Primary Colored Pinwheels

I find that most of the cards I design have pinks, purples, ribbons, etc.--all things that make them more feminine (or "girly").  That's probably the case because: (1) I am a girl, (2) my first child was a girl, and (3) a LOT of stamps and craft products are designed for girls.  I've tried to be better lately about using colors and products that can be used for girls and boys, or even just boys since I have fewer masculine cards on hand.  I've also realized that a lot of those who attend my classes have boys and they want cards they can use, and, now I have a little boy and I need to make things that work for him as well.

I love this background paper from the Summer Smooches product suite.  I love how colorful it is, and how you can pick out just a few colors from it and make a fun, bright card (I used the primary colors: Real Red, Daffodil Delight, and Pacific Point).  I choose this layout from this week's Stamping 411 sketch challenge.  I've been using my 2-1/2" circle punch a lot lately--I love how the stamps fill the circle and how the shape really adds to the card.  I used my Sweets for the Sweet set for the pinwheels, the Itty Bitty Banners set for the greeting , and the bitty banners framelits to punch out the greeting in my Big Shot.  I also used the Big Shot to add the Chevron detail to the Pacific Point card stock--I just LOVE those embossing folders!  I added a strip of Daffodil Delight along the designer series paper and I punched it with the scallop edge punch.  Finally I added a very thin layer of white card stock and mounted everything on my Daffodil Delight card base.  I can't wait to use more of that Summer Smooches designer series paper and pick out different colors and see what look I can achieve.  Thanks for visiting!

Best of Simple Spritzed

Here's another card that we made at my card class last week.  I wanted to showcase the new Stampin' Spritzers, so we used them to create a simple background.  This is a super quick card to put together.  I filled my spritzers with alcohol and a few drops of reinker (the alcohol dries a lot quicker than water).  Colors are Summer Starfruit and Pacific Point and stamps are from the Best of Everything set.  We spritzed each color once on a white piece of cardstock.  Once that is dry (usually just a matter of seconds), stamp the flowers and greeting on in Pacific Point, layer on s piece of the Pacific Point card stock, add a bit of stitched grosgrain ribbon, and mount on the card base.  Quick, simple, with a literal splash of color thanks to the Stampin' Spritzers.

Bright Coral Blossoms

Today I mounted my new Bright Blossoms stamp set.  I love the style of the petite flowers and I'm excited to spend more time using it.  This is the first card that I've made with it.  I decided to combine using this new set with the color combo challenge over at Just Add Ink.  I decided to combine black and white with Calypso Coral.  I cut the three layers and temporarily adhered them together so that I could stamp on all of them at the same time.  After stamping, I used my color spritzer and speckled coral all over it.  My greeting comes from the A Word for You set and is also stamped in black.  Once things were speckled, I took the layers off and layered them onto pieces of Calypso Coral Cardstock (that were each 1/4" bigger than the white pieces).  Since I made my card the standard card size and my layers are squares, I filled in the extra space at the bottom with some patterns designer series paper.  To finish it all off, I added a piece of 1/8" black taffeta ribbon.  Have you tried a color challenge lately?

HONORABLE MENTION!

In Color Circle Circus

Last night I offered a stamping class at my home and the theme was tools and techniques.  I wanted to give my customers a chance to try out some of the fun new products in Stampin' Up!'s catalog.  This card is a simple card to make and it showcases the new paper piercing templates.  It is a little hard to see, but around the thank you decorative label punch is a pierced border the same shape as the punch.  I used the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack which has templates for piercing circles, shapes (several that match punches), borders, etc.  The stamped layer uses the Circle Circus set--an oldie but a goodie.  I opted to use this set and this color palette so that this card can be used for both women and men.  The colors are all this year's In Colors: Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, and Midnight Muse.  I love how these four colors go together for a bright and fun combination.

Triple Layered Thanks

Do you recognize this card?  If you do, it's because you saw one almost identical to it that I posted yesterday.  Isn't it fun how a color change makes such a difference?  I just changed the layered card stock color so that this time the white is all mounted on Pink Pirouette.  I again used Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, and Baja Breeze ink with the Raining Flowers set (and Sassy Salutations for the greeting).  I'm always in need of a thank you card--and I really should write them more often. 

I cut all of my white card stock pieces 4x5-1/4, 3x4-1/4, and 2x3-1/4 and used a bit of adhesive to hold them together on top of each other.  I stamped my images and then used the Color Spritzer tool and Basic Gray marker to get some gray speckles all around.  Once I did that, I pulled the pieces apart and then layered them onto the Pink Pirouette card stock (8-1/2x5-1/2 card base, then 3-1/4"x4-1/2, and 2-1/4x3-12).  It may sound a little complicated, but it's actually pretty easy.  Just cut each layer 1 inch smaller than the other.  I think I'll try out some different sizes sometime.  Before I glued everything together, I tied a little Basic Gray stitched grosgrain around the first two layers to tie in the gray Thank You (from Sassy Salutations) and the gray speckles.

Raining Thanks

I decided to take a little break from using my new stamps and pull out my Raining Flowers set that I have neglected lately.  I wanted a card that had flowers randomly all over the place, and this was the perfect set.  I also wanted to make a card for this week's Dynamic Duos challenge, which is to use Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze.  I love trying out all of these new color combos.  Baja Breeze has been getting a lot more of my attention lately since it coordinates so well with the new In Colors as well as so many other colors.

Earlier this week I came across this fabulous card made by Angie Leach and I just had to try out this triple layout.  I love how stampers around the world share their ideas online so that we can all learn from and inspire each other!  I cut all of my white card stock pieces 4x5-1/4, 3x4-1/4, and 2x3-1/4 and used a bit of adhesive to hold them together on top of each other.  Then I stamped my images and then used the Color Spritzer tool and Basic Gray marker to get some gray speckles all around.  Once I did that, I pulled the pieces apart and then layered them onto the Baja Breeze card stock (8-1/2x5-1/2 card base, then 3-1/4"x4-1/2, and 2-1/4x3-12).  It may sound a little complicated, but it's actually pretty easy.  Just cut each layer 1 inch smaller than the other.  I think I'll try out some different sizes sometime.  Before I glued everything together, I tied a little Basic Gray stitched grosgrain around the first two layers to tie in the gray Thank You (from Sassy Salutations) and the gray speckles.  Have you tried a technique like this before?  I love how the flower pattern continues through the layers, but it is visually more interesting than just a flowered background.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Sometimes the most important part of a card is what it says.  One of the first things I did with my Sassy Salutations set was to make some cards with the words and no other stamps.  I love the style of writing on this set, it works so well as the main focus of the card.  I think it also looks great in repetition like I did here.  This week's challenge over at The Paper Players is Wordsmith, so I thought it fitting to say thank you over and over again on this card.

I used Calypso coral, Daffodil Delight, and Lucky Limeade for my color scheme here.  The card base and the flower (punched with the blossom punch) are both textured with the petals-a-plenty textured impressions embossing folder.  I made the center with the 3/4" circle punch and put a printed In Color designer brad through the center.  The leaves are punched with the blossom petals xl punch.  I adhered the flower to my card with a Stampin' Dimensional so that it popped up a bit.


This week is Stampin' Up!'s annual convention, and I was sad that I couldn't make it this year, but a great friend of mine is taking some of my cards to swap.  I can't wait to see what fun ideas she comes back with.  I did a bit simpler version of this card for one of my swaps, so I hope the other swappers like it.

Celebrate Birthdays

I realized last night that I needed to make a birthday card for a dear friend (who shares my birthday) and get it in today's mail.  So, I decided it would be fun to use the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and combine it with my need for the birthday card.  I turned the sketch vertically so that it would fit my cake stack that I made with the Stampin' Up! set Topsy-Turvy Celebration.  I just love how I can make multi-colored cake stacks of various sizes with that set.  I have it in clear mount so that I can easily place one layer on top of another.  For this card, I combined Daffodil Delight with the new Raspberry Ripple.  I textured the bottom layer of Raspberry with the polka dot textured impressions folder.  I added some striped dsp from the current In Color Patterns stack and placed that on top of a strip of white card stock punched with the scalloped edge punch.  My yellow polka dots come from the Polka Dot Party designer series paper and have a bit of white stitched grosgrain tied just above.  I'd better go get this card in the mail now.  Happy Birthday Connie and to any others out there who have their birthday coming up!

Watercolored Reason to Smile

While I had my watercolor wonder crayons out for yesterday's card, I decided that assorted daisies would make a fun card.  I love bright gerbera daisies, they remind me of my wedding almost 10 years ago!  My flowers were assorted bright flowers, but the most prominent of those flowers were bold gerbera daisies. 

I stamped the daisy from the Reason to Smile several times as well as the congrats stamp from Sassy Salutations with my Basic Black ink pad.  I then scribbled some color from the brights collection of watercolor wonder crayons over the flowers and then blended the color with my aquapainter.  I layered this onto black and then onto my Regal Rose card base.  This is a simple card with just a couple of layers, but I think it turned out fun.

Reason to Smile Solo Daisy

Here's another idea with the promotional Reason to Smile set.  I've made a bunch of different cards with this set, but all have just used ink pads for the color (something that I do a lot of).  This time I decided to pull out my watercolor wonder crayons and aquapainter and give those a try again.  I really do like the watercolor wonder crayons, I just find that the majority of my stamps are bold and don't need to be colored in. Anyway, I stamped the daisy in black and then watercolored it, adding a little bit of very watered down blue around the edges of the stamp for a bit of a shadow.  I layered it onto Marina Mist and tied some black 1/8" taffeta ribbon around it, then layered it onto some black card stock.  The blue designer series paper comes from the Polka Dot Parade pack and is layered on some white that I punched with the scallop edge punch.  Finally, everything is mounted on my Wild Wasabi card base that I (surprise) textured with the polka dot embossing folder.  Have you watercolored lately?

Black and Red Wedding

I found this fun card sketch layout over at splitcoast (it's this week's sketch challenge) and decided that I needed to play along.  I haven't made a card with a triangle in the background, so I decided that I should try it.  I knew I wanted to use some designer series paper, but the problem was that I didn't want to chop it up into odd angles and waste any.  My solution was to pick some paper that I could use both sides of, so that is what I did.  I grabbed a piece of red dsp from the Polka Dot Parade pack and started cutting.  I flipped the two corners over and swapped them places so that they fit back together for my background.  I love this pack of paper and I also love that the two patterns coordinate well together.  Since this paper dictated my colors, I decided to add some black and make it a wedding card.  I thought it was kind of strange to have a black cake, but it is what worked with this card, it also seems like cakes are done up in any color these days, so maybe black and red isn't too over the top.  My cake comes from Topsy-Turvy Celebration and the Congrats comes from Sassy Salutations.  Can you tell that I really like those two sets together?  To finish off the card, I added a bit of 1/8" black taffeta ribbon.  Have you made a triangle backgound before?

Crumb Cake Bicycle

This week's color challenge on Splitcoast is to make a card using Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette, and the new Raspberry Ripple.  I like how these color challenges keep me out of a rut and help me come up with fresh new cards.  I textured my card base (something that I'm doing a lot of lately) with the polka dot embossing folder.  I added a layer of patterns dsp in Raspberry Ripple mounted on a strip of the same color card stock.  My bicycle is from the Moving Forward set and is stamped in Crumb Cake with Raspberry flowers in the basket and has a bit of patterns dsp in Pink Pirouette below it and is layered on Raspberry and Pink Pirouette card stock.  I added a couple banners cut with the bitty banners framelits (for the Big Shot) and tied a bit of white stitched grosgrain ribbon around the first couple layers.  I love that stitched grosgrain and I think I need it in about every color--I'll be adding some to my order tomorrow :)  The greeting comes from Sassy Salutations and is stamped in Raspberry Ripple.  Have you tried a color challenge yet?

Duo Cake Take 2

I find that most of my cards are more feminine (or "girly") and I try to come up with options at my classes for more boy cards.  A few weeks ago we made this card at my class, but I offered it in this color combo as well.  You can see the recipe and tips on the link for the original card.  The only difference here is that my colors are Pool Party and Basic Gray.  I sure do like the Topsy Turvy Celebration set--those cake stamps are just so fun!

Dynamic Duo Bird

I love getting color inspiration!  Lately, I have been mixing up my colors thanks to a bunch of color challenges.  This card was made for the Dynamic Duos challenge this week.  I've always loved Rich Razzleberry, it is such a fun, bold purple and it works with a lot of different colors.  I have to admit, I haven't always felt the same way about Old Olive.  I've been a demonstrator for 14 years and it's only been in the past few years that Old Olive has gotten regular use with my stamps.  Maybe it's because my old go-to greens were all retired a few years ago, maybe it's because Olive is more of a trendy color, and then maybe it's because I've just gotten out of my comfort zone and have started using it.  I found that it isn't such a bad color after all, in fact, I really like it now.  Funny how out tastes change over the years.

This card is a quick one to stamp--two stamps, that's it!  The layering is what takes the time, which isn't too bad either.  I textured the card base with the polka dot textured impressions embossing folder and then layered some pieces of the Polka Dot Parade designer series paper on card stock.  Under the Razzleberry layer, I stuck two banners from the bitty banners framelits (cut with my Big Shot).  I cut out my stamped layer with my 2-1/2" circle punch and mounted it on top of everything with Stampin' Dimensionals after I tied a bit of white stitched grosgrain around everything.  The bird stamp is from Betsy's Blossoms and the greeting is from Sassy Salutations.  Enjoy!

Summer Cake Stack

Ooooh, these colors just scream Summer!  We're in the midst of hot summer 90+ degree days around here.  These colors are so rich and juicy, they make such a great trio!  They (lucky limeade, calypso coral, and daffodil delight) are the color challenge this week over at The Paper Players.  Thanks for the great color combo!  My calypso coral ink pad has been very neglected until just recently, now it is one of my favorite colors!

For my card, I used the Topsy-Turvy Celebration set and made a 4-layer cake.  Instead of adding the typical candles at the top of the cake, I used the bow stamp from the same set.  I embellished the cake a bit with flowers that I cut out (also from the same set).  The top layer of the cake is actually the same stamp as the next two layers, but I masked off a side of it so that it wouldn't be as wide.  The greeting comes from my fav Sassy Salutations set and I stamped it directly on the patterned paper.  I've combined the Polka Dot Parade designer series paper with my traditional patterns designer series paper for the prints. I added a bit of white card stock that I punched with the scallop edge punch to the daffodil papers.  Lately I've gotten into not having my card base be plain, so I've run this one through my big shot with the polka dot textured impressions folder to pick up on the dot theme on this card.  Hope you enjoy!

Polka Dots and Blossoms

I just can't get enough of my new Stampin' Up! sets.  I am about ready to order some new sets to add to my collection, but I keep finding great ways to use the handful of sets I ordered from the new catalog.  For this card I used the Betsy's Blossoms set and Sassy Salutations.  I came across a new sketch challenge that I'm sure I'll be following regularly now--Mojo Monday.  I love the layout from this sketch, and I love that I was able to create this card fairly quickly since the card layout was already decided.  I used the blossom punch on the large flower image and the 1/2 inch circle on the smaller flower to create the red center.  The thank you is punched out with the wide oval punch.  I only had limited time and wanted to participate in a couple of challenges today, so I used a color challenge along with this sketch.  My colors are Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, and Early Espresso, which were inspired by the blog challenge over at Pals Paper Arts. I used the Polka Dot Parade designer series paper in Daffodil Delight and added a bit of white card stock punched with the scallop edge punch.  I decided to continue the polka dot theme with the 1/2" cherry cobbler scalloped dots ribbon.  Thanks for stopping by!

Fresh Flowers

Are you ready for another card idea using the promotional Reason to Smile stamp set?  Today's card is based on a this week's sketch challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches.  I wanted my color palette to be bright and fresh, so I chose Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, and Wisteria Wonder.  I used the polka dot textured impressions folder to emboss the dots on the card base.  The pattern papers come from the 2011-2013 In Color Patterns designer series paper stack.  I used the For You stamp from Itty Bitty Banners and cut it out with the Bitty Banners framelits in my Big Shot.  Finally, I tied a bit of Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon around the card to finish it off.  Hope you enjoy!  If you haven't participated in a sketch challenge before, give one a try.  I find that they are a great way to get the creative juices flowing without taking a bunch of time to come up with just the right layout for a card.

Smile Flowers

Daffodil Delight is one of my favorite colors.  I love how bright and cheery this shade of yellow is.  Today is a beautiful sunny day so this card just fits for today's post.  This is another card that I made with the new Reason to Smile set.  Have you ordered it yet?  It's only $5 this month with a $50 purchase--contact me today to order!

I used Pool Party, Certainly Celery, and Daffodil Delight--colors from a past color challenge.  The ribbon is the Pool Party seam binding ribbon.  I punched the greeting (from Sassy Salutations) with the decorative label punch and then sponged a bit of celery around the edges.

Wisteria Wedding

Today I'm going to take a little break from posting cards made with the Reason to Smile set and show you something else instead.  Are you ever looking for wedding card ideas?  It seems to be the busy time of year for weddings right now.  I've made this card with the Embellished Events set.  My colors are Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade, both 2011-2013 In Colors.  I stamped my image and greeting and then punched them out with the 2-1/2" circle punch.  I've used strips of the patterns designer series paper on top of my white card base (which is textured with the polka dot embossing folder).  I love this card layout and it is quick, simple, and fresh.  Hope you enjoy it as well!

Navy Olive Flowers

Do you remember my pink and black bicycle card from a couple of weeks ago?  Well, this card uses the same layout, just different colors and different stamps.  I love how cards can have a whole new look by switching around a few elements.  I combined Old Olive and Night of Navy for this clean and simple floral card.  The flower images come from the Reason to Smile set (get it for only $5 with a $50 purchase THIS MONTH ONLY)!  My greeting comes from Sassy Salutations and is stamped on a bit of olive patterns dsp.  I've tied a piece of white stitched grosgrain around the first layer to go along with my bottom layer that I textured with the polka dots embossing folder. 

Coral Crumb Daisies

Today's color challenge on splitcoast is to combine Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, and White.  I LOVE these two together!  I used the new Reason to Smile set (only $5 this month with a $50 order).  I do have to admit that I just opened my Calypso Coral ink pad.  I can't believe that I haven't opened it sooner.  I guess I've used the card stock and markers, but not the ink--perhaps I didn't realize what I was missing!  That's one thing that I love about color challenges, it encourages me to put together colors that I wouldn't otherwise and it gets me using some of my less-used colors.  This is a simple card to make.  Just stamp the daisies, layer on some coral card stock, add a strip of coral punched with the scallop edge punch and a bit of my favorite patterns designer series paper.  The ribbon I tied around the base of the card is actually some that I got for free during Sale-a-Bration.  Finally, I added the thank you greeting from Embellished Events and punched it out with the bitty banners framelits on my big shot.

Rich Colored Blossoms

Have you heard about the promotion Stampin' Up! is having this month?  There is a fun set that you can get for only $5 (with a $50 purchase) and it is available THIS MONTH ONLY!  Hurry and place an order so you can get the Reason to Smile set to add to your collection.  Here is a flyer with the images that are in the set.  You can get it in either clear or wood for only $5.

Since this set is on special right now, I'll show you several cards using it over the next several days.  This first card uses Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze, Baja Breeze, and Basic Black.  These colors are so rich together.  I combined them for a color challenge a few weeks ago and I love the results on this card.  I tied a bit of scalloped Cherry Cobbler ribbon around the top couple of layers and that is it!  Hope you enjoy the ideas with this set!

Scalloped Pinwheel Thanks

Do you recognize this layout?  Yes, I've used it before with a few different sets.  This time I used the fun pinwheels from the Sweets for the Sweet set.  Colors are Melon Mambo and Pear Pizazz (sadly a retired color).  I used the scallop trim border punch on the Melon Mambo paper alongside a strip of the patterns designer series paper. 

Wedding Bells Banner

It's the last day of June so I decided to post a wedding card as it seems to be a busy time of the year for weddings.  This is a pretty simple card made with the Embellished Events set and the Sassy Salutations set.  I used Basic Gray and Pink Piroutte for my colors.  The Gray card stock is textured with the Fancy Fan Textured Impressions folder.  I used a bit of Basic Gray striped grosgrain ribbon around my hand-cut Congrats pennant.  Hope you've had a great June, I can't believe that summer is 1/3 over already!

Banner Birthday

Sometimes it is nice to sit down with only a limited number of supplies and see what can be created.  I did this a few weeks ago and used only my new In Colors, the Patio Party dsp, the Make-a-Cake set, and the bitty banners set.  Here's a quick birthday card that I came up with.  My card base is Summer Starfruit.  The banner and cake are stamped in Primrose Petals with Summer Starfruit flags at the top.  This is a super quick and simple card to make.

Scalloped Congrats Flowers

Embellished Events is one of those sets that can be used for so many things.  I've been using just the word stamps a lot lately since they are just the right size and so versatile.  The image stamps are great stamped in a solid color, or in a variety of colors (marker direct to stamp).  For simplicity, I just inked up the flower stamp in a single color on this card.  I stamped it in Wisteria Wonder three times across a piece of white card stock.  I layered that on a bit of Pool Party card stock and also added a strip of pool party punched with the scallop trim border punch across the card.  My card base is Lucky Limeade and the printed paper along the bottom is from the floral district dsp pack and this particular paper is lucky limeade with some white stripes along it (they are actually stems for some flowers, but I cut off the flowers and just used the striped part).  My congrats greeting is also from Embellished Events and is punched with the word window punch.  Finally, I tied a bit of the Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon around my card to finish it off. 

Black Tie Wedding

Here's another card where I used a greeting from the Embellished Events set.  The greetings in that set are the perfect size for the word window punch layered on top of the modern label punch.  This card is one that I made for last week's clean and simple challenge over on splitcoast.  I kept my color palate simple--just black and white with a hint of melon mambo for the hearts on the cake.  The cake is from the Make a Cake set.  I embellished the card with a bit of ribbon that I "ruffled" by running a strip of adhesive along the card stock and then I tried to pleat the ribbon as I stuck it down to the card.  I think it adds a fun texture to the card, one that I'll have to try out on other cards in the future.  The card base has polka dots on it that I did with the textured impressions folder in the big shot.

Pacific Sailboat

I think I've used this year's Ronald McDonald House set more in the past month than any other RMHC set.  I love the images--they are bold and fun.  They seem to work for so many types of cards.  Have you bought the Moving Forward set yet this year?  $3 from each set is donated to RMHC, so go ahead, get the set and help a good cause!

This is a pretty clean and simple card.  The sailboat is stamped in Pacific Point and is punched with the 2-1/2" circle punch.  The patterned layers are done with the patterns dsp stacks in both brights (Pacific Point) and the 2012-2014 In Colors (Raspberry Ripple).  Each of those are layered on a strip of their matching card stock.  The greeting is from the Embellished Events set and was cut out with one of the bitty banners framelits for the Big Shot.  I also used my Big Shot (the polka dot textured impressions folder) to add the dotted background on the white card base.  I love this card layout.  It is quick, simple, and really adds to the card.  The layout was from this week's challenge over at The Paper Players.  I'm sure I'll be using this layout a bunch in the future!  Thanks ladies over at The Paper Players for the inspiration!

Frog in the Basket

I can't remember the last time that I made a card using a large oval.  I don't even own a large oval die or oval cutter or anything of the sort.  This week's Freshly Made Sketch was a little challenging for me because I had to free-hand my oval.  What did I learn from the sketch challenge?  I learned that it may be time to invest in something (probably a big shot die) that cuts ovals.  There seems to be an oval theme going on between several different sketch challenges lately, perhaps that means that ovals are "in" right now and I need to get with it and use them more.

The colors I used on this card are Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, and Gumball Green.  I ran the daffodil oval through my Big Shot with the square lattice textured impressions folder to add just a little something around my stamped image.  The bicycle, frog, and swirly (that shows the frogs motion) come from the Moving Forward set (RMHC set this year).  The banner greeting is from Itty Bitty Banners and is cut with the matching framelits dies.  I used my favorite patterns designer series paper, for the Pacific Point stripes and finished off the card with three daffodil delight brads.

Blossom and Bird Branch

This week's Dynamic Duos challenge (see here) uses River Rock and Always Artichoke.  I never realized how great these two colors go together....until now!  I know they would be great for a masculine card, but I still have my brand new sets sitting out on my stamping table and I can't get enough of them.  For this card, I used the Betsy's Blossoms set.  I stamped the large blossom in River Rock and then instead of keeping it the original circle shape, I punched it out with my blossom punch.  I also layered the smaller blossom in Artichoke (punched out with the 1/2 inch circle punch) and stuck a glimmer brad through it.  The blossom is attached to my card with a Stampin' Dimensional so that it pops out a little.  The bird is also stamped in River Rock and is stamped atop some artichoke branches.  The greeting comes from the Embellished Events set--a set with great bold images and nicely sized greetings.  I cut the greeting banner by hand.  The bottom layer of the card has a bit of patterns designer series paper in Always Artichoke.  I don't know what I'd do without that patterns dsp, I find myself using it almost ALL of the time.  I hope you enjoy my color challenge card.  Thanks Dynamic Duos for the great suggestion of colors!

Bicycle Craze

Last week I posted this card that was part of a splitcoast color challenge.  The color combo for the challenge was Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze, and Cherry Cobbler.  I thought it was an interesting combo and not something that I would have come up with on my own, but I was up for a good challenge.  Instead of just giving it one try, I made a few cards with the combo and each card gave the challenge a different look.  For this card, I used the Moving Forward stamp set (this year's Ronald McDonald House set).  This is a pretty straight forward card that just uses several layers to add color.  I used a bit of Baja Breeze patterns designer series paper and mounted a bit of Cajun Craze card stock that I edged with the scallop trim border punch for a little added flair.  Stay tuned for more color combo challenge cards.

Bold Bright Birthday

I find that I am always wanting more birthday card ideas.  I love the cake in the Topsy-Turvy Celebration set.  I wanted to make this card bright, so I used Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango.  The bottom daffodil layer has a chevron pattern on it (sorry, it doesn't show up well in the photo, but I textured it with the new chevron textured embossing folder.  The greeting comes is punched with the word window punch and is layered on the modern label punch.  The ribbon is the new stitched grosgrain in daffodil delight. 

Sassy Colored Birthday

Can you tell that I've found a new favorite word set?  Sassy Salutations is so much fun!  It works great for an added stamp on a card, or as the main stamp.  For this card, I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting in Pool Party, Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder, Pink Piroutte, and Melon Mambo.  I added a bit of Pool Party patterns dsp that I punched the scallop edge punch along and tied a bit of white stitched grosgrain ribbon around.  All of this is mounted on a Pool Party card base.  Now that I've made a few cards just using Sassy Salutations, I find myself wanting to use it as the focal stamp most of the time!

Flower Stripe Strips

Do you ever find that you are working on a card and you can't find just the right pattern paper to match?  Well, try making your own!  That's what I did on this card.  Most of the time I would just go to my patterns designer series paper stacks and find a single colored pattern, but I wanted a little more color on this card.  The stripes at the bottom of the card are actually strips of card stock.  I just cut up some scraps in various sizes and then glued them onto a sheet of card stock and then cut it to size for my card.  Pretty easy, and it gives you an original pattern paper to use.  I chose a color palate of Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Pool Party, and Midnight Muse.  I used the new Embellished Events set for the image (and colored it with my Stampin' Write markers for the multi-colored look).  The greeting is also from Embellished Events, and it is punched out with the word window punch.  To finish off the card, I tied a piece of gumball green satin stitched ribbon around the card.