CCEE and DDC or is that DDC and CCEE?

I have a couple posts to share with you this fine Monday morning for two different challenges.

My first one is from a Doubledog Dare Challenge (DDC) I hosted a couple weeks ago and have been so remiss in getting done. A couple of my good buddies from that group haven't let me forget it (you know who you are--giggle). I actually started this card mid week last week, but just couldn't seem to finish it up until yesterday. My challenge to the group was to use the crayon resist technique.

For those of you who may not be familiar with this technique, it is quite simple to do. Supplies you will need are glossy cardstock, black Stazon, white crayon, brayer and/or sponge dauber, and a paper towel. Stamp your image onto the glossy cardstock with the black Stazon (I prefer the Stazon because it doesn't smear). Highlight the parts of your image that you want to remain white with the white crayon. You can then either brayer or sponge your ink over the image and then wipe away the excess ink with a paper towel. Your white crayon will "resist" the ink you sponge. You can see that I stamped the image from Embrace Life over my entire piece of glossy cardstock because I wanted it to be my background designer paper. I then used daubers to sponge on Gable Green and Taken with Teal ink.

And isn't this mama bunny (from Stamps & Smiles) cute? My friend Cindy Haffner sent our CCEE challenge group this image quite some time ago as a part of a challenge we did, and this was one of the extras I still had on hand. I enjoyed coloring her with my Copic markers and putting pink glitter on the frosting of the cupcake.

Wanna play along with our DDC challenge? Check out the details at Splitcoaststampers here post #31.

Stamps: Mama Bunny (Stamps & Smiles); Embrace Life (Stampin' Up)
Cardstock: Gable Green, Taken with Teal, Glossy, Gina K Pure Luxury white
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Black Stazon, Gable Green, Taken with Teal
Accessories: Copic markers, pink glitter, turquoise glitter brads, oval nestability, square steps punch, white crayon, sponge dauber

My next card is for my weekly Monday challenge with my CCEE (Cheers & Challenges Eager Eight) buddies. Frances, aka StampOwl, was so sweet to purchase this adorable digital image from Mo's Digital Design for each of us (thanks, Frances!). I love Mo's illustrations; what a talented artist she is. Doesn't this young lady look like such a dreamer? I thought she'd be perfect for a young woman who has been doing a student internship in our office this summer. Her time with us has come to an end (sniff). This image is also colored with Copic markers and highlighted in spots with white gel pen.


If you'd like to play along with us, check out the details on our CCEE blog. You can also see the cute cards my friends made.

Stamps: Short & Sweet (sentiment)
Carstock: Pretty in Pink, Black, Gina K Pure Luxury white
Ink: Tuxedo memento Black
Accessories: Copic markers, square Nestabilities, scallop punch, circle punch, star punch, pink brads, pink & black polkadotted ribbon, sponge dauber


That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog today; I always appreciate it! I'll be swinging by yours as well!

Rich Autumn Leaves

I don't know where the month of September has gone, but here I am posting my last Stamp Simply Guest DT card as a part of Sharon Johnson's Friday Stamp Simply challenges. I have had so much fun participating in the challenges with Sharon and all the terrific design team members. Sharon, thank you so much for this honor!

Sharon's challenge this Friday is Rich Autumn Leaves to create a project with leaves (or acorns, pinecones, trees with leaves, if you don't have actual leaf images) making your project rich in color and texture, adding sponging to create that richness and depth of color.



I bought this All Natural stamp set at a garage sale this summer (never used) and wanted to use this simple, yet classy leaf image for my project this week. Using Stazon Brown ink, I stamped the leaf onto kraft cardstock three times. I colored my leaves by sponging (using daubers) the leaves with Marigold Morning, Really Rust, and Ruby Red. I cut the images and adhered them to Very Vanilla cardstock sponged on the outer edges with Close to Cocoa.

I used a reverse Nestability die cut piece of River Rock, as a part of my Doubledog Dare Challenge, given to us by Anne (aka Itsapassion)to use reverse punching or die cut images in our design. After adhering the three chocolately rich brads, I attached the frame to my base cardstock with dimensionals for depth. If you'd like to play in the Doubledog Dare Challenge, please check out this Splitcoaststampers thread here and go to post #32. Be sure to use keyword DDC so we can see your projects.

You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoaststampers and/or your blog, anytime at all. Be sure to use keyword ssnotime106. You can play as many times as you like!!! The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun! Please link back to Sharon's blog here.

I hope you can take a few extra minutes to check out the fabulous samples the entire Stamp Simply team made today:

Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Deb
Tammy
Barbara
Jenny
Miss Sharon

Stamps: All Natural (Stampin' Up); Autumn Beauty (sentiment - Gina K Designs)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Kraft, Very Vanilla
Ink: Stazon Brown, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Marigold Morning, Really Rust
Accessories: Square Nestabilities, chocolate brads, sponge daubers, dimensionals

Flower Pot Pocket Card CKM

Our CCEE hostess with the mostest for September is Frances (aka StampOwl on SCS). This week Frances has challenged us to make a flower pot pocket card, which I was looking forward to doing since I had not made one before.

I hope you can find some time to play along with us, as well as see the cards my friends made. Please visit our CCEE blog for all the details! There is a link there for the tutorial on how to make these.

Stamps: All Holidays, Short & Sweet (inside sentiment)
Cardstock: Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, White, dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing folder, flower and heart dies, 1/2" and 3/4" circle punches, chocolate polkadotted ribbon, paper piercer , MS flower border punch, MS leaf punch, dimensionals

Featured Stamper - Heather

Today's featured stamper on Splitcoaststampers is Heather, aka Tankgrl. I spent a lot of time browsing her gallery reveling in her creativity and darling cards! I chose her Asian Breeze card because I really liked the spotlighting she did on it.

We are required to change two or more things in our casing of the featured stamper. I changed:
1. stamp sets
2. colors
3. bg embossing folder
4. ribbon placement location
5. added the cracked glass technique
6. sentiment panel is smaller
7. changed her faux stitching to paper piercing

Here's a close up photo of the cracked glass technique.

Gina K has a great tutorial on the cracked glass tutorial this past week. I've only done this technique a couple times before, and I've never been quite as successful as I would like, so I wanted to try Gina's tutorial. I used three layers of Stampin Up's Glassy Glaze enamel. After I removed the cardstock from the freezer to do the cracking, I guess I bent it with too much exuberance because a whole section popped right off my card! Phooey! The good news is that I didn't have to start all over because Gina mentioned that if it doesn't come out right the first time, you don't have to scrap your entire project and start over. She advised reheating the glassy enamel and putting it back in the freezer. Whew! So, I used my Versamark pen to add some more to the missing piece section and reapplied Glassy Glaze enamel, refroze the cardstock, and cracked my glass a little more gently the second time around. Being the perfectionist I am, I'm still not quite happy with my results, but this was too much work to just chuck it into the trash bin.

Stamps: Fruitful Harvest; My Cuppa Joe (sentiment) both by Gina K Designs
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, White, Black, Gina K Pure Luxury White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: gingham ribbon, 3/4" circle punch, Boho Blossoms punch, oval Nestability, Cuttlebug houndstooth embossing folder, Copic Markers (BV02, BV04, BV08, G94, G99); paper piercer, Glassy Glaze enamel, heat tool, dimensionals

Stamp Simply #105 CAS BIO Wedding

Sharon Johnson challenged her Stamp Simply design team and me, as her September guest DT member,this Friday to make a CAS BIO card as in Clean and Simple and Black (or Brown) Ink Only. No coloring of our images was allowed, but we could use any papers or embellishments to give our project POP and pizzazz.

For my wedding card, I used pearls, dazzling diamonds, brushed gold cardstock, scalloped corner punch, and gold organdy ribbon for my "pizzazz." The pearls are in her floral bouquet, the hem of her dress, and on the brushed gold flourish diecuts. I used dazzling diamonds on the lower part of her dress, but always have a hard time capturing the sparkle in my photographs. Does anyone have a tip for photographing glitter? It looks so pretty in real life.



We hope you can play along with us. If you do and you upload your creation to Splitcoaststampers, be sure to use keyword ssnotime105. Also, if you'd like to see the fabulous CAS BIO creations of Sharon's design team, here are the links:

Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Tammy
Deb
Barbara
Jenny
Miss Sharon


Stamps: Happy Couple by Stampendous, Oval All (inside sentiment)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold, designer paper (Hobby Lobby)
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: pearls, dazzling diamonds, Crystal Effects, Sizzix flourish diecut, Cuttlebug textile embossing folder , oval and oval all punches

StampTV Sketch Challenge Hostess

I am so excited to be hostessing the sketch challenge this week over on StampTV!! You can get all the details here. (You'll note that I had a little problem with the file upload, but you'll find the design in a posted comment when you scroll down the page. I hope to have this fixed later.) OR, you can check out my sample card here:

I colored the images with Copic markers. I love these babies---especially for blending various colors. I use to get so frustrated with watercoloring various fall colors onto leaves as watercoloring just wasn't as vivid or didn't blend well. I sponged my sky using a dauber and post-it note cloud template. I also sponged True Thyme lightly around the ground area so as to tone down the white of the cardstock for blending in with the colors of fall.

I hope you can stop into StampTV and play. You have until next Wednesday, September 23, at 9:00 p.m. CST to upload your creation to StampTV. Your name will go into a drawing to receive a free Gina K. Designs stamp set (a $24.95 value!!)!!! Gina is so generous in that she gives a free stamp set for every challenge posted every week; that's a lot of stamp sets that she gives away!! And, if you're not a member of StampTV, it's easy to sign up and become one. Membership is free!! Here's a link to their main page.

And, no, I was not asked to give this plug for StampTV. I just love the community of people there, the challenges, the forums, the magazines, the stamps/products, Gina's weekly video tutorials.....everything...and I want you to know about it, too!

Stamps: Autumn Beauty (Gina K); Weathered bg (SU)
Cardstock: Really Rust, Not Quity Navy, Gina K Pure Luxury white
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Ink, Bashful Blue, Buckaroo Blue, True Thyme, More Mustard
Accessories: Copic markers, circle Nestabilities, gingham ribbon, Crop-a-dile, corner rounder punch, dimensionals, post-it note cloud template, daubers

Stampin' hugs,

Boo Boo was a button-loving, bodaciously beautiful, big, bad bear who basked in binging on bagels and bananas in the boonies from his blue bicycle basket, babbling all the while about being baptized in a bathtub wearing only a brown bowtie. Buzzing bees bothersomely bounced about Boo Boo’s barenecked body boldly bolting about. Boo Boo called upon Barney and the Big Bears to bravely backhand the bumbling buzzing bees away from Boo Boo so Boo Boo could bicycle his way to the big, bad barbecue being held in Pelahatchi, Mississippi with the rest of the tea partiers bragging about bear beer beverages!

Boo Boo wishes you a beary special day and hopes you'll join us at the weekly Teapot Tuesday challenge!

Stamps: Bear by Stampcraft, Aida Cloth bg
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Gina K Pure Luxury White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: circle Nestabilities, buttons, ribbon, paper piercer, Chocolate Chip marker, Copic markers

How Time Flies

This is another sample of a sneak peek at Rockin' Frog to be released tomorrow, September 15, by Totally Stampalicious. The fly images in this set are so cute. I stamped the flies onto vellum and colored them with these Lyra pencils I bought at a stamp show in Colorado a couple years ago. They are great for coloring on vellum. I cut out the frame on my Fiskars paper cutter and popped it up. Rockin' Frog was colored with Copic markers and cut out as well. This card is also a part of a gift set I made for my niece. You can check out the altered notebook and free-standing pop-up card I made in posts below.

Here's a link to the Totally Stampalicious blog so you can check out the goods tomorrow!

As always, I appreciate your stopping by my blog and your comments!

Stamps: Rockin' Frog (Totally Stampalicious); Karen Foster snap stamps
Cardstock: Lavender Lace, Gina K Purely Luxury White, Vellum
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Black Stazon
Accessories: Copic markers, vellum color pencils, ribbon, circle punch, zig zag border punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder

CCEE Snow Moe Monkey

For our Catchy Name Featured Stamper (CNFS) with our CCEE challenge, Frances chose Copsmonkey and, yes, you guessed it: we had to make a card with a monkey on it. This is the only monkey image I own, so I chose to put his adorable face in place of the snowman on this Big on Christmas stamp. I stamped, colored, and cut out the hat. I added Tulip dimensional white paint and dazzling diamonds to the tops of my SNOW letters and the monkey's hat for a snowy effect.



This is also for a Doubledog Dare challenge given to us by Francie to use a button(s) in our design. My buttons are the center of the chocolate and white snowflakes.

If you'd like to see the cards my friends made and/or play along in either or both challenges, you can check out the details here:

CCEE CFNS
DDC buttons

Stamps: Big on Christmas, Moe Monkey (Stampabilities)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip dp, White
Ink: Brown Stazon, Bashful Blue
Accessories: tag shaped Nestability, ribbon, eyelet, snowflake punches, buttons, paper piercer, white gel pen, Copic markers, watercolor brush, dazzling diamonds, Tulip dimensional white paint, Cropadile

More Totally Stampalicious Sneak Previews

Today's featured stamper on Splitcoaststampers is the very talented Shannon Stuebner. Man, did I ever have fun browsing her fantastic gallery of cards! I finally chose her Cosmo Possibilities card to case. We are required to change two or more items when we case the featured stamper. I changed:

1. stamp sets
2. colors
3. added eyelets
4. different border punch

This is also another sneak preview of the Old Brawd stamp set by Totally Stampalicious which will be opening its doors for business on September 15! I colored the Old Brawd with Copic markers and cut her out. This sassy sentiment finishes off on the inside with ...."on the Internet!"

I used the Stampin' Up curly label punch to create my border on this card. I made a couple permanent marker dashes on the punch so I could align the punch the same each time.


Stamps: Old Brawd (Totally Stampalicious)
Cardstock: Kraft, Riding Hood Red, Black, Tuxedo Memento Black
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Ink
Accessories: Copic markers, plain ribbon, eyelets, paper piercer, Curly Label punch, Bow Easy

The next project I have to share is an altered notebook I made for my niece, which will go with the Toadally Rockin' free-standing pop-up card I made for her the other day. She loves purple (just like her auntie), and I had these cool purple chipboard letters, purple circle brad and purple flower brad that Cindy Motherway had sent me earlier this year for my birthday (thanks, Cindy!)

Froggie was colored with Copic markers and cut out so he could fit mostly inside and a little outside the circle.

Stamps: Rockin' Frog (Totally Stampalicious)
Cardstock: Lavender Lace, Certainly Celery,designer paper
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: spiral notebook, chipboard letters, circle Nestability, Cuttlebug embossing folder, purple brad, ribbon, topnote die, word window punch, star punch, purple flower brad

My sister and her husband have been here visiting from Washington state for the last two weeks and will be leaving in a couple days (sob!), so hubby and I are off to spend some quality family time together. If I'm not back later to visit your blog, I will be tomorrow!

Stampin' hugs,

Sassy Old Brawd

Happy Saturday, everyone! Are you ready for another sneak preview of the new Totally Stampalicious stamps to be released on Tuesday, September 15 (see my post below)? This sassy lookin' woman is a part of a stamp set they've labeled Old Brawd.

As you can see, I chose to paper piece her top with some designer paper. I colored the rest of her with Copic markers. After I finished coloring the image, piercing around the outer edge, and gluing the main image to the Regal Rose matted cardstock, I neglected to set this panel aside like I typically do when I move onto another portion of my card. Shall I say I was "not happy" when my black ink pad dropped out of my hand and landed right onto this main image panel smearing her pretty legs? Aaaaaargh! I didn't have time to start over, so I ended up placing my sentiment over her legs. All is good, again.

Please check out the blogs and galleries of the other talented stampers who are helping launch Totally Stampalicious over the next few days. You're going to love these new stamps!

Totally Stampalicious blog
Rebecca Kuhne
Joycelyn Turner
Cindy Haffner
Cindy Motherway
Jamie Morris
Patricia Rose
Judy Rozema
Kelli Hull
Cheryl Rowley
Mary Giemza
Sue Titolo
Lynnor Goodwin

Stamps: Old Brawd by Totally Stampalicious
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Gina K Pure Luxury White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Copic markers, paper piercer, boho blossoms punch, tempting turquoise brad; MS drippy goo punch

Toadally Rockin', Totally Stampalicious!!

I am so excited to be a part of the sneak previews for a brand new stamp company called Totally Stampalicious owned and operated by Rebecca Kuhne and Joycelyn Turner. Their new company will be open for business September 15 and several of us will be showing you sneak previews of some of the cutest stamp sets over the next few days!!

My rocker dude comes from a totally cool set called Rockin' Frog, and I had so much fun making this free-standing pop-up card for my niece who loves music and the color purple. Here's a link to the tutorial on how to make these.

I colored my rocker dude with Prismacolor pencils and the microphone was colored with Copic markers. I cut them out and adhered them to the popped-up panel. Every image on this pop-up card is from the Rockin' Frog set with the exception of the Canvas bg stamp I used.

I wish Joycelyn and Rebecca all the best in their new endeavor, and I hope you'll take a few minutes to check out these links to the Totally Stampalicious blog and other creative ladies who have agreed to help kick things off for Totally Stampalicious:

Totally Stampalicious blog
Rebecca Kuhne
Joycelyn Turner
Cindy Haffner
Cindy Motherway
Jamie Morris
Patricia Rose
Judy Rozema
Kelli Hull
Cheryl Rowley
Mary Giemza
Sue Titolo
Lynnor Goodwin

Stamps: Rockin' Frog, Canvas bg
Cardstock: Lavender Lace, Gina K Pure Luxury white
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, Copic markers, Cuttlebug embossing folder, round tab punch, ribbon, twine (colored with Copic marker), felt flower, star punch, purple flower brad, sticky tape, Scor-Pal, hobby blade, Aleen's Tacky Glue

Please be sure to scroll down to my next post as a part of my guest dt with Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Friday challenges!

Stamp Simply #104 - Halloween is Almost Here

Can you believe fall will soon be upon us? We're already seeing the changing of the tree leaves here in Michigan. The summer went by so fast, my head is spinning!

This Friday, Sharon Johnson has challenged her Stamp Simply design team and moi, as her September guest designer, to make a Halloween card or project. I typically do not make Halloween cards, so I thought I'd make some treat bags instead.



These may look like a lot of work, but they aren't! I folded and inked up a baby wipe with a few drops of Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Elegant Eggplant reinkers and "swiped" the wipe across a piece of glossy cardstock. I cut my squares and stamped my silhouette images from Gina K's Spooky Silhouettes. I allowed the black ink to dry before I inserted the cardstock inside the cellophane bags, and then filled the bags with candy corn behind the cardstock. I thought I was being smart putting the cardstock inside the cellophane so I wouldn't have to worry about the cardstock falling off in a trick or treater's Halloween container, but didn't even think about having to photograph reflective cellophane! Yikes! I finally got them positioned just right and raised my camera on my tripod to shoot from an upper angle to avoid some of that glare. Anyway, to finish up my treat bags, I punched black cardstock with the Martha Stewart drippy goo punch (I'm sure that's not the right name for it) and attached corresponding colored cardstock to that and tied off with this cool spider web ribbon I bought last year and never used.

Why not pull out your Halloween supplies and play along with us? If you upload your creation to Splitcoaststampers, be sure to use keyword ssnotime104. Also, if you'd like to see the fabulous Halloween creations of Sharon's design team, here are the links:

Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Tammy
Deb
Barbara
Jenny
Miss Sharon

Have a spooktacular day!!

Bring in the Ladybugs

We're off to another tea party with Mothermark (da Muddermark) and all her ladybug friends to a Country Estate in New York to save Ladybug Lou-la-Bella from the clutches of a bug thug! I must be honest and tell you that when I heard that Ladybug Lou-la-Bella Rock-a-Fella has boo-koo muhla, I was all aboard zgirlsgranny's cruiser. After all, what ladybug doesn't need more stampin' supplies??? Guess what else? This week we get to have tea and biscuits BEFORE we rescue Lou-la-Bella so we can be all energized for rescuing her after our long ladybug cruiser ride to New York. da Muddermark is getting smart: feed 'em before you work 'em!

In case you're wonderin' what that dust (glitter that didn't photograph well) is all over my ladybugs, it's protective powder against the Bug Thug's slimy spit that he uses to deflect anyone or anything from saving Lou-la-Bella.

The more ladybugs we bring, the better the chance we have to over power the Bug Thug, so I hope you'll join us in da Muddermark's Teapot Tuesday challenge and help us out!

Here's a picture of the inspiration teapot:




Stamps: Little Layers (Stampin' Up); Green Thumb (Papertrey)
Cardstock: Black and White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Copic markers, MS flower border punch, SU scallop border punch, lotsa ribbons, crystal effects, MS glitter, Cropadile

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Frances is our challenge hostess from the CCEE team for the month of September, and today she has started us off with a fabulous sketch challenge! I had a lot of fun working with this design, and we hope you'll join us. Check out our CCEE blog for the details and see the cards my friends made.

My dad's birthday is this week, so I thought Frances' sketch design was perfect for this cool truck image by Gina K. Designs. I watercolored the truck with Stampin' Up reinkers and a watercolor brush.

For my USA friends, I hope you've been enjoying your Labor Day weekend. Be safe if you're traveling today!

Stamps: The Journey (Gina K Designs); Think Happy Thoughts (Stampin' Up); JustRite Stamps
Cardstock: Gina K. Pure Luxury White, Buckaroo Blue, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, SU designer paper
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Chocolate Chip, Buckaroo Blue , Going Gray, Basic Gray, Close to Cocoa
Acccessories: Circle Nestabilities, various circle punches, star punches, ribbon, silver, brads, paper piercer, sponge dauber

A Story Behind Every Card

My friend and fellow August Center Stage Spotlight guest design team member for Gina K. Designs on StampTV, Tina, was scheduled to hostess the sketch challenge this week. Unfortunately, Tina's father-in-law passed away earlier this week. My condolences go out to Tina during this difficult time.

However, Tina's cool sketch design is still being used for this week's sketch challenge on StampTV. Jessica was kind enough to get it posted on Tina's behalf. Come on over to StampTV and play in the challenges! You don't have to, but, if you use Gina K. stamps, your entry goes into the drawing bin twice to win a free Gina K. stamp set!

I chose to use one of the new Gina K. stamp set releases for this month as designed by Asela Hopkins called Fruitful Harvest. These images are GORGEOUS and so much fun to color with whatever coloring medium you choose to use. I used my Copic markers this time around.

As you can see, I chose the apple image from this set, which has a little story behind it. Joanne, from my Doubledog Dare Challenge group, dared us to make a card using apples. I happily set about coloring my image and was thinking about Tina's sketch design when I got the lightbulb idea to make this an ornament for a Christmas card! After I was all done with my card, I re-checked Joanne's challenge requirements and saw that I totally forgot the part about the card having to have an autumn theme. Oi vay!!! Too many things on the brain, I guess, so I'll have to design something else for Joanne's challenge. Yeah, like that's really gonna be a burden----NOT!!

The weather is beautiful here today. My sister and her husband are here all the way from Washington State visiting us for a couple weeks (yaaaay!), so we're going to have the family over tonight for a campfire, hot dog roast, and s'mores! My parents use to take us camping a lot when we were kids, and we always enjoyed those family times sitting around the campfire talking, laughing, playing, and eating!

I hope you're having a happy Saturday, too!

Stamps: Fruitful Harvest (Gina K), All Holidays (SU)
Cardstock: Real Red, Black, Gina K Pure Luxury white, striped dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Circle Nestabilities, Copic markers, MS picket fence border punch, red gingham ribbon, Bow Easy, ornament hook, 1/16" hole punch, white gel pen, round tab punch

Stamping hugs,

Stamp Simply #103

I am so excited to tell you that Sharon Johnson (aka notimetostamp on SCS) selected li'l ol me to be her Stamp Simply guest designer for the month of September! As most of you probably know, each Friday Sharon posts a Stamp Simply challenge on her blog. And, if you don't know about them, why not hop on over and check out her challenges. I have to admit that I'm a little intimidated presenting "my stuff" with this uber talented design team, but I am so thrilled to have been asked! Thanks, Sharon!

And, if you've followed my blog for a while, you know that Sharon and I have met in person on a few occasions...most recently at the end of July for a Michigan stamping event, which was so much fun! Sharon brought a lot of her goodies from her Stamp Simply store for us to purchase, and I bought some of her May Arts silk ribbon (this stuff is so exquisite!!!), the Bow Easy, and my first Just Rite stamps. She also hosted a small luncheon for a couple of us who had traveled a long way to the event----scrumpdillyicious!!!! Sharon is a wonderful cook and hostess, in addition to being one of the most talented stampers I've ever met.

But I digress and should get back to the task at hand. Sharon's Stamp Simply #103 challenge this week is to stamp your sentiment over your image!

I love the simple elegance of this stamp in Stampin' Up's God's Beauty set. I stamped it in Tuxedo Memento Black ink and watercolored it with SU reinkers. After that dried, I added a few touches to the leaves with my So Saffron marker and a little white gel highlighting. After I stamped the sentiment, I stamped the Floral background in River Rock, which I find to be a wonderful complement to Old Olive. I punched two opposing corners on the black matting with my square steps punch and the other two opposing corners, I added black brads. Last I added the scoring to the Old Olive base panel with my ScorPal.



Please be sure to stop by and see the spectacular creations of Sharon's super talented design team members for this challenge. I'm sure they'd love your visit and your comments!

Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Tammy
Deb
Barbara
Jenny

And, of course, the leader of the pack, Miss Sharon herself!

Thanks for stopping by today!

StampTV Color Challenge #28

I've recently had the honor of serving on the StampTV August Center Stage Spotlight Design Team and have enjoyed working and chatting with some of the other CSS DTs. This past week, Vicki hosted the color challenge on StampTV to use pink, gray, black, and white. I just couldn't resist these pretty colors and had to play!



The pink butterflies were stamped with Pink Pirouette with a Basic Gray outline. The small polkadotted butterflies were stamped in black. I then stamped one butterfly onto Pink Pirouette cardstock and punched it out with the corresponding SU butterfly punch to add it to the upper right corner and lift one of the wings for dimension. I used Pink Pirouette designer paper for the background and punched that with one of my favorite border punches: the zig zag punch.

I hope you're having a great day today and get to spend time doing the things you love to do....whatever that may be. And always remember to tell the ones you love how much you appreciate and love them! I sure appreciate all of you who stop by my blog and leave such wonderful, uplifting comments!

Stampin' hugs,

Wild Thing You Make My Heart Sing!

Wild thing –
You make my heart sing –
You make everything ... groovy

Hi!!! My name is Zany Zach, and I'm hookin' up with a bunch of other wild rockers at the Zeke, Zena and the Zebroids rock concert in Africa today as hosted by da Muddermark and her weekly Teapot Tuesday gigs. I'm wearin' the requested black and white that Mr. & Mrs. Zebralski (Zeke's parents) asked da Muddermark have her tea partiers wear to help their son "conform". It seems like Zeke wants to stand out in a crowd and come up with his own rock star trademark look by wearing red and black stripes like David Lee Roth. I don't know why his parents can't chill out a bit and let him be his own dude in his own band, but I want to make sure I get on the plane to Africa okay by wearing the requested outfit. Don't I look very classy with my striped bow tie and music-themed body tatooing? However, I hafta to tell ya that I'm like any typical teenager and have a few costume changes of my own in my bag.

I'm just a little scrapling made mostly out of punches (various sized circles, scalloped corner, ovals, large and small star punches for forehead and nose, boho blossoms for feet), with a dry-embossed musical-themed body, and I only stand 4 1/4" tall by 1 1/4" wide. My creator plans to use me as a bookmark since she loves penguins and loves to read. That sure is gonna hurt my feet when she closes the book. Ouch!

If you'd like to play in Mothermark's Teapot Tuesday challenge, you can check out the details here.