Whirlpool of Imagination

Birthday Numbers

A couple of months ago I challenged the members of my card guild to create something using vegetables as the inspiration. I decided to create a card and use this as a color inspiration. I chose an avocado and it's shades of green.

The cake stamp is from Spunky Stamps and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

This is a layout design that I like and use often. I decided to have a little fun with the background layer. I took a lighter piece of green cardstock and used the numbers cuttlebug folder on it to emboss it. I then painted the entire thing with a darker green. Once dry, I took a piece of sandpaper and rubbed off some of the paint to reveal the lighter green below.

I love using paint but usually just dry brush some on. This time I went with fuller coverage and then removal of some color. It's a totally different look but lots of fun in a slightly distressed way.

I am finally almost done with my moving announcements - phew. But I can't seem to find all my A7 envelopes from the move - oops - quick trip for some envies for me!

Have a great day!

Lacey Flowers Birthday

Once of my favorite color combinations is shades of pink with shades of brown. But not just any pink, variations of pomegranate or rose red with brown make me smile when I create with them.

Today I've got a really  quick birthday card that uses that color combo.

These lace flowers are a big bold stamp so I wanted to enjoy them fully. Because of their size I went with the A7 sized card - a size I very rarely create with.

The flowers (from Papertrey Ink) are stamped in my rose red ink that I adore. The sentiment (also Papertrey) is probably espresso brown if I had to guess from the picture.

I kept it simple with just repeating the layers in colors from from image block and there you have it, a quick and easy, but very pretty birthday card.

I am working on our change of address cards (slowly!) at the moment. I have a design and I have a plan - just haven't had the discipline to get the assembly line working and get these made. My goal? Get myself in gear and have them done by the weekend. Hopefully I'll have them created and photographed to show off next week!

Have a wonderful night!

Butterfly and Paper

A couple of weeks ago, there was a Papertry tutorial about using patterned paper strips and mixing and matching. I didn't watch the video but the basci idea stuck in my head. So when I recently went to make a card, I decided to give it a whirl.

I started with the butterfly image and sentiment stamped in one of my favorite colors - marina mist from Stampin' Up. (the stamps are from Papertrey)

With the blue guiding me, I pulled out a Basic Grey paper pack and matched some papers that I though went nicely with the blue.

Usually I use one paper design and stick with just the one on a card. I liked mixing and matching and of course, the paper packs make it easy as they all sort of match to begin with. Hopefully I'll get out of my comfort zone more often and try it again!

Have a great day!

Colorful Thank You

This card was started last month for my Rainbow of Color April Card Makers guild challenge. Then everything I needed got packed away for the move so I set aside the parts I had already done and as I was unpacking today, I found the bits and pieces I had set aside. Luckily, enough was unpacked that I could do what I had originally envisioned doing with this design.

The shapes were die cut and adhered and then I ran it through the Cuttlebug to get some texture. The little sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink.

Here's a little peek at the close up:

Shush - I'm sneaking in stamping time when I should be unpacking.......but it feels great to be back in the studio and creating, even if I can't find everything yet!

Have a great night!

In a New Home

Yippee - finally got our internet back! The first day or two without phone, internet or tv was kind of nice in a get away from the world kind of way. But after the week dragged on, things got old fast!

I am getting my studio up to speed so when it's (semi) organized, I'll snap some pictures.

But after the warm welcome we received from our new neighborhood, I had to pull out enough supplies to get some thank you cards done.

Yikes - not the best picture but I'm still working on where to take pics in the new house.

The image is from Taylored Expressions and the sentiment from Papertrey Ink. I pulled out enough copic markers and a bit of ribbon to get the card decorated although kept it in my usual CAS style.

The carpets were cleaned yesterday so I'm hoping that by tomorrow they will be dry and I can get to organizing. Have a great night!

Cas Sketch

Not only am I spending 2012 with Stephanie Ackerman in a scrapping adventure, I really enjoy the stamping classes put forth by the folks over at the Online Card Classes website. I've done a few but you know of my love for Clean and Simple Stamping so I definitely knew I wanted to sign up for the two week CAS workshop.

Of course I am hopelessly notorious for posting things late so don't expect my posts to stay on track with all the daily lessons - LOL!

The first day of the workshop gave sketch ideas. I took one of the sketches and minimized it and made it tiny by making a mini 3 x 3 card with it.

The heart is from Verve and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

I took the basic sketch.......

and made it into something small for Valentine's Day.

I am actually hard at work using the Day 2 info although I did kind of change it up a bit. Like food recipes, I can't seem to follow card challenge directions too closely either!

Have a great day!

Last Day for Bicycle Cards

I've just discovered Stampin' Up's In Color Calyso Coral - so super pretty! I used it to make my final bicycle card for the week.

I mixed the peach with the coral although I didn't fo a great job editing this picture to show that!

As a reminder, the bike is from Paper and Such and the sentiment, stamped in cocoa, is from Papertrey.

Next week I have another series coming to you courtesy of a customer request.

Have a great night!

New and Old Challenge

Happy new year! It's that time of the month ~ time to show off challenge items from the previous months' challenge. In December, I challenged my guild members to create something old and new. I left it up to them to interpret the old and the new. I thought this was a fun way to end the old year and start the new!

Here's what I finally came up with:

I was cleaning out my wrapping paper area and found a piece of small wrapping paper that I'm not sure why I saved, frankly. It was too small to wrap most anything so as soon as I saw it, I remembered a recent Stamp TV from Gina K that highlighted using wrapping paper pieces for background patterned papers. Perfect for the challenge!

Here's my piece:

I decided to use the streamer part of the piece for my background (I still have the candle strips - I'm going to keep these in case inspiration strikes).

From there I picked all the colors I wanted to use from the multi colors of the paper.

I played around with some birthday stamps and nestie die cuts until I had my final design. Stamps and sentiment are from Papertrey Ink.

A bit brighter than my usual style but why not, it's a new year and all!

Hope you are having a fantastic day!

Snowman Gift Card Holder

As I wrap up 2011, I have one more item from Christmas that I forgot to post. Might as well do that today. I've taken to giving gift cards to the teachers for Christmas so I can feed my creative need by creating cute gift card holders.

This year I used the die from Papertrey to make them.

Here's the front, using stamps from Papertrey and spica markers.

I found this sentiment from Papertrey fit perfectly on the flap covering the gift card ~ it was meant to be.

And with that, ends my 2011 creations. I wish you a wonderful new year and hope you'll continue to follow my creative journey in 2012!

Thank You Note Cards

Whenever the kids have thank you notes to write, I generally take that as a invitation to create something new. With Christmas over, there are thank you's that must be written so I created some note cards that worked perfectly.

The tree is from Papertrey and the sentiment is from Verve. I went with garden green for the ink because besides wasabi, it's my favorite green!

I got the kids to sit down and write out the thank you's so it's another thing crossed off my list! I've been making my lists this week and am amazed at how well I'm accomplishing everything! Now I remember why I was always such a big fan of lists - it keeps me on track.

Hope you have a fantastic day!