Special Blend

The team at Less is More are looking for a shaped card this week - not square or rectangle!! 

 

Now I know why they call them challenges!!  A shaped card! hmmm ... I do have one set of framelits but as someone had already used that set I had to really put my thinking cap on. 

 

I decided to make a champagne bottle, totally forgetting about the one layer part of the deal, so to overcome that I decided to print my "greeting" direct to the cardstock.  I then stamped the square for the label and the little vine and then masked those sections off before sponging the pink champagne.  I used a SU gold marked to simulate the gold foil and the silver marker to make the wire lines.

 

The ingredients were mostly SU: Whisper White card;

Forever with you stamp set;

Pink Pirouette ink;

Raspberry Ripple and Gold and Silver markers.

The square stamp is an unknown one that I have had for years

and never previously used.

 

I do hope that the computer generated "greeting" has not breached any of the rules of the challenge.

I did have fun with this one.

 

Mary

A Little Less Grey

I love the beautiful clean lines of cards that fall into the category of "less is more", and have been trying to create some of them recently.  I start out ok but am never happy with them and so they end up in the pile of UFO's (unfinished objects). 

I have been stalking  enjoying Jen Nelson's cards for some time, and decided to try the challenge at "Less is More" where the theme is Shades of Grey.  Probably not such a good one for me to start with, but at least it took me less time to think about colours.

 

 

 

Supplies:

Stamp:  Party Animals by Annabelle Stamps

Card:   SU Whisper White

Designer paper:  SU  Howlstooth and Scaringbone

Ink:   Memento Tuxedo Black; Copics C3 and C5

Tools:   Big shot; Framelits Labels

 

Yes, it definitely is Whisper White cardstock.  Photography is clearly not a skill I have mastered, but today I had more trouble than usual. 

 

I am looking forward to seeing all the other cards and hopefully I will pick up some pointers. 

 

Thanks for the challenge Chrissie.

Mary

Oh Hello Cover

Oh Wow, was my first thought when I saw the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week.  I think I may have taken it a bit too seriously, but it was a lot of fun to make.  It is certainly only a challenge card as I can't think of any occasion I could use it for.  If I was anything other than a hobby demonstrator it could be used for display purposes, but that's about it.

 

All supplies are SU:

Stamps:  Oh Hello; Just Perfect Alphabet

Ink:  Daffodil Delight; Primrose Petals

Card:  Whisper White; Daffodil Yellow

Tools:  Big shot; Petite curly label punch; Tulip embossing folder

 

The Tulip embossing folder hasn't seen the light of day too often but I thought it was perfect for the frame.

 

Hope you like my take on the new catalogue cover.

Mary

 

Edited to add:

 

Really Pink

I'm entering this very pink card into the sketch challenge at Seize the Birthday.  Like Topsy, it just grew, and it got rosier as I added layers.

 

All supplies are SU:

Stamps:  Secret Garden; Itty Bitty Banners

Ink:  Melon Mambo

Cardstock: Whisper white; Melon Mambo

Tools:  Big shot; Fancy fan embossing folder; Bitty Banners Framelits

 

Hope this finds everyone "in the pink"!

Mary

A Sunny Bird

Doing a last minute dash for two challenges.  I knew I didn't have time to complete two cards, but I think I have managed to combine the two challenges in this card.

The Paper Players have a Tic Tac Toe challenge which is closing today and I chose the top line of birds, blue and birthdays and teamed it with the sketch at Sunny Challenges and Creations asking us to use retiring products.  Apart from the card stock, all the ingredients have now officially retired.

Stamps:   SU Nature Walk; French Foliage; SU Music wheel; Itty Bitty Banners

Ink:   SU Marina Mist and Soft Suede

Designer Paper:   SU First Edition

Tools:   Big shot; Bitty Banner Framelits

Nature Walk is a really lovely set of stamps but it has been sadly neglected by me, so I am very happy to finally get around to using it.

 

Thanks for popping in,

Mary

Edited to add:

thank you, I am delighted to be a ray of sunshine, but I won't get too big a head as there were not many entries this week.
 

Birthday poppies

Just popping in with an entry for the Scrapbook Boutique challenge. 

 

Don't you just love the cupcakes they use for their challenges?... and that background paper is gorgeous too.

  

 

The card is a very crisp white (SU Whisper White) but for some reason looks blue/grey.  Normally I would blame my photography, but it looks ok on my computer so not sure what I have done here because it does look fine in real life.

Mary

Mother

With Mothers' Day coming up, Sunny Challenges have requested a card especially for Mum with an interesting sketch to go with it.

 

I don't own a stamp for this occasion so had to make do.  I also would have loved a slightly larger circle for my main butterfly as it looked so pretty before I cut into it.

 

All SU

Stamps:  Swallowtail; Papillon Potpourri

Card:  Primrose Petals; Tempting Turquoise; Summer Starfruit

Ink:  Markers in above colours

Tools:  Big shot; Honeycomb embossing folder

 

The photo shows the colours as quite dark but in real life that blue is a beautiul turquoise.

Mary

Calming challenge

Black and Grey and perhaps even masculine ???  That is the challenge over at Dynamic Duos.  First thoughts were for a sympathy card but that seemed a little too obvious so I decided to work on the masculine part as well.

 

I love the latest look of the blackboard technique, so decided to make a blackboard easel card. 

 

I have always loved the Keep Calm posters and was dreadfully disappointed when Australia did not get the SU Keep Calm stamp set so I had to settle for another brand.

Stamps:  JustRite Just Keep Calm; SU Woodgrain

Card:  SU Basic Gray and Basic Black

DSP:  SU Howlstooth and Scaringbone

Ink:  Versamark; SU Basic black marker

Tools:  White embossing powder

So there we are - I think it will fit into the masculine card genre.
Mary

Thank you Karen for choosing this card as a Dynamic Darling

Because it's one layer

The Paper Players are looking for a card with only one layer this week.  I wasn't too sure about trying this, but the design team cards were so lovely that I have given it a go.

All SU product used on this card

Stamps:  Because I care; Bordering on romance

Card:  Whisper White

Ink:  Soft Suede

Tools:  Big shot;  Adorning accents edglits

 

Thanks for a great challenge,

Mary

Awash with Bubbles

The challenge at Just Add Ink is to add a technique that you haven't tried before. 

 

A few days ago while cleaning I found a pile of bubble wrap and remembered reading that someone had made a background with bubble wrap - I didn't even bother to read how they did it because I thought it would be rather messy. 

 

Yes, it was a bit messy, but I am quite happy with the result. 

 

Because the background was quite strong I wanted something simple for the focus and SU Awash with Flowers has now seen ink for the very first time.

 

All ingredients are SU

Stamps:  Awash with Flowers

Card:  Midnight Muse; Whisper White

Ink:  Midnight Muse; Gumball Green

Tools:  Stamp-a-ma-jig;  Gumball Green ribbon;  Round Tab punch

 

 

So for me this card has two new techniques and I will be trying both of them again very soon.

Mary



 

Wishing you

At Seize the Birthday this week the challenge is to make a feminine birthday card according to the sketch guidelines.  I think it is a great sketch and many ideas were going through my head but it took much longer than I anticipated to get the ideas onto the cardstock. 

All ingredients for this card are from SU

Stamps:  Vintage Verses; Pendant Park

Card:  Crumb Cake; Primrose Petals; Naturals Ivory

Ink:  Soft Suede; Primrose Petals

Other:  Crumb Cake tulle; Pearls; Champagne mist

 

I needn't have worried about overdoing the champagne mist, as it doesn't show in the photo, but it is very pretty.

Hope your day is perfect too.

Mary

Four You

Unscripted Sketches are celebrating their Fourth Birthday with a four part challenge.

Although my entry started out as a clean and simple card, the addition of the dsp does make it look rather busy. 

All supplies are SU.

Stamps:  Vintage Verses

Card:  Primrose Petals

DSP:  Attic Boutique

Ink:  Soft Suede

Tools:  Big shot; labels collection framelits;Victoria crochet trim

 

Hope your day is perfect too,

Mary

Blooming pumpkin pie

Pumkin Pie and Bashful Blue are the two colours selected this week over at the Dynamic Duos Challenge.  Each of the samples from the design team are gorgeous and my fingers itched to get going on this one.

Stamps:  SU Blooming with Kindness

Card:  SU Pumpkin Pie and Bashful Blue

Ink:  Pumpkin Pie

Tools:  Big shot; SU embossing frames

Sadly that was the last of my supply of the retiring Pumpkin Pie cardstock.
Mary

Edited to add:  Thanks to a comment left about this card I now realise that I was totally confused and have used More Mustard cardstock not Pumpkin Pie.  The flower was stamped in Pumpkin Pie.  Sorry.

Natural challenge

Just Add Ink's new challenge is to use Moonlight Muse, More Mustard and Rich Razzleberry on a card.  Not colours I would normally choose but they do work.

 

 

Stamps:  SU Nature Walk; SU Simple Delights

Card:  SU Rich Razzleberry and More Mustard

DSP:  Print Poetry

Ink:  Rich Razzleberry

Quite a few of the above elements I used today for the first time, so it is good to be challenged.

Mary

Seize the cat

The new challenge over at Seize the Birthday is for a masculine birthday.  I don't have much in the way of specifically male stamps but this cat caught my eye and I thought it might suffice:

Stamps:  Annabelle stamps Party Animals; SU Happiest Birthday wishes

Card:  SU Whisper white; basic grey;Tangerine tango

DSP:  SU Howlstooth and Scaringbone

Ink:  Stazon black; SU Peach Parfait marker

Tools:  Big shot; Stripe embossing folder; Basic grey striped ribbon

Meow for now,

Mary

Big wishes duo

I love the challenge over at Dynamic Duos, which is to use the colours Pool Party and Cherry Cobbler.  Yesterday I made a card for a friend with similar colours and was really happy with it, so it was a no-brainer to decide on my card for this week.

Stamps:  SU Patterned Occasions

Card:  Pool Party Coredinations; Whisper White; Cherry Cobbler

DSP:  SU Sycamore Street

Ink:  SU Basic Black Marker

Tools:  SU embossing folders - Fancy Fan and Cloudy Day; Big shot; Cherry Cobbler seam binding

 

and you may like to see yesterday's card:

 

 

the elephant is stamped in grey in this one and the card itself is the retired Taken with Teal, and although it looks very dark in this photo, it is quite a lovely colour.

 

Thanks for popping in,

Mary

Edited to add:
I was surprised but delighted that Amy liked my card.

Bright birthday

Seize the Birthday have a sketch this week and I am throwing this entry into the mix.

 

Although I love the colours in this Saleabration DSP, they are not the colours I would normally turn to when making cards so you may need your sunglasses to look at this one.

 

Stamps:  Perfect Punches

Card:  Whisper white; Island Indigo

DSP:  SU Sycamore Street

Tools:  Simply scored

 

As I don't posess any large ovals, I made the rosette and pulled it into an oval shape to make it fit the bill.

Mary

Ticket to ride

Sunny Challenges and Creations have a sketch to use this week along with a background stamp.  The lovely "Feeling Sentimental" stamp set was still on my desk so that is what I have gone with.  I used the large woodgrain stamp on Sahara Sand cardstock and used Island Indigo and Naturals Ivory as well.

Stamps:  Feeling Sentimental; Ticket wheel; Pretty Petites

Card:  Sahara sand; Naturals Ivory; Island Indigo

Ink:  Baja Breeze; Midnight Muse

Hopefully I have ticked the boxes for this challenge.

Mary

Cream in my coffee

I have left my run a bit late with this entry for the challenge over at Unscripted Sketches.  After many different ideas and much wasted time, I had almost given up hope of making anything work, and then the new challenge at Just Add Ink went up and the colours were so lovely that I knew what I wanted to do.  So I am  combining the two challenges in this one card.

 

Stamps:  SU Hearts a Flutter and Patterned Occasions

Card:  SU Whisper white

Ink:  Crumb Cake; Early Espresso

Tools:  Big shot; Hearts a Flutter framelits; scallop punch; Very Vanilla seam binding; Crumb cake scalloped tulle; embossing

 

Thank you for dropping in

Mary

Easter bunny bliss

Since 1952 the Lindt gold wrapped chocolate bunny with his red bow and tiny bell, has been a much coveted gift at Easter - as familiar as the foil wrapped eggs.  Just a few days ago the company lost a long running court battle to trademark the bunny, but hopefully he will be here again next Easter.

This week at Just Add Ink, the challenge is to add a bunny, and what better bunny than the SU Chocolate Bunny.

Stamps:  SU Chocolate Bunny (retired); Bliss (retired)

Card:  SU Real Red; Whisper White

Ink:  SU Real red; Versamark

Other:  Gold embossing powder;

Tools:  SU embossing folder vintage wallpaper; Framelits labels collection; big shot

 

Hope you all received lots of chocolate treats over the last few days

Mary