Hello Beautiful

I missed my stamping friend LeAnne's challenge at The Paper Player's this past week because I was lazy blogger.  I actually made this card last week but it sat on my desk, just begging to be blogged, but was ignored.

I broke out some new to me papers and stamps to create this.  The sentiment reminds me of my good friend and neighbor-she's always so bright and cheerful and uses this statement a lot.

My hubby is embarrassed a little by it, but my nickname for him (before we started dating) was Mr. Beautiful.  Always admiring him from afar ;-)

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Card details:

Stamps: Summer Garden by Simon Says Stamp!

Cardstock: Soft Sky, Night of Navy, My Mind's Eye Now & Then "Dorothy"

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copic markers

Embellishments: pearls, twill tape

SDC172: Spotlighting

Arwen is our hostess this week over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge and she's got the spotlight on you:

"Artwork consist of many small details that make a whole.

This week I would like to see spotlights in your work.

Lift a detail of your artwork visibly out."

For my card I created my spotlight card using the cute little bunny with Lots of Gifts.  I love how it turned out and will make a great kids card-wishing I would have made a few of them.

I drew inspiration from The Paper Player's Sketch from last week.

If you are not sure what spotlighting is, you can find a tutorial here so you can join us at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate for Stampotique stamps.
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Card details:
Stamps: 7088 Happy Birthday and 7317 Lots of Gifts from Stampotique Originals
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Pear Pizzaz
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Embellishments: rounded corner punch

I don't believe it's your birthday...

Happy Monday morning!

I know you probably fell off your chair seeing that I'm posting this morning-it's been a crazy few months and I'm really trying to be creative more often. Sometimes it works and I"m just too lazy to blog about it, sometimes I'm just too lazy and don't get creative.

This weekend I got a few hours in my crafty area and shocked myself by doing a lot of creating.  I tried to take a clean and simple approach and so a lot of them don't have any embellishments, but I was pleased with my accomplishments.

I read an awesome blog entry from Susan, how is the queen of CAS cards-it really hit a soft spot for me as it's exactly what I've been going through...and I know it will pass, but it's hard to not think about just selling off all my stuff and just forgetting about it.

So for my card, I was immediately inspired by the Paper Players Challenge and Anne Marie's color combination.  I dug into my stash of papers to find this textured paper that was as close to crushed curry as I could find.  

I combined the colors with the MFTWSC sketch and some of the new sets I had gotten recently from Stampin' Up.

Hope you had a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

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Card details:

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge and See Ya Later by Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Rustic White, textured yellow unknown

Inks: Baja Breeze, Crushed Curry, Basic Grey

Embellishments: Spellbinders circle die

Talk4Phone

Oh, I'm having so much fun playing with this new set from The {Stamps} of Life called Talk4Phone.  Quote bubbles are in on creations and there are some cute ones in this set alone with a blank bubble that you can write your own stuff in.

For my first card, I went a little out of my comfort zone and got a little dirty with some silver shimmer spritz from Tsukineko.

The chevron stamps are from the Quick2Border set.  I love, love, love how this turned out!!!  I think this is one I could make multiple cards of.

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Card details:

Stamps: Talk4phone and Quick2border from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Whisper White

Inks: Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Certainly Celery, Perfect Little Black Dress

Embellishments: Smooch Spritz Silver from Tsukineko

Here's one more card using some scraps of patterned paper and I finished the inside of the card too-I don't do that too often :-)

Card details:

Stamps: Talk4phone and Turtle2Love from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: VIP Purple, Whisper White, Basic Grey Wisteria

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard- Celery, Licorice and Elegant Eggplant

Embellishments: Want2Scrap Lavendar pearls, Oval die, dimensionals

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Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations our theme is "Mother's Day". 

I created a card using my favorite floral set from The {Stamps} of Life called Mums2Stamp combined with a sentiment from the new Talk4Phone set.

This week's Paper Player's Challenge is also a Mother's Day theme that I'm playing along with.  Of course after I finished this card, I decided to go back and add "MOM" onto the top above the burlap with my Alpha4Fayleen stamp.

Hope you will join us with your Mother's Day creations over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations.

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Card details:

Stamps: Talk4Phone and Mums2stamp from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cool Carribean, Whisper White and Chocolate Chip

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Chocolate, So Saffron, Cool Carribean, Crumb Cake

Embellishments: Scallop die from The {Stamps} of Life, Stampin' Up! rhinestones colored with BG01 copic, Burlap ribbon

BC301: Happy Birthday Scooter

Today over at Blogger's Challenge our theme is Birthdays.  I never seem to have enough birthday cards, and especially not masculine birthday cards.  I really should work up my stash one of these days.

I love how this card came together.  I did a lot of paper piecing with the scooter and then colored the rest with my copics.  This paper from My Mind's Eye is the perfect paper for creating birthday cards.

Hope to see your creation over at Blogger's Challenge today.

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Card details:

Stamps: Scootin' By from Sweet Stamp Shop

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black from Stampin'Up, Gina K. Luxury White; Patterned Paper: Hootenanny Collection from My Mind's Eye

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copics C1, C4, B23, B24, R29, YG00

Embellishments: Dimensionals from Stampin'Up!, KaiserCraft Silly Season Jewels

I whipped up a quick card to share as well (not birthday related) using a few challenges.  This card came together pretty fast and I love when I can do that!

I used the current color combination at The Play Date Cafe (black, white & splash of green) along with the Paper Player's Challenge (sketch).

The sentiment stamp is a limited edition stamp I received this week from Clear & Simple Stamps, perfect for Thank you cards.

Card details:

Stamps: Limited Edition stamp from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Whisper White, Glamazon Green, Basic Black, SEI Black Orchid

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress

Embellishments: Bo Bunny Zoology Jewels, Spellbinders Circle Dies

Snow Joy

I shared this on SCS yesterday as it was for The Paper Player's Challenge to use Snowmen (or hopefully snow girls).

This card was originally being done for the 10 minute craft dash too, but I went over a little, so I'm not going to enter it in that (use red).

The color combination on this card is one of my favorites, holiday or otherwise.  I opted not to color my snow girl and the little birdie is popped up on her shoulder.

My little girl & I are off tomorrow to Alabama for our first cheerleading competition of the season, we are so excited and hoping that this new team places a bit this year.

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Card details:

Stamps: Snowgirl Roly-Poly from Frog's Whiskers Ink, Trees4Christmas from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Cool Carribean, Real Red, Echo Park Season's Greetings

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copic, Color Box for Stephanie Barnard- Strawberry

Embellishments: Basics Pearls-Red, circle punch

BC293: All Stitched Up

I'm hoping my mojo has come back, I've been productive in creating this week and can't wait to share all that I've done.  Keep your eye out on Monday for a mega post filled with LOTS of cards.

Today over at Blogger's Challenge our theme is "All Stitched Up".  This gave me a great opportunity to dust off my little Janome and do some sewing.  At first my stitching was not straight but I decided to improvise and love how it turned out on my card.

I don't think I had ever inked up my Botanical Blooms set from Stampin' Up! and thought that this set would be great for what I had in mind.  At first I was thinking a Valentine's card, but went in the direction of love/anniversary instead.

I stamped my flower image twice and popped it up with dimensionals.  I added some pearls for the flower center to give it some elegance.

This is for a few challenges this week:

The Play Date Cafe Challenge

The Paper Player's Challenge 

Hope you will join us for Blogger's Challenge this week, can't wait to see what you stitch up.

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Card details:

Stamps: Botanical Blooms from Stampin' Up! and Mixed Messages from Paper Trey Ink

Cardstock: Basic Black, Dare to be a Diva Red, Gina K. White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black

Embellishments: Janome sewing, Stampin' Up! Basic pearl jewels, Kaisercraft Basic Pearls

Enjoy Every Minute

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations we are breaking out the leaves and celebrating fall.  Show us your creations using leaves.

I picked up a new set when I was at the stamp show this weekend called Leaflets from Clear & Simple Stamps.  I love the rustic look of these leaves.  

These colors use the current The Paper Players challenge of night of navy, bravo burgundy, cajun craze and very vanilla.  I didn't have cajun craze so I used really rust instead.

I'm trying to keep up with the challenges at Hope You Can Cling To at SCS but have some catching up to do.  This is for Dina's challenge to use a song for inspiration so I used Tom Wait's "Last Leaf" as mine.

Hope you will join us at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations and show us some leaves.

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Card details:

Stamps: Leaflets and Limited Edition Celebrate from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Really Rust, Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgundy

Inks: same as cardstock

Embellishments: Zva Self Adhesive Crystals

BC282: Silhouettes

Today over at Blogger's Challenge we were challenged to use some silhouettes this week.  I have to say this was definitely a challenge for me as I only have like 2 sets that have these type of images in them.  Or maybe I have more and just don't realize it as I never use them.

My first card is not a traditional silhouette, but I went with it anyway :-)  I pulled the current colors from the Paper Player's Challenge this week along with the Retro Sketches. 

 I love the colors and sketch so much, I created 2 cards that are similar but a little different.  I went and used my heart silhouette's from the Love2Hug set from The {Stamps} of Life.  I love this set from Vintage Notes from Gina K. and I thought the words from Sentimental Birds set from Sweet Stamp Shop would work well.

For my next card I tried the silhouette with a similar layout:

I decided not to add a sentiment on this one on the outside, but I did put a simple one on the inside.

Hope it's cooling off where you are and that we'll see your silhouette's over at Blogger's Challenge.

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Card details:

Stamps: Vintage Notes from Gina K. Designs, Sentimental Birds from Sweet Stamp Shop, Love2Hug from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Gina K. Luxury White, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Authentique Fresh Collection

Inks: Baja Breeze, Perfect Little Black Dress

Embellishments: Such a Gray-cious Host twill ribbon, Grey twine, dimensionals.

BC281: Fall

Today over at Blogger's Challenge we are working our way into Fall.  With the temperatures cooling off (just a little anyway) and the leaves about to start changing, and football season in full swing-we start thinking of FALL creations.

I sat down the other night to stamp and was on a roll.  That doesn't happen too often and I'm hoping that tonight will prove to be another one of those nights as I have a lot I want to get accomplished so that tomorrow night I can work on getting caught up on my Project Life album.

When I think of fall, it's the changing leaves here in GA that really make the season for me.  I love the cooler weather but my husband reminds me as I complain about how hot it is that soon I'll be complaining how cold it is (there is not heating or air in my little basement stamping area).

I pulled out this gorgeous tree from Clear & Simple Stamps called Happy Fall.  I created my little strip by coloring various copic markers on a strip of paper and blending them.  Once I was happy with that, I stamped the leave background randomly on it to create my pattered paper.

I combined a few different challenges for this card- I used the SSD144 Sketch but instead of adding a sentiment, I added the cute little park bench with squirrel on top.  The Paper Craft's Gallery Challenge this month is the Natural Element (I used twine and twill ribbon) and the Paper Player's Challenge this week is to use Leaves/Trees.

Hope it's cooling off where you are and that we'll see your fall creations over at Blogger's Challenge.

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Card details:

Stamps: Happy Fall by Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Gina K. Luxury White, Crumb Cake, Creamsicle Cardigan

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Copic markers

Embellishments: Memory Box jewel stickers-Halloween, twill ribbon, twine, distresser

Merry Christmas-Joy

Can you believe that the Christmas holidays are right around the corner?  Are you one that has all your shopping done or are you like me and start around Thanksgiving?

Well, start now with your card making for the holidays with this adorable set from The {Stamps} of Life called Trees4Christmas.  I only chose to use the sentiment in this set, but the trees are so cute and I have tons of ideas for them.

I created this card a few weeks ago using a the CPS278 Sketch and Paper Players Color Challenge of Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy and Crumb Cake.  You can see the other card I created with these 2 challenges here.

Again, hard to tell but I embossed the "Joy" sentiment and this is separate from the Merry Christmas circles so you can exchange the inside or outside with different sentiments.

Love how this card turned out and this would be a great card to duplicate several of for the holidays.

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Card details:

Stamps: Stamps4FancyLabel and Trees4Christmas from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Gina K. Luxury White

Inks: Haute Red Couture, Not Quite Navy

Embellishments: Stampin' Up! rhinestones, Clear Embossing Powder from Stamp Affair

Just Because

This morning the kids were playing nicely together and I was able to escape a few minutes into the basement to stamp.  I came across the CPS278 Sketch and Paper Players Color Challenge of Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy and Crumb Cake.

Believe it or not, I was able to create 2 cards with this sketch/color challenge but am saving one of them for a few weeks down the road.  I was working ahead of myself for once :-)

I don't love how my flourishes look on this card, but decided to walk away from it and leave it be.

Hope you are having a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

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Card details:

Stamps: Great Friend & Blessings from Verve Stamps

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Gina K. Luxury White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Crumb Cake, copic markers

Embellishments: Silly Season jewels from Kaiser Crafts, circle spellbinders

You're an Amazing Mother

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations our theme is Mother's Day.  I've made a few of these cards already and need to get the mailed off, but when I saw the sketch for Sketch for You to Try for May, I knew EXACTLY what set I wanted to use.

I just ordered for the first time from Gina K. Designs with the new release as I had to have the set from Tami Mayberry called Vintage Notes.  I thought her little note stamp would go perfectly in my Project Life album (which I'm behind on).  Besides that, Gina had a free paper pack deal going on so I couldn't resist and I chose to get the Red Carpet designer paper pack.

I did add in another set with this to get it to say exactly what I had in mind, so I used Verve Stamps set Happy Days and just inked up the portions I wanted to use.  I hand wrote the "an" on my little note sheet.  My picture is not great, but the patterned paper has a nice little shine to it and I've added some Sparkly fluff to the tips of the flowers.

This weeks Paper Player's Challenge is a Mother's Day theme as well so I'm playing along with them on the theme but the inspiration photo over there looks yummy as well.

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Card details:

Stamps: Vintage Notes from Gina K. and Happy Days from Verve Stamps

Cardstock: Spring Rain, Neenah White, Kraft and Red Carpet Designer Paper from Gina K.

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Dare to be a Diva Red, copic markers

Embellishments: stapler, dimensionals, Rockstar Red sparkly fluff

SDC51: Spring has Sprung

Today over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge Gez is our hostess and she wants us to show her a spring creation.  When I think of the spring, I think green grass growing, beautiful colorful flowers and the birds chipping.

I love these bold animals from Maryse Carrier-they are so much fun to color in.

I used the Paper Player's sketch for my card, was perfect for my image.

I created the grass with the end of my copic marker by just tapping it multiple times onto the paper.

Hope you all will join us with your Stampotique spring creations by linking up via inlinkz at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog.

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Card details:

Stamps: Cat & Bird 2202 and Enjoy Life 9014 by Stampotique

Cardstock: Paint the Town Pink, Perfect Little Black Dress, Neenah White, My Mind's Eye Stella Rose- Mabel

Inks: Perfect Little Pink Dress, Copic markers

Embellishments: Basic Grey jewels, Charcoal twine from The Twinery, stapler