Pink Elephant sketch challenge 55

I did this for the Pink Elephant sketch challenge 55  -- check them out, they've got a lot of great ideas! Many thanks to Tiffany Bauer for her suggestion to take a peek.


I layered Black, Regal Rose and White for this crisp look.  The Regal Rose layer was run through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka-Dots Textured Impressions folder.  The floral background was made by using the floral spray from Together Forever.


Stamps: Together Forever, Bella's Bloom


Paper: Black, Regal Rose, White


Ink: Black, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke


Accessories: Scallop border punch, aquapainter, 1/16" punch, Rose 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, Big Shot, Perfect Polka-Dots Textured Impressions folder

Tailored Chic

I really like the crispness of this card!  The structured floral and scallop edge combined with the architectural black border, ribbon and the polka-dots really works for me.  


I layered Black, Regal Rose and White. The Regal Rose layer was run through the Big Shot in the Perfect Polka-Dots Textured Impressions folder. I got the idea of using the floral spray to make my own ds from a card that Karin Sylvester put on Stamping 411 -- thanks for the inspiration, Karin!  Please check out her blog -- her work is gorgeous.


Stamps: Together Forever, Teeny Tiny Wishes


Paper: Black, Regal Rose, White


Ink: Black, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke


Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions folder, Scallop border punch, Black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals, Aquapainter

Late Night Stampers challenge 59

I did this card for the Late Night Stampers challenge 59, using all spring colors. I layered Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Vanilla. The challenge called for pastels only, but I thought a couple of touches of Chocolate Chip would set off all the Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery.  


I'm really loving doing the LNS challenges these days -- there is so much great inspiration over there!  Again, a big nod to my gal Tiffany, for her idea to layer and distress ds!

The flower was made by using the Pinking Hearts border punch on two different patterns from the Shades of Spring and Tea Party ds, then scoring them every 1/4" and pleating.


Stamps: Feathered Hope, Weathered


Paper: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Vanilla, Tea Party and Shades of Spring ds


Ink: Black, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, So Saffron, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose


Accessories: Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, 1/4" Chocolate Chip twill ribbon, Chocolate Chip corduroy button, brads, sponges, aquapainter

Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge 139

For the Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge this week, I layered Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Vanilla and two sheets from the Razzleberry Lemonade ds. The top layer of ds was overstamped with En Francais in Rich Razzleberry. The edges of both ds layers were liberally sponged with Rich Razzleberry before they were distressed.  I got this great idea to layer the ds from Tiffany Bauer -- go see her fabulous blog.  If shabby chic is your thing, than Tiffany is your go-to girl!


I love this old set -- why does SU always retired the ones that are great for watercoloring?  I'm going to have to do some more projects with it before I put it back away....


Stamps: Feathered Hope, En Francais, Thank You Kindly


Paper: Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry, Razzleberry Lemonade ds


Ink: Black, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Regal Rose, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand, So Saffron, More Mustard


Accessories: Pieces from the Antique Copper HPH, Modern Label punch, Old Olive twill and satin ribbons, sponges, aquapainter

Stamping 411 Color Inspiration 111

This is for the Stamping 411 color inspiration 111, using Ruby Red, More Mustard and Handsome Hunter.  Not a color combination that I'd normally use, but I think that it turned out real cute! 

The pick-up truck and trailer are stamped on Vanilla, cut out and adhered with Dimensionals. The 'forest' background is stamped using the single pine tree from Loads of Love in Sage Shadow and Handsome Hunter.

Stamps: Loads of Fun, Loads of Love, Tiny Tags

Paper: Handsome Hunter, More Mustard, Ruby Red, Vanilla

Ink: Black, Handsome Hunter, Sage Shadow, Cameo Coral, Ruby Red, So Saffron, More Mustard, Sahara Sand, Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink

Accessories: Styled Vanilla HPH, Dimensionals, Aquapainter, Hunter 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Tiny Tag punch

Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge SSC138

The scan doesn't do this card justice -- it's very pretty, IRL. I layered Brocade Blue, Night of Navy and Vanilla. The Vanilla layer is color-embossed with Creamy Caramel by running the Vanilla cs through the Big Shot in the Perfect Polka-Dots Textured Impressions folder.

I drew notebook paper "lines" around the central image using a ruler and my Bordering Blue marker. I overstamped the image with the spatter from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in Sahara Sand and the Brocade Blue layer in Brocade Blue and Night of Navy.


Stamps: Peace Within, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Carte Postale


Paper: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Vanilla


Ink: Black, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Creamy Caramel, Sahara Sand, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst, Love Lilac, Pretty in Pink, Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue


Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions folder, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, 1/4" Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch, 1/8" circle punch, pieces from Antique Copper HPH, sponges, aquapainter, spiral punch, library clips

Another sneak peek for the February Paper Crafters Sampler!

Come and take a sneak peek at these darling birdhouses! The exclusive template is available to you when you subscribe to the Paper Crafters Sampler. This months' Sampler if full of gorgeous ideas and directions that you can use to create your own lovely projects!

For this cute little copper-topped birdhouse, I cut the birdhouse out of Sage Shadow cardstock, then stamped it with Weathered  -- why was this ever retired, anyway? -- and sponged the edges with more Sage Shadow to give it some depth.  The bird from the French Flair background stamp was stamped on Pumpkin Pie with Ruby Red ink, then cut out.  The flower I made by punching out 9 pieces from the Haiku ds with the largest flower of the Boho Blossoms punch. 

My father sells copper foil, so the roof and the trim were cut from 1 mil foil.  To see more about the copper foil that I used, go to the Nimrod Hall Copper Company.  Due to how thin the foil was, I backed it on Sage Shadow cs, then punched the trim using the Scallop border punch.  The whole roof is copper, as well.

The darling little birdhouse below was cut from Vanilla card stock, which I stamped with En Francais in Sahara Sand, then sponged the edges.  The bird from Carte Postale was stamped on Sage Shadow card stock in Handsome Hunter classic ink.  

Aren't these just so cute?  And easy to make, so you can spend more time decorating them in your own unique and creative ways!  To get the template and directions to make these, go HERE to subscribe to the Paper Crafters Sampler.  Be sure to use the code PCSLH!

Late Night Stampers challenge 57

The challenge was to use any type of embossing and I choose to color emboss using the Finial Press Textured Impressions folder. This is my favorite technique to showcase the embossing folders. I rub the ink pad on the 'flat' side of the folder, insert my card stock and run the sandwich through my Big Shot. You can get a darker image if you shim your sandwich with an extra piece of cardstock, but I did a looser sandwich this time around - I like the fainter color that comes through.

Stamps: Picnic Parade

Paper: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, White

Ink: Black, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Bordering Blue, Night of Navy, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Going Grey, Sahara Sand, Cameo Coral

Accessories: Big Shot, Finial Press Textured Impressions folder, brads, dimensionals, aquapainter, 5/8" Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon, 1/4" Certainly Celery ribbon, ticket-corner punch

Welcome to the first stop on the PCS Easter Bonnet Hop!

Welcome to the Paper Crafters Sampler Easter Bonnet Hop.

The PCS design team was given a challenge to create an Easter bonnet. The Sampler is an online publication featuring projects using Stampin’ Up! products based on themes, typically seasonal and holiday. The February issue, “Baskets, Bunnies and Bonnets” focuses on the upcoming Easter Holiday.

The template used by the design team was designed exclusively for the upcoming February issue of Paper Crafters Sampler. Be sure you check out the sampler and sign up by February 10th and your name will be entered in our monthly drawing for $15.00 of Samplers bucks. One lucky winner will be randomly selected on February 11th.

For now, I’d like to share with all of you the sample I’ve created using the Easter bonnet template in this months sampler. I especially love the white bonnet with the Swiss dots that I made by running my card stock through the Big Shot in the Perfect Polka-Dots Textured Impressions folder. The butterflies were made with the Beautiful Wings embossilt. The brown bonnet was made using sheets from the Sweet Pea ds. I cut out some of the flowers to make the cardholder and decorated the brim of the bonnet with pink beads.

For more information on our February issue, follow this link. Design Team members get credit from the moderator for all referrals, so please use the code: PCSLH.

The next stop on our hop is at Tiffany Bauer's fabulous blog, My Crafty World. Please click on the Bonnet button to the right to go see Tiffany's creations!

Glorious Peacock Feathers

This is sort of a wild color combination for me -- I rarely venture into the Land of Bold Brights. I wanted to see if I could take an image that had sort of a turn-of-the-century naturalist feel and put it with an odd color combination.

I layered Glorious Green (could it be the first time that I'd ever used this color?), Brilliant Blue, Night of Navy and Vanilla. The Glorious Green layer was stamped with Gratuitous Graffiti in Brilliant Blue craft ink and sponged around the edges. The central image was overstamped with the spatter pattern from Itty Bitty Backgrounds using Close to Cocoa. The tips of the peacock feathers are dusted with gold Fine Galaxy glitter.

Stamps: Nature's Net, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Gratuitous Graffiti

Paper: Glorious Green, Brilliant Blue, Night of Navy, Vanilla

Ink: Craft ink: Brilliant Blue. Classic inks: Black, Green Galore, Summer Sun, Brilliant Blue, Night of Navy, Lovely Lilac, Soft Suede

Accessories: Fine Galaxy glitter, rhinestone brads, gold brads, spiral punch, modern label punch, green organdy ribbon, Brilliant Blue 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, linen thread, aquapainter, dimensionals

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge 137

I layered Always Artichoke, Ruby Red, So Saffron, More Mustard and Vanilla. I color embossed the large Vanilla layer by rubbing the 'flat' side of the Finial Press embossing folder with So Saffron ink, the ran my piece of Vanilla cs through the Big Shot. If you don't make the sandwich too tight, you get a nice etching of color, giving it an old-fashioned, tin ceiling sort of feeling.

Stamps: Nature's Nest, Happy Everything

Paper: Always Artichoke, Ruby Red, More Mustard, So Saffron, Vanilla

Ink: Black, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Ruby Red, Really Rust Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Pieces from the antique copper HPH, small oval punch, Dimensionals, Finial Press embossing folder, Big Shot, Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, aquapainter

Basket of Spring Flowers

I layered Night of Navy, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink and White. In hindsight, I think that I would've stamped the flower image on Vanilla for a more shabby look, but I didn't know that this card would go this direction when I started!

The Pretty in Pink layer is stamped with En Francais in Night of Navy. It's also stamped with the large flourish from Baroque Motifs in Pretty in Pink, as well as the spatter pattern from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in Night of Navy, Close to Coca and Rose Red.

The central image is also overstamped with the spatter from IBB in Sahara Sand. The Pretty in Pink and central image are both sponged with Night of Navy around the edges. The torn Rose Red layer is stamped with the middle-sized floral medallion from Baroque Motifs and the edges sponged in Rose Red.

Stamps: Peace Within, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, En Fracais, Baroque Motifs

Paper: Night of Navy, Rose Red, Pretty Pink, White

Ink: Black, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Ballet Blue, Sahara Sand, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Pixie Pink, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac, Pretty in Pik

Accessories: Modern label punch, 1/8" circle punch, clip, 1/4" Navy grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals, Aquapainter

Farm Life!

This is another one of those sets that I really, really wanted when the new catty came out, but put off buying. Watercoloring the animals was the easy part -- the hard part was trying to figure out how to compose the rest of the card. I think that I really need to get the Woodgrain background stamp -- that would go beautifully with this set. I'm really missing Print Pattern and Weathered, so I pulled them out and inked them up. I really wanted to try to watercolor the sheep using White craft ink on Confetti Cream cardstock. I like how it came out!

Stamps: Farm Life, Print Pattern, Weathered

Paper: Always Artichoke, Ruby Red, Confetti Cream

Ink: Craft ink: White, Ruby Red. Classic inks: Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Sahara Sand, Really Rust, Summer Sun, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose

Accessories: Button Bouquet, Dimensionals, Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, Always Artichoke 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, brads, Dimensionals, Aquapainter, white gel pen, linen thread

What I do on a snowy day....

So, when it snows, I pull out the stamps! I couldn't decide whether I like the Ruby Red adirondack chair or the weather natural one -- you tell me. I've been wanting this set for ages, so it's been fun to play with it.

I layered Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, Vanilla and Old Olive. The plaid layer is stamped with Not Quite Navy craft ink using Stipple Plaid on Vanilla. Sorry for the use of such an old background stamp, but the new backgrounds are just not sufficient, imho. You can never have too many background stamps!

Stamps: Peace Within, Stipple Plaid

Paper: Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Vanilla

Ink: Craft ink: Not Quite Navy. Classic inks: Black, Cameo Coral, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Really Rust, Summer Sun, Crushed Curry, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Bravo Burgundy

Accessories: Dimensionals, ribbon from both the Prep School and Dress Up Ribbon Originals, brads, Aquapainter, ticket-corner punch, sponges, Aquapainter

Blizzard!

We're totally snowed in here in western Maryland! We had about 30 inches around 11:00 a.m. and have probably had 3-4 more inches since then -- I haven't been out to measure lately. Luckily, I got in a HUGE load of SU! yesterday, so I'm snug in my stamping room with all my new toys!

Lovely Simplicity

I love the simplicity of this card! I had to sit on my hands NOT to put brads in the corners or pull out my ticket-corner punch. The white layer embossed with the Perfect Polka-Dots Textured Impressions folder really dresses it up all on it's own, I think. It has the feel of a white Easter dress!

I layered Rose Red, White and Certainly Celery. The label is clear embossed.

Stamps: Greenhouse Garden, Fancy Flexible Phrases, Vintage Labels

Paper: Rose Red, White, Certainly Celery

Ink: Craft ink: Regal Rose. Classic inks: Regal Rose, Rose Red

Accessories: Stitched 1" Rose Red grosgrain, clear ep, Perfect Polka-Dots Textured Impressions folder, Scallop Edge border punch, Dimensionals

Teaser Alert!

Please check back by on February 8th for a little Easter Bonnet Hop, which will showcase the new PCS Easter Bonnet template! This darling template will only be available to subscribers to the Paper Crafting Sampler. For more information, please click on the PCS widget!

I have to say, these little Easter bonnets are absolutely darling -- perfect for an embellishment to an Easter gift, as a favor or to hold place cards at Easter dinner! Just wait until you see them....