double the challenge, twice the fun!

Hello! I'm doubling up on challenges today - first is Amy's Friday Sketch #55 and the other is Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 2. Amy's sketch just screamed at me to put it on paper and Dawn's colors (teal, brown, white, and celery) looked so soothing, so I went to work. The sketch didn't work with layers (I tried and failed miserably), so I just kept it clean and simple. I ran the flowers and long rectangle through my Cuttlebug with the Spots & Dots and D'vine Swirls embossing folders to create some texture since I didn't use any patterned paper *gasp*! I know!! (say that in your very best Craig Ferguson voice, k?) I used paper to thread my button again and just attached it with a glue dot. Loved these challenges today - go give them a try :)

Hey, don't forget to try out this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge for a chance to win some yummolicious blog treats. All the details are in THIS POST. Only 2 days left to participate!!

Have a wonderful day!
Karen




recipe -
paper: chocolate chip, certainly celery, taken with teal, stampers select white (papertrey, ink)
accessories: 5/16" brads, button (bag-o-buttons), certainly celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, card sayings rubons (making memories), flower layers die cut (sizzix), d'vine swirls/spots & dots embossing folders (provocraft), large corner rounder, stampin' dimensionals

special delivery

No, no, no - not of the baby kind, but of the random act of kindness kind! The adorable, lovely, fantastic and sweet Sarah-Jane Kale' sent me the BEAUTIFUL card in the mail and it brought the biggest smile to my face. The flowers are full of yummy glitter. Thank you SO much Sarah-Jane, you are amazing! Hop on by her blog and say hi - her cards and projects are darling!

groovy thank you

Did you all have a good weekend? We were busy! 2 kid birthday parties and a baby shower for my sister-in-law. I'm exhausted! But I did find time to whip out a card, naturally - ha! This card uses Weekend Sketch Challenge #74 and my fellow Baker's Dozen gal, Charmaine, is hosting the challenge this week. Pop on over to check out the sketch and all the other entries. I still have some very retired Afternoon Tea paper and had intended to make a Mother's Day card, but none of my sentiments worked with the oval die cuts I have - it was going to be GINORMOUS and take over the card. So I opted for plan B and used an oval from my aged copper hardware stash. I love this sketch and like the way the card turned out - so full of spring!

Have a great day!
Karen




recipe -
stamps: short & sweet
ink: groovy guava
paper: chocolate chip, stampers select white (papertrey, ink) cardstock, afternoon tea dsp
accessories: aged copper hodgepodge hardware, 5/16" brads, groovy guava double stitched grosgrain ribbon, large oval punch, stampin' dimensionals

sweet sunday sketch challenge #11 + a bonus

Good morning - It's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! Here is the deal: make a card with this layout and use Mr. Linky down at the end of my post to enter your card. On Thursday at 2 PM (Mountain Time), I'll randomly select one card to feature on my blog. So, as long as your card is linked in the Mr. Linky box by 2 PM Thursday, your card will be in the drawing. Be sure to link directly to the blog post or gallery image which features your card. You may post a picture of the sketch on your blog, but please save the image to your computer first. Use the keyword SSSC11 if you plan to post your card at SplitcoastStampers or another online gallery.

Are you ready for your bonus?! So many big things to celebrate here - my blog is over 100K hits AND... I am SO excited to tell you one of my cards is published in the March issue of Cards - can you see me jumping around the room in utter elation?! This is the card they published (although the colors in their photo of it are WAY off, but what are ya gonna do?), you can find it on page 143 - tee hee! Anyway... to celebrate I'm giving away some goodies for one random participant in this sketch challenge. All you need to do to qualify for the drawing is make a card with this week's sketch and post it to Mr. Linky and on Thursday at 2 PM I'll use Random.org to choose a winner. Sound YUMM-O? The lucky winner will receive the March issue of Cards, 2 Sale-A-Bration stamp sets (Congrats & Polka dot Punches), and an assortment of yummolicious embellishments - 3 library clips, 3 Kiwi Kiss corduroy buttons, 3 Pacific Point corduroy buttons, 4 flower brads, and 7 5/16" brads. Anyone can play - so get your game face on and get crackin'! The card I made measures 6-1/2" x 3-1/4" if you would like the dimensions and try to make one that size if you can - it's part of the challenge of it all *grin*.

OK, off you go! Have a great day and good luck!
Karen

OOOPS!!! Mr. Linky is live now - sorry gang!


recipe -
stamps: flight of the butterfly
ink: so saffron, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip
paper: bravo burgundy, pumpkin pie, whisper white cardstock, maine bluebery & pumpkin pie paper patterns dsp
accessories: rectangle/scallop nestibilities, yellow grosgrain ribbon (american crafts), flower fusion accents & elements, fresh favorites 2 brads, scallop edge punch, horizontal slit punch, stampin dimensionals

easter wishes

Anyone else out there ready for spring? Colorado keeps teasing us with spring - it's 75 degrees one day, the next day it's 35 degrees and then the day after that? Blizzard! Nice huh? So with spring on the brain, I made this little Easter card using Weekend Sketch #73. I found it over at Cambria Turnbow's blog, Stamp a Little Love Baby. I finally ordered some Delicate Dots paper for myself and I am loving it, plus it was free - can't go wrong with that! I love Sale-A-Bration. Anyway, I added a ton of scallops again, and ribbon of course :) I threaded the button with a sliver of Bashful Blue cardstock instead of thread - gives it a little pop of color.

Well, that's it for today. See you back soon!
Karen




recipe -
stamps: pocket silhouettes, all holidays
ink: bashful blue
paper: so saffron, bashful blue, whisper white cardstock, delicate dots dsp
accessories: so saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, latte buttons, scallop edge punch, square scallop punch, large oval punch, stampin' dimensionals

how i spent my friday

Do you want to see what 960 sheets of designer series paper looks like? Here you go! Just a peek into the life of this crazy stamper :)

Paper shares will be mailed tomorrow folks - still have 2 available. See my sidebar for details if you are interested.

Karen

PS, this is the last of the paper share talk *wink*

so punny

I finally got to ink up the hostess set, Comfort Food, today - don't you love these little puns? I think they are so cute! I made quick little set of 4 to sell in my Etsy shop - no layers, no brads, no stampin' dimensionals... I know, it's weird! I just used one of my scallop rectangle Nestabilities dies to emboss the card front and then stamped the image inside the frame it created. Very simple, but I love the look. Tie a ribbon down the side and you're done! These cards are 3x3, so you really can't put a whole lot on them (or can you? I feel a challenge coming on... lol).

On another note - I have new goodies I just ordered sitting in my mailbox, stranded out there! It's snowing SO hard here and I just can't bring myself to fight the sideways-snow to walk up the street to get them. I considered driving the car up there, but my hubby got stuck in the driveway coming home from work, so it's a tad slippery out there! Yes, it's torture sitting here KNOWING I have new things to ink up and play with, just sitting in the mailbox. Sigh... I'll fish them out soon...

Have a great Friday everyone -
Karen




recipe -
stamps: comfort food
ink: memento rich cocoa, copic markers
paper: stampers select white (papertrey ink)
accessories: rose silk ribbon (ellen hutson's store), so saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, rectangle scallop nestabilities (spellbinders)

paper, Paper & more PAPER

Yep! I have a few extra Paper Lover's Paper Packs available for you - I'm cutting the paper tonight and shipping it out tomorow (if I can get out of the neighborhood with all this snow!) or Saturday. If you are interested in purchasing this LAST round of paper packs, please click the Buy Now button in my sidebar, or you can just click it here too :)
This is the last round of paper shares I will be doing until the new catalog is out. I have 4 left, so hurry! They won't last long once this is posted.

Happy stamping!
Karen

sweet sunday sketch winner

This week's winner is Sarah-Jane Kale' with this adorable baby boy card! I just love the polka dot sail and the star with the button, so cute! You can see more of Sarah-Jane's cards and scrapbook pages at her blog, Janeybell - hop on over there and say hi.

You all will NOT want to miss out on the sketch this Sunday - be sure to come back and check it out.

Karen

surrounded

Here's a card for you using Jen del Muro's Sketch For You to Try - I've been wanting to do one of her sketches forever and I finally did! I used Sweet Spring from Taylored Expressions along with the Easter Key Ingredients and I just used the last of the brads, NOOOOO! I'll have to get me some more *smile*. I had to make a quick change of plans and use a rhinestone brad for the flower up top instead. Does it look weird? The cute little cuppie is colored with Copics and I thought he needed some rosey cheeks this time.

I'll be back later with this week's sketch challenge winner -
Karen


recipe -
stamps: sweet spring
ink: memento rich cocoa, copic markers
paper: pink, teal, choice bright white cardstock, tiny dancer patterned paper
accessories: shimmer/felt flowers, metalic brads, rhinestone brads (SU), rectangle nestabilities (spellbinders), stampin' dimensionals

miss you

I thought it would be fun to make a fall card with Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates today - what do you think? I love the little owl sitting there on the branch. I used Copic markers again today (yes, I AM addicted) and I don't have many browns to work with, so my little owl is looking a little bit orange. It's all good though, he matches the tree - ha! I think what I'm loving the most about the Copics is the outlining color, C1 (Cool Gray) - it just makes the image pop from the paper a bit. The patterned paper is Autumn Vine and the brads are flocked - love the fuzz! The sentiment comes from Taggers Dozen. Seems to work right there under the branch.

I hope you are having a good week so far - see you soon!
Karen


recipe -
stamps: branching out, branching out coordinates, tagger's dozen (stampin' up!)
ink: memento rich cocoa, close to cocoa, copic markers
paper: close to cocoa, sage shadow, choice bright white (taylored expressions) cardstock, autumn vine dsp
accessories: sage shadow dotted grosgrain ribbon, crushed velvet brads (doodlebug design inc.), rectangle nestabilities (spellbinders), stampin' dimensionals

wonderful

This week's featured stamper at SplitcoastStampers is the always fabulous, Beate! Her gallery is packed full of wonderful cards and I chose to CASE this card. I changed the stamps, paper, and embellishments for my card and I wish Stampin' Up! still had Maine Blueberry paper available - I love these colors together! One of these days I'll get some current paper to show off - I'm just trying to work my way out of the piles of old paper in my desk at the moment.

So can you tell what I left off of this card??? Do you know?? Ribbon! It's a rare day when I don't use any ribbon on a card - ha!

One of the blogs I visit all the time is Jen Tapler's and she has some yummy blog candy to give away - you only need to send her a brand new, never seen before card. She's going to collect all the cards and put them together for her Stamp Out Alzheimer's event in May. You can see all the details at her blog, HERE. Such a wonderful idea!

Enjoy your day -
Karen


recipe -
stamps: wonderful favorites
ink: not quite navy, bashful blue
paper: bashful blue, not quite navy, old olive, whisper white cardstock, maine blueberry dsp
accessories: 6-petal punch & 5-petal punch (ek success), vintage brads, circle/scallop nestabilities (spellbinders), mini glue dots, stampin' dimensionals

easter

Hello! We had a gorgeous weekend here in northern Colorado and it's inspired me to make something that screams spring - so how about an Easter card? I am in love with Sweet Spring from Taylored Expressions, especially this little bunny. I think he's my favorite of the group. I used the Easter Key Ingredients Kit and I can't get enough of this scrumptious paper! I also gave my new Copic Markers another shot - I think I may have overcolored the cupcake a bit because it started to look orange. Ooops! I'm loving these markers though. Can't believe I waited so long to get some.

Thanks for stopping by,
Karen


recipe -
stamps: sweet spring
ink: memento rich cocoa, copic markers
paper: easter key ingredients kit
accessories: white brads, white grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch, circle/scallop nestabilities (spellbinders), stampin' dimensionals