Rox71 Rocks!

My fellow Michiganian and sketch challenge hostess (and queen) for Splitcoaststampers (SCS), Rox71, is our featured stamper on SCS today. Roxie is one of those rare talented stampers who unselfishly shares in depth how she creates her cards, a quality I really appreciate. Although I have not yet met, Roxie, I hope to one day.



I literally spent hours perusing Roxie's SCS gallery trying to settle on a card I wanted to case. I kept coming back to her beautiful Black and Red card.

We are required to change two or more things in our casing of the featured stamper's card. Things I changed are:
1. colors
2. stamp sets
3. Cuttlebug embossing folders
4. border punch shape
5. I added piercing and ribbon

Although I love red and black, I used my beloved purple and black. I stamped my Friendship Blooms flowers in Versafine Black, cut them out, and rolled the petal edges around a stylus to shape them. Lavender gemstones were added to the flower centers. I used the flourish stamp from this same stamp set for the background on the top Lavender Lace panel.

Congratulations, Roxie!

Stamps: Friendship Blooms, Petal Pushers
Cardstock: Lavender Lace, Black, White
Ink: Versafine Black
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folders, Oval All punch, oval punch, paper piercer, black and white striped ribbon, dimensionals, corner rounder, scallop border punch

Inspiration Challenge

Yesterday, hubby and I were out of town for the majority of it, and I didn't get a chance to upload this card to my blog that I made for the Inspiration challenge on Splitcoast. We were to select a book cover from the Book Cover Archive, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com. I selected the cover of a book entitled The Egg Code from Book Cover Archive because I was drawn to the circle of trees.

I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up and connect the trees from Stampin' Up's Lovely As a Tree, and I colored the them with Copic markers. I sponged Soft Sky from the center outward on the Very Vanilla cardstock and graduated to the darker color of Buckaroo Blue.

Stamps: Lovely As a Tree, It's Your Birthday
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Not Quite Navy, Soft Sky, Buckaroo Blue
Accessories: sponges, oval punches, tag corner punch

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday! Thanks for stopping by!

Pre-School Graduation?

I think I've been living under a rock or sumpin' (sic). My friend and coworker asked me the other day if I would make a graduation card for her niece who was graduating from pre-school. I gave her my quizzical look and said, "You're joking, right?"

"Absolutely not!" she replied.

I mean, where have I been and how long have they been doing pre-school graduations? Talk about feeling old and not being with it! Ha!

Oh, whoa is me, was my first thought: must I really trudge off to my stamp room and make yet another card? NOT!!!! And I was worried I wouldn't be able to blog. Silly, silly me!

For those of you who know how hopelessly addicted I am to card making, I jumped at the chance to make this card for my friend's little cutie-patootie niece (don't you just love her pretty black and white dress?). She wanted her niece's photo incorporated into the card, which I scanned and purtied up in my photoshop program to isolate her from all the other people in the photo. I really wanted to try the hinged card technique challenge posted on Splitcoast earlier this week and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do that. I can see where making hinged cards could be another addiction. Oh what fun I had making this!

I stamped the mortarboards in Versafine Black and then watercolored them with my Pretty in Pink reinker and watercolor brush. A black marker finished off the the tiny center piece on top of the cap that holds the tassle in place. Speaking of tassle, I used pink grosgrain ribbon to make a tassle for this little graduate's card by fraying the ribbon, knotting it at the end, and then wrapping it around the letter B brad before securing the brad into place.

Here's the hinged card open. Since the hinged panel that moves up needs the space to move, I reverse masked the large star punch shape by sponging Pretty in Pink around it and then stamping the "the one and only" sentiment on the inside in order to keep these flat yet give some kind of dimension.


I brought this card into my co-worker yesterday, and she went bonkers over it! Talk about making my day!

I hope your day is an absolutely splendiferous one, too!


Stamps: Stampin' Up's Little Layers (mortarboard) and Amazing to Zany (inside sentiment); H&M Stamps ( Congrats sentiment); There She Goes A-Z and 1, 2, 3 (Brooke's name)

Cardstock: Black, White, Pretty in Pink

Ink: Versafine Black, Pretty in Pink

Accessories: oval Nestabilities, black initial brad, pink brads, star punches, frayed ribbon, lace border punch, watercolor brush

To Sketch or Not to Sketch

Today is the sketch challenge over on Splitcoaststampers. I almost didn't participate today because I really am terribly challenged at multiple layering on my cards. I really struggle with bringing multiple colors and patterns together in a pleasing manner, and I so admire those of you who are so good at it! But then I said to myself the purpose of a challenge is to make us stretch and grow in our creativity, so I set about the task of seeing what I could do.

Now, if you could only see my stamp table from this morning's endeavors....it LOOKS like a tornado hit! I can't even begin to count how many different colors of cardstock and designer paper I cut out for the different layers on today's sketch challenge. I probably could make another twenty cards from the scraps left on my table! Ha! Anywhoooo, several hundreds of minutes later, here's what I finally settled on.

My layers on this card start with a More Mustard card base, then a matting of Not Quite Navy, a piece of Very Vanilla embossed with the Cuttlebug houndstooth embossing folder after I rubbed More Mustard onto the folder, Chocolate Chip matting for the smaller panels, and SU designer paper from an old scrapbook pack.

Aren't these little buttons cute? They are from Stampin' Up's Latte button collection. I like how the floral brown button matches the shape of the Trendy Tree. I used Stampin' Up's tag corner punch for the opposing corners on my main image panel and then paper pierced those corners. The stamp-a-ma-jig really comes in handy for lining up the tree branches with the tree foliage on the Trendy Trees stamp set.

So, how about helping a gal out here and sharing some of your tips for how you bring multiple colors, patterns, and layers together. I'd love to hear from you!

Stamps: Trendy Trees, All Holidays

Cardstock: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, SU dp

Ink: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy

Accessories: SU Latte buttons, SU tag corner and oval punches, paper piercer, dimensionals, Cuttlebug houndstooth embossing folder.

Piece It, Pierce It, Color It!

I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! Our weather was beautiful here, so hubby and I got a lot of yard work done. In between the yard work, I got some stamping done. Now, if only the house cleaning fairies would arrive to do their job!

It was my turn to host our Doubledog Dare challenge last week for the group, and I called this one Piece It, Pierce It, Color It! I challenged the group to make a card (or project) using the colors Kraft, Regal Rose, Black and Sage Shadow (the latter color was optional), and they also had to use the techniques of paper piecing and piercing. As you can see, I used all of the colors.



I chose to paper piece the flower and used a wavy piercing pattern on the two skinny panels behind the flower. I used my 1/4" circle punch to create my row of faux brads.

The sketch design is from Mojo Monday #88, and I have link to this site on my side bar if you're interested in checking it out.

We would love it if you joined us in our challenge. If you upload to a gallery on Splitcoaststampers, be sure to use keywords DDC so we can see what you come up with! Or, you can post a comment with a link to your card on any of our blogs. The group is listed in my sidebar, including their SCS usernames, if you want to check out their galleries.

Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve), It's Your Birthday (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Versafine Black
Cardstock: Kraft, Sage Shadow, Black, and Stampin' Up designer paper
Accessories: Martha Stewart butterfly, leaf, and picket fence punches; 1/4" circle punch, circle Nestability, dimensionals, paper piercer

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day, everyone, and thank you to all of our service men and women who serve or have served in our armed forces to protect this great nation of ours!

Deb, aka 88keys, is our May CCEE challenge hostess, and she sent us the most beautiful supplies (thank you, Deb!) for our monthly supplies challenge that we do the last week of every month. She sent us three sheets of Basic Grey designer paper from their Bittersweet Collection instructing us to use two of the three papers. For my two, I used the Blushing Pink and Vanilla Fudge papers. She also sent us this beautiful goldish ivory satin ribbon that matches the goldish color in the designer paper, as well as some chocolate satin ribbon. The ribbons were optional, but I just had to use one of them. The last item she sent was this pretty crystal-like gemstone.

My sketch design is from last week's Mojo Monday #87 sketch challenge. I have their badge on my sidebar if you are interested in checking out the sketch challenges there.

I chose the "hello beautiful" sentiment for my CCEE challenge card because we are sending our challenge cards, along with any others we may want to send, to Cards for Heroes in observance of Memorial Day. While I recognize that we have both men and women in the service, I wanted to make this card for a man to give to his significant other since I made a feminine card with the beautiful supplies.

My lotus flowers were colored with Copic markers and then I added a little bit of icicle Stickles to give them some dazzle.

If you'd like to participate in our challenge, send your cards to Card for Heroes, and/or see the cards my friends made, please check out our CCEE Stampers blog

Stamps: A Year of Flowers by Gina K; Amazing to Zany by Stampin' Up
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Tuxedo Memento Black
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Basic Grey dp
Accessories: Copic markers; circle Nestabilities, Marvy scallop corner punch, SU scallop border punch, ribbon, crystal gemstone, dimensionals; stickles

Mercy Mercy!

It's the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoaststampers this week, and today we honor Mercy Kerin, a wonderfully talented stamper, by casing one of her creations. I chose her beautiful Great Friend card:

We're required to change two or more things in our casing of a Featured Stamper's card. I changed colors, stamps, used metal dots, altered the paper piercing in the corners, and used the oval all punch.



I colored my butterfly with Stampin' Up's Cameo Coral reinker and a watercolor brush, adding depth of color for shading by using less water on my brush. I covered the butterfly with crystal effects and a pinch of dazzling diamonds.

Congratulations, Mercy! I hope you're enjoying your special day!

Stamps: God's Beauty, Oval All, Pocket Silhouettes

Cardstock: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Whisper White

Ink: Soft Sky, Tuxedo Memento Black, Cameo Coral

Accessories: metal dots, oval all punch, crystal effects, dazzling diamonds, dimensionals, paper piercer

Dear Dana

Hello, hello, hello! Happy Wednesday! Here's another one of my favorite challenges to participate in and that is the sketch challenge on SCS hosted by Roxie. It's amazing to me how she keeps coming up with different sketch designs each week. Here we are on number 229!!!

A couple days ago, my husband and I received our niece's high school graduation announcement in the mail. She is the baby of all the grandchildren and, therefore, my last niece, as well as my godchild, to graduate from high school. It's somewhat sad to think how fast the years go by, but I am so proud of her. I don't get to see her very often since she lives waaaaaaay on the other side of the United States in the great state of Washington right along the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It's so beautiful there. But I digress. I wanted to point out that her graduation announcement, as is tradition, was in the colors of her high school, which I found very interesting: classy black and gold. Her announcement and today's sketch challenge were the inspirations behind my graduation card I made for her.

I gold embossed the mortarboard image from Stampin Up's retired set called Little Layers and then I colored the cap with my Slate Copic marker. You can see just a hint of the mortarboards on the inside of the card, which I also gold embossed.



Her name is spelled with alpha stickers that were black and white. I smudged some gold ink onto them with my finger to cover the white outline of the stickers. The flourish above Congratulations is from SU's Delight in Life, and Congratulations is from All Holidays.

Thanks for stopping by today and, as always, I look forward to reading your comments!

Stamps: Little Layers, Delight in Life, All Holidays (all by Stampin' Up)

Cardstock: Black, White, and Brushed Gold

Ink: Versafine Black, Gold

Accessories: Copic marker, Cuttlebug divine swirls embossing folder, SU star punch, gold brads and embossing powder, alpha stickers

CCEE and Mulberry

Gee, is it Monday already? Where does the time go?

I know I shouldn't whine, and I know I should be thankful for my job, but I am not looking forward to having to go back to work after being off the last two weeks. I so enjoyed being home and having the time be my time. Sigh.

On a happier note, Monday also means it's time for another CCEE challenge. Our hostess with the mostest this month is Deb Mills (aka 88keys on SCS) and this week she challenged us to use some kind of specialty paper on our design. Examples she gave were vellum, flock, foil, things of that nature. As I was cleaning my stamp room the other day, I came across a folder of some mulberry paper, so I decided to use the lovely dark purple sheet. You'll find the mulberry in the center of the flower on the purse tote, as well as behind the oval on the card.

Some time ago, I had favorited the cutest topnote die purse box made by Becky Roberts (aka geobeck on SCS). She has a great tutorial on her blog. This little purse box was so much fun to make! I rarely go outside my comfort zone of making cards, but lately, I've been trying to stretch myself to try some other things. For the flower on the purse flap, I used SU's scallop punch and cut between every two scallops toward the center (but not all the way to the center because it will fall apart if you do). I then sponged SU's Elegant Eggplant on the edges and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the dotted swiss embossing folder. I adhered my purple mulberry paper to a black 3/4" circle with a glue dot and glued that to the center of my flower. This is a partial flower of the gorgeous flowers I saw on Jami Bova's blog (aka SgtStamper). I put two large black eyelets on top of the purse and knotted and threaded my black and white stitched ribbon through for the handle.



For my thank-you card, I stamped this beautiful tulip stamp from A Year of Flowers by Gina K Designs onto Cryogen Sparkle White cardstock (I love the hint of sparkle in the paper---so beautiful!) with Tuxedo Memento black ink and colored it with my Copic markers (V06 and V09 for the tulip bulb; YG63 and YG67 for the stem and leaves).



In real life, the purples match very well; I think the color purple in its varying shades is hard to capture in a photograph. I must admit that I love this purple polkadotted gift set!

If you'd like to play along in our challenge, please check out the details at CCEE Stampers.

Have a great day!

Honoring Joan

I have several favorite challenges in which I like to participate, but one of my most favorite challenges is the Featured Stamper on SCS. Today we're honoring my friend and Doubledog Dare team member, Joan Ervin, by casing one of her fabulous cards. Joan has such flair for gorgeous, elegant cards. This is the card of hers I chose to case:



And here's my version with the two or more required changes:



I didn't have any pretty gingham checked paper, so I stamped the SU Canvas background stamp in Marvelous Magenta (I wish SU had never retired this color either) and then I stamped my silhouetted stamps in Versafine Black. I'm not certain, but I think these are Inkadinkadoo images. The sentiment is SU's Short & Sweet.

Instead of two primas, I made one and added the Certainly Celery leaves that I made by folding my card stock in half, hand cutting it, and then running it through my crimper.

I knotted satin black ribbon and taped the ends to the back of my cardstock and added the Certainly Celery grosgrain over the black knot.

I also changed the corners of my cardstock using my Marvy scalloped corner punch that reminds me of a dimple, so I often refer to it as a dimple punch.

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday. We have sunny, clear blue skies today!

God's Beauty

Happy Saturday everyone! It's another overcast, rainy day here today, but still there is so much beauty in God's nature. While I was getting ready to take a picture of my card today, I happened to notice this baby robin sitting on our deck rail. He just kept staring at me through the window, and my husband and I realized that he was probably just learning to fly. He sat like that for several minutes and then finally got up the courage to flap his furry wings into our nearby White Pine tree. Mama was nearby perched on our shepherd's hook, and she soon joined her baby to feed him a worm.

How fitting that we witnessed this beautiful event of mama feeding her baby when I had just finished making my card for the inspiration challenge on SCS! I was inspired by this pink home decor on the Country Living website:



I kept my card simple as I wanted to match the colors and lines of the inspiration piece. I so love pink and black together! This is a Stampin' Up hostess stamp set called God's Beauty that I recently received for hosting our monthly Stamper's 6 Club meeting. I think these images are so elegant just stamped in the black like I've done here, but they will also be beautiful to color.



I need to spend some time cleaning my messy stamp room today, and later we're off to visit family to celebrate May birthdays. I love spending time with family, and I'm especially looking forward to seeing my great nephew (3 years) and great niece (1+ years)!




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Bright Sunshiny Day!

It's a bright sunshiny day, indeed! Well, not literally since it's very overcast here in Michigan today, but it's a bright, sunshiny day for me because I had my surgical bandages and stitches removed from my right hand. I can now stamp with the use of both of my hands! Can ya see me doin' the happy dance? Hee!

My beach scene card was inspired by two challenges: one issued for today's SCS Limited Supplies challenge and the weekly Doubledog Dare challenge given to us earlier this week by Francie G to make a beach scene.



While I was still able to stamp a bit with my bandages because I had some use of my thumb, I was limited in that I couldn't use scissors. So today, I broke out the scissors for my beach scene card by cutting my sun, beach ball, and flip flops for some added dimension. I used my exacto to cut a small slit in the sand so I could tuck a part of the right flip flop into the sand. Typically, the flip flops are side-by-side since it is one stamp, but since I cut them out, I was able to arrange them into my scene as I wanted. These stamps are from an H&M Stamps set called Fun in the Sun.

I water colored the sand with Stampin' Up's (SU)Creamy Caramel reinker, water, and paint brush and then I used Ranger Distress Stickles (Frayed Burlap) for the sand texture over my water color. I also water colored the water using SU Cool Carribean and Tempting Turquoise reinkers. I used white Tulip paint and Puffy 3-D Glue along the shoreline for the water's foam. Using a post-it note cut with scalloped scissors, I sponged Bashful Blue for my clouds and sky. The pail, shovel, flip flops, sun, and beach ball were colored with Copic markers. I added white gel pen dots to the flip flops since I love polkadots and wanted polkadots on them. The beach ball and sun are raised on dimensionals.

I hope you're having a bright, sunshiny day, too!

So Much Kindness

Lookie what Mr. Postman delivered to me today! My sweet and generous friend, Joanne (aka JoJot on SCS), sent to me a get-well package containing some pretty flower embellishments, terrifically cute penguin kleenex in case I get to feeling too sorry for myself (no way would I actually soil these cute fellas with my tears or my snot--ha! ha!), a HUGE bag of m&ms (hey! I just worked out on the tread mill for a half hour, so I think I can have a few of these, don't you?), and the prettiest get-well card!! Thank you, JoJo, for the bright spot in my day today! You are so thoughtful! AND, I bet you are beside yourself with super-duper excitement with your upcoming weekend!!! How I wish I could be there---darn hand, anyway. Some day, some how, some way, we shall meet!

Also, a HUGE thanks to Jo for this outrageously AWESOME Elvis birthday card I asked her to make for a special relative's upcoming birthday! I LOVE it and I know she is going to go wild over this!

Challenge Addict

I must admit that I am a cardmaking challenge addict! I love all the various color, sketch, and technique challenges, as well as special challenges friends and fellow cardmakers post on their blogs. My card today is for the sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers and Mothermark's Teapot Tuesday challenge. Cindy's teapot is all white except for the brown handle. You can check it out on her blog at mothermark.blogspot.com.

I needed to make a masculine birthday card for my nephew, and I have to tell you that masculine cards are always my toughest challenge. The brown and white combo in the teapot seemed to lend themselves well to the masculine card I have to show you today. I just love this Cute and Curly stamp set that you can buy as a bundle with Stampin Up's curly label punch. The punched label is raised on dimensionals, and I outlined the curly shape with Close to Cocoa to create a faux matted look against the white distressed stripes embossed panel underneath.



I'm so glad you could stop by today, and, as always, I appreciate your comments!

Just Chicken In

Baaaawwwk! Bbb-bbb-baaaawwwk!

Here's a card I made using the bandana technique that Lynn gave us on Splitcoaststampers. I used my paisley print stamp from Stampin' UP's Polkadots and Paisley set. I stamped the image with Ridinghood Red ink onto Real Red cardstock and then used a white gel pen to doodle my dots. The black polkadots were made with a pencil eraser using Versafine Black ink.

I also used the sketch and color challenges over on Stamp TV. If you haven't checked this website out yet, you should! It has so much to offer, and I especially love the video tutorials Gina K does every Wednesday.

I haven't used my Best of Cluck set in ages and thought it the perfect choice to go with this bandana technique. I colored my chicken with Copic markers and then dotted the white dots on its body with a white gel pen.

Happy Cluckin', ya'll!

I am a mutt nut or is that Imamuttnut?

Monday already? Wow, those weekends go by much too fast! I hope yours was enjoyable. My sweet husband spoiled me on Mother's Day by cooking all of our meals and letting me play in my stamp room! He's a keeper!

My card is for the weekly Cheers & Challenges Eager Eight (CCEE)challenge I do every Monday with my CCEE Stamper friends. This week the challenge is for our monthly CNFS (Creative Name Featured Stamper) challenge, where someone selects an interesting user name of someone from Splitcoaststampers (SCS) and we make our cards around that.
Deb (aka 88keys)is our May challenge hostess and she selected “imamuttnut” and instructed us that our card had to have a dog on it.

I am so hooked on coloring with my Copic markers and, once again, used them to color this cute pooch from H&M Stamps. I've told myself that I really must dust off and use either my watercolor crayons, pencils, or chalks one of these days. Hmmmm....maybe a future challenge?

I first stamped SU's Canvas background stamp onto Creamy Caramel cardstock. I clear embossed the leafy branches from SU's Best Blossoms next. I used my new alphabet/number stamps from There She Goes called A-Z and 123 for "I am a mutt nut." Jessica also sells a grid acrylic block which makes it easier to line up the letters. I embossed the circular ivory panel with the Cuttlebug distressed stripes folder and used a sponge dauber to apply Close to Cocoa to the outer edge. I finished this panel off with a piece of hodgepodge hardware and chocolate chip grossgrain ribbon! Lastly, I punched the top corners of my card with my Marvy scallop corner punch, but I often refer to it as a dimple punch because that's what it reminds me of.

We'll send or cards to Laurie, aka imamuttnut, as we do for each of the CNFS stampers we choose.

If you'd like to join us in our challenge this week or see the cards my friends made, please visit our CCEE blog: http://cceestampers.blogspot.com/

Altered Tin

I'm playing with my Corel Paint Shop program to group photos. I have a few things to figure out yet, but wanted to show the different views of this altered tin I made. I bought these Creative Impressions medium sheer flowers and leaves well over a year ago and have never used them--yikes! They came in perfect for this tin.

I used Alene's Tacky Glue to hold my ribbon and papers securely; I love this product

Stamps: Ovall All
Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Rose Red, SU designer paper
Accessories: SU heart, tag corner, and oval punch; navy grossgrain ribbon, white brads, Sizzix flourish die cut, Alene's Tacky Glue, sponge, glue dots

I hope you had a supercalifragilistic day!

Where There's a Will...

...there's a way! I have been itching to make a card so badly that I couldn't stand it anymore! Yes, I must admit that I can be a pretty determined individual sometimes and today is a case in point. I was determined to make a card casing dbdoodle over on Splitcoaststampers as she is the featured stamper today! Debbie has so many cute cards in her gallery, and I chose to case this one of hers:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1082781?cat=500&ppuser=88674

What helped me to achieve my objective today was that I had colored this image a week or so ago using my Copic markers, and the ribbon and bow were already cut and in my basket of ribbon scraps. While I have become quite adept at using my left hand, there is no way I can use scissors yet with my right hand still bandaged.

I love the look on this darling owl's face. Doesn't he look as if he's saying, "Hoooo, me?" Yes, he's Mr. Innocent! This is one of the images in the Owl Always Love You stamp set by Gina K Designs.

A SPECIAL NOTE OF THANKS

I want to also thank my kind,thoughtful, and talented friend, Dawn Lusk for sending to me this gorgeous get-well card. Dawn is one of those talented artist's who can really bring flowers to life with her magnificent coloring skills.



Thanks for visiting me today! If you are a mom or mom-to-be, I hope you're having a very Happy Mother's Day!

Just Droppin' a Line

I was so excited to learn last week that I had won one of the new stamp sets by There She Goes called A-Z and 123, which is a set of 70 alphabets and numbers. Thanks, again, Jessica! I'll be posting a card I made using this set next Monday when I upload our next CCEE challenge.

In the meantime, I also ordered the Happy Day set from There She Goes, and it has some of the cutest images and sentiments! I especially love this cute tree because you can color it so many different ways as well as cut out and pop up the tree leaves. The image I used here is all one scene, but there are also individual stamps in the set. So much versatility!!! I cut out and popped up the white clouds over the clouds I initially stamped and colored blue for a bit of cloud lining. Don't those darling birds look so happy?

I colored everything with Copic markers and sponged some bashful blue on the background with my post-it note cloud template. I sponged a bit of barely banana closer to the ground; a tip I learned from my friend Kittie.

I made this card a couple days before my surgery so I'd have something to post to my ever-changing blog. Being a new blogger, I keep learning new things, adding things, and changing things. A big THANK YOU to all my friends who have been helping me with this new adventure!

Color Challenge

This post will probably be short as I am typing this one handed and with my nondominant hand! I underwent hand surgery earlier today to have pins removed from a finger on my right hand. Due to erosive arthritis, which insists upon eating away the cartilage in the joints of my fingers, I had one of my finger joints fused last summer to eliminate the severe pain and gross swelling I was experiencing in this finger. I am going to be one handed for about a week since my entire hand, except for my thumb, is encased in a surgical bandage. Needless to say, this really hampers my ability to stamp. Oh, we stampers. Is that all we think about? LOL!! Apparently so because my husband tells me one of the first sentences out of my mouth in the recovery room was "I think I'll be able to manipulate card stock!" He about died laughing!

Anywhooo, I had about 20 minutes before I left for the hospital this morning to make this quick and easy card for the color challenge on Splitcoaststampers. The colors we had to use were Ballet Blue, Cameo Coral, and Garden Green. I colored my Penny Black Blush image with Stampin' Up markers and water misted the stamp for a watercolored effect. I like the simple, understated effect for this card.

I hope to be back here and there with short posts until I'm back in the stamping groove! In the meantime, I'll be blurfing and surfing my favorite sites and, hopefully making some new discoveries and friends along the way. Maybe you can tell me one or more of your favorite stamping/blogging discoveries.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'd love to hear from you.

CCEE

Mother's Day


Happy Monday, everyone! Monday means it's time for another Cheers & Challenges Eager Eight (CCEE) challenge that I do with a group of friends. You can check out my sidebar to see everyone who is a part of this group.


Our challenge hostess for May is Deb Mills, also known as 88keys on Splitcoaststampers (SCS). I am looking forward to all the wonderful challenges Deb has in store for us this month. For today's challenge Deb decided that with Mother's Day being only a week away that it was a good time to make a Mother's Day card.


For my card I chose to use this Holly Pond Hill image called Watering the Garden because she reminds me of a mama rabbit and she also symbolizes how much my mother loves to garden. Even though this card is 5 1/4" square, the image still takes up a large amount of space, so I chose to keep my card simple today and will need to put my Mother's Day sentiment on the inside.






I colored my scene with Copic markers and sponged bashful blue around a cloud template for my sky. I used my octagon Nestabilities for the shape and Stampin' Up's designer paper.

We'd love it if you played along with us. All you have to do is create a Mother's Day card and link it to our CCEE stampers blog (http://cceestampers.blogspot.com/). If you upload your card/project to Splitcoaststampers, don't forget to include the keyword CCEEC. We can't wait to see what you create!

Prom Night: Faviana Style

Happy Saturday! I love Saturdays since it's my only day of the week to sleep in a little, but I also love Saturdays because it means it's time for another Inspiration challenge hosted by Stef on Splitcoaststampers. Today's inspiration piece comes from Faviana Prom Dresses at faviana.com.

Purple is one of my favorite colors, so I was immediately drawn to this magenta colored prom dress and pulled out a very old Stampin' Up stamp set called Haute Coutre. As I worked with this stamp set today, I wondered if anyone else still used this set. I know a lot of stampers retire old sets or sell them off, but I have such a hard time letting go of my stamps, thinking I just may want to use them again one day....such is the case today.

The card stock I used is this orchid colored Bazzill, as well as the magenta, dot-embossed card stock I used for the dress. I stamped the dress onto this beautiful card stock, cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals. I added Martha Stewart glitter to the bottom of the dress, as well as the shoe and purse images. I used my Slate Copic marker to color two of the small prima flowers, and I added small pearl beads to the flower centers.

Like most people, I have a few regrets in my life and one of them is that I never went to prom in high school. I was too busy working part-time, going to school, and dating a young man who had no interest in going to prom. However, had I gone, I would have loved to have worn a dress similar to this one! How about you? Did you go to your prom, and, if you did, what did you wear?