CCMC 157

Hello everyone! It's Thursday and time for another wonderful challenge from the ladies at Create with Connie and Mary! This week they are challenging us with a wonderful sketch! Check it out:

And here is what I came up with:

I know! It isn't Christmas or anywhere close to being Christmas but this is what popped into my head right away when I saw this sketch! I think this sketch is just super! I also knew that I wanted to use some new product because the new catalog goes LIVE tomorrow!!! Anyway, I started with a card base of Crumb Cake. The next two layers are Cherry Cobbler on top of Early Espresso with Crumb Cake seam binding around that and then glued to the card. Then I have a panel of Very Vanilla in which I stamped the greeting from Pennant Parade in Cherry Cobbler on. I also cut a strip of Always Artichoke and notched one end and glued it to the Very Vanilla piece. This panel is popped up. Then I took some scrap Vanilla to stamp my trees and pots on. The trees are stamped in Always Artichoke and the pots in Early Espresso. Stampin' Up! was so wonderful to provide a punch to punch out the trees! It is the new Pennant builder punch! I did have to cut the pots out myself. The pots were glued flat to the Vanilla panel but I popped the trees up. The last thing I did was to add two little rhinestones underneath the greeting. And there you have it! 

I encourage you to go and see what the other designers came up with! Visit the Create with Connie and Mary site to view their projects. Then be sure to go and create your own project using all Stampin' Up! products and this sketch! I always love to see what you come up with! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!


Card Recipe: Stamps- Pennant Parade; Paper- Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke; Ink- Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso; Accessories- Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, basic rhinestones, pennant builder punch, dimensionals

PPA 98

Good morning everyone! I have to make this fast so I can get ready. We are headed to Wichita to meet my sister and her kiddos for lunch. We are also going to stop at a few stores to have a look. That won't be a favorite part for Nick but he will have to adjust!! Supposed to be another hot one! And my hubby told me that it was especially hot at home yesterday! 

Today's card was inspired by a sketch at Pals Paper Arts. It is an older sketch but I really liked it and wanted to try it out. I do like the way my card turned out, too! I like the way black looks on here! And it is hard to tell, but there are little white gel pen highlights on the circle. Super simple! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- My Friend; Paper- Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink- Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black; Accessories- Pear Pizzazz poly twill ribbon, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, white gel pen, dimensionals

A Hostess Sneak Peek

Good morning, Friends! We made it safe and sound to my parents' house yesterday afternoon! It felt good to not be driving! It is supposed to be quite warm around here so I am not sure exactly what we will do today. Probably stay inside to stay cool!

Today's card is a simple one that is nothing special. I do like the way it turned out, though. I used the new hostess set called Simply Soft. I stamped the outline flower twice and colored them with markers. Then I wanted to create a soft outline around the images so I took my Sahara Sand marker and drew around the images. Then I took my blender pen to try and blend it all together. Well, it didn't quite work the way I wanted but I liked the effect just the same. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!


Card Recipe: Stamps- Simply Soft, Curvy Verses; Paper- Crumb Cake, Basic Black; Ink- black StazOn, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder; Accessories- black brads, blender pen, dimensionals

FTL 146

Good morning, Friends! I am typing this from my hotel room. Soon we will be up and at 'em to drive another six hours to my parents house. Nothing exciting but Nick is excited to get there! It has been two years since we have been there for the Fourth of July. I was able to get a lot of stamping done before we left so I could post cards while I was gone. And I used a lot of new product! I did pack some stamping stuff to take to my parents, so we will see if I can create anything this week.

Today's card was inspired by the sketch at Clean&Simple. This sketch is the current one. I do like the way it turned out but boy, was it time consuming! First I stamped the doilies and then colored them and then cut them out! I just love this new In Color, Wisteria Wonder! It is such a pretty purple!! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Delicate Doilies, Happiest Birthday Wishes; Paper- Wisteria Wonder, Basic Black, Whisper White, Flirtatious designer paper; Ink- black StazOn, Wisteria Wonder; Accessories- silver brads, dimensionals

FTL 145

Good morning everyone! Here we are at the last week of June! I really hate to remind my son, but the summer is already 1/3 of the way over. I think he has been enjoying it, though! And a reminder to all of you that this is the last week (up through Thursday) that you can order off the retiring list! If there is something you want be sure to give me a shout! I am really studying the new catalog to figure out what I will be ordering first! Too many things I want!!

Anyway, here is a card that I made using the sketch from Clean&Simple. It is actually last week's sketch but I liked it and wanted to try it. I am not completely happy with how it turned out but it's o.k. I will have to try this sketch again and do it a little differently. The greeting is from a new hostess set. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Delicate Doilies, Happiest Birthday Wishes; Paper- Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Flirtatious designer paper; Ink- Melon Mambo; Accessories- basic pearls, Perfect Pennants die, 1 3/4" circle punch, dimensionals

Sneak Peek - Hostess

Good morning, Friends! I can't believe this is the last weekend of June! Nick and I will be leaving on Sunday to go to my parents house in Kansas! Nick is so excited! And so am I! His baseball team wants to do a scrimmage on Sunday, too, and Nick wants to play in that. So, right after it is over, we will leave and drive part way. The best of both worlds! Anyway, then on Friday, Pat will fly out to meet us and then we will all drive home on the 4th so that Pat can get back to work on Tuesday. It will be a quick trip but a very fun one! Nick is excited about doing the fireworks out there. Kansas has way better ones than Colorado - lol! The other exciting part is that my dad is retiring and we are having his party at the same time! Way to go Dad!!

Today's card was inspired by my friend, Becky. She had done one almost exactly like this for card class. I changed up the color a bit and the stamps. This stamp comes from the new hostess set called Simply Soft. I really love this set and you will be seeing more. The stamp is actually an outline stamp but I colored it all in with a marker to make it look like a solid image. I am very pleased with the outcome! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Simply Soft, Three Little Words; Paper- River Rock, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla; Ink- River Rock, Not Quite Navy, Accessories- basic pearls, acrylic block (background for focal image), sponge, dimensionals

SFF 062411

Good Friday morning! I still can't believe that this is the last weekend of June! Boy did it fly by! Today we have another sketch for you all from the Sketch Frenzy Friday team! Take a look:

This week's sketch comes from Kim Innis. I have to admit that this sketch really stumped me! I guess that means that I was really challenged!! I don't know if I am completely happy with my card but here is what I finally came up with:

I started with a card base of Pretty in Pink. Then I took a piece of Pretty in Pink and ran it through the Big Shot using the lattice die. I put two pieces of Melon Mambo squares behind the lattice and glued it all down. I punched a scallop circle in Whisper White and popped it up on the card. Then I stamped the flower image from Fabulous Florets in Melon Mambo onto Pretty in Pink cardstock and cut it out. I stamped the leaves from the same set in Old Olive onto Certainly Celery cardstock and cut them out, too. The flower is popped up as well. The 'thanks' (from Thank You Kindly) is stamped in Melon Mambo. My final touch was to add a pearl to the flower center.

And there you have it! Time to move along on our mini blog tour to see what Jennifer has come up with. Click here to go to her blog. And be sure to create your own project and upload it to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog so we can all see! I do hope you will find time to play this week! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Fabulous Florets, Thank You Kindly; Paper- Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Whisper White; Ink- Melon Mambo, Old Olive; Accessories- lattice die, basic pearls, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, dimensionals

CCMC 156

Good morning everyone! Are you ready for another fabulous Thursday challenge from Create with Connie and Mary? This week they are challenging you with color! Check out these fantastic colors:

The challenge colors are Tangerine Tango, Tempting Turquoise, and Old Olive. Don't they look yummy together? Here is what I came up with:

I really like how my card came out! I actually copied it from the brand new Idea Book & Catalog! I did have to change the stamps and I did use different colors but the rest is pretty much the same! I started with a card base of textured Tempting Turquoise. Then I took my sponge dauber and my Very Vanilla craft pad and sponged the middle area. Isn't that cool? To that I added a strip of Newsprint designer paper which I punched one side with the scallop trim punch. I cut a strip of Tangerine Tango and notched one end and glued that to the dsp. For my focal point I cut a piece of Old Olive and stamped the stem from Fabulous Florets in Old Olive (I stamped off once to make it a little lighter). I stamped the flower in Tangerine Tango on Very Vanilla and cut it out. This is popped up on the stem. Then I stamped the greeting from Happy Greetings in Basic Black. For the final touches, I rounded the top right corner and popped up the panel onto the card. There you have it!

Be sure to visit the Create with Connie and Mary website to see what the other fabulous designers came up with! I do hope you will find time to play along this week. I love to see what you all come up with! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Happy Greetings, Fabulous Florets; Paper- Tempting Turquoise, Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango, Newsprint designer paper; Ink- Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Very Vanilla; Accessories- scallop trim border punch, corner rounder, sponge dauber, dimensionals

Flirty Friend

Good morning, Friends! My oh my! I have been trying for over an hour to get this picture to load! Why do computers make our lives so miserable! I mean, if it worked a certain way yesterday, why wouldn't it work the same way today? But NO! I finally got the picture to load through HTML. UGH!! Anyway, here it is. It actually took me less time to make this card than to load the picture!

I got this layout idea from a magazine but I think that I had made a card similar to it before. I just love how this layout shows off the designer paper. This designer paper will be available in the new catalog! I also used the new Perfect Pennants die! I love the scallop circles on this die! And it is hard to see, but I did use a stamp from the new Delicate Doilies stamp set (it is stamped in Pink Pirouette behind the greeting - very lightly). Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Happy Greetings; Paper- Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Flirtatious designer paper; Ink- Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette; Accessories- Whisper White organza ribbon, Perfect Pennants die, 1 3/4" circle punch, scallop edge border punch, corner punch, basic rhinestones, dimensionals

More Sneak Peeks!

Good morning, Friends! What a lovely day it will be around here! I do believe it will be very summer like around here! Now I will be wishing we had a pool - lol! Oh well. Staying indoors with air conditioning and my stamps is just as good! I was up very early this morning. I felt a migraine coming on and wanted to "nip it in the butt" before it got too bad. And then since I was up I thought I would try to put together a very quick card to show you. In a little while I have to wake up my son to get him ready for basketball camp. That won't be fun! But he did say he had a great time yesterday!

Today's card is a very quick and easy card. I got the idea from a magazine that I bought recently. Of course I had to put the Stampin' Up! spin on it but I really like how it turned out! And I liked that I could use some of my new products!! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- My Friend; Paper- Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White; Ink- Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip; Accessories- Chocolate Chip scallop dots ribbon, Tasteful Trim die, 5/8" white brad, dimensionals

Sneak Peek!!

Good Monday morning, Friends! Wow!! Are we really in the latter part of June? Because it is rainy and dreary and very cool! Now I really don't mean to complain but this is really odd! We got home late last night. The last game did not end the way we wanted. The other team scored in the last seconds of the game and it seemed to be that they should have had an off-sides call but it was never made. So we lost 1-0. Still the boys should be proud of their accomplishments. They played teams that were at least a step up (if not two) from their division! So now we start another week and I have to wake Nick up early for basketball camp. Yeah, he will not be a happy camper - lol!

So today's card was one that I was trying to work up for a swap that I am in. This one did not make the cut, but I still liked it. So I thought I would start showing some new stamps this week to get you all excited about the upcoming catalog to debut on July 1! Thanks for stopping by and have a super week!

Catalog Recipe: Stamps- Delicate Doilies, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper- Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Flirtatious designer paper; Ink- Melon Mambo, Wisteria Wonder; Accessories- Perfect Pennants die, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, word window punch, silver brad, dimensionals

Krafty Flowers

Good Sunday morning, Friends! And Happy Father's Day! I don't know how many men read my blog but I'll throw it out there anyway. The soccer game ended in a tie yesterday and that was so exciting!! You see, this team we played yesterday was a team we lost to last fall 6-1. I say that we surprised them!! Anyway, it was a super great game and the boys fought hard and now we will play again this afternoon and then be on our way home! I am ready to be home.

Today's card was inspired by a magazine that I bought recently. I saw that the person had used a stamp on Kraft paper and colored it. I had to alter mine to keep it all Stampin' Up! but I do like the way it turned out and I would like to try the idea again. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- On the Grow; Paper- Crumb Cake; Ink- black StazOn, Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake; Accessories- basic rhinestones, corner rounder, sponge, dimensionals

Misty Monochromatic

Good morning, Friends! I hope you are having a great weekend! We are in Boulder at a soccer tournament and we have one early game today and then the rest of the day is free! Nick and I came over on Thursday and the team played two games yesterday. They lost their first one and won their second. The team we play today is really good so we will see what they can do! Regardless, it is fun to be out of town! They will have one more game tomorrow and then we will be back home for another week. I can't believe that June is almost over!!

Today's card is the third one I did with my stamp club this month. It is a super simple card but monochromatic always produces such elegant results! I really like how it turned out! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Strength & Hope, Thank You Kindly; Paper- Very Vanilla; Ink- Marina Mist; Accessories- Marina Mist narrow taffeta ribbon, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, scallop edge border punch, basic rhinestones, corner rounder, dimensionals

SFF 061711

TGIF everyone! It's time for another sketch challenge at Sketch Frenzy Friday! This week's sketch comes from Jennifer Weide! And what a wonderful sketch it is! I had a lot of fun with this one! Take a look:

And here is what I came up with:

I just love clean and simple sketches like this one! So versatile and so many possibilities! I finally decided to pull out the Bold Blossoms set. I have loved this set so dearly. And it works beautifully with the new Blossoms Bouquet triple layer punch! So I started with a card base of a new In Color, Island Indigo. Then I put a piece of Daffodil Delight that I ran through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. For the focal point I stamped the stems from Bold Blossoms in another new In Color, Lucky Limeade and then layered the Whisper White onto a piece of Lucky Limeade and then popped this up onto the card. Then I used the Blossoms Bouquet triple layer punch to punch layer one in Island Indigo and layer three in Daffodil Delight. The two layers are glued together and a 5/16" white brad is in the middle. Then I popped the flowers up on the stems. The last thing I did was to stamp the greeting in the lower right hand corner in Island Indigo. I am really liking these colors together!

So now is the time to send you on to see the rest of the team and see what they all came up with. Click 'here' to see what Jennifer came up with! And then be sure to upload your creation to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog so we can all see and be inspired by you! I can't wait to see what you do! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Bold Blossoms; Paper- Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White; Ink- Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade; Accessories- Blossoms Bouquet triple layer punch, 5/16" white brads, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, dimensionals

CCMC 155

Hello everyone! Are you ready for another great Thursday challenge from Create with Connie and Mary? This week we are being challenge with a sketch. Take a look:

And here is what I finally came up with:

As you can see, I altered the sketch just a bit. But it is all still there! I used the Medallion stamp in place of the half top note shape in the sketch. And I used a tag in place of the circle focal point. I did keep the wide striped ribbon. I love that stuff!! Anyway, I stamped the Medallion in Basic Black on Very Vanilla cardstock and mounted that onto a piece of Basic Black cardstock. I wrapped a piece of Basic Black striped ribbon around this and used some Very Vanilla narrow taffeta ribbon to tie a black button on one end. This panel gets popped up onto the Very Vanilla card. Then I took some Basic Black cardstock and die cut a tag from Lots of Tags sizzlet. I stamped the greeting from the Happy Greetings set on Very Vanilla cardstock in Basic Black ink and punched it out with the wide oval punch and glued it to the center of the tag. The tag is then popped up on the card. And that's it! Super simple! The hardest part was cleaning off my Medallion stamp - lol!

Now it's your turn! Go to the Create with Connie and Mary website and see what the other designers came up with. They always have such wonderful ideas and ways to interpret the sketch! Then create your own project using the sketch and upload it to their site so we can all see! I just love seeing what you all come up with! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Medallion, Happy Greetings; Paper- Very Vanilla, Basic Black; Ink- Basic Black; Accessories- Basic Black striped ribbon, lots of tags sizzlets, neutrals buttons, Very Vanilla narrow taffeta ribbon, wide oval punch, dimensionals