Sheltering Tree, CMCC56

Hi, Stampers! It's Wednesday and time for a new challenge at Colour Me! I'm having such fun being a guest designer on this team. I love color challenges, and they come up with the most interesting combos and gorgeous inspiration photos. Anyway, this week we are using Island Indigo, Rich Razzelberry, Tangelo Twist and Daffodil Delight!

My card today is super simple. Four colors can be a lot to work with, but I was totally inspired by the challenge badge and used my Sheltering Tree stamp set for the first time.  I softenend the colors up a bit by stamping on Vanilla card stock and combining the colors with a soft brown.

First I stamped the tree trunk in Baked Brown Sugar. Then, I colored the leaves on the tree with markers in the challenge colors, stamped, then "huffed" on it and stamped a second time without re-inking. The swing and sentiment were stamped in black, and I curved the sentiment gently to mimic the shape of the tree.

Stampin' Up Products Used:

Stamp Sets: Sheltering Tree

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Baked Brown Sugar

Ink Pads: Baked Brown Sugar, Memento Tuxedo Black

Markers: Island Indigo, Rich Razzelberry, Tangelo Twist, Daffodil Delight

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you playing along with our challenge this week at Colour Me!  Please pay a visit to the rest of the design team, too!

Angel Johns

Hayley Kew

Jenny Engelke

Julia Wilson

Katie Brooks

Sandy Mathis

Tanja Kabel

Tara Bourgoin

Indescribable Gift for The Paper Players

Hi, Friends! This Sunday at The Paper Players it is the wonderful Jaydee's turn to be hostess, and she has designed a terrific sketch for us. I love this one and know I'll be using it again.

I thought I would use a new stamp set for the first time, Indescribable Gift. I absolutely love the floral image in this set, and though the sentiments are for Easter, the image can be used for nearly any occasion.

I went out into blogland in search of further inspiration, and came across this tutorial by Sandi MacIver. I especially loved her tip about using the Color Lifter kind of like a blender pen to get lighter shades of some of the Blendy colors. I stamped the image twice, colored them, and then popped up a few of the blossoms for some dimension.

Stampin' Up Products Used:

Stamp Sets: Indescribable Gift

Card Stock: Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Basic Black

Designer Series Paper: Painted Blooms

Ink Pads: Memento Tuxedo Black

Blendabilites: Wild Wasabi, Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo and Crumb Cake Collections, Color Lifter

Tools: Big Shot, Circles Framelits

Accessories: In Color Sequins, Blushing Bride Cotton Ribbon

OK now for a few promised pictures from Florida. I am always very fascinated by the diversity of the lizard population there. I think they are all gorgeous, too. Maybe because they are so tropical and remind me of a place I love so much, they always make me smile. Not so much with snakes, though! Anyhow, here are a couple pic's I snapped.

I love the curly tail on this cute little fella who lives in my garden, along with hundreds of others.

This one is about 2 feet long including his tail, and is the most brilliant shade of green. And he lives in my garden, too! 

This big guy must be the lizard emporer! Or is he an iguana? Regardless, he's quite majestic looking, and this picture was taken at the marina. Can anyone tell me what these handsome creatures are called? I'd love to know.

I hope you enjoyed my nature photos! I also hope you'll visit the rest of the Design Team at The Paper Players, and maybe play along with us, too!

Have an awesome day, everyone!

A Happy Thing, MOJO381, CQC276 & NBUS3

Hi there, my Inky Friends! Wow, it has been some time since I've had time to play along with a challenge just for fun, and I have totally missed it. Last week I returned from sunny Ft. Lauderdale after a week's vacation. (I will share some photos next week). Though I brought some stamping supplies with me, I must admit that I opted for the pool, the hot tub, and just soaking up the rays over stamping. Yup, every day. I'm sure you understand! 

After coming home I looked over my most recent projects and they all looked kind of blah to me. Maybe it was the tropical colors in Florida, or maybe the winter just has me feeling color deprived, but I've decided to try to make my projects a bit more colorful. The delicious combo at ColourQ was just what the doctor ordered, and I combined it with the sketch at Mojo Monday, which I flipped 180 degrees. 

I arrived home to a box of new goodies, and one of the items inside was this stamp set, A Happy Thing, which is a Sale-A-Bration freebie. I also received some Blendabilities Markers for free, and I'm putting them all to use today for the first time. 

But wait, that means I can play along with Darnell's NBUS Challenge again! I so love this concept. Maybe next time I'll pull out some Ancient NBUS; I know we all have some of that!

Stampin' Up Products Used:

Stamp Sets: A Happy Thing

Card Stock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Coastal Cabana

Designer Series Paper: All Abloom

Ink Pads: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Markers: Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake and Smoky Slate Blendabilities, Strawberry Slush Stampin' Write Marker

Tools: Big Shot, Heat Tool, Circles Framelits, Piercing Tool & Mat, Piercing Essentials

Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Neutrals Buttons

Other: Cotton Thread

Thanks for paying me a visit today!

Inky hugs!

Casual Trees for CMCC55

Hi there, friends! I don't know about you, but this week is going way too fast! I guess I should be happy about it because that makes us a little closer to springtime and warmer weather. Since it is Wednesday, that means that we've got a new color challenge for you at Colour Me. At first glance these colors may look autumnal, but you must check out the fabulous creations by the Design Team which are anything but! 

I love playing along with contests, and through Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags contest I was fortunate enough to win a gift certificate to Cas-ual Fridays. I opted to spend it on the Casual Comfort Stamp Set and coordinating Casual Tree Dies.

I had an image in my head of what I wanted to create right away (love when that happens). I cut my background paper and branches from SU textured white cardstock. I then used ink pads and an Aqua Painter to color the branches in the challenge colors. Once they were dry, I applied Crystal Effects to the buds and then dipped them in Tim Holtz Rock Candy Glitter and repeated. The end result is some chunky crystalized buds with a touch of sparkle.

Products Used:

Stampin' Up: 

Card Stock: Textured White

Designer Paper: Color Me Autumn

Ink Pads: Versamark, Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze

Tools: Big Shot, Heat Tool

Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Linen Thread, Crystal Effects

Cas-ual Fridays: Casual Comfort Stamp Set, Casual Tree Dies

Other: Tim Holtz Rock Candy Glitter

Please leave a comment, and I hope to see you over at the Colour Me challenge this week, too!

Inky hugs!

Clean and Simple Valentines for The Paper Players

Hi, Friends! It's Sunday and time for another fun challenge from The Paper Players. This week the wonderful LeAnne is hostess, and she has a clean and simple challenge for us. She'd like us to make the sentiment on our card the focal point.

I knew right away that I wanted to use my new Crazy About You stamp set and coordinating Hello You Thinlits. I also took this opportunity to get going on some Valentine's Day cards, and accidentally wound up with two! 

Does anyone remember this song from Blood, Sweat and Tears? That was my wedding song and this card is for my hubby. I hope it makes him smile. I had to get a little creative to stamp the "so very" words. I used scotch tape to mask off and elimate letters from other words, and did the same with the dangling hearts from the Hello, Love stamp set. I wanted the hanging lines to be a little longer, so I extended them with a ruler and black Stampin' Write Marker.

The second card was a happy accident, and I think I like it even better than the first. This was my practice run to stamp the hearts on a piece of scrap paper and extend the lines. I wanted to make sure it looked OK before I stamped it on my card front. I decided it should be a card too, and even already had the "love" die cut leftover from last year. I literally just glued my leftover pieces together. I LOVE when that happens! Haha, no pun intended!

Stampin' Up Products Used:

Happy Card:

Stamp Sets: Hello Love, Crazy About You

Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red

Designer Series Paper: Neutrals Stack

Ink Pads : Memento Tuxedo Black

Markers: Basic Black, Real Red

Tools: Big Shot, Hello You Thinlits

Accessories: White Baker's Twine

Love Card:

Stamp Sets: Hello Love

Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red

Ink Pads : Memento Tuxedo Black

Markers: Basic Black, Real Red

Tools: Big Shot, Expressions Thinlits

Please visit the rest of the amazing Design Team and The Paper Players, and we hope you'll play along with our challenge this week, too!

Inky hugs!

Whale You Be Mine? CMCC54 & NBUS3

Yay for Wednesday and a new challege from Colour Me! This week it is a striking combo of Pacific Point and Real Red. This combo can be used for a patriotic card, but it's also great for a nautical theme, or better yet a nautical Valentine, which is the direction I went! 

A new scrapbook store recently opened in my neighborhood and I had to show my support for the local economy by purchasing an item or two. My purchases included this adorable stamp set from Lawn Fawn, called Whale You Be Mine, as well as Stitched Circle Dies, also from Lawn Fawn.

Since I am using both those products for the first time, I'm entering this card in Darnell's NBUS challenge.

I'm also linking up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme this week is It's A Guy Thing.

My daughter saw this card and said, "OMG that is so adorable!" Boy that made me smile! She loves shaker cards, and this one is filled with sequins from SU. I stayed true to the color challenge by using an Aqua Painter and Pacific Point ink to color the background on watercolor paper. I had so much fun with this challenge! 

Products Used:

Stampin' Up:

Card Stock: Whisper White, Pacific Point

Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Pacific Point

Tools: Big Shot, Aqua Painter, Heat Tool

Accessories: White Bakers Twine, Frosted Sequins, Watercolor Paper, White Embossing Powder

Blendabilities Markers: Smoky Slate, Cherry Cobbler and Blushing Bride

Lawn Fawn:

Stamp Sets: Whale You Be Mine

Patterned Paper: Snow Day

Tools: Stitched Circle and Stitched Rectangle Dies, Whale You Be Mine Lawn Cuts

Other:

Fun Foam from Michael's

Please visit the rest of the Design Team at Colour Me! We hope you join the fun and play along with the challenge this week, too! 

Inky hugs!

Painted Petals for The Paper Players

Greetings, Friends! It's Sunday and time for another challenge from The Paper Players! This week the amazing Ann Schach is hostess and she has a wonderful color combo for us, Crisp Cantaloupe, Lost Lagoon and Sahara Sand. 

I've been experimenting with some new stamp sets, and I thought this color combo would work nicely with the Painted Petals set. I love this stamp set! It's so pretty, and so easy to use. I'm really loving my growing collection of photopolymer stamps!

Do you have crafting supplies that you forgot you own? Have your ordered two of something you didn't know you had? Don't lie; I know you have! I love but keep forgetting to use my spiral border punch which I think I have owned for more than a year. I created the background panel with the same stamp set using Versamark ink on Lost Lagoon paper. The pretty button is from the Artisan Embellishment Kit.

Stampin' Up Products Used:

Stamp Sets: Painted Petals

Card Stock: Whisper White, Lost Lagoon, Sahara Sand

Ink Pads: Lost Lagoon, Crisp Canteloupe, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Tools: Spiral Border Punch

Accessories: White Bakers Twine, Artisan Embellishment Kit, Tea Lace Paper Doilies

Please visit the rest of the Design Team at The Paper Players, and we hope you'll play along with us this week, too!