Leaving Our Comfort Zone...or NOT!!!

"Stamp Simple Challenge 102: Let's Leave Our Comfort Zone!" Sharon, Sharon, SHARON!!! How do you come up with these challenges...LOL!!! Well, I made an attempt to leave my comfort zone, failed in one regard, yet was successful in another!

My first goal was to create a one layer card. Well, it goes downhill from there! I began by stamping my PaperTrey Ink Ocean Tides cardstock with the new Stampin' Up image "Medallion." I stamped the image with Versafine Black Onyx ink, then heat embossed it with Stampin' Up's Black Fine Detail embossing powder.

Well, the medallion looked great on the one sheet of cardstock! But, wouldn't it look soooo much better layered with a sandwich of black? I could NOT RESIST THE LAYER! What a sickness! My! PaperTrey Ink True Black provided the "fix" that I needed...LOL!!!

After layering the cardstock, I added a center Kaiser rhinestone for a bit of sparkle. No sentiment here today...this card is appropriate for any occasion.

My second goal (successful, I might add!) was to leave behind Copic coloring with this design...one trend and comfort put aside!

If you would like to see how the other Stamp Simply design team members did with this challenge, check them out here:

Sharon
Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Tammy
Barb
Jenny
and August Guest designer: Pat Adam

If you would like to leave your comfort zone, play along with us! Remember to use the keyword
ssnotime102 if you upload to SCS! Be sure to link back to Sharon's blog as well!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Boooo-tiful Friend!

Yesterday I was so fortunate to be able to spend time with Deb Felts aka: SCS Deb Deb, at Sharon Johnson's home. Deb is a current Dirty Girl over at Splitcoaststampers...she came onto the team as I was leaving. She is such a sweetie--I first met her last summer when she visited family in the U.P.

Deb brought some Our Craft Lounge stamps along to play with--I rarely make Halloween cards, but could not resist this adorable little ghost and jack o' lantern.

I thought the little ghost would fit today's Sketch Challenge over at SCS, so put together a very quick card using retired SU Halloween dp, chunky black glitter and Kaiser Rhinestones...

So sorry for the quick post...I have to get moving to some appointments! Have a great day!

Let's Polka!

Polka Dot that is! This week's Stamp Simply Challenge (ssnotime101) is to go dotty...polka dotty! Polka dots are my favorites--this is no challenge for me!

I began with Crate's Baby Bee designer paper. The peachy dotted paper is layered over Gina K.'s Pure Luxury Ivory cardstock, with one layer scalloped by a SU Scallop border punch. The top corners of the layers were corner rounded with SU's corner rounder punch.

My sentiment, from Our Daily Bread design's "Jesus" set, is stamped with Versafine Sepia ink, then clear embossed with SU Clear EP. My Spellbinder Ovals can in handy once again to die cut the popped up image panel and framing oval.

Last, but not least, this amazingly GORGEOUS Prima blossom that I purchased from Our Daily Bread designs. They are my absolute favorite new embellishment! They dress up a sentiment or Bible verse just wonderfully!

Be sure to check out the rest of the Stamp Simply DT designs:

Sharon
Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Tammy
Barbara
Jenny
and August's guest designer: Pat Adam

If you decide to play along with us, please remember to use the keyword ssnotime101 if you upload to SCS. Then be sure to link back to Sharon's blog--we want to see your design!

The Dog Days of Summer!

Our August DD/DDA challenge, presented by 11Valerie11 (Valerie Stangle), was to create a design around the theme, "The Dog Days of Summer." The requirement was to design around a dog theme, using summer (summery, hot colors) and NOT to use any flock of fuzzy elements. Well, I could not resist featuring this cute picture of my son's new pup, "Harley."

I began with a frame that has been in my stash for ages...so old that I don't remember where I purchased it. I was able to glean the company name (Maple Lane Press Ready-to-Make Frame) from the wrapper.

I once again pulled out my Copic reinkers...I sure have been having fun playing with them! I dropped dots of four colors of reinkers onto the linen textured frame, wanting to create a spotted effect. I placed the dots close together, causing them to overlap and blend. I was pleased with how it turned out...reminds me of a very hot day!

SU chipboard letters colored with a black Copic marker provided my sentiment. A bit of micro fine glitter (Jewel Glitter Ritz) covered the letters, as well as the bones die cut from my Cuttle Bug "Good Dog" die.

A SU black grosgrain ribbon, puppy paw print brad from Michaels (after all...Harley has to give her stamp of approval!) and picture of the pup finish off this design.

See what the other Dirty Dozen gals have come up with here!

Victorian Flower Soft Floral & Fruit

The Victorian Era brings to mind draped, elaborate decor, along with special touches and finishes in both clothing and decor. I think of glimmering capes, black jet, and fur stoles. Today's Flower Soft project focuses on a textured frame for both the Anna Griffin image panel and entire design.

I began with a base of Bazzill Nutmeg textured paper, with a top fold created by my ScorPal. I then used Flower Soft High Tack glue along with Nut Brown Flower Soft to create the first frame. After sprinkling the Flower Soft on, I pressed it in with my finger to securely adhere it. Extra FS filled in any thin spots.

I layered a panel of K & Company decorator paper (Ancestry.com K & Co.) with Neenah Classic Cream to create the background. My Anna Griffin image was stamped with Memento Rich Brown ink onto Neenah Classic Cream, then colored with multiple Copic markers. Spellbinder's Oval Dies cut the image panel, and frame panel. More Nut Brown Flower Soft was applied to the larger oval to become a frame.

A wired ribbon bow from Michael's (Home & More Classic Collection) finishes this design.

Be sure to check out the Flower Soft Blog and the FS Design Team Gallery.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful remainder to your week!

Silk Ribbon Dye Technique

Congratulations to Sharon Johnson (notimetostamp) on her 100th challenge(ssnotime100) presented on her blog! Many a gal has awaited Friday in anticipation of playing the Stamp Simply Challenge!

In honor of this milestone, I am going to explain a quick and easy Copic dying technique to create a ribbon that has a timeworn, water damaged look--perfect for distressed and vintage designs.

The supplies that you will need to begin are:

Wide ivory or white silk ribbon (mine is May Arts)
Copic marker refills
Copic Blender Pen refill
blotting paper to protect your surface

I began by cutting my desired length of ribbon. After determining the length, I prepare my tablespace by protecting it from inky residue.

I began by dripping spots and streaks of Copic refills onto the ribbon, leaving space between the spots. I used four different inks to dye this bow...YR24 Pale Sepia, YR14 Caramel, Y38 Honey, and E31 Brick Beige.

After adding spots to your entire ribbon, take your Blender refill and splash and spot the ribbon lightly. The refill ink spot edges will begin to disperse and blend together. You do not want to use too much of the Blender refill, as it can totally wash away the ink spots and make a solid blah color.

After you reach your desired effect, allow the ribbon to dry. The ribbon will be somewhat wrinkled and distressed...just as desired. After dry, the ribbon should not rub off onto your design, unless of course it comes in contact with alcohol. NOTE: I have noticed that the dye will fade after sometime, so keep that in consideration.

You may also use your Copic marker to hand color ribbon...I prefer to do so to narrow pieces. This creates a perfect color match across your entire design.

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Give Thanks, Itty Bitty Background
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Copic Markers, Copic Refills and Blender Refill, SU Creamy Caramel
Paper: Bazzill textured, unknown dp
Accessories: Wright's Flat Cluny lace from Walmart, SU distressing tool, unknown metal pieces, May Arts wide Silk ribbon from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store Bow Easy from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Hope you find this helpful!

Check out the entire party taking place for the Stamp Simply 100th Challenge:


Pat Adam - Christmas Gift Tags with BLOG CANDY
AJ - 1 Card Done 3 Ways
Janine - A Stress Free Summer Menu with BLOG CANDY
Tammy - Birthday Reminder Book with BLOG CANDY
Jennifer - Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY
Julie - Card Set in Tote with Directions
Barbara- Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY
Jenny- Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY
Jerri - Birthday Card and Tutorial on Hand Embossing with Light Box
Joan- Birthday Card and Etched Glass with BLOG CANDY
LeAnne - Birthday Card with Glitter
Barb- Birthday Cake 3-D Gift Item with BLOG CANDY
Darlene - Birthday Card with Special Recipe
Rose Ann- Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY
Leslie - Gift Tin of Soaps with Coordinating Card
Heather - Birthday Card
Sabrina- Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY
Sharon- Monogrammed Birthday Gift Set with BLOG CANDY

Our Daily Bread designs Watering Can Copic Tutorial

I am so excited to be sharing a short tutorial on Our Daily Bread design's blog today! I'm sharing how to Copic color the watering can on ODBD's new August release, "Happy Birthday!"

Please join me here!

Joshua and Jennifer's Wedding Invitation

Well, the invitations have been sent! Whew-- what a relief that they have been posted as of yesterday afternoon! There are still a few addresses that need to be found, but the bulk of the invites are sent!


As you know, my eldest son Joshua is going to be married! He asked dear old mom to make up the invitations, and I said "yes" immediately! The great thing is, Jennifer, my soon to be daughter-in-law loves to stamp as well! It was a combined effort, and both Josh and Jen are very pleased with the results!


To begin, Jennifer used Just Rite's Special Occasion Monogram Stamper Kit to emboss their monogram. She used Versafine Sepia ink, along with Stampin' Up Gold Fine Embossing Powder on Neenah Natural White paper. After embossing A LOT of monograms, she used Spellbinder's Circle Nesties to die cut the monogram layers. We then took turns using the Spellbinder's Label One die to make the gold panel for the monogram to sit upon.


Cindy Motherway (Mothermark) was a life saver, as she found just the type of designer paper that I was looking for in Colorado!
She kindly went and bought it all (thanks again Cindy!!!) and mailed it off to me here in Michigan. It is the Paper Studio Gold Wedding Floral.


We wanted to go for a antiqued gold metallic cardstock (Gold Leaf), and I was able to find some at Paperandmore.com. There are two layers of the gold cardstock, with the layer of Wedding Floral on top.


A swath of antique gold ribbon and Hero Arts pearls finish the design. I did use my Copic marker to yellow up the pearls a bit, to match the cream colored cardstock used.


I ordered my cream colored business size envelopes from Action Envelopes online. They are gorgeous--very elegant, and match the cream cardstock on the invite perfectly!


It was a thrill and an honor to make up Joshua and Jennifer's invitations...hope you like them as well!


Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

This is My Son...

Here's another design with this month's Our Daily Bread designs "Jesus" set. I decided to color the image with Copic markers this time around.

I began by stamping my Jesus image onto Neenah Classic Cream cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. After coloring, Spellbinder Round Nesties were used to die cut the image. I stamped the Bible verse onto the cream cardstock with Versafine Black Onyx ink, then die cut it with a Spellbinder Long Rectangle.

Cardstock layers are SU Textured Night of Navy cardstock, Neenah Classic Cream and K & Company Blue Awning Damask dp.

Close to My Heart bronze brads add extra interest to the four corners and finish off this design.

Be sure to take time to check out the Our Daily Bread designs blog--it's filled with interesting info!

Have a wonderful week!

Stampin' in the U.P.

Stampin' in the U.P. 2009 is just a memory now...a week has passed since our second annual stamping event, and hopefully everyone is rested up and totally inspired! I'm posting just a few pics from our fun time!

The first picture is a card that my future daughter-in-law, Jennifer, created for the swap. Didn't she do a great job? She and my son, Josh, just purchased a home (with blue siding) and are fixing it up to move into after the big day!

Helen (Lucy's MOM) and Jan (yooper@heart) look like they're having a great time! Look at all of the altered items behind the gals! If you brought one, you were able to take one home!

Here's Barb (GrandmaUpNorth), Kathy (Gimmepaper), and the rest of the ladies participating in the swap!

We had three challenges on Friday night for entertainment...Trisia (trisia) presented a sketch challenge, Sue (sueza), a Way to Use It (buttons) challenge, and Helen (Lucy's MOM) a color challenge. Thanks Ladies! Here's Jennifer, checking out all of the fabulous designs created for the challenges.

I made this card for Helen's color challenge...

bright, quick and easy!

A BIG thanks to JoAnn (sarahzoe) for all of the work that she did in preparation for the event! Sounds like a third annual event is planned for next summer...maybe YOU can join us!

Kindred Spirits

"That's what friends are for..." is the title of this week's Stamp Simply Challenge (ssnotime99). We were to create a design for a friend, with the stipulation of using the word "friend" somewhere on the front.

I really love the new Verve "Kindred Spirits" set-- the fleur de lis designs are just beautiful, and add such a special touch! I stamped the sentiment and border from the set with Versafine Sepia ink onto K & Company's Madeline dp. The "friends forever" sentiment is from Paper Trey Ink. I also used a SU Itty Bitty stipple stamp for an extra distressed feel. I used pinking shears on a couple of the edges as well.

My SU retired image (Abundant Joy) with Memento Rich Brown ink onto Neenah's Natural white paper, then colored it with Copic markers. Spellbinder's Oval Nesties were used to die cut the image.

A strip of unknown ribbon, and Foof-a-la buttons finish off this "friendly" design. Hope you like it!

Be sure to check out the other Stamp Simple Team designs:

Sharon

Jennifer

Janine

Julie

Tammy

AJ

Barbara

Jenny,

and August guest designer: Pat Adam

Be on the look out for next week's Stamp Simply celebration of 100 challenges!

"I am with you always..."

I am so pleased to show you the other new August release for Our Daily Bread designs, "Jesus." This compassionate image of Jesus, along with four Bible verses of promise, are just precious!

I've been working on the wedding invitations for my son's big day, and decided to use some of the gold leaf metallic cardstock from Paperandmore.com that is sitting out for the base of this card design as well. Paper Studio's Cream/Gold Ornate paper is the top layer, stamped with Matthew 28:20 in Memento Rich Cocoa ink, making up the card body.

The Jesus image was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink, then lightly colored with Copic markers. A length of sheer organdy ribbon, with a Michael's brad adds an extra touch. Dimensionals pop up the image, as well as one layer.

Hope your week is going well! I will be posting some pictures from this past weekend's stamping event tomorrow...

Back to wedding invitations!

Flower Soft Toppers

It's August 1st, and this is the first of two blog posts that I will be presenting. The first is a blog post for Flower Soft! The team is featuring the fabulous toppers from Flower Soft! If you want an EXTREMELY QUICK way to make a pretty card, try a topper!

I chose the vintage looking bicycle topper for my design today. Quick layers were created with SU Old Olive and River Rock cardstocks.

River Rock and topper were both sponged with SU Creamy Caramel ink for a bit of a distressed feel. Sweet Pea and Lavendar Flower Soft were applied with Flower Soft glue to the topper.

A bit of unknown olive green grosgrain was used on the lower right edge, as well as to make up a bow, created with a Bow Easy, purchased from Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.

So quick, yet so very lovely!

If you would like to see the other Flower Soft Design Team's designs, follow these links:

AJ Otto
Carole Burrage
Charmaine Ikach
Jennifer Buck
Niki Estes
Sharon Johnson
Valerie Stangle

Thanks for stopping by! Please check back later today to see the new sets from Our Daily Bread Designs!

Birthday Blessings

Our Daily Bread Designs have come out with two fabulous new sets: "Happy Birthday!" and "Jesus." My design today features a birthday sentiment from the "Happy Birthday" set.

I began with Robin's Nest navy decorator papers that I purchased from my local scrapping store. I really love these fresh, country style prints, and have used them often. I covered both the top and inside of the card with the prints.

I stamped the lovely watering can image from ODBD onto Neenah Natural White paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then colored it with multiple Copic markers, then die cut it with Spellbinder's Label One dies.

Retired SU ribbon, an old navy button, twine, and HeroArt Art Flowers finish this design.

WELCOME, to Wendy Weixler and Loretta Lock, August/September's Guest Designers! A BIG thanks to Grace Nywening and Kathy Jones for all of the inspiration these past two months!

If you're starting the hop here; make sure you head to the Our Daily Bread Designs Blog to begin at the top!

Next up after my post, are:

Sandee
Wendy
Jane
Betty
and
Angie

Hope you enjoy your day! Thanks for stopping by!