DRS Blog Hop

I'm so excited that today is my first DRS Designs Blog Hop! This is the *official* unveiling for Dawn Mercedes and me as guest designers for the months of May and June! We have already been having lots of fun, and I'm beyond thrilled to be on this team of talented designers! I know I am going to learn alot and grow some wonderful friendships.

If you are just jumping on the blog hop, you should go to the DRS Blog so that you can start at the beginning! You don't want to miss the great ideas and fun sneak peeks that all of our stampers have to show you.

My card for today is a tri-fold card featuring a cute monkey, E871. I stamped him using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock, then colored him with prismas and gamsol, layering the colors to bring more intensity to the darker areas and to tint his cheeks, lips, and belly. I stamped him once more, just to color and cut out part of his face to add dimension and depth.

To make the card, I cut a 3.5 x 10.5 inch piece of cardstock. Then I scored 3.5 inches from each end. I made diagonal scores on the front and back flaps (see the picture of the open card to figure out how to orient these score lines). I added triangular pieces of DCWV designer paper inked with Tim Holtz distress ink and matted with coordinating cardstock. After adhering the ribbon to the left card flap, I then added some circles (I miss my nesties!), only adhering the top left side, attaching the monkey on top with dimensionals. The rest must remain free so that the card can swing open freely. After punching a scalloped circle from cardstock, I snipped the *petals* toward the center, wrapping each gently around a toothpick to create a curved shape. A paper flower and button tied with cord finish the embellishments on the card front.

For the inside, I cut more triangles of coordinating designer paper, along with a 3.25 inch square of ivory cardstock. I inked all the edges, stamped the sentiment, and adhered them to the card base. I used a marker to sketch a fun border (also on the circles on the card front), then added a second monkey with dimensionals to the bottom corner.

If you started at the beginning, you've got one more stop and then you're done! My friend Vicki has a fabulous design to share with you, so don't miss it! I hope you've had fun!

Blessings!

i {heart} papers hail and farewell!

It is both a sad and exciting day for our i {heart} papers design team. We are bidding a fond farewell to two members of our inaugural design team, Kendra Wietstock and Sarah Anderson. They are absolutely amazing stampers, with abundant amazing creativity and personality plus! We are going to miss them tremendously!

The rest of us have the wonderful good fortune to welcome the fabulous Lynn Mercurio to our team! Lynn is of SCS fame as she hosts the popular Technique Lover's Challenges on Mondays. Her most recent *hat* to wear is that of editor-in-chief of Stamp TV's Stamping Lifestyles online magazine. Lynn has been part of our team behind the scenes for a while now, so we are excited to finally publicly welcome her and look forward to seeing what she will do with the great products that are available in the ihp online store.

The card I'm sharing with you today is from yesterday's SCS Sketch Challenge. It features the fun Just Bugz set from ihp (by Our Craft Lounge). I stamped the bee on white cardstock, colored it with Copic markers, glitzed its wings up with clear Spica glitter. I used a scrap of BoBunny's designer paper edge punched with a Martha Stewart punch for the horizontal panel, and yellow Bazill cardstock as an accent. The bee was placed on dimensionals atop several layers of punched circles. A little *Faith-dot* border around the edges, and a bow of black and yellow gingham pulled the design together.

Make sure to take a look at the other ihp designers' blogs as they farewell Kendra and Sarah and welcome Lynn! At i {heart} papers Kate is offering a 10% discount on all purchases starting today and running only through this Saturday, May 2nd, so the time to shop is NOW! The discount code for this discount is HGB10 (HGB is short for Hello & Good-Bye).

Sweet 'n Sassy Blog Hop and Color Dare #14!

There's alot happening on my blog today! It's the beginning of Sweet 'n Sassy's blog hop, and also Color Dare #14. I decided to combine the two for one fun card, and I am hoping you'll like what I've come up with!

Today's Color Dare colors are Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, and Riding Hood Red. When I saw these colors together, I immediately thought of my family's long-standing love for the Ole Miss Rebels. My mom grew up near Oxford, my dad went to school at Ole Miss, and my brother also attended there for a while. A lot of my relatives worked there, and many still live in the Oxford area.

This hat and sentiment are from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set, Cool Dude. I stamped three hats on a strip of watercolor paper using Stazon ink, then stamped three more on another scrap. I used an aquapainter to lay down a wash of Baja Breeze for the background. I laid in the cap colors in several layers to gradually intensify the color, then cut them out and adhered them with dimensionals. I accented the panel with a row of piercing along the horizontal edges, then matted it with Riding Hood Red and Not Quite Navy, distressing the edges just a bit.

For the sentiment, I stamped the phrase in Baja Breeze on a scrap of the same colored paper, then matted it with Not Quite Navy. I cut a square of Riding Hood Red, then sliced it from corner to corner to make four small triangles, attaching two to the sentiment with brads and reserving two for a future project.

I love how clear and bright these colors are, and I am pleased that while this card is clean-lined and masculine, it isn't boring! My uncle would love it!

Be sure to visit my Color Dare design team mates' blogs to see their always fabulous creations, and then return here to jump on the Sweet 'n Sassy blog hop! All the links are on the sidebar on the right. Have fun!

DRS Cutie Pie!

I was so excited to find this Cutie Pie in the package of stamps that DRS Designs sent me! I think she is so absolutely adorable! I have been trying different coloring media to see how she looks with each one. She's so much fun to color!

Last week Asela and I shared lunch and then stamped together for a while...Asela didn't get much done since she essentially ended up pausing here and there to give me my own little private copic lesson! I enjoyed it so much, and built quite a bit on what I had already learned at the Copic certification course I took in February. It was fun to use Copic colors that are not yet part of my collection, and to see how the various colors blend together to create high- and low-lights to give a two-dimensional image more of a 3-D appearance.

For this card, I stamped using Memento ink, then colored with Copic markers to match BoBunny's designer paper Alissa Twirls. I added a black mat with a lacy edge because it seemed to really heighten and brighten the colors, especially with some hot pink BoBunny button accents and a bow of mint glimmer ribbon.

I think she is going to be one of my very FAV stamps during my two months as DRS guest designer! I just love her!

If you liked the sweet silhouette I posted yesterday, you should go visit my friend and DRS Roomie Dawn Mercedes! She posted the companion silhouette, a little boy, using a mosaic stamp which turned out absolutely gorgeous! I'm so happy to be guest designing alongside her! I think she's amazing!

Silhouette

Before I left for my parents' in Louisiana I spent some time stamping with my new DRS images. Today I'm giving you a little sneak peek at a sweet silhouette prayer image soon to be released (F931).

I knew when I first saw this stamp that I wanted to make a black and white card with just a hint of pale yellow. I chose BoBunny Alissa Kissable designer paper and Stampin' Up's So Saffron and Basic Black card stock.

The making of this card was very different from the norm because the focal image was stamped after basic construction of the card instead of at the beginning. I started with a standard sized card of black card stock, then measured a mat and designer paper to layer on the front. I used my nestabilities circles to carefully cut openings of gradually smaller sizes through the layers, treating the designer paper and mat as one. Next I placed a yellow mat and a white cardstock layer inside the card, aligning them carefully and faintly tracing through the card front around the circle with a pencil. I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored around the silhouette very softly with prismas, blending the colors with gamsol.

To add a more finished look to the inside, I cut a scalloped edge frame using nestabilities rectangles, centering it so that it remained invisible through the card front when the card is closed. I kept things sweet and simple, adding only a bow of gold edged black organza ribbon to the front, and a small bow of glimmery ribbon on the inside. This card reminds me that God is pleased when we come to Him with a child-like faith and trust. I hope you're blessed by it! Thanks for visiting!

Banana Split Sunday!

I'm very excited to have been invited to extend my time designing for the Bunch at 2RedBananas! I have enjoyed these past two months so much and just didn't want them to come to a close! I'm also very excited to welcome my friends Silke and Denise as guest designers for May and June! I have had the privilege of meeting these two in person, so being on a team with them is a special treat! I did a happy dance, but it was short and sweet because at the same time I learned that Jami and Maraya will both be going back to work and will not be able to continue alongside the rest of us. I just hope and pray that they stay in touch and come for frequent visits! Love y'all!

Today's Banana Split Sunday Challenge is to use stripes on your card. I had not yet gotten to ink up Jami's fun Hawaiian Chicken so I knew exactly what stamps and paper I wanted to use and couldn't wait to dress him up aloha-style. He definitely looks pau-hana (done w/ work!) and ready to hit the beach!

I stamped him twice on white card stock using Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I colored both images with prismas and gamsol, cutting out his beak, shirt and hat to pop them up on dimensionals. I stamped him a third time on striped designer paper to cut out and paper piece his surf board.

I love this Imaginisce designer paper and wanted to use the floral along with the stripes, so I made a criss-cross layout and added a bit of stitching, flowers, and pearls. The stitching reminds me of the hem of a shirt...the button on the sentiment brings out the blue stripes in the dp and just makes me think of the beautiful blue waters of the Hawaiian coast. They are a deeper blue than the more aqua colored Caribbean, which is equally breath-taking. My husband and I got married in St. John, USVI, then spent the first four years of our marriage on Oahu, so this Hawaiian Chicken brings back lots of fun memories for me!

I hope you'll play along with our challenge this week. Be sure to visit the Banana Blog to be inspired by our other designers...then come back to link your card on Mr. Linky so that you'll be eligible to win a prize! 2RB is giving away the My Mind's Eye Bloom Paper Pack to one lucky winner!

Blog Awards!

It is such an honor to receive a blog award, and I recently have been blessed with two! The first is from my friend Silvia Mabie. I am so thrilled to be given this particular award, and I hope that I can continue to live in the Light of the life it calls me to live! Thank you so much Silvie! You have given me an enormous compliment! You are such an inspiration to me!

The second award is from my friend and Color Dare design team mate, Stephanie Castro. Steph is a huge blessing to me and is such an encourager! She always makes me feel so special...I just love the interaction we have online, and the phone conversations we share ever so often. Steph, your compliments are a treasure to me, and I'm so grateful for our friendship!

Since I'm leaving tomorrow to go home to Louisiana to help my mom take care of my dad who was just released from the hospital this morning after a total knee surgery, I hope you won't be disappointed if I delay following the rules and passing these along! Actually, I am happy to have some time to ponder, because there are so many wonderful stampers out there and I'm blessed that many of my stamping friends are Christian women of great character! I do hope to have internet access from my parents' computer, so hopefully you won't even miss me and I can come back to finish this post within a day or two! I just know that right now I've got to finish packing! The worst part of the job is trying to figure out exactly what stamping supplies I just cannot live without! Especially now that many of the airlines are charging by the suitcase for checked luggage!

Hope to see you soon! Blessings!

More news!

I have more exciting news to finally share! I have been invited to guest design for DRS Designs! I found out back in February that I would be designing for them during the months of May and June, and had to keep it quiet all this time...and then when it came close to time for our reveal, I found out that my *room-mate* (also guest designing for May and June) is my good friend Dawn Mercedes! We had a great laugh together over the phone about that! Sharing this experience with Dawn is gonna make it that much sweeter! I'm so excited!

You might have seen me sneak my DRS banner onto my blog a few days ago. For the last few days I have been holed up in my stamp room, stamping cards to send to them for an April 27th deadline. I'll be sharing those and more over the next several weeks.

The card above is a card I stamped this morning for today's Limited Supplies Challenge, *Make Yourself at Home.* Jeanne challenged us to use colors inspired by the decor of one of the rooms in our home. I have a lovely Ethan Allen chair made with this print...it is one of my favorites, so I decided to use DRS's backgrounders to make a card in these colors. I used markers directly to the stamp (P631 and H628) using Sage Shadow, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, and Blush Blossom, then stamped onto ivory cardstock. The sentiment (G604) and butterfly (G115) were stamped using Tim Holtz distress ink. I gave the butterfly body a little dusting of Fun Flock just for fun. I sponged all the cardstock, including the butterfly, mats and card base, using Tim Holtz distress inks, and after constructing the card, added a bow and a few contrasting buttons tied with cord as accents.

Color Dare #13

Color Dare 13's colors are Pacific Point, Pink Pirouette, and Rose Red...I am finding that these brighter color combinations are a real challenge for me!

I stamped yet another OCL image from i {heart} papers for this card! I am so hooked! I used Palette Noir ink, then colored with prismas and gamsol to shade these lovely tulips and vase. The pinks were easy, but the blue was a bit difficult to match and required quite a bit of layering of colors to get the correct hue.

I love the dotted swiss embossed background, and since I recently purchased some new Cuttlebug borders, I had to use those on my card! I like how that striped ribbon brings out the rose red in the tulips and the matting. The ribbon image at the base of the bouquet is popped up on dimensionals, but that doesn't show very well in this photo. A very CAS card, but because of the colors, it is an attention-grabber.

Riley's got the rest of our DT's cards posted on her blog! They're always fantastic and I know you'll be inspired! If you like to get the details, you can visit their blogs individually...links are on the right. You DEFINITELY wanna play along...there's a PRIZE this week!

Going Askew!

I just LOVE the Our Craft Lounge sets that Kate has at i {heart} papers! When our team was given the challenge to place our focal image askew, I thought of this fun dragon from the set, Drake the Dragon, and these fabulous, bright, fun papers!

I stamped Drake with Palette Noir ink, then colored him with prismas and gamsol in flaming yellows, oranges and reds to match this colorful My Mind's Eye funky floral/melon plaid paper. I really loved the side-by-side panels of Mojo Sketch #81, so I began there but added a single image askew, matting it with a scalloped nestabilities rectangle. I topped the image with a layered felt flower, a corded button, and then added some shimmery glimmer mint ribbon to the bottom edge to bring some balance to the layout and colors. I hope you like it! This card just screams summer to me! It gets HOT in Florida! ;)

Check out all the image askew cards from our ihp team! Links are on the sidebar to the right!