Bright Birthday - Triple Inspired

Today's card is for yesterday's sketch challenge on Splitcoast and was inspired by this total beauty that Diane Gilbert (SCS name: DJLoves2Stamp) created recently for one of Beate's new inspiration challenges. The row of flowers was inspired by the buttons in this cutie by Karen Giron. Thanks, then, to Diane, Beate, and Karen for the inspiration on this one.

Stamps: So Many Scallops, Stitched
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Old Olive
Ink: White craft; Old Olive, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie markers
Accessories: scallop punch, 1/16" punch, slit punch, paper piercer, dimensionals, felt fusion flowers, silver brads
All supplies by Stampin' Up.

Kind Thoughts

Lovin' this week's color challenge on SCS: Purely Pomegranate, Basic Gray, Basic Black. I stamped the large swirly, flourishy image in Palette Noir on Whisper White, then colored in using an aqua painter and the Purely Pomegranate reinker. I deliberately tried to color some of the areas darker and some lighter to create a little interest. A warning, though ... don't look too closely at my coloring ... this image requires a steadier hand (or better eyes) than I have! To create some sparkle, I went over the flourish, the butterflies, and the photo corners with a clear Spica pen.

Thanks for stopping by. There have been so many wonderful comments in the past week or two especially. Some of them are kind and touching, some encouraging, some pee in the pants funny. I appreciate each one! I never imagined when I started this blog a few months ago how much I would enjoy the camaraderie with so many other stampers across the country, even the world. Just want you to know how much I appreciate you!

Stamps: Kind Thoughts, Stitched
Paper: Basic Gray, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, White craft
Accessories: dimensionals, clear Spica, aqua painter, Michael's baubles, photo corner punch, pomegranate satin ribbon, black ribbon (source unknown), sponge daubers
Supplies Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted.

Tagged and I Won!

Oh my goodness! I forgot to add to my post this morning that I won Julee Tilman's Mojo Madness Contest (you know how much I wanted to!), along with Bobbi G! Thank you, Julee (and Shannan, who was enlisted to help judge). It's quite an honor. Go check out her slideshow of all the entries. Talk about some mojo!

Also, I was tagged recently by my friend June (I think I'm the Amy she listed??) and by Sara (sorry, Sara, I don't know how you get the umlaut over the "a" - but I do know what an umlaut is, lol!). Check out their blogs for some fabulous eye candy!

I'm supposed to list 7 random or weird facts about myself. Here goes:

1. I have an equal opportunity sweet tooth. Godiva or Laffy Taffy ... doesn't matter.

2. I am a classically trained pianist. I've worked hard to be able to play fairly well, but have very little actual talent. I wish it were different, but it's true. The romantics, especially Rachmaninoff and Chopin, are my faves.

3. I watch almost no television. I decided a few years ago it was a total waste of time, and I haven't really missed it. Not too much anyway. But it does make me a little bit pop culturally illiterate. My husband and I usually have one show we watch together, kind of our "date night." It used to be Survivor; now it's American Idol. I do make an exception for March Madness ;)

4. My absolute favorite edible is the first home-grown, vine-ripened tomato of the summer, eaten like an apple right off the vine, still warm from its day in the sun.

5. My twin sister and I would get so angry as toddlers that we would hold our breath until we passed out. It didn't harm us, but we did go through a lot of babysitters.

6. It seems I have a large head. I had to order the largest graduation cap available in high school. I don't remember having that problem in college. Must have been all those brain cells I killed along the way ;)

7. I've had two unmedicated childbirths, both fast and furious. My oldest was born 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital. My middle, 15 minutes. My youngest was born after an induction and epidural. It was glorious!

And, if they haven't played already, I'm tagging Cori, Diane, Flossie, Karen, Marti, Pascale, and Sue (and anyone else who wants to play)!

And last, the rules:
• Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Faux Cloisonne'

I have to confess, I'm not much of a technique challenge junkie. For me, a technique can too often hijack my whole design process, and then basic design principles -- composition, color, balance -- take a back seat or get dropped altogether in the name of the almighty technique.

For that reason, I tend to pass on most technique challenges. Late last night, though, I took a peek at this week's SCS technique challenge -- faux cloisonne. It looked interesting, I tried it, and I was able to whip out a card with it in record time. Pretty cool.

Basically, what you do is stamp an open image onto a magazine photo and then gold emboss that image. I stamped the cross over a stone fireplace from a home decor magazine. The SCS gallery has lots of projects where the image is much larger, so you can get a better idea of the possibilities with this technique.

I was a little heavy handed with my stamping (I still struggle to get the right touch with the photopolymer stamps), so some of the swirly details of the cross turned into gold blobs ... I'm looking for another magazine image with similar colors so I can re-do that cross. In the meantime, sorry!

Stamps: Everyday Blessings (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Stamper's Select White (Papertrey), dp ("Chocolate Small Leaf" by Sandy Lion and "Bronze Jewel Metallic" by The Paper Company, Shimmery White (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: 'textile' cuttlebug embossing folder (Provo Craft); gold embossing powder, gold cord, dimensionals (Stampin' Up)
Size: 5" square

Thinking of Paris ..

... Paris Otremba, yesterday's SCS Featured Stamper. What fun discovering her fantastic gallery! A real treat! For the challenge (CASE a card, but make at least two changes), I chose to CASE this card.

I kept the layout with the layered and mixed dp, but changed the dp and the stamp. I left off the ribbon and cut-out accents on the main image panel, as well as the brads in the four corners, then added some piercing and two half pearls along the bottom of the green block of dp. I also changed the main image panel from a circle to a square. Last, I went over the stamped image with a clear Spica for a little shimmer.

Stamps: Live Your Dream, Three for You (sentiment)
Paper: Groovy Guava, Afternoon Tea dp, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green (marker)
Accessories: sponge daubers, pretties kit, paper piercer, classic and scalloped circle nestabilities (by Spellbinder), slot punch, 5/8" chocolate grosgrain, Groovy Guava double-stitched ribbon, clear spica
All supplies by Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted.

Birthday Mojo

I'm entering a second card into Julee Tilman's Mojo Madness Contest (how much would I love a free Verve set?!!) I went with masculine colors and embellishments on this one ... hardware, twill, brown/blues.

For the "belt" below the cupcake, I used an older, but such fun technique called faux suede. Super easy! What you do is rumple and crumple your paper until it's soft and pliable. This breaks down the fibers in the paper and you'll begin to see the front and the back separating from each other. Gently pull them apart, and the inside will look like suede.

I inked the cupcake bottom and the frosting part in the lighter color first (Close to Cocoa/Soft Sky), sponged the darker color around the perimeter (Chocolate Chip/Blue Bayou), then stamped, trimmed and adhered with dimensionals.

Stamps: Big Bold Birthday
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Whisper White, Barely Banana
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, So Saffron
Accessories: sponge daubers, pewter hodgepodge hardware kit, twill, paper piercer, dimensionals, happy birthday cuttlebug embossing folder

It's SFYTT Time

It's Saturday already, and time for another Jen del Muro "Sketch for You to Try." Be sure to visit i{heart}2stamp to see the sketch, Jen's sample, and guest designer Joanne Basile's sample. Then head over to see what Carole, Shannan, and Susan have put together. If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword SFYTT, so everyone can see all the projects in one place.

The chick stamp is the same one I used a couple days ago to make my line-dancing chicks. It came from the Michael's dollar bin. I think it's just too adorable! I used circle nestabilities for the focal point image (Jen's sketch shows an oval, by the way). The ribbon slide comes from the new Styled Silver hodgepodge hardware kit. I dotted a circle of liquid pearls onto the slide to go along with the pearls elsewhere on the card (which come from the Pretties kit). The flowers are from the Heavenly line by Prima. For the centers of each flower, I used a decorative brad (again from the Styled Silver HPH kit) topped with a half pearl.

Stamps: Chick (Studio G, Michael's $1 bin)
Paper: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, stamper's select white (by Papertrey), dp from the Delightful simply scrappin kit (I think it was one of last year's Sell-A-Bration selections?)
Ink: Summer Sun, Really Rust, Soft Sky
Accessories: Pretties kit, Styled Silver hodgepodge hardware kit, classic and scalloped circle nestabilities (by Spellbinders), aqua painter, dimensionals, scallop scissors (by Creative Memories), rose 1/4" grosgrain, celery 5/8" grosgrain