Love You

This week's challenge at TSTR was Hearts.  We were challenged to use hearts plus any of the elements shown in the inspiration photo such as the colors and embellishments.  Isn't this a cute picture?  My layout is from Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #91. 

I went with hearts plus the colors of pink and green.  I added polka dots, ruffled lace, seam binding, punched trims, and flowers as my additional elements.

Here's a couple of closeups.

On this second one, you can see the flower background I stamped behind my cut out letters a little better.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  SU! "Seeing Spots" for the little flowers, SU! "Alphahearts"
Ink:  SU! Regal Rose for the heart letters and Pretty in Pink for the flowers
Papers:  white, pink, green with white polka dots from DCWV
Accessories:  Ruffled trim from stash, mini roses from Recollections, seam binding, Bow Easy, satin ribbon from stash, MS doily heart lace punch, MS hearts punch

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

How Much Love We Put In

After a crazy week at school, I finally had time to do some stamping today!  It was a great stress reliever for me.  I started with the Midnight Madness Sketch 90.  Then I added ODBD's Shining the Light Challenge 48 which is "Have a H.E.A.R.T. recipe challenge" (hemp, embossing, any ODBD stamps, ribbon/lace, and tearing or distressing).  We were to use at least three of the ingredients.  I also used ODBD's Stamping in Time Challenge 28 which is distressing. 

Here's the sketch:

Here's my card.

I used some hemp in the corners of the sketch, but it is nearly all covered up by the mini roses.  The other elements in my recipe were distressing (torn edge and sponged), ribbon, and a sentiment from ODBD's "Mother Teresa" set.

Here's a closer look at the panel.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  ODBD "Mother Teresa"
Paper:  white, green, dp from K & Co.
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Other:  Mini roses from Recollections, sewing machine, Tim Holtz distress tool, pearls, hemp string, satin ribbon from stash

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Love...

I was able to combine five challenges on this card.  For the Basic Grey "Hearts" challenge, I used dp from the "Bittersweet" collection.  I combined ODBD's Stamping in Time challenge, "All About Love" with the Shining the Light challenge, "Choose Your Challenge."  For the choose your challenge, I picked punches and/or dies (MS punch and Nesties).  I used the CR84FN14 color combo of light pink, bright pink, and chocolate brown.

My layout is from the February Sketch for You to Try.

Here's my card.

The Mother Teresa quote is from ODBD's "Let Us Begin."  I added some pearl flourishes, roses, and silk ribbon.  Here's a look from the side.

Lastly, here's the back of the card with my personalized stamp.

Here's what I used:
Stamps:  ODBD "Let Us Begin"
Papers:  white, brown, and dp from Basic Grey "Bittersweet"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, SU! Melon Mambo sponged on punched heart border
Other:  Prima and Recollections roses, Nesties, Recollections pearls, Zva Creative pearl flourishes, MS heart doily lace punch, sponge, May Arts pink silk ribbon, Bow Easy

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

TSTR 47 - Get Creative!

This week's challenge at The Shabby Tea Room was to get creative and make your own stamped papers and embellishments.

My original intention was to also use this card for the week 1 VLV challenge for February, but I didn't quite follow all of Amber's great sketch.  Guess I'll just have to make another card later!  :)   Here's a look at the sketch so you can see what I was attempting to do for a layout.

I did manage to make a square card with the panels in the right places and a circular element in the center.  The finished card is 6" square, so that gives you an idea of the size of that giant pink flower.  I used Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral die from Sizzix to cut out 3 of the largest sized petals, 2 medium petals, and 2 small petals.  I used a petal rolling tool to bend the papers and shape the petals.  The flower is held together with a brad, tacky glue, and foam tape.  I added a pearl for the center.

I used several Verve stamps to make some background papers.  The white panel was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black using Verve's "Artful Elegance."  The dark pink panel was also stamped in VOB using Verve's "Grateful Elegance."  The light pink panel was stamped in SU! Melon Mambo using several stamps from Verve's "Accent Notes."

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Happy Valentine's Day

I combined this week's Mojo Monday sketch with CR84FN's color challenge.  I have to admit that red, turquoise, and brown is one of the hardest color combinations for me to use.  I just have a hard time getting the amounts of the different colors to appear balanced to my eye.  I found some dp that had those colors in them and just went from there.  Here's a look at the fun sketch and inspiration photo.

                                                       

I hand cut the curved panels using the edge of my roll of Scor-Tape as the guide.

I just love this little fox!  My daughter was quick to point out that I hadn't colored the fox correctly as "a real orange fox would have black ears and no pink cheeks."  Oops, sorry sweetie!
Here's what I used:
Stamps:  Fox from Imaginesce's "Twitterpated" collection, sentiment from Verve's "Hearts on Fire"
Paper:  Brown, white, and Imaginesce "Twitterpated"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Other:  Mini roses from Recollections, Nesties, Copics

Thank for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Just a Note WMSC32

With my unexpected day off yesterday for the snow, I had time to play with the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge for this week.  Isn't this a fun sketch?

I used a Prima Gypsy Petals Soho flower for the flower image in the sketch.  You can see in the closeup how it has darkened edges and a fabulous button in the center.  I added a pink gem to the button to cover up the two button holes. 

Here's what I used:
Paper:  white, SU! Pretty in Pink
Stamps:  Verve "Accent Notes"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, SU! Pretty in Pink (sponged over the dry embossing)
Accessories:  Prima Gypsy Petals Soho flower, pink gem, Nestabilites Labels 4, Ornare paper piercing template, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Tim Holtz distressing tool, pink button from K & Co., hemp twine, pearl flourish (Zva Creative - I think), sponge

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Faith - ODBDSLC46

I'm feeling so blessed today that both my daughter and I have a snow day!  School was cancelled for both of us yesterday afternoon, so it was very nice to go to bed knowing we would be off today.  We have a snowdrift that is over a foot deep across the sidewalk and blocking the front door, but until the winds die down a bit (we're getting gusts around 40 mph) it won't do a lot of good to try to clear all of that snow!

So, having the day off, one of the things I really wanted to do was to stamp!  Big surprise, right?  I started by finishing my ODBD Shining the Light challenge card.  This week's challenge was to use blue.

I ran 1/4" Scor-Tape all around the back of the oval, and then attached the gathered lace to it. The entire oval panel is then attached to the card using foam tape. I used the smallest of the oval grand Nesties to cut out my image and then hand cut the white mat.

I used the Midnight Madness Sketch as the basis of my layout.  I chose the fancy option.

Here's a closer look at the glittery butterfly.

Here's a closer look at the other roses.  What I loved about the MM sketch was that the little dots in the sketch could be positioned to exactly cover the seam in my lace.  For this particular card, since I didn't go with a shabby chic interpretation, I thought having the raw edges of the lace would look unfinished.  I usually just fold the lace back on itself and adhere it with a bit of Scor-Tape.  If you look really closely, you can barely see the seam between the upper light rose and the darker rose on the bottom left.

Here's what I used:
DP:  Basic Grey "Wisteria" and "Kioshi"
Stamps:  ODBD "Faith"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Other:  Copics, Prima mini roses, butterfly (not sure of brand, tossed packaging - sorry!), MS doily lace punch, gathered lace from stash, Recollections adhesive pearls, Scor-Tape, foam tape, oval Grand Nestabilities

Well, that's all for now.  I'm going to go grade some essays for my AP Biology students while Ariel plays with some stuffed animals, and then she and I are going to do some more stamping!  I'm hoping that the wind will die down before the temperatures drop as forecasted so Ariel can get a chance to play in the snow.  She was soooooo excited to see how deep it was when she got up this morning!  I hope that you are staying safe in this storm that's affected so many of us. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!

Sarah

ETA:  I'm so excited to add that my card was chosen as one of the Remarkables for challenge 89!  Thank you MM!  You can click here to see their blog post.