SCS Limited Supplies Challenge - Wedding

How about a swirly, black and white card for today? The Limited Supplies Challenge on SplitCoastStampers last Friday was to use only black and white. I was a little late in getting to play, but I was finally able to make my card.

All the stamps except the sentiment are from a set by Autumn Leaves that I purchased at Michael’s. I scored the lines with my Scor-Pal, stamped the swirls on the top and bottom, then used the Swiss Dots folder to emboss them. Then I stamped the flower and stamped the leafy swirls twice. I first stamped the sentiment (from an Inkadinkado wedding set) directly on the card, but I felt it needed more so I stamped it again and cut it out and mounted it on black and used Pop Dots to mount it on the card. I added the brads, mounted the whole thing on black and then on to the card front. .

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

All Ears!

Today’s card is another one using stamps from 2RedBanana’s Caring Critters set.

I stamped the image and the sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black ink, and I embossed the bunny with clear embossing powder. I colored her with Stampin’ Up! chalks and used Liquid Appliqué on her tail. The background paper is from Die Cuts With a View Summer Matstack. The mats on the bunny and sentiment are from a scrap pack. I added a couple brads. I used an SU! punch for the ribbon slot.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Easter Card

Here is the card I made for the 2RedBananas Spring Challenge from two weeks ago. The challenge was to make a Spring card. (Just to clarify - my card did NOT win on its own merit - it was a random drawing! :) ) Here is this week's challenge - to use gems. There is a prize this week, too - a bottle of metallic Dew Drops!

The duck stamp is from a set by Sandylion. I stamped it on yellow background paper and cut it out. I stamped it again on the yellow and also on white. I cut the wing out of the yellow and mounted it on a Pop Dot. I punched the white image and the pink scalloped circle with a Marvy punch. The yellow circle is cut with a Nestability. I sponged a little black around the white circle and added black dots to the scallops. Then I adhered the yellow paper-pieced image to the white image. The background paper is from Sizzix, mounted on black. The yellow felt rick rack is from JoAnn’s. The Happy Easter sentiment is from Inkadinkado.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

I Won Blog Candy!

I made a card for the 2RedBananas blog challenge last week (which I just realized I didn’t post on my blog yet. I’ll do that for tomorrow!) and lucky me – I was the random winner! I won my choice of stamp sets from their February and March releases. This is the set that I choose. Their sets are unmounted rubber. You get the best of both – nothing stamps like rubber, but yet you don’t need the storage space of wood blocks. Awesome!! Thank you so much, Jeanette! This week’s challenge goes through today. Here is a link to the new challenge, if you’re interested. It’s an Inspiration Challenge. 2RedBananas also has MANY other items available. Check them out!

So, here is a card I made with my new set. I received it on Wednesday, but didn’t get a chance to finish it until this morning. The bird is stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink on Papertrey Ink’s Stamper’s Select. I colored it with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. I cut it out with a Labels One Nestability die. Then I embossed it, and left the die in place and sponged with SU! So Saffron ink. I used a bigger Labels One die to cut a mat out of Certainly Celery, then trimmed it down. (Looking at the card now, I wish I had embossed the mat, too. Next time!) I stamped the butterflies on PTI cardstock and colored them the same way and cut them out. The background paper is from Debbie Mumm’s Baby Girl stack from JoAnn’s. The butterflies are mounted on Pop Dots. The sentiment is from the 2RedBanana’s set also, and is stamped with Stampin’ Up!’s Certainly Celery.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Friends

I made this card almost two months ago, but I don’t think I ever uploaded it to my blog. So, it’s a good one for today! It was done for CPS sketch and for a Papertrey Ink challenge to make a card for a friend.

I used Penny Black stamps with Versafine Vintage Sepia. I colored the hedgehog with Prismacolor pencils and a little bit of Gamsol. The scalloped edge is cut with a Fiskars rotary cutter and the holes are punched with a small hole punch. The flower is from Michael’s, but I don’t remember what company it is made by.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Clean and Simple Punch Challenge

A very simple card today. I’ve made a few cards lately that I can’t post yet, and I’m running out of those that I CAN post! (Edited to add: Bonnie - I can't post them because I am going to be sending them to people who read my blog, and they would probably know that they are for them!)

This was another card I made for the Clean and Simple challenge on SCS to use punches. The punch I used is a Fiskars border punch. I used Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select white cardstock for both the border and the card base. After I punched the border, I trimmed it down and scored two lines in it with my Scor-Pal. This was going to be a strictly white-on-white card, but then I added the very thin strip of color above the border. Then I thought it needed a sentiment in color. So then the Cuttlebug-embossed flower needed color, too. I used a couple Fantastix and Stampin’ Up! ink pads to color it in So Saffron and Certainly Celery.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Color Challenge Birthday and an Award

Another SplitCoastStampers challenge card today – this one for the Color Challenge which is to use Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. I’m just going to pretty much copy and paste what I wrote when I uploaded the card to SCS, because it was kind of long and I don’t want to have to write it all again!

All of the stamps except the sentiment are from a set by Hampton Art. It was kind of tricky to color the stamps in multiple colors without Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze markers, but I did my best! I used three main stamps. The bottom two pink flowers and the leaves below them are one stamp. I inked up the leaves only as best as I could using the Kiwi Kiss ink pad. Then I used a Pretty in Pink marker for the flowers. I used a blender pen to remove the marker from the flower center and then colored it with a So Saffron marker. Then I masked the two flowers and added the stamping behind it. For this stamp, I inked up the whole thing with Kiwi Kiss, then used the blender pen to remove the ink from the flowers, and then stamped the image. I did this twice. Then I inked up just the flowers with the Baja Breeze pad and removed the ink from the stems. The smallest pink flowers are a separate stamp. The pink border stamp is also included in this set. The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations and is stamped with Kiwi Kiss. The bottom corners are cut and embossed with a Fiskars embossing corner punch. The main panel is mounted on Baja Breeze and then onto the card. It needed something else, so I added glitter to all of the flowers. Hope you can see most of it - it's really quite pretty “In Real Life!”

I received another Blog Award, too! Thanks so much, Barb, for honoring me with a “Top Ten Faves” award. I really appreciate the recognition. Barb’s blog is called “Made for Keeps.”

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

CAS Challenge #7 - Punches

Today’s card was made for another Clean and Simple challenge on SplitCoastStampers – this challenge was to use punches. Now that I’m looking at it – maybe it’s not even considered “Clean and Simple!” Oh well – close enough!

The punch is a Tonic punch used in their Border System. I used Stampin’ Up!’s Apricot Appeal cardstock, punched, trimmed it down and added scored lines with my Scor-Pal. I mounted some black behind the punches, but left the top and bottom with no black. The background paper is from Sizzix. I used an EK Success border punch for the wavy and dotted line at the bottom. The sentiment is from SU!’s set called All Year Cheer I. The flowers are Primas that I received from someone. I added black brads to the flower center and in the lower left. (I love when the paper has a pattern which makes spacing the brads evenly so simple!) The punched-out butterflies were the perfect embellishment for the bottom border.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

White on White

I found this card on SplitCoastStampers yesterday, and I knew I had to case it – it was lovely! So here is my "Karen-inspired" card.

What can I say? It’s Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select white cardstock. I used a Fiskars border punch on another piece of cardstock and then trimmed it down and added a couple scored lines. I glued it down on the left side. The sentiment is embossed with a small Cuttlebug folder. The flowers are from the wedding section at Michael’s, with pearls added to the centers. Voila! Sounds really simple, but it actually did take me a fair amount of time to finish it. To recreate it would be VERY quick, though!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Butterflies Hello

Just a quick card for today. A friend asked if I had any Papertrey Ink Kraft cardstock that I could send her so she could see a sample of it. I figured I could just as well make it into a card to send. So, this is it.

The butterflies are stamped using the Stampin’ Up! set Flight of the Butterfly. I used Riding Hood Red and Close to Cocoa for the larger butterflies, and Creamy Caramel for the smaller ones. The border is punched with an EK Success border punch. The Riding Hood Red on the bottom is actually on the inside of the card. The “HELLO” is from Inkadinkado.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Another SCS Challenge Card

This card is for yesterday’s SplitCoastStampers’ Ways To Use It challenge – to use colors from the Soft Subtles family and a spring flower.

This card actually gave me some problems – probably because I should have been getting ready for company instead of doing the challenge! I did a card in my head while I was walking on the treadmill, but this isn’t it! The flowers I chose didn’t work, so I had to figure out something different. Then the layout didn’t work at all, because this flower was bigger. And so it went! But after lots of moving these elements around, I finally settled on their placement. I tied the ribbon where I wanted it and mounted the white on the green. Then I adhered it to the base of the card – upside down! So now, instead of the ribbon being towards the top with the knot on the right side, it was bottom left. I would have preferred it the way I planned it, but this is an acceptable second choice!

The tulip stamp is from Stampin’ Up!’s Garden Whimsy set – colored with a Lavender Lace and a Mellow Moss marker. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado, stamped with Mellow Moss. I sponged Mellow Moss around the edge of the tulip layer. The ovals are all cut with Nestabilities. I added dots with two different white gel pens – different tip sizes. The mats are Mellow Moss and Lavender Lace. I don’t remember where I got the ribbon – probably Michael's.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Three "Stickered" Cards

Three cards to share with you today. The “Ways To Use It” challenge on SplitCoastStampers yesterday was to use stickers. (WT210) I actually have quite a few stickers and I don’t use them very often. Kind of seems like “cheating.” :) So this was like “permission” to use them!

The first one uses a Mary Engelbreit sticker. I mounted it on Rose Red cardstock, then a scalloped white mat. The white mat qualifies this card for Sharon Johnson’s (No Time To Stamp?) challenge, found here. Then I embossed a frame in the Pink Pirouette card base. All mats and frames are done using Rectangle Nestabilities. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s Mixed Messages set and is stamped with Rose Red ink. It seemed to fit perfectly with the sticker sentiment.
The second card uses Cuttlebug folders and stickers from K&Co, and a computer-generated sentiment. I had to hand embossed the dots on the bottom, because I didn’t think of adding them until I had already added the stickers! I used a stylus with the CB folder.
The third card also uses stickers from K&Co. I drew the stems and leaves and added the sentiment from Stampin’ Up!’s All Occasions set.

OK. Now just a couple quick miscellaneous things. Yesterday was an awesome “blog day.” I think I had about 500 views and I went over 20,000 hits. I am blown away by this, and I thank you all VERY much!

And one more thing – something personal to one visitor. I see I have a fairly frequent visitor from Fergus Falls. That is my home town! I was born there and lived there until after I finished ninth grade. So, a special hello to you, whoever you are! (I even had a visitor from Dalton one day. Both of my parents are from there, originally.)

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Birthday, Kris!

A birthday card for a friend in my Yahoo! group. Happy Birthday again, Kris!

I used a stamp from a retired Stampin’ Up! set called Garden Collage. I stamped it with Tim Holtz Distress ink – Tea Dye. I colored the image with chalks. I stamped the butterfly again and colored it, then rubbed it with Versamark and embossed it with Deep Impressions embossing powder, then Versamark again, then Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder, then another layer of Deep Impressions. Then I cut it out and mounted on a piece of Pop Dot and bent up the wings. I distressed the edges with an SU! paper distressing tool and rubbed some Tea Dye ink on them. The matting, also with distressed edges, is SU! Baja Breeze. The border is die cut with a Cuttlebug die, and I used a Scor-Pal for the lines on either side of it.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas - In March!!

How about a Christmas card for today? Yep, amazingly I have some Christmas cards done. I decided this year to make several of one design, and then make some different ones later. I made 50 of this one, and will be making another 30 starting maybe in about September.

I used PaperTrey Stamper’s Select White as the card base. I figured if it’s only going to be one layer, it should be a good one! I did them assembly-line fashion. I began by scoring 25 sheets, cutting them, and then, using a Rectangle Nestability, I embossed the frame on them all. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig for the placement of the tree, since that really needed to be in the center of the frame. I just “eye-balled” the placement of the sentiment and snowflake. The stamps are all from a Stampin’ Up! set called Snow Swirled. I stamped with Versamark and embossed with gold detail embossing powder, doing about 13 – 14 at a time before I used the heat gun to finish the embossing. When the fronts were all done, I stamped on the insides, and then on the back. When they were all finished with the stamping, I folded them. They now await the end of November!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Thinking of You - Times Two

My two cards for today’s post are for friends recovering – one from surgery and one from a virus. The cards can’t help heal, but hopefully they brought a minute of two of cheer!

The first one is done with So Saffron, black and white. The ovals are all done with Oval Nestabilities. The patterned paper is from Stampin’ Up! The stamp is by Inkadinkado. I colored the little butterflies with a So Saffron maker. The flowers are from Michael’s – from the wedding section. They come white, but color VERY nicely with markers. I used the So Saffron to color one of the flowers, and added tiny pearls for the centers.
The second one is done in Certainly Celery and white. The triangle piece is left over from a card I did a few days ago, using SU!’s Stippled Stencils stamp set. Again, the patterned paper is SU!, the sentiment is Inkadinkado, the ribbon is Certainly Celery, and the flowers are from Michael’s with one of them colored with a Certainly Celery marker.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Three Roses

Three rose cards for you today using a stamp from Paper Inspirations. For all three, I used Stampin’ Up! markers (Rose Red and Always Artichoke) to color the image, then I misted it before stamping.

The first one was done using a sketch from 2 red bananas blog challenge and also for the SplitCoastStampers color challenge – Rose Red, Always Artichoke and Basic Black. I stamped the image on Whisper White and cut it with an Oval Nestability. I sponged black around the edge and also sponged a little on the image to take away some of its stark whiteness since there was no other white on the card. The scalloped mat is Always Artichoke and the background paper is also from Stampin’ Up! The sentiment and mat are punched with a Word Window punch from SU! The image for the second one was stamped on watercolor paper and the sentiment is from Studio G. Patterned paper for the second and third is from Stampin’ Up! The ribbon on the third card is SU!’s Mellow Moss, and I used a SU! ticket corner punch on the image panel and added white brads.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Thankful for You

Just a simple Thank You card today.

The stamp is from Stampin’ Up! set Thoroughly Thankful. I stamped it with Versafine Black Onyx and colored it with SU! markers in Sage Shadow and Barely Banana. I also highlighted the sentiment to draw more attention to it. I used a glue pen and Art Institute glitter on the daisy petals. I punched the stamped image and its mat with Marvy punches. The scalloped mat is Sage Shadow. I embossed the frame with a square Nestability and used a black glaze pen for the dots.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Two Simple Birthday Cards

Two cards today. I made one, liked it, had another flower the same but a different color, and I made another one.

While digging through my “card parts” box on Wednesday, I found a piece of embossed Swiss Dots. I figured I may as well use it. I also had been looking through my stickers and found a layered flower. So, I matted the Swiss Dots on Stampin’ Up!’s Pink Pirouette, stuck the flower on, threaded the ribbon though a slider from SU! and added it, and stamped the sentiment with Certainly Celery with my temporarily favorite birthday stamp from All Occasions. I also added some Crystal Stickles to the ribbon slider. The second card uses Bliss Blue cardstock and Mellow Moss ink.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

A "Green" Challenge

I made this card for another SplitCoastStampers challenge – the Ways to Use It one, this time. The challenge was to use “green” – either just the color green, or to use recycled or re-used items. I did both.

The patterned GREEN paper is from packaging from a Papertrey Ink set. The gold is a chocolate wrapper which I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The black are scraps I bought at a paper store, and the butterfly has been in my “card parts” box for a long time (gold embossing on a pearlescent vellum). I put it all together and added the sentiment – freshly stamped!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

CAS Challenge #5 - Embrace Happiness

Today’s card was done for the Clean and Simple Challenge for the week which was posted on Monday – to used greens and blues.

The stamp I used is from the same Anna Griffin set as the tulip I used a few days ago. I colored the basket of the topiary with a Stampin’ Up! Brocade Blue marker. The grasses, trunk and leaves are colored with Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke and Certainly Celery markers. Not sure I did it exactly right, but I think I did some 'thumping' on the leaves. I had colored them with Certainly Celery, then 'bounced' my Mellow Moss and Always Artichoke markers on them. I used my Scor-Pal for the background. The image panel is matted with Brocade Blue and mounted on Pop Dots. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink set called “Mixed Message.” I stamped it with, and mounted it on, Always Artichoke.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!