Friday, November 26, 2010

Inkspirations Color Challnege #50


First of all, I want to wish all my American followers and visitors a Happy Thanksgiving!!  We have long passed ours (it's in October in Canada) but it is always wonderful to reflect on what we have to be thankful for, and that includes all of you who take a little bit of time to come and visit me on my blog :)  Enjoy you time with family and friends and eat some turkey for me LOL!

This week, Keesh came up with a lovely color combination. The razzleberry with the pear pizzaz and the pop of turquoise is totally delicious.

Sorry about the simple card and the use of my "go to crutch" (aka my Swiss Dots embossing folder), but I had to keep things simple this week as I 'm crazy busy trying to finish things up for the craft fair tomorrow.

Pulled out this wonderful Watercolor Trio silhouette set for the main image panel and added some turquoise ribbon for a pop of color.  The inks are actually Eggplant Envy and Certainly Celery as I don't have them just yet, but they worked pretty well :)  

The rest of the Inkspirations Team has some wonderful samples to get you creative juices going. 




Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée
Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa


In addition, each week Keesh will select a winner and an honorable mention and post their cards on the Inkspirations Challenge blog.  We'd love to see your card featured, so come and join us this week :)  If you are loading to a public gallery, please us the keyword Inkspirations.

Have a fabulous day, and happy Black Friday shopping to any of you who are willing to brave the crowds!




What's In It?
Stamps: (SU) Watercolour Trio
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery
Ink: Eggplant Envy, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, 5/8" Turquoise Satin Ribbon, Circle Nesties, Button, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Color Dare 86


Color Dare 86
Pumpkin Pie
Baja Breeze
Wild Wasabi
Cajun Craze

Loved the mix of fall colours Riley used this week with the pop of blue thrown in.   
I combined this week's Color Dare with Card Positioning Systems' sketch 193.
The pumpkin image is Verve's Bountiful Harvest and I coloured them with Twinkling H2O's and added some black half pearls to the end of each vine for a little something.  I think my ribbon may be closer to Bordering Blue than Baja Breeze, but it still looks good with the other colours so it must be a fairly close match - or so my story goes and I'm sticking to it :) 

If  you look at the bottom left corner you will see white stuff on the ground.  Yup, we got 5 inches of snow last Friday night and with the cold temps sticking around (-8C today with the wind chill -- that's 16F) it's still here.  Bummer is, Saturday was quite warm so the sledding hill at the school is now grass but the there is plenty on the ground elsewhere for the kids to play in.  They say we are in for a pretty bad winter this year, and we sure started off with a bang by having snow so early.  Will have to see what the rest of winter brings.  Thankfully, mommy is on the ball as we have snow boots and snow suits all ready to be used :)  Just a bit slow on mounting the snow tires, but they go on next week once my craft fair is over and I can join the life of the living again LOL! 

The rest of the Team has lots of inspiration for you.  You can check out their creations here:

We'd love you to join us!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to InLinkz on the The Colour Dare Blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword CD86.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.




What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Bountiful Harvest
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Recollections DP, Wild Wasabi 
Ink: Black
Accessories: Labels 3 and Circle Nesties, 1/4" Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Twinkling H2O's, Aquabrush, Half Pearls

Monday, November 22, 2010

Bookmark For My Daughter



Seeing as I'm is mass production mode for this Friday's school Craft Fair, I thought I'd show you one of the bookmarks I'm giving my daughter for Christmas.  She is an avid reader and loved some of the ones I have made for others, so I thought I had better make her one.  In fact, I should probably make a few for her as she always has a book or two on the go -- needless to say, I' m very thankful for our local library!!


Must admit I took a break from cards and projects today to redesign my blog a little.  One can only take so many hours in a row of repetitive crafting (note I said repetitive crafting LOL!).  Mass production of many cards for twelve to fourteen hours a day for many days in a row gets a bit dull after a while!  I needed a creativity break and when I saw my favorite colour (green) with polka dots and a scalloped border I squealed with delight!!  It gives me warm fuzzies every time I see it -- what can I say, simple things in life give me great joy :) 

Gotta run, have tons left to do for the Craft Fair!!  Have a fabulous day :)






What's In It?
Stamp: Elzybelles
Paper:  Bordering Blue, So Saffron
Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Martha Stewart Daisy Border Punch, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Grosgrain Ribbon, Half Pearls, Twinkling H2Os

Friday, November 19, 2010

Inkspiration Sketch #49



Keesh came up with another fabulous sketch this week.  I combined her sketch with last week's ColorQ challenge as I just loved the mix of earthy fall colours.  There were six colours in the mix this time round, but they all blended fabulously together so though it looked daunting at first, it was actually an easy mix to work with.

I played around with various lets and finally settled on another of my favorites, PTI's Turning a New leaf, because by default Fall reminds me of leaves and I'll use any excuse to use this set LOL!

Love this polka dotted Recollections DP from Michael's and just realized I used it on my very first Inkspirations DT sketch a few weeks back - sorry about that - but it's a great match to Cajun Craze :) !  Cutting out the leaf wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I was lucky enough to have three brown buttons in my stash.

The rest of the Design Team has some great inspiration to get you going on this week's sketch.





Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée
Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa



In addition, each week Keesh will select a winner and an honorable mention and post their cards on the Inkspirations Challenge blog.  We'd love to see your card featured, so come and join us this week :)

That's it for today.  Back to mass producing....have a great day :)




What's In It?
Stamps:  (PTI) Turning A New Leaf
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Recollections DP from Michael's
Ink:  Always Artichoke
Accessories: Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, SU Border Punch, Corner Rounder, 5/8" Saffron Satin Ribbon, Buttons, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Celebrating Mercy's 100th Sketch




Had to play along with Mercy's sketch this week because it is her 100th sketch!  I have used so many of her sketches, I'd be lost without them!

I pulled out this fun Recollections leaf DP as my starting point.  It reminded me of a jungle (sorry it's basically covered up here but the leaves look very tropical) and thus out came this cute little raffie from Wild About You.

Rest is pretty self explanatory.  In looking at the picture, I realized I forgot to outline the giraffe's eye with my black maker so it stands out more - ugh.  Just  pretend it is there, as I don't have time right now to take another picture.  I'm madly making cards for our school's craft fair next weekend and have lots left to make.  Time is slipping by waaaay too quickly and my craft area is quite the disaster right now!  I've also taken over the dining room table for assembly work so I'm spreading out around the house LOL!  Hope it is all worth it in the end and people are ready to spend some cash at the craft fair :)  

Got a wonderful treat the other day when my CAS Christmas card seen here made Nancy's Riliey's iPicks.  The perfect pick me up (no pun intended LOL!) amidst the chaos of mass production LOL!

Gotta run.  Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping in (((hugs))).




What's In It?
Stamps:  Wild About You
Paper:  Recollections DP, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, Old Olive
Ink:  Brocade Blue
Accessories:  Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, Seeing Spots Embossing Folder, 5/8" Orange Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Color Dare 85




Color Dare 85
Melon Mambo
Blushing Bride
Pacific Point

I love the two pinks with the pop of Pacific Point in this week's colour challenge.  I don't own any Blushing Bride, so subbed in a colour from my LSS which I hope is a close match :)  

I combined this week's colours with Mercy's Sketch.  Just love this woman's sketches!! You can dress them up of keep them simple, the sky is the limit :)


I pulled out the very first Verve set I ever purchased - Serenity.  Yes, this set is where my Verve addition began LOL!  Julee has so many fabulous sentiments in her sets and a wonderful selection of Bible verses as Plain Janes in fonts that I absolutely love (not to mention her flowers!).  I over stamped the sentiment with the Serenity leaf image, but it 's a bit hard to see as it is such a light colour.


Continuing with my addition theme, out came the lacy circle nesties again.  I crimped the horizontal banner for some added dimension and embossed the melon mambo panel with a new embossing folder I don't even know the name of just yet LOL!  One of the local scrapbooking stores I shop at brilliantly split up the four packs they now come in so you can buy them individually.  I twisted my rubber arm for, oh.....about a second, and into my basket it went :)    Two leaves from Verve's Autumn Splendor, a button and two black half pearls finished the card of nicely.

The rest of the Team has lots of inspiration for you.  You can check out their creations here:

We'd love you to join us!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to InLinkz on the The Colour Dare Blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword CD85.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.






What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Serenity, Autumn Splendor
Paper: Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, LSS Pink
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Lacy Circle and Circle Nesties, Embossing Folder, Crimper, Button, Twine, Blue Dot, Black Half Pearls, Dimensinoals

Monday, November 15, 2010

Two More Bookmarks



Since I'm in production mode for our school's craft sale at the end of this month and haven't had too much time to stamp.  Therefore, I thought I'd show you two more bookmarks I made a few weeks back when I was on my bookmark frenzy LOL!   

The sky is the limit on these fun creations and I can't wait to make some more as stocking stuffers for Christmas.  Don't worry, I'll spare you the grief of having to look at them all  ;o)

Have a fabulous day!






What's In It?
Butterfly Bookmark
Stamps:  Fluttering By
Paper:  Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst
Accessories:  Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Purple Grosgrain Ribbon, Half Pearls, SU Butterfly Punch, MS Border Punch, Paper Piercing Kit


Hearts Bookmark
Stamps:  Fresh Fillers
Paper:  Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Glossy Silver
Ink:  VersaMark
Accessories:  Marvy Heart Punch, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, Martha Stewart Heart Border Punch, Crimper, Half Pearls, 1/4" Pink Satin Ribbon

Friday, November 12, 2010

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #48


I just love this colour combination :)  Old Olive is becoming a new favorite green of mine and it looks fabulous with the red and kraft....happy sigh :)

Since Christmas is quickly approaching, I took advantage of the colours to get one more Christmas card done.  My ornament punch was crying out to me so it got to come out and play :)   I used last week's Mojo Monday sketch again as it was the perfect layout.

After my recent struggles trying to line up the border punch around the corners of my last card using this Mojo sketch, I finally got smart and used my new lacy square nesties instead.  Easy, peasy, just cut out two lacy squares, trimmed off the top of one and stuck them together.  If you look reeeally closely you will see a tiny little line on one of the scallops.  Much more successful than my hand punched attempt LOL!

The sentiment panel above the ornament is the bottom portion of a nestie label die, and I VersaMarked some snowflakes on the olive panel and added pearls to the centers of some.  Since I stamped my ornament image on red paper with VersaMark so it was a nice, deep red, I had to use my white gel pen to outline the image on the ornament.  Some red ribbon, a button and a bow and I've now got one less Christmas card to make :)

The rest of the design team has some wonderful samples for your inspiration.

Inkspirations Challenges

Renée Van Stralen - Stamping For Sanity
Brandi Wiggins-Cote - The Square Headed Stamper
Carrie Gaskin - The Artistic Avenger
 Helen Heil - H2 Designs
 Ilina Crouse - My Creations 
 Lee-Anne Barry - Lee-Anne's Stamping Spot 
 Marisa Ritzen - Rosemary Reflections

Thanks for dropping by today and I hope you have time to play along this week so you can get one of your own Christmas cards done LOL!





What's In It?
Stamps:  (SU) Ornamental Christmas, Memory Box (sentiment)
Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Kraft
Ink:  VersaMark, Black
Accessories: Lacy Square Nesties, SU Ornament Punch, 1/4" Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Double Sided Sticky Tape, 5/8" Red Satin Ribbon, Button, Glue Dot, Twine, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Lest We Forget

I am always moved by Remembrance Day.  My husband has a nephew who has served in Afghanistan on two tours and one of those tours was a result of his having to fill in for a good friend of his that was killed while serving there.

I say this clip on Stacy's blog (Twinshappy) and loved it so much I want to share it with you.



  

In addition, Amy Ramsy (Prairie Paper and Ink) posted this link to a Snoops article (so you know it's true) on a fabulous thing a teacher has done in her classroom to bring light to the freedoms we have due to the sacrifices made by those who have fought for our freedom.  Can't copy it over so you have to check it out here on your own.   Wish I was a teacher so I could do this in my classroom!  Think I may have to pass it along to a few teachers at our school in the event they want to use it :)

To all who have fought for our freedom and those who are presently serving your country to defend their freedom, THANK YOU!!




What's In It?
Stamps:  (SU) Ornamental Christmas, Memory Box (sentiment)
Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Kraft
Ink:  VersaMark, Black
Accessories: Lacy Square Nesties, SU Ornament Punch, 1/4" Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Double Sided Sticky Tape, 5/8" Red Satin Ribbon, Button, Glue Dot, Twine, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Color Dare 84


Color Dare 84
Pear Pizzazz 
Night of Navy 
Soft Suede

What a wonderful colour combination Riley came up with this week.  I knew today's card was going to be a round one because my new lacy circle nesties just had to be broken in :)  It's also been a while since I made a button bouquet.  I put the celery at the bottom as the "grass" and built my bouquet from there.  Added to the fun was using two varieties of my beloved dots :)  Yes, I was a happy stamper making this card LOL!

The rest of the Team has lots of inspiration for you.  You can check out their creations here:

We'd love you to join us!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to InLinkz on the The Colour Dare Blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword CD84.   In addition, each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.




What's In It?
Stamps:  Flower Filled
Paper: Night of Navy, Certainly Celerly, Soft Suede
Ink: Certainly Celery
Accessories: Lacy Circle, Large Circle, Scalloped Square and Square Nesties, Swiss Dots and Seeing Spots Embossing Folders, Buttons, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Fluttering Mojo


Loved Julee's Mojo Monday sketch this week.  So many things you can do with it.  Since my butterfly die was still out I used it again...sorry!  It's now put away so it won't appear on cards for a while LOL!

I used Recollections DP from Michael's, giggled with glee as I used my lacy square nestie again (told you this could become my next addiction LOL!) and added a simple sentiment tag with a button.  Love the crisp look the white outlining gives this card.

Things may get a bit quiet around here for the next few weeks as I'm gearing up for a craft fair at our school at the end of this month, and the kids get a four day weekend with Remembrance Day on Thursday and a Pro D Day on Friday.  It's going to be a busy weekend keeping them busy LOL! 

Thanks for popping in and I'll be back tomorrow with my Color Dare card.





What's In It?
Stamps:  (SU) Fancy Flexible Phrases
Paper:  Recollections DP, Really Rust, Tan, 
Accessories:  (SU) Sizzex Butterfly Die, Lacy Square and Square Nesties, 5/8" Saffron Satin Ribbon, Buttons, Half Pearls, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Friday, November 5, 2010

Inkspiring News!


I have some wonderful news I've been having to keep all to myself for some time now and it's been killing me!!  Today I finally get to share it with you :)  I have been given the wonderful opportunity to be part of the Inkspirations Design Team for the next six months!  Squeal!!!  I love Keesh's work as well as her sketches and colour challenges, and now I get to play along every week :)

Every Friday, Keesh will post either a sketch or a colour challenge on the Inkspirations Challenges Blog, her new, dedicated challenge blog, so you can come along and join in the fun.  In addition, each week a winner and an honorable mention will be chosen.

  This week, Keesh has given us this wonderful sketch to work with and I combined it with Stacey's Curtain Call challenge.  Loved the mix of rust, orange and mustard, and as luck would have it, I had some perfect DPs to work with!

I over stamped the sentiment with a Verve leaf in pumpkin pie to get that colour in the mix, and since my butterfly die was still out on my desk I used it in lieu of the flower on the sketch.  Adding to the fun, was being able to use my newly acquired Lacy Square Nesties.  Be forewarned, this could become one of my new addictions LOL!

Below is a list of the talented ladies I get the honour of working alongside for the next six months.  You can check out their blogs for some inkspiration (sorry, couldn't resist) to get you started on this week's challenge:




Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée
Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa
 


Thanks for stopping by today and hope to you are can make a little time to  play along with us this week :)   Have a fabulous day!





What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Autumn Splendor, Plain Jane
Paper:  Recollections DP (Michael's), Bo Bunny DP, Cajun Craze, Linen Vanilla, More Mustard
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories:  Lacy Squares and Square Nesties,  5/8" Cream Satin Ribon, SU Butterfly Die, Brown Half Pearls, Button, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Throwing Down My Mojo



This week is Mojo Monday challenge time which means a chance to win some free Verve so I'm a playin' :)

I combined the sketch with this week's Color Throwdown.  They were a great mix of colours and though I had to sub a few colours, I think it worked.

Please excuse the very sad job on the border punching.  I don't have the corner punch yet and it shows - ugh!  Tried doing it free hand and would get one end to work and not the other, or one side and not the other and a whole mess of other combinations which didn't add up to any semblance of uniformity so I gave up and what you see is what you get for now.  The bottom right hand corner was a bit bare so I turned the corner and added a button.  Thanks to Julee for her continued generosity in the Mojo challenges.  Love that girl and her Verve :)

Thanks for fluttering by (sorry, couldn't resist) and enjoy your day.







What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Kind Words
Paper:  Blue, Kraft, Orange
Ink: Black
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Stampin' Up Sizzex Butterfly Die, 5/8" Red Satin Ribbon, Black Buttons, Blue Dots, Dimensionals

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Color Dare 82



Color Dare 82
Garden Green
Perfect Plum
Blushing Bride
Very Vanilla

If the sketch looks familiar, it is because I paired this week's colours with the same Sweet Sunday Sketch as last week because it had a large panel for me to work with. This time I kept true to the sketch and didn't rotate it.

The Garden Green was working me over until I saw my Inspired by Nature set and bingo, grass it would be LOL!  I added some butterflies and this fun Martha Stewart Border punch I haven't used for a while.  I needed something else to tie in the garden green and as luck would have it, I had the perfect button in that colour - score!  Love it when that happens:)  Not sure why my Perfect Plum paper and ink look so different, but they are the same, I promise!

 The rest of the Team has lots of inspiration for you.  You can check out their creations here:

We'd love you to join us!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to InLinkz on the The Colour Dare Blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword CD82.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great day :)






What's In It?
Stamps:  (SU) Inspired by Nature, Flight of the Butterfly
Paper:  Perfect Plum, Cream Linen, LSS Pink
Ink:  Garden Green, Perfect Plum
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Border Punch, Black Half Pearls, 5/8" Cream Satin Ribbon, Green Button, Glue Dots, Twine, Dimensionals

Monday, November 1, 2010

A Few More...



I am having a ball making this bookmarks - just in case you couldn't tell :o)   On the other hand, photographing them today was a challenge no matter where I took the picture, until I got smart and stood the book up instead of having it lie flat.  What can I say, the brain cells were not firing too well this morning LOL! 

I continue to be amazed by the differences in lighting between the four of pictures I took.  They were in the exact same location, and the first three sets of pictures I took looked like I took them at sunset.  Amazing what changing the angle of the object can do.  One of these days I will go back to trying to use my light box.  I tried one earlier this year and didn't like the outcome of my photos (I need to change my lights or get more of what I have) so I went back to using the window ledge.  Natural light is soooo wonderful.  However, with winter coming, I may need the convenience of taking pictures any time of day or night.


Sorry, I regressed....back to the bookmarks.  The top one is one of my favorites to date.  Flowers and butterflies, what more can I ask for :)   May just have to make myself one!  The shoe bookmark was made for a friend who has an extreme shoe addiction.  I almost ran some bling up the heel and put some one the "poof" (may still add it) but regardless, I'm sure she will love it :)   In the mean time, though it's hard to see, I covered the poof of the shoe with Stickles and it is really sparkly.

I've actually got a few more (told you I was addicted to making them !), but will space them out in my postings, I promise LOL!






What's In It? 
Flowers and Butterflies
Stamps:
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Almost Amethyst
Ink:  Sage Shadow
Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch and Daisy Border Punch, Michael's $1.50 Flower Punch, Ribbon, Half Pearls


Stiletto Shoe
Stamps:  Mike's $1.50 Stamp
Paper:  Black, Pretty in Pink
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Heart Border Punch, Ribbon, Stickles