World Cardmaking Day

Saturday was World Cardmaking Day and I decided to play along with some challenges.  The first was the Hope You Can Cling to challenge to turn a holiday pink.  I thought the little witch from Fang-tastic would look cute in pink.  What do you think? 

Next I decided to try another one of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges - Bring in the Brown.  The challenge was to use pink and brown.  I used my new Just Believe set with Regal Rose and Chocolate Chip.

And finally, I tried the Inspiration Challenge for today.  The website inspiration was Studio Nommo and you'll find my inspiration here.

My new Amuse Artic Fox is traveling through SU's Tree's Three with a sentiment from Cute by the Inch.  The DSP is Autumn Spice and I used the new color Cajun Craze in this. 

My cold is finally breaking up and my tooth is settling down - I think mostly because of the antibiotic and ibuprofen I've been taking.new toys  We hit the Kirkside Garage sale early this morning and then ran some errands.  I'm sorry I procrastinated most of the early afternoon after we got back because I really had fun putting these cards together.   

Birds in a Tree - Home Inspiration

Today's Inspiration Challenge is called Home Sweet _________ and the object was to make a card that was representative of where you live. 

I live in New Jersey - the Garden State.  Although much maligned at times in how New Jersey is portrayed as being a chemical wasteland and covered with macadam, I can tell you that the state has it's beauty from the hills and valleys of Sussex County in the north, to the cornfields and cow pastures of central Jersey, right down to the gorgeous sandy beaches of the Atlantic coast. 

My card gives a glimpse of the rich soil and the greenery that abounds.  Although not our state tree (which is the Red Oak) and not our state bird (which is the goldfinch) I chose to use this stamp as I bought it on a recent trip to a little stamp store in New Jersey.  I added bluebirds because right now they are again making a home in a nest box on our property. 

On our last trip to Barnegat I was able to stop at the stamp store in Tuckerton and picked up this Memory Box stamp - Dotty Tree Birds.   I stamped it onto Whisper White cs in Close to Cocoa ink and then colored in the leaves and birds with my SU markers. 

I added a backing of Bashful Blue that I punched with the open scallop border and corner punches - it makes a nice medallion of sorts.  The card base is Certainly Celery as is the ribbon and I added a panel of Close to Cocoa that I ran through the Big Shot with my Finial Press embossing folder. 

I learned a lesson after I bought this stamp.  When I went to use it I realized I had never even noticed that the rubber and the sticker were going in opposite directions.  Because I was stamping it on the square turned on end I was using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, but I guess I'll have to use the SAMJ whenever I use this stamp unless I get brave enough to peel it off and reposition it.  We'll have to see about that.

What do you think of this color combination?  I'm thinking of using this for Earth Day.  

Inspiration Challenge - Skating Costumes

I've been watching the Olympic skating events over the last 15 days and have enjoyed them even though they are airing very late here on the east coast.  Today's Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast was to be inspired by the skating costumes.  Here's the costume I chose.....

And here's my card......

The card base is Whisper White with a diagonal panel of Summer Sun that I sponged Regal Rose onto.  The sizzlit scribbles were punched fromn Regal Rose and the sparkle sizzlet from Summer Sun.  I added a 1/2" circle of Regal Rose to the center of the sparkle and a sticky jewel over that.  The white was a bit plain so I added some punched splats in Whisper White.  The sentiment is from SU's set - Best Yet.

What do you think?  Got a favorite costume?

Inspirational Brights

Saturday's Inspiration Challenge site is ESPE. They have some really cool wallets and bags. Such bold colors and patterns are a treat for the eyes. I found a couple of wallets on their site that I could go for. The first one is hot pink with striking white daisy like flowers. I took my Big Shot Daisies die and punched some out of white cs and positioned them on Melon Mambo cs. The centers have a circle of micro beads. I added the sentiment panel stamped with Whimsical Words and layered that on Rich Razzleberry. The last touch was to add the polka-dot grosgrain ribbon accent.

The second one is a tall wallet and it's in bright purple which reminded me of Rich Razzleberry cs. This is a tri-fold card. I took a whole sheet of cs and scored it at 4" and 8". Then I trimmed the short side to the shape shown on the front of the wallet. I then lined that short piece with a piece of Whisper White about 1/2" larger on the two visible sides. The front panel is held closed by the flower that overlaps it.

The flowers were stamped with Vintage Vogue (yes, again!) in Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, and Crushed Curry. They were stamped off once and then rock-and-rolled in the same color again to brighten the edges. The leaves were stamped in Garden Green and also stamped off once. Then I punched some 1/4" circles from all those colors and added them to the flower centers and created the spiked flower with them.

It was a bit of a gloomy day today and I was glad to work with these bright cheery colors. 

Saturday Inspiration

The Inspiration Challenge for today comes from the online store ECHO.   I chose this pillow as my inspiration..........

I wish I had some textured Basic Gray card stock, but I don't so I used a ruler and a stylus to create some texture on the gray square.  The flowers are from Vintage Vogue and are stamped in Lavendar Lace, Summer Sun and Cameo Coral. I stamped them off once and then rolled the edges in the ink to highlight the edges.  They have centers punched with the 1/4" circle punch to which I added some Crystal Effects to make them look glossy.

The borders are made with the new open scallop punch to which I added several rows of white cotton thread to give it some more texture. 

The colors were repeated in the little tags that I punched with the mini tag punch after I stamped them with a sentiment from Tiny Tags.  I strung them on some more white cotton thread and tied them up with a bow.  The bow was stuck on with a glue dot.  I added a panel of Whisper White embossed with the new polka dot folder behind the pillow piece.  You can see the textures in the close up photo below. 

Okay, help me out here.  Was it the Three Stooges or Alvin and the Chipmunks who sang "Hello, Hello, Hello" when they made an entrance?

Saturday Inspiration Challenge

I thought I'd play along with the Inspiration Challenge today.  I'm going to try to fit more of these in during the course of the year - kind of a resolution for more fun.  And I'm going to use whatever I have on hand.  Surely I have enough to choose from!!!

Today's inspiration site is Design Spirit Studio.   The piece I chose is the Green Abstract Magnet Clock by Spirit Lala..........

I took the colors and some of the shapes and this is what I came up with............

You'll have to forgive the crummy pictures of mine.  I've moved all my "craft stuff" upstairs into what will one day be my "studio" and for now there is no place to take decent pictures. Guess I'm going to have to investigate making one of those light boxes. 

Back to the challenge.  I used a stamp that I got on a trip to Delaware quite a few years back.  That store, White Swan Rubber Stamps, has unfortunately gone out of business, but that's really where I got my start in serious rubber stamping.  It was a must go destination whenever I went to visit Rachel at school.

It's a Judikins stamp called Sand and Sea.  There are actually four stamps on a block.  You can see two of them that I used here.  I stamped the image in Basic Black and colored it with my SU markers.  You can add shading with these markers by adding layers in certain spots.  Here's a close up.....

I think the shading adds more dimension to the design.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes - I think. I say that because suddenly I have two stamps in that box that say Thank You and I'm pretty sure that the set only comes with one.  So sometime in the near future I'll have to go through and figure out where that extra stamp came from!

The 1 3/8" square punch just fit around the stamped motif and I used the curly label punch for the sentiment.  The rest is pretty self explanatory.

It's been a wonderful holiday and I've been the recipient of some very thoughtful gifts. And now I'm reminded that I really have to go and write out my Christmas Thank You's.  Some of them will be mailed and some of them will be hand-delivered when I get back to work.  It's never too late to say thank you - right?

The Ikea Influence

My daughter Rachel was home for a few days last week and during that time we took an excursion to IKEA; in her words - her Disneyworld.  She is moving into a new apartment and needed some "stuff".  Of course it always helps to have mom and dad, who heroically offered to come along to help with the heavy stuff, with you.  (I really think he wanted the meatballs!) 

When you shop in the store in Elizabeth, the tax rate is lower, which is another reason why we went there.  They are not quite done with their renovations, but we managed to find the things she needed and more.


I found this tray

Isn't it cool! 

And here's how the conversations went:

When I showed it to HWNSNBP: "What are you going to do with that?"

When I showed it to Rachel: "That's cute."

                                         Me:  "What am I going to do with it?"
                                   Rachel:  "Mom, it's only $6.  Go for it."

And so I did.  And so I did this

The card is stamped with the hostess set The More The Merrier on Whisper White and I used all the new In-colors to color the birds with my blender pen.

It's mounted on a panel of Melon Mambo that I ran through the Big Shot with the Finial Press Textured Impression embossing folder.  I added a border of Basic Black scallops and some Bermuda Bay polka-dotted ribbon.  I wanted black brads so I took some of the white ones I had and embossed the heads with black embossing powder.  (Be careful and make sure to use a long handled tweezer or pliers to hold the brads while embossing!)

The sentiment is another one from Teeny Tiny Wishes and punched out with the word window punch.

You never know where you'll get your inspiration from or your good advice to go for it! 

I think she learned that from me!

Saturday Inspiration

I know I should not be playing this morning - I should be packing, but I loved, loved, loved, this website that was the Inspiration Challenge on SCS today. They actually have a store in the West Village. Doesn't it look fun? I wanna go there - who wants to go too?

The inspiration I choose was the bird paperclip magnets (which would look gorgeous on my desk at work don't you think!).

And here is my card

It's a cloudy rainy day here so the picture is not as bright as it should be. I love these colors together. Apricot Appeal for the card base and the panel is Melon Mambo. The birds are a stamp that I got years ago when I first started stamping at a little stamping store down in Delaware. It's a Magenta stamp and I stamped it in Basic Gray on Watercolor paper and used my SU markers to color it.

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and I even clear embossed the daisies from Upsy Daisy on the bottom of the melon panel. The bow is Tempting Turquoise grosgrain.

Someone I know through my cousin just had to have an appendectomy so I think this will certainly brighten up her day!

Stitched Card Challenge

The Clean and Simple Challenge for today was to incorporate stitching into the design of your card. I had been working on some paper bag flowers for my Thursday's Throw Aways post for this week and had one left over. I decided the flower would look good plainly mounted on a square of black cardstock.


Before I did that however, I got out my mat pack and pierced two rows of holes on two adjacent sides. I had sewn the buttons on the flowers with off-white cotton thread, so I continued to use that thread to stitch the black square as you see.


The sentiment is from a retired SU set Warmest Regards. One can never have enough thank you notes!

Check back on Thursday to see what I've been working on.

Combining Two Challenges Today

The Try a New Technique Challenge for today was to incorporate quilling into a card. I had this lion head that I did a while back. I liked the CAS Sketch so much that I decided to do another sketch card and use the lion head on it. (The lion head is done in Marigold Morning - a retired In Color from several years ago that I do still love.)

The sentiment comes from the new SU set Hard to Say. There are some good sayings in that set that are not your run-of-the-mill sentiments.

The DSP used was a piece from the Razzleberry Lemonade pack and the Dusty Durango design was achieved by cutting out some of the motif from an MS border punch.

I actually used watercolor paper as my card base. I wanted something with a little weight and my SU Whisper White is a little too wispy. See, here's where you can use your Michael's 40% off coupons - for watercolor pads. You'll find that they often are on sale with the art supplies for 40% off at times.

The ribbon was first added across and around the panel. Then I took a second piece and tied consecutive knots across the first piece. I frayed both ends as my last step.

Now............ I have a quilled lamb somewhere that I should use too.

Maybe tomorrow!

CAS Challenge 7-27 - Sketch

I was working on another project this evening using up scraps and images that I had saved from the trash (photos later in the week). I happened to see the CAS challenge for this week before I signed off for the evening and thought that this would be a great way to use that flower that was among my scraps.

The card base is Dusty Durango, as is the polka-dotted ribbon. There's a layer of Soft Suede and the DSP is from the Razzleberry Lemonade pack. I stamped the sentiment using Teeny Tiny Wishes in Soft Suede. The flower is an embosslit that I ran through the Big Shot in Crushed Curry and added some Dusty Durango highlights with one of those finger-thingies which I cannot think of the name of right now.

This is a great sketch for any ocassion. You might see more of these in the future.

Summer Rose to Cheer You

I've had this rose sitting on my table for some time now. It finally found a place on this simple background.

The CAS (Clean and Simple) challenge for today was to use the colors of summer: Turquoise, Orange and Yellow.

I'm sending this to my Godmother as I've heard she's not been feeling well lately.

The rose is from Fifth Avenue Floral and it was stamped on Shimmery White CS with VersaMark and embossed with white EP. I then used my aquapainter and ink from the lids of my inkpads to color it. It is shimmery in real life!

I hope this will cheer her up a bit!

Clean and Simple Art Challenge

I saw this challenge posted at Splitcoast today in the CAS (Clean and Simple) section. You were to go to the (www.art.com) website and choose an artwork to inspire you today.

The gallery for circles drew my attention. Click on these pieces that inspired me:

http://www.art.com/products/p11736671-sa-i1170681/rachael-stroud-abstract-iv.htm?sorig=cat&sorigid=206580&dimvals=206580&ui=0ba719ae416e4540b12da273458da04e

http://www.art.com/products/p10339741-sa-i1170680/rachael-stroud-abstract-iii.htm?sorig=cat&sorigid=206580&dimvals=206580&ui=0ba719ae416e4540b12da273458da04e

They both are done using the Circle Circus and Trendy Trees stamp sets. They are stamped on Confetti Cream CS and the images are colored with Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, and Soft Suede markers.

This set lends itself very well to Clean and Simple stamping. I think I will make one more each of these and wrap them up for a gift. You never have enough Thank You cards!

Saturday Inspiration

I decided to try another Inspiration Challenge today. Over at Splitcoast the Inspiration Challenge for today was to was to visit a site called Chasing Fireflies. I found a pair of slippers that I thought were cool and would also give me a chance to play with one of my new big shot dies.

These flowers are from the Birds and Blooms set. After I ran the paper through the Big Shot, I used my markers on the edges to give the flowers some depth. Then I curled them like a real flower to give them dimension. The hardest part was the little centers. I punched a 1/2" circle out of the same color cardstock and then rolled it into a ball shape - sort of. They are adhered to the rest of the flower with liquid Tombow glue.

There's a bunch of colors in this card (again with the color!!!). Green Galore, Handsome Hunter, Gable Green, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, and Dusty Durango. The sentiment is from the All Holidays set and stamped in Handsome Hunter.

The Handsome Hunter cs on the top was scrunched up after I cut it to size and then I pulled a layer of it off. The rough side is facing the back. The lighter green strip across it is scrunched up too. I put down a skinny piece of red line tape and then pressed the strip into it so it looks gathered.

It just so happens that I need a couple of thank you's this weekend, so this will go right out in the mail!

So, have you been inspired by my inspiration? Love to hear from you.

The Roosters of Smithville

On our trip last weekend we spent a morning in Historic Smithville. Walking around the little village we went in and out of the shops there and happened upon these roosters. They were begging to have their picture taken.

I decided to use them as an inspiration for the Limited Supply challenge for Friday - to stamp an image 3 times and crop it.

So here are my roosters.

The stamp set is Rustic Rooster and I stamped it in Basic Gray on Whisper White and used markers to color it. I punched them out with my oval punch and back them with Ridinghood Red scalloped ovals. The card base is Basic Gray, and then a layer of Ridinghood Red. I used a scrap of Basic Gray DSP and More Mustard torn on the diagonal for the next layer. The ribbon is Bravo Burgundy with a bow of Basic Gray Taffeta.

Oops - it seems I didn't read the directions carefully enough. We were only supposed to use brads or eyelets as our embellishment. Hope I don't get a ticket for using the ribbon!

Saturday Inspiration Birthday Card

The Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast today sent us to Spunky Sprout. I went to the wall - decorations that is and found this lovely blue and green on black item. I love this color combination of the blues and greens. In fact, yesterday at Michael's I picked up some items in the $ section with just these colors. The black background just makes them pop.


I needed a birthday card for someone celebrating their birthday this week (shhhhhh, it's HWNSNBP). The bright colors and geometric shapes are perfect for a male card. I didn't care for the monsters on the original so I opted to used owls. They came straight off SU's Good Morning Sunshine DSP.

The colors I used, while they are not a perfect match for the inspiration piece, work quite well together. They are Pacific Point, Bright Blue, Baja Breeze, Glorious Green, Basic Black, and Whisper White. The sentiment is stamped with Pacific Point Ink.


Do you want to know a little secret about this card? I planned out the pieces on the black cardstock and then took a quick pic of it and printed it out. Then I ran all those squares and triangles through my little Xyron Sticker maker. It was much easier to just stick the pieces down instead of having to glue each one.

Oh, and those white swooshes were hand drawn - I didn't like the faces on them so I left them blank.

I'd love to hear what you think about this card. If you can, please leave a comment. I'm a little comment-starved lately.

Inspiration Challenge - Napkin Ring

Have you ever heard of a company called Room Service Home? I hadn't until today when it became part of the Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. We were to pick an item/product from their on-line catalog to use as an inspiration for a card or project. I really liked this napkin ring and wanted to take part in this challenge today.

This is the card that I made. I have the Itty Bitty Buds Hostess set that I've been waiting to use and I think it worked out well here.

I used a plethora of colors (that word was for my friend Arlyne, it's her favorite). The background is Pink Passion and Kiwi Kiss with Whisper White embossed with Swiss Dots.

The flowers are all stamped with markers in the following colors: Old Olive, Pixie Pink, Bashful Blue, Cameo Coral, Orchid Opulence and Pumpkin Pie.

The bow is Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain.

When I decide what to use this card for I'll add a sentiment over the center panel.

So, did I nail it? What do you think!