ColorQ Wind Chimes

When I saw the inspiration photo for the ColorQ challenge this week, I immediately thought of this stamp.  It's one that I've had for over a year and hadn't used. Gasp! That never happens to you does it?  I've used the rest of the stamps in the set, but not this one.

I had to get out my Stamp-a-majig for this one.  I stamped the design twice.  If you want to count the times I stamped it twice and messed it up, you'll need more than one hand!  Man, oh, man, my Stamp-a-majig must keep moving or something!

When I finally got it stamped OK, I colored in the little gems with my markers.  It looks like a wind chime to me.  I love hearing wind chimes and have  two.  One is over the air conditioner so we're hearing it a lot these days.

I added a few gems and a few dots, stamped the sentiment (the first time, yeah me!), matted it onto a Poppy Parade piece cut 1/8" larger than the design piece, put it on the card and I was done.

Here's the inspiration photo

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  My Friend, Loving Thoughts

Ink:  Basic Gray, Pacific Point,  SU Markers (So Saffron, Pacific Point, Poppy Parade, Basic Gray)

Paper:  Whisper White, Poppy Parade

Other:  Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your lovely comments.  They make my day!

Enjoy!

Paper Pieced Robin

The Less is More challenge this week is a RECIPE

Our recipe this week will give you the opportunity to dig out some of those scraps of Designer paper that have been lurking around in your craft space, as our challenge is

'Paper Piecing'

Mr. Robin was stamped on scraps of Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip and Crushed Curry decorative paper scraps.  The pieces were then cut out and adhered to the Crushed Curry piece.  I cut the entire pieced bird out and adhered him to the embossed card front.  (Embossing was done with a thin wood frame to leave the center space open.


I stamped the sentiment and doodled (not too well, I might add) a border on the frame.


All the card pieces, except the robin of course, are Naturals White which has little flecks and doesn't shine.  For some reason I couldn't get a photo of it without it looking shiny.


This also fits for the SUO challenge  For the Birds.


All supplies are Stampin' Up!


Card Recipe
Stamps:  Nature Walk, Teeny, Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip SU Marker
Paper:  Naturals White, DSP scraps
Other:  Big Shot, Square Lattice EF


I remember as a child seeing the first Robins in the spring.  After a long winter, we were so excited to see them and know that it would soon be warm.  Now that I live in the South, we have Robins in our yard all year.  They always make me think of Spring though, no matter what the season.


I'm so glad you stopped by.  I do enjoy our visits.


Enjoy!

Playing with Leftovers

Last week some friends came to participate in a Stamp Stack.  After they left, I had a couple of extra sets and set out to do them up.  I thought it would be fun to change them up a bit.  This is one that I did.

The card in the Stamp Stack was really quite different.  We used the smaller of these beautiful label stamps.  I hadn't used this particular stamp in the set yet and thought it needed a try.

After stamping it in Jet Black StazOn, I colored it with markers, then  used the Framelit die to cut it out.  I thought it would be fun to cut out the banner for dimension, so I inked up the middle of the stamp and stamped again on a piece of scrap.  After cutting it out, I used 2 dimensionals (one on top of the other) in the center so it would have that wavy look.  (I know the sentiment is crooked.  I have 3 more just like it.  I'm hoping that double bow will camouflage it a bit.) 

The embossed mat, is the same as the Stamp Stack card but this one is  mounted on a white card instead of Daffodil.  I used my homemade bow maker and tied a double bow from seam binding and used glue dots to adhere it to the edge of the banner.

I'm sending this over to a new challenge, Addicted to Stamps.  This week they are doing a Bingo challenge.  Here's the chart.  Hope they have sunglasses!

I have flowers and stamping.  I'll use the free space for ribbon.

My young friend Victoria is on their design team and I followed her to the challenge. Actually her card inspired the card we did for the Stamp Stack.  Thanks for all your inspiration, Victoria.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Apothecary Art, Loving Thoughts
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Daffodil Delight, More Mustart, Old Olive, Always Artichoke)
Paper:  Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Other:  Daffodil Delight Seam Binding, Stampin' Dimensional


Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Serene River Rock and Artichoke

Serene Silhouettes may not be a silhouette this time, but it is serene due to the Dynamic Duos challenge.

 This week's colors are 

I used the layout from the CAS challenge at SCS this week.  The inspiration card is simply beautiful and I was tempted to do an exact CASE.  I loved how she used her Crop-A-Dile for the embossing across the bottom of her card and I did that.  My Crop-A-Dile pretty much just sits there gathering dust.  I was happy to find another good use for it.

I think this would be a good card to send to a guy or as a sympathy card.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Serene Silhouettes, Teeny, Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Always Artichoke, SU Markers (Always Artichoke, River Rock)
Paper:  River Rock Textured, Always Artichoke, Whisper White
Other:  Linen Thread, Crop-A-Dile (retired)


Our weather has turned so nice!  After days of heat and humidity, we've had a warm but breezy and humidity free day today. How lovely!

I'm so glad you stopped by.  I hope you come back soon.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Snow Much Fun

It's Merry Monday time again.  I'm really enjoying seeing my box of Christmas cards grow.  Here's this week's card....

Here's Lesley's sketch

I flipped it so the snowball rolling bird would fit right.  I love all the stamps in this set, but I think this one is my favorite.  He just looks so happy!

I pulled out some decorative paper.  I still have some little pieces left.  I'm glad that Stampin' Up! has so many pretty Christmas papers this year because I need to restock.

I hope you'll check out the cards from the rest of the design team.  I've been seeing some awesome cards from them all week.  It's such an honor to be among them.

Lesley Croghan

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

  Narelle Farrugia

                Bonnie Klass (that's me)

                       Vicki (Featured Designer)
                   Cindy (Guest Designer)

And I hope you'll join us in this challenge.  It's really fun to get a head start on those Christmas cards and I love Christmas any time of the year.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! (unless otherwise noted)

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Snow Much Fun

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn

Paper:  Whisper White, Island Indigo, DSP, Real Red

Other:  1 3/4" circle punch, Nestie (Spellbinders), Modern Label Punch, Mover's & Shaper Die (retired), Snowflake punch (from the $ store bin), Basic Rhinestones.

I'm so glad that you stopped by and I appreciate your comments.

Enjoy!

Some More ColorQ

I liked the ColorQ colors so much and LeAnne's inspiration card, that I did another card for this challenge.

Actually, it started with 9 postage stamp squares.  Now, mind you, they are punched.  And somehow, I didn't get them lined up straight!  I think the light must be bad in my stamp room.  A friend of mine blames her crooked cards on bad light.  Maybe she has something there!

Anyway, I pulled the squares off and ended up with only 6.  And one of them looks a bit weary.  I need to fix that.

I saw a challenge called Shopping Our Stash on my friend Lynn's blog.  The challenge is to dig into your stash and use something that you already have instead of buying something new.  What a great idea!  This week's challenge is to use stickers.  I hardly ever  use stickers and went looking.  I found these little flowers from years ago.  I'd forgotten all about them!  The paper and cardstock squares have been around a while too.  They're retired Stampin' Up!.

And here's the ColorQ colors again.

So, I'm going to try to schedule this to post tomorrow morning.  I tried that yesterday on Emily's card and it just didn't work.  I must have missed a step.  I'd blame it on the lights, but I've already tried that excuse.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  You're a Gem (retired)
Ink:  Island Indigo
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Island Indigo, Cameo Coral (retired), Soft Sky (retired), Crushed Curry DSP (retired)
Other:  Flower Sticker (?), Basic Rhinestone, Postage Stamp Punch


Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a great weekend and get to do some stamping.

Enjoy!

Featuring Emily

The Featured Stamper at SCS this week is ejkeaton.  I love Emily and you will too.  Just check out her blog My Little Slice of Bliss.  Here's what I made to honor her.

This is the card I CASEd

I used the colors from the ColorQ challenge this week.

These colors, like Emily make me think of sunshine

Enjoy your week, Emily and email me your snail mail address so I can really send you a card.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Mixed Bunch, Pursuit of Happiness
Ink:  Soft Sky, Crushed Curry, Cameo Coral, SU Marker (Crushed Curry)
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Island Indigo, DSP
Other:  Color Spritzer Tool, Crushed Curry ribbon


I'm so glad you stopped by.  Be sure to visit Emily and introduce yourself.

Enjoy!

Apothecary Art in Primrose

It's Paper Players 100th challenge.  Wow, ladies, that's a lot of challenges to come up with and design for. Congratulations and thanks for all the inspiration.

This weeks challenge is

I chose Challenge #52 A Clean & Simple Sketch Challenge

Here's the sketch...

I used one of the new In Colors called Primrose Petals.  It's such a beautiful shade of pink. The photo doesn't do it justice.  And I think it's the first time I've posted a card using the Apothecary Art set.  These pretty little flowers are so easy to color with markers and with the matching Framelit die, they're a cinch to cut out.

The Happy Birthday sentiment comes in the set and fits so perfectly.
.
A few pearls, a butterfly, and it's done.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Apothecary Art
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn
Paper:  Whisper White, Primrose Petals, Daffodil Delight
Other:  Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Labels Collection Framelit die, Wonderful Wings Embosslit, Basic Pearls


It's already hot and humid here.  It's going to be a stay inside hug the air conditioner day I think.

Thank you for so many Anniversary wishes.  I appreciate every one.

So glad you could visit today.  I hope you come back soon.

Enjoy!

Anniversary

The Less is More challenge this week is a theme

We want to see

Something Shiny

This is the anniversary card I made for DH.  We celebrate our 43rd anniversary today.  Whenever I ask him what he likes on a card, he always says a duck.  He says that if I ask him what kind of picture I should put on the wall too.  He's a pretty ducky guy.

I found this Loon stamp at the Enchanted Cottage and bought it to do a card for him.  All the guys in my life will probably get these "loony" cards in the next year.

In honor of Less is More, I decided to emboss it to shine it up a bit.  I really like it better embossed than not.    And since Loons are pretty much black and white, I wasn't compelled to color the stamp with markers and left it in silhouette.  I find that I like embossed silhouettes.

The card base is Brushed Silver to add a little bit more shine.  And the beads definitely shine.

Supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Loon (Northwoods), Loving Thoughts
Ink:  VersaMark, Jet Black StazOn
Paper:  Brushed Silver, Textured White, Basic Black
Other:  1 3/4" Circle Punch, Nestie Circle (Spellbinders), Simply Scored, Silver Flatback Beads

It seems like only yesterday that we got married.  And then, it seems like we've been married forever.  Isn't it  funny how we perceive time?

Thanks so much for joining me today.

Enjoy!

Eleanor with a Flourish

I'm loving my Everything Eleanor stamp set.   And I'm still enjoying playing with the flourish from last week.  This time I paired it with one of the beautiful flowers from this set.

This week's Dynamic Duo challenge is...

"Each week we will have two colours for you to use to create a card, scrapbook page, craft or digital project.  Only the two colours, otherwise known as "The Dynamic Duo", may be used for your project.  Neutrals such as black, white, vanilla, skin colours and kraft are also welcome.  

As this is the third week of the month, we have our black tie colour choice! The challenge is to use Melon Mambo with Black and as a dessert option, use ribbon if you would like to!"

I stamped that pretty flower in Jet Black StazOn twice, once on the design piece and once on scrap. By masking the flower on the design piece I was able to stamp the flourish "behind" the flower.  Then I colored both flowers with my Melon Mambo & Basic Black markers and fussy cut the extra one out to adhere over the design flower.

I went with an understated elegant look by embossing a mat of black and adding it all to a black card.  Kind of like that little black dress with a fancy brooch.

I wish the Melon Mambo would have photographed better.  The pink is much more vibrant IRL.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Everything Eleanor

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Melon Mambo, Basic Black)

Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White

Other:  Big Shot, Square Lattice EF

There's still time to join in with this challenge. Just click on the link above.

I went to the library this morning and got some books for Luke.  We always read before naptime.  The book with a pickup truck in it made a really big hit today.  The Superhero book ran a close second.  We disagreed about whether Black Manta was a good guy or bad guy.  According to the book he's bad, but Luke wants him to be good.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could turn the bad guys into good guys that easily?

I'm reading The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott.  What are you reading?

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Polar Party

It's time for Merry Monday again.  This time Lesley gave us a sketch that's perfect for a tent topper card.

And this Polar Bear was just the right size.

What a quick and easy card!

Here's Lesley's sketch.

Be sure to check out the other designer's cards. They're awesome!

Lesley Croghan

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst
Narelle Farrugia

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Polar Party

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Island Indigo, Real Red)

Paper:  Island Indigo, Whisper White

Other: Northern Flurry EF, 1/8" Real Red Taffeta Ribbon, Dazzling Details, Nesties (Spellbinders)

I'm so glad you stopped by.  I hope you'll join us at Merry Monday this week.

Enjoy!

Father's Day

Hi Peeps.  I wanted to share the card I did for DH for Father's Day.  I left it til the last minute and had to work like crazy yesterday to get it finished.

I found this stamp on our craft store field trip and just couldn't resist.  My DH, Pop Pop to the grandkids, is always pointing out the trees and birds to the young ones.  He's quite apt to give a Latin name for a tree, which I think means he doesn't really know the tree, but we play along with him anyway.  Of course I had to ink up the stamps with my markers.  It's so much more fun than doing a silhouette.

The trees are from my new Stampin' Up! set, Serene Silhouettes.  I love this set!  There again, I inked the trees with markers then went back and sponged the grass and sky.  I stamped the grass with an old fern stamp from a set I believe is called Watercolor Minis.  It was one of the first SU sets that I bought.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week.  When I saw the sketch, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this stamp for DH's card.

I flipped it over so everybody was looking in the right direction.

Hubby liked the card and even put it on the mantle instead of shoving it back in the envelope.  That made me happy!  It truly is a one of a kind card.  I doubt I could ever duplicate it.  But he's a one of a kind sort of guy.  And a terrific Dad/Pop Pop!

All supplies are SU unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Serene Silhouettes, Teeny, Tiny Wishes, Dad Stamp (Great Impressions)

Ink:  Old Olive, Soft Sky (retired), Not Quite Navy, SU Markers

Paper:  Whisper White, Handsome Hunter (retired)

Other: Sponge Daubers, Blender Pen, Word Window Punch

I talked to my Dad tonight.  He's in the soldier's home and so far away from us.  I wish he was near enough where I could visit him often.  He sounds like he had a good day and for that I'm thankful.  I hope you were able to spend time with a special Dad today, whether it was your own, your children's or just a special guy who's a Dad to someone.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  

Enjoy!

With a Flourish

Here's another card for the Less is More challenge. This week it's

ONE LAYER CARD

time once more. 

The challenge this week is to

 USE A FLOURISH

Again, I wanted to hang something from this Everything Eleanor flourish.  I seem to be hung up (pardon the pun) on hanging stuff from this flourish. Lol, that's only one of many  hangups!

I couldn't decide on a sentiment.  I'll figure that out later.

I'm liking the way the new Basic Black inkpad works.  It's soooo much easier to get a good inking on the stamp. The only trouble is, I get too impatient and end up with smudges.  I tried heat setting but got smudges doing that.  I'm going to have to remember to leave my projects alone for a while so the ink can dry.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Everything Eleanor, Nature Walk
Ink:  Basic Black
Paper:  Whisper White
Other:  Basic Pearl


Be sure to check out all the lovely flourished cards in the Less is More gallery.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit.  I love your visits and comments.

Enjoy!

Dynamic Duos Retrosketch

Hello stampin' peeps.  I have a new toy that I'm excited to share with you.  It's the new stamp set, Serene Silhouettes and I fell in love with it when I first laid eyes on it in the new catalog.  I used one of the images for this card.

The Dynamic Duos challenge is fairly new.  This is just the 6th week.  It was started by my friend Lesley of Always Playing with Paper and she has found a dynamic design team. Each week they give two colors and only those two colors can be used along with neutrals such as black, white, vanilla, skin colors and kraft.  This week's colors are....

There's also a fairly new sketch challenge out there.  It's called retrosketches and I love the simple sketches that they come up with.  Arielle, of the ColorQ challenge is the host of this one.  And she has brought together another amazing design team.  Here's the sketch this week.

I love the way combining the two challenges came together.  I'm hoping you'll like it too.

I used my favorite technique of using markers to ink the silhouette stamps.  This particular stamp has a watercolor look when it's done like that. I stamped twice after each re-inking.  It looks like I re-inked three times.

This is really an awesome set and I can't wait to play with some more of the stamps in this set.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Serene Silhouettes

Ink: Basic Gray, SU Markers (Regal Rose, Basic Gray)

Paper:  Whisper White, Regal Rose

Other:  Big Shot, Top Note Die, Square Lattice EF, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon

I'm so glad you could stop by. 

Enjoy!

Musical Christmas

The last Jingle Belles challenge was

  We're asking you to create a card (or gift card holder, or whatever else you'll be needing for the holidays) that incorporates music, that is inspired by a holiday song, or that includes a holiday song title.

After a lot of thought and inspiration from Alicia, this is what I came up with.

I stamped the Music Notes wheel in Whisper White on Island Indigo cardstock.  After it dried, I smacked it all over with VersaMark and clear embossed it.  Then I used the Apothecary Accents Framelits dies to cut out some shapes.  I rounded the squarish shape with my paper snips for this one.

It doesn't show up well, but the top of the ornament was punched with end of the Jewelry Tag punch from a scrap of shiny gold paper.  I don't remember what the paper came from, but it was from some package or other and thrown in the scrap bag for repurposing.  The gold cord around the middle is Christmas wrapping cord and it hangs from my last scrap of gold elastic cord that Stampin' Up! offered a couple of years ago.  I really wish they would bring back that cord. Sigh...

The Northern Flurry Embossing folder was perfect for the background since it left just enough space for the sentiment. And it can stand for the song Let it Snow. And Let There be Peace on Earth is one of my favorite songs.  I think the only recording I have of it is on a Christmas CD.

Fa-la-la-la-la! This is one musical Christmas card!

It's so much more fun to do these cards every week than doing a marathon in November and December.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Music Notes, Four the Holidays (retired)
Ink:  Whisper White, Island Indigo, VersaMark
Paper:  Island Indigo, Whisper White
Other:  Northern Flurry EF, Apothecary Accents Framelit Die, White EP, Gold Cord (scrap bag)


My Holiday Mini came with my Stampin' Success today.  (A perk of being a demonstrator.)  Wow!  My list is growing every time I peek into those pages.  Christmas cards are going to be even more fun once I get my hands on some of these beauties!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Fabulous Purse

If you're looking for the Merry Monday post, click here.

A while back,my fabulous friend Ruthann and I went on a "field trip" to a craft store a couple hours away from us.  It was such a fun day and the store had the largest selection of rubber stamps that we'd ever seen in one place.  Ruthann discovered some delightful purse stamps.  She bought one and I bought another.  Mine sat on the shelf and never saw ink.  Until yesterday...

I was checking out the Queen for the Day challenge at SCS and looking through Taylor's fantastic gallery. When I saw this card, I remembered this stamp and an idea was born.

I decided that the colors that Lesley chose for the Paper Players challenge would be perfect.

  

Then I had the brilliant idea to do a row of embossing across the top.  It looked really good so I embossed across the bottom.  Oops! the folder moved.  It moved a lot.  There was no way to salvage it.

So I cut the design away from the embossing and mounted it on another card base.

When I saw the CAS challenge at SCS this morning, A WHITE LAYER ON A WHITE BASE, -I thought, hot dog!   That mistake worked out for the best!  How often does that happen?

Then I stamped and colored another one for the Less is More challenge.  It's

ONE LAYER CARD

time once more. 

The challenge this week is to

 USE A FLOURISH

I thought a flourish would make a good purse holder.  And I have a new set, Everything Eleanor with a fantastic flourish stamp. What do you think?

There's a little rhinestone button on each purse. I don't think the sparkle shows in the pictures.

These were fun to make.  It was fun having some time in my craft room.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Fabulous Phrases, Purse (Impression Obsession)

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo, Basic Gray

Paper:  Whisper White

Other:  Blender Pen, Basic Rhinestone, Lucky Limeade Ribbon (retired)

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Everything Eleanor, Fabulous Phrases, Purse (Impression Obsession)

Ink:  Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo

Paper:  Whisper White

Other:  Basic Rhinestone

I hope you had some fun today!  Thanks for spending some time with me.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Wreath

It's time for Merry Monday!  It doesn't seem possible that it's week 24!  That means that I have at least 24 Christmas cards in my box.  I'm looking forward to doing away with the mad rush to get cards done in December!

Here's my card this week.

This is Lesley's fantastic sketch.

Be sure to go see what the rest of the design team has done.  You'll be in for a treat!

Lesley Croghan

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

I hope you'll be inspired to join in this challenge.


All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Holiday's and Wishes
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, DSP scraps
Other:  Wreath Die (Poppystamps), Square Lattice EF, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Basic Rhinestones, Red Alcohol Marker


Yesterday I went to Roanoke Rapids to do a Stamp Stack with my stampin' friends there.  It's always such a treat to spend time with them.  When I got home, I was tired, but inspired!  I especially love it when they take my design and make it their own.  I get such good ideas that way!

I'm so glad you stopped by to take a look!  Thanks so much for your comments and encouragement.

Enjoy!