SDC188: Favorite Background Technique

Nellie van Leeuwen is our hostess this week at Stampotique Designer's Challenge and she's got us breaking out our techniques:

What's your favorite technique to make backgrounds?  I love making backgrounds with distress ink on a craft sheet.  I use distress ink, memento, brusho's, distress stains, whatever I feel like working with. Quick and easy and a different and surprising result every time.

So, I'm going to admit know I'm not a technique stamper so I don't have a favorite but I decided to try my hand at using some untouched masks I had, so I sprayed my background with my mister colored with a few drops of ink and then laid my mask down and sponged the color on it.

It's pretty simple but I love how it ended up-just my style I think!

I also used the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #261 with this card, worked so well with it.

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Card details:

Stamps:  10004 You're Strong and 10034 Majestic Tree from Stampotique Originals

BC403: By The Sea

Today our blogger's challenge theme is "By the Sea".  I'd love to be by the sea right now as it's cold here in GA and even thought there is sun...it's not warm enough for me.

I've just recently participated in a Birthday Card swap with a friend and decided I needed to create some masculine cards which I don't do often enough...I really don't have a lot of masculine sets.

I stamped these surfboards onto some patterned papers and cut them out.  The little sponged and distressed cardstock hopefully looks like a sand pile :-)

This was the most recent Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #252 I used as well.

Hope you will join us at Blogger's Challenge and show us what you've got "by the sea"!

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Card details:

Stamps: Relax from Verve Stamps, From Us by Simon Says Stamp

Cardstock: Sahara Sand, My Minds Eye Fine & Dandy True Blue

Inks: Chocolate Chip

Embellishments: Circle punches

SDC179: Punny/Funny

Kathi Rerek is our hostess this week and her challenge over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge has us hitting our funny bone:

e.e. cummings said "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." Puns and word play always make me smile.  Really good puns make me laugh.  Create a project that makes YOU smile.

This has always been a favorite stamp and sentiment of mine, so of course I had to break him out to use.

I utilized the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #251 for this card.   I did a lot of distressing and added a heart to my wood veneer piece to let the recipient know how much I carrot about them.

Hope you will join us over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge this week for your chance to win a $30 gift certificate for Stampotique stamps.

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Card details:

Stamps: 8988 I Carrot 'Bout You, 6092 Carrot, 12010 Hazel Heart (used the heart only) from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copic markers

Embellishments: Wood veneer, dimensional glue

Birthday Duos

Had some birthday cards I needed to get in the mail so decided I'd sit down and make some cards this weekend.  My BFF and Mom's birthday's were this week-of course I missed one of them and was late mailing it out.

I love when I'm able to get in a creative mood and use the same paper pack for multiple cards.

The card above used the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

The one below I saw on pinterest from Starry Nights Sketch.

Hope you enjoy the birthday cards.

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Card details:

Stamps: Birthday Sampler by Paper Smooches and Gorgeous Grunge by Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: My Mind's Eye Cut & Paste, Calypso Coral, Pool Party

Inks: Ranger Archival Ink

Embellishment: silver sequins, Want2scrap black pearls

With Gratitude

This was another set of cards I created for a friend using up some patterned paper packs I have.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #210

Card details:
Stamps: Chit Chat from Paper Smooches and Blessing from Verve Stamps
Cardstock: Fancy Pants Memories Captured, Basic Black, Rustic White
Inks: Archival Ink Jet Black, So Saffron, Pear Pizzaz
Embellishments: Aquapainter

SDC134: Pairs

Kathi Rehrek is our hostess with the mostess this week over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge and here was her challenge for us (and you):

It's almost Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day makes me think of couples, so my challenge is called Perfect Pairs.

Use two (2) of an item so that things are in pairs. This can be two stamped images, two embellishments, two layers of patterned paper, two colors, etc.

See how many pairs you can use in your project. Just be sure to use at least one perfect pair and have fun!

For my card I used a pair of the images "Spidergrass 3063" as well as a pair of pearls by the sentiment.

I combined this challenge with the current Sweet Sunday Sketch #206.

Hope you will join us and show off your pairs!

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Card details:

Stamps: Spidergrass 3063, Happy Birthday 9005

Cardstock: Confetti White, Cool Carribean, Crumb Cake, Bo Bunny patterned paper

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Copics BG45, Y08, YG25

Never Give Up

I am going to double up on a few posts as I don't want my cards to get lost in the mix before I mail them off.

Last year I enjoyed participating in the Hope You Can Cling To Challenges over at SCS and am hoping to keep up with it again this year.

My card above was for the challenge issued by cakath with the theme HOPE AND COURAGE.  I thought this sentiment was perfect and I wanted to just use a simple image so colored these flowers.  

I used the current Sweet Sunday Sketch for this card as well and some of my all time favorite papers from My Mind's Eye.

Card details:

Stamps: Budding Blossoms and Borderline from Verve Stamps

Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Coral Necklace, Very Vanilla and My Mind's Eye Lost & Found-Blush

Inks: Chocolate Chip, copics

Embellishments: pewter brads

My second card is holiday themed using one of my favorite sketch challenge sites, Retro Sketches.  I've been slacking in participating in these lately but was inspired this weekend when stamping.

I'm not a very good mixer of patterned paper but thought this looked good.  I think I would have layered it if I had more room on my card, but wanted to make a traditional Arielle card- square.  I love her style!

This card was also created for the Moxie Fab Challenge to make a Holiday card.

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Card details:

Stamps: Sea-Sons Greetings from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Rustic , Cherry Cobbler, Kraft Like a Rockstar Ivory, Handmade Holiday by Simple Stories

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Chocolate Chip, copics

Embellishments: Kaiser Craft pearls, twine, Rustic Wooden Vintage Buttons

GGSC132: Food

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations our theme is "Food".  Now who doesn't love some good food stamps?  Mine seem to be of the sweet variety though :-)

Kristen is also offering up a prize on the blog today, so make sure to stop by if you are interested.

I pulled out an old stamp of mine from The Cat's Pajamas as I love this cake.  It's not as easy to color as I thought it would be though.  I used my copic markers on it and then applied some glossy accents over the cake part of it.  I cut it out and popped it up on some dimensionals.

This sketch is from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #168 which I was trying to use up some washi tape but ended up using more of the patterned paper instead.

I collected all this washi tape but never use it.  Wondering if I picked the wrong patterns/colors to work with even though I went with ones I liked?  Any great creations you like using washi tape, would love to see them?

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Card details:

Stamps: You Say It's Your Birthday from The Cat's Pajamas

Cardstock: Your Style Blue Me Away from Clear & Simple Stamps, Whisper White from SU and My Mind's Eye Summer Splash

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copic markers

Embellishments: Daily Like Red Ribbon Fabric Tape, Hero Arts gemstones, Glossy Accents

Happy 13th Birthday

Today is some more new releases over at The {Stamps} of Life.  This release there are a few sets I like, but I knew that the numbers2stamp and the crayonletters2stamp would be wonderful to work with in my Project Life albums (which I'm behind on).

My soon to be teenage son was invited to a co-ed birthday party this past weekend and so I thought this set would work perfectly to make the girl a 13th birthday card.  

For my banner, I stamped my cardstock with the dictionary4me before cutting out my pennants.  I decided to create my own background for the large strip so I stamped my cardstock with the animals4print set.

I used the current Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #166 for this card, I think it worked perfectly for a teenage girl.  This is also for the current challenge over at There She Goes for their 4th anniversary to use banners.

Card details:

Stamps: Greetings4Birthday, Animals4Print, Dictionary4me and Numbers2Stamp from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Mauved by the Paprazzi, Basic Black, My Mind's Eye Blush

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Licorice, Mauved by the Paprazzi 

Embellishments: Sizzie Plain Pennant Banners, Circle Spellbinders, Janome Sewing

Vacationing to the Moon

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations our theme is "Time for Vacation".  I'm sure you are laughing at my card thinking how in the world does this card even come close to the theme.  Well, haven't you EVER thought of what it would be like to take a trip to the moon????  I had this set sitting on my desk and it just make me chuckle with the theme of vacation so I went with it.

I created my card based on the current Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.  Karen's sketches are some of my favorites and she is currently having a design team call.  This rocket worked perfectly with the long panel.  I paper pieced it using some of my Simple Stories Happy Day paper and some coloring with copics.  My new dies from MFT just arrived so I quickly cut 2 of these mini banners out to use.  I created a border with one of my markers, I need to do this more often!

Hope you think about joining us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations and show us where it's "Time for your Vacation" at.

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Card details:

Stamps: Out in Space from Sweet Stamp Shop

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Confetti Cream, Simple Stories Happy Day, So Saffron

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Pumpkin Pie, copics

Embellishments: Scattered Straw Distressed Stickles, dimensionals, Die-Namics Mix & Match Banners from My Favorite Things, jewel from Doodlebug Designs Mini jewels

For a Special Teacher

I have been busy this week after the kiddos are in bed creating more teacher's cards.  With 3 kiddos in school there are LOTS of teachers to make for and I feel bad as sometimes I don't even make enough for EVERY teacher they see throughout the year.  My oldest didn't even want to give a teacher's gift at all (is that not cool in middle school anymore?) but I think I talked him into at least flowers for his teacher.

I was browsing some of my favorite cards that I save and came across one from one of my all time favorite stampers- Jen Tapler- I've always loved her style and the way she incorporates patterned paper.  I used this card of hers as a guide for creating one of my thank you cards, pretty much just changing the images/sentiment and papers.  I love how all the layers came together and was glad I made 2 of them.

The sentiment is one from Clear & Simple Stamps (where I originally met Jen) it's the Teacher set (retired) and inside I wanted to stamp to finish off the card with a Thank You.  Our children are constantly learning from the teacher and so I thought this bicycle image from the Old Fashioned Afternoon set from Sweet Stamp Shop would be perfect to go with the inside sentiment "You Make Learning Fun".

What are some things you are doing for teacher's gifts this year?  I always struggle with whether to get gifts, make gifts or give gift cards.  This year I'm behind so I won't be making them and my brother who is a teacher's assistant (para pro) suggested gift cards to a few places so we'll probably do that.  Guess I better get crackin' since tomorrow is our last day!

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Card details:

Stamps: Icons Sentiments and Teacher (retired) from Clear & Simple Stamps, 

Old Fashioned Afternoon from Sweet Stamp Shop

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, My Mind's Eye True Blue, Confetti White

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, copics

Embellishments: Gold Brads

Pretty Florals, Ribbon & Pearls

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations our challenge is to use ribbon & pearls.

While I was out of town with some girlfriends a few weekends ago, I borrowed this darling floral set, Bordering on Romance from one of the girls along with some Marina Mist cardstock from another along with the ribbon.  I love this ribbon!!

This card uses the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #153 from that weekend I was away.  Most of us tried to do the same sketches that weekend and that was a lot of fun to see how everyone interpreted them.

I colored my image with some watercolor crayons and a blender pen.  I need a LOT more practice with those, and need to pull them out more often.  I finished off my flowers with some basic pearl jewels from SU.

Want to join us for this week's challenge?  Link up over at Kristen's blog with your current Going Grey with Scrap-Creation using ribbons & pearls.  Interested in being part of her design team?  She also has a design team call going on as well.

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Card details:

Stamps: Bordering on Romance from Stampin'Up!

Cardstock: Marina Mist, My Mind's Eye On the Bright Side, Georgia Pacific White

Inks: Archival Black, Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pen

Embellishments: Pleated ribbon and Basic Pearl Jewels from Stampin' Up!

Happy Birthday-New product from The {Stamps} of Life

I was waiting to see Stephanie's big announcement over at The {Stamps} of Life before I posted this card, and I finally saw her darling video so thought I would share my card that I created with her NEW dies.

Today is my daughter's 6th birthday so this cute cupcake card will be going with all her gifts.  She's got a HUGE sweet tooth so I think she will love it.  

You'll definitely want to watch Stephanie's video listed above as to how these dies are different from other out there.  I've worked with several dies and loved how easy these were to work with! 

This die set works with the happybday2you set, but the cupcake frosting can always be used as clouds.  

I combined this card with the new Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, I don't get my cards ever done in time to play but this week I forced myself to stamp a card.  Hoping my mojo returns this weekend so I can get some stamping done, it's been a long time since I've sat and stamped the night away.

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Card details:

Stamps: happybday2you from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Pear Pizzaz, Very Vanilla, Simple Stories Baby Steps

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown

Embellishments: Crystal Stickles, Cupcake die set from The {Stamps} of Life

GGSC95: Something Old/Something New

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations we go out with the old, in with the new.  So we are challenging you to use something old/something new on your creations this week.

We are bidding farewell to two of our wonderful design team members, Frances and Jackie.  They are wonderful sources of inspiration and I know I'll be continuing to follow both of them.  Kristen will be opening up a design team call to fill their two spots, so keep an eye out on the Going Grey with Scrap-Creations blog for that announcement in the next few days.

Oh, this was such an easy challenge once it hit me when I needed to do.  I pulled out some older papers I had in my stash and some REALLY OLD chipboard letters from Heidi Swapp that I got in a scrapbooking kits ages ago.

I kept this pretty simple doing NO stamping whatsoever this week on my card, but using some of my favorite things.  Ribbon from Clear & Simple Stamps is one of my favorites as well as the NEW sizziz dies I received about a month ago.  These are the Fancy Labels Framelits.

I went with a NEW sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #149 on my card as well. 

Hope you will hop on over to Going Grey with Scrap-Creations and see what the other girls created and then help us ring in the New Year but creating something old/something new.

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Card details:

Stamps: NONE

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Dish all the Dirt Brown, Gable Green, patterned paper unknown

Inks: NONE

Embellishments: Fancy Labels Framelits from Sizzix, Chipboard Sticker Letters from Heidi Swapp, Orange You Fabulous ribbon from Clear & Simple Stamps

Open if You Dare

Do you have a Halloween hangover?  I know we do here at the house, with a few trick or treat events over the past few days we'll have more than enough candy to least us a lifetime.

So one more quick Halloween card as I did more of these this year than any of them.  This week at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations our theme is Pumpkins and along with the digital image I used last week, I received this freebie from Dilly Bean Designs. 

I combined it with the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge which I kept super simple this week with no embellishments.

Hope you will join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations this week with your Pumpkin Creations.

SSSC139 BOO

Had some time off yesterday and had a lot of fun stamping.  I did get a quick nap in during the day, but was good and got some stamping accomplished.  My kids had 1/2 day of school so my little gal came down to "work" with me.  She had a blast with her stamps and paper.

I haven't made a lot of halloween cards and had these cute images from Stampotique.  Perfect little scary kiddos!  I definitely need to make more of these now that I've used these, they would make great little ATC's.

This card is a 5.5 x 5.5 and I used the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 139 .  I created the banner using the banners4all set and I hand wrote the "BOO". 

Hope you have a great weekend!  We don't have any sports planned today so I'm hoping to do some shopping for the kids, it's gotten too cold too fast and all the pants we tried on this past weekend-the kids have outgrown them ALL.  

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Card Details:

Stamps: Corie 9217, Frankie 9219, and Skullboy 9221 from Stampotique Originals, Banners4all from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Going Gray, SU! retired designer papers, Neenah White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copics, Pumpkin Pie, SU Journaling Marker

Embellishments: black twine, seam binding, dimensionals

Happy Anniversary!

This past weekend we have been crazy busy with so much.  Our kiddos are visiting Grandparents for the week while the oldest is spending his vacation with a friend.  So without kiddos at home, we have been doing many home improvements projects pressure washing decks & house, cleaning the carpets in the house, dusting floor to ceiling, cleaning the kids rooms (disposing is much easier without them here).

We have been enjoying our time BBQ'ing with brother & sister-in-law over one night (Chicken with lemon & thyme on the grill), seeing a few movies and trying some new places to eat.  Last night we just lounged on the couch after cooking (beer soaked chicken tacos on the grill)/cleaning...it was definitely quiet and I'm sure the next 3 days will go by fast.  While we miss the kiddos like crazy, it's nice to enjoy each others company as well and be able to get some much needed projects completed.

Last week we celebrated our 15th anniversary (which I mentioned on here) and this was the card I decided to give him.  It's not too girly, but not to masculine and I love the color combination on it.  It uses an last weeks sketch from SSSC123 which I loved!

I also created this little name plate for a Unibind challenge.  The supplied some pieces and we had to get creative with them.  I combined several sets to make this name plate from Clear & Simple Stamps and The {Stamps}of Life.

Card details:

Stamps: Fancy Wishes from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Simply Blue-tiful, Brown Leather Satchel and Rustic White, GCD Studios Material Girl

Inks: Brown Leather Satchel

Embellishments: Doodlebug Designs gems

Name plate details:

Stamps: Princess4Life from The{Stamps}of Life, Bitty Alpha Modern, Alpha Block II and Monogram I from Clear & Simple Stamps

Inks: Black Staz-on, Dare to be a Diva Red

Embellishments: seam binding, dimensionals, eyelets

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Hope you all had a safe & Happy 4th of July.  Below is a wonderful award my blogging buddy Dana gave me:

These are the rules about this award:

1) Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link.
2) To accept this award, answer 7 random facts about yourself.
3) Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blog buddies 

Here are some random facts about myself:

1. I love Chinese food but can't stand water chesnuts, I will pick them out of all the food I eat

2. My husband & met in high school (he sat behind me in class)...we didn't start dating until after he graduated.

3. I loathe cleaning, especially dusting

4. I'm very organized (doesn't have anything to do with cleaning though)

5. I live in GA and can't stand the heat & humidity here

6. My guilty pleasure is reading Soap Opera Digest & People magazine

7. I love to cook, and desserts are my favorite to make.

I hope that those I pass along this award to will play along...random facts are so fun!

1. Kristen Catalano

2. Lisa Somerville

3. Sue Berker

4. Susan Wingfield

5. Ashley Nguyen Newell

6. Vicki Garrett

7. Lori Tecler

8. Tina Curtis

Earth Day with Ribbons & Lace

Today is Earth Day and each one of the design members came up with an Eco-Chic Design Tip to share.  I had to laugh after I sent this and then I went back to this post here which was one of my first as a design team member and I used a magazine for paper piecing.  It can make a dramatic effect using a shiny magazine to paper piece images.  

Along with today's eco-chic design team I wanted to share my creations for our blogger's challenge this week to use ribbon or lace on our creation.  I have 2 cards I thought I would share with you.

The first was a commissioned card for a female birthday. Again I used the block stamping technique and then stamped my images all over the patterned papers.  I added 3 ribbon pieces at the bottom of the image.  This sketch is based off the Sweet Sunday Sketch #112.  The purse images are from the Just My Style set from Clear & Simple Stamps.

The next card I created was with the Princess4Life set from The {Stamps}of Life.  Such a great girlie set to own and perfect for all the little girl parties we get invited to.

 

I paper pieced the crown with some patterned paper and added some stickles onto the hearts.

I'm hoping to enjoy a few days off with the family but hope to have you join us at Blogger's Challenge with your ribbon and lace...and share an eco-chic tip for us, love to hear what others do!

Card details:

Stamps: Princess4Life from The {Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, patterned paper uknown

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress

Accessories: A Blanc Check Ribbon, crystal stickles, Melissa Frances Vintage Attic Treasures gems

Dictionary Words

I can't believe it's Monday again already!  It was a wonderful weekend with some nice weather, nice dinner with family, some sports (one good/one not so good game) and some stamping.  I'm looking forward to Easter weekend and spending a few days off with family, so will be a little quiet towards the end of the week.

Can you tell how much I love this block stamping technique?  I made a few backgrounds at the time I was experimenting with it and thought this new set, Dictionary4Me from The{Stamps}of Life would look great with it.  Here are some awesome creations using this set.

This card loosely uses the SSSC96 sketch. I turned the sketch and my panels are not exactly but I was inspired by it. After all the layers and the stamping I gave it a good swift spray of Sparkle Shimmer Spritz.

Card details:

Stamps: Dictionary4Me by The {Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: SEI Oasis Papers, Basic Black, Watercolor Paper, technique learned from Kimberly Crawford

Inks: Green with Envy, Coral Necklace, Perfect Little Black Dress

Accessories: Sparkle Shimmer Spritz, Creamsicle Cardigan ribbon, SU punch

Good Witch Birthday Wishes

How cute is this little princess?  I can see her on many more creations for little girls birthdays in the future.

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-creations our theme is KIDS.  We have our wonderful sponsor, Bugaboo Stamps again this month and I always enjoy working with their images whenever I can.  They are so cute and whimsy.

I combined this challenge with the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and the CR84FN17.

Check out the other design team members to get some more great ideas on kids creations:

• Jackie Randolph
• Kristen Catalano
• Kristine Breach (permanent guest DT)
• Marie Bridgeman
• Mary Castonquay
• Peggy Regan

Card details:

Stamps: Oz Good Witch from Bugaboo Stamps, Icon Extras from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Paint the Town Pink, Certainly Celery, patterned paper unknown

Inks: Copics, Paint the Town Pink

Accessories: dots (unavailable); spellbinders nestabilities, pink sparkly fluff and glitter.