CCMC167: Color Challenge

The deadline for the Create with Connie & Mary challenge was looming, so I hurried into my room to see what I could come up with today.    I'm so excited because I won a free subscription to their 2011 Holiday Edition!  Isn't that cool?!

This was one of those cards that I had an idea for and it just didn't come together.   I kept messing with it, but it just wasn't happening.  I probably shouldn't even post it, but hey, I did make one!    I wanted my little owl critters to look like they were caught up in my spider web, but I don't like the web really.  I should have went with my first thought to use leaves.   Oh well...   Hope everyone survived their Monday!

Play Date meets Inkspirations

Another challenge combo to share today!    I loved the colors from The Play Date Cafe and the sketch from Inkspirations this week.      These two challenges intimidate me, but I decided to play along anyway.  They have some amazing stampers on their design teams, so be sure to go check them out!  

I know, I know...Fun Flowers yet again!   It took me over a year to decide to spend the money on that die and now that I have it, I can't stop using it!   It was an investment for me as I'm a bit cheap at times, so I feel like I should make at least one flower card a week with it.  :)   I struggled to figure out which colors to use in each layer, but I hope I chose appropriately.   It was a fun card to put together and I love the purples with the yellow!

Stamps:  None

Ink:  Versamark, So Saffron, Wisteria Wonder 

Paper:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, So Saffron

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Fun Flowers die, Fancy Fan Letterpress plate, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, paper piercing tool, In Color Dotted brads, So Saffron grosgrain ribbon (retired), Concord Crush Stitched Poly ribbon, circle punch

Triple Challenge for Fall

       

Look at all these fun challenges!   Even though it has been too hot in Texas to really be thinking of Fall, it is my favorite season.   Watching the leaves turn is one of the few things that I miss about living in Kentucky.   There's nothing like seeing the mountains ablaze in red, yellow, and orange.   Anyway, my friend Kathy made a gorgeous card this week where she combined French Foliage, En Francais, and emboss resist.    I thought I'd try that too, but in the fall colors.   (I like hers better because the Rich Razzleberry is so unexpected and one of my favorite colors.)   I used ideas from three challenges, this week's Card Pattern's Sketch, the autumn challenge at The Friday Mashup, and the fall challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments.

I hope you like the Spice Cake designer paper because I can tell I'm going to be using it a lot!  :o)    It is just so pretty and perfect for fall projects.   For my leaves, I inked them in Versamark and then More Mustard before using my sponge daubers to add a bit of Cajun Craze and Early Espresso.   Once I stamped them, I embossed them with clear embossing powder so that I could use the emboss resist technique.   I stamped En Francais and some other elements from French Foliage over them to add some interest.  To finish it all off, I added some Early Espresso Baker's Twine and some tags.   You'll find hints of distressing and sponging as well; these colors inspire me to do a bit of that for some reason.

Here's a close-up of one of  leaves...doesn't it look real?!   I love it!

Stamps:  French Foliage, Tiny Tags, En Francais
Ink:  Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso, Versamark, Soft Suede
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake designer paper
Tools/Accessories:  Heat Tool, Clear Embossing Powder, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Jewelry Tag punch, sponge daubers

colourQ #102

I'm a little behind on my challenges this week, but I wanted to try to squeeze in a few before the deadlines.   I found this color combination from colourQ an interesting one.   I wasn't sure what I wanted to with them, but I went in and pulled out card stock in all the colors and then glanced over my stamp sets for something that I thought would go with them.   I had wanted to make Kathy a birthday card using Friends Fur-ever, but with all the construction in the house this past week, I couldn't think enough to put anything together.   I know she likes the set and it isn't available in Australia, so I decided to make a friendship card for her today.   I need to get her cards in the mail before I end up with a whole box of them to send over!  :)    

What do you think?   I thought it was kind of cute.   I love those little dogs and they are adorable when you do paper piecing with them!   I'm not sure about my ribbon treatment, but I hope it looks okay.   :)

Stamps:  Friends Fur-ever

Ink:  Pear Pizzazz (I didn't have any Certainly Celery ink!), Temping Turquoise, Basic Gray, Poppy Parade

Paper:  Basic Gray, Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Neutrals DSP stack

Accessories/Tools:  1 1/4 Certainly Celery Grosgain ribbon, basic rhinestones, white baker's twine, Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Random Pictures

It has been a long, chaotic week with almost no time to stamp.     We decided to have wood flooring put down in our living room and what a headache!   It took 3 days, lots of dust, headaches, and frustration, but they are finally down and we are slowing getting everything put back in order.   (So pardon the out-of-place treadmill and box in the picture).    The kitties are also having to adjust; they are having a time trying to run across it!

Tonight is my second stamp club of the month and I'm so excited!   This will be our first meeting and I know it is going to be GREAT!    I pulled out my new Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps (available Oct 1st) and made some yummy shortbread cookies for one of our snacks.    Please don't judge the stamps by my cookies; I can bake the most delicious quick breads all day long, but I cannot get one single cookie to ever turn out!   Jason said he'd help me make another batch this weekend, so stay tuned for more pictures.    

I am all set up and ready to go tonight.    I still have a few hours left before people arrive, so I think a hot tea and some Project Runway are in order.  :)

I posted two of our projects already, but here's the last one.   I wanted to demonstrate the awesome new Simply Scored, so we'll be making this cute Halloween 2-4-6-8 box.   Isn't he adorable?!

Happy Birthday, Kathy!

I wanted to wish my dear friend and fellow demonstrator, Kathy, a very happy birthday!   I just hope I figured out the time difference correctly and am posting on the correct day.   :)    I wanted to do a fun, special card for her and I hope she likes it.   It will be late getting there of course because I'm way behind on life and the mail to Australia seems a bit slow from Texas.   

I used the sketch from this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch and the colors from CR84FN to put together this beauty.   It has a ton of layers and dimension and just a little bling.   

Happy Birthday, Kathy!  I hope you have a wonderful day!  Eat some cake for me!  

Stamps:  Simply Soft, Petite Pairs

Ink: Versamark, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Basic Black

Paper:  Cheerful Treat hostess dsp, Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Neutrals glimmer brads, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, black embossing powder, heat tool, scallop edge border punch, circle punch

FMS2: School Kids

Lesley prepared another awesome sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.   While the sketch is a square card, you can choose to either make one of those or do what I did and go with a traditional A2 card.   That's the fun part of sketch challenges; you can use them as a starting point and see where your card takes you.   :)  

School started back the week I was working on my card and it just so happened that Greeting Card Kids was in the order that I received that week.   Naturally I had to do a school inspired card!   I did go back and pull out a retired apple stamp because teachers need apples.  I can hear all you teachers groaning over that; I bet you have quite an amazing apple collection.  :o)    I decided to go all in with my school theme and try to make my background layer look like a chalkboard.   I don't think schools even have those though; it's all dry erase and smart boards now.   I guess the kids are lucky; the bad ones always had to go beat the chalk out of the erasers back in my day.   I can only imagine what that would do to my allergies...

I hope you enjoyed my card and I hope you'll join us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!   I can't wait to see what you create!

Stamps:  Greeting Card Kids, Apple Blossoms, A to Z
Ink:  Whisper White craft ink, Staz-On Black, Stampin' Write Markers: Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, Blush Blossom, So Saffron, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Whisper White
Tools/Accessories:  Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Baja Breeze seam binding, circle punches

I actually made this card first, but I thought it was too dark.   Switching the Baja Breeze and the Cherry Cobbler really added a brighter, cheerier feel to it and I like that one much better.  Don't be discouraged if your first attempt at a card doesn't turn out; study it, figure out what you don't like about it, and change it for the next version!    Sometimes taking a picture and looking at it on the computer screen will inspire me to go back and add or change something as well.

Girls Night Out Club Card #2

I wanted to do this fun Halloween with my second group this month, but I forgot to save one of my samples from my previous group.   I made this new version today and changed up a few things.   I don't really like making the same card more than once.  :)   I think that's why swaps make me grumpy.   I hope the ladies in my group will enjoy making this one.   It's such a fun card and not too scary.   

Stamps:  Wicked Cool

Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Basic Black

Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Little Leaves sizzlit, Spider Web embossing folder, oval punch, circle punches, Owl builder punch