Two cards today!

Today is Wednesday, which means Color Dare #36...but there's another post below for OCL's Spotlight Set of the Week!

I missed playing Color Dare last week so I really didn't want to miss this one, but with all I've got going on, I had to get up early to play! I'm so glad I did because this card was really a fun one! The colors are Barely Banana, Creamy Caramel and Bermuda Bay. LOVE this cute Unity image from i {heart} papers...the Bermuda Bay made me think of those eggs, and I love how it turned out with a quick flick of ink with the aquapainter on vanilla card stock. I used Mojo sketch #96 for the layout, adding a little texture with the Swiss Dots embossing folder and the large and small circle nesties to mat the image. I am also really getting the mileage out of one of my new favorite tools, the Bow Easy.

Trick or Treat!

Another card for featuring Ghostly Greetings, spotlight set of the week over at the OCL blog. I have been determined to try to make a few clean and simple cards here and there! It's a style that is a real challenge for me, but if I keep at it, I should get better! Practice makes perfect, right?!

The color scheme started with a scrap of My Mind's Eye designer paper. I colored with Copics, then used my brand new Nestabilities ribbon tags trio to cut and emboss the image. I also used the rest of my orange silk ribbon from yesterday's card...I'm gonna have to go shopping at i {heart} papers to get some more because I just love it! Kate adds something new to the store just about every day, so my list is always growing! There's still time to get some stamps, paper and ribbon for a few more Halloween cards! Can't believe that October is almost here!

Thanks for visiting! Hope you'll come again soon!

Boo to You!

Have you ever played the game where you leave your gift on the doormat, ring the doorbell and then run like crazy so you don't get caught? We've been playing it for Halloween in our neighborhood for the past few years, and I thought it would be fun to have a pretty little Boo Bag this go-round! I used "Lucky Me" Orange Crush from the Abbey Road collection from i {heart} papers along with some BoBunny Delilah Here's 2 U and Delilah stripe from the LSS. I love mixing and matching prints and it is even more fun when they're NOT a pre-fab match! ;)

This is another one of the adorable images from Ghostly Greetings. (I actually colored two to go with this paper...this one is not as girlie pink as the other. That one will have to have a big pink silk bow!) The sentiment is also from the set and is just perfect for this project. I colored the image with Copic markers, cut it out with an oval nestabilities die, framed it with the Abbey Road paper and embellished it with a few dark purple Kaiser pearls which match the dark purple paper that for some reason appears black in the photo. All of the papers were inked with Tim Holtz distress ink in tea dye. The orange silk ribbon was tied with the Bow Easy (LOVE that tool!)

This layout is this month's Our Craft Lounge sketch turned on its side...and I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun making it and sharing it with you! I'm putting Pinky's Scor-Pal to good use!

OCL Spotlight Set of the Week!

Each week on the OCL blog our designers take turns showing their creations using the *Spotlight Set of the Week* and this week, I'll be sharing some of mine using a fun set for Halloween, Ghostly Greetings!

This was an image that I colored with my Copic markers while we were on the plane on our way to Michigan...I adore working with these bright, fun colors! I finally put the card together Friday night when my young friend Keri and I went for a night of stamping at the LSS. I used some scraps of paper from an earlier Halloween card along with a new purchase of flocked swirlie stars. I really liked the look of the wider purple grosgrain ribbon, but the glimmer ribbon looked so pretty with that sparkly striped paper that I decided to layer it on top...the cool Queen and Company felt flowers finished off the visual triangle with a bright pop of color!

Stay tuned...I'll be posting more cards using this set over the next several days! Just in time for Halloween!

Banana Split Sunday!

This week's Banana Split Sunday challenge is to make a bag, box or wrapping paper. Perfect timing for me, because this week we're having our annual Fall Brunch for our women's Bible study and I always like to take a little prize or two for the winners of the games we play. This tall thin bag will be just perfect for a journal or small devotional book.

I especially enjoyed this particular challenge because my friend Pinky got a new Scor-Pal and gave me her old one! Oh My Goodness! What a difference this tool made! Pinky, I have been enjoying my new toy just for scoring card folds, but it made this project so easy and fun! Thank you and {{hugs}} for your generosity! I love it! You're such a sweetheart!

Love this Pink Paislee "Fetching" paper too! The leafy design just draws me toward simplicity and a minimalist style. Today I chose to leave my gift bag ultra simple, highlighting the leaves with dew drops, inking the edges with distress ink, and making an oval tag with the sentiment Peace, Love and Happiness from the August/September journaling set. I also stamped a small single layer butterfly from the same set to add to the sheer ribbon that holds the flap of the bag closed. I used a couple of Copic markers to tint the inner design ever so slightly.

I hope my Bible study ladies will think that this is a lovely and elegant gift. Sometimes they really make me smile because they enjoy the wrappings as much as the gift itself! They are such a gift to me! Just like my friend Pinky!

Visit the Banana Blog to find some inspiration, and then play along with us in this fun challenge! The winner will win a Pink Paislee goodie bag chosen by 2RB. Fun stuff!

S.O.S. for LSC

I had so much fun playing with my digi-stamps yesterday that when today's challenge was posted, I decided to do another! Today's LSC was a fun S.O.S. challenge posted by my friend Judy, and I combined it with Clean and Simple's Fall-To Layout #60. Here's my formula:

S--Simple style again, using the Stamps of Life's set Back to Basics
O--O's everywhere! In the flower centers, the row of dots, the scalloped edge
S--Scissors, Spica/Signo and Sparkle! I used the scissors to cut out a flower to layer on the black Queen and Co felt flower, then added a pretty orange jewel to the center. I sparkled each of the flowers in the digi-paper I made with a black Spica, then topped that with a white Signo dot which added a tiny bit of texture and really brightened everything up. The sentiments outside and in are the only traditionally stamped elements.

I have several friends who don't celebrate Halloween, so this will be a perfect card to send!

Hybrid CAS Card

I am always amazed at how some people (like my friend Latisha) can take a few elements and make them look altogether stunning. That is quite a challenge for me...I don't know why it is so hard but it definitely is! When today's WT challenge was to do something out of your comfort zone, clean and simple was at the top of my list! Add to that a new digital program that I'm still trying to get used to, and this is what resulted.

I used to play around a lot with web graphics and web pages...I used Paint Shop Pro and Photo Impact and got quite familiar and comfortable with them. Fast forward 10+ years...although the programs are similar, there are a lot more options, and the short-cuts that still seem 2nd nature to me even after all these years don't work quite the same anymore! It really is just a matter of figuring out the idiosyncrasies of the user interface, which shouldn't take too long! And it's a lot of fun!

For today's card I wanted to use this beautiful soft pink Prism card stock with the elegant contrast of black. I could have used traditional stamps and ink, but digital would be more of a challenge. With the Stamps of Life, I have both options! They come in clear acrylic and also in digital brush format. It's great to be able to mix both to achieve the look you want. I thought it would be kinda fun to have a rainbow of color, so I used a digital brush to paint a solid black row of dots, then selected them and used a gradient fill tool to recolor them to span a soft pastel color spectrum. The sentiment is another digital brush...it's really great to be able to size the sentiment in much the same way that you would size fonts in a text document.

I'm gonna keep playing! I am experimenting with special effects of all kinds, with drop shadows and highlights and all kinds of fun options! The possibilities are endless!

2RB Card Kit

I just love card kit challenges! The latest that 2RedBananas owner Jeanette sent to us was a texture kit full of wonderful ribbons, glitters and bling! I chose to make a square card with a geometric layout using the dotted and striped October Afternoon paper included. The yummy pink velvet ribbon made a nice frame for the edges of the diamond design. I added a sentiment (a favorite from Wrapped in His Love) inked with markers directly to rubber on a semicircle of vanilla card stock edged with a bit of the stripe, then punched out a couple of hearts to accent. I ran them through my little xyron sticker maker to glitter them up, then made a striped button to match since I loved Monday's technique challenge so much! I just LOVE this wide rickrack ribbon! The shine of the Mardi Gras metallic dewdrops added yet another texture to the mix. Tim Holtz distress ink warmed and aged all of the edges of the papers.

Hope you'll visit all the other 2RedBananas designers (see the sidebar) to see what they've done with the same ingredients...and then remember to check out Sunday's Banana Split challenge!

CAS + TLC

I have a quick combo card for you tonight...made for today's SCS Technique and SCS Clean and Simple challenges. This cute stamp is from CCDesigns, available at 2RedBananas. I based the colors on this strip of paper from the Bloom and Grow collection. I used a combination of Copics and prismas to color, and paper pieced the umbrella. This was a fun sketch! I *love* this new technique for buttons and will certainly use it again and again! Great challenges!

Banana Split Sunday!

As much as I've used this Bloom and Grow paper, I still have quite a bit left...I bought a lot because I loved it so much! Even though it has such springy bright colors, I wondered whether it might work for a Fall card too so I decided to try it with one of 2RedBananas' cute new Fall releases. Love this cute little Fuzzy Bear enjoying the colors of Fall swirling around his head!

Today's challenge is a 1-2-3 challenge...1 ribbon, 2 images (yep, look close and you'll see the versamarked leaves from the sentiment on that sage circle around the edges of the square) and 3 dew drops (one in each color *grin*). I just realized I didn't distress ink the edges of the card base, so I will go back to add that which will warm it up even more. I chose to keep this one simple and quick, but he'd be so cute with more dimension, especially with his little nose popped up! Our design team has been making all kinds of cute cards for this release, so be sure to go check them out and leave them some warm fuzzies! ;)

Fruitful Harvest

One of the best things that happened to me this year was that Asela and I met when we were both in Pensacola for Copic certification...we discovered that we live less than two miles apart, and that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship! I'm so thrilled and honored that she invited me to be her guest designer in this GinaK blog hop. I've had the blessing of attending several of her local Copic classes, the last of which (perfect timing for me!) was on combining Prismas and Gamsol with Copic markers. Oh, let me tell you, I am in love! I am really enjoying learning to use my Copics, but being able to combine them with the pencils gives me a much wider spectrum of color while I expand my marker collection. Confession time! I went yesterday and bought the BIG set of Prismas while they were 50% off...and I didn't even need my coupon! I can still use it for something else I *neeeeed!* There's always something! ;)

During one of my recent trips to the LSS I found this lovely fall designer paper. I bought it specifically to use with this image from Asela's newly released set, Fruitful Harvest, although I had originally planned to use the paper's flip side which is a beautiful gold scrolling print. I love the warm fall colors and wanted this card to have a rustic but elegant feel. I started out with Copics and then layered with pencils using some deep reds, umbers, yellows and white over the top and alongside to shade and highlight. The image was cut, embossed, and matted with nestabilities petite ovals, and all of the edges were sponged with Tim Holtz distress ink. To embellish I added some gorgeous satiny wired ribbon and some pearls, including one tiny pearl to the seed at the apple's center.

Enjoy yourself as you make your way through the rest of the blog hop! (Links to the other designers are on Gina's blog). I hope you'll visit here again soon! Blessings!

Petal Press Release

Today is the day that all of us at i {heart} papers have been waiting for! Our very own design team coordinator, Tracy Schultz, has illustrated her first stamp set for her brand new stamp line, The Petal Press, and it is finally available! Join me in congratulating Tracy for this dream-come-true experience. Her set is a really fun Fall build-a-scene and I had a great time coloring it as part of my card for today's SCS sketch challenge! I used a combination of Copic markers and Prismas with Gamsol (see the Copic Creations Challenge for this week!). I'm happy with how my pumpkin turned out but not totally pleased with the shadow in the background (first time I used this pencil!). The Harvest Hayride paper was a great backdrop for this image. I matted the nesties oval cut image with a bit of cardstock embossed with a herringbone EF, then sponged all the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink.

I love Tracy's set and can't wait to play with some of the other images. It's very versatile and can be used for holidays and everyday from October through December. In addition to Tracy's new release, i {heart} papers is also releasing two new Chickengirl sets today! Kate has been adding new product to the store on a nearly daily basis...so it is a good idea to visit often!

Back to Basics!

I'm so excited to say that I've been invited by none other than my idol JeanneS to design for a new company called Stamps of Life! These are some really fun clear stamps that have digital counterparts...if you love the feel of a stamp in your hand but like the idea of being able to resize images and do some of the fun digital effects available, then these are the stamps for you! I'm thrilled to be part of this team of talented stampers! Thanks to Jeanne and Stephanie for inviting me and for being patient with me while I finished all my dirty gallery submissions before becoming active on the team!

This card, for Color Dare 34, was made the traditional way...I'll be back soon with a hybrid card so you can see that too!

Hope you're having a great week...over the hump today! I'm looking forward to a girlfriend get-a-way this weekend!

ihp DT Challenge

This month each member of our i {heart} papers design team was given the same Delish large print designer paper and faux suede ribbon to use, so it will be really fun to see what each one did with the same product. I love seeing how unique each person's style is, and the twist they give to what they use. It's so much fun to learn from each other. With this team you are sure to find lots of inspiration because these girls have got loads of talent!

Before you go exploring, let me share what I used for my card. I cut a window in the designer paper with the petite oval nestabilities (small and large) , then popped the paper up on dimensionals with the slightly smaller stamped image adhered to the recessed mat underneath. My image (a gift from Kate at CHA) was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. Since the paper had such an intricate design I kept the embellishments to a minimum, adding only a double bow (Bow Easy makes this a cinch!) and a shapeabilities butterfly with sparkly fluff accents. LOVE this image, Kate! Thank you! I really LOVE being part of this team...

Amber (So Many Colors, So Little Time)
Carolyn (bklynstamper)
Cathleen (Crooked Card Creations)
Gretchen (Happiness Is. . .)
Kate (i {heart} papers)
Kendra (Kendra's Card Company)
Lynn (Stamperosity)
Megan (Megan Lock Designs)
Tracy (Who IsTracy?)

Back to the Dirt Pile

Here's a little teaser for this month's Dirty Dozen gallery! If you're not a member, I hope you'll join, go take a look, and even leave some comments! It's hard work bein' a Dirty Girl, so a few warm fuzzies sure are nice! ;)

Banana Split Sunday!

Today's Banana Split Sunday challenge is a sketch...which is my favorite kind! I'm layout challenged, so a sketch gives me some framework to start with and makes the actual card construction less intimidating.

It's very unusual for me to make a card without any stamping, but every once in a while in the process of creating that just feels like the right thing to do! I actually intended to use a quote stamp on the outside of this card , but after playing around with it for quite a while I found I really liked it best just as it is. I love the way the weave of the burlap ribbon mimics the pattern of the designer paper, and I also like the contrast of the natural elements against the shiny satin.


I love this quote (brand new from soon-to-be-released Quotes III), and since the original idea was to use the quote with the divided paper, I decided to carry the theme to the inside. I stamped the quote, cut two strips of the designer paper to frame it, inked the edges of the papers with Tim Holtz distress ink, and added a tiny jute bow just for fun. I really love how it turned out. The lines are still clean but with that little bit of extra to make it interesting. It's funny too (kinda punny actually) that this paper has some faintly printed words that have to do with various subjects you might learn in school, so arithmetic/division fit right in. ;)

I hope you like my card too and that it will entice you to take the challenge! You'll have a chance to win the 2RB new release set of your choice! More inspiration and sneak peeks on the Banana Blog!

2RedBananas Sneak Peek

This card was supposed to be for yesterday's SCS Ways to Use It challenge, to use red! I love red (not as much as my friend Anne does!) and enjoy using it in unexpected ways. That's one thing I love about this Twitterpated designer paper...it pairs red with pink and orange, in addition to teal and green. Using colors that are adjacent on the color wheel gives a completely different look and feel than using complementary, and here there's a bit of both. Birthday Penny, colored with Prismas and Gamsol, looks so cute amid this profusion of color! I really didn't want to cover any of those fun prints up and tried to come up with a layout that would show several of them! I'm still wondering if I am ever gonna be able to give Penny anything but red hair! This adorable image will be released on September 15th. The April Journaling Spot has a Happy Birthday sentiment that works perfectly for the inside of the card!

Color Dare and Fruit of the Vine

Most of the time I wrestle with my card designs and always see something that needs to be changed, but today, for once, I'm happy with this clean, simple design. I had not really given this week's Color Dare much thought but when Asela gave me her latest set for GinaK and I looked at this week's colors, I knew they had to go together. I am very pleased with the way this combination of Copic markers and prisma pencils turned out. I hope Asela likes it too! Thank you Asela! I love this set! It is so beautiful and very versatile! Can't wait to play with it some more!

Visit the Color Dare blog to play along. Be sure to leave the link to your creation! While you're there, please extend a warm welcome to our new design team members Christi Bryant, Julie Ranae, Laura Lin and Lori Padberg and to returning members Anita Hovey, Keri Brown, Kristin Dunker, and Sheri Barkhimer. A great big thank you to our coordinator Riley Fitzgerald!

ihp news!

Today is a big day for all of us at i {heart} papers! Not only are we releasing two more sets from our new line of Chicken Girl Stamps this month but we are introducing a new design line called The Petal Press, designed by our very own DT Coordinator, Tracy Schultz. Tracy is amazing! Her style is gorgeous...it is *very* different from the CGD sets, so if cute animals aren’t your style then maybe you’ll love The Petal Press! I can't wait to get my 1st sneak peek Petal Press set! It hopefully will arrive today!

It’s going to be a busy next few weeks for ihp, with sneak peeks of all three new Petal Press sets beginning tomorrow and running through September 15th. The full releases will be on September 16th so be sure to check Kate's blog every day for some samples.

Of course, with a new stamp line come some new DT additions. Please join me in welcoming some new faces (and a couple of familiar ones *grin* who are also helping out!)

Ashley Cannon Newell
Carly Robertson
Cathleen Torina
Gretchen Belknap
Jenyfur Pohl
Julie Lacey
Krysten Ng
Tiffany Johnson
Tracy Schultz – designer
Kate Baldwin – owner

Can't wait to see what these girls do with this new line! It's bound to be fabulous! :)

My friend, yesterday's featured stamper!

Yesterday's featured stamper was my friend Lori McAree. Lori and I were first introduced when we served together as guest designers on Treehouse Stamps Design Team. We have chatted on the phone on numerous occasions, but finally got to meet in person at CHA in Orlando not long ago. She was just exactly as I expected her to be: warm and friendly, energetic...and all smiles! I am so glad that we got to meet, and now when we chat on the phone I can just envision what it would be like to be conversing in person. What a sweetheart!

Lori's gallery is full of wonderful cards...she is an avid player in the Splitcoast challenges, so there's alot to choose from! I chose her beautiful friendship card because I treasure our friendship...and because I knew this friendship stamp would work to keep the theme and do a recognizable CASE. I stayed with the Basic Grey Porcelain papers, just using different prints from the collection, and distress inking all the edges. I layered the sentiment using Nestabilities small and large circles and labels 3. My card came out soft and feminine without being too over-the-top frilly...and uncharacteristically, it has only a very small bit of coloring using two muted pink Copic markers. It was fast and fun! Lori, here's to you! I hope you enjoyed your day!

Banana Split Sunday!

I hope you're having a fabulous Labor Day weekend! For us, Labor Day signals the end of summer and the beginning of a new year of homeschooling. We went to curriculum convention in July and spent a small fortune on books, so we should be all set...if we can just get the proper mind-set! None of us are ready to start back!

Today's Banana Split challenge is to use stripes and dots. I thought that this single sheet of two-sided Polka Dot Punch designer paper (from the My Mind's Eye Bloom and Grow collection) would be perfect to go along with this scholarly little House Mouse! I colored the image with Prismas and Gamsol. (I saw that Michael's has Prismas 50% off right now. I am tempted to invest in a larger set because I don't always have the colors I'd like...like in this card, for something comparable to Baja Breeze. The color I have is just too intense and is more like teal or turquoise). I edged the papers with Tim Holtz distress ink, glued on a few dew drops to bring emphasis to the long lines of this image (LOVE my quickie glue pen for this!), and then added some luscious satin ribbon tied with a Basic Grey button. The simple layout (very similar to last week's card) leaves plenty of open space to show off these fun prints.

I hope you'll play along with our challenge! We'd love to see your work! Visit the Banana Blog to be inspired and then come again to add your link! Shop 2RedBananas for some fun stamps, papers, and supplies!

Ready or not!

Of all the sets that Our Craft Lounge recently released, I think this one, Peek-a-Boo, is my absolute favorite (yes, maybe even more than Granny!)...it is really perfect for Halloween, but it would also work for a children's party invitation or just an everyday fun card, and you can purchase it from i {heart} papers. Several of the images are the perfect size for these little scraplings that Silvie challenged us to make for today's SCS Limited Supplies challenge. I colored on the plane on the way home from Michigan so all I had to do was figure out a layout and embellishments. I was happy to play along today! SO fun! The smaller size makes these fast and easy and adorable!

I colored the little treat bag using Copic markers, accented with Spica glitter pens, and then, after cutting and embossing the image with a rectangular nestabilities die, I used a black multi-liner to edge around it and sketch in an itty bitty corner web. The designer paper is a literally a scrap of Little Yellow Bicycle stripes left over from a card for the OCL blog hop back in early August. I stamped the sentiment from another OCL set, Ghostly Greetings onto a tiny tag, shaded inside the letters with a blue Spica, tied it with bright orange and lavender glimmer ribbons and added it to my scrapling along with a spooky spider (from Joann's) and a bit of purple bling. Hope you like it!

Color Dare #32

Here's my card for this week's challenging Color Dare. It uses Our Craft Lounge's adorable set, Bubbles, available at i {heart} papers. Such a fun image to color! I stamped the image with Palette ink, then colored it with Prismas and Gamsol. I used my blue Spica glitter pen to sparkle it up (including outlining the sentiment), and my Labels 4 nestabilities to cut and emboss the panel. All of the layers were sponged with their corresponding ink color to deepen the edges and add some dimension, bringing out the dry embossing of the Cuttlebugged background layer. These are not colors I would ever choose to put together on my own...that's what makes the Color Dare so much fun to play! It gets me out of my box! I hope you'll play along!