Viva La Verve Returns

It's a rainy Monday and I'm thrilled to see it! Grass is turning brown and flowers are looking rather pitiful, so I'm hoping this will revive everything a bit! To brighten things up in my crafty space, I've created a card for the returning Viva la Verve sketch challenge!  This sketch was perfect for a retirement card for our pastor and his wife!  I love these black and white prints in Bazzill's "Licorice" basics patterned paper pad and paired them with Reverse Confetti's Lime Green cardstock that is such a happy shade of green!  

STAMPS: Wonderfully Made (Verve).
DIES: Small Mariana Vine Background and Small Mariana Vine Outline by Poppystamps; Stitched Circle by Lil' Inker Designs; Edge Essentials by Reverse Confetti.

I need to dash off and get ready for work...have a great day friends!

Dare To Get Dirty

It's that time of year again on Splitcoaststampers when the Dirty Dozen gals (both alumni and current) are hosting LOTS of fun challenges for the week! My good friend, Teresa Kline, is hosting a really fun theme challenge today and asked me to make a sample card!  You'll need to be a fan club member on SCS to read all about the details!

One of my favorite heart dies is Simon Says Stamp's Sketch Heart.  I layered up some fussy cut flowers from The Stamp Market's 'You' set and tucked in some leaves from MFT's Mini Modern Blooms.  The watercolor panel has smooshed distress inks and was on my leftover pile.  I think I used Peacock Feathers and Bundled Sage inks.  I cut out the 'You' sentiment three times and adhered the layers together to give it a nice dimensional look.  The glittery enamel dots are from the new SU catalog.  

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Freshly Made Sketches

My day off work flew by so quickly today, but I was able to create a quick CAS design for the new Freshly Made Sketches Challenge this evening! I was also inspired by the herb garden photo for the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge.  

I layered up the Wheat dies by Reverse Confetti using their Lime Green and Sand cardstock.  The sentiment die - also by Reverse Confetti - is part of their Hello and Thanks Label die set. 




I struggled with this design and am thinking I need to do a remake, but for now...this will have to do.  

Color Throwdown #454

Happy Wednesday everyone! Amy Rohl is the hostess for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge and has chosen green, kraft and white as our colors. LOVE these earthy colors which were perfect to add a sympathy card to my stash! 

When I returned from vacation this past weekend, this new background stamp - Cover Up: Diamonds by PTI - was in my mail stack, so I knew I wanted to use that as my starting point.  I white embossed on kraft cardstock, then die cut using a stitched rectangle die.  It was layered over some Wild Wasabi CS by SU.  I added some Glacier White Enamel Accents to the flower center.  I also added a couple of metallic gold die cuts to shadow two of the florals.

STAMPS: Cover Up: Diamonds, Larger Than Life (florals), Blooming Button Bits (sentiment) - all by Papertrey Ink.
INK: Wild Wasabi, Lucky Limeade (SU); Versamark.

We're so happy to announce that the talented Sheri Gilson is our guest designer for the month of August!  I'm a big fan of her fabulous clean, layered cards and you will want to visit her website HERE to see her beautiful card!

This week's guest star stamper is Kelly Schirmer of the Gingham Girl blog - congrats Kelly! 
 
For more details on how to play along, head over to the Color Throwdown Blog and you'll find the information on the right sidebar!  You can also visit the rest of the design team's creations for more inspiration by clicking on the links below:

Amy Rohl 
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)   

Sheri Gilson - August Guest Designer 

Color Throwdown #453

It's Wednesday (and the last one in July - OMG -  how did that happen already?!), so that means another Color Throwdown Challenge is on board! Broni is our hostess and I'm totally in LOVE with these awesome colors: raspberry, green and yellow!

You know I had to go with florals and it was perfect to initiate some new (to me) stamp goodies.  Here is my take on it...

I'm loving this Watercolor Stripes Stencil by Altenew and created the background by blending Daffodil Delight ink (SU) with a Tim Holtz blending tool.  Though I've had Simon Says Stamps' Spring Flowers stamp set for several months, I just recently got the Floral Shapes wafer dies.  I white embossed the images on Ranger watercolor CS then colored them in using Zig Clean Color brush markers.  Well, I should say I quickly scribbled in the colors since I knew I didn't have to stay inside the lines because I was die cutting them out.  Easy peasy!  The third new necessity - lol - was using one of MFT's Stitched Dome Frame Die-Namics.  I love using open frames on my cards, so you'll be seeing a lot more of these in the future.  The sentiment is from SSS Uplifting Thoughts.  

ZIGS: 202 Peach Pink, 025 Pink, 027 Dark Pink, 051 Lemon Yellow, 045 Pale Green, 041 Light Green, 047 May Green. 

For more details on how to play along, head over to the Color Throwdown Blog and you'll find the information on the right sidebar!  You can also visit the rest of the design team's creations for more inspiration by clicking on the links below:

Amy Rohl 
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)  

Tracey McNeely - July Guest Designer 

Thanks to Tracey McNeely for joining us this month as a guest designer!  Stay tuned next week to meet our August guestie!

Happy 1st Birthday

It's our grandson's 1st birthday today and I had a ball creating his birthday card using Lawn Fawn's Critters From the Past stamp

set and matching dies! He and his big sister are both into dinosaurs, so this was a no brainer when it came to card ideas.  I colored with Copics after stamping with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on X-Press It Blending Card (my favorite with Copics!).  The die cut images were then popped over some rolling hills and ombre paper for the sky in the background.  I love personalizing cards, so had to include his name with MFT's Stitched Banner Alphabet Die-Namics!  The inside of the card uses SU's Number of Years stamp set and says Look who is turning 1.  Yes, I forgot to get a photo of the inside, so...insert sad face here!

I can't close without posting a couple of recent photos of the birthday boy! He's adorable and very laid back... a shy guy - tucking his head and turning away when he first meets you!  He loves to smile and has a very unique crawl that gets him everywhere!

Freshly Made Sketches

I love the tilted panel in the new Freshly Made Sketches challenge #297, but went with an A2 sized card instead of a square. I went with Reverse Confetti products again (can't seem to get my fill of them!) and mixed some old with some new!  I just love the brushed lettering look with this new sentiment set! 

STAMPS: Sentiment Essentials, Build A Bunch (both by Reverse Confetti).
PAPER: Coastal Cabana (SU), Kraft (PTI), X-Press It Blending Card, White (PTI).
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; Ocean Drive dye ink by WPlus9.
DIES: Lacy Scallop and Swirlies Confetti Cuts.