Not One But Two Off Angle Panels!

I saved this Verve sketch for last because off angle panels and I don't get along very well...they just mess with my anal side something fierce!  However, due to my desire and quest for a chance to win some Verve, I will deal with it and make it work even if it I get worked over by a sketch LOL! 

This week's Our Creative Corner colour challenge as my spring board into this sketch.  More yummy fall colours to work with :) I pulled out some October Afternoon DP and the rust/cajun polka dotted Recollections DP I got at Mike's and went to work.  Then the hard part began as there wasn't just one off angle panel to deal with but two!

First one was easy as the sentiment went on it but then I had to figure out what the heck to do with the second one.  I was doing a happy dance at having two DPs on one card (though it doesn't really count as they are both the same pattern just in different colours LOL!) so it was back to card stock for me.  I pulled out my crimper to add some texture and interest to the panel and used a prima I got from Stacy (aka Twinshappy - yes, I still have some, Stacy!!) for the circle element of the sketch.  The top left corner looked a bit empty so a few half pearls solved the issue.

Phew!  I've completed all five sketches and even survived this one LOL!  Now, I get to wait and see if I'm one of the lucky winners announced this Friday at the release party.

Thanks for listening to my complaining today and have a fabulous day!




What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Hebrews 11:1 Plain Jane
Paper:  Old Olive, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla, October Afternoon DP, Recollections DP
Ink:  Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Crimper, Prima, Button, Glue Dot, Twine, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Curtain Call Act 49

I just love the colours Stacey chose for this week's Curtain Call challenge.  However, when I got to trying to put them together, they gave me the gears!  I must have tried fifteen different sketches to no avail - ugh.  Thankfully, this wonderful OCC sketch came to the rescue!  I used it on this week's Color Dare challenge and loved it and am loving it all the more now LOL!

I dug into my sloooooowly dwindling Costco DP pack and came up with this DP. I must admit, I have shied away from this striped pattern for a long time, but it worked wonderfully for me today.  My SU ornament punch and coordinating stamps arrived yesterday, and since it is a crime to leave new rubbah unattended lest it feel unloved, I made sure it got some love :)   

I stamped the ornament image in red ink on red card stock and outlined the image on the ornament with a white gel pen.  Why you ask?  Okay, even if you don't care, I'll tell you LOL!  I didn't like the white outline around the ornament when I stamped it in red ink on vanilla card stock and then punched it out.  I wanted a dark red image and the paper gave it to me better than a stamped image.  Some half pearls added a bit of "oomph" to the ornament and the embossing folders added some texture.  A ribbon and a button and another Christmas card is done :)

I'm thankful our glorious weather is still here because that means I get to watch my son's soccer game tomorrow in the warm sunshine - oh happy, joy, joy LOL!   Soon enough we will be dressed in mittens, scarves, rain gear etc. in order to watch the games so cheers to warm weather and sunshine :)

Thanks for visiting today and have a fabulous weekend!





What's In It?
Stamps: (SU) Delightful Decorations
Paper:  Basic Black, Linen Vanillaa, Sahara Sand, Real Red, Costco DP
Ink:  Real Red
Accessories:  Snowflakes and Swiss Dots Embossing Folders, Nesties Label 4, SU Ornament Punch, White Gel Pen, Half Pearls, 5/8" Brown Satin Ribbon, Red Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Curtain Call Act 46 From The Other Side

When I saw the inspiration piece for this week's Curtain Call colours I had to play along.  Just love the colour mix of the flowers and thus decided to make a flower card - old habits die hard LOL.  It still feels a bit strange being on this side of the Curtain Call crew, but it is wonderful to have a new Crew's creations to enjoy and be inspired by :)

I don't own any of the colours on this week's pallet so I did a clean sweep with substitutions of Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal and Real Red as well as some So Saffron ribbon.  Since this is Our Creative Corner's last sketch of the year (sniff, sniff) I just had to use it as I just love their sketches and have used them for quite a few Curtain Call cards. I filled the large panel with a Botanical Blooms scene. embossed my white panel with Diamonds in the Rough,  added some ribbon, a button (from my wonderful Michael's purchase) and the sentiment from the set.  Always nice to get a double challenge card done :)

Think the family will have a low key weekend as we are all suffering from the first week back in school syndrome:  our bodies needing to adjust to new sleeping and waking times, having added activities on the calendar (I already messed up by showing up for my daughter's piano lesson at last year's time rather than our new one - thankfully I got the day right LOL!), celebrating a few family birthdays over at my mom's place and enjoying our last weekend before soccer games begin.  Hopefully I can throw a little stamping into the mix too :)

Have a fabulous day!






What's In It?
Stamps:  Botanical Blooms (SU)
Paper:  Real Red, White
Ink:  Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, Garden Green, Real Red
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Diamonds in the Rough Embossing Folder, 5/8" Satin Saffron Ribbon, Green Button, Glue Dot, Black Half Pearls, Dimensionals

A Butterfly for OCC

Just loved this OCC Sketch so decided to use it as the foundation for this card. I omitted the ribbon and sentiment, but the rest of the layout holds true. SU's butterfly die immediately came to mind (love that die!!) when I saw this sketch so off to work I went.

The polka dotted DP was a perfect pair with black and white, one of my favorite go to colour combinations.  I had planned on using a white button on my butterfly but much to my dismay, found that I am all out!! Needless to say, that will have to be remedied very quickly!!  As a result, I had to settle for the pearls instead.  Some sheer black ribbon tied everything together (no pun intended LOL!)  and I was good to go.

Felt great to make a card in the midst of a busy week, even if there is no stamping on it LOL!  I'll be back on Sunday with my Curtain Call card if I don't get a chance to post before then.  Thanks for putting up with my crazy, summer posting schedule....it seems to be feast or famine LOL!  Have a fabulous day and thanks for sharing a piece of yours with me today (((hugs))).





What's In It?
Paper:  Making Memories DP, Black, Pretty in PInk, White
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Border Punch, Floral Fantasy Embossing Folder, SU Sizzex Butterfly Die, Half Pearls, 5/8" Sheer Black Ribbon

Christimas In July

I am totally exhausted today!!  Our family went to the Cultas Lake water slides yesterday - it's an annual summer tradition.  We spent six hours there in order to get our money's worth so we are one tired bunch today.  The best part is you have fun and get a workout because some of the slides start six or more floors up!!  Do that a few dozen times or so and you begin to feel it LOL!  It is always a fabulous day and with temps here in the 30C range (90F) I can think of no better place to cool off!  In all honesty, I think I'm the one who has the most fun there LOL!  I've always loved playing in water and am a big kid at heart so it's a match made in heaven :)

Today I've gone from 30C temperatures and a water park to a winter wonderland LOL!  I fell in love with this cute Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Snow Friends couple the moment I saw them!  You can't help but smile when you see them :)  Actually the whole set is fabulous and I can't wait to use some of the other images.

I used an OCC sketch from a few weeks back for my layout and was thrilled to be able to pair it with my new Seeing Spots embossing folder.  I have visited several of my regular haunts only to find it sold out, but this week was my lucky week - yeah!!  That means I now have a small dot and a large dot embossing folder to play with so I'm purring like a kitty!  In this case, since it's a Christmas themed card, the large dots reminded me of snowballs, so I decided to use it instead of snowflakes.

The snowmen are coloured with Twinkling H2O's since I don't own any Copics. I added glitter to make snow and also added glitter to her earmuff and his hat band and pompom.  As you can see, I  messed up on the hat colouring - ugh!  I accidentally coloured the band blue instead of leaving it white so I tried to hide it by putting glitter over top, but it didn't work as you can still see the blue underneath.  I'm blaming the cat LOL!  I added this adorable sentiment, some pink ribbon and two blue snowflakes as per the sketch design and called it a card.

Thanks for visiting today and I'll see you tomorrow with my sample card for the next Curtain Call Colour Challenge!





What's In It?
Stamps:  Snow Friends (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper:  Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Grey
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  Seeing Spots Embossing Folder, Large Scalloped Border Punch, Marvy Snowflake Punch, 5/8" Pink Satin Ribbon, Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Twinkling H2O's, Glue Pen, Glitter, Dimensionals

Butterflies A Flutter

After a busy weekend with the kids and going to see Toy Story 3 as a family (great movie by the way - couldn't believe it made me cry at the end!) it was wonderful to be able to sit down and work with this CAS (clean and simple) OCC sketch.

The stars on the sketch made me smile as I finally own a Sizzex star die (bought with a 50% off coupon at Michael's this week)!!  The hard part is I have to wait until Christmas to get it!!  Yes, you read right - Christmas!  I actually shop all year round for birthday and Christmas gifts for the family and for myself so I can take full advantage of sales and markdowns, but it makes it awfully hard to stay out of the ones I buy for myself  LOL!  Some of you may very well remember my mentioning some of my pressie B & Es last year before Christmas and my birthday.  I became a master of using and repackaging.  I know, my bad!!  Will have to put the die somewhere that is a pain in the butt to get in to so I'm not tempted to "sample" it.

Sorry....I regress, or maybe just confess LOL!!  On to the card!  I couldn't resists using my Stampin' Up Sizzex butterfly die as the butterflies are so gorgeous and work perfectly with the sketch.  I even snuck some Swiss Dots into the action by embossing the butterflies.  The ribbon, which I got from one of my ribbon bin diving adventures at Michael's, was my inspiration for the colours.  The rest is pretty self explanatory.

Thanks for sharing a part of your day with me today. 





What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Beautiful You
Paper:  Kraft, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip
Ink:  Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  SU Sizzex Butterfly Die, Apron Lace Punch, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Half Pearls, Ribbon from Michael's Ribbon Bin, Raffia, Button, Glue Dot, Dimensioanls

Curtain Call Act 24

I just love the picture that goes with this week's colours.  There is actually a family that lives near us who puts coloured plastic eggs on one of  their outside trees for Easter and the kids used to just love going to see it when they were younger.  We even made a mini version of an Easter Egg tree for each of the kids' rooms one year, using a twig and little eggs made from some sort of fast drying molding material.  Kids loved them so much they kept them in their rooms for a few months....fun memories :D    However, the reality of Easter goes far beyond bunnies and eggs for me as I turn my eyes to the cross and ponder the depth of sacrifice and love shown to mankind through Christ's death upon it, and in turn, the great joy, hope and victory we have through Christ's resurrection on Easter Sunday!  In Christ Alone by Avalon is one of my favorite songs as it is a fabulous musical rendition of the Easter story.  May the words touch your heart as they do mine. 

Now on to the card and challenge!!  I was doing the happy dance when I saw green in this colour challenge because that meant I could go with flowers - my all time favorite thing to stamp.  I used this week's OCC Sketch,  created by none other than the wonderfully talented Silke Ledlow, as my layout since it worked perfectly with the idea I had in mind.  This SU flower punch is too fun to use and I stamped the corresponding image from With All My Heart on it and added an embossed center.  The leaves are a Martha Stewart punch as I don't have the SU bird punch just yet - key word being yet LOL!  It was great to use my Apron Lace punch again and I finished things off with some turquoise ribbon and yellow half pearls.

Here are the rest of the Curtain Call Crew's inspirational samples for you to enjoy:

• Amy White - Delvinwhite Designs
• Andrea Roose - Andrea's Scrap -und Stampel Blog
• Iwona Palamountain (Chupa) - Random Acts of Creativity
• Julie Smith - Paper and Such 
• Lea Lawson - Cupcakes & Sunshine
• Melissa Hubert - My Paper Obsession 
• Shelley Germann - Stampin' Garden 
• Sue Kohler - My Inner Reflection 
• Stacey Schafer - Stacey's Stamping Stage (Our Director) 

We'd love it if you joined us too!!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to Mr. Linky on Stacey's blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword Curtain Call.  Each week, Stacey will select one person to receive her "I Got The Lead At The Curtain Call"  Award as well as five people to receive her "I'm A Top 5 Curtain Call Show Stopper" Award which you can post on your blog, so come on over and join the fun :D

Have a blessed Easter Sunday!




What's In It?
Stamps: With All My Heart, Well Scripted
Paper:  Kraft, So Saffron, Garden Green, Tempting Turquoise, White
Ink: Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: SU Flower Punch, Martha Stewart Leaf Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Apron Lace Punch, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, 5/8" Truquoise Satin Ribbon, Yellow Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Loving Blush Blossom

Here is sketch #4 of the Verve Release Challenge Sketches.  I just love this sketch - Julee has so many wonderful ones that I keep a binder with all of them in it.  They are always so balanced and appealing to the eye.

I just LOVED the colour challenge on the OCC Blog of Blush Blossom, Sage Shadow, Soft Suede and Handsome Hunter and wanted to try it out.  I am a colour short for the challenge :( but love the colours I managed to use here.  I also pulled out my severely neglected Weathered background stamp.  I have always loved this stamp, but ever since I got my Cuttlebug.the embossing folders have pulled rank over my BG stamps...

I pulled out this wonderful flower image from Close As A Memory for this sketch, added some butterflies around the flowers, some brads on the right hand side to balance things off and crimped the horizontal strip for some dimension as having just ribbon or paper just didn't fit what I was looking for.  I'm happy with the result and KNOW I'm going to use this colour combo a lot as I just love it.

As a side note, sorry about the date on the picture!  My camera died yesterday!!!  If it is the issue I think it is, Canon will service and replace the part for free -- keeping my toes and fingers crossed that this is the case!!  In the meantime, I have had to use my daughter's camera and I forgot to turn off the date before I took the picture.  Pressed for time so this will have to do for now.  I'll re-shoot and re-post once I get some time.

Three down and two to go!!  Can't wait for the release party - Julee always has wonderful new stamps to enjoy and the best part is Christmas is coming and some unsuspecting family member or relative will no doubt be getting me some Verve for Christmas LOL!

Abundant blessings and thanks for stopping by :D



What's In It?
Stamps:  Close As A Memory, Weathered Background Stamp
Paper:  Blush Blossom, Sage Shadow, Really Rust
Ink:  Sage Shadow, Blush Blossom
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Jumbo Eyelet, Sage 1/4" grossgrain ribbon, Raffia, Crimper, Brads, Half Pearls, Dimensionals.