I Won, I Won, I Won!!! - Use It Challenge #4

Actually, I won Use It Challenge #3 last week. My prize was that I got to come up with this week's Use It Challenge #4. :) Here is my sample card.


My challenge was to use some items that were unloved, neglected or forgotten.

• Use scraps of any kind (paper, ribbon, odd embellishments). I used paper and ribbon scraps, and the large flower on my embellishment in the lower right is a one of a kind.


• Use punches and/or die cuts (shapes, borders, Nestabilities). I used a combination of oval Sizzlits die cuts and oval Nestabilities to create my focal flower. I also used my square Nestabilities for the background of the flower.


• Use two or more different ribbons. I used three - the green for the flower stem and two different pinks around the horizontal panel.


• Use one or more embellishments that you once loved and used often, but rarely, if ever, use now. Mine is the safety pin through the center of the ribbon tie. I used to use safety pins a lot to attach tags or to add beads to like I did here. I haven't done that for a long, long time.

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out the other great cards for this week's challenge on the Use It Challenges blog.

Cute Card Thursday, Penny Black and Sketch Saturday Challenges

My card fits all three of these challenges today. I tried for four, but the fourth was a color challenge, and the colors weren't coming together with what I wanted to do.

The theme for Cute Card Thursday this week is Family Affair, and the object was to make any card for any family member. I made this card for my aunt. She is going through a very hard time right now and needs to know that there a lot of people who care. We have always been very close - sometimes more like sisters than aunt and niece. She loves my cards, so I think this will help lift her spirits.

The theme for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is Spring. I thought this cute little Hedgie with the flower and bees was a perfect spring image. I carried the flower theme through with the DP and the flowers along the bottom. I made those with a scalloped circle, plain circle and flower punch and then put a brad in the center. I'm really needing some spring today. We are having a "winter" storm. We have had sleet and ice all day and now it's snowing. Yuck!

Below is the Sketch Saturday Challenge sketch for this week. I love all the circles and it worked really well for the card themes and the image I was working on. I also tried another different color combination that what I usually use. I think I have made maybe a couple of cards with yellow and orange. I really like this paper and am very happy with how it turned out. I also used some white so the colors weren't too overwhelming.

If you visit my blog on a regular basis you might notice that I photographed my card this time. I still don't have my light box made yet, but decided to go ahead and photograph it anyway just to see how it turned out. I think better lighting will help, but it's not bad. I do like that the colors look more true and things don't look all out of whack from being squished by the scanner.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Come back and visit again soon!

Supplies

Stamps: Buzz in the Air! (Penny Black); sentiment (Hero Arts)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); orange and yellow Souffle Pens (Sakura)

Paper: white cardstock (Bazzill); orange cardstock (Club Scrap); yellow cardstock (scraps); DP - Nana's Kitchen (DCWV)

Embellishments: classic circle and scallop circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); circle punches (Creative Memories); scallop circle punches (Paper Studio); flower punch (EK Success); scallop border punch (Fiskars); lace scallop border punch (Martha Stewart); ribbon; brads

Technique: Prismacolor Pencils blended with turpenoid

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #79

Whew! Finally got my Mojo Monday card done. I rarely miss doing the Mojo sketch. They are always great layouts. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks so. So far 209 other people have done the sketch challenge this week! This week's sketch is fairly simple, but very versatile. I really like it and I'm sure you'll be seeing this layout again in the future.

Once again, I opted to try a different color combination from my usuals. I have been afraid to use yellow and black together because I think it will just look like a big bumblebee, but I decided to try it anyway. I did use some white in there too and also used a more muted shade of yellow. I like it. I also decided to pull out one of my favorite stamps that I haven't use for a long, long time. I guess I've been too busy playing with my mice, bunnies and hedgehogs. :)

I'm not sure it's the scanner or what, but my cards look fine in person, then when I post them everything looks crooked. My friend Patti gave me some tips for taking pictures and also told me how to make a light box that I can take pictures in. I got the supplies, but haven't had time to put it together yet. Hopefully, when I get that stuff figured out, my pictures will start looking like they are supposed to.

Thanks for checking out my latest creation! Hope you'll stop by again soon.

Supplies:
Stamps: Tulip and sentiment (both Hero Arts)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Paper: White cardstock (Georgia Pacific); yellow cardstock (Bazzill); black cardstock (unknown); DP - scrap
Embellishments: Ribbon (unknown); embossed diamonds border punch (Martha Stewart)
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

Use It Challenge #3

Rae of the fabulous Simply Rae blog started the Use It! challenges blog a few weeks ago to challenge us to use items we have in our stashes. This is the third challenge - and the first one I have been able to participate in. The elements of the challenge for this week were to: 1) use eyelets; 2) use something in your stash more than a year old; and 3) use polka dots.

My eyelets are in the corners of the image. I had something totally different in mind, but it didn't work like I saw it in my head so this is what I ended up with. Trust me - what I saw in my head was a whole lot more creative. I have lots of eyelets, but rarely use them. Now that I'm looking at the card, I probably should have replaced the brads in the centers of the flower with eyelets too. Oh well - missed that one.

Almost everything used for this card has been in my stash for more than a year. The first thing I did was to rummage around for something to inspire me because I had no ideas whatsoever. What I found was the felt flowers. I have had them for at least a year and a half - maybe two. I can't remember if I received them in a swap or as a hostess gift, but I didn't buy them and I have no idea who made them. From there I picked my papers and the image to use. I have had the papers and the ribbon for at least two years. The only thing used on the card that is not more than a year old is the stamp I used. I've had it almost a year and this is the first time I have used it. It was a birthday gift from my friend Cheryl/polarbear last year (my birthday is one month from today:)

I had a lot of fun making this card. It did challenge me because I rarely use eyelets, the image is way different than my usual style and I think I can safely say this is the first time I have ever used pink and orange paper. I'm challenging myself to use some different color combinations and I think I really like this one.

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to visit the Use It! blog for more fun cards and visit Rae's blog Simply Rae for more great inspiration.

Supplies
Stamp: Great Impresssions
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Paper: Cardstock (unknown); DP - My Mind's Eye (It's either My Symphony or Everyday Tango - I don't remember for sure)
Embellishments: eyelets; felt flowers; ribbon (all unknown)
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

Penny Black and Colour Create Challenges

Here is this week's card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge using the colors from the current Colour Create Challenge. You may also recognize the layout. I used the Mojo Monday sketch from two weeks ago for that.

The Penny Black challenge this week was to use doodling on your card. It seems like there have been several doodling challenges recently, and I have been avoiding them like the plague. I finally decided it was time to get over my fear of doodling and give it a shot. I also wanted to use my new Sakura Souffle pens, and thought doodling was as good a reason as any. I know now why I don't doodle. :) I made parts of this card three times. I guess I tried to get too fancy with it and it wasn't working so I just settled for some dots and a few lines around the image. I just can't seem to do the fancy swirls and all that. I think it's safe to say that I probably will not be doing anymore doodling on my cards.

This week's Colour Create challenge was to use turquoise, navy and lime green. I used the turquoise and lime green on my House Mouse Challenge card earlier this week, so it was just sitting right there in my scrap basket. I just had to add the navy to it. I'm really liking this combo too. Colour Create always has an "optional" piece to their challenges in addtion to using the colors. This week it was to not use any pre-printed background paper, but to make your own. After the doodling, I just didn't really feel like doing that too. Since that's always optional, I just went with my MME papers that I love so much.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my card!

Supplies
Stamp: Spring Air (Penny Black)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Paper: green, turquoise, navy cardstock (Hobby Lobby and Archivers); DP (My Mind's Eye)
Embellishments: ribbon, buttons, twine, classic circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities, Souffle pens (Sakura)
Techniques: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid; doodling

My First White on White Card

I have been seeing some beautiful white on white cards lately, but hadn't tried one myself yet. I finally found myself with a perfect opportunity. This is a 3x3 card that I made for an embossing theme swap that I am in on Splitcoaststampers.

The requirements of the swap were to have either heat embossing or dry embossing on the card. Embossing with Cuttlebug folders was also allowed. My card has both types of embossing. The image and sentiment are heat embossed in white and the background was created with the Textile Cuttlebug folder. I cut all my pieces with my square Nestabilities. Everything was mounted on the large scalloped square, which was then placed on top of the 3x3 card base.

My white on white is actually cream on cream. I didn't think the image showed up well enough on white so I used cream to give it a little bit of contrast. The colors are not really true to life in the picture. Because the scanner lightens the items it's scanning, the image and sentiment were almost invisible. I adjusted the brightness and contrast to help that out, which resulted in the overall color being a little off. I really need to learn how to take decent phots of my cards because I know that would eliminate those types of problems. I really do try, but pretty much always scanning works better for me. Maybe someday I'll get it. :)

Supplies
Stamps: flower (Inkadinkado); sentiment (Hero Arts)
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Cream cardstock (unknown)
Embellishments: ribbon (unknown); Textile embossing folder (cuttlebug); opaque white EP (Stampendous); Classic Square and Scalloped Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Technique: Heat embossing; dry embossing;

Playing Around with Embossing

This week's challenge on the Papercrafts forum on the CK Web site was hosted by Anne/Boobash. Her challenge was to use VersaMark. I haven't used my VersaMark pad for a long time. I decided to also take the opportunity to try a new technique or two. I actually tried three, but only one made it to the finished card. I don't think is going to be my favorite card ever. It sure seemed to take an awfully long time for such a simple design.

The one new technique I tried that made it is called Pastel Embossing. I stamped the image on black cardstock with the VersaMark and then heat embossed it in opaque white. Once the image cooled, I colored it with a blender pen and artist pastels. I just brushed the blender pen across the pastel square, then colored directly on the embossed image. I do like the result, but I want to play with it a little more. The embossing turned out more rough textured than I like, but I'm not sure there's much I can do about that. I also found that I had to go over the image several times to get the color like I wanted it. It turns lighter after it dries a bit. I am definitely going to do this again though. I really like how it makes the imag pop and allows you to stamp on the darker cardstock.

I tried two other techniques which I was planning to use for the background. One is called Mulberry Batik. You stamp the image on mulberry paper with Versamark and then emboss with clear EP. You then use ink, color sprays, water color, etc. to brush three different colors over the paper. The embossing resists the color so that you image shows through as the mulberry paper. You then use an iron an plain paper to get the EP out of the paper. It just didn't work right for me at all. I think I will try it again sometime though because the samples I saw were really pretty.

The other technique I tried was a regular embossed resist. I stamped the flower on bright pink paper and then clear embossed it. I used a sponge brayer to ink over the whole piece with black so that the flowers would show through as pink. I scrapped that one too. I have done that technique before, but I didn't like it with the black ink. and the background looked too much like the main image. So for the background, I just stamped the flowers with VersaMark and clear embossed them.

That's about all there was to it. I finished the card by layering my image, putting brads in the corners and tying the black ribboon around it.

You can find the instructions for all these techniques in the Resources section of the Splitcoaststampers Web site. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamp: Inkadinkado
Ink: VersaMark
Paper: pink and black cardstock (Archiver's)
Embellishments: Black ribbon, brushed silver brads
Techniques: heat embossing; pastel embossing

Cute Card Thursday and Sketch and Stash Challenges

Here I am combining challenges again. Anytime I can find a sketch challenge to combine with a non-sketch challenge - as Martha would say - it's a good thing. Even though I'm a professional Web designer, when it comes to cards, the layout is one of my biggest challenges. Anyway - here is my card that combines these two fun challenges - Cute Card Thursday and Sketch and Stash.

The Cute Card Thursday challenge this week was a recipe challenge. When I first saw it, I thought it was going to be for a cooking recipe. Silly me. :o) The recipe was the "ingredients" that you were to use on the card. They are: 1) Something ripped; 2) two papers and 3) four embellishments. With the embellishments we could use ONLY four total. So a flower with two layers and a brad would be considered three of the four. My four are the yellow flower, the blue brad, the red button and the fabric piece tied through the button. The fabric piece is also my something ripped. The first thing I thought of was to tear some of my paper, but I have done that soooo many times. I really wanted to do something a little different, so I ripped a strip of fabric and used it like a ribbon.

My friend Susan pointed me toward the Sketch and Stash challenge. This is my first time to try that one. With this challenge you are provided a sketch and you are supposed to use something new, forgotten or neglected from your stash. There are no restrictions on what types of stamps you can use or other vendors. For this one, I used some new paper and one of my new border punches. I don't have a company for the paper. It was a giant package of double-sided cardstock I bought at Costco. I think it was "memories-something-or-other". Not a company I am familiar with at all. But it's cool paper and it was a great price for a whole bunch of double-sided cardstock. :o)

I always enjoy the Cute Card Thursday challenges and I think I will continue to check out the Sketch and Stash as well. I hope you will check them out too. There are some really great cards to look at. Thanks for stopping by and checking mine out!

Supplies
Stamps: Two Part Harmony (House Mouse - Stampabilities); Sentiment (Club Scrap)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); Pastel Blue Chalk (ColorBox)
Paper: Blue and yellow cardstock (Archivers); DP (Costco)
Embellishments: Flower (Prima); Brad (unknown); button; fabric
Technique: Prismacolor Pencils blended with turpenoid

Mojo Monday 78 and Cupcake Craft Challenge 31

I really enjoy participating in the various challenge blogs, but with working full time and being mom to a very active five-year-old, I don't have time to do all of the ones I like. It's great when I can combine a couple. For this card, I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday Challenge and the Cupcake Craft Challenge, which was to use brown with one other color - pink, blue or green. Obviously, I chose pink. :)

I chose one of my new Magnolia stamps for this card - Tilda Blowing Hearts. I must confess that when I first saw these images, I did not like them. But those cute little kids with no faces kind of grew on me. I am really enjoying working with them now. I put some Stickles on her little hearts and wings. I'm not sure how well it shows up in the picture.

I did make a couple of variations to the sketch. I moved the vertical panel from the left to the right side. On the left it looked like Tilda was blowing her hearts off the card. That variation was intentional. The other one wasn't. For some reason, I had it in my head that the ribbon was tied on the top of the center horizontal panel. It wasn't until I scanned the card and then looked at the sketch again that I realized it was on the bottom. Ooops - again.

Thanks for taking a look. Please be sure to stop by Mojo Monday and Cupcake Craft challenge blogs to see all the great cards submitted this week.

Supplies

Stamps: Tilda Blowing Hearts (Magnolia); Sentiment (Hero Arts)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); Pink Pastel (ColorBox Chalk Ink)

Paper: Cardstock (Bazzill; DCWV); DP - Bohemia (My Mind's Eye)

Embellishments: ribbon, Prima flowers, button, brad, border punches

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge #29 - Sketch

I was happy to see that this week's House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge is a sketch. I think sketch challenges are my very favorite type of challenge.

I chose this cute Happy Hopper image for my card this week. I received it in a swap and think it's just adorable. I had to vary the upper right part of the sketch slightly. Because of the size of the image, the circle element shown in the sketch wasn't showing enough and didn't really do anything for the card. I replaced it with the flower embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Hopper Puddle Fun (Stampabilities); sentiment (Hero Arts)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Paper: Blue cardstock (unknown); DP (My Mind's Eye)
Embellishments: ribbon (unknown); brads (Making Memories); flowers (Prima)
Technique: Prismacolor Pencils blended with Turpenoid

Penny Black and Colour Create Two-Fer

I enjoyed the Penny Black Saturday Challenge so much last week, I decided to do it again. This time, I combined with today's Colour Create challenge. The Penny Black challenge this week is a sketch. The Colour Create Challenge is to use red and green. I really need to get out of my comfort zone on color combinations so I hope some of the color challenges will help me do that. Red and green is even a bit more of a challenge for me because I have trouble seeing it for anything other than Christmas cards.

I will confess that I only own two Penny Black stamps and this is not one of them. I received this image in a swap. It's probably obvious that I haven't colored a lot of these little hedgies. I saw after I colored him that his tummy was supposed to be white. Oops. (blush) Even though my two stamps are hedgies, their tummies don't show so I hadn't colored them yet. Oh well - I still think he's cute and next time I will know. I hope the hedgie lovers will forgive my faux pas.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies

Stamps: Garden Gossip (Penny Black); sentiment (Hero Arts)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)

Paper: Cardstock (Bazzill); DP - Wild Asparagus (My Mind's Eye)

Embellishments: Nestabilities; ribbon (unknown); silk daisies (unknown); brads (Making Memories)

Technique - Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

Cute Card Thursday #51 - Celebration Sketch

The Cute Card Thursday challenge blog is celebrating it's first anniversary this week. This has become one of my favorite challenges and I do a card for this challenge almost every week. There are no requirements as far as vendors for any supplies used. You just have to follow the theme and make a cute card. I have used everything from Whiff of Joy, to Penny Black animals to House Mouse images for this challenge.

The theme for this week is to create a celebration card using the sketch provided. This is one of my very favorite House Mouse images and I thought it fit the theme perfectly. I did go back to one of my comfortable color combinations for this card - pink and brown. I used my favorite coloring method - Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid. I colored the heads of the pins with Sakura Glaze pens.

A dear friend of mine just became a grandmother for the first time. I plan to send this card to her. Even though it isn't a "baby" card, she adores House Mouse. She is also a quilter, so she will appreciate the theme.

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out the other adorable cards for this week's challenge at the Cute Card Thursday blog.

Supplies

Stamps: Mouse Bounce (House Mouse - Stampabilities); sentiment (Studio G)

Ink: Onyx Black and Vintage Sepia (VersaFine); Glaze pens (Sakura)

Paper: Pink cardstock (Bazzill); brown cardstock (DCWV); DP- from my big no-name Costco pack

Embellishments: Ribbon (unknown); flowers (Prima); brads (Making Memories); Nestabilities dies; button; twine

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

Roses on Paper Challenge #7 - Sketch

The current Roses on Paper challenge is another challenge from Rosette - a sketch. In addition to following the sketch, you must use a Magnolia, Whiff of Joy, Alota, Sarah Kay, Rachelle Anne Miller or Greeting Farm image. I just purchased my first Whiff of Joy and Magnolia stamps. For this challenge I chose a sweet image from Whiff of Joy. I really like the Whiff of Joy images - A LOT!

This color combination is something COMPLETELY out of the ordinary for me. I'm trying really hard to go with some different combinations and not use the same ones over and over. I would never have put the blue color with the pink and purple, but the colors were all in my DP so I decided that they must go together. :) Now that it's all together, I think I like it. The scan does not show the colors quite right. In real life they are softer.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my card. Be sure to stop by the Roses on Paper challenge blog to see the other great work there.

Supplies

Stamp: Melinda Hugging Heart (Whiff of Joy - Guardian Angel Collection)

Ink: Jet Black (StazOn)

Paper: Pink, blue and purple cardstock (unknown); DP - Wild Asparagus (My Mind's Eye)

Embellishments: Ribbon (Offray); Flowers (Prima); Brads (Making Memories); Heart Charm (Blue Moon Beads); Floral Fantasy Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with Turpenoid

Cupcake Craft Challenge #30 - Spring

I decided to try Rosette's spring challenge on the Cupcake Craft Challenge blog this week. This is my first time to try this challenge. I have thought about participating several times, but didn't seem like my cards were the right style. I feel like my cards are very plain and simple compared to most of the ladies on the Cupcake DT, as well as most of those who post their cards for the challenge. I hope that you will enjoy it anyway.

I just bought this adorable Magnolia stamp and thought it was perfect for the spring theme. I have to say that my card seems a little "naked" to me. I can't remember the last time I made a card that didn't have any ribbon on it anywhere. :) I just couldn't figure out where to put it. I used some Diamond Glaze on the rain drops and splash on Tilda's hand, but that was not picked up well by the scan.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will check out the other cards for this week's challenge. I also encourage you to visit Rosette's blog. She does some beautiful, very elaborate cards. The insides of her cards are even beautiful! Her style is so very different from mine, but I always love seeing what she has done. She has inspired me to try some of these different styles of images, colors and embellishing. I think you will enjoy seeing her work, too.

Supplies

Stamp: Rain Regniga Tilda (Magnolia); quote is computer generated

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)

Paper: yellow cardstock (DCWV); pink cardstock (Bazzill); DP (Daisy D's)

Embellishments: Prima flowers, brads, nestabilities

Technique: Prismacolor pencil blended with turpenoid

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #77

Here is my card for this week's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. Mojo Monday is one of my favorite challenges. The sketches are always fun and original and the design team is very talented. If you enjoy sketch challenges, or are just looking for inspiration for your own cards, you should check it out.

This was a very simple, easy card. No coloring or fancy techniques. I like those kind sometimes. I really enjoyed this sketch and will be using it again.

Supplies

Stamps: Inkadinkado

Ink: Vintage Sepia (VersaFine)

Paper: Cardstock (Archivers, Bazzill); DP - No clue - from one of those giant packs at Costco

Embellishments: Netabilities, ribbon, brads

Two Saturday Challenges - Penny Black and Sketch Saturday

There are certain challenges that I try to do every week - House Mouse, Mojo Monday, Cute Card Thursday. This week, I got all my regular challenges done a little earlier than usual and found myself with no cards to make. I'm one of those people that needs a reason to make a card - an occasion, a swap, a challenge - something. I can't seem to just sit down and make a card for the heck of it. So I decided to try the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, using this week's Sketch Saturday sketch to create my card. This is my first time to do these two challenges.

The challenge for Penny Black is called "3, 2, 1". These challenges require you to use three of one item, two of another, and one of a third on your card. In this case, it was three brads, two ribbons and one flower. One of the ribbons is tied around the rectangular piece on the left side of the card. The second one is tied through the button in the center of the flower. The three brads are pretty obvious. :)

The sketch challenge has the sentiment on the lower right side of the card, but I decided to place my flower there instead and stamped the sentiment on the image.

This card started out as yellow and green, but I wasn't feelin' it. I switched it to red and yellow - one of my favorites, which you can probably tell from some of my other cards. I did keep some green accents in there to pick up the green in the paper. The DP I used is from one of my very old DCWV paper stacks. I have so much paper! I'm trying to find uses for some of my older paper. Hopefully, my cards won't start looking "dated."

I enjoyed making this card. It's cute and spring-y. Thanks for stopping by to take a look at it.

Supplies

Stamps: Peek-a-Boo Hedgehogs (Penny Black); Friends (Studio G)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)

Paper: All cardstock and DP (DCWV)

Embellishments: Ribbon (scraps); brads (Making Memories); flower (Making Memories); button

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #50 - Wine and Dine

The theme for this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge is "wine and dine". The cards had to feature food and/or drink. I chose another Bella image - Chefabella. My sweet friend Patti stamped these for me - Thank you Patti! I was just waiting for the right reason to use one and here it is. Thanks for looking!

Supplies

Stamps: Chefabella (Stamping Bella); Enjoy (Studio G)

Paper: Red and yellow cardstock; DP - My Mind's Eye

Embellishments: Tag (Avery); ribbon; brads; corner slot punch

Technique: Prismacolor pencil blended with Turpenoid

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #76

Here is my card for this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge. I wanted to do something a little different for me so I chose a Bella. I don't actually own any Bella stamps. I received this one in an image swap. Bellas aren't my usual style, but there are a few I like - inlcuding this one.

There's not much to say about this card. It's just a simple, fun card. Thanks for checking it out.

Supplies

Stamps: Partygirlabella (Stamping Bella); Let's Party (Studio G)

Paper: Blue and pink cardstock (unknown); DP - The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby)

Embellishments: ribbon (Target); tab punch; blue brad

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge #27 - Chipboard

This week's challenge on the House Mouse and Friends challenge blog is to use chipboard. I had pretty much decided not to do this week's challenge because I rarely use chipboard and wasn't sure I even had anything other than letters that I could use. I scrounged around my big box of assorted chipboard letters, scrabble tiles and other goodies and found these big, pink chipboard flowers. I also found a whole box of Maya Road chipboard keys in assorted sizes that my friend Jenny gave me for my birthday last year. I'm going to have to figure out something to do with those sometime.

Supplies

Stamp: Happy Hopper - Fancy Pants (House Mouse Designs - Stampabilities); sentiment is computer generated

Paper: Pink and green cardstock (unknown); DP - Aunt Gertie's Garden (SEI)

Embellishments: chipboard flower (unknown); ribbon, button, twine, scalloped border punch

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

Our Creative Corner Sketch Challenge

This week's challenge on the Our Creative Corner blog is a sketch. I can hardly ever pass up a sketch challenge. OCC is a great challenge blog if you enjoy doing different types of challenges and want to be able to use images from any company or line. In addition to sketches, their challenges also include techniques, themes, colors, materials, etc. I don't do the challenge every week, but have done several and have enjoyed them. They also have a very talented DT.

I am really enjoying the different sketch challenges. For awhile I thought all my cards were starting to look the same, but these are helping me come up with some fun new layouts. I am also trying some different color combos. In the past, I probably would have used just the pink and green for this card, but since there was blue in the striped paper and there is some blue in the green floral background (very hard to see but it's there), I decided to try the blue scallop piece, ribbon and brads. I was very happy with how it turned out.

One thing I want to point out - my sentiment is neatly stamped. Club scrap images are often kind of distressed or grunge-looking. That's just the way the stamp is. Although I can be messy - I wasn't this time. :)

Supplies
Stamp: Gerbera daisy (unknown); sentiment (Club Scrap)
Ink: StazOn Jet Black (image); VersaFine Onyx Black (sentiment)
Paper: pink (Bazzill); green and blue (Club Scrap); DP (Daisy D)
Embellishments: Oval and scalloped oval dies (Nestabilities); blue ribbon (unknown); blue brads (unknown)
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with Turpenoid