More is More

Time for another Dirty Dozen Alumni Gallery Reunion.  This month’s party is hosted by Jen del Muro (genie1314) who I always refer to as genie/Jen to keep my Jen’s straight!

Focus:  Birthdays

Required: Numbers

Restricted:  No use of the word “birthday” on the front of the card

Well I was in some weird funk last night and couldn’t think of anything and didn’t feel like stamping so I was going to skip out on this month….but this morning I got up in a better frame of mind and got right to it!

As you might guess, this is for a little girl’s 10th birthday.  The Elzybells image was stamped on Neenah Select white cardstock with memento Tuxedo black ink and colored with Copics.  I added polka dots to her dress with a white gel pen.  She was cut out with rectangle nesties.  The big “10” is done with my JustRite stamper (avaialable at Taylored Expressions) in Pink Passion ink and cut out with a Coluzzle.  The Gable Green panel was stamped with the Dots & Daisies BG in white craft and heat embossed with white embossing powder. That was layered onto a pink passion panel and then I trimmed the pink panel with scallop scissors – not perfect, but close enough.   The ribbon is something I had in my stash (from Costco I think). The final sparkly finishing touch is the group of 3 Kaiser Craft hot pink flower rhinestones from eclectic Paperie.

JustRite is having a contest for some cool prizes and you can enter as many times as you like.  Find all the details by clicking here.

To view what all the Dirty Girls came up with for this challenge click here.

My recipe:

stamps: Dots & Daisies, JustRite Stamper, Elzybells

paper:  Pink passion, Gable Green, Nennah Classic White

ink:  Pink Passion, Craft White, Memento Tuxedo Black

other:  white ep, Copic markers, Coluzzle, ribbon, nestabilities, Kaiser Craft rhinestones, scallop scissors.

Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll be back later or perhaps tomorrow to share some tea photos.  🙂

Dang it has been a long week!  Curt has been out of town on buisness since very early Monday morning and I cannot wait for him to arrive home this evening!  I just don’t sleep well when he’s gone and plus I just plain miss him!  I’ve certainly had plenty to do to keep me busy this week and today is no exception.  Can you believe it’s a double challenge day for me?

In this post I’m sharing my card for this month’s Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni Gallery Reunion.  The challenge this month was hosted by my friend Diane (cookiestamper) and she came up with a really interesting idea called Inside & Out!

Challenge Focus: “Inside & Out”……stamp and decorate both the inside of your card AND the outside of the envelope.

Required Element: Patriotic element – interpret this any way you like (ex. color scheme, sentiment, image, whatever)

Restricted Element: No ribbon

Optional – Send your card to the troops so that they can in turn mail it home to family or friends (all themes and occasions welcome).

I had the idea to make an envelope card – where the envelope and the card are one and the same.  I haven’t made one of these in quite awhile, but I always think they’re fun.

I used a SU envelope template to make my 5.5″ square envelope out of Night of Navy cardstock.  When I’ve made this type of card in the past the inside is just a decorated panel, but for this project I decided to make a card that opens but is attached to the inside of the envie.  Make sense?

Click on photos to see them larger – sorry but it seemed when I resized small enough to post full size you just couldn’t really see the design much.  The first picture is what you see when you fully open the envie.  The second picture is the inside of that.  The third picture is the front of the envie.  I apologize that these are mot my best photos, but when I was finally ready to photograph at 11pm my camera battery was dead – so by the time I got to take and edit these photos I was pretty brain dead!

Today I received my very first order of Lockhart stamps (I know!  shocking, huh? Sharon finally broke me down!).  When Ellen had her sale last week I just couldn’t pass it up and I absolutley fell in love with this old lawn chair image.  I didn’t think I’d have it in time for today’s challenge, but when it arrived I totally changed my idea so I could use it!  The image is colored with Copic markers.  The designer paper is from the DCWV Summer Mat Stack (I have no idea where I got it.)

Also in my order was the Ornare Piercing template I’ve wanted for quite some time.  I used it along with images from Paper Trey’s Text Box set to decorate the inside of the card and the panel I attached to the front of the envie.

Too see what the other Dirty Girls have created for this challenge you can go blog hopping or simply click here to see what’s been uploaded to SCS. Be sure to check back later in the day as people will most likely upload all day.  I’ll be back in an hour or so with my post for this week’s TECC (Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge) so please come on back!

ETA:  Better picture

It’s time for another monthly Dirty Dozen Alumni Gallery Reunion.  This month’s focus is OWLS.  Whoo Hoo!  They seem to be everywhere right now.  I’m a bird-lover, as you know, so I am A-OK with that!  Each month our little challenge has a required element and a restricted element.  This month’s requirement is *texture* and the restriction is no rhinestones, crystals or dew drop type embellishments (you should have heard the groans when everyone heard that one!  LOL!)

The only owl image I own is the adorable A Muse Owl Buddies stamp I won at StampMania so that decision was quite simple.  I wanted to have a moon behind the owls and I was in the mood to try a shaker card, so here is the result.

I started out by stamping the owl/branch image directly on the acetate with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink and coloring the back with Sharpies.  After the entire shaker was made I decided I didn’t like the way the owls looked so I stamped them again on Ivory shimmer cardstock, colored them with Copics and cut them out and adhered them over the original birds – ahhh much better!  (Further proof than anything can be salvaged!) The shaker frame was made by punching capucchino shimmer cardstock first with a Marvy Giga Scallop Circle Punch, then punching out the center with a Marvy Super Jumbo (2″) Circle Punch.  The acetate piece was adhered to the back of the frame with Tombow Multi and then I used small pieces of double thick foam tape (cut to half width) to form the shaker box.  The backing of the shaker is poison ivory shimmer cardstock as is the card base.

I really like the double thickness (1/8″ as opposed to 1/16″) for shaker cards and you can get it from Tayloredexpressions.  That foam tape is super extra sticky so having non-stick scissors is a life saver.  I have a small pair just for foam tape and sticky strip.  The ones I have are the old discontinued model by Fiskar’s but Taylor has the current model available here.  (Oooo – they’re on sale!)  I had a picture to show you, but I’m having trouble uploading it so take a look at her site.  All my customers LOVE my non-stick scissors in class.  It’s a tool I couldn’t be without!

For texture on this card I ran a piece of the capuchino shimmer cardstock through my Cuttlebug with the Floral Fantasy embossing folder (from eclectic Paperie) and then rubbed it with Versamagic Thatched Straw Chalk Ink to highlight the pattern.  I also heat embossed the Chocolate Chip cardstock panel with the leaf image from Carte Postale using Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and clear embossing powder.  The ribbon is SU Chocolate Chip Tafetta.  The finishing touches include Cinnamon Stickles around the shaker frame along with some die cut leaves and a large brad colored brown with a Copic marker.  The shaker is filled with clear microbeads.

It’s funny because I really didn’t set out to make such a *brown* card.  I actually had some colorful designer paper out as well, but the whole thing was just looking too busy so I nixed the dp and this is where I ended up.  I sure had fun working on this – hope you like it.  Click here to check out all the Dirty submissions – girls will be uploading all day so be sure to check back.

Oh and be sure to check out Taylor’s blog today – she is releasing her first Taylored Kit and I’m sure it will be an adorable and FUN project!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

It’s time for another Dirty Dozen Alumni Gallery reunion and this month we have an Inpsiration Challenge.

This photo from Better Homes And Gardens 100 decorating ideas under $100 magazine is our inspiration piece.

Required Element:  Create a Journal

Restricted Element:  No markers of any kind – SU, Copic, etc.

Obviously it’s been a crazy busy week and I’m setting this post a couple of days in advance.  Can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!  Although it may take me a day or so to have a chance to even look!

Here’s my Inspiration Journal – I decided to have some fun with punches – I just played around until I came up with some flowers I liked.  I added some of those tiny little rhinestones from the nail art pack I shared awhile back along with some liquid pearls.  I took this inpsiration piece a bit more literally than I normally do, but for some reason I was really drawn to the vertical lines of the curtains and the pop of the color from the bouquet.

I had a composition book with a chocolate brown spine, so that worked perfectly without needing to cover the spine with anything.  Please forgive me for not giving all the recipe details…it’s all I can do at this point to just get this post up at all.  *frazzle*   I’ll be back later today or tomorrow to share more from StampMania.  Thanks for stopping by.

Time for another SCS Dirty Dozen Alumni Gallery Reunion!  This month’s challenge was to combat the buying frenzy by using one of the oldest stamp sets we own along with supplies and embellishments we’ve had for a long time.  We were not to use anything acquired in the last six months.

Yesterday morning I dug through my stamp sets and pulled out 4 or 5 really old ones.  My very oldest set is Button Bear from 1995 – I didn’t buy it in ’95, but that’s the copyright date on the stamps.  I’m thinking I probably got it around ’98 and get this…it’s a foam set!  Remember when Stampin’ Up! offered the foam option?

This card followed all the rules.  I combined Button Bear (1995) with Spring Gifts (2002) and a floral border stamp from Art Impressions (sometime in the early-mid ’90s).  I even went so far as to color the image with chalks (something I think only Leslie Miller has true mastery over) and add buttons and eyelets – two embellishments I rarely use anymore.  Card base is Cameo Coral and the designer paper is Crate from the Birdie Collection.

I spent quite awhile making this – got all finished – and just really didn’t like it!  UGH!

So last night while my hair had to stay up in perm rods wrapped in a smelly plastic bag for five hours (oh the things we do for beauty!) I decided to try again.  This time I would use one of my all time favorite sets Forever Friends from 2001.  The girls are pre-Bella, pre-Hanna, pre-Ronnie and I still LOVE them!

 I pulled out several packages of retired Stampin’ Up! designer papers – sorry but now I couldn’t even tell you which collections I ended up using – and started paper piecing.  I LOVE to paper piece!  This was a bit intricate, but not nearly as time consuming as you might think.  I just adore the result!

The main image is somewhat large so I decided to make a larger card – I went with 5.25 x 7.25 to go with some envelopes I have.  The image was stamped on Confetti White cardstock so I made the card base the same.  Then I used the same designer papers I had used for piecing to create the layers.  This was a super fun card to make until it was past the birdies bedtime and they were screaming to go *night night* and it was also past Curt’s bedtime so I couldn’t have them making a ruckus.  At the end I felt like I was playing beat the clock  – rushing to finish as quickly as possible.  I decided to wait until I got up this morning to really decide if it was *done*.

You can see all the cards in today’s Gallery Reunion by clicking here or by going to the SCS gallery and searching for keyword DCON308.  I can’t wait to see what everyone came up with!  The 20th has become one of my favorite days of the month.  🙂

Thanks you to everyone for all your sweet comments on  my luncheon post.  I was asked to share the bundt cake recipe and I will do that soon.  If you host your own luncheon – and I hope you will – please tell me about it.  I’m thrilled that I may have helped to spur some of you on!

Thanks for stopping by.

It’s the 20th so you know what that means…time for another DD/DDA Gallery Reunion.  This month we’re giving a shout out to our fellow Dirty Girls. 

 Focus: Stamps Designed by Fellow Dirty Girls. –OR– alternate option – use any fellow Dirty Girl’s galllery creation as an inspiration to semi-CASE something of your own
Required Element: Spring Color Combo – whatever feels like Spring to you!

Restricted Element: NO CuttleBug/Big Shot/Wizard or similar diecut/embossing machines.

To see all the cards uploaded to the SCS gallery for this challenge click here.  Be sure to check it again later today or tomorrow as the girls will be uploading throughout the day today.

This month I made 2 cards.  The first is a baby card I needed for a baby shower this weekend.  Baby cards are not one of my forte and fellow Dirty Girl Alum Lauren Meader came to my rescue with her adorable Onesie card and tutorial found on her blog here.  I have to say I LOVE how this card turned out!
 

I used pink and white shimmer cardstocks (wish you could see the pearly shimmer in the photo) along with just a bit of pink designer paper from the SU Hostess 6×6 pad.  The stamp is from the Sale-a-bration set (you can get it for FREE!).  The little buttons are brads and the bow is pink tafetta ribbon.  I was positively bouncin’ when I finished this the other night.  Oh and it matched the 2 little outfits I was giving for the gift.  Next I decided to decorate packaging to match.  Now I know I CASEd this idea either from a blog or magazine, but I’m not remembering where I saw it.  If you recognize it please let me know.  I had a white gable box in my stash and it had been there for years!  Finally came in handy.

I painted the top portion of the box with acrylic paint and covered the bottom portion with SU designer paper.  The designer paper strip folds over on each side of the top and is glued to the inside so it doesn’t have to be ripped off when the box is opened.  The pink satin ribbon from Fabric Barn is wrapped around and tied in a bow – it matches better IRL than in this photo.  Pink glitter letters are from the Target Dollar spot (and if you keep coming back this week you just might get to win some *wink*).

My next card was just created this morning and it’s a quadruple challenge of sorts:

1. Used Whipper Snapper Spring Bird by Anna Wight (shout out to Anna)

2. Used Cornish Heritage Farms Geometric Flowers II by Lisa Strahl (shout out to Lisa)

3. CASEd a card by Leslierich (shout out to Leslie)

4. Today’s SCS SKetch Challenge (which happened to use Leslie’s card as the sample)

Is that serendipity or what?

It’s dark and rainy here so it was a little hard to get a decent photo, but it was the perfect day to work with a Spring color scheme.  My very first thought when thinking of Spring colors was Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Barely Banana – it just feels so fresh and happy to me.

Spring Bird was stamped on SU watercolor paper with Brilliance Graphite Black ink and heat embossed with Irridescent Ice ep.  This is a trick I learned a long time ago at a booth at a rubber stamp convention that had gorgeous watercolored samples.  The owner told me that they stamped all images in black and embossed them with Hologram or Irridescent ep to give a softer, sparkly effect.  I watercolored with Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  Lisa’s awesome background stamp was inked with Craft White for a subtle effect on the pink cardstock.  Edges were distressed and the main image was mounted on foam tape.  This is one of those cards that just made me smile big when I was finished.  Hope you like it too.

I can hardly wait to see what all the Dirty Girls have done with this challenge.  Thanks for stopping by.

Girls just wanna have FUN!!! It’s time for another Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni Reunion Day.  This time our theme is GIRLS!  Think Bella, Hanna, Ronnie, Elzy, Rubber Romance, etc. etc.  There is always one required element and one restriction to make it a little more interesting.  Today’s requirement is “something sweet” and the restriction is no standard (4.25″ x 5″) cards.  I can hardly wait to see what everyone came up with.  Here’s mine.

Ummmm…do you think I went a little crazy with ribbon?  LOL!  Just living up to my motto – More is More!!!  This cute little notebook came from the Dollar Bin at Michael’s and started out looking like this –

I just loved that pink old fashioned wall paper background, but move over Mary Engelbreit I had some decorating to do!  My Girl image comes from Denami Designs – Mimi & Maddie.  I have loved Denami for many years and can never understand why we don’t see more of them.  Of course the sentiment is tongue in cheek (so don’t get offended!) “If we can’t laugh at ourselves, let’s make fun of someone else!”  I have a really sweet sentiment that goes with this image, but I came across this less-than-sweet one in some stamped images from one of our stampin’ buddies get-togethers and I just had to use it. It cracks me up.  I can’t for the life of me remember who owns this stamp or what company it’s from – so friends, if this is yours please leave a comment and let me know.

The main image was stamped with Palette Hybrid Noir Black ink on shimmer white cardstock and colored with Copics.  I was so thrilled that I was able to color this with my very very limited number of colors.

I just have to show a picture of the colors I used like all the pros do…like anyone will look at my incredibly amateur job and think “How’d she do that???”  LOL!!!  I crack myself up!!!  Pearls in the corners are by K&Co and are available at eP, as are the Stampendous Dot Sparklers used for the girls’ jewelry.  Cardstock colors used are Rose Red, Black and Purely Pomegranate. Obviously I didn’t make a standard size card so I followed the restriction and for the “something sweet” you can see the girls are enjoying a tray of sweet treats with their tea.  🙂

You’ll want to see all the DD/DDA offerings for this challenge – click here to see them in the SCS gallery.

Speaking of girls, have you seen the new Elzybells Friendship release?  Oh my goodness…once again I am in love!  I think I actually like these even better than the Winter and Holiday releases.  I want them all!  Did you see the one called “Bossy”?  That is so me!  LOL!  Of course with my huge pile of brand new SU sets plus the new eP Cupcake set I soooooo do not need to be buying stamps right now.  Hmmm….maybe I’ll ask for some of them for my birthday next month (Honey – are you reading this?)

Also on the subject of girls – have you been watching “Miss America – Reality Check” on TLC?  I am completely hooked on this show!  I’m somewhat of a reality show junkie anyway (currently hooked on Celebrity Apprentice and Project Runway too), but Reality Check is such a surprising show – the actual Miss America contestants having their pagent world turned on it’s ear.  A genius idea really.  People who have had no interest in Miss America for many years (like me) will certainly be tuning in to the pagent this year!  If you get a chance check out the show.

Don’t forget that you have until 4pm Pacific today (Sunday) to upload entries for my eP Birthday Enesemble Challenge (see below) and Taylor’s Cupcake Challenge.  It’s a super fun and easy way to get your name entered for a fabulous prize!

Happy Sunday and thanks for stopping by!