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!