Blooming with Happiness Birthday - LSC138

Well here is a card from another challenge at SCS for you to look at! I wouldn't be getting any cards done recently if it weren't for the challenges. I'm going through a less creative stage right now, I think :-( I actually had done something similar to this one for my niece Darla who is a CM consultant (she can hook you up with the two new punches they have and the wonderful cutting system which I used for the circle and ovals on this card). Darla had ordered the card from me for a dear friend of ours daughter who was celebrating her sweet sixteen party. This image just seemed perfect for that momentous birthday! The stamps on this on are retired, but you could easily substitute the images to come up with something just as cute. Remember if you are interested in this card or learning to make cards like this one you can call or email me and we'll get you hooked up!! Recipe details below.

Stamps: Blooming with Happiness, Warmest Regards

Ink: Basic Black, Marvelous markers in Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal

Paper: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Tempting Turquoise DSP, Whisper White

Accessories: Ribbon, CM Cutting System, Giga MarvyScallop Punch

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Punch Pal Christmas - SCS Sketch Challenge 146

I was able to work into my schedule time for the SCS Sketch Challenge this week. These are very fun and it's amazing how having just this little guidance will help you get the inspiration to make a card. If some of you are like me and the hard part to making a card is just getting started with an idea, well then these challenges are for you. It give you a nudge in the right direction, takes some of the pressure of designing off your shoulders. If you haven't tried it I encourage you to give it a shot! I used the Punch Pals stamp set from the Spring/Summer Catalog , and used brads for the ornaments. For the sentiment I used several of the punches in a new way, at least for me!! I used the Tab punch as a foundation and mounted the Designer Label punch on that for the sentiment base. See below for the details.

If you would like to learn to make this card yourself or would like to order the products showcased in the card, please give me a call or drop me an email. I would love to help you get these items for your own craft room!!

Recipe: Stamp Set - Punch Pal

Paper: Green Galore, Whisper White and Real Red, the printed paper is some that I received when I purchased my Cricut.

Ink: Green Galore, Handsome Hunter

Accessories: Ticket Corner punch, Tab Punch, Designer Label punch, Bold Bright Brads

Pink Cocoa Butterfly Whimsy

I finally found the time to design a new card this weekend! I'm kind of proud of this one because I didn't used a color or sketch challenge but came up with it all by myself!! LOL And I made it in something besides 4.25X5.5!! This one is 4.5x4.5.

This printed paper was some that I got when I first bought my Cricut and hadn't used any of it yet. I found it matched very nicely with the Blush Blossom and Close to Cocoa card stocks. I had also received this Garden Whimsy stamp set not too long ago and hadn't inked it up yet and so thought it deserved a little ink time!! I paper pierced the top of the Close to Cocoa and scalloped the bottom edge of the printed paper and the Close to Cocoa with the small corner rounder. The sentiment is stamped on two layered pieces of Word Window punches.

Recipe: Stamps: Garden Whimsy and Fancy Flexible Phrases (retired) Ink: Close to Cocoa Paper: Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa and printed papers by Cricut Accessories: Small Corner Rounder, Word Window Punch, Crafters Tool Kit

Elegant Flowers

This card was inspired by this Wednesday's sketch challenge on SCS. I chose Brilliant Blue for the base of this card in the normal A2 size, 4.25x5.5, the only difference being that this card opens on the left 4.25 side for a bit of change! The next layer is Rose Red and I stamped it with the Crosshatch (retired) background in Rose Red Classic ink for an added look of texture. On top of the Rose Red layer I laid a strip of Brilliant Blue and layered on that a wide strip of Black wide Organdy ribbon. This looks way prettier IRL than it reflects in the photo! Next is the Always Artichoke layer, which was stamped with the same flowers that are on the front of the card using Versamark. The next layer is Elegant Eggplant (isn't this just the most beautiful color?!) and then on top of that is Whisper White on which I stamped the flowers from the Close as a Memory set, using the markers directly to stamp method. I colored the flowers with Elegant Eggplant and the stems with Always Artichoke then used the ticket corner punch to finish it off! I added the sentiment from Happy Harmony (2007 SAB set) on a circle of Whisper White layering it on circles of Rose Red and Always Artichoke. It turned out so pretty and I hope to use this sketch again, it made for a very nice card!

Thanks as always for looking!

Diane

New Fur Children Pictures!

This is Shelby with the red collar, a stray I picked up a year ago July who delivered 10 puppies 2 weeks later! That's a whole other story for another time. The one on the right is one of Shelby's babies, the only one of the pups that I kept, his name is Rodney (named after my little brother) and he is my little angel , I say that figuratively as he weighs about 75 pounds! Seriously though he is the sweetest thing, when he isn't busy destroying something, after all he is still a puppy! I guess when you help bring something into the world like I did him you can't help but be extra attached. In this photo, he's been bothering his Mom and she's gotten tired of it and is putting him in his place. They still have a mother/son bond after more than a year, I find that interesting as normally experts will tell you they don't retain that relationship.

I took these photos this past Saturday. When I get the camera out the pups usually have one of a couple of reactions. They either will not back up a enough to get a good picture, they want to actually stick their noses on the lens. The other is they hide!! In these Rodney is doing pretty good, he is actually trying to act like he doesn't know I'm even there!!

Here his resolve is beginning to diminish, as you can see him starting to cut his eyes in my direction trying to figure out what I might be doing all the time without actually letting me know that he is even interested.

In this one he has lost the battle, he can ignore me no longer. He looks as if to say, Mom that's enough, put the camera up!!!

I've got more photo's of the other dogs for you to meet, I'll post those another day. I don't want to overwhelm you all at once. That's alot of beauty to take in all at once!!! LOL

Diane

Elephant Walk

Yesterday was the Tuesday color challenge on SCS and this card is my attempt with the colors chosen for this week, Old Olive, More Mustard, Bashful Blue. I really love this set and miss that it's not in the current stamp line!

Okay on with the ingredients for this card - the card base is More Mustard the strip at the bottom is Old Olive and it has been stamped with one of the background stamps from the Looks Like Spring set. The Elephant is stamped on Confetti Cream card stock with Chocolate Chip classic ink, this is nested on Old Olive cs and then on Bashful Blue cs. I used two sizes of the circle punches and layered Bashful Blue and Old Olive then cut them in half I used half on each side of the card and added brads to each side. The sentiment at the bottom is from the retired hostess set Warmest Regards (This was a wonderful sentiment set) and is stamped on nested Bashful Blue and Old Mustard cs with a couple of brads added.

If you haven't tried your hand at these color challenges you should, it really makes you step out of your color comfort zones and stretch your creative muscles to design a card!

Thanks for looking and as always yell if you see anything you need to have for your very own! To get a look at the entire Stampin Up! line click here!

New Doggie pictures

I've had several of you ask when I was going to post more doggie pictures......well the pups and I had a photo shoot (LOL) this past weekend, they were all pushing for their time in the spotlight and I got some cute ones (just kidding on that, some of them are afraid of the camera and hide).....I hope to download those this evening and get them ready for posting. So maybe within the next day or so I will be posting a few. Thanks for asking!! I love to show off my babies!
Diane

Snowflake Spot

I thought today I would share with you a card that I made for a demo swap that I'm a part of with our extended local group. This is a new thing for this group, we will be swapping on a quarterly basis and should get some great ideas for classes from these!! Each quarter will have a theme and this one was Christmas/Holiday.

I just got my new scallop punch and could resist using it for this swap. One of the snowflake stamps from the Snowflake Spot set worked perfectly to mat on to the scallop punch. I used a card base of Night of Navy and matted on top of that a wavy strip of Brocade Blue. I used the CM decorative trimmer on this, it is great for making uniform swell or wavy cuts. The Brocade Blue strip has been stamped with the smallest snowflake from this set in versamark and then a a knotted strip of Night of Night grosgrain ribbon was applied. I stamped Cheer in Night of Navy on the Brocade Blue wavy strip. The scallops were cute from Bordering Blue and then layered with two circle punches in Brocade Blue and one Night of Navy. The medium snowflake was stamped on Shimmery White (this is the most beautiful paper in the world if you ask me!!!) and Dazzling Diamonds was added to the snowflakes using the two way glue stick (great stuff).

Very fun card to make and so easy! Give me a yell if you want to learn to make this card yourself or need any of the products listed here for your VERY OWN!!!

Thanks for looking!
Diane

Lovely as a Tree - Bouncing Brayer

Only Orange, Old Olive, More Mustard, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip. Accessories - corner rounder, Earth Elements Eyelets and Chocolate Chip Classic ink pad. Sentiments from the Three for You set.

Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip Classic Ink Pad. Accessories - Chocolate Chip grosgrain and Many Holidays.

Only Orange, Old Olive, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip Classic Ink Pad and Earth Elements Eyelets. Used the CAD and the ticket corner punch

Really Rust, More Mustard, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip Classic Pad, Warm Regards.

Long time no see!! Here are the last of the cards I made up with the bouncing brayer technique that I tried back at the end of August. I had made the backgrounds at that time and stamped the Lovely as a Tree images but had made them into cards until last night! I thought this turned out very nicely and seem very elegant. I can think of lots of people who might enjoy these cards, both man or woman!

Thanks for looking everyone, I'll try to do better posting more regularly so don't give up on me!!

Diane

Bouncing Brayer & Polar Bears....OH MY!!

Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Whisper White

Brilliant Blue, YoYo Yellow, Garden Green and Real Red.

Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Basic Black, Real Red and Brilliant Blue and Real Red eyelets.

Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, Lovely Lilac, Pixie Pink.

I had really been wanting to try the Bouncing Brayer technique and so finally got the ink pad ordered that I needed to give it a try. SCS also made it the tutorial of the week in their newsletter so it was a great time to finally give it a try! I also had this retired Polar Bear set that I had not yet used and it seemed like the perfect combination. I multi-layered each of the cards and cut the polar bear images out of whisper white and used dimensionals to pop them up on the card. The brayer technique is really not hard at all it just takes a little practice to keep the brayer in the same center section so that you end up with the pretty fan look, you can see how I messed that up a bit in the first photo, but still looks okay I thought......card making doesn't have to be perfect ;) It is also a bit messy when you first get started but that gets better as you gain experience also.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did making them......and as always, thanks for looking!

Three for You - Thinking of you - 5

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Here's a quick card today, the colors and design are so simple but very eye pleasing I think. I used the Three for You punch kit and the Marvy Giga Square punch with the color themed around Almost Amethyst. I got to use some of the double dipped papers which are so pretty. Added a little gingham ribbon and some paper piercing in the corner and you are done!! Quick and easy and PRETTY!

Thanks for looking

Diane

Color Challege-Soft Sky and Groovy Guava - 4

I participated in my first ever challenge that SCS's hosts (a different one each day) and this one was a color challenge. The colors we were to use were Soft Sky and Groovy Guava and I really like both of the colors so this sounded fun. Like I said I had never done any of the challenges, I'm more of a CASE it girl, so was a bit nervous going in. A friend of mine from SCS Jana told me to give these a try that she had learned tons about card designs and colors just by diving off and stretching her creative juices so to speak. Well I think Jana's work is amazing so I decided to listen to her! As I said this was my first attempt so don't expect too much but it was fun and I can see how with more of these challenges it will help my creativity!

As I always say.......Thanks for Looking!!

Diane

Wildlife Reserve - 2

Hi Everyone,

Long time no post. I'm ashamed to say I haven't had any new cards to post!! My work has been extra busy and my craft table has been neglected. I got to work on this cards though last night and had so much fun in doing so. This card was inspired by Beate Johns site fresh & fun. She is an amazing artist and I find so many great ideas on her site. I used the image from Wildlife Reserve mounted it on Chocolate Chip and then a layer of one of the printed papers from the Shades of Brown paper pack by CM. That is then mounted on a Tempting Turquoise layer, and that on a Chocolate Chip layer. All that on the Really Rust base!! WOW that made me tired just typing it!! I used some of the hodgepodge hardware to tie the ribbon on and thought that was very pretty. When I make the card again I will be moving the placement of that over to the left some. I just don't scrap cards to the trash though so went with this one a bit off center, vowing to correct design next time! One more thing I don't have the Corner frame punch so made the ones on this card myself! Looks okay I think.

Well as always, thanks for looking and I will try to do better getting more cards done to post!

Diane

Blossoms Abound - 1

Today's card is made with what is probably my very favorite stamp in the WORLD!! This is a very pretty picture but you really have to see items made with this stamp set in person to appreciate how beautiful cards are that are done with this two step stamping technique. This is the Blossoms Abound set andI used the crosshatch background. I made this one as a thinking of you card, but have used the set for birthdays, sympathy, get well.....etc.

Hope you enjoy!
Diane

Stinkin Cute - Lady Bug Picnic

Today's card is a STINKIN CUTE card using the Retired Lady Bug Picnic set. I just love the colors in this card, they are summery and bright. I'm really drawn to these bright colors they actually make me feel good! Do colors do that to anyone else? Or am I just way over the top!!! Card ingredients are:

• Green Galore - Card base
• Pixie Pink - for the strip of paper
• Tempting Turquoise - Image mat
• Whisper White - image
• Marvelous Markers in the same colors listed above for coloring in the image (plus black)
• For the ribbons I used YoYo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise and Green Apple, I used the trick that someone taught me of just tying a loose knot in the center of your ribbon and then attaching the loose ends to the back of the strip. Makes a very nice neat focal point for the card.
• Pixie Pink - Eyelets on the Whisper White.......applied with the Crop-A-Dile!! Wonderful product, I use to HATE eyelets, now I LOVE them!

Well that's it for today, thanks for looking at this card that was so much FUN to make.

Diane

(3 days to your birthday Madeline!)

3 For You

Here's a card using the new 3 for you Punch Box and Warm Wishes stamp set. Very simple and fast and so easy to reproduce!!! Give it a try!

I've been ssssooooo busy and that's my excuse for not posting as regularly. I've got several new cards I worked up this past weekend though so over the next couple of days will get those up.

Have a great Tuesday!

Diane

PS Here's a little hidden Hi for my niece Madeline, who checks my blog each day!! :) Love you!!!

Delight in Life

Here's a bright cheery card for you today. I used the cuddlebug embossing folder for the background on this one in Tempting Turquoise. The card base is Certainly Celery and the 2007 SAB set Delight in Life image is stamped on Whisper white in Tempting Turquoise and nested on Apricot Appeal. All layers are punched with the ticket corner punch and eyelets were added to corners. The sentiment is from Warm Regards a 2006 Hostess Stamp Set. I had very mixed feelings about this card as I created it. I pulled the color combination from the SU color wheel but as I worked I just wasn't sure that I liked it. After I was finished and looked back at the card a couple of days later I found that I really liked the color combination. Hope you do to!!

Lovely as a Tree

Happy Tuesday everyone!! I've been so busy at work and with card making I fell behind in getting a project posted for Monday. So without further excuse making this card uses the Lovely as a Tree stamp set. This set has such beautiful images! I CASEed this card from SCS and again forgot who's gallery I pulled it from. I'm going to do a better job of watching out for that information so that I can thank that person on the blog (note to self....lol). I was drawn to this card because I have noticed people using double background stamps, making really beautiful cards and wanted to give that a try. On this one I used Linen and Wild Hearts both stamped in Almost Artichoke (one of my FAVORITE colors). I used the Marvy Giga punch for the scallop out of Almost Artichoke and nested the LAAT image on confetti white on to the scallop. Added a strip of wide white organdy ribbon and a organdy bow. So pretty!

Thanks for looking! See you tomorrow.

Masculine Card - In the Wild

Today I'm posting a card to offer you an idea for a masculine card design. I made this with a "Thank You" sentiment but it could easily be designated for other occasions. I used the In the Wild set that has now been retired, but I love the set and continue to use regularly!! The colors are Cranberry Crisp (2006 In Color line), chocolate chip and Close to Cocoa. The image is stamped in Close to Cocoa and the edges are burnished with the same. Eyelets frame the sentiment. Background is the linen stamp inked in versamark. So easy to duplicate and very versatile!! Enjoy!

Diane

My first Blogging EXCITEMENT !!

Well I got an email from one of my internet friends (Glinda) who wrote yesterday saying that she thought I would want to know that my site had been BLOCKED!!! Oh my, what have I done wrong was my first thought, assuming of course that I HAD done something wrong! My family would say that my guilty conscience was working over time!! I started to rack my little brain thinking what in the world could I have done to get me booted. Then it occurred to me that perhaps those in cyberspace just don't like dogs and turned me in!!!! :-) But alas a form letter told me the Robots (that is the term blogspot used) deemed for whatever reason that my site was a SPAM site!! That it wasn't little old me posting but a mean old computer!!! LOL I answered one of those hard to decipher alphabet/number strings we in the new computer age have all had to enter through to get anywhere and then it gave me a brief message that said since I was able to complete that task I was apparently not a computer but was indeed a person.......oh the joy!! You can't imagine how grateful I was to hear that! They said they would however have to send the site for human review and then would open me back up!! Which as you can tell if you are currently reading this, has happened. So if you have tried to check the site out in the last 24-36 hours and had trouble, it has all been worked out, I am no longer possessed by computers and am back up and posting........thank you for your understanding!

And a big thank you to Glinda, who if she had not let me know about the problem I might have missed the 48 hour window that I had in which to report the problem. I guess that was another check to make sure I wasn't just a computer. Apparently computers don't normally check their sites for problems LOL.

Diane

Year After Year Birthday Greeting

So sorry that I'm posting so late today. It has definitely been a MONDAY all day long today. But enough about that here is the card for today!!

I used the new Year After Year, See You Round jumbo wheel and Warm Wishes stamp sets. The card base is pretty in pink and the accent color is Chocolate Chip. The inks are chocolate chip and pretty in pink. I also used grosgrain CC and pink in the corner for a little something extra. The present was water colored using a blender pen with ink from the top of the ink pad.

Very simple but very pretty!!

Mickey Mouse Card

Being the BIG DISNEY fan that I am, when I saw a chance to be involved in a Disney Swap I couldn't resist. And of course nobody but the BIG MAN himself would do for the inspiration of the card. I thought it turned out pretty cute and makes a great birthday card for kids or kids at heart especially those hard core Disney fans!! As always thanks for looking.......and post those comments, I'm feeling unloved!! LOL

Triangle Card

Good Morning everyone, we are finally getting some sun and summer type weather here in Oklahoma City, it has been a strange summer. Much cooler than average temperatures and rainfall off the charts!! But I'm afraid we are about to feel the normal "dog days" of summer that we usually get in late July and August, I guess we couldn't escape it for ever!! Okay so much for a local weather report, lets move on to our card project.

This card was done for a technique class during the 2007 SAB. There are so many current stamps that could be substituted on this from the current catalog that would be so pretty!! Off the top of my head I think "Looks Like Spring", "Office Accoutrement", "Garden Whimsy" and "Doodle This" to name just a few would be so pretty on this card. If you need details for making this card, just post me a comment or drop me an email and I will send you the measurements. Have a great Day and thanks for looking!

Exciting SU News!!

This is Maggie and Baby Girl and this picture is posted for no other purpose but your viewing pleasure!! LOL

As if the excitment of the new Stampin Up catalog on July 1st wasn't enough they have now annouced that the new WINTER MINI will be available September 1st through November 30th! Demonstrators received a sneek peek on Tuesday July17th. On August 1, demos will be able to start preordering items from the mini to begin creating new cards and craft items!! Stay tuned to hear more about the great new stamps as info is available. Some are SSOO very pretty and it will be hard to control what I need vs. what I want for my card making :)

And don't forget there will be a "Blog Candy" event on my site next week, not sure what exactly it will be but will try to have a fun prize available for the winner! So check back often.

Diane

Zoofari - Inspired by Kimberly from SUFriends

I saw this card on a fellow blogger's (Kimberly) site so I just had to CASE it!!( http://www.stampingwithkimberly.blogspot.com/ ) I love Zoofari and thought this was the cutest card ever. It uses a black card base (5.5"x4.25"); Certainly Celery (5.25"x4"), the zoofari animal circles (1") are nested in SU Palette of Prints 1.5" squares and those are nested in a 1-5/8" black squares. I used the SU paper piercing tool to accent the middle. Zoofari animals are colored with matching SU Marvelous Markers. Very easy and very fun to make!!

Baroque Motif

Here is my attempt with Baroque Motif, this set is beautiful. You can make a beautiful card that looks elegant but was not difficult even though it looks it. I used the new Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi, wonderful colors together.

I have very few original ideas, but this is one I thought up....LOL! I love the red/white/black it just seems very bright and clean. I used the Bug stamp from the 2007 SU SAB Very Punny set. These were such cute stamps in this set. Even though they are not current I just have to use them sometimes!!

I made this card for a preview catalog swap on SplitCoastStampers. This set has animals so I had to have it of course! This little Kitty is quite cute I think. I used Soft Sky as the card base, Groovy Guava (which by the way is very difficult to say quickly) and the Marvy Giga Scallop punch for the Kitty image. I burnished the edges with the soft sky ink and used the center dot from the Pick a Petal stamp set for my spots on the Groovy Guava back ground. Very simple but turned out pretty cute!

Frosted Filter Technique

This is card was my first attempt at a technique. I thought it turned out very pretty. Not to the standards of the blogs I visit but for a beginner OK! I used the Stampin Up SAB 2007 - "Happy Harmony", the colors turned out very pretty. Hope you enjoy!