Dare to Get Dirty

I did as many of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoaststampers as time would allow me. I wish I could have done them all, but I am leaving on vacation, so this is my last submission.

I believe my card qualifies for:

Cindy Haffner's sketch challenge (great sketch, Lou!)

Bev Mom's sew unexpected - do not own a sewing machine and only know a few basic hand stitches. I hand sewed the bottom right corner under the image with lavender embroidery thread. I "faux sewed" the upper left after I was unhappy with the messy appearance of my real sewing. Ugh! I tried.

Becca Stamps - to cut it out - punches and dies - I used an octagon Nestability that I cut some of the shape off for a different look.

TruCarMa to use a food related item (carrot---am I stretching it here, Carole???)

Pickle Tree - Born to be Wild - bunnies are soft and cuddly and tame, but I reckon there are some wild ones in the bunch, too.

DeborahLynneS - taken with texture - dimensionals, dry embossing, and liquid applique (on bunny's tail)--see ya in a couple days, Deb!

I wanted a bright, cheery card to send to a woman who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer in the hopes that it might lift her spirits a bit.

I'm going to the Michigan U.P. Stamping event for a few days----WOO-HOO!!! I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new friends and being inspired! I'll have my laptop with me, I don't know if I'll have an opportunity to post or check in with other blogs. But, like Arnold always says, "I'll be back!"

Kermit's at the Tea Party!

Didja hear? Didja hear the 'citin' news?!?! Kermit is coming to da Muddermark's tea party today! Word is that we'll be sippin' our tea on a soft, cushy lilypad while listenin' to Kermie sing his "It's Not Easy Bein' Green" song. Remember those lyrics? If not, here they are for your edification:

It's not that easy bein' green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold-
or something much more colorful like that.

It's not easy bein' green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water- or stars in the sky.

But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why? Wonder,
I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.

Although I tend to be silly a lot of the time, I really do have a deeper side and often reflect on the deeper meaning and purpose of life (no, I haven't figured that one out--ha!) But I just want to point out that this really is a cool song when you pay attention to the message within the lyrics. How many of us feel like we just blend into the background because we don't possess great beauty or talent or we're not in the limelight in some way? We must each remember that we are beautiful and possess wonderful talents in our own way; and, if we can embrace that concept, what a boost to our self esteem, which, in turn, allows our inner light to shine forth and touch others in positive ways! Whoa! Somebunny stop me now. Let's get back to the frog story....

As you may know by now, I love to participate in da Muddermark's (aka Mothermark) Teapot Tuesday challenges. Each Tuesday, she features a teapot on her blog from which we draw our inspiration to create our card (or other project). The supah fun part is that our dear, goofy friend always has an adventure planned for our tea parties and typically has some hilarious story associated with the inspiration teapot! I must tell you that the number of tea party attendees has been growing because we have so much fun! I hope you will consider checking out the Teapot Tuesday challenges and joining us. Here's the inspiration teapot:



So, without further ado (yeah, I know I already did enough of that), I hereby present to you my Teapot Tuesday-inspired card. Drumroll please.....




I had so much fun making this card. I bought this SU lily pad wheel so long ago and I don't think I've ever used it. So, imagine my excitement when I saw Cindy's sneak peek last week that we'd be doing something with a frog and lily pads! Yep. It doesn't take much get me 'cited. I colored my Unfrogettable froggie with Copics, cut him out (he didn't feel a thing...really), and popped him up on dimensionals on his soft, cushy lily pad. Oh, and I gave him googlie eyes cuz they crack me up.

My card also fits a few of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges posted on Splitcoaststampers and available to those who are fan club members. My card fulfills the following challenges:

1. Lauraly (tie one on using ribbon). I first used my SU spiral punch on the side of my cardstock so I could do a different kind of ribbon weave.

2. Kittie747 (make a scene). I think this one is obvious.

3. Becca Stamps (cut it out using punches, dies, etc.) I used my square Nestabilities (reverse framing), my spiral punch, and my Sizzix daisy die.

4. DeborahLynneS (taken with texture). I used googlie eyes and I quilled the sun. Note: This is my first time trying quilling, which also fits the SCS Technique challenge from yesterday to quill, so I did something simple with a sun.

5. debdeb (moved by the music). I love all kinds of music and have been known to break out into song at the slightest provocation...much to the chagrin of my friends since I can't carry a tune very well. Deb challenged us to use our favorite song or any piece in general that moves us. Like I indicated above, the lyrics to this song have a terrific message!

So, why not grab your stamps and creativity and join us at the tea party? Remember, we're floating on lily pads today, so you might want to wear an outfit that you don't mind if it gets wet. Sometimes the tea parties get a little rowdy (some of the guests---who shall remain nameless to protect their innocence---get a bit schnockered). I can just see some of the others trying to hop from lily pad to lily pad and dunking the guests.

Stamps: Unfrogettable, lily pad wheel
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, Whisper White, Cryogen Sparkle White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue
Accessories: paper piercer, quilling strip, googlie eyes, Copic markers, ribbon, spiral punch, dimensionals, diasy die, cloud template, dauber

CCEE Supply Challenge

Happy Monday, ya'll! Monday means it's time for another Cheers & Challenges Eager Eight (CCEE) challenge. Today our supplies are brought to us by DawnL. She sent us this beautiful designer paper and moss green brad and gave us carte blanch to create whatever we wanted. Thank you, Dawn! I love this gorgeous designer paper!

A good friend of mine is a coffee addict...just like me...so I wanted to go with a coffee theme for her birthday card. I created my coffee cup using my circle Nestabilities. I used the small piece I snipped off the top of the cup for the base of it. I sponged the Close to Cocoa cardstock with Close to Cocoa ink on the edges. The coffee handle was made with SU's large and small oval punches. The scalloped floral border is a Fiskar's punch; I used SU's double rectangle punch for my ribbon weave.

I used the Midnight Madness sketch challenge and have a link to their blog in my sidebar, if you want to play, too!

If you'd like to see the cards my friends, made, check out our CCEE blog.

Stamps: Amazing to Zany; Flourish (unknown)
Cardstock: Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Heidi Grace Designs designer paper
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Circle Nestability, oval punches, Fiskars scalloped border punch, double rectangle punch, flower punch, ribbon, Basic Grey brad, dauber, gold cord

Romper Room Memories Dare to Get Dirty

"Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic mirror, tell me today. Have all my friends had fun at play?"

This quote will probably sound familiar to a lot of you who grew up on Romper Room. It was one of my favorite shows as a small child.

Remember how Miss Nancy would look through her magic mirror and recite names, like "I see Billy and Susie and Linda and, oh, there's Annie, too...."??? I don't ever recall her saying Charlene (hiccup), but with each show I hoped she would.

Further, do you remember Mr. Do Bee (the bumblebee), who taught the children lessons on how to be good boys and girls?

This week I challenged my Doubledog Dare group to make a Mr. Do Bee card (using a bee somewhere on their card, of course) teaching a young child one or more good manners.



I also see it's that time of the year for the Dare to Get Dirty challenges, so I incorporated a few of those into this card:

1. use a clear sheet (acetate--I embossed it and used my 3/4" circle punch)
2. cut it out (punches, dies)
3. use texture (brads, dotted swiss embossing folder)
4. use ABCs to spell it out
5. anything but average---make a shaped card
6. use a winged creature (the tiny bees buzzing the hive stamped behind the sentiment and on the bee brad)

Here's a close up so you can see the dotted swiss embossed acetate (or so I thought):



Stamps: Good Things, Mini Mates, Studio G (alphabet set)
Cardstock: Real Red, Black, White, Acetate
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Barely Banana
Accessories: various circle punches, circle Nestabilities, scallop punch, bee brad, red brads, Cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing folder, dimensionals

The Happy Couple

Francie G., of our Doubledog Dare group, challenged us to make a wedding card this week. I'll admit that I've not made many wedding cards since I started stamping, but this challenge came at just the right time since a co-worker asked me to make a wedding card for her to give to her niece and nephew-to-be.

I found this Happy Couple image by Stampendous at my local Hobby Lobby. I colored the images with Copic markers, except for her bridal gown. I only added dazzling diamonds on her veil, her bodice, and hemline.

On the inside of the card, I used the same designer paper, but I cut out only a frame of it and applied it over the flourishes I stamped. I also added River Rock punched hearts. The Mr. & Mrs. sentiment are computer generated.

Stamps: Happy Couple (Stampendous); Baroque Motifs (flourish on inside of card)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Cryogen Sparkle White, River Rock, dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Copic markers, oval Nestability, paper piercer, ivory satin ribbon, pearls, word window punch, heart punch


I also wanted to share a photograph my husband took this morning of these two fire flies on our dining room window. He said, "Awww! They're spooning!" Yeah, right, hon. I'm sure that's what they're doing. Or was it me who said they were spooning and he said, yeah right. LOL! Everyone is a legend in their own mind!!



Isn't my hubby a good photographer? I think this is such a cool photo!

CCEE Fun and Summery

Dawn went fairly easy on us this week by challenging us to make a fun and summery card. I immediately thought of these cute ice cream bars/cones/popsicle images by H&M Stamps. Although I rarely eat ice cream, there's just something about going to the local ice cream shop on a hot summer day to enjoy a cold treat. I also knew that I wanted to make this a Clean and Simple (CAS) card.



I colored my images with Copic markers and colored the alternating letters on the Happy Birthday sentiment with my SU regal rose, chocolate chip, and only orange markers. Fast and easy and a refreshing break for me from laboring over sketch designs and layers and embellishments and on and on and on. LOL!

If you are able to join us in this challenge and you want to see the fabulous projects my CCEE buddies made, please check out our CCEE blog for the details.

Featured Stamper

Today's featured stamper on SCS is minnidr (Diane). I had not seen Diane's creations before, so it was nice to be able to acquaint myself with her gallery. I chose to case her beautiful Smell the Roses card.

And here's my card with the required challenge changes:



I am also submitting this for the Copic Creations Challenge #8 on their blog to color botanicals. I love the Year of Flowers stamp set designed by Melanie Muenchinger (distributed by Gina K). I colored my tulips with Copic markers R11, R20, R32, R35, and R37. The leaves were colored with Copic markers YG00, YG03, and YG06. The ladybugs on the inside of the card were colored with Copic marker R29.

I have a few more cards I have to make today, so I'll keep this post short for now. Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed Sunday!

Stamps: A Year of Flowers (Gina K)
Cardstock: Black, White, Gina K Pure Luxury White, dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Copic markers, black organdy ribbon, MS picket fence border punch, Cuttlebug distressed embossing folder, dimensionals

I Like Your Style Blog Award

A new friend, whose name is also Charlene, at Paper and Ink Playground awarded me this blog award. She is one talented and creative stamper, and I love visiting her blog.

Thanks, Charlene, for making me feel special!

I'd like to pass this award on to a few of my friends:

Cindy H
Frances
Tosha
Cammie
Bev
Anne
Judy

I'll have more to add, I'm sure, as there are so many of you who inspire me every day!

New Baby and Monkey Moe

Soon another precious baby will be joining this world, and the proud parents-to-be have chosen to decorate the nursery in a monkey theme. Instead of attaching a card to the baby gift at the shower, we were asked to buy an inexpensive children's book with a special message inside the cover from us. I love that idea! However, being a card maker, I still had to make a little card, too.

I've been seeing these adorable baby carriage cards and boxes all over the place lately and have had it in my mind to make one since I received my invitation to the baby shower. Since the parents-to-be chose to be surprised about the sex of their baby, I went with brown and SU's Sage Shadow for my color theme (those are also the colors of the baby's room). I used my circle Nestability dies and 3/4" circle punch to make the carriage, wheels and baby letters.

This darlin' monkey's name is Moe by Stampabilities. I found him at my local Hobby Lobby at 50% off! I love a sale! I colored Moe with Copic markers. I stamped the Riveting sentiment in Chocolate Chip and die cut the carriage wheels with my smallest scalloped circle Nestability. I used a 1/2" circle punch and chocolate brown brads for the wheel centers. The b-a-b-y letters are from a stamp set called A-Z and 1, 2, 3 by There She Goes. Other tools I used are the Cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing folder and SU's scalloped border punch.

Thanks for stopping by today. I always love your visits and appreciate your comments. And, if you've made it this far in my narrative, I'd be interested in knowing what message you would write inside the baby's book.

Two Hearts

One of the first people I met on Splitcoaststampers was Sharon Johnson (aka notimetostamp). I first noticed her flair for creating the quintessential elegant greeting card in the SU galleries. I refer to her as the Queen of Elegance. Second, I noticed that she was a fellow Michigander! Unfortunately, we live on the polar opposite sides of our great state (about an eight-hour drive by car), but I did have the good fortune to meet her a couple years ago and saw her again a year later at a Michigan stamping event. I'm going to see her and my other friend, DeborahLynneS, along with some other SCSers whom I have not met, in a couple weeks at another Michigan stamping event. Both Sharon and Deb are the sweetest, kindest, and most talented women.

I have two showers to attend tomorrow, one being a bridal shower, and I just haven't felt the mojo for making a card. Therefore, I went to my friend, Sharon's gallery, for some inspiration, and I immediately fell in love with her simply elegant Lets Get Negative card.

I love how she did the split negative with the heart dies and how fast this card came together. I made minor changes by adding the hearts dry embossing on the white panel and using my Marvy scalloped corner punch (thanks, again, JoJot; I so love this punch!). I chose to use these micro mini string of pearls versus the lone pearl Sharon used just to make it more of my own creation.



I don't know if Sharon will see this card because she is such a busy woman, but, Sharon, if you do, thank you for continuing to share your amazing talent with us, and I'm looking forward to seeing you, again!

The Tea Party is Being CAT-ered!

Someone forgot to pony up the dough for our air travel to da Muddermark’s (that’s Mothermark to most of you) weekly tea party, so we’ve been grounded in the good ol’ USA this week. I’d like to thank Sabrina (Cook22), once again, for the grand time we had in Dublin last week. She is such a gracious hostess and really knew how to handle some of the rowdy ones in our group (I won’t mention names).

KrisChir sent da Muddermark a picture of this absolutely adorable teapot she owns for our inspiration teapot this week. Isn’t it really cute?

Cindy has hired a few of my CAT-ering staff to help out with today’s shindig, so bring a dish to pass and let’s Throw one on the Barbie!! These cool cats know how to barbecue one mean fillet of mousie for the main entrée’. Absolutely scrumpdillyicious!

I masked this kitty image and stamped it five times and colored each kitty with Copic markers. The blue kitty in the middle is the head chef, so he gets the honor of wearing this cool chef’s hat from H&M Stamp’s It’s Picnic Time! Stamp set (the sentiment is also from the same set). You’ll note that the head chef also gets to wear a solid red bandana while the cat-erers-in-training are wearing their trainee scarves of gingham.

I used the sketch design from Midnight Madness (MMSC9). My color choices from the inspiration teapot also fit pretty good with a color challenge given to my Doubledog Dare group by sleepyinseattle (aka Joanne) to make a summer-themed card with summer colors! What’s hotter than summer sun and real red with a bit of blue tossed in to cool us off a bit from all the hot, hot, hot colors?

Edit: Sadly, I’ve learned that da Muddermark was not pleased with my cool CAT-ering staffs’ menu choice to barbecue fillet of mousie. Seems she’s whimped out on us and has changed this shindig to a potluck. I’ll bring soupe du jour (heh-heh-heh-----it’ll taste like chicken….trust me!)

I hope you’ll have a chance to join us at the tea party today! We always have a lot of fun!

Stamps: Meow, Meow; Polkadot bg; It’s Picnic Time! (H&M Stamps)
Cardstock: Real Red, Summer, Sun, White, Black
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Ballet Blue
Accessories: tag corner punch, black gingham ribbon, black and white eyelets, ¾” circle punch, scallop border punch, Copic markers

Awesome Blog Candy

Omigosh! Have you seen the awesome blog candy Priscilla is offering over at Midnight Madness for 30,000 hits on her blog? You DON'T want to miss out on the opportunity for this prize. Her generosity is outta this world! Check it out here.

Paw Prints Are Foot Prints!

DawnL chose Footprints27 as our CCEE Catchy Name Featured Stamper this month and told us that we had to have footprints on our card. I staunchly maintain that doggie paw prints ARE foot prints because our beloved poochies are our babies and so human like.



A couple of my coworkers have recently brought new puppies into their lives, so I was working on some kind of design to congratulate them on their new babies and figured Dawn's challenge fit the bill perfectly! This particular card will be sent to our CNFS, as we always do, but I made more than one of these for my co-workers. I think they'll get a kick out of them.

How about you pull out your foot prints stamps and play along with us? You can get all the details on our CCEE blog, as well as see the other cool cards my friends made.

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo, Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Black and White
Ink: Black
Accessories: Cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing folder, red and black plaid ribbon, word window punch, rectangle Nestabilities

How Schirmcat Got Her Red Hair

Schirmcat, aka Kelly, is the featured stamper on SCS today! I was so excited to see her name in lights and have been waiting for this day to case one of her cards.

Have you ever wondered how she got her red hair? Seems she met up with some naughty bunnies one day who were disguising their paint brushes as carrots. They lured poor, sweet Schirmcat over by offering her some carrots. Being the sweet, trusting, naive little kitty she is, she was like a lamb to the slaughter and fell into the naughty bunnies' trap to paint her hair red! Schirmcat is a tabby, so her hair already had that golden hue and with the addition of the naughty bunnies' red paint, she now has orange-red highlights in her hair.

Disclaimer: No bunnies or kitties were harmed in the making of this naughty card. They were merely colored with Copic markers and some heated liquid applique applied to two of the bunny butts. No hairs were singed or scorched. The naughty bunnies were stamped images sent to me a long time ago by da Muddermark. heh-heh-heh

Congratulations, Kelly!! It was so much fun to case your sweet Bunny Bouquet card. Your gallery rocks and you rock! Thank you for your talent and your wonderful sense of humor!

Stamps: Meow Meow (retired SU); bunnies unknown
Cardstock: Perfect Plum, Whisper White, nonSU dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Copic markers, MS lace border punch, liquid applique, button, white gel pen

Chasing Butterflies

I made this yesterday for the Inspiration Challenge on SCS. Our inspiration website was Chasing Fireflies and I chose the Pink Personalized Frame for my inspiration piece. I loved the simplicity of the frame and chose to stamp this teddy from Bundle of Joy onto this polkadotted dp.

My card is 4 1/4" square. I first cut my opening in the pink cs with my rectangle Nestability; then I selected the next larger die to create the outer frame embossing. I stamped my Bundle of Joy bear onto this cute polkadotted dp and cut it out and affixed it to the white cs with dimensionals.I found myself wanting to do real sewing on this card, but I don't own a sewing machine, so I did the paper piercing just down the one side of the card.

Stamps: Bundle of Joy
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White, SU dp
Ink: Black
Accessories: MS butterfly punch, Cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing folder, rectangle Nestabilities, paper piercer

Tea at the Botanical Gardens...in Ireland!!!

Grab your finest hat and white gloves for we're off to meet Sabrina (Cook22) in Dublin, Ireland today for da Muddermark's tea party! I am so excited; I've never been to Ireland! Sabrina is so classy and refined that we all need to be on our best behavior today (you got that, Bertie?)

Here's our inspiration teapot for today. Please make note that you'll definitely want to bring your hat since I understand we're at risk for bird doo-doo in our hair.....blucky, blucky poo-poo!! And, if you forget your hat, you have to come in the back door so we don't embarass Sabrina with any unwanted additions in our elegantly coiffed hairs!

I chose to use this scalloped Spellbinder die to simulate the shape of a hat, and I used Roses in Winter because that is the stamp set that immediately came to mind when I saw the inspiration teapot. My little birdies are from the Love You Much stamp set; I cut them out and popped them up with dimensionals. The speckles are from Petal Pushers. I stamped this pattern on a full sheet of white cardstock so I can use some of it again in future designs.

I hope to see you there

with no bird doo-doo in your hair!

Stamps: Roses in Winter, Love You Much, Petal Pushers
Cardstock: Rose Red, Whisper White
Ink: Black, Pink Pirouette, Positively Pink, Rose Red, Mellow Moss, Barely Banana, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Spellbinder circle dies, dimensionals, dauber

Jeff's Birthday

We'll be celebrating my nephew's birthday at dinner tonight, and I realized I had not made his birthday card yet! Yikes!



Stamps: Party Hearty, Tag punch
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, and Red and Chocolate SU dp
Ink: Riding Hood Red
Accessories: tag punches, ribbon, twine, Cropadile, MS picket fence border punch, Cuttlebug buttons border embossing folder, dimensionals

A Blog Award from Ann's Creative Nook!

My first blog award comes from a sweet and talented stamping friend, as well as fellow Michigander, Ann from Ann's Creative Nook! I had the good fortune to meet Ann at a Michigan stamping event about a year and a half ago. Thank you, Ann!

Now, as with any of these blog awards, the idea is to pass on the appreciation to fellow bloggers.
There a couple of fun "rules" (well, more like guidelines) to this award:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Since I'm still fairly new (as of April) to blogging, I have many new blogs that I've discovered. Each and every one of them in fabulous in their own right. My chosen bloggers are:

Anne
Bonnie
Cathleen
Chris
Christine
Cindy
Connie
Jami
Joanne
Jodi
Julie
MariLynn
Pat
Stef
Traci

I hope you'll take a moment to check them out!

Elzybell Goes Modern Grid

DawnL is the July CCEE challenge hostess and for this first Monday in July, she has challenged us to do the Modern Grid technique. I had never heard of this technique before, but I always love learning new techniques. This one is an easy one, too! Stamp your images on your cardstock and then draw equally sized squares with a ruler and black pen being careful not to draw a line through your image.

I recently won this cute Elzybell Just Desserts stamp set from Stamp Owl when she was offering some blog candy on her blog. This is my first Elzybell, and it has such cute sentiments with it. I thought it would be such a fun set to use on the modern grid technique. Thanks, Frances!

My images are colored with Copic markers. I then punched a 3/4" post-it note to use as a mask to lightly sponge color in the doughtnut and cookie squares. Did a little doodling and voila!

We would love it if you played in our challenge. You can get all the details, as well as see the cards my friends made on our CCEE blog.

Stamps: Elzybell Just Desserts
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Cryogen Sparkle White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Pink Pirouette, Tempting Turquoise, Barely Banana, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: pink buttons, twine, ruler, black Marvy pen, daubers, 3/4" circle punch, post-it note mask

Featured Stamper

Sandra, aka B-gin-r, is the featured stamper on Splitcoaststampers today. I cased her beautiful Gorjuss Blossom card. I used a different stamp set, colors, removed one of the panels from my sketch, paper pierced only, distressed my cardstock, used oval shape for my image, and used the curly label punch and sentiment in place of the flowers she used.



This Tilda image was one sent to me by my friend Tracim (thanks, Traci!), so I don't know the exact name of it. I believe the Tilda images are some of my most favorite to color with my Copic markers. I'm still learning a lot on how to use them, and one of the places I'm learning from is the Copic Creations blog where they provide instruction.

I used my Coluzzle oval cutter to cut out the Tilda image from my cardstock, and I wanted a little bit of the out-of-the-box technique, so I sized it accordingly. I haven't distressed cardstock in a long time, so I added that technique to my card as well.

Stamps: Magnolia Tilda, SU Cute & Curly, SU Aida Cloth bg
Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Whisper White, Gina K Pure Luxury White, SU dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Cameo Coral, Ballet Blue
Accessories: Coluzzle oval cutter, paper piercer, Curly label punch, flower ribbon, dimensionals, distressing tool, Copic markers, white gel pen

A Day to Play!

It's Friday! Yaaaaay! I have today off from work in observance of the July 4th holiday, so I had an opportunity to play the SCS Limited Supplies challenge. Today's challenge was to use only digi stamps or die cuts. I chose to use my Sizzix daisy flower die for my creation today. I cut and layered two of the smaller dies. We could also use two embellishments, but I used none.

I like the striking contrast of the white daisy dies against SU's retired purely pomegranate with the cool carribean punched circle centers. Since we could not use stamps, I used one of my neglected rub on sets for my friend sentiment and flourish. The panel of dotted swiss embossing at the top was done with a Cuttlebug borders embossing folder.

We're meeting family later for dinner, which I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. I hope my sweet little Zoe is going to be there! If you want to know who Zoe is, she's my great niece who I featured on my blog last Saturday for the inspiration challenge.

I hope YOU'RE having a great day!

SCS Sketch Challenge

I cannot believe July is here already! The days fly by much too fast!

Roxie has posted another fabamalajistically (I realize that this is not really a word, but, hey, it's my blog, so I'm allowed to make up new words, if I wanna!) cool sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I did get to check it out first thing this morning, but, currently, it appears that the site is having some technical issues because I cannot get into it. I'll upload my card there as soon as I'm able to get back in. Basically, we were to use nine shapes (circles, squares, or whatever we wanted) on our card and then use images/embellishments/whatever that could not be larger than those base shapes. Here's what I came up with:

Either my friend Anne (jdmommy) is heavily influencing me or I love red more than I thought, because I've noticed that I seem to use it a lot. I gotta break out of my box.

Anywhoooo, I decided to make a 5 1/4" square card and use squares AND circles on mine. I don't have a square punch, so I cut up nine 1 1/4" squares on my Fiskar's tabletop paper cutter. I used my 1 1/4" circle punch to layer on top of the squares, and then, as you can see, I used a variety of stamps, punches, and buttons to go on top of the circle shapes.

The background designer paper is some of my favorite striped paper in SU's Rockabilly collection. It has this cool shiny sheen to it.

Stamps: Seeing Spots
Cardstock: Real Red, Black, White, Rockabilly dp
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: circle, heart, star, and arrow punches; buttons; dimensionals