Contraband Scarecrow! *du-du-duuhhn!*

Even though I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for a little over seven years now, I do sometimes love and use other brands (a.k.a. contraband in demo-speak..... or "SOB" - Some Other Brand).

As long as I am not actively promoting and profiting from the competition, Stampin' Up! is okay with it. Which is really nice, when you think about it. Case in point: This adorable scarecrow from CTMH. I had the pleasure of getting together with some local stamping ladies for a day of stamping, coloring, laughing & chatting, eating some outstanding brisket, and stamping some more. It was a day made in heaven! Knowing my fondness for scarecrows and snowmen, my hostess brought out some of those stamps so that I could stamp some images to color. SO. MUCH. FUN!

So, this cutie pie was the first one to get colored. I added some (now retired) Kraft Corrugated paper and the lovely wood planks from the Serene Scenery DSP stack for a rustic feel.

Just a reminder: Tomorrow is the last day of the World Card Making Day sale, but the Buy 3 Get 1 Free DSP sale runs through the end of this month!

Christmas in April (finally!)

Click on any image to enlarge

Here's one (of the set of four) of the cards I made this month for my personal monthly Christmas card challenge. I CASEd this card from the SCS gallery. I just loved the blue, and snowflakes are my favorite! I did change it a little, since I didn't want it to be a total knock-off, LOL. The blue frame around the Peace sentiment is a shade darker than the card base, and I opted to use Ice Stickles on the punched snowflake and leave off the flowers. Sorry for the off-colors. It's been overcast the past few days, and I can't get the settings right on my camera.

This view shows the Stickles a little better:

Cardstock: Close to My Heart Heavenly Blue, Paper Co (name unknown), Neenah Solar White
Stamps: Snowflakes and sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Snowflake Serenade
Ink: VersaMagic Sea Breeze
Embellishments: Crystal Dots from Sally, EK Success snowflake punch, Ice Stickles Arctic Ice

CCT Challenge # 46 - Metallica

This is the first time I've participated in a Cute Card Thursday challenge, but I think it won't be the last! This week's challenge is Metallica - we're supposed to use something metal on the card.... charms, wire, eyelets, whatever! I've combined a heart charm and heart brads for the metallic look.

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Real Red, Bazzill Huckleberry Pie
Pattern Paper: Making Memories Blue Gingham
Stamps: Image- Whiff of Joy "Melinda Blowing Kisses" , Sentiment- Close to My Heart "All My Love"
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black with JudiKins Detail Clear EP

Copic colors used>>>>>>>>>>>


And now, because today is my birthday and we're getting close to 2,500 hits, I'm going to post the blog candy. :-D See post above. ^

Raspberry Chocolate Love

Mmmm, chocolate, raspberries and love....what more could a girl ask for? ;-)

This card went together fairly quickly today using some of the new yummy patterned paper my BFF Barb sent to me. See picture at right.

Holy smokes, there's some really neat paper in there! She got it at the Costco in Twin Falls, Idaho. My Costco didn't have it (or maybe it was sold out before I got there), so she bought it and sent it to me! Anyhoooo, I'm loving it, thanks, Barb! :-D

The heart stamp is from the Verve Stamps set called "Wild Thing", stamped in SU Chocolate Chip Craft ink on Close To My Heart cardstock - sorry, don't know the name of the color! The ribbon is SU Chocolate Chip ¼" grosgrain, and the pearls are from Sally, who has very reasonable prices and shipping! Nice lady!

The sentiment is from CTMH's "Heartfelt" set, stamped in VersaMagic Perfect Plumeria chalk ink. It was popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals.

WoJ Challenge #15 and SCS Challenge WT202

Yippeee! I was able to kill two birds (thanks, Shannon) accomplish two challenges in one shot! This card is for both the Splitcoast Stampers Challenge WT202 (Pattern Pizzaz), and the Whiff of Joy Challenge #15, Katharina's sketch (love that sketch, Katharina!).

The SCS Pattern Pizzazz challenge was to take a pattern paper and dress it up with glitter, flocking, heat embossing or whatever, and make it special. Starting with some cardstock from the Die Cuts With a View Luxury Stack that was already pretty special with its pearlized finish, I added some heat embossed cupcakes (SU Chocolate Chip Craft ink) and colored in the cherries on each one.

The adorable little mouse image, called Henry Celebrating Mouse, is new from the Whiff of Joy Stamps Party Animal collection. He was so much fun to color!

He was stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black and heat embossed with JudiKins Detail Clear EP, then colored with Copics. I added some Diamond Glaze on the chocolate sprinkles on the cupcake to highlight them a bit.

Copic colors used shown in photo to right:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Whisper White
DP: DCWV The Luxury Stack
Stamps: Mouse image- WoJ "Henry Celebrating Mouse", Small cupcakes- Sweet n' Sassy Stamps "Chocoholic", Sentiment- Hero Arts "Cupcakes"
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, SU Chocolate Chip & Ruby Red
Embellishments: CTMH brads, SU Chocolate Chip ¼" grosgrain ribbon, Martha Stewart Camelia Pink craft seam binding, Nestabilities dies

OCC Technique Challenge

This is a first for me! Our Creative Corner's challenge this week was a technique challenge - to use Embossing Resist. I hadn't actually used the technique in a card, so it was really fun for me to come up with something. I even threw in a little masking. ;-) My family has a whole slew of birthdays coming up in the next month, so a birthday card was definitely in order!

Did y'all notice there is no ribbon (gasp!) or Primas? LMBO!!! I was trying to do a masculine card. What do you think....did I succeed?

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla and Basic Black, DCWV textured brown
DP: Anna Griffin
Stamps: Image- Stampin' Up! "Upsy Daisy", Sentiment- SeeD's "Phrases Collection"
Ink: VersaMagic Aegean Blue, VersaFine Onyx Black, Close to My Heart Sunflower and Sunkiss Yellow
Embellishments: CTMH brads, EK Success photo corner punch

Whiff of Joy Challenge #14

Here is my entry for this week's Whiff of Joy challenge. We had to use a WoJ stamp (of course!), and the colors GREEN and PURPLE! (Ya know, that's what I love about doing challenges....they're so.....challenging, LOL!) Definitely not colors I would have thought of.

Since I was stretching beyond my comfort range, so to speak, I decided to let the Copics stay in their resting place, and pulled out the Derwent Watercolor pencil set instead. Kinda made sense, since the card was going to be rain/water themed. ;-) The polka dots on the umbrella were done with purple Pearlescent Watercolors.

After stamping "Willow With Umbrella" on watercolor paper, painting it and mounting it on cardstock, I pulled out my new Martha Stewart heart border punch and edged some dotted vellum with those adorable little scallops and tiny hearts.

Somehow, in all the stamps I own, I don't have a raindrop stamp, so I made one from leftover red rubbah from a new Sampin' Up! set. I used it with Versamark Dazzle Frost ink to stamp raindrops all over the background, and drew in some "falling rain" lines with a Stardust Clear Gelly Roll glitter pen. Judikins Diamond Glaze highlights the rain drops in the stamped inage.

Cardstock: Close To My Heart, the Paper Company
Stamp: Image- Whiff of Joy "Willow With Umbrella", Sentiment- Hero Arts "Anytime Messages"
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark Dazzle Frost, Stampin' Up! Eggplant Envy
Embellishments: Sugar Brads, Diamond Glaze, Dew Drops, Prima flowers, ribbon

Card Swap

Being relatively new to stamping & card making, I joined a Stampin' Up! monthly stamp club last April. Within that club, some members have a monthly card swap. I thought that was a neat idea and, after a little thought, I joined last month.....and then promptly forgot. So, last Saturday, I felt like a big dork while everyone gave me their cards, and I had nothing to give back.

As a result, I came home and got to work! We give each swap member two cards, so I had to make 20 (same style) cards. It took me far too long to figure out what I wanted to make. My first idea was a grouping of poinsettias, done with 2-step stamping and cut out. Then I realized how long it would take to make 20, and quickly changed my mind!


This was relatively easy to make, and I think it turned out nicely. I used the Cuttlebug "Textile" folder to emboss 4" x 5¼" Very Vanilla cardstock. The edges were then inked with Tempting Turquoise Craft ink. The same ink was used to stamp the snowflake images, SU Iridescent Ice EP was sprinkled on while the ink was still wet, and it was then heat embossed. The little silver balls (half spheres) are self adhesive, and a great buy at Michael's. They have them in gold, too. They remind me of the silver dragees we used to decorate Christmas cookies, before they were outlawed in California (grrrrr).

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla and Tempting Turquoise
Stamps: Image- CTMH "Let It Snow" , Sentiment- CTMH "The Beauty of Christmas"
Ink: SU Tempting Turquoise Craft and Not Quite Navy Classic
Embellishments: Ribbon and silver balls- Michael's, SU Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Cuttlebug "Textile" embossing folder

WoJ Challenge

May I just say again how much I love the images from Whiff of Joy? I have so much fun coloring them! This week's challenge is Autumn Colours.

This time I stamped the "Willow with Hot Chocolate" image on watercolor paper and colored it with Derwent watercolors. The image (and bronze background oval) was cut and embossed with Nestabilities oval dies. I dipped the edge of the watercolor paper in VersaMark and then in gold EP and heat embossed it. The image and background are fastened to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

The pattern paper was edged with a Fiskar's border punch and laid over brown leather-look paper. The paper leaves were colored a bit with my Copic markers to make them "pop" a bit more.

This may be the last card I am able to do this week. I have to make my grandkids' Halloween costumes, so I'll be busy! But check back anyway - I might need to take a break from sewing, and what better way to relax than card-making? :-)

Have a great week, y'all!

Cardstock: The Paper Co. Paprika Texture and Buckskin Brown, Stardream Metallics Bronze
Pattern Paper: Debbie Mumm "Harvest & Holiday"
Stamps: Image- Whiff of Joy "Willow with Hot Chocolate", Sentiment- CTMH "Friendship Blessings"
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, SU Chocolate Chip Craft, VersaMark
Large flower brads: JoAnn
Leaves and small brads: CTMH
Ribbon: Michael's