The current Mix It Up Challenge is to combine Essentials by Ellen with stamps from Technique Tuesday. As I looked through my stamp collection from both companies, and idea immediately came together.
I love the cute little bear and smiling sun from Essentials by Ellen All Inside.
They paired so perfectly with the Technique Tuesday sentiment stamp by Ali Edwards ... Bring on the Sun.
Layout is this week's Sunday Stamps Sketch ... and I love the new Flirty Flamingo Cardstock from Stampin' Up.
For graduation cards, I usually do one simple design and change the colors based on the school colors. This was perfect for the Black & White + One Color Challenge at Just Us Girls.
I started with some red using the sketch from Retro Sketches and Grad stamps from Technique Tuesday.
I varied the border widths ... sometimes on purpose ... and sometimes because I couldn't calculate ratios correctly (adds variety I suppose).
These cards are also perfect for the Silhouette Challenge at My Time to Craft.
Quick and easy (and easy to do touch-ups with a Black Marker ... these cards make me wish I had a Misti).
I combined stamps from My Favorite Things Lana Lamb Designs At the Office, Technique Tuesday Big Thanks, and Mama Elephant Hustle for this fun congratuations card.
I stamped them all on a journaling card from Amy Tangerine's Plus One Collection. The finishing touch were some metal stars from Basic Grey.
The talented Virginia Lu has started a new Inspiration Challenge called Virginia's View ... and the first theme is Watercoloring with these fabulous inspiration photos.
I loved those emboss resist thank you cards, especially the colors at the top right ... so I decided to try *watercoloring* with my Memento Fireworks Sprays to achieve a similar effect.
I stamped Wild Flowers with Label with Versamark Ink on a square of Watercolor Paper and clear embossed. Next I poured several colors of Fireworks Spray (New Sprout, Pear Tart & Summer Sky) and used a big paint brush to apply wide strokes to the paper ... I love the effect.
I finished with a partial sentiment from Hero Arts With Sympathy for my label and scattered some tiny teal gems in the sky.
I'm also joining the Fun Day Friday Challenge where the theme is Florals.
A huge thanks to Virginia for the inspiration to have a little watercolor fun today.
As I was working on my shopping list for Thanksgiving cooking, I decided to make a Thanks card for the Simon Says Stamp Thanks/Thanksgiving Challenge.
I love the Think Beef stamp set from Technique Tuesday (designed by the talented Teri Anderson). I stamped it in Artprint Brown and clear embossed. Next I added highlights with colored pencils. I attached my image to wrinked Kraft Glassine Paper before attaching to Tangy Orange Cardstock. My layout is this week's Wanna Sketch?
I'm also joining Sentimental Sundays where the theme is Giving Thanks.
I bought these Technique Tuesday stamps because they remind me of my three adorable nieces ... and they worked perfectly with this week's Unscripted Sketch.
I stamped them in Artprint Brown ink on heavy Ivory Linen paper and clear embossed. I added a piece of texty washi tape to finish the design.
When I saw this week's Muse Challenge Inspiration, my original intent was to create something traditionally inspired ... I stamped a green flourish ... added a purple flower made from paper ... but when I went to stamp my sentiment ... that's when my Muse inspired me to take a left turn.
I kept coming back to this *You Rock* sentiment from the Big Thanks set by Technique Tuesday ... but when I tried it with my elegant flourish and flower ... it was a big fail.
So that card went into the recycle bin, and I started again ... this time building my card around my rockin' sentiment.
The leaves were replaced with red velvet flourishes that reminded me of the flames on a guitar ... and the bloom was replaced with a puffy turquoise treble cleff ... I added a few velvet dots ... and called it good. This Muse version is *me* and will be a perfect Mother's Day card for a friend.
I'm also joining the 7 or Less Challenge (it's sort of a thank you ... a thank you for being a rockin' mom):
For me Spring means ... baseball. All is right in our world when the St. Louis Cardinals are on TV.
The big circle in this week's Unscripted Sketch reminded me of a baseball (mine is from River City Rubber) ...although you can use any shape to replace the circle in your design. I used some wonderful Krafty Pebbles Walnut Grove papers and Baseball Stamps from Technique Tuesday. I added lots of sponging to distress my baseball & bat.
It's always a sad day at our house when baseball season ends ... my best times are spent making cards in my studio while my husband and I watch our Cardinals play baseball ... so I decided to make a card to commemorate another great season.
I combined some hoarded Puffies Stickers from my stash with Studio Calico paper and a sentiment from Technique Tuesday ... the layout is this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.
This week's Unscripted Sketch has so many possibilities ... for me, I flipped the sketch because I saw banners.
All stamps are from Technique Tuesday (Awesome & Be Jolly) using papers from Basic Grey's Clippings Collection.
