Come On Get Happy!

First off, I want to thank everyone that stopped by during Papertrey's Blog Hop! I was so grateful for all your wonderful comments; I am really glad that you liked my project. It was great fun - I am looking forward to next month's!

I have been a little lazy about posting. I haven't had much free time this week for stamping. Plus, puppy Luca makes it hard to sit down for extended periods of time! I made this card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #41. Have I ever said how much I love the sketch challenges? Having that inspiration is a big help! The colors and images on this card remind me of The Partridge Family! I used to watch it on Nickelodeon at my Gram's house after school - who else remembers it?

The colors came from this paper I got last week at a local scrapbook store. Seriously - after going to this place, I will never buy patterned paper at JoAnn's or Michael's again. The paper is K-Ology Addison Blue, Teal, and Green Floral from K&Company.

And here is my card:

Doesn't it have a great 70's funky feel to it? The colors I used were Night of Navy, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Very Vanilla and just a bit of Groovy Guava. The stamps are all from Spring Solitude, a Level 2 Hostess set. All products are Stampin' Up! (see Sandi, I DO still use SU! stuff ;)

The card base is a 5" x 5" square of Night of Navy. I layered a strip of Old Olive on a distressed piece of Very Vanilla. The flower cluster was stamped repeatedly in Night of Navy on Very Vanilla. I stamped the single solid flower in Old Olive over the largest flowers in the cluster. The smallest is watercolored with Tempting Turquoise. Another stamp in the set, a single flower made up of little dots (hey, I don't know what these are) was stamped in Groovy Guava over the medium sized flower in the cluster. I didn't ink the stem.

The oval part was cut out with my Oval Nestabilities (finally!) I stamped the tree branch in Night of Navy (to keep with my color scheme) and popped up the leaves in Old Olive. The bird (a perfect Partridge if you ask me) was stamped in Tempting Turquoise and then popped up. The sentiment is from Papertrey's Mixed Messages - I love this set because there are sentiments for any occasion, and they are a great size. The Very Vanilla oval was layered on Tempting Turquoise that I had paper pierced (by hand, no template - I like the funky uneven-ness of it). I sponged all the Very Vanilla pieces with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen. I think the flower panel looks like old wallpaper or a tablecloth my Nana would have. I highlighted the bird, leaves, and flower centers with a Sakura glaze pen and added the Pearl Dew Drops. That's it! Great sketch, Beate, I am sure to use this one again! Thanks for stopping by, hope to be back with new stuff tomorrow!

Have a great night!

Supplies:
Stamps: Spring Solitude (SU!), Mixed Messages (PTI)
Paper: Night of Navy, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Very Vanilla (SU!)
Ink: Night of Navy, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Groovy Guava (SU!), Antique Linen Distress Ink (Tim Holtz)
Accessories: Sakura Glaze gel pen, paper piercer, Pearl Dew Drops (The Robin's Nest)

Charming - For WSC37

I made this card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #37. I am a regular reader of Beate's blog but have never participated in a challenge before. Her sketches are great resources! I love to collect card sketches.. they come in handy when you're feeling a little short on ideas (seems to be pretty often for me).

The card base is PTI's Spring Moss again (love it). The patterned paper is SU!'s retired Petals & Paisleys, which is mounted on a strip of Wild Wasabi. I loved these colors together. The greens were so vibrant and happy. I finally decided on a stamp from Sidekick Sayings for my focal image. I really went back and forth on this one. I was hoping to incorporate the technique from PTI's Friday Tutorial (featured on Heather Nichols' blog) but it just wasn't working for this one. The image is stamped in Palette Burnt Umber on PTI SS White and the flower is watercolored in with Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomegranate. I added a touch of Twinkling H2O's since they were out on my desk. I sponged a little Spring Moss around the edges, added some paper piercing, and mounted onto a piece of Wild Wasabi. I added the three brads to finish the sketch, and that was it. Simple, clean and easy. I am really in a monochromatic mood recently... enjoying using different shades of the same color. I always feel like these cards need more, but I'm getting better at stopping before I turn them from classy to obnoxious. I always think of my role model Nichole Heady when making cards like these, hers are always so simple yet perfectly perfect.

I will be back later with some more stuff from this weekend, but wanted to get the details of this card up first. Its beautiful, sunny, and going to be 60 degrees here today, so that certainly puts a nice spin on a Monday morning. I hope you have a beautiful day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sidekick Sayings (SU)
Paper: Spring Moss, Stampers Select White (PTI), Wild Wasabi, Petals & Paisleys (SU)
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate (SU), Burnt Umber, Spring Moss (Palette)
Accessories: Twinkling H2Os, brads, paper piercer