Thanks

This card is for two challenges--Flourishes' Friday challenge is to use paper piecing and the Stamp Simply challenge for this week is to Hang It Up. Both of these techniques are favorites of mine so this card was a joy to make.

My base card is Very Vanilla with a layers of Kiwi Kiss, Bravo Burgundy, and DP from the Rhubarb Tart 6 x 6 pack by Memory Box with a sheer burgundy ribbon tied 'round in a bow. The focal image uses stamps from Flourishes' set called, simply, Thank You. The background is Very Vanilla sponged with Distress Ink in Old Photo and then stamped with the backgrounder stamp from the set in Versafine Vintage Sepia. I then stamped the tulip on Very Vanilla with more Versafine and colored it with Copic markers (see below). I stamped and colored the bloom a second time and cut out two sections to paper piece, which were popped up on the main image with 3M foam squares. The entire tulip was then popped up on foam squares and then the whole thing was attached to the card base with more foam squares. The hanging sentiment was stamped on Very Vanilla with Vintage Sepia using only one word of the backgrounder stamp, was cut out with a Spellbinders tag die, sponged, and tied on with gold cord. Some burgundy Dew Drops in the corners and on the tag and that's that!

Thanks for dropping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Thank You (Flourishes)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss, Bravo Burgundy (SU!); Raspberry Tart 6 x 6 pack (Memory Box)
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Spellbinders tag die; 3M foam squares, ribbon (craft store); Dew Drops; Copic markers

Just Because--Sketches! {by Tamara} #90

Time for another Sketches! {by Tamara} card sketch challenge! Here's today's sketch:

I like this sketch a lot. I still had some Cameo Coral out from my Color Throwdown card yesterday so I decided to use it on this card, too. My base card is Whisper White with layers of Old Olive, Cameo Coral, and Whisper White run through my Cuttlebug with the Textile embossing folder. The next element is more Old Olive with an eyelet punched border and more Whisper White embossed with the Swiss Dots folder with a coral satin bow tied around it and is up on 3M foam squares. The focal image is the April flower from the retired Flower Of the Month. It was stamped on Gina K Pure Luxury 80 lb paper with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and colored with Copic markers (see below). It was cut/embossed with a rectangle Nestabilities die and layered on Cameo Coral and Old Olive that was cut/embossed with my new Labels Four die. It's also up on foam squares and one Dew Drop accents the upper corner. The sentiment is new from Papertrey Ink--Mega Mixed Messages. Just like their Mixed Messages that I love, only a little bigger. It was stamped on Whisper White with Rich Cocoa and cut/embossed with a Spellbinders tag die. I ran my Old Olive SU! marker around the edges and tied it on with some DMC embroidery floss.

Don't forget to check out the sketch at the Sketches! {by Tamara} blog and give it a try--we'd love to see what you come up with!

And be sure to check out the other team members' cards:
Alexandra--California Stampin'
Becky--Bouncy, Flouncy, Fun, Fun, Fun
Carol--Carol's Paperplayce
Jo--Here I Go Again
Krista--Krista be cardin'
Marley--Marley Blog
Olena--From My Hands...To Your Heart
Riley--Stampin' and Dancin' With Riley
Suzanne--Stamp In Style and Cut It Cute
Sylvia--Sylvia's Stamping Place
Tricia--Tricia's Treasures

Thanks for dropping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Flowers of the Month (SU!); Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Cameo Coral (SU!); Gina K. Pure Luxury 80 lb.
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities die, tag die; 3M foam squares, ribbon, DMC floss (craft store); border punch (Martha Stewart); Copic markers; Dew Drop

Easter Greetings--Color Throwdown #37

[Don't forget to vote for your favorite Idol contestant (hopefully me!) from 10pm EDT tonight, April 7th until 10pm EDT tomorrow night April 8th! You'll find the poll here.]

Yippee! It's Color Throwdown day!!! We're up to #37! Today's colors are Pirouette Pink, Cameo Coral, and Sage Shadow, chosen by LeAnne Pugliese, who is our hostess today.


My base card is Whisper White with layers of Sage Shadow, Cameo Coral, and Pirouette Pink, on which I did a little paper piercing. The next element is Sage Shadow and Cameo Coral, both with punched borders, and a layer of DP from the Two Scoops 6 x 6 pad by Basic Grey with a Pirouette Pink wannabe double-faced satin ribbon tied 'round in a bow. The focal image is from the MFT Happy Mother's Day set and was stamped on Gina K Pure Luxury 80 lb with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. It was paper pieced/colored with Copic markers (see below) and is layered on Pirouette Pink and Cameo Coral. Then it was popped up with 3M foam squares on Sage Shadow that was cut/embossed with my new Labels Three Nestabilities die which was also popped up on foam squares. The sentiment is from MFT Hoppy Easter set and was stamped in the same way, punched out with a 1" circle punch, and layered on the challenge colors that were punched with the small oval punch. The oval flat-backed pearls are from Martha Stewart--I thought they resembled eggs, LOL.

C'mon over to the Color Throwdown blog and play along with us this week. If you upload your card to a public forum, please use the keyword CTD37 so we can see your beauty all in one place. And if you play, you *could* be picked as our Featured Stamper and a guest designer! Hope to see you there!

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

Thanks for dropping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Happy Mother's Day, Hoppy Easter (MFT)
Paper: Whisper White, Sage Shadow, Cameo Coral, and Pirouette Pink (SU!); Two Scoops 6 x 6 pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities Label Three; 3M foam squares, ribbon (craft store); flat back oval pearls, border punch (Martha Stewart); Copic markers; 1" circle and small oval punches, paper piercer/mat (SU!); ruler with hole guide (Tim Holtz)

Thanks--MFT Idol Contest, Week 4

[Don't forget to vote for your favorite Idol contestant (hopefully me!) from 10pm EDT tonight, April 7th until 10pm EDT tomorrow night April 8th! You'll find the poll here.]

It's getting tougher!!! I was mentioning how I wish we would all downsize our projects a bit since the contestants are all creating such AWESOME projects and I didn't know how much longer I could keep up, LOL. Well, I think this is a case of "be careful what you wish for--you might get it!" This week's challenge is to make JUST a card. BUT (you knew there had to be a BUT, didn't you?), we had to use a specific stamp set--Build a Bouquet (had been sent to us by Kim, so I knew it was coming sooner or later, LOL). That's it--use that set. And it's one of those "build it" sets that I'm usually not fond of, BUT (another BUT), me and this set became good friends during the making of this card. I'll be going back to it again, I'm sure, because I really like what you can do with this set.

OK, on to the card. My base card is 6" x 6"Whisper White with a layers of Basic Black, Pink Passion, and DP from a 6 x 6 pad by Black Market Paper Society called Ebony & Alabaster. The corners of the DP are punched with my Ticket Corner punch and there's a black jewel on the Pink Passion in each corner, then I tied a sheer black ribbon around and tied it in a bow. The focal image (although the flowers steal the show, IMO!) and sentiment are from MFT Behind the Scenes set and was stamped on Whisper White with Basic Black ink. It was then cut/embossed with an oval Nestabilities die and is matted with Pink Passion and Basic Black done the same way. Small black jewels accent each end and it's up on 3M foam squares. The flowers. Ah, the flowers. Each one was stamped two to three times with different shades of ink, cut out, stacked, and "fluffed" a little for added dimension. I've included a close up picture and one from the side to show the layers. They took quite a bit of time but I love them! Some look like asters and some remind me of columbines. Two of the styles reminded me of SU!'s Fresh Cuts note cards so I cut the centers and bent them up a little. The center "brads" are actually designer THUMB TACKS that I found at Office Max. Love 'em!! I cut the tack part off and attached them with Crystal Effects. Perfect!!! I love how they work with this DP. I stamped one of the flowers in two shades of green, too, to use as a leafy base under the flowers, and some single leaves, as well. Then I arranged and attached the flowers with 3M foam squares, adding the single leaves where I needed them to fill in. This ended up being a really fun project, although I wasn't sure it was going to be much fun when we got the challenge, LOL. Thanks to the MDT team for making me think outside of the box! My color inspiration initially came from a co-workers scrub top--it has a black background and lots of flowers that resemble the stamps in bright colors. But when I browsed through SCS Inspiration Challenge site on Saturday and saw this, my fate was sealed, LOL!

Thanks for dropping by!

Don't forget to vote for your favorite Idol contestant (hopefully me!) from 10pm EDT tonight, April 7th until 10pm EDT tomorrow night April 8th! You'll find the poll here.

~Recipe~
Stamps: Build a Bouquet, Setting the Stage (MFT)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pink Passion (SU!); Ebony & Alabaster (Black Market Paper Society)
Ink: Basic Black, Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Pretty In Pink, Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum, Lovely Lilac, Taken With Teal, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, So Saffron, Only Orange, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss (SU!)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Oval Nestabilities; 3M foam squares, ribbon, black jewels (craft store); Ticket Corner punch, Crystal Effects (SU!), thumb tacks (Office Max); craft knife, scissors

Wishing you well

This card is for the second April Viva la Verve Challenge With a Twist. The twist this week is to use a backgrounder stamp.

My base card is Very Vanilla with layers of Certainly Celery, Pale Plum, and DP from MFT Spring Collection.The first element is Very Vanilla stamped with the backgrounder stamp from Verve's Artful Elegance set with Certainly Celery and is layered on Certainly Celery card stock. The next element is Certainly Celery DSP layered on Certainly Celery. The focal image was stamped with the Floral Symphony set in Certainly Celery and Pale Plum on Very Vanilla. The sentiment is from the Wonderful Wishes set and stamped in more Certainly Celery. It's matted with Certainly Celery, has Certainly Celery ribbon from the Sale-a-bration catalog tied around in a knot and is up on 3M foam squares. Some pale green Dew Drops finish it off!

Thanks for dropping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Artful Elegance, Floral Symphony, Wonderful Wishes (Verve)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery, Pale Plum (SU!); Spring Collection (MFT)
Ink: Certainly Celery, Pale Plum (SU!)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Circle Nestabilities die; 3M foam square (craft store); Scalloped border punch, ribbon (SU!); Dew Drops