Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #12

I have news!!!  A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Lori (you may know her as Chanteuse on SCS) over at The Diva Stamper asking me if I'd like to join the Divine Divas challenge team.  Now, who wouldn't want be a Diva?  And here she was offering to make me a Divine Diva!  Well, I gotta tell ya...I couldn't say yes fast enough!

So what does it mean to be a Divine Diva?  Of course, there's stamping involved.  Here's the way it works.  Lori chooses an inspiration piece, and the rest of the Diva's create a something using that piece as inspiration...it could be a card...it could be anything!  The challenges are posted on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month.

The inspiration for today's challenge is this cake from Let Them Eat Cake.  When I saw those white overlays, I immediately thought of my long-neglected paper crimper.  And then, I remembered an Indadinkado stamp I'd bought and never really used.  So with those two things in mind, I created my card.

I stamped the image with Fluid Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan and cut it out with a nestie and my Cuttlebug.  Next, I created the background by crimping a piece of white cardstock, matted both panels with brown cardstock and assembled the card.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is stamped in the same chalk ink.  The embellishments I chose are Prima and Hero Arts flowers, and self-stick crystals from who-knows-where.

Everyone is invited to play along and if you do, please link your creation here. If you upload to PCP or SC, use the keyword DDIC12 so that we can find your creation and give it all the admiration it deserves.  For even more inspiration, please visit the other Divine Divas: Angela, Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, Keri, and Kerri

Have a great day, and join us if you can!

Long Time, No Post

Happy New Year!!!!

So where in the world have I been? We snuck off down to Florida, that's where! I've been to Florida several times, but always to the Orlando area, and I have to admit that I just couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. This time, we spent only a few days in Orlando and then headed over to Ft. Myers. After spending a couple of days on Ft. Myers beach and daytripping over to Sanibel and Captive Islands in perfect 80 degree weather, I'm ready to move! I have seen the light, and it's Florida sunshine, LOL!

Anyway, I thought I'd have at least limited internet access while I was gone, but that didn't work out, so I also took and unexpected vacation from blogging. Hope you guys didn't give up on me completely!

This is a card I made a few weeks ago using stamps from Starving Artistamps and Inkadinkado. I used a couple of Technique Junkies techniques as well: Faux Designer Paper and Faux embossing.

See you again soon!

Hey, Honey...Do you have any more cards made?

I thought I was through making Christmas cards days ago, but oops!, not so. The deal I have with my DH is that I make the cards, and writes them out and addresses them {bless his heart!}. Everything was going fine until I heard him utter those dreaded words, "Do you have any more cards made? I need like 8 more." Huh? Oh no!

I needed some cards, and I needed them fast, so I CASEd a few of the cards I had already made. This one is a rework of the "Snow" card a made a couple weeks ago. I used the same layout and technique (Technique Junkies Faux Designer Paper), but I changed the stamps and colors. The stamps on this card are from Inkadinkado, Memory Box, and I Brake for Stamps. I used a variety of inks, but the basic colors are gold, cocoa brown, olive green, and brick red.

Enjoy this last weekend before Christmas! We got about 8" of snow today and there's another storm headed here for Sunday, and then a little more snow forecasted for Christmas Eve. Looks like were definitely going to have a white Christmas here! My plan is to get my last minute shopping done tomorrow and spend Sunday snowed in and doing my Christmas baking.

'Tis the Season...

to be behind on everything! Just a quick post tonight because I really should be making cards rather than posting cards.

This one uses two techniques from the latest Technique Junkies newsletter: Painted Mesh and Torn Frames. The focal image is from Inkadinkado, and the Canvas background on the card base is Stampin' Up. The patterned paper is from Prima Marketing.

Have a great evening!

Like Magic!

I followed the directions for the Faux Designer Paper technique in the latest Technique Junkies newsletter, picking my colors and stamps as I went. Like magic, I ended up with the swirly, pink, shimmery paper goodness that I used for the background on this card. I used shimmery cardstock as a base and Versamark Dazzle for the resist part of the technique so the whole piece has a soft shimmer that I wish you could see in the photo.

The green glitter swirls at the top of the card were my own brainchild. I had just taken my new Nesties out of the blister pack and wondered if the thick acetate would emboss. Yeah, it embossed great! Don't throw that stuff away! I flipped my piece over and filled in the debossed areas with green Stickles. Way cool, if I do say so!

I used a variety of inks on this one, and the stamps are from Inkadinkado. And of course, I couldn't resist adding a few Dew Drops. And speaking of Dew Drops...I know they seem pricey, but I have only two bottles of them, and I used them all the time. Both bottles still look full. Seriously. They go a loooong way!

Just for Fun

What is it about cupcake stamps? I'm not often drawn to a particular thing (OK, except for flowers), but I find that I just can't resist cupcake stamps. These are from an Inkadinkado set I picked up at Michael's last weekend.

I colored them with Copic markers and added Dew Drop "cherries" to the tops. The printed paper is Basic Grey, and the layout comes from Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge 197.

This One is Growing on Me

I was not crazy about this card at first, but it really is growing on me. Maybe my objection to it at first was that it was just too easy. Other than the time it took for the watercolor wash background to dry, the whole this went together in less than 10 minutes.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I had done a watercolor wash for a background. Talk about easy. Just wet your watercolor paper and start painting. I used some cake watercolors I had on hand and just mixed colors right on the paper until I had something I liked. The tree image is from Inkadinkado and is stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black. If I did this one again, though, I'd use Stazon to get a really dark imperssion. For the mat, I picked cardstock that matched the colors in my image, taped them together from the back, and ran the piece through my Cuttlebug. Before trimming the mat to size, I temporarily assembled the pieces so that I could get the split to align with the horizon on my image panel.

Thanks for looking, and enjoy what's left of the weekend!

It's Getting to be that Time Again

The change is seasons is definitely underway here in southern New England. The leaves are starting to show some colors, all of the farmstands are well-stocked with mums and pumpkins, the air feels cooler and dryer (unless it's humid...this IS New England, afterall), and the day are getting noticeably shorter. It's definitely time to get going on those Fall and (dare I say it?) Holiday projects!

To kick off the Holiday crafting season, I like to make some Halloween cards...don't need them; just like making them! For this card, I used images from an Inkadinkado clear set that I just got. I stamped the tree onto a piece of shimmery rust cardstock, first with Brilliance Moonlight White, and then with Brilliance Graphite Black, offsetting it slightly. The printed paper is Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter and the little jack-o-lantern charm is from Making Memories.

Happy Fall!

Scrap-lings!

If you're a scrap saver like me, you have got to try this idea from Hero Arts. I have such a hard time throwing paper away and I end up with tons of skinny strips in my scrap drawer. Mind you, these didn't even make a dent in the pile, but I sure felt virtuous for using up even a few of my scraps. And...Bonus!...I might actually use these because they're the perfect size for gift tags. Does it get any better?

I used a variety of stamps from Hero Arts, Stampin' Up, Inkadinkado, Memory Box, and Studio G ($ stamps from Michael's). The image panels for the first four scrap-lings are stamped onto address labels, another cool idea on the Hero Arts site.

Show me your Scrap-lings, or just show me what cool thing you do with scraps. I'm always looking for ideas.