Contraband color challenge

Kristina has another great color challenge this week. Click the picture to check it out!

While I've created things for her color challenges before, it's been quite a while since I've been done in time to play along. I hope you like it.

Oh, this is also my first post with my NEW photo light tent. My setup's a little ghetto (using an ikea desk lamp...leaving it unattended could burn down the house), but, hey, if it works, that's the main thing, right?

Hmm...now all I need is a decent camera...

Oh, and the title of the post? About half the supplies for this card are non-SU!...GASP!!!! I just couldn't help myself.

kw#53 card: all supplies SU!, unless noted: Boxes Bags and Tags (PTI) and Short and Sweet; Stampers Select White cardstock (PTI), Real Red patterns dsp (retired); Valet ribbon originals; Pacific Point, Real Red, Summer Sun and Basic Black classic stampin' pads; rhinestone stickers (me & my big ideas)

Hurray for Hubby (or...2 cards and a crazy kitty)

Lee discovered my camera cord in the abyss of his truck...which makes sense, since that's the vehicle we took camping.  haha

So, here are 2 cards and a crazy kitty...

A friend loaned me Pretty Peony and I made this birthday card for a co-worker (yes, another one :)  The 2-step flower and leaves are only 2 ink pads...I simply stamped off for the lighter layer.  And there's that topnote again...

And the inside.  I usually sell off my retired sets, since I can't demo them anymore.  But this birthday set (It's Your Birthday) is just too handy to get rid of.  So, I save valuable storage space by unmounting the retired sets I keep.  I heat the wood-mounted stamp in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds and then peel the foam (with rubber attached) off the block and apply Aleene's Tack-it Over and Over to the back.  It sticks to the acrylic block beautifully (you can see them on the left.  Also, I cut  the "Happy Birthday" into 2 words, which makes them more versatile.

Here's the second picture.  This was for Kristina's color challenge a while back, but I never posted it.  Lots of embossing on this one...almost everything.  I used my vanilla reinker and aquapainter to color in the large image and scallop-circle-punched image...man, that took forever.  The double-sided satin ribbon was from the Theatre Ribbon Originals in the last catalog, but it gives you an idea of what the new stuff looks like.

And here's the crazy kitty.  Finn loves getting inside of things.  When I set the lid aside to clean the litter box he lays inside looking out the door like it's a doghouse.  The other day I found him inside this box, which is under 2 other boxes (all empty).  So, I had my mom and sister pick up this cat tent while they were at Ikea today.  I sure hope the dog doesn't try to eat it.

More Birthdays

Wanted to share a couple birthday cards I made a while back for some of Kristina's color challenges.

This first is very outside my usual style, but I'm really happy with the result.  I think this may be the most layers I've ever used on a card. haha  I used the stamp-a-ma-jig quite a bit.  The cupcake is popped up with a dimensional and there is dazzling diamonds on the icing.  I used stazon ink to 

color the vintage brads black.

I also decorated the inside.  The small cupcake is from short and sweet, which is one of my favorite sets. 

Enjoy birthday: enjoy every moment, everyday flexible phrases, it's your birthday (retired) and short & sweet stamp sets; ruby red, basic gray, river rock (retired) classic and stazon ink pads; ruby red, basic gray, basic black, river rock (retired) and whisper white cardstock; dazzling diamonds; aquapainters; SAMJ; vintage brads

On this second card I used my markers to color in the flower from True Friend before stamping.  When I saw that rose was one of the colors, I knew I'd be using this DSP.  I have such a hard time using sage shadow, so this was a good stretch for me.

Flower birthday: true friend and it's your birthday (retired stamp sets; regal rose, rose red and sage shadow markers; sage shadow and basic black classic ink pads; regal rose, rose red, and sage shadow card stock; rose red prints desiger series paper (retired); 5/8" regal rose grosgrain ribbon; dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Stamping!!

Three pics and off to bed

Although I'm posting this now, I wrote it last night but blogger didn't like my camera.
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So, imagine how tired you'd be if you stayed up from 6AM Sunday till 10:30PM Monday? Now, imagine that in that time you helped a friend search all her luggage for her ID, went through airport security twice, changed time zones 3 times, almost missed a connecting flight because you believed your ticket and then drove 3 hours home?? Welcome to my day(s).

Three pics to share before I crash...fortunately without a plane. :)

On Friday I met and got not one, but two, pics with Kristina Werner. She was on prize patrol and handed my roommate her prize. I went crazy screaming "THAT'S KRISTINA!!!" You see, I'd just been telling said roommate about Kristina the night before. So, roomie took our pic. Well, b/c general session is not the best lit place, we looked like we had no hair...so, when I ran into her in the hall, I got a second pic. This is the second one...she's the cute one on the right...please ignore the one on the left.
Here's my stack of free stamping stuff...top to bottom Cupcakes wheel, 1" double-stitched chocolat grosgrain ribbon, Say it with Scallops, Eastern Blooms, Crazy for Cupcakes, Flight of the Butterfly and Inspired by Nature (double mounted).
And here's me receiving my Say it with Scallops set from UPS!! Oh, yeah, we were SO excited!!! I can't wait to share more!! But for now, good night

Lucky #13

Ok, I know I've been neglecting my blog of late (about 7 weeks, actually...missed all of May and almost June). I really HAVE been inking...just not posting. Most of the inking I've been doing is for convention swaps, so I'll not be posting them online. I'd rather wait and surprise everyone at convention. Don't worry. I'm taking pictures and plan to post them after convention. So, stick around until at least the middle of August...it'll get better, I promise.

So, anyway, tonight I was sitting watching a Jerry Lewis movie with hubby and getting caught up on a couple of blogs when I saw Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #13 and just had to play along. I love this color combination. And the bedding...just gorgeous. I pulled the inspiration for my card from the throw pillows on the bed. I embossed the medallion from Kind Thoughts in white on Purely Pomegranate, punched it out with my scalloped circle punch, used my stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the large fleur de lis from Kind Thoughts on River Rock to create my own designer paper and put it all together with a bow on top. I hope you like it. I think I may just have to give this to my sister-in-law for her birthday tomorrow.




Recipe - Stamps: Kind Thoughts; Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Regal Rose, River Rock, Purely Pomegranate; Ink: Versamark; Other: Regal Rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, white embossing powder, stamp-a-ma-jig

Kristina's color inspiration

Wow, it's been a while since I posted. The color challenge in the last post was from 2 weeks ago! And today I'm posting another response to her color challenge. I stopped by Kristina's blog this morning because I had 20 minutes to kill before heading out for work...which is unheard of for me...I'm usually a last minute prep and depart kinda gal. So, anyway, I pulled up her blog and saw this color inspiration challenge:

My first thought was "sahara sand...really??" You see, I've never used sahara sand for anything. But, I absolutely love Kristina's combos, and had some instant inspiration so I ran to my desk, pulled out my markers and my newest stamps and came up with this. I hope you like it.

Stamps: True Friend, Polka Dot Background; Ink: Versamark, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi; Card Stock: Sahara Sand, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Whisper White; Accessories: Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain ribbon, yellow rhinestone brad

Color Inspiration

So, here's my first ever color inspiration challenge. I've looked at, and intended to do, several of them on different sites, but this is the first one I've actually done...mostly because the color combination is something I'd never come up with on my own and I love it. It's from Kristina Werner's Blog and the tropical nature of the picture should be no surprise, since she just got home from the Stampin' Up! incentive trip, a caribbean cruise. Each Tuesday she posts a color inspiration photo on her blog, translates it into Stampin' Up! colors, and you can link, in your comment, to your own fulfillment of the challenge. The colors are: Very Vanilla, Tempting Turquoise, Take with Teal, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa.





This card is a great result of going outside my comfort zone. Both the color combo and the stamp set are outside my usual style. I was completely turned off to this set (Wonderful You) in the catalog because the samples were not my style. However, I recently received a card from another demo using this set with Rose Red and Wild Wasabi and it completely transformed it for me. Now I'm so excited to play with it...already made 2 cards and planning to use it at a workshop at the end of the month. (Hi, Aunt Aggie!!)
On to my actul card: the base is Taken with Teal, a color I have quite a bit of, since I can never figure out how to use it. I wheeled the image on Close to Cocoa with my Chocolate Chip craft pad and embossed it with clear powder. The ribbons are both the polytwill from the Occasions Mini collection...you've got to handle this ribbon to believe it...I wasn't thrilled with it in the brochure, but once I got it home...can't stop using it!! I used both colors available: Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. I tied them on using the technique I posted a while back (just scroll down, you'll find it). The flower is Tempting Turquoise and the leaf stamp is Old Olive.
I used Chocolate Chip for the sentiment and all the outlines. I actually like the way the outline doesn't exactly line up with the solid image...but I still used my stamp-a-majig...I'm addicted! I swiped the edges of the Very Vanilla on my pad and used a couple of Itty Bitty Backgrounds to give it a weathered/distressed look. (If you double-click the image you can see it close-up.)
I even decorated the inside of the card (pic #2) with room for a sentiment and signature or just a little note.
So, try something outside of your usual style...you never know what you'll end up with.