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: