A New Favorite Card!

Hi all! Please don't fall over in shock that I have blogged a whole two days in a row! I am using this as the ultimate in procrastination from studying. It's not a good situation but I am really disliking the class so to force myself to do the work, I allow myself X amount of stamping time after I finish X amount of school work. Needless to say, I've been doing a lot the end of this semester so I have more cards to show! 

This one is inspired by a card I saw at Vicki Burdick's blog, It's a Stamp Thing. I really like her cards but we have very different styles. She does very elaborate work and as much as I try to emulate that style sometimes, I'm a clean and simple girl at heart. You know how they tell you to accessorize by adding everything you want and then take away one thing to get the perfect balance? I find that I have to finish everything the way that I think looks great and then find one more thing to ADD so that it doesn't look UNfinished. 

I think I nailed it with this card! It seems a good, clean and simple card with just one accent added to make it look finished. And I LOVE how those butterflies turned out. I forgot how much I liked coloring with reinkers and an blender pen. This color combination is a new favorite for sure.

I hope you like it too!

Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Punch Posy 
Paper: Sahara Sand, Crushed Curry, UR Sweet DSP (long retired)
Ink: Versamark, Taken with Teal, markers
Accessories: two tags die, hemp twine, postage stamp punch, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, rich razzleberry stiched ribbon, hexagon embossing folder

Best of Everything Mojo Monday 290

Happy Sunday! It has been beautiful here the last couple of days and I think spring may finally have decided to stay in Colorado. Well, until the rain/snow mix we are supposed to get on Wednesday.  Oh well, it won't be long until I'm complaining about the heat. :) 

The color combination on this card combined with the strawberry image seems very springy to me. And this sketch was fun to work with even though creating it for a challenge was not even originally my plan. Sometimes when I don't have a specific card to make but I feel like creating, I will create challenges just for myself. The challenge this time was to open a gallery at Splitcoast, scroll down and randomly put my finger on a card and then use that card as inspiration whether it was color, layout or stamp set. This one happened to be the layout and when I clicked through to see the details on the card, realized it was a Mojo Monday card! 

This card uses some retiring stamps from Stampin Up!. I will continue to use them though because they are some of my favorites. Distressed Dots will be one that they will have to pry from my cold, dead fingers. 

I hope you enjoyed this card! Challenge yourself today to create something new!

Stamps: Best of Everything, Round Array, Distressed Dots
Paper: Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Real Red, Brights Collection paper stack
Ink: Real Red, Pool Party, Versamark, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: clear embossing powder, rhinestone brads, grosgrain ribbon, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch

Oldie But Goodie

Good morning! I have another card to share today that is an oldie but a goodie. In fact, I had to do a Google search to find the name of this stamp set because I have had it for so long. I didn't used to label my sets back when I first started stamping so it is a challenge to find them again.  I will definitely label it now though! It is one of those sets that, every time I do a purge, I can't bear to part with. I think that's partly because it was one of the first sets I bought and it just reminds me of happy times. My daughter was just a 4 year old! That's a long time to keep a set. Does it look super dated? 

I paper pieced his scarf and his little bird friends and then just did some light coloring with markers.  

So what do you think? Should I keep him? Move him to the purge pile? See if early 90's homespun comes back into fashion? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Stitched Snowman, Delightful Decorations

Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Baja Breeze

Ink: Black Stazon, Real Red, Sahara Sand, Pink Pirouette, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: 3/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" scallop punch, dotted ribbon scallop punch misc red button, white bakers twine

What I Did Over My Thanksgiving Break

Holy cats! Has it really been that long since I've blogged? 

I really have been creating cards! I just have been posting only in my Splitcoast Stampers gallery I guess. I think maybe that might be something to work on in the New Year, huh?

Anyway, today's card is my submission to this week's Friday Mashup challenge. And wow! It really was a challenge! This week we were to create a holiday card without using a holiday stamp set and a messy technique. So fun!

The stamp set I chose was Storybook Friends. I love this set and was originally planning on the fox wearing a Santa hat but it just ended up not looking quite right with the banner. I still think he's cute!

My messy technique was to add Flower Soft as snow. Although it is not really a technique per se, it IS really messy (at least for me!) as I get Flower Soft everywhere! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Storybook Friends, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake card stock, Whisper White, Gumball Green, Polka Dot Parade DSP
Ink: Black stazon, white gel pen, caramel ink (retired)
Other: Scallop edge punch, corner rounder (not SU), Flower Soft (not SU)

Welcome, Baby!

Hi there! Today's card is an especially happy one! We just welcomed our first little grand-nephew to the world about a week ago. Such an exciting time for his little family!

I saw this card on LeeAnn Greff's blog and I just had to CASE it. It is nearly identical to hers except that I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do the two toned coloring with the embossing folder that she does. But I still think this turned out rather cute!



I used the houndstooth embossing folder and put my ink right on the folder before I placed my card stock in it and ran it through the Big Shot. I think it really added a lot of interest and I love how it turned out.

I also made some little Kimono Shoes following the pattern that I purchased from sweetpeapattern on etsy. It doesn't look like she has any more of this pattern but she has some other awfully cute ones. I need to make another pair because after I finished I realized that I didn't sew with the correct seam allowance so they are a bit on the wide side! They took very little fabric though and I still have some left so all it will take is a little time. :) This photo makes them look HUGE but I promise they are not that big. My photography skills just need a bit of work.

Cardstock: So Saffron, Whisper White

Stamps: Easy Events

Ink: Black Stazon

Marker: So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery

Accessories: Houndstooth Embossing Folder, Tasteful Trim Die, Certainly Celery ribbon (retired), Brad (non-SU)

Think Happy Thoughts

Hi there! Today's card uses a ton (okay, FOUR!) different stamp sets. As you know, mixing sets is not my strong suit and I'm trying to get better about it!

For this card, I started by stamping the postmark lines of Winter Post while masking the North Pole part of the stamp. In it's place, I put the Happy Thoughts sentiment from Think Happy Thoughts (retired). In the center of that is a piece that has been stamped with Dot Dot Dot and punched out.

A little sewing and some "stitching" with a white gel pen completes the look. I hope you have enjoyed this card!

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake

DSP: Cheerful Treat

Stamps: Think Happy Thoughts (ret), Best of Everything, Dot Dot Dot, Winter Post

Ink: Crumb Cake

Markers: Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade

Punches: 3/4" circle, Full Heart

One Sketch, Two Cards

Hi there! It's time for my take on the Freshly Made Sketches #7 Challenge. First of all, I loved this sketch! I don't know what it was but I was really drawn to it this week. So much so that I ended up making two cards with it!

The first was a Christmas card. For this card I used a crumb cake base, layered with early espresso. Hmm..... that sounds like tiramisu! The retired Christmas Cocoa DSP made another appearance. I just love the shimmer in this paper and the white snowflakes. I stamped Dasher in Versamark and embossed him in gold. After I got done, the card seemed to be missing * something *. So I added the rhinestones on the snowflakes and I think that was it. Was it?

While I was making the Christmas card, I got a text from my daughter that she got an interview to go on Alternative Spring Break this year. She is so excited! So I had to make her a card to share in her enthusiasm.

For this card I started with a Lucky Limeade base and added a whisper white layer that I stamped with the distressed dots background stamp. I then layered on a piece of Cheerful Treat DSP and Melon Mambo cardstock. The flowers were made with the boho blossoms punch and some brights brads.

Two VERY different cards out of the same sketch! I love when that happens! Thanks to the Freshly Made Sketches team for such great inspiration.