A Dare to Get Dirty challenge was to embrace the white space.  I love clean and simple cards and a very easy way to get an eye catching card is to use circles of patterned paper.  I still have a bunch of Sweet Pea dsp that I’m using up so I pulled it out along with my 1″ circle punch and this card came together in about 5 minutes.  It was as simple as punching circles and attaching them.  I finished it off with a sentiment from All Holidays.  I stamped it on Naturals White card stock in Chocolate Chip.  I then attached 2 extra pieces cut with the notch in them underneath it with dimensionals to create a folded banner look.  I then attached it to the card with more dimensionals.

Spotlight on Thank You Supplies
Stamps: All Holidays
Paper: Naturals White, Sweet Pea dsp
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: 1″ circle punch, dimensionals

This next project is for the Lost & Found challenge.  I recycled a Kleenex box into a Kitchen Clutter Organizer.  I found the video and instructions on Stamp TV.  It was fun and easy to make and now catches the mail we get on a daily basis.  I don’t like clutter on my counters and now I can stick the bills in there until Roger has a chance to look at them.  We then move them into the correct spot in our mail sorter based on the due date.  It’s very sturdy!

My Mom is using hers to store cards for sale.  You can have two 4 1/4 X 5 cards next to each other in the organizer and we found it holds close to 30 cards this way.  The possibilities are endless.

I just realized that CHA is a week from Friday!

Kitchen Clutter Organizer Supplies
Paper: Early Espresso, Thoroughly Modern dsp, Whisper White
Accessories: Alpine Orignals Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Epoxy Brads, 1 1/4, 1 3/8 and Scallop Circle punches, sticky strip,
Techniques: Altered Kleenex Box

This week the Wild Flower Patch is sponsoring Jen’s Sketch For You To Try.  I have to admit I’d never worked with Digital Stamps before.  After some trial and error (on my part) it was super easy!  I decided to use Alice in Wonderland.  I thought it was fitting since I read Alice I Have Been earlier this summer.

To make this card I printed out the Alice in Wonderland image on Watercolor paper.  I then watercolored her in with various Stampin’ Up! Classic Inks and Re-inkers.  I will list them at the end in the supplies.  After coloring I started on my card base.  I kept repeating to myself “I’m late, I’m late” as I was making the card and I found the rabbit designer series paper in the Nursery Suite Specialty Paper by Stampin’ Up!  I knew I had to use it.  The background is Pretty Petals, stamped in Whisper White craft ink onto Baja Breeze card stock.  It’s mounted on Chocolate Chip and a So Saffron card base.  I then added the paper pierced So Saffron strip and then my rabbit paper.  I needed space for my bow so I used the 1″ circle punch to take a bite out of my main image layer.  I added a Chocolate Chip Corduroy brad to the top of the ribbon.  I then added my On Your Birthday sentiment.  I have to say I love it!

Here is the sketch that Jen provided for us to use this week.  One participant this week will win 5 Digi Stamps of their Choice!  See Jen’s blog for all of the details.

I really like this sketch and can see myself using it over and over again.  If you need more inspiration please check out the Sketch For You to Try Sisters.  Many of them may be using The Wild Flower Patch stamps as well.
Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Kelly Lunceford
Sonja Chirstoph
Jodi Collins
and the Designer of the Month, Sandra MacLean

This weekend Colin and Evan are spending some time visiting Roger’s parents.  Hopefully that will give me a bit of time to get ahead on my stamping.  It also gives Roger and I time to go on a date night.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend and hopefully get a chance to play along with us.

Supplies:
Stamps: The Wild Flower Patch – Alice in Wonderland; Stampin’ Up! – On Your Birthday and Pretty Petals background stamp
Paper: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Nursery Suite Specialty dsp, Watercolor paper
Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Blush Blossom, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Bashful Blue, Pear Pizzazz, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Whisper White craft ink, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, AquaPainter, dimensionals, Chocolate Chip Corduroy brad, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, 1 1/4″ and 1 3/8″ circle punches

We had a fun yet busy weekend. Yesterday Sage went to a new foster home so that a new foster puppy can move in.  We knew Sage would only be here for a few days, but Colin found it hard to say goodbye.  We took her yesterday and the family that will foster her seems like they will be really good for her.  I did take some photos but I haven’t had a chance to edit them yet.  I don’t think the new puppy will be here today like we thought.  That’s okay because  Bandit is happy to have us all to himself again.

I was asked to help sample the color challenge this week on SCS.  The colors were So Saffron, Baja Breeze and Rich Razzleberry.  I had a bunch of stamps sitting on my stamp table so I picked this cute image from Your Next Stamp.  She’s Fairy Fhiona and used the Occasional Quote from Stampin’ Up! for the sentiment tag. The grid paper and scallop is from The Write Stuff specialty paper.

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend.  I have to get busy planning my class projects for Thursday.

I apologize for being so lost at the end of the week.  We had mid-70 degree weather and we spent a lot of time outside enjoying it.  Then near the end of the week I got a phone call asking if I could foster another Aussie for a few days while they got a more permanent foster home in place.  We picked her up today and she is a sweetheart.  Her name is Sage and I’ll share some photos of her and Bandit tomorrow.   Someone spent a good amount of time training her and while I was playing with Bandit she’d follow commands to get a treat as well.

Anyway, our trip to pick up Sage left me running super behind on getting this card posted.  I just made it now and it’s almost dinner time.  I will be on time next week though.

I used the new Studio Sketches stamp set from Stampin’ Up! along with Watercolor Trio from the Summer mini catalog.  I pulled a few masculine colors – Garden Green, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake pattern and Soft Suede dsp from Thoroughly Modern and Wild Wasabi.  I didn’t do any water coloring.  I stamped the image in Soft Suede and then inked the pears in Pear Pizzazz before cutting them out and adhering with dimensionals.

Here is the fabulous sketch from Jen.

Please check out the other inspiring samples from the rest of the Sketch for You to Try Sisters:
Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer *taking the weekend off*
Leigh O’Brien *taking the weekend off*
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Kelly Lunceford *taking the weekend off*
Sonja Chirstoph
Jodi Collins
and the Designer of the Month, Sandra MacLean

I hope you have a fantastic 4th!

Only a few more busy days and we are done!  Swimming ends on Thursday and then the only thing we have on our schedules is T-ball for Evan on Thursday night and Puppy Class for Bandit on Sunday afternoon.  I’m taking the rest of the summer easy.  It’s so easy to over schedule and we are all feeling the effects of that.

Today I stamped this card using the Color Challenge on SCS and Mercy’s Sketch.  The colors are ones I love, but have never really combined all together into one card.  I’m working with Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango and Bermuda Bay.  All three of these colors are retiring tomorrow.  I made a stack of presents using the Playful Pieces Hostess stamp set and then tied them together with a Whisper White 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon.  The sentiment is from Occasional Quotes and is punched out with the Modern Label punch.

Well the boys and I are headed out to do some more yard work.  It’s only 79 degrees and it feels heavenly outside.  We have a plant to buy to fill in a spot in the backyard and then later this week it’s time to bring in some fresh mulch.  We got all of the weeding done yesterday and trimmed up a bunch of our bushes to give them a better shape.

I hope you are enjoying your week!

Yesterday I registered to attend CHA on July 30 & 31! I am so happy that it is back in Chicago this year.  I really missed attending last year.  Are any of you planning to attend?  Let me know and maybe we’ll happen to run into each other.   I also spent a good portion of the afternoon getting my card done for this week’s Sketch for You to Try.  I’d love for you to play along with us.  Jen, like usual has a fabulous sketch for this weekend.

I chose the colors for this card based on a new package of Designer Series Paper that will be in the new Stampin’ Up! catalog – Tempting Turquoise, Poppy Parade, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz and Whisper White.  I mainly used the new Level III Hostess stamp set Playful Pieces for the pennants, cake and stand and balloons.  The  ”happy” is from On Your Birthday and the “birthday” is from All Holidays.

The images on this card look fairly simple as is the layering but each piece took a good deal of time.  I started by making the base to the card and then layering Poppy Parade with the So Saffron striped dsp from Tall Tales.  I then added two strips of Pear Pizzazz.  The bottom portion has Pennants from Playful Pieces.  I stamped them in Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron and Tempting Turquoise.  I then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the letters on them in Chocolate Chip ink.  They were each cut out and attached with a dimensional.  I then used Tombow Multi Adhesive to adhere the Silver cording and bows.  I thought it was a fun little detail to add to this card.  I then stamped the cake and plate using Playful Pieces and the same colors from the Pennant Banner.  I added a Blushing Bride flower made from the Itty Bitty punch and silver brad.  I then went onto adding the balloons and strings.

Here is the Sketch for You to Try from Jen.

I hope you have a chance to play along with this fabulous sketch. Doing so puts you in the running to be the next Designer of the Month.  If you need further inspiration please check out the rest of the Sketch for You to Try Sisters.

Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Kelly Lunceford
Sonja Chirstoph
Jodi Collins
and the Designer of the Month, Andrea Ewen

Well I’m going to enjoy a nice hot day with not much to do.  Baseball ended yesterday along with Tennis.  Colin has 4 days left of swimming and we are done with activities for a bit.  I can’t wait!  I’m excited to have a less scheduled summer, that is until soccer starts.  Maybe I’ll be able to get ahead on my stamping because it’s supposed to be super hot today.  I hope you have a fun weekend!

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but my grandmother is in the hospital.  She fell down twice on Monday and the second time they thought she had broken her hip.  I’m not sure what is wrong, they are still doing tests, but she’s still in the hospital.  So Colin and Evan asked if we can take her a card when we go to my parent’s house this coming Sunday.

I combined the Ways to Use It challenge with the Our Creative Corner sketch for this week.  I bet you can tell that I haven’t put away my Apple Blossoms Hostess set and that I’m loving having Baja Breeze added back into the color mix.  I wanted a nice soothing color scheme so I went with Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.  The main images are from Apple Blossoms and the sentiment is from a retiring hostess stamp set, Kind and Caring Thoughts.

To make this card I cut my card stock base and then the Whisper White layer.  The Soft Suede dsp is sponged with Soft Suede ink before adding the Baja Breeze strip and Kraft Taffeta ribbon.  The main image panel is Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.  I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the images.  Two are stamped in Baja Breeze and two in Whisper White and then heat embossed with White embossing powder.  I pulled out a Baja Breeze corduroy button and threaded it with Hemp twine.

We are down to 1 week left of me being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator.  My website has now been cancelled since I didn’t want to pay for the next month if it was only going to be active for a week.  As I’ve mentioned my Mom has now signed up and those of you who said Okay have been transferred to her.  I put her link in the right hand side bar.  My catalogs will be here tomorrow, so those of you who have asked for one will get it with her information on the back.  I will get them out to you ASAP!

This weekend Bandit starts Puppy classes at Petsmart.  We went in to buy him some more training treats today and I saw that it would be 8 weeks before the next Sunday class started.  I want him to be well trained so we signed up and we’ll be taking him right after church on Sunday.  I bet he’s going to love it.  He’s been training quickly.  He was housebroken in just a few days and is now working on the Sit command.  This Saturday we will have had him for two weeks and he’s the perfect puppy so far.

Well we are off to Tennis for Colin, T-ball for Evan and then the last baseball “practice” for Colin.  They are going to Wendy’s for Frosties since Wendy’s is our team sponsor.  Colin has his last game of the season tomorrow night and it’s his last day of tennis as well.  I can’t wait!  I am tired of being a chauffeur.  I want to be able to be home a bit more and get more of my stuff done.

I admit I am running super late today with my sketch. I sat down planning to stamp last night and then got to organizing all of my new colors into the revamped color families.  Then a few thunderstorms rolled in and I lost my train of thought.  I figured it might be good to stamp under pressure so I whipped this together this morning using the new Stampin’ Up! Hostess stamp sets that I pre ordered.  As soon as I saw the Apple Blossoms set I knew I’d have to have it.  I paired it with Crumb Cake (formerly Kraft), Real Red, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise and Soft Suede.  I used the Scalloped Envelope for my Soft Suede Prints layer and I simply trimmed off the sides.  I think it worked perfectly with the sketch.  The flower was stamped several times and then cut out and layered.  The smallest So Saffron center is one of the Itty Bitty punches.  The ribbon is retired from a few years ago and has been sitting in my ribbon jar.

Here is the fabulous sketch from Jen:

Please take a moment to check out the fabulous Sketch for You to Try Sisters for more inspiration.
Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Susan Liles *taking a day off*
Kelly Lunceford
Sonja Chirstoph
Jodi Collins
and the Designer of the Month, Andrea Ewen

Pretty soon we are headed out for Colin’s last Saturday baseball game.  Then tonight the kids are spending a few hours at our local children’s museum.  They do a Parents Night Out where the kids play and do structured activities and the parents are free to do whatever they want.  This is the first time they are participating in the event.  I hope they do well because it’s a fabulous way to get a babysitter for a few hours and know the kids will have lots of fun.

While you read this we are already on the road, heading out to check out an Aussie puppy that we are interested in.  After Sophie was gone the house was too quiet so we put in to adopt an Australian Shepherd aka Aussie.  We thought the application process would take some time and being on summer vacation it would be good to have more time to train a puppy.  We were surprised when we were approved within only a few days.  Our references checked out, we had our home visit and we found a litter of puppies we were interested in seeing.  I set up a visit for today and we knew we wouldn’t be bringing a puppy home quite yet because they weren’t ready for adoption.  Or so we thought.  We talked to the rescue yesterday and they asked if we’d be interested in fostering the puppy with the end goal being that we’d adopt it.  We then found out that we could see the puppy and if all goes well bring it home today.  So I had to make arrangements to borrow a crate until we get ours back and now we are off to bring a puppy home!  I’ll have photos to show you soon – hopefully tomorrow. 

Anyway today is another Sketch For You to Try from Jen.  My craft room is a mess.  I have old colors and new colors scattered everywhere, but you can’t ignore the fabulous new palette that was delivered just this week.  So I pulled out Pear Pizzazz and Daffodil Delight and paired them with Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie and the returning Baja Breeze.  After cutting my panels I stamped them with the Itty Bitty Bits in Whisper White Craft ink.  I adhered them to the Chocolate Chip layer and stitched around them with Kraft colored thread.  The main image layer is made using the Sweetheart stem in Pear Pizzazz.  I cut out the leaves and sponged on some Old Olive ink before attaching them with dimensionals.  I then punched out a Real Red heart and then embossed it with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and sponged the edges with Real Red ink.  I added Polka Dot Real Red epoxy brads and then the sentiment tag using images from the Sweetheart set as well. 

I love how different Pumpkin Pie looks with these fabulous new colors.  They are so fresh and fun.  I hope you have a chance to play along with us this time.  Jen has a fabulous prize for one participant to win.  You must link your card with InLinkz by noon on Friday.  Here is this week’s sketch:

Make sure to check out the rest of the Sketch for You to Try Sisters for more inspiration!

Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Kelly Lunceford
Sonja Chirstoph
Jodi Collins
and the Designer of the Month, Andrea Ewen

Today I have my last class as a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator.  We’ll be making 3 cards and a 6 X 6 scrapbook page.  I’m also taking along my new catalog that I got in my pre-order of new color card stock yesterday.  Now I just have to re-organize all of my supplies to fit in the new stuff.  I’m sure there are going to be several sets that I just have to get. 

This is yet another sample I made for the color renovation.  I was given a color pallete to work with and you can see even though I use the same colors this has a different feel from my card I posted yesterday.  I love cutting out these trees from Trendy Trees and using them with the Curly Label punch to frame them.  I added a small heart and circle to the center to balance the card and pull it together.