CBCC #32 - altering a container

For this week's CBCC challenge, Courtney sent all of us Challenge Chicks some black plastic containers for us to alter. These containers are very skinny and square, but the top opens and folds down in an odd fashion. It sort of folds open like a book at the top. So..... I couldn't cover the entire side with paper - I had to leave that separation in there so the top could open up.

It worked out pretty good - I was able to use the tiny strip across the top for a bow on one box and a sentiment on the other box. :-) The box with the flowers on it - I'm planning to fill it with flower seeds and mail it off to someone. Wouldn't that be neat to open this box and have flower seeds ready for planting?

I'm not sure what I will do with the box with the chipboard oval on it. I figured that since I would be putting something small inside the box, that sentiment would work out nicely. Do you have any ideas for what to put in this box? I'd love to hear what you think!

Check out what the other Challenge Chicks did with their boxes and leave them some love:

Courtney Fowler
Maria Fiscella
Danielle Marcus
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey
Kim Gruetzmacher
Risa Malieta West

Flower box details:
Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms Large Daisy Patch and sentiment
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Bashful Blue
CS: Whisper White, Cameo Coral
Other: copic markers, sponge

Oval chipboard box details:
Stamps: Happy Harmony (retired Stampin Up)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
CS: Pink Pirouette, Basic Grey Eva dsp
Other: Maya Road oval frame chipboard, Shabby Shutters distress crackle paint, pink tafetta ribbon, Celery button

Trendy Trees designer paper

I've gone crazy for Trendy Trees this weekend. I've spent two days nonstop playing with this set from Stampin Up. I had this idea in my head to make my own designer paper with the trees, but I just needed a little extra help picking my colors. With Chrissy to the rescue, she suggested Kiwi Kiss to go with my Saffron and Baja Breeze colors. I think they look great together!

This card was not a 5 minute card. I had to take it slow and easy, stamping one thing at a time, using the stampamajig to make sure I had the placement of the tree tops correct. It's so neat how the tree tops are different shapes for each color. It really reminds me of designer paper.

By the way, you are seeing a tiny little sneak peak on this card. Can you guess what it is?? In the new mini catalog from Stampin Up starting on April 1, you will be able to order the scallop oval punch! It's gorgeous! It fits perfectly with the large oval punch already available from Stampin Up. Be sure to contact your Stampin Up demonstrator on April 1 so you can order your own scallop oval punch. :-)

Stamps: Trendy Trees, Upsy Daisy
Ink: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa
CS: Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Other: stampamajig, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, saffron wide grosgrain ribbon (from SAB ribbon bundle)

RN Easter card challenge

The Rubbernecker blog issued a new challenge - this time to make an Easter card for a child. You know what that means to me? Lots of color and texture! Kids love colors and they love to feel things.

Can you see the texture on this card? I used some fuzzy soft yellow yarn (a gift from my friend Teresa - thanks!!) and some tiny little white pom poms on the bunny bottoms. :-)

The super cute bunny bottoms stamp as well as the sentiment are from Rubbernecker. I loved the colors in the plaid paper (from DCWV), so I matched them up with copic markers for easy coloring. Now how do I decide which child to send this to? I have 12 nephews and nieces!!! Ack!!

Tango Trees

I was playing with the Trendy Trees stamp set the other night, and I discovered something. The stampamajig comes in really handy with this set. If you are picky about your stamping, which I can "sometimes" be, the SAMJ will leave your sanity intact.

This card is semi-cased from a card I saw in an email from Gloria Helmbrecht. She posted a bunch of cards that she got in a swap or a contest, and this particular one caught my eye. I loved the simplicity of it, so I kept the layout and stamps, but I changed up some of the colors, the placement of the sentiment, and the ribbon. I love the fact that it is flat and thus, mail-able! :-) Now I want to try this with tons of other color combinations just to see what they look like. Don't be surprised if you see this same card in different colors over the next few days. :-)

Stamps: Trendy Trees (Stampin Up!)
Ink: Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip
CS: Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Other: scallop edge punch, Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon, stampamajig

Top Note purse

Isn't this adorable? We made this cute little purse at my last stamp camp. I set out my two tins of felt flowers and let the ladies choose what color they wanted. Wouldn't ya know - most of them picked Chocolate Chip?!?! LOL

The stamp set is one of the SAB stamps called Yummy. It fits perfectly on the Top Note die shape. If you want this set, you better hurry with your $50 order and call or email your demonstrator. You've only got a few more days to get this Yummy set for free!

Stamps: Yummy (free SAB set)
Ink: Pacific Point
CS: Bashful Blue
Other: Top Note die, felt flower, silver brad, oval punch, white paper bag, shredded paper

Cherry Dress

My good friend Priscy shared some baby girl dress cards on a yahoo group that we belong to, and I just fell in love. I begged her for the template, and I made my own Cherry Dress tonight. It's just slightly smaller than a regular A2 card, so it will fit into an envelope with no problem.

I cut the card from Bashful Blue cardstock, and then cut out another dress from the cherry paper (Summer Picnic dsp from Stampin Up - now retired). I had to do some minor touchups to make the dsp fit onto the cardstock, and then I glued it down. The ribbon is Stampin Up's wide grosgrain in Real Red, and the Old Olive button is tied with linen thread.

I tried to find a tiny sentiment to go on the little tag, so I looked at my PaperTrey Ink set called Mixed Messages. This one - "Hi there" - fit nicely with room left for the hole at the top. All together, this card took me less than an hour to make from start to finish. I love it! Now I need to make some more with different designer paper patterns. :-)

Thanks so much for the pattern, Priscy!!

Belli Challenge #60 - bookmarks

This week's Belli Challenge is to make bookmarks! Those are always fun and easy to make, and I always need bookmarks. I started off with this Spirit of Spring image from Rubbernecker. After I made the first one, I couldn't stop until I made all four of these, representing the four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter).






I stamped each of these images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored them with Copic Markers. I just pulled various ribbons from my stash that complemented the colors I had used for coloring. There are no brads or glitter or anything bulky on these because I wanted to actually use these for bookmarks. Bookmarks are supposed to be flat so they will stay in place, right? :-)

Go check out what the other Belli Girls have created on the Belli blog. You'll be blown away by the diversity and creativity of their bookmarks. :-)

CBCC #31 - Color Challenge

This week's CBCC Challenge is a color challenge. Courtney wanted us to use So Saffron, Sage Shadow, Lavender Lace, and Ballet Blue. As usual, my mind went blank! LOL What could I possibly make that would have these colors together??



I looked around my studio and I found this adorable Precious Moments image that my mom gave to me several years ago. Isn't it just darling? I thought about it, and yup, I could get all four colors in here while coloring it. Can you see em? The little girl's hair is colored with Saffron, while the bows in her hair and the onion crock and the cover on the honey jar are colored with Ballet Blue. The tops of the carrots and the big watermelon are Sage Shadow and the sign is Lavender Lace.

After I colored it, I sat back and tried and tried to put this on a card. No luck. I took it over to my mom's house to show her, and maybe get some inspiration for setting this on a card. Welllllllllll........... LOL My momma took over! LOL While babysitting four of her grandkids (supervising them on a project with glitter), I watched my mom pick out papers and flowers and ribbons. She just went to town on this! I think she did a wonderful job - these colors look so great together. Thanks, Mom!!!!

What would you create with these colors? I wanna see! Go sit down and pull these colors out and start creating. If you upload your artwork to SCS or to PCP, please use keyword CBCC31. Don't forget to leave a link on Courtney's blog posting so we can check it out.

Would you like to see what the rest of the Challenge Chicks created? Go check them out and leave them some love! :-)

Courtney Fowler
Maria Fiscella
Danielle Marcus
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey
Kim Gruetzmacher
Risa Malieta West

Have a wonderful day!

Sunflowers and Laughter

The Rubbernecker blog is hosting a sketch challenge, and this is my take on it. Isn't that little froggie the cutest little thing?? LOL I colored the image with Copic markers, and then filled in the sunflowers with some Cinnamon stickles.

While I waited for that to dry, I decided to make my own sunflowers. I could not find any flowers in this studio that look like sunflowers, so I just punched out some flower shapes and layered two of them together. To age them a bit, I sponged some Walnut Stain distress ink on the edges of the flowers. Then I punched out a small circle from Chocolate Chip cardstock and glued that to the middle of the flowers. That wasn't good enough, so I covered the little brown circle with Cinnamon stickles to sort of match the flowers in the image. :-)

Look closely at the Mellow Moss cardstock underneath the punched out sunflowers. Can you see the Versamark stamping on there? I was careful to ink up only the flowers on the stamp with Versamark and then press it onto the moss cardstock. I repeated this several times to fill up that little square with sunflowers.

I tried to "glue" down the dew drops on the right hand side using more Cinnamon stickles, but you can't really see the glitter through these dark brown dew drops. The brown gingham ribbon is my finishing touch for this sketch challenge card.

Go check out the awesome work the design team did for this sketch challenge. Head over to the Rubbernecker blog now and give this a shot. You would have a chance to win 25% off your next order with Rubbernecker! Crossing my fingers that I win! :-)

CBCC #30 - sketch challenge

This week's CBCC challenge is to create something using the sketch below:




I found some scraps of Basic Grey Lily Kate papers that a dear friend had sent me a long time ago (thanks, Lisa!!!!!), and I'm still in a butterfly mood, so I put the two together. I changed the sketch a teensy bit by making a diamond mat behind the small butterflies - just to be different. The small butterflies and the sentiment are from the Vintage Butterflies set over at Cornish Heritage Farms.



We'd love to see what you create with this sketch! If you upload your card to SCS or to PCP, please use keyword CBCC30, and leave a link on Courtney's blog so we all know to check it out. Here's what the rest of the Challenge Chicks created:

Courtney Fowler
Maria Fiscella
Danielle Marcus
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey
Kim Gruetzmacher
Risa Malieta West

Go check out what these Chicks have created and leave them some love. Have a wonderful day! :-)

Sunflower Spring card

I wanted to try another spring card (see previous post), this time with designer paper. I folded up the designer paper according to the directions on Splitcoast by Sandy Hulsart. It's really easier than you would think - and I'm not one to make fancy fold cards at all. :-)

I inked up the sunflowers stamp with my markers, huffed on it, and pressed it down on Whisper White cardstock. I went back over the bottom of it with the grass stamp and some Celery ink, and then stamped the little "thank you" across the middle with Close to Cocoa.

This will be a great flat card for mailing to someone - no bulky embellishments to get stuck in the postal machines. :-)


Stamps: Short & Sweet (sentiment), Inspired by Nature (all from Stampin Up)
Ink: Celery, Summer Sun, Close to Cocoa, Mustard, Garden Green
CS: White, Cocoa, Delicate Dots (free SAB designer paper)

Spring Fold card for RN

The Rubbernecker blog has another challenge up, and this time it is to create a card with a different kind of fold. I'm not one to make "funky fold" cards, so this was a real challenge. I looked around Splitcoast to find some inspiration, and I found a tutorial by Sandy Hulsart on how to make a Spring Card. This card springs up when you let go. That is my hand at the bottom of the card trying to hold it together. LOL

I used a beautiful sentiment from Rubbernecker for this card, called "Angel's Whisper" in the Stamp Oasis line. I bought this last year at a convention, and this is the first time I've inked it up. Egads! For the background, I used a stamp from Tim Holtz's Nature's Discoveries stamp set. I stamped it with Versamark all over the Brocade Blue cardstock, and then dusted over it with some Pearl colored Perfect Pearls. I love the shimmer it gives this card. You can see it much better if you click on the picture - it will bring up a larger picture for you.

To help accent the pearl coloring, I used White Opal Liquid Pearls around the scallop oval frame as well as to dot the three "i's" in the sentiment. The gorgeous ribbon is from Stampin Up, and I tied a large pink button to the side with the ribbon. The designer paper that the sentiment is stamped on is also from Stampin Up called Bella Birds. It's such a soft and pretty designer paper. :-)

I've gotta get to bed, as I have stamp camp tomorrow morning bright and early. Have a great weekend!

SAB Butterfly card

I'm loving the free items we can earn from Stampin Up just for placing a $50 order! I've used both the free SAB ribbon and the free SAB designer paper on this card. Gotta love that!

Another thing I absolutely love is the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die cut from Stampin Up. After cutting these butterflies with the free SAB designer paper, I sponged the edges with some Saffron ink. It looked a little plain, so I finished it with a Bashful Blue brad in the center. The other two designer paper panels are matted with Basic Grey cardstock, and I used Basic Grey ink to stamp the sentiment from Warm Words.

Don't you just love these colors? You will have to hurry and place your $50+ order with your Stampin Up demonstrator before the end of this month in order to get your free SAB product. You can choose from free designer paper, free ribbon, or any of four free stamp sets. I love them all! :-)

Everything is from Stampin Up:
Stamps: Warm Words
Ink: Basic Grey, So Saffron
CS: So Saffron, Basic Grey
DSP: Delicate Dots (free SAB)
Other: Saffron ribbon (free SAB), Bashful Blue brad, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, sponge

Belli Challenge #58 - book cover inspiration

This week's Belli Challenge is to create something inspired by the book cover you see below:



I looked and looked at this picture, trying to get a feel for it. I didn't want to just "copy" it; I wanted to do something different. I looked at the ruffled edges of the flower, and looked around my studio for something that would mimic that. I found this neat ruffled checked red ribbon, and tried to incorporate it into a card.



Since the ribbon looked sort of country-ish, I wanted a stamp and papers that continued that "country" feel. If you look at the little girl's sleeves, you will see that they are sort of ruffled as well. :-) To tie it all together, I colored the flowers just along the edges with a red copic marker to give it the same appearance as the flower on the book cover.

I hope you play along with us over at the Belli Challenge blog. Take a look at this book cover and see what you come up with! :-)

Stamps: Sarah Kay, sentiment from Scripty Words (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
CS: Black, Neenah White (the BEST paper for coloring and blending with Copic markers), Whisper White, Real Red
Other: Making Memories designer paper, red checked ruffled ribbon, nestabilities, copic markers

CBCC #29 - Inspired by Nature

This week's CBCC challenge is to let yourself be inspired by nature. Courtney challenged all of us to use this beautiful butterfly on our "nature" projects. You can find this butterfly as a digital image over at Sweet N Sassy Stamps. The great thing about digital images is that you can simply pay for them at the website, download them, open them up in your own software, resize them if you prefer, and print directly on your own cardstock as many times as you want. No waiting for stamps to arrive in the mail, no inky fingers, no dirty stamps to clean up! Gotta love that!

I loved this butterfly so much, I had to try it in all kinds of different colors. I used the same layout, but I changed the color of my butterfly depending on what colors were in the background designer papers. The butterflies were colored with Copic markers. This was so much fun.

The sentiment for all of these cards is a stamp I bought at Stamp Salado, made by Joyce A. Meyer at www.jamnstamps.com. (BTW - I just tried this website, and it appears to be out of business.) I love sweet little sentiments like this. I can just write a little note to a good friend and pop it in the mail. Mailing these cards is exactly what I had in mind when I created them, thus the lack of bulky embellishments. I wanted something nice and flat so they won't get ripped open in the US Postal mail service. :-)

Would you like to see more "inspired by nature" cards? Here is what the rest of the Challenge Chicks have created:

Courtney Fowler
Maria Fiscella
Danielle Marcus
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey
Kim Gruetzmacher
Risa Malieta West

We'd love to see your own "inspired by nature" cards! :-) If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword CBCC29.

Rubbernecker Challenge - Winter ATC

This is the last ATC that I did on Wednesday night. I probably would have stayed up to make a bunch more, but alas, I had to get some sleep before going to work in the morning. I was playing in the Rubbernecker blog challenge to create an ATC. I made a total of 8 of these in one night! That should tell you how quick and easy these are. :-)

I used the same Tim Holtz ATC collage stamp with the same Jet Black stazon ink. Then I sprayed the piece with Patina Glimmer Mist - the soft misty blue color - and then again at the bottom with Latte (brownish color). The Latte is a very soft brown, more like a beige color, so I used some Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist at the very bottom-most part of the card to give it some depth.

You can see some of the shimmer at the bottom of this ATC. To finish off the ATC, I wrapped two lengths of brown twine around the bottom and threaded them through a blue button and tied them together.

I had a great time making all these ATC's! Thanks to Sherry and the Rubbernecker gang for a great challenge!!!!!!!!!

Rubbernecker Challenge - Fall ATC

Here is my Fall ATC using the same Tim Holtz stamp as my Spring and Summer versions. This time I used Olive Vine and Coral Glimmer Mists to simulate those rich colors of autumn. To keep it simple, I just tied a black narrow organdy ribbon on the side. I wish you could see the wonderful shimmer in person.

One more ATC to go...... stay tuned. :-)

Rubbernecker Challenge - Summer ATC

Here is my Summer ATC (from my Four Seasons ATC collection). Using the same Tim Holtz ATC collage stamp, I stamped it with Jet Black Stazon ink and let it dry. Remember those Glimmer Mists that I love? I pulled out Pineapple and sprayed over most of the card, and then I sprayed over part of it with Fully Purple. Don't you just love that shimmer?

In case you are wondering why I've gone ATC crazy, the Rubbernecker blog has a challenge to make an ATC. I have a huge wish list of stamps I want to buy from Rubbernecker, so cross your fingers that I am one of the lucky gals to win 25% off an order. :-)

Rubbernecker Challenge - Spring ATC

This and the next three postings will feature my Four Seasons ATC's. These are the last four ATC's I made back on Wednesday night when I was kickstarted by my muse. Once I got started making these cute little cards, I couldn't stop!

This season is obviously Spring. This is the easiest - no joke - EASIEST ATC you can ever make. I found this Tim Holtz ATC sized collage stamp at Stamp Salado last month, and I finally got around to using it. I stamped it with Jet Black Stazon ink, let it dry, and then sprayed it with Pink Taffy Glimmer Mist. That's it, easy peasy!

After I let it dry, I jazzed it up a tiny bit with a Prima flower and a button in the center. Can you see the shimmer on this little ATC? Love it!

Stay tuned for the other three seasons......

Butterflies Three

I found a sketch on the Copics Colour Challenge site, and thought I'd give it a whirl. I found this gorgeous sentiment stamp in my collection, so I looked for some butterflies to go with it. My friend Chrissy's digital butterfly from Sweet N Sassy Stamps is perfect for this. I resized the butterfly image and printed it out on white cardstock.

To color the butterflies, I picked three Copic colors that matched the background paper - RV11, BV11, and YG03. I'm wishing I had that airbrush system now so I could airbrush a pale blue background onto the little butterfly squares. :-)

Stamps: Verses Rubber Stamps, digital Lunar Moth image from Sweet N Sassy Stamps
Ink: Chocolate Chip, printer ink for butterflies
CS: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, White, Lily Kate dsp from Basic Grey
Other: pale pink organdy ribbon, nestabilities, Copic markers

Rubbernecker Challenge - ATC4

My muse hit me Wednesday night and I made quite a few ATC's all at once. This is the 4th ATC I made that night. My muse told me to try brayering a background, so I pulled out the glossy cardstock and went to town. I used a retired Stampin Up Blue Frost spectrum pad for this ATC. I love the gradual change of colors you get when brayering with inks from spectrum pads.

I used Stazon Jet Black ink to stamp this Rubbernecker silhouette onto the brayered background, and set that aside to dry. The butterflies are punched from a Martha Stewart punch, and I stamped the little "dream" onto the wings. This little word is from Cornish Heritage Farms' Inchie Style set - the perfect size to fit onto a butterfly wing. I stamped it with Stazon Jet Black ink so I could cover the butterfly with Stickles and not worry about the ink smearing.

One of the design team gals did this little trick with her ATC. I loved how Broni stamped a little word on a butterfly, and it just stuck in my brain. I ended up casing her when I created this ATC. Thanks for the inspiration, Broni!!! :-)

Rubbernecker Challenge - ATC3

Yup, I made another ATC for the Rubbernecker blog challenge. LOL I promise this is my last post for tonight. I'll have more for you tomorrow and this weekend. Can you tell I had a very productive night last night?? :-)

For this one, I used a Rubbernecker silhouette image that I bought at one of their convention booths last year. I'm a sucker for gorgeous floral silhouette images. I stamped that with Peeled Paint distress ink, and let it dry.

I pulled out my Spanish Script backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms and inked it up with Broken China distress ink, then I used a tissue to wipe away the color on a diagonal line. That's how I got that little diagonal of script on the side of the ATC. It didn't look quite finished, so I used some swirls from CHF's Beautiful set to go along the side and bottom. I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I sponged Broken China distress ink all around the edges.

The tiny butterfly chipboard (Heidi Swapp minis) was painted with Picket Fence white crackle paint, and set aside to dry. After about an hour, it had dried and crackled (LOVE that!!!), and I smooshed it into a Spiced Marmalade inkpad so it would turn a cool orange-y color. This is my favorite ATC of the three I have posted today. :-)

Rubbernecker Challenge - ATC2

If you read my previous post, you would know that I couldn't just stop at one ATC. LOL Here is the second one that I created last night. Mom had this beautiful Rubbernecker image in her basket of stamps, and I asked her if I could stamp some images and take them home to color. I'd already used one on a card about a month ago, and I wondered if this would fit onto an ATC. Actually it's a bit longer - 2.5" by 4". I couldn't bear to chop off her hair just to fit onto a "real" ATC.

I colored the image with Copic markers, and punched out some tiny stars to add to the dark blue background. The "dream" comes from one of my old, old, old stamp sets made by Anna Griffin.

Check out the Rubbernecker blog and you will see a gorgeous ATC made by Sherry Cheever. While you're there, check out the ones the rest of the design team created. There's lots of inspiration there! :-)

Rubbernecker challenge - ATC1

The Rubbernecker blog posted a challenge yesterday (Wacky Wednesday) to create an ATC. I've never made an ATC before, so this was completely new to me. I found some Rubbernecker stamps that I stole from Mom (shhhhhhhh) to make this card. She had the big set of Tim Holtz Nature stamps, and I tried to make these fit on the ATC. According to most people, an ATC should be 2.5" by 3.5". I had to make mine just a tad bigger so I could fit this big quote on there. :-)

I stamped the flowers/weeds with Scattered Straw distress ink first, let that dry, and then stamped the quote on top of that with Archival Jet Black ink. Once I was sure it was completely dry, I sponged all the edges with Dusty Concord distress ink, and used my distress tool to rough up the edges. I kept it simple by finishing it off with some orange-y dew drops.

Well...... little did I know that this would be so much fun! I actually ended up making a bunch more ATC's which I will post shortly. I'll post a couple more tonight, and then some more tomorrow and this weekend. I'm crossing my fingers that I will win one of the chances for 25% off so I can have a little shopping spree at Rubbernecker. There are SO many stamps I would love to buy!

Truly Scrumptious blog - sketch challenge #2

The Truly Scrumptious blog posted another sketch challenge yesterday. I spent my entire evening working on this and some other things for another challenge - you'll see those other things over the next few days.

This sketch was FUN! I love the four square panels in the background - it gives you so many possibilities. You could make them all the same, or all different, or half and half...... totally fun. The butterfly is a digi-image from Sweet N Sassy. My dear friend Chrissy illustrated this gorgeous butterfly. I am constantly amazed at her artisitic abilities.

I colored the butterfly with Copic markers and then sponged some blue ink around it. I punched a hole in the right side of the circle, fed the celery ribbon through it, and attached a prima flower with a brad right onto the end of the ribbon.

Guess what? I just re-read the Truly Scrumptious post, and they wanted handmade buttons on the card too! Ack! Well........ I didn't do the buttons, and I have about 5 minutes to get to work, so I won't have time to change that. It might help if I actually read the postings instead of looking at the pictures. LOL

Stamps: Digital Butterfly (Sweet N Sassy), Nature Silhouettes (sentiment from Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Bashful Blue
CS: Pixie Pink, White, Celery, Sultry dsp by Basic Grey
Other: copic markers, nestabilities, sponge, prima flower, gold brad, celery grosgrain ribbon

Belli Challenge #57 - new stamps!

This week's Belli Challenge is to create something with the two new stamp sets that Chris and Courtney released at Sweet N Sassy this week. Aren't they beautiful? Chris illustrated the birds on the branch (called His Eye is on the Sparrow) and Courtney drew the beautiful Easter Lily.

Chris stamped images from both sets and sent them to all of the Belli Girls. We had to pick a color that we rarely use, and incorporate that into our card with the new stamps. I don't use orange, so I made the lily orange with some bold tropical touches. I also rarely use Garden Green, so I used that with the birds.

Starting today, we have a NEW belli challenge blog!!! Click on Belli Challenge and it will take you to our brand new blog where you can see all the artwork for the week in one place. We will also have a Mr. Linky at the bottom of the post for the week so you can play along with us. Just enter your name and the link to your card (please enter the specific link, not just a general link to your blog or gallery), and we will all be able to click and view your artwork.



Sparrow card deets:
Stamp: His Eye is on the Sparrow (Sweet N Sassy Stamps)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Bashful Blue
CS: Garden Green, Pink Pirouette, Pink Passion, Sultry dsp by Basic Grey, K & Co dsp (pale green paper at the bottom)
Other: copic markers, sponge, nestabilities, scallop edge punch, dew drops


Lily card deets:
Stamp: Easter Lily (Sweet N Sassy Stamps)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
CS: Tangerine Tango, White, Chocolate Chip, Sultry dsp by Basic Grey
Other: copic markers, celery organdy ribbon, brown twine, buttons

CBCC #28 - bows

This week's CBCC challenge is to use bows in a different way. Well...... y'all know I don't do bows. That is something I am not a natural at, unlike my mother. All my stamp camp ladies know that I just tie knots; I don't do bows. Hee hee hee!!!

After thinking about it for a while, I thought I would try something different. Instead of fumbling around with tying a bow, I basically made a flat bow. You can see this at the bottom of the first picture, right under the stamped quote.

I made a little tag booklet instead of a card for today. My husband gave me some of these little paper envelopes, and I rattled this idea around in my head for a while. I finally sat down one day and just started making this from the "blueprints" in my head. I'm pretty pleased with how it all turned out.

Everything on this tag booklet is from Stampin Up except for the little paper envelopes and the Basic Grey magnetic snaps (for the closure). Why don't you try to create a card and make a different kind of bow to put on it? If you upload your card to SCS or PCP, please use keyword CBCC28. Need some more inspiration? Check out what the other Challenge Chicks have done:

Courtney Fowler
Maria Fiscella
Danielle Marcus
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey
Kim Gruetzmacher
Risa Malieta West

Sultry Peacock

I found this peacock stamp at a LSS, and I just had to have it. It says "Great Impressions" on the side, so I'm guessing that is the name of the company that made this stamp.

I wanted to keep the beauty of the peacock as the focal point, so I didn't add any extra layers or images or sentiments or embellishments. The pattern in this Sultry paper from Basic Grey seemed to echo the shape of the peacock feathers. Mom gave me this gorgeous pale pink satin ribbon for Christmas, and it was just the perfect thing to add to this card. I colored the peacock with copic markers, blending a little bit of two colors of pink on its back.

There are so many different color variations you could use with this peacock stamp. I'm anxiously awaiting the new Wisteria paper so I can try some purple tones.

Stamps: peacock from Great Impressions
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
CS: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, White, Sultry by Basic Grey
Other: nestabilities, copic markers, pale pink satin ribbon