Great Impressions Stamps | Elegant Motif

Good morning! I am back with another card for Great Impressions Stamps. This week I wanted to use a very versatile, and elegant, little stamp to show how repeating an element can really finish off a card. 

(Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions Stamps) Elegant Motif. Ink: (Fresh Ink) Capri Blue. Cardstock: (PTI) Soft Stone, New Leaf, Enchanted Evening, White. Letter Stickers: BasicGrey. Ribbon: May Arts. Gems: Hero Arts. Impression Plate: (PTI) Linen and Canvas. Border die: (PTI) Small scalloped border.)

I used an acrylic block with a grid to line up my image. I stamped it 5 times, alternating sides, then trimmed the panel to 4.25 x 1.5 inches. The result is a fun focal point that I embellished with a few gems. To make the  stamped panel stand out even more, I die cut two scalloped borders from white cardstock and adhered them behind the soft stone cardstock. The white also created a visual triangle between the white crinkle ribbon, white scalloped border, and white letter stickers.

And don't forget to stop by the Great Impressions Stamps blog on Friday for our Ronald McDonald House Charities blog hop. Hope to see you there! 

Retro Sketches | Challenge #30

Retro Sketches has a great sketch for us this week! 

I pulled out my un-inked Natural Beauties stamp set last night and played around until I came up with a color combination I was happy with: Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, and Winter Wisteria:

(Supplies - Stamps: (PTI) Natural Beauties. Ink: (PTI) Aqua Mist, Harvest Gold, Hawaiian Shores, Winter Wisteria, Smokey Shadow. Cardstock: (PTI) White, Winter Wisteria. (Avery Elle) Aquamarine. (Hero Arts) Pool Layering Paper. Other: Gems, glitter, button, white string.)

Now that I've used Natural Beauties, I can't wait to use it again! A really versatile & elegant stamp set. 

Have a great week! 

Fab Friday | Challenge #2

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. We were busy Friday and Saturday, but stayed in Sunday so Jack could recover from a 24 hour flu. Our schedule is packed this week with soccer, a music performance, cub scouts, and (hopefully) a date this weekend. Fall is definitely our busiest season!

This week's Fab Friday challenge is a color challenge: So Saffron, Sahara Sand, and Basic Gray. I LOVE this combination... yellow and gray are so soft and pretty together. I used Stampin' Up's Summer Silhouettes stamp set & Papertrey Ink's Quatrefoil cover plate: 

(Supplies - Stamps: (Stampin' Up!) Summer Silhouettes. Papertrey Ink: Bitty Background Blocks, Floral Foliage. Ink: (Stampin' Up!) Basic Gray, Sahara Sand, So Saffron. (PTI) Smokey Shadow. Cardstock: (Papertrey Ink) Harvest Gold, white. (Stampin' Up!) Basic Gray. Dies: (PTI) Quatrefoil cover plate, pinking edger die. Other: Buttons.)

The quatrefoil image from Summer Silhouettes matches perfectly with PTI's quatrefoil cover plate. I couldn't find my stamp-a-ma-jig for the quatrefoil stamp, so I eyeballed it using an acrylic block with a grid. After stamping the entire background with the quatrefoil stamp, I stamped the leaves & flowers. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

CAS-ual Fridays | Challenge #71

Great Impressions Stamps is sponsoring this week's challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays, and I'm thrilled to present my card. 

I used two Great Impressions stamps to create a fun Halloween card. I still had silver embossing powder on my desk from making this card and I thought silver spiders webs would be a fun twist. Anything to make spider webs look less... spider-webby, right? And the buttons are actually orange (and match the cardstock), but they photographed red. 

(Supplies - Stamps: (Great Impressions) Boo To You, Mummified. Cardstock: Papertrey Ink. Ink: Papertrey Ink. Silk Ribbon: Papertrey Ink. Other: Buttons, silver embossing powder.)

I close up of the embossed webs and the silk ribbon: 

Jenny has posted the other DT members' projects on the Great Impressions Stamps blog. We would love for you to stop by and say hi. :-)

ColourQ | Challenge #155

ColourQ has once again provided us with an awesome color combination this week.

I pulled out Papertrey Ink's Wreath for All Seasons and Inside and Out: Birthday for my card:

(Supplies - Stamps: (PTI) Inside and Out: Birthday, Wreath for All Seasons. Ink: (Stampin' Up!) Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, So Safron. (Memento) Lulu Lavender. Cardstock: (PTI) Lavender Moon, White. (Stampin' Up!) So Safron, Kraft. Dies: (PTI) Mat Stack #3, scalloped border. Other: Button, silk ribbon.)

Tomorrow the entire Great Impressions Stamps design team will be participating in this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge. I hope you will join us! The challenge is perfect for this time of year. :-)

Thanks for stopping by! 

Great Impressions Stamps | Watering Can Bouquet

Hi everyone! 

Does anyone else have a type of stamp or stamps they gravitate toward, time and time again? For me, its flowers. I adore them. Sunflowers, peonies, lilacs, daisies, roses... I must have them all! I like line images that I can color (like today's stamp), and solid images that make an impact. When I saw this stamp in the Great Impressions catalog, I knew I had to have it! The image is very detailed, so I kept the papers and embellishments to a minimum. Just a few pieces of patterned paper, ribbon, and some buttons.

(Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions Stamps) Watering Can Bouquet, With Sympathy. Cardstock, Patterned Paper, Ribbon: Papertrey Ink. Other: Buttons, Stickles, Copics.)

After I colored each of the flowers, I used stickles to add glitter to the centers. Another one of my favorite products. :-) 

Have a great week!

Erin.

Papertrey Ink | Make It Monday #83

Hi there! This week's Make It Monday challenge is Card Aisle Inspiration. I did not have time to run to Walgreens yesterday and look for an inspiration card, so I shopped the closet in my office for a card I have received and saved. Luckily, I had several to choose from. :-)

My sister sent me this beautiful card for my birthday this year (or maybe last year) and I just love it:

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the flowers are embossed in silver and speckled in glitter. The color reminded me of Raspberry Fizz, and while I don't have an exact match to the flowers, the peonies from Pretty Peonies worked well as a replacement:

I stamped and embossed each flower individually, then used my scissors to trim around the each flower segment. After I cut the flower pieces out, I smeared Perfect Pearls over the entire card to give it the same shimmer the inspiration card has. Unfortunately the perfect pearls does not show up in the photo. (Seriously... a light box is in my very near future!). 

What do you think? Without the inspiration card I would not have created this... but I love it. The pink, white, and silver color combo is really striking. I'm tempted to re-make the card and include a sentiment for a bride and groom. I think the elegant flowers and silver embossing powder would make a fantastic wedding card.

That's it from me today! I'll be back tomorrow with a card for Great Impressions Stamps. I can't wait to share! :-)

CAS-ual Fridays | Challenge #70

Hello! I have one more card to share today; this one is for CAS-ual Friday's Black & White + 1 color challenge. 

I had so much fun making this card... and it is officially my first Christmas card of the season! I am a little disappointed with how it photographed (because the ink color is so light). Hopefully the colors show up well on my blog and you can see how soft and pretty it is.

(Supplies - Stamps: (PTI) Take Three: Winter, Mixed Messages, Tag-It's #8. Dies: (PTI) Take Three, Tiny Tags. Ribbon: (Stampin' Up!) Baja Breeze silk ribbon. Ink: (Colorbok) Soft Breeze, (PTI) Smokey Shadow. Patterned Paper: Echo Park. Cardstock: (PTI) White, True Black. Other: Pearls.)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Thanks for stopping by! 

ColourQ | Challenge #154

Hi everyone! I have two cards to share today. The first is for ColourQ's newest challenge: 

I haven't pulled out my Bravo Burgundy or Cameo Coral ink pads in a long time... but I'm so glad I did! I also used Papertrey Ink's Daydreamer & Modern Wood Mats stamp sets.

(Supplies - Stamps: (PTI) Modern Wood Mats, Daydreamer, and Sunflower Bouquet. Ink: (PTI) Simply Chartreuse and Harvest Gold. (Stampin' Up!) Cameo Coral and Bravo Burgundy. Dies: (PTI) Mat Stack #4 and Double Ended Banner.  Impression Plate: (PTI) Cane. Other: Buttons.)

Daydreamer is one of my favorite sets... I love the flower images & the different layering possibilities. Cutting out the flower is tedious, but definitely worth it!

Great Impressions Stamps is hosting a fantastic blog hop to support the Ronald McDonald House charities. If you are interested in participating, please click on the badge on the right of my blog, or click here. I will be participating, and I can't wait to see what everyone creates and support this fantastic charity. 

And I also want to thank ColourQ for choosing this card as the winner for challenge #152. I will post my ColourQ Queen badge on my blog soon! I am working on a blog re-do, including new tabs and a more streamlined look. Hopefully that will happen soon! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Paper Smooches Sparks | Designer Drafts Challenge

Happy Friday, friends! I have a fabulous fall card to share today for Paper Smooches' Designer Drafts Challenge:

Once again I pulled out Gently Seasoned and PTI inks in Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, and Terracotta Tile. 

(Supplies - Stamps (Paper Smooches) Gently Seasoned. Cardstock: (PTI) Kraft, Summer Sunrise, White, Terracotta Tile. Patterned Paper: (PTI) Distressed Dots in Summer Sunrise. Ink: (PTI) Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, and Terracotta Tile. Impression Plate: (PTI) Linen and Canvas. Other: Buttons, white thread.)

I was busy stamping/cleaning/stamping my leaves and I was almost done... and one leaf smudged. Just a little bit, but it bugged me enough to either a.) throw it away and start over, or b.) find a way to work around it. The result: popped up Terracotta Tile leaves! By stamping extra leaves onto white cardstock, then trimming them and using pop dots, I was able to save my stamped tree & add extra dimension. Gotta love it when mistakes actually make a card better. :-) 

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. We have soccer tomorrow & a Cub Scouts meeting on Sunday. No rest for the weary!

Thanks for stopping by!