Inspiration Challenge & Speedy's Friends

Once again, Smilin' Stef picked a great site for the Inspiration Challenge over on Splitcoaststampers. The Bicycle Muse has all kinds of accessories for bikes and bike lovers. Too bad I don't own a bicycle. I never learned how to ride a bike as a kid (imagine that); my late husband taught me to ride.

Anyway, I picked one of the colorful bags as my inspiration -- Kitsch Kitchen Pannier - Floral. I thought the bright colors and pattern looked so pretty. This is my result.




In the front yard of a previous house in which I lived was a variegated camellia, which I loved. You must understand that I definitely have no green thumb, and I did absolutely nothing to this plant. But, despite my lack of attention, it bloomed each and every year.

Speedy the Cat's Friends' challenge was to use three flowers on your card. So, after cutting out and using the center piece of the Spellbinders frame, I stamped two camellias, coloring them with Copic markers and sponging the background randomly. I stamped the third one on a piece of scrap paper and cut it out. Then I cut another frame from MFP Spring Leaf cs and taped the flowered piece into the center. The third flower I popped up to give some depth. Those Cuttlebug leaves are probably not camellia leaves, but they looked pretty close.

All the materials on this card are available at Mark's Finest Papers.

Stamps - Mark's Finest Papers - Apples and Camellia
Ink - Palette Moulin Rouge, Jardin Moss, and Raw Sienna
Paper - MFP Snow Storm Smooth, Spring Leaf; Basic Grey Lemonade
Accessories - Spellbinders Classic Frame, Copic markers, Brads, Sponge daubers, Pop dots

StampinB & Summer Fun

NancyRuthwas the Stampin'B's hostess this week, and her summer challenge was right on time – it is definitely summer here in Florida. It was almost 100 degrees the other day. Florida and the ocean go hand-in-hand (despite the oil spill), so I chose sailing as my summertime activity.



I stamped the sailboat from SU's Winds of Grace set and then masked it so I could then stamp the waves and sponge in the water. I added some white with a gel pen on the waves to look like breakers. After I stamped the birds, I noticed that I had a smear where I neglected to clean off the edge. NancyRuth’s solution to a smudge is to add a flower, but that wouldn’t work here – so I added the sentiment instead! To keep this CAS card uncluttered, I merely punched two holes with my Crop-A-Dial and set some eyelets; then I ran some blue twine through the holes and tied a bow.

Stamps - SU Winds of Grace, sentiment from Mark's Finest Papers' Tropical Vacation
Paper - Mark's Finest Papers Snow Storm Smooth and Bang Up Blue
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Reflection Blue and Ballet Blue
Accessories - Copic markers, Sponge daubers, Eyelets, Twine, Word Window punch, torn paper for the cloud template, Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilities

Inspiration Challenge & Speedy the Cat's Friends

Today's challenge site for the SCS Inspiration Challenge was LoveArtWorks, an Etsy store of very interesting clay pieces. After looking through the site, I settled on one of artist Kristen Love's black, white and one-color creations as the starting point of my card. I also wanted to incorporate this week's Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge to use embossing.





This is the bowl I chose as my inspiration piece. Her one color (in addition to the black and white) was red -- perfect for the cherries. I stamped the images with Palette Noir Black and clear-embossed them. The background was embossed with a new Tim Holtz crackled embossing folder. There was just enough room on the background piece for that little sentiment.
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Stamps - Mark's Finest Papers - Cupcake Birthday
Ink - Palette Noir Black
Paper - MFP Snow Storm Smooth, Ripened Tomato
Accessories - Copic markers, Circle nestabilities, Tim Holtz crackled embossing folder, Pop dots

Stampin'B's Challenge #63

Faith (Markie's Mom) was the hostess for this week's Stampin'B's DT Blog challenge. I took her literally when she gave us this week’s challenge – “An apple a day” – by using a soon-to-be-released Mark’s Finest Papers set called Apples and Camellia. The challenge was actually to use red, green, and something round.




The apple is stamped with Palette Charcoal and colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. All the DP is from the Basic Grey Sugar Rush paper pad. The sentiment is stamped in Noir Black and clear embossed, and the charm is tied with some twine.

Fun challenge, Faith!

Stamps - Mark's Finest Papers - Apples and Camellia
Paper - MFP Snow Storm Smooth, Basic Grey Sugar Rush DP
Ink - Palette Charcoal, Noir Black, Landscape
Accessories - Circle Nestabilities, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, Twine, Charm, Clear ep, Sponge dauber

MFP Blog Hop - Day Four

Mark's Finest Papers Design Teams are celebrating our NEWEST STAMP RELEASE with a Blog Hop! All four sets are available TODAY! For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, visit and comment on each of the design team members' blogs on June 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. On Saturday (June 12th), a winner will be chosen FOR EACH DAY from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for that day! Four different winners, one winner for each day. THAT MEANS IF YOU MISSED A DAY, YOU STILL HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE TO WIN! And, you can go back and comment, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning! The four Winners will be announced on the Mark's Finest Papers Blog on June 12, 2010. Each winner will receive one Stamp Set that will be released NEXT month.

We end the Blog Hop with nothing but empty calories!!!

My first card is rather simple and doesn’t need much of an explanation. The background paper is from DCWV’s The Sweet Stack. The sentiment and cake/cupcakes are stamped onto MFP Snow Storm White and cut out with a Labels Nine die, and matted with a larger diecut from the Sweet Stack. I added the brown checkered ribbon and the birthday cake charm.

The layout for my final card for the Blog Hop was found on Page Maps, a favorite site of mine for layouts. The DP is all from Basic Grey’s Nook & Pantry paper pad. I paper-pieced the icing on the cupcake using one of the same DPs, and colored the rest with Copic markers. The card base is Yum Yum’s Blue Eyes and the matting is Bang-Up Blue.

Be sure to visit the rest of the team to see what they did with this fun set and comment on each blog. You have one more chance to win one of the stamp sets to be released in July.

Here is the Blog Hop LINE UP:

June Guest Designer- Samantha
Nancyruth

Lois (that’s me)

Vicky

Jeanne
Anne
Debbie
Peggysue
Faith
Vicki
Liz
Claudine
Dawn
Mark’s Finest Papers

MFP Blog Hop - Day Three and Stampin'B's Challenge

Mark's Finest Papers Design Teams are celebrating our NEWEST STAMP RELEASE with a Blog Hop! All 4 sets are available TODAY! For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, visit and comment on each of the design team members' blogs on June 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. On Saturday (June 12th), a winner will be chosen FOR EACH DAY from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for that day! 4 different winners, one winner for each day. THAT MEANS IF YOU MISSED A DAY, YOU STILL HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE TO WIN! And, you can go back and comment, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning! The 4 Winners will be announced on the Mark's Finest Papers Blog on June 12,, 2010. Each winner will receive 1 Stamp Set that will be released NEXT month.

My first card is serving two purposes – the Stampin’B’s challenge for this week and also Day 3 of the Blog Hop. Today's set is called More of Speedy the Cat's Friends.

Joanne (jojot) was hostess for the Stampin’B’s challenge this week –her challenge was to make a seashore card. I really had to struggle to get a seashore card that would work for the Blog Hop also. I may have been stretching my imagination limits with this card. The spaniel is the stamp from More of Speedy the Cat’s Friends, and I think he’s trying to decide if he’s up to surfing. (Check this out!) I incorporated a few stamps from MFP’s Tropical Vacation on my card also. The most fun was making the surfboard, which is actually a Spellbinders die from the Surf’s Up Shapeabilities set. All of the background is sponged, masking the sections as I went along.

I’m not really a cat person, but this kitty is so cute and fluffy that I loved making this fancy card for her. Her little rug is made with suede paper in shades of pink. To make this as feminine as possible, after stamping the sentiment in Palette Moulin Rouge, I added the rhinestone flourish to the Basic Grey Green at Heart DP. To dress her up in style I added her sparkly collar with the red heart.


Don’t forget -- For another chance to win a free stamp set, be sure to visit the blogs of the rest of the design team and comment on each.

The Blog Hop line-up is:

June Guest Designer- Samantha
Nancyruth

Lois (that’s me)

Vicky

Jeanne
Anne
Debbie
Peggysue
Faith
Vicki
Claudine
Liz
Mark’s Finest Papers

MFP Blog Hop - Day Two

Mark's Finest Papers Design Teams are celebrating our NEWEST STAMP RELEASE with a Blog Hop! All 4 sets are available TODAY! For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, visit and comment on each of the design team members' blogs on June 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. On Saturday, (June 12th), a winner will be chosen FOR EACH DAY from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for that day! 4 different winners, one winner for each day. THAT MEANS IF YOU MISSED A DAY, YOU STILL HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE TO WIN! And, you can go back and comment, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning! The 4 Winners will be announced on the Mark's Finest Papers Blog on June 12, 2010. Each winner will receive 1 Stamp Set that will be released NEXT month.

Again I have created two cards with today’s set – Pears and Hollyhocks (one for the pear and one for the hollyhocks).

Let me tell you up front, I just love this pear. I did a simple card -- similar, but not identical, to one we had made at Faith’s technique retreat in May. I scored in 1/2 inch on all four sides of the card and then centered the Labels One nestability diecut. The pear and diecut are sponged with Memento Dandelion and Pear Tart. The orange ribbon matches the flowers on the pear, and the pear charm was my final touch.

The layout for my second card was an old sketch challenge (#135) on SCS. It’s pretty self-explanatory – stamped in black, colored with Copics, and a few rhinestones. I added some sponging with Memento Pear Tart. The hummingbird is popped up on a pop dot. The hardest part was getting the corners lined up right.

Be sure to visit the rest of the team to see what they did with this lovely set and comment on each blog. You have a chance to win one of the stamp sets to be released in July.

Here is the Blog Hop LINE UP

June Guest Designer- Samantha
Nancyruth

Lois (that’s me)

Vicky

Jeanne
Anne
Debbie
Peggysue
Faith
Vicki
Joanne
Julia
Cathleen
Claudine

Mark’s Finest Papers