Stampin' Addicts MEGA Blog Hop!!

Hi Stamping Friends!!

Woo!  Hoo!  I am so thrilled to be a part of the Stampin' Addicts New SU! Catalog MEGA Blog Hop!!  Every SA blog hop that I have been a part of has been AMAZING!!!  You will not want to miss one single stop on this hop.  If you have been hopping already, that means you came from Adriana's fabulous blog: escape2stamp.  If you are just starting to hop, no worries.  Just start here and hop your way through.  If you get lost along the way, just click HERE for a list of all the blog stops in order.  This hop runs from Friday through Sunday.

The new set that I "had" to choose (all the other sets I have were already taken!) was Broadsheet Alphabet.  I was a little leary about choosing an alphabet set, because I've given up my scrapbooking skills for cardmaking skills a long time ago.  But I really wanted to be a part of this hop, so I went for it.  And I'm so glad I did!  While creating for this hop, I realized just how awesome alphabet sets are for all papercrafting projects, not just scrapbooking!

For this first card I used the color challenge from the Stamping 411 blog.  The colors are Daffodil Delight, Always Artichoke, and Very Vanilla.  The sketch comes from the Cards & Things challenge blog.  Little words like "mom" are a great way to use your alpha sets on cards.  I really like the flourish look of the Broadsheet alpha.  I also love the unique look of each letter.

This second card uses the color challenge from the Scrapmasters Paradise Color Challenge blog.  The colors are Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, and Certainly Celery.  Not your typical "Christmas" colors, but I think they work well.  The sketch comes from the sweetest thing blog.  Again, another 3 letter word that looks great on a card.

My final project is what alpha sets are best at, making things personal.  How simple is it to stamp the birthday boys name on his gift bag?!  The color combo for this creation comes from the Create, Ink! ColorLab blog.  The colors are Pumpkin Pie, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, and Crumb Cake.  For the first two projects, I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get the letters aligned nicely.  But if you just make your letters crooked on purpose, you can save lots of time!

That's it for me!  I'm officially the "last" stop on the hop, but since it runs in a circle, you can keep hopping to Valerie's amazing blog: createfromscraps.  She will have lots of cute little projects using the Level 2 Hostess set Cute by the Inch.

---GO TO NEXT BLOG---

Be sure to stop by Stampin' Addicts when you are finished with the hop.  It is an amazing Stampin' Up! only online community, with lots of terrific ideas and a fabulous gallery.  And the best part is it's FREE to join!  Both SU! customers and demonstrators are welcome!

Thanks for hopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge #13

Hi Stamping Friends!  It's Thrusday and that means it's time for another Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge!!  This week we are celebrating an endless summer with this fun surf/pool theme.  Since my hubby is and old surfer at heart (we grew up in SoCal where he surfed every beach he could!) I love this week's theme.  We hope you can play along with us!!

EXTREME SURFBOARD

I love the bright "boy" colors in the photos.  I used Pacific Point (great replacement for Brilliant Blue!), Daffodil Delight (another great change from Yoyo Yellow!), and Pumpkin Pie.  AS you can tell, I'm really lovin' the Color Renovation that SU! did this year.  And they announced that they would be changing the colors around every 5 years or so.  I think that's a smart move on their part.  You have to keep up with the trends!!

I used a sketch from the 2 Sketches 4 You blog.  I'm trying to get a little more creative in my embellishments.  I still haven't got back into my stamping groove yet.  I'm hoping it comes back soon! 

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow.  I'm going to be in a Stampin' Addicts blog hop and they are always the best!!  So many talented ladies over there.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Happy Birthday LeAnne!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANNE!!

Today is LeAnne's (from the wee inkling) birthday!  And in celebration, Arielle set up a birthday blog hop.  Of course I had to send my fellow ColourQ DT member some special birthday wishes.  Hope you have a fabulous day today LeAnne!

In honor of LeAnne, I used the color combo from the Color Throwdown blog.  I also used the sketch from the Diva Coffee Break Design blog.

ColourQ Tuesday #43

Hi Stamping Friends!  Arielle has more fabulous colors for us to play with this week. I combined the ColourQ challenge with the sketch challenge over at the Sketch Saturday blog.  Here's what I came up with:

CHEEP TALK

The only Early Espresso I used was for the sentiment and the branch of the tree.  I'm so glad that SU! came out with In Color markers last year.  That means I can sell all my retired ink pads and just keep the markers.  So when Arielle throws out a retired color for a challenge, at least I have the marker to match!  The Taffeta ribbon is not really Peach Parfait.  It's actually Pumpkin Pie, but I think it matches the Peach Parfait perfectly!  The DSP is from the Island Oasis pack from the Summer Mini catalog.  Remember, the summer mini will only be around for one more month.  So if you haven't gotten everything you've wanted from it, you'd better order soon!

I hope you can play along with us at the ColourQ this week.  We would love to have you join us!  Be sure and check what the other Royal Court DT members have created.  You won't be dissapointed!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge #12

Hi Stamping Friends!  Well I think I might be getting back into the stamping mood.  And these gorgeous pics from the latest Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge sure helped me get over my slump.  I just LOVE the bright, citrusy colors!!  They just make my lips pucker and my mouth water and make we crave a glass of my grandma's fresh lemonade.  My grandpa and grandma has two lemon trees in their backyard.  Grandpa would pick them and grandma would juice them and freeze the juice.  She would make us lemonade everytime we came to visit.  Which was a lot!!

I used the colors in the inspiration pic and combined them with the sketch challenge over at The Sweet Stop blog.  I just realized after uploading the pic of the sketch that I left off one of the main panels.  Whoops!  I did remember to use a tag though.  That was the bonus part of the challenge.  Well, I like how this card turned out anyway.  I used a lot of my "favorites" on it.

ON A PEDESTAL

It was fun to play with some new stuff.  The card base is Whisper White layered with Pear Pizzazz.  The Pumpkin polka dot DSP is from the Island Oasis pack from the Summer Mini Catalog.  The flowers ( Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie) were made using the Floral Fusion Sizzlet die.  The white brads are topped with the Jewels Basic Rhinestones.  The cake pedestal also has some of the Jewels Basic Pearls.  I LOVE the SU! Jewels!!!  I love that they come in multiple sizes.  I love that they are self-stick.  And I love the price!!  They are only $4.95 for 150 pieces!!!  You can't beat that!

After making this card, I decided I "need" to get the Jewelry Tag punch and Tiny Tags stamp set.  How have I lived this long without them?!

I hope you will play along with us this week at the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge!  I can't wait to see what bright, cheerful creation you come up with.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

ColourQ Tuesday #42

Hi Stamping Friends!  Well I finally have a card for Arielle's ColourQ challenge.  I don't know how many weeks I've missed.  I've been such a slacker Design Team member this summer, I'm surprised she hasn't booted my behind right off the team!!  But she is such a sweetie, I  know even if she wanted to (beacuse I do deserve it!), she would never do that.  The ColourQ color challenge is one of the reason I became addicted to doing stamping challenges.  I love the pieces Arielle picks out each week.  She has a great sense of style.  And the colors combos are always so... challenging!  This week I combined the cQc colors with the Fall To Layout challenge over at the Clean & Simple blog.  Here's what I came up with:

AVIARY

This is one of the first sets I ordered out of the new catalog.  I just thought those birds and bird cages were too stinkin' cute!!  The DSP is retired, but it fit the Tangerine Tango requirement.  And since I haven't purchased any of the new DSP (yet!) I had to go with what I had.  These would be fabulous colors for the fall season.  I know I'm always apologizing for my photos lately.  I just don't know why they are so horrible!  I've tried different settings, different lighting, etc., etc., and it just doens't seem to make any difference.  So I guess I'll just have to add to each of my posts... this card is much cuter IRL.  :)

I hope you can play along at the cQc this week.  Remember to stop by and check out what the other fabulous design team members came up with.  I promise their photos won't make your eyes go fuzzy when you look at them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge #11

Hi Stamping Friends!!  I'm sorry for being such a stamping slacker, but I really have been enjoying my summer.  After returning from our RV road trip to Yellowstone, I volunteered to be one of the van drivers to take the Jr. High students from church, to Hume Lake Christian Camp.  'Course when your hubby is the Youth Pastor, you volunteer for a lot of things you weren't expecting to do.  :)  Though I can't complain too much since two of my three kids were going to camp, plus my hubby, plus it was in SAN DIEGO!!  Only bummer was we didn't see the sun at all.  Not one single time the entire week.  One day the high was only 65 degrees!  Now I wish I were back in San Diego.  It's supposed to be 104 today through Saturday here in the Central Valley.  Ugh!  I'll be staying inside with the AC, organizing my craft, homeschool, office, closet room.  I would take a before photo, but I'm too embarassed to show you what a mess it is!

Anyhoo!  You did not come here to find out about my poor homemaking skills, you came here to see some stamping.  Well, right now my stamping skills are not much better than my homemaking skills, so I don't like this card much at all.  I love the idea of red and yellow together, but it always somehow looks like Ronald McDonald to me.  And I just can't get past it.

VINTAGE VOGUE

See what I mean?  Too bad I don't know anyone that works at McDonalds.  I'm lovin' some of my new stuff out of the new catalog though.  The stick-on pearls and rhinestones are FABULOUS!!  I also used the new Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border.  But my most fave things from the new catty are the Big Shot Die Storage boxes.  Wow!  Are they gorgeous!  The outside fabric is a beautiful Early Espresso color and the inside paper lining is Certainly Celery.  Yummy!  That's the whole reason I'm having to re-organize all my stuff.  How funny is it when you get 4 new storage boxes and you end up having to re-do the whole room!

I hope you can join us this week over at the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge.  And I hope to do a little more stamping after I get my stuff all organized.  That is unless I end up going away on some other unexpected trip.  :)  Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge #10

Hi Stampers!  I'm so glad you stopped by today!  We have a fabulous new challenge over at the Stampin' Celebration blog.  We are celebrating weddings with these gorgeous, modern wedding photos.  The black and yellow make such a bold color combo.


I love creating wedding ensembles for brides. I usually do one wedding per year and that can include anything from invitations to favors, and programs, and menus, and table numbers... everything!  It's a ton of fun and also stresses me out majorly!  The worst part for me is the printing.  I do all of it o my PC at home.  And I hate when things print crooked or if the ink bleeds.  Drives me crazy!  But I still say yes when someone asks, because I just love the outcome.


This challenge came at just the perfect time.  I just met with a bride last week and we discussed what she wanted on her invites.  Black and yellow are not the colors of her wedding, but this is the style of invite we talked about.

  

Sorry for the super cruddy pic, but I just didn't have time to take a better one.  This invite is 5x7 and is wrapped with a band that slides off to open the card.

This is the inside of the invite.  It has a pocket on the left panel that holds the postcard style RSVP card and an Accommodations/Directions card.  You can see the wrap band on the bottom left.  the colors of this invite are Basic Black, Whisper White, and So Saffron.  The card is made with a 12x12 sheet of cardstock that is folded and scored.  The stamp image comes from the Friends 24/7 set.  That set is worth this one image alone.  It's one of my faves!

I hope you can join us at the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge.  Remember to celebrate all of life's moments!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Colour Q #40

Hi Stampers!  Hope you're having an awesome summer.  I sure am.  I'm much busier than I had anticipated, but it's a fun busy.  I made sure I took the time to participate in Arielle's ColourQ challenge though.  I love these flip flops.  They just scream summer to me.

SMARTY PANTS

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge #9

Hi Stampers!  Just a quick post.  I'll be back later to add details. 
Join us this week at Stampin' Celebration.  We are celebrating all things patriotic. 

I'm back!!!  Literally!  We've been gone on an RV trip to Iowa and Yellowstone.  That's why my blogging (and stamping!) has been so sporadic.  We had a fabulous time.  Hubby, myself, the 3 kiddos, and my mom and dad all loaded up in my parents RV for an 11 day road trip.  Yellowstone was gorgeous.  If you ever have the chance to go, do it.  One day we hit some traffic on one of the roads.  We waited about 45 minutes while about 8 bison walked down the road, shoulder to shoulder.  Neither lanes could pass them.  Who knew there was such thing as rush hour buffalo traffic?!  We got home from our trip and dove right into reality.  We unloaded the RV around 4pm and by 5:30pm my 14yo DS was already at his swim meet.  It's been go, Go, GO! ever since!  I haven't had any time or desire to stamp at all.  I finally had to force myself to make this card.  I felt so bad letting my own blog challenges pass me by!  Thankfully I have a fabulously talented design team that has kept things floating in my abscence.

DEFINE YOUR LIFE

Besides the Stampin' Celebration challenge, this card also fits three other challenges.  Seems everyone is being patriotic this week!  I used the sketch from Taylored Expressions.  The color challenge is from the Stacey's Curtain Call.  And Connie and Mary are doing a theme challenge this week.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Happy Stamping!