CR84FN

Our colors this time for the CR84FN challenge are yellow, gray and a neutral; I've really been loving this color combination, and have even seen it in other places.......when we were shopping for furniture, a store had a gorgeous room done in these colors....  I used some new stamps from Hero Arts to make my card:

suppies: white and yellow cardstock, Hero Arts CG444 Zig-Zag Thanks, Stampology black ink (looks grey to me), CL527 Stitched Frame (flowers and leaves), CL497 Find Joy, VersFine onyx black ink, design papers from Basic Grey's Serendipity and Shine On pads, pearls colored with yellow alcohol marker

10-minute Resist

One last card for the Flourishes Gimme 10 challenge, and also for Julie Koerber's Celebrate Five challenge - I used resist for Julie and kept it very simple, just 4 easy steps, easily doable in 10 minutes.

supplies: white cardstock, Flourishes Sweet Days of Summer, VersaMark ink and Zing white embossing powder, tumbled glass and peacock feathers distress inks, Nesties scalloped rectangle die as a mask.

Resist for Julie's challenge

The sweet Julie Koerber is celebrating 5 years of blogging with a wonderful challenge - to use resist.  Since that technique is one of my favorites, too, I had to enter.  Here is my card:

supplies: cream and pink cardstock, digital printout of an excerpt from The Secret Garden, Hero Arts K5370 Garden Silhouette, PTI tiny tags die and Garden Variety sentiment, VersaMark ink and Zing white embossing powder, VersaFine vintage sepia ink, Die-Namics large scallop die, markers for coloring image, pink gingham bow

I love using text on my cards and adding resist to it is a plus.  This text is an excerpt from "The Secret Garden", one of my favorite childhood books.  This particular flower stamp stamps the background, which I white embossed to block out the text, letting it appear only in the flowers and leaves, which I then colored with markers.  The resist also keeps my coloring in the lines, an added bonus for some of the tiny details.  These hollyhocks are a sentimental favorite of mine, so everything about this card has meaning for me.  Hope you like it, too, Julie!

Happy Blogversary, Julie!  May you continue to inspire us for many more years!

More dots.....

When I saw CAS-ual Fridays challenge to use polka dots, I, of course, thought of my beloved BoBunny double dots papers, and pulled out a new-to-me Hero Arts stamp set to use them with.

supplies: kraft, gold and green cardstock, BoBunny double dots in Buttercup, Mint, Wild Berry Red, and Blueberry Dot, Hero Arts CL442 Simply the Best, SRM sentiment sticker

At first I thought of this as a kind of "welcome summer" card,  but it would also work for a congratulations card to a couple expecting twins, don't you think?  

Seeing Spots???

The fun challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is called "Sweet Spot", to use polka dots.

I used some of the Target Washi Tapes in orange and turquoise and then added a dotted sentiment, a dotted flower, and embossed with dots, too!

supplies: white cardstock, Target Washi tapes (in office supplies aisle), SRM sentiment sticker, Hero Arts sunshine flower and pool button

10 Minute Creations

The challenge at Flourishes is to make a clean and simple layout that can be done in 10 minutes.

Here's mine:

supplies: white cardstock, Flourishes set #53 Life, Love & Lemons, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden collection, VersaFine onyx black ink, Letraset FlexMarkers

I'd also like to enter Julie Koerber's 5th Blogversary Celebration challenge with this card.  Happy Blogversary, Julie - and many more!!

CASE-ing Joy

Joy Taylor is our muse this month at CASE Study!

I substituted a fluffy hand-made flower for Joy's beautiful medallion and used a chevron design paper against a horizontally striped text design paper.  Love the font on the sentiment!  It somehow makes it all look less formal......

supplies: Dear Lizzy Neapolitan chevron dp, Echo Park Playground text dp, carnation and green cardstock for flower and leaves, Hero Arts CL267 Card Messages, VersaFine onyx black ink

PTI Unique Sketches #1

Here's another sketch from Paper Trey Ink - a nice easy design.  I based my card on the October Afternoon paper I used on the big banner, pulling the flowers (Beautiful Blooms II #1 dies) from it.

supplies: kraft, pink, gold, red and white cardstock, October Afternoon "Farmfresh: Farmhouse" paper, Inkadinkado #60-0135 Butterfly (sentiment), PTI Beautiful Blooms II #1 flower dies, Hero Hues latte chalk ink, red and brown buttons, natural jute twine

Back to Kraft Basics

While visiting Deirdre's blog, I linked over to Paper Play Challenges, where the challenge is "Back to Kraft Basics".  I love using kraft, and I kept it very basic on my entry, stamping only in black and using minimal embellishments.

supplies: kraft and black cardstock, Stampendous CRP153 Botanical Asperula, PTI Garden Variety sentiment, Hero Arts S5507 Envelope Pattern, VersaFine onyx black ink, black and white gingham ribbon, tiny white flower, black pearl

In case you're wondering, I looked up "Asperula Odorata" and it's Sweet Woodruff, a ground cover that gets fragrant white flowers and is used to make May wine.  This is the version I know, and it does have a lovely fragrance!

Mojo Monday

There's a lovely sketch at Mojo Monday this week:

I was in a soft pastel mood, so here is what I made:

supplies: white cardstock, design papers from Jillibean Soup Southern Chicken Dumpling and Blossom Soup and MME Six by Six Happier pads, unknown pink gingham, Flourishes Botanical Bookplates, vol. 2, Verve VS-0144 Bloom & Grow, VersaFine onyx black ink, green Memento marker and spun sugar distress marker, Nesties circle and scalloped circle dies, Martha Stewart doily edge punch, MIchael's rose, pink ribbon

Lilies of the Valley are one of my favorite flowers, so beautifully scented for such a tiny flower.  There are pink varieties, but pretty rare, I think......

I'd also like to enter this into the Really Reasonable Ribbon challenge, to use flowers and ribbon.

PTI Make it Monday: another sketch

I'm playing with another sketch from this week's PTI Make it Monday challenge: Unique Sketches.  This one was inspired by a pot holder!

I just loved the grey and yellow in the photo, and went with that color scheme, using my Teresa Collins "Carolina Breeze" design papers:

supplies: white, and PTI smokey shadow cardstock, Teresa Collins Carolina Breeze dps, PTI harvest gold felt, Die-Namics large scallop die, Hero Arts CL493 Live Life, VersaFine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder

Runway Inspired Challenge

Here's are inspiration this week for the Runway Inspired challenge - a look from the Fall 2012 House of Holand.  I love that houndstooth and love using my stamp.....I embossed it in black, colored in the white areas with markers, cut out a butterfly shape, and here's my card:

supplies: white, black and bright yellow cardstock, Hero Art K5175 Houndstooth, VeraFine onyx black, Hero Arts Ultra Fine clear embossing powder, yellow, bright pink and turquoise markers, unknown butterfly die (Spellbinders?), Technique Tuesday Mon Amis Paris sentiment, 3D foam squares

Both the black panel and the butterfly are popped up.

Color Me a Hero

At A Blog Named Hero, our challenge is to use their logo colors.  I decided to use one of the monthly sketches from Hero Arts blog this month, too.  And since I couldn't find the right colors any other way, most of the stamping is done with VersaMark ink, getting my colors from embossing powders.  The plus is that, viewed from certain angles, the embossing gives a nice glow to the card.

supplies: white, tan, and red cardstock, Hero Arts CL510 Sweet Threads Labels (large flower), CL266 Mix & Match (small flower), CL342 Everyday Sayings, VersaMark ink and Zing leaf embossing powder and Recollections Glacier embossing powder, Brilliance Pearlescent Beige and clear embossing powder, Memento LadyBug Red, Hero Arts red metallic accents

PaperTrey Ink Unique Sketches

There are some really neat sketches to play with this week at the Capture the Moment blog for the Make it Monday Challenge!  I decided to try this one first, CAS-ing this card of Nichole's:

Really unique, isn't it?  I chose to use aquas and reds for my card:

supplies: white cardstock, dp from MME Six by Six "Everyday Flair", stamps from PTI Garden Variety (sentiment), Flourishes #57 Strawberries, and Hero Arts #657773 Antique Flowers & Butterflies, versafine onyx black  and Hero Arts poppy chalk inks, Letraset markers

The other sketches are equally fun, and I hope to do another couple of them.  They're available for download, so scoop them up while you can!

And this will be a last-minute entry for the Simon Says Stamp "Anything Goes" challenge, too!