Color Throwdown

In this week's Color Throwdown Challenge, Tammy has some really fun vintage pyrex dishes for our inspiration photo!  I finally got to play with some new baby Die-Namics from MFT.  Guess I'm all into the baby mode since finding out I'm going to be a grammy in September!  Not sure of my official title yet...there are so many options out there and I'm wondering what my blogger friends use for their "handle".  Is it Grandma?  Nana?  Mawmaw?  Mimi?  The list goes on and on! :-)  You'll have to help me out.

 

My background was created with MFT's Plaid Background Builder stamp set using Cool Caribbean, Daffodil Delight and Crisp Cantaloupe.  I still have some Cool Caribbean CS in my stash so went with a narrow mat in that color.   I was all done with my card and realized I hadn't used any black, so that's when I knew this little duckie would be given a black eye - lol!  

I'm so sad to see Melody Rupple having to say goodbye to the design team! I'm such a fan of her creative, gorgeous scrapbook pages...and cards...and I want to say a big thank you, Melody, for gracing us with your presence during this last year! We have a huge announcement coming out next week! There will be a new addition to the team and she will knock your socks off with her talent, so stay tuned!

I'm thrilled to have a really great friend and stamping buddy as this week's Star Stamper - Teresa Kline from Paperie Blooms!

Play along with us this week and you just might be in the spotlight next week as our guest star stamper!  You don't have to have exact colors to play along, but you do need to have a close resemblence.  Be sure and link your creation to the linky tool at the bottom of the current challenge post on the Color Throwdown blog.

 
We also have to say goodbye to our April guest designer and want to say a big thank you to Jeanne Jachna for sharing her gorgeous creations with us this month!  It's been a real pleasure to get to "visit" Jeanne's blog!  If you pick up the latest Cardmaker magazine, you'll see more of Jeanne's creations published!  For more inspiration from the rest of the CTD design team, check out their blogs below... 

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Monika Davis
Tammy Hershberger
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Jeanne Jachna– April Guest Designer

Tall & Skinny Mojo Monday

You know what it means on the last Monday of the month? Yup. It's tall and skinny card time over on the Mojo Monday blog!  My card front is 3 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It allows me to have elements "hanging over the edge" and it will still fit in an A2 envelope.  I tweaked the sketch a bit by moving the horizontal ribbon up and changing it to a horizonal illusion of clouds with the sun as an "embellishment".  I stamped a couple of chevron borders from Verve's Better Together set in the lower right corner using So Saffron and Bermuda Bay inks.  The sentiment is from the Brighter Days set - also by Verve.   I paper pieced the 'laughter' word in the sentiment.  All of the patterned papers are from Simple Stories Vintage Bliss 6x6 pad.  The base is my favorite white CS (due to the heavier weight) by PTI.  The sun was die cut using Crushed Curry CS.

ACCESSORIES: Avery Elle Lemonade Blend sequins, Lil Inker Designs clouds and sun dies.

You'll want to check out the other mojomakers' blogs below OR you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and check out the first 7 thumbnails.  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you in the gallery!

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen 

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Petals 'n Posies

I couldn't resist a chance to play with this set of Reverse Confetti posies when I saw the Reverse Confetti April Color Challenge: light blue, plum and green!  I love the new layout for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge and took the liberty to angle the central panel.  My paper doily is nearly all hidden, but the texture is there if you look closely.  Just got this sweet stitched BG in the mail today from Lil Inker Designs...LOVE it! 

The flag strip was die cut after stamping Soft Sky ink using a stripe
pattern stamp from Reverse Confetti's So Stripey set.  I tucked a bit of silver thread behind the flower...my latest go-to choice instead of the bulkier ribbon bows.  I know I've posted this before, but I am really loving the rich, crisp black ink of MFT's new hybrid ink line: Black Licorice.  It works great with Copic coloring, too!

STAMPS: Petals 'n Posies, So Stripey - both by Reverse Confetti.
PAPER: Violet Leaf Mat Stack by DCWV, Soft Sky, Plum Pudding, White.
INK: Black Licorice by MFT.
ACCESSORIES: Quilted Stitched Pattern die by Lil Inker Designs, Fishtail Flags Die-Namics (MFT), Petals 'n Posies dies and tag die by Reverse Confetti.

Color Throwdown

Hey, everyone!  It's time for another Color Throwdown Challenge - inspired by this stunning butterfly photo chosen by Monika for our inspiration!

I went with one of my fave "go to" layouts and used stamps from 3 different Reverse Confetti sets: Petals and Posies, Whole Lotta Dots and Arrows 'n Elements.  I also threw in a Gorgeous Grunge (SU) image with the green striped border.  I decided to use TH distress inks that were close to the colors: Seedless Preserves, Mowed Lawn and Spun Sugar (these ink names always make me smile :-).  I looped some silver thread under the flowers and actually restrained myself from adding sequins - lol!  This is one of those generic cards that I'll add to my stash and will add a sentiment to the inside as needed.

Our guest star stamper this week is Anita Bowden, so be sure and check out her creation at Neet and Crafty!  Play along with us this week and you just might be in the spotlight next week!  You don't have to have exact colors to play along, but you do need to have a close resemblence.  Be sure and link your creation to the linky tool at the bottom of the current challenge post on the Color Throwdown blog.

For more inspiration, check out the other throwdown designers' blogs below...
 
Barbara Anders    
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Monika Davis  
Tammy Hershberger
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Jeanne Jachna– April Guest Designer

Mojo Monday

Good Monday everyone! It's time for a new Mojo Monday Challenge with another of Julee's fabulous layouts! I decided to flip the sketch and loved playing with these happy papers from Echo Park's Splendid Sunshine 6x6 pad.  After celebrating my birthday on the 12th, I'm needing some thank you cards! I fussy cut the flowers and layered and popped with foam dots.

You'll want to check out the other mojomakers' blogs below OR you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and check out the first 7 thumbnails.  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you in the gallery!

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen 

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

Wanda Cullen (you are here)

STAMPS: Lean on Me (Verve), Bloom and Grow (Verve)

PAPER: White, Night of Navy, Splendid Sunshine by Echo Park

INK: Night of Navy, Lucky Limeade

ACCESSORIES: Elegant Leaves die by Verve, Brads, Adhesive pearls by Martha Stewart, Pennant trim border die by Verve.

  
Here's hoping everyone had a really blessed Easter! For us, the day started off with a breakfast and meaningful service at church. We had all the children home for the first grilling of the season - their favorite BBQ chicken. We don't have the pleasure of having all of them together very often since they are scattered all over the state, so these times are treasured! Left to right: Laura (daughter), Ashlie (DIL), Mark (middle son), Jessica (DIL), Michael (oldest son).

Viva la Verve

Laurie has a really great sketch and inspiration photo for this week's Viva la Verve challenge!  The pillow and ottoman basically led me to choose the large polka dotted DP from Echo Park's Splendid Sunshine pad...I just can't seem to put these papers down.  They are so perfect for summertime cards!  The embossed felt flower has been in my embellishment stash for a really long time and it fit perfectly.  The leaves were stamped with Lucky Limeade ink on Old Olive cardstock then die cut with Verve's Elegant Leaves die.  The sentiment was stamped after cutting the ribbon banner die by Spellbinders.  I stamped the heart using Night of Navy ink on the hot pink dotted swiss paper from the same EP pad then die cut it with Verve's Jotted Heart die.  Some white SU thread and Avery Elle sequins finished it off.

I want to wish all of my blogger friends a very happy and blessed Easter!  I'm looking forward to having all 3 of our children plus our two daughters-in-law  come to the house for a chicken BBQ dinner on Sunday afternoon! 

Looking Back

Today we are looking back at Our Daily Bread Designs April release.   I created a basket with matching tag after seeing a tutorial on Pinterest to create a basket using an envelope punch board and just had to try it out!  I chose some happy, springtime colors and added a Beautiful Borders die in Pacific Point cardstock and decorated with foliage, a crocheted flower with brad and some tiny yellow flowers - die cut from the Ornamental Crosses die set by ODBD.

The tag also includes the Honeycomb Mini background stamp and also a portion of the God's Love stamp set - both from older ODBD releases.  I love to mix the old and new together!

 

My second creation uses the new Chalkboard Collection paper and the Ornamental Crosses die.  I'm also using the Beautiful Borders die and the Fancy Foliage die from earlier releases.  The silver metallic banner is a Spellbinders' Ribbon Banners die.

For more inspiration using the April release, be sure to visit the ODBD blog or you can can click on the designers' links below.

Grace * Chris * Stacy * Julie * Dawn * Lori * Sabrina * Cathy * Sandee * Wanda

Color Throwdown

There's a new Color Throwdown Challenge going on and Melody has chosen a beautiful spring color  combo...inspired by this gorgeous outdoor living "room"!

I had this bright pink gelli plate printed sheet in my stash and used that as the starting point.  I had used a Hero Arts tweed pattern stencil for the first layer of the gelli print.  After it was dry, I added white modeling paste with a Dotted Flowers stencil by Dylusions.  I wanted to use twine to attach a sentiment tag, so used a lighter green (Sour Apple by MFT) for the leafy flourish so it would match the twine color.  This daisy die was a freebie with MFT's recent release and makes such a quick and easy layered flower!  The sentiment is from Verve's Small Celebrations set.

Due to a little email glitch, we have two Guest Star Stampers to inspire you this week:  
Jane @ Scrap Pieces of Me
Sandy Mathis @ Stamp With Sandy 
Play along with us this week and you just might be in the spotlight next week!  You don't have to have exact colors to play along, but you do need to have a close resemblence.  Be sure and link your creation to the linky tool at the bottom of the current challenge post on the Color Throwdown blog.

For more inspiration, check out the other throwdown designers' blogs below...
 
Barbara Anders    
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Monika Davis  
Tammy Hershberger
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen  <---you are="" here="" you--="">

Jeanne Jachna– April Guest Designer

Mojo Monday

It's Mojo Monday challenge time once again and Julee has another great layout for us! I had this paper pack on my desk from a previous project and just love the colors, so went with it again!  I had to tweak the sketch a bit to make this new Verve sentiment fit properly.  LOVE the fonts in this Better Together stamp set by Verve!  I added clear Wink of Stella shimmer brush highlights to the leafy sprigs, then tucked in several of the other leaves in this set.  The flower was layered over some twine.

You'll want to check out the other mojomakers' blogs below OR you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and check out the first 7 thumbnails.  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you in the gallery!

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen 

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

Wanda Cullen (you are here)

STAMPS: Sunny Days (Verve), Better Together (Verve)
PAPER: Kate and Co "Cambridge Court" 6x6 pad by My Mind's Eye, Sage Shadow (SU), Melon Mambo (SU), White (PTI)
INK: Sage Shadow, Versafine Onyx Black
ACCESSORIES: Clear embossing powder, Rhinestones by SU, Jute twine, Fishtail Flags Die-Namics by MFT, Leafy Sprigs dies by Verve.

Sketch For You To Try

I went with several Reverse Confetti stamp sets to create this card for Jen's Sketch For You To Try for April.I added some white modeling paste using a tweed pattern stencil over the DP for just a hint of texture.  The arrow elements were stamps from the Arrows 'n Elements set.  The sentiment "page" is from Class Act with words from Class Act and Arrows 'n Elements.  The flowers and leaves from the Petals 'n Posies set are so fun to layer up!

PAPER: Splendid Sunshine by Echo Park, White (PTI), Daffodil Delight (SU), Sour Apple (MFT).
INK: Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Night of Navy, Tangerine Tango.
ACCESSORIES: Petals 'n Posies and Class Act dies by Reverse Confetti.

Note of Thanks

This card was inspired by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge (oops...collection had already closed for this challenge) and uses the current Retrosketches Challenge layout. I totally had plans to create something in only sage and cream and picked out the herring bone paper (used in the matting) from this gorgeous paper pad by MME. Well...the small floral design was calling my name and I had to add it, too. :-)  I pulled some Sage Shadow CS from my stash - a long retired color by SU - for the card base.  I digressed from the baby theme and went with this new Reverse Confetti set - Class Act - to use the uber fun dotted swiss apple! Love that there are matching dies for all the images. 

 A really quick and fun thank you card for a teacher...or for anyone!

STAMPS: Class Act (Reverse Confetti)
PAPER: Kate and Co "Cambridge Court" pad by My Mind's Eye, Sage Shadow by SU, White by PTI
INK: Sage Shadow, Rose Red
ACCESSORIES: Class Act dies by Reverse Confetti, Enamel dots.

Color Throwdown

It's Wednesday, so that means there's a new color palette posted for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge. Lori has chosen these beautiful soft colors...inspired by these gorgeous birds' eggs!

I used SU's Fabulous Florets and Gorgeous Grunge stamp sets with a sentiment from PTI's Tag-Its

#12 stamp set.  I used a 1" punch which fits perfectly into a flattened bottle cap.  Not sure why this ribbon doesn't look like it matches in the photo. :-(  I stamped the flowers in Daffodil Delight then added some color shading with Copic markers - Y15 and Y18.  I sponged the petal edges and stippled color to highlight the centers. You can hopefully see the sheen and sparkle from the Wink of Stella clear shimmer brush that I added to the flowers.  I'm also playing along with Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

For more inspiration, you'll want to check out the rest of the design team's creations below.  We're also thrilled to have Jeanne Jachna from A Kept Life as our April guest designer!    
     

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits

                                              Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor 
                                                   Joan Ervin - Stamping With Passion

  Lori Tecler - Inking Aloud

Melody Rupple - A Paper Melody

Monika Davis - M.A.D. Stamper

Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy

Vickie Zimmer -  Smitten   
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations (you are here)
  Jeanne Jachna - (April Guest Designer) - A Kept Life

Before I end this post, I want to share some photos from a really fun weekend with some of the CTD team!  We met at Bar's house in VA which was a central location for many of us.  We really missed having Joan, Lori, Melody and Monika with us but, hopefully, this will become an annual event for us to get together!  There was no shortage of laughter and fun although we look rather serious in this first pic - lol!  The first photo shows Bar sharing a variety of ways to use the ever popular stencils.  We then worked with gelli plate printing - a messy but fun technique to create all kinds of fun backgrounds!  We ate breakfast at a local restaurant on Sunday morning before everyone headed back home.  A big THANK YOU to Bar and John for hosting us all!  You're the best!

 L. to R.: Broni Holcombe, Vickie Zimmer, Heather Shore (Tammy's friend who happens to be a SU demonstrator), Me, Barbara Anders, Tammy Hershberger.

Hope

I'm finally getting to play with my new Fine Feathers stamp set! This Waltzingmouse set has been sold out for some time, but finally it arrived on my doorstep! I'm a big fan of Cardabilities sketches and decided to play along this week.  I die cut the feathers, stamped with Versamark and then heat embossed with Stampendous Detail White embossing powder.  The doily coordinates with the designer paper by Recollections.  I clear embossed the sentiment after stamping with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  Some Avery Elle sequins and a SU button and I was done - so quick and easy!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Mojo Monday

Good Monday morning! Are you ready for another fabulous sketch for the Mojo Monday Challenge?  When I saw the 3 circles, I knew I wanted to use my current fave Verve set - Poppy Birthday!  The matching dies make it so easy to create with this set.  I added black enamel accents to the centers and echoed them with more enamel dots as embellishments.

For more inspiration, check out the first 7 thumbnails on the Mojo Monday blog, OR...you can visit each mojomaker's blog listed below: 

Debbie Carriere

 Julee Tilman (Owner)

                                             Marisa Ritzen 

                                           Mary Fish

                                        Sarah Bigelow

                                    Teresa Kline

STAMPS: Poppy Birthday (Verve)

PAPER: Fresh Prints DP (SU), White

INK: Real Red, Old Olive, Versamark Onyx Black

ACCESSORIES: Build a Poppy dies (Verve) Soft Suede taffeta ribbon (SU), Black enamel accents, Enamel dots.