Color Throwdown #297

Hello friends!  Happy Wednesday, and welcome to another Color Throwdown challenge.  Our hostess this week is none other than our newest team member, the fabulous Cindy Lawrence!  Cindy’s inspiration photo today is this fantastic cake with some beautiful colors perfect for summer!



When I started on my card, I found that I must not have any of that gorgeous Bermuda Bay cardstock in my stash!  I don’t even have a swatch of it on my cardstock ring to try to match it to something else!  What’s UP with that???  (And seriously, if anyone HAS some, if you’d send me a 2x2 square of it I’d be MOST grateful!)  So I used good ol’ Cool Caribbean for my design instead.

As I was getting ready to create my card, I had just read about this awesome new challenge blog that’s starting up, The Cutting Edge Challenge.  AND they’re having a Guest Designer contest.  So I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring.  My inspiration was the die-cut flowers on the card on the lower left corner of their graphic.



For my card I decided to peruse all the wonderful Die-Namics flowers I have in my collection, and settled on the Gerbera Daisy Die-Namics for my card…



The daisy is layered over a Die-Namics Leaf-Filled Flourish and a stitched circle cut with the Blueprints 12.  On the blue panel behind the daisy I stamped the BG Linen background stamp, and over that used the new Large Polka Dot stencil with some white embossing paste.  On the gray background piece, I stamped the new BG Romantic Script background in Steel Gray hybrid ink, spritzed it with some MIX-ables Sheer Shimmer mist, and then layered over it with the Modern Morocco Cover-Up Die-Namics cut from Sweet Tooth cardstock.  The Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX die-cut was stamped with the “hello” sentiment from the LJD On the Line stamp set.

The layout for my card was inspired by the current Cardabilities sketch challenge #101.

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
Cindy Lawrence
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Susie Moore, June Guest Designer
Pat Knowlton, Guest Star Stamper
 

Die-namics Gerbera Daisy	Die-namics Leaf-Filled Flourish	Die-namics Blueprints 12	Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX
Die-namics Modern Morocco	LJD On the Line Stamp Set	BG Linen Background	BG Romantic Script Background
Stencil Large Polka Dots	MIX-ables Sheer Shimmer Mist	Hybrid Ink Pad Blu Raspberry	Hybrid Ink Pad Steel Grey

InLinkz.com

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Stamps:  LJD On the Line, BG Romantic Script background, BG Linen background (My Favorite Things)
Cardtock:  Cool Caribbean, Daffodil Delight (Stampin’ Up!); Sweet Tooth, Sour Apple (My Favorite Things); Gray (Bazzill)
Inks:  Steel Grey hybrid ink, Blu Raspberry hybrid ink (My Favorite Things)
Dies:  Gerbera Daisy, Leaf-Filled Flourish, Blueprints 12, Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX, Modern Morocco Cover-Up Die-Namics (My Favorite Things)
Other supplies:  Large Polka Dot stencil, MIX-ables Sheer Shimmer Mist (My Favorite Things), white embossing paste, enamel dots

Smile! - MFTWSC180

I’m just getting in under the wire this week for the sketch challenge at My Favorite Things.  :)  I made this card over the weekend, but didn’t a chance to blog it until now.

I actually made this for an upcoming Color Throwdown challenge, but the colors just weren’t quite right so I started over.  But at any rate, I hope you’ll like the card!  The new TRANSFORM-ables Smile Die-Namics has to be one of my most favorite things from the recent June release…it’s just so fun to work with.  For the card today, I cut it out with Sweet Tooth cardstock, but then cut again with some yellow cardstock and layered another “smile” behind the first one for dimension.  I added a Fishtail Flags STAX Die-namics behind the frame, stamped with the BG Grid Background in Lemon Drop hybrid ink, as well as the sentiment stamped in the same ink, from the new CS Smile stamp set.  On the blue inset piece, and the gray background I stamped the BG Typewriter Text Background, then added a little camera from the LLD Accent It – Cute Cameras Die-namics. Then up on the top left side of the frame, I added a little cardstock “clip” cut from the new Free-with-$60 Die-Namics Office Supplies, and stamped “MEMO” on it from the LLD At the Office stamp set.  Hard to make out in the photo, but on the white “smile” in the frame, I painted with a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen for a little sparkle.
Thanks so much for stopping by today!

InLinkz.com

Thank You – Deconstructed Sketch #155

I had some great stampy time on my hands this past weekend, so I just had to create a card using the Deconstructed Sketch #155 for this week.  The sketch is a little outside the box for me, so it was great to try!

I started out knowing I needed a thank you card, and it just evolved from there.  I stamped the sentiment using the LJD Words of Inspiration stamp set from My Favorite Things.  The sentiment panel was cut with the Die-Namics Horizontal Stitched Strips, but it was longer than what I needed so I shortened it after the first cut by lining it back up in the die with the extra hanging off the end, then ran it through my die-cutting machine again.  The two panels behind the sentiment were stamped with the BG Pinstripe background and the BG Linen background stamps with Orange Fizz and Lemon Drop hybrid inks.  The brand spankin’ new BG Gingham background was stamped on Sweet Tooth cardstock using Grout Gray hybrid ink, and was spritzed with some MIX-ables Sheer Shimmer mist.   Other products used include the Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX, Blueprints 2, Blueprints 12, and Blueprints 13.
Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Sympathy Rose

The father of my very dear friend passed away recently, so I made this simple sympathy card to send to her using the MPD Rose Builder stencil from My Favorite Things, and some translucent embossing paste.  After the paste was dry, I sponged around the rose with some Pink Lemonade hybrid ink, and stamped the sentiment from Essential Sentiments in Black Licorice hybrid ink.  On the top right side I added a Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX cut from Grout Gray cardstock, and a vellum Fishtail Flags STAX, topped off with a Grout Gray button, and white hemp cord. 
Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #296

Step right up, my stampy friends because it’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge!  Lori is our hostess this week with this fun color combo…

I’m especially excited for the challenge today because with my card I get to share with you some brand spankin’ new June release products from My Favorite Things!  How, since the release was just last night, do I have these new products already, you might ask?  Well, I recently got to spend a whole weekend at the glorious MFT Headquarters in Eustis, Florida!  Oh my, let me tell you, to see it all in one place… all the stamps, all the Die-namics dies, the cardstock, inks…. it’s WONDERFUL!  And while I was there, I got to pick up all the new June release products!  So, here’s my card for today with some of those new goodies…

You’ll see here that I paired the Little Shutterbug Pure Innocence stamp set with the new TRANSFORM-ables Smile Die-Namics.  You’ll also see here the new Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics, as well as the “you make me” sentiment that comes from the new CS Smile stamp set.  Other MFT products I used include the BG Grid Background, the Pierced Rectangle STAX Die-Namics, the Die-Namics Stacking Stars, along with some Sour Apple and Berrylicious cardstocks and Pink Lemonade Premium dye ink.  It didn’t really show up in my photo, but on the “smile” I used my clear Wink of Stella glitter pen to add a little sparkle.

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
Susie Moore, June Guest Designer
Betty Schaub, Guest Star Stamper

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Me & You

I had the sheer joy recently of getting to go to Florida for a long, stampy weekend at the fabulous My Favorite Things store, and one of the perks of being there was getting to buy all the new June release products a little early!  You can bet yer’ britches, I bought it ALL!  (Well, I may have left just a few things behind!)  One of the great stamp sets I picked up was the new DC Always & Forever set, and the matching (I just freakin’ LOVE this!) new Ampersand Die-Namics die!  So this past weekend I combined the great Deconstructed Sketch #154 with the MFT Color Palette challenge #6 and made this card.

In addition to the new stamps and dies, I used the Grid Background (stamped in Spearmint Premium dye ink on Spearmint card stock) and Pinstripe Background (stamped in Nightshift Blue Premium dye ink on Natural card stock) stamps, and the On the Diagonal stencil sponged with Spearmint Premium dye ink.  I added two ends of the new Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics in white card stock, and a smaller flag cut from Blueprints 13.
On the ampersand and the smaller flag, I added a little bit of sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella pen…

On the inside, I added a few more words from the DC Always & Forever stamp set, stamped in Spearmint and Nightshift Blue Premium dye inks.

I could NOT be having more fun with these awesome new stamps, dies and inks!  Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Catered Crop Manly Men

On the one hand, we’ll never experience childbirth.
On the other hand, we can open all our own jars.      ~ Bruce Willis, on the difference between men and women

Father’s day is coming, which means it’s the perfect time to celebrate the boys and men in our lives. For our new Catered Crop Recipe Swap challenge, we want you to show us your masculine side!
SO… I had no choice but to pull out some new stamps and Die-Namics that I picked up last weekend when I spent some time in Florida at My Favorite Things…


I combined the Catered Crop challenge with the MFT sketch challenge #179 for this week, AND the Color Palette challenge #6 for June, and used the new DC Let’s Tool Around stamp set for my design.  The background is made using the Pegboard Die-Namics Cover-Up die, and I embellished with the hammer and screwdriver from the Tool Time Die-Namics.  I stamped more tools on the Spearmint green card stock circle with Spearmint Premium dye ink, and stamped the sentiment and the nuts and bolts on the Nightshift Blue card stock strip with Nightshift Blue Premium dye ink.

On the inside I added more nuts and bolts stamped in Nightshift Blue Premium dye ink, and the wrench from the Tool Time Die-Namics.  All of the tools were given a coating of sparkle from a Wink of Stella pen, too.
So, be sure to stop over at the Catered Crop blog and join us for the challenge!  We want to see your manly side!
Thank you for visiting me today!

Color Throwdown #295

Welcome to Wednesday, and time for another Color Throwdown challenge!  We’re up to #295 this week with Joan as our hostess and have a good change-up for you this week with these colors…

I LOVE that Joan took in a monochromatic direction this week… we definitely need to do this more often!  It was a nice change, and I hope you’ll give it a try, too!
Here’s my card…

I used my not-yet-inked Circle Scribbles stamp set from Papertrey Ink for my card, stamping in Paver Red, Razzle Berry and Pink Lemonade hybrid inks from My Favorite Things.  On the Razzle Berry card stock background, I stamped the On the Diagonal background with Pink Lemonade ink, so it’s just very subtle.  The sentiment from the LJD On the Line stamp set is stamped on a Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics, and finished off with a Paver Red button and baker’s twine.  The angled panel was but using the Blueprints 15 Die-Namics.  I also spritzed the background with some Razzle Berry Premium Dye ink and some Steel Shimmer MIX-ables mist.
Stop by 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
Susie Moore, June Guest Designer
Diane Jaquay, Guest Star Stamper
THANK YOU for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #294

Broni is our Color Throwdown hostess this week, and in her typical fashion she’s chosen something beachy for her colors!  :)  The girl loves her sand and surf!  I hope you’ll stop over at the CTD blog and join us!

Here’s my card…

We had a staff outing at work a few weeks ago, and a bonus of the day (for me, anyway!) was the chance to stop at Stamplistic in Amherst, Ohio and do a little shopping!  I’ve always loved these Girlfriends stamps from Art Impressions… I own several sets that have hardly been used but that sure didn’t stop me from buying another one!  The wine-theme in this set just sucked me right in!  Other than coloring with Copics, I kept the design pretty simple.  I can stamp a birthday sentiment inside this anytime, and have it ready to go!

So, stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and play along with us!  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
Christy Stanford, Guest Star Stamper

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!

A Garden Party

Linda’s got a new Catered Crop challenge for us this week!  Here are the details…
What’s growing in your garden? Flowers? Vegetables? Herbs? Weeds!? There’s just something so therapeutic about getting your hands dirty. For this challenge show us anything that might grow in a garden.

• 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, June 7.
• Keep the party hopping by visiting the other players and leaving comments.
• Check back with us on June 8 to see if you’ve won an opportunity to be a guest designer.

Now, I do not do any gardening!  My husband and I have a deal… he tends to things on the outside, I tend to things on the inside!  So, if he grows the veggies, I’ll cook/can/freeze them once they come inside.  But getting dirt under my fingernails…. no way!  LOL  BUT, I’m perfectly happy to create a garden on a card front, so here’s what I did for the challenge…

I reached for my very favorite LJD Splendid Sunflower stamps and Die-Namics to create my card.  The sunflower was stamped with the luscious new Lemon Drop Hybrid Ink from MFT… is that not gorgeous and rich?  Then, using a Y35 Copic marker I added some shading to the flower petals.  The leaf was stamped with Jellybean Green Hybrid Ink, and the flower center was stamped with Kraft and Hot Fudge Hybrid inks..  The layout was inspired by the Deconstructed Sketch #152 for this week.  The papers are from Fancy Pants.
Be sure to stop over at the Catered Crop blog for all the challenge details, and play along!
Thank you for visiting me today!

I Mustache…

The Curtain Call Inspriation Challenge is a challenge I check out every week, but just never seem to have the time to try.  But finally this week I got it done!

This also gets entered in the Anything Goes TCP Tuesday #267 challenge at The Cat's Pajamas!

I sat down last night to make an uber-quick gift card holder for someone at work.  I knew I wanted to use The Mustache stamp set from The Cat’s Pajamas along with the matching Mustache Cut-Ups die for this design, and that made me remember the Pajama Party Curtain Call challenge for this week so I made this very quick, very simple gift card holder…



The papers I used are from Doodlebug.  See… very quick, very simple!  :)

The weekend is in sight, and here in Northeast Ohio it’s slated to be beautiful!  Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #293

My BFF Barbara is our Color Throwdown hostess this week, and she’s got this great color combo for us to try!  Personally, I LOVE it… aqua and orange is always a favorite of mine, and a little green just makes it that much better!

I grabbed some new goodies from My Favorite Things to create my card…



I used the new Free-with-$60 Centerpieces You Mean the World to Me Die-Namics die on my card without a layout inspired by the Sweet Sunday Sketch #220 for this week.  I cut out some extra “land” on the globe (a triple layer) with Pear Pizzazz cardstock that was stamped with the new Linen Background stamp in Sour Apple hybrid ink.  I embellished with a punched heart, some enamel dots, and ribbon.  The idea to highlight the "WORLD" came from Joanne's awesome card here.

Stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and see 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
Jo Hooper, Guest Star Stamper

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

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!

Color Throwdown #291

Hey everyone!  Wanda is our hostess this week for the Color Throwdown, and she’s got some cool colors for you to try based on these cool gemstones!

I went nautical for my card today…

I just HAD to have this darling Die-Namics Sailboat when it was released a few months ago, but had yet to use it!  (Isn’t it that way with most of the supplies we all buy?)  So I got it out for today’s challenge, along with the Catch a Wave Die-Namics, and the sentiment from the Go Overboard stamp set.  On the green background, I added the On the Diagonal background.
I’m especially excited for today’s challenge because, while we’re sad to bid farewell to Melody Rupple last week, we’re happy to welcome the fabulous CINDY LAWRENCE to the Color Throwdown team!!!  Cindy has long been a stamping idol of mine, as well as a wonderful friend and I’m thrilled to have her join us!  I hope you’ll stop by her blog and give her a warm welcome.
Stop over at the CTD blog for all the challenge details today, and for more inspiration visit my Throwdown sisters (including our Guest Star Stamper today, and our new May Guest Designer!)
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Cindy Lawrence
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Annette Allen, May Guest Designer
Roberta Morin, Guest Star Stamper
Thanks bunches for stopping by today!

Brewin’ Up Birthday Wishes

I overheard yesterday at work that one of my coworkers is celebrating a birthday today.  She’s one of my most favorite people to work with, so I just had to stop by Starbucks to pick up a gift card for her (one of her favorite places!) and create a quick card.  I knew my Be a Barista stamp set from Reverse Confetti would make the card even more suitable, so here it is…

I made a little gift card pocket for the center panel of the May Sketch for You to Try, and put it on a slight angle.  Then, inside the pocket is the Starbucks gift card which can be pulled out by the tab I attached to the top with temporary glue dots.

I used the flag from the Tag Me Confetti Cuts, and stamped just the first part of the birthday sentiment from the stamp set, and added the rest of the sentiment on the inside…

The papers I used are Heidi Swapp “Sugar Chic”.
I hope Hannah will like this!  :)  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!