A Modern Grid Technique

Man is my summer flying by!! I can't believe the 4th is past and that we're already well into the month of July. I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday with good food, outdoor games, friends and fireworks.

Since this is the first Monday of the month, that means we have a new CCEE challenge hostess. This month it's Dawn, and she challenged us to do a *Modern Grid Technique.* Now I'd never even heard of this technique before, so I needed to see the examples that Frances (StampOwl) provided for us. You can find them HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I decided to combine this Modern Grid Technique with the Tri-Shutter Technique that we did last month. And this is my very first Christmas card of the season too.

To start, I drew my grid lines with my SU! Going Grey marker. Each square is 1"x 1". I then stamped the Snow Swirled (SU!) images with White Craft (SU!) randomly throughout the piece and embossed with White ep. I used a sponge dauber to add Currant (Adirondack Dye Ink) to the centers of the flakes and Lettuce (Adirondack Dye Ink) to the tree center, and then used an aqua pen to pull the color out and blend it. The sentiment was stamped onto one of the Lots of Tags diecuts.

Finally, I added some Multicolored Mini-Rhinestones (Zva Creative) and Clear Rhinestones (Kaisercraft) to the snowflake centers and sentiment piece.

Now, you need to go check out what creative ideas the other girls have come up with. Head on over to the CCEE Stampers blog. We'd love to have you participate too. Just follow the linking instructions when you get there.

Thanks for stopping by. I always love visitors!!
Happy Stamping!





Stamps: Snow Swirled (SU!)
Paper: Wizard Dark and Light, White (Prismatics)
Ink: Currant, Lettuce (Adirondack Dye Ink), White Craft (SU!)
Accessories: Scor-Pal, Sponge Dauber, Ruler, Lots of Tags diecut (SU!), Rhinestones (Zva Creative and Kaisercraft), White ep

8th Grade Graduation...

My nephew graduated from 8th grade last night. So I needed to make him a graduation card. I liked the this Old World dp (Kaisercraft) with compasses because the compass represents direction and heading into High School is a whole new direction for a 13 year old.

Very easy card. I'd say *clean and simple*, but it's very dirty with all the Walnut Stain ink distressing. *grin* The sentiment is from the Stampin' UP! set Congrats.

Have an super duper week!!
Happy Stamping!
Tosh

Supplies:
Stamps - Congrats (SU)
Paper - Old World (Kaisercraft), Blush Red Dark, Suede Brown Dark, Neenah Natural White
Ink - Walnut Stain (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories - Chocolate Candy Dots (Pebbles, Inc.), Buttons (SU and PTI), Ivory embroidery thread, Distress Tool

Paper challenged

This week for our CCEE challenge, Deb wanted us to haul out some designer paper that we've been hoarding. well, this scroll-cut dp has been gracing my shelves for quite some time. So when I saw that Joan Ervin over on SCS was being featured today, and saw THIS CARD, I knew just what I wanted to do. I LOVED the technique and colors she used, so I used the same ink colors. She rubbed the Ranger Distress Inks Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain onto a craft sheet, spritzed it with water and drug the cardstock through the watery ink. Woila...the background. I then stamped the branch with Walnut Stain, and the bird and flowers with Versamark. The bird was embossed with Black ep, and the flowers with White ep., and the edges were all ink distressed with Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain.

Here's the inside.

Thanks for the inspiration Joan!! I so enjoyed going through your fabulous gallery!!

Featured Stamper Changes:
Images
Sketch
Added bow instead of flower

To see what paper the other CCEE gals have dug out of their stash, visit our blog: CCEE Stampers

Hope you have a fantastic week!
My son's home from college, and my daughter has half days this week with exams...then summer begins. Although the weather seems to think it's already here. 104 degrees today...*groan*

Happy stamping everyone!!
Tosh

Supplies:
Stamps - Bird on a Branch and Sweet Serendipity (Stampin' UP!)
Paper - Suede Brown Dark and Black (Prismatics), Neenah Natural White, Scroll cut dp (?)
Ink - Versamark, Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories - Buttons (PTI), Curved Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Border Punch (Fiskars), Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Detail Black and White Embossing Powder (Stampin' UP!), Dimensional Tape

Our Daily Bread: Sneak Peek

Jeanne Streiff has issued a Limited Supplies Challenge on SCS to make a card based on the colors of a room in your home. Now, I normally don't participate in this challenge...well...simply because I'm not very good at *limiting* myself. I keep adding, and adding, and adding. I adore CAS (Clean and Simple) cards. Mostly because I so wish I could make cards like that. I don't have an eye for that though. My balance is always off. So, back to this challenge. We were also to limit our layers and embellishments. Believe me, 4 layers is limiting me...and 3 stars with twine...very limited. So, I hope I haven't overexteded myself in this one.

"The Lord is my Shepherd" sampler was made by Miss Fannie Turgeon in 1993. And this, among other samplers, is hanging in my guest bathroom. It's painted a deep red, and is decorated with rustic country samplers and outhouses. I know...an odd combo, but I felt they were both in the same era...kwim?

This is my first ever sneak peek!! Woo-Hoo! Kelley, from Our Daily Bread Designs, has some fabulous new images for you for that will be released May 1. The DT has already been busy making some GORGEOUS cards. I'm seriously in awe!! The links to their galleries are on the left. Be sure to check them out regularly. Everyone will be posting soon.

The papers were ink distressed with Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress Ink), and the bg was stamped with Stampin' UP!'s bg Sanded. The stars are Cuttlebug dies, and I punched the corners with a Marvy corner punch.

Hope you all had a wonderful week and have a blessed weekend.
Happy stamping!!
Tosh


Supplies:
Stamps - Our Daily Bread, Sanded (Stampin' UP!)
Paper - Prism
Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black, Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories - Marvy corner punch, Star diecut (Cuttlebug), twine, Detail Black ep

New and All-time faves

Today's card was made for the monthly Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge over on SCS. Here are the rules we were to follow:

Challenge Focus: Create a Mother's Day or Father's Day card or gift. (This could be for your Mom or Dad or a grandparent or aunt ot uncle or even just for a good friend you might want to acknowledge with a little favortism on one of these days.)

Required Element: Personal Favorites - incoporate your current FAVE (could be stamp set, technique, color combo or embellishment) and an all-time FAVE that you seem to always fall back on (stamp set or technique or color combo or embellishment) and tell us about them.

Restricted Element: No work involved. - meaning this should be for fun and not fullfill any DT requirements or promote any companies you might owe a little favor to or anything like that. YKWIM. Take some time to just stamp for joy!

My new favorite is the Octagon Nestabilities Shapes by Spellbinders. I gravitate to that shape more often. I also love the new fiskars border punches. LOVE punches!! My all-time fave, of course, is ink distressing. No surprise there. So I incorporated that technique also.

Now we were also to make sure that our card or project was not for any DT requirement. So, I used some new Stampin' UP! images and paper. So, here it is...my DDA Favorite Project.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Have a wonderful week!
Happy Stamping!
Tosh

Supplies:

Stamps - Boho Backgrounds
Paper - Parisian Breeze Specialty (Stampin' UP!), Suede Brown Dark, Neenah Natural White (Prismatics)
Ink - Chocolate Chip, Buckaroo Blue
Accessories - Octagon and Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Rhinestones (Kaisercraft), Kraft Taffeta Ribbon (Stampin' UP!), Border Punch (Fiskars), Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart), Horizontal Slot Punch (Stampin' UP!), Piercing Tool, Mat Pack (Stampin' UP!), Dimensional Tape

Payback stinks!

It's time for another CCEE challenge. Now, this month it was my turn to come up with the challenges. And each month we mail supplies to the other members and require them to use certain ones.

I sent everyone this skunk image, Studio G sentiments, velvet scalloped ribbon, dp by Dream Street Papers and a cuttlebug flourish diecut piece.

There is a reason everyone was sent these particular supplies. You see, my good friend Laurie (Lauraly on SCS) knows I don't like working with monkey images. I like monkeys in zoos, just not for stamps...don't know why...it's nothing personal with the companies that design them, I just don't like monkey images. Well, as any good friend would do....she taunts me with monkeys. Even to go as far as sending me a cowboy sock monkey for Christmas. And to top it off, she decided to use that sock monkey for her blog posts while at CHA last month. If you look closely, you might see a hand or arm in those photos. Yep....they're mine!! She made me hold that bugger for the photos!! What a friend, eh?

Well, it's payback time. All the CCEE gals are going to send their skunk cards to Laurie, cause as much as I hate monkeys....she hates Skunks. Her husband even propped a dead one up by a cattle gate so that when she went out at night to check the calves there was a skunk there. I just happened to be on the phone with her when she was frightened by afore mentioned skunk. LOL...she didn't know it was deceased and was totally freaked out. It's a wonder I'm not deaf from the screaming!!!!!! *giggle*

If you want to see what the other girls did with their supplies, click HERE. Fun stuff I tell ya!!
Oh...and btw...it's Laurie's birthday Mar. 3, so these should all get there in time for that special day!!! *grin*

Thanks so much for stopping by.
I hope you had a fantastic weekend!
Happy Stamping!

Supplies:
Stamps - Pun Fun (Stampin' UP!), Studio G
Paper - Dream Street, Black and White Prismatics, Neenah Solar White
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Walnut Stain ( Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories - Copics, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities and Tags (Spellbinders), embroidery thread, Rhinestones (Kaisercraft), Crushed Velvet Brads (Doodlebug Designs), Gingham and Scalloped Velvet Ribbon, eyelets, Crop-a-dile, glitter, Quickie Glue Pen, Dimensional Tape, Scor-Pal

A Warm Birthday Wish...

I made this card awhile back for my BIL. He has a birthday close to Christmas. I put this together fairly quickly, right before I gave it to him, so I got off a few quick shots in my photo tent and gave it along with a fun gift. I haven't had the opportunity to upload it until now.

We camp each year with my husband's brother and his family, and we get together around our fire pit quite often throughout the year too. So, being that his birthday is in December, I thought this image, from Firecracker Designs, was perfect. (Especially since you will see my DH and him standing like this quite often around the fire....grin).

I colored him with copics and gave him a background with the Lovely as a Tree set from SU. They have a touch of white get pen, and the fire has a bit of glitter. The edges are all ink distressed with Frayed Burlap (Ranger Distress).


Supplies:
Stamps - Firecracker Designs, Lovely as a Tree (SU)
Paper - Prism
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Frayed Burlap (Ranger)
Accessories - Martha Stewart Border Punch, Glitter, Labels I Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Copics, Inkssentials White Gel Pen, Felt Snowflakes (Stampin' UP!), Dew Drop, Corner Rounder


Hope you are enjoying your weekend, and that your year is off to a fantastic start!!
Happy Stamping!
Tosh

Chocolate Flakes

I found some awesome napkins at Walmart this past week that had different brown tones and snowflakes. Well, I'm a country girl and loved the warm, cozy, country feel. I know....shocker, eh? So, of course they inspired me to make this card. (no comments about brown snow either...*groan*)

So, this was a very simple and quick card. I just used my Curved Rectangle Nestabilities diecut to cut out the shape I wanted, stamped the Snowflakes (Stampin' Up) onto this gorgeous K&Company paper with Brushed Corduroy (Ranger Distress Ink), and outlined them with my white opaque pen (Inkssentials).

I layered the main image panel onto a Snowflake embossed (cuttlebug), Suede Brown Light (Prismatics) piece of cardstock, and framed them both with Suede Brown Dark (Prismatics). Finally, I sewed around the edges of the back panel, added Chocolate Pearls (Kaisercraft) and some gorgeous White Embroidered Ribbon (May Arts).

The sentiment is from the Home for Christmas set (Stampin' Up)

That's it.
Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying this season and that all your Holiday plans are going smoothly!!!
Happy Stamping!!
Tosh


Supplies:
Stamps - Snowflakes, Home for Christmas (Stampin' Up)
Paper - K&Company, Suede Brown Light and Dark (Prismatics)
Ink - Brushed Corduroy (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories - White opaque pen, pearls, sewing machine, ribbon, Horizontal Slot punch (Stampin' Up), Nestabilities

A Western Winter

Howdy!! It's time for another CCEE challenge that I do each Monday with a small group of friends. Cindy Haffner came up with our challenges for this month. Today we were to make a blue card with brads. (She was very easy on us since this is such a busy month. Thanks Cindy...you're a dear)

I made this card for a special young man who just turned 10 on Friday (okay...so I'm a bit late...but what boy doesn't like a birthday drawn out? *grin*)

Anyway, this is quite the mish-mash of stamps and inks. The bg was created by leaving the Kraft cardstock in the Labels I diecut and sponging the inside with Craft White (SU) and Petal Point blues. I then stamped the trees (Lovely as a Tree - SU) with Tuxedo Black (Memento), the left Wanted (SU) horse with Sepia (Versafine), and the right one again with Tuxedo Black after masking the first one. Now I realize the horses shouldn't be lined up the way they are. It's not aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The brown one was supposed to be higher, but I rushed it and didn't use my positioner. Arghh!! Since this was my 4th attempt at a bg, I'm just leaving it as is. I know...the horror. After stamping all the images, I heat set the pigment inks with my heat tool, and added some snow with my Inkssentials White Opaque Pen.

The blue bg panel was dry embossed with the Forest Panel (Cuttlebug). I then blanket stitched along the edges with my sewing machine.

I created the sentiment with my JustRite Harmony Rectangular Stamper set, and the 25 pt Brayton Font letters and symbols.

The circle star is from the charming Papertrey set called Background Basics Stars.

To see what the other girls have come up with this month, click HERE.
And if you'd like to play along, we'd love to see what you come up with. Just follow the instructions on the CCEE Stampers blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you had a blessed weekend!!
Happy Stamping!
Tosh

Supplies:
Stamps - Wanted, Lovely as a Tree (SU), Sentiment (JustRite), Background Basics Stars (Papertrey)
Paper - MME, Suede Brown Dark, Kraft (Prismatics)
Ink - Craft White (SU), Petal Point pigments, Walnut Stain (Ranger Distress), Tuxedo Black (Memento), Sepia (Versafine)
Accessories - brads, twine, sewing machine, cuttlebug, nestabilities, sponge, dimensional tape, white opaque pen (Inkssentials)

Thanksgiving Spotlight

Today, the Dirty Dozen Alumni on SCS were challenged to make a Fall themed project with a heart on it.

Here are the requirements:
Challenge Focus: Create a thankful card or gift, Thanksgiving table place card or treat holder, or Thanksgiving home decor item.

Required Element: At least one heart on your project.

Restricted Element: Nothing

Keyword: DCTH1108 (for SCS uploading)

I realize this is an odd looking card. There is a reason for the *uncolored* portion of this image. I decided to spotlight the fruit and vegetables in the center of this Cornucopia (Northwoods) in order to represent all of my blessings.

There are so many out there who have very little food, no shelter, estranged family members, poor health...the list could go on and on. Thus the spotlight. I thought the heart was a great idea that Sharon required. Mine is full of thankfulness, yet hurts for those who are suffering right now. I added the flower in the top corner to represent hope. To me flowers represent life and remind me that we are to bloom where we are planted. Sorry for all the symbolism, but that's how this card came about.

The heart and flower are a cuttlebug diecut.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you are having a blessed week!!

Supplies : Stamps - Donna's Cornucopia, Happy Thanksgiving (Northwoods), Sanded bg (Stampin' Up) Paper - Sunflowers Dark, Suede Brown Dark, Black (Prismatics), Neenah Natural White Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Walnut Stain (Ranger) Accessories - Copics, Nestabilities, piercing tool, brads, cuttlebug, dimensional tape

A Sweet and Sassy Christmas

I made this card today for the Inspirational Challenge on SCS, and for the Organization Chemo Angels. HERE is the photo that inspired me. I loved the colors of the quilt. For more info on how you can donate to the Chemo Angels, click HERE.

I also was excited to use this darling Sweet and Sassy image called Decorating Tree. It's a Rachelle Anne Miller Design, and I love her darling images.

I stamped the image twice onto Neenah Solar White with Tuxedo Black (Memento) and colored it with my copics.

The Everyday Blessings dp is Papertrey, as is the ribbon. The sentiment is from the A Cardinal Christmas (SU) set. (I love the font of this..I know, I've used it a lot...grin). And the Soft Pink Rhinestone stickers are Kaisercraft.

Thank you so much for stopping by!! I hope you all are having a fabulous weekend.

Happy Stamping!!

Supplies:
Stamps - Decorating Tree (Sweet and Sassy Rachelle Anne Miller), A Cardinal Christmas (SU)
Paper - Papertrey, Neenah Solar White
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories - Copics, Corner Tag Punch (SU), Quickie Glue Pen, Crystal Glitter, Grossgrain Ribbon, Rhinestone Stickers, Dimensional Tape

A Pink Christmas

I made this card for today's Sketch Challenge on SCS.

I stamped the Winter Wonderland tree (Impression Obsession) with White Craft Ink onto Blush Red Light Pristmatic CS and embossed with White ep. I then sponged around the tree with Aged Mahogany (Ranger Distress ink) to make the tree pop a bit more. All the panels are edged with White Craft ink also.

I then Diecut my "A Cardinal Christmas" (SU) sentiment with one of my Double Ended Tag Diecuts (Spellbinders), sponged the edges with the Aged Mahogany and craft white, and tied the ribbon to the edges.

The Tree and snowflakes have Rhinestone Stickers by Hero Arts and Kaisercraft.


Supplies:
Stamps - Winter Wonderland Tree (Impression Obsession), Sentiment (A Cardinal Christmas - SU)
Paper - Blush Red Light and Dark, Vanilla Cream (Prismatics) Laundry Line dp (MME)
Ink - Craft White (SU), Aged Mahogany (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories - Double Ended Tags (Spellbinders), Snowflakes (Making Memories), Copics, Detailed White EP, Rhinestone Stickers (Hero Arts, and Kaisercraft), Sponge, Corner tag Punch (SU), Ribbon

Cardinal Suspension

It's a new week, and I'm off to a late start!! LOL Every week I have a CCEE card uploaded by Sunday evening. They are not due until Monday, but since I'm on the west coast my card would not be up til much later than everyone else's....like today for instance.

Well, today I have a good excuse. I was visiting my son for parents weekend at college. He's over 1000 miles away and we hadn't seen him in about 7 weeks. We had an awesome time and look forward to seeing him again over Thanksgiving break.

So, onto my card. Dawn L challenged us this week to make a suspension card. You will find an awesome tutorial for it by Beate HERE at SCS. The rest is pretty self explanatory. I cut out my opening with my rectangle Nestabilities and colored my cardinal with Copics.

To see what the other girls have created, check our CCEE Stampers blog. Remember, you can play along too. Just check that blog for details.


Supplies:
Stamps - A Cardinal Christmas (Stampin' Up)
Paper - Cosmo Cricket, Frosted Orange and Blush Red Dark (Prismatics)
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Tea Stain (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories - Copics, Nestabilities, stretchy illusion cord

An Elzybell Christmas Tree

I don't normally do the Limited Supplies Challenge on SCS, only because I'm too chicken to break the rules. This weeks didn't seem too hard to me though. It's titled "Rock, Paper, Scissors", and is hosted by a dear, dear lady...Judy (StampingQueenJAR). Love the title, love the challenge. Click HERE for the rules.

I LOVE Elzybells stamps and rarely get to use them. Well, I ordered some new ones again this year and am determined to use every one. Today, I just inked up the tree with Black Onyx Versafine and stamped it onto Birchtone Medium Prismatic Paper. I highlighted it a bit with my copics and a white gel pen, then cut it out and mounted it onto White Prismatic Paper after sponging Denim Adirondack Dye ink on the bg. I then ink distressed the edges with Frayed Burlap and Brushed Corduroy Ranger Distress Ink. The ornaments have Xmas Red Stickles on them, and the star has some clear ultrafine glitter. The flakes on three of the square panels are from Stampin' Ups Snowflake set. I also added some Bon Bon Sugar Coating Glitter to the snowflake centers, and some piercing with an ornare template on either side of the sentiment panel and along the top. I finished off the card with a few Dew Drops and a gold cord bow.

I hope you all have a blessed weekend!!
Happy Stamping!!

Supplies:
Stamps - Elzybells, Snowflakes (SU)
Paper - DaisyD's, Mystic Blue Medium, Birchtone Medium and Dark, White (Prismatics)
Ink - Black Onyx (Versafine), Frayed Burlap, Brushed Corduroy (Ranger), Denim (Adirondack)
Accessories - Dew Drops, Copics, White Gel Pen, Sugar Coating Glitter (Doodlebug), Gold Cord, piercing tool, piercing template

A charm for a charming person...

I combined two challenges today. The Featured Stamper (lazylizard) on SCS and the weekly challenge that I do with my CCEE friends.

HERE's the card of Liz's that I chose to case. The changes I made:
1. The colors (somewhat)
2. Machine Sewing instead of a stamp
3. Added three ribbon strips
4. Added pearls to the corners instead
of the flowers at the bottom
5. Added a shrink plastic charm

Once a month, for our CCEE challenge a unique name is picked from the SCS members and we make a card for that person and mail it to them. This week Cam picked Charmwarm (Charmaine). I'm on a design team with Charmaine, and believe me when I tell you, she IS sweet and charming. I so enjoyed making this card for her!!

Check out our CCEE Stampers blog to see what the other girls made for Charmaine.

So, we were to make a card with a charm, but, Cammie, being the challenger that she is, said it couldn't be a *store bought* charm. It had to be hand made. So I stamped the large flower, from the SU set Time Well Spent, onto a sanded piece of clear shrink plastic, and colored the sanded side with my copics to match this gorgeous sparkly dp by My Mind's Eye. They have a fabulous new line called "Laundry Line"!! And every piece has sparkles in it!! Gorgeous stuff!!

The "Friends" sentiment was stamped with Tuxedo Black (Memento) onto Neenah Natural White and colored with copics. I sewed around each panel too, and popped them up with dimensional tape. I added a touch of glitter to the tiny pink flowers and a teeny tiny Kaisercraft pearl to each too, as well as to my shrunk flower.

Have a fabulous week ya'll!! I'm praying for all of you who are being hit so hard by Ike!! I can't imagine what you're all going through. Huge stampin' hugs!!


Supplies:
Stamps - Time Well Spent (SU)
Paper - Laundry Line (My Mind's Eye), Sage Medium, Birchtone Light and Dark, Neenah Natural White
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Frayed Burlap (Ranger Distress Ink) edges
Accessories - Copics, Nestabilities, Clear Shrink Plastic, Pearls (Kaisercraft), sewing machine, glitter, Quickie Glue Pen, dimensional tape, ribbon

Faux Silk Technique

It's time once again for a CCEE challenge. This whole month we're focusing on techniques. And, this week we were to try the Faux Silk. Beate gives a fabulous tutorial for this on SCS. It's really easy. I tried to get a close up so you could see what it looks like, but my photography skills are lacking, and I couldn't get it to work. This is the best I could do.

As I said earlier, we were to use the faux silk, and we get bonus points for adding an owl. We're hoping Hoots (StampOwl) will give us a prize since we dedicated this weeks theme to her passion for owls. *grin*

If you'd like to see what the other girls did for this challenge, check out our CCEE Stampers Blog. You can play along too. We'd love to see what you come up with!! All you have to do is follow the instructions there.

First off, the card is only 4"x4". The owl is Studio G and is colored with copics. I also Paper Toled him to give him the dimension the rest of the card has. He's small enough already. I'd hate to give him more of a complex. The circles were all cut with nestabilities, and are paper pierced. I stamped the bg on white tissue paper, colored the flowers with copics, and then stamped the Sanded bg from SU with Latte (Adirondack) over it all to roughen it up a bit. I also ink distressed all the edges with Latte.

To finish it off, I added a variety of rhinestone stickers: flower (Hero Arts), Teeny Tiny ones (Amuse Creative Candy), Corner ones (K& Company) The ribbon is offray.

I used all Prismatic Papers!! LOVE this stuff!! The texture is fantastic, and it inks beautifully. I used their Baby Pink Light and Medium, the Suede Brown Dark, and White (All Prismatics)

Guess what!!

I'm so excited to tell you...Michelle at Stamper's Dream is going to be carrying Prismatics!! Woo-Hoo!!! If you haven't tried this paper yet, believe me, you're missing out. One side is textured, the other side is smooth. And it's a fabulous weight too. I'll let you know when it's available at her store!!

Supplies:
Stamps - Studio G, Sanded (Stampin' Up)
Paper - Baby Pink Light and Medium, Suede Brown Dark, White (Prismatics), White (Papertrey)
Ink: Espresso and Latte (Adirondack)
Accessories - Copics, tissue paper, piercing tool, Mat Pack (Stampin' Up), Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Tag and Photo corner punches (Stampin' Up), Rhinestone stickers, Offray ribbon, Scotch dimensional tape, make-up sponge

Patriotic Challenge

It's the 20th today, and that means it's time to make a card for the Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge. Here are the rules we had to follow.

Challenge Focus: "Inside & Out"......stamp and decorate both the inside of your card AND the outside of the envelope. (any card size is ok) Please upload two photos.
Required Element: Patriotic element - interpret this any way you like (ex. color scheme, sentiment, image, whatever)
Restricted Element: No ribbon
Optional - Send your card to the troops so that they can in turn mail it home to family or friends (all themes and occasions welcome). If you choose to do so, Beate has agreed to accept them and send them to her husband. Please include the envelope with the card and mail them to Beate. Thanks!

Now, to the construction of the card:
I realize others have made star shapes before me, and I also know that my good friend Carolyn King (Cammie on SCS) has made many cards with the centers being the actual card, but I couldn't find one to link too. So those of you who have ventured into the card shape world before me...thank you so much for the inspiration. It really helped me this week.

For the star shape, I just photocopied my Cuttlebug star diecut and magnified it a gazillion times. *grin* I then cut it out and traced it onto Kraft CS and framed it with chocolate chip. The center circle opens to the left. To make that I just folded chocolate chip cs in half and put a nestabilities circle slightly off the fold and ran it through my cuttlebug. I then put Basicgrey magnetic snaps on the inside under the cs pieces so it stays closed. I love those little magnets. They're quite flat and VERY strong. The image: Biker Bee (Stampendous), is colored with copics and is stamped over with SU's Sanded bg stamp in Creamy Caramel to further distress it. The background stamp is the Broad Stripe Backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms. The punched star is also cuttlebug star diecuts. I sewed (very sloppily) around the edges, and wrapped some twine around a couple of the star points. (I was told twine was okay to use instead of ribbon...no buzzers here...*grin*)



Now for this challenge, we also had to decorate an envelope and the inside of the card. This is something I rarely do because it takes me hours, sometimes a whole day, to construct a card. So the thought of doing the inside and an envelope too makes me cringe. But, alas, to follow the rules, I did. The stamps I used were: Starstruck and Sanded (Stampin' Up)

Supplies:
Stamps - Biker Bee (Stampendous), Starstruck, Sanded (Stampin' Up), Broad Stripe Backgrounder (CHF)
Paper - Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Crisp (Stampin' Up), White (Papertrey)
Ink - Black Soot, Vintage Photo, Walnut (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories - Cuttlebug Star diecuts (Provocraft), Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), twine, sewing machine, sponge, copics, scotch mounting tape, basicgrey magnetic snaps

Limited Lovely Lavender

The reason for the title of my card.....well, I made it for the Limited Supplies Challenge on SCS!! Jen challenged us to make a card with a family of colors. Check out the LSC for specific instructions.I believe this is only the second time I've attempted this challenge. Mainly because I have such a hard time limiting myself...in anything. Whether it be on a card, sweets, bread.....well, you get the idea. Last night I had decided I wanted to make a monochromatic card, so todays challenge fit perfectly. So, now about the card. It's really very easy.

First, I cut my back two panels to the desired size. I always start out with the base size and either cut off 1/8" or 3"16 from the two sides. That way I have a perfect mat. In this case, I started with a square 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" card in SU elegant eggplant. The lighter bazzill paper is 1/8" smaller, the next layer is 1" smaller, and the next 1/8" inch smaller. I then designed my corner top piece. Very simple actually. I just cut a 3" square and a 4 7/8" square. I took two circle nestabilities circles...one and the next size up, and cut out the circle. Make sure you use the smaller circle for the eggplant piece, and the larger for the dp. There you have the mat. I trimmed off the corners of my main image so they wouldn't show.
The main image is just SU's garden silhouette inked up once, stamped randomly a few times, then inked up two more times to add the darker images toward the bottom. I then used my Sakura Quicke Glue pen (one of my all time favorite, have to have, tools)....to add some ultra fine glitter to the darker images. Popped up the lovely sentiment that I cut out with the SU word window punch, added the fibers by EK success and the charm. The charm and decorative brads are from my dear friend Cindy Haffner!! Awesome aren't they? Well, the brads are by Make it special Crafts, but I don't know who the charm is by. All the edges were sponged with elegant eggplant.

Supplies:
Stamps - Stampin' Up
Paper - DCWV Old World Textured Mat Stack, bazzill, SU elegant eggplant, Pale Plum
Ink - SU Elegant Eggplant
Supplies - Decorative Brads, Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, Hero Arts Ultrafine Crystal glitter, EK success fun fibers, heart charm, decorative brads, dimensional tape


Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to check out my blog!! I really appreciate it, and hope Ive inspired you to stamp away!! Happy weekend!!

Thumping?

Have you ever thumped? If you haven't, you should!! And that's exactly what I did with this card! Thumping is one of the simplest techniques and it gives such depth to an image.
1. Ink entire image with Cranberry Crisp
2. Color stems with Always Artichoke marker
3. Color center of bloom with Choc. Chip marker
4. Randomly drop (thump) Choc. chip marker over image. I usually glide it along some of the edges too.
5. Spritz the stamp 2-3 times with a fine mist spritzer.
6. Stamp image on selected colored CS

I decided not to use any dp, or bg stamps with this card. I only ink distressed it with Tim Holtz's Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. The top left corner was created by cutting a 7/8" square of river rock, a 1" square of Cranberry Crisp, and a 1 3/16" square of Always Artichoke. I then used a 1" circle punch to make the curved center. I used Tim Holtz's Retractable Craft Pick for the piercing!! It's so cool, because you can make the piercer as long as you want to, and then retract it back inside. Love it!!
Ink, markers stamps and paper are Stampin' Up. The sentiment is by SunSpirit Studio that you can find at www.starvingartistamps.com

Supplies:
Stamps - Stampin' Up, SunSpirit Studio
Paper - Cranberry Crisp, Always Aritichoke, Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Very Vanilla
Ink - Cranberry Crisp, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink
Accessories - Tim Holtz Retractable Craft Pick, SU Mat Pack, 1" Circle punch, decorative brad, brads, SU Choc. Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Sponge, Corner Rounder, SU slot punch, Dimensional Tape, Water Spritzer