Stress and distress

Wow - the hits just keep on coming. It's been another stressful week around here. But being able to stamp and create always makes me feel better! I got to take my stress out on my card for this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner, hosted by Sarah Gough. Sarah has a fun sketch challenge combined with distressing - so get ready to get down and dirty!


For my card I pulled out the Springtime Vintage DP from the mini catalog. I didn't end up using much of the paper - just the background for my circle - but I picked the colors from the paper: Always Artichoke, River Rock, Rose Red and Very Vanilla. The image is from the (sadly retired) A Rose Is a Rose set, as is the sentiment. I used Rose Red DP and River Rock card stock embossed with the square lattice folder for the background, with a layer of vanilla grosgrain and crochet trim for a simple embellishment. Before I put it all together I distressed and sponged all the layers like crazy - great for a shabby chic style.

Be sure you take a look at what else the team has created, and then share your creations with us - we always love to see what you come up with!

I am so honored...

I love the stamping world - everyone is so supportive of each other's artistry. It's one of the most wonderful communities I know and I'm blessed to be a part of it! I have a few little honors I received this week to share with you, and a card to go along with one of them. First, Danita bestowed upon me the Liebster Blog Award. Thank you immensely, Danita! I will try to pass the award along when I get the time.

Next, my recent cupcake card was chosen as one of the weekly picks for Pals Paper Arts - well, I'm just blown away. If you haven't checked out their Thursday challenges - why haven't you? Their team of SU demos is so talented and inspiring, and I'm just speechless about being chosen.

Finally, my belated valentine card was chosen as a Mashup Maven at Friday Mashup! As part of this honor, I got to serve as a guest designer for tomorrow's challenge, and I was allowed to post it tonight to give y'all a little sneak peek. This was lots of fun, so be sure you go check out their challenge tomorrow.

The new challenge is a color challenge: So Saffron, Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler. What beautiful, classic colors. I decided to make something pretty for this one and pulled out the Friends 24-7 set. This flower image has to be one of my all-time favorites. Behind it I made my own damask background with the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig. For the sentiment I used the frame from Baby Blossoms and a sentiment from the retired Watercolor Trio. To keep the embellishments simple I just used two bands of Cherry Cobbler seam binding and a button tab. The background papers are from the Christmas paper pack (Deck the Halls? oh, how quickly the names fade from my memory, LOL) and espresso from the Neutrals pack.

Thanks to everyone for the honors and awards - it means so much to me. Things have been stressful at home with Todd's work and our upcoming renovation project, so it was a welcome break to turn to my stamps and create something today. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Ice cream and presents and cake...

Oh my! That's the theme of my birthday card for the Our Creative Corner challenge this week. Our hostess for the next two weeks is Sarah Gough and her challenge today is to make a background or layer with a repeatedly stamped sentiment. I combined the OCC challenge with the colors from colourQ (Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Tangerine Tango, kraft and white) and the layout from Pals Paper Arts.

I started out by stamping the sentiment from Birthday Bliss in the four ink colors, using the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig for exact placement. The cupcake and happy birthday sentiment are from Create a Cupcake, and I accented the cupcake with a bitty flower punch, leaves from the bird punch's branch, and a rhinestone. The scalloped border piece is from the Pennant die, and for the background I used retired tangerine DP and Baja Breeze card stock embossed with the Finial Press folder. I kept the embellishments simple with three more rhinestones.

You'll want to be sure to check out the creations from all the members of the OCC team - everyone on the team has been turning out such inspiring work and you won't want to miss it!

A belated valentine

Well, it's another crazy week, and I haven't had much time to stamp, but I did want to share the valentine I made for Todd before it got too far past the official day! We made this card at my club last weekend - I have a tradition of doing a masculine valentine and my club members always seem to like it. Todd said, "I guess it's masculine enough" - he's a tough cookie! LOL! Anyway, since this is a valentine I'm also submitting it for the Friday Mashup valentine challenge.

This card uses the inlaid embossing technique that was featured on Splitcoast a couple weeks ago. I punched all my hearts from Riding Hood Red card stock, glued them onto a strip of Basic Black card stock, then ran it through the Big Shot with the square lattice folder. On the bottom I put a panel of houndstooth DP from the Love Letter pack with a strip of black satin ribbon to divide the two halves. The heart is from I Heart Hearts, and I used just the banner from the Be My Valentine single stamp. The card seemed to just need something else, so I took three of the smallest punched hearts, put silver brads through them, and added them to the card with glue dots.

That's it for today - got to run and get more stuff done - but I'll see you on Saturday for the next OCC challenge, if not before!

You know I love it...

I'm hosting the challenge at Our Creative Corner again this week, and for this time around I picked something that my stamp club members know I love - cutting stuff out. It's a running joke with them, actually. So now I'm challenging all of you to join me in my crazy love for my paper snips. Any cutting technique qualifies as long as you Cut It Out! I'm also submitting this for the SCS inspiration challenge, based on this photo.

For my card I picked the paper tole technique - I haven't done this technique in a long time. You know I'm insane, so of course I had to use the hydrangea from Because I Care. This was really fussy cutting, LOL - but I love the result! I kept the rest of the card really simple so the image would just pop. The colors are Concord Crush and Old Olive, with Very Vanilla card stock. Behind the flower I used a strip of some really old DP, and for embellishments I just used three silver brads, some scored lines (which aren't showing up in the photo so well - sorry!), and the punched sentiment from the same set. I think I was totally channeling my former OCC teammate Silke Ledlow with this one - except she would have put a gorgeous bow on it somewhere! I just love your work, girl! :)

Now it's your turn - pull out those snips and get busy! But be sure you also check out what the rest of the team has done for the challenge - you won't be disappointed!

Love you forever

Here's a card I made just for fun! I haven't had the chance to do that in a couple weeks. This card is for the featured stamper challenge on SCS - featuring the amazing Lori Boyd - and the Paper Players challenge to make a romantic card. From Lori's gallery I chose this card - I kept the layout but flipped it, changed the colors and images, left off the ribbon, and added a sentiment.

I started off by stamping a large paper daisy in Poppy Parade with the Dot, Dot, Dot stamp. Next I stamped the Elements of Style flowers in Early Espresso and cut out a portion with Nestabilities, then colored it with Poppy Parade and Pear Pizazz markers. The card base is textured Baja Breeze card stock with a punched border on the bottom (MS punch). For the background I used the Finial Press embossing folder on pear card stock and a strip of poppy DP. Finally I added a retired Baja Breeze corduroy button with a white 1/8" taffeta bow, a sentiment banner (stamped with Fabulous Phrases) and three adhesive pearls.

That's it from me today - thanks for stopping by!

Live, Laugh & Love for my dad

OK, well, it's been another crazy week around here. My cold either came back after I thought I was over it, or I caught another one, and we had two days of snow... needless to say, not much stamping was going on. But I'm happy to be hosting the challenge at Our Creative Corner this weekend! My challenge for you is to use a tree image on a clean and simple (CAS) card. I hope you'll come play along!

I didn't plan it this way, but this challenge worked out really well for making a birthday card for my dad, whose birthday is today. (Happy birthday, Dad!) The colors are from the Color Throwdown: Early Espresso, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake, and So Saffron. I took the tree image from Plant Hope and stamped it several times (first and second generation) with espresso ink, then sponged the edges. Behind it I used a panel of Bashful Blue DP (also sponged) and a saffron card base 5 1/4" square. To get the texture I actually stamped on the card base with the same paper towel I'd done my sponging with. I added a tab made with the modern label punch and a blue button (retired) tied with dark brown embroidery thread.

Last came the sentiment from On Your Birthday. I really wanted a label-style shape for this sentiment, but nothing I had was the right size. So I went into My Digital Studio, created a designer label punch in the size I wanted, printed it out, and cut it out by hand. Now the sentiment fits perfectly - and you can get any size shape you want using this method. To outline the edges I added some faux stitching before putting it all together on the card.

Be sure you go check out the creations from our fabulous team - we have such an inspiring group of artists and I know you'll enjoy seeing their work. Then please share your own card with us - we love to see what you create!