At Least Someone's Glam

I could tell today was going to be a long day when I was in the shower this morning, rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, and the electricity went out for no apparent reason. It was a bright, sunny morning, no rain or wind whatsoever so the power outage was completely out of the blue. I immediately got a sinking feeling in my stomach. The idea of going to work with soaking wet hair was not an appealing one! Fortunately, just before the drop-dead, last moment before I would be hopelessly late for work if I stayed at home any longer, the power returned and I was able to plug in my hairdryer. That event just set the tone for the day, though. I was so glad to get home and have a little time to spend stamping tonight.

Given my near hair disaster this morning, I thought it would be fitting to use one of the ultra-fashionable Glam Girls images from C. C. Designs tonight. I combined two blogger challenges to create this card. I used Lauren's Saturday sketch challenge as the basis for the design, along with the Great Swaps Girls challenge to pull out the often-neglected, old favorite tool, the paper crimper.

The colors for the card were based on the bright patterned paper from Prima's Sasha collection. I picked the pink and blue shades to use to color the image. I also added some glittery accents to her headband/scarf, sunglasses, and ring. I used my just-arrived extra-large rectangle Nestabilities for the main image and scalloped panel. These will definitely come in handy!

Instead of using a ribbon across the cardfront, I used a narrow crimped piece. I cut a "v" into the edges of the crimped piece for some interest and glued on some rhinestones, too. The sentiment went over the center of the panel to finish the design off. I may still go back and add a bright Prima flower or two--I haven't decided on that yet.

I'll be back tomorrow with my blogger challenge project. I'll warn you in advance, it's another bright one . . .

Materials Used:

Glam Girls stamp set (C.C. Designs); white cardstock (Georgia Pacific); Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); markers and pink glitter pen (Copic); patterned paper (Prima's Sasha Collection); Pink Passion Classic ink, Pink Passion and Tempting Turquoise cardstock, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, paper crimper (Stampin' Up!); rhinestones (Walmart); rectangle dies (Nestabilities); Stardust pen (Sakura)

Glam Great Swaps Girl

My electricity has been restored and I've gotten to be home for more than a 10 minute stretch for the first time since early yesterday morning. I'm so glad the weekend's almost here, even though I'll be spending most of it doing work on upcoming presentations for my classes . . .

I decided to spend a little time stamping this evening in between some other stuff I need to catch up on. Here's my version of this week's sketch challenge from the Great Swaps Girls blog. I really like the sketch that Jessie created for us to try out.

I picked out one of my Glam Girls images from C.C. Designs and patterned paper from SEI's Oasis line for the sketch. I probably wouldn't have put these colors together if it weren't for the patterned paper, but I really like the look. The white medallion image on the paper is shimmery IRL--fun detail.

The Glam Girl image is colored with Copic markers to coordinate with the paper. I added just a little gold Stardust pen to give her some sparkly detail along the hem of her shirt and pants and on her accessories. I also stamped one of the set's sentiments on the image panel in matching ink. Definitely darling!

Materials Used:

Glam Girls stamp set (C.C. Designs); Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); white cardstock (Georgia Pacific); markers (Copic Ciao); patterned paper (SEI Oasis paper); gold Stardust pen (Sakura); petite oval and petite scalloped oval dies (Nestabilities); Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, and Chocolate Chip cardstock, Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Flame Dew Drops (Kitchen Sink Stamps)

Survivor Challenge

In honor of the season finale of Survivor, this week's challenge on the Great Swaps Girls blog was to use a limited set of supplies to create a card. When you have so much "stuff" to choose from, it is so hard to stick to a limit! The limits here included 1 stamp set, 2 colors (plus any neutrals), 1 tool, and 1 embellishment. Even with the limits, I like what I came up with. I guess that's a good reminder that clean and simple works, too.

I started with picking a stamp set. I went with Wonderful You for a few reasons. First, because of how the images are in the set, I knew I could get a lot of variation in the two colors by stamping off and second, it had sentiments to include on the card. I paired it with a scrap of patterned paper from the Fall Flowers pack. I decided to use Soft Sky (one of my favorite colors) along with Old Olive as my two colors, plus kraft cardstock as the card base.

I stamped the outline of the leafy image once in Old Olive, then inked up the solid image and stamped off one time before stamping on the image panel. Then, I brushed the image panel against the Soft Sky and Old Olive ink pads to add a little subtle color around the image. I added the sentiment on the bottom right corner of the panel.

For my one embellishment, I chose a piece of kraft taffeta ribbon. I tried a few different ribbons (wide Soft Sky grosgrain, Chocolate Chip poly twill, etc) before settling on this one. For my one tool, I picked the paper piercer. I used it along the bottom edge of the cardfront and around the top of the image panel. Piercing around the image panel kind of reminded me of the pattern in the paper (the petals around the flower center).

Now I'm off to dinner with some of my kindergarten teacher friends. We're planning a delicious Mexican food meal at Rio Grande--yum!

Materials Used (all from Stampin' Up!):

Wonderful You stamp set, Old Olive and Soft Sky Classic inks, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Kraft, and Confetti White cardstock, Fall Flowers designer paper, kraft taffeta ribbon, paper piercing tool

Great Swaps Girls Challenge 2

I'm just getting to last week's challenge from the Great Swaps Girls blog. This week's challenge was a sketch challenge. I'm working on a baby present for a friend who just became a first time mom and needed a card to go with the present, so I decided to use the sketch to create the card.

Since the baby is a boy, I used a monochromatic blue color scheme for the card. I included a bold, dark blue shade on the card since my friend isn't wild about the more traditional "baby" colors. I went with my all-time favorite baby card image, the giraffe from Wild About You. I stamped the image in blue, then punched out the holes in the image and backed the image with Night of Navy cardstock. The sentiment is from the In the Stars stamp set--so sweet for welcoming a new baby.

I found some navy dotted ribbon in my ribbon collection and tied that around the patterned paper panel. The final piece was the three navy buttons across the top of the card. I used a white gel pen to add the "stitch" through the button hole. This is much easier and quicker than finding thread and tying it!

Now that I've got the card done, I've just got to finish the gift. I'll share it here once it's done.

Materials Used:

Wild About You and In the Stars stamp sets, Night of Navy and Bashful Blue Classic inks, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy and Whisper White cardstock, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, handheld circle punches, glue dots, white gel pen, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); patterned paper (DCWV's Summer Mat Stack); 1 1/2" circle punch (EK Success); navy blue dotted grosgrain ribbon (Michael's dollar bin); navy buttons (Walmart)

Great Swaps Girls Challenges: Week 1

Recently, I've become a member in an SU! demo swap group. The talent in this group is unbelievable! I hope my swaps will measure up . . . Anyway, the group has just started a blog that features weekly challenges. Here are my first two cards for the Great Swaps Girls challenges.

This one's for the featured stamper challenge. Our very first GSG featured stamper is Jackie/strappystamper. I based my card on the one found here in her SCS gallery. I picked this card because it uses the Always stamp set. I got this set in early March and I haven't used it yet. I've seen so many fantastic things done with it, but I wasn't sure I could do anything great with it (kinda like my "fear" of Baroque Motifs--LOL!). I used it for a few cards last weekend at a shoebox swap, so I figured I should give it a try.

I made changes to the color combination, replacing Sage Shadow with Close to Cocoa, and to the size of the card, making it a standard size rather than a square one. I also used only one heart image since my space across the card was limited. I stamped the heart image in Rose Red and heat embossed it with Iridescent Ice like Jackie did. It looks fantastic IRL! Instead of faux stitching with All in a Row along the top panel, I did some faux stitching with my paper piercing tool and white gel pen along the Close to Cocoa panel.

Materials Used:
Always stamp set, Rose Red Classic ink, Versamark, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, and Whisper White cardstock, So Saffron and Rose Red Prints Series designer papers, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, mat pack and paper piercing tool, white gel pen, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); white satin ribbon (Target); red brads (?)

This is for the color challenge--Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, and So Saffron. This is a great spring color combo, isn't it? I used my Stemming From stamp set. I think this has a real spring-like look to it, too.

I decided to make a mini flower garden using the different flower images from Stemming From. I started by stamping three stems at different heights on the white panel. Then I stamped the large flower in Regal Rose ink and cut it out. I added an Iridescent Ice embossed center to the flower, too. The smaller flowers are stamped in So Saffron on So Saffron cardstock. I added a 1/4" circle to the center of each flower along with a tiny flat-backed pearl. I sponged a little green along the bottom of the panel and some So Saffron across the top (like a sunny day, I guess).

The sentiment comes from the One Smart Cookie stamp set in the current Occasions Mini Catalog. I ordered these because I'm always looking for small sentiments that I can squeeze on to a card when there's just a tiny bit of space left for a sentiment.

The patterned paper is a leftover scrap of Wintergreen paper from the SU! Fall-Winter Catalog. The starburst-y image looked kind of like the stem image to me, so that's why I used it.

Fun first challenges! I'm looking forward to seeing what this week brings.

Materials Used:

Stemming From and One Smart Cookie stamp sets, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, and Regal Rose Classic inks, Regal Rose Craft ink, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, and Whisper White cardstock, Wintergreen designer paper, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, 1/4" and 1/2" circle punches, slit punch, sponges, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!) flat back pearls (Target); pink grosgrain ribbon (American Crafts)