Bargello

Hi stampers!  It's Tuesday again and time for another fabulous challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  This time it's a technique challenge: 

This was a fun challenge and also another new technique for me!  If you're new to bargello as well there is a great pictorial over on Splitcoast.  Basically, you just cut strips of paper (usually DSP) and glue them down in random patterns to a base.  Then, you cut that into strips and then line those strips up in any pattern you want. 

I thought that the spice cake DSP would be just PERFECT for this technique and very timely since it's just about Thanksgiving...which I don't even want to to talk to think about since I cannot BELIEVE it's the middle of November already!  Where does the time go, especially between Halloween and Christmas!!!?????  Anyway, here is my card:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Gently falling, tiny tags
Paper:  More mustard, pear pizzazz, soft suede, very vanilla, spice cake DSP
Ink:  More mustard, pear pizzazz, soft suede
Accessories:  Scallop circle and circle dies, jewelry tag punch, linen thread, gold smooch spray

Since the bargello is pretty geometric I wanted to use a different shape so I cut the whole thing out of a circle when I was done.  I also sprayed the whole thing with the gold smooch spritz.  It's very pretty and shimmery in real life!  Other than that it's pretty self explanatory!  Now, I have ONE tip....make sure you glue down the ENTIRE strip when you are laying down your DSP layer....I wasn't thinking and didn't and when I went to cut my sheet apart tiny pieces went EVERYWHERE!  LOL!  It was kind of like putting a puzzle together!!!!

Now head on over to HSS using the link at the top of the post to see what else the DT came up with and to play along! 

Happy stamping!

Keepin' on!

Hi stampers!  Well, my mojo seems to be sticking around!  Today's card is for the KAPOW Kreative Challenge.

Isn't it pretty?  I think this is one I'll have to file away for future use as well!  And I did a holiday card but I think this one would be great for a patriotic card too but everyone knows I'm in full holiday crafting swing:-)

So I thought the little chubby snowman from Snow Much Fun would look great all decked out in these colors.

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Snow much fun, petite pairs
Paper:  Sahara sand, whisper white, baja breeze, not quite navy, real red, watercolor
Ink:  stazon, sahara sand, baja breeze, not quite navy, real red
Accessories:  2.5 inch circle punch, northern flurry embossing folder, basic pearls, holly berry bouquet buttons, dazzling details, smooch accent ink, crochet thread

So I have heard some talk lately about this set and how about how snowmen don't have feet....so I cut his poor legs off, lol!  Most of this card is pretty basic but I did make the "snow" my punching out a few circles and just free-handing some drifts which I outlined in dazzling details and then scribbled on a bit with the smooch accent ink for some extra sparkle.  A button and a few pearls and I called it a day!

Happy stamping!

Found my mojo!

Thank goodness I've found my mojo!!!!!  I've had a serious lack of crafty ideas the past week and a half and was about to lose my mind.  My husband even asked if I was "ok" because he didn't hear "stampy noises" coming from my studio and he said that I just kind of wandered around the house looking dazed and lost and came downstairs and "bothered" him, lol!!!  I guess that's when you know it's serious!

I wanted to stamp last night but ended up with a terrible headache and then actually got sick in the middle of the night.  I even had to skip the gym today as it always takes me about a day to recover from one of my headaches.  I was willing myself to feel better by lunch because I had a date with one of my best friends (I've known her since pre-school!) today and didn't want to miss it!  Luckily I felt good enough to go and it felt good to get showered and get out and we had a great two hour catch up!  So, since I was feeling good from that I decided I'd try to stamp and it worked!

In celebration of getting my mojo back I made a card for not one but two challenges!  Sometimes I have an idea for a color challenge but then have a hard time putting together a sketch or the other way around....so I used the color challenge from the Colour Q Challenge and the sketch from the aptly named Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge.

 I don't like to combine too many challenges into one card BUT I like to double up when I'm drawing a blank on one or the other elements.  And I really liked both of these challenges and thought they would work together seamlessly.  What do you think?

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Day of gratitude, distressed dots, netting
Paper:  Whisper white, soft suede, peach parfait, dusty durango (regular and textured - retired), spice cake DSP
Ink:  Soft suede and peach parfait markers, dusty durango (retired), soft suede, peach parfait
Accessories:  Dusty durango polka dot ribbon (retired),  5/16ths brads

I don't know what it was about this color combo but I'm in love and plan to use it many times with many stamp sets.  It's a great fall combo although I may switch out dusty durango for cajun craze since it's retired.  I know I try to use mostly current products but it can be fun to go back and get old stuff out and play around with different color combos!  It sure helped me out of my funk/slump!  I think the sketch was super fun too and works great with DSP!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by today!  I hope I can keep ahold of my mojo for a while so I can crank out a lot of stuff to show you!  Happy stamping!

Over the top!

Happy Tuesday stampers!  It's time for a new challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments!  Make sure you click on over there when you're done here so you can check out all the fabulous-ness that the DT has in store for you!

This week was a challenge right up my alley.  The challenge is to create an over the top card, a card that you wouldn't want to make more than one of! 

 Well, I always jump at the chance to cram as much on a card as I can and especially if it revolves around my favorite holiday.....Christmas!  Just looking at that challenge image makes me want to put up the tree and go drive around looking at decorations!  We used to have a lot of really over the top houses but seems like there aren't as many the past few years:-(  I wish I had the time and patience to really make my house a holiday showplace but then when would I stamp???  :-) 

So, here is my card:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Merry & type
Paper:  wild wasabi textured, very vanilla, real red, first edition DSP, subtles stack
Ink:  Real red
Accessories:  Decorative label punch, scallop circle punch, real red striped grosgrain ribbon, 1/8th inch taffeta ribbon real red, linen thread, jumbo brads, 5/16th brads, glimmer brads (subtles & brights), basic pearls and rhinestones, holly berry buttons, dazzling diamonds, crochet thread, spray adhesive (whew!!!!)

Well you can see I took this challenge quite literally, lol!  And I must confess I did not make a card.  I started too but then I decided that this would look amazing in a square shadow box frame as a Christmas decoration (now to figure out where I hid those things) so I sliced off the back panel before I ruined it with all the glitter:-)  So please forgive me!

So, there's a lot going on.  There is a paper lollie (which I have a tutorial for here on my blog).  The ribbon flower with the crochet flower was made using a circle of sticky sheet and I just coiled the ribbon around.  The DSP flower was made with 3 or 4 (is it bad that I can't remember, lol) scallops and I just stuck the brad through and scrunched it up.  Some more brads, buttons, and embellies round it out and of course a ribbon with the brad in the center.  To finish up I lightly sprayed the whole thing with spray adhesive and sprinkled some dazzling diamonds over.  I'm still working on this as I haven't yet got the "sprinkling" I want on any project but it takes practice. 

Now it's your turn!  Head on over to HSS and get crazy and go waaay over the top!!!!

Happy stamping...or should I say embellishing today?:-)

Bah Humbug!

Hi stampers!  So why the bah humbug you say?  Well because I have not been able to or felt like stamping much in the past week or so which is probably evident in my lack of posting this week!  Booooo hoooo!  Not sure what's wrong with me although I haven't felt quite up to par and am tired after work so maybe that's part of it.  And the part of my brain that comes up with fab stampy ideas has seemed to take a vacation as well.  I was planning on stamping tonight after dinner but I've just sat here and stared at the computer so far and now it's probably time for bed!  I'm hoping for some quality time in the stamp room tomorrow after I work out, clean the house which so badly needs it, grocery shop and all that other fun stuff....

I'm quickly running out of saved up things to show you but I still have a few up my sleeve.  So, with the title of my post I thought a quick Christmas card was appropriate:-)  This card was inspired by a card from another company that I saw on Pintrest.  Maybe I will head over there tomorrow (dare I, lest I get lost for the rest of the day in the land of Pintrest) to check out some things I have saved for inspiration).

Stamps:  Pennant parade, grateful greetings
Paper:  whisper white, river rock, pool party
Ink:  Wild wasabi, real red
Accessories:  Pennant punch, basic rhinestones, tasteful trim die

I love the simple layout of this card and the muted yet kind of bright color pallet.  I should totally use river rock a LOT more.  I LOVE it with pool party!  It's also slightly retro/vintage which I'm totally into right now, especially for Christmas.  Oh the ideas I have for retro themed crafts...oh you'll see!  I thought the greeting worked really well for my overall theme and with the pennant set as well!

Well I should head to bed.  My 8:30 AM double step class that I haven't been able to make for a looong time will be here soon.  I'm hoping I don't fall over since it's been so long, hehe!  And be on the lookout this month for the rest of my Creative Crew projects!

Happy stamping

A Catalog Case Challenge

Hi stampers!  Yesterday was November 1st which means the Creative Crew gallery over on SCS went live!  You can see all the great creations the crew came up with and play along in the challenges!  You should head over and check it out BUT before you go I'll show you one of my projects, mmmk?

For this challenge we were to case a card from the catalog AND because this month was all about fancy folds we were to choose a long card.  You've seen a few of these from me recently and really like this size!  All it takes is a 6x6 square of paper!  We were also supposed to change a couple of elements in our cards.  So, I chose a card on page 37 that used the polar party set.  I didn't have that set (but you can bet I will soon, lol) so I chose to use snow much fun.  To fit the tree stamp I had to rotate the layout like this:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Snow much fun
Paper:  watercolor, whisper white, real red, old olive, brights DSP stack
Ink:  Stazon and various for watercoloring
Accessories:  Tasteful trim die, dazzling details, brights buttons, crochet thread

I really liked the simplicity of this layout and the tone one tone with the plain CS and then the polka dots.  I didn't do any stitching like in the catalog but let my tasteful trim die take care of that!  This challenge just goes to show what a great inspiration and recourse the Idea Book & Catalog can be!  Sometimes it's hard to remember that you can make ANY card in there with ANY set you have!  It's a great place to find color combos and general layout ideas too!  Now head on over to check out the CC gallery and play along!

Happy stamping!

Christmas Colors

Hi stampers!  It's Tuesday, time for a new challenge over at HSS.  This week is a color challenge which are always my favorite!  Check out these fab colors:

I love them and of course I HAD to make a Christmas card with them!  I'm pretty traditional so I just couldn't NOT make something Christmas here!  I know that being on a design team is supposed to make me think outside the box BUT sometimes I like the box and we all know I love Christmas. Plus, now that Halloween is over I pretty much make Christmas stuff for the next two months anyway!  I'm a seasonal stamper, lol!

It was also the perfect time to break out my stiched stockings set and punch which I had gotten and not used yet.  Anybody else buy stuff and then it sits on the shelf and stares at you for a while? ;-) 

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Stitched stockings, hand penned holidays
Paper:  Very vanilla, wild wasabi, real red
Ink:  Versamark, real red, wild wasabi, cherry cobbler, silver glimmer
Accessories:  Pewter EP, stocking punch, snow burst embossing folder

I kept the card pretty simple because I wanted the stockings and glimmer paper to really stand out and shine.  I colored my stockings with markers and then added my glimmer paper accents.  I also really love the new snow burst embossing folder...of course I haven't met a folder I don't like, lol!  The sentiment is from Hand Penned Holidays and I finally had to break down and get it after not liking it initially.  I thought it was hard to read and still do but it's elegant...I'm such a sucker, lol!  I embossed it with the new pewter EP to keep with the silvery theme.  Anyway, I hope you like it and I hope you go check out what the DT has come up with and play along with us!  You know you want to:-)

Happy stamping!