Occasions Mini Sketch Challenge

This week's Great Swaps Girls challenge is to CASE a layout from the current SU! mini-catalog. I chose the card on page 8. I changed everything except the layout. I just got this cute little owl in the mail. It's by Hero Arts. Lovin' owls lately! And, being on my sparkle kick, I had to add some stickles. She has some on her belly, and I added some to all the circles on the pattern paper.

{You're a Hoot recipe}

Stamps: Owl by Hero Arts, sentiment by Memory Box

Ink: Basic Brown, Almost Amethyst

Paper: Almost Amethyst, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa, Crate Paper

Accessories: stitched ribbon by SU! (retired), Copic markers, Stardust stickles, Marvy circle and scallop punches, Coluzzle circle cutter

I'm a Great Swaps Girl!!!

Exciting news! I've been invited to join the Great Swaps Girls 2. It's an invitation only swap group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators. I've been stalking some of these girls because I love their work so much, and now they've invited me to join them! Yahoo! You can find the website HERE or access it from the Great Swaps Girls link in the blog inspiration roll.

To add to all that excitement, I even have a card to share with you! Remember all those dog stamps I told you about? Here's one of the first. This image is from Whipper Snapper Designs. It's called Sorry Pup. It's such a large image that I couldn't really fit much else on the card. That made this one really easy. It's a fun one to color too. I used my Copic markers and tried to practice shading and blending. I still have a long way to go with that, and I'll keep trying!

My favorite part of this card is the sign above the dog. The original stamped image says "I'm sorry." I decided to change it up a bit. I used a scrap of creamy caramel paper, cut the ends with my deckle scissors, added SU!'s Weathered background stamp in creamy caramel, stamped "good dog!" with a sentiment from a Whipper Snapper set called Good Dog, hung it up with some wire, and called it good to go!

This isn't the best photo here, but it allows you to see how the image is popped up off the card. I curled the wire with needle nose pliers and used a brad for the nail.

{Good Dog recipe}
Stamps: Sorry Pup and Good Dog by Whipper Snapper Designs
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White
Accessories: Copic markers, craft wire, 5/8" red grosgrain ribbon, deckle scissors

Featured Stamper 68

This is my first Featured Stamper Challenge! For those of you who don't know about this challenge on Splitcoaststampers, you can read about it here. I cased this card by Denise Marzec (peanutbee). I changed the flower stamps, the sentiment, and the paper/colors. I also added eyelets and iridescent ice embossing powder to up the bling factor. I loved the layout, so I kept it the same. I got this Bodacious Bouquet stamp set for FREE last year, and then it went on the dormant list for Stampin' Up! and I never even used it. I really like it! I love the effect of the iridescent ice embossing powder. I'm very into sparkles lately!

{Happy Birthday recipe}
Stamps: SU!'s Bodacioius Bouquet, sentiment by A Muse
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Cool Caribbean, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Versamark
Paper: PTI White, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Crate Paper
Accessories: Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Rhinestone Brads, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Slit Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, random gemstones/dew drops

Lighthouse Sketch

I made this card using Lauren Meader's Saturday Sketch. I kept it simple, and stayed very true to the sketch itself. This is the first time I've used this stamp set from Our Daily Bread Designs. It's called Light of the World. I love the ocean and anything related to it. I've decided I'm going to collect beach stamps, and spent my weekend ordering several.

Truth be told, I've also decided to collect dog stamps, and spent my weekend ordering several of those too. I also love anything related to tea and coffee, although I don't drink the latter. So, I ordered some of those too. Then, while I was at it, I decided owls would be good too, being a teacher and all. So, I spent my weekend ordering a couple of those. And since I was on such a roll, I decided I really like butterflies. And, yes, I ordered a couple of those too. I confessed this recent purchasing to my husband, and he was very supportive. Well, I confessed most of it anyway. Now if I could just find time to stamp...

{For You recipe}
Stamps: Light of the World by Our Daily Bread Designs, Taggers Dozen by SU!
Ink: Basic Black, Ruby Red
Paper: PTI White, Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Accessories: Natural hemp twine, Sizzix die cut tag, Copic markers

A Late Mojo Challenge

I made this card for Julie Tilman's Mojo Monday #38 sketch challenge. Seeing as it's Monday again, I'm too late on this one. I used the color scheme for Verve Visual's May 2008 Project Parade. I love the summery feel of the colors. I was inspired to use my Sweet Shapes stamp set when I saw Valerie Stangle's recent post. Now I know it appears that I didn't use pumpkin pie, but I have to tell ya that just ain't so! Do you see the soft sky butterfly at the bottom of the main panel? Well just below that was little miss pumpkin pie butterfly. She got cut off when my main panel was too long.

If you look really closely, you can see the dazzling diamonds that make the butterflies sparkle.

{Hello recipe}

Stamps: Sweet Shapes Ink: Basic Black, Soft Sky, Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, and yes, Pumpkin Pie Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Soft Sky, Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Certainly Celery Accessories: Heat & Stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Versamarker, Black marker, So Saffron Brads, Oval Punches

Celebrate Cupcake

This is late, but here's my entry for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #47. I really like this color combination, which I pulled directly from the patterned paper.

{Celebrate Cupcake recipe}
Stamps: Birthday Cupcake clear stamp set by Inkadinkadoo
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Basic Gray, Going Gray, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Crate paper
Accessories: taffeta ribbon, stardust stickles, markers in pumpkin pie, going gray, bashful blue, certainly celery, almost amethyst, and close to cocoa

Wedding Wishes

A friend I've had since high school just got married. She and her new hubby eloped in Napa. Here is the card I am sending her. I created this card using Splitcoast's Sketch Challenge #176 by Amy Rysavy.





{Happy Couple recipe}
Stamps: Gettin' Hitched from Lizzie Anne Designs
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Soft Sky, Crate paper
Accessories: gemstones from $1 bin at Jo-Ann, stardust stickles, soft sky double-stitched ribbon, Copic Markers

May Technique

This month's technique is Scratch and Sniff. Yes, we're making smelly cards. Remember scratch and sniff stickers from when you were a kid? Well, here's the grown-up, crafty version. I'm very happy with how both of these turned out, and I hope everyone coming to the class will enjoy learning this fun, yummy technique.

Both of these cards are for sketch challenges. Here's what's great about this: it's my very FIRST time intentionally participating in a challenge. I'm actually going to upload these cards for the challenges. Yay, me!

This first card is for this week's sketch #49 by Lauren Meader. You can see her beautiful samples for this sketch here. I absolutely adore Lauren's style! In my opinion, she's one of the most talented, creative stampers out there.

Anyway, here's my take on her sketch. This is the first time I've used theTart & Tangy set. The citrus image is a scratch and sniff. It has an orange scent when scratched. Yum!

{Fruity Birthday ingredients}

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Hugs & Wishes

Paper: PTI white, Summer Picnic DSP

Ink: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark

Accessories: clear embossing powder, sugar-free orange Kool-Aid, felt flowers, scallop punch, mini black brads, ribbon

For this next card, I wanted to do a chocolate scratch and sniff. I had to pull out a retired stamp set because it's the only one I had with chocolate. I think that needs to be remedied. Must have more chocolate! This feels like a wintery set, so I added the flower to make it feel more like spring. Another first, I used fun flock for the whipped cream. The mug is the chocolate scratch and sniff. Double yum! This card was designed for this week's SCS Sketch Challenge #175.

{Chocolate Friend ingredients}
Stamps: Like It A Latte
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Pretty In Pink Prints DSP
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Versamark
Accessories: clear embossing powder, sugar-free hot cocoa, flower punch, mini white brad, white fun flock

May Inspiration Class

This month's Inspiration Class uses the Essence of Love set from the Occasions mini-catalog. We will be making seven cards this month. I found a lot of INSPIRATION from Splitcoaststampers and fellow bloggers.

Plus, in addition to the stamp set, you'll get some extra goodies. I found some matching ribbon and expoxy stickers that go great with this set, as well as some dew drops. You'll get everything you see in the picture below.
This card uses some of the fun matching ribbon and epoxy stickers I found at Michael's. It also uses one of my new Martha Stewart Butterfly punches. LOVE them!

{Pomegranate Thinking of You recipe}
Stamps: Essence of Love
Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White Craft
Accessories: Ribbon and epoxy stickers from Michael's, Martha Stewart butterfly punch


This card was inspired by all of the brayered sunset creations in the SCS gallery for this set. I didn't want to pull the brayer out for this particular class, so I took a shortcut and used cardstock to create the sunset look. This card is a 4x4 and the black ink is embossed.

{Sunset Thinking of You recipe}
Stamps: Essence of Love
Paper: Ruby Red, Old Olive, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black Craft
Accessories: Martha Stewart butterfly punch, clear embossing powder

This card is a direct CASE from Sharon Johnson's beautiful creation found here.

{CASEing Sharon recipe}
Stamps: Essence of Love
Paper: River Rock, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Versamark
Accessories: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, iridescent Ice embossing powder, wide black organdy ribbon, half-back pearls


I was really happy with how this card turned out. Simple, yet bold. I think this is the first time I've ever used Yo Yo Yellow.

{Kindess recipe}
Stamps: Essence of Love
Paper: Tempting, Turquoise, Basic Black, PTI's Stamper's Select White
Ink: Basic Black, Yo Yo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Ribbon and epoxy stickers from Michael's

I love the layout and colors in this card that I cased from Silke Ledlow.

{CASEing Silke recipe}
Stamps: Essence of Love
Paper: Basic Black, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue
Ink: Basic Black Accessories: black brads, epoxy sticker from Michael's

I CASED this card from TreasureOiler on Splitcoaststampers.

{CASEing TreasureOiler recipe} Stamps: Essence of Love Paper: Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip Ink: Chocolate Chip Accessories: 5/8" chocolate grosgrain ribbon

I just love the crisp, clean style of Krystie Lee. I CASEd her card found here. I really liked the metal-edged tag, but all of mine were too big to fit nicely on the card.

{CASEing Krystie recipe}
Stamps: Essence of Love
Paper: PTI's Stamper's Select White, Mellow Moss, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black, Versamark Accessories: silver diamond-shaped brads, clear embossing powder

May Stamp Club

This month's stamp club was all about justifying two particular purchases. I bought the Just Celebrate set for the little owl image and the For Father set for the puppy image. Using them for Stamp Club makes those purchases necessary! {Celebrate recipe}
Stamps: Just Celebrate, Celebrate Everything
Paper: Soft Sky, Whisper White, Buckaroo Blue, Spring Break DSP
Ink: Bordering Blue, Basic Black, Soft Sky
Accessories: metal-edge tags, french blue grosgrain ribbon, bordering blue, brocade blue, and pumpkin pie markers, blender pen, dimensionals

This puppy image is SO cute! I just couldn't resist. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what the striped thing was. I looked at a lot of samples on line to try to figure out what it was and how to color the image. I came to the conclusion that it was maybe a blanket of some sort. WRONG! One of my club members pointed out that it's the sole of the other boot. Duh! It's SO obvious now! You can see the shoe strings sticking out from it. Why could I not see this before????

{Father's Day recipe}
Stamps: For Father, Thinking of Father
Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Brocade Blue, retired SU! DSP
Ink: Bordering Blue, Basic Black, Soft Sky
Accessories: brocade blue, bashful blue, more mustard, creamy caramel, chocolate chip, close to cocoa, barely banana, and basic black markers, gold brads, dimensionals

I made this card using Lauren Meader's Saturday Sketch from last weekend.

{Mother's Day recipe}
Stamps: Blooming With Love
Paper: Whisper White, Lovely Lilac, Tempting Turquoise, PTI's Stamper's Select White, Flowers for You DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, turquoise brad, markers in going grey, regal rose, tempting turquoise, lovely lilac, certainly celery, and creamy caramel

Meet Georgia

So, I went to the local animal shelter to deliver some posters my students created for the Be Kind to Animals Week poster contest and saw this sweet, rather obnoxious, ill-mannered five month-old lab. Meet Georgia. With a quick phone call, I convinced Keith (my hubby) to come down and see her. We've been wanting to add another dog to our family but always assumed it would be our next service dog-in-traning flunkee that joined us. We're not sure why, but we placed a 24-hour hold on the pup and went on our way. I had to stop at the pet store to pick up a few things. At the check-out stand was a magazine called Training Secrets for Labrador Retrievers. On the front cover it said, "You CAN TRAIN your SHELTER LAB!" Really?? I can???? My husband drove home in his car and saw a sign for a local fast food burger place advertising their weekly frozen custard flavor...Georgia Peach. That evening, while speaking to a friend of mine, who happens to be British (well, recently turned American now...) who shared that St. George is the patron saint of England. And those of you who know Keith, know he loves all things British. She calls it providence. We call it crazy. Either way, she's ours. We're keeping the name.