A New Challenge/ LBNL #1

I'm super excited to have been invited to try out a brand new challenge. It's called Last but not Least because it's posted on the last day of each month. DJ has put together a super fun challenge for the first round of her challenge: One Mat, One Stamp, One Sentiment, One Ribbon, One Button. In short, it's a One Card. Fun, huh? I just couldn't resist! It's super simple & yet I had to give it a good bit of thought. It made my brain work in different ways than a color or sketch challenge stretches me. Thanks, DJ! I took out my Always Elegant set (free from SAB) for its very first use. I decided it would look great framed by a textured piece of cardstock, so I used my circle cutter to make a 3" circle in a 4 x 4" square of textured Marina Mist. I'm not sure if it shows up in the photo, but I used my Versamarker, Heat & Stick Powder, and Dazzling Diamonds glitter to add accents to the stamped image. I did the same to the little brad that connects my sentiment to the card. Out came my Sticky Strip to make my new favorite ribbon formation. Then, all that was left was my button. I'm pretty sure a paper button counts & my Sweet Buttons Embosslit gave me lots of choices. I can't wait to check out the next challenge at the end of this month! Thanks to DJ for introducing me to a stamping adventure that I might have missed out on otherwise. :)

Lucy Tutorial #4/ Vintage Vogue Butterfly

Well, since mom wanted to know what ELSE we can do with Versamark, I broke out my Stampin' Pastels. It had been a while, I'll have to admit. I had already shown her how Versamark can be used all on its own on colored cardstock to do watermark stamping. Now it was time to stamp using Versamark on white (actually Very Vanilla) cardstock. After stamping my images on the strip of Very Vanilla, I chalked over the flowers & leaves using Bravo Burgundy and So Saffron chalks. The result was fun, but not quite all that I wanted. That's the last mom saw of this card since it was time for my parents to head back home (luckily before snow flew). I, of course, kept tinkering with the strip of Vanilla. I decided to stamp over it using Always Artichoke and that was a good start. Then I wondered what it would look like if I embossed the whole deal with Glassy Glaze a couple of times. Bingo! It created just the look I was going for and did great things with the Stampin' Pastels. All that remained was for me to create a card that fit it. :) The whole thing shouted "vintage" at me...and not just because of the name of the set. So, I knew I would need torn edges & my Distressing Tool. A butterfly from Beautiful Wings seemed like a good idea and it was an even better one when sponged with Bravo Burgundy. I got to use my little Jewry Tag Punch again (yeahy) and finally found a good use for the strips of pears on each Basic Pearls sheet. A nice card to end my mother's lessons, don't you think? Especially since it shows how you can start with just one element & end up with a full creation.

Silhouette Bird Favor

Ok, so I might be slightly addicted to the Fancy Favors die for the Big Shot. I really do love it. Any time I need just a little something to give away I find myself creating a new one. This little bag went to my excellent hostess yesterday--- filled with chocolates of course! I used the Perfect Details Texturz Plate inked in Wild Wasabi to create the back ground & the little oval punch from the Holiday Mini to create the handles. It's such a simple way to create a fun little gift & they can be passed on as well. No need for any thing to get used just once! That's the great thing about gift bags without personalized tags.

Silhouette Sentiments Fall Bird

The Mojo Monday sketch for today really worked to get my fall card juices flowing. I've been laughing about my orientation for the Silhouette Sentiments bird on the "Silhouette Sentiments Square" card since class on Saturday. One of you was kind enough to point out that my bird was fighting gravity in a big way. He seems much more at peace when the branch lays flat, huh? :)
I've been itching to put the Itty Bitty Bits combination of stamps, punches, and buttons to good use & this seemed a great opportunity. Tiny, but super fun, don't you think?
The ribbon from the sketch didn't quite fit when I was finished designing the card front, so I decided to forgo it this time around. Otherwise I stayed pretty faithful to the design.

Cottage Garden Swap

I know it's not my typical Mojo Monday card, but I'll try to postpone that until Tuesday. Today's card is the swap card I came up with for my demonstrators' group "new catalog swap". I loved the Cottage Wall designer paper so I was so glad to see it get a revival with a brand new color scheme and a stamp set to boot! It's the first time I've used our self adhesive jewels and I must say that the little pearls make all the difference on this one. They really make the little flowers pop for me.
Okay, off to a meeting with my fellow SU demos & time to turn in my swaps. Hope you liked it!

Silhouette Sentiments Square Mojo

Ah, it's so lovely to have built in structure for Monday mornings. Believe it or not, I do start my cards in the mornings...I just usually don't have time to post them until evening. Starting the week with Mojo Monday means there is a challenge, but a bit of structure too. A nice combo for the first day of the new week!

Today's project introduces yet another color to my pallet: Pear Pizazz. It's great fun in combination with Peach Parfait. That makes me happy that these two in colors will be around for a couple of years. It's hard to see in the photo, but the flower square has been embossed with Iridescent Ice just to give it a little more dimension.

At least now I've started the week off on the right foot. Fingers crossed that this is a sign of things to come for the rest of the week too!

Silhouette Sentiment Squares/Mojo Monday 147

Whew! What a day. It's still Monday at least for a little while, so I'm "on time" with my Mojo Monday contribution. It was well on its way at 7:15 this morning when I got a call from work that one of the team leaders wasn't going to be able to make it. So, I had to stop stamping in mid-stream & head on down to Boulder. This group was working with a local nonprofit who collects & distributes donated bicycles. Ironic for those of you who know me because I never learned how to ride a bike...until today. We had to ride to our work site. This "we" included me, so, after a quick crash course (almost literally), I took to the open bike path. There is a first time for everything!
But on the stampin' end of things...I just LOVE this new hostess set & couldn't wait to use it in conjunction with the Woodland Walk DSP. Great stuff. Don't you think?