Cute random

Here are a few birthday cards I've put together for my friend... Supplies: Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Upsy Daisy Ink: Chocolate Chip Paper: Pretty in Pink & Purely Pomegranate (retired) card stocks, Berry Bliss DP (retired Accessories: Chocolate Chip Corduroy button, Large Fancy Flower Punch Supplies:

Stamps: Happiness Is A Journey (retired), Its Your Birthday (retired)

Ink: Ruby Red (retiring!)

Paper: Very Vanilla, Ruby Red (retiring!), Creamy Caramel (retiring!)

Accessories: Earth Elements Brads, Mat Pack Supplies: Stamps: Sincere Salutations, Time With You (retired)

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: Bermuda Bay (retiring!) & Whisper White card stocks, Petals & Paisley DP (retired)

Accessories: Fresh Fav buttons, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pen Supplies: Stamps: Sincere Salutations, Unknown lighthouse image

Ink: Night of Navy

Paper: Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel (retiring!), Whisper White

Accessories: Linen Thread, Watercolor Pencils

Final DT Pages

Here are the last two pages I did for the DT call. This one was supposed to be about Special Moments. That was a hard theme for me....most of what we scrap IS a special moment, in one way or another. We're capturing a moment we'll never return to but want to keep and remember. A reeally Special EVENT to me, would be like a wedding or a birth...but I've done those pages! lol! I had these pictures ready to be scrapped and it was certainly special to HIM, so that's what I did! Supplies: Stamps: ABC Alphabets- Upper and Lower, My ABC's Wheel Ink: Brilliant Blue, Basic Gray, Real Red, More Mustard, Glorious Green, Orchid Opulence, Close to Cocoa, Basic Black Paper: Brilliant Blue, More Mustard & Whisper White card stock Accessories: Spiral Punch, Earth Elements Brads, Mustard Ribbon, brights buttons (retired), Staples This last page was supposed to be a 12x12 layout about me. My daughter is the one with the 12x12 books so I decided to do an About Mommy page. Now of course, I have to do one for my son, and do one about Daddy for each of them too! :) But its ok, once I thought of it, I think it's a great idea to capture what their parents are like at a given time in their lives. Supplies: Stamps: Taffy ABC, Boho backgrounds Ink: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red marker Paper: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink & White card stock, Berry Bliss DP (retired) Accessories: Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon, Jumbo Brads, Button latte, Fairy Tale Ribbon Originals (retired) The journaling says:

I love to go shopping with my mom- especially to the mall! My mommy likes to take us to fun, new places- and take pictures while we're there! My mommy likes to take walks My mom loves to scrapbook and stamp cards. She also likes to blog! My mom is a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and a cub scout leader. Sometimes she has to work hard! My mom likes to be silly with us. My mom likes to find new old-movies for us to watch together! My mom likes to read- especially to us! My mom likes to sing to us and makes up funny songs! My mom likes daisies and frogs and lighthouses. My mom's favorite game is "Who can fall asleep the fastest?" She likes it when I win.

And there's a bit of a closeup of the stamping.

Challenges

I know, I am still gone. I am! Lots of people are, it seems.... But its harder to get stamping done with the holiday break, and we keep visiting family and staying nicely busy. I did, however, get these two challenges done the other day. I spent that day at home catching up on laundry and taking down Christmas. And thought I'd get a little stamping in after dinner....(the photos are not cropped because I am away from home)
This one is from Jen's Saturday Sketch to Try. I totally took the idea from the Stampin' Up! training magazine cover, which had arrived that day. The colors are straight out of the Autumn Vine DP. Super simple, but nice for those general-occasion cards.

Supplies: Stamps: Boho Backgrounds Ink: Sage Shadow, More Mustard, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip Paper: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard & Whisper White card stock Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, EE Brads

Catching up?

This card combines Jen's Saturday Sketch to Try with Beate's Inspiration Challenge! Hooray! Actually, the squares are a little off from Jen's sketch. I laid them out right, but then took off the vanilla square to stamp on it and it ended up crooked...so I fiddled with the squares some more to make them work with how the greeting was! The colors all come from the Insp. piece. -- funny that two days in a row I used Brocade Blue and black gingham from Beate's challenges!

Supplies: Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Upsy Daisy Ink: Brocade Blue Paper: Kraft, Brocade Blue, Kiwi Kiss & Very Vanilla card stocks Accessories: Black Gingham Ribbon, Neutrals Buttons, 1 3/8 inch circle punch

My second card follows Julee's Mojo Monday sketch. The main image is another Wish-RAK, this is a Sarah Kay stamp. Sweet, huh? I don't know if the blue "goes" but I thought I'd try it...

Supplies: Stamps: A Kiss for Chloe (Sarah Kay) Ink: black, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip Paper: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Spring Showers DP (retired) Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pens, Hodgepodge Hardware (retired), Chocolate grosgrain ribbon

Best Card!

Here's the story behind this card. I was browsing Bev's fabulous blog (she has great blog candy right now!) and she had a link for a guest design team "call" on Katharina's blog. The only thing you had to do was make a card using one of her sketches. Being the "sketch-junkie" that I've recently become (LOL!) I browsed her sketches and love them!!! Sooo I made this card!

Katharina owns Whiff of Joy Stamps which are really sweet images Bev shows a lot of (because she is on the design team!). And YES, I am going to enter it! This is crazy...! I must really like how this card turned out because I would never picture myself doing that! ACK! haha....

Supplies: Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Heartfelt Thanks ~ Ink: Close to Cocoa, Not Quite Navy, Always Artichoke ~ Paper: Not Quite Navy, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla card stocks ~ Accessories: Mat Pack, Silver Brads, Stamping Sponges, 1 3/8 inch circle Punch, 1/2 inch circle Punch, Word Window Punch, Dimensionals

Relax...

Yes, we all need to sometimes. Or lots of times. Especially us mom's. This one anyway! *wink*

Eve had this great color challenge on her blog and I really wanted to play along. The colors to me seemed campy and its raining here and I love being in the mountains when it rains. (like, in a car or a rodent-free cabin, not like walking thru the mtns...!) So! I went for a soft, relaxing feel. I could totally relax in a *quiet* cabin, watching the rain and sipping hot cocoa!!! Let's go..!

The SU! colors I thought were closest to those she showed are Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip. The only thing I added was a touch of pink to the hearts on the mug. I did a lot of sponging to make it softer.

Supplies: Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Pun Fun Ink: Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss Paper: Mellow Moss, Creamy Caramel, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pens, Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon

Beate's Back!

Woooohooooo! She is the whole reason I started doing sketches and challenges!

So! This card uses her sketch (which she got from Jenn Balcer). I also took the colors from her inspiration piece earlier in the week. Haven't stamped much this week... So here is my autumny card!

I do like the card, tho I'm not so in love with the chocolate sponging on the circle piece. Oh well. Like the sentiment? I figured since I was using such autumny colors anyway, may as well ink up a stamp I never have used... haha!

Supplies: Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Heartfelt Thanks, Holidays & Wishes ~ Ink: Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive ~ Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla ~ Accessories: Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon, Mat Pack, Neutral Buttons, Making Memories circle cutter thingy... ;)

Featuring the list...

Almost this entire card is going...going...GONE! I finally got to play with Jen's Saturday Sketch, and while its not my favorite card, it turned out nice enough.

I have a Purely Pomegranate base, a big chunk of Berry Bliss paper (still my current fav!) and Chocolate Taffeta ribbon going around the sides, attached with Hodgepodge Hardware brads. For the main square I stamped the group of flowers from Just Like You in Pretty in Pink ink, the words are Close to Cocoa ink, and the whole thing is mounted on Cocoa card stock. The "star" image I actually used the medallion from Boho Backgrounds and the Scallop Punch, and put a brad in the center of that too.

Just Like You is the current Ronald McDonald House set. That means $2 of the sales of this set go to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

See the post a couple below for the list of what is retiring, and what is already gone!

More Catch-Up Sketches!

First this one from Lauren's blog, nearly a week ago! I'm not going to even point out all the issues, I'll just say this was my third try and this is as good as it gets! Apparently I DO shut down at night and my stamping just doesn't work out when its too late! Darnit... LOL! I do like the card, just wish it turned out a bit nicer. I cut it down to a 4x4 to make it more manageable and the base is Always Artichoke. I used Rose Red Prints designer paper for the bottom stripes as well as the back square. That is actually from the same sheet too- love that double sided-ness! Then I topped it with a Very Vanilla square. I stamped the dragonfly from Bugs & Kisses and I colored him with my Rose Red and Always Artichoke markers. Then I used one line from Boho Backgrounds for the greeting at the top. My row of buttons all match! Then, I saw this color challenge on Jen's blog and I had to try it. I picked the retired Cranberry Crisp for the dark red shade, and Soft Sky, (which is about to retire!) for the sky blue color. Love it, love it! I used my Daisy Crazy set and scattered little daisies with Versamark ink on the Soft Sky base. I have the wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon topped with the fabulous Cranberry Crisp stitched grosgrain ribbon going down the side of the card. A tip? I use two mini glue dots to hold the ribbon in place on the front and then scotch tape on the back or the inside to hold the ends of ribbon down. No complaints yet! Anyway, the flowers are stamped with Old Olive and Cranberry inks, right on the Soft Sky card stock. I swiped the edges of that piece in Olive ink and matted it onto Cranberry card stock, and pierced down the side of that. This one turned out much better than the first. Guess which one I made first? LOL!

Stamp Challenges

I DID get to stamp! Hooray! So here are some challenge cards! This first one comes from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #19, found here. I don't have any cupcake stamps, but I have had this scallop punch thing done for a while. It fit the sketch so I used that! I have a Pretty in Pink card base, a card front cut from the Berry Bliss paper, a strip of Pretty in Pink card stock across the middle. On that I tied some Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, stamped the words from Fresh Cuts, and added the circle, which is a Close to Cocoa scallop punch, with the little dots punched out of the 'petals', then topped width a chipboard circle which I covered in the Sprinkles Chunky Glitter from the Occasions mini. I also added four Pink Brads to the corners of the card. Its simple but I like it. This second card comes from Jen's Saturday Sketch, and I'm showing my card on a Monday, which seems to be the norm for me... what is it about weekends?! LOL! For this one, I started with the bottom half of the card! I stamped the flower stamp from Boho Backgrounds in Summer Sun ink, on Very Vanilla card stock. Then what...? I mounted it onto Cameo Coral card stock, and added the wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. Then I stamped the butterfly from Time Well Spent in Basic Black and colored her with my Pastels and Blender Pens. I stamped the words from my Simply Sent kit in Summer Sun and sponged the edges of that piece with Coral ink. It looks a little weirdly done but oh well. I mounted that onto Old Olive card stock and added the Summer Sun arch piece, which looks a little bit like a setting sun!

Be Inspired Challenge #15!

After a nice, long Memorial Day weekend I was very happy to be back to stamping! Which means I was also excited to play with Beate's inspiration piece! I needed a nice, masculine card since its also my husband's birthday. (Love you Honey! We got to go on a date too! A nice quiet lunch to ourselves and a very late movie- Prince Caspian!) Anyway...the card...I took the masculine-looking colors and created something TOTALLY different for me! Wow!

I started by playing with this tool:

Anyone know what it is? I sure don't! Something from Making Memories, obviously. My friend was cleaning out her craft room and has never had any luck using this so she gave it to me to try. Not having any idea how its supposed to work, it was kind of a pain! But! I have a circle cutter now! I thought I'd go with these oval cards I saw here ...but that didn't quite work. I got a huge circle from my Blue Bayou card stock! So, I cut the circle in half...(ish...) and got this. I mounted it on a piece of More Mustard card stock. I added a rectangle of Soft Sky thinking for the greeting and the writing...but then it would show oddly... So I stamped this on the inside:

and wrote my own message on the inside of the Bayou half circle! Then I added the Close to Cocoa tab from my super cool Round Tab Punch, and attached it with Silver Brads. The front of the Bayou piece I stamped weirdly with the bottom of one of the Boho Background stamps. The "love you" on the Cocoa comes from the stamp set Sweet Thing. All the ink is Basic Black. Happy Birthday Burt!

Weekend Sketch #49

Did I tell you I love this stamp set? And get check out how perfectly it works with Beate's sketch! Yeay!

So, I did another Chocolate Chip base but this time its cut to a square. 4 1/4 x 4 1/2 to be exact! Then a card front using Groovy Guava. I stamped the flowers and greeting in Ruby Red. I stamped the medallion image in Chocolate Chip ink on Ruby Red card stock and punched it with my Scallop punch. I stuck a silver brad in the center of that and 4 brads in the corners. Then I have a strip of Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon! I love how this one turned out!

New Stamps!

I know, I know, "old hat" stamps to many of you, but I really wanted these as soon as I saw them in the catalog and there's always too many other things I NEED so these keep sitting on the back burner. I always have them on my list to "get next month" and it never happens. Well I got it! My very own Boho Backgrounds set! Hooray for me! And yes, I love them as much as I thought I would. This is what I did last night -

Super simple, as usual. Chocolate Chip base, Pumpkin Pie front. I couldn't come up with any colors that were what I wanted besides shades of green and that would be too Halloween-y for me, so this is all I used! Chocolate Chip ink and Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon! Ta-da!

This one I think is vaguely inspired by this card. I loved what she had done with the set (making me want it more!) and when I sat down to stamp this is what I had in my head to create. Since I knew she'd done something similar, I thought I'd better give her a nod! LOL! I just did two panels of black ink on white card stock, matted with black card stock. Then my lovely red striped grosgrain ribbon was added for a touch of POP. Love it!