Happy Hour

The next challenge I was able to participate in was called Happy Hour. Oh Great! I had just used what I thought was my only good drink stamp on the last challenge. It was like my mind was knowing what type of challenge was coming up and made me use that item too early. Remember the gold panel at the beginning of the day I used, then the next challenge was Gold. I use a drink stamp and the next challenge was drinks! Well I sat stumped for a bit, but not too long as you only have 45 minutes to complete the challenge. I was pulling out my stamp drawers and lo and behold I found my IO birthday martini glass. YES! I inked that up, colored it in and used a new Gypsy pad of Basic Grey paper which is very colorful I might add. Since the image is rather long and skinny, I chose to make a longer card. The fibers are actually colors for their cupcake line (but shhh....don't tell) I made them work on this.

The Strip

The next challenge I tackled for the mini Vegas stamping weekend was called the strip. We had to use strips of paper on the card. It didn't matter whether you tore them or cut them with scissors, the only thing we couldn't do was used striped paper. I had this blue and green Bazzill cardstock left over from a birthday card so I started with those colors. My mind thought of things that would be in Vegas on the strip and I did not have anything in the line of gambling or show girls or Tom Jones for that matter. But I did have a new set of stamps from My Favorite Things called Girls Night Out. It had drink glasses on it. So I stamped them up, colored them and cut them out with my new Mega Curved Rectangle nestabilities. Added a few dew drops and the sentiment and wha la -

This is what I came up with. Now I must add, I do not like martinis at all. Chuck has had me try an appletini, Char had me try a Choclatini and I just can't drink them. They all taste too strong for me. I am a fruity daquiri or frozen margarita type gal. But I do like how these images stamped so well. OK, now pay attention, I used a martini stamp right? Now move on to my next post..

Gold, Gold and more Gold

The next challenge was to use as much gold on your card as you could. Now if you paid attention, I used a gold panel on the last card. This will come into play in a bit and make sense. I began by stamping my flower by Penny Black in versamark and embossing with Chinese Firecracker powder. It is hard to see in the photo, but it is a mix of red and gold powder. The red cardstock is also speckled with gold flecks. I added some sheer gold ribbon and gold dew drops. I am not the best at tying a bow, so I like this method of including ribbon on the front of cards. It is super easy, start by pushing the ribbon down the front of the card and have it come up from the back in the opposite hole. Wrap it around one more time coming up again in the opposite hole and lay it down on your card front. I use mini glue dots to hold the ends down. Easy as pie.

Blackjack 21..stamping style

The first challenge Saturday morning for the mini Vegas stamping weekend was to create a card that would add up to 21 points, like in the card game. Each element was worth a certain point. I submitted this card..

Each layer was worth one point and I had four of those. Each stamp used was five points, ribbon was worth two points, each patterned paper was two points each so that gave six points. Each hard embellishment (ie eyelets, brads, buttons) were one point each and I used four brads. If you total that up - 4+5+2+6+4=21. The stamped image was a new one I picked up last week in Jacksonville. It is by Memory Box. I used my oval nesties to cut the layers. The ribbon and patterned paper is also new to me. The pp is by Making Memories - Rouge and Mocha Paperie. I liked the paper pack so much I also bought the one in shades of blue and green (or as they put it Poolside and Greenhouse). A girl can never have to much paper, and the 6 by 6 packs are too cute.

One week to go...what's a girl to do?

I have one more week to get through before my trip to Savannah. What to do, what to do. I surfed the net and notice that two of the sites I frequent are both having challenges. The first, Stamp Shack has a 10 day window to upload your creations, the second, Splitcoast Stampers only has a two day window to upload. So I hung out at SCS and was able to do 6 of the challenges as they were happening. At SCS, you only have a 45 minute window to complete your card. It is all on your honor, but I stick to it as it really makes your creativity flow.

The first challenge began Friday night when Jenn Balcer hosted a surprise challenge to kick off the Mini Vegas stamping weekend. Her challenge was to Bellie up to the Buffet. We had to use at least three different embellishments on our card. Here is what I submitted:

It was a card I showed a few weeks ago we made at class. I restamped the image, this time coloring in with copics. I added mini buttons on the pj's and stickles to the coffee steam. I myself do not drink hot coffee or tea for that matter, but from the many comments I had on this card, the sentiment rings true to many!

A Just Rite Wedding

 The theme this month for our card swap was wedding/anniversary. At first I was going to make a card that said Happy Anniversary because I thought I didn’t have any wedding type stamps. But lo and behold…I took out my Just Rite sets and the Harmony Classic Circle II ensemble had this border and center included. Perfect!

I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black on Very Vanilla CS. I used my large circle nestabilities for the center, and chose the coordinating scallop nestie to layer it. It may be hard to see in the picture but the black layer is shimmery. The patterned paper is from the La Creme pack by DCWV. I looked everywhere for this over the weekend and scored it at the last stop. Instead of the regular bow being tied, I decided to just make some loops and secured it with a pearl. Some black Kaiser pearls are in the corner for an added touch. I think it is a simply stated wedding card.

Two Weeks and Counting...

In two more weeks I will be packed and ready to go to Savannah. Why you may ask? Is it to tour a historical city? Umm no. Is it to visit Paula Deen's restaurant? Umm no. I am attending a Zindorf brayer workshop!!! Insert happy dance and clapping here. If you don't know who Zindorf is, she is Michelle Zindorf who has an amazing blog full of tutorials for awesome cards. To view her work click here.

I have attempted to follow her tutorials and here is what I have done so far:

and then I tried this one -

You can notice that I can handle a sponge pretty well, but none of these are brayered and I really want to learn that technique. My friend Char is attending the class with me. Sometimes her phone calls to me start with "Have you seen Zindorf today?" To say we have anxiously been waiting for her to come to a location near us would be an understatement. So, as I said at the beginning..two weeks and counting.

Tea-rific Z fold Card

 For the second card for the La Costa Ladies I chose this fun z-fold card. Here is a picture of the front while the card is folded flat. It is the same size as a regular A2 card so it fits into a normal envelope.

I picked up some new stamps yesterday at Stamp N Deliver by Great Impressions. It is hard to see in the photo, but on the back panel under the ribbon is a vine type background stamp. I stamped it in Hibiscus palette ink by PTI, the same shade as the cardstock and ribbon. Tone on tone stamping can be very effective. The front image of the three teacups is just adorable and makes a great any occasion card. The curved sentiment on top is by My Favorite Things. I thought it was a cute way to begin. I did a bit of hand-doodling along the edge of the white panel. I must say that makes me extremely nervous, what if my doodles get bigger as I go, if the spacing isn’t even. I must say, I was glad when it was finished. The yellow panel is also by PTI (Papertrey Ink) and the color is Lemon Tart. I punched it with the SU scalloped border punch.

Here is a shot of what the card looks like opened up. The sentiment is by Great Impressions and I used a Labels 3 die from Spellbinders. I left the inside middle panel blank so the person sending the card can write their own message.  Finally here is a shot of the card from above -

You can really see the Z-fold of the card. I hope the ladies enjoy these cards. Now to cut out the kits and package them up. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.

Get Well Flowers and a new fold

The second Monday is fast approaching and that means it is La Costa Ladies time. They requested general cards for this month and behind curtain number one is ……

This first card is the same size as a regular card (A2) or 4.25 by 5.5 for my non-crafty readers. The new fold part is that it doesn’t open like a regular card, from right to left or from the bottom. Instead it does this -

the bottom flap opens down and the top flap opens up. It really isn’t confusing in real life. The cardstock is Bazzil and the patterned paper is from DCWV Garden Party. The stamped images are new ones from IO Sarah Phelps collection. I colored in the flowers with the two copics shown, R08 and G24. I used Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and sponged around the cream layer. You can’t tell from the picture but Clear atyou spica was used for the flower middles to give just a hint of bling. Cream organdy ribbon is tied around the top panel.

I am off to cut out these cards and design the second card. Enjoy your Saturday night!

Flight of the Butterfly

I have had some new items that I was anxious to use and finally after three evenings, finished the card. Naturally, the card is done in shades of blue….do butterflies come in any other color? :) I ordered this piercerability from Spellbinders because it had the butterfly in it. This was my third try because why…..The third time is a charm! Let me just say, tape down your template and you shouldn’t have any issues lining it up. Once it is cut and embossed don’t move it off the cardstock. The first two tries my holes were coming out of everywhere but where they should be and my stenciling was way off.

Once the piercing/embossing was finally accomplished I cut a small strip of SU Ballet Blue CS to show under the scalloped edge. The sentiment is by IO and stamped in Ballet Blue. The butterflies are from the Spellbinders Flying Beauties set (sadly that was another untouched item until this card). Yes they are also done with Ballet blue CS. The flowers are from Petaloo and they have a hint of Crystal Ice Stickles on them. I raised one butterfly and flower up on pop dots to add a bit more dimension. A small strip of light blue organdy ribbon finished it off.

Today was a great day. Chuck had the day off as a holiday, so I took a vacation day to spend with him. We took a drive up to St. Augustine to the Outlet Mall. I wanted to go to the Gap to look for new pants for work. Sadly, the Gap in our mall closed a few years ago. I found 5 pairs in my size! I have a small waist and it is hard to find pants in my size that are not low-waisted hipsters. I also went into the Rack Room shoe store and found some new shoes to match. Unlike my sister Cindi, I am not a shoe hog. Until today I had one pair of sneakers, a pair of sandals, one black pair of heels and one brown, and tan slip-ons. That was it. I think my sister has more than that number in black shoes alone. (I am typing this with love, Cindi). We went to the Croc store for Chuck, I won’t go into details here, but he was like a kid in a candystore. All the colors and styles. OH my…there is quite a following among croc wearers. The shopping venture finished at Hobby Lobby where I picked up 7 more copic markers. Instead of zipping back home on the highway, we decided to drive back on A1A and stopped at the Flagler Pier for dinner. We sat by the window overlooking the ocean and watched as two young children buried their older sibling in the sand:) To be that young and carefree again.

Technorati Tags: spellbinders,IO

Magenta Squares

This Saturday is Make N Take day at Stamp N Deliver. It is my month to demo and this is the “other” card. Claire (the Stamp Temptress) designed the class card and I had to design a second card to show the versatility of the stamp. The flower stamp is by Magenta and the sentiment is by Impression Obsession.

I lightly colored the image with my copic markers, then layered the squares for dimension. The pp is by Stampin Up. If you are in the area Sat. April 11th from 1:30 to 3:30 please stop by.

SCS Sketch Challenge 222

I finally was able to work on a card this week. I was able to use many new items on it such as the stamps, ribbon, patterned paper and the nestabilitie! When I saw the sketch come out earlier this week, I thought this would be perfect for me new nestie. The deckled rectangles were a birthday gift from my good friend Char.

The patterned paper is a set of SU called Sweet Always. The butterfly stamp is from the prize package I received from January’s VSN (virtual stamp night). The set is from Inkadinkado called Happy Days. The sentiment is from SU Soft Summer. My original thought was to use one of the flowers from the set but it just wasn’t working with the paper. Last, I finally got to use some ribbon from the SAB ribbon bundle. I rounded the opposing corners and sponged ink for a bit of interest. This is my first ever sketch challenge on SCS and hopefully I will be able to continue to do them. Thanks for stopping by!

SAB Workshop Cards

OK, so I promised you the cards from our Stampin Up workshop. It took me a few days to finish some other obligations but I have now unpacked the kits and had a chance to photograph the samples. The ladies who attended are all avid stampers so we wanted them to make cards with a little something extra. This first card used the Always and Baroque motif stamps. The baroque stamp was inked with versamark and randomly placed on the pacific blue cardstock. The bird was stamped with pacific blue ink on the white oval. The photo corner punch was used and layered on the front after piercing holes along the outer edge. The sentiment was stamped and the edges were cut with deckle scissors. Pearls were added in the top corner and for the bird's eye.

This second card used two stamp sets and new designer cardstock paper. The stamps were Blooming with Love and A Flower for all Seasons. The designer paper is called Parisian Breeze. We used kraft cardstock and taffeta ribbon but SU does not make kraft ink, so we subbed Sahara Sand. The image was colored with SU markers. We tried to stay SU only on the cards, but we love our Nestabilities too much to not incorporate them!

This is third and final card from the workshop. We started with the new eyelet border punch on a 5 1/4 inch white square. The corners were challenging...don't look too close :) Next a square of bella rose paper was popped up on dimensionals. The stamp set is a Sale A Bration set called Botanical Blooms. It was stamped using Kiwi Kiss ink and the flower used Riding Hood Red. It is hard to show the exact color, but Pink Pirouette was sponged on the inner circle and the scalloped circle trim. This was also popped on dimensionals. Riding Hood Red tafetta ribbon was the perfect finishing touch. All in all the ladies enjoyed making the cards and the hostess Elaine had a wonderful workshop. The best part...the order will be here on Friday. This is a first for me, I have never ordered and received the stamps in the same week! Way to go SU.