Signs of Spring

Happy Saturday!! It was a warm day today and the sun peeked through from time to time. I know that Spring is just around the corner! This card is for the Weekend Sketch Challenge and I used the Flourishes Friday Focus technique, Twinkling H2O's and their beautiful stamp set, Signs of Spring. It is hard to photograph the "twinkling" so this card begs to be viewed "in person". I just love the K&Company Que Sera Sera paper. I found it at Michaels along with brads, jewels, etc, to match. Best of all the paper is double sided!

Here is a picture that shows the Twinkling H2O's.

Stamps: Flourishes Signs of Spring Paper: K&Co Que Sera Sera, GinaK White Ink: Black Memento, Old Olive Accessories: Copics, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Oval Punch, Ribbon

Summer Kiwi Pies

What a name for a Color Combo Challenge!! I had my Happy Chef Ian sitting on the table and decided to challenge myself and use him for this challenge. I searched for some DP to go with the colors and then I was on my way. I have to admit, this card took longer than usual to make. I cut out the pieces and colored Ian with Copics. I then let it sit overnight because I kept moving the pieces around and wasn't happy with what I was seeing. I worked on it some more after work today, moving from my craft table to the kitchen to fix dinner, back to the craft table, back to the kitchen....Catch my drift? It finally came together in an "ah ha" moment when I put Ian in the middle of the card. (Note to myself.....go get a graphic design book at the library like Marianne suggested!) Ian is really a cutie isn't he? He is giving a special person a classy wrapped gift!!

Recipe: Stamps: Greeting Farm Happy Chef Ian Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Gray Ambrosia DP Ink: Black Accessories: Copics, Top Note Die, Nestabilities, Ribbon, Pop Dots

Fantastic Three Day Weekend!

I started my weekend on Saturday by attending the Flourishes Stamping Weekend in Pensacola. We spent the first part of the day making cards with Faith (Stamping with Markies Mom) and the second part of the day making cards with Becca (Amazing Paper Grace). The cards were just awesome and the company was even more awesome!! On Sunday we returned to Flourishes and spent time with Jan Marie (Flourishes) as she got into the heads of some of the Design Team. (Julie Koerber, Laura Fredickson, Latisha Yoast, and Linda Duke). What a great afternoon making different styles of cards and a cute Easter Box! Here is Becca. Her style is elegant. I love how she finds ways to use elements on her card. Circle medallions, Spellbinders floral accent circles, Pearls....oh the Pearls!! Thanks Becca for the inspiration! You are a very sweet Lady!! Here is Faith. Her style is also elegant. She loves "putting on the layers". And the dots.....cannot go without dots! I think in the picture below she was muttering something to me about her being "gifted"! Thanks Faith for the inspiration and the laughs! Today was the finale of my long weekend. I attended the Copic Certification class that was taught by the one and only Marianne Walker. Did you know there are 322 colors of Sketch Markers??? Marianne told us about the history of Copic, papers, inks, markers, coloring, blending, air brushing. All of this crammed in one day. It was fabulous! Oh.....and did I mention that in this class were all kinds of celebrities??? Jen Balcer and Beate Johns from Splitcoast. Asela Hopkins who designs for GinaK. Just to name a few. What a great bunch of ladies! Here is a picture of Jan Marie (left) and Marianne(right) at the end of the day. I almost forgot!! I now have a certificate (signed by Marianne!!) and I am a "Copic Certified Designer"!! A great way to end my three day weekend! So to wrap up this post I wanted to give Jan Marie and the ladies at Flourishes a big thank you for all you did to bring this weekend to fruition. It was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with fellow stampers, learn some new techniques, reinforce the knowledge we have, make new friends, and come away with a great sense of accomplishment. Thank you Jan Marie for welcoming us into your home. You are a very special Lady!!

VSN Friday Cards

If you have ever participated in the SCS Virtual Stamp Nights, you know how challenging they can be. You only have 45 minutes to make a card for each challenge. This friday there were seven hourly challenges. After work, I came home and made my first card for the "Sketch a Little Love" challenge. We were to use the posted sketch and tell about what we love. A lot of you know I am a "bowler" and I have the Hanna Stamps bowling set. So here is the card I made!

Bill came in my stamp room while I was making the card, said how nice it was, and asked me if I was sending it to him! Just for fun I may mail it to him at our house! Recipe: Stamps: Hanna Stamps Bowling Paper: Real Red, GinaK White, DCWV Glitter Stack Ink: Black, Red, Colorbox Sapphire Silk Accessories: Copics, White Signo Pen

This next card was for the "For the Love of Chocolate" challenge. We had three choices of color schemes based on what kind of chocolate you like. White, Milk or Dark. I love Dark chocolate so I used the color scheme of Chocolate Chip, Almost Apricot and Cameo Coral. The stamp set I chose is a new release from Flourishes called "All Wrapped Up". The gifts and bows in this set are beautiful!

Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes All Wrapped Up Paper: Chocolate Chip, Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral, GinaK White Ink: Chocolate Chip, Black Accessories: Copics, CB Swiss Dot EF, Brad, Ribbon

I did not work on any of the other challenges as I am attending the Flourishes Stamper's Weekend in Pensacola, and we started bright and early at 8:30 this morning. It was a wonderful day and I will do another post with some pictures.

Tea-Rific Friend

I made this card for this weeks Ways To Use it challenge on SCS and last weeks My Favorite Things challenge. I just love the Tea For Two set from MFT! The challenge was to use "stripes" in some fashion on the card. I pulled out one of my favorite SU designer papers, Petals and Paisley, to use. The paper is retired and I am getting down to the last of my stash.... I stamped the image twice and colored using Copics. I cut out the second bunny image and popped it out on the orignal image. The adhesive gem is from K & Company. They have a new set of papers and embellishments out called "Que Sera Sera" that is just gorgeous! Happy Friday! Hope your weekend is Grand!!

Two Challenges in One

I finally got to work on some cards today. No working late and no bowling! I love the colors for this weeks SCS Color Combo Challenge- Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss and More Mustard. For the Sketch challenge I was able to pull out some new print paper I bought in TN. The Flourishes Stamp set came in the mail today. Lots of "new" things to play with! The peacock is colored with Twinkling H2O's. No matter how hard you try, you cannot capture their glamour and shine in a photo.

Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes Strut Your Stuff Paper: Rose Red, More Mustard, Kiwi Kiss, My Minds Eye Bloom and Grow Ink: Black Accessories: Nestabilities, Coluzzle, Ribbon, Rhinestones, Twinkling H2O

Birthday Girl

I have not posted over the last week because I traveled to Tennessee for a long weekend. My daughter Vanessa was born on Valentine's Day 20 years ago and we spent the weekend visiting and shopping. Her grandma baked a cake for her that is a long standing family tradition. Devils food with whipped cream in between the layers and frosted with a homemade fudge frosting. Yum!! Here is the "Birthday Princess"!

Flourishes Color Focus Challenge

I just love the Flourishes stamp sets! When I saw the Color Focus challenge in their newsletter I knew I had to play. The starting point was a beautiful peacock feather. Bronzes, turquoise, lime green..... I used the three tier cake from the Birthday Celebrations set. The cake is all colored with Twinkling H2O's and Pearl X, and layered on a metallic Nestabilities scallop circle. There is a bronze swirl paper behind the border punch. The sentiment at the bottom of the card is from the Birthday Celebrations set too.

Featured Stamper Challenge and Organizing

Today's Featured Stamper on Splitcoast is K Dunwood. The featured stamper challenge involves going to the FS gallery and choosing a card that you will use as an inspiration for your creation and changing at least two things. I chose this card from K's awesome gallery. I changed up the stamp image, colors and embellishments. For my card I used the Love Birds from Victoria Case Art Designs. Since the paper I was using had browns, pinks and whites, I decided to color the two birds brown and pink to match. I am sure somewhere in the world there are "pink" birds!!

This image is one of my favs for coloring with Copics. I hand cut the three embellishment flowers from leftover print paper and added a heart brad to each with a sprinkle of Stickles.

Recipe: Paper: Rose Romance, Barouque Burgundy, GinaK White, Paper Studio Print Ink: Black, Chocolate Chip Accessories: Copic, Ribbon, White Signo Pen, Nestabilities, Brads, Stickles, Word Window Punch

How was your weekend? Hopefully as warm and sunny as ours! I went with Bill to a bowling tournament on Saturday and Sunday. I was the official cheerleader, since I was not bowling myself. Well....cheerleading can get pretty boring, so I decided to do some ribbon organizing while I was watching, uh....cheering... I follow Becca Feeken's blog, Amazing Paper Grace, and she has an awesome system for organizing ribbon. You can see her system and information here. So ...for two afternoons I wound ribbon on black square cards (to the tune of about 120 spools...). I had more people come up to me at the bowling center (even men!!) and ask what I was doing. I think I have about 30 more to do and I am "caught up". (Never can have too much ribbon!!) Have fun in the coming week!

Finding Inspiration

Today's SCS Challenge was to find Inspiration from the hunkydoryhome website. I have an affinity for unusual lamps, so I clicked on the lampshades tab. OMGosh!!! I took one look at the Cherries lampshade and knew that the paper that had been calling my name for over a week was now going to come to life on a card! I inked up "Pretty Hat Anya" and gave the beads on her necklace some shine with Crystal Effects. Isn't she lovely?

Recipe: Stamps: The Greeting Farm Pretty Hat Anya Paper: Real Red, Barely Banana, Garden Green, Creative Imaginations Cherry Print Ink: Black Accessories: Copics, Crystal Effects, Scallop Punch, MS Border Punch, White Signo Pen, Nestabilities, Ribbon

Pile It Up!

This card is for today's Ways To Use It Challenge on SCS. We were to get out of our comfort zone and use our embellishments instead of hoarding them. I went through my "stash" and found a couple of things that had not seen daylight in over a year and onto my card they went!

Recipe: Stamps: SU So Many Scallops Paper: Basic Grey Sugared, GinaK White, Chocolate Chip Ink: Close To Cocoa Accessories: Mosaic Tile Sticker, Paper Flower, Ribbon, Scallop Punch

It's almost Friday!

Two Posts In One Day!

Tonight is not a "bowling night" (three nights a week are!), so I was able to finish two cards!

This card is for today's SCS Sketch Challenge. I used my "Beema" stamp from Victoria Case Designs. Isn't he a cutie?

Recipe: Stamps: Victoria Case Designs Beema Paper: GinaK White, Stardream Blue, Barely Banana Ink: Black Accessories: Copics, Nestabilities, Ribbon, Jolee's butterfly and flowers, cloud template, chalks

MFT Digital Girl!

This card is made with a newly released MFT set called Digital Girl. Her skirt is paper pieced. All other colors are with Copics and Metallic Pen. I decided that she needed to have a sign hanging from her desk! The release party was tonight and the three new sets (including Digital Girl) are just awesome! Check out the MFT gallery here!

Stamps: MFT Digital Girl Paper: Garden Green, Prints Sampler Almost Amethyst, GinaK White, Black Ink: Black Accessories: Copics, Pilot Metallic Pen, Dental Floss, Brad, Ribbon

Hope you are staying warm. It is 32 degrees here in Northwest Florida!

SCS Color Combo Challenge

This card is for today's SCS Color Combo Challenge and Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge. The Chairs for You set from Flourishes is versatile and fun!

Stamps: Flourishes Chairs For You Paper: Cameo Coral, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, GinaK White Ink: Black Accessories: Copics,Top Note Die, CB Embossing Folder, Ribbon, Rhinestones, Paper Piercing

Club Anya Opens It's Doors!

Club Anya officially opened yesterday. To celebrate I am posting my first Anya card. These stamps by The Greeting Farm are just Adorable!! For more information on Club Anya, follow the blog link on my sidebar.

Stamps: Pretty Hat Anya Paper: SU Barely Banana, Orchid Opulence, DCWV Glitter Stack, GinaK White Ink: Black, SU Orchid Opulence Accessories: Nestabilities, CB Flower Dies, Ribbon, Copics, White Signo, Pearl White Lumiere for Pearls

New Challenges!

Today's Challenges?
1. Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS (BevRocks!!)
2. Identify the tree (bush??) in my backyard
3. Start a BLOG!
What an awesome way to kick off February!

This is my card for the Featured Stamper Challenge today on Splitcoast. Bev has a gallery chocked full of wonderful cards. I chose this card from her gallery for my inspiration and case. Supplies: Stamps: Stampendous Changito DOS Paper: Stampin Up Baroque Burgundy and Rose Romance (retired), Paper Studio Print, GinaK White Other: Memento Black Ink, Copic Markers, Nestabilitie die, Coluzzule, Prima flowers, SU Ribbon
The tree in my backyard turned out to be a Camelia "bush"! (It is 9ft tall...)It is full of beautiful blooms!

Lastly...
Welcome to my blog!