2RedBananas Challenge - Rub-ons

My first challenge as a Guest Designer for 2RedBananas. I made this card for this week's challenge, which is to use rub-ons. You can find the challenge here, on the 2RedBananas blog.

My rub-on is by American Traditional Company - the flowers in the center. (They really DO look nice in real life. The photo makes them look kind of worn or something. Sorry.) I matted the square with the rub-on on a scalloped square cut with a Nestability. I had some green rick-rack ribbon that matched, so I added that and scored lines on both sides of it. I also popped up the image squares with Pop Dots. The sentiment is from the 2RedBananas set "Wrapped In His Love." It is stamped and embossed.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you come back and visit again soon!

A Blog Award - Thanks!

I have been nominated twice for the Kreativ Blogger award! Once by Harriet (allycat cards) and once by Mary (It’s All About the Journey.) Thank you BOTH so very much for the honor! They both have awesome blogs, so you just might want to check them out. :)

I am supposed to tell you seven things you might find interesting about me. So, in no particular order, here are seven things about boring me!

~ I have always lived in MN, moving from Fergus Falls to Austin to Plymouth.
~ I have hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back.
~ I like crafts and have done many different ones including hardanger, tatting, cross-stitching and crochet
~ I enjoy camping, hiking and nature – my favorite vacations are to parks and scenic areas.
~ My favorite TV shows are Lost, Survivor and The Office.
~ I like bowling (we only sub now) and have bowled a 723 series.
~ I walk 30 – 60 minutes six days a week.

Well there you go – some things you may not have known about me!

I’ll be back with a card tomorrow – for the 2RedBananas challenge. Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Pink Impressabilities Birthday

I broke down and bought an 'Impressability' by Spellbinders. This is the Butterflies one. The end result is much like a Cuttlebug folder, but they are a thin metal, so they require the rubber mat.

I embossed it with my BIGkick, then brayered it with Stampin' Up!s Pretty in Pink ink. I added some pink ribbon and stamped the sentiment (which is by Stampendous) with SU! Rose Romance ink. I punched the butterflies with Martha Stewart butterfly punches and added pearls to the bodies and also on both sides of the sentiment. The butterflies are mounted on Pop Dot pieces. Purely Clean and Simple! :)

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

An Announcement!

Notice the little blinky thing to the left? Isn’t it cool?

Jeanette of 2RedBananas asked me to be a guest designer for her! I had to think about it … for about two seconds! … before I said, “YES!” I will be Guest Designer for the months of September and October and I’m so excited! I feel so honored. (You can visit the 2RedBananas blog here.)

I met Jeanette at Archiver’s in Des Moines last summer (2008) when our Yahoo! group met there for the first time. She saw us having so much fun and promptly joined our group – lucky her AND lucky us! She was able to spend some time with us again this year. (Have I ever told you what a wonderful group we have? I think I may have. LOL!!)

Anyway, expect to be seeing a lot of 2RedBananas stamps on my blog for a while. :-)

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

Another CAS Design Team Challenge Card

This card is for the sketch challenge portion of the SplitCoastStampers Clean and Simple Design Team challenges.

I was having a hard time coming up with a card for this sketch, but then I realized the new Cuttlebug folder I just got on Friday would be great for it. A VERY CAS card! I embossed the owl, added googlie eyes, added ribbon and scored on both sides of it, and matted it on brown cardstock. The sentiment is from Stampendous and is stamped with Chocolate Chip.

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

Red Christmas

Today's card is another card I made for the Clean and Simple Design Team challenge - the holiday theme one.

I started by punching the bottom with a Martha Stewart Snowflake border punch, then I scored the lines with my Scor-Pal. The ribbon is by Martha Stewart, also. I got it last year after Christmas - luckily I just came across it yesterday. I stamped the top portion with a stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Snow Swirled set. I realized the sentiment wouldn't show up very well over the red stamping, so I added a piece of pearlescent vellum over the snowflakes and stamped the sentiment (also from Snow Swirled) on the vellum. The base of the card is Real Red.

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

SCS Clean and Simple Design Team Challenge

Another card for SplitCoastStampers Clean and Simple Design Team challenge. This card is for the "holiday card" challenge.

The inked squares are done with Papertrey Ink's ink cubes in New Leaf and Berry Sorbet - direct to paper. The snowflakes are stamped in PTI Fresh Snow with a stamp from Stampin' Up!'s set Snow Swirled. I rubbed the Berry Sorbet cube along the edges of the cardstock and mounted it on Pop Dots. The sentiment is from a Studio G set, stamped in New Leaf. That's it!

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

CAS Challenge - Monochromatic with a "Splash" of Red

This card is for the fall SplitCoastStampers Clean and Simple Design Team challenge. (Wish me luck!!) There are three challenges, actually, and this challenge was to make a monochromatic card using shades of brown, and to add a "splash of red." I'm hoping my "splash" isn't too much of a "tidal wave!" I thought about making most of the apples rotten and brown, but decided I'd rather stick with more red:)

The stamp is from Gina K. I used water color pencils and a paint brush to color it. Then I added a little more red with a paint brush and Real Red ink. I did so want to add some white highlights with a gel pen, but I was too afraid I would ruin what I already had done and was pleased with, so I chickened out! I used a black glaze pen on the rivets on the basket. The card base is PaperTrey Ink Kraft and the other browns are scraps I had. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!'s Sincere Salutations and is stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia. The image was cut with a Labels One Nestability and is mounted on the bottom-most layer with Pop Dots.

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

CAS Challenge - Masculine Card

A quick post for today - I have some errands to run.

I made this card for SplitCoastStampers Clean and Simple Challenge - to make a masculine card. They are really hard for me, especially since about 90% of my stamps are flowers! (Well, maybe not quite 90%, but a LOT!) I stamped the owl (from Inkadinkado) onto white cardstock with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink, then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I brayered over the whole thing - very randomly - with Stampin' Up!'s Creamy Caramel ink. Then I masked off the owl and brayered Old Olive towards the bottom and Bliss Blue towards the top. (The "rugged" look is intentional.) I mounted it on Old Olive cardstock. Wasn't sure what to do about the owl just floating in the middle of the page, so I added a strip of Chocolate Chip which I embossed with a Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes folder. It almost looks like a tree for the branch to be growing out of, but that wasn't my thought when I did it! The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!'s Sincere Salutations set. The base of the card is PaperTrey Ink's Kraft.

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

Sympathy Rose

I was in need of a sympathy card yesterday, so this is what I made.

The rose is a stampoff from when Harriet was here in June - from Gina K called Year of Flowers. I had already colored it a couple weeks ago and I believe I used Blush Blossom and Pretty in Pink Stampin' Up! markers. The leaves are from the same set and I colored them with Certainly Celery and Sage Shadow. I carefully cut them out and mounted them on Pop Dots. The sentiment is also from Harriet - from Papertrey Ink's Anniversary set. The strip in the middle is embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and mounted on a strip of green. I scored on both sides of it with my Scor-Pal.

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

WT231 - hello

This card is for SplitCoastStampers Ways to Use It Challenge #231 - to use variegated color. I chose to use my variegated thread again:-) I started this on Thursday morning, but just finished it up Friday night. (My sister was moving to Atlanta, and I was busy with her, helping her and having her stay at my house, then taking her to the airport at 3:30 a.m. this morning! I'm going to miss her:( )

The stamp is a stampoff from last year in Des Moines. I know it's from Stampin' Up! - a hostess set, I believe. I colored the flowers with Stampin' Up! markers, and watercolored the background with Barely Banana and a paintbrush. The background papers are from DCWV and the matting is Brilliant Blue. I'm still working on the challenge to use patterned paper!

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

SCS Sketch Challenge - and a Personal Challenge

This card is for SplitCoastStampers Sketch Challenge #241. It’s also a personal challenge between Michele Boyer and me. Her comment on my “non-challenge” 2RedBananas card from a couple days ago was “I should challenge you to USE patterned paper and you should challenge me NOT to!” So I did. :) I promise to make another one, too, Michele, with more overlapping of patterned paper.

I chose my paper (from Die Cuts With a View Summer Matstack) first and cut them per the sketch, then matted them on Stampin’ Up!’s Bliss Blue. Then I had to find an image the right size and shape. The image is by Penny Black. I stamped it when I was in Des Moines in June. I used many (nine) Stampin’ Up! ink pads to color the image. I rubbed the ink pads on a piece of acrylic that I have, then used a wet paintbrush to pick up the color. I tried matching the colors to the papers. I even blended three colors for the pot – More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie and Creamy Caramel. I stitched around the edges of the panel. If it wouldn’t have been so late (I couldn’t sleep – it was after midnight) I would have stitched around each piece of patterned paper.) The butterfly is punched from the same paper with a Martha Stewart punch. I added the antennae with a black gel pen and colored the body of the butterfly with a black glaze pen. The card base is SU!’s Riding Hood Red.

As I was looking at the card, it really bothered me that it looked “unfinished” between the patterned papers, so I added a thin strip of Riding Hood Red between them. I like it much better! I put the picture of the “finished” card first, but left the picture of it before I added the strip of red. Don’t you think that little strip worked wonders?

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

Two Simple Birthday Cards

I needed a birthday card for our niece's husband, so no flowers. That makes it really tough for me! I remembered I had this stamp by Art Impressions that would work nicely.

I stamped it three times on three different patterns of paper with similar colors and cut out the nine packages. Then I stamped it on three card fronts. I adhered one of each pattern on to the stamped image on the card front. The sentiment on this first one is from Studio G. I got out a Long Oval Nestability and traced around the inside with a black glaze pen, moving the Nestability to make it the size I wanted to frame the image and sentiment. The sentiment for this second card is from Scrappy Cat. I used a Rectangle Nestability and a black gel pen for this frame and traced the outside. I knew I had seen Natasha Trupp do this for a Fall-To Layout in early June, but I didn't realize just how much I followed her sketch without having seen it for almost two months! You can find her layout here. (The third card, not pictured, is the one that went to Jason.)

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

2RedBananas Challenge - Cardstock Only

I made this card for the 2RedBananas challenge. The “challenge” is to use only cardstock - no patterned paper - and only one embellishment. You can find the challenge here. Not too much of a challenge for me, though, as I rarely use patterned paper! I love patterned paper, love to see other people use it, and have LOTS of it. I just wish I knew how to use it!

I used Anna Griffin ink cubes for the colored squares – just “smooshed” them on the paper. The stamp is by Inkadinkado and I stamped it with Versafine Vintage Sepia. I added a little color to the flowers and leaf with the ink cubes, also, by just rubbing it carefully on the stamped image. It wasn’t meant to be perfect! :-) I mounted the image panel on Stampin’ Up!’s Rose Romance cardstock. The sentiment is from 2RedBananas and is also stamped in Vintage Sepia.

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

SCS CAS: Ways to Use It

This week's SplitCoastStampers Clean and Simple (CAS) challenge is to use bling. I knew what stamp I had to use! I’ve had it for several years, but have never used it.

The stamp is by Global Solutions. I stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black and watercolored the critters with Stampin’ Up! ink pads and a wet paint brush - to keep them subtle and focus on the bling. The crown and the hearts are Stickles in gold and red. The crown also has pearls. The kitty's necklace is made of rhinestones, and the wolf's (is that a wolf? I sure can’t tell!) earring has a small pink rhinestone. The panel is mounted on sparkly silver paper and then on black.

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

Two "Same-Stamp" Cards

I’m sharing two cards today with you, using the same main stamp on both cards. The flower and the leaves are from Gina K’s Year of Flowers, and I stamped them when my friend was here in June.

For this first one, I made it a sunflower. Not sure it can be, but what the heck! I colored the flower and the leaves with Stampin’ Up! markers and cut them out. For the flower I used Barely Banana and So Saffron, and for the leaves I used Mellow Moss and Sage Shadow. The center of the flower is Flower Soft. I drew the stem with a black Sharpie, then went over it with the Mellow Moss and Sage Shadow markers. I popped the flower and leaves up on Pop Dots. The sentiment is from Scrappy Cat and the card base is PaperTrey Ink’s kraft.
For the second one, I did no coloring on the flower – just used Flower Soft in the center. I used the same color markers for these leaves as the first one – Mellow Moss and Sage Shadow and drew the stem. The sentiment is again from Scrappy Cat. I embossed the background with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, mounted the whole thing on black, used my Stampin’ Up! punch for the photo corners and mounted the flower, leaves and sentiment on Pop Dots.

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

Anniversary Roses

When my friend Harriet was here in June she brought a few stamps with her, so I stamped some images to have for later. This card uses some of them. (Thanks, Harriet!)

The stamps are from Gina K's Year of Flowers. I colored the roses and leaves with Stampin' Up! markers and carefully cut them out. I colored the roses a couple times each with Mauve Mist and Pale Plum. I tried doing a little shading, but I'm not sure you can see that in the picture. I colored the leaves with Sage Shadow and Mellow Moss. I mounted them on an ivory oval which was cut and embossed with an Oval Nestability. They are all adhered directly to the oval except for the bottom-most rose, which I mounted on Pop Dots. I matted the oval with a small rectangle of Pale Plum cardstock. The whole image panel is mounted on Pop Dots, also. The sentiment is from Stampendous, and the card base is Stampin' Up!'s Very Vanilla.

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

My New Stamp!

I was so excited to get my new personalized stamp, I had to share:)

A friend from my Yahoo! group ordered some personalized stamps from Chris in Malaysia through eBay and was very pleased, so I checked them out, too, and ordered one for myself. There are MANY options. I love flowers, so of course, that's what mine had to have. I wanted my stamping email address on it, too, and that was done at no extra charge. Talk about reasonable prices - it was only $7.50 including shipping. And now I see the stamps are 10% off. The stamps are clear unmounted, but are available with foam and adhesive backing at no extra charge. I ordered mine with the foam and adhesive backing, and then mounted it on a Stampin' Up! block that I had. (It was a defective block that I had had replaced, but kept it in case I ever wanted to use it.)

If you are interested in getting something for yourself, you can find Chris' eBay auctions here and the eBay store here. Shipping is VERY reasonable and there is no charge for additional items.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon. I'll have a card to share with you tomorrow.

Just a Note ...

Just a Clean and Simple card to try and cheer up a friend.

I embossed the background with a Sizzix texture plate when I was down in Des Moines in June. The 'tag' is a Sizzix die cut that I cut out of Mauve Mist cardstock by Stampin’ Up! The sentiment is from a Studio G dollar set and I inked it with Perfect Plum. The main image panel is done with a retired Stampin’ Up! set called Sweet Dreams. I colored the flowers and stems with SU! markers in Perfect Plum and Mellow Moss. The background is done with Pale Plum. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch. I added white dots with a gel pen to the butterfly and also to the flower centers, and pearls to the sentiment panel and the butterfly body. I matted everything with Pale Plum

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

CAS Challenge - Stitching

Two cards again today – both for the Clean and Simple Challenge for this week. The challenge was to use stitching – either real or faux. I chose to use real. I bought this variegated thread a couple years ago to use for sewing on some cards, but I think I had only used it once.

The flowers on this first card are from Stampin’ Up!’s Sweet Dreams and the sentiment is also Stampin’ Up! from Lots of Thoughts. I inked both up with Stampin’ Up! markers from the Bold Brights family – Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Yo-Yo Yellow and Glorious Green. The image is matted on Real Red and mounted on Pop Dots. I added tiny pearls to the flower centers. The card base is Papertrey Ink’s Stamper's Select white.
For this second card, I used the same variegated thread and alternated between straight and zig-zag stitching. The stamps are from Studio G clear dollar sets, and the ink is Versamagic – Spanish Moss, Red Brick and Night Sky. I wanted the flower center to be a bright yellow, but I had no bright yellow buttons. So, I found one the right size and dipped it in Colorbox Canary yellow pigment ink. Then I added Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder and heated it. I tied it on with navy DMC floss. The image panel is matted on Night of Navy cardstock and mounted on Pop Dots.

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

Tri-Shutter in White

Today’s card is another Tri-Shutter card. I really wanted to make one that was predominantly white. And with the stamps I wanted to use, it worked better to change the orientation. You can find the tutorial here.

The only stamping was done with two stamps from the Stampin’ Up! set called Elegant Greetings. I thought they fit with the elegance of white. All the white that I used is textured. I embossed some sections with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and some with a D'vine Swirl folder. I left the areas unembossed that had stamping. I used Oval Nestabilities – plain and scalloped - for the front sentiment panel and sponged the edges with Baja Breeze. All the matting is done with Stampin’ Up!’s Baja Breeze cardstock. I punched the butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch. I added white dots with a gel pen, and then pearls for the bodies.

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

Simple Thanks

My husband needed a quick thank you note, and he was kind enough to let me make it! He did not want anything fancy, and I was happy to do that for him. I made him two, and let him choose.

The image for both cards is stamped on Papertrey Stamper’s Select white cardstock and colored with Stampin’ Up! markers. I cut it out and sponged the edges, then mounted it directly on the card for the first card, and on a small piece of matting for the second card. The sentiment on the first card is computer-generated, and on the second card it's from a Stampin’ Up! set called “Much Appreciated” and is stamped with Old Olive ink.

By the way, he chose the second card:)

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

SCS Technique Lovers Challenge - Quilling

These cards are for a Technique Lover’s Challenge on SplitCoastStampers – to use quilling. I also combined a Clean and Simple Challenge for the second one – a sketch challenge.

On the first card, I simply used a sticker I’ve had for a while with quilled flowers on it. I loved it when I bought it, and I still do. I cut the white mat and the Mauve Mist mat using Oval Nestabilities. The sentiment is from a Studio G set and the background is embossed with a Sizzix folder. The quilled panel is mounted on Pop Dots, mostly because I thought that's the way it would stick the best. For this second card, I did do the quilling. I guess it's a hyacinth- that's what the directions call it:) (I got a calendar a few years ago with a different quilling pattern and paper for each day. Very fun, but I still have a lot of them left!) Not much explanation necessary. I used a color I almost NEVER use – Stampin’ Up!’s Glorious Green - for the matting. It matched the quilling paper. I had to hand-emboss the dots, because I forgot to emboss it before I added the quilling. Oops - didn't want to run it through my BIGkick with the quilling on! The sentiment is from a Studio G set and is stamped with Stampin’ Up! Elegant Eggplant.

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

August Calendar Page

Here is my calendar page for August.

Not much to it. The stamps are all from a dollar set from JoAnn’s except for the border around the scalloped circle which is from Papertrey Ink’s circle borders set, and the grass, which is from a retired Stampin’ Up! set called “Pasture Birthday.” I did the coloring with Stampin’ Up! markers. The circles are punched with Marvy Uchida punches. I sponged around the edge of the inner circle. I really should start thinking about starting my calendars for next year.

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