fresh & fun

As with the card I posted last week I used the big flower of Fabulous Flowers to make an Emerging Color sample. I was trying to come up with a pretty one to write the tutorial with. This was the one I picked. You can see the step by step tutorial in the resource page at splitcoaststampers.

My card base this time is a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Groovy Guava cardstock folded in half. The first layer is a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Bravo Burgundy cardstock stamped with the Tres Chic background and sponged around the edges in Burgundy.

The center image started out again with a 3″ x 4″ piece of Whisper White cardstock. I stamped the smaller flowers from Fabulous Flowers in So Saffron, Soft Sky and Groovy Guava. Once those were dry I stamped the big flower from Fabulous flowers with Versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder.

I brayered over the entire cardstock with Purely Pomegranate classic ink. Then I stamped the swirl image from Priceless in Bravo Burgundy. I wiped the excess ink off with a paper towel and distressed the edges of the cardstock with the cutting tool kit. I punched the top right and bottom left corner with the ticket corner punch.

I layered the image on a 3 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ piece of Soft Sky cardstock and punched out the top right and bottom left corner with the ticket punch as well. I stamped the three smaller flowers from the Fabulous Flower set, cut them out and added jewel brads in the center to finish the card off.

Random.org picked #12. I messed up labeling the entries. She is labeled as #13, but I jumped from 11 to 13. So Michelle is the winner. Her entry was this gorgeous card:

You can find more of her great work in her splitcoast gallery. It’s definitely worth a trip!

If you have a stamping blog, chances are good you have gotten comments from Juanita. She is such a sweet person! She send me this card along with an awesome gift.

Please think positive thoughts or say a prayer for Juanita. She is having an eye operation today. It would be nice if you guys could help me swamp her with cards. Once she get better she would have lots of happy mail to look at.

If you are interested in sending her a card, please email me and I will give you her address. Thanks so much. Hugs and smiles

Today’s color combo for the challenge at Splitcoaststampers was: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Old Olive. I knew I had to use some of our gorgeous, retired Playhouse designer paper. I love this paper.

After washing the floors, vaccuming, dusting, going to the bank, the post office, getting hair cuts for the boys and doing the grocery shopping…I finally got to stamp this afternoon.

 Brace yourselves! There is not one tiny speck of Chocolate Chip on this card!

I started out with a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Old Olive cardstock. I stamped the background stamp of Oh, So Lovely all over the card front and sponged the edges of the card.

I cut a 1 3/4″ x 4  1/4″ dotted piece of the recently retired Playhouse Designer paper, added a strip of scalloped shimmery white over it and tied a green ribbon from the Fairytale Original Ribbon collection aaround it. Then I taped it to the front of the card.

For the center panel I stamped the swirls from Priceless all over a piece of shimmery white paper in Pretty ink Pink, I stamped a butterfly with Regal Rose and the saying with Old Olive. Next I stamped another butterfly in Regal Rose, cut it out and adhered it to the stamped butterfly. I sponged the edges of the panel with Pretty ink Pink ink and outlined the butterfly with 2 Way Glue and added Dazzling Diamond Glitter over it.

All the corners of the center image were rounded with the new corner rounder. Same goes for the next layer of Regal Rose Cardstock that was sponged with Regal Rose ink,

I used the corner rounder on a piece of scrap Old Olive cardstock and then punched out a small photo corner with the Photo corner punch. I stamped the background of the Oh So Lovely set over that piece as well and sponged the edges. I added five Pretty in pink brads on the photo corner.

Last I punched out a Pretty in Pink Round tab with the Round Tab punch. I stamped the same background in Pretty in pink, sponged and faux stitched the edges. I stamped the circle from Priceless on a scrap of Shimmery white paper and added You’re from Amazing to Zany in the center. Next I stamped the tiny flower from Priceless in Regal Rose on Shimmery white, cut it out and fastened it to the circle and the tab with  an Old Olive Brad. I added some glitter on the outside of the circle as well as on the inside of the S from So Kind.

I made another card that I really like. But that’s the sample for next weekend’s sketch challenge and it will be my Saturday morning post. I have to work ahead. We are leaving for San Antonio in two days and I want to leave you with at least one post a day from me. I can’t abandon my blog for vacation. LOL

Have a great evening. Hugs and smiles

I have been nominated for the Rockin’ Blogger Award by these wonderful bloggers:

• Emily from Stamping Expressions
• Diane from My Little Stampin’ Spot
• Tammy from Creative Juices!
• M. A. D. Stamper
• Jeanne from Creative Bliss
• Samm from By Samm
• Sharon Harnist from PaperFections

Thank you so much! I am having a blast with my blog and I am glad so many people enjoy reading it. I have to many favorite bloggers to just pick five. I just can’t do it. Check my blog links on the right to see my favorites.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

Most of you know how much I LOVE Charmaine Ikach’s work. She is so nice and makes the most amazing cards.

 If you haven’t been to her blog yet, you should check out Oodabug Alley! Get yourself a soda or a cup of coffee, find a comfortable seat and be prepared to spend some time on her blog. She was a Featured Stamper a little while back on SCS’s Sunday challenge.

This is such an adorable card. Thanks a bunch.  You made my day!

Yesterday’s challenge over at Splitcoast was the Featured Stamper Challenge. The talented featured stamper yesterday was Ana Wohlfahrt, aka annieht.   I checked out her gallery and copied two sketches I liked to case. But that’s all I did yesterday.

See….I started reading Harry Potter yesterday. Once I start a book, that’s it. I do nothing else but read until I am finished. So that’s all I did yesterday and today. I finished this afternoon and worked on this card. I cased the layout of this card.

I love this saying. When I first saw the set All Holidays in the new catalog, I knew I had to get it. I love the different fonts they used and the sayings they picked.  For this card I stamped my favorite saying of this set in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla Cardstock. I punched it out with the Mega Circle punch from Uchida and layered it on an Old Olive Giga Scallop circle.

The patterned paper on this card comes from the Brocade Background Designer paper pack. I love the colors and patterns in this paper pack. The tiny flowers were punched out with the Three for you Punch, the bigger flower under the small River Rock flower is punched out with the Spring Flower Punch.

The gorgeous ribbon is from the new Fairy Tale Originals Ribbon pack. I used brads from the Antique Copper Hodgepodge Hardware kit.

…friend anyone could ask for!  I have to thank Stampin’ Up! for finding my very bestest friend. Four years ago after I moved from Belleville, IL (or should I say Scott AFB) to San Antonio, TX,  I was feeling a bit lonely. Back in Illinois I had signed up to be a demonstrator and after a few month my business had taken off. I had three downline member that became my friends. We stamped together every month. I had workshops, my kids had friends…..and then we moved. I knew noone but my in-laws in San Antonio and had no stamping buddies. So I was feeling lonely and a bit sorry for myself.

While browsing the Stampin’ Discuss (can you believe SCS was tiny back then and I still ventured to the Stampin’ Discuss area) I posted something ending it with ….new and a little lonely in San Antonio!

 Jenn Balcer emailed me and invited me to a downline meeting of her second upline Gail Beezley. How sweet is that. We met, liked each other….drove all the way to Tulsa to a regional…and were best friends from there on.

Okay…enough blabbering. Jenn sent me a card. A gorgeous card (but then anything she makes is absolutely unbelievably stunning!)!!!! She made it for last weeks sketch challenge.

If you haven’t been to Jenn’s blog yet, you HAVE to check it out. She will dazzle you with her creations! Can you believe I get to stamp with her next week? We are going back to San Antonio for a week and I will hang out with Jenn. I am soooo excited!!! We will have so much fun!

You might know that I like square cards a lot! So I made another sample for my sketch challenge, this time as a square card. I felt like I was channeling Cindy, aka. Mothermark. She is amazing with her use of hardware. I can’t believe I used 9 brads on this card.

My card base is my a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of chocolate chip cardstock folded in half. I used the some Linen Prints as well as So Saffron Prints Designer paper as my layers. Linen Prints is becoming my favorite Designer paper. I just love the colors and prints of this paper pack.

The stamp is from the Level 1 hostess set Event Full. I stamped it in Brown Palette ink and colored it in with Chocolate chip and Cameo Coral Classic ink and aqua painter. I added some dazzling diamond to the cake with two way glue.

The scallop border on the So Saffron paper is made with the new smaller corner rounder. The bottom corners are punched with the ticket corner punch. The top left corner is made with the new photo corner punch and Old Olive Cardstock. I stamped the background stamp from Oh So Lovely over it and sponged the edges in Old Olive (I still had a piece stamped like that from yesterday’s card). I paper pierced the pink designer paper on the top and left hand side.

The three little flowers are punched with the Three for you punch. Did you hear about the August Special Stampin’ Up! offers in August? You purchase the Three for you Punch kit and you will receive 30 textured Love notes ($12.95 value) for free. There will be 10 Wild Wasabi, 10 Purely Pomegranate and 10 So Saffron Love Notes with 30 small vanilla envelopes in the pack. You won’t be able to get this Love Notes pack any other way.

The card seemed a little bare on the top right, so I corner rounded just that corner! I also added a little ribbon flag on the top right of the center image with another brad. The ribbon from the new Fairy Tale Ribbon Originals pack.

Okay…I promise I will move on from this layout now. I can’t promise that I will ever move on from my chocolate chip use though. I can’t keep myself from using it.

Kristine Reynolds sent me this fun card. I love her color combos, that gorgeous ribbon and the wonderful layout. Check out her blog Stamping and Scrapping in California. She has some great cards posted there. Thank you Kristine!