Birds, Rainbows and Friends with Flair

Happy Friday Everyone!!

How cool is it that my weeks get to start with an  

{ippity} blog hop and end with a Unity blog hop? 

Isn't that great??  

So it's Friday which means it's time for the weekly Friends With Flair blog hop where Unity peeps use Unity Stamps to inspire each other!  It's a great day!!  For the complete list of the blogs participating in the blog hop, head over to the Unity blog to get the list!  And don't forget to look for the "Flair Blinkie" for a chance to win a prize!!

I have a couple of cards to share with you today  and both of them use stamps from  

Unity's February 2010 KOM.

My first card was made for last week's FWF Challenge FWF13 where we were inspired by Lisa's Card HERE!  And it was also inspired by yesterday's Ways to Use it Challenge WT259 on SCS called For the Love of Lace.  Where we were to use lace on our card...

 The sentiment I chose is from {ippity's) Just Wanted to Say set.  The DP is from Basic Grey's Nook & Pantry line.  The flower is Prima and the button is from Clear and Simple stamps.

The adorable chipboard bird is a freebie I received while at CHA.  It is laser cut and is made by ScrapFX.  The lace is from JoAnn's.

My next card follows this week's SCS Sketch Challenge SC269.  Here is a picture of the sketch...

 For my card I stayed true to the sketch and used papers from the MME line called Quite Contrary.  Some of these papers can be obtained by getting the paper pack sold for {ippity}  To get this paper pack for free, all you have to do is purchase a complete set of the Winter Release Stamp sets from me and I will throw that in at no additional charge!  :-)

I colored the rainbow and clouds in using Copic markers.

The sunshine ribbon is from the Dollar Spot at Target.  I couldn't resist it and felt it went perfectly with the stamps I chose to use on this card!  I love the touch of yellow it adds!

If you are interested in buying any {ippity} stamps, please visit my sales blog for great pricing!  I have every of the Winter Release sets in stock and even some of the Fall ones too!

There's {ippity} in My Bucket

Enjoy the rest of the FWF Hop and may your bucket overflow with pretty rainbows and sweet birdies!!

Great News and some Moxie Fab Stuff!

Remember how I told you that the decision for the SCS Clean and Simple (CAS) DT was going to be made last night? Well guess what???

I was chosen!!  Woohoo!!

I am still in shock yet so happy to have been given this opportunity to work with some very talented stampers here on SCS.  If you haven't gone to the CAS forum and participated in the challenges, I highly recommend it.  They are posted HERE every Monday!

There were a total of three of us chosen so I will be working along with these other wonderful stampers.

Alanna

Carly

Plus... Jen has lined up the most wonderful Guest Designers to work with us through out our term! I am looking forward to a wonderful CAS Season with these ladies!

As part of the CAS DT Olympic Closing Ceremonies celebration, Jen asked the past and present DT members and the candidates for this term to make a card based off of a few sketch choices she gave us.  I chose to make a card following this sketch HERE.  I turned the sketch upside down for my sample!

The cool thing is that I was also able to make this card follow the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger for this week!

I was so inspired by the yellow on Kraft and the big yellow bow that Kimberly Crawford designed in this gorgeous photo.

With all that inspiration, this is what I came up with...

I really like the way the yellow looks on Kraft and hope to use this combination again.  Well in fact you will see below that I did use it over and over again!! LOL!!

The stamps that I used are from {ippity} by Unity (which you can purchase from me HERE!)  The Chandelier is from the new Winter set called Regal Greetings and the sentiment is from one of our fall line sets called Just Wanted to Say.  The DP is from Scribble Scrabble and the ribbon is from Martha Stewart.

I couldn't stop there and decided that I needed to make some Thank You cards to have on hand to give to my {ippity} customers, so I made these cards too!

The polka dotted paper is the same paper, but just the reverse side and the brown ribbon was an online purchase I made on Ebay.

Here are some close up views of these four cards.  I didn't add the extra bling to these and kept them purely CAS.

 

I really like the way these came out and hopefully you are going to try and see what the Moxie Fab Trigger

will do to get your juices flowing!  Have a wonderful Thursday and I will see you in the morning for Unity's Friends With Flair Blog Hop!! 

May your bucket overflow with good things to look forward to for the next three months!!

I'm a Finalist!

Just to keep you guys up to date on the status of the SCS Clean and Simple (CAS) DT contest that I entered I have a little announcement to make...

I made it to Round Three!

I am a Finalist in the Olympic Games!!  

Woohoo!!

For this final round which is being judged as we speak, we had to  submit a card inspired by an Olympic Reporter making an announcment.  I chose to announce the birth of a new baby!

Here is the card that I made...

This adorable planter with sprout image comes from Unity's Jan10 KOM, and the sentiment is from their Little Sprout set.  I colored the image in using Copic markers to match the strip of DP from BG's Lemonade collection.

My goal in coloring this was to make the pot look like it had algae growth on it.  I think I pulled it off close enough!  I also made an embossed frame around the image with my Scor-Pal and bone folder.  Then I finished it off with the three tiny rhinestones on the left.

Before I made this card, I also tried my hat at another one that I thought I would share with you.  I ended up submitting the first one above to the contest as my friends and I felt it fit the CAS style best!

Here is another card I made announcing the birth of a new baby!!  Not sure why my cards are all about babies!  Do you think I just might have babies on the brain since I work with them everyday??  LOL!

The stamp you see here is called Daisy Canopy and is one of Elzybells stamps.  It is so cute and so are all of hers!!  I pulled out my neglected Prismacolor pencils to color this one and had such a fun time blending and playing.  I like how Prismacolors give a softer look then Copics can sometimes.  The DP is from Cosmo Cricket.  The CS is Bazzill.  The ribbon is from my stash, but I think it was a Michael's find.  The sentiment was computer generated and printed out!

Here you can see a little closer look at my coloring.  My idol at coloring with pencils is Paula Williamson.  If you don't follow her blog you should think about it!  Her coloring and her witty blog posts are worth the trip!  Her blog is called Paper Possibilities.

Want to see the rest of the finalists for the CAS DT competition?  

Take a look at Miss Boo's (Jen's) blog post HERE!

The Closing Ceremonies (for our Olympics) will be held in the 

CAS forum at SCS from 5-10pm on Wednesday (that's tomorrow!!)

The new CAS DT will be announced at that time and there will be lots of chatting and card sharing and even some challenge cards too!!  Hope you can make it!!

Have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with the kind of happiness that comes from seeing a newborn baby!!  Until tomorrow...

We are Hippity Hopping Today!!

Happy Hippity Hop!!  

Isn't it nice that now that ippity has come along and that we have these awesome H{ippity} Hops planned, that we don't have to dread Mondays anymore?  Hippity Hops have turned Monday's from drudgery into a day full of inspiration.  Many ladies will be posting creations they have made with {ippity} onto their blogs today and you can find who is participating by visiting the {ippity} Blog HERE.

You are invited too!!

We invite you to sign up and join us next week for our H{ippity} Hop by visiting the Ippity Forum sign up thread at SCS which is usually up by the Friday before. Simply add your name and blog address to the list and we will make sure you show up on the master blog list!  

Eryn is hosting our H{ippity} Hop today which means that she gets to pick the challenge for this week!!  She picked a fantastic one... it is one of my FAVORITE challenges to do!!  Can you guess it?

It's a sketch challenge!!  Yeah!! I LOVE Sketch Challenges!!!  As you all know I am working my way through ALL the sketches on the Master Sketch list at SCS.  Not counting all the ones that I have randomly done over the past couple of years, I have finished the first 12 on the list and am working my way through the next 12.  I copy and paste the pictures of each sketch onto a letter-sized paper so that 12 sketches fit onto each sheet.  Then I print it out and leave the sheet in front of me as I create cards so I can use them whenever it strikes my fancy. 

The sketch that I used for my card today is SC08...

And here is the card I made using it...

At first glance you may think that I did not follow the sketch very closely, but keep in mind that they are just guides and that you can tweak them to make them work for you.  I did not use the two equal squares in the center as shown in the sketch, but you can see that I put them together to make one long rectangle in place of the two squares, or you can also see that the spring panel and the basket actually "represent" the two smaller squares.  Let your imagination be your guide and the let the sketches work for you! They are only inspirational... not set in stone!

 My card for today uses stamps that you will find in the Thoughts of Spring stamp set that is one of {ippity'}'s New Releases.  It is the perfect set to use for all your spring and Easter cards and layouts.

As of today you can still preorder this set from me for a discounted price!  Once my stamps arrive, which will probably be tomorrow, the price will go back to my regular sale price.


 

For today's card I used Basic Grey's Sugar Rush paper.  I loved how the plaid worked well on the basket to make it actually look woven!

The lace is a recent purchase from JoAnn's and the flowers are from Prima.  The cute pink half pearl is from Darice and was in a pack of several colors and only cost a buck!!

We sure hope that you will play along with us in this week's challenge.  Eryn will have all the details for you about it on the SCS {ippity} forum.  So be sure to stop by there and find our the deets and what you have a chance at winning!!

So head right on over to the {ippity} blog and start at the beginning

to be wonderfully inpsired by some more {ippity} creations!!

CLICK HERE!

Have a wonderful Monday and may your "basket" be full of fun new {ippity} stamps to play with!!

My {ippity} Faves

Sorry but today I don't have any new cards for you.  I was working on my CAS challenge card that I will be submitting for Round Three of the DT competition yesterday, but then I got called in to work a couple of times.  (Yes you heard me right... I have made it to another round of the competition and I am so stoked about it!!)  Yeah!!!

I thought I would link you over to the {ippity} blog where I got to choose my favorite {ippity} cards from the SCS Gallery.  You won't want to miss some of these amazing creations!!

Are you still needing some {ippity}??  I am expecting my new stamps to arrive any day now, so my preorder sale will be ending when they come in.  Check out my Sales Blog to order yours today at a great discount price!!  

Click HERE to see my {ippity}Faves post.

And I will see you guys tomorrow  for Monday's H{ippity} Hop!!  Have a great Sunday!  I am finally off call and going to have a belated Valentine's Day celebration with my DH Tom!!

May your bucket overflow with fun times spent with awesome people!!

A Cause and a Challenge!

Yesterday I was fortunate to NOT get called in to work so it gave me a lot of time in my scraproom.  I started by putting all my leftover supplies away that I had used recently.  Then, with a cleared desk there was nothing else to do but make it dirty again!!  LOL!

While blurfing around yesterday I ran across Lori Craig's post HERE, who referenced Taylor VanBruggen's post HERE about this card drive that is going on for a wonderful cause that is close to my heart.  Many of you know that I work with babies!  Well my official title is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.  What that means is that I am an advanced practice nurse who takes care of sick babies.  I know all too well about the struggles of parents as they deal with the loss of a baby.  Thankfully I don't work in the NICU right now, so I don't see as many losses as I used to, but you never forget the grief of a parent once you have seen it.

So when I heard that they were having a Dragonfly Card Drive to collect cards to give to bereaved parents who have suffered a loss of a pregnancy or a baby, I knew that I wanted to help out!  

I made three "girl" cards yesterday and will work on some "boy" ones today!  The cards are supposed to have a Dragonfly on them because that is their symbol of hope for the parents who have suffered a loss.

I took the opportunity to continue using more SCS sketches as I continue on in my journey to use ALL the sketches from the Master List at SCS!  I really love sketch challenges and it is great to have a card idea already laid out so all I have to do is play around with the elements!  :-)

I made two of the same card that came from Sketch number SC11...

Here are the cards following that sketch...

The Dragonflies are from a border stamp by Katie & Co.  The Sentiment and Footprints stamp are from PaperTrey Ink's With Sympathy: Loss of Child set.  The DP is from MM and is actually scraps from a previous project that I thought looked sweet and soft for a baby.  The border punch is called Loops from MS.

To make the footprints become the soft pink like that, I stamped them with my Versamark watermark  ink and then rubbed pink Inkadinkadoo chalk over the top of it.  It allows the image to be colored in a soft pastel, but still lets the words read through beautifully.  I also chalked the edges of the sentiment panel.

The next card I made uses SC06...

I designed this card so that the tag could be removed to show the baby's information on the back.  The Dragonfly and flower silhouettes are from Unity's May09 KOM.

This sentiment is from the same PTI set called With Sympathy: Loss of Child.  One confession I have to make is that the subtle stamping of the words and the silhouettes below the sentiment is NOT intentional.  I had the whole card done when I finally stamped the sentiment on this layer and of course I DROPPED my inky stamp right onto my project and it bounced twice.  It left a subtle stamping of the sentiment.  I wanted to cry because that was the last of the striped DP and it was otherwise ruined.  So instead of tossing the whole thing, I decided to [try and] make it looks like it was on PURPOSE!!  And above is the result of the finished product.  While not perfect, I think I was able to salvage it!

This is what the front of the tag looks like in full view showing off the two gorgeous Unity stamps!

And on the back of the tag I used this Amuse Baby Announcement tag so the parents could fill out the information about their baby and keep this tag as a keepsake and reminder.  Having been with many parents after a loss, I know that they truly enjoy the mementos they can have of their babies.  Where I work we always provide a picture (if they want one) of their baby all wrapped up and "resting" peacefully.  After many years in the field, it doesn't get easier and I end up crying right along with the saddened parents and family members.

I hope that many of you will be inspired to participate in this card drive.  If you are interested, please check out Taylor's post about it HERE.

Now how about a quick attempt at comicsl relief after the deep topic we discussed above?

On the 20th of each month the Dirty Dozen Girls and DD Alumni are challenged to make a card.  This month our hostess was none other than Jeanne Streiff  who gave us a challenge called Funny Thing is... We were to make a card using our sense of humor and we were restricted from using any sparkles, glitter or the like!

Again I used a SCS sketch!  This time SC23...

And here is my funny card...

The funny thing is really all contained within the sentiment that comes from this SU set called Sassy Suzie.  I am in love with the red and yellow color combos that I keep seeing around the galleries and so I decided to do a card using those colors predominantly.  This K & Co. paper was just the perfect find.  I colored in my image using Copics.  And added a dollar spot ribbon that I found at Target.  The brads come from BG.

Can you read the sentiment from this closeup?  It's a real hoot!!  (Notice I didn't say Hooters!! LOL!!)  The inside of the card says Happy Birthday!! It was a fun challenge that was relaxing to work on because I got to color!!  :-)

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get you guys all caught up with my creations.  I hope to work on the boy Dragonfly cards today!

Have a great weekend and may your bucket be overflowing with family time and fun while making happy memories to scrapbook later!

Change!

To see my FWF projects and miss my chatting about change, just scroll down a bit!  :-)

Sometimes things are just going to change!!  I mean change is the only thing that is inevitable right?  Well that and death!  Some changes are for the better! And those ones I like, but some of them don't seem to be.  And for those we can only hope that they wiill just change again! 

I don't love the news about the changes going on at SCS ! 

It makes me sad to hear that Jenn (who Latisha has dubbed the DD's Fairy CardMother) is no longer going to be in an administrative role at SCS or in charge of the Dirty Dozen. And Daven (SCS creator) too has decided to step down.  We are promised that changes won't be evident by the new team coming on board, and I hope that is true!  I guess only time will tell.   But the one thing that won't change for me is my love for SCS and all the wonderful people I have met because of it.  I also am so thankful for the opportunities that have been afforded me because of my involvement at SCS.  I wish the new management the best of luck as they try to fill the biggest and best shoes in this industry!! Thanks Daven and Jenn for all you have done for us!

Something else has changed too!!  But this one is ALL good!!  

Have you seen the new blog look for Unity! 

It is amazing!! None other than the uber talented Veronica McCollum who also redid my blog was back at it to give Unity it's new blog look!!  Now this is one change that I am happy about!!  The last blog was great, but I guess it was time for a change!  I really love the fresh, new and bright look that they came up with!!  Check it out by clicking on the bold lettering above if you haven't seen it already!  Be sure to sign up for Angela's new feature called Create this Moment so as not to miss any of her insightful and uplifting posts or quotes.  Angela really new just what to say to me when I was struggling with the changes at SCS and for that I truly thank her!! Hugs Angela!!

And one final change for me to talk about today...has to do with my projects!  

You will notice a change from my typical style of card making for today's cards.  Why?  You might ask... well it is because I have decided to challenge myself and try out for the next CAS (Clean and Simple) DT at SCS.  You guys know that my natural style would not be CAS one, but I am fond of the way it looks and also realize that more of the magazines publish cards that fit that category.  So I figured it would behoove me to incorporate a few more CAS cards into my regular repertoire of cards!  My style (whatever it is) will remain my style, but I will  just be making an attempt to sneak in a little more CAS cards on top of that.  And that will be whether I make the DT or not!

Here is one of the cards I submitted for Round 1 of the Olympic themed CAS DT contest...

I love this stamp!! It is from Unity's February 2010 KOM!! It is the first image I inked up after getting it! I adore it!! It is so sweet!  This challenge card was made by using a previous CAS challenge from last year (which was the requirement.)  I chose to use challenge CAS12 which was called Little Bits of Ribbon. 

The images were colored in with Copics except for the flowers which were paper pieced.  The ribbons are from Michael's and had a very springy look to them!  That sentiment (Unity's Feb10 KOM) is wonderful and I think it will have many uses!!

Thankfully I have made it into Round 2 of the Olympic Trials in the search for the next CAS DT members.  Thank you Jen for letting me get this far!  For this challenge we were to be inspired by an Olympic sport that uses a slope!  With the slope being the main source of my inspiration, I came up with this card for my next entry...

I decided to make an Over the Hill card for someone's birthday but not focus on the negative aspects of becoming old!  LOL!  The inside of the cards says...

What Hill?  

I don't see a hill!

Happy Birthday anyway!!

The Unity stamp used for this card is the adorable tree from the Feb 2010 KOM.  I paper pieced it and also colored parts in with my Copics.  The DP's are some scraps of Fancy Pants and DCWV.  The letter stickers are from BG and the ribbon was an online purchase through Ebay.  

If you want to see the rest of the entries for this contest, then check out comment # 3 of this post HERE.  Just scroll down until you see the Round 2 discussion.  The field has been narrowed from 40 to 20 and the competition is steep!  There are some super talented ladies competing against me so wish me luck!!  I will need it!!

Enjoy your time hopping from one amazing blog to the next on your journey through today's Friend's with Flair Blog Hop!  Be sure to keep your eye out for the Flair Blinkie!  You will want to start at the beginning so as not to miss any of the blogs.  The list can be found on the Unity blog at  10AM CST. 

Have a wonderful Friday and may your bucket overflow with the ability to adapt to change gracefully!

                         

A Wonderfully Whimsie Wednesday!

Happy Humpday!!

I hope you are having a great week so far!! I have been feeling weird because I am suddenly not so stressed by a lot of deadlines like I recently had been.  I have been enjoying getting my scraproom back in order and working on getting ahead on upcoming assignments, challenges and just making cards for fun!!  I love to stamp so much!! I am so thankful for the ability to do it almost daily!!  :-)

With it being a Wednesday, we have a new Whimsie Wednesday Challenge today over at PaperCraft Planet.  Paula has inspired us to make a card for National Friendship Week with a friend theme in mind!

This is what I came up with...

Ha!! Isn't that cute?  I can't take much credit for it, it is certainly Melyssa's images that make this so adorable.  I just got to have fun coloring it in and planning it out!  I printed the How Ewe Doin stamp (which is a free giveaway at PCP for members) once as it comes and once in mirror image.  I centered them and resized them to make them fit right in the middle of a 4 x 4 square card.  I also added the sentiment from the Have a Seat collection.  It seemed to go perfectly with the message I was sending!

Here is a closeup of the colored images.  Gotta love coloring with Copics!! I could do that all day!!  :-)  I used my Copics air brush to create the grass and sky.  To make the space around the sentiment remain white, I just masked over it with a nestie shape that fit. 

Coincidentally I am having lunch today with two wonderful friends of mine from work (barring no baby calls!)  Their names are Melissa and Michele.  We call our get together's our "Therapy Sessions" because there is no topic that can't be discussed and we are always there to love and encourage each other.  II always leave our "sessions" feeling better and thankful for my friends that are always by my side!  t has been way too long since we got together and I am looking forward to their company and to eating some Sushi!!  

Have a great rest of your Wednesday and may your bucket overflow with the kind of friends who are always by your side!

A couple Challenge Cards to Share!

Whew!! I am pooped after yesterday but had a fabulous time partying with all you {ippity} peeps on the forums celebrating the release of 8 new sets!!!! It was so fun chatting it up and trying to participate in the challenges all at the same time!!

Did you see all the prizes that were given out yesterday?  Unity/{ippity} is so generous!

And speaking of prizes!!  I had a winner from my blog comments yesterday... it is posted on the Ippity forum too,  but in case she doesn't get over there I wanted her to know she won!!

Debbi (blog: From My Front Porch)

was the comment author chosen by random.org!!

Congratulations Debbi... email Eryn at eryn@unitystampco.com 

and choose one {ippity} stamp set of your choice!  

Woohoo!!

You can see all the sets on my sales blog HERE! 

I hope you guys participated in some of the challenges yesterday. But if you didn't, you can still do it!  The prize giveaways are done, but we would still LOVE to see what you come up with!

Maria gave us the first challenge and she offered up this fantastic photo as our inspiration...

And this is what I made for my challenge card...

The stamps shown here are from the What Matters Most stamp set and are part of the newly released collections that can be purchased from ME!!  If you are interested in buying any of the new stamps, you can still get them at a discounted price because I don't have them in stock quite yet!  My sales blog contains all the info HERE.

Here is a closeup...

I used the adorable Fifth Ave paper from MM that has die cuts cut out of it and allows the CS to show through.  I paper pieced a few of the butterflies that I masked and placed around the sentiment.  I think it is a great encouragement card for someone!

The second Challenge was given by Heather which was to use tulle, fabric or canvas on your project and to have at least two layers and NO Designer paper.

That girl sure knows how to make a challenge challenging doesn't she??

So here is what I came up with...

I don't think it would be possible to make a card I didn't like if I were using this stamp. I just LOVE what it says and what it means!!  I will be sending this to my sweet second daughter Leah who is waiting to hear if she will be getting accepted into Vet school, and if so where she will be going.  It is killing her not knowing ,so this sentiment is perfect for her!

This stamp is in the Where You Should Be set.  It is amazing!!   The stamp stamped perfectly onto this canvas/burlap type fabric using my Memento ink and then I colored in some of the parts with my Copics.  I was very pleased that the marker did not bleed at all!!  I love how it came out!

To make this border I just stamped one of the borders from Thoughts of Spring onto both the rusty orange and blue papers that I had in my scraps collection and then layered three of them together to create this colorful scalloped border. 

The flowers are from Prima and the ribbon that was the inspiration for my colors is from American Crafts!  

I didn't get to Eva's amazing background challenge yet... but I will so keep looking for it! It is coming!! LOL!

Thanks to all of you who came out yesterday and hung out on the forums with us and thanks to everyone who left a comment too! I really appreciate your uplifting words from day to day... it is one of my favorite parts of the day... reading your sweet comments on my projects!!  I love you guys and appreciate you following along with me!!

One last thing.. 

in all the hullaballoo of yesterday's New Release, 

I forgot to tell you to check out the 

New Dirty Dozen Gallery!!

We had a theme of Bold, Masculine and Dirty!  Talk about challenging.. but it was a lot of fun to create projects for.  I think the DD Team did a fabulous job! We welcomed Ryann Salamon and Cindy Beach this month!   I hope you will go and leave some love there! I will share some snippets of my DD projects soon!

I hope you are a Fan Club member and will check it out! And if you are not, please become one.. it is a great cause to support the Splitcoaststamper's community, plus you get a lot of perks too!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with the feeling that you are Right Where You Should Be!