The NEED to stamp!

Good morning!  Boy, has anyone else been in a stampin' slump?  I told my husband last night, you know it's bad when I have time to stamp but no motivation or desire!  You really know the winter blahs have set in when you're a stamper that doesn't want to stamp!  So I sat down last night and stamped a few things, neither of which I was crazy about... but this morning I decided to try again and am finally happy with what I did! 

I put the PPA color challenge to work and actually designed my own sketch!  Yep, that means I sketched it out on paper before I even started.  I wish I knew of a way to design sketches digitally and I'd consider having a sketch challenge right here on my blog occasionally.  Maybe some day! 

Anyway, for this card I used a mix of old and new (like always!).  The stamp sets I used are not new, but only the sentiment in the Hodgepodge Hardware is acually retired (Think Happy Thoughts).  The other two are Inspired by Nature and Flight of the Butterfly.  The punches and colors are still available, as well as the DSP Elegant Soiree. 

Hope you like!  And keep your fingers crossed for me that I might be able to hold on to my new found stamping motivation! 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Inspired by Nature, THink Happy Thoughts

Colors: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy

Accessories: Itty Bitty punch pack, Desiner Label punch, butterfly punch, scalloped border punch, Big Shot, Dotted embossing folder, basic pearls, Vanilla Hodgepodge

Quick & Easy Santa

No Santa isn't easy, this card is easy!  Three silver glimmer brads on a Cherry Cobler layer, on a white layer on a Basic Gray card base with a black satin ribbon and some hodgepodge for a buckle.  Fun, easy!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Have a safe holiday weekend!
~Kristin

A Challenge & some birthday RAKs

I cracked up at the name of the Color Challenge on SCS this week: Old Banana Ballet! Doesn't that sound interesting! I just happen to love these colors too (Barely Banana, Old Olive, Ballet Blue) so had to make the time to play along. I paied it with the sketch challenge for this week and came up with this card.

This is my first use of the new Textured Impressions folder called Square Lattice, as well as the new stamp set called Watercolor Trio that will be available starting tomorrow in the premier of the Summer Mini Catalog. It's probably not visible in the photo but I also spritzed the Banana and Ballet Blue layers with the new Smooch Spray in Vanilla Shimmer. Isn't is just a wonderful feeling to try something new for the first time?!! I want to point out a neat thing about this new Square Lattice folder and that is that the pattern has a slightly different look depending on which side of the paper you use after it's embossed. I chose the more subdued look for this card, but if I'd flipped it over the pattern would be even more apparent I think.

Anyway, these lovely flowers come with three pretty sentiments, all of which fit beautifully in the Hodgepodge frame and the Designer Label punch! I'll try to get the link up to the new Summer Mini as soon as it is available so you can see all the wonderful new goodies for yourself!

In the mean time, I'm leaving you with the wonderful handmade birthday cards I received for my birthday last week. It is always so nice to get "happy mail" and even better when it is made from the heart.

I'm off to work in the yard and maybe wash some windows today. Have a lovely, sunshine-filled day and thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

PS- If you need some measurements to use the Scallop Trim border and corner punches together like this I've written them down from a few sources. It can be tricky, but experimenting is the best way to learn. The pattern repeat is just a hair under 1/2" so try using paper in 1/2" increments. If you want to get really specific try: 2 3/8", 2 7/8", 3 1/4", 3 13/16", 4 1/4", 4 3/4", 3 3/4", 3 1/4"x5, 3 1/4"x4 3/4".

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Watercolor Trio

Colors: Ballet Blue, Barely Banana, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice Textured Impressions folder, Silver Hodgepodge, White taffeta ribbon, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spray, Distressing Tool, Scallop Trim corner and border punch.

From Vera

From Kelli

From Lisa

From Nicky

Thanks ladies for making my day extra special!!

Inspired Watercolored Sympathy

I rarely get to play along with the Inspiration Challenge on Saturdays at SCS. But this weekend I did. We were directed to find inspiration at Thymes.com which was no problem. I used the entire Lavendar collection to guide this card. Obviously I grabbed the soft shades of purple with a lot of white space, and added some texture with the embossing after the stamping and the pinking hearts border punch.

Since this is watercolor paper, after I stamped the images I gently went over them with a wet aquapainter just to let the ink bleed a bit. Lends to a softer more artistic look I think. This card ended up being 4.25x4.5" so it's not quite square.

Topped it off with the vanilla hodgepodge hardward and some wide vanilla organdy ribbon. Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Oldies but goodies: Art of Life, Easy Elegance, Stem Silhouettes

Colors: Elegant Eggplant, Almost Amethyst, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Wide Organdy vanilla ribbon, Vanilla hodgepodge hardware, Big Shot, Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions embossing folder, Pinking Hearts border punch

Naturally Masculine

In my stamping frenzy over the last weekend of break I made this masculine birthday card. I hadn't done this technique with a background stamp in a while and something inspired me to try it again... not sure what though. This technique is easy- just choose a fairly small patterned background stamp, swipe/scribble a marker on it (I used Creamy Caramel here) then stamp with it. It serves as my background for these leaves from Paradise stamp set. My sentiment seemed like a good font for the rustic outdoor feel so I went with it. Tied some linen thread around a few times then slid the card in between a few of the strands.

Did you notice the linen thread on the hodgepodge piece at the top left? It needed something so I thought I'd try winding some thread around it. To further add to the manly and nature charm I distressed the edges of the vanilla piece and stamped some splatters to the Soft Suede card base with Itty Bitty Backgrounds. That's about it. Hope you like it!

Stampin' Hugs,
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Linen (retired), It's Your Birthday (retired), Paradise

Colors: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla (ink)

Accessories: Hodgepodge hardware, Linen Thread, Distressing tool, Creamy Caramel marker

It Just Figures!

Does this ever happen to you? I let a fellow SU demo borrow two things, just two things on Sunday, and guess which two things I wanted to reach for today?!! That's right. Is it a sickness, is it my mean sub-conscious playing with me?? I haven't used this particular Hodgepodge in ages and yet TODAY I decided I needed to even though I don't have my Designer Label punch at this very moment. No problem, trace the Hodgepodge and cut it out, really not a problem. Except I cut it a bit small and it wasn't enough to glue to the Hodgepodge so now you can see between the paper and the hardware which is NOT the look I was going for. Ah well, I'll just fix it when I get my punch back.

By the way, this color scheme is from today's Color Challenge on Splitcoast! To use Pretty In Pink, Going Gray and Sage Shadow. Also, the rope cording I used here is a retired SU product that I just got at a GREAT price because SU offered some serious discounts to us demos on retired stuff! (Hey, that sounds like a recruiting statement!) One more thing about the main image (a TIP), the dove is colored in with the white Watercolor Pencil in SU's set and to get the flowers Rose Red I first inked the entire thing with Basic Gray, then removed the ink on those flowers with a Blender Pen (yes this works great!) then added the Rose Red ink with my marker. Hope that helps!

Other item I lent out was my Top Note die thinking I've got so many new Big Shot items that I can play with I surely won't miss it. Well, it's like a member of my family is gone. I did manage this card without it... but my DCBD card for tomorrow... well, it just won't be the same. Maybe I've got a spare one cut out that I can trace. Yeah right!

Thanks for stopping by! I swear I am trying to work up some season appropriate fall cards and stop skipping an entire season, but my newest "stuff" is all Christmasy, or mostly. I think this is the last of my new stamp sets so I'll try to move on.

Have a great day,
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Gifts of Christmas (not in the Holiday Mini- surprise!)

Colors: Going Gray, Pretty In Pink, Rose Red, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray

Accessories: Vanilla Hodgepodge, Pretty in Pink brads, scallop border punch, sponge, Watercolor Pencils, rope twine, Designer Label punch (I wish)

Using Berry Christmas for Get Well Wishes

Are you sick of seeing Berry Christmas yet?? Well too bad- LOL! Today I decided to play around with the sketch challenge on Clean & Simple as well as the color challenge on the Color Throwdown. Look how versatile this stamp set is! In any color scheme you can make a fun non-holiday card using the bird and the flower as well as the branch for a stem. It only took a tiny bit of selective coloring on the branch with a marker- not hard at all!

The sketch is a bit simpler than my card but I using the bird was an afterthought and I just couldn't make myself leave him off. I'm pretty sure I'm using this card for my swap that is uh... supposed to be due tomorrow. Yikes! We all agreed we could just get them mailed by tomorrow- thank goodness. Especially since I've got to walk my little waterboy and coach husband across the football field tonight for parent's night.

Have a great evening and be sure to stop back tomorrow- I've got a card I'm so excited about using Serene Snowflakes!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Berry Christmas, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colors: Green Galore, Bermuda Bay, Barely Banana

Accessories: Silver hodgepodge, corner rounder, dotted Bermuda Bay grosgrain, small oval punch

Happy Bird-Day!

Excuses, excuses... that's all I've got for being so late on my Diva's Coffee Break Design challenge today. I had a migraine for most of the day, but my biggest problem and most valid excuse is miserable computer problems. I uploaded my picuture probably a dozen times to my computer from my camera but it just wasn't there. I don't know what it was but I ran defrags, deleted gobs of old programs, and rebooted like 10 times and finally was able to manually upload one at a time! YIKES!

Anyway, I'm finally here (and I know it has been so long since I posted last- sorry!!). We've been doing some major landscaping projects in this crazy heat and are now planning to be out of town for a while so I'll hopefully get some stamping done tomorrow so I can post ahead a few.

So here is the sketch we were to use for today. It is very symetrical for my asymetrical nature but that is the challenging part- and I think I like how mine turned out. I love this color combo of Real Red, Apricot Appeal and the new Soft Suede!

The little birdie from Pun Fun is watercolored with ink from the lids and an aquapainter. The hat and candle are from Party Hearty.

What do you think of the little pumpkin pie felt flower and styled silver hodgepodge brad? I think the pumpkin is nice with the apricot.

Anyway, hope you have time to play along with me and the other Divas! We'd love to have you join us! Check out the DCBD blog for more samples and Mr. Linky.

So glad you stopped by today!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Pun Fun, Party Harty

Colors: Soft Suede, Real Red, Apricot Appeal, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Soft Suede dotted grosgrain, Styled Silver Hodgepodge, Felt Flowers, corner rounder

Just Right!

Have you ever noticed the stamp set called Nature Silhouettes in the catalog?? Well, it's one I've admired and finally bought recently. I love nature, love silhouette style stamps and my hubby and son are into all things outdoors- so a perfect fit! Anyway, this is the first card I've made with this set and it is for my husband's birthday at the end of this month.

I started out with the Mojo Monday sketch from yesterday. Then decided to use the kraft patterns from Urban Oasis DSP, and finally some Always Artichoke patterned paper. The tree is embossed with Artichoke craft ink and clear EP but my ink spot is SO DRY that it barely was enough to emboss. Guess that reinker is on my next order!

I really love the look of the deer standing under the tree branches but that is too obvious I guess, so I decided to stamp my sentiment there and put the deer head in my circle hodgepodge instead. Hope you like it!

TFL,

~Kristin

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, On Your Birthday

Paper: Always Artichoke, Kraft, Urban Oasis DSP, Always Artichoke patterns

Accessories: Clear EP, Silver Hodgepodge, circle punches, natural hemp

OK OK, here it is...

My very first uploaded picture with my NEW Cannon Rebel DS!! Obviously I'm still learning, but there appears to be a lot I can do with the included software. Can't wait to play some more! So here goes... What do you think? Can you even tell a difference??

As I mentioned earlier today, my son's birthday is today. So, here's the card I made for him. He is an avid outdoorsman who loves hunting, fishing, trapping etc. I pulled out some old In Colors to try to get a variation on camoflauge! Here I used River Rock, True Thyme and the current Kiwi Kiss, as well as some natural ivory. I had fun combining the Wildlife Reserve set with several background stamps: Sanded, Canvas and Weathered.

The sentiment is intended to imitate a target, which he is fond of. The inside says May you have the Happiest Birthday yet! To make the target I used a stamp from an old retired set Riveting, and the number is from the retired Newsprint alpha (or similar, not sure).

Other items I've used are retired Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware, linen thread, distressing tool, 1 3/8" circle punch, spiral punch, sponge and chocolate chip craft ink with clear embossing powder for the deer.

I also used an oval of scrap paper as a mask over the deer so the canvas stamp left a void to highlight the deer, if that makes sense.

Even though it is not specific to the New Year, I am using this for my DCBD 108 since it is celebrating TODAY! Hope that's OK. I'm sure I won't be stamping much more today.

Happy New Year to you all and Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

(PS- looks like my spacing is wonky again. Sorry 'bout that. I give!)

ETA: in all the commotion of the birthday party this card got thrown away meer hours after I made it. :( I was sad, and when I asked my son about it (he didn't throw it away, he knows better) he asked if I could please make him another one. I don't know about that...

A color challenge

What I wouldn't do for some tips on taking a good clean, crisp, clear picture so the tiny words aren't blurry! I always feel like a migraine is coming on trying to make my eyes focus when my pics turn out this way, which is more often than not. I try hard, I do! I took almost a dozen shots of this card, in two different locations with different flash settings and even did some adjusting on my PC. And sadly, this is what I end up with.

At least I really like the card- I suppose it would be worse if I felt that way about the card. This is for Tuesday's color challenge on SCS which I haven't done in a while, but it is still my favorite challenge!! Now that I'm done with this card, and reworked the sentiment like 6 times and re-embossed the flower once it was already glued down, I still see some things I'd like to change if I were to do it again (which I just might). I wish I would've stamped a subtle background in versamark- either French Script or maybe Floral. I also sort of wish I'd tried pink pirouette cardstock for the vanilla layer in the hodgepodge frame. I don't know about you, but I have a tough time getting the frames to look like I envision. I do like the sentiment on the small oval and raised on dimensionals though.

Anyway, I'm actually scheduling this on Wednesday to post on Thursday because I absolutely MUST get to work on my SAS on Sunday!! I have quite a bit of cutting to do! At least I have all directions and pictures done and cards actually designed.

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps: Wonderful You
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Alpine Felt ribbon, Top Note, Big Shot, Ice Rhinestone brad, Flower Fusion Too, Vanilla HOdgepodge Hardware, Stampin' Dimensionals

Wish Big Petals

Here's my story on this card... yesterday I had some time to stamp and had dozens of ideas in mind. In fact, there were so many challenges and inspiration from various blogs and websites that I honestly felt overwhelmed and couldn't decide what to do... So I finally shut off my computer and tried to clear my mind. I sat down and just got started.

This 6x6 piece of Kraft cardstock was already on my desk from a previous project so I started with that. Not sure how the rest evolved but I'm pretty sure I like it! I hadn't pulled out my set Pick a Petal in quite a while. I had just finished mounting my new set Short & Sweet so I had to use that too (for the sentiment & tiny flowers around the frame). The ink I used is Ballet Blue (my go-to blue!), Whisper White and for the tiny flowers around the sentiment I used Sahara Sand since we don't technically have a "Kraft" ink color (which I'd LOVE to have!). The white gel pen and silver Hodgepodge with ribbons just finish it off.

I'm not sure I'll send this anytime soon- I think I'll just leave it sit here so I can look at it for a while. I highly recommend if you ever feel overwhelmed to shut everything off, clear your mind and just let your own creativity inspire you! It just might work. Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget, the Styled Silver Hodgepodge is in the current Occasions Mini and will only be available until the end of June!

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps: Pick a Petal, Short & Sweet

Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White

Ink: Whisper White, Ballet Blue Craft, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Ribbon: Bashful Blue, Bluebird, Bashful gingham, Kraft Taffeta; Styled Silver Hodgepodge, White Gel Pen, Linen Thread