SPRING card

I saw a card that Lauri Seago had created, and I just fell in love. So I cased her card found here, and changed up a few things. For one, I used a bird instead of a butterfly, and I used different cardstock and designer paper colors. It's fun to make different kinds of cards now and then. Ya gotta shake up that creativity once in a while! :-)

Everything on this card is from Stampin Up!
CS: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Bordering Blue, Pink Pirouette
DSP: Bella Birds
Die cuts: Birds and Blooms sizzlit 4-pack (pg 201), Little Leaves sizzlit (pg 200), Serif Essentials Alphabet bigz (pg 196)

Belli Challenge #64 - jumbo eyelets/brads

Did you happen to notice that I didn't post a Belli challenge last week? The Belli Challenges will now be posted every other week, which gives you more time to work on your own Belli cards and post them to Mr. Linky. Isn't that great? :-)

This week's Belli Challenge is to use jumbo eyelets or jumbo brads on your cards. I used two jumbo eyelets on my card above. A Crop-a-Dile comes in really handy for setting the jumbo eyelets.

I'm loving this Dream Silhouettes stamp set from Sweet N Sassy Stamps. I can't seem to put it away - it keeps jumping out at me, begging me to get it inky! For this card, I found some Basic Grey Blush papers and tried to put together three different papers that would still complement each other. Since I still had my Dark Chocolate ink, cardstock, and satin ribbon out, I used those with the Blush papers.

Go check out what the other Belli Girls have created using jumbo eyelets or brads over at the new Belli Challenge blog. Then dig around for your own jumbo eyelets/brads and get those on a card and share with us.



Stamps: Dream Silhouettes (Sweet N Sassy Stamps)
Ink: Dark Chocolate (PaperTrey Ink)
CS: Dark Chocolate (PaperTrey Ink), Pink Pirouette (on the inside of the card - Stampin Up), Basic Grey Blush dsp
Other: Dark Chocolate satin ribbon, nestabilities, Antique Copper jumbo eyelets

CBCC #36 - color challenge

For this week's CBCC challenge, Courtney issued a color challenge. We used the colors Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, and Almost Amethyst on our cards/projects.



I wanted to try another Top Note quilt card, but I changed it up a bit. I found some really narrow white ribbon and I used that to define the seams.



Doesn't that look a little different? I rather like it with the tiny white ribbon. It seems to give it more of a real quilt feel.

Check out what the other Challenge Chicks have created and leave them some love:

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


Stamps: Butterfly Kisses (PaperTrey Ink)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin Up)
CS: White, Basic Grey, Celery dsp, Regal Rose dsp, Amethyst dsp
Other: nestabilities, Top Note die (Stampin Up), narrow white ribbon, silver brad, prima flower

Chocolate Silhouette Dreams

Sweet N Sassy Stamps has a new blog called The Sweet Stop where they will have a new sketch challenge every week. I created this card for their first sketch challenge, and it felt good to get back into a stamping groove. (For more information on my lack of stamping, see the post from yesterday.)

This card came together after I randomly picked out a scrap of designer paper. A good friend had sent me a big box full of paper scraps, and this was in the middle of that pile. It still had part of the label on the paper, so I know it is from Fancy Pants Design. I also used Dark Chocolate ink, paper, and satin ribbon from PaperTrey Ink (yummy!).

The image that I stamped on the oval and the word "Dream" are from Sweet N Sassy Stamps, and this set is called Dream Silhouettes. Isn't that gorgeous? I wanted this set as soon as I saw it, and I was so thrilled to win this set! I had participated in a stamping challenge when Sweet N Sassy Stamps had their release party, and I won! Thank you, Korin!!

I found the yummy chocolate pearls at Michelle Rodgers' Stampers Dream store. These are made by Kaiser and they have several different sizes in each package (the packaging has them going around in a swirl - so cute). Don't they match perfectly with the Dark Chocolate satin ribbon? Mmmmm.........

Head on over to The Sweet Stop and check out the sketch challenge. Hopefully it will inspire you to create some cards today. :-)

Rubbernecker Challenge #8 - chipboard and buttons

This week's Rubbernecker challenge is to use chipboard or buttons on a card. I decided to use both here. Let me start off with a little disclaimer, though.

It has been very hard for me to get back into stamping again without my sweet Queenie baby keeping me company in my doorway. She was always right there every time I was working in my studio, and I would sometimes take breaks and get down there with her and talk to her and rub her thick yellow fur. When working on my card for last week's Rubbernecker challenge, it was a rude awakening that Queenie baby was no longer there. I miss my sweet Queenie so much.

It was a week before I could even think about touching any stamps or papers or inkpads. And thus, it has taken me three days to finish this card, which is totally out of sync with my normal stamping style. Doesn't this card look totally different? It's not a "Holly" card, as my mom would say.

Now on to the deets for this card.

I picked out the round swirly flourish from a package of Tim Holtz grungeboard and covered it with Antiqued Bronze distress crackle paint. (Yes, I LOVE my crackle paints!!) After it finally dried, I sponged some Dusty Concord distress ink into the cracks and buffed it off.

Meanwhile, while I waited for the paint to dry, I cut into my precious stack of Scrapperdashery papers that I bought from Rubbernecker. This particular GORGEOUS paper is Rudyard Kipling's "IF" paper. It comes with all these variations of color and the hint of writing on there. I stamped the new floral background from Rubbernecker onto this sheet with Versamark and poured Irridescent Ice embossing powder on and heat set it. That's why it's a little bit glittery - I just had to have those pretty flowers and sparkles on there.

To finish off this card, I punched out some butterflies, sponged So Saffron ink (Stampin Up) and Dusty Concord distress ink (Ranger) in different patterns. On two of the butterflies, I inked up the same floral background (Rubbernecker) with the Dusty Concord distress ink and pressed the butterflies into the stamp. The other butterfly has some Spiced Marmalade distress stickles where the body is.

Look closely at the little tag. I stamped that same floral background with So Saffron ink onto Saffron cardstock and glued it to the back of the tag. The sentiment (from Cornish Heritage Farms) is stamped on the front with Royal Purple Stazon ink.

Because the challenge was to use chipboard or buttons, I wanted to at least have one button on there, but it just didn't look right. So I used three different buttons, but broke them up across the card.

I hope you enjoy this eye candy. Enjoy your weekend!

Rubbernecker Challenge #7 - chalk lines

I'm going through a very rough time right now, and I wanted to try to stamp something to get my mind off things. Can't say it worked at all, but at least I got to finish the Rubbernecker challenge. This challenge is to look at the inspiration piece and create something from it.

I ended up doing a chalk lines background (a new technique from the Technique Junkies newsletter) which sort of emulates the inspiration piece. I picked out the colors - blue, green, pink, and purple - from the inspiration piece and tried to copy the grid pattern you see there. The sentiment is from Rubbernecker, and the little silver charm says "imagine" on the front.

Coral Flowers

This is a "just because" card. I was just playing around with the 5-petal flower punch from Stampin Up and the sprig of leaves (from the Stampin Up Little Leaves sizzlit die cut) and somehow ended up with this card. LOL

Everything on this card is from Stampin Up. You may be looking at the ribbon and thinking, no.......... that's not Stampin Up........... But it is! :-) I bought the new 5/8" white satin ribbon from the new Occasions mini catalog, and simply sponged it with Cameo Coral ink to get it to coordinate with my card. How cool is that? You can have any color of ribbon you want - just sponge the color onto this Whisper White satin ribbon. It takes the ink so beautifully!

For the flowers, I did a little trick that I showed you last year on my blog. I punched out the flowers, and then went back over the petals with a pair of scissors and notched out each of the tips. I love how this gives the flowers such a different look.

On the white diamond panels in the background, I stamped them with the large collage stamp from Fresh Cuts. Then I simply layered the die cut leaves and punched out flowers on top. It's a fun and bright and summer-y kind of card, isn't it? :-)

Stamps: Fresh Cuts, Heard from the Heart
Ink: Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise
CS: Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss
Other: Little Leaves sizzlit die, 5-petal flower punch, sponge, 5/8" Whisper White satin ribbon, Fresh Favorites I buttons