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It has been WAY too long since I have participated in a blog challenge.  I love the inspiration that I get from challenges, so it is good to be back!  I hope I can get back in gear and stay on top of challenges at least for a while.

Today's card was inspired by the sketch challenge over at Just Add Ink.  I decided to turn the sketch onto its side and go from there.  I've used my favorite flower set (Flower Shop) along with the Pansy punch to add the stamping to my card.  I remember the days of tediously cutting out flowers for cards--hooray for coordinating punches now!  I stamped the flowers in Strawberry Slush and Daffodil Delight and mounted them onto my hand-cut banner with Stampin' Dimensionals.  I thought about adding some type of embellishment to the centers of the flowers, but everything I tried seemed to distract from the simplicity I wanted.  I stamped the "hugs & kisses" from the Good Greeting set (hostess only exclusive this month) in Basic Black and then layered everything onto my white card base that I embossed with the chevron embossing folder.  What did we do before embossing folders?  They are such a great and simple way to finish off card bases.  Enjoy!

Cantaloupe Pansy

Ugh, computer issues.  I've been taking a little time off of blogging, but not by choice.  Does anyone have a great fix for a laptop that has screen issues?  Sometimes I have to hold part of the lower corner of the screen in order for it to work, otherwise it freezes and puts lines all over the place.  It's working fine today, but that's the first time in a couple of weeks that I haven't had to fight with it.  I'm not wanting to replace it yet, so hopefully it will play nice! Enough of that, on to some stamping...

I made this fun, quick card a while ago for my last Stamp-a-Stack.  I was inspired by a card that Julie Davidson made with the Mixed Bunch stamp set.  I loved the simplicity of this card.  I stamped one of the flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set and punched it with the Pansy Punch and adhered it to my card with a Stampin' Dimensional.  I tied some white stitched grosgrain around the Crisp Cantaloupe card stock and glued that to my card base (white card stock with a strip of Crisp Cantaloupe Patterns DSP on it).  Finally, I added my greeting from Sweet Essentials.  Enjoy!

Bold and Sassy Flowers

I love this color combination from colourq this week, it looks so bold and sassy--Primrose Petals, Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay, and Rich Razzleberry.  I wanted to make a card with a simple layout so that the colors would really be the spotlight, so this is what I came up with.

I stamped four different flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set and then layered that stamped panel onto some Bermuda Bay card stock.  I tied some 3/8" Primrose stitched satin ribbon around that and layered it onto my Daffodil Delight card base.  I stamped the "thank you" from the Made for You stamp set and punched it with the the oval punch and layered that onto some Rich Razzleberry punched with the scallop oval punch.  I can't wait to try out this color combo again!

Bold Midnight Curry Flowers

There are so many fun card challenges that I want to participate in and I just don't have the time.  So, this morning I decided to combine a couple of my favorites and this is the card I came up with.

I got my layout inspiration from the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and combined that with some color inspiration from Pals Paper Arts.  I love the bold colors together--Crushed Curry, Midnight Muse, and Early Espresso.  I stamped some flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set randomly and then layered that panel onto Midnight Muse and Early Espresso card stock.  I wanted to add more of the Crushed Curry color, so I textured a strip of it with the Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder and added that to the card.  I didn't want to overdo the bold colors, so I used a big panel of white on top of my Midnight Muse card base, that way I could also stamp my greeting from Sweet Essentials (using Early Espresso ink) without having to add another layer for the text.  To "tie" the card all together, I added some of my favorite 3/8" stitched satin ribbon in Midnight Muse.  Happy Monday!

Sherbet Flavored Flowers

Don't these colors remind you of some nice cold sherbet?  That sounds pretty tasty to me right now!  I chose these colors for the card thanks to the challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments--Daffodil Delight, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, and Strawberry Slush.  All but the Daffodil Delight are new In Colors for 2013-2015 and I just love them!  I paired the color challenge with this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  Thanks for the great inspiration!

I stamped the flowers from the new Flower Shop stamp set and punched an additional flower out with the coordinating pansy punch (then raised it a bit with a Stampin' Dimensional).  I added some Pistachio leaves that I cut with the Secret Garden Framelit to the raised flower.  If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I add some Patterns Designer Series Paper or some texture from an embossing folder to almost every card--well, here I did both!  Designer Series Paper and Textured Impressions are my favorite accessories (and I love ribbon as well) so I added them all to this card to go along with the SUO Challenge.  I used some of the new In Color (Strawberry Slush) Patterns DSP in the polka dot pattern along with the polka dot embossing folder to create my background.  I separated the two with some Daffodil Seam Binding ribbon.  Hope you enjoy!

Summer Flower Shop

Have you checked out the Flower Shop stamp set yet (and the coordinating Pansy Punch)?  This was the first set on my "need" list from the new catalog.  I love coordinating stamps and punches, and each year I pick out a new favorite flower stamp set.  15 years as a demonstrator means a lot of favorite flower sets!  School is out and Summer weather is officially here (10-15 degrees above normal) so stamping with bright summery colors was in order!

I stamped three of the flowers from the Flower Shop set in Strawberry Slush (one of the new In Colors), Tangerine Tango, and Daffodil Delight.  I mounted that on some Strawberry Slush card stock and added a strip of the new Patterns DSP in Strawberry Slush along the bottom.  To separate the stamped paper and the designer series paper, I tied some daffodil stitched grosgrain ribbon.  I layered the panel onto just a bit of white card stock to help divide the Strawberry Slush card stock from the Daffodil Delight card base.  I'm in love with the textured embossing folders, so I textured the card base with the perfect polka dot embossing folder to really finish off the card.  Hope you are enjoying your summer days!

 

Clean Pansies

Have you noticed the Grab Your Greetings promotion that Stampin' Up! is having right now?  There are 3 great greeting sets available at a 25% discount right now, including my FAVORITE word set: Sassy Salutations!  I decided that a card using that set was in order, and of course I had to pair that with new product :)

I wanted to keep this card clean and simple and I love the results!  I stamped the Thinking of You stamp in the new Strawberry Slush ink and then layered it on some Daffodil Delight and Strawberry Slush cardstock.  I tied a bit of Daffodil Seam Binding ribbon around that panel and then mounted it on my card base (white card stock textured with the Chevron embossing folder.  I added more stamping with the new Flower Shop stamp set and the new Pansy punch (available together this year in a 15% off bundle).  Hope you enjoy!