CAS Happy Birthday Lanterns

I've got another Clean and Simple (CAS) card for you tonight.  My Crushed Curry ink pad stayed on my desk today and I was able to use it again for this week's Paper Players colour challenge - Marina Mist, Crushed Curry and Smoky Slate.

I really like the "Happy Congratulations" stamp set from this year's Occasions Catalogue.  It's got a really fun vibe and makes me think of the summer patio season.....which will be here soon....right?  I love winter but I know that spring is coming....sometime....maybe : )  So I pulled it out for this super simple birthday card.

This card is based on a sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday

There are SO many possibilities for cards from this sketch!  I was looking my collection and so many possibilities came to mind...stay tuned for more cards using this sketch.

Here's what you need to make tonight's card:

Stamps:  Happy Congratulations, Remembering Your Birthday

Ink and Paper:  Smoky Slate, Marina Mist, Crushed Curry, Whisper White

Other: White Baker's Twine, 3/4" circle punch.

Thanks for reading!  Happy Stamping!

Perfectly Purple CAS Birthday

For those of you who follow this blog regularly, tonight's colour combination will look eerily similar to yesterday's post.  That's because it is almost identical.   Yesterday I wrote about how this week's CAS - Colours and Sketches colour combination had been "speaking" to me for a number of days.  In fact, I had it a little wrong.  I wrote yesterday's blog post, published and linked it up to the CAS - Colours and Sketches challenge and another challenge AND THEN realized I had one of the colours "wrong"!  I had used Summer Starfruit instead of Crushed Curry.

Oh horrors!

Luckily, I quickly realized my error and "un-linked" from the CAS - Colours and Sketches challenge : ) I went back to my desk and put the Summer Starfruit ink pad back in it's spot in my colour caddy.  Just for the fun of it, pulled Crushed Curry down and set it beside the two purples.  Then I went to bed, because it really was late and my brain was not ready to start another project.

Today, again, the colours "spoke" to me.  So this evening I gave it another go, this time with the sketch from Try Stampin' On Tuesday.  I have to say, while I like Summer Starfruit with these two purples, Crushed Curry really does make it "pop" more.....

The twist this week...use stripes and squares.  

Fun....and totally different than yesterday!  I really like how this card could be adapted to masculine or feminine.  Firstly, one could really use any combination of colours and it would still work.  Secondly, while I used the flowers from "Banner Blast", there are also little stars and hearts in that stamp set that could be easily substituted in.

I reached way back into my big stash of DSP (I have a problem using DSP....) and found some "old" Perfect Plum DSP from a stack of "Subtles" I bought about 4 years ago and haven't used up yet.  I like how the DSP adds texture to the card without having to use a Big Shot or Texture Boutique machine.

Here are all the supplies you'll need to make this card:

Stamps:  "Banner Blast" (Sale-a-bration 2014), Remembering Your Birthday

Ink and Paper:  Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Crushed Curry

Other:  White Baker's Twine, 1/2" circle punch, Rhinestones Basic Jewels.

Thanks for reading!  Happy Stamping!

CAS Ikat

Happy Monday All!  It's March Break here in my little corner of North America and I REALLY enjoyed having my husband and son home today from school!  I always look forward to this week in the course of the school year!  It's always a much needed break in the course of a long winter.  We often go down to South Carolina for the week to warm up and have some fun at the beach but this year we're in the middle of a big renovation project so we're sticking close to home.  I've been spending most of my time cleaning up drywall dust and reorganizing my cupboards so stamping is happening in small spurts.

A few days ago I started a project using this week's CAS - Colours and Sketches colours but just couldn't figure out how to make it work.  Then, this evening, I saw the Techno Stamper Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge and everything fell into place.....yay!  I love when that happens : )

Aren't these FABULOUS colours?!!!  Seriously, I've had the ink pads sitting out on my desk for about 3 days....calling to me....

I stamped this Eye-Catching Ikat pattern and used my Banners Framelits to cut it out 2 or 3 days ago but, as I mentioned above, I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to use it.  Here's the sketch that helped me out tonight....

Here is the resulting card....

And look!  I used Designer Series Paper again!  Woohoo!  This is the "Sweet Sorbet" DSP from the current Sale-a-bration brochure!  Only 3 more weeks to Sale-a-brate by the way : )  I had fun using my photopolymer stamps for this card too.  They are SO great!  I especially love that they don't fall off the acrylic blocks.

Here are the rest of the details:

Stamps:  Eye-Catching Ikat photopolymer stamps, Another Thank You photopolymer stamps, Wanderlust photopolymer stamps

Paper and Ink:  Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White (White Craft Ink).

Other:  Chevron TIEF, Banners Framelits, Summer Starfruit Baker's Twine (Sale-a-bration Sweet Sorbet Accessories Pack ).

Happy Stamping!

Retro Peaceful Petals

I have a problem.  I LOVE Stampin' Up's Designer Series Paper (DSP) but I just can't bring myself to use it!  I've had this problem for a while now but it's become worse since I became a Stampin' Up demonstrator in 2010!   Now I purchase it thinking, "I've just got to have this so I can share it with others"...but then I can't bring myself to cut up one of those gorgeous 12 x 12 sheets, so it sits in my office, unused!  Does anyone else have this problem?

I've had enough....this gorgeous DSP is meant to be used and shared!  So, here goes....I cut up one sheet of Retro Fresh DSP this evening (after a failed attempt....see previous post) and created a card.  Yay!

 I'm hoping this is the first step in my recovery process!  I'm determined to use up my DSP before Stampin' Up's next catalogue launches in June.  Then I'll have a really good excuse to purchase NEW DSP...I'll have to replenish my stock....lol : )

Thoughts?  Would you add more texture?  Round all the corners?  I'm interested to hear what you would change or leave the same.

Here are all the details:

Stamp Sets:  Peaceful Petals (Occasions 2014).

Ink and Card Stock:  Tangerine Tango, Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Black StazOn Ink, Retro Fresh DSP.

Other:  Coastal Cabana Ruffled Ribbon, Banners Framelits, Corner Round Punch.

Happy Stamping!

Grungy Petals

I sat down this evening fully prepared to cut into some of my newest Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up...."Retro Fresh".  I'm loving the colours that are included in this particular DSP and was fully prepared to make the first cut tonight....I couldn't do it!  More about that problem in a future post : )

Instead, this is what came out of my stamping session this evening.  The colour combination is based on the colours used in the Retro Fresh suite - Tangerine Tango, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight and Baked Brown Sugar.

I took inspiration from this week's CAS - Colours and Sketches Challenge blog.

Now, I know I've taken some liberties both with the sketch and the definition of "Clean and Simple" for this card.  While there are many elements to this card it did come together quite quickly.  That was, in part, because of the "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp set.....I'll admit it, I'm addicted!  I just can't seem to make a card without it : )  The flowers are from Stampin' Up's "Petite Petals" set with matching punch....so simple!

The sentiment comes from the "Yippee Skippee" stamp set.

Here is a complete list of supplies used:

Stamp Sets:  Gorgeous Grunge, Petite Petals (Occasions 2014), Another Thank You (Photopolymer).

Ink and Card Stock:  Tangerine Tango, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Baked Brown Sugar and Very Vanilla.

Punches and Framelits:  Petite Petals Punch, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Banners Framelits, Chalk Talk Framelits

Other:  Pearls Basic Jewels.

Happy Stamping!

Happy Watercolour for JAI #204

I love trying out new colour combinations and one is sure to find a unique one while surfing around in the blogging world.  This week was no different.  Just Add Ink has a really unique and fun colour combination for this week's challenge:



You've got to try it to love it.  There are a lot of different ways to interpret this and I encourage you to head over to the Just Add Ink blog to see what the design team and other entrants have come up with.  I decided to ink up one of the new stamp sets from Stampin' Up's 2-14 Occasions catalogue, "Happy Watercolour" for this card.

I love the look that comes out from the "smudgy" stamp.  It looks so much like one has taken a watercolour brush and done a test of colour on the page.  I stamped these "smudges" in Pistachio Pudding and Crumb Cake.  I stamped the dots and sentiment in gold (although it's hard to see here).

I tried one card with gold foil card stock as the vertical strip but personally prefer the burlap.  You can decide for yourself though : )

In any case, it's a really fun colour combination to use and I'm certainly going to tuck it away for further use.

Here is a list of the supplies I used:

Stamp Sets:  Happy Watercolour (Occasions 2014)

Ink and Card stock:  Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Gold

Other:  Burlap ribbon, linen thread, Perfect Polka Dots TIEF.

Happy Stamping!