12 Tags of 2013 – February

Ok, I didn’t completely follow the challenge… there was something about creating a tag with a “love” theme… I chose “poppies” instead. Oops!

Don’t you just love poppies? Such beautiful, bold, and bright flowers.

I started with a white tag and covered it with Tumbled Glass distress stain. I flicked some water drops on it and after it dried sprayed it with Turquoise Perfect Pearls Mist. I roughed up the edges of the tag. I wish I had one of those distressing tools, I just use scissors.

The stamp set is Poppy Patch from Flourishes. I stamped several of the poppies and leaves on watercolor paper with black Archival ink. I colored them using Stampin’ Up! watercolor crayons and a small paint brush. I blended several colors to get the bright orange-red that I wanted. I trimmed them out and set them aside.



Next, I stamped the poppies and leaves on a small piece of watercolor paper using a masking technique. I colored these as well. Then I layered the cut flowers using Pop Dots and Dimensionals. Pop Dots are much thicker so this gave different levels of depth to the flowers. I adhered this piece on the tag over additional stamped poppies.

Along the bottom of the tag I ran a piece of olive cardstock through my Big Shot using an embossing folder. Since I don’t have any Coredinations I brushed over the raised areas with a black ink pad. I also stamped the word “poppies” on the tag.

For the little embellishment, I found a little metal tag and glued a piece of blue-stained cardstock to it. Then I added the word “live” to it and poured Glossy Accents over it. Lastly, I added a bit of black ribbon to the tag.



I grow poppies in a large half barrel on my back patio. I love them! Do you have poppies in your garden?

Thanks for visiting!
Desiree

12 Tags of 2013 - January

Do you just love Tim Holtz???? His creativity is really impressive. The new release… sigh… I “need” it all, plus the winning lottery numbers so I can quit my day job and spend all my time in the craft room playing.

In the past I’ve made a tag or two during the 12 Tags of Christmas gig that he used to do. About a year or so ago, he changed it to a tag a month throughout the year. This year I am going to follow along as much as I can.

Generally, I don’t have all the products but I am pretty good at substituting. And sometimes, the things Tim is demonstrating are so cool that I have to rush out and just buy them, heeheehee!

I only have Kraft tags right now so I used one as a pattern to cut this out of white cardstock. The embossing folder that I used is an old one from ProvoCraft. It has delicate branches and little birds.

Using a blending tool, I blended Ranger’s Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Tattered Rose, Frayed Burlap, and Dusty Concord distress inks over the tag. I’m getting a lot better at this blending thing!

The birds and branches are punched out of Stampin’ Up’s Confetti White cardstock with their Bird Punch. I sprayed the birds with Tumbled Glass ink mixed with Blue Smoke Perfect Pearls and the branches with Peeled Paint ink. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to stamp on the Baja Breeze seam binding. I finally decided on a strip of music, a stamp from the Nature’s Pace set. The crochet ribbon is from Stampin’ Up as well.

The quote towards the bottom of the tag is out of the Spring set from My Favorite Things. It’s a pretty set with birds and trees and nests.

The last little bits  are a piece of ephemera, a sweet little bird house charm, and a beautiful paperclip. You can just barely see the music notes stamped in Tattered Rose over the words “be true.” I’ve been gathering a nice collection of ephemera and charms. When my favorite scrapbooking shop was open, Denise had lots of it and I couldn’t resist picking up some on every visit. 

Are you joining in with Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of 2013?

Thanks for visiting!
Desiree

A little ATC challenge

I haven’t created an Artist Trading Card in ages. However on the Our Creative Corner blog the challenge was to use a particular color palette and use it to create an ATC. This was a fun challenge. At first I felt intimidated because the canvas area seemed tiny. What can you do with such a small space???

So I gathered supplies in the color palette: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Very Vanilla plus one other color. I chose Old Olive. Pretty quickly I knew what I wanted to do with the paper. Then I pulled out Pocket Silhouettes stamp set. Small images, perfect! So it almost put itself together.

Those little rosettes are so stinkin’ cute! I am so glad that I bought that die. I used the First Edition DSP to make them but I sprayed the paper with Olive Glimmer Mist first. I also sponged the doily in the lower left corner and the doily tape at the top before adhering to the ATC. The Crumb Cake banner is raised up on dimensionals.

Maybe I’ll make a few more of these.

Not all of the supplies are Stampin’ Up! on this ATC. ATC card is by Strathmore, the music notes paper is from 7 Gypsies, the rosettes die is a MFT Dienamics die, Glimmer Mist, Miss Elizabeth’s doily tape, generic doily and mini rick rack.

Happy Crafting!
Desiree

Edited to add: I received a Top Trio Award from Our Creative Corner!!!

Stampin’ Up! Supplies Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake and Basic Black cardstock, First Edition Designer Series Paper, and a scrap of retired dsp
Ink: Old Olive, Basic Black
Embellishments: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Glittery red cotton

Here is my card for Mojo Monday #83. I used the Soft Summer stamp set and Basic Grey Lilykate paper. The colors are Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White. When I look at this card I think of cotton.

I added a pretty Fluerette and ribbon from the Dress Up package. I stamped the sentiment in Whipser White craft and punched it out. Plus I glittered up the flowers with Christmas Red Stickles. Really an easy card. I actually forgot that I had made it last Tuesday night until I was looking at some card photos last night... and there it was.

Tonight is Crafter's Club night - our first get-together and we'll be doing the For the Love of Chocolate class that I posted a couple weeks ago. Yummy! This is the first club I've tried with my Stampin' Up! business so I am anxious to see how it goes over the next six months.

Have a marvelous Monday!

Desiree

Too late for Verve....

Verve had a great challenge but the deadline was Friday. On SCS they posted three sketches and a color combo to follow, then you post them to the forum for a chance to win the new release. Yeah, I didn't make it.... but I did make two cards.

I used the SAB Botanical Blossoms set and the colors So Safron, Baja Breeze and Close to Cocoa. I am not sure what I was thinking on this first card. I think I was moving in a good direction until I added the flower in Baja with the Baja layer. It jsut doesn't go. What do you think???

The dsp is Delicate Dots which is also from SAB and so is the ribbon, So Safron 5/8" grosgrain. The buttons are from the Latte Button Bouquet. I also added 1/4" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. The sentiment is a hostess set from the fall, I think.... Looks like I am going to have to peal that Baja flower off and do something different. It's bugging me.

Now this card came together much better. I like it. It's very soft and simple. I stamped the leaf outline in Whisper White on the Baja Breeze cardstock. Hmmm... not a single embellishment or ribbon on this card. Is it too simple????

Maybe this card needs a second look too. I made these cards on Thursday night after a long day. Maybe I was more brain dead then I thought I was.

Well, that's all I have for now. Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I'll have something better to look at later. :)

Desiree

Pieced and pierced

I think this is the first time I've pieced a stamped image. I kept it really simple just creating one layer. When stampers piece images like florals with several layers, they turn out so beautiful! I was hoping to get this one in for Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Inspiration Challenge but I was late. I didn't touch my craft table at all last night. This will get into the Flourishes challenge and Mojo Madness 81.

I only have a few stamps sets that I can even do this technique with so I was really limited. So I pulled this one out and thought, who doesn't love a cupcake? The frosting was done with Basic Grey Lilykate and the bottom with SU Bella Bleu. The pattern in the background is from that retired paper that everyone loved so much - it went with Embrace Life and had lots of Groovy Guava and River Rock in it, you know the one.....

Blush Blossom, Ruby Red and Whisper White are the cardstocks and Chocolate Chip is the ink. I used that cute scalloped oval punch and a stamp from the Oval All set. For embelishments I used a bit of linen thread and three gems from Imaginesce. I added a few beads to the frosting. I also pieced the little cupcakes. Cute, huh?

Off to read a few more pages of Infinite Jest. I may be reading that thing for the next year.... ugh! Yeah I know, why don't I just put it down then... Well I did that once and that is really not my MO. I have to start what I finished. Plus it's an interesting book, just a slow read.

Have a great Friday! We are just hours away from the weekend!!!! I'll be at Mugs from noon to 3 on Saturday, so if you're in Hazel Dell stop in and say hi!

Desiree

More cards to benefit Alzheimer's

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jen Tapler is collecting cards to auction off and she will donate the money to Alzheimer's. Since my dad was recently diagnosed I sent in a card. Well, I was playing around and made four cards that go together as a set and sent those off today as well. I actually CASE'd Andrea Walford, her card is infinitely better looking than mine, but I tried.... :)

I pulled out my Fun and Fast Notes set. I rarely use it. But when I saw Andrea's card it was the closest set I had to recreate her card. All the cards are on a Basic Gray base, use white eyelets, watercolor paper for the images and white ribbon from the Dress Up set. For the focal point used a chipboard frame, Whisper White Craft Ink, Heat & Stick powder and Dazzling Diamonds. Behind the chipboard frame is a piece of vellum that I stamped the sentiment on to. The sentiments are from the All Holidays set. An additional embellishment is a scalloped edge in Whisper White.The first card uses retired patterned paper and I can't remember what it's called... The other card use paper from the Level 1 Hostess Patterned Paper package from last year. I used various SU markers and a tiny paintbrush to color the images.

There's still time to enter a card and win on Jen Tapler's blog. Deadline is April 3.

Thanks for stopping by! Now go make that card!

Desiree

Little yellow birdie

Isn't this little bird just a cutie??? I am so in love with the coordinating stamps, designer paper and chipboard that Stampin' Up! put together. The chipboard set is called So Tweet, the dsp is Sunshine Garden and the stamp sets are Cheep Talk and Good Friend. I made this card using Jen del Muro's sketch and for Jen Tapler's challenge. In a nutshell, Jen Tapler is celebrating her blogaversary by challenging people to create a card that she can auction to raise money for a cure for Alzhiemer's. Well, my dad was recently diagnosed so this challenge is something that I wanted to participate in. It's very reminiscent of the challenge that Cammie had a few months ago on her blog.

This card uses Kiwi Kiss, Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla cardstock. I covered a chipboard birdie with Sunshine Morning dsp. That was glued on with my favorite PVA glue, available at Arts and Scraps - the BEST local scrapbooking store around! - and sprinkled with a tiny bit of glitter. You can see that better in the second photo. His beak is Only Orange and feet are Chocolate Chip. His eye is a blue rhinestone brad. Next I cut out the leafy branch from the reverse side of the same dsp and adhered it to a piece of Always Artichoke cardstock that I punched with the scallop edge punch. Along the bottom I added three pears. The sentiment is from the Cheep Talk set. I think I'll be using these stamps for a long time!

You can just barely see the glitter in this detail shot. I wanted just a bit so that it wasn't too glittery. So now this card is off in the mail to Jen Tapler. I hope she raises ALOT of money - we need a cure now!

I'll be back after a while with more cards. I actually have more to post!

Have a great weekend!!! And thanks for stopping by!

Desiree

Rustic Rooster

I just had to have this set! It's Rustic Rooster and its a Level 2 Hostess set from Stampin' Up! Let me know if you want it and we can start planning your party!

I made this card for the dot-to-dot challenge on Papertrey. The cardstock colors are Creamy Caramel, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Coffetti White and Really Rust. The ink is So Safron, Chocolate hip and Jet Black Stazon. The markers I used are More Mustard, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red and Old Olive. I also used a blender pen and linen thread. I cut out the rooster and popped him up on dimensionals. Cock-a-doodle-doo!

So I have to tell you about Sale-a-Bration.... for each $50 you purchase in SU product, you may select an item for free out of the Sale-a-Bration catalog. Really cute stuff in there!!! Hostesses get a bonus as well as new demonstrators. Email me for info!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Desiree

Big Blue Butterfly!

I created this card for a color challenge on Nichole Heady's blog. I used Stampin' Up! colors rather then PaperTrey colors. Here they are: Real Red, Old Olive, So Safron and Soft Sky (with Baja Breeze ink for the sentiment).

I used a new Sizzix for SU butterfly die cut. It's cool! For the background I embossed a piece of watercolor paper with a Cuttlebug embossing folder in my Big Shot. Then I watercolored the flowers with the colors I mentioned above. After that I used my SU spritzer to add a little Close to Cocoa and Sahara Sand.

This card looks fresh and springy! I like it. So really, are there blue butterflies??? I have no idea...

I love Raspberries!

WooHoo! New stuff!!!! This card is made with the new Raspberry Tart DSP, Sweet Stems stamps set and matching sizzlet. The colors I used are Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red and Whisper White. I also used my nestabilities Labels One set. For bling-bling I added little gems in the centers of the flowers. The "for you" is from the Fresh Cuts set. The skinny ribbon is Pretty in Pink grosgrain and the wide ribbon is from my stash.

The sketch is from the Viva la Verve challenge on SCS. It was a fun card to make!

Very exciting, my catalogs arrived and I have been carrying mine around nonstop! I put together my wish list and I am developing my classes for the next few months. There is so much cute stuff: stamps and accessories!!! Contact me if you would like a catalog... $9.95 plus $4.95 priority mail US.

Ok, gotta go back to work... and make some money to spend in the new catalog!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

Desiree

OCC Shades of blue

Our Creative Corner's challenge was to use at least two shades of blue on a card. I pulled out my rubons that I almost never use and came up with this! There is a little background stamping but all the white flowers are rubons from the Hidden Gardens set. The stamped images are out of the Eastern Blooms stamp set. The blues that I used are Pacific Point and Tempting Turquoise. They actually go pretty good together.

Just a very simple card. No bling, no piercing, no fancy anything. It was also very fast to make!

Gotta run, back to work I go! Thanks for stopping by!

Always a Valentine

Here's my little card. I can't believe how many tries it took to get it done. I used the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS where they pick a member and challenge everyone to remake one of her cards with a couple of changes. The FS was Julie Ebersole and I enjoyed looking through her gallery. This is the card I picked. Very simple but with loads of personality. I used a different stamp set, Rose Red cardstock, and different ribbon. Also, my card is a 3x3 size.

This was my first time doing this challenge. I think it's a good way to get better at creating cards especially if there is a designer that you like.

So, Mr. Brown paid me a visit today!!! I received my latest Stampin' Up! order!!! Raspberry Tart paper, Rustic Rooster and Sweet Stems stamp sets, and the Sweet Stems sizzlit!!! I will be a crafty girl this weekend!

Thursday I will post the winner of my little blog candy!

Have a great day and happy stamping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great time to be thankful for all of your blessings! Especially this year, family and friends mean so very much when we are going through tough times. We pull together and share the love.

I made this card earlier today and then just now I took a peak at Beate's Inspiration Challenge and this card fits right in!

The color scheme is based on the Autumn Vine Designer Series Paper: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard and Sage Shadow. I used the Holidays and Wishes and Perennial Favorites (retired) stamp sets. For the tag, I colored the leaf with markers for a variegated effect then I embossed the entire tag with clear embossing powder. I embossed the sentiment in brown. I used a cute little library clip and tied linen thread to it. I also used Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. I added a little paper piercing too.

Again, enjoy your holiday!

Color Inspiration Challenge

I snuck in this little card instead of working on bazaar items.... Check out the KwernerDesign blog for a weekly (I think?) color inspiration challenge. The turn around on her challenge is really quick so this is the first time I've been able to jump in. This card came together really fast.

The colors in the challenege were Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand, and Whisper White (I used Shimmery White). The two sets are Jolliest Time of the Year and Cute and Curly. the ribbon is white organdy and Olive 5/8" grosgrain. I dressed it up with olive buttons and linen thread plus piercing. I'd love this to be the card I send out for the holidays, but all the piercing would make me a crazy woman!!!

Two fun items: First, I love to take online classes at BigPictureScrapbooking and a few days ago they had a contest on their blog to win a spot in the class "A Life Well-Crafted" by Kolette and Jason Hall, a very inspirational couple. This class is more about creating a happy life for yourself then scrapbooking however there will be projects all year long. So I was to leave a comment with my favorite quote and they will pick a person at random. So I left a quote that means a lot to me: "Success... to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!" Well, I was selected!!!! See this post. It's really a big deal, because this is a year-long class. I am so happy!!!

Second, my step-mom emailed me today and is thinking about sending my dad up for Christmas vacation!!! They live in Texas and she generally goes to Shreveport, Louisianna to spend the holidays with her mom and relatives. My dad usually stays home and before he was retired, he would work so that others in his group could spend Christmas with their families. Well, he has had a few health issues lately and shouldn't be home alone for 2 weeks. I will be really excited if he comes up here since I have been really worried about him and I haven't seen him in 2 years. YAY!

Thanks for stopping by and get busy creating - Christmas is just 7ish weeks away!!!

Spreading the Sweetness!

It's all about cupcakes! I've always loved cupcakes, eating them I mean, heeheehee, so when they became a trend in stamping I was all for it! Here is my contribution:

Crazy for Cupcakes is such a cute set! I used Very Vanilla, Pirouette Pink and Rose Red. The DSP is Rose Red also. I colored the image with markers and then added glitter to the frosting. The embossing is from the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. Then I added the sentiment from Heard from the Heart. The size for this card is a 6x6 square. I mostly followed Jen's Sketch for You to Try. I left out the embellishment in the front. I am still on the fence about adding something there. This card will be part of my next couple of party's Make and Takes. Hope everyone likes them!

Another cupcake that you want to check out is Taylor's Expressions. She is the cupcake queen!!! Recently she started designing her own stamp line and has just released her Holiday set. Go take a look & read about her challenge AND contest!

Now I am hungry and need to go by the bakery.... mmmmmmmmmm.... frosting.....

Come for some "Afternoon Tea"

Both of these cards have a bit of Afternoon Tea designer series paper. That makes for a similar color scheme as well: Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla. On this first card I purchased an embosslit and gave that a try. Fun! It frames the butterfly quite well I think.

I made this card so long ago that I can't remember if I was using a sketch or my own little brain. The stamp set is the Live Your Dream set, which I love! Unfortunately it's retired. Hmmmm... seems like I have been using lots more retired sets lately. Gotta focus on some current sets, like the one used for the card below...

I made this card for the OCC anything but a square/rectangle" challenge. I have never used these scallop circles for a card. I did make that fab little purse that was floating around blog land for awhile (see Stamps, Paper, Scissors) for the tutorial that Jan Tink put together. She is so funny. I love reading her blog! Anyway, I thought this would be perfect for the challenge because it was already not a square. The set is Embrace Life and I had fun coloring all the little blossoms. Lots of cutting though... I admire all the stampers out there that do so much cutting and coloring. It's so worth it to achieve a great image.

I'll post again tomorrow cuz I have even more cards to show you! Weird, huh?

And for those of you in the Vancouver, Washington area, come visit me tomorrow at my part-time job. I am learning to be a barista at Mugs, just south of Winco on Highway 99, next to the Blind Onion. We make yummy beverages and we have pastries too!

Crazy!

Do any of you feel like you are in a time warp? I really do... Hours, days, weeks fly by in the blink of an eye while I feel like I am standing still. I have been completing some sketch challenges but haven't found time to post them. So here goes...

This card was for a challenge on "No time to stamp" and it was to use red, the favorite color of a blogging friend of Sharon's.

This is made with Real Red cardstock ribbon and , plus Basic Gray cardstock and marker, plus Whisper White cardstock. I used the Close as a Memory stamp set. A smidge of crimping, some scallops and paper piecing. This was a very fast card. I like it because it is simple but pretty and could be used for many different occasions.

Here's another card I made recently. I used a sketch from Jen's sketch for you to try and I really had fun with it. The flower is one that I had around but you could easily use the big one from the Pretties Kit. The printed paper is Basic Grey Mellow. Colors are are Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, and YoYo Yellow. The ribbon is Old Olive. Stamp sets are Live your Dream and Time to Bloom. And I used a Build a Brad.

I made a companion card with a cream color flower that I sent out as a RAK. I hope that it made the recipient happy!

I have about 6 other cards to share with you. Right now they are in my camera and I have to go watch Grey's Anatomy. Gotta have priorities, heeheehee.At least my craft table is in front of the tv so I can keep stamping.

You go stamp something too!!!!

Cuddle up with Tammy

Over at Sharon's "No Time to Stamp" blog, she has challenged stampers to check out Tammy's blog "Stamp Happy" and be inspired. tammy's style is described as cuddly, I describe it as beautiful! Then post yoru card to her blog. So here is my entry. Is it cuddly???? I don't know but I do think that it is warm and friendly and inviting.

From the entries, Sharon will use Random.org to pick one to be November's Guest Designer on her blog. What an honor that would be. Her projects are just beautiful.

For this card, I used Red Riding Hood and Kiwi Kiss with Very Vanilla. The background is the En Francais stamp, plus some little flowers and sponging along the edges. The stamp set I used here is Live Your Dream. Simple embellishments are a button from the Button Bouquet pack tied on with linen thread.

Thanks for visiting!

State Fair Bedding

WooHoo - another day at my craft table. I think I am kinda a slow crafter... I don't get as many projects done as others seem to. My color scheme was based on the Inspiration Challenge on SCS (IC134-State Fair Bedding). Today I made this card - it took me a long time cuz I kept changing my mind. The first 3 tries were hideous.

I've seen lots of people do this type of challenge and so I thought I would try it. I can't wait to look at the gallery and see what everyone else created!

The colors I used are Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Real Red, and Tempting Turqoise. I loved how these colors went together in the quilt. I also wanted to focus on the florals. I always take a look at Jen's sketch for you to try at i{heart}2stamp. And that is what I used for the layout. The main flower was clear embossed using the One of a Kind stamp set then I outlined the petals with a white Unibol pen. I added a punched half-inch flower center embossed with Real Red ink on Whisper White cardstock. Then I usd the flower shape as a guide to create a larger layer to place underneath. Embellishments are Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, white rick rack, white rub-on words, rhinestone brads.

We are surviving a couple of really hot days, probably the only hot ones we get here in the Portland Metro area. Our summers are starting later and later. The weather is so wacky.

And as I am writing this my daughter Lil comes in asking for a new kitten. Her friend has kittens and she already picked one out. Her cat Sunshine died last summer. My other daughter Emily asked for a new kitten two weeks ago. She also has one picked out. Her best friend has an extra cat which is all black and named Banana. If I add two kitten to my household I will probably be considered a hoarder.... I already have 3 dogs and an adult cat, plus my two daughters and the extra kid that lives here. I mean, come on.... And I am such a sucker so I might as well get kitten supplies now. Someone, stop me please!!!!!