It's Your Day!

Good Morning from sunny Wyoming! Yes, it's sunny and warm today and I'm loving it!

Today's card was created for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #196.

I made this project using a card kit that I purchased on eBay from a seller named Old Paper Cat. She puts together these amazing, color coordinated packs of Stampin' Up cardstock and beautiful patterned pieces as well.

This set included the Crumb Cake and Pool Party cardstock I used as well as the striped paper, along with several other little goodies and it all went together perfectly!

The sentiment stamp I used is from a PTI Think Big set and it's stamped in Crumb Cake ink by SU. Lastly, I added 3 little enamel dots by My Mind's Eye. It's a subtle accent but a nice detail in the finished piece.

As you can see in the photo... the sun is shining so I'm on my way out to enjoy it! ~Take care!

SWEET! & Yummy!

Good Morning All and welcome to the first of my card posts for today!

I made this card with my new The Stamps of Life Die-Hard Club set; Watermelon2Stamp! Aren't those little slices just the cutest?!

This wonderfully yummy project was created for Freshly Made Sketches #194 and I think it's a pretty good rendition of the sketch!

I started with a card base of Harvest Gold by PTI and then added some patterned paper that I've had in my stash for quite some time.

As I said above, the watermelon slices were made with a new Stamps of Life set along with the little sentiment.

I finished it off with some linen thread by SU, all tied up in a sweet little bow!

I'm off to garage sale with my mother-in-law but I'll see you again later today for another card!

A Note of Thanks

Good Morning All & Happy 4th of July!

Before all of the Independence Day Celebrations begin, I'm here to share the card I made for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #193.

This little cutie was created using The Stamps of Life June Card Kit... mostly.

I started with a top folding base in white cardstock from the kit, all of the patterned paper and the cardstock used for the flowers are also from that same kit... along with the sentiment and the ribbon.

The flower and leaves dies are from another Sizzix set by Stephanie Barnard called Basic Step-Up Card.

The only other additions are the Wink of Stella glitter on the flower, the Glossy Accents over that and one tiny little enamel dot by The Paper Studio and Hobby Lobby.

My goal was to keep this one simple, light and summery... mission accomplished!

Thank you all for stopping by and I wish you a safe, fun and happy 4th!

Happy Summer!

Good Afternoon All... Oh I guess it's evening for some. I'm afraid I'm extremely late with today's card but I'm here now so off we'll go!

This wonderful beauty was made for Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #190!

I love the bright colors and mix of styles on this project.

I started off with a white card base on which I stamped the chevron border from SU's Work of Art in Calypso Coral.

Next I broke out my Flower Patch stamp set and stamped leaves in Pistachio Pudding and bright flowers in Blushing Bride with yet more Calypso Coral. The center of the flower was stamped in Crushed Curry, covered in Wink of Stella and then Glossy Accents. You can't see it at all in the picture but in real life, it's sparkly and pretty!

My sentiment was created with a Stamin' Up Rotary Alphabet stamp... those things are pretty tricky but using a mat underneath helped considerably to get a clean image!

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great rest of your Sunday!

Your Awesomeness!

Hello Again! I'm back with my second post of the day and yes, there's another to come!

This beautiful card was created for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #188.

I started with a base of Spring Rain cardstock by PTI and then added a panel of Soft Stone that I textured with the SU's Decorative Dots embossing folder.

The sentiment panel was cut with a Spellbinder's set that creates a pierced border around the whole piece... I love the way that looks!

The flowers were made with SU's Flower Patch stamps and Flower Flair framelit dies... I'm in love with that set... it's what started me buying Stampin' Up products and luckily it's still in the new catalog so if you don't have it, you should!

I think I did pretty well with the sketch and keeping things fairly CAS... I'm having some trouble with the whole "white space" concept these days but that may be because it's finally warmed up here in Wyoming and I want to fill every space with flowers and color and texture and all that :)

Talk with you again soon!

Bloom & Grow Forever

Good Morning Everyone! It's Sunday and this is my first post since I thought I conquered the end of the week dry spell... apparently not... oh well.

This morning's card is my entry for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #187.

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and I found what I think is a new product by Sizzix and Stephanie Barnard but I can't seem to find much on them... 3-D Drop-Ins die sets. The one I purchased (with my 40% off coupon) has all sorts of cool flower dies in the set so I decided to use some of them for this card!

The back panel is done in Aqua Mist by PTI and then textured in a Swiss Dot pattern. I then wrapped it with some linen thread and added a tag I punched with an old Marvy tag punch I've had forever!

The sentiment comes from a PTI mini set called Signature Series: Butterfly.

I love the "Summery" feel of this card and how clean it is... it's been raining here in Wyoming since it stopped snowing on Mother's Day but today we have some sunshine and we're taking the opportunity to cut out now knee-high front lawn!

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending some time with me today... if you would like to see more of my cards be sure to follow my blog so you don't miss anything :)

Supplies Used:
Paper - Whisper White (SU); Aqua Mist, Ripe Avocado, Melon Berry & Summer Sunrise (PTI)
Stamps - Signature Series: Butterfly (PTI)
Ink - Summer Sunrise (PTI)
Punches & Dies - Marvy Tag Punch; 3-D Drop-ins Card w/Flowers Die Set by Stephanie Barnard & Sizzix
Other - Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder; Linen Thread (SU); Recollections Bronze Brad

Thinking of You on A Windy Sunday Morning...

Good Morning Friends! It's Sunday and a little windy and cold here in Wyoming... Oh where is spring?!

Today's card was created with a couple if challenges in mind...

First, the lay-out for the card comes from this week's Freshly Made Sketches #186. I love the look of split front cards and they're not near as hard to make as I thought they might be.

Second, the color scheme comes from this week's challenge at Sunday Stamps #101 that included a Dark Grey, Medium Gray, Light Blue and Teal. I'm not sure I chose the lighter blue well but I think it works in any case.

My sentiment is from one of my favorites, PTI and their Keep It Simple sentiment mini sets.

Thanks so much for sharing a few minutes of your Sunday with me and have a great day!

Supplies Used:
Paper - Bazzil Tropical Breeze; Smokey Shadow & Soft Stone (PTI); Whisper White (SU)
Dies & Punches- A2 Card Curved Edge Die (SSS); Petite Petals Punch (SU)
Stamps - Petite Petals (SU); Keep It Simple: Thinking of You (PTI)
Inks - VersaMark; Teal (SSS)
Other - White Embossing Powder (HA); Basic Rhinestones (SU)

A Sea of Stars to Say Congrats!

There seems to be a lot of people around me these days doing some pretty amazing things so I've needed lots of Congratulations type cards!

I made this one for a friend but also for two different card challenges this week...

This card will be entered into the  Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #185 and also into the CASology Challenge #145: Shape.

I was looking at the FMS sketch, trying to figure out what to do with it when I decided that I wanted to texture the background. Once I brought out SU's Stars embossing folder, it all fell into place from there.
As this card is for a gentleman, I kept the colors to shades of blue... even the glitter paper doesn't look all that girly with the metallic vellum over top! I think he's going to like it!

Supplies Used:
Paper - Spring Rain & Hawaiian Shores (PTI); Neenah Solar White 100#; Blue Glitter Paper (DCWV); Silver Metallic Vellum
Stamps - PiggyBank2Stamp (SoL)
Dies - Stars Framelits (SU)
Ink - VersaMark
Other - Stars Embossing Folder (SU); Zing White Embossing Powder

Lots of Cards for Lots of Challenges!

Good Sunday Morning to everyone!

Today I have 3 cards to share with you for 3 different challenges. So without further ado, here they are in no particular order :)

I made this card for CASology's Week 143 Challenge: Ombre. I have to admit though... I did cheat a little bit... I have wanted the Hero Arts Ombre ink pads since I saw them used by Jennifer McGuire a while back and then I walked into my local Hobby Lobby and there they were! At $9.99 each, I decided I would only get one until I knew they were going to be something I would use... got the rest of them yesterday evening! If you like the Ombre look... these ink pads are a must-have!

This card was made for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge #209 - White on White Die Cuts with a Pop of Color. I chose to use the PTI set Boy Basics: Frog Hop. I cut the matching die several times from white cardstock and adhered them to a white card base. My "pop" piece was colored with PrismaColor pencils and a bit of Gamsol.

Finally, I made this card for Freshly Made Sketches #183. I used a Stampin' Up set to make the flower, a set called Lotus Blossom that was available for free during this last Sale-A-Bration. I also used PTI's Super Stripes set to create the bands at the bottom in matching shades of blue. I like how simple it is and I think I'm stuck in Blue mode because it's been raining here for a while now... at least it's not snow!

Congratulations, you made it to the end of this enormous post and thank you so much for visiting!

Balloon Brilliance

Well... What do you know? I'm on time for once! I'm getting my Freshly Made Sketches #182 entry in well before the deadline and I LOVE how this card turned out!

For my brightly colored balloons I used another Sweet Stamp Shop set that I'm happy to report is available now ~ Balloons. It has the balloon images in both solid and outline shapes as well as the strings and the confetti pieces.

I drew on my strings just because the images were pretty tightly packed and I wanted to add some little bows!

The sentiment is from an SU set called Guy Greetings and I used it primarily because it fit the CC Designs speech bubble so well.

I'm really enjoying working with brighter colors... and wishing for the sunshine. Here in Wyoming it's been snowing, raining, sleeting and yuck for the last 2 days ~ OMG, come on Spring!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock - Cotton Candy (SSS); Stamper's Select White (PTI); Black
Stamps - Guy Greetings (SU); Balloons (Sweet Stamp Shop)
Die - Say What Bubbles (CC Designs)
Inks - Silver Pigment (ColorBox); VersaMark; Hot Lips, Cotton Candy, Goldenlocks & Maliblue (SSS)
Other - Memento Tuxedo Black Marker; White Embossing Powder (HA)

Good Wishes Your Way

Here I am again, squeaking in just under the wire for Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #181!

If you've looked at any of the rest of my blog and the cards I've made, it's likely apparent that flowers are my favorite kind of stamps and this set I've just purchased from Stampin' Up is no exception!

Stippled Blossoms has been around for a while now and I'm not sure why I waited so long to get it  because I love it!

These are cling rubber stamps so a positioner of  some sort is pretty much required to line the images up but the results are really very pretty.

In honor of Spring and because I'm really praying for more sunshine, I went with a primarily yellow color scheme for this card. 

I also have a "thing" for patterned vellum and PTI's Sheer Basics are beautifully thick, sturdy vellum papers with basic designs to meet just about every need, plus they hold up very well for machine sewing without the bubbling you get with the thin stuff!

Supplies Used:
Paper - Harvest Gold, Stamper's Select White & Sheer Basics Vellum (PTI); Patterned Paper by Michael's
Stamps - Stippled Blossoms & Lovely Amazing You (SU)
Inks - Lemon Chiffon, Sunshine, Green Apple & Olive (SSS); Versafine Onyx Black

Life Is Amazing!

Recently I became a Die Hard member of the Stamps of Life Clubs and this is the first stamp and die set that I received, Bicycle2Stamp.

I wasn't sure about it at first but making this card for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #179 has made up my mind... I love it!

The large bicycle in the set was just right the size for this fun and colorful card made with patterned paper from PTI's Funky Town collection. I colored the image with Stampin' Up markers and I wish you could see the Wink of Stella over the blue portions! It reminds of a blue Schwinn my grandparents got me for my birthday many years ago. I loved it because the blue was glittery!

A banner with a sentiment from the bicycle set and some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins finished off the design and now I'm really looking forward to April's club delivery from The Stamps of Life... just a few more days!

Supplies Used:
Paper - White Cardstock, Funky Town Patterned Paper & Spring Rain (PTI)
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Markers in Bermuda Bay & Tempting Turquoise (SU)
Stamps & Dies - The Stamps of Life Bicycle2Stamp
Other - Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen

It's All Black in White

Happy Monday everyone! I'm squeaking in just under the wire with my card for Freshly Made Sketches 178!

I hadn't planned for the card to be black and white... it just sort of ended up that way and it's likely because of the patterned vellum... I'm just really liking this pack from Stampin' Up!

I stitched the vellum to the top of the card base with my sewing machine and then added a white banner, a black circle and a white, textured butterfly die cut by Momenta.

It's hard to see in the photo but the butterfly has areas of crystal clear glitter that would have caught the light nicely had the sun not chosen to hide at the exact moment I snapped this picture!

I seem to be a little fixated on Butterflies and Flowers these days but I think that has a lot to do with a horrible case of Spring Fever!

Supplies Used:
Paper - Stamper's Select White (PTI); Black cardstock; Sheer Perfection Vellum (SU)
Stamps - Another Thank You (SU)
Die - Butterfly (Momenta); Sizzix Circle Stack
Ink - VersaMark
Other - Argyle Embossing Folder (SU); Hero Arts White Embossing Powder; Clear Super Fine Glitter

Rosie Posie Goes to the Tropics!

Good Morning! Today I'm introducing a card I made for two challenges!

First up is Freshly Made Sketches #177. The sketch was nice and simple allowing lots of room for creativity and color... which led me to the second of the challenges...

CASology: Week 137: Tropical! I thought the colors fit in nicely with that theme... a mossy green, ocean blue and pink flowers... I've been to a tropical island or two... I promise they're there!

Overall I'm pleased with how the design came together and the color palette (something I seem to struggle with) came together nicely.

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope to see you again soon!

Supplies Used:
Paper - Stamper's Select White & Spring Moss (PTI); Irresistibly Yours patterned paper (SU); Vellum
Stamps - Rosie Posie & Step 2 (PTI); Another Thank You (SU)
Ink - Surf Blue, Cotton Candy, Doll Pink, Green Apple & Green Leaf (SSS); Versafine Onyx Black
Other - Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing Folder, WOW! Clear embossing powder, Wink of Stella Clear glitter pen

An Easter Egg Parade!

Good Morning and Welcome Back! 

Today's rather unique card was created especially for Freshly Made Sketches week 176. 

The card was to be 4 X 9 1/4", include a pretty border and ribbon as seen below in the original sketch.

I admit that I was initially at a loss as to how I would design this card so I thought I would take a look through my stash and see if inspiration might strike!

Well, I'm not sure about a strike but when I came across the Etched Easter Eggs set I recently purchased at Papertrey Ink, I thought that they might look kind of neat in a parade across the card.

Next was the hunt through all of my patterned paper scraps for bits that would make pretty eggs. Those found, I moved on to the sentiment and how I was going to incorporate it into the front of the card. I decided on vellum and gold embossing powder. The vellum was then stretched across the bottom of the card.

Finally, I added the ribbon and bow to the top in a green polka dot to match the paper on the bottom of the card.

It still looks odd to me but it may just be the shape and size as it's so different from what I normally create. Overall though, I think that I like it, it's bright and happy and just what I think of when I think of Easter Baskets.

Thank you for visiting today, take care!

Supplies Used:
Paper - White Cardstock, Scraps of Patterned Papers, Vellum
Ink - VersaMark
Stamp - Happy Easter 02 by Stampabilities
Dies - Etched Easter Eggs by Papertrey Ink
Other - Ribbon, Ranger Gold Embossing Powder

Best Day Ever & Freshly Made Sketches #175

Oh... thank goodness it's Saturday and I don't have to go anywhere because it's cold, cold, COLD out there!

Good Morning and welcome to my blog! Today I'm featuring the card I made for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge, #175.

I started with an Aqua blue card base and did some tone on tone stamping to add some chevron stripes to the background.

My central panel consists of layered banners in white. The bottom layer has been textured and the sentiment stamped on the top.

To stay in line with the sketch, a turquoise blue ribbon has been tied in a cute little bow!

Supplies Used:
Paper - PTI's Aqua Mist, Neenah Solar White
Ink - PTI Aqua Mist, Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise
Stamps - Stampin' Up's Best Day Ever & Work of Art
Dies - Stampin' Up's Banner Framelits
Other - Ribbon by The Paper Studio, Stampin' Up Embossing Folder Decorative Dots