Deconstructed Sketch 59 and Stampin' Royalty 131

I'm on vacation this week (yay!) and to celebrate I took the day off from housework and yardwork yesterday and went to the beach!  The weather forecast was predicting temperatures in the 90s so I thought being at the ocean would be a good idea.  It was very crowded and quite hazy, but it was nice to get away and relax for a while.

When I got home I decided to relax some more in my stamp room and join in the fun at Deconstructed Sketch and Stampin' Royalty.

I got to use all kinds of fun stuff on this card.  My new Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon, some DSP from Beyond the Garden, some Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, the Scribbles Swirls Sizzlet and a new stamp from PTI that's just seeing ink for the first time.  For some reason the swirl didn't cut cleanly through the Baja Breeze cardstock so the edges are a bit fuzzy, but I think I covered up most of the bad stuff with the flower. As I like to say "there are no mistakes in stamping" because you can almost always find a way to fix anything that didn't come out just the way you like it!

I'm not sure what's on my agenda for the rest of the day, but I hope to make my way back to my stamp room at some point.  But first I have to take care of the housework and yardwork that I ignored yesterday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 26

This week at Freshly Made Sketches I've designed the sketch!  For me, it's always a little nerve-wracking when my turn comes around because I'm never sure if my sketch is a good idea or not.  The amazing design team created some beautiful cards with it, so I guess it passes muster.  I hope you all like it and have a chance to play along with us this week.

I used the pretty paper from Twitterpated for my background and stamped the floral image from Bordering on Romance.  That was colored in with my markers, then I highlighted the center of the flowers with some Riding Hood Red pastel.  It's been a long time since my pastels have seen the light of day!  I added a black brad in the centers of the flowers to make it really distinct.

The super-talented Freshly Made Sketches design team has got some beautiful cards to show off this week, so be sure to check them out.  And don't forget to play along with us!

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Cindy Hall

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Rita Wright

Allisa Chilton

Narelle Farrugia 

MOJO 175

As I usually do on Monday I checked out the MOJO sketch challenge.

And as usual, I liked it enough to give it a try.  Early on as I contemplated what I wanted to do here, I was checking my retired stash of designer paper.  I decided to use some of my Ginger Blossom dp, partly because it included the fabulous River Rock, and partly because one of the other colors featured was an old favorite, Ruby Red, which I managed to save few pieces (because I figured it would come in handy some day)!

Now, I would also like to extend a big thank you to the uber-talented Jen Timko, who assured me that this scrunchy ribbon technique was simple. I finally felt like I could give it a try and I have to say she was right!  Looks good and super-easy to do!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you  have time to stamp today!