World Card Making Day Blog Hop coming soon

Hi all! I am so excited for Saturday as it's World Card Making day! Not only will I get to spend the whole day doing what I love, I will also be spending the whole night with some girls friends making cards!!! PLUS - I will be participating in my very first BLOG HOP. This is an awesome hop as it is ALL CANADIAN and is so large that we broke into two groups for it!! I hope you can join us on Saturday, October 1st to celebrate World Card Making day!!

Challenge: Easy as 1, 2, 3

Through the Canadian Crafters' group on Facebook I found a fun new challenge site: Seriously Creative Challenges. This site has monthly challenges and for September we are to use 1 ribbon, 2 embellishments, and 3 patterned papers.

I am a self-declared paper hoarder, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to use some of the beautiful DSP I bought two months ago! I rarely use more than one patterned paper at a time so this definitely was a challenge for me!! My mother wanted me to make a card for a friend of her's who is in the hospital. She loves flowers and purple, so I thought the Pocketful of Posies (which is my absolute favourite paper right now) would be perfect. Thankfully she's recovering quickly :)

Ingredients

Stampin' Up! (SU) Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Basic Gray Card Stock

SU Pocketful of Posies DSP

SU Boradsheet Alphabet & Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker

Offray Spool O'Ribbon in purple

Purple Embroidering floss

SU 1 3/4 Circle Punch

Beautiful Wings Embosslit & Cuttlebug

SU Basic Gray Corduroy Buttons

SU Simply Scored

Cricut & MTC (letters)

Challenge: SUO #28 Fall Colours

Backpacks, pencils, rulers, chalkboards, falling leaves... yes these are the things I think of when I think of fall. It's hard to believe that it's already mid-September! It feels like only weeks ago it was spring and my darling little girl was born. This week the talented ladies at SU-Only Challenges what we think of when we're asked to make something with Fall Colors. The stamp that popped immediately into my head was the tree from the "Season of Freindship"set. I'd been eyeing this set for quite some time before I finally bought it, rationalizing that it would be perfect for my Christmas cards (which it will be :). I have to say, it's currently my favourite set! As for colours - the Regals collection came to mind as I dreamed of golden yellows and deep oranges. The perfect green is Old Olive as it seems like an aged green.

Ingredients

Stampin' Up! (SU) Soft Sued, Old Olive, and Very Vanilla Card Stock

SU Old Olive, More Mustard and Cajun Craze Classic Ink

SU "Season of Friendship" Stamp Set

SU Designer Label Punch

SU Modern Label Punch

SU Word Window Punch

SU Paper Piercer & Mat Pack

Challenge: Use it Tuesdays #15

I found a new challenge blog the other day that I really love - Use it Tuesdays - the premise is to use our hoarded supplies. This should really get me using both my DSP (I am a paper hoarder) and stamp sets that I just love and buy, but then they sit on the shelf waiting for inspiration. Well, now I have the motivation!! This week we are to use an un-inked stamp. More than a few months ago I purchased a retired Stampin' Up! stamp set online for a song..."Wings of Friendship"... and have yet to use it *sheepish grin* So I thought this is my chance! I looked in this month's issue of Stampin' Success and was inspired by a neat technique using the new Simply Scored tool - ruffled paper! It was so simple!! I grabbed my DSP and started ruffling and I must say this is a technique I am going to use again! So simple, yet it adds so much to a card! I also had fun making the spiral rose :)

Ingredients

Stampin' Up! (SU) Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limade, Very Vanilla Card Stock

SU Neutrals and Brights Specialty DSP

SU Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip and Melon Mambo Ink

SU "Season of Friendship" and "Short and Sweet" Stamp Sets

SU Modern Label Punch

SU Word Window Punch

Challenge: Colour Create 79

This week's colours at Colour Create are pink, brown, white/cream inspired by the following image:

I love how soft these colours look together! Pink and brown are classically pretty. I have been patiently waiting for my order to come in the week with my Season of Friendship stamp set. I've been eager to play with this set for months now and finally purchased it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I can't wait to start my Christmas cards with this elegant tree! I think this is one of the most versatile sets in the catalogue!

Ingredients

Stampin' Up! (SU) Pink Pirouette and Crumb Cake Card Stock

SU Soft Sued and Crumb Cake Classic Ink

SU "Season of Friendship" Stamp Set

SU "Short and Sweet" Stamp Set

SU Pearls

SU Itty Bitty Bits Punch

Challenge: SUO #27 Ribbons and Bows

The ribbons in Stampin' Up!'s catalogs are so beautiful and fun to play with that SU-Only Challenges decided we just had to have a challenge to feature them as more than just an embellishment!  I knew that I had to play with the new Ruffled Ribbon in my favourite new in-colour "Pool Party" as well as the Seam Binding Ribbon in "Pear Pizzazz". I really enjoy puting blue and green together :)

Ingredients

Stampin' Up! (SU) Pool Party, Island Indigo, Lucky Limade, Whisper White Card Stock

SU Island Indigo and Crumb Cake Classic Ink

SU "Word Play" Stamp Set

SU Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon

SU Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding Ribbon

SU Rinestone

SU Corner Punch

SU Scallop Edge Punch

SU Paper Piercer & Mat Pack

Challenge: ColourQ #100 and Colour Create 78

Ah September, it's a time for newness. This will be the first September in a long time that I'm not at school. I'm a little sad, but also excited as I look forward to a year with my precious little girl!

It is the 100th challenge at ColourQ this week. To celebrate we get to use a sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping (fall-to layout #155)  along with our favourite past challege colour combination. I have been wanting to start my Christmas cards and have been looking for an excuse to breakout my new Stampin' Up! striped grosgrain ribbon! The Challenge over at Colour Create this week is to use Kraft, Red, and White/Cream so I just had to combine these two challenges! I used a jumbo brad to create the center of the bow by wrapping a scrap piece of ribbon around it and adhering it with glue dots. I had lots of fun playing with my whisper white craft ink as well. It's not as messy as I thought it would be :)

Ingredients

Stampin' Up! (SU) Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, and Crumb Cake Card Stock

SU Letters to Santa DSP

SU Soft Sued Classic Ink

SU Whisper White Craft Ink

SU Cherry Cobbler Striped Grosgrain Ribbon

SU Jumbo Brad (covered in Ribbon)