Yesterday afternoon I had a chance to sit down and stamp another card.  It’s a good thing since I have a Building Representative Meeting this morning after dropping Evan off at school.  I combined the Mojo Monday 154 Sketch Challenge with the Color Throwdown 108.

I really like the soft subtle colors and I think this card has an elegant feel.  The Upsy Daisy image was stamped in Crumb Cake after being stamped off once and then I used an AquaPainter to add the soft So Saffron “glow” around the flowers.  The sentiment is from Oval All.

Well I’m off to head out the door with the kids.  Have a great Thursday!

I apologize for not getting a post up yesterday.  My sister is staying with us and I took on a big outdoor project this weekend.  I decided on Saturday morning that I’d go to the local nursery to attend their tree auction.  Each year they auction of shrubs and trees and I’ve never had a chance to attend.  I ended up with the winning bid on 2 Serviceberry trees.  So on Saturday Roger and I hauled home two trees and planted them.  I’m not kidding when I say that it’s exhausting work.  Sunday we barely did anything besides a few errands and yesterday I had a dentist appointment and I volunteered for the school district with Market Day pick up.

Today I decided to combine Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch #89 with the color challenge at SCS.  This color combo was a stretch for me – Melon Mambo, More Mustard and Baja Breeze.  I can’t say it’s something I would have come up with on my own, but I like the way the card turned out.  I used Four of a Kind from Papertrey Ink.

I have some exciting news to share with you!  I’ve accepted a Design Team position for SUO Challenges.  If you don’t know SUO stands for Stampin’ Up! Only.  The challenges will start next month on September 7th.  I am no longer a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator but these challenges are for demonstrators and customers alike that enjoy using Stampin’ Up! products.  I hope you’ll check the challenges out and play along with us.  You can find the challenge blog here.  Challenges will take place every other Tuesday.

Wow, has it been quiet around here.   I don’t know if it’s summer winding down and being super busy, but I miss hearing from all of you!  I combined the Mojo Monday Sketch with the Color Challenge for this week (Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake & Poppy Parade).  I have to say I love this stamp set.  I’ve been having a fun time using the boy and girl with the school books and lunch sack, but it was time to move on to a different image in this set.  I picked this little girl holding a heart and paired it with the sentiment from the Level I Hostess set Because I Care.  I did pull out a new package of Newsprint Designer Series Paper for this card, but I’m using up Alpine Originals ribbon.  I just loved this Chocolate Chip stitched felt ribbon and I still have a roll left.

I’d love to hear what you think of my card.  I hope you are having a fabulous week.  School starts one week from today!  Can you tell I’m excited?

Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Because I Care
Paper: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Newsprint dsp
Ink: Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Blush Blossom, Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade
Accessories: Mat Pack, Scallop Edge Punch, Alpine Originals ribbon, dimensionals, AquaPainter

I’m still working my way through my bag of CHA goodies.  I sat down and combined the Color Combo with Mercy’s Sketch Challenge. I used another My Favorite Things stamp set.  This time I pulled Flopsey Flowers out of my bag.

I started this card by stamping the rabbit image on Whisper White cardstock and using my AquaPainter and Early Espresso ink to color him in.  I LOVE watercoloring and he reminds me of the Velveteen Rabbit.  We don’t read that book often in our house because it causes Colin to cry and then Evan starts and soon we are all sobbing.  I gave him a colorful bouquet of Riding Hood Red flowers with an Always Artichoke stem.  I used dimensionals to attach him to a Crumb Cake oval Nestabilities cut out.  I sponged it with Whisper White craft ink and then added the paper piercing.  I don’t have a template I just eyeball it.  The base of the card is Riding Hood Red and is layered with Early Espresso, Love Letters dsp and a piece of Blushing Bride that was embossed with the Elegant Flowers embossing folder.  I added a strip of Taffeta ribbon from my strap bin.  The sentiment tag is Very Vanilla and was stamped with Early Espresso ink.  I finished it off with 2 flowers.  I simply punched a 1″ circle for each out of Riding Hood Red ink, cut around the circle and rolled them.  The dazzling diamonds is super sparkly in real life so I don’t know why it didn’t photograph well.  I added 2 Old Olive leaves to each flower.  I punched a 3/4″ Old Olive circle and then punched out a portion with the same punch.

I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday.  This week is just flying by!  Tomorrow Bandit goes to the vet to have his surgery to get “fixed”.  Then we can officially adopt him!  The kids are super excited about that.  The weekend is almost here and I can’t wait!

Stamps: My Favorite Things – Flopsey Flowers
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Early Espresso, Love Letters dsp, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Old Olive
Ink: Early Espresso, Whisper White craft ink, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke
Accessories: AquaPainter, Tombow Multi Adhesive, Dazzling Diamonds, mat pack, nestabilities, dimensionals, glue dots, 1″ circle punch, Pretties Kit, Sponge Dauber, Dimensionals

Yesterday I started to play along with the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges on SCS and found the Red, Yellow and Green color challenge.  These are not normally colors I combine together to make a card.  It’s a little out of the box for me.  I knew if I was going to make it work, it would have to be very clean and simple.

My first thought of yellow and green was Lemons and Limes, so I pulled out Tart and Tangy and got to stamping and masking.  I stamped a few extras on scraps of Whisper White, cut them out and in half and popped them up on dimensionals. I added the sentiment from Something Sweet in Poppy Parade.  The final colors I worked with were Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz and Poppy Parade.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Something Sweet
Paper: Poppy Parade, Whisper White
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade
Accessories: Dimensionals, Corner Rounder punch
Techniques: masking

I have a super simple card for you today using Apple Blossoms.  I used the Color challenge (Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler and Wild Wasabi), Fall to Layout 98 and the Clean and Simple Challenge (Dry Embossing).

We spent the entire morning outside and we are all exhausted.  It was 74 degrees and it couldn’t have been better.  The sun and heat returned this afternoon so now we are relaxing inside.  Have a great afternoon!

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.

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!

Poor Evan! Every time he has a T-ball practice or game it rains. He is supposed to have a game tonight and have his team photos taken and it’s raining once again.  Yesterday was also a rainy day and we spent it spring cleaning the boys rooms.  Colin’s in particular was a disaster.  He likes to save almost everything and I’m trying to get him be a bit more organized with his things.  As soon as he walks into a room it’s like a tornado hit.  Evan is very neat with his room, but is good at making a mess in Colin’s room too, so it’s 2 mess makers against my cleaning efforts.

Since my cleaning is done and Roger cut the grass last night for me, my morning with Evan in school was free to stamp.  It’s been a while since I did a SCS color challenge so I pulled it up to find out it’s Melon Mambo and Soft Suede, plus a neutral.  I paired it with the sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You for the week. 

The base is Melon Mambo  and I layered Soft Suede and Whisper White before adding my scalloped layers.  I stamped the Upsy Daisy image in Melon Mambo and Old Olive and then added the sentiment in Soft Suede.  The Melon Mambo really pops with this color combination.  It’s a nice bright cheery card for a rainy day.

Well I’m off to pick up Evan from preschool.  After today he only has 4 more days of school.  The year is winding down quickly.  Have a great Wednesday!

Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Paper: Melon Mambo, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Soft Suede
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Melon Mambo Polka Dot Ribbon, Mat Pack

I am in love with this beautiful weather outside. Today I could have sent Colin to school with only a sweat shirt as a jacket instead of his winter coat, but we played so much outside yesterday he got his last clean one all soggy in the wet grass. So this morning is devoted to laundry once again. When Evan and I get home from speech yesterday we headed right outside and were out there until dinner time. Yesterday we even saw daffodils poking their bright yellow buds out of the ground in the planting bed at school.  I’m still on the look out for a robin though as that to me means the warmer weather is really here to stay. 

Since I didn’t get to stamp yesterday because of our outside adventures I sat down this morning to create this card.  I combined the Fall to Layout 81 with the SCS Color challenge of Certainly Celery, Melon Mambo and Bashful Blue.  I made it specifically to send out in the mail today along with other Cards for a Cause.  If you’d like information on brightening up someone’s day see this post here.

To make this card I used a Certainly Celery card stock base.  I then took a piece of Whisper White card stock and ran it through the Big Shot with the Polka Dot embossing folder and then attached the strip to a  Whisper White layer.  I added this to a Melon Mambo card stock base and stamped the sentiment in Melon Mambo ink.  I used Thoughts & Prayers.  I then added butterflies in Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo and Certainly Celery from the Beautiful Wings embosslit die.  I tied on a Bashful Blue satin ribbon and attached the main image to the card base with dimensionals.

Today looks like it’s going to be another gorgeous afternoon.  I think tomorrow brings rain into the forecast so Evan and I are going to enjoy as much outside time as we possibly can.