The Color Throwdown

I am so excited to be chosen as the featured stamper at the Color Throwdown this week!  We were given this lovely color palette to work with. 

These are not colors I typically work with, so this was a really exciting challenge for me! As much as I wanted to use my new Stampin' Up! goodies, they hadn't arrived yet when I was ready to create, so I set to work with some of my "old" stamping supplies. 

I love this butterfly from Beautiful Day so I embossed it in silver and used my Aqua Painter and inks to color it in. I couldn't find a stamped sentiment to suit me so I settled with the "celebrate" thinlit instead. I think I like it without a stamped sentiment!

I hope you will play along in the week's challenge. I would love to see what you create with these gorgeous colors!  

Make a Monster

After the fire, my dear friend Chris sent me a big box full of Stampin' Up! goodies. Make a Monster was a stamp set that I had never had before and one that I was especially excited to ink up when I saw it. I've made several things with it since then, including a chore chart for my boys, but nothing that I've shared! I thought this would be a good set to use with all of the new blends that I got last week. Here is what I came up with!

I used this great sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Don't they look so cute popping in from each side? I think my coloring is getting little better, too. Practice makes perfect so I guess I will make some more cards! 😂

Share What You Love

The Share What You Love suite was the first thing I HAD to have from the 2018-2019 annual catalog. Usually when that happens, I don't give the collection nearly as much love as it deserves! I'm happy to say that that is not the case this time! I have used EVERYTHING in the collection! On today's card I used the Love What You Do stamp set, pearlized doilies, and the Share What You Love Designer Series Paper. And isn't that Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon to die for?!  I just love it! Stampin' Up! really hit it out of the park with this fantastic suite, don't you think? 

I used the layout from CAS(E) this Sketch! for my card. I love this sketch and can see myself using it a ton, especially to use up all that gorgeous DSP that I'm always afraid to cut into. 😁

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great rest of the week!

Miss You

Sunday is my rest day from working out, my PASSION, and the day that I have more sitting-around time to think about things. Today I started thinking about my best friend from back in Indiana, and how much I miss her! Then she sent me a text about a project she was working on and I missed her even more! So I decided to make her a card. I used the sketch challenge from Paper Craft Crew and the color challenge from Color Throwdown.

I decided to pull out my Stampin' Blends to color with today. I hardly ever use them but I just ordered all of the new ones this weekend so I figured I better use the old ones so I felt less guilty about my purchase! 🤣 I don't know how to do shading correctly so I need to watch some tutorials, but I did have fun playing with them! I used Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Stampin' Blends and Gray Granite ink.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Post-Vacation Blues

We just got back from an amazing beach vacation, and I have to say, I have the blues! Not necessarily because I didn't want it to end, but more so because it means that summer is nearing an end!  I enjoy having the kids home from school, not worrying about homework and bedtimes, and being able to spend more time together as a family. I'm sad that in just over two weeks we are going to be back to schedules and busy days. Such is life though, and we are going to make the most of these next few weeks!

Today is the first time in a LONG time that I've sat down to post a card! I've made some cards, but just haven't taken the time to share them! I really love the card that I made today though, because it reminds me of our beach trip. I made this one for my friend Jennifer who was so kind to take care of our cats and get our mail for us while we were away. I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the picture inspiration from TIME OUT Challenges

.  

This is the first time I have inked up this High Tide stamp set from Stampin' Up! and it was really fun to play with!  I used Crumb Cake, Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel and Early Espresso ink on Thick Whisper White Cardstock.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day! ❤

Painting with Brusho

Well, I am in bed with the flu and bored out of my mind, so I thought I would share a card that I made a while back.

I have been on this Brusho kick, trying out different techniques I've seen on YouTube. Today's card uses Brusho like a paint, and gives a more controlled look than the other techniques I've tried so far.

To paint with Brusho, I just tapped a bit of each color onto a clear block. I then used my slightly damp aqua painter to swirl the color around on the block, then picked it up and painted with it! It's a really easy technique. Just make sure you wipe off your aqua painter in between each color so they don't mix. 

Picture Perfect Birthday

I have been all about the messy cards with artistic backgrounds lately, so I decided to change the pace up a little bit and have a white background today!

I wanted to make some gifts on my card to go along with the beautiful bows in the Picture Perfect Birthday stamp set, so I inked up two sizes of my clear blocks and stamped them right on my paper. Worked exactly how I was hoping it would!

The bows are fussy cut and popped up on Dimensionals. Of course, I had to add some Tutti-frutti Adhesive Backed Sequins. I love that they already have the adhesive attached. It really speeds up the process of attaching them!

Brusho, Brusho, Brusho

Sounds like a catchy tune from Grease, right? 😊 Actually, it's a new Stampin' Up! product called Brusho Crystal Colour and it is so much fun!

Brusho is watercolor ink crystals, and they enable you to create a unique design every time you use them! There are several techniques, but for today all I did was tap a bit of Moss Green and Prussian Blue Brusho onto my watercolor cardstock and then spritzed it with water! I then dried it with my heat tool and I had this fabulous background. It really is that easy!

With these beautiful backgrounds, I hate to cover them up too much so I kept my stamping simple. This one is actually the most detailed one I came up with. I'll be sharing more Brusho cards soon! Have a great weekend! 

No Ink Required!

Today my goal was to use some of my beautiful Designer Series Paper. The 6x6 Picture Perfect Party DSP is full of great birthday pictures of presents, candles, confetti, etc. It pairs nicely with the Scattered Sequins Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and the Tutti-frutti Adhesive Backed Sequins.

After I adhered my background papers down, I decided I would complete my card with this fabulous "celebrate" thinlit and keep my card completely ink-free! This thinlit set is one you can earn free during Sale-a-bration by spending $100! Contact me today if you are interested in hosting a get-together to make this card or would like to place a qualifying order to earn some free SAB items yourself! 

Stampin' Blends

Today I have a quick little tip if you have the Stampin' Blends, our exclusive Stampin' Up! alcohol markers.

I was making a simple little card and realized I didn't have the cardstock I needed to coordinate with my ink. I always have plenty of Whisper White cardstock on hand though! So I took my Stampin' Blends Bermuda Bay marker and colored around the outside of my cardstock. It created the perfect mat! Since the ink is alcohol, it blends nicely and you can't see streaks like you sometimes can with regular markers.

And here is my finished card! See how the mat coordinates perfectly with the ink? You would never know it's not Bermuda Bay cardstock!

I hope you have found this tip useful! If you don't have the Stampin' Blends yet, now is the perfect time to purchase them! It's Sale-A-Bration, and you get to pick a free item for every $50 you spend! Contact me for more information and check them out here on the website!

Color Me Happy!

We have been snowed in at our house all week and are going a little stir crazy! There's no school again today but our driveway is better now and we have been told the main roads are clear, so we are getting out of here! 😂 One of the local indoor water parks is having a snow day special so it is family day! I wanted to make a quick card before we took off for the day, and I came up with one that only took about 10 minutes!

When I'm in a hurry, or when I'm feeling uninspired, I look online for challenges to get me started. I found my layout at Fusion Card Challenge and my color combination at The Paper Players.

With those fantastic bright colors, I decided to use a simple white background. I had this extra Lemon Lime Twist leaf panel leftover from a My Paper Pumpkin kit, so I angled it and trimmed off the edges. Then I used my aqua painter to color my birdies, fussy cut them, and adhered them with Dimensionals. I added a sentiment and some embellishments and it was complete!

See how easy it can be to complete a cute card? Now we're off for a day of swimming and fun! ❤

A New Normal

Well, now that it's been a little over a year since the fires and we are FINALLY in our new home, I have started to get back to card-making and scrapbooking!

Here is one of my latest creations, done with the fabulous Waterfront stamp set that you can find in the current Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog.

I used my aqua painter to wet Thick Whisper White cardstock. Then I inked up each image and also wet it on the block before stamping it onto the cardstock. This allowed the colors to easily blend together, giving it that watercolor effect. That's all there is to it! Doesn't it look so much more difficult?!

I would love to get back into offering card classes to teach you how to make beautiful cards, too! If you are in the Gatlinburg area and have any interest in coming to a class let me know and we can set something up!