Wednesday's Design by Robbie

I don't know about you but things are starting to really get busy for us. We both have so much going on. It was my day to post a card and I was in a quandary about what to do. I then remembered a cute card I sent out that I thought would be perfect for today. I saw this card in Paper Crafts magazine and decided I wanted to adapt it. I used an exacto knife to cut the slit in the top of the cauldron for the frog and bats to be coming out of. Here is the card I created.

Paper: Black Ink: Green Galore Accessories: Computer Font Chiller, Floral craft wire, Frog Stickers, Liquid Applique, Bat punch from Martha Stewart, Embossing heat tool, sponge, Teriffically Tacky Tape, Exacto knife

Have a great Halloween evening! Thanks for looking.

Color Challenge Monday

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you all had a great week. It is the day of our color challenge and Candice and I have fun with our cards. We hope you get a little bit of inspiration each week when we post our cards.

This week I had Chocolate Chip, Bravo Burgundy, and Perfect Plum. I used the sktech from Beate's weekend challenge. It is hard to see but the outline on the leaves were drawn over using a Stardust Gel Pen. I love the little extra sparkle this pen gives. Hope you enjoy looking at our cards.

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Fall Whimsey (retired) Paper: Chocolate Chip, Bravo Burgundy, Perfect Plum, and Whisper White Ink: Chocolate Chip, Bravo Burgundy, and Perfect Plum Accessories: Stardust Gel Pen, antique copper brads, photo corner punch, dimensionals, and sponges.

The alternate colors done by Candice are Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, and Perfect Plum.

Stamps: Be Happy Paper: Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red, Perfect Plum, and Very Vanilla Ink: Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red, Perfect Plum, and Very Vanilla Accessories: 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Crimper, Jumbo Eyelets, Rhinestone Brad, Linen Thread, and Clay Red Brad from Pink Hodgehog Paper Crafts

Sketch Saturday by Candice

I am really excited for my husband Eric, this is a BIG Weekend for him, he is running in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC on Sunday :-). After he hurt his knee playing football 5 weeks ago I didn't know if he was going to be able to continue, but he did and we will find out tomorrow how he does...Now on to the sketch, I found this one on another blog www.iheart2stamp.com and I really like the layered look, you can do so many different things with this look. Everyone have a wonderful weekend:-)

Stamp Set: Best Friends Cardstock: Vintage Violet, Buckaroo Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla, and Designer Series Paper Ink: Basic Black Accessories: Pure Color Pencils, Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon, Vintage Violet, Buckaroo Blue, and Pumpkin Pie Brads from Pink Hodgehog Paper Crafts:-)

Thursday's Design by Candice

I decided to go pink today. I have seen a bunch of very cute pink cards on other Blogs, so I thought I would post a Pink card to show my support.

My Aunt CeCe was told two years ago that she had breast cancer. She was very aggressive and she stayed positive through the whole process, she knew that she would beat this. Six months ago she got a clean bill of health and she is doing well.

Stamps: Simply Said and Circle of Friendship Paper: Pixie Pink, Chocolate Chip, Designer Series Paper, and White Ink: Chocolate Chip Accessories: Pure Color Pencils, Photo Corners Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Pink and Brown Brads from Pink Hodgehog Paper Crafts

Wednesday's Design by Robbie

Good Morning! If you remember yesterday I talked about how to plan your cards. I gave you 3 different methods that could help when you are struggling. Today's card was created using this strategy.

When I realized I had to do a card for my assigned day I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I remembered that one of the blogs I read is by a very talented stamper who has posted stamps on splitcoaststampers.com as well as had several of her designs chosen to be posted on the Stampin' Up demonstrator website. Beate Johns has blog titled Fresh and Fun . I read her blog every day and on the weekends she has a sketch challenge where she gives out goodies to the winner of her challenge. Now you may say I do not have the talent needed to compete against all the other stampers. Never fear, the winner is chosen randomly using an online selector.

I saw this sketch posted on Friday and decided I wanted to participate in her challenge this weekend to create my card for Wednesday. Using her sketch, here is the card I created.

Stamps: Stem Silhouettes Paper: True Thyme (Incolor from last year), More Mustard, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla Ink: True Thyme, More Mustard, Ruby Red Accessories: More Mustard and Ruby Red markers, dimensionals, antique copper brads, sponges for edges

I inked up the images and stamped them 3 times without reinking. This created the hint of the image in the background of the main image. I hope you enjoyed this card and now have some strategies you can use when you hit a slump in your stamping.

Have a great Wednesday and thanks for looking!

Tip Tuesday

Have you ever sat down to stamp and hit a road block? Not knowing where to begin can be very frustrating. There are 3 different areas of focus that, depending on your preference, you can use to help you plan out your cards.



The first is the layout or sketch. I read several blogs that have sketch challenges on them. These are a great way to start. Beginning with the sketch allows you to focus on your stamping as your layout is already decided.



The second is choosing the colors you want to use. Choosing colors can help you decide if your card will be fun and whimsical, serious, or formal. The theme of the card you are creating will then determine a lot of the layout. A fun whimsical card will have lots of elements to look at and make you smile when you look at it. A serious card will be very simple with few elements. A formal card will usually include elements that remind you of a prom or wedding (white, organdy ribbon, black, etc.).



The third and final method to planning your cards is choosing the stamp set. Often the look of the stamps in the set will determine the colors and layout. I often choose a set and it suddenly speaks to me to create a specific theme.



There is not right or wrong way to plan a card. Sometimes I choose my colors and at other times I will see a sketch I want to use. At other times (especially when I get new sets) I just have to make a card using those stamps. What do you do when you hit a stamping slump? If you usually use the same method each time, try one of the other ways to plan your card. You may find it solves all your problems and has you stamping in no time flat!



Make sure you check in tomorrow to see the card I created and how I went about planning it. Have great evening and thanks for looking!

Color Challenge Monday

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. It seemed to be a busy one. My mom came down for the day on Saturday and we went to a farm over in Virginia, this farm was great, both of my children had a wonderful time. We came home with apple cider, apple butter, pumpkin butter, and a bunch of apples.

We are off to another week and it is a color challenge Monday, I picked River Rock, Wild Wasabi, and Purely Pomegranate.

Candice's Card

Stamps: Looks Like Spring Paper: River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, and Very Vanilla Ink: River Rock, Wild Wasabi, and Purely Pomegranate Accessories: Double-Stitched Purely Pomegranate Ribbon, Jumbo Eyelet, Circle Rhinestone, and Crafter's Tool Kit.

I am amazed how quickly the weeks go by. It must be old age. I did a card using alternate colors so you can see what it would look like if you don't have the new colors. My colors were Sahara Sand, Bravo Burgundy, and Always Artichoke. Here is the card I created.

Robbie's Card

Stamps: All in a Row, Little Pieces Paper: Sahara Sand, Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke Ink: Sahara Sand, Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke Accessories: Large and small oval punch, Spring Flower Bouquet punch, Crafter's Tool Kit, Steel brads, sponges.Hope you have a great week. Thanks for checking our creations!

Sketch Saturday

I have seen a lot of cards on websites lately that use chocolate chip and a blue to create cards with a western flair. I decided to try my hand at this. I used splitcoast stampers sketch challenge number 37. Here is the link to view the sketch:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84583

Here is the card I created with a few modifications to the sketch.

Stamps: Wanted, Great Greetings (retired) Paper: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Blue Bayou, Very Vanilla Ink: Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou Accessories: Twill ribbon, Scallop punch, Corner Rounder, Crop-a-dile, Steel brads, Dimensionals, sponges.

Thanks for looking. Have a great weekend!

Alter This Class on Sunday

Here is the front cover and the inside shot of the Holiday Organizer that we will be making on Sunday. We still have space if you decide that you would like to join us. We will be sticking an envelope in one of the pockets for receipts, there will be a December Calendar for another pocket, and a few other items.

Thursday Design by Candice

Last night I was playing and came up with three different cards, this is the one that I decided to post. I will keep the others for later or for one of my workshops. After looking at it in this post I am thinking that I should have used Mellow Moss and not Sahara Sand, but it could just be the lighting when I took the photo.

Watch for the post on Friday I am going to download the organizer that we will be making on Sunday. There is still space if you are interested.

Stamp Set: Oh, So Lovely Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, and Recollections Designer Series Paper Ink: Basis Black Accessories: Bravo Burgundy Grosgrain Ribbon, Old Olive Crayon, Bravo Burgundy Crayon, Aqua Painter, Hodgepodge Hardware, and Bravo Burgundy Eyelets from Pink Hodgehog Paper crafts,

Wednesday's Design by Robbie

I am in an Artistic Trading Card swap and the theme this month was ribbon. I created a cute Halloween ATC that I decided needed to be a card. Here is the ATC and the card. I used wire to attach the bat to so that it can be bent and looks like he is flying above Dracula. I also sponged the edge of the purple on the ATC and used a glitter gel pen to highlight Dracula's eyes and mouth. Some of you lucky people will be getting this card in the mail this week. Sorry to spoil the surprise!

Stamps: Batty For You, Booglie Eyes, Halloween Backgrounds Paper: Orange, Basic Black, Lavender Lace, Gable Green, Whisper White, Stampin' Up Halloween paper from last year Ink: Basic Black Accessories: 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" circle punch, Bat punch, ticket corner punch, Going Gray Gable Green and Lavender Lace markers, black wire, Stardust glitter gel pen, and black, purple, and green organdy ribbon

Monday's Color Challenge

It is Monday and that means it is time for our color challenge. This week we decided that one of us would do a card using the color challenge colors and the other one would do a card using alternative colors. The colors chosen this week were Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, and Sahara Sand. The alternative colors are Vintage Violet, Almost Amethyst, and Sahara Sand.

Robbie's Card

It may be hard to see but the tips of the stems have a bud on them that I colored in So Saffron. I also used a glitter gel pen to outline the buds and do the centers of the flowers. Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Priceless Paper: Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Vellum Inks: So Saffron, Whisper White Craft Accessories: Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, and Old Olive markers, crimper, square scallop punch, corner rounder, Elegant Eggplant brads, crop-a-dile, Stardist glitter pen.

Candice's Card

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Stamp of Authenticity, and Canvas Background Paper: Vintage Violet, Almost Amethyst, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla, and Sahara Sand Inks: Vintage Violet, Almost Amethyst, and Sage Shadow Accessories: Vintage Violet and Sage Shadow Brads, Vintage Violet Stitched Ribbon, 1-3/8 Circle Punch, 1-1/4 Circle Punch, Photo Corners Punch, Crafters' Tool Kit, and Cutter Kit.

Upcoming Events

• The first Alter This class in going to be on Sunday Oct 21st at 1:00. Fee for this class will be $8. We will be making a Christmas organizer out of a regular 2 pocket folder (it will hold your receipts, shopping lists, planner and Calendar. Please RSVP for this workshop by October 16th.

• We have 2 dates for the Christmas Stamp-A-Stack this year. The first date is Friday November 16th at 5:30pm and the second date is Saturday November 17th at 9:00am. Please RSVP and send in your fee by October 15th.

Saturday's Sketch Challenge by Candice

Good morning! I hope everyone had a nice Friday night and everyone is off to a great weekend:-) Being that it is Saturday...it's time for another Sketch Challenge. This sketch came from www.splitcoaststampers.com, I hope you guys play with this sketch, we would love to see what you did with it.

Stamp Set: Sidekick Sayings Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Old Olive, Always Artichoke and Wintergreen Designer Series Paper Ink: Basic Gray Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon and Old Olive Brads.

Robbie's Workshop

Here are the cards we made at my workshop on Wednesday night. Some of the designs I got from convention. I can't wait to see Candice's when she posts them on Sunday so I can case them! :)

Thursday's Design by Candice

One of my friends (angelgirl) showed me this technique and I thought it was really neat. This will work great with Charbon and Cerise Designer Series Paper. You simply take the Designer Paper and by using the foam brayer roll on your color, I used Certainly Celery on top of the Au Chocolat. It really gives the paper a whole new look.

Stamp Set: Lexicon of Love and Expressive Flexible Phrases Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and Au Chocolat Designer Series Paper Ink: Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip Accessories: Round Tab Punch, Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware

Holiday Glitz Promotion

The Holiday Glitz Card making kit includes precut textured card stock, Designer Series Paper, Zig Zag stitched grosgrain ribbon, rhinestone brads, and envelopes for 15 cards! (Full-color Instructions are included too!) Only while supplies last.

Purchase this kit one of two ways: The kit by itself for $28.95 -OR- buy one of the four holiday stamp sets listed below and purchase the kit for the special price of $24.95.

Qualifying stamp sets include:

Item	Stamp Set	Price
109234	Snowfall	$23.95
106786	The Snowflake Spot	$20.95
109266	Big on Christmas	$18.95
110359	Love & Joy*	$23.95

* Holiday Mini Collection 2007

Sample Card

Wednesday's Design By Robbie

Have you ever had an image of a card in you mind and knew what you wanted to create. That is what spurred me on to use the Crinkled Chalk background technique. I kept envisioning what I wanted it to look like in my mind and kept playing until it was almost what I had in mind. Each layer is torn and then mounted on dimensionals so it appears to be 3D. Using the background I created yesterday I made this card. I hope you like it as I had a lot of fun doing it.

Stamps: Wild About You, Watercolor Minis (retired), Trees Three (retired) Paper: Whisper White, Always Artichoke Ink: Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Hunter Green, Going Gray, So Saffron, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa Accessories: Basic Black and Close to Cocoa markers, Antique copper brads, Word window punch, small hole punch, dimensionals

Our First Color Challenge Card

Toni S. created this card using our color challenge colors. If you create a card send it to us and we'll post it with our others so everyone can see. Thanks Toni for a great card!

Technique Tuesday

This week I wanted to show an easy way to create a background for your cards. This technique is called Crinkled Chalk. While the tutorial listed below says to use chalk ink, I used classic ink to create this background. Either one will work. Here is the link to view the tutorial so you can see step by step how I did this:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/crinkledchalk.php

To create the first step of the background I used Certainly Celery.

After using Certainly Celery I repeated the same process but used Old Olive over top randomly.

As the final layer I used Handsome Hunter. Since this one was much darker than the others I used it very sparingly.

Don't forget to check back in tomorrow to see what I created using this background. Have a Happy Tuesday.

Monday's Color Challenge

This Monday the colors for the challenge are Really Rust, Soft Sky and River Rock. We would love to see what you have done with these colors so please e-mail us or if you have a bolg and you do this color challenge we would love to see it. Alternate colors may also be included. This week's alternate colors could be Sarah Sand, Pumpkin Pie, and Bashful Blue. Here are the cards we each created.

Candice's card

Robbie's card

Stamps: In Full Bloom Ink: Really Rust, River Rock, Soft Sky, Staz-On Timber Brown Accessories: Creamy Caramel Old Olive More Mustard Summer Sun markers, Crop-a-dile, Antique Copper Brads, Zots, ticket corner punch , dimensionals

Sketch Saturday

Each week one of us will choose a sketch and create a card following the sketch (well as close as possible as I already changed mine up a little). This week I was the lucky one to do this - I think Candice wanted me to go first so she could have more time :). I used sketch challenge #11 from the Splitcoaststampers website to create this card (sorry I can't copy it as I haven't learned how to do it using a word document, something about formatting which is way over my head!).

Stamps: Loads of Love Accessories, Little Somethings (retired) Cardstock: So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Whisper WhitePaper: River Rock Scrap Pad from Provo CraftInk: So Saffron, Staz-0n Timber Brown, Pumpkin Pie, Always ArtichokeAccessories: Square punches (1" and 1 1/4"), Crop-a-dile (used to space hole punches evenly), Antique Copper brads (Making Memories), sponge, watercolor brush

Don't forget to check back on Monday for our color challenge!

AND THE WINNER IS . . . .

Congratulations to Beth F. She is the winner of our blog candy. Beth if you will e-mail us at our e-mail with your address we will send out your goodies. Thanks for all the great comments. Candice and I enjoyed reading them. Make sure you check in tomorrow for our sketch card. Have a great weekend!

Thursday's Design by Candice

Okay Ladies if you have not seen it here is "The File Folder Card". I really enjoyed putting this card together, I hope this will inspire you to try it!!! The directions for this fun File Folder card are on Beate's site, Fresh & Fun. Make sure you stop back by on Saturday, Robbie will be taking a sketch and she will design her own card. Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!! ~ Candice

Stamp Set: Batty for you Cardstock: Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun and Retired Designer Series paper Ink: Pumpink Pie Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Spring Flower Bauquet Punch, Photo Corner Punch, Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon, Moss Gingham Ribbon, Natural Hemp Twine and Pink Hedgehog Paper Craft Brads (Pumpkin and Jungle Green)

Wednesday's Design

This card was so much fun to make. You can't tell but the burst at the end of the wand has black embossing glitter so it is sparkly in real life (IRL). I colored her leggings with green, orange, and purple. I sponged all the green edges as well as the white with the green ink and the purple edges with purple. Don't you just love all the fun things available for Halloween!

Stamps - Booglie Eyes, Background Basics, Under My Spell (Sugarloaf Products)

Cardstock- Gable green, Whisper white, Lovely lilac

Paper - Dotted stars paper ( had for long time, not sure about vendor)

Inks - Basic black

Accessories - Black fine detail artist pen (Faber Castell), markers - going gray, gable green, lovely lilac, only orange, creamy caramel, and close to cocoa, spider ribbon (Jo-Ann Fabrics - last year's sale), photo corner punch, horizontal slot punch, sponge, Black Diamond embossing glitter (Judi-Kins), embossing heat tool, dimensionals.

Thanks for looking!

BLOG CANDY

Help us celebrate the start of our BLOG!!! Add a comment to this post to be eligible for these freebies. One comment per person please. We will draw the lucky winner on Thursday. After the drawing we will post the winner. Good Luck!!!

The winner will receive everything in the picture above

6 sheet of Cutie Pie Designer Series Paper 6x6

One unmounted Paint Prints (retired) stamp set

25 pink eyelets and

An assortment of ribbon (about 2 yards)

Color Challenge Monday - Robbie

Each week we will choose a color challenge that each of us will use to create a card and post. This week we have chosen the colors Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, and Blue Bayou. Alternate colors may also be included. This week's alternate colors could be Night of Navy, Cameo Coral, and Bashful Blue. Here are the cards we each created.

Stamps - Fun & Fast Notes, Canvas BG, Tags & More Cardstock - Groovy Guava, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla Ink - Basic Black, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava Accessories - ribbon, sponge, watercolor pen, glitter pen, dimensionals

Color Challenge Monday - Candice

Stamp Set - Baroque Motifs Cardstock - Blue Bayou, Soft Sky and Groovy Guava Ink - Blue Bayou, Soft Sky and Groovy Guava Accessories - Groovy Guava Double-Stitched Ribbon, Designer Label Punch, 1" Circle Punch and Small Oval Punch, Pop-up Glue Dots and Pink Hodgehog Paper Crafts Denim Brads

Shoebox Sketch Challenge

A shoebox sketch challenge was held on September 30 at 1:00. There were 5 participants who all used this sketch to create a card.

Here are the cards created by each participant.

Lynne Hawkins

Stamps - Shoe and Sentiment by Inkadinkado, dollar sign, alphabet set (used to make numbers)

Cardstock - Old Olive

Paper - Certainly Celery Designer Series Paper

Ink - Basic Black

Accessories - spiral clip, silver brad

Terry McInich

Stamps - Unfrogrettable

Cardstock - Certainly Celery

Paper - Certainly Celery Designer Series Paper

Ink - Versafine black, Versamark

Accessories - acryllic daisy, dragonfly brad, clear embossing powder, silver dots, bug eyes

Kay Owens

Stamps - Bitty Boos, Halloween Night

Cardstock - Only Orange

Paper - Halloween paper (Michael's)

Ink - Basic Black

Accessories - Tag punch, Yellow embroidery floss, hole punch

Robbie Rubala

Stamps - Simply Said, Noteworthy

Cardstock - Rose Red, Whisper White

Paper - Rose Red Designer Series Paper

Ink - Rose Red

Accessories - Garden Green and Rose Red markers, small tag punch, linen thread, hole punch

Candice Schwartz

Stamps - Doodle This, Office Accoutrement

Cardstock - Old Olive, Very Vanilla, True Thyme

Ink - Old Olive

Paper - Four Season Designer Series Paper (retired)

Accessories - White Gel Pen, button, linen thread, beads, key tag punch, hodgepodge hardware, olive organdy ribbon sticky tap, zots