Unscripted Sketches #61

My final post in this batch of updates is for Unscripted Sketches #61. This card is one of my favorites! At first, I was wondering what I would do with this week's sketch, but I was finally inspired by my love of...COFFEE! (I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that we live less than an hour away from Seattle.)

Here's this week's Unscripted Sketch:

The stamps that I used for my card are from Elzybells Art Stamps' "Cool Beans" set. I love these coffee cups!

I stamped everything in SU Chocolate Chip ink, including the coffee bean background on kraft paper. The base is Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, and I also used Bazzill cardstock (brown) and SU cardstock to complete the card (green and white). I used a copper gel pen and a Stardust pen to add the glittery accents. I also cut a piece of cork for the button center. I stamped a heart on each coffee cup and colored them in with Glaze pens.

Thanks for looking!!!!

By the way, Unscripted Sketches is celebrating Christmas in July all month long with something new every day...giveaways, tips, prompts, guest designers, prizes, challenges, design team spotlights, games and lots more!

For more details, visit Unscripted Sketches by clicking HERE.

Stampin' Celebration #8

Stampin' Celebration is a relatively new weekly challenge blog, and I love playing along with their challenges! Each week, there is a different collage of photos for you to draw inspiration from. All you have to do is create a stamping project using the photos as your inspiration!

Here's Challenge #8:

I drew from the flowers, cupcakes, and colors to create my card. I used SU cardstock for most of the card, and a piece of Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely collection paper to mat the stamped collage of cupcakes.

The cupcakes are stamped with an Elzybells Art Stamp (that I think is supposed to be for a chocolate bon-bon). I colored the "frosting" with colored pencils. Both the cupcakes and the sentiment (from Savvy Stamps) were stamped in Creamy Caramel SU ink. The flowers on top of the cupcakes are from SU's "With All My Heart" set. The card base is embossed with the Big Shot.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you'll visit and play along with Stampin' Celebration, too!

Card Patterns #70

The card I made for this week's Card Patterns sketch challenge contains a sneak peek of a stamp available in the new Stampin' Up catalog, which will be online July 1!

This week's challenge is sponsored by Gina K Designs...one random participant will receive the "Fine Furnishings" stamp set! (You can find out more about the challenge and check out the prize by clicking HERE.) Here's the sketch so you can play along, too!

For my card, I used a stamp from the new SU "Artistic Etchings" set and rotated the sketch.

In place of the buttons in the sketch, I used fleur-de-lis brads. I embossed the card base (made with DCWV cardstock) with a Tim Holtz folder. The patterned paper is by Graphic 45 and the letters I used for the sentiment are by Webster's Pages.

Thanks (merci) for looking!

Curtain Call #36

With the 4th of July holiday coming up, it's no surprise that the colors for this week's Curtain Call Challenge at Stacey's Stamping Stage feature red, white & blue (and kraft)!

I used papers from Pink Paislee's 365 Degrees collection for my card, as well as SU cardstock in the challenge colors.

The telephone stamp is by Paper Source, and the sentiment is from SU's "Hello Again" set. I used Soft Suede and Real Red ink to stamp the image and sentiment. I embossed the strip of Night of Navy cardstock with the SU-exclusive Square Lattice Textured Impressions folder and inked it with white chalk ink. The cork accents are also part of the Pink Paislee 365 Degrees collection. I also used a Stardust pen to accent the card.

Thanks for looking!

CPS #173

This week's CPS sketch (#173) was a challenge! I'm not used to putting a lot of little images on a card or making a narrow card, but I gave it a try!

Here's the sketch in case you'd like to play along, too!

For my card, I used a small teacup stamp from Elzybells Art Stamps to create the side images. The teapot and sentiment stamps are from Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps.

 

I used SU Soft Suede ink for the teacups, and Chocolate Chip ink for the teapot. The card base is SU cardstock, and the papers I used are SEI (glitter circle paper), American Crafts (polka dot), Core'dinations (gemstones cardstock to mat the sentiment) and Bo Bunny (Almond Double Dot). The ribbon is from Martha Stewart Crafts.

I also used an orange glaze pen to create the tea inside the cups and I colored the teapot with colored pencils.

Thanks very much for looking!

Color Throwdown #98

My last update in this batch is for Color Throwdown challenge #98. I've only been doing these challenges for the last few weeks, and I've enjoyed them! I've read that they're planning a big celebration in a few weeks for their 100th challenge on July 7!

Click here to visit the Color Throwdown for more details!

Here are the colors this week, which are inspired by Basic Grey's Capella collection:

I kept my card simple, and used only SU cardstock in the challenge colors:

The colors reminded me of ice cream, so I went with a similar idea and used these stamps from Elzybells Art Stamps. I stamped the chocolates twice in Chocolate Chip ink; once for the chocolate piece and another time for the wrappers. The sentiment is from the same set, and the ribbon is from Making Memories. I embossed the card base with the Big Shot.

Thanks very much for looking!

Stampin' Royalty #25

The colors in this week's Stampin' Royalty challenge totally had me flashing back to the 1980's! The mix of black with the neon colors definitely caught my attention!

Here are this week's colors, if you'd like to play along!

This is the card I came up with based on the challenge colors:

The cardstock is by Stampin' Up!, and the zebra paper is by Glitz Design. The mini letter stickers are by Making Memories. The shoe stamp is from a Fiskars clear set. I stamped all of the shoes in Basic Black SU ink. I used a pink Glaze pen to color/modify the white Thickers. I like the effect that it created...like a neon sign. The little jeweled buckle is from a craft store.

Thanks very much for visiting! I'm so happy that I can share my work with you!

colourQ #38

I love patterned paper! It's one of my favorite crafting supplies, and I like to make the paper a big part of my card designs. Most of my time is spent figuring out what pieces and patterns go together, and the balance each piece will play in making the card. After that, everything seems to come together a lot easier!

One of the reasons I love color challenges like the ones at colourQ is that they get me thinking about my paper stash in different ways. Colors that I might not normally put together seem to make more sense when they are part of a weekly challenge.

Here's the inspiration for this week's colourQ challenge (#38):

 and this is the card I made for the challenge! The papers that I used are all from Pink Paislee's 365 Degrees collection.

 

It's a fairly simple card to put together. I embossed the red and blue strips of paper in my Big Shot. The letter stickers are from Making Memories, and I also used chipboard Thickers to finish the sentiment. The card base is SU Whisper White cardstock.

Thanks for looking!

Card Patterns #69

My last entry in this batch of updates is for Card Patterns' weekly sketch challenge. I used one of my favorite paper lines, Crate Paper's Pink Plum, for my card based on this week's sketch:

The card base is from Stampin' Up, the bling is from Zva Creative, the flowers are from Prima. The chipboard accent is from Crate Paper, and the rub-on sentiment is from Melissa Frances.

I cut the four squares from the same section of paper, so the design would carry over, like mosaic tiles. This is a great sketch because it's simple, but offers lots of possibilities for beautiful cards!

Thanks for looking!

CPS #172

I designed my card for this week's CPS challenge in blues and whites (except for the kraft cardstock base). Another card that I made this week was for a different challenge, where cards are to be made in only black and white, so I spun off that basic idea for this card.

Here's the sketch for this week's CPS:

The card that I came up with is fairly simple. I used patterned paper by Pink Paislee, embossed a scrap of Stampin' Up cardstock, and stamped the tissue box and popped it up on foam squares. I added glitter Thickers for the sentiment.

Thanks for looking!

Bikes are Moxie Fab!

One of the many blogs I follow is Moxie Fab World, which is a great source of inspiration for crafters and cardmakers like me! One of the most recent inspiration challenges is to create a project that includes a bicycle in an innovative way, or the "I Want to Ride My Bicycle Challenge." Click HERE to play along! (The deadline is midnight on Monday, June 28.)

Many of my favorite childhood summertime memories involve riding my bike in our neighborhood. My orange Sundance bike racked up a lot of miles going to friends' houses, across the bayou bridge to get an ice cream or slush at Sonic, or to load up on candy at the nearby drugstore. I miss those days of freedom, just getting on my bike and riding...without a helmet!

The card I made for the "I Want to Ride My Bicycle Challenge" uses the only bike stamp that I have. It's from Crafty Secrets' Favorite Fellas set.

I stamped the background bikes in Rich Razzleberry, and I used foam squares to pop up one of the bikes that I stamped in Chocolate Chip ink. The card base is Bo Bunny Double Dot, and the patterned papers are from My Mind's Eye. I used glitter Thickers and Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type for the sentiment.

Thanks for looking!

Unscripted Sketches #60

In addition to their regular weekly sketch challenge, Unscripted Sketches issued a bonus challenge this week! In honor of "National Eat an Oreo Day," the 2nd challenge is to design a card in black & white. Here's the sketch:

 

and here's my card! I didn't realize how many different kinds of black & white paper I had until I started looking for them!

The stamp is from SU's "Chic Boutique" set. I've used this dressform stamp on several of my cards...I love it! I added some ribbon at the top, and glued a large rhinestone to the center of the bow. The black cardstock is Double Dot by Bo Bunny, and the letter stickers are by Cosmo Cricket.

Designing a black & white card is definitely a challenge! Great idea!

Thanks for visiting and looking at my card! I'll be featured as a guest designer for Unscripted in two weeks!

Curtain Call #35

I love the colors in this week's Curtain Call at Stacey's Stampin' Stage! They're bright, summery colors, and they offer so many possibilities for creating! Here are this week's colors, if you'd like to play along!

For this card, I used cardstock from Stampin' Up in the challenge colors, and a cute margarita stamp by aMuse! I embossed the turquoise cardstock for the base with one of the Tim Holtz embossing folders in my Big Shot.

I colored the stamped images with pencils, a Stardust pen, and a permanent marker. I added Stickles around the rim of the glass. The wave border punch is by EK Success, and the letter stickers are by Cosmo Cricket.

Thanks for looking!

Get Sketchy #43

We're finally seeing some sunshine today in the Pacific Northwest, and that makes me very happy! After my batch of blog posts, I'm going to get outside and enjoy it!

In the spirit of summer and sunshine, I used some bright colors on my card for this week's Get Sketchy challenge, which is based on this sketch:

The colors in Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely collection are perfect for a bright, summery card!

I altered the chipboard Thickers to match my card. They were originally plain chipboard that I inked with some VersaMark seafoam chalk ink. The stamped flower is from SU's Eastern Blooms set and is stamped in Melon Mambo ink. I added the rhinestones to the flower's center.  I left some white space in the card, so it's possible to tuck a small picture or other image under the ribbons to further customize the card.

 

Thanks so much for looking!

Just Like Riding a Bike!

Much of my childhood was spent riding my bike around the neighborhood. My friends each had a different color bike; mine was orange! I sure miss the carefree feeling of a summer afternoon exploring the subdivision or riding across the bridge to get a treat at Sonic!

For this card, I'm using a bicycle stamp from Crafty Secrets' Favorite Fellas set. I'm also combining two challenges: Color Throwdown (#97) and Card Patterns (#68):

 

I stamped the background bikes in Creamy Caramel, and the focus bike and sentiment in Chocolate Chip Stampin' Up ink.

I embossed the two not-quite-navy panels in my Big Shot, and added a button tied with linen thread for the circle accent. White grosgrain ribbon was used for the border on the lower half of the card. All cardstock used in this card is from Stampin' Up!

Thanks for looking!

Stampin' Celebration #7

There's great inspiration at Stampin' Celebration this week for making a last-minute Father's Day Card! Like many other crafters, I find it hard sometimes to make masculine cards, because so much of the paper that I buy and see in the stores is geared toward girls and women. So, challenges like these are perfect for making me consider using the supplies that I have in different ways!

For this week's challenge, I'm using stamps from Crafty Secrets' "Favorite Fellas" set.

Here are the inspiration photos:

I chose the tie, the colors of navy and yellow and French blue as the inspiration for my card:

I made a background with the tie stamp and Creamy Caramel ink on some Die Cuts with a View cardstock. Then I stamped one of the ties on Stampin' Up Not Quite Navy cardstock and wrapped a strip of Bo Bunny Sunflower Double Dot around the tie to make the stripes. Both sentiments were stamped with Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip ink. The navy houndstooth patterned paper is from Pink Paislee. The lighter blue cardstock is from Core'dinations. I used a white gel pen to make the dark tie "pop."

Thanks for looking!

CPS #171

This week's sketch over at CPS was a simple one, and I enjoyed working with it! The prize sponsor for this week is Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.

Here's the sketch:

I used the diamond/argyle pattern on the sketch as the inspiration for the background paper on my card:

Instead of repeating three small elements in the lower right corner, I used the space for one large image. I also added a solid strip of cardstock to provide a place for the sentiment.

Here are the supplies I used:

Paper: kraft, Not Quite Navy and Whisper White cardstock (Stampin' Up!), Die Cuts with a View cardstock (card base)

Stamp: Paper Source

Ink: Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)

Letter stickers: Cosmo Cricket & Making Memories

Thanks for looking!

Curtain Call #34

I love this Memory Box chair stamp! I've been using it on a lot of cards lately, and thought it would go great on my card entry for this week's Curtain Call Challenge!

I'm not used to working with these colors, so it was great to broaden my horizons a bit! This is the card I came up with:

The grey card base (from Die Cuts with a View) was embossed in my Sizzix Big Shot. I sanded the embossed image to make it stand out more. I substituted kraft cardstock for the Sahara Sand, and used Dusty Durango for the chair and for the matting on the stamped sentiment. Whisper White was used for the image backgrounds. I used Rich Razzleberry ink for the sentiment and a strip of that cardstock for the punched border.

The stamps are from Memory Box (chair) and Studio G (sentiment). The chair image was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.

Thanks very much for looking!

colourQ #37

Yesterday, I went shopping for some new rubber stamps, and found a cute lantern stamp at Paper Source. I thought it would work great with this week's colourQ (#37):

The colors and the rubber stamp made me think of a summer garden party, so I came up with this idea for my card:

I freehand-cut the grass from the Always Artichoke cardstock and embossed the cardstock with my Sizzix Big Shot.

The sentiment stamp is from Stampin' Up's "In A Word " set, which is available in the Summer Mini Catalog.

I stamped the "get" part again on Apricot Appeal cardstock and glued it over the white image to emphasize the inside part.

All of my stamped images were done in Chocolate Chip ink. Stampin' Up and Core'dinations cardstock were used to complete the card. My other supplies were ecru embroidery thread and Making Memories brads.

Thanks for looking!

Get Sketchy #42

This week's challenge at Get Sketchy was a tough one for me! I guess sometimes I'm a bit too literal in following sketches, so it tends to make certain challenges that much harder for me!

Here's the sketch for this week:

For my card, I used papers from Bo Bunny's "Sophie" collection and stamps from Fiskars. The stamps are part of a clear set that I picked up on sale. I love the fun girly images in that set!

I used an EK Success border punch to make the waves. The cardstock base and Basic Black ink are from Stampin' Up!

Thanks for looking!

Stampin Celebration #6

Next in my batch of updates is the latest challenge at Stampin' Celebration. I can always find inspiration in the challenge photos presented each week, even if I don't have the chance to play along. The biggest challenge for me is deciding which pieces to use in my cards! If you haven't played along at Stampin' Celebration yet, give it a try!

For example, here's this week's challenge photos:

So many great possibilities to choose from when designing a card! Here's my take, which includes flowers, border stripes, pink, and some extra touches:

 

I used SU cardstock for the base and the embossed section. The stamps I used are from SU's "Hello Again" set. I used Melon Mambo, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip to stamp the images and sentiment. The dotted cardstock is from Bazzill and the patterned paper is from Bo Bunny (one of their older collections, "Alyssa"). The gem brad is from Karen Foster.

Thanks for looking!

Unscripted Sketches #59

I'm really excited about my upcoming guest designer spot at Unscripted Sketches! I'll be designing for sketch #62 on July 3...just a few weeks away!

Here's the sketch for this week's challenge:

I flipped the sketch for my card, which uses papers from Cosmo Cricket's Chemistry line.

The stamps I used are from Stampin' Up's "Of the Earth" (image) and "Short & Sweet" (sentiment) sets.

The cardstock is also from Stampin' Up. I used Chocolate Chip ink to stamp on this card.

I made the plaid brad with my i-Top and a scrap of Collage Press paper.

Thanks very much for looking!

Stampin' Royalty #23

For this week's Stampin' Royalty challenge, I got to use my Big Shot for the first time! The inspiration for this week is a photo of some Stampin' Up projects and products!

The green that I used on my card is a little different, but I drew from the flowers on branches and some of the other details in the photo for my card:

 

I stamped the flowers in Melon Mambo ink, cut each one out and glued it over the flowers stamped in Chocolate Chip ink. The sentiment is from the "Short & Sweet" set, and is stamped in Old Olive. The cardstock is also from Stampin' Up, except for the yellow, which is a scrap of Bo Bunny Double Dot.

The embossing was done with a Textured Impressions folder and the Sizzix Big Shot.

Thanks for looking!

Color Throwdown #96

This is my first entry to the Color Throwdown! I made a baby card for this one, based on this week's colors:

I used cardstock from Stampin' Up! in Whisper White and Pumpkin Pie. The background paper is from Bo Bunny's Alissa collection and Sunflower Double Dot.

 

The carriage stamp is from SU's "Fun and Fast Notes" collection. I made my own brad with the i-Top, using a diaper pin stamp from the "Short & Sweet" set. I also used the matching sentiment from the same set.

The border punch is by Martha Stewart Crafts. I used SU Chocolate Chip ink to stamp the images and a Glaze pen to color in the orange parts.

Thanks very much for looking!

Tiffany Doodles Challenge #1

I've heard a lot about digital stamps, and I recently discovered Tiffany Doodles, so I thought I'd give the first challenge a try! Tiffany's site has lots of cute digital stamps, and she also provides lots of freebies to get you started!

The first challenge uses this sketch:

For my card, I used a freebie birdhouse digital stamp. That was the easy part; coming up with the rest of the card was the challenge for me!

 

The papers are from My Mind's Eye and October Afternoon. The digital stamp is from Tiffany Doodles (of course!) I colored my stamped image with Glaze pens and colored pencils. The button brads are from Making Memories, and the cardstock is from Stampin' Up!

This was a fun challenge, and I look forward to more of them at Tiffany Doodles!

Thanks for looking!