Have a Delightful Day!

This is my second entry for the Cornish Heritage Farms Summer Stamp Star Challenge. This is the second of five weekly challenges and it was paper piecing. Whew....who knew paper piecing could be so exhausting?? I'm worn out! This card was a lot of fun to play with, but it was a lot of cutting. I have a renewed love for my Cutter Bee scissors and tweezers!


I used three Shady Tree Studios flower stamps (Artsy Blooms, Closed Tulip and Iris Bloom) and several from the Saturday Evening Post Vintage Butterflies set for this card. The patterned paper is Stampin' Up!'s Tea Party collection and BasicGrey Urban Prairie and Boxer.

Many of the elements were popped up using different thicknesses of foam tape to give it a 3-D look. Here's a closeup to give you an idea of all the dimension. I used Stampin' UP!'s dimensionals for the thinner layers and Therm O Web foam squares for the thicker layers. I also used two different papers for each flower to give them a variegated look as well as some additional dimension.

The sentiment layer was also popped up with the foam squares. As I often say, much of my design is about covering up mistakes and that's how the sentiment came to be....I had a flub on my airbrushing and got some green on the blue and had to cover it up!


The butterflies were all stamped on the Urban Prairie Hayfield paper, cut out, covered with Glossy Accents to give them some stability.

Here's a closeup of the one I adhered to my bow. The ribbon is from Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Ribbon Store and is a dream to work with! I used the Bow Easy to make the bow - you can also get that invaluable tool through Sharon. The butterfly was adhered with a glue dot.



I cut out 2 of the ladybugs from the Hayfield paper (THAT was a challenge in and of itself!!), covered them with Glossy Accents and stuck them on top of my brads for the sentiment panel.

Sorry for the novel but there is a lot going on with this card! Thanks for hanging in here with me!

Hope your weekend is going well!

OCC Challenge - Pet Parade

This month my good friend, Jenny Gropp, is hosting the weekly challenges over at Our Creative Corner, and she graciously asked me to be the guest designer for this week's challenge! What a great week I'm having! The theme for the challenge this week is Pet Parade - use a cat or dog image, but if you don't have one, then you may substitute another animal image.

For my card, I started with this week's sketch from Splitcoast Stampers (SC236). Next, I pulled out my stash of cat-themed papers and stamps and decided that the paper I used at the top would be perfect - it's a 12"x12" piece that has a cat collar across the top with the tags hanging down. I selected the section with these three tags because they went perfectly (or is it purrfectly...) with my stamp and to describe my own three cats (not that we have real mice in the house, only cat nip filled ones)! The collar paper is from Carol Wilson Fine Arts and the paw print paper is from Rhonna Farrer.

The stamp of the three cats is from Class Act Stamps and the sentiment is from Whipper Snapper Designs. The twill ribbon is from Creative Impressions and was colored with Copic markers and then stapled to the sentiment layer using the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher Stapler. Finally, I added some rhinestones to the collar and to the crown.

Please check out the other sample cards from the OCC designers on the OCC blog and remember, there is no time limit on the OCC challenges - feel free to participate whenever you are able. To play along, upload your creation to your blog or gallery, then leave us a comment linking to your project so we can check it out. If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword: OCCC.

That's about it! Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Gobsmacked!

Sorry to do two posts in one day, but I have BIG news to share! I won the first challenge of the Cornish Heritage Farms Summer Stamp Star Challenge for the card I posted on Monday! I received the email with the announcement first thing this morning but couldn't say anything until it had been posted on the CHF blog, which is why I didn't include it in my earlier post.

There were SIXTY entries in the challenge and my little card WON! I've been on cloud nine all morning!!! As our English friends say - I'm gobsmacked!

Here's the announcement - Announcing First Week's Winner.

Belli Challenge - Add texture

This week's Creative Belli Challenge is to add texture. What kind of texture? Anything that you can "feel" on your card - Magic Mesh, flocking, Flower Soft, velvet, or even hammered metal.

For my card, I decided to use Flower Soft. Once again I inked up my Vintage Picnic set from Papertrey Ink, this time using the tulip topper. I colored the image using Copic markers and then added Sweet Pea Flower Soft to the tulip blooms.

I used my friend Silke's sketch from Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge 21 for my layout. The patterned paper is from a K & Company K-ology Hannah paper pad that I won a while back from my friend Pat Adam. I thought it matched my Sweet Pea Flower Soft perfectly. The card base is Papertrey Ink Kraft, the ribbon for the bow is from Offray and the ric rac is from My Mind's Eye. The gold beads on the card and the basket are from Michael's.

Check out what the other Belli girls have created over on the Belli blog. I hope you will play along with us in our texture challenge! To play, add a link to your creation using Mr. Linky over on the Creative Belli Challenge blog at the bottom of today's post.

Hope your week is going well so far! Thanks for stopping by!

You're always there

As soon as I saw this stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms, I had to have it! I wanted to color the bird as a robin, of course, but I thought the image was perfect with the sentiment. I finally inked it up this weekend and colored it with Copic markers as my entry for the first challenge in CHF's Summer Stamp Star Design Challenge.

The image was stamped on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. After I colored the image and cut it out using a Nestabilities die, I covered it with a mask made of Eclipse masking tape. I also tore the edge of an extra piece of the masking tape and moved the torn edge of the paper around the background, airbrushing over it to create the clouds.

I layered the stamped image on top of a sheet of Desert Coral Prismatics card stock and trimmed it close on three sides. The bottom edge was cut using a Martha Stewart border punch and layered on top of a piece of Eames Painting Canvas Brown Umber card stock that was cut with the same border punch. The sentiment was popped up in the center with some foam squares. The orange ribbon is from Martha Stewart and the button is from BasicGrey, as is the background paper. The card base is 51/2" square and was also cut from Eames Painting Canvas Brown Umber card stock. For the last little detail, I added some Glossy Accents to the drop of water and the bird's eye.

Thanks for looking and be sure to check back on Wednesday for the next Creative Belli Challenge. I hope you have a great week!

Happy Birthday You Old Bird!

A very good friend of mine had a birthday last week, and this is the card I made for her. It was a quick card that I made right before I headed out of town for a conference (which explains why I have been such a bad blogger for the last week). I was in Las Vegas from Monday through Thursday and am glad to be back home. I'm not a Vegas girl...

Anyway, Tina and I were Chi Omega sorority sisters in college. Chi Omega's symbol is the owl, so over the years we have done a lot of owl gifts and cards. When I saw this Inkadinkado set with the owls and this sentiment, I had to have it for her! She is four months older than I am, and I have often teased her about being older, so this sentiment was perfect. She has collected rabbits as long as I have known her, so that explains the rabbit brads on the sentiment. That, to me, is one of the greatest things about making cards - you can customize them with the perfect little details, just for your recipient.

I used Card Positioning Systems' CPS120 sketch, the stamps and the patterned paper as my starting points. The patterned paper panel behind the owl image is the reverse side of the patterned paper used for the larger panel, which is from Best Creations. I wanted to show as many of the owls on the background paper as I could, so I trimmed the left edge of the second layer close to the giraffe's head and neck. The stamped image was colored and airbrushed with Copic markers, and cut out using a square Nestabilities die. The mat layer is Bazzill Bling card stock that was cut out using a Labels Three Nestabilities die.

That's about it for this one. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!

Lavender Get Well and Blog Candy Winner!

Good morning! Happy Monday! First things first, I want to announce the winner of the blog candy from my blogaversary celebration last week. I used Random.org to make the selection and the winner is....

Marie B. said...
Wow! Hello Robin! I came here by way of Jenny's blog, and I really love these stamps! How cool are they?!? Love the colors you chose to work with on your card...this is the first time I have heard of Repeat Impressions too, and I wonder why??? Must check it out! :) Happy blogaversary too!
June 23, 2009 8:44 PM

Congratulations, Marie! Please send me an email (RobinKirk@aol.com) with your selection and contact information!

OK, on to today's card! I recently needed a get well card for a good friend who had surgery and loves lavender. This Lockhart Stamp Company image fit the bill perfectly! Once I had selected the image, I decided to use this sketch from the Clean & Simple blog as my starting point. The patterned paper is from the Memory Box Biscotti collection and the card stock is from the Prism Majestic Purple Pack. I stamped the image on Rustic White card stock and colored it with Copic markers. I used a larger square Nestabilities die to draw the outline with a Lavender Copic Spica pen. The Feel Better sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages set and was stamped using Adirondack Eggplant ink. That's about it for this clean and simple card!

Thanks to everyone who left such nice comments for the blog candy giveaway. I really appreciate all your kind words! Have a great week and try to keep cool!

Friday Three-Fer

I wanted to post another card this week using my Quartet stamp from Repeat Impressions and when I saw this morning's Stamp Simply Challenge over at Sharon Johnson's blog, and the Flourishes Friday newsletter, I was all set with ideas! I also wanted to participate in Sharon's challenge in honor of my friend Jenny, who has just become a permanent member of Sharon's Stamp Simply team. Congrats, Jenny!

On to the details of my three-fer card:
1. Use the Repeat Impressions quartet stamp - check!
2. Sharon's challenge - use Grass Green and Sky Blue AND paper piercing - check! You can't see the piercing too well in the photo, but I pierced little triangles in all four corners of the patterned paper background and all around the black mat under the quartet image.
3. Flourishes Friday - use a solid stamp - check!

I stamped the Quartet image using Versamark on glossy card stock, then heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. Next, I masked each segment of the stamp and sponged Stampin' UP!'s Baja Breeze and Ranger's Peeled Paint Distress Ink in opposite corners. The patterned papers are from BasicGrey's Urban Prairie 6x6 paper pack and the ribbon is Baja Breeze striped grosgrain. My cute little bow was made using the Bow Easy, which you can get from Sharon's store.

If you haven't done so already, please sign up for a chance to win an unmounted sheet of four of these quartet stamps by leaving a comment on my blogoversary post from Tuesday. And check back Monday morning when I'll be announcing the winner!

Have a great weekend!

Thinking of .... cooler weather!

Good morning! I thought I would show you another card I made recently using Repeat Impressions stamps. Wendy asked each of us to make a 'green' card, allowing us to interpret 'green' however we wanted. So I chose this Chickadee at Rest stamp (211-P), a Kraft card base and Rustic Wood buttons, thinking that it's green because of the pine needles, but also because of all the natural elements.

I started out by determining the right size oval Nestabilities die for my frame, then I colored directly on my stamp using Stampin UP! markers in Handsome Hunter, Chocolate Chip and Really Rust. After I stamped the image on the card, I taped my die to the card front, put a layer of scrap card stock on top of it, folded the back of the card on top, crossed my fingers and ran it through my Wizard with just the rubber embossing mat. It always makes me a little nervous doing this on a one layer card, for fear my die will move or I'll get unwanted indentations on the card (which is why I add the layer of scrap card stock), but it worked! Once I had that done, I used my white opaque pen to add a little frostiness to the pine needles and branch, and I used my Atyou Spica pens to add some shimmer to the pine needles and the chickadee's eye.

Next, I added some Papertrey Ink Rustic Jute Button twine to my Rustic Wood buttons, frayed the ends of the twine and adhered them in the corners with glue dots. Finally, I stamped the sentiment in the lower left corner, using a stamp positioner.

To keep the 'green' theme going, I also inked up this pine cone border (1506-M) stamp with the Handsome Hunter and Chocolate Chip markers and stamped it at the top on the inside of the card.

This was a quick, easy card to make, and it's helping me think of cooler weather - we're having some HOT temperatures here in Atlanta this week!

Finally, if you haven't already done so, please register for my blog candy giveaway by leaving a comment below on Tuesday's post. I'll be announcing the winner Monday morning. If you're going to be in the Orlando area this weekend, stop by the Repeat Impressions booth at Stampfest Orlando, say hi to Wendy and check out all their great stamps!

Have a great day and thanks for looking!

Belli Challenge - Patriotic Card

Today's Creative Belli Challenge was to make a patriotic themed card. Since the new design team members were just selected over the weekend, we weren't required to participate; however, I just received the Papertrey Ink Vintage Picnic set on Monday, so I decided to go ahead and participate! What a fun set this one is - so many possibilities!

I used last week's sketch from Splitcoast Stampers' sketch challenge, and papers from the 8x8 BasicGrey Boxer pad. The card base is Papertrey Ink's Kraft card stock (my all time favorite for card bases...) The picnic basket was stamped on Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select card stock, as were all of the other elements, and colored with Copic markers. I stamped the stars and flag topper twice and cut out the two larger stars and the flag to mount them with some foam tape. The plaid napkin and the bunch of strawberries were also mounted with foam tape.

Here's a close up so you can see the popped up elements. I also highlighted the stars, the napkin and the strawberries with Atyou Spica glitter pens in various colors.

I added some gold beads to the corners of the main image, the corners of the largest panel and one on the center of the largest star. That's about it!

Don't forget to sign up for my blog candy if you haven't already done so. Just leave a comment on this card to be eligible to win a sheet of four of Repeat Impressions' new Quartets stamps. I'll announce the winner here on Monday morning.

Enjoy your day! Thanks for looking.

Happy Blogoversary to me, Blog Candy, AND an announcement!

Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog, so I'm offering a little blog candy to celebrate. Leave a comment on this post between now and Sunday at midnight EST and I will draw a winner at random Monday morning. The details of the blog candy are at the end of this post.

Today's card was made using a new stamp from Repeat Impressions. Wendy has come out with a new series of stamps called Quartets. These stamps offer a lot of versatility as they are 4"x4" square and divided into four equal sections. For this card, I chose to go with a semi-monochromatic color scheme and stamped the butterfly quartet using VersaColor Celadon ink, to match my background.

I stamped the quartet twice on Papertrey Ink Rustic White card stock, inked all the edges, cut out the upper left and lower right quadrants and popped them up on foam tape. For the butterfly in the upper left corner of the quartet, I went over the stamped image with a Copic Spica glitter pen to give it a little more definition and some shimmer. In the upper right quadrant, I cut out one of the butterflies from my second stamping, using a Martha Stewart butterfly punch, and adhered it with a glue strip just in the center of its body so I could pop up its wings. I added three clear rhinestones for the body.

The card base is a black textured card stock base, with a layer of Hambly patterned paper and a Hambly screen print on top. The ribbon is May Arts silk ribbon that I colored with a Copic marker. The butterfly charm is from Pixie Press and the flowers are from my stash.

For the inside of the card, I repeated the layers of patterned paper and screen print, and added another butterfly on top:

Hope you enjoy this quartet card and can imagine the possibilities it offers. To see samples of cards using some of the other quartet stamps that are available (there are 12 in all), please be sure to check out these cards made by my fellow Repeat Impressions design team members, Jenny Gropp and Sandy Hulsart.

AND, I have another big piece of news to share today - I have been asked to be a member of the Creative Belli Challenge Design Team. I'm very excited to participate in the bi-weekly challenges put on by the Creative Belli team, so please check back regularly to see what challenges are brewing!

OK, FINALLY, on to the blog candy.... Wendy at Repeat Impressions is graciously offering an unmounted sheet of quartet stamps for my blogoversary candy! That means you will win not one, not two, not three, but FOUR quartet stamps! A quartet of quartets!

Here are three different sheets you will be able to select from if you are the winner:

Plate 8500

Plate 8500b

Plate 8500c

To win the blog candy, leave a comment on THIS post before midnight (EST) on Sunday, June 28. I will select a winner at random and announce the winner on Monday morning, June 29.

SO sorry for the novel - thanks for hanging in there with me! Have a great day!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Inspiration Challenge

Last Tuesday the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge was an inspiration challenge. The challenge was to search through the posters from Kimberly Poloson on the Allposters.com web site and select one to use as your inspiration for a card. Only problem? I missed the whole 'Kimberly Poloson' part of the challenge, so I went to Allposters.com and just started looking through ALL the posters....there are a LOT of them! LOL! I had decided that I wanted to use the tulip from the Thank You set, so I narrowed my search to posters with tulips, and found this one that I knew would be perfect to go with this patterned paper- Memories of Sienna II. Off I went and made this first card.

Later, when I went to post the card for the challenge, I discovered the whole 'Kimberly Poloson' thing....so I started over! Back to Allposters.com to search again. This time I found this poster - Bel Bouquet I - that I thought would be great using the Sweet Peas set. So off I went to make this second card!



For the first card, the patterned paper is from Frances Meyer, the card stock is Papertrey Ink Kraft and Rustic White, and Prismatics Island Mist. Stamps are all from Flourishes (Birds and vine, and Thank you, and Ornamental Elements). The tulips were colored with Copic markers, cut out and popped up with foam tape. The flower images from Birds and Vines were stamped in the upper left and bottom left corners of the patterned paper and the main flourish from Ornamental Elements was stamped on the rustic white card stock behind the tulips. The ribbon is May Arts taupe silk from Sharon's Ribbon Store.

For the second card, the card stock is Papertrey Ink's Rustic Cream and Stampin' UP!'s Bravo Burgundy. I used a variety of stamps on this one - the backgrounds are Linen from Stampin UP! and Le London Script from Stampendous. The flowers are from Flourishes Sweet Peas set and were colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Flourishes' Flourished Words set. The ribbon is May Arts ivory silk that I colored with Antique Linen Distress Ink to match the card. The copper pearls are from Kaisercraft.

Hope you had a nice weekend! Please be sure to check back tomorrow for a chance to win some blog candy!

Strawberry thank you

I needed a thank you card recently, so I made this card using the June 6th sketch challenge from Our Creative Corner. The strawberry collage image is a new stamp I recently got from the Angel Company. The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics and Spicas. The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms.

The card base is Papertrey Ink's Kraft card stock with a layer of their Vintage Cream on top. The patterned paper is from Provocraft Pathways Romance Pad and is matted with Stampin' UP's Always Artichoke. The main image is matted with Riding Hood Red in addition to the Always Artichoke. The Riding Hood Red layer was cut using a Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities die. The square green brads are from Bazzill and the ribbon is from the Paper Source.

Not a lot to it, but I liked the way it turned out and it came together pretty quickly - start to finish it was about an hour. That's the closest I'll ever get to a ten-minute card!

Hope you're having a good week. Thanks for looking!

Don't forget to check back next week for a chance to win some blog candy!

Never give up!

Happy Monday! Hope you had a nice weekend! I was glad to be home after a week on the road for work.

A few weeks ago, Ellen Hutson posted a tutorial in The Classroom about a technique called ghosting and I thought I would give it a try. The technique involves stamping with white pigment ink, then inking over it to accentuate the stamped image. The white stamped image will resist the ink, leaving a ghost-like effect. I used a wood grain background stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms, stamped with Ranger Snow Cap Pigment ink on a regular shipping tag. I sponged some Ranger Distress Ink in Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Weathered Wood around the tag to accentuate the wood grain.

Once my tag was complete, I stamped the fly fisherman and sentiment, also from Cornish Heritage Farms, in Memento Rich Cocoa ink. Both were cut out using Nestabilities dies (I cut out the fishing line section first, and slid the die under it in order to keep it from being cut by the die) and sponged with the Distress Inks while still in the die. I assembled the card using the Card Architecture Blue Print #1 sketch that Ellen provided in the Ghosting post.

My background paper is a wood grain pattern from Basic Grey's Granola collection. On top of that, I layered my ghosted tag, then a couple of strips of blue papers, also from Granola, then my main image and the sentiment. The sentiment was topped off with a couple of Papertrey Ink's Rustic Wood buttons and twine. The end result is a nice masculine card.

Next week is my one year anniversary of blogging and I'll be giving away some goodies to celebrate, so be sure to check back!

Thanks for looking and have a great week!

Belli Challenge - Happy Father's Day

This week I have the honor of being the Guest Designer over at the Creative Belli Challenge blog as a result of winning the May 13th color challenge with this card. The challenge for this week is to make a Father's Day card using the sketch provided.

I used Gina K. Design's King of the Grill stamp set and paper pieced the golf bag with Stampin' UP's Manchester patterned paper collection. The sky and grass were airbrushed with Copic markers. I stamped the golf clubs twice and cut them out, then cut a slit across the top of the golf bag and slid them in. I modified some white brads to make them look like golf balls by adding some light gray 'dimples' using my Copic markers.

For the inside of the card, I layered a matted strip of the patterned paper and added another set of golf clubs on top of that.

This was a fun card to make and it was great to experience being a guest designer for the first time! Thanks to the Creative Belli Blog ladies for giving me the opportunity!

Hope you're having a great week! Thanks for looking!