Bohemian Clothing Inspired

Every now & then when I get the chance I like to try the challenges over on Split Coast Stampers. Today's inspiration challenge was to create something that was inspired by this piece of clothing. It seems that Bohemian is very "in" these days.

For my card I chose to go with the colors of the shirt as close as possible. I used a card sketch from a card that is in the latest addition of the Stamp It Cards (see my blog giveaway post) on Pg. 8 that Julia Stainton created. Thanks Julia for the inspiration.

Card base is: Chocolate Chip with Rustic Chic background paper (The Angel Co.) and a strip of Blush Blossom stamped with the Paisley BG in Groovy Guava ink. I also added a strip of Blush Blossom that I scalloped using my slit punch. I scored the top of the card & added a row of Blush Blossom eyelets.

I actually got out my sewing machine that I haven't used since High School and sewed a border on the bottom. I'm so proud of myself for trying this. I also practice the zigzag stitch but didn't include that on my card.

My floral image was colored with markers, Taken With Teal, Green Galore, Certainly Celery & Chocolate Chip and the sentiment was stamped in Chocolate Chip. I layered this to 2 scalloped squares glued together to form a rectangle and covered the seam line with Twistel. I added Chocolate chip accents around the scallop & highlighted the flowers with Waterfall Stickles, then mounted this onto my card. The flower at the bottom is from the new Hostess set: In The Spotlight. I stamped it with Groovy Guava on Blush Blossom and cut it out then cut part of it off before gluing it onto my card.

I like how this turned out. Don't forget to enter my blog candy post but be sure to leave your comments only on that post and not this one. Ida

Blog Candy - My first ever

I want to share a little love out there with some lucky reader so today I'm offering my first ever "Blog Candy" Here's what you will receive, The newest issue of Stamp It! Cards (and it's a good one), 2 small acrylic blocks, a set of clear stamps by Studio G - these were featured in my post

Blogger Bingo - A Little Note earlier this month. You'll also received a set of Punched Oval & Circles on Whisper White card stock & Scalloped Oval & Circles in Bold Brights.

How do you win these goodies? - #1 Leave a comment on this post telling me your name (First only), Where you live (City, State) and one thing that you plan to do this summer for FUN

#2 - Visit any other blog posted from either my list of blogs I read or the one's from the Blogger's Challenge and leave a comment on their blog as well but report back as to who's blog you visited.

Simple enough & have fun as there are some fabulous blogs out there!

Contest will end on Friday morning 8:00 am (PST) and I will draw a name from the enteries and post the winner by 5:00 pm (PST)

Happy thoughts & Hugs, Ida

Blogger's Challenge - Ammended

A group of stamper's that I belong to decided to start a "Blogger's Challenge" where we will all post cards to our blogs based on ie: sketch, color scheme, card layout etc...and see how different everyone's cards are even though we used the same basic theme. For the first challenge we were assigned to recreate a card layout based on a card found in the Fall/Winter Preview catalog from Stampin'Up! on page 10. We could use any stamps we wanted or even the same ones but we had to change the colors to make ours unique.


Now I must admit this certainly was a "Challenge" for me. For one thing I was not overly fond of the particular card layout. It's NOT my style but I took up the challenge & am posting my card.

For my card I used the Pumpkin from the Preview Catalog set, Year after Year.
Card base: Old Olive, Circles were punched with 1 1/4" punch on Au Chocolate Paper that I brayered Pumpkin Pie ink on to gie the dots some color. I colored my pumpkin image with Stampin'Pastels & speckled it with chocolate chip ink using Itty Bitty Backgrounds. The sentiment is from Holidays & Wishes also in the Fall Preview catalog and stamped with Garden Green ink. I added a strip of Pumpkin Pie and a Mustard brad and ruffled chocolate ribbon to the side.

Please visit these other great blogs to see their samples as well.

Splendiferous Creations

Stamping with Sheryl

Stamp with Sarah

Snickerdoodle Dreams

Sunflower Studio

Watercolored Dreams

Kim’s Basement Stamping

Toni’s Adventures in Stamping & Scrapbooking

Stamp with Sue

The Technique Trail

Summer Sunflower

Today's card is another entry for the Beach Blogger Bingo game still going on over at Poetic Artistry. I believe we are starting round #4 now.

For this card my card base is Basic Black. Then I stamped the Paisley Background with Summer Sun ink on Summer Sun card stock & layered a piece of Striped Designer Paper (Citrus Squeeze Dotted Line by Doodlebug Designs) and added 3 Green Galore brads to the side and a strip of Apple Green ribbon down the center.

I stamped the Sunflower from Give Thanks (SU) with Basic Black ink on Shimmery White card stock & used my Prisma Color pencils, Gamsol & a blending stump to color the image. Then I punched this out with my Mega Oval punch and layerd this to a Scalloped Oval of Green Galore. I dotted the scallops with a Basic Black Ink pen.

I layered a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock that was distressed & pierced then faux stitched over the Summer Sun layer. I added a Black/White stitched ribbon (May Arts) to my sunflower image & highlight the center of the sunflower with frosted lace stickles then mounted this with mounting tape. The sentiment was stamped in Basic Black ink to complete the card.

I love the bright summery colors.

Bohemian Peacock

Still playing Bingo over at Poetic Artistry & having a ball! Today I decided to do something really "different" for me that is. I started out with my patterned paper as the theme of this card. I bought this really cool pack of paper from (The Angel Company) called, Rustic Chic and have just been dying to use it. Normally this isn't a look I go for but it's growing on me.

Then I paired that with an equally cool (okay I love that word) set of stamps from (Hero Arts) called, Sketched Birds.

I decided to go with very little stamping on this card since I had been at bowling all morning and wanted to make sure I had a card for the current Bingo round. I stamped the Peacock Image using a Kaleidacolor Pad (Caribbean Sea) on Shimmery White card stock & punched it out with my Mega Oval punch. Next I used the Giga Scalloped Oval punch & pierced holes and the highlighted each hole with Waterfall Stickles.

I glued the designer paper to some Certainly Celery card stock distressed with Chocolate Chip Ink. I then wrapped a piece of Twistel (Making Memories) around this punched a hole and added the big brad (K & Company) that I've been dying to use. I layered this to my card base of Tempting Turquoise. The sentiments is from PAPERTREYink & is called (Paper Tray), I stamped that with the Kaleidacolor pad as well. The peacock & sentiment are both raised using foam mounting tape.

Again an easy card sto stamp but some fun embellishments gave it the pizzaz that I was looking for. This bingo game has really challenged me to be more creative and I have to say, Thank to Julee for such a fun game and challenge. Enjoy & have a great day. Ida

Two Birds With One Stone

Today I decided to "kill two birds with one stone" so to speak (isn't that an awful saying?) by combining two different challenges. I did the sketch challenge again for the Beach Blogger Bingo game going on over at Poetic Aritstry (see previous posts for the link) and also did the Try A New Technique on SCS. We were to create LONG card (Legal Envelope size) using Retiring stamp sets.

I chose the set, The Cats Meow & the Cheesecloth Background stamp (I'm going to miss that one) for my card. I also decided to use some retiring background paper & ribbon on my card as well.

Card Base: Bashful Blue, Other colors used: Pumpkin Pie & Gable Green.

My cat image was stamped with Basic Black ink & colored with Prisma color pencils and blended with gamsol and a blending stump. I added some Crystal Effects to the water droplets for a fun little touch. I cut this out & mounted it onto the Gable Green & Bashful blue pieces which were punch with a Mega Circle & Giga Scalloped punch and pierced with my Crafter's Tool Kit. I also used one of my border stamps (Gina K Designs) on the Gable Green Piece.

The row of cats was stamped with Pumpkin Ink & layered to the Gable Green & Bashful blue pieces. I stamped the Cheesecloth background on the pumpkin pie piece and added a piece of the Petal Patch Designer Series paper (Spring Mini I believe) and then added 3 Green Galore Brads and Tied a piece of French Blue Grosgrain ribbon onto the card and stamped the sentiment in Basic Black.

I had a hard time trying to get a decent photograph of this card but hopefully you can see it well enough.

So long to (gone but not forgotten) to The Cat's Meow & Cheesecloth Background. - Ida

From the Heart

Since I had extra paper left over I decided to make another very similar card as the previous post. Details are pretty much the same. The only changes I made were to cut my pieces a little smaller and I used the "Bubbles" embossing folder, a smaller chipboard flower, a heart brad and a different sentiment from (Holidays & Wishes) one of the new sets in the SU Preview catalog.

I just happened to have a package of Limited Edition Fruit Fantasy Tic Tac's on my desk & a "light bulb" went off in my head when I went to photograph this card. I realized those colors were pretty much the same as the card with the exception of the lime color but hey it looks great anyway.



Enjoy & have a great day! Ida

Correction

I've changed this twice already but in the last post with the Birthday card the Yellow Card stock is NOT YoYo Yellow but rather Summer Sun like I originally had it. I need to look more closely before I edit my posts. Sorry for any confusion. Ida

Blogger Bingo - Bold & Bright Birthday Wishes

Well we are now into Round 3 of the Blogger Bingo game over at Poetic Artistry where Julee has been challenging the players to create cards using a "Master Sketch" - There is a new sketch for this round so this is my first card using that sketch. I had a lot of fun with this card but there is very little stamping on it. Only the Sentiment and the Silver Polka Dots are stamped.

I started with Old Olive, Real Red & YoYo Yellow as my color combination. (I like bright colors). Then since I had this really COOL designer paper (We Are Memory Keepers) that I've been dying to use I and it matched my color scheme I went with it. This DP has metallic accents in it so I also used Brushed Silver card stock as an accent piece.

For this card I used my Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Spots n Dots) to emboss the YoYo Yellow piece. I then layered my striped piece of designer paper to that & added a strip of Old Olive that I had stamped the Polka Dot BG (Cornish Heritage Farms) with Detail Silver EP.

I recently purchased the new On Board Blossoms & Basics chipboard from the Preview catalog (SU) and decided to use one of the flowers for my focal image. I used Lipstick Red Chalk Ink & Yellow Citrus Chalk ink (Colorbox) to dye the chipboard pieces. Then I added Lemone' Glitter (Art Institute) to the yellow center piece to give it some sparkle & glue on a silver flower charm (source unknown) to the center. I layered this to a piece of Old Olive cut with my Mega Circle Punch & layered to a pierced Giga Scalloped piece of Brushed Silver card stock.

The sentiment is from, Sincere Salutations (SU) and was stamped with Garden Green ink on Old Olive card stock & punched out with the Tag Punch and then glued down to the striped piece. The main focal image was raised up with foam mounting tape.

This card has a lot of texture going on it it and very bold bright colors. I hope you like it. Ida

Blogger Bingo - A little Note

Okay I didn't get a chance yesterday to stamp a card for the blogger Bingo game over at Poetic Artistry but I did have a chance to play today. This has been a fun sketch to create cards from & the Bingo game is pretty fun too!

For this card I used a $1 set of clear stamps (Studio G) that I got at our local JoAnn's.

I used some DP from DCWV and matched my card stock & inks to the DP.

Stamps: Studio G & Beyond The Basics (SU)

Card Stock: Garden Green, Tempting Turquoise, Cool Carribean

Ink Pads: Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Tempting Turquoise, Cool Carribean

Other: Chocolate Grosgrain ribbon (I can't believe SU retired this color!), Chocolate Brad (Bazzill Basics-Refind Rounds Monochromatic Chocolate), Waterfall Stickles (blue flower centers), Frosted Lake Stickles (chocolate flower), 1 3/8 " & 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Foam Mounting Tape

More Bingo Fun

More Bingo Fun

Okay so apparently I "goofed" a little yesterday and did a card that wasn't the "official" sketch but I still got credit for it. However today I have done the correct sketch for my card.

Stamp set: Text Boxed (PAPERTREYink)
Card Stock: Pink Passion, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink Pads: Pink Passion, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black
Other: Black EP, Dewy Geranium EP (Orbitz by Comotion), Ribbon (May Arts), Rhinestone Brads (Ice & Fire Circles - SU), Frosted Lace Stickles

I embossed the solid flower image with the Geranium EP and the frame with Black EP cut out the flower image and glued it inside the frame then layered it to the Wasabi piece. I stamped my flowers on the whisper white with Wasabi & Pink Passion and then layered these pieces with black & white. The sentiment was stamped in black and layered to the Wasabi piece. I used mounting tape to pop up the main flowers & sentiment. All flower centers highlighted with frosted lace stickles.

Be sure to check out Poetic Artistry for other great cards done by fellow Bingo Players.

I just got through checking her blog again & wouldn't you know it there is a "Winner" already (drat it all) ...but I'm still playing and posting my cards since it's just FUN to play.

Update

Well I just had to post this little update to my previous post. The doctor's office just called with the results of my CT scan. Apparently "years" ago I somehow suffered some kind of a blow to my abdomen area that caused a hematoma on my spleen. It has since calcified and that's what they were concerned about but they said since it hasn't grown everything looks normal & that means no surgery!!!!

Bingo Challenge

Sorry for not posting for a few days. I've had a rather stressful week. It's a long story but suffice it to say that I had an unexpected problem occur when I went to the doctor this week for a bad sinus/upper respiratory problem. They discovered a problem on my chest x-ray totally unrelated and I had to have a CT scan done. So far "no news" on the outcome of the tests. They always say, "no news is good news" so I'm thinking postitive on that aspect.

Anyway over at: http://poeticartistry.blogspot.com/ there is the COOL game of Bingo going on. If you post a card using the sketch of the day extra bingo numbers are called so I thought why not!

This is my card for today's sketch. I used one of the new Hostess sets coming up in Stampin'Up!'s new 2007-2008 catalog. It's called, In The Spotlight

I've been dying to make a Christmas card using the new "in-colors" of Wild Wasabi & Purely Pomegranate so that's what I did with this card.

My card base is Purely Pomegranate with a layer of Wild Wasabi distressed with the Cutter Kit & edge in Wasabi ink. I stamped the Sentiment (Holidays & Wishes - SU) in Pomegrante ink. Next I embossed a layer of Shimmery White with my Snowflake Cuttlebug folder and layered that to the Wasabi layer.

I stamped the Center piece with Pomegranate & Wasabi ink and layered them to matching papers. My circles were cut using a Mege Circle Punch and a 2 1/8" Punch (non-su). I piereced holes around parts of the stamped design & added a green brad from the new Rhinestone Ice Circle Brads (SU). I tied ribbons (May Arts) around the center piece & layered everything together with foam mounting tape.

It's a bit "different" for a Christmas card but I like the colors together a lot. Hope you enjoy it.

Cherry Blossom Delight

Since I had extra pieces of my patterned paper left over from the previous Cherry card I decided to make another card for the sketch challenge #128 (Splitcoast Stampers).

For this card I used, Cherry Blossom (Rubber Stampede) & Wonderful Day (Hero Arts)

My card base was Real Red with a layer of Old Olive that I added the DP (Shabby Princess by BoBunny). I stamped the Cherry Blossom on Whisper White & watercolored it with an aqua painter dipped in the ink lids of Regal Rose, Blush Blossom, Pretty In Pink, Mellow Moss, Creamy Caramel and Bliss Blue ink pads. Then I punched out a Mega Circle highlighted with Real Red ink and layered to a Giga Scalloped Circle (Bazzill texture green card stock) I added some Frosted Lace stickles to the flower centers and pierced holes with the Crafters tool kit and high lighted them with a white gel pen.

The cherry was punched out on Whisper White & layered to a circle of Real Red. Then I punched out the cherry again on the textured green card stock & glued the stem and leaf portions only to the punched out piece. I high lighted the cherries with the Frosted Lace stickles and stamped the speckles (Itty bitty Backgrounds) with Old Olive ink.

The sentiment was stamped with Handsome Hunter ink.

I tied a piece of White Grosgrain ribbn around the card and mounted the Cherry Blossom and Cherry Punch with mounting tape to complete the card.

You can see how I got 2 completely different cards by switching out my stamps and accesories and yet I used the same sketch for both cards. Hope you enjoyed both of them.

Ida

Cherries Jubilee

Oh how I "LOVE" summer here. I live in an area that is abundant with fresh produce during the summer months. Lots of yummy fruits & vegetables. Today's card is inspired by the local Cherry crop. Of course you can't show a card with cherries without showing the cherries as well so you get pictures of both! I had placed my bowl of delectable cherries on the chair to photograph them when my cat, "Miss Dottie" decided she wanted to sit in the chair as well. So this photo features 2 of my favorite things, cherries & cats!!!

As for my card...This card is based on the sketch of the week at SCS #128 - It was a FUN sketch to create.

Details of the card: Stamps Used: Cherry Jubilee (Penny Black) Bowl of Cherries (Hampton Art Stamps)

Ink: Basic Black Pad & Marker (doodling done with marker)

Prisma Colored Pencils, Gamsol & Blending Stumps used to color image.

Card Stock: Real Red, Shimmery White (SU), Textured Green (Bazzill), Shabby Princess DP (BoBunny)

Other: Crystal Effects added on cherries, Cherry Punch (Mary Engelbreit), Ribbons (American Crafts), Mounting Tape

Baroque Beauty

I took Michelle (Twisted Chick Creations) up on her challenge to use the following color combination: More Mustard, Pale Plum & one of the up coming "In Colors" Wild Wasabi to create this card. You can find Michelle's great card here: http://www.twisted-chick.blogspot.com/

For my card I used the new Baroque Motifs from the Fall Preview brochure.

My card baseis Wild Wasabi layered with more mustard. I stamped the Pale Plum piece first with the Fine Lace background stamp in Pale Plum ink and stamped the small flower from the Baroque Motifs set over the top of the fine lace background. Next I stamped the large Flourish in Basic Black Ink.

I used my Slit Punch to create the large mustard scallop which I pierced with my Crafter's Tool Kit and layered a smaller strip of Wild Wasabi & Pale Plum to that and added 3 of the new square Fire brads from the preview brochure. I stamped the sentiment on the side with black ink.

I stamped the flower like circle with black ink on Wild Wasabi cardstock & cut it out and layered it to a larger circle of More Mustard card stock that I distressed with my Cutter Kit. I added a lavender circle brad (Ice brads from Preview brochure) to the center of the flower and mounted this on my card with mounting tape.

At first I thought Michelle is "nuts" using this combination together but she's "Right On" as this color combination looks fabulous together. Thanks Michelle for a great challenge & color combo.

Enjoy, Ida

Take Three

This card is the 2nd card we did at my Stamper's 10 Club and was inspired by Burnsie on SCS.

Card Base: Certainly Celery, Layered with Barely Banana stamped with the Fine Lace Background in So Saffron Ink and pierced with Crafter's Tool Kit

Saying (Thinking of You) colored with Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke Markers and stamped on Whisper White and layered with Always Artichoke. Barely Banana Brads added to flower centers.

Background Papers used (4 Seasons Designer series) - Tied with Cream Grosgrain Ribbon

Mounting Dimensionals used to raise saying. - A quick & simple card but my club members loved it.

Artwork

From time to time I receive various pictures & stories, jokes etc...from friends and every now & then one of them really catches my eye. Today I am sharing a photo that one of my dear friends sent to me in an e-mail. I don't know what "Faith" you are or what "Religion" you practice or if you even believe in a higher deity or not. It doesn't matter to me because, "I know Whom I have believed, and am pursuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." - II Timothy 1:12

This drawing is such a unique drawing and even if you don't share my beliefs you can appreciate the quality and detail the artist put into this piece of artwork.

Serenede of the Sunflower

I like Sunflowers but have never grown them in my flower gardens. I guess because they just take up so much room and quite often grow way to tall. Still I think they are a beautiful flower. Very cheery and for some reason they remind me of summer. This is a card we are doing at my Stamper's 10 Club tonight. I started with the Chocolate Chip base, added a layer of More Mustard stamped with the Aida Cloth background stamp in mustard ink as well. The sentiment was stamped with Garden Green ink. I added chocolate grosgrain ribbon and 2 Old Olive brads. My sunflowers were stamped on Whisper White card stock using, More Mustard, Really Rust & Close to Cocoa inks. I stamped a separate sunflower and cut it out along with a leaf (stamped in Garden Green ink on Old Olive Card Stock) and layered this over the top of the middle sunflower with Dimensionals. All centers were highlighted with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I added some speckles with Itty Bitty Background in Old Olive Ink as well. The bee was stamped in Basic Black & colored with Summer Sun ink and highlighted with the glitter as well. I cut the bee out & mounted it with Dimensionals also. I layered the sunflower piece to a piece of Garden Green and distressed the edges with my Cutter Kit. It's a pretty simple card but I love how sunny and bright it feels.

(Stamp Sets Used: Serene Sunflower, Aida Cloth Background, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, It's Your Birthday - All Stampin Up Products used for this card.)

Strawberry Delight

It's with great pleasure that I share these YUMMY photo's with you today. Our summer has "officially" arrived here when you are able to buy local produce & my favorite one is of course,

Strawberries! Not just any strawberry though as you can buy them in the stores all year long but let's face it they just don't have the flavor of a freshly picked (and ripe) strawberry. Here where I live a local family named, (Klicker) has been growing these delicious berries for as long as I can remember & then some. If you check back in my archives in April under (Strawberry Fields Forever) you'll find a link to read about these delicious berries.

This weekend I was able to purchase a flat of these berries and made some wonderful Strawberry Shortcake that I must say was absolutely DELICIOUS!

I took a few pictures to share with you and in honor of the first berries of the summer I created a special card as well to share with you. It's also the card that I promised to make with the "sketch" challenge from SCS that I posted earlier this week Sunflower Serenity but is exclusive only to my blog readers.

The other pictures are of Me & my little granddaughter, Coleen eating fresh berries, she just kept eating them and saying, "More, More" - And of course I had to share my shortcake picture with you as well. Doesn't it just make your mouth water.

Details of the card: Card Stock: Real Red, Green Gable, Whisper White

Stamps: Strawberries by Stamp Allah (a stamp I've had for years) - Sentiment from Papertrey Green Thumb set, Reverse Dot & Polka Dot Backgrounders by Cornish Heritage Farms.

Inks: Palette Noir Black Ink, Lipstick Red & Lime Pastel Fluid Chalk Ink

Colored Pencils, Glitter, Red/White Polka Dot ribbon (American Crafts). Green Galore Brads,

Giga Scalloped Square Punch, Slit Punch to make the scalloped borders, Paper Piercing Tool, Mounting Tape.