Limited Supplies Challenge - CAS

Yesterday’s Limited Supplies Challenge on SplitCoastStampers was to make a Clean and Simple card. Gosh, every card I make fits that challenge!

This is the card I uploaded for the challenge. I used my Stampin’ Up! Sweet Stems set again, since it was still out on my desk. I colored it with Prismacolor pencils and smoothed them out with Gamsol. I thought adding a little bit of red would be a nice touch. The Happy Birthday is from a Studio G set from Michaels – I trimmed around the box. The ribbon slider is a Cuttlebug die, and I trimmed off the top and bottom for better proportions for the card. The ribbon is from a dollar spool from JoAnn’s. I used my Scor-Pal to score the grid for the background and for a little added interest to the image, too.

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

Shadow Stamp Thank You

I really like shadow stamps, have several of them, and rarely use them! For today’s card, I decided to use one.

The shadow stamp is by Hero Arts. I stamped it in Memories Soft Leaf ink. I stamped the flower – from a new set by Stampin’ Up! called Sweet Stems – with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I colored it with Mellow Moss and More Mustard. I used a Signo Gel pen for the white dots in the center. The border within the shadow stamp is a stamp from Studio G. I put scratch paper on each side of the shadow-stamped area to keep the stamping only on the green. The embossed button border is made with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder. The “Thank You” is also from a new Stampin’ Up! set called Thank You Kindly.

I wasn't going to share this one, but what the heck! It's another card along the same lines. I used the Scor-Pal for the background.

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

Magnolia Meets Labels One

Another Magnolia card. I would like to have shared something different with you, but I have nothing else!

I colored this Magnolia stampoff on Monday, worked on it just a little bit Tuesday and Wednesday and finally finished it up today. Not that it’s that complicated, I just haven’t had much time! It is colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. What IS a little bit different about it, is how I cut it and matted it. I used my new Labels One set of Nestabilities. Do you recognize it? I put her in it diagonally, then trimmed off the other two “points.” I punched the corners of the teal mat, and also the corners of the background paper, with a Fiskars Lace corner punch. The tag is a Sizzix die cut. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. The ribbon is from JoAnn’s.

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

Butterfly Anniversary

Today’s card was made for yesterday’s Color Challenge (#203) on SplitCoastStampers. The colors are Stampin’ Up!’s Baja Breeze, Pacific Point and Garden Green.

I went with a layout similar to cards I’ve made before. Hey – it works! The stamp set I used is from Stampin’ Up! It’s called Flight of the Butterfly. I stamped the base of the blue butterflies with Baja Breeze and used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the dotted portion and body of the butterfly with Pacific Point. (There are also two more patterns for the butterfly, as well as other sentiments and a little flower.) I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig again to stamp the sentiment right where I wanted it. The smaller butterflies are stamped with Garden Green. I sponged the edges of the panel with Baja Breeze, then mounted it on Garden Green and Pacific Point. The Happy Anniversary stamp is by Hero Arts. I added a double score line above and below the stamped strip.

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

A Bookmark Thank You

Well, we’re back home. We went down to Chicago to visit our daughter, son-in-law and grandson for a few days. We took Amtrak and it was marvelous. So was our visit! LOL!!

I needed something to do on the train. I had just finished reading the first book in the Twilight series, but didn’t have the second one yet. We had given it to our fourteen-year-old neighbor girl for Christmas. Shame on me – I asked her if I could borrow it! Turns out she hadn’t even had a chance to read it yet, but she had no time to read over the weekend and let me bring it with me. (I was able to finish it while I was away.) So, I made her a thank you card and a bookmark. I made the bookmark first. I thought it would be an appropriate – but tiny – gift. The card was made with part of my experimental bookmark.

I printed the words on my computer. Then I brayered over them with a Spectrum pad. I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black over that using stamps from Inkadinkado, then sprinkled the whole bookmark with clear embossing powder. The brayering was still wet enough to be embossed, even though it was dye ink. I trimmed the corners of the top, cut the bottom with a mini-scallop scissors, then added an eyelet at the top and some fibers.

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

Another Sarah Kay

How about another Sarah Kay card today? I still have several stampoffs from Harriet to color and use, so I’ve got lots of fun ahead of me!

This one was colored with Stampin’ Up! markers. The image panel and matting are cut and embossed with Rectangle Nestabilities. The background paper is from Sizzix. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. I thought it was so pretty and delicate.

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

Lots of Magnolias!

I thought I’d share several cards with Magnolias with you today, rather than spread them out! Thanks again, Andrea, for the stampoffs!

Some are colored with markers. Some are colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. Some use Nestabilities. Some use Cuttlebug folders. Several have Stickles. None are complicated! I hope you like them!

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

Suzy's Zoo Revisited

Today’s card uses another stampoff of a Suzy’s Zoo stamp.

This card was colored with Stampin’ Up! markers. The smart thing to do is to choose your background papers and then color the image to match. I just totally lucked out and found paper to match my already-colored image! Whew! The paper is from Sizzix. The image and mat are cut using Long Oval Nestabilities. I placed an eyelet within the image panel to thread the ribbon through. The sentiment is from Studio G.

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

Navy and Olive Color Challenge

Another card for my Yahoo! group’s swap. This time it’s for the Color Challenge, which is olive green and navy blue this month.

You know I’m a huge fan of Clean and Simple, but this can’t get much simpler! The butterfly stamps are from Inkadinkado, as is the flowery swirl under the Hello. They are stamped in Old Olive ink. The butterflies and their mats are cut using square Nestabilities. The Hello is stamped in Not Quite Navy and is a dollar stamp from Michael’s.

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

Anything But a Square!

Today’s card is for a swap in my Yahoo! group. The theme is “Anything But a Square” card.

I just received my Labels One Nestabilities (thanks to Anne! And Vicki!) and that’s what I used for my shape. I folded my cardstock in half, and then used the largest one – placing it so that the fold was just inside the cutting edge of the die. The stamps I used I just received yesterday, too. They are from There She Goes, and the set is called “Crafty Taglines.” I sponged a little ink around the edge of the die before I removed it from cutting the image. The image is colored with markers, and has Stickles on the computer screen. The paper is from Stampin’ Up!

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

Sketch Challenge Anniversary

I hadn’t done a SplitCoastStampers challenge for a while, so it was about time.

I did the SCS Sketch Challenge #212, found here. I used three different Cuttlebug folders on white, sponging the edges with Stampin’ Up!’s Mellow Moss ink and matting them with Mellow Moss cardstock. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s Mixed Messages set. The flower and fern/leaf were given to me. Not much more to say!

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

Magnolia Birthday

How about a Magnolia card today? I received several Magnolia stampoffs from a friend – thanks, Andrea! I colored up five of them over the weekend, and I have made them all into cards now. You may be seeing a lot of them!

Today’s card is supposed to be for Christmas, I think. I had originally colored it that way, but decided I wanted to use it now. So I colored over the holly leaves in her hair, and changed the colors of the presents! I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I added Stickles to her wing. I cut her, and the matting, with Long Oval Nestabilities. Hmmm, what to do with her now? I found the small piece of pink (the same color!) already embossed with the Dotted Swiss folder and laying on my table. I held it underneath, and thought it looked good. Now, where to put the sentiment? I thought it would look nice above the image and have seen on other blogs to bend the stamps to print in a curve. However, I knew I didn’t have a stamp that long. So, it popped into my head to print it on the computer. Wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off, but it worked!

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

My First Sarah Kay Card

A quick post today. I received some Sarah Kay stampoffs from my great friend, Harriet. (Thanks, Harriet!) I colored several of them over the weekend. I am sharing one of the cards I made with you today.

This card is larger than “normal.” It is five inches by six and a half inches. I colored the image with Stampin’ Up! markers. Oh, except for her jeans – they were colored with my ONE Copic marker. I used my Long Oval Nestabilities to cut out the image and also the sentiment, which is from a Studio G set. The background paper (which just happened to match her painting smock perfectly!) is from Die Cuts With a View – Summer matstack.

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

One Stamp - Six Cards

I had a lot of fun yesterday! My husband left Friday night to go ice fishing, and won't be home until this afternoon. Stamping time!!

Yesterday I uploaded one card I made with a stamp by Jeanne Streiff for Rubbernecker. Today I'm sharing six more I made with that same stamp. All are colored with markers. Some are just direct to paper, some are misted and stamped on misted watercolor paper, and some are misted and stamped on dry cardstock. Please feel free to ask questions via email or a comment.

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

Wonderful Friend

Ahhh, stamping time!

Last night I “played around” a bit. I took this image (Rubbernecker – Jeanne Streiff Collection) and colored it with markers. For the first stamping with it, I just breathed on it (to re-moisten it) and then stamped. For the second stamping, I used watercolor paper and misted both the stamp and the paper. For the third stamping, I misted the stamp and stamped on normal cardstock once again. This card is made using the third stamping. I thought it would make a nice background for a sentiment. I remembered I had this great stamp (thanks, Vicki!) from Hero Arts that would work perfectly. I stamped over the flowers, using Onyx Black Versafine ink and embossed it with clear detail embossing powder. The rest is very standard for me! I cut out the image and embossed it with a Long Rectangle Nestability, then used a scalloped one to cut the mat using Stampin’ Up!’s Glorious Green cardstock. The background is embossed with Dotted Swiss and Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug embossing folders, separated by Scor-Pal double lines and mounted on more Glorious Green.

I just assume that anyone reading my blog is a stamper, but if there is anyone out there who is interested in purchasing my cards, I would happily sell them! My email address is in the “About Me” section on the left, and also there is a link in my Profile page.

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

Girly-Girl Card!

How about a “girly-girl” card today?

I used a Lasting Impressions brass stencil to emboss the dress and hanger. First I embossed it on the white, then on the pink-patterned Lasting Impressions paper and also on the mirror paper. I cut out the dress and the hanger and adhered them to the base. The reason I also embossed on white is to get the little dots at the hemline. I punched the corners of the main panel and the matting (also LI paper) with a Stampin’ Up! Ticket Corner punch. I turned my Dotted Swiss folder sideways so it would emboss all the way to the edges. The “Celebrate” is from Stampin’ Up!’s Wonderful Words set. I stamped it in Versamark and embossed it with silver detail powder. I also added a double embossed line with my Scor-Pal. The main panel is mounted on Pop Dots.

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

A Blog Award and Two New Cards

First off – a blog award! Thank so much to Barbara for bestowing upon me the “Your Blog is Fabulous” award! You can find Barb’s blog, Made for Keeps, here.

Next, I’m going to share two new cards I’ve made. Both of them are ultra-simple, of course!



The first one uses Papertrey stamps, Pink Pirouette paper, dotted ribbon, twinkling embossing powder, and a Cuttlebug ribbon slider die.

The second one uses Sizzix paper, a Stampin’ Up! stamp (the heart is from Doodle That), Inkadinkado stamp (the sentiment), an SU! marker and round Nestabilities. I also sponged a little light pink inside of the Nestability, leaving a lighter ring around the outside.

I’m off to do a little more stamping.

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

'Irresistible' Daisies

I haven’t accomplished much lately, stamping-wise. I’ve spent time sitting in my stamping area staring at my things. I’ve made a couple very simple cards, but don’t even want to post them here! So, I’m going back in my “archives” to post one from the past.

This is one of my favorite cards, really. I used the Embossing Resist Technique on it. I stamped the daisies with Versamark, used clear embossing powder on them, and then brayered the top of the card with Soft Sky and the bottom with Sage Shadow. I drew the stems and stamped the leaves. Both the flowers and the leaves are from Papertrey Ink’s Beautiful Blooms set. The grass is from Stampin' Up!'s retired set Pasture Birthday, and the sentiment is from Studio G. The flower centers are die cut with a CB die.

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

Limited Supplies Challenge

This card is for this week's Limited Supplies Challenge on SplitCoastStampers - to use red and hearts. It also uses this week's Sketch Challenge.

The images are by Asela Hopkins. She gave them out last February. I colored them with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. The background paper is by Sizzix. The matting is Riding Hood Red. The white background is embossed with a Cuttlebug Hearts folder.

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

Verve Challenge Birthday

This card is for the last sketch challenge for Verve’s new release contest. It can be found here. I also did their color challenge and the other two sketch challenges. I might possibly put them on my blog some day, but they are in my SCS gallery, if you are interested in seeing them.

I started with the ribbon and worked from there. The cardstocks I used are Stampin’ Up!’s Pixie Pink and Pink Pirouette. The image is one that someone had sent to me a while ago - Suzy's Zoo. I used an Aquapainter and SU! ink pads to color it. (Doesn't show very well, but there ARE two colors of pink in her clothing.) I also used a very light gray marker for the highlighting around the edges of the image, and I sponged some Pink Pirouette around the edges of the image panel. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. I had stamped the Pink Pirouette and then embossed it with the Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug folder, but I didn’t like the stamping, so I just turned it over and used the “de-bossed” side. I stamped the sentiment over the debossing, so it looks “hole-y.” I like the effect.

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

Thanks!

Another Thank You card for today.

Not too much explanation is needed for this card, for sure! This one also uses the Tonic border flower punch. Today I used it in the system to make the border. I added two sizes of pearls to the flower centers. The background paper is from Sizzix. The darker blue is from a scrap pack, and the light blue is Baja Breeze. The stamp is from Inkadinkado. That’s it!

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

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Today’s card is for our new neighbors. The inside says “to the neighborhood!”

I embossed the fence and flowers with a brass stencil and my BIGkick. I colored the flowers and the leaves with Stampin’ Up! chalks in Mellow Moss, Perfect Plum and Pretty in Pink, then mounted the panel on Mellow Moss and Perfect Plum. The border is punched with a Martha Stewart punch, and the lines are done with a Scor-Pal. The letters are stamped with an alphabet set by Image Tree called Antique Alphabet.

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

"Fall-To" Layout

The card I’m “featuring” today was done using a “Fall-To Layout” from Natasha Trupp’s blog, Clean & Simple Stamping. You can find the layout here.

My friend Anne sent me three new punches for the Tonic Border punch system that she gave me last year. (Thanks, Anne!) I used the flower punch to punch the center of the circle. The circles are cut with Circle Nestabilities. I added mini-pearls to the flower centers. The papers are from Stampin’ Up! – a Level One hostess gift. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado.

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

SCS Featured Stamper Birthday

I had some stamping time yesterday and have a couple more cards to post for tomorrow and Wednesday – hurrah!

My card for today was done for the Featured Stamper challenge on SplitCoastStampers. This week’s Featured Stamper is Julie Ebersole - also known as "JulieHRR." The card I chose to case is this one.

I don’t think there is much I need to say about it – it’s pretty easy to tell what I did! The stamps are from my Costco Inkadinkado stamps. I stamped the bird with Stampin’ Up!’s Vintage Violet. I used a square Nestability to emboss the frame for the bird, then kept it in place to sponge the Mellow Moss inside the frame edges. The ribbon is Mellow Moss and the sentiment is stamped with Vintage Violet. To place the ribbon, I cut a slit on each side of the framed image and threaded the ribbon through.

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

A "Pearl-y" Birthday Card

We had a couple errands to run the other day, and also stopped in to Michael’s. I had a couple of 50% off coupons plus a gift certificate. What a great combination! As I was leaving, I just happened to walk through an aisle that had some Martha Stewart Christmas things for 60% off – what a deal! I got a package of 15 yards of ribbon (three yards each of five designs) for $1.99! And a snowflake border punch for $5.99!!

I used the snowflake border punch for this card, as well as my Scor-Pal. I layered it on Buckaroo Blue and stamped the happy Birthday (from one of my new Costco Inkadinkado sets) with Buckaroo Blue, also. I added a small pearl in the center of each snowflake. The top part of the card is a very thin, “pearlized” shimmery paper which I embossed with my Cuttlebug Snowflake folder. Another Clean and Simple card that I’m very pleased with.

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

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

I actually remembered (for this month, anyway) the tradition that I was going to start – uploading my calendar page for the month on the First.

The little boy making the snow angel and the snowballs in the corner are from a retired Stampin’ Up! set called “Snow Angels.” I colored the boy with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. The blue mat is a shimmery paper, and I added Stickles to the snow.

If anyone is interested in my Excel file for the calendars, feel free to email me and I’d be happy to share.

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