Paper Works Ultimate Summer Challenge

My friend, Tracy Harp, asked me to participate in a challenge sponsored by Paper Works Co. It's called the Ultimate Summer Challenge. I'm participating with Tracy, Cheryl Rowley, and our friend Debbie Morrissey (from Buffalo Stamps & Stuff). We are called the Buffalo Stampers. There were four challenges that each one of us had to choose...a sketch, color, inspiration, and technique. I chose the inspiration challenge. We were to be inspired by the image and the overall feel of the card. So the image I chose this image from Rachelle Anne Miller called Puddles of Fun. I was inspired by the umbrella and splashes of water for my card.I started with this dp from My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary line with umbrellas and used that as my color inspiration as well. The image is colored with copic markers and I placed star dust stickles on the puddle. The image had to be placed on an angle so you could still see the umbrellas on the dp! I used an EK Success punch on the bottom of the dp, then layered the backside (the yellow polka dots) underneath. I then put these blue and clear rain drops randomly on top of that. The bow is bermuda bay that I just looped around a couple of times to make the double bow, and placed a big yellow button in the middle.

Our cards are on SCS for the judges to see. I would love for you to stop by and add some comments. You can find my card here and Cheryl's card here. Please stop by and leave us some love. Tracy has not uploaded her card and Debbie's card yet, but I'll link them when she does.

Thanks so much and thanks for stopping in!

Recipe
Stamps: Puddles of Fun by Rachelle Anne Miller (Paper Works Co.)
Paper: Neenah white, Quite Contrary (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, copic markers
Accessories: Nesties, bermuda bay SU ribbon, button, star dust stickles, EK Success border punch, dimensionals

Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge

Happy Friday everyone! I'm here with a Makeup for the Weekend challenge from Paper Makeup Stamps. This week Lisa McKinney is hosting and she chose an inspiration challenge. Look at the fantastic picture she chose for inspiration.I am a very literal person...even with sketches, so I naturally went literal with this picture and created this card.I'm not sure I like my brayering. I should have used glossy cardstock...I know that works much better, but I forgot and just used regular cardstock. I brayered Cool Caribbean ink (retired SU) using a piece of ripped paper to keep the white on the bottom. (I tried to soften the white/blue edge with more caribbean ink by using a dauber. Not sure I like that either!) I punched a 1" circle for the sun and placed that on the cardstock while I brayered the caribbean ink. Then to get the yellow, I used the negative piece from the circle punch, placed it around the opening and inked that with barely banana. I like the effect of the white around the edges. I used Friendly Flowers for the flowers/vines and the sentiment is from Birthday Cheer. The butterflies were created with a Martha Stewart punch using Basic Grey's June Bug dp. There are crystals on each butterfly and star dust stickles on the flowers. I used my new grass border punch that I just purchased on my shopping trip last weekend with my friend Cheryl. Oh, and I sewed around the edges! I'm real happy with that! LOL!!

So what do you think? I'd love to hear from you. I like the outcome. I actually made this on Monday and thought of changing it all week, but left it alone...I had more DT work to do and other things going on this week after work! No time to play around! Check out the details for this challenge on the PMS blog. You can link up your creation on Mr. Linky there for us to see!

Thanks for stopping in and I hope you have a great weekend! I know I so look forward to mine! See you tomorrow for a My Time Made Easy template challenge from Just Us Girls! You won't want to miss that!

Recipe
Stamps: Dream Big, Birthday Cheer (PMS)Paper: Neenah white, summer sun, garden green, June Bug (Basic Grey)
Ink: Barely banana, garden green, cool caribbean
SU Markers: Real red, baroque burgundy, garden green, summer sun, really rust
Accessories: MS butterfly and grass punches, 1" circle punch, crystals, star dust stickles, brayer, sewing machine

Make Up 4 the Weekend Challenge #14

This week's Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge over at Paper Makeup Stamps is an inspiration challenge. PMS DT member Christi Snow chose a fabulous bedroom for the inspiration! I just love it! Wouldn't you die to have a bedroom like this? I'm in L-O-V-E!!! Here's my interpretation. The first thing I noticed in this bedroom was the beautiful arched window, so I knew I wanted to incorporate that into my card. I used my Marvy scalloped punch to achieve this look. I then scored the top part of the card to mimic the mullions in the window. The other parts of this bedroom that caught my eye were the aqua spread, the black & white rug, and the flowers. It's obvious how I used them in my card. The aqua is a very old card stock from SU called Cool Caribbean. Remember that one? I still have lots of it and it was a perfect match! And the pearls....a whole sheet of 60 pearls in three different sizes for $1 from AC Moore! What a steal! I just love the crispness of this card!

So why not try your hand at this challenge and see what you come up with? You can link up your post to Mr. Linky on the PMS blog. We'd love to see your interpretation.

Don't forget that tomorrow is our big Paper Makeup Stamps Birthday Bash blog hop! PMS will be celebrating its 1st birthday! It starts at 7:00 am CST and then there will be a party in the PMS forum starting at 8:00 pm CST. Also, there will be great things going on for the entire month of February! Check out the details on the PMS blog here.

Thanks for stopping by! See you tomorrow for the birthday hop!
Recipe
Stamps: Dream Big (PMS)
Paper: Neenah white, cool caribbean, black
Ink: Memento tuxedo black
Accessories: Marvy scallop punch, pearls, ribbon, swiss dots folder, sateen flowers, dimensionals

Fairy Cottage Inspiration Challenge

I haven't played the Inspiration Challenge on SCS for a long time, and these are really my favorite challenges. So, I'm playing today even though it's very late! The website Stephanie chose was called Chasing Fireflies and this is what I chose from the sight for my inspiration.
When I saw this cottage, I knew exactly which stamp I was going to use. Here is my card. This is The Cottage stamp from Paper Makeup Stamps. Isn't it a perfect image for the inspiration I chose? I colored it with copic markers to match the cottage in the inspiration piece, right down to the blue door! The little fairy on the roof is from the Made with Love set from PMS as well. This is actually a "made by" set you use on the back of your cards. I thought she would be perfect on the roof of the cottage throwing fairy dust onto it and saying "Have a Fairy Nice Day". I used this week's SCS sketch for this card too.

Thanks for stopping by again today. Have a great Sunday!

Recipe
Stamps: The Cottage and Made with Love, Fairy Sentiments (PMS)
Paper: Very vanilla, Neenah white, close to cocoa, old olive, Fall Flowers dp (SU retired)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black
Copic Markers: E00, 02, 31, 33, 35, 51; YR21, 24; Y11, 38; YG11, 13, 25; R17, 25; B24, W-1, 3, 5
Accessories: Oval nesties, MS frond punch, candy dots, cuttlebug folder, Star Dust Stickles, ribbon, dimensionals

Celebrate the Goofy Stuff!

Hello everyone! It's a beautiful sunny day here in Buffalo, NY (finally!) and I thought I'd do a spring-colored card today to celebrate that! The Inspiration Challenge on SCS today was an easy one for me. The website Stef chose today was Fitz and Floyd, which feature collectibles of all kinds, especially rabbits. I remembered this image that my friend, Cheryl Rowley, gave me when we first met for coffee. She gave me some images that she had used on her cards that I had commented on in her gallery. She even cut this one out for me! How nice...thanks, Cheryl! Well, it was the perfect image for this little guy that I used as my inspiration. Perfect, huh?

I had this pad of dp from PTI called Bitty Dot Basics sitting on my table unopened and decided to go with the papers that matched the balloons. I made a 5.25" square card, and cut the dp in 2.5" pieces. This size gave me a nice white border around each one. The bunny, called Happy Hopper from House Mouse, was colored with copic markers (I have them listed in the Recipe below) and layered with PTI's Lavender Moon which was cut and embossed with a scalloped oval nestie. I painted some Shimmerz paint on each of the balloons and on the pink parts of the bunny for some SHINE! The white buttons are SU and I threaded some floss through each one. I struggled with the sentiment...should I go cute, serious, goofy? You can see I went with goofy! It's from SU's Smarty Pants set. On the inside, I sort of replicated the square them by punching 1" squares from each of the dp papers. Simple, but cute card.

I'm having a surprise 80th birthday party today for my mom (her actual birthday is next Friday, the 20th). It's just a few family and friends. She thinks my hubby and I and my brother's kids are just taking her out for a nice dinner. She told me she was glad we weren't having a party for her...she said she doesn't believe in doing that! Yikes! She'll be mad, but I know she'll have a good time! Her brother from PA is coming in and we haven't seen him in a while, so that will be worth it! Have a wonderful weekend! I hope the sun is smiling down on you today like it's smiling on us here in Buffalo! (PS, see my Friday the 13th post below...)
Recipe
Stamps: Happy Hopper (House Mouse), Smarty Pants and Cheery Chat (SU)
Paper: PTI white and Bitty Dot Basics dp
Ink: Versafine Black
Copic Markers: Y02, 06; YG00, 03; RV02 , 34; B21, 31; W-1; blender pen
Accessories: Shimmerz paint (sky blue, pink, sunflower, celery), buttons, floss, 1" square punch, dimensionals

Spunky Sprout Inspiration

Another Inspiration Challenge on SCS today...one of my favs! This week, Stef chose a website called Spunky Sprout which has some great products for kids from bedding to wall art. I got my inspiration from one of the fabulous, funky wall art pictures. Here's the one I chose called Woods Turtle Print.

I knew I had a turtle in PTI's Pond Life (which I had never used), but I had to find something for those leafy things. I found this one in SU's retired Touch of Nature. It was the closest I could find. I stamped them in Really Rust and Green Galore. The turtle was stamped in Close to Cocoa, then overstamped in Really Rust. His body was cut out and placed on dimensionals. The main image is mounted on Really Rust. I found these great colors in this dp from DCWV's Animal Crackers. Such a fun pack of papers! The sentiment is from PTI's Pond Life Sentiments and was stamped in Chocolate Chip then punched with the key tag punch. I punched another in Really Rust and layered them together. The brads are from American Crafts. I did use the Clear Star Sakura gelly roll pen to the body of the turtle and the leaves for some shimmer. That's it! Another great inspiration! Thanks for stopping by...have a great weekend!
Recipe
Stamps: Touch of Nature (retired SU), Pond Life and Pond Life Sentiments (PTI)
Paper: Green galore, really rust, whie, DCWV Animal Crackers dp
Ink: Close to cocoa, green galore, really rust, chocolate chip
Accessories: American Crafts brads, key tag punch, dimensionals, Clear Star Sakura gelly roll pen

Room Service

Nope, I'm not offering any! LOL! That is the name of the website Steff chose for the Inspiration Challenge on SCS today (actually it's Room Service Home). She always chooses the greatest inspirations and this one is no different! After looking at the entire website, I actually came up with three of my own to choose from. I settled on this one from the bath accessories category because of the background...look at it! I just got my Papertrey Ink order the other day and one of the stamp sets I purchased was Background Basics: Retro. I immediately recognized the background in the picture as one of the stamps from the set, so I had to go with this one! Here's the picture I chose. It was a dead ringer for PTI's Aqua Mist cardstock and SU's Close to Cocoa ink. That's where my colors came from. I looked at the flower vase and immediately thought of this vase of flowers from SU's Bloomin' Beautiful. Couldn't be more perfect!

I wanted to keep the stainless feel to the card, so I colored the vase with a Creative Memories silver marker I've had forever. It was even dried up and I had to really shake it to wake it up! I wanted to keep the flowers white, but had a hard time with that, so I used copic markers in different shades of the "E" line. I started with the lightest one and worked my way up for shading. I then took a white gel pen and inked up the centers of the flowers. I also popped up four of the flowers. I think if you click on the picture you'll be able to see that better. When all that was done, the flowers still looked dull. So I pulled out my Shimmerz paint and painted the leaves in celery and the shading on the flowers in sunflower. Still not enough, so out came the Sakura clear glittery pen and that livened things up! I wasn't sure what to do with the layout, but I knew I didn't want to clutter up the background seeing as that was my inspiration. So, in keeping with the shiny stainless feel, I went for a silver ribbon. What do you think about that? I was a little hesitant, but I think it looks fine. I went with a little sentiment from PTI's Mixed Messages.

On the inside I stamped the background stamp again in Close to Cocoa. The sentiment is from Crafty Secrets Sweet Kids and it's stamped in the same ink. I also used a small leaf from the set and stamped it inside the opening of the background in Aqua Mist. I'm sending this to my Aunt Vi who will be 89 on Monday. She's currently in a nursing home and my mom is ordering flowers to be sent to her. She'll love it, I'm sure!

On another note, I can't wait to see what Joanne (aka sleepyinseattle on SCS) chooses as her inspiration today. For the past three weeks, we have chosen the same inspiration! And there have been many pieces to choose from! I haven't looked yet, but she's in Seattle so she's a bit behind me in hours and she is probably just waking up and having her coffee! Well, thanks for looking today and have a great weekend!
Recipe
Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful (SU), Mixed Messages and Background Basics: Retro (PTI), Sweet Kids (Crafty Secrets)
Paper: Aqua Mist and Vintage Cream (PTI), Close to Cocoa (SU)
Ink: Adirondack black, aqua mist, copic markers
Accessories: Ticket corner and circle punches, ribbon, white gel pen, Sakura glittery gel pen, Creative Memories silver marker, Shimmerz paint, dimensionals

Sweet Blue Bird

Hi everyone! This card was made for the SCS Inspiration Challenge (one of my favs next to the sketch challenges!). The website chosen as the inspiration is called Flutter and I chose this Sweet Blue Bird pillow as my inspiration.

It's a pretty literal translation, isn't it?

I started by stamping the damask from Inkadinkadoo's Bold Damask in So Saffron on Very Vanilla. I then overstamped it with the Canvas bg stamp in Creamy Caramel to get some texture like the pillow. Now the bird gave me trouble! It's also from a set by Inkadinkadoo called Winter Birds. I stamped it in Pacific Point, but since this stamp has so much surface area and is an acrylic stamp, it stamped very "splotchy". Does anyone know how to prevent this from happening? I stamped it about six times with the same results. Ugghh! After I stamped it, I colored in the flowers and stems with So Saffron and Really Rust markers. The bird in the inspiration had some of these colors in him as well. I tried to do something to mimic the sort of rope border around the pillow, but was hurrying, so I used SU's Sale-a-bration ribbon and made a formal bow. The sentiment is from PTI's Out on a Limb stamped in Pacific Point and punched with the large and small ovals. Done! I forgot to put some stickles on the bird. I wanted to do that to give him some pizazz, but forgot. He'll get them later! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Recipe

Stamps: Bold Damask, Winter Birds (Inkadinkadoo); Out on a Limb (PTI); Canvas (SU)

Paper: Very vanilla, so saffron

Ink: So saffron, creamy caramel, pacific point, so saffron and really rust markers

Accessories: So saffron grosgrain ribbon, large and small oval punches, dimensionals

Happy Valentine's Day!

Before I share my card with you, I want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all have a very nice day with whomever you share it with! I was looking through my pictures saved on my computer one day and found this one and just had to share it with you!
This is what my hubby created for me on Valentine's Day in 2001! (In case you can't tell, the heart and arrow are spaghetti filled with sauce!) I just thought this was the cutest thing he's ever done! He's not one to buy flowers or candy, but he does goofy things like this! Isn't that a hoot? Well, I just had to share that today. We are going out to dinner with his sister and her hubby tonight, so I won't be getting any creative dishes like this one! Have a nice Valentine's Day and please read on for today's card.


Rhinestone Cowgirl
Did you see the inspiration challenge on SCS today? The inspiration are bras from a website called Artfull Bras! Quilters from South Carolina wanted to "make the public aware of breast cancer, to memorialize those lost to the disease, and to honor survivors." Well, these ladies must also have a sense of humor, because these bras they created are quite humorous! You really need to check out all 49 of them! The one I chose is Rhinestone Cowgirl. I knew I had a bunch of SU's retired Outlaw paper and a bra stamp, so I took it from there and this is what I came up with.

My layout is from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #55. I used three different patterns from the Outlaw pack and mounted them on a Sage Shadow base. I stamped the bra image from Gina K's Thanks for Your Support set in Adirondack Espresso and colored it with copic markers. It was cut and embossed with a circle nestie and mounted on really rust and chocolate chip scalloped circles. I placed bling on the dots of the bra and a rectangluar bling on middle part. The sentiment is from this set also, and it was stamped in Espresso and cut and embossed with a tag die. The little star bling was placed over the holes. The chocolate ribbon is SU's twill and I tied three pieces of twine around it. In the inspiration piece, the straps and trim were done in rope, so this sort of mimics that. Well, I had fun looking at all those crazy bras and making this one. I hope you have a great weekend. I am off for winter break this week (insert a loud YEAH right here!), so you'll be seeing more posts this week! Have a great weekend and Happy President's Day!
Recipe
Stamps: Thanks for Your Support (Gina K Designs)
Paper: Sage shadow, chocolate chip, really rust, PTI vintage cream, SU retired Outlaw dp
Ink: Adirondack Espresso, copic markers
Accessories: Circle and scalloped nesties, tag die, bling, chocolate twill ribbon, twine, dimensionals

Hunky Dory Bird

Happy Saturday, everyone! It's pretty warm here today in Buffalo...finally! But it's very gray and wet, which I don't like! But, I'm off today, did some errands, saw my SIL's new cockapoo puppy, Holly, (soooo cute), and I stamped! A good day so far, and after I post this, I'm off to play with my little nephews, Ethan and Kristoff! An even better day!

This is for today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS. Stephanie chose this pretty funky website for home furnishings called Hunky Dory Home. I chose this blue and brown canvas print for my inspiration. I'm so drawn to blues and browns, and I thought it would be a very simple card to do (which it was), however it took longer than I anticipated...don't they always? {Sigh} I didn't get very good coverage on the Inkadinkadoo bird, which I stamped in Tempting Turquoise, so I had to start over. That's what I don't like about doing a card with no layers. Anyway, I started by scoring 1/4" lines around the perimeter of this 4 1/4" square card. Then I stamped the bird, marked off the bottom and sides and, using a stamp-a-ma-jig, stamped this branch from Embrace Life in Chocolate Chip. Very easy! Then I think I went through every stamp I own to find "just the right one" for the sentiment and came up with this. I was going to use one that said "Happy Birthday You Old Bird", but I didn't think it went with the card! Funny saying, but for another card, not this one! I highlighted the flourishes on the bird and the leaves with a Sakura Gelly Roll pen in a clear color just for some shine (I love shine!). That's it! I didn't have time to decorate the inside...that will be another project! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Recipe

Stamps: Birds Galore (Inkadinkadoo), Embrace Life (SU), Impression Obsession (sentiment)

Paper: PTI White

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Scor-pal, Sakura Gelly Roll pen

Ok, I'm back from visiting my nephews and they had a surprise...Uncle Kevin came later to visit and play! Here are some pictures of the rough housing that went on! I think the boys (including Uncle Kevin) will sleep well tonight!

Aren't they cute? Ethan is the older one and Kristoff is the little one. He is the one who had bowel surgery in July just one week after his first birthday. He is such a little bruiser! He can bring down his big brother in no time! They sure had fun and I had fun watching them. My mother was nervous that they'd hurt each other! She hasn't been around little boys for a long time! Thanks for letting me brag about my nephews!

Inspiration x 4

ETA: I just noticed my first anniversary of blogging is in two days! I thought it was more toward the middle of February! I'll have to pull some blog candy together! Stay tuned!

Ok are you ready for this long post? I don't know what happened to me today, but I was so inspired by the inspiration challenge today over at SCS. The inspiration was a website called Elum Designs and I must say WOW! I made four cards and each one really didn't take long to make at all! I also had a lot of time on my hands today...my DH is off skiing with Brad (his "little brother") and the boy scouts this weekend at Gore Mountain, which is in the eastern part of NY somewhere. So I have been enjoying my Saturday! Well, here we go!

Thanks

This was the first card I did. When I saw the inspiration piece, I immediately thought of this cuttlebug embossing folder with the vines and birds. I took my tangerine tango ink pad and applied the ink directly to the flat side of the folder. I sort of swirled the ink onto the folder instead of tapping it on so I wouldn't get any lines from the edge of the pad. I placed the piece of PTI white paper in the folder and embossed. I love the look, especially the white and tangerine...so fresh looking. I used a rectangular nestie to cut and emboss this piece. I then took a larger nestie and embossed the frame right on the base of the card, placed the tangerine piece inside of it, and stamped the sentiment. I received this stamp with my Verve order. This is what I did on the inside. You'll have to click on the picture for a better view, but I stamped my sentiment on the embossed frame (embellished with a flourish from PTI's Boxes, Bags, and Tags set) and left the other side blank (except for the bird, from a new Inkadinkadoo set) so I could write a message. Really easy card! On to the next card!




From Me to You
I actually used these two pieces as my inspiration for this card. I used the same technique as above for the center image. I used chocolate chip ink and the textile folder with soft sky cardstock. The rectangular nesties were also used again. Once I cleaned off the folder, I embossed a piece of soft sky cardstock for the large panel. The curly label punch was used for the sentiment. I sponged chocolate chip around the edges for more definition. This was the first time I ever made this bow. It's super easy and so pretty, I think! I used SU's chocolate chip grosgrain. I cut a piece long enough to go around the card to the back. Then I cut another piece and made a loop and fastened it with a large glue dot. I cut another smaller piece to wrap around the loop and fastened it with a glue dot as well. The bow was finally fastened to the strip of ribbon with another glue dot. I then added the dew drops. For the inside piece, I embossed just a portion of the left side and then, using the Scor-pal, I scored two lines. I left off a sentiment, as I don't know what this is going to be used for. I love the blue and brown together, don't you?














Butterflies Galore

This is one of my favorites of the bunch. I fell in love with this gift bag when I saw it. I went looking for my butterfly stamps and came across this one from Inkadinkadoo. It's called Patterened Bugs and the stamp is actually one long trail of different butterflies. I stamped it three times in pigment white ink and embossed it with white ep on PTI's aqua mist cardstock. I added the aqua mist swiss dot satin ribbon. Notice the bow? I told you I love that bow! I stamped these butterflies on the inside too in the aqua mist ink. I left off a sentiment on this one as well to use as a general note card. Love these fresh, springy colors! And now to the last one...phew!




Warmest Holiday Wishes
When I started making this card, I didn't think I was going to like it too much. I stamped the Wood Grain backgrounder stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms in chocolate chip on PTI white. Then I originally stamped the sentiment (from SU's retired Holiday Wishes) right over it (like in the inspiration piece) in red pigment ink and embossed it in red ep. It looked blah. So I stamped the sentiment in real red on a piece of white scrap, mounted it with real red, placed the brads in the corners and placed it over the top of the original sentiment with dimensionals. It looked to me like it had been nailed on a tree! I wanted to add something else, so I punched these ferns in garden green with a Martha Stewart punch. I'm lovin' this card. I think I may may more for my Christmas card challenge!

Well, I'm finally done! My fingers are sore from all the typing! Thank goodness I'm fast typer! Thanks for staying with me on this one, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!