Pumpkin Mum

I had some time to play yesterday.  Hurray!  I didn't get chrysanthemums for my front porch this Fall.  So I put one on a card.

There's a  new CAS challenge out there.  I missed the deadline last week and I'm in danger of missing it this morning.  The challenge is CAS(E) this Sketch.  This is the sketch for week 2.  Isn't this a wonderful sketch?

The Dynamic Duos colors this week are

And at Less is More this week, Chrissie is asking for AUTUMN

So here's my Autumn card using this sketch and these colors.

And I'll take this over to the Simplicity site for Susan's Gratitude Campaign.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Creative Elements, Small Script (retired)

Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Marker (Pumpkin Pie)

Paper:  Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie

Other:  Blender Pen, Basic Pearl (colored with Sharpie)

Thanks for stopping by.  I love  your comments and returning the visit.

Enjoy!

Pooled Suede

How is it that the days go by so fast?  I can't believe that this is the last day morning to enter the Dynamic Duos challenge from last Saturday.

Even though Soft Suede is my least favorite color, it is stunning with Pool Party as the Design Team showed.

This card actually started out as a Less is More one layer card.  It didn't work out like I envisioned so I cut it up and layered it. The popped up butterfly was from the first go round with the one layer card.  It didn't work either, so I cut it out and added a little extra dimension to this card.

The current SUO challenge, Stampin' Up! Loves Animals, is allowing bugs and such.  So I'll be able to take this over there to join them.  It seems like ages since I've been able to play over there.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Creative Elements

Ink:  VersaMark, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Basic Black Marker

Paper:  Whisper White, Soft Suede, Pool Party

Other:  Clear EP, Big Shot, Fancy Fan EF, Basic Pearls

I'd better hurry on over there before the party is over.  Maybe I can still get a one layer card made for the LIM challenge. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Butterfly and Future Moth

In case you hadn't noticed, I love butterflies.  I love watching them flutter around the butterfly bush or flitting around in the woods behind the house.  I really ought to take the camera out and try to "capture" some of them.  Right now I'm going to share a Creative Elements butterfly.

I used the Dynamic Duos colors for this card.

I love Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush together!

The layout is from the Sketch Challenge at SCS last Wednesday.  Here's the sketch...

Isn't this a fantastic CAS sketch?  And for those of you who are looking for a sketch to follow, you can usually print these sketches off so you can measure exactly for your card.  That was very helpful to me when I started doing sketches.  It always amazes me how people can come up with these!

I used the flourish from the Creative Elements set and stamped it twice in Wisteria, using the Stamp-a-majig for placement of the second one.  Then I stamped the butterfly in Concord Crush and cut it out.  It's adhered in the middle so his wings come up a bit.  There's a rhinestone on the body but I couldn't get a good sparkle for the picture. Then I colored the dots in the flourish with a marker to spice it up a bit.

The sentiment took longer than the rest.  That's mainly because I couldn't make up my mind what to use.  After stamping I trimmed it and fed it into the sides of the Decorative Label punch.

Now for the future moth.  If you're a bit squeamish about bugs, you might want to stop right here.  But if you enjoy the curiosities of nature, read on.

This is what Pop and Luke brought home from the park last Friday.

We looked it up on the computer and it's a Hickory Horned Devil.

He was about 5" long and rather scary looking.  Even Pop wouldn't handle him.

When he arrived he was a bright green and in the course of the afternoon, he turned this turquoise color. We learned that meant he was mature and ready to burrow into the ground.  Pop let him go in the woods behind the house.  Hopefully he burrowed down and will emerge as a Royal Moth.  Wouldn't it be something to see him/her when he comes out?  I added a link above in case you're not totally grossed out and would like to read more.

God certainly created some amazing creatures!

I'm really glad you stopped by.  I hope you are too!

Enjoy!

Less is More Header

At Less is More this week, the challenge is to

take our 

"Less is More"  

header as the inspiration for this challenge.

I'd like to thank Mandi and Chrissie, who have done a fantastic job inspiring us with this challenge. And a thank you to all the many participants each week that share their cards.  There's so much inspiration on this site!

I used a new stamp set, Papillon Potpourri for this card.  If you like butterflies, it's the bomb!  There's even a punch to go with it.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Creative Elements, Curly Cute, Papillon Potpourri
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Jet Black StazOn
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Other:  Elegant Butterfly Punch, Scallop Trim Corner Punch


I hope you've had an enjoyable and safe Independence Day.  We'll be watching the July 4th celebration in Washington DC on PBS this evening.  (I hope it doesn't get rained out like the Memorial Day celebration.) How do you celebrate the holiday?

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Always Creative Wishes

The One Layer Wednesday challenge this week really made me think.  Susan said to use two colors, two images, and masking.  Sentiments are optional but must be in one of the two colors.  After scratching my head a bit, this is what I came up with.

It took a lot longer to decide which stamp and sentiment to use than it did to actually make the card.

First I stamped the butterfly from the Creative Elements set trying to hit slightly above the middle of the card.  I stamped again on a scrap of thin vellum and cut out the butterfly.  After applying a little removable adhesive to the top of the wings, I masked the butterfly and stamped over with the flourshy stamp from the Always Elegant set.  It wasn't a perfect line up, but these days I'm letting go of some of the perfection needs.  Babies will do that to you.

I used my Simply Scored to score 3 lines 1/4" apart and rounded the bottom corners.

Stampin' Up! is going to be selling a diagonal board for the Simply Scored.  I think it goes on sale in March.  I can't wait!  I love to score the diagonal lines, but I find that I don't always get them where I want them.  It will also come with instructions for making envelopes.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Always Elegant, Creative Elements, Teeny, Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise

Paper:  Whisper White

Other:  Simply Scored, Basic Pearls, Corner Rounder Punch

I'm looking for a new printer.  I need to be able to print on card stock and I want a printer that prints great colors.  I'd also like to be able to print good quality photos. What kind of printers do you like?

It makes me happy that you stop by especially when you leave me a message. 

Enjoy!

Color in Winter

Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge this week is ....

"Winter's dominant color scheme is gray and white (at least in Ohio), but every now and then, a pop of color reminds us that spring and summer WILL come. I've seen pops of red (cardinals) and blue (blue birds) out my windows this month.

This week's OLW is to make a one-layer card that uses white, gray, with a pop of one bright color of your choice. (If you must, you may use black for the sentiment.)"

Very quick and simple.  I stamped the flourish from the Creative Elements stamp set in Basic Gray.  Colored the "berries" in Real Red with a SU Marker.  Inked the Sympathy from the Loving Thoughts set with a Basic Gray Marker.

That's it and it was done.

I had done this card yesterday for this challenge but then decided that it had more than a pop of color in that Carolina Blue sky.

Actually, it's been so warm here in Carolina that I have a daffodil blooming in my front yard.  And when I went to the library this afternoon, there were several showing their happy faces.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps: Creative Elements, Loving Thoughts

Ink:  Basic Gray, SU Markers (Real Red, Basic Gray)

Paper:  Whisper White

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Teeny, Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Basic Gray

Paper:  Naturals White

Other:  Stampin' Pastels (Bashful Blue, Night of Navy), Sponge Dauber

I had a wonderful time this afternoon with some of my stamping friends. We had the best time and all made lots of beautiful cards. Now I'm so inspired I probably won't be able to sleep tonight.

I'm so happy you stopped by.

Enjoy!

Thankful for...

Last week's Free 4 All challenge at SCS is to make a Thank You card using the embellishment that we are the most thankful for.

Had you noticed that I really like my Big Shot and the Square Lattice Embossing Folder?  And if you stamped with me and saw my stamp room, you would know that I love punches!  I am thankful for all my tools and even more so for the people I've met through stamping.

It's really hard to stamp clearly on embossing, so my thank you will be on the inside.

This layout is from the CAS 138 last month.  This was a sketch challenge.  Here is the lovely card, by Cibele, that we were to use as inspiration.

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Creative Elements

Ink:  Rich Razzleberry

Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Scrap of Old Olive

Other:  Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Five Petal Flower Punch, Basic Pearls

I can't believe it's taken a month to post this card!  Well, considering my days, I can.  Little boy hugs and baby smiles and sloppy kisses take a lot of time.  And Nana's don't move as fast as Mommies!

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!

Heavy Metallic

The Less is More challenge this week is a color challenge...

METALLIC

We'd like to see CLEAN & SIMPLE cards with something that has a METALLIC finish to it... ink, embossing, card, charms, actual metal... come on people let's get creative!

I've got to admit, I was stumped.  Finally an idea came to mind.

I used the vines from the Creative Elements set, stamped with Encore silver ink and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.

The butterfly and silver mat are from some beautiful Japanese papers that a friend gave me a few months ago.  She moved to the US from Japan about a year ago.  I met her at the Newcomers club and she came to our papercrafting classes a couple of times.  She is so delightful!  Generous too!  These papers are so awesome that I almost hate to use them!

Can you see the shine?

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Creative Elements
Ink:  Encore Silver
Paper:  Night of navy, Foil Origami papers
Other:  Silver EP, Silver beads

Do go to the Less is More site and see all the inspiration there.

Glad you could stop and visit.  Do come again soon.

Enjoy!

More Creative Elements

I am struggling to find time to stamp.  It seems like everything is done in spurts and starts!  It took 2 days to create this simple card and another 2 to get it ready to post! 

The layout is from a lovely sketch by Nance at Paper Players.

The colors are from the SCS color challenge this week to use White, Gray & Turquoise.

I had trouble deciding whether to do the butterfly on gray or turquoise so I tried both.  As you can see, the gray won out this time.  White embossing on the turquoise is really pretty though.

Oops! I just realized that I was supposed to use Going Gray instead of Basic Gray.

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Creative Elements

Ink:  Whisper White, Basic Gray

Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise

Other:  White EP, Scallop Trim Corner & Worde Window punches, Basic Gray Satin Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.  I hope that I can get back to daily blogging but it doesn't seem to be happening.  Thanks for sticking with me.

Enjoy!

Creative Calypso

Our youngest daughter's 35th birthday is tomorrow, and while I have many cards to choose from, I wanted to make her something special.  I hope she likes it.

I used my new Creative Elements set and stamped the flower three times on Whisper White with Calypso Coral ink.  I used a blender pen to pull the color and then, since it wasn't as vivid as I wanted, I used the same color marker to add some more intense color.

Then I cut out the top third from one flower and the top two thirds from another and stacked them on the third flower with dimensionals.

I used the sketch from SC343 at SCS this week.  It was a bit fussy and time consuming to cut all those pieces and round the corners, but well worth the effort I think.

It also fits for the jac-inks #13 challenge to do a Monotone card.

I can't believe my baby is 35!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Creative Elements, You're a Gem

Ink:  Calypso Coral

Paper:  Whisper White, Calypso Coral

Other:  Blender Pen, Corner Rounder & Scallop Edge punches, White 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Pearl, Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Stampin' Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping byto visit and for your kind comments.

Enjoy!