I'm Taking a Break from Blogging

I don't have a card for you today, but I wanted to let you all know that I'll be taking a break from blogging for a little while. I have some issues that need immediate attention, so my stamping time will have to be put on the back burner for a while. I'll be back as soon as I'm able and I'll have a lot of catching up to do by then I'm sure!
Wishing you all a great week and a wonderful season of spring! I hope to see you in a couple weeks!
Take care,

Carol

Sketch Challenge #12

This is a sketch I designed for this week's #12 sketch challenge on the OWH Stars and Stamps blog found here. I went with a very simple design which will be super-easy for everyone to play along with.


Here is my card. I love the red, white, and black color combo so I began with real red card stock and added a white vertical panel. I used a Martha Stewart doily punch to give it a feminine look. The square panel is layered with white, red, and black and I made the bow using the bow-easy. I pulled a button from my stash and tied it on with some black thread, then added 3 Kaiser black pearls for interest. The sentiment is by SU! and was done with Versafine Onyx black ink. This card will be going into my next box destined for our military personnel serving overseas. If you haven't heard of OWH before, it's such a worthy cause and a great place to send those cards you've been creating that are lying around collecting dust.
I can't wait to see what you create with this challenge!
Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for stopping by :)

Carol

Baja Quilt

One of the retired colors SU! is bringing back is Baja Breeze, and that's a good thing! (as Martha would say) I still have a lot of the Baja Breeze dsp left, so I decided to make another quilt card. I stamped the white cardstock base first with the Stitched backgrounder in Baja and then used all Baja dsp to create the quilt. After adhering all the squares, I cut the whole piece with the Top Note die and then stitched the squares in place. Next I added a little flower I crocheted that was tied with a button and added two 5-petal punched flowers underneath. The sentiment was cut and layered with the large oval punch and stamped with a SU! sentiment.
I wish you all a fantastic weekend, and thanks so much for stopping by :)

I finally used up the last of this pretty lavender dsp I broke out for Easter cards and projects. I just couldn't seem to leave it alone until every precious scrap was put to some use. I bought it a long time ago and don't even know who makes it, but I stopped hoarding it and finally used it. I promised myself I'd start using my stash this year instead of buying more! LOL
I used the SU! sizzix butterfly die for the medium and larger butterfly images, and used a MS punch for the smallest one. The larger butterfly was embossed with a cuttlebug ef for a little texture. I used a MS doily punch for the horizontal border, some ric-rac from my stash, and a Kaiser gemstone for the center of the smallest butterfly. The sentiment is from SU! done in Lavender Lace.
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope your Friday is a fabulous one!

Carol

Thank You in Silhouette

I made this card recently to use a clear silhouette stamp I won in a random drawing. I saw that the CCEE1014 challenge this week is to use a silhouette image, so this card qualifies for that challenge. I'm not thrilled with the splotchy stamped image, but this is just how the stamp was made. I tried several different inks and card stocks, but they all looked the same. I tried sanding the image a bit too, but that made no difference at all. I finally decided it will be what it is! LOL
I made this one clean and simple using berry sorbet ink, cardstock and ribbon. It was easy-peasy, but it's a nice thank-you card to add to my stash.
Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day wherever you are!

Carol

A Happy Birthday Quilt Card

I made this birthday card using up the very last few scraps of the SU! retired Sweet Always dsp. I cut little squares, adhered them to a piece of cardstock, and then used the top note die to cut the "quilt". The sentiment is by Just-Rite stamped in Chocolate Chip ink and it's layered with Chocolate Chip and Tangerine Tango cardstocks. The orange satin ribbon was from my stash. The orange gemstones didn't pick up much shine in the photo, but IRL they look sparkly.
I recently read that SU! is retiring many current colors of card stocks and inks, while bringing back some retired colors and adding a few new ones. While I'm thrilled that some old favorites are returning, I'm just sick over all the retiring colors that I have inkpads and reinkers for and will no longer be able to buy matching card stock after July 1st! Maybe it's just me, but it's getting quite expensive to keep up with all the trends and I may have to seriously re-evaluate this "hobby" of mine!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Carol

A Sketch Challenge

I needed a thank you card, so I used the #11 sketch challenge from the Stars and Stamps blog found here. I wanted to use up the few scraps of this lavender dsp I've been using for Easter, so I threw together some shades of purple and lavender to come up with this one. The horizontal panel was punched with the MS doily punch, while the vertical panel was done with the EK small scallop punch. The flowers were done with a SU! 3-flower punch and small Kaiser gemstones were added to the centers. The sentiment is a Hero Arts stamp that was done in plum pudding ink. The ric-rac was from my stash, and the upper portion of the sentiment panel was embossed with a Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder.
I hope everyone enjoyed a nice Easter weekend, and now it's already Monday! *sigh*
Make it a good one and thanks for stopping by :)

Carol

Birthday Wishes

I sent this card to a friend recently, and I'm sure she received it by now, so it's safe to post it :) I really love this clean and simple design and seem to use it quite often these days. I used some PTI Soft Stone card stock for the base, and added a piece of SU! dsp, then tied a piece of PTI enchanted evening satin ribbon. The sentiment by SU! was stamped with enchanted evening ink, and the dsp was punched with the MS doily punch. I usually go with lots of layers and details on my cards, but these simple designs seem to please me the most somehow.
I wish each and every one of you a wonderful weekend of beautiful spring weather! Thanks so much for stopping by today and make it a great Friday!

Carol