Color/Sketch Combo

Today's SCS color challenge seemed like the perfect color combo for this cute little Lizzie Anne Designs single!  This layout is this week's LAD sketch challenge, hosted by Joslyn. 

The image was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink, colored with Copics, then cut and embossed with a nestabilities rectangle.  The sentiment was inked with water-based markers in three colors directly to the rubber, then cut and embossed with a nesties tag die.

For the background, I used an impressabilities plate to emboss a pretty floral pattern...a bit of sponging through the template accentuates the design.  The green strip is card stock punched with a dainty scallop, edged with some twill ribbon.  I kept the embellishments super simple, echoing the sunflower from the design with a sunflower made from flower punches and a brown button.

This was a fast, fun design!

Olympic Color Challenge

Most of my stamping lately is for design team work, and while it is ALL fun, today's card is purely for fun for today's SCS color challenge, the OLYMPIC Color Challenge EVENT!  I chose event 5, to use all five colors of the Vancouver Olympics logo plus neutrals, although the hues I used are loose interpretations!  I also included the dessert option of gold brads and some gold Stickles.  The cute images are from Asela's set, Dream Birds.  The sentiment is just perfect for this theme!

Somebody Send the Ark!

OMGoodness! It has been raining for four days straight! It did stop for a tiny while during the wee hours of the morning, but it is pouring again!

I'm not too good with days of rain on end! The grey weather drains my energy! I needed some bright happy colors to revitalize the dreary atmosphere around here! Just ducky for me, I had these little rain boots from OCL's Ducky Days already stamped and colored...I started them for this week's SCS color challenge and then got side-tracked. Wooohoooo when Julia's WT challenge called for stamping one image repeatedly! Ooooh, works for me!

I kept this one very clean and simple! Memento ink, Copics to color, a tiny bit of shading with a blender pen and light grey. I used my SU markers to give the word *rainbow* a rainbow of colors. (Isn't it kinda cool that the word has the perfect number of letters to fit ROY-G-BIV!?)

I certainly hope we get enough sunshine today to make a rainbow a possibility!

Today's Color Challenge

Today when the colors for CC214 were posted, I knew INSTANTLY what I wanted to do. That very rarely happens and when it does, it is SO nice! I am really pleased with how this card turned out...and that isn't something that I say very often! I just LOVE these chicks! They're from Jami Bova's new set, Chicken Dumpling, available now at 2RedBananas!

I stamped two chicks on white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used prismas and gamsol to color them, and then cut them out. I ran some cardstock panels through the cuttlebug, then assembled everything with mono multi using Mojo Sketch #81. Easy peasy card! Who knows how long it'll be before I get to actually give it to someone! Anybody know someone having fraternal twins?

SNS Design Team Round-up

The Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Design Team has been busy creating some fabulous designs to share with you using stamps from the upcoming release at the end of this month, and familiar favorites also! We share *behind the scenes* until it's time to begin sneak peeks with all of you, and I could hardly wait for today so you could see all the amazing creations our girls have come up with!

My card is made with the set, I'd Pick You, using colors from SCS CC205, "Perfect Pink Kiwis." This sweet Easter image was stamped with hybrid ink and then colored with prismas and baby oil. The papers I used are from a 6 x 6 pad of Basic Grey Paper (new designs just came in!), perfect for card-making!

While this image looks just fine colored using this method, it would be better than ever colored with Copic markers. Did you know that Sweet 'n Sassy has a Copic Club? I can't wait for my markers to arrive! The current clubs are already started, but new clubs will begin soon, so you will want to sign up to make sure you get a slot (or two!)! The prices are great and there are two options...one for beginners and one for someone familiar with the markers who would prefer to choose their own color palette. I am thrilled that Korin decided to host a club right at the time that I am slated to go for Copic certification! I am really looking forward to going, because I will get to see some of my online stamping friends...some I've met before and some I'll meet for the first time! We're gonna have such a great time!

Late Combo Card

This week's TLC looked SO interesting! I really wanted to try it, but sometimes it takes a while to get my groove going and by then we're out and about for play practice, etc. I didn't get to try it Monday, so I decided to combine it with the Color Challenge. Tuesdays are my longest, busiest day (who says SAHMs stay at home?!) so I finally finished it this afternoon. It always makes me sad to submit late, but I guess better late than never! The person who receives this won't care that it didn't make the deadline! ;)

This technique is really not as hard as it looks, especially if you have a nice sturdy see through ruler to use for marking your window. You lightly pencil it in (whatever size you want) and then mark again ~1/8"-1/4" inside (depends how deep you want it to be...not *too* deep or it is hard to mail). Then you trim diagonally from corner to corner with your paper cutter or craft knife. This forms triangular shaped tabs. The outer marks are folded into mountain folds, the inner into valley folds to make the window, and a piece of cardstock just barely smaller than the original window dimensions fits inside. I stamped my image on a piece of vanilla that was about 1/4" smaller so that the Cameo Coral mat shows from underneath. The teapot (from Sweet 'n Sassy's Warm Up) is paper pieced from the same Basic Grey Boxer 6 x 6 pad as the mat around the window, and then shaded with copics and its stripes, handle and knob colored with a Cameo Coral marker.

All the edges of the card were inked with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye. I used a nesties label die to cut the sentiment. Some pretty primas give some balance to the colors, and a few dewdrops and some paper piercing accent the frame.

Hoppy Breezy Kisses!

I had a piece of DCWV Old World paper sitting on my desk when I pulled out today's colors (Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, and Not Quite Navy), so I just went with the flow and made this Treehouse Stamps Hoppy Kisses card using PCP's sketch from this weekend. I colored the frogs using prisma color pencils and baby oil....they came out a little brighter than I would have liked, so I sponged them with Tim Holtz Distress Ink and sprayed them with Glimmer Mist to try to tone them down a little. They still are a bit brighter than I'd like but it's liveable! It is actually kinda pretty IRL if frogs can be called pretty (yes, Sharon, you said it!)...it is quite shimmery, and for some reason cards like this with lots of color/texture are very difficult to get a good picture of. They always end up looking very grainy and strange.

Wait until you see all the fun going on at Tree House! I am in the process of putting together my order of goodies from all the fabulous new stuff and I'm having a *time* deciding! New stamp sets, including Lelo, RAM, and Sarah Kay, along with copics, kits of paper/ribbon/glitter, and more!

Earlier this morning I stamped a card for my friends Brad and Ellen...they had to put their dog Pooch down, and I have had them on my heart ever since. I just wanted a simple card that would let them know that I'm thinking of them...I thought this Inkadinkado pooch would maybe give them a smile. I'm hoping the charm looks sorta like a *dogtag*. I LOVE these Basic Grey Archaic papers. Pooch was stamped three times so that his face could be cut out and popped up for dimension, and his ear popped up on top of that. I like the rustic colors and the no-frills design and hope that they will too.

Matthew spent his afternoon up at the highschool auditioning for a part in Seussical the Musical! We homeschool, so getting to participate in this production is a big deal! For his audition, he sang the Cowardly Lion's song, If I Were King, from the Wizard of Oz. He was called back to read for 4 or 5 parts...and thinks he did well, although we won't know anything until Thursday or Friday, so please wish him luck!

A Baker's Dozen!

Today is the last of PCP's 12 Days of Christmas challenges. I really hate to see them come to a close. I have enjoyed them so much and they have added some fun cards to my Christmas and every-day card stashes. I was very happy to be able to combine today's PCP challenge with SCS's Color Challenge for this card.

Season of Friendship is probably my favorite set from this year's holiday mini. It's so versatile! Today I sponged in some clouds using a mask, then stamped the tree in chocolate chip and added some taken with teal snowflakes. PCP's challenge called for 12 embellishments, but there's an extra snowflake here! I stamped the bird in real red, cut it out, and tucked him in the bare branches. The sentiment was stamped in two colors using markers directly to the stamp, and the card was finished off with some punched snowflakes, pretty ribbon, and lots of bling and stickles. A simple design, but I really like how it turned out!

I'm off to the first Christmas party of the season! Blessings!