MoJo Monday #35

I finally got to participate in another MoJo Monday Challenge over at Poetic Artistry. Julee has some of the best sketches!! Here's my take on this week's sketch...
The printed paper and ribbon is from American Crafts. I used Ruby Red and Certainly Celery textured CS on the base and Tempting Turquoise for the mats. The great sentiment is from my new Verve Visual set, Happy Thoughts. Such a simple card!! See how easy it is to create a quick, fun card when you have a great sketch to start with!?!

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #7

Another beautiful color combo from Kristina Werner!! Here's the inspiration photo:

I'm actually quite pleased with how my card turned out. It was super quick and I love the simplicity - these beautiful colors don't really need much else! Stamped images are from the Embrace Life stamp set. I used Chocolate Chip CS for the card base and rounded the bottom corners. I added a layer of Close to Cocoa textured CS with a 1-inch strip of Very Vanilla on which my sentiment was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink. I added a strip of Soft Sky double-stitched ribbon. The main image was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Soft Sky textured CS then cut out with my hobby knife & popped up on a dimensional. A simple pearl embellishment for the flower center finished it up. Hope you like it...

Yay for me!!!!

I am so honored to have been nominated for the Arte Y Pico award by an AWESOME fellow stamper / blogger, Nicole over at Little Inklings. (If you haven't ventured into her amazing little world of creativity, head on over to her blog and check it out). So according to Nicole's blog, here's the deal with the award...it was originally designed by Eseya at Arte Y Pico.
As the nominee you are to pick five blogs that, based on their creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogging community, you think earn the award. You list their names and links to their blogs, on yours, and leave a comment on one of their posts to let them know you've nominated them! Each winner shows the award along with the name of the person who gave them the award with a link to their blog.
It's soooo hard to narrow down all the great blogs out there to my fave 5, but there are a few I find myself going to day after day. From those, I choose to nominate:

1. Theresa - Addicted to Stamps and Scraps

2. Bobbi - Bloggin with Bobbi (this one's a departure from the typical "stampin'" blogs, but I find LOTS of great scrapbooking inspiration from Bobbi - both digital and paper)

3. Maren - Zany Not Crazy

4. Tara - Stampalicious

5. Sherri - Fun 2 Stamp

CC164 - Basic Pomegranate Sky

The Color Combo Challenge this week over at Splitcoast Stampers was to create a card using Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate & Soft Sky. I LOVE this combo!! I had been wanting to figure out how to make a small simple lidded box to hold 3x3 cards and finally just sat down and forced my brain to think 3-dimensionally (which it doesn't like to do for some reason!!). I'm sure there are lots of tutorials out there to create a similar box, but I was just so proud of myself that I figured it out on my own!! I will post my own tutorial for this VERY EASY box later this week...hmmm...maybe just in time for my Stampin' Out Alzheimer's event that starts Saturday! (hint hint). Please be sure to check out the info for this event and sign up - I'd like to make it an annual event but need to get the word out and need A LOT more people to sign up to make it worth the effort!! Ok, ok, back to the box & cards. Here's what I came up with...

I used the Fun & Fast Notes stamp set for the cards as well as my blender pen and reinkers to color in the images. Sorry the pictures aren't too great - I took them in poor lighting which required the flash and I don't think those metal rims like the flash. I made a scalloped edge using the Slit punch and used the Word Window punch to punch the sentiments out of Soft Sky. The images & metal rings are popped up on dimensionals. The 3 cards & envelopes fit nicely into the little box (Purely Pomegranate bottom, basic black lid) and the whole thing is tied with some Soft Sky ribbon.

My mind is full of great ideas using this same box & 3x3 cards!!

Sketch for You To Try

Jen del Muro has another great Sketch for You To Try (SFYTT) this week. Skip on over to her blog to check out all the other great submissions. Here's my take on the sketch...

The DP is from Scenic Route (I love their prints!!). The main image is from SU's Prehistoric Pals set stamped in Ruby Red ink. I added some Old Olive textured CS for the mat and a strip of Old Olive wide grosgrain as well as a black photo corner. My great new black Thickers from American Crafts were perfect for the "hi"! I think it makes a fun boy's card. Hope you like it!!

Nifty Notepad

I did a mini workshop Saturday with 4 fun girls - we made these adorable notepad covers you may remember from a previous post. It was brought to my attention that the link to the instructions is no longer valid and the blogger I CASE'd the idea from (ChiChi Allen) no longer has her blog. Soooo, I promised my workshop attendees written instructions. I don't have pictures, but here are the instructions if you'd like to give them a try. I will try to add some pictures in a few days.

1. Start with 5 1/4 x 7 5/8 sheet of cardstock and score the long end at 3 1/4, 3 5/8, and 4 inches.

2. Fold the cardstock at the 3 5/8 (middle) score line and cut a small slit about an inch away from each end - you now have 3 sections of scored pieces with the middle section popped out to make the pen loop.

3. Attach sticky strip (white tape in the pic) as shown. These sections will be attached to the inside of the back cover (to the right of the sticky strip).

4. Attach a 3x5 inch notepad with sticky strip. I bought my notepads from Office Max for about $7 for a pack of 12 (they're probably cheaper on the mainland).

5. Decorate the front as you please!

For this one, I used Night of Navy CS for the base, Soft Sky CS for the central mat, and some Old Olive twill ribbon to hold it shut. I used my brand-new Thankful Blossoms stamp set from Verve Visual. The main flower image was stamped on Purely Pomegranate CS with Versamark ink, then embossed with white powder & popped up on dimensionals. The leaves were stamped & embossed the same way on Old Olive CS. The sentiment was stamped with Night of Navy ink.

Featured Stamper Challenge

This week's featured stamper over at Splitcoast Stampers is Michelle (aka SF9erfan). You can view her gallery here. Here's my take on one of her cards...
I changed the color combo, going with blues (Night of Navy and Bashful Blue) instead of pinks and added a sentiment framed with some HodgePodge Hardware. Otherwise, it's almost the same card!! The main image is from SU's Wild About You set stamped in Night of Navy. The dark blue dots on white is actually the See You Around wheel. I also used some Bashful Blue DP and my cuttlebug for embossing the background. Hope you like it! Michelle has a lot of great card, so I just might have to CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) a few more!!

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #13

I missed out on Taylor's Cupcake Challenge last week, so I was excited to get my card done this week. I needed a card for a little girl's 3rd birthday party and the sketch was perfect for that!
I used Basic Black textured CS for the card base. The super cool DP is from Cloud 9. I stamped one of my Hero Arts cupcake images on Whisper White CS, colored in with a blender pen & reinkers, added a little stickles for some dazzle and punched them out. The cupcake circles are matted on Ruby Red CS, which matched the DP perfectly! The sentiment is from SU's Lots of Thoughts (SAB set) and I set it off with some Hodgepodge Hardware. I added some black American Crafts thickers to finish it up.

Scrap a Page Sunday

I finally got some pages done using pics from Dean's first Thanksgiving!! Here's the 2-page layout:

I used Chocolate Chip textured CS for the background. I made the date tag and the journal box from More Mustard CS. The DP was a gift, so I'm not sure who the manufacturer is. Here's a view of each page individually so you can see the detail a bit better.

Journaling reads: We celebrated Dean's First Thanksgiving at our new house in Maui Lani with Grandma Sue & Grandpa Eddie and Mikey & Bess. Joel cooked the turkey and all the trimmin's. Dean ate a little bit of everything, but especially loved the Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream!!

Splitcoast Sketch Challenge #173

I made this VERY quick and easy card for this week's sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. I couldn't wait to ink up my new Verve Visual stamp set!!!
I chose to do a notecard size card and used a few more layers than called for in the sketch. I wanted the central DP to pop and they needed the black mat. The card base is black. I used Bashful Blue and Whisper White SU CS. The DP is Cheeky from Making Memories. And I got to use my new Happy Thoughts stamp set from Verve Visual!!!

Jimmy Buffet Inspiration

Ok, so each week one of the Design Team members over at The Cat's Pajamas hosts a different challenge. This week, the challenge from Carole was to make a card based on a Jimmy Buffet song. I wanted to do something a little different from your standard Margaritaville or Cheeseburger in Paradise. The only other Jimmy Buffet song I could think of was "Why Don't We Get Drunk..." I know, I know. This is really embarassing. I almost can't believe I'm actually posting this. And yes, the inside of the card has the rest of the words. If you don't know them, you'll just have to look them up. In my defense, I had these awesome little Cat's Pajama's stamps that just came in the mail a few days ago, so what better way to use them!? My husband will appreciate the card and get a good laugh out of it!! Here's my card:

I used Chocolate Chip Textured CS for the background, Bashful Blue DP, DP from Making Memories, Chocolate Chip poly-twill ribbon, Whisper White and Wild Wasabi CS. I used my new Uga, Buga and Boo stamps from The Cat's Pajamas beverages line of rubber stamps. The images are colored in with a blender pen and ink (Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi and Pumpkin Pie). I typed up the sentiment in Word, printed it out and punched with my Word Window punch. Hopefully nobody's offended!!!

Certainly Pretty Chocolate

This week's Color Challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers is Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip. I struggled with this more than I anticipated, but finally got something to work. I just received my new Pretties Kit yesterday, so I knew I wanted to use something from that. I decided to dye a few of the flowers using my Pretty in Pink ink pad. I attached the flowers with a rhinestone brad to a paper-pierced Certainly Celery square layered over a Chocolate Chip square. I used a swirly piece of Pretty in Pink DP on top of a Chocolate Chip textured CS base. I stamped the sentiment with Versamark Ink and embossed with white powder. Not thrilled with the finished card, but it will have to do.Thanks for looking!

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #6

Another week, another awesome Kristina Werner Color Inspiration Challenge!! This was our Inspiration picture for this week...

The colors translate into SU's So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Pumpkin Pie & Wild Wasabi. Here's what I was inspired to create:

I used Sahara Sand textured CS for the card base and added a small strip of striped Wild Wasabi DP and a little larger strip of polka dot So Saffron DP. I stamped the image from One of a Kind stamp set in versamark ink on Pumpkin Pie CS and again on So Saffron CS. I embossed both images with white embossing powder, then cut out the smaller portion of the So Saffron image and attached it with Stampin' Dimensionals over the Pumpkin Pie image. I matted the Pumpkin Pie image square in Whisper White and attached with 3 regular staples. Some Sugar Coated Adhesive Chipboard from Doodlebug Design made a perfect, simple sentiment. Hope you like it!

Featured Stamper Challenge

This week's Featured Stamper over at Splitcoast is Sparklegirl - be sure to check out her gallery! I chose to CASE this card. Here's my take on it...

I didn't change much - why mess with perfection!?! I loved the color combo and the layout, so I left that the same. The rules are to change at least 2 things - I changed the main image and sentiment as well as the ribbon. I also made my scallops a little deeper. Hopefully that's enough!! I used Real Red DSP, Wild Wasabi CS, Whisper White CS, and striped Wild Wasabi grosgrain ribbon. I used my One of a Kind stamp set (one of my faves!!) and stamped the image first in Wild Wasabi on the white CS. Then I stamped the image again with Versamark ink on Real Red CS and embossed with white powder. I cut out the central part of the image and popped it up with dimensionals over the larger image. I like how it turned out.

1 Layout, 3 Cards

I made this first card for a friend who is expecting a baby girl and liked the layout so much - I couldn't seem to think of anything else and it worked for the other cards, so I stuck with it. As Theresa pointed out over at Addicted to Stamps and Scraps with last week's Weekly Challenge, a good layout can be used over and over again and result in very different cards.

For the first card I used Whisper White textured CS for the card base. The DP is from the Crew Kids Girl Simply Scrappin' kit. I punched a scallop circle out of Basic Grey CS, popped it up on dimensionals and layered on the sentiment on top of a whisper white circle. The sentiment is from the Circle of Friendship stamp set and is stamped in versamark ink on Regal Rose CS, then embossed with white powder. A couple of staples finish it up.

I LOVE this DP mushroom paper from Heidi Grace! I used Creamy Caramel textured CS for the card base and added a strip of Close to Cocoa attached with brads. I punched out the circle mushroom, added a large acrylic page pebble and popped it up on dimensionals. The sentiment, from the Absolutely Fabulous stamp set, is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.

I finally used my Tart and Tangy stamp set and Summer Picnic DP again for this last card. The card base is Bashful Blue textured CS and I used Old Olive CS for the scallop circle punch and Old Olive poly-twill ribbon. The "sweet" sentiment is from the So Very stamp set.

You can see how easy it is to take a sketch that you like, change a few things and voila! you have a completely different card!

A Little Hello

I made this card with some more of my goodies from Island Paperie this weekend.

I used River Rock textured CS for the background and theprinted paper is from the "Inspirables" line from EK Success. The "Thinking of You" sentiment is from the Circle of Friendship stamp set - it and the printed scallop circle punch are popped up on dimensionals. I also added some more fun glittery chipboard letters. The scalloped edge was actually an accident - I accidentally cut the card base too small somehow, so I had to add the edge or it looked ridiculous. Looking at it now I think it was a nice touch.

Scrap a Page Sunday

I've had a VERY productive weekend!! My friend Judi came over yesterday and we went shopping at my local scrapbook store, Island Paperie. I have to tell you that some VERY exciting things are in the works at Island Paperie as they prepare to launch an improved online store and will soon be releasing their own line of Hawaiian / tropical themed stamps as well as expanding their digital line!! BIG things are in store. I'll keep you posted as things develop. Be sure to check out their current online store where you can order from their huge supply of beautiful locally designed Hawaiian-themed papers and embelishments.

Anyway, back to my productive weekend. I put my new Island Paperie purchases to good use and made this adorable scrapbook page. I LOVE these new imaginisce products (I FINALLY got the hula penguin stamp!!!). I had the perfect picture of my friend Lori's adorable daughter on the beach on Christmas Eve. We had such a fun day!

All products shown here were purchased at Island Paperie. Everything but the scalloped background paper, So Saffron background paper and chipboard letters is from Imaginisce. I used Photoshop Elements to convert my original photo of Mia to black and white, then "erased" the B/W to reveal her cute swimsuit in color (which matched almost perfectly with the Imaginisce products). You can't tell in the pic, but the chipboard letters are very glittery. I think it turned out well.

And here's a cute little card I made with some of my scraps and my new Imaginisce hula penguin!! Isn't she adorable!?! It was love at first sight when I saw her in one of Theresa's projects over at Addicted to Stamps and Scraps and I just HAD to have her!!

Sketch Challenge

Yes, I've been quite busy today with my challenge submissions!! Here's my card for this week's sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers.

I needed a kid's birthday card and just got this stamp set last week, so I needed to get it inky! I used Brilliant Blue CS, Bashful Blue textured CS, Whisper White CS, and some Jersey Shore DSP. I stamped the three worms/bug on top of each other (using my Stamp-a-ma-Jig of course) in Brilliant Blue, Wild Wasabi and Pumpkin Pie. I tied the whole thing with a little Wild Wasabi striped grosgrain. I combined the sentiment "Sending worm wishes on your bug day" (only inking up the "bug day") and "happy birthday" (only inking "happy") from Family Phrases - I wanted to keep the sentiment simple to go with the simple layout, so it needed to be shorter. Anyway, I think it turned out fun!

Here's the sketch:

MoJo Monday #33

I'm a little late this week with my MoJo Monday card for Julee Tilman's weekly challenge. I really liked this week's sketch and am pretty happy with how my card turned out!

I used my new favorite stamp set, Embrace Life. The DP paper is once again from that great piece of Scenic Route you saw me use a few days ago here and also here. The coordinating SU colors I chose to use were Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky. The Wild Wasabi background is textured CS. I stamped the main image once in Chocolate Chip on soft sky, then again on Wild Wasabi. Using my hobby knife, I cut out each Wild Wasabi bloom and glued on top of the soft sky stamped image. This really gave the image some depth! I used my horizontal slot punch to make the ribbon holes, but looking at it here I should have punched through both the Soft Sky and the Whisper White mat to show the Chocolate Chip underneath. In case you haven't figured it out yet, my new favorite ribbon is the poly-twill - it ties so nicely!! A few rhinestone brads finished it up. What do you think?

Featured Stamper Challenge

This is my first time participating in Splitcoast Stamper's Featured Stamper Challenge. Kharmagirl is so awesome I couldn't resist playing along this week. Here's my card:

This may look somewhat familiar to you...I loved this color combo and DSP (see this card) so much that I couldn't wait to use it again! The printed paper is from Making Memories. All other supplies are SU!. I used Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Bashful Blue and Very Vanilla CS. The main image is from Fun & Fast notes, the sentiment is from Short & Sweet. I added some Hodgepodge hardware, Wild Wasabi double-stitched grosgrain ribbone doubled with Chocolate Chip poly-twill ribbon (I LOVE this stuff!!) and some paper piercing. Really very simple.

Here's a link to Kharmagirl's card I CASE'd.

If you're new to SCS (Splitcoast Stampers), you should definitely head on over and check it out. They have daily challenges (each day of the week is a different challenge). For the Featured Stamper Challenge, they choose one talented stamper each week. The challenge is to pick a card from the Featured Stamper's gallery and CASE it - you have to change at least 2 things. (I changed the stamped images, color combo & DSP). It's lots of fun!!

Favorite "Go To" Layout

Head on over to Addicted to Stamps and Scraps and check out Theresa's latest Weekly Challenge - she wants to see your favorite "go to" layout that you use over and over again. Here's mine...it usually has a strip of DSP, ribbon, a stamped image "popped up" with dimensionals, and a sentiment. I also tend to do a lot of embossing (as a VERY new stamper, it's about as difficult a technique as I'm willing to tackle right now!!). The great thing about this layout is that by changing the DSP and color combo, you have a completely different card. I'll try to do another card using the same layout later tonight so you can see how simple it is to make a completely different card using the same sketch.
I used Real Red textured CS as the base with a great piece of DSP from American Crafts. The image is from the Bitty Birthday set - stamped with Stazon and colored in with Stampin' Write markers. The sentiment is from the A Little Birthday Cheer set - stamped with versamark ink and embossed with white powder (yes, I know...again). Finally, a simple strip of Old Olive wide grosgrain with a knot and it's done! This is such a simple layout, I'm sure I'm not the first person to use it...but I don't think I directly CASE'd it from anyone. If I did I certainly don't remember (sorry!).

Thinking of You

Here's a really quick card I made today for a friend who's husband is ill. I used some of the scraps left over from my "Perfect Day" scrapbook page. I think it turned out well and it was super easy!!
I used the River Rock long notes as the card base and Garden Green textured CS with rounded corners to hold the off-set sentiment. The striped paper is from Scenic Route. I stamped the sentiment (from the Sincere Salutations stamp set) with versamark ink and then embossed with white powder. The flower is stamped (Enjoy Every Moment stamp set) and then cut out with my hobby knife. A few silver brads and some chocolate chip twill ribbon finish it up. So Simple!!

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #5

Well, here we are again with another great Color Inspiration from Kristina Werner. The colors are perfect for a bridal shower I'm going to next weekend (the wedding colors are yellow, blue & brown). Here's my card:

I used Close to Cocoa textured CS for the background with freestyle stitching (on machine) using white thread. I attached circles punched out of Bashful Blue CS to the edge of the So Saffron Textured CS piece to create a large scalloped look. The ribbon is Certainly Celery wide grosgrain. The "happy" die cut letter stickers are from the Just 4 You Simply Scrappin' Level 3 Hostess gift. I stamped "life" (from the Enjoy Every Moment stamp set) in Close to Cocoa ink and added a Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware frame. Finally, "congratulations" is from the A Perfect Day rub-ons in the Occasions Mini Catalog.

Here's Kristina's Inspiration picture:

A Couple of Digital Pages

So have I mentioned I'm REALLY REALLY new to digital scrapbooking? Well, I am. But I'm having a lot of fun with it. Here's a 2-page layout I started several weeks ago and finally finished up tonight. I'm pretty happy with it. Once again, I can't get blogger to line up the photos side-by-side, so you'll just have to imagine the top pic as the left side and the bottom pic as the right side of a 2-page spread. What do you think?

I created the pages in Photoshop Elements 6. All paper & embellishments (except the stitching) is from the Smarshmallows kit which I purchased from the Shabby Shoppe. The circle stitching is from Kate Hadfield's Handsewn Neutrals kit at the Lily Pad.

I'm curious how you more experienced digital scrappers out there organize your digital elements on your computer?? Do you use ACDSee? I'm considering purchasing it and not sure. But what I have now (just saving all of my papers, embellishments, etc in different files sorted by theme or kit in "my documents") just isn't working. It takes FOREVER to go through things to pick out elements I want to use. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Scrap a Page Monday

Here's my Scrapbook page for the day. I've been needing to use some of the family photos we had taken for our Holiday cards last year, so I finally got something done!! I love how it turned out. I have several more photos from that day, so I'll be making a facing page later this week.

The 12x12 page base is Soft Sky textured CS. I used Photoshop Elements to convert my photos to black and white, then printed a 5x7 and a 3x5. The edges of the photos and journaling strips are inked with Chocolate Chip. I typed out the definition of "perfect" (taken from the Define Your Life stamp set) and printed it in brown ink on River Rock CS. The printed paper is from Scenic Route. A little Chocolate Chip twill ribbon and a River Rock photo corner finish the simple page. Here's a close-up of the journaling.

I wanted to print the journaling in light ink on Chocolate Chip CS, but couldn't figure out how to do that with my printer...does anyone know how to do that with inkjet? Is it possible? Thanks!

SFYTT & Simple Birthday

Here are the other 2 cards I finished up in my sedentary state yesterday...

The first one is for Jen del Muro's SFYTT (Sketch For You To Try) from Friday. If you haven't checked out her AWESOME blog, be sure to do so!! I find tons of inspiration there. This was a really fun sketch - I made a few more cards using the sketch - I'll post them later this week. I used Basic Black textured CS as my card base, Bashful Blue textured CS, Cutie Pie DSP and Wild Wasabi double-stitched ribbon. The image is from SU's Fun & Fast Notes, colored in with re-inkers and a blender pen. You can't see it so well in the pic, but there's a little crystal sticker in the flower center.

I made the base of this simple card (all but the image) several weeks ago, but just couldn't come up with anything to complete it. I got tired of looking at it on my desk, so I grabbed my new Just Celebrate stamp set and finished it up. Image is colored with Stampin' Write Markers. I used Night of Navy textured CS, More Mustard CS, and the printed strip is from American Crafts. The sentiment is from Family Phrases and punched with my Word Window punch.

Too sore to walk = 4 cards today

So I normally don't have time to get more than 1, maybe 2 projects done in a single day. Well, today we returned from our 2-day, 12-mile hike in Haleakala Crater and I'm so sore I can barely stand!!! So I didn't - I sat all evening and made a few cards. Here are 2 of them...(I'll share the other 2 tomorrow).

I finally opened up the package of Long Notes I've had for months. AND I finally took my sewing maching for a test drive on this one (I'm not a "sew-er"). Obviously I need A LOT of practice with that, but that's what this card was for!! I used a Wild Wasabi long note, a scrap of Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip ink and twill ribbon, and my stapler. The stamp set is Always.

I have to say it again...I really love this hostess set!! For this card I used Close to Cocoa textured CS for the base, Fall Flowers DSP, Rose Red CD, Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon, Close to Cocoa and Rose Red ink and my stapler. The sentiment was stamped with versamark ink and embossed with white powder. The main image is popped up on dimensionals.

If you're interested in why I'm too sore to walk, you can check out a slide show of pics from our little mini backpacking trip this weekend on my family's blog here.

Check back tomorrow for "Scrap a Page Monday" and a few more card creations!!

MoJo Monday #32

So I had LOTS of ideas for this week's MoJo Monday sketch, but nothing turned out the way I pictured it in my mind. And now here it is Friday and this is the best I can do. I really wanted to come up with an amazing card for this challenge as the winner will receive a free Verve Visual stamp set and I don't have any yet (but LOVE them all!!). You can check out Julee's challenge here. Be sure to check out all the great new Verve Visual stamp sets too!

I used Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red cardstock. I have no idea where the printed cardstock came from as it was a gift and there was no manufacturer listed on the paper. The ribbon is from SEI. I used my hobby knife to cut out a flower from some of the printed paper. The sentiment (Define Your Life stamp set) was stamped on Chocolate Chip textured CS with versamark ink and embossed with white powder. The central Chocolate Chip mat with sentiment is raised up on dimensional as is the flower. Overall I'm disappointed in this card - I LOVE the paper and color combo, but the card seems bottom heavy to me. If I had some nestabilities (my next wish-list purchase after my Verve Visual stamps) I would have set the central matted sentiment on a scalloped square mat. Oh well.

Be sure to check back on Sunday evening to see some pics from our backpacking trip this weekend. We're camping in one of the National Park cabins inside Haleakala Crater here on Maui. It's about a 7-mile hike downhill to get to the cabin, then 5 miles UP switchbacks to get out of the crater the following day. We've done lots of day-hiking in the crater, but never spent the night. Should be fun!!

Have a great weekend!

Color Inspiration #4

I LOVE the colors in Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Round-Up #4!

Very Vanilla, Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa.

I chose to limit the palett to Very Vanilla, Tempting Turqoise, Old Olive & Chocolate Chip - some of my all-time favorite SU! Colors!! The Inspiration for this week's colors came from a picture in the latest West Elm catalog:

Here's what I came up with... I used a piece of Old Olive from the Summer Picnic DSP with a strip of the new twill ribbon (LOVE IT) as the anchor. I stamped the large image from the One of a Kind stamp set with versamark ink on Tempting Turquoise cardstock, then embossed with clear embossing powder. I used my craft knife to cut out the image and my fingers to slightly curl up the tips of the petals. The "Best Wishes" sentiment is from the Short & Sweet stamp set. Lastly, the main piece of Very Vanilla cardstock is up on dimensionals and so is the turquoise flower, giving the 4x4 card lots of depth. Hope you like it!