I am loving Laurie’s sketch. Right now I am stuck on Soft Suede. I grab for it for every card I make. I am sure I will get a different favorite soon (maybe). LOL

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″  piece of Chocolate chip cardstock folded in half.

It was topped with a 4″ square of Kraft cardstock.

Next is a 3 3/4″ square of Thoroughly Modern Designer Paper (I already ordered my second pack! It’s definite my favorite new DP so far).

The textured Chocolate chip cardstock pieces on the left measure 1 5/8″ x 1 7/8″. They were topped with 1 1/2″ x 1 3/4″ piece of Thoroughly Modern Designer paper that had been stamped with the Background Medallion in Melon Mambo. The left hand side of the Mambo layer was paper pierced. White Organza Ribbon was tied around it.

The sentiment was is from Fifth Avenue Floral and was stamped in Chocolate Chip on Shimmery White cardstock. it was cut out with Oval Nestabilities. The flower from Le Jardin Botanique was stamped in second and third generation Soft Suede over the sentiment on the left. The oval was layered on a slightly bigger scallop oval, cut with Nestabilities out of Chocolate chip.

I punched a large oval out of a leftover piece of the Medallion stamped designer paper, cut it in half, layered it on textured chocolate chip cardstock and taped it to the lower right of the card front. To finish it off, I added one of those gorgeous 5/8″ white bradsover the punchout.

For the inside I used a 4″ Kraft cardstock square.

The flower from Le Jardin Botanique was again stamped in second and third generation Soft Suede ink on the left hand side.

For the strip I cut a 7/8″ x 4″ piece of Thoroughly Modern Designer paper, stamped the Medallion again in Melon Mambo and layered that on a 1/4″ wider strip of Textured Chocolate Chip cardstock. The top border was paper pierced.

To add a splash of white, I added a small strip of Shimmery White cardstock that was punched with the Eyelet Border punch (I can’t help myself. I love the look of that punch!) and another 5/8″ white brad.

 I  hope you have time to participate in the challenge this weekend. I want to see what you do with this sketch!

Have a great weekend. Hugs and smiles

Last Saturday’s inspiration Challenge was to pick an item from Tracy Porter’swebsite as inspiration.

I picked this pitcher, used the colors and even the striped border on the top.

But then I covered most of it up later on…oh well.

I like the color combo, but I am not sure about the card.

The base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Old Olive cardstock folded in half.

Next is a 1/4″ smaller piece of sponged and distressed Soft Suede cardstock, followed by a 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of Dusty Durango cardstock.

I created a striped strip with different colored cardstock strips from Real Red, Crushed Cardstock, Soft Suede, Dusty Durango and Old Olive strips, taped it across my Durango layer and tied ,my new favorite ribbon ,Red Polka Dot Ribbon around the strip.

I stamped the beautiful tree/bus stamp from Pendant Parkin Old Olive on Very Vanilla Cardstock, cut it out with Nestabilities Labels and sponged the edges in Crushed Curry. Next is a layer of the next size up Label from Nestabilities in Soft Suede with sponged edges.

Hello is the sentiment from the same set. It’s stamped in Soft Suede and was punched out with the small oval punch. Next I stamped the bench in second generation Crushed Curry over the sentiment, making sure the two squirrels would be on the oval. I sponged the edges with Crushed Curry and taped it on a large oval punchout out of textured Real Red cardstock. I added a clear sticker from the Build-a-Brad over the squirrels.

On the top left, I added two sponged 1/2″ circles out of Crushed Curry and placed 5/16″ chocolate brads over them.

The inside is pretty simple.

A sponged and distressed 4″ square of Soft Suede cardstock was adhered to inside.

Topping that is a 3 3/4″ piece of distressed Dusty Durango cardstock. The bush/tree image was stamped in the same color on the top left.

Here is another card I made for the VSN challenge. This was my entry for the Swiss Cheese Challenge. You were to use your hole punch in a creative way. I have to say mine wasn’t THAT creative. I punched out circles with the Crop-a-dile to add in the center of one of my brads.

I used the sketch from this weekend again and the same colors that I had used in my Friday card. In fact, I had started this card along with my sketch challenge sample, simply hadn’t finished it until I saw the VSN challenge.

This time though my card base is a 6″ square of textured Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half.

Next is a 2 3/4″ x 5 3/4″ piece of Very Vanilla. All four corners were punched with the ticket corner. It was followed by a 3/16″ smaller piece of textured Melon Mambo.

The Melon Mambo layer had been stamped with the Medallion background in the same color. Again the corners were punched with the ticket corner punch. The bottom half of that layer was covered with Soft Suede Pattern Designer Paper. Where both layers met, I added a slim strip of Very Vanilla. The bottom edge of that strip was punched with the Eyelet Border Punch. 5/8″ wide Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon was tied around it.

The Chocolate Chip rectangular layer measures 2 1/2″ x 3″. It is followed by a 1/4″ smaller piece of Soft Suede. All four corners were punched again with the ticket corner punch and the Medallion was stamped over the Suede piece with Soft Suede ink.

The bird image is from Friends 24-7, another favorite set of mine. It was stamped in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla, cut out with Oval Nestabilities and layered on a Melon Mambo scallop oval, cut with Nestabilities as well.

The brads are from the Vanilla Hodgepodge kit. The centers were punched out of Chocolate Chip cardstock with my Crop-a-dile and adhered to the brad with Crystal Effect.

The inside of this card is even more simple then my usual cards.

It WAS VSN and I was in a hurry.

I cut a 2 3/4″ x 5 3/4″ piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, punched all four corners with the ticket corner punch and stamped the Medallion in second generation Soft Suede over the left hand side.

Next I stamped the bird in Chocolate Chip over the Medallion and paper pierced a row on the bottom or that layer.

Yesterday was VSN over on SCS. I actually participated in three of the four challenges. It felt great to create so much in one day. On one sample I even went above and beyond and used glitter and microbeads. I usually don’t use it much…..I don’t like messes. Then my hubby came by and commented on me being sparkly …..so I rubbed my hands all over his stubbly face. He is still sparkly this morning. What a great start of a weekend!!! 🙂

It’s cold and cloudy here. I was laying in bed reading the new Nora Roberts book until noon. I love reading in bed! That’s why my blog entry is a bit late. I love lazy Saturday mornings!

The first card I will share with you is for the Wilted Lettuce challenge.

You had to use only salad colors and had to incorporate crinkled cardstock and an italian sentiment.

I figured when lettuce goes bad, it turns brown and chose Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive as my colors.

I knew I wanted to make a 3″ x 3″ card. I love this little size and hadn’t made one of those since coming out of my stamping hybernation. I started with a 3″ x 6″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half.  Next I distressed the edge of a 2 3/4″ square of Rich Razzleberry. The next layer is a 1/4″ smaller piece of Old Olive. The edges were stamped with the branch stamp from Great Friend, distressed with the cutter kit and sponged in Old Olive.

The designer paper is from the retired Hawaii Papaya paper pack. It was cut with Circle Nestabilities, crumpled and then taped on a slightly bigger scallop Chocolate Chip circle. I sanded over the paper to make the crinkles stand out more,  cut one side off and paper pierced the remaining round edge. Before adhering the round layers to the Razzleberry/Olive layers with dimensionals, I tied White Organza ribbon around the square layers.

I stamped the butterfly from Great Friend twice in Rich Razzleberry on Shimmery White cardstock, cut them out with the paper snips and adhered one on top of the other with Sticky Strip under it’s body and a stack of two dimensionals under each wing. Kaiser clear Rhinestones were added to the body of the butterfly to finish him off.

The sentiment was stamped with the retired Rough Edge Alphabet (I really need to get the current Calendar Alpha set) in Rich Razzleberry on Shimmery White cardstock. It was punched out with the Window Word punch. The branch stamp was stamped twice in second generation Old Olive and the edges were sponged. It was layered on a Rich Razzleberry Modern Label Punch-out. The right edge was cut off and it was taped the the card. Last I added another rhinestone to tie them in to the rest of the card.

The inside of the card is very simple.

I stamped a 2 1/2″ Old Olive square with the branch stamp from Great Friend in Old Olive, distressed  and sponged the edges.

That layer was adhered to a 2 3/4″ square of Rich Razzleberry with distressed edges. Easy Peasy.

Have a great Saturday afternoon. Hugs and smiles