Inspired Designs

Daisy Delight

My poor kitten was so out of it today after we picked her up from the vet. She couldn't stand up.  Poor baby, she is finally starting to feel better and has some equilibrium back so I have finally let her out of her kennel.  She just wants to be held, so here I sit, typing with one hand and holding my cat with the other.

Kelly posted a fabulous color challenge today.  I hardly ever use kraft cardstock in my creations but it is really starting to grow on me.  I thought a layered daisy from the daisy diecut would be the perfect focal point for my card.  I had bookmarked one on Heather's blog and I finally got to make one.  I pulled so saffron ink off the edges of the petals and added a summer sun corduroy brad to the center of the layered flowers.  The daisy was adhered to a layered night of navy and so saffron top note diecut that had the left side trimmed off. 

I popped this top note mat off layered kraft and so saffron squares that had been pierced around the perimeter.  The "for you" sentiment had been stamped in night of navy ink in the lower right corner of these mats.  A length of whisper white organza ribbon had been tied around the center of the mats and they were attached to the night of navy cardbase with dimesionals. 

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Stamps: Fresh Cuts

Ink: Night of navy, so saffron

CS:  Whisper white, kraft, so saffron, night of navy

Accessories: Big shot, daisy die, summer sun corduroy brad, top not die, whisper white organza ribbon, dimensionals, sponge

Burnt Musical Expressions

Wow, two challenges in one day!  I haven't accomplished that in a long time.  I should actually be working on getting ready for my technique groups but I really wanted to due the faux burnt edges technique challenge that Lynn posted today.

When I saw this challenge I immediately thought of my new Musical Expressions set that hasn't seen ink and I wanted to pair it with a music sheet that was burnt and tattered.

Since I don't have any music sheets, I went online and printed off one.  I trimmed it down and torn the edges and then I crumpled it up to achieve a tattered, worn look.  I sponged the surface of the sheet music with creamy caramel, soft suede and going grey.  I curled some of the edges and then sponged them with black to create a burnt edge look.  The edges look more black in person, more burnt.  I used sticky strip in various areas on the back of music sheet to adhere it on the soft suede cardbase.  I reversed the rich razzleberry ribbon, so that the polka dots were to the back and tied a length of it around the cardbase.  I love that you can achieve completely different looks with this ribbon.  I am also in love with the soft suede and rich razzleberry color combo - it is so pretty!

The violin image was stamped in basic black ink and watercolored with various shades of brown.  The flowers, insects and bird were done in pale plum and rich razzleberry and the foliage was watercolored with old olive and always artichoke inks.  I used a sponge to pull creamy caramel, soft suede and rich razzleberry off the edges of the stamped mat.  This mat was attached to larger soft suede and rich razzleberry mats.  I popped this off the sheet of music with dimesionals.

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Stamps: Musical Expressions

Ink: Basic black, creamy caramel, pale plum, close to cocoa, soft suede, chocolate chip, rich razzleberry, old olive, always artichoke, going grey

CS: Confetti white, soft suede, rich razzleberry

Accessories: Aquapainter, sponges, rich razzleberry polka dot ribbon, sticky strip, dimensionals

Sparkly Snowmen Fun

I just talked the the vet and Shadow made it through the surgery just fine.  She will still have to be on antibiotics because there was still infection in the organ.  She is spending the night at the clinic so they can watch her and we will pick her up tomorrow morning.  It feels so weird not having her darting around the house,playing with her toys.  Thanks for all the well wishes for the kitty!

This is the card I made for the clean and simple challenge.  We had to add some sparkly element to it and I opted to used dazzling diamonds for the snow and accessories.

I stamped the cute snowmen image from the new hostess set, The More the Merrier, in basic black ink on a whisper white mat.  I used the big shot and an oval nestability to create an oval window to use for the reverse masking technique.  I sponged bermuda bay ink around the stamped image, on the inside of the oval window. 

I used more new incolors to color the snowmen's accessories.  I added some dazzling diamond glitter to some of their clothing and to the snow.  The "warm winter wishes" sentiment was stamped in basic black ink and punched with the window word punch.  I layered this over another bermuda bay punched window word shape in the lower right corner of the mat. 

I layered the stamped mat on bermuda bay and whisper white mats and attached them to a bermuda bay cardbase.  I used a spiral clip from the pewter hodgepodge hardware kit to attach a knotted length of bermuda bay polka dot ribbon in the upper left corner of the card.

I am hoping to find time to do the technique challenge from this morning, so I may have two posts today!  

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Stamps: The More the Merrier

Ink: Basic black, bermuda bay

CS: Whisper white, bermuda bay

Accessories: Big shot, oval nestabilites, sponge, markers - dusty durango, rich razzleberry, melon mambo, bermuda bay, crushed curry, pewter hardware hodgepodge, bermuda bay polka dot ribbon, window word punch

Rich Razzleberry Trio

I had the idea of this card in my head all afternoon after looking at Dawn's gallery this morning.  I finally got time to sit down and stamp after supper and I have to say that I just love the new rich razzleberry color!  I can't wait to try the rest of the new incolors.

For this challenge I picked this beauty by Dawn.  I haven't touched my Embrace Life set in eons so I pulled it out and paired it with rich razzleberry and pale plum.  I used my old sponging technique to attain color in the center of flowers and added white gel pen accents to the stamens.  An adhesive pearl was added to the center of each flower to make them pop.

I deviated from Dawn's two layers and used a third layer, a whisper white cardbase.  I thought it would also make the razzleberry and plum colors stand out more.

The pale plum panel in the center of the card was embossed with the d'vine embossing folder and was adhered to the center of the rich razzleberry mat.  I tied a length of white organza ribbon around the bottom of these mats and added a layered "for you " sentiment.  These mats were popped off the whisper white cardbase with dimensionals.  The three flowers were adhered above the layered sentiment.

Hopefully I will find some more time to stamp tomorrow.  We are taking our kitten, Shadow, to be fixed.  She had an infection and now needs to be spayed.  I'm a little nervous about the surgery but then again, I am a worrier.  I am going to be counting down the minutes until we can pick her up on Tuesday morning.

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Stamps: Embrace Life, Fresh Cuts

Ink: Basic black, rich razzleberry

CS: Whisper white, rich razzleberry, pale plum

Accessories: Sponge, big shot, d'vine ef, large and small oval punches, scallop oval punch, dimensinonals, white gel pen, white organza ribbon, pearl adhesives, rich razzleberry marker

Branch Out Beauty

School is out!!!  Oh man, the past few weeks have been hectic.  The wrapping up of the twins extracirrcular activities, technique groups, a 10-15-20, voluteering for various school activities and completing a scrapbook for the twins teacher who retired this year kept me hopping for most of June.  Now that things have slowed down I can find more time to stamp, golf and garden.  We have managed to hit the golf course everyday since Wednesday and I am finally getting my neglected yard into shape.  

This card is a combination of the limited supplies and inspiration challenges.  For the limited supplies challenge I made a masculine themed card that used a nature based image that wasn't floral themed.  I used certainly celery twill ribbon and an eyelet for accessories.  The main image was inspired by this stunning photo by Sarah Collier from the inspiration challenge today.  The color combo was influenced by her print, found here.    

I am so excited to finally have some free time to stamp!!!  Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a fanatstic weekend!

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Stamps: Branch Out, Simple Friendship

Ink: Chocolate chip, certainly celery, elegant eggplant

CS: Whisper white, chocolate chip, certainly celery

Accessories: Certainly celery twill ribbon, dimensionals, crafter's tool kit, jumbo pewter eyelet, sponges

Serene Prayers For You

It finally feels like things are starting to slow down in my life.  I have one techique group left to do this month and my 10-15-20 went really well on the weekend.  A big thank you to all the girls that attended.  We had a great time, lots of laughs and I made it through the day even though I was severely sleep deprived! LOL

This was one of the cards that we made on Sunday.  I used the tree and praying for you sentiment from the Thoughts and prayers set. 

We used always artichoke and chocolate chip markers to ink the tree image.  It was stamped on a small whisper white mat and some grass was added around the tree trunk with an always artichoke marker.  The "Praying for you..." sentiment was stamped in the lower right corner of the mat in night of navy ink and bashful blue ink was pulled off the edges.  It was matted on a small night of navy mat and popped off the cardbase with dimensionals. 

The night of navy cardbase was matted with whisper white and bashful blue mats.  A length of whisper white organza ribbon was tied around the two mats and they were popped off the night of navy cardbase with dimensionals. This was a quick and easy card to make and the girls loved it!

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Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers 

Ink: Night of navy, bashful blue, markers - chocolate chip, always artichoke 

CS: Whisper white, bashful blue, night of navy 

Accessories: Whisper white organza ribbon, sponge, dimensionals  

Pacific Butterfly Box and Card

My hostesses got butterfly boxes and a matching card this month for their workshops.  I cased the idea for my box from Lynn.  I have been admiring her's for a week and wanted to replicate it. 

I used pacific point cardstock for the base of my box.  I stamped the leaf image from Great Friend in pacific point ink around the edges.  I used the butterfly die to make whisper white, vellum cardstock and pacific point dp butterflies.  The whisper white butterfly was embossed using the swiss dot embossing folder.  I embossed the vellum cardstock with the d'vine image.  Each of the three butterflies are attached to each other at that midline.  I added a butterfly body constructed of items from the Pretties Kit - a hair pin, pearls and crystals. I used dimensionals to pop the layered butterfly off the butterfly box.

I made three additional butterfly boxes and matching cards from my other hostesses.  They are exactly like the pacific point combo.  I just love all these wonderful incolors from this year and I am sorry to see them go.  But I have to say that I am eager to get my preorder of the new colors and accessories!  I also can not stand the wait for the new cattie.  I haven't had time to read any spoilers on the new cattie yet but I might just have to take a break from prepping for my 10-15-20 and search on SCS for some postings.  I am hoping to see more big shot dies and some new great accessories.  

These are the sweet matching butterfly cards I made.  I stamped the same leaf image from the Great Friend set in the same colors as the base of each card.  I contrasted the layers on each card with whisper white cardstock.  I added some piercing to the smallest whisper white mat and a cute whisper white taffeta to the base of each card.  I used the big shot and the butterfly die to create whimsical butterflies from coordinating designer paper.  I adhered these butterflies on whisper white cardstock and cut them out, leaving a white border around each one.  I added three rhinestones to the body of each butterfly and adhered them to the cardfronts with dimesionals.  The hostess gifts were super quick, easy and fun to make!

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Stamps: Great Friend

Ink: Pacific point, pink pirouette, baja breeze, kiwi kiss

CS: Pacific point, pink pirouette, baja breeze, kiwi kiss cardstock and matching dp

Accessories: Big shot, butterfly die, sticky strip, swiss dot ef, d'vine ef, dimensionals, clear rhinestones, crafter's tool kit

Sunflower Flower Pot Pocket Card

This was so much fun to make.  Stephanie Luman provides an excellent turtorial on how to makes these flower pot pocket cards.

The colors I used for this card are old olive, apricot appeal, whisper white, chocolate chip and bella rose dp.

The edge of the  lip of the pot was punched with the eyelet border punch and a length of whisper white organza ribbon holds the pot closed.

The little "Thanks" sentiment was inked with a marker - leaving the other portion of the sentiment free from any ink.  I stamped it on scrap whisper white cardstock and punched it with the small oval punch.  It was matted on a 1" chocolate chip and a 1 1/4" apricot appeal circle.  I created a smaller sunflower to accent the senitment from the boho blossom punch and the 1/2" circle punch.

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Stamps: Thank You Kindly

Ink: Chocolate chip marker

CS: Apricot appeal, whisper white, old olive, chocolate chip, bella rose dp

Accessories: Scallop circle punch, 1", 1 1/4" and 1/2" circle punches, small oval punch, boho blossom punch, 5-petal flower punch, white organza ribbon, eyelet border punch

A Watercolored Rose For You!

My poor neglected blog!!! I think I had to clean the cobwebs out just to post today! LOL  Oh well, it is the end of the school year and it is a busy time for me.  I have also been busy planning workshops, technique classes and my 10-15-20.  There is alot to do over the next couple of weeks but it is going to be so much fun getting together with all of my stamping girls.  My friend, Karol, says that she loves to come and stamp on technique night - she finds it so relaxing and fun!  I think I have just as much fun as my girls do!

I really shouldn't be doing any challenges today but I simply couldn't resist.  I have been eyeing up this card by tashers's all month and I have been dying to  utilize her color scheme and the reinker watercolor technique.

If you haven't tried this technique you definitely have to!  I am absolutely hooked!  I can't believe how the colors blend into each other.  You can find directions on how to do this technique on Sandi MacIver's blog.  She has made some amazingly beautiful cards using this wonderful technique.

The colors I used for the card are barely banana, whisper white, old olive and riding hood red.  I embossed the floral image from the Fifth Avenue Floral set on shimmery white cardstock.  It has such a beautiful glimmery look to it once it is watercolored and dried.  The image was watercolored with summer sun and riding hood red reinkers, a mist bottle and an aquapainter.  I added some whisper white satin ribbon and two 5/16" white brads for accents.

Well, I still have hostess gifts and technique directions to write up before class tonight!  I hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday!

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Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral

Ink: Versamark, reinkers - riding hood red, summer sun

CS: Whisper white, barely banana, old olive, red riding hood, shimmery white

Accessories: Misting bottle, heat gun, white ep, white stain ribbon, 5/16" white brads, dimensionals, aquapainter