Plumber Thank You

I was in a race to make this card today. Unfortunately, my hubby discovered that one of our toilets was leaking so we needed a visit from the plumber, which was scheduled this morning. Fortunately, the plumber is a neighbor from down the block who is really cool and has a great sense of humor. As he was working, I decided that I wanted to make him a quick thank you card. I finished it, but just barely. He works fast!

I saved time by using Cathy's  really cool sketch from this week's splitcoast sketch challenge. It's a straightforward sketch which makes it perfect to make quick cards - I love it.

I embossed about half of the front of the kraft card base with the Measuring Tape embossing folder by Sizzix and added a piece of retired SU designer paper to the other half. (This scrap of designer paper is so old - it dates back to when SU sold single sided designer paper - wish I could remember what it was called). I found another scrap of retired SU designer paper for the center rectangular panel and mounted it on a mat of dusty Durango card stock before attaching both to the card front. I stamped the tools and saying form the Guy Greetings set on a scrap piece of manila folder in soft suede ink and die cut it with a framelit from the starburst assortment, attaching it to the card front with dimensionals. Finally, I stamped the sentiment form the Plane and Simple set on another scrap of manila folder and punched it out with the word window punch before mounting it on a mat made of a piece of not quite navy card stock punched with the modern label punch.

It's a pretty simple card but I think our neighbor will appreciate it, especially knowing it was made while he was working. I had fun making it and this was the best reason to make a card, even if I had to rush.

Recipe:

Paper: manila folder, dusty durango, not quite navy, SU retired designer papers, kraft card base from Neutral Smooth A2 cards and envelopes assortment by Darice
Ink: Soft Suede
Stamps: Guy Greetings, Plane and Simple
Accessories: Starburst Framelits assortment, word window punch, modern label punch, measuring tape embossing folder by Sizzix

Three Cupcakes

I made this card to satisfy a couple of challenges. The first was last Thursday's Ways To Use It 3s and Thirds challenge.  The second was Monday's technique challenge which was speedy cards fro good causes. At first glance this may not look like a speedy card, but really it took almost no time to put together.

I started with a chocolate chip base and a strip of retired SU designer paper (don't recall the name) that gave me the color pallet for the card. I stamped the cupcake image from the Little Layers Plus set and the sentiment from the For a Friend set  in chocolate chip ink on whisper white card stock. I colored both with markers in bashful blue, certainly celery, close to cocoa and daffodil delight. I punched the cupcake images out with the 1 1/4" square punch and punched three 1 3/8" square punch out of chocolate chip card stock. I added a 1/8" certainly celery mat to the sentiment.

I punched a 4 x 5 1/4" piece of bashful blue with the double rectangle punch and wove a piece of retired striped bashful blue ribbon through the holes. I added a chocolate chip strip mat to the designer paper and attached both to the bashful blue card stock beneath the ribbon. I attached the matted sentiment to the bottom corner of the bashful blue piece with regular adhesive and attached the matted cupcakes to the designer paper with dimensionals. That's it - no embossing, die cutting or fussy cutting, no complicated stamping techniques, and a pretty simple layout. A quick and easy card to put together that looks pretty impressive to those not in the know ;-).

True confession? These "old school" cards are sometimes my absolutely favorite. They may not be as gorgeous or artsy or sophisticated as the more complicated cards, but for me they're like grilled cheese and cream of tomato soup - warm and comforting.

Recipe:

Paper: whisper white, chocolate chip, bashful blue, certainly celery, retired SU designer paper
Ink: chocolate chip and markers in bashful blue, certainly celery, close to cocoa, delightful daffodil
Stamps: Little Layers Plus, For a Friend
Accessories: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" square punches, double rectangle punch, retired SU striped bashful blue ribbon

Yarn Ball Anyone?

I've been thinking about making this card since last Friday, when I saw that this week's QKR Stampede challenge was Keep Your Eye On The Ball or Anything Goes. The challenge immediately had me thinking about a cat playing with balls of yarn. I didn't have time to stamp over the weekend and yesterday I got distracted by the National Bow Tie Day challenge, so I didn't get a chance to actually make the card until today. The good news is that waiting let me check out this week's color combo challenge on SCS and it was one that was (nearly) perfect. The colors were: soft suede, crumb cake, very vanilla and tranquil tide. I didn't have any tranquil tide so I substituted a piece of retired forest foliage card stock and a Bic permanent marker in For-Ever Green. I also used the sketch form last week's sketch challenge because why pile on another challenge, right? 

I started with a crumb cake card base which I stamped with the Sanded background stamp in crumb cake ink for some subtle texture. I added the strip of Forest Foliage card stock and a piece of twill tape. I stamped the basket and yarn images from the Basket Full of Fun set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on very vanilla card stock and colored them with crumb cake marker for the basket and For-Ever Green marker for the yarn. I stamped the basket image again on a scrap piece of very vanilla card stock and fussy cut just the top of the basket and the two handles, coloring both with my soft suede marker. I glued the fussy cut piece over the matching image on the basket and punched two 1/16" holes where the handles met the top, decorating them with two bronze brads. I used my aquapainter and crumb cake and soft suede ink to wash a surface at the bottom of and around the basket. Finally I cut the card stock with a framelit from the circles assortment and cut a soft suede mat with a framelit from the Starburst assortment.

On a separate piece of very vanilla card stock I stamped the sentiment, cat, and several yarn balls from the cat chat set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored the cat using crumb cake and soft Suede ink and my blender pen. I colored the yarn balls with the For-Ever Green marker. I die cut the cat and yarn balls with the corresponding framelits and I used a framelit from the Everyday set to make the word balloon for the sentiment (I actually fussy cut the top of the word balloon because it was a little too big) and sponged the edges with crumb cake ink. I attached the cat and a couple of yarn balls to the stamped very vanilla circle with dimensionals. I cut off the circle at the side as dictated by the sketch and attached it to the card base over the other layers with dimensionals. As a final step, I colored a piece of white baker's twine with the For-Ever Green Bic marker and looped it around the front of the card to make it look like a meandering piece of yarn, attaching it with liquid glue.

I think the card turned out really well. I love the image of the cat getting caught with his paw in the yarn basket and still managing to casually ask "What's up?"

Recipe:

Paper: very vanilla, crumb cake, soft suede, forest foliage
Ink: Crumb cake, Memento tuxedo black. SU crumb cake and soft suede markers, For-Ever Green Bic permanent marker
Stamps: Basket Full of Fun, Sanded, Tim Holtz Cat Chat from Sizzix
Accessories: SU Circles and Starburst framelit assortments, Sizzix Everyday and Cat Chat framelits, Twill Tape, metallic basics mini circle brads by Making Memories, baker's twine, aquapainter, blender pen, stampin' sponge

Classic Grandpa

The Clean and Simple challenge today on SCS was to make a card with a bow in honor of National Bow Tie Day. I loved this challenge because it gave me a chance to use my bow tie die cut and embossing folder. I'm never quite sure of what does and does not fall within the parameters of clean and simple, and I worry that I may have gone a layer or brad too far for this card to fall within those parameters, but to me this is still pretty clean and simple.

I started with a basic gray card base and added a very vanilla mat that I embossed with the Darice Ties and Bow Ties embossing folder. I die cut a bow from a scrap of patterned paper and used basic gray ink to stencil the bow tie folds through the die that also serves as a stencil.  I used the same scrap as a mat for a strip of very vanilla card stock on which I stamped my sentiment from the Guy Greetings set in basic gray ink. A stamp-a-ma-jig was instrumental in helping me line up the different parts of the sentiment leaving space for the bowtie. I added three small circle brads at the bottom of this strip and sponged the edges with basic gray ink before attaching it to the patterned paper mat. I added another very vanilla layer and a basic gray layer before attaching the stack to the embossed very vanilla layer. As a final step I attached the bowtie die cut to the card front using dimensionals.

I think this will make a very snappy birthday card for a classic - and likely classy - grandpa.

Recipe:

Paper: very vanilla, basic gray, Patchwork Plaid by Colorbox
Ink: Basic Gray
Stamps: Guy Greetings
Accessories: Ties and Bow Ties Embossing Folder by Darice, Dear Old Dad Shapeabilities by Spellbinders. metallic basics mini circle brads by Making Memories, SMAJ, stampin' sponge

Back to Shool - part deux

Wednesday I couldn't resist making a card for the "Back to School" Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Blog Challenge, but I really don't have any use for a single card with this theme. I do, however, have a niece and nephew who are starting eighth and sixth grade, respectively, and those seem like perfect enough occasions to send cards even though I've basically ignored all their previous "back to school" occasions. Can you tell where this is going? Of course you can, and of course it leads right to me making another card.

My supplies from the first card were still out and I really like the color combination from this week's SCS color combination challenge, so I decided to use them for the second card as well. I like the way that makes the cards look like a coordinated set and I think the siblings will appreciate that as well.

Once again I used a Bermuda bay card base with a patterned paper mat. I dry embossed the patterned paper with the Print Blocks embossing folder and sanded it before attaching it to the base. I stamped the Dictionary background on a piece of whisper white card stock in Bermuda bay ink and applied the sentiment sticker over the background, coloring the notebook on the sticker with a gable green marker. I used an oval framelit to die cut the sentiment and used a larger oval framelit to die cut a mat from basic gray card stock. I attached them together and then attached them to the card base with dimensionals.

To create more interest on this card and to coordinate it better with the other, I added two strips of the gray arrow paper tape. I also used Bermuda bay and going gray markers to color the pencil image from the Elementary Essentials set and stamped it on whisper white. I fussy cut the image and attached it to the card with a dimensional at the eraser end and snail at the graphite tip. To finish the card off I added two green sequins and a bow made from the Parakeet verigated fancy floss, attaching all three to the card with mini glue dots. I know my niece will like the sequin "bling".

I love the way the cards turned out and how they look together. I think they will be the perfect encouragement for my niece and nephew for their first day of eighth grade and middle school.


Recipe:

Paper: bermuda bay, basic gray, whisper white, green patterned paper of unknown origin
Ink: bermuda bay, whisper white craft, basic gray, gable green
Stamps: Dictionary (background), Elementary Essentials
Accessories: sanding block, Ovals Framelits Assortment, Neutral arrow thin paper tape by K&Company, Print Blocks Textured Impressions Embossing Folder by Sizzix, velum sentiment sticker of unknown origin, Parakeet verigated fancy floss by We R Memory Keepers, Crafter's Corner green sequins from Greenbriar Inc.

Sweet Popsicle Birthday

In the Clean and Simple challenge today on SCS Tricia asked us to make a sweet birthday card. Although my usual style is not exactly clean and simple, when I saw this challenge I had an idea so I decided to go for it and I actually love the way it turned out.

I started by die cutting a piece of whisper whit card stock with the Ornate Card #2 Extra Long Bigz Die from Sizzix. Because I planned to use a portrait orientation, I used my paper cutter to trim the semicircle on the non-fold side so that the card could stand (which also made it completely symmetrical.) I then ran the card though my Big Shot with the Note Card Center Simple Impressions Embossing Folder from Sizzix, which gave me a raised rectangle in the center of the card for my image and sentiment.

I thought a popsicle would be perfect for a sweet summer birthday card, but instead of a single "flavor" I wanted a "swirled" popsicle. I inked up the popsicle image from the Mouthwatering set with the calypso coral ink pad and inked up the Baroque Border stampin' wheel with melon mambo ink. I then used the faux shaving cream to create my "swirled flavor" look by wheeling the melon mambo ink onto the popsicle image, making sure to twist my wheel occasionally to create the marbled look. I stamped the image on whisper white and fussy cut just the top of the popsicle.

I broke a real popsicle stick in half and attached it to the card with mini glue dots. I attached the popsicle image to the stick with more mini glue dots. I then used calypso coral and melon mambo markers to color the sentiment from the Cycle Celebration set and stamped it on whisper white before punching it out with the large oval punch. I attached the sentiment to the card with dimensionals. The card still seemed a little too plain to me, so I added strips of gold paper tape along both sides of the main panel. That little bit of "flash" was enough to let me stop.

Since the card base is die cut, I will be posting this card to the QKR Stampede Shaped Cards or Anything Goes challenge. What a fantastic challenge that is - it really got me to try some things that I wouldn't have thought of myself. If you have a little time, try making a shaped card of your own. Sometimes it's good to think outside a rectangle or square.

Recipe:

Paper: whisper white
Ink: Calypso Coral, Melon Mambo
Stamps: Mouthwatering, Cycle Celebration, Baroque Border wheel
Accessories: popsicle stick, Ornate Card #2 Extra Long Bigz Die from Sizzix,  Note Card Center Simple Impressions Embossing Folder from Sizzix, Large Oval Punch, Neutral Arrow Thin Paper Tape from K&Company

cherry on top birthday

Between the funeral of our family friend and other family obligations, it's been a busy week. So busy that I literally did not have a minute to set foot in the stamp room. Even today, I only went up there for a little while to make this card only because I've had this idea for a card for this week's "clean and simple" SCS challenge to make a card using summer fruit since Monday, and it was killing me not to get it made. Fortunately, the card came together very fast. Unfortunately, the next time I go into the stamp room it will have to be to clean and put away all my stuff in its rightful place. Yes, I know it's shocking, but I'm not a clean as you go stamper. (In truth, I'm not a clean-as-you-go anything - cleaning always comes last).

Anyway, there was nothing too difficult in making this card except for the fussy cutting to paper piece the cupcake and cherry. I stamped the cherry on whisper white card stock and colored it in real red and old olive with markers so that there were no spots of white showing through in case there were any places where the glitter didn't cover completely. Then I covered the cherry with two way glue and applied the fine red glitter, and I followed with two way glue on the stem and green fine glitter. The cherry was attached to the "frosting" with dimensionals. On the pink pirouette textured cupcake "frosting," I covered the dots on the image with mini glue dots. I heated them just a little with my heat gun before covering them with the glitter. I'm not sure if this is totally necessary, but it seems to help the glitter adhere completely and not flake off all over the place.

For the sentiment, I used a marker to stamp technique to color only the words in the sentiment from the A Cherry on Top set. Then I die cut it using a shape from the Apothecary Accents assortment. I attached the die cut sentiment to a band made from a piece of rose gold file folder scrap that I ran through my crimper.

The base of the card is a pearly silver. I like the way it provides a subtly shiny background without competing with the glitter.

Recipe:

Paper: Pink pirouette plain and textured, whisper white, scrap of target patterned file folder (see the bargello birthday post for details), SU retired DSP from my scrap box (don't recall name), silver pearl A2 card base from core' dinations by Darice
Ink: memento tuxedo black, real red,  old olive (to cover the cherry stem - not visible on finished card)
Stamps: Simple Birthday Stamps, A Cherry on Top
Accessories: Apothecary Accents die cut assortment, crimper, red and green fine glitter, mini glue dots.

Quilted Christmas

What's great about challenges is that they really make you either try things you've never done before or re-visit stuff you haven't one in a long while. This particular card took me back to one of the first cards I made when I started stamping posted to SCS nearly 11 years ago. I was inspired to re-visit quilt cards by girlgook101's Saturday SCS inspiration challenge to use designer paper and by AJ Bodine (Rutabagapie) and Julie Warner (justwritedesigns), the challenge hostess who chose AJ as the featured stamper for the SCS featured Stamper challenge a couple of Sundays ago. Click here to see the card in AJ's gallery that inspired mine.  Since this week's QKR Stampede challenge is Christmas in July, I'm going to enter this card in that one as well.

I was super impressed with all the details on AJ's card, and I especially loved her quilt block die cut. However, without that die cut there was no way I was going to attempt cutting the pieces for that block by hand. Instead, I decided to go for a simpler design, simpler even than the Annie's Choice block I chose for my card 11 years ago. This time I used the Sarah's Choice quilt block pattern and made things even easier for myself by assembling the star pattern on top of an uncut 4"x4" piece of old olive designer paper. To make things a little more interesting, I pieced the center square on another piece of 2"x2" card stock before adding it to the card. This, along with the woven four square element in the center of the star creates a telescoping layer effect.  I'm not sure if I like this effect, but once I adhered the pieces, it was too late to change my mind.

I kept AJ's two tone blue color scheme, but I added old olive to the mix. Since I didn't have a stamp for the cute little house, I opted to die cut Christmas trees in two different designer papers instead. I hand cut the "snowdrift" layers at the bottom and added some dazzling diamonds to the edges for a bit of sparkle. The top snowdrift layer and the trees are popped up with dimensionals.

I don't usually make cards with so little stamping (just the sentiment, in this case) but it was appropriate for this card. My hubby liked it and asked if I could make 40 more. Um.... no. Way too complicated to be our Christmas card for this year. Still, I had fun making this one.

Recipe (all products Stampin' Up!)

Paper: bashful blue, pacific point, whisper white, Holiday Thyme DSP, Prints/Patterns DSP in bashful blue and pacific point.
Ink: pacific point
Stamps: Warmest Regards
Accessories: Holiday Collection Framelits, dazzling diamonds

Big Chef makes top 5 in QKR Stampede weekly challenge

I'm so excited! Earlier this week I entered my Big Chef Birthday card in the QKR Stampede weekly challenge and guess what? Their team chose the card as one of their Top 5 picks. WOW! I'm sure it's just beginner's luck, but better beginner's luck than no luck at all. And maybe it was the big chef himself? There's a reason so many stampers love that set - the chef is pretty compelling.

The best part is there is a blog badge to go with the Top 5 pick, so of course I had to immediately add it to my blog sidebar. Yay! Nothing's better for a newly returned blogger than some new blog bling!

Huge thanks to the QKR Stampede challenge team. You made my week!

A new Christmas in July or anything goes challenge started Friday, so check it out and submit a card for a chance to win.

Doodle Cupcake Birthday

  I didn't have a lot of time to stamp this week, but seeing the different challenges appear on Splitcoast throughout the week had my fingers itching for rubber and ink. Finally today I got a chance to sneak away to the stamp room to make a quick card. With time limited, I decided to combine three different challenges: the sketch challenge; the color combination challenge; and the ways to use it challenge. 

1. I used the marker to stamp technique to stamp the sentiment then fussy cut it and attached it to a mat punched with the scalloped circle punch out of tempting turquoise.

2. On my whisper white strip I first stamped the background image from the Work of Art set three times in tempting turquoise, crushed curry and pumpkin pie, then stamped the cupcake from the Out of the Box set in chocolate chip ink on each of the backgrounds. I added the candle from the Bitty Bolds set in chocolate chip ink to each cupcake. 

3. I matted my white strip first with crushed curry and then with tempting turquoise. I added the strip to a piece of pumpkin pie designer series paper.

4. I stamped the tempting turquoise card front with the stamp from the Itty Bitty Backgrounds set in versamark ink and attached the assembled pumpkin pie piece on top. I attached the matted sentiment to the white strip with a dimensional.

5. I could have left it there, but the doodles on the image from the sketched birthday set gave me an idea, so I added the white doodling in the same style to the tempting turquoise strip with my signo white gel pen and I added a simple doodled zig zag to the crushed curry strip with my chocolate chip marker. 

Recipe (all products Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Tempting Turqoise, Crushed Curry; Whisper White; Cast a Spell Designer Series Paper

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Stamps: Backgound Basics, Sketched Birthday; Out of the Box, Bitty Bolds, Work of Art

Accessories: Signo white gel pen, Scalloped Circle Punch

Beachy Birthday

Today's Free for all challenge on Splitcoast  asked for beachy cards. I really wanted to play, but we're going out of town this weekend so I didn't have enough time. However, I had stamped this card back in February for my MIL's birthday. At the time, we were a month away from a family cruise that my MIL treated us all to, so it made sense to make her a beach-themed birthday card. She loved it, but I never uploaded it to SCS. Since it fits today's challenge, I decided to cheat a little and upload it now.

The card is a stairstep card, which is a little easier to see in the second photo. There are two shorter layers in front of the back layer to give the beach "scene" extra depth. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any pictures from the side :(. 

I fussy cut almost all of the stamped images from the Shore Thing, Sentimental Journey and Summer Splash sets by hand (and should have done a much better job on the sun - oh well), except for the sanddollar images that serve as kind of faux brads on the birthday sentiment die cut - those were punched with the 1/2" circle punch. The sentiment label and banner were die cut using framelits form the Banners and Apothecary Accents assortments.

I embossed the soft sky background with the cloudy day embossing folder and I tore and sponged the sea and beach layers as well as stamping those layers with the wave and sand images from the Shore Thing set. I tore four separate layers for the middle tier of the card (two blue and two crumb cake) to create the look of perspective both on the beach and in the sea. The Gone to the Beach sentiment was a $1 stamp from Michael's that I picked up years ago and finally had a chance to use. It was just perfect for this card.

Recipe (all products Stampin' Up! except as indicated):
Paper: Whisper White, Soft Sky, Ballet Blue, Crumb Cake
Ink: Crumb Cake, Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun
Stamps: Shore Thing, Sentimental Journey, Summer Splash, Sassy Salutations, Gone to the Beach (c) Village Arts Press
Accessories: Banners and Apothecary Accents Framelits, Cloudy Day Embossing Folder, 1/2" Circle Punch, dimensionals.

Roses

I decided to stay with this week's SCS color challenge colors for tonight's card, but I changed my stamp set to Wild Rose. I used the masking technique to stamp the flowers and greenery on the focal image, then used the Prints designer papers in almost amethyst and so saffron for the mats. My only accessory was a bit of the wild wasabi double stitched ribbon.

And speaking of in color double stitched ribbon, I heard it through the grapevine that the blue bayou and purely pomegranate ribbons are already sold out, so if you need ribbon in any of the other in colors get your orders in quick!

Office Original

I have to thank Holly for leaving a comment on my paisley joy card and pointing me towards this week's color challenge on SCS. I've been so busy working on swaps that I haven't even looked at the challenges, but this color combination certainly sounded like something out of my comfort zone so I decided to go for it and make a card.

I wanted to use the Office Accoutrement set for my main image because it is retiring in August so I might as well get as much use out of it now as I can. I stamped the large flower with almost amethyst ink on a piece of almost amethyst prints designer series paper and cut it out with my paper snips. I then used my 1/2 inch circle punch to punch out some so saffron prints designer series paper for the flower center and adhered the so saffron circle to the flower.

Next I took a piece of so saffron card stock and punched one side with my spiral notebook punch. I have this bad feeling that this punch is going the way of Office Accoutrement on July 21. I hope I'm wrong, but I want to be using it now just in case. I stamped the "original" sentiment in the lower right hand corner in wild wasabi ink. I tied a bit of the elastic ribbon from the Theater Ribbon Originals collection around another piece of the same ribbon and used the two to make the stem and leaves for the flower. I attached the flower over the "stem" with a pop up glue dot.

To finish the card I stamped the almost amethyst card base with the small flower stamp from Boho Backgrounds in almost amethyst ink. I attached a piece of textured wild wasabi card stock to the card front on an angle and attached the so-saffron layer over the askew mat.

I really enjoyed working with these colors which I never would have put together myself. Thanks, Holly, for pointing me in this direction!

Taken with White Wasabi card

It's been a really long time since I did a challenge on SCS, but today's color challenge looked particularly though so I decided to give it a go. The challenge was to make a card using the following three colors: wild wasabi, tempting turquoise, and whisper white. Now that's a color combination I never would have come up with on my own!

I started with a wild wasabi base and almost immediately reached for the taken with teal and white designer paper from the Bali Breeze assortment. Since that pattern looks very stitched, I naturally reached for the stitched exotics stamp set next. I stamped the greenery first, using the stamping off technique for the lighter leaves. I then stamped the five petal flower twice, the first time using full strength and the second time stamping off. I trimmed out the full strength flower by hand and punched the light flower with my 5 petal flower punch. I used 2 way glue to add some glitter to the bottom flower. I layered the two flowers together and added a 1/2" circle center punched out from another designer paper from the Bali Breeze assortment.

I added a wild wasabi mat to the main image and then ran a a piece of taken with teal card stock though the paper crimper in both directions. I made a faux knot with whisper white taffeta ribbon and added a square teal rhinestone in the center, then wrapped the ribbon around the waffled taken with teal piece, before adhering the whole thing to the front of the card. I attached the main image with dimensionals and the challenge was complete.

Boho Pillow

Happy Father's Day everyone! I hope you all had as wonderful of a day as we did.

I know I should be posting a Father's Day card here, but to be completely honest for once I actually used a card from my stash that I stamped previously and already posted, so this pillow case card will have to do instead.

I do hope you like it. I certainly do, mostly because it kind of took on a life of its own after I chose the inspiration pillow. At first, I thought this would be a fairly simple challenge (a good thing, since my time to stamp today was somewhat limited). I grabbed my ruby red ink and my boho backgrounds set and stamped the medallion in the center of a square piece of so saffron card stock. Then I stamped the flower background in the corners. I know the corners in the inspiration pillow are a little it more solid and less airy, but the general idea is the same.

Once I had the main image stamped, I thought I would just add some mats, stamps a sentiment and be done. But the card didn't look right. And then I realized that what made the inspiration pillow so cool was not just the pattern and colors, it was the trim! I loved that really cool full dual colored fringe! But how to duplicate that look on a card using Stampin' Up! materials? I was in a pickle.

Then I remembered that you can actually fringe our grosgrain ribbon. The only problem is that when you fringe it the remaining fringe is white -- not exactly the trim I was looking for. But I remedied that fairly quickly using my awesome stampin' write markers. In a few minutes I had some great saffron and ruby red fringe to add to my "pillow". Now I could add my two mats and mount the main image to a really rust card front.

For the sentiment I decided to stick with the boho backgrounds set. I stamped the You Make me happy sentiment and added a flower on either side, then rounded the edges with the word window punch. To mirror the main image I added two mats of ruby red and so saffron and attached the matted sentiment to the card front. I should also note that the sentiment is actually attached to the mats with dimensionals and that the center flower of the medallion was also stamped a second time, punched with the boho blossoms punch and attached to the front with dimensionals. The added dimension just gives the card a little more oomph in real life.

So what do you think? Did I do a good job on this week's pillow CASE? And are you ready to head out there and do a pillow CASE of your own? I think if you try you might be surprised how easy it is to get inspiration from all the pillows out there! Good luck!

Woo Hoo! Anne took up the Pillow CASE challenge

How exciting! My customer Anne decided to take me up on my pillow CASE challenge and she found the perfect inspiration right in her bedroom. She used the Embrace Life stamp set to duplicate the border pattern on the pillow and framed the birthday sentiment from All Holidays in the center of the card. It looks great -- even more beautiful than the actual pillow (photo below).

Fantastic job on the pillow CASE, Anne! Wasn't that fun? Keep looking around and I'll bet you'll find lots of things to inspire you to stamp, from pillows, to jackets, to napkins, to who knows what?

And don't forget to sign up for my summer Stamping program. With this card you're 1/3 of a way to earning your first raffle ticket! For details please see this post.

Sunday Pillow Case Challege

I knew it was going to be a busy weekend for me so I cheated a little and stamped my Sunday Pillow CASE challenge card in advance this week. Sorry! Here is what the final product looks like. I wouldn't necessarily call it a finished product, because it still needs a sentiment, but I decided not to add a sentiment until had a specific use for the card, so it's as final as it's going to get for now.

The funniest thing about this card? Very little stamping. In fact, before I stamped the star from starstruck on ruby red card stock in night of navy ink, there was no stamping on the entire card! Shocking, I know!

Anyway, you will probably agree that the pillows I used as my inspiration (I think they were in the JC Penney ad, but I can't be sure) were not exactly long on details. If I wanted to stay completely faithful to the design, there would be no stamping on the card but,let me tell you, without those ruby red stars this card was bo-ring! As a stamper you have to use your creative license when it comes to these things, so I added the ruby red stars and the whole card perked up a bit. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch, but I still like it.

So what about you? Ready to start pillow CASEing yet? Just use the photo posted here or any other pillow as a jumping off point for your card design! Have fun and happy Sunday!

Sunday Pillow CASE Challenge

Another Sunday, another pillow to serve as a card inspiration. I saw this particular design in a Bed Bath & Beyond brochure a few weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for the From the Garden level 1 hostess set. I know the flower is not an exact match, but by using similar colors I think I achieved the look and feel of the pillow. Check out the second photo and judge for yourself.

To make the card I first stamped the image in so saffron on whisper white card stock and colored just the flower with always artichoke, old olive, barely banana and so saffron stampin' write markers ans so saffron classic ink with a blender pen for the outer edges of the petals. I then cut out the flower using my paper snips.

I stamped the flower again on whisper white card stock, this time in basic brown ink. I colored the leaves using always artichoke and old olive stampin' write markers. I trimmed the image to 3.5x4.75 inches, making sure when I added the flower overlay it would still fit within the parameters of a standard size card front. I then taped the main image to the center of a so saffron card front and attached the flower over the main image using dimensionals. As a final touch, to mimic the two vertical stripes on the pillow, I added two pieces of always artichoke narrow grosgrain ribbon.

Now it's your turn. Stamp a card using this pillow for inspiration or find another pillow to use as your jumping off point. When you make your card post a link to your creation here or e-mail me a photo of the card and the inspiration (if you're using another pillow) to stampwithdiane@comcast.net and I will be happy to post your card here. Have a great Sunday!

Pillow CASE Sunday Challenge

ETA: Well, here it is. This Sunday's Pillow CASE card. Actually, if you look at the inspiration ensemble (second photo), I actually kind of CASEd 2 pillows. The green and white striped pattern in the background is from one set of shams and, of course, the flowery pattern is form the other shams.

Just for a little more contract I added some Rose red mats and some regal rose wide grosgrain ribbon. The sentiment from Amazing to Zany is stamped on whisper white in rose red and punched out with the 1 inch circle punch, which is layered on a large oval punched out of pretty in pink and a designer label punched out of rose red. I stamped the main image on whisper white with chocolate chip and regal rose markers (using the direct to stamp technique) and colored everything in using rose red, regal rose, pretty in pink and gable green stampin' write markers. The card base is also gable green.

I love the card as much as I loved the inspiration bedding ensemble and i really loved being able to achieve this look so easily with my stampin' write markers. If you want your very own set of markers in the awesome carrying caddy join my marker club! Check out the details here or contact me for more information.

They say the definition of being crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, so I guess I have to be a little bit crazy to keep posting a Sunday challenge when no one else besides me wants to play along, right?

Well, either I'm crazy or I learned how to play well by myself growing up without any siblings or a little bit of both, but I'm having too much fun with these challenges and I found way too many cool pillows to inspire me to stop now. So here's the bedding ensemble that I will use as my inspiration for this week's card. Watch this post for a new upload tomorrow!

Father's Day inspiration

Tonight I want to show you the second card I made based on this Sunday's Pillow CASE challenge. Admittedly, this is not a CASE (for those of you who have been puzzled by what CASE stands for -- it's Copy and Share Everything -- stamper's lingo for copying someone else's design). Rather than attempting to use the pillow design as a main feature on my card, I used it to create a color palette and I also created a "faux designer paper" strip to mirror the stripes on the pillow. (you can actually visualize this better if you look at the second photo, which shows the pillow in the same orientation as the stripes on the card.

Anyway, the color palette of this pillow seemed very masculine to me, so right away I knew that I would like to use it to make a Father's Day card. I grabbed my new For Father stamp set from the Occasions mini catalog and decided to go with the apple image. I stamped the image on naturals ivory card stock in basic brown ink and colored it using an aqua painter and classic inks in ruby red, old olive, more mustard, soft sky and chocolate chip. After the water coloring dried I used the fine tip of the chocolate chip stampin' write marker to color in the "Apples" sign.

I added a chocolate chip mat to the main image along with a picture hanger and brad from the aged copper hodgepodge hardware assortment and some more mustard narrow grosgrain ribbon. I attached the "faux designer paper" strip and the main image to the ruby red card base and added the Happy Father's Day sentiment from All Holidays which I stamped in basic brown on naturals ivory card stock and then cut apart into three pieces.

While this card may not be totally in the spirit of a CASE challenge, it's a good example of the ways you can use just about anything around you to inspire your artwork. So if you ever feel stuck just grab some fliers, catalogs or magazines and I guarantee within a few minutes you'll find the perfect jumping off point for your next creation!