Turquoise is TOO tempting!!!!

After creating the "Wild" card, I couldn't seem to get enough of this colour combination.......so I was stuck in a "rust"! Both cards use Bodacious Bouquet for the background pattern. The main images are from Stamping Bella . Aren't they both just "Beachy"?????

Now hopefully THAT narration wasn't enough to scare you all away for good!!!!!!

The weird border on the surfer fella card was made with a corner punch.................when done neatly, it creates a beautiful scalloped edge, that I was going for, but as I messed up one part, I thought hmmm, this looks kinda funky, so I just repeated the pattern (yep, it was one of THOSE days!!!!)





I thought I had a great brainwave when I was thinking about designing the Cruiseabella card, originally intended to be a Cammie Tri-fold Slit Punch Card , I ran out of room to make a window, but alas!! Stay tuned, I am going to try to give it another go this week!!!!! I do have a neat idea, I think I will just have to change the dimensions accurately capture the idea!!!

Both images were coloured with aquapainters and markers and embellished with Prima Flowers!

Wild About You!!!!

A little card made for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge

This morning I was sorting paper and these two colours happened to be laying on top of each other. I thought that they would make a very cool colour combination and it got me thinking "Tropical"!

The background for this card was made with the Bodacious Bouquet Stamp set by stamping tone on tone. The main image comes from the Wild about you set. To reverse the Giraffe on the left, I stamped the image onto the paisley background stamp and then stamped onto the paper. Stamped the other Giraffe the regular way!!!

Adding some Black CS to make the colours pop I then brought the black back in with a band to suspend the tiny prima flowers. I used copper brads in the middle to recreate the "rusty" look.

The sentiment comes from the small sayings set, which was in the winter catalogue. I am really hoping that it becomes part of the new collection, because I use it constantly. Doodles and the outline on the Giraffes were created with a black Stampin' Write Marker.

Not so Long Notes

Before too long (June 30th) the Spring Mini Catalogue will retire and it is very possible that the Doodle series of stamp sets (Doodle This, Doodle That and Doodle Alphabet) will not make it into the new Catalogue (although I am crossing my fingers that they do!!!) This card was created using a Saffron Long note (spring catty) and inspired by this card designed by Ked. I used Doodle This and Doodle That to created my background and coloured sections of the doodles in with my white gel pen.

I then stamped the large flower from Doodle This onto Saffron Paper, sponged a little Summer Sun and Pumpkin to the edges before cutting it out. I stamped and clipped a second image in Chocolate Chip. Adding a dash of glitter, sentiments layered on AuChocolat Designer Paper (aren't these oval punches great??) and some ribbon, the card was complete!!!

How do you like my new backdrop for my cards??? Found a perfect branch in our flowering crap tree to capture a picture in perfect light!!!

Hope you are all having a great weekend!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Laura

Today one of my BFF, Laura turns 40. She is a Beautiful and Phenomenal Person and I want the world (well, my blog followers anyway) to wish her all the best today and in the future.

We have had quite a few fun adventures together; laughed, laughed harder, shed some tears. Although we have only been friends for a few years now, it feels like I have known her forever! I feel so comfortable around her; I can totally be myself and have no worries about what she thinks.

Laura likes to think that she is the sweet and innocent one, but I don't know about that!!! I think we both have the potential for getting into a little mischeif!!!

Laura has even had the stamina to come over and participate in Splitcoast Stampers VSN challenge night
with me. Now THAT kept her on her toes!

Love you Laura! Hope you have a wonderful day and that the next year sees your dream board come true and that you receive all the love and happiness you so deserve!!!!!!

Laura's Birthday card was created with the small sayings stampset as well as the headline numbers. A combination of Eggplant Envy, Certainly Celery and Old Olive make for a springy colour combination (and of course the colour challenge on SCS yesterday!). The sentiment was stamped on acetate and layered over the custom stamped background.

In the Gray's

This was a fun fun card that I created for a monochromatic colour challenge on SCS.
Isn't the background paper fabulous!!!! There was little work to do on this card. I didn't want to cover up too much of the pretty pattern, so the Small flower from SU! Heartfelt thanks worked really really well. I stamped the image in Going Gray, the outline in black. The "splotching" on the frame was created with the art tool. A little piercing to the corners, some grosgrain ribbon and a little dollar store charm and it was completed in a flash!!!!!!!!

Making your own background paper

I am the first to admit, I am TOTALLY addicted to patterned paper. Stampin' Up!, Basic Grey, SEI, Crate Paper. You name it, I probably have quite a stash tucked away in my cupboard.

That being said, there are so many terrific ways to create your own patterned cardstock with your stamps. The beauty of purchasing stamp sets is that you can create beautiful backgrounds that coordinate with your main images. Another advantage to designing a custom background is that you can get a perfect match for your cardstock.


The Background for my Happy Froggy card was created by randomly stamping the Daisy from the Stampin' Up! Unfrogettable set onto celery Cardstock. I sponged celery ink over top to add a little more depth to the paper. Using the White Gel Pen, I coloured in the petals of the daisy. I created the golden yellow centers with Adirondack Acrylics. The frog was coloured with Stampin' Write Markers and an aquapainter.

If it's going to keep on raining, you might as well play!!!!!

I seem to be stuck on a weather theme lately. It seems that the sun only warms us long enough to tease. Today it was only 8 degrees celcius. I had to switch from Sandals and Crop pants to a Wool Turtleneck. I still can't seem to get the chill out of my bones.

This little duckie seems to be enjoying a gentle rain. I have been holding on to this incentive stamp for quite some time. The challenge of the day on SCS was to create a card with a small stamp or incentive stamp. This little guy immediately came to mind.

Sentiment is stamped with Karen Foster Snap Stamps. Designer paper is from the DCWV Glitter Stack. All other Cardstock (Brocade Blue, Glossy White and Whisper White) is from SU!!!! Accents of Ribbon (unknown) and Prima flowers add dimension. The Tag is anchored down with Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware from SU! The raindrops are created with stickles!!!