PPC68 - A Little Shabby

It's been a very busy week and I haven't been able to spend much time in my stamp room, but I did manage to make a card for the Picture Perfect Creations color challenge and the Sweet Sunday sketch challenge.

For some reason I had it in my head that I wanted to make a kind of shabby-vintage card.  I have no idea why, but sometimes these things just come to me!

I'm more of a clean and simple girl, but I really like the vintage look as well.  And every once in a while I try my hand at it.  I had been seeing a lot of cards lately that were using newsprint paper with images stamped on it and I liked the look of it.  So that's what I did here with one of the floral images from the Simply Soft hostess set and the First Edition designer paper.  I sponged the edges with More Mustard, then went over it very lightly with some Basic Black too.

You might remember that Thursday is usually ColorLab challenge day here, but we're trying something a little different.  We're changing to a monthly challenge beginning this month on the 15th, so I'll be back with a card for that on Monday.  Hopefully this will give everyone more time to participate in the challenges.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Paper Players 48 and ColourQ 85

Once again the color challenge at the ColourQ this week was too irresistable!  And combined with the design team samples and the cards others had already uploaded, I was full of inspiration.  Since today is Sunday, I checked out the Paper Players challenge and found I couldn't resist Nance's sketch either!

I wanted to go a little distressed with my card today.  But once I got going I was having a really hard time deciding how I wanted this card to end up.

I had decided on the big butterflies right away, but then I fussed over what I wanted to use for the two small circle images.  First I was going to use a couple of small butterflies, then maybe one butterfly and one button, them maybe some ribbon.  I was all over the map.  Usually when this happens to me, I take a little break and think about something else for a while.  So I did, and when I came back to the table I settled on the pewter colored brads.  I really like how it came out because I think the small butterflies and buttons I was originally going to use were overpowering my big butterfly too much.

I used some very old, Stampin' Up! embossing powder for the sentiment.  I think it must be very old and perhaps it's degrading a bit, because it's not very smooth looking.  I was very glad to see the return of embossing powder in the Summer Mini and I hope this means we've got a good chance of seeing some in the new catalog.  Sometimes, when I want a sentiment to look really bold, I prefer to use embossing powder and the new ones work like a dream!

Thanks for stopping by today!

PPA80 Vintage Vogue

I've been thinking a lot about vintage cards lately so when I saw the challenge this week at Pals Paper Arts, I thought it was some kind of divine intervention!  The challenge is all about vintage and the design team encourages us all to "distress, smudge, and layer" to our heart's content!  I think I did them all with this one!

I love this Vintage Vogue stamp set and I'm not sure why I don't use it more.  Actually I do.  It's because I've got a zillion other stamp sets that I love just as well and there aren't enough days in the year to use them all!  At least I got to use it here!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

ColourQ 70 Thank You

When Stampin' Up! announced last year that oodles of colors would be "retiring" there were many colors that I had no problem bidding a farewell to.  But there were also many that I couldn't bring myself to part with.  One of those colors was Cameo Coral.  I still have quite a bit of card stock left so it came in handy when I saw the latest challenge over at the ColourQ blog.

I thought this color combo was really interesting.  It's kind of fresh and fun, but also earthy at the same time.  To my mind, the Poppy Parade and Blushing Bride made the fun bits, while the Cameo Coral and Early Espresso grounded the whole combo.

I obviously decided to go with a shabby chic look here.  I know it's hard to see but there is a small panel peeking out over the Cameo Coral panel that actually is Poppy Parade.  I distressed the edges and sponged it with Early Espresso but I think the color may be hard to recognize.  The Cameo Coral panel is stamped with French Script and also distressed around the edges with Early Espresso.  The Very Vanilla panel with the floral image and the sentiment is actually distressed around the edges and mounted on a Blushing Bride panel that is also distressed around the edges.

Now, you may be wondering what that acrylic block is doing in the picture.  Well, for some reason I couldn't get this card to stay open when I was trying to take the picture.  It kept trying to flatten out, pancake style.  So I needed to anchor it to something to keep it open.  Hence the block.  At least it's clear!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Monochromatic Card

I was very intrigued by the Just Add Ink challenge this week, which is all about creating a monochromatic card.  I've always had a special fondness for all things monochrome so I spent quite bit of time debating with myself what color I wanted to use for this challenge.

For my layout, I turned to the FTL sketch challenge this week, which to my mind is just taylor-made for a monochromatic card.

For my card, I settled on Crumb Cake.  I paper pierced and sponged the horizontal layer so that it would stand out a bit from the card base.

I love this flower!  It's the Tattered Florals Sizzix die from the Tim Holtz collection.  I'm not sure you can see it here, but it is stamped with the French Script stamp.  After I stamp it, I crinkle it up a bit then pierce a hole in the center and hold it all together with the Antique Brad.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Color Throwdown 124

It seems that I'm in a shabby mood.  It started yesterday when I made a Valentine's Day card and continues today with a card I made for the Color Throwdown 124 color challenge.

Brown and blue together are a particular favorite of mine.  Actually brown and any color are favorites of mine!  And I thought the Melon Mambo was a great accent color.

Despite how this may look, it really is Melon Mambo under all that distressing!  A wonderful Antique Brad finishes off the flower nicely!  For this card, I used the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge for my layout.  It has been ages since I've done any challenges on Splitcoast.  In fact, it's been ages since I've uploaded anything to Splitcoast.  I hope I remember how it's done!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Beach Party Verve Challenge Number 2

I think I'm distressed!  I'm not sure I've ever made a distressed card before so here you go!  I absolutely love this scratchy chocolate chip designer paper and I have been hoarding it for a long time.  Then suddenly when I sat in my stamp room and I contemplated what I was going to do with this latest Verve challenge, I realized this paper would be perfect to go along with a distressed card.  This is what I came up with.  Not too bad I say to myself...

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!