I Am "Disable" No More

Well, I had my surgery on my knee on June 4th, and I'm officially able to return to work.  As much as it's nice to not have to get up early in the morning, and to have no work related stress and responsibility, it's nice to get back into some sort of routine again.
Anyway, today's card is for 2 challenges.  The first challenge is for Pals Paper Arts.  They've made some changes to their blog recently so be sure to check them out.  Besides that, they have a very talented design team who make such beautiful creations.

The second challenge is for Stacey's Stamping Stage, who also has some beautiful creations.

This color challenge was just that, a challenge for me, I wasn't sure how to work the Crumb Cake into it.  But, I figured it out and this is what I came up with.

I used a technique on this card that I recently learned, see below for details.

Supplies
Card Stock:  Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Paper:  In Color Designer Series Paper Pack
Stamps:  Fast and Fabulous, Elements of Style
Ink:  Basic Gray, Concord Crush, Crumb Cake
Punches:  1-3/4" Scallop Circle, 1-1/4" Circle, 1" Circle, 3/16" Corner
Accessories:  Brayer, Color Spritzer Tool, Sponge Daubers, SNAIL, Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Cutter Kit

Tips

1. To get the background look I embossed a piece of Pear Pizzazz Card Stock with the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, and then using a Brayer and Concord Crush Classic Ink I lightly rolled the ink over the debossed side of the card stock.  It's really important that you Brayer lightly because you don't want to get ink into the debossed part of the pattern.
2. I used the Corner Punch on the 2 right sided corners, and then used the Cutter Kit to distress the edges.
3. I used the Color Spritzer with Concord Crush and Crumb Cake ink on the stamped image.
4. The pattern on the DSP is the same as the pattern from the Embossing Folder.

Picture Perfect Creations Color Combo

Hi All;

Today's card is for Picture Perfect Creations Color Combo #27.  One of these colors is a favourite, Concord Grape.  I think it's because it makes me think of, yea you guessed it, concord grapes and my absolutely most favourite Yankee Candle Scent which called Vineyard.  Anyway, here's the colors for the challenge.

Since the combo has a purple and a green in it I figured the best stamp to use was the lavender stamp from Herb Expressions.

Supplies
Card Stock:  Blushing Bride, Concord Crush, Wild Wasabi, Watercolor, Whisper White
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Black StazOn, Concord Crush
Stampin' Write Markers:  Wild Wasabi, Concord Crush
Stamps:  Herb Expressions, Bella Toile
Punches:  Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch
Accessories:  Blender Pen, Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, 5/8" Whisper White Organza Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Brads, SNAIL, Paper Snips

Tips

1. When I place the ribbon I don't wrap it all around the card stock.  I just wrap it across the front and cut off enough to fold it over the side and tape it to the back of the card stock.  Over time this saves a lot of ribbon.
2. I use my Paper Piercer and Mat Pack to place the brads, this helps to line things up.
3. The image is stamper on Watercolor Paper with Black StazOn Ink, and then colored the image with my Blender Pen and Stampin' Write Markers.  Remember to always use Watercolor Paper and StazOn Ink if you are going to watercolor; if not the paper will most likely tear and the ink will smear.

I hope you enjoy my post today, I would love to know what you think.

A New Technique

I haven't tried any new techniques lately, so I figured that would be a good project for the day.  The technique I tried today is the Brick Wall Technique from Splitcoast Stampers, and  I combined it with a color challenge #31 from Just Add Ink.

So here's the final product.

                         

                                     

With an up close view of the 'brick wall.'

                                                     

Supplies

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Real Red

Ink:  Basic Black, Versamark, Chocolate Chip

Stamps:  Just Believe, Sanded

Punches:  Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch

Accessories:  Neutrals Brads, Black Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Heat Tool, Powder Pals, Paper Snips, Dimensionals, SNAIL

Tips

1.  The tutorial on the Splitcoast Stampers website (see above link) is pretty easy to follow.
2. When cutting the pieces make sure you lay them out in the proper order as you cut them, and when gluing them on the card stock layer, watch you don't mess them up.  It is REALLY difficult to figure out how they are supposed to lay if you mess them up.

I hope you enjoy my post today.

Pals Paper Art 55 Artist Pick

My butterfly card from last week was picked to be a Pals Paper Arts Pick of the Week, how exciting is that!  If you haven't lately then you need to be sure to check out their blog, the ladies at Pals Paper Arts have redesigned their blog, and recruited some new members for their design team. 


                                          

A Different Kind of Post

Today I thought I would share something with you that took me 6 years to complete...yeah you read that right, 6 years.  On August 20, 2004 a very good friend of mine, Lynne, got married and I decided I wanted to make her wedding gift.  I love to cross stitch, so figured a cross stitched picture with the date of their wedding on it would be a great gift.  I went shopping and found a picture that I loved, so I bought it; only to find out it was hardanger and not cross stitch.  They are very similar, with some distinct differences - no big deal I'll just take a couple classes to learn the techniques I would need to do to complete this project.  Well, I took the classes, graduated with my master's degree, Lynne moved to New Hampshire, Lynne had a beautiful baby girl, I had surgery, and finally on August 15, 2010 I finished the project. 

The white part in the center is the hardanger, everything else around it is cross stitching.

See the pearls, they are such a nice touch.

Again, the white is the hardanger.  See those 'holes' well that comes from cutting the thread - one of the reasons it took me so long to complete this.  Everytime I had to do some cutting, I would get nervous and stop working on it.  Thank god for my friend Ellen, she really helped me with those parts.

Done just in time to celebrate their 6th annivarsary.

This picture does not do the finished project justice, I wish I could capture a true image of the final product.

So now all I have to do is frame it, hopefully that will only take a year or two, LOL.

P.S. I did get them a real wedding gift at the time of their wedding...I know myself well and knew there was no way I'd get this done in time for their wedding.

PPA 55

Gosh, it's been a long time since I posted, I'm sorry about that...no excuses, I've just had a few things on my mind lately and I haven't had the urge to stamp.  But, today that urge struck me so I went straight to the Pals Paper Arts website to see what their newest challenge is, and I found a very bright fun color challenge to work on.

I new immediately I wanted to use the All a Flutter stamp set from the summer mini (which is coming to an end real soon...August 31st is the last day to buy from this catalog), and so this card came together real quick, what do you think?

Supplies

Cardstock:  Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black Textured, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Stamps:  All A Flutter, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo

Stampin' Write Markers:  Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight

Punches:  Scallop Oval, 1-3/4" x 7/8" Large Oval, Curly Label, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border

Embellishments:  Basic Pearls

Accessories:  Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, Stamping Sponges, Dimensionals, SNAIL, Paper Snips

Tips

1. I LOVE the new dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, it's the next best thing to having ribbon in every color.
2. I embossed the butterflies and then colored them using Stampin' Write markers, then cut them out with Paper Snips.
3. I used Pear Pizzazz as the base color for my card because I wanted to use black as my base so the challenge colors would really pop, but I just didn't like the look of Whisper White or Very Vanilla as the base.

I hope you enjoy my post today, I would love to know what you think.

In Colors

Since I had the In Colors and Just Believe stamp set out to make my card for the Pals Paper Arts I decided to make a second card with these supplies. I absolutely LOVE the Concord Crush so I'll use any reason I can to make a card with that color.  Oh, and I did this card all by myself, no sketch, no color challenge, no nothing, just me...if you can believe it!  LOL

Supplies
Stamps:  Just Believe
Paper:  Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, In Color Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack
Accessories:  Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Cutter Kit, Sponge Daubers, SNAIL

Tips
When I stamped the flowers in the Concord Crush and Peach Parfait I stamped once with the stamp all inked up and then without re-inking the stamp I stamped again, this gives the stamp a light look.  You can also do this by inking your stamp, stamping on a scrap piece of paper (called 'stamping off') and then stamping your image on your cardstock.

Have a great day!!