Mojo Throwdown

Hi Stamping Friends!

Today's double challenge card gets the sketch from the Mojo Monday blog MOJO113 and the color combo from the Color Throwdown blog CTD69.  Here are the challenge pieces:

Of course with these colors, I HAD to do another Christmas card!  And I finally cut into my flocked paper from the Christmas Cocoa DSP.  It just needed to be done!  And since Olive was one of the colors, I HAD to use my very favorite Striped Grosgrain ribbon.  Here's my card:

I did tweak the sketch a bit.  I flipped it and had the center strip cover the middle rectangle, instead of go behind it.  I did this simply because I wanted to see my Striped Gorgrain ribbon!  :)  For some of you, this may be considered "cheating".  I used to think the same way.  I'm a rule-follower by nature.  You won't catch me talking on my cell phone while driving!  But I've changed my tune on crafting "rules".  I realized that's what creating is all about.  It's taking an idea and making it your own!  So this is my version of the sketch.  And I hope you enjoy it!

The card base is Chocolate Chip layered with Christmas Cocoa Specialty DSP that is FLOCKED!  This is paper that you just have to touch!  The Old Olive DSP comes from the Cottage Wall pack (another fave!).  The sentiment comes from Four The Holidays which is in the Holiday Mini.  The ornament stamp comes from Delightful Decorations set which is also in the Holiday Mini.  It is stamped in Chocolate Chip Craft ink and embossed with Clear EP.  What I love about this stamp set is the matching punch!  No hand cutting involved.  The Very Vanilla half-pearls come from the Pretties Kit.

Delightful Decorations  #116517  $21.95

Pretties Kit  #109114  $29.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

A Sweet Sketch and an Award!

Hi Stamping Friends!

Today's double challenge card uses a sketch from Karen Giron's blog: The Sweetest Thing SSSC44 and a color challenge from the Colour Create blog CCC31.  The colors were Blue, White and Silver.  Here's the sketch:

I tweaked the sketch a little bit.  I eliminated the rectangle.  And I apologize ahead of time, but I did another snowflake card.  How could I resist with that color combo?!  Here's my card:

The card base is Bashful Blue layered with a scallop circle of Night of Navy.  The scallop was cut with the Scallop #2 die.  The Brushed Silver strip was embossed with the Petals-A-Plenty Impressions Embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Four the Holidays and is stamped in Night of Navy.  After I made this card, my ever faithful man in brown delivered my backordered Platinum Shimmer Paint.  So of course I had to mix a little bit up with some alcohol to make a mist.  Here my card after I made it shimmer:

Can you see all that sparkly goodness?  No?  Well here's a close-up: 

Now can you see it?  IRL it is very shimmery.  It took a couple test runs to figure out how to make a light mist and not a big blotchy mess.  I ended up taking my card and shimmer mist outside.  First I would spray the mist, then I would swoosh my card through the mist.  Kinda like the perfume girls do at the department stores.  I didn't aim it straight at the card, I just swung the card through the mist.  It made a nice sparkly coating.  Now I'll have to buy the Chamagne Mist and Frost White Shimmer Paint out of the Holiday Mini Catalog before it goes away on January 4th!

Now on to my award news.  The ever sweet Cindy over at her blog: Heart's Delight Cards, gave me my very first blog award!!

How cool is that?!

There's a fun little game attached with this award and here are the rules: 

I need to...

**Pass this award on to five people.

**Post on their blog to let them know I left this award.

**Answer this list of questions in ONE word. 

This is going to be the hardest part!  My philosophy is... why use just one word, when there are so many wonderful words to be spoken!!  I'm going to give it a try anyway.  Here goes:

1.  Where is your cell phone?  PURSE

2.  Your hair?  BLECH!

3.  Your mother?  FRUGAL

4.  Your father?  FRIENDLY

5.  Your favorite food?  DESSERT

6.  Your dream last night?  COLORS

7.  Your favorite drink?  WATER

8.  Your dream/goal?  CONTENTMENT 

9.  What room are you in?  OFFICE

10. Your hobby?   STAMPING

11. Your fear?  HEIGHTS

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?  HOME

13. Where were you last night?   POOL

14. Something that you aren't?   PERFECT

15. Muffins?  SPICE

16. Wish list item?   MAID

17. Where did you grow up?   ARTESIA

18. Last thing you did?  DROVE

19. What are you wearing?  SWEATER

20. Your TV?  OLD

21. Your pets?  SIX

22. Friends?  PLENTY

23. Your life?  FABULOUS

24. Your mood?  TIRED

25. Missing someone?  GRANDMA

26. Vehicle?  ODYSSEY

27. Something you're not wearing?  NECKLACE

28. Your favorite store?   MARSHALL'S

29. Your favorite color?  GREEN

30. When was the last time you laughed?  TODAY

31. Last time you cried?  HHMMM?

32. Your best friend?  SCOTT

33. One place that I go to over and over?  POOL

34. Facebook?  NO!!!!

35. Favorite place to eat?  FIGARO'S

You've heard me talk about November being National Blog Posting Month.  Well there is a group of gals at my favorite Stampin' Up! online hangout, Stampin' Addicts, who have all taken up the challenge to blog everyday for the entire month of November.  And because they all have done such a tremendous job of encouraging me in this venture, I want to pass this award on to them.  So the five fabulous bloggers (in no particular order) that I'm going to give this award to are:

1.  Holly at INK PAPER STAMPS

2.  Yapha at RUBBER STAMPING and CARD MAKING

3.  Heather at CANDLE WITH TWO ENDS

4.  Tracey at TRACEY STAMPS

5.  Adriana at ESCAPE 2 STAMP

I hope you guys have a chance to play along!!

CLICK HERE if you want to see a list of everyone who is playing in the NaBloPoMo Challenge.  And stay tuned to see if I can complete the challenge.  I'm over half-way there already!

Four The Holidays  #116921  $13.95

Petals-A-Plenty Impressions Folder  #116824  $7.95

Thanks for stopping by!

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!

Yay For Me! (And a challenge card too!)

Hi Stamping Friends!

You know how much I love playing in challenges! Well, I'm so excited because one of my favorite challenge blogs Pals Paper Arts has chosen my card as one of its winning entries this week!

I love the PPA Design Team because they are all Stampin' Up! demonstrators.  And I'm all about anything SU! 

I do have a new card for you today as well.  This card was made using last weeks Color Challenge over at Stampin' Addicts SACC32.  The colors are Kraft, Soft Suede, Old Olive, and Real Red.  The sketch came from Makeesha Byl's (another SU! demo) blog: Inkspirations.  Here's the sketch:

So here's my card:

The colors just screamed CHRISTMAS, so I went with it.  It looks alot like Renee Van Straalen's card, not intentionally.  But there is only so much you can do with the same sketch and stamp set!  :)  Besides, who wouldn't want to CASE Renee?!  Her cards are gorgeous!  The one thing that would make this card better, is if I had used an Impressions Folder on the Old Olive layer under the Real Red layer.  It's a little boring.  Oh well!  Next time I'll have to be more on the ball!  The stamps I used were Dasher and Four The Holidays for the sentiment.  Dasher is stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Dasher  #116816  $8.95

Four The Holidays  #116921  $13.95

Don't forget about the Deals Of The Week special going on at my Stampin' Up! website.  Here's what on sale, in case you forgot:

Perfect Setting Bigz XL Die  #115961  reg. $42.95  SALE PRICE $25.99

3 Tier Cake Bigz XL Die  #116760  reg. $39.95  SALE PRICE $25.49

Flower Burst Embosslit  #114515  reg. 11.95  SALE PRICE $5.99

SHOP STAMPIN' UP! 24/7

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!