Color Dare 90

Color Dare 90

Pink Pirouette

Baja Breeze

Rich Razzleberry

Very Vanilla

I paired this week's colours with last week's Card Pattern's sketch.  I'm not sold on the card, but think it may have to do with the fact I had to use Pretty in Pink instead of Pink Pirouette as I didn't have any and the pink I used was a bit too strong for this colour combo.  That will teach me not to have all the colours in stock LOL!

I went with another non-Christmas card, and since I haven't used my butterfly die for some time, out it came (still madly addicted to this die!).  The pink butterfly has a double pattern on it as I tried one embossing folder and didn't like it so ran it through the Swiss Dots one to match the vanilla dotted panel and thus the double pattern.  Thought the look was unique so kept it :)

The card seemed a bit "blah" to me, so I added a few black accents to perk things up a bit and it's sitting a bit better with me now :)   

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 CD90.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.

What's In It?

Stamps: Amuse

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze, Cream Linen, Pretty in Pink

Ink: Black

Accessories: SU Sizzex Butterfly Die, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, SU Border Punch, 1/4" Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Embrace the Off Angle Panels, Make Them Your Friend

I actually groaned out  loud when I saw this sketch LOL!  More off-angle panels I need to "embrace and make my friends" (albeit, under much duress!!!) and all for the chance to win some Verve LOL :) 

I quickly copied the sketch down and was in such a snit about those panels that I somehow flipped the sketch to a horizontal layout and didn't realize it until after I had finished my card!  That will tell you how much these panels mess with my mind LOL!

The inspiration piece for my card was this cute little Christmas jingle bell tree we made from a kit I got at  Michael's.  It was supposed to be something fun for the kids to make, but ended up being too advanced so I had to make them instead.  Getting those little jump rings open and the bells on them was hard enough, but then I had to open them again and put them on the loops of the tree, which was a huge pain in the butt!!   All I can say is it's a good thing they look nice when they are done!

Okay, enough complaining!  On a happier note, I just loved this colour combination. The turquoise and bright blue with the silver looks fabulous together, and I had the perfect card stock to match :)  I embossed the brushed silver panels with my snowflake embossing folder and then stamped this darling  little tree image three times in the oval.

In honor of my blogging buddy Andrea, who cannibalizes Christmas decorations for use on her cards, I took two bells off one of the other finished trees so I could put them on my card as they were the perfect finishing touch, especially in lieu of the inspiration piece.  However, after I took the picture, I had to put the bells back on the original tree as it was just a bit too obvious they were missing.  Consequently, a blue button is now in their place on the card and isn't nearly as cute :(  

So the saga of the off-angle card is finally over and I'm doing a big happy dance!!!  Not thrilled with the card and the jury is still out as to whether I have embraced the off angle panels a little bit more now that I've made another card using them.  Bet you can guess the verdict LOL!

Hope to get a few more cards made during my last few days of "guaranteed" stamping time before the kids are off for Christmas vacation.  Hope you can do the same :)




What's In It?
Stamps: (SU)  Merry and Bright, Background Basics
Paper:  Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Cool Caribbean, Brushed Silver, White
Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Versamark
Accessories:  Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Silver Twine, Bells, Dimensionals

Peaceful Wishes for Pals

This week Pals Paper Arts has this wonderful inspiration piece to work from.  Love all the white mixed with off whites, gold and silver.  Couldn't pass up playing along as I love using white space :)

While trying to decide what to do for this card, a ribbon wreath came to mind.  I have seen these around blogland for a while and today was the day to try one.  I used 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon and went to work.  Once complete, I added some gold half pearls, a button and some beaded gold twine for the bow.  It's hard to tell in the picture (had to use the light box as no time to take a picture tomorrow morning edit:  new picture now posted), but I used some delicious brushed gold paper for my layers.  The sentiment is also gold.  Didn't add anything else as I wanted the wreath to be the focal point of the card.  You can find the tutorial here if you are interested.

Thanks for visiting today and hope your Christmas preparations are well under way.  I'm well under control except for miserably failing in the card department :(  Will have to use some old cards for those who have to get mailed this week (aka out of town family) and locals will benefit from new ones, or they'll get an extra special birthday card next year in lieu of a Christmas card this year.  Hate myself for being in this position....on the upside, think I have my first New Year's resolution!




What's In It?
Stamps:  (SU) Peaceful Wishes
Paper:  Brushed Gold, White
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories:  1/4" White Grosgrain Ribbon, Gold Half Pearls, Button, Beaded Gold Twine, Glue Dots, Gold Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Candy Cane Christmas a la Verve

This month, for the Verve sketch and inspiration challenges, we get to use ornaments and decorations as our inspiration pieces rather than having to select one of the ones chosen for us - how fun :)

I decided to use candy canes as my inspiration for this card.  You can't go anywhere at this time of year without seeing them.  Plus, I just happened to be nibbling on a small one as I was looking at the sketch and wondering what to use as my inspiration.  This it was meant to be LOL!

However, I had no striped red and white paper in my stash, so I opted for some red polka dotted paper instead.  Not exactly stripes, but if you stare at those  polka dots long enough they start to form vertical lines which can easily lead to stripes.....okay, so I'm stretching things a bit, but necessity is the mother of invention, right?!  LOL :)

Not having any candy cane images in my stash, was my next issue so I used this gift image from Seasons Sketches instead.  It is one of the very first Stampin' Up sets I ever purchased and I still enjoy using it.  I added  silver accents as my third colour, but couldn't figure out what to add to the image panel as it seemed a bit dull, or is it just me? 

Well, that's it for today.  Off to bake some more gingerbread and sugar cookies so the daycare kids can decorate them after school and we can have some left over for ourselves!  Have a great day :)




What's In It?
Stamps:  (SU) Seasons Sketches, Hero Arts
Paper:  Recollections DP, Real Red, Brushed Silver
Ink:  Black, Silver
Accessories:  Crimper, Half Pearls, Red Twine, Button, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Mojo Monday 168

I was so excited to be able to play along with Julee's Mojo Monday sketch This week as I was in the mood for another flower card to break up the Christmas card production.

This fun Jillibean DP was my inspiration for this card. and it screamed flowers so out came one of my tried and true favorite Verve sets, Petals and Stems.  I wanted to use the lacy nesties again and since they don't come in rectangles just yet (betting that will change very soon LOL!) I cut out one square and then a part of another and stuck them together to make the rectangle.  The rest is pretty self explanatory.  Now just have to wait and see if it catches Julee's eye LOL! 

Have a fabulous day, and I hope you are well on your way to being ready for Christmas :)  I've got all the gifts purchased and house decorated, but still have cards and cookies to go. Cookie baking will be this weekend, and hopefully, I can get my Christmas cards done and out next week...hopefully!!

I know it's a crazy, busy time of year, so thank you so much for taking a little time out of your day to pop in for a visit ((hugs)).




What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Petals and Stems
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Real Red, Jillibean DP
Ink:  Old Olive, Real Red, Only Orange, Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Crimper, Square Lacy Nesties,  Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Is Having A Christmas Blog Hop

Inkspirations is hosting its very first BLOG TOUR and we want you to play along with us and join in the fun!!

WHEN:  Friday December 17th

WHERE: Starting at the Inkspirations Challenge Blog and moving on to your blog :)

WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY ALONG?: We will be sharing Christmas gift ideas and would love to see what you are making for Christmas this year.

If you would like to join us, please email Makeesh Byl by December 13th at 4 p.m. EST Australia which is 9 p.m. on December 12th for us in North America on Pacific Time.  All the contact details are on the Inkspirations Challenge Blog. Once the list is compiled, you will be given a confirmation and the blog link that comes after yours. 

Hope you can join us for this fun, Christmas Hop event!

Color Dare 88

Color Dare 88

Riding Hood Red

Old Olive

Neutral of Choice

Since I was in the mood for a circle card, I immediately went with this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch.  It was a perfect fit for what I had in mind, and I was doing a big happy dance as this doesn't happen to me very often!!  My one creative gene must be spreading some Christmas cheer early LOL!

Out came my newest addiction - the lacy circles.  I paired that with my combination double dot embossing folder kick as they were the perfect look of falling snow to go with the snowflake.  My tag migrated a tad from the sketch so hopefully the mouse police will be buried in the snow overseas and scared to venture out and check up on me :)

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 CD88.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog.

What's In It?
Stamps: Fancy Flexible Phrases
Paper:  Old Olive, Read Red, Linen Cream
Ink: Black
Accessories: Swiss Dots and Seeing Spots Embossing Folders, Lacy Circle and Circle Nesties, Cuttlebug Snowflake Die, Martha Steward Snowflake Punch, Red Button, Glue Dot, Twine, Red Twine, 5/8" Grosgrain Cream Ribbon, Dimensionals

Verve Project Parade Triple Play Part II

I had so much fun making the mailbox for my daughter's student teacher I had to make a few more.  I have several friends who are elementary school teachers so these will definitely come in handy :)   They are also going to be an entry in Verve's Triple Play Project Parade. 

I kept the design the same for all of them, just switched up the DPs and colours on each one.  Had a ball making them and wish I had a few more so I could dole them out to a few more teachers or moms with small kids.

However, the fun ended when I had to try to take a picture of all three of them at once. As you can see, I ended up using the light box again as my windowsill could not accommodate three of them at one time without a major structural engineering feat in order to get a photo platform LOL.  I tried my best to show you as much of the mailboxes as I could, and thought I had mastered it, but just noticed the one on the right wasn't angled properly so it got cut off a bit - ugh. It has the same design as the other two on the side, just used different colours. The finishing tough was a snowflake added to both sides of each mailbox "flag" :)

Thanks for coming by today :)  Have a fabulous Sunday!




What's In It?
Paper:  Echo Park, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy, 
Accessories:  Circle and Label 16 Nesties, SU Border Punch, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Half Pearls, 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Double Sided Sticky Tape, Glue Dots, Dimensinoals

Inkspirations Challenge 51

Keesh came up with a wonderful sketch this week.  Love the large circle as the sky is the limit as to what you want/can put in it.

I paired this week's sketch with an old Just Add Ink colour combo. Loved this combo because it had wonderful spring colours.  After all the snow we got and then subsequent torrential rainfall, they were the perfect pick me up LOL!

This is the card I made for my daughter's student teacher whose last day in the classroom was this Tuesday (the gift set I made her was in yesterday's post).  She was a total sweetheart and the kids all loved her.  Any child who gets her will leave her classroom being touched by a truly wonderful teacher.  

As per the need for a weather pick-me-up, and staying with the spring colour theme, I decided to make another button bouquet.  The colours were perfect for some pink and blue flowers :)  Love how these two dotted embossing folders work together...happy sigh :)  A pink bow and some green butterflies provided the finishing touch to a splash of spring amidst her winter gift set 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.

Off to clean my craft room as you can't see the floor or the guest bed after my all my craft fair preparations!  Have a fabulous day!

What's In It?

Stamps: Flower Filled, Small Script

Paper: Certainly Celery, Kraft, Pretty in Pink

Ink: Certainly Celery

Accessories:  Seeing Spots and Swiss Dots Embossing Folders, Scalloped and Circle Nesties, 5/8" Pink Satin Ribbon, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Half Pearls, Buttons, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Verve Triple Play Contest

This is my entry for Verve's Project Parade Challenge.  This time Julee's challenged us to a Triple Play contest in which you have to create a trio of things - three tags, a gift set with three items, etc.

This trio was a gift for my daughter's Student Teacher who wrapped up  her teaching stint on Tuesday.  Since she will be teaching at the primary level, I decorated a Target mailbox I've had in my stash for some time and turned it into "Santa's Mailbox".  I figured it would be a lot of fun to put in her classroom (kids can write letters to Santa etc.). Here's a side view as it really doesn't show up in the picture.

I paired it with a matching coaster box (here's the link to the tutorial on SCS) full of Lindt chocolates and some Christmas cards. Unfortunately, I ran out of the matching DP for the cards - ugh - so had to go with this card instead and tossed matchy, matchy out the window.  A great way to mess with my anal side and stretch me a bit LOL!  I happy to report, she loved it.

Thanks for stopping in today, and sorry for the dark picture.  I had to resort to my light box as I couldn't get all these items on my window ledge at the same time LOL!





What's In It?

Card
Stamps: (SU) Best Yet
Paper: Read Red, Brushed Silver, White
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  SU Scalloped Border Punch, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Half Pearls, Dimensinoals


Coaster Box
Stamps:  (SU) Season's Sketches
Paper:  Night of Navy, Real Red, DP
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  Square Coasters,  Echo Park Wintertime DP, Cuttlebug Snowflake Die, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Marvy Snowflake Punch, Labels 16 and Square Nesties, Zip Dry Glue, Crop-a-dile, Half Pearls, Raffia, 1/4" Navy Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Mailbox 
Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Real Red, Echo Park Wintertime DP
Accessories:  SU Border Punch, Label 16 and Circle Nesties, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, 1/4" Night of Navy Grosgrain Ribbon, Glue Dots, Half Pearls, Dimensionals