UDI Sketch Challenge and Creative Sketch 23

I recently discovered the Utah Divas International and the Creative Sketches challenge blogs.  Today I combined their latest challenges.

What an interesting color combo!  And it's a real change from what we've been seeing lately.  I love it!!  It seems like recently I've been making cards with colors that are all about bright, springy colors.  As much as I want spring to make it's presence known, it was a real treat to make a card with these colors.

 

But since I've had a second look here and I see those nice Baja Breeze and Bashful Blue flowers, I've decided that these are nice springy colors! And it's been a while since I've used the Greenhouse Garden stamp set, which I think was just the thing for this card.  Spring has got nothing on these colors!

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

Sweet Sunday 108 and Paper Players 38

I'm not sure what it is I love about the Sweet Sunday sketch challenges.  I suspect I am heavily influenced by Karen's (the sketch artist) interpretation of the sketch.  Her cards always seem playful and fun and I try to participate in the challenge as often as I can.  Today I paired it up with the Paper Players color challenge.

These colors called to me right away and I knew they would be a perfect fit with this sketch challenge.  Here's what I came up with.

I'm really quite pleased with how this came out.  But then again, I'm a sucker for Baja Breeze especially when it's set against something as fabulous as Early Espresso, so I'd probably be pleased no matter what it looked like!  But seriously, I like this card!  It could be used for a mulitude of occasions.

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

Friday Mashup 35 and Color Throwdown 132

Today, my card focuses on the latest Color Throwdown color challenge and the Friday Mashup sketch challenge.

Of course, I see a challenge that calls for Crumb Cake and I'm all over it!  I'm not sure it's possible for me to resist!  As I was perusing my stash of designer paper for these colors, I came across the retired Parisian Breeze specialty paper.  If you don't remember this paper, at first glance it appears to be just regular double-sided paper, but the specialty part refers to it's heavy-weight and texture.  I have been hoarding it for quite some time and I think it is so special that I suspect I will continue to hoard it for a while longer!  But I did use a bit for this card.

 One thing that occured to me as I assembled this card, is just how close Baja Breeze and Soft Sky are!  For the record, the first layer on this card is Baja Breeze followed by a piece of the aforementioned Parisian Breeze specialty paper in Baja Breeze.  The small circles layered on the Crumb Cake scallop border are Sofy Sky as well as the bigger butterfly.  The sketch did not call for a sentiment, which is fine by me.  This is the kind of card that can remain blank until you find an occasion to use it.  It's very simple to stamp an appropriate sentiment on it when you need it.

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

Just Add Ink 59 and Picture Perfect Creations 51

Today I attempted to make a card following the very lovely color combo over at the Picture Perfect Creations blog along with the layout from Just Add Ink.

I say "attempted" because I was very busy putting together my card which consisted of More Mustard, Poppy Parade, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla.  I was just getting ready to take a photo when I looked at the color challenge and saw that I completely forgot about Baja Breeze!  How could I forget Baja Breeze?  I debated whether I wanted to re-do the card with all the colors or just keep the one I've got and forget about participating in the color challenge.  In the end, I ripped off a portion so that I could incorporate the Baja Breeze!

I think that since the Baja Breeze was basically an afterthought with this card, its use seems a bit forced here.  If I had remembered it earlier, I think I would have colored some of the flowers with it.  But even so, it's not horrible.  I've certainly made worse! 

Earlier today I went to the bridal shower for my nephew's fiancee.  I made the shower favors for everyone and I took this picture of one on the table.

Unfortunately, the picture is a little blurry, but you get the idea.  I think everyone liked them!

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

MOJO181 and ColourQ 75

I have been thinking hard about the latest MOJO sketch ever since I saw it on Monday.

It is scary and intriguing all at the same time.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew that I wanted to try and make something.  Then I saw the ColourQ color challenge and I thought I had a match made in heaven!

What fabulous colors!  To me, these colors are tropical with a touch of black thrown in for a dramatic accent.  Ultimately, I had fun trying to put these two challenges together.  But I have to admit that I started this card yesterday and had to quit when I encountered a creative block.  When this happens I like to step away from my stamp room and take a break.  Today, I realized that a butterfly would solve all my problems!
   

The sketch graphic suggested a flower at the top of the circle and this is where I had my original hang-up.  I couldn't find a flower that I liked enough to add to my sentiment circle panel.  So I decided to take a break, sleep on it, and see what I came up with in the morning.  This is how I found myself thinking of butterflies.  I cut out the small butterfly from the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, stamped it with the Fine Flourish stamp, added some Basic Pearl Jewels and put it on my card in place of the flower.  I also added some tiny Basic Pearl Jewels to portions of the flourish, but I think it's a little hard to see in the picture.

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

Color Lab Challenge 32

It's Thursday and time for another challenge from the ColorLab!

Another batch of springy colors!  Just thing thing for me, since winter hasn't quite given up its grip on us.  I seem to be reaching for this stamp set quite a bit lately, so I thought I'd use one of the floral images from Fast & Fabulous on my card.

More scrunchy ribbon!  I'm so glad I decided to give that technique a try.  I seem to use it all the time now!  On some cards, I think it's a little more interesting to have the ribbon all scrunchy rather than flat.  But on the other hand, it does create a thickness that can sometimes present a bit of a problem when you're trying to get the card in an envelope.  I still love it though, and I'm sure I'll keep doing it!

For this card, I stamped the floral image in So Saffron, then stamped the outline in Rich Razzleberry.  I added the Rich Razzleberry button to kind of balance things out, since I had a lot going on towards the bottom of the card and it seemed like it needed it.

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to pop on over to the ColorLab, check out the fabulous colors this week, and create something!  We'd love to see what you do!

FTL130 Make Me Smile

Every once in a while I make a card that I really like.  The card I made for the FTL challenge is one of those cards.  Here's the challenge layout.

I'm not sure if it's my color scheme of Whisper White, Melon Mambo and Pear Pizzazz.  Maybe it's the adorable stamp from Pocket Silhouettes.  Or maybe it's the crinkly ribbon that I can't seem to stop making.  I don't know what it is, but I just love this card!

I carefully colored the stamp with my markers and placed them all in a neat row with my stamp-a-ma-jig.  Maybe all that controlled-chaos is what I like?  I'm actually pretty sure that when you pair a bright color, such as Melon Mambo, against white it really stands out.  Anything will look good.  It's bold, dramatic and makes a statement all at the same time.  But I'm not going to give Melon Mambo all the credit.  I think I had some say in the way this turned out!  And I really like it!!

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

PPA83 and a New Sketch Challenge

I have discovered a brand new sketch challenge.  As I was checking out the participants in the latest PPA challenge I was lead to the blog of Iwona Palamountain who just this Saturday started a new sketch challenge.  Well, being a sketch challenge junkie, I had to give it a try.  Here are the two challenges I tackled:

These colors are right up my alley.  They are all that are earthy and wonderful.  And when you scroll down the participants in the challenge on the PPA blog, I think you'll agree.  And it's no surprise that I'm a big fan of CAS cards, so it took no time for me to figure out that I would have to participate in the first Sketchbook Saturday Challenge.  Here's what I came up with when I put the two together:

Once I put this card together, I realized how fabulous these colors really are together.  I knew they were wonderful, but I think I under-estimated how wonderful they are!  I used a little bit of the Christmas Cocoa dsp from last year as my background and finished it up with the very pretty flowers from the Fast & Fabulous hostess stamp set.

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