Dandelions Against a Brick Wall--#tgifc305

 

A picture of an ice cream shop is inspiration for this week's TGIF Challenge.  As with any inspiration challenge, you can take anything from the photo to inspire your project: some take the theme, some the sketch, some the colors, some a pattern.  In this photo, I first noticed the pink brick wall and took that idea to create my background:

To create my brick wall, I used a sponge brayer (#141714) to cover the inside of the Brick & Mortar 3D embossing folder (#149643) with Magenta Madness ink.  I colored only the side with the Stampin' Up! logo, then placed a piece of Whisper White card stock over the ink, closed the folder and put it through the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine (#149653). 

My card features some wildflowers (some may say weeds--a little harsh, I think) peeking out from the space between the brick wall of the ice cream shop and the cement parking lot.  These were created with the Dandy Wishes dies (#154315) and Coastal Cabana, So Saffron and Granny Apple Green card stock.  I pulled these colors from the inspiration piece.  

The greeting is from the Garden Wishes stamp set (#154408; #156220 when bundled with the Dandy Wishes dies for a 10% savings).  It was stamped in Magenta Madness on Whisper White card stock and die cut using a Stitched Rectangles die (#151820). 

Three Magenta Madness enamel dots (#152480, 2020-2022 In Color enamel dots), a layer of Coastal Cabana and a Magenta Madness card base complete the card.

Go see the wonderful variety of projects created with this inspiration piece over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

I hope you have a wonderful day full of sunshine!

--Sara Nell

 

A Field of Flowers--#tgifc271

This week's color challenge combo over at TGIF Challenges is bright and happy and made me want to hang out in a field of flowers.  So that's what I did:

The field of poppies image from Painted Poppies Stamp set (#151599) and the greeting from Peaceful Moments (#151595) were stamped in Tuxedo Black on to Whisper White card stock.  Both were die cut with Stitched Rectangle dies (the larger one was manipulated in the die cutting machine to make the die cut shorter).  The flowers were colored with the Mango Melody Combo and Flirty Flamingo Combo Stampin' Blends.  This piece was layered on a piece of Mango Melody and then wrapped with a piece of Whisper White 1/4" crinkled seam binding colored with the Granny Apple Green Dark Stampin' Blend.  

The flag layer was made using Flirty Flamingo card stock, the Banner Triple Punch (#138292) and the Old World Paper 3D embossing folder (#153200).  This embossing folder is working its way up to becoming my second most used embossing folder, right after the Subtle 3D embossing folder (#151775).  Speaking of which, I used it on the Granny Apple Green layer after the layer was stamped randomly with the leaf image from the Painted Poppies stamp set.

A card base of Granny Apple Green and some Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels (#150457) complete the card. 

Check out all the bright and happy cards this week over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here:

Have a bright and happy week!

--Sara Nell

A Label Me Bold Birthday Note--#tgifc259

Today I have a 3-1/2" X 5" note card for the TGIF Challenges sketch challenge.  I just received the Label Me Bold stamp set (#151631) and I thought it would work well with the sketch and with a smaller card size.  This stamp set was inspired by Stampin' Up! Million Dollar sale achiever, Jasmin Schultze.  I love the label style greetings and the texture images in this set.

For the background circles in the sketch, I used the cloud-like texture stamp stamped in Soft Sea Foam with first and second generation stamping.  I stamped the dotted texture image over these images using Balmy Blue stamped off once.  The greeting is also stamped in Balmy Blue.  It is layered over a Gray Granite circle that was embossed with the Pinewood Planks 3D embossing folder.  I stamped and die cut the Flirty Flamingo flowers (with Gray Granite centers) using the Colorful Seasons stamp set (#143726) and Seasonal Layers dies (#143751).  A bow of Whisper White baker's twine and Basic Pearls colored with the Flirty Flamingo Dark Stampin' Blends marker complete the card. 

There are some really terrific interpretations of this sketch over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Happy Stampin'--Sara Nell 

Happy to My Day--#tgifc240

Today, I have a clean and simple card created for this week's TGIF Challenges inspiration challenge:  Autumn Leaves.

All of the leaves from our trees have dropped and I have a nice crunchy pile of leaves to enjoy as I walk Roxie around the yard (at least until Herb gets them chopped up).  When the leaf cover is high, Roxie takes several short hops over it to get around--so funny to watch.  Autumn leaves are definitely the happy in my day so when I saw this sentiment in the Country Home stamp set (#147678), I had to use it for my card!

I started with a card base of Very Vanilla thick card stock.  I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark and heat embossed it with Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder (#141636).  Next I stamped some scrap pieces of Terracotta Tile card stock with the speckle image in the Gather Together stamp set (#150589), using the Delicata Celestial Copper ink refill (#150708) and a piece of Stampin' Sponge.  I die cut the small maple leaves out of the stamped card stock using a Gathered Leaves die (#150662).  Copper Trim (#144179) finished the card.

You'll find plenty of leafy inspiration over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Hope you are having an awesome week!--Sara Nell

A Snow Family--#tgifc237

It's time for another TGIF Challenges sketch challenge.  I took a few liberties with the sketch this week: widened the left panel and flipped the sketch 90 degrees.   Then I fussy cut a snow family!

There are four different patterns from the Let It Snow specialty designer series paper pack (#150393) used on this card.  The Real Red and Coastal Cabana stripe is layered on the card base and the Coastal Cabana snow flurry is the sky behind the snow family.  The mom and pop were fussy cut from one pattern and the child from another.  I thought they looked like a happy little family together.  The snow covered ground was cut from a piece of Whisper White card stock, then heat embossed with Snowfall Accents Puff Paint (#150691).

The greeting is from the Snowman Season stamp set (#150458).  It was stamped in the sky with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed with Black Stampin' Emboss Powder.  The card is finished with a piece of Whisper White baker's twine tied in a bow.

Check out some great projects using this sketch over at the TGIF Challenges Blog:

Let me know what you think of my little snow family in the comments.  Stay warm out there!--Sara Nell

Hello, Friend--#tgifc215

The TGIF color challenge for this week is Night of Navy, Granny Apple Green, and Pool Party.  I've always liked blues and greens together, so this was a fun challenge.  I decided to combine the colors for a watercolor background invoking a pond-side scene:

For my background, I inked up Clear Block E with stripes of the challenge colors, spritzed it with water and then stamped it on Watercolor Paper.  I held the block in place for a few minutes  so the paper could absorb the ink and water.  You never know what you are going to get when you do this! 

To finish my little pond scene, I added a Granny Apple Green clump of plants and a Night of Navy butterfly die cut from the Well Written dies.  The "friend" in script is also from this die set.  I adhered 3 die cut words together for my card.  The "hello" is from the coordinating stamp set Well Said.  I added a Vellum card stock oval behind the scene to help it stand out a bit.  A fold of Granny Apple Green 1/2" textured weave ribbon at the top of the focal piece completes the card.

Head over to the TGIF Challenges Blog to see some fantastic projects using this fun color combo:

Thanks for stopping by!--Sara Nell