Dies and Dies and Dies, Oh My!

I have been soooo busy, like everyone I am sure, for the past few weeks getting ready for the holidays, then enjoying time with family.

This card is my first card of 2009, and it completes two challenges.

Kristina's Colour challenge



And Sharon Johnson's "New Toys" challenge

I got a Big Shot for Christmas and I couldn't wait to play with it!!

This card has no stamping at all, and I don't love it, but I *do* love that I now have a die cut machine to play with.



The white scalloped circle is sponged with Pretty in Pink ink, and the edges are dragged in the same ink to make the bumps more prominent.



I absolutely need to spend more time playing with my Big Shot, but I had such a blast just cutting out different shapes.

I will be back with a new card using Lauren's sketch on Saturday, if not before!

Thanks for stopping by.

Pink challenge *3

WOW!! I have been so busy with work and all of my volunteer activities, and it seems like FOREVER that I have had the time to stamp. So, in order to get my mojo flowing again, I used some challenges so that most of the thinking was done for me.

This card actually fulfills *three* separate challenges! First, Lauren's Saturday Sketch, second, Kristina's Colour challenge, and third, the Limited Supply Challenge on SCS.




Here is the sketch:



here are the colours:



And the SCS Limited supply challenge was to use a leaf stamp or punch, and include pink somewhere on your card.

I think my card fulfilled all of these challenges!



The card base is made with Purely Pomegranate paper (SU, retired). The first layer of "paper" is a paper towel dyed with some diluted ink, and crumpled to add a distressed look. The leaves are stamped in Pixie Pink, Rose Red, and Pink Passion using the maple leaf from Autumn Fest (SU, retired) It's hard to tell, but the leaves are stamped on pink designer paper from SU.

I chose the sentiment because all of the leaves are maple leaves, and being canadian, that is a source of pride for me. The sentiment comes from The Great Canadian Stamp Set from CHF.



I wanted to keep the distressed feeling that often comes with falling leaves and autumn, so I distressed all of the edges of the punched pieces. I even dragged the sentiment block over my Purely Pomegranate ink pad.

I hope you will play along with the challenges, particularily Lauren's sketch challenge! You can find even more inspiration for Lauren's Saturday Sketch by visiting the rest of the sketch team.


Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Thoughts of you

Beate is one of the all time superstars in the papercrafting industry, and after a summer hiatus she is back with a weekly sketch challenge. I combined Beate's sketch with Kristina's colour challenge to come up with this card.



Unfortunately the photo isn't very good because it is raining and overcast here so I couldn't get a good natural light shot.

Here is the sketch I worked with.



And here is Kristina's colour inspiration.



She said we could use any colour of our choice as the accent, but I took the stool as my cue and used Purely Pomegranate. I may have used too much colour, but I tried and tried to stamp a rose in grey and black but it didn't turn out.



I still think that the black and grey are the focus, but the Pomegranate rose and ribbon add a nice pop. The rose is stamped using Maria's fabulous multi-step Kitchen Sink Stamps. I have no idea how she gets them to look so realistic, but they are GREAT!

Colour Combo Challenge

It has once again been a while since I have updated my blog. I am still creating, but I don't always take the time to upload my photos.

Kristina's colour challenge kicked my butt into gear this week to get something posted.

The inspiration came from this photo from West Elm.



I didn't use any of the design elements as inspiration, but I did use most of the colours.



This card base is 41/4 by 51/2 Old Olive with the fold at the top. Then I have Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, and Very Vanilla layers each 1/4 of an inch smaller.

The image is stamped in both Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip to create a bit of a shadow.

The flowers are stamped with Taken with Teal, and I had some primas that fit with the colour and shape perfectly, so I added those too.



I used Stardust Stickles in the centres of all of the flowers (stamped, and primas). The ribbon is the 5/8 Old Olive grosgrain from Stampin Up. I wanted to include a sentiment, but It just didn't fit on the card.

Challenging Colour Challenge

I don't know how I found Kristina Werner, but I *LOVE* her Make a Card Monday videos, and I have been following her blog for about a month or so. Recently she started posting colour challenges, and this is the first one that I have completed.

The combo came from this photo from Pier One.

Translated into SU colours we have Orchid Opulence, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Basic Black and Whisper White.

I found this colour combo to be particularly hard because I don't like Orchid Opulence. It's not a colour I use very often, and it's the only colour in which I haven't bought a full pack of paper.

I knew I wanted to use one of my new sets from the Occasions Mini, so I chose Tart and Tangy since the orange could be pumpkin pie, and the cherries, or the strawberry would look good in rose red.

This is a very plain card for me, but I really struggled with the colours, and didn't know what else to add.



The sentiment is from the rub ons also available in the Occasions Mini.