Rubbernecker April Release Blog Hop Winners and CCEE Challenge

Sorry for the delay in posting this; I've had some blogging issues.

You can view Bev Gerard's blog for the official announcement of the Rubbernecker April Release Blog Hop, but I wanted to let you know who the winners are, as well, in case you checked in at my blog.  The winners are:

from Karen’s blog: “Holly said…
“How soft and pretty - love this sweet pink card! That ribbon treatment is awesome! “

AND

from Julia’s blog: ”leslie said…

“I am always amazed at the beauty and creativity of your cards. I am going to give this card a try….it is simple but lovely. Thanks for the inspiration and sharing”

CONGRATULATIONS to Holly and to Leslie!   Thanks to everyone for hopping along with us!
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Now, onto my card for this week's CCEE Stampers challenge given to us by none other than the super uber talented Joanne (aka JoJot on SCS).  Jo gave us a terrific sketch challenge for our weekly challenge!
It was about 10:00 p.m. last night when I realized I hadn't made my CCEE challenge card, so I had to get my you-know-what in gear at the last minute. Thank goodness Jo gave us such a great sketch design with which to work!

It's never too early to start on Christmas cards, so I pulled out some Oldie But Goodie stamps. I colored the trees and buckets with reinkers and a blender pen.  I had to make this a quick, easy one so I could get to bed in a timely fashion for work today.
We hope you'll play along with us!  You can see the cards my talented team members made and get the challenge details HERE!

Rubbernecker Red Hot Mommas Blog Hop and Blog Candy!

The Rubbernecker Red Hot Mommas are having a blog hop to showcase some of the newly released collections at Rubbernecker Stamps!  If you haven’t seen these new images you will want to check them out!  At the end of this post, I'll tell you how you can win some of these new releases.

I made several cards for our blog hop because I wanted to show the various stamping techniques you can use with the floral images and get totally different looks. 

Card 1:   I stamped my floral , weeds, and vine images after I colored them with my Stampin' Up markers directly onto my stamps.  I then went over some of the images with a watercolor brush and reinkers to add some shading.  You can also spritz your stamp with a light mist of water after you've applied the ink for a softer watercolored effect on your cardstock.  Don't the images from these three sets blend beautifully?

Card 2:    I used the black magic technique on this beautiful flower image.  I described how to do this technique in my previous blog post using white craft ink and watercolor pencils.  I used a mixture of Stampin' Up pencils, Prismacolor Pencils, and SU metallic pencils to color this flower.  The clear embossed image on the black background is from Rubbernecker's Weeds collection and the flower from the Floral collection.



Card 3:   I gold embossed my flowers directly onto my wedding designer paper, as well as a separate piece of vellum.  I trimmed the gold-embossed images on the vellum and adhered over top--and slightly off kilter--one of the others that was embossed on the designer paper.  See that beautiful metallic gold paper?  It was gifted to me from my sweet friend, Emily, whom most of you know as Stamp Muse---or the Divine Ms M on SCS.  I embossed it with my music folder. 

Card 4:   For this card, I used a technique called acrylic resist.  This is where you apply white acrylic paint to your stamp, stamp the image onto your cardstock, and allow it to dry (you can use a heat tool to speed up the drying process).  Once dry, I applied Tea Rose and Peeled Paint distress inks and Adirondack Cranberry ink over that and wiped away the excess ink over the floral image to reveal the white.  I stamped Rubbernecker Vine images on the Wild Wasabi background piece and then sponged Peeled Paint distressed ink over the edges.  I really like how well Regal Rose coordinates with the Wild Wasabi.

For my last two cards, I'd like to introduce you to a couple of the newly released Rubbernecker fashion ladies. 

Card 5:  Meet Elizabet.  What I would give to have a bod like this!  LOL!  I wonder how she stays so trim carrying that basket full of chocolate bon bons.  But I digress.  I paper-pieced her skirt with some SU designer paper and watercolored the rest of her ensemble with Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, and Butterscotch inks.  I felt she needed some gemstone bling, too.  The sentiment is from the Fashion Icon #455 set.

Card 6:   Please give it up for Miss Carrie, another one of the Rubbernecker newly released fashion ladies.  I went with a very different color combination for this smokin' hot lady and kept it simple to keep the focus on her.  She just sizzles, so I thought she needed  some "hot" colors!   I watercolored her with Adirondack Cranberry, Butterscotch, Ginger, and Denim reinkers.  I used my 1/4" circle punch for the Summer Sun dots on the Purely Pomegranate cardstock.  I made my buttons with a die out of Purely Pomegranate dp, glued those to white cardstock cut out of the same die, and covered them with Crystal Effects for some added shine.

If you made it this far through my lengthy blog post, thank you and kudos to you because now I want to tell you how you can win some of these new Rubbernecker images!  Two winners will be chosen randomly from the comments left on all of the participating Red Hot Mommas' blog hop postings.

Julia Aston

Tammy Hershberger

Joan Ervin
Kittie Caracciolo
Cathleen Torina
Karen Hunsaker
 Juliana Swanson
 Bev Gerard

Rubbernecker Dave (owner) is going to give two lucky winners a chance to win some blog candy! Winners may choose any ONE of the following complete collections:

African-American Figures
Fashion Ladies
Floral
Vines
Vintage
Weeds

Again, two winners will be chosen randomly from the comments left on all of the participating Red Hot Mommas' blog hop postings. Please be sure to let us know how to contact you!  Posts may be made between 5:00 a.m. EST today thru 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 28. Winners will be announced on Bev Gerard's blog on Thursday!  I will also post the winners.

Featured Stampers

Congratulations to GloriousGreetings (Gloria) on being honored as this week's featured stamper on SCS! What an awesome gallery she has, and I have long appreciated her encouraging comments on my cards. I don't know if being featured stamper is a dream of Gloria's or not, but I thought the title was fitting! :-)


Here's her beautiful Lily of Valley card that I love.  We are required to change two or more things when casing the featured stamper.  I changed:

1. colors
2. stamps
3. minor sketch design changes
4. no ribbon or buttons or faux stitching

I used the black magic technique on my Rubbernecker florals. This is where you stamp your image onto black cardstock (or any other dark color of your choice, but black works best IMO) with white craft ink. Let the ink dry and color with your pencils. I then dotted and outlined parts of my image with white gel pen. Lastly, I went over parts of the flowers and leaves with glitter pens for some added shimmer. I then fussy cut out my image, like Gloria did with her lily of the valley.

I inked the inside of my dotted swiss embossing folder with Buckaroo Blue (love that blue!) and then ran my white cardstock through my Cuttlebug since I didn't want a stark white panel, and I don't have any cool designer paper that would coordinate.

This next card is one I made on Friday for the Queen for the Day challenge on SCS honoring my fellow Rubbernecker design team member, Cathleen, also known as ctorina on SCS.  Here's the gorgeous card of Cathleen's I chose to case.   And here's my card:

I used different colors, embossing folders, sentiment stamp, added piercing, and did the out-of-the-box technique with my sentiment.
I hope to catch up with all of you soon.  I've been busy this weekend preparing for a Rubbernecker blog hop this coming Tuesday, so I hope you'll come back and see what the design team members have created for your viewing pleasure using some of the newly released Rubbernecker stamps!

CCEE Sketch Challenge

Sorry I haven't been around this past week.  Life has just gotten outta hand lately, and I haven't had the extra time needed to keep up with my blog.  Thursday does bring me to my weekly CCEE challenge, and Joanne (JoJot) has a terrific sketch challenge for us.



This also qualifies for Julia's Ways to Use It challenge on SCS to mix it up with different patterns!

I made my ladybug by stamping Pick-a-Petal onto red and white polkadotted designer paper, cutting the petals, and assembling the body, head, and antlers with circle punches.  Isn't she cute?  I used my 1/4" circle punch for my faux white brads on my striped designer paper.  I hope you like it and always appreciate your comments.

If you'd like to see the projects my friends made and/or play along with us, please check out all the details on our CCEE blog! 

I hope life is treating you well; have a great day!

Get Well on Tax Day!

Today is a day we in the U.S. dread. It is by this date that our federal taxes must be paid. This fact makes many people ill. So.....the challenge this week from my friend Joanne (JoJot)  is to make a get well card!  The inside of my card holds the get-well sentiment "A Get Well Wish" (Rubbernecker).

I used my sweet Little Lovins Girl with Hat image by Rubbernecker; she is watercolored with mostly SU inks except for the Ginger Adirondack ink I used on her hair and shoes and the gray Copic markers on the kitty she is holding.  I stamped the background with a new Florals (#496-09) release also by Rubbernecker in Blush Blossom and Cameo Coral.  I used the SCS sketch and color challenges for this week.  The colors are Blush Blossom, Cameo Coral, and Ruby Red (with a dessert option of Close to Cocoa).  The cocoa corduroy button is by Stampin' Up and the other buttons were gifted to me in a bag of pretty buttons by my friend Traci (thanks, Traci!)

If you'd like to see the projects my team mates made and/or play along in our challenge, you can get all the details on our CCEE blog!

Patty Cakes!

Thanks for choosing such an awesome stamper for our Featured Stamper today, Mudder!

42,000 hours later I have finally finished my Featured Stamper card in honor of the one and only PATTY CAKES, aka patsmethers! Talk about a challenge! Pat's amazing creations are always so wonderfully detailed and always made from her BIG heart for someone who is dear to her. It only took me 42,000 hours to make this card, but, it was so worth it for our sweet Patty Cakes!

I chose a blend of various projects from Pat's gallery. In her Christmas album, she uses this adorable Relaxed Snowman a lot. I happen to have and love this image, too, so I cased him from her Christmas ornament here.

I also love the vast array of easel cards Pat makes. I wanted to go the extra mile, like Pat does in everything she does, and try my hand at making this four-drawer easel card. I found a fabulous tutorial by Kristine on her blog, Ink Something.  These boxes are an origami fold, which were fun and easy to make, and I didn't need to have another die of some sort on hand to make this project!

My snowflakes and snow on the ground are heat embossed with white detail embossing powder. For the snow on the ground, I also added some dimensional snowflakes by rubbing two styrofoam balls together to create my flakes and gluing them on top of the heat embossed snow.

The knobs I used on the drawers are jingle bells!

CONGRATULATIONS, Pat! If you ever make it to Michigan, I'd love to meet you in person and be added to the awesome gallery you have of all the stampers you've met!!

Silhouetted Butterflies

My good buddy, Joanne (aka JoJot) challenged our CCEE Stampers group to make a project using silhouettes as our main focus this week. I kept my project very simple. I black embossed Flight of the Butterfly images, sponged my background with Ranger Tattered Rose and Peeled Paint Distress inks, and then stamped Vintage Vogue images on the background.  I also sponged the same two colors on a background piece of cardstock since I didn't have any designer paper that I thought went well with what I created.


If you'd like to play along or see the projects my friends made, you can get the details on our CCEE blog
Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Frizzle da Dizzle

Well, rock my socks, da Muddermark has the tea potters takin' rappin' lessons this week at Teapot Tuesday with Frizzle da Dizzle!  Cockadoodledoooooooo!  I sure hope you kin join in on the fun with all of us!

How I Made Mudder the Rapper:

Fabulous 50s record image by Rubbernecker stamped in Memento Black and covered with Crystal Effects for shine.  I used an oval Nestability for the body and a Labels Ten for her head.  The boho blossoms punch was used for her comb; the flower punch for her feet and side-arm feathers; circle punches for the eyes and record; modern label punch behind the record; star punch for her nose; polkadotted silk flower for her cape around her neck.  She won't be given her wattles, though, until she attains star status in the rap industry.  I hand wrote the record label.

In case it's hard to read the rap lyrics:

Is it Frizzle da Dizzle
Doin' the Teapot Sizzle?

Or is it Tilly, who's silly
Or Maxie in her taxi
Doin' the Teapot Sizzle?

Maybe it's Bertie and Gertie
along with SnoSnotSnertie
Doin' the Teapot Sizzle!

Some say it's Curley Mae
Dancin' in the hay
Doin' the Teapot Sizzle!

But, no! It's not!
It's da Mudder, da Mudder
There is no udder

She's a rapper, a tapper, lookin' so dapper
In all her polkadotted refinery
Bustin' into the record industry!

Some come on all you tea potters
There's no time for playin' with otters
It's time to Sizzle with Frizzle da Dizzle
Doin' the Teapot Sizzle!

Weekend Pleasures

It's been a busy, albeit fun, weekend!  I had some time to participate in various stamping challenges this weekend.

My first card is to honor the featured stamper, Theresa Momber, on Splitcoaststampers with a casing of her beautiful Wishful Thanks card.  Theresa always achieves such beautiful effect of lighting and sponging on her cards, and I was so excited to give this technique a try.  She makes it look easier than it is (well, for me anyway).  All the floral and vine images are new releases by Rubbernecker, and I love the vast array of choices in the stamp sets!

I discovered the Ranger Adirondack cranberry matches SU's Rose Red so beautifully, and I love the richness of the Adirondack inks!  I did faux paper piercing by dotting around the frame with a black marker.  I also dotted and drew lines on my punched butterfly.  I put liquid pearls in the center of the butterfly and, once dry, I colored it black with a Copic marker.

My next card is one I made for yesterday's Inspiration challenge on SCS where Stef chose the Williams Chambers Milinery for our inspiration website.  There were so many cool hats from which to choose! I chose this purple hat (go figure, huh?).  I think it would be so fun to be able to wear some of these cool hats, but, where I live, there's no place to wear them.

I chose to use my Little Lovin's Little Woman stamp image by Rubbernecker.  I think she is just so sweet all dressed up in her refinery.  Reminds me of playing dress up when I was a little girl.  I made this a gatefold card for Gina's challenge on StampTV.  I watercolored her using Adirondack inks (Lettuce, Denim, Red Pepper, Butterscotch, Ginger) except for her face and shoes where I used Copic markers.  I used platinum liquid pearls for her shoe straps and her necklace.  Oh, and remember mulberry paper?  That's what I used behind the white circle:  purple mulberry paper!

On Friday I had a chance to play in the Free for All challenge on SCS to make a mini accordian notebook.  I'd never tried one of these before and it was fun!  Here's the cover, again, using floral and vine stamp sets by Rubbernecker:

And here's the inside:

If you'd like to know how to make a gatefold or mini accordian album, the Resources section on Splitcoaststampers has fabulous, easy-to-follow tutorials.

Oh, one last thing, if you've read this far, I took a new photo for my blog banner adding some m&m items I've collected.  My most recent acquisition is the vintage m&m truck canister my friend Lynn gave to me this weekend.  She even had these mini m&ms packed on the inside!  What a gal!  Thank you, Lynn!

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter!

Pink Cow - April Fool???

Joanne Grzelak (aka JoJot) is in charge of the April CCEE challenges, and she was lucky enough to have one of her challenges fall on April Fool's Day!  Well, being the funny lady she is, she challenged us to make a card with a funny critter on it and include a humorous sentiment if we wanted to.  I immediately thought of these A Li'l Behind stamps by H&M Stamps (sorry, they are no longer in business) because I just love the funny animals and sentiments Heather had designed for these images.  You probably don't know this, but Cindy Motherway (aka Mothermark) had suggested to Heather to design a stamp set using animal butts as the focus  (I swear that girl has an obsession with butts!!  LOL!!!)  when she and I were on Heather's design team.  I mean, really....for those of you who know Cindy, whom I lovingly call da Muddermark, these goofy stamps scream her name!

I decided to be really silly and make my cow a bright pink for a young friend of mine.  I hired her as a student assistant (when she was 17 years old) and just graduating from high school.    She assisted us in the office with a lot of clerical type work for a few years.  Recognizing this bright, young woman's intelligence and potential, I encouraged her to go to college and get a degree.  It's been a long haul for her working full time, raising a child, and dealing with her multiple sclerosis, but she was tenacious and persevered with pursuing her college studies on a part-time basis.  I am proud to tell you that she recently finished her bachelor's degree in the health sciences field, and I am just tickled PINK!!!  I tear up just writing this because I am so proud of her for hanging in there and achieving her goal!  This congrats card was made for her, and her favorite color is pink.

If you'd like to see the cards my CCEE team members made and/or play along with us in this challenge, please check it all out on our CCEE blog!