't know.  But please know that I'm thinking and praying for everyone there.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Strong Anchor (Verve)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White; Midnight Muse, Really Rust, More Mustard, Whisper White (SU)

Accessories:  Polka Dots embossing folder (Lifestyle Crafts); washi tape; copper eyelets

Time To Make a Change

Last week I was very busy at work and had no energy to stamp in the evenings.  The project that I was working on was nearly done by Friday, so it was a relief to put all that stress aside and get inky in my stamp room this weekend.

I have a friend that hinted to me recently that she wants to make a career change.  She was not ready to reveal the details to me, but I figured that's no reason not to support her so I made this fun card that I think she'll get a kick out of.

I used the sketch from the Fusion #7 challenge and this adorable stamp set, aptly called Change.  And this stamp set is particularly appropriate because my friend has been in the banking business for many years!  (The stamp set is available during the month of May for FREE at The Alley Way Stamps store.  Stop by and check out the details).

After my long week, I was looking forward to getting down and dirty in my vegetable garden this weekend.  I bought some of the plants and some compost, and was just getting ready to go outside when I got a call from my father that he needed some help ASAP with some of his VFW work.  Duty calls, so the veggies will have to wait another week.  Good thing we've got a long weekend coming up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 86

Hey everyone!  It's time for a brand new sketch this week from Freshly Made Sketches!  Amy is our hostess this time around and this is the first sketch she's ever designed so be sure to let her know how much you love it!  I love it because it leaves lots of room for creative interpretation.

I decided to go a little CAS on the background (shocking, I know) and focus all the attention on the rectangular layer.  I used a little washi, some die cut leaves, some pretty little blue flowers and a bit of black grosgrain ribbon.  I have about a gazillion yards of grosgrain ribbon in my stash in every color that Stampin' Up! made and I hardly ever use it.  It seems like grosgrain is so last decade because I hardly ever see it anymore, and for that very reason I used it on my card today.  I don't think you can really tell from the photo  that's what that skinny black strip is, but I know what it is and I feel better for reducing my stash a little bit!

Oops, I almost forgot to mention that I also made this card for the Dynamic Duos anniversary challenge.  This week is challenge #52 and we get to pick whatever colors we want from the past year.  I went all the way back to challenge #1 because I LOVE Lucky Limeade and I'm so disappointed that it didn't make it to the regular line up of SU colors.  And it looks pretty good with Pool Party too!

I hope you have time to join us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  The design team has cooked up some great cards for you so head on over.  Then join us in the gallery!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Stippled Blossoms (SU)

Accessories:  Fresh Foliage die (Memory Box); washi tape

Beautiful Birdie

Since The Alley Way Stamps released Bird Brain I finally have a good excuse to use this tropical DSP from Island Oasis!

This paper had been languishing in my stash so imagine my squeal of delight when I realized this adorable, tropical bird would look right at home with it!  I colored her up with Copics and accented the image with the cute chevron arrows from tag-alongs.  And that sentiment is priceless, don't you think!!  The latest sketch from retro sketches provided my layout.

I'll be back in a bit with my card for the newest Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  Until then, thanks for stopping by!

colourQ 189

Are you ready for some gorgeous colors for this week's colourQ challenge?  These colors are the kind that make the gallery fill up with gorgeous entries!  So here we go!

I have actually followed the latest challenge from CAS(E) This Sketch for this card, although it may not seem so.  I think I took a bit of poetic license with the layout but when I designed this card in my head it was a perfect fit for that sketch.  Somehow I got a little off track, but I still think you can see it in there somewhere!

This week at colourQ we are welcoming a brand new member to our royal court, Melissa Oeters!  Be sure to pop on over to her blog and say hello!  And don't forget to check out the inspiration from the always amazing colourQ design team!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Daring Adventure (SU); Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

A Birthday Card for CFC100 and STB16

The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is a tic tac toe to celebrate the milestone of 100 challenges!  That's quite an accomplishment so I really wanted to play along.  I based my card on the horizontal row in middle of square card, bling and text.  And I combined that challenge with the sketch at Seize the Birthday.

Instead of creating layers on my card I decided to draw black lines with a marker around this pretty floral image from the Verve stamp sets Let It Be and the birthday text from Take Note.  I added a black rhinestone to the center of the flower, then a few more scattered to the left of the flower.  I hope that black rhinestones qualifies as bling!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Let it Be, Take Note (Verve)

Accessories:  Black Rhinestones (KaiserCraft)