Time for a Break

Hi Everyone!

No card to share today. I'm just here to let you all know that I'm going to be taking a blogging break for a while. I have stacks and stacks of cards made at the moment. I have two options of doing something with them; but I can't do one until I find out about the other. Besides, I've noticed my creativity doesn't seem to be quite what I'd like it to be lately.
I still plan on visiting you guys, so don't be surprised to see my comments on your blogs! It's just time to take a stamping breather and hopefully I'll come back in a few weeks refreshed, and with new creativity.
Take care! Hugs to all of you!
Dori

Floral MMSC

Hi Everyone!

My card today is for yesterday's MMSC challenge. I knew when I looked at the sketch that I wanted to use my Top Note Die in the middle. I also knew that I was going to have to make a larger card in order to be able to see the panels to the side, so this card actually measures 4 3/4x 6 1/2. I also used yesterday's SCS color challenge of Perfect/Pale Plum and Soft Suede. I added a bit of Blush Blossom as well. I guess you could call that my "neutral of choice." I gotta tell ya though...not crazy about this color combo. Don't think it's one I'll mark down in my book to revisit. Everything is really straightforward, and I'm anxious to get started on my projects for today. Since the kids are on winter vacation this week, I am trying to get my stamping done in the morning so that we can do some fun "Mommy and me " things during the afternoon.
Have a great day!

Distressed Mojo

Hi Everyone!

I am here to share my card for yesterday's Mojo Monday. I was very pleased with the way this one turned out. I used Not Quite Navy, Ruby Red, Always Artichoke, Kraft and Water color paper. I also used a few distressing inks in a lot of places on this card. I used "Weathered Wood for the edges of the base of the card. I distressed the edge and bottom of the Ruby Red piece with "Firebrick Red" to include over the embossed part at the bottom. I use "Antique Linen" around the edges of the watercolor pieces. The sentiment and flower are from SU's retired hostess set "Echoes of Kindness." I used Watercolor crayons and markers to stamp the images in. If I had to pick one area that I would change with this card it would have been to make the red in the images and the sentiment a bit darker.
Overall, I think it came out well, though. I hope you like it too.
I also did a card yesterday for SCS Easel Card and Baby Wipe technique. I have decided from now on to upload cards for SCS sketches and techniques to the appropriate SCS gallery. If you would like to see those cards, please visit my SCS gallery. I would love to have your comments there as well.
Thanks so much and have a great day!

Paper Frame Card

Hi Everyone!

So sorry I'm posting late. I wasn't actually planning to post until tomorrow; but I have a few minutes of free time so I thought I'd go ahead. On Friday I took my 40% off coupon to Michael's and purchased a new Martha Stewart Scoring board. Of course I had to use it right away and I thought the perfect project would be this "folded paper frame" card. This was a lot of fun to do except that I forgot to use dimensional adhesives on the frame parts, so my frame is a bit flat; but oh well. Note to self next time, right?
Anyhow, my card measures 5 1/4 x 5 1/4. I used Artichoke, Sahara Sand, Mellow Moss and Brocade Blue. The pattern paper for my paper frame is a piece from Chatterbox "Den" Collection. I think this set retired eons ago; but I still have some so why not use it, right? The typewriter in the middle is from SU's "Puns from the Past." The sentiment at the bottom is from SU's chitchat rubons. I used "traffic jam" cuttlebug embossing folder on the mellow moss square piece.
Ok, a short post today; but I hope you like it. I'll see you all tomorrow!

Hi Everyone!

So, here I am late this afternoon. Had a lot of running around to do today so I didn't get a chance to post this until now. I actually debated whether or not I was going to post this, cause truthfully I don't really like it. Oh well, you win some, you lose some right?! The idea in my head and the sketch I made just seemed so different than the actual result. This is for this week's SCS sketch challenge. I used Sahara Sand, Lovely Lilac, Gable Green, Almost Amethyst for my colors. The stamps in the middle are from Little Yellow Bicycle's "Zinnia" collection. The "hi" stickers are from American Crafts.
I have a lot of projects planned for the weekend...hopefully they will turn out better...wish me luck!!

Get Sketchy and a new Challenge

Good Morning!

Well, the snow has come and everything has gone back to normal so school is back in session. I have two cards to share with you today. The first is for last Friday's Get Sketchy 24 challenge. I used Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie for my colors. The flower in the main panel are from SU's Upsy Daisy set and I stamped it in Pumpkin Pie ink on Whisper White card stock. This card is really straightforward, so no need for lots of boring details.
The second card I have for you today is for a new challenge (or at least new to me) called Tuesday Morning Sketches. I know, I know....just what I need is another challenge. I think I will be alternating this challenge with the MMSC challenges that happen on Tuesdays or I might do both or I might just pick whichever one I like better that week. Who knows, I guess you'll just have to wait and see. I really liked this sketch and was quite pleased with the results. I used Old Olive, Pretty in Pink and Rose Red for the color palette. I used Swiss Dots and Swirls CB folders. The cupcake in the middle is from Inkadinkado "Birthday Cupcake" set.
I used some Color Box Chalk Queue inks to stamp it on white card stock. I used blender pens and the same chalk inks to color in the bottom. It's hard to tell in the picture but I did "frost" the cake by combining some clear embossing powder and pink glitter. I put some Tombow Mono liquid adhesive on the top of the cupcake and then poured the powder over it. I heat set it with my heat gun. After it was completely dry I took a Rose Red marker and made the red dots and then actually covered them with some crystal affects. Like I said a bit hard to tell in the picture; but really cool texture IRL. I used Petite Scallop Circle Nestabilities for the Pretty in Pink circle behind the image. I stamped the sentiment also from the same Inkadinkado set with Olive Pastel Chalk ink. I added the eyelets in the corner to complete the card.
Have a great day!

Lots of Cards!

Good Morning Everyone!

It's early in the morning and we are waiting a pretty good winter storm forecast to hit us in the next few hours. They've already canceled school for today so everyone is sleeping. Hey, I might actually get two cups of coffee in peace and quiet this morning!
So today I have 3 cards to share with you! I know...crazy isn't it?! Lots to talk about, so charge your coffee and pull up a chair! I've been doing a lot of stamping lately because I've been trying to do challenges as well as make cards that I'm just finding random inspiration for. The problem is that I'm having a hard time figuring out when to post what. So in order to get back on track I'm going to post the three that I've done most recently.
First I have my card for last week's SCS color challenge using Bravo Burgundy, Grey and Crushed Curry. This was a really nice combination and I'm glad I did it. I used Circle Circus with markers for the images. I don't actually have a Crushed Curry marker so I used Mostly Mustard and Summer Sun. You can tell I used two different yellows on the two side images, which was not intentional; but what can you do right? I wish I would have chosen a bigger sentiment for the open circle at the bottom. The one I chose seems a bit off.
Ok, so the second card I have is for this week's Mojo Monday Challenge. I have seen lots of Black, White and Red cards lately and they've all been fabulous, so I thought I'd make one of my own. I don't think there's much explanation needed for this card. I used a couple of Cuttlebug folders on the red and the white. The sentiment at the bottom is from SU's "A little Something" and I layered it on two pieces cut with my Nestabilities Label One. The flower in the middle is from "Simply Said" and I stamped it on two circles cut with Nestabilities Petite scallop circles.
Finally, I have a card that I made for Reagan. I recently got her Taylor Swift tickets and I made this card for her and put the tickets inside to surprise her. I got this stamp set "Rock Star" from Inkadinkado at Michael's a few weeks ago for the scrapbook layout I am doing for the Demi Lovato concert she and I went to back in October. For this card I used black, Melon Mambo, Kraft and Pretty in Pink. I embossed the piece of Melon Mambo piece with the Print Pattern Background from SU with Versamark and black embossing powder. The guitar is stamped with Melon Mambo ink. She really liked the card; but she was obviously much more happy with what was inside the card!!!
Ok, so that's all for me today. I hope you all like everything I shared with you, would love to hear what you all think of them. Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow!

Froggy card with Appreciation!

Good Morning! The card I have to share today is another one that I made based off a sketch I saw in Just Cards. See, I told you you'd be seeing more of these! Nothing super special about this one. I used Not Quite Navy, Celery, Bashful Blue and some watercolor paper along with some scraps of pattern paper to make this one. The image is from SU's "Flower for all Seasons" I chose the one with the frog because, well I could color the frog green obviously, so it worked well with the color palette! I stamped the image with NQ Navy ink on some water color paper and then used my aqua painters to fill it in with some inks and also just pulling color from the lines of the ink.
So, now I gotta go take Tyler to the bus stop. I wanted to take a minute though and thank everyone for the kind comments you leave for me each day. They really inspire me to keep creating and sharing. I am glad that so many of you seem to come back regularly and I want you to know that I enjoy seeing all of your blogs as well! Thanks again and have a great day!

Just a Note

Hi Everyone!

Did you have a good weekend? I hope so. Mine was pretty uneventful; but still nice and relaxing. This week I will be sharing some cards that I made last week. I may or may not try to do some of the regular challenges this week; but I'm also working on Valentine's for the kids to take to school Friday so I might not.
Anyhow, the card I have for you today was inspired once again by my latest issue of "Just Cards" magazine. I picked this issue up one day at Joann's and I'm just making my way slowly through it. Trust me, I'm sure that there will be more inspiration in future posts from this issue.
I wanted to keep the colors to two so I chose Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron. I used Stampin Up! Pattern Paper from various pattern packs. The orange flower in the middle is from the same Prima tin as the Turquoise flower that I used on my Mojo Monday card (which I posted on Friday.) The white flower and yellow brad in the middle are from Making Memories. The only stamp on the card is the sentiment at the bottom and it is from Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings"
Ok, I'm off to the bus stop with Tyler. Have a great day. I hope you like the card and I will be visiting some blogs later today. Can't wait to see everyone's creativity!

Mojo Monday: on a Friday

Ok, so I'm here super quick to post my card for this week's Mojo Monday. I have some friends coming over for coffee this morning. I really like how this one turned out. I'm not a huge fan often of bright bold colors; but I recently bought a tin of bright colored Prima Flowers and I haven't used them much. This card was actually designed around the TQ flower at the bottom. I used Summer Sun, Real Red, Tempting TQ, Cameo Coral and a piece of pattern paper from SU's Pink Flamingo set for this card. The pattern paper is so busy that I wanted to make sure that I showed it; but that it wasn't overpowering. The flowers in the paper made me think immediately of my "Aloha" girl from Paper Pretties. I noticed in the picture that she looks really white. I did color her skin in with my Copic Skin White marker. I used my SU markers to color the rest of her in. The rest of the card is pretty straight forward, so that's all for me this morning.
Have a great weekend!

Get Sketchy with Riley

Hi Everyone!

It's been a busy morning. Had to take Reagan to the orthodontist this morning to get her first set of braces put on. She's got a lot of work to be done and this is just the beginning. I'm debating whether or not I even want to try to do anything crafty today. For now though, I shall share my Get Sketchy card from last Friday's sketch. It's been a while since I've played with my Riley stamps and this one seemed perfect for this layout. I started with a Close to Cocoa base and then added a layer of Summer Sun which I paper-pierced. Next I added a layer of light blue Bazzill Card stock. I ran the piece of Perfect Plum through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. I used Curly Label 1 Nestabilities for the middle pieces. I colored Riley with ink pads, blender pens, Copic Markers and chalk ink. I added the Prima flowers and eyelets to finish the card.
Have a great day and I'll see you all tomorrow!

WCYC Wednesday

Good Morning Everyone!

Getting ready to take the little guy to pre-school and then I think I might just treat myself to a muffin or scone at Barnes and Nobles. I recently bought a book called "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet." I think I might take that with me and just relax in one of those big cozy chairs for a little while. Before I set off, however, I want to share my card for "What Can You Create" Wednesday. I started with a Soft Suede base and then cut the two Not Quite Navy panels for the top and bottom. I used a small scallop edge punch from EK Success on each of them. Next I cut a piece of Old Olive and a piece of Certainly Celery and then ran them through my Cuttlebug before cutting them both in an "X" style and then assembled the pieces as shown. I cut another layer of Soft Suede for the piece of the middle and stamped it with the "Fine Lace" background stamp. (Still my fave!) The tree in the middle is from "Lovely as a Tree." I stamped it first with Suede ink on Kraft Paper and then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp over it with the NQNavy ink. I added the buttons on the side and then the two small strips of Certainly Celery at the top and the bottom. The Sentiment on the bottom is from "Sweet Sentiments" and I used Olive ink to stamp it on Kraft paper. Finally I rounded the corners and the card was finished.
So, I have just enough time to visit a few blogs. Have a great day and thanks for visiting with me!

SCS 265 Happy Birthday

Good Morning!

I thought I'd try to get my post done this morning before I take Tyler to the bus stop. This is my card for last week's SCS sketch. I really wanted to use my new Happy Birthday Cuttlebug folder and I thought the large panel would be perfect for me to do just that. I used Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand and a "burgundy" type paper from my miscellaneous paper stash. The patterned paper is from Cloud 9 Designs "Cinnamon Stick" collection. It all layered together easily and there's not much to really say about it! The only thing that I would change is the white pen work that I did on the embossed panel. That didn't quite have the affect I was hoping for. Still, by the time I did that, it was too late to change it. (Or perhaps I was just too lazy to do it again!) I used my small scallop circle nestabilities for the circle behind the Prima flower. That's it for me, today! Thanks for stopping by. I did also post a card yesterday, so be sure to scroll down if you missed that one!

So Kind

Hi Everyone!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend. It was very cold here in RI so we spent most of it just bundled up inside. Last week I got my pictures that I want to scrapbook in the mail, so that is what I will be working on this week. I made extra cards last week to share with you, however. I will try to post my cards for the various weekly challenges next week.
I got the inspiration for my card today from a "Just Cards" magazine. The base is a standard size card in Cameo Coral and then I added a layer of a "Baja Breeze" type blue that is from My Mind's Eye. I paper pierced all around the outside of this layer before adding a layer of Ruby Red that I ran through the CB with Swirls embossing folder. Next came the So Saffron layer. I used Versa mark and clear embossing powder with a stamp from SU's Polka Dots and Paisleys set for the background. For the three stamped panels, I used SU's Priceless stamp set with Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Ruby Red and Coral ink. I added the ribbon and the eyelets and finished the card.
Have a great day!