Exciting News

I've got some great news to share today.  I've been asked to join the Blog Team for CardMaker magazine for the next six months.  I've looked at CardMaker for many years and on several occasions thought, "Gee, I can do that."  So I started to submit cards for publication.  It took a while, but I finally was published last year, which was very exciting to say the least.  And when they asked me to join their blog team, I was over the moon!  If you don't yet follow the blog, you should.  You can get it delivered to your e-mail just by signing up here.

On another note, I thought I'd share a couple of cards I made for challenges over on Splitcoaststampers this weekend.  Friday's Free 4 All challenge was a true "free for all."  All we had to do was upload a card we were working on at the moment.  I was trying to catch up on a couple of other challenges and made this one, using some new stamps that I had just purchased from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I love stamps and dies that coordinate with each other, and this is a perfect example of that.

My second card uses my new favorite Stampin' Up set, Four Feathers.

This was for the Inspiration Challenge on Saturday.  As it turns out, this card also has stamps and dies that coordinate.  I didn't realize at the time, but the color palettes of both cards are very similar.

Yesterday's Featured Stamper, Torico, has a really fun gallery.  As I was looking through it, I actually found two cards I liked and tried a little experiment to see if I could CASE both of them into one card.  Here are links to her two cards:  Let It Snow and 'Tis the Season.  Here's my card:

Card #1
Stamps:  ODBD Shine On
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bamboo Leaves, Bahama Blue
Paper:  Recollections Heavyweight White
Accessories:  ODBD Sparkling Stars dies, Enamel Dot stickers, Foam pop dots

Card #2
Stamps:  SU Four Feathers, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  SU Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore; Versafine Deep Lagoon
Paper:  SU Green Galore, retired DSP
Accessories:  Feathers Framelits dies, Brad, clear embossing powder

Card #3
Stamps:  MFP Stamp Shop Crisp Winter
Ink:  Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass, Tattered Rose, Dried Marigold, Scattered Straw; Versafine Onyx Black
Paper:  Recollections Heavyweight White, Black
Accessories:  Heidi Swapp birch trees stencil, Sponge applicators