Featured Stamper Challenge

Stamps: Embrace Life, Warm Words
Paper: Kraft, Rich Razzleberry, Kiwi Kiss Patterns DSP, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Versa Mark, Kiwi Kiss, Stazon™, Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain, Dimensionals®, Top Note Die, Aqua Painter™, Modern Label Punch, Mat Pack & Piercer

Well, this past Sunday's Featured Stamper was none other than Dawn Lusk, a previous Dirty Dozen contributor and a fabulous artist! Hoo boy ... how does one go to case someone like that?! LOL :) So, anyways, I chose to case a card of hers that you can find by clicking HERE. I kept the basic layout although I didn't use an oval seeing as how I'm oval-tarded (hee hee!) --> that really sucks too 'cause sooooooooo many sketch challenges lately are using ovals and circles and I just don't like them on cards ... but, I digress ...

I tired to keep the same feel of the card while keeping it in "my style" even though I don't feel I have any particular style. It's still soft, still distressed-ish, and somewhat detailed. I pulled out the Embrace Life stamp set and set about playing with it. The flower was stamped three times (for each flower) and then I coloured, cut them out and layered them with dimensionals.

and, I LOVE these colours together. It's too bad that Kiwi wasn't an In Colour for this new year coming up! Although, Stampin' Up! did indicate that we should "hold on to our previous In Colours" as you never know what may come back. That's a pretty good hint that we may see a new colour family, eh?!

So, thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

oh, and the new catty starts TOMORROW! Have you seen it? Do you have it? Well, I do have a few extra's so if you're Canadian and don't have a demonstrator, please contact me to get your copy! I have a "New Catty" class scheduled for later in the month that you won't want to miss! Just check my demonstrator website for details!

Dazzling Diamonds

Stamps: Easy Dots (H628), Butterfly Ribbon Slide (D681), Best Wishes...Special Day (F573) (DRS Designs)

Paper: Bashful Blue, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Ink: Stazon™, Bashful Blue, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, Versa Mark
Accessories: Tangerine Tango Striped Grosgrain, Dimensionals, Eyelet Border Punch, Pacific Point Corduroy Buttons, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder

It's challenge Monday over at DRS Designs! This time, the challenge is to use the technique "Dazzling Diamonds". I LOVE this technique. It's so simple and easy and really adds "wow" factor to a card. I chose to use two different DRS images to make my own patterned paper. Once they were stamped, I covered the whole piece with Versa Mark and Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heat set it. The butterfly image is technically a "Ribbon Slide", meaning you can take your hobby knife and cut out two sections of the body in order to slide the ribbon through, but I chose to use it as just a fun image!

Hope you like this card! Check out the rest of the cards at the DRS Designs blog and link up the card you make using this challenge!

All in the Family - Birthday

Stamps: All in the Family, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Whisper White, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Stazon™, various for colouring
Accessories: Vintage Brads, Dimensionals®, White Taffeta Ribbon, Aqua Painter®

Isn't this cute?! I love this stamp set!! So very versatile and fun. The layout comes from this past week's sketch challenge on SplitCoast Stampers. I wanted to use a bright and cheery combination and that's what I got! I stamped the guy on watercolour paper along with a balloon and a string to it. I stamped the rest of the balloons separately an once they were dry after colouring with an Aqua Painter, I cut the image out. The other balloons were randomly adhered around to make a big balloon bouquet! And, that's the only stamping other than the sentiment. Nice and simple and clean, eh?

Thanks for visiting!

Card Patterns: Sketch 21

Another Card Patterns Saturday! We're on sketch #21 this week and again, we're sponsored by OddBird Planet using the Fairytale kit. Another really "out there" card that includes NO stamping! We did receive some stamps in the kit, but I hadn't quite gotten around to using them when I came up with this one. The geese are wooden shapes that I'd covered with the patterned paper and then the fabric pattern sheet. Interesting, anyway.

Thanks for popping by today! Don't forget to head on over to the Card Patterns blog to see the other DT's projects and link up your own sketch card!

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #9

Stamps: Together Forever, God's Blessings
Paper: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Urban Oasis DSP, Basic Black
Ink: Stazon™, Whisper White Craft, Baja Breeze Ink Refill, Ruby Red Marker, Old Olive Marker, So Saffron Marker
Accessories: Cake Pop-Up Die, White Embossing Powder, Pretties Kit, Dimensionals®, Black Grosgrain, Eyelet Border Punch

It's Inkspirations challenge day! Have you participated recently? If not, you should! Keesh comes up with the best challenges that I have participated in. I love the variety! This week, it's a colour challenge. I rarely ever use Ruby Red, so I kept it quite minimal this week. Sometimes, though, you really don't need a lot of one colour for it to still have impact, or at least that's what I think!

My cousin is getting married this summer and we're heading to BC to go to the wedding. So, I needed a wedding card! I think this one is totally special and different from the average card I make, which is exactly what I think is needed for something as special as a wedding. The colours are certainly different for a wedding card. Normally you'd see white, ivory, gold, silver, etc ... not from me though! The front is pretty and simple although a bit of painstaking cut-work, which I don't mind doing.

The inside, though, is so totally fun!
This is the second time I've played with the cake pop-up die. I cut out the "&" symbol and placed it in between the "Mr." and "Mrs" on the top of the cake (stamped before assembly). I added a few flowers from the pretties kit to spice up the front of the cake.

Anywhoo, hope you like this one! Don't forget to check out the projects made by each of my design teammates: Karen, Cindy, Kirsty, and Amy (they are fabulously talented ladies!), our head lady: Keesh, and our special guest DT, Kim. Take some time this week to participate in the challenge, link it up and you could be our next guest designer!

ETA: This post was supposed to be up this morning! Blogger is being stupid ... the pre-scheduled post thing isn't working! *hmph*

Birthday Celebrations

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Upsy Daisy

Paper: Tangerine Tango Textured, Pacific Point, Summer Sun, Whisper White, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Summer Sun Corduroy Buttons, Pacific Point Striped Grosgrain, Dimensionals®, Piercer & Mat Pack

Isn't this an interesting colour combination? It was for the latest Colour Challenge on SplitCoast Stampers! I love how it all pulled together considering that these are all quite bright colours. I was itching to add some Kiwi in there too, but I stayed with the challenge :) Now, usually I put Flight of the Butterfly together with Inspired by Nature, but this time I chose to use Upsy Daisy instead. It's a stamp set I rarely use but I think it's an absolutely gorgeous stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by!

last "Lots of Bots" card!

Stamps: Lots of Bots
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Raspberry Tart DSP, Rich Razzleberry, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Stazon™, various for colouring, Going Grey
Accessories: Silver Brads, Dimensionals®, Blender Pen

And here's the last Lots of Bots card that I've made so far! I really really love these colours together, although it kind of reminds me of a Halloween colour combination ... add a bit of orange and boom, you've got a Halloween card! Kiwi and Bermuda are interestingly jarring together and I like it! This time, I stamped the main image and masked him to stamp the binary symbol stamp around the robot. Kind of fun and interesting.

By the way, these stamps all come with the sentiments intended to be stuck right beside the image. I have a habit of cutting them off and mounting them on the side of the wood block rather than leaving them beside the image. I like to stamp my sentiment where it works, rather than where it's "supposed" to be.

So, not much other details today, but I hope you've liked seeing my Lots of Bots cards!

Lots of Bots, again!

Stamps: Lots of Bots
Paper: Kraft, Taken with Teal, Gable Green, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Ink: Stazon™, various for colouring
Accessories: Stampin Up! Backgrounds 1, Corner Rounder, Spiral Punch, Crystal Effects®, Black Grosgrain

So, here's my third card using Lots of Bots, but the second time playing with the In Colours. There's a challenge on Late Night Stampers to make a kid's card and this easily fits the bill! I think that Bermuda Bay goes together with Gable Green absolutely wonderfully! Gable Green is a colour that I *never* use ... I still have my original Bold Brights family package of card stock that I got when I became a demonstrator 4 years ago. I have bought solid packs of two colours, but that's it. Now, that's going to change!

So, today I combined Kraft, Taken with Teal, Gable Green, and Bermuda Bay for this card. I really like the colours together. Taken with Teal is a perfect match for Bermuda, as a nice darker layering colour.

I stamped all three robots on this card, first stamping the "top one" (the one with the balloon) and masking him to stamp the other two. I coloured them all in with markers. Did you hear that there are going to be markers for the In Colours?! Totally fabulous! Now, I was able to make my own markers before using a blender pen, but this takes one step out of the equation! Anyways, the images were coated with Crystal Effects once I'd finished the rest of the card.

The rest of the card is pretty simple, again a very simple layout with minimal work involved. The base is embossed with the Texturz plates (Backgrounds 1) and the main image is also popped up on dimensionals. To get the spiral punch through all the layers, I did NOT punch them together. I would have wrecked my punch if I'd tried! I first punched the bottom layer, adhered the next layer and punched, and repeated for the top layer.

Thanks for stopping in today! Have a fabulous day!

Happy Birthday!

Stamps: Lots of Bots, Classic Stars Wheel
Paper: Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Dusty Durango, Chocolate Chip (for sponged edges), various for colouring
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Grosgrain, Latte Buttons, Dimensionals®, Crimper, Blender Pen, Linen Thread

I've been playing with this new stamp set that will be in the upcoming catalogue from Stampin' Up! called "Lots of Bots", and so you're going to be seeing quite a bit of it this week! But first, I've got to explain something from my post yesterday: for those of you that asked: "gibbled" describes something that is broken or wobbly or otherwise dysfunctional. :) Make sense? Basically, I thought the corner looked wrecked, ruined, gimped, etc: basically "gibbled"!

Moving on ... today's card also uses the new In Colours. This set of In Colours doesn't necessarily match each other quite the same way that previous In Colour groups have. Before, there were easily two colours that would instantly look good being of the same or similar base colour. For example: Blue Bayou and Soft Sky (from '07/08), or Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette. So, I'm in search of "the" perfect colour combo for this year!

I chose an interesting one and I'm quite pleased with the overall effect. Image choice has a great amount to do with colour choices too, IMO. I wanted something bright and fun for these robots and I went with Dusty Durango as the base, with Crushed Curry and Bermuda Bay as the accents. The card has a very simple layout and the image is watercoloured using a blender pen. Why a blender pen? Well, this image is tiny and there is no way I could stay in the lines using an Aqua Painter without extreme patience :). The Curry is crimped and the whole main image is popped up with dimensionals.

So, hope you like it! Come back tomorrow for a different look at the In Colours with Lots of Bots!

hmmm ....

This is one of those cards that makes me go "hmmm ...", which in my family, generally means "I don't think so"! I don't know what it is that makes me think that, though. It's really simple, and the top right corner looks a little gibbled although it really isn't. Also, the ribbon is a tad crooked which I didn't notice until too late (the card is out in the mail). But, the general idea is fun and cute! This is a new stamp set that will be in the upcoming catalogue! It's called "Lots of Bots" and comes with three different robots; the sentiments are included with the images, so I cut them off and placed them on the side of the wood block to use separately. I paper pieced this guy and used a stamp positioner to line up the binary symbols.

Anywhoo, hope you like it!

Stamps: Lots of Bots
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Urban Oasis DSP
Ink: Stazon™, Basic Grey, Going Grey
Accessories: Black Grosgrain, Dimensionals®, 5/8" Neutrals Brads

Card Patterns: Sketch 20

This week, for Card Patterns, we are sponsored by OddBird Planet with the Fairytale kit. It's totally out of my comfort zone, but that's the point of a challenge, isn't it?! I made a 4-1/4" square card and kept it really really simple. So, not much in the way of details today! Go check out the other DT's cards on the Card Patterns blog and then make your own card using the sketch and link it up on Card Patterns!

Hope you like my card!

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #9

Stamps: Cheep Talk, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Inspired by Nature
Paper: So Saffron, Pacific Point, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Real REd, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Oval Punches, Soft Subtles Brads, Old olive Grosgrain, Aged Jumbo Eyelet, Dimensionals®, Linen Thread

Wow, this is an interesting sketch for me. Makeesha is certainly challenging me, anyway, with this sketch! It's the Inkspirations Sketch #9 challenge,so make sure you check out my challenge teammates blogs to see their sample of the challenge and then head on over to Keesh's blog to see link your card up too! I don't generally do tags so I really had fun! I flipped the sketch to it's side so I could use the Cheep Talk stamp set, one of my recent favs.

I had made this nest on one of my Artisan Award projects and I really really liked the idea so I did it again for this card. It's super easy to make, just a bunch of punching with the Large and Small Oval punches. I punched out three small ovals (keep the punched pieces), and then punched three large oval ones around the small oval punchouts, leaving me with several border pieces. Then, just arrange them with your stamped and cut-out bird and then use the small punched ovals as the background to cover any cardstock showing through the nest.

So, hope you like it and thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to make your Inkspirations card/project and link it up on Keesh's blog!

And Many Mower ...

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, And Many Mower

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Kiwi Kiss Patterns DSP, Baja Breeze Patterns DSP, Chocolate Chip Patterns DSP, Watercolour Paper, Going Grey
Ink: Stazon™, VersaMark®, Summer Sun
Accessories: Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain, Dimensionals®, Aquapainter™, Cake Pop-Up Die

Okay, so what do you think of this one? It's nice a simple on the front. The cupcake is stamped on Designer Series Paper and then embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder for a touch of fun. It's a square card, 5x5, and the whole main panel is popped up on dimensionals. I wanted to keep it nice and simple because the inside packs a bang!

Isn't this fun! Love this Pop-Up die! Mind you, it took me a while to come up with an idea that I think is uniquely my own. I've seen the oh-so-fabulous things that others have made and while I will probably case the ideas, I wanted to first come up with something on my own! So, I thought of a masculine birthday card. My Father-in-Law's birthday is coming up later this month, so I thought this would be perfect for him.

I first stamped the golf guy from "And Many Mower" (in the Occasions Mini) on watercolour paper and coloured him in with an Aquapainter. Then I cut him out and set him aside to dry out.

I stamped the sentiment and notched the end using a square punch. Wrapped it around a stick of Going Grey card stock and then curved the white card stock by rubbing it over the edge of my desk (you can use an inkpad, a pencil, whatever ...).

Then, I began the assembly process for the golf cake ... this die has a bunch of different pieces. Looking at the picture of the die, you can see a bunch of different circles with posts, a rounded post, and then a few other shapes. The other shapes are a candle, a bride, and a groom! Well, obviously, I didn't use those shapes yet, but perhaps the next cake. I do have a wedding to go to in the summer ... hmmm. Anyways, the smallest circle is the top layer of the cake, the medium circle is the middle, and the largest is the bottom layer. So, following the directions included with the die, you simply assemble it. It's not hard. The harder part is the designing of a fun and different cake ...

I cut out some olive cardstock to look like grass, layered it with the Kiwi Kiss Patterns DSP, and then wrapped all but the bottom layer around the assembled cake. I chose to assemble it first before gluing it onto my card. It seemed easier to do it that way and I didn't want my white card base to get dirty ...

So, I hope you like this cake as much as I do!!! Thanks for popping in and taking a look. Let me know what you think!

ETA: I'm so impressed! Check out some inspired designs!!


Stamping with Roxy
Look what Corinne created for her hubby!

Stamp Club: 3D Project

GUESS WHAT?! I've actually had a decent stamping week, although it started out a little cruddy ... First, one of my Artisan Award cards (the first one in the post) was one of 6 featured on the Stamper's Showcase (a demonstrator-only resource), and then, I found out that I won Shelli Gardner's monthly contest for last month (you can see it on my blog here)! Isn't that AWESOME?! Anyone has the chance to win a stamp set, it's not just for demonstrators!

and on to today's project :) ...

Stamps: Full of Life

Paper: Kiwi Kiss Textured 12x12 CS, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Ink: Stazon™, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: On Board So Tweet, Tangerine Tango Striped Grosgrain, Matchbox Messages Bigz Die, 5/8" Neutrals Brads

I had sooooooooooo much fun with this card! The fold is called a "Tri-Shutter" card fold and is super easy to do, although I've got to say that there is a ton of paper to cut for all the layers ... yes, I could've went simple, but I rarely do that when it comes to card stock layers!! Isn't this cute though?! It will fit in a regular size invitation envelope, which is super handy as I've always tons of those around the house.

I had a bunch of these die cut shapes from the On Board So Tweet (item #113893) still left after the recipe tin class I'd done a little while ago and so I thought I'd use them for my stamp club. There was the perfect amount for us! I don't know if you can tell, but that branch is supposed to be one branch, not two. You can see the actual shape in the picture on the left! I cut the excess length off and added it to the side of the main branch and then stole a couple of "wings" to use as leaves!

Basically, the card base is 5-1/2" x 12", scored at 2", 4", 8", and 10". Then, taking a craft knife, cut two lines horizontally from the 2" score line to the 10" score line, 1-1/2" from both the top and the bottom. Then simply fold it in and out to make the shape you see on the card I'd made!

The sentiment was fun to do. I used a retired set that was once in a mini catalogue called "Full of Life". It had some really neat sentiments and this one just seemed to work really well. I played with the colours as well. Usually I'd use a blender pen to ink it up with the different colours, but I didn't feel like it this time ... So, I masked the stamp and stamped the black first, cleaned, masked, stamped the other colours one at a time, always using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line the sentiment up! Easy peesy :) Of course, before I inked up the sentiment, I die cut the shape using the Matchbox Messages Bigz die that is currently found in the Occasions Mini! Cool shape, eh?!

The bird and the stem and leaves were all covered with Designer Series Paper and painstakingly cut out ... well, actually I just glued the shapes onto the DSP, and then cut around it and sanded the edges. Not too hard at all! I find that the TomBow MonoMulti glue tends to work the best for chipboard. Glue dots and runners don't stick well, they end up peeling off some of the chipboard backing. Glue sticks just dry up and the paper ends up peeling off ... so, TomBow it is for me!

I've been a bit chatty today ... but as always, I'm very appreciative of all your comments and visits! Thanks so much for stopping in!

Bon Voyage Blog Tour!

Saying Bon Voyage to these retiring stamp sets always makes me think of that Beatles's song, written by Paul McCartney: "Hello Goodbye"... I really don’t know why we should say goodbye because these stamps belong in our stamp collection!

My projects today are all using the retiring stamp set called "Always in My Thoughts". It's a beautiful stamp set, perfect for almost any occasion. It has the one floral image along with several sentiment stamps.

Stamps: Always in My Thoughts
Paper: Whisper White, Urban Oasis DSP, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Watercolour Paper, Baja Breeze
Ink: Stazon™, various for colouring
Accessories: Aquapainter™, Dimensionals®, Scallop Oval Punch, Magnet, Lg Oval Punch, Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain

The first project I decided to make was a little box that can easily hold way more cards than what I ended up making! It's a simple box to make and the instructions can be found at Clearly iStamp. I made six matching cards to go in the box, they are all 3x3 cards. I watercoloured the images and then allowed the tops of the flowers to "step outside the box". Here's a couple more pictures of what the box looks like (just click on them to see them bigger!):

and, well, I couldn't just put this stamp set away! I had to make another card, which will be going to a friend soon.

Stamps: Always in My Thoughts
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Bella Rose DSP, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft and Classic
Accessories: Blender Pen, Dimensionals®, Top Note Die, Chocolate Chip Wide Grosgrain, Designer Button Bouquet, Linen Thread, Clear Embossing Powder, Watercolour Pencils, Sponges, Sponge Dauber, Mat Pack & Piercer

I LOVE how this card turned out. I haven't done a "dirty" card in a while, and by "dirty", I mean inked up edges and darker colours and no white! I embossed the floral image and the sentiment using clear embossing powder on Chocolate Chip Craft ink and then I coloured it in using my watercolour pencils. Being very careful, I used a blender pen to blend the colours. I needed to be careful because the image is not stamped on watercolour paper and I didn't want this card stock to bubble up.

Anyways, I hope you like what you've seen using this stamp set! Remember, all retiring stamp sets are available until the end of June. Once June is over, they will be gone forever!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!