No Rectangles Allowed! PaperBlooms shaped card challenge

• I am so excited! This is my official debut as a member of the PaperBlooms design team! Yeah! Joing the design team along with me are Shelly and Rose. And of course bringing us all together is Leah. Leah is the very talented lady who creats all these beautiful handmade paperblooms crocheted embellies! They are so amazing, check out Leah's Esty shop! You will be happy you did! On to today's business:
  
  Today's PaperBlooms Challenge is to make a shaped card. No Rectangles Allowed. Sounds fun, right? I could not wait to get started on it. And, as per the norm, the card did not turn out like I first thought in my head. That is okay, if I think too much, they tend to get ruined. ok, to get back on track ... My shape for this card is the large scalloped octagon nestability. Dont worry, if you dont have nestabilites, there are plenty of other ways to make a non-rectangle card. Be inventive!
  

• Stamps: Beautiful Butterflies (clear dollar stamps)
• Paper: Pretty in Pink, Lovely Lilac
• Ink: Stazon Jet Black
• Tools: Large Scalloped Octagon Nestabilities, d'vine swirls embossing folder
• Accessories: Handmade Butterflies from Leah's Esty Shop, dew drops
  
  Remember, you dont have to have any of Leah's amazing blooms to play along, but if you want, you can check out what she has to offer HERE. She even takes custom orders! I cant wait to see what you all come up with!

OCCC Sketch Challenge Pretty Perches 6/27

This is totally not how I pictured this card turning out when I started. But I think that the card knew better what it wanted to look like, so here is my submission for this week's Our Creative Corner sketch challenge. I knew I wanted to use my new dsp and new in-colors, and I really wanted to use this super cute stamp set
Pretty Perches designed by the very talented Laurie Wilson at Clear Dollar Stamps. Now that is alot of links! lol.. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!

• Paper: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry textured, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Razzleberry Lemonade dsp & whisper white
• Ink: Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry & Old Olive
• Stamps: Pretty Perches (clear dollar) Trendy Trees (su) - sentiment
• Tools: Lables 3 nesties, Word window, sponging
• Accessories: Old Olive grosgrain ribbon

The Pink Elephant #21 color challenge

This week at The Pink Elephant, the challenge is to use your favorite color combo. Yikes! I have so many!! But when I stopped to think about it I realized that this is my favorite color combo: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss and Basic Grey. I just think they are so elegant and fun at the same time. And it is fitting that there is just one more day and these colors are gone {sniff, sniff}. Well, Basic Grey is sticking around at least! I used some of my other fav's today like nestabilities, dsp, and the upsy daisy stamp.

• PAPER: Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Urban Oasis, whisper white
• INK: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss and Basic Grey
• STAMPS: Upsy Daisy & Heard from the Heart (su)
• TOOLS: Mega Nesties curved rectangles, labels 4, ticket corner punch, sponging
• ACCESSORIES: Kiwi Kiss Ribbon, Basic Grey Bling

I am trying a different format for my blogging, instead of blabbing on and on about the details of my card, I will copy Cassie and just list the make up of the card. I tend to be a bit wordy and I dont want to loose people in my ramblings! Let me know what you think .. wordy rambling or listed ingredients? Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your insite!

Yup! I'm posting again! Papercraft Planet sketch challenge sk062709

Today I decided to play along with the papercraft planet sketch challenge. I believe this is the first time for me! I have two nephews with birthdays coming up soon so I needed to make "boy" cards although they are both in their 20's. Ok, one is my actual nephew and the other might as well be. Anyway, I utilized the sketch to come up with something "boyish". I used my brand new dsp tall tales (su) and Zoo Critters from clear dollar stamps. I stamped the lion on watercolor paper with stazon jet black ink and watercolored him combining chocolate chip and so saffron inks. I used my pinking circles nestie for the circle element in chocolate chip. The top three panels are backed with brillant blue and the bottom is dsp from tall tales dsp, the flip side of the top panels. I used so saffron ribbon and stamped the sentiment in chocolate chip right onto the dsp. I did move the circle element from the right side to the left so the lion on the dsp would not be covered up. He was the main reason I went with this paper! hee hee.. Thanks for stopping by! It is still raining cats and dogs here in El Paso, so who knows what I will have for you tomorrow!

Just for Fun on a rainy Sunday in the desert

Last summer I found this cute little bucket and made a bunch of chipboard flowers to put in it, and when we moved to el paso, not many of them actually survived the trip. Well, today I got the idea in my head to update my "floral arrangement" with some new dsp and new shapes. I was drawn to these cute birdies from on board So Tweet. In fact all the chipboard here is from So Tweet! I used Tall Tales, Pink Flamingo, and Razzleberry Lemonade dsp and tempting turquoise, rich razzleberry, melon mambo and chocolate chip inks. I used kiwi kiss corduroy brads for the owl's eyes and for a flower center, and the other flower has a kiwi kiss button from button bouquet. I used silver brads to connect the legs and tail feathers to the birds and rhinestone brads for their eyes. The other flowers are from flower fusion felt flowers. I used skewer sticks stuck into a foam ball cut in half to make everything stand up, and to stick the stick on, I used stinky rubber cement. Dont forget to ventelate your work area! Whew! I had alot of fun with this project, I just love these birds and I hadnt done alot with them till today!

This is an idea that got stuck in my head.. making a triptic card. I stamped the large flower from Fifth Ave Floral (su) on watercolor paper andwatercolored with baja breeze. I watercolored the rest of the watercolor paper with kiwi kiss ink and a pretty saturated watercolor pen. I mounted that on baja breeze and then cut it into three pieces. I intended the three pieces to be the same, but as you can see, math is not my strong suit. But I am happy how it looks all the same. My card is basic grey, ribbon is baja breeze adorned with a kiwi kiss corduroy brad. The sentiment is from chit chat rub ons in whisper white. It took awhile for this card to grow on me, I wasnt going to post it, but, here I am, posting it anyway :0) Thanks for stopping by! Your kind words always make my day with a big smile! Thank you!

Clear Dollar July Guest Designer Challenge !!

Ok, here is my submission for this month's Clear Dollar July Guest Designer Challenge. This month, it is a sketch challenge. Yesterday, my New Stampin up stuff arrived and today my new Peony nesties arrived so, I knew I just had to use my new stuff! Appropriately enough, I chose my favorite stamp set: Peony designed by the very talented Kim Teasdale . I broke out my new In Colors and chose Rich Razzleberry textured cardstock for my card, and Razzleberry Lemonade dsp for the two panels. I used textured Crushed Curry cardstock for the peony nesties as well as a Rich Razzleberry and watercolor paper. I watercolored the peony with Rich Razzleberry ink and used my old olive marker to highlight the stem and leaf. On the left nestie I used a build-a-brad (without the brad) with a 1/2"circle of Razzleberry Lemonade dsp to balance the sentiment stamped in Rich Razzleberry on the right. The top center has three dew drops for a final accent. All the edges, except for the watercolor paper is sponged with Rich Razzleberry. The more I look at this card, the more I fall in love with it. It took me a few minutes to warm up to it .... I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for stopping by and for making my day with your sweet comments! :0)

Clear Dollar Weekend Color Challenge #25 Chocolate Anyone?

Here is my take on this week's color challenge over at paper craft planet, Cassie chose to honor the in colors with riding hood red, kiwi kiss and summer sun, with an alternative chocolate chip and white as a neutral. Cassie's sample is so stunning it was very hard to not just case her card.. I had to physically stop myself from using that same stamp set! :0)This card actually took on a life of its own. I dont really feel like I planned it so much as just went with the flow.. So this is what I came up with! It is a big one, 41/4 x 8" -I cased the big card idea from a mojo monday from a couple weeks ago. I used riding hood red for my card detailing the edge with my new eyelet border punch. I put a strip of kiwi kiss under the eyelet border to set it off a little bit I also used the eyelet border on the bella rose dsp background. The chocolate chip dsp is also from bella rose dsp. I used my large curvy rectangles, circles and dahlia nesties. The stamp I chose is called Big Wishes designed by the very talented Shawnee at clear dollar stamps. It was a challenge to color, took alot of patience, because I could only watercolor! I went out on a limb and made the cake chocolate. Yum! I sponged all the edges with riding hood red and added two kiwi kiss ribbons and my very last bit of riding hood red striped ribbon. At the top of the ribbon is my attempt at adding more summer sun with three dew drops. Seems like I should have more to say about this card because it took me so long to put it together! But I think that is it! Thank you for stopping by and for making my day with your comments!! :0)

Two for One AGAIN! Color Throwdown #48 and Truly Scrumptions #10

Another double duty challenge submission! I just love these colors: kraft, baja breeze and pink pirouette from this week's color throwdown, as I was paying tribute to these incolors {sniff} my doorbell rang - FedEx - with my new in colors! Baja Breeze & Kiwi Kiss will always have a place in my crafting heart and up on my walls! ha ha Anyway, onto the description! The sketch is from the truly scrumptious blog It was totally fun to work on today! Just what I needed for a little afternoon boost! I used pink pirouette for my card, kraft dsp from urban oasis dsp (su) and baja breeze dsp. I used my large curvy rectangle nesties for the whisper white image panel and for the baja breeze dsp panel. I stamped one of my fav's -the Season of Friendship tree in baja breeze and adorned it with pink pirouette felt flowers and used kraft-ish brads to ahere them to the card. I used two large felt flowers (flower fusion II) topped with two buttons from button bouquet - baja breeze and pink pirouette - The sentiment is from the brand spanken - just got this afternoon-new Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set (su) stamped on a word window punch. All the edges are sponged in baja breeze. I do not have any photo corners like shown in the sketch so I used my piercing tool to immitate a photo corner. I think that's about it! Time to "make" some dinner! Thanks for stopping by and as always, I cherish any and all comments!

BIG NEWS BIG NEWS times 2 !!

Big News #1

I cant wait any longer!! Well, I dont have to wait any longer either :0) I have been asked by Leah at Paperblooms to join Shelly and Rose Miller on her challenge blog design team!! What?? Are you kidding! I could not say YES fast enough! I am more than honored to have been chosen and proud to display Leah's beautiful blooms and butterflies on my projects! WooHoo!
Leah's beautiful handmade blooms are available at her Esty shop she can even do custom orders! Our first challenge as the new design team starts next week, July 1st. Please come join us!
BIG NEWS #2
Do you love the challenges we do at paperblooms and would you like a chance to design with some Paper Blooms products?! If you said yes then simply email Leah your full name, where you live, your blog link and a little about yourself. I am looking for 3 guest designers who will each get one month on the team. The call is open until Saturday June 27th and you will be notified by Monday the 29th. Good luck!

Paper Blooms #12 Challenge - Be Inspired

Today's challenge at paperblooms today is to be inspired by what surrounds us.. What inspired me was the upcoming Independance day holiday and the fact that my husband is currently deployed AND the the leftover negative dahlia nestie I failed to toss out! I had my paper blooms spread out all over my table checking out all the great shapes and sizes all available at Leah's Esty Shop. This big red one caught my eye, paired with the negative dahlia, I grabbed not quite navy, real red and naturals white cardstock and this card was born. I cuttlebug embossed the not quite navy with curvy flowers and added a little dimention to my flower with a soft satiny ribbon from clear dollar that I tied a knot and threaded thru the middle of the flower. The sentiment is from stampin up's friendship flowers set, it has the some of my favorite quotes/sayings to add to a card! I first intended this to be a landscape layout, and just like always, the card took on a life of its own and it is now a portrait landscape!

Thank you for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!

Two for One! The Pink Elephant #20 Sketch & Splitcoast Color Challenge!

We all like a sale .. especially a two for one! And that is what you get here, 2 challenges, 1 card!
The sketch is from the pink elephant challenge blog and the colors are from the splitcoast tuesday color challenge. As we get ready to say goodbye to our beloved in colors, the challenge colors are pacific point, summer sun and tangerine tango. I had only inked up this cute toucan once before which resulted in a toucan in the trash can (lol ha ha). These colors made me think of him again, and since I am trying to focus my cards on not only the challege at hand, but to be appropriate for soldiers to send home to their loved ones. I am sending most all my cards (along with envies) to my husband in Iraq to share with all the soldiers in his company. Anyway ... This cute toucan is from the very versatile Zoo Critters stamp set from Clear Dollar Stamps. I used Good Morning Sunshine dsp and summer sun and pacific point cardstock cuttlebug embossed. I sponged the edges in pacific point and mounted them all on the 4x4 square pacific point cardstock. I used pacific point and tangerine tango ribbon, and tangerine tango and watercolor paper for the nesties. Mr Toucan is stapmed in stazon jet black and watercolored in pacific point, tangerine tango and summer sun. The sentiment is stamped on a word window punch in tangerine tango, sponged edges in tangerine tango adhered with vanilla brads. It took awhile for this card to grow on me, I almost didnt post it! But here it is in all his colorful glory! I will put him and about 30 other cards in the mail headed to Iraq tomorrow. My prayer is that the cards will warm the heart of a soldier's family member. There is nothing like a handwritten note sent home from war. Isnt that a song or something? {lol} Thank you for stopping by and any thoughts are welcomed and appreciated! Have a great day!

Card Patterns #20 sketch challenge

Hello Everyone! This is my submission for this week's sketch challenge over at the cardpatterns blog When I saw the sketch, It looked like a frame to me, and if you saw my house, you could probably guess that I love framed dsp. Yes, I have this exact dsp framed in my loft area. Anyway... I used my favorite dsp, urban oasis from stampin up, I actually cut this rectangle out of the middle of the sheet to get just the right picture. I mounted it on a piece of baja breeze and added kiwi kiss ribbon. That is all mounted on basic grey cardstock cut with the scallop edge punch. I have yet to perfect the scallop punch .. there has to be something I am missing! Anyway, the card is made in kiwi kiss and the sentiment is two rub ons from chit chat (su). The flowers are from flower fusion 1 & 2 adhered with pewter brads to mirror the basic grey cardstock. If anyone has some pointers on getting a nice clean cut from the scallop punch, I am all ears! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!

I'm one of the Featured Artist!s! Clear Dollar Weekend Color Challenge #24

Yup! You are reading right! I was chosen to be one of two featured artists for this last weekend's clear dollar stamps weekend color challege over at paper crafts planet. WOW! Two weeks in a row! When Cassie called me I thought she was pulling my leg, but nope ! Thank you Lisa for such a great honor! Check out Lisa's blog here. She is a very talented lady!

Clear Dollar Weekend Color Challenge #24

This weekend's clear dollar color challenge over at paper craft planet hosted by Lisa features some very fun summer colors!! This week, the colors are (su) chocolate chip, real red, taken with teal, lovely lilac (optional) and white for the neutral. I have not used this stamp set, Walk in the Park the Clear Dollar SOM for May, as much as I would like so I was determined to ink it up today, and here is the result! I stamped the tree 5 times and then stamped the flower/leaves in the three colors onto a whisper white large curvy rectangle nestie and mounted that on a chocolate chip curvy rectangle nestie one size larger. I stamped and cut out the tiny butterfly from the beautiful butterflies stamp set from Clear Dollar and aheared them to the trees with a dimentional. The ribbon I used for a background is also from clear dollar stamps. The sentiment is once again, from clear dollar, but I do not remember what it is called, I found it in the clearance bin. Finally, my finishing touch is the paperbloom butterfly! These little guys are SO CUTE!! These butterflies can be found at the very talented Leah's Esty Shop along with a variety of other great blooms and embellishments! Well that should about cover it! This challenge was alot of fun! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! It really means alot to me to hear what you gals have to say :0)

The Daily Dare #21 Color Dare

Once again, I had an idea of how my card will turn out, and it ends up totally different. This is my first stab at the daily dare/color dare blog challenge. The colors are bashful blue, so saffron, pumpkin pie and riding hood red. I just

L O V E this stamp set designed by Kim Teasdale at Clear Dollar Stamps, and these colors seemed perfect to go ahead and watercolor the peonys with! I stamped the flower on watercolor paper with stazon jet black and watercolored them in each of the thee colors with so saffron in the center of each flower, I cut them out and then pondered for a while on what to do next. Finally I decided to use bashful blue embossed with d'vine swirls for the background and I cut a frame from the large curvy rectangle nesties using the second and third largest ones. I tied a piece of riding hood red taffeta ribbon on the left corner and then arranged the flowers in the frame. I used the second to smallest labels 4 nestie for the sentiment which is stamped and sponged in riding hood red. I added a little basic grey bling on around the sentiment just for fun, and the final touch is my little butterfly from paper blooms. This little guy came in the mail today and I could not wait to use them on a project, and where else would you expect to see a butterfly but in with flowers.. You can find these butterflies and other great blooms at Leah's Esty Shop the possibilites are endless with these adorable adornments! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! It really brightens my day!

Paper Blooms #11 Challenge Rollin' on Dubs (lol)

Ok, so this card is kind of silly... It is meant to be a little on the funny side. We have all seen them, cars and trucks driving around with huge tires and a window sticker declaring that they are "rollin' on dubs" as if that is not painfully obvious by the large tires rolling under their vehicles. Maybe everyone has not seen this, but we saw it alot when we lived in Georgia/Alabama. LoL..

Anyway, I will move on... Today's challenge over at the paperblooms blog is to create a project with a man of influence in mind / father's day. Wanting to incorporate paperblooms on a "man's card" added an extra challenge, and this is what I came up with. I used the truck image from the Loads of Love stamp set (su) and watercolored it with real red. I then I cut two real red smallest circles from the circle nesties and affixed my paper blooms"tires" onto the red adding my "hubcap" silver large 5/8" (su) brads. I cut out the truck and affixed it to the whisper white circle nestie that I sponged with basic grey and pacific point. I then affixed that to a basic black scalloped octagon nestie (second to the largest). I added the two strips of pacific point dsp from good morning sunshine dsp and one strip of black stitched ribbon (from scrapbook pal). The sentiment is from clear dollar stamps stamped on real red with the edges sponged in basic grey. Welp, that about covers it! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!

Card Patterns #19 sketch challenge

Good Morning everyone! Late last night I was inspired by the card patterns blog sketch challenge

and had to get to it. When I first saw the sketch, the top scalloped piece reminded me of an awning over a cafe, which made me think of my Sip By Sip stamp set from stampin up. The dsp I chose is all from Candy Lane dsp (su). The card is close to cocoa as well as the ink used to stamp the coffee gal. I used riding hood red for the sentiment, the coffee cup and to sponge the edges around the "cafe window". The ribbon is pink pirouette topped with riding hood red taffeta. I used the smallest circle from the nesties circles and mounted the coffee cup with a dimentional. I stamped the sentiment on very vanilla dsp from candy lane the same as I did with our coffee gal, sponged it with riding hood red and I found some random tiny brads to finish it off. I think that about covers it!

Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts. I thank you all for the kind words left for me on this blog! It really makes my day :0)

I'm The Featured Artist!! Clear Dollar Weekend Color Challenge #23

Well, I am SO EXCITED! My card and I were chosen for the Monday Featured Artist from this weekend's Clear Dollar Weekend Color challenge! I am bursting at the seams with Joy and am Honored to have been chosen amongst so many talented ladies. Thank you Alex! Check out Alex's blog here It is with God's love and adornment that I create with paper. :0)

Twisted Thursday challenge #14

Down to the wire, here is my submission for this week's twisted thursday sketch challenge. This week's twist is to add purple. Well, I loved the ides of a purple peony. I chose Lovely Lilac (su) for my purple and the Peony designed by the very talented Kim Teasdale at Clear Dollar Stamps for my focal point. I stamped the image on watercolor paper and cut it out using my labels 3 nesties along with a kiwi kiss and lovely lilac. I watercolored the flower stem with kiwi kiss and the flower by using a lovely lilac marker and my watercolor pen. I had never tried watercoloring this way before, but my little lovely lilac stampin spot was totally not putting enough ink out, so I just went for it and tried the technique I had heard about quite often. The center of the flower is watercolored with a very watered down yo yo yellow and only orange kind of mixed together. I used basic grey for my card and my kiwi kiss dsp background is from urban oasis, which I totally intended on using the other side of this till the very last minute. The left side is adorned with a 1x4" strip of urban oasis dsp and a piece of lilac ribbon from clear dollar stamps. Finally, I finished the card off with the "for you" sentiment that comes with the peony stamp set. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!

Great Suprise! Happy Boy!

As you may know, my husband is serving on his 4th combat tour in Iraq. This deployment is particularly hard because our son is 5 1/2 and very much aware his daddy is away in a dangerous place. We are approximately 6 weeks into this deployment and Connor gets a suprise in the mail today! My husband sent him a super cool GI JOE combat airplane "tiger rat". Connor and the plane have not been more than a few inches apart this whole day. It is extra special because we know how busy my husband is and he took time to shop online at Target.com instead of ....... well, you know.

And Connor could not be prouder of the trophy he earned for playing Tball this summer! Sure, it is a "participation" trophy, but hey, he did a good job and he deserved it along with all his team mates! Just look at the grin on his sweet face. Needless to say, the trophy made it into his bed/tent last night!

Clear Dollar Weekend Color Challenge #23

Yeah! Its the weekend again! Most people probably shout TGIF because its the end of their work week, me? I am excited for the clear dollar weekend color challenge! Now that I have plenty of time on the weekends and my collection of clear dollar stamps is growing, I really look forward to getting to work on my paper craft planet's weekend color challenge's submission. This weekend the colors are Pacific Point, Summer Sun, black and white. I got these colors out this morning and pondered them as the day progressed. This card is the result of several mishaps and mistakes all adding up to this card for the final result. I first chose the ducky from the Cute Critters stamp set designed by Lori Wilson
and stamped him on watercolor paper with stazon jet black. I watercolored his beak and flipper feet in summer sun and left his body white for the "white" in the color challenge. I then went on to cut different nesties out of good morning sunshine (su) and black linen texture (su) I discarded a couple and after some trial and error, I ended up with a large black linen nestie circle, then a pacific point/good morning sunshine large dahlia nestie, then a summer sun good morning sunshine circle topped off by a watercolor paper circle nestie that is sponged with pacific point ink. After all that, I still had to add the white back in since I decided to paper piece the ducky with the summer sun dsp (good morning sunshine). I finally settled on Coated White Pin Stripe paper from the taste of textiles (su) collection. I had not used that paper yet, so I was determined to make it work.. ha ha.. I added a coordinating strip of summer sun dsp with pacific point ribbon as an accent and used my word window for the sentiments on the upper left and lower right corners. The sentiment is from Clear Dollar's Christian Critters set (only $3.99!)
Well, that's about it. I am not sure how I feel about this card, but I wanted to go ahead and post it just in case I dont get around to doing another one before the weekend comes to a close. I might take another stab at the challenge, but I will stick with this one for now. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! It really does mean alot to me! :0)

Paper Blooms #10 Challenge

The challenge this week over at Paper Blooms is to use three blooms or flowers on your project. I used three blooms from Leah's Esty Shop where there are some super cute blooms for a great price! Today I chose to use my blooms as balloons with my sock monkey set (su). I first chose the monkey and which papers I wanted to use to paper piece her clothes with. I chose some scraps from pink flamingo (su) for the clothes and for the top note die (su) background. I used hemp twine for the balloon strings and adhered them to the card using mini glue dots. The sentiment is from the congratulations hostess set (su).. I chose it over other congratulations that I have because of the ........ below the word. I felt it mirrored the dots on the monkey as well as the repetitive floral pattern on the tempting turquoise pink flamingo dsp top note die background. The card is barely banana, pretty in pink for the back top note die and pink flamingo dsp for the rest. These colors came to me because I have two friends who are going to have babies in a few weeks. They are both having girls, but with these colors it could be for a boy or a girl!

I am keeping this entry short because I have an awful headache/migrane that just seems to be intensifying the more medicine I take! Ugh! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughs!

Card Patterns #18 sketch challenge

I find myself looking forward to mondays now. I remember the dreaded "begining of the work week" now its the begining of the challenges for the week! With my husband away and my best friend like 1600 miles away, these challenges (and my dsp lol) are what keep me going... So this is for this week's sketch challenge over at the Card Patterns blog. The crafters over there Always come up with something great! For this sketch, I used real red for my card base and good morning sunshine dsp (su) for the two back panels. The floral center piece is from pink flamingo dsp(su) and its backing is from pacific point dsp. I sponged all the edges with pacific point just to give it a finished look. . . The stamp set I chose is called Pretty Perches from Clear Dollar Stamps, yet another brillant creation by Laurie Wilson. I used chocolate chip and old olive (su) ink for the tree branch, leaves and bird house roof and perch. Pacific point (su) for the bird house, and real red(su) for the bird and sentiment. I stamped the bird on a tiny scrap and cut his tiny body out to give it a little dimention. The ribbon is, you guessed it, pacific point and the brads are real red, the last ones I had. I love using up my supplies! (it makes room for more!!) Well, I think that about covers it! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! It really means alot to me! If only you could see the smiles I get out of reading the comments :0)

Twisted Thursday challenge #13

Just under the wire, here is my submission for this weekend's sketch challenge over at the paper therapy blog. These girls always put on a great challenge and there is always a twist, and this week's twist was to add paper piecing - One of my personal favs.. Funny thing is is that I had paper pieced Charlie before I even saw this challenge because I just thougth he would be SO cute as a (tan) zebra charlie! The paper is from basic grey's granola pack. So, I knew I wanted to use "zebra "charlie from the brand new Lean on Me Charlie stamp set from Clear Dollar... I stamped him and the barrels on the white-ish paper from the granola pack and paper pieced him with the zebra and the barrels with the brown. I used a silver marker I had laying around for charlie's hoof and for the bands on the barrel. I really utilized my large rectangle nestie on this one! Since I got into nesties, I just can't leave something square or rectangle. ha ha... anyway, the back rectangle nestie is the Bronze Metallic from Stampin up's Taste of Textiles specialty papers. I used another piece of that white-ish for the background all mounted on chocolate chip cardstock. The twill fromthe vast clear dollar ribbon selection, and my sentiment is stamped on yet another paper from the granola pack cut out of a small dahlia nestie. Well, I think that about covers it! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! It really does mean alot to me :0)

Limited Supply Challenge LSC 223

Talk about limited supply! This week the challenge is to make a one layered card in a summer theme. Woah! One Layer? And that did not mean one layer on top of the card base, it meant the card base IS your layer! Ouch. My new Peony stamp set from clear dollar arrived today so that is what I chose to use. I knew I would love this beautiful set designed by Kim Teasdale as soon as I saw the preview, and yep, this set does not dissapoint. What I did here was first stamped the peony on scrap paper and cut out the mask. Then I stamped the peony onto very vanilla textured cardstock (su) three times using the mask. Then I again used the mask to sponge baja breeze (su) around the flowers. I watercolored the stems and leaves in old olive (su) and the flowers in riding hood red and tangerine tango (su) with so saffron & tangerine tango in the center of each flower. Finally, after all that tedious watercoloring I stamped the sentiment in pacific point straight onto the card! This one really is ONE layer. I really love this stamp set, Great Job Kim! I know I will get alot of use out of it. I can see so many possibilities! I do love a good flower stamp! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thougths!

Clear Dollar Weekend Color Challenge #22

This is my submission for this weekend's clear dollar weekend color challenge over at paper craft planet, The week's colors are pretty in pink, basic grey with black and or white for a neutral. These colors are great! I love them together! Thinking of these colors brought to mind this cute skunk from Clear Dollar Stamps - Cute Critters. I stamped her in stazon jet black and watercolored her body in basic grey and the flower in pretty in pink and then covered the petals with glossy accents to give them a little dimention. The stem, I know, I know, is old olive.. but I was stumped on what else to do with the stem. It certianly could not be pink or grey! It is such a tiny bit of old olive that I hope it will be overlooked :0) Ok, so I watercolored then cut out this cutie pie skunk. Now what.. well, I walked away, "made" dinner, watered the front flower garden, got Connor bathed and tucked into bed... I was stumped. Finally, I decided to make the card with the large dahlia nestie, inspired by Cassie's clear dollar sneak peeks . I added the third smaller dahlia nestie topped off with the pinking circle nestie. Still I was not satisfied, so I went thru all my clear dollar ribbon and found something I liked and tied it on. One more problem... the sentiment! I tried on scrap paper, stamping a small sentiment in whisper white craft on the black textured paper, that just did not work for me, then I tried versamark with glitter.. nope. So, finally, I decided to cut the second largest dahlia in pretty in pink for the inside, and stamped my sentiment "When Life Stinks, Shower yourself in the Word" from Clear Dollar's Christian Critters with a few if the raindrops from the Cute Critters set. Thank you for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!

Paper Blooms #9 Challenge

"Let's get sketchy" ... the title of this week's challenge over at paper blooms And this was a challenge - and fun for me. I kind of had to remember what the sketch looked like so hopefully I hit the major points to it. I first decided on this cuddly panda bear for my focal point. I stamped him with stazon jet black and watercolored him with basic grey and pink pirouette for his nose and paw. I could not remember which parts to leave white, either way, I just had to watercolor his adorable tummy. It is like a toddler tummy, irresistable! Anyway, after coloring and cutting the panda, I was thumbing thru my remaining bits of dsp and I came across this piece from urban oasis (su). It made me think of bamboo, okay sort of bambooish, so I positioned my large circle nestie to capture the "bamboo" just right. I chose the oval dsp, also from urban oasis dsp because of the colors. Then what.. Well, I decided to go ahead and use pink pirouette for the card and for accents in the scallop edge and for the bits of large pinking circle nestie behind the "bamboo" circle. I stamped the sentiment "No Bamboo About It" on pink pirouette, cut it with the word window, my new favorite tool, and sponged the edges with basic grey. I used a scrap of black grosgrain ribbon and three paper blooms to finish it off. Looking at it now, I should have positioned the white bloom a little more to the right.. darn... Anyway! Thanks for visiting and for sharing your thoughts!

Color Throwdown #45

I love the color throwdown! It is so much fun! This week, the colors are pink passion, green galore and chocolate chip. I first chose Trendy Trees (su) for my stamp set. I went ahead and cut my nesties in white, stamped the trees and then decided to add a second layer of nesties with the chocolate chip dsp from the bella rose dsp collection. (su). When I went to work on my layout I discovered that my nestie trees would not fit on a standard sized card. Well, I was totally not going to leave off the second nestie, so I improvised. The latest box of envelopes I just bought at walmart are bigger, they are 6 1/2 x 4 3/4" (for the same postage) so I made my card 6 1/4 x 4 1/2" which was just enough to make my layout work. I added a strip of embossed (delicate dots) green galore with a perfectly coordinating piece of ribbon from clear dollar . I embossed my chocolate chip background with the delicate dots and then used my word window to punch thru the front of the card. I used my very last tiny scrap of pink passion for my sentiment and it barely fit over the window.l I thought I was done, but something was missing. Finally, I added the green galore brads on the corners. Thank you for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! It really does mean alot to me :0)

Mojo Monday 89 6/4/09

This is for this week's mojo monday sketch challenge. It took me a couple days of looking at the sketch to finally come up with something. I first chose out which butterfly I wanted to use from Beautiful Butterflies set from clear dollar. After stamping it in stazon jet black, I watercolored with pacific point and kiwi kiss (su). Now I had to choose my paper! A backwards system I know... I finally decided on pacific point dsp and good morning sunshine dsp (su) mounted on pacific point cardstock. I watercolored the white flowers with kiwi kiss on the pacific point dsp to give it more interest. I used my pinking circles nesties for the circle with textured kiwi kiss and pacific point (su) cardstock which is the same for the sentiment square. The ribbon is pacific point mounted on a coordinating piece of good morning sunshine dsp (su). I decided on a whim to add the basic grey bling on the two corners of the card. Thank you for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! It really does mean alot to me!

Color Challenge 221 Fifth Ave

Today's color challenge on splitcoast

was just that, a challenge. The colors today are kiwi kiss, tangerine tango and riding hood red with a optional neutral. I immediately thought of fifth avenue floral (su) I stamped the flowers with stazon jet black and commenced to watercolor and cut out the flowers before I planned anything else. I watercolored the centers in kiwi kiss and the flower petals are in riding hood red, tangerine tango then both on the middle flower. After much struggle, I used whisper white for my card back, then a wide strip of kiwi kiss embossed with swiss dots with the corners shaped with the ticket punch (su) for my background. Then I found a piece of urban garden dsp that had the same subtle flower print. I used labels 4 for the dsp and for the tangerine tango label. I stamped "always" from small script (su) in riding hood red, (not sure about that choice) with dew drops on either side of the sentiment. I tied riding hood red taffeta ribbon around the kiwi kiss to anchor the card, and to add more rhred. I adhered the flowers with dimentionals to give them a little, well dimention. :0) Thank you for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!

The Pink Elephant #17 recipe challenge

This is my submission for this week's Pink Elephant challenge . This time its a recipe challenge! Use 3 buttons, 2 layers and 1 sentiment. I was inspired by the "a perfect pair" rub on sentiment from chit chat rub ons (su). All supplies listed are stampin up.

Kiwi kiss back, chocolate chip embossed background. I used dsp from good morning sunshine for the both the kiwi kiss and chocolate chip pinking circles. The chipboard top was inked with chocolate chip and the pear was covered in kiwi dsp then the cut out pear was adhered to the top of that. The buttons are kiwi kiss and chocolate chip corduroy buttons, and finally I used the word window punch that fit my sentiment perfectly. Since the challenge said 2 layers can be interpereted in any way, I have 2 layers for my background, and 2 layers for my focal point! How fun is this? Thank you for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!