Black, White & Hot Pink!

How was your weekend? I had a very relaxing weekend. Didn't do anything too exciting. I had designed an anniversary invitation for a friend, and spent a few hours yesterday helping her make 26 of them. I wish I had taken a pic, but never thought of it until I got home.

For today's "Black, White &...", I threw in hot pink. The flower is stamped in black stazon and colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. It's surrounded on two sides with silver brads. Then layered on black and pink passion, which was trimmed with mini scallop scissors. The black polka dots are by Making Memories. This was all layered on whisper white and pink passion. The sentiment is from a Mike's clear dollar stamp set. It's stamped on a cuttlebug die cut. You can actually cut both colors at the same time, rather than sending the pink through first, then the white. In fact, I cut three at the same time, because I wasn't sure if I would be using black as part of the design. Finally, I added two pieces of white grosgrain. I pulled them up through a hole I had punched in the die cut oval, then knotted them.

Hello Friends!

Good morning! Even though I'm writing this Thursday night. I have to work tomorrow, but maybe I'll get done quickly and have some time to plant the flowers I bought today. Here's today's Friendship Friday card.

The card measures 3 1/2 x 6 1/4 to fit a regular (No. 6 3/4) envelope. A very fun size to work with. I stamped this flower from Stampendous using Timber Brown StazOn and colored with my aquapainter. I colored the stamens with my choc. chip marker. This was all done on a whisper white mega scalloped circle. It's layered on two more mega circles (Ruby Red) and set on dimensionals. Both the flowery and the blue paper are from my new Basic Grey 6x6 Gypsy pad. The ribbon is from Mike's dollar bin (Cherry). The sentiment was stamped on whisper white. Then I glued down the hardware and let it dry a minute. Lastly, I cut it out with my xacto. All this because I don't have the small oval punch. And I actually used ONLY ORANGE. I hate orange and years ago I accidentally bought TWO whole packs of it. Since it matches this Gypsy paper so well though, maybe I'll manage to use it occasionally now.

Thanks for visiting me. Don't forget to appreciate your friends. Gosh, imagine if we only had our husbands to talk to. (Not that I don't love my husband)

Details:
Stamps: Stampendous flower, Papertrey Ink Paper Tray
Ink: Timber brown stazon, choc chip, so saffron, marigold morning, more mustard, pumpkin pie, ruby red, marker: choc chip
Paper: only orange, choc chip, ruby red, whisper white, Basic Grey Gypsy
Other: pewter hodgepodge hardware, Cherry ribbon, dimensionals, aquapainter

Tagged

I was tagged at least a few days ago, but I couldn't think of seven interesting personal tidbits. I really want to play though, so I'm going to apply myself and see what I can come up with. Thanks to Rose Ann at Paper Delightz and Cathy at Crafty Thoughts for tagging me. If I missed anyone that tagged me (cause I know it's going around a lot), let me know and I'll add you.

So, here goes:

1. My senior year in high school, I was in our Senior Play, You Can't Take It With You. I played a ditsy, clumsy ballerina.

2. I got married at 19! (Yes, I know. Insert *gasp* here). No, I was not pregnant. And we are celebrating ten happy years this July. Oh yeah, and my husband was 18!

3. I have the craziest looking dog. Buster is a basset hound / lab mix. That means he has really short legs and a really long body. Fifty percent of the times I take him for a walk, somebody laughs at us. He's really goofy looking, but absolutely adorable. He's completely spoiled!

4. I LOVE to vacation. My favorite location is any Mexican vacation destination. I've been to Puerto Vallarta twice, Cabo San Lucas twice, and Cancun twice. But my dream vacation is Europe, especially Paris.

5. The last time I went to visit my parents, I had to stop on the driveway for several minutes and wait for their neighbor's sheep to cross the road. Needless to say, they live in the country.

6. Both of my parents are from families with seven children. So I have lots of aunts and uncles and cousins, but only one brother.

7. When I was a kid, I would often rather have another salad for dessert instead of sweets. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

Well, I don't know how interesting that was, but at least I came of with seven facts. I'm sure I can't come up with seven bloggers who haven't yet been tagged, so I'm not even going to try. If you're looking for new blogs to check out, see my list of bloggers on the right. They're all fab! I'll try to make a card to post later today, and I'll definitely have something for Friendship Friday tomorrow.

Featuring: BELLAS

Good morning. I'm sure you already know and love the Bellas, but that's what I'll be using today for Featured Stamp Wednesday. Here's the home page for Stamping Bella. And here's Bloggabella. Be sure to check out more than just the bellas. Yes, there is more. In fact, there are even a few fellas now. These stamps are a really great quality gray rubber. That's it, just rubber. So they take up less space and you can use them with an acrylic block. I just use removable double faced sticky tape to adhere mine to the acrylic block. But I know others have mounted them on cling foam or even on wood blocks, if you prefer the traditional wood mounted stamp. I love that there are now some sentiments to go with the bellas, too. Makes them more functional to me. So here are my cards.

See, I told you there's more than just bellas over at Stamping Bella. This purse is in the Fashion and Makeup category. I stamped with Black StazOn and colored with markers. The dots were done with my tempermental Signo white gel pen and the shadow was done with ink and an aquapainter.

This card style was created by the wonderfully talented, oh so kind Michelle Wooderson over at Mish Mash. And she calls it a tent topper card. Makes sense, huh? She's a creative genius I tell ya. The card even fits right into your regular old, standard sized envelope. I'm sure you'll be seeing this design from me again. Can you tell I love it? I used papers from the Spring mini's Petals & Paisleys designer series, the dots from All in a Row, and the sentiment from Take Three. The pink strip is also stamped with canvas. Oh yeah, the purse clasp is colord with a gold Zig Painty.

Recipe:
Stamps: Stamping Bella purse, Take Three, All in a Row, Canvas
Ink: black stazon, close to cocoa, markers: creamy caramel, tempting turquoise, pretty in pink, old olive
Paper: Regal Rose, Petals & Paisleys, whisper white
Other: gingham ribbon, black eyelet, cropodile, aquapainter, zig painty

This second card uses Beachabella. She's my favorite, though Stacyfishabella is next on my list. What about you? Which bellas do you love?

I paper pieced her beach towel and bag with more Petals & Paisleys papers. She's standing on a large A Muse oval. And her sunglasses are coated with Crystal Effects and a bit of clear glitter. Otherwise, she's colored with markers. The sentiment from Riveting is colored with tempting turquoise and regal rose. I had stamped it a second time in Regal Rose, punched out the daisy center, and layered it on top. The whole thing is layered on a larger Old Olive circle. The two teeny tiny brads and the white flower are from Queen & Co's Sassy Sequins. The color is Kissy Fit. The photo corner I made with my square punch.

The goods:
Stamps: Beachabella, Riveting
Ink: black stazon, creamy caramel, regal rose, markers: creamy caramel, close to cocoa, blush blossom, regal rose
Paper: Pretty in Pink, tempting turquoise, old olive, whisper white, Petals & Paisleys
Other: turquoise grosgrain, Queen & Co. sassy sequins, dimensionals, 1-3/8, 1-1/4, and 1/2" circle punches, square punch

My Sunshine

Good evening everyone. I'm squeezing in a post tonight to share this cute little card with you. I wasn't in the mood for card making the other day. So I just stamped this sunflower and colored it with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol.

I bought these when they were all the rage, about a year ago, tried them, and didn't like them. So, in my desk they went. I finally read somewhere what I was doing wrong. The colors WOULD NOT blend for me. My hand would be cramped and tired by the time I got the look I was going for. It was as easy as this: I was using the wrong paper. I usually watercolor, which works best on watercolor or some thick paper. I figured this 'gamsol' technique was similar to watercoloring, so I'd use the same paper. I was using SU! Natural White. No, no, no. The colors just sit there. Now that I've tried it on Whisper White, I'm loving it. Very quick and easy blending on this nice smooth paper.

Here I used a few shades of greens, browns and yellows. I had done the sunflower on a skinnier piece of paper. So I taped it to another piece of white and covered the line with the ribbon. "You are my sunshine" is done in timber brown stazon, as is the sunflower. The squiggles are done with a choc. chip marker. I ran the green thru my cuttlebug and added some brads, which were coated in copper ep. A rather simple little card, but I like it.

The Ingredients:
Stamps: Give Thanks, mini casual Karen Foster snap stamps
Ink: timber brown stazon, chocolate chip
Paper: kraft, garden green, marigold morning, whisper white
Other: brads, copper embossing powder, cuttlebug bloom dots embossing folder, taupe grosgrain ribbon, prismacolor pencils and gamsol

I'll talk to y'all in the morning. I actually have my cards all ready for tomorrow's Featured Stamp post. Shocking. I know.

Black, White and Purple

This Monday's posting for Black, White &... will include purple...and just the teeniest bit of green, because I couldn't stop myself. And my rarely used background stamps got a workout, too. In fact, I even used Carte Postale. Everybody else has made beautiful cards with this set, but I've been rather befuddled by it up 'til now.

The How To:

Stamps: Carte Postale, Canvas, French Script, Paisley

Ink: black stazon, lavender lace, perfect plum, certainly celery

Paper: black, lavendar lace, white, Deja Views Wedding Paisley Vine

Other: rhinestone (from Mike's $ bin), crystal effects, dimensionals, Dashes Dots & Checks ribbon, light orchid grosgrain, distressing tool, giga scalloped square punch by Marvy

I stamped the flower from Carte Postale randomly using black stazon and colored with lavendar and celery markers. Then I stamped French Script (lavender), Canvas (celery) and the bird (lavender) all over top of each other. I layered this piece on lavender then black, and pretty heavily distressed the black. The large purple layer is stamped with Paisley in Perfect Plum on lavender. The one bird is covered with Crystal Effects and set on dimensionals. The sentiment tab was punched twice with the giga scalloped square, stamped with "Bonjour" and pressed into the Lavender Lace ink pad a few times. The solid white was a bit shocking on this otherwise dark card. I added on the double ribbons and rhinestone, and this one actually was pretty quick.

Well, that's it. I'm eagerly looking forward to the 25th. My local stamp store has 25% off almost everything on the 25th of every month. So even though it's not THAT local, it's worth the trip.

Thanks for stopping by.

Feeling Challenged

Sorry, I didn't get to post yesterday. I spent all day in the yard. It felt great to be able to work outside in good weather. Then I had to hurriedly get ready for dinner with friends at Nakama. We go out to eat once a month somewhere new, and this was my friend Danielle's month to choose the date and place. I love trying new places and this was a fun, trendy place. Good food, too ; )

But, today I made time both to stamp, and share with any one who may visit. I was pretty stuck on a card design, otherwise known as a slump, so I turned to a couple of challenges posted by fellow bloggers. This first card is for Michelle's challenge to Find Some Inspiration at Twisted Chick Creations. Look in magazine ads, or anywhere around you, to find an inspiration for your card design. This is something I do all the time. It's a geat jumping off point. Sorry for the line thru my inspiration piece. I couldn't get it any better.

The How To for my card:

Stamps: Doodle This, Simple Sayings II
Ink: Black Stazon, markers: apricot appeal, pretty in pink, pumpkin pie, rose red
Paper: rose red, whisper white, Anna Griffin stripes
Other: pewter hodge podge hardware, round tab punch, paper piercer and template, rose and tangerine grosgrain

I colored all of the flowers and doodles with markers. And, because I couldn't choose which ribbon to use, I used both.

This second card is for Julee Tilman's sketch at Poetic Artistry. I think this is such a fun sketch. Thanks Julee.

And the How To:

Stamps: just the one little sentiment from a Michael's dollar stamp
Ink: Taken with teal
Paper: taken with teal, whisper white, harmony: stripe by Paper Salon, Key lime by memory box
Other: giga scalloped circle punch, coluzzle, cuttlebug (for the sentiment die cut), ribbon from Michael's wooden spools, primas, scalloped scissors (because I lent out my corner rounder)

I used my scalloped scissors to snip all the rounded corners, because I lent out my corner rounder. And to get the center for my prima, I used the ever-popular ribbon knot method. I tied my ribbon in a knot about three times to get the thickness I wanted, then I tucked the ends down thru the centers of the layered primas.