Bloggers Challenge/KWerner Challenge

Yesterday I enjoyed a day off work and while I didn't do anything too exciting, I did get to have a little fun. I ran the little one to the Dr. for his 9 mo. appt. (18.8 lbs, 29"), then dropped him at the daycare for awhile, went and did some shopping, met hubby for lunch and went to see Mama Mia!. If you haven't seen this yet and you like musical type movies, this was a FUN one with music from ABBA. I love Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan. Anyway, made me want to listen to ABBA all day! I even got a card in last night real quick and today did another quick one this evening, although I really wanted to do a few more challenges, I didn't get to.

I combined 2 challenges on this one. First I took the color inspiration from Kristina Werner and then my bloggers challenge this week was to make a baby card or patriotic card. I'm all over the baby stuff so had to break out a stamp I've barely used and try my hand at that. Make sure to check out all the bloggers by clicking on the Blogger's Challenge Logo to the ----------------->

Stamp Set: Baby Stamp by Paper Inspirations
Cardstock: Bella Rose DSP, Regal Rose, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery
Inks: Certainly Celery
Accessories: Nestabilities, Petite Pearls by Bazzill Collection, Prima Flower, Ribbon unknown, staples

Have a safe Labor Day weekend!

Challenge #2- Sketch

Going for day 2 in participating in Tanis' challenge to celebrate Queen Kat Designs 3rd anniversary. Today's challenge was to use the sketch above and as you'll see from my card...I'm on a baby kick. I only know a handful of people pregnant right now but I love this set from Cornish Heritage Farms, Baby Love...I don't know what took me so darn long to buy it!!!

I LOVE how it turned out, with the exception of the colors I chose for the circles. I started off using the SCS Color Challenge this week (black, ruby red and kraft) but got sidetracked with the other colors. My sentiment didn't show up too well, but in the corner I stamped Congrats in Craft Vanilla.

Card details:
Stamp Set: Baby Love by CHF, Just Rite Stamper
Cardstock: Basic Black, Kraft, Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Party Collection by Nicole Iehle
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Craft Vanilla
Accessories: Twill Ribbon, Aquapainters, Marvy Uchida punches

**check back on Thursday or Friday...I've ordered some extra goodies to give away some blog candy and hoping tomorrow to hit my local stamp store (Impressive Ideas) which has lots of great stuff**

Crop Hunger Walk

Want to win some brand new stamps???

It's easy, and you will be helping others at the same time. Mary Jo is the coordinator of her local CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) walk and she is looking for on-line donations .

All you have to do is make a donation by clicking HERE and you will be entered to win a SUPER prize package. She doesn't have the whole basket of goodies ready to take a picture yet but she assures me that there are brand new stamp sets from Stampin Up - Unity Stamps (Angela sent me 5 full stamps sets! - My Favorite Things and more. You can also earn a second chance at the prizes by posting it on your blog! So you can get two chances to win!

Keep checking back to see the basket, it will be SOOOOOO worth it, and you will be helping out others at the same time! It's a win/win situation! More details to follow.

Your donation is tax deductible and you will get a receipt by e-mail!

So go on and help her meet her on-line goal, help hungry people all around the world and get two chances to win some AWESOME stamps!

Click here to donate and be entered!

Mojo Monday + Verve Project Parade+Paper Princess at Play= Fun Card

Wow! Two posts in one day...pretty exciting for me. I tried my hand at a triple challenge here, so hopefully I got it all right. I started off with the color combo for Verve Visual's August Project Parade, once I had the colors down I knew I wanted to play in Tanis' challenge to celebrate Queen Kat Designs 3rd anniversary. Lastly, I liked Julee's Mojo Monday challenge. So, throw them all together and this is what I came up with.

I'm thinking the brain cells died with the 3rd kid as I was reading Tani's requirements for her challenge which was to use 3 elements on your card. Okay, I have the cuttlebug swiss dots, the prima flower, button, hodgepodge and brads. I don't know if I was supposed to ONLY use 3 elements or use AT LEAST 3 elements. Oh well, either way I had fun making the card and like how it turned out.

Card details:
Stamps: QKD (retired set from Tanis), Small Sayings by SU
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pixie Pink, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip
Inks: Same as above
Accessories: Prima flowers, Soft Subtles brads, hodge podge hardware, earth elements buttons, marvy uchida punches, small piece of paper for "ribbon" in button, chocolate chip grosgrain

Technostampers Monday Lunchtime Challenge #32

This is a last minute card for Mary Jo's Technostamper Challenge this week. I like how it turned out even if it is pretty plain and decided to omit the squares around the scallops as I thought it would be too much for the card. I even make 4 of these so that I had a few on hand. You can't tell from this pic, but the flower and sentiment is popped up with dimensionals

Please join us in the sketch and if you do post a link on Mary Jo's site or upload to SCS using keyword TSSC32.

Card Details:
Stamps: Jolies Fleurs from Lizzie Anne Designs, Circle of Friendship from SU
Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgundy, Recollections patterned by SU
Inks: Mellow Moss, Bravo Burgundy, Versafine Onyx Black

As always, thanks for looking!
Accessories: 1 1/4, 1 3/8 circle punches and scallop punch, dimensionals

Happy Harmony

For some unknown reason I keep on referring to this set as Heartfelt Thanks! Luckily I had not gotten rid of this set because as soon as I saw Tammy Hershberger's card this week from Stamp Happy, I knew I had to CASE it. I decided to go with Color Throwdown Swatch #7 colors which were Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue and Ballet Blue. I had this card and colors in mind when I heard my friend was a little down and the dumps so hopefully when she gets this card it will bring a smile to her face.

Tammy was awesome and told me to go ahead and post my creation, make sure to check hers out as it is FABULOUS!!!! Thanks Tammy for letting me share my card with my blog readers and for inspiring me!

Card details:
Stamp Set: Happy Harmony
Cardstock: Whisper white, Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal
Inks: Same as above and certainly celery, Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Hodgepodge hardware, Crystal Stickles, Bashful Blue ribbon, sponge, ticket corner punch

Bloggers Challenge: Ruby Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard

This is a color combination I often turn to during the fall months. It was hard for me to think of using this color combo now, but I jumped right in and combined it with a sketch challenge from All that Scraps. I also made this for a swap I'm doing called "dusting off your sets" using sets we rarely use or haven't used at all.

Make sure to check out the other bloggers' cards by clicking on the Blogger's Challenge logo-->

Card Details:
Stamps: Bodacious Bouquet
Cardstock: Whisper White, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Bella Rose DSP
Inks: above
Accessories: Earth Elements brads, Swiss Dots cuttlebug embossing folder, Chocolate Grosgrain, sponged more mustard around flower

Technostamper's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #31

This was a fun sketch this week, it was easy to do and I didn't use many embellishments but still thrilled with how quickly I got this done!

Make sure to check out Mary Jo's ultra cool sketch challenge and the card she created which is fabulous! Join in and post a link here, at Mary Jo's site, or on SCS using keyword TSSC31.

I pulled out an old favorite color combo using basic black, whisper white and cool carribean (or this color which is virtually the same) and I already had a piece of kraft cardstock cut so decided to utilize it. I wanted a very simple image, originally only using Versafine Onyx Black with my image from CHF called Baby Love and sentiment from CHF Cute Curls, both Kim Hughes' images, but then added on some color after I saw the image and it looked too bland.

The patterned paper is a big block I bought years ago and just have not used it all up yet. I really am trying to use more of my patterned paper lately though. I decided to forgo the buttons in the original image and use some circle punches instead to create some faux something or other (brads, buttons, etc.)

Enjoy and make sure to check out the other participants!

Technostampers Monday Lunchtime Challenge #30

Better late than never!!! I'm hoping to stamp some more tonight to prepare for tomorrow's challenge, this is last week's which I combined with a mystery image challenge.

I don't have all the deets on the card and want to get it posted in time for Mary Jo's contest challenge but this is a Stampendous image, Core'dinations paper and also Prima Stone Rose Collection Paper. I used my aquapainters to color the image and the stamp in the middle is highlighted with Crystal Effects. The sentiment is handwritten and mounted on a piece of scrap paper embossed with tiny bubbles cuttlebug folder.

Make sure to check out all MJ's challenge participants and join us for her challenges!

Bloggers Challenge/Birthday

I have been absent for awhile from the blogger's challenge and I've missed them!!! I took a few minutes this week to create this card. This week our challenge was to make a birthday card which was easy as I needed to make one for an employee.

Stamp is Girlie Chick from Stampendous. I also used the Core'dinations Harborside paper from Storage Units, Inks and More from the Aqua Blues collection. I finally got to using my new swiss dots cuttlebug that I got from Lindsey's store. I also have been playing with the new nestabilities I've bought from UCutAtHome. The little birthday sentiment is from the Happy Date set by CTMH. I used basic black, pink passion, so saffron and Papertrey Ink paper for this card. My aquapainters are my new best friends and I'm finding I use them all too much, if there is such a thing!

Thanks for sticking with me as I took a little break from stamping, I'm back and looking forward to participating more!

Whachadoin' Wednesday...posting on Thursday

I love Denise's website and all the new goodies she's carrying. And I love it even more that they are doing a weekly challenge. Anything to light a fire under my butt and get to stamping!

Make sure to check out the Storage Units Ink and More website for more details on the weekly challenge. This week was to use embossing anywhere on your card. I decided that since I had just broken out my Swiss Dots embossing folder that I would use that along with some of my Core'dinations paper that I got from Denise's store. I also incorporated the nestabilities embossing ;-)

Card details:
Stamps: Comfi from Stampotique
Cardstock: Kraft, Basic Black, Core'dinations Harborside from the Aquablues collection, Core'dinations Scotch Yellow from the Havest Yellows Collection. Papertrey white, Pink Passion
Inks: Onyx black versafine,
Accessories: Classic square nestabilities, Swiss Dots cuttlebug embossing folder, Ice Circles Rhinestone brads, dimensionals, aquapainter

Twinchie Challenge

This is a few days overdue but the first chance I've had to sit down and stamp. I was so pleased that this just came to me and I was able to weasle it out pretty quickly tonight.

Anna Wight mentioned Twinchies on her site, a sister of the "inchie" and we were challenged on one of my groups to do one. I hope I did it right as my image square is 2 x 2, but the layer underneath is is just a tad bit bigger.

I really wanted to use some new stamps, but guess I would need to order some new ones in order to use them. Have to save up a few bucks for that first. I spent a wad on supplies for the shower invitation and then splurged a little more on some more nestabilities (ADDICTING).

I used the Summer Picnic paper which I absolutely love and am so happy it made it in to the catalog. I also love Tart N Tangy so now I think I might have to invest in the cute little sayings that went with it that I didn't think I needed.

I hope my partner will like this card and thanks to all the faithful readers of my blog for sticking by me during the summer and the busy times. My oldest started the 3rd grade today...seems like just yesterday I was changing his diapers ;-)

Whew!!! Baby Shower Invitations

I apologize, I have not been participating in many challenges or doing any other extracurricular stamping in the last few weeks as I have been working diligently on making some (70) baby shower invitations for my best friend who is due in the beginning of December.

First I had to find the perfect set that had some versatility to it. I was trying to incorporate the colors of her nursery with the invitations and something a little quirky which I think I found when I finally splurged (on a lot) from Cornish Heritage Farms. I chose Kim Hughes' Baby Love collection as well as the "shower" word from Baby from Rubbersoul. Then I had to get some nestabilities, which I have since ordered more of them, from U Cut at Home (thanks to my friend Stefanie for helping me to save some $$$). I got the small scalloped and regular ovals for this and was originally going to emboss them ovals as well, but after 140 passes through the cuttlebug and plate changes, I decided the invites still looked great with out it. The paper selection was easy once I saw this awesome sample from Debbie Fisher. The colors were perfect and so off I went to Storage Units Ink and More to order my Core'dinations paper (you can also see in the right hand far corner my wonderful storage unit from them).

I figured I used about 7 sheets of 12 x 12, 56 sheets of 8.5 x 11, 140 brads, 140 runs through the cuttlebug, 140 dimensionals, 1260 colored spots on the giraffe, 490 colored onesies and lots of experience perfecting my assembly-line stamping ;-)

I had fun making them, my friend hasn't seen them so I hope she likes them and doesn't look at my blog before she gets hers in the mail. I have to address the envelopes and they will be off hopefully by weeks end. The card below shows my prototype which did not use the textured paper that was in the final card.