Congratulations to Two of My Inspirational Blogging Friends!

No card to post today, but I have some great news about two of my inspirational blogging friends! Both are guest designers! Tori is guest designer during this month for All That Scraps. You can check out her designs on her blog here! My other friend, Lesley, is guest designer for Just My Sketches . You can check out her designs on her blog here!

It's pretty cool to see your friends succeed and it's even better to share their exciting news with the rest of the paper-crafting community! So fill up your coffee cup, settle in and enjoy!

All Natural (SFYTT)

I couldn't wait to use Jen's Sketch for you to try using my All Natural stamps by Basic Grey. The card base is cool caribbean with basic black. The DP is Basic Grey's Urban Prairie. I stamped the flower pods in cool caribbean. The flower is a 2-step stamp with the base stamped in baja breeze and the outline in pacific point. I colored the flower pods using twinkling H2O's and some stickles on the flower. Since I wanted the butterfly to have a two-dimensional look, I stamped the butterfly with timber brown StazOn and stamped the same butterfly on barely banana. I cut out just the wings on the barely banana cardstock and used dimensionals to pop-up the wings. I added cooper stickles to the wings for added effect. I used my Cuttlebug for the kiwi kiss strip and added some chocolate chip ink to the impression. I used my nestabilities to cut out the image and added a matching velvet ribbon and polka-dot ribbon for the sentiment. TFL!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

. . . that's my story! I was excitied to try Kristina's Color Inspiration and last week's Mojo Monday challenge, but I couldn't pull it off by the end of the week! I liked the color challenge combination because I wouldn't ordinarily use more mustard, really rust with kiwi kiss; However, once the mojo got moving I kinda liked the end result. I remembered that I hadn't used Basic Grey's Mellow paper yet and knew that it offered me the exact colors I needed. TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Mellow, more mustard, really rust, kiwi kiss, WW

Stampa: Season of Friendship, Verve

Ink: Really rust

Accessories: More mustard ribbon, misc. crystals, 1-3/8" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, boho blossoms punch

I{heart}2Stamp - Valentine's Day Sketch

I had a lot of fun with Jen Del Muro's Sketch for You to Try (SFYTT) from Saturday. Sadly, I bought this Stampendous stamp set last summer and this is the first time I've used it! No time like the present to ink this baby up, eh?! I used my new Basic Grey Bittersweet paper along with the matching glazed brads. The card base is purely pomegranate. I colored the sweets with Copic markers and SU markers and "iced" the cupcakes and dotted the cherries with some stickles. The greeting inside the card reads: "Wishing you all the good things in life -- friendship, happiness and chocolate!" TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Bittersweet, purely pomegranate, close to cocoa

Stamp: Stampendous Tiers of Treats, All Good Things

Ink: Memento, Copics, SU Markers
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, 1/2" circle punch, American Crafts ribbon, Basic Grey Bittersweet glazed brads

Sprinklin' a Little Luv . . .

I just love Valentine's Day! When I saw this little Stampendous Skippin' Bee cutie and the sentiment, I knew it had to be mine! Stampendous’ Bee collection is so stinkin’ cute. . . I have almost the whole collection. TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Bittersweet, rose red, river rock
Stamp: Stempendous
Ink: rose red
Accessories: Nestabilities, stickles, purely pomegranate ribbon, Hero Arts heart pearls, Copic markers: E-25-33, R-00-22-35-83

LPS02: Gettin' Sketchy - I Love You Valentine

My husband doesn't know it, but this will be his Valentine's Day card. I designed the card from Little Paper Shop's sketch challenge LPSC02: Gettin' Sketchy found here http://littlepapershop.blogspot.com/2009/01/lpsc02-gettin-sketchy.html . What attracted me to the design was it's simplicity -- perfect for a man! Not too smoochy and not too lovey-dovey, just perfect. We'll see what my DH has to say on Feb. 14.

Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, rose red, basic grey

Stamp: A Happy Heart

Ink: rose red

Accessories: American Paper Crafts ribbon, nestabilities

SFYTT - Birthday Invitation

This is my daughter's 9th birthday party invitation. I used Jen Del Muro's sketch challenge found here http://iheart2stamp.com/2009/01/31/last-day-and-a-sketch-for-you-to-try/ Once I saw the sketch I knew that it would be perfect for the party invitation! The best part? My toughest critic (my daughter) "approved" of the design and colors! Whew!

Paper: Tres Jolie, cameo coral, pretty in pink, kiwi kiss, sage shadow

Stamp: Lots of Thoughts

Ink: cameo coral, pretty in pink, kiwi kiss, sage shadow, chocolate chip

Accessories: American Crafts ribbon, tag nestabilities, Cuttlebug, stickles