Catered Crop: Put a Bird On It

It's time for a new challenge at Catered Crop.  We are challenge to "put a bird on it"!

I have an all-time favorite bird.  I can't look at this guy's eyes without chuckling.  So I decided to add him to a subtle card with a few bright pops of color and a funky twine top to the tag.




Admit it...you chuckled!!!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps All About YOU, Bird Brain
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Soft Stone
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Freckled Fawn Neon Enamel Dots, WPlus9 tag, MFT Fishtail Layer Banners (cut in both directions), Hemptique 1o-lb white twine, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder

My Favorite Things Color Palette Challenge: Hello with Wildflowers

My Favorite Things has recently begun a Color Palette Challenge.  I missed the first two, but I really wanted to play along with #3 since it included a some of the sweetest colors from MFT.  Sour Apple is a wonderful, bright, but still very natural green that has become one of my go-to colors.  Berrylicious is a very nice middle-of-the-road blue - it's not a true blue, but it's also not aqua.  I don't use purple/lavenders much - but this seemed like a great excuse to pull out Grapesicle.

I had the thrill of being an MFT guest designer back in December and one of the release sets that month was Grand Peaceful Wildflowers.  It's gorgeous and I was rather surprised when I was browsing my MFT stash for this color challenge, to realize that I had not used the wildflower since.  I definitely had to remedy that...



The flowers do have a spritz of MFT's Sheer Shimmer MIX-ables Mist.  I don't have a great picture of it (and don't have time to do more given the challenge closes in minutes!) - but it gives it a nice fresh look.
I also used MFT's Brick Wall stencil.  It's only the second time that I have stenciled - so please look beyond the sloppy edges.  I love the random stenciling that other designers are able to do, but mine just looks messy.  I love the idea of it though!

• Stamps: My Favorite Things Grand Peaceful Wildflowers, More Washi Patterns
• Paper: My Favorite Things Kraft, Grapesicle
• Ink: My Favorite Things Grapesicle, Berrylicious, Sour Apple
• Accessories: My Favorite Things Grand Peaceful Wildflowers dies, Washi Tape dies, Happy Hellos dies, Brick Wall Stencil, Sheer Shimmer MIX-ables Mist, misc sequins, Dreamweaver Embossing Paste

Curtain Call: Newton's Nook and Baby Booties

It's time for a new challenge at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge! 

photo source: www.estella-nyc.com

Our sponsor for this challenge is Newton's Nook Designs!  I've done a number of cards with Newton's Nook - you can see them all here.  The LEAD of this challenge will receive a gift certificate to the Newton's Nook Designs store!

The Curtain Call Crew received this ADORABLE stamp, Winged Wishes, set to work with for this fun challenge, Baby Booties!

I love the little baby clothesline - and I really wanted to show off some of the other stamps, so I used the Thanks banner for a baby gift thank you card.

Remember that you don't have to use Newton's Nook stamps to play along - but you do stand a chance of winning some Newton's Nook stamps.

I used Lisa's current sketch at wanna Sketch?  LOVE these sketches!!  If you haven't played along, be sure to check it out.  I would love to convince her to do more!

Here's a list of all the designers with Newton's Nook and Curtain Call cards for you!

Jennifer Jackson, Newton's Nook

Amber Kroening

Amy Kolling

Amy Tsuruta

Gayatri Murali

Kim Singdahlsen

Laurie Willison
Lisa Henke

Marisa Ritzen

Maureen Plut

Monika Davis

Sheri Gilson

Sarah Gough

Stacey Schafer

Tenia Nelson

Tracey McNeely

Stop by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Baby Booties and play along with us!

• Stamps: Newton's Nook Winged Wishes
• Paper: Fancy Pants Memories Captured 6x6 pad, My Favorite Things Whip Cream and Berrylicious
• Ink: Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Spellbinder rectangle dies

Viva La Verve: Get Well Soon

My kids are back in school after what felt like a very long spring break.  Yay!!  (Is it wrong to feel this way??)  They both had plans fall through so they ended up moping around the house.  For a spring break, it was a very gloomy week!

So in celebration of peace and quiet this morning, I am playing along with a challenge -Viva la Verve.  All the layers and angles on this one are a little out of my comfort zone - but my great friend Stacey Schafer created it and I'm going to give it a try.  While I'm jumping out of the box, I decided to go all the way and I used four patterned papers, buttons, sequins, wood dots, ribbon and twine!

It was a stretch - but I like it!!

The cardstock and the ink are new-to-me from Simon Says Stamp.  I decided to give some of their inks a try and I'm always a sucker for a good neutral.  They have a nice feature on their blog called Color Coordinates. Shari Carroll looks through their store's stock and finds papers/washi tape/stickers/dots and much more that coordinate with one of their colors - I think it's weekly and they have done four colors so far.  I am still in mourning over the loss of Archivers so I particularly like this feature as I can no longer match things in person.  The patterned paper is one of the suggestions for their Khaki color.

• Stamps: Verve Stamps Treasured Words, Amazing Wishes
• Paper: Simon Says Stamp Khaki cardstock, My Mind's Eye Darling Dear 6x6
• Ink: Simon Says Stamp Khaki, Memento brown
• Accessories: Verve Stamps Tagged Rectangle Die, Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles, Papertrey Ink Terracotta Tile and Button, Ellen Hutson Daffodil sequins, Hemptique 10-lb natural, My Mind's Eye Just Splendid Wood Dots

Sketchbook Saturday and Big Word Bubbles

A number of my favorite companies have come out with word bubble border dies and I had managed to resist for quite some time.  I don't know why I resisted - just a realization that I really couldn't own everything. Lawn Fawn, Paper Smooches and Mama Elephant each have great sets (the links go directly to their word bubble borders.  Then Iwona came out with the current sketch for Sketchbook Saturday and I took it as a sign that I had to have a word bubble border die.  Each of the sets has their advantages, but I picked Mama Elephant's set because I loved the cloud version (and I really wanted an excuse to order the Just Hatched set.)


Aren't these little guys sweet?  I resisted this stamp set simply because most of the words were baby-related and I really have no need for baby cards right now.  (My friends are too old, and their kids aren't quite at baby age yet.)  You should see the dinosaur in the set!  There are a few non-baby words in it - but I chose to use a Simon Says set called From Us - it's a great set because everything is from "us" or "we". 

• Stamps: Mama Elephant Just Hatched, Simon Says Just Us
• Paper: Stampin' Up Going Gray, unknown dsp
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics, Stampin' Up Going Gray, Papertrey Ink Limeade Ice
• Accessories: Mama Elephant Speech Trio dies, Just Hatched dies, Stampin' Up Calypso Coral twine, misc enamel dots

Papertrey Ink Inspiration Archive: Thanks

Papertrey Ink has a great new feature on their blog - they are compiling all of the inspiration for the month in one place and letting us all play along.  Here's March's inspiration post.  There are sketches, colors and trends - all sorts of inspiration!

For this month, I used the photo inspiration - I love that rustic gray with the bright splashes of color - and I used one of the sketches.  I hadn't yet used my Stripe Cover Plate so there was no doubt that was coming out.  And I just got the Wet Paint set on Monday so that was also calling out to me.



(My flower really is Raspberry Fizz - I think I just over-adjusted in Photoshop!)

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Wet Paint, Turning a New Leaf
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Soft Stone, Raspberry Fizz CS and dsp, black
• Ink: Papertrey Ink New Leaf, Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark (for glittered flower center)
• Accessories: Papertrey Cover Plate Stripes Diagonal Die, Turning a New Leaf die, Beautiful Blooms II die, Simple Sunflower die (the flower center), Woodgrain Impression Plate, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter, Stampin' Up Heat and Stick Powder, Pretty Pink Posh Flat Marshmallow sequins, Divine Twine Black Licorice

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop: High Gloss

Today is the monthly blog hop at Papertrey Ink and the theme is High Gloss.  I didn't get overly glossy but I wanted to use a technique that Nichole had demonstrated when the Button Stack dies came out in February. Back in February, I was a day late in getting my Button Stack dies ordered and they were already out of stock.  So when the Bitty Button Stacks came out this month, I ordered within minutes of them going on sale - and picked up the full size ones at the same time.  They arrived yesterday so absolutely had to go on this card. Nichole stacked the die cuts, added gloss over the entire stack and made a great dimensional button.


There are three layers to the button - Tropical Teal on the bottom, Hawaiian Shores in the middle, and a small circle of Aqua Mist on top.  The entire stack is completely covered with Glossy Accents.  I would love to show you a close-up, but I had a little mishap at the end - it was almost dry and I carelessly knocked it off my desk.  Of course, it landed upside down on the carpet - so instead of being smooth and glossy, there's an annoying carpet texture on it!
I also picked up A Little Inspiration last month.  I love the unique sayings and the way the sentiments are separate so you can add color changes.  
There's going to be lots of gloss at the blog hop today!  It's going to be fun to see what everyone else does with the challenge!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink A Little Inspiration, Bits and Buttons (the gray circles)
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow, Hawaiian Shores, Tropical Teal, Aqua Mist
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow, Tropical Teal, Soft Stone
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Tipped Tops die, Bitty Buttons Stack die, Sunshine Impression Plate, Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins, Hemptique 10-lb white twine