Today starts the 100^th anniversary of our county fair!  We have the longest continuous running fair in Montana and all stops have been pulled out to make this a successful event this year.  We have country music recording artist Clay Walker playing our fair tonight.  I live in a county of about 5000 people so it is pretty cool that we get some big names here.  In the past we have had Toby Keith, Martina McBride and Little Big Town.

One of the great things about a county fair is the exhibits.  Of course, when I was a kid, I hated the exhibits.  When my folks would take us, we had to go through EVERY single exhibit before we were allowed to hit the midway and start riding the rides.  It was pure torture!  Back then you could ride from morning till midnight.  We had tons of rides and games.  Our fair is a little smaller now but there is still plenty to see and do.  And I haven’t even talked about the food!  Cotton candy!!  Corn dogs!!  Burgers!! 

This year I am entering a number of cards in open class and see if I can earn a blue or red ribbon.  There are 15 categories that I plan to enter and thought I had all the cards I needed but am making a couple at the last minute.  This is one of them.  This card was actually seen HERE.  I never put a sentiment on it so I decided to pull off the washi and button/twine and add a sentiment.

The sentiment is from the SU! Best of series that was put out a couple of years ago.  I used this cute baby stamp and silver embossed it.  Then I used some markers and my blender pen and made an ombre effect in the letters and onesie.  I flagged the end and added a bit of bling and I was done.

I will have a post for you tomorrow as it is time for a new challenge at House of Cards!  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to enjoy the weekend.  Now – I have some fair food to get to!

I belong to a Stampin’ Up! stamp club and have for about five years.   We get together once a month, have a potluck dinner and do some sort of card or two for the evening.  We all make enough cards to exchange with each other and give one to the Ronald McDonald house.  It is always a great evening of fellowship with other crafters!

Why am I telling you all of this?  Today I am showing off two cards – the first card is one of the cards from a fellow crafter and the second one is the one we made at class.

My friend Wendy (and loyal blog reader) made this card.  I admit, this paper has been my least favorite – the colors and patterns are too bold for me.  But here is the deal – Wendy did a fabulous job with these papers and colors and made a believer out of me.  She mixed these patterns like a pro and topped it off with a great sentiment and brad! 

She chose two patterns that offset each other and make the papers shine!  And then, instead of just placing the sentiment at the bottom of the card (which I tend to do quite often), Wendy made a bold move - at the top - which is an excellent placement for that sentiment!!  Some people just have the knack to put these bold patterns together and they work beautifully!  Fantastic card Wendy! 

This card is the one we made in class – quite by accident that we used the same papers that Wendy did!  The idea was to use the bold pattern on the card – but that just boggles my mind, so I flipped my paper and used the more subtle pattern.  And that is the great thing about this dsp – if bold scares you – just flip the paper and you have another choice.

We used a variety of textures on this card – ribbon, embossing folder, washi tape and the patterns.  And tied it all together with a sentiment on the washi label punch.  The SU! demo (who is not me) did a great job with this card.

I hope you enjoyed these two cards – a great way to showcase the same paper but get two different and distinctive cards!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to stop in tomorrow!

A friend of mine asked me in May to make two wedding cards for her.  I agreed and knew I had a couple of months to get them done.  So in June when I was double checking what I needed to do, I discovered that I had missed the first wedding. Yikes!  I felt bad and made sure that I got the card done for the second wedding.

I spotted THIS card on the Sunday Stamps challenge site that Shannon Jaramillo made and I knew that I would have to CASE it.  So this is my version.  I started off with white cardstock that I ran thru the linen impression plate.  Then I stamped the image in versamark and used SU! melon mambo embossing powder.  The stamp is from Awesomely Artistic and I had previously used it on THIS card.

I stamped the sentiment on white, embossed it in melon mambo and used the new SU! washi label punch.  LOVE this punch!!  I backed the card front on melon mambo and adhered it directly to the card base.  The sentiment I popped up a bit.  Simple but elegant.

Then, I decided that I liked Shannon’s version better, so I pulled the sentiment off and silver embossed the dress image (from SU! love and laughter) and then fussy cut it.  I popped the dress up and bent the sentiment a bit to give it a wavy feel and then added it to the card.  I added a few random pearls to the dress and the card front.  Thank you Shannon for such a lovely inspiration and CASE!!

I actually like both versions the more I look at them but the most importantly, I wanted my friend to love the card I gave her to use – and she did!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to pop in tomorrow!!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white.  SU! melon mambo.  Stamps:  SU! awesomely artistic and love & laughter.  Other:  SU! melon mambo embossing powder, PTI linen impression plate, and SU! washi label punch.

Welcome to the second week of the current Retro Rubber challenge!  This challenge is a color inspiration so today’s card is going to concentrate on all of the blues.  I recently purchased this gorgeous chevron ombre paper and just had to use it! 

I decided to mimic the ombre feel in the stamping, so I used my feather and inked it up with some SU! marina mist.  I started at the bottom and stamped the feather like it had just landed.  Then I stamped up the page two more times, twisting the feather to give the illusion that it had been falling.

Then I stamped the sentiment in sahara sand and die cut the image using my MFT zig zag dies.  I added some pearls and candy dots and popped the card front up on the ombre paper which I adhered directly to the sahara sand.

These two colors are gorgeous together and I quite like how the whole thing turned out!  Now it is time for you – be sure to play along and link up your card HERE!

I am also entering this card in the Addicted to CAS challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to pop in tomorrow!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white.  Lil Inker ombre chevron.  SU! sahara sand.  Inks:  SU! marina mist and sahara sand.  Stamps:  SU! lovely amazing you.  Other:  PTI linen impression plate.  MFT zig zag rectangles.  Pearls.  SU! candy dots.

A friend of mine recently retired so we threw a small retirement party for her.  I was in charge of the card, of course.  So I used my Altenew Painted Butterflies to create this card.  The flourish is from the SU! Everything Eleanor stamp set and the sentiment is from some of my PTI sentiment stamp sets.

We gave her a gift certificate and “ordered” her to only use it on herself!  Lynn is a very delightful and sharing person so we wanted to make sure that she spoiled herself this time!

Thanks for stopping in today!  Be sure to pop in tomorrow – it is week two of the current Retro Rubber Challenge!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white.  SU! crushed curry.  Stamps:  PTI kis birthday and year round happiness.  SU! everything Eleanor.  Altenew painted butterflies.  Inks:  SU! crushed curry, daffodil delight, and garden green.  Memento black.  Pearls.

Today’s card was originally for the Fab Friday sketch challenge but I ended up doing something else for that.  So I thought I would share this card with you today!  I started with PTI soft stone as the card base and card front.  I stamped the flower in SU! pear pizzazz, pink pirouette and sahara sand.  This stamp set is from PTI called Petite Pots which has a lot of possibility for fun cards.

I recently purchased these stitched circles and instead of running thread thru them (which is what they were made for), I thought they added some interest to an image.  I debated about putting the piece of pink pirouette behind the image and I am glad I did.  I like the little pop of color. 

The sentiment was made by bending the stamp in a semi-circle to go under the image.  I added a couple of rhinestones and a candy dot and I was done.

Thanks for stopping in today.  I am off for the weekend so be sure to join me on Monday!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI soft stone and SU! pink pirouette.  Stamps:  PTI petite pots.  Inks:  SU! pear pizzazz, pink pirouette, and sahara sand.  Dies:  PTI linen impression plate and stitched circles.  Other:  SU! candy dots and rhinestones.

I started this card with no particular direction in mind other than I needed a sympathy card.  I couldn’t find the stamp set I was looking for and happened upon my SU! lotus blossom stamp set and then came across the sentiment I wanted to use.

I stamped the lotus image in SU! daffodil delight and crushed curry on white.  I added the sentiment from the SU! simply sketched stamp set.  Then I stopped because I didn’t know what to do with this.  So I decided I would see what the sketch was for Sweet Sunday Sketch.  I thought what I had stamped so far could work for this sketch, so I went for it.

I added a piece of SU! lost lagoon under the white cardstock to make it pop against the white doily.  But I didn’t want the lagoon to surround all the white, just the top and bottom.  I added the flag as per the sketch and then the doily – which takes a bit more liberty than the half circle the sketch shows.

Then the debate started – to add pearls or to not add pearls.  I went back and forth for quite a while.  I put pearls on and then took them off.  I set the card aside and came back to it.  Finally, I decided without looked so much better.  The pearls added too much to this card – which stands very well on its own.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to pop in tomorrow!!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white and kraft.  SU! lost lagoon and moonlight dsp.  Doily.  Inks:  SU! daffodil delight and crushed curry.  Memento black.  Stamps:  SU! lotus blossom and simply sketched.  Other:  PTI linen impression plate.

Today’s card is for the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.  I am really enjoying playing along with their challenges as their sketches are very unique.  And speaking of – a huge Thank You to CTS for the honorable mention for THIS card last week!

I thought this sketch was a bit tricky with only a partial image showing and I had to think about it for a few days.  Ultimately, I decided I was going to do a rainbow and when I went looking for something to stamp the rainbow, I found my SU! Lovely Amazing You stamp set that had this neat little feather in it.  I was going to cut the ends of the feathers off to go along with the sketch but decided that it wouldn't look like feathers!

So I chose five of the seven rainbow colors and set to work.  I stamped off each color once as I wanted a lighter background so the sentiment could really show.  The sentiment is from the Reverse Confetti Shine From Within stamp set and worked quite well with my feather rainbow.

I added a bit of bling (to be the stars) and distressed the edges just a smidge.  I did run this thru the PTI linen impression plate but it is hard to tell because of the cardstock.

That’s it for today!  Be sure to pop in tomorrow!

Supplies:  CS:  SU! naturals white.  Inks:  SU! real red, pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, garden green and night of navy.  Memento black.  Stamps:  SU! lovely amazing you.  RC shine from within.  Rhinestones.  PTI linen impression plate.

Welcome to the Retro Rubber Challenge #19!  This challenge is a color inspiration!  I love this picture and all the nuances of color!

I decided to use my SU! Pleasant Poppies stamp and watercolor the poppies.  I stamped the image in versamark and used SU! early espresso embossing powder to outline the image.  Then using some distress inks and the aqua painter, I watercolored the poppies and added a bit of blue sky.

I struggled with how much of the poppies I wanted to show and ended up using a circle die instead of leaving the image in a square or rectangle.  I added a scalloped circle in kraft behind the poppies.

Two strips of striped paper set the backdrop for the poppies.  A few pearls and a sentiment and the card was finished.

Now it’s up to you!  Use the image to draw your own color inspiration and link up your awesomely creative project HERE!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to stop in tomorrow!

Supplies:  PTI kraft, kraft stripes and spring rain stripes.  SU! watercolor paper.  Stamps:  SU! pleasant poppies.  Paper Smooches sentiment sampler.  Distress inks, pearls, SU! early espresso embossing powder.

Hello and happy Monday!  I am playing along with two challenges today – Freshly Made Sketches and Sunday Stamps which has a color challenge.

I tried something new today – bokeh!  Of course, I totally cheated!  I recently purchased the Simon Says Stamp Bokeh Lights stencils.  It has three stencils and it makes creating bokeh super easy!  I only used one of the stencils and two colors but I quite like how it turned out.  I am afraid that you may not see the colors too well though!  I used a grey chalk on the PTI stone cardstock and very vanilla ink from SU! 

I die cut five colors of the word hello and then layered them a bit off kilter so that you can see the gradation of colors.  The colors are – from the bottom up – basic gray, smokey slate, sahara sand, very vanilla and stone.  I added a bit of silver thread and some bling to finish off the card.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to stop in tomorrow as it is the first day of the new Retro Rubber challenge!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI soft stone.  SU! basic gray, smokey slate, sahara sand, and very vanilla.  Stencils/Dies:  SSS bokeh lights, PTI noted and PTI linen impression plate.  Inks:  SU! very vanilla and chalk.