Happy Anniversary, Graffiti Style

One of the absolute hardest challenges for me, is coming up with masculine cards for anniversaries and Valentine's... it's not like a birthday or Father's day, where it can be straight up masculine... you need some hearts and lovey dovey stuff, but it has to be JUST right! I think I did good for hubby's card for our 10 year anniversary yesterday... he liked it at least :)

I used the brick wall DSP from the Well Worn collection, and thought it would be a great idea to have the hearts/sentiment on the "wall" like it was graffiti... I really think it worked! I used the Unscripted Sketches sketch and the Hand Stamped Sentiments Masculine Theme challenge came at the perfect time.

And the challenges are...

Bots of love

They may be retired, but I still love these little robots and cogs! I made this fun and wonky card for my nephew's 4th birthday, using the Card Positioning System's sketch and the Utah Divas color challenge. Although for the color challenge I ended up using a shade or two off of each color... instead of Night of Navy, I used the new Midnight Muse. For the Garden Green, the new Gumball Green. Peach Parfait was replaced with Pumpkin Pie and Marina Mist became Ballet Blue.

Here are the challenges:

For my sweet new nephew

My baby sister had another beautiful baby last week, so I finally got to play with the Packed For Baby stamp I earned this spring. I had a lot of fun with this, using both markers and watercolor crayons to color the images, and using the Edgelit border die in different configurations to make the decorative strips.

I used another sketch from Craft Project Central for this one too... I love their challenges!

Here's the sketch...

Getting creative with the new In Colors

I have to say, in the years I've come to know and love Stampin' Up!, this is the first In Color Collection that I loved all 5 colors... they are just so much FUN!!! That's not to say I won't be devastated when Pool Party, Indigo Island and Lucky Limeade disappear in a year though :(

But, back to the celebration of what's new... including the best catalogue yet, in my humble opinion... I can't wait to share it with you all! But for now, all I have is the In Colors. I wanted to make a collection of cards to showcase each color, but having no coordinating DSP, Patterened Paper or accessories to work with I had to get creative. I decided to create a DIY background paper for each card, a rainbow of embellishments, and some denim ribbon, which looks great with any color, to tie them all together. These may be the most clean and simple cards I've made in ages, but I really wanted the focus to be on the colors, and think it worked quite nicely. Oh, and I have to add that the new ink pads are nothing short of AMAZING!!! No more repeated tapping... just a light kiss of the stamp and it's fully inked. Even the Distressed Dots background stamp was remarkably easy to get fully inked and stamped so clearly. And brayering the stripe folder is so much more vibrant than with the old pads. LOVE THEM!!!

So, without further ado, I introduce you to Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse and Primrose Petals... I hope you like them as much as I do!

Summer Smooches...

This is one that I did a little at a time, as my back could handle sitting there, and actually finished last week, but forgot to post. While the promotion to buy this suite is over now, (as is the sketch challenge I used), this paper and ribbon will be back in the new June catalogue. Unfortunately though, the fabric brads were only available for April. I am SO in love with the fun and cheery look of this suite!

Mother's Day Mojo

Despite my back pain, I just NEEDED to create something, from start to finish, and with Mother's Day coming up, that was where I started... I used Mojo Monday's sketch, and although the card is square, I also used the doily to give a nod to the circle option. This sentiment stamp may be from 2002, but it was the perfect fit for the feel of this very pretty card. I used the Confetti paper for the sentiment, and for the doily, (although I ended up sponging it with Soft Suede, so you can't really see it)... I am SO sad that these beautiful papers, as well as all the textured card stocks, are being retired... I'm going to miss them when I run out of stock :(

Here is the sketch I used: