Tag You're It 66!

Well it's time for a new challenge at Tag You're It!  This time around our guest featured artist is Maureen Merritt and she created this gorgeous spring-time tag for our inspiration.  My Tag You're It teamies must think I'm crazy because I saw all those pretty flowers and thought of snowflakes!

I followed Maureen's layout for my tag - some images in the top and bottom corners, a dark layer peeking out on the bottom of the tag, and a sentiment in the white space, plus a couple of die cut snowflakes for good measure.

There's a die cut challenge going on at Stampin' Royalty and since I haven't played along over there in a dog's age I thought I would this time around.  I'll also enter this in the anything goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

We'd love to how you are inspired by our challenge this week at Tag You're It.  Maybe you won't think of snowflakes like I did, but something entirely different!  Our design team has made some beautiful tags to inspire you so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Snowflakes (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Buckaroo Blue (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Soft Sky, Buckaroo Blue (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Gift Card Holder Tag (Reverse Confetti); Funky Flakes die (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps); Basic Rhinestones (Stampin' Up!); baker's twine

Tag You're It 38!

TGIF!  This is the first Friday I've had to go to work in a couple of weeks and I've got to say that I'm not loving it.  I could get used to getting off early on Thursday then having a three day weekend every week!  But alas reality sets in and I'm back to my regular Monday to Friday thing.  But the good news is that we're back at Tag You're It for a new challenge!

Isn't Tracey's tag adorable?  I didn't have any elephants but I did have this cute polar bear and thought he'd be an ok balloon holding substitute.  Tracey's watercolored background made me a little nervous, since me and my watercolors are barely on speaking terms, but my friend Karren recently turned me onto a watercoloring technique from SonjaK that I thought even I could do so I decided to give it a try for this tag.

I'm pretty pleased with how this came out. I smooshed some pretty colors around until I was happy with the look then popped up my bear and gave him some heart shaped balloons to hold!  Easy peasy.  And since Seize the Birthday and Stampin' Royalty are looking for birthday projects I'm going to add this to those challenges as well!

Well that's it for me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be sure to check out the other tags from the Tag You're It Design team.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Bears (My Favorite Things); Wish Big (The Alley Way Stamps); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)
Paper:  Night of Navy, Real Red, Pretty in Pink (SU); Distress Watercolor Cardstock
Ink:  Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky,  Chipped Sapphire (Distress); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Birthday Bears die (My Favorite Things); Tag die, Tag Layers die (My Creative Time); black seam binding ribbon; black crochet thread; white embossing powder

Merry Christmas Tag

I'm back with another project that I made guest designing for Precious Remembrance using the new Sketchy Christmas stamp set.

I love to use non-traditional colors on my Christmas projects sometimes so today I've made a gift tag using some shades of pink, courtesy of the color challenge at Stampin' Royalty.  I started with a base of kraft and white then stamped a sketchy tree a couple of times in a vibrant pink.  Then I glammed it up a bit with some shimmery golden ink for one more tree plus the sentiment.  A little gold cord tied around my seam binding ribbon ties all those gold touches together nicely.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Crumbcake (SU); Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink); Golden Glitz Delicata
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, gold cord (SU); Sugar Blend sequins (Avery Elle)

You Make Me Smile

I'm popping in quick today with a card I made for the circles challenge at Stampin' Royalty along with the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colors from Can You Case It.

I just got some new goodies in the mail and they happened to be circular so I went up to my stamp room and introduced them to some ink.  This is a super simple card and I think I spent more time plotting and planning how to arrange those brush-stroke circles than was probably necessary!  But I really like how this turned out so I'm happy I took that time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Brushed Off, Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Harvest Gold (Papetrey Ink); Baja Breeze, Early Espresso (SU)
Accessories:  Enamel Dew Drops (Freckled Fawn)

Orange You an Inspiration

I've been trying to dip my toes more often in some of the inspiration challenges out there and this week the one at Stampin' Royalty caught my eye.  I find that I tend to lean towards inspiration challenges that have a clearly defined color or certain shapes and I think that's ok for me.  For this challenge the orange jumped out at me and I like how it was offset with the pale gray.

I decided to forgo the obvious floral theme of the photo in favor of using a new butterfly die that I recently got.  Plus I can hardly ever give up the chance to stick a butterfly somewhere on my cards!  My friend Linda inspired me to play along with the Pals Paper Arts sketch and to do some inlaid circles like she did on her card!  I was going to do one of them orange than thought better of it because I think it would have competed with my orange butterfly.  So I inked up some splatters in both gray and orange instead to give some definition between the two.

The sun is shining, the snow is slowly melting but there's some rain on the way so what's a girl to do other than to hang out in her craft room?  So that's just where I'm headed.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Grunge Me (Papertrey Ink); Thanks (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Smoky Slate, Tangerine Tango (SU); Neenah Solar White

Ink:  Smoky Slate, Tangerine Tango (SU)

Accessories:  Vertical Stitched Strips, Stitched Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); Vivienne Butterfly die (Simon Says Stamp); Midnight Blend sequins (Avery Elle)

Thank You, Fusion, SRC262

I had hoped to be a little more crafty this weekend, but I needed get some housework done before football playoffs start today.  The house is clean, craft room organized and all that's left to do is run to the supermarket before the games start.  But I did manage to get inky last night.

My card today features the beautiful colors of the inspiration photo at Stampin' Royalty and the fun sketch from Fusion.

The very old, but still pretty, Marigold Morning was a good match for the flower in the inspiration photo.  The light blue on my card is quite light, but I think you can still see it and it looks nice in real life.

You'll probably see quite a few thank you cards on my blog, since my supply of them after the holidays tends to deplete quickly.  I like to have those on hand because you'll never know when you'll need one!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Dot Spot (Papertrey Ink); Oh Happy Day (Avery Elle)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Sea Glass (Avery Elle); Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Marigold Morning (SU); Sea Glass (Avery Elle); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)

Splatters, Colors and Thanks

The cue card this week at CASology is splatter.  If ever there was a challenge with my name written all over it, this is it!  I love me some grungy splatters, that's for sure.  After seeing that I poked around some and found the gorgeous color challenge at Stampin' Royalty and decided to combine the two.

I've got some coffee splatters to go along with some ink splatters.  And a sentiment die that I cut three times and layered together.  Simple and sweet!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Java Spills (Stamping Bella); Abstract Art (My Favorite Things)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Blackberry Bliss (SU)

Ink:  Sahara Sand, Soft Sky (SU)

Accessories:  Thanks Word die (Lil' Inker Designs)

A Calendar for SRC156 and PDCC162

I've got another desk calendar to share today that I made using the sketch at Stampin' Royalty (that I turned on its side) and the colors from The Play Date Cafe.

I interpreted The Play Date Cafe colors as More Mustard, Island Indigo, Sage Shadow and Wisteria Wonder.  I used a polka dotted embossing folder, some Nouveau Chic DSP, added some newsprint washi tape, a bit of Wisteria Wonder ribbon accented with an Antique Brad, and my little calendar was done!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Three Challenges in One

I had a busy weekend and I wasn't sure how much time I would be able to spend in my stamp room, so I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to make a card for the polka dot challenge at Just Add Ink, the color challenge at Stampin' Royalty and the sketch challenge at retro sketches.

There's nothing quite like trying to combine three challenges into one card that gets my creative juices flowing!  I tried to channel my inner LeAnne who makes the best crinkly bows I've seen.  Mine is definitely crinkly, but I think it needs some work!

Well, I'm off to get ready for work.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin' Royalty 135 and Deconstructed Sketch 63

I play along with color challenges so much that sometimes I forget that I've got colors in my stash that I don't use all that often.  I was thinking that I hadn't spent a lot of time with the new InColors and wanted to remedy that when along came the color challenge at Stampin' Royalty which uses three brand-new colors!  That's what I call serendipity!  I combined them with the Deconstructed Sketch and I was off!

I used some DSP from Patio Party and I've got to say that I have no idea why I bought this paper.  I think I liked that it featured several of the new colors, but I don't think I paid very much attention to the patterns because I don't like most of them!  Sheesh!  That being said, I do like this patterned piece of Summer Starfruit.  And I think it looks nice with that bit of Gumball Green peeking out from the edges.

I used a Verve flower and sentiment and a die-cut from a new (to me) Memory Box flourish.  I added a Dahlia Adornment to the center of the flower.  I really like those little things.  Very cool looking!

The other day I mentioned my kittens in a blog post and got a request from my sweet blogging friend Rita to see pictures of them.  So I thought I'd show you what they are usually doing when I'm in my stamp room

The one on the left is Bindi and she's usually sleeping on the floor next to my drafting table.  The one on the right is Bailey and he generally makes a nuisance of himself by plopping down right in the middle of the table where I work.  I can usually count on him getting bored within a few minutes and he takes off for other adventures, but every once in a while he settles in for the long haul and I have to convince him that I need my space back!  They were just a year old on July 3rd, but I still call them kittens!

The weather is looking a little iffy today so I might have a built-in excuse to spend time inside getting all crafty!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Deconstructed Sketch 59 and Stampin' Royalty 131

I'm on vacation this week (yay!) and to celebrate I took the day off from housework and yardwork yesterday and went to the beach!  The weather forecast was predicting temperatures in the 90s so I thought being at the ocean would be a good idea.  It was very crowded and quite hazy, but it was nice to get away and relax for a while.

When I got home I decided to relax some more in my stamp room and join in the fun at Deconstructed Sketch and Stampin' Royalty.

I got to use all kinds of fun stuff on this card.  My new Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon, some DSP from Beyond the Garden, some Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, the Scribbles Swirls Sizzlet and a new stamp from PTI that's just seeing ink for the first time.  For some reason the swirl didn't cut cleanly through the Baja Breeze cardstock so the edges are a bit fuzzy, but I think I covered up most of the bad stuff with the flower. As I like to say "there are no mistakes in stamping" because you can almost always find a way to fix anything that didn't come out just the way you like it!

I'm not sure what's on my agenda for the rest of the day, but I hope to make my way back to my stamp room at some point.  But first I have to take care of the housework and yardwork that I ignored yesterday!  Thanks for stopping by!

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!

Cardabilities 49 and Stampin' Royalty 112

I found a new (to me) sketch challenge called Cardabilities so I thought I'd play along.

I got some new stamping goodies yesterday so I wanted to ink them up right away.  I chose my colors from the Stampin' Royalty challenge this week and sat down to get inky.

These colors were harder for me than I thought they would be.  I changed my mind a million times about the focal point on my card until I settled on this cute notebook paper and the flower.  By the way, the layered flower is heat embossed with Cherry Cobbler.  It looks so rich in real life!

Thanks for stopping by!

Less is More 52 and Stampin' Royalty 108

I don't usually do inspiration challenges.  In fact, the card that I've made here may just be the first card I've made for an inspiration challenge!

The challenge is courtesy of Stampin' Royalty.  Despite my trepidation I wanted to participate so I decided to really look at the challenge picture and break it down into elements.  

For me, that's not as easy as it sounds.  I'm a number cruncher by day so I'm not used to dealing with subjective elements like what you find in an inspiration challenge.  Give me a sketch and I can follow.  Give me some colors and I'm ready to get inky.  But give me a nice colorful picture of some flowers and a birdcage and some fruit and I'm well on my way to information overload.

But I think I pulled it off.  I combined the elements of flowers with some of the colors in the picture.  I used Lucky Limeade for the leaves, Pacific Point for the flower and a Daffodil Delight button for the center of the flower.

I used the Less is More sketch because I think I need the simplicity of a good CAS sketch to keep me grounded.

It took me FOREVER to make this card because I waffled a hundred times (or so) about which flower to use for this card.  I had high hopes that I was going to be much more productive in my stamp room today but there's always tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown 139 and Stampin Royalty 69

The color challenge this week at the Color Throwdown was all about colors that I love!  And (as a bonus) I got to dig out the retired (but still awesome) Crushed Curry.  I paired it with the Stampin' Royalty sketch challenge and I was all set to go!

I ended up making a card in the very adorable 4 1/4" square size.  I really like this size for a square card because the size itself is so cute and also it fits into a regular A2 envelope so you avoid the postage surcharge when mailing a square envelope.

I stamped the butterfly image directly onto the white layer, then stamped it again on a scrap and cut it out.  I attached the cutout with a glue dot directly over the image I stamped on the white layer and raised the edges so in real life it is 3D. 

And I'm rather pleased with myself because I actually managed to use all five colors in the challenge.  The challenge hostess suggested that we use at least three or four colors, so I'm pretty happy that I managed to squeeze them all in.  The colors look pretty close in the picture, but the scallop panel and ribbon is Dusty Durango and the "Love is like a butterfly..." sentiment is Tangerine Tango.

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