A Style Mash-Up

This week is one of my crafting friend's birthday.  Her style and my style couldn't be more different.  She is very well-known for her vintage/collage style.  She's published regularly and has a huge following on her two blogs: Nostalgic Collage' and A Nostalgic Halloween.  My style is clean - not necessarily simple - but definitely clean and fresh.

So for her birthday card, I attempted a mash-up of our styles...




This card has other nods to our crafting time together.  Just last week, we discussed how much we both liked "tiled" cards...check!  We both love script and text...check!  And..very early in our crafting relationship, she taught me how easy it is to take a cotton ball and rub from off the paper onto the paper to lightly antique the edges - and how nicely Stampin' Up's Creamy Caramel works for this...check!!
General Supplies

• Stamps: Papertrey Text Style for backgrounds, Sweet 'n Sassy Happy Day sentiment
• Paper: Curious Iridescent Poison Ivory (there is a light shimmer on the whole piece)
• Ink: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Creamy Caramel

Stamps by Square - starting in upper left

• Papertrey Ink Turning a New Leaf
• Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch with gem colored with copics
• Papertrey Ink Mehndi Medallions
• Papertrey Ink Wishing You dragonfly with Stickles
• Stampin' Up Great Friend
• Stampin' Up Silhouette Sentiments
• Stampin' Up Silhouette Sentiments
• Papertrey Ink Honey Bees
• Stampin' Up Old Olive Taffeta
• 
  

LIM: An Apple for Teacher!

This is my second post today, keep reading!!

The challenge from Less Is More this week is a simple sketch and a plea to keep it CAS with lots of white space.  This was the perfect incentive for me to create some teacher thank you cards.  I like to have a few in our church card sales racks and I just haven't gotten to them.  Love the pattern in this set of apples from Papertrey Ink!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Teacher's Apple, Text Style backgrounds, sentiment from Up, Up and Away
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy, Simple Chartruese, the text is black stamped off once
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Spiral Notebook die (trimmed down), misc gem and twine

Invites in bulk from My Digital Studio

My church has a three-year Confirmation program for middle-schoolers, meeting on Wednesday nights for dinner, worship, and then an education/social/service program.  In May, the 8th graders are confirmed - which is their affirmation of baptism.  It's a big event for them - so we hold an Evening of Honor to celebrate.

I get to do the formal invitations for this event but we had a particularly large number of confirmands this year, so I got it in my head that I would get better at Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio.  I have a friend who uses it beautifully - after she prints, she embosses, adds blings, etc and it looks "real"!

I was feeling fairly confident after I did a simple flyer using an MDS template.  (This concert has been another huge reason that you haven't seen much posting on my blog - I'm involved in three of the groups - and it's tonight - so lots and lots of rehearsal time!!)  FYI: I'm not too worried about posting her name as this poster can be found EVERYWHERE - it's going to be an amazing evening!

But I realized how much that I didn't know about My Digital Studio when it came time to make a card that looked "real".  I spent a lot of time watching videos - there are great starting videos on Stampin' Up's official My Digital Studio website.  Another amazing resource is Stamp with Heather - she has done two full video classes full of tips and techniques.  

So after a lot of videos and even more trial and error, I came up with this...

I'm feeling pretty good about it.  The only "real" things are the glitter strip, the punched button and twine, and the one little bling on the cross.  All the other layers are printed.  If you try this, another great technique to add a "real" look is to use an embossing folder, but this is such a large card that I didn't have anything that fit.  The insides are formal and are all personalized like a graduation announcement.
The decorations for the evening are blue and silver so the colors were chosen for me. For the layout, I used the technostamper sketch for this week:

Enough chatter from me...I have everything printed and ready to go - but I still have a few hours of putting them all together!!  

• Stamps: Stampin' Up My Digital Studio Crosses of Hope
• Paper and Ink: My Digital Studio Night of Navy (although I elected not to print at the highest possible quality to conserve a little ink, so it didn't print out as dark as a typical Night of Navy)
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Silver Glitter Paper, Marvy Uchida button punch, misc gem

Technostamper is the fun challenge that lets me add the entries right here on my blog.  Here is what everyone else has done with this sketch...

Dynamic Duos!

Bogey and Bacall
Lucy and Ricky
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Tom and Jerry
Chips and Dip
Simon and Garfunkel
Milk and Cookies
Rhett and Scarlett
Ben and Jerry
Batman and Robin

All dynamic duos!!

And now we have a new Dynamic Duo!  I am happy to announce a new challenge blog with the first challenge going live on May 5th!  And I am thrilled to announce that I am on the design team!

Check out this amazing group of designers with whom I am honored to be working...

Allisa Chilton

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Bronwyn Eastley

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau

Sue Joyce

So...what is the dynamic duo challenge?


Each Saturday we are going to highlight a "Dynamic Duo" colour combo to inspire you.  Any type of project is welcome to be entered...scrapbook pages, cards, crafts, digital projects...

The challenge is divided into weekly "themes"...

Week 1-Bold and Sassy-bright, happy colours
Week 2-Subtly Yours-soft, romantic colours
Week 3-Black Tie-one colour plus black and a dessert option
Week 4-Monochromatic-same colours in different hues (light/dark)
Week 5-Mix and Match-we choose one colour and you add the other colour to ours to create your own "Dynamic Duo".

Here is the Dynamic Duo Schedule:
Saturday- A New Dynamic Duo is Announced.
Thursday-Our challenge ends at Noon (PDT).
Friday-Winners are announced.

If that's not enough to get you excited, let me tell you about the creator of this challenge - the talented and extremely organized  Lesley Croghan. Lesley is already the creator of The Paper Players and Freshly Made Sketches, plus she hosts the Merry Monday challenge on her own blog - Always Playing with Paper.  This lady knows what she is doing!!  And I know that Dynamic Duos will be as fun, as organized and as creative as all of her other endeavors.  Thanks Lesley!!


Mark your calendars - check back on May 5th for the first color combo!!

Graceful Calla Lily with Unscripted Sketches

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater...


We had a very unexpected death in our congregation and it made me very aware of how low our church card "sales" racks are on sympathy cards.  There is so much comfort in sending and/or receiving lovingly handcrafted cards - I have been very focused on creating the right cards for this situation.  I haven't even taken time to post them...until today.

This incredible stamp has been sitting on my desk waiting for the perfect card.  It's beautiful, simply from an image perspective, and the words on it are so very meaningful for many situations.  It begins with "He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater" and continues on about strength and afflictions and our Father's love and mercy.  I've imagine it beautifully colored, but somehow today's Splitcoast Ways to Use It challenge: Monochromatic Masterpieces spoke to me.



Stampin' Up had a very early In-Color called True Thyme.  When they brought back River Rock, I was very disappointed they didn't bring back True Thyme because it's the perfect monochromatic complement.  I am hoarding my True Thyme just for these situations.
I am also playing along with a challenge that I've never played before - Unscripted Sketches.  There was a piggyback challenge to this that, unfortunately, I didn't notice - use something recycled.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Graceful Calla Lily
• Paper: Stampin' Up True Thyme, River Rock CS and dsp (the older dsp)
• Ink: Stampin' Up True Thyme, River Rock (sponged on edges), a few Copic accents
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Cuttlebug embossing, Nestabilities Oval (to cut the left half of the image)

It's a Chair for #1 Dad!

This is my last week as guest designer for the Splitcoast Color Challenge and I thought this color combination was a doozy!!  (Or maybe it's just that I have been gone for a week, and then spent today dealing with everything my boys/man did not do on the list that I had left.  I haven't been thinking about cards and it definitely showed in the struggle that I had with these colors!)

The colors are Early Espresso, More Mustard and Pool Party, and the dessert is to stamp a background.  I thought "masculine" and then realized that I had a Papertrey Ink set to make my own Argyle pattern and I had never used it.




Now that I am done with it, I love the way the Pool and Mustard work together - and then a few Espresso accents to make it all stand out!  The argyle set is SO much fun - there are endless ways to put patterns together.  I wanted to leave some open space for the heart but you could also fill it with color!
My layout comes from The Paper Players:

• Stamps: Papertrey A Little Argyle, On My Couch, Flourishes Mix-n-Match Mug (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pool Party, More Mustard, Early Espresso
• Ink:  Stampin' Up Pool Party, More Mustard, Early Espresso
• Accessories: EK Success border punch, Stampin' Up Early Espresso Grosgrain, Tattered Angels gold mist (on the mustard circle and the lamp), Papertrey couch dies and dark chocolate button

Simple Graduation Cards

Last week, when I was frantically trying to come up with graduation cards for our group to make at church cardmaking, I put together these very simple cards...



I love the look of a rainbow of sentiments. Paper Smooches sentiments are so fun - they work perfectly for the rainbow! 

 Here's the masculine version...

   

The next card has nothing particularly unique or fun about it...except the sentiment. I want to give that sentiment a little more attention in the future because it's beautiful - but for now I just plopped it on a basic black and white grad card.

 

The sentiment is actually from Verve Breast Cancer set - but I think it works perfectly for graduation cards!

I need to get a few more grad cards up to the church card racks soon - but at least there's something there!!

I Spy Birthday Wishes

This is my second post today.  If you are looking for the

Splitcoast Color Challenge...it's just a short scroll down!

I love this week's sketch at iSpy Sketches!  It allowed me to add some very bright colors - while still staying clean and fresh!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Wishing You
• Paper: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo CS and dsp, Lucky Limeade dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo and Lucky Limeade
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Chartreuse button, Cuttlebug embossing folder, The Twinery Pink Sorbet, misc gem

Sympathy Vases in Neutrals

I am still having fun being a guest designer for the Splitcoast Color Challenge.  This week was a bit of a challenge as the colors are ALL neutrals: Whisper White, Sahara Sand and Basic Gray.  I am really looking forward to seeing what everybody comes up with.  My church card ministry has a need for sympathy cards and these colors were perfect.

If you are an avid reader of my blog, my teenage son says to tell you that I will be AFK through this week.  Sadly...I know what that means.  Even more sadly, I learned what it meant from my family's favorite TV show - Big Bang Theory!!  AFK means Away From Keyboard.  I am heading out of town to be with a friend going through chemo.  She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota - deep enough in the hills that I will only have sporadic internet access.  I do have a couple of posts scheduled while I am gone - but I likely won't be reading or commenting on any of YOUR blogs!  I look forward to a full day of reading when I am back!!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Gracious Vases, Simply Stamped sentiment
• Paper: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand CS and dsp, Basic Gray
• Ink: Stampin' UP Sahara Sand and Basic Gray
• Accessories: Ranger Glossy Accents covered with a pinch of fine glitter, misc white ribbon

Butterfly Blessings

As soon as I saw the Splitcoast CAS Challenge which was a sketch, I immediately envisioned using this butterfly.  He is so bright and cheerful, and my plan this morning was to make a card for our church secretary.  There are normally two secretaries but one is out recovering from surgery.  Her duties have been spread around a number of us volunteers.  Can you imagine being the remaining secretary, trying to keep us all informed and then putting together the various pieces that we are doing?  Church secretary would be a virtually impossible job on a good day!

But when I pulled the butterfly out, he was facing the wrong way.  I didn't want him staring off the card so I simply flipped the sketch!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Treasured
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pool Party
• Ink: Memento black and copics
• Accessories: Smooch Pearlized Top Coat, Nestabilities circle and scallop circle, American Crafts ribbon, Stampin' Up embossing folder

Opposites Attract with CAS-ual Fridays

This week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is to opposite, or complementary, colors on the color wheel.  I love blues/aquas and oranges together so this was a "must-play" challenge for me.

I also decided that I had better start using the various supplies that I had purchased and the various techniques that I had learned on a recent Tim Holtz  class from Online Card Classes.  I adore his techniques - the amazing colors - but I am not a vintage/grungy person.  I wish I could be better at it - I love it when I see it - but I cannot create a single thing that I like.  So I am challenging myself to use the techniques (and all the supplies that I purchased!) on simpler cards.

What do you think?...




This technique is to stamp with an archival ink, preferably very bright, and then sponge over with a distress ink.  The two inks repel so the orange stays vivid.  Tim Holtz did an example with about 4 vivid colors in vintage patterns and then he sponged with one of his famous browns - it was swoon-worthy!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Beautiful Butterflies
• Paper: Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise, Ranger Glossy White
• Ink: Ranger Archival Ink Venetian Orange, Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans, Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise
• Accessories: Papertrey Beautiful Butterflies die, Aqua Mist button

Joyful Hearts Hummingbird

Today, over on the Sweet 'n Sassy blog, the design team is taking a look at some of the "older" sets.  I had signed up to do a card for this week's set - Joyful Heart - I love hummingbirds and this set has a gorgeous hummingbird image along with beautiful scripture that works with the image.

I almost immediately regretted signing up for this particular set.  I thought that the set deserved to be showcased by artists with amazing coloring ability.  (I do the basics - and I am just vain enough to believe that I do the "basics" well - but I am NOT an artist!)  As I thought about it - I realized that are only a true few artists out there and the rest of us need other options for creating beautiful cards.  (If you want to see a few true artists, check out the blog link above for three beautifully colored cards.)

I decided to keep the image very simple - and add my colors in the background...




You can see the stunning detail in the image, but I think the card is still rich and cheerful, even though the hummingbird itself is neutral.
I used the current sketch from the sweetest thing but flipped it sideways:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Joyful Heart
• Paper: Stampin' Up More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Confetti Tan, Very Vanilla
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Antique Ivory Embossing Powder, More Mustard and Cherry buttons, lattice embossing folder and Cherry Cobbler seam binding; Martha Stewart leaf punch

You Are Beary Special, Mom!

The vast majority of my cardmaking is for our church card-ministry and my very favorite time of year is Mother's Day.  We have three racks of cards for sale (by donation) and before Mother's Day, we remind everybody that ANY donation is welcome.  This means that our sweet young ones can pick out a card for their mothers and drop their pennies into the donation box.  It is utterly charming!

I made this card thinking that these little charmers would find this a perfect card for their mothers...




I used a simple little Rhubarb set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps called Thoughtful Rhubarb.  I added a dot of black enamel accents to the eyes to give them a sparkle!  
The layout comes from Freshly Made Sketches:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Thoughtful Rhubarb
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Fine Linen, Melon Berry, Simply Chartreuse
• Ink: Memento brown and copics
• Accessories: Sweet 'n Sassy Heart Scallop Border die, PTI Chartreuse ribbon, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Wilton Doily

Daffodils for Mother

This week's colors for the Splitcoast Color Challenge are so bright and cheerful - Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango and Old Olive - they look like the tulips that I got as an Easter gift.  And the dessert is option is spring flowers...so this card came together easily!!




I stamped the tulips twice, cut out the front-most petals, slightly curled them and glued them back. Then I added a dab or Rock Candy distress stickles on the stamen.
 

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Spring Tulips, Stampin' Up Teeny Tiny Wishes (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Old Olive, Greenhouse Gala dsp
• Ink: Memento black, copics
• Accessories: Gems colored with Copics, Mandarin Twine from the Twinery, Rock Candy Distress Stickles

FYI: If you have downloaded the Copic charts on my sidebar (matches to

Stampin' Up and Papertrey cardstock), they were revised in February to

reflect better matches using the newest Copic colors!

Wonderful Mother with Scallops

I am getting ready for church cardmaking this week.  We are fairly well set for general cards - birthday, thinking of you, etc.  But I panicked when I realized that we have four occasions coming up for which I had done absolutely nothing - graduation, confirmation, Mother's Day and Father's Day.  So I think you will be seeing a lot of those this week!!

Today's Splitcoast CAS challenge is to use Scallops.  I was thrilled because I had just bookmarked a card over at Stampin' Anne's blog that used the Stampin' Up Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border with the "cross-stitched" accent.  I thought this would all combine for a very simple and sweet Mother's Day card.




I also used the colors from Pals Paper Arts.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Well-Scripted
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery
• Ink: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Dotted Scallop Ribbon Punch, EK Success border punch, Oval and Lacey Nesetabilities, Martha Stewart butterfly trio, Stampin' Up embossing folder and Pretty in Pink gingham, misc gems colored with Copics to coordinate with Chocolate Chip

FYI: If you have downloaded the Copic charts on my sidebar (matches to

Stampin' Up and Papertrey cardstock), they were revised in February to

reflect better matches using the newest Copic colors!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!From my family to yours!
Alleluia!He IS risen!

I took a class!!!

I took a class at Archiver's yesterday.  I NEVER take take classes.  It's not that I know everything.  But in my own craft corner, I am surrounded by all of my favorite things and if I hear about a new technique - I can always find it online somewhere.  But Archiver's has had this display of cards and I just couldn't figure out how it was all done.  They are just lovely!  (FYI - these are not my designs - they from Archiver's.  I made them slightly differently as Archiver's had quite a few more embellies on each one and I didn't want to hide the beautiful techniques.)

Here's the card that sent me running to the class - such beautiful colors!

And there is a subtle sparkle to each of them.

This one uses embossing and Tim Holtz distress stain...

This one uses both of the above techniques - the background is embossed and stain is rubbed over the whole thing - and the butterfly is the same colors as the tulips...




And this one is a quick and simple with the sparkle...



I am sure that I will be using these techniques on future upcoming cards that I create (because, of course, I had to make sure that I had all of the tools and powders to do it!!) and I'll explain it all a little then!

Sweet 'n Sassy April New Release Hop

Welcome to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps April New Release Celebration!  All of the Design Divas are excited to kick things off today with a fun blog hop full of inspiration using the sets that will be available for purchase in the store tonight.  Ready to get started?

You have probably comes from Dina's blog (aren't those Calla Lilies absolutely amazing!)  If you started with me, you might want to head back to the starting point on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog.

This owl has to have the cutest expression that I have ever seen...

The set is called "Owl Be Here" and includes seven fun sentiments!

The second stamp that I got is called "Flower Field".  My original plan was to use the field of flowers behind the owl, which I still think is a great idea but my cards for today didn't quite work that way.  So I took part of the image (the actual image is not quite 4" x 4") and put together these little scenes...

Did you notice the grass on the owl card and the fence on this card?  Another new release item - a very useful set of dies!!

Next on the hop is Melisa.  Have fun!

Here's the full list of Design Divas (and our special April Guest) sharing their creativity with you today:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Korin Sutherland

Jessica Fick

Mary Faus

DJ Rants

Dina Kowal

Kim Singdahlsen

Melisa Waldorf 

Monika Davis

Cathy McCauley

Holly McMillen

Kim Schofield

Giovana Smith

Bridget Finlay

Taylor Usry

Make plans to join us tonight over in our member company forums on Splitcoaststampers for our New Release Party!  We'll have full reveals of each fabulous stamp set, fellowship and chatter with friends, fun challenges, and more!  Also.....did you know today is Korin's birthday?!  Isn't that fun?  To celebrate, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps will be giving away a $34 gift certificate to the store.  l you have to do is leave Korin some birthday wishes over on this photo on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Facebook page. 

I used two sketch challenges for my cards:

Mojo Monday

Technostamper

A Very Special Birthday!

I am currently part of an wonderful group of ladies - the Sweet 'n Sassy design team.  A group this wonderful must have an amazing leader - that would be Korin Sutherland - the owner of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.  It's Korin's birthday TOMORROW.  We can't celebrate tomorrow - because we already have plans to celebrate the April release (Yeah!! New Stamps!! And another blog hop!!)  Plus, tomorrow would be expected - so we are holding a surprise birthday blog hop TODAY!

You should have come from Makiko's blog.  If you started with me and you want to see more Sweet 'n Sassy birthday fun - head back to Taylor's blog to go all the way!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KORIN!!  It has truly been the highlight of my year getting to know you and all of the wonderful people with which you surround yourself!

I used the basic Sweet 'n Sassy set - Seeing Spots along with a huge variety of buttons, bling, ribbon and string!

Next on the hop is Mary Faus  - enjoy ALL the birthday fun!!

Taylor Usry 

Beate Johns

Bridget Finlay

Holly McMillen

Lydia Fiedler

Chrissy Dickinson

Dina Kowal

Leslie Hanna

Lisa Hjulberg

Kim Schofield

Jessica Fick

Julie Ranae

Monika Davis

Jessica Diedrich

Cathy McCauley

Makiko Jones

Kim Singdahlsen <--You Are Here

Mary Faus

Deb Felts

Lori Craig

Giovana Smith

Kim O'Connell

Wendy Jordan

Julie Smith

Michele Single

Jeanne Streiff

Lee Murphy

And feel free to leave Korin some early birthday love, either on her blog, her Facebook page, or the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Facebook page!

I did get some help on this card from the colourQ color challenge.  It used such sweet pastels - I had to put them together on a card!

Splitcoast Colors with Dessert - Celebrate!!

I am thrilled and honored to be an April guest designer for the color challenge at Splitcoaststampers!

 I absolutely love the colors for this week - Peach Parfait, Lucky Limeade and Pool Party - they are so fresh and so festive.  But...I do have to admit that my first card isn't demonstrating a high degree of creativity.

I had already bookmarked this week's Fall to Layout at Clean & Simple Stamping as a must-do, so when I saw that the dessert option for the color challenge was "borders"...and realized that the Fall To Layout was all about "borders" - it seemed like a perfect fit!!

So I have used someone else's colors and someone else's layout!!  But this card makes me smile!!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Outlined Occasions
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pool Party CS, Peach Parfait dsp
• Ink: Memento black, copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Eyelet Border, Lucky Limeade ribbon and embossing folder, Sweet 'n Sassy Lacey Eyelet Border dies, The Twinery Caribbean Baker's Twine, glue pen and glitter (the confetti on the sentiment)