Stampin Up, Pals Paper Arts Challenge #294

This week is a sketch challenge hosted by Dawn Tidd.  I usually do not use a great deal of DSP, (Designer Series Paper).  I find often that people rely on it too much.  I truly enjoy coming up with my own design.  So, this is a departure for me and I love it, these two pieces worked so well together.

The DSP is English Garden and it mimics a stamp and die set we have as well, so the possibilities are endless.  Often times SU will take some color and when they used them for DSP they will lighten them up as is the case here.  The pink in this is Melon Mambo and that is the color of my ribbon.

For the center I used two ovals from the Oval framelits and my butterfly is from Butterfly Basics stamp set, die cut using the Butterfly thinlits.  I then sponged color (Blushing Bride) on the edges so I didn't have that white border.

I hope you enjoyed and gained a bit of inspiration here today. Thanks for stopping by.  Here is the sketch:

Come on over and play with us.

English Garden Designer Series Paper

$11.00

Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set

$24.00

Ovals Collection Framelits Dies

$27.00

Butterflies Thinlits Dies

$25.00

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Stampin Up, Global Design Project challenge #029

This week is a color challenge.  I love that GDP has several different types of challenges,  It's always fun to see what's going on for this week.

Also, you can't find a group of better card artists anywhere, some of the best of SU's demo's play here, some as team members and some as players.  Some are even on the Stampin Up Artisian team.

We have 3 bright/dark colors today, that can be a little difficult, but using  a lot of white space helps. I thought about making my Happy die cut in the Bermuda Bay or Tangelo Twist, and in my head it just wasn't as nice, so hopefully it shows up ok.

The Gorgeous Grunge set was my friend here.  It gave me that watercolor drops look I was after with a lot less stress.   For me, when I try splatters and drops, I end up a mess! LOL, I'm kind of a messy stamper anyway. Here are the colors.

I hope I have helped to give you a bit of inspiration here.  Thanks for stopping by.

Hello You Thinlits Dies

$25.00

Build A Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set

$16.00

Gorgeous Grunge Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$18.00

Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack

$17.00

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Stampin Up, Pals Paper Arts color Challenge #293

So, as you already know, this week is a color challenge. I'm on the team that does color challenges.  This weeks are 3 beautiful colors, :

Here they are.  My base card is So Saffron and I put a layer on top of the So Saffron DSP Subtles Stack. I love the stacks, and this year they redid them to make them even better.  Beautiful patterns. If you only can buy one, buy the Neutrals stack! Besides being so usable because they are neutrals,  and also because of the gorgeous patterns.

Choose Happiness is such a great stamp set. I think it doesn't look all that impressive in the catalog, but I have used it so often.  I also used Timeless Treasures from the Occasions catalog.  I lightly stamped a few of the flower as well as some texture then stamped 2 of the flowers to put on the top.

The center is some of the really small Basic Pearls.

If you are wondering where my sentiments went, well, one of my daughters has asked for cards with no sentiment so she can add her own use, so I am working on that. It can be so hard to do when you often base a card on the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by, and if you haven't already, stop on by the challenge and see what the rest of the team has done.

Choose Happiness Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$18.00

Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$20.00

Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack

$22.00

Stampin Up, Pals Paper Arts Sketch challenge #292

The PPA challenge this week is a sketch challenge, an awesome one with lots of layers to play with.
I took my inspiration from  featured Designer Beth Beards sketch and the card she did using it.
The top colors look a bit more washed out then the bottom, I think I had the light a little to strong on the top of the card today.  

The colors are Whisper White and Marina Mist, with Organiza Ribbon in white.

I also used, The Subtles DSP Pack, Water Color Wings stamps, Butterfly Thinlits dies, basic pearls,
the 2" circle punch, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, and the Butterfly embossing folder. 
Here is the sketch:

I hope I've been able to give you a bit of inspiration. Come on over to PPA and play with us! Either click on the link on the right side bar, or CLICK HERE.

Have a wonderful Easter!

Stampin Up, Pals Paper Arts Challenge #291

And it's a color challenge this week.  
I pulled out the stamp pads for these colors and just kept staring at them. I had 0 ideas in my head. I ended up just pulling down stamps and adding to my little scene one thing at a time.   Usually I have some idea in my head before I start putting down ink to paper, not this time.

I used one of the Notecards.  You can get them in Whisper white and Crumb Cake, 20 cards to a set with their own envelopes.  They are 3 1/2" x 5" and if filling up a full sized A2 card is a problem for you, this size works very well with less. 

I started with the grass, it's a stamp in the Work of Art stamp set in the Annual Catalog. The flower stamp has 3 flowers with stems and comes from Sprinkles of Life.  BTW, if you love this set and don't have it, you might want to buy it soon.  It's the Ronald McDonald house set and is replaced each year. A portion of the price goes to Ronald McDonald house.

I just stamped it over and over, added the clouds and sponged on some sky color.   I only used the little bird on the Tree builder punch, but I could have punched out the tree and the leaves as well.

I also used the Envelope Liner die for the inside of the envelope. 
I hope I have inspired you a bit.  But come on over and see the rest of the Teams work at the PPA site.

Here is this weeks colors:

Stampin Up, Mojo Monday #438

I decided to play along with Mojo monday today.  Ideas came pretty quickly for this weeks sketch.  Every once in a while one has to make something that doesn't have flowers, right?  I do so love flowers.

It also helps to have a masculine card or two laying around.  I left the sentiment off this one so that I could add one later depending on what I used it for.  I have to admit that I almost put the circle sentiment from Going Global on it tho, it would have fit right in.

I used a combo of Going Global stamps and The Open Sea stamps, both have a globe, but they are different, both have the compass, but they are different. The one I used is larger and I cut away the rest of the round compass parts and just left the direction pieces.

Colors I used:
Black, Very Vanilla, Delightful Dijon, Also used Black embossing powder and the Versamark ink pad.
Here is the sketch for this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Going Global Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$19.00

The Open Sea Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$19.00

Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack

$8.00

Stampin Up, Easter Watercolor card

I was making cards for my upcoming class and my brain just took off on it's own. This was the result.
I am working on doing watercolor, but I'm not very good at it!   I made 4 different watercolor pieces and this was my favorite.

After my watercolor dried, I stamped on it with our Archival black ink.  Best to use that or Staz-on so it doesn't run or cause the colors to run. Not too much of a risk here even if I used Memento, but just in case.  I love how the florishes have that same look as the design in Timeless Textures.  The texture in the watercolor paper caused that. 

Then I cut each strip. I made them 1 1/4" high x the width of my yellow.  The hello is from A Dozen Thoughts, and I used this little sentiment because I have the big Easter one inside from Suite Sayings.

I topped it off with flowers from Botanical Builder Framelits dies.

Feel free to CASE ( Copy and share everything) it's just what we do.   If you post yours, it would be very nice if you linked back to give me credit.  Thanks.  

My colors were:  Rich Razzelberry, Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey.

Stampin Up, Pals Paper arts challenge #290

This week is a sketch challenge, come along and join us.  Looks like many of you are, and I'm so glad to see that.

I've been wanting to use the Timeless Treasures stamp set and this seemed like a great time to do so. It's a little hard to see, but I stamped in Daffodil Delight on the same color paper as well as using the Tip Top Taupe Image. 

I used both the Bold Butterfly framelit and the Butterfly Thinlit.  One cut out the intricut butterfly, then I used vellum to cut the framelit butterfly and put that over the top.  Then I added the pearls for good measure.  I love how it turned out.

The green is Mint Macaron. Remember, these incolors are retiring May 31st, so be sure you have everything you need. Extra paper, refills and all the pads, they go really fast toward the end.

I used a small piece of Pretty Petals DSP paper stack to cut out my butterfly, the vellum did a very nice job over the top.

That is Mint Macaron lace ribbon on the edge and I used the Word Window over the top of the small oval punch. 

The Happy Easter is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I have inspired you just a bit.

Stampin Up, PPA 289, Featured Designer

It's spring!  At least it is here in AZ. But don't worry, it'll turn chilly again for a month or so, and May should be gorgeous, then it's just plain hot!

Anyway, I, yes little old Me, is the featured designer on PPA this week! How fun it that?!  Please come join us!  We have a color challenge, and if you don't like them, guess you can blame me.  I picked them out.

Here are the colors:

I used my favorite background stamp, Hardwood.  I love this stamp, and from what I see of all the cards by other people, I think a lot of them love it too. 
The wreath framelits originally came out as a bundle with a Christmas stamp set, then we got this pretty spring stamp set and another Christmas stamp set.  I have them all.

This stamp set is Circle of Spring, it also makes a really nice Easter card. The Framelits are called Wonderful Wreath Framelits, both are in your Annual catalog.  
I also used Timeless Textures for all the drops and a 3/16"silver brad and used my Wink of Stella pen on the popped up flowers and in a few other places as well.  It's such a subtle glittery shine it just doesn't pick up well on camera, but it sure looks fabulous in person.

I do hope you will play along with me, just click on the PPA banner to the right at the top.

To recap:
Circle of Spring stamps
Wonderful Wreath Framelits
Wink of Stella
Blender pen
Timeless Textures stamps
3/16" silver brad

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Stampin Up, Mojo Monday #435

It's been awhile since I've done a Mojo Monday sketch challenge.  But this weeks just looked like too much fun to pass up.   I stayed pretty close to the sketch, but it's really not that necessary, you'll see that if you check out the team's cards.  I just had this cool idea using the Petite Petals stamps. 
They have been ignored for a long time due to all the fabulous stamps and dies and punches from the mini catalogs lately, but they are good for the long haul. 

For me making a card is a process.  I start with an idea then try to find the elements that will fit into my idea. Sometimes I come up with totally failure before I hit on something I like, and sometimes I end up with a card totally different then what I started out to make.  Don't ya just love surprises?

For this I decided I wanted to use DSP, but I didn't want a busy pattern. This one came from the Love Blossoms DSP paper stack, it's one of the 6x6" paper stacks.  I like them because the patterns are downsized so they work so well on cards.

My colors are:
Blushing Bride, Basic Black, Whisper White
I used:
Petite Petals and the Petite Petals punch
1" Circle punch
And Many More stamp set for the sentiment
Rimmed Pearls
Basic pearls
Love Blossoms DSP stack

Thanks for stopping by, I hope I have inspired you.

Stampin Up, The Paper Players challenge #283

Hello there, and if you think you've seen this card before, you just may have. I posted it a few days ago, and normally I do a new card for each post and each challenge. I think they deserve their very own special card each.

But this card fit the challenge so perfectly that I just had to use it. 
The Paper Players challenge for this week is Up, Up and Away! 

Click here to go to the challenge.

And here is what I used for my card:
I stamped on Designer Series Paper for my "Bug", and popped it up to float.  I used Sprinkles of Life for the clouds, I think those are the best clouds!  Beautiful  Ride for the car and little balloons. That little ballon works with the Party Punch Pack that bundles with the Party Wishes stamps in the 2016 Occasions catalog.
The DSP I used is in the Cherry On Top 6x6 Designer series paper stack in the Annual catalog.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Stampin Up, Pals Paper Arts Sketch challenge #288

I decided to do a chalk board effect on this card, but it's not showing up will. You can see just a little in the center of the sentiment.  I was afraid to go too much with it, but it did need a little more I think.

My sentiment today came from the Suite sayings set in the 2016 Occasions catalog.  You have until May 31 to purchase from this catalog, but only until March 31st to also get free goodies from the SAB catalog for every $50 you sepend in any other current catalog. 

I used the Pool Party glitter ribbon from the Holiday catalog (retired) over my strip of black.  And I used my dots embossing folder for a little more texture. 

I first stamped my sentiment with VersaMark ink, then embossed using Whisper White embossing powder. I cut that out using the 2" circle punch, added it to a slighter larger circle in Smoky Slate that was cut using the Circle framelit dies,  then I cut another scalloped circle with my 2 3/8's punch.  I cut that in half and put part on top and part on bottom for a little different look.

It's a pretty clean and simple card, and I like that it can be used for either male or female.  I seem to make most of my cards very  flowery, I need to do more masculine cards to have on hand.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been doing.   
If you would like to place an order, you'll find my store HERE. 

Click on the link on my right hand side bar to check out the rest of the cards and of course the team's cards.

Stampin Up, Global Design Project challenge #023

And this week GDP has a theme challenge. How fun.  Hmmm, can you guess from my card? 
It's balloons!  Go off on the wild side like I did with this card, or make that birthday card you just know your going to need soon. 

I used Watercolor paper and aqua painter to put my sky and ground in.  My idea was to have the balloons lifting the car up to travel though the sky.  Did you get that? I wasn't really sure I managed to get that feeling across, but I sure hope so.

I stamped on Designer Series Paper for my "Bug", and popped it up to float.  I used Sprinkles of Life for the clouds, I think those are the best clouds!  Beautiful  Ride for the car and little balloons. That little ballon works with the Party Punch Pack that bundles with the Party Wishes stamps in the 2016 Occasions catalog.
The DSP I used is in the Cherry On Top 6x6 Designer series paper stack in the Annual catalog.

I hope you will try the challenge out, it's a great way to sharpen your card making skills.

Check out the challenge HERE.  
You'll find my store HERE
Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin Up, Pals Paper Arts challenge #287

I got a little bit elegant today.  I love this background die. I don't use it real often, but everytime I do I love the results! You can cut it down for other ideas for use.

I have friends I don't get to see anymore since we moved to AZ after retiring and friends that have been online friends for many years, and this sentiment works for anytime I just want them to know I'm thinking about them.

The Botanical Blooms bundle is awesome for flowers and such.  So many stamps and dies in the set and some very different ones, even a feather. I put rhinestones in the centers for a bit of bling.

Our colors for this week are:

Come on over and check out the rest of the teams cards as well as those posted by others. And by all means, come and play with us.
Thanks for stopping by!

Botanical Blooms Photopolymer Bundle - 140819

Price: $51.75

And Many More Clear-Mount Stamp Set - 134276

Price: $27.00

Striped Scallop Thinlits Die - 133734

Price: $25.00

Rhinestone Basic Jewels - 119246

Price: $5.00

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Stampin Up, Global Design Project 022

Hello, and welcome!  GDP has a sketch challenge this week.  I had a great time doing this one.  I pulled out some well used stamps and dies from this years annual catalog.

I used Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake and Rose Red.    I do LOVE florishes so this stamp set is not ever going anywhere and I hope SU keeps it in the catalog for a good long time.
The beautiful subtle design on this DSP was perfect to stamp on and is just enough texture.

Here is the sketch:

I hope you enjoy, and thanks for coming by.

Butterflies Thinlits Dies - 137360

Price: $25.00

Butterfly Basics Clear-Mount Bundle - 139323

Price: $51.75

Flowering Flourishes Clear-Mount Stamp Set - 126367

Price: $18.00

Gorgeous Grunge Clear-Mount Stamp Set - 130517

Price: $18.00

Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack - 140581

Price: $8.00

Pearl Basic Jewels - 119247

Price: $5.00

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Stampin Up, Pals paper arts challenge, Love

It's time for PPA!  Challenges are great, they rev up your skills, and get you making cards or? Your entry doesn't have to be a card, right? 

Being that Valentines day is so very close, I thought I'd use that theme.   This is just one of the great stamps in the stamp set that comes bundled with that wonderful die set, Bloomin Heart Thinlit dies.

I love Cherry Cobbler and SU has it in the embossing powders!  My heart is embossed with pearls adorning the flowers.  If you have the Numbers bundle there is a die to cut out this banner too. I fussy cut mine, but it's pretty easy.

I loved the texture in the background DSP, just worked for me. It's from the Going Places Stack as is the black with arrows under the heart.

Lots more you can do with this set and even more with the bundle.
Here is the sketch:

Come join us HERE at the PPA

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope I gave you some inspiration.

Bloomin' Love Photopolymer Stamp Set - 140643

Price: $17.00

Versamark Pad - 102283

Price: $7.50

Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder - 122949

Price: $5.00

Pearl Basic Jewels - 119247

Price: $5.00

Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack - 140581

Price: $8.00

Cherry Cobbler Thick Baker’S Twine - 138414

Price: $3.50

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