Color Throwdown Guest Star Stamper!

I am absolutely THRILLED to be the Guest Star Stamper at the Color Throwdown this week!  Lucky me, I got the sweetest photo to be inspired by, with some fresh summer colors!

Green, kraft, and white, yippee!

I combed my stamps for a sweet puppy image, and found the perfect one in Papertrey Ink's "Pedal Pusher" set.

             An extra bonus that this puppy is having some summer fun, just like in the photo!

I added detail by stamping each piece of the bike in a color ink.  I then used my MISTI and added Versamark over the top so I could clear emboss.  This puppy needed a shiny new bike for his adventure!

Thanks so much to the Color Throwdown team for inviting me!  I am always inspired by their color combinations and gorgeous projects!  Happy August 1st!  Hope you enjoy the rest of the summer!  :)

Santa Slider

This week at Papertrey Ink, Lizzie Jones had a real challenge for us...to make a color slider card.  I have seen these magical wonders before, but had never tried one until watching Lizzie's awesome video tutorial here.  It was still a bit tricky (even though Lizzie made it look SO EASY! :), but I am glad I persevered!

Lizzie reminded us that these are great cards for kids...and that got me thinking about the most magical guy of all...Santa!

Here is one of my favorite Santa images of all time from PTI's "Believe" set.  The black and white patterned paper has verses from the "Twelve Days of Christmas" on it, and I thought it would make the sudden color pop even more surprising.

I made the slider tab with the Pocket Card die, and just partially cut it with my Cuttlebug so that I would have the fun tab at the top. I covered the hole with a circle and star.   I thought adding those glossy "Macy's" stars and the sentiment "Believe" would be perfect for a card that inspires wonder :). 

It was fun to color with my Copics, I haven't done that in awhile!  Thanks so much to Lizzie for the challenge, it was fun celebrating Christmas in July :)!

Tutti Frutti Color Blocking

This week at Papertrey Ink, Laurie Schmidlin inspired us to use color blocking on a card for Make it Monday.  She showed us three awesome techniques, and I chose to use color blocking with watercolors.

Here is my card using images and dies cuts  from Still Life: Summer...

I started by clear embossing a plaid background on watercolor paper.  The plaid is created with Betsy's Plaid Builder set.  I then used Tim Holtz Distress inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Abandoned Coral, and Picked Raspberry to created a wash with the emboss resist technique.

Added some die cut fruits, the "enjoy" die cut from the set, and a sentiment from Ways to Say: Birthday.

Some Glossy Accents here and there, and a leftover blossom from a past stamping day. What a fun technique!

Fruit Stand Throwdown

This week at the Color Throwdown Challenge, the colors were so summery!  Aqua, yellow, red, and green!  It made me think of all of the fun, fruity cards I have been seeing, and farmstands all around!

I used PTI's Still Life Summer and Green Thumb for my fruits...

 The leaves are from a Waltzingmouse set and the mini "chalkboard" (Polaroid die!) is cut with a die set from Mama Elephant.

The card base is made with my beloved A Muse Studio gingham paper, love that aqua gingham!  A few Glossy Accents, PTI's Woodgrain impression plate, and some white opal Liquid Pearls to finish it off :)!

Her color is lilac...

I had a friend ask me to make me a wedding card and a gift certificate for a bed & breakfast.  I always get so nervous when I have to make something specific!  She told me to make anything, but I was still anxious.  So I asked what the wedding colors were, and she just said "Lilac...I think!"

WPlus9's Fresh Cut Florals ALWAYS works and is loved by recipients and stampers alike!  So here is what I came up with...

I embossed a piece of PTI's Linen cardstock with the Woodgrain impression plate, then cut a stitched circle with SSS dies.  I stamped and die cut flowers from Fresh Cut Florals and one teeny one from (the yellow) from More Fresh Cuts.  I layered them over a circle that I sponged with Tumbled Glass Distress ink, and splattered with some aqua and black acryllic paint mixed with water.

I used PTI's envelope die and a scalloped die and sentiments from Gift Card It from Waltzingmouse Stamps to make a coordinating certificate set. It took me forever because I was worried about smudges and mistakes, but luckily my friend loved it all!

Surf's Up!

The Jersey Girl in me had to play along with this week's Fusion Challenge!  Can't wait for our NJ trip to Manahawkin/LBI next month!

I chose to use the car from PTI's "Happy Camper" to make a background...

I added my sentiment with PTI's Headline Alphabet and some surfboards from Free Spirit Boy by Claire Brennan.

I embossed my background with PTI's Woodgrain Impression Plate, then added some twine that I braided for an embellishment.  SUCH fun inspiration this week!

Bright Flower Masking

I really wanted to try Betsy Veldman's fun stenciling and masking seen here for Make It Monday, but feeling a bit "rusty" in my stamping, and couldn't get one that I liked in time!  Here is one of my attempts using the beautiful colors from Color Throwdown...red, blue, yellow, and white!

I made my own stencil using a Deckled Edged Rectangle nestie, the Gran's Garden stamps and dies, and a sentiment from Year of the Flowers:  Violets.

Added some Wink of Stella pen, too, which is hard to see.  Probably should have used my MISTI for lining things up, because I was having trouble getting the stamp to impress fully over the stencil.  But I kind of like this artsy look, and will definitely be trying Betsy's awesome technique (and this fun color scheme) again!