Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge #18

Hi Stamping Friends!  Today's card is for the challenge over at the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge.  Come join the fun!  This week we are celebrating the end of summer with a good old-fashioned crab feed.  I have to be honest.  I grew up in Southern California and I LOVE the beach!  But when I think of the beach, I think of bikinis and surfers and sunscreen and waves.  I don't think of adirondak chairs and crabs and sea grass.  So this was really quite challenging for me!  I guess I'm not very nautical.

ANIMAL STORIES

I used the colors as my inspiration.  Mostly blue and yellow, with a pop of red.  And the most nautical stamp I have is this whale from Animal Stories.  I used a lot of retired things on this card.  The DSP is majorly old and it's a retired color, Brilliant Blue.  Good thing I kept all my Stampin' Spots around to use with all my old DSP!  The ribbon is also retired.  Just a piece I had laying around in my ribbon scraps.  The yellow "fish bowl" was made using the Table Setting die.  I think it's supposed to be a napkin ring.  I cut it half and layered the two pieces to make it smaller.  Then I embossed it with the Square Lattice folder.  You can't even see the seam!

There is one new item on this card.  The scallop was made using the Tasteful Trim die that is now available in the Holiday Mini Catalog.  There are soooooo many things I want out of this catalog!  It's going to be hard to refrain from buying it all!!!  I do have quite the wish list going.  I'm trying to spread it out, so it doesn't look so bad. Another new thing about this card is this is the first time I've played in the Just Add Ink blog challenge.  This is their sketch challenge JAI33.

I hope you have an easier time with this challenge than I did.  I know the SCIC Design Team did a fabulous job, as always!  And we are excited to announce that Erica Cerwin of Pink Buckaroo Designs has joined our DT.  We are super happy to have her on board!!  So go check out the SCIC blog and come celebrate summer with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

ColourQ #34

Hi Stamping Friends!

Arielle's fabulous color challenge at the COLOURQ blog came at just the perfect moment.  I needed to make a "welcome baby" card for a family in our church, and these colors are so adorable for a little boy. 

ANIMAL STORIES

I got the Animal Stories set free during SAB and this is the first time I've inked it up.  With my luck it will probably retire and this will be the only time it sees ink from me!  This fun sketch came from the UNSCRIPTED SKETCHES blog.  This is sketch #56.  I flipped it on it's side.  These animals fit perfectly inside the little boxes.  I hope you can play along with us at the ColourQ this week!  Be sure to check out the other fabulous creations from the ColourQ Royal Court (aka the desgin team!)

Sorry you haven't seen my around blogland lately.  Summer is right around the corner and one thing that I love to do in the summer is READ... ALOT!!  I'm just as addicted to reading as I am to stamping!  I started a little early this year.  I just finished a book by Michael Landon Jr. called "The Silent Gift".  It was fabulous!  I'm just super happy that our church has a library, so I don't have to buy books, I just check one (or two or three!) out every Sunday.  You probably won't be seeing every day.  But I will check in every few days and still have some stamping goodness to share with you.  And I'll also keep you updated on other great books I find.  And if you have any suggestions for a great summer read, let me know!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!