A Team Challenge

Happy Friday!  TGIF!!  This has been the longest week ever!!  Every now and again, my upline posts a challenge for our team.  This time it was a sketch designed for Sunday Stamps by one of my downline, Steph VanDorp.  Steph designs for Sunday Stamps and is super talented and oh, so creative.  Check out her blog and you'll see what I mean.  Here is Steph's Sketch:

And here is my take on it:

Birthday card featuring the Secret Garden stamp set with sentiment from Apothecary Art.

Inside view with sentiment from You Are Loved.

If you're having a little deja vu, it's likely because working on this card was the inspiration for the birthday card I made for my mom.  You can see it HERE.  I have to admit that this design came to mind almost immediately when I saw Steph's sketch.  It was the first time I inked up my new Secret Garden stamp set and used the coordinating Framelits.  Talk about a quick and easy way to make lovely flowers...no fussy cutting required!!  I also used some of the new Delicate Detail lace tape...ooh, so in love with that stuff!!  Quick and easy and oh, so pretty!  The sentiment I used (yes there is one there, though it's hard to see!) is from the Apothecary Art set and I heat embossed it in pewter.   It really does show up quite nicely against the Rich Razzleberry base, despite the crummy photo!  On the inside of the card I used a sentiment from the You Are Loved set, a recent addtion to my stamp collection ;)
If you get a chance this weekend, try playing along wth Sunday Stamps or one of the other challenges listed in my sidebar.  You'll be amazed at the way they inspire your creativity!  Have a stamp-eriffic weekend!

Europe, here we come!

Today's post will be a quick one.  In just two short days I'll be heading off to Europe with 19 teenagers in tow!  I am taking several of my music students from school for a 10-day performing tour in Austria and Germany.  To say I have one or two things to get done before we leave is an understatement!  So, here is today's card...number four in my Card Buffet line-up.

Card Buffet option #4 suitable for a wedding, annversary or even birthday

I am going to do my best to pre-post a few samples for you while I am away as well as post once or twice about our adventures.  If I don't have time, have a great March Break, everyone!

I'm Ba-ack...

Well, here it is nearly the end of 2011 and I FINALLY am back in the photo-taking business.  Thanks to a good repair job my camera is fully functional and ready for action.  Since I've been away Christmas has come and gone in a whirlwind of family visits and big dinners.  The dust has finally settled and I finally have time to catch my breath.  As is always the case, when I finally give myself permission to relax a little, I get sick!  In fact, my whole family is sick with a nasty cough and cold.  My son has another ear infection to go along with the horrible cough, which is making the nights not overly restful in our house!  The poor kid can't get a decent sleep because he is coughing his brains out!  We're hoping he'll be able to nap a little during the day to make up for the lost sleep at night.  This bug can move along any time now!
This morning I had a rather pleasant surprise in my inbox.  It was an email from Pals Paper Arts that two of my designs had been chosen for their "Best Dressed for 2011" list!!  I was chosen for July  and September and I have to say I am absolutely thrilled and humbled.  What a great way to start my day after a rather crummy night!
Now, on to a project...and isn't it about time??  This card is the first one I created when I received my Occasions Mini pre-order goodies.  It is CAS and uses a bunch of new products...check it out:

CAS card using the new Apothecary Art stamp set from the upcoming Occasions Mini

I have to say I did a little happy dance when I saw the new Framelits dies in the Occasions Mini.  Those of you who have received your copy will know what I am talking about, but for those of you who haven't, these dies are along the lines of Nestabilities dies, with several different sizes of the same-shaped die.  They are perfect for layering and are easy to position to cut out images from the coordinating stamp sets.  The Framelits set that I used on this card is the Labels Collection and it coordinates perfectly with the images in the Apothecary Art stamp set.  This card, in fact, used my Big Shot to the max.  I die cut the label after stamping the image on very vanilla in Staz-on ink.  I also die cut a larger-sized label in baja breeze and ran it through again using the perfect polka dots embossing folder.  The background is another piece of very vanilla that I also embossed using the vintage wallpaper folder.  I watercoloured the flowers using my aquapainter and baja breeze ink pads.  The finishing touch on this card is the gorgeous pleated satin ribbon, another new product from the upcoming mini.  I LOVE this stuff...you're going to be seeing more of it in the coming weeks!