OCCC The Sea

I have been away for way too long. I have been so busy - went to Vermont with my boys to visit my dear friend Carol and her wonderful family. I went for Copic Certification (woo hoo!!), and I have been crazy busy with all sorts of things. What else is new?? Anyway, I was so happy to have the time to do the OCC challenge today, and I needed to use my new found Copic skills. They surely need to be honed, but I am working on it. This week's OCC Challenge is a sketch - You can find it HERE. Here in NJ, we say "down the shore" for "going to the beach". There is no place I would rather be than down the shore. I bought this stamp set a couple of months back. It was perfect for this sketch, and for working with my Copics.

Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Clear Art Stamps ~ Seaside.
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, SU Petals & Paisleys DSP (retired), Barely Banana, Riding Hood Red, White, Cool Caribbean (retired), Neenah Solar White.
Ink: Tsukineko Tuxedo Black.
Accessories: Copics, MS border punch, Riding Hood Red ribbon, Dimensionals, Mat Pack and Piercing Tool, Atoyu Spica Glitter Pen, Corner Rounder Punch, Sponge.

Keep Me In Your Heart

It's late, and I always struggle with night time pictures, but I wanted to get this posted. Tomorrow I have to work on valentines for my boys - that ought to make me choose a color other than pink - LOL!! I have to admit though, I love a man who feels comfortable with pink... anyway, I digress. This card is for Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday #73. Ever since I got this wonderful Verve set (aren't they all so incredibly wonderful???), Hundred Hearts, I have been wanting to emboss this hearts border and use it for a frame. This week's Mojo Monday Sketch really lent itself to that idea. I pretty much used the sketch as is for my card - even the colors, which is kind of funny - with just a couple of changes. I love this sentiment so much, and I love the filigree heart from Verve's Hearts on Fire stamped in light pink behind it. The base of the card is Whisper White, topped with a layer of Basic Black. I used SU's Raspberry Tart DSP AGAIN for the background for my beautiful embossed heart frame... I can't help myself. The hearts border is embossed with Versa Mark and White Embossing powder on basic Black card stock, cut out and fashioned into a frame. The sentiment is stamped with Classic black ink and the filigree heart is stamped with Pretty In Pink ink. The 5/8" Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon is adhered with Sticky Tape. White Taffeta Ribbon is tied around that and secured with a Euphoria Collection Designer Glazed Brad from Basic Grey. I pierced a border around the card to add a little dimension. Thanks for stopping by!

Voila Valentine

This week's OCC Challenge - Crazy for Hearts - is to create a card using two hearts or more. I watched Ratatouille with my son on Saturday night. I love that movie... The culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau, always puts me in mind of the SU "Voila" Chef. I love him too! I knew just what I would do for my OCCC card... so I got to work tonight on it. The base of the card is Rose Red. I used a strip of Raspberry Tart DSP and bordered it to the left with a strip of Regal Rose punched with Martha Stewart's lace border punch. The main image is stamped in black Stazon, and paper pieced with Basic Grey Bittersweet and SU Raspberry Tart DSP. My chef's platter is silver metallic paper from Creative Memories. I love it because it is so shiny. The hearts on the tray are from "Loads of Love". They are colored with re-inkers and an aqua painter and topped with Stardust Stickles. I used the MS lace punch again to make a "doily" to line the tray. My chef's buttons are black brads from Karen Foster Desgin, Inc. The sentiment is from MFT's Hearts Galore. It is framed with Hodgepodge Hardware and finished off with some Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon. I pierced the top and bottom right corners to add some texture. Voila!

Shadow Thank You

Every now and than I do a SU stamp camp. My dear friend Carol Sullivan, Creative Memories Consultant extraordinaire, hosts. It's always so much fun to spend time with creative women and make beautiful things. Yesterday, I was looking for some inspiration for the fourth project for my camp. I knew I wanted to use the SU Top Note Bigz die and I also wanted to use shadow stamping. Searching on SCS, I came upon THIS gorgeous card by Dannie Graves - perfect for what I had in my mind. Then I saw THIS card on Laura Fredrickson's blog for this week's color challenge on SCS (#213). I took my inspiration from these two wonderful cards and the challenge colors, and came up with mine. The base of the card is Garden Green, topped with a layer of white, then Pacific Point embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I cut three Top Notes in Garden Green, white and Green Tea DSP. I stamped the Upsy Daisy flowers starting about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the white layer in Baja Breeze and again with Pacific point for the shadow effect. I covered the bottom 1/3 with Green Tea DSP and tied some Pacific Point striped grosgrain ribbon where the stamped image meets the DSP. The sentiment is from All Holidays stamped in garden Green and cut out with the Small Oval Punch. A piece of Hodgepodge hardware is the finishing touch. Thanks for the inspiration Dannie, Laura and SCS!!! My campers really liked this card!

Coffee & Friends

I have had this wonderful MFT set for a while, and had not used it up to now. I thought it would be perfect for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch by Karen Giron. The base of the card is Soft Sky (SU retired) with a layer of Chocolate Chip then Afternoon Tea DSP (SU retired). I paper pieced the "Who's that Girl" image from MFT's Hot Stuff set and framed it in Wild Wasabi textured cardstock (SU retired). The sentiment is stamped on white with Chocolate Chip ink. I used the Color Spritzing Tool with Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel markers to give it a little dimension. I stamped the coffee beans on Afternoon Tea DSP (SU retired), cut them out and used them for corner embellishments. The cup images are stamped with black Stazon and colored with a combination of Copics and SU ink with blender pen. The top ric rac borders are cut with THIS Spellbinders Pierceabilities die. I added some pearls to the bottom and used Groovy Guava Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon to fininsh it off. I like it a latte!

Birthday Bird

I am loving bird images these days - I'm supporting the marketing gurus out there because birds are everywhere - LOL! Looking at my recent posts, I see also that I am stuck on these lucious colors of pinks and greens. I can't stop using this SU Raspberry Tart DSP. Next thing I do has to be purple or something!!!! Anyway, this week's OCC Challenge (I {{{{heart}}}} the OCC) is a sketch. I immediately thought of Verve's Birthday Surprise for this one. Of course, birdy is sporting my favorite colors! Yesterday I stopped at Scrapper's Cove and bought a few new things - I bought this rick rack (notice my favorite colors...) and these wonderful Euphoria Collection Designer Glazed Brads from Basic Grey. I also got a few yards of great ribbon from May Arts, but guess what? It's pink and green. I will hold off on using that for a bit - at least for one card... LOL!

Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Verve~Birthday Birds.
Paper: Black, White, Cameo Coral, Raspberry Tart DSP, Kiwi Kiss.
Ink: Versa Mark, Black Stazon, Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss, Real Red.
Accessories: Basic Grey Euphoria Collection Designer Glazed Brads, Cotton Candy Stickles, Markers, Color Spritzer Tool, Hodgepodge Hardware, Black Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Pretties, Sponge, Nestabilities, Dimensionals.

My Strength

Nancy Riley is one of my favorite stampers... today via Nancy's blog, I discovered a wonderful artist - Karen Giron. Karen has just introduced a new weekly challenge called "Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge". I am so happy to participate in Karen's first challenge. I decided to turn Karen's sketch a quarter turn to the right to come up with this. Here is the recipe:

Stamps: Verve~Meditations
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, White, Bella Rose DSP
Ink: Brown Stazon.
Accessories: Mat Pack & Piercing Tool, Dimensionals. Spellbinders Piercabilities, Flower Fusion Too, Creative Impressions while brads.

Thanks for stopping by!!