!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GUESS WHAT!! I won free stamps!! From VERVE!!!!! I was the random winner on the SCS challenge by Susie. The past 15 minutes have rocked. I got stamps from Taylor and my MFT order in the mail, a birthday RAK (I'll post it later) and then an email from Susie that I won. WOW, if only every 15 minutes could ROCK like this!!!!!

Not As Scary As I Thought!

I am not a huge fun of Almost Amethyst!! I think I've only used the color twice, once for a SCS Color Challenge and for today's card. This weeks colors for the Color Throwdown are Almost Amethsyt, Certainly Celery and Basic Black. I was more than a little worried when I saw them. This card took longer than normal but I'm really happy with the results. Yes, I know you are probably getting tired of Dreams Du Jour but I LOVE IT!!! It's such a great stamp set. I'll try to use another stamp soon I promise!?! I stamped the image in black and used my SU markers to color it. I don't have the Soft Subtles markers so I used Green Galore and Orchid Opulence for the coloring. I think it looks okay though. The layout is for this weeks sketch challenge at SCS. The panels are from an unknown decorative paper but it matched the colors so well. The only element I'm a little unsure of is the ribbon. At first glance I thought it matched pretty well but I think it's maybe a bit too bright. The sentiment along the bottom is from Short and Sweet. I thought the two stamps went together pretty well. Wish big and grow great dreams!!! I added some brads and some piercing and mounted the circle and the main panel on foam tape for some dimension.
Thanks for stopping by!!!

WOO HOO!!!!

I realized this morning I passed 10,000 hits on my blog!!! WOW! We have to celebrate. I'll be posting a blog candy in celebration of my hits and my birthday on the 4th!! You don't want to miss it so make sure you check back!!!

Two Cards Today...SMILE!!

Julee really gave us a great sketch this week for Mojo Monday. I was on a roll with it so today you get to see two cards!!!! YEAH!!!! This layout is really simple and easy to work with. I used the new SU punch that will be available for purchase August 11th. Ladies, this is a fabulous punch and makes a quick scallop border. You don't want to miss out on this, if you are interested in purchasing it I wouldn't wait because I bet this item backorders fairly quickly!! I used Basic Grey for the card base on both cards. I really like this color and haven't used it for quite a while. For the first card I pulled out my Blooms and Bulbs wheel that hadn't yet seen ink :( I had intended to use it for Mother's Day cards and then forgot about it. I don't the wheels very often, and I don't know why. They are so quick and easy. I colored all the little seed packets with my copics. The scalloped panel is Bashful Blue and the green is Kiwi Kiss. I stamped the word Smile from my Verve set Thankful Blossoms in Close to Cocoa on Blue and used my 1 3/8 punch to cut it out. I pierced the scallops and added some Bashful Blue striped ribbon. For this card I used the same decorative paper from yesterday's card. I have almost used up this entire piece of 12x12 paper and so far have made 6 cards from it. (I'm trying to be better with scraps). I also used Dreams Du Jour again but this time stamped the butterfly in Kiwi Kiss on Whisper White. The sentiment was stamped in Close to Cocoa on the decorative paper strip. Again I pierced the scallops and added so ribbon.
Thanks for looking!!

Love Many Things

This new preorder set from SU is easily my new favorite. I talked myself out of this one when I first saw it. I wasn't really sure what I was going to be able to do with it so I passed on it. Then once I saw what some of the other demo's were making I placed my order. I couldn't resist. I don't know why I waited because this stamp set is so my style. I used the new In Colors Pink Pirouette and Kiwi Kiss. This card has such a shabby chic look and ooh la laa, I love it!! The paper is a soft green print from My Mind's Eye that is a really close match to this color green. I inked the Love You stamp in Chocolate Chip and stamped it four times on Kiwi Kiss. I used my Creative Memories square punches to punch the stamp out and the next size up to back it in Pink Pirouette. Of course, the edges are inked in Close to Cocoa. I centered the squares and attached them with foam tape to add some dimension. The main panel itself was also attached with foam. The sentiment on the bottom was stamped in Chocolate Chip and I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up. I use this thing all the time now. I use to screw up piece after piece by stamping things crooked. It's a pretty simple card. I was going to color the flowers then decided I liked it as is.

Thanks for looking!!

Blogging Friends Forever

BFF...it's been a while since I have referred to anyone as my BFF...LOL!! I received this award from Anne Marie at Did Someone Say Stamp. We recently found each other's blogs and have become quick BFF's :)!!! She's a wonderful crafter and such a sweet person!



So here are the rules:
1. Only 5 people allowed.
2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog
3. one has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. you must link back to whoever gave you the award.


My choices are:
1. Stephanie at Steph's Stampin Stuff. I know I nominated her for the last award I got too, but I just love her work. Please she's a fellow Coloradan which means she has to be super cool :D!!!
2. Julie at Addicted 2 Stamping. Julie is my SU upline and the reason I started blogging. I found her through it and immediately was addicted to this blogging world!!
3. Bev at All The Things I Love. I just found her blog today through a comment on my blog and all I can say is WOW! She immediately went into my blog roll. Bev, I love your work!! She counts as my other part of the world (United Kingdom!!!!)
4. Renee at Stamping For Sanity. Renee is another demo whose style I love!!!! Super talented!!
5. Tammy at Stamp Happy. She is another fairly new find for me. Well let me clarify, I've stalked her on SCS for a while and recently became a blog stalker too.

So those are my picks!! I love so many though, check out my blog roll for my complete list of faves!!!!

Thanks again for the award Anne Marie!!

Christmas SFYTT

I combined two challenges for this card. I used the layout from Jen's Sketch For You To Try and made it a christmas card which was this weeks challenge at Our Creative Corner. The card base is Glorious Green and I dug through my christmas stash and found a pretty bold paper. I decided to tone it down by putting some vellum cardstock from SU over the top. I liked this much better. The top panels are Real Red and were inked with Chocolate Chip along the edges. I stamped Very Merry from SU's Short and Sweet on Whisper White and punched it out with my word window punch. The santa stamp is from the preorder set that will be available in August as a hostess set called Deer Friends. I tried a few different inks and decided on Real Red. I punched it out with my 1 1/4 circle punch, the chocolate chip layer with my 1 3/8 punch and I punched the scallop from vellum and pierced it. The panel behind the santa's was stamped with the little snowflake also in Short and Sweet but it's kind of hard to see. I stamped it in Real Red too so it is pretty subtle. I added the silver brads and a ribbon to finish it off.

Button, Button Who's Got The Button!

I have the required 3!! Susie is this weeks Diva at the Verve forum and her challenge was buttons. You had to use at least three. I had this Pacific Point circle card base hanging out on my desk and decided to go with it. The polka dot paper is from My Mind's Eye and was perfect for this card. I punched a scallop circle with my giga punch to adhere my butterflies too. They were cut from the polka dot paper and stickled for that pretty sparkle. The sentiment and butterflies are from Verve's Fluttering By. The buttons seem a little cheesy to me since they really serve no purpose. Not that I don't like them I just don't think I used them very creatively, I just sort of glued em in open space. The one looks cute on the sentiment but the other two I had no idea what to do with. I'm really having fun with circle cards. Something new is always fun!!

A New Stamp Set and a Challenge

This card took FOR-EV-VER!! (We've been watching the movie The Sandlot lately ;) I really loved Taylor's cupcake sketch until I started working with it. What a pain in the butt it was to try and get that crooked panel lined up along the edges. I know I made it a lot more difficult than it needed to be by adding the black panel too. I was going to go with just the polka dot's and then it felt like it was missing something. I finally had to just live with the bit of crookedness along the edges. This sketch is not good for a perfectionist!!!!
But all whining aside I think I like this card. It still feels a little off to me but my hubby liked it!!! This is the first card I've made with this new stamp set from SU. It's called Dreams Du Jour and will be available in the new catalog. I choose Real Red and Black for my colors. I tried to make this a monochromatic card but added a little bit of green to the leaves, I guess it still qualifies. The polka dots are My Minds Eye and adorable!!! The scallop squares are from my Marvy Giga punch. I layered them behind the main panel and used my round corner punch to make room for the silver brads. I added the three along the side on black circles to make them stand out off of the paper. The ribbon was my last attempt to add the missing something to the card. I don't know, what do you think, am I to hard on myself or should I try again???

Thanks for stopping by!!

Double Trouble

I have to say when I first saw this Mojo sketch from Julee I was a little worried this may be the one to stump me. Ovals have never been my thing. It's not that I don't like them I just don't usually reach for them. I have Creative Memories Oval Cutting System and it's still pretty much brand new. I always grab for my circle cutter instead. Since I started cardmaking I really started to become more of a straight edge kind of girl. All the rounded corners where freakin me out too. You'd think with all the scary stuff this card had going for it I would reach for my favorite, neutral, earthy colors but I decided to REALLY make it a challenge. Color and more color is what ended up on this card and bright it is. Check it out!!

After all the procrastinating on this card, I love the way it turned out. And it still feels like me. I used Tangerine Tango (two times in one week), Rose Red and a decorative paper I've had awhile (no idea who makes it). I embossed the tangerine piece behind the sentiment so it would qualify for this weeks Creative Corner challenge. The sentiment is from Verve's Floral Whimsy and the butterfly is from SU's Cause for Celebration. I cut the scallop oval with my Marvy punch and cut out the butterfly with my CM ovals. Everything was inked with Close to Cocoa.

The next card is another Birthday RAK. I made it using the same sketch just without the rounded corners. I used Pirouette Pink and Rose Red. The polka dot paper is My Minds Eye. All the stamps are from Verve's Floral Whimsy. I stamped the butterfly twice, once on the oval and once on the polka dot paper. I cut it out and added some glitter. Again I inked all the edges with Close to Cocoa. I like the shabby look of this card. Probably my fave of the two!!
Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!!

Color Throwdown

This is my first time making a card for The Color Throwdown Challenge and I LOVE these colors!! They are Taken with Teal, Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa. It was all I could do not to completely case Tammy Hershberger's card. I saw it while I was blog surfing and fell in love right away. I may still case it anyway, I have my lined paper on my desk as scraps and could totally use them up for this card. Anyway, mine is a birthday card and is already in the mail. I can't tell you who it's on it's way too because I'm sure it's not there yet. I just had my membership completed to join the RAK group at Splitcoast and this is one of my first. For those of you who don't know RAK stands for Random Acts of Kindness, you get a list of other members and get to send some and hopefully get some great cards in return. I used my Gina K set How Sweet it is for this card. This cake was super fun to color with my copics and again I took a close up pic!! Did anyone join the Gina K release party last night?? What a quick thread?!?! Wow, I think my head is still spinning. I can't wait to get to all the challenges and order some of those cute new stamps!!
Sorry for the detour!!
The main panels were stamped with a little flower from Short and Sweet with my Versamark pad, they looked a little plain without it. Oh yeah, and the layout is the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge for this week too. I just flipped it vertical. Thanks for looking!!

Smiling Flowers!!!

I love the bright colors in this card. I've really been trying hard to break out of my "Chocolate Chip" shell. The color, not the cookie, that's a hold that can never be broken ;)!! I used Jen Del Muro's SFYTT for this card. It's such an original idea and I loved the look right away. I used Tangerine Tango for the card base and I'm very proud of that. This color was so intimidating at first but I've found as long as the other colors are a little more muted it's really a pretty great color. I used Certainly Celery and So Saffron as my complementary colors. I choose them to coordinate with the My Mind's Eye paper I picked. I dove into my Stampendous box for this flower stamp that is one of my all time favorite flowers. Any stamp that is a little bit whimsy is hard to resist!!!! I stamped the flowers in ahem...chocolate chip. I can't ever COMPLETELY avoid the color...LOL!!!! I colored them with my copics and inked the edges of everything with Close to Cocoa. The sentiment is from SU's Be Happy and was stamped in Close to Cocoa on Certainly Celery. I layered the circles and mounted it on foam tape.
Thanks for looking!!!

School Days Scrapbook

I can't seem to get enough of chipboard lately. I ordered a package of the 7 1/2 x 5 from Stampin Up and it's all gone :( I thought I would share with you one of the projects I made using the chipboard. It's a School Days album!! I really love the way it turned out. I used a kit from Foo-a-La called Hall Pass. I picked it up at Walmart when they were clearancing it out. I love the vintage look it has. I only used maybe a fourth of the kit so I'm hoping to make a few more.
What do you think???

This is the cover of the album. I left it blank because I'm not sure what I am going to do with it yet. It will be super cute to add the name of the little one inside! I used SU's Chocolate Chip and Real Red on the cover too. The ribbon and jumbo eyelets are SU's too!! I threaded jump rings through to hold it all together and the ribbon runs around underneath the paper and ties the album shut.

This is the first pages of the album. I made the pocket on the left and place a mat in the pocket perfect for a first day of school photo. I used SU's Round Tab Punch for the tag on the photo mat. The right side isa 4x6 envelope that I covered with decorative paper to make it coordinate. This is a perfect place for school memorablia or more photos.
Close up of the envelope.
The brown cardstock was cut to size to cover the back of the envelope and is for more photos. The lined paper is intended to journal all about the little student. I used SU's Spiral Punch for the right side and stamped the "Authentic" on the bottom corner from the Stamp of Authenticity set.
Close up of the stamped journal page.
The next page is Always Artichoke with a acetate overlay. I added some of SU's retired rub-ons to the acetate.
Close up of the acetate and rub-ons.
I added little photo mats on the back of the Always Artichoke page and again used the spiral punch. I tied a tag from the kit to one of the mats. The right is another envelope. I used the friend stamp from Make it Count on the flap and the Sanded background for the rest of the envelope. The cut ribbon was in the kit. This would be a great place to collect all the photos of classmates.
The red cardstock was cut to size the fit the back of the envelope and is for more photos. The last page is decorative paper with a piece of red cardstock and a sticker. The cardstock isn't adhesed in the middle so photos or memorabilia can slip right underneath.
I'm waiting on my next shipment of cardstock. I love making this little mini albums. This one only took 2 1/2 hours to make. Can't wait to make more!!!

A Day In The Leaves

I made this layout of my son awhile back and thought I would share it with you. I finally used my Perennials Favorites set that came with my starter kit from SU. I masked the word autumn on the leaf and stamped it on Creamy Caramel in Chocolate Chip ink. I stamped it three times each time without reinking to create the different color leaves. I used some nuts and washers that I had laying around my craft room from when we moved in. I added the washers underneath the brads and it turned out really cute. The nuts where used to make a frame around my son's picture with some brown floss. I also stitched some x's along the stamped panel with the floss too. The title and the journaling were printed on my computer using Amienne font. I crop the title at random angles just for fun. I inked all the edges in Close to Cocoa ink.
Thanks for looking!!

Paisley Birthday

I made this card for Splitcoast's Sketch Challenge. I used the leftover scraps hanging out on my desk from another card I made last week. The cardstock colors are Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, So Saffron and Night of Navy. I love these colors with this paisley print from My Minds Eye. They are a lot brighter than what I usually do but still feel like they are in my comfort zone. I used my CM flower punch for the two yellow flowers and added a blue brad in the center of each that matches the Baja Breeze pretty well. I've been diggin into my long neglected stamps. The cake and sentiment are out of the SAB Birthday Whimsy set. I stamped it once in Chocolate Chip onto the Baja Breeze and then again on Whisper White in Riding Hood Red. I cut out the cake and adhered it to the paper. Pretty quick and easy card!!


Thanks for stopping by!

Two-In-One Verve

Verve has been rockin the challenges lately and you know I can't resist a Vervalicious challenge!! The second Verve Diva is Amber Hight. She gave us this cool inspiration piece from Crate and Barrel. Of course the first thing that caught my eye was the grids but those colors are so cool. Nothing I would ever pick.

Then, Shannan started the newest project parade at the Verve blog. We had to make a ATC (artist trading card). I've never made one before so I couldn't wait to play. These babies are SOOOOO small. I had an idea in mind and then when I got the paper cropped to the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 size it went right out the window. I wanted to score on the ATC card but I was lucky to get an image on that thing. I really wanted to add a sentiment to it too but there was no room. I'm glad I didn't because I added it to the card I made with it instead. You want to see????

This is the little ATC card. I wasn't super excited with the way it turned out on it's own. It felt like it was missing something even though I squeezed as much as I could on it. I stamped the corners with Filigree Fantasy and the main image with Serenity. The colors are So Saffron, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze and Pumpkin Pie. These colors reminded me of tiles you would see in a mexican restaurant. I was so craving chips and salsa the whole time I made this!!! I added so Crystal Effects to the flower just because!

So NOW do you want to see the card I made?!?!

This is more what I had in mind the whole time. I added the little card to Baja Breeze and scored it from the inside every 1 1/4 in. I stamped another filigree inside each square in Baja Breeze. The sentiment is from Thankful Blossoms and it was stamped in Close to Cocoa. All the edges were inked in this color too!! This was one of those rare occasions were it really turned out just like I pictured!!!!

Thanks for looking!!