Minty Cup

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using one of my current favorite products. I borrowed A Nice Cuppa from a friend and have went a bit crazy making cards from it. I added my one of my favorite color combos: Mint Macaron and Wisteria Wonder. From there, I layered a few pieces of DSP, embossing a portion of the card base, and added a strip of glitter tape. I love how clean and simple this card looks while still have layers and visual interest.

• Stamps: A Nice Cuppa; Sunburst sayings
• Inks: Mint Macaron; Wisteria Wonder; Sahara Sand
• Cardstock: 2015-2017 In Color DSP; Mint Macaron; Whisper White
• Accessories: Rhinestones; Metallic Glitter Tape
• Tools: Decorative Dots Embossing Folder

Desktop Thursday #11

The current state of my craft area... It is a mess! This always happens at catalog transition time. Trying to pull retiring items, figuring out what to sell, make some cards, and finishing some Project Life pages...

Stars and Washi

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using the retiring in colors. Instead of picking one or two colors, I decided to use all five. I must say that I really love this set of in colors and will be sad to see them go.

• Stamps: Perfect Pairs (SAB)
• Inks: Blackberry Bliss
• Cardstock: Crumb Cake; Whisper White; Blackberry Bliss; Lost Lagoon; Mossy Meadow; Tangelo Twist; Hello Honey
• Accessories:2014-2016 In Color Washi Tape
• Tools: Stars Framelits

SSINKMC32: Beautiful Bouquet

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using the requirements from the April Mystery Challenge.

This month, I went with three elements: shape, color, and tool. I stamped and punched a bunch of flowers in Daffodil Delight and Mossy Meadow to create a bouquet. I added a heat embossed sentiment.  Candy dots, a bow, and a punched out sentiment completed the card. The finished card is more subdued than my usual design and palette, but it's a nice change. I love doing these mystery challenges. I never know what I will end up creating.

• Stamps: Flower Shop; Petite Petals; Perfect Pairs (SAB)
• Inks: Hello Honey; Mossy Meadow; Early Espresso
• Cardstock: Daffodil Delight; Mossy Meadow; Early Espresso; Very Vanilla
• Accessories: Candy Dots; Crumb Cake 3/8" Stitched Ribbon
• Tools: Washi Label Punch; Pansy Punch; Petite Petal Punch; Espresso Embossing Powder

Project Life March 2016

I embraced March's color scheme of green, brown, and gold. And I kept my embellishments to a minimum. Page one includes pics of my birthday cake (omg so yummy) and some random pics of Arthur. Of course I had to add a few alphas.

Page two collects my favorite vertical pics from the month. I try to stick to Design A page protectors, but sometimes I have great vertical pis to include.

Page three highlights our monthly trip the Oakland Zoo. I finally used some of the leftover safari stickers in my stash. Hard to see in these pics, but definitely noticeable in real life.

Page four starts our trip to Indiana. I finally got a great shot of San Francisco as we took off from the airport. We always seem to be on the wrong side of the plane. I also included a few shots from O'Hare and random pis of Arthur. And I used up a ton of the green heart stickers I had laying around.

Page five includes pics from a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house and our unexpected trip to Muncie for Nick's doctor appointment. I repeated the lime green stickers but used the flowers on this page.

Page six is all about the twins' birthday party. Not the best pics, but they were all action shots in an oddly lit place.

Page seven -- Easter egg dyeing! Loving this page. The pictures are so busy that I didn't use much embellishment at all.

Page eight finishes out the month with pictures from our family Easter dinner. And I got to use some Easter specific cards from the PL Seasons Mini Kit.

Not included: Four pages of pics from the mom's retreat.

Desktop Thursday #10

Spending part of the day sorting my retiring and current stamp sets for the upcoming annual catalog. Plus, prepping for stamp club tonight.

Splatter Technique

Today's card was our April stamp club technique card. I choose the splatter technique to try out. Basically you drop some ink onto the paper and blow it out using a straw. I experimented a few times with different inks and techniques. The best inks to use were bright colors instead of dark colors. As for technique, I found that blowing one drop at a time was better than trying to do a bigger blob of ink. I can't wait to see what the stamp club ladies create tomorrow night.

• Stamps: Happy Happenings
• Inks: Crisp Cantaloupe (retired); Coastal Cabana (retired); Pistachio Pudding (retired)
• Cardstock: Crisp Cantaloupe (retired); Pistachio Pudding (retired); Whisper White
• Accessories: Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim; Pool Party Ribbon (retired); Crisp Cantaloupe Twine (retired); Crisp Cantaloupe Pom Pom Trim (retired)
• Tools: Tiny Triangles Embossing Folder; 2" Circle Punch; Circle Framelits

SSINKIC32: Cups in a Row

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card based off the of the image below.

So my card went a little off the mark this time. I started out with the idea of adding some map paper on my card. But then I wasn't inspired by the map paper. So I turned to the swirled designs and started putting pieces together. In the end, I cup out three coffee cups and layered them onto more DSP and an embossed piece of cardstock. Sometimes you have every intention of following a sketch, picture, or formula, but the end result is something completely different. At least I still like the card I made!

• Stamps: Another Thank You
• Inks: Basic Black
• Cardstock: Going Places DSP; Lost Lagoon; Sahara Sand
• Accessories:
• Tools: Stripes Embossing Folder; Cups and Kettle Framelits

Sunday Haul #8

Eeek!!! Guess what came this week? My Ali Edwards Week in the Life kit! I'm so excited to prep my album and dive in during May. Plus, I'm loving the vibrant color palette of this year's kit. Already thinking about what I want to do this year. I may move my WITL to the week of May 16th instead of the week of May 9th. 

Watercolor Sunburst

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card CASE-ing the catalog. I chose to CASE the awesome watercolor sunburst card:

For my card, I changed up the colors and accessories, but I kept most of the card the same. I also drew on my sunburst in a coordinating color. I tried a few different watercolor patterns and this was the one I liked the best. I liked the dark blue right behind the sentiment. Overall I am loving this card design. I may have to make a few more in different colors...

• Stamps: Sunburst Sayings
• Inks: Bermuda Bay Reinker; Midnight Muse Reinker (retired); Pear Pizzaz Reinker; Island Indigo; Tempting Turquoise Marker
• Cardstock: Bermuda Bay; Watercolor Paper
• Accessories: Metallic Sequins
• Tools: Sunburst Framelit; 2" Circle Punch