Never More than a Thought

Whimsical Words would have to have been my favourite of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets that were available this year. The sentiments are so lovely and versatile. Living so far away from family and many friends, one in particular means more to me than the others.... "You're never more than a thought away"

I made this card for a friend and hostess who requested a Mother's Day card for her workshop - this was one of the options I offered her. Not strictly Mother's Day-ish, but I thought it could pass :) I wanted to keep the card quite simple too as there were a few people BRAND new to stamping joining us. Thus, it fits the current 'Keep It Simple, Sweetie' Challenge happening over at Stampin' Royalty. To make it even simpler in the workshop, I had planned to swap the Very Vanilla card for Whisper White and use the Pink Pirouette striped ribbon instead of card stock behind the sentiment, but this wasn't the chosen card.

As the sentiment is the focus, this card also fits the current challenge over at Pile It On, (which I discovered this week) 'No Images as Focal Point', plus using as many other challenges as possible. I have only teamed it with one other challenge, but it's a start :)

Thanks for visiting.




Stamps: Whimsical Words (SAB retired), Fifth Avenue Floral
Card: Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla, Pale Plum
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum
Other: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch

A Couple of Colour Throwdown Cards

I didn't start out to make two cards for this weeks Colour Throwdown Challenge, but while I was on a role, I kept with it. I went with Sage Shadow, Really Rust and Bravo Burgandy.

This first one was made for Paul's Pop, so it also fills the requirements for Stampin' Royalty this week of a masculine card :) My initial thoughts were to pull out my Outlaw DSP, but I used that for his card last year.... So, I then thought about using 'white space' and just putting a smaller panel in the top half of the card with a birthday cake, but I couldn't find one to suit. Then I remembered seeing Pick-a-Petal used as a candle on a few blogs last year, so thought that could work (as he would have A LOT of candles on his cake), especially paired with the greeting from the SAB set Whimsical Words. I keep thinking the card needs something more, so I popped up the flame, but I'm still not quite sure... Paul keeps telling me it's perfect for Pop as he's a basic, simple man who doesn't like fuss, so here it is. Don't you love supportive husbands?!

I also wanted to make a little thank you for a colleague of mine who recently went to Sydney and brought me back some gorgeous tea from T2. She's an absolute gem!! (We don't have many shops here, so everyone is really cool with picking up bits and pieces when we visit big cities - another colleague is hitting Kikki K for me this coming weekend. I don't do internet shopping as it would be WAY too dangerous for my credit card). Like It a Latte (retired) was the obvious choice, and this was kept SUPER simple. I think the sponging just adds the right finishing touch. I suppose you could almost say this could pass for a masculine card too.... I'll let the Stampin' Royalty Goddesses decide....

Many Candles Card

Stamps: Pick-a-Petal, Whimiscal Words (SAB), Polka Dots & Paisley (retired)

Card: Bravo Burgandy, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla

Ink: Bravo Burgandy, Really Rust

Other: Paper Piercer, Stampin' Write Journaler

Because Nice Matters Love Note

Stamps: Like It a Latte (retired), Sweet Little Sayings (Level 1 Hostess)

Card: Bravo Burgandy, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla

Ink: Bravo Burgandy, Sage Shadow, Really Rust

Curtain Call Colour Challenge Act 17 with Mojo

This latest Curtain Call Colour Challenge really was a challenge for me. More Mustard is one of 'those' colours for me, if you get what I mean.... and I don't have any Going Grey ink, so was limited in what I could work with. My initial thoughts were to make a birthday card for Paul's Pop who turns 89 at the end of the month.

However, when I saw Mojo Monday sketch 129, I knew both challenges would work well together, and I don't think scallops and ribbons would have suited Pop. He's VERY traditional.

I'm not 100% happy with the stamped So Saffron background panel, but I felt it worked better than the So Saffron/More Mustard Haiku DSP I had there to begin with. The greeting from the SAB set Whimsical Words is mounted on a very thin border of So Saffron then on the More Mustard. I am happy with how the flowers from Eastern Blooms work with the Haiku DSP in the larger panel though.

This one may make its way down to Luana's godmother yet, I'm not quite sure. She's more of a blue person, so will see how I feel on Monday when the post office opens....

Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Whimsical Words (SAB)

Card: More Mustard, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Going Grey

DSP: Haiku

Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip

Other: Scallop Border punch, 5/16" Jumbo brad, Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, paper piercer

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 56

Yay! I haven't run out of time this week to play with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge!! I tell you what, I don't like how much time I don't have to stamp now I'm working full time again :)

For a change, I decided not to use a colour challenge with a sketch challenge. I wanted to make a card for my 'Boss' who celebrates her 30th next week. Trying to figure out what colours to use for her was a bit of a challenge, so I decided to go with black as a starting point as she had black bridesmaids dresses for her wedding and wears a lot of black to work. I think this sketch is a great oppotunity to work with DSP, so chose Urban Oasis, which was also the basis for my additional colour choices. Without too much convincing, I reached for Fifth Avenue Floral, and just the right greeting was found in the current SAB set Vintage Labels.

Thanks for such a versatile sketch Karen. I have a few more ideas I'd like to play with using this one.

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Vintage Labels (SAB)

Card: Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Kraft, Whisper White

DSP: Urban Oasis

Ink: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss

Other: Circle Scissors Plus, 3/8" Jumbo Brads

Sale-A-Bration Workshop

Yesterday I had a great group of girls around for a Sale-A-Bration workshop. We made three projects, each one featuring a Sale-A-Bration set, and two of the projects using products from the current Summer Mini.

As this was the first time I had inked up any of my new SAB sets, these projects qualify for the current ABC Challenge - N is for New!!

For the card project, we made an easel card where I had used Colour Throwdown 79 for inspiration. I actually made two with different base card (as I didn't have enough Riding Hood Red for everyone... oops). Even though the Blush Blossom was my back up, I think I actually like that one better than the tone-on-tone one.... The technique demonstrated with this project (apart from the funky card) was paper piecing.

For the 3D project, we whipped up these very cute and very easy PostIt Note Holders. I am officially in LOVE with the Kaleidoscope DSP from the Summer Mini. It is just divine!!! I was working on a bit of an eclectic feel with this project - funky DSP and colours with more traditional stamps from Vintage Labels (or should I say Vintage stamps...)

Our third project was using the super cute Scallop Notes from the Summer Mini together with Tall Tales DSP and Animal Stories stamp set - such a great combo!! The greeting is from the oh-so-versatile SAB set Whimsical Words. I ran with the retro feel of the DSP and placed my little owl off centre. I also ADORE the buttons in the Summer Mini so had to include one from Playground on this card. For that little something extra on the card, the DSP on the inside of the card was punched with the scallop edge punch. I love the look of lined envelopes too and little cards with little envelopes are just perfect to demonstrate that on.

We had a lovely afternoon creating and chatting - thanks for joining me girls, we'll do it again soon!!

Happy Birthday Easel Card

Stamps: Happy Moments (SAB)

Card: Riding Hood Red, Blush Blossom, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla

DSP: Candy Lane

Ink: Sage Shadow, Riding Hood Red

Other: Scallop Edge Punch, Dress Ups Ribbon

For You PostIt Note Holder

Stamps: Vintage Labels (SAB)

Card: Pink Passion

DSP: Kaleidoscope (Summer Mini)

Ink: Pixie Pink, Tempting Turquoise

Other: Scallop Circle Punch, Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon

Too Kind Scallop Note & Lined Envelope

Stamps: Whimsical Words (SAB), Animal Stories (Summer Mini)

Card: Very Vanilla, Rose Red, Old Olive

DSP: Tall Tales (Summer Mini)

Ink: Brilliant Blue, Rose Red

Punches: Scallop Edge, 1 1/4" Circle, 1 3/8" Circle, 1 1/4" Square, 1 3/8" Square

Other: Scallop Notes (Summer Mini), Playground Buttons (Summer Mini)