Bold Birthday Blooms

Hi friends!  The Color Throwdown is celebrating 5 years of color challenges and as a former guest designer (September 2011), I've been invited to help them celebrate today.  There are lots of prizes available for participating in the challenge, so be sure to head on over to The Color Throwdown blog for the full prize list and links to all the participating alumni and guest designers!

The colors this week are bold and bright.  Not my usual palette, but a scrumptious challenge nonetheless. As I've mentioned before July is birthday season in my life.  So many birthdays to celebrate, so I couldn't miss this opportunity to make another card on my list.  This one is for Stacey Schafer who just happens to be celebrating a birthday today and is also this month's guest designer at The Color Throwdown.  Happy birthday, Stacey!

The flower stamps are from the Joyful Blooms set and the sentiment is the Birthday to You Plain Jane.  No patterned paper was harmed in the making of this card.  {grin}  Lots of tone on tone stamping for the backgrounds, then a bit of fussy cutting for the bermuda bay popped up flower.  Some washi tape flags with buttons and a Flourished Trim Die for the botto

m border finish things off.

That's all from me!  Hope you have a spectacular day and find a little time to join in the festivities this week.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Joyful Blooms, Birthday to You Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: bermuda bay, crumb cake, melon mambo, so saffron, basic black (SU!)
Ink: melon mambo, bermuda bay (SU!), black
Accessories: Flourished Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), washi tape (Glitz Designs), buttons, embossing folder (SU!), Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), onyx liquid pearls (Ranger)

Sunny Days

Hi friends!  Happy Saturday!  Yesterday afternoon I got to sneak in a little stamping time.  I love stamping in the afternoons with the sun streaming in my window and was so excited to see that a little patch of sunshine had popped up amidst all the dreary rain we've been having.  Since I had sunshine on the brain, I thought this week's Color Throwdown #162 challenge was the perfect starting point.

The Making Of:
I began by arranging the cardstock colors:  pool party, barely banana, early espresso and crumb cake (I couldn't find any creamy caramel in my stash).  Then I knew I wanted to do the Have Only Paper Embellishments challenge in the Hope You Can Cling To forum.  I was in a coloring mood, so pulled out Maisy Ketto, stamped her in Stazon ink and then colored her.  The sparkly parts are painted with a mixture of re-inker, diamond glaze and glitter.  Hopefully that's not cheating... I consider it a type of ink since you paint it on.  {grin}  Either way, I'm sure whoever receives it at the MD Anderson Cancer Center will appreciate the bit of sparkle, so it's all good!  I added in some shadows around the image with a prismacolor pencil and gamsol, then matted on an oval and added the sentiment from  Sunny Days.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a bright, bright, sunshiny day!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Maisy Ketto (Stamping Bella),  Sunny Days (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Barely Banana, Pool Party, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake (SU!), Cream
Ink: Black Stazon, pool party, barely banana (SU!), Vintage Photo (Ranger), Copic markers, re-inker/glitter glaze mixture, prismacolors & gamsol, liquid pearls
Accessories:  Classic & scallop ovals nestabilities (Spellbinders), Dotted Wave border punch (EK Success), swirl textured impressions (Sizzix), Scor-pal

Happiness

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  I've so enjoyed my time as Guest Designer for the Color Throwdown and the final throwdown of the month is upon us.  Thanks to the whole CTD team for letting me play along with y'all this month!  This week's colors, chosen by hostess Kristin, perfectly match the autumn chill in the air around here.

Here's this week's color palette...

The Making Of:
I've had a crazy week, which means clean & simple was definitely my first choice when I sat down to stamp last night.  These fall colors made me think of the Happiness Found set, so I pulled it out, stamped the smaller leaves tone on tone on each of the four color strips, then glued to a cream panel and wonky stitched across the top and bottom edges.  The nestabilities label is sponged with Chocolate Chip ink and I added the sentiment from Happiness Found and a couple of the leaves in Poppy Parade.  I finished off with some Poppy Parade ribbon and three little rhinestones.  Finished size is 3.75" x 6.25".

That's all from my little crafting world today.  Head on over to the Color Throwdown Blog where you can read up on the challenge details. Then be sure to check out the blogs of the CTD Design Team to see their colorful creations for this week:

Kristin Eberline

Broni Holcombe

Barbara Anders

Danielle Kennedy

Tammy Hershberger

Carole Burrage

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Happiness Found (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Chocolate Chip (SU!), Cream
Ink: Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Accessories:  Poppy Parade ribbon (SU!), Labels Nestabilities (Spellbinders), flatback black rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty),sewing machine

Dream Big

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  I'm enjoying my time as Guest Designer for the Color Throwdown and it's that time again...time for a new throwdown.  This week's colors, chosen by hostess Danielle Kennedy, are absolutely dreamy.  I hope you'll play along with us this week!

Here's this week's color palette...

The Making Of:
I started with the Dream Big set (which is on sale through the end of the month), stamping the three sizes of flowers in Regal Rose on cream cardstock, then hand trimming.  To get them to curl a little, I ran each through my paper crimper both directions to break the fibers a bit, then flattened them back out, layered on dimensionals and curled the edges inward with my fingers.  The leaf branch is stamped in Early Espresso and hand trimmed.  The herringbone embossing folder adds some texture to the background and I finished off with some seam binding ribbon and pearls.

That's all from my little crafting world today.  Head on over to the Color Throwdown Blog where you can read up on the challenge details. Then be sure to check out the blogs of the CTD Design Team to see their colorful creations for this week:

Kristin Eberline

Broni Holcombe

Barbara Anders

Danielle Kennedy

Tammy Hershberger

Carole Burrage

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Dream Big (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Regal Rose, Early Espresso (SU!), Cream
Ink: Early Espresso, Regal Rose (SU!)
Accessories:  Vanilla seam binding ribbon (SU!), paper distresser (Tonic), Doily Lace border punch (Martha Stewart), Herringbone embossing folder (Cuttlebug), flatback black pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty), clear detail embossing powder (JudiKins)

Coffee Talk

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  I'm back from vacation and have already hit the studio with a little color throwdown for my stint as Guest Designer over on the Color Throwdown blog!  I hope you'll play along with us this week!

Our hostess this week is the fabulously creative master of color herself, Carole Burrage.  And the color palette she's throwing down is a real mild one...

I just love this sentiment... life happens over coffee.  For many years, Mark and I have periodically gone out to a coffee shop just to talk and plan and dream.  I think it started early in our marriage when we were struggling financially just to make ends meet.  We'd always pick a place that had rich surroundings, filled with fine art and good coffee... a place that made us feel successful and then we'd talk and dream and plan about the future.  The things we wanted to do, what our dream house would be like, the places we wanted to travel, the places we wanted our careers to go.  I look back at all of those talks and I see so much goodness and hope that came out of our little coffee talks.  They're like little seeds we planted that are now starting to bear fruit.  During some of those first sessions I don't think I could have even dreamed up where we are today.  Life is far from perfect, but we are blessed beyond measure and I feel so lucky that we can continue to dream up new directions we'd like our paths to go.  Sort of reminds me of a quote I came across recently...

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus

The Making Of:
Since I hadn't stamped in a while, I just let the card take itself wherever it wanted to go while I played with whatever tickled my fancy.  The layout is a slight variation on Amy's Viva la Verve! September Week 2 sketch.  I just skewed the panels a bit, but all the major elements are there.  The mug from Better With You is paper pieced with coordinating designer papers and I popped up a heart die cut from the From the Heart die set.  The tags use the Tiny Sweet Scallop Tag dies and are stamped with the java text background.  For the sentiment circle, I lightly stamped the coffee stain stamp in Antique Linen in the background then, inked up the sentiment with two inks and stamped.

Okay, I've probably rambled on long enough for today.  Head on over to the Color Throwdown Blog where you can read up on the challenge details. Then be sure to check out the blogs of the CTD Design Team to see their colorful creations for this week:

Kristin Eberline

Broni Holcombe

Barbara Anders

Danielle Kennedy

Tammy Hershberger

Carole Burrage

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Better With You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Journey (Authentique), Lime Twist Fly a Kite (My Mind's Eye), Newsprint, Basic Black (SU!)
Ink: Jet Black & Vermillion Archival, Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Accessories:  Tiny Sweet Scallop Die Set, From the Heart Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Mat stack & paper piercer, Cherry Cobbler seam binding (SU!), lace trim (Webster's Pages), licorice divine twine (TCP), flatback black pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty), Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), crystal effects, zip dry paper glue, dimensionals

Throwing Down

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  I'm currently enjoying a relaxing vacation on the coast away from email, internet and blogging, but through the marvels of modern technology this post is hopefully posting for your enjoyment today.


I'm so honored to be a guest over on the Color Throwdown Blog this month.  Y'all know how much I love color, so I'm excited for a month of challenges with these talented ladies.  Here's the list of this week's colors...

Peach Parfait, Light Gray, Basic Gray and Island Indigo

I used the new Making a Statement set and threw in one of the leaf images from this month's Stamp of the Month, Autumn Splendor.  A bit of Diamond Stickles on the leaves, gives it just the right amount of sparkle.  The flowers and frame from Making a Statement are stamped then cut out with the coordinating Loopy Blooms Die Set and Rounded Scallop Frame Die. The flower centers are silver nailheads from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Head on over to the Color Throwdown Blog where you can read up on the participation details. Then be sure to check out the blogs of the CTD Design Team to see their colorful creations for this week:

Kristin Eberline

Broni Holcombe

Barbara Anders

Danielle Kennedy

Tammy Hershberger

Carole Burrage

Laura Pryor

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Making a Statement, Autumn Splendor
Paper: Island Indigo, Peach Parfait, Basic Gray (SU!), cream, light grey (Paper Accents), pattern prints DSP (SU!)
Ink: Island Indigo, Basic Gray, Peach Parfait (SU!), Pumice Stone (Ranger Distress)
Accessories:  Loopy Blooms Die Set, Rounded Scallop Frame Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Diamond Stickles (Ranger), Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), Island Indigo ribbon, photo corner punch (SU!), paper distresser, silver nailheads (Pizzazz Aplenty)