November Mini VSN - on NOW!!

Tonight, it's the Mini VSN on Splitcoast - and I'm one of the hostesses!

4 challenges

No time limits

2 weeks to post your card/projects

LOTS and LOTS of fun!

My Challenge: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=299848

100 Views

According to my counter, I've crossed 100 views! Now, subtracting myself from this number (because I'm pretty sure I'm being counted too) this means I'm really close.

So... I'm going to offer a little blog candy. I need to decide what to give - I'll post a picture after I choose what to give away. **which I just did - it's down below**

So... the challenge:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=123359

This is my gallery on SCS - pick your favorite card and tell me why in a comment here. :)

Have fun!


*Can you tell I'm new at this blog candy stuff? I'll choose the winner Monday Morning - about 9am EST.*

Butterflies and DP flowers

The Stalker Sketch Challenge. What I said yesterday with the "regular" sketch challenge applies today as well - I love seeing what everyone else can create when given the same "floor plan" for a card.

• It's gloomy here, so I wanted a bright color palette to work with. What's brighter than Orchid Opulence? I added Certainly Celery and Apricot Appeal to the cardstock pile as well. The Basic Gray is there to tone down a little.
• I wanted to use DP - designed paper - on the card somewhere. So I dug through my stash and found the piece of Wild Asparagus paper - reason I'm using it? Under the lower butterfly there's purple shading that is REALLY close to Orchid Opulence.
• The butterflies are Basic Gray outline, Certainly Celery wings, and Orchid Opulence detail bubbles.
• The layers underneath the butterflies are Basic Gray and Apricot Appeal.

To be perfectly honest, I think I've created the ugliest card evah.

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.

Challenge cards for today

Today was a double challenge day: Stalker's Everyday Events and the SCS Color Challenge. It was nice to have 2 cards to do (though if the CC had come out earlier, I would have combined them.)

Card #1

• Pocket card. Base is Regal Rose - it was on the table from yesterday's color challenge.
• Slider is Basic Gray cardstock layered with white, stamped with a single flower from Delight in Life.
• Fold in the pocket card has Soft Sky DP on it.
• Front of the card is Basic Gray cardstock with white layered on top, stamped with Delight in Life and Wonderful Words

Card #2

• Normal fold card for the CC of Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi and Ruby Red
• Base is Soft Sky, Ruby Red layer is only about 2.5" wide - layered with white and stamped in snowflakes from Papertrey's Snowflake Serenade.
• Cheffabella is stamped in Versafine black ink and I tried to watercolor - tried being the operative word. Prisma pencils colored the rest of it in.
• Cheffie's apron is a piece of Soft Sky DP that was cut out and glued in place.
• I used my new Coluzzle to cut the oval out.
• Underneath the oval is another piece of Soft Sky DP layered on top of Basic Gray cardstock.
• The Wild Wasabi layer has white grosgrain tied around it and the sentiment from SU's Give Thanks stamped on it.

Regal Elegant Butterflies

Today's the day for the Stalker Thread Color Challenge by Faith (markie's mom). I really like these new color challenges because we're given 4 colors, allowed 2 neutrals and sent off to do what we do. Our colors for today: Regal Rose, Elegant Eggplant, Pretty in Pink, and Sage Shadow.

To be perfectly honest, this challenge threw me for a loop. I really couldn't think of stamps to use right off the top of my head - even though I have what seems like 8 gazillion. I really didn't want to go "girly" with this kind of color scheme, but the butterflies were calling me.

On to the nitty gritty:

• Base is Regal Rose. I did some paper piercing in the corners.
• Next layer up is Elegant Eggplant. I stamped Print Pattern on it in Elegant Eggplant, then used my spiral punch to decorate the edge.
• The ovals (Sage Shadow, Pretty in Pink, and white) were done with my Coluzzle. The sage layer turned out a little wonky, so under the eggplant layer is goes. The Pretty in Pink layer is paper pierced too.
• The butterflies are white cardstock with the solid wings stamped in Pretty in Pink or Sage Shadow. The pink details are Regal Rose and the purple details are Elegant Eggplant. The butterflies are also popped up on tiny pieces of dimensionals with their wings folded slightly to give even more dimension.

Friends, Shopping, Priceless

The Featured Stamper today was Jimmi - one of my VSN Sistahs. I'm so proud of her.

I chose a pocket card she did for the May VSN as the card I CASEd today.

• Card base is Certainly Celery "normal" card size (5.5"x4.25")
• The yellow is So Saffron. The slide part of the card is 3.5"x4.25" so it will fit into the pocket.
• I used Groovy Guava Prints Designer Paper. Love the polka dots.
• I used the same image Jimmi did - I used my reinkers and an aqua pen to color them in. This is the first time I did this, so things aren't as perfect as I'd generally like.
• I used a different sentiment than from her card. She had "Time to Shop" on hers... I chose "Good Friends are Priceless."
• Instead of using 2 ribbons for my slide, I just grabbed my Groovy Guava double-stitched ribbon.