TGIF Challenge! #TGIFC05

As I mentioned in my last post, it's been pretty crazy around here.  I've had a lot of projects on my plate and so many social engagements (doesn't that just sound so cosmopolitan -  grin).  I wanted to play along with the TGIF Challenge! last week but just couldn't fit it in.  I was excited to see that the clever design team decided to create a "mash up" challenge, so I still had the opportunity to take on last weeks challenge, and of course add another of the previous challenges.  The inspiration challenge last week reminded me of the retired Stampin' Up burlap background stamp.  I thought that should be easy, pair it with some flowers and you're good to go.  Well the path to my completed project took a lot of twists and turns.  I just wasn't happy with the burlap background, even after stamping off it was too bold.  I tried a number of other directions, finally landing on stamping the burlap in white craft on pool party.  I used an aqua blender and markers on the flower in calypso coral and tangerine tango.  I used crushed curry for the banner and card base.  The embossed stripe is in calypso coral and I used brown and yellow Sharpies to color the pearls in the center of the flower to achieve a color close to crushed curry.

I ended up pulling in elements from 3 of the mash up challenges.  The color challenge, the sketch challenge and the inspiration challenge:

I encourage you to stop by the TGIF Challenge! site and take a look at the fabulous offerings from the design team and the others participating in the challenge.

Happy Stamping!

Dana

Happy 100th Birthday Pat!

Whew, it's been busy around here.  I've been working on a lot of projects and plan to share them soon.  But on to today's post:

My Aunt asked me to make some tags for a very special lady turning 100!  Pat is the mother of my Aunt's dear friend.  My Aunt is ordering Pat's favorite chocolates to put together little favors for her birthday celebration and needed a little gift tag to attach to the packages.  Pat is a lively 100 this year and has a passion for everything Irish.  Though she is not Irish in heritage, she and her husband enjoyed annual trips to Ireland.  I made 75 of these little tags and wish Pat a very Happy 100 Year Birthday!

Happy Stamping!

Dana

Honoring a Very Special Mother

The title of this post on Mother's Day may lead you to believe that I am honoring my Mother.  While my Mother could be titled the best mother of all time, I hope that I honor her every day.  This post is dedicated to my mother's cousin and she holds a very special place in my heart.  She recently became the grandmother to the most beautiful twin boys.  After that joyous event, she was diagnosed with primary peritoneal cancer.  Things have moved quickly, she just had surgery to remove what they could and will begin chemo this week.  I am praying that she will have many years to come to spend with those beautiful babies and grace the rest of us with the joy she brings.  This card is for her.

I am playing along with 2 challenges today.  The challenge at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is "Lets Get Sentimental" and requests that Tim Holtz products be included.  The second challenge is a fabulous sketch at TGIF Challenges.

  

The banner on the card was created by direct stamping a Versamark pad over the Tim Holtz Lace stencil.  I randomly sprinkled Tim Holtz Broken China and Dried Marigold distress embossing powder and a few sprinkle of Adirondack Espresso embossing powder.  I heat set and then slightly distressed the cooled embossing powder.  The main panel is Stampin Up Pool Party card stock in which I direct stamped a Stampin Up Illuminate pad over the Tim Holtz Lace stencil to subtly mimic the design on the banner.  The main panel and banner were matted with Stampin Up Early Espresso card stock.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up Best of Greetings and was stamped on Pool Party and embossed with the Espresso embossing powder.  The sentiment was layered on a piece of peach card stock from my stash which was cut with the Labels Collection Framelits from Stampin Up.  I ran an Early Espresso marker around the edge to make it stand out a bit more.  My final embellishment was a knotted and flagged piece of Stampin Up Early Espresso Quilted Satin ribbon.

Here is a close up of the sentiment and the texture on the banner piece.  I love the juxtaposition of the rough distress embossing with the floral image of the stencil.

Happy Stamping,

Dana

Mother's Love for Fab Friday

I'm a late bloomer with Stampin' Up's 2013-2015 In Colors.  I was immediately drawn to Baked Brown Sugar as I am always interested in great neutral colors (so excited to see the new Tip Top Taupe).  However, I'm not much of a pastel gal and I saw these colors as pretty pastel.  I have been busy working on decorations and favors for our niece's wedding and her colors closely match Crisp Cantaloupe and Mossy Meadow.  I'm now a convert of this collection of colors now that they are going away. As such, I thought I would play along at Fab Friday as they are honoring these outgoing colors.

I stamped the flower stem from Stampin' Up's Mother's Love set in Baked Brown Sugar on very vanilla, the leaves are in Pistachio Pudding and the flowers in Crisp Cantaloupe.  I added a few Pistachio Pudding splatters with the Gorgeous Grunge set.  The wavy lines on the main panel are from the Chalk Lines set and then embossed with the Lovely Lace embossing folder.  Both the main panel and the flower panel were matted with Baked Brown Sugar. A simple bow of crochet trim finishes off the card.

I hope you enjoyed my card and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping

Dana

You Made My Day with #TGIFC01

Welcome all!  I decided to participate in a brand new challenge at TGIF.  The design team at TGIF is amazingly talented and I have quietly followed many of their blogs for some time now.  My very best wishes to them for great success on this new endeavor.

This week is a color challenge and I immediately fell in love with the color combination even though I don't think I would have thought to pair these three together.  Take a look at the inspiration projects from the design team as well as the challenge participants and I suspect you will fall in love with this color combo as well.  Here are the challenge colors:

And here is my interpretation of those colors:

I used the Stampin Up Nature's Perfection set to create my card.  I stamped the wild flower stem in crushed curry on a piece of whisper white and matted it on pool party card stock.  I embossed the large flower image on crushed curry twice with calypso coral embossing powder and lightly water colored  a little calypso coral for added dimension.  I fussy cut and layered the images with dimensionals.  I also embossed the sentiment from Stampin Up A Dozen Thoughts in calypso coral and ran through my big shot with the Project Life framelits.  I also layered this on a scrap of pool party.  I hope you enjoyed my card and I wish you a fabulous day!

Happy Stamping,
Dana