Hambo Hoedown Day!

It's Wednesday... Hambo Hoedown day!

Today's sweet image is called The Birdhouse Estate & the challenge is to use SCALLOPS!
I think they made this challenge just for ME because I just LOVE scallops!

Play along and leave your link on the Hoedown blog!

Supplies:
Digi Image ~ Hambo Stamps The Birdhouse Estate

Pattern Paper ~ Pebbles Inc (Family Tree)
Wooden Bird ~ Michael's Craft Store

Markers ~ Spectrum Noir (Birdhouses ~ TB2, TB4, TB8, IB1, GB2, GB3; Tree ~ EB4, EB5, EB6, TN6; Leaves ~ DG2, DG4)

Paper Loft Challenge!

It's time to show you my project for this month's Sketch Challenge for Paper Loft and I LOVE IT!!!  These pictures were taken on our last trip to Icy Strait, Alaska where we did the world longest zipline!  OMW that was tons of fun!  My husband and I went on it 5 years ago, but the kids were too young at the time.  They couldn't wait to do it on this trip.

For my supplies on this page, I used the In The Zone paper collection from Paper Loft.    The strips of pattern papers are: In Synch, Stay Focused, Second Gear, Adrenaline and Automatic.  I used the Accessory Sheet called Fearless & the Alphabet Letter Stickers from the same collection.

Take a peek at the sketch over on the Paper Loft Blog and then play along for your chance to be a guest designer.

a little more vintage...

Well we have another new week & today I have a fun card from Crafter's Companion.  I used some stamps from the Stamp-It Australia line called Birds & Butterflies.   I also used a sentiment from Sentiment Swirls.  I stamped both on kraft cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.

Well that's it for today...such a busy weekend and now it's time to STAMP!   See you tomorrow!

GRS Sketch Challenge

It's SKETCH TIME!!!  The designers from Gourmet Rubber Stamps are all having a good time with this one!

For my card today, I used the new Butterfly image from the Laura Hunter Series.  This stamp lends itself beautifully for this sketch layout.  I added a touch of color to each butterfly using my Spectrum Noir Markers (GB5).  I also used the Flyaway Coveralls Background Stamp on the kraft cardstock and used the same tone of Memento Ink in Desert Sand.  The final stamped image is a sentiment from the Bonjour stamp set.

Here's the sketch!

Now I know you'll want to peek around to see who did what with the sketch ~ leave some love along the way because these girls have been working super hard lately!

Deb Felts

Jeni Allen

Jennifer Ingle

Kelli Palmer

Kendra Wietstock

Stephanie Lee

Taylor Usry
Melissa Cash

And our VIP Guest Designer this month
Jeanne Streiff

SP & Company Crop Event!

Hey There Crafty Friends!

For those of you who are new to my blog, WELCOME!!!  For my regular visitors, I'm glad you're back!  Today I'm one of the Challenge Hostesses for the Weekend Crop at SP & Company Stamps.   My challenge for you is...

 Use Border Stamps in Creative Ways!  

For my first card, I used the Diamond Background border and stamped it tone on tone.  {By the way, this stamp is on the retired list for $1 ~ what a steal!}  The next creative border I used was the Chevron Chaser Background and I stamped it in green ink on a small piece of kraft cardstock.  Then I stamped the plain tie from the Father's Day Fun Mini set in dark brown ink over the top of the green Chevron pattern.  I made sure to line up the tie so the Chevron points were centered.  I used my markers to color a few stripes in the tie & then I cut it out.  The next step was to stamp the Father's Day sentiment on the cream cardstock and then I added another Chevron pattern to the bottom of the sentiment block.  Once the sentiment was attached to the card base, I popped up the tie with foam dots.  A touch of twine and a few gems completed my cute card!

My second card also uses the Chevron Chaser Background as well as the Large Polka-Dot Background Stamp.

Here's how I made the background: First I selected 4 coordinating colors of ink (2 blues & 2 greens).  Next, I inked the entire image in the lighter shade of blue & then added the darker shade of blue over the top portion of the image.  On a firm surface, I carefully lined up the image so it was straight and pressed the stamp on the white card stock.   Next, I cleaned my stamp and inked the entire image in the lighter shade of green and then added the darker shade over the bottom portion.  Making sure to line the image up straight, I carefully stamped the image at the bottom of the white card stock.

For the letters, I found some fun wooden letters and shapes at the local craft store & decided they would be fun to stamp, color and decorate.  Using my B16 Copic marker, I colored the surface of the wooden letter with my chisel tip.

Next, laying the Large Polka-Dot Background stamp face up, I inked it with black ink.

Keeping the inked image face up, I carefully pressed  the wooden letters on to the inked image.
(note: I also added some white polka-dots with white pigment ink)

Then I added them with glue dots to my card.  I mirrored the Chevron and polka-dot patterns on my embossed pieces as well to pull the whole card together ~ along with some black gems, some gingham ribbon and a pretty little butterfly.

Make sure you play along on the challenges today ~ loads of fun and inspiration out there from the Challenge Hostesses.  You can find out all the details over on the SP & Co Blog or on the Facebook Page.

You can link up your creative border projects by CLICKING HERE!

I'm dreaming of Paris!

A super quick post this morning with a card using several fun products

from Gourmet Rubber Stamps!

Stamps: Bonjour, background from Sealed with a Kiss

Cookie Cutter Stencil: Demask

I'll be back later today at 3pm (ET) with a post for SP & Co Stamps .  I'm one of their Challenge Hostesses for the weekend crop event & have some fun projects to share with you.

Fun Friday ~ New Release!

Surprise!

Gourmet Rubber Stamps has some fun new images being released TODAY and they are from the Laura Hunter Series.

Here are a few samples I made with the new release.  My first card uses the Be Happy image.  I inked each line of the the image with some fabulous inks from Clear Snap called the Cat Eye Queue ~ Jelly Bean.  The inks are cat eye shaped and they are so easy to apply to the rubber stamps exactly where you want the color.  I overlapped the colors for a blended look and then sprinkled the entire image with clear embossing powder and heat embossed the artwork.  I finished off my card with some gorgeous sheer ribbon from May Arts.

My second card uses the London image.  I just stamped the image in black ink directly on the pattern paper from My Minds Eye.  Super simple!

And here is the entire Laura Hunter Series.  There are 8 single images available (each sold separately).

              

Several of our designers have projects to share with you today so go take a peek
and don't forget to give our ladies some love for all their hard work:

Kelli Palmer

Kendra Wietstock

Stephanie Lee

Melissa Cash
Jeni Allen

Ancient Oak Sunset

It's been a busy week at Crafter's Companion and new stamps and today I have a sneak peek of a new set called Ancient Oak.  It is from the Sheena Get Sketchy Colleciton that will be coming out tomorrow (March 8th) and it's super pretty.  It reminds me of a tree in our neighborhood and in the summer and fall I look out my front window to this pretty view.

Here's how I made my card:

1. The image is stamped on white cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.  
2. After I let it dry, I added some Cantaloupe Memento Ink to one small area above the tree on the right side.  Then I punched out a circle and lightly taped it over the ink for a mask.  
3. Next, I started sponging on Angel Pink Memento ink from the top of the panel going down, then Rose Bud Pink, and then Lady Bug Red ~ so the colors go from light to dark.  
4. I added some sponged black ink to even out the ground.  Once I removed the mask for the moon, it was a beautiful circle in the midst of the pink sky.

Note: This idea was from Theresa Momber's Blog.

Kiss Me For Luck!

It's time for the weekly Hambo Hoedown and this week we are just BURSTING with COLOR!   The cute little image is called Monkey Irish and he's ready to dance a little jig today.  The challenge with this cute guy is to use Rainbow Colors in your project.  Gee...can you find my Rainbow?  LOL!  

To make my rainbow background, I cut 1/2" strips of cardstock and attached them to a white card panel.  Then I trimmed it to the correct size and use an embossing folder to add the big polka-dots ~ I thought it needed some texture.  I used a smaller polka-dot embossing folder for the mat behind the image too.  My monkey is colored with my Spectrum Noir pens (see colors below) & then I added pits of black cardstock and ribbon to really make the rainbow POP!

I decided to make a little treat bag to go with my card by cutting apart the pot of gold image away from the monkey and then I attached it with foam dots to the little polka-dot embossed tag on my bag of chocolate gold coins.  Super fun ~ now it's your turn to play along!

Spectrum Noir Pens:
TN1, TN2, TN3, TN6, TN7, TN8
GB3, GB6
CG1, CG2, CG3, CG4
IG1, IG3, IG4, IG6, IG8
JG1

Party Time with Bamboo!

This week, an adorable little bear named Bamboo is making his debut at Crafter's Companion in the new Party Paws Collection.  This set is called Hugs from Bamboo ~ he's just totally CUTE!   The pattern paper is the Family Tree Collection from Pebbles Inc. 

I used my Spectrum Noir Pens to color this little guy.  I find shades of black to be very tricky, so I start with the darkest colors and add small bits of shading first.  Then I add the next lighter color and so on... Here are the colors I used for Bamboo.   

Bamboo ~ IG1, IG2, IG3, IG4, IG6, IG8, PP1; 

Present ~ CT1, CT2, CT3, CT4, TB1, TB2.

The Haiti Mission {trip}

Good Monday Morning to you my crafty friends.  It feels a bit like a Manic Monday to me, but I'm sure that will pass...{maybe by tomorrow ~ LOL}.

Anyway, today I wanted to share a special layout with you.  Last summer my sweet daughter, Megan went on a Mission Trip to Haiti with our church youth group.  Our church partners with a wonderful organization in Haiti called Children's Lifeline and they provide meals, education, job training and medical care to the local Haitians.  They do amazing work.  Megan's trip was life changing & I really wanted to document her trip on some scrapbook layouts.

For my layout, I used the Everyday Life Collection from Paper Loft.  The pattern papers are called Forward Progress (yellow) & Believe in Miracles (red distressed).  For the printed words, I used the Enjoy Accessory Sheet and cut all of the words apart ~ one of my favorite elements of the page & they are what inspired the page.  When I saw the verse on the sheet, I thought of my daughter's trip & decided to angle the photos and the words for a little visual interest.  The photo of the cross had to be at the top and I decided to stagger the photos of the beautiful children with Megan along with the individual words along the side.

To finish off the layout, I stamped a few flowers from the Blissful Blossoms set by Gourmet Rubber Stamps in grey ink & added buttons and twine for some texture.  The last piece was to add a title using the coordinating Alphabet Letter Stickers from the paper collection.

I hope you enjoyed my page today ~ I sure loved making it!
You can see the whole collection on the Paper Loft Website
and check out the blog for lots of great idea!

CAS-ual Friday Challenge

Happy Sunday!  

Today I played along with the CAS-ual Friday challenge (CFC92).  This week the challenge is to Wallpaper ~ use stamps to make a background, but it still needs to be Clean & Simple!

I used three sets by Gourmet Rubber Stamps ~ Just Wanted to Say & Bubble Sentiments along with the Chevron Stripe Coverall Background.  I sure love these sets!

Go play along...it's a super fun challenge site!

SCS Sketch Challenge

Happy Saturday!  Today I decided to play along with the current sketch challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers and used this super fun digi image from Hambo Stamps.  I just love this little dog named Bailey and I used the sentiment from the Bailey Flower digi set.  The papers are from Basic Grey (Max & Whiskers).

I colored sweet Bailey with my Spectrum Noir pens:
Bailey ~ TN2, TN3, TN5, TN7
Nose ~ IG2, IG4, IG6
Collar ~ GT2, GT3
Heart Tag ~ CR10, OR3

Havin' Some Fun With Paper Loft!

Guess what?  

Paper Loft has invited me to be on their scrapbooking design team and I'm so excited.  As I've said time and again ~ I LOVE SCRAPBOOKING.  Therefore, to be asked to do this specifically, is a total dream come true!

So on with a project!  I found this sweet photo in my box of extras and I was so drawn to my son's beautiful blue eyes that I just had to do a layout.  He was 6 years old in this photo {now 13 years old}.   I used the Paper Loft Collection called In The Zone for the pattern paper, alphabet and accessory sheets.  The circle pattern paper is called In Synch & the accessory sheet is called Authentic.  There are tons of pieces on each accessory sheet that can be cut apart to be used on multiple projects.   The Little Man title inside the circle is made from the sticker Alphabet Letters that are included in the 12x12 Collection (and the sheet is also sold separately).

I added some circle stamped images from Crafter's Companion in the background along with some coordinating buttons and twine from May Arts for the extra details on the page.

I'll have many more pages to share with you over the next few weeks ~ hope you enjoy!

ETA: Melissa asked about the True Blue Little Man Tag.  It comes on THIS accessory sheet.  I trimmed it with my Spellbinders circle die cut and then added a circle mat behind it.  Then I trimmed a piece of cardstock and placed it over the word Authentic and used the sticker letters to write Little Man.  Love the way you can change things up!