Wonderful Favorites - Curtain Call Crew

Well, today is the day! I have been looking forward to this since the moment I was contacted by Stacey. I am so excited to be a part of the Curtain Call Crew from Stacey's Stamping Stage. Act 20 is a real showstopper! A beautiful inspiration photo and some of my favorite colors!I guess you could call this Clean & Simple. There isn't a whole lot going on here except for this gorgeous rose! The original came from Julie Williams over at Simi Stamper. She has a great tutorial and believe me it's not complicated. I will be making more, for sure.
The other notable element of the card is the stamped background. I used the En Francais background stamp, not with ink, but the Frost White Shimmer Paint. I applied the paint with Sponge Daubers. I worked pretty fast because I wasn't sure about the drying time. I'm pleased with the effect and I am excited to try this again with different stamps.If you're worried about applying paint to your stamps, no worries! Mine washed up with plain water. I even had an old toothbrush standing by, to work it out of the crevices, but it wasn't necessary.

I was so tempted to repeat the ribbon technique I used two cards ago, I love the ruffled ribbon look! I managed to refrain and went with a more simple approach. I don't think I've even done a ribbon this way, so that's three new techniques for me on one card. Gotta love trying new things!

I hope you've enjoyed checking out my addition to the Curtain Call! Please make sure you check out the other Crew members today! And join us! Post a card and use Mr. Linky on Stacey's blog so we can see YOUR creation!

Amy White @ Devlinwhite Designs
Andrea Roose @ Andrea's Scrap - und Stempel-Blog
Iwona Palamountain (Chupa) @ Random Acts of Creativity
Julie Smith @ Paper and Such
Lea Lawson @ Lea's Cupcakes & Sunshine
Marisa Ritzen @ Rosemary Reflections
Melissa Hubert@ My Paper Obsession
Sue Kohler@ My Inner Reflection

Have a great Sunday!

Second Post Today with More Challenges

Time to share another card, my second today! I had to get a birthday card made for my grandmother who is celebrating here 87th birthday this weekend. She is recovering from a hip fracture and has spent the last six weeks in a nursing home healing and getting rehabilitation. She goes home tomorrow, one day before her birthday. I know she's glad to be going home.

So, I took a stab at another two challenges. The first, is Mojo Monday. A wildly popular challenge. The last time I looked there were over 300 participants and the deadline isn't until late Sunday.The next is Arielle's Color Q Challenge. These are some GREAT colors, although the Regal Rose was a little tricky working in. I'm pretty happy with the results.I did use Heartfelt Thanks, Warm Words and Wonderful Favorites to get the job done. Still waiting for my tracking number on my new stuff!Not much going on this weekend. We will visit my grandmother. I plan to go to a tag sale tomorrow (boy, it's going to be cold waiting, if I want to be at the front of line.) Of course I'm hoping to do more stamping or maybe scrapping!

Hello Again....I've Been Away!

Hey my stamping friends! I've missed you. I never imagined when I posted my May Day baskets that would be my last post for over a month! Didn't see that coming! Life just got really busy along with a serious lack of mojo! I'm still not sure if it's back, but I'm here trying to make it happen!

For these past weeks I had many stamping challenges come to my inbox. I hated missing them. One that I've grown particularly fond of is Karen's over at the sweetest thing. She posts a "Sweet Sunday" sketch each week. I've participated in only one so far, but I hope to make it a regular occasion.

Sketch challenges are more difficult for me than color challenges, so I need to stretch myself and maybe remedy this!

I needed another Father's Day card but I am short on masculine images. I recently used Lovely As A Tree for Father's Day card and didn't want to repeat myself. So, I went with one of my "go to" sets Wonderful Favorites. I wasn't sure how much I was loving the Riding Hood Red DSP (from the Bella Rose pack.) I was thinking it was too feminine. Once I added the last element, the swirl from Priceless, I was satisfied. Completely fell into that one. I decided that area was too bare and reluctantly added the swirls. Do you ever have that feeling making a card? Wondering if you should just stop before you ruin a perfectly good card? I gambled and won this time! I think the swirls make it look like a bandanna. Now if I had only had the foresight to stamp it on black instead of Chocolate Chip! Ah, the life of a perfectionist!




Hope you are finding time to stamp and hope to see you again soon, my friends!

Kristina's Color Inspiration #10

Hello again. Time for another Kristina Color Inspiration. This card today is based on a card I saw on Splitcoast Stampers by member bratus913 who got her inspiration from stampinlibby. Check out both cards and see everyone's version of this cute mug of suds!

This card is for my brother for his birthday come June. Yeah! I'm ahead of schedule! Wouldn't this be cute with green beer for St. Paddy's Day? The puffy paint and the Crystal Effects make this card. I don't use Crystal Effects enough. It's a great product. The mug comes from Treat Yourself. The sentiment "Cheers" from Snowflake Spot and "to my brother" from Wonderful Favorites ( a must have!)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kristina's Color Inspiration #24

OK, I need to explain today's card for the Kristina Color Inspiration challenge. This is a card I made about 10 days ago while participating in Splitcoast Stampers Virtual Stamp Night. By the way, it was my first time participating and I had a very good time. For those not familiar, there is a challenge posted every hour and you are to complete the challenge in 45 minutes, then upload your card to the gallery. If you are unable to join in during that hour, you can do the challenges anytime during the weekend using that 45 minute time allotment. So, the challenge was to use a quote from the movie "The Princess Bride" and design a card around it. The part of the movie I chose was between Mad Max and Valerie.

Mad Max: Get back, witch.
Valerie: I'm not a witch, I'm your wife. But after what you just said, I'm not even sure I want to be that any more.

Now, I have never seen this movie. There are many, many fans out there. I have found that out. So, I will have to see it. It was strange making the card and not knowing if it really matched the scene. However, I did receive many nice comments on it from the other faithful Splitcoast Stampers.

Kristina's Color Inspiration #42

Wow! It's been 10 days since I posted. I really can't believe that. I wasn't even planning on posting today. I was going to sew today....long overdue. Well, that's until I saw Kristina had another challenge on her site. My first thought was I love these colors but these are fall colors. My reaction to color totally is wrapped around the seasons! After a little thought, I decided to make a father's day card. For once I'm really ahead of the game! I chose the oak tree from Lovely As a Tree because I had yet to use it on a card. I did some thumping to get the two-toned effect. Have you ever tried this? First, I inked the tree in my lightest color (More Mustard.) I colored over the trunk with a Chocolate Chip marker. Then, I randomly added thumps of Really Rust, again with a marker. Give it a huff and stamp! I added the eyelets and the ribbons. So, at some point I will have to make another for my FIL or take the opportunity to make something new.....I'll think do the later, unless I procastinate!

Kristina's Color Inspiration #35

I was so happy when it started snowing today and school let out early. Instead of running my weekly errands I got to come home and work on Kristina's Color Inspiration! I thought I was going to use a lot of designer paper. I had pulled out every piece of So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Close To Cocoa and Chocolate Chip I had. Then, I went in a totally different direction when I decided to use the ribbon fraying technique again. Like my card posted on 12/7/08, I used the striped Baja Breeze 5/8" ribbon to make my flower. I love the texture this flower adds and it has a more contemporary feel. I used the Dotted Line wheel with So Saffron ink as a base for the Wonderful Favorites sentiment (love that set!) I crumpled and sponged the Very Vanilla base for more texture. In the end it needed a little something more. That's when I added the small flower on the bottom edge from Priceless. I'm looking forward to more snow days! We have lots of opportunities for snow and ice (yuck) this week. Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Now that I've talked with my mom and know that they got it, I can go ahead and post their card. Today is their 42nd anniversary! Love you Mom & Dad! I had a lot of fun with this one. I had cut the tag shape out probably two months ago, not knowing what it would be. When it was time to start their card I thought this would work well. I think I used a personal record of 6 different stamp sets on this card! But I like the idea of creating my own sentiments with combinations from other sets. The paper is a retired one, Spring Flowers. I'll have to use this layout again. I really like it!

I can finally post this one.

I had to wait to post this card because my good friend, Deb would see it before it arrived in the mail! She and her husband just celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary! Best wishes Deb & Michael! I thought about this layout during the down time at my open house on Sunday, so once I sat down to make it, it went pretty fast. I love the Soft Sky & River Rock combo and I will miss them both. However, the new Baja Breeze is just as yummy! I also used Old Olive Flower Fusion. I really like these little felt flowers and you get a lot of them! I just got the set Wonderful Favorites and I already know I will get lots of mileage out of it! Anyway.....it's late, I'm tired and I need to get up early and go fishing with the kids, hubby and my dad, so off to bed I go! Thanks for checking in with me!

Kristina's Color Inspiration #17

After weeks of not participating I've finally done another one of Kristina's challenges.....just under the wire! Isn't this dress beautiful? Wish I had that figure! Many, many years ago I was close! I decided to use the new stamp set I received this week, Wonderful Favorites. I also used the background stamp Stitched. This card came together pretty quickly, basically I knew I wanted to use the Stitched stamp and the Rose Red flowers from Flower Fusion. I think I captured the essence of the inspiration photo, but Kristina will be the judge.