Poppies & Flowers

This is the first slimline card I’ve made in years. I used the Poppy Bouquet stencils from #simonsaysstamp along with a sentiment from #stampemdous . I do love this color combo! #basementstamper #slimlinecards #stampemdous #simonsaystamp

While I had my Poppy Bouquet stencils from #simonsaysstamp out, I created another card using the #freshlymadesketches 429 along with a sentiment from #stampemdous . Another color combo I will have to use again. #basementstamper #stampemdous #simonsaystamp #freshlymadesketches

Of course I love creating with flowers as they are fun to color so I threw this one together using the Fusion Card Challenge using the sketch & inspiration along with the #simonstaysstamp Summer Garden set with a Stampendous sentiment and My Mind's Eye Flair Paper.  I fussy cut the flower out and used some dimensionals.

So Thankful for you

For blogger's challenge last week we were to emboss and I figured since I don't do it too often, I would do a few extra pieces to create later with.  Well, it didn't take long to use them.

Over at the Craft Lounge this week they had this as an inspiration piece:

I already had the flowers embossed using the Faux Cloisonne technique with a magazine I had laying around and they went well with this inspiration piece.

 

I used the Thankful Flourishes set and combined it with the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge (which I'm a few days late for).  The musical note background (Stampendous Muscial Note) was a piece I had stamped awhile ago and thought it would look nice as the back piece for this.

Off to have a nice lunch with hubby.  We don't get many days of being able to eat lunch without the kids, they all had school today, I'm off and he's at work so going to make the drive down to meet him.  Hoping to run and errand and make it back in time to pick up the boy & his friend from school. 

Card details:

Stamps: Thankful Flourishes from Our Craft Loung and Muscial Note from Stampendous

Cardstock: Going Gray, New Leaf, A Blanc Check

Inks: Versamark, New Leaf, Versafine Onyx Black

Accessories: clear & Gold Embossing powder, YG17 copic marker, gold brads

Hope Your Day is a Hit!

This card was for a one-on-one swap for one of the yahoo groups I belong to.  It was to have a Father's Day theme and I knew my partner Toni was going to give it to her Father who likes baseball.  I have a TON of sports sets, but NONE of baseball believe it or not.  This was one that I did find though and tried to work it to fit the theme.

I used this Stampendous Changito with the B-day Hit sentiment.  I eliminated the B-day and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to work the sentiment to fit the card.  I used some scrap paper from my stash along with the OCL17 sketch.  I added some Crystal Effects to make the bubble a bit shiny and wanted to add a masculine embellishment so I went for a button with twin in he corner.  I did stamp the inside with Happy Father's Day as well but forgot to snap a photo of the inside.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and hopefully I'll be back to a normal posting schedule soon.  I miss my stamping!!!!

Going Grey with ScrapCreations- Use Basic Grey Paper with St. Patrick's Theme

Thanks to everyone who made the first week of Kristen's new challenge, Going Grey with Scrap-creations so successful.  We hope more of you will join in with that Basic Grey paper you are saving for a rainy day.

This week Kristen gave us a St. Patrick's theme.  I think you will see we all had a similar idea when this theme was announced.  The more I see the Origins paper, the more I'm glad it made it into my stash while I was at CHA.  And Kristen is graciously offering up a pack of it this week since all the DT used it on their creations.

I had some birthday cards to make for my father-in-law who's birthday is St. Patrick's Day as well as my boss.  The little heart I picked is from the Sweet Hearts set from Clear & Simple Stamps and I cut them out to create the four leaf clover.   I drew the little stem with my Garden Green marker.

I chose the Flexible Friendship Wishes from Stampendous for my sentiment along the side.  I dolled this card up a little with a few primas but left my other one plain as it was more masculine.  I also used Taylor's sketch this week TESC104

Hope you will join us this week at the Going Grey with Scrap-creations challenge and use that Basic Grey with a St. Patrick's Day theme. Kristen is offering up a pack of Origins paper this week. Can't wait to see what you create, if you need a little inspiration, make sure to check out the wonderful design team:

Crystal Irwin
Mary Castonquay
Kristen Catalano
Peggy Regan

Card details:

Stamps:  Sweet Hearts from Clear & Simple Stamps, Flexible Friendship Wishes from Stampendous

Cardstock: Garden Green, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Basic Grey Origins Mineral Soak, Henna & Sugar Pea

Inks: Garden Green, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Primas, dimensionals, white dots from Clear & Simple Stamps, scalloped border punch

Blogger's Challenge 129: Birthday Theme

Oh, I just had one of those stressed out moments. I finished my card this week and am in LOVE with it and then I went to look at the number of blogger's challenge we are on...and thought I made the wrong theme for the week. WHEW!!!

So, this week, our blogger's challenge is birthday themed. It worked out so well this week for me as I needed to make a birthday card for one of my favorite little guys who is turning 1 this weekend and I can't wait to see him (and my BFF).

I pulled out some neglected stamps to make this card. I love them and think I need to pull them out more often as I'm not always happy with how my cards turn out, but I'm going to have a hard time giving this one away.


This is a new sketch I used from Just Us Girls, which I have been following, but just have not had time to participate in yet. I liked this sketch a lot and although I did eliminate one of the elements, I still like how the images worked with this sketch.



Thanks for all of you for continuing to follow my blog even though it's been quiet the last few weeks. My family and I have been doing some traveling & I've also been working on some new and exciting things for Clear & Simple Stamps. So while I have been doing a lot of stamping, I can't share any of it just yet. I am excited for it and can't wait to share it all.

Check out the other blogger's challenge peeps to see what fabulous birthday creations they have going on this week.


Card details:
Stamp Sets: Flyin' High by CTMH, Hot Rocketz by Stampendous
Cardstock: Pumpkin' Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Scrapworks Doublesided Sedona dot, Chocolate Chip
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Ribbon from Michael's, Clear embossing powder, circle punches

Embellish Owls Color Challenge meets Mojo Monday

This card has a few challenges I created it for, although some may not be current. I can't seem to keep up with all the challenges I like to do so I save them for that rainy day.

The color scheme for Embellish Magazine was to use Coral, Brown & Green combined with an owl image. She even provided a digital owl image if you did not have any owl stamps. I have this one, although I think I might have some older ones I didn't go dig out. Oh well!

I also combined the Embellish Magazine Challenge with one of Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch #108

What kinds of challenges do you enjoy participating in, if any?

Card details:
Stamp Set: Ollie + Olivia from Stampendous, Mocha Chica from Kim Hughes
Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Confetti Cream
Inks: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Twill tape, ice crystal stickles, berry sorbet buttons from Papertrey Ink, twine, primas, stylized flowers cuttlebug embossing folder

Monday Technostamper Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #87

I've been trying to take some time each night this weekend after the kids are in bed to stamp a little. Last night I was bound & determined to finish the sketch for Mary Jo's challenge tomorrow and a frame I needed to make for a gift. I was so thrilled to get both of them done!!!

I'm hoping to escape again tonight to get a few more things done. I have some ideas in mind and also want to get started on teacher's gifts with some patterned paper I have leftover.

Hope you enjoy this card, I love this paper and every time I see it I want to break it out. It'll be a sad day when I'm out of it.

I'm feeling lazy so I'll have to come back and add in details of the card, hope you enjoy it and join us in her challenge. I do know my card is 3" wide by 9 1/4".

You're so Sweet

Wish I had time to write more about this card, I had fun making it, but it's off to football, then football pictures, then to see G-Force for a birthday party, then a few girls over to get crafty.

Mojo Turns 100 Day 5 Sketch

From Courtney's Closet Challenge #54

Card details:
Stamp Set: Everday Button Bits by Papertrey Ink, Little Fruits by Stampendous
Cardstock: Whisper White, SU dsp (retired), Regal Rose, Real Red
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics G14 RV34, R29, Green Galore
Accessories: Silk Ribbons from Sharon Johnson, buttons unknown

BC107: Case Another Challenger

This week our challenge was to case another blogger's challenge member. This was a challenge as how can you just choose one of these talented ladies??? So, I decided to CASE two of them.

First I had to choose just one of Rachel Hope's cards. There are so many of hers I like that I had a hard time narrowing it down but in the end I really liked this one as it had a simple design layout and I needed to make a baby card for our cousins who just had twins (boy/girl).

Card details:
Stamps: Baby Love (sentiment) from CHF, Little Fruit from Stampendous
Cardstock: Wild Asparagus dsp-"Play" stripe/blue paper, Certainly Celery, Confetti White
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Rhinestone brads ice circles, Amuse creativity candy, square nestabilities

Of course I couldn't go without CASE'ing our List Mom Lisa Somerville When she started posting cards using the Parisian Breeze dsp I fell in love! I love the brown and blue together and the more she used it, the more I had to have it. I love Lisa's style and it's so much different than my own and I couldn't even come close to recreating ;-) I did my best though. I tried some versamark resist with my chalks who haven't seen the light of day in about 2 years.

Card details:
Stamps: Ahoy Matey by CHF
Cardstock: Parisian Breeze dsp, Soft Sky
Inks: Versamark
Accessories: Chalks, 1/4" circle punch, circle nestabilities, chocolate chip pen for faux stitching

Make sure to check out all the cards created by the other blogger's participants here.

Teacher appreciation set

This was a quick gift I put together for my son's teacher for staff appreciation week. I did the box a few weeks ago after seeing this cute template on Julie's website and I just printed her template.

I made about 10 little 3 x 3 cards using some leftover scraps of Basic Grey I had. I had stamped the little "A Note from Ms. Garrett" a few weeks ago with my Justrite Stampers and so the cards came together very quickly. Of course as I was arranging the letters one flew off and I've yet to find it. I guess if I used my Justrite Stampers more often!

Anyway, hope the teacher likes this little gift set.

Monday's Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #68

This sketch was a fun one this week, but of course I had to rotate it a little :-)

I went through my stamp sets to break out one I hadn't used in a while and though my Feather Flourishes by Stampendous would be perfect. I paired with some SEI Paisley & Petals Cotton Blossoms designer paper. I decided not to stamp a sentiment anywhere and leave it blank for one of those days when I need to just grab a card.

This weekend was nice, no baseball tournament, hubby & I got to get to dinner with brother & SIL and then a movie. I played tennis Sunday morning, baseball practice, shopping & grilling out. Was very nice...now if someone would send the cleaning fairy my way.

Join us, show us what you create with this sketch by posting to Mr. Linky on Mary Jo's site. Check out what others created as well.

Card details:
Stamp Set: Feather Flourishes by Stampendous
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Watercolor Paper, SEI Paisley & Petals Cotton Blossoms designer paper
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Tempting Turquoise, Sage Shadow
Accessories: Dress it Up Itty Bitty Buttons, Square & Scalloped Square Nestabilities, Distressing Tool, Aquapainters, Crystal Effects

Happy Birthday Butter!

My husband actually asked me to make him a card for a friend. Actually he said don't you have a card you can send out to Butter? I said, do you want me to make him one? Sure, that's be great...so here's what I came up with. I know he likes to golf and I tried to find some masculine colors and just love these so hope he likes it!

I'm too lazy to type up the deets today but the image is an old one from CTMH.

Thanks for checking it out!

ETA: Oops, got a little too finger happy and hit send too soon. Wanted it to post tomorrow but Oh well!

Use It Challenge #1

Rae has started a new challenge which I was all on board for. I gave it a go this week and plan to continue whenever I have time, great way for me to dig in to some things I haven't used.

The concept of Use It! challenges:

Create, create, create

while using supplies that you already have on hand~

scraps, 'older' products, products that you've been hoarding,

products you forgot you had purchased,

bits & pieces of whatever you have laying around

that you've 'thought about' using,

but never got around to actually using it.

I found a stamp that has never seen ink from Stampendous along with some paper I purchased at least 3 years ago before my daughter was born. I don't know why I never used it as I love the colors in it. The buttons I don't use too much, but I am trying to break out things that have been sitting around and thing this challenge will help me.

I also came across the Bellarific Challenge for this week which was to use some of these colors & a button. I know I didn't use Bella stamps (hey, all of those have seen ink) but think this still meets the color criteria. I pulled out one of Mary Jo's old Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge which worked perfect with the image I had picked out.

Card details:
Stamp: Tiny Bloom from Stampendous
Cardstock: Kraft, Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, K & Co. Studio K Meadow Polka Dot Embossed Paper, neutral unknown
Inks: Copics & Memento Black
Accessories: Cream Organdy Ribbon, twine, soft subtles buttons, nestabilities

Hope you join in the Use It Challenge and make sure to click on the link above to share with us your creation!

Birthday Blog Bash- Week 1

For Paper Garden Projects Birthday challenge number 1 was to make a humorous or funny card using primary colors. I gave up on the funny as I really wanted to use this image but the only things popping in to my head were inappropriate :-)

I decided to just go with the primary colors for which this Basic Grey Cupcake was perfect for. I combined it with Paper Pretties sketch challenge this week but left off one of the components as I just didn't want to overdo the card with it. I really liked this sketch and will definitely use it again.

I used an image I've stamped and colored a hundred times but then tossed as I really didn't like what I did in the end. This one I'm really pleased with how it turned out. My kids LOVE sprinkles on their ice cream so I used my copics to create the sprinkles on the ice cream. This stamp is from Kim Hughes Little Gal set. The sentiment is from one of my new favorite sets Little Fruits.

Hope you enjoy the card and have a wonderful day!

Little Fruit Extravaganza

I went a little nuts this weekend with using the new Little Fruits set I had gotten from Stampendous. It was so easy to throw together some simple cards. And I thought these would make some nice little cards to go with gifts. I used up some 3 x 3 cards I had stashed along with some of the other tab cards (forget what they were really called).

I realized after I colored the watermelon one that it's actually an orange, but I think it looks interchangeable and I liked the card so I kept it :-)

Hope you enjoy the variety. The lemon card was inspired by Natasha's Ten Minute Monday card...it took me a little longer to make but only because I chose to put the darn things within a border.

Let me know if you need details on any of the cards.

Monday Technostamper Lunchtime Sketch Challenge

I just threw this one together, it's very simple. I really like this layout that Mary Jo chose this week so will definitely use it again.

Weather was COLD and snowy and windy here yesterday. I didn't get anything done around here except a good ole nap ;-) I miss taking those. Felt good and was hoping that I would get to stay up late and stamp but just couldn't get energized enough to freeze in the basement. It was 60 when I came down here this morning!

Join us in Technostamper's Lunchtime Sketch Challenge. Would love to see what you create!

Card details:
Stamp: Little Fruit by Stampendous
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Pixie Pink, Papertrey White, chocolate chip, CTMH patterned paper
Inks: Copics and Memento Tuxedo Black
Accesories: ric rack (unknown), Nestabilities

Technostamper's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #58

Loved this sketch and this card came together so easily! My husband is ALWAYS complaining I never have any kids cards for when my son goes to birthday parties. So, this new set I just bought called Hot Rocketz by Stampendous was perfect!

Pretty simple card using a scrapbooking kit I had from CTMH called Building Blocks. I have a ton of these kits but I don't scrapbook hardly every anymore so I will rummage through now and then to use some of the paper. I forgot about all the sticker sheets that come with the kit until I went through the stash a little more AFTER my cards was finished.

I practiced more with my copics and told my friend Kerry I really need to add more colors to my collection. I was showing this card to a friend who came over for dinner tonight (a different friend than Kerry) who originally got me stamping years ago and she was laughing at all the stamp stuff I now have. She sarcastically asked if I was glad she got me hooked. I laughed...in a way I am, but I can never afford all the stamping stuff I want :-)

Check out MJ's site for all the other cool cards the girls are creating with this sketch.

Blogger's Challenge 86: Valentine's

Our challenge this week was Valentine. While Valentine's in my house takes on a whole new meaning, we don't do a lot of celebrating of Valentine's Day...it's hubby's birthday instead. Do you know how hard it is to find a birthday/Valentine's Day card in one??? So I decided to make my own this year, saves me on a little money. I used the CTD29 colors this week using Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip & Regal Rose. I also broke out a stamp set I have had for about 8-9 months and never inked up. Thought it would be a perfect Valentine's stamp.

I had this big night out planned for him with some friends, going to a hockey game. Unfortunately for us, our oldest son is in a baseball tournament this weekend and of course they scheduled us for a late evening game so we had to scratch our plans. We still are going to try to do a late dinner and maybe a movie. Have to play it by ear.


Join us in the challenge this week, show us what you come up with using keyword BC86 on SCS or linking a post on any of participants blogs. Make sure to see all the other creations to the right ----> under the Blogger's Challenge logo.

Card Details:
Stamps: Ollie & Olivia by Stampendous, Simple Sayings by Stampin' Up! (heart- outlined with black)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose, PTI White
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose, Versafine Onyx Black, Aquapainter, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Stickles, rectangle nesties, label nesties, chocolate chip ribbon, script CB folder, Copic C1, sentiment printed on computer using SU Fonts

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!