No Time To Stamp?

I’ve been wanting to play Cindy Motherway’s Teapot Tuesday Challenge for the last couple weeks, and today I finally got around to it!  I loved the little miniature tea set she is featuring this week, and although my card isn’t at all close to the inspiration piece, what I took from it were the mauve and green colors, the vintage feel, some texture and some vertical lines.  Here’s my card:

This darling dress image is from a Gina K set called Retro Boutique by Rupa Shevde.  What a darling set!  I had the pleasure of using it at an event a month or so ago where I stamped and colored this image on white paper.  Today I just added the sponging and put the card together — fun when that works out!!!  The main image oval is sponged with SU Creamy Caramel ink while still in the Nestability Die, giving the nice, crisp white border.  The paper I used today is from a new 12 x 12 pad I got from Michaels by K & Co, called Margo.  The little pearl embellishment was in a pack I purchased to coordinate with the paper.  There is no sentiment on this card, and I like to have cards on hand with no sentiments so I can use them when and where needed!  I really love the overall vintage feel of this card.

• Stamps:  Retro Boutique by Gina K
• Paper:  PTI White, SU Old Olive, Margo Designer Paper by K & Co.
• Ink:  Unknown Black, Unknown Copics, SU Creamy Caramel to Sponge
• Accessories:  Chocolate Organdy Ribbon, Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Pearl Sticker, Sponge, Mounting Square, Piercer.

Oops, also meant to say, I pierced tiny little holes in the scallop trim at her hemline.  It doesn’t even show in the photo, but looks really nice IRL!!!

If you’ve got time today, go on over and check out Teapot Tuesday — fun challenge!!!  And her Teapot Tuesday slide show is AMAZING!!!  Cindy takes an inspiration piece LITERALLY when she translates it into a card — fun to see!!

Thank you so much for stopping in today — we are sweltering in the heat up here — the worst we’ve had all summer — oh my!!! I am READY for fall!!!  See you soon –

I really wanted to do the Color Challenge  at SCS today, and when I woke up to see the fabulous colors I was ELATED!!!   Elegant Eggplant, Taken with Teal and Old Olive.  I LOVE these deep and rich colors and, even better yet, I had an image already colored that would work, so my day was off to a GREAT start!!!  Here it is:

This is one of the Gina K images I had colored a week or so ago at our Stampin’ in the UP event, called Botanical Dreams and drawn by Asela Hopkins.  Although I don’t have a list of exactly what colors I used, they sure worked with today’s Color Challenge.  I had this wonderful sentiment from the same set pre-stamped as well:

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

I turned the sentiment into a little pull-out tag/bookmark — fun!!!  To get the pull-out to pull in and out at this angle, I just used mounting tape under my main image at the angles required to let the tag slide in and out.  The mounting tape acted both to adhere my main image to the card as well as to make a channel for the tag to run into.  The main image is cut, embossed and scallop framed with the Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders.  The Eggplant panel is stamped tone-on-tone with the Floral background by SU.  Fun card to make in GREAT colors.  Gee, I just may do another today!!!  We’ll see!!!

• Stamps: Botanical Dreams by Gina K, Floral by SU
• Paper:  PTI White, SU Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turquoise (out of T w/ T)
• Ink:  Unknown black, SU Elegant Eggplant
• Accessories:  Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, SU Tag Corner Punch, Primas, SU Brad, Hole Punch, Wal-Mart or Michaels Ribbon, Mounting Squares 

Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day here — wish you all a wonderful day as well!!!

Hi everyone — had a really great weekend!!!  This weekend was the 1st ever Stampin’ in the UP event.  It was so well organized and run in a fabulous facility with LOTS of room to work, eat and socialize AND a wonderful in house restaurant where we ate many meals!  We had a small group of 22 who participated in card swaps, shoe box swaps, fun, games and prizes.  I did a presentation on Saturday, and since requests had been put in earlier as to what these girls wanted, it was a breeze!!!  They wanted to see and use product they were unfamiliar with, so at their request I demoed and allowed them to use Eclipse Tape, the Score-It, Scor-It Mini, Scor-Pal, Nestabilities and other dies by Spellbinders, and several different of the JustRite Stampers. 

But, as usual, the best part of this event from my perspective was meeting and visiting with the people.  Most participants were from within about a 100 mile radius, but we had 2 brave souls who ventured into our northlands from down below — LOL!!!  And here they are:

On the left is Barb Schram from Grand Rapids,  Michigan, then me, then on the right is Joan Fricker from Northern Indiana.  I’ll start with Barb — well, my goodness — her ever so sweet DH (and he REALLY is!) took her on this 8/10 hour journey, and the moment they walked in the room it was like I’d known her all my life — we just CLICKED!!!  We have been Blogging/SCS buddies for a year or so.  We became fast friends and have kept in touch regularly, and I’ll tell you, to finally meet someone face to face whom you have been friends with already is such an awesome experience.  No introductions, no *get to know you stuff*, just one big hug and start visiting right where you left off the last time you chatted online!!!  Barb is an awesome person, a fabulous designer, an absolute delight to be with and a very, very good friend!!!  I can’t wait until we can meet up again!!! 

Next is my good friend Joan Fricker who came even further, from Northern Indiana.   Joan and I also met online maybe 6 months or so ago, and this is the 2nd time in as many weeks that I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with Joan.  Considering the miles between us, that’s pretty amazing!!! Joan and I were in the same Copic class 2 weeks ago in Chicago at CHA — gee, she puts on a lot of miles!!!  Joan has a very, very interesting background, which I’ll share more with you in about a week — need to give her a chance to get home!!!  I was just thrilled to pieces to see Joan again and somehow I do think I’ll be running into her some more — LOL!!!  More on Joan in about a week!!!

Friday night as the girls participated in games and challenges, I chose to sit and color some images with my Copics as I visited with my table mates.  My friend had brought several Gina K sets with her, so I stamped and colored those images — how fun!!!  Here’s a card I made with one image after I got home:

This beautiful orchid is in a Gina K set called Botanical Dreams and was drawn by Asela Hopkins.  This is such a fun image to color — I did several once I had the opportunity, so you’ll be seeing more cards with this image over the next few days or weeks.  This set also has several lovely single words which, of course, I did not stamp when I had the opportunity.  Oh well – This is just a  simple card which I did for the Sunday Featured Stamper Challenge at SCS — the featured stamper I cased is Shellapoo and, oh my, she has quite the interesting story and certainly serves as an inspiration to us all.  You may read about the challenge and about Shellapoo right here.  I loved this simple layout in this card of Shellapoo’s.  I followed it pretty much exactly, but added ribbon and a die cut corner.  Thank you Shellapoo!!! 

• Stamps:  Botanical Dreams by Gina K, Floral b/g by SU
• Paper:  PTI White, SU Pretty in Pink and Rose Red
• Ink:  Unknown Black, SU Rose Red, Copics to color (colors unknown)
• Accessories:  SU retired Organdy, SU Pretties Kit, Corsage Pin, Cuttlebug die cut corner, White Pearls, Long Rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders

That’s it for tonight — thank you so much for stopping in, and also, I just can not thank you all enough for all your emails, comments, phone calls and the many kindnesses extended to me over the past few days – THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH — Blogland readers are truly THE BEST!!!!!

10 Minute Tuesday is still the plan for tomorrow!!!

Well, it’s hard to believe that the Michigan SCS stamping event in Birch Run/Frankenmuth has come and gone so quickly and everyone is home again.  All the planning, waiting and anticipation, and in just the blink of an eye, just like Christmas, it’s over.  But a good time was had by all, and many are already anticipating the next event!!!

The schedule was jam packed with challenges and games, there were prizes galore, plenty of good food, new friends made (or at least met IRL), and there was much stamping done!  I met many SCS and Blogging friends and it’s just so strange to actually meet someone you’ve never seen before, and actually feel as though you *know* them.  There were so many that I was so honored to meet, but I won’t even try to list them as I know I’ll foget someone for sure!

The cards everyone did were all just so wonderful — there was the big swap and there were shoe box swaps — neither of which I was able to participate in due to time constraints, but I surely enjoyed seeing what everyone had done.   There was a fun Secret Sister reveal, too, and the name tags that were made for all of us were fabulous!!!  Then to top it all off, many went to dinner at the famous Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth  for a fabulous chicken dinner!!!  And it WAS fabulous!!!

But my most favorite part was getting to know everyone better, and I just regret there wasn’t more time.  I so enjoyed visiting with those I was able to — women I have swapped with and gotten to know through the challenges at SCS and through Blogging.   It was a wonderful experience and I just want to give a great big THANK YOU to those who put so much time and effort into planning this event — it is truly, truly appreciated!!!

Well, I have one little 4.25″ square card to share with you tonight, and the main image from this card was colored during the demo given by Rose Ann Reynolds (CuttersCallous).  It was such a thrill to meet Rose Ann, and she is just as sweet and  kind and giving as one would assume from all the kind and generous comments she is known for leaving.  Rose Ann gave us all a little demonstration on using Copic markers and I was so thrilled that she did!!!  I have been so interested in these markers — it honestly seems that EVERYONE  has them, except me!!!!  And I must say that I truly did enjoy working with them — such fun!!!  This is my first attempt using Copic markers:

Rose Ann had these adorable little images stamped for us.  They are from a sweet little set called Baskets of Happiness by Gina K.  The sentiment is from another Gina K set called Make a Wish.  I used my image to make this 4.25″ square card.  Rose Ann guided us through our Copic coloring experience, which was so much fun!!!  I loved the way the colors flowed out of the pen, how they didn’t leave streak marks and how you can actually remove color and even fix your mistakes!!!  My first attempt here is far from perfect, but it was great fun and I think it is certainly presentable and usable.  And, I must say, my little session with  Rose Ann has certainly convinced me that I truly would like to have these Copic markers!!!  I think I would actually enjoy coloring with these wonderful markers!!!  Thank you, Rose Ann!!!

• Stamps: By Gina K - Baskets of Happiness, Make a Wish
• Paper:  Almost Amethyst, Black, White
• Ink:  Versa Fine Onyx Black, Copic Markers (colors unknown)
• Accessories:  Ribbon, Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots Folder, Mounting Tape, Dimensionals.

Thanks so much for stopping in!!!  I have a surprise for you later in the week — more Blog Candy — and nothing I made this time, but something *real* — you’ll like it!!!  See you later!

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I was so pleased to receive an envelope in the mail with some images in it from one of the newly released sets by Gina K.  It’s called Just So Hippy and the stamp artist is Melanie Muenchinger, one of the Dirty Dozen Alumni from SCS.    Here’s the link to Melanie’s New Blog and here’s the link to her SCS Gallery. This set is available for purchase from Gina K Designs.

When I started this card, I planned to make a baby card.  Well, now when I look at  the finished product, I think this would serve well as a baby girl card, but I think it could be used for other purposes as well for a girl of any age!!!  Isn’t that *Hippy Giraffe* just the cutest?

I colored her with Colorbox Fluid Chalk Inks and a blender pen, and shadowed her with a Sahara Sand marker.  I put her panel askew, just for some added interest.  The gorgeously colored papers I’ve used on this are all from the Prismatics line by Prism Paper.  They have just the softest, prettiest pastels anywhere — totally love them!!   The balloon is up on a Pot Dot, with the string being hand drawn.  The tiny white flowers on the right edge are SU Eastern Elegance Rub-Ons (very cool to use!).  The brads filled in a dead spot and add interest.  The pretty satin ribbon with picot trim is super soft, like the binding on a well worn baby blanket, and it is from Michaels (love it!!!).   It is run under the main image through holes made with the Horizontal Slot Punch.

• Stamps:  Just So Hippy by Gina K
• Paper:  Unknown white.  Prismatics Paper by Prism in:  Sunflower Light, Blush Red Light and Suede Brown Medium.
• Ink:  Versa Fine Onyx Black, ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink in Rouge, Bisque and Chestnut Roan.  SU markers in Sahara Sand and Basic Black.
• Accessories:  Blender Pen, Ribbon, Horizontal Slot Punch, 1 1/4″ and 1 3/8″ Round Punches (all punches from SU), SU Eastern Elegance Rub-ons, Pop Dot.

Hint about Rub-ons:  I’ve had very little experience with rub-ons until I just recently got my new SU Rub-ons!!!  What marvelous things!!!  I find having the rub-ons to rely on to fill in dead spaces makes layout a breeze — if something doesn’t fit quite right, just push it over enough to make room for the rub-on of your choice!!!  I’ve been using them a lot this past week and I am just loving them!!!  If you haven’t tried them yet, you really must!!!  Easy to apply, attractive to the eye, and very useful in planning layouts!!!

That’s it for today!!!  I’m teaching classes all day tomorrow, so I’m thinking my next post may be an Oldie But Goodie — let me go and see what I can find!!!  Thanks much for popping in!!!  Hope you are having a great day!!!

This is another card I came up with for the “Just for Fun” classes I am having this week in honor of World Card Making Day.  This one uses the Make A Wish set by Gina K.  I just love this flower, and the sentiment, also in the same set, is so perfect for a sympathy card.  And, I know, everyone must be so tired of me using this Pomegranate Satin ribbon, but I just can’t help it!!!  I LOVE it!!!  More is on the way — LOL!!!  Other than the stamp set, all products are SU! unless otherwise noted.  The Make a Wish set, as well as many others, can be purchased from Gina K here.

For this card I combined designer papers from the Charbon and Holiday Harmony  DP packages.  I think these go together so well!  Love these colors!!!  I also used the new Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon, another “must have” ribbon.  It is hung from a little hanger in the Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware collection.  The flowers are stamped with pad ink, stems colored with marker, blossoms accented with Sakura Quickie Glue Pen and covered with Dazzling Diamonds.  Sentiment panel is run across the ink pad to define the edges.  

And I really love something on this card that no one can see — LOL!!!!  At the seam where the two DP’s join, there are faux cross stitches made with the mat pack, piercer and black marker.  They look just wonderful — too bad we can’t see them!!!  LOL!!!  Hope those who come to class this week like this card!!!

• Stamps:  Make a Wish! by Gina K
• Paper:  Basic Gray, Purely Pomegranate, Very Vanilla, Carbon DP, Holiday Harmony DP
• Ink:  Basic Gray, Purely Pomegranate, Black Stazon.  Markers in Garden Green and Basic Black
• Accessories:  Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware, Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Ticket Corner Punch, Dimensionals, Pop Dots, Mounting Tape, Mini Glue Dots, Crafter’s Tool Kit

Measurements:

• Card:  Standard A-2, 5.5 x 4.25
• Vanilla Main Image Panel:  2.5 x 3.75
• Pomegranate Partial Frame:  2 x 4
• Gray Partial Frame:  1.5 x 4.25