Raspberry Suite 21 Card!

Hey blog peeps! I am finally getting around to posting my FIRST card in the New Year! I know, I know...it's already the second week of January, but it's been quite a busy start of the year for me. Lots to do and not a whole lot of time for dilly dallying, yah know? I'm SOOO missing my stamping and crafting time, but it is what it is, right? I'm glad I got to participate in Dawn's Raspberry Suite Challenge 21 before the deadline! So, shall we see what Dawn's got for us for this challenge? Here's the color scheme: I think this comor combo is just yummy! The buttons in the picture are so pretty! The colors I used are Stampin'Up!'s Barely Banana, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, and the blue I used is from the SU! Good Neighbor Designer Series Paper in the Sale-a-bration mini {which is a pale version of the Bermuda Bay color}. Here's the card I created: It's a quick and simple card, though I was really pleased with how it came out! I used the Two Step Bird Punch from the SU! Occasions Mini catalog {sidebar - I LOVE that punch! It cuts so clean and crisp and has a great spring mechanism that really feels like it punches well}! The branch is also part of the punch, so I punched out the images twice - in Barely Banana the first time, then in Chocolate Chip. Then, I ran the birdie's wing through the Big Shot to emboss it with dots. The scallop circle is from the Scallop #2 Bigz die. Here's the full recipe for you:

{Hello There Birdie!}
All supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted:
*Stamp Set: Cheep Talk
*Cardstock: Barely Banana, Chocolate Chip, Good Neighbor DSP
*Inks: Chocolate Chip Classic Pad
*Accessories: Scallop #2 Big Shot Die, Dots Embossing folder, Two-Step Bird Punch, Satin Very Vanilla Ribbon, Buttons {PTI}

Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek and Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 20

Hi there! Happy Thursday! Tonight, not only am I sharing a card I created for Dawn's Raspberry Suite Challenge 20, but I am also giving you a sneak peek of some goodies from the upcoming Occasions Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalog!!! Don't those butterflies look fun? It's a brand new exclusive Stampin'Up! Sizzix Embosslit called Beautiful wings. There are 5 various butterflies in different sizes and textures. You'll love it - the butterflies are gorgeous! And how about that border? It has a matching corner punch, too! This is the Scallop Trim border punch available in the Sale-a-Bration catalog and Scallop Corner punch that's in the Occasions Mini. Lots of fun stuff coming up starting January 5th! More info coming soon...Now, let's take a look at fun colors: The colors I used are SU!'s Chocoloate Chip, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Dusty Durango and one of my favorite retired colors, Baja Breeze. Wanna see the full card?
Here you go. The ribbon is also a new offering in Stampin'Up!'s Occasions mini - 5/8" Satin Ribbon which is soo lovely and beautiful to tie. Pretty much all the supplies are Stampin'Up! on this card, except for the pearl stickers. Here's the recipe for you:

{Hello Beautiful Wings Card}
*Cardstock: Textured Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze {retired}, Dusty Durango, Kraft, Very Vanilla
*Ink: Dusty Durango
*Stamp Set: Hello Again
*Accessories: Scallop Trim Border {in the Sale-a-Bration catalog} and Scallop Trim Corner {in the Occasions Mini}, Beautiful Wings Embosslit {in the Occasions Mini}, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon {Occasions Mini}, half pearl stickers (craft store)

Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping in :)

In the Spotlight for Raspberry Suite #19!

Hi peeps! Happy Thursday! As you guys can probably tell from my lack of postings, I haven't quite figured out a routine yet with the work schedule. So far, work's going well, now it's just trying to juggle the precious free time ( about an hr or 2) each day to do everything I want and need to do!

Anyway, I digress...I'm actually posting about something I'm super excited and honored about! I was so happy to discover I made it in Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Challenge #19! Woohoo! That made my week! Here's a look at all her picks for this round: My card is letter H! You can check out my original post here.

Thanks for stopping by to visit! Have a great night. Yay...tomorrow's Friday! Another Freebie's coming up :)

Bye for now.

Double Challenge Card Time

Hi again! I know, it's my second post today. But, I figured, I may as well take advantage of the time, right? It's been such a precious commodity lately! Anyway, I love doing challenges, so when I saw I could do 2 in one today, I got pretty excited about it! The card I created combines Dawn Mc Vey's Raspberry Suite Challenge 19 and the Pals Paper Arts Challenge 17. Here's a look at the color and card sketches: For the colors, I used Stampin'Up!'s Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and Mauve Mist. Now, here's a look at the sketch:
Love the clean lines of this layout by Margaret Moody! Here's a look at my full card: I used the Petal Pizazz stamp set for the four colored flowers - it's a set I haven't used in a little while, so it was nice to bring it off the shelf! :) The embossed background is one of the Sizzix Texturz plates that I also got a while back at a craft show. I thought the swirly background fit in with Dawn's swirly flourish in the Color Challenge photo. What do you think? Hope you like it! Here are the details:

{Four Color Petal Pizazz Card}
All Supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted:
*Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and Mauve Mist
*Stamp Set: Petal Pizazz
*Ink Pads: Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and Mauve Mist
*Accessories: Scallop Square, 1 1/4" Square, and Modern Label punches, Vintage Brads, Rhinestone stickers {craft store}, Sizzix Texurz Embossing plate.

Thanks for popping by!

Spotlighted!

Morning all! WooHoo!! I feel so lucky...Dawn picked my card for In the Spotlight 17!!! Yay! Mine is "L". Thanks for everyone that's left me such nice comments! I loved doing this color scheme and I think you all will enjoy checking out all her picks!! You can check out my original post and get the details on the card here,

Thanks so much for coming by today!!

Rustic Raspberry Suite Challenge 17

I'm back with another post for the Raspberry Suite Challenge 17. I get so inspired by Dawn's color challenges, that I had to get my idea down on a card before it slipped from my memory! Here are the colors for the challenge: The color palette I used was Real Red, Cool Carribean {retired}, Soft Suede, Kraft and Very Vanilla. And here's my card: I love these colors and went with a rustic look and clean and simple lines. My card design was actually inspired by these totes I saw at the Twomey Winery in Sonoma this weekend: The bag was made out of a burlap looking fabric with brightly printed panel swatches. I loved the look, so when I saw the Kraft color in Dawn's challenge, I knew what I wanted to make. Here's the recipe:

{Rustic Raspberry Suite 17}
All Supplies Stampin'Up! except wood button
*Stamps: For All You Do, Thank You Kindly
*Cardstock: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Cool Carribean {retired}, Real Red DSP, The Write Stuff Specialty DSP
*Ink: Cool Carribean {retired}, Real Red, Chocolate Chip
*Accessories: Pretties half pearls, Linen Thread, wood button

So, what do you think? I hope you like it! Thanks for looking!

Charming Balloon made it In the Spotlight!

Good morning and Happy Saturday! I was so excited to discover that my Charming balloon card made it into Dawn McVey's In the Spotlight for Raspberry Challenge 16. WooHoo! You should definitely check out all the creative cards - I got lots of inspiration looking at all of them! My card is letter "Q" and you can check it out on this post.

Thanks so much for all the sweet comments on the card - glad you all liked it! ;)

Have a great day!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 16

Hey there - Happy September to you! Today's card share is what I came up with for Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 16! This week's color palette is actually one I am really drawn to - not just in cards, but I think it's also a color scheme that catches my eye in furniture and decorating too. Here are the colors: I think it has a nice and rustic feel to it. The colors I used for the challenge are Stampin'Up!'s Crushed Curry, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, and Very Vanilla. I also used the new Sweet Centers stamp set that's available in the Holiday Mini starting today. You like? It's a fun set that coordinates with the Sweet Treats Cups that's also a new product in the mini {I will definitely have samples of this new product sometime this week - they are too cool!} In the meantime, how about a full view of my card? Here it is:
Since the colors are a little on the mellow and subdued side, I wanted to introduce different textures to the card to bring the colors out. I had fun with all kinds of accessories! I used the Champagne Mist shimmer paint on the balloon to make it more "glisteny" and dressed it up a little by adding the small half circle pearls from the Pretties kit. For the papers, I used the Big Shot Top Note die and the texturz plates to add more dimension to the card. Here's the full recipe for you:

{Charming Balloon Card}
All Supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted:
*Stamp Sets: Charming, Sweet Centers
*Cardstock: Textured Crushed Curry, Kraft, and Very Vanilla, To the Nines Specialty DSP
*Inks: Chocolate Chip Classic Stamp Pad, Crushed Curry Marker
*Accessories: Champagne Mist shimmer paint; Wide Oval, 1 3/4" circle, trio flowers, and modern label punches; Top Note Bigz Die; Stampin'Up! Texturz plates; Pretties Kit, Linen Thread, Signo Gel Pen, Flower Brad, Wood Button {PTI}

Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by today!

Charming Mojo mingles with the Raspberry Challenge

Good morning! Between my unpacking from the weekend and doing laundry last night, I managed to eek out a card for 2 challenges. I love it when that happens! That kind of creative efficiency is something I strive for :) If only that were the case all the time, huh?! I think that seems to happen more frequently when the color palette is one that I'm familiar with, so Dawn's colors for the Raspberry Suite15 Challenge were definitely just that - my comfort colors! Here are the Mojo 101 Sketch Challenge and Raspberry Suite 15 colors for you to check out:
I love both the colors and the sketch for these 2 challenges! The colors I used are all SU colors, as are all my supplies. I used Groovy Guava, Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery, and Very Vanilla. Here's my full card: If you don't recognize the stamp set, it's because it's a sneak peek from the Holiday Mini (available Sep 1)! Isn't it gorgeous? All the stamps (except for the Thank You sentiment) are from the set called "Charming." If you take a close look at my pink birdie, you'll see that it's got some shimmer to it. That's also from a new product in the mini called Shimmer Paint - so pretty! It gives the cardstock a pearly, shimmery sheen. I applied it with a sponge dauber and it dries quick! I also made the Certainly Celery cardstock look a little aged by using another sponge dauber to burnish on some Certainly Celery ink all over the cardstock surface. Here's the full recipe.

{Charming Mojo}
All Supplies Stampin'Up!
* Cardstock: Groovy Guava, Pixie Pink, Very Vanilla, and Certainly Celery
* Stamp Sets: Charming, Thank You Kindly
* Inks: Pixie Pink and Certainly Celery Classic Ink Pads
* Accessories: Bird with Leaves and Flower Bigz die, Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon, Brad, Pretties half pearl, corner rounder, Frost White Shimmers Paint

Hope you like it! Thanks for popping in!

Raspberry Suite 14 Color Challenge!

Morning all, and Happy Friday! My Freebie Friday post is still to come, but in the meantime, I'm posting the card I created for Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite 14 Challenge. You all know how I can't seem to resist these challenges! The colors were pretty tough (for me, anyway!), so it took me a while to think of something to put together. I tell you, when I'm out of my color comfort zone, visualizing a design is hard! Luckily, my desire to use my new PTI stamps helped me overcome my creativity block. Today's card uses Dawn's PTI stamps - Damask Designs and Scattered Showers. Check it out: Aren't those umbrellas fun? Here are the supplies I used to create this card.

{Recipe}
*Stamps: (PTI) - Scattered Showers and Damask Designs
*Cardstock: (All SU!) Lavender Lace, Purely Pomegranate (retired), Melon Mambo, Very Vanilla
*Ink: (All SU!) Lavender Lace, Purely Pomegranate (retired), Melon Mambo Classic Ink Pads
*Accessories: Scallop Circle Bigz die, SU! Scallop Oval, Wide Oval, and corner rounder punches, Fiskars Border punch, SU Very Vanilla Grosgrain ribbon

Hope you like it. Thanks for looking! Check back in a bit for my Freebie Friday giveaway!

How Cool! In the Spotlight!!

I was so giddy to find out that I made Dawn Mc'Vey's In the Spotlight 13!! :) Woohoo! What a pleasant surprise..I found out from all the sweet comments I got on my card post!! My card is letter "K" and you can check it out at this post. Thanks, gals - you all are awesome. Very much appreciate it! Ciao for now!!

Double Challenge Card!

Yay! I got to do some stamping tonight! After seeing Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Challenge #13 and this week's Mojo Monday 97 sketch challenge, I was inspired to incorporate the 2 into another double challenge card. How do you like the little sneak peek of my card so far? Here are the Challenges so you can take a look at my inspiration:

I really like the color combo Dawn picked out. I translated these colors the the following Stampin'Up! colors: Certainly Celery, Real Red, Cameo Coral, and Whisper White. It's another bright and summery color scheme that makes me smile! Here's my full card - I hope you like it!
For the middle of the flower, I used a technique that Dawn had shared on her blog a little while ago about snipping a little wedge out of the scallops on the scallop circle and I even went a step further and did it to one layer of the flower folds flower. I used the second smallest flower on the Flower Folds die. For the flower center, I used the trio flower punch and created mini flowerettes with swiss dots in the center that I dotted in with Real Red marker.

{Recipe}:
All Supplies Stampin'Up!, except border punch
* Certainly Celery, Real Red, Cameo Coral, and Whisper White cardstock
* Certainly Celery, Real Red, Cameo Coral Classic Ink Pads, Real Red marker
* Circle Circus stamp set
* Flower Folds Bigz XL die cut
* Scallop Circle, Trio flowers, Modern Label and 1/4" circle punches
* Real Red Polka dot grosgrain ribbon (used the back side), Playground button, hemp twine, Signo Gel pen
* Fiskars border punch

Thanks so much for popping by! It's bedtime for me, so I'll catch you guys tomorrow. Bye for now ;)

Raspberry Suite Challenge 12

Hey there - I'm up late tonight! I think I've become a Raspberry Suite and Kwerner Color Challenge junkie! This time, it was Dawn who posted the colors for her Raspberry Challenge and once I saw it, the colors reminded me of an Orchid, which led me to thinking about Hawaii and my upcoming vacation. Funny how my train of thought flows, huh? Well, here are Dawn's colors for this week's challenge so you can see for yourself what I'm talking about!:And here's a full view of my card (still hooked on the stitching!). The colors I used are Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Certainly Celery, and Very Vanilla:Besides the sewing I've recently embraced, I seem to be in a die cut and punches sort of mode with my cards this week. Or maybe I should call it "sentiment stamping" :) In any case, I was really happy with how this card came out. I have to give props to Amy at TsurutaDesigns for providing me the color block and polka dot ribbon design inspiration on my card. It's amazing how a variety of visual cues influence your own designs. I guess that's why I love blurfing just as much as I enjoy blogging - it feeds my creative soul. Thanks for peeking in :)

Have a great night!

Raspberry Suite Challenge 11

Morning everyone! With yesterday's new Stampin'Up! catalog kickoff and all the new announcements, it was tought to squeeze this challenge in, but once I saw it posted on Dawn's blog, I just had to play! Here are this week's colors:I discovered last week that Dawn and I have the same birthday - how fun is that? No wonder I'm so drawn to her work! For this week's challenge, I used one of my new Big Shot toys (disclaimer - the scallop card die is something I got last month at the Creating Keepsakes vendor fair, so this is not in the new catty) - I love me the scallops, so I was excited to use this die for the very first time! I also used the Swirl Scribbles Sizzlit and the Loopy Flowers decorative strip - both of which ARE in the SU catalog! Here's the card I created. The colors I used are Real Red, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi (retired In Color), Going Gray, and Basic Black with just a smidgin of white here and there. Here's another view where you can see how fun the scallops are:What do you think? Hope you like it! Here's the recipe:

*Scallop card Bigz XL die, Daisies #2 Bigz die, Loopy Flowers decorative strip, and Swirl Scribbles sizzlit die, Scallop Movers and shakers bigz xl die insert
*Wings of Friendship stamp set
*Melon Mambo classic ink
*Melon Mambo textured cardstock, Going Gray, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, and Whisper white cardstock
*Red and green buttons, white cafe latte buttons, crochet flower, double stitched Wild Wasabe ribbon, hot pink thread, scallop oval punch

Thanks for visiting today! Have a great one ;)

A little Raspberry Mojo Hi!

I love it when I can combine card challenges! Tonight, I'm sharing a card I put together for the Mojo Monday 92 sketch and the Raspberry Suite 10 Color Challenge.
I love the colors in this week's Raspberry Suite challenge - it's a palette I use pretty often! The colors I used were Regal Rose, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. Here's a picture of my full card:Are you wondering what that new die shape is that I used? Well, believe it or not, it's the Top Note Die! I can't say I came up with the idea on my own, I sort of translated the idea that I saw from a card posted in the Stampin'Up! Stamper's Showcase that us demos get to view. It's the Top Note Die with a new facelift. I tell you, I love that die - it's so versatile! Here's what I did. Run a sheet of cardstock on the top note die to get the initial die cut image. Then, reposition the die cut image back on the top note die, turning it 180 degrees and centering it back on the top note die. Run it through. Now, you should have a squar-ish shape rather than the original rectangular-ish shape. I went a little further and "trimmed" the shape some more, running through the top note die until I got my desired smaller rectangular curvy-edged shape. Here's a closer look of the die, at an angle:I was really so excited to discover a new way to use this die! Did you also notice the sneak peek stamps I used to make my own background paper? These stamps are from the Circle Circus set and the images are stamped in Regal Rose and Cameo Coral.

Here are the supplies I used (all Stampin'Up!):
*Regal Rose and Very Vanilla cardstock, Chocolat DSP (retired)
*Top Note Bigz die
*Circle Circus stamp set
*Regal Rose and Cameo Coral Classic stamp pads, Chocolate Chip Craft pad
*1 3/4", 1 3/8", 1" circle punches, small oval, trio flower, and scallop border punches
*Chocolate Chip corduroy button, linen thread, Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon, Very Vanilla brad
*Chipboard letters

What do you think? Hope you like it!

I appreciate you coming by! Chat with you next time...

Learning about lighting

Not sure if you've noticed from my last few posts, but I've been tinkering with the lighting in my photos, thanks to Lisa Spangler's awesome tutorial! Well, I decided to post a couple of pictures from another card I made for Dawn's Raspberry Challenge#9 and Lisa's Scribble This! Card and Photo challenge:Here are the cards...First let's start with the original card... and this is the card adjusted for lighting below.
By playing with the Lighting and Levels settings in Photoshop Elements, I was able to make this card perk up a little. Lisa's techniques showed me how to take the "gray" out of the cards, and I've learned a lot about brightening my blog photos! Her tutorial is AWESOME! Hope I've "exposed" you to a fun new blog to visit (pun intended - heehee!) Thanks for coming by!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 9

Hi again! Ok - so I got a little distracted in my craft room organization project...but, I was able to come up with a card for Dawn's Raspberry Suite #9 Challenge using my other Sneak Peek stamp set called Wings of Friendship! I was in the midst of putting my new goods away when I saw the paper from the Lovely Flowers Hostess set bundle..you'll see it below...so that planted the idea in my head to use that. Plus, you'll see that I used the Scallop Square die..I actually got this yesterday at the Vendor Faire I mentioned in my previous post :) Here's the card I came up with:What do you think? The finished card is 5"x5" and I used the following Stampin'Up! colors: Old Olive, Basic Black, and Very Vanilla. Here's the recipe:

*Wings of Friendship and Trendy Trees stamp sets
*Lovely Flowers Hostess Set DSP, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, and Basic Black cardstock
*Old Olive and Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pads
*Sizzix Clear Scallop Square die, eyelet border punch, brad, pretties pearls (for the flower center and bird's eye), corner rounder
*Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon, Black organza ribbon, Button Latte button

Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by :)

Raspberry Suite Challenge 8

Morning and Happy Friday! I love doing Dawn McVey's Raspberry Challenges, so when I saw that this week's challenge had been posted, well, I had to create a card! Besides the sailboats I've posted this week, I've also been obsessed with owls and birds, so today's card is another take on my owl collection on a branch. Here it is:The colors I used are Rose Red, Kraft, Very Vanilla, and Chocolate Chip. The pretty background paper is from the Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper. Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by today :)

Raspberry Suite 7 Card Challenge

Good morning and Happy Sunday! I was excited to see that Dawn posted this week's Raspberry Suite 7 challenge yesterday, though it took me a little while to come up with a card idea using those colors. I rarely use Always Artichoke, but when I discovered that it's one of the colors in the To The Nines DSP, I decided to try and incorporate one of the paper designs in my card. Ultimately, I think the Peonies in Dawn's picture inspired my card! My latest fascination has been to create those distressed flowers, so you'll see that I carried that over into this card as well. Here's what I came up with:The Stampin'Up! colors are a just a tad more muted than the colors in Dawn's picture, but I think the overall effect is one of a Shabby Chic look - hence how I came up with the name of this card, which I'm calling Shabby Chic Rose Red Peonies. Here's a close up of the flowers. They really are a lot of fun to make!

Here's what I used (all supplies Stampin'Up! except where indicated):
*Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, and Rose Red cardstock
*To the Nines DSP, Rose Red DSP
*Wow Flowers and Central Park stamp set
*Top Note Bigz die, Matchbox Bigz XL die, buttons sizzlit, Texturz plates
*Circle cutter, 1 3/4", 1 3/8" and 1" circle punches
*Rose Red Grossgrain ribbon, skinny green ribbon (not SU!), brads

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you like it!