Stamp Scrap Diva

With Sympathy

2011-12-23T23:40:00.003-05:00

A while back I was browsing one of the magazine blogs and saw that they had a call out for cards made using masking techniques. This made me pull out my copics together with the airbrush system for them, and get to work coming up with this card. When I was done I put it in my pile of things on my desk and proceeded to completely forget to submit it. I was going through some things on my desk the other day, straightening up when, to my surprise, I found said card. Yes, I thought to myself, that's great, I am loosing my mind. So, since I don't have to wait to hear back from them, I can post for all to see.

I really love to airbrush with copics. They blend so seamlessly. Every time I do this technique I am surprised at how beautiful it looks considering how easy it is to do.

After masking off the area to be airbrushed it was time to decide what colors to use. I finally decided on the following: Y21, Y23, Y17, Y38, YR07 and R08. You want to start with the lightest color at the top and go a little bit further than where you want the color to end then go over that last little bit with the next color. Keep repeating this process until you get to the last color. This is what will give you that great blending of the colors.

When finished the silhouette flower stamp was inked up with memento ink and stamped. The left hand side of the card looked as if it needed something so I used some of my scraps and put a thin piece of matching cardstock along the edge of the airbrushing. To finish off the card I used some really pretty taffeta ribbon and pop dotted the sentiment onto the card.

I am very happy with the way this card turned out. As much as I like the card I truly hope that I won't have a use for it anytime soon. Hope you all enjoy this technique and, if you can, give it a try using your copics.

Have a great Christmas and a safe New Year!!!

Happy Stamping and Scraping,

Ronda

Tri-fold Shutter Christmas Card

2011-12-11T00:35:00.005-05:00

Well, I know I mentioned a while back that I had made a card to submit at work for a contest. It took a little bit to find out if anyone from our store had won and sadly, no one did. There were two other ladies who submitted entries and their cards were both beautiful. If you like Tim Holtz you need to check out Ruby's entry here: http://rubycraft.blogspot.com/2011/10/collectors-edition.html. Her work is just beautiful, so don't miss out, go check it out!!! Ruby is a huge Tim Holtz fan and is participating in his 12 Tags. Her work is stunning, just saying!

Now onto the card that I submitted. I really wanted to do something a little different, not just a regular A2 card and I had been wanting to make a tri-fold shutter card for a long time and just never got around to it. This was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. If you have not seen a tri-fold card, they are really beautiful and very easy to make.

If you would like to give it a try you will need a piece of card stock cut to 5 1/2 x 12. On my card I used Cloverleaf Bazzill paper, which is such a pretty color and really went well with the My Mind's Eye 6 x 6 Lost and Found Christmas paper I planned to use. You will take your paper and put it in your Martha Stewart scoreboard horizontally and score the paper at 2, 4, 8 and 10 inches. You will then take your paper and turn cardstock a 1/4 turn. Along the long edge, measure in 1 1/2 inches and make a slit with your craft knife between the score marks at 2 inches and 10 inches. You will repeat this step along the other side of the card.

You will want to fold the card to look like this. You will then decorate as you like. There are lots of great ways these cards can be decorated, just use your imagination and go wild, lol! On my card as mentioned above, I used the paper from My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found Christmas. The moment I saw this cardstock, I fell in love. It is just gorgeous with the colors they used in it and the glitter that is on the 12 x 12 cardstock. I used Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist over the designer paper to give it some sparkle. It turned out very pretty, and wasn't to overwhelming on the card.

The front of the card I did contemplate what should go on there for some time and then decided that the Martha Stewart's scoreboard needed to come out again so I could make a rosette to decorate the front of the card. The tip to making these rosettes, I have found is to cut your cardstock, staple it together and the start scoring and folding. Helps so the ends will meed up correctly. You will also need a good glue gun and depending on how big you want the rosette to be, make the circles on's on ether end bigger than shown on the instructions. I then used the accessory pack and picked up a beautiful sticker for the middle of the rosette.

I really love this card and think that it came out rather beautiful

Well I hope you enjoyed today's post, I know it has been a long time comeing. This tine of year leaves little for crafting, sigh... I would love to be doing this all. Oh well, a girl cane dream right, lol. Hope you all enjoyed this card and give it a shot. If you do, let me know what you think, if it was easy or hard.

You all have a wonderful weekend and, if I don't post again for Christmas, I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Years and please be safe!!!!

Happy Stampin and Scrappin
Come back again soon!!!

Ronda

My Mind's Eye Christmas

2011-10-15T22:16:00.004-04:00

My last post with the cute little snowballs mentioned that we had a contest at work for Christmas cards. This is another one that I made that the girls liked but was not the one that they liked best. The upside to making more than the one card we were allowed to submit is I now have a couple of cards already to send out for Christmas, lol.

This card was very simple to put together which is one of the things I liked best about it. The little squares were punched with a 1 1/4 inch punch with My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Christmas paper. I just love this this paper. The little 6 x 6 pad doesn't have the glitter that the 12 x 12 paper has but that's okay with me, it is still beautiful. I used iridescent gold Glimmer Mist on each of the squares to give it some shimmer then I used cinnamon and candy cane stickles around the edges of the squares. The background paper is from Graphic 45. I used chestnut roan ink around the edges of this and also on the Tim Holtz embossing folder before embossing the paper. This gave the paper a very pretty look which I hope you can see in the photo. Be Merry is from the My Mind's Eye embellishment pack. The glitter ribbon finishes this card of nicely, don't you think. I think next time I am at work I may have to pick up some more of this ribbon, maybe in some of the other colors.

Now I can't post pics of the card I submitted but I think I will try to make one that is similar tonight and post pics of that one tomorrow or Monday so check back soon.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Jingleball Christmas Contest Reject

2011-10-14T23:36:00.006-04:00

The past couple of nights I have been staying up late trying to get some cards done for a contest at work. I ended up making three cards and then brought them into work and asked the girls which one I should submit. Unfortunately we were only allowed to submit one card, such a bummer since I liked all of the cards I made. Well the votes were unanimous, they loved all of the cards but this one was not the one they chose so I thought I would share it with you all. I don't think I will be able to share the one that they picked but I do plan to make another one, very similar in nature but not exact since I don't know if it would be okay to share it. Couldn't find that info anywhere in the rules but though it best to be safe rather than sorry. The winner gets a $50 gift card to Archivers so I really hope that I win!! There is so much at work that I would love to purchase, lol.

Well on to the card details. Isn't this the cutest little snowman stamp. It is by WhipperSnapper and is called Snowballs. Makes me smile every time I see these little guys. As a lot of you know, I just love coloring with copic markers and this card is no exception. After coloring them I used Smooch paint on the top hat to give the snow a shimmer, I also outlined the little snowballs with it as well. Using a glue pen I added some shaved ice under these cute little guys. Boy does this stuff sparkle so pretty in the light, reds, pinks, blues and purples, oh so gorgeous!!! My next step was to add flower soft to the santa hat. I have found that a glue pen really isn't strong enough to hold this on the card well so I use liquid tombo glue. You could also use glossy accents or the Ultimate glue.

The designer paper is from Graphic 45 and sprayed with Glimmer Mist Pearl and was also sprayed on the red layer for more shimmer. Remember, you can't have enough sparkle on your cards and pages, even if you have boys, lol, they will get over it. The cute little crystal snowflakes started off clear but I decided that they would look better if I used my copics and airbrushed them blue and they look so pretty that way! Give it a try if you haven't already! To finish off this gate card I used some red rhinestones and some new American Crafts Glitter Ribbon (omgosh is this ribbon beautiful). Oh, I also colored the jingle bells and the notes with a gold Spica pen, another way to add some great sparkle to your project.

I can tell you I took a lot of time making this card and maybe it should have been the one that I submitted but what's done is done and hopefully I stand a chance, no matter how slight of winning. So please send along some good luck, I would appreciate it!!!

Ok some of you may be wondering which copics I used for this cuties so I thought I would end this with a list of one ones I used. Here is is: C1, C2, C3, C4, C6, R27, R29, and R39, YG93, YG95 and YG97, B34 and B37 for the scarf and hat band as well as the snowflakes and E25 for the arms. Last but not lease I used BG000 to outline the snowballs to give them a little shadow.

Hope you enjoyed all of the work that went into this little guy. Should you have any questions, please fell free to ask me and I will try to get back to you quickly,.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Sharing in Your Sorrow

2011-10-14T00:36:00.005-04:00

This year has not been a very good one for my family. Not long after the loss of my dad my uncle passed away. Sympathy cards are not a favorite card of mine to make, as a matter of fact, they are very difficult. I never know what to say inside, not sure what to put on the outside either.

My aunt and uncle spent a lot of time in Maine, it was one of their favorite places. I can actually remember going camping up there with them when I was little. So this made my choice in images for these cards very easy. I used one of my favorite old stamp sets, Coast to Coast. It was perfect because one of the lighthouses in this set is from Maine.

I didn't want to do a lot of coloring with these, it just didn't seem right to make it bright and cheery so I only used one copic marker, B000 on the sky. I stamped with Memento brown ink and used kraft cardstock as the base with brown cardstock and soft sky as the layers. I had a 6 x 6 pad of designer paper from My Mind's Eye (one of my favorite companies as I love all of the papers they have put out this past year). This one is called Stella Rose - Hattie. The papers in this pack went with the colors I wanted to used just perfectly. To finish these off I used brown satin ribbon and a scalloped punch.

I really like the way these cards came together. I hadn't planned to share these cards tonight but the ones that I did plan to share may have to wait since I can't find the cord for my camera that I need to download my photos, sigh. Hopefully I can find it soon. Not sure where my memory is lately.

Hope you enjoy.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

My Little Lion King

2011-10-01T01:02:00.003-04:00

It has been a long time since I have had a chance to post. The page I am going to share with you tonight I actually made about a month ago, maybe a little longer but haven't had a chance to actually take pictures and post here for you all to see. As you can see from the photos, this are really old since my cute little boy is in high school now. Yes, I am a bit behind in my scrapbooking. I know, I know, I really need to get it in gear and get scrapping.

Well I was inspired by the cute zoo line by Bo Bunny and the fact that Lion King was being re-released in theaters since Jacob is dressed as Simba. I just love this paper line and all of the accessories that came along with it. Super, super cute. The layout came from Page Maps book. What a great resource if you are stuck or just don't feel like coming up with a layout yourself (actually me being lazy that night and just wanted to get something done, lol).

Enjoy and don't follow my example, get scrapping!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happpy Scrapping and Stamping,

Ronda

Congrats to You

2011-08-07T11:14:00.000-04:00

Just this past week a friend of mine got herself a much deserved promotion, way to go Joyce. So to celebrate I wanted to make her a special card and I just love this little dragon stamp with his balloon. He is made by Stampavie, Lelo Designs and is called Party Dragon. Isn't he just the cutest little thing.

The copics used on this card are:

Wings, horns, patch on shirt and one balloon: V0000, V000, V01 and V12
Shirt toenails and one balloon: YR0000, YR000, YR01 and YR02
Last Balloon: BG10, BG11 and BG13
Dragon: YG93, YG95, YG97 and YG13

I spent some time trying to decide what papers to use and found some from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist called Happy Go Lucky that went with the colors I used just perfectly. The cloud paper is also My Mind's Eye but from the paper pack called Fly a Kite. This piece of course needed so sparkle so out came the Pearl Glimmer Mist. This adds just the right amount of sparkle and gets used quite often in my house. Everything must have a little sparkle.

It may be hard to tell from the pictures but did you notice how the balloons look wet? Crystal effect was used on these to give it a latex look. It was also used on the Congratulations banner. The little dragon is pop-dotted off the cloud layer. To get the layered shape I used my nestablities, gotta love these. Tho I always have to search youtube to remember what platform to use when cutting and embossing with these on my Big Shot.

After putting the card all together I decided it really needed a little something else to finish it off so I used my handy dandy Bow-Easy, which by the way makes the most perfect bows ever, to make a cute triple bow with some gingham ribbon and then added a cute little corduroy button.

Hope you have enjoyed this card.

Have a great Sunday. Happy stamping,

Ronda

Hello

2011-08-06T22:59:00.003-04:00

Today's card post is something that I colored a long time ago and found on my table today just begging me to make a card out of it. I absolutely adore this stamp. The little girl is just adorable, isn't she. I got her last year from this wonderful stamp company in Scotland, Sugar Nellie. I believe that it was designed by Elizabeth Bell back when she was designing for them.

Because it was colored a long, and I mean long, time ago I am not sure what color copics I used on her. I did use BOOOO and BOO to airbrush the sky and G82 for the grass. If you haven't started airbrushing with your copics you are missing out on all of the things you can do including airbrushing your ribbons, buttons, rhinestones and pearls to match what you are working on. It is also great to airbrush with stencils, love this look!!! If you decide to start airbrushing I highly recommend going to your local Northern Tools and getting yourself a little compressor rather than buying the canned air they sell for the airbrush kit. If you look further back in this blog you will find a picture of the compressor my hubby bought me.

Hope you enjoy the card. I will be posting another card tomorrow that I made for a sweet friend who just got a promotion, way to go Joyce!!! You are going to be great!!!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stamping,

Ronda

Fun with Swaps!

2011-07-06T21:56:00.003-04:00

I have been having lots of fun lately with images I received in some swaps I hosted on Splitcoaststampers.com a while back. It is great getting lots of cute images that you don't have so you can play and decide what you just need to add to your collection. I am hosting a new swap if you all are interested check it out here and come join the fun!!! http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/products-images-f112/new-open-copic-image-swap-10-2-due-sept-10th-t532043.html

Today's card uses this super cute image called Miss Anya - Rain which comes in a set of three adorable images, Rain, Snow and Shine. Just adorable. They are on my list of must haves, along with a lot of other little cuties I will be playing with later this week.

Now on to the lowdown of which copics I used on this little cutie. I think it may be easier to make a list so here it is:

Skin: E50, E51 and E53 and R20 for her cheeks
Hair: YR24, E55, E57 and E59
Jacket and Socks: YG21, YG23 and YG25
Umbrella: RV63 and RV66
Skirt: BG70, BG72 and BG75
Buttons: R85

I choose these colors to work with because they go so well with my new packet of My Minds Eye Lime Twist paper which I love, love, love. It has all of my favorite colors in it, just gorgeous!!! Check it out for yourselves, you won't be disappointed. I just wish I had a little girl so I could use it in my scrapbooking as well. Guess I will have to borrow my niece and take some pics of her so I can use it, lol! This card uses an older sketch of my, Get Inspired Sketch #26. This sketch is one of my favorites and it looks great with this image.

To finish off the card I added some Smooch to the umbrella and her barrette. Some polka dotted ribbon and Out of the Blue twine from the Lime Twist line look great with these papers and layout along with a bunch of rhinestones.

Hope you all enjoy and come back and visit real soon.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

2011-07-05T00:48:00.008-04:00

Hope every one had a wonderful and safe 4th with friends and family. We had a great block party, getting to know our neighbors which was great! The kids got to set off some fireworks and had a ball doing it. Good food and great conversation! Today I decided to be a little crafty and really wanted to do something patriotic to commemorate the day. I don't have any military stamps or ones with eagles so I had to improvise. I was looking through the images I had left from my last swap and came across the cutest most perfect little girl stamp for what I wanted to do. Talk about luck!!! Because I got this stamp from a swap I am not positive of its name but I think it is called Boat Tilda. Isn't she just adorable.

I first colored here jeans using B91-97 getting the shading just right. I then used some of the colorless blender on an old patch of jeans and laid it over where I colored for just a minute. Look at how great the design showed up on her jeans. Love this technique! Her scarf was colored with R24-29. Also the stripes on her shirt. To add some shadow to her white top I used C-1 to add some shadowing in on the shirt. Her hair was colored with Y21, Y26 and YR24. Her skin was done with E50, E51 and E53 with R20 for her cheeks. Her shows were colored with C1, C2, C4, and C6.

I used Basic Gray cardstock and my nest-abilities to cut out the porthole and then pierced with and added brads to complete the look. The white piece that was added behind the porthole was airbrushed with B41. I remembered that I had a cute little flag in an old boyscout stamp set so I pulled that out and used it so she could be holding the flag. I just love the Bo Bunny paper I used on the card, super cute!!! Finished off the card by adding a sentiment and some ribbon and we are good to go!!!

Well hope you are inspired by what I have shared today. Any questions, let me know. Hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!!! Happy Birthday America, 235 years young!!!!

Happy Stampin and Scrappin,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch # 35 - What a Cutie

2011-06-27T20:25:00.002-04:00

I finally got a chance to play with this little cutie. She is just adorable and when I saw her just had to have her. If you haven't seen this adorable stamp yet it is by Mo Manning and is called Sorry Shanna. When looking at this stamp I was trying to figure out what my card layout should be and then realized that it would look just great using my Get Inspired Sketch #35. What do you think, perfect right?!

When visiting other blogs I love it when they include a list of copic colors used to color their images so from now on I will include a list of what I have used. So here it goes, for her hair I used Y21, Y26 and E55. Here skin was colored with E50, E51 and E53 with R20 for her little cheeks. I was trying to go with the colors in the papers I planned to used so her dress is colored with BG10, 11 and 13 as are her stockings. The ruffles under the dress and other stripe on the stockings were colored with YR000, YR00 and YR02. I couldn't decide if I should color her boots yellow or not and thought it might be a little to much so went with gray instead using C1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8. After I finished up I stamped again on my matting tae and then used B0000 to airbrush the sky. About six months ago I got lucky and found the grass stamp by All Night Media on clearance at a local store and snatched that up real quick thinking it would come in handy. Boy was I right, I have used it on so many projects, lol.

Don't you just love these new, okay, maybe not so new, papers from My Mind's Eye, Mabel line. These papers rock!!! They go great with this old paper I had from SU called Bermuda Bay. To finish up the card I added some black grosgrain ribbon and some Bermuda Bay polka dotted ribbon along with some black pearls to the card and then sprayed the whole card with pearl Glimmer Mist. Gotta add that bit of sparkle to everything!!! Hope you all enjoy.

I am hoping to have more time and start adding more sketches so check back often and let me know what you think. If there is something you would like to see, please let me know. I would like to make this blog more interactive, you know, answer questions you may have, show more of what you would like to see etc., so let me know what that might be. Hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

I'm Back

2011-05-09T23:14:00.003-04:00

Last year ended badly and the new year only got worse. I thought I would share just a little bit of why I haven't been posting in such a long time.

Last year my mother woke me up with a phone call that dad had taken a fall and couldn't get back up. She wanted me to come over and help her get him up but I convinced her she really needed to all 911. So I woke up my son, got us dressed and headed up to the hospital to meet them. After some x-rays we found out dad had broken his hip, not good. We explained to the doctors that dad had fallen a few other times in the past few months so they wanted to do a CT scan to see if he had a stroke causing the fall. This is where it goes from bad to horrific. They came back and told us that he didn't have a stroke, which was great but then comes the kick in the gut, they found a large mass on his brain near they thalamus.

After waiting all day in the er, they finally got dad admitted and into a room. It took four days before they decided it was safe to do surgery on his hip to fix the break and a few more days to decide if it was safe enough to do a biopsy on the mass as it was right in the middle of his brain, not a good place. Sadly we found out that it was a GBM, which stands for glioblastoma multiforme. For those of you who have had no experience with this type of thing, this is the most common type of brain cancer and, the one that under the best circumstances, has a life expectancy of two years at most. Dad's tumor was in a place where surgery was impossible making the only treatment options radiation and chemo. They biopsy also showed that the tumor was stage 4 and very aggressive. Due to dad's age the life expectancy, if the radiation and chemo were successful was 11.4 months. Dad was unable to do any chemo due to low platelet levels and only lived a very short time, passing away on March 18th.

I am very grateful that they had just moved close to me about two years ago so I was able to see him every day, take him to his doctor's appointments and help my mother out with everything. This has been horrible for us all but especially for mom as this past Christmas eve they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Going through this all there wasn't any time to be crafty and in all honesty, my creativity and my wanting to do any crafting just disappeared. Stamping and scrapbooking has always been my stress relief but while all of this was happening I just couldn't bring myself to even go into my craft room. I am hoping that this will change soon. I actually had to force myself to go up and make mother's day cards.

I didn't take a picture of the one I made mom but here is a picture of the one I made for my mother-in-law. I really love this stamp. I bought it a long time ago and this is the first time it has seen ink. I stamped with versamark and then embossed with black embossing powder. I then used my aqua painter and inks to color in the image, adding more ink as I went along to shade the flowers. The finishing touch was to add some ribbon with a pretty bow I made using my bow easy, love, love love this tool!!! If you don't have one, I highly recommend getting one, it makes creating bows super easy!

Well, I hope you all enjoy the card and please, spend as much time with your loved ones as you can, you never know what is going to happen so enjoy as much time as you can while you can. Don't put off calling, visiting and telling those you love that you love them.

And just so you know, I appreciate each and every one of my followers, those of you who visit my blog on occassion and all who take time out of their busy days to leave comments. You all make my day. Thank you!!!

Happy Stamping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 35

2010-10-22T23:22:00.003-04:00

Oh, if there were only more hours in the day, I may be able to be a better blogger, lol. I never imaged that getting a part time job would disrupt my crafting/blogging time so greatly. I am not even sure when the last time was that I got to play in my craft room. So sad, right!!! All of those great stamps, paper and embellishments just sitting up there calling to me, come play! I think they miss me.

Well I still haven't had a lot of time to play but was able to get a little time for a new sketch. Maybe one of these days I will actually have time to use my sketches, lol!!! Hope you all enjoy this sketch!!! Have a great weekend!

Thanks for putting up with my bad blogging habits! I will get back into a routine soon I hope, and start posting on a regular basis again so keep checking back.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 34

2010-09-21T14:59:00.002-04:00

Sorry ladies, I know I have been very bad about blogging lately. I started a new job and with the fibromyalgia, it is kicking my butt, lol! There has been no time to craft lately and I miss it terribly and hopefully will be able to do some later this week or maybe, if I am lucky, over the weekend.

I did have time to create a new sketch for y'all tho and hope that you find it helpful. Hopefully I will get to play with this sketch later this week and if you check back, you can see what I have created with it.

Have fun with it and have a wonderful week!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 33 - Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party

2010-08-27T22:52:00.005-04:00

Today's sketch is a great 12 x 12 scrapbook page. I hope that it inspires you to create something wonderful for your scrapbooks!

On my page I used one of my favorite Halloween papers in the MDS program, Cast-a-Spell. It goes so well with my photos from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Yes, I know, I have done a lot of pages lately from this party but like I said before, this is my favorite party that Disney has and I took a ton of pictures while I was there. They are just calling my name telling me to get the done and put in a book. Eventually I will be done with all of these. Probably after I have done enough pages to make a whole book on just this party, lol.

Can you can tell I used several of the overlays on this page to get the effect you see? I didn't think just a plain background would look right with these photos given the subject matter. It really needed a worn, old look, don't you think? The font used I found on a great website where you can download free fonts and I thought this one was just perfect! You can find that site here, go check it out there are some awesome fonts for free!!! Well worth a look if you don't have what you need.

Hope you found some inspiration here today! As always, I appreciate your visits and comments, which are truly appreciated!!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

CAS79

2010-08-21T16:04:00.007-04:00

Last week on SCS they posted a Clean and Simple challenge, you can find it here. Your card had to have something to do with gardens or gardening. I made these last week for the challenge but didn't get a chance to photograph and post them. They all use the same embossing folder all I changed was the colors of the card stock, the embellishments and the sentiments.

On the pink card I used cotton candy stickles for the centers of the flowers. The sentiment is stamped with Melon Mambo ink that had been stamped off to lighted it up some. I wanted to highlight that so I added the black rhinestones underneath. To finish it up I used some cute black polka-dotted ribbon.

On the chocolate chip card I used chocolate glitter to the flower centered. The bow was made with chocolate satin ribbon using the bow-easy to help me make that beautiful double bow. The sentiment is stamped in chocolate chip ink and that punched out with the word window punch and layered on the modern label punch. I added some brown rhinestones to that as well. Yes, I can't help myself, the more bling the better!

The purple card uses liquid pearls for the flower centers and some beautiful purple rhinestones. I used my bow-easy again for this triple bow.

All of these cards were so quick and easy to put together. Using the embossing folder for the focal point on the card is a great idea.

Hope you all enjoy! Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 32

2010-08-21T15:55:00.003-04:00

So what do you think of this week's sketch? I think that I am going to make really great use of this sketch, once I get a little time, lol! I haven't had much stamping time this week with helping J with homework and then helping out the karate studio get their new building cleaned up and ready for class today. Hope you enjoy it. Look back next week and I am sure I will have something posted using this sketch.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 31

2010-08-16T15:25:00.005-04:00

Things have started to get back into some sort of routine now that school has started and I found that I had some extra time on my hands. So I decided to post an extra scrapbook sketch this week, hope like it. (I will post a card sketch later in the week so check back on Friday!!!) I really like this sketch as it uses 6 photos on the page. Those of you that have been following my blog for a while know that I really like sketches that use more than one or two photos. Being able to showcase more photos of a particular event is important to me since I tend to take a ton of photos. My hubby thinks that I go overboard with the photos but I think if you take a lot of pictures you are more likely to get some that come out really wonderful. It also helps having a digital camera where you don't have to develop a ton of film and then find out they all came out bad. I just love my digital camera!

Didn't my page come out great!!!! I just love the overlays, they go so well with the photos of my son dresses as Indiana Jones! He just looked so cute that night, lol. He loved his outfit so much he wore it when we went to Disney and saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. The gentlemen that portrayed Indiana Jones in the show kept giving him the thumbs up every time he looked over at him, so funny! He was nice enough to come see our son after the show and take pictures with him. (We had to explain about the autism because of the panic attack J was having at meeting him.) I have to say that the people that work at Disney are some of the nicest people and really go out of their way to make things special for kids with special needs. Another reason why I love Disney so much!!!

Hope this page sketch as inspired you to do some scrapping! Share your pages made with this sketch by attaching a link to your page in the comments section!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 30

2010-08-14T00:36:00.002-04:00

Today's sketch uses three 4 x 6 photos so it is super quick and easy, no cutting involved if you are doing traditional scrapbooking. My page (the sketch as well) was done using My Digital Studio and some free downloads that I found on the web which I used for the title of my page. I just love these pictures of our two cats. We adopted Patches, the black and white kitty, back in January. She is the craziest cat I have ever seen. She runs into walls head first, runs around like a nut and is constantly getting into trouble. Our other cat, Bandit, sits there and watches her like he thinks she is dumb and can't figure out what she is doing. It is so funny to watch the two of them.

Hope you enjoy today's sketch and hope that you forgive me for it being both my page and the sketch. School started this week and I just didn't have the time to make both.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 29

2010-08-05T21:39:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the delay in this week's sketch, ladies. This was the last week before school starts on Monday. So my son and I were taking advantage of that and were out and about having some fun. I can't believe that summer is over already, I don't know where it went. Why is it time seems to go quicker the older you get?

This week's sketch uses a couple of circle punches and a scallop punch, which makes putting this card together super quick and easy. Hope you enjoy it.

My card using this sketch uses no stamping at all. It turned out very different than my original idea, funny how that happens, lol. As you can see, I used my favorite color combination, Old Olive, Pale Plum, Rich Razzleberry and Cottage Wall paper.

It just so happens that this card also fits this weeks CAS challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers, again, not something that I originally intended to do. The challenge was to use polka dots on your card. I used my polka dotted embossing folder on the plum background and the olive circle and, of course, the ribbon is polka dotted so it fits the challenge wonderfully.

From the sketch you can see that I used brads as an accent. While making my actual card an idea popped into my head that I should try using the Beautiful Wings embosslit so I used the little butterflies instead of brads. I added some sparkle to my butterflies and to the dots on the olive circle because I just can't make a card without adding some sort of sparkle or shimmer. The ribbon was layered because I didn't like the look of either of these alone. Don't you like the layered ribbon better?

Speaking of butterflies I thought I would share a few photos I took yesterday of some beautiful butterflies that came to visit our butterfly bush in front of our house. Aren't they just gorgeous!

Well I hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Daisy May

2010-08-02T23:24:00.004-04:00

It has been a while since I pulled out my copics so this weekend I decided to work on my blending skills. I also tried a technique using the colorless blender I have been wanted to do for some time now. I used this super cute image called Daisy from Sugar Nellie and stamped it using memento ink. I colored her jeans first then pulled out a jean patch I had bought a while ago. Using my colorless blender refill I wet the jean patch and then laid the patch over the jeans, pressing firmly for a couple of seconds. When you pull up the patch you get the jeans pattern on your colored portion. Love this technique, very cool.

When I was done, I masked her off and airbrushed the sky then added grass. I wanted to add some bling to my image so I pulled out my rhinestones and added them and some Smooch top coat to the flowers. It still needed more sparkle so I used my stickles to outline the nesties shape. It really makes it pop off of the Melon Mambo cardstock by doing this. I used my embossing folder to emboss half of the white cardstock. To finish off the card I added some satin ribbon and some pink rhinestones. The sentiment is from the Tiny Tiny Wishes stamp set.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 28 Christmas Morning

2010-07-30T14:03:00.000-04:00

Well I finally finished up my page using Sketch 28 and love how I was able to use so many pictures from Christmas morning on the page. MDS is so easy to use and it makes scrapbooking so much easier! I don't know if I would convert over to digital completely since I really love to do traditional scrapbooking but it sure is great when you want to get something done and don't have the time to pull out all of your supplies!

Hope you enjoyed the sketch and are inspired to do some scrapbooking using it! Have a great weekend!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 28

2010-07-29T13:43:00.002-04:00

This week's sketch is a super quick and easy scrapbook page that will allow you to use 12 photos on the page! Don't you love it when you can use up lots of your photos on one page, I know I do! Sometimes you just need a sketch where there is more than just one or two pictures on the page to tell your story of that particular event so, I hope that you enjoy this sketch. I am working on my page using this sketch and will post it tonight or tomorrow so check back to see what this looks like with photos in it, lol. Hope you have all had a wonderful week!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

One Layer Wonder

2010-07-20T22:26:00.003-04:00

While browsing different blogs and websites I am always amazed at how some ladies can make such beautiful cards while not having any layers of cardstock and designer paper. I have only made one other one layer card, quite some time ago, lol. To my amazement, I loved the way it turned out and also loved the ease of it. For some reason though I never think to make a one layer card when I am crafting. Tonight I thought I would give it another go.

I started with a sheet of whisper white cardstock and started adding color with my sponge daubers until I had a background that I was happy with. I also added some color with the spritzer, not sure that shows up in the photo but I like the effect that it gave. I stamped the flower image from Inspired by Nature (one of my favorite sets) in chocolate chip ink and then used Smooch Pearlized Top Coat along the tops of the flowers and leaves. The sentiment is also stamped in chocolate chip ink and is from the set Kind and Caring Thoughts. To finish it off I added some Chocolate Chip satin ribbon.

I think I may have to try doing more one layer cards from now on. Give it a try!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

MGM at Night (Another Get Inspired Sketch using layout #27

2010-07-18T01:17:00.002-04:00

I really enjoyed this layout so much I pulled it out and played with it again adding some of my favorite images of MGM (now known as Disney Hollywood Studios). Sorry folks at Disney, it will always be MGM to me, lol. I just can't get used to the new name.

MGM is a wonderful park to visit at night. The way the place is lit up with all of the neon signs, the lights on the Tower of Terror which makes it look way spookier, to the Hat and the Osborn Family Lights Spectacular. You just can't go wrong visiting this park in the evening. One of my favorite places to be!!!

I used some of the new In Colors on this layout, Marina Mist, Concord Crush and Pear Pizzazz. Aren't they just gorgeous? I just love this new purple and can't wait to get my hands on the real thing! Well now that I have probably bored you all to death with this sketch I will end my post here. Hope you all enjoy it.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 27

2010-07-16T22:18:00.004-04:00

This week I have had some extra unexpected time (probably because I haven't been able to sleep) and was able to complete another sketch. Rather than wait until next week to post this sketch, I thought I would just post it today as a little surprise to all of my followers. I hope that this sketch inspires you to pull out your supplies or, if you scrapbook digitally, your My Digital Studio and get some pages completed.

This sketch would be great for those photos where you were rather far away from your subject. You can crop these photos down to fit the small size of the 5 photo boxes. I know I am always trying to figure out how to best showcase these types of photos and this sketch really works for that, don't you think.

On my page I used some of the new digital downloads from Stampin' Up: the paper daisies, Elegant Soiree paper (just beautiful)and the Always Elegant Kit.

Some of you may know, from reading previous posts, that my youngest son was diagnosed with autism when he turned three. At that point in his life he was non verbal, not potty trained and had more tantrums a day that I can count. You just never knew what would set him off and his lack of verbal skills made it all the more difficult to figure out. So, as you can image, at that point and time we would have never thought that he would be receiving awards for academic excellence in the future. When we were invited to the ceremony we knew he was getting some sort of award for getting all A's the whole year which is the President's Award for Academic Excellence. To our surprise he also received the other two awards for outstanding achievement in math and social studies. Yes, we were beaming! He has come such a long way, overcoming many hurtles (and still struggling with quite a few such as a lack of friends with his peers).

Well, enough of me rambling on, lol. If this sketch inspires you and you use it, please post a link to your creation in the comments section of this post so all of us can check it out!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch Challenge 26 in Purple

2010-07-14T10:21:00.005-04:00

Well as promised last night, here is the second card I made using my Get Inspired Sketch #26. I have to say that the stamp set I used on this card, Kind and Caring Thoughts, is a favorite of mine especially since I love doing this technique on stamps. To get this look I inked up my stamp with Pale Plum ink and then used a blender pen to remove the ink from the parts of the stamp I wanted to be another color. I used Old Olive for the stems and Rich Razzleberry was used for the berries and the highlights on the flowers. These colors look fabulous together!!!

The designer papers used on this card from the Cottage Wall package of paper from SU. I used stickles on the circular piece of dsp to add some sparkle to the card. It was also used to highlight the flowers on the stamped image. The sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, stamped in Rich Razzleberry. Since bling is my middle name, lol, I added some rhinestones to the punched piece of designer paper and at the end of the sentiment to help highlight it. Finished the card off with some white satin ribbon and Rich Razzleberry polka dotted ribbon.

I love, love, love how this card turned out. What do you think? Again, I want to thank you all for visiting and leaving comments when a project moves or inspires you!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch Challenge #26

2010-07-13T21:24:00.006-04:00

Since I have been very bad about posting the past couple of weeks, I thought I would post this week's sketch early. Thank you for understanding when I am late posting these challenges and your continued visits to my blog. I appreciate each and every comment that you leave!!! I hope that you enjoy this sketch as much as I do. I really love how this one turned out! The sketch was made using My Digital Studio, if you didn't know, lol.

Because I like this sketch so much I have made a couple of cards with it. Tonight I will show you one of them and if you check back tomorrow you will see the second. For this card I used the new designer series paper called Greenhouse Gala from SU since I thought it went so well with this cute little Tilda image. You can see three of the designs from this paper on this card. Tilda was colored with copic markers and the background was airbrushed with copics and the grass is a stamp from a local craft store using Certainly Celery ink and Garden Green ink. I wanted to add a little pop so I added the red button and stamped the sentiment in Real Red together with the punched background in Real Red.

So what do you think? Like the layout? You will be seeing it used again on here!

Have a wonderful night. Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 25

2010-07-10T22:21:00.004-04:00

Ok, this week's sketch uses 3 4 x 6 photos, super quick and easy to put together. Since my page is my sketch I don't have the measurements on there so all you do is line up your 3 photos with a 2 1/2 inch border on the left, leaving 3 1/2 inches on the right where you will put your title and your journaling. I used MDS to make my page this week, love how quickly you can put things together with this.

I wanted my background paper to match my photos so I used the eyedropper tool to get this beautiful purple background. I also did the same for my journaling. I think the black designer paper on the left really makes the photos pop off of the page. If you haven't noticed yet our family just loves Disney, lol. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is a favorite of ours, even more so than the Christmas party. The parade is fabulous and the way that the park is decorate is amazing. The fireworks at this party have to be the best fireworks show that Disney puts on too. So, if you have never been to the Magic Kingdom during this party you are really missing a terrific time!

Hope you enjoyed the page and that this layout inspires you to get some scrapbooking done.

Happy Stamping and Scrapbooking,

Ronda

2010-07-05T22:34:00.005-04:00

This card uses an older sketch of mine which can been seen here. I had made this for Shelli's challenge last month but got so busy that I didn't have a chance to post it and enter it into the contest, oh well. I love all of the sparkle on this card. The card base is basic gray and was stamped using an old retired background stamp in basic gray. The main image is stamped with Lovely as a Tree. I am so glad that this set didn't retire as it is a terrific set for masculine cards. I think that the purple and green really pop off of the gray background don't you?

Once I added the colors to the background I sprayed the whole image with home made shimmer spray to add more sparkle. You can see this better on the second picture here. I had some black rhinestones laying around and thought since the challenge was to use things that sparkle I would add these on each scallop too. You can never have to much glitz!!! To finish off the card I added a couple of different ribbons layered on top of each other.

Hope you enjoy. Happy Scrapping and Stamping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 24

2010-07-05T01:39:00.003-04:00

Hope all of you had a wonderful, fun and safe 4th of July!!!

I guess summer is just not conducive to blogging, lol. Trying to find time to stamp and then blog has been a challenge these last couple of weeks. I guess being a taxi service for my son so he can go to his social skills class three days a week, swim therapy once a week and then karate 5-6 times a week is just time consuming, lol! Doesn't leave a whole lot of me time. I will try my best to squeeze some time in here and there but things may stay this slow for a few more weeks. Stick with me and I will get back into the swing of things soon.

I have a card sketch for you all today which I made using MDS. The sketch is the card, I hope you all don't mind that. I do plan to make a real card with this sketch and will hopefully get that posted in a day or two since I think I may have some time tomorrow.

I love giving these sketch ideas a try in MDS first to see how they look. This has saved me wasting paper when an idea doesn't work out. I think MDS was worth purchasing just for this reason, never mind how great it is to scrapbook with. I love having to only pack my computer when I go to the church for a crop night since I was not very good at planning what to bring and always packed to much, lol. Bet there are a lot of you out there just like me. Also, I seem to socialize more than actually scrap so it really was a waste to pack all my stuff. Can you tell I love MDS! Another great bonus to MDS is the addition of new downloads at least once a month, sometimes more often and they are reasonably priced and immediately available to use, no waiting for the product to get shipped, just download it!!! Well enough of me rambling on about my love of MDS. Its getting late and I need to get some sleep.

Again, hope your 4th was fun!

Happy Stamping and scrapping,

Ronda

Hope you enjoy the sketch/card.

Get Inspired Sketch 23

2010-06-27T12:44:00.004-04:00

As promised, this week's sketch is a scrapbook page. My page is the sketch this time so I will give you the measurements since I did it differently this week. The two square pictures are 4 x 4 and the background pieces behind the circular photos are also 4 x 4. The designer paper pieces that surround the photos are 1/2 inch wide, just make them long enough so you get a perfect square surrounding your photos.

This page was super easy to put together with My Digital Studio! The more I play around with this program the more I love it. I learn something new each time a I use it which is awesome. I especially love that if I make a mistake I can just hit the back button and it goes back to the way it was before I made the mistake. Can't do that with paper and glue, lol! If you have any questions about this program or are interested in purchasing it feel free to contact me.

Hope you have had a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapbooking!

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #22

2010-06-19T23:37:00.004-04:00

This week has just gotten away from me and my crafting time was nonexistent until tonight, lol! Thank goodness I had some sketches already done in My Digital Studio so I didn't have to come up with one for this week. I realize that it isn't a scrapbook page even though it should be this week and I apologize for that. Hopefully you will like this card sketch enough to make up for the lack of a scrapbook page. I will post a scrapbook sketch next week for sure, so check back then!

This card is a great one for workshops, super quick and easy with great results! On my sample I used some of the new designer series paper which will be available in July when the new catalog starts. This paper is called Greenhouse Gala and rather reminds me of the 70's and all of the crazy wallpaper my mother had in every room of the house when I was little. Same colors, lots of green and yellow.

With a name like Greenhouse Gala I bet you would never think of using this on a masculine card but there are some great designs for them, as you can see here. The card base is Baja Breeze which will be returing in the new catalog, YES!!! I used an older ribbon I had laying around from Sellabration a couple of years ago which goes really well with this new dsp. The main image is from the stamp set, Hit the Road, and the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. I think this card is going to be a great one for my nephew seeing as how is permanently attached to his bicycle!

Hope you all enjoy and have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 21

2010-06-11T23:09:00.005-04:00

I had a lot of fun with today's sketch and hope that you enjoy it too. It is super quick and easy for those times when you need a quick card. I am not sure I have mentioned this before but all of my sketches are made using My Digital Studio. I originally purchased the MDS to start digital scrapbooking but then quickly realized what a great tool it is for coming up with sketches for both cards and pages. I love that I can try something on the computer first and know it will work out well before cutting into my treasured cardstock and designer paper. I just hate to cut up my paper, lay everything out and then realize that it just doesn't look right. Now I can avoid this and save myself a lot of grief and lessen my pile of scrap paper!

When making my actual card I stuck with the color combination I used in My Digital Studio, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Pale Plum. These colors just happen to be my all time favorite color combination. Just beautiful, don't you think? While making my card I thought I would also work in Shelli's challenge from her blog too. So after stamping with the stamp set Elements of Style and coloring it I used my vanilla smooch spritz to add a beautiful shimmer to the image and actually the whole card. Lots of rhinestones were added as well for more sparkle, some of which I colored with my markers to match my paper.

Can't wait to see what you do with this sketch!! Remember to post your links in the comment section so we can check out your cards too!!! Hope this inspired you today.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Sparkle and Bling Challenge

2010-06-11T00:08:00.004-04:00

Today's card is another card I have made for Shelli's new challenge, use sparkle and bling on your card. As you all know, I just love adding some sort of sparkle to my cards, I just can't help myself. This card uses some sparkle I haven't used in quite a while, my glitter stacks. You know that old saying, out of sight, out of mind? Well that is why I don't remember to pull out this lovely glitter more often. Unfortunately for me, my work space is not big enough to have everything out in the open for me to see and remember to use. Maybe one day I will have my dream craft room, if I am lucky. For now I will just have to make due with what I have.

If you have been following my blog for some time this card should look familiar. No this isn't an old card but the color combo is one I posted some time ago as well as the layout. If you want to see the inspiration for today's card you can check it out here. I did change the bermuda bay from the original card to tempting turquoise as the glitter matched that much better. Yes, this is cameo coral again, told you I am really going to miss this color, lol!!! These cute little flowers are Sticky Cuts from the catty. Don't you just love all that sparkle!!! While looking through my supplies I found that I didn't have any turquoise ribbon so I pulled out my trusty white satin ribbon and made my own. Gotta love the white ribbon!!! To finish off the card I added some crystals to the top that I also colored to match.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Crying for Cameo Coral

2010-06-08T02:09:00.003-04:00

As the title of this blog implies, I am very sad to see that this color will be retiring. It has always been a favorite of mine and it will be greatly missed. I was especially sad to see that the ink refills for this color have all been sold out along with a few others that I really wanted to get. Yup, that's what happens when you wait to order. I should know better by now. Oh well, I am sure that the new In Colors will help me get over my loss in no time, lol.

I really love how this card turned out. While making the card I thought to myself that it had been some time since I used the mat pack so I pulled that out to finish off the card. I think that the paper piercing give the card just the right touch, what do you think? The card front is Kiwi Kiss which was then matted with chocolate chip. The stamped layer is very vanilla, a color I always forget to use but thought it would look much better with the other colors I used on this card. The stamp set, Watercolor Trio, is in the current mini so it won't be around much longer, very sad in my opinion as this is such a beautiful stamp set. The sentiment is from the set Fifth Avenue Floral. My punched flowers were cut and pulled on to give them some dimension and then I added pearl halves and smooch paint to make them sparkle. The smooch paint was also added to the butterflies for more sparkle! You all know how much I like my sparkle, lol! Chocolate taffeta ribbon was used to finish off my card along with the punched edge.

Hope you all enjoyed. Thank you for stopping by my little blog!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Color Challenge #9

2010-06-05T16:57:00.005-04:00

Because I haven't posted nearly as many color challenges as I have sketch challenges, I thought I would post a another color challenge this week. I made this card last night and really love how it turned out. For some reason I just love these size cards (3 x 6). So the colors for this challenge are Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive and either Whisper White or Very Vanilla. These colors work great for masculine cards and since Father's Day is coming up thought it would maybe give you all some inspiration for your cards.

To start out I need to say that this card was inspired by one I saw on SCS and you can check it out here. As soon as I saw this card I knew exactly how I would make my card. I just love how much inspiration is out there, even if you don't have the same stamp sets things can be changed up and made your own.

For the background on my card I pulled out an oldie but goodie, the French Script background stamp. Background stamps are one of my favorite kinds of stamps, I just never remember to use them because they are behind me in my craft room. You know, out of sight, out of mind, lol, that's me! Before stamping on my card I stamped off because I didn't want the background to be overpowering. The flowers are from a hostess set called Of the Earth. Gotta love silhouette stamps! These were stamped in the Not Quite Navy and then stamped again without re-inking the stamp resulting in the different shades of blue that you see here. The sentiment is from the Tiny Tags set and punched out with the matching punch.

Old Olive satin ribbon (yes my absolute favorite ribbon) was used to embellish my card. I didn't have any blue rhinestones so I pulled out my copic markers and colored my clear ones and TA-DA blue rhinestones that match my NQN cardstock! Awesome right!!! I used some of my retired gold cord to attach the tag to the ribbon. To finish off I used some of my homemade shimmer spray made with the Gold shimmer paint for just the right amount of sparkle. I don't think you can see that in the picture though, which is a shame since it is so pretty!

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for taking time out of your day to stop by. Comments are always extremely appreciate especially if you are inspired by what you see.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #20

2010-06-05T12:32:00.003-04:00

Finally a moment to blog! Today's sketch is a 12 x 12 scrapbook page. I haven't had a chance to make my page using this sketch yet, but hopefully today sometime. Hubby's birthday is this weekend so it may have to wait until Monday.

Hope you enjoy the sketch. Post a link in the comment section of this post after you have made your page with this sketch so we can check out your work!!!

Have a wonderful and safe weekend. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Color Challenge #7

2010-06-03T10:13:00.005-04:00

While working on a card last night I thought to myself that it had been a while since posting a color challenge here so here we are, Cajan Craze, Apricot Appeal, Old Olive and Soft Suede. These colors looks so wonderful together, to bad Apricot Appeal is retiring. On the bright side, I have a full pack of it so it will last me a little while anyway, lol.

On this card I used the stamp set called Elements of Style. I love this flower image, so beautiful right! There is also a great swirly image in this set that I love. The card base uses one of the new core colors Stampin' Up is adding to the upcoming catalog in July. Isn't it just gorgeous! I can see all sorts of uses for this color on my fall pages and cards, can't you. As I said before the matte on the main image is Apricot Appeal and the designer paper is from an old pack of retired paper called Haiku, boy do I miss that paper! Pearl halves and chocolate rhinestones were added for some visual interest and to help frame the main image. Now all the card needs is a little sparkle so I added some glittery highlights on the flowers and leaves with my smooch paint. Oh, so pretty!!!!

I wanted to remind you all that Stampin' Up's Last Chance list came out yesterday and there are 100 stamp sets retiring, lots of paper, ribbon, punches, etc so check it out and give me a call if you want anything. Products (not the stamp sets) are while they last so don't wait if there is something on their that you can't live without, lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Hello Summer

2010-05-31T21:03:00.003-04:00

Today I decided to pull out some images I received in a swap and color. I haven't used my copic markers in a while and thought it was time to pull them out and have some fun. I don't know about you but coloring makes me feel like a kid again, lol. It used to be a favorite activity of mine when I was little and I still love it today. Guess I will never grow up! After coloring my images I highlighted some areas with my smooch paint to make them sparkle, added a little rhinestone earring to my cute little girl and cut her out and used stampin dimensionals to make her pop off the card.

The card base is Pretty in Pink cardstock with a layer of Tempting Turquoise cardstock. These colors look so great together, nice and bright for a great summer day. I used the Tiny Tags stamp set for the sentiment and the matching tag punch. The tag needed some sparkle so I added a little pink rhinestone to the flower and then outlined the tag with my smooch paint.

What do you think of the ribbon? White ribbon is awesome because you can make it any color you want, awesome right! Add some pink ink and you have pink ribbon, love it! Give it a try. Not sure what to do, just take lay your ribbon on the ink pad and hold it down with a sponge dauber, then pull. Keep repeating until you get the color you want. Make sure to do both sides of the ribbon to get an even color. If you don't have a sponge dauber, use a sponge, or your finger, if you don't mind it getting colored, lol.

Hope you all had a great holiday!!! Thanks for visiting!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,
Ronda

Wild Wild West Get Inspired Sketch 19

2010-05-31T01:20:00.004-04:00

Back when I first signed up as a Stampin' Up! demo in 2002 it was because I was really into scrapbooking. My sister-in-law was a demo and I had a workshop for her and fell in love with everything in the catalog. Right after closing out my workshop I signed up as a demo. I had several stamp sets highlighted in my catalog that I really loved and one of these sets was Wild Wild West.

Unfortunately I was not really thinking I would make cards with my SU products but just scrapbook so I never purchased this set. You see, we didn't live out west, own a horse and no one in my family was a cowboy so how could I justify spending money on a set I loved but couldn't see using in my scrapbooking. Crazy me. Little did I know, I would end up making more cards that I scrapbook so I should have just indulged and bought the set.

Well after years of trying to find this retired set at a reasonable price (yes, I thought I was dreaming since I had seen this set sell on ebay for up to $250) some kind lady was willing to sell this to me at the original price, WHHOOO HOOOO!!! (Picture me doing the happy dance here, lol!!!) What an angel!!! It just arrived at the end of last week and I have finally had a chance to play with it.

I love, love, love this set and used one of the stamps from this set as the main image on my card. I had some retired Western Sky designer paper laying around and since it goes so well with this stamp set decided to use that. Looks great with this paper right! On my sketch I used ribbon but didn't think that it would work real well with this theme of this card so I pulled out some hemp and used that instead. I also replaced the buttons from the sketch with adhesive nail heads. Came out super cute didn't it. I think it would make a great male birthday card or maybe father's day card. I haven't decided what I am going to do with it so I didn't put any sentiment on it.

Hope you all enjoy and are inspired by my latest sketch. Give it a try and post a link to your creation in the comments section of this post so we can check out your wonderful work!!!

Have a great Memorial Day tomorrow and be safe. Remember our service men and women and the sacrifices that they make each and every day for us and our country!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #19

2010-05-29T11:14:00.002-04:00

Here is this week's card sketch. I hope you have as much fun with it as I had creating it. Can't wait to see what you all do with it!!

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend and please take some time to remember our service members who have given their lives defending our freedoms! Thank you!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #18 Creations- Yes it is about time, lol

2010-05-29T01:10:00.006-04:00

I can not believe the crazy weeks that I have had with medical appointments for my son and for myself. I can't wait for all of these to be done with and we get some answers, if we are lucky that is, lol.

I was actually able to make to scrapbook pages using my Get Inspired Sketch #18 seen here. One is a traditional scrapbook page and the other was created using My Digital Studio. I can tell you that if you are in a pinch, trying to catch up on years of scrapbooking that you neglected, My Digital Studio is the way to go. I am one who said that there was no way I was going to get into digital scrapbooking due to the fact that I am not computer savvy and figured it would be just to much work to figure it out. Well I have to say that digital scrapbooking with MDS is a breeze. I can't believe how easy it is to use and what a great page you can create. Now mind you, my pages in MDS are still on the easy side but I am learning all sorts of new things and my pages are going to WOW you one of these days.

Well the page I created with MDS was for my niece's kindergarten graduation. Doesn't she look so adorable. She finally made it through the year with the classroom aide never getting her name right even after being spoken to on several occasions about this. Poor girl!

On the typical scrapbook page I created for this sketch mixes retired Stampin' Up product with a new stamp set from the summer mini catalog. I love it when you can mix the old with the new and they go so well together!!! I haven't done my journaling on this page yet. This happens to be my biggest hurtle in scrapbooking and I think it might just be me. I never know what to say. This page shows my little one enjoying the Bristol 4th of July Parade (the best 4th of July parade around) for the last time before we moved away from the area. Oh how I wish they would broadcast this parade on tv so we could still enjoy it.

Hope you enjoy both takes on the Get Inspired Sketch #18 and I also want to thank those of you who post links to your creations using these sketches in the comments section of the post, THANK YOU!!!!!

Have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend,

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #18

2010-05-23T00:41:00.003-04:00

This week has been so crazy with "lovely" medical appointments for my son, a cracked tooth for me, Honor's awards for my son, kindergarten graduation for my niece, karate belt testing for my son and just no time for me and my crafting. So as you can see, this week's sketch as been delayed by a crazy week when I didn't think I would get a chance to craft in any way, shape or form, lol. So here is this week's sketch without any further delay, hope you all enjoy it as it is a super easy one and uses quite a few photos too!

I am hoping to be able to play along with this sketch either tonight, or, more likely, tomorrow so check back to see what I do with this sketch.

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you all for visiting my little blog.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #17

2010-05-15T00:36:00.006-04:00

This week's sketch challenge is for a square card. I happened to choose to make my card 4 x 4 as they fit the images I choose to use but they could work for any size square card. I hope you enjoy this sketch as it works wonderfully set up the way I designed it and with it flipped as you will see in the two samples I have made using the sketch.

My first card uses the cute Sweet Pea Designer paper along with Chocolate Chip, So Saffron and Old Olive cardstock and, of course, whisper white which the main image is stamped on. This this little elephant just adorable? He is from the Animal Stories stamp set. Hello baby is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. This is a wonderful stamp set in that it has just about every greeting you can ever need.

My next card using this sketch, just turned a quarter turn, uses Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate chip and whisper white cardstock. The designer paper, Bella Rose, unfortunately retired last year, very sad since it was a favorite of mine!!! So what do you think? Doesn't the sketch look just as great this way as it does on the first card? Makes this a very versatile sketch which is wonderful!!! Hope you all enjoy it and I look forward to seeing your creations using it! Remember to post a link in the comments section of this post so we can all see what you do with the sketch. Hope you decide to play along!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!!!

Ronda

Birthday Wishes - FS170

2010-05-11T23:47:00.003-04:00

On Sundays, SCS posts a challenge called the Featured Stamper Challenge. This week's Featured Stamper was ltecler and the card I choose from her gallery to case can be seen here. There are certain rules for this challenge that can be found here. I really liked this card by ltecler and thought it would be a great one to case.

For my card I changed the blue that she use to Melon Mambo and used the Upsy Daisy stamp set rather than the one she used. In addition I added a sentiment to my card where she had none. Whisper White was used as my card base and I matted my Melon Mambo pieces of cardstock with basic black, which makes the Melon really pop off the card! I stamped the Upsy Daisy image with basic black and the sentiment in basic black as well. The scallop border punch was used and I added liquid pearls to each of the little scallops to match what ltecler did on her card. Self adhesive metal accents were used on my card rather than brads. A combination of black satin ribbon and black ribbon with white polka dots was used. I also sprayed the main stamped image with home made shimmer spray to make it sparkle. Yes, I know, I can't stop using this stuff. Give it a try, it will become addictive!!!

Hope you like my case of ltecler's wonderful card.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Color Challenge #8

2010-05-09T22:26:00.004-04:00

To all of the moms who are kind enough to take time out of their day to read my blog, Happy Mother's day. Hope you had a wonderful day filled with happiness and love!!!

Since I haven't posted a color challenge in a while I thought I would throw one out there using one of the NEW colors that Stampin' Up is going to be adding to their catalog in July. I know that a lot of you don't have access to this and may have to wait a little while to play along but I also know that a lot of you are demos so play along and post links to your creations so we can all check them out!!! My color combo today uses the New color Cajan Craze, a returning retired color, Tangerine Tango and Pumpkin Pie. You may add one or two neutral colors if you wish, I did, Whisper White and Basic Gray.

Today's featured stamper is on SCS is ltecler. Check out her gallery and participate in today's Feature Stamper Challenge, it is lots of fun and very inspiring! My card was inspired by this card in ltecler's gallery. I changed up the background papers and the ribbon as you need to change two different things on the card you are casing for this challenge. Using the colors of cardstock that I did gives it a feel of a sunset. I really like this look. Thanks ltecler for such a great card to case!!! Your gallery is wonderful!

Once again, I hope all of you Mom's had a special day today.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T01:18:00.003-04:00

Today's card is, of course, a Mother's day card made for my mother in law. Her favorite color is pink so I hope that she will like this. I used Chocolate Chip cardstock as the card base and then use pink pirouette as a matte for the designer paper. The designer paper, Bella Rose is one of my favorites from last year. To bad it retired. This same paper was used to make these adorable butterflies from the Beautiful Wings embosslit. Finishing off the card I used the new beautiful chocolate chip satin ribbon and a button from the Button Bouquet.

The inside of the card was finished with pink pirouette card stock, punched with the scallop punch and then layered with whisper white. Finishing it off I added Chocolate
Chip satin ribbon and a layer of pink taffeta ribbon and some rhinestones for some sparkle.

Hope Grammy likes it, lol!

Hope all the moms out there have a wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable day tomorrow!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #16

2010-05-07T20:26:00.007-04:00

Today's Get Inspired Sketch is a two page 12 x 12 spread. Hope you all enjoy this sketch. It is super easy and you get to use lots of photos! I would love to see your creations made with this sketch so please share by posting a link in the comments section of this post!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day ladies and a great weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Black Magic Technique with Watercolor Trio

2010-05-04T10:00:00.003-04:00

On Sunday I was browsing some blogs and came across this technique on Shari's blog and decided it was time I gave it a try. I have seen this technique over and over again for a long time and have been meaning to give it a shot but just kept forgetting about it. Seeing Shari's card gave me the inspiration to finally do it. Thanks Shari!

You can do this technique using any dark colored cardstock as the base for the stamped image. It is most commonly done using black cardstock but I really wanted to give it a try using Chocolate Chip.

The first step in this technique is to pick out a solid image stamp and ink it up with craft white ink. After stamping you can wait for it to dry or use your heat gun if you are impatient like me, lol. Once the craft ink is dry all you have to do is use either your pure color pencils, metallic pencils or your watercolor crayons to color the image how you want it to look. On this card I used my pure color pencils. The trick to this technique is to use to different shades, a lighter one and a darker one when coloring. This gives the image that POP factor. Once done, you can add more pop to the card by adding white highlights with your signo white gel pen as I have done.

I have decided that I really like this technique but just am not sure about this card. I am not sure if it is the color combo I used or maybe the layout but something about it is bothering me, lol. Yup you guessed it, I am very critical about my projects, my own worst critic. Hope you all like it and give this technique a try. I will be trying it again, maybe later today to see if I can make a card I like better, lol.

Have a wonderful week,

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 15 - CAS64

2010-05-02T12:18:00.011-04:00

Today I had some fun using my Get Inspired Sketch 15 by turning the sketch around. I also incorporated a challenge from SCS, CAS64 - use orange on your card and it must be a birthday card. I am not really an orange fan, especially bright orange so I wasn't sure about this challenge but I really love how it came out, what do you think?

I used Old Olive as the card base and the new Island Oasis designer paper from the new Summer Mini catalog. Isn't this paper great!!! I love the colors and patterns in this package of paper, super fun! I can see lots of uses for this paper from scrapbooking to retirement cards to party invitations.

The main image is from a retired set called Balmy Breezes. Goes great with the paper right, gotta love that!!! I didn't have any ribbon to match so I used my white taffeta ribbon and colored it to go along with the background of my stamped image. So beautiful, and super easy to do. As you know, I love to see some sparkle on my cards so I used my handmade shimmer spray on the main image and love how it adds just the right amount of shimmer.

I don't usually finish the inside of a card when I make it, that usually happens later, when I need the card for whatever occasion may come up. For some reason, I was inspired to finish the inside and think it came out rather cute, lol.

Hope you all are inspired by this sketch, it is super easy to through together. Give it a try and then post a link to your creation so we can all check it out! I would love to see you give it a try!

Have a wonderful week. Thanks for visiting my little blog!!! I appreciate all of you who visit and leave comments!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #15 - With Sympathy

2010-04-30T23:23:00.003-04:00

Earlier today I posted this week's Get Inspired Sketch but didn't have time to take the photos of the card I made using this sketch. I unfortunately needed to make a sympathy card for a friend of ours who lost his dad recently. While looking through my stamp sets I came across one of my favorite sets, Coast to Coast and thought it would work great as a sympathy card. The main image was stamped with Chocolate Chip ink on whisper white card stock. It was then matted with Baja Breeze and Chocolate
Chip cardstock. The designer paper use is from one of my favorite packages of paper of all time called Parisian Breeze. I was so sad to see this one retire. I really think that the Parisian Breeze looks great on this card. The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate chip and is from the stamp set, Teeny Tiny Wishes.

If you would like to participate in the challenge, just leave a link in the comments section of this post so we can all check out your creations made with this sketch.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #15

2010-04-30T13:32:00.004-04:00

Here is today's Get Inspired Sketch. It is a great one for when you need a super quick and easy card to put together. I don't have time to take photos and post the card I made with this sketch right now but will tonight. Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy card and this sketch worked perfectly.

Can't wait to see what you all do with it! Have a wonderful weekend, enjoy the sunshine!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Watercolor Trio Sneak Peak

2010-04-26T14:46:00.003-04:00

If you haven't seen the new Summer Mini catalog yet you are missing some wonderful sets. I just love the new set called Watercolor Trio. I love these solid stamps that you can use your markers on and color them the way you want.

I used Baja Breeze for the card base and for the vase. If you can't tell, I used the ornament punch to make the vase, cool huh. I just love being able to use the punches for more that what it was intended for. I then stamped the swirl image from the Priceless stamp set to add a design to the vase. I wanted to add some sparkle to the vase to so I sprayed it with my home made shimmer spray. The flower stamp from Watercolor Trio was inked up using Melon Mambo, Pretty In Pink, Certainly Celery and Old Olive markers. To finish off the card I used my embossing folder for the white layer and then added some of SU's beautiful satin ribbon.

Hope you all enjoy!

Happy stamping and scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #14

2010-04-25T01:52:00.008-04:00

Yes, I know, I am late posting this week's sketch. For this I apologize to those of you who check my blog faithfully. I will try to do better and not be late again.

This weeks sketch is a one page 12 x 12 layout that holds three photos. I really like this layout, super fast and cute.

My page using this layout uses the Winter Bright Simply Scrapping Kit. I have to say, this is my favorite simply scrapping kit that Stampin' Up! has ever made. I just love the color combination, the designer papers and the embellishments included in this kit. Unfortunately, I didn't think ahead and only ordered one kit before it retired. Not very smart of me, lol.

The title for my page was made using my big shot and the Wingo Zingo Alphabet die. Rather than the circle as in my sketch I added a big snowflake to put the title on as it fit my pictures much better. I used my home made shimmer spray on the snowflakes to make them shimmer and then used stickles to outline the snowflakes. These were cut using my cricut. This page came together really quickly and love how it looks. Hope you are inspired to use this sketch and if so, I would love to see your finished project, so post a link in the comment section so everyone can check it out.

Have a great weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch 13 and Get Inspired Color Challenge #7

2010-04-16T12:31:00.005-04:00

Today I thought I would post two challenges, a color challenge and my regular sketch challenge, not that you need to to them both on the same card, lol. The color challenge this week uses one of my favorite colors that Stampin' Up! is bringing back, Baja Blue!!! I was so happy to see that this color is coming back, I just love this shade of blue. Okay, the rest of the colors for this challenge are Sahara Sand and Real Red. You can add a neutral if you want to this color combo. This week's sketch was inspired by a card I saw in the upcoming summer mini catalog, hope you all like it.

My card combines both the sketch challenge and the color challenge. I thought these colors would work great with my new stamp set, July Fourth. This set will be available for purchase on May 1 and can be found in the new Summer Mini catalog. It is super adorable and and will be great for both scrapbooking and cardmaking. I used lots of shimmer and sparkle on this card, from home made shimmer spray to glitter from the glitter stacks, to Dazzling Diamonds. Fourth of July needs lots of sparkles, don't you think?

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

WHOO HOOO Shelli Picked My Card!!!!

2010-04-13T14:52:00.002-04:00

Today I got an email that just made my day, Shelli picked one of my cards as a winner in her Stencil Challenge!!! Just wanted to share my excitement with all of you!!! Here is a photo of the card that won and you can see details on my original post of this card here.

Have a terrific day everyone! I am off to do the happy dance!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Sketch 11 and CAS61 Combined

2010-04-10T23:42:00.003-04:00

Today's card used my Get Inspired Sketch 11 and was made for the CAS61 Clean and Simple Challenge on SCS. The challenge was to make a card with the only thing stamped being the sentiment. Seeing as that was exactly what I did with the samples I made for my Get Inspired Sketch 11 I figured why recreate the wheel, lol. Since I already had the sketch this card came together very quickly which is something I love.

If you use your designer paper for this sketch as I did on this card and my other samples, it is a great way to use up all of those scrap pieces of designer paper you have laying around. Finding ways to use up all of my scraps has become an obsession with me lately, especially since I have told myself that I need to use what I have before I can order more, this is a great incentive to become creative.

Today I used scraps from a retired pack of designer series paper called Raspberry Tart. Bright and fun are the words that come to mind for this paper. The cardstock for the base of this card is Kiwi Kiss, which is now retired. Sadly, this is not one of the In Colors that will be returning. However, the Pink Pirouette embossed layer of cardstock will be returning, yeah!!! This layer is sprayed with my homemade shimmer spray and then glitter was added to each little dot. You can never have to much sparkle, lol!!! Each square (1 1/4 inch punch) was outlined with glitter as well and then rhinestones were added to the middle square. I didn't have any rhinestones handy that matched my paper so I used my copic markers to make them match. The sentiment is stamped with Rose Red ink and is from the Kind and Caring Thoughts set. Yes ladies, this is a hostess set. If you would like to get your hands on this adorable set, give me a call to book your workshop. This set won't be around much longer. Once the new catalog comes out it will be gone and you don't want to miss this set, it is a great one!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #12

2010-04-08T22:10:00.007-04:00

If you are like me you hold on to every piece of paper, big or small, so you can make the most out of your paper. This week's Get Inspired Sketch is a great way to use up all of those beautiful scraps of designer paper you have been holding onto. I just love this sketch for using these up. If you want, you can replace some or all of these designer paper squares with photos, which would give you a page using up to 11 photos.

On my layout I used scraps from a package of designer paper from Stamping Up called Cast a Spell, one of my favorites!!! Cast a Spell paper really goes well with the subject of my photo, my favorite ride ever, Hollywood Tower of Terror, located at Disney Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. If you have not gone on this ride, I highly recommend giving it a try on your next visit. The theme of this ride and all of the details in the ride line are fabulous.

Chills and Thrills rub-ons (also from Stampin Up and retired) were used on this page as well because there were just as fitting as the designer paper. You can see on the ribbon that I used the rub-ons there too to add some added interest to the ribbon. I love using rub-ons on ribbon because it is unexpected. The title was cut using my cricut, twice, so I could get the shadow effect. I used rhinestones to highlight my title. I didn't have the three shapes I wanted in black so I used clear rhinestones and colored them with my copic markers. Journaling was done with my Signo uni-ball white gel pen.

Well, I hope to see some links in the comment section using this weeks sketch. It would be great to see what everyone does with this sketch, especially if you incorporate photos in place of some or all of the designer paper square. Have fun with the sketch and thanks for playing along!!!

Happy Stamping and Scraping,

Ronda

Big News Color Renovation at Stampin' Up!!!

2010-04-07T21:54:00.003-04:00

Introducing... The Color Renovation!
I am excited to share with you the hot off the press news regarding the Stampin' Up! Color Renovation!!!

29 of Stampin' Up's! current colors are retiring in June but not to worry (wait for it....) some of our past In Colors are returning along with 5 brand new colors, some of my favorite In Colors are coming back, WHOO HOO!!!

5 New Colors:
Marina Mist
Daffodil Delight
Cherry Cobbler
Cajun Craze
Early Espresso

Crumb Cake - previously known as Kraft, come July 1st, the marker and ink pad will now be available.

10 Returning In Colors:
Baja Breeze
Melon Mambo
Pink Pirouette
Rich Razzleberry
Riding Hood Red
River Rock
Soft Suede
Tangerine Tango
Wild Wasabi

These wonderful new color collections will be available to everyone with the new Stampin' Up! catalog in July... BUT if you are a DEMONSTRATOR you get to order them early!!!!! If your not a demonstrator yet you find out more information about joining my group by giving me a call or checking out my website here.

If you need to stock up on any of the current colors that will be retiring soon (see the bottom of this post for a list) make sure to contact me as soon as possible or click HERE to shop online! Rumor has it all of these colors maybe only available while supplies last so order early if you have favorites you can't live without!

Current Colors that will Retire in June:
Glorious Green
Green Galore
Gable Green
Yoyo Yellow
Only Orange
Pink Passion
Pixie Pink
Orchid Opulence
Lovely Lilac
Brilliant Blue
Close to Cocoa
Creamy Caramel
Really Rust
Ruby Red
Cameo Coral
Summer Sun
Bordering Blue
Brocade Blue
Ballet Blue
Taken with Teal
Handsome Hunter
Pale Plum
Blush Blossom
Apricot Appeal
Barely Banana
Mellow Moss
Sage Shadow
Almost Amethyst
Lavender Lace
Basic Brown
Going Gray

If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call, drop me an e-mail or leave a comment here and I will get back to you.

Have a wonderful week,

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Black and Bermuda

2010-04-05T21:26:00.002-04:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter this past weekend. The Easter Bunny was especially great this year according to my son, lol. Now with the festivities done and over with things can get back to normal, maybe.

Today's card is a case of a card I did a while back which I liked so much I thought I would try again with a different color combination. On this card I used my sponge daubers to ink up the swirly stencil from the Vintage Ornament I set (my favorite stencil so far). Isn't the sentiment just so cute on the little tag punch. When I first got my mini catalog this was not a set that jumped out at me but now I really love it. Just too cute!!! After putting the card together I thought it needed just a bit more sparkle so I sprayed it with my home made shimmer spray and love how it turned out.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch Challenge 11

2010-04-01T23:01:00.005-04:00

Hi Everyone, it is time once again for my weekly sketch challenge. I want to thank scrappinheather and He Stamps, Ben, for taking part in my weekly challenges by posting links to their creations!!! Sorry I can't get Mr. Linky to work so it would be a much easier process but my lack of computer skills is, I am sure, the reason why this isn't working. For those of you who would like to participate, please attach your link in the comment section so we can see what you all do with these sketch and color challenges!

Here is this week's sketch. I was inspired by a card I saw on SCS and liked it so much I turned in into this week's sketch. I did change it up just a little to make it my own, hope you like it! It is super quick and easy so you should be able to make a card pretty quickly with this sketch.

I have made a couple of cards using this sketch and they both came together so easily which I love. This first card uses Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum cardstock and Cottage Wall designer paper. The sentiment was stamped with Teeny Tiny Wishes and then punched out with the word window punch and then layered onto the Modern Label punch. The squares were punched out with the 1 1/4 inch square punch and then lined with glitter to make them sparle. Beautiful Wings embosslit was used to get this adorable little butterfly which was blinged up with glitter and rhinestones. The Pale Plum cardstock was embossed with an embossing folder for that great polka doted look. To finish off this card I used my new satin ribbon, yes this is to die for ribbon, and Rich Razzleberry Polka-dotted ribbon. Don't they look great together!!!

On my next card I decides I wanted to go with a black and white theme and add just a pop of another color. I thought pink would work great with this card. The designer paper is called night and day, and just beautiful!!!! I added some rhinestones to one of the squares of designer paper to make it really pop off of the page. Don't you just love that black satin ribbon with the pink taffeta ribbon, just fabulous!!!

Hope you love this sketch and the two examples using this sketch. Now it is your turn to show us what you are made of. Give this sketch a shot and link it here in the comments section after this post. I would love to see what you come up with and I am sure my readers would love to see this as well.

Hope you all have a terrific week and weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather that we are finally having!!!!

Happy Stampin and Scrappin,

Ronda

Decorate your Scrapbook

2010-03-30T23:20:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week I mentioned that I would making an attempt at decorating the outside of my scrabook using the stencils. I have to say, I really liked how it came out, for a first attempt. I think I will maybe add some other embellishments when I have some moe time, like a tag with info of what is in the book and maybe some of those beautiful roses I have been seeing every where. I definitely want to approach this slowly as it isn't something I can just crumble up and throw away if I mess it up. I like what I came up with so far, how about you? Any comments, suggestions, etc. I would love to hear what you think. Thanks for looking everyone. Have a wonderful week!!!

Happy Stampin and Scrapping,

Ronda

Field Day Fun Using the Get Inspired Sketch #10

2010-03-29T22:48:00.001-04:00

Last week I posted my Get Inspires Sketch Challenge #10 but didn't have my page using this sketch completed. I have finally got my page done and even incorporated Shelli's current blog challenge to use stencils on our projects on this page. My page is a lot simpler than I usually make them so I still feel like I need to add something to it but I don't know if that is just me being overly critical or if it truly needs something else, lol. Please let me know what you all think. If you are curious about the stencil, it is the beautiful swirl from the Vintage Ornaments set. There are so many other uses for this particular stencil. It is my favorite!!!

Hope you all enjoy the page. I would love to see your pages using this sketch. Mr. Linky is having issues (I am sure it is user error tho) so please post the links to your creations in the comments sections so we can check them out!!! Have a great week!!

Happy Stampin and Scrappin,

Ronda

Get Inspired Color Challenge #6

2010-03-26T23:37:00.002-04:00

Today I thought I would post another color challenge. This color combination was inspired by a dress I saw in a JC Penney's flier I received in the mail this week. I thought the dress was very striking and thought that it would make a great color combo for a card. Okay, here is the color combo for this week, Melon Mambo, Only Orange, Basic Black and Whisper White.

For my card I used a stamp set I bought a while ago and haven't gotten around to using, Greenhouse Garden. I'm not sure what took me so long to use this set as it is just gorgeous but you will definitely be seeing some cards using it again real soon! The main image is from Vintage Vogue which I inked up using my markers to get the two different colors. To finish up the card I used the new satin ribbon and some rhinestones. Unfortunately my photography skills are not spectacular and I don't think that you can see the sparkle I added to the card with my glitter pen. In person it is very sparkly.

Have a wonderful Saturday!!! Remember to post a link to your creations using this color combo so we can all enjoy your creations!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch # 10

2010-03-26T23:24:00.003-04:00

Today's Get Inspired Sketch is a quick and easy one page sketch. I am still working on my page using this sketch and will hopefully be able to post my completed page tomorrow. Have fun with this sketch! Can't wait to see what you all do with it. Post a link to your creations so we can all check them out!!!

Have a wonderful and safe weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Kind Thoughts in Pink

2010-03-22T20:42:00.003-04:00

Today I tried a new technique which I have seen on SCS for a while now. Making this border was super quick and easy and it looks just awesome! All you need is the slit punch for this technique, cool huh!

So what do you all think about the stamped image? To get this look I inked all of the flowers up first with my pretty in pink marker. Then using my Melon Mambo marker I added in the veins of the flower. The stem is inked using the Certainly Celery marker. Don't you just love how this looks. It is really easy to do and looks wonderful when you stamp the image. This is one of the thinks I love about solid stamp images, being able to alter the look just by using your markers. Very cool technique!

Satin ribbon and rhinestones were used to finish off this card. You know how much I love bling, I just can't resist using something sparkly on my cards!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Stencil Blues

2010-03-21T19:40:00.001-04:00

Sitting in my craft room today, I noticed my stencils sitting on my desk and decided I would pull them out and play with them. As I was looking at them I thought it would be great to use only part of the stencil rather than the whole image. So I pulled out my big roll of eclipse masking tape and covered everything I didn't want to use. I love how it came out, what do you think?

On this card I used Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy and Bashful Blue cardstock. The designer paper is from the Bella Bleu package. Doesn't it look wonderful with this stencil! The sentiment is from the stamp set Tiny Tags, again, a perfect match for this stencil. It is wonderful that all of these things coordinate together, isn't it! To finish off this card I used the blue taffeta ribbon, some rhinestones and a cute little flower button with some silver cord.

These stencils are just wonderful to work with. I think I am going to decorate my scrapbook cover with them next. If your interested in how it turns out, check back later this week to see.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Creatively Challenged and Get Inspired Color Challenge #5

2010-03-20T14:33:00.005-04:00

Last night nothing I attempted to make seemed to look good, come together the way I wanted and a lot of things made it into the trash or the scrap pile. Don't you just hate nights like that. I was getting very discouraged when everything I was attempting just looked horrible, to me anyway, since I am my own worst critic, lol. I was finally able to salvage something from my many attempts even though it came out nothing like what I started out to do.

I had scored this cardstock and then got distracting trying to do something else and when I came back to it I wasn't sure what to do with it. After some more playing around this idea for a one layer card finally came to me. I hadn't used my Season of Friendship stamp set in a long while and thought it would work well for a one layer card and would fit within the area left after I scored the front of the card. Finally an idea that would work, lol. Now with the idea out of the way I thought I would through in a new color challenge. For those of you who want to play along the colors are Melon Mambo, Chocolate Chip and Certainly Celery. Post a link to your creations so we can check out what you have created, can't wait to see!

I stamped the tree with Chocolate chip ink the leaves with certainly celery and the flowers with Melon Mambo. I used the new stamp set Tiny Tags for the sentiment which was stamped in Melon Mambo. To finish off the card I used some of my Melon Mambo polka dotted ribbon and some yellow rhinestones for the flower centers. I am pretty happy with the finished card especially the way the night started off!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch Challenge #9

2010-03-18T23:43:00.005-04:00

Today's sketch is a simple but elegant one. I love how it came out and hope that you all like it as well. Come play along and share your creations by posting a link of your card(s) made with this sketch in Mr. Linky below.

I thought I would go for a monochromatic look this time as I haven't made one of these in a while. The card base is Chocolate chip card stock. Thoroughly Modern designer paper was used as the background. I used my sponge daubers around the edges of the designer paper to add some dimension. The background was brayered and sprayed using the spritz. Don't you just love this image from the Inspired by Nature set. I love these flowers, just gorgeous. To finish it off I used the new Chocolate Satin ribbon which is to die for. I just love this ribbon, it is wonderful to work with and tie bows with. Hope you all enjoy! I can't wait to see how you use this sketch!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

A Boy and His Dog

2010-03-12T20:46:00.003-05:00

Today I got a chance to play with my markers and do some coloring, which is one of my favorite things to do in crafting. It just brings me back to my childhood and makes me feel young again! Its too bad I don't have a daughter to share the fun with. Neither one of my boys are interested in crafting, one is way to old and the other is to into cars and video games. Oh well, maybe someday I will have a granddaughter to share my passion with.

Thoroughly Modern designer paper is one of my favorite papers from Stampin Up. I just love the color combos in this package of paper. My little boy needed a pal so I pulled out an old retired stamp set called Bow Wow for this adorable little doggie and the ball came from the retired stamp set Toy Box. To finish my card off I pulled out some sticky accents I found on clearance and a local store and the beautiful chocolate satin ribbon, which is my favorite ribbon of all time!!

Hope you all have a great night.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Be Original SC270

2010-03-12T10:06:00.004-05:00

On SCS last week they had a great card sketch which you can see here. I really love this sketch and will be using it again. It was super quick and easy.

This first card uses the designer paper Kaleidoscope. I think I have mentioned this before, this is not a favorite paper of mine, to busy for my taste, but I really thought the colors were beautiful so I thought I would give it a shot. I love how it looks on my scrapbook page here but am still unsure of it as a whole. My style is pretty clean and simple, as you know, if you have been following my blog for any amount of time. I do like how these papers came together on this card too. The main image was stamped with the set Define Your Live. I love this set with all of the sayings, something perfect for all occasions!

To finish off my card I sprayed my home made shimmer spray on the stamped saying to add some shine. The Beautiful Wings embosslit was used for these adorable little butterflies which were also sprayed with the shimmer spray. I thought the card needed a little something more so I added one of my punch flowers (sprayed with home made shimmer spray and topped off with a half pearl). You can see how these are made here.

This next card used the stamp set Pun Fun. I love this set and just had to have it when it first made it into the catalog. After coloring in the image I sprayed it, and the three hearts, with my home made shimmer spray.

The designer paper on this card is called Sending Love specialty paper. This paper is double sided and on one of the sides the images have glitter, super gorgeous!!! I really like how this card came together.

Just a reminder, Sale-a-bration will be ending in a few weeks so if you want to take advantage of this wonderful special and get some FREE sets, please make sure to give me a call before the end of March.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #8

2010-03-12T09:59:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone, here is the next installment on my Get Inspired Sketches. It is a super quick and easy 12 x 12 scrapbook page that should take about 15 minutes for you all to put together. Have fun with the sketch!!! Can't wait to see what you do with it!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Wish Upon a Star

2010-03-09T23:14:00.004-05:00

Shimmery, shiny falling stars came to mind while I was making the rocket card last night and today so I thought I would give my idea a try. Thankfully it turned out great. Don't you just love it when an idea works out the way you hoped! I know I do!

Stencils are the theme this week, because of the challenge that Shelli posted to her blog, and honestly, I am really having a lot of fun coming up with ideas that are out of the box for this particular stencil. On this card I used my home made shimmer spray over the stencil to make the tail of the falling star.

The stars are from chipboard sets bought long ago and horded. Actually I am surprised that I remembered I had these, lol. Silver Encore ink was used on all of the stars then I used heat and stick powder over that to adhere some then Dazzling diamonds all over the stars. The sentiment on the front of the card is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and fits perfectly into the word window punch. I outlined this punch with stickles for a little more pop and also added some blue rhinestones. To finish it off I used the new super yummy Bashful Blue Satin Ribbon with some retired silver ribbon. Love it!!

The inside of the card used the retired stamp set Think Big which was stamped in Night of Navy Ink. The wish was stamped in Bashful Blue and the punched out. The border at the bottom and the stars were sprayed with my home made shimmer spray to continue the shimmery look to the inside of the card.

My nephew's birthday is coming up and I may use this card for him.

Well, I am extremely happy with the way this card turned out.

Hope you all are inspire to pull out your SU stencils and give this ideas a try or come up with your own!!

Have a great night.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Having a Blast with Stencils

2010-03-09T11:36:00.003-05:00

As I posted yesterday, Shelli has posted a challenge on her blog to use SU stencils on different projects. While I was making the card I posted yesterday, it occurred to me that this stencil would look great for the "thrust" as my son calls it, coming out of a rocket. What do you all think? Jacob just loved it and I do too.

I used my sponge daubers and inked them up using Real Red, Only Orange and Yo-Yo Yellow for the flames. Once done, I left the stencil in place and the sprayed it with my home made shimmer spray to give it a shimmer. I think this shows up pretty well in the photo when you enlarge it so click on the photo and check it out.

The rocket and sentiment are from the stamp set called Pun Fun, just adorable right!!! I decided that it would look better for the rocket to be cut out and popped up off the card with dimensionals and, because I am so picky, if I made a mistake coloring it I wouldn't have to start all over again making my "thrust".

Hope you love this idea as much as I do!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Stencil Fun

2010-03-08T20:01:00.004-05:00

Each month Shelli, the co-founder of Stampin' Up!, holds a contest on her blog. This month Shelli has challenged everyone to use their Stampin' Up! stencils on any kind of project, cards, scrapbook pages or home decor.

I just love this stencil which is part of the Vintage Ornament I set. Isn't it just beautiful? On this card I used my sponge daubers inked with Not Quite Navy ink then sprayed my home made shimmer spray, which is made with SU's shimmer paint, over the stencil for added sparkle. The little tag was stamped with two stamps from the Tiny Tags set the first with Bashful Blue ink and then the sentiment with Not Quite Navy ink. Wow, isn't this satin ribbon just wonderful!!! I would love to see these ribbons carried over into the upcoming "big" catalog. Another wish would be for it to be available in all 48 of our colors. Yes, I just love this ribbon!!!! I finished off the card by adding some rhinestones for a little more bling. I know you may be thinking that this card looks familiar and you are right. I cased myself changing up the colors and the layout just a bit. You can see the original card here.

Hope you all enjoy and have a wonderful night.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Upsy Daisy Birthday

2010-03-06T06:27:00.001-05:00

Today's card is a birthday card for a very special friend of mine, yes Tricia, you. You should have this card by now so it is now safe to post it, lol.

I used the color combination from my Get Inspired Color Challenge posted this Thursday using brown as the forth color instead of white. I love how the sunset came out on this card and how the daisies that have been stamped a second time look as if they are hidden in the misty morning. The daisies are from the set Upsy Daisy and the sentiment is from the Well Scripted stamp set. There are also a few flowers from Of the Earth stamped on here as well.

Bermuda Bay polka-dotted ribbon was used on this card, just turned upside down. How great is it when you can use your ribbon two different ways, super cool don't you think!!! When I was done with the card I decided it needed to have some extra sparkle so I used my homemade shimmer spray over the whole thing. Since I really love how this card came out I will be making more of the same and maybe changing up the colors of the sky for a different look.

Happy Birthday Tricia!!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Color Challenge #4

2010-03-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

What did you all think of yesterday's color challenge? I love this color combo so much I decided to make a few more cards using it and the now retired Hidden Garden rub-ons that I have tons of. Yes, I have been hoarding these for a while now, lol.

All the info for the materials I used on these cards is the same as on yesterday's card so I won't bore you with the details again, just show you the cards.

I would love to see you all give this color challenge a try and post a link to your creations in the comment section so we can all check out what you have created. If I knew how to use Mr. Linky I would. Anyone have any helpful hints on this. If you do, please let me know.

Have a great Friday!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch Challenge #7 and a New Color Challenge

2010-03-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today's sketch challenge also includes a color challenge. While making my card for this sketch I found a color combo that I just fell in love with so I thought I would make a color challenge out of it as well. The colors are Sahara Sand, Cameo Coral, Bermuda Bay and either Chocolate or White. Bermuda Bay and Cameo Coral just pop off of the Sahara Sand for a gorgeous look which reminds me of summer and the Caribbean.

Here is this week's sketch. This card is a 3 x 6 card. I really like this size card for a different look. While making my card I decided to turn the sketch around and was very pleased that it worked well this way too. As I said above, the colors I used are Sahara Sand, Cameo Coral and Bermuda Bay. The main image is a rub-on from a few years ago which I have several of. The sentiment is from the stamp set Fresh Cuts stamped with Bermuda Bay ink. The background was made with the Friendly Words wheel and versamark.

Thanks for looking. I would love to see the cards you make using this sketch and this color challenge. Post a link in the comments section so everyone can check they out!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!!!

Ronda

Little Birdie

2010-03-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

I decided to change things up a little today and make a card using a different size than I normally do. Because I still had all of my supplies still on the table from yesterday, I decided to use it all again for this card.

The color combination of Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Sahara Sand and Close to Cocoa is a favorite of mine. Gorgeous isn't it!!! Friendly Words inked in versamark is used to make the background again as is the beautiful new satin ribbon.

Enjoy and have a wonderful day!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!!!

Ronda

It's Hip to be Square Challenge on SCS

2010-03-02T15:45:00.003-05:00

This week's clean and simple challenge on SCS is to make a 4 1/4 square card. I love square cards and this size card is perfect to put in a gift bag. I had a lot of fun with this challenge as I don't usually make cards this size even though I love them.

I haven't had the chance to use the Hostess set Of the Earth yet and thought it would get great for this challenge. As most of my friends know, I am really not to fond of the bird trend in stamps and papers that have been around for the last six months. I am not sure why this is, guess they just aren't my style. However, the little square stamp in this set with the bird on the branch is pretty darn cute and I will be pulling it out to use again real soon.

Sahara Sand has become a new favorite of mine and I have been using it like crazy lately so be prepared to see a lot of cards using this cardstock this week. Another new favorite of mine is the Friendly Words wheel. It makes really great backgrounds if you don't feel like pulling out designer paper.

While browsing blogs this week I noticed a very cool technique I wanted to try. I wish I could remember whose blog it was, I have looked at so many this week I can't remember where I saw it. If I find it again I will be sure to post where this great idea came from. The technique uses our new satin ribbon which is just gorgeous, an embossing folder and the Big Shot so you can emboss your ribbon. Pretty cool, huh!!! I love how it turned out and will be using it again on future cards.

Well hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!!!

Ronda

Birthday Bash Get Inspired Sketch #6

2010-02-27T23:24:00.012-05:00

Well it took me a little while to finally complete my pages for the sketch I posted on Thursday but I really love how it all came together in the end. This is a great layout if you have a lot of pictures of just one event. I would even work great for a year in review. As you can see, I used 11 photos on this two page spread which is awesome.

As I was searching my stash of hoarded items for these pictures, I found some leftovers from a Simply Scrappin' kit called Best Ever. These papers work great my photos of Jacob's second birthday party.

Boy do I wish I could go back in time, I really miss everything that goes along with this age. Jacob was such a little cutie pie back then. He is still a cutie pie now but a real big one, he is almost as tall as I am, lol. Yup, I am really behind on my scrapbooking. Cardmaking took over my life for a long time so coming up with these sketch challenges have been a great motivator in getting some pages done.

In addition to the items from the kit, I used Close to Cocoa cardstock as mattes for the photos and the elements. The new scallop punch really added a lot to the mattes. To add some texture and sparkle I added blue rhinestones and highlighted the title, cupcake and some of the elements with a glitter pen. Very sparkly in real life.

I still need to add my journaling, this is definitely the hardest part of scrapbooking for me so it is what I save for last.

Hope you all enjoy. Remember if you use this sketch, please post a link in the comments so everyone can see your take on the sketch!!!

Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Scrapping and Stamping!!!

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #6 - Two Page Spread

2010-02-25T17:24:00.007-05:00

As I said last week, I have had some requests for two page sketches rather than just one page sketches. This was my first attempt at doing a two page sketch in My Digital Studio so I don't think it is lined up just right so please keep that in mind when you do your pages. The top area of photos should like up from left to right across both pages, not be off centered. Sorry about this I am sure I will do better next time.

Hope you like this sketch, I really love it and am working on my pages right now using it and will post either later tonight or tomorrow. I was a little busy today as I went on a field trip with my son to the GA State Capitol for Disability Day. Here is a little bit about Disability Day. If you live in GA we would love to see you there next year!!!

Each winter the Georgia’s Council on Developmental Disabilities invites people with disabilities, family members, policy makers, business leaders, and providers to gather at the Capitol in celebration of community, advocacy, friendship, and achievement. Disability Day at the Capitol 2009 witnessed over 2,000 people rally, meet with legislators, and gather in fellowship.

Disability affects 1 in every 5 Georgians. This annual rally is held to promote meaningful community living for Georgians with disabilities and their families. Among others, legislators are now considering issues such as Unlock the Waiting List, a proposal to offer more services more quickly for 6,500 who wait for support to allow them to live and thrive in their communities.

This Event is the largest one day gathering held annually at the State Capitol during the official legislative session. Since the event’s inception, it has become an inclusive event, attracting a broad cross section of Georgians of all ages with and without disabilities.

If you have been following my blog you know that my son was diagnosed with autism when he was three so we thought this was a great opportunity to get our voices heard, along with about 25 other kids from his school's Partners Club.

Well I don't want to bore you all so I will end here for today.

Hope you all enjoy the sketch!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!

Ronda

Make your own Flower Embellishments

2010-02-24T17:16:00.005-05:00

Ladies, I just wanted to post a quick little money saving tip that one of my friends really liked. Rather than pay for the premade flowers out there make your own with punches. It will save you a ton of money and you can make flowers any color to match what you are working on rather than spending your valuable time searching for one the right color.

It is super quick and easy to do and they look beautiful. Here is just one quick flower you can make with the Stampin' Up! punches. Isn't it just adorable.

To make this little cutie you need the Boho Blossoms punch. Punch out two of the biggest flower and one of the small flower. You will take a sponge dauber and shade your layers to your liking then use your paper snips to cut in between each petal. Take your bone folder or fingernail and curl up each of the petals. Glue the layers together and add either a half pearl or a brad and you will have yourself an super
cute flower. I used my home made shimmer spray on this one for some added sparkle and love how it came out.

Here it is used on a card. Give it a try, you will become addicted to them, lol. Later this week I will show you how to make another flower using punches.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!!!

Ronda

Clean and Simple Birthday Wishes

2010-02-23T20:26:00.001-05:00

I am becoming more and more a fan of clean and simple cards, especially when I need one fast, lol. This card was super quick and easy to put together and still looks beautiful. It also didn't turn out the way that I was planning as I should have stamped my image first before putting on my ribbon. I had planned to have the card turned the other way but when I went to use my SAMJ the ribbon was in the way so.... Learn from my mistakes ladies, stamp first!!!

Don't you just love this new satin ribbon that Stampin' Up has come out with. I looks beautiful on everything I have used it on! I am really hoping that it makes it to the big catalog so I can continue to play with it! This card uses the Arte Oriental set and the Well Scripted stamp sets. I also added some sparkle to the card by spraying it with my home made shimmer spray. The recipe for this can be found in this post.

Hope you all enjoy and have a wonderful week.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!!!

Ronda

Love Ya - Get Inspired Sketch #5

2010-02-18T15:08:00.005-05:00

Now that you all have had a chance to check out my latest sketch challenge here is the card I made using this sketch.

Yes, I am back on my home made shimmer mist kick. After showing my friends last week how to make this and what it looks like when you use it I decided to pull it out and start using it again. Its great that you can make any paper you have whether it be cardstock or designer paper shimmery. Let me tell you, the pictures just don't do this technique any justice.

Real red ink was used to stamp the sentiment which is from the stamp set Well Scripted. There was no need for a stamp-a-ma-jig on this card as I purchased the clearm mounted option for this set. All of the designer paper is Sending Love specialty paper. This paper is double sided and one of the sides has some sort of glitter design on it, just beautiful!!!

After making this card, I decided that I loved the design and the papers so much I thought it would make a scrapbook page too. I used all of the same materials on my layout as on the card. I just added some chipboard letters that I covered in beautiful chocolate glitter, some chipboard hearts covered in this gorgeous pink glitter and my diecut letters.

I am so happy that I was able to do two projects with my one sketch and love how they both turned out.

Hope that you all have a wonderful week and get a chance to play along with my sketch challenge!!

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!!!

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch Challenge #5

2010-02-18T10:19:00.002-05:00

Well it is time for another sketch challenge. I have really been having a lot of fun coming up with these sketches and then the cards or pages to go with them. It has gotten me back to scrapbooking which is why I became a SU demo in the first place. I hope that you have been inspired by the sketches and continue to visit each week for a new one. After receiving several messages from visitors to my blog I am considering doing both a card sketch and a scrapbook sketch each week and may start this next week. I am also going to be adding some two page sketches because I have had some requests for that as well.

Well now on to today's sketch. I am running a little behind schedule today and will post my card later when I have a few minutes to take some pictures of it. For now have a blast with the sketch and don't forget to post a link in the comments to your creations using it!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Happy Stamping!

Ronda

Beautiful Shimmer Friend

2010-02-14T01:00:00.002-05:00

The other day at a demo meeting I taught the other gals how to use the shimmer paint as a shimmer spray. While playing around I thought I would give something a try to see if it looked okay, what do you think?

Personally, I think that this came out just fabulous. Isn't the shimmer spray just gorgeous on this card? Wonder what I did? Have you all seen the wonderful stencils that Stampin Up is now offering. This is one of them. Champagne Mist looks just gorgeous on the chocolate chip cardstock. To finish it off I used the new Old Olive satin ribbon and some gold rhinestones. I love, love love this card!!! Hope you do too!!

Happy Stamping and Scraping!!!

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #4 - Finding Nemo

2010-02-11T21:14:00.004-05:00

Earlier today I posted my 4th sketch challenge without posting my finished page. Now I have finally finished this up and have a moment to post the page I did using this sketch. I have so many photos of our trips to Disney that haven't been scrapped yet so I thought this would be a great opportunity to tackle some of them.

While looking through my photos to see which ones would work for this layout I came across these from our December 2007 trip. Immediately I knew that the Kaleidoscope designer paper would be perfect for these photos. Doesn't it look just like seaweed!!! Paper like this really isn't my style (you know, busy patterns and lots of colors) but I just love how this paper goes so well with the pictures. I used Pumpkin Pie and Pacific Point cardstock to bring out the colors in the photos and the colors on the name of the ride. They match perfectly!!! As a finishing touch I used a glitter pen to outline the "seaweed" to make it sparkle. I know you can't see this in my picture but it really looks great in person!

Can't wait to see your pages using this sketch. I would love it if you would put a link in the comments so we could all check out your creations!

Have a great night.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!!!

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch Challenge #4

2010-02-11T13:38:00.004-05:00

I know it is a little late as I usually post much earlier, sorry about that. Here is this week's sketch challenge. I am working on my page using this sketch and will post it later this evening. I can't wait to see what you all do with this sketch!!! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Stamping!

Ronda

Wedding Page

2010-02-09T20:45:00.005-05:00

I have been holding off scrapbooking my wedding photos for years. I have never been able to find just the right paper until now. Stampin' Up! came out with a new package of designer paper in this past catalog called Cottage Wall. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for my photos.

I used my Big Shot with the Serif Essentials dies for the title. I first die cut chipboard and then the Cottage Wall designer paper. A sponge dauber inked up with Rich Razzleberry was used to add shadow to the letters.

The border on the bottom is made with the new stamp set Vintage Vogue and the Beautiful Wings Embosslit. This idea came from a card I made back in December which you can see here. I think that the new border punch is the perfect finishing touch for this page.

Hope you all enjoy.

Happy Stamping!

Ronda

New Corner and Border Punches

2010-02-06T18:29:00.004-05:00

If you have not seen Stampin' Up!'s new border and corner punches you are missing out on a great new product. Check out this video to see these fabulous new punches!!

Have a great weekend.

Happy Stamping!

Ronda

Get Inspired #3 Birthday Card

2010-02-04T18:13:00.003-05:00

Last night when I posted my third sketch challenge I was a little tired and didn't finish my card using this sketch. I finally was able to finish up my card today. It ended up a little different than my sketch, which wasn't my intention, but I love how it turned out anyway!

I just love the stitched felt sweet pea flowers from the mini catalog. Aren't they just adorable!!! I used kraft cardstock as the card base on this card. Lately for some reason I just keep reaching for this color. The designer papers on this card are from the Sweet Pea stack.

Don't you all just love this new border punch!!!! This is one of the products you can earn free during Sale-A-Bration too! It really is just beautiful on everything, from cards to scrapbook pages!

The stamped image is also one of the sets that you can get for FREE during Sale-A-Bration, awesome right!!! Remember, this promotion ends at the end of March so let me know if you would like to take advantage of it and get some FREE stamps sets!

Hope you all enjoyed the latest sketch challenge and I look forward to seeing what you all do with it!!!

Happy Stamping!

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #3

2010-02-03T23:49:00.003-05:00

Here is the next installment of my new weekly challenges. For now I will be alternating between cards and scrapbook pages unless I can find some more time in my week to do one of each.

This sketch is a super easy and quick layout using lots of the designer paper scraps we all have hanging around. I will be posting my card using this sketch tomorrow as it is getting pretty late.

Hope you all enjoy, can't wait to see what you all do with this sketch. Please post a link in the comments section so we can all check out your creations!

Have a wonderful night,
and
Happy Stamping!

Ronda

Happy BirdDay CAS51

2010-01-30T20:41:00.003-05:00

Today I decided to give the CAS51 challenge another go. I really like this challenge, using designer paper as the main ingredient for your card. What a quick way to make a card!

I pulled out my pack of Sweet Pea designer paper which is super cute and perfect for this challenge. Aren't this little birds just adorable! Talk about a quick and easy card, let the paper do all of the work, just stamp a sentiment and add some embellishments and you are done. Give this challenge a try, you will love how fast you can make a card!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stamping!!

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch #2

2010-01-27T12:29:00.005-05:00

This week my sketch challenge is for a 12 x 12 scrapbook page. All of the photo sizes are listed to make your scrapbooking easier and faster. Hope you enjoy my first scrapbook sketch! If you are wondering how I made this sketch it was done with Stampin' Up's new My Digital Studio, another great way to use this product and save money at the same time. You can play with My Digital Studio until you have your layout just the way you want and looking great before you even cut a piece of card stock or designer paper. I can't tell you how many pieces of cardstock or designer paper I have "wasted" because I found out after cutting the pieces that I really didn't like the way the page looked. This Digital Studio is going to save me a ton of money and time just using it for these sketches!! So awesome, right!

Just remember that every Thursday I will be posting a new sketch for either a card or a scrapbook page. If things go well and I get a good response to these sketches (or any requests) I may do sketches for both cards and scrapbook pages, so let me know what you would like to see! If you use this sketch, please remember to mention where you found it and please post a link to your creation so we can all check it out!!!

Here is the page I made using my sketch. The background is Sahara Sand textured paper, I just love this textured paper, super yummy! The title is Pumpkin Pie cardstock and was cut using my diecut machine. Isn't this designer paper just perfect for a playground page, super fun and playful, also very boy oriented, I think anyway. To finish up with a little male sparkle, I added some metallic rhinestones.

Well I hope you all enjoy my second Get Inspired Sketch Challenge and that you will be inspired to create something with it and then share back here with link in the comment section.

Happy Stampin and Scrappin!!!

Ronda

Let the Designer Paper Do the Work!

2010-01-26T20:35:00.003-05:00

This week on for the Clean and Simple card challenge the we were challenged to make a card using designer paper as the main element. You can see the challenge here.

As soon as I read this challenge I knew what I wanted to do and what designer paper I wanted to use. I just love this pattern, very retro, I think!

The colors on this particular piece of designer paper from the Sweet Pea designer paper pack is great for guy cards so that is where the idea for this card came from. Keeping it very simple with some metal embellishments makes this card more manly. I used Taken with Teal for the scalloped matte with a layer of Pumpkin Pie to make it really pop off the card. Sahara Sand was used as the card base. Ribbon isn't really manly but I figured using the grosgrain ribbon wasn't to bad, lol.

Hope you all enjoy!

Happy Stampin!!!

Ronda

Scallop Punch Circle

2010-01-26T14:36:00.003-05:00

Last night I was playing around with the new scallop punch and thought it would look super cute as a matte for a circle so I thought I would give it a try. To get this look you will take a piece of 12 x 1 piece of paper and punch it using any of the boarder punches. I choose to use the new super cute scalloped punch fromm the New Occasions Mini catalog. Once you punch your strip of paper you will then run it through your paper crimper. This makes the paper easier to manipulate. You really want to be careful when you are doing this with this particular punch as the little scallops are very fragile and will break apart easily. (Learn from my mistake, lol, use a light touch!) Make sure that you use sticky strip on the back side of the circle you that are adhering this punched strip to, as you will need a very strong adhesive to hold it down. Looks super cute doesn't it!

I used the Very Vintage wheel for the background of the bottom of the card. I just love this new wheel! I think it is going to be great for all of the old photos I have of my grandfather and grandmother from the 30's. The main image is an old retired self adhesive die-cut I have been hording for a long time, lol! Yes, I do have a problem but there isn't a cure and I don't want one.

Have a great day!

Happy Stampin!

Ronda

Second Take

2010-01-21T13:20:00.003-05:00

This is my second take on my first sketch challenge. I really loved this sketch so much I thought I would give it another shot. The inspiration for the color combo is from this weeks Clean and Simple Challenge on SCS. Using Teal on your card along with White and one other color was the challenge for this week. You can see all of the creations for this challenge on SCS's gallery here.

On this card I used the Thoroughly Modern Designer paper for the squares. Such beautiful paper. The matte for the squares is kraft cardstock using the new punch. Tiny Tags and the new tag punch were used for the sentiment.

Hope you all enjoy the second take on my sketch.

Happy Stamping,

Ronda

Get Inspired Sketch Challenge #1

2010-01-20T22:40:00.003-05:00

Starting this week I will be posting a sketch challenge each Thursday. It is going to change from week to week between cards and scrapbook pages. I would love to see what you create with my sketches. I hope that they inspire you as much as they inspire me! Now on to the first sketch.

For those of you who know me well, clean and simple cards have not been something I have been interested in or, for that matter, have been very good at. I think that I am becoming more enthusiastic with these types of cards and have been very happy with the results so far, which is very unexpected to me as I always want to add a little bit more, and then a little bit more, etc. to each card. I found that I had a very hard time with the "white" space on the card.

Despite this being a very simple card with lots of "white" space, I love how it came out. It was super easy and looks just lovely. I stamped these adorable little hearts with Craft White ink but felt that they didn't pop enough so I added white embossing powder to make them pop off the cardstock more. The sentiment is stamped with Chocolate Chip ink. If you are wondering what stamp set I used, it is a new one from the New Occassions Mini catalog called Tiny Tags, isn't it just adorable! I wasn't sure I liked it when I first saw it but the more I looked at it the more it grew on me.

This is the first chance I have had to play with my new goodies that came in last week as I have been very busy with my dad being admitted to the hospital and then taking my mom back and forth to Atlanta to visit with him. Stamping is such great therapy, lol!

Hope you enjoyed this simple and quick project. Have a wonderful week.

Happy Stamping,

Ronda