Stamp Happy

Stamp Simply #39 - Go BOLD!

Sharon Johnson has picked another great Stamp Simply Challenge for you today to GO BOLD!  Summer is right around the corner (or rather, has arrived with a vengeance here in Northeast Ohio!) and we naturally think of bold, bright colors for summer!  You might have to step outside your box a little to use brighter colors, but just go for it!  I found it helpful to start with a bright piece of designer paper, like these dots from my DCWV Summer paper stack.  (And nothing says summer more than flip-flops, right?  Although, there's a girl at my church who wears them year-round!)  Since my Mojo has taken a hike, I took a little help for this card from Taylor's Cupcake Challengesketch from last week.

For all the challenge details, please see Sharon's blog, and don't forget to link your card back to her blog!  If you upload to SCS, please use the keywords ssnotime39 on your post.  You can see her sample too, and for samples from the other Stamp Simply team members, click on the links below!

Dee Jackson

Becky Oehlers

Janine Orchard

Jennifer Buck

Julie Koerber

Have fun with this challenge, and have a great weekend!  My hope is to get a LOT of stamping done!

Stamps:  flip flops (Impression Obsession), sentiment (Papertrey Ink); Cardstock:  Marigold Morning (Stampin' Up!), Red Hot, Pacific (Bazzill), white (Gary Burlin), designer Paper (Die Cuts with a View); Inks:  Versamagic Thatched Straw, Persimmon, Brilliance Rocket Red (Tsukineko); Accessories:  standard circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), bling brads (Stampin' Up!).

Baby Card - Blogger's Challenge

Well, I guess you could say that this card is for the Blogger's Challenge Cheaters!  Our challenge this week was to use turquiose, pink and SU! Green Galore for our card.  I tried and tried and couldn't make that color combo work!  I had 3 different designs stamped, laid out, etc. and everyone one of them was just awful!  I never realized that I don't like Green Galore!  So I cheated... needed a baby girl card to send to a good friend at church who just because a Grandma, so I switched to Certainly Celery instead.  So send the Challenge Police if you must, but it was either this or no card at all.  (Maybe the Challenge Police could conduct an investigation as to where my Mojo has gone, because I struggled with the next card I have to upload, too!)

Thanks for stopping by, and for putting up with my laziness this week, too!

Stamps:  Green Thumb (Papertrey Ink); Cardstock:  Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean, designer paper (Stampin' Up!), white (Gary Burlin); Inks:  Certainly Celery, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up!); Accessories:  scalloped rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), dotted ribbon (Morex).

Happy Holiday Weekend!

Happy (long!) Holiday weekend to everyone!  Here in the US we will celebrate Memorial Day on Monday, and of course in addition to being glad for an extra day off, pay tribute to our soldiers.  So in honor, here is another Patriotic card that I created earlier this week.  My Buckeye Babe friend Darlene was in charge of issuing our Brilliant Ideas challenge last weekend, and in honor of the upcoming holiday she chose to challenge us to make a red, white and blue card.  I also used Julee Tillman's Mojo Monday sketch #38 for this.

A picnic, parades, BBQ, trip to the zoo, time with friends, tributes... whatever you do this weekend I hope you have a fabulous time doing it!  May our soldiers all return safely home very soon, and my extreme gratefulness to all those who have returned to their eternal home with our Savior!

Stamps:  Text Boxed (Papertrey Ink); Cardstock:  Real Red, Night of Navy, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!), designer paper (unknown); Inks:  Versamagic Night Sky, Versamark (Tsukineko); Accessories:  small oval punch, navy grosgrain (Stampin' Up!), red dotted grosgrain (Offray), brads (craft supply).

Stamp Simply #35 - A Trio of Panels

It's time to Stamp Simply again, and this week your challenge is to use a trio of panels on your card!  Just create three panels of any size or shape, and attach them to your card in any configuration you like!  Your card can be any size or shape, just use three panels in some way.  Additional details for today's challenge can be found on Sharon Johnson's blog, along with her amazing sample!  AND don't forget while you're visiting Sharon's blog to congratulate her on becoming a Flourish, and partner of Flourishes LLC!  I sure think they're getting someone extra special, and can't wait to see what new things they design!  There's a rumor about a Stamp Simply stamp set soon to come!   Don't forget to use the keywords ssnotime35 if you upload your creation to Splitcoaststampers, and whether you do SCS and/or your blog, link your card back to Sharon's blog so we can be sure to take a peek!

Other gorgeous samples can be found on the blogs of...

Dee Jackson

Julie Koerber

Becky Oehlers

Jennifer Buck

Janine Orchard

My card for today's challenge uses three narrow panels that I zig-zag stitched to the back piece.  I just love how it resembles a Crazy Quilt!  And I coudn't resist using some of my new Basic Grey paper again!

I hope you'll participate in today's challenge!  We all look forward to seeing what everyone creates!

Stamps:  Green Thumb (Papertrey Ink); Cardstock:  Mocha Divine (Bazzill), designer paper (Sugared by Basic Grey); Inks:  Colorbox Pink Pastel chalk (Clearsnap), Versamagic Jumbo Java (Tsukineko); Accessories:  scalloped circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch (Stampin' Up!), 1 1/2" circle punch (Marvy Uchida), brown grosgrain (American Crafts), sewing machine, thread.

Stamp Simply #32 - Out of the Box

Hello!  Here is my sample card for Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply challenge this week!  Sharon has encouraged us to think outside the box this week, and she doesn't mean stamping outside the box like this card.  The challenge is to think outside the box!  Use a stamp other than for it's intended purpose.  I saw a few great ideas on some blogs recently... one stamper took an ice cream cone and turned it into a hat, and another turned the icing from a cupcake stamp upside down and created a beard!  And that's a really good tip if you're struggling with this.... look at your stamps upside down!  That's what I did and ended up with these cute, simple mushrooms created with the strawberry stamps from my Papertrey Ink "Green Thumb" set!  Although, I actually call them "muthrooms!"  One of my nieces Alana, had such a lisp when she was a child and whenever we ordered pizza she insisted that it could not have "muthrooms" on it because she did not like them!  She was such a cute kid!

Anyhoo... yes, you may find this challenge more challenging than some, but the whole team hopes you'll give it a try today!

You can check out the whole challenge, and see Sharon's sample on her blog, No Time to Stamp.

Also, be sure to check out these great samples to inspire you from:

Dee Jackson

Julie Koerber

Becky Oehlers

Jennifer Buck

Janine Orchard

I hope to have some time for stamping this evening, but if I don't find time it'll be a little quiet here in the Stamp Happy blog, as I've got a full weekend ahead.  If you're in Northeast Ohio this weekend, you do not want to miss the Adventures in Stamping Convention at the John S. Knight Center in downtown Akron!  I'm excited to get to go, and am going to be meeting up with some awesome SCS'ers, and I hope they're as excited to meet me as I am to meet them!  Juliana, Shelly and Sherry... have a safe trip to Akron and I'll see you Saturday!

Also, at the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Wooster, the Home & Garden Show is going on starting Saturday at 10:00 and lasting until Sunday at 4:00!  I'll be there in the Toyrifix booth, stamping away from 10:00 until 1:00 on Saturday.  I'll be leaving, and one of my great customers Sherri Gochnauer is taking over for me, so I can go to Akron.  I'll be back there again on Sunday, so if you're in the area, stop by!  It's a great, really well-run show and there's chicken BBQ, too!

Before I forget... details for my card! Stamps:  Green Thumb (Papertrey Ink), sentiment (Michael's $1 stamp); Cardstock:  Lakeshore (Bazzill), Confetti Cream (Stampin' Up!), designer paper (Bo Bunny); Inks:  Ruby Red (Stampin' Up!), Gingerbread chalk ink (Tsukineko), marker for stems (Tombow); Accessories:  double-dot ribbon (Bo Bunny).

Can you stand another....

... Saffron Bird?  I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself!  Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #6 has So Saffron in it again this week, and I just love all these new bird stamps so much!  :)

Isn't that bedding set just beautiful?  I would love to have it in my bedroom in my dream house on the beach of a secluded island!  I can see why Kristina thought it was inspiring for the challenge today!  You can check out the challenge on her blog.

I tried to keep my use of Wild Wasabi to a minumum since you don't see much of it in the picture.  I was really pleased to find this button that matched so nicely, and this striped May Arts ribbon that is a nice color match, too.  The branch and the bird were used in my class at the store last night, and have quickly become some of my most favorite stamps!

All-in-all, I'm very pleased with how this turned out and I hope you like it too!  How great to have the day off today and a chance to do this challenge again, coupled with a beautiful, sunny day to go outside and photograph my card, too!  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  bird, branch (Impression Obsession), sentiment (Green Thumb from Papertrey Ink), background flowers (Watercolor Joy wheel from Stampin' Up!); Cardstock:  Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!), white (The Paper Cut); Inks:  So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!), Versamark (Tsukineko); Accessories:  flower (Bazzill), button (Hot off the Press), apricot grosgrain (Stampin' Up!), striped grosgrain ( May Arts), scalloped rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder (ProvoCraft), clear embossing powder (Ranger), white string, paper piercing tool.