My own Baroque Motifs!

There is a stamp set in the new Stampin' Up catalog called Baroque Motifs. I've been admiring the beautiful work everyone on SCS has been creating with it, and telling myself I don't need the set! Well, I was right! Check out my card... I created my own set! (ssshhh... don't tell anyone I ordered it from SU! anyway!) This is for the Ways to Use It challenge/Product Parade today on SCS. The challenge is to show off your new products, whether they're Stampin' Up or not. Well, since I'll most likely be getting out of Stampin' Up after this quarter, I am really enjoying getting to use new products like clear stamps! And also, we have these great piercing templates at Toyrifix and this is one I bought last week and broke out of the package today! I hope you like what I did!

Stamps: Pollen Dust by Fancy Pants; Stampin' Up Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Stampin' Up River Rock, Groovy Guava and Confetti Cream; Bazzill Safari

Ink: SU! River Rock (for sponging around edges); Colorbox Olive and Rose Coral

Accessories: American Traditional Designs piercing template; coral grosgrain ribbon (unknown source); SU! olive organdy; Cuttlebug dies; pop-dots

Elegant Toile'

I don't think I've ever done a card quite like this! Thanks for looking... hope you like my card!

Stamps: Stampin' Up Garden Silhouettes; Great Impressions Swirl Background
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla; black
Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Black
Accessories: sewing machine for zig-zag stitching; black satin ribbon; Marvy giga scalloped square; Prima flowers; Stampin' Up black brads; Joann's black embossing powder; pop-dots

Fun Sketch!

These "Dare to Get Dirty!" challenges that started today on SCS are a ton of fun! I'm ready to fall into bed, though! I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep up! What do you think? I really love these colors!

Stamps: Papertrey Green Thumb and Text Boxed (for the word "joy")
Cardstock: Bazzill Whirlpool; Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Pale Plum and Very Vanilla; DP from Three Bugs in a Rug
Ink: Colorbox Lavender; Versarmagic Sea Breeze and Aegean Blue
Accessories: Cuttlebug die-cut; 1" circle punch

DEXTER!

Weeks ago, when our new puppy came to live with us, I was chatting with friends on SCS about the pup and what we were thinking of naming him. Kelly H suggested "Dexter" and we just loved it! So this card is to finally send to her for suggesting the name to us! It fits him perfectly!

Stamps: paw print by StampCraft
Ink: Stampin' Up Creamy Caramel
Cardstock: Kraft, black; Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip; doggie paper by Pixie Press
Accessories: doggie brads by Around the Block; "got wag?" sticker by Creative Imaginations; twill tape from Stampin' Up; pop-dots

Don't worry... bee happy!

This card is for my online stamping friend, Kathy (who goes by the username StampBee because she's a stamping beekeeper!) She's had a really rough road lately with family issues, so I hope this might cheer her up and let her know I'm thinking of her!

Stamps: Stampendous Bee Flowery, Stampin' Up Vases in Vogue
Ink: Colorbox Lime Pastel, Rouge; Stampin' Up Certainly Celery; Staz-On Jet Black; Stampin' Up Summer Sun, Going Gray, Pink Passion, Green Galore (for watercoloring the bee)
Cardstock: Bazzill textured cardstock; Bo-Bunny
Accessories: brads (unknown); Marvy giga scalloped square punch; Stampin' Up ticket corner punch; sponge; Stampin' Up small and large oval punches; sewing maching for zig-zag stitching; Sakura Stardust pen (on the bee's wings, but you can't see it in the picture!)

Baby Girl Sweet Pea

Beth/MyPrecious on SCS is the host of the weekly Featured Stamper challenge and had a baby girl last week, so this card is to send to her, and also for today's Color Challenge to use Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Old Olive!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Green Thumb; Great Impressions swirl background
Ink: Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink, Colorbox Olive and Rouge
Cardstock: SU! Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Designer Paper Polka Dots & Petals
Accessories: Cuttlebug scalloped square die-cut; SU! Iridescent Ice embossing powder; SU! clear embossing powder; white organdy and dotted ribbon (unknown source); sponge; SU! small and large oval punches; SU! celery brad, SU! corner rounder; 1/16" hole punch; pop-dots

Pretty Pink Flowers

The Featured Stamper yesterday on SCS was annieht, and her gallery is just amazing! I chose 4 cards of hers as inspiration to create my own cards today, and this one is my favorite! Her original design can be seen here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/588757?what=allfields&name=annieht

My card base is Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink cardstock. I ran a piece of SU! Sage Shadow cardstock thought my Cuttlebug using the Artistic Flowers embossing folder and adhered it to the card base. I stamped a piece of confetti white cardstock with my new Impression Obsession swirls background stamp in SU! Sage Shadow ink that was stamped off once. I also sponged the edges of this piece with Sage Shadow ink. The flowers from Stampin' Up's Garden Silhouettes set were stamped twice onto a piece of pink gingham cardstock (source unknown) using a Marvy Dusty Pink marker and a Tombow Light Moss marker. I added small pink Prima flowers to this with silver brads. I sponged SU! Chocolate Chip ink lightly around the edges and adhered to a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. I tied a piece of dotted organdy ribbon from Michael's around this piece. The sentiment is stamped on confetti white in SU! Sage Shadow ink from the Stampin' Up Vases in Vogue set, and punched out with the SU! small oval punch. I punched a piece of Sage Shadow with the SU! large oval punch, offset the smaller oval a little, adhered and added a silver brad. This was glued to the edge of the main piece. I ran a piece of chocolate grosgrain across the center strip and adhered it to my card front, then mounted my whole focal image to the card using pop-dots. We learned at church yesterday that one of our members recently had a stroke, so this card is going to her to brighten her day! Thanks for looking!

Wine anyone?

Wine? Laurie, are you reading this???

This is yet another card that I created yesterday after finding so much inspriation in annieht's gallery! Her original card is here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/531461?what=allfields&name=annieht

I really loved how she used the flower stamps from Papertrey's Green Thumb set to make grapes instead! Had to try it myself. This card was a lot of fun to create because it's not my norm and made me step outside the box a little. The grapes are stamped with Colorbox Wisteria ink and the leaves are Colorbox Olive on confetti cream cardstock. I distressed the edges of this piece with my distressing tool, and then sponged Stampin' Up Close to Cocoa ink around the edges. I also distressed a piece of SU! Perfect Plum cardstock and used it to mat the grape piece. I pierced the edges of the piece using my paper piercer. I punched holes in each corner and threaded jute twine through each hole and tied a knot. My card base is Stampin' Up True Thyme cardstock. I used True Thyme ink to sponge around the edges of the Foof-a-la designer paper before adhering to the card base. I ran my jumbo crackle wheel through Versamark ink, then rolled it onto a piece of SU! Pale Plum cardstock. I wet the cardstock, crumpled it up, then laid it out flat and dried with my heat tool for a more distressed look. The bottom edge is also torn. I stamped "thanks" from Papertrey's Text Boxed set in Wisteria Colorbox ink on the confetti cardstock, mounted it behind the hardware piece (from Stampin' Up's Hodgepodge Harware) and then mounted it on the card using matching brads. Another card I'm very pleased with! Thanks for looking!

Thank You Tulips

Another card inspired by annieht's gallery yesterday (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/390958?what=allfields&name=annieht) and this one actually came from Sketch Challlenge #95 on SCS, too. My tulips are from Stampendous, and are stamped on Stampin' Up Confetti White cardstock using Jet Black Staz-On ink. I watercolored the tulips using SU! Rose Red, Regal Rose and Old Olive ink and my aquapainter. I sponged SU! Bashful Blue around the top for sky, and SU! Certainly Celery across the bottom to blend in the with leaves. My card base is a retired Stampin' Up color called Rose Romance. It matched wonderfully with this designer paper called Phoebe from Basic Grey. The panels are all from the Phoebe collection. I stamped "thank you" in Colorbox Dark Peony ink and heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. I added SU! Rose Red brads to the top corners of the tulip piece, tied a piece of stitched organdy from the Michael's $1 bin around the piece and adhered it to the card using pop-dots. It came out a lot brighter than I intended but I love the final result! Thanks for looking!

Bright Flowers

Yesterday's Featured Stamper on SCS was anneiht, and I was so impressed with her gallery that I ended up creating 4 cards! This one was inspired by this card of hers... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/533584?what=allfields&name=annieht

My card base is Stampin' Up Groovy Guava, and I sponged a little Colorbox Rose Coral ink around the edges of it. The flowers are stamped on SU! Confetti White cardstock in Colorbox Yellow Citrus, Rose Coral and Rouge, with Moss Green for the flower stems. The flowers are from Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb set. I rounded the corners of the confetti piece and matted it with a piece of SU! Pixie Pink cardstock, also with rounded corners. I stamped "thanks" onto a piece of Marigold Morning cardstock using Rouge ink, punched it out using my SU! Word Window punch, folded it and adhered to the side of my focal piece. I cute a 2 3/8" circle out with my Fiskars circle cutter, punched a 1 1/2" circle from the center (Marvy punch) and then scalloped the outer circle using my corner rounder. Each scallop is punched with a 1/16" hole. This was adhered to the card using pop-dots to highlight the flower! On a strip of SU! Marigold Morning cardstock, I used my paper piercing tool to poke holes across both edges, then tied this pretty plaid ribbon around it that I found at Archiver's. This was adhered to the card, and then the focal piece was slid under the ribbon and adhered. I absolutely love how bright this is, and hope you like it, too!

Burgundy Beauty

I created this card this evening for the Inspiration Challenge on SCS today, that can be seen here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270758. And this is the piece that inspired my card... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58566&d=1184987600

I got my new background stamp at Toyrifix today and it is from Impression Obsession. I stamped it with maroon Colorbox chalk ink on Stampin' Up Confetti White cardstock. I sponged SU! Pretty in Pink ink around the edges, and because my stamp didn't ink well in the bottom right corner, I added some brads to camoflauge! This piece is then adhered to a piece of SU! Pretty in Pink cardstock. The main image is from Stampin' Up Garden Silhouettes hostess set, is colored using Tombow markers, and stamped on a piece of Confetti White. I also sponged Pretty in Pink around the edges of this piece and adhered it to a piece of Bravo Burgundy Stampin' Up cardstock. I stamped "lovely" on Pretty in Pink using the maroon ink, punched it out with my SU! Word Window punch, folded it and mounted to the flowered piece with a brad. I tied a piece of wide burgundy organdy ribbon around my card front and mounted it to the card base which is SU! Bravo Burgundy. I absolutely love how this turned out, and think I may send it to my Mom because it just looks like her! She's been gone for a week on a vacation and I've missed getting to talk to her!

More Flippin'

Can't get enough of these flip-flop stamps! They're so much fun!

I created this card based on a design by Charmain/Charmwarm on SCS. Her original card can be seen here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/542103?cat=500&ppuser=11637

My card is 6 1/2" by 3 1/2" from Stampin' Up Bashful Blue cardstock. The strip of green is SU! Gable Green, and the swirled DP is from ki Memories (a free package I got at Archiver's!) I stamped my flip-flops (from Impression Obsession) in Colorbox Ice Blue chalk ink, and stamped the straps with Colorbox French Blue on Shimmer White cardstock from Stampin' Up. The flowers are Primas, attached with silver brads. This image was punched out with my Marvy mega circle punch and mounted onto a piece of SU! Pixie Pink cardstock that was punched with my Marvy giga scalloped circle punch. I punched holes around the edges with a 1/16" hole punch from Fiskars. The "shoes" sentiment is from my Papertrey Green Thumb set and is stamped in the French Blue chalk ink on the SU! Shimmer White. I punched the corners of this and the Gable Green piece with my corner rounder, added more Primas and a brad and adhered it to my card front. The scalloped circle is adhered with pop-dots. Thanks for checking out my fun summer card, and thanks to Charmaine for the inspiration!

Flip Out in Caribbean

Yeah right... I wish I was flippin' out in the Caribbean right now! LOL

This is the card I created today for the Limited Supply Challenge on SCS. The card had to be monochromatic... meaning all the same or similar colors. I created this using my new Impression Obsession stamps from my store! The flip flops are stamped in Versamagic Sea Breeze, and the straps are stamped in a color I can't remember right now! I used stickers from the Stampin' Up Friends & Flowers Scrappin' Kit for flowers on the flip flops. I punched out the flip flops using my mega circle punch from Marvy, then punched out a giga scalloped circle (also Marvy) in SU! Cool Caribbean cardstock. I sponged SU! Whisper White ink around the scallops. I cut a strip of flowered cardstock from the scrappin' kit, and a strip of SU! Whisper White cardstock to mat it with. I used my corner rounder to scallop the edges of the Whisper White, and adhered both pieces to the card base of Cool Caribbean. I stamped tiny flowers from the Impression Obsession set on the card base using Versamark ink, and stamped my sentiment (also from the IO set) in SU! Cool Caribbean ink. The scalloped circle is adhered to the card using SU! dimensionals, as are the flower embellishments on the flip flops! Thanks for looking, and have a cool, summer day!

Tapestry Technique

Today's Technique Challenge on SCS is called Tapestry. I don't think I did it correctly, but if you want to check out the challenge (and find a link to the tutorial) you can see it here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269015

My card base is Soft Sky cardstock from Stampin' Up (all products are Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted.) I stamped starbursts from the Papertrey Ink Text Box set on the card base using Versamagic Sea Breeze ink. I used Elegant Eggplant craft ink, and Versamagic Purple Hydrangea and Spring Pansy ink to sponge the background of my tapestry piece, and then stamped more starbursts on this with Whisper White craft ink. The piece is then heat-embossed to achieve the tapestry look (which I don't think I accomplished!) I stamped the focal image with the Purple Hydrangea ink, trimmed and mounted it on Eggplant cardstock and attached Ice Circle brads. I tied the purple stitched organdy (from Michael's $1 bin) and silver cord around my tapestry piece and adhered it to the card. I stamped "joy" from the Text Box set in Purple Hydrangea, then punched it out with the Word Window punch, and adhered it to the focal image. I adhered this to the card using dimensionals. I really like how the card turned out, even though I still don't think I did the technique correctly! :) Thanks for looking, and have a wonderful day!

Convention swap for Gretchen

My dear friend Gretchen Vernon is going to the Stampin' Up convention in just 10 days, and is so busy with kids and family that she hasn't had time to complete any swaps to take along. So I just spent the last 4 hours at her house, and made 20 cardfronts of this design for her!

All products used are Stampin' Up. The card base is River Rock cardstock, and layered on this is a piece of Groovy Guava cardstock stamped with the Print Pattern background in Versamark. I stamped the image from the new set Garden Silhouettes in Always Artichoke, "stamping off" several times as I worked to give the wildflower scene depth. "Warm Wishes" is stamped above in Gold Metallic Encore ink. I sponged River Rock ink around the edges, then mounted this piece on Always Artichoke cardstock. A piece of Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon is tied around the Guava piece, and a swirl clip from Hodgepodge Hardware is attached for a finishing touch! I hope the convention goers that Gretchen swaps this with like it! I'm pleased with how it turned out! Thanks for looking!

Another Beauty!

Ha! You saw the title of this post and thought it was going to be another beautiful card, right? Nope! Another beautiful daughter! I'm startin' to think maybe I should go back to doing hair, because I highlighted Kelsey's hair last night and came out with these beautiful results! Isn't she a future knock-out? She is so happy with how it turned out! I'm glad she liked her sister's highlights so much that she asked to have hers done, too! Thanks for looking!

Fireworks for the 4th!

One of the new level 2 hostess sets in the Stampin' Up catalog is called In the Spotlight. This stamp from that set also reminds me of fireworks, so I chose to use it for today's Sketch Challenge on SCS. (All products Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted.) The main image is stamped in Cranberry Crisp ink, and punched out with my Marvy 2" circle punch. I sponged the edges of the circle with Bordering Blue ink. This piece is mounted on a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock, and then Cranberry Crisp cardstock, and both layers were trimmed with my ticket corner punch. This piece is mounted on the card using dimensionals. My card base is Sahara Sand, with a layer of Cranberry Crisp on top of it. The designer paper is from a line by "sei" called Grandpa's Attic. The paisley piece is "Paisley Hanky" and the dotted piece is called "Sunday Socks!" I tied a piece of black satin ribbon around that layer, added black brads in the upper right corner, and adhered it to the card. The "hello" sentiment is stamped in Basic Black, punched out with my 1/2" circle punch and mounted on a dimensional. Thanks for looking!

For Patti

I am not going to the Stampin' Up convention this year, but my dear friend Patti is, and she asked me if I would create a card front for her to use as a swap at convention. (Yes, you can assume that my head is swollen at the notion of such flattery!) So this is what I came up with. I don't know how original it is... I'm sure someone has already thought to use that long stamp with the dots as flower stems, but maybe my design is a little original. All products used are Stampin' Up. The card base is a new In-Color for 2007 called Purely Pomegranate, and on the base I stamped the On the Spot background in Versarmark ink. The strip of Soft Sky cardstock is stamped with another flower from the In the Spotlight hostess set, and I pierced each end of the strip with my paper piercing tool from the SU! tool kit. I stamped the flowers from In the Spotlight on Whisper White cardstock using Purely Pomegranate, and Groovy Guava in, and the stems and leaves are stamped in Wild Wasabi. I stamped the "thank you" and "friend" (also from In the Spotlight) in Soft Sky ink, and punched them out with my 3/4" circle punch. They're adhered to the flowers with dimensionals. I sponged Soft Sky ink around the edges, and matted this on a piece of Wild Wasabi cardstock. I punched a scrap of Groovy Guava with my Word Window punch, folded it in half, tied a piece of Apricot grosgrain around it and attached it with a silver brad. The main image is also mounted on dimensionals. I hope Patti likes this well enough! I think I will also use the design for my upcoming Customer Appreciation Open House invites, too! Thanks for looking!

Fireworks Flowers

These flowers always make me think of fireworks, so even though my colors aren't very patriotic, I decided to use this set for my card today! (All products Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted.) The stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb set, and I used the Paisley background stamp on the base of my Old Olive card. I used a piece of pink paper from the Petals & Paisley Designer Series paper, and scalloped the edges with my corner rounder. I matted the white piece with the flowers on a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock, also scalloped with my corner rounder. I sponged the edges around the flowers with Certainly Celery ink. On this piece I attached a silver clip with a scrap of pink dotted organdy, and adhered to the card with dimensionals. Across the bottom of the card is a piece of olive-green rick-rack I picked up recently at Archiver's. I stamped the sentiment in Old Olive, rounded the corners of the Whisper White cardstock, and matted on a piece of Old Olive cardstock, also with rounded corners. This piece is also attached to the card with dimensionals. For a finishing touch, I added Prima flowers attached with silver brads. I hope you like this card as much as I do! Thanks for looking!

Old Cross Pendant

The Technique Lovers challenge on Splitcoast today was to created a card using something "unexpected" in the design. (see the challenge here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263534) I obsessed about this challenge all day while I was at work, and couldn't think of anything to do for this challenge. When I got home tonight, I just started rummaging around, and came across this cross from an old broken necklace, and thought it was perfect! All products are Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted. My card base is Perfect Plum cardstock, and I stamped swirls from my Rhonna Farrer set in Versamagic Purple Hydrangea ink. I used a piece of Foof-a-la designer paper, inked the edges with Old Olive ink, and matted it on a piece of River Rock cardstock. The sentiment is from Elegant Inspirations, and is stamped in Perfect Plum ink on Very Vanilla cardstock, and the edges were inked with Pale Plum. The sentiment piece is matted on Perfect Plum, and the edges were punched with the ticket corner. I used Prima flowers to match my cardstock colors, and secured them with silver brads. The cross was fastened to the Vanilla cardstock with a needle and thread, then I inked the thread with So Saffron to blend in with the sponging in the background. I mounted this on a piece of So Saffron cardstock, and adhered to the card using dimensionals. I LOVE how this turned out! Hope you do, too!

Friendship Flowers

This is my card for the Featured Stamper challenge today on splitcoaststampers. The Featured Stamper is a challenge held every Sunday, and a really great stamper is always chosen, and everyone has the chance to go to that stamper's gallery and choose a card to CASE (Copy And Share Everything)! Today's FS is Faith (aka markie's mom) and she has a wonderful gallery that can be seen here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=79662 Her blog is also linked here on my blog.

The base of my card is Chocolate Chip cardstock, and layered with a piece of River Rock cardstock. The River Rock is stamped with Linen background inked with River Rock, and the Print Pattern background inked with Versarmark. Layered on top of this is a piece of Soft Sky cardstock, and a brown striped piece from the Recollections Designer Series papers. All corners were punched with my corner rounder punch. I stamped the flowers from Happy Harmony on a piece of Naturals Ivory cardstock using a blender pen soaked in Cranberry Crisp ink, and my Old Olive marker. I punched the image out with my Marvy mega oval punch, and then inked the edges with River Rock. I punched a piece of Soft Sky cardstock with my Marvy giga scalloped oval punch, and dotted each scallop with a black gel pen. I stamped the sentiment from Papertrey's Green Thumb set using Spanish Olive Versamagic chalk ink, and punched it out with my large oval punch. I adhered the oval to a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock, and then cut out around it. The circle behind was punched with my 1 3/8" circle punch from River Rock cardstock. I punched a tiny hole in the oval and threaded a piece of olive organdy ribbon through it and knotted. The piece is adhered to the card using pop-dots (unknown source). I tied a piece of True Thyme stitched grosgrain around the River Rock piece, and added a scrap of chocolate grosgrain, then adhered this whole piece to the card base. I adhered the scalloped oval with more pop-dots, and the card is done! (All supplies are Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted.) Thanks for looking!