colourQ 206

It's been a dog's age since I've participated in the sketch challenge at Clean & Simple Stamping so I thought I'd use their latest sketch with the colors at colourQ to create a little grungy card.  The colors are fun and bright and are inspired by this pretty scarf.

I feel like I went to town with these cool colors and the fun stamps.  I especially like the washi tape layered over the images.  It's so bright and I love that you can see the ink underneath.  Once I had all the images stamped I wanted a kick-a$$ sentiment so I picked this one, which says it all!

As always our amazing colourQ design team has knocked it out of the park this week with gorgeous creations so make sure you head over there to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Grunge Me, Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink); Textures 1 (Florileges Designs)

Accessories:  Gingham Garden washi tape, Dimensionals (SU)

Wild About Flags for FTL245 and CTD246

Is it my imagination or are there flags and banners appearing everywhere on projects around blogland lately? I don't think I'm imagining it and I since they are so popular I'm so thankful that I broke down and bought a couple of flag dies because I was getting tired of hand cutting them all the time!

For this flaggy card I used the sketch at Clean&Simple (where I have not played in a dog's age) and combined it with the colors at Color Throwdown.

I actually made this card on Saturday with the intention of posting it Sunday morning, but after a short trip into work for a little computer upgrade and a few errands run on the way home, the weeds in the garden were calling my name and I couldn't ignore them for fear of disturbing the neighbors.  So alas the post had to wait.

I'm happy to say that many of the weeds are gone (though many remain) so I will be very busy this week on my vacation getting down and dirty outside.  It's supposed to rain AGAIN today and Tuesday, so I think I'll head on over to IKEA for a little browse.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  En Francais (SU); Beautiful Blooms II (Papertrey Ink); Lean on Me (Verve)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White; Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Blushing Bride, Sweet Pea DSP, Cottage Wall DSP, Twitterpated DSP, Blushing Bride DSP, Pear Pizzazz DSP (SU)

Accessories:  Elegant Scrollword die (Memory Box); Banner Trio die (WPlus9); Stitched Sentiment Flag die (Lil' Inker Designs)

Peace - CFC90 and FTL228

I thought that the color challenge of Black & White Plus One at CAS-ual Fridays was too good to pass up so when I saw it I started to troll blogland for an appropriate sketch.  I settled on a beauty from clean&simple.

I felt like I was somewhat limited on what I wanted to do for the middle "word" portion of my card.  Despite owning an electronic cutter which would have allowed me to cut any sentiment I wanted, I was being kind of lazy when I made this and didn't feel like firing it up for this card.  Instead I relied on one of the sentiments from the Wonderful Words Holiday die from Papertrey Ink.  I punched it in Basic Black then added some Lucky Limeade behind it.  I added a small punched star and wound some baker's twine around the Basic Black layer and called it a night.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Accessories:  Wonderful Word Holiday Die (Papertrey Ink), Star Punch (SU), Lucky Limeade baker's twine (SU)

colourQ 171

This week at colourQ, Arielle has got some great colors that are perfect for the oh-so-difficult man card.  I'm pretty much the worst man-card maker out there, so even though I started out making a card with those intentions, I failed miserably.  I did, however, use the sketch from clean&simple and even managed to throw in the Thank You challenge at CAS-ual Fridays so on some level I redeemed myself!

I used Seeing Stars to stamp some random stars on the Night of Navy layer then stamped a big one in Daffodil Delight.  I added the flourish behind it, which I think always looks nice paired with a star - kind of like fireworks!  The "thank you" sentiment is from Happy Moments.

There's lots of inspiration over at colourQ, so be sure to head on over there and check out the DT cards.  Then come along and join us!

Tis the Season for FTL220 & CTD221

Every once in a while I'll see a color challenge that makes me want to drop everything and participate. That's pretty much what happened to me when I saw the awesome colors at Color Throwdown this week.  There was no way I was going to miss this challenge, unfortunately, I wasn't able to make a card until Friday night.  I just got a few washi tapes lot of washi tape and I've been anxious to try them out on some Christmas cards when along comes this great FTL sketch which pretty much screamed "please use washi tape on me!"

This is a pretty simple card using the tree image from Perfect Presentation (one of those retired sets that I'll never part with) stamped in Gumball Green.  I added a few wee snowflakes from the aptly named Snowflakes and once I stamped them I wish I hadn't.  I was going to color some pearls to use as small accents but didn't have a red sharpie so I opted for this stamp instead.  I think the pearls would have been prettier.  

I am committed to finishing up wrapping my Christmas gifts and getting my Christmas cards ready for mailing this weekend, so I'm going to hole up in the house and get busy!  Wish me luck!  And thanks for stopping by!

CASology 2

I stumbled upon a new challenge site called CASology.  They are all about clean and simple cards and each week they add a "cue" as a theme.  I missed their inaugural sketch last week, but this week the cue is "happy."  Easy peasy, right?

I went super CAS and stamped a faux stitched outline with a stamp set from CTMH in Basic Gray, then I stamped one of the grunge stamps from Clockworks and a butterfly from Papillon Potpourri. The butterfly was stamped once directly onto the card base then again onto a piece of scrap Whisper White and punched out with the corresponding punch.  I layered them together and added some Basic Rhinestones to jazz up the butterfly!  (My layout is actually from a FTL sketch from May, that I especially love and have used quite a bit since).  The sentiment is from Happy Moments.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin' Royalty 125

There are some very pretty colors for the challenge this week at Stampin' Royalty.  The colors are perfect for spring and since we've been having a wonderful spring in my neck of the woods I just had to participate!  So I created a card using one of my all time favorite stamp sets.

It's been a long while since I inked up Best Blossoms, but I had a hankering to see those lovely flowers so I brought them out for this card.  I hand cut out some leaves then crimped them and sponged the edges a bit.  I thought they looked a little lonely so I cut out some Little Leaves and layered them together.  The pretty DSP is from Twitterpated and the sentiment is Verve.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dynamic Duos 3 and FTL191

One thing after another prevented me from doing any kind of creating this week, but Saturday night I had plans to catch up on what was going on with my favorite weekly challenges and find some inspiration.  I had been working outside in the garden all day and was exhausted but I wasn't going to let that stop me!  The colors at Dynamic Duos caught my eye and with the FTL sketch, I made this card.

I love to use black on a card, usually as an accent, but for this one I decided to let it really make a statement by using it as my big vertical layer.  I added some dry embossing to it (the dessert option on the challenge) then finished it off with the big daisy from the Sizzix Daisies #2 die. The sentiment is from Occasional Quotes.

I really tried to post this card last night, but I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I think I may have even snoozed a bit while hovering over the keyboard!   I've got another busy day ahead of me, but I'm going to try and get some stamping done for some of my other favorite challenges!

Thanks for stopping by!

PPA134 and FTL189

What do you get when you take a great color challenge (as in the one at Pals Paper Arts) and a great sketch challenge (for instance, the one at Clean & Simple)?  Well, in my case, you get several cards that you reject because they don't quite pass muster.  Then you finally decide to go with one because you're exhausted from trying to figure out why you can't make a card that you're happy with.

Arrgh!  I hate when this happens.  But I've decided that I'm somewhat okay with this card, so you all get to see it anyway.  It's funny how sometimes you make a card and it all just comes together somewhat easily and then other times it's like pulling teeth.  This one was definitely of the "pulling teeth" variety.

I used a small piece of specialty carstock from Parisian Breeze DSP for the little Baja Breeze layer.  This is one of my all-time favorite DSP packs and I've got quite bit left basically because I'm too afraid to use it.  Once it's gone, it's GONE.  As in I'll never get to use it again.  I'm not sure I'm strong enough to handle that.

The layered flower is one of my new favorites from PTI, and I added a pretty Calypso Coral brad in the center.  The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake and despite the birthday theme of this stamp set I think I'm going to give this to one of my sisters for Mother's Day.  That particular sentiment is versatile enough to be used a bunch of different reasons, I think.  And I feel somewhat weird giving a "happy mother's day" card to my sister.  She's not my mother after all!  But it recognizes a special day and is a nice compromise I say to myself.

Thanks for stopping by!

Butterflies, Sketches and Colors, Oh My!

I don't do this all that often, but I managed to make a card using three different challenges.  Usually I go for two, like a color and a sketch.  Today I did that with the FTL sketch and the colors at Simply Stampin'.  But then I added the butterfly challenge at Our Creative Corner!

This is the first time that I used the Flower Garden embossing folder.  I've seen some cards where people have lightly sponged the embossed image to give it some depth, but I was pretty sure that I would wreck it if I tried that so I left that layer alone in all its CAS glory.  I stamped the Marina Mist circle from the Simple Shapes stamp set and the Pink Pirouette circle from Frames With a Flourish.  Each is layered on a cardstock circle of the same color.  I added a couple of buttons - and yes, the pink one is Pretty in Pink (not Pink Pirouette) and a couple of layered butterflies cut from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit.  

Even though my circles are out of whack with the sketch and I totally forgot to add a sentiment I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out.  I hope the FTL ladies will excuse my lapse!

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown 178 and FTL 177

Today was a lazy, rainy day and I was anxious to get in my stamp room.  But after running a few errands this morning, I found myself puttering around the house doing some cleaning so I didn't have a chance to be creative until late this afternoon.

I thought the Color Throwdown challenge this week was a little unusual for this time of year, but it's got all sorts of colors that I love so started my card there.  I don't have any Summer Sun so I substituted Crushed Curry, which is pretty close.  I even substituted Daffodil Delight for the little flower buttons.  In real life these are so close it's hard to tell they're not the same color!

Then I checked out the sketch at Clean&Simple and thought it was pretty unusual so I wanted to give it a try.

I almost ran into a snag right away.  My card is 4 1/4-inches square and I didn't have a scallop Nestie big enough to create that partial circle.  Then I had an a-ha moment.  (It was actually more like a "duh" moment).  For Christmas I got an electronic cutter that I had been dreaming about for at least a year.  I've been experimenting with it, but I hadn't used it in a few weeks and actually sort of forgot about it.  Thank goodness I remembered it, because the great thing about it is that you can take any shape and make it whatever size you want!  So I just used a scallop circle and made it big enough fit my card!

Thanks for stopping by!

ColourQ 117 and Less is More 47

To my eye, the color challenge this week at ColourQ just screamed for a CAS card.  And since the ladies at Less is More are all about CAS, I checked out their challenge this week.  They had a pretty interesting one to make a card with just One Word.

The ColourQ challenge invited us to add one color of our own choosing to a combination of black and white.  I just love the adding a bright color to elements of black so I chose Melon Mambo for my card.  I inked up a Verve flower and stamped it off the edge of the cardstock.  (I can't take credit for this idea, because I went to my "binder of sketches" and found the FTL 54 sketch, which I thought was pretty cool).

To make the square outline I lightly drew a square with a pencil (using a piece of cardstock as a template).  Then once I stamped the flower and the sentiment, I went over the pencil marks with a Basic Black marker (using a ruler to keep the lines true).

I actually made this as an A2 card first but decided there was too much white space, so I made this version which is 4 1/4-inches square.  It's much more proportional to the flower and sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

FTL 171 and Our Creative Corner Holiday Color Combo

This has been a busy week and today is the first day I've had a chance to set foot in my stamp room and do something meaningful in quite some time.  And I was very discombobulated when I got there!  It took me a long while to get my thoughts together and figure out what I wanted to do.

I ended up with this card which I made for the FTL sketch challenge and the color challenge at Our Creative Corner.

I used some designer paper from the Sweet Pea collection and I paired it with a Baja Breeze layer behind it.  The I found some nice Real Red scraps from the Ski Slope designer paper pack, which I used on the center square.  I used the Northern Frost decorative strip die to cut the snowflakes from the silver shimmer paper and some Pink Pirouette, whereby I discovered that the shimmer paper is just a tad too thick to cut cleanly with the decorative strip die.  It made a tight sandwich through the Big Shot, but I ended up fussing with the cutout quite a bit to release it.  In fact, the small snowflake ended up with a tear and some missing shimmer because I was apparently a bit too rough trying to wrestle it out.  I'm pretty sure that no one but me would notice that it is missing a tiny bit, but I know it and it bugs me!

Right now this is a card, but I may alter it a bit and put it on the front of a gift bag because I just discovered that a gift certificate I bought for my godparents is languishing without some pretty Christmas packaging.  Must remedy that!

Thanks for stopping by!

PPA122 and FTL169

I really love how Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler look together, especially when I'm doing a Christmas project.  And lucky for me the challenge this week at Pals Paper Arts uses those colors plus Very Vanilla.  Then I saw the FTL sketch challenge at Clean & Simple and I got an Idea.

I'm {somewhat} sure that the tree shape from the sketch challenge can be substituted for another shape, but based on my Idea, I decided to go literal with this one.

This card marks the first time that I used the Snow Burst embossing folder (unbelievable, I know)!  And my tree is simply four scallop circles, sponged on the edges and cut in a triangle.  I paper pierced the smaller Very Vanilla layer and popped it up with dimensionals so that it would stand out from the card base of the same color.  I really like how this turned out.  It's simple and lets those fabulous colors take center stage.  And as I was getting ready to post this card, I realized that I left off the sentiment.  But I decided not to go back and add one, because I think it looks pretty good without one!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Mashup 34 and FTL 168

As soon as I saw the sketch this week at Clean&Simple I got it in my mind to use my Dasher stamp.  I had been neglecting it all this Christmas card season and I aimed to rectify that.

Then I saw the Friday Mashup challenge and immediately recognized that this was a match made in heaven!  The mashup was to make a Christmas card using the colors of aqua, chocolate and white.

The problems began when I began to search for my Dasher stamp.  I couldn't find it anywhere.  But I made sure to look in every nook and cranny before I panicked.  Once I figured it was truly missing I sat down to figure out if I had perhaps loaned it to someone.  I called my sister and sure enough, she had it.  Then my nephew very graciously offered to drive to my house to give it to me so that I could make this card.  What a sweetie!  Disaster averted!

I used Taken With Teal as my aqua for the color challenge, and squeezed in a bit of matching designer paper from the Sweet Pea pack.  I suppose I could have used Tempting Turquoise instead, but I like the richer color of Taken With Teal.  I embossed the stamp with some EP called "Espresso" but it's really anything but.  It actually looks darker in this picture than it is in  real life, but it will have to do.

I hope that everyone has recovered from their "Black Friday" shopping.  I did not venture out into all that craziness, but I hope that if you did, you got a great bargain!

Paper Players 72 and FTL166

I spent the better part of last night and part of today trying to make a card for a particular color challenge, but I couldn't seem to make something that I was happy with.  So I abandoned what I was working on and instead focused on LeAnne's color challenge at The Paper Players.  These Christmas colors went perfectly with what I had in mind for the FTL sketch challenge.

This color challenge gave me an excuse to use my retired Wintergreen DSP and I also used my Artichoke Denim Jean Ribbon for the first time.  I inked up the sentiment stamp from Season of Joy colored with my River Rock, Riding Hood Red, and Always Artichoke markers.  And I have quite a bit of Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon so I made a little bow for the top of my tag.  As I was putting this card together, I realized that my Bow-Easy has disappeared, along with one of my sanding blocks.  (I suspect the kittens are behind this).  So as a result I had to tie this bow by hand (oh the horror)!  I could have used a fork to tie this one (as suggested by my blogging friend Jen Timko), but I was too lazy to go downstairs and get one!

Thanks for stopping by!