A CASE For Wendy

When I saw what Wendy Janson did with Beate's Weekend Sketch this week, I knew immediately that I had to CASE (Copy and Share with Everyone) her card. My mother-in-law asked me to make a baby shower card for her and I knew Wendy's design would translate perfectly. Here's my CASE and her original card -- what do you think?

SFYTT Eastern Blooms Card

Makeesha Byl has a pretty color (or "colour" as they say in Australia!) combo of Elegant Eggplant, Soft Sky, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White which happened to mesh well with the SCS Inspiration Challenge this week which I based on this room. I used Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You to Try, and faux stitching in Elegant Eggplant around the edges meets the requirements for the OCC stitching challenge. For extra "oomph", I added the purple Fine Cosmo Glitter (that stuff gets *everywhere*!!) to the centers of my three medium-sized blooms, and placed a Filligree brad with a Pretty in Pink brad in the center of my large bloom.

Here's the sketch if you want to try your hand at it:

Beate's Weekend Sketch

This cute little guy is in the Punch Pals stamp set and I can already tell this is one of those sets that I *won't* sell used later on... :-) In addition to using Beate's sketch, I took on the SCS challenge of using a cute critter on a Christmas card. I just stamped him in black and colored him in with markers (Basic Black, Real Red, and Pumpkin Pie), super easy. I also made my own charm by stringing the pearl and crystal bead on some silver cording and looping it around the back of my medallion (made by turning the scallop just a tick in my Scallop Circle punch). My paper is from last year's Dashing which I am hoarding. Thanks for looking!

No Time to Stamp Challenge

Using this week's Color Throwdown, I CASEd this card by 2bKrafty who was spotlighted in Sharon's "No Time to Stamp" challenge. Lots of punches made short work of my Christmas-y scalloped flower. I ran my Real Red panel through my Cuttlebug to emboss the swirls, echoing my stamped filligree swirls from the "Season of Joy" stamp set. I'm so glad Stampin' Up! pulled this set from last year's Occasions mini-catalog and is offering it once again in the Fall/Winter Catalog -- it's so darling!

Sketch Challenge Card

For this week's Sketch Challenge and Color Challenge... I heat embossed my mistletoe from "Peaceful Wishes" with Iridescent Ice embossing power. The color combo is Very Vanilla, Baja Blue & Kiwi Kiss (both from the new In Colors selection). The sentiment, surrounded by some Hodgepodge Hardware, is simply one word colored with my black SU! marker from one of the stamps in my "As Close as a Memory" set. I love the clean design of the sketch. Why not give it a try?

Beate's Weekend Sketch

Beate's Weekend Sketch was a little challenging with its overlaying pattern. I used the Color Throwdown colors, which worked perfectly with the Inspiration Challenge of using these plates as a jumping off point. My leaves are from the Artfully Asian set (one of my faves) and my sentiment is from Warm Words. I ran my Baja Blue panel through my Cuttlebug to get the detailed embossing. Felt flowers add a sweet touch, with the new Filligree Designer Brads in the center.

A Hauntingly Good Challenge

The sketch challenge on SCS this week was really fun to work with for a kick-stand Halloween card. My sentiment, stamped in Black Staz-On onto chipboard and sponged over with Pumpkin Pie (Our Creative Corner had a chipboard challenge), is from the "Eat, Drink & Be Scary stamp set in the Mini Catalog, as is my friendly little spider fella. Isn't he cute?! The Designer Paper is last year's (name escapes me) and is, unfortunately, retired... sigh...

Happy Sunday!

This card sprang from Kristina's Werner's Color Inspiration challenge, and highlight's Jen del Muro's wonderful sketch show here. I love my new leaf punches (Martha Stewart from Michael's).

StampMom's Open House Card

This is the card we made last weekend as a Make & Take at my Open House. If you missed it and live in the area, I'd love to have you stop by to make one of your own -- after all, I've got the materials all prepped.

I CASEd it from a card I saw on SCS, adding the Apricot Appeal ribbon and distressing the edges around my Rust panel. The "Upsy Daisy" main image was colored with markers before being stamped.

Life is Beautiful!

Julie's Color Concoction is super dreamy this week -- Old Olive, Perfect Plum, and So Saffron -- so I combined it with the sketch that Tamara provided on her blog here. I think this is one of the neatest sketches I've seen in awhile -- really opens the floodgates of creativity. Just a short post today, lots to do. Hope you enjoy it!!

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge

I always scratch my head when it comes to Designer Paper that has a REALLY BIG print on it -- I know they'll serve me well as background on a big 12x12 scrapbook page, but how about cards? Well, I managed to use a portion of the large print in my Urban Garden DP for Beate's sketch card challenge, softening part of it with vellum attached with Not Quite Navy brads (from the Earth Elements set).

RECIPE
Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful
Paper: Urban Garden DP, River Rock textured cs, Bravo Burgundy cs, Naturals Ivory cs, Vellum
Ink: Not Quite Navy
Embellishments: River Rock ribbon, Earth Elements brads, SU! dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive
Tools: Cuttlebug w/ Swiss Dots embossing folder

Here's her sketch if you want to give it a try:

A Turkey of a Card...

This is an, ummm, interesting card. Not sure what I can use it for but I'm sure I'll figure something out... it started based on the Inspiration Challenge on SCS of "Catherine's Animals", wacky photos of livestock in front of dramatic backdrops. I chose this turkey as my inspiration.
It lent itself well, then, to the Color Challenge on SCS of using Riding Hood Red (new In Color), Going Gray, and Green Galore. You may be wondering where the green is -- I just dabbed a little in his feathers, as I didn't really have any great ideas for using it elsewhere, LOL. The layout is this week's Sketch Challenge.
So, here's my mongrel card and 3 more challenges under my belt.

Julie's Sketch Flip & Color Combo

Julie Buhler's was one of the first blogs I subscribed to last fall when I became an SU! demonstrator. Her talent is amazing and she has excellent technique tutorials as well. I used her Sketch Flip and her color combo (Mellow Moss, Baja Breeze, and Always Artichoke) to create this card. I was going for a "warm and cozy" feel to suit Sharon's "No Time to Stamp" challenge and also wanted to add in usage of my white gel pen as part of the "Ways to Use It" challenge on SCS so I did some faux stitching. Beate's "Be Inspired" challenge included lots of blue and green with flowers, so using my new Urban Garden DP fit the bill perfectly.

Phew -- that's a lot of challenges to pack into one little card. What can I say? I'm a multi-tasker. :-) So what do you think, did it meet all 5 challenges???

RECIPE
Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Paper: Mellow Moss, Baja Breeze & Always Artichoke cardstock, new Urban Garden DP, retired Wintergreen DP
Ink: Always Artichoke, White Signo gel pen
Tools: new Scallop punch, Photo Corner punch, Boho Blossoms punch
Embellishments: Felt Flowers, rhinestone brad from Pretties Kit, Mellow Moss gingham ribbon
Other: SNAIL adhesive, SU! dimensionals

5-Petal Flower Card & Sketch Challenge

I found a fabulous tutorial last week on Dannie's Designs that uses the 5-Petal Flower punch to create a chrysanthemum and I wanted to give it a try. I started with last week's SCS Sketch Challenge, used the Color Challenge combo of Rose Red, Basic Black, and Kraft, and voila! This pretty card. I've enjoyed playing with SU!s rub-ons -- did you notice I didn't even stamp a single image on this card? The rub-ons are from the Eastern Elegance set, and the DP is Bali Breeze and Rose Red Designer Prints.
Here's the sketch if you want to try your hand at it:

Now you can order online 24-7!!

Yes, it's true, Stampin' Up! has created a monster -- online shopping at your convenience. They've got the catalog available and broken up into great categories so it's easy to browse and find just what you're looking for, from sentiments and specific images to cardstock, paper, and embellishments. You can order directly through my site here whenever it's convenient -- bookmark it, LOL! :-)

Whether you wake up in the middle of the night with the perfect plan for the perfect project, decided to finally buy those great products you saw me use on my latest card, or just need to make party invitations with no time for a workshop, it’s no problem. You can simply order from me online.

Thinking about having a workshop? There's a special offer running October 1-November 30, 2008. Host a qualifying workshop and choose one stamp set from the Fall-Winter Sampler for FREE! Choose from any of the stamp sets below--up to a $31.95 value!

Item #	Description	Retail Value
111564	Flight of the Butterfly	$31.95
112911	Vuelo de la mariposa (Spanish Flight of the Butterfly)	$31.95
111676	Puns from the Past	$27.95
111660	Just Jawing	$25.95
111624	Dreams du Jour	$18.95
111700	Thank You Kindly	$13.95
111714	Wow Flowers	$12.95
112955	Flores llamativas (Spanish Wow Flowers)	$12.95
111600	Bella's Bloom	$12.95

Happy Halloween Card

I used Featured Stamper Denise's cute "Right Shoes" card as my jumping off point for this fun Halloween card. Kept her layout, but changed the designer paper (last year's Creepy Crawly) and stamps (Autumn Harvest) to make a whimsical Halloween card.

My punches made short work of the Photo Corner and the Word Window "Happy Halloween" sentiment from the All Holidays stamp set. I just snipped out the pumpkins, leaves, and gourd after stamping them on different shades of card stock (Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, and Really Rust) and popped them up with my SU! dimensionals to add some oomph. It's hard to tell in this photo but I added Crystal Effects to my jack o' lantern's face to give it more dimension. Thanks for looking!

Lauren's Saturday Sketch

Lauren's sketch on My Time, My Creations, My Stampendence gave me a chance to play some more during the US Open rain delay yesterday (sigh, still wish Andy Roddick was in it...). I used the colors of Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, and Regal Rose from the Color Throwdown #9 challenge, and finally inked up my new Upsy Daisy stamp with Regal Rose to get a tone-on-tone image. The little thanks sentiment is just one word from my "Absolutely Fabulous" stamp set, inked up with my Black marker. Once again, markers allow me so much latitude in choosing exactly which words I want to stamp, and I love the font of this set. My Felt Fusion flower is in Baja Blue, and I used my Boho Flowers punch to punch out the Regal Rose center flower. My ribbon was white grosgrain until I once again turned to my SU! markers to color it Regal Rose and double wrap it around my panel. So what do you think? Does it work??

Monochromatic Challenge Card

The recent color challenge on SCS had me leafing through lots of pink cardstock scraps to come up with this pretty little monochromatic card -- how many shades of pink can you count??

I love the new "Organic Grace" hostess stamp set that this flower is from, love the lines and curves of the petals. My Felt Fusion flower added a little pop with its rhinestone brad from the Pretties Kit, and of course I had to add some Diamond glitter to my flower to match the "sparkle" from my favorite "Warm Words" set that I always turn to for just the right sentiment. My Cuttlebug added the delicate Swiss Dot embossing.

Bravo for Eastern Blooms

I am loving my new stamps -- they keep beckoning from my craft table, saying "play with us! Play with us!" I used the new Eastern Blooms (the blossoming branch) and Eastern Influences (the "beautiful" character) for this delicate card, based on an SCS sketch and color challenge (Blush Blossom, Ruby Bed, & Close to Cocoa). I like the simple clean lines of the sketch but I felt that tearing my paper would add to the natural feel of my branch. I used SU! markers to color the individual blooms before stamping. My little butterfly was done by sponging Ruby Red onto a scrap of Very Vanilla and then punching it out with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch (bought with my 50% off Michael's coupon -- does that mean I can tell DH I *saved* money??) ;-)

Here's the sketch if you want to try your hand at it: