Call Me, Don't Mean Maybe!!

Hi there! This is one of the other sets in last month's Flourishes release that I happily won, "Call Me,"...and wanted to use this cute little phone with this week's The Deconstructed Sketch to submit another card for this week's Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #225 to use "Scallops." My circle mat is scalloped, along with the bottom edge of my middle panel, which unfortunately is covered up by part of the center pennant panel. But it is there!

This was a fun little image to color up to suit your tastes. When I was a young , probably 8 or 9, I received the cutest "play phone set" that had an actual ring tone and red light that lit up when someone called from the other line. They were connected with wires and ran on batteries, I imagine...and since I had no sisters to play with, I spent hours playing "secretary" on my play phone. I became pretty proficient at taking messages, but not sure who was on the other end to receive them!

Now that our oldest daughter moved to New York, which I found out using one of those hand phone apps is over 1,500 miles away...I will probably spend a little more time on the phone! This card will go to her. Thanks for stopping by. What's going on with you?

Timeless Tuesday Tea Rose

Hi there, friends! Last month I had the oh so fun privilege of winning the entire Flourishes stamp release!! I rarely win anything, so I was pretty excited; but to win from my favorite stamp company, that was even better!

For this week's Timeless Tuesday Challenge 225; I actually water colored my favorite in the set,"Old Tea Rose." The challenge was to use "Scallops" for your card. This type of ribbon treatment works so well when you don't have the room for a bow, but you want to dress up your card with some pretty ribbon! For this card, I stamped with Versamark ink, on watercolor paper, then white embossed, giving me raised lines to keep my inks inside the rose. I used a variety of SU! and TH distressed inks. The ribbon is scalloped across the bottom with a string of pearls, which I felt a befitting finish to such an elegant rose!
This card uses the Color Made Easy card stock in Crocus and Candy Pink packs. The ribbon was also part of the CME selections.
Thanks so much for your visit today!!

CTD246

I decided to try a color challenge new to me: The Color Throw down.
After organizing my SU! inks this weekend; I wanted to find a challenge to try out different color combinations.

I used The Cutting Garden stamp set from PTI  and the colors above in the challenge, except Certain Celery ink substituted for Pear Pizzazz ink. Frosted stickles were added for sparkle. The card was inspired by another one viewed on a sketch challenge.
Thank you for looking!

Flourishes Textures of Nature Challenge FLLCJUNE13

This week summer hit my home state of Colorado with nary a Popsicle in sight...hot and windy with two days of record setting temperatures. Being outdoors right now is not something I want to do until around 9 o'clock in the evenings. Sun and dry temperatures have started another string of wild fires, none of which are near us, thankfully!
So it is good weather to stay indoors and play along with this month's new release Challenge at Flourishes: Textures of Nature.

My card used designer paper for the flowers in the corner and the library card...it is all one piece. The stamp of the little girl watering the flowers was added to the paper.  The sentiment and stamp are Flourishes, the touch of nature is the wood grain designer paper and the wood butterfly which I accented with three tiny rhinestones. The gorgeous ribbon is hand dyed and a gift from my dear friend, Diane Noble.
I have been doing a lot of watering our flowering pots this week...and I have one pot of basil that I hope to see flourish a lot soon!
Speaking of nature,right out the back door of my parent's home in Grand Junction (the western slope of Colorado) is the Colorado National Monument. You can see some of these rock formations as you look from their yard. My girls went hiking there the weekend of my Mom's memorial service at the house.

Sister solidarity!! I love this picture. Our daughter, Caitlyn, on the right...just moved to Saratoga Springs, New York two days ago. I miss her already. Our youngest, Erin and I plan to visit her in two short weeks.
Thanks for popping in...always appreciate hearing from you and what is new in your corner of the world.

Do Not Fear!

I have made a small stamping goal for myself: and that is to break out some sets that have not been used much or at all...I sometimes purchase these in a fit of giddy excitement when I see a new release and all the DT's designs...then by the time they arrive at my door; I've usually moved on to something different and don't remember what I originally saw that had me so excited. Kind of like a little kid at Christmas I guess.
So, I have made it a point this past week to go back and look at some of the original DT's samples, and began with making a similar card and then branching out once I became more familiar with the set. Baby steps for now.
So here is one that was on the PTI board using "Everyday Blessings" and "Life." I am slightly enamored with these floral images and enjoying experimenting still with some different colors. I used the spritzing technique for the floral and stamped on watercolor paper.

The floral were done in regal rose and orange and the stems in mellow moss. Double stamped on to another   green card stock and trimmed with banner edging and overlaid the words as you can see to bring more attention to that phrase.
This verse has really spoken to me, as I was stamping, I also meditated on these words and prayed for those in my life right now that need a big dose of courage and trust in the Lord. I hope this card encourages you.
I read this today and wanted to remember it...as I am still in mourning over my Mom's death. So many times, when someone dies, everyone is afraid to mention their name as they don't want to make you cry or uncomfortable. I have made it a point to remember my Mom out loud in front of family and if I cry, I cry...but each time I do it lessens my grief somewhat and brings honor to her memory.
" The mention of my mother's name may bring tears to my eyes, but it never fails to bring music to my ears. If you are really my friend, please don't keep me from hearing the beautiful music. It soothes my broken and heart and fills my soul with love."

CASEing, Take One and Two!

So what do you do when life has put you on a bit of stamping "hold" and you miss it but have no idea how to get back into it? Like most of you, I head over to my Pinterest stamping boards and find a card that speaks to me and looks somewhat attainable to my skill level and then CASE! I do try to remember to go back on their blog and leave a comment, too!
So this first card is my attempt inspired by one I fell in love with from Silke Ledlow's blog, "My Life." This is another stamp set that hadn't seen much ink yet, Papertrey Ink "Life," and the sentiment is PTI Mega Giga Guidelines.

I always love Silke's use of white space, design, and scored backgrounds. The only change I made to her original card is the addition of the crochet lace and ink colors. Inks used: Poppy Parade, Regal Rose and Pool Party.
So with that card done, I became more adventurous and tried out another combination of inks and changed up the top corner a bit...

Inks used: SU! Cameo Coral, Island Indigo, and Baja Breeze.
And then I wanted to add a faith sentiment  to my card but use the same PTI Life background floral. This card's scripture is from the PTI "Everyday Blessings" set.

The above card was made by using my favorite technique, spritzing an inked stamp and stamping on watercolor paper...the paper has a lot of texture and softens the images. I added a jeweled rhinestone for a little sparkle and interest. Colors: Island Indigo and Sahara Sand, and the sentiment stamped in Memento Cocoa ink.
Before I was done, I had six cards created...all from one design with slight variations. When my husband came up it was a bit past dinner time, the ink pads were all stacked in a colorful array on my desk, and like a little kid, I proudly showed him my "Just Because" cards and said, "I can send this to anybody, just because." To which he replied. "That's good. Now I am going to go heat up some dinner...Just Because...I am hungry." And then we both chuckled...
Guess my experimentation went a little long...but it was refreshing to my spirit to see all the rainbows of colors and inks. Therapeutic and not a time waster at all!
Hope to see you soon...thanks so much for dropping in!

CAS(E) this Sketch!

I have been on a CAS spree this past weekend...making several cards and having fun trying out ink color combinations. I saw this sketch challenge on a friend's blog and decided to try out this sketch to move the process along:

I needed a little boy's birthday card...and realized I have no little kiddo stamps. I guess that is because I don't have any little kiddos in my life...my daughter needs to get married and fix that! :) But anyways, I had ordered this Stylish Sentiments Birthday set from Papertrey Ink and found one of the stamps in the set  works well for a child's card. So thanks to the sketch inspiration and a few banners from the MME Six by Six paper collection, and one single Bobunny brad with a star (thanks to a gift from a friend,) I was able to make this card:

And like the card says, "Yay!" I made a card! Thanks for looking...this is not  my usual style, but I really like the design...the repeated star from the brad and border on the right to carry out the celebratory theme!
And it was pretty easy...the hardest part was picking out the color scheme and papers!