Flourishes is having their 2nd Birthday!

Hello again and happy Friday everyone! Flourishes is having their 2nd Birthday and asking us to create a birthday card to help them celebrate, so I made this card for that special occasion. I grabbed the Sweet Pea set and stamped it twice in Versafine Onyx Black on wc paper, and then embossed it with clear ep. I colored it with Tombows and a wet brush, and added a touch of H2o magenta highlights here and there for added interest. Several of the petals were cut out and popped up on dimensionals for added interest. The dsp is by SU and I think it's Kiwi Kiss. I sponged the edges of the floral image with Old Olive, as well as the sentiment panel and then stamped the sentiment with Elegant Eggplant. The ribbon is from my stash. I made the bow with my Bow-Easy and added a tiny Hero Arts 3mm pearl to the center. The sentiment panel was cut with a Nestabilities tag trio die. The cardstock base is very vanilla.
So happy birthday Flourishes, and thanks for another one of your great, fun challenges!

Three Clovers Tooty Fruity Challenge #24

Good morning everyone! I'm posting very early today, only because it was one of those endless, sleepless nights again *sigh*. Ah well, I'm ahead of the game plan for today, so that might be a good thing in the long run :)

Todays challenge over at Three Clovers is to add some type of fruit to a card. I made this card using the Clean and Simple #25 sketch over on SCS this week. I pulled my Tart and Tangy set out and dusted it off to make this incredible super quick card. I colored the cherry stamp with markers, then stamped it on white card stock and added some CTMH liquid glass to the cherries. While the liquid glass was still wet, I sprinkled on a pinch of dazzling diamonds to add a little shimmer. You can always click on the photo for a closer look of the details. The dsp is by SU! I scored around the image using the Scor-Pal for added interest. The sentiment is by CTMH from the alphabet "S" set. I love this simple sketch and I know I'll be using it again and again!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful day!

CTD53, SC239

Here's a quick card I made for the Color Throwdown #53 and the SCS sketch challenge 239. This is Silke's sketch this week, and I'm one of her biggest fans. You should check her blog out sometime if you want some inspiration..........you won't be disappointed! Click the link with her name or check on my sidebar.
On to the card..... the colors this week are Ruby Red, Bordering Blue, and Pink Pirouette. I embossed the pink panels with the CB birthday folder and layered them on blue. I used the Nesties labels 4 for the image panel. The cute stamped image was sent to me by Heidi, and I just colored it and layered it. I added a piece of ribbon, a flower brad and some gemstones and this card was ready to go!
Thanks to all the ladies of the CTD for another week of wonderful colors to work with, and thanks to all of you for stopping by to visit:)

Carol

FTTC26

Hello! I hope you're all enjoying your Tuesday so far. I hesitated to play along with the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge today because it's to create a monochromatic card. I don't do very well with them and always struggle to make a card, but since I have a lot of free time on my hands today, I decided to take the challenge. I stamped the tree image with Versamark on white cardstock and embossed it with white ep. I sponged all over it with Certainly Celery ink and was pleasantly surprised with the soft look. I leafed through my book of sketches that I write down, and found this one and decided it would work for this card. I used 2 different Certainly Celery designer papers by SU! and layered everything with white or celery. I added a sentiment from the So Many Sayings set, and 3 white dewdrops for interest. The tree stamp is "Willow" by Impression Obsession.
Thanks for stopping by today for a few minutes.......it's always great to have you :)

Carol

Cuttlebug Christmas in July challenge #41

Good Monday morning everyone! I'm doing my first Cuttlebug challenge this morning found here. This week the challenge is Christmas in July and we have to do some embossing. I think my Cuttlebug embossing folders are one of my favorite tools, so I put the snowflake folder to use on this card. I used the SU set "Holiday Lineup" for this one, and colored the snowmen with Tombows. I added liquid applique to the pompoms and fur sections of their hats, let it dry and then hit it with the heat gun. It's layered on the Labels4 from Spellbinders, and then layered with the top note from SU and adhered to a real red cardstock base. The little bow was made with the Bow-easy that I bought from Sharon Johnson's blog, and to be honest, I don't know how I lived without that handy little tool until now!

I hope you enjoy your Monday and make it a good one. Thanks for spending a few moments with me today :)

Carol

stamps - SU Holiday Lineup

papers - Real Red, Garden Green, wc paper

inks - Versamark, Tombow markers

accessories - Clear ep, Labels 4 die, top note die, cuttlebug snowflakes ef, gingham ribbon, bow-easy, liquid applique

Viva La Verve Jul05 sketch with a twist

Here's my take on the VLVJul05 sketch challenge with a twist found here. The twist this week is to add texture. I added texture by embossing and piercing, as well as adding pearls and flowers. I started with a card base of blush blossom and stamped it with the stitched background stamp in Cameo Coral. The punched border was done with a MS doily punch in Ruby Red. I finally got a good photo for a change, dashing out last evening before the storms struck to quickly get this shot.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and thanks so much for stopping by and spending a little time with me:)

Carol

stamps - Stitched, Because of You (Verve)
paper - blush blossom, ruby red, cameo coral, SU raspberry tart
inks - cameo coral, ruby red
accessories - SU ivory taffeta ribbon, Kaiser blush pearls, MS doily punch, flower, brad, cb swiss dots ef

Kindness

Happy Friday everyone! I didn't do any challenge cards today because I needed to make a card for a sweet lady who did me a huge favor. I pulled out the bag of my SU designer paper share and chose some cocoa and saffron papers. This is a sketch I had drawn in a book where I write my favorites down, and it was a previous Mojo challenge, but I didn't write the number down. The ribbon is by SU, the border is So Saffron and done with the MS doily punch, and the faux dew drops were made with a small paper punch and some Saffron cardstock, then dotted with CTMH liquid glass. I love being able to color coordinate embellishments by making my own! I stamped off the sentiment panel once with So Saffron and a stamp from the Verve set Because of You, and then stamped the sentiment in Close to Cocoa. I hope she enjoys receiving this because it's already gone out in the mail today!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Carol

FTTC25

My granddaughter was supposed to come over and spend the day with us, but she apparently forgot and made other plans, so I found myself with some free time to stamp. I decided I'd do the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge which is being hosted by Cindy, and she challenges us to use Shimmerz. I was going to sit this challenge out because I don't have any shimmerz, but I decided to use my H20's instead. I've been so mojo-less lately in choosing images and colors, so I decided whatever pack of cardstock I grabbed, I'd use the 1st 3 colors in the pack. Fortunately for me, these colors coordinate pretty well with one another and this card came together in very little time. I used So Saffron, Always Artichoke, and Regal Rose. There are 3 score marks on the right side of the Saffron that you might be able to see better if you click on the picture. I stamped the Sweet Peas image on wc paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink, then embossed it with clear ep. I colored it with the H2o's and a paint brush for shimmer. I tried to take a close-up so you can see the shimmer a little better, but I'm not sure if I accomplished what I set out to do or just captured a real nice photo of some GLARE! LOL
I'm a real novice with a camera, so just overlook my feeble attempts to get better photos! I try! LOL
I used the Nesties labels 4 to cut the image out, and sponged so saffron all over it while the die was in place. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and the ribbon is by SU. The gold beads are from Michaels.
Thanks for stopping by again :)

Carol

Birthday Time Again!

A good friend of mind will be celebrating a milestone birthday next month, so I made this card for her. I love using this Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set for so many occasions and I'm hoping my friend will enjoy it too!
Have a great Tuesday and enjoy your day!

Carol

stamps - Fifth Avenue Floral, Hero Arts
paper - PTI white, pink shimmer cardstock, old olive, hunter green, blush blossom
inks - Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, orange, yellow and rose red reinkers
accessories - ribbon, SU embossing folder, paper crimper, MS fern punch, white ep, gold microbeads, orange stickles

Iris Folding

My apologies first for posting such a wonky photo of this card. It's colors are much prettier than what it shows here, but this is the 7th photo, so I'm not playing around with this anymore! LOL
Jill, otherwise known as JD from the blog world, stopped over at my house last week to show me a technique I'd never tried before - Iris Folding. We live just a couple miles from one another and after months of on-line communicating, emailing and PMing, we finally got together to share some techniques with one another. I was taken with iris folding immediately, and this is what I've been playing with lately. It's a great way to use up those scraps of pretty paper you don't know what to do with. I used pretty in pink cardstock and scraps of green and pink dsps from my monstrous stash. I added 2 flowers and a gemstone in the center for added interest, and faux stitched around the edges with a green marker. The sentiment is from SU and was stamped in dark green and rose red.
I know I'm going to be making more of these cards for special occasions to surprise friends and family. They're quite large, using a standard 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock folded in the middle, but they are really quite different from what I'm used to working with.
If you want to see some of Jill's unbelievable cards, click on her blog RIBBON CHALLENGED on my sidebar, or click the link above to take you to her blog. Thanks Jill, I enjoyed our time together and the knowledge you shared with me. I look forward to learning some of your other special card-making skills in the future:)

Carol

Viva La Verve Jul04

I've been taking a little time off from cardmaking lately..........I tend to burn myself out now and then. I made this card for the VivaLaVerve Jul04 sketch challenge with a twist to use vellum. The only vellum is the little butterfly. Vellum totally challenges me and I rarely use it. My border punches don't like it very much and it almost always gets chewed up in them, so I normally don't reach for it. The Martha Stewart butterfly punch worked perfectly with it however, so I was able to add the vellum "twist" to my card this week. I'm embarrassed to mention how many of these challenge cards I've made and forgot to add the "twist!"
I used all Haiku dsp on this one. I'm so sad that it's been retired, but hopefully I'll like something as much (if not more) from the new SU selections this year. Right now I have my eye on that Cottage Wall dsp and that incredible color of Razzleberry!
Thanks for spending a little part of your Monday with me and have yourself a fine day!

Carol

stamps - Verve (because of you)
paper - Haiku dsp, old olive, tangerine tango, white, so saffron, orange vellum
inks - creamy caramel, old olive, apricot (for shading the flower)
accessories - HP hardware, saffron ribbon, sizzix flower diecut, nesties circles, hero arts 3mm pearls, MS butterfly punch

Three Clovers #22, Christmas in July

The challenge over at Three Clovers this week is to do a Christmas in July card - something that someone who lives in a warmer area might send for Christmas. This was the only image I had that remotely resembled Christmas in a warm climate. Michelle, the owner of StampersDream.com, sent me this stamped image last year and this challenge seemed like the perfect time to use it. I colored it with Tombow markers and added some Geo Sparklers for snowflakes in the sky. The dsp is SU! retired Holiday Treasures and the cardstocks are Ruby Red and Baja Breeze. The sentiment is a stamp from a retired set called Many Merry Messages. I added a touch of liquid applique to the hat and hit it with a heat gun to look like fur.
Thanks for stopping by today and have yourself a wonderful Thursday!

Carol

CTD#51, SCS SC237

Here's a card I made to meet 2 challenges today. The first is the Color Throwdown #51 to use Lavender Lace, Garden Green, and So Saffron found here. The second is the SCS sketch challenge #237 found here. The image was stamped and sent to me by Heidi, so I don't know who the mfr is. I colored the image with Tombows and a wet paint brush. I ran the lavender piece through my Big Kick with a cuttlebug embossing folder. The sentiment was computer generated and cut with the word window punch. The dsp and cardstocks are SU, and so is the saffron ribbon. I added a small flower and gemstone for an accent. There are days when I feel exactly like this little guy, but eventually things seem to get better :)
Have a great Wednesday and thanks for visiting a while today!

Carol

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #24

This week over at the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #24, Kimberly Crawford challenged us to make a tag. I used a Nestability die cut for my tag and cut it from Prism light candleglow card stock. I stamped the lemon tree image from the Flourishes Lemon, Life, Love set on wc paper and colored it using Tombows and an aquapainter. I cut it with the same Nestability die, and cut out one side to leave a little white area on the tag. The sentiment is from KSS Hibiscus stamp set. I added a yellow eyelet, some gold cording, a bow and 3 tiny gemstones to finish this off. I hung the tag around a bottle of wine to photograph it, but I think the next time I make lemon curd, I'm going to tag the jar with this and give it to a close friend who loves lemon as much as I do. Of course a bottle of Lemoncello wouldn't be a bad gift either, eh?
Happy Tuesday!

Carol

Another Graduation

A friend asked me to make a graduation card for a neighbor who'd just graduated from college. I couldn't find an emblem or school logo to use, but the university colors are scarlet and gray and their mascot is a "knight." I couldn't find any appropriate clipart to use, so I used a cuttlebug embossing folder and tried to make something mid-evil of sorts. I smeared the folder with Cranberry Crisp ink, and embossed a piece of gray cardstock and I liked the finished look. I used the KSS graduation stamp set for the mortarboard (that is what they're called, right?) and sentiment. I made the tassel by running white crochet thread over my inkpad several times. After I wrapped and cut it, I twisted a little piece of silver cording around the top. I fastened it to the top with a scarlet brad. The sentiment panel was done with a Nesties tag die. Although the card is for a young man and I didn't want to make it too bright, I felt it was a bit dark overall, so I added some white dewdrops to add some contrast.
Thanks for spending a little time with me today - make it a great Tuesday :)

Carol

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com

VLVJul03

I had time today to make my VLVJul03 sketch challenge card with a twist. This week's twist is to add scoring. I stamped the navy cardbase with an Anna Griffin b/g stamp using Versamark, and then heat embossed it with white ep. The white panel was diagonally scored and you can click on the picture to see it better. I took the same stamp and used Sprout ink to create a background on the sentiment panel, and stamped the actual sentiment with Navy ink. The sentiment is one of those single stamps on the back page of the SU catalog. I LOVE those stamps but unfortunately this one has already been retired. The green galore panels were leftover scraps from a card I made the other day, so they were already embossed with an Impressability. I added some ribbon, a button and navy hemp, and a few silver beads to finish this one off.
Viva La Weekend everybody!

Carol

Stampin Bs #14

I made this card for the StampinB's #14 sketch challenge. This week Nancyruth is hosting the challenge and asking us to use neutrals only. I'm not sure if yellow is considered a neutral, but I used it here anyway. The image was stamped with Close to Cocoa on wc paper, and colored with Derwent wc pencils. I used 3 scraps from my stash and added 2 strands of brown and tan hemp and a snap. That was pretty much it! Unfortunately there's no room for a sentiment on the front, so I'll have to put something inside.
The stamp is by Stampendous and it's called the House-Mouse need for caffeine. I used Kraft for the cardstock base, chocolate chip, mustard and gray for the remainder. The snap is by Marcella and was a gift from Heidi {{Thanks Heidi}}.
Have a great Friday and thanks for hanging out with me for a while ;)

Christmas and Clovers

I made this double challenge card today for the WT226 Christmas in July, and the Three Clovers Sketch challenge #21.
This is officially my first Christmas card of 2009. I used the retired SU holiday dsp and ruby red cardstock. The image is by Stampabilities and I stamped it on water color paper and colored it with Tombows and a damp paintbrush. Oops! I see I forgot to color the mouse's nose! LOL I added Christmas red stickles to the berries on the branches. The leafy stem branch on the bottom of the card is a diecut from Sizzix. I added some liquid applique and dazzling diamonds to look like snow. The bow was made from rafia and those are white dew drops along the side. The corner is a QK diecut.
Thanks for stopping by and have a fun Thursday!

Carol

MoJo #94

There's nothing better than finding your Monday Mojo on a Wednesday! LOL I bought 4 sheets of Wisteria dsp and I just LOVE these colors! I pulled them out again to make this card. I paired them with Pale Plum and a scrap of blue. The top border was cut from the striped dsp and punched with the MS doily punch. The bottom border was done in Pale Plum with an EK tiny scallop border punch. The larger panel was cut with Nesties, and the smaller one is just a square that I stamped off once in Pale Plum with the "Because Of You" floral spray, and "Sister" was stamped in elegant eggplant. There is a pale yellow flower in the blueish dsp, so that's why I added the yellow prima for an accent. It's a little brighter but I liked the contrast. I added some lavender Kaiser pearls for accents here and there.
Thanks for checkin' in :)

Carol

CTD #50

This week over at the Color Throwdown #50, Broni chose the colors of Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, and Kiwi Kiss. This card may be one of the quickest and easiest cards I've ever made, taking me a total of 15 minutes to put together! I colored the stamp with Tombow markers and stamped it on white. I layered it with scraps of kiwi and turquoise dsp, and added a snippet of turquoise ribbon on the corner. Another scrap of Real Red went underneath the panel and I stamped it with the "thinking of you" from the Trendy Trees stamp set. The base of the card is Old Olive. I wish I could make all of my cards this quickly because I'd have a lot more time for other things! I found this pretty tree stamp at my LSS the other day. It's called Willow and it's by Obsession Impression. As soon as I spotted it, it was in my hot little hand :)
Thanks to the CTD and another great color challenge, and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

KSS Challenge #15

I finished my KSS #15 challenge card this afternoon. Lisa gave us a great sketch challenge this week and I wanted to use the new Impressabilities I got at my LSS yesterday. If you click on the picture, you can see the embossing a little better. It's a subtle impression but I really like the look! I wasn't sure if I preferred the front or the reverse side - both looked pretty cool. You'll have to check out the KSS new release..........you're going to love these new stamps! I know I do!
I used 2 little scraps of green cardstock and dsp for this one, layering in black on a white card base. I used the MS doily punch for the borders, and added some white dew drops and a black brad, along with 2 different ribbons. I stamped the Honey Bunney (my favorite KSS) with cool grey, london fog, charcoal and basic grey inks. I pierced the edges and faux stitched them with a green Tombow marker. The sentiment was done by using parts of 2 sentiments in the Honey Bunny set, and as I'm looking at it, I'm thinking I might add the word "hoppy" in front of Birthday. I don't know why that didn't occur to me while I actually made the card.......der!
Ok, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!

Carol

Hiney Dippers!

Some of you may have heard of these before, but this was the first time I'd ever seen or heard of these! My sweet neighbor Kathy gave us these treats for the July 4th holiday. She calls them "hiney dippers" and it was only after I looked at them a bit closer that I realized how they got their name! LOL They're animal crackers with their hind ends dipped in milk and white chocolates, and dusted with red and blue colored sugars! Are they not the cutest treats? I never would have thought to do this and I love animal crackers! I had to share these with you because it's such a simple thing to make and it really looks cute in these little bags with the stars and patriotic ribbons! They're quite tasty too! She gave us 2 bags but some hiney dippin' snacker ate the other one already! *whistling innocently*
Have a great Tuesday - I hope to have a card done for later.

Carol

Strawberries Anyone?

Good Monday morning everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful July 4th weekend.
Some time ago while taking a card class at Deanna's (my SU! demo) we made a card like this, which prompted me to order the Tart and Tangy stamp set. The image of this cute card has always stuck with me, so I made another one this year; probably because strawberries are in season now. It's all done in real red, old olive and white. I used the tag punches, the word window punch and a little ribbon. Done! Simple and easy!
Enjoy your Monday, and make it a good one!

Carol

Wedding Card

I hope everyone enjoyed a nice July 4th celebration yesterday. Our weather was absolutely perfect with temps in the low 80's and gentle breezes blowing all day. I kept marveling all day at what a picture-perfect, made-to-order holiday it was! Today is just as nice so far! And then of course Tony won the race last night, so I really had a great holiday! Atta boy Tony!!
OK, enough about the weather......let's get back to the card. My DIL needed a wedding card, so I made this one for her. It's done in shades of white, pink, silver and gray. Although the picture didn't pick it up very well, that's a shiny silver paper behind the two hearts. It was actually an envelope liner I saved from an old invitation. Somehow I just knew that it would come in handy one day. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you might be able to see it better. I embossed the hearts with Versamark and embossed them with pink ep and cut them out. I embossed part of the card front with swiss dots and embossed the sentiment with silver ep, layering it with a word window punch. I added 2 silver beads, and some luscious pure silk ribbon for the finishing touch. I hope she'll like this ;)
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Sunday afternoon!

Carol

stamps - Ever After
paper - PTI white, Pink Pirouette, Silver
ink- Versamark
accessories - pink ep, silver ep, pink silk ribbon, silver beads, cuttlebug swiss dots ef, word window punch

Birthday Wishes

I made this card for a friend of mine who's daughter is having a birthday. It was very simple to make and quick to put together. I like that! I scored the base of the cardstock around the edges to frame the center panel, where I put an embossed panel layered on black. I layered 2 flowers, added a brad and 3 crimped leaves, and then added the sentiment panel with 3 lavendar gemstomes. Done! The scoring really adds a touch of elegance to any card, and I'm going to do this more often!
Thanks for stopping by today, and have a wonderful July 4th celebration!

FLLCJULY

I found another challenge from Flourishes today to incorporate the feeling of being by the sea. I've been itching to use this EK border punch because it has sand castles, pails and shovels and all those good things you'd expect to find on a beach. I used some cottonwood cardstock for the beach, taken with teal for the sea, and cool caribbean for the cardbase and sky. I used the little swirls from the Sweet Pea stamp and stamped them in white on the "sea." I distressed the edges of the water and added white and turquoise stickles randomly to look like water. The beach ball and flip-flops were small stamps I had that I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and colored with Tombows. The sun was done with 2 punches and Tangerine Tango, and YoYo Yellow cardstocks and they too were enhanced with yellow and orange stickles. I cut a scalloped circle and used that to lightly sponge the sky with white. The sentiment is from the Poppy set.
It's a very quiet weekend so far, and I got lots of stamping done today, so more posts are on the way:)
Toodles!

Carol

Stampin' B's Challenge #13

The challenge over at Stampin' Bs this week is to incorporate some metal onto your card. I pulled out a piece of Hodge Podge hardware and a brad for my metal. I started with Trendy Trees and faux stitched, sponged and distressed the edges. The cardstock base and all layers are SU!. The sentiment is from a G Studio $1 stamp set. Quick and easy, and a fun challenge every week!
Have a great Friday and I hope you all enjoy a wonderful July 4th weekend!

Carol

Another Birthday

Good Thursday Morning everyone :)
A friend ordered a few cards last night, so this was the first one I made for her. She told me her SIL loves flowers and bright colors so that's pretty much the basis for this card. I cut the top note die and stamped the Upsy Daisy flower image on it with Versamark and embossed it with black ep. I sponged scarlet, orange and canary yellow inks, while putting a punched circle on the top with removable adhesive to represent the moon. I'm thinking perhaps a night sky might have the reverse order of the colors I sponged, but I liked the overall look even if it isn't true to life. I stamped the sentiment on the panel, added some dsp by K&Co, and added a ribbon & bow and this card was done in a flash.
Thanks for stopping by today and have yourselves a great day!

Carol

Color Throwdown #49

Tammy chose these wonderful colors of Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, and Soft Sky for the CTD#49 today. I made a quick card this morning because my granddaughter is coming over to stamp with me today. I used some Afternoon Tea dsp, some textured Guava and some Chocolate Chip for the card base. I used the So Many Sayings for the sentiment and layered it using the word window punch. The floral image is from the "Live your Dream" SU! set. The flower was done with Guava, Old Olive and Chocolate chip, with a snippet of Soft Sky ribbon. The border punch was done with a MS doily punch, and Kaiser chocolate pearls were added to the flower centers.
Thanks for stopping by, and have fun with the CTD if you have time! I love playing along with these challenges :)


Carol