Mini VSN Action

I participated in VSN on SCS for the first time in February. Wow, what a blast! So the next VSN is in May and the theme is Vegas! Last Saturday, there was a mini VSN, you know, just to get warmed up or to keep your momentum! All 6 VSN challenges were based on well-known hotels in Vegas. I could only do three challenges on time, due to testing and a baby shower! This first card was based on the challenge hosted by Jennifer Buck and the corresponding hotel was the Bellagio. The requirements for this challenge were to use a transparency and to include flowers. I also submitted this card for the Hero Arts challenge to make a card with a window!


This card for the challenge hosted by Jimmi Mayo to be inspired by the hotel Circus Circus! The one catch, you had to include orange! Now, ordinarily this would have been torture, but I recently acquired some fab Cosmo Cricket paper and that worked perfectly. I cased this card by Julie Koerber for her blog hit celebration and used Kristina Werner's latest Color Inspiration to decide my other colors on my card.
This last card is for the mini VSN challenge hosted by Sherry to use colors selected from the lobby of the Venetian! I cased a card by Laura Frederickson for her blog hit celebration! I also embossed that ever-present stamp, Linden Branch, in gold to meet the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge!

Here are the specifics for each card:

Thinking of You -
Stamps: Thinking of You Messages (Hero Arts)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Acetate
Ink: Chocolate Chip, StazOn Timber Brown
Accessories: Nestabilities, gold mini brads, Boho blossoms punch, sponge dauber, glue dots, art flowers (Hero Arts)
Techniques: sponging

Wild About You -
Stamps: Wild About You
Paper: Whisper Whie, Chocolate Chip, Cosmo Cricket Everlast
Ink: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Nestabilities, stampin' dimensionals, Choc. grosgrain ribbon, M's self-adhesive rhinestones, Mustard colored Sharpie, sponge dauber
Techniques: sponging, paper piecing

Hello -
Stamps: Linden Branch (Unity), Tiny Trinity (Unity)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Bordering Blue, Bravo Burgundy, Brushed Gold, Parisian Summer, dp
Ink: Versamark, Bravo Burgundy
Accessories: gold ep, heat too, vanilla taffeta ribbon, SU texturz plates, big shot, nestabilities. stampin' dimensionals
Techniques: heat embossing, dry embossing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Hip Hop Thursday with Unity!

It's almost here again, so I figured I had better post my cards that I made for last week's SCS sponsored challenges and the two Hip Hop challenges. This is my Featured Stamper card casing Beate!!! I chose this card that Beate made to case for the challenge. I have had this color combination in my mind for some time. I had huge plans for a metallic gold ribbon that I was sure that I had. Alas, it was nowhere to be found in my craft room. Now that I think about it, I probably used the last of it at Christmas time. Oh well, I jazzed it up with some dew drops that Jennifer Buck sent to me. Cute stuff, huh? I tell you, that woman is so sweet! I would love to meet her in person!

This next card is one I made for the CAS challenge that is relatively new to SCS. This particular challenge was to use punches on your card. I used some punches and miniaturized this sketch from Stamps and Smiles. I thought it was pretty good idea and apparently some other stampers thought it was pretty creative too! I tried to break away from my white kick and busted out some River Rock card stock for the base of this one. I am please with my result. Oh and this will be the first of three cards on this post that uses the Linden Branch stamp. I won it a few weeks ago and just received it and I love it. It's really quite versatile!


Here's card number two with the Linden Branch. This card is for the Color Challenge from last week on SCS. I also participated the the Stamper's Dream Dreamy Challenge and cased one of their Design Team member, Laurie Schmidlin. I chose this card that Laurie made to case. I embossed the Linden Branch with white embossing powder and colored on the back side of the vellum with my markers, or blender pen and In-Color stamp pads. Embossing is the highlighted technique for this week's Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge.



These last two cards are from challenges that from Hip Hop Thursday. Prizes are offered for winners of these challenges and sometimes they are featured on the Unity Blog! This challenge was to purple, black and white on a card. I cased another card by Beate for this one! Jeanne posted the Hip Hop Thursday challenges a little earlier, so I could actually participate. She posted them on Wednesday evening. Hooray!
Third and final card using the Linden Branch here! This was for the second Unity challenge last Thursday, "Unity Thinks Spring"! I also used a Mojo Monday sketch to flesh this one out. Do you know how hard it is to get a rhinestone brad through a knotted ribbon! I could have cried. SU's ice circle rhinestone's brad tails (I know their is a technical name for these things, but I can't recall it now)are rounded so they won't poke through. I also used wide organdy ribbon increasing the bulk of my knot. Plus, piercing ribbon is just a hassle anyway. I must have fooled around with that ribbon and brad for 15 minutes anyway. I wanted to scream and just ended up placing the brad around the knot and through the card!

Here are the deets:

Guava thanks card -
Stamps: Tree of Elegance (Unity), Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Groovy Guave, Brushed Gold, Watercolor Paper, Afternoon Tea dp
Ink: Versamark, Groovy Guava
Accessories: gold ep, heat tool, dew drops, MS butterfly punch, gold gel pen, mat pack, piercing tool, mini glue dots
Techniques: embossing, paper piercing

CAS thanks card -
Stamps: Linden branch (Unity), Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: River Rock, Whisper White, Old Olive, Haiku dp
Ink: River Rock, Old Olive
Accessories: 1 3/8" square punch, 1 1/4" square punch, 3/4" circle punch, stampin' dimensionals, stampin' sponge
Techniques: clean and simple

Linden Branch vellum card -
Stamps: Linden Branch (unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Vellum
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Craft White
Accessories: White ep, Kaisercraft Rose pearls, pink organdy ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, scallop edge punch, corner rounder
Techniques: heat embossing

Celebrate card -
Stamps: Sentiments O' Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Perfect Plum, Black Linen dp, PC Heritage Post
Ink: Perfect Plum
Accessories: Corner rounder, M's self adhesive rhinestones, Offray black polka dot ribbon, scallop edge punch

Amethyst hello card -
Stamps: Linden Branch (Unity), Tiny Trinity (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, DCWV dp
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac, Old Olive
Accessories: Black organdy ribbon, scallop edge punch, ice circle rhinestone brads

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

I {heart} Verve, again!

Viva La Verve strikes again, this time for the month of March. This first sketch features a twist of buttons. Of course, I had to use my new Verve stamps that I got and some new Cosmo Cricket paper I picked up. You can find the sketch here.
Here is the second sketch for March, with a twist of red, pink and green! I just had to use my SU Raspberry Tart dp for it. It was perfect and I loved how my Verve stamps replicated the flower in the dp. I am please with my coloring on this card as well. And, get this, I tied a bow! Wonders never cease!
This week's sketch called for a twist of birthday. Lucky for me, I also picked up Verve's Circular Sayings with a cool birthday sentiment in it! I also picked up some Basic Grey Lily Kate dp. I don't think it's new, but it's new to me! The celery card stock was a little bright compared to the green in the dp, so I sponged some Craft white on it to tone it down. I think it worked okay!
Finally, I got into my Cosmo Cricket dp for the fourth sketch. This sketch called for a twist of CAS (Clean and Simple). It wasn't really clean and simple, but limited the embellishments a bit (punches did not count, so I used six punches!)

Here are the specifics:

Button card -
Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve)
Paper: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Cosmo Cricket Everlast
Ink: Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: mat pack, sponge, paper piercing tool, random buttons
Techniques: sponging, piercing

Thanks card -
Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve), Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Raspberry Tart dp
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Versamark
Accessories: M's self adhesive pearls, white taffeta ribbon, slot punch, white ep, heat tool, blender pen, Sakura clear star gel pen
Techniques: embossing (sentiment)

Birthday card -
Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve), Circular Saying (Verve)
Paper: Certainly Celery, Whisper White, BG LilyKate, Vellum, Unknown blue?
Ink: Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, So Saffron, Craft White
Accessories: stampin' sponge, large oval punch, paper snips, Lilypad dew drops, white organdy ribbon, stampin' dimensionals

Just because card -
Stamps: Fluttering By (Verve)
Paper: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango, Cosmo Cricket Everlast
Ink: River Rock, Basic Gray
Accessories: stampin' sponge, ticket corner punch, scallop circle die, scallop edge punch, large oval punch, small oval punch, MS butterfly punch, stampin' dimensionals, vanilla taffeta ribbon
Techniques: sponging

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise specified.

Some Randomness

I stack cards that I have made and posted to my SCS gallery on top of my printer. I leave them there so that I remember to post them to my blog. I finally post them to my blog after the stack becomes unbearably tall or Sweet Pea starts to run off with them. I only have 15 on my printer right now. I should have 17, but I made two for occasions that I was attending. Don't worry, I won't show them all in one post. For this card, I used the colors from Kristina's Color Inspiration, a sketch from the Weekend Sketch Challenge, ribbon for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge and the ribbons made into tabs for Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply challenge! Whew!
This card has just one less challenge included in it. I started with an Our Creative Corner sketch and used Limited supply challenge to fill out the card with soft subtle colors and a flower as my main image. I finally submitted a card for the weekly Hero Arts challenge. This week the challenge was spring! I used some fab PTI dp that Jen Buck graciously gifted me and ribbon from my wedding (over 7 years ago!!)
So finally, this card only includes two challenges. This meets the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge mentioned above due to the different kind of ribbon and also meets with the Limelight Papercrafts Six Chick sketch (with a fuzz and fluff emphasis!)




Here are the details:

Coffee Card -
Stamps: Coffee With Friends (Flourishes), Fluttering By (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue
Accessories: 1 1/4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch, pink grosgrain ribbon, rose grosgrain ribbon, sponge dauber
Techniques: sponging

Easter Card -
Stamps: Designer Tulips (Hero Arts), Sentiment (Amuse Stamps)
Paper: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Pale Plum, PTI dp
Ink: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Offray ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, oval stencil, texturz plates
Techniques: embossing

Lily Card -
Keywords: LLPC017 FTTC7 flourishes
Stamps: Spring Ephemeral (Flourishes), Coffee with Friends (Flourishes)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Kraft, Patterns Pack dp, unknown purple?
Ink: Colorbox Royal Silk, Versmark Niagra Mist
Accessories: Ivory Bobbin Ribbon, circle stencil, stampin'dimensionals

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Pixie Week

This week was "Pixie Week" at school. I drew Kristen's name. She is an instructional assistant that is assigned to one child. She is new to our school, as the child is also new to our school. I don't know Kristen very well and it was fun to get the Pixie survey with her likes and dislikes.
One of the things that she likes are kitties. I just don't have very many kitty stamps because I am a dog person. But I did have this kitty stamp and a fun rounded saying to go with it! I did most of my stamping this week in the morning! I am sooo tired. I just couldn't get it together at night to go upstairs and stamp. So I offer that as the reason why these projects may seem simple!

Monday night I did bake cookies, seen here for St. Patrick's day. I was going to have a little helper, but she refused to follow directions and didn't get to help Mommy! I baked by myself and then I went upstairs to make this cute little container I saw first on Angie Juda's blog. I used some dp that I received from Jennifer Buck. She just revamped her stamping space and I think she did some cleaning. I am soooooo happy to be on the receiving end of that! I will need to repay her generosity. I will have to think of a good way to do it! She's a phenomenal stamper, so it's not like I can just send her a hand-stamped thank you card! KWIM!!!
And then I took a stamping break on Tuesday. Okay, I didn't! I just stamped cards for the SCS sponsored challenges that night. I took Kristen a vanilla latte and a pumpkin scone from Starbuck's! I found out later that she didn't have time Wednesday morning to get coffee, so she was really excited to find her latte waiting for her!But I did stamp this bookmark on Thursday morning! I used a new SU set that is only available to demonstrators at this point. (Wow, I wonder if I should be posting this on my blog?) I used fun Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper. I cut out a butterfly from the patterned paper, backed it with white card stock, painted Shimmerz on it and then popped it up off the bookmark with dimensionals. It was fun! That day, I decorated Kristen mailbox with streamers, balloons, caramel Hershey's kisses ( in Easter colors) and her bookmark!

Finally, I made this pop up gift card holder following Jennifer McGuire's instructions to hold a gift card for Michael's. Kristen likes to knit and I know zero about knitting. I figured she might be able to find something that she liked or could use at Michael's. I know that I always can!

If you want more specifics about the projects, shoot on over to my SCS gallery and read about it there!

More white...

what is with me? I don't know that I have ever been able to identify stamping phases in myself. I hear other people talk or blog about it. Oh well, at least it is a neutral!
So this week a I did a couple of SCS sponsored challenges with my Unity stamps. I made this first card as part of the Featured Stamper Challenge. What a gallery this woman has! I cased this card and changed a few things to make the card mine. It's a pretty straight case though!
You will need to click on the photo to see a closer view of my butterflies. I punch them out with a Martha Stewart butterfly punched, edged them with a darker purple marker and then placed two tiny pearls in the center for their bodies. It was fun!
This card was for the Inspiration Challenge. Fitz and Floyd was the company featured this week. I chose some canapes plate that looked to me like they had a flower embossed on them. I took off from there! I used the Stamps and Smiles Sketch Challenge #6 to flesh out my design. Finally, this week's Timeless Tuesday challenge is to use ribbon...that you don't normally use or in a way that you wouldn't normally use it! I just got this poly-twill ribbon from SU and had to give it a try.

The details -
Enjoy:
Stamps: Dream Tree (Unity), Sentiments O'Simple
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Lovely Lilac
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Accessories: Iris satin ribbon, MS butterfly punch, M's self-adhesive pearls, glue dot, two way glue pen
Techniques: CAS

Hello:
Stamps: Humble Bloom (Unity), Distress Dots (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Barely Banana
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, Versamark
Accessories: dew drops, clear ep, heat tool, celery poly-twill ribbon
Techniques: emboss resist

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Challenges x 3

I haven't done a Kristina Werner color inspiration in ages. Not because I haven't seen them, just because I haven't had time at the right time! So Kristina issued a challenge to create a project based on this color scheme: Basic Black, Basic Gray and Whisper White! Oh wait, that's no color! Yep, that was it!

I used a Flourishes stamp set and followed the sketch offered by Flourishes design time for Timeless Tuesday! I followed the sketch fairly directly! I like silhouettes, I think they are quite elegant. Flourishes really carries elegant products in my opinion.

Finally, the ladies at Our Creative Corner challenged crafters to "Add a Doodle" to their work. OMG, my handwriting ruins a card! So I went with a die-cut doodle. I had just recently received an order from Mandy at Limelight and had to try out my Shimmerz. I painted the Angel Wings Shimmers on my Basic Gray doodle and, voila, it shimmers. It's really hard to capture with the camera, so I guess that you will just have to take my word for it, or come by and see if for yourself;)

Here are more specifics on my card:
Stamps: Spring Ephemerals (Flourishes)
Paper: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Basic Gray
Accessories: Black ep, heat tool, Swirls die cut, oval stencil, sponge dauber, 1/8" hole punch, white taffeta ribbon, Angel Wings Shimmerz, Chit Chat rubons
Techniques: heat embossing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Yep, I do love CAS!

I have been trying to do more SU only cards. It's really difficult to stick to just SU stuff, once you have been introduced to the wider world of stamping. But I'm trying. I missed on this one! SU doesn't have self-adhesive pearls. They have half-back pearls and they are easy to stick on with mini-glue dots, but that wasn't what I used.

I also experimented here with a mirror image. I inked up my image and stamped it on acetate. I then pressed the acetate face down on my card stock to create the mirror image. The image was faint to I had to reinforce it by coloring it a bit with markers. I think it turned out well for a first attempt.

So this was CAS05, the blue and green color challenge;)

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Here are the specs:
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke
Accessories: M's self-adhesive pearls, acetate (to create mirror image)
Techniques: cas

Using my Unity...

on SCS sponsored challenges this week! This one is the week before last. It's a Limited Supply Challenge, called On Your Mark, Get Set. Limited supply challenges happen on Fridays. The challenge was to complete a card in 30 minutes and boy, was that tough! I set the timer to be honest with myself. I wanted to do so much more to this card. And the worst thing happened, I accidentally cut through two sheet of the black linen paper! Wah! It was such a waste.
I tried to save time on stamping by using the rub-on, but coloring in my image took lots of time.



I made this for the Featured Stamper Challenge. The stamper this particular week was Judy. I cased this card of hers. For some time now, I wanted to use my Distressed Dots background on some clear medium. I should have used acetate as this recycled plastic packaging was really too thick for the Sissix die. It left a clear impression, but I had to cut out the hearts with some scissors.
This card is for Saturday's Inspiration Challenge. This particular Saturday the company/website on display was Spunky Sprout, see here. I also made this card for Limelight Papercrafts Six Chick Sketch #16. The product focus for this week was ric rac!!! While I didn't win the prize, I did get an honorable mention!


The Clean and Simple (CAS) Challenge is fast becoming my favorite! They are quick, easy and oh so simple! This CAS was a color challenge, green and blue! I recalled this ancient dp that I had with lots of green and blue. Not colors I use a lot, not sure why I even bought it! I found a stamper I admire and checked out her gallery and cased this card. I really need to remember this ribbon treatment because it is so easy, stays on and is quite economical!





Hey, you know what I just noticed. All my cards have white bases this post. I must be going through a phase;)

Here are the specifics -
For You:
Stamps: Tree of Elegance (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Taste of Textiles/Black Linen
Ink: Almost Amethyst
Accessories: Sakura ClearStar gel pen, M's rhinestones, Offray Iris satin ribbon, Chit Chat rub-ons, oval stencil
Techniques: rub-ons

Always:
Stamps: Distressed Dots (Unity), Sentiment O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, PC Fascination
Ink: StazOn Blazing Red (which looks fuschia to me!)
Accessories: Black Organdy ribbon, corner rounder, M's self-adhesive pearls, fuschia Sharpie, stampin' dimensionals, heart die cut, recycle plastic packaging, sponge dauber
Techniques: sponging

Hello:
Stamps: Humble Bloom (Unity), Tiny Trinity (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Lavendar Lace, Regal Rose, BG Urban Prairie
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Lavendar Lace
Accessories: Offray ric rac, Liquid pearls, stampin' dimensionals

Thanks:
Stamps: Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Pool Party dp
Ink: Brocade Blue
Accessories: corner rounder, 1/8" circle punch, mellow moss taffeta ribbon
Techniques: cas

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

I {heart} Verve Sketches

This card turned out so nice! I just love it and may not put it in my basket to sell! Verve Stamps is having a release party Sunday night and Julee posted this sketch on Saturday. She is offering up a new release to three random winners! There is still time to submit your card, links close at 6PM EST. I feel a little bit bad about using another company's stamps to fill out the sketch. I just wasn't feeling it tonight!

So my Verve butterflies and crosses wouldn't do for this one either! This is the Mojo Monday sketch from this week. Because of the release today, Julee changed the prize ramped up the number of winners to 7 winners (1 for every 50 entries up to 350 entries!

On this card and the coffee card, I heat embossed. Sharon Johnson of Stamp Simply, issued a challenge to heat emboss this week in Stamp Simply #77 - Heat it Up!


That's it for me, I am one tired gal!

Here are the details for the cards:

Coffee -
Stamps: Coffee with Friends (Flourishes)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Creamy Caramel
Ink: Versamark, Craft White, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: black ep, heat tool, corner rounder, stampin' dimensionals, white taffeta ribbon, texturz plate, scallop edge punch
Techniques: dry embossing, heat embossing

Botanicals -
Stamps: Botanical Blooms
Paper: Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Orchid Opulence, Vellum
Ink: Versamark, Mellow Moss, Old Olive, Orchid Opulence, Lavender Lace
Accessories: White ep, heat tool, mini glue dots, moss taffeta ribbon,
Techniques: heat embossing, masking

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Other SCS challenges from weeks gone by

I was really pleased when I finished this card. I started this card with the Limelight Papercraft Six Chick's Sketch #15. When Limelight puts out a sketch, there is always a bit of a product challenge to go with it as well. This time is was flowers, so I used the white flowers from my Pretties Kit. These flowers always seem to stump me. I like them, but am not really proficient in my use of them! Which leads me to the next challenge that you see here.

I worked in LSC207 from SCS. The challenge here was to "stretch yourself" and use things outside of your comfort zone. I have already mentioned the flowers. The other thing that I barely ever use is my brayer. So I brayered some white craft ink on one of my new Texturz plates and ran that through my Big Shot with some Baja Breeze card stock. I love how it turned out! I finished the card with some bling!

This card came via Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday #74 for the sketch! I used the Inspiration Challenge 167, some really fun bras to work in my embellishments. I drew my color scheme from my designer paper. Finally, the challenge from Stamp Something that week was something chocolate and my ribbon and card stock definitely qualified me there!

Below are the details about these cards:






Inspiration -
Stamps: Inspiration with a Swoop (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Baja Breeze
Ink: Craft White, Basic Black
Accessories: Pretties kit, black brads, M's self-adhesive rhinestones, clear ep, heat tool, brayer, flourish embossing plate, glue dots
Techniques: embossing (dry and wet)

Hello -
Stamps: Tiny Trinity
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Afternoon Tea dsp, vellum, Whisper White
Ink: Timber Brown StazOn, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Theater Ribbons Originals, peach satin ribbon (Joann's), stampin' dimensionals, glue dots, random buttons, blender pen

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

A Clean and Simple Post

The Clean and Simple Challenges are new to Splitcoast. To date, there have been four and I would expect another one on Monday. I have found them here, in the Splitcoast Challenges Forum. I like this look and the ease with which a CAS card comes together. This week the challenge was to make a CAS card with one button. I made two cards for the challenge. This first one I submitted in the Unity Forum for one of the SCS sponsored challenges. I also used some of my beloved Basic Grey paper, Bittersweet! It took me forever to cut into it!!!


My second card is an SU only card. I'm not sure if the buttons are current, but only because I was too lazy to go look at my catalog! I don't make enough SU only cards. I think that I will try to do that! Maybe because I do SU only for my card parties.

Here are the specifics for the cards:

Enjoy -

Stamps: Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: BG Bittersweet
Ink: Bravo Burgundy
Accessories: Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, Burgundy button from my stash, mini glue dots
Techniques: clean and simple

Best wishes -

Stamps: Holiday Blitz, Short & Sweet
Paper: Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Soft Subtle buttons, white thread, stampin' dimensionals, 1 1/4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch
Techniques: CAS

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Did you play along with VSN?

VSN stands for Virtual Stamp Night. Well, it's really a two day event with some extra time to play along, in case you have something else going on. A ton of challenges are posted, one per hour, and you have 45 minutes to make a card that meets the requirements of the challenge. You can find out all about it here in the VSN forum on SCS.

I think I did 7 cards for this past VSN, my first ever. The second, third and fourth Viva La Verve sketches from my last post were also VSN challenges. I'll explain a little about each card as we go.

This card fulfilled the challenge to make a card inspired by the movie, "The Princess Bride". The quote I chose was about trees, so I used a Unity stamp and some great dp given to me by Jennifer Buck to paper piece my trees.






This card was a card made to fulfill the challenge of resurrecting a "long lost love". You know a stamp that you own and just love, but has been collecting dust as of late! More paper from Jen here and some ribbon left over from my wedding that was over 7 years ago! Oh and Beate's weekend sketch is back and I used WSC69 to flesh out this challenge.






This card fit the challenge requirements to be a card that a man would send. I saw this card made by Gina K that I cased for this card.











Finally, this card met the challenge of using feathers or a feather to "Tickle Your Fancy"! I harvested this glittery feather off a corsage that I wore at a wedding last summer. It was too pretty to discard. I like it here!

Again, another long post, so I left you links to my SCS gallery to get the specifics about each card.

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

So many great stamp companies...

so little time! {Oh, I might add so little money:( }

Really, that is how I feel. There are so many wonderful stamp companies and designers out there. I could never leave my stamp room, but then how would I send out my creations.

Verve is another great stamp company I really like. Julee Tilman heads up that company and has three great blogs that I follow. She has an amazing design team that supports her. Amber Hight draws 4 sketches a month that anyone can participate in and win some Verve new releases! (And wouldn't you know it, Amber designs for another stamp company I just love!) You can find Amber's sketch posted on Friday in the Verve
Forum on SCS under Viva La Verve! There is a twist with each sketch and it's fun to try them.

So what I am getting at is that I did all four sketches for the month of February. Did I win? Nope, but I did all four and I am proud of that! I like some of my cards better than others, but isn't that how it always goes?

This was the first sketch and the twist was to use embossing somewhere on your card. I embossed the cross my vellum oval and then embossed my sentiment below.










This is the second sketch and the twist here was to NOT use any patterned paper. That was tough, but I used textured paper and an embossing plate to get around that! You can't see the embossing on the Navy circle in the picture, but it is there irl!


This was the third sketch and the twist was to make the card monochromatic! I made this one with my dh in mind because he loves green above all colors. I got this fantastic dp from Jennifer Buck, an artist I greatly admire.



This is sketch #4 and my personal favorite of the bunch! The twist here was to use acetate on your card somewhere. My card base is acetate! I love how this turned out!

Details can be found in my SCS gallery links (only because this feels like a monster post!)

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

SCS Sponsored Challenge Cards

Every week, the design team at Unity posts a thread in the Unity forum where you can link up your SCS sponsored challenge cards in which you have used 100% Unity stamps. You are then eligible for prizes, because Unity Stamp Company just loves to give away prizes. (See two posts below). This card features SC218 and the colors from Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration.
This is the second card that I made with my Unity stamps for the Clean and Simple Stamping challenge (CAS04). This is a new type of challenge that has only been around for a month. I used some ribbon that was sent to me by Jennifer Buck, an artist I very much admire, and I drew my color combination from said ribbon. I had the square idea in my head before I chose my ribbon and as I stamped, I realized that my card began to look suspiciously like one of Jen's cards. Let me link you up: here.

Let me know what you think!

Here are the details for these cards:

First card -
Stamps: Sentiment o'Simple (Unity), Inspiration with a Swoop (Unity)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, Candy Lane dsp
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: MS Butterfly punch, M's self adhesive rhinestones, sponge dauber, crystal effects
Techniques: sponging, vintage values

Second card -
Stamps: Dream Tree (Unity), Tiny Trinity (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Creamy Caramel, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black marker
Accessories: M's ribbon, mini glue dot, sponge dauber
Techniques: sponging, clean and simple

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Remember that game...Telephone?

Well, Taylor of Taylored Expressions asked us readers to spread the word. Taylor is having her First Birthday Party with games and prizes.


Today's prize is for spreading the word about the party. Go and check it out!









This is Friday's prize for participating in her sketch challenge. You can see it here!

Woo hoo!

This is the card that I made for both of the Hip Hop Challenges yesterday in the Unity Stamp Company thread. The first challenge was called Unity Happiness and the challenge was to make a project to make someone smile. The thought of no housework makes me smile. The second challenge was called Unity Colors of the Heart and the object was to use red, pink and a neutral. Alas, I was not selected based upon merit to win the second challenge, I was randomly selected and I'll take it!

My dh was kind enough to make dinner while I was upstairs working on the challenge card. So when he called me down to dinner, I had to come. My card was assembled, but not photographed and uploaded to SCS. I wolfed down my dinner and promised to do the dishes if I could just get it uploaded in time. Well, I did manage to do that, but I rushed and I goofed up and wrote, "Images copyright by Toni Storie". Of course, I didn't notice that until tonight when I was reading the Unity blog and it glared up at me. (I was instantaneously transported back 16 years to when a college professor suggested that I had plagiarized). I was very excited to be featured and then mortified at my blunder. I will upload another picture and let AJ and Angela know of my typing error so as not to offend or take credit that belongs to someone else. So if you noticed this too, IMAGES COPYRIGHT BY UNITY STAMP COMPANY (not Toni Storie).

How does one ever move up in the world if they goof like this?

Here are the specifics on my card:

Stamps: Have a Diva Day (Unity)
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, Candy Lane dsp
Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Ivory organdy ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, ticket corner punch, two way glue pen, dazzling diamonds, M's self adhesive rhinestones, red Sharpie

All products used at Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.