Stamp What?! ~ Jest Between Friends!

Hi friends!

Thank you for your sweet words on our *Coronavirus Flood*

{what we call it just so we can remember when it happened!}
It's all cleaned up and we are back to normal!
 So, I thought it would be a great time to clown around :)

This is the 4th card for my new this year blog series called "Stamp What?" 

My son had a wonderful idea to chose a stamp set for me at random

and I'd make a card with whatever he surprised me with.

The plan = use my old Stampin' Up! stamp sets, whatever he choses

 and we call the Old Dusties! :)
 

 

 For April ~ Jest Between Friends, 

circa 2004 Summer Mini set

 Such a fun choice!

For the record, I'm not the biggest fan of clowns :)

But what drew me to this set, in addition to the joy of coloring him/her,

is the sentiments in the set.

My dad was a HUGE Victor Borge fan

and loved watching his comedy and piano shows.

When he moved in with us, we didn't get the channels that he'd watch

so we bought him a bunch of VHS tapes to watch in his room.

Oh the sound of the laughter coming from down the hall!

 

 Barb and Jeanette are playing along with this crazy creative idea

and you can see Barb's card here and Jeanette's card here!

I hope you are inspired as well to grab some older,

 perhaps forgotten,

 stamps and give them a fresh new look ...

jest give it a try! :)

Take care of YOU and be safe!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

DDD ~ Christmas in July!

Hi friends!

 

It's the 15th of the month and that means it's time

 for another friendly duel with the Dueling Darlings card group :)

My card today is based on a card kit that I received and

 this is my completed card, using only the kit, except the base cardstock!

Our hostesses this month were the fabulous sister duo:  Suzy and Deb!

They both live in Texas, where it's HOT, and thought "Christmas in July!"

Here is the card I created ↓

I left the beautiful image intentional uncolored.

I loved the contrast of the snowy cabin with the richness of the paper colors.

Suzy included the die cut snowflakes, ribbon, twine, gems and tiny snowflakes

and I wanted to make sure to use at least one of each thing included!

and the inside of the card ↓

In addition, the second part of their challenge is to share a recipe

that is made at Christmas time.

In our home, that's Spritzgebäck!

 (not my photo - iviewing purposes only! Unknown source on the internet)

 Each Christmas that we lived in Germany, my mum would gather

 all the ingredients to make luscious buttery hazelnut and almond cookies.

They are crunchy and soft and the instant you take a bit,

 it tastes like instant Christmas ♥

 I started making these when my children were very small,

and while it's not their favorite cookie, they always get excited 

knowing that it brings wonderful memories for their mama!

I am truly blessed ♥

Here is an example of a standard recipe:

#5 should say let them cool down and inhale!  LOL!

Since the Dueling Darlings are dividedi into 2 teams:

The Divas (me!) and the Dazzlers,

it's hard to list all the blogs and galleries 

so you can see the full list of cardmakers here at Splitcoaststampers!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Watercolor Fun!*

Hi everyone!

I am absolutely, head-over-heels IN LOVE 

with the watercolor look on cards!

I just swoon every time I see them and love the new trend :)

My gallery is brimming with pinned watercolor cards to try,

and this past weekend, I 'dove in' and water-colored!

*squeals!*

 

 Recently, there has been a lot of flutter of the new

 Recollections Color Splash watercolor crayons,

 available only at Michaels in store.

One of my card groups on SCS was chatting about them, 

and I was intriqued,

but would you believe I walked by them, picked them up, 

and put them back down three times!

Yep,  the 4th time was the charm, as I'm not normally one to follow fads

and am still using my old {repeat OLD!!!} SU watercolor crayons

and TH distress inks :)

My daughter insisted I treat myself and dropped them into my basket

while I'm hemmed and hawwed ~ true story! ~ and oh me, oh my!

Worth.  every.  penny!!

They are so luscious and rich, creamy and shimmery,

just a vivid pop of color with some pearlized shine - a gem, they are!
I have many sets of watercolor crayons and paints and even the pencils,

but what makes these so much fun is the bit of shine they have 

when you hold them into the light just so :)

While I can't link up to any sites for you, 

you can do a quick you-tube search for these.

I wanted to ink up the brand new stamp A Way with Words from

The Project Bin called Anchor's Away 

and thought it would be a perfect match for the serene, soft 'ocean-y'

background I was looking for.

The watercolor look is a perfect compliment to the nautical stamps ♥

 

It's hard to see the shimmer and I have much to learn :)

The only watercolor paper I had on hand is Strathmore

heavy weight watercolor paper, which did just fine.

I inked up two of the stamps in the set with Momento Tuxedo Black

after the watercolor had already set ... 

but, I did use a heat embossing tool to speed up the process :)

I added a few sparkly sequins just for good measure -

and while I do LOVE the final cards,

I've much to learn!

I think it's easier said than done,

 and I had an ball stamping and water-coloring!

  Remember - paper crafting and card making should always be FUN!

Use whatever you have one hand :)

I still tinker with my old watercolor crayons and ...

 I even get OLD SCHOOL with my kiddie paints - 

 {a whoppin' .10¢  at Office Max

during the summer clearance ... can't beat that!}

Be as creative as you want to be ~ 

enjoy the process, savor the journey ♥

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings! 

~Kelly

Calendar Girls Emboss + BLOG CANDY! :)

By the time this posts, I'll be Ft. Lauderdale for my son's TaeKwanDo

tournament and nervous as a skeleton, shaking my bones!

Win or lose, we are so proud of his accomplishments and he has worked so hard, while showing amazing sportsmanship and integrity and courage.

So in addition to my card today, I'm giving away

 a little *treat!*  

I'm not into Halloween very much but when I 

saw this adorable stamp set, I had to pick it up for a little giveaway!  

I'll have my son draw a name on Sunday night when we return 

so please just leave a comment below w/ your contact name + I'll post his winner on Monday!  That's it - easy peasy Trick or Treating!! :)

Now what is my card all about ...

The Calendar Girls - a card group on SCS - has a monthly, themed card challenge and this month, our hostess is sweet Terry.

Here theme is this:

SEPTEMBER 2013 CHALLENGE

Miss September: Terry

September is a month full of changes. From the leaves on the trees changing colors, to me changing how old I am.

My challenge to you is to use the attached sketch to create a birthday card. Your card can be for a male or a female but it needs to include one type of embossing....can be dry embossed cardstock or a wet embossed image, your choice!

Have fun with it and create something wonderful! 

Here's the wonderful sketch:

 

And my take:

 {From the side}

{and a peek inside}

I LOVED her chosen sketch - it was fun to work with!

I am continuing forth with my "Use Every Stamp 2013" class and my personal goal to ink up non-used SU! stamps, like this one called "A Howling Good Time."  I had to laugh when I saw this set in my stash and have NO EARTHLY idea why I even bought it or when!  It has sat for years, poor thing.

I think this will end up on the BST board on SCS ;)

And I did attempt the embossing part - it was horrid!

I'm sorry, Terry! I tried! :)  I'll even show you 

AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST, rofl!

Just peek with one eye open, okay? :)

As for the birthday part, my beautiful niece has a bday the day 

before Halloween so I left this pretty spookalicious and fun

as she gets the biggest kick out of all things Halloween and loves 

almost being born on H'ween!

Embossing - *Nailed it!*  Not!

This is clearly a technique I will have to work on w/ black powders ...

it looked beautiful when I tried it in sand, white and gold so I'm not sure what went wrong here but whatever it was, it didn't get onto my card.  

Yikes!  Scary indeed!

But this uber fun stack of H'ween paper is embossed! 

Yay!! *wink!*

Awesome challenge this month, Terry!

Please be sure to stop by and see the rest of the Calendar Girls

which you can find right over there on my sidebar!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Crafters of Faith meets the Calendar Girls!

Hi friends!  I have two cards for you in today's post as both of my beloved blogging groups - the Crafters of Faith and the Calendar Girls - both have a card due today!  So fun!  

First up, the hostess this month for our Crafters of Faith SCS group is Tami!  Tami gave us a wonderful challenge this month, take a peek:

I have a crafting tool that I just had to have and have hardly used.  Does that sound remotely familiar?!  I think you all may have the same tool in your arsenal.  I would like you to drag out your scoring tool. Scor-Pal mini, biggie, Martha mini, biggie or if you do not have one of those, I am sure that you may have a scoring blade on your paper cutter. SCORE!!! It would be fun to see how you all incorporate scoring onto your card. You know I am into 'use what'cha got', so if you do not have a scoring tool of any sort, please create without this element. Oh and I do not mean just a score to fold your cardbase in half! LOL 

While it is a 'lovely' month February, let's create a card that is not Valentine's themed. That being said, it is the second part of this challenge. Let's not use Valentine theme, red, pink or white colors anywhere on our cards. That includes the paper you stamp your image on....*gasp*!

For our third element, how about we place both an image and a sentiment on the front of the card.

Well, that ought to keep us busy {now what am I going to do?! LOL} I am looking forward to seeing your projects. I get the best ideas from you girls.

So!  While I did not use ANY designer paper on this card, I got into a slight battle with the scoring!  What's a paper crafter to do - use an embossing folder =)  I embossed the teal cardstock to give the paper its' floral dimensions and then crimped the kiwi kiss paper with the scor-pal to create the according panel.   I went with brown/green/blue - my VERY fave color combo! - to avoid the traditional reds/pinks but oopsie, I did not read about the white!  I'm sorry, Tami!  For my image, I cut out a heart from a cardboard box (got plenty of those layin' around!!) and ripped the top layer off to get the same pleated, lined look - and added the rejoice to get a sentiment in.  
Ta-da!  I almost passed! =)

For my second card, the Calendar Girls had me as their hostess this month :) And since I'm Miss February, I had to include a little bit of love in there but with a twist!  I asked the Calendar Girls to create a card with the theme "Share the Love" using non-Traditional Valentines colors.  Take a peek - again!

It’s February, the month of LOVE ♥ I’m thrilled to be your hostess this month and offer you a challenge of a different sort Rather than go for the traditional Valentine’s card, I wanted to ask that you each make a card – as a reflection of yourself – and share a little LOVE! 

This month, please create a card (or project) that shows what YOU love .. something that when we look upon your car, we will know exactly what that ONE thing is that you love so much!

*You may use any colors you would like but extra brownie points for using non -traditional colors!! * Please include one thing only! 

Whew, I exhausted my own self on my own challenge, LOL!  But ... I did know exactly what I wanted to 'showcase' when creating.  Yes, I LOVE my Starbucks!  YES, I LOVE the beach, flip-flops year round and sandcastles!  Yes, I LOVE to volunteer oodles of hours at my kids schools and so enjoy being mommy!  But from the depths of my being, deep within my soul, what I love most of all is sharing God's word and having a foundation of faith to carry me through each of my days.  Can I get an AMEN?!

I also LOVE using bright, bold colors - never shy of those when I'm crafting!  The more vivid the colors, the happier I am!  So I went with a non-traditional color palette of Rich Razzleberry, Dusty Durango and Crumb Cake, paired with DCWV papers.  I even inked up this grunge cross set from Our Daily Bread that has never seen ink (LINY card!) and stamped it out in Razzleberry ink as well - both the image and the sentiment.  I fussy cut the flowers from the dsp to add as embellies, inside and out.   Here's my card!

 And the last 'extra credit' part of the challenge was to actually Share the Love and sent the card to someone as a blessing ~ unexpected or in need and my card is already en route =)

Whew, if you made it this far, thank you!  I'm so blessed that you stopped by and read this novel of a post - it's a busy blogging day and I'm grateful for all these ladies in both groups that make my heart huge with LOVE! :)

Be sure to stop by and see what they each have made if you can!  Both groups are listed in my sidebar right over there -----}  

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Happy "I love to write!" Day! :)

Hello, friend!  Today I have a card to share with you for the Calendar Girl's monthly post and it's a funny one!  The theme, that is :)  This month, our hostess Jeanette (creator and founder of the Calendar Girls) challenged us to find a non-traditional bizarre, silly, crazy, unknown November holidays from a little site called Brownielocks (you should check this out - it's super fun!) 

As tempted as I was to use National Button Day *smile*, I went with November 15th ~ I love to Write Day!  My card was a challenge for me in many ways - I wanted to combine a few challenges that I've been meaning to play in and managed all but one (the sketch!) Without further adieu, here is my card using the color combo challenge #13 from Color Me Beautiful, an image from Dearie (it's absolutely free!) and my flower! I'm so proud of my little lilac!  See, the TAT challenge for the Stamp Addicts Blogging Group awhile back was to make a card with hand-made flowers and I have been waiting to use mine :)  I'm so very tickled with these flowers because I made them with love and lots of laughs with my daughter ~ we made a series of flowers in shapes and sizes and I confess, we had more glue and glitter in our hair, clothes and floor than anywhere else but what fun we had! :) 

This was colored with prismacolor markers and paired with DSP from SU!
from the Brocade Background, Kiwi Kiss and Thoroughly Modern colletions and all SU cardstock (but PTI white).  And that's my post for today!  I hope you get a chance to stop by and see what the other Calendar Girls posted today in the wonderful world of wacky holidays :)

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Entered into:  Color Me Beautiful - #13