Crafty Gals Blog Group Monthly Challange for April 2012

It's the fifth of the month, so that means another Crafty Gals Monthly Challenge. I am very excited to be the host for this month. Here is the challenge that I issued to the group:

"April Showers bring May Flowers"

"Since April is supposed to be a rainy month in most of the country, I thought we would try a "water" challenge. My challenge to you is to incorporate water in some way on your card. It can be rain, puddles, ocean, sea, beach, lake, bathtub or anything else you can think of. In addition to the water, I want you to use ribbon, brads and patterned paper on your card. I can't wait to see your creations and I hope you all enjoy this month's challenge."

One of my favorite current Stampin Up! sets is Open Sea, so I had to use that set for this month's challenge. The Designer Series Paper, Nautical Expedition, that I used is retired but was released at the same time as the Open Sea set and coordinates perfectly with it.



The base of the card is Cherry Cobbler. I layered it with a piece of Crumb Cake stamped with Not Quite Navy. The DSP is layered onto Not Quite Navy. I stamped the ship on Very Vanilla (even though it looks like Whisper White in the photo!) and layered it onto to Not Quite Navy. I wanted to use the ribbon in a more masculine way, so I just wrapped it around the card stock and did not make a bow. I used some blue brads to finish off the card. If you would like to see the other Crafty Gals' creations for this month, please visit their blogs. There are links to all their blogs along the right side of this page. Thanks for visiting.

Pengiuns in Springtime

This is a card I had to do for my Stamperscorner Yahoo Group COTM. The theme was penguins. So even though Spring has sprung and it is almost 70 degrees in Los Angeles today, I present you with pengiuns. I used this weeks Splitcoaststampers sketch of the week, SC377. I turned it sideways and used a stamp from Cat's Pajamas. The card base is Marina Mist cardstock. I used some patterned paper from my mile high stash for the two horizontal panels. I'm not sure who makes it but they are layered on top of Night of Navy cardstock. I also used my polka dot embossing folder and Nestibilities and half pearls to finish the card. I colored the hat, scarfs and sled with my Prismas and baby oil. I hope you enjoy the card and thanks for visiting.

Crafty Gals March Monthly Challenge

It's that time again for the Crafty Gals Blog Group's Monthly Challenge. Our fearless leader, Melina, is the hostess this month and she issued the following challenge:

"NOT LUCK......BLESSINGS!"
Okay, so this month we celebrate St. Patty's day. Well, some of us do. I never have gotten into it that much even though I have some Irish blood in me. I guess my thing is I don't believe in luck. I believe in blessings. So, I love saying "Have a blessed day" when I'm out and about on St. Patty's Day! LOL!So, my challenge for you is to create a project whatever you'd like, a card, scrap page, 3D item, etc....using these things:
1. 2 different shades of green.
2. Make the sentiment a "blessings" or "thankfulness" theme.
3. A Nature element somewhere on your creation. Examples: plant, sun, flower, grass, etc image and/or use patterned paper with plants, grass etc.....Any Natural element you can think of on your project.
I want you to really go "green" on this challenge! So for this challenge I used one of my favorite retired SU! stamp sets, Terrific Tulips. I love two-step stamps when I don't want to color. I used this weeks OWH sketch, #111, that is posted on their http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/ website. I stamped the flowers in Melon Mambo and Regal Rose and the stems with Old Olive and Certainly Celery. I embossed a layer of Certainly Celery cardstock with the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder and layered that onto a piece of white cardstock. I used Old Olive card stock to layered the image panel and the banners. I also used SU! DSP on the banners. The "Thank You" sentiment is from the SU! Upsy Daisy set. I used my Old Olive marker to only ink the part of the stamp that I wanted. Thank you for looking!

Glitter Gals and Guys TOTM (almost)

I was supposed to create this card for the Glitter Gals and Guys Yahoo Group Topic of the Month swap. The theme was a baby card featuring hearts. Well guess what? I totally forgot about the hearts. So I will create one that is slightly different from this one with hearts but thought I would still show this one. I used the SU! Stitched Stockings and Little Angels (retired) stamp sets, Wisteria Wonder, Melon Mambo & Pretty In Pink cardstock and Pretty in Pink and Basic Black ink.

Crafty Gals Tuesday Challange

I have finally completed the first two Crafty Gals Tuesday Challanges. The first challenge was to use dots and the second one was to use purple and green. I have combined them both. I used the Stampin Up! Perfectly Polka Dot embossing folder for the dots. I used Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush and Whisper White card stock, Certainly Celery ink and the Elementary Elegance Sale-a-Bration stamp set.

Crafty Gals February 2012 Challenge

It's time for another Crafty Gals Blog Group Monthly Challange. This month Lela issued the following challange:

"February is the month of LOVE and what could be better than showing off our idea of a "ReCipE for A VaLEntiNE". Last year DH made me chocolate dipped strawberries. He found the recipe on-line and they were fabulous. It was wonderful but a surprise as usually he gets me roses. What makes the perfect VaLEntiNE surprise? Is it candy, flowers, love notes? Let's see your ReCipE for sharing LOVE. Don't forget to add a Heart or 2 on our project."

I have such a sweet tooth, so I had to choose candy. I have this cute image from Great Impressions that is a candy jar full of candy hearts. I love using it for Valentine's card. I hope you like it.

Stamps: Great Impressions
Cardstock: SU! Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Basic Black, Whisper White
Misc: Target patterned paper, Prisma pencils

Elementary Elegance

This is a card that I made for one of my Yahoo group swaps. I have finally inked up my SU! SAB set, Elementary Elegance and used my Twitterpatered DSP.
Stamp Set: Elementary Elegance

Cardstock: Basic Gray, Basic Black, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo, Whisper White

Ink: Regal Rose

Misc: Twitterpattered DSP, pearls, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder