Two-'fer

Hi again!  Thanks for checking back on a blustery night here in Central Alberta - crazy winds all night last night and throughout today.  I've been battling a headache ever since I woke up this morning so even though I wanted to craft, I didn't want to think.  Luckily, there are some LOVELY ladies that do some of the thinking for me by posting weekly sketch challenges!  I've been wanting to use the Georgia Peach DP (retired, sadly) since I got it a couple of weeks ago but just haven't had the opportunity.  Tonight I grabbed the chance to use this bright, fun paper for two cards.

Jen had an interesting sketch for us and Our Creative Corner's weekly challenge was to use 2 or more hearts on a card:

Remember last week when I said I didn't have many stamps that were circle-oriented??  Well, that certainly made this sketch a wee bit more difficult but I persevered.  I dug through my acrylic stamps and found the "Be Loved" set by Cloud Nine Designs.  I stamped 3 images with my Versafine Onyx Black, clear embossed them and colored them with my Copics.  While I was coloring one of the images, I had a bit of an "oops" so I dug through my embellishments and found this glass heart charm to cover it up - WHEW!  Not exactly the look I was going for but it works.  I used my Nesties and layered them on some Regal Rose circles.  The fourth image is from the "Love Matters" set from Stampin' Up.  I stamped the flowers with Pretty in Pink and then stamped the sentiment with Old Olive.  Some ribbon, fibres, brads and Cuttlebugging complete this card:

The second sketch is for the Viva La Verve Challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers.  The {twist} for this challenge was to also use embossing somewhere on the card.  I have to admit, my embossing was kind of an afterthought - I clear embossed the main image and the sentiment.  The sentiment is from SU!'s "Small Sayings" set.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have used my Bella because she's a bit too big for this sketch but she's SOOO cute!  LOL  I used the same Georgia Peach DP and coordinating color cardstock, Copics etc.   I used my oval Nesties to cut the image and Old Olive layer and then used dimensionals to pop her up.  I used 3 black brads at the top and 3 little buttons at the bottom to finish this one off:

What do you think?  I just smile when I look at this paper - it's so "happy!"  I have a feeling I will be using this paper a lot in the future since I have put myself on a No New Paper Diet - I have entirely too many sheets of DP so I need to use them up (or at least put a dent in them. . .) before I buy anymore. . . Sad, isn't it???

Thanks for stopping by - see you tomorrow!

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #53

I'm not sure how these ladies keep coming up with sketch after sketch week after week, but I'm sure glad they do!  Taylor gave us another fun one to work on:

I was over at Lori's yesterday to do some visiting and creating and we both decided to take a stab at Taylor's sketch.  I decided to "copy" Lori by stamping an image in a very light color first then stamping the sentiment over top in a darker color.  

Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve)  Ink: Blush Blossom, Riding Hood Red  Paper: Kraft, Blush Blossom, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White  Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, paper poker, Nesties, Swiss Dots & Texture EF, adhesive pearls, brads

I hope to be able to get a couple more cards done this afternoon after my cinnamon buns and bread are finished baking - enjoy your Saturday!

Color Throwdown - Thursday Sketch Trio

Happy Thursday everyone!

What a great week it has been. We only had school 3 days due to "Professional Development" days for the teachers so I'm spending today and tomorrow getting crafty!

I haven't been over to the Color Throwdown challenge lately so I was curious to see what this week's color combination was:

My initial reaction was, "Ummmmm . . .what?"  I would NOT have ever in a bazillion years thought to put Brocade Blue with red and black but I was up for the challenge.  

The first card I did is for Julee's Mojo Monday sketch:

Julee seems to come up with one amazing sketch after another, week after week. . . I think her sketches are my favorites to do.  I started out by picking my stamp image for this card.  I am VERY short on birthday cards so I chose SU!'s "Crazy For Cupcakes" set and stamped the tray of cupcakes on Whisper White.  I colored the image with my Copics and cut it out with my Labels One Nesties.  I layered it on the Brocade Blue also cut out with my Nesties, paper pierced the left side and added some pearls.  The right-hand side of the background is some Basic Black I ran through my CB in the Swiss Dots folder and the left side is some printed vellum I found in my stash.  Some gingham ribbon, a sentiment from the "Best Yet" set and I was done:

Card number two was inspired by Our Creative Corner's weekly sketch:

I admit I was puzzled for quite some time with this one.  I don't have many stamps that are circle-oriented so I had to dig through ALL of my sets.  I found the heart image in the "Doodle That" set from SU! and the sentiment is from the "Best Yet" set - again.  The ribbon is from a box of ribbons I got at Costco a LONG time ago - at the time I thought they'd get SO much use but, unfortunately, this is the first time I've ever used this particular roll!  I Cuttlebugged the Brocade Blue background, added a filigree brad to the heart image, used my Nesties to cut the circle shapes and voila:

Today's final card for this week's Splitcoast Stampers' Sketch #213:

This one came together pretty quickly.  I stamped the "Upsy Daisy" image with my Onyx Black Versafine ink and then clear embossed it.  I sponged some Bashful Blue over top and then cut it out with my Nesties.  I layered it on Real Red and Whisper White and went to work on the background.  I used some more of the printed vellum on a Basic Black layer, ticket corner punched the corners and added some pearls.  The vertical panel is a piece of black I edged both side of with my Martha Stewart border punch and added a strip of blue down the middle.  The horizontal panel is some more of the gingham ribbon on top of Basic Black.  A couple of bows were added just because I thought they needed to be there!  LOL  Some flowers in the bottom right complete the card:

So - that's it!  I'm hoping to spend tomorrow with my peep, Lori.  We haven't crafted together for awhile and Josh had been asking for WEEKS to go over to their house so tomorrow just might be the day!  

Gotta run and get supper started - enjoy the rest of your Thursday!

Cupcake Challenge x 9 = Mucho Fun!

What a fun weekend I had!  Taylor is celebrating a year of Cupcake Challenges and she and her Cupcake Crew came up with not ONE, but NINE amazing sketches for us all to play along with.  Let me tell you - I was so "in the groove" I was up until the wee hours on Saturday night/Sunday morning.  For those of you who KNOW me, that is UNHEARD of!  LOL  Not only are there some great sketches but each sketch hostess-with-the-mostest is also offering up some great prizes.

Since I have so many cards to get through, I won't put a lot of details about each one but I will post the recipe.  I have been trying so hard to use up my scraps and papers I've already cut into so all of these cards were made from this part of my stash.  Hopefully, if you click on each picture, it will open a bit bigger so you can *see* it.  I did use my Copics for the first times on these cards - I think I did OK with them but I still have a LOT to learn (and many more colors to get!)  SO, without further ado. . .

Taylor's Sketch

Stamps: Billybootabella (Stamping Bella), sentiment from "Rain or Shine" (MFT)  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine  Paper: Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Whisper White, Ginger Blossom DP  Accessories: MS border punch, Nesties, Copics, GG stitched ribbon, flowers, brad, oval punch, designer label punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, clear embossing powder

Jackie's Sketch

Stamps: Sweetybellas (Stamping Bella), unknown sentiment  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine  Paper: Rose Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, DP  Accessories: Nesties, Copics, clear embossing powder, adhesive pearls, Hodgepodge Hardware, ribbon, Swiss Dots EF, black brads

Jami's Sketch

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Warm Words  Ink: Not Quite Navy, Versamark  Paper: Urban Garden DP, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, WW  Accessories: Top Note Die, Nesties, clear embossing powder, Hodgepodge Hardware, Swiss Dots EF, Kiwi Kiss ribbon

Ana's Sketch

Stamps: Eastern Blooms  Ink: Ruby Red, River Rock, Versamark  Paper: Ginger Blossom DP, River Rock, Ruby Red, Groovy Guava, WW  Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Nesties, silver brads, clear ambossing powder, pewter jumbo eyelets, River Rock stitched ribbon, bird/grasses embossing folder, flowers

Vicki's Sketch

Stamps: Snowman Bird (Hampton Arts), sentiment from MFT's "Baby It's Cold Outside"  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Real Red  Paper: Ski Slope DP, Real Red, Old Olive  Accessories: Nesties, Copics, pewter jumbo eyelets, ribbon, tab punch, brads, Martha Stewart border punch, paper piercer

Donna's Sketch

Stamps: Meditations (Verve), Faux Stitching  Ink: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip  Paper: Bella Rose DP, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss  Accessories: Flowers, rhinestone brad, ribbon, 1-1/4" square punch

Sherrie's Sketch

Stamps: Lovey Huggabugg & sentiment (Stamping Bella)  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Bravo Burgundy  Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White  Accessories: Nesties, Copics, grosgrain ribbon, adhesive pearls, Martha Stewart border punch, Swiss Dots EF

Stephanie's Sketch

Stamps: Unknown cupcake stamp  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine  Paper:  Regal Rose, Taken With Teal, Chocolate Chip, SU! DP (retired)  Accessories: Birthday embossing folder, Nesties, Copics, ribbon, chocolate brads, pink heart brad, clear embossing powder

Monika's Sketch

Stamps: Happy Heart Day  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine  Paper: Hawaii Papaya DP, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip  Accessories: Nesties, Copics, Tangerine Tango Ribbon, flower, brad

Well, that's all of them! I hope you will all go over and take a look at each of the sample cards the Cupcake Crew has put together. I had so much fun and any it was a good excuse to craft in exchange for a chance to win goodies!

Have a great week!

I Tried - *Really* I Did. . .

. . . to not use any pearls on this card.  You have to believe me {insert pleading look here}.  In fact, I had the entire card put together and was even taking pictures of it before I just couldn't stand it any longer!  That space down below the scallops was just too perfect for some tiny Pomegranate pearls.

Let me back up a bit - it's Viva La Verve Sketch Friday over at Splitcoast and this week's sketch was pretty straight-forward and the "twist" this week's was to use flowers:

I was out and about this morning and stopped to check out the scrapbooking section at our local drug store.  I picked up a pad of DP from K&Company that was the jumping off point for my card:
Recipe: Stamps: Meditations (Verve), Inspired by Nature (SU!)  Paper: So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, "Urban Rhapsody" (K&Company)  Ink: Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Barely Banana  Accessories: Nestabilities, paper flowers, rhinestone brads, paper piercer, Martha Stewart border punch, Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon, adhesive pearls, sponge dauber

I've been having trouble taking a good picture - it's either too dark or too bright. . . this one's too dark.  But my readers are so very clever, they can *imagine* what it really looks like!  

Taylor is celebrating a year of Cupcake Challenges with 9 sketches this week so if I'm going to finish all of them, I'd better get busy!  Later!

Thursday Combo Challenge

Hey everyone!

I hope you have had a good week - mine's been great.  I've been very busy but, thankfully, my day off tomorrow will actually be spent AT HOME.  I don't have to go ANY--WHERE.  I am SO looking forward to a day of peace and quiet.  I haven't had many of those lately so this one is hugely appreciated.

When I got home after school today I thought I'd be playing with my new Copic markers but soon found out I wasn't in the mood to throw myself into watching a bazillion tutorials.  I haven't done the sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You in quite some time so I popped over to see what Kazan and Laura had up their sleeves this week.  The sketch was another interesting one:

Since I wasn't in the mood to *think*, I clicked over to SCS to check out this week's color challenge: Bravo Burgundy, Regal Rose and Kiwi Kiss (or Old Olive) - I chose Old Olive.  I got my new Verve stamps in the mail this week and have been ITCHING to ink them up.  None of them really fit the sketch they way it is oriented in the picture so I took the liberty of rotating it 90* to the right.  I took quite a few other "artistic liberties" with this sketch but I quite like how it turned out.

Recipe: Stamps: Jeremiah 29:11 (Verve) Ink: Bravo Burgundy Paper: SU! DP, Regal Rose, Bravo Burgundy, Old Olive Accessories: Ticket corner punch, paper piercer, Martha Stewart border punch, adhesive pearls, Old Olive twill ribbon, finger dauber

There are quite a few layers on this card - probably more than I've ever used before!  I even ended up having to cover up an "oops!" which added to the thickness of the card.  It was an evolution from one idea to the next until it finally ended up like you see it.  I wasn't sure about the color combo but I really like how the Bravo Burgundy makes the other colors pop.  Of course I *had* to put pearls *somewhere* on the card -  the centers of the flowers on the DP at the top needed to be covered and the scallop edge at the bottom wouldn't have been complete without them. . . right???  (Just nod in agreement. . .disagreeing wouldn't do any good!)

I'm hoping to complete a few challenges tomorrow - Taylor's Cupcake Challenge will likely be first on my "To Do" list.  You should check out her blog 'cause she's got a great new look - SO Taylor!  Have a good night!

Tuesday Stash Challenge - Brought to You Today By...

ME!!!!  Can you believe it?  I was so excited and, I'll admit, a LOT nervous when Laura emailed me to see if I'd be willing to participate in her Tuesday Stash Challenge.  I've had the privilege of actually meeting Laura and I'll tell you, she is just as sweet and down to earth in person as she is on her blog!  But even though she's "just like the rest of us," she's LAURA for pity's sake! We went back and forth a couple of times trying to figure out what we both had that we could get rid of from our stash and eventually settled on those ribbon charms/sliders - I think mine were from Making Memories.  

I found a pewter one with "gratitude" on it and thought it would be perfect for a thank you card.  But the longer I thought about it, the more I wanted to do *more* than just a card.  So, I went through my stash again and found some blank notecards I had never opened.  The cards were 4-3/4" square and the envelopes were 5" square and the wheels started to turn ~~ a little box of thank you cards would make a great gift.  So, I got out my scrap paper to figure out what the dimensions of my little box should be, where it should be scored etc.   The box base is 5-1/4" square and the sides are 1" high.  The box top is a bit bigger at 5-1/2" square and 3/4" tall.  In hindsight, the top is a little bit too loose and it could have been taller but live and learn, right?  I used Riding Hood Red CS for the base and Pink Pirouette for the top.

With Valentine's Day coming, I wanted to keep with the pinks and reds for my color scheme and I knew the Bella Rose paper would be perfect.  I knew the main colors would be RHR and PP but Valentine's Day just wouldn't be complete without a bit of CHOCOLATE thrown in, right?  I went to work on the background layers and how they would all come together.  In the end, I used my Top Note die to cut out the Chocolate Chip polka dot layer and my Labels One Nestabilities for the Pink Pirouette CS and DP layers.  To finish the background layers off, I paper pierced the points on the PP CS layer and used my Martha Stewart Lace Doily punch to finish off the RHR base layer.

I chose Inspired by Nature for my image ~ I just love that coneflower!  When I stamped the coneflower with RHR ink and looked at it, I decided that it wasn't exciting enough for this project... too one-dimensional.  I stamped the image again, this time with Versamark ink and used heat & stick powder to apply the red glitter (Martha Stewart).  I cut it out with my oval Nestabilities and matted it on a Chocolate Chip scalloped oval.  It really popped but the CC layer needed *something* so I got out the old white gel pen and added dots to each of the scallops.  Again, it just didn't do it for me - BORING and one-dimensional.  My regular readers know how ADDICTED I am to adhesive pearls so I immediately got out my white ones and placed them over the gel pen dots.  A few more pearls added to the corners and VOILA!  I added some RHR taffeta ribbon to the outside of the box top before turning my attention to the actual thank you cards.

I went to Splitcoast to see the Sketch Challenge for this week and found this:

I thought I could use this sketch even though the dimensions of my cards were going to be square.  When I decided to use the gratitude ribbon slider I knew I wanted to use the gratitude definition from the "Define Your Life" set.  Through some trial and error I came up with these:

They are all basically the same but I've managed to make each one just a *bit* different from the others.  I used my Labels One Nestabilities again and used the grasses from the Inspired by Nature set (stamped in Pink Pirouette) as the background for my definition (stamped in Chocolate Chip).   A little bit of paper piercing, some Cuttlebugging (Swiss Dots again!), some ribbon and embellishments and these thank you cards were done.

Can you pick out the differences?  It's not really that difficult especially when they are side by side like this!  I had so much fun working on this "secret" project (even though I fretted for DAYS about what I was going to do!) and a HUGE thank you to Laura for including me in her new weekly challenge - I truly appreciate it.  If I have forgotten to include some important information, please leave a comment and I will answer as soon as I can.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great Tuesday everyone!