New Stamps and New Colors!

Like all demonstrators, I had the opportunity to pre-order some new stamp sets and the brand new 2008 In Colors. Yesterday, I finally had the opportunity to play around with some of my new goodies. I used the new "Wow Flowers" stamp set for the flowers on the card, which I stamped onto Whisper White card stock in Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, and Kiwi Kiss. I sponged on a little Baja Breeze ink to soften it up, and then cut that piece of card stock into the two sizes I needed. I used Baja Breeze for the card base, and then I took a couple of 1" strips of Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango and punched the edges of them using my new scallop edge punch. I layered them onto the top and bottom of the card. I then used a layer of Kiwi Kiss card stock in the center of the card and mounted my stamped piece of white card stock, after I punched the corners of it with my ticket corner punch. I stamped the sentiment from "Sincere Salutations" onto my smaller piece of stamped card stock, punched the corners, and mounted that onto Pacific Point card stock and mounted that one onto Tangerine Tango card stock. I then added a strip of white taffeta ribbon, which I dyed using the Tangerine Tango ink pad and a sponge. I finished the card by adding the sentiment layer to the card with some dimensionals. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I like the new Kiwi Kiss, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the way the card turned out, considering I was just playing around!

Back to Stamp Another Day...

It seems like forever since I last posted something. A lot has happened since my last post. Sadly, I really haven't gotten much stamping done; although I do have a couple of new things to post. I made this card a couple of weeks ago for my son's Early Intervention service coordinator, Angela, who is having a baby boy later this month. I just had to use this set... it seemed perfect! All of the images are from the now retired set, "Unfrogettable." I used Soft Sky card stock for the card base, and a layer of Whisper White card stock, on which I did all of the stamping. I colored the images with all of the now retired 2007 In Colors ink pads (Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, River Rock, Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate and Soft Sky) using a blender pen (yeah, I know my froggie got a little messed up). I sponged a little Wild Wasabi ink on the bottom of the white card stock and a little Soft Sky ink over the rest of the white card stock. I cut a frame out of Blue Bayou card stock and mounted it to the card with dimensionals. I added some dazzling diamonds glitter with my 2-way glue pen and popped the cut out mushroom up on a dimensional. I finished it off by adding the sentiment, which I printed off my computer using RGB codes for Wild Wasabi (cool, huh?). I mounted it onto a strip of Wild Wasabi card stock and added a couple of Soft Subtles brads to each end. I then punched out a little photo corner with my photo corners punch and mounted it to the top of the card. I had a meeting with Angela on July 30, and I gave this to her then. She absolutely loved this card!

For My Mom

I made this card the other day for my mom. I really miss her. My hubby is going down to her house on Friday for a few weeks to do some work there, so I'm sending this card with him. I got the idea for this card from a demonstrator technique challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. The technique used is "reverse spotlighting," and it's the first time I've ever done it. Beate Johns has a great tutorial about how to do this. I used the same set she used, "A Beautiful Thing." The actual card is a 4" x 8" piece of Blush Blossom card stock, which I folded to make a 4" x 4" square. On top of that is a layer of Rose Red card stock, which I stamped on with Basic Black ink and punched holes in over three of the main images with my 1-1/4" hole punch. I then used the 2-step flower from "A Beautiful Thing" to stamp three other flowers onto Whisper White card stock using Soft Sky and Rose Red inks. I cut out the flowers and lined them up and mounted them behind the punched-out circles, and mounted the layer onto the front of the card. I then mounted the card on a 1/4 sheet of Pixie Pink card stock and stamped the sentiment on it in Rose Red ink. I finished the card by adding some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the flowers and tying a piece of Purely Pomegranate double stitched grosgrain ribbon around the card. My mom is going to love this card. I'm going down to see her a week after my hubby goes down. I can't wait to see her!

I'm Not Done Yet....

Like I said, I've been really busy.... I've got a few more cards to post, but I didn't want to make the previous post too long. This next card I made for my neighbor's daughter, who is getting married this Saturday. It's simple, but I really like the way it turned out. I'm not so happy about the way it scanned, though; it kept sliding around in my scanner when I shut the lid. Oh well, you can still see it... I used Brocade Blue card stock for the base of the card, and I used a layer of Brushed Silver card stock which I put some score lines into with my paper trimmer. I then used a small layer of Whisper White card stock which I stamped the large flower from "Embrace Life" and the sentiment from the now retired "All Year Cheer III" in Jet Black Staz-on ink. I water colored the flower using my Rich Regals Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an aqua painter. After it dried, I covered the whole thing with VersaMark ink and Iridescent Ice embossing powder, which I melted with my heat tool. I finished the card by tying some narrow white organdy ribbon and silver cord (both now retired) around the card. It's really sparkly and so much prettier in real life.

This next card I made yesterday and sent down to my son in Fort Jackson, SC. The layout is a first for me, but I got the idea from an old Splitcoast sketch challenge. It was a fun card to do, and I like the way it turned out. It scanned kind of dark, though, and I couldn't lighten it up without washing out the rest of the colors. Oh well... I used Soft Sky card stock for the card base, and using my Coluzzle, I cut out half ovals from Wild Wasabi card stock and designer paper from the now retired "Creative License Simply Scrappin' Kit" and circles from Blue Bayou card stock and the same designer paper (actually the other side). I stamped on the card base with the stars from "Background Basics" in Soft Sky ink and mounted the half ovals on the left side of the card. I then added a strip of Wild Wasabi double stitched grosgrain ribbon and then added the circles, which I popped up on dimensionals. To the center of the circles, I added a medallion, which I punched out of Pumpkin Pie card stock, and added punched layers of Wild Wasabi and Whisper White card stocks. I stamped the sentiment from "All Holidays" on the Whisper White card stock in Wild Wasabi ink. I finished off the card by adding a "faux bow" with the Wasabi ribbon. I like the way it turned out; although, my hubby said it's "weird." LOL

Where Has the Time Gone???

Oh my, I have been so busy the past few weeks, and have had so little time on the computer. Now that the kids are out of school, I have to fight to use my own computer... LOL. Anyway, I've had somewhat of a creative streak in the past couple of weeks. My oldest son left for Basic Training on June 29, so I made up a bunch of cards and handmade stationery so he could take them with him and write to his friends and family. This is one of the cards I made for him to take with him. I used Soft Sky card stock for the card base, and stamped it with Soft Sky ink using my soon-to-be-retired "Weathered" background stamp. I added strips of Blue Bayou and Pumpkin Pie card stocks and a medallion from "True Friend" stamped on Soft Sky card stock in Blue Bayou ink and layered onto Wild Wasabi card stock which was punched out with my Scallop Circle punch from Stampin' Up! The sentiment is from "Sincere Salutations" and was stamped in Blue Bayou ink. I finished the card by adding a Pumpkin Pie brad from the Earth Elements brads to the center of the medallion and popping it up on dimensionals. Easy peasy...

The 29th of June was also my son Brian's 8th birthday, so I made this card for him. I used Soft Sky card stock for the card base, and torn layers of Certainly Celery and Tempting Turquoise for the mountains and water. I stamped on the Turquoise layer with the Lily Pad wheel with Always Artichoke ink. I colored in the lily pads with a Mellow Moss marker and the flowers with a Regal Rose marker. I stamped the frog from soon-to-be-retired "Unfrogettable" in Always Artichoke ink on Whisper White card stock and colored him in with my Mellow Moss marker. I cut him out and added him to the card with a dimensional. I then stamped the sentiment from "Unfrogettable" in Always Artichoke ink, and I drew some water droplets with my Tempting Turquoise marker. I punched the sun out of Barely Banana card stock with my 1-inch circle punch and added it to the card. I finished the card by adding Dazzling Diamonds glitter to all the waves, flowers, and water droplets with my 2-way glue pen. I really like the way this card turned out, and I'm going to miss this stamp set when it retires next month. It's great for little boy cards, and I certainly have plenty of them...

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!