ColourQ Tuesday #32

Hi Stamping Friends!

Time for another fabulous COLOURQ challenge from Arielle!  This week's colors have a very modern feel to them.  So I decided to create a clean and simple card with minimal stamping.  I was really inspired by the pillow in the picture.  And thank goodness I still have some Groovy Guava cardstock!

TRENDY TREES

See!  The only stamping I did was the sentiment.  So different for me.  The color of this pic seems kinda weird to me.  Of course I always think that.  Just bad photography or I should say, just a bad photogtapher.  :)  I used the Saturday Sketch Challenge from the STAMPING 411 blog.  I thought it worked perfectly with my striped pillow.  Just about everything on this card is retired SU!, except the Kraft and Basic Black cardstock, and the Very Vanilla Brads.  Oh and the sentiment stamp.  That comes from the Trendy Trees set.

Be sure to check out what the other Royal Court members have created with these colors.  You can click on the links to their blogs in my sidebar.  I hope you can play along with us at the ColourQ this week!  Be sure to stop back by on Thursday to see what party is going on at the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge blog.  It's a fun one!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

A Birthday and a Thank You

Hi Stamping Friends!

Today's my FIL birthday.  So I made him a quick card last night.

I used two challenegs from the STAMPING 411 blog.  Their color challenge 121 and their sketch challenge 149.  I love their fun, easy sketches.  They are great for workshop cards and stamp classes.  Also great when you have to make your FIL a last-minute birthday card!  :)

I also wanted to say thank you to some super sweet stampers who honored me with the Sunshine Blog Award last week. 

***Candace Lawlor at CJ LAWLOR DESIGNS

***Heidi Baks at RUNNINGWSCISSORSSTAMPER

***Jen Timko at STAMPING ON THE FLY

Thanks gals!  I'm blushing trying to figure out how to thank you properly.  You've made this little stamper quite happy with the recognition.  :)  I'm supposed to pass this award on to other talented stampers who inspire me, but you all inspire me!  And if you check out these gals blogs, they already picked some awesome stampers.

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow.  It's ColourQ Tuesday and you won't want to miss the fun colors Arielle picked out for us this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Stamping 411 Cupcakes

Hi Stamping Friends!

I didn't have time to finish a card yesterday.  Poor me!  My two oldest kids have been super busy with sports and music practices.  This is what my day looked like yesterday:

8 am workout
10 am coffee with friends
12 pm grocery shop Target
2 pm grocery shop Costco
4 pm DS & DD music practice
5:30 pm DS swim practice
6 pm DD 2nd music practice
7 pm DD swim practice
8:30 pm pick up DS & DD from practice

Oh yeah!  And I almost forgot, I'm supposed to be homeschooling somewhere in there!  :)  Needles to say, I felt like I was in the car ALL day yesterday.  Especially because a few times we waited for practices to start or end, instead of going all the way back home.  My poor 4yo DS was so tired by the end of it all.  When we finally got home at 9pm, he said he didn't want to go in the car again!  I totally agreed.  I finally got to do some stamping at about 10 pm last night.  I finished the card this morning and had to take a picture.

This card is for two challenges.  The sketch is from the STAMPING 411 blog.  This is sketch SSC147.  It's also for the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge over at the HOPE STAMPS ETERNAL blog.  This is inspiration CIC55.

The card base is Chocolate Chip layered with Whipser White that was embossed with the Swirls Texturz Plate.  The next layer is Cameo Coral with some Pink Flamingo DSP.  The stamp set is a Level 3 Hostess Set called The More The Merrier.  I was so fortunate to find a fellow SU! demo who was willing to part with an extra.  I think this set is adorable, but I really needed that cupcake stamp!  I know the whole cupcake craze coming to an end, but cupcake cards sell like wild fire over at The Frosted Muffin, where I have my cards for sale.  So even if I'm a has-been, behind the times sorta stamper, if I can make a little extra moola, so be it!  The little flower was made using the Boho Blossom punch.  I just cut the petals so it would bend a little more.

At least I did get tomorrows card finished already.  Now I just need to stamp 25 sailboats from the Nursery Necessities set and finish up my mission cards.  Plus do the laundry and get ready to teach my Bible lesson to the 5th and 6th graders at church tonight.  The fun never ends!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Go, Graduate! Challenged

Hi Stamping Friends!

I wanted to give you a sneak peek at a new stamp set that will be available in the Summer Mini catalog beginning May 1st.  It's called Go, Graduate and it has some really fun images.  Of course I had to pick the two hardest challenges this week and combine them.  What was I thinking?!  Here's my card:

Not totally diggin' this creation, but you win some and you lose some.  This one is NOT a winner.  But it does show off the new Go, Graduate stamp set and the Square Lattice Impressions Folder!  The two tough challenges I used were the sketch challenge from the MOJO MONDAY blog.  This is MOJO134.  I also used the color challenge over at the STAMPING 411 blog.  This is Color Inspiration #119. 

A difficult layout, plus four challenging colors, does not equal a jaw dropping card.  What a bummer.  I guess that means I need to go practice more stamping with my new toys!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Grab Your Shades!

Hi Stamping Friends!

Better grab your shades beacuse it's going to get BRIGHT in here!  This cheerful color challenge comes from STACEY'S STAMPING STAGE.  I really wanted to use my Cheep Talk set, since I've had it for quite awhile and it has never seen ink, and I thought these fun colors would be perfect for it. 

I also used the sketch challenge from the STAMPING 411 blog.  This is their Saturday Sketch Challenge #146. This is just a great classic sketch.  Perfect to use for workshops or stamp camps.

Here's my card:

Do you have your shades ready?

Pretty bright huh?!  I used Pixie Pink for the card base, layered with Whisper White.  On the WW I used the Daisy Dash Jumbo Wheel with Yo-Yo Yellow ink.  Then I embossed it with the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions Folder. The Yo-Yo Yellow flower is made using the Floral Fusion Sizzlet die.  The Only Orange and Green Galore grosgrain has been retired for some time.  I figured the colors were retiring, I better use up that old ribbon!

Well I better get back to whatever it is I SHOULD be doing, instead of just doing what I WANT to be doing.  :)

CHEEP TALK   #113204   $26.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Crazy Cupcake

Hi Stamping Friends!

Sorry for the late post today.  I finished this card last night, but the sun didn't shine until this afternoon for me to get a decent photo.  Oh well!  This card uses the Saturday sketch challenge from the STAMPING 411 blog SSC145.  It also uses the color challenge from my favorite Stamping Up! hangout STAMPIN ADDICTS SACC49.  Stampin' Addicts is a Positively Creative, Postively Stampin' Up! website.  All the galleries and discussions are exclusive to Stampin' Up! products.  And best of all, the gallery is organized by stamp set name, so you can look up all kinds of fabulous ideas!!

Here's the sketch, which I love by the way!

And the colors to use were Taken With Teal, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Rich Razzleberry, and Pumpkin Pie.  Nice bright summery colors!





And here's the card I made:

I paper pieced the cupcake image using the DSP from the Sweet Pea pack tht is in the Occasions mini catalog.  The cupcake image is from Crazy For Cupcakes.  The happy birthday image is from Four Square.

CRAZY FOR CUPCAKES   #111618   $23.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Make sure you check out STAMPIN ADDICTS for more Stampin' Up! creativity!

HAPPY STAMPING!

A New Year & A New Look!

Hi Stamping Friends!

I haven't been stamping lately, 'cause I've been so busy fixing up my blog.  What do you think?  I downloaded this Blog-In-A-Box from the Sweet Shoppe Designs.  I love it!  I've been having so much fun making sidebar buttons and rearranging all my Widgets.  But now I'm ready to stamp.

All my favorite challenge blogs are back in full swing after the holidays.  So today's double challenge card gets the sketch from the Stamping 411 blog SSC132 and the color combo from the Color Throwdown blog CTD74.

Keep in mind that I haven't stamped in awhile, so this card is pretty basic.  Suffice it to say that I'm not in love with it, but I just need to start stamping again to get in a groove!

I love pink, brown, and orange for Valentine's Day, but that Dusty Durango was hard to work with!  It's such a fall color to me.  The card base is Chocolate Chip layered with Regal Rose that has been embossed with the SU! Polka Dot Texturz Plate.  I haven't got my SU! Perfect Polka Dots Impressions Folder from the Occasions Mini, but it's on it's way!  The heart image is from the Priceless set and the sentiment comes from Teeny Tiny Wishes... LOVE this set!!  It has every sentiment for every holiday.

I guess I better get back to stamping.  I have over 180 cards I need to make for my Stamping For Missions fundraiser.  YIKES!

PRICELESS  #115052  $28.95

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!

1 Colour Q + 1 How 2 = 5 Cards!

Hi Stamping Friends!

I know!  Bad math huh?!  But when Arielle from the COLOUR Q color challenge blog asked me to be a "guest designer" this week for her cQc9 challenge, I had so much fun with the colors that I just couldn't stop!  I ended up creating FIVE cards with the colors.  And because today is "How To Tuesday" (and if you bother to stay 'til the end of this long post!), there will be a photo tutorial on the Baby Wipe Technique.  This technique was from the Tuesday Technique Challenge from my favorite Stampin' Up! online hangout, STAMPIN' ADDICTS.  So each one of these cards is for one or more challenges.  But first the important part... here is the gorgeous challenge photo that Arielle sent me to work with:

Isn't that fantastic?!  Here's the card I created for Arielle to post on her blog:

This card is nice and sparkly IRL.  The "snow" is a layer of Dazzling Diamonds, and the trees are decorated with Swarovski Crystals (the only non-SU! products).  The trees are also dusted with some shimmer mist made with the Platinum Shimmer Paint in the Holiday Mini Catalog.

Here's a card I made using these colors for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #46 over at Karen Giron's blog: the sweetest thing.  I just bought a used stamp set from Karen and I can't wait to get it and use it for one of her challenges!  :)  Here is the sketch:

And here is card number two:

The next sketch comes from the girls at Our Creative Corner.  Here is the sketch:

They made this one easy on me, since I was already planning on using the Delightful Decorations set.  I just didn't know what I was going to do until I stumbled across this perfect sketch!  Here is card number three:

The next card was taken apart and re-made after I saw the Mojo Monday 115 sketch.  I think it is my favorite card of all five of them.  Here is the sketch:

And here is my very sparkly version:

How fun is that?!  And last but not least, the only card that is NOT a Christmas card is for Stamping 411 sketch challenge SSC127.  Here is their sketch:

And here is the fifth and final card:

Isn't that Baby Wipe Technique fabulous?!  Well, if you've stuck around this long, you might as well hangout a little longer, 'cause this technique is super easy and can be done in four easy steps.

Gather your supplies:

Re-Inkers **3-4 colors**

Baby Wipes

Empty Container

Solid-style Stamps

Whisper White Cardstock

Layer four or five baby wipes in an empty container.  I used an empty SU! stamp box.  You could also use some type of Rubbermaid or Gladware.  This will be your stamp pad.  Drip your re-inkers onto the baby wipe.  I start with my darkest colors to the lightest.  I fill in all the empty space with lightest color.

Using a solid image stamp (you won't see the multi-colored effect on a line image), stamp onto the baby wipe "stamp pad" and then onto your Whisper White cardstock.

That's all there is too it!  You may want to be ready to stamp as many images as possbile, because once your ink starts to lighten, that's it.  I tried to re-ink the baby wipe, but the colors began to get all muddled.  You can see in this photo it is after I had tried to re-ink it.  The pinks and blues started to turn purple.  I don't know if you could close the lid and try again the next day, but I think your colors would bleed into each other.  The best thing about this technique is the easy clean up.  Just wipe your container clean with the baby wipes!

Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging out to the bitter end!  It's not every day that you get asked to be a guest designer.  Better make the most of it!  I hope you have a chance to play along in the Colour Q challenge cQc9 this week!

Happy Stamping!

How To Tuesday #2 and Double Challenges!

Hi Stamping Friends!

Well today you are in for double the fun!  All my challenges seem to stack up and then need to be posted ASAP.  So I have two cards today.  And they both are for two challenges.  Imagine that!  Plus, after the second card, I have a photo "how to" of the Faux Leather Technique.  Wow!  Was this fun to do!  I'm not sure how soon I'll be doing this technique again, but my kids were sure impressed with the results.

The first card is a combination of the sketch challenge from Stamping 411 SSC125 and the inspiration challenge from The Play Date Cafe PDCC04.  Here are the challenge photos:

And here is my card:

The card base is kraft layered with Brocade Blue and Christmas Cocoa DSP that has a beautiful shimmer to it.  The large snowflake is cut out with my Big Shot using the Snowflake #2 die.  The center snowflake is from Season of Joy and is stamped in Brocade Blue and has a Ice Circle Rhinestone brad in its center.  The sentiment is from Four The Holidays out of the Holiday Mini Catalog.

This next card combines the Tuesday Technique Challenge from my favorite Stampin' Up! only online hangout, Stampin' Addicts.  This is the Faux Leather Technique Tech33.  The sketch is from the Utah Divas Interenational blog.  They have some fabulous SU! stampers that contribute to their site.  Here is the card, followed by a photo "how to".

Isn't that faux leather cool?!  Here's a close-up:

This is how I did this technique, per Rhonda, the technique hostess at Stampin' Addicts.  Click on any of the photos to make them larger, if you want to see things more close-up.

Gather all your supplies:

Cardstock

Vanilla Craft Ink

Clear Embossing Powder

Masking Tape

Heat Tool

"Leather Color"  Classic Inks

Sponges

Cover your entire piece of cardstock with pieces of masking tape.  I used a Kraft piece of cardstock as the base, but it doesn't really matter, since you'll be covering it up. 

With the Vanilla Craft Ink, cover your entire cardstock with ink.

It should look like this when you are done.  Next pour Clear Embossing powder onto your cardstock.  Be careful not to pour too much on it, because you will not be able to reuse the leftovers, since it will get mixed with the Vanilla Craft Ink.  I use a small baby spoon to spoon my powder out of the jar.

Rub the Clear Embossing Powder into all the cracks and then heat up.  I did this whole process (ink and EP) twice, because I think I rubbed off too much embossing powder the first time.  It really added some fun texture to the piece.

Now start sponging on your "leather" ink colors.  I started out with my lightest color first, Creamy Caramel.  Then I added some Soft Suede and finally, Chocolate Chip.  I kept at it until I had the look I desired.  I also heat set it, to help dry the ink.  I have quite a few inky fingers after this project!

And this is the finished piece of "leather".  This would be so cool for a western-style card, but I have no western stamps!  Here's the finished card again:

Like I said, my family was quite impressed with the results.  Even my husband thought it looked like leather!  This card may have to hang around the house for awhile.  I'm not sure who deserves a card with this much effort.  Maybe I'll surprise hubby and put it in his sock drawer someday, since I'm always grateful for him.  The medallion image comes from the set True Friend and the sentiment comes from Falling Leaves.

Four The Holidays  #116921  $13.95

Falling Leaves  #115368  $21.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!