Out of My Comfort Zone...

Hi Stampers!

Well after about 3 hours of trying to organize my craft disaster and find my desk...I finally found it! Good thing because I have lots of projects to get made because I want to get ahead a little bit :)

Here is what I made for your Inspiration today...

This card is totally out of my style element - LOL! I normally do not use the bright, bold colors but I saw a challenge on Anyone For Anya to create a card based on this inspiration photo...

When I saw this I immediately thought of the Anya Blooms stamp from The Greeting Farm because of the flowers. I also thought that the color scheme of kraft, burgundy, orange, and dark and light pinks was intriguing. So I thought I would try it out! I don't think it turned out to bad! That is one of the fun things about challenges! Sometimes it is fun to go outside your comfort zone a little and try something new! I never would have put these colors together on my own. My Sentiment is from the Anya Celebrates stamp set.

For my layout I used the sketch from this week's Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge...

Anyway...I hope you were not too blinded by my Bright, Bold, Summer colors - LOL! What do you think of my Blonde Hair color? I have never tried coloring blonde hair with my copics because I don't have many colors yet so I just kind of grabbed a few that looked "Blondish" and went with it - LOL! I kind of like it - more of a golden strawberry blonde.

Here is one last look at my Anya...

Thanks for stopping by! also... Don't forget about our DESIGN TEAM CALL!
Laura

I will be entering this in the following challenges:

Anyone For Anya - July Inspiration Photo Challenge
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch 214
The Greeting Farm - Farm Fresh Friday Punches & Dies
Yumi & Fumi - Challenge #20 - Card for any Celebration
Color Me Creative - Anything Goes #72
One Stop Craft Challenge - Summer Colors
The Paper Shelter - #120 Swirly Girly

Shabby Chic Valentine

Hi Stampers!

Happy Wednesday! This week I have been working some crazy hours so I combined my Design Team project for The Cutting Cafe with my inspirational piece for this week's Loves Rubberstamps Challenge because I wasn't going to have much time to craft. It actually all fell together perfectly I think :)

This week at The Cutting Cafe we are creating some more Valentine's Day Inspirational projects. Regina gave us a few choices for files to use. We could pick from Valentine's Mini Sentiments Backgrounds Printable Stamp Set, Fun With Hearts Printable Stamp Set, Heart Lace Shaped Card, or the Valentine Window Tops. All of these are so pretty and fun!

I chose the Valentine Mini Sentiments Backgrounds for my project. What I loved about this one is you can select one of the backgrounds, I used the Be Mine one, and place the pictures side by side and it creates the perfect background paper :) LOVE that!!

Here is a look at my project...

I wanted a shabby chic, vintage feel for my card today. The image I chose is from Saturated Canary called Free Hugs. This is the first time I have got to color this cutie... AND my very first time using copic markers! Yep...I bought my first 3 colors for hair :) I have a lot of practicing to do but I didn't think it turned out too bad for my first copic hair experience :) The rest of my image is colored with Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Markers. I layered my image on a doily that I sponged to make it look more aged. My pink background paper is from the My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Madison Avenue paper pack.

Here is a close up of my Saturated Canary Image...

This week in our Loves Rubberstamps challenge we are to look around on the Kirkland's Website and choose any product to use for inspiration and create a project. I love inspirational challenges because they are super fun! This is the product I chose to use:

It is the Vintage Rose Buffet lamp. I loved the vintage, shabby chic look PLUS I think the lampshade roses look a lot like my new vintage rose ribbon that I bought from Stampin Up! That is the trim I used on my card :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE this ribbon and need to buy TONS before it is gone! Super cute!

I took a quick peek at what this week's Saturated Canary Challenge since I was using one of their adorable images and this week it is to make a project based off a movie. My project was inspired by the movie Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore. This is one of my FAVORITE movies! If you haven't seen this you need to it is super adorable. As you can see by the coupon...my girl only gives hugs...no kisses :)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope that you play along in our Kirkland's Inspiration Challenge this week. Please visit The Cutting Cafe Blog to see what the rest of my teamies created with this week's files!

Have a great day!
Laura

I will be entering this in the following challenges:

Saturated Canary -  Movie Inspiration Challenge - Never Been Kissed
Crafts and Me - #117 Vintage
Whimsical Designs - All About Love Challenge
Creative Card Crew - Girly Challenge
7 Kids College Fund - #65 - Something Old & Something New (old = My Mind's Eye Papers, new = rose ribbon)
Top Tip Tuesday - Lavishly Luscious Layers - TIP - Wait for your glue to dry under your vintage rose ribbon BEFORE taking pictures because it looks like it has blue hues under it... :(
Bearly Mine - Tic Tac Toe - 4 in a row -  Lots of Layers, Pearls, Stamped Image, Lace (my lace doily)
Inky Chicks - Becky's Bingo Grid - Pearls, Lace (lace doily), flowers
Bunny Zoe's - Anything Goes
Card Mania Challenges - #12 Oh so Girly
Kaboodle Doodles - #155 Ribbon
The Ribbon Girl - Pink & Ivory
Sugar Creek Hollow - #45 Tic Tac Toe - Embossing, Ribbon, Distressing
Stampin For The Weekend - Something Girly

Believe In Your Dreams...

Good Morning Everyone!!

It's Wednesday which means another super fun inspiration day at The Cutting Cafe! This week we were asked to use any of the Chevron Files that they carry on our project. Chevrons are so popular right now and are really fun to create with. They can be used for so many occasions too.

I chose to use one of the Chevron Fall Printable Backgrounds on my project. The colors are so pretty in this set! I printed the large Gold colored background on Stampin Up! Whisper White Paper. The large backgrounds print out at almost a full sheet, 8" x 10 1/2". I haven't used very many printable papers because with my printer it seems they come out a little grainy or get annoying lines in them. I did not have ANY PROBLEMS printing these!! They turned out awesome!!

I used the Gold Chevron as my background paper. I sponged the edges with Stampin Up! So Saffron, which goes awesome with this color, and then distressed the edges. The light gray panel, and the white panel are embossed using my chevrons embossing folder. I wanted to keep the chevron pattern in the other panels but wanted them more subtle than my background.

I had found this picture of a Mellow Yellow Dahlia on Gray and White Zigzag Pillow by bedbuggs, on pinterest quite awhile ago and had it pinned to my "card inspirations" folder. I loved the chevron background with the flower and also loved the colors together and thought it would make a pretty card so I used it as my inspiration for this project :)

For the image on this I wanted to keep it very simple too, so I just used a sentiment! This is my very first card that has no images and only a sentiment as the main image - new territory for me :)  I used the Believe sentiment from Great Impressions which I love. I did the dazzling diamonds technique on this to give it some bling and make it pop. The flower on my card is a homemade scrunch flower that I made. Here is a closer look at the sentiment and the "bling." See how pretty the chevron background printed too? ♥ LOVE ♥

The layout I used for my card is this week's Mojo Monday Sketch #260.. I used the Square version.

When you get a chance don't forget to pop on over to The Cutting Cafe Blog today... you can see what all of the other Design Team Members created using chevrons AND if you leave a comment on the Inspiration Post... you could win YOUR CHOICE of 3 FILES from The Cutting Cafe!! How AWESOME is that??

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stampin All!
Laura

I will be entering this into the following challenges:

Mojo Monday - Sketch #260
Bearly Mine - #54 - Add A Sentiment
The Stamping Boutique - #52 Embossing
Party Time Tuesdays - PTT#87 - Anything Goes
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Distressing
Card Mania Challenges - CMC#4 - Handmade Flowers - 2nd Entry
Love To Create - #34 - Anything Goes - 2nd Entry
Make It Monday - # 108 Anything Goes
Paper Playtime - Punches & A Sentiment -
Simon Says Stamp & Show - For The Love of Sparkle
The Crazy Challenge - #129 - Spots or Stripes
The Pink Elephant - TPE167 - Chevron or Hexagon
Challenges 4 Everybody - #3 - Anything Goes - 2nd Entry
No Matter Which Challenges - #2 - Die Cuts and/or Punches
The Order of the Opus Gluei - #140 - A Little Sketchy
Scrapper's Delights - Distress It
Squiggles and Giggles - Punches & Dies
Stampin Sisters in Christ - Challenge #158 - Something Handmade on Project - My Scrunch Flower - 2nd Entry
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - #182 - BLING it On!
Secret Crafter - Distressing - 2nd Entry
Heck of a Challenge - Anything Goes
Ladybug Crafts - Anything Goes
Natalie and Amy's Challenge - Anything Goes
OOZAK - #6 - Sparkle
Avadares Challenge Blog - #3 - Make it Sparkle
Brown Sugar Challenge Blog - #8 - Anything Goes
Unique Crafters Challenge - Anything Goes - 2nd Entry

Standing Pretty

Hi Stampers!

Today is Tuesday which means it is a new Loves Rubberstamps Challenge!!
This week's challenge is a Pinterest Photo Inspiration Challenge! I love these! Here is the photograph that we had to use:

Isn't this adorable? There are TONS of ways to be inspired from this photograph. You could be inspired by that sweet little girl herself. You could be inspired by the gorgeous dress with the lace, pearls, and the creamy white layers. You could choose to be inspired by that gorgeous flower headband. Or just the vintage, shabby chic feel of the photo! Or combine it all! Your choice that is what makes it so fun!

Here is what I came up with for my inspirational piece...

I have always loved the look of the white on white layers using different embossing folders and this was the perfect inspiration piece to try it out myself! I used the little girls dress as the inspiration for my background. I distressed the edges, but I did it after I used my embossing folder so it was kind of hard to do it without tearing it too much. I also punched the edges of the strips with my tiny heart border punch from Stampin Up!

With having an all white background I really wanted my little girl image to pop so I chose to color her with deep, rich colors. This adorable image is called Standing Pretty and is from the Elisabeth Bell Designs Collection from Sweet Pea Stamps.

Here is a close up of my image. I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the ribbon in her hair and the front of her dress for some added sparkle.

I hand drew the grass using my prismacolor pencils and went around the image with pencil first and blended it out. The added some very faint clouds and sponged sky. I wanted it to be really faint. I think I got a little too much glitter on her dress and I noticed my red bled a little into her arm. Red is such a booger sometimes! I still think she turned out pretty though :) I added little pearls to her dress and ribbons too.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be inspired by that gorgeous flower so I created my own "scrunch flower" This is my absolute favorite flower to make. I love how they turn out! Reminds me of little carnations which are one of my favorite flowers.

Here is another look at the main panel and flower together...

The little sentiment on the jewelry tag punch is from Stampin Up! I wanted just a subtle one nothing too big and this was perfect.

I also used this week's sketch from My Favorite Things because it had lots of awesome layers which I wanted for creating all of the white on white embossing. Here is a look at the sketch:

I am also entering this in the Elphine House challenge because it is for Elisabeth Bell images. Their challenge is a 3,2,1 challenge. I used 3 - Different Embossing Folders, 2 - Large Pearls, 1 - Homemade Scrunch Flower :)

This challenge was a lot of fun and our Design Team really rocked this one with creations that are simply STUNNING! But you will have to go visit the challenge blog to check them out... you won't be disappointed ;)

Hope you will play along with us....

Happy Stampin!
Laura

I will also be entering this in the following challenges:

Card Mania - CMC #4 Handmade Flowers
House of Gilli - 2 Favorite Things - Large Pearls & Punches (Scallops for flower & Heart Border)
Incy Wincy Designs - Friends
Lollipop Crafts - 2 Different Punches or Dies - Scallop Punch & Heart Border Punch
Love To Create - Anything Goes
Stamp and Create - Anything Goes
Tammy's Scrappin Corner - Design a Kiddie Card
Gingerloft - Embossing - 2nd Entry
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Joanna Sheen Challenge - So Sweet
Stampin Sisters in Christ - Something Handmade on Project - Scrunch Flower
The Secret Stamper - Distressing
Delightful Challenges - Distressed
Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Vintage
Divas by Design - Lots of Layers
Elphine House - 3,2,1
My Mum's Craft Shop - Hearts & Flowers
Simon Says Stamp - Emboss It!
Lia Stampz - Challenge 25 - 3 of Something - Used 3 Different Embossing Folders
Unique Crafter's Challenge - Anything Goes
Pattie's Creations Design Challenge - Anything Goes - Must use an Image
The Stamping Boutique - Challenge 52 - Embossing
The Order of the Opus Gluei - Challenge #140 -A Little Sketchy
Heck of a Challenge - Anything Goes
Natalie & Amy's Challenge - Anything Goes

Lil Miss Shiny Bean!

Good Morning Stampers!

The heat has returned to our neck of the woods! Surprise Surprise! I actually don't mind the heat - it is the humidity here that makes it miserable. Sounds like a great reason to stay inside and stamp - LOL! While you are stamping be sure to join this week's new Loves Rubberstamps Blog Challenge! It is a fun one! You are to create a card that is inspired by this photograph from The House of Turquoise.

I love the different textures and the colors in this photograph. So many things to spark your creativity :)
Here is my inspired card.

I used the new release Shiny Bean from The Greeting Farm for my image. I am so excited because we just added The Greeting Farm to our store. They have adorable stamps and I have been a huge fan ever since they first started as Pink Poison :)

I colored my image using the Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Markers. This was my first time trying red hair. I don't think it turned out to bad for my first try! I am a newbie to the whole alcohol ink markers coloring world so I am a work in progress - LOL!  I added some liquid pearl dots to the star and butterfly trails. There is also iridescent ice on her wings, the butterflies, stars and her skirt which you can't see very well in the picture. It just gives it a subtle shimmer.

I hope you enjoy today's card and will join in our challenge!

Have a great day!
Laura

Happy Hour...In Black & White!

Good Morning Stampers...or I guess I should say Afternoon!

Today is TUESDAY which means we start a brand new Loves Rubberstamps Blog Challenge! This week is a Color Inspiration to use colors from this photo boutique card:

We were to be inspired by the pretty Pink, Grey & Black colors and you could also use the photograph for inspiration too! When I saw these colors I knew I wanted to try and color my image in "black & White" and add just a splash of pink. I love this look and had never tried it before so I thought I would give it a whirl! Here is the card I came up with:

I used one of my SUPER SUPER favorite Uptown Girls - Madison Has a Margarita from Stamping Bella. I colored her with my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Markers on the Crafter's Companion Ultrasmooth premium white cardstock. This cardstock is designed for use with alcohol markers and it really makes a huge difference!

Here is a closer look at my Madison...

I colored her using the cool greys and then added just a pop of the light pink in her ruffle and her glass. When you add the pop of pink you want to first lay down your lightest grey shade so it is not overwhelming, it is more subtle. I thought she turned out pretty good for my first attempt at coloring images in black and white!

On Saturday I always have to check the Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge...because I love these... and found a piece that I drew inspiration from for my card as well. This week you were to use inspiration from the SugarChicBaby Etsy Shop. I found this adorable headband to use for inspiration:

You can see the inspiration in my background paper! I wanted a chic but subtle pattern and this seemed to fit! PLUS anyone with small children knows that Momma needs Happy Hour some days...or any children...or for that matter just a husband some days - LOL!

Here are a few other challenges I would like to enter this card in:
Lia Stampz - Challenge 21 Anything Goes
Made Especially For You - Use Three Colors
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
That Craft Place (2nd Entry) - Anything Goes
Creative Craft Challenges 2 - Pink & Black
Jackson's Digital Expressions - Anything Goes + Use a Color Media
Papertake Weekly - All Things Girly

Hope you enjoy today's card and play along with us in this week's Loves Rubberstamps Challenge!

Happy Stampin!
Laura

Birthday Bakery Awning Card

Good morning everyone!

I had a chance yesterday to do some stamping and decided to make some challenge cards!

I came across a website called Create with Connie & Mary and they post some challenges each week using Stampin Up! only products. I thought it would be fun to try.

This week they gave you this picture of a cake for inspiration:



Here is my card:



I have been wanting to try one of these Awning Cards for awhile and thought this was a perfect time to make one! I used the blue & white stripes from the cake as my awning colors. The gold swirls on the cake inspired my "building wall" and of course you have to have lots of yummy cakes in the "window". It is hard to see in the picture but on my white frosting areas I used iridescent ice to make them sparkle. Lots of fun! This was the first time I got to use the Birthday Bakery Hostess exclusive set. It is super cute! Get your's by hosting a workshop, or by placing an order of $150 or more because they earn hostess credits also! Contact me for more information!

Here is what I used on my card:

Stampin Up! Stamp Sets: Birthday Bakery - Hostess Exclusive Set, Elements of Style

Paper: Stampin Up! Pacific Point, Whisper White

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Versamark, Pacific Point, Real Red, Basic Black, Baja Breeze

Accessories: Stampin Up! Blender Pens, Word Window Punch, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat tool, Iridescent Ice, Versamarker, Chocolate Chip Stampin Write Marker, dimesnionals, 2-Way Glue Pen

Inspiration Challenge is posted!

Good evening everyone!

I am super excited because like I said in my last post, I suggested this week's website for the Inspiration Challenges that is posted at splitcoaststampers every Saturday. Everytime I look at the Kirklands website I see so many neat textures and designs that would make awesome cards. The challenge posted early so I can share my card!

Here is my card for the Kirklands Inspiration Challenge IC276 at splitcoaststampers



This is the trio of vases from Kirkland's that inspired my card:



As soon as I saw these I instantly thought of Stampin Up's Very Vanilla, Marina Mist,
Soft Suede and Early Espresso colors. Then I noticed the flourish looked a lot like the flourish from Elements of style! I love how it turned out! When I showed my husband he was like WOW... that looks just like it!

I needed a good card layout that used panels so I dug through the different card sketch challenges that splitcoast also puts on and ended up using their card sketch challenge #82. Here is the layout:



I had a very hard time picking one thing that I wanted to base a card on... Kirklands is a website I will definately look to for inspiration whenever I am in a slump! Thanks for using the site Stephanie! I look forward to seeing all the talented stampers out there and seeing what they come up with! Be sure to play along!

Stampin Up! Stamp Sets: Elements of Style & Just Believe

Paper: Stampin Up! Very Vanilla, Marina Mist, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Early Espresso

Accessories: Stampin Up! Versamark, Clear embossing powder, heat tool, sponges, stamp-a-ma-jig, early espresso grosgrain ribbon, eyelet border punch

Sunset Deer

Good morning everyone! I can say for sure that the weather outside is frightful! We are having blizzard warnings for my state! Good day to stay in and stamp! I wanted to share with you a card I did for an inspiration challenge on splitcoaststampers. Each week they post a website for you to look through and pick an object that inspires you to create a card or project. For this challenge you were to go to the Bronner's Christmas Wonderland website and choose something to inspire you. Let me tell you - I had a very hard time picking just one! I will definately be doing some more because they have a ton of great products that will definately inspire you! Here is the ornament I choose for my inspiration:



And here is my card that I created:



I love how it turned out! This could be used for a lot of different occasions and is a perfect "man" card since they are so hard to make cards for at least I think anyway!

Take a look through the Bronner's website and see what you can find for inspiration! It is a lot of fun!

Here is what I used to create my card:

Stampin Up! Stamp Sets: Nature Silhouette, Season of Friendship, Lovely As a Tree

Paper: Stampin Up! Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Early Espresso

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze

Accessories: Stampin Up! Versamark, Clear embossing powder, heat gun, sponges, post it notes for masking.