Moved Nicole

Today I have a challenge card to share instead of my usual See it Again Saturday card.  I am a Guest Designer for the Create with Connie and Mary Summer Collection 2013 which is very exciting!  During this month as the Summer Collection is going on, there is a Create Saturday Challenge each week.  This week is a fun sketch challenge. Isn't this a great layout!  I am using Rev Up the Fun for my project for the Summer Collection 2013, so I went ahead and used it for this first Saturday Challenge as well. I must say that this set is sooo much fun to work with!  When I saw the sketch for this week's challenge, I saw this card right away.  So, let's get on with the details.  My colors this time are Real Red, Crumb Cake, Basic Black Whisper White and Basic Gray.  The Crumb Cake card base is embossed with the Chevron EF which goes perfect with this stamp set.  The Real Red layer goes on next, it makes the car stamped on Whisper White really stand out.  The car was stamped with Ba

I am sorry to say that I don't have a flashback share for today :(  It's been a busy week with Vacation Bible School, so I didn't get a chance to do my usual flashback card.  Check back next week and I'll have one for you!  Instead I will be sharing a Mosaic Madness card I made last week. I have already said it but I'm saying it again, I LOVE THE NEW IN COLORS!  I am so into these colors and how well they go together.  This card uses Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana.  I made a pretty simple card.  The base is Strawberry Slush with a layer of Coastal Cabana.  The Whisper White layer is a simple pattern stamped with the mosaics.  I added rhinestone gems to make the mosaics prettier.  The greeting was simple too.   Make a Wish from Sweet Essentials was stamped in Strawberry Slush and die cut using the Window Framelits.  The Coastal Cabana layer underneath was hand cut so it would be a smaller matting.  More rhinestones added underneath ties in with the mosaic design

Today I have a card to share that I made for the Thursday Challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.  This week we had a color challenge to work with, take a look. I love these colors together.  When I saw them I was wishing I had already ordered the new Gingham Garden DSP, but sadly I don't have it yet.  So, I had to do something else and went to my Six Sided Sampler set.  I haven't done much with this new set yet so I was happy to pull it out to work with.  Here's the card I came up with. I have been into clean crisp designs lately, so I did the same here.  The card base is Melon Mambo with a layer or Whisper White.  The white was embossed with the Honeycomb EF to keep with the hexagon theme.  I stamped two hexagons for each of the three colors, using different patterns.  They are added to the card with SNAIL, I chose to keep them flat on the CS instead of popping them up.  The card needed a little extra something and a few flowers fit the bill.  The Melon Mambo flower and

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Today I have a Wisteria Wonder card to share for the Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge.  Take a look at the great sketch Mary Jo gave us this week. I didn't have to think for long about what to do for this sketch.  I have the new DSP Afternoon Picnic that I have been wanting to use, so I started out with it.  I chose the chevron design paper and worked around those colors.  Here's my card. The DSP had Pear Pizzaz, Wisteria Wonder and So Saffron in it.  I decided on Wisteria Wonder as my main color.  The base card is embossed with the Perfect Polka Dot EF.  The DSP was punched with the Scallop Trim Border and adhered to the card.  I used a square of Whisper White CS and stamped the flower from Simply Sketched in StazOn Black.  I used an Aqua Painter and ink pad to color the image.  The fun part of today's card came next.  I finally got to play with the new Simply Pressed Clay and Buttons and Blossoms Molds.  Oh my goodn

The weekend is here!  We are having hot and humid weather here in Ohio, all the more reason to stamp!  Today I have a card that is a re-do of a layout from last week.  I really loved the design that I came up with for my Thursday Create with Connie and Mary color challenge using Island Indigo, Summer Starfruit, and Early Espresso.  You can click HERE to go back to my post for the original card.  I used different colors and changed the design slightly, check out the new version. Don't you just love the Smokey Slate paired with Coastal Cabana??  I do!  This is a wedding card, it is June after all.  I didn't want it to be too girly, so these colors really fit the bill.  As far as re-designing goes, I changed a couple things slightly.  Besides the colors, I made the Window Framelit die cut the next size up.  To get the mosaic pattern, I first stamped my pattern on a square piece of CS then die cut with the framelit.  This not only makes it easier to stamp an even mosaic design, bu

Welcome to another Flashback Friday!  This week we travel to 2006 for the cute Definitely Decorative set called By Land.  I figured I'd use this set since I've been doing a lot of car cards this week.  Here is the stamp set, there was a matching tire track wheel as well. I have been really into Smokey Slate, so I used it again.  But this time I paired it with Pumpkin Pie.  I love how the two colors look together, a very good combo for a little boy birthday card. I combined the old with the new and I love how it updated this stamp set.  The card base is pumpkin pie.  One of the reasons I chose it was because I already had an extra card base ready to go!  I embossed a piece of Basic Gray with the Chevron EF for the bottom of the card.  For the car, I stamped it and cut out the pieces.  I wanted the image to look really crisp, so stamping with the ink pad verses coloring with markers just provided a better image.  I fussy cut the car and wheels then just adhered them to the Whispe

Welcome back!  Today I have a card that is totally different than what I've been showing all week.  The Thursday Challenge at Create with Connie and Mary is a sketch this week.  When I looked at it, I pictured a wedding card for some reason.  So I put away Rev Up the Fun and You're My Hero for the moment and made a soft and pretty card. Here's a look at the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary Thursday Challenge. I have the new DSP Afternoon Picnic and have yet to use it, so that's where I started.  Take a look at the card this paper inspired. Since this particular design of the DSP has Very Vanilla in it, I used that as my card base.  I embossed it with the gorgeous new EF called Beautifully Baroque.  For the DSP banner, I cute s strip of the paper then cut only the bottom half with a framelit from the Labels Collection.  The greeting was stamped on Very Vanilla with Smokey Slate ink.  To get the shape of that card stock for the greeting, I used the same Label frame

Today I have another fun birthday card to share using You're My Hero.  I am still into the blues and grays, I tried to use other colors but couldn't! If you haven't noticed, I am also into using banners on my cards lately.  Today it's a very large Smokey Gray banner.  The cute police card is stamped all over the banner along with weeeooo-weeeooo.  I stamped off once to mute the color a bit.  The card base is Pacific Point embossed with the Chevron EF.  I attached the banner then added in a greeting.  The police card under the greeting was stamped off twice to make it very light.  I wanted the greeting to really stand out.  I have the greeting popped up and Pacific point Candy Dots added to the ends.  I also added Real Red Candy Dots on the police cars for a pop of color.  Another card that was quick to put together but looks super cute!  Keep coming back, more to come with this set and Rev Up the Fun. Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out preview week for the Su

Welcome back!  Today I have a card to share using the fun new set called You're My Hero.  Now that I have two little boys, my girl stamp sets are getting dusty!  I am having lots of fun stamping race cards and fire trucks from the great new sets we have available. I made this card for almost 4 year old.   Ben's birthday is a little over a month away so I figured I'd get a jump on things!  He is all boy and loves to say weeeooo-weeeooo when playing with his fire truck, so I had to make him this card!  The base is Real Red (no embossing again!) with a few simple elements added.  The fire truck is stamped with StazOn black then die cut with the Circles Framelits.  I lightly colored the truck with my Aqua Painter and ink pad, didn't want it to be a crazy dark red.  Lastly I did a series of banners that were stamped with the greeting.  I also added in the weeooo's to the card base, thought it needed a little something extra.  This was quick to put together and I just lov

Monday's here, time for a new Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge at Technostamper.  Here's a look at the great sketch we have for this week. I have been working with Rev Up the Fun from the new catalog so I used it for this card. I have really gotten into using the new Smokey Slate lately, so I used it for today's card.  The card base is Smokey Slate , no embossing either!  It's funny, I feel the need to emboss just about every card base and I have now made three cards for this week that have none!  I stamped the motorcycle in the Smokey slate and the greeting in Pacific Point.  I think these two colors and Basic Gray look wonderful together.  I used the Heart a Flutter bundle to make the striped banners.  The finishing touch for the layout is the Basic Black Chevron Ribbon.  I just love this color combination!  You can be sure I'll be using these colors more! You can see the cards made by the other members of the design team by clicking on the links below.  I hope y

Today I have a really fun card to share using Rev Up the Fun from the new catalog.  This card was designed for a very special reason....I am a Guest Designer for the Create with Connie and Mary Summer Collection 2013 !  How cool is that!!  I have been designing a card for Create with Connie and Mary each week as a Thursday Challenge Team member and I just love it!  Now I get the chance to design more than a card...I have a very fun 3D project that I have designed exclusively for this Summer Collection.  First let me go ahead and show you today's card, then I will fill you in on all the details about the Summer Collection. Here is my rev'd up birthday pop up card. I think this stamp set if so much fun!  For this card I used the race car.  I picked bold colors, Real Red, Pacific Point, Basic Black, Smokey Slate, Basic Gray, and Whisper White.  The front of the card is two die cut circles using the new framelits, one with the focal point and one to accent it.  I liked the idea of

Welcome to Flashback Friday!  This week we travel back to 2007 for the stamp set So Much.  I haven't really done a lot with this set.  I got this as the free set for a regional event in Cincinnati in 2007.  Here's a picture of the set. I had this in my pile of stamps that I was actually going to sell, but it's still here... and I'm glad!  I think it's a fun set to use in a more abstract way which is currently popular.  I sat down with it and had a card finished in no time, it sort of made itself.  I didn't have to contemplate much, I just sat down and started stamping.  Here's my card. I am loving the new Circle Framelits, so that is what led me to this stamp set in the first place.  I wanted to die cut the swirl of circles from the stamp set.  I am also loving the In Colors right now, so I went in that direction for a lighter feel.  The card base is actually the retired Cool Caribbean, reason being it was a card base ready to go from my extras pile.  I stam

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.  This week we have a color challenge to work with. I love the masculine feel of this color combo, I haven't try this one out before.  I ended up going with Mosaic Madness, here's what I made. I must confess that Summer Starfruit is a color I never use.  I don't even own the ink pad.  I have the card stock though, therefore I chose it as the card base.  I added in a mosaic design to the card base, but I used Versa Mark to get around the no ink pad issue.  I often over look the value of Versa Mark, nice to have it around!  Let's look closer at the focal point of the card. My focal point is a stamped mosaic design that was die cut with a window framelit.  I stamped the design before cutting it so I could position the design how I wanted it in the window framelit.  I stamped my design using Island Indigo and Early Espresso.  For a pop of color, I added in a couple flowers in Summer Starfruit that

Happy Monday!  Time for a new Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge.  This week we have yet another great sketch provided to us by Mary Jo, take a look. I did a simple yet elegant card with this week's sketch using the new hostess set Simply Sketched. I love that this sketch allowed me to make a card fairly quick.  A few elements and I had an elegant sympathy card.  I started out with a Baked Brown Sugar card base embossed with the Woodgrain EF. I stamped the bird on Glossy CS (boy am I sad about this retiring...) with black StazOn ink. The image was colored in using a blender pen and ink pad for the lighter areas and markers for the darker shading.  I sponged Baked Brown Sugar ink around the edges of the die cut from the Apothecary Accents set.  The greeting was stamped last below the bird with black StazOn ink.  I added in a stripe of Old Olive CS with the ends cut into banner shapes with the 1" square punch.   And that's it, card complete!  I can see me using this hostess s

This week for See it Again Saturday I am doing a re-visit of yesterday's layout.  I really loved the simplicity of it.  So, let's get directly to it!  Here's today's card made with the new hostess set Simply Sketched. I love all the new In Colors so the card was based on them.  Coastal Cabana is the card base embossed with the new Beautifully Baroque EF.    The banners are all In Colors as well - Baked Brown Sugar, Crisp Cantaloupe, and Pistachio Pudding.  I stamped the image and greeting from Simply Sketched with Baked Brown Sugar ink then colored it with my blender pen and ink pads.  The image was die cut using the new circles framelits which I absolutely LOVE! As a finishing touch, I did paper piercing around the image.  I had to free hand it, there isn't a template with a circle big enough yet.  I am hoping that Stampin' Up! will have new paper piercing templates for all the new framelits coming soon. Thanks for checking out my card today, hope to see you Mo

It's Friday again, time for a flashback!! Today we are traveling back to 2004 for the cute set called I'm Here.  As you all may know, I have a brand new baby boy, he is 6 weeks old today.  I have lots of cards to make and get out for thank you's and announcements.  I thought this set was really cute and would be perfect for what I need.  I actually have two cards to share.  One card was done as a thank you that were sent out a few weeks ago and one card I just made.  First of all, here is the stamp set. Let's look at the card I just made for today.  I am quite pleased with the simple but fun layout. The card base is the now retired Bashful Blue.  I am sooooo going to miss this color!  I added in banners from the retired DSP Nursery Nest.  I actually bought this particular DSP on the clearance rack and I just love it, so cute!  The foot prints were stamped on Whisper White with Marina Mist which was stamped off once to get a lighter shade of blue.  I die cut the foot pri

Today I have a fun card to share with you.  I made it using the Hearts a Flutter set that has been collecting dust since I got my preview items.  I felt it was time to switch it up a little and give the Mosaic Madness set a break!  Anyway, this week we have a sketch challenge for Create with Connie and Mary.     And here is a look at the card I made using this sketch. I wanted to use some of the new In Colors and I wanted them to stand out.  So, I used Crumb Cake as my card base without any embossing (hard to believe!).   I added in a piece of Coastal Cabana that was embossed with the Modern Mosaic EF.  The banner is Whisper White that was stamped with hearts using Coastal Cabana and Strawberry Slush.  I added in a Strawberry Slush heart that was die cut with the matching framelit.  For the greeting I used A Round Array in Coastal Cabana, it was punched out with the matching 7/8" Scallop punch.  This is a clean and simple card which is quickly becoming my favorite type of layout!

Monday is here already! Time for a new Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge!  I am really glad I was asked to be a member of the design team.  This weekly challenge is something I look forward to!! Here is a look at this week's fantastic sketch. I am happy to see the new catalog, but I will miss certain sets.  This card is made with one of them, Aviary.   There is just something about this cute bird set! I am a hoarder as you all know, so I will be keeping this set for the long haul!  I loved the sketch for this week with it's clean design.  I kept my card just that, clean and simple!  The Whisper White card stock for the card base is embossed with the Stripes EF.  I added cloud DSP from Sunshine and Sprinkles from the just retired Spring Catalog.  The yellow striped DSP is from the same set of papers as well.  The birdcage is stamped with StazOn Black using the Stamp-a-Majig to get it lined up properly.  I added in a Strawberry Slush bird using the Stamp-a-Majig again.  A banner