Stampin' Up! Delicate Doilies

My sweet cousin in Kentucky recently signed up to be a demonstrator and is working on ideas for her open house.  I tried to help her by coming up with a card design for her.  She emailed her list of stamps and current colors and here's what I came up with.   In case she decides to use the idea, I tried to keep it pretty simple so new stampers weren't overwhelmed with their first stamping experience.   Tessa's amazing card was a great inspiration for mine.

Stamps:  Perfectly Penned, Delicate Doilies, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White
Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Linen Thread

She looks much too old for me in this one.  Lately when I look at her I find myself starting to cry.  It's going by entirely too fast.  It feels like she should still be a little baby swinging in the swing and needed to be fed and burped.   Her teething necklace is probably going to have to come off soon and we'll shop for a longer one, she's almost in 2T clothes, and I've been looking for ideas for her second birthday party.  Just crazy! Whoever said the days were long, but the years are short really nailed that one!

Before I go, someone asked about the Stenciled class.  You can find it here:  http://www.onlinecardclasses.com/  Hope that helps.  :)

Bright Doilies

This fun, bright card was another one of my Creative Crew designs for July.    We were asked to use some of our favorite new products from the catalog.   I dug in and used tons of new stuff; the Delicate Doilies stamp set, the Flirtatious designer paper, and two of the new In Colors!   (and notice, I did manage to overlap my doilies, but just a tad bit!)  

Stamps:  Delicate Doilies, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Flirtatious designer paper
Accessories:  Brights buttons, linen thread
Tools:  Dotted Scalloped Ribbon Border Punch (say that three times fast!)

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!   Thanks for stopping by to visit.
~Rita

Happy Birthday, Lesley!

Happy Birthday, Lesley!    I feel so honored to be a part of this awesome blog hop celebrating the birthday of such a sweet lady.   I love your positive attitude and of course your amazing stampin' skills.   You always find some kind words to say about even the worst of my projects and for that, I absolutely adore you.  :)   I hope you have a wonderful day!    

For my card, I wanted something cheery and fun because that's what birthdays should be!  I used the inspiration picture from this week's Play Date Cafe challenge to come up with my colors and I love them together!   Be sure to hop on over to the rest of the blogs to see more fun birthday ideas and of course go by Lesley's blog and wish her a very happy birthday.   

Stamps:  Upsy Daisy, Delicate Doilies

Ink:   Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral

Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, In Color Hostess Stack (retired)

Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones, Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon, homemade shimmer mist

Tools:  Scallop Trim border punch

Here's the list of blog hop participants:

Ann Marie Hile:  Stampin' Anne
Carrie Gaskin:  Artistic Avenger
Cindy Beach:  Stamps, Paper, and Ink
Jaydee:  Stampin! with Jaydee
Jen Mitchell:  I Create
Joan Jeffery:  J J Creations
Lauri Ingram:  Paperville
Laurie:  Hiding in my Craft Room
LeAnne Pugliese:  wee inklings
Nance Leedy:  Canopy Crafts
Cards by Rita:   You are here!  
Sandra Azzopardi:  Sandra's Stamping Spot
Tui Nathan:  Stampin' Time

Pay Attention to Deadlines

Ugh!   I spent so much time trying to figure out a way to use the colourQ colors together yesterday and totally didn't realize that I was going to miss the window to actually submit my card for the challenge.  Oh well.  I still used Calypso Coral and for that I feel accomplished.   I do get to submit it for my favorite challenge, The Paper Players!    This awesome sketch was done by Nance, who is a such a sweetheart!  We seem to share a love of woodgrain and pinwheels, so I enjoy chatting with her on email.    But back to the card...what do you think?   Did I manage to get the right proportions of the colors?   You probably can't see it very well in the picture, but the Pool Party layer is stamped in Delicate Doilies and embossed in Iridescent Ice.  It is so shiny and pretty in person.   I also used some homemade shimmer mist on the image panel as well.

Now I'll share a little secret with you...  I love Delicate Doilies, but I don't like for them to touch each other.   I have seen lots of pretty cards where people overlap them and they look great, but I can't do it.  It stresses me out.  I even tried it on this card and had to start over.   For the record, I don't like my food to touch either.  :)

Stamps:  Delicate Doilies
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Versamark
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Whisper White
Accessories:  Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Early Espresso 3/8 taffeta ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, Shimmer Mist
Tools:  Heat tool, Jewelry Tag punch

Convention 2011

 The cards above and below were my swaps for Convention.  They were simple, but I think they were still pretty.   I will definitely step up my game if I decide to go again.   :)

 This was my gift for my sweet roommate.   I hope she liked them.   I wrapped up the bracelet in some pretty paper and ribbon, which you'll see below.

I had so many bags and I made a tag for each and every one of them.  My shoulders hurt and I am happy to be home and not have to carry them around anymore.  

Here's me and my roommate, the amazing Jackie Topa.    It was so neat to get to spend time with her and bounce around some ideas.   She has challenged me to put together a tutorial for a stamp camp or class, so that's what I'll be working on for the rest of the month.   You can check out her blog here.

I have tons of pictures from Convention over on my Facebook page, so be sure to go check it out if you want to see tons and tons more.    While browsing the display boards, I found my swap from the regional in Ft. Worth last year!   I was so excited!    

Finally, Jason surprised me and painted our kitchen Not Quite Navy and Baja Breeze while I was away.   Isn't it gorgeous?!    Now I need some Cherry Cobbler curtains, so let me know if you happen to see any!  

PPA53: Sketch

This sketch was not my friend.  I knew going in that it was going to be a tough one for me, but I thought I'd try anyway.   Ummm....no.  I tried and tried and tried again, but I never could get it to turn out right.  The top card is my end product, but I should have left it like it was below, maybe just adding the pumpkin pie mat to the flag.   I do love these colors together, so I'll try another project with them soon.    Now I'm taking my grumpy self to the couch to enjoy some time with my Nook.  :)

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes, Delicate Doilies
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Brights Designer Paper stack, Whisper White
Accessories:  Bright Glimmer Brads
Tools:  scallop circle punch, paper piercer, mat pack, circle punches, heat tool, white embossing powder

Two Challenges in One!

I'm trying to get back in the groove of doing daily challenges, so here's my card that I started last night and finished up this morning.   It uses the sketch from the Pals Paper Arts challenge and the inspiration picture from Stampin' Royalty.  I am slowly warming up to Delicate Doilies and getting a feel for how to use it.   I LOVE the new Flirtatious designer paper; it is gorgeous and has a nice range of colors to work with.

Stamps:  Delicate Doilies, Vintage Labels (retired Sale-a-bration set)
Ink:  Basic Gray, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Basic Gray, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Flirtatious designer paper, Neutrals designer paper stack
Accessories:  basic pearls
Tools:  circle punches, scallop trim border punch, paper snips

New Goodies!

I finally got out of my funk enough to use my new stuff today.    I have had this idea in my head for a week now, but never got up the energy to hit the craft room until today.    I must say, it didn't turn out like I'd envisioned, so I'll definitely be reworking it a bit to get it how I want it.    Not a bad first try for a set that is totally out of my comfort zone.  

What do you think of the new in color Wisteria Wonder?    The Color Coach pairs it with Elegant Eggplant, but I think it looks great with Concord Crush as well.    

This is a thank you card for this week's Paper Players challenge.  

Stamps:  Delicate Doilies, Thank You Kindly
Ink:  Versamark, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush
Paper:   Shimmery White, Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Flirtatious Specialty dsp
Accessories:  Whisper White 3/8 taffeta ribbon, Iridescent Ice embossing powder
Tools:  heat tool, scallop trim border punch, square punch