Color Throwdown #309

Hello friends!  It's time for another Color Throwdown challenge, and this week Vickie is our hostess.  She found this great quilt to inspire you this week... it's got a bit of a primitive look to it, I think.  I hope gets your creative mojo going so you can play along with us!

You might notice a slightly new feature to our color swatch... NO color names!  That's right, we will no longer be listing specific color names on the swatches.  Just the colors, so it's up to you to match up whatever you have that's most similar.  We hope everyone will like this slight change in format.

My card came together because I needed to make something to send to a man at church, so these colors worked well for a more masculine card, I think...

I started out with a piece of watercolor cardstock, and stamped the BG Patterned Triangles background  in Versamark, then embossed with Seafoam White embossing powder.  Then I dabbed a bit of Tumbled Glass and Shabby Shutter distress reinkers on my craft sheet, and using an aqua brush did a color wash on the background.  I die cut a piece of Sno Cone card stock with the Blueprints 11 Die-Namics, and stamped the BG Diagonal Stripes background in Sweet Tooth pigment ink.​  Then I used the Die-Namics TRANSFORM-ables Say Hello to cut out the word bubble.  I added the sentiment from Get Well Wishes near the bottom using some Blu Raspberry Premium Dye ink, and mounted the word bubble piece over the background with some foam adhsesive.  I matted this on a piece of Sour Apple card stock, and a Steel Blue card stock base, and finished the design with a few enamel dots.

​Be sure to stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and please join us!  And visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration...

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe 
Joan Ervin 
Jodi Collins 
Lori Tecler 
Monika Davis 
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen 
Lisa Henke, September Guest Designer

Here are my supplies...​

Die-namics TRANSFORM-ables Say Hello	BG Patterned Triangles Background	BG Diagonal Stripes Background	Get Well Wishes	Die-namics Blueprints 11	Heavyweight Card Stock Sno Cone
Heavyweight Card Stock Sour Apple	Heavyweight Card Stock Steel Blue	Tim Holtz - Distress Watercolor Cardstock	Pigment Ink Pad Sweet Tooth	Premium Dye Ink Pad Blu Raspberry	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Reinkers - Tumbled Glass
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Reinker - Shabby Shutters	VersaMark Stamp Pad	Tim Holtz Water Brush - Broad Brush	Inksessentials - Non-Stick Craft Sheet

InLinkz.com

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #292

Hello, friends… I’m running a little late today with my Color Throwdown blog post!  I left home early this morning for an outing with some co-workers and realized I never typed up my post!  LOL  That might be a first for me.  But anyway, I’m home now, and hope you’ll still come around to see what I have to share today.
Vickie is our challenge hostess this week, and she’s got a beautiful Spring color combo for you to try, with a twist!  Whadya’ think of the metallic silver addition?  It was fun to shake up the color combo a little this week!  So here’s my card…

I created my background with some Picked Raspberry and Festive Berries distress inks, along with some spritzes of water and Heidi Swapp Tinsel Color Shine spray. Then I used some Wendy Vecchi Metallic Silver embossing paste, along with a Prima-brand Chevron stencil up at the top, then added a Razzle Berry cardstock Die-Namics Gerbera Daisy, and a Leaf-filled Flourish behind it.  The sentiment from More Essential Sentiments was stamped on a Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics.
Be sure to stop over at the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Cindy Lawrence
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Annette Allen, May Guest Designer
Susie Moore, Guest Star Stamper
Thanks for stopping by today!

Button Up Recipe Swap

Linda has another great new Recipe Swap challenge over at the Catered Crop blog, and it’s definitely my favorite one so far… buttons!  Here are the challenge details…
Hopefully you like playing with buttons as much as we do, because that’s what we’re doing with this challenge – our annual button challenge. Just add a button or more to your project and come join the party. Or, alternatively, show us how you store and organize your buttons – that’s always fun, too.

• Include a link to us at Catered Crop or add our button, which you can grab on our sidebar or at our {button gallery}.
• Link up and link often, but be sure you link up by 8:00 PM EST on Saturday, May 10.
• Keep the party hopping by visiting the other players and leaving comments.
• Check back with us on May 11 to see if you’ve won an opportunity to be a guest designer.

For my card, I decided to play with a new-to-me stamp set from Wplus9 Design Studio…

I’ll be spending some time with my Mom this coming weekend, and I wanted to be ready to wish her a happy Mother’s Day a week early so I made her this card using the Spring Blooms stamp set.  I took a few hints from some beautiful release week cards I saw on the Wplus9 blog to create this, stamping my flowers with my new Festive Berries distress ink pad, and the leaves with a combination of Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint.  Then I spritzed with some water here and there, dried everything and added some Antique Linen shading around the edges.  I also used my aquapainter brush to add some splotches of red ink, and sprayed the whole card with one quick mist of Heidi Swapp gold lame spray.  Then, of course I added a few buttons in the centers of the biggest flowers!  :)
So hey, get buttoned up with us and join in the challenge!

Color Throwdown #290

Hello, my stampy friends… it’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge, and this week it’s my turn as hostess.  I hope you’ll join us this week!
When my Dad passed away several months ago, we had to spend several weekends getting his house cleaned out.  In the process, I came across several sets of Pyrex dishes that my Mom must have got as wedding gifts, or very early in their marriage.  Now they are my Pyrex dishes, and finding even more has become my new favorite obsession!  :)  So when I found this photo recently, I thought it’d be terrific for a Throwdown challenge!
Here’s my card…

I went with a simple layout this time, using the Pure Innocence Sunny Thoughts stamp set, colored with Copics.  In the background, I used some translucent embossing paste with a rain drops stencil, and added a few flags with the sentiment to finish it off.
Be sure to stop over at the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Jeanne Jachna, April Guest Designer
Teresa Kline, Guest Star Stamper
Sadly, this is our last challenge with the uber-talented Melody Rupple!  Her beautiful pages and cards will certainly be missed.  Stay tuned next week for the debut of our equally talented newest team member!
Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #289

Hello friends!  It’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge, and this week Monika is our hostess.  I hope you’ll find the colors inspired by this butterfly photo to your liking, and you’ll play along with us!
For my card, I pulled out a new Papertrey Ink stamp set, Garden Grace…

The flowers were die-cut with the coordinating Garden Grace die, then stamped and layered over a doily in the background.  The doily is a Prima stencil I got recently at Hobby Lobby, and I created it by mixing some Antique Linen distress ink with my Wendy Vecchi white embossing paste.  I sprinkled a few sequins around, and sprayed the whole card with some Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls, too.
Stop over at the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and join us, please!  And don’t forget to check out my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Jeanne Jachna, April Guest Designer
Anita Bowden, Guest Star Stamper
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #285

Hello friends… it’s Wednesday again, which means we’ve got another Color Throwdown challenge to share with you, and Broni is our hostess!  I hope you like the colors she chose as much as we all do, and will play along!
I decided to get a little over-inked with my card this week…

I created the background of my piece by mixing Shabby Shutters and Spun Sugar distress inks on the paper, and spritzing with some Old Paper mixed with water for a watercolor-y look.  I also sponged some Old Paper ink over a hexagon stencil on the lower right, and added some leaves stenciled on the upper left.  Then over everything I applied a layer of translucent embossing paste with a polka dot stencil.  Then I went to work with my Mini Hybrid Heirloom Rose Die-Namics from My Favorite Things, and a Mini Rolled Rose, along with some Royal Leaves and Leaf-Filled Flourish.  The sentiment from Essential Sentiments was stamped on a Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics using some Rich Cocoa ink.  I added a few gold sequins for embellishment, and called it done!  :)  The layout for my card was inspired by the Cardabilities sketch #95.
Please be sure to visit the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Gloria Stengel, March Guest Designer
Judy Van Zandt, Guest Star Stamper
Thanks so much for stopping by!

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!

Happy Birthday, eclectic Paperie!

Welcome to eclectic Paperie's Belated Birthday Bash!  Today we're celebrating the (belated) one year anniversary of the store's new ownership! It's been an amazing year, full of inspiring projects, wonderful classes, and many, many new products!!  eclectic Paperie wouldn't be where it is today without the ongoing support of our customers and as a BIG thank you you'll have an opportunity to lots of great prizes!  eclectic Paperie will be giving away the following prizes!  You have until midnight tomorrow (9/20) to comment.

A full set of Tim Holtz's NEW Distress Paints

6x6 Paper Pad Bundle

Dylusions Stencil Bundle

A set of NEW Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks

Crafter's Workshop Stencil Bundle

To be entered into the prize drawing, please be sure to comment on the eclectic Paperie blog and on each of the eTeam blogs.  Check out all of the thumbnail links below to view the rest of the eTeam projects!  Enjoy the hop!

To help celebrate eP’s birthday today, I created a tag…


My Inkssentials Manila tag uses the very fun Fresh Cut Florals stamp set from Wplus9 Design Studio, and I used the matching die.  The papers used for my tag are from Doodlebug Design, and I embellished with some enamel dots and twill ribbon.  I stamped the flowers and leaves with Memento inks from Tsukineko.

So don’t forget, stop over at the eP blog for all the Birthday Bash details!  Thanks a bunch for stopping by my blog today!  Happy stamping!

Dare to Get Dirty 2013

Hello friends!  Have you checked out the Dare to Get Dirty 2013 challenges yet over at Splitcoaststampers?  If not, you should!  Lotsa’ fun, lotsa’ great prizes to be had for participating!  Of course, you have to be a Fan Club member in order to play along, and if you’re not already you really should be.  It’s a great way to show your support and appreciation for all the incredible information that’s available at SCS, and is such a minimal cost when you break it down and compare it to the cost of classes or magazines.  Plus it’s just a great place to hang out, show off your work, find new ideas and make great friends.  I owe a TON of my stamping friendships to SCS!  Find out more about a Fan Club membership by clicking HERE.
So…. the challenges started yesterday and go through August 2nd, so don’t delay!  Get over to this forum and check it all out!  I made this card as a sample for Stacy Morgan’s challenge that was posted yesterday…

Can you guess what the challenge might be?  Well, I can’t tell ya’… you’ll have to join in to find out!  For this card I used a new hexagon embossing folder I recently picked up at Pat Catan’s and my new favorite flower set, the Fresh Cut Florals from Wplus9 Design Studio.  I got my set (and matching Fresh Cut Florals die from Kim at eclectic Paperie!)  The doily behind my flowers was cut with my Silhouette, and the gingham paper is from October Afternoon.
Hope you’re having a great weekend!  Find some time to do some stamping, and check out the DTGD challenges soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #248

Hey friends, it’s time for another Color Throwdown and this week Broni is our hostess with these beautiful colors!  I greatly enjoyed working with these hues this week.  Here’s my card…

I just had to ink up my new GORGEOUS Fresh Cut Florals stamps and matching Fresh Cut Florals dies from Wplus9 Designs!  I. ADORE. THESE. STAMPS!  They’re a ton of fun to work with.  I used some miscellaneous designer papers from My Mind’s Eye along with some enamel dots to embellish.
Be sure to stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Denise Marzec
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put
Wanda Cullen
Wanda Guess, June Guest Designer
And hey, speaking of the Color Throwdown…. coming up soon we’re celebrating our 5TH ANNIVERSARY!  Wednesday, July 10th is going to be a big day, with LOTS of prizes!  Stay tuned!
Happy stamping!

Happy Anniversary

Today’s Retro Sketch #69 was perfect for this anniversary card I needed to make.  The couple that teaches our Sunday School class will celebrate their 41st anniversary on Monday, so I wanted to get a card made to take to church tomorrow.

Here’s my card using an old Hero Arts stamp called Butterfly Fields.  I inked the top half of the stamp with Tumbled Glass distress ink, inked the bottom with Shabby Shutters, than added just a little bit of Peeled Paint at the very bottom.  Then I spritzed the stamp with some water before stamping on white cardstock.  I distressed the edges, sponged Antique Linen ink on all the pieces for a little shabbiness and embellished with some sheer ribbon and enamel dots.  The anniversary sentiment is from a My Time Made Easy stamp set, and the jumbo scallop border is from the Open Simply Scallops Trio Die-Namics.  I think this sketch is definitely a keeper!
Thanks for stopping by!  Happy stamping!

Happy Birthday

Hello there!  I’ve got a clean and simple card to share with you today using a few supplies from the eclectic Paperie online store!

Have you checked out the wonderful Spellbinders D’Lites that Kim has in stock?  These are beautiful dies… so intricate and detailed!  I used the Whimsical Tree today to create this simple birthday card, pairing it with a sentiment from Flourishes.  The tree and banner behind the tree were cut out with Echo Park “For the Record 2” papers, and I embellished the tree with some lavender Kaisercraft rhinestones (I don’t think these are in stock anymore in the eP store, but just ask Kim if you’re interested!)  Then I added a little Orchid baker’s twine to finish my card.  Just a little something, sweet and simple.
I’m finding a lot of inspiration in Chupa’s Sketchbook Saturday sketch #87 this week… this card was also based on the sketch!
Thanks for stopping by today!