Farewell Friend

Happy Monday!  Phew, glad that day at work is under my belt!  Busy times = job security (I keep reminding myself LOL!).  Anyway, I made a card yesterday for a friend at work who retired today.  I've worked with him for 10 years and was so happy for him to be able to retire.  I used the sketch at Fab Friday for my layout.

http://fabfridaystampinchallenge.blogspot.com/

I used one of my favorite color schemes for more masculine cards - Pacific Point, Basic Black and Whisper White.

The Postage Due stamps created the feel I was going for, which was sort of a travel theme, which one would do (or at least I plan to do) when retired.  It is a pretty simple card and went together easily.  I was pleased I had purchased the Pacific Point grosgrain ribbon, which was the only embellishment I added.  

Thanks for dropping by and taking a peek!  Please leave a comment if you have a moment, I'd love to hear from you.

Hugs,

Stef

All products from Stampin' Up:

Stamps:  Postage Due, You're a Gem

Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Pacific Point

Ink:  Pacific Point

Accessories:  Squares Collection Framelit, Postage Stamp, 1" Circle and 1 1/4" Circle punches, Houndstooth embossing folder, Pacific Point Grosgrain ribbon

Give Thanks

Hello once again!  I have a card to share today that was made for this week's sketch challenge at Pals Paper Arts.

http://www.palspaperarts.com/

I broke out my new Best of Autumn stamp set to make this card.  I was so tickled to see the images in this set, I know it's one I will enjoy using each Fall.

The stamp was inked up with Versamark then Soft Suede and stamped on watercolor paper. An Aquapainter and reinkers were used to color this fall scene, which I totally love with the barn in the background, open field, leaf, acorns and of course the gorgeous pumpkins.

I colored the field in Chocolate Chip, and it did not behave itself when I was trying to fade the color out from the main scene with the Aquapainter, so I ended up punching out the image with a 1 3/4" punch, popping it up on a More Mustard circle.  I haven't watercolored anything for a while, so it was fun to work on this image.

Originally, I began by using a different piece of the same designer paper plus I stamped some images on the card base.  But when I tried to add the main focal point, I realized it was just too busy!  So I turned it into a birthday card for my nephew's fiancee, whose birthday is in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  Hope the remainder of your weekend is wonderful!

Hugs, 

Stef

All products from Stampin' Up:

Card 1:
Stamps:  Best of Autumn, Sanded
Paper:  Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake designer paper
Ink:  Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Pear Pizazz, Early Espresso, Chocolate Chip, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Versamark
Accessories:  Soft Suede Taffeta Ribbon, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Circle Collection framelit, Clear embossing powder, Brights Dots, Small Scallops Rotary Trimmer

Card 2:
Stamps:  Express Yourself, French Foliage, Four Seasons
Paper:  Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Spice Cake designer paper
Ink:  Soft Suede
Accessories:  Large Oval punch, Apothecary Accents framelit, Eyelet Border Punch, Soft Suede Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Pearls

Grateful for Mojo Monday

Welcome back!  Tonight I'm sharing a card made for the challenge over at Mojo Monday this week.

http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/

Of course I managed to take a potentially very CAS sketch and give it plenty of layers LOL!! But I guess all sketches are open to interpretation, right?

I was grateful that Baked Brown Sugar is similar in color to Soft Suede, so the cute Ruffle Trim could be added to the horizontal strip.  Also, my Soft Suede stamp pad is of the old style and it was in rather sad shape (from lots of use) and didn't really ink up very well (plus no reinker-oops!).  So Baked Brown Sugar ink came to the rescue, and was embossed with clear embossing powder.

I love how the Wide Oval fits so nicely on the Apothecary Accent framelit shape.  It really dresses up the sentiment.

Well, I am also grateful you dropped by to take a look!  I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  TGIF tomorrow - and enjoy your weekend!

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up:
Stamps:  Wonderfall, Chalk Talk
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Comfort Cafe designer paper
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Baked Brown Sugar, Versamark
Accessories:  Clear embossing paper, Apothecary Accent framelit, Wide Oval punch, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Woodgrain embossing folder, Regals and Neutrals button, Baked Brown Sugar Ruffled Trim ribbon, Linen Thread, Paper Snips

Elegant Flourishes or A Black and Tan of the Card Variety

Hello there!  Tonight I'm posting a card that I made for the challenges at Dynamic Duos and retrosketches.

http://thedynamicduoschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

http://retrosketches.blogspot.com/

When I saw the challenge of Crumb Cake and Basic Black at DD, I knew immediately what I wanted to use - some gorgeous Mocha Morning designer paper in Crumb Cake with the elegant flourish in black flocking.  Swoon!  I love this paper and have never used this design on a card.  Shameful I know, but now was the time to break it out!!  I even used the dessert option of wet embossing my sentiment!  

A very CAS card using the fabulous retrosketches design.  So many options in how to interpret it but I had a pretty good idea from the start as to how I wanted to approach it.  

The sentiment from Chalk Talk was stamped in Versamark and embossed in gold embossing powder.  The rosette underneath was made using two punched and scored scallop circles adhered together.  The gold pearls were made by applying gold ink from a Uniball gel pen to a couple Basic Pearls and letting the ink dry.  Great coverage, woo hoo! 

This is such a great color combination, and I couldn't resist calling it a "Black and Tan".  For those that don't drink beer, a black and tan is a mix of dark and light beer.  I had a friend from Scotland years and years ago that insisted that we visit a ex-pat Scot tavern located in San Francisco on a visit to that city for a "black and tan".  Love the color combo and loved the beer combo LOL! 

I appreciate your visit to my blog and hope you have a moment to leave me a comment.  I hope the rest of your week brings you a bit of joy along the way!

Hugs,

Stef

All products from Stampin' Up except where noted:

Stamps:  Chalk Talk

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Basic Black smooth and textured card stock, Mocha Morning dp

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories:  Gold Embossing Powder, Basic Pearls, Scallop Circle Punch, Uniball gel pen (LSS)

     

Sweet Baby and Big Sister

Welcome back!  Today I have two cards to share.  My great niece recently had a new baby and today is her oldest daughter's third birthday, so I made cards last weekend to celebrate both occasions.

The first card is the baby card, which used the utterly delightful Nursery Rhymes designer paper from Graphic 45's new Mother Goose Collection.  I loved it as soon as I saw it at the LSS, just because the colors were non-traditional and can be used for all ages of young children.

I made a pocket for a gift card on the interior with one of the Chalk Talk dies.  I found I had to put my adhesive only on the two side bumps and along the bottom, otherwise it is too narrow for a gift card.

The next card was an experiment on a couple of levels and I think a 3-year old girl will like the sparkle and shine, and the cute elephant.

I pulled out some long neglected chipboard, primarily to get the number, but then I saw all the frame and thought it would be fun to use as well.  I painted both with Frost White Shimmer Paint and added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the 3.  Now I know why I shy away from using glitter - aawwck!  It was everywhere, even though I was very careful.  Still it was fun to try and I love the result.

The elephant is from the retired Wild About You stamp set and she is holding a heart from Tiny Tags.  I cut out both of them with my paper snips.

Thanks for taking a peek and I'd love to hear from you if you have time to leave a comment!

Hugs,

Stef


Sweet Baby card:
Stamps:  Sweet Essentials
Paper:  Tempting Turquoise, Very Vanilla, Mother Goose Collection-Nursery Rhymes (G45)
Ink:  Garden Green
Accessories:  Flower Trim, Finishing Accents Edgelit, Basic Pearls, Paper Snips

"Wild" Birthday card:
Stamps:  Wild About You, Party This Way, Tiny Tags
Paper:  Primrose Petals card stock and Coordinations, Very Vanilla, Pool Party, More Amore designer paper
Ink:  Basic Gray, Primrose Petals
Accessories:  On Board Essentials and On Board Timeless Type Chipboard, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Word Window and Modern Label punches Pool Party Ruffle Ribbon.

Birthday Express

My second post today is for the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and the inspiration challenge at Stampin' Royalty.  What really grabbed me in the inspiration photo was the polka dots and the gray and yellow color palate.  When I saw the sketch at FMS, I thought it would be perfect to use with these colors.

http://stampinroyalty.blogspot.com/

http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/

Here's what I came up with:

The flag was stamped in Barely Banana with the Positively Chevron stamp, then mounted on a slightly larger piece of the same color paper.  The Basic Gray polka dot paper is from the retired Patterns Pack II.

The addition of the flourish in the corner was an afterthought.  I was originally going to put the sentiment there but I started playing around with it and thought they added a needed soft touch, along with the big bow.

So glad you could come by and take a look today!  Please leave a comment if you have a moment, I love hearing from you.

Have a wonderful evening!

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up:
Stamps:  Flowering Flourishes, Positively Chevron, Express Yourself
Paper:  Whisper White, Barely Banana, Patterns Pack II
Ink:  Barely Banana, Basic Gray
Accessories:  Subtles button, Two Tone ribbon, White Baker's Twine, Basic Rhinestone

An Epic Birthday for Seize The Sketch

Hi there and welcome back!  My blog has been rather quiet the last couple of weeks, with one last vacation trip before fall arrives (which will be ushered in with good old Oregon rain tomorrow) and then I was back to work the last few days.

I managed to put together a card after work this week for our nephew's upcoming birthday.  I used the current challenge at Seize the Sketch for inspiration.

http://seizethesketch.blogspot.com.au/

I took inspiration from one of my favorite crafters, Arielle Gordon, and shrank the main portion of the sketch down to leave more open space around it.  Of course, her work is far more CAS than I could hope to feel comfortable with when personally creating, but I love, love, love looking at her results.  If you aren't familiar with her, check out ColourQ Tuesday (http://colourq.blogspot.com/) or Retro Sketches (http://retrosketches.blogspot.com/) .

I used some of the great Epic Day designer paper for this card, perfect for a 20-something guy. It already had a bit of distress ink built in but I added stamps from Clockworks, distressed the edges with my Cutter Kit, then sponged lightly with Crumb Cake ink.  It was adhered to a piece of Early Espresso card stock which was then attached to the Crumb Cake base.

The green panel under the sentiment is Wild Wasabi that was stamped in Versamark ink with another Clockworks stamp.  The Positively Chevron stamp was inked up with Crumb Cake, put face up on my desk and then the Crumb Cake strip was laid across it to make sure the design was even.  My fingers got a bit inky getting the paper pressed on the stamp, but heck, that's part of the fun, right?  Must get a bit inky while creating!

The button and the dots were added for a bit of interest.  I'm not sure the dots were necessary or if the pattern enhances things - let me know what you think.  Are you using these dots? How do you decide a pattern for them when you use them?  I know, mostly it should be random, and I'm good with that, but I also want to make sure it still looks balanced.

Well, that's it for now.  I made a couple of cards for a niece, one to celebrate a new baby and a birthday card for her 3 year old daughter, so I'll be back later to share those.  Thanks so much for taking a look and I'd love to hear from you if you have time to leave a comment.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up:
Stamps:  Clockworks, Afterthoughts (retired hostess), Positively Chevron
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Confetti Cream, Early Espresso card stock and Coordinations, Wild Wasabi, Epic Day dp
Ink:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Versamark
Accessories:  Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Brushed Bronze Designer button, Hemp Twine, Cutter Kit

Chalkboard Birthday

Hi there once again! This evening I have a card to share with you that was made for a friend's upcoming birthday.  I used a fun sentiment stamp from Papertrey Ink that really lends itself to the Chalkboard technique, so I decided to use a black and red color combination.

While the sentiment would certainly lend itself to one of those cute sunbeam cards that are so popular right now, because the recipient is a man, I focused more on the trip aspect and decided to use designer paper depicting a map.

The sentiment was stamped in Very Vanilla craft ink on Basic Black in, then cut out with a Chalk Talk framelit.  When Stampin' Up retired it's craft ink products, I bought the "spot" version of all the color families.  It never occurred to me then how much I'd value having Very Vanilla craft ink rather than white to match designer paper.  Perfect for those of us that are "matchy-matchy" obsessed!

The small banners on the bottom were made with a Bitty Banner framelit.  A girthy hemp twine was wrapped around the cross piece created with Basic Black card stock topped with a piece of retired Love Letter designer paper.

I am entering this card in the "Anything Goes" challenge at Seize the Birthday and used the Splitcoast Stampers weekly sketch challenge #449 from a few weeks ago for this card.

http://splitcoaststampers.com/

http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/

Well, that's it for now.  I'm hoping to be back with a couple more cards before weekend's end (so just consider yourself forewarned ha ha!).  Thanks so much for visiting and if you have a moment, I'd love to hear from you.  Have a happy Friday tomorrow!

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted:
Stamps:  Stylish Sentiments - Birthday (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Very Vanilla (interior), Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Newsprint and Love Letter designer paper
Ink:  Very Vanilla craft ink
Accessories:  Chalk Talk and Bitty Banner framelits, Neutrals dots, brads (gift from friend), Hemp Twine (Hemptique).

Happy Thoughts for Freshly Made Sketches

Welcome back!  Today's card is for Freshly Made Sketches.  I rotated the sketch to fit the stamped image and sentiment.

The flower is from another long neglected (and now retired, I think) stamp set, Happiness Shared.  I used markers to color the rose, cut it out with an Oval Collections framelit, then layered it on Basic Gray card stock cut with the next size larger framelit.

I am loving the new Burlap ribbon for it's warmth and texture and used it for one of the cross pieces.  Equally as wonderful in it's own way is the new Chevron ribbon, which has perfect weight for tying nice bows.

This was such a quick and easy card, literally done in 15 minutes, tops,  It helps so much when you have a great sketch to use, which FMS never fails to deliver.

http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/

Thanks for taking a look!  If you have a moment to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you. I hope the rest of your weekend is wonderful!

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up:
Stamps:  Wetlands, Happiness Shared
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral, Basic Gray, Epic Day designer paper
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Basic Gray marker and stamp pad
Accessories:  Burlap and Chevron ribbons, Oval framelits, Basic Pearls  

Medallion Birthday Redux

Hello once again!  I feel like it's been forever since I posted a card - but actually it was only just last Saturday.  Anyway I have a card to share that is a remake of a card I posted here that was made for the Freshly Made Sketch #85 back in May.  I love how the first card turned out, using some of a hoarded stashed supply of one of my favorite retired designer paper (Parisian Breeze).  With this card, I decided to change up the color combination and break out some of the gorgeous Eastern Elegance dp.

The Daydream Medallion layers were alternately stamped with Coastal Cabana and Smoky Slate, cut out with the matching framelits, and then adhered to the Smoky Slate card stock base that had been stamped with the En Francais background stamp.  Not very evident in this photo is that each stamped layer has an underlying layer of matching card stock.

I think it's a bit more noticeable in this photo.

I was so happy that my order arrived with the Silver Ribbon from the Holiday Catalogue just as I was finishing up this card, so it could add some shimmery loveliness.

Well, thank you so much for dropping by and taking a look!  I really appreciate it and would love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  Have a lovely weekend and may all good things come your way.

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up:
Stamps:  Daydream Medallion, Fabulous Phrases, En Francais
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Eastern Elegance dp
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Coastal Cabana, Versamark
Accessories:  Daydream Medallion framelits, Coastal Cabana Ruffle Ribbon, Silver 1/8" ribbon, Neutrals Button, Basic Rhinestones