Color Throwdown 173

Welcome to a new year and another Color Throwdown Challenge! Barbara Anders is bringing us some great colors this week and she has also done a fabulous job with updating our CTD graphics!

I wanted to break in the new year with a new stamp set from PTI...yep...I have more flowers to ink up - lol! No surprise there. I heat embossed the leaves using silver EP. The layout is this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge over on Karen Giron's blog. I'm also entering this card into my good friend and SU demonstrator's Last But Not Least Challenge to use something new on a card. Head over to Deb Horst's blog HERE to get the details.

Remember, you do not have to have the exact colors to play the Color Throwdown challenge. If you don't, just use the closest you have. So, hop on over to the Color Throwdown blog and play along with us this week. Please use the link service to post your card and please link directly to your card so we can find it easily. And please include a link in your post to the Color Throwdown. If you upload your card to a public forum, please use the keyword CTD173 so we can see your creation all in one place. Hope to see you there! Be sure to check out what the other team members have come up with this week, including January's Guest Designer, Stacy Morgan - welcome, Stacy!

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Tammy Hershberger

Danielle Kennedy

Joan Ervin

Kerri Michaud

Kristin Eberline

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Wanda Cullen - you are here

Stacy Morgan (January Guest Designer)

STAMPS: Rosy Posy (PTI), Mat Stack 1 Collection (PTI) - sentiment
PAPER: Black, Real Red, White
INK: Real Red, Versamark, Versfine Black Onyx
ACCESSORIES: Rosy Posy dies by PTI, Doily Die-Namic by MFT, Satin ribbon, Silver EP.

Hello Color Challenge

Yawn...barely holding my eyes open here, but couldn't resist playing with Betty Wright's fabulous colors for the Color Challenge on SCS! This is NOT a mailable card (unless you box it up) due to the honkin' big flower! I layered up some leaves from the foliage die set by Spellbinders and added a flourish using SU's Scribbles Swirls die. I really fell in love with these colors and will have to try this combo out again!

STAMPS: Tag Time (tag outline) & Happy Hello (sentiment) - both by Verve; Music BG stamp by Me & Carrie Lou
PAPER: Basic Gray, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, White
INK: Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade
ACCESSORIES: Spiral Blossom One die by SB, Foliage dies by SB, Scribbles Swirls die by SU, Tiny Sweet Scallop die by Verve, Distressing tool, Sponge, Pewter pearls by Kaiser, Mistletoe ribbon by SU.

Mojo Sympathy Card

It's with a lot of sadness that I'm making this card for a co-worker who unexpectedly lost her young adult son on Christmas day. I went with earthy colors and loved working with Julee's awesome sketch for the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge! I stamped the ferns using Soft Suede ink then ran the kraft panel through the Big Shot using the square lattice EF by SU. The rest is pretty simple.
Here's what else I used:
STAMPS: Forever in Our Hearts by Verve
PAPER: Simply Chartreuse (PTI), Kraft, Soft Suede, Vintage Cream
INK: Soft Suede
ACCESSORIES: Maya Road corrugated circle and small kraft flower, Copper brads, Metal flower brad by SU, Fern and frond punches by Martha Stewart, Square lattice EF, Wide twill tape by SU, Twine, Corduroy button by SU.

Off to work I go after almost 3 weeks vacation...I'm trying not to be too sad because I do need to support my stamping habit - lol!

Dirty Dozen Flashback to July

I'm sharing my Dirty Dozen cards for the month of July with the "Star-Spangled" theme... in Lydia's descriptive words "some things are just timeless - like stars, stripes and polka dots". My favorite for the month is this friend card...

Happy Retirement, Bar!

Hello everyone! It's a special day for a fellow Color Throwdown team member! After many years of nursing others to health, Barbara Anders is retiring from the nursing profession! To help her celebrate, we have a blog hop to honor her. One trait that stands out... besides her fabulous stamping creations...is her great sense of humor! I went with a play on words for her card and computer-generated this sentiment - Three Chairs for You! - to go along with the trio of chair images. Good luck, Bar, as you enter retirement! You so deserve some time for relaxation, sleeping in, stamping all day if you so desire, drinking a glass of wine for breakfast...and lunch...and supper! ENJOY!!

To check out some other well wishers' blog posts, click on these names:

Broni Holcombe - http://bronih.typepad.com/splashesofwatercolor/

Lynn Put - http://thequeensscene.blogspot.com/

Wanda Cullen - http://cullen-arycreations.blogspot.com/

Lori Tecler - http://inkingaloud.blogspot.com/

Joan Ervin - http://stampingwithapassion.blogspot.com/

Jody Morrow - http://confessionsofaribbonaddict.blogspot.com/

Cindy Haffner - http://cindyhaffnerscorner.blogspot.com/

Tammy Hershberger - http://www.stamphappy-tammy.blogspot.com/
Christine Okken - http://christinecreations.blogspot.com/

STAMPS: Recollections
PAPER: Lost & Found Two "Blush" pad by My Mind's Eye, White, Raspberry Fizz, Green, Black
ACCESSORIES: Mini rolled roses Die-namics by MFT, Foliage die by Spellbinders, Grommet die by SB, Black twine, Raspberry Fizz ribbon by PTI.

Valentine Girl

I love these feminine papers (new by Echo Park) and thought they'd be perfect for My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge in the MFT forum on SCS. I'm also entering this into MFT's challenge for a guest designer spot with the requirement to incorporate paper piecing on our creation. I love this technique...especially with the PI line of images! My favorite MFT Die-namic is the mini rolled roses and couldn't resist adding them as embellishments to the rose-themed DP.

Copic colors used:
Hair - E55, E57
Skin - E000, E00, R00 (used for blush on cheeks)
Heart - R22
Shoes - R17

What else did I use?
STAMPS: Love You With All My Heart (MFT)
PAPER: Victoria Gardens 6x6 pad by Echo Park, Old Olive, White (Neenah Solar white for image and PTI white CS for base of card), Cameo Coral
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black
ACCESSORIES: White satin ribbon, Adhesive rhinestones by Recollections, Corner Chomper, Foliage dies by Spellbinders, Mini rolled roses Die-Namics and Dainty Lace border Die-Namics by MFT.

You're Special

Roxie has been posting the Sketch Challenge on SCS for the past 6 years and she is stepping down after all these years of fun layouts. Three new ladies will take her place, but I definitely wanted to play and acknowledge Roxie's dedication! So, this is my take on it...using new papers from the Yours Truly 6x6 pad by Echo Park and some new images from Paper Smooches...A Little Lovin' and Sentiment Sampler. I added some Crystal Effects to the tiny hearts and balanced off the other corner with a trio of buttons w/twine (can't have nekkid buttons - lol). Hope you're having a great "hump day"!