Center Stage Spotlight Alumni Color Challenge Hop

Wow! I can't believe it has been over a month since I last posted here! That's what the holidays will do! It's good to be back and today is a Color Challenge Blog Hop with the Stamp TV Center Stage Spotlight Alumni. It's our first hop for 2011, and if you got here from Karen Knegten's blog you are on the right path. If you didn't and you'd like to start from the beginning of the hop just jump over to Stamp TV to get started.

These are the colors were were asked to use for the hop today and as you can see, they are the colors for this week's color spotlight so you can play along over on Stamp TV. Go to Gina's video to get all the details on how you can enter to win a free Gina K. stamp set.

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I had fun playing with this color combo and made a somewhat unconventional Valentine! Here it is.

I used the Fresh Asparagus as the base with a layer of Sweet Corn on the top two-thirds. Over the Sweet Corn I layered a piece of Cosmo Cricket Early Bird dp. I used the Nestabilities Labels 9 to cut out a piece of Red Hot and popped up the image oval on top. The image from the Gina K Designs set The Giving Tree by Theresa Momber and the sentiment is from the Gina K set called Heartlily Yours Additions by Nina Brackett. I used the Spellbinders Fancy Tags to cut out a White tag, a Red Hot Tag and a Sweet Corn tag. I cut the swirls off the white tag and sponged around the oval, layered it onto the red tag and then cut the swirls off the Sweet Corn tag and tucked them behind the red swirls. The little red heart in the word 'Love' is colored with a red Spica pen to give it some glimmer. The heart brads are from Stampin' Up a while back.

Be sure to hop along now to see what Linda Payne has in store for you. I'm sure it will be something gorgeous! And don't forget to check out Gina's video on Stamp TV to find out how you can win a free stamp set!

CSS Sketch Challenge Hop

Welcome to the CSS Alumni blog hop. You should have arrived here from Karen Knegten's blog but if you didn't and would like to start the hop from the top, go back to Stamp TV where you can start at the beginning.

Tonight's hop is a sketch challenge using this sketch.

Sketches are always fun to use because you can just jump straight to picking paper and colors and images instead of taking time to figure out what the design is going to be.  That always seems to take me the longest so it's nice when I have that part already decided for me!

Here is the card I made for tonight's hop. It is a very literal interpretation of the sketch but there are many different ways this design could have been used; I just like it as is and went with it!

This card has a lot going on in terms of shimmer! I used Pure Luxury Good as Gold and Mother of Pearl layers and for the snowflakes and label. The trees were stamped in Versamark and embossed with SU Iridescent Ice EP. Then I lightly spritzed the red background with some SU shimmer paint in Champagne. So, needless to say, the card is sparkly and shimmery IRL, which made it very hard to photograph. I love using shimmer and sparkle but I have to remember that photos don't turn out very well when using it. My disclaimer is that this card is much prettier IRL! LOL!

The recipe for the card is listed below. Now jump on along to Lori McAree's blog to see how she used the sketch to create something beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card ingredients:
Paper: Gina K Designs Pure Luxury - Cranberry Tart, Good as Gold, Mother of Pearl, White and        Stampin' Up Designer Series Paper.
Stamps: Gina K Designs Blessed is the Season (trees) and A Very Merry Christmas (sentiment)
Dies: Nestabilities Scalloped and Plain Ovals, Fancy Tags, and Create a Snowflake
Ink: SU Cherry Cobbler and Versamark

Stamp TV CSS Inspiration Challenge

Tonight is the Stamp TV Center Stage Spotlight alumni Inspiration Challenge. You should have arrived here from Karen Knegten's blog. If you did, you are on the right track for the hop. If you didn't, and you'd like to start the blog hop from the beginning, go back to Stamp TV and you can start the hop there.

We were challenged to create a card using this photo as our inspiration.

Isn't that fun and wintery/holiday-ish? I was immediately inspired by quite a few things but it was the colors and the light-hearted feel that really inspired me to make this card.

 This was one of those cards that just made me smile while I was working on it. I love those little snow-people and the designer paper from Imaginisce is so fun. It kind of makes me think of Whoville from the Grinch Who Stole Christmas!

I used Pure Luxury Red Hot, Creme de Menthe and Ocean Mist. I embossed the snowflakes with a Cuttlebug border folder, leaving a blank space in the middle. I cut the dp to fit into the non-embossed space. I stamped the snow-people and colored them with Copics, then cut them out and popped them up with pop dots. I punched a circle of the Red Hot paper and layered the "Feel the Magic" circle on top. Stamps are Gina K Designs "Winter Friends" and "Holiday Greetings." After it it was all put together I spritzed it all over with SU Frost White Shimmer Paint. I think if you look carefully you can see it in the photo. In real life it gives the card a nice subtle shimmery look.


I hope you enjoyed seeing my Winter Friends card tonight. Now it's time to hop along to see what Lori McAree has in store for you.

Winter Mittens

I made this card for the Stamp TV color challenge this week, which was to use Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Apple Green, Lipstick Red, and White (or the equivalent in other brands colors). I think these mittens from the Gina K Designs stamp set, "Winter Mittens," are just adorable, and since I am still making holiday cards, I decided I'd use this opportunity to make something I could use as one of my cards.

I used the Lipstick Red for the base and Apple Green for the strip. The striped patterned paper is from my stash. I stamped the snowflakes in Memento Pear Tart and Lady Bug onto the White Pure Luxury paper. I punched the edges with a border punch from EK Success. The mittens I stamped twice with the Lady Bug ink and the top edge twice with Pear Tart. I cut out the red mittens using the Nestabilites mittens dies and then cut out the green cuff by hand so I could paper piece the cuffs to add some color to the mittens. I glued red grosgrain ribbon to the backs of the mittens and glued the mittens together. I adhered them to the card and added the Basic Grey Sugared button at the top for them to "hang" from. The little red button comes from an assortment of Gina K buttons. I stamped the oval in Pear Tart and cut it out; then added the greeting from the Fanciful Tags set. I popped the oval up on pop dots to finish it off.

Thanks for visiting. Have a blessed Thanksgiving wherever you may be celebrating tomorrow!

CSS Color Challenge

If you arrived here tonight from Karen Knegten's blog, you are on the right path. Tonight is the Stamp TV Center Stage Spotlight alumni color challenge blog hop. We were challenged to make cards using the following color combo:

• White or Ivory
• Brown
• Light Blue (Little Boy Blue, Ocean Mist, or Turquoise Sea)
• Yellow (Lemon Drop, Sweet Corn, or Wild Dandelion) 

I chose to use Gina K Designs Pure Luxury ivory, chocolate brown, little boy blue, and sweet corn on my card. Here is the result! Don't you just love this cute set -- it is the Gina K Designs Funny Farm set ? The expression on that cow's face just cracks me up! I realized after I posted this photo that the cow looks like it is jumping up in the air! She is popped up with pop dots (so is the farmer boy and the wheelbarrow) but in real life she appears to just be standing on the ground. I think the shadow on the paper makes her look like she is jumping --maybe she's trying to jump the fence and make a break for it! (Aren't I a good Wisconsin girl -- I know that is a "she" because she has an udder! LOL!)

As I mentioned above, I used Little Boy Blue as the card base and sponged a bit of Memento Summer Sky on the top half just to give it some interest and to make it look a bit more like sky. It doesn't show up well on this photo, however. I punched the brown strip with the Martha Stewart fence border punch. I stamped the images on ivory, colored them with Copics and cut them out. I added the greeting at the bottom in Memento Rich Cocoa and added the ribbon, which is the Pumpkin Mango striped ribbon from Gina K Designs as are the two brown buttons. A fairly straight forward card except for cutting out the images! Yikes it is hard to cut around some of those thin pieces like the farmer's arms. I managed not to cut off any limbs or important pieces so it's all good!

Hope you enjoyed my farm card. Now hop along the lane to Linda Payne's blog. I'm sure she has something gorgeous to share!

Snowy Village

I finally was able to get started on some holiday cards this weekend. I'm having a hard time believing it is November already so it is hard to get in the groove to make Christmas/Winter/Holiday cards but I forced myself to start working on some. Listening to some holiday music seemed to help me get in the mood!

Tonight I'm sharing one card that I made using a non-holiday stamp set! I used the Gina K Designs stamp set called "Welcome Home"by Rupa Shevde. The little row of houses seemed to fit so well with the designer paper from the Basic Grey pad, "Eskimo Kisses" and I figured adding some snow and holiday decorations would make them look very festive and wintery.

The base is Gina K Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart and the dp is Basic Grey. I stamped the image onto Pure Luxury White and colored it with Copic markers. I added Stampendous Crystal Snow glitter to the trees, the rooftops and in front of the houses. I used green Stickles to add garland to the fences and porch post and added some holiday stick-on rhinestones for Christmas lights on the houses. I punched the bottom edge with a snowflake punch I picked up at Archivers a while back (can't recall the brand right now) and used the snowflakes that were punched out to decorate the top edge. I pressed each one into a glue pad and then into SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I sponged a bit of SU Blue Sky ink along the snowflakes to make them stand out and at the top for a touch of "sky" above the houses. The greeting is stamped in Memento Rhubarb Stalk and is from the Gina K Designs stamp set, "Holiday Hospitality."

I made a couple of other holiday cards and will share another one tomorrow night so check back! Hope you had a great weekend and that the upcoming week is a good one for you.

I've Got Attitude, Baby!

I have never said that before and probably never will again, but today my friend Tina Gilliland gave me this award so I can say I've Got Attitude (or at least my blog does-- hee-hee)!

This award has to be given to you by a fellow blogger and I'm honored that Tina picked me! Part of the award is that I have to tell three things that make me different from everyone else. Let's see . . .

1. All of the schools I went to as a kid were within a one mile radius of my house. Two of the three were within 6 blocks.

2. I have only lived in three states and two of their names start with I.

3. I am a singer -- not just with the radio in the car but I've taken about ten years of voice lessons, have sung with numerous choirs, and sang two solos at my wedding.

The other thing I get to do is give this award to five other bloggers so I am passing the award to:

Jennie Harper

Lori McAree

Karen Knegten

Melissa Cash

Miesje Flach

Be sure to visit these blogs with 'tude and don't miss the Digi's With Attitude Challenge Blog for some fun challenges and prizes.