ColourQ #72

Hi Stamping Friends!

Welcome to ColourQ Tuesday!!  After two weeks of pretty pinks, Arielle threw us another one of her "curveballs".  :)  Anytime I see red, orange, and blue together, I think "boy".  And when I think boy, I automatically grab my Extreme Elements set.  So that was my starting point for this card.

EXTREME ELEMENTS

Stamps:  Extreme Elements, Extreme Skateboard, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Sanded Bg

Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango Patterns Pack DSP

Accessories:  Jumbo Eyelets, Oval die, Distressing Tool on the Cutter Kit, Word Window Punch, Squares Texture Plate, Dimensionals

Sketch Challenge:  INKSPIRATIONS #57

When it comes to boy cards, I think the grungier, the better.  There is no way to mess up this dirty style!!  I sponged all the edges of the cardstock with Soft Suede, my go-to grunge, distressing, vintage ink.  I had to keep the frills on the down-low, so I opted for metal only embellishments.  No ribbon or lace on this card!!  I'm thinking I should have ran my Tangerine DSP through the crimper, for added texture.  Man!  I can just never leave a card alone!  I always think of something (after the fact!) that I should have done to make it better.  Oh well!  What's done is done!

If you are looking for a challenge this week, then the ColourQ color challenge is the one for you!!  Make sure to stop by the ColourQ blog and check out all the other design team members fabulous creations.  Make sure you look at Renee's gorgeous card.  She has a knack for making every card full of beauty!!

I hope you can visit me again tomorrow.  I will be showing my "C" digi page for the ABC Scripture Challenge that I made with My Digital Studio.  And I have some fun news to share about my digi pages!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

ColourQ #65

Hi Stamping Friends!!
It feels good to have some stamping time again!  It's been a couple weeks since I've been able to play at the ColourQ.  I'm so glad that Arielle is such a gracious host, or she would have kicked my booty to the curb a long time ago!!  Thankfully she keeps me around for old times sake.  :)  I love today's color inspiration picture.  I would love to make a scarf like that using my Big Shot.  Wouldn't that be so fun to wear?  I'll just add that to my list of things to do... make a scarf.  Yeah right! 

EXTREME ELEMENTS

I need to work on restocking my supply of birthday cards over at Goodies Cookies.  So you may be seeing a bunch of birthday madness over the next few weeks.  I thought these colors would make a great boy card.  And we all know those boy cards are the most difficult to create!!  I used a Crumb Cake base layered with some old, forgotten named DSP from SU!.  Then a piece of Old Olive cardstock that I embossed with me Big Shot using the Distressed Texturz Plate. 

My "go to" boy set is always Extreme Elements.  This is one of those sets that I will keep forever!  I paired it with the Extreme Dirt Bike single stamp.  The whole Extreme series of stamps is so perfect for tween and teen boy cards.  I even know some adult men that would like this card.  :)  

This fabulous sketch comes from my favorite Stampin' Up! only online hangout, Stampin' Addicts.  Every  week they have a new sketch challenge.  December is "do-over" month.  Since everyone is so busy, Paula (the sketch challenge hostess) chooses a sketch from the previous year for everyone to "do-over".  This was originally sketch #45.

If you love a great blog hop, be sure to stop by on Friday.  All my pals at Stampin' Addicts are joining me in showing off all the new stuff from the Stapmin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog.  Trust me, you will LOVE what you see!  Here's a link to all the gals that will be partcipating: Stampin' Addicts Blog Hop.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you will be able to join us and play along at the ColourQ!

Happy Stamping!

X-Treme Skater

Hi Stamping Friends!

I wanted to play in the color challenge at Stacey's Stamping Stage.  I was undecided about what direction to go, so I showed the challenge colors to my two oldest kids and asked them what stamp image tehy thought of when they saw these colors.  My almost (on Sunday!) 14yo DS said "skater".  So I pulled out my Extreme Skateboard stamp and my favorite boy stamp, Extreme Elements, and made this...

EXTREME SKATEBOARD

I used Stacey's ACT 29 Curtain Call Color Challenge and the sketch from the Eat, Sleep, Stamp Sketchy Thursday Challenge ESS83. 

The card base is Tangerine Tango, layered with Bordering Blue that was stamped with the Sanded BG stamp using Basic Gray ink.  The DSP is from the Sweet Pea Pack that was in the Occasions mini catalog.  If you buy the Extreme Elements set during the month of May, you get to choose one of our Designer Brads for FREE!  Contact me if you are looking for a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  I would love to help you out!

That's it for me today!  I'm heading to Senior Day at the Park, hosted by the Center on Aging.  I'm supposed to do a 45 minute scrapbook demonstration.  And I have NO idea what I'm going to say! 

EXTREME ELEMENTS   #115181   $26.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Two Card Saturday

Hi Stamping Friends!

Well I was gone so much this week, that today I'm stuck home doing laundry and.... STAMPING!  So I have two cards for today.

PETAL PIZZAZZ

This first card uses the color challenge from the COLOR THROWDOWN blog.  This is challenge #91.  The sketch comes from TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS.  This is sketch TESC112.  The colors and the sketch are so fun.  This sketch begs for some stitching, but since I don't sew, I had to opt for some faux stitching instead!

My next card is really an invite.  My oldest DS will be graduating from 8th grade.  We started homeschooling when he was in second grade.  After lots of prayers, we have decided to let him go to high school next year (he fell in love with water polo of all things!).  So this is a very big occasion for us and we are invited our family and close friends over to celebrate.  He is very excited about going to school in the fall and his mom is very... well I'm not sure yet.  I'm thrilled to watch him grow up into a wonderful person, but he's still my little boy (well, not so little, he's about 6"2")!  Come August 12th (first day of high shool), I'm sure a few tears will be shed. 

EXTREME ELEMENTS

I know I'm biased, but isn't he a handsome guy?!  And such a sweetie too.  What I love most about him is his soft heart.  I used this sketch from CARDS AND THINGS.  This is sketch challenge #30.  I flipped the sketch and made my vertical strip go over top of the center rectangle.  It mostly resembles the sketch... I think.  :)  Extreme Elements is one of the stamp sets that if you buy during the month of May, you get to choose a pack of Designer Brads for FREE!  Got to love a Stampin' Up! sale!

Anyhoo!  Best get back to the laundry.  And more stamping!  I need to make 20 of these invites, work on Arielle's next COLORQ challenge, and of course the next inspiration challenge over at the STAMPIN' CELEBRATION blog.  I hope you can play along in both of them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Extreme ColourQ

Hi Stamping Friends!

Well it's Tuesday!  Time for another color challenge over at the COLOURQ blog.  This week Arielle has picked some awesome boy colors to play with.  And when I think of boy stamp sets, I always pull our my Extreme Elements set.

Here's the card I sent to Arielle to post on the ColourQ blog:

It's all boy!  I love to do grungy boy cards.  You would think I would be great at vintage cards too, which are kind of like grungy girl cards, but I really struggle with vintage.  I think I try too hard.  With a boy card, you just can't mess up!  The stamp sets I used are Extreme Elements, Extreme Skateboard, and All Holidays for the sentiment. 

The sketch comes from the UNSCRIPTED SKETCHES blog:

 This week they are celebrating their one year blogiversary with a Treasure Hunt.  Go check it our and you could win a prize!

This is the second card I made:

This sketch comes from the TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS blog:

Who knew a guy card could have so many circles on it and still look cool?  The surfer image is called Extreme Surfboard and the sentiment comes from A Little Birthday Cheer.  The Rope Twine is only available on the Clearance Rack online.  Your demo cannot order it for you.

And finally my last card:

This card uses the sketch from Amy Rysavy's blog, PRARIE, PAPER, & INK

The stamp sets I used were Extreme Elements, Extreme Dirt Bike, and the sentiment comes from Just Jawing.

I hope you have a chance to play along with the COLOURQ color challenge this week!

EXTREME ELEMENTS   #115181   $26.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Birthday Stamp Camp Card #3

Hi Stamping Friends!

Here's another card from my recent Birthday Stamp Camp.  It was the "guy" card for the day.  Why is it so hard to come up with great masculine cards?!  And it was also the easiest card of the day.  The ladies really appreciated that!

The card base is Pumpkin Pie that has been stamped with the splotch from Extreme Elements.  I just can't make a guy card with out using that set!  The Chocolate Chip strip has been embossed using the Distressed Texturz Plate.  The DSP is from the Sweet Pea Pack, AWESOME paper pack by the way.  The sentiment is from Four Square and is stamped in Taken With Teal.  The Twill Tape is the widest size that I cut in half along the length.  That's why it looks so frayed.  I just don't know how to use that wide stuff.  Simple and easy!

Be sure to stop back by on Monday when I will have some very fun news to share with all of you.  I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it!!!

EXTREME ELEMENTS  #115181  $26.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Extremely Late Skater

Hi Stamping Friends!

Hope you all had a terrific weekend.  I know I did!  I had some very fun news that I can't reveal until next Monday, so be sure to come back and see what it is!!  :)

I made this card for my nephews birthday on March 16th.  I remembered it was his birthday, but never got around to getting a card in the mail.  Had to first make a card and go to Target for a gift card and then sign the card... you know the routine!  But I HAD to snap a quick photo before we put it in the mail.  Didn't even take the time to set up my "faux" lightbox.  (Check out my stamping mess in the background!)  Funny thing is this "quick pic" turned out better than the ones I plan and take time on.  Maybe I should ditch the "faux" lightbox and just do "messy desk" pictures all the time!

The stamp sets I used for this card I used Extreme Elements (awesome boy set!), Extreme Skateboard and Sanded BG.  The card base is Tempting Turquoise.  The DSP is some retired scrap that I grabbed out of scrap bag.  The other colors I used are Pumpkin Pie and Green Galore. 

The sentiment is from a retired set called Three Thoughts.  I just love that sentiment for guy cards.  It's a great masculine looking font, not too girly and curly.  It's one of those sets I'll never part with, just for this one image!  It was punched out using the Key Tag Punch, which is also retired.

EXTREME ELEMENTS  #115181  $26.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember to stop by next Monday for my fun news!

Happy Stamping!

How To Tuesday #1 and a New Challenge!

Hi Stamping Friends!
Well I'm going to try out something new here at the blog.  After trying a new technique this week, I decided it might be fun to do a "how to" segment.  Do you remember this card?

I did it for the Tuesday Technique Challenge over at my favorite Stampin' Up! online hangout, Stampin' Addicts.  The technique is called Faux Tile.  I took some pics while I made this card that will hopefully explain what I did. 

First, I gathered all my supplies:

Cardstock

Staz-On Ink

Markers

Crazy For Cupcakes Stamp Set

Versamark

Glassy Glaze Enamel Embossing Powder

Heat Tool

Then I stamped my image with Staz-On black ink and colored in with my Stampin' Up! markers.  You can see I practiced first on my grid sheet.  I always do this before I commit to coloring on my cardstock.  For instance here, I changed browns from Chcocolate Chip to Close to Cocoa. The Chocolate Chip was too dark and my marker is thrashed and doesn't color small images well.

Next, I cut my image into fourths and adhered it to Chocolate Chip cardstock, to look like panes in a window.  I used ny Stampin' Up! square glue stick to adhere the square, because you want to make sure that all corners are stuck down fast.  You don't want any lifting of your corners!

Then I pressed my entire image into the Versamark pad.  Make sure you have completely covered your image with Versamark and then sprinkle with the Glassy Glaze Enamel Embossing Powder.  Then use your heat tool to melt the embossing powder.  I did this step twice, because the first time I did not have enough Versamark on and there were spots where there was no enamel.  On the first trym I removed the excess EP from the Chocolate Chip cardstock.  I forgot to do this the second time and I got enamel on it.  Oh well!  I'll remember for next time!

And here's the final image after the two layers of EP.  Doesn't it look like a shiny window?  This was a very fun technique.  You should try it!  And if you do, post your card in the Technique Challenge Forum over at Stampin' Addicts.

Well, I also promised you a challenge card today.  This card is for a new challenge over at The Play Date Cafe.  I actually got a personal email asking me to play along.  How cool is that!  Here's the inspiration piece for this week:

Super cool inspiration!  My 13yo DS has a red bass guitar and a black accoustic guitar.  So this piece fits in with our family.  Besides, it our "company" colors.  My dad, brothers, and uncles all drive or have driven red, black and silver Peterbilts.  So we love this color combo in our family.  Here's my card:

I really wish that I had the Extreme Guitar stamp, but it's been on and off my list for months and just hasn't made the cut yet.  I had to make do with Just Jawing and Extreme Elements.  I think it works though.  I'm going to give this card to my sons guitar teacher at the end of the semester.  'Cause all the teachers at Fusion School of Music ROCK!  The card base is Basic Black layered with Real Red Textured Cardstock.  The Basic Gray strip is embossed using the Squares Texturz Plate.

Extreme Elements  #115181  $26.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Gussy Up The Gallery Giveaway!

Hi Stamping Friends!

If you haven't heard me say it yet, my favorite online stamping community to find inspiration, encouragement, and a boatload of laughs is Stampin' Addicts.  There are some super friendly gals that hang out there.  And they are hilarious!  They are trying to increase the size of their Stampin' Up! gallery.  So in order to entice all of you fabulous, creative, talented stampers out there to upload your projects to their gallery, they are having a Gussy Up The Gallery Giveaway.  To find out more info, check out this link in the General Stampin' Forum:  DASH TO 10,000.  They don't have to be new creations, they can be stuff from the past.  They are really looking for cards made from retired sets.  I've been obnoxious about uploading all my old cards.  People are probably getting sick of seeing my stuff... "I don't know who that skdeleeuw is, but she sure likes to clog up the gallery with all of her stuff!"  Oh well!  They'll get over it! 

Anyhoo!  In honor of Stampin' Addicts Gussy Up The Gallery Giveaway, I thought I'd show you a card that I "gussied up".  The original card is one I made for a teen card class.  I wanted to keep it simple for new stampers.

The circles are from a retired set called Spot On.  The sentiment is from Three Thoughts.  The DSP is so old, I don't even know the name!  The card base is Tempting Turquoise.  I had about six of these "card kits" leftover.  So I decided to "gussy them up" and sell them at Goodies Cookies.  Here's the card I came up with:

I thought the colors would be great for tween boys, so I used the Extreme Skateboard and Extreme Elements as my starting point.  The main image is stamped in Garden Green. I changed the card base to Pumpkin Pie and used the Tempting Turquoise as a layer, which is stamped with the Sanded BG.  I distressed the edges of the image with the distressing tool that is part of the Cutter Kit and then inked the edges with Garden Green.  I also used the Spritzer Tool for some added "grafitti", but it didn't show up that well in the photo.  I guess it turned out pretty good, because my 13yo DS saw it and said... "COOL!".  Let's just hope Goodies Cookies customers will think they are "cool" enough to buy!

Extreme Elements  #115181  $26.95

Extreme Skateboard  #115179  $8.95

So stop by Stampin' Addicts today and help Gussy Up The Gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Techno Diva Day

Hi Stamping Friends!

Today's double challenge card uses a sketch from Techno Stamper TSSC92 (love her playlist BTW!) and a color challenge from the Diva's at Diva Coffee Break Designs DCBD150.

I thought these colors would make an awesome teen boy card, so I got out my Extreme Elements and Extreme Skateboard stamps.  Here's what I came up with:

I really like how this turned out.  Totally grungy!  The card base is Certainly Celery and then layered with Basic Gray and Old Olive.  The Old Olive layer is stamp with the Extreme Elements set in Old Olive.  The skater image is stamped in Basic Gray.  The stars from the Extreme Elements set are stamped in Really Rust.  I tried to use my Spritzer Tool again, to dirty up the image, but I'm just not having alot of luck with that thing!  I distressed the main image with my distressing tool from the Cutter Kit and sponged Basic Gray ink on all the layers.  The sentiment comes from the All Holidays set.  I was really happy with the Hemp Twine.  I used a Stamping Sponge and rubbed some Really Rust ink onto it.  Then I ran my Hemp across the sponge to color it.  Hemp in any color you want!

Extreme Skateboard  #115179  $8.95

Cutter Kit  #106958  $16.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!