Poppies, Poppies, Poppies!

 This "Poppies" card was made for the Play Date Cafe Challenge #36 using There She Goes stamp set.

If you can't tell with your visit here to my blog, I love the combination of red and pink! So when I saw the Play Date Cafe challenge this week to use red, pink and white it was right up my alley and I knew instantly I had to play! 

I started with these gorgeous poppies from the There She Goes "Poppies" stamp set.  I adore poppies because of their beautiful color and this stamp set, designed by Chris Dark, is fabulous.  I loved coloring these flowers with my Copics!  I used R27, R37 and R59.  The main image panel background was sponged with Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette ink and then cut out using Spellbinders oval dies.  The SB scallop oval dies were also used with Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy cardstock. 

I created my own designer paper for the background panel using Papertrey Ink's "Damask Designs".  It started with Pink Pirouette cardstock and ink, stamping the design repeatedly.  Then I went over it - slightly offset with PTI Pure Poppy ink (I know...poppies everywhere!). I just thought the pink in the background would give it some depth. The corners were punched with Fiskars "Heritage" corner punch and then the panel layered on the Pure Poppy cardstock and then on SU Whisper White.  All that was mounted on Pink Pirouette cardstock.

For the white filigree layer, I used Spellbinders Shapeabilities Pendants dies called "In Spades".  I layered two of them to achieve this effect.  Some red grosgrain ribbon that I had was threaded through and under the image panel.

A final touch was stamping the butterfly image from the same "Poppies" stamp set onto the scrap of the background paper I created.  I stamped two, cut them out and adherred them with small pop dots on to the main focal image.  The last embellishment was adherring the half pearls around the white filigree panel and in the corners of the card.

I like how this turned out - I mean, really, who doesn't love red and pink together?!!  Tell me what you think...

Thanks for stopping by!

Update to this post on July 8, 12:26 a.m.:   My "Poppies" card made the FAB 4 at the Play Date Cafe!  Thanks to the Design Team for the recognition!  Wahoo!

"The beginning of the summer holiday..."

This is the perfect card right now as I have officially begun my two week vacation!  Or as the DP says.... "This was the beginning of the summer holiday...."  I did this card for the Splitcoast sketch challenge #287.

  First, I fell in love with this Lockhart stamp.  It just spoke summer to me - don't you think Adirondack chairs are totally a symbol of summer?  This is one of the stamps I picked up when I won that raffle at the stamp show in the spring! 

I colored the image in off-white, pale blue and greens using Copic markers and it coordinated wonderfully with these papers.  The word paper is by October Afternoon called "Sprinklers" and the other two are Basic Grey from the "Kioshi" collection.  I loved this word paper - and I thought it was a perfect pairing with the stamp image here. 

To add a little more dimension and texture to the focal image, I used Flower Soft as part of the grass and as a few of the posies in the flower pot to make those areas pop a bit more.  All in all I'm pleased with this card overall - wish you could see it in person as the colors are a little more intense but still are soft.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog today! 

 

God Bless America!

Happy Fourth of July bloggers!  This is a very quick post of a card I  whipped up for the holiday using Stampin' Up's "July Fourth" stamp set and the coordinating "stamping around" wheel.  I usually remove the rubber stamp from the wheel (a trick my friend Emma taught me) because its so much easier to use as a regular stamp (I just never can get the right ink coverage or details where I want them otherwise).

On this card I also used the Cuttlebug stars embossing folder. 

Here's hoping that everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday with friends and family.  Enjoy your day and thanks for taking time to peek in at my blog!

Happy stamping!

 

Tulip Trellis

Just a quick post today on a card I quickly put together using a Lockhart stamp I was playing with. I colored the image using my Copic markers - a bit more challenging than using Prismacolor pencils on this image!

I chose the colors for this card on what, in my eye, made the focal image and colors pop more.  Not sure I'm satisfied with it - that is all but the image itself (I do like how that turned out!).  Let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by!

Garden Variety - SC286

I haven't played in the Splitcoast sketch challenge in a long time until this card.  I had some extra time this weekend to stamp and make several cards - experimenting with some stamps that haven't seen ink before!  I saw the sketch at SCS and thought it would be perfect for this image I had just finished coloring with my Copic markers.

I didn't color the image to coordinate with the papers I used but I think they work just fine.  The papers are Cosmo Cricket "Garden Variety" and I just love every one of them.  And I love this sketch.  What do you think?

Thanks for visiting today!

Recipe:

Stamps:  Great Impressions, Stampin' Up "On Your Birthday" (Sentiment)

Paper:  Cosmo Cricket "Garden Variety", Papertrey Ink Terracotta cardstock

Ink:  Pallette Noir Black, Copic Markers

Friendship in a Jar

The last stamp release at Papertrey Ink was fabulous.  When I saw this set revealed during the countdown my heart jumped a beat.  From there the release date couldn't come fast enough and then the snail mail couldn't be slower it seemed.  Well I got the "Friendship Jar" set this week and I've been itching to get going with it.  This is my first project using this wonderful set.

My vision from the moment it was revealed was to use real fabric for the jar lid - so that's what I did here.  I pulled this blue and turqoise fabric from my fat quarters stash because I thought it would coordinate so well with the coloring I did on the jar.  My vision for that was the old aqua glass canning jars of yesteryear.

I started by using the coordinating jar and lid die from Papertrey to cut out the images - one die cuts the jar and the lid.  The image was then stamped with Pallette Noir Black and colored with my Copic markers, using BG10 for the glass.  Colors C1, C3, C5 were used for he lid.  I also used the coordinating dies to cut out the fabric.  I did it in the same manner as you would for cardstock.  The dies cut well through just about anything.  I adherred the fabric to the jar with Scor-Tape and did the same with lid on top of the fabric.  The jar label was done in a similar manner, again using the coordinating label die for this set.  I stamped the outline in PTI Smokey Shadow and then the "my friend" image in SU Brilliant Blue - this color worked best with the fabric.

For the background panels I used my Nesties Label 1 dies.  I left the die attached with the white cardstock and then stamped the polka-dots, also in Brilliant Blue, with it still in the die.  The result is the white border edge on that panel.  And then the best of all, I used the same Nesties to die cut my fabric for the other layer and it worked great!  Yes that is fabric, not designer paper!

The base panel is SU Cool Carribean cardstock that I sponged the edges with Night of Navy ink and stamped with Cool Carribean the floral image from Stampin Up's "Charming" stamp set.  Night of Navy is the base card color.  I embellished with a few PTI vintage buttons (Hawaiian Shores) on the fabric panel to finish it off.

I like this color combination and of course I love the stamp set.  Lots of other projects in works with these stamps - stay tuned! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Gordon - High Hopes Challenge #81

This is one of my favorite High Hopes stamps. The little critter's name is Gordon.  Doesn't he just crack you up?!  I had decided to use Gordon on the Dad's Day card I made for my son to give to my hubby since their bellies look about the same!!!!  This also meets the High Hopes Challenge #81 which is "anything goes". 

I started by coloring my friend Gordon with my Copic markers and he is a fun one to color (most of the High Hopes stamps are).  I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 6 dies to cut out the image and sponged the edges with Tim Holtz' "Old Paper" distress ink. 

The Terracotta layer (Papertrey Ink cardstock) was also created using the Nesties Label 6 dies and then distressed using Papertrey Ink's impression plate "linen and canvas".  The sentiments are from Amuse stamps.  I used Stamping Up's Bordering Blue paper for the back panel, embossed the texture from a Cuttlebug "diamond plate" embossing folder and sponged the edges with the same color ink. The card base is SU River Rock cardstock.

You just can't help but smile at Gordon and his teeth and belly.  Hope you like this stamp and card as much as I do.  Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Dad's Day

Here's hoping that all the Dads out there had a wonderful Father's Day and were appropriately pampered and adored by their kids.  Unfortunately, my dad was up north for the weekend and I wasn't able to join my folks at the lake.  It was a busy weekend at home with baseball playoffs (successful I might add) and other odds 'n ends!

This is the card I made for my Dad using the new "Guiding Light" and "Antique Map" stamp sets from Flourishes.  These are wonderful sets - perfect for the nautically inclined!

I started by stamping the map with Cocoa ink on Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink.  I tore the edges to get the shape and size (this card is about 5x7 inches) and then distressed using Tim Holz Tea Dye, Old Paper and Antique Linen distressing inks.  I curled the edges by rolling them up around a pencil.  The Blue Bayou layer was embossed using the newer Stampin Up' embossing folder and then the edges were distressed. 

The sail boat was stamped on PTI white cardstock and colored using my Copic markers and then cut out using Spellbinder's Label 4 dies.  Again, the brown cardstock underneath the image was just torn to get the size and shape.  The message panel was punched out after stamping in SU white craft ink with an EK Success label punch.  I used a heavy gauge twine around the card, strategically secured with glue dots.

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out for my Dad.  I'm sure he'll love it too.

Let me know what you think!  Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Just Peachy - PDCC32

There are challenges and then there are real challenges where you really rack your brain as to how to make a card with the given parameters.  Well this was one that really threw me for a loop.  It's the Play Day Cafe Challenge 32 where the colors are Lemon, Light Peach and Peach. 

 I would probably never put these colors together if it weren't for this challenge.  But now that I see the card in photos the colors look pretty good together - it belies the effort I put in to make it work for the PDCC!

To start I used Papertrey Ink's Lemon Tart and Melon Berry and Stampin' Up's Blush Blossom card stock.  I also looked through my stash of DP and found a half sheet of the SU DP that I used.  It's retired paper and I have no idea what the pattern name is but it happened to work perfectly to tie in the peach colors.

I had the idea that the colors might look good as gradient colors in the background of something - kind of like a summer sunset would look.  So that was my inspiration to kick it off.  To achieve that look, I decided to use my new dotted postage stamp image from Just For Fun rubber stamps. 

 I have several of these collage type stamps but I chose the "honeycomb" one since it was in harmony with the background DP that I picked.  I used inks that matched the cardstock and brushed them on with a stipple brush, starting with the Lemon Tart and ending with the Melon Berry, until it looked like a sunset.  The Just For Fun stamps like this come with a vinyl template that perfectly fits over the dotted lines which explains how you get the white borders.

With the background complete, I used a bit of Mellow Moss ink with a french  script stamp (also from Just For Fun) and ever so lightly stamped it in the background of each opening.  Then I used Stampin' Up's "Inspired by Nature" stamp set in Chocolate Brown to stamp the coneflowers - a couple of them were stamped off first for some variation.  When complete, I cut out the image using my Fiskars postage stamp decorative scissors.  The image and the background DP were distressed using tim Holz Tea Dye distress ink.  I added some half pearls in yellow and Lemon Tart grosgrain ribbon.  The words in the bottom right corner are from SU's "Great Friend" stamp set and stamped in Chocolate Brown ink.

Though I wouldn't have put these colors together on my own, this was a great challenge and I really like how the colors work together.  I just might have to try this again!  Let me know what you think...

Thanks for stopping by my blog....why don't you visit the Play Date Cafe Challenge site by clicking on the link here!

 

Whimsical Birthday

I enjoyed my Saturday in my craft room - first cleaning it up and reorganizing my stamps and supplies, then trying my hand at some techniques that I learned at a local stamp show several weeks ago.  This card is one of those.

To start, I pulled out my new stamps from Art Gone Wild..."Birthday & Sweets" and the "Square Clear Set".  The images are about 1 inch square and colored with my Stampin' Up markers.  I sponged the edges a bit with Regal Rose ink.  I stamped the dotted squares on SU "Tea Party" paper and then punched them out using my SU scallop circle punch - centering the square within the outer edges of the punch.  I then scored on the lines and folded up the edges to frame the images.  In another version of the same DP paper set, I punched 2" scallop circles with a Paper Shapers punch and then mounted the centers on them.  I just used a little 1/4-inch celery grosgrain ribbbon to act like flower stems and leaves.  The card base and background panels are in Pretty in Pink, Celery and Tea Party DP. 

Pretty easy and a whimsical look I like.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon

Dad's Birthday

Well I've squeezed out about as much as I can from the holiday weekend and a couple days of vacation.  It's back to work for me tomorrow so I'll do this quick post before I call it a day. 

I did this simple card for my Dad using Papertrey Ink's "Enjoy the Ride" stamp set.  These stamps are perfect for paper piecing and I thought it would be fun to do a plaid car for a change!  Years ago, there was a plaid car shown by GM in a charity event where the company partnered with the fashion industry.  Top line designers took GM vehicles and redesigned them in their style.  Cynthia Rowley was one of the designers and her car design included a plaid paint finish very close to this plaid actually.  I thought about that as I was making this card!

In this case, however, the coordinating plaid and abstract papers were designed by A2Z Essentials called "What's New Club".  The cardstock used is Papertrey's Spring Moss.  I used Palette Noir Black ink for the stamped image on the cardstock and on the plaid paper for the piecing.  I also used a gelly roll glitter pen to accent the bumper and headlamp rings.

That's it - simple but colorful and fun.  Dad liked it and my story about the real plaid car by Cynthia Rowley!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

Mother's Favorite

Isn't this the most beautiful designer paper you've ever laid eyes on?  I thought so too!  It took my breath away when I pulled it off the shelf at The Scrapbook Zone and I snatched up a piece to do a card for my Mom because the colors reminded me of her.  This gorgeous paper is "Jubilee Bright Flowers" from K&Company.

I wanted this paper to be a main focus of the card and not be covered up by a large stamped image panel (or a small one for that matter).  I cut it to fill the entire card front without showing a border of the Baja Breeze cardstock underneath to maximize the size of the lighter and darker lavender flowers on it. I just couldn't bear cutting more than was necessary of this DP! 

To frame the stamped "Mother" image and still let the DP show through, I used my Spellbinders Foliage Frame die and cut out two frames - one in Stampin' Ups Baja Breeze and one in Blue Bayou to act as the frame shadow and add some depth. I cut down the sides of the frame to fit this 5 1/2-inch square card.  I distressed the frame with Tim Holtz Antique Linen, Antique Rose and Tea Dye distress inks.  The "Mother" stamp is from Papertrey Ink and was stamped in VersaMark on the designer paper and then embossed with white embossing powder. 

The real beauties here are the flowers that I made using a Paper Shapers 2-inch scallop circle punch and Stampin' Up scallop circle punch that is a bit smaller (maybe 1 1/2-inches).  To do these I punched several scallop circles in Stampin' Ups Pale Plum and  Perfect Plum cardstock and crumpled them up several times to break down the fibers and stiffness of the cardstock.  I sponged a little Razzleberry ink on the Pale Plum and Craft White on the Perfect Plum after they were crumpled sufficiently.  Then I just stacked them up together and punched a hole for the K&Company tapestry brads.  They are adherred using super adhesive ScorTape.  The Stampin' Up Sweet Pea stitched felt leaves went perfectly with the flowers and they were also adherred with the ScorTape.

Other finishing touches are the shimmer mist that was sprayed lightly on the flowers and the frame to add a little sparkle to the card and the pearl dots in the corners and on the top and bottom of the frame.

I'm pretty pleased with how this card turned out - all the credit goes to the beautiful K&Company paper!  Let me know what you think!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

Smallish Things

Here's another baby card I recently did featuring a scrapbook paper that I just couldn't resist for a baby boy.  This paper is from TaDa Creative Studios called "Green Pastures".  The paper was too perfect to cover up with stamped images so I choose to use it as the focal point of the card.  I also paired this with October Afternoon's "Picnic Table" chocolate and cream dotted paper.

Because I wasn't adding much in the way of stamped images, I knew the layout or overall card design had to be different.  So, to create that interest I made this card larger (about 5x7) and with a flap where I used some special brads specifically for "laces" like on shoes.  I just used some simple natural scrapper's floss to lace the card up and keep it closed. 

Also on the front panel I cut out the sentences of a stamped image from PaperTrey Ink's "Inside and Out: Baby" set and pieced it out separately so it would fit and wouldn't obstruct from the main image paper.

On the inside, I used another large panel of the "Green Pastures" DP because I just couldn't get enough of it in this card!  Then made a message panel on PTI's Kraft cardstock on top of the brown dotted paper to carry the theme inside.

I think this makes a cute baby boy card - what do you think?

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Sharon

Baby Bee - Play Date Cafe Challenge 30

This was a quicky card for a baby gift of a coworker using a couple supplies that I've been waiting to play with but haven't quite found the time until today.  I'm also entering this card in the Play Date Cafe Challenge 30 because the focal colors I've used in the card are a match for this week's PDCC.  Thanks so much to Julie at Julie's Open Window for bringing this to my attention and getting me interested in this weekly challenge! (Need inspiration? - go to Julie's blog and see her amazing creations. They are gorgeous works of art.)  Here's the link to the Play Date Cafe Challenge blog.  And here is the inspiration for the colors specified in this week's challenge:

Now on to the card itself.....I've used PaperTrey Ink's Baby Button Bits stamp set for the main image including the "Cute as a Button" saying.  Every image in that set is darling but I choose to go with the bee.  The image is embellished with buttons also from PTI. 

What is hard to see in the pictures is the bit of shimmer mist I sprayed on the focal image to sparkle it up a bit and to help it stand out.  I haven't used my shimmer mist in awhile, but now that I brought it out I was shimmering up a storm on every card I made after this one!!  After all, who doesn't like sparkles on a card?

The other new toy I used here is the ric rac die from PaperTrey.  I love ric rac anyway and this die is a dream to use - cuts through paper like butter with nice crisp edges.  I think it's a perfect touch for this baby card.

And finally, the DP I used is from Little Yellow Bicycle, "Baby Safari" line.  The polka-dot background paper is one of my perky favorites.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

Heide's Birthday

This card is for my dear friend Heide.  We had such a good time on her birthday with the rest of the gals from our stamping club.  We all spent the day at the StampScrapArtTour rubber stamping show - spending up a storm on new stamps, embellishments and gotta have "toys".  It was such fun!  And to top it off, I ended up winning a $100 gift certificate at the show!  I couldn't believe it -- and of course I didn't have any trouble spending it either, LOL!

For this card I used a new stamp from Hero Arts.  I really like this bicycle stamp.  I inked it up using my Stampin' Up markers in Mambo Melon, Soft Suede, Black and Razzleberry.  I added a touch of Curry on the pedal gear and the basket. 

In the basket, I thought it would be cute to fill it with flowers so I used my Flower Soft "Spring" and it really makes it pop.  From there the image was cut out using my Spellbinders Labels 4 dies.  The background paper is Basic Grey "Green at Heart" and the cardstock used is Soft Suede and Melon Mambo also from Stampin' Up.  I just added some free-hand doodles with a white gel pen around the soft suede image panel - an idea I picked up from the stamp show we were at today.

So that's it at the end of a wonderful day with my dear stamping friends and BFF Heide on her birthday.

Thanks a bunch for stopping in and visiting my blog today.  Let me know what you think...

Sharon

New Blog Design

Just a quick post introducing my new blog design.  I actually did this myself with a little help from Shabby Miss Jenn Designs...an incredible site on the web for blog design kits and digital scrapbooking kits.  I actually used both in doing this blog.  The blog design kit is called "Posies" and the digital scrapbooking kit is called "Summer Posies" which I have pictured below. 

What I like about the blog kits to start with is that they provide the header banners - ready for customization like I did here.  However, you usually don't get all the unique complimentary letters nor as many do-dads to embellish or the selection of background papers.  That's where the digital scrapbook kits are wonderful. 

For my blog, I used the red polkadot paper and embellished with the green ric-rac and the cherries do-dad from the scrapbook kit and created the blog background in my photoshop program.  For the blog header, I used the non-photo header provided in the blog design kit and embellished it with the polkadot letters from the scrapbook kit.

I am by no means an expert on this - blog codes or photoshop - but there is a wealth of info on the web and the instructions in the blog kit by Shabby Miss Jen are clear and understandable.  So even a novice can do it.

Stop by and take a look at the Shabby Miss Jen Designs shop - your mouth will water with all the goodies you'll find there.  And, you can find a link to Miss Jen's blog where she showcases so many beautiful samples of her scrapbook kits and blog designs in use.

Leave me a comment on what you think - and thanks for stopping by!