TSG61 Going Green

I've been having so much fun lately just stamping for fun (although the last week or so was crazy and believe it or not I didn't make a card for over a week!) And to make it even worse I had new stamping goodies in my possession and no time to make anything.  As soon as I saw this week's There She Goes Challenge of Going Green, I knew I wanted to play and exactly which set I was going to be using, Aim for the Clouds. I heart this set, it's so whimsical and so much fun and with so many stamps in the set, you can create a variety of scenes.  So you might be wondering how my card fits into this week's theme of green... Well, I have the color green in my card and the second requirement was to have some type of plant in the card (whether it be leaves, flowers, topiaries etc) so I used grass aka rolling hills of green. I think that fits - how about you?  Let's just go with it for today.

I've watercolored the Hot air balloons using my Tombow markers and they have been popped up on dimensionals.  The main panel has been sponged using Soft Sky and my cloud template ( I really need to figure how to make them better - it's a work in progress!!).  See the little cloud covering part of the balloon - I'll admit it - it's covering a boo boo.... I accidentally got black ink on part of the balloon and didn't want to throw it away!  I created a "sun" using  circle and blossom nestabilities and a button. How cute!  I then created a sky using some Basic Grey DP, the Divine Swirls embossing folder and a bit of Soft Sky ink was sponged on to it as well.  The grass or rolling hills I guess I should say have also been Cuttlebugged with the new Polka Dots folder and sponged with Old Olive ink. 

This card was a lot of fun to make and I think this will be one of my go to sets. 

On a side note, If you haven't ordered from There She Goes yet, you really should.   I find that living in Canada, orders that I place from the US often take two weeks to get here but Jessica, owner extraordinaire, had my order packed and shipped within about three hours of ordering (on a Saturday no less) and I had my goodies in my hands by Friday!!! Now that is record shipping for an order coming from the US.  I'll be ordering again just based on this.  Customer Service is #1!

CDS Sneak Peeks

Hey there everyone.. Just a reminder that Clear Dollar Stamps is in sneak peek week!!! I'm off on holiday this month and next from CDS but make sure you check out all the fantastic sneaks (please see my sidebar) or check out Lori's blog for all of the samples.

SSD031 I want to be a Cullen

Welcome to Skipping Stones Design’s Blog DT Blog Hop to celebrate the release of two new stamp sets, "Fangs or Fur" and Chocolate Vol. 2. This is our "sweetest" release yet, whether you're a Twilight fan or a chocolate lover, we have something for you!! If you just happened upon my blog today, you’ll want to go back to the beginning at Skipping Stones Design. You should have arrived from Chelsea's blog.


I have to admit something...  I am not a Twihard... I haven't read a single Twilight book yet... I haven't seen any of the movies.... but from what I understand the ladies love these guys!!!  I may just have to get the books over the summer to see what the hype is all about.... Might I become a Twihard - you never know...

What I do know is that the DT has been swooning over this set for a couple of months now so of course in honor of Eclipse coming out Wednesday, I had to use this set.  Love the image and the sentiments are just too good.  I decided not to color the image because I wanted a crisp clean look to the card and let the red pop.  What do you think?  I'm just happy I know what some of the book covers look like so I figured this was a safe color combo. 

Combined with the blog hop today, it's also Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday which means the Design Team is showcasing another great creation from Teri Anderson. We'd love for you to play along with the sketch. Just remember to use the keywords SSD031 if you are uploading to any online galleries or link your card at the Skipping Stones Blog. We'll be looking soon for Guest Designers so you never know....

Make sure you leave a comment as there will be blog candy up for grabs!!! I have "Bras Vol. 1" in my stash to be given away!!!

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm the end of the blog hop, so head over to Skipping Stones and get your "fangs" on! Did you see some of the Twihards cards?? Did you notice who joined us for this exciting blog hop??? Jodi Collins!!!! OMG!!!! Now if that isn't stamping royalty I don't know what is.  I love her cards, her blog, her style, it's fantastic!!! I've been talking with Jodi the last couple of days through email and she's convinced me I need to read the books...  Twilight here I come!!!

Live Laugh Love

I was blog surfing today and loved a card that Heather Pulvirenti made for the Fall To Layout Challenge #96 so I decided to play along. If you know me at all, you will know that I am not a CAS girl. I like my layers, my embellishments... I try to avoid white space... But when I see a CAS card, that's what draws me in!! All that white space!!! Crazy I know!!!  So I thought... why not try??  What harm would it do?  This card took about 5 minutes... Now I understand CAS.... It's nice and quick!  I bought this Marigold stamp by Amuse last month at my local stamp store and it's been waiting to see some ink so I brought out my Rose Bud Memento ink and inked away...  I know that with this challenge that the white space of the card should have had multiple images and that the sentiment should have been below the black matting section but you know me... I had to alter the challenge...to make it fit for me. The sentiment is an old one from Daisy Bucket Designs and I think it worked well for this card.  Hope you like it and remember... Live Laugh Love!! It's what life is all about.

You're the Tops

Isn't this mushroom just too cute??? It's from the new set, Mushroom Whimsy from Clear Dollar Stamps. For some reason, mushrooms seems so whimsical lately and wow.. doesn't it fit perfectly with the Cosmo Cricket DP Earth Love?  Talk about a perfect combination! On this card, I did some simple stamping and paper piecing (something I don't do often enough). Each layer of the DP has been dry embossed with some of my Cuttlebug folders, something that I've started doing more often just to add more texture to a card.
Have a great day!!!

I love my flowers

I know, I know... It isn't a card but me just having some fun playing with some pictures I've taken.  Kinda makes me look like a photographer eh? The picture was taken last summer on a trip to Harrison Hot Springs. I think it was a flower in the garden at the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel if I remember correctly.  I played around in Picnik and made it so that only part of the pic was in color. Loving it!!

Take time to smell the flowers!

Want a peek at some great pecs??? Skipping Stones Sneak Peeks

Check it out!!! Skipping Stones Design has come out with two great sets....Who doesn't love a bit of Chocolate??? Or those fabulous pecs on Jacob!!! YUMMY...  But they aren't officially on sale until next week... Want to know how you can get them this week?

Buy 3 sets and get your PREORDER FREE!

That's right get it BEFORE you can buy it!!!! Here is how it works: Purchase ANY three stamp sets available now at Skipping Stones Design. When you are checking out there will be an option to leave a note to the seller. Please leave  a note saying whether you'd like Fangs and Fur OR Chocolate #2 FREE. The Pre order stamps are shipping right now~ONLY with this promotion. I am sorry but you can not buy the single sets until June 29th.
 
Check out what the team has come up with these great sets!! Mine haven't arrived yet but be sure to check out my blog next week where we'll be having a blog hop celebrating this release.  (no card from me today... the last week has been a crazy one and I didn't have a chance to get anything made for today). 
 

Gone Fishin'

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!! Is everyone spending the day outside in the beautiful sunshine?  I made this card a few weeks ago for Clear Dollar Stamps June release and just released I hadn't blogged it yet.  I've given this card to my dad for his birthday.... June is always such a hard month with both a birthday and Father's Day.  I've realized I don't have as many masculine sets as I'd like but this set called Gone Fishin' is great considering my dad, stepdad and husband all love to fish! I've distressed the card using my Cuttlebug embossing folders which I then sanded as well to make it a little rough looking.  The image has been watercolored using my Tombow markers.

Hope you are all having a great day!!

Nothing like a classic car

I was loading some pics onto my computer from my camera tonight... You know you have too many camera cards when you haven't loaded pics that you look last summer!!! I can't take credit for actually taking this pic as it was my husband who took it.  We were in Harrison Hot Springs for my cousins' wedding last summer and this was taken from our hotel balcony pointed in the direction of the store across the street. I played with the pic a bit in Picnik and love what it looks like. I'm considering having this blown up really big. Wouldn't it look great as art?  I sure think so! Great picture taking honey!!!

TSG59 What's up Buttercup?

Have you checked out the TSG blog (There She Goes) today??? If not, head on over.. QUICKLY!! Guess who has the honor of being in the Trendsetting Spotlight today?? ME!!! I was so excited when I got the email on Tuesday that I jumped up and down, did a little happy dance and was thankful that no one was around to see me doing so!  I must have looked silly!!!  This is the card that put me in the spotlight so to speak.  My BFF Kim says she's already cleared a space in her craft room for it!!! 

So in honor of me being in the spotlight, I wanted to make a card for this week's challenge of "Worn, Torn and Distressed" which for me was a real challenge.  I find that my cards are often clean with many layers so to make a card look "dirty" was a task for me I tell ya...  I borrowed the set "What's up Buttercup" from Kim (isn't it great having a friend close by so that you can borrow goodies??).    Attempt #1 started Tuesday night... with my card being tossed across the room (unassembled at this point) as I wasn't happy with anything. I tried sponging around the image and decided to add a second color which only made it worse, hence the card being tossed.

This is card #2 and I'm so much happier with it... although I realized I'm a clean girl when it comes to stamping...  I pulled my inspiration for the Basic Grey Cappella line and then combined it with DP from October Afternoon and Bella Boulevard.  Two of the DP's have been dry embossed with Cuttlebug folders and then sponged over (making it dirty... oh the horrors) with inks to match. I;ve distressed the edges of many of the layers and sponged those as well.   The image has been watercolored with my Tombow Markers (my go to marker... I heart my markers).  I decided to keep the image "clean" to bring out the beauty of the buttercup.

Thank you to the ladies at There She Goes!!! You are all so amazing and I'm in awe of your talent!!!

SSD029 Aloha... Wish you were here....

Aloha.... Wish you were here!!! Me too actually!!!! It's Tuesday so you know what that means... It's Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday and Teri Anderson came up with an amazing sketch this week. It was a challenge though that's for sure.  I wanted to have a bit of fun with my card and our weather has been weird this spring... I know I live on the Wet Coast but come on.... We'd like a little sunshine now and then!  It's a day of sun, a day of rain or we get 10 minutes of sun and 20 minutes of rain and it flips back and forth - kinda like a game of tennis!!!

As soon as I saw this week's sketch I had an idea that I wanted to make a sun out of DP as my backdrop and the blue DP represents the sky.  Nothing too exciting about the sun... just cut a square and then placed a pail (I couldn't find my circle cutters - gee... Is that a sign I need to clean my craft desk???) and cut out the circle. For the sun rays I simply cut squares and then cut them in half and placed them in behind.  I tore up some sandpaper to make the frame which is part of the sketch.  I've watercolored the tree from the set Tropical Birthday with my Tombow Markers and then cut it out and popped it up.  This card was a lot of fun to make.  I like a challenge and that's what Teri gave us this week.

If you like the sketch and want to play, make sure to link it up at Skipping Stones Design or if you place it in an online gallery, use the keywords SSD029.

Thanks and have a wonderful day!!!

SSSC73 Got Porridge???

 How much fun is Porridge the Pig from Sugar Nellie?? He's my first Sugar Nellie and I love how it stamped and will be getting more.  (I bought this one and another at our local stamp store, Crafty Capers garage sale last week).  As soon as I saw Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, I knew exactly what image I had to use.  I bought the DP yesterday so I was itching to use it (Basic Grey and Bella Boulevard DP).  I love the idea of having a "farm animal" combined with such elegant looking paper.  Kinda pretties up Porridge don't ya think?  Loving the expression on his face!! Makes you want to smile!!! I've watercolored the image with my Tombow Markers and tried to keep it a little rustic looking) to match the image. 

Hope you like it!!!   

Let's Chirp

Can you tell I've been on a Clean and Simple kick lately? I'm loving the look of it. I've been finding that my style changes up so much. I go through stages where I have a ton of layers on my cards and other times I want to keep the card nice and crisp looking. This card uses the set called "Tweet Hello" from Clear Dollar Stamps. It's free with a purchase of $50 or you can buy it. I like the fact that CDS is doing this now. It's great!!!

For this card, I made a branch using Chocolate Chip paper and then used my MS Leaf punch to create leaves and added red rhinestones to look like apples. Cute eh? The chicks have been watercolored with my Tombow Markers.

Have a great day and Let's Chirp!!!

Simple Pleasures

I've had so much fun this week just playing with stamps that haven't seen ink in quite some time and playing in new challenges that I haven't had the opportunity to participate in until now. It's so much fun stamping just for stamping sake. I find I'm inspired again and having so much fun. Yeah!!! My mojo is back and I'm loving it!!! I'd made this card for two challenges - CPS 170 (a great place for awesome sketches) and Moxie Fab World - Time to Chillax. I really need to pay more attention and copy down the sketch!!! I realized the scalloped portion should have been facing up rather than down... OOPS!!! I really shouldn't be trying to stamp after a long day at work.

Have you checked out the Moxie Fab Trigger Tuesdays? Each Tuesday they provide an inspiration photo and then you let your creativity flow. MMMM... Check out those popsicles!!! YUMMO!!!

So are you wondering why I chose to use my Cosmobella from Stamping Bella?? Well here's the story... I thought about the name of this week's challenge - Time to Chillax and I got to thinking about what I like to do with friends on a girls night out... and of course we end up having a couple of martinis at a local restaurant. Such a simple pleasure! I've pulled the colors from the inspiration photo and had to use this October Afternoon and Bo Bunny DP in similar tones. I've watercolored the image with my Tombow Markers and kept the card relatively simple.

Hope you like and and remember to take the Time to Chillax!!

MTSC77 and Paper Players- All about the Man...

I've been having so much fun playing with stamps this week - feeling like I'm on a roll and just enjoying making cards for the sake of it. Mercy Kerin of Lord Have Mercy is always a master at sketches and this week is no exception. It was fun - that's for sure. 4 weeks in a row playing along with her challenges. It feels so good to be back in the groove of things. OOPS.... I just realized I made a small mistake on the sketch. Can you tell what it is? I also made this card for a new challenge called Paper Players Challenge who have a weekly challenge and each week has a different theme. This week the challenge was to make a masculine card.... so out came the set Holy Carp by Skipping Stones Design. The image was watercolored with my Tombow Markers as usual. I love this sentiment... Hehehhehe... As soon as I saw this set it had me laughing and this sentiment was begging to be used! "I saw this fish.... and it reminded me of your ex. How much fun to give this card to a friend going through a break up or who just needs a good belly laugh.

TSG58 Embellish - A Beautiful Day

It's been a flower type of week on my blog I've just noticed. I didn't realize this until I made this card and looked back to see my last few cards have been flower related. Must be the weather.... It's finally getting nice! I even spent part of week gardening which for me is huge!! I hate dirt... I'm the black thumb in the family (if there's a plant that's hard to kill I somehow have the ability to kill it). Why my parents trust me to water their garden when they go away, I'm not too sure.

I've made this card using the Poppies set from There She Goes which I borrowed from my BFF, Kim Teasdale. Jodi Collins came up with this amazing sketch on the TSG blog this week and knew I wanted to finally make a card with it. I've had this DP sitting out for a few days since I saw the new Embellish Challenge which is to use Yellow, Coral and Brown as a color combo and for an added twist to use a label on the card (does a tag count?). I sure hope it does!!!

Not trying to toot my own horn here but I really like how this card turned out - from the amazing sketch, the color combo, the texture it makes me smile. I've watercolored the image with my Tombow Markers (part of the image has been left off so that the poppies fit into the circle). I've used some of my Cuttlebug embossing folders to create a bit more texture in the different layers of DP. It always seems to add a little bit of oomph to any card. I'm sad that I'm almost out of this Scenic Route DP (the lattice and poppy layer) - Scenic Route has always been one of my fave papers...


Many wishes to you for a beautiful day.

SSD028 Earth has no Sorrow

It's Tuesday so you know what that means... It's Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday! I've been making more clean and simple cards lately and this week's sketch definitely called for CAS. I love how this card turned out. Teri Anderson has wowed us with some beautiful sketches this month!!! Love them!!! I use my "Go To Sketches" book as a bible!! For this card, I've used the set called Healing Wings. The daughter of my next door neighbor passed away a few days ago so I wanted to make something that would lighten their spirits. The idea for the colors came from a challenge that Embellish had recently which was green, Kraft and black and to use butterflies. Too bad that challenge is over already!! Oh well.

Hope you like my card and have a wonderful day.

Field of Flowers - Moxie Fab Style

Can you believe it?? Me?? I made a one layer card!!! It's not something I do very often at all but when I saw this stamp called Ranunculas Field from Stampendous, I had to have it!!! It wasn't a want... I NEEDED this stamp!! Ranunculas are some of my favorite flowers, they are gorgeous and always come in such wonderful colors. I made a card earlier in the week for the Moxie Fab Trigger Tuesday so I decided to make a second card using the same colors as inspiration. I've watercolored the image with my Tombow markers and then keeping it simple, I added some black sheer ribbon to finish it off.

And that's all there is to it...

SSSC72 Enjoy the Flowers

Wow! What a day!!! It's been stamping goodness in so many ways!!! Why you might ask??? I went to a garage sale at our local stamp store, Crafty Capers, and I scored some amazing finds!!! I bought some Stamping Bella, Sugar Nellie, Unity, some DP, felt flowers, Flower Soft, Maya Road chipboard!! WOWEE!!! It was great!!! And to top it all off, I met a local stamper Patricia Rose (aka kokirose from SCS). Now how exciting was that??? Meeting Patricia was the best part!!! My friend Janice was also at the garage sale so we headed out for lunch afterwards (Thanks Janice!!!) and chatted about card making, stamping, SCS, our addictions!! (all stamping related of course!!!).

Oh wait... you're here to see my card aren't you??? I made this card using Karen Giron's latest sketch, SSSC72. Loving this sketch!. Of course, I had to use one of my new stamps that I bought at the garage sale today "Anise Ketto" from Stamping Bella. I've colored her with my Tombow Markers of course. I did a little bit of dry embossing using some Cuttlebug Folders and there you have it. Hope you like it and thanks for dropping by!

If you knock it will be opened

I made this card using the set called Jesus is Knocking from Clear Dollar Stamps from it's June release. This set also comes with a beautiful door (which I showed during sneak peeks) but I wanted to make something that shows the versatility of the set. I know that the recipient of this card will love it (I love how girly it turned out). I'm such a girly girl.... My inspiration came from the Crate Paper DP that I've had for over a year now. I stamped the sentiment in Rose Red and Versamark and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I also sponged the focal image with Tea Dye Distress Ink. The flourish is one I bought over the Christmas holidays from Michael's. You have to love when you buy something from the "Christmas" collections that you can use all year long!!! The scalloped flower was made with my Scallop Circle Punch and a button placed in the middle.

Bellarific Friday meets Sweet Sketch Sunday meets That's Krafty Thursday

Bellarific Friday meets Sweet Sketch Sunday #71 meets "That's Krafty Thursday". I've been a fan of Karen Giron's Sweet Sketch Sunday but haven't had the opportunity to play until this week. So I decided when I saw this week's Bellarific Friday Challenge to make a summer inspired card that I just had to take the plunge and combine the two challenges. I'll definitely be using Karen's sketches on a regular basis and will be trying to make cards for her challenges. Jeanie Witmer also has what she calls "That's Krafty Thursday" so I decided to incorporate this into my card as well. I've had this Bella since last summer and sadly this is the first time it has seen ink! Crazy I know... I have so many stamps that I don't get the opportunity to use as often as I'd like so while I'm on a summer break from CDS, I plan on getting use out of my un-inked stamps before I'll allow myself to buy more. Now if that isn't incentive to make cards I don't know what is! Who doesn't love new stamps right? For some reason this Bella makes me think of "Itsy bitsy teeny yellow polka dot bikini" so I pulled out some of my Cosmo Cricket yellow polka dotted DP and paired it with some DP from October Afternoon to create a more monochromatic look. I've used bits of color but not too much and I'm loving how it turned out. I decided to add the "sun" (which isn't part of Karen's sketch) to create a bit more interest to finish off my card.

Here's to dreaming of a beautiful summer!!! (now if only I looked like that in a bikini.... To tell you the truth, I hate bathing suits altogether and no - I'm not a nudist!! I'd scare everyone away).

MTSC76 Blooming Happiness

I'm dreaming of Spring!! It's been so wet and rainy here on the West Coast that I needed a bit of sunshine and happiness in my card. I've made my card for Mercy's Sketch Challenge this week (which I ended up turning). Can you believe I'm participating 3 weeks in a row? I'm extremely pleased with myself on that one! I'm patting myself on the back - can you tell? I've also made it for this weeks' Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger. Have you seen it??? Love the colors!!! Can I just say the Hot Pink and Green were also my wedding colors?? Oh how I loved that day. I wanted to keep the card fun and fresh just like the inspiration photo. I'm trying to figure out how to load the inspiration photo into this post as well but haven't got it to work yet.

I had this DP from WeR Memory Keepers sitting out on my coffee table (I was searching for something else and found this one instead) and to me it just screamed Spring and cheer. I've used the Hero Arts sets called Big and Small Flowers for the stem of the flower which I watercolored with my Tombow Markers. I then made a Scalloped Circle Flower which I am still addicted to. I've been seeing the rolled flowers popping up in blog land and will be trying that soon too. These make for such easy quick embellishments. I haven't stamped any sentiment on this card so that I can use it for any occasion. It's always nice to have a spare card on hand for those emergencies when you need a last minute card.

Hope you like it! I'll be back on Friday with a fun card.

SSD027 Mmmm... Starbucks!

WOW! My blog has been busy the last few days with sneak peeks! But a new month is upon us and it's Tuesday so you know what that means!!! It's Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday. Every month we have a new sketch artist and this month is amazing!!! We have stamping and papercraft royalty!! Teri Anderson of Papercrafts!!! WOW!!! How exciting and what a privilege to be working with someone so wonderful!

I've been using Kraft a lot more lately and I love the look of it. So many colors seem to pop from it. The circles inspired me this week (although I realized I left one off - oops!). For some reason, the color of Kraft made me think of the sleeves on a Starbucks cup so out came the set, Funny Coffee and black and green cardstock. This card was fun to make and I love how it turned out - I might have to make a few of them to keep on hand. Maybe even make a few gift card holders...