Au revoir, summer!

The 20th of each month marks the day for the Dirty Dozen and Dirty Dozen Alumni to participate in a challenge for the pleasure of the SCS community. This month's theme, put out by Val/11valerie11, is aptly named The Dog Days of Summer. The required elements include any dog images and/or sentiments, with the restricted element being any flock or fuzzy embellishment.

Being on the design team for The Cat's Pajamas, I have ample "dog" stamps, in the name of Poochie! I chose a fun image of Poochie lounging, beach side with book in hand. The setting I chose was on a postcard, coming from somewhere in France...probably the French Riviera?! Ü

To view the entire dirty challenge gallery, click here. Thanks for stopping by today!

Thank you, birdie!

This is a trio of thank you cards I made to give co-workers for Christmas gifts I was given by them. I fell back on my tried and true Top Note Bigz die from SU! paired with the bird from the Birds and Blooms set of dies. Simple stamping includes the branch from PTI's Out On A Limb set and a sentiment from Inque Boutique's Birdies set, both stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink...love the coverage of that ink! The designer paper is from SU! and is from the retired collection Holiday Harmony, layered on a Naturals Ivory card base (SU!). Very simple and straightforward, but I sure like the look and the dimension the bird gives along with the subtle design of the designer paper.

Thanks for popping in today...have a great Monday!

{Happy} Holiday Inspiration!

Ever wonder where the {inspiration} comes from? Well, I'm going to share with you the inspiration for today's cards that I'm about to show you. The first card was inspired by a cool photo card I found on Shutterfly and the second card was inspired by an ad in People magazine (11/24/08 issue) for a Hallmark Channel Original Movie~An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving.

Click here to view the inspiration from the Shuttefly card called Holly Chocolate. After much searching, I was unable to find the exact ad for the Hallmark Channel movie, but it featured a soft navy background with white snowflakes alongside a picture of Jacqueline Bisset in character with the movie information. Sorry about that, but if you click here, you can get all the deets on the movie!

Be sure to look around...there's inspiration everywhere!

Urban Prairie Chica!

I was so excited to find a sheet of the Basic Grey's Urban Prairie paper at my LSS the other day and just had to use it for Jen's Saturday Sketch For You To Try! It's just fun and whimsical, so sweet...or should I saw "tweet"?! I also found a 6x6 pad of Daisy D's Autumn Collection at the same store and by golly, some of those gorgeous papers just happened to coordinate with the BG paper!

I used a combination of Inque Boutique and Cornish Heritage Farms stamps. The scroll across the bottom is from IB's Narrative Elements and the the bird bath and chica are from the Kim Hughes Collection--Mocha Chica & The Landing Pad. My cute little chica is watercolored with reinkers and the flower embellishment is topped with a button and snip of pink gingham. Oh, almost forgot: The Kiwi Kiss grasses around the bird bath are from SU!'s Pocket Silhouettes, and I used a scroll like stamp from SU!'s Carte Postale, kissed it to the inked bird bath stamp for a more ornate look. Kissing is good!

Be sure to check out the other chicas' sure-to-be swell creations as well as Jen and Becca, her November guest designer (I just peeked and they both made fabulous Christmas cards!).

Jen/Becca
Susan
Shannan
Carole
Amy

Now for the deets...
Stamps: Inque Boutique Narrative Elements; CHF Mocha Chica & The Landing Pad; SU! Carte Postale & Pocket Silhouettes

Ink/reinkers: Versafine Black Onyx; Taken with Teal, Pirouette Pink, Ruby Red, Soft Sky & Kiwi Kiss

Paper: Basic Grey Urban Prairie; SU! Kiwi Kiss; Daisy D's Autumn Collection

Accessories: flower, button (source unknown); SU! pink gingham

Thursday's Dirty Challenges...

Hurumph, I only had time for one of the dirty challenges today...Sharon's/notimetostamp challenge. It was a good one, so click here for all the dirty details! Sharon challenged us to stamp simply, her mantra. Each week on Sharon's blog, she features a stamp simply day--something that doesn't eat up your day. Sharon challenged us to create something simple, elegant and beautiful. When I think elegant, I immediately think black and a beautifully contrasting color; Kiwi Kiss in this case. Sharon also suggested starting with a beautiful stamp set, and I had just the set from Inque Boutique called French Fancy. I finished it off with a piece of recycled black satin ribbon, in true notimetostamp style.

Without further adieu, here she is:

Supplies:

Stamps: Inque Boutique's French Fancy

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP

Accessories: recycled black satin 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