simply create too 93

It's a Special Occasion over at Simply Create Too, That's the name of the challenge which begins today and runs for two weeks. Welll my card is for a special occasion, just not a happy one. The Big C, ya know?

Now there is one happy factor to this card. I had Trisha Yearwood's "XXXs and OOOs" in mind when I decided to use the pink bow as my main card element. The "X and Os" from Amy Tangerine followed naturally, as did the "pearl".

The bow is my fave of all those out there, MFT Beautiful Bows. I stamped Hero Arts Tiny Ink Spots background in gold before adhering the die cut letters. The sentiment is from CASual Fridays Calm and Loving.

Thanks for looking today.

day 5 STAMPlorations spotlight - Frames and Flowers

Welcome to Day 5 of the STAMPlorations July release Spotlight where it's all about Dee's new set called FRAMES AND FLOWERS.  Soooooooo many possibilities. I chose to start with my sentiment and build the card around it. Literally.

This card began with a white cardbase and black Memento ink for the sentiment. Then I pencilled a heart guideline and stamped various blooms and foliage with my DI along it. Added a couple black flower centers to tie in with the sentiment and this CAS card was born.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Leave your comments by August 23rd for a chance at prizes. Five commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day. And one commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate!

Happy hopping. See ya tomorrow.

day 4 STAMPlorations spotlight - Houseextras

Welcome to Day 4 of the STAMPlorations July release Spotlight where it's all about Shirley's new set called HOUSESEXTRAS.  What a great way to create fun little scenes with Shirley's previous little houses set. Or stand alone... that trio of trees up top really caught my eye.

Stamped the trees and sentiment with Memento black on cream CS. Colored with Copics, adding some dots in darker colors as leaves. Penned a wonky frame with a black marker and inked the edges of the panel and cardbase with my new Hero Arts Orange Ombre inkpad.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Leave your comments by August 23rd for a chance at prizes. Five commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day. And one commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate!

Happy hopping. See ya tomorrow.

day 3 STAMPlorations spotlight - Fond Expressions 2

Welcome to Day 3 of the STAMPlorations July release Spotlight where it's all about Shery's wonderful sentiment set called FOND EXPRESSIONS 2.  Don't ya love that mix of handwritten plus typewriter fonts?

Created another card for Mom's stash. Tried out my new Zig Clean Color Brush Pens as a watercolor medium and then colored the tiniest heart confetti images from Frames and Flowers using the pens "undiluted" to add interest to the BG. Stamped the sentiment with Archival black ink and adhered the watercolor paper panel to a cardbase. Voila!

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Leave your comments by August 23rd for a chance at prizes. Five commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day. And one commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate!

Happy hopping. See ya tomorrow.

Freshly Made Sketches #200

Well, the only thing more "blank page" than this sketch for the celebration of Freshly Made Sketches 200th challenge is a blank page! Talk about cool!

There is one huge party going on over there and STAMPlorations is one of the sponsors of some fabby prizes. So I did the best I could with my somewhat limited supplies (I did break down and buy a small pack of gray and yellow PPs at Hobby Lobby :)

Pretty literal here, eh, with the exception of that little strip of yellow PP at the left. That was my nod to the small edge/frame in the sketch. I made it twice as wide, but only on one quarter of my card. Taking liberties.

I used STAMPlorations Floral Bliss for the blooms in yellow and gray as well as my sentiment. Hope you likey. Take a look at the other cards over at FMS... 200, way to go girls! And have a nice day.

day 2 STAMPlorations spotlight - Balloons and Banners

Welcome to Day 2 of the STAMPlorations July release Spotlight where it's all about Deepti's jam-packed party set called  BALLOONS AND BANNERS. Lotsa creative room with this set.

Created another birthday card for Mom's stash. Broke out the tiniest confetti images from the set and that fabulous tassel. Stamped the sentiment then masked the lower portion, grabbed my mini Distress Inks in Fossilized Amber, Mermaid Lagoon, Abandoned Coral and Cracked Pistachio and went on a stamping frenzy to party-pack the top of my card. I chose to use the most of yellow and the least of the blue.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Leave your comments by August 23rd for a chance at prizes. Five commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day. And one commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate!

Happy hopping. See ya tomorrow.

day 1 STAMPlorations spotlight - World Birthday Cakes

Welcome to Day 1 of the STAMPlorations July release Spotlight where it's all about Shirley's great new birthday cake set called WORLD BIRTHDAY CAKES . Considering I've got friends in all these countries, I'm psyched about this.

You may recall I'm working with limited supplies since I'm at my folks' house. This was really CAS. White CS, white cardbase with a touch of blue along the bottom edge using a Copic marker. Image and sentiment stamped with Memento and colored a bit with Copics. Easy peasy.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Leave your comments by August 23rd for a chance at prizes. Five commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day. And one commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate!

Happy hopping. See ya tomorrow.

STAMPlorations inspiration #32

Howdy peeps!

It's been a while. But I'm happy to say I got some great stamps from STAMPlorations and picked up some Copic markers and have given Copic coloring (read: shading) a try. Not easy at all! Here's one card for you using the new set from Dee, Balloons and Banners.

Plain white cardbase. Stamped the balloons and sentiment with Memento. Grabbed some blue green (BG) and red (R) Copics and gave the shading technique a go. Much more practice necessary. And better quality CS, but my Neenah is back in Germany :(  A strip of PP added to the bottom completed my CAS birthday card.

Come on back on Monday for a week of fun with the other new sets from the STAMPlorations July release. Good stuff, folks. And send a prayer Shery's way for an easy delivery of her little bundle of joy who is to make an appearance real soon.

nudelholz

So what do you do when you're at your parents', helping them through some health issues, and your supplies are all back at home? You grab your mama's nudelholz. The piece of holz (wood) that mamas use to make nudel (noodles). And you use it to add some interest and make impressions into a piece of paper with the Essentials by Ellen Wild Garden die that you just received. Cuz your die cutting machine is at home.

And you grab a white crayon that you found and make some random circles to resist the blue watercolor background that you are trying to make with your newly purchased Color Bursts. And a not-so-well-washed-out bug repellent bottle that you are using cuz it's all you can find to spritz water with. Cuz you really need a blue watercolor-y background.  Cuz you are CASEing the queen of artsy blue cards, Karen Dunbrook of Snippets for the August CASEplorations!

Check out Karen's card the STAMPlorations Inspiration DT is CASEing this time around.

And my card.

So once I had my BG done (picture me standing in front of the fan trying to get my waterlogged paper to dry in the Michigan humidity!) I stamped a few blooms from STAMPlorations Floral Bliss    with Mermaid Lagoon DI (I love Hobby Lobby and 40% off coupons!) They bled a little on the damp paper and softened up nicely.

Then it was just a repeat-stamped sentiment from STAMPlorations Fond Expressions and my CASE was a wrap.

I've missed not only my supplies, but also you lovely blogland friends. Hope to be around a little more in the next few weeks, seeing what I can create with my limited stash. But you know me - I love me a good challenge ;)

Hope your summer (or winter) has been and continues to be enjoyable. Used your nudelholz lately?!?