Wetlands Sponged Birthday

Well, last night I managed to get this card made, but was too tired to take pictures and post it to my blog.   What's up with that???  I'm supposed to be a night owl! lol  Anyway, I saw the Paper Players sketch challenge for this week and decided to use it since I thought it would be great for a masculine card.  Since I needed some colors I decided to use Hand Stamped Sentiments inspiration challenge too.  I'm not sure if we were supposed to be inspired by the picture itself, but I was inspired to use the colors in their picture.  After pulling a piece of card stock out of every color in the photo I thought, "What in the world am I going to do with all of these colors?!" lol  That's when I decided to do a little sponging again since all the colors would work well with a "picture".  In June I was doing a LOT of sponging, but because of restrictions (which I agreed to) I am not allowed to show any of the cards I made.  I thought it was time to get busy and make another one so I could show some great cards that can be made using the Wetlands set. :)  This card only took me an hour start to finish.  That's amazing for me since the whole process including looking at the challenges, pulling everything out and actually making it were all included.  Wish I could have come up with my cards this fast when I had to sponge four of them for the Inky Fingers Club!! lol

  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Wetlands

Card Stock:  Baked Brown Sugar, Pear Pizzazz & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Baked Brown Sugar, Pear Pizzazz,

Raspberry Ripple, So Saffron, Marina Mist & Basic Black

Stampin' Write Markers:  Baked Brown Sugar,

Pear Pizzaz & Basic Black

Embossing Folder:  Woodgrain

Candy Dots:  Pear Pizzazz

Punch:  3/4" Circle

Blender Pen

Sponges

Swaps from Australia

I thought I'd post a few more pics of swap cards today that I got at convention since I still have quite the pile of them sitting on my table.  These are three different cards that I received from ladies that came to convention from Australia and their cards are awesome! 

This first card or maybe I should say bookmark is from Michelle Z.  It is just beautiful.  I love the vintage look and of course the sparkles that have been added.  The whole layout is fantastic.

This second card from Russarna M. is just lovely.  The way she used this set on the card from stamping, to cutting out flowers to making layers in the corner just makes the card pop for me.  The few touches of washi tape and an added strip of an embossing folder just brings it all together beautifully.

My last card from Shannean M. is clean and simple, yet gorgeous.  I'm not sure if she sponged the color, dragged the ink pad across the paper or what, but I love it.  For those of you who know I love sponging this is something right up my alley. 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Christmas Cheer in July

For today's card I thought I'd look through the blog challenges I follow and make a card using one of them since I haven't done any in a while.  Well, I ended up picking two.  For my theme I used this week's Friday Mashup...make a card using a Christmas/Hanukkah Project with Stripes.  For my sketch I used this week's challenge from the Paper Craft Crew.  The colors are a little different than normal for Christmas, but that's what I wanted, and boy did I have a bugger of a time getting a picture to come out looking nice between the gold embossed ornaments and the smooch spritz I used! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Ornament Keepsakes,

Gorgeous Grunge & Sweet Essentials

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede

Versa Mark

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  Gold

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

RHSSC - Elegant Butterfly & Bitty Butterfly

Happy Sunday, Everyone.  It's time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge card.  I needed to make a card for a bridal shower and that's how this card started.  I didn't like the top of the card without anything because it seemed so plain.  So I sponged the ribbon with Pool Party and added it to the card even though it wasn't a part of the sketch.  After all that work I decided not to use this one for the shower card and made a 3x3 card using the same colors instead. lol  Don't forget to check out what the other Red Hot Stampers made using this sketch.  If you're up to it why not join our challenge and let us see what you came up.  Check it all out HERE.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

RHSSC Card

Card Stock:  Pool Party & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Pool Party

Embossing Folder:  Fancy Fan

Ribbon:  5/8" Organza in Whisper White (sponged with Pool Party)

Punch:  Elegant Butterfly

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

3x3 Card

Stamp Set:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Pool Party & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Pool Party

Embossing Folder:  Fancy Fan

Punch:  Bitty Butterfly

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Elegant Butterfly Birthday Swap and Convention Pics

Today's card is another swap I received at convention from Gwen E.  Definitely a cute way to showcase the 2013-2015 In Colors.  I thought it would be the perfect card for my niece's 12th b-day too, so I added a white base since this card was cut to fit on the base sheet also.  Definitely gotta love that!  

And since I'm talking about convention I thought I'd show you a few more pics of my time there...

This is the view outside our hotel window.  The mountains don't look very big in the picture, but in person they were a lot bigger.

This is me with my upline Glenda and her friend Belinda.  They've been going to SU! conventions for quite a few years together now.  Every year since I've been a part of Stampin' Up! I've heard all about it and was SO excited to go this year!  Thanks for letting me tag along and have some fun, Belinda and Glenda! :)

This is another friend of Glenda's...France.  They met a few years back on a Stampin' Up! cruise and have been friends ever since.  How great is that?!  A friendship that has lasted even though they are thousands of miles apart (and, yes, I was happy to get a pic with the famous Stampin' Up! Demo France Martin!)

I randomly took pictures of many of the samples they had up on boards.  Notice how they are all in the shape of letters.  I never did figure out what any of them spelled. lol  When I get some time I'd like to zoom in on the cards and see them close up.  I know there's a lot of great ideas for cards on these boards. :)

This is Glenda pointing to the card she made for regionals in Lansing last November.  I found mine too (actually Glenda found it), but Glenda has the picture of me pointing to mine, so I thought I'd put her pic up instead. lol

Oh, the dreaded prize patrol!!!  Yes, I cringed every time there was a drum roll before the color popped up on the screen.  Now why didn't Gumball Green get chosen first instead of one of the last?  Then I wouldn't have been so worried all the time about all that standing, waving and clapping we're supposed to do.  It would have been over and done with right away! lol  When Gumball Green was called I did stand and clap....and thankfully they gave me my "prize" pretty quickly. lol

I hope you enjoyed a few of my pics from Stampin' Up! Convention 2013. :)

Convention Swaps - 1

Today I want to show you a bunch of swap cards from convention.  I noticed I had a lot of cards with blue in them, so I decided to grab those and show them to you.  

This first card is from Candi R.  It's such a cute birthday card.  I really like how the blue is highlighted using the Alphabet Press Embossing Folder.

The second card I want to show you is from Shawnna T. I love these colors together and how she colored her flower.  I so need to get this hostess set!

When I saw the positively Chevron background stamp I wondered what I would do with it.  Well, this card from Kristy S. shows a really cute way to use it. I really like the new In Color Ruffle Stretch Trim too.

This card from France M. has my two favorite colors...green and blue, and a bit of shimmer on the wings.  I love sparkles or shimmer of one kind or another on my cards. 

This card really stood out to me when I had a choice of a few different cards from Linda F.  I really liked the bright flower against the blue.

To be honest I didn't even know we had this stamp set in the catalog.  I kind of get stuck in the rut of what I like instead of trying to look for something new and create with it.  This was a cute way to showcase a few of the new In Colors by Melissa M.

The last card I'm going to show you today is from Ellie B.  It's such a cute and simple way to say happy birthday to someone and it could be done in any color, or preferably their favorite color. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stampin' Up! Convention 2013

Today I want to share a few pics of things from convention starting with the pillow gifts I received from my upline Glenda, fellow demo Belinda, Glenda's friend France and a few ladies in her downline...Holly, Lynne,  and Stephanie.  Wow, did they make great pillow gifts!  Notecards, notebooks, candy, survival kits, knitted socks, goodies and even a working clock. :)

Here is a picture of the group eating lunch and trying to stay cool.  I don't remember the name of this restaurant, but four of the ladies ordered salmon and I'm told it's the best around.  Nope, I didn't try it because I'm not a seafood kind of gal.

I thought I'd also show you a couple of card swaps from two of these ladies.  I started with these because they did something I've never heard of...made the cards ready to place on the actual card piece that needs to be folded.  I thought this was so neat because I always had to somehow make the card fronts smaller so I could make them into cards from earlier swaps.  This first card is from Lynne and reminds me of the bike from the Sale-a-bration catalog that was a favorite of mine.  Such a cute card.

Holly made this second card and I love the simplicity of it, yet it's so elegant too.

I'm sure most of you have seen pictures of the backpack by now.  This is the bag we received from Stampin' Up! and since it was my first convention it the first bag I've ever received from them...and I love it! 

My upline Glenda made each of us a tag to put on our bags somewhere.  Guess that's a good idea when you have thousands of women walking around with the same bag! lol

I plan on posting more swaps and pictures for you to see.  We definitely got a lot of goodies. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

RHSSC - Field Flower...again!

It's Sunday so it's time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge card.  Yup, I used the same colors I've been using for the past week just like I said I would since there was not a lot of time and no space left on my craft table to get out new colors!  Tomorrow I'll start posting some of the swaps I got at convention this weekend.  And now don't forget to check out what the other Red Hot Stampers made for this week's sketch challenge HERE.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Field Flowers & Dictionary

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder & Pear Pizzaz

Punches:  1 3/4" Circle & 1 3/8" Circle

Framelits:  Circles

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Whoo is getting married?!

Well, today's card is definitely not my norm, but I needed to whip up something for my daughter's friend who is getting married today...and I can't even be there!  And since she loves owls I had to make them on her card. :)  I wish them many years of happiness together.!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate & Whisper White

Embossing Folder:  Fancy Fan

Framelits:  Ovals Collection

Punch:  Owl Builder

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

Convention Swaps

Today I am in Salt Lake City, Utah for my first Stampin' Up! convention so I thought I'd show you the cards I made to swap.  All I can say is I was crazy to make this card!  When I made regional cards I was able to whip up 30 cards in 2 1/2 hours, but not this time!  Too many steps, but once I come up with an idea that I like there's no changing my mind.  So here's my stack...

And one up close in the pile.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Field Flowers, Dictionary & Sweet Essentials

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum

Wisteria Wonder & Pear Pizzaz

Punch:  Bitty Butterfly

Framelits:  Window Frames

Ribbon:  1/2" Seam Binding in Very Vanilla

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer (diluted with rubbing alcohol)

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

sponges

Pillow Gifts for Convention

I sure don't know how some ladies can post on their blogs everyday.  All I know is they are a LOT better than me!  Anyway, today's post is all about pillow gifts for convention because that's where I'm headed! :)  I put together four 3x3 cards with envelopes and some Ghirardelli chocolates for everyone.  Do you remember on Sunday I said you'd see a lot of the stamp set Field Flowers this week?  I wasn't kidding...and you'll still be seeing more.  At least today's cards use the new in colors. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Field Flowers & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Whisper White, Strawberry Slush, 

Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding & Coastal Cabana

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Strawberry Slush, 

Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding & Coastal Cabana

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

RHSSC 97 - Field Flowers

Well, it's a good thing it's Sunday and time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge or I might not be posting on here...kind of like this past week.  I should have a few things this coming week since I've been working on gifts for the ladies I'll be staying with at convention this week. :)  I've also been working away at my swap cards.  I came up with something I liked with way too many steps, but that's what I'm doing anyway because I like it! :)  One reason I mentioned all of this is because a lot of posts are going to involve this stamp set and most of them will be this color.  Why?  Because that's what's all over my craft table so I figured that's what I would use. :)  So here it today's card which I must say was challenging for me!  Don't forget to check out what the other Red Hot Stampers made on their blog HERE.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Field Flowers & Dictionary

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Pear Pizzazz, Perfect Plum & Wisteria Wonder 

Punches:  Scallop Oval, Large Oval & Bitty Butterfly

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

Smootch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

RHSSC - Wetlands Sunset

It's Sunday so that means it's time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge card.  I made this card special for a stamping friend's birthday who seems to craft a lot for her grand children making special things for class parties.  She makes crafts for others and has opened her home so others can craft too. :) I hope she had a great birthday!

Even though I've done a lot of sponging lately I couldn't resist doing a little more. :)  Don't forget to see what the other Red Hot Stampers made using this same sketch.  Check them out HERE.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!,

Stamp Sets:  Wetlands & Perfectly Penned

Card Stock:  Whisper White

Calssic Stampin' Pads:  Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana

Crisp Cantaloupe, So Saffron & Strawberry Slush

Stampin' Write Markers:  Pistachio Pudding & Basic Black

Blender Pen

Punch:  3/4" Circle

Clay & Button Mold

Sponges

Celebrate Today!

Happy 4th of July!  And Happy Birthday to a stamping friend of mine whose b-day happens to be today.  She makes hundreds of cards for others, so I think she deserves one on her special day too.  I wonder if one of these years I should make her a normal every day card instead of one that's red, white and blue?  We'll see next year, but for this year I used the Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge #49 HERE to help come up with her card.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Perfectly Penned

Card Stock:  Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Cherry Cobbler & Night of Navy

Embossing Folder:  Perfect Polka Dots

Framelits:  Window Frames

Punch: 1 1/4" Scallop

Sponges