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Friday, August 29, 2014

Soft Wings in Black and White

I recently won a random draw at

I was so excited because I love butterflies and
this one is a beauty.

I'm fluttering over to the playground with this, since I got to 
use up a few snippets for this gate fold card.


This Week's Addicted to Stamps has a photo inspiration.



The shades of black, gray and white inspired my card.

And I'm excited to announce that my
was the winner over there on August 22nd.


Thank you ladies.
I'm honored.

is everybody's favorite
ANYTHING GOES
Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog


I hope you've had a crafty week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!
    **********
Card Recipe
Stamps: Soft Wings (Penny Black)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  110# Solar White (Neena), Basic Black, Whisper White
Other:  Square Lattice EF

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted




Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Going Geometric

It's been so nice to get some stamping time.


When I saw the current challenge for Addicted to CAS

I nearly choked!

Math was never one of my strengths and I've spent 
the last 50 years several years forgetting 
just about everything I ever learned in Geometry!

The Design Team helped.

Geometry is shapes.

I hadn't forgotten that.

Then I saw this card by Elizabeth
who is the Queen this week at SCS,
and an idea was born.

I had this NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff a la Darnell)
Six Sided Sampler set sitting in my need to use box.

I thought that hexagon would look great in a square.

And putting it on a rectangular card gave me 3 shapes.

And that's about all the Geometry I can handle!

is ANYTHING GOES
so I'm heading over there.

Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog


I hope you've found some creative time today.

I'm glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!
    **********
Card Recipe
Stamps:  Six Sided Sampler
Ink:  Pacific Point
Paper:  110# Solar White (Neena), Whsiper White, Daffodil Delight
Other:  Stitched Mat Squares (Lil' Inker), Hexagon Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch (retired), Basic Pearl (Colored with Blendie), Beautiful Wings Embosslit

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Monday, August 25, 2014

Merry Monday Holly Wreath

Good Morning.

It's Merry Monday time.

I'm the hostess this week and this is what I chose.


I love wreaths and I'd love to have one just like this one.

Here's what I have today.


The holly vine is from Memory Box.

I sponged color on it very carefully with a makeup applicator
and ever so gently arranged it around the aperture.

The berries were punched from a snippet of Real Red with
the 1/16" Circle Punch.

Snippet use gets me into 

I hope you'll put a wreath on your Christmas card
and take it over to 

And be sure to go over and check out the wonderful
cards that the super talented Design Team has come up with.
WOW!

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!
    **********

Card Recipe
Stamps:  More Merry Messages
Ink:  Garden Green, Soft Suede
Paper:  Whisper White, Real Red
Other:  Holly Vine (Memory Box), Kars Snowflake Spot EF (Cuttlebug-retired), Bakers Twine (Michaels $bin)

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted



Friday, August 22, 2014

Rose

A couple of weeks ago I was stamping with friends
and cut this rose with Peggy's dies.

Edited to add: It's a 2 step rose die and I have no idea who makes it 
called Long Stem Rose and made by Frantic Stamper.


There were a couple of challenges at Splitcoaststampers
that I wanted to play in so I pulled out the roses
and went to work with some Stampin' Sponges
and ink pads.

After I sponged color on the pieces, I spritzed with some water
to give it more texture.

I set the flower pieces aside to dry and stenciled
a little background on the card with some ink.

I tried to use embossing paste.
That was a disaster!  UGH!
 Two times and both looked terrible.

I've decided that for texture I prefer embossing folders!

This design was inspired by this beautiful card
by Diane. She's the Featured Stamper this week at SCS.

is ANYTHING GOES.

Simon Monday Challenge Blog

is ANYTHING GOES, NO TOPPING


Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!
    **********
Card Recipe
Stamps: Be Happy (Amy R.)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Certainly Celery
Paper: 110# Solar White (Neena)
Other: Moroccan Lace Stencil (Kite), Stampin' Sponge, Rose Dies (?), Gessoed Twine, Sequins (SSS)

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Bloom with Hope for Queen Dini

I haven't played with the Queen for the Day challenge in quite a while.
It's nice this week to be able to stamp a bit.

This week's Queen is Dini, SCS Artist in Residence.
Wow, what a gallery!

I chose this gorgeous card to CASE (Copy And Share Everything).


I did a little bit of masking and a lot of coloring with the Blendabilities.

I even tried to mix color families.

I like the look.

Hope you do too.

I added a bit of softness to the background by lightly sponging 
Soft Sky around the flowers.

is having a CAS week.
I hope this is CAS enough.

And I'm entering again in the
Besides stamps and ink I colored with 
alcohol markers and water marker,
sponged background and added ribbon for texture.



Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!
    **********
Card Recipe
Stamps:  Bloom with Hope (Hostess set)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Sky
Paper:  Hello Honey, Whisper White
Other:  Blendabilities (Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Old Olive sets), Stampin' Sponge, SU Marker (Chocolate Chip), Summer Starfruit Ribbon, Simply Scored

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted


Monday, August 18, 2014

Merry Monday Endless Wishes

Whoosh! We're more than halfway through August!

How are you coming on your Christmas cards?

I'm glad I have a good stash thanks to


Sue is hostess this week and this is the fantastic challenge she chose.


I pulled out my Endless Wishes Photopolymer set and embossing powder
and went to work.

This was so quick and easy!

I rubbed my embossing buddy all over the card front,
randomly stamped some snowflakes and embossed with the silver.
Then I repeated the process and embossed with gold.

A sentiment matted in black, some silver ribbon and it was done.

Check out what the other DT have done.
You'll be blown away!

Then pull out your shine and join us at

I'm taking my sentiment snippets over to
where I shared the spotlight with many other
very talented artists and a sweet baby that stole the show!

Thanks so much for the visit.

Enjoy!
    **********
Card Recipe
Stamps:  Endless, Greetings of the Season
Ink:  VersaMark, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White
Other:  Silver and Gold Embossing Powder, Silver Taffeta Ribbon

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted





Sunday, August 17, 2014

Getting Dirty at Splitcoaststampers

I may have mentioned the Dare to Get Dirty Challenge at Splitcoaststampers.
It's for Fan Club members at that wonderful gallery and forum.

There were 42 challenges over the course of that week.

I entered 18 cards in 19 challenges.

I thought I'd share a few that were named in the Favorites over there.

What a wonderful honor as there were so many awesome cards entered in that challenge.





I was amazed at the number of stampers that actually were able to 
complete a card for each of those challenges!

What an accomplishment!

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Friday, August 15, 2014

Forever Florals Thanksgiving

is having a Holiday week.

Love this Forever Florals stamp set. 
The flowers are perfect for coloring with the Blendabilities.


I used the Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive Blendie sets.

After coloring the flower, I masked it and added some 
leaves from the retired Peaceful Petals set 
and a stem from Secret Garden (also retired).

It seemed perfect for a Thanksgiving card.

I'm so enjoying this set.  I find coloring these flowers very therapeutic!

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Forever Florals, Peaceful Petals (retired), Secret Garden (retired), Whacked Bright Blessings Wheel (retired)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Early Espresso
Paper:  Tangelo Twist, Whisper White
Other:  Simply Scored, Pumpkin Pie Taffeta Ribbon (retired)

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Here's another very CAS card I did with this set.
There was a stamping boo boo and it ended up much smaller for cutting the bad out.


You can go to Splitcoaststampers to get the details on this one.

I'm so glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!



Thursday, August 14, 2014

Summertime Corner Garden

I haven't had much crafting time lately but here's a card I made last month
for DD's birthday.


I used a NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) stamp for the garden.

It was stamped with Memento ink on watercolor paper.

I used an Aqua Painter and my Koi watercolors for coloring.

This little set of watercolors is perfect for travel. 

I took it with me on vacation along with some stamped images.

I find watercoloring very soothing.

Looking at this photo I see that I should have done something different 
on the inside of that large flower! Maybe some dots with the white gel pen?

No matter, DD loved it!

I stamped the butterfly on a piece of cardstock that had been sponged with yellow.
It seemed to look much better than any of the marker colored butterflies I had on hand.

is looking for butterflies, so I'm playing over there.

For your blog

I was so excited to see that this card was the winner of their last challenge.
I won a $20.00 gift credit at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.
I've already cashed that in and can't wait for my goodies to arrive.
They really ship fast!


is asking for Summertime Butterflies
so I'll flit over there. 

Grab My Button.


I used 2 techniques besides stamping on the card
(Watercolor and Sponging [butterfly])
so I'll go over to
the Mixed Media challenge
which has a Summertime theme.



is also looking for Summer projects.

Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!
    **********
Card Recipe
Stamps:  Corner Garden, Papillon Potpourri
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  140# Cold Press Watercolor (Strathmore), Whisper White
Other:  Koi Watercolors (Sakura), Aqua Painter, Elegant Butterfly Punch

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted


Monday, August 11, 2014

Merry Monday Plaid and Pine

It's Merry Monday time. 

This week, the lovely Wendy is our hostess.

Here's what she chose.



I used to use a lot of plaid at Christmas.

But my ribbon was all gone.

And there was no Christmas plaid ribbon in any of the craft stores.

Fortunately, when we were on vacation I saw a Christmas store.

All they had available was really wide ribbon for wreaths.

But the lady there was so helpful in finding some ribbon that wouldn't fray too badly when cut into narrow strips.

Phew!


I used the long retired Peaceful Wishes set to stamp the evergreen boughs.

The pine cone was stamped 3 times on a snippet with Soft Suede ink.
I fussy cut the pine cones and slightly curled with a bone folder.
They are layered with dimensionals.

I also used a snippet of some die cut greens to layer over the stamped greens.

Then I added some Dazzling Details for sparkle.

Make it Sparkle

I'm off to
with my pine cone and evergreen snippets.

The rest of the Merry Makers have done a marvelous and creative job.
Look closely. Some of them didn't have a stash of plaid ribbon either.

Be sure to check them out if you need some inspiration
or even if you just want to enjoy some eye candy!

I hope you'll pull out your plaid ribbon or make some and join us at

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!
    **********
Card Recipe
Stamps:  Peaceful Wishes (retired), Many Merry Messages (retired)
Ink:  Garden Green, Soft Suede
Paper:  Garden Green, Whisper White
Other:  Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil' Inkers), Pine Needle Border (Memory Box), Plaid Ribbon

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

By the Seashore Mixed Media

When DH gave me some play money for my birthday,
I bought some alcohol inks.
I'd been admiring this background technique since I started stamping.

Then I kept seeing Laurie's beautiful cards using this technique on

So I went shopping for alcohol inks.


I got the inks out and had a play with them.

They are so much fun!

And I love the mottled background.

I used Lettuce and Pool on this one with
Snow Cap Mixative.

Edited to add that Vicki suggested that I enter this in the Muse Challenge so here I go.
Thanks, Vicki.

The current Mixed Media Challenge theme is


I had the By the Seashore stamp set in my NBUS box
and thought it was a good opportunity to ink it up.

I stamped the shells with Sahara Sand ink
then fussy cut them and edged with a Sahara Sand marker.

And used a White Gel Pen on the sand dollar
one of the Skin Tone Blendabilities on the shell and starfish,
and also a Creamy Caramel marker on the starfish.
I put the shells on some burlap ribbon with lots of hot glue
and added a pearl.

For a little added texture, I distressed the Crumb Cake mat.

Maybe you'd like to try some mixed media?

So glad you stopped by.

Enjoy!
    **********
Card Recipe
Stamps:  By the Seashore
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Alcohol Ink (Pool, Lettuce, Snow Cap Mixative, Blending Solution; Adirondack), SU Marker (Sahara Sand, Creamy Caramel)
Paper:  110# Solar White (Neena), Crumb Cake, Glossy Paper, Whisper White
Other:  Distressing Tool, Stitched Mat Rectangles (Lil' Inker), Burlap Ribbon, Large Basic Pearl (retired)

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted