Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #2



I'm running late! Here's my creation for Dawn's Color Challenge this week.
More details to come...

ETA: Okay I made it....here's the swatch:



I love these colors! My card colors are a bit dark - lighting wasn't great but I was in a hurry! The "teal" is definitely a brighter teal in my card than it shows here. CTMH colors: Ocean, Sweet Leaf, Cocoa and White Daisy
Stamp Sets: Noteworthy, Confidential, Argyle Backgrounds (CTMH) and Teacher's Apple (PTI)
SU! Punch for the notebook edge, Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Buttons for CTMH and Basic Grey
Other: Sandpaper, White Embossing powder (for journaling lines)

Thanks for another great combo, Dawn!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #1

Another color challenge! I don't usually use bright colors in my crafting even though I think they are really pretty. I tend to use more autumn colors or earthy tones. Dawn McVey always does such a fabulous job with her color combos. I'm always amazed by her cards. So I was excited to see her first color challenge posted on her blog last week.

Here are the colors:



So pretty!

Here is what I did with the colors:



CTMH colors: Watermelon, Creme Brulee, Orange, and Cocoa
Stamp sets: Friends 'til the End and Around and About Sentiments (PTI) and Boutique Borders (CTMH)

I got out my Martha Stewart punch for the scallop border and my Nesties for the scallop circle. Buttons are from my stash.

I made my own random stamped paper using the smaller flower from Friends 'til the End and the Watermelon CS is stamped with one of the stamps from Boutique Borders.

I have some leftover random stamped paper that I will definitely be using soon. With the smaller scraps I made a 3x3 card:



Thanks Dawn for a great color challenge. I'm looking forward to more!

Get out your bright colors and create something today or soon...
Happy Creating!
Kim

Friday, March 20, 2009

Happy Spring!

I was drawn to the colors again this week in the Bellarific Friday challenge so I played along using Happy Forest. Click on the link above to see all the samples. The colors are so bright and cheery. I'm looking forward to seeing more color now that Spring has officially arrived. Time for flowers to bloom and the trees get their new leaves! Spring is my favorite season...tied with Autumn!



CTMH Cardstock colors are Sweet Leaf and Orange. I like how the cuttlebug swirls folder matches the swirly tree. The ribbon is Special Value ribbon from Michael's that I found on clearance for 25 cents! Gotta love a bargain!

Happy Friday, happy creating!
Kim


Monday, March 16, 2009

Stamping Bella Weekend Cards

Welcome Marvelous Monday! :-)

I worked on a couple cards over the weekend to practice my coloring. I bought a few more copic markers last week. I'm a novice and haven't looked at any tips or online tutorials so there's really nothin' fancy here, but I do love coloring with them. They are smooth and easy to use. Other markers can leave coloring lines that drive me bonkers. There's nothing like spending time coloring in an image and then not being happy with the results. Frustrating.

I'm looking forward to getting more copic colors!

My first card uses sweet little Daisy BittyBloom. She's so adorable.



CTMH colors: Honey, Twilight, White Daisy, Black and Sunny Yellow.
The ribbon is Maya Road. I used yellow stickles for the flower center.

I love my Nestabilities. I used the scalloped circle and my Coluzzle circle template too.

I reorganized my craft area a few weeks ago so my Cuttlebug is out and more convenient to use. I've probably used it more in the last couple weeks than over the last couple years I've had it. Crazy, isn't it? But when a tool isn't out or I don't have space where I'm working I usually won't bother. I'm so glad I got it out. It's a great crafting tool that adds so much without a lot of time or effort.

Next up is Minivanabella. She is me, although I am a shorter version and not as skinny.



I love Twilight and Sweet Leaf. I added in some pink for the girlies. I've been really drawn to cards with black accents so I tried that here too. On this image I mixed my copic markers with my CTMH markers and I also pulled out some watercolor pencils. The picture seemed pretty blah to me and then it hit me....ground the images! So I added some pavement and sky. That made a huge difference.

My Cuttlebug got a workout again for this card with the scalloped circle and I used an embossing folder on the black CS - it's just hard to see in the picture.
I used my new Around and About Sentiments stamp set from PTI for the circle sentiment and heart. It's another PTI favorite of mine. I stamped an image from Damask Designs in Twilight and colored it in with Sweet Leaf on the photo corner too. Those cute black flowers are from Stamping Bella. CTMH's Itty Bitty Brads fit the centers perfectly.

Until next time, happy creating!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Mojo Monday meets Bellarific Friday

Happy Friday!

I was able to complete another project in time for Bellarific Friday this week. The other participants can be found on Stamping Bella's Blog --> Bloggabella. I love the color combo. I used CMTH colors: Cranberry, Heavenly Blue, Black, Bamboo (although I think Colonial White might've matched Emily's colors better - it was too late once I discovered this...). I added Honey to color the flower. The challenge was to use the colors and add a button somewhere on the card. I also chose to use the sketch for this week on the Mojo Monday Blog.

I stamped my Houndstooth stamp (Hero Arts) on Cranberry CS and used Damask Designs (PTI) in Black ink on the Bamboo CS to make my own patterned paper. The sentiment also comes from Stamping Bella. My coloring needs a little help so I'm going to be working more on coloring images.





Happy Creating!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Mojo Monday March Contest

I won't get as far as saying I'm getting better at getting a project done in time for a contest. This week, everything just fell into place at the right time. Mainly, new stamps from PTI arrived a couple days ago (yeah!) and this sketch gave me the perfect reason to get them out and ink them up.

I love love love the new Friends 'Til The End Stamp Set. While I was shopping, I added Damask Designs, Dawn McVey's first stamp set designed by her. There are so many possibilities (as with so many sets!), that I couldn't resist.

Okay, so those are the two sets from PTI that I used on my card. I also used Simple Stitches (CTMH). I just finished up a layout the other day using one of CTMH's new paper packs, Emporium. The colors are so yummy. :-) So I used the same color scheme on my card: Vineyard Berry, Twilight, Crystal Blue, Sweet Leaf. I added Vineyard Berry ribbon and stickles to the middle of the flower. I popped the flower with foam dots and that cool label on which the flowers are random stamped is done using a Nestabilities die by Spellbinders.

The sketch:


and my card:

Over The Rainbow

I created this card for a color challenge contest last month. Although, it was more of just a color challenge for me since I wasn't able to get to it in time to be eligible for winning. It's a fun color combo and one that I'd like to use again with different stamps and papers. The stamp set is the first set I bought from Papertrey Ink - Beautiful Blooms. I love PTI stamps and the design team always comes up with such neat ideas and beautiful creations each month during releases. PTI just celebrated their 2nd Anniversary last month. Nichole Heady certainly knows how to throw a party. It was so much fun logging in each day for a couple weeks to see what she was up to and what was coming next. It's going to be another great year of stamps and guest designers and new products!




CTMH Colors I used: Twilight, Holiday Red, Creme Brulee, Olive Green
PTI colors:


Try something with these colors today (or tomorrow...or soon!)
Happy Creating!
Kim