Res-Q #14: Where's the bug?

Once again, it's taken me all week, but I finally managed to get a card made for this week's Res-Q Challenge. Robyn asked us to make a card featuring a bug, but not to use that bug as a focal point of the card. You can see all the details of the challenge, and play along HERE!
My card was inspired by Sharon Johnson of No Time To Stamp. I love her beautiful wide ribbons and pretty bows, so I picked up some wide gingham ribbon at a nearby scrapbook store awhile back and decided to build a card around it! I embossed the Upsy Daisy image with white EP, then sponged several shades of blue over it for the background. My bugs are the pair of little butterflies from Tagger's Dozen. They are highlighted with a clear spica glitter pen.
The Res-Q girls are taking a summer break from the challenges, so there won't be any new ones for awhile. But if you're like me, you haven't had a chance to play them all yet, so please feel free to go back and play along with past challenges when you have a chance!
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Tagger's Dozen
Ink: Versamark, night of navy, brocade blue, ballet blue, bashful blue
Paper: Neenah classic crest white, bashful blue, Chatterbox dp
Accessories: ticket punch, ribbon, embossing powder, spica glitter pen, sponges

Retro pink and brown for Lee

My friend Lee is hosting a challenge in the Gina K Designs forum on SCS for the Gina K release party, so I thought I would play along. She chose a color challenge, using pink and brown, which are her favorite colors. I like them, too, so this was right up my alley. I stamped the image from Retro Boutique, then stamped it again on patterned paper and paper-pieced the dress. The image and its under layer were cut out using my Nestabilities. I added some Kaisercraft pearls, some ribbon using my horizontal slot punch from SU and some cuttlebugging on the background. Thanks for a fun challenge, Lee.
Supplies:
Stamps: Retro boutique, Gina K Designs
Ink: Memento rich cocoa
Paper: chocolate chip, neenah classic crest white, patterned paper from Me and My Big Ideas
Accessories: cuttlebug, Nestabilities, pearls, slot punch

Quick birthday card

I went over to a friend's house to stamp the other day, which is quite challenge for me since I like to have all my "stuff" right there when I'm stamping! She's a relatively new stamper, so going to her house is little like a entering a limited-supply challenge. But that, to me, is part of the fun! She has different stamps and different tools to play with, and it gives me a chance to stretch my skills or try different things. Anyway, when I was visiting her, I needed to make a birthday card for a co-worker. I had brought along some paper and a few tools and accessories, but no birthday images. So I borrowed this cute image (not sure who makes it) and the sentiment (from Hero Arts, I think) and got to work. I colored the image with my friend's Creative Memories markers and then added some sparkle from an atyou Spica glitter pen. It probably needed a little something more, but I kind of like it as it is!
Supplies:
Stamps: unknown
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, CM markers
Paper: regal rose, gable green, basic black, neenah classic crest white
Accessories: Atyou spica clear glitter pen

polka dots and potatoes!

Robyn posted a fun challenge for the VSN kick-off this weekend; she asked us to take inspiration from potato skins and use the colors brown, white, green, yellow and a splash of red on our card. I had a hard time thinking of something to do, then found my Patterns pack of paper while I was cleaning up my stamp space and an idea formed! The image is inked in more mustard, then the edges rolled in real red. The card probably needs a sentiment, but I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet, so I left it off.
Supplies:
Stamps: Polka dot punches
Ink: real red, more mustard
Paper: sahara sand, more mustard, real red whisper white, Patterns pack
Accessories: scallop circle punch, nestabilities, circle punch, ribbon

Fun with paint

I'd seen a few cards on blogs recently where the artist had used paint as a background, so the other night I painted a few scraps of paper with some of my Making Memories paints and figured I'd try the technique sometime. Tonight on SCS there were some fun challenges to celebrate the launch of a new Virtual Stamp Night round. The theme this time is "Paper Chef" so all the challenges have food connections. This challenge was to take inspiration from herbs and use green on your card, and make it masculine since men seem to gather around the herb-flavored dip at parties. I grabbed one of my painted pieces, stamped some leaves in chocolate chip, added some distressed layers and a piece of hemp twine, and called it good! It was a fun, fast and simple card - my favorite! You can find out more about VSN and play along with all the challenges HERE.
Supplies:
Stamps: Gratitude=Joy, Unity; Short and sweet, SU
Ink: chocolate chip
Paper: artichoke, chocolate chip, vanilla
Accessories: paint, twine, Tonic distresser

Trashy Tuesday #6

It's taken me all week to get this week's Trashy Tuesday challenge done! This week's challenge was inspired by Oscar the Grouch's favorite song. Jacqueline asked us to take inspiration from the lyrics. I used the chorus as my guide:

Oh, I love trash!
Anything dirty or dingy or dusty
Anything ragged or rotten or rusty

Yes, I love trash
My card uses really rust ink and cardstock, ragged edges, lots of sponging for a "dirty" look, crumpled designer paper and an overall distressed look. You can see the complete challenge, and play along HERE. Along with the distressing, I used rock and roll on main image, inking first in mustard and then rolling in really rust.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy daisy
Ink: really rust, more mustard, chocolate chip
Paper: really rust, chocolate chip, vanilla, more mustard, mustard prints dp
Accessories: twill, sponges, Tonic edge distresser

CPS #119

A serious lack of mojo and a need to get several cards in the mail led me to Card Positioning Systems and this sketch challenge this week! I needed to get a card in the mail to my sister who is having some health issues. She loves bright colors and this little truck is fun to color, so I paired the truck with the Euphoria paper from Basic Grey, some Nestabilities and some jumbo eyelets from SU. Thanks for a mojo boost, CPS!
Supplies:
Stamps: Loads of Love
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copic markers
Paper: tempting turquoise, pink pirhouette, neenah white, Euphoria Basic Grey
Accessories: Nestabilities, jumbo eyelets, Spica clear glitter pen

Res-Q #12: "B" Happy

It's time for another Res-Q challenge! This week's challenge is from Jean/naturecoastcrafter. Here's what she asked for: Pull out some cheery papers and colors and create something that features a B; “be” that an image that starts with the letter b or “bee”utiful embellishments or even the letter B itself. You can see the full details of the challenge, and play along, HERE.
I love the beach (and it starts with B!) and I had yet to ink this Just Surfing set from SU. So I pulled out some papers and did some tearing and sponging to create a beach scene. The sun/sentiment is from Darling Dots. The sentiment also fits the "B" Happy theme.
Supplies:
Stamps: Just surfing, darling dots (SU)
Ink: Creamy caramel, chocolate chip, yoyo yellow, cool caribbean, tempting turquoise, soft sky, cameo coral, green galore
Paper: whisper white, soft sky, barely banana, cool caribbean, tempting turquoise, creamy caramel
Accessories: sponges, CM circle punches

Scrapping with StampTV

I have so many wonderful pictures that need scrapping, but I hardly ever take a break from cardmaking to actually get the pictures out. I was determined to get some done, though, when I got these pictures of Memorial Day back. Then I saw Erika's sketch for the weekly scrapbook challenge on StampTV and knew I could pair them up! I apologize for the photo - I find it very hard to photograph 12x12 pages! You can click the photo to see a larger version!
I modified the sketch a bit for the larger paper and to incorporate more pictures. Since the photos are of my best friend's little boy, I didn't want to add flowers, so I made circles using some Creative Memories punches instead. I also stamped some words from various Gina K Designs sets in a couple of the circles. The title is also from Gina K, from Melanie's set "The Best things in Life." Below it I added my own journaling.
Supplies:
Stamps: Gina K Designs
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Memento tuxedo black
Paper: My Mind's Eye, kiwi kiss, tangerine tango, taken with teal, cool caribbean, whisper white
Accessories: Circle punches, spica clear glitter pen (on BEST in the title)

Cup full of challenges

I combined two challenges to put this card together. First is Sharon Johnson's weekly Stamp Simply challenge, to make a card inspired by a "pot." You can see all the details of the challenge on her blog HERE! My first thought was coffee pot, then coffee cup, and that reminded me of this terrific image from Shirley's 2 Girls. Then I remembered my friend Karolyn's weekly Twisted Thursday challenge. Karolyn is on the S2G design team and hosts this fun challenge every week. The challenge includes a sketch and a twist, this week to use paper piecing. See all the details for that challenge HERE.
I stamped my cup and sentiment, colored them with Copic markers and paper-pieced the background behind the cup using the same Basic Grey Euphoria dp on the bottom half of the background. I also colored some plain white flowers using my Copics to match the dp and the cup, added some Stickles and called it good! Thanks for two terrific challenges, ladies!
Supplies:
Stamps: Shirley's 2 Girls
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copic markers
Paper: marvelous magenta (retired SU), pink pirhouette, neenah classic crest white, Basic Grey Euphoria
Accessories: EK success punch, Stickles, Wal-Mart brand flowers, K & Co. brad

Star birthday

I had to whip up a quick masculine birthday card the other day, so I turned to my new favorite set for masculine cards, Starring you. I stamped stars in real red and ballet blue on the top half of the background. On the bottom half, which is harder to see, I did a line of paper piercing along the bottom to the "Celebrate Today" sentiment. The center image was cut out with my Creative Memories circle punches and popped up on pop dots. I added some Heidi Swapp clear stars and called it good!
Supplies:
Stamps: Starring you
Ink: real red, ballet blue
Paper: real red, ballet blue, whisper white
Accessories: piercing tool, Heidi Swapp ghost stars, CM circle cutter/punches

SC231 Thank You

I had a chance to do a little stamping last night, and I need to start rebuilding my stash of thank you cards. But my mojo has been fleeting lately, so I turned to Splitcoast for some help. That's where I found the sketch I used for this card, it was this week's sketch challenge. The card itself is pretty simple, just strips of patterned paper, some ribbon and a small image and sentiment. Thanks so much for a great challenge!
Supplies:
Stamps: Unity Darling Dots, SU All Holidays
Ink: sahara sand, old olive
Paper: sahara sand, old olive, very vanilla, Making Memories patterned paper
Accessories: vanilla organdy ribbon, SU brads, CM square punches

Res-Q #11: Bugs and blooms

Happy Monday! It's time for another Res-Q Challenge. I've missed the last couple of weeks with vacation and other crazy life stuff, but I'm hoping to get back on track this week. Today's challenge was brought to us by JoAnn/aka SarahZoe on SCS. The theme for June is "Gettin' Buggy" so JoAnn's challenge calls for using bugs and flowers on your card. You can see all the details, and play along, right HERE.
I haven't stamped for awhile and my mojo has been largely absent, so I went for a simple card here. I used SU's hostess set, Darling Dots, which has both this flower and this ladybug image in it. I punched the images with some Creative Memories punches, cuttlebugged part of the background and added a sentiment, some ribbons and some Stickles for bling. Sweet and simple!
Supplies:
Stamps: Darling dots, short and sweet
Ink: yoyo yellow, real red, memento tuxedo black
Paper: basic black, whisper white, yoyo yellow, real red
Accessories: CM punches, Cuttlebug swiss dots, stickles, ribbon