I'm Getting Trendie

I have had to keep this news under my hat for way too long and it feels good to finally be able to spill the beans! 

I have the wonderful privilege of being a Guest Trendie for There She Goes Stamps for the months of March and April!  I am so excited to have this opportunity, and quite honestly a little intimidated, to be working alongside such an amazing group of talented ladies.  Check out the There She Goes blog for a peek at all the wonderful stampers on Jessica's team.

I'll be back with more information on challenges etc. as they come up. Until then, happy stamping :)

Inkspirations Sketch Challnege

I had a lot of fun with this sketch.  Most likely due to the fact that there were  no skewed panels to deal with LOL.  Some nice straight lines, just the way I like it, and thus the card came together quickly.  

I combined the sketch with last week's Color Throwdown as I had the perfect piece of DP I could use (another bit of my Costco pack used up - yeah!!).  I also pulled out Verve's Petals and Stems, the very first Verve flower set I bought a few years back.  It's such a fun image, the flowers are easy to cut out and I still love using it to this day :)

My crimper was calling my name again, so I crimped the horizontal panels, added some ruffled ribbon at the base of the flowers as "grass" with a bit of a punched border and some buttons to finish things off.  Another card to remind me Spring is on its way, and reminding I need!  We are in a deep freeze here on the West Coast (well for us anyway!).  Hitting -12C to -15C tonite with the wind chill - brrr!!!  I will no doubt lose a few of the plants in my garden with those temps.  Haven't gone anywhere without a warm drink in my hands the last few days as I am a total wimp in the cold!  Even the cat won't go outside LOL!

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

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 please do come and join us this week so we can see your take on the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you neck of the woods is warmer than mine!

What's In It?

Stamps: (Verve) Petals and Stems

Paper: Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Costco DP

Ink: Old Olive, Ballet Blue

Accessories: Threading Water Border Punch, Crimper, 1/8" Olive Satin Ribbon, Double Sided Sticky Tape, Buttons, Glue Dots, Twine, Dimensionals

Color Dare 98

Color Dare #98

Perfect Plum

Always Artichoke

Neutral of Choice

Another fun colour combination by Riley this week. My neutral of choice was white (with a touch of black).  I combined this week's colours with the the last Verve sketch for February, which my blogging buddy Andrea created.  I am SO thankful she didn't create a sketch with a skewed panel LOL!  Two in a month is more than enough for me LOL!  The diagonal was a fun twist. 


I found this wonderful Basic Grey Kioshi paper that was a perfect fit for this week's colours.   I polka dotted the Plum panel and combined my scalloped square and Label 16 dies for the sentiment panel (love that Label 16 shape!).  A touch of black accents and was good to go :)  Nothing too elaborate this week as time was short, just a fun, quick card to make.

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

• Glenda Wyatt at Paper, Scissors, Rocks 
• Heater Prince at Princess Scrapper Stamper
• Joan Jeffery at JJ's Creations
• Melissa Hubert at My Paper Obsession
• Nance Lempinen-Leedy at Canopy Crafts
• Riley Fitzgerald at Stampin' With Riley  (our leader)

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 CD98.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.






What's In It?
Stamps:(Verve) Kind Words
Paper: Basic Grey Kioshi, Perfect Plum, Always Artichoke
Ink: Perfect Plum, VersaMark
Accessories: 5/8" Black Satin Ribbon, Scalloped Square and Label 16 Nesties, Double Sided Sticky Tape, Black Half Pearls, Dimensionals.

VLV Feb Week 3

Took a deep breath and tackled this next Verve skewed sketch challenge.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - hark, am I finally getting a bit more accustomed to these skewed creatures...??!! 

I combined this sketch with the Get Your Diva On challenge hosted by Charmaine and her selection of this gorgeous inspiration piece.  Loved the soft, romantic feel of this picture and heck, there was a heart in it so I snuck in just one more heart card for good measure.

I VersaMarked French Script on the background panel, used this wonderful K & Company DP on the skewed panel and doubled up on my hearts as per the sketch.  Bonus is I got to use my new Martha Stewart Border punch, which I just love.  Some silver bling to mimic the candy on the top of the heart, some sheer ribbon and this gorgeous paper rose to tie in the flowers and ribbon around the napkin and I am done just under the wire - phew!!  Must be the glorious sunshine we are having today :)

Miss not posting as much as I normally do....half way through my work for hubby and pushing hard to get through it in the next to three weeks.

Miss you and hugs to all :)




What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Thankful Hearts, (SU) Fancy Flexible Phrases
Paper:  Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, K and Company DP
Ink: Black, VersaMark

Accessories:  Martha Stewart Border Punch, Scalloped Heart and Heart Nesties, 5/8" Sheer White Ribbon, Paper Rose, Silver Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #58

Keesh came up with another fun colour combination this week.  They were perfect for a masculine card so I decided to make my second masculine of the week.  Think that's more than I made all of last year LOL!

I combined the colours with Jen's February Sketch For You To Try.  Being as I'm still off kilter after making a skewed panel card for my Color Dare card on Wednesday, I branched way out from my normal style on this card.  It ended up being a rustic, slightly western look, though in hindsight I should have probably used a different nestie shape.  The sentiment is from Verve's Big Wish, and distressing all the panels was very therapeutic for my post-skewed-panel-shock-syndrome LOL! A  touch of twine, crimping and stars finished things off nicely.  Now I just need a cowboy to send this to.  Anyone know one?

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

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 :)

Off to do more work for hubby...another three to four weeks to go....  Have a fabulous weekend :)

What's In It?

Stamps: (Verve) Wish Big

Paper: Early Espresso, Ttangerine Tango, Marina Mist

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue

Accessories: Distressed Striipes Embossing Folder, Scalloped Square and Labels 16 Nestie, Crimper, Star Die, 1/4" White Grosgrain Ribbon, Half Pearls, Marvy Star Punch, Twine, Button, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Color Dare 97

Color Dare 97

Night of Navy

Marina Mist

River Rock

Riley selected a wonderful group of colours again this week.  The perfect mix for a masculine card using the cute little sail boat from Verve's Text Notes.  I combined this week's colours with one of this month's Verse sketches.  Wasn't fun having to contend with a skewed panel again - ugh!  They always push my limits and my buttons!

I used one of the sentiment sentences from the set to form a background on the Marina Mist panel and paper pieced my sailboat.  That mast was nasty  hard to cut out!!  In my distress I reached for the comfort of my Swiss Dots embossing folder, and used this fun Martha Stewart border punch for the sides. 

This card confirmed once again why I don't do skewed panels well.  While adhering my sailboat panel on to the card, I kept putting it on crooked!!  My eye kept catching the angled blue panel and using it to align my sailboat so my poor little boat was encountering the "deadliest wave" rather than sailing on calm seas.  Must have repositioned it four times.  Poor little thing was as messed up as I am with skewed panels LOL!
 
The rest of the Team has lots of inspiration for you.  You can check out their creations here:

• Glenda Wyatt at Paper, Scissors, Rocks 
• Heater Prince at Princess Scrapper Stamper
• Joan Jeffery at JJ's Creations
• Melissa Hubert at My Paper Obsession
• Nance Lempinen-Leedy at Canopy Crafts
• Riley Fitzgerald at Stampin' With Riley  (our leader)

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 CD97.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.





What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Text Notes
Paper:  Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand
Ink: Black, VersaMark
Accessories:Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Martha Steward Border Punch, Scalloped Circle and Circle  Nesties, 5/8" Black Satin Ribbon, Double Sided Sticky Tape, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #57

Had a late night creating this card as hubby's overflow office work for me is more than filling my days!  When  you add it on to my regular before and after school daycare work I am working a 12 hour day, so the only time left to stamp is late at night because I definitely don't do early mornings well LOL!

That being said, it felt wonderful to get inky again, especially since I wanted to use a sentiment from Verve's Text Notes which my wonderful blogging buddy and new Verve Diva, Maureen, gave me for my birthday.  The quote I wanted to use needed a horizontal panel so I flipped the sketch and am quite happy with how it turned out.

I paired the sketch with this week's Curtain Call colour challenge.  It has been forever since I've played along (said hanging my head in shame) but these colours were screaming loudly at me so I jumped at the chance to combine the challenges.

Just love this Verve flower image and used it to frame the sentiment.  I added some black accents to the mix to make things pop a bit (hope that's okay, Stacey...) and am quite happy with the outcome.  The quote is a bit hard to read in the picture so here is what it says:  "A cheerful friend is like a sunny day, spreading brightness all around". 

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

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 the fun this week :)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!  Rain is back in the forecase - ugh!! - so that means, watching my son's soccer game in the rain, frizzy hair from all the dampness, and many thoughts of spring LOL. However,  I sure did enjoy the four days of glorious sunshine we got earlier this week (as you can see in the background of my picture above). 

What's In It?

Stamps: (Verve) Wish Big, Text Notes

Paper:  Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi

Ink: Rose Red, Garden Green

Accessories:  Preserves 4 Pack Embossing Folder, Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, 5/8" Black Stain Ribbon, SU Border Punch, Button, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Color Dare 96

Color Dare 96

Peach Parfait

Bashful Blue

Garden Green

I haven't made a button bouquet for some time so I took the opportunity to do so as I had the perfect colour buttons for this week's challenge :)   I made another circle card too as they are just so much fun to make.    

The card is pretty self explanatory and when one doesn't use Swiss Dots, polka dotted paper is a great substitute LOL!

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

• Glenda Wyatt at Paper, Scissors, Rocks 
• Heater Prince at Princess Scrapper Stamper
• Joan Jeffery at JJ's Creations
• Melissa Hubert at My Paper Obsession
• Nance Lempinen-Leedy at Canopy Crafts
• Riley Fitzgerald at Stampin' With Riley  (our leader)

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 CD96.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.







What's In It?
Stamps: (SU) Flower Filled
Paper:  Garden Green, Bashful Blue DSP, Peach Parfait

Ink: Garden Green
Accessories: Lacey Circle and Circle Nesties, Label *** Nestie, Seeing Spots Embossing Folder, Buttons, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

PTI's Fourth Anniversary

This year marks PTI's fourth anniversary and they are celebrating by having people post their favorite PTI creation from the past year.  You can see all the details here.

I don't have many PTI stamps just yet, but I just love them and hope to get more in the coming year. 

This is my favorite card using one of the fabulous images from Turning a New Leaf - just love this set!

Off to watch my son's soccer game (yeah no rain!!) and then begin my work for hubby's office.  Going to be a very busy next few months!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

An Inkspiration Love Note

When I first saw these colours I took a big gulp, but once I had them out in front of me and began to play around with them, I was hooked LOL!   Absolutely love how they work together and the bold statement they make.  I must admit they are not colours I would naturally gravitate towards, and that is why I love colour challenges!  They make me get out of my colour ruts and allow me to find some great new combinations.  

I paired this week's colours with the first Verve sketch for February.  And, since it is February and Valentine's Day is yet to come, I seized the opportunity to use these masculine colours to make my hubby's Valentine's Day card using Verve's Love Notes set which my wonderful blogging friend Tanis gave me for my birthday.  Thanks again, Tanis!!  I am having so much fun with this set and think of you ever time I use it (((hugs))).

From force of habit, I used my lacey circle nesties, and when I realized what I had done I decided I liked and and that hubby is man enough to handle them LOL!  You can barely see it, but the black panel has the word "hugs" clear embossed all over it.   I found this cute heart button and added it to the sentiment panel and did a bit of faux stitching on the side.  In another moment of habit and weakness, I added a bow.  Poor hubby is going to have to put up with that too LOL!

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

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 :)

That's it for today.  Have a great day :)

What's In It?

Stamps: (Verve) Love Notes

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Black, White

Ink: Black

Accessories: Scalloped Circle Nesties, 1/4" White Grosgrain Ribbon, Buttons, Glue Dots, Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Colour Q'ing My Mojo

This week's Mojo Monday sketch had me quite intimidated, but I decided I'd give it a try so I could stretch the old creativity a bit.

I paired it with this week's Colour Q challenge as the colours were pefect for......you got it.....another Valentine's Day card :)  Aren't you going to be happy once Valentine's has come and gone LOL!

As predicted, the sketch gave me grief.  The ruffled ribbon doesn't dip as low as it should on the right hand side and feels a bit too wide for the size of the hearts, but didn't have a dark brown ribbon in a different width so had to go with it.  The sentiment panel and how to embellish it took me forever!  Tried a banner, a double ended banner, faux stitching on the left side, adding buttons, adding twine, adding raffia - you name it!  My last concept is the one you see here, and it stayed because it was my last kick at the can and I left it and ran LOL!  Not my favorite card, but the creative gene was challenged and that is a good thing.    

Just to let you know, things will get a little quieter here over the next few weeks as I have to do some work for hubby's office.  I'll be posting on Wednesdays and Fridays for sure, and if all goes well, at least one other time during the week.

Have a fabulous day and thanks for sharing a part of yours with me :) 

What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Love Notes
Paper: Early Espresso, Blushing Bride, Cameo Coral, Real Red
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Scalloped Circle an d Circle Nesties, Scalloped Heart Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Half Perals, 5/8" Brown Satin Ribbon, Radffia, Dimensionals

Color Dare 95

Color Dare 95

Daffodil Delight

Marina Mist

Basic Black

Time was tight and my creative gene was napping today, so I did a big cheat and literally cased this Limelight Sketch for my card today.  I have had it in my "must try" sketches for some time now, and today was the perfect opportunity to use it - cheat and all :)

Had to substitute So Saffron for Daffodil Delight, and close matching Bazzili Lakeshore paper for the Marina Mist but they worked wonderfully well.  Have to celebrate the sunshine we are fiiiinally getting by using my butterfly die :)  I ruffled some of this fun black and white polka dotted ribbon which I dug out of the Michael's ribbon bin.  Made me soooo mad to not be able to find a second roll in that darn bin.  Don't ask me how long I dug trying to find another one!  Let's just say I just about dumped the entire bin over on to the floor in  my frustration LOL! 

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

• Glenda Wyatt at Paper, Scissors, Rocks 
• Heater Prince at Princess Scrapper Stamper
• Joan Jeffery at JJ's Creations
• Melissa Hubert at My Paper Obsession
• Nance Lempinen-Leedy at Canopy Crafts
• Riley Fitzgerald at Stampin' With Riley  (our leader)

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 CD95.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.






What's In It?
Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly
Paper:  Stampin' Up! So Saffron DSP, Bazzili Lakeshore
Ink: Black
Accessories:5/8" Black and White Polka Dotted Ribbon, SU Butterfly Die, Scalloped Circle N esties, Button, Twine, Half Pearls, Glue Dots, Dimensionals