Color Challenge

 

Mary Marsh is hosting the Color Challenge on SCS: Black, White and Silver with a dessert option to create a celebration card (new year, wedding or birthday).  I decided to go with a wedding theme and created this quick and easy CAS design.  I used SU's Framelits Hearts Collection to die cut the heart.  Love this new chevron glitter cardstock that I found at a recent trip to Michael's!  The tiny key is from a Die-namics set by MFT that includes a variety of locks and key shapes - so fun to add as an embellishment!  The sentiment is from Verve's "Love Notes" set (isn't that font so awesome?!).  Speaking of Verve...this is the last day for Julee's big year end sale...check it out and save big!

Mojo Monday

Not only is it the last Monday of the month...it happens to be the last Monday of the year! That means the Mojo Monday challenge is a circle or square creation.  In thinking of a new year getting ready to make its debut, I couldn't help but focus on one of my favorite Verve Plain Janes - Jeremiah 29:11.  I stamped the numbers and sentiment using Versafine Onyx Black ink then added clear embossing powder.  It results in a much more vivid black!  The chevron glitter cardstock base is a new product that I found at Michael's.

For more inspiration, hop on over to the Mojo Monday blog and check out the first few thumbnails to see what the other mojomakers have created, or you can visit their individual blogs below:

Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

 Julee Tilman (Owner)

 Marisa Ritzen 

  Mary Fish

  Sarah Bigelow

  Teresa Kline

STAMPS: Plain Jane Jeremiah 29:11 (Verve), Geared Up (Verve)
PAPER: DP by SU, Black, White, Chevron glitter CS by Recollections
ACCESSORIES: Flourished Trim die (Verve), Fanciful Flourish (Cheery Lynn Designs), Red jute twine, Fishtail Flags Die-Namics, Brads.

CAS Gelli Print

Good Friday everyone! I have a quick and simple card today...using a scrap from my gelli print pile that I created months ago. This large fern image was "stamped" by brayering acrylic paint on a gelli plate, then placing a 6x6 Mini Ferns stencil by TCW over the gelli plate and pressing paint to the stencil using the brayer again.  I then picked up the stencil and "stamped" it onto white CS - resulting in the above background.

The layout is for the current (CAS)E This Sketch Challenge.  I'm also playing along with the Free 4 All challenge on SCS today that has us reviewing all of the 2013 challenges and picking one.  I chose the 6/28/13 challenge to "Think BIG" (use a big embellishment or stamp).

STAMPS: Blooming Button Bits (PTI).
ACCESSORIES: Jute twine, Wood veneer leaf, Fishtail Flags Die-Namics (MFT). 

Merry CHRISTmas!

CHRIST THE SAVIOR IS BORN!

Mojo Monday

Merry Christmas and good Monday morning to all my blogging friends! If you need a break from all the preparations of the season, join us in the Mojo Monday challenge.  Teresa has a really fun sketch with some wide open space that leaves it open for SOOO many possible creations!  I reached my saturation point with Christmas cards, so moved on to a possible Valentine or anniversary card...sentiment pending on the inside of the card. :-)  I rarely use black for a card base, but thought it worked well with these poppies on the hounds tooth panel.  I resurrected my well loved leafy flourish die and popped the flowers in varying heights using foam dots.  I added some shimmer to the veins in the leaves and to the flower centers with a Wink of Stella clear glitter brush pen.  A few silver sequins by Avery Elle finished it off.
Here's what else I used...
STAMPS: Poppy Birthday (Verve).
PAPER: Yours Truly 6x6 pad by Echo Park, Black, White, Lucky Limeade.
INK: Real Red, Versafine Onyx Black.
ACCESSORIES: Build a Poppy die by Verve; Leafy Flourish die by Cheery Lynn Designs.

For more inspiration, be sure and swing by the blogs of the rest of the mojo makers below...or...you can check out the first few thumbnails on the Mojo Monday blog to see what they've created!

Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

 Julee Tilman (Owner)

 Marisa Ritzen 

  Mary Fish

  Sarah Bigelow

  Teresa Kline

O Holy NIght...

...one of my fave Christmas songs. 

When I saw today's Sketch Challenge on SCS, I knew I wanted to highlight this sentiment from Verve's "Peace on Earth" set. Would you believe my card plan all started with this turquoise bling?!  I used Scor-Tape to adhere it to the base.  I paper pieced the "night" portion of the sentiment after coloring with Copics (BG45, BG49) then highlighted the star using Wink of Stella's silver shimmer brush pen.  Stars were punched out from SU's silver glitter cardstock.  And...to continue on with the shimmer and shine, I added two strips of black glitter tape under the horizontal strip.

Sharing an excerpt from the book "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"...

"What makes Christmas?" I asked my soul.

And this answer came back to me:

"It is the Glory of heaven come down in the hearts of humanity - 

Come in the spirit and heart of a Child.

And it matters not what we share at Christmas;

it is not Christmas at all unless the Christ Child be there."

Curtain Call Inspiration

Another quick post for a card inspired by Stacey's great photo for the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge! You know I can't resist using snowflakes again. I'm also playing along with the Retro Sketches Challenge...LOVE this simple layout!  This was a quick one to put together with the only stamping being the sentiment in Pool Party from the Reverse Confetti "Tinsel 'n Trim" set.

PAPERS: "Merry Little Christmas" by MME, White by PTI, Silver glitter CS by SU.
ACCESSORIES: Bigz Snow Flurry die by SU, Corner Chomper, Button.

Well...that's a wrap!  Literally it's also a wrap - lol!  Just finished wrapping Christmas gifts and now the main focus before Christmas will need to be on cleaning the house and getting some baking done.  Thanks for stopping by...

Color Challenges

Good Tuesday morning! Before heading out to a dental checkup, I'm posting my creation for two color challenges that just happen to have the same colors chosen!

Reverse Confetti's December CC - Red, Pink, Lime green

SCS CC - Real Red, Blushing Bride, Gumball Green - chosen by Nancy

I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and went with the fun Reverse Confetti "Tinsel 'n Trim" set yet again!  I've used this set for the majority of my Christmas tags...so fun to coordinate with the tag die set - also by RC.  I loved that the BG paper echoed the gumballs in the photo.  I think it's pretty self explanatory, so won't bore you with the step by step details.

PAPERS: Merry and Bright by Carta Bella; Silver glitter CS by SU; White by PTI.
INK: Gumball Green, Real Red. 

Mojo Monday

Good Monday morning! It's time for another Mojo Monday Challenge and this time, Teresa is the creator of this fun sketch! I went a little country with these papers from Recollections' "Holly Day Wishes" pad and some jute twine.  The snowman is nothing but 3 Nestie circles with a hand cut nose and a stamped mouth from Verve's "To the Moon" set. The scroll is a Plain Jane and the sentiment and gloves are from Verve's "Winter Mittens" mini set.

If you need some more inspiration, be sure and swing by the blogs of the rest of the mojo makers below...or...you can check out the first few thumbnails on the Mojo Monday blog to see what they've created!

Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

 Julee Tilman (Owner)

 Marisa Ritzen 

  Mary Fish

  Sarah Bigelow

  Teresa Kline

Sure hope you can take some time out of your busy schedule and play along with us!

ODBD Tent Card

It's been awhile since I've joined in with the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge. One of my fave images is this snowy scene which is fun to color and glitter up, so I knew I wanted to play along this week!  Their challenge is to create an alternate fold card or 3D project, so I went to the SCS tutorial pages and found Beate's directions HERE to create a tent card.  It was so easy and it's a fun way to easily display your card as part of your home decor.

Here is a front view of the card...

What did I use?
STAMPS: Warm Wishes (ODBD)
PAPER: Winter Fun 6x6 pad by Carta Bella, Impress It Blending Card, White by PTI
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Chocolate Chip
ACCESSORIES: Snowflake punch by Martha Stewart, Coarse and extra fine glitter, Fishtail Flags Die-Namics by MFT, Rhinestones by SU, Copics, Circle and Scallop circle Nesties.

Color Throwdown

Don't you just LOVE this delightful color combo that Broni has thrown down for us this week?! I embraced them for another Christmas card and was in love with the non-traditional color combo!

This is the last Color Throwdown challenge for 2013, but be assured we will be back in 2014 with more awesome colors and a new guest designer!  I want to thank Cindy Lawrence for her gorgeous card samples the past two months!  She totally rocks!

This card is all about favorites for me.  Anyone following my blog knows I love this SU Gorgeous Grunge set for fun backgrounds.  The snowflake die is another favorite winter element that is so fun to layer.  I also love the funky fonts in Julee's Joyous Noel stamp set (Verve), so couldn't resist using a sentiment from that set.  I'm a big fan of Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday Challenge and the current one really jumped out at me.  What a great layout!

Remember...to play along with the Color Throwdown challenge, you don't have to use exact colors - just something that's close.  If you upload to a public gallery, please use the keyword CTD 272 and also link up your card on the Color Throwdown blog using the linky tool.

For more inspiration, you'll want to check out the rest of the design team's creations, along with our  talented guest designer, Cindy Lawrence:                                                 
                                                      Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
                                              Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor 
                                                   Joan Ervin - Stamping With Passion

Lori Tecler - Inking Aloud
Melody Rupple - A Paper Melody

Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy

Vickie Zimmer -  Smitten

                                    Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations (you are here)

Cindy Lawrence - Nov./Dec. Guest Designer - The Creative Closet

STAMPS: Gorgeous Grunge (SU), Joyous Noel (Verve)

PAPER: Smoky Slate, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, Silver glitter CS (SU); White by PTI.

INK: Smoky Slate, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, Perfect Plum, Black

ACCESSORIES: Rhinestones by SU, Bigz Snow Flurry die by Sizzix (SU), Button by SU, Silver cording. 

Peace Birds

 

I'm using a flipped version of Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge along with Peggy's Color Challenge on SCS to use Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe and Crumb Cake with the dessert option to repeat something. In my case, I die cut two sentiments and layered them for a shadow effect. I used two different embossing folders for the background and added some Groovy Guava grosgrain ribbon which is a slight shade darker than Crisp Cantaloupe.  The entire card is 5 1/2" square.  The image was colored with Copics and highlighted with a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen. 

STAMPS: Snow Wonderful (Flourishes)
PAPER: Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Crumb Cake, X-Press It Blending Card, White (PTI)
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black
ACCESSORIES: Classic Keyhole Template die by Flourishes, Peace sentiment die by PTI, Grosgrain ribbon by SU, Brads by Recollections, Basket weave EF by Lifestyle Crafts, Holly EF by Cuttlebug.

Diva Dare: Playing Favorites

There's a fun Diva Dare theme on the Verve blog this month! We have the option of choosing a favorite 2013 Verve creation or creating a new card!  Since I'm needing to stay in Christmas mode for new creations, I'm going with the first option to choose a previous card that is a favorite of mine.  Well...that was no easy task, because there are so many fave Verve sets, but I went with this card from a Mojo Monday sketch challenge on July 29.

This is one of my favorite Verve flowers (from the Hope Blooms set) to fussy cut, ruffle up and layer with foam dots!  I also love when Julie combines different fonts within the same sentiment and you will note that I almost always turn to Verve to choose my card sentiments!  I may have gravitated to this card today because of the cold and gloomy weather we are facing in VA.  This brings a welcomed breath of spring to my posts! :-)

STAMPS: Hope Blooms (Verve)

PAPER: True Friends 6x6 pad (Carta Bella), White, Raspberry Fizz (PTI)

INK: Versafine Onyx Black

ACCESSORIES: Melon Mambo ribbon (SU), Brad, MS tag, Hexagon Die-Namics (MFT), Large leafy flourish Die-Namics (MFT).

CAS Christmas

It's an icy and cold Monday morning and I'm content to be in my jammies without having to go in to work today! Last evening was a stressful drive home from work and even more stressful was the walk getting to my car in the parking lot! Ice everywhere! I'm thankful for no falls and no loss of power!
I'm determined to get my Christmas cards addressed today and decided to play with two different challenges to add another masculine card to my stash. This is for the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge to feature a tree or trees and it's also using the layout for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.  I already had this tree die cut and sponged from a previous project, so it was a quick decision to add it as the focal point.  The rusty jingle bells and twine seemed fitting for the masculine papers.  Thanks for stopping by...as always, I appreciate your comments!

STAMPS: Peace on Earth (Verve)
PAPER: Norlard paper pack by Farm House Paper Co., Vintage Cream by PTI
INK: Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake
ACCESSORIES: Christmas Tree #2 by Sizzix, Rusty jingle bells, Jute twine, Postage border Die-Namics by MFT.

Mojo Monday

The month is movin' on out and it's already time for another sketch challenge on the Mojo Monday blog! I'll have to admit, my mojo was in a slump with this layout, but I soon decided to create my own patterned paper by using 4 different sized snowflakes from Verve's "Christmas in the Air" set.  I only used two ink colors - Lucky Limeade and Regal Rose - and stamped off once with two of the snowflake images.  I layered up some die cut snowflakes (SU), silver embossed the sentiment from "Bright Spirits" and added some bling. 

If you need some more inspiration, be sure and swing by the blogs of the rest of the mojo makers below...or...you can check out the first few thumbnails on the Mojo Monday blog to see what they've created!

Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

 Julee Tilman (Owner)

 Marisa Ritzen 

  Mary Fish

  Sarah Bigelow

  Teresa Kline

Sure hope you can take some time out of your busy schedule and play along with us!

Sketch For You To Try

This is a late night creation after getting home from work last night and it's for Jen's December Sketch For You To Try challenge. I wanted to do a subway art style grouping of sentiments from Reverse Confetti's two Christmas sets: Bring on the Merry and Tinsel 'N Trim.  I used Garden Green, Cranberry Crisp and Crumb Cake ink then embellished with wood veneer snowflakes for the circle elements.  I thought the jute twine and rusty jingle bells would fit well with the wooden snowflakes.  A quick and easy card to create!  So glad you stopped by...always appreciate your kind comments!

Color Throwdown #271

Happy hump day everyone! There's a really beautiful color combo for this week's Color Throwdown challenge - thanks to hostess Bar Anders!  I knew right away I wanted to do a floral accent against this black and white houndstooth border, so out came my PTI two step stamping sets. 

I embossed the white panel with a Tim Holtz embossing folder. The plain white strip was adhered using foam tape and the flowers were popped with tape as well. The Regal Rose and Riding Hood Red inks were perfect to pair up with these posies! Leaves were stamped with Pear Pizzazz and highlighted with Old Olive ink.

Remember...to play along, you don't have to use exact colors - just something that's close.  If you upload to a public gallery, please use the keyword CTD 271 and also link up your card on the Color Throwdown blog using the linky tool.

For more inspiration, you'll want to check out the rest of the design team's creations, along with our  talented guestie, Cindy Lawrence, who will continue with us through December.                                                        Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
                                              Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor

Joan Ervin - Stamping With Passion

Lori Tecler - Inking Aloud
Melody Rupple - A Paper Melody

Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy

Vickie Zimmer -  Smitten

                                    Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations (you are here)

Cindy Lawrence - Nov./Dec. Guest Designer - The Creative Closet

STAMPS: Rosy Posy, Rosy Posy Step 2, and Tiny Tags - all by PTI.

PAPER: Yours Truly by Echo Park, White by PTI.

INK: Regal Rose, Riding Hood Red, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Versafine Onyx Black.

ACCESSORIES: Rosy Posy dies (PTI), Tiny tag die (PTI), Rhinestones (SU), Tim Holtz EF, Silver brad.