Good Gossip!

Let's face it, a few cocktails and our tongues loosin' up...which usually leads to some good gossip now and again, snort!

I've had this Rubber Stampede Cocktail Border stamp in my possession for some time now and have never inked it up...so sad. I decided to give my Cocktail Border some shine with Crystal Effects dabbed here and there as you can see in the closeup shot. Sentiment is by My Favorite Things' Twisted Sentiments set.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your happy hour tonight!

Supplies

Stamps: Rubber Stampede Cocktail Border; MFT Twisted Sentiments

Ink: Palette Noir Black; reinkers Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, Pomegranate, Saffron, Blue Bayou, Pumpkin

Paper: SU! Spring Silhouettes dsp; Wild Wasabi, Whisper White

Accessories: Crystal Effects, brads, blender pen

Featured Stamper Sunday!

For today's Featured Stamper Challenge #73~Chelemom. Here is her adorable Summer Girl! card that I chose to case, changing stamps and color scheme. I stayed with the beach theme, handcut sun rays and starfish. Just for fun, I added Ranger Xmas Red Stickles to Bikini Sophie G's Hibiscus, Crystal Effects to the sun and starfish, and yellow buttons to the sun as well. The starfish stamp is from SU!'s Crab & Co. set and the sentiment is from PaperTrey Ink's Mixed Messages. Designer paper is DaisyD's and SU!'s Cerise DSP. Card base and layers are a mix of Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi and SU!'s watercolor paper. I used a combination of aquapainter and blender pen to paint Sophie and her scene with reinkers.

One funny note and I didn't do it on purpose: see that yellowish area directly under Sophie? While attemping to incorporate the yellow stripe inthe dp, I picked up a bit of yellow ink with my aquapainter to add color to the sandy beach below her feet...em, ah sorry Sophie, it looks like you've pee-ed your bikini! Oops! I got a good giggle over it and hope you do too!

Happy Sunday Ü

Jen's Saturday Sketch...

Not one, but two for Jen's Saturday Sketch For You To Try. Enjoy!

Double Challenge!

I had a little time to stamp after putting George to bed last night and came up with this double challenge card. The two challenges are Tuesday's Color Challenge 172 and Thursday's Ways To Use It Challenge 172 over at Splitcoaststampers. The colors for CC172 are Taken With Teal, White & Wild Wasabi, and the WT172 Challenge is to use birds. I was determined to NOT use any birds stamps that I'd recently purchased and so I spied A Little Birdie Told Me, half cut out, not seeing the light of day or ink in a looong time--poor thing, wonder it's alive. Well, I revived it with a tap-tap-tap of Palette Noir Black ink and all was well, ship-shape! You can see from the photo that my lil' birdie is paper pieced using the also much neglected SU! designer series paper pad from the Hostess Level 1 set. Instead of a sentiment from my birdie set, I used *hello chica* from CHF's The Landing Pad, just because! Of course, no card of mine lately would be complete without buttons, so I added two this time, breaking from my *3 buttons* tradition, and then finished 'er off with a length of Wild Wasabi stitched ribbon.

Finally, just in case you're *real* observant: yes, you're right--I've used this 3.25"x6.5" card size and similar sketch/layout quite a bit lately (not for at least 2 weeks though, snort!)??! Rest assured my friends, the sketch came into play only after I'd stamped and assembled my main panel...it was a *must* for the dimensions of the main panel! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it Ü

Sketch Challenge 182

Hi there! Today's sketch challenge at SCS is a fun one, originally designed by Jen del Muro, aka genie1314. You can take a peek at her card here. I thought it would be fun to use coordinating designer paper that is printed on a smaller scale, so I pulled open my designer paper drawer with smaller pads in it, and found an 8x8 pad of Daisyd's called Snowflakes & Holly. I started punching out squares of various prints using my 1 1/4" punch and then hand cut (using my guillotine cutter) 1 3/8" squares of True Thyme card stock for matting for each. Rather than measuring for exact placement of each matted square, I used the tried-n-true *eyeball* method per my own sanity, he he!

For the central image, I chose a Cornish Heritage Farms set called Garden Friends. This was one of those sets I *had* to have, and though I love it, it's not even completely cut out and hasn't seen much ink, with the exception of the *hello* stamp--love it! I stamped off the leaf stamp in River Rock for a subtle background on a piece of Whisper White card stock, then stamped *hello* in True Thyme and paper pieced the ladybug from a scrap of the same Daisyd's dp.

After searching and searching for the perfect ribbon, I came up empty-handed...does this mean I have too little ribbon? I'm thinking so! I decided on a strip of Blue Bayou with a few buttons (big shocker there, huh?! I've only used buttons on my last 10 cards!) to finish it off, and there it is!

Thanks for stopping by today...

TCP Tuesday!

I was breezing by my friend, Carole's blog today and lo and behold it's TCP Tuesday, so I decided I'd play since I had a little extra time on my hands (er, I mean I made a little extra time...*anything* to keep Carole happy, snort!). I absolutely love The Cat's Pajamas (TCP) stamps, so you'd think I'd own a whole bushel basket full of 'em, but I have to admit--I don't. I do, however, have a handful, and since today's challenge involved the colors--olive, dark red and sky blue, which reminded me a little of Christmas/winter, I decided my cute lil' knitting pooch was purr-fect!

Mosey on over to Carole's blog for all the details on playing along with today's TCPTuesday challenge...

Supplies

Stamps: TCP Knitting Pooch, So Much Yarn

Ink: Palette Noir Black, Pomegranate, Old Olive, Soft Sky reinkers

Paper: Holiday Harmony DSP, Soft Sky, Old Olive, Fabriano Medioevalis

Accessories: buttons, Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain, blender pen, hemp, linen thread

...be a good one!

For today's Technic Lover's Challenge 174--watercoloring with reinkers. I decided to use the Wonderful Wings dragonfly, and as you can see there isn't a whole lot of watercoloring, but I just love the irridescent nature of a dragonfly shimmering in the sun. I tried to recreate the greens and turquoise colors using Taken with Teal and Green Galore reinkers. A mixture of So Saffron and Green Galore/Teal was used to lightly watercolor the wings. To highlight the torso of the dragonfly a bit more, I added Crystal Effects. Unfortunately, the CE took away the intensity of the colors, leaving my little dragonfly a little pale and washed out.

Sentiment is from Mona Lisa Moment's set, Motivational Centers available through Cornish Heritage Farms.

Supplies used
Stamps: SU! Wonderful Wings; CHF Motivational Centers
Ink: Palette Noir Black; reinkers in Taken with Teal, Green Galore, So Saffron
Paper: Kraft, Green Galore, Making Memories memo pad
Accessories: buttons, brown brad, ribbon, aquapainter

Reach for the ball!

A quick card to stick in my daughter's bag that is *almost* packed for volleyball camp starting today! I used Karen Stolper's image from American Art Stamp and a sentiment from AAS as well, changing the word *stars* to *ball*, as in volleyball, wink! The volleyballs are punched with 1/4" and 1/2" circle punches to replace the stars...c'mon, work with me--they look like volleyballs, right?! Designer paper is from K&Co's Marcella 4x6 pad.

I'd better get this in her bag and get myself off to summer school--chao!

Boys wil be Boys!

I was so busy outdoors yesterday, replanting a perennial garden with DH (that's a story for another day!), that I completely forgot, or as I like to say *frog-got*, to check out Jen's Sketch For You To Try Saturday. Needless to say I didn't do one lick of stamping either--oh, the horror! Here's Jen's sketch and here's what I came up with. Come play along, and if you do, remember to type in the keyword SFYTT.

Have a wonderful Sunday Ü

*ETA: Where are my manners?! Geesh...I *frog-got* to tell you to check out my playmates' versions of Jen's sketch!

Carole
Shannan
Susan

Supplies:
Stamps~CHF For The Men
Paper~Always Artichoke, K&Co. Marcella pad
Ink~Ranger Walnut Ink
Accessories~Mustard hemp, brads, 1/4" square punch, piercing tool/template

So thoughtful!

I created this card yesterday, inspired by the colors of my son's shirt--Green Galore, Night of Navy & Brocade Blue, as a thank you for a wonderful baby gift from my SIL's parents. I wish I would've taken a picture of the whole ensemble which consisted of all handmade items--a hooded bath towel, 2 soft cotton crocheted washclothes, and a wonderfully brightly colored crib blanket. It was all tied together with a beautiful bright green ribbon which I fully intended to use on this card, but it was just too wide (7/8" I believe). So, I opted for this bright green Offray felt ric rac instead. Well, guess what?! Over at Splitcoaststampers, yesterday's Ways To Use It Challenge #171 was to use ric rac--a double play for me! Isn't it funny how things just work out sometimes?!

Have a wonderful afternoon and happy weekend!

American Art Stamp designs...

Here are two cards I created yesterday using new stamps from American Art Stamp. You can read more about them at the AAS design team blog of which I am part: In A Meeting and Just A Note. While you're over at the AAS blog, check out the other great works of my design team members: Michelle, Cindy, Janine & Kirsten!

Sketch Challenge 181

Good morning! Today's sketch challenge over at Splitcoast makes for a quick and easy card--right up my alley! I chose to use a piece of retired Au Chocolat designer paper in combination with the soon-to-be retired Wild Wasabi cardstock and matching stitched grosgrain ribbon, all from Stampin' Up!. My sentiment is from Absolutely Fabulous, a set from SU! that I *had* to have but haven't used with much frequency. If you've never tried a challenge over at SCS, try the sketch challenge today...click here for all the juicy details on the sketch and uploading your image.

One quick sidenote: the inspiration for today's sketch came from Starofmay. I absolutely *love* this girl's style and she has an uber cool (is that even cool to say anymore?) blog found here. Check it out!

Color Challenge 171

Here's a quick card for today's color challenge over at SCS~CC171: Soft Sky, Kraft & Basic Black. Emily, the Color Challenge hostess with the mostess plans to feature one of the retiring In Colors '08 each week as we'll sadly bid them goodbye in another month or so. So today's featured In Color is Soft Sky. I have loved combining it with black this past year--I think the two colors make a great pair, so striking...elegant...bold. I guess I'd better stock up on Soft Sky cardstock before time runs out. Anywho, without further adieu...here's my card. I also cut into a new set I've had lying on my stamp table from Cornish Heritage Farm called Motivational Centers, created by *the* Lisa Strahl, aka Mona Lisa Moments. T here are so many wonderful sentiments included in this set...check it out here!

Supplies: Stamps--CHF Motivational Centers, CHF For the Men; Ink--Palette Noir Black; Paper--Spring Silhouettes, Kraft, Basic Black Soft Sky; Accessories--May Arts ribbon, buttons, brads.

New Banner!

What a fun and sweet surprise...a new banner by Morgan, Val Stangle's daughter! Morgan is a whiz with PSE and came up with this all on her own using a picture of my 9 month old, George. I just love the ink dots behind the title...how ingenious, eh?! Check out more of Morgan's work on her Mom's blog.

Thanks so much, Morgan! Ü

Something old, something new...

If you visit my blog with any frequency, you'll notice that I tend to utilize layouts or sketches over and over again, tweeking them as I go. This card is a perfect example of my tweeking. I took the previous post's card which featured Jen del Muro's Saturday Sketch For You To Try, eliminated one of the layers, changed up the colors and *vwah-la* a sorta new card! I also swapped the upper right hand circle embellishment with a Felt Fusion spikey orange flower with a flat-sided pearl from the My Pretties kit, both from Stampin' Up!. I like the combo of the felt and pearl. Challenge yourself to save yourself some time this week and tweek one of your cards into something old, something new!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps--Carte Postale; Paper--textured Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery, Certainly Celery DSP, Spring Silhouettes DSP; Ink--Chocolate Chip, Versamark; Accessories--ribbon from packaging, Felt Fusion, My Pretties.

Mon Amie...a day late!

Ok, ok, so if you know *the* Ms. Carole Burrage, you know how good she is with words. She frankly intimidates the h-e-double hockey stix outta me with her verbage, so much so that I don't even know if I just used the word *verbage* correctly. I'm in hot water with her at the moment anyway seeing I didn't give her the 4-1-1 that I joined the blogging world, but I didn't want to come off as a diva or something, telling her to come over to my new web-place and expecting to be lavished with ooh's and aah's...you know?!

So, once she finds out I'm blogging, she starts ranting about it on her blog and throwing me right into the fire, signing me up for Jen's Sketch For You To Try...geesh, what kinda friend is that?! I'll tell you what kinda friend that is: exactly the kinda friend I want, need, like to have around! I need a little push from time to time and Carole is one hot mama to whom I just can't say *no*...nor do I want to!

Thanks, friend...this one's for you! And, by the way...a big congrats on your *dirty* nod!


See what Susie and Carole came up with using Jen's sketch by clicking on their names!
Supplies: Stamps--Carte Postale; Paper--Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Enchante dp; Ink--Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery; Accessories--brad, Chocolate taffeta ribbon

Inspiration Challenge 132

I decided I had time to participate in today's Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast, and Smilynstef put up some gorgeous inspiration photos from an Acacia catalog. I chose this photo from which to create an inspired trio of 3x3 notecards.

I just loved the floral silhouettes and the warm colors of the pillows. Sponging around the edges with Ranger Walnut Ink and coordinating sentiment strips pulled the trio together nicely.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps--Inque Boutique Silhouettes, So Many Sayings; Ink--Ruby Red & Tempting Turquoise craft, Versamagic Wheat; Paper--So Saffron, Ruby Red, Cool Caribbean; Accessories--vintage brads

My Pretties

If you tuned in yesterday, you saw a pretty straight-forward, simple sketch that I used for an anniversary card for my DH. Guess what?! I'm using it *again* today! Something I've learned about myself as a stamper is that I tend to use the same sketch/layout over and over once I've found one that I really like! I think it's that whole *stamping with efficiency* thing?? Earlier this week I put my laundry list of to-do cards in INK, thinking that I'd accomplish them by week's end if I did so, and guess what--I did accomplish the whole stinkin' list! There are 2 versions of a sympathy card of which I made 2 of each, for a total of 4; and one wedding card. I must say I like the elegant look of each with the addition of flat sided pearls from my SU! My Pretties kit. This sketch also gave me the opportunity (don't you love it when your stampin' stuff gives you *opportunities*?!)to use some pretty SU! designer papers, both of which are retired--Enchante & Au Chocolat. Speaking of retired things, I also used SU! sentiments from retired sets--Brighter Tomorrow and one of the All Year Cheer sets.

Thanks for stopping by...have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies used: Stamps--All Year Cheer, A Brighter Tomorrow; Paper--Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Blush Blossom, Au Chocolat, Enchante; Ink--Palette Burnt Umber, White Craft Ink; Accessories--My Pretties flat sided pearls, Scor-Pal (embossed lines beneath sentiment).

LSC172: Get Knotty!

Ok, so you're wondering about gettin' knotty, aren't you?! Well, this IS an anniversary card for my husband, so I guess *get knotty* probably IS appropriate, eh?!

Today's Limited Supply Challenge 172 (LSC172) over at Splitcoaststampers is to tie your ribbon in knots versus a bow. Well, I'd had this bit of designer paper lying on my cutting table and this set, For the Men from Cornish Heritage Farms, sitting on my stamp table, so I decided the two might make a great combo...sorta *western* looking, right? I added a black hemp lasso of sorts to highlight the sentiment, a few black brads and it's all tied up! I'm debating on the wording for the inside of the card...something about wanting to *tie the knot* again with hubby...got any suggestions? Leave a comment with your suggestion, and you just might find something *real nice* in your mailbox!

Have a rootin' tootin' day...and hey, tie one on!

hello!

I just love this *hello* stamp from CTMH's set, Say It In Style, so of course, I keep using it over and over and over! The freshly cut grass was inspired by a placecard featured in the March 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, page 54 to be exact. I added a felt flower, a strip of Offray microspool felt ric rac and a few buttons to finish it off and it's ready to be mailed!

One little *oops*: I was so excited about the grass that I attached it to the card base before stamping my stem, so you can see that my flower stem is growing in front of the grass!

Have a great day!

SC180--take 2!

Another submission for SCS Sketch Challenge 180! I have a dear friend who, along with my brother, Bart, planted my vegetable garden yesterday...guess who's getting a big ol' thank you note?!

I know, I know-- you're probably wondering about the *Regal Rose* tomato, but I thought the color went so well with this garden green gingham that I've had lying on my stamp table waiting to be used for about a month now! Sadly, after looking at this card though, I think I should have used my favorite ribbon--you know, the May Arts black/cream striped ribbon that I just {love}?! Back to the table!

Supplies: Paper--Garden Green, Whisper White, Regal Rose, Basic Black, dp from Target; Ink--Regal Rose, Garden Green, Basic Black; Stamps--Vegetable Garden, CHF Making the Grade; Accessories--green gingham.

Sketch Challenge 180: Hello Girlfriend

For today's sketch challenge over at Splitcoast. I had the *darndest* time with the turned square (chocolate chip layer), and I think it's because my central stamped image is a longer rectangle than that layer is in the sketch. Anywhoo, I do like the end result. Almost forgot to say that the striped layer is my own creation using PaperTrey Ink's Faux Ribbon. I was inspired by a bedding set in the latest PBTeen catalog...I find so many neat color combos and pattern inspiration in Pottery Barn catalogs!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps--PTI Faux Ribbon, Text Boxed, Hero Arts sentiment; Paper--PTI White, SU! Chocolate Chip, Archiver's Green/Celery;Accessories--brown brads (unknown); Ink--Groovy Guava, Pink Passion, Certainly Celery, River Rock, Basic Brown.

Color Challenge 170: Adorable Ava!

See, I told you if I put down in *ink* the list of cards I need to make, I'd be more likely to get them done, and I did! Actually, after posting my *Little Guy* card this morning, I popped over to Splitcoaststampers to see about the Tuesday Color Challenge. Well, lo and behold, it was a perfect color combo for a baby girl card: Real Red, Regal Rose & So Saffon--whoo hoo! Thus being said, here's my adorable baby girl card. One of the Occupational Therapists at school/work just had a baby girl and named her Ava, so I thought a glittery red chipboard *a* would be perfect, plus the fact that I've been wanting to make a glittery chipboard monogram for some time now!

Have a glittery day Ü

Supplies: SU! Warm Words; Basic Grey chipboard; CTMH buttons; Provo Craft designer paper; SU! So Saffron, Regal Rose and Real Red ink and paper; SU! red glitter.

My Little Guy!

I took this picture of George last week and I just love the expression on his face. Don't you just wonder what he's thinking...one must wonder, mustn't one?! I love using that phrase because it was one of my late Grandma Ione's famous sayings.

About the card: I decided since Father's Day is less than a week away, I'd better get going on a card for DH, so I pulled out my new Cornish Heritage Farms set, For The Men and paired it up with Crate Paper's Zoom collection. The word *guy* is spelled out using SU!'s Typeset Lower Alphabet and punched out with the smaller of SU!'s two tag punches. I need to use those punches more, they are neglected!

I'm hoping to get a few more Father's Day cards made this week as well as a baby girl card and two sympathy cards...there, now that I put it in *ink* I'm more likely to get them made!

Quick & Cute!

These quick and cute notes were made as a birthday gift for one of my favorite-est teacher friends for her recent birthday. She receives many special year-end gifts from students, so I thought these thank you notes would come in handy. I again used a Kim Hughes set from Cornish Heritage Farm, Making the Grade. I'm really liking her schutff!




Supplies: SU! Whisper White notecards, Designer Series Paper Certainly Celery, Provo Craft Holiday Slab V, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip cardstock; CHF Making the Grade stamp set; circle and scallop punches, Real Red brads.

whoot whoot!

I made two of these *whoot whoot* graduation cards last weekend using Kim Hughes' URA Hoot set from Cornish Heritage Farms. Keeping it simple is my game plan as of late, and this card is no exception!

Supplies--Stamps: CHF URA Hoot, SU! Office Accoutrement; Paper: River Rock, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant; Ink: River Rock, Craft White, Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant; Accessories: Round Tab punch, black brad.

A Color Challenge and O-Inspiration!

Yesterday, while waiting for my color to be processed, thereby temporarily eliminating the gray from my hair follicles (I suppose that technically it's not really my hair follicles, but the hair shaft or something, but I just thought *follicles* sounded good!), I was flipping through the summer issue of O at Home magazine. That's Oprah's magazine for y'all. Anywhoo, there was a two page spread featuring the new nautical and how to incorporate that theme subtly into your home decor. I noticed a neat set of napkins or notecards (now my memory is failing me--ugh, I tell ya, it's tough to turn 39!) that were very plain and simple (that's why I noticed them) with a row of 3 large eyelets at the bottom of each, supposedly representing portholes in my estimation. Of course, that got my stamping brain fully engaged and was the inspiration for the jumbo eyelets featured on today's card. Then, what-do-ya-know...the Color Challenge 169 over at SCS (Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Real Red) fit nicely with the nautical theme as well...a match made in heaven! So, I think this card should be aptly named *Nautical O*, don't you think?!

ETA: I found my inspiration piece...nautical *hand towels*, not notecards! Click here to view them.


Supplies:

Paper: Cerise dp, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou; Stamps: All Holidays; Ink: Soft Sky, Real Red, Blue Bayou; Accessories: May Arts ribbon, SU! jumbo eyelets, blender pen.

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Today is my sister's birthday...I won't say *which one*, only that she's OLDER than me! She's my one and only sister, and although I have no reference point, she is the bestest sister. She's always been supportive of me, even when she probably knows I'm headin' down the wrong road, or have said something really stupid (happens to me quite frequently)...unconditional love, that's what it is, baby!


Here's the birthday card I made for her, using the same layout as the birthday card I made for myself --I promise to find a new sketch soon! The card starts with a 3 1/4" x 6 1/2" base in Kraft, layered with a strip of Soft Sky scalloped designer paper from K&Co. Classic K Margo pad. The central image is SU!'s Mixed Bouquet stamped in Palette Noir Black ink and watercolored with Wild Wasabi, Taken with Teal and Blue Bayou reinkers. Sentiment is from The Angel Company. I stamped and colored the rose twice, cut one out and popped it on top of the first rose with Dimensionals. The card still *needed* something to pull it together, so I added a layer of vellum cardstock under the central image layer, a bit of May Arts striped grosgrain and 3 black brads.

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

Merci

I've created two totally different *thank you* notes using the same paper from K&Co.'s Classic K Margo 12x12 designer paper pad. Of course, I have to give credit where credit is due, and that would be to my good friend, Val! She's always coming up with the greatest creations from which I benefit! The first set of thank you's are one sided notes inspired by this post on Val's blog. The second set of notes was inspired by this post using SU!'s scalloped notecards and a thank you stamp from Kim Hughes' Making The Grade set available from Cornish Heritage Farms.

Supplies:

Stamps: CHF Making the Grade; SU! Carte Postale; Paper: SU! scalloped notecards, Soft Sky, River Rock, Vanilla, K&Co. Classic K Margo designer paper pad; Ink: Palette Noir Black, SU! River Rock, Blue Bayou; Accessories: Scallop and circle punches, American Crafts brads.

Featured Stamper Sunday

Today's Featured Stamper #69 is Maren, aka MMBC over at Splitcoaststampers. Maren has a wonderful gallery, making the decision on which card to use for the challenge a tough decision! This is the card of Maren's that I cased with changes in ribbon treatment, color and paper as well some stamp changes. I stuck with Maren's original *boot* on the first of my cards, but chose that cute little PaperTrey Ink strawberry for my second.



Supplies:
Paper: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, designer paper Scrapworks Breeze--Allison Stripe; Stamps: PTI Green Thumb, CTMH Say It With Style; Ink: Regal Rose, River Rock, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: 5/8" Chocolate grosgrain, no-set eyelets Hot Off The Press, slit punch.