SCS Double Challenge!

I feel like I am FINALLY back in the crafting game! I have been stamping more in the last month than ever! I am so glad to be back full force! This card is for TWO SCS Challenges...CC264, which is a color challenge to use Bermuda Bay, Basic Gray and So Saffron. I won't lie, it scared me to death, I still don't know how it looks ok together! Second challenge was CAS60 which was a sketch this week. It ALMOST qualifies for a third challenge, TLC266, which is Inside Out and is to decorate the inside of your card to match the outside. But, I didn't get a chance to finish the inside just yet...maybe tomorrow. I have Easter and 5 b-days this month, so I better worry about the inside of this card later!☺

Paper: CS:Bermuda Bay, Basic Gray, So Saffron, Whisper White
DSP: So Saffron (before pattern changes) and Bermuda Bay
Stamps: The More The Merrier, Good Neighbors, Vintage Labels
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Basic Gray, So Saffron
Accessories: Dimensionals, Scallop Circle Punch, Curly Label Punch, Bermuda Bay Polka Dot Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Styled Silver HodgePodge Hardware

SUO!!! Hope you all like it! After covering up a terrible mistake, I think I finally like it! The colors aren't a new fave combo for me by any means, but I was glad to be able to do it! I better get busy on the projects on my To Do List and stop making pretties just for fun!

Circle Circus...

Here's yet another card for the swap group I now LOVE being in! This card was a sketch challenge, which was basically a strip across the middle, three circles on the left, and three lines of sentiment in the bottom right. It was an extremely simple sketch, so I kept the card simple and clean to match the lines of the sketch. I did a little paper piercing under the sentiment, which adds just a little to the plain base. I love this one! I hope the the recipient enjoys my swap!

Stamps: Circle Circus, Whimsical Words (SAB)
Paper: Kraft, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry
Accessoris: SU Circle Punches, Dots Embossing Folder (with the SU Big Shot), Mat Pack, Paper Piercer

SUO!

Easter Cupcakes...

I have really been crafting a lot lately, and have done well with updating my blog! I have another card coming tomorrow, but for today, I wanted to share the cupcakes I made for my oldest daughter's Preschool Easter Party tomorrow. I volunteered to bring 2 dz cupcakes, and decided to make them festive! It's yellow cake, with whipped cream icing, topped with coconut dyed green and 3 little jelly beans on top. Chloe LOVES them, she cannot wait for her class to see them☺. I stamped the bunny from Easter Eggcoutrements stamp set (sp...no catty in front of me) and punched them out, there are two on each toothpick held on with Glue Dots. The girls stuck these in the cupcakes! I have been SO good not to eat one!

Wings on a Card Swap...

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Here's another card I made today (the vintage was made this afternoon, too). It is for the same swap group, for a swap themed Wings On A Card. I have really used so many butterflies lately that I thought it would be fun to use the 2-Step Bird Punch from SU for this card! The Vanilla background is embossed with the Big Shot. I do not like the So Saffron background behind the bird, at all, but once I decided it needed more vanilla it was already put together. I LOVE this punch!

Brocade Blue, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
2-Step Bird Punch, 1, 1 1/4, 1 3/8" Circle Punches, and Scallop Circle
Friends 24/7 Stamp Set
Mat Pack used for the sewing down the side
--SUO

Vintage Medallion...

I am thoroughly enjoying being part of a swap group now! The theme of this swap is All About Vintage. Those of you who follow me regularly may immediately realize that this is not my normal style! I went WAY off the beaten path to create this vintage beauty (if I do say so myself...LOL). I haven't mailed this yet (I have a feeling I won't be one of those who can wait), so if the recipient sees it early, I hope she likes it! So, when I think vintage I always think of sepia type brown tones, and either light blue or light pink with it. Everyone has a different take on vintage, and apparantely this is mine. I started by running Very Vanilla through the Big Shot with a Damask texture plate (it shows IRL!!!), then stamping the Medallion in VersaMark and clear embossing. Followed by brayering Creamy Caramel over the entire thing. Then heavily sponged the edges in Chocolate Chip (after abusing the edges with my bone folder☺). A little spritz of stamp cleaner on a sponge and it cleaned the Medallion back off with no problem! Layered on some patterned paper by Provo Craft (I am working on my stash!), torn and wrinkled in the bottom edge. Layered on Pink Pirouette with the bottom edge sponged in Creamy Caramel. All stuck to a Kraft base! The flower is the Scallop Circle with Bella Rose DSP, sponged with Creamy Caramel. I actually punched two and glued them back to back...I didn't want the bold red pattern on the other side messing up this card. Sprayed with water and balled up constantly until the paper was very weak. An old sewing stash button and crochet thread finish the flower. The ribbon is OLD Pretty In Pink, sponged with Creamy Caramel so it doesn't look so bright.

I have never done an all out vintage (this much anyway) card. What do you think? Did I achieve actually making it look old?

Saturday Morning Stampin'!

Ahhhh....finally, just 2 hours before we have to leave for a birthday party, I got the birthday girls card all done! I LOVE Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo and really wanted to use them together only adding white. Generally, for a kids card, I wouldn't do anything like this, but this is what hit me! The flower is the Ornament Punch, the leaves are the 5-Petal Flower punch, center of flower is the biggest from Boho Blossoms punch. The flower petals were run through the Big Shot with the SU Dots Folder. A Clear Rhinestone Brad finishes the flower off with a little sparkle. Sentiment is from Heard from the Heart, and colored with In Color Markers for the two tone. LOVE this ribbon, it's Polka Dot Grosgrain. I added just a little fancy with the Scallop Trim Border Punch along the bottom edges. The inside is white with all corners done with the Scallop Trim Corner...didn't remember to take a pic until I had already written in the card (with a Melon Mambo marker of course☺). I hope she likes her card!

I am finally starting to make some headway catching up on my blog. 'Inky Ones'....I will make rounds tonight. I can't wait to visit you all!

If you're in the South like me, enjoy this beautiful weather this weekend!

Happy Stampin'!

Just for TYLER!

Greetings, friends!!! I am really trying to catch up on my personal blogging, and also with the bloggers group. Bear with me, I am almost there!!! I have been working on several projects lately, and will get them up one at a time. This one I just finished last night. A friend of mine asked me to make wall letters for her son, Tyler (obviously...LOL!). I had made her daughters a year ago or so and she really liked them. I was honored when she asked me to do her sons, too! We actually went shopping for her to pick out her own papers, then she pretty much told me to do what I wanted, but she didn't want them the same or all completely covered. I caved slightly on the 'L'. I had to cover that one! Each pawprint on the 'L' is coated with Crystal Effects, which looks awesome. Looks like fresh, wet, pawprints! I used a lot of circle punches, Puzzle Sizzlets, and Word Window / Modern Label punches. In theory, these are simple, but I truly did struggle, as I always do with blue. I enjoyed them, and I love the finished product, I hope my friend does too! I am giving them to her today! And below are the letters I made her daughter about a year ago...

(sorry, pic is really washed out, click to make it larger to see details.)

It's a Swap Thing...

So, I recently joined a group run by a wonderful friend of mine. The group is a mix of all kinds of stampers who participate in themed swaps. I thought it would be fun to give it a try, as I have never been much of a swapper. I have signed up for several different swaps, and one of them was to make a card using only Black, White and Purple. I hope my 'loose' interpretation of purple is ok. But this card just screamed for Rich Razzleberry, and who am I to deny a card what it wants?

There's a lot on this card that you cannot really see in the pic. The Razz oval is run lightly through a texture plate, and there's tons of sparkle on this card. I used some corners cut with the Big Shot using a set of Sizzlets called Architectual Elements. The flowers are from Embrace Life, two stamped on Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, and the middle one on Watercolor Paper. The middle one is colored with reinker and AquaPainter, blended much lighter in the center. Stickles are on all flowers, and it's showing gold in the pic, but it's truly Diamond Stickles. My Signo Gel Pen got a great workout on this card, and I love how that turned out! A new pen made all the difference, my old one was gloppy.

I hope you all like it. This is one of my faves in a while, and I haven't mailed it yet. I don't think the recipient checks my blog☺ Well, I hope not...LOL!

***Aside from the Sizzlets set and the Stickles, this card is SUO!

March Club Projects...

This month for my hostess club, I created some fun Easter projects. These were so much fun to make, and each one is really simple! We made a gate fold card with the Kisses notes and Well Scripted stamp set, both from the Occasions Mini. The little basket in the front is made with DSP strips, that's it! The larger basket in the back is actually a 6x6 piece of CS, scored at 2" all the way around, then snipped on two sides at the middle section, as if cutting to fold a box. Then, instead of folding the sides all the way up, you angle them. This one is held together with brads, and a nice flower made with a few punches and a Clear Rhinestone brad decorate the front!

---The best part is the Reeses Eggs inside the baskets...I ate quite a few while filling these! They started out a little more filled, I LOVE Reeses!

I am finally ahead of the game on making things for Easter! We've had a really busy couple of weeks here, and I am just glad to have still had time to stamp at all. (Though it happens around midnight...)

We are really ready for Spring to make its grand entrance, and these colors certainly feel springy to me! Hope you like my Easter projects. My wonderful club members seemed to.

CS is all Soft Subtles...DSP is all Tea Party