Some challenge cards to share

Hi everyone! I have a couple challenge cards to share and one is a Sneak Peek of one of the FIVE Plain Janes that Verve is releasing this Friday!!

My first card is for this week's SCS color challenge which is Always Crushed Basics! Betty asked me to be a sample maker with her this week using Artichoke, Curry and Basic Grey with any neutral. I decided to use the Ippity set, Fishy Philosophy as this Crushed Curry color just SCREAMED gold fish to me!!

I also combined this card with the CAS challenge this week which was to make a square card -hey, I can do that!! This little guy is pretty straight forward, I stamped the seaweed image in Artichoke ink and colored in the leaves with copic markers. I colored the fishy and cut him out. The amazing yellow gingham ribbon is from Sharon's Stamp Simply store. I wasn't so sure of these colors, but I really like how this turned out -it just makes me smile!

This next card uses the CPS sketch this week, CPS156. This sketch looks cool at first glance, but I have serious issues with all the "space" at the top. LOL!

I used the Plain Jane stamp, Birthday Wishes. It has a built in box -I love this design! There is another PJ which has the same kind of look, you are gonna LOVE it too! The amazing pattern paper which is gradient and super cool is from the Just Chillin' Girl line by Making Memories. LOVE this paper!!! I used it to piece the flower as well. I colored the box outline with copic markers that matched the paper. The pink pom trim is from Joann's and I forget the brand, sorry. I lined it with hot pink rhinestones from Zva Creative.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you this Friday for all the Verve release fun! Julee released a stamp set this time that is SO VERSATILE and amazing. It will be my go to set for all my ******** cards (you didn't think I would tell you did you?).

This release we are doing a blog hop and not the normal week long Sneak Peeks. You can find all the fun details and challenges on the Verve Blog! Hope to see you there.

Card Deets (fish):
Stamps: Fishy Philosophy (Ippity), celebration of thanks
Paper: white, basic grey, crushed curry (SU!)
Ink: always artichoke, basic grey (SU!)
Accessories: yellow gingham ribbon (May Arts), button, tag punch (Martha Stewart), rhinestones (KaiserCraft), copic markers

Card Deets (CPS):
Stamps: Birthday Wishes PJ
Paper: white, Just Chillin' Girl PP (Making Memories)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: pink pom trim, paper piercer, hot pink rhinestones (Zva Creative), copic markers

Three challenge cards to share

Hi everyone! I have several challenge cards to share. First up, today's SCS color challenge. We were challenged to use Cocoa, Coral, Celery, Blush and White. Love these together!! For my layout I used Taylored Expression's sketch #76. I used an image and sentiment from the much loved Unity's June KOM, Perfect in Every Way. That teapot is my FAVORITE!! I pieced it with a scrap of PTI DP. Oh and see that border? I bought the border punch today, it's Upper Crest from EK Success -got it at 40% off! The sentiment is embossed with white EP.
Next up is also a combined challenge. This month, Cath challenged us to a Bag Lady challenge -an inspiration challenge of several hand bags. I was drawn to the colors and crocheted flowers on this bag.

This time I went with the fun tree from Unity's Tiny Giggle Grove and the sentiment is from the June's KOM. I kept with the yellow center theme and added a yellow brad to each branch end. I just sort of played around until I found a combination of circles/flowers/brads/ribbons and button I liked. The layout is from a sketch challenge new to me. Karen from The Sweetest Thing has a Sweet Sunday sketch. This layout follows last week's sketch #28. I was drawn to all the circles!!

And last, but NOT least is this week's Featured Stamper challenge. This week we honored the very sweet and talented, Teresa (va.sunshine)!! Check out her gallery, this girl has it going on!!

I chose this card to case. I LOVED the colors and pattern papers she used on this card!! Seriously, my card didn't do it justice AT ALL, but I loved the bright colors of my ribbon and it sorta took me in this direction. I hope it puts a smile on her face!

The flower stem is from my new love, SU's Tiny Leaves sizzlits die, the felt flower is from Ebay and the pattern paper is from PTI Bitty Squares. The button, pink burlap string and Oregon Raindrops are from my girl, Heidi at Pinkhedgehog papercrafts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Deets (color):

Stamps: perfect in every way

Paper: cocoa, blush blossom, white, cameo coral

Ink: versamark, memento tuxedo black

Accessories: may arts celery striped, copic markers, border punch, circle nesties, white EP, light green rhinestones

Card Deets (bag lady):

Stamps: tiny giggle grove, perfect in every way

Paper: spring rain, aqua mist, white, dark brown, DP (all PTI)

Ink: memento espresso

Accessories: aqua mist satin ribbon, light blue grosgrain, burlap string, swiss dots EF, circle and blossom nesties, yellow brads, jumbo yellow brad, white crocheted flowers from Etsy

Card Deets (featured stamper):

Stamps: sentiment by tech tuesday

Paper: Raspberry fizz, new leaf, white, summer sun and raspberry fizz bitty squares -all PTI

Ink: black

Accessories: ribbon from Michael's, felt flower, button, tiny leaves sizzlit, oregon raindrops

Some challenge cards to share -one for you Twilight fans!!

Hi everyone! I have 3 challenge cards to share. This first one is from yesterday's SCS color challenge -to use Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa and So Saffron. These are such a soft color combo and a perfect match to the SAB paper pack, Delicate Dots.

For this card I used the daffodil from Flourishes Signs of Spring set. It is so pretty and suprisingly easy to color. It's hard to tell in the pic, but I have the center part of the flower popped up on dimensionals and there is stickles all over it. The layout caught my eye as I was browsing thru my gallery. I cased it from this card. The sentiment is Verve's Circular Sayings and the dotted organdy ribbon is from Heidi's store, Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.

This next card was a SUPER fun card to make!! It is for this week's SCS sketch challenge and feature's mt main vampire, Edward!!

My mom has the boys for a couple days so I have some time to play around! This card is for all the Twihards out there! The hardest part was cutting into my magazine to get this little picture -LOL! The stamp is a discontinued stamp from Unity Stamps. I, for one, think Angela needs to be talked into making more!!

For this, I decided to keep with the black/white/red theme after all, Edward is a Vampire -LOL! Isn't he lovely surrounded by the red heart bling and flowers? Ahhhh...

The last card for today is a double Flourishes challenge card. The first challenge is the Timeless Tuesday challenge, hosted this week by my GF, Silke. It is to make a card using your favorite Flourishes set. I chose Coffee With Friends -this was my first and still favorite set! The second challenge is Flourishes April challenge to use paper piecing. All the challenge info can be found in the Flourishes Forum.

The DP is from the Garden Party matstack by DCWV. Love this paper pack! These DCWV packs are so much fun, cause 1, you can get them 40% off with a coupon and 2, there are 3 pages of each design. So, I took an extra page and cut out the butterfly and the flowers and popped them up! The sentiment is from Flourishes, Many Sentiments. And I finally used my new SU punch that matches those bookplates from the HPH tin!

Thanks for stopping by!

Card deets (daffodil):
Stamps: signs of spring, circular sayings
Paper: cocoa, saffron, bashful, white, Delicate Dots DP
Ink: black
Accessories: copic markers, yellow stickles, yellow rhinestones, yellow organdy ribbon, circle punches

Card deets (Edward):
Stamps: Vampire, discontinued by Unity stamps
Paper: real red DSP, black and white
Ink: black, red
Accessories: gems, primas, organdy ribbon, shimmerz

Card deets (coffee):
Stamps: coffee with friends, many sentiments
Paper: taken with teal, choc chip, Garden Party DP
Ink: choc chip
Accessories: Hodgepodge hardware, teal bling, rectangle nesties, su scalloped border punch

Some challenge cards

Happy Wednesday everyone! I have 3 challenge cards to share today.

The first card I uses Julee's FAB MojoMonday sketch found here, and is for my weekly DoubleDog Dare Challenge (DDC). This week my Dirty Dozen Roomie (that means we joined the Dirty Dozen together), Joan challenged us to use an image with a basket -any kind, AND some plaid paper. Hummm, seriously, I HAVE NO BASKET stamps of any kind. Not one! So I broke out my WishRAK image box and searched thru the entire thing -no baskets! What? Then I remembered my Crafty Secrets file and found that one of my Cotton Scraps HAD ONE! Whew! A baby girl image in a basket. And, what's even more perfect is that I need a baby girl card for Friday as one of the moms in my MOPS group just had her girl!

I sponged the white prima with pink and added Angel Wings Shimmerz to it. Here is a close up.

Card Deets:
Paper: pink pirouette, vintage cream (PTI), retired mint melody, misc plaid DP
Accessories: white prima, white dew drops, su scallope edge punch, small flower punch, swiss dots EF, shimmerz

This next card is for today's SCS sketch challenge. First let me say, I didn't really like it. I felt it a bit too top heavy and it was hard for me to find the right balance. But, I had some time to play and need to stock up on my Mother's Day cards for my Etsy store, so I fudged the sketch a bit and added brads at the bottom!

I used some of my Tres Jolie, Mon Cheri DP I got on clearance last year. The flower images are colored with Copic markers and have Stardust stickles on them. The sentiment is from Verve Stamps, Happy Thoughts (my all time fav sentiment set!).

For some interest, I strung some beads and a heart charm with silver cord and tied them with a bow from one of the panels. Silver cord and brads are from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts, PrismPapers can be found here.

Card Deets:
Stamps: embrace life, happy thoughts
Paper: Vintage cream (PTI), Tres Jolie DP and Desert Coral Light Prismpaper
Accessories: copic markers, square punch, charm, beads, silver brads, stickles

And lastly, I have yesterday's SCS color challenge card that I paired with Crafty Secret's weekly challenge -which was to do a SINGLE LAYER card! Man, both were tough! The colors were Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Kiwi Kiss. I love those colors, just NOT together! I used the Baby Boy set from Crafty Secrets, some ribbon and buttons.

It's hard to see in the pic, but there are 3 scored lines below the ribbon.

Card Deets:
Stamps: baby boy
Paper: white
Ink: pumpkin pie, kiwi kiss
Accessories: score pal, square punch, stickles, buttons, grosgrain ribbon

Before I forget!! Jacksonbelle is offering up 2 jars of Shimmerz OF YOUR CHOICE as a prize! Check out the JBelle blog post here for the details!

Thanks for stopping by!

Breezy snowman

Well, I am still snowed in and we are expecting another storm tomorrow and AGAIN on Saturday. Heaven knows when I will get out to do my Christmas shopping! So, in between breaking up the many fights between my housebound boys, I am stamping.

This is for today's SCS color challenge of Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Kiwi Kiss and an optional color of Now Quite Navy -I used all 4. I have to say, using Basic Grey was a challenge on this card. I ended up using it in the ribbon and the hat and boots on the image -I hope that is enough!!

The cute image is from Elzybells Art Stamps, Boy and Snowman and I used Elzybells Snowflake BG on the Baja panel. I colored the image with Copic markers and used Art Glitter (in 85 Crystal) on the snow and snowflakes. The sentiment is from Verve's Ornamental Christmas set and embossed in white. The ribbons are SU Basic Grey taffeta and Making Memories Paperie Poolside (thanks my Secret Santa!!). The sketch is from Jen's SFYTT -it is super cute and perfect for ribbons!!

Here is a close up of some supplies.

Card Deets:
Stamps: Boy & Snowman, Snowflake BG, Ornamental Christmas
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, white
Ink: baja breeze, black, versamark
Accessories: Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Marvy small snowflake punch, ticket corner punch, bling, sponge, copic markers, taffeta and grosgrain ribbons.

Color challenge -my krafty snowman

This morning I had the experience of bringing both my boys (ages 3 and 4) with me to the dentist! I hadn't planned it that way, but my DH unexpectedly had to go out of town and these dental appts are scheduled months in advance. I was so nervous I didn't sleep a wink last night. So, I brought them back with me (why?) and after about 2 minutes and seeing the absolute look of HORROR on my 3 yo face, they were ushered to the front to play with some building blocks! Then all was GOOD and they were angels! I am so proud of them. Just had to share :-)

So after that, it was quite relaxing for me to get to play today's SCS color challenge. Em challenged us to use kraft, real red and black. I decided to use this cute little snowman from Verve's newly released Snow Wonderful. He is the CUTEST! I stamped the long snowflake stamp in versamark and embossed it with white EP on kraft paper. The snowman is colored with copic markers with the hat and scarf popped up and painted with shimmerz. The red tafetta ribbon, burlap string and shimmerz from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.

Don't forget to scroll on down and enter my Blog Candy giveaway (thanks Heidi)! You have until Thursday. Enter on this post.

Card Deets:
Stamps: snow wonderful
Paper: black white kraft real red
Ink: Adirondack pitch black
Accessories: red rhinestones by Kaiser, red tafetta ribbon, shimmers, large and small oval punches, white EP

Countdown to Verve's Holiday Release!

I love the countdowns to Verve's releases, Julee always has great challenges for everyone to play! This release is no exception. This month Verve is releasing 6 new sets and 3 Plain Janes. Each month Julee outdoes herself, and this release is no exception -just stunning!!

Starting today and running through Saturday the 8th, Julee will be posting a sketch challenge in the Verve forum of SCS. If you play along today, you can qualify to win the new set Poinsettia Christmas. If you play along each of the 5 days, you will be qualified for a random drawing to WIN ALL THE RELEASES! A value of $99. Two (2) lucky participants will be chosen! WooHoo :-)

This card combines today's color challenge on SCS of Ridinghood Red, Pretty in Pink, and Kiwi Kiss and today's sketch (keyword: VSHR1). I am running dangerously low on Thank You cards, so I decided to make a butterfly TY card. I love how this turned out, kinda clean, easy to make. I used Verve's Fluttering By. I stamped the butterfly out 2 times and cut one out and painted Shimmerz on the body and wings. The ribbon is layered with satin and the Ridinghood Red taffeta. Instead of a bow the sketch called for, I used my Martha branch punch and tucked the ends under the square panel. The sentiment is from Verve's Artful Elegance. The DP is SU! Bella Rose.

Check out all the Vervey Sketch challenge fun on this thread.

Card Deets:

Stamps - fluttering by, artful elegance

Paper - ridinghood red, kiwi kiss, pretty in pink, Bella Rose

Accessories - green gem brad, MS branch punch, ribbons

Lots of challenge cards to share -part 1

I haven't been feeling well all week, so I haven't posted any of the challenge cards I have made. This is part 1 of 2 posts showing them. All my cards are double challenge cards. Do you do that too? With soooo many great challenges out there and so little stamping time. What's a girl to do? LOL!

This first card uses this week's Cupcake sketch challenge on Taylor's blog and is for my Double Dog Dare challenge. The DDC challenge this week came from my very own Dirty Girl roomie, Joan Ervin (who has her own blog now! Check it out HERE). She challenged us to use treats on our card. Any kind of sweet treats. I used Christmas treats with the retired SU set Holiday Sampler and the new DP called Ski Slope.

This next card is for Julee's Mojo Monday sketch and SCS color challenge. This week the colors were *gasp* pixie pink, tangering tango and old olive. I wasn't as skerd of these colors as some, cause I use pink and oranges all the time! I was totally inspired to have some white space with this layout from Julee's sample. Isn't it lovely? Anyway, the card uses Verve's Floral Whimsy set for the flowers and butterflies and Verve's Birthday Surprise for the sentiment. The vase was pieced with a piece of Tangering DSP. The pink bling is from the pink Kaiser scrapbook gem pack.

DDC card deets:

Stamps - holiday sampler, warm words

Paper - ridinghood red, white, baja breeze, ski slope DP

Accessories - red taffeta, circle nesties, tiny red bling

Mojo card deets:

Stamps - floral whimsy, birthday surprise

Paper - olive, pixie pink, tangerine, white, olive and tangerine DSP

Accessories - pink bling, circle punches, ribbon

A couple challenge cards

I had time to do the SCS color challenge and the SCS sketch challenge. In following with my personal challenge to focus on Christmas cards from here on out, I made a pink snowman card and a jolly ole Santa!!

This week's color challenge (CC188) was pink, black and white in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Kinda hard to make a Christmas card from that, but I thought Frosty would look cute with a pink scarf and hat -he still remains my favorite snowman image!! Frosty is colored with some Copic markers and the embossed BG has stickles all over it. The ribbon is from Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts.

This week's sketch challenge was pretty tough for me. I have a hodge podge of circle cutting systems and did a combo of my Creative Memories and circle nesties to make this. Everything on this card is from Cosmo Cricket -that huge scrapbook pack I bought off of QVC some time ago. Love it when everything coordinates and you don't have to put much thought into it! The image is the Santa image from the Holiday Cheer kit from Unity Co. This santa is very cheerful and is really fun to color!

Gotta go make the boys lunch. BBL to add the card deets!

Featured Stamper Elzy style

Yesterday's Featured Stamper on SCS was Anne (Anne Ryan)! Anyone who regularily posts cards on SCS knows Anne from her wonderful, supportive comments. AND, what talent and a sense of humer she has, just a delight!

I chose this card to case. I kept the general layout and use of an umbrelled girl. I changed the colors to this week's color challenge of Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate chip. I added some layering under the ribbon and didn't use a circle for the image panel.

The image is from Elzybells, Rainy Days . Isn't she the cutest? I pieced her umbrella and boots with DP that coordinated with the background DP -Tres Jolie Mon Cheri. The ribbon is from Martha Stewart seam binding in Persimmon. It's a perfect match to Tangerine Tango and was on sale for $1 -SCORE!

Card Deets:
Stamps – Rainy Days
Paper - choc chip, tangerine, kiwi, vanilla, Tres Jolie
Accessories - Copic markers, ribbon, corner rounder

Back from the beach!

What a great little vacation we had! The first day at the coast was pouring rain, and anyone from Oregon knows that when I say pouring, I MEAN POURING!! Fortunately, there was an airplane museum in Tillamook, so we took the boys there and they were in heaven! The next day, the sun came out and we went to the Tillamook cheese factory and then to the beach. It was a fun although short trip! I will be back to post a couple pics :-)



So, today it was back to business for me! I set right away to make a card for today's color challenge 181. Kraft, black and Rose Red. Well, this was a challenge -I only had 1/4 sheet of kraft paper! So I got creative. Fortunately I have the SU! Rose Red Designer Prints paper and it set the stage for this cutie pie! This card is also for this week's DDC challenge! The image is from Joanne (SleepyinSeattle). She was the Double Dog Dare challenge master and sent us all 2 Chichiboulie Fairy images from Stampingbella.com. Thanks Joanne they are sooooo cute!!


The image is called Imogen the Fairy and is colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. There is a tiny flower piece of bling on her bow and dress that flows perfectly with the mini punched flowers and the doodle flowers on the DP. The sentiment is from Verve's Fairy Tales set and the gingham is from May Arts that I bought from Joann's a long time ago.

Card Deets:
Stamps: Imogen the Fairy, Fairy Tales
Paper: black, kraft, rose red, rose red designer prints
Accessories: mini flower punch, white gel pen, gingham ribbon, circle punches, rectangle nesties, mini flower bling

The hardest challenge EVER?

Well, you be the judge! This week's Double Dog Dare Challenge was from Joan. It was to make a NO LAYERS card. When I read the challenge, I just about passed out. I have never EVER made a card with no layers. I didn't know if that was even possible -LOL! So, during the night when I was supposed to be sleeping, I came up with this card.

I combined today's color challenge over at SCS which was Ruby Red, Blush Blossom and Close to Cocoa. I decided to use Verve's newly released Beautiful You set. I stamped the flower in blush and then the sentiment in cocoa over it. I stamped the little butterflies which are from Verve's Petals and Stems set, in ruby red. Using my Fiskars trimmer with the scoring blade, I scored the sides framing the ribbon and pierced the scored areas for interest. The ribbon is polka dotted organdy in Peach from Heidi's store . The butterflies are stamped twice, with one trimmed out and popped up. The butterfly trail is done in cocoa.

Card Deets:

Stamps: Beautiful You and Petals and Stems (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white

Ink: blush blossom, ruby red, close to cocoa
Accessories: dotted organdy, stickles, paper piercer, red bling

A dare to use triangles!

This week's Double Dog Dare challenge was hosted by Beverly (Beestamper) and was to use this week's Color Challenge 177 color Guava, Sahara Sand and white and the kicker - to use a sketch with a triangle!


Man, oh man, this was tough for me. I don't have any triangle templates around, so I hand cut these. I find the balance on a card with triangles a bit off, so I used some adhesive backed gems to help balance it out.

I decided to use my Watervase image from Stampingbella.com. I colored the flower with Guava and then put Crystal glitter (from Art Glitter) on it. The water was lightly colored with Soft Sky then I put Baby Boy glitter on it. The ribbon was a super duper exciting find at Michael's dollar bin, it is an EXACT match to Guava!! The triangle and flower sentiment panel are popped up on dimensionals.

I just have to say that I used to HATE to use glitter, it just got EVERYWHERE. Then I got the right glitter tools from Art Glitter. What a difference. I used the designer adhesive glue that dries clear, it is fast drying and the glitter sticks really well to it. The Ultrafine metal tip applicator helps apply the glitter in the really small areas (like those flower petals). Definitely worth a looksee if you like glitter. And the colors! Holy cow!

I am sending this card as a RAK for Beverly's friend Carol, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer and is currently undergoing chemo. Hopefully it will put a smile on her face. You can read more about it on the RAK request thread here.

Card Deets:Stamps – Watervase by Stampingbella, Technique Tuesday Words we Love
Paper - groovy guava, sahara sand, white
Accessories - cuttlebug swiss dots folder, flowers die cuts, ribbon, bling, glitter