Tuesday 29 November 2011

Scarlet Crysanthemum

I made this card for a CAS challenge sketch over at Splitcoaststampers - I love the simplicity of CAS cards and this time instead of lots of white space, I went for black space.  I masked a sqaure with post-it-notes before sponging the background, then stamped the flower and sentiment.  The white square is popped up on the cardbase and it's finished off with  a triple wrap of twine and black pearls.  I love this sentiment - sometimes we say we'll pray for someone, but this sentiment lets someone know that we actually already have!
Supplies include:
Gina K Lean on Me
Verve Prayer notes
Twine (The Twinery)
pearls
SU Real Red, Cool Caribbean, Lucky Limeade ink
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Post-it-notes

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Cheery Lynn Wreath

This is a card I made for several Verve challenges on Splitcoaststampers using Cheery Lynn Designs Fanciful Flourish die.  Sandy from Cheery Lynn Designs blog asked if they could use it this week for their "Red and Green" challenge!
I cut up parts of the flourish using various sized leaves and swirly bits and attached them to a circle base which I'd cut using two Nestie circles, one slightly larger than the other.  I used my hot glue gun to adhere them so that I could arrange them with some dimension.  This didn't take as long as it might look, and you could make the wreath thinner or thicker depending on your preference!
This is my favorite flourish die and I love coming up with different ways to use it!
Supplies include:
Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish die
Verve Kind Words
Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles Large, Small
SU Basic Black cardstock
SU dp
My Minds Eye dp
Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap ink
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Butchers twine
gems
copic pen
dewdrops

Monday 21 November 2011

A Silhouette Thankyou


I love the look of a black silhouette against a bright splash of color and in the middle of making Christmas cards, I had the urge to make something fresh and flowery!
I sponged the card base using SU's Certainly Celery and Old Olive, then used a Fiskar's punch to round the corners.  Sweet and Sassy Stamps Wildflowers set works wonderfully to stamp multiple times at different heights across the bottom of a card, whatever the width.  The sentiments are beautiful and I like to use them for thank you cards especially - I added a small row of black pearls as an accent.
The gems in the flower centers are colored with Copic Y95 to match the green. To finish I added some black and white gingham ribbon to pick up on the black of the silhouette.
Supplies:
White Linen cardstock
Gingham ribbon
Sweet and Sassy Stamps Wildflowers
Versafine Black Onyx ink
Pearls
Stampin Up Old Olive, Certainly Celery ink
Gems
Copic
Fiskar's corner Rounder
 

Tuesday 15 November 2011

A Blessing

I needed a quick thank you card for a couple who has given our family a lovely gift so I went with today's color challenge colors at Splitcoaststampers - they're Stampin Up colors, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, and Baja Blue.
I used one of my favorite Sweet and Sassy Stamps sets, Serene Silhouettes and the sentiment is from SNSS's Blessings and Thanks.
I sponged the rectangle while still in the Nestie die with the blue and green and then popped it up on a thin black frame.  The flowers were made with a Martha Stewart punch and I used a small Woodware punch for the butterfly. 
Other Supplies include:
Papermill Shop White Linen cardstock
SU Basic Black cardstock
Ribbon
Pearls
Spellbinders Nestabilities Rectangles
Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Saturday 12 November 2011

Retro Snowman

I had so much fun with this one for today's Inspiration Challenge at Splitcoaststampers - it was based on the website Sally Meekin's Ceramics and I chose a snowman teapot for my inspiration!  Korin at Sweet and Sassy Stamps came out with some new digi's today and I fell in love with this Sketchy Snowman - to match the distressed look of the dp, I sponged all the edges with Ranger Distress ink.  The snowflake and the snowman are both highlighted with Stickles but my photography doesn't seem to pick up sparkles!  Be sure to check out the new digi's at Sweet and Sassy Stamps!
Other supplies include:
Basic Gray Indie Bloom dp
SU Real Red cardstock
ribbon
button
X-cut Nesting dies
Marianne Creatables snowflake die
Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles
Martha Stewart lattice arch punch
Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap ink
Stickles

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Snowflake Flourish

I made this card for today's great sketch callenge at Splitcoaststampers. I've felt like my mojo is missing and my coloring is off recently, so thought I'd go for sponging - I used various Nestabilities for the three panels of the sketch, sponging them while still in the die.  I cut the leaves off from a die-cut using Cheery Lynn Designs Fanciful Flourish, and added snowflakes instead.  The snowflakes are highlighted with Stickles but it isn't showing up in my photo tonight!  I was surprised at how quickly this card came together but just couldn't get a sentiment to fit in a place that pleased me!
Other supplies include:
SU Cool Caribbean ink
Papermill Shop White Linen cardstock
Spellbinders Nestabilities Petite Ovals, Small Rectangles, Small Squares
Pearls
Stickles
Marianne Creatables Snowflake die
Cheery Lynn Designs Fanciful Flourish die

Monday 7 November 2011

Sweet n' Sassy Stamps 4th Birthday Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the SNSS Birthday Blog Hop!  We're celebrating four wonderful years and we're so glad you joined us today!  I've loved working with sweet and gifted Korin and the fabulous team of designers at Sweet n' Sassy Stamps plus getting to know many of the fans who love using SNSS images, sentiments and products!
36 fantastic design team members, both past and present, along with some special friends have put together our hop which will take place over three days, so there's plenty of time to stop and visit each blog.  You have until 11:59 pm EST on November 9th to leave comments on as many blogs as you can.  On Saturday, November 12th, Sweet n' Sassy Stamps will announce FOUR winners which will be chosen at random from comments on random stops along the hop.  Each of the four winners will receive a prize pack including stamps, dies, paper and twine valued at $40!  The more comments the better your chance of winning!

If you've been following along alread you should ahve come from the fantastic blog of Sandy Domelle.
If you're only starting here, you can head back to the SNSS blog and go from there so you don't miss any stops along the way! 

Here's what I created for the hop today:
This was made using a brand new set just released last Thurday called God's Purpose.  I wanted a somewhat CAS look so I left a lot of white space to go with the bright turquoise and red.  The image is colored with copics and cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles.  It's popped up on a lacy oval cut with a Marianne Creatables die.   I went for a simple "thinking of you" sentiment because as far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many cards with that simple but meaningful message!  I used a white gel pen to add highlights to the red berries and a corner rounder for the bottom corners.
Other supplies include:
Buttons
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Echo Park dp
SU Real Red, Tempting Turquoise cardstock
Ribbon
Copics

And in honor of the birthday I'm going to share a card I made back in April while on Splitcoaststampers Dirty Dozen design team - these cards are exclusively for the inspiration of the SCS Fan Club, but because it's a very special occasion I'm making an exception and sharing one of my favorite cards ever using SNSS!

I layered the sentiment strip across the dp before cutting the circle with a Nestie and used Sweet n' Sassy Stamps Tulips Digital Stamp and the sentiment is from their Flower Sentiments digi set.
Other supplies used include:
MFT small scallops Die-namic
Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles, Butterflies Two
Twine
Buttons
My Minds Eye, SU dp
Copics

Thank you so much
for joining the fun today!  Your next stop on the blog is the very talented Ceal Pritchett,  but just in case you should lose your way, here's a whole list of the bloggers celebrating:

Thursday 3 November 2011

Sweet and Sassy Stamps Release Blog Hop


Hello and welcome to the blog hop celebrating Sweet and Sassy Stamps wonderful November Releases!  The Design Diva's and The Digi Team are hopping together today to show the fabulous clear stamps, digi's and dies being released.  Don't forget to join us tonight at 8:00 pm EST on our member company forum at Splitcoaststampers for a great release party including full reveals of the sets, fun challenges and some fab prizes! Once you've visited all the blogs, stop back at the SNSS blog and leave a comment about which of the new sets is your favorite from all you've seen.  There's a fabulous prize up for grabs - all of the November releases worth $130 - that's 6 stamp sets, 3 die sets, and 11 digi's!  Tonight at the release party a random prize winner will be drawn and announced from the comments on the SNSS blog post - we'll see you there!
 So grab a hot drink, get cozy and get ready to be inspired!
                                        
                          Here's a full list of bloggers participating today:

                                                     Sandy Domelle

                                                     Ceal Pritchett

                                                       Mary Faus

                                                      Makiko Jones

                                                    Kim Singdahlsen

                                                       Jessica Fick

                                                   Stephanie Wright

                                                       Dina Kowal

                                                     Holly McMillen

                                                     Carol Longacre

                                                       Taylor Usry

      Cathy McCauley

                                                       Harriet Skelly

                                                       Monika Davis

                                                    Korin Sutherland

                                                        SNSS Blog

If you're following along, you'll have arrived from Margo's blog.                                                        
                                                                        
Here's what I created for the hop today:

This set is called God's Purpose and includes two Scripture verses and three sentiments including the ever useful "Thinking of You".  I colored the image with copics and added a touch of stickles on the upper side of the red berries.  The doily is cut with Cheery Lynn Designs French Pastry doily die which you can find at Sweet and Sassy Stamps!  The seam binding is from Stampin Up and the dp is from Kaisercraft and SU.  Other supplies include button, string, Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles, and Memento Tuxedo Black ink.


This card was created with the fun set Cozy Friends which includes this cute penguin and a sweet polar bear image!  It also has four holiday sentiments.  I have to tell you this one was so fun to color!  You could cut it out with your Spellbinders circles but I found it easy and quick to use scissors.  You can find twine from The Twinery at Sweet and Sassy stamps.   Other supplies include dp from Echo Park and My Minds Eye, buttons, Dizzy Doily Die-namic from My Favorite Things, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and copics.

Thanks so much for stopping by, enjoy the hop, and your next stop is the very talented



Tuesday 1 November 2011

Masked Mosaic

Over at Splitcoaststampers it's Teapot Tuesday and the Color Challenge and this card is my attempt for both.  The teaparty cards will go to a fellow SCS friend going through a difficult time, and we were asked to have a try at creating a mosaic - I masked a mosaic with post it notes, sponged with various inks, and then did my stamping.  The little dots were done with a stamp from Rubber Stamp Tapestry.  The color challenge colors were SU's Always Artichoke, More Mustard, and Bravo Burgundy, though I had to substitute with the green and gold  I was lucky to have just the right buttons to match for the finishing touch.
Supplies include:
Versfine Onyx Black ink
SU Old Olive, Real Red, Bravo Burgundy
Ranger Distress Scattered Straw 
Buttons 
Stamps:
Stampendous
Rubber Stamp Tapestry