Inky Divas Weekly Challenge - Week of May 26

With wedding and graduation "season" upon us, the challenge was to create a card using congratulations as the theme.

I had seen a card while browsing through multiple blogs one day and thought I would recreate it.  I didn't make a note of where I had seen it so can't direct you to the original.

Stamp Sets - Sassy Salutations, Hearts a Flutter (retiring)

Ink - Encore Gold

Card Stock - Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold

Other - Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Watercolour Wonder Washi Tape, Stampin' Dimensionals

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of May 19

The challenge posted for the week of May 19 was to make a card using the Faux Tile Technique.

It's hard to see in my photo but I used my Simply Scored scoring board to create a grid on the Whisper White card stock.  I then stamped the flourish, sponged a little ink around the score lines and added the stamped and punched flowers.  I'll definitely try this technique again, but use a little more pressure when scoring the lines.

Stamps - Flowering Flourishes, Four You, Petite Petals

Ink - Garden Green, Crisp Cantaloupe

Card Stock - Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, Basic Black

Other - Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffle Stretch Trim, Retired White Ribbon, Daffodil Delight Candy Dots, Petite Petals Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of May 12

The challenge for the week of May 12 was to use products from the 2013-2014 Stampin' Up! Catalogue that will be in the soon to be released 2014-2015 Catalogue.

Stamp Sets - Flower Shop, Wetlands

Ink - Crisp Cantaloupe, Encore Gold

Card Stock - Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe

Other - Apothecary Accents Framelits, Pansy Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Embossing Folder, Gold Stampin' Dazzle Marker, Extra Large Pearls

Except for the extra large pearls, all of the products used are in the 2014-2015 catalogue.

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of May 5

I have a lot of catching up to do - it has been a while since I posted photos of the cards I have made for the Inky Divas Weekly Creative Challenges.

The challenge posted for the week of May 5 was to make a Mother's Day card.  I decided I would make a card in a box.  I had done one at Christmas and quite liked it.  I thought it would be really pretty using flowers and a few butterflies.

I used my Silhouette Cameo ecutter for the leaves

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Petite Petals, Flower Shop, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Label Love, Well Scripted (retired)
Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Gumball Green
Card Stock - Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight,Quatrefancy Specialty DSP
Other - Basic Pearls, Modern Label Punch, Pansy Punch, Petite Petals Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch, Extra Large Oval Punch, Word Window Punch, Sticky Strip, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Artisan Label Punch, Beautiful Wings Embosslit

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of April 28

This week's challenge was to make a card using mostly products from the Stampin' Up! 2014 Occasions Catalogue.  While looking through samples on the SU Demonstrator site Stampin' Connection I saw a card posted by Monika Davis.  Her card is posted on her blog HERE.  I stayed very close to Monika's sample but used a different stamp from the Perfect Pennants set.  Monika stamped and cut the hearts but I used the heart from the Hearts a Flutter set.

Stampin' Supplies

Stamp Sets - Perfect Pennants

Ink - Baked Brown Sugar

Card Stock - Coastal Cabana, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper

Other - Banners Framelits, Circles Framelits, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Gold Bakers's Twine, Retro Fresh Washi Tape, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of April 21

The challenge for this week is to use products from the newly released retired list.  I saw THIS card posted by Kimberley Van Diepen and came up with my card for the challenge.

I don't have the stamp sets Kimberley used, but I did want to put ink to the Off the Grid stamp that I had bought last fall and never used.

Supplies

Stamp Sets - Off the Grid (retiring); Simply Stars (retiring); Perfect Pennants (2014 Occasions Catalogue); Gorgeous Grunge

Ink - Daffodil Delight; Jet Black StazOn; Tangerine Tango

Card Stock - Whisper White; Crumb Cake; Basic Black

Other - 7/16" Natural Trim Ribbon (retiring); Gingham Garden Washi Tape (retiring); Vintage Trinkets (retiring); Linen Thread; Stampin' Dimensionals; Banners Framelits (2014 Occasions Catalogue); Retired Star punches

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of April 7

It's been a long time since I posted but I am going to try to be better at sharing.  As part of the Inky Divas Stampin' Up! group I am hoping to participate in each week's challenge and post my entry on my blog.  I joined the MDS (My Digital Studio) Adventure Club hosted by Heather Summers and Kimberly VanDiepen and participate in the MDS Weekly Challenges - also hosted by Heather and Kimberly.  My goal is to post my completed pages/projects here as well.

For today I am sharing the card I made for the Inky Divas challenge for the week of April 7.  The challenge was to make a card with a background created by inking up an acrylic block.  I decided that rather than inking the block with an ink pad I would use my markers to scribble the colour onto the block.  The look I achieved is similar to the results from the painter's tape technique.  Check out this tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I have the overall look without the inky fingers!

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Wetlands; Four You

Ink - Early Espresso Classic Ink Pad; Crumb Cake, Pool Party and So Saffron Markers

Card Stock - Whisper White; Pool Party

Other - Gold Baker's Twine; Acrylic Block E; Stampin' Dimensionals

Inky Divas Weekly Challenge - Week of December 9

The challenge this week was to follow a sketch.  The sample posted was a Christmas Card but all of my Christmas cards for this year are done and mailed so I decided to make a card that I could use as a birthday or even thank you card.

Stampin Supplies
Card Stock - Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Etcetera DSP
Other - 1/8" Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Dress up Framelits, Delicate Designs Textured Embossing Folder

Inky Divas Weekly Challenge - Week of December 2 - Gift Card Holder

The challenge for the week of December 2 was to make a gift card holder.  I had seen 3 very cute gift card holders posted on the Create with Connie and Mary website and knew I wanted to make at least one of them.  I decided on the very cute Christmas Tree holder for the challenge.  You can see the originals and download the instructions HERE.

I made a few minor changes but it is pretty much a direct copy of the original.

I imported the snowman, hat, scarf, heart, arms and nose into my Silhouette Cameo e-cutter from My Digital Studio so was able to avoid "fussy cutting".  I used the print and cut feature for the snowman.  I coloured him in the design studio, sent it to my printer and then loaded the printed page to the e-cutter.

The tree trunk holds a gift card.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Perfect Pairs
Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green
My Digital Studio - Snow Day Stamp Brush Set (exported to Silhouette Cameo)
Card Stock - Whisper White, Gumball Green, Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Season of Style DSP, Champagne Glimmer Paper
Other - Small Star Punch (retired), Woodgrain Textured Impressions Folder, Merry Minis punch set, Rhinestones, Tasteful Trim Bigz Die, Label Card Thinlit (for banner piece), Silhouette Cameo e-cutter

Inky Diva's Weekly Challenge - Week of November 25

The challenge for the week was to create a card using the colours Smoky Slate, Coastal Cabana and Whisper White.  I wasn't sure I was going to participate - I had used blues in the last challenge and blue is not exactly my first pick for a Christmas card.

I pulled out my card stock and then did a search on Stampin' Connection (a demonstrator only website) for Coastal Cabana and then for Smoky Slate.  I saw a few cards that I liked using these colours and combined a few of them to come up with my entry for the challenge.

I remembered that I had a container of Dazzling Diamonds glitter stuck away at the back of the shelf so I decided to add a little bling to Santa's hat and coat.  I almost never use glitter but this card just called out for it.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Santa's List
Ink - Smoky Slate
Card Stock - Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Winter Frost Designer Series Paper
Other - Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Glimmer Brads, Dazzling Diamonds, 2-Way Glue pen, Stampin' Dimensionals

Inky Diva's Weekly Challenge - Week of November 18

I can't believe it has been two months since I last posted!  I have been busy making my Christmas cards and this is one that I will probably keep for myself.

The Challenge posted for the Inky Divas last week was to create a sparkly, shiny card using all current Stampin' Up! products.  I do like some sparkle and bling on my cards but I used a lot of it on this card.
I used glitter paper, pewter embossing powder, sparkly embellishments and even the patterned paper has some shine (the striped pattern has a shiny stripe).

Stampin" Supplies

Stamps - Festive Flurry, More Merry Messages

Ink - Versamark

Card Stock - Pool Party, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer, Winter Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper

Other - Festive Flurry Framelits, Frosted Finish Embellishment, Pewter Embossing Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals

Inky Divas Weekly Creative Challenge - Week of September 24

This week's challenge was a sketch posted by Julie Olivier

Here is my card - 

Stampin' Supplies
Stamp - Tag It (this year's Ronald McDonald stamp set; a donation is made to Ronald McDonald House charities for each stamp set sold)
Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green
Card Stock - Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Other - Season of Style Washi Tape, Rhinesones, 2 1/2" Circle punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, My Digital Studio (for the HO HO HO), Chalk Talk Framelits, Score Board and Diagonal Score Plate

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of September 17

This week the challenge was to create an Easel card using an InColour and a retired Christmas or Halloween stamp set.

I had seen a card on Stampin' Connection a while ago and had bookmarked it so I could give it a try at some point in time.  Well that time has come.  I pulled out my Baked Brown Sugar card stock and the retired Frostwood Lodge stamp set.

Here is the link to the original (you will have to scroll down a bit, she has several samples)

When making my card the only thing I changed is the stamp set used for the greeting.   I decided to use one of the stamps from the Joy to the World stamp set from the current Holiday catalogue.

Front:

Side:

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Frostwood Lodge (retired), Joy to the World
Ink - Always Artichoke
Card Stock - Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Gold Glimmer Paper, Card Stock Vellum
Other - Deco Labels Framelits, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Stampin' Dimensionals, Merry Minis Punch Pack, Battery Operated Tea Light

Inky Divas Weekly Challenge - week of September 9

The challenge was to use the colors Island Indigo, Pool Party and Smoky Slate.

I couldn't decide what I wanted to do but finally settled on making a Christmas card.

My Envelope Punch Board arrived so I made an envelope from Smoky Slate cardstock.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Snowflake Soiree, Joy to the World
Ink - Island Indigo, Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Whisper White
Card stock - Island Indigo, Whisper White, Smoky Slate
Other - Rhinestones, Envelope Punch Board

Another Card for Operation Write Home

This is another of the cards that I'll be including in my next contribution to Operation Write Home Canada.  I really liked this card and thought it would be a fun one to include in the box.

I followed the original very closely and am so happy with it.  I don't have the fun stamp set that was used for the greeting however I did have the digital download for MDS so I used that.  I coloured the image with Bermuda Bay ink and then used the colouring tool in MDS to colour the little heart Cherry Cobbler.  After it was printed I used the fine tip of the Pear Pizzazz marker to colour in the word Love and added a few Crumb Cake "splats" before punching it out with the Decorative Label punch.  After it was punched out I sponged the edges.

Stampin' Supplies
My Digital Studio - Yippee Skippee Stamp Brush set
Stamps - Gorgeous Grunge
Ink - Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake
Card Stock - Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Other - Hung Up Cute Clips, 7/16" Trim, Button (retired), White Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Decorative Label Punch, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Circle Framelits (nonSU), Epic Day This and That Washi Tape

More Washi and Christmas

I am not tired of the Season of Style Washi tape yet and hope you aren't either.

I saw THIS card posted by Anne Granger's and knew I wanted to make it but didn't have the stamp sets Anne used so I pulled out a couple of other sets I had that I thought would work.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Button Buddies (retired), More Merry Messages
Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Jet Black StazOn
Card Stock - Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Whisper White
Other - Season of Style Washi Tape, Rhinesones, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Oval Framelits, Large Oval Punch, Itty Bitty Punch pack

Season of Style Washi Tape

I am loving the Season of Style Washi Tape and I'm sure most of the Christmas cards I send out this year will feature it.

I saw a card posted a while ago that I really liked.  I didn't have the Season of Style DSP used on the original so I adapted it to what I had on hand and am really happy with the result.  I can't find the original but as soon as I do I will add the link.

Here's my card

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - More Merry Messages, Delightful Decorations (retired)
Ink - Cherry Cobbler
Card Stock - Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Other - Season of Style Washi Tape, Ornament Punch (retired), Rhineston, Paper Piercing Tool and Mat, Linen Thread, Stampin' Dimensionals

Operation Write Home Canada

One of the members of the demonstrator group I belong has started collecting hand made cards (blank) to be provided to our troops who are posted far and wide around the world and away from their families.  This program provides a selection of cards for the men and women to choose from to send greetings back home.

I have already sent one box off to the organizer (Janie Boisvert) that included Birthday, Christmas, Thinking of You and Thank You cards.  I have now started on some Valentine cards.  These are the first two designs I have made (12 of each) to include in the next box that has to get to Janie by December 19.

Both cards feature lots of retired SU supplies and were inspired by cards I had seen on Stampin' Connection a website just for Stampin' Up! demonstrators.

Snowflake Soiree Take 2

I made a second card based on the snowflake card Heather Summers had posted here.

For this card I decided to use Island Indigo as my card base and add a layer of the new Silver Foil paper from the 2013 Holiday Catalogue.  I also used Silver Encore Ink and Pewter Embossing Powder.  In addition I stamped a few snowflakes in the upper right corner of the card using the Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Pad

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Snowflake Soiree, Christmas Messages

Ink - Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Illuminate Glimmer Watermark

Card Stock - Whisper White, Island Indigo, Silver Foil

Other - Rhinestones, Pewter Embossing Powder

Inky Divas Creative Challenge - Week of September 2

This week's challenge was to create a masculine card using all current Stampin' Up! products.  That really is a challenge for me.  I don't own many masculine sets that are still current.  My "go to" set is The Open Sea but I had used that for last week's entry so so I didn't want to use it again this week.  I thought about turning to My Digital Studio - I have some downloads there that are for stamp sets that are in the current catalogue but then I remembered that I had bought the Wetlands stamp set in August and hadn't yet inked it up.

I have seen a lot of samples using that set but chose to copy the one I had seen posted by Patty Bennett last week.  You can see Patty's card HERE.

The only thing I changed was the greeting.

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Wetlands, Four You

Ink - Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana

Card Stock - Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White

Other - Square Die (nonSU), Stampin' Sponges