Dare To Get Dirty Week!

It's time once again for the annual Dare To Get Dirty week over at Splitcoast for Fan Club Members, and if you don't have a clue as to what I'm blabbing about, check it all out HERE! You really should check out the challenges, because they truly are meant to be fun and really get you motivated! Just reading through the challenges from the past few days got me itching to pull out this or that stamp, die or patterned paper, and this is what I came up with:

This CAS CutUps die-light is a sample I made for Leigh O'Brien's challenge. I've used four CutUps dies for this one: Grass, Wave, Cloud Border and Sunflower Rosette.

This cute santa card uses Santa Paws from Paper Smooches and qualified for 5 different challenges at once! See that fun December calendar behind Santa? That's a digi file from Kerri Bradford's This & That: Christmas kit...so fun!

Here's the inside of the santa card above with a few hand stitches encircling the greeting from another Kim Hughes set, Christmas Critters.

Here's my final-final...another card for Leigh's challenge using CutUps dies (Big Scallop, Wave & Cloud Border) and By The Sea.

I hope you're motivated to head over to SCS and pick up a few of these challenges for yourself, or consider becoming a Fan Club Member if you haven't yet done so! Thanks for stopping by today~Amy

SCS Sketch Challenge 336 {DAD}

It's been 'forever' since I've played along with any of the SCS challenges, so I decided to pick up the sketch challenge from this past Wednesday and get started on a Father's Day card for Ed from the kiddos.

The card uses some of that great burlap that I found in Ed's shed, screw top brads, die cut letters using wood veneer sheets from The Cat's Pajamas, my beloved woodgrain impression plate from PTI, and retro signage images cut from a piece of patterned paper from K&Co. (Home Improvement Scrap Kit). I also distressed the edges of the woodgrain impressed layer, spattered it with brown ink and made a faux coffee ring by pressing the bottom of a coffee cup into brown ink and then 'stamping' it onto the paper.

I'm still working my way back into my old stamping schedule, so please stop back for more goodies this week!
~Amy

Weekend Challenges

*Please scroll down for my SFYTT post*

I had a bit of stamping time this morning and came up with cards for Taylored Expressions Weekend Sketch Challenge and the SCS Saturday Inspiration Challenge. Both cards use scraps of patterned paper that I pulled from my scrap bucket which include papers from Crate Paper, Jenni Bowlin, a discarded dictionary and Making Memories. As you can see...I love black and cream with a splash of pow-wow.

The paper flower was made by die cutting 3 different size circles, distressing them, splitting the paper and then pulling them all together with a matching button and circle of rhinestones. I also used rhinestones to highlight the sentiment in the upper right hand corner (PTI). The swirl is from Autumn Leaves, stamped in Versafine Onyx and embossed in clear EP for added texture and pop.

The second card also uses PTI stamps, this time the bicycle from Everyday Button Bits. Before stamping and embossing the bicycle, I stamped the die cut label (Spellbinders) with my SU! Sanded background stamp in Creamy Caramel. The buttons are sewn on with PTI button twine with a bit more twine acting as my winding road just beneath.

I haven't had a chance to participate in either of these challenges for quite some time, and doing so this weekend made me realize how much I miss challenges, and how challenges have helped me grow as a stamper. I hope you get a little time to participate in a challenge or two this week.

Thanks for stopping by today...
~Amy

hey dude!

I {heart} Kim Hughes and all of her adorably fun images! I realized how long it had been since I'd inked up any of my KH images and chose this hilarious frog prince and sentiment from her Little Guy set and matched it up with this week's sketch challenge over at Splitcoast (SC246). It's a great sketch, one that I'll be using again and again!

The legs and belly of mr. frog are paper pieced using scraps of Ripe Avocado (PTI) and retired Kiwi Kiss (SU!). To give his belly a little depth and blend the two greens, I sponged around his belly (a sponge bath of sorts, ha!) with my PTI Vintage Touch inking system, using the darker of the two inks. His eyes and crown are colored in with watercolor pencils with bits of a Stardust Gelly Roll pen on his crown tips and toes. Although it's hard to see, the Kiwi layer is dry embossed with an argyle-like plate, the same one I used on my TCP Tuesday card posted yesterday.

Thanks for stopping by today, it was great having you!

Best Friend

My friend Barb is one of those best friends who'd do just anything for you and your family. She's also a dog lover to the core, so this one's for you, Barb! I'm actually home with George today because he's on the mend from a case of tonsilitis, and wouldn't you know, Barb offered to pick up George's birthday cake for me--see, I told she's like that!

I used this week's SCS Wednesday sketch challenge (#245) along with a sweet lil' dog stamp I've had for ages (Stamp Craft). I stamped and layered him three times for added dimension, and so he wouldn't get lost among all the yummy colors and patterns of this CTMH Perfect Day paper. Sentiment is a combo of Amazing to Zany (best) and Mega Mixed Messages (friend).

Gotta run, birthday preparations to do and hubby's home, so I'm sure he's wondering how in the heck I have time to be stamping!

Halloween: Day 2 {boo}

Super quick post to share another of my Halloween stamp purchases, this one using Inkadinkado's Ghouls & Goblins set, so darn cute!

• 8x8 Halloween patterned paper by Recollections
• SCS sketch challenge 243
• die cut letters using CB red tag alpha
• Jenni Bowlin mini 4x4 papers (ledger paper)
• paper pieced pooch
• Candy Sprinkles buttons by The Cat's Pajamas

See you tomorrow with a SFYTT!

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!

Porthole Trio

When I first saw this trio of TCP dudes in their portholes, I immediately thought of a SCS challenge card I'd done a few years ago using a trio of Halloween images that I just loved and still have today in my "card stash". I pulled it out and used it as my inspiration. Today's card features images from By The Sea, embellished with yummy Candy Sprinkles ribbon, a shrinky dink'd sentiment and Glitzy Glitter--all available from The Cat's Pajamas!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday! I'll be back tomorrow with a new SFYTT...

Early Bird Heaven!

I am so smitten with Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird Collection! I have a few projects to share using them, including today's sketch challenge over at SCS. Let's get going, eh?! The first one (above) is my sketch challenge card using the papers along with cute stamps from My Cute Stamps and an alpha from CTMH. I embellished the main panel with a ribbon/flower/button cluster tied with button twine from PTI.

Next up is a name banner and tag using the papers, chipboard, button and stamps. Everything was created for our niece and goddaughter, Brea's 1st birthday this past weekend. I have to take the opportunity to brag a bit about DH because he made the pictured dollhouse/bookcase for Brea from an idea we'd seen online (trendy home furnishing catalog)--isn't it the bees knees?! I thought it would be fun to do something paper-crafty with the dollhouse/bookcase, so I channeled my good friend, Kelly Lunceford's cool banners. Keep scrolling down for a close up of the banner and the tag that accompanied Brea's other gifts (books, of course!)...

Thanks for stopping by today!

Inspiration Challenge: hello, baby!

I decided to check out the Saturday Inspiration Challenge over at SCS yesterday and fell in love with the curtains from the inspiration photo below. I knew my CHF broad stripe backgrounder stamped with Kiwi Kiss ink would work perfectly to mimic the diagonal stripe of the curtains and then pulled in the other colors, Tangerine Tango and Chocolate Chip, on my die cut letters and ribbon/flower cluster. The cluster is topped off with a {hello} tag, again using my PTI set, Mega Mixed Messages (you'll notice that I also used the same stamp on my SFYTT card from the previous post). It's just a handy set to have within arm's reach!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by today. I hope to get to a few more of the SCS daily challenges once I'm on summer vacation--next week!

Sketch Challenge 224

For today's SCS sketch challenge using (literally) scraps from my stamping space along with my new go-to set, Damask Designs. I added a buttons tied with linen thread and a scalloped edge to the sentiment panel to pull your attention to it. Everything stamped in Versafine onyx black ink. Designer paper is a snip of retired SU! Cerise. That's all folks!

If you'd like to play along with SC224, just click here for all the deets!

2-for-Tuesday!

My second post today featuring a double challenge card for SCS Color Challenge #211: Pretty Kiwi Breezes, and TCP Tuesday #51 hosted by the uber-talented Leigh O'Brien. The Pretty Kiwi Breezes colors translate to: Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss and Baha Breeze. That combo was screaming Easter to me, so I took advantage of my clearly swanky TCP set, Spring Fling! Without further adieu, here she is:

I added texture to the vertical panels with my Texturz plates (set 1) from SU! and a trio of button brads to the corner just 'cause it needed a little sumpin'-sumpin'! The rest is pretty straightforward, but please don't hesitate to leave me a question in the comment section if there's something you're curious about!

I miss you!

For today's Featured Stamper Challenge over at SCS featuring the one and only, Beate!

Here is the card I cased, changing stamps, papers and the ribbon treatment on the main panel. I added a bit of red Stickles to make her "Dorothy" shoes really sparkle and they really stand out against the subtle blues and greens of the K&Co. Margo designer papers.

I received this image from Julia Aston in the mail yesterday--thanks so much, I've been wanting to use some of these cuties from The Greeting Farm!

For all the details on the card, click here!

Challenge Combo Card

A combination of Sketch Challenge #220 and Color Challenge #210 over at SCS. Check out all the details of each challenge by clicking on their respective names in the previous sentence and then come out and play!

Card ingredients
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers
Paper: Vanilla, Black, Riding Hood Red, Summer Sun, Kraft, Urban Oasis DSP, October Afternoon (polka dots), Scenic Route (red), K&Co. Margo 12x12 pad (newsprint)
Ink: Basic Black, Ranger Distress Walnut
Accessories: buttons, linen thread, sewing machine/black thread, sponge

Color Challenge 207

For the weekly SCS Color Challenge #207: Kiwi Kiss, Pumpkin Pie & Summer Sun. I love that color combo for a fall look but wanted my card to have the look of spring/summer, so I opted for a white base to help it along. The cute sunflower and bug image is a sneak peek of good things to come from The Cat's Pajamas...stay tuned!

I colored the image with a blender pen and reinkers in the challenge colors and then added a little Soft Sky with an aquapainter for a blue sky. The flowers from the sentiment were filled in with a white gel pen and dotted in the middle with my Sakura Gelly Roll pen. I added a little of that same glimmer to the stem and leaf as well. The flower petals are glazed with Crystal Effects and the bug is dotted with CE for a little extra-extra.

Just a couple more things and then I'm done (that's called a "safety signal" in the world of education!)...a button tied with linen thread centers that sweet bloom and then, did you notice the texture on the Summer Sun layer? It's my new Texturz plate from SU! that I know I'm going to be using over and over--love 'em!

Hope you get a chance to scatter some sunshine today!

Dirty Challenge: Lucky!

For the February Dirty Girl Challenge over at SCS. On the 20th of each month, Dirty Girls past and present are challenged to create something given specific parameters. Here are this month's parameters:

• Challenge Focus: Challenge Focus: Cards/Poker/Games/Gambling/Luck
  
• Required Element: A card made with other than a standard fold
• Restricted Element: No buttons

I used Kim Hughes' set The Birds and The Bees along with Heidi Swapp's crown set to create fun and whimsical playing card. The "Q" is from a Hero Arts alphabet set and the heart is from SU!'s Small Sayings set. A variety of designer papers were used including Scenic Route's Sonoma Collection and Crate Paper's 5th Ave. Collection. Other cardstock used includes SU!'s Basic Black, Very Vanilla and Baha Breeze. The sentiment was computer generated using SU!'s Carefree font with a sticky glitter "B" from Memory Makers. The 4 small glitter dots at the bottom are from the same glitter letter sheet. Finally, I used a "gate fold" as the required element, cutting my paper 4 1/4" x 8 1/2", scoring at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8".

Thanks for taking a peek today, and be sure to head over to SCS to see what the rest of the Dirty Girls have up their sleeve!

Challenge Trifecta!

Since I haven't been getting much time to stamp lately on top of being sick this past week, I decided it would be the best and most efficient use of my time to combine a few of the challenges in which I wanted to participate. So, the three challenges combined on this cute little cupcake monkey card are: TCP Tuesday, CC206--More Rosey Kiwis, and SC216--whew, that was a mouthful, eh?! For the deets on each of the challenges, simply click away on the name of each. One thing you need to know is that the TCP challenge called for the incorporation of a cupcake, so I decided to try my hand at a "hand cut" cupcake, if you will. I used my Fiskars decorative edge scissors for the top of the More Mustard cupcake liner and added a bit of Ranger Diamond Stickles on the Rose Red Velvet cupcake itself. This sweet monkey and the "hey" portion of the sentiment are sneak peeks from new TCP stamps coming your way in March, and the "cupcake" portion is my handwritten addition.

A couple other fun things I've noticed "others" doing lately that I decided to try: that "smudge-y" outline which I (sorta) achieved using my blender pen and brown ink; and a flat side view of my card to show the dimension of the popped up layers. I've mentioned before that I usually emulate others' cool ideas, so thanks peeps for your inspiration. Oh, you'd like to know where the inspiration came from? Well, of course!

Smudge-y outline: Amy Sheffer/Pickled Paper Designs

Flat side view: Kelly Lunceford/Atomicbutterfly

Thanks for stopping by today!

Double Challenge

This one is for two of the SCS challenges this week: Sketch Challenge 214 and Ways To Use It 204. The WT challenge is to layer embellishments and that's just what I did with some new K&Co. chipboard that I recently acquired along with a Martha Stewart Cosmos punch. A button tied with linen thread tops the layering off. I also added a trio of SU!'s Build-A-Brad along the right side of the sketch and a tied corner embellishment as well. I felt like the sentiment layer just "needed something" so I swiped my widest watercolor brush across it with a bit of So Saffron ink.

If this card looks familiar, that's because it was inspired by this SFYTT card I made awhile back using the same Scenic Route Sonoma Collection papers and sentiment from SU!'s retired set, All Year Cheer. I'm slowly getting through a list of cards I need to make and send, and the papers and sentiment previously used fit the bill nicely--why reinvent the wheel, eh?!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great afternoon!

Dirty Girl Challenged

Ok, so here's my real challenge lately: remembering deadlines! Yes, yesterday was the 20th day of January which means that the current and alumni Dirty Dozen Girls over at SCS were to upload their monthly Dirty Challenge cards/creations. So, when one of my students told me that yesterday was actually January 20th, not January 19th, I realized that once again--I was late to the par-tay! Determined to participate in the challenge anyway, I just showed up fashionably late.

Dirty Girl Jodi Collins/Kharmagirl issued the challenge for us this month and here it is:
Challenge Focus: A Valentine's Day/Love-y Dove-y card!!
Required Element: Texture!! Anything you can *feel* (ie: Fun Flock, Crystal Effects, Embossing/Debossing, velvet ribbon...
Restricted Element: No RED!! Pink is ok...but no red...

My texture comes from the retired SU! designer paper I used and you won't find a lick of red on this one! I think this will be going to DH for V-Day, so lookie there--I've finished something like totally weeks before it's deadline! Things are lookin' up Ü

Card deets:
Paper: retired SU! dp, so saffron, brocade blue
Ink: Ranger Distress inks in walnut and old paper
Accessories: chit chat rub-on, heart and top note dies, button, sponge

Sunday's FS102 on Tuesday!

I seem to consistently be a day late and dollar short these days when it comes to keeping up with the goings-on in the blogger world of stampers and over at SCS, so the fact that I just tuned in to see that Lori Craig/stamp_momma was Featured Stamper #102 on Sunday should come as no big surprise. What is a big deal though is this "stamp_momma lady"! Although I've never met her, I can just tell what a warm and wonderful lady she is from visiting her blog and seeing the things she's doing here and there as well as the swell comments she leaves me! Go, see for yourselves what I'm chattin' about: check her out her blog or her SCS gallery and see this wonder!

To play along with the FS challenge, you choose a card from said person's gallery and CASE it with a few changes, whether it be colors, stamps, embellishments, etc.. Well, in this case there were two of Lori's cards that tripped my trigger, so I'll give links to both.

Inspiration card #1
Inspiration card #2

I used the same stamp set as card #2 and the same layout as card #1, using different colors, papers and embellishments. I also stitched a bit of red thread around the perimeter to pull in the red color of the heart in "honey". Ranger Stickles (Diamond) were used in the wings and the heart for a little extra sparkle, cause these two bees are in love and 'cause Lori did that in her card (#1)! The images are watercolored with reinkers and a brush adding sponging on the edges to tone everything down and give it a little shabby love. The trio of heart brads replace the dew drops in Lori's card (#2 in case you're keeping track!).

I had a great time perusing Lori's gallery and I always love to stop by her blog, so if you're looking for a challenge or just some great eye candy and down to earth chatter, be sure to stop by, see her and play along: Featured Stamper 102 Challenge.