Springtime Blossoms

Hi Everyone,

I have a couple of thank you's to send out today before I get started on my post.

First, did you notice the new look of my blog?  My fabulous friend Hayley of Hayley's Paper Garden put together a great new blog header for me to freshen up the look of the blog.  I love it!  If you are not familiar with the provinces of Canada, the yellow "splotches" are my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the purple heart is the town where I am from - how cute is that?!  I am seriously, way too in love with the new look.  Thank you Hayley!

Also, I wanted to thank the ladies over at Colour Me...! this week for choosing my Lovely Lumberjack card as the Top Pick for their challenge last week.  I am honoured!  You can see me card HERE.

I don't know about any of you but I am not so patiently waiting for Spring...so I decided it was time to use the new Lotus Blossom stamp set from the Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration catalogue.  I had been dying to get my hands and this one and I was not disappointed.  It was a really fun set to use and the results are just lovely.  Here is my card:

As always, I took my inspiration from a couple of challenges:

1. Colour Me...!

This week's challenge was to use Hello Honey, Cajun Craze and Mossy Meadow.  I, unfortunately, went by memory on the colours and ended up using Crushed Curry instead of Hello Honey - close enough.

2. Mojo Monday

I loved the sketch over at Mojo Monday this week - it was super fun to play along with.

Card Recipe (all products used are Stampin' Up! products unless otherwise indicated):

Card Stock: Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Birthday Bash Specialty DSP

Stamp Sets: Lotus Blossom, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Best Day Ever

Inks: Mossy Meadow, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze

Tools/Techniques: Circle Framelits, Big Shot, 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon - Mossy Meadow

Thanks for dropping by, I'm so glad you took the time to do so.

Steph

A Nautical Father's Day

Hi Everyone,

I don't know where the time has gone or where my crafting bug has gone lately...  It was so nice to get together with a couple of my friends today and actually craft!  It was a much needed release.

Today I thought I should get my Father's Day card done - unfortunately it won't make it to my Dad in time for Father's Day.  He will enjoy it once it gets there however.

I thought I would enter a few challenges in order to get my card done:

1) Seize the Sketch

I loved this week's sketch - it was perfect!

2) The Paper Players

I really thought the colours of Real Red, Night of Navy and Whisper White would be perfect for a nautical theme.  It would also allow me to use some of my new DSP - Maritime.

3) The Card Concept

Today's post from The Card Concept challenge was perfect - use a nautical theme!  I decided to play along in the Clean & Layered portion of the challenge this week.

So combining all of these challenges, here is my card:

Card Recipe:

Card Stock: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Maritime DSP

Inks: Versamark

Stamp Sets: The Open Sea, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Tools/Techniques: Circles Framelits, Itty Bitty Labels Framelits, Smoky Slate Embossing Powder, Whisper White Bakers Twine.

Thanks for dropping by!!

Steph

For the Newlyweds!

Hi Everyone,

Another post for tonight!  I wanted to share with you another card that I created during our mega card marathon last weekend.  Oh what a fantastic night that was!  This is one that I finished up after the ladies went to bed...I am a sucker for punishment!  But, apparently, good ideas come to me at 4:00am!! lol

Have I mentioned lately how much I absolutely love challenge blogs??  I don't think so...so I guess I should put it out there... I LOVE THEM!  So much inspiration and the blogging world in general is just so supportive.  If you are out there just kind of lurking, you need to start into this crazy world.  It is amazing.  Ok, I'll come down off my little soap box now.

But, speaking of inspiration...my 4:00am inspiration came from the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge this week.  The sketch really spoke to me.

This card actually started out as something completely different and someday my idea might make it to a piece of cardstock so I'll save that one for now... ;)  But, after a lot of hmmm-ing and haaaa-ing, I decided to go with the colours from the new and revamped CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  It was quite an interesting idea to me.

I have also decided to enter this card in the Addicted to Stamps & More challenge for this week.  Who doesn't love an "Anything Goes" challenge?  

So, here goes, here is my card:

The centre flower is a combination of an image from the Flower Shop and Petite Petals stamp sets.  Both images are heat embossed using Smoky Slate embossing powder and the petals are curled using a bone folder.  They are then popped up with a dimensional.  To finish the flower off, a pearl is added to the centre.  In fact, pearls of varying sizes are added to the centre of all of the flowers on the stamped images on the card to add a little bling and make it even more elegant.

Card Recipe (all Stampin' Up! products):

Card Stock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray

Ink: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Versamark

Stamp Sets: Flower Shop, Petite Petals, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Tools/Techniques: Pansy Punch, Petite Petals Punch, Modern Label Punch, Heat Tool, Smoky Slate Embossing Powder, Basic Pearls, Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder

Thanks for dropping by,

Steph

Friend to Friend

Hi Everyone!

Well the weekend has come to an end - I hope you have all had a wonderful one.

Just stopping in with a quick post before bed.  Not sure what I am going to do now - the Olympics are over - I am sure I will start to go into withdrawal starting tonight as soon as I hit the hay!

Anyway, tonight I put together a card using the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.



I was in love with this sketch as soon as I saw it and knew it would be the perfect sketch to showcase Stampin' Up!'s Watercolour Wonder DSP.  I have been wanting to use this particular sheet of DSP on a card for a while but have been wracking my brain trying to think of the best way to use it as it is just so very pretty and I absolutely love the colours in it!

I have also decided to link my card up with the challenge over at The Card Concept.  Their challenge this week is to Use a Floral Theme - I think I've got that covered.

I have decided to enter my card in the Clean and Layering portion of The Card Concept challenge.

Finally here is my card, I hope you enjoy it.

Card Recipe (Stampin' Up! products only):

Card Stock:

Island Indigo, Whisper White, Water Colour Wonder DSP

Ink:

Island Indigo

Stamp Sets:

Teeny Tiny Wishes

Tools/Techniques:

Neutral Candy Dots

Thanks for dropping by!

Steph

Valentines & Rainbows!

This is just a quick fly-by post this morning.

I will be entering this card in the following challenges:

1. Less is More

The colour challenge there for this week is Rainbows.

2. Addicted to Stamps and More

I took my inspiration from the inspiration photo over at Addicted to Stamps and More but unfortunately, I missed the linkup to their challenge by just a couple of minutes.  

For my card, I tried a new technique that I had seen a few people doing over on some Boards on Pinterest.   By using an Aqua Marker dipped in ink, I tapped it on my finger and it gave the lovely spray pattern all over my card.  I did this with my three colours that I used and I really liked the effect.  I'll share a small secret, the "Happy Valentine's Day" greeting was never in my original plan but I made a small error with my Aqua Pen and needed to cover it up!

Here is the recipe for today's project:

Ink:
Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry

Card Stock:
Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry

Stamp Sets:
I {Heart} Hearts, Ciao, Baby!, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Tools/Techniques:
Aqua Pens, Modern Label Punch, Petite Curly Label Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Thanks for dropping by!