Curtain Call Color Challenge: Act 40

Boy, it feels good to be creating again!  I've been busy the last few weeks making swaps for a new catalog swap that I'm in.  I'm all done, so I had "free" time to play!  I read Stacey Schafer's blog as often as I can, but I've never had all of the colors/inks/etc to be able to play in her weekly color challenges.  This week was an exception - I have all of the colors!

The colors for this week's challenge are: Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss and Tempting Turquoise.  What a bright and fun color combination!

Ingredients (All Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Wild About You, unknown stamp set ("happy day")
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Various designer papers
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Kiwi Kiss, Real Red
Other: Rhinestones (non SU), dimensionals, scallop edge punch, SU buttons, red polka dot grosgrain, SU Simple Numbers Bigshot die

Artisan Un-Award Winning Project #3

This is the third card that I made for the Artisan Award contest, and is one of my favorites!  I thought that this card would put me over the edge for the contest....

Each block or panel of the card is a different scene, each with a stamp from "Fox & Friends" as the focal point. (By the way, I'm super excited to know that Fox & Friends made it into the new catty).  I used various packs of designer papers - all based on the color pallette that I wanted to use - Bashful Blue (from the Sweet Pea pack), Crushed Curry (from the Sale-a-Bration pack), Sahara Sand (which is close to kraft, also from the Sweet Pea pack) and Night of Navy (from the Hostess pack). 

The base of the card is kraft, and the card measures 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" square.  It's hard to see in the picture but each of the letters was run through the Polka Dots textured impressions embossing folder and also sponged.  They are all popped up on the panels with dimensionals.  A few other details - the tree trunk in the "Y" panel was made using the Modern Label punch and run through the impressions folder to give it a wood grain look...it has a lot more texture in real life.

Ingredients (All Stampin' Up! unless noted):

Stamps: Fox & Friends
Paper: Krat, Bashful Blue, Sweet Pea, Hostess Patterns Pack III, Good Neighbor
Ink: Bordering Blue, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand (for sponging), Crushed Curry
Accessories: 3/4" circle punch, Extra-Large Two-Step Bird punch, 3/16" corner rounder, Modern Label punch, Heart punch, textured impressions embossing folder, dimensionals, kraft corduroy button

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 73

I recently got my 2010/2011 Idea Book & Catalog pre-order goodies and thought that this sketch challenge would be a great place to start.

The new Greenhouse Gala designer paper is very bright, so I wanted to tone down the panels a bit by backing the paper on kraft Crumb Cake.  The new 2 3/8" Extra-Large Scallop Circle punch was just big enough for the focal image, which was stamped in Certainly Celery ink onto Whisper White cardstock and then punched out with the 1 3/4" Circle punch.

One of the sentiments from the new hostess set "Because I Care" was stamped in Pumpkin Pie ink onto Crumb Cake cardstock and punched out with the Large Oval punch.  The butterfly is from the embosslit "BeautifulWings" which is new to me and is just getting used!  It makes beautiful, intricate butterflies with embossing on them, and they add a nice touch to the card.  I finished it off using one of the rub-ons from the easter egg decorating kit (can't remember the name) and also tying a strip of 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Daffodil Delight, which is becoming one of my favorite new colors.  Enjoy!

Artisan Un-Award Winning Project #2

Here's the second card that I made for the contest.  I got the color combination from a Stampin' Success magazine (the monthly magazine that SU demos get for inspiration and guidance).  The colors were Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, Old Olive and Pretty in Pink.  The card in the magazine used the butterfly punch (which I don't own - wonder why?) so I used the bird punch instead.  I was happy with how the card turned out, and ended up using this as the template for my mother's day cards.

Ingredients: (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)

Stamps: Well Scripted

Paper: Bermuda Bay, Old Olive DSP, Thoroughly Modern DSP, Sweet Pea DSP, Very Vanilla

Ink: Pretty in Pink (sponging), Old Olive (sponging), Soft Suede (sponging), Bermuda Bay

Accessories: Sweet Pea Stitched Felt, Perfect Polka Dot Textured Impressions embossing folder, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, half back pearls (Pretties Kit), Two-Step Extra Large Bird punch, dimensionals, 3/16" corner rounder punch

Artisan Un-Award Winning Project #1

Well, it's official - I did not win the Artisan Award for the second year in a row.  So, I'm going to show the projects that I made for the contest.  To enter, demonstrators must make 5 cards, 3 scrapbook pages and 2 3-D items using current Stampin' Up! product.

This is the first card I made...the idea came to me right off, and I had a vision in my head and this card turned out exactly like that vision.

I "paper pieced" the squirrel and racoon image by stamping them on sahara sand designer paper (from the hostess pad - one of the sheets has no pattern) in black craft ink, then I embossed with clear embossing powder.  The heart that the racoon is holding was paper pieced with a scrap of regal rose paper from the "Love Sparkles" scrapping kit. 


I played for a very long time placing all of the hearts that I punched out with the heart punch, trying to get the right balance between Bermuda Bay, Sahara Sand, Rose Red and Regal Rose designer paper.  It was a great way to use scraps.  I finished up by stitching around the edge of the main panel.

I stamped the tree image in Versamark ink on the inside, and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to place the racoon and squirrel on either side.  I then stamped the "Love You Much" in Bermuda Bay over top.  The bottom of the card is finished off with a strip of Bermuda Bay cardstock, the scallop edge punch and another strip of Regal Rose cardstock from the "Love Sparkles" scrapping kit.

More un-award winning projects to come!



Ingredients (All Stampin' Up!):


Paper: Kraft, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Bermuda Bay, Love Sparkles Scrapping kit, Thoroughly Modern Designer Paper, Patterns Pack III,

Ink: Basic Black craft ink, Versamark, Bermuda Bay, Regal Rose, Rose Red

Stamps: Love Bandit

Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, rose red 1/4" grosgrain, heart punch, 1" circle punch, clear embossing powder

Hi!

One of my current goals is to use some of the many packs of designer paper that I seem to hoard.  It is bought because I have to have it and then it never gets used.  This card was made using one of those paper packs, "Good Morning Sunshine".  At the time that the paper came out, I really liked some of the patterns but was not a huge fan of kiwi kiss or pacific point, which of course are all through the paper.  Now that kiwi kiss has retired, I realize how much I do like it and wished that I had used it more!  Go figure.

Ingredients (All Stampin' Up!):
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Good Morning Sunshine Designer Paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip (for sponging)
Stamps: None
Accessories: Scallop Square punch, Stampin' Up! Simple Alphabet die, 1 1/4" striped chocolate grosgrain ribbon, linen thread, summer sun corduroy buttons, kiwi kiss corduroy buttons, bitty buttons

I'm Back...

....after another absence from blogging, mostly because we've decided to sell our house.  We live in a small ranch (976 square feet) with three young girls and it's just not enough space.  So it's been pretty busy around here getting everything ready.

I have had time to stamp - I have to or else I would go crazy!  I just haven't had time to photograph and upload my creations.  So, to celebrate my return to blog land, I'm going to upload two cards from the same stamp set!

My first card uses the "Love Bandit" stamp set from the Winter Mini catalog.  It was the first stamp set that I bought from that catty because I had to have it, and then proceeded to use it all of twice!  I don't know why but I tend to love owl images, so I knew that I really wanted to use this cute little guy.  Also, I've been on a tear lately to use up the designer paper that I hoard since the new catalog will be coming out soon and I know there will be more paper in there that I will have to have!

Ingredients (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)

Stamps: Love Bandit, Short & Sweet

Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Various Designer Paper packs

Ink: Soft Suede, Real Red

Accessories: Bashful Blue striped grosgrain ribbon, 1" circle punch, window word punch, modern label punch, real red corduroy buttons, summer sun corduroy buttons, pumpkin pie corduroy buttons

My second card uses the same stamp set and a piece of Old Olive designer paper from a paper pack that was in the summer mini catalog a few years back.  I wanted to use the tree image as my focal point, as I had yet to ink it up.  Also I have had the real red polka dot ribbon forever and have hardly used it, so this seemed like a good time!

Ingredients: (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)

Stamps: Love Bandit

Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, old olive designer paper from summer mini

Ink: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Basic Black craft ink

Accessories: Bigz Scallop Square die, small heart punch, real red ribbon, window word punch, itty bitty buttons, clear embossing powder, scallop edge punch, chocolate chip corduroy button