True Friend Color Challenge

This card is for today's color challenge on Splitcoast, and it also uses the Joy of Card Making Sketch from the March/April 2009 Paper Crafts. I colored the flower (from Friends 'Til the End) with Copics Y17, Y21, Y38, E55, E57 and a white gel pen. I also colored the ribbon with Y21. I finally bought the Fresh Snow ink from Papertrey Ink and it was SO WORTH IT!!! Look at those crisp circles (from Polka Dot Basics). It turned out to be a pretty quick, clean and simple card.

Thanks for stopping by!What's In It?
Stamps- friends til the end, polka dot basics (PTI)
Paper- kraft, textured navy (SU)
Ink- navy (SU), tuxedo black (memento), fresh snow (PTI)
Accessories- vanilla SU grosgrain (dyed), rhinestones, dimensionals

An Announcement and a Card (or two)

First, the announcement. I am so excited to be joining the Jacksonbelle Embellishments design team, along with some very talented ladies, both newcomers, and seasoned vets. Here's the whole line up:

Kristine Breach ~ Ink Something

Tobi Crawford ~ Tobi's Place

Dawn Easton ~ Treasure Oiler Designs

Stephanie Hargis ~ Steph's Stampin' Stuff

Mitzi Koons ~ Stamps Jubilee

Loretta Lock ~ Love to Create

Jimmi Mayo ~ Stamping and Shopping

Michelle Philippi ~ Inside My Own Private Idaho

Carly Robertson ~ Paper In Bloom

Shemaine Smith ~ Scraptastic

And the returning designers:

Lynda Benden ~ Stamp Act

Melissa Bove ~ Keepsakes by Melissa

Jennifer Buck ~ The Buck Stamps Here

Jill Dunn ~ Ink Genious

AJ Otto ~ The Willow Garden

Heather Lee-Reppen ~ Ink On My Ear

And now, on to today's card. I made this for Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Challenge, and I couldn't decide which version I like better. So you get to see both.



The challenge was to use grass green, sky blue and piercing. You could also add some other colors if you'd like, which I obviously did. But I tried to keep the extra colors to a minimum.

For the flower, I die cut the three largest flowers from Cuttlebug's Flowers dies, stamped them with different background stamps from Lizzie Anne's In The Background, crumpled, then secured together with a button and thread (a la Dawn McVey). For the stem, I drew a light pencil line around my largest circle nestie, then pierced with Stampin' Up's paper piercer and template. Then, of course, erase the pencil line with a white eraser. The "leaves" are from an Ornare piercing template.

For the "busier" version of the card, I added more In The Background stamps to the bottom and three 1/2" pink passion circles, covered with Glossy Accents. I'd love to hear which one you like better.

Stamps- In the Background, Say It In Script (Lizzie Anne)
Paper- vanilla, sky, wasabi, chocolate, saffron, pink passion (SU!)
Ink- chocolate, pink passion, wasabi (SU)
Accessories- Parisian punch (EK Success), 1/2 inch circle punch, paper piercer and template (SU), ornare template, button, thread, CB flower dies, dimensionals, glossy accents

How About a Friday Funny?

It's been QUITE a while, hasn't it? So, here ya go!


Morris and his wife Esther went to the State Fair every year,
And every year Morris would say,
'Esther, I'd like to ride in that helicopter.'
Esther always replied,
'I know Morris, but that helicopter ride is fifty dollars,
And fifty dollars is fifty dollars'.
One year Esther and Morris went to the Fair, and Morris said,
'Esther, I'm 85 years old.
If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance.'
To this, Esther replied,
'Morris that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.'
The pilot overheard the couple and said,
'Folks I'll make you a deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and don't say a word I won't charge you a penny!
But if you say one word it's fifty dollars.'
Morris and Esther agreed and up they went.
The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard.
He did his daredevil tricks over and over again,
But still not a word.
When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said,
'By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't.. I'm impressed!'
Morris replied,'Well, to tell you the truth,I almost said something when Esther fell out,
But you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars!'

PTI June Blog Hop

It's Blog Hop day with Papertrey Ink, and this is my first try at participating, so please be kind. I hope I'm doing everything correctly. The theme for this June Hop is The Lazy Days of Summer. Find a summertime photo and be inspired! To get the complete list of Hop participants, go here.

I chose this outdoor pillow from Pottery Barn, because my favorite thing about summer is enjoying the outdoors on my deck, even taking the occasional cat nap in the summertime sun. And here is the card it inspired me to make.

I wanted a crisp white background with those pops of gorgeous bold red, green, yellow and brown. All stamps from Beautiful Blooms. Each layer of the flowers was stamped and cut out separately. Red (colored the petals with more ink and a water brush) and chocolate on white. Kiwi kiss on summer sun for the center (punched with 1/2" circle). I curled/roughed up all the edges before gluing together to give just a little dimension, then set them on a kiwi kiss stem. A few antique brads, some swiss dots embossing, and lots of white gave me the clean linen feel of a fresh summer day.


Thanks so much for hopping by. I can't wait to see what all of you have made.

The Shoes Did It!

Okay, I admit, I almost didn't make time to play along with Kristina's color challenge this week. Shocking, I know. But THE SHOES! They got to me. I kept staring at them. I must find out if she knows where they're from. Here's a link to Kristina's challenge which ends this evening at 7 pm MT. I also used Jen's Sketch For You to Try and came up with this little 4.25 inch square beauty. I think these colors are so sophisticated and worked perfectly for this wedding or anniversary card (whichever I need it for first, hee hee). The basic gray background is stamped with Papertrey Ink's Background Basics: Retro. Those bg stamps really come in handy for color challenges. That way you can add some bg interest without digging through your paper stash trying to make something work. I mounted each of those little words (from Sweet Love) on a separate block with a slight curve and stamped them separately around the circle. The flower is made with Spellbinders' Flower Creations and a single Dew Drop center. The lace is from a little spool I just bought yesterday at Walmart.

Talk to you all again soon. Thanks so much for dropping by. I really appreciate it.

Do You Have Your Sunglasses?

Because you may need them if you're planning on looking at today's card!

A quick little background: I started stamping at a Stampin' Up! party almost SEVEN years ago. Sometime shortly after that I bought a variety pack of bold bright card stock. Then a full pack of YoYo Yellow. Let me put it to you this way, AFTER making this card, I've still never even opened the full pack of YoYo Yellow. It is NOT my go-to color.

But I LOVE this card! Go figure. It all started with the American Crafts Max layered embellishment. I stamped the polka dots in Pink Passion on, yep, YoYo Yellow to match. The sentiment is Basic Gray and the scallops, Taken with Teal. Super fast. Super fun. Super Summery.

Uses Fall-To Layout #47, Polka Dot Basics, and Beautiful Blooms.

More Girl Friday (on Tuesday)

(ETA: Oops, I meant for this to post overnight. I goofed somewhere. So you get a double dose today. Sorry.)

I made this card yesterday for the Clean and Simple challenge on Splitcoast. The challenge was to use paper piecing, as always, keeping the card clean and simple. My card ended up not quite as simple as planned, but I'm working on it. It's still simple by most people's standards. I stamped the largest balloon on blush blossom with Versamark and detail black embossing powder. Then I stamped it twice on the Girl Friday (Wednesday) paper and cut it out. One to glue flat and one to pop up with dimensionals. I also stamped the two smaller balloons in Pretty in Pink, not worrying if they overlapped, since Iwould be covering the main balloon with my patterned paper. I cut slits with a hobby knife around the balloon's basket so that I could thread the ribbon through.

For the sentiment, I cut a circle with a nestabilities die, then stamped the sentiment, then stamped random colorful dots. I layered it a larger black die cut and attached with brads (unknown brand, sorry).

The photo corners were punched from more Girl Friday (Sunday, both sides), and the piercing was done with an ornare template.

Thanks for stopping by!

stamps- up, up and away (verve), polka dot basics (pti)
paper- white (pti), black, blush blossom, Girl Friday (cosmo cricket)
ink- black (versafine), versamagic, summer sun, teal, pumpkin, pretty in pink, pomegranate (SU)
other- ornare template, girl friday ribbon (cosmo), photo corner punch and black detail ep (SU), circle nesties (spellbinders), brads, dimensionals, hobby blade

Mmmm...stripes and polka dotty flowers

What yummy patterns mixed together for this card! I love the combo of the dotty flower, striped ribbon, and spirograph flowers.It's just a simple card that really shows off that pretty Girl Friday paper by Cosmo Cricket. I paired it with Text Boxed and Paper Tray from Papertrey Ink. I also used some matching Girl Friday ribbon and an American Crafts plastic shape. Stamps- text boxed, paper tray (PTI)
Paper- vanilla, chocolate, blush blossom (SU!), girl friday: sunday (cosmo cricket)
Ink- pretty in pink, regal rose, olive, not quite navy (SU), vintage touch tea dye (PTI)
Other- scallop scissors, girl friday ribbon (cosmo cricket), corner rounder, star dust stickles, white gel pen, dimensionals, spring and summer field house plastic shape (american crafts), ribbon (offray), glue dot

Butterfly Wishes

When I sat down to make this card for Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #9, I had an idea in my head but no large butterfly die cuts or chipboard or anything. So, I printed this one out from Photoshop, and it was just the ticket. I stamped it with Background Basics: Retro in Wild Wasabi and cut it out. I inked the edges with the same ink for a little definition. I glued the center of the body flat and pop dotted the wings for more movement. I had a heck of a time getting a decent picture of this, so I hope this one at least gives you the idea. Stamps- Background Basics: Retro, Polka Dot Basics (PTI); Take Three (SU!)
Paper- black, wasabi (SU!); vintage cream (PTI)
Ink- cloud white (VersaMagic), wasabi (SU!), onyx black (VersaFine)
Other- butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), long scallop rectangle die (Spellbinders), rhintstones (DCWV), pop dots

As Simple As It Gets

Yep, this card has got to be as simple as it gets. I used Fall-To Layout #46 from Clean & Simple Stamping. In fact, it's so simple, I'll just leave you with the recipe and let you get on with your day. Wishing you sunshine!

Stamps- text boxed (pti)
Paper- pearlized white (Paper Accents)
Ink- turquoise, celery (SU), black (VersaFine)
Accessories- square nesties for tracing, SU markers, MAMBI icons

Better Late...Color Challenge

I always love Kristina's color challenges but never manage to get one done. But I actually did it yesterday. You can follow that link for this weeks details and her cool graphic. The colors are teal, sky blue, pumpkin, green galore and white. I also got some inspiration from Julee, who inked and debossed her Cuttlebug folder, and Tori, who makes those gorgeous Spellbinder's flowers. I stamped the snail (Inkadinkado) using Memento black on PTI white. After coloring with Copics, I over stamped the CHF Lined Paper Backgrounder with Soft Sky ink. I separated the sentiment into two lines to stamp on a small Labels I die cut from Spellbinders. I actually used only orange ink to sponge the large flower, because the pumpkin pie looked so brownish when I tried it. I thought this matched the paper better. And since I took the pictures, I folded up all of the flower petals for a little more dimension. Much better. In case you give them a try yourself.

Stamps- Happy Belated Birthday (Inkadinkado)

Paper- green galore, taken with teal, pumpkin pie, sky blue, (SU), white (PTI and GP)

Ink- soft sky, teal, green galore, only orange, pumpkin (SU), tuxedo black (memento)

Accessories- flower creations, labels 1 (spellbinders), Copics, SEI brad, CB D'vine swirls, white gel pen, dimensionals

Life is Beautiful in the Happy Forest

Today's card uses this week's Bellarific Friday Sketch. It's posted on the blogabella every Monday, so you can play along. Then Em posts all the cards on Friday. I think that is so fun. This shiny, happy paper is new (only to me). It's called Hello Sunshine by Cosmo Cricket. It comes in an 8x8 pad and every piece has that cool bracketed border on the bottom. It's a little older, so if you can't find it elsewhere, my friend has some left in her online store. It's even on sale.

I stamped the Happy Forest with Memento black ink and colored with copics. Yes, that ink really is as good as everyone says. This was my first go with it, and I couldn't be happier. The sentiment is one of the Strip Teases in the Hello Sunshine pad. I cut the oval with my nesties, layered it on tempting turquoise and trimmed the scallops with some decorative scissors. Stamps- happy forest (stamping bella)

Paper- GP white, PTI white, SU black, Cosmo Cricket's Hello Sunshine

Ink- memento black

Accessories- Copics, bride's flowers, MM crystal brads, nesties, scallop scissors, black gel pen, heidi swapp jewels, dimensionals

Photo Rehab!

Thanks to a link from Kristina, I found THE BEST card photo tips I've seen to date. Check out the posts here and here on sideoats + scribbles! And the best part (aside from the fact that it WORKS) is that it is so easy! I used the instructions from that second link to get these before and after photos of the card I made today. Check it out:

The first photo is done using a photo light tent and the indoor/no flash setting on my little hand held Canon PowerShot SD750. Next you see the same photo using the white balance instructions from Lisa that took all of 30 seconds in Photoshop Elements 5.0. I am seriously excited about this.

I went through a few old card photos that were still stored on my computer. These were photos that I had already edited using the "auto quick fix". It even made those so much better. And it worked every single time. Too cool, I say! Here are a couple of those. They were both taken outside with natural daylight.

So anyway, here are the details for today's pink flower card (the first one) using this week's Splitcoast sketch challenge. I colored directly on the rubber stamp (Silhouette Blooms I from Cornish Heritage Farms) with celery, olive, regal rose, rose red, and so saffron markers, spritzed with a light mist of water, and stamped on SU! whisper white.

Stamps- Silhouette Blooms I (CHF)

Paper- pretty in pink, white, choc chip, rose red, Bali Breeze (SU!)

Ink- celery, olive, regal rose, rose red, so saffron (SU!), vintage photo distress ink (Ranger)

Accessories- scallop punch (Martha Stewart), Dashes Dots & Checks ribbon

So, now can anybody tell me why there are no spaces in this post? Because there are as I'm typing in Blogger. Drives me crazy that it does that sometimes.

CPS119 To Infinity and Beyond

Wow, this week is really slipping away. I was exhausted from the weekend (weeding and LOTS of mulching) and before I knew it, the week's half over. Last night Josh and I went to eleven for the first time, a restaurant in the Strip District area of Pittsburgh, then walked to the Penguins game for an amazing, stressful, stunning Game six Stanley Cup Finals win over the Red Wings. I had the Alaskan halibut and Josh the lamb. Both were incredibly delicious.

On to the card. That's why you're here anyway, right? I wanted to do something for this week's CPS sketch. I just love extra tall cards like this. I stamped my hot air balloon on water color paper, masked it, and stamped a few clouds (all from Up, Up and Away). I colored with markers and a water brush, using pumpkin pie, kiwi kiss, ruby red, creamy caramel, chocolate chip, and bordering blue. For the flower embellishments, I glued some Perhaps paper to blank pieces of chipboard, then cut with my Cuttlebug Flowers die, then added a Making Memories snap to the center (which I colored with Copic YR07 to get a more vibrant orange). The sentiment is also on a larger CB flower die cut. I aged things a bit with a Tonic paper distresser and Papertrey Ink's new Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo. Oh my word, that stuff is FAST and so cool. LOVE IT! Stamps- Up, Up and Away, Great Expectations (Verve)

Paper- bordering blue, pumpkin pie, kiwi kiss (SU!), water color (Strathmore), offbeat, perhaps (Basic Grey)

Ink- onyx black (Versafine), bordering blue, kiwi kiss, pumpkin, ruby, choc chip, caramel (SU!), tea dye (PTI)

Accessories- YR07 Copic marker, Making Memories snaps, CB flower dies, distresser, chipboard, Cosmo Cricket Everafter and Girl Friday ribbons, water brush, EK Success corner rounder

Bellarific Friday

It's Bellarific Friday, and this is my first time participating. I hope I got my card emailed to Em on time to be included, since I didn't see a deadline. I guess I'll find out soon when she posts the cards on her Blogabella. Here is the sketch she gave us on Monday to work with.

And here is my card. I used Flowahbella, stamping her on water color paper and coloring with SU! markers and a water brush, cut out with the Labels 1 die. The flowers are made from more of the paper pack used on the card, SU's Bali Breeze. The celery trim is punched with an EK Success Parisian punch. And I used a photo corner punch to get the end of the sentiment flag "just right" without a lot of fuss. MWAH! And chat with ya later!

Stamps- flowahbella (stamping bella), green thumb (papertrey ink) Paper- SU! bali breeze, vanilla, guava, water color Ink- onyx black (versafine), SU! markers Accessories- labels 1 die (spellbinders), cuttlebug flower #1 dies, ek success parisian punch, MAMBI icons, water brush, dimensionals, SU! photo corner punch

PS- Sometimes Blogger just makes me want to pull my hair out!

Butterflies Make Me Smile

Especially polka dotted, striped butterflies. How cute is this stamp? It's another one I pulled out of my stash of pre-stamped images received from other stampers. It's so fun getting a chance to finally use some of those. I colored with Copic markers and used yesterday's sketch challenge from Splitcoast. I didn't have purple thread, so colored some with a Copic marker. Dang, those things have so many uses. I also colored the purple and green primas to match. The designer paper edges were roughed up with a hobby blade. I hope you find a reason to smile today too! HUGS! Stamps- Butterfly, Polka Dot (Lockhart Stamp Company), Thoughtful Florals (Verve Stamps)
Paper- white, SU! pale plum, perfect plum, saffron, old olive, Haiku
Ink- onyx black (VersaFine)
Accessories- copic markers (G21, YG63, V09, V15, Y21, 0), black diamond stickles, thread, sewing machine, primas, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, dimensionals

Clean and Simple 17

This week's clean and simple challenge on Splitcoast was to be inspired by your choice of beach towels or tote bags from Land's End. I chose this one.I took my inspiration from the colors and pattern and kept it "clean and simple" to come up with this. I stamped the pattern from Background Basics: Retro with onyx black VersaFine, and colored it with pink passion for the dots and a combo of celery and bashful blue for the diamonds. The bird, from Bird Watching Additions, is stamped with Raspberry Fizz and black, then I added black to the dots with a Zig Millennium pen and a crystal eye. Stamps- Bird Watching Additions, Background Basics: Retro, Simple Little Things (PTI)

Paper- white, black, PTI raspberry fizz, aqua mist

Ink- onyx black VersaFine, PTI raspberry fizz

Accessories- ribbon tag trio die (Spellbinders), paper piercer, PTI raspberry fizz satin ribbon, rhinestones

Mojo 89

Today's card is done with this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I used some older Basic Grey paper (Romani) and the new Verve set, Up, Up and Away. The piercing in the corner is done with an Ornare piercing template. FYI-it helps to set the template with a few straight pins, so it doesn't slide around while you're doing all that piercing. I paper pieced the balloon and treetop. The little bit of "trim" sticking out, is a strip of orange paper in the Romani collection that I stamped with a trim piece from the Up, Up and Away set. The sentiment is from So Happy. Stamps- Up, Up and Away, So Happy (Verve)

Paper- white, water color, SU red, Basic Grey Romani

Ink- black VersaFine, SU! choc chip, cocoa, bashful blue, caramel

Accessories- ornare template, piercer, SU brads, nesties, white gel pen, water brush, dimensionals

Getting My Verve On

I was SO EXCITED when I saw Verve's latest release. Really, how awesome is this tree? And it's not even the main image in the new Up, Up and Away set. I couldn't resist. I had to squeeze a little time in this morning for a quick card. Now I can't wait to find time to use all those gorgeous hot air balloons too. This card uses Fall-To Layout #44 from Clean & Simple. Definitely my go to place to get started on a quick and easy card. I stamped the trees on water color paper and colored with Stampin' Up! markers and a water brush. I used celery, olive, summer sun, and a bit of bashful blue faded out around the treetops. The pearls on the brad were white, so I added some coordinating color with YR07 Copic marker. For the scalloped trim on top, I cut with scalloped scissors. Marked my spots, and punched with a Crop-o-dile. The sentiment was a freebie with my Verve order.Stamps- Up, Up and Away (Verve)

Paper- celery, olive (SU!), water color (Strathmore), Romani (Basic Grey), white

Ink- VersaFine black, SU! markers

Accessories- Copic marker, K& Co. brad, American Crafts ribbon, water brush, dimensionals, scallop scissors, crop o dile