the Card Concept pink!!!

A friend of mine just had a little baby girl.

When I was making my sample for the Colour Q last week, I just couldn't seem to get the page to come together.  So I decided to play with the colours and came up with this little baby girl card.  It's perfect for my friend's new little one.   But once I finished, I was then motivated to finish my page (see last week's post) so I put it in for the Colour Q as my sample as I'm supposed to make Scrapbook pages for that team.

So imagine my surprise this week when The Card Concept has a monochromatic Pink theme challenge.  Lucky right?  This card is in the style of Freestyle Collage.

The stamps are from my stash.  One of my friends just gave me them from her stash one day.  I have no idea who makes them, but they are cute - right?  Then I pulled out a ton of retired SU product to finish up the card.

Here's a better look at that little collage.

Don't forget to hop on over to the Colour Q for some wonderful inspiration.

I have been a bit busy...

I have been very busy since our March holiday, and I've been a bit remiss about posting here.

So today I'm trying a bit of catch up!

 

First up, today's Stampin' Royalty Challenge #172

This week it's a photo inspiration challenge. 

Here's the photo.

 

 

And here's my take.

I pulled embellishments from all kinds of kits. in My Digital Studio.

  I also recoloured many of them to fit the pallette in the photo.

Teagan's Baseball uniform fit the pallette too (excepting the pink accessories of course)

She's so cute - the only girl on the team and one of the best players.

Probably because she's watched her big brother play for 2 years already.

 

 

 

Next up is this week's Colour Q.  I love, love, love this pallette.

 

 

I used this cute photo taken on my street.

My tenant's boyfriend has a dog, and one day, there he was in the driver's seat.

He totally looks like he's driving right?

 

 

This page is a layout from Suzy Q scraps.  I added a few other embellishments from Stampin' Up! and I recoloured all of them to match the pallette.

 

And finally, here's a page from last week's Stampin' Royalty.

I used an MDS template from the Lemonade Stand collection.

 

The challenge was to follow a baby theme. 

We don't have any babies in our house these days, but

I found these photos of Connor, and they matched the pallette of this page perfectly.

Colour Q Challenge #173

Welcome to Tuesday and another combo over at the Colour Q.  This weeks combo is a bit different.  This is such a subtle combination and full of earth tones that I really was out of my element.  But then I remembered this fabulous baby paper from Stampin' Up!  I changed the colour on some of the embellishments, and the background paperj to match the challenge colours.  I made this page to comemorate the birth of my latest nephew.  This little guy is now 2 months old and he's the calmest little baby which is a direct contrast to his older brothers.  He's probably an old soul. 

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #155

 

 Welcome to Wednesday and another challenge over at Stampin' Royalty. 

Hop over and visit the samples by the Design Team.

 

This week we have a colour Challenge for you.

 

 

I used these colours on my banner for my latest nephew's bedroom.

I admit I swapped out Midnight muse for Island Indigo because he  had navy blue curtains in his room and I wanted it to match.

Click here to see the matching baby card.

 

 

I used the pennant die for the big shot to make most of this puppy.

The letters are some old chipboard ones that I coloured with Midnight Muse ink.

It was super easy to do with the new ink pads.

 

 

Most of the paper comes from the Comfort Cafe suite, but some of it is from an In Colour paper pack.

 

 

And if you look at the 'a' above, you will see a bit of the Comfort Cafe fabric which I glued down and then die cut.

 

 

Here's another look at that fabric. 

Also, the sailboats came from MDS2.

I stamped the images, then coloured parts of them with the challenge colours.

Then I printed them out and carefully cut them out and popped them up.

 

 

And here's a final look at that banner.

Freshly Made Sketches #61

I got another nephew last week.  Yay!  My brother's family had another son. 

 

I made a wonderful banner for his bedroom, in non-traditional baby colours.

So I made a card to match.

And I used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.

 

 

 

I used mostly new In-colours for a bit of a trendy look.

And of course I used zig zags or chevrons (whatever you want to name them).

It's hard to tell in the photo below, but if you look carefully at the top photo, you can see the chevrons embossed in the very vanilla cardstock.  The images are digital.  I simply printed off the images I wanted and cut them out to make the card.  The waves were made by layering two die cuts from the Tasteful Trims die and of course the sentiment was punched out with the Bitty Banners framelit.  I'll post the banner at a later date as I made it for one of my design teams samples. 

Stampin Royalty Challenge #138

It's Wednesday, so that means another challenge over at Stampin' Royalty.

This week we have a recipe challenge for you. 

This week the challenge to use

FABRIC

You can add it to your project or create the whole thing out of it.

I made this adorable little giraffe out of the fabric from the Comfort Cafe suite.

You may have seen this one on the displays at Convention last month.

 I searched the web for an easy pattern.  And for the life of me,

I can't remember where I found it from.  The one on the web was a flat 2 dimensional giraffe.

I decided to add a gusset and give the giraffe 4 legs instead of 2.

Then I made a little tail out of 1/8" taffeta ribbon. 

I also used the ribbon for the mane, and of course, those awesome wooden buttons for the eyes.

Dynamic Duos #15

So I keep meaning to make more cards for challenges.

But the summer seems to be drifting away...

Anyway, tonight I actually managed to whip up a few cards.

There's been a few new babies in my life recently.

My new niece arrived in July, and so I whipped up this little card for a friend to give

 to my SIL and BIL

 And I really liked the challenge colours over at Dynamic Duos this week.  So I decided to play along.

The Congratulations sentiment is from the Perfect Punches set.

I used the doily sizzlit and the masking technique. 

A little Smooch Spritz, with Pretty in Pink ink added a nice layer.

I copied the idea for this card from my friend Ange.

Here's a link to her original card.

Of course I also used the Button Buddies set to stamp out that cute baby rattle.

I added pearls to echo the one in the middle of the doily.

And voila, the finished card.  All those layers of cardstock makes for a heavy card.  Good thing its not going in the mail.

Colour Q Challenge Number 130

This week we have a bright and seasonal colour combo for you.

This page was so fun to create using some of Stampin' Up!'s latest downloads.

As you can see from the photos, my son really enjoyed spending time

 in the swimming pool last week.

Altered Baby Box

Today I have a cute little project to share.  I found this little wooden box at a local craft store all roughed up and ready for some colour.  I decided to try my hand at altering it.  I pulled out my retired Nursery Suite  DSP and went to work,.  I struggled to cover over the letters, so I pried them off and die cut some out of chipboard with the Big Shot.  I used a sponge and ink to cover over the actual parts of the box that were visible, but once they were inked up, the colour was too vibrant, so I decided to sponge over it with Very Vanilla Craft Ink which added a nice soft feel to the block.  This little block opens up into a little keepsake box.  This box is perfect for parents who don't know if they are expecting a little boy, or a little girl.

Button Buddies for Babies

I was so excited to receive my new stamp set - Button Buddies.  It was on backorder, and I was desperately impatient, as it was the first set I really wanted when I saw the new catty back in June.

Anyway, once I sat down with it, my mojo completely disappeared.  Have you ever had times like that?  I was on the phone today with my fellow Artisan Award winner, Jenn Picard, and we were lamenting about when we have a dry spot of creativity.  And after searching through Splitcoast, and Stampin' Connection, and all my other sources of creativity, I remembered the name of this sweet Australian Demo that I met, briefly at Convention this year, Teneale Williams.  This woman came all the way to the USA with her Mum, (that's how they spell it down under).  They came for something like 4 days - CRAZY.  I know they had a blast.  I actually had a great conversation with her Mum.  They are both very sweet.  So, after starting to check out her blog - click here - I decided to copy one of her cards.  Well...maybe I tweaked it to suit my style a bit.  Teneale's style is one that I would love to learn.  I really don't think I have a signature style and I would love to develop one.  I ususally just get inspired by things that attract me, but I can't narrow it down to a signature style.  Anyway after a lot of time spent looking through Teneale's blog, I decided to case this card here.  I have a friend who is due in a few weeks, and they don't know the sex of the baby, so this card will be perfect.  Something that Teneale always does, is finish the insides of her cards, so I was inspired to try my best at copying that as well.

For this card, I used tons, and tons, and tons of layers.  I think I used half a pack of Stampin' Dimensionals - (kidding)  I sometimes find that if you carefully try to copy the work of a great artist, you learn a lot of fabulous techniques.  Once I started looking very closely at Teneale's cards, I realized how she really loves to layer cardstock.  She always sponges the edges of the top layer, and then matte's it on a sheet of the same cardstock, with just a tiny border so that It really defines the edges.  On this card, I also did my first crinkle ribbon.  My buddy Jenn Picard explained it to me and it's super easy.  You use seam binding ribbon, and you tie your bow (I made a double bow here).  Then you spray it with water from a spritzer, and then you squish it up into a ball, and let it dry.  Voila - crinkle ribbon.  Super easy.

The Fun Stuff:

1. Stamps - Button Buddies, BFF
2. Ink – Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Regal Rose, Crumb Cake
3. Paper – Paisley Prints DSP, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla card stock
4. Accessories – Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Pearls Basic Jewels,

The Domestic Goddess Scrap 'n Card Kit - NEW

Well I never thought that I would find a use for the Domestic Goddess DSP from the latest Catty from Stampin' Up!  But there was something about the colours in it that really attracted me.  I love, love, LOVE Pool Party.  Anyway the blues and the yellows reminded me of Baby things.  I was itching to scrap this new paper, and suddenly inspiration struck, so voila!  The Domestic Goddess Scrap 'n Card Kit was born.

  

Above you will find the scrap page, and here is the card.  This kit is available for a Boy or a Girl.  I have included all the printables from My Digital Studio as a part of the kit so you don't need to own any stamps or ink to make this page.  All the other supplies are listed in the tutorial.

Fortunately my kids are away for a few days with their Grandparents, so I had time to type this tutorial up.  Don't worry, the Artisan Award Tutorials are coming, I'm just going to have to recreate the projects with current product, so I'll have to come up with a plan for retired items.  But hey, I'm a resourceful girl!  Anyhow, this latest tutorial is part of a new venture for me.  I am going to try to post new tutorials and templates on a regular basis.  For those of you who are new to my blog, if you look along the top there are some tabs that say things like 'Home', 'Templates', 'Tutorials', 'Awards', etc.  On my blog Tutorials are free, and Templates have a small charge because templates take me hours and hours to put together.

  

So if you're interested please click below to purchase this tutorial template for $3.99 USD

Blog Candy Winner (please scroll down for more Artisan Blog Hop!)

Wow ladies -what a fabulous response to my Blog Candy.

Our winner is...

Judith Oveson

from Berlin, Germany

Thanks for all your kind words ladies.  I always read all the comments, I wish I had time to respond to you all.  My project will be coming up at Craft Project Central later this month.

Enjoy the Little Things

Well I've been really busy these past few days.  I am absolutely IN LOVE with the new papers in the upcoming 2011/12 catty.  I tried and tried and tried to get a good photo of this page, but I just couldn't get the colours to photograph properly.  This page features a sneak peek of a new hostess paper - Cheerful Treat.  The lace circles are cutouts from a new specialty paper called Flirtatious.  I pulled the photo into My Digital Studio and then added the title before I printed it out.  I just love this photo of my daughter.  She has such a sparkle in her eyes in this photo.

Baby For You

This card was one that I originally created for my Artisan Award entries.  Artisan Award is a contest sponsored by Stampin' Up! for it's demonstrators.  Last year I entered and was a finalist!!!  That means that from over 400 or so entries, I made the top 30.  But the award only goes to the Top 10, so I decided to enter again this year.  Let me tell you that competition is tight, and I second guessed myself many, many, many times.  Thus, this card did not make the final cut.  This card didn't make it because I accidentally attached it on the background paper sideways.  Could you even tell??  Once I noticed, I just could not stop noticing it.  Besides, I cased this card from another blog, and it's supposed to be a contest all about creativity.
The Fun Stuff:
1.  Stamps - Party This Way, Printed Petals, For You Flower
2.  Ink - Rose Red, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Old Olive
3.  Paper - Whisper White, Early Espresso, Nursery Suite
4.  Accessories - Paper Piercing Tool, Circle Punches, Stampin' Dimensionals.

Gift Card Holder for Baby Gift

So here's a great little gift card holder that I whipped up for a friend of mine.  This little box was off the clearance rack at SU.  I used the Nursery Suite Quick Accents to make this card.  All off these embellishments are stickers except for the ribbon and the top note cut out. 

Inside the box I left a bit of red sticky tape on the lid where the gift card can be attached.  The fold out card lies in the bottom. This card is for a group shower gift, so there's lots of room for people to write a message.   We don't know if she's having a boy or a girl, so I tried to use a lot of the green and yellow bits.  This whole card took me about 20 minutes to make.  Gotta love those Quick Accent Stickers!