Virtual trip: England

It's time for another Virtual Vacation-inspired card! Some SCS friends and I are taking a virtual trip this summer, complete with themed challenges for each stop. This is my card for our visit to England. Jacqueline asked us to take our inspiration from one of the spots in England we visited, and place our sentiment based on where in England we visited. I chose "East of England" as my location, and took inspiration from the bird watching available there. My sentiment is also on the "east" side of my card.
Supplies:
Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly, Studio G
Ink: Sage shadow, memento tuxedo black, copics
Paper: pomegranate, sage shadow, so saffron, Basic Grey Phoebe, neenah white
Accessories: nestabilities, circle punch, scallop punch, EK Success punch, buttons, ribbon

Hocus Pocus WSC95

I had a rare Friday off work (and boy did I need it!) so I took a little time to play today! I haven't had a chance to try any of Beate's weekend sketches for awhile, so I used this week's as my inspiration today. My local stamp store was having a sale the other day on Halloween stamps - half off! - so I picked up this Karen Lockhart image and a Rosie's Roadshow sentiment to go with it. It's fun to play with some new stuff, and it never hurts to get started on those holiday cards early!
Supplies:
Stamps: Karen Lockhart, Rosie's Roadshow
Ink: memento tuxedo black, Copic markers
Paper: basic black, neenah classic crest white, yoyo yellow, tempting turquoise, only orange, green galore, Pinecone Press dp
Accessories: Circle punches, word window punch

Christmas in August

It's never too early to get started on Christmas cards, right? I used one of the recent VSN challenges to get started on mine! Or at least get ONE done (59 to go ....)! The challenge was to use your heat gun and metallic embossing powder. I love this ancient SU hostess set, Holiday Minis, so I selected three images and the sentiment and embossed them in gold on shimmery white paper. I colored the images with Copic markers, layered them on gold paper, then backed the squares with a piece of corrugated red and gold flecked specialty paper. The card is check sized, 6.25 by 3.5 inches. The ribbon was zapped briefly with the heat gun, too, to give it some curl.
Supplies:
Stamps: holiday minis
Ink: Copic markers, versamark
Paper: real red, brushed gold, shimmery white, red/gold specialty paper
Accessories: Cuttlebug, embossing powder, ribbon

Inspired by Italy

It's time for another virtual vacation card! Some SCS friends and I are taking a virtual vacation this summer, complete with destination-themed challenges! This is my card representing our trip to Italy. Jean/naturecoastcrafter asked us to take the letters in "MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI" and use them to make words to inspire our cards. I found the words cream, teal, green, coral, bloom and gold in there, so that's where I got the inspiration for my card. The first four words inspired the color, the bloom inspired the Prima flowers and the gold is probably impossible for you to see - I sprayed a very fine mist of gold Glimmer Mist over the entire card when it was done. It gives it a very subtle shimmer. The large flower image from One of a Kind is inked first in kiwi kiss and then the edges rolled in taken with teal. I love that effect with this stamp! The other thing that inspired this card is Florentine stationary - you would find similar colors and gold accents in that beautiful paper. Thanks, Jean, for an awesome challenge!
Supplies:
Stamps: One of a Kind (SU)
Ink: taken with teal, kiwi kiss, cameo coral
Paper: taken with teal, kiwi kiss, cameo coral, very vanilla
Accessories: Kaisercraft pearls, jumbo eyelet, Primas, ribbon, scallop punch

Darling fall

This is another of the fall cards I made during the recent VSN. The challenge called for using always artichoke and old olive, as well as both your paper crimper and your scallop punch! I still had the stamps out from the previous challenge, so I added a couple other fall colors and whipped up this card. I love using my hemp twine on fall cards, too, so I added that as a finishing touch. Another simple, but hopefully cute, card!
Supplies:
Stamps: Darling dots (SU), Michael's $1 stamp sentiment
Ink: old olive, always artichoke, pumpkin pie, more mustard
Paper: kraft, whisper white, pumpkin pie, more mustard, old olive always artichoke
Accessories: crimper, scallop edge punch, twine

Almost fall!

During last weekend's VSN, I had a chance to get a head start on some of my fall cards. I love making fall/Thanksgiving cards - it's a great excuse to dig into my earth elements SU colors that get neglected much of the rest of the year! I think I've actually run out of more mustard cardstock after about 8 years! This card was for a challenge that called for featuring yellow and brown on your card, and also required the use of something crumpled. The summer sun circles under my leaves were crumpled, and the images layered with dimensionals. The primar colors in my card are chocolate chip and more mustard, with a touch of really rust.
Supplies:
Stamps: darling dots from SU, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink: chocolate chip, really rust, more mustard
Paper: summer sun, chocolate chip, rust, white
Accessories: cuttlebug, ribbon, CM circle punches

Daisy window

This is another of my cards from VSN this past weekend. My friend Lee, aka Luvlee, always comes up with creative challenges. This one was called ham and swiss on rye! She asked us to make a card using the colors pink and yellow, and to use a window of some sort. I struggled for awhile with this card, then finally made a window using my Nesties. The yellow panel has an acetate window I cut from a My Mind's Eye photo overlay. You can see the pink daisies from it on the right side. I popped that panel up on foam dots to give the window some dimension. The panel underneath is lined with some ancient SU designer paper, then some more nesties and the stamped image. No sentiment on this one - I'll add one inside when I figure out where the card is going.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy daisy
Ink: pretty in pink, barely banana
Paper: barely banana, pretty in pink, neenah classic white, SU dp
Accessories: ribbon, acetate photo overlay, nestabilities

Paper Chef VSN

The summer has gone by so fast! I can't believe it's the middle of August already. Work had slowed a bit in July, but it is picking back up now and I have had less time to create! I miss my crafty time! It is such a good stress reliever.
Fortunately, over the weekend I had a chance to do a little stamping for the Paper Chef Virtual Stamp Night event on Splitcoast. My mojo needed a boost and VSN is usually a good way to get it going! The theme was Paper Chef (sort of like Iron Chef on TV!) and all the challenges were food/drink related. This card was for Denise's challenge, which called for choosing one of several card "recipes" based on recipes for martinis. I chose the cosmo recipe. Using the recipe, my colors were summer sun, pumpkin pie and regal rose, and my required accessories were ribbon and Stickles. I used my nestabilities, my Cuttlebug and embossing folders and a strip of patterned paper to finish off the card!
Supplies:
Stamps: short and sweet, Fabulous Flowers
Ink: regal rose, pumpkin pie
Paper: summer sun, pumpkin pie, regal rose, whisper white, KI Memories patterned paper
Accessories: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, ribbon, white gel pen, Stickles, corner rounder

Swiss-inspired chocolate

I got a little behind on the virtual trip while I was on my real vacation, but I am catching up now! This is my card for Lee's tour of Switzerland. Her challenge was to take inspiration from Swiss chocolate! Since Lee is a designer for Gina K, I thought her challenge was a great chance to pull out my "Have a cookie" set from Gina K. I discovered that the cookies are hard to color! I need to practice some more, for sure! The sentiment is also a bit hard to read on the red cardstock, so I might restamp it on white. I kept the design and layout simple - just a few layers and some pretty striped ribbon from my stash! Thanks for a great challenge, Lee!
Supplies:
Stamps: Have a Cookie by Melanie for Gina K
Ink: Memento rich cocoa, copic markers
Paper: creamy caramel, chocolate chip, real red, neenah classic crest white
Accessories: ribbon

Scotland-inspired!

This is another in my series of cards inspired by my Virtual Vacation! Some SCS friends and I are taking a 'virtual' trip to several European countries this summer and making cards inspired by the places we visit. This card was inspired by the castles of Scotland! I used the grid technique on the background to look like the gray stone of the castles. I scored the paper every half inch then stamped my linen background stamp on the panel and sponged the edges with basic gray ink. The card was finished off with some scalloped edging, ribbon and some stickles on the flower centers for a little bling!
Supplies:
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Upsy Daisy, linen
Ink: Basic gray, almost amethyst, elegant eggplant
Paper: basic gray, almost amethyst, elegant eggplant, whisper white
Accessories: EK Success punch, ribbon, stickles

Trying to get back in the groove

It's been more difficult than I expected to get back in the crafting groove since I got back from my vacation! And no crafting has meant no blogging! I hope to change that this weekend, however. I have a list of cards I need to get made and a list of challenges to work on, so I should have plenty to keep me busy! Of course I also have to tackle all the weekend chores, make time to see some friends and run a few errands over the next few days. Man I wish weekends were longer! LOL!
And now for the card: I actually made this last weekend for the mini VSN, but was slow to get it photographed and blogged. The challenge was to use a color combination inspired by nachos! Perhaps that's why I've been craving nachos all week! I finally had some for dinner tonight. :) Anyway, the challenge required using yellow and red, and you could choose from a limited list of other colors. I used so saffron (chips), real red (salsa), pumpkin pie (cheese) and old olive (guacamole). Oh and a touch of whisper white (sour cream!) The flowers are Die cut blooms, and the leaves are just one of the blooms cut apart. A few dew drops finished them off.
Supplies:
Stamps: short and sweet
Ink: real red
Paper: real red, so saffron, whisper white, Washington Apple DSP, die cut blooms
Accessories: scallop punch, dew drops

Vacation's over!

I had a great vacation cruising Alaska with my mom and sister. The weather was foggy, cloudy and occasionally rainy, but it didn't matter - our surroundings were still gorgeous and we had a great time! It was my first trip to Alaska and I would definitely go back - there is so much to see and do! One day of our cruise was spent cruising in Yakutat Bay and watching the calving at the Hubbard Glacier. That's the glacier behind me in the photo! It was so cool to watch it break apart. It sounds like thunder when the pieces crack off. The glacier is about 7 miles long and much larger than it appears in the photo!
I've been back for a week and I've been trying to get back into my stamping groove. It has not been easy! I tried a couple of VSN challenges this weekend to see if that would get me going! Except my pal Peggysue's challenge called for leaving the ink alone. That's right - the challenge was to make a card without using any ink of any kind! This is a 5.5-inch square card - I used glittery Making Memories for the Happy Birthday sentiment. The rest is simple - some dp, some rounded corners, some ribbon and a little bling!
Supplies:
Paper: Making Memories dp, whisper white, cool caribbean
Accessories: corner rounder, ribbon, Making Memories chipboard letters, Kaisercraft rhinestones.