Creative Sketches meets Connie & Mary

Please tell me I'm not the only messy crafter out there.   I didn't straighten up after my dinosaur card yesterday, so this was what I found when I went in my room to create today.   Oh my!   It's no surprise that I lose things a lot.   :)

Enough of my messy desk...what do you think about my card?   I combined the colors from the Creative Sketches challenge with the sketch from Create with Connie & Mary and here's what I came up with.   I love these clean and simple cards.   I used to be offended when someone called my card simple (well, I still am sometimes), but I'm learning to deal with it.  :)   It's probably fairly simple to recreate, but the concept and design part is not so simple.

I'm still not a big fan of Raining Flowers, but I have come to love the shape of the big flower.   I just stamp it, cut it out, and use the reverse side.  :)    Now I have fallen in love with Poppy Parade.  It was not a color that I was drawn to at first, but after buying the markers and a pack of the assorted card stock, I think I'm going to have to invest in the ink pad and full pack of it.  Now Peach Parfait is a whole other story...   :)  

I do need to buy some neutrals buttons; I had to pull a retired one out of my stash and it isn't nearly as pretty as the current ones.  

Stamps:  Tiny Tags, Raining Flowers, En Francais
Ink: Basic Black, Poppy Parade
Paper:  Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Neutrals DSP stack, Basic Gray
Accessories:  Basic Gray 3/8 taffeta ribbon (retired), Basic Black button (retired), White Baker's Twine
Tools:  Big Shot, Houndstooth embossing folder, jewelry tag punch, Blossom Petals punch

Hope you are having a wonderful Thursday!
Come again soon,
~Rita

Roar!!!!!

I love this new stamp set!    I couldn't wait to break it out and use it, so here's my card for today's sketch challenge from Splitcoast Stampers.   It was so fun to design and color.   I also used a few other new products, the houndstooth and stripes embossing folders.   Don't you love it?!    My BFF the Color Coach picked out the colors.  

Stamps:  Dinoroar

Ink:  Cajun Craze, Staz-On, Stampin' Up! markers

Paper:  Cajun Craze, Pear Pizzazz, More Mustard, Whisper White, In Color Hostess pack (retired)

Tools:  Big Shot, Stripes and Houndstooth embossing folders, circle punches

I thought I'd share a picture from our yard.  Eli's tree is all bloomed out now.   It always waits for his birthday month to really show how beautiful it is.

Oh sorry...

...did I wake you?  No need for coffee this morning; this bright card should wake you up in a snap!   When I saw the colors of the colourQ challenge this week I knew it would be a difficult one for me.  Tangerine Tango is another color that I struggle to use.  I only hope that it falls in love with my Daffodil Delight and they run off into the sun together one day.   I did get to play with new stuff today, so I was excited about that.  I love new stuff.  :)    (oh, before you start planning an intervention for my Tiny Tags usage, I promise not to use it on the next card.)

Stamps:  Hello Doily, Tiny Tags
Ink:   Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Versamark
Paper:  Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Pool Party
Accessories:  In Color Brads, Pool Party ruffled ribbon, black embossing powder
Tools:  Heat Tool, Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, sponge daubers, jewelry tag punch

Strength & Hope Class

(inspired by Maureen)

This Saturday I will be hosting a class featuring the Strength & Hope stamp set from the Summer Mini.   Stampin' Up! is donating $2 from the sale of each set to breast cancer research and I feel blessed to be a part of such an effort.   If you'd like to attend or purchase the supplies to make these cards, contact me today for more details.   It's a wonderful stamp set that can be used for many different looks.   There's only a few weeks left to get it, so don't miss out!  

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

Inkspirations Flowers

I don't know what I clicked on, but I can't get this darn background color behind the text to go away.  Sorry.  I tried and tried and then tried again to fix it.  :(   Forgive me.   

This is my card for this week's Inspirations challenge.   I love sketch challenges!   I knew I wanted to use some of my purples today and what goes better with it than green?!    I love Lucky Limeade paired with them!    I took pity on Awash with Flowers and took it off my shelf today.   I don't like it very much.   Even if you use the Stamp-a-ma-jig, the images just do not line up.   Yes, I know they aren't meant to, but I like for my color to be inside the lines.   Maybe one day I'll get on some meds that let me overlap dollies or color outside the lines, but for now I just have to be crazy and stress over that stuff.  :)   

Stamps:  Awash with Flowers (sigh)

Ink:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade

Paper:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Cheerful Treat DSP

Accessories:  In Color Brads (pretty!), Basic Pearls, Concord Crush ribbon

What?

I finally get chosen as one of the top picks on the Pals Paper Arts challenge and this is what I follow it up with?   Can you see my sad face?   I hate when I have an idea and it turns out all crappy.   This card serves as a reminder for me.  No punch art allowed in my craft room.  Just stamping.  Stamping = pretty.   Hopefully everyone makes a yucky card every now and then.  I am just dumb enough to post mine I guess.  :)  Or maybe I should have made this more positive and totally convinced you that this was a true work of art?     I blame it all on the Daffodil Delight.  We are not friends.

Okay...moving on.

Splitcoast Challenges!

Before you ask, yes, I made this.  It is not my normal style, but isn't that the point of challenges?   We won't talk about how distressing I find distressing or how I cringe when I put things on crooked...let's just focus on the card.    What do you think?   I had to channel my friend Ann a bit on this one.   She is amazing at the distressed look and is the reigning queen of the color spritzer.   I need to ask her  for some vacuuming tips now that my floor is covered with little balls of paper from all the distressing.  :)

So what possessed me to make this and do all the tearing and distressing?    Nope.  It's not the lack of carbs for a week.   It was for this week's color challenge over on Splitcoast!   They asked us to use gray, turquoise, and white.   I love turquoise with red, but I wasn't sure about this gray thing.   I do like how it turned out though.   Now it was also for a secret challenge on Splitcoast as well.   This week they are having the Dare to Get Dirty challenges for fan club members.   So...if you aren't a member of the website. go sign up!   If you are but aren't a fan club member, do that!   It's fun.   Who doesn't like fun?  

Stamps:  Grunge Rock
Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray
Paper:  Naturals White, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray, Brights DSP stack, Neutrals DSP stack
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones
Tools: Big Shot, Stars #2 die, cutter kit, sponges