WPlus9 Cloud 9 Blog Hop--July

Hey there, friends!  I have an extra special post for you today.  My sweet friend and fellow WPlus9 fan, Suzanne Dahlberg, decided to start a monthly blog hop for WPlus9 customers to showcase their creations.  Each month there will be a theme or challenge for inspiration, and to kick things off this month Suzanne has chosen a fun and colorful photo.

{photo source}

I am absolutely delighted and honored to have been invited to be a part of the Inspiration Team for this monthly challenge.  Two of my favorite designers are also joining the team:  Anya Schrier and Gayatri Murali.  I just know that their creations will knock your socks off each month!

For my card this month, I was inspired by the colors, large flowers, and natural fibers on the table skirt in the photo.  The brightly colored flowers became medallions on my card, and for the natural fibers I used some rustic twine and a muslin pocket.  

To make the pocket, I used spray adhesive to attach a scrap of muslin to white cardstock, then die cut and stamped the pocket with A Pocketful.  I cut a simple tag to fit inside the pocket and stamped it with aqua medallions and a sentiment from A Pocketful.

Cardstock:  WPlus9 Design Studio (White), Papertrey Ink (Fine Linen, Aqua Mist)

Stamps:  WPlus9 Design Studio (A Pocketful, Mehndi Medallions)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Chocolate Chip)

Tools:  WPlus9 Design Studio (pocket die), Papertrey Ink (woodgrain impression plate), hole punch, corner rounder

Accessories:  The Ribbon Carousel (natural twine)

I hope you'll head over to the Cloud9 blog to find out more about the challenge, including prizes and a Linky for your creation!  You'll have 3 days to add your link, and there is sure to be some amazing inspiration along the hop to get you going.

Thanks so much for your visit!  I'm still 4 days behind on my blog reader, so forgive me if I haven't been by to say hello lately.  I hope you're having a great start to your week!

Color Throwdown #156 & Square Sketch Challenge

Well hello, strangers!  Can you believe I'm actually back with a card today?

As you might remember, I went back to work last week after spending the last 6 years at home with my kids.  It's a part-time job, but I was still exhausted every afternoon last week while adjusting to the new routine.  I am the new lab technician for the Health Sciences department at a local college, and I am loving the job so far!  I have a lot of flexibility and independence, which works perfectly for me and allows my hubby and I to coordinate our schedules so that one of us can still be home with the kids when they are not in school.  I feel so fortunate to be back at work doing something I enjoy after such a long hiatus.  Thanks to everyone for leaving your words of encouragement, and for your patience during my absence over the last week!

To get back into the crafty swing of things, I decided to use some lovely colors from The Color Throwdown with the Square Sketch Challenge in Card Ideas Week in the Moxie Fab World.

This is the first time I've played with PTI's Mehndi Medallions stamps and impression plate.  Oh my loveliness!  I just adore the highly detailed impression this plate leaves!  *swoon*

I also took inspiration from Maile Belle's interpretation of the sketch as seen in the challenge post.  I layered a hand-cut Plum medallion over the impressed cardstock, then gave it a Saffron center by stamping the medallion onto Saffron cardstock with Versamark, heat embossing with clear powder, and punching out the center with a 1 inch circle punch.

The sentiment banner was cut with PTI's Double Ended Banner die and stamped with a sentiment from Birthday Basics.

I thought about adding some scattered bling or glitter pen details, but I really like the simple elegance of the medallions as is.

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (Perfect Plum, So Saffron), Papertrey Ink (Kraft, white)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Mehndi Medallions, Birthday Basics)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Perfect Plum), Versamark

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Mehndi Medallion impression plate, Double Ended Banner die), Martha Stewart Crafts (circle punch)

Accessories:  Stampendous (clear embossing powder)

In other news, we are in the midst of Tropical Storm Irene right now (recently downgraded from a hurricane), but the rain and wind have been manageable here.  My thoughts are with those along the East Coast where the impact of the storm has been much greater, and where flooding continues to be a threat.  Stay safe, friends!

See you back here soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

JUGS #92 & CR84FN #33

Hello, friends!  I'm so glad to be back for another week as Guest Designer with Just Us Girls!  This week Kristin has challenged us with a fun technique--making cardstock buttons!  There's a great tutorial for this technique HERE.  I chose to use the challenge colors at CR84FN as well, with kraft as my neutral.

ETA:  Check out this wonderful tutorial by JUGS Designer Dana at Want2Scrap!

The idea for this card started with the buttons, which I made using Papertrey's button dies, although you can make yours with any shape of die or punch you want.  Each button has 5 layers of cardstock to give it a nice thickness.  On the top layer of white cardstock, I stamped an image from WPlus9's Mehndi Medallions.  I can't tell you how much I love how this turned out!  A coat of Glossy Accents and these babies look almost like the real thing!

For the rest of the card, I stamped images from WPlus9's Spring Post, including the letters L-O-V-E over the bird postage stamp.  

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Kraft, Pure Poppy, white)

Stamps:  WPlus9 Design Studio (Spring Post, Mehndi Medallions)

Ink:  Clearsnap (Frost White, Cranberry), Stampin' Up! (Pretty in Pink)

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (button dies)

Accessories:  DMC floss

Another sweet card for my sweet hubby.  I don't think he'll mind the pink, do you?  *grin*

I hope you'll give this technique a try and share your creation with us at JUGS!

Thanks for stopping by!