My Take on Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Love Letter

We are getting all lovey dovey over at the Curtain Call today!

photo credit:  loveandlavender.com

We have a fabulous new sponsor, DeNami Design, for the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Love Letter challenge!

DeNami Design generously provided love-themed stamps for each of the crew gals to work with for the challenge today!  Thanks so much, DeNami Design...we LOVE our stamps!  

The LEAD of this challenge will receive a $20 gift certificate to use at DeNami Design!

Here are the darling DeNami Design stamps that I received to use on my card today!

Happy Valentine's Day
 Whimsical Valentine
 Open Box

You won't want to miss what our special guest and crew have whipped up using DeNami Design stamps!

Curtain Call Crew

Amber Kroening

Amy Kolling

Amy Tsuruta

Barb Murphy

Gayatri Murali

Kim Singdahlsen

Laurie Willison

Marisa Ritzen

Maureen Plut

Monika Davis

Sheri Gilson

Sarah Gough
Stacey Schafer - That's me!

Tenia Nelson

Tracey McNeely

Stop by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Love Letter and play along with us!

The new sketch, #91, over at Cardabilities is hot off the press today, too!  I'm linking up to the Ribbon Carousel Challenge #89: Love Theme and Paper Issues: We're Listening!.  The Top Dog Dies Doily Heart Die and the Pretty Pink Posh Sequins and Confetti fit the bill perfectly for today's Curtain Call: Love Letter challenge, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by the stage!

Stamps:  Open Box, Happy Valentine's Day, Whimsical Valentine (DeNami Design)
Ink: Black Soot, Barn Red Distress (Ranger)
Paper:  Kraft (PTI), Lovely (Authentique)
Other:  Heart Doily Die (Top Dog Dies), 10 mm Metallic Gold Sequins, Red Heart Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh), Tag (7 Gypsies), Natural Hemp Cord (Hemptique)

The Craft's Meow October Blog Hop - AUTUMN

Welcome to the The Craft's Meow October Blog Hop!  This month, the design team was inspired by an autumn theme!  I love this time of year...and the beautiful stamp set, Speaking of Fall, includes images and sentiments that describe all of the things I love about fall!

The Speaking of Fall stamp set is FREE with your $60 purchase!  What a great deal!

Instead of a card contest, The Craft's Meow is offering a $15 gift certificate to one lucky TCM reader who comments on the store blog post by 8:00 PM Pacific on Wednesday, October 9th.  Head on over to The Craft's Meow Store Blog and comment for your chance to win!

Here is the official blog hop order:

Amy Crockett

Clare Buswell

Deborah Nolan

Jennie Harper

Jessica Fick

Jinny Newlin

Karen Baker

Larissa Heskett

Lin Brandyberry

Nina Brackett

Sharri Seffens

Stacey Schafer - That's me!

The Craft's Meow is having an extended World Card Making Day 15% SALE through today, October 7th.  Simply use the code, WCMD15 after you've filled your cart and are ready to check out!  

The Craft's Meow is also a proud sponsor of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges this month at Splitcoaststampers!  Stop by for a chance to win prizes and participate for a great cause.

Here are a couple of challenges that inspired this card, too!
Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #231 ,  Ribbon Carousel: Halloween, Really Reasonable Ribbon #81: Fall or Halloween, and  Word Art Wednesday #100

Did any of you notice the textured background on the bottom panel?  I experimented a little with Gesso.  First of all, I was TOTALLY inspired by the fabulous Debby Hughes at Lime Doodle...check out her wonderful video using embossing paste!  

Dimensional Gesso Tips

1.  Place a stencil at an angle over the patterned paper

2.  Apply gesso, liberally, over the stencil to fill in the spaces.

3.  Lift the stencil away from the paper

4. Dry with a heat tool...but, here's the cool thing...it will start bubbling up and crackling which creates even more texture and dimension!  Kinda cool, I think!

Thanks so much for stopping by the stage!

Stamps:  Speaking of Fall (The Craft's Meow)
Ink:  Black Tuxedo Luxe, Crushed Toffe (Momento)
Paper:  Kraft (PTI), Happy Haunting (Authentique)
Other:  Stitched Leaves Lawn Cuts (Lawn Fawn), Fishtail Flag Stax Dienamics, Black Licorice button,  Kraft Blend Sequins, Oh Yeah Dies (Avery Elle), Heat Tool, Clear Embossing Powder (SU), White Hemp Cord (Hemptique), Bubbles Stencil (Mr. Huey's), White Gesso, Doily, Sewing Machine, Thread

Color Throwdown July Guest Designer

Good morning!  Great news...I will be Guest Designer over at the Color Throwdown for the month of July!  I have been playing along with this cool challenge for years, so I'm honored with the invitation to join the design team this month!  Today's challenge, CTD249, calls for some festive colors that are perfect for a tribute to the 4th of July holiday!  

I used an adorable Lollipop image from By LORi Designs called Independence Julie...how sweet is she waving the American flag and dressed up for the occasion?!  There's a new challenge over at By LORi Designs today, too...BLD #50:  Summer Fun:)

Not only did the beautiful inspiration photo and color scheme from Color Throwdown inspire my card...the Mojo Monday Sketch #300, Ribbon Carousel #83: Celebrate Your Heritage, Simon Says Stamp: Patriotic, and CAS-ology: Fireworks helped a little, too! 

 

I colored up the BLD image with Copic markers and layered her up on some fun papers, Fancy Pants Down by the Shore that I got from the i {heart} papers store!  After adding a doily, seam binding, button, twine and a little bit of Stickles, this feminine card is complete!

Click HERE to join the Birthday Linky Party!

Make sure you stop by the new challenge, Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge, to see the reveal of the fabulous Curtain Call Crew as we prepare for our first challenge on July 15th!

Thanks so much for stopping by the stage!

Digital Stamp:  Lollipop Independence Julie (BLD)
Ink:  Copic markers
Paper:  White CS (DCVW), Down by the Shore (Fancy Pants)
Other:  Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT), Baja Breeze Seam Binding (SU), Purely Poppy buttons (PTI), twine, doily, sewing machine, thread

Seize the Birthday with Bugaboo

There's a new sketch up and running over at Seize the Birthday, and we have a fun sponsor this week...Bugaboo Stamps!  How stinkin' cute is that stick figure image...love it with just a little splash of color here and there!

I paired the sketch up with the Celebrations theme over at Ribbon Carousel Challenge #81.

Did you happen to notice what's missing from my card...something I add to almost every card?!  I am a little annoyed with myself for forgetting, but it was too late to add after everything was adhered together!

Thanks for stopping by the stage!

Bugaboo Stamps
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Verve Birthday Wishes

Oh my, I think I'm in LOVE!  I recently won a drawing over at Verve and got some new stamps and dies...they are luscious!  How fabulous is that flower/leaves image and the darling heart border!  

What better to show my "SMITTEN-ness" than to play along with the Diva Dare-March combining Maureen and Laurie's styles, the Viva La Verve sketch week 1...

 the Pile It On Challenge #9: Birthday and Cupcake Inspiration #200 (CIC17) worked well for a sweet birthday card, and The Play Date Cafe #172 & City Crafter #149: Shades of Pink colors and Spring Theme #78 at Ribbon Carousel were just right for a lovely floral design!

I stamped the flower image twice, once with green ink on some green patterned paper, and again with pink ink on pink patterned paper...die-cut the flowers with the coordinating dies and stacked 'em all up with some foam pieces.  GORGEOUS!  

Thanks for stopping by the stage!  

Stamps:  Surely Goodness (Verve)
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Black Stazon (SU)
Paper:  Naturals White CS (SU), Everyday PP (American Crafts)
Other:  Big Shot, Linen Thread (SU), buttons & fishtail flag stax dienamics (MFT), Scalloped Trim Trio Die Set & Goodness Flower Dies (Verve)
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Jolly Gift Tags

Happy Monday! It's time for a new challenge from The Pink Elephant! Join us for TPE 179: Gift Tags, and get some of those special gift tags whipped up for the tops of your Christmas packages.

The Deconstructed Sketch 81 is a good pair up with the gift tag challenge at The Pink Elephant...

and the Ribbon Carousel Challenge 75: Holiday Spirit.

I pulled out some of my fun holiday stamps from The Alley Way Stamps...using the Fa-la-la and Holly Jolly sets.

Thanks for stopping by the stage!
Stamps: Holly Jolly, Fa-la-la (TAWS) Ink: Black Stazon (SU), Copics Paper: Natural Ivory, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla CS (SU), Jolly Holiday DSP (SU) Other: Big Shot, Two Tags Die, Seam Binding, Baker's Twine (SU), circle and scallop circle dies (Spellbinders), buttons (PTI)
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Cherish ~ TPE160

Happy Monday, everyone! It's time for another fun challenge over at The Pink Elephant!

For years, my FAVORITE embellishment has been RIBBON...so you could probably hear me jumping for joy when I found out our challenge this week was to use RIBBON! The Ribbon Carousel is our sponsor this week at The Pink Elephant and is offering a $10 gift certificate to one of our lucky participants!

I also got a little inspiration from these two challenges, the Color Throwdown 203,

and the Deconstructed Sketch 63.

Whip out some ribbon and head on over to The Pink Elephant Challenge #160! Can't wait to see what you create:)

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Flower Fest, Warm Words Ink: Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Peach Parfait Paper: Eat Cake DSP, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, So Saffron CS Other: Designer Buttons, Baker's Twine, Seam Binding, Rhinestones, Big Shot, dies, sewing machine Pin It