Color Dare #27

OK...now what comes to mind when you think of Elegant Eggplant, Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray, Chocolate Chip? Freaked me out for a while! I couldn't think of a single thing! Finally I settled on Granny and her support team! My friend and I were just talking about how we both have been putting off some of the things that girls have to do periodically, so I guess the idea of a card as a reminder to make those appointments was inspired by that conversation!


This card is quirky! Granny kinda looks like she has been applying the fake tan lotion! I don't have the right flesh tone Copic markers...I desperately need to purchase some better colors! I really liked the look of the lacy edge along the z-fold. I mistakenly thought that the dimensionals would give enough height for the paper to course back and forth without a problem, but that is not the case, so as you open the card the lace edge scrapes underneath the card front. It is a situation of learning from one's mistakes! I guess this one's also a great reminder that sometimes this hobby is all about the journey and not the outcome! I may end up doing some reconstruction on it! My friend is my upline though...so she will appreciate it just as it is!

Take a peek at the Color Dare blog to see the team's creations!

i {heart} papers challenge and contest!

Our i {heart} papers design team participates in a monthly design team challenge. This month, we were challenged by Cathleen to use wide ribbon. Believe me, Cathleen is an expert at this, but for me it was indeed a challenge! I decided to keep the card layout and stamping ultra simple so that the ribbon would be the focal point. I made two cards, one with the traditional bow, and the other with a little twist. I love this Hero Arts set and thought these might make some nice prom or bridesmaids' cards.

I adhered some beautiful Mousse shimmer paper to the pale pink flip-side of some Freedom patterned paper that I punched with a scalloped border along the bottom. For the card on the left, I used an anywhere hole punch to punch a pair of holes one above the other on each side of center, dividing the paper into thirds. Then I loosely laced some silky 1.5 inch May Arts ribbon through, adhering the ends to the back of the panel with i {stick} papers red-line tape. For the one on the right, I followed Becca Feeken's tutorial to tie a bow...I pleated the ribbon that covers the seam of the cardstock so that it was more opaque and attached it in a similar fashion. I stamped the shoes with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and shaded them with a Copic marker and blender pen. I added just a bit of shimmer using a clear Spica glitter pen (I love these and want one in every color!). Voila`! I wish you could see these in person, because the pictures look quite plain but the shimmery paper and silky ribbon make them quite simply elegant and lovely IRL!

In the past, our design team has responded to the challenge to inspire you to create cards of your own. This month we're stepping things up just a bit! We're hosting a contest! Here's the prize!


To be eligible to win, here's what you need to do!

• create a card (or other project) using wide ribbon
• issue the challenge on your blog and/or in your gallery post
  
• upload to SCS with keyword ihp0709
• receive extra *points* for using i {heart} papers products

The deadline to enter is Tuesday, August 4th. Our design team will judge the entries and then on Friday, August 7th, we'll announce the winner. The prize will be an assortment of wide ribbons in various colors. Can't wait to see your creations! Make sure you visit our DT members' blogs (see the sidebar at right) to be inspired!

Banana Split Sunday!

I had lots of fun with this week's Banana Split Sunday challenge, to Spell it Out using alphabet stickers! I love the warm, rich fall colors in this Pink Paislee paper with just a bit of Almost Amethyst...can you see it in the print? I thought of all kinds of words I could spell with the Captivating alphabet stickers, but ultimately settled on merci because you can never have too many thank you cards! This week we are hosting Crocodile Dock Vacation Bible School at our church, so I thought I'd go w/ the Cajun French version of thank-you! I used my nestabilities to cut and emboss some swirlie embellishments, then inked everything with Tim Holtz distress ink and added a few Flame dewdrops for balance. It is very different with that bit of amethyst, but I kinda like it.

To play along, visit the Banana Blog for inspiration and then return there to upload the link to your card when you're finished. You'll have a chance at winning some alphabet stickers for your *work*! Such fun work, isn't it?!

Moved by the Music

I had so much fun participating in DTGD last year, and this year I'm beyond excited to be a Dirty Girl hosting a challenge! When choosing mine and looking back at previous themes for ideas to revisit, the one that grabbed my attention was For a Song. Since my blog is titled With a Stamp and a Song, the choice was obvious!

I listen to lots of music, and I often get stuck on a certain song that remains a favorite for a long time! My current favorite is When the Saints, by Sara Groves. I love the melody, am inspired by the lyrics, and as someone who loves to sing I keep wondering how she sings such long phrases...does the girl ever breathe?! LOL! For those of you who've never heard it, here are the lyrics. You can click play to hear it as you read along!

When the Saints by Sara Groves
Lord, I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know.
It's more than I can handle
But Your Word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I can’t let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
it all can overwhelm me
but when I think of all who've gone before and lived the faithful life
their courage compels me

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awaken to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sister standing by the dying man’s side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down that door

I see the Man of Sorrow and his long troubled road
I see the world on His shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them

So my challenge to you is to be inspired by your favorite song, or by your love of music in general! Let the lyrics and the music move you...I chose this song because I absolutely love it. I had the perfect stamp for it (from Flourishes), and wanted to incorporate elements of my Louisiana heritage into the card so that it would also work for the old familiar version of the song, O When the Saints Go Marching In. Crank up the volume and get to work! ;) I'll be excited to see what you come up with!

DTGD/LSC Combo Card

I hope you're having fun playing Dare to Get Dirty challenges! I have been working mostly on cards for upcoming design team commitments, but I did squeeze in one DTGD/LSC combo card. The set I used, The Journey, was a gift from Asela (thank you so much! I love it and have had so much fun with it already!). This was an interesting project for me, because while I have used my red Prisma colors a lot on various images, I realized today that this is probably the first time I've used red as the dominant color. It took me a while to get the shading and highlights that I wanted, and even still, I think I need a lot more practice! You can tell that my stitching needs a bit of refining too! I keep teasing fellow-dirty-girl Kim Teasdale that she needs to tutor me, but I'm seriously hoping she'll teach me some of her tricks for such perfectly even stitching! Until then, I'll keep muddling along!

My card is constructed of Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, and white SU card stock sponged with a bit of Tim Holtz distress ink. I used a silver gel-pen for the grill, headlights, mirror and hubcaps of the truck, so I decided to add a mat of metallic silver paper and some silver brads as accents. The tag was made with a Nestabilities die and was tied with a small scrap of May Arts two-tone ribbon, both from i {heart} papers.

This image makes me smile because it reminds me of my brothers...they love to refurbish old vehicles, and in fact, my brother Tom had a truck that was similar (probably older) to this one. So often I find images for stamping that remind me of sentimental, special things!

Dare to Get Dirty!

Yes! The fun has already started over at Split Coast Stampers! We want our fan club members to know how much you're appreciated! Today, tomorrow and Saturday the Dirty Girls past and present are hosting some fun challenges just for you! Check it out here! And if you're not already a fan club member, NOW is the time to join! You'll get a year's worth of access to the monthly Dirty Dozen gallery, instant uploads for your cards, and the opportunity to play in this weekend's games! What are you waiting for? ;)

Color Dare #26

Today's Color Dare card using Barely Banana, Close to Cocoa, and Bravo Burgundy features Our Craft Lounge's set, Life is Sweet, currently on sale at i {heart} papers. This was a fun, quick card to make. As usual, I started out thinking it was an odd color combination and ended up surprised to be happy with the outcome! I also really like the lines of the sketch, Card Patterns #23, which I found during a session of link-checking for The Daily Dare. I used Primas and Gamsol to color the cupcake image, then sparkled it up with a few quick strokes of Spica glitter pens in clear and sand. I didn't have any Zva crystal swirlies or I certainly would have added them!

Check out the Color Dare blog to be inspired!

Banana Split Sunday!

This week's Banana Split Sunday challenge is to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! I did all 3 for my card.

REDUCE: First, I reduced the elements on my card by deciding to keep things Clean and Simple. Next, I stamped the sentiment from our newly released July Journaling Spot on a piece of Naturals Ivory card stock using Wild Wasabi ink.

REUSE: I inked the sand dollar stamp (I reused the same set!), stamped it off on a scratch piece of paper and reused it without re-inking to produce a faint pattern that would not interfere with the readability of the words of the sentiment. I used my Nestabilities long rectangles to cut out the sentiment and mat, then reused the nestie to emboss the edges.

RECYCLE: Finally, I recycled by using a piece of printed tissue paper that came in a long-ago gift box. I trimmed it to fit atop a piece of ivory colored *green* Terracycle paper (this is 100% recycled paper made from wood alternatives) which was mounted on a mat of Wild Wasabi.

All of the layers were inked with Tim Holtz distress ink. I embellished with some corner piercing, adding a strip of crocheted lace left over from a project from June's DD gallery. I finished things off with a Basic Grey green opaline pearl to the center of each of the pretty swirls on the tissue paper.

I hope you like my card, and that it inspires you to play along! Visit the Banana Blog to see what our other team members created, and then once you've finished yours, link it there. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

2RB + Cuttlebug

Today's card uses a new release from 2RedBananas for the Cuttlebug Challenge! We're big Harry Potter fans, and let me tell ya, Matthew got a big kick out of the fact that this set had a Dumbledore quote! I wanted this card to be simple and to the point...and to have a sort of double entendre: OH that our decisions could be so black and white! ;)

July Dirty Dozen Gallery Opens Tonight!

Here's a little teaser to entice you to look at this month's Dirty Dozen gallery which opens at midnight Central Time! This theme was so much fun! If you're not a fan club member, you *need* to be! ;) I can't wait to hear your reactions when you find out who the two new Dirty Girls are! I'm so excited for them!

Banana Split Sunday!

Today's card just makes me smile! I thought this image was so sweet from the minute I laid eyes on it, but when I saw that she is named Penny a million memories came flooding to mind! My parents have lived next to the church parsonage forever, and when I was in kindergarten through probably 4th grade, the pastor's children were Debbie, Curtis, Hope and Penny. Their Debbie was older and therefore *Big Debbie* and as a result I was, yep, you guessed it, *Little Debbie*. Anyway, Debbie and Penny both had bright copper-colored hair, so I just HAD to color this image this way!

I stamped with Memento ink, colored with prismas and Gamsol, then followed today's sketch using Imaginisce's Twitterpated papers. The two-sided design made this card a breeze!

We would love for you to play along and link your creation to the Banana Blog! Be sure to visit first to check out our design team's cards for inspiration! A big welcome to our new guest designer, Dawn Burnworth, and to our new illustrator, Mindy Baxter!

Color Dare #24

I just LOVE this week's Color Dare colors! As soon as I saw them--Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Mellow Moss, and Very Vanilla--I knew exactly what image and papers I wanted to use. This card would work as a Valentine, but love is in season any day of the year! I think this is a feminine card that would be appropriate for any occasion. Most of the supplies I used are from i {heart} papers, and many are on sale now!

Notes:
designer paper: Basic Grey "Chatsworth", from the Porcelain Collection
stamp set: Impression Obsession Sweet Hearts (on sale now!)
ink: Palette Noir, Tim Holtz Distress Ink
accessories: Prismas, Gamsol, Nestabilities long classic and scalloped rectangles, May Arts ribbon, SU scalloped edge punch, corner punch, paper piercer, MM flower, buttons, cording

Banana Split Sunday!

I hope that all of my fellow Americans are enjoying the long holiday weekend! We're having a great time here! We started off celebrating my birthday on Thursday...Latisha treated me to a lovely full afternoon tea at the Strawberry Tea Room. My cousin's brand new grand-daughter, Alice Grace, was born on my birthday. That evening we got together with our neighbors Luis and Melanie and Luis' parents Luis and Fabi for Japanese hibachi dinner. I spent Friday in pj's stamping the day away, and yesterday we went to see Ice Age 2 in 3D. So funny!

Today's Banana Split Sunday challenge is in keeping with the 4th of July holiday, to make something patriotic. I have to laugh when I look at today's card, because I actually started this one for last week's inspiration challenge but it took on a life of its own and ended up being patriotic when that was not my intention, so I saved it for today and started over. (You can see what I ended up with for last week's challenge here if you haven't already taken a peek at it). And then, after all that, I nearly forgot to upload it! Oops! The other funny thing is that Jeanette and I were on the same wavelength! Our cards for today's challenge both use stars and Sgt. Chicken. I used the stars from May's journaling spot to stamp a background, then added buttons, a dangling *dog tag* and rub-on letters from my long-neglected scrapbook stash.

The Banana Blog features creations from all our designers...it's also the place to link your card when you've finished creating it. We would love for you to play along. Cards created for this challenge would be the perfect donation to Cards for Heroes! Those who serve deserve our gratitude!

One more DRS project!

My time at DRS is officially over, but I volunteered to post a project to the DRS blog and this is what I came up with. Simple and sweet...

Color Dare #23

Today's Color Dare colors are Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom, Handsome Hunter, and Kraft. They just made me think of Granny from Our Craft Lounge! I think this stamp is hilarious! I was so excited to win this set in an OCL sketch challenge a while back!

I love my Stampin' Up markers, but since I have been playing with my Copics the SU markers have been sorta neglected, so I thought it might be kinda fun to pull them out for this card. I used them to color everything except her hair, which I colored with a Copic C1 and then swirlied with a silver gel pen. I went back over the flower centers with a white gel pen to give them a brighter contrast and a little texture. I also added a bit of Spica sparkle to the nails on her fingers and toes and her necklace and bracelets.

I kept the layout simple with fewer layers than usual. The Cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing added some textural interest. For the sentiment, I used markers directly to the stamp. To finish, I punched a scalloped circle, snipped every other scallop toward the center and then curled them to make flower petals (thanks Jami!) with a 5 petal flower center and button.

Visit the Color Dare blog for more inspiration and to leave your link after you've played along! These colors were fun!