Happy Birthday, Mom!

It's my mom's 65th birthday next week and we will be celebrating this weekend. I think my sister and I will be taking her to see Stratford's production of West Side Story in the fall as a gift - my good friend Heather tells me it's probably the best musical production she has ever seen! (And she would know as she is a talented actor herself! LOL)

So I needed a birthday card, right? I decided to use this week's colour challenge on SCS, which was to use Pixie Pink, Apricot Appeal and Certainly Celery. While CCelery is a colour that I use often, I have not used Apricot Appeal regularly in quite a while, and to be honest, I can't recall ever using my Pixie Pink pad *blush*. So this was DEFINITELY a challenge for me! LOL! I like the freshness of it, though, and it went quite well with the stamps I chose, Flight of the Butterfly, which is a new set to me.

I also got to break in my new butterfly punch - LOVE IT!!! - as well as my new "Sherbet" designer buttons. I like that the new designer buttons do not have any of the In Colors. I find that I tend to hoard my buttons (I prefer to think of it as, saving them for very special occasions LOL) and now I am stuck with a bunch of gorgeous ones from last year's collection, which I am going to have difficulty using now that the colours are not current anymore... Oh well.

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

OK so I know I've said this before...

...but this time I mean it. I NEED TO get back in the game!! Why? Because I am in L-O-V-E with everything in the new Stampin' Up! cattie, and ESPECIALLY with everything in the (upcoming) Holiday Mini catalogue and will therefore need to get my butt into high gear if I am to ever inspire enough people to support my habit ;o)

So I am stamping. And stamping, and stamping, and stamping. And sharing what I am stamping with people again so they can see how FUN and EASY it is to stamp and awe your friends and family with your paper creations LOL

Getting the mojo going again is the biggest hurdle, but I think I am getting there. Of course, getting my first load of new goodies was a HUGE inspiration this week, and I completed 16 swap cards tonight that look like this:

Isn't it pretty? I finally caved and bought the Beautiful Butterflies die for the Big Shot, and knew before I even received my order and had a chance to play with it that this is what I would be using for my swap card. I also knew I would be using this new embossing folder - isn't it sweet? I love how it only embosses part of the card front! As for the colour scheme, that came later. I have to admit, I was not immediately inspired by the new In Colors this year. The only one I could see myself using a lot was Bermuda Bay. So I resisted buying the whole lot, and only got the assorted cardstock and the markers (yay - MARKERS!!) to give myself a chance to try them out for size... and I realized that I like them a lot more than I first gave them credit for! This is Melon Mambo - I thought it would be really bright and Positively Pink-ish (or perhaps even - gasp! - the old Magenta we used to carry LOL), but it's actually got quite nice depth to it. Like a brighter Purely Pomegranate. And I decided to just keep things simple and clean, and use just the one colour with the white. Quite effective, I think? And then I got the idea of softening the card by layering one of the butterflies with vellum, and stamped that layer with white StazOn, using one of the images from the new Extreme Elements set. Totally NOT what the set was intended to complement (it goes with silhouettes of skateboarders and surfers and rockers), which is why I really like how it's used here LOL. Here is a close-up of the butterfly:

And the ribbon, well, I'm in love with the ribbon. Polka dots are da bomb. Oh and the sentiment was stamped with VersaMark and embossed with black embossing powder to give it glossy texture.

SO 16 of these babies will be going out in the mail tomorrow, and hopefully will soon find an appreciative audience. And I can't wait to see what I receive in exchange!

As for me, I will commit to posting at least once per week AND to reviving my short-lived weekly colour challenge... In fact, I will make this my colour challenge post and challenge you to create a card using only ONE of the new In Color colours (your choice!) with white. Remember to use the keyword AMCC4 if you post to Splitcoaststampers so that I can find your creation.

Happy Stampin!

A-M

Missing my Stampin' Buddies...

My friend Vicki is having her annual stampin' retreat this weekend and I was not able to be there this time... *sigh* I know the girls will be having a FABULOUS time by now (I hear martinis are on the menu this evening LOL) and I'm feeling a little sorry for myself for not being able to partake in the fun.

SO I am stamping LOL! I noticed that there is a mini-VSN tonight at SCS so that's what I am doing! This card was difficult for me... we had to use a minimum of three different embellishments - the more the better!! I'm usually pretty conservative with my use of embellishments so this was somewhat challenging. Really, though, I still managed to use four different ones (ribbon, button, clip and brads), with a total of 6 pieces!! And really, I don't think it looks cluttered, do you?


I decided to also go with a fairly neutral colour scheme (Kraft, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip and So Saffron) so as to not overwhelm the senses LOL. The stamp set is Trendy Trees, which is one of my favourite new sets!


Happy Stampin'!


A-M

Weekly Colour Challenge #3

Okay, okay, so I skipped a week... *blush* BUT in my defense, we were in Montreal for Easter for the whole weekend. And I was back there this weekend to meet my brand new little niece, Julia Leia, who was born last Thursday, April 16!! Isn't she gorgeous? *sigh* New babies are so scrumptious :o)

OK, onto business. This week I took inspiration from the Parisian Breeze DP and chose Kraft, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Chocolate Chip.

This DP is so nice - it is actually cardstock weight and is textured. Quite lovely. I blew the dust off my Baroque Motifs stamp set - I thought it went well with the tapestry print on the DP. Please use the keyword AMCC3 if you are uploading to SCS and/or post a comment below with a link to your creation!

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

Second Weekly Colour Challenge!

This week's colour challenge was inspired by the new "Walk in the Park" Designer Paper in the Occasions Mini Catalogue. I picked Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral and Basic Gray. And I also used the sketch featured in this week's Diva Coffee Break Designs challenge, so it's a two-for-one!

The image is from the Pocket Silhouettes set, and was inked with markers. The ribbon tabs are Basic Gray taffeta and the brads are the small rhinestone circles. Remember to use the keyword "AMCC2" if you upload your cards to SCS. Or post a comment below with a link to your card.

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

Springy Frogs!

Spring has sprung, and with the amount of rain we have gotten in the last 48 hours, I'm sure the frogs are stirring from their winter slumber! I love this little guy from the Very Punny set! I decided to make him my main image for this card which will go to my 6yo's friend for his birthday tomorrow. This card also fulfils this week's Limited Supplies Challenge, which was a 1-2-3 challenge - one colour of cardstock, two patterned papers and three embellishments. I used a blender pen to colour in my frog with Kiwi Kiss reinker (the frog was stamped in Basic Gray ink). The image is mounted to the back of the strip of Kiwi Kiss textured c/s, which was punched with a 1 3/8" square. The designer paper is from the Good Morning Sunshine collection (which I had to get for obvious, Hair-related reasons LOL) - I love the fresh colours in this paper!

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

Spring is in the air!

And today's Colour Challenge on SCS was the perfect occasion to use this lovely cherry blossom image, from the Eastern Blooms set. The challenge was to use Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red. I tried making the blossoms pink at first, but they were too faint (especially when contrasted with the brown stems) so I went with red instead. The image at the centre of my build-a-brad is the centre of the large flower in the same stamp set, which I punched out with the 1/2" circle punch.

Happy Stampin'! And if you're a fan of colour challenges, don't forget to check out my new weekly Colour Challenge, below!

A-M