Stamp of the Week - Crowned Crane Deco

Good Monday morning!  Happy Memorial Day to those of you in the US!  It's time for another Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week!  This week's stamp, which is available for 50% off through June 6th, over on the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built, is the Crowned Crane Deco stamp.  Head over to the blog to see what the rest of the design team has created with this stamp!

I stamped the image using Spring Moss ink, cut it out and matted it with a Nestabilites Labels Ten mat layer.  all of the patterned papers are from BasicGrey's LilyKate collection.  I added some pale green pearls to the ends of the mat and then added a crocheted flower on top of the Spring Moss satin ribbon.   I figure this card will be good for a sympathy card, or birthday or thinking of you card, so I will wait to add a sentiment when the time comes to send it out.

Be sure to remember our fallen soldiers today - their sacrifices ensure our freedom, for which we are so very grateful.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Memorial Day!

Sketch Plus Three Challenge

I made this card to play along with Joanne Basile's Sketch Plus Three challenge, celebrating her 500,000th hit on her blog.  Joanne provided the sketch and a list of nine options you could include on your card, you had to pick at least three. I thought that was a fun and creative challenge and managed to use four of the items on my card - text printed papers (the peach background paper), kraft paper (the card base), bling (Stickles in the heart in her hair and black and gold Spica pens to color her shoes) and paper piecing (her dress).

I used two different Pure Innocence stamps - My Basket of Eggs and Flower Girl.  I stamped the flower from the Flower Girl image three times and placed it, along with some grass paper in the basket in place of the eggs.  Then I covered the flowers with some Spring Flower Soft.

The patterned papers are from the Webster's Pages Lullaby Lane and Life's Portrait Combo Pack and the ribbon roses are from Webster's Pages Bloomers Spring 2010.  I cinched the Bloomers up between the flowers, added the buttons and tied the bows with twine.

Hope you're enjoying your  Memorial Day Weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Silver Weekend

Happy Friday! I don't have a card to post today, but I wanted to share this project and thought it was apropos to kickoff my silver weekend - Monday is our 25th wedding anniversary, so we are celebrating this weekend!

Last Sunday I attended a soldering class with Barbara McGuire at Bonnie's Best Tools and made this pendant, using some stamped images, microscope slides and a charm.  I started with the butterfly image, which had been sized to fit the microscope slide and printed on plain white paper.  I stamped the postmark and other images and distressed the white background with some Antique Linen Distress Ink.  

Next came the soldering of the edges, which was tricky at first, but once I was comfortable, it was actually pretty forgiving.  If you have a bumpy, lumpy edge, just heat it up again with the soldering iron to flatten it out!

The hardest part was adding the loop at the top and the butterfly charm - Barbara had to do those for me, so I'll need to practice that.  It's certainly not perfect, but it turned out much better than I was expecting!

Here's the back of the pendant.  Again, I started with just the dragonfly image and then stamped the script and postage mark images.  Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm going to do with it!
Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Belli Challenge #92 - Sketch and Flat Bellies!

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is a sketch challenge, plus the Belli challenge is to use flat embellishments - no bows, no buttons, no brads, egads! How do you make a card without all those wonderful, lumpy, bumpy, bulky embellishments?? Well, that's the challenge, now isn't it?  That and the fact that I haven't had a flat belly since I was in high school....but I digress...

For my card, I inked up my brand spankin' new Up, Up and Away set from Papertrey Ink and used my new balloon and cloud dies. I stamped a map for the background, then stamped my sentiment on top of that, layered some sky paper that I cut with a large scallop die and then added my balloons and felt clouds. This is as clean and simple as I get!

Here's this week's sketch:

To play along with us, make a card using the sketch and flat embellishments and add a direct link to your card on today's Belli Challenge post, using Mr. Linky. Please be sure to check out what the rest of the Belli Girls have done with the sketch and their flat bellies!

Thanks for stopping by!

Playful Puppy Sketch Challenge Card (M1910)

Happy Wednesday! Hope your week is going well!  It's time for another sketch challenge over at Repeat Impressions.  Here's the sketch that Wendy created for this week's challenge:

For my card, I used the Playtime Puppy (4301-K) stamp and one of the sentiments from the Quartet Complements set.  I'm sure they look like an odd combination of stamps, but a good friend recently lost her dog and this was the sympathy card I sent to her.

I used BasicGrey's Max and Whiskers papers and a kraft card base.  For the three elements in the bottom right corner of the sketch, I added a sticker strip of paw prints.  Please check out what the rest of the design team has done with the sketch and be sure to play along!  We had some great entries in the last sketch challenge and Wendy is offering a very generous prize, so head on over to the Repeat Impressions blog and check out the details!  You have until June 1st to enter to win a $25 gift certificate!

Thanks for stopping by!

Live, Laugh, Love

It's time for another Stamp of the Week from Repeat Impressions.  This week's stamp is this Live, Laugh, Love sentiment panel (#3108).  Be sure to head over to the Repeat Impressions blog for details on how to get this stamp at half price and to see the fabulous cards the rest of the design team has created with it!

I heat embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder and mounted it on a mat of copper Stardreams Stationery that was cut using a Large Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities die.  The patterned paper is from SEI's Moravia collection.  That luscious ribbon is May Arts' Faux Linen from Ellen Hutson.  I added a few rhinestone crystals from Memory Box and some score lines to finish it off. 

ETA: Forgot to mention that my card is based on the Stamp Simply sketch from last week!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Crafty Birthday (CTD92, SC280)

This week one of my Krafty Kat friends is having a birthday, so I pulled out my Papertrey Ink Studio Style set and my new October Afternoon Thrift Shop papers and whipped up this little gem.  The color scheme is from last week's Color Throwdown #92.  The challenge colors were Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Old Olive and Kraft.  I had originally intended to use a Kraft card base, then completely forgot it was one of the colors and used Old Olive.  Hopefully the lid on the button jar will count!   It was colored with a gold Spica glitter pen.

I used last week's sketch from Splitcoast Stampers for my layout.   I made the ruffled flower using two of the smallest sizes of my Big Scalloped Circles Nestabilities dies and a yellow rhinestone brad.  I inked the edges of each layer of the flower with So Saffron ink.

I stamped the button jar and ribbon spool images and cut them out, then colored them each with Copic markers.  I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the button jar to make it look like glass.

When I adhered the main image panel to the card, I realized that I had placed it higher up than I had intended, which left more of the yellow panel exposed than I wanted, so that's how the little button treatment in the bottom right corner was born!

I used two of the sentiments from the set on the inside, along with a few scraps leftover from the front.


For the envelope, I used the leftover negative spaces from the layers behind the main image on the front of the card and added some self-adhesive rhinestones to each of the corners.   With all the scraps I used, I probably should have signed the card to the Crafty Girl from the Thrifty Girl!

Happy Birthday, Sue!  Hope it's a good one!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a Sunshiney Day!

My niece is going on a mission trip to El Salvador this summer and needed to raise some money to help fund her trip, so I whipped up this little card to send to her, with a check enclosed.  I love these little Pure Innocence stamps from My Favorite Things - they are really easy to paper piece, which is what I did for her outfit, using the same papers I used for the two strips behind the main image. 

I used last week's Sketch For You To Try for my layout and the color combination from last week's Color Throwdown #91, which were Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise and Kiwi Kiss.  These BasicGrey Lemonade papers were perfect for those colors.

I used two different border punches for the mat layers under the strips, matching the punch design to go with its corresponding patterned paper, and added three rhinestone flowers in the bottom corner. The background was airbrushed using a Copic marker.  Pretty simple, but fun!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Who Loves You?

This silly card was made using four little owl stamps, from the Paper Source, Impression Obsession, Inkadinkado and Sassafras Lass (Oliver and Friends).  I used the Inchie Inklings Inchie Card Sketch #3 for my layout and stamped each owl on an Inchie square, colored them with Copic markers and then matted them with two different shades of green card stock. 

The patterned paper and matching ribbon are from Adornit's Fern Collection - Owls All Around.  The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farm's U R A Hoot set.  Pretty simple, fun little card!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Mother's Day!

OK, I'm a day late and a dollar short...but here is the Mother's Day card I made for my mother.  My day got away from me yesterday and I didn't get a chance to post it.

For as long as I can remember, my mother has been into some sort of sewing- crewel embroidery, needlepoint, smocking and even home decor items like drapes, table covers and pillows, so this Cosmo Cricket Material Girl paper and JustRite Stampers Stitched with Love stamp set were a perfect choice for her card. 

I added a few 'notions' to complete the sewing theme - buttons tied with embroidery floss on the heart, a mini safety pin to attach the tag to the bow and a mini clothespin to attach the ribbon flag.  The heart is paper pieced using some of the Material Girl papers, which I also used for my mat layers.  I airbrushed the background of my main panel and added a little faux stitching, in keeping with the sewing theme.

There is another stamp of the week 50% off special over at the Repeat Impressions blog today - the adorable Clover Bunny stamp is this week's featured stamp.  Be sure to head over there and see what some of my fellow design team members have made using it. 

Finally, for some reason, one of my posts last week was not delivered to any of my AOL subscribers.  So, if you didn't receive an email last Wednesday, please check out the card I posted by clicking here! It was for Repeat Impressions first ever sketch challenge, which is open until May 18th, so please check it out and play along!
Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great week!  Mine is getting off to a great start - remember this fun excursion?  Well, we are all getting together again today for another fun-filled adventure!

 

RI Sketch Challenge M510

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for the first Repeat Impressions' WHAT IF? Wednesday challenge (As in… What if I showed you this? What would you create?) and this week it's a sketch challenge.  I decided to make a masculine card....ha! This is probably one of the most feminine cards I've ever made.... 

I used the 912-K, Tulip Bouquet stamp.  The image was colored with Copic markers and the background was airbrushed while it was still in the die.  I added yellow rhinestones for the flower centers (click on the photo to see it larger).  The patterned papers are from BasicGrey's Porcelain 6x6 paper pad.  For the ribbon treatment, I tied my bow using some luscious pink silk ribbon, then I tied my three buttons around it using embroidery floss.  The final touch was to add the pink pearls in each of the four corners of the largest square panel.  My finished card measures 5" x 6 1/2".

Please be sure to check out the details of the challenge, along with the rest of the design team's challenge cards by heading over to the Repeat Impressions blog.  We hope you will play along with us and make a card using this sketch.  You'll need to link your card to today's post over on The House that Stamps Built, and if you post it to an online gallery, use keyword M510.   The challenge with this sketch is open until 5:00 PM ET May 18th and the winner will receive a $25 gift certificate at Repeat Impressions! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy the rest of your week.

 

Stamp of the Week - Wild Violets and an award!

Happy Monday to you!  Hope you had a good weekend!   It's time for another Stamp of the Week over at the Repeat Impressions blog!  This week we are featuring the 1706-I, Wild Violets stamp.  In order to get the 50% discount on the Stamp of the Week, you have to visit the blog to get the discount code and a link to the stamp.

I stamped the violets on a Twinchie square and colored them with Copic markers and then I added a yellow crystal to the center of each violet.  The blue background was sponged on to look like sky and then I matted the Twinchie on several layers of patterned paper and card stock.  I stamped my sentiment, from the Quartet Complements Series, on the bottom panel, but stamped each word separately because they are on top of each other  on the stamp and wouldn't have fit there otherwise.  The patterned papers are all from BasicGrey's Wisteria collection and I used this week's Sketch for You to Try for my layout.

Please be sure to check out what the rest of the Repeat Impressions team has done with the Stamp of the Week:

Dana Joy
Makiko Jones
Harriet Skelly
Joy Hadden
Lynette Neus
Julie Smith
Darsie Bruno

My good blogging friend, Lynette, bestowed this Sunshine award to me for “spreading sunshine” - how nice! Lynette and I 'met' after I left a comment on her blog, so this award is perfect!  It shows how important comments are to us bloggers!  So, in appreciation for all the nice comments they have left me, I am passing this award on to:

Anne Harada
Anne Harmon
Chris Dickinson
Holly Brown
Janine Orchard
Joan Ervin
Joanne Travis
Marcy Antle
Maria Matter
Penny Allen
Sandy Hulsart
Silke Ledlow

Thanks, ladies for all your sweet comments, they really do mean a lot!

Here are the rules for the Sunshine Award:

1. Put the Sunshine Award on your blog and/or within your post.
2. Pass the award to 10-12 other bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award.

Enjoy your week - we are experiencing a deluge today....Thanks for stopping by!