fresh & fun

I took some pictures last time I used my Crop-A-Dile to show off how easy it really is.

Click on more if you don’t know how to use it. It’s such an awesome tool. Even my boys were impressed!

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Heather Imhoff Says: August 29th, 2007 at 7:14 pm eCongratulations!! I love using my punches or cutting out images for my cards. You can fill up any spaces that look too empty this way.

Entry #181

Random Org picked the number 181! Congratulations, Heather! Please send me your snail mail address, so that I can get the ribbon in the mail to you!

It looks like most of you are like me and have several must haves for your cards. Most mentioned accessory was ribbon though. I don’t know if it was because you were looking of a picture of ribbon, or because it is the number one embellishment for you.

Hugs and smiles

Can you guess what song is in my head. I don’t even like that song. That’s what purple does to me. LOL

Today’s Limited supply challenge gives you three option, all surrounding Halloween or Fall cards. Challenge Two asks to make a Halloween card with a non Halloween animal. I decided to use the Whale from Whale wishes. He wants to party too. I used this weekend’s sketch challenge layout for the card.

I stamped him in Lavender Lace (I know….Fridays in a row I am using Purple!!!! The Lavender Lace pad doesn’t know what hit it) on Whisper White cardstock, outlined him with my 03black Micron pen and cut him out. He looked less friendly that way.

I cut out part of a circle out of Pumpkin Pie cardstock with the coluzzle, wheeled it with the Whimsy Jumbo Wheel and sponged the edges. That I layered on a 1/4″ bigger black cardstock circle.

I roughed up the edges with my Cutter Kit,  paper pierced the inside edge, adhered the whale and added black eyelets to make it look like bubbles  were coming out of his spout.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Certainly Celery cardstock, folded in half and sponged on the front edges. On top of that is a 4″ square black piece of cardstock followed by a 3 3/4″ square of Lavender lace. Both the black and the lavender layer were distressed with the cutter kit.

I added stripes with a plastic stripe template (SU!, retired) and a sponge dauber, added a doodle on the right hand side of each stripe and stamped the outlined circle border from All in a Row in between the stripes. I then randomly picked some circles and turned them into BOO’s with my black micron pen. Last I sponged the edges with Lavender lace.

Next I cut a 2″ x 2 1/2″ piece of Certainly Celery Prints Designer paper, added paper two paper piercing rows on the top, a Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon in between and the greeting from Booglie Eyes on the bottom right.

Last I added a large black photo corner on the top right with silver brads in it.

Remember this card?

I received compliments on the layout of this card and thought it would be perfect for our next sketch challenge. I couldn’t add more then a 1/2 circle to the sketch with my Adobe program. Feel free to make it more then 1/2, like I did on the anniversary card.

This weeks challenge prize will be an unused Autumn Leaves Clear stamp set called Swirls, by Rhonda Farrer. I wanted this set soooo bad over the spring and Rose Ann helped me get it. (Thanks again, Rose Ann. You are the best!) But with Stampin’ Up! coming out with Baroque Motifs and Priceless……I have never touched it yet.

To participate in the challenge, make a card with this layout and upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery.

 If you upload your card on SCS, put WSC17  (NO SPACE INBETWEEN WSC AND 17)in the keyword section. That way we can look at all of them at once!

Post a link to your card to THIS blog entry as a comment. Please add your entry# to it.

I will determine the winner of the clear stamps with Random.org on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.

To see samples made with this sketch now, check out the blogs of

Charmaine Ikach

Jenn Balcer

Lori Craig and

Sharon Harnist.

Have fun creating! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

SCS submissions

Yesterday was SCS’s Sketch challenge day. It’s definitely my favorite challenge.  I couldn’t play later in the morning and decided to try to come up with a card early. I had woken up very early and couldn’t go back to sleep. Once I wake up, my mind is racing.

So I got up, checked emails and thought to check the challenge threat. Sure enough, Roxie was kind enough to upload the sketch close to midnight my time. I wasn’t sure about the sketch until I checked samples that had already been made.

Seriously! I am not the worst challenge chaser. I don’t think some people ever sleep. LOL

Most entries had a slipped piece 3 down a bit and made piece 4B bigger. I could do that I thought, grabbed my Season of Joy set and went to work.

I did start out with a regular size, rectangle card. But after finishing my main image (that was quite big), I had to go back to a square card. I didn’t have time to redo the rectangle layer. That’s why it’s a bit shorter then in the sketch.  It’s the thought that counts, right?

The card base is a  5 1/4″ x 10 1/2″ piece of Old Olive cardstock. The front is sponged around the edges.

The Dashing Designer paper measures 3 1/2″ x 5″.

On the left hand side of it is a small strip of black cardstock, followed by a slightly bigger strip of Very Vanilla Cardstock.

That piece was sponged, 4th generation stamped with the Swirl from Season of Joy in Old Olive and paper pierced.

I taped those layers down and added Faux Stitching with the Argyle stamp from All in a Row in black ink.

The horizontal layer of the Dashing Designer paper measures 2 1/4″ x 3 1/2″ and was layered on a 1/4″ bigger, sponged Real Red cardstock.  The edges were stamped with my Argyle stamp as well. Wrapped around it is a piece of black gingham ribbon.

The tree from Season of Joy was inked up with Old Olive classic ink. I wiped away the ink on the star and added Real Red color with my marker. I huffed on it and stamped the image on a 2″ x 3″ piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock. I used the ticket corner punch on each corner, sponged the edges, stamped the swirl image (4th generation) over it and stamped the small dotted line from In the Spotlight  in black around it’s edges.

This piece was layered on a 2 1/4″ x 3 1/4″ piece of sponged and ticket corner punched Old Olive, that in it’s turn on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Black cardstock. I added silver brads in the four corner, outline the tree with a black micron pen and used my Sakura glitter pen on all the dots on/around the swirls as well as for my star.

My circle accent started with a 1 1/4″ Vanilla cardstock circle. Again I stamped the swirl from Season of Joy in 4th generation Old Olive and sponged the edges. Next I stamped Holiday Happiness and a star border underneath in black with stamps from the So Many Sayings set. The Vanilla circle was layered on a 1 3/8″ black circle and then on a sponged real red scallop circle.

The red star is a stamp from Season of Joy as well. I stamped it, cut it out, secured it with a black brad and added glitter over the star as well as all the dots on the swirl of the vanilla circle as well.

Last I added three black brads from the vintage brad assortment on the top right.

Personal note: Austin will need to get his Tonsils and Anoids removed. His procedure is scheduled for the 27th of September. My poor boy! But hopefully that will help him to breath easier.

I got this beautiful card in the mail as a thank you for being a display stamper. Isn’t it gorgeous! Thank you, Stephanie. That was so sweet!

Now I need this set as well. I really didn’t look at it closely before! But seeing it stamped in Chocolate Chip…hm, hm, hmmm……so pretty!

….before I even noticed.  Here is just a small Fresh and Fun Freebie to celebrate the Milestone that just snug by.

Ribbon, ribbon and more ribbon.  There are small pieces in it from my bin at my desk. It was overflowing and in need of emptying. There are bigger gorgeous pieces of May Arts ribbon in it. All in all it’s a 6×6x6 priority box full of ribbon!

If you are interested in having a chance to make it all your own and roll in it (optional, but fun choice), please post a comment under this post. Let me know what is a must have on your cards.

You guys know that for me, it’s some kind of stamping with All in a Row and brads. Optional and most likely you will also find something in chocolate chip, ribbon and punching going on. I am big into circular shapes as well.

Please only one comment per person. I will draw a name Friday morning at 9 a.m. with Random.org.

This time random.org picked #50. That is this entry from Elizebeth Neuman. You can see more of her work at her blog Ebeth Online.

Congratulations, Elizebeth. Email me your snail mail address so I can get those beads out to you.

 Thanks to everyone who tried out the sketch. All entries looked amazing!

Yesterday’s color challenge was to use Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate and Old Olive. That was a little bit too light for me. Emily lets us add a neutral color into the mix. I forced myself not to use Chocolate Chip and went with the new color Basic Gray.

Julee Tilman has a wonderful sketch challenge on her blog Poetic Artistry right now. I knew as soon as I saw the layout that I wanted to try it out.

I started with a 5 1/4″ x 10 1/2″ piece of Basic Gray cardstock, folded it in half and sponged the edges. Next is a 5″ square of sponged and ticket corner punched Purely Pomegranate followed by a 4 3/4″ square layer of Pretty in Pink.

I punched the corners with the ticket corner punch, stamped Linen and Tres Chic over it with Purely Pomegranate and sponged the edges with that color as well.  Then I paper pierced around the edges of that layer.

I taped the Purely Pomegranate layer to the card base and added Faux Stitching with my All in a Row stamp. Then I adhered the Pretty in Pink layer as well.

For the main image I used a 2 1/4″ x 3 1/2″ piece of Whisper White cardstock and stamped it with Linen in Purely Pomegranate.  I stamped one of the Garden Silhouettes stamps in Purely Pomegranate in the center of the cardstock, then without reinking stamped it again first to the left, then to the right of the first image. I punched the corners and sponged the edges.

The main panel was layered first on a sponged and corner punched piece of Old Olive, then a sponged piece of Going Gray. Each layer measured 1/4″ bigger then the last.  Again I used my All in a Row Argyle stamp to add the Faux stitching between the Basic Gray and Old Olive layer and paper pierced around the outer edges of the White layer. Pewter brads went into each corner.

Gray Taffeta ribbon was wrapped around the lower part. I stamped Friend from the Fundamental Phrases set in Basic Gray on Whisper White cardstock that was stamped with Linen and sponged around the edges. That was framed with a small rectangle frame from the Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware.

To add a bit of sazz, I added Dazzling Diamond Glitter over the center flower with my Sakura Glue pen. I love this pen, because it has a ball point tip for small glue application. You can be very precise with that glue.

For the side panel I used a 2 1/2″ square of Old Olive patterned paper from the Fall Flower Designer Paper pack. I sponged the edges and layered it on a sponged piece of Basic Gray that was a 1/4″ bigger. Faux stitching was added again with the All in a Row set. I punched out three 1/2″ circles in Gray and taped them to the left bottom of this layer and added three Pretty in Pink brads in their center.

For my circular accent I started with a 1 1/4″ Pretty in Pink cardstock circle. I inked up Linen with Purely Pomegranate, stamped it off twice before stamping it over my circle. I added the top of the flower stamp in the same fashion and sponged the edges. The sentiment comes also in the Garden Silhouettes hostess set. I stamped it in Basic Gray and added paper piercing around the outer edges of the circle.

It was layered on a 1 3/8″ sponged Purely Pomegranate circle and a sponged Basic Gray Scallop circle.

Here is another card I made for yesterday’s Technique lover challenge. After working with Jenn’s bright Turquoise in the afternoon, I had to pull out “Beate” colors to make another sample in the evening. I am kind of stuck on the cowboy right now. I can’t help myself. He is one handsome fella.

I started with the main image and worked my way out with this card.

First I stamped the Bronc Buster cowboy in Versamark on a piece of 3″ x 3 1/2″ piece of glossy cardstock and embossed him with clear embossing powder.

Next Creamy Caramel was brayered over the entire image and buffed with a paper towel. Then I stamped the Flannel Plaid background in Versamark over the image and brayered the entire piece with Chocolate chip ink. Again I rubbed my paper towel over the image to pick up the extra ink.

I distressed the edges and layered it a 1/4″ bigger Chocolate Chip cardstock, that was stamped with the Paisley from Wanted, sponged and distressed. The next layer is a 1/4″ bigger Creamy Caramel cardstock piece, that was also stamped tone in tone, sponged and distressed.

The card base is a 5 1/4″ x 10 1/2″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half. This lone rider needs a square card. He is so big! At least that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it!

The 5″ square of Wild Wasabi cardstock took a while to look like this. I first just sponged the edges with Wild Wasabi. That didn’t do too much. It was still to GREEN. Next I stamped  the medaillon, paisley and the small round stamp from Wanted all over. Still….too green. I added more sponging….

Then I took my Wild Wasabi stamp pad and dragged it from top to bottom of the cardstock to add the Faux Wood look. I repeated it several times until I finally was getting closer to what I was looking for.

Next I distressed the edges with the Cutter Kit and sponged them with Chocolate chip.

I still have a Whisper White cardstock circle laying around from another project. I stamped the medaillon from Wanted in it’s center with Creamy Caramel and added the small round stamp from Wanted all around it. Next I crumpled up the paper, flattened it back out and sponged it all over. I place the circle partly underneath my cowboy and added Pewter brads in each of the smaller circles that I had stamped.

I punched out a photo corner out of Wild Wasabi and treated it just like the main Wasabi layer. It was taped to the top right of the image and Pewter brads were added.

Last I cut a small piece of Whisper White cardstock, crumpled, flattened and sponged it with Creamy Caramel and stamped my Hello from Fundamental Phrases in Chocolate Chip over it. I taped it down and added a small rectangle frame from the Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware over it!

Oops…I almost forgot to tell you about that star. It’s from the Bronc Buster set. I stamped it in Chocolate Chip, cut it out, sponged first Creamy Caramel, then Chocolate Chip over it and secured it with a Pewter brad.

Now if someone could please tell me how to get off my Hardware, layering and sponging obsession….I would be much obliged! Oh…I forgot to mention my need for Chocolate Chip, All in a Row and Paper piercing….Hmmm….Maybe it’s helpless. There is no turning back, is there?