Bloggers Challenge - Mother's Day

Bloggers Challenge #46 brings you loads of ideas for last minute creating of your Mother's Day cards.

Both of my cards use the Watercolor Distress Technique from a past issue of the TJNL. On the card with the Iris - after the Iris was stamped, I simply went back and colored in my image with Distress Inks and an aquapainter.

Details:

Stamps - Flourishes Siberian Iris

Ink - Archival Black, Distress Inks Weathered Wood, Peeled Paint, Concord Grape

Card Stock - Eggplant, Black, Vanilla, Celery

Details:

Stamps - Starving Artistamps Silhouette Flowers

Ink - Archival Black, Distress Inks Worn Lipstick, Lavendar, Shabby Shutters, Marigold

Card Stock - Black, Vanilla, Olive, Orange

Wishing you all a lovely Mother's Day

~lisa

Bloggers Challenge - Graduation

Wow - this week is already challenge #45 - how time files! This weeks challenge theme is Graduation - I'll be needing plenty of ideas - as my oldest will be graduating in a few weeks. I decided to use the Double Pocket Fold from a past TJNL - altering mine a bit. When this technique was first posted back in 10/07 - I had used a piece of 6" x 6" paper, and made my flap fold to the front so it opened like a card. That size was too small to hold a gift card - so for my challenge card, I used a piece of paper 9" x 9" - this helped to accommodate the sentiment from Great Grads that I'm using.














Details:
Stamps - Great Grads
Ink - Blue Bayou
Card Stock - River Rock, Western Sky DSP
Ribbon - Double Stitched Blue Bayou


If you'd like to play along - just leave a link to your graduation card on this post, or if you upload to SCS, use keyword BC45.

Have a great weekend - don't forget to check out Allie's Blog Candy at Croppinsville!

Bloggers Challenge 44 - Color Challenge

It's week 44 of the Bloggers Challenge - and this week brings a Color Challenge. Colors to use this week are Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, and White or Vanilla if needed. Color Blocking (10/02 TJNL) came to mind - it's the perfect technique for adding colors to your cards.

I stamped my image from Bloomin' Beautiful in black stazon on watercolor paper and water colored my flowers with Brocade Blue, the centers have a bit of So Saffron, and a dot of Crystal Effects to make them pop. The leaves are colored with Certainly Celery. For the vase, I stamped my image on my Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper, cut out and adhered to my stamped image. I used my sponge dauber to add Chocolate Chip ink around my image. I inked my Sanded Background stamp with Chocolate Chip, stamped off a few times, then lined up my color blocked pieces and stamped my image. The sentiment from Bloomin' Beautiful is also stamped in Chocolate Chip.

For my color blocking - I cut my pieces as follows:
Brocade Blue 5-1/8" x 1-3/8"

So Saffron 3" x 2-3/8"

Certainly Celery 2" x 2-3/8"

Chocolate Chip 5-1/4" x 4"

Base card is Very Vanilla

Be sure to check back tomorrow - as I'll be sharing some sneak peeks of the upcoming new releases from Artistic Outpost.

Have a great Friday!

Bloggers Challenge - Chipboard

This weeks bloggers challenge was to use chipboard in a project or on a card. Pretty easy for me - cause I love chipboard. I created a wedding squash book - my chipboard is covered by the Damask Notepad designer paper - perfect for a wedding! The sentiment is from Flourishes Wedding Essentials set, and the beautiful ribbon is also available at Flourishes.







Details for squash book:

• 36 inches of ribbon
• Chipboard (cut 2 - 5" x 5")
• Patterned Paper (cut 2 - 6" x 6" )
• Card Stock (cut 3 - 8 1/2" x 8 1/2", score in half, open and fold in half the other way, open and fold on a diagonal. You'll now have 2 squares and 4 triangles. Line up the squares in this order: facing up, facing down, facing up. Overlap the squares and attach with adhesive. Push the triangular sides in and "squash" into a square.
• Cover your chipboard pieces with your patterned paper
• To adhere ribbon, fasten it to the underside of one chipboard cover
• Squash the album. Use sticky strip to adhere the covers to the album.
• Tie the ribbon in the front to hold the book closed.

Looking for more chipboard ideas - here's some previous blog posts

Flip Book Albums

Scratch Pad Holder

Card Organizer

This weeks bloggers challenge came at a great time - Stampin' Up! will be having a Chipboard Special during the month of May!

Get On Board with Chipboard
Promotion Dates: May 1-31, 2008

Promotion Details:

Spend $35 on Stampin' Up! products and get 25 percent off any On Board items from the Spring-Summer Collection.

There is no limit to the number of discounted chipboard products a customer may purchase once the qualifying order of $35 has been reached.

This offer is being made in conjunction with a Cutting Mat/Hobby Blade combo pack special offer; click here for more details.

Download the flyer

Bloggers Challenge 42 Triangle Box and a tip...

This weeks Bloggers Challenge was to create a Triangle Box. There are many different patterns out there for Triangle Boxes - here's the one I used. With this pattern you can make the Triangle Box as big or as small as you'd like.

Details:

Stamps - Flourishes Wedding Essentials

Ribbon - May Arts

Here's the dimensions on mine:

Cut card stock to 10 1/2" x 3 1/2" (stamp or use embossing folders before you continue)
Score in on the 10 1/2" side at 5 1/2"
Turn your card stock and mark the center (1 3/4") on your 3 1/2" sides
Using a scoring blade score from the center point to the base (5 1/2" mark)
Fold the sides in to form your box
Use a hole punch and punch through all layers at the point and tie with a ribbon

Here's another one - these are really quick and easy. For this one I used the Cuttlebug Smoosh Technique (TJNL). I used my lavender ink to dye my white taffeta ribbon. If you scroll down you'll see a close up of how I created my elongated word window.

To create the elongated word window I cut my card stock to the width of the opening on my punch, and stamped my sentiment. Then slipped it through the punch with one edge through the slot and the other sticking up like this and punch

Remove your paper and reinsert on the other side like this and punch

Bloggers Challenge

It's week 41 of the Bloggers Challenge, and this week the challenge was to use the layout on page 65 of the Spring Summer Collection as your inspiration. I had quite a few ideas of what I wanted to make, of course I put this card off until the morning it was supposed to be posted. I played with a few different stamps - but am really happy with the outcome of my finished card. I used my Coluzzle to make the circle on my Afternoon Tea DSP, and added my 1/2" circles to create a scallop look. For my main image, I paper pieced the vase using the Afternoon Tea DSP, the flowers are embossed and water colored on watercolor paper, cut out and attached.

Details:

Stamps - Bloomin' Beautiful, Warm Words

Ink - Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava

Card Stock - Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Afternoon Tea DSP, Watercolor

Other - 1/4" Circle Punch, Coluzzle, 1/2" Circle Punch, Crystal Effects, 5/8" Chocolate Grosgrain

Tech - Paper Piecing

Bloggers Challenge

It's Bloggers Challenge Week 40 - and this weeks challenge is Springtime Flowers. It doesn't feel like springtime here - as we had a dusting of sleet and snow tonight! My challenge card for this week uses quite a few techniques - I'm really happy with the outcome.

I love the look of the Watercolor Crayon technique - but unfortunately Groovy Guava does not come in a watercolor crayon - so I mophed that technique...I stamped my flower image from Bloomin' Beautiful in black stazon on watercolor paper, then using my aquapainter and painted my image with Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi. Once my image was dry - I went over the colored areas with my versamark and clear embossed. Now my image has some pop! To add a little more dimension to my card I used the "Out of the Box" Technique (10/04 TJNL) - here's a close up ----->

I tired a few different ribbons on my card - and taffeta was the way to go...Yep, I know what you're thinking Stampin' Up! doesn't carry Groovy Guava taffeta ribbon...I dyed my white taffeta to match my card. I simply cut my ribbon to the desired length, then using the direct to paper (ribbon in this case) method, I applied the ink to my ribbon. I then took my water filled aquapainter and went over the ink to soften the color, then heat set. Easy peasy!

Details:

Stamps - Bloomin' Beautiful

Ink - Black Stazon, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip

Card Stock - Groovy Guava, Watercolor, Vanilla, Chocolate Chip

Other - White Taffeta Ribbon, Aquapainter, Clear EP, Versamarker, Afternoon Tea DSP

Here's a few other flower cards

Chocolate Sky Flowers

Flowers for a Friend

If you'd like to play along with this weeks Bloggers Challenge - just leave me a link to your card in the comments - I'd love to see your creations!

Have a great weekend!

~lisa

Bloggers Challenge #39

Can you believe it's challenge week 39 already? This weeks challenge was to use the colors - Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, and Real Red - you can add white or vanilla as needed.

Details:
Stamps - Artistic Outpost - Home
Ink - Blue Bayou, Chocolate Chip
Card Stock - Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Confetti
Other - Sponge Dauber, Clear EP

If you'd like to play along with this weeks challenge, post your link in the comments section. If you upload you challenge to SCS please use BCW39, so I can see your work.

Have a great weekend!

Birthday Blog Candy - Artistic Outpost and Bloggers Challenge

Today's the last giveaway in my week long birthday celebration. It's also Friday, which means another Bloggers Challenge. I purposely assigned the theme "birthday" for this weeks challenge - as tomorrow is my actual birthday! Saturday is also my mom's birthday - I know your reading this mom - hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Before I share today's Bloggers Challenge Birthday card - I want to introduce you to today's Birthday Blog Candy sponsor - Artistic Outpost. Artistic Outpost carries unique deeply etched rubber stamps and other sundries. One of my current favorite sheet from Artistic Outpost is Serentiy - but I can't wait to get my hands on the upcoming new releases!

Today's birthday giveaway is the stamp sheet of your choice from Artistic Outpost!


You can check out the Artistic Outpost site here, be sure to stop the by Artistic Outpost Blog too, for gallery submissions by the AO Design Team, and sign up for blog updates! You can also check out the upcoming new AO stamp releases on the blog.


Now on to the Bloggers Challenge Card - I used the Polaroid Cutie - thought she'd be perfect for a birthday card. Since it is a big birthday for me, I decided to go vintage and use the Burnt Edges technique. I added the vintage brads to fill the space on the top right side, and distressed them using my Tim Holtz hammer.

Details:
Stamps - Artistic Outpost Polaroid Cutie
Ink - Archival Black, Ranger Distress Inks
Card Stock - Black, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip
Technique - Burnt Edges 02/07 TJNL
Other - Blending Tool, Tim Holtz Hammer, Vintage Eyelets

How can you enter? To enter the giveaway for Day 5, simply leave a comment on this blog entry telling me that you would like to enter, be sure to tell me your favorite Artistic Outpost stamp sheet, enter by 11:59pm on Sunday, March 16th. Remember to leave your name with your comment, as blogger doesn't recognize "anonymous" comments. I will have the random number generator pick one number from the comments to select the winner. Each Birthday Giveaway is separate, so to be eligible for a specific day you must enter that day's giveaway and post to the correct blog entry. Good Luck! One entry per person, per giveaway, please. Be sure to check back on March 17th, to see if you won today's Birthday Blog Candy giveaway!

Bloggers Challenge Week 37

It's week 37 of the Bloggers Challenge and this weeks challenge was to create a shaped card - anything but a rectangle. I turned to the December `06 TJNL's online bonus - Triangle Shaker Cards to create my shape.

To ad some color to my Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, I mixed some Pretty in Pink reinker with Crystal Effects and filled in the well of the hardware.

Here's a close up

Details:

Stamps - By Ones & By Twos

Ink - Black, Pretty in Pink

Card Stock - Pretty in Pink, White

Other - Pink Gingham, Styled Silver HPH, Word Window Punch, Silver Elastic Cord, Micro Beads, Acetate, Sponge Dauber, Crystal Effects, Pretty in Pink reinker

If you'd like to play along with this weeks Bloggers Challenge, leave a link on this post to your "anything but a rectangle" card. If you upload to SCS, use keyword BCW37, so it's easy to find.

Have a great weekend! Be sure to check back next week, I'll be celebrating my birthday all week, thanks to some generous sponsors!

Bloggers Challenge 36

This weeks Bloggers Challenge is to create a card using the layout on page 44 of the Stampin' Up! Spring Summer Collection. This is a pretty basic layout - so I thought I would share a few cards this week. If you'd like to play along, please leave a link to your creation here on my blog - or you can upload to your SCS gallery and use keyword BCW36.

Details:
Stamps -Baroque Motifs, Touch of Nature, Holidays & Wishes
Ink - Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate
Card Stock - Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Purely Pomegranate
Other - Tool Kit, Dimensionals, Sponge Dauber, Chocolate Satin Ribbon

Details:
Stamps - Starving Artistamps - Small Silhouette Flowers ,
'Lil Squares Background , Sun Spirit Studio Sentiments
Card Stock - White, Black, River Rock
Ink - Black, River Rock
Other - White Taffeta Ribbon (dyed with River Rock Ink), HP Hardware, Sponge Dauber, Tool Kit

Details:
Stamps - Flourishes Fantasy Floral Garden, Many Sentiments
Card Stock - Bashful Blue, White, Black, Sage Shadow
Ink - Black, Sage Shadow
Other - Dew Drops, Sponge Dauber, Crystal Effects, Two Scoops DSP

Bloggers Challenge Week 35

This weeks Bloggers Challenge, is a rather bright color combination! We were to use Purely Pomegranate, Brilliante Blue and Old Olive as our color challenge - you are able to add either white or vanilla as needed.

Here's what I came up with using Brithday Whimsy from Stampin' Up!'s Sale-a-Bration Catalog. You can get your set for FREE with a $50 order during Sale-a-Bration, email me for more information!

I used my eclipse tape to do the masking on the presents. To add a little bit of fun and dimension to the presents, I did the faux shaving cream technique (TJNL CD#5) with the Solitude Wheel and white craft ink, and added some clear beads to the open spots of the present using crystal effects. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to help with proper placement of my sentiments. I also added the Sanded background stamp and Purely Pomegranate Stitched ribbon to give the base some pop.

Here's a close up

If you'd like to play along with this weeks Bloggers Challenge, leave a link on this post to your card using the challenge. If you upload to your SCS gallery, please use keyword BCW35.

Have a great weekend!

~Lisa

Bloggers Challenge Week 34 with some sneak peeks...

This weeks Bloggers Challenge was to use this layout (the happy birthday card) from the Stampin' Up! Spring/Summer Catalog. This is a fairly simple layout, and by changing the scallop stamped image, you have lots of options for creating your cards.

I've created 2 cards this week - as I really liked this layout - as you can see in my samples I changed the scallop images to suit my needs, but kept the other elements in place. I'm also using some new SU product that you'll see in the Occassions Mini Catalog that will be available for order on March 1.

Details:
Stamps -By One & By Twos (Occassions Mini Catalog)
Card Stock - Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana
Other - Crop-a-Dile- small corner rounder, Marvy Giga Scallop, Bashful Blue Grosgrain, Dimensionals, Crystal Effects
Ink - Certainly Celery, Black

Details:
Stamps - Lots of Thoughts (Sale-A-Bration Catalog), Sweet Celebrations
Card Stock - Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie
Ink - Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky
Other - Die-Cut Blooms, A Perfect Day Rub Ons (Occassions Mini Catalog), Dimensionals, Small Corner Rounder, Tool Kit, Poly Twill Ribbon (Occassions Mini Catalog)

If you'd like to play along with this weeks challenge - leave a comment on this blog post with a link to your card, I'd love to see it! If you upload to SCS use keyword BCW34.

Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Bloggers Challenge Week 33

This weeks Bloggers Challenge is to use the colors Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red and Taken with Teal - a nice bright color combination! On another group I belong to, this weeks challenge is "make it sparkle", so I thought I'd get two challenged done with one card this week.



Details:
Stamps - Fun and Fast Notes
Card Stock - White, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Taken with Teal
Ink - Black Stazon
Other - Heat & Stick Powder, DD Glitter, Pick a Petal Brass Template, Empressor, Dimensionals
Markers - Rose Red, Old Olive, Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie

If you'd like to join in on this weeks challenge, leave a link here to your blog, or upload your card to SCS using keyword BCW33.

Have a great weekend!

Bloggers Challenge Week 32

This weeks Bloggers Challenge was to create a card using the Birthday Card Layout on the front of the Sale-A-Bration Catalog. I made two samples this week - baby and wedding themed.

Details:

Stamps - Wild About You, Hugs and Wishes, All Scallops, So Many Scallops (SAB Set)

Ink - Soft Sky, Versamark, Old Olive, Lavendar Lace

Card Stock - White, Lavendar Lace, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Old Olive

Other - 1" Circle, Scallop Punch, Cream Grosgrain, Clear Embossing Powder, White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Dimensionals,Designer Series Paper - Spring Silhouettes

Details:

Stamps - To Have and to Hold

Card Stock - Brushed Silver, Black, Shimmer White

Ink - Versamark, Black

Other - 1/2" Circle Punch, Crop-a-Dile, Scallop Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals

If you'd like to play along - leave your comment on this blog post with a link to your card. If you upload your card to SCS use BCW32 as your keyword.

I hope to find myself in the stamp room today - kids and hubby have a snow day today - keep warm!

Bloggers Challenge Week 31

This weeks Bloggers Challenge is to use the layout on page 141 of the Spring Summer Collection. If you blog and would like to play along, just leave a comment here on my blog with a link to your card using this weeks challenge. If you don't have a blog, you can still upload to an online gallery (such as SCS), just use BCW31 in the keyword field, and leave me a link in the comment section.

Details:

Stamps - Great Grads

Card Stock - Going Gray, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White

Ink - Night of Navy, Brilliant Blue, Going Gray

Other - Tool Kit, Dimensionals, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Coluzzle

Have a great weekend!

~lisa

Bloggers Challenge Color Combo

For this weeks Bloggers Challenges, we've gone back to a color combination - River Rock, Real Red, Blue Bayou with Vanilla or Whisper White. If you'd like to play along, leave a comment on this post, so I can see what you've created with this color combination.

I've gone with the distressed look again using the set The Free and the Brave. Robin, if you're reading this, I'm probably going to use this for the swap.

Details:

Stamps - The Free and the Brave

Card Stock - Blue Bayou, River Rock, White, Real Red

Ink - Blue Bayou, Real Red, River Rock

Other - Sponge Dauber, Western Sky DSP

Bloggers Challenge - Layout Inspired

This weeks Bloggers Challenge was to make a card using this layout found on page 37 of the Spring Summer Collection 2008.

Details:

Card Stock - River Rock, Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue

Ink - River Rock, Chocolate Chip

Other - Ginger Blossom DSP, Dimensionals, Chocolate Grosgrain

If you'd like to play along with this weeks challenge leave a comment on this post with a link to your card.

Have a great weekend!

~lisa

Bloggers Challenge Pink & Brown

This weeks Bloggers Challenge was to use Pink and Brown (you could add vanilla or white) to create your card. This is such a great color combination and works well with just about any image. If you'd like to play along with this weeks challenge, be sure to leave a link to your post in the comment section.

This first card uses the Fast & Fun Notes & Bali Breeze DSP. To create the scallop edge - simply remove the guard from your small corner rounder - insert your card stock and make sure it is pushed down all the way to the edge of the paper and punch. Then move your punch so it touches the cut you just made, punch again. Continue until you reach the end of your card.

I used the piercing tool to add a little dot to my scalloped edge to coordinate with the dots in the Bali Breeze DSP. You'll notice the cake is also made with the Bali Breeze DSP. I simply embossed my image on my DSP, cut it out and adhered it to my main image - here's a close up

This next Pink & Brown card features images from Flourishes - Flourished Words and Fantasy Floral Garden. The DSP came from Innovative Stamp Creations.

I didn't want to use Brown EP, as I felt it would take away from the overall softness of the card, so I simply inked my image in versamark, then into my brown ink pad, stamped and clear embossed, then I used the Marker Wash Technique from the 10/07 TJNL on my main image. I choose to use Regal Rose as my marker color, because when using the technique, your color tends to lighten, and pink would have been way too light. I'm really happy with the way the card turned out.

Bloggers Challenge - Inspired By

Wow - we're on week 27 of the Bloggers Challenges! This week's challenge is Inspired By - where do you get your inspiration from? If you'd like to play along with this weeks challenge, please leave a link to your artwork in the comments section, I'd love to check out what inspires you to create.

My inspiration for this weeks challenge came from this vase of flowers

Details:

Stamps - Cornish Heritage Farms - Single Black-Eyed Susan, Silhouette Blooms

Ink - Versarmak

Card Stock - Black, WC, Banana, Pixie Pink

Other - Markers (Pixie Pink, Summer Sun), Sprtiz Bottle, Black EP

Technique - Marker Wash - 10/07 TJNL