No Time To Stamp?

Keyword ssnotime45 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to get a head start on your Christmas cards.  Everyone has Christmas in July, so thought we would, too!!!  Make any type of Christmas card you like — that’s it.  It can be traditional or non-traditional.  Personally, my preference is always non-traditional.  Can’t wait to see what you do and, as always, try to keep it simple.   Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples (please be patient as we are uploading and linking tonight):

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.

Check out Becky Oehlers’ sample here.

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

Here’s my non-traditional Christmas card, which also qualifies for Julie’s DTGD08 Challenge to Embrace White Space and my DTGD08 to Stamp Simply.  I love simple blue and white for Christmas — so fresh and pure — like the new-fallen snow we ususally have by then.

The flourished tree from Flourished Christmas is stamped on white, cut and embossed with the my Rectangle Nestabilities.  A single Pearl is added at the tree base.  It is mounted onto the plain white card with foam mounting squares.  The sentiment, cut and embossed with my Petitie Circle Nestabilities, is mounted with a dimensional.  Steele Blue Sheer Ribbon is tied on the bottom for the finish.  Quick, simple, white — and I love it!!!

• Stamps:  Flourished Christmas by Flourishes
• Paper:  White
• Ink:  Color Box Chalk in Azurite
• Accessories:  Steele Blue Sheer Ribbon, Pearl, Rectangle and Circle Nestabilities, Dimensional, Glue Dot.

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

I have an active Blog Candy post — sign up if you haven’t yet!

Read about the Midwest Flood Relief non-raffle going on at SCS and find out how YOU can try to win one of 55 fabulous prizes made and/or donated by SCSer’s and supporting companies.

Thank you all so much for stopping in.  I do so much appreciate it!!! Hope you all have a safe and wonderful  weekend!!!  And hope you find some time to stamp or do whatever it is that pleases you!!!

Keyword ssnotime44 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to make a card that has BOTH a flower and the color purple.  Now, just how easy is that!!!  The flower need not be purple, as long as there is purple used in the card — Flowers + Purple — that’s it!!!  I LOVE Almost Amethyst and haven’t used it in a bit, so just wanted to — no other reason!!!  Can’t wait to see what you do and, as always, try to keep it simple.   Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples (please be patient as we are uploading and linking tonight):

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.

Check out Becky Oehlers’ sample here.

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

There is a bit more stamping on this card than on my normal cards for this challenge, but I just felt like it — and it is all simple stamping.   I used the latest Stamp Simply set called Thank You, and I used Palette Hybrid Charcoal ink (gray) to stamp my background script (included in the set) along the entire left edge of the card.  I then white embossed the parrot tulip from the set over the scripted background in a diagonal formation as shown in the photo.  Then I took my Craft White pad and DTP’d (direct to paper — take the ink pad in your hand and apply it directly to the paper from the pad) the edges of the card to soften it.  I do this often with snowy/winter cards, but I just thought today’s card called for it.  I love the way it softens the overall look. My main image tulip is colored with Copics, holes punched for the Lavender Sheer Ribbon to run through, sentiment stamped in the same Charcoal ink, and tiny Pearls added to the ticket punched corners.  A very soft and lovely card IRL, much softer than it comes across in the photo.  My photo skills still lack, no matter how hard I try — LOL!!!  I am so absolutley in love with this single stem tulip, I can not tell you.   I hope I don’t begin to bore you with it all!!! 

This card is a good representation of my vision for a Stamp Simply set.  Lots of different things and interest in this card, all done with the contents of one small set!!!  My kind of stamping!!!

• Stamps:  Thank You by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Basic Gray, Almost Amethyst
• Ink:  Palette Hybrid Charcoal, Craft White, Copics for coloring — BV000, BV02, BV04, G40, G21, YG03, C1,0.
• Accessories:  Lavender Sheer Ribbon, Pearls, Ticket Corner Punch, White Embossing Powder, Hole Punch.

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

Thank you all so much for stopping in.  I do so much appreciate it!!! Hope you all have a safe and wonderful  weekend!!!  And hope you find some time to stamp or do whatever it is that pleases you!!!

Keyword ssnotime43 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to make a thank you card.  I am always out of thank you cards and it’s just nice to have a few on hand.  No other rules — just a thank you card.  And if you make a really simple one, make 2 or 3 once you’re at it — you’ll thank yourself later when you need them!!  Can’t wait to see what you do and, as always, try to keep it simple.   Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples (please be patient as we are uploading and linking tonight):

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.

Check out Becky Oehlers’ sample here.

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

This is one of the larger butterflies from Butterfly Moments, one of the new releases this week by Flourishes, and the gorgeous scripted sentiment is from another new release, Thank You.  I just love the gorgeous wings and shape of this beautiful butterfly.  I can see her being used over and over again!!!  I used the 2nd, and last, of my favorite sheets of paper from the Sultry pad by Basic Grey.   Doesn’t she look like a butterfly in a garden?  I thought so!!!  Here’s what I did to make this butterfly:

• Stamp butterfly onto white cardstock with Palette Noir Black ink
• Color in the white portions of her wings (I used Copics, but any way to color works)
• Cut and emboss image with Rectangle Nestabilities, frame with scalloped rectangle
• Use black self-adhesive Pearls on her head, antennea and for the dots on the wings.  I used various sized Pearls as the dots were of various sizes.
• Using a Quickie Glue Pen, and working in small sections at a time, color over the black portion and then sprinkle with Dazzling Diamonds or other fine glitter . Tap off excess.

Here’s a close-up view of the butterfly:

• Stamps:  Butterfly Moments and Thank You by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Black, Sultry by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black.  Copics to color in:  G40, G21, YG03, R20, RV11, RV34, Y000, Y21, Y15
• Accessories:  Black Sheer Ribbon, Black Pearls, Quickie Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Rectangle Nestabilities, Petite Oval Nestabilities, Mounting Tape.

And here’s a quick look at the full Butterfly Moments set so you can see all it contains.  It was designed so there are butterflies that can be used as stand alone images, as well as smaller butterflies for accents on any  of your creations.

And the scripted Thank You on today’s card came from the latest Stamp Simply release called Thank You.  Such a gorgeous and versatile set!

And please check out more samples made with our newest releases by the Flourishes Design Team:  Leslie Miller, Linda Duke, Faith Hofrichter, Susan Roberts, as well as Nancy Kirk.

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

Thank you all so much for stopping in.  I do so much appreciate it!!! Hope you all have a safe and wonderul  weekend!!!  And hope you find some time to make a thank you card, or two!!! Have fun!!!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!! 

 And all who so unselfishly serve to protect our freedoms — THANK YOU!!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

I made this card a year ago and it was included in the Fan Club Gallery at SCS.  Here’s the link for more details, which you’ll only be able to access if you are a Fan Club Member.  It’s something you may want to consider — click here for details.  

Now, back to the business at hand:

Keyword ssnotime42 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to make a card this is most definitely soft and girly — whatever that means to you!!!  No other rules, simple challenge.  Can’t wait to see what you do and, as always, try to keep it simple.   Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples:

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.

Check out Becky Oehlers’ sample here.

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

When I first got my pad of Sultry by Basic Grey, I was just taken aback by this sheet of paper.  I’ve been saving it because I knew I wanted to use it as an entire sheet and that I wanted to create an image that would blend right in with the design of the paper, and this is what I came up with.  And I chose to use this sheet today because to me these colors are just really girly, and pretty!!!  The card is 5.5″ square and the DP covers the entire card front.

My main image is the bleeding heart from Spring  Ephemerals, which is a solid image set. I LOVE the versatility of these solid image stamps.  They can be used to create stunning silhouettes or, as I did here, they can take on all the color you wish.  I inked my stamp with my Color Box Chalk Cat’s Eye pads.  These little pads work great for inking these stamps, and I truly find it relaxing to ink these stamps in this way.  Sorry, but I can’t provide the exact colors for you.  I stamped this image a month or so ago and never wrote down my colors.  After stamping my image, it was cut and embossed with the Classic Rectangle Nestability by Spellbinders, then framed with the Scalloped Rectangle.  My Sheer Apple Green Ribbon is doubled up to give it a bit more color, the brad is from the Sultry Brad pack by Basic Grey (it coordinates perfectly with the paper), and my butterflies are punched with a Martha Stewart punch. They are two layers — cardstock on the bottom and DP on the top.  Love the feminine look of this relatively simple card - -hope you do too!!! 

• Stamps:  Spring Ephemerals by Flourishes
• Paper: White, Pink Passion, Sultry Designer Paper by Basic Grey
• Ink:  ColorBox Chalk Inks (Cats’ Eyes)
• Accessories:  Apple Green Sheer Ribbon, Sultry Glazed Brad, Rectangle Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Mounting Tape

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

Thank you all so much for stopping in.  I do so much appreciate it!!! Hope you all have a safe and wonderul holiday weekend!!!  And hope you find some time to make a girly card, too!!!  Have fun!!!

Keyword ssnotime41 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to make a 10 Minute Tuesday card.  For those who may not know what 10 Minute Tuesday is, each Tuesday I do a Blog post showcasing a card that can be reproduced in about 10 minutes.  I realize the designing and making of most cards does take more than 10 minutes, but try to come up with something, that if you were going to reproduce it, you could do so in about 10 minutes — OK?  So, in other words, keep it really simple!   Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples:

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here .

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

This time I made my Coffee, from Coffee with Friends, of the iced variety!!! A great summer drink!!!  My cup was paper pieced, my straw was just cut by hand, and my foam or whipped cream is Liquid Applique by Marvy.  All the pink and patterned paper is from the Sultry pad, while my brown matting is from Sugared.  My Basic Grey pads are pretty well used up and I’ve been combining a lot of the pads to get the colors I need, and it works!!!  I LOVE the combination of these 2 prints from the Sultry pad!!!  The bottom pink is stamped with one of the steam stamps from Coffee with Friends and it makes a quick and fun background.  And here’s a closeup of the tag detailing:

The tag is die cut on my Cuttlebug using the Tag Trio by Spellbinders.  I just ran a length of the sheer dotted ribbon through the hole and then inserted my pink brad.  The tag is mounted on dimenstional tape and the little dotted tails are neatly held in place with a Zot. 

And you know what made this a 10 minute card? 

• Remember when we talked about making up card bases ahead of time?  Click here.
• Remember when we talked about making up tags ahead of time?  Click here.
• Remember how quick and easy it is to paper piece this large mug?  Click here.

So, with a few things done ahead of time — this card truly did come together in short order!!!

• Stamps:  Coffee with Friends, Siberian Iris (sentiment), both by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Sultry and Sugared Designer Pads by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black, SU Pretty in Pink
• Accessories:  1″ Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Chocolate Dotted Sheer Ribbon, Tag Trio dies by Spellbinders, SU Brad, Liquid Applique by Marvy, Mounting Tape, Zots

Editing to add another card — did this for the LSC at SCS today — the challenge was to limit your embellishments to brads ONLY, and they had to be a part of your main image, not just tacked in a corner.  I thought this LSC would go perfetly with this 10 Minute Tuesday type of challenge here today,  so I did another this morning:

Clean, sleek, modern, simplistic!  Love it!!  This is 9.25″ x 4 1/8″ and fits a business sized envelope.  Fits the LSC to use brads as your only embellishment, and it was a 10 minute card for me because this main image panel with 3 paper peiced mugs was in my rejecto pile from another project gone awry!!!  But it works here!!!  And that’s a good thing!!!!

• Stamps: Coffee with Friends by Flourishes
• Paper:  Black, White, Two Scoops by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black
• Accessories:  Black Brads by SU and Mounting Tape

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

Thanks so much for stopping in everyone — I truly appreciate it!!  Hope you can find some time to play!!!  Thanks much!!!

And I have a fun human interest story to post on the weekend.  I’ll try to get it up on Friday night, so please check back!!!!  It’ll make you smile!

Keyword ssnotime40 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is SOME LIKE IT HOT .. or cold!!!  Hot or cold, as in liquid.  There has to be some liquid aspect to your card, even though we may not always see the liquid. For example – Hot = coffee (of course!) or other drinks, tub bath, etc.  Cold = rain water, water in vase, lake, etc.  Let your creative juices flow!!!  Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples:

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here .

Check out Becky Oehlers’ Sample  .

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

I made this card to go with the kitchen towels and hot pads, using Coffee with Friends, the first set in the Stamp Simply line by Flourishes.  This will be a gift for another challenge  (see below).  I’m also real excited to tell you about the little saucer under my cup — it was so easy to do!   Let me tell you how I created this entire colorful little panel.

• Stamp the cup on white cardstock
• Draw on saucer as described below***
• Using a 1/2″ strip of cardstock as your guide, place it over the cup and draw your line dividing wall from countertop, then just keep moving up with your guide strip to draw other horizontal lines
• Using the same strip, place it vertically over the center of the cup and draw the lines on both sides of the strip, then move out in each direction drawing your lines. 
• Color as desired.  I used Copics and drew my colors from the towels and hot pads.  After it is all colored, stamp on steam with White Kraft Ink.
• I then used a Rectangle Nestability to cut out and emboss my main image (my colored panel was larger than the Nestability I chose to use).  Then cut and emboss a frame with the Scalloped Rectangle Nestability.   Accent scallops with white dots. 
• Mount the colored image to the scalloped frame with mounting tape or squares, being careful of their placement so you can run the Chocolate Sheer Ribbon between the colored image and the scalloped frame, which is then mounted to the black panel with mounting tape as well.
• The flourishy steam stamp is used to create the background on the black panel, using White Kraft ink.

***This cup in the Coffee with Friends set does not have a saucer with it, so to make one I punched an oval with my SU small oval punch, placed that punched oval where I wanted it over my cup, then traced the oval shape with my SU Black Journaler, using the fine tip.  It looked perfect — one would never know it wasn’t a part of the stamp!!

This was a really fun card to make, and having the towels and hot pads to use as a guide took the wonder out of the project — I knew what I was doing, just had to figure out how!!!!

• Stamps:  Coffee with Friends by Flourishes
• Paper:  Black, White.  Dark brown and yellow by Prism.
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black, SU Kraft White, SU Black Journaler, Copics, Inkksentials Opaque White Pen.
• Accessories:  Chocolate Sheer Ribbon, SU Small Oval Punch, Rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders.

Would you like a chance to win these towels, hot pads and card?  We have a Coffee Challenge in the Flourishes Forum at SCS.  All you have to do is create a card or project using Coffee with Friends,  upload it at SCS by July 10 and then link back to the challenge thread so we can find your project.  A winner will be selected from all entries on July 10 by a random number generator.  And it could be you!!!  And if you don’t have Coffee with Friends, there is still plenty of time to order it and play!!!  You can find it here.

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

Thanks so much for stopping in everyone — I truly appreciate it!!  Hope you can find some time to play!!!  Thanks much!!!

Keyword ssnotime39 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to GO BOLD!!!  With color, that is!!!   So the theme is to use BOLD colors — bolder than you would typically use — and this means either cardstock OR designer paper OR ribbon OR any embellies — whatever you have to add that bolt of extra bold color to your project. With summer approaching (where I live, we wonder!), it just puts me in the mood for bolder colors!!!  That’s it — an easy one again!!!  Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples:

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here .

Check out Becky Oehlers’ Sample here .

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

The bright pink comes from the Sultry pad by Basic Grey.  I combined it with Certainly Celery, which is certainly not a bold color, but for some reason it seems a bit bolder here today!!! And that gorgeous ribbon is the Apple Green Wide Satin — I was really surprised at how well this goes with  SU’s Certainly Celery — I really like the 2 together!!!  The ribbon is a bit brighter than the Celery, but they work together just fine!!!  My coffee cup is from Coffee with Friends, the first in the new Stamp Simply line by Flourishes, and I used my Petite Oval Nestabilities to cut and emboss the main image and mats.  The scalloped frame was pierced as well, with a brad being added on top.  It is mounted with Pop Dots.  The Chocolate Dotted Sheer, tops if off!  This paisley-ish print is my favorite piece in the Sultry pad - I just LOVE it!!!  OH, and this cup in the set sure reminds me of Fiesta Ware!!!  That’s why I chose it for my BOLD color card today!

• Stamps:  Coffee with Friends by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Sultry by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black and Charcoal.  Copics  in RV11, RV17, RV34, E27, C1, 0.
• Accessories:  Ribbons, Brad, Petite Oval Nestabilities, Pop Dots

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

Thanks so much for stopping in everyone — I truly appreciate it!!  Hope you can find some time to play and that you have a wonderful weekend!!!

Keyword ssnotime38 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to use solid image stamps.  They are so much fun and can be used in such a variety of ways.   I just love the look of a silhouette type image done with solid stamps.  And that is this weeks challenge, to use solid image stamps, but you can make them as colorful as you like — they do NOT have to be the standard black that I think of when I think of a silhouette (though I do love that look). 

And we have an alternative plan for those who may not have any solid image stamps.  You may use a line drawing stamp and then either paper piece it to fill it in or color it in — see, we’re easy around here — just play and have fun!!!  Do your best with what you’ve got.  And, as always, try to keep it simple!!

Here are some samples:

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here  and here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here .

Check out Becky Oehlers’ Sample here .

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

I used a solid image stamp from Flourishes latest release, Spring Ephemerals.  It is a set containing 4 floral solid images.  I’ve been using the bleeding heart for the last couple of days, and for my card today I used the checkered lily.  Such a gorgeous flower!!!  I stamped it 3 times to create my main image, reinking the stamp each time.  I used Color Box Chalk Inks in the Cat’s Eye format — really easy to ink the stamp using these small Cat’s Eyes.  After stamping my image, I did take a SU marker in a coordinating color and lightly highlighted the outer perimeter of the flower blossoms, then highlighted them further with my Quickie Glue Pen and SU’s Dazzling Diamonds.  My bright pink (really bright for me, LOL!) background panel is stamped tone-on-tone with Damask.  I always love the rich look you get using Damask in this fashion.  Tied on a black sheer ribbon (my all time favorite ribbon EVER), made my sentiment panel using Many Sentiments by Flourishes, and called it done!!!

This card is 3 3/4 x 7 3/4 and fits in a standard business sized envelope.

• Stamps:  Spring Ephemerals, Damask, Many Sentiments
• Paper:  White, Basic Gray, Pink Passion
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black, Color Box Chalk Inks in Orchid Pastel, Lime Pastel, Olive Pastel.  SU marker in Pink Passion,
• Accessories:  Black Sheer Ribbon, Quickie Glue Pen, SU’s Dazzling Diamonds, Ticket Corner Punch, Mounting Tape

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

As always, I thank you so much for looking!!!  I hope you all have time to play!!! 

And I just want to share that I’m getting SOOOOO excited for next week!!! It is the debut of the Stamp Simply Line by Flourishes, as well as the release of another classic beauty!!!  They will be released on Tuesday, June 10, but I’ll be offering you some sneak peeks over the weekend, so if you’re interested, stop in and take a peek!!!  Have a great weekend, everyone!!!

A note to my Yooper friends and neighbors:  I finally got something on the schedule!  Please click on the CLASSES tab at the top of this page — THANKS!

Keyword ssnotime37 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is a Color Challenge — Black and White + 1 More Color.  And the addition to this is you may use just that one color you select, OR you may use many varying shades of that one color.  So, if you choose blue — you could use many shades of blue.  But if you want to just use one shade, then that is fine too.  So, essentially, the cards in this challenge can be taking on 2 looks — one would be black and white with an accent color, and if you use many shades of one color with the black and white as an accent, then you’ll get more of a monochromatic look.  Either way, it’s fine — just make sure you use black, white and one other color family.  And, as always, try to keep it simple!!

Here are some samples: (please bear with me for the next couple hours as I link samples as they come in)

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here .

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here .

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here .

Check out Becky Oehlers’ Sample here .

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here is my sample:

• Stamps:  Peace by  Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Black Textured, Bashful Blue
• Ink:  Versa Fine Onyx Black and Versa Mark
• Accessories:  Black Embossing Powder, Black Velvet, Black Brads

Now, THIS should have been my 10 Minute Tuesdsay Card — LOL!!!  This really is a quick card to reproduce, which is what I like to keep in mind when I do a Christmas card.  This  5.5″ square card uses Peace by Flourishes , which is a super set for quick cards.  I stamped and black embossed the main image, and merely stamped the sentiment.  The black paper is textured, which doesn’t show up well in the photo, but it adds alot IRL.  I added the 4 black brads and wrapped the black velvet ribbon completely around the card front.

Hint on tying this knot:  This being velvet, it gets a bit bulky to tie and still lay neatly.  I am usually rather fussy about getting the bows or knots neat and having the proper side of the ribbon exposed; HOWEVER, in this case, to get everything to lay properly, the WRONG side of the velvet is exposed on the center knot portion.  When tying your knot, if you twist the ribbons so the wrong side will be on the knot portion, then the RIGHT sides will be exposed on your tail portions.

And again, for tying knots with these narrow ribbons, I want to link you to a great bow tying tutorial done by Val Stangle (11Valerie11).  What she is doing in this video, is exactly what I say to myself in my head each time I tie a knot like this — left over right, 6 and 12 0′clock, right over left.  Works like a charm.  Thank you, Val, for making it so simple and easy to remember!!!

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

That’s it for today’s challenge — hope you all find time to play sometime!!!  And, oh yes, we have a Chrsitmas Card Challenge running in the Flourishes Forum at SCS and this is my 2nd Christmas card this month, so I’m getting there — LOL!!! Please, feel free to join our Christmas Card Challenge as well!!! 

Thanks so much for stopping in again and I wish you all a wonderful weekend!!!

Keyword ssnotime36 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to use a bug on your card — and I will be liberal in the interpretation of a bug — butterflies and dragonflies will count — or any kind of animal or thing that *bugs* you — LOL.  Just run with it, have fun and, as always, try to keep it simple!!

Here are some samples:

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here. 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.

Check out Becky Oehlers’ Sample here.

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here is my sample:

I used the newly released Lilac set by Flourishes because this set has two adorable bugs with it — this elegant looking grasshopper (LOL!!!) and an adorable ladybug!!!  How fun!!!  Everything was stamped in black and colored with Copics, shown below.

I accented all of the little lilac petals with my Clear Stardust Pen, and they shimmer so nicely IRL, but I could not pick that up in the photo — so sorry!!!  I couldn’t even get it to show up on the close-up below.

This card measures 6 1/2″ x 3 3/8″ and is made to fit the small SU open end envelopes — a fun size for a change!!!  The grasshopper was cut and embossed with the Circle Nestabilities and the ribbon is the fun new Apple Green Sheer by May Arts — it also comes in a lot of other fun colors!!!  I punched two holes with my eyelet setter and hammer to run the sheer ribbon through.

• Stamps:  Lilac by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Elegant Eggplant
• Ink:  Versa Fine Onyx Black (heat set), Copics to Color
• Accessories:  Clear Stardust Pen, Sheer Ribbon, SU Brad, Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Pop Dot

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

Thanks much everyone for stopping in — hope you get time to play!!!  Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!!!