Raspberry Suite Colour Challange

I am totally *in love* with Dawn McVey's bright and unique colour combinations, and every week she posts her Raspberry Suite colour challenge, but this is the first time I have played along.



Dawn gave us this wonderful photo, and the colours above. And here is the card that I made.



I chose Pixie Pink as my bright pink, and Bravo Burgendy as my dark red.

It's hard to tell, with all the sponging, but the Bubble Gum Tree image is stamped on cream cardstock and the base is also made of cream cardstock.



I added Prima flowers, dew drops, and crystal effects to add dimension to the various parts of the tree. The tree trunk is sponged with burgundy, and the background is sponged with Certainly Celery.



The ribbons are a cream grosgrain from Stampin' Up, and a burgundy velvet ric rac from May Arts, purchased from one of Jody's previous ribbon sales.

Saturday Sketch!

I am back with another of Lauren's FABULOUS sketches.

Here is the sketch.



And here is my card



I used the Chocolate Chip designer series paper from SU for the background. I used a brayer to add the pink to the paper. I am totally in love with pink and chocolate brown!

The stamp, and the smaller brown and pink paper are all from the Kim Hughes collection, available at CHF.



The felt flowers are from the accents and elements kit from SU. The brads are covered with pink perfect pearls because I didn't have any pink brads. I went over the "love", the bird's wing, and some of the flowers on the background with my clear spica glitter pen. It is really sparkly!

Be sure to check out the rest of the sketch team, including Lauren's blog for her changes for the upcoming sketches.

Lauren
McKenzie
Dawn
Maria
Kendra
Kirsten
Kristy


Also, I missed last weekend because I was busy with Easter, so I whipped something up for that sketch as well. I really don't like my card, and I hope to have time to do another one this weekend to vindicate myself with this sketch.



It didn't really turn out as I envisioned. I thought the flowers would be more white, and not so clear. In order to make them stand out more, I drew around them with a white pencil crayon.



The sentiment is also hand written with a white pencil crayon. Then it looked kind of bland, so I added some doodles, but my doodles are not too good, and now it looks very amateurish. I am going to *try* to fix this card, but I am not holding out too much hope.

Sketch from the past!

If you read Lauren's blog you know that she had some SUPER exciting news last week, and has been really busy with family commitments, so there isn't a new sketch for this week. What we have decided is to do a recap of our favourite sketches. This will become a regular feature of the sketch challenge participants.

I have chosen a sketch I missed from a few weeks ago. I hoped to have two cards done, but time got away from me. I do have another image coloured, but I am in meetings all day so I don't know if it will get up today or not.




I have been participating in a fantastic image swap for Canadians on SCS, and this Bride to be image is one I got from the swap. If you are Canadian you should check it out.

My sister is getting married this August, and her colours are pink and chocolate brown, so that is where I drew my inspiration for this card.



I just opened a new bottle of crystal effects, and I cut the hole to big, so the CE came out of the bottle too quickly and the glossy-ness of the work bride turned into the messiness of the word bride. I really like the way the glitter flowers turned out though, and I think I may reproduce this card before her shower this summer.



Please visit the rest of the sketch crew to see which sketches they chose to reproduce.


Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weimen
Kendra Wisenbaker

Hip Hop Hangover

First off, I must say that I am *trying* to work out some photography issues with my cards. I generally craft at night, and don't have natural light to work with, so I have been playing withe the white balance on my camera trying to get decent photos. I don't think I am there yet, but I will keep trying.

The first card is one that was created to fulfill the I {heart} Unity challenge that Jeanne posted during Hip Hop yesterday. This is the only love or heart stamp I have from unity.



I stamped the So & so loves stamp on watercolour paper using brown staz-on ink. Then I watercoloured the image using the watercolour wonder crayons from Stampin' Up! I wet my brush and picked up the colour from the crayons. This is my first ever attempt at watercolouring using the crayons, and I think it went okay.

The second challenge is a birthday card for Ms. Unity herself, the fabulous Angela!



This card uses the fantastic Cocktail Party set. The beverages are stamped with basic black ink, and coloured with SU markers. The "shadow" was created by colouring on a plastic case with a blue marker, then water colouring it on the image.



I rarely do anything inside my cards, but this seemed appropriate.

The lanterns at the top are stamped on velum, and embossed with black embossing powder. I then coloured them with SU markers, and used a wet brush to dilute the colour. They are cut out, and attached on pop dots.



You can kind of see the pop dots through the lanterns, but I don't mind it.

If you haven't already been there, make sure you visit Angela's blog to get the list of all of the Hip Hop Hangover participants.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for my contribution to Lauren's sketch challenge.

Let me know what you think of these cards. I love to hear what's on your mind.

Valentine's for a cause

I am sure many of you have heard that the stamping community is trying to collect 1000 valentines to send to the Children's Hospital in Detroit. I am a regular reader of Julie's blog, and this post explains how her mom regularly donates cards to the hospital, and how YOU can get involved in this campaign.

There's also an opportunity to win blog candy!
Check out these blogs for more information.

This is my first card to donate, and it also follows Lauren's Saturday sketch.





This card uses all SU product (except the dew drop), although I think all of it is probably retired. The heart and flower stamp was stamped on the same light pink paper that I used for the larger background piece, then it was embossed with clear embossing powder. The paper was sponged with Pomegranate ink (love that colour), and the embossing resisted the ink. I then traced over the heart with stickles to add some bling.



Be sure to check out all of the members of the sketch team for more amazing inspiration.


Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weimen
Kendra Wisenbaker

Quick Card, Quick Post

This was a super quick card, and will be a really quick post as I am out the door for meetings all day.

Here is the sketch that Lauren gave us.



She also gave a few instructions. The flowers are meant to be any flourish, and the vertical piece is hanging ribbon or cardstock.

Here is the card that I came up with.



I am in Christmas mode trying to get all of my Christmas cards ready to put in the mail within the next week. This card came together REALLY quickly. Under 15 minutes. That must be some sort of record for me. DH even commented when I showed him the completed card "wow, that was fast".

I love making holiday cards that don't use traditional colours, and I wanted to use some of that luscious Chocolate Chip satin ribbon. The snowflake is a plastic ornament that came in a package of 25 for a dollar at Dollarama. What a bargain!



As always, please check out the rest of the sketch challenge team. And we would love to have you play along.

Keep in mind the sketch is just inspiration to get you going, you don't have to follow it exactly.

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.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/

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/

Back on track with Lauren's Sketch Challenge

Last week I missed out on Lauren's sketch challenge because I had so much going on. This week though, I needed a thank you card for a friend that hosted a party at her house on Friday night, so I used Lauren's sketch as the inspiration. It's kind of hard to see, but this is a regular sized card, with a white background in the sketch.



I actually had some troubles with this sketch because I wanted to tie all the pieces together, but I didn't want to stamp too much because I was in a bit of a hurry. The paper from Stampin' Up! was the perfect solution. The colours all go together, and the only stamping is the "thank you" from Kim Hughes' set U R a Hoot.




I am realizing more and more that I *love* Purely Pomegranate paper, and I wish I would have ordered more before it was retired.

Please check out the great creations of all of the other members of the sketch team, and if you upload to SCS or any other online galleries, use the keyword mytimess05.

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/

Have a Hoot!

I love Beate's sketches, and I am glad that I had the time to get one in today. A friend of mine is having a birthday party tonight, and he is a bird watcher, so I pulled out my Out on a Limb and Wise Owl stamps from PTI to create a birthday card.

Here is Beate's sketch,


but in order to use the branch more effectively, I turned the sketch 90 degrees so that it looks like this.


I stamped the branch in chocolate chip, then the owl, also in chocolate chip on kraft cardstock. I masked the owl, then stamped the leaves in Really Rust. I pulled the colours from the paper, and think that they work really well for a masculin card.



If you play along, be sure to include the keyword WSC57 so that it can be easily found in any online galleries.

Cherry sketch

This will be a really quick post. as I am trying to clean my craft room today.

Here is Lauren's sketch for this week.



And here is my card.



Again, if you want to play along, please leave a comment here, or on Lauren's blog. Or, if you upload to an online gallery, use the KEYWORD mytimess03 .

And, be sure to check out all of the other talented ladies that have made cards for Lauren's sketch.

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/

Birthday Blues

Once again it's time for Lauren's sketch challenge. This time, I had to make a gift for a friend of mine who is just starting out as a teacher. I made the gift first, and then the card, so that is how I will show them here :)

Lauren is a big believer in gift sets, so she was part of my inspiration for this gift. I wanted something fairly quick to make, and not too "girlie" since the recipient isn't into bows or glitter so I focussed on using graphic elements and only one colour.



I took 10 sheets of regular printer paper and cut it in half to have 20 sheets of 5.5 * 8.5. I then stamped the circles from Shapes by Design in Brilliant blue along the long side. This is one of my favourite "go to" sets when I want a graphic element and not an image. I stamped the same image on the left side of 10 envelopes to coordinate them.

The pen is one I bought at the dollar store that fit well with the colour scheme. I also added some stamps and some envelope seals.



I wanted to use some small metal tins with clear covers, but the only ones I had were the wrong size, and there isn't a Lee Valley in Regina, so I went on a search at the dollar store to see if I could find a container that would work. I took my tape measure and it didn't matter what was in the container, as long as it was the right size. I ended up getting coloured staples in these containers.



There were five different colours for $1.00, so I got five containers, and used 4 of them. Two have regular domestic stamps, one has international stamps, and the fourth has non-traditional envelope seals in it.

The seals (see photo above) are cut to 1 * 1.75 from a printable sticky label that is a full sheet size, and stamped with the initials of the recipient, LF. To finish them off, I sponged them with Brilliant Blue Ink.

After making this gift, I wanted the card to also have some graphic elements and not be too busy so that it would coordinate.



This is Lauren's sketch, and here is my card.



The paper is from the Azure paper pack from Stampin' Up!, and the sentiment is stamped using Just Right stamps in Brilliant Blue onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I had originally tried the sentiment with white paper, but it was too stark on the card, and the vanilla blended in much better. The buttons were a last minute addition because the card looked too plain without them. As much as I wanted the card to be somewhat basic, and not too busy, I didn't want it to be boring ;)

All in all I think the card and gift set look good together and I am quite pleased with them.




Please check out other cards made by the other members 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/

Also, if you want to participate, we would love to see your card! Add a link in the comment section, and if you want to upload to SCS, visit Lauren's blog for the keyword so that we can find your great creations.

Bleach, bleach and more bleach

Gina K releases new stamp sets every month, and there is a party in the forum at SCS. This month I was busy when the sets were released, and I almost forgot all about the sketch challenges that coincide with the release. So, I put my butt in gear, and completed three challenge cards this morning to try and get them in under the deadline.

The first one I did was a sketch from the fabulous Erika Martin.



I actually used quite a bit of Erika's influence on this card. I created an "ink pad" with paper towels and some bleach, and stamped the flowers from tag, you're it on real red cardstock using the bleach. I waited to see what colour would appear, and used that as my card base. I also swiped my red panel across the bleach pad after distressing the edges to add some more depth and a more distressed look.



The frame, and Thanks are also from tag, you're it and are stamped in real red on barely banana cardstock. The prima flower was yellow, and I wet it, then traced around the petals with my red Stampin' Up marker and let the colours bleed together.

You can find all of the cards made using this sketch here.

Bella Birthday

My cousin moved away from home a couple of months ago for the first time to get a "real job" and her birthday was on Tuesday last week, so I sent her this card.





I paper pieced the dress, top and pants and coloured in the rest with SU markers. The charm and stamp are from Stamping Bella. I only realized now, as I am posting this on my blog, that I didn't take a close up shot of the paper piecing to show you how it looks.

I don't think I have ever used Groovy Guava paper before, but I like the way it works with the Purely Pomegranate designer paper.

I also purchased a Tim Horton's gift card and created a gift card holder using my slit punch and stuck it inside the card.

It's never too early to make Christmas cards

The FABULOUS Lauren Meader posts a sketch challenge every Saturday, and I think this is the first one I have actually done. I *love* reading Lauren's blog not only because she is an amazingly talented designer, but also because of the emotion that goes into every post, and the way she draws people into her world.

Here is the sketch from this week.



You can find Lauren's card here.

I decided it is never too early to make Christmas cards, and I had these cute snowflake brads that would work instead of buttons, so here is my blue snowflake card.



The card base is Soft Sky, the matting is Night of Navy, and the one inch strip is Brilliant Blue. I stamped the snowflakes in Versamark, and embossed with white embossing powder. Then I sponged on ink in all three colours on the card (Sky, Navy and Brilliant Blue). I used a tissue to polish the paper, and remove the ink from the embossed images.



When I was photographing my card I noticed that this sketch also looks really good turned sideways.

Thanks for stopping by! If you try this sketch make sure you post a link on Lauren's blog.

Thanks

Every Friday Amy R posts a sketch, and this week I not only had time to play along, but a need make a Thank You card. I am on the community association board in my neighbourhood, and this year we had two board members step down after very long contributions to the association.
This is the first card I made. The second one will go up in a few hours as part of the PTI blog hop.



The image is stamped using the retired Doodle This set from SU in versamark, and embossed in clear powder. Then, I sponged on Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, and Orange ink (the same colours as the designer paper). Once it was fully sponged I wiped it off with a tissue, and the embossed flowers pop.

The sentiment is popped up with a super sticky pop dot from Jody Morrow (texasjodylynn). I *love* these pop dots. If you have trouble with your cards shifting, contact Jody. Her black boosters will not move!

I hope you like this card, and will be back for my velum card in a few hours....

My good friend JCQ completed her education degree in April, and just found out that she has a contract for next year. I made this card for her to celebrate her first "real" job as a teacher. My sister is also a teacher, so I actually bought this this stamp set for her, but she is in the process of moving so it's at my house right now. How fortuitous.



I used my SU markers on all of these stamps so that I could easily use different colours, and so that there would be a bit of a distressed look once the image was stamped.




The charm was bought from Stamping Bella to be used with Teachabella, but I think it works really well on this card.