November Stampin Celebration Sketch Challenge

Time for our mid-month sketch challenge at Stampin Celebration!  I went with a digital scrapbook page for this month, with the only non-blurry picture I have of our new puppy, Bartley!

This is a picture from his first day home, back in October.  He is a real cutie!

Check out all the design team members for their wonderful (as always) creations!

Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroo Designs

Erin Gonzales -Hand Stamped Style

Rochelle Gould - I stamp, I create, I have fun!

Cori Kozak - Creative Chat

Nina Dee - Deesigns by Nina Dee

Lauri Ingram - Paperville Crafts

Krista Jensen - Krista's Stamper Room

Anita Krul - My Paper Chronicles

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge

Technique Twist Traced Doodling

Time for our next technique, Traced Doodling!  Time was not on my side this challenge, so I kept it on the simple side!

I stamped the Five Way Flower in So Saffron on Whisper White and simply traced around the outside adding a few doodles along the way!

Be sure to check out all the design team samples, and join us for our challenge!  We are also looking for some new Design Team members so check out the Design Team call!

~ Lauri

Stampin Celebration November Inspiration Challenge

Welcome to our November 1st Stampin Celebration Inspiration Challenge!  Fall inspired for sure!

I ran with the chevron and sunflower elements and here is how I designed the card!

1. I embossed the sunflower in early espresso on Naturals White cardstock.
2. On a piece of vellum, I embossed Positively Chevron in clear powder, then I sponged over the vellum with Crushed Curry.
3. Add a sentiment from the Occasions Alphabet and done!!

The design team has wonderful samples as usual!  Please stop by and check them all out!!

Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroo Designs

Erin Gonzales -Hand Stamped Style

Rochelle Gould - I stamp, I create, I have fun!

Cori Kozak - Creative Chat

Nina Dee - Deesigns by Nina Dee

Lauri Ingram - Paperville Crafts

Krista Jensen - Krista's Stamper Room

Anita Krul - My Paper Chronicles

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge

! Lauri

Technique Twist November 1: Inlaid Embossing (and Bartley!)

Here we are again with another fun challenge!  For today our challenge in Inlaid Embossing!

I twisted this up quite a bit today....the background of the card is various watercolored elements from the Backyard Basics set, all inlaid embossed on Soft Sky cardstock.  Then...I overlaid the background with vellum and embossed one more time!

Truth be told this wasnt the plan..but I have been busy!  We have a new puppy!! 

Meet Bartley, a lovable, bouncing 2 month old Havanese!  He is cute and adorable and has to go out every three hours!   ; )


So we are getting better with a schedule and the change to our family !  He is adorable!!

Please be sure to check out all the Design Team members creations!

! Lauri

Stampin Celebration October Sketch Challenge

Time for our mid-month sketch challenge at Stampin Celebration!  

A very simple card with a great impact!

• This is a 5" x 5" square card;  I stamped the Pleasant Poppies set in Versamark on Early Espresso, then embossed with Pool Party embossing powder.
• The early espresso layer is 4 1/2" square, so I then cut the image into 1 1/2" squares and mounted them on another piece of early espresso with dimensionals.
• I added a retired Pool Party button with early espresso bakers twine, along with a sentiment from Teeny TIny Wishes stamped in early espresso on pool party.

This is a great sketch for cards, or for a scrap page!  Be sure to check out the other design team members samples and play along!

Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroo Designs

Erin Gonzales -Hand Stamped Style

Rochelle Gould - I stamp, I create, I have fun!

Cori Kozak - Creative Chat

Nina Dee - Deesigns by Nina Dee

Lauri Ingram - Paperville Crafts

Krista Jensen - Krista's Stamper Room

Anita Krul - My Paper Chronicles

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge

! Lauri

stamps: Pleasant Poppies, Teeny Tiny WIshes

inks:  Versamark, Early Espresso

cardstock:  Early Espresso, Pool Party

other:  Pool Party embossing powder, retired Pool Party button, word window punch

Technique Twist Challenge 9: Mixed Embossing Powders

Time for our next Technique Twisted Challenge!  Mixing Embossing powders!

My twist is a little one...I mixed three colors up instead of two;  Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo and Tangerine tango.

• The stamps I used are actually  the leftover pieces from the Daydream Medallions stamp set
• I stamped the images in Versamark on black, and then sprinkled different colors on them.  For a couple, I left some black showing through as well, not totally saturating the Versamark with powder.
• I added some sprinkles and arranged the circles randomly.  Very spacey!
• The image from the Friendship Preserves set was embossed in black on Melon Mambo.

With so many great embossing colors, have some fun and mix them up!  Be sure to stop by the other design team members and see what they have created!

Jessica

Julz

Lauri

Leena

Pam

~ Lauri

stamps:  Daydream Medallions, Friendship Preserves

cardstock:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo

inks:  Versamark

other:  Various Circle Punches, WIld Wasabi, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Black embossing powders, sprinkles

Stampin' Celebration October Inspiration Challenge!

It's Inspiration Challenge time at Stampin Celebration!

I went with a fun size card this time, especially now that we have the envelope scoring board!

1. The colors in the flowers became my focus, so I used Cantaloupe Crisp, Daffodil Delight and Strawberry Slush for my flower inks.
2. Bringing in the color of the stems, I used Pear Pizazz as the card base.
3. And then..the chevrons from the straws!  I placed a piece of Cantaloupe Crisp beneath the card base that had been punched with the chevron punch.

Be sure to stop by all the design team members and play along with our inspiration challenge this month!

Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroo Designs

Erin Gonzales -Hand Stamped Style

Rochelle Gould - I stamp, I create, I have fun!

Cori Kozak - Creative Chat

Allison Ohran - Sweet Impressions

Nina Dee - Deesigns by Nina Dee

Lauri Ingram - Paperville Crafts

Krista Jensen - Krista's Stamper Room

Anita Krul - My Paper Chronicles

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge

~ Lauri

stamps:  Triple Treat Flower

inks:  Cantaloupe Crisp, Strawberry Slush, Daffodil Delight

cardstock:  Pear Pizazz, Cantaloupe Crisp

other:  Chevron Punch, rhinestones, scallop circle punch

Technique Twist Challenge 8: Bokeh

Welcome to our eighth challenge at Technique Twist...Bokeh!

I am sure everyone is familiar with the Photography effect of Bokeh.  It was so much fun to recreate that effect on a card and here is how I did it!

1. I created a stencil by punching various size circle holes in a window sheet. 
2. I scribbled various colors of gelato on  another sheet of acetate, and picked up color with a waterbrush, then stenciled circles randomly over watercolor paper.
3. To add to the effect, I glued the clear circles I had punched out to a few parts of the background, and added a few highlights of Dazzling Diamonds.
4. A Christmas sentiment makes this a very non-traditional holiday card!

Check out the inspiration from all the other Design Team members and join us in the Bokeh challenge!

Jessica

Julz

Lauri

Leena

Pam

Sunday Stamps Sketch Challenge and more Faux Patina

I had a lot of fun playing with the Technique Twist Faux Patina technique challenge;  here is another sample I made using the Sunday Stamps Sketch 58.

Love the simplicity of this sketch;  really lets the technique show off.

• If you missed it, I have links to lots of samples and instructions in this post yesterday.
• I used the woodgrain folder here, starting with cardstock and layers of colors before I ended with a light touch of gold embossing.

Thanks for looking! Have a great week!

Lauri

stamps:  Gently Falling, Harvest of Thanks
cardstock:  So Saffron, Brushed Gold, Naturals White
challenge:  SSS58

inks:  Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Versamark. Raspberry Ripple

other:  Woodgrain embossing folder, gold embossing powder

Stampin Celebration Sketch Challenge

Time for fun at Stampin' Inspiration Challenge!

Since I really have to ramp up my scrapping skills, I challenged myself to do this month's sketch in MDS and I am glad I did!

One of the challenges as someone (ahem) older with a 23 year old daughter is not having the same photo opportunities as those with younger children.  Almost all of my pictures of Vicky growing up are in boxes (and not very well organized at this point!)  I do have all her school photos in one box, and decided to use a few of her high school photos for this layout (cannot seem to find the one from Junior year though!) So freshman, sophomore and senior year are highlighted here.

The photo of her jumping was in her senior photo shoot portfolio, and I used it as the cover to her graduation party.  Most of the elements here are from the My Digital Studio kit, Embark Graduate.

Check out all the design team inspiration and play along!

Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroo Designs

Erin Gonzales -Hand Stamped Style

Rochelle Gould - I stamp, I create, I have fun!

Cori Kozak - Creative Chat

Allison Ohran - Sweet Impressions

Nina Dee - Deesigns by Nina Dee

Lauri Ingram - Paperville Crafts

Krista Jensen - Krista's Stamper Room

Anita Krul - My Paper Chronicles

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge

Technique Twist Challenge 7 Faux Patina

It's time for another twisted technique!  This time our challenge is Faux Patina!  So get your inks and embossing folders and embossing powder ready!

There are lots of great tutorials out there and I will link you up with the ones I followed!  Here are a few tips as well!

• Our own Leena has some great tutorials and samples  here:
• http://alacards.blogspot.ca/2012/06/faux-metal-box.html
  http://alacards.blogspot.ca/2012/06/one-more-faux-patina-project.html
  http://alacards.blogspot.ca/2012/06/one-more.html
  http://alacards.blogspot.ca/2012/06/remember-when.html
  http://alacards.blogspot.ca/2012/06/vintage-dad.html
  http://alacards.blogspot.ca/2012/08/and-now-back-to-christmas.html
• As does Angie at Too Cool Stamping!  She is even doing an entire week of Faux Patina (this week!)
• http://www.toocoolstamping.com/toocoolstamping/too-cool-faux-patina-technique.html
• The trick?  Layering the steps and colors!
• Start by choosing your cardstock.  I tried the effect on a few different lighter cardstocks before deciding my twist would be to use Designer Series Paper, in this case Epic Day This and That
• Next, choose your folder.  I also tried a few different folders and ended up liking this one the most!
• Ink up your folder with a light, contrasting color.  I used Basic Gray.
• Next comes the sponging of a few different colors, going from lightest to darkest.  
• I went with So Saffron, Calypso Coral and Gumball Green
• Sponge randomly, try not to get equal coverage of all colors as this effect is really best when it is random!
• Last step?  Versamark and embossing powder.  I chose Gold powder and lightly rubbed my Versamark pad over the sponged DSP.  
• Be sure it is dry first!
• You really do not want a lot of embossing powder, just powder on the high embossed points.  I found that I always ended up with too much powder, so I used a brush to remove a lot before I heat set the paper.

Here is a close up that may help!

I have two other samples I will post in the next week.  Be sure to check out the design team amembers along with the tutorials I linked to above!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Jessica

Julz

Lauri

Leena

Pam

Freshly Made Sketch 103

This weeks Freshly Made Sketch is another one bound to be a go-to sketch!

I have had the Take Care set for while and just never could come up with a way to use it.  Today I saw a post on Jennifer Maguire's blog with a similar set and the inpiration came!

• I stamped the nest first, then masked it before stamping the branch.
• The nest, branch, sentiment and eggs are all colored with markers.
• The eggs were stamped on a separate scrap piece of Very Vanilla, cut out and covered in Crystal Effects.
• This is an unusual size card (3 1/2 by 5) but now that I have my envelope punch board, I don't worry about envelopes!   ; )

Definitely on the cusp of autumn here in Connecticut!  Beautiful weather!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Lauri

stamps:  Take Care

markers:  Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Coastal Cabana, Pacific Point

cardstock:  Soft Suede, Smoky Slate, Very Vanilla

other:  pearls

challenge:  FMS103

Give Thanks Wreath by me!

It's time for my project over at Craft Project Central!  I was so excited to be asked to join for the month of September, and I knew immediately I wanted to make a wreath for the Thanksgiving holiday.

This wreath is fun to make, uses re-cycled materials and can be customized to any color scheme!  Highlighting the wonderful Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper, it is a mix of naturals, subtle and bright colors, perfect for the autumn season.

Please head over to Craft Project Central!  I will be giving away a free subscription for the month of September to one lucky person!  All you need to do is leave a comment on my project over at Craft Project Central by Wednesday September 18 at midnight EST. This free subscription will provide access to all detailed instructions for all September projects as well as the Card of the month!

Book Worm Set by Michelle Wecksler

Another project over at Craft Project Central!

This Book Worm Set  by  Michelle Wecksler is the perfect gift for that special little someone in your life who loves to read! This set features an altered can bookmark holder, four book worm bookmarks, a book list book, a book worm pencil and a fun card for presenting this set as a gift!  Any one of these projects, individually, would make for a wonderful creative session for you and your little one!  You could also create any of these items in a small class or stamp camp to share with others!

A Challenging Sketch!

This sketch from Paper Craft Crew was a challenge! 

 I think I had three different attempts going, with three different stamp sets and color combos before I found one I was happy with!  I persevered...not wanting the sketch to get the best of me!

I love a challenge though, and am pretty happy with what I ended up with!

• Initially, and what sent me down a wrong path with my first attempts, I focussed too much on the slanted layer. I was determine to make that a stamped image and just couldn't get the right look.
• Once I determined the stamped image should be the upper right part of the sketch, and use DSP for the slanted layer..it got easier!
• I could not get the ribbon to work for me, so I used a piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock in its place.
• Speaking of which...my colors are a bit washed out!  I am trying to learn how to use the setting on my camera so I need to fix the white balance..or the ISO..or just go back to automatic mode!

I am starting to plan my autumn and Christmas class projects;  these beautiful cool mornings are very inspiring!

and Thanks for the folks over at Sunday Stamps for picking me one of their top picks for their last color challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Sunday!

~ Lauri

stamps: Sketched Birthday

cardstock:  Very Vanilla, Bermuda Bay, Crisp Cantaloupe, Birthday Basics DSP

inks:  Bermuda Bay, Crisp Cantaloupe

accessories:  Brights Dots, Crimper, Square Lattice Embossing folder, Scallop Circle Punch, Large Scallop Circle Punch,1" Circle Punch

challenge:  PCCCS57

Freshly Made Sketch 102

A bright and blingy card for this weeks Freshly Made Sketch!  Not sure this qualifies as clean lines and fresh but...fun!

New Seasonal products galore on this card!

• Best New Year, a single stamp, that I knew I had to get!  Inevitably I am either late on Christmas cards or forget folks, and like to have a New Year card or two on hand just for that late greeting!  This stamp comes in two parts, so I added the rhinestones in between the two images.
• I stamped the image in the silver Metallic Encore ink
• Love the foil accented sheet that comes in the Winter Front Designer Series Paper!  That is the accent piece down the middle.
• Silver ribbon!  I need to stock on on that;  I am also hoarding those gorgeous Frosted Finishes embellishments.

Thanks for looking and hope you have a great weekend!

~ Lauri

stamps:  Best New Year

ink:  Silver Metallic Encore Ink

cardstock:  Whisper White, WInter Frost DSP

accessories:  Frosted Finishes embellishments, Silver 1/8" ribbon

challenge:  FMS102

Too Kind Card Box and Post It Note Holder by Laurie Zoellmer

Time for me to share a peek of another great project at Craft Project Central.

Laurie Zoellmer has designed a darling card box that will easily hold 4-6 cards and envelopes.   The card box and coordinating Post it Note Holder make a beautiful set for any desk.  Make several sets to give as gifts this coming holiday season!  This project is also a fun class or camp project!

Teacher Appreciation Flowers and Frame by Buffy Cooper

Today at Craft Project Central, Buffy Cooper has a great Teacher Appreciation Project.  

Send flowers to the teacher that will last all year!  Create an adorable vase and floral bouquet with a coordinating frame for a class photo, and let your children’s teachers know how much you appreciate them.  Stop by Craft Project Central for all the information on how to get instructions for this great project!

More Inlay Technique

A few weeks ago I posted a card I had made with the inlay technique;  shortly after that, Jennifer Mcguire posted an awesome video and made it a whole lot easier to do!  So I decided to try it again, using strips of DSP and  two different die sets.  I love the effect and love that I got two cards from one set of steps!  Here is card one...

I encourage you to watch her video!  Here are a few things I did differently from her steps:

• While she used strips of cardstock, I chose to use strips of This and That Epic Day DSP.  I also used one of the more solid patterns from that DSP; you can barely make out the inspiring words.
• I also used (and it works great although really sticky!) the MultiPurpose Adhesive Sheets (product number 120805). She recommended a glue stick, but these are great!

Here is the other card I made with the leftovers from card one.

This is a very fun way to use up DSP and use dies a bit differently!   I am off to a morning at Motor Vehicles to clear up some paperwork stuff...I have spent hours and hours this weekend reading online, compiling documents, filling out forms and praying I have everything so I can get done in one trip.  Wish me luck!

~ Lauri

stamps:  Loving Thoughts

cardstock:  Epic Day This and That, Naturals Ivory

ink:  Crumb Cake

other:  Circle Framelits Die, Backyard Basics Framelits Die, Modern Label punch, Sycamore Street buttons (retired), Linen Thread, Multipurpose adhesive sheets