Color Challenge Monday

Candice's Card

Well we just got our house zoned for our heating and air conditioner and it has made a world of difference. We have much better control for each of the three levels. IT WAS WELL WORTH IT!!!

Today for my color challenge I am am going to use this sketch for my card, I pulled this one off one of the blogs that I visit daily check it out - Jen's blog. So my colors today are Almost Amethyst, Pumpkin Pie, and Rose Red.

Stamps: Pun Fun Paper: Almost Amethyst, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, and Prints DSP Ink: Basic Black Accessories: Scallop Punch, Circle Punches, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Grosgrain Ribbon, and Brads ;-)

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Robbie's Card

I had the colors Creamy Caramel, Elegant Eggplant, and Lavender Lace. I wanted to play with watercoloring and shading so I chose an open designed stamp. It was fun to play. Let me know what you think.

Stamps: Embrace Life Paper:Creamy Caramel, Elegant Eggplant, and Lavender Lace, White Ink: Creamy Caramel, Elegant Eggplant Accessories: Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive markers, ribbon (won in a ATC swap), Dew Drops (online share), mini Zots, sponges.

We hope you have a great day! Thanks for checking us out.

Sketch Saturday by Candice

Well we are off to another Sketch Saturday. I am doing Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge#41!Make sure you check out her blog to see her Beautiful card. I hope you enjoy what I came up with.

I used the Hostess level 1 Creative License Simply Scrappin' kit from the Fall-Winter 2007 Catalog. Okay I know I did absolutely no stamping on this card, but these scrappin' kits are great. Have a wonderful weekend, see you again on Monday ;-)

Carousel Notes

Sorry I have been absent for the last week. I have missed getting on all the blogs to see what has been going on. We are having work done on the house (basement) and I had both of my children home for Spring Break. I thought I would be able to do some card making but as you can see this is my first in over a week, it is good to be back. This card holder was made with the new Carousel Notes in the Occasions Mini and the SAB rub-ons. I cut the carousel notes down into quarters, so you can make 4 cards using one of these Carousel Notes. I whole punched around the scallops and put white brads in each of the openings. I was inspired by Patty's blog to create this project. This card was really simple to make. Enjoy!

Wednesday's Design by Robbie

Where did Spring go? It was a little chilly yesterday morning. Not what I was expecting after the gorgeous weather we had over the last few days. Maybe this is the blast before we really move into nice weather.

I hadn't had a chance to play with the set I got from VerveVisual so I decided today would a good day. I used the sketch from PoeticArtistry to create this Spring card (if the weather won't cooperate we can at least have in our cards). After I was all finished I realized I did not use brads on the corners. Oh well I'll call it creative license. Here is the sketch and my card.

Stamps: Fancy Florals (Verve Visuals), Wonderful Words Paper: DCWV Spring Stack (cardstock and PP), light green (?), white Ink: English Rose (retired), Summer Sun (second generation) Accessories: ticket corner punch, key tag punch, Certainly Celery marker, green organdy ribbon, sticky tape, sponges.

Hope you enjoyed my little bit of Spring! Have a great day and Thanks for looking.

Color Challenge Monday

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Mine was busy with my daughters finding places to stay for our trip to Italy. Now we just need to wait and see if any of the places are available. Hopefully we will be lucky and have an apartment in Florence, Amalfi Coast, and Rome. I am getting very excited about the trip but also a little stressed in thinking about all I need to do. It will get done eventually.

I am so in the mood for Spring. The weather has been nice other than the wind. Hopefully it will die down and we can really enjoy the sunny cool days. My colors for the challenge today were More Mustard and So Saffron. The first thing that came to my mind were daisies, pansies, and bees. Needless to say I took the idea and ran with it. I began by using the card sketch from JendelMuro. I ended up modifying it a little to suite my card. Here is her sketch and my card.

Stamps: In Full Bloom and Simple Sayings II (both retired) Paper: Basic Black, More Mustard, So Saffron, So Saffron DS, White Ink: Basic Black Classic & Craft, More Mustard, So Saffron Accessories: Black Diamond Embossing Powder (Judi Kins), black brads black polka dot ribbon, 1" - 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" square punches, round tab punch, Layer Ease, Crafter's Tool Kit, aqua brush, sticky tape.

So what do you think? Are you in the mood for Spring also. Hope you have a great day and Thanks for looking!

Sketch Saturday

I decided to change things up a bit. This week I am using Beate's weekend sketch challenge for my card. I saw her sketch and thought it would be fun for a change.

I wanted to do something with a spring theme since yesterday was the first day of Spring. Yeah! I pulled out a set I had never used but loved it when I saw all the beautiful cards made with it. I thought it was perfect for my card. The circle part of the sketch is supposed to be a tag. I wanted to use punched flowers to hold my tag. I made my tag from the key tag punch but just like you shorten the word window punch by reinserting it after it is punched I did the same thing and got a smaller key tag punch. The tag actually hangs freely but I put it above the flowers for the picture.

Stamps: Trees Three and Watercolor Minis - both retired Paper: Chocolate Chip, white, Almost Amethyst -Certainly Celery -Rose Red - So Saffron DS Ink: Ballet Blue, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun, Craft White Accessories: Daisy punch, Key Tag punch, large hole punch, crochet thread, Close to Cocoa marker, dimensionals, sponges.

Wow I realized after I had started posting this that I have not used any sparkle in a few posts and I cannot remember the last time I used ribbon. I will definitely have to work on those areas.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter tomorrow! Thanks for looking.

Wednesday's Design by Robbie on Thursday

Well as usual the day got away from me. I was hit with a bad case of allergies over the weekend and it threw me for a loop. Needless to say I am running behind.

I saw the Mojo Monday sketch on PoeticArtistry on Monday and knew I wanted to do it for Wednesday. She challenged us not to use a square or circle where the butterfly was. I got to thinking that most people would probably do a flower so as usual I wanted to do something different than a flower. My Unfrogrettable set came to mind and the creativity took off from there. I thought it would be fun to use lily pads in place of the swirls and for the strip in the middle a wharf came to mind. Needless to say the card came together fairly quickly once I had all my elements. Here is the Mojo Monday sketch and my card. Let me know what you think of my interpretation.

Stamps: Unfrogrettable, Lily Pad (wheel) Paper: Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Brocade Blue, Old Olive, White Ink: Basic Black, Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Handsome Hunter, Old Olive Accessories: Antique Copper brads, Chocolate Chip - Close to Cocoa - Old Olive markers, Aqua Painter, wiggly eyes, dimensionals, sponge.

Thanks for looking!

Extra, Extra Hostess Promotion!

Extra! Extra! Stampin' Up! hostesses get extra hostess awards March 18-April 30, in addition to the already fantastic hostess benefits!

From March 18 to April 30, Stampin' Up! hostesses can earn an EXTRA $25 to use toward Stampin' Up! products of their choice when they host a workshop totaling $350 or more!

This extra benefit is included along with the standard hostess benefits you receive when you host a workshop. The standard hostess benefits include

• A free Spring-Summer 2008 Collection catalog worth $9.95.
• Free stamp sets only available to hostesses (with qualifying orders; select from the products on pages 19-26 of the Spring-Summer catalog).
• Free Stampin' Up! products of your choice.

Workshop total (before tax and shipping)	Free Stampin' Up! merchandise		March's Extra, Extra hostess awards	Free Stampin' Up! merchandise with March's Extra, Extra hostess awards
$350 - $399	$40	+	$25	$65
$400 - $449	$45	+	$25	$70
$450 - $499	$50	+	$25	$75
$500 - $549	$60	+	$25	$85

This extra hostess benefit is only being offered for a limited time, so contact your demonstrator TODAY to schedule a workshop!

Free Wheelin' Promotion!

If you haven't experienced the fun, ease, and versatility of our Stampin' Around wheels, now is your chance. From March 18 through April 30, when you buy a pre-selected stamp set, you'll receive the coordinating wheel (a value of 8.95) absolutely FREE!

Item Number	Description	Price
112848	Wonderful You bundle Includes Wonderful You stamp set and free Stems & Silhouettes jumbo wheel	$33.95
112851	Life's a breeze bundle Includes Life's a Breeze stamp set and free Something Fishy jumbo wheel	$29.95
112850	Pun Fun bundle Includes Pun Fun stamp set and free Sweet Stars jumbo wheel	$30.95
112847	Year after Year bundle Includes Year after Year stamp set and free See You Around jumbo wheel	$30.95
112849	Stitched Exotics bundle Includes Stitched Exotics stamp set and free It's Beautiful jumbo wheel	$33.95
112853	Enjoy Every Moment bundle Includes Enjoy Every Moment stamp set and free Daisy Dash jumbo wheel	$29.95

You'll be amazed at all the ways you can use wheels to add depth and dimension to your projects!

To take advantage of this wheely great deal, contact your demonstrator TODAY!

Color Challenge Monday

My card today is for my mom. Her favorite color was blue so I chose to use Bashful Blue. I think she would have liked this card.

Stamps: Time Well Spent Paper: Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, White Ink: Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Certainly Celery, Handsome Hunter, Summer Sun Accessories: Silver bookplate, Barely Banana and Bashful Blue brads, dimensionals, sponges.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Thanks for looking.

Finally Finished

Well I thought yesterday afternoon I would be able to finish my card in 30 minutes. Let's just say 3 hours later it was finally done. I had this idea from a card someone received that was store bought. I wanted to take the idea and modify it.

I took this sketch from Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge and began the card.

I began with the black wire. I coiled it around a skewer with no problem. Then I had to do the wings of the dragonfly. I thought I was just going to glue the coiled body to the stamped image of the dragonfly. Well I got the bright idea to use some sheer fabric from my daughter's wedding as it would be the perfect color for a dragonfly. So I used the wire to make the wings. Now the fun begins! I decided to use crystal effects to glue the fabric to the wire. After 1 hour the fabric still wasn't adhered to the wire. Next I got the bright idea to use sticky tape. After cutting and piecing the tape to the wire it finally worked and I had a completed dragonfly minus the head.

I coulnd't leave well enough alone. I thought it would look really neat to use a bead for the head. I went looking in my jewelry making beads and found one as well as some clear ones that I thought would make great antennae. I put the wire through the black bead and wove the wire through the body then back through the black bead to secure it in place. I put a dot of crystal effects on the bead and made sure it was attached to the body. After letting it dry I put the 2 clear beads on the end of the wire to look like antennae (took some playing with it but I finally got it) and put some crystal effects on them to hold them in place. When it was done drying I was able to finish the card. Here is what I created.

Stamps: none Paper: Soft Sky, Soft Sky DS Accessories: Black velvet ribbon (LSS before it closed), black wire, sheer blue-green material, black and clear beads, jewelry wire, photo corner punch, Zots, sticky tape

Despite all the issues I really like this card and since I have all the details worked out I would make it again. Have a great weekend and thanks for looking!

Thursday's Design by Candice

I tried this new technique called frosted filter not so sure why it is called that but anyway my background is that technique. I think this background with the colors I used made a great camouflage design (but not what I was going for). You might not be able to tell in this photo but I stamped this image twice once in Always Artichoke and again in Certainly Celery to give it a shadow look.

Stamp Set: Essence of Love (occasions mini catalog) Paper: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, and Vanilla Ink: Always Artichoke and Certainly Celery Accessories: Coffee Filter, Always Artichoke re-inker, Chocolate Chip re-inker, Certainly Celery re-inker, Heat Gun and Cutter Kit. ;-)

Wednesday's Design by Robbie - NOT

Have you ever had one of those weeks? Well I am this week. I have my idea that I am working on but I have not had time to finish it. I thought I would post the cards we made at my workshop last week. I will try and get the other card finished by Friday and post it. I am really excited about it as I really tried some different materials to use on the card. Check back on Friday to see what I came up with. I did not include the details. If you want then let me know and I can send them to you.

Thanks for looking! Have a great afternoon!

Color Challenge Monday

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend mine was pretty busy, I am glad today is Monday, can you believe I just said that... My colors for today are Blush Blossom and Cameo Coral and of course I had to add in that third color. Robbie's colors are Apricot Appeal and Not Quite Navy. I love this new Hardware Kit in the Occasions Mini I may have to get myself a couple of these. I hope you enjoy what I came up with. ;-)

Candice's Color Challenge

Stamps: A Good Egg Paper: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Blush Blossom, and White Ink: Basic Black and Cameo Coral Accessories: Label Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Small Oval Punch, Slit Punch, Dimensionals, Coluzzle Cutting System, Pure Color Pencils, White Gel Pen, Buttons, Hodgepodge Hardware, and Grosgrain Ribbon.

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Robbie's Color Challenge

Stamps: Hearthfelt Thanks, Small Script (retired) Paper: Apricot Appeal, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi Ink: Apricot Appeal, Not Quite Navy, Wild Wasabi Accessories: Large and small oval punch, ribbon, Not Quite Navy marker, Sakura Stardust gel pen, scoring tool, sticky tape.

Sketch Saturday

I needed a card to send to my son-in-law who is in Korea. He works on the electronics in helicopters so I went in search of one. When I finally found one I wanted to use, my favorite sketch blog PoeticArtistry was having another challenge. If you do a card and upload it Julee will pick a lucky winner to receive a free stamp set. I have used the set I won last time to create a post for our blog. I am anxious to use the set again as I really like it. They have a new release that has a gorgeous set that I will have to buy if I don't win. I just love the flowers in it. Julee posts a new sketch every Monday. Check out her blog if you find you need some inspiration for a layout. Her sketches are lots of fun and easy to do.

For this card I wanted to create a background that mimics marine fatigues as much as possible. Their fatigues are all shades of light brown. I like the geometric background stamp but need to work on my sponging a little more. What do you think?

Here is the sketch for this week along with my card.

Stamps: By Air (retired), Geometric (retired), Scenery (retired), Great Greetings (retired) Paper: Very Vanilla, Handsome Hunter, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, River Rock Scrap Pads (Provo Craft) Ink: Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Handsome Hunter, Going Gray, Tea Dye (Jim Holtz Ranger Inks) Accessories: helicopter brads, dimensionals, sponges

Sorry all my stamps are retired but when you have an idea you really need to go with it. Let me know what you think. Have a great weekend. Thanks for looking!

Thursday's Design by Candice

I have seen some really cute cards using this kind of a layout so I thought I would add one more to the pile. Sorry I have only posted once this week, I have been busy getting ready for 2 shows this weekend and you know how fast a week can fly by and this one did just that. Well anyway I hope you all had a GREAT week. Robbie has the sketch this week so I will see you guys on Monday for Color Challenge (my colors are Blush Blossom & Cameo Coral). Have a great one. ;-)

Stamps: SAB Birthday Whimsy Paper: Kraft, White, and Cutie Pie DSP Ink: Chocolate Chip Markers: Rose Red, Bashful Blue, and So Saffron Accessories: 1" Circle Punch, Dimensionals, and Grosgrain Ribbon.

Wednesday's Design by Robbie

Have you even had an idea in your mind and wondered what it would look like on paper. My card today was one of those ideas. I recently saw a card on a blog that used a lot of circles as an accent. I thought it would be fun to do a card similar to that. In bouncing it around in my head, I decided I wanted to do squares instead. I started playing with the squares on the card front and then thought it might be cool to have them interlock. Through careful placement and marking where they overlap I used the exacto knife and cut a slit in ine side so that I could slide the 2 pieces underneath the overlapped piece so they are interlocked. My card was plain so I started stamping different backgrounds and a word inside the squares (this involved using post-it notes and masking all the areas that were not to be stamped - sounds complicated but was rather easy). Afterwards I placed the butterfly in the upper corner and used a marker to place a trail. It was still too stark in the center so I took the Going Gray pad and inked the butterfly, off stamped it on scrap and then stamped on the cardstock (this creates a second generation stamping). It needed something else so I used the black marker and put dots around the outside edge. Still not happy, so I used the Sakura Stardust Gel Pen to put dots around the background cardstock. Still to plain for my liking so I used a black marker and created some doodling around the main image cardstock. Seemed to still lack some pizazz so I used the Sakura pen to put dots around the squares. Finally I was happy with the results. Hope you like it also!

Stamps: Cute Converse (retired), Fresh Fillers (retired), Priceless Paper: Basic Gray, Purely Pomegranate, White Ink: Going Gray, Purely Pomegranate Accessories: Basic Black & Going Gray markers, square punches, Sakura Stardust Gel Pen, dimensionals.

Thanks for looking!

Color Challenge Monday

Wow where did the day go! I did my card last night and took a picture this afternoon when the sun was shining as you get a better picture. I had every intention of posting it earlier but caught up in cutting my paper for my workshop on Wednesday and Saturday. I started this not knowing where I was going and this is what I ended up with. What do you think? Not bad huh. I created the leaves by stamping the flower on Mellow Moss with the same color ink then cutting out individual petals and gluing them on the flower to look like the leaaves.

Stamps: For a Friend, One of a Kind Paper: Pale Plum. Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum, Mellow Moss Accessories: Elegant Eggplant & Mellow Moss markers, mini twinkle stickers (Amuse - center of flowers), Sakura Stardust gel pen, dimensionals.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day tomorrow.

Double Dippin

I know this is a day late but I think you will enjoy what I have done. When I sit down to make a card I usually go ahead and make two, I mean you are already cutting for one so might as well make two. I thought I would do these two Sketch Challenges using some of the same supplies but coming up with 2 different cards, I hope you enjoy what I came up with. Here are the links for Beate’s wsc#37 and Jen's Sketch.

;-)

Stamps: SAB Merci and Friendship Blooms Paper: Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Only Orange, Confetti White, and East Coast Prep DSP Ink: Going Gray Accessories: SAB Love & Happiness Rub-Ons, Wild Wasabi Double-Stitched Ribbon, Scallop Punch, 1" Circle Punch, and Assorted Brads. ;-)

Occasions Mini Collection 2008

Today is the 1st day that you can order from the new Occasions Mini Collection.

The mini catalog has fresh spring like items such as Tart & Tangy, Summer Picnic DSP, A Perfect Day (Rub-ons), Die-cut Blooms, and the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware.

You can also view it online Occasions Mini Collection 2008

Place an order before March 17 and you can still take advantage of Sale-A-Bration.

Wild for Wasabi Special

From March 1 through April 30, you can purchase a specially-priced Wild Wasabi card stock pack for only $3.95. That's 16 sheets of pre-cut (4 1/2" x 11 1/2") and pre-scored (at 1 1/8" and 5 5/8") Wild Wasabi textured card stock that can be used to make all kinds of fun and easy cards and projects!

Take advantage of this special, limited-time offer!

Details are here