SCS Color Challenge Anniversary

This card is for SplitCoastStampers Color Challenge #238. The colors are Stampin' Up!'s Sage Shadow, Going Gray and Pretty in Pink. It's also another card using Natasha Trupp's Fall-To Layout #61.

I used a JustRite Stamper stamp from Damask Borders for the border and a Papertrey Ink stamp from Mixed Messages for the sentiment. I stamped the JustRite Stamper with Sage Shadow and stamped the sentiment with Going Gray. I cut and embossed it with a circle Nestability. The matting is cut with a scalloped circle Nestability from Going Gray cardstock. The border is embossed with a Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and matted with Sage Shadow. The butterflies are punched from Pretty in Pink with a Martha Stewart punch and then pearls added to their bodies. The circle and the butterflies are mounted on Pop Dots.

Today is the last day for you to take advantage of my Stampin' Up! demo discount. See Monday's post.

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

CAS Challenge - Blue, Pink and Green

I got a little chance to stamp yesterday - it was awesome! I made this card for the SplitCoastStampers Clean and Simple Challenge #34. The challenge was to use pink, blue and green. It's also for Natasha Trupp's Clean & Simple Stamping blog Fall-To Layout challenge which is a sketch and can be found here.

The image is a stamp from the dollar section at Michael's. I colored the leaves with a SU! Mellow Moss marker, placed a button for the flower center and paper-pieced the vase with SU! Bliss Blue cardstock. I cut and embossed it with a Petite Oval Nestability and matted it with a scalloped Petite Oval in Pretty In Pink cardstock. The border is embossed with a Cuttlebug border folder from the Ironworks set, scored with a Scor-Pal and matted on Mellow Moss cardstock. There is also scoring on both sides of the matting. The image is mounted on Pop Dots. The sentiment is stamped with Bliss Blue and mounted on Pop Dots, also. I had stamped a sentiment directly on the card front, but I didn't get a good stamping. That didn't make me happy, as the card was already finished. Oh well. I used a longer sentiment, stamped it on a scrap of white, cut it out and mounted it on the card. Not my first choice, but I think it looks fine.

Remember, you have only today and tomorrow to place your Stampin' Up! order from me at my cost. (See yesterday's post for more details.)

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

Stampin' Up! Special Offer

Just a quick post today with a special offer. I hope to get some stamping in today - that will be awesome!

I will only be a Stampin' Up! demo for three more days. So, I am making this offer to my blog readers. If you are interested in placing a Stampin' Up! order with me and receiving my demonstrator discount, please email me at LJNeus@hotmail.com. I would only accept orders from those who can pay me through PayPal with existing funds or checking accounts or who would be willing to pay the PayPal fee, or those who would be willing to give me their credit card number over the phone. (I would not even write the number down - I would just enter it in as I place the order.) Sorry, if I don't know you personally, I can not accept a personal check. Here is a link to the Stampin' Up! website with the page that has the catalogs.

Please email me as soon as possible if you are interested. Just an FYI - tax and shipping is on the original price. Shipping (directly from Stampin' Up! to you) is 10% of the merchandise total with a minimum of $6.95. Those are not my costs - they are from Stampin' Up! Your cost would be exactly what my cost would be - no more, no less.

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

Sympathy Rose

This card is for my sister-in-law and her family. Her mother passed away Sunday night due to cancer. She was such a special person. We saw her in June and she looked great. In August she found out she had stomach cancer and that it had spread throughout her body and there was nothing they could do for her. So sad.

I started with a card base (Papertrey Ink Stampers Select cardstock) on which I had stamped the sentiment, from Papertrey’s anniversary set. (When Harriet (allycatcards) was here in June, she brought her PTI anniversary set. I stamped a couple card bases using the sympathy stamp.) I used a rose stamp from an Inkadinkado set, bending the stem quite a bit and the rose just a little bit before I put it on the acrylic block. I stamped it directly on the card base, and also twice on another piece of white cardstock. I colored all three images using Stampin’ Up! Old Olive and Cameo Coral markers. I cut out the flower from both extra stampings, and also the leaves. I mounted the cut-out pieces on Pop Dots and layered them. The rose has two layers popped up and so does the largest leaf. The other leaves have just one popped up layer.

We will be heading out of town later this morning for the funeral and will spend a few days with family. That means that every weekend in September we were out of town! Makes it kind of hard to get much stamping done. (Or housework!) Hopefully soon I will be able to share cards here more often again.

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

2RedBananas "Kit Card"

I'm having fun as a Guest Designer for 2RedBananas! This card was made with items from Jeanette - we were all given the same "pieces." Included were two different pieces of double-sided designer paper, the turquoise rick-rack, the pink velvety ribbon, the metallic dew drops, and two colors of glitter. This is what I came up with. Check out the 2RedBananas blog to see what the other "bananas" came up with! (The post isn't there yet, but it will be.)

The image is Birthday Penny from the September release. I stamped her with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and colored her with Stampin' Up! markers, a Copic marker (her skin) and a paintbrush and SU! ink pad (her hat.) I paper-pieced the present and the bow, then added glitter to the ribbons in her hair and the bow on the package. (I know, it's very hard to see in the picture.) The sentiment is from a dollar set from Michael's. I sponged a little brown around the edges. The patterned layer is mounted on some brown cardstock, also.

Here are the specifics on the "ingredients:" Paper - October Afternoon Daydream Collection Patio Umbrella and Rain Boots. Glitter - Pink Paislee Pixie Stix Bubblegum and Green Apple. Dew Drops - Mardi Gras Metallics. Ribbons - May Arts.

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

2RedBananas Challenge - Easy as 1, 2, 3!

Today's card is for this week's 2RedBananas Challenge - Easy as 1, 2, 3! You are to use one ribbon, two stamps and three dew drops or gems. Very fun!

The main stamp I used is from the September release from 2RedBananas. (You can find a link to the store from the above link. :) ) I'm not at home and I can't remember right now where the Happy Fall stamp is from. I colored the image with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. The "ribbon" is actually some linen-y thing I had in my scraps box. I mounted the image on dark brown cardstock and punched the bottom border with an EK Success punch. I cut and embossed the sentiment with a Long Rectangle Nestability and rubbed the edges on a brown ink pad. The card base is from Die Cuts With a View.

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

Birthday Card for Andrew

Here is the birthday card I made for our grandson. I can't believe he'll be a year old already in a couple weeks! We will celebrate his birthday when we go down for his baptism. We will celebrate his mom's birthday, too, which is on Friday.

I started by stamping the little robot three times on shimmery silver paper and once on white. I used Versafine Onyx Black and embossed with black embossing powder. For the first layer, I cut out the entire robot and put him flat on the white. The second layer is his head, including his ears. The third layer is just his head without the ears. Between the first and second layers and the second and third layers, I used Pop Dots. (You can see that close up in the small picture here.) I printed the sentiment on my computer and cut and embossed it with a Rectangle Nestability. I cut the red frame from Stampin' Up!'s Riding Hood Red cardstock. The solid black line is done with a black Sharpie, using another Rectangle Nestability to trace around. The sentiment has silver ink rubbed on the edges and is also mounted on Pop Dots.

We are looking forward to seeing Andrew again! We don't get to see him nearly often enough, but we'll do the best we can:)

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

Baptism for Andrew

This card is for our grandson's baptism, which will be on Sunday in Chicago. We'll be heading down there by Amtrak on Thursday. Tomorrow I'll try to post his birthday card. This is a very Clean and Simple card - mostly white. Perfect for a baptism, I think. It's a case of another of my cards, which I did for a Confirmation a while back.

I embossed the top of the card with a Sizzix embossing folder, then scored the double lines with my Scor-Pal right below the embossing. I left enough room for the ribbon and scored another set of double lines, then embossed the bottom with a Cuttlebug Diamond Plate folder. I printed the sentiment on my computer, cut it out and embossed it with a square Nestability, matted it with a scalloped square cut from Stampin' Up!'s Bashful Blue and mounted it on Pop Dots. I matted the whole panel on Bashful Blue, as well.

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

Happy Anniversary, Harriet and Bruce!

This is the card I made for a great friend and her husband for their anniversary. It's done using a stamp from the 2RedBananas Quotes III set - available starting today. Here is a link to the new releases.

I started by stamping the flourishes (from Paper Inspirations) in the corners with Rose Romance ink from Stampin' Up! on Going Gray cardstock. Then I stamped just the hearts twice on Rose Romance cardstock with white pigment ink, then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I cut out both hearts for one piece, and only the smaller heart for the second piece, then mounted each on Pop Dots. Using my Stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped the sentiment (from Quotes III) between the flourishes with Versamark ink and embossed, again using clear embossing powder. The ribbon is from Basic Gray and I used my Scor-Pal to emboss double lines on both sides of the ribbon. The butterflies are punched from pearlescent vellum using a Martha Stewart punch. I added pearls to the butterflies and also to some of the swirls. The card base is Papertrey Ink Stampers Select white.

If anyone is interested in the rain situation on our camping trip, here is the update. Like I said before, it ALWAYS rains and this year was no exception. However, this year it rained the first night, so we got it out of the way right away. :) Saturday and Sunday were beautiful. It was a great weekend - good friends and good weather. Perfect combination!

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

2RedBananas Sketch Challenge

Today's card is for this week's challenge on the 2RedBananas blog. The challenge for this week is a sketch and here is the link to the challenge.

I used another new set from 2RedBananas - to be released tomorrow! I colored the cute little fuzzy bear with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I cut him out with a Circle Nestability and sponged brown ink around the edges. He is popped up on Pop Dots. The background is a stamp from the same set, and I stamped it on PaperTrey Ink Kraft cardstock. I sponged ink around the edges of those panels, too. I used my Scor-Pal to emboss lines on the dark brown layer, and then added ribbon. The card base is Very Vanilla by Stampin' Up!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon. When this posts, I'll be camping, and hopefully staying dry!

One More Sneak Peek

One more card for the September release from 2RedBananas. This one is called "Skater Jack."

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol except for his skin - I used a Copic. The skateboard wheels are brads. The image and patterned paper (which is from a Die Cuts With a View Summer matstack) are mounted on Stampin' Up!'s Tangerine Tango. I embossed the background panel with a Diamond Plate Cuttlebug folder. I wasn't sure what sentiment to use, but I printed this one on the computer. I thought the font was appropriate - kind of looked like skateboard ramps:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon! We're heading out for camping soon with our "camping buddies." We go every year, and every year it rains! Wish us better luck this year, although it's not looking very promising.

Birthday Penny - A Sneak Peek

Another "Sneak Peek" for the 2RedBananas September release. This one is called Birthday Penny.

I colored Penny with Stampin' Up! markers (except for her face - I used a Copic) and added Stickles to her party hat and the ribbon on the package. I added hand-doodling around the outside of the image panel and mounted it on Stampin' Up! Mauve Mist cardstock. The bottom layer is Certainly Celery and I embossed the border with a Cuttlebug folder from the Pop Culture set, and of course scored a couple scored lines with my Scor-Pal. I added a pearl to each diamond. The sentiment is from Stampendous. Penny (and other new stamps) will be available from the 2RedBananas store soon!

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

SCS Color Challenge and 2RedBananas Quotes

This card is for SplitCoastStampers Color Challenge #235 - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Basic Black.

The great quote stamp is a "Sneak Peek" from a soon-to-be-released set from 2RedBananas. The flower is from another 2RedBananas set called "Party Bees." I stamped the flower on Stampin' Up!'s Elegant Eggplant cardstock and cut it out. I attached it with an olive brad. The leaves are punched out of SU!'s Old Olive with an EK Success punch. I cut the quote panel with a Labels One Nestability, mounted it on a square piece of shimmery black paper with the corners rounded, and then on to a layer of Elegant Eggplant, also cut with a Labels One Nestability. The main image panel is popped up on Pop Dots. The Old Olive strip across the middle is embossed with a Cuttlebug border folder from a new set called Pop Culture and scored with my Scor-Pal. The base of the card is Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select White.

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

2RedBananas Sneak Peek

This card is for a couple challenges, and it's also a sneak peek of one of the new sets in the September release by 2RedBananas. It is for the SplitCoastStampers Clean and Simple challenge - to use Pop Dots, and also for Sharon Johnson's blog challenge - to stamp your sentiment over your image.

Both of the stamps I used are from 2RedBananas. The branch is from 'Wrapped in His Love' and the sentiment is from the soon-to-be-released set 'Quotes III.' I stamped the sentiment in Versamagic Onyx Black, then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the branch over it. I inked up the stamp with Stampin' Up!'s Creamy Caramel and Certainly Celery markers and then colored the blossoms with Barely Banana. I cut it out with an oval Nestability and matted it with a scalloped oval cut with another Nestability out of SU! Barely Banana. The sentiment panel is popped up with Pop Dots. The Certainly Celery layer is embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The white layer is embossed with a new Victoria Cuttlebug embossing folder. The white embossed layer is matted with Certainly Celery.

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

2RedBananas Challenge - Stripes and Dots

This card is for this week's 2RedBananas challenge - to use stripes and dots. You can find the challenge here. Why don't you join us? :)

I colored the cute little House Mouse with Stampin' Up! ink pads and a wet paint brush. I cut the image in a rectangle, but left his tail sticking out a bit. The papers are from a Summer Matstack by Die Cuts With a View. The "photo corners" are punched with a punch by Stampin' Up! I matted everything with a textured red paper.

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

SCS Ways to Use It Challenge - Sanded

(fThis card is for SplitCoastStampers ""Ways To Use It Challenge" #234 - to use sand or to sand something.

I started with a piece of textured DCWV green cardstock. I embossed it with my new Victoria Cuttlebug folder. Then I sanded it with a Stampin' Up! sanding block. I thought it looked 'elegant' so I had to do the rest of the card elegant, too:) I stamped the sentiment (from Stampin' Up!'s Elegant Greetings) with Adirondack Bottle Green ink, then cut it out with a scalloped Petite Oval Nestability. I placed a plain Petite Oval Nestability over it and sponged on the inside of the oval, then sponged lightly around the edge of the scallops. The white border across the middle of the card is embossed with a border folder from Organic Flourish set, and I used my Scor-Pal to score double lines on each side of the embossed border. I brayered over the embossing with the same Bottle Green ink. I added eyelets to the scalloped sentiment (I was going to add ribbon, but it didn't work out.) and popped it up with Pop Dots.

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

SCS Sketch Challenge

Seems like I haven't had much time for stamping lately, but I took some time today to do yesterday's Sketch Challenge.

The stamps I used are from 2RedBananas set "Precious Bundles." I stamped the main image on white and also on the pink patterned paper. I cut out the blanket and hat from the patterned paper and adhered them to the image on white, which I had colored. I used a couple Copic makers (I only have three :) ) and the rest was done with Stampin' Up! markers. I sponged SU! Pretty in Pink ink around the edges and matted it with the same patterned paper. I had done a practice image, too, so I cut the bird out of that one and popped it up on Pop Dots. The background paper is from Die Cuts With a View - Nana's Nursery - Girl.

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

September Calendar Page - a Day Late!

Oops - I forgot to use my calendar page for my post yesterday. :) Thanks, Lucy, for the gentle reminder!

Since I made this page close to a year ago and my memory isn't all that great (and I'm being lazy right now!) I can't tell you for sure what materials I used. I'm pretty sure the main image is from my Costco Inkadinkado sets. I used a Spectrum pad to ink it up. The paper is also from Costco by My Mind's Eye. If anyone REALLY wants to know what I used, please just email me.

Just a little announcement, too. I will no longer be a Stampin' Up! demo after about the 15th of this month. If anyone would like to make a final order from me, please let me know. Thanks!

And thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Another "Card Parts" Card

I was looking through my "card parts" again a few days ago and picked out a few things to use in the near future as I get a chance. This is a card I made using some parts.

The main image panel was stamped with two stamps from Stampin' Up!'s Sweet Dreams set. I trimmed it down on the bottom and sides, and used a Martha Stewart THANKS border punch for the top. I scored a couple lines towards the top with my Scor-Pal The background was something fun that I tried and then added to my "parts pile" a couple weeks ago. I took a piece of screen, adhered it to my cardstock with a repositionable tape, and rolled over it with a spongy roller and Sage Shadow ink. I thought it turned out kind of cool. The main image panel needed a little something more, so I added a very thin strip of the screen background between the scored lines. Both the image and the background are matted with Perfect Plum cardstock.

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