BC308: Think Spring

I haven't stamped in awhile now, bet you wouldn't have even known as I had a few cards done in advance that were blogged.  I'm hoping that last night was productive for me and I was able to get some stamping done.

Today's blogger's challenge theme is Think Spring.  Spring to me is flowers blooming and colors starting to show in the landscaping.  

This was a very simple Thank You card I created using up some scraps of designer paper and a favorite floral image from Amuse-Bursting Blooms.

Share with us what makes you Think Spring over at Blogger's Challenge.

BC265: Congratulations!

It's that time of the year when Seniors are embarking on a new adventure- COLLEGE.  Today our blogger's challenge theme is GRADUATION.  I was able to create a few graduation cards, so I'll be sharing 2 similar ones today.

I was inspired by my friend Beth Matson's cards with her banner, although mine turned out so much larger than hers did.  I love her layout and the use of patterned papers.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge this week is black, white with a splash of mustard- so I went with those colors.  Over at the Great Impressions Challenge (new to me) the challenge was anything goes.

Both of my cards use the same products and similar designs.  I masked the sentiment - love these blooms from Amuse!  For my 2nd card I decided not to off set the banner but instead cut the card down to fit the banner so this card is only 2 1/4" wide, but I love the different size!

Join us over at Blogger's Challenge today, would love to see your ideas for Graduation.

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Card details:

Stamps: Sentiment Sampler from Paper Smooches, Bursting Blooms from Amuse, Go Confidently from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: Golden Tiara from Clear & Simple Stamps, Basic Black and Whisper White from SU, Teresa Collins Caroline Breeze

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress

Embellishments: Kaiser Craft Pearls, Polka Dots Embossing Folder from Quickcutz

I Thought of you today

I had a quick few minutes to do a card, and hopefully this week I'll actually remember to link it up to the challenge (he he).  Last week, I was so excited about the card I created that I forget all about linking it up in time (and then realized I was late anyway).

Today's card is based off the current Play date Cafe Challenge #75.  I also was able to combine this with the Crazy 4 Challenges which was a sketch.

I saw this really cool technique yesterday and had a lot of fun playing with it a bit and combining colors.  Thanks to Kimberly Crawford for the tutorial.

 

I got a little excited and ended up with a itty bitty steak but hopefully it's not too noticeable.

I picked a nice bold stamp as I wanted to use it on the background.  I chose an Amuse stamp, Bursting Blooms for this along with some silver gems.

Okay, my eyes are dropping so I need to finish this blog post, but I've got lots more to share this week!

Card details:

Stamps: Bursing Blooms by Amuse, Geometrics from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Taken with Teal, Cameo Coral, Smokey Shadow

Inks: Such a Gray-cious Host, Rouge Ruffles, Party Teal Dawn (all from Clear & Simple Stamps, watercolor paper

Accessories: seam binding colored with Copic, silver gems, scallop circle punch, circle punch, You're Such a Gracy-cious host

Happy Birthday

I created a very clean and simple card this week for our Blogger's Challenge theme of Birthdays.  I was inspired by one of the cards on the cover of Card Creations (I don't have the issue with me, so sorry about not referencing the month of it).  

These are some of my favorite floral images.  I was immediately drawn to them and this was such an easy card, I created a set of 6 of these.

Hope you will check out the players this week in the Blogger's Challenge here.

Card details:

Stamp Sets: Bursting Bloom by Amuse

Cardstock: Pale Plum, Basic Black, Stamper's Select White

Inks: Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery, Versafine Onyx Black

Embellishments: half back lilac pearls

CSCB26: Sketch Challenge

This week over at Critter Sketch Challenge, one of our team members, Lisa Somerville created a sketch for us to work with.  If you frequent my blog, you know I live for sketch challenges-I *LOVE* sketch challenges more than any other challenge.

Limelight Papercrafts is our sponsor this month and you can find many different things over at Limelight.  I just got a Basic Grey paper fix there this weekend with her great prices!

I chose a very simple image to showcase on this card today as I don't have a lot of BIG images for the large panel.  I love this stamps-it's one of my favorites even though I don't use it as often as I would like to-it was a good buy that I got on a trip to California.

The flower was stamped first and then I embossed over it with clear embossing powder.  I added some buttons to the center of the flowers and used some spots to accent the corner accessories.

Hope you will join us over at Critter Sketch Challenge this week, we can't wait to see what you create using the sketch above!  Make sure you check out the other design team to see how the sketch inspired them.

Lisa Somerville

Nancy Hagen
Jacquie Lankester
Kathryn Berthiaume
Michele Tinsley
Jackie Randolph
Kristen Catalano

More cards for teacher's gifts

Here are a few more of the teacher's cards I made this year (for gifts).  I heard from a few of the teacher's who were very appreciative of the sets. 

You can see a few others I made here.  Again, I was greatly inspired by the following blogs in which I used sketches, inspiration, etc. from:

Clean & Simple

Simplicity

Please let me know if you need any details on the card-I'm being too lazy to write them up today!

BC151: Red, Teal and Curry

Finally I am back home and settled in, laundry done (ok-most of it anyway), suitcases packed away and trying to find my mojo.  This card took me quite awhile to make but I think I was side-tracked by other things (especially this color combination).

Our challenge Mom, Lisa gave us the combo of Red, Teal & Curry to use today.  I can deal with the red and the teal, but Curry?  I didn't even have Curry so I went with Summer Sunrise instead...hope it was close enough.

I bought this Bursting Blooms from AMuse stamps while I was in California.  I was so excited to see them sitting on the counter at Cranberry Hill Mercantile where I stopped in to visit my friend Irina Blount.  I snatched one up really quickly as I knew I wanted this stamp when I saw all the AMuse girls samples with it.

The Bursting Blooms was colored with my Real Red & Baroque Burgundy marker and the stem with the Taken with Teal.  I tried the new tutorial on SCS this week: Rolled Flowers by Joanne B.  I stamped the cardstock for my flower first with my Wallflower background stamp from Clear & Simple Stamps and then after it was rolled, sponged it with some red.  The sentiment on the side (not sure if I like this or not) is from the Relax set from Verve Stamps.  The background on the teal is the Honeycomb background from Stampotique. I added some rhinestone brads in the middle of the flower, I really like how it turned out.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  I will be having a huge yard sale this weekend and setting out some of my stamp sets (you can see them here) as well as a lot of other things I hope to get rid of.

Make sure to check out the other blogger challenge girls and leave them some love for the color combo's this week.

ATC turned full card #15

Here is another card in my series of ATC's turned to full cards. This adorable ATC was created by Amy Westerman. Definitely check out her awesome blog Heartfeltgreetings.

I just added a Basic Grey patterned paper under the ATC along with some Green Galore and Rose Red, I love the look of it with the ribbon and Amy's ATC has a lot of shine to it.

Hope you enjoy this and if you want to see any of my other converted ATC's you can check them out here. I still have about 20 more to convert that I just haven't done yet.

ATC turned full card #13

This was one of the first ATC's I did for the Amuse swaps I participated in. I love these funky little creatures and their expressions just cracked me up.

The colors in this patterned paper were the same colors as my office and I just fell in love with it and the glitter it had.

I pulled this sketch off of SCS, it is SC159. I loved the prep work I did for these ATC's, it made it so much quicker to put them together and although they are simple, I love how they all turned out.

Stamps: Amuse Love Best and Monster Duo

Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, Bordering Blue, Die Cuts with a View Glitter Print

Inks: Staz On, Gable Green

Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Bold Brights Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Amuse Creative Candy

ATC turned full card #12

Here's another in my series of ATC turned in to full cards. This is one of my favorites (well, I can't just pick one). I love the little pregnancy dress & the colors that she picked.

Thanks Lori-Ann for letting me post your adorable ATC! This uses one of the Pink Cat Studio sketches and the Use it Challenge #4

Pitter Patter by Lori-Ann Bartels
Cardstock: So Saffron, Cool Carribean, Cutie Pie DSP
Accessories: Scribble Flower Die Cut
Temp Turquoise, Twill, Red Ribbon, Scallop punch

ATC turned full card #11

LOVE THIS ONE!!! I have to say it's one of my favorites and especially since I'm back to the real world now. No more fun in the sun for me!

This ATC was created by Amy Koehler using Mojo Monday #37 Sketch which I can not find the link to right now, but make sure to check out Julee's sketches, they're fab!

For this card, it already had a lot of blink (glittered sandals) on it so I just embellished on the sketch itself. I added some white ribbon, black brads and Basic Grey paper which I cut out just the part I wanted to use.

Hopefully this week I'll get to play once I'm caught up with everything. I'll share some pics and I'll be doing another post today showing you some sneak peaks of the new sets by Clear & Simple Stamps as well as a challenge.

ATC turned full card #10

How cute is this little shaker ATC created by Holly Miller (SCS: planet43)??? I love the little beads in the fish bowl.

This was another simple card where I just added a strip of ribbon as I thought the ATC was great and the patterned paper is a little busy so I didn't want to overdo it.

Card details:
Stamps by Amuse
Cardstock: Basic Black, Only Orange, DP by Stampin' Up!
Accessories: ribbon unknown

ATC turned full card #9

This is another of my favorite ATC's. I love the colors of it and it matched perfectly with this patterned cardstock I had on hand. I decide it would be a good card to add some simple wavy sewing on to duplicate the look of some waves.

This ATC was created by Rachel Hope aka on SCS as Rachelhope13 Another wonderful blog to visit!!! I used SC54 for this card, using a straight edge paper instead of wavy.

Today I will be taking a Catamaran Sail & Snorkel in Grand Turks, hoping to get a nice tan and a lot of relaxation!!!

Card details:
Stamps by Amuse
Cardstock: Readl Red, Chatterbox DP
Accessories: Janome Sewing

ATC turned full card #8

The key to my success in getting so many of these ATC's converted was I took the time to go through all my patterned scrap paper, match it up with the ATC's and set them aside. I surveyed my sketch folder for any sketches I felt would work well with ATC's and printed those out (there were about 10-12 I chose). Once that part was done, it was just slapping them together and following the sketch. I tried to keep most of them simple as the ATC's were already gorgeous on their own.

This ATC was created by Crystal Spencer . You can't tell from this picture but Crystal used some crystal effects to make raindrops coming down.

In the loss of my computer this past week, I lost my folder of hundreds of sketches (teaches me to back up my stuff) so I'm not sure who's sketch this was as I didn't write it down (sorry!)

Card details:
Stamps by Amuse
Cardstock: Tempting turquoise, Summer Picnic DSP, Basic Black
Accessories: Turquoise primas, Rhinestone Fire Brads

ATC turned full card #7

Oh, how much fun I had with this one. I love this background paper and even though it's a little darker than the ATC, I thought it worked well.

This ATC was created by the talented Laurie Schmidlin, aka Lauraly on SCS. I'm a big fan of Laurie's work and love her blog!

This card used an OLD sketch from the SU! Datebooks (or calendar books, or appt books or whatever they are called) for demonstrators. It's Sept. 2006 sketch.

Card details:
Stamps by Amuse
Cardstock: Coredinations paper, Sedona Bloom by Scrapworks, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Janome Sewing

ATC turned full card #6

I tell you, I never felt like I got so much accomplished as I did mounting these ATC's. Even though they are fairly simple cards, I'm really happy with how they turned out. I have about 7-8 more to do but those will have to wait until I return from vacation next week as this posts I will be boarding a ship for a cruise with hubby and my oldest. I will have posts going throughout the week while I'm gone and hope to get to sit down and stamp upon my return.

This ATC was created by Jennifer Chapin. I loved the subtle colors of this ATC with the black and knew that this paper was perfect with it. What you can't tell is that I also used some stickles on the flowers and the "i"'s.

Go along with all the others, I followed one of Mary Jo's sketches which I think is perfect for ATC's and used it for the first ATC I converted here.

Card Details:
Stamps by Amuse
Cardstock: Basic Black, Bashful Blue, DP by SU!
Accessories: Black Rub-ons by Polar Bear Express-Doodle Rub Bloom Borders, Oval Punches, Waterfall stickles

ATC turned full card #5

This is one of my ATC's that I converted into a full card. I just loved the colors and this is absolutely one of my favorite papers to use (Chatterbox Persian Floral). The colors in it matched almost perfectly with the colors Emily Gunnell chose to use on her ATC.

I am not happy with how my sentiment turned out as I stamped it crooked the first time I stamped it, hence the oval punch. I love the layout which was one I saw from Jennifer Buck and thought it would be perfect.

I hope to have more to share next week while I am on vacation.

For more of Emily's work you can see her blog here: Emily Gunnell, aka Waterpixie on SCS

Card details:
Stamp sets: Mini Mates by Stampin' Up, Amuse
Cardstock: Chatterbox Persian Floral, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Large Oval punch

ATC turned full card #4

Oh, how cute is this little card? It was an afterthought of mine to put a sentiment on the inside (hot stuff???)

This is another one of the Amuse ATC cards I received in a swap made by Jenna Hipps of Jenna's Sweet Creations . I followed another one of Taylor's Cupcake Challenge Sketches .

Card details:
Stamps from Amuse
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, blue that ATC is mounted on unknown
Accessories: 3/4" circle punch, red brads, argyle cuttlebug folder

ATC turned full card #3

This ATC looked so delicious that I had to go buy myself a Twix candy bar. Not that eating it helps me with that weight I'm trying to lose!

This ATC was created by Donna Baker of Serenity in Stamping. I loved that the image was embossed and looked like a frosted cupcake. I apologize that I do not know what sketch I used for this due to my computer crashing. I really feel like I need to add something to the lower right corner like maybe some jumbo eyelets or something but not sure...what do you think?

I mounted this card on some Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla and added the scrumptious Basic Grey Merino paper along with some of the chocolate ribbon. I just liked the simplicity of it.

Hope you are enjoying the ATC turned full card parade!

ATC turned full card #2

I have long been a fan of Taylor and was excited to participate in one of her Amuse ATC challenges she held. I was lucky in the fact that she participated in almost all the groups she hosted so I got one of her wonderful ATC's back!!

In my attempt to convert all my ATC's into full cards I thought it to be appropriate to use one of Taylor's sketch challenges to convert her ATC. The colors of my patterned paper don't match exactly to that of hers, but I still think it looked great together.

To see more of Taylor's wonderful work as well as her line of stamps please visit her here:
Taylor Vanbruggen of Taylored Expressions

Card details:
Stamps by Amuse
Cardstock: Background designer paper by SU, Only Orange, Green Galore, Pink Passion
Accessories: Nestabilities, Script cuttlebug folder (for only orange squares)