colourQ 127: Flowery Anniversary

Believe it or not, I might actually make the colourQ deadline today!  :)   I started this card last night and didn't get to finish before my honey made it home from work.   I was trying to do some of the Virtual Stamp Night challenges over on Splitcoast Stampers and the second one was to make a card using a heart.   That ended up being WAY more difficult than I thought it would be since we are now past Valentine's Day.  My anniversary is in 2 days, so I figured hearts would work for that occasion.  Of course I'll make Jason a more masculine card than this one.  :)

Those celery brads look HUGE in the picture, but I didn't think they looked THAT bad when I made it.  Hmmm...  maybe I need some dainty pearls instead.  I am currently obsessed with the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, so you guys might want to start planning an intervention.   Maybe it's spring making me want to use cute little flowers?   This was my first time using Certainly Celery...can you believe that?   I am just not a big subtles fan, so they tend to be neglected in my stamp room.  It wasn't as painful as the Regal Rose, so maybe I'll give it another shot soon. 

Have a wonderful Sunday!   It's rainy here, but college basketball and pizza are on the agenda and I'm just fine with that.  Go Kentucky!  

FM47: Kissing!

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using the "Kissing Technique".
2. Or Make a "Round" project.
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Round project featuring the Kissing Technique".

Didn't Holly pick the cutest graphic for her challenge this week?  I love it!   At The Friday Mashup, we are all about kissing this week!   Now you should have done a lot of real kissing last week on Valentine's Day, so perhaps you need a break this week?  Let those stamps do all the kissing!  :)   That's what I did.  (Sorry, sweetie!)

I didn't have a lot of solid image stamps to pick from, so I decided I should make another card with my favorite new set, Send Me Soaring!  My first attempts at kissing created some cool faux snakeskin kites, but I finally found some other stamps that worked better for more normal looking kites.  I know, I know...you want to see what snakeskin kites look like.  Maybe I'll put them on a card next week.   What fashionable diva wouldn't want a purple snakeskin kite birthday card, right?  

Lots of stamping and lots of fun colors on this one!  I hope you enjoy it.  :)   Be sure to stop by the Friday Mashup blog and vote for the Fan Favorite challenge!

Stamps:  Send Me Soaring, Paisley Prints, Fresh Vintage, Dot Dot Dot

Ink:  Pool Party, Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade

Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, Baja Breeze, Welcome Neighbor DSP stack (retired), Whisper White

Tools/Accessories:  Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, circle punches, blender pen, paper snips

February Stamp Club

Tonight was my monthly stamp club and we had some fun projects to make!  The first was another card inspired by my super duper creative friend Kathy.   I think this design is seriously one of my favorite cards ever and now I'm hooked on making them.   I wish I could hug her for sharing such a great idea!

Next we tried a new technique called the Grid Technique or Faux Tile.   I love showing off my Simply Scored tool and it is such a perfect way to do that.   This card also features a lot of the Sale-a-Bration products that are free with each $50 order right now!

Finally, with it being February, I just had to make a cute little treat holder!   I had pinned one by Jill Hilliard that I loved and I came up with a version using some of the supplies that I had.  

Finally, as it was the last month of this session of club, I made up some little treat boxes full of chocolate for each of the members.   They are such a fun group of ladies and bring so much joy with them each month.   I have been really blessed to have them as my customers.    We do have one spot open in the new club that will start next month, so contact me if you are interested in joining.  :)  We'd love to have you.  

(Ugh.  I had to take these pictures in a hurry because I needed to finish cleaning before everyone arrived tonight.  Sorry for how icky they are!)

FM43: Sketchy Fun

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
2. Or Make a project using "Something NEW in your stash". (Stamps, ribbon, pretty paper...anything!)
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project "using the Sketch & something NEW in your stash".

It's Friday, Friday, Friday!   Oh sorry.  I got stuck on the most annoying song ever.   Goodness.   Anyway, it IS Friday and time for a challenge from The Friday Mashup!   Kim has a fun sketch challenge for us this week!  The other part of the challenge is to use something NEW in your stash of stampin' goodies.   I just know you have something that's sitting there unloved, so that part should be easy!  :)

I went to bed on Wednesday night knowing that I had to make my card yesterday morning.  I guess my brain was processing the sketch all night because I had the idea for this card when I woke up!  Don't you love when that happens?   I couldn't remember the colors my brain picked, but I wanted to use Crumb Cake for some reason or other.   The new product was the Wisteria Wonder baker's twine and of course I had to use my new diagonal scoring plate!  :)

This is a very different card for me.   I love clean-and-simple, but to me they are the most difficult cards to create.   I like to challenge myself to try them sometimes but get frustrated with them pretty quickly.   My sweet friend Marla helped me via our iPhones yesterday so it was good to have a buddy to talk out the design with. I love my demo friends so much!  I hope you enjoy it and will come play along with us!  

Stamps:  Fresh Vintage (SAB), Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Versamark, Elegant Eggplant

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies die, Boho Blossoms punch, Simply Scored w/ Diagonal Plate, In Color Dotted brads, Wisteria Wonder baker's twine

FM40: Happy Birthday!

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a "Birthday" project.
2. Or Make a project using "Pastels".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Birthday project using Pastels" .

Time for a fresh opportunity to mash it up with The Friday Mashup!    A great way to start off the new year is to get that supply of birthday cards restocked, so this one is a great one to play along with!  We have two new guest designers and some great samples from all to get you inspired!

I used the sketch from this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch for the layout of my card this week.   I thought it worked well to showcase all those lovely designer papers that I just can't use enough!  I can't wait for Sale-a-bration to begin so that you can get some of it as well!  I hope you'll join us this week and create a birthday card!   If you are more skilled than I am, perhaps you can even mash it up and use your pastels!

Stamps:  Fresh Vintage (SAB), Watercolor Trio (retired)

Ink:  Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Paper:  Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla, Everyday Enchantment (SAB)

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Scallop Circles #2 die, 3 inch circle die, sponges, Pool Party ruffled ribbon, color spritzer, basic pearls

CCMC182: Vintage Valentine

Isn't this a fun sketch?!  I'm definitely pinning it so I can use it again later!   It is this week's fun challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.    One of my goals for this month is to stamp something every day.  It might be a card for a challenge, a project for stamp club, or something to sell in my little space at a local shop.    Today I wanted to do a challenge because I love them and I do miss doing them.  I have club this Friday, so you'll be seeing a few of those projects in the days to come!

If you've followed my blog for a while, you know how much I love my Stampin' Up! and blogging friends.   As I was emailing with my friend Kathy this weekend, she asked if I had gotten the new stamp set and ribbon/brad bundle that's coming up for Sale-a-bration.  Well, I had but hadn't used them yet.    She inspired me to pull those out tonight and try to make a card with them.   I can tell by the way it turned out that I'm a bit rusty, but hopefully I'll be churning out works of art with it by the end of the month!  

Stamps:  Fresh Vintage (Sale-a-bration), Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Paper:  Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Everyday Enchantment designer paper (Sale-a-bration)

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Tasteful Trim die, sponges, color spritzer, Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad pack (Sale-a-bration)

Remember that Sale-a-bration begins on January 24th and runs until March 31st.