A new temptation

No, I didn't buy anything.

But I've been introduced by my friend Michelle Redman over on SCS to a new way of stamping: DIGI-STAMPING.

It's an image you download and you print off in your printer.

Oh, what a dangerous world this could be.

Michelle directed me over to a blog by a man named Dustin Pike - he draws the cutest dragons for his company Mooseberry Graphics. He also had some freebie digi-stamps on his blog - the dragons are absolutely adorable and since they're free, I couldn't resist. :)

It's a Sketch Challenge day at SCS and the sketch isn't bad at all.

Since I've done this lead up into the dragons and it's incredibly windy here today, I figured it was fitting that I use the dragon flying the kite.

He's colored in with Copics, highlighted with a white Prismacolor pencil, and sparkled with some Crystal Stickles.
Stamps: Mooseberry Graphics - digi stamp Fly Kite. Paper: Old Olive, River Rock, Select White, Pumpkin Pie dp. Ink: printer ink. Accessories: Copics, white Prismacolor, stickles, brads, ticket corner punch, dimensionals.

Wishing for warmer weather,

The Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Is being shown today.

I had a lot of fun playing with this sketch. It's the 200th sketch challenge for SCS. I really liked the simplicity of the sketch because in the middle of the week, I'm not really in the mood to fuss.

The colors came from a website I found the other day - Color Throwdown (it's in my blog roll.) Every Wednesday they come up with a color combination to use. This week's colors were Orange, Purple and Green - and black of course. I forgot the black.

The stamp is from MFT's Essential Sentiments.

The purple layer is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder - Diamonds in the Rough.

The primas are sitting on squares cut out with a 1 1/4" square punch and a scalloped square Nestability die. The flowers are held together with Eggplant brads that I bought at http://www.pinkhedgehogpapercrafts.com/

Stamps: MFT - Essential Sentiments. Paper: Gable Green, Elegant Eggplant, Only Orange, white. Ink: Elegant Eggplant. Accessories: primas, scalloped square Nestability die, 1 1/4" square punch, brads, Cuttlebug, Embossing folder, dimensionals.

Hope you have a fabulous Halloween tomorrow!

3 in a ROW?????

3 challenges in a row? That's a record for me - well, in the recent months at least.

Today's challenge was sketch challenge - a very pretty split background with a main image overlaying the background.

My base is PTI Plum Pudding. I took Lavender Moon cardstock and cut it to be 1/8" smaller than the base. I then cut it apart into sections and inked the edges with Lavender Moon Palette ink. The images in the background are stamped in Lavender Moon stamped off once so they're soft and imitate the main image.

My main image is the fluffy dandelion stamp from Gina K's Make a Wish set. It's stamped in PTI Plum Pudding. I adore this set - it's extremely versatile and I need to put it somewhere easily accessible so I use it more often. The sentiment comes from the same set and is also stamped in Plum Pudding.

I wanted to make the edges of my main image stand out more so I pulled out my Quick Stitch sewing machine (the little handheld one.) I need to work on my sewing.

The prima and rhinestone center were a last minute addition - the card was looking unbalanced and I needed something near the top to equalize the sentiment and the main image. Prima needs to get together with Stampin' Up and Papertrey to get some paper flowers made up in their colors. It would certainly make my life easier.

Stamps: Gina K - Make a Wish. Paper: PTI Select White, Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon. Ink: Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon. Accessories: prima, rhinestone, glue, dimensionals, sewing machine.

Wishing for the weekend to start now,

Before Work Post

Which seems to be the norm for me.

2 cards to show you today - I did a challenge! Actually, I doubled up.

I did the Color Challenge (Real Red, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal) and Sketch Challenge 180. It's a birthday card for my boss. My Savvyshoppabella was inked in Palette Noir and colored with reinkers and rubbing alcohol. It's a little tricky to get the hang of (my non-name brand aquapainters probably aren't the best) but it looks great and you don't get washed out colors. **I stumbled across this on Jody Morrow's (texasjodylynn) blog a few months ago.**
Stamps: Stamping Bella - Savvyshoppabella, Papertrey anniversay set (can't remember its name), Papertrey - Garden of Life. Paper: Apricot Appeal, Real Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White. Ink: Palette Noir, Brilliance Moonlight White, Regal Rose, Real Red, Apricot Appeal. Accessories: aquapainter, rubbing alcohol, dimensionals.

The other card is one that i just got the urge to create.
Stamps: Embrace Life. Paper: Cameo Coral, Groovy Guava, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Ginger Blossom DP. Ink: Palette Noir, Cameo Coral. Accessories: slit punch, dimensionals, aquapainter, ribbon, brads.

It's the first day of summer here, wishing everyone a great day!

**I got an email that my Verve stamps are being shipped. Yay for new images!**

Technically it's Thursday...

but I haven't gone to bed yet. So it's still Wednesday in my head. And Wednesday's at Splitcoast mean Sketch Challenges. My schedule has been crazy and I just haven't had the time to do any of the sketch challenges until tonight.

Generally sketch challenges are given in terms of A2 cards: 4.25"x5.5" Today's card was to be long - mine is 4"x9.5" And I just grabbed a business size envelope... it's too long. By about a 1/4" but it's still too long.

I can't seem to keep my hands off my new Papertrey stuff - ink, paper and stamps. My card is made with Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, and the pink pattern collection (I can't remember the name.)

We had to fold back part of the front of the card. I added scallops to the edge of mine with the corner rounder (removing the guard) and sponged on Berry Sorbet to accentuate it. I cut 3 strips of Berry Sorbet - 1/2", 3/4" and 1/8" - to attach to the front of my card. I stamped one of the flowers randomly and then adhered the strips on top. I paper pierced the top and bottom of each strip.

The oval was a necessity on the card - the rules of the challenge said keep the oval. I used my Coluzzle to cut my ovals - I ordered Nesties on Monday, but they haven't shipped yet. The image panel is stamped in Sweet Blush and sponged lightly with Berry Sorbet. A rhinestone brad is the center of my flower.
Stamps: Papertrey - Garden of Life. Paper: Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush, white, pink pattern by Papertrey. Ink: Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush. Accessories: mat pack, corner rounder, Coluzzle, brad, tacky tape, sponge.

Hope your Thursday is great!

Sketch Challenge Quickie

A very quick post because I need to go scrape the frost off my car before I head off to work for today.

I got the sketch challenge card for today done - it's pretty and it uses some of the stuff I bought at Hobby Lobby last night.

One thing I've learned, I'm a sucker for ink pads when they're on sale. I picked up 2 Tim Holtz Distressed Inks yesterday.

Sketch Challenge. Thanks to Roxie (Sketch Challenge queen on SCS) for posting her measurements. I couldn't have made this card as fast as I did without them.
Stamps: Papertrey - Out on a Limb. Paper: Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter - She Walks in Beauty. Ink: Ruby Red, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distressed ink. Accessories: paper distressor, brads, dimensionals, sponge.

Good thing about today is it's supposed to be about 50 this afternoon! Yay! More snow's gonna melt!

Hope everyone's having a beautiful early spring morning (or early fall morning if you're in Australia)

Sketch Challenge gone wrong

Oh boy, did I do it. I REALLY messed up a sketch challenge. It's a good card, but it's not what it was supposed to be.

I hate when that happens.

It was a fast card too - It only took me maybe 15-20 minutes to do.

Stamps: Fabulous Flowers. Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky, Whisper White, So Saffron cardstock and dp. Ink: Soft Sky and Purely Pomegranate. Accessories: brads, Bella Baubles, dimensionals, ribbon, pearl pin (already dyed), silver and pearl beads.

I got an email from my demo... One of a Kind is in! I'm going to pick it up soon!

Sketch Challenge

When I saw the SCS sketch challenge last night, I wasn't very enthusiastic. It seemed a bit blah to me. I looked at it again this morning - and thought that it wasn't too bad.

Downstairs to the dungeon I go.

The long panel was perfect for one of my new sets: Out on a Limb by Papertrey - and I've been dying to use it.

Okay... colors. I liked the idea of the 3 panels in the background being pieces of dp, so I flipped through my bags of SU dp. *I cut my 12x12 SU dp into 6x6 squares - a little easier to store and I don't feel AS bad using it.* I finally settled on Apple Cider dp. And decided to use Really Rust and River Rock - the 2 colors on the piece I picked. I wanted another color, so I decided on Wild Wasabi.

I really like how it turned out, especially with the black glaze pen marking some of the dots on the dp. The dp, main image, River Rock layer and card base are all sponged with Really Rust.

Stamps: Papertrey - Out on a Limb. Paper: River Rock, Really Rust, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, Apple Cider dp. Ink: Really Rust, River Rock, Wild Wasabi. Accessories: ribbon, stapler, sponge, dimensionals, Black Sakura Glaze pen.

Buying Frenzy

So, in the past 2 weeks, I've bought Gina K stamps, My Favorite Things stamps, and on Monday night/Tuesday morning - Papertrey. I've already received my Gina K and MFT stamps, and I got an email yesterday (Tuesday) that my Papertrey stamps had shipped. ALREADY!

*sigh* I still have an order to place with SU! I running really low on certain colors of cardstock. And there are a few sets I want from SU!

But if I'm going to buy the stuff, I need to use it.

So I broke out one of my new MFT sets for today's Sketch Challenge card (regular sketch challenge, not the STSC.) What kills me about this sketch is that I created a card WITH THIS SKETCH - on Sunday and thought I was being great and creative. I didn't upload it because the card is destined for my Virtual Stamping Night Secret Sistah - and I didn't want her getting a sneak peek.

Anyway, back to the card. When I bought my Gina K stamps, she also had these glitter dots - pieces of plastic covered in glitter. They looked interesting, so I bought some red and some light turquoise. The light turquoise looks good with Tempting Turquoise.

My Card:

Stamps: MFT - Punny Farm. Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa (cs and dp). Accessories: glitter dots, ticket corner punch, dimensionals, cropadile, ribbon.

Sketch Challenge and a commentary on primas

Sketch Challenge day - Love it! It takes such a burden off the decisions you have to make when creating a card. Of course I say that EVERY sketch challenge day, but it's true.

• I started with the DP as my inspiration. It's from Scenic Route and I found it in the clearance section of my LSS. I love sales.
• The colors for the card: More Mustard, Garden Green, and Bashful Blue. If someone had asked me 6 months ago (just after I joined SCS and started making cards everyday) what colors I don't use: I'd have said "More Mustard" along with other assorted colors I can't seem to live without.
• Apparently math isn't my strong point when I first get up. I wanted the panels to be closer together with just a hint of the More Mustard peeking through. I made the gaps too big. I realized it AFTER I had the card put together.
• I only used 1 stamp on this card: my sentiment running up the side of the card. It's stamped in Versafine black.
• I added some primas and brads into the big panel to add a little contrast and texture.

I am addicted to little paper flowers. Seriously. When I go to my LSS, I tell myself "no primas" but then I can't help but see what they have - and then I tend to buy a package. There are so many things I've been introduced to in the 6 1/2 months I've been on SCS - primas being the big thing I tend to buy a LOT of. I initially had sticker shock when I saw how much a bottle of primas cost - then I realized how MUCH is in one of those bottles. It evens out. I have enough of them that I could use 1 a day and more than likely not run out until at least late 2009 at the EARLIEST.

Just thought I'd share.

SC150 Mousie Get Better

This card was created for the SCS Sketch Challenge #150. I had fun creating this card... and it took less than 30 minutes - from the time I went downstairs to the time I walked out of my stamp room. I really need to put a clock in there.

• Base is Chocolate Chip
• Next layer up is Close to Cocoa Prints DP. I used the tag corner punch on the corners (where else?) and then glued rhinestones to the Chocolate Chip layer for a little sparkle.
• The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby and it's wrapped around the Close to Cocoa layer. It's a VERY close match to Mellow Moss.
• The House Mouse image is stamped in Basic Gray ink and only the blanket is colored. I colored it with a Prismacolor pencil that matches Mellow Moss.
• The sentiment is from Quick Thinking and is stamped in Groovy Guava.
• Mellow Moss and Groovy Guava are the "framing" layers for the main image. I pierced the corners of the Mellow Moss layer with my paper piercer.
• The image and its layers are popped up on dimensionals.

As I was naming this card, I thought of something that happened at work about a month ago. I work at a daycare center, so I have a lot of cute stories of what kids say. We have this little boy - B - who's autistic and he's the sweetest little kid ever. He's also hilarious. We have a dwarf hampster at daycare for the kids to look at and towards the end of the day - when there's not 40 kids running around making lots and lots of noise, GusGus (the hampster) graces us with his presence. Okay, backstory over. It was the end of the day and us teachers are cleaning up, making sure the fish and GusGus are fed for the night and GusGus comes out to run on his wheel. B saw this and was so excited that "Mousie" - what B called him - was out and running. He then encouraged GusGus to run by saying "Run Mousie, Run!" All I can think of is Forrest Gump and I'm trying not to laugh. But "Mousie" was running and B was happy.

Just had to share.

Sunny colors for a gloomy day

The Sketch Challenge. I have a lot of fun on Sketch Challenge days - one of the hardest parts of the card has been chosen for me. I'm glad I chose these colors - they're happy when it's gray and gloomy outside.

• I love how flexible you can be with the challenges. I chose to use ribbon instead of another layer going across the card. It's a very shiny grosgrain and it's close to Mellow Moss in color.
• The main image was inked in So Saffron and rolled in More Mustard. I'm not generally a fan of More Mustard, but I think it looks fabulous with these other colors.
• The small images were inked in So Saffron and the top was rolled in Mellow Moss and the bottom one was rolled in More Mustard. It gives them a different look.
• The small images are punched with a 1 1/4" square punch, then layered on a 1 3/8" square punch of Mellow Moss. I then cut out 1 1/2" squares of More Mustard to layer under that.
• I was going to use a different background stamp(s) for the white background. I was too lazy - grabbed another stamp from True Friend (where all the images come from) and stamped it in all 3 colors.

I had to finish assembling my card upstairs (my card supplies are down in the basement.) It all has to do with Christmas cards: I have all the pieces cut and stamped and ready to be assembled - and that's what I was doing last night while watching tv. So my tape and dimensionals and paper piercer were all upstairs.

Whenever I work upstairs - making ATCs or when I was cutting and stamping the pieces for my Christmas cards - I ALWAYS seem to forget something that's essential: acrylic blocks for clear stamps, stamp cleaner (always), tape. So I make 20 trips up and down the stairs somedays. The tub I grab to carry everything is MOUNDED by the time I'm ready to take stuff downstairs.

Sketch Challenge

It's Wednesday: SCS sketch challenge day! I couldn't resist using my new Papertrey stamp set Piece of Cake with this sketch... the long panel is perfect for the 3 tiered cake.

• The background was originally going to be Mellow Moss... and no stamps on it. But that's plain, so I grabbed a piece of vanilla to layer with it and my Print Pattern background stamp. I colored the stamp Pumpkin Pie, Blush Blossom and Mellow Moss and stamped it out. Most of it's covered up, but I like the way it looks.
• I also did some experimentation on where the flowers should go. I think where they wound up works for me. *note to self: Next time, make the cake a brighter color so it's easier to see.*
• The sentiment was stamped in Mellow Moss and Pumpkin Pie. There was layering on all sides and it looks really nice (in my humble opinion.) Then I realized my panel was too big and would take up too much of the large panel - hide my cake. I cut the panel down to size.
• The flower centers on the cake are colored in with a Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen (wow, that's a long name!) When I first applied the color, it matched the Pumpkin Pie wonderfully.
• I finished my card, looked at it and realized that I really didn't use any embellies *gasp of shock and horror* So I grabbed my crop-a-dile and punched 2 holes and threaded my Pumpkin Pie 1/4" grosgrain through it.

I really like how this card turned out. :)

Sketch Challenge

The Wednesday sketch challenge was easy. A fun card to send out. My friend Liz (divinelibrarian) had her wisdom teeth out Friday, so I sent it out that she hopefully got it before.

• I used Soft Sky as the card base, the yellow strip is Barely Banana and it's stamped in Linen.



• The main image is from Gina K Design's Make a Wish set (which I absolutely adore), stamped in Versafine black and colored with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with the blender pencil.



• I found stick pins at Hobby Lobby in the jewelry section - 2/99 cents. I dyed a pearl bead using a tutorial I found by StampinKub. The stick pin is tied on with organdy ribbon.