fresh & fun

Monday was BUSY and I didn’t get to stamp at all. I went to the dentist (cleaning…nothing else), mopped, dusted, vaccumed, baked cookies and made the kids favorite dinner. Then I got my latest SU order in and cut those stamps. By the time I was finished it was 7:00 p.m. I tried to do the Technique Lover challenge but I was just too pooped.

So Tuesday morning, I looked at the Color Challenge and went to work. I didn’t think  I would like the color combo Emily picked for this week: Purely Pomegranate, Taken with Teal and Always Artichoke didn’t sound very appealing to me. Not in a million years would I have put those colors together. I did like the combo though, once I started playing. Thanks Emily, for pushing me out of my comfort zone.

Julee Tilman, from Poetic Artistry has started posting challenges on Monday. I loved her layout this week and thought I give it a try.

I already had a 4″ x 8″ piece of Always Artichoke folded and sponged. I used that one for my card base. Next I cut a 2″ x 3 3/4″ piece of Taken with Teal cardstock, stamped it with the background stamp from Merry & Bright, sponged the edges and distressed them with my Cutter kit.

I inked up the saying from the background stamp Happiness up in Black Stazon and stamped it on the left side of the Teal cardstock.  Last I added a row of paper piercing to the top and bottom of the Teal cardstock.

Sunday I finally found the courage to ask Rick to cut up my wood block for the Background Stamp Happiness. I knew I wouldn’t use it much, if I didn’t mount those backgrounds separately. I love it this way. I don’t know why I was stressing out about cutting it up.

I cut down one of scraps of Purely Pomegranate cardstock to 2 1/8″ x 3″, added the stripes from the Happiness stamp in Purely Pomegranate, sponged and distressed the edges. I added a small black photo corner with three Pewter brads in it to the top right of it.

I stamped the diamond shaped border from Happiness in Black Stazon on Shimmery white, distressed the edges and added it to the lower part of my Pomegranate piece, added Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware and Ribbon from the Theater Ribbon  Originals package.

The tree from Merry & Bright was stamped in Black Stazon on Shimmery White and punched out with the 1 3/8″ circle punch. I used my Prismacolor pencils with gamsol to color in the image, added Dazzling Diamond Glitter with my glue pen and taped it on a black scallop circle.

To finish off the card, I added more paper piercing, this time to the top right of my Artichoke card base. I stamped Holiday from Happy Everything in Black Stazon on Shimmery White cardstock. I also made a 3 3/4″ long scallop strip out of Shimmery White cardstock and taped it under my Taken with Teal piece.