Positive Thoughts Silhouette Card - #TGIFC273

I have felt inspired by the TGIF Challenge Blog lately. This week it was to create a project with a fun silhouette effect on it. I looked through my stamp sets, looking for an image that would make a good silhouette. I found a beautiful fern image in the "Positive Thoughts" stamp set that I thought would do quite nicely. Take a look:

All supplies available from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Positive Thoughts (Item #151490)

Ink Pads and Refills: Night of Navy Ink Refill(Item #103033)

Gorgeous Grape Ink Refill(Item #147164)

Versamark Ink Pad(Item #102283)

Stazon Jet Black Ink Pad (Item #101406)

Cardstock: Gorgeous Grape (Item #146987)

Night of Navy (Item #100867)

Pretty Peacock (Item #150880)

Basic Black (Item #121045)

Accessories: Water color paper (What I used is retired, but Stampin' Up! has some "Fluid 100" watercolor paper -Item # 149612, that would be just right!) 

Die-cutting and Embossing Machine (Coming soon!)

Greenery Embossing Folder (Item #152716)

Nature's Thoughts Dies ((Item #153586)

White Stamp and Emboss Powder (Item #109132)

Heat Tool (Item #129053)

Water Painters (Item #151298)

Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Item #144220)

Stampin' Dimensionals (Item #104430)

On the watercolor paper, I used the Night of Navy Ink Refill on one end and the Gorgeous Grape Ink Refill on the other end, and brought them together in the center to blend the colors together. I also used the Stazon Jet Black Ink to stamp the fern to give it the silhouette effect. I was trying to make a sunrise-sort of background for it. I also used white embossing powder and a heat tool to stamp and emboss my greeting, and then hand-cut around it and mounted it on my card using Stampin' Dimensionals. 

I hope you like my card, and are inspired to create your own silhouette-effect card. Maybe you could even participate in the challenge (#tgifc273).

Hope you are having a wonderful day, and keep on stamping!

Kathryn

Tasteful Touches Hello Card - #tgifc271

It has been a while since I participated in a challenge blog, so I thought I would give it a shot this past weekend. Over on the TGIF Challenges Blog, their challenge this week is a color challenge. Here is my card that I made to go along with it:

All supplies available from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Tasteful Touches (Item #152562)

Inks: Flirty Flamingo (Item #141397)

Mango Melody (Item #147093)

Granny Apple Green (Item #147095)

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink (Item #132708)

Cardstock: Whisper White Thick (for card base) (Item #140272)

Whisper White (Item #100730)

Flirty Flamingo (Item #141416)

Accessories: Tasteful Labels Dies (Item #152886)

Watercolor Pencils (Item #141709)

Water Painters (Item #151298)

Paper Snips (Item #103579)

Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Item #144220)

Stampin' Dimensionals Self-adhesive Foam Mounts (Item #104430)

A fun technique I used on this card is using up your paper strip scraps to create the background. Using a tone-on-tone color scheme (or using the same color strips as your card base) gives this card a classy-looking background, don't you think? And the strips don't all have to be the same width. The widths that I used were anywhere from 1/4" to almost a whole inch wide, with most of them being about 5/8" wide. Then I just trimmed the edges to be the same as the card. Very easy.

Like I told you at the beginning of this blog post, I wanted to participate in the TGIF Challenge Blog Color Challenge (#tgifc271). The color challenge was to use the following colors:

Go check out their blog (tgifchallenges.blogspot.com). They have lots of great challenges, and it is fun to play along!

If you have any questions about my card, or you would like to place a Stampin' Up! order with, please feel free to contact me, and I will do my best to help you out!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn

TGIF Challenge Fail!!

I was searching the internet for some inspiration last week, and I saw something on TGIF Challenge Blog that I thought would be fun to participate in. The only problem was that the link was going to expire in like 14 hours. Normally 14 hours would be plenty of time to put together a card, photograph it, prepare it to post, and then write a blog post for it. But part of that 14 hours I was meant to be asleep, and then I needed to go to work the next morning. So really I only had like 3 hours. Not enough time for me. I decided to do it anyway, and then just post it to my blog when I got the chance.

The inspiration challenge was to get your inspiration from a Stampin' Up! catalog. Your inspiration could be so many different things: stamps, papers, colors, product, catalog samples! So many wonderful things to inspire you! My inspiration came from the holiday catalog, from the Monster Bash Suite of products. So here is my card:

 All supplies used are available from Stampin' Up! (Item numbers are listed in parentheses):

Stamp set: Spooktacular Bash (150544)

Card Stock: Basic Gray (121044), Basic Black (121045), Cajun Craze (119684)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (132708)

Accessories: Die Cutting machine of your choice, Ornate Frames Dies (150664), 

Monster Bash Designer Series Paper (150447), Monster Bash Enamel Shapes (150448), 

Frosted Frames Dies (150658), Frosted Bouquet Dies (147895), 

Come To Gather Ribbon Combo Pack (150456), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Well, thanks for stopping by today to check out my card. I can't wait to send this one to one of my best "ghoul friends"! 

See you soon,

Kathryn

Hello Birthday Blooms - #tgifc158

What a beautiful morning! So happy to be here with all of you today!

I had some time to craft on Saturday, and so I decided to see if there was a blog challenge that I might want to participate in...and there was! Over on TGIF Challenges blog, they are celebrating their 3rd "blog"-iversary (blog anniversary, if your not familiar with that term), and it is a wonderful color challenge. I have participated in several of their challenges over the past three years, so I thought I would have a go at it this time.

Here is my card for challenge #tgifc158 :

All supplies are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp sets: Birthday Blooms, Hello Friend

Inks: Archival Basic Black, Berry Burst, Lemon-Lime Twist, Versamark

Card stocks: Whisper White Thick, Basic Black

Accessories: Aqua Painter, Stampin' Emboss Powder (White), Heat Tool, Linen Thread, 

Wink of Stella (Clear), Dimensionals

Did you notice the flower image and the greeting is cut out? That is not from a die. I had to fussy cut them with my paper snips. I usually use my Big Shot to cut out images, but not everything has a die to go with it. That's okay though. I don't mind fussy cutting sometimes, if I've got the time.

I used my Aqua Painter to watercolor the floral image. I love to watercolor! I also heat embossed the "hello" greeting, and used clear Wink of Stella on the little center pistils of the flower for a touch of bling!

Here is the challenge graphic from the TGIF Challenges blog:

I hope you enjoy my blog challenge card, and please go check out their website: tgifchallenges.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by to visit, and I hope to see you again soon,

Kathryn

Lovely Inside and Out Sweet Sugarplum

"Lovely Inside and Out". This is such a fun stamp set to create background papers with! This stamp makes me think of those dried straw flowers you see at the craft stores. But they are much better because these ones don't make a mess on the floor! LOL!

I was inspired by a color combination that I saw on TGIFChallenges blog (tgifchallenges.blogspot.com) way back at the beginning of February. I created this card to participate in the challenge but never quite got it finished on time. It has been sitting on my desk for several weeks, so I decided that I could still share it with you even though I did not join in the challenge.

Take a look:

All supplies are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Lovely Inside & Out

Cardstock: Sweet Sugarplum, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Basic Black

Inks: Sweet Sugarplum, Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Lovely Words Thinlits Dies, Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Classic Label Punch, Glitter Enamel Dots, Dimensionals 

Hope you all have a "Lovely" day, and thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn