Kiss the Cook

Hi, all, I’m back today with another card I did for the Splitcoast Stampers Dirty Dozen team. The theme for this card was Things We Love. I do love to cook…when I have time ;-)

No stamping on this card! All scrappy stuff and easy peasy to put together.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I’ll be back tomorrow with a Color Throwdown card AND MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge!

~Supplies~
Stamps: None
Paper: Vintage Cream (PTI); Ruby Red (SU!); Kitschy Kitchen 6 x Ink: Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)6 pad (Melissa Frances)
Accessories: twill; twine, button (PTI); lace; sewing machine; Homemade Journal Notes (Crafty Secrets)

Ribbon Scraps - Stamp Simply #152

Sharon has a whopper of a challenge for us this week! See what she says below, and why I had a hard time with it!


August 13 - ssnotime152 - Ribbon Scraps - Waste not, want not! I think we all save even the tiniest of our ribbon scraps, right? I know I do. Today's challenge is to use ribbon scraps on our card or project. You may use as many as you want, just make sure it's a scrap, a small piece. You can do whatever you want with them, but let's just make use of some of these little bits of prettiness!!! This will be fun!!!

Should be easy, right? Only thing is I don't *have* any ribbon scraps. None, not a one. When I tie a ribbon around a card element, I leave the ribbon on the spool or bobbin and use only what I absolutely need for my bow--the only waste is at the most 1" and I throw them away! So I had to fake it by adding that little piece of Kraft ribbon on my bow. I know, it's lame, but I love how the card turned out despite it's lameness ;-)

I'm using a Crafty Secrets Summertime Journal Note, which can be found at Sharon's store here (scroll down to about 1/4th of the way from the bottom of this page) for my image. The second element down is the bottom part of the Journal Note, so there was no waste with it--can I count that, LOL? My layout is this week's SCS Sketch #293. Patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety and the scalloped border was done with MFT's Small Scalloped Border Die-namics die.

So, now it's your turn. Come along and play and take us up on the challenge--we'd love to see what you come up with. If you do, be sure to leave the link to your project on Sharon's blog using Mr. Linky. Please use the keyword ssnotime152 if you upload to a public forum. Don't forget to check out Sharon's fabulous sample and also the great designs from the Stamp Simply team and leave 'em some love!

Charlene Driggs - August Guest Designer

Barb Schram

Janine Orchard

A J Otto

Deb Saarenen

Jenny Gropp

Deb Neerman--not playing tonight--feel better Deb!!!

Thanks for dropping in! I always love it when you do!

~Supplies~
Stamps: None
Paper: Fossil MFT; Riding Hood Red (SU!); Garden Variety 6 x 6 pad (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)
Accessories/tools: Cuttlebug (Provocraft); Small Scalloped Border Die-namics die (MFT); Kraft ribbon (SU!); button, twine (PTI); twill; sewing machine

Thanks - Color Throwdown #75

Ready for another Color Throwdown? This week, LeAnne is our hostess and the colors she chose are: Garden Green, Mellow Moss, and Rich Razzleberry.
OK, I'll admit when I saw them I was at a loss. Two greens? So, I started looking through all my patterned paper and found nothing that would work. Then I started looking through my Crafty Secrets Journal Notes. I've got several of these and forget to use them! I thumbed through the Birds and Botanical Journal Notes and came upon this tulip image. Bingo! One of the tulips is a dead-ringer for Rich Razzleberry and there are several greens in the image. OK, I was on my way! I decided to use Mojo Monday sketch #121 for my layout and got to work. I got my layers goin' on but when I got to the top layer, plain ole vanilla was not doing anything for me. I considered embossing--nah, that didn't do anything for me, either. Tried River Rock paper--too many greens, LOL. The I started looking through paper again for a script-type design and found this weathered wood paper in my Crafty Secrets Eathy paper pad. Perfect!!! Just enough pattern for interest but not enough to be overpowering. I love it! I distressed the edges with PTI's Vintage Touch ink pad, added buttons, a bow, some Dew Drops and a sentiment from Verve's Circular Sayings set. Done!

Remember, you do not have to have the exact colors to play. If you don't, just use the closest you have. So, c'mon over to the Color Throwdown blog and play along with us this week. Please use Mr. Linky to post your card and please link directly to your card so we can find it easily. And please include a link in your post to the Color Throwdown. If you upload your card to a public forum, please use the keyword CTD75 so we can see your beauty all in one place. Hope to see you there! And be sure to check out what the other team members have come up with this week!

Broni Holcombe--Splashes of Watercolor
Cathy Indelicato--Crafty Thoughts
Danielle Kennedy--Wild Dragonfly Designs
LeAnne Pugliese--Wee Inklings
Tammy Hershberger--Stamp Happy
Kirstin Beuter--Mindless Creativity
Deb Horst--Sendable Sentiments--January Guest Designer

~Supplies~
Stamps: Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry, Mellow Moss (SU!); Earthy pad (Crafty Secrets)
Ink: Vintage Touch (PTI); Close To Cocoa (SU!)
Accessories: Cuttlebug (Provocraft); Tag Trio (Spellbinders); 3M foam squares, ribbon (craft store); green button (stash); Vintage Button in Raspberry Fizz, Vintage twine (PTI); Dew Drops; sewing machine; Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Best Witches--Crazy4Challenges #2

Are you ready for another Crazy4Challenges challenge?! Today we have another rockin' sketch by Cindy Haffner, this month's hostess.

This was a totally fun card to make--and so easy!!! I love it--two minimally or no stamping cards in two days! I got this set of Crafty Secrets Halloween Journal Notes several weeks ago from Sharon Johnson's store and thought it was time to bring it out. These witches just crack me up!!! The neutral tones sort of dictated my color scheme to an extent, but I added Rich Razzleberry to spice it up a bit. I cut out the image and distressed the edges a bit before matting it with Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, and Sahara Sand. The base card mechanics should be pretty easy to figure out. The sentiment is from the same Journal Note, and as you can see, the lines for writing start right under it. So I decided to incorporate them as a guide for my Dew Drop accent. I cut the sentiment out with a Nestabilities Petite Oval die and matted it with a scalloped Rich Razzleberry layer. Ribbon is from My Favorite Thing's Royalty Collection Ribbon Nest. I love how this card turned out and hope you do too! It was so easy--I'll be using more of these Journal Notes!

NOW, be sure to check out the samples by the rest of the Crazy4Challenges team!

Cindy Haffner
Frances Byrne
Jessica Diedrich
Jessie Rone
Joanne Grzelak
Joycelyn Turner
Lori Boyd
Lynda Benden
Mercy Kerin
Robin Willis
Vicki Garrett

THEN, we'd love to have you come along and play with us. Just do your thing with the sketch and link it to Mr. Linky on the Crazy4Challenges blog. Please link directly to your project, and not your blog. And, if you upload to a public gallery, please use the key word C4C2.

I'm so glad you dropped by today!

~Recipe~
Stamps: None
Paper: Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand (SU!); Halloween mat stack (Recollections)
Ink: None
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities; 3M foam squares (craft store); Dew Drops; Royalty Ribbon Nest (MFT); Halloween Journal Notes (Crafty Secrets)

Color Throwdown #53

Happy Wednesday! You know what that means--another Color Throwdown Challenge!! Today's colors come to compliments of Danielle: Bordering Blue, Pink Pirouette, and Rose Red.


This combination was a REAL challenge for me! It took me hours to decide what to do, thinking, looking through all my patterned paper to find something to pull these colors together. Finally, I found the only thing in my stash that would remotely work--a Cotton Scraps image by Crafty Secrets!

I decided to use the Bordering Blue as my neutral and I think it worked OK. I cut the image out with my dressmaker's pinking sheers, stitched around it to keep it from fraying too much, and then distressed it a bit with Ranger Distress Ink in Tea Dye. The rest of the card construction is pretty straight-forward, I think. I used my Bow Easy for my bow again and pinned on the little sentiment tag with a Tim Holtz mini safety pin--I love those little pins and paper clips!! So tiny and CUTE!! A few buttons for balance and that's about it!

So, why don't you c'mon over to the Color Throwdown blog and play along with us this week. Please use Mr. Linky to post your card and please link directly to your card so we can find it easily. If you upload your card to a public forum, please use the keyword CTD53 so we can see your beauty all in one place. Hope to see you there! And don't forget--you may be chosen to be our Featured Stamper so get your card in the running!

Be sure to check out what the other team members have come up with this week:
Broni Holcombe--Splashes of Watercolor
Cathy Indelicato--Crafty Thoughts
Danielle Kennedy--Wild Dragonfly Designs
LeAnne Pugliese--Wee Inklings
Tammy Hershberger--Stamp Happy
Juliana Swanson/July Guest Designer - Stampin' With Inky Fingers

I'm so glad you stopped by today!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Mixed Messages (PTI)
Paper: Whisper White, Bordering Blue, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Bella Birds DSP (SU!)
Ink: Rose Red (SU!); Tea Dye Distress Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Spellbinders tag die; 3M foam squares, ribbon (craft store); buttons (stash); tiny safety pin (Tim Holtz); Cotton Scraps-Easter (Crafty Secrets), sewing machine, pinking shears

Another Mother's Day card

I'd been working on my MFT Idol project all day yesterday so last night I decided I needed to do something ELSE for a bit. A co-worker asked me to make a Mother's Day card for her and this is it. I hope she likes it.

My base card is Very Vanilla with layers of Baja Breeze and DP from the Sea Glass pad by K & Co. I distressed the edges, sponged them with Creamy Caramel ink, and sewed them together. Baja Breeze 1" double stiched ribbon was wrapped around from top to bottom. The focal element is from the Spring Cotton Scraps by Crafty Secrets. I love the soft colors in this piece. It's sewn onto Blush Blossom and Baja Breeze, both of which had their edges distressed and sponged, too, and it's mounted on 3M foam squares. The sentiment is from PTI's Mother set and was stamped on more DP with Memento Rich Cocoa, cut/embossed with a Nestabilities tag die, and is also up on foam squares. Vintage buttons, tied on with DMC embroidery floss, and Prima flowers give it a little bit of a Shabby Chic look, I think.

Thanks for dropping by today! Don't forget to stop by tomorrow when I'll have this week's MFT Idol contest entry to show you.

~Recipe~
Stamps: Mother (PTI)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Blush Blossom (SU!); Sea Glass pad (K & Co.)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa; Creamy Caramel (SU!)
Accessories: 3M foam squares, DMC embroidery floss (craft store); Prima flowers; buttons (stash); scissors, sewing machine

Sharing in your sorrow

Unfortunately, I'm low on sympathy cards. This new set, Thoughts and Prayers, from SU! has gorgous images and sentiments so I thought I'd give it a whirl and start rebuilding my stash. I really love this image. I'm using the sketch from the current OCC challenge and this one also qualifies for Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday challenge this week.

My base card is More Mustard with layers of Not Quite Navy, Mellow Moss, and DP from Crafty Secrets' Earthy pad. The next element is two rows of ribbon that is exactly Not Quite Navy IRL. The next element is More Mustard with the reverse of the base card DP and some antique brass brads and is up on 3M foam squares. The focal image was stamped on Very Vanilla with Mellow Moss and Chocolate Chip SU! markers. It was then cut/embossed with a Petite Oval Nestabilities die and the edges sponged with More Mustard before being matted with a Mellow Moss scalloped layer. It's also up on foam squares. I used more of the DP for the Build a brad and added a Not Quite Navy bird punched out with a Martha Stewart punch.

Thanks for dropping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers (SU!)
Paper: More Mustard, Not Quite Navy, Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla (SU!); Earthy (Crafty Secrets)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss (SU!)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities; 3M foam squares, ribbon, brads (craft store); punch (Martha Stewart); Buildabrad (SU!)

You just get better!

This card is for TECC #57. I love these Crafty Secrets Cotton Scraps and especially this one called Girltime. Pink and Black--you can't got wrong with that!

My base card is Whisper White with layers of Basic Black, Pretty In Pink, and DP from Making Memories' Sabrina 6 x 6 pad. I stitched around the layers before I attached them to the card base. The next element is Basic Black with another DP from the pad. It's also stitched, has buttons from my stash sewn on, and is up on 3M foam squares. The focal element is a Cotton Scrap sewn on to Pretty In Pink and layered on Basic Black. Some Prima flowers in pink and black are attached with a pink crystal brad. I love this card!!!! :)

Thanks for dropping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: None
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pretty In Pink (SU!); Sabrina 6 x 6 pad (Making Memories
Ink: None
Accessories: 3M foam squares, brad (craft store); Prima flowers; buttons (stash); sewing machine; Cotton Scraps Girltime (Crafty Secrets)

Hang in there!

This card is for SCS Inspiration Challenge #168. Inspiration was to come from some item at Flutter. I chose this chandelier. As soon as I saw it I thought of the Crafty Secrets' Chandelier Fun stamp that I got several weeks ago in error. When I emailed Crafty Secrets, I was told to keep it for my trouble and they sent the right stamp set immediately. So, I thought I'd put that stamp to good use for this challenge. It's also for Our Creative Corner Challenge this week--to use a tag on a card. Got it covered!

My base card is Whisper White with layers of Basic Black, Apricot Appeal, and DP from Basic Grey's Scarlett's Letter 6 x 6 pad. This paper has a little bit of apricot, which gave me an opportunity to use Apricot Appeal, which is a color I rarely use.

The focal image was stamped on Whisper White with Versamark and heat embossed with black embossing powder. I colored the "flames" with an Apricot Appeal Stampin' Up! marker, layered it on Apricot Appeal and Basic Black, popped it up on 3M foam squares, and called it done! The sentiment is from the chandelier set and was stamped on a small piece of DP with Basic Black, cut/embossed with a Nestabilities tag die, and matted with a larger tag in Basic Black. A couple of flat-back black shiny "pearls" in the right lower corner finish it off. A sheer black ribbon tied around in a bow under the focal image was the only thing else it needed, I think. Pretty simple but elegant, don't you think?

Thanks for dropping in!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Chandelier Fun (Crafty Secrets)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Apricot Appeal (SU!); Scarlett's Letter 6 x 6 pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!); Versamark
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities tag dies; 3M foam squares, black hemp, ribbon, flat-back black "pearls" (craft store); black embossing powder; heat gun

Sew Glad We're Friends

This card is for Taylored Expressions' Cupcake Challenge #56. CUTE sketch and fun to play with! I'd been wanting to use one of the Puns From the Past stamps so this was the time.

My base card is Very Vanilla with some "antiquing" done with Basic Gray and Creamy Caramel, then layered with Basic Gray and DP from Crafty Secrets' Earthy paper pad, which follows the sketch. I then stitched around each piece of DP with my sewing machine and antiqued this layer and the stitching as well. The next element is Very Vanilla on Basic Gray and was done in the same manner with the addition of antique pewter brads. The focal image was stamped on Very Vanilla with Basic Gray, cut/embossed with oval Nestabilities dies, antiqued, and mounted on 3M foam squares. Very easy and simple to do but I LOVE IT!!!

Thanks for dropping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Puns From the Past (SU!)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Gray (SU!); Earthy pad (Crafty Secrets)
Ink: Basic Gray, Creamy Caramel (SU!)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities; 3M foam squares, sponge, brads (craft store); sewing machine