Washi’s Up?-A Card and my *NEW* Blog Design!

I got a great surprise earlier this week when I checked out Linda’s Catered Crop blog and found that my card was one of the Winning Recipes from the “Orange is the New Black” challenge!  What fun, and such a great honor especially coming from the fabulous Linda whose stamping style I admire so much! 
SO… the new Recipe Swap is “Washi’s Up?”  We’re crazy about gorgeous, translucent, eco-friendly, Japanese masking tape – Washi Tape. If you haven’t gotten your hands it yet, here’s your chance. Just use Washi Tape somewhere in your project.

• Include a link to Catered Crop or add the button, which you can grab on Linda’s sidebar or in her {button gallery}.
• Link up and link often, but be sure you link up by 8:00 PM EST on Saturday, November 9.
• Keep the party hopping by visiting the other players and leaving comments.
• Check back on November 10 to see if you’ve won an opportunity to be a guest designer.

So, here’s my Washi card for this new Recipe Swap, but I’m sure it won’t be the last one I’ll do for this challenge…

I had been wanting to play with this idea for awhile, so this challenge was the perfect opportunity.  I applied some black polka dot Washi tape to a piece of vellum, then cut it out with the Mustache Cut-Ups die from The Cat’s Pajamas.  I added the sentiment from the Mustache stamp set (also from TCP) then embellished with more Washi… the rainbow-colored mustache tape from Doodlebug and the black and white mustache Washi (source unknown).
My design also works for the current TCP Tuesday challenge at The Cat’s Pajamas to use NO embellishments.  As much as I wanted to add some enamel dots to this design, I (Washi) taped my hands behind my back and resisted the urge!  :)
So, be sure to hop over to the Catered Crop blog and check out the Washi’s Up? challenge, and play along!  I’ll be looking forward to your creations!
AND…. tell me what you think of my fabulous new blog design?  I’m SO excited to have something that’s unique and exclusive and all mine!  I discovered Stephanie G Designs recently and decided to have her do a custom design for me, and I. JUST. LOVE. IT!  The banner includes the Written on His Hands font that Kimberly Geswein designed using MY hand writing, and I so appreciate that Stephanie worked that into the design.  So… whadya’ think?
That’s all for today, but please stop by again tomorrow when I have some more fun news to share.  Oh, and…

Color Throwdown #266

Lori is our hostess this week for Color Throwdown #266, and she’s got this darling Fall-inspired photo for our color palette.  Are those acorns not the sweetest?  I’d love to have a basket full of them!
For my card, I decided to use this cute image from A Day for Daisies…

This image is A Lap Full of Kittens, from ADFD and I paired it with some Basic Grey papers that I thought worked well for the colors this week.  The layout was inspired by the Sweet Sunday sketch #196, and I turned it sideways.
Be sure to stop over at the Color Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and visit my CTD sisters for more inspiration…
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Sankari Wegman, October Guest Designer
Thanks for stopping by today… happy stamping!

Ducky Birthday

It’s Monday once again, so I’ve got a Kitchen Sink Stamps card to share with you.  Today I decided to get the new Multi-Step Rubber Ducky stamps inky and make a birthday card.  I also used the great Rubber Ducky cut files, too!  It’s SO awesome to have these available… they add a whole new dimension to your stamping.
The papers I used here are from an old My Mind’s Eye paper pad, and I used the Retro Sketch #87 for this week for the layout.
Stop and see the other Kitchen Sink Crew members today for more Monday inspiration…
Maria Colosimo, owner
Lynn McAuley
Lisa Somerville
Connie McCotter
Julie Masse
Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

Best Birthday Witches, part 2

My sweet sister-in-law (she’s my only sister-in-law but she’s the sweetest and the best!) is having a birthday tomorrow so I had to get one more near-Halloween birthday card made this week for her…

I had to use another sweet little witch image from A Day for Daisies for Barb’s card… this one is Little Crow Witch, and I think she’s just so darling.  My other Copic coloring idol is my friend Danielle Kennedy, so I took some clues from her darling card here to create mine today, including adding some glitter (with a black Spica glitter pen) to the crow’s feathers and to the broom.  A few silver sequins, black rhinestones, and an all-over spritz with some Perfect Pearls, and this one is ready to go!
Thanks for stopping by!  I’d love to hear from you!  It seems quiet lately… I’m feeling lonely!  :)

Best Birthday Witches

I needed to get a birthday card in the mail, and since this birthday falls so close to Halloween, I thought it’d be fun to put a little “witchy” spin on the greeting and use this new Little Moon Witch digital image I got recently from A Day for Daisies.

Desperately trying to emulate the work of one of my Copic coloring idols Broni Holcombe, I colored up my little witch and added a great glittery moon like her card shown here.  And making a Halloween card with a ADFD image allows me to enter their challenge this week.  And also, because there’s orange, I’m entering this one over at the Orange is the New Black Recipe Swap challenge, as well!  (Linda, you created a monster!)
Thanks so much for stopping by!  Smile… the weekend is almost here!

Color Throwdown #265

It’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge, and I’ve got one more card to share with you today using the new Multi-Step Bicycle stamp set from Kitchen Sink Stamps!
  These new stamps were just released on Monday, along with 4 other fabulous sets, so I hope you made time to go shopping.  At this point, you’ve missed out on the 15% off savings, but you can still always save 10% on your order when you use the code KSS10Tammy at check out!  (Or click the link in my sidebar.)

Joan is our hostess today with this interesting color combo.  I was a little iffy on it at first, thinking “what am I going to do?” as I do many weeks lately, but found some papers that worked well, and I was off and running!

And here’s my card, using the Multi-Step Bicycle set, and some Authentique papers.  And for this card, I used the awesome now-available cut file for the bicycle, the basket and the flowers!  I am SO excited that Maria is now designing cut files to go with the stamps… it adds a whole new design element to my creations, and actually makes the mult-step stamping process easier, too!  Check out Maria’s blog post here where she explains how she does it… I tried this and it makes such a difference!  (And… even Maria will admit that her explanation can be confusing, so if it is just drop me a line and I’ll try to explain better!)
Since Cantaloupe is a shade of orange, I’m entering this one in Linda’s “Orange is the New Black” Recipe Swap challenge for this week, too!
Do you love the sentiment on the front?  Those “Keep Calm” statements are so popular lately… I love that Maria included it in this set!  On the inside is another great sentiment from the set… one that I suggested be included.  I also added a “silhouette” of the bike using the step #2 stamp, and some Memento Toffee Crunch ink.

I’ll upload my card to my Kitchen Sink Stamps gallery,
and list my color recipes there for you!
Be sure to visit the Color Throwdown blog for all the challenge details today, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…
Wanda Cullen
Vickie Zimmer
Melody Rupple
Lori Tecler
Joan Ervin
Broni Holcombe
Barbara Anders
Sankari Wegman, October Guest Designer
Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy stamping!

Kitchen Sink Stamps Christmas

Today I have two Christmas/Winter-themed cards to share with you using some of the new release stamps!  First up…

A Christmas bear!  Maria has developed a new stamp set called Things 4 Ducky and Teddy, and it has a whole bunch of items you can use to dress up the teddy (shown here) from Multi-Step Teddy Bear Wishes and the rubber duck from the new Multi-Step Rubber Ducky.  And even better, there are digital cut files available for the teddy, the duck AND all the items in the new Things stamp set!  The cut files are SO NICE because it means no more masking!  I was able to stamp the Santa hat and candy cane here on the die cuts, and this card came together so quickly.  I’m in love!  The layout for my card is based on the Sweet Sunday Sketch #195.  My color recipes will be in my Kitchen Sink Gallery upload.
On the inside…

I added a sentiment borrowed from the Multi-Step Grizzly Bear Wishes stamp set, and a plaid border to match the papers on the card front.
And here’s just one more…

This card uses the new Multi-Step Snowy Pine Trees, and I made it a Christmas card by adding the sentiment from Never a Loss 4 Words.  I added a sparkly gold star to the top of the tree, and spritzed the whole card with some Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist for an all-over shimmer.  See my Kitchen Sink Gallery for my color recipe.
Remember, until midnight tonight Pacific time you can save 15% on all the new release stamps and in stock items in the KSS store.  Click here for your savings… Oct. New Stamps 15%-Tammy
Thanks for stopping by!

Primitive Pumpkins

Just had to sneak in an extra post today with this card.  I have been wanting to play along with one of Linda’s Catered Crop challenges for FOREVER, so I finally set aside some time to play in the current challenge.

Linda’s current Recipe Swap is to use orange in your creation.  Oh, hello???  Orange is my FAVORITE color!  Easy peasy!  I created this card with the LJD Primitive Pumpkins stamp set from My Favorite Things, and used the Retro Sketch #86 for this week for the layout.  Die-Namics I used include the matching Primitive Pumpkin dies, the Notebook Edge, the Fresh Cut Grass, and the Woodgrain Fence.
Because I want to use this as a (belated) birthday card, I added this on the inside…

I had the idea for this card stuck in my head all day at work, so I was glad to get home and bring it to life!  :)  I hope you like it, too!
Thanks for stopping by, and for your comments!

Kitchen Sink Stamps New Release

It’s finally here… new release day at Kitchen Sink Stamps!
 
You’re going to love the five new sets being released today, I just know it.  The Kitchen Sink Crew has lots of fun cards to share with you today, so be sure to check out all their blog links down below.
For my first card to share with you, I had to go with my most favorite of all…



This card was made using the new Multi-Step Vintage Bicycle stamp set!  And why is it my favorite?  Because the idea for this set was MINE!  If you remember, back in June the five stamp sets that were released then were all concepts by the KSS Crew Members, but because I had just rejoined the team, there wasn’t one from me.  So this time around was my turn to say “Maria, I’ve always wanted a _____________ stamp set from Kitchen Sink!”  I’ve always loved the look of a vintage bicycle, so I sent some pictures to Maria of my ideas, and this is what she came up with, and I think she ROCKED IT!!!  I hope you love it as much as I do.

And here’s a new feature I hope you’re going to love!  Maria has developed digital cut files for the newly released stamp sets, and a few past ones now too!  So if you have an electronic die-cutter (like a Silhouette) you can download the cut files to go with your images!  I didn’t have the cut file when I made this card, but I do have a few cards to share with you the rest of this week using the cut files, so please stay tuned.

My bicycle was stamped with…

#1 – Memento Flannel Gray (stamped off once)
#2 – Memento Toffee Crunch
#3 – Memento Rich Cocoa
#4 – Versafine Onyx Black

The flowers were stamped with…

#1 – Memento Angel Pink
#2 – Versamagic Pretty Petunia
#3 – Memento Bamboo Leaves
#4 – Memento Olive Grove
#5 – Memento Espresso Truffle

There are some GREAT sentiments in this set, too…. oh, I HOPE you love *my* stamp set!!!

Now, I also have to share with you two more cards, but I’ll be brief with descriptions since I know this post is gettin’ wordy!

Here’s a card using the new Multi-Step Rubber Ducky…



I’ll upload my color formula for this card in my Kitchen Sink Gallery for you.  The layout for this card uses the Retro Sketch #85 from last week.  I just LOVE the sentiment here… I was always a big Bert & Ernie fan!

And just one more card…



This card uses the old KSS favorite Multi-Step Trees, and the new Tree Friends stamp set that you can use to accessorize your tree!  How cool is that?  You will LOVE this set!  (See my Kitchen Sink Gallery for color recipes on this card.)

Hey, want a great deal, too?  From now until Tuesday at midnight Pacific time you can get 15% off the new release stamps and everything else in stock in the Kitchen Sink store!  And free shipping with orders over $65.  You can’t beat that!  Use THIS coupon code for the discount!  Oct. New Stamps 15%-Tammy

Stop and see the rest of the Kitchen Sink Crew today for more new release designs!

Maria Colosimo, owner
Lynn McAuley
Connie McCotter
Lisa Somerville
Julie Masse (on hiatus)

Stay tuned for Kitchen Sink Christmas here on my blog tomorrow using more new release stamps!

Splendid Sunflower Birthday

My Grandma Irene is turning 90 this coming week, so I had to make a very special birthday card for her, one that’s as beautiful as she is!  The LJD Splended Sunflower stamps and matching Die-Namics was just what I needed for a pretty Fall birthday card.  I inked my sunflower with Memento Dandelion ink, then added some shading with a Y35 Copic marker (thanks to my BFF Barbara Anders for the inspiration to do that from this card!)  The sentiment here is from the More Essential Sentiments stamp set.
My layout for the card comes from the Wednesday Stamp Club sketch #146 for this week from My Favorite Things.
On the inside, I added another sunflower stamped in very pale ink, and a sentiment from All Smiles. 

Thanks for stopping by… have a great weekend!

Color Throwdown #264

Welcome to another Wednesday Color Throwdown challenge, otherwise known as “WHAT am I going to do with these colors?”  LOL  Seriously folks, I just feel like I’m in a color slump lately….for some reason I just can’t put ‘em together to create anything.  But luckily I ran across this little darling image from A Day for Daisies that I printed months ago, and the wheels started turning.



This image is called “Picked Bouquet” from ADFD, and I just adore her with her cute little hair piled up on her head with the flowers.  I colored her with Copics, and then paired her up with this polka dot paper from Papertrey Ink (that I SWEAR looks like Pool Party in real life, but it sure doesn’t in my photo!)  A little sentiment, a silver cardstock scalloped border, a navy button and some silver sequins and I’m done!  What was I so worried about?

Be sure to stop over at the CTD blog for all the challenge details and play along!  And please visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple (off this week)
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Sankari Wegman, October Guest Designer

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Happy stamping!

Just Because…

Hello friends, and thanks for stopping by today to see me for Kitchen Sink Monday.  I have this card to share with you today, plus some great news!
First, the card… using my favorite Kitchen Sink Stamps Multi-Step Giant Sunflower.  Sunflowers are one of my all-time favorite flowers, and when I got this new Fancy Pants “Happy Go Lucky” paper recently with sunflowers in the pattern, I knew I just had to pair it with this stamp.  My color recipes are below for the sunflower inks.  For the layout on my card, I used the Deconstructed Sketch #122 for this week, but I took alotta’ liberty with it, turning it sideways and then moving an element, but hopefully you can see that I was inspired by the sketch. 
My color recipes:
Sunflower:
#1 – Memento Dandelion
#2 – Memento Canteloupe
#3 – Memento Peanut Brittle
#4 – Versamagic Jumbo Java
#5 – Memento Espresso Truffle
Leaves:
#1 – Memento Pistachio
#2 – Memento Bamboo Leaves
#3 – Memento Olive Grove
I used a BG000 Copic marker and added some pale blue background also to make my sunflower pop!
Now, the great news is that next Monday, October 21st there will be FIVE NEW RELEASE STAMP SETS from Kitchen Sink Stamps!  And oh my stars, you’re gonna’ love ‘em!!!  And here I’ve got a little sneak peek for you, too…

What are your guesses?
Please visit the other KSS Crew Members today for more inspirations and sneak peeks…
Maria Colosimo, owner
Lynn McAuley
Connie McCotter
Lisa Somerville
Julie Masse (on hiatus)
Thanks a bunch for stopping by… happy stamping!

Take Joy

I did some serious cleaning up in my stamp room over the last few days, so I decided to reward myself last night and played with some more of the new Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 products I bought this weekend.  I used a Kraft tag here, embossing paste, and Red Geranium ink to put this dimensional flower on the tag using the 2 Fancy Flowers stencil.  It is SOOOO fun to use the embossing paste to make that flower just pop off the tag!  Check it out below…

There’s a big variety of other products I used here included a few more of the flowers just sponged onto the tag with Cornflower Blue and Pale Ochre inks.  I sponged a striped border on the bottom of the tag with Potting Soil ink and the Dots & Stripes Borders stencil.  The leaves were made using Fern Green ink and the From the Garden stencil.  On the top right and bottom left corners I sponged some Broken China ink with the Honeycomb stencil, and stamped over everything with the grid stamp in Tea Dye ink.  The sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps, and I embellished with some enamel dots (they match better in real life!), a flower button, twine and some hand-dyed seam binding.  I also spattered some Worn Lipstick ink onto the tag using my aqua painter brush.

Can ya’ tell I’m having some fun with these new things?  :) 

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #263

Hello my stamping friends, are you ready for another Color Throwdown challenge?  This week, my BFF Barbara Anders is our hostess with the spooky, scary photo for inspiration!  LOL  Some great colors for Halloween, but you can create anything you want with them.  Be sure to stop over at the CTD blog and check out the challenge details!

I had the honor this past Saturday of getting to meet the fabulous Wendy Vecchi from Studio 490, and got to watch her demonstrate her great products!  She was so super nice and is a terrific instructor… I learned so many new ideas in the short time I spent watching her demonstrations.  And she sweetly agreed to a photo with me, so here we are…



So for my CTD card today I just had to pull out some new product she *forced* me into buying, and created this…



This Layered Tree is one of Wendy’s new stencils, and I used her new signature Archival Inks to color it in… Potting Soil for the tree and Orange Blossom for the leaves.  I sponged in the moon with some Archival Pale Ochre, but it was too pale so I added some Ranger Wild Honey distress ink, then added Pumice Stone distress ink all around the background.  The sentiment is from Flourishes “Life Lines” stamp set.  I added some random spots of water to the background, and some distressing on the edges just to *shab* it up a bit, and otherwise kept the design pretty simple but I really love how it turned out.

So, be sure to stop over at the Color Throwdown blog so you can get all the challenge details, and also check out my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Wanda Cullen
Vickie Zimmer
Melody Rupple (taking the week off)
Lori Tecler
Joan Ervin
Broni Holcombe
Barbara Anders
Sankari Wegman, October Guest Designer

Thanks so much for stopping by today… happy stamping!

A Yee Haw Birthday

I’m definitely in the mood to create Fall cards now, so I just had to get one ready for my sisters birthday that’s coming up.  She’s definitely a country-lovin’ girl so I know she’ll appreciate this card…

I paired up the boots from Kitchen Sink Stamps’
Multi-Step Cowboy Boots with a few pumpkins from the Multi-Step Pumpkins stamp set to create this country-style birthday card.  I know my sister is going to love it!  My color formulas for the pumpkins and the boots are below.  The papers I used here are Bo Bunny “Autumn Song” and I used Karen’s Sweet Sunday Sketch #194 for the layout (turned on it’s side).
The “yee haw” sentiment (and birthday sentiment on the inside… see below) is from the Multi-Step Cowboy Hat stamp set.

Boots:
#1 – Versamagic Wheat
#2 – Memento Toffee Crunch
#3 – Memento Rich Cocoa (stamped off once)
#4 – Memento Rich Cocoa
#5 – Versafine Onyx Black
Pumpkins:
#1 – Memento Cantaloupe
#2 – Memento Tangelo (stamped off once)
#3 – Memento Tangelo
#4 – Memento Morocco
#5 – Memento Potter’s Clay
Stems:
#1 – Memento Bamboo Leaves
#2 – Memento Rich Cocoa
Be sure to stop by the rest of the Kitchen Sink Crew members blogs today for more KSS inspiration…
Maria Colosimo, owner
Julie Masse
Lynn McAuley
Connie McCotter
Lisa Somerville
Thanks for kickin’ by today!

Color Throwdown #262

Wanda is our hostess today for Color Throwdown #262 and she’s got these gorgeous Fall colors for us to try!  I just LOVE this color combo, and couldn’t wait to create something for today.  With that gorgeous red, and the apples in the photo inspiring me, I decided to use my Red Delicious Die-Namics die from My Favorite Things and made this…

I used some papers from the Simple Stories “Take a Hike” paper pad for the card, and my layout was taken from the Sketchbook Saturday #106 for this week.  The sentiment was stamped on a Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics and comes from a retired MFT stamp set.
Be sure to stop over at the CTD blog today for all the challenge details, AND help us welcome our new October Guest Designer!  She’s one of my most favorite people in the stamping world!!!  :)
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Sankari Wegman, October Guest Designer
Happy stamping, and thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Cards

So yesterday, I shared with you the KSS Lighthouse cards I made as part of a collection of birthday cards I made for one of the therapists at work.  So today, I thought I’d show you the rest of the cards.  I made a dozen in all, two of each design, half masculine/half feminine.  So, obviously those lighthouse cards were more on the masculine side and here are the other two designs I came up with…

I’m still infatuated with how this design turned out!  I’ve had The Mustache dies and stamps from The Cat’s Pajamas for probably at least a year, but have never used them!  Well, I finally fixed that with this simple design!

And this design was based on this card I made awhile back using the same Wplus9 Design stamp set, Fish More and matching dies.  I’m glad I made these two because Harry (the therapist who bought the cards) said “Oh, perfect… my brother loves to fish!”  I computer-generated the sentiment since there isn’t one in the stamp set that was useful for this design.
And for the feminine cards…

I made these two using a Project Life card cut out on my Silhouette, and added a yellow flower made with the Pretty Posies Die-Namics.  These designs were CASE’d from the card I made here for Color Throwdown #205.
Then there’s this one…

Which uses the Rounded Banner STAX Die-Namics, the Butterflies and the Medium Leafy Flourish.  Inspiration for this design came from this card.
And finally…

I colored with Copics on this one, which isn’t something I’d normally do when I need to make a lot of cards, but I kept the coloring very simple… no blending, just coloring.  This is a retired a’la modes stamp from MFT, and I combined a sentiment from that set with another one from a Pure Innocence set, and added a die-cut button so there’s no extra bulk.  As it happened, my daughter also needed a birthday card for a friend, so while I was at it I created a little more-is-more design for the card she needed…

Hope you like all my cards!  I am happy to report that the buyer liked them all, too!
Happy stamping!