Color Lab Challenge 44

Thursday is, of course, ColorLab challenge day and I've got to say that this color challenge totally rocks!

Whenever I see a deep color like Concord Crush paired with a bright color like Daffoldil Light I think that it's a match made in heaven. So today I took this fabulous color challenge and paired it with the Stamping 411 sketch challenge.

And as you'll see, I have not quite gotten over my obsession with the faux mother-of-pearl technique.

My only regret with this card is that I didn't twine some crochet floss or baker's twine around the Concord Crush layer.  I think it would have softened up the card a bit.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out the ColorLab.  The design team has some fabulous inspiration for you and we'd love to see what you create!

PPC61 with some French Foliage

As soon as I saw the color challenge this week at Picture Perfect Creations, I immediately thought of my much-loved French Foliage stamp set.

I know it's practically summer and it's about 100-degrees here, but I can't help but make an autumn-inspired card when I see colors like these!

I went to "the binder" for my layout for this card.  This time it's the FTL43 sketch from 2009!  I'm not sure it shows in the photo, but I used the rock-n-roll technique on my leaves here.  I stamped the leaves in Cajun Craze then rolled the edges with Always Artichoke. It's a subtle effect, but in real life it looks quite nice.

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

MOJO194 and ColourQ 88

I think I have died and gone to challenge heaven! 

On Monday I checked out the MOJO sketch and  my first thought was that I would be crazy to ignore it.  But I took my time poking around the blogosphere until I found just the right colors for this fabulous sketch.  Ultimately I found this week's ColourQ challenge and knew right away, without a shadow of a doubt, that these two challenges were a match made in heaven.

I had lots of designer paper left over from the Christmas Cocoa, Jolly Holiday, and Deck the Halls designer paper so I had no trouble using those papers to put them all together for my card.

It seems strange to make a card in June using DSP from the Christmas holidays, but there you have it.  I don't think there's anything particularly Christmas-y about the papers I've chosen, but the colors fit the challenge and they happened to be included with some Christmas themed DSP and I think they look really nice.

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

Three Challenges in One!

I loved the color challenge at Pals Paper Arts this week and decided to combine it with the sketch challenge at Just Add Ink.

It's been a while since I've made a round card and I think that I've missed it!  So it was fun to embark on a fun round project. 

I tried a little bit of the rock-n-roll technique on my butterfly, but in reality it doesn't look as good as what I had envisioned in my head.  I inked up the stamp in Cherry Cobbler than stamped off once onto some scrap paper.  Then I rolled the edges of the stamp with Night of Navy. The effect is a little darker than I wanted, but it looks ok.  I think I tied the color challenge all together with the Night of Navy ribbon, button and sweet sentiment, anyway.  Speaking of that sentiment, the challenge this week at the Paper Players is to make a thank you card, so I think this fits the bill!

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

Color Throwdown 144 and Sketchbook Saturday 14

Yesterday, I went to a graduation party for my nephew and the kids of three of my cousins.  It seems so strange to see all these young people all grown up and soon to be heading off to college.  Although, the more I think about it, the strange thing is that all this really means is that I'm getting older!

Once I got home from the party, I ventured into my stamp room and made a card for the Sketchbook Saturday and Color Throwdown challenges.

I changed my mind at least three times about what I wanted to do for the circle layer of the sketch.  First my circles were too small, then I didn't like the flowers I stamped, then I tried embossing some flowers, then I almost gave up!  But giving up is not in my card-making nature.  So I stopped and made myself really think about how I wanted this card to look, and this is what I came up with.

I absolutely adore the butterfly from the Simple Friendship stamp set.  That set is among the ones that is retiring as of June 30th, so I'm glad I got it when I did.  And it's one of the ones that I'm sure I'll keep using, despite it being "retired."  I thought about stamping the butterfly in Melon Mambo then going over it with clear embossing powder, but decided to stamp it in Versamark and emboss it with the fabulous Melon Mambo embossing powder.  It's gorgeous!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm off to my nephew's graduation later today (yes, the party happend before the actual graduation)!  The weather forecast is fine so we're all looking forward to a wonderful day!

FTL143 and Color Dare 103

I've found myself stumped quite a bit in my stamp room this week, and I haven't even been in there all that much.  Last night I sat down to make a card for the FTL143 and Color Dare 103 challenges.  The FTL sketch looks like this:

And the colors are Tempting Turquoise, Pear Pizzazz and Very Vanilla.  Sounds easy right?  That's what I thought, but as it turns out trying to make a card with two colors and a neutral is really hard!  At least for me anyway.  But I persevered and eventually came up with this:

The good news is that I actually like this card.  Once I got it done and started photographing it, I thought it didn't look half bad.  The bad news is that I should be making graduation cards for a party later today and since I took time out to make this card, I'm in danger of {gasp} having to buy some cards. 

Someone send the paramedics, I think I'm going to faint!

So that being said, I'm signing off to put my nose to the grindstone and make those cards.  My family is very well aware that I always make my own cards, and my name will be mud if I show up to this party with store bought cards.

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

ColourQ 87 and SSSC119

When I saw the ColourQ challenge this week I was stumped.  The colors are bright and fun, the sketch graphic had this adorable owl using all the colors, and there was loads of inspiration from the design team.  And yet, I had no idea how I was going to put that all together in a card!  But I was determined to give it a try, so I sat down with the Sweet Sunday Sketch and tried to put the two together.

I've taken a few day off from stamping this week because I've had some other things to do in the evenings when I'm usually stamping, and I think my mojo has decided it needed a few days off as well.  I no sooner started my card when I realized that I had no clear goal in mind and I needed to get back on course.

I'm pretty sure that this card is not what I envisioned when I originally decided to try these two challenges.  But it is bright and cheery, and I really like the flower that I used from the Simple Friendship stamp set. 

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

Color Lab Challenge 43

Gosh, it's been a very busy week and it feels like it's been ages since I've poked around in my stamp room.  But stamping waits for no man, and I was glad to get in there make a card for the ColorLab challenge this week.

And this fabby color challenge is just perfect for a more masculine card than I normally make.  I hear so many of my fellow card-makers lament that it's so hard to make masculine cards and I couldn't agree more.  So whenever I see a challenge like this that has colors that I consider more "primary" I leap at the chance to flex my masculine-card-making-mojo.

I used the FTL 142 sketch for my layout.  It's been a while since I've participated in that challenge, and when I saw the sketch I knew it was a perfect one for this color combo.  In the end I think that this card might qualify as masculine but the colors are so awesome it could also be used for just about anyone that needs a little uplifting note from a friend.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to visit us at the ColorLab.  The Design Team has some amazing inspiration for you and we'd love to see what you can create and share with us!