Sew Sunday ~ ALYOF

This post is sort-of sad and pathetic.  I chose a very simple goal this month for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  My goal was to complete the last 2 blocks for the Elizabeth Hartman class I took earlier this month.  Such a simple goal for a busy month, and I almost didn't make it.  Thankfully I did set this as my goal because if I had not, I would have put this project away into a UFO pile and not pulled it out again for a very long time. 

 Now I want to get to work on making more blocks for this quilt.  Finishing the duplex blocks on my own from start to finish has given me confidence to try making more blocks from this book.  It is hard for me to read instructions and follow them when it comes to sewing.  I'm much better at seeing it done, then doing it myself with dimensions and visuals as reference.   Thank you Melissa and Shanna for giving me the push I needed this month to spend a couple of hours in my sewing room.  If you haven't linked up your project yet you still have a couple more days.   Good luck!

June Finish Party

What I didn't get finished was my black to white quilt for the BTWQKS challenge.  :(   Boo-hoo.  Even though they gave everyone an extra week to submit, I couldn't make the time to get it done.   There was just not time at home to sew.  My son's baseball and end of year activities took up every spare moment I had, and my sewing machine doesn't transport well to the ballfield. LOL   I'm not too worried though.  I'm making this quilt for my youngest son, so I know it will get done.  Here is a picture of some of the progress.

 
Now I need to switch gears and get to work on my Riley Blake challenge quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild.  It would be nice to get a challenge quilt done on time.  We will see though.  Baseball season is still going for a few more weeks and Cross Country conditioning has started.   Just call me "taxi mom".  I'll be in my car or at the field.  :)

Are You In The Mood & Watercolor Waterfall

The winners for the new "In The Mood" Class blog hop for Creativity Grows Here have been announced.  One of them came from my blog!!!!  Was it you?  Clicky to see the full list and a bonus video.

If your name was not selected, no worries.  You can still join in on all the fun of the class.   It is worth the price of admission to take the class.  Just go to http://creativitygrowshere.com/classes/ to sign up today.

As an added bonus we've set up a free linky party so you can link up your creations inspired by the blog hop mood board.  Clicky for that.

Sneak Peek- Inspired By Watercolor Waterfall

Over in the StampNation classroom I have new tutorial on what I call the "Watercolor Waterfall" technique.  Clicky to see that and weigh in on a very important question I have for you.    While you are there check out the new SugarPea Designs Sponsor challenge.  It's sure to get your mojo flowing.

Penny Black Clear Stamps, Let's Chat

Penny Black Dies, Inspire

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Picked Raspberry

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Peacock Feathers

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Seedless Preserves

Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock

Sugar Pea Chevron & Pink Lemonade

Today's card is a double inspiration.  I took part of my inspiration from the new challenge over at StampNation.  It is based on this photo I found.  The photo has a whimsical feel, and I knew it would be perfect for our sponsor this week, SugarPea Designs.

In addition to this photo, I also pulled inspiration from the Pink Lemonade Mood Board for the new In The Mood class at Creativity Grows Here.  The mint, pink and peach color palette make a light summer combo that is really growing on me.

The first time I looked at the SugarPea site I knew I had to get their Build A Background Basics set, because I have a thing for chevrons. These fine line chevron waves make my heart sing.  I simply lined them up, using my grid mat, and stamped them with a 1/4" gap.  Then I die cut the tag out using my big shot.

For the hearts and sentiment, I used the Direct To Paper technique to color my cardstock.  I thought I was using Melon Mambo (a hot pink), but it turns out I used Watermelon Wonder.  After the ink dried I covered it with versamark, then added Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder and heat set it with my heat tool.  After that I cut out the "thanks" and hearts with my big shot.

Normally I don't stamp my envelopes.  I like to add washi tape as a decoration and to make sure the card stays sealed.  This card was made for a special friend though and I wanted to use another new-to-me stamp.  See that little heart?  It's where I live, in SouthWest Washington.

StampNation members, be sure to check out the newest challenge on the site.  There is a great prize and coupon code being offered by our sponsor.  ;)

Stamps: Build A Background Basics (SugarPea Designs)
Ink: Tide Pool (Hero Arts); Crisp Canteloupe, Watermelon Wonder (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Whisper White Thick (SU)
Accessories: Sugar Cuts - Thanks, Gift Tag Die, Layered Treat Label Die (SugarPea Designs)


Envelope:
Stamps: Seattle Love (Impress)
Ink: Melon Mambo, Mint Macaron (SU)

Sugar Pea Dragon

SugarPea Designs is a new company to me.  They are not a new company though.  There shop is filled with adorable and whimsical stamps and some FABULOUS dies.  This week they are sponsoring the challenge at StampNation and that means the Design Team (including me) got a chance to play with some goodies from them.

Sneak Peek of Design Team Samples for Challenge #174

SugarPea Designs is offering a $50 gift card to one lucky person that joins in the challenge this week and creates a card based on the inspiration photo in Challenge #174.  As a bonus all members get a 20% off coupon code!  Here is a little peek at my dragon for the challenge.

Isn't he/she darling?!!!   He looks like a he to me, but with once I painted her toenails bright pink I thought she might be a she.  :)  I watercolored the dragon and background, adding in some embossed chevrons and sequins.  I couldn't stop there though, I had to color the dragon again for my blog readers.

This time I used my Copics and cut the dragon out.  I accidentally grabbed the wrong ink pad and paper.  Instead of Tuxedo Black, I grabbed London Fog.  That would be fine for "no line coloring", but I wanted her lines to show, so I grabbed my Copic fine tip multi-liner and sketched over the light gray lines.  To make her look even more feminine I added in some eye lashes and made her lips a bit darker pink than my first dragon.  She was easy to color, except I grabbed Bazzil paper instead of Neenah Solar White.  The Copics do like to bleed when you don't use the right paper.  I solved this dilemma by cutting out my dragon and popping her up on dimensonionals.

Sneak Peek Too

I was having too much fun with my first order from SugarPea.  I ended up making a 3rd card that I will share with you tomorrow.  This one is a CAS card showcasing some of the Sugar Cut Dies.  My guess is this won't be my last order. Enabling Alert: Their darling sets are irresistible.

StampNation members be sure to hop on over to StampNation for your chance to win and participate in this inspiring challenge.

Stamps: Blow Me Away, Build A Background Basics (Sugar Pea Designs)
Ink: Versamark; Tuxedo Black, London Fog (Memento); Cucumber Crush, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!)
Copics: RV23, RV25, B24, BV02, FV2, Y08, G00, G02, G05, YG41
Paper: Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper (Ranger); Pink Pirouette, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder (SU); Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lil' Inker Designs)

Flowers From Circles ~ Stampin' Celebration 107

SC107

Don't you love this fun new sketch?  I played around with a few ideas on this one and came up with a floral card to share with you.

My first thought was to die cut and layer, but instead I stamped using the circles from the sketch as my guide for placement.  I would love to see how you use this sketch.  Be sure to link up with the new Stampin' Celebration challenge.  Clicky

Stamps: Garden In Bloom (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Black Onyx (Versafine); Blackberry Bliss, Wisteria Wonder, Pink Pirouette, Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay (SU)
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White (SU)
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder (SU); Iridescent Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Garden In Bloom

Happy Father's Day ~ Inspired by In The Mood

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!  A big shout out to the amazing father of my children.  He is all that I could ever ask for in both a husband and Dad for my kids.  Another shout out to my dad and both my Father in Laws.  Yep, I got 2 of them.  :)  I'm triply blessed in the dad department.  Here is one of the 4 Father's Day cards I made.  This one inspired by the card I made for "Color Washed" for the In The Mood class at Creativity Grows Here.

In the class I showed how to create this fabulous background with stencils, ink, stamps and embossing paste.  The original card has a beautiful buttterfly and scripty die cut sentiment.  To tone it down for Father's Day I just added a black band with a white embossed sentiment.

FMS191

eta: I'm linking up with Freshly Made Sketches, because if you turned their sketch sideways you would have my card, and I LOVE this sketch.  It's one of my go-to for designing lately.  It's like they read my mind.  :)

AAA Cards: Stencil Techninque

eta: I'm also linking up to the AAA Cards challenge.  It's a happy accident that my card fits their them and image perfectly.  Thank you, Kimberly for introducing me to a new challenge blog.  :)

eta: One more CAS stenciling challenge this week.  If I didn't know better I would think the challenge creators peeked into my stamp room.  :)  This time I am linking up with the Less Is More Challenge Week 229.


Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge (Stampin' Up!); Sweet Sentiments (The Craft's Meow)
Ink: Black (Staz-On); Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass (Distress); Versamark
Paper: Basic Black (SU); Marshmallow (Bazzil)
Accesories: White Embossing Powder (SU); Textured Honeycomb Stencil, Texture Diamond Stencil (Memory Box); White Embossing Paste (Dream Weavers)

Gorgeous Grunge 

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Tumbled Glass

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Broken China

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Peacock Feathers

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Salty Ocean

Memory Box Stencils, Diamond

Dreamweaver Embossing Paste, White, 4 oz.

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Marshmallow, 10 pk

In The Mood ~ Blog Hop

Did that title catch your attention?  The designers for Creativity Grows Here are at it again.  We have an amazing new and completely unique class being released TODAY.  Maureen Merritt of MamaMoStamps created 7 exclusive mood boards for this class, including a bonus board for those who sign up by June 24th.

What exactly is a mood board and how does that inspire us to create?  We thought you might ask that, so Maureen created a special mood board for the designers and guests.  Then Catherine put together a blog hop so you can see how this board inspires each of us in a unique way.  Each person on the hop has pulled inspiration from the mood board to create a card.

Isn't it a gorgeous collection?  I could stare at these photos all day.  I'm considering printing all the mood boards and framing them for inspiration in my hobby room.  Check out the video to learn how I was inspired.

http://youtu.be/YAByxbZk46o

Are you ready to join us for this class? Clicky to go there now. StampNation members be sure to pick up your $10 off coupon code.  

~~~BLOG HOP~~~

There are 10 FREE class registrations hidden along the hop, so make sure you leave comments along the way.

The more comments you make, the greater your chances are of winning!

You have until 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, June 21st to leave a comment to be entered to win! Winners will be announced at on Monday on Catherine's Blog.

It’s time to hop along now. Click on each of the designers below…

Catherine Pooler
Maureen Merritt
Kristie Goulet
Heather North----->>>you are here  :)
Stephanie Klauck
Isha Gupta
Laurel Beard
Allison Cope


Stamps: You've Got This (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Black Onyx (Versafine); Versamark; Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac, Salty Ocean (Distress)
Paper: Watercolor Paper (Tim Holtz Distress); Whisper White Thick Cardstock (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Butterfly Thinlits Die, Clear Embossing Powder (Stampin' Up!)

You've Got This

Butterfy Thinlits

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Peacock Feathers

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Picked Raspberry

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Shaded Lilac

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Salty Ocean

Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock

VersaMark Ink Pad

Quilled Creations Precision Tip Glue Applicator Bottle 0.5 oz.

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

Ranger Multi Medium, Matte Mini, 1/2 oz.

Inkadinkado Stamping Mask Paper, 5x7, 12 pk