It's Working Again

Hooray! I was able to upload photos from my camera to my computer late last night, so here is the photo of my "color-challenge" card. I used Apricot Appeal for the card base, and added layers of Rose Red and Blush Blossom. I used my photo corners punch and scallop circle punch to add accents with Always Artichoke, Cameo Coral and Close to Cocoa. I did a little bit of stamping on the Apricot card stock using Close to Cocoa ink. In fact, all of the stamping, with the exception of the flower stem, was done with Close to Cocoa ink. I stamped the flower stem with Always Artichoke ink. I used my blender pen to color the flowers using Rose Red and Cameo Coral ink pads. I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the centers of the flowers and the dot over the "i" in "Good Thing" with my 2-way glue pen. The sentiment is popped up on dimensionals, and so is the flower on the lower right-hand corner of the card. I finished off the card with a bow I made with the Caramel gingham ribbon, and some flowers from the Accents and Elements Flower Fusion tin, which I added a Fire Rhinestone Brad to the center. This card looks much better in real life. You can't see all the dimension in the photo... I'd love to see what you all come up with using these same colors. Leave me a comment or shoot me an email with a link to your card, and I'll post the link here on my blog. Have a great day!

A Little Color Challenge

Oh my gosh, it seems like forever since I last posted. What a hectic couple of weeks it has been! Today is my two middle boys' last day of school. My oldest two have been done with school for a week. My oldest leaves for Basic Training this afternoon. I can't believe the day is finally here... Anyway, I dressed my daughter in the sweetest outfit a few days ago. It was so girly, without being frilly. The colors are just so beautiful and complimentary, and there is a floral print on it that looks just like one of the flowers in the "Time Well Spent" stamp set. It really got my juices flowing. I challenged myself to use only the colors in her outfit. Most of them are colors I don't normally use, and two of them are colors I've never used at all. I've been a demo for five years and have been stamping for about eight years. Right after Stampin' Up! retired a few of their colors and replaced them with new ones (somewhere around four years ago), I ordered all new ink pads by color family -- all four of 'em. Anyway, I have several that I've never used, and two of the colors in my daughter's outfit are two of them; in fact, the ink pads were still shrink-wrapped! So..... the colors I used are as follows: Apricot Appeal, Blush Blossom (still shrink-wrapped), Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Close to Cocoa, and Cameo Coral (also still shrink-wrapped -- until yesterday, that is). I normally would not have put all of these colors together, but in my daughter's outfit, they looked beautiful; so I challenged myself to give it a try. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'll post the picture later. For some reason, I'm having trouble uploading images from my camera to my computer. As soon as I figure out what the problem is, I'll post the photo. So.... how would you like to play along? Create something using the colors I listed before, and leave me a comment with either a gallery link or a link to the photo on your blog, and I'll post the link in a future post (near future). I'm not a techno-genious, but I'm not a techno-idiot, either, so I can probably figure out how to do it. LOL. Have a great day, and have fun creating!

My Birthday (Card) Bash

was on Friday night (6-13). We made five each of two different designs. I'd like to say that I designed both cards, but I did not. The layouts are from Andrea Walford's Bali Breeze class. The first card is almost exactly the same as Andrea's. The only thing different is the sentiment. On this card, I used a Whisper White base, and layers of Certainly Celery, Taken with Teal, Old Olive, and Whisper White card stocks, and Bali Breeze DSP. I used the flowers from Embrace Life, and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations. Both are stamped in Jet Black Staz-on Ink. I used my blender pen to add color to the flowers with Old Olive ink for the stems, and Purely Pomegranate ink for the flowers. I tied double stitched grosgrain in Pomegranate around the card and popped the main image up on dimensionals. I finished it off by adding a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the centers of the little flowers.

The second card is a little bit different. I used a Whisper White base and layers of Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal, and Whisper White card stocks and Bali Breeze DSP. The little flowers are from A Beautiful Thing, and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations. The flower petals are stamped with Rose Red ink, and the flower centers are stamped with Pumpkin Pie ink. The sentiment is stamped with Basic Black ink. I added felt flowers from the Accents and Elements Flower Fusion. There are over 130 flowers of all different shapes and sizes in this tin, in three different colors -- Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, and Old Olive; oh, and they all come with a tiny hole in the center so you can attach them together, which I did with a gold brad. I finished the card by tying double stitched grosgrain in Pomegranate around the Teal layers and adding a little bit of glitz with some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the centers of the flowers. I attached the little felt flower with a dimensional, and voila! What do you think?

Mark's Birthday

Yesterday, we went to a birthday party for Mark, a man that my husband works with. He and his wife, Deana, are very nice people; and they have a son, Aiden, the same age as my son, Eric (2-1/2). Well, the two of them found a pretty good sized mud puddle. Boy, were they filthy!!! Eric got this huge blop of mud on his head, and it was dripping down his face. Normally, I don't let my children play in mud puddles. Good thing there was a tub nearby. Anyway, I needed a birthday card for Mark, so this is what I came up with. I CASEd the layout from Andrea Walford (she is amazing), but I used different stamp sets and different card stocks and DSPs. The card base is Tempting Turquoise, and I used layers of East Coast Prep DSP and Wild Wasabi card stock. I used my retired daisy punch to punch out a flower from each of Tempting Turquoise and Wild Wasabi. I attached them together with a gold brad. I finished the card by tying some Wild Wasabi stitched grosgrain around the Wild Wasabi layers and attached it to the card with dimensionals. I also attached the little flower to the card with a dimensional. I really like the way this card turned out. Hey, check it out ~ I finally figured out how to add a copyright to the image. Now if only I could figure out that cool watermark thingy....

Yup, it's definitely one of those days...

Well, I didn't get to do any stamping today (not that I get the opportunity much, anyway...); between running after a 2-year old who figured out how to open doors and nursing my 4-month old daughter, I'm about spent. I did get to scan a couple of cards into my computer, though. DH's and my 20th wedding anniversary was on May 21 of this year. It was an insanely busy day, so I literally had to throw a quick card together. Considering I put it together in less than 5 minutes, I don't think it turned out all that bad... I used Mellow Moss for the card base, and layers of Almost Amethyst and Barely Banana underneath a layer of white vellum paper. I stamped images from True Friend in Encore Gold on the vellum and embossed with gold embossing powder. The sentiment is from one of the All-Year Cheer sets (can't remember which). I used my ticket corner punch on the Barely Banana layer and attached the vellum to the Almost Amethyst layer with gold brads.

The other card I managed to scan in is the Father's Day card I am sending out this year. I CASEd the layout from another blog I visited (sorry, I can't remember which one). I have the East Coast Prep DSP, and I thought it would be perfect for this. The trend over the past few years has been for more muted colors and earth tones. I had forgotten just how much fun brighter colors can be! The card base is Real Red, and I layered it with Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Confetti White, and a strip of the East Coast Prep DSP. I dry embossed the Tempting Turquoise layer using the Dots brass template. I finished off the card with that wonderful striped grosgrain in Real Red, and I popped the sentiment (from All Holidays, stamped in Real Red) up on dimensionals. I think the dads will really like this one! What do you think?

Ever have one of those days?

Well, I'm having one now, and it's only 7:10 a.m. All day yesterday I felt like I had a pumpkin over my head. Today, I can't even walk straight. My equilibrium is waaay off. I'm wondering if everything I stamp today will be cock-eyed... I'm kind of afraid to carry the baby around. I don't want to trip and fall with her in my arms. She is so sweet; and she doesn't care if her mom is a dizzy chick....

My most recent creation

All Stampin' Up! demonstrators received the Level 3 hostess set, "Time Well Spent," back in November or December (can't remember which). At first, I really didn't like it much; it's not really my style. However, I started playing with it, and the more I played with it the more I liked it. I created this card and actually sent it to Stampin' Up! for one of their monthly contests. I didn't win, though... :( Oh well, at least I had fun creating it! I used Purely Pomegranate card stock for the card base and 1/2" strips of Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, and Barely Banana card stocks for the background. I stamped the images on Whisper White card stock in Jet Black Stazon Ink and watercolored them using my Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an aqua painter. I finished the card by adding a rhinestone brad to the center of the flower, tying some Whisper White grosgrain ribbon around the card, and popping the images up on dimensionals. I also added a row of dots with Stampin' Up!'s white gel pen (the best on the market!). I'm somewhat watercolor-challenged, so forgive me if the image seems like it has no color. It really does, I promise. I did darken it up before I sent it to Stampin' Up!; I just forgot to take a picture of it after that...