Girls Night Out Club Card #1

This week I'll be starting up a new stamp club and I'm so excited about it!     I can't wait to have this fun group of ladies over for a night of stamping and snacking.  :)    This is the first card we'll be making.   My great friend Rebecca sent me a link to a card last night and asked about the technique used on it.   I was in my craft room, so I grabbed my supplies and went to work to figure it out.   It was fun to daub on the color and see how each leaf turned out.   It makes happy when my friends and customers ask questions; it lets me know they are using their supplies and enjoying some creative time.  

Stamps:  French Foliage
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, More Mustard
Paper:  First Edition designer paper, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, More Mustard
Tools/Accessories:  Cutter Kit, sponge daubers, Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder, Early Espresso Baker's Twine

PP63: Colors by Nance

Nance and The Paper Players have a fun color challenge for everyone this week.  I feel honored to get to stamp in Jaydee's place this week. :)  Thank you ladies for including me in the fun!   These are some of my favorite colors, but I'm not sure I've used them all together before.   It was fun to pull them all out and see what came to mind.   I am in love with my new Fun Flowers die and I can't stop using it!   I want to put those flowers on everything.  :)   I thought they would be perfect for this challenge.   I didn't go clean and simple, but I was inspired by the sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping.

My other favorite thing lately is to use a mix of embossing folders on my cards.   I think the different textures add a lot of interest and keep your eye moving to take it all in.   I even added in some crimping this time.  Lesley inspired me to finally purchase one, so you'll be seeing more of it soon.

Stamps:  None (Can you believe that?!)
Ink:  None  (What?!)
Paper:  Basic Gray, Whisper White, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Neutrals DSP stack
Accessories:  Brights buttons, White Baker's Twine
Tools:  Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Houndstooth embossing folder, Fun Flowers die, Crimper, Blossom Petals punch

HSSC83 CAS

The designers at Hand Stamped Sentiments challenged us to keep it simple this week and make a clean and simple card.    I don't know why we call it simple...   I think these type of cards are by far the hardest to design.   I never know at what point I cross the "simple" line and end up on the wrong side of the tracks.   Clean I can do with my eyes closed, but simple?    Much harder.    I'm not sure if this card is too simple, but I do like it.   Don't tell my Woodland Walk paper, but I think Spice Cake might be my new favorite designer paper.  It is so yummy!    I finally used my I-MUST-HAVE-THEM-OR-I-MIGHT-DIE tags die for this one.   We won't talk about how many times I've used them since I had to buy them.  :)  

Stamps:  Day of Gratitude

Ink:  Soft Suede, Pool Party

Paper:  Soft Suede, Pool Party, Spice Cake DSP, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Linen Thread, Regals buttons

Tools:  Big Shot, Lots of Tags, oval punch

Bandit always seems to be the photogenic cat in the house, but here's one of his sister, Bella.   She's my shadow.  If I go, she goes.  If I am on the couch, she is on the couch.   I think I could pet her until her fur all fell out and she'd be perfectly happy to be bald because the petting was so good.  

Inkspirations Challenge 86

One of the new stamps I got in my last order was this awesome snowman!   Isn't he adorable?!   I couldn't wait to ink him up and the Inkspirations colors were a perfect fit for a fun Christmas card.   To make it even more fun, I decided to try my hand at making a stair-step card.  Thanks to the new Simply Scored, it was so easy to do!  What do you think?   Cute, huh?   :)  In the creating process, I did realize that I could really use a snowflake die.    I'll have to add it to my wishlist!

Stamps:  Snow Much Fun, Season of Joy
Ink: Real Red, Marina Mist, Soft Suede
Paper:  Old Olive, Brights designer paper stack, Marina Mist, Whisper White, Real Red
Accessories:  Brights Glimmer brads, Marina Mist taffeta ribbon, Dazzling Details
Tools:  Blender Pen, circle punches, paper trimmer, Simply Scored, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack

JAI84: Colour Challenge

This is my card for the Just Add Ink challenge this week.   They challenged us to use white plus one other color.   Now normally I would not pick Pumpkin Pie as a focus for a card, but the strip of designer paper jumped out at me as I was looking for a color.   I think it turned out beautifully!

Stamps:  Hello Doily, Tiny Tags
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Paper:  Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Flirtatious designer paper
Accessories:  Pumpkin Pie taffeta ribbon, basic pearls, clear embossing powder
Tools: heat tool, embossing buddy, dotted scallop ribbon punch, jewelry tag punch, sponge

Birthday Sketch

I wanted to play with a couple of my new stamp sets today and I thought they would be perfect for the sketch at Create with Connie & Mary.    I decided to focus on a birthday card so I could also play along with one of my favorite challenges, The Paper Players!   I've been in a more simple mode for my card making lately and I love the simple, clean lines of this one.  

Stamps:  Petite Pairs, Simply Soft
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Island Indigo
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Early Espresso, Paisley Petals
Accessories:  Early Espresso satin ribbon (retired)
Tools:  blender pen

I love purple in any shade, so I was excited to play along with the colourQ challenge this week.   I think Orchid Opulence must have been before I was introduced to Stampin' Up!, so I did substitute the closest thing I had, Wisteria Wonder.  I also found a new sketch challenge to add to my list, The Stampin' Queens!

Did you see my new embossing folder?!  It is from the Holiday Mini and I LOVE it!  

Stamps:  Holiday Happiness, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party
Paper:   Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party, Brights DSP stack
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones, Rich Razzleberry taffeta ribbon (retired)
Tools:  Big Shot, Snowburst embossing folder, Modern Label punch, Word Window Punch

Where is my mojo???

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you work on a card for a bit, but just can't seem to get it to work?   Or maybe you've made one that just wasn't really that great?   Yeah, that's the kind of week I'm having.  :)    I'm hoping my new order that  is arriving any minute now will help get my mojo up and running again!   

This card was made for the clean&simple stamping sketch and the Pals Paper Arts Halloween challenge.  The colors came from last week's Create with Connie & Mary challenge that I didn't get to do in time to submit.   I seem to be good at missing deadlines lately!

Stamps:  Wicked Cool
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Pumpkin Pie 1 1/4 striped ribbon (retired)
Tools:  Big Shot, Spider Web embossing folder, circle punches, scallop circle punch

This card made my head hurt a bit.  I started it last night but didn't like the way it was working out.   I picked it back up today and changed out some of the colors...and then changed out some of the colors...and then...  Yeah, it was one of those!   I normally don't use a lot of white on my cards, but it seemed to balance out some of the stronger colors on this card.  I think the flower centers could use some bling and a few pearls beside my sentiment would help, right?    This was for the Splitcoast Weekly Sketch Challenge.

Stamps:  Button Buddies, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder
Paper:  Whisper White, Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder
Tools:  Big Shot, Polka Dots embossing folder, scallop circle punch

I hope the next card is a bit less stressful and turns out much, much better!