Unity bachelor #2

I've been playing along with Unity's Bachelor contest - each week there's a new challenge being posted on Splitcoast each Thursday for the next few weeks. This week's challenge called for using a piece of patterned paper, lots of glitter or sparkle, two buttons, and of course, Unity stamps. I need to start building up my stash of Christmas cards so I pulled out this Dasher paper from Basic Grey, dug up some Unity holiday stamps, and got to work. I stamped the snowflake pattern on the long narrow strip, then covered the entire panel in versamark and embossed with iridescent ice for a super sparkly effect. I also added some sparkle with a Spica glitter pen to the ornament image. One holiday card down, about 50 more to go!
Supplies:
Stamps: Unity
Ink: soft sky, Memento rich cocoa
Paper: artichoke, soft sky, neenah white, Basic Grey dasher
Accessories: nestabilities, spica glitter pen, corner rounder, buttons, ribbon, embossing powder

Autumn flower

Once in awhile when I'm making cards, I come up with something that turns out even better than I pictured it in my head. This is one of those cards. I just love how it turned out! The inspiration for the card was a Virtual Stamp Night challenge from Friday night's mini VSN. Trish challenged us to use the rock and roll technique on our cards. I love that technique - it just adds a touch of something special to your cards. I selected a leaf stamp from Unity's gratitude = joy set and inked the image in several fall colors, rolling one edge each time in a complementary color. I added some Basic Grey Indian Summer - I suspect you'll be seeing a lot of that for awhile! - a ribbon, a button, and my favorite fall sentiment from Rosie's Roadshow. And now tht it's done, I'm thinking I might just have to keep this card for myself! :)
Supplies:
Stamps: Unity, Rosie's Roadshow
Ink: more mustard, pumpkin, kiwi kiss, ruby red, really rust
Paper: kiwi, chocolate chip, Basic Grey Indian Summer
Accessories: ribbon, button, twine

Chalkboard technique

One of the things I love about Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoast is the push the challenges give me to try new things and get out of my comfort zone. That is especially helpful when I feel like I've been in a stamping slump! Tonight there were a series of mini VSN challenges to try so I played along with a couple. You can find all the details on VSN here. The challenges will be available through Sunday.
This card was for Shannon's challenge to use the chalkboard technique. I had never tried this one before, but I found it a lot of fun and I'm pleased with the results. Even better, it got me to pull out my chalks, which are ancient - at least 10 years old - but still barely used! I just had to have them when I first started stamping, but I didn't really know what to do with them! For this card, I stamped the image and sentiment in white craft ink on chocolate chip paper, then dabbed chalk over the ink to give it color. I waited a few minutes for the chalk and ink to set, then gently wiped off the excess chalk. I paired the image with a strip of my new Basic Grey Indian Summer paper - this paper makes me swoon I love it so much! Thanks to Ellen Hutson for having it in stock and getting it to me so quickly! I also pulled out some hardware and some satin ribbon I've had in my stash for ages to finish the card.
Supplies:
Stamps: Unity gratitude=joy
Ink: Colorbox white
Paper: Really rust, more mustard, chocolate chip, Indian Summer from Basic Grey
Accessories: hodgepodge hardware, ticket punch, Cuttlebug, ribbon

Res-Q #16: Puzzling diagnosis

It's Monday which means it's time for another Res-Q challenge. Our doctor on call this week is Jean the diagnostician, who left us some clues but left it to us to solve the puzzling diagnosis! Check out Jean's challenge here and please play along! There's also a blog candy giveaway going on through Sept. 24.
I was in a stamping slump, so I needed a little mojo rescuing tonight. I'm not sure I got Jean's puzzle totally correct, but I did figure out one of the clues was blue, so I took my card inspiration from this really fun cotton "ribbon" I found while out craft shopping over the weekend. The ribbon is cotton fabric with a wire sewn down the middle, so I took a piece and made some ruffles along the bottom and added some buttons over the top. The corner piece is sewn to the button to make a little flowery doo-dad. I think next time I would skip the buttons on the bottom and just ruffle it all the way across, but overall this was a fun card to make. It's a departure of sorts from my usual style, but once in awhile I like to get out of my comfort zone. Thanks for a fun challenge, Jean!
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy daisy
Ink: brilliant blue, bashful blue
Paper: brilliant blue, bashful blue, whisper white
Accessories: ribbon, buttons, thread, Cuttlebug, Tonic distresser

Unity date night

So Unity's having a fun series of challenges in their SCS forum called "Unity Bachelor." This week's challenge is to make an invitation for a date using Bachelor Broman's favorite colors: red, green and black, along with Unity stamps.
So my mind immediately went to my favorite Unity stamp, the tree, and to the childhood taunt, Joe and Susie sittin' in a tree, K-i-s-s-i-n-g! I used that as inspiration for my card. The sentiment was printed on the computer, and I embossed a lipgloss "kiss" with red embossing powder for the lips - a technique I learned on SCS!
It was so much fun to create a silly little card. I have no idea what I'll do with it, as I am without a significant other at the moment, but for a chance to win some Unity stamps, and a chance to get a little inky, it was worth it!
Supplies:
Stamps:Unity
Ink: artichoke
Paper: real red, always artichoke, basic black, neenah white
Accessories: ribbon, red embossing powder, computer for sentiment, corner rounder, horizontal slot punch

WSC98 and Lily

I got an adorable card in the mail this week from my stamping buddy Jacqueline. Inside she'd tucked some stamped images including this one from Pink Cat Studios' Lily at the beach line. Isn't Lily adorable? I had to put her right to use on a card, so I used Beate's weekend sketch for this card. Lily was colored with Copics and I added some clear Spica glitter to her flower and polka dots. I have a few more Lily images, and I can't wait to play with them! Thanks Jacqueline!
Supplies:
Stamps: Lily - Pink Cat Studios, sentiment from SU Short and Sweet
Ink: unknown black, Copic markers
Paper: tempting turquoise, pink passion, green galore, only orange, yoyo yellow
Accessories: felt flower ribbon from Michael's, Prima and Imaginisce flowers, big green rhinestone brad, Cuttlebug

Res-Q #15: Physiologist sketch

After a summer hiatus, the Res-Q Challenge is back! The blog got a bit of a makeover this summer, and we're celebrating with a great giveaway. Please check out this week's challenge HERE, play along if you like, and leave a comment to be entered into a great blog candy giveaway! This week's challenge is a sketch inspired by this week's on-call physiologist, Denise! I used the sketch to make a baby card for an online friend who is scheduled for a C-section Tuesday! I used a white gel pen and some white fun flock on the little sheep. I love the softness it adds to this sweet image.
Supplies:
Stamps: Everyday celebrations
Ink: Memento rich cocoa
Paper: chocolate chip, cool Caribbean, whisper white, American Crafts DP
Accessories: fun flock, ribbon, nestabilities, white gel pen, corner rounder

Polka dot elephant

I was playing at a friend's house the other day and whipped up this card while I was there. It's always fun to go to her house because she has different stuff than I do. It helps me get out of my comfort zone a bit! I love this elephant from Wild About You; I don't own the set, but my friend does, so I had to pull out the ellie for my card. I inked her up in amethyst, then inked a dotted background stamp in lovely lilac and kissed it to the elphant to give the ellie some texture. I finished the card with a wide organdy ribbon and a single lavender rhinestone from Kaisercraft.
Supplies:
Stamps: Wild About You
Ink: amethyst, lilac, celery
Paper: amethyst, lilac, celery, celery prints dp
Accessories: ribbon, rhinestone

Inspired by Australia

With the end of summer came the end of our virtual vacation! Some SCS friends and I toured a number of exotic and exciting locales over the summer and made cards based on our stops. Our tour guide for this leg was Cav, who asked us to include these things in our cards: use the stair step fold to represent the Sydney Opera House, include some sort of flora representing Kings Park, use something red in the center of the card for Uluru, add an animal to represent Healesville sanctuary and use an Aussie sentiment.
I used flowers for flora, the red flower in the center for Uluru, a butterfly for my animal and I printed the sentiment on my computer. Thanks for a great tour and fabulous challenge, Cav!
Supplies:
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copic markers
Paper: Riding hood red, neenah white, Washington Apple dp
Accessories: Spica glitter pen, ribbon, word window punch, printer

Birthday bash part 2!

I had a chance to make another card today for Taylored Expressions' birthday bash. You can find out all about the celebration on the blog HERE. This card combines Taylor's inspiration photo challenge (#1) with Karen G's sketch (#10). I loved all the polka dots, geometric patterns and cupcakes in the inspiration photo, so I used some Memory Box papers to invoke that same feel and pulled out my Whipper Snapper cupcake stamp to go with them. The card measures 4.25 inches square.
I had hoped to get all 13 challenges done, but the deadline is Wednesday and I am barely halfway there. And I have to work tomorrow :( Even if I don't get them all done, they have been lots of fun and I am really get a good card stash built up again! Thanks Taylor and crew!
Supplies:
Stamps: Whipper Snapper
Ink: Memento rich cocoa, Copic markers
Paper: kiwi kiss, regal rose, shimmery vanilla, Memory Box
Accessories: ribbon, Nestabilities

Birthday bash!

It's Taylored Expressions' first birthday and Taylor and her designers are hosting a great bash this weekend, complete with lots of fun challenges and prizes! I don't have any of Taylor's stamps yet, but I do have a wish-list going! I decided to play along in some of the challenges to see if I could win a gift certificate and do some shopping in her store! I combined a few challenges on these two cards. The first card combines Laura's sketch (challenge #6) with Laurie's challenge to distress (#11). I used Basic Grey Dasher paper, which has a distressed look to it, and then roughed up the edges of all my layers and sponged Memento rich cocoa around the edges.
The second card combines Karen M's sketch (challenge #2) with Donna's challenge to use paper-piecing (#3). A cupcake image seemed fitting for the party so I started with this Whipper Snapper image and paper-pieced the wrapper using retired Berry bliss dp. I colored the image with Copics and added a little glitter with my Spica clear glitter pen.
Supplies:
Stamps: Peaceful wishes tree, Savvy stamps sentiment, Whipper Snapper Cupcake
Ink: Old olive, Memento chocolate chip, Copic markers
Paper: old olive, baja breeze, whisper white, Dasher, pomegranate, close to cocoa, Neenah white, Berry bliss DP
Accessories: ribbon, pearls, EK Success punch, sponges, Tim Holtz distresser, Nestabilities, corner rounder

Inspired by France!

Some SCS friends and I have been on a virtual vacation all summer, complete with challenges inspired by our "stops!" Denise/resqbarbie took us on a tour of France and asked us to make a recipe card featuring a recipe inspired by our travels! I had to go with wine, French bread and cheese! I love brie on crusty French bread or crackers, and warm brie in phyllo is just heavenly! So I paired this recipe with my wine glass stamp to capture France. The sentiment on the wine glass charm says "sante!" which I'm pretty sure is the French equivalent of cheers! The recipe is only attached to the card by the little paperclip so the recipient can easily remove it! The card measures 5.5 inches square - I had to make it large enough to accommodate the recipe card.
Supplies:
Stamps: A charmed life, Gina K
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copic markers
Paper: pretty in pink, pomegranate, bashful blue, neenah classic white, Basic Grey Euphoria
Accessories: ribbon, clip

Moxie fab Christmas

The Moxie Fab blog has tons of holiday challenges going on right now, so I figured I would get a head start on my holiday cards and give one of the challenges a try! This card is for the stamping challenge - the only requirements were to make a holiday card that included stamping! I have been itching to make a hunter/kraft card for the holidays ever since I spotted this gingham ribbon at my LSS. I added a little craft white ink and some pearls, and voila! Fun, simple and fast - a great combination for holiday cards. I hope to get a few more holiday cards done this weekend, maybe I'll even get a chance to play along in some of the other challenges over at Moxie Fab.
Supplies:
Stamps: Snow swirled, sentiment from Savvy stamps
Ink: handsome hunter, colorbox white
Paper: kraft, handsome hunter
Accessories: ribbon, Kaisercraft pearls

Coral birthday

This card is similar to another one I made with First Avenue Floral and this layout, but I changed it up a bit from the previous version. I'm thinking about making a set in this style - four more and I'd be all done! This card uses cameo coral, ruby red and retired SU rose romance ink and cardstock - it's a different combination for me but I like the final result!
Supplies:
Stamps: Fifth Ave. Floral, Upsy Daisy
Ink: ruby red, cameo coral, rose romance
Paper: ruby red, cameo coral, rose romance, whisper white
Accessories: Cuttlebug, EK success punch, pearls, organdy ribbon, atyou Spica glitter pen