Love Birds

Good morning & Happy Saturday! I was able to sneak a card in before our busy day today. We're shopping for some new home items and meeting some friends for dinner this evening....so I won't have much time during the day today to preview all the blogs and galleries, but I am looking forward to spending some time on that later tonight!

Enough about me...let's get to cards! I made this one for the Splitcoaststampers Inspirational Challenge today & I chose this as my inspiration. I really love this set from SU! called Aviary. I matched it with some gorgeous shimmery paper from SEI called Love Nest  from their Love Birds collection. The base and accent cardstock colors are SU! Baja Breeze, Pretty in Pink & Chocolate Chip.  I used the Cuttlebug folder, Swiss Dots to create a little texture. Last, the brads are from Oriental Trading. I don't see many stampers buy from there, but I've had good luck with their accessories (paper flowers, brads, buttons etc) but I prefer other brands of paper and designer paper.

Gotta run! Have a great day!
Hugs,

Marilyn

A Rose is a Rose

 

Roses have to be one of the most beautiful flowers in the world. I just love this retired DSP from SU! called Bella Rose- which my stash is almost all gone. As much as I have loved it; it has become an 'old toy' so it's time to move on to something new. For my card, I used different  papers for the upper and lower section from the  Bella Rose collection. I stamped the rose using the large rose stamps from the retired "A Rose is A Rose" set; first in "Pretty in Pink" followed by "Riding Hood Red ", then I cut the rose out and placed it on a nestie eyelet square die-cut with a "Pretty in Pink" center.  The white ribbon is from American Crafts & the pink ribbon from Michaels. I used the Bow-easy to created the double bow. I think this card would work for many occasions- Valentines, sympathy, birthday or 'thinking of you'. It's nice to have a few generic cards like this ready to go. I'll leave the inside blank until I'm ready to send. Thanks for stopping by to see me & I hope you have a great week! 

Hugs, 

Marilyn

Classic Valentine

Hello from snowy St. Louis! I hope you all are enjoying your weekend. I've been busy with the usual life activities- work during the week & caring for the household on weekends. Fortunately, I've had some fun time in the studio. Here's one of my creations today. I used my new Gina K Lovely Labels 2 stamps which coordinates with Spellbinders Nestabilities. This one is Labels 14. I made this card for two challenges; Clean & Simple's Fall-to-Layout (FTL124) and Create 4 Fun (CR84FN11) color challenge to use red, craft and brown. The brown paper is retired SU! called Bella Rose. I'm almost out of this designer & I have so enjoyed playing with it's beautiful roses. The flower was made from SU! 5 petal punch & paper flowers from Michael's $1 bin, and a gold heart brad from my stash. The red gemstones came with the Michael's flowers. I added a layer of SU! crystal effects on the gold heart brad. I hope you like it! 

Hugs, Marilyn

Vintage Valentine

This is today's second post, please scroll down.
Yesterday when I was shopping with my youngest daughter, she helped me pick out some new things. Mind you, I don't need a single thing, but I like playing with the fun trends and the new papers, colors, stamps and embellishments. She helped me keep my purchases reasonable. Anyway, I bought Valentine Ephemera (die cut card stock) from K & Company. The vanilla rose is new Stampin Up Mini Occasions catalog embellishments (page 15) called Vintage Flower Adornments; a close-up is below. These flowers gorgeous & more beautiful IRL than in the catalog. The ribbon and lace were purchased in December with plans of using them on holiday cards, but that just didn't work out. It really is a pretty collection from Making Memories called Noel. Now, it's probably on sale somewhere; I got mine at Michaels.

This card was made for several challenges:

• Flourishes- use red, pink and white
• Sweet Stampin - try something new- Vintage Ephemera cards are new to me.

Supplies:
Image: Valentine Ephemera (K & Company)
Paper: Real Red, Vanilla, Pixie Pink,  DP- Bella Rose (SU)
Accessories: Red button from stash, Vintage Flower Adornments (SU), Christmas Red Stickles (Ranger), Crochet ribbon & red sparkle trim (Making Memories).

Thanks for looking at my blog. Scroll down for a second post for today. Have a great week! {{Hugs}}

Darling Valentine

This is my second post for today...I promised to share some new things with you...but this post mostly has 'new to me' not 'new on the market' products. This little Pure Innocence cutie is from My Favorite Things (MFT) & called Flower Girl. I just love the little hearts on her top and pants. when I was cleaning my studio, I discovered an entire scrap kit with this paper, rub-ons, lots of chipboard tucked away .It's really pretty~ sparkley with the girl-y colors of pink, yellow, peach, soft green & a hint of red. I remember I bought this last April at the CK convention- it was a 'close-out' and it's dated 2008, but it's new to me. I'm embarrassed to say that I bought so much at the convention, I didn't even miss it.

Today I used my Copic markers. I have quite a few, but have never quite got the hang of them. So with this new year, I've made some challenges for myself. I hate calling them resolutions because life is about growing; it's not so much about quitting bad habits or doing what we should, but rather becoming a better person and captivating on our loves & strengths. So for me, these challenges (resolutions) are about becoming a better artist over the next year.

So after all that philosphizing (if you're still with me), my challenges are: First, start using the Copics, a person doesn't get good at anything unless she puts time to it. Second, start playing with PhotoShop. Like the Copics, I haven't done much with it. I kept waiting for big blocks of time to do the tutorials and the classes from Jessica Sprague. Those big blocks of time never materialize so I'm changing my approach and going to play a couple of times a week even if it's just for 15-30 minutes. I'll never give up real paper and embellishments for digital, but I like hybrid scrapbooking. I've promised myself that I'll buy a nice printer that will accomodate 12 X 12 paper if I learn this fun and powerful tool. Have you made any challenges or promises to yourself for this new year?

This card would have been perfect for last week's CR84FN9 challenge to use yellow, peach and light pink, but alas I'm too late for that. So I made this card for these challenges.

• My Favorite Things- MFTWSC1- the sketch
• C4C69- Be inspired with the picture on their post. There's not as much pink as I thought when dreaming up this card
• Simon Says - new beginnings- for my oldest daughter who went back to college yesterday for her NEW & last semester
• ODBDSLC43- something old (the nesties & paper & something new (my MFT stamp is new to me)

Supplies:
Stamps: Flower Girl (MFT)
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Peach Pizzaz, So Saffron, Vanilla (SU), DSP- Sundress Sweetness & Sundress Heirloom from Laundry Line collection (MME)
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Momento). Copics: Y11 Pale Yellow, Y13 Lemon Yellow, E00 Skin White, E11 Barely Beige, YR00Powder Pink, YR02 Light Orange, R20 Blush, RV14 Begonia Pink & colorless marker. 
Accessories: Nestabilities- Large and Small Scalloped Ovals, Fancy Tags (Spellbinders), Scallop border punch (SU), Pink Pearls (Recollections), Pom-Pom ribbon- Unknown maker-cut by the yard at a Speciality Paper Crafting store.

Thanks for stopping by...

Don't Give Up!

Beautiful scripture don't you think? I can always use to be reminded not to give up. Today over at SCS is the Featured Stamper challenge, where Julie from the UK is being featured. She puts so much detail in her cards, you ought to hop over to her blog if you've never been. I chose to case this card .  I know I promised to show off some of my new Valentine stuff, but then the FS challenge posted so I took a quick break to make this card. But really...the Verve stamp is new to me...Verve was having a nice sale so I purchased quite a few faith oriented stamps & sets. The next post will have some new Valentine things...promise. Don't give up!

Supplies:
Stamps: Galatians 6:9 (Verve)
Paper: Vanilla, River Rock (SU)
Ink: River Rock (SU)
Accessories: Ivory Roses (Prima), frond punch (MS), Labels Four Nestabilities (Spellbinder), Impression plate (Sizzix)

Inspiration Challenge

Happy Saturday, friends! Hope you are having a good weekend. My oldest daughter left this morning to go back to college. So my youngest daughter (who goes back next week) took me shopping to the craft stores to cheer me up. We bought some fun things with 40% off coupons, but I haven't started playing with the new stuff because I wanted to finish up this IC challenge card for my nephew who is turning sixteen soon. I chose this lunchbox as my inspiration. Please come back tomorrow when I'll have some fun new Valentine toys to share.

Supplies:
Stamps: Classic Convertibles (SU)
Paper: Black, Real Red, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise (SU), White (Pure Luxury-Gina K)
Ink: Black craft, Red (SU)
Accessories: Black embossing powder (SU), Large and Small Label nestablities (Spellbinders)

Dream Boat Valentine

Isn't this dream boat image, the bomb? I just love it. It was cut from the K &Co. paper called Sweet Talk Postage Stamps. There are 24 rectangles; all are the same size & have cute little Valentine images and sentiments. Because of the size and the colors, the paper reminds me of the Valentines we sent to classmates when I was in grade school.  Although, the graphics certainly weren't this cute. I remember going to K-Mart and agonizing over which box of Valentines to chose, and then the challenge of selecting which Valentine to give to each classmate.  Ahhh...the memories.

This card was made for several challenges:
SCS-F4A46- purple, pink and a heart
SCS-SC314- I flipped the sketch
CCEE1101- use checks- my pink ribbon
PIO#1- Brand Spanking New- my Valentine paper

Supplies:
Stamps & Ink: none
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Pale Plum (SU), WHite (pure luxury-Gina K), DP- Sugar Rush (Basic Grey)
Accessories: Wide lace (Michaels), pink checked ribbon (Spring collection-Gina K)



Have a great Saturday!

Swap for Stamp Club

Here's my card for swapping with my SU! Stamp Club members on Friday evening. We have 11 ladies in the club plus our demonstrator, so I made twelve of these cards. I went on the easy side this month because I wanted to have time to make my February cards too. I'm hoping to take a little 'sunshine' vacation in February & so I wanted to get ahead. I'll post those cards another day. Thanks for dropping by.
Have a great Friday!
Supplies: All SU!
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Polka Dot Punches
Paper: Pink Pirouette, White, DSP- Bella Rose
Ink: Regal Rose
Accessories: Oval, scalloped oval, and heart punches

Another Challenge Card

Here's another challenge card that I made during the New Year's holiday weekend. This card was for two Splitcoaststampers challenges, specifically the Inspiration and Featured Stamper. For the Inspiration, I chose this stack of black and white kitchen linens from the Neest website my inspiration. The Featured Stamper this week is WhiteRockMama, aka Marisa. I chose this card from her gallery.

Supplies:
Stamps: Bible Verse (B&B Cardstock Co)
Paper: Pure luxury white cardstock (Gina K), Black (SU), DP- Meadow Lark (MME)
Accessories: Black brads (SU), ribbon (Target $1 spot), white flower (Recollections), white scrappers floss (Karen Foster), button (Oriental Trading)

A Note of Thanks

I have been having a lot of fun in the studio this weekend. I had Friday off from work for the New Year's holiday & with the Christmas shopping and activities behind us, I had lots of time to play. Here's my take on this week's Sketch and Color Challenges over on Splitcoaststampers. The colors were Old Olive, Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight and your choice of neutral. I softened the Daffodil delight flower by sponging on white craft ink & I colored the silver brad with a blue copic marker.
Thanks for looking & I'll be back later with more challenge cards. Hugs & Happy New Year, friends!
Supplies:
Stamps: Thanks (American Crafts)
Paper: Old Olive, Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight (SU), DP-Ancestory Mat Pad (K&Co.)
Ink: Night of Navy, White-craft (SU)
Accessories: 5-petal flower punch (SU), Branch & Hydrangea punches (MS), Filigree brad (SU), copic marker.

Welcome 2011! Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I'll be back later this weekend with some creations, but I wanted to send you all the best in 2011!
Hugs, Marilyn

The graphic is from http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/