Just Us Girls Guest Designer

I'm super excited to share today that I'll be joining the talented ladies at Just Us Girls for the month of March as a guest designer!  First up is a masculine card challenge.  Despite me shivering in my boots over that one, I rolled up my sleeves and decided a super hero would save the day!

Don't you just love the big grin on this guy's face?  I know I do.  I even added some Wink of Stella pen to those pearly whites so that they'd really shine in real life!  And it was just my luck that the colors this week at Color Throwdown were perfect for a masculine card so, of course, I used those in this card.

I want to extend a big, heartfelt thanks to the ladies at Just Us Girls for inviting me along with them this month.  I'm excited to join them in this crafting journey and so grateful that they even asked!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Super (Paper Smooches)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); White (Spectrum Noir); Night of Navy, Real Red (SU); X-Press It Blending Card

Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Night of Navy (SU); Copics

Accessories:  Bam Bubbles die (Paper Smooches)

As You See It Guest Designer

I'm so excited to tell you that I'm the guest designer over at the As You See It challenge this week!  I love playing along with their challenges so I was very excited when Amanda asked me to join them.  This week the challenge is shades of purple and it's also a speed stamping challenge!

The idea behind a speed stamping challenge is to try to make your project in 10 minutes or less.  I've done a few of these before so I know that I need to carefully plot out my design and have all the supplies I'll need handy so I don't waste time trying to find things in my stamp room.  So with my stamps and dies at the ready, the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments as my layout and a little washi tape inspiration from City Crafter Challenge I set to work.  I thought for sure that I would go over 10 minutes but I'm pleased to say that I had this all put together in 8 minutes, 3 seconds!  Woo hoo!

I want to extend a bit thank you to Amanda and all the ladies at As You See It for liking my work and asking me to join them this week!  I'm grateful beyond words!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Celebrate Artsy (Stamplorations); Dandelion Dreams (Clearly Besotted

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Concord Crush, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder (SU); Dusty Concord (Distress Inks)

Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Cheviot Butterfly die, Delaney Butterfly die (Poppystamps); Basic Rhinestone (SU); washi tape, white crochet thread, white seam binding ribbon

Freshly Made Sketches 176

Are you ready for a fun sketch from Freshly Made Sketches?  This week our hostess is Cindy Hall and she created a long and skinny sketch for us!  Once upon a time I made a long and skinny card sized to fit a standard #10 business envelope and honestly it is one of my favorite cards.  The size is unexpected and it gives you lots of room to work!

But don't think you need to make a card that big!  A2s are welcome as well as any other size that you are comfortable working with.  My card is 3 x 6 and is sized to fit in some old SU envelopes that they sold way back when.

Of course my bunny ears extend beyond the three inch margin of my card so I'll probably have to make my own envelope for this one!  It's been a while since I've used this cute guy on a card and somehow the fun size of this sketch made me want to use this fun image.

Our wonderful Freshly Made Sketches design team have got some great cards to show you - in all different sizes so check them out!  Then play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Birthday Bunny (The Cat's Pajamas)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White (SU); X-Press It Blending Card

Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Onyx Black (Versafine); Copics

Accessories:  Dotted Borders die (Avery Elle); Pretty in Pink button (SU); sequins (Winnie & Walter); baker's twine (American Crafts)

colourQ 282

And here we are at Tuesday again!  Why is it that time moves along at a glacial pace Monday to Friday but then when the weekend comes all of a sudden it's like a Nascar race!  Well, the good thing about it being Tuesday again is that there's a new palette at colourQ.  There's some newsprint again (loved seeing how you all incorporated newsprint into you projects a couple of weeks ago) and some pretty blues inspired by this scarf.

The sketch at As You See It provided the layout for my card.  I just loved all those layers, especially the circle.  I almost added a flower as the focal point then I spied this feather in my stash and thought it would look better.  I just wish I had done two of them!

There are some wonderful shades of blue on display from the colourQ design team so make sure you check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Feather Finery (Papertrey Ink); Label Love (Altenew); Stitched Together (Close to My Heart)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Natural White (Neenah); Basic Black, Buckaroo Blue, Soft Sky, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  White (WPllus9); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Vertical Stitched Strips die (My Favorite Things); Circles die (Little B); clear matte embossing powder (Wow); black embossing powder

Tag You're It 16

Thank goodness it's Friday for two reasons.  It's the start of the weekend where I can forget about work for a couple of days and relax and it's start of a new challenge from Tag You're It!  This week Marybeth Lopez is our hostess and the inspiration she has given us is actually a card!  Yep, you heard that right! Take a card and turn it into a tag!

I was inspired by the leafy cluster of flowers so I die cut a leafy flourish then pondered my stash for the perfect flowers to layer over it.  I tried a bunch of different flowers and none of them were quite right for the look I wanted to achieve.  I can't believe I'm saying this "out loud" but I think I might need a few more flower images!  I've got a lot of flower stamps but they're not all suited for fussy cutting and many are just too big for a tag so I think I need to do some shopping!

In the end I settled on this little flower die that I embellished with some black rhinestones in the center.  And for good measure I stuck a few more down randomly.

I had a dickens of a time photographing this because of the pointy end.  I hope it doesn't look too strange tilted on its side!

My teamies at Tag You're It have created some beautiful tags for you to see and be inspired by so be sure you check them out.  And I hope you find some time to join us in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Words of Wisdom (Verve)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Pear Pizzazz, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SU)

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Basic Bookmark 3 die (Papertrey Ink); Leaf Filled Flourish die (My Favorite Things); 4 Petal Set die (CAS-ual Fridays); black rhinestones (KaiserCraft)

Freshly Made Sketches 175

I don't usually keep sympathy cards on hand but every once in a while I unfortunately need one and as I was creating my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge it occurred to me that it made a nice one.  Our sketch this week is brought to you by Jen Brum who is currently freezing her you-know-what off in eastern Canada.  But that didn't stop her from creating this great sketch!

Look at all that space to unleash your creativity!  I used the space to show off this beautiful poppy stamp.  First I inked it up in Tangerine Tango then splashed some Pure Poppy on with a marker in random spots.  I love how it came out.  And the sentiment fit perfectly tucked down next to the stem.

Ok, you know the drill.  Being Wednesday your first order of business is to go to Freshly Made Sketches and check out the inspiration from our amazing design team.  Then you need to play along with us!  Simple!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Fancy Feathers (Clearly Besotted)

Paper:  Dove Grey (WPlus9); Basic Black, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Pure Poppy (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Stitched Rounded Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); crochet thread  

colourQ 281

Happy Tuesday!  Today is the reveal of a new palette at colourQ inspired by this whimsical windchime.  Hold on to your hats because this color combo might make you think outside the box!

I puzzled over this for a bit then focused on the green, which usually means I can use it for leaves.  From there it was a short leap to a peach flower against a wisteria wonder background and a few cool caribbean loop-de-loops thrown in for good measure.  

My design is based on the sketch at The Paper Players.  Instead of a circle I've substituted the grid background, mostly because I wanted to do something a bit different!  

My colourQ teamies have created some BEAUTIFUL cards with these colors so run right over there and check them out!  You won't be disappointed!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you make time to join us in the colourQ gallery this week!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Off the Grid (SU); Hennah Elements (Altenew); Hashtags (Tim Holtz)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); X-Press It Blending Card

Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Onyx Black (Versafine); Wisteria Wonder, Cool Caribbean (SU); Copics

Hello JUGS281 and rs154

I'm in the middle of doing housework (blech) and needed a little break so I thought I'd pop in here and show you a card I made using the colors at Just Us Girls and the sketch from retro sketches.

I just love a square card.  Too bad they cost extra to mail.  I usually try to keep mine 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 so I can still fit them in an A2 envelope and avoid the surcharge but my favorite size is about a half inch bigger.

It's been a while since I used this whimsical flower and it somehow seemed appropriate for this fun layout.  I scribbled on it with some colored pencils but I couldn't seem to get the color as dark as I wanted to I ended up going over some areas with my Regal Rose marker.  I love the scribbled look of these flowers.

Well that's it for me.  Back to vacuuming for a bit then I'm off to the grocery store.  I wish the weekends weren't so jam packed with chores!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Jofy 12 (Paper Artsy); Label Love (Altenew)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Soft Sky, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Midnight Muse, Regal Rose (SU); Jet Black (Archival)

Accessories:  Pierced Square STAX, Fishtail Flags Layers STAX, Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things); Button Stacks II die (Papertrey Ink); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)