Sketch For You To Try

I thought the Sketch For You To Try Challenge for June would be great to use this retired Reverse Confetti set - Happy Harbor. Very monochromatic and highlighted with clear dew drops that mimic water bubbles.  I used the zig zag die from the Edge Essentials Confetti Cuts set to emboss a border along the navy panel.  That die set is my current RC favorite!  Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown

It's Color Throwdown Challenge day and Lisa is our hostess with the mostest! Check out these awesome colors: peach, raspberry, plum and white! It's making me hungry for some fruit salad - lol!  I did a watercolor wash on some Ranger WC paper using Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord and Dried Marigold distress inks.  Using WPlus9's Outlined Roses die, I cut out the roses and leaves from Neenah Solar White CS then sponged on Dried Marigold, Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves distress inks. I sponged WPlus9's Beanstalk and Mojito dye inks on the leaves.  

I gold embossed the sentiment (WPlus9's Sending, Hoping, Wishing set) on vellum then used SU's window label punch and adhered with two tiny black brads.  The "sending" word die was cut twice to layer for more dimension.  I splattered the base panel with Heidi Swapp gold Color Shine and added some gold sequins.  The wonky stitched frame die is by Lil' Inker Designs.

Our guest star stamper is Rosemary Dennis of Hey There...rosigirl! Be sure to stop by her blog to comment on her beautiful card!

We're also thrilled to have Kara Vrabel of K and R Designs as our guest designer this month! 

To get all the details on how to play along with the challenge, please go to the Color Throwdown blog and check out the info on the right sidebar!  You can also check out the rest of the design teams' creations for more inspiration on the CTD blog.. or you can clink on their blog links below.
Amy Rohl
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)
Kara Vrabel - June Guest Designer    

Hats Off to the Grad!

I needed a quick graduation card for a young man from church, so I turned to this older but forever classic PTI set - For the Graduate. I wanted to incorporate his high school colors, so went with this metallic striped paper from the "Be Bold Be Bright" foiled pad by the Paper Studio.  I used my MISTI to stamp the sentiment twice.  It makes it so much bolder when I do this extra step!  The hat was gold embossed with Ranger Queen's Gold embossing powder then fussy cut and popped with foam tape.  A tiny black brad to "hold" the tassel and some gold sequins topped off this CAS design.  

Off to get ready for work...thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy 90th!

 My dad has a milestone 90th birthday on the 15th, so as soon as I saw the sketch for the current CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge, I knew I wanted to stagger balloons for his card!
I used distress inks then hand drew the strings.  I stacked two happy die cuts on top of each other to give it more dimension.  Here is the inside of the card with number dies and fun sentiment from SU's Number of Years bundle.

After I photographed the inside, I decided to add a few more stamped balloons to brighten it up a bit.

STAMPS: Whole Lotta Happy (WPlus9), Number of Years (SU).
PAPER: Tropical Teal (PTI), Sour Apple (MFT), White, Black.
INK: Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers (Ranger distress inks).
ACCESSORIES: Stitched rectangle die by Lil' Inker Designs; Clear sequins; Happy Trio die by WPlus9.

Thanks for stopping by...I'll post some birthday photos after we celebrate with dad end of the month in Ohio. 

Mojo Monday

Another Monday is here and there's another awesome new sketch by Julee for the Mojo Monday Challenge! I really love all the open space that gives you so much freedom for creating great backgrounds!  Remember...it's contest week, so there are prizes up for grabs if you play along!  I combined my card with the current Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge to use a nautical theme. Stamps are from Verve's Strong Anchor set.  Papers are from Authentique's Seaside Collection and are paired with Night of Navy, white and metallic silver CS.  Verve's Nautical Die Set makes it so easy to create the anchor embellishment and, of

course, I had to add a little rope to complete it.  The embossing folder is called "Nautical" and is by Lifetime Crafts (it's one of 2 folders in a package).  

I'm also entering this card into the Paper Players Challenge #298 where Claire has chosen a theme that is to honor the dads in our lives.

For more inspiration from the rest of the mojomakers, click on their blog links below...or...you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and click on the first seven thumbnails. 

Julee Tilman (Owner)
Justin Krieger
Lori Tecler
Marisa Ritzen 
Sarah Bigelow
Teresa Kline
Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Seize the Birthday

Happy Saturday everyone! I whipped up this birthday card for my brother who is celebrating on the 8th. I was inspired by THIS CARD by Kara Vrabel. I loved the way the "happy" stamp had tilted letters to echo the tilted card panels.  I didn't have a small "balloon tail" stamp so I hand drew the strings using a medium point black gel pen. I'm entering this into the Seize the Birthday "Anything Goes" challenge.  Heading out to work shortly and hoping I beat the severe thunderstorm they are predicting!  Enjoy!

STAMPS: Whole Lotta Happy (WPlus9), Sending, Hoping, Wishing (WPlus9).
PAPER: Bermuda Bay (SU), Black, White. 
INK: Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Pistachio Pudding (all by SU).

Color Throwdown

Jumpin' Jehosaphat, it's June already!  Are you ready for these fabulous earthy colors -kraft, green and cream - for the new Color Throwdown Challenge? I certainly was when I saw hostess Jodi's color picks!  

OK...I took some liberties with this one since Tim Holtz doesn't have an exact kraft distress ink color.  I checked my color chart and thought Tea Dye and Scattered Straw looked close.  They're in the light brown family, so I went with both colors to create the watercolor wash background and then used them to stamp some of the foliage!  I also went with multiple greens - Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron and Crushed Olive.  To add a little pizzazz, I included a gold embossed sentiment on vellum and gold sequins.  The watercolored panel was matted with Garden Green CS over a kraft base.

STAMPS: Autumn Leaves (WPlus9), Sending, Hoping, Wishing (WPlus9).
PAPER: Kraft (PTI), Garden Green (SU), Vellum, Ranger watercolor CS.

A big CONGRATS to our guest star stamper - Kathy Schweinfurth of Stamps At Play! Be sure to stop by her blog to comment on her beautiful card! 

Since it's a new month, we say goodbye to Jill Hawkins who guested in May and say hello to our new guest designer - Kara Vrabel of K and R Designs!  So happy to welcome Kara who will be sharing her creative talents with us!

To get all the details on how to play along with the challenge, please go to the Color Throwdown blog and check out the info on the right sidebar!  You can also check out the rest of the design teams' creations for more inspiration on the CTD blog.. or you can clink on their blog links below.
Amy Rohl
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)
Kara Vrabel - June Guest Designer