Tree-MEN-dous Annabelle Stamps!

A few weeks ago, I had the great honor of winning a prize from CAS-ual Fridays - a gift card from Annabelle Stamps.  I had seen and bookmarked cards using Annabelle Stamps but had never ordered anything because it is an Australian company, and after all, I figured I have a lot of options that don't require international postage!! But my prize caused me to look closer and I AM IMPRESSED!  I ordered well more than my prize amount and I already have a second order planned when a few of their sets are back in stock.

Check out this tree (I've used it as a branch).  I love the curves of the branches and I love the variety of solid and outlined leaves.  As I browsed all of the stamp sets at Annabelle stamps, they each had this touch of uniqueness.



The other sets that I got are holiday related but I do hope to show you more soon.
FYI - it's hard to see, but the clear button is backed by a piece of the same dsp but in green.
I did this card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  (Wasn't it perfect that I ordered a set called "Tree-MEN-dous - and the CAS-ual Friday challenge was masculine cards??!!)

But...this is not the first card that I did for this week's challenge.  I had a card up and ready to go on Friday but then I read the fine print of the challenge and it requires using designer paper.  No designer paper on this card!  (But I did use my new addiction - my hexagon dies!)

• Stamps: Annabelle Stamps Tree-MEN-dous
• Paper: first card: Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream, Green Tea Leaves dsp, Ripe Avocado
• Ink: first card: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado; second card: Stampin' UP Chocolate Chip, Gumball Green, Basic Gray
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink woodgrain impression plate, misc buttons and twine

You Are a Classic!

This is my second post today.  If you are looking 

for Dynamic Duos just scroll down!!

One of the new May releases from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps was a masculine set with a vintage car and a truck and a number of sentiments in a classic font.  I tend to be a very simple cardmaker and the joy of this set is that it can work either way - you can do a wonderful, detailed vintage collage - or a simple embossed background and a strip of real cherry wood paper!  I HAD to include the wood on this card - I don't know much about old cars but I know that I LOVE the combination of rich polished wood and metal.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Timeless Classics
• Paper: Stampin' Up Cajun Craze, Black, Naturals White, Creative Imaginations Real Wood Paper in Cherry
• Accessories: EK Success border punch, Stampin' Up copper twine, Tim Holtz embossing folder, misc buttons and brads

Sweet 'n Sassy May Release Blog Hop

It's May release day for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and, as usual, we are celebrating with a blog hop of all of the new stamps.  If you started at the beginning, you are a little over half way and I bet  you are amazed at what you have seen.  Sweet 'n Sassy is THE best stamp company for offering a variety of stamps and this month is the ultimate - elegant wedding images, vintage cars and cute little mice with baseballs - just a few of what you have seen.  

If you started with me - you might want to head back to the beginning: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog.

I had the fun of premiering two sets that are perfect for Father's Day or other masculine events.  My first card uses the set Gone Fishin'.  Isn't this one of the sweetest faces ever?

I plan to use this as a Father's Day card, but the set comes with other appropriate sentiments like "Happy Retirement" or just simply "Gone Fishin'!
My second masculine card uses the set All-Star Cocoa.  This set comes with Cocoa on a football and one a baseball, but given the men in my family are heavily into baseball season - specifically the Colorado Rockies - I HAD to use the baseball with Rockies colors.

A nice thing about this set is that while it includes some fun Father's Day sentiments, it also has a "#1 Coach" sentiment.

Card details are at the bottom of this post.

Don't forget to join us at 8:00 p.m. tonight in the Sweet 'n Sassy Gallery on splitcoaststampers for the official release party.  And...while you are waiting for that, be sure to hop and comment on everybody because Sweet 'n Sassy is giving away the ENTIRE release to one lucky hopper who comments.  YEAH!

Next on the hop is DJ Rants. Here's the whole list:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Korin Sutherland

Dina Kowal

Giovana Smith

Bridget Finlay

Taylor Usry

Monika Davis

Holly McMillen

Kim Singdahlsen <-YOU ARE HERE

DJ Rants

Cathy McCauley

Jennie Harper

Kim Schofield

Mary Faus

Jessica Fick

Gone Fishin':

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Gone Fishin'
• Paper: My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday Happy Days
• Ink: Memento black, Copics, Tim Holtz Distress Iced Spruce (on edges)
• Accessories: Quickutz fishhook and fish dies (really, really old!), Nestabilities Labels Two, Stampin' Up Word Window Punch (sized down)

Most Valuable Dad:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Gone Fishin'
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Royal Velvet, Stampin' Up Going Gray, black and silver shimmer
• Ink: Memento Black, copics
• Accessories: Misc star punch, Stampin' Up stripe embossing folder, Nestabilities circle and zig zag circle

I actually used the same sketch for both of these cards - it's hard to tell because they look so different.  It's this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

It's a Chair for #1 Dad!

This is my last week as guest designer for the Splitcoast Color Challenge and I thought this color combination was a doozy!!  (Or maybe it's just that I have been gone for a week, and then spent today dealing with everything my boys/man did not do on the list that I had left.  I haven't been thinking about cards and it definitely showed in the struggle that I had with these colors!)

The colors are Early Espresso, More Mustard and Pool Party, and the dessert is to stamp a background.  I thought "masculine" and then realized that I had a Papertrey Ink set to make my own Argyle pattern and I had never used it.




Now that I am done with it, I love the way the Pool and Mustard work together - and then a few Espresso accents to make it all stand out!  The argyle set is SO much fun - there are endless ways to put patterns together.  I wanted to leave some open space for the heart but you could also fill it with color!
My layout comes from The Paper Players:

• Stamps: Papertrey A Little Argyle, On My Couch, Flourishes Mix-n-Match Mug (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pool Party, More Mustard, Early Espresso
• Ink:  Stampin' Up Pool Party, More Mustard, Early Espresso
• Accessories: EK Success border punch, Stampin' Up Early Espresso Grosgrain, Tattered Angels gold mist (on the mustard circle and the lamp), Papertrey couch dies and dark chocolate button

For a Super Dad!

This is a seriously bright card - nothing subtle or stylish about this one.  It's way out of my comfort zone, but that is the great thing about being part of a church card ministry - I HAVE to get out of my comfort zone.  As I was making Father's Day cards, I pictured a little boy and wanted him to be thrilled to give a card to his dad.  I am hoping this is the one!

The inside simply says:

I'm so glad

you're my Dad!

I used The Sweet Stop Sketch for this week.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Super Dad digi
• Ink: copics
• Paper: SU Basic Black, Daffodil, Poppy, misc patterned paper from Hobby Lobby
• Accessories: Candy Cane Stickles, sparkly black brads, star punch

cQc84 Father's Day

Really?!?!??  It's May 12th!! 




I played at a girlfriend's house yesterday.  She always has display boards of ideas and I often just happily CASE her ideas.  I did start CASing this card with the randomly stamped image panel, but the colors and the entire layout are my own.

I have absolutely no natural light this morning so the whole photo has a yellowish cast. I do wish the goggles at the bottom were moved to the left, but they aren't my stamps and I didn't notice until I was taking the photos this morning!

The colors are from the colourQ challenge.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Plane & Simple, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (for the yellow sprinkle)
• Ink: Stampin' Up Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Daffodil
• Paper: Stampin' Up Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Daffodil dsp
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Modern Label and Designer Label Punches, Old Olive Grosgrain, Cuttlebug embossing folder

P.S. If you read last week's Rabble of Butterflies and Flock of CAS Birds, I did finally go back and add the recipes.  Sorry it took so long!

The Great Outdoors in CAS

I have the privilege and honor of being the guest designer for Monday's Clean & Simple challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  This simply means that my card will be linked with the challenge and that I got advance notice of the challenge topic.  I was thrilled when I got the challenge - it couldn't have been better for me - The Great Outdoors!

That can mean so many things and I am sure the gallery will be full of trees and beatuiful birds and butterflies but, being from Colorado and spending lots of time in our mountains, for me the Great Outdoors is all about the pine forests.

If you have never wandered through a pine forest - it is truly indescribable.  You might think of a pine tree as simply a prickly evergreen.  But when they are part of the forest, the light that filters through has a hazy green/yellow look and everything has a sparkle to it.  I have attempted to recreate this in my card.

These little scenes are amazingly easy to recreate.

Mask off the portion of the card that you want to leave white.  I like sticky notes with lines - it makes it very easy to keep your lines straight.

I don't like coloring directly on stamps - it takes too long - so I minimized the work.  I inked the tree completely with Old Olive.  Then I used a Chocolate marker down the trunk.  Then I "thumped" the tree with Always Artichoke - that's just randomly hitting the stamp with the marker, like playing drums. 

I stamped the tree once toward the front of the scene and, without reinking, once towards the back.  I repeated this once.

The I brayered (or you could sponge) Old Olive on the bottom of the scene, Soft Sky at the top and a touch of Daffodil in the middle.

Here's how the process looked:

Peel up the post-its and you have an amazing scene.

Instead of planning ahead, I did the scene and then went looking for a sentiment.  I know we are not near Father's Day, but when I saw this sentiment in a wonderful set by WPlus9 Design Studio, I knew it would be perfect!

A little linen thread, a simple button and I am happy!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Lovely As A Tree, WPlus9 Woodgrain Silhouettes
• Inks: Stampin' Up Old Olive, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip pads; Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip markers
• Paper: Confetti White
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Linen Thread, Bold Brights Buttons
• Challenges: Splitcoast Stampers Clean & Simple challenge: The Great Outdoors