Life is a Challenge.....

....or life is full of Challenges! Wow, it's hard to keep up with all the challenges that are flying on Splitcoast this week. I love it. I haven't done all the current challenges yet, but once a few "necessary" chores are out of the way....BRING IT ON!!!! :)

The first card today is from Julie's "Dare to Get Dirty 08" (DTGD08) which was making a card with mostly white space. I decided to use one of the corner rub-ons and then the card fell into place from there. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the two step stamping flowers. I HAD to do a turquoise and black card because I hadn't for a while.

I've noticed over the past number of weeks that I've been using a lot of greens. I've been wanting to pull myself out of that colour rut, and yesterday's DTGD08 from Lauren was perfect. She wanted us to make a monochromatic card, so I picked purples. Christine's DTGD08 was watercolouring so
I encorporated that into this card. I used Heartfelt Thanks and coloured right onto the stamp using the Watercolour Wonder Crayons. Then I spritzed the stamp with water before stamping onto watercolour paper. To create the background I used the aquapainter to pick up colour right off of the crayon to paint with. I'm getting a bit better at watercolour, but I still have a long way to go with a lot more practice!!
I used yesterday's sketch challenge for this card too.

Well, I'm off to Amy's to spend the day putting together swaps for Utah.
Hope your day is full of sunshine....ours is right now!! JOAN

Running Horses

There were three different "Dare to Get Dirty" Challenges today. The first from, Michelle, was to make a masculine card. It's not the focus that is foremost in my mind when I sit to create....I probably should though, just to have them one hand.
I used the repetitive stamping technique to create the illusion of the horse running across the card......ya just have to remember to have the darker image where you want the image to be going to....not coming from, and work backwards from it.

Have a pleasant evening. I'm going to do a bit of music prep and then more stamping if time allows. Happy Stamping - JOAN

River Music

Today's Colour Challenge Colours are River Rock, Soft Sky and Vanilla. Wow, are they ever peaceful. I saw a card in the gallery that was done mostly in the Soft Sky and it immediately reminded me of the water in Jasper or Banff. It was gorgeous....Anyway....
The second of yesterday's Dare to Get Dirty challenges was to use ribbon. I didn't want to use the plain colours so I dug around and found this piece of musical ribbon. (It wasn't until I saw someone elses posting that I remember the Ribbon Originals - Duhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!) Oh well, I can always use Musical Thank You's.

I want to do some scrapbooking this afternoon, so I have to go get some duplicate pictures. I'm hoping the rain has passed on. The electricity went out last night for quite a while as I headed to bed....so there I sat on my bed, reading "New Moon" with a flashlight and the lightening and thunder rolling - Vampires, Werewolves and Storms......YEEEE HAAA! I digress - Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by. JOAN

Wonderful Butterflies

Yesterday's Featured Stamper was Susiestampalot.....and goodness gracious did she have a lot
of fantastic cards to choose from to case. I chose the pink and black card of
Susan's because of the butterfly wings coming out from the paper. While I was creating the card though, I was also keeping in mind the Colour Throw Down (Barely Banana, Pumpkin Pie and Soft Sky - the challenge called for Cool Caribean, but I don't have any of that left.). It also meets criteria for Our Creative Corner's dry embossing and today's "Dare to Get Dirty" challenge at Splitcoast. Laurie was challenging us to use vellum. I like working with vellum....I just don't do it enough. The butterflies are velum with beads attached as their bodies.

Great day to stamp in the basement....it's so hot outside. Have a pleasant evening. JOAN

Happy Birthday Monkey

Just a quick post before I move on for the day...Lots to do.

Today's Technique Challenge was to encorporate three previous challenges into one....TLC20 using the baby wipe technique, CC30 using bravo burgundy and creamy caramel and SC40 for the sketch. This was very fun and it whipped up quickly.

For the little monkey's fur I used the two re-inker colours (Bravo Burgudy and Creamy Caramel) on the baby wipe and dabbed it onto the vanilla cardstock instead of rubbing it on. Don't ya just love this little guy.....he's going to be in the new Catalogue in August. He comes with a number of fun things to put in his hand - the cupcake was the best one for today's colours.

Better go - Sun is shining, lots to do - Happy Day.
Thanks for stopping by - JOAN

No matter how busy I am though....I will be participating in this weeks "Dirty Dare 08" on Splitcoast. Check it out!

No outhouse Available...

Well, that title is pretty fitting.....I don't have a stamp of an outhouse (although I did actually create one with the "Neighborhood" roller - okay, it was fancy with windows and shutters, but it could have been an outhouse). Also, currently we don't have our upstairs bathroom available.....it's completely gutted. New paint on the walls as of yesterday; the tub and sink will be put in today and hopefully the tiling started.

This wonderful little piece of art is the feature for today's Inspiration Challenge. It's a piece from Kay Lamb Shannon's Gallery. I also don't have a rooster stamp for today, but I created one from "A Little Birdie Told Me". The other little birds in the group have been paper pieced with scraps.....So I guess every one of them is "One of a Kind."

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Stamping - JOAN

Thanks to two Dawns!

Right off the bat, I would like to thank Dawn Easton and Dawn Griffith for the inspiration for this card. Dawn E. used this Explosion Card fold for today's Limited Supply Challenge - to make a uniquely folded card. I thought Dawn's was so cool, that I had to try it. I was able to whip this card up quickly because Dawn G. had such an easy to follow tutorial on how to create it. The colours I used are Groovy Guava, Pumpkin Pie and Soft Sky. The central black flourishes are Cherished
Memories Rub-Ons. The outer swirls are embossed in black from Sweet Shapes.

When I find out what the retiring stamp sets are, I always take them out of my cupboard and set most of them aside for the annual garage sale. I am finding however, that there are a number that I keep going back to. I may be keeping more retired stamp sets this year than usual....we'll have to see what the new catalogue brings.....IT'S SO EXCITING!!!!!! I can't wait for Utah!!!

Oh, and Happy Day....the little brown truck delivered the new In Colours and some new sets......I'm getting itchy fingers.....I just LOVE the new blue!!!!!!!!!

Happy Stamping - JOAN

Wow, Early Thursday!!!

It is absolutely CRAZY early for me to be doing this post, but I lucked out and the challenge was already set on Splitcoast. I decided to meet the challenge before I went to bed because I'm going to be paint hunting and cabinet making tomorrow....so......

Thursday's "Ways to Use it Challenge" involved spice.....from your cupboard....way cool!!!!! (or hot depending on how you want to look at it. ) The cards that were posted already are awesome so be sure you check them out.

I decided to use whole peppers. My colours are Mellow Moss, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip....because those were the best ones to match the little peppers. This was fun, I did it in probably half an hour....and now I'm heading to bed. Once I'm done my chores tomorrow, I'll probably do the Colour Throwdown Challenge of the week.

Thanks for dropping by....Hot Happy Stamping - JOAN

Cards and an Aged Room

I am always amazed by the colour challenges. I really ended up liking these three colours together....Almost Amythest, So Saffron and Wild Wasabi. For the floral card, I used this week's Technique Challenge which was the Grid Technique. I don't have a ScorePal, but it was quite easy to create the grid on my small paper cutter with a scoring blade. I like the effect with the white grid showing "under" the stamped image.

Today's Sketch Challenge is featured in the Star card and the colours are used again. I had to add the Birthday Wishes tab at the very last instant because somehow, from somewhere, a little black smudge appeared on the card. So, it had to be covered up.

I spent some time last night cleaning photos off of the computer and came across the ones I took of my "new" stamping room in the summer of 2006. It had been my sewing room. I took EVERYTHING out (except the rug) and redid the whole thing myself. I took pictures again today because there is definitely a difference. You can scroll down to see the photos if you like. I've tried to keep the similar angles next to one another - 2006/2008. It may not stay set up right though once I post.

Thanks for stopping by. This rainy weather has been good for one thing besides the plants....I'm cool enough to get some cleaning done. Always the summer chore. Happy Stampin' - JOAN

Apricot Thank You

I got up WAY too early this morning so when I went to check the Technique Challenge on Splitcoast, it hadn't been posted yet. (Yeah....WAY too early!!!) So, I went looking for another challenge and realized I'd missed the challenge at Our Creative Corner on Saturday. So....this lovely dining room is the inspiration. My card turned out a bit darker than what I first intended because I added the ribbon, but I still think it's okay. All of the stamped parts, expect for the En
Francais in the background, are embossed using the Always Artichoke Craft ink and clear embossing powder.

I have a number of errands to run today, including trying to get the Tigger cat into the vet. Have a good one yourself! Thanks for dropping by.
JOAN

Today's Challenge Cards

Happy Sunday...
Wow, Wedding Cakes have changed since I got married 22.5 years ago! Yesterday's Inspiration Challenge was from Cupcakes from Vancouver. Wow, they have fabulous designs. Unfortunately I couldn't get a copy of the cake that I chose for inspiration - it's called "String of Pearls". When I saw the cake I knew exactly what I wanted to do on the card. My only disappointment is the glare of the one little glue dot holding one of the strings of beads on....oh well.



The second card is for today's Featured Stamper Challenge. This was a hard one....Stephanie has so many fantastic cards. What I ended up doing was merging two of her designs together.

Here are the two I chose to "case".






Thanks for stopping by - Happy Stamping - JOAN

Just a quick post this morning before I get stamping to thank Nikki for the above award which she gave a couple of days ago. (Thanks so much Nikki, I could send it back to you!!) I always enjoy visiting her blog to see the fabulous things she's created.
I will now pass this on to the following three ladies whose blogs are also full of inspirational projects and which I look forward to visiting each day....so I hope you visit them too.

Dawn
Mary
Jessica

Have a wonderful day, I'll be back later with some posts.

Sweet Summer

Okay....I've gone outside the SU box and used my first Stamping Bella on a card. I got some of them this past week and this one worked for me for today's limited supply challenge. We needed to make a summertime card with only three layers, limited embellishments and no designer paper. During the summer I love to sit on my deck with a cup of coffee and a book. I've actually taken two Bella stamps - the Late drinker does not have books next to her - Yipee for markers!

I'm also posting this card for this weeks' challenge over at Stamp Something....They're looking for Triple Plays - Three Colours, Three Layers and Three Embellishments.

One quick question to Bella users - I have the stamps, I have a block, how to I get the stamp to stay stuck on the block while I'm using it? (What a Newb!)

I promise not to bore you with all the family scrap pages I make, but I wanted to share these two. I'm using Stampin'Up!'s Simply Scrappin' Kits and am wonderfully pleased with how the colours actually go with the photos I have. I'm working on both son and daughter at the same time. I'm thankful for the scrapbook layouts that people have posted on their blogs.....it gives me a jumping off spot! I'm also going to delve into the past scrapbook sketch challenges on Splitcoast!

Hope the sun is shining where you are....it keeps popping behind clouds here - JOAN

Smiles, Mice & Winnings

This first card is for the Ways to Use it Challenge today which was to have mini things on your card. I used the sketch challenge from yesterday and included beads to dot the "i's" and centres of the mini daisies. I used microbeads for the centre of the big flower. To put the chipboard petals on, I used mini glue dots.

I love these colours together...I picked them up from the "Colour Throwdown" . I love them together - Pretty in Pink, Rose Red and Sage Shadow


This adorable little mouse was sent to me by Lynn (allee's-on Splitcoast) as a Thank you - I love the rhinestone raindrops!















Finally....here is a photo of the loot I won with a challenge a couple of weeks ago at Stamp Something. Thank you very much ladies. I love doing your challenges.

Hope everyone is having a great day - Thanks for stopping by - JOAN

Boho Flowers

Boy it has taken a while to get this posted!!! Oh well.
This is today's Sketch Challenge. I really like it and there are tons of wonderful interpretations in the gallery.
I used the markers to colour in the individual rings on the medallion image. I hadn't used these little felt flowers for a while either. Funny how we forget about things that we have.

The rain has stopped...although I'm not sure if it's for good. Hope life is sunny wherever you are.
Happy Stampin' - JOAN

Weddings and Monkeys

This first card has been made for a wedding I'm going to on the weekend. It's cased from the Featured Stamper Challenge on Sunday. I changed Teneale's card by including the Technique Challenge from yesterday which was a Suspension Card. Beate's instructions were super easy to follow and are here.

You can't tell to easily from the photo, but I have created a shadow of the swirl image by stamping it on white with Versa Mark. The little white flowers are VersaMark too. I love using these little pearls from the Pretties Kit and because they glisten so nicely I'm using this card for the Dazzle Challenge over at Stamp Something.














My second card is for today's Colour Challege of
Barely Banana, Groovy Guava and Chocolate Chip. When I saw these colours I immediately thought of bananas and monkeys. Since I don't have any bananas or big trees I decided to create a wheelbarrel of monkeys.

The sketch for this card is from Our Creative Corner although I turned it on it's side so I could hang a monkey off the handle of the wheelbarrel.



Hope you're having a great Tuesday. Thanks for stopping by - JOAN

Catch-Up

I almost hate the first two weeks of summer. I'm beginning to move out of my laziness and get my butt in gear for things that need to be done around here....housework, yardwork, stamping.....
This first card is actually from last weeks Inspiration challenge. The quilt, from State Fair Bedding, had bold prints included so I figured the Ginormous Flowers were perfect for it. I clear embossed one flower on white glossy paper and rubbed Close to Cocoa for the background. The white "dots" around the brown edge are hole punched. I wouldn't have chosen these colours but the quilter was smart....they do go together rather well.

Next, is actually today's Inspiration Challenge from Mackintosh Enamels. I love these dishes. I used the Sketch Challenge for this week and the Technique Challenge. However, I came no where near to "pouncing" with the chalk. I was downright brutal with it. I clear embossed the leaves onto regular white cardstock. Next, I used the blender pen to colour in the leaves with Wild Wasabi (Oh yeah, this is the colour challenge too). Once that was done I took a sponge dauber and scrubbed Certainly Celery chalk into the white cardstock. The colour shows up a bit better in person. I would have kept the whole card green but I added the definition in Purely Pomegranate for the challenge.










Finally, I'd like to share this card I received from my "Devine Secret Sister" from Splitcoast. I just love it. The leaf backgrounds have turned out more yellowy in the photo. There's actually more rose in the original.


Today's chores are to clean out the garage until I can't stand the heat. Then I'll work on a few more scrapbook pages. I'm debating whether to post them or not. They are first attempts!

News of the week......the surgeon has finally agreed that I've jumped (not literally) through enough hoops for a total knee replacement. I know I want/need it but I'm now scared to death. Still waiting for the date though....3-6 months from now.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by - Happy Stampin' - JOAN

Chalk Pouncing

I'm not totally happy with the way this card turned out....or how it photographed. I was using Monday's Chalk Pouncing Challenge. The base of the card has Apricot Appeal and Certainly Celery chalk rubbed onto it with a kleenex. The Baroque Motif swirl was stamped with Versa Mark and then pounced with Teal chalk. The bling is not SU but a part of a Happy Mail package I got from my Splitcoast Divine Secret Sister. It was very exciting to receive in the mail! ( I love how the bottom stone is sparkling!)

Thanks for visiting - Happy Stampin' - JOAN