Watermelon Season!

My niece was excited to discover there was a Melon scented embossing powder, and the new in colors lend themselves PERFECTLY to watermelon cards, so I made her this card to celebrate her graduation to middle school... it's so cheerful and yummy, and she loved it :) I used the Create with Connie and Mary challenge for it.

And the sketch...

Simple but worn

This birthday card for my 6 year old nephew was done with the Clean & Simple Stamping challenge, so I challenged myself to really keep it simple. I also used the color challenge from Pals Paper Arts, but ended up switching the Early Espresso to Chocolate Chip and the Definitely Daffodil to So Saffron.

And the sketches...

Coffee Card for Crossing Guard

I know our crossing guard likes having his coffee with him every morning, so I decided a Tim Horton's gift card was a good gift, and this card was the perfect complement to tuck it into. I used Card Positioning System's sketch challenge for this one...

And here's the sketch...

Gift for Teacher #2

For our Grade One teacher, I decided her personality was more suited to something bright and fun than something pretty, so I made a fun sign for her classroom... (excuse the flash on the glass)

Gift for Teacher #1

For our preschool teacher, I used a Thank-You card my talented sister designed for stamp club, and decorated a picture frame to match.

Coloring on DSP

I made this card for the Creating Pretty Cards Challenge #12, and SUO's For The Birds challenge. My son's teacher loves roosters, so I cut this one out of the Beau Chateau paper and added some color with blenders. I am also in love with the Itty Bitty Banners!!!

And here's the sketch...

Picture perfect!

I used Sketch Frenzy Friday's sketch, and a bunch of my new goodies to make this Father's Day card for my hubby. I thought these new profile stamps would go GREAT with the Peekaboo dies, and it worked great! I am also SO in love with this new In Color ribbon <3

And here's the sketch...

Beach Bum

I really love this stamp set... I don't actually own it, and it's old, but I use my sister's set when I'm in the mood for it.Well, last night, I needed to make a card while I was at her house, watching all our boys, so not only did I use the chance to play with this stamp set, I also got to play with some retired paper I'd never seen, and some Kiwi Kiss, with the most amazing ribbon... I hope Stampin' Up! brings these back one day! I used the sketch challenge CCMC205 for Create with Connie and Mary, but after getting all my elements together, things just didn't "fit", so I had to move things around and reconfigure it. So it doesn't REALLY resemble the sketch anymore, but hopefully it's close enough to not be disqualified...

Here's the sketch...

Rain or Shine?

So, it's June... I think? But it's pretty hard to tell by looking out the window at all those gloomy skies and rainy days. Well, that was just right for the get well card I needed to make, but now I'm more than ready for some real sun... so I made my own :)

And here's what it really looks like outside... but without the pretty colors ;)

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: