RESQ Challenge #2

It's time for another Res-Q-Challenge! This week I'm hosting the challenge on the Res-Q blog; it's an inspiration challenge and I hope you'll play along! You can find all the details HERE! I was inspired by the colors, stripes, and small floral bouquets on the inspiration piece. This is a challenge with no time limits, no vendor restrictions and no prizes, just fun! I thought this would work for a Mother's Day card, but it would also work for Easter. I also used my new Nestabilities Labels Three - they're in stock at Ellen Hutson's store :) - and a Copic Spica glitter pen I picked up there, too.
Supplies:
Stamps: Friends are flowers (retired SU - it's really old, the copyright on the stamps is 1992!)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Paper: soft sky, pink pirhouette, neenah classic crest white, Creative Imaginations DP
Accessories: Nestabilities, ribbon, EK success punch, Copic spica glitter pen, Cuttlebug

Unity World Record Inspirational BLOG HOP!

Welcome! Today's the day for the Unity World Record Inspirational Blog Hop! If you're a first-time visitor to my blog, thanks for coming! One of my favorite all time quotes is this one:

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we will find it not." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today's card uses Gratitude=Joy from Unity. I inked the image with kiwi kiss ink and rolled the edges in navy, stamped once, then stamped again without re-inking. Sentiment is stamped in basic gray. DP and jumbo eyelets are from Stampin Up, and the rest of the cardstock is kiwi kiss, navy, basic gray and neenah classic crest white.

To view the entire inspirational blog hop, start at http://theunitystampco.blogspot.com



To view the next blog in the hop, visit Latisha at http://www.crafteebee.blogspot.com/

It's coming!

Tomorrow is the big day for Unity's giant blog hop, and I'm one of the stops! Hope you can stop by!

More birthday wishes

I haven't been stamping this week; actually I am off playing with my niece and nephew, who are here visiting for Spring Break. Disneyland was chief on our agenda - the kids have never been, and it was time! Since I'm not stamping, I figured this would be a good time to share some more of the lovely RAKs I received for my birthday. The first card is from my friend Karen. She has a lovely style and a great eye for color combinations. Plus look at all that piercing! And it's straight - mine is never straight!
This lovely turquoise/brown color combination was from Jean. I love these fun folds; I think this is a Joy fold, if I remember correctly. The only down side to these folds is that I can't get the card to stand up on my counter with all the others!
The third and final card was from Collette. I love the layout on this card, and the coloring is just gorgeous. Thank you everybody for making my birthday so special!

Res-q challenge #1

Today's the day! Our first Res-Q challenge is up and running! You can see the details of the Res-Q challenge on the blog HERE! Jean aka naturecoastcrafter is our first hostess, and she's sending everyone on a scavenger hunt through some of the Res-Q crew' SCS galleries for inspiration. So following Jean's instructions, I selected a color combination from casep's gallery (she has lots of pink and green cards, which I love!), a layout from resqbarbie's gallery, an image from luvlee's gallery (she uses this tree quite a bit!) and an embellishment idea from Jacqueline's gallery (she uses lots of these little clips and that wide ribbon, too!) My personal touch was all that bling on the tree! Hope you can join us for this challenge. Remember, there's no deadlines, no pressure, no prizes, just fun!
Supplies:
Stamps: Unity
Ink: celery
Paper: pink pirhouette, celery prints dp, neenah classic crest white
Accessories: ribbon, clip, Kaisercraft pearls, Me and My Big Ideas rhinestones, nestabilities

Friend to the Res-Q

My friend Denise's screen name is Resqbarbie, in part because she used to be a paramedic before she suffered an injury on the job. We've known each other a couple of years, and she is a sweetheart! She sent me a lovely birthday gift, complete with this darling card and matching bag (full of chocolate!). The package made my day!
Soon Denise will be putting her powers of rescue to work on the new "Res-Q Challenge" blog. You can check out the blog HERE! Denise has recruited some of her friends - including me! - to join her in putting on a weekly challenge to help us all jump-start our mojo, and we'd love to have others join us, both to try the challenges and also to come up with challenge ideas and host them! The first challenge goes live Monday! We will rotate hostesses weekly, have a new theme every month, and see what we can do. The challenges are no deadline, no pressure, no prizes. You can upload them to your blog, PaperCraft Planet, SCS, or anywhere else you like. We just want to get our mojo going, and we figure we might as well help you, too!
I have a sample all ready to go for the first challenge; can't wait to share it with you all tomorrow!

Pat's Paperclip

I had a little bit of time to play with some of my new Stampin Up goodies this evening. My friend Pat/casep on SCS challenged some of us former VSN hostesses to use a paperclip on our cards as part of an ongoing set of mojo jump-starting challenges we've been issuing to one another. I love the clean and simple design of this flower and didn't want to hide it away, so I stamped it as a background here, then added the sentiment, ribbon and clip. (You should be able to click on the photo to see it larger and get a better idea of the detail.) I'm definitely closer to a clean and simple stamper than I am to a more is more stamper!
Supplies:
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral (SU)
Ink: pink pirhouette, memento rich cocoa
Paper: pretty in pink, pink pirhouette, whisper white
Accessories: taffeta ribbon, hodgepodge paper clip

Twisted Thursday

My friend Karolyn is a design team member for Shirley's 2 Girls stamps, and she hosting a weekly challenge for them called twisted Thursday. Thanks to Karolyn's enabling, I won some Shirley's 2 Girls stamps in one of their previous contests, so I used one of them for the first time tonight on her challenge. The challenge is a sketch with a twist of some kind; this week's twist was to use use hardware. You can find all the details on Karolyn's blog HERE.
I colored the stamp image with my Copic markers - these are great stamps for coloring! The color combination has been in my head ever since I saw the scrapping kit in the new SU catalog that uses these colors. For my hardware, I chose the jumbo SU eyelets, which I just got with my last order. I also added some dots of stickles on the dots in the image, but they are kind of hard to see.
Supplies:
Stamps: Shirley's 2 Girls
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, copics
Paper: Making Memories boho chic dp, neenah classic crest white, pale plum, perfect plum, kiwi kiss
Accessories: jumbo eyelets, ribbon, cuttlebug, EK success border punch, stickles

Butterfly inspiration

My former VSN hostess friends and I are plugging along on some fun challenges this month, and over the weekend, it was my turn to issue a challenge. I chose the cover of the latest Martha Stewart Weddings magazine for an inspiration piece. There's a beautiful cake covered with a rainbow of butterflies on the front. You can see a picture of the cake below; the magazine cover is actually prettier because the colors are so much more vibrant. Still, you get the idea.

For my card, I chose this beautiful Inkadinkado butterfly image and inked it in a Tsukineko Harmony spectrum pad. I paired the image with some recycled organdy ribbon, a fun charm I picked up a while back at a funky craft shop, and an Inkadinkado sentiment for a simple yet elegant card!
Supplies:
Stamps: inkadinkado
Ink: Brilliance black, Harmony Tsukineko
Paper: Neenah classic crest white, basic black, pixie pink
Accessories: charm, ribbon, cuttlebug

Feeling spoiled

I haven't had much stamping time lately, but my friends have been busy! They have spoiled me with several beautiful hand-stamped cards and gifts for my birthday. The cards are lining my counter and they make me smile every time I look at them! Today I'm sharing some goodies from my friend Joni/jstarbright. I love the colors she used on this set, which included an adorable little box, a mini album and a lovely card!
Here's a closer look at the card. I love the simplicity of this design, and the touch of bling she added to some of the flowers.
This is a peek inside the mini album. I just love the colors she used, and the album fold is fabulous! Thank you Joni! She is a Close to my Heart consultant (her site is linked in the sidebar) and I believe everything she made was using CTMH stamps and supplies!

Amethyst cupcake

I can't believe it's Thursday already! Time is just flying by and I have a lot going on at work and at home these days. Still, I made time the other day to do a little stamping. This is another card for the informal challenges the VSN hostess alums are doing this month. JoAnn/sarahzoe challenged us to a limited supply challenge: make a card with no animals -including people - and no plants! The bonus was to make a monochromatic card. The best I could come up with from my stash was this cupcake card - sorry about the cherry, JoAnn! I also had to use my new EK Success flat scallop border punch. I love the size of this border, and the design of the punch is pretty cool, too! The cupcake wrapper is paper-pieced and the cupcake is colored with copics. I added some stickles to the sprinkles for some shine.
I think we're having a new challenge tomorrow and I'm posting it! After it goes up on SCS, I'll share it here so you all can play along, too, if you want! Happy Thursday.
Supplies:
Stamps: Whipper snapper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Paper: amethyst, neenah classic crest white, prints dp
Accessories: stickles, dew drops, ribbon, EK success eyelet punch

StampTV sketch

I've been having fun playing on Gina K's new StampTV site the last few days. There are some great video tutorials, challenges and more over there. She also has groups based on geography, so I had to join California Connection!
Anyway, I'm trying to get ahead with my stamping, so I've been working on birthday cards for upcoming birthdays. I used this week's Stamp TV sketch and paired it with my favorite Gina K set, Retro Boutique. The sketch was perfect for this long, narrow image. I stamped the image in Memento rich cocoa and colored the bags with Copics. I used the blender pen to add some texture on the brown ones. I also used some more of that lovely polka dot paper from American Crafts, some luxurious chocolate satin ribbon and some chocolate Kaisercraft pearls to finish the card off.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday!
Supplies:
Stamps: Retro boutique, Gina K
Ink: Memento rich cocoa, Copics
Paper: American crafts dp, chocolate chip, pretty in pink, neenah classic crest white
Accessories: corner rounder, scallop edge punch, chocolate satin ribbon, Kaisercraft pearls

Birthday apple

Am I the only one who struggles to come up with titles for my blog posts? Sometime the card screams a title, and other times, like today, not so much! The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy for me, so I am trying to get ahead on my cardmaking by working on April birthday cards. I am also ready for spring, so I've been turning to my spring color combinations quite a bit lately! Today's card is for Jen del Muro's weekly "Sketch for you to try" challenge. You can find the details HERE!
I pulled out some Washington Apple designer paper (love that stuff!) and paired it with a Tim Holtz flower stamp and the sentiment from Happy Everything by SU. I limited the embellishment since this card will go in the mail. I inked the flower stem in celery and the blooms in saffron, then rolled the edges of the blooms in pumpkin. I stamped an extra bloom, used some circle punches to cut it out, and layered it with a dimensional for a little extra oomph.
Supplies:
Stamps: Tim Holtz, Happy Everything from SU
Ink: saffron, pumpkin pie, bashful blue, celery
Paper: bashful blue, neenah classic crest white, Washington Apple dsp
Accessories: CM circle punches

Four-leaf clover

I got a little crafting time in last night, so I whipped out this card, which fits two challenges. Some of my Splitcoast friends - all of us are former VSN hostesses - are doing some challenges together, just for fun. And my friend Stacey challenged us to make a card using hearts to make a four-leaf clover. I love this idea and have done it a few times before! Well, when thinking about this card, I remembered the sketch this week at Taylored Expressions, and thought combining the two would be perfect. Taylor is having a big one-year anniversary celebration (with prizes!) on her blog to celebrate a year of TE/Stamp a Sweet Impression. You can see the sketch and other details about the celebration on her blog HERE.
Anyway, working with the TE sketch, I punched out several hearts using scraps of my celery prints DP and my Creative Memories heart punches. Then I used the small hearts to make a clover for the last square, popped up the last square and added a stem, which I hand-cut. I made the oval sentiment using my Creative Memories oval cutting system, since I don't have any oval punches or nesties. Can you believe that? I didn't want to add the bulk of a ribbon, so I just added a strip of prints dp underneath the sentiment.
Supplies:
Stamps: Sincere salutations
Ink: certainly celery
Paper: celery, celery prints dp, neenah classic crest white
Accessories: CM heart punches, CM oval cutter, eyelet, dimensionals

Modern baby

I needed a baby girl card, and I've been inspired by the modern baby fashions and decor lately, so I tried to channel that when I was making this card. I stamped the lamb from SU's Everyday Celebrations (retired) set on pink pirhouette cardstock using Memento rich cocoa, then added white flocking for some softness. The polka dot patterned paper is from American Crafts, and it has been in my stash for ages! It felt great to finally cut into it. I added the chocolate satin ribbon for a bit of luxury. I'm really happy with the final results on this one!
Supplies:
Stamps: Everyday celebrations, Riveting
Ink: memento rich cocoa
Paper: pink pirhouette, chocolate chip, American Crafts DP
Accessories: flock, Creative Memories circle cutters, corner rounder, satin ribbon

Thinking of you

I needed to make some quick and even more difficult for me, somewhat masculine, sympathy cards recently. I love the color combination of Stampin Up's Urban Garden DSP and thought it would work well with this simple leaf image from Unity's Gratitude=Joy set. The sentiment is one of my all-time favorites from A-muse.
The layouts of the two cards were essentially inspired by the size and shape of the scraps I had of the patterned paper. I hate to waste any of it, since I do love it so much! I'm kind of wishing I had made a few more of these while I had the supplies out, so I had some ready to go in the future!
Supplies:
Stamps: Gratitude = Joy from Unity, sentiment from Amuse
Ink: Kiwi kiss, basic gray
Paper: neenah classic crest white, basic gray, night of navy, Urban Garden DSP
Accessories: brads

Starts with L

Finally, the end of the VSN challenges for this round! My friend Robyn had a very creative challenge - use only things that start with the letter "L" on your card. I believe (I hope!) that one exception was a neutral cardstock. My L things are: Lavendar lace cardstock, Lily Kate line of DP from Basic grey, Labels One nesties, Letters, and Lavender ribbon. I basically made a list of all the "L" things I could think of and then worked from there. The only thing I couldn't figure out how to incorporate was the library clip I had on my list! This was really quite a challenge, but it was a fun one to play with. Tomorrow, I'll have some non-VSN stuff for you!

I {heart} George!

I have just a couple more VSN challenge cards to share with you; I guess it's a good thing I still have some, since I haven't really done any crafting since then. I came down with a miserable cold a couple of days ago, so I've been doing a lot of laying on the couch doing nothing. I hope it goes away soon, though. I have too much I want to do, at the craft table and otherwise!
Now on to the card. This is for Kelly/Schirmcat's Celebrity Crush challenge. She asked us to use a celebrity crush as inspiration for our card. There was no question for me - I {heart} George Clooney. My crush began when he was on the show "Sisters," but it really took off during the ER years. My card was inspired by George's salt and pepper hair (gray and black) and his hospital scrubs (soft sky). I also wanted a clean and classy style, just like George, so I kept the embellishments simple, just some satin ribbon from American Crafts, some Kaisercraft gray pearls, and some Cuttlebug embossing.
Supplies:
Stamps: Unity
Ink: Memento tuxedo black
Paper: soft sky, basic black, basic gray
Accessories: corner rounder, ribbon, pearls, cuttlebug