BE Inspired 23

Today is the BE Inspired challenge over at The Alley Way Stamps blog and this week there is an extra twist!  For this challenge we are joining forces with the lovely ladies at 3 Girl JAM!  For those of you that don't know, 3 Girl JAM is owned and operated by Julie K Bling and her two daughters.  They make hand dyed crinkle ribbon and sell some other fun crafty things.  You can check it all out here.

Your challenge is to make a project using this BE Inspired photo, a stamp (or two) from The Alley Way Stamps and ribbon!  Remember the photo is for inspiration only.  Be creative, use your imagination and show us what this photo inspired you to create. And if you need some inspiration, hop on through the line-up and see all the gorgeous projects the design teams have created.

I took my cues from some of the colors in the photo.  I've always been inspired by earthy colors so it was no trouble at all to dig out Sahara Sand, Early Espresso and Cajun Craze.  I stamped the sentiment from the brand new Words to Live By and to jazz things up I added a pop of Pacific Point and some of the awesome 3 Girl JAM crinkly ribbon in yellow.  This cool layout is courtesy of a sketch challenge I just found called Lucy's Cards that is sadly ending.  

I hope you are inspired to join in The Alley Way Stamps and 3 Girl JAM challenges.  Don't forget to check them out and link up your project, because you'll have a chance to win some awesome prizes!  Just hop on over to Scrappin' Madge to continue on the hop!

Freshly Made Sketches 40

Today at Freshly Made Sketches the super-talented Lesley has created a great sketch.  I know you're going to love it!

I switched up the oval for this great Gina K stamp.  I stamped the image in Versamark and embossed it in black.  I just couldn't get black ink to be vibrant enough so when that happens I turn to embossing powder to save the day.  I accented the stamp with a couple of flowers punched from the Boho Blossoms punch.  The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Banners.  

For my colors this week I found the challenge at Dynamic Duos was too good to resist.  And I managed to squeeze in the dessert option of ribbon with my scrunchy black seam binding. 

Our fabulous Freshly Made Sketches design team has got some great inspiration for you so hop on over to check them out.  Then do a little creating of your own and link up your card.  We love to pop on by and see what you've done!  Here's a list of the super talented FMS design team.

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Cindy Hall

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Rita Wright

Allisa Chilton

Jen Sannes

Ann Schach

Linda Suarez

Jennifer Brum 

Birthday Wishes Brought To You By the Letter P

The color challenge this week at Pals Paper Arts is all about the letter P:  peach, pear, and poppy.

Lovely colors aren't they?  I was puttering around my garden today doing some weeding and assessing things.  Trying to figure out what did not survive the brutal winter we had.  So I had flowers on my mind when I sat down to make a card.  I used the Stamping 411 sketch for a layout.

I used the Greenhouse Garden stamp set because I wanted to do a bit of two-step stamping.  I thought that it would look nice if I stamped the flower in Peach Parfait first, then stamped the detail stamp with Poppy Parade.  I like how it came out.  Then the small flower is just stamped in Poppy Parade.  I had to stamp off twice to get the color light enough so that the detail stamp would show up.

And last but not least, I tried my hand at a little crinkly seam binding ribbon.  I keep seeing this all over blogland and I really liked it, but for some reason nobody wanted to give up the secret to creating the look.  I thought I had read somewhere about heating it up with a heat gun, but I tried that and it didn't do anything except blow the ribbon around my stamp room.  So then I tried wetting it first, then I put the heat gun on it, and all I achieved was a wet ribbon blowing around my stamp room.  So then I posted a question on Splitcoast and got an answer pretty quickly.  And it's so simple:  wet, scrunch, dry.  Apparently, most people let it dry overnight.  You can use the heat gun to speed things up, but the heat tends to flatten out some of the crinkles.  But as luck would have it I accidentally discovered a quick way to do it.

I already had the little piece of ribbon that I wet first, then dried with the heat gun.  I crinkled it up in a very tight ball then carefully unravelled it.  I got a very nice soft, but crinkly ribbon.  Then I cut another small piece off the spool and crinkled it up.  I didn't like the look at all.  The crinkles were sort of sharp looking and the ribbon itself didn't have the soft look of the first one I did.  So I wet it, dried it with the heat gun, then crinkled it into a tight ball again.  When I unravelled it, it was just the softer look I was going for.  I think wetting it first sort of softens up the fibers of the ribbon so that it crinkles better.

Please excuse my ribbon ramble, but I'm so happy I figured this out.  I'm sure everybody else out there has known about this for ages and is wondering why I'm so late to the party!  But thanks for stopping by!