You have heard me speak of the GSG and the amazing swap cards I get from those girls. Well, I am also part of two other swap groups that are equally talented. One of those groups is called NMBS. Just this week we also decided to start a group blog to show off some of the great talent of it's members. One of our members, Teresa Shaw (Inkfully Yours), took the time to get the blog started and even posted the first challenge. Anyone can play, so feel free to post a comment here with a link to your card or blog. The challenge this week was a Limited Supplies challenge. Check out the Blog Here.


Use: black and white and 1 accent color, flower stamp, and a mandatory accessory of Bling!

Here is my card! Thanks for a great challenge, Teresa. Can't wait to see what the next Challenge Hostess comes up with. Hugs,

I'm busy getting ready for vacation, plus my mom was just visiting and I've been planning for a workshop I have tonight! Here is a quick card I put together yesterday and will be demo'ing tonight. Thanks to Beate and her awesome sketches, this came together quickly. I really wanted to show this stamp set because of how cute it looks when you paper piece the birdie. Plus it is a great way to show off some ds paper. I was able to show 4 different prints from the same paper pack! I used Pomegranate for the card base and then paired it with the Bali Breeze paper. The photo corner is the ribbon slide from the styled silver HPH! Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day. I do have some posts scheduled while I'm gone, so you shouldn't be left without some eye candy! It's like I'll never be gone. Hugs!

I do, I get so excited for my Swapping/online friends when one of them is recognized for their talent, whether it be getting on Stampers Showcase, picked for a design team, a featured stamper, or Published in a craft magazine. There is just so much amazing talent out there so it is quite an honor to be recognized by one of our peers. This week, Maren was chosen as the feature stamper on SCS. She was also picked as the first guest designer for Unity stamps. She is so deserving, check out her gallery or her blog and you'll see what I mean. This is the card I made, which was based off of this card of hers. I used the SU set, Pretty Amazing along with the colors, Pomegranate and pale Plum. The ds paper is from Basic Grey, the Phoebe pack. I added some stitching, buttons and some of my beloved Pomegranate satin ribbon. Have a great day!

Yes, it is the end of Spring soccer, and YES it is June. The boys each had games yesterday and I stayed up late Friday to pull together two quick cards. I used the GSG Mini Sketch Challenge for my layout. You could pick any layout used in the Spring/Summer Occasions mini to CASE. I went with the layout for the little 3x3 card on pg. 14. I did turn it into a full size card and used Jersey Shore ds paper since it was still on my desk from the Bird trio.

I made this same card twice but with different color combos. Joshua's team was the Orange Tigers (so this card is for his coach) and Ryan's team was the Blue Buffaloes (that card was bashful and brilliant blue with accents of wasabi). I was in a rush out the door this morning and never took the picture of the blue card. I wanted post both of them together (plus I liked the blue card better) but oh, well. Thanks, Maren for a great challenge. We are at the lake today, hoping to get the boat running. The water is too cold for the boys to tube, but I'm sure we'll cruise the lake and do some fishing.

Here's another quick post, we're off to T-ball, but my good friend and stamp-shopping cohort, Crystal has been bugging me (in a nice, excited way) to get a card uploaded made with my new Copic markers. Yes, I did it, I caved and actually bought some. They are everything I expected! I had to place orders with two different online stores to find the colors I wanted in stock. I got my first 12 markers yesterday. This was my first image I colored and I think it turned out pretty good if you don't look too close at Billy's hair line. LOL! My colors are limited until my other 14 markers show up here hopefully next week. So here it is Crystal, just for you! Thanks for all your enabeling!

I can't believe it has been over a week since I have actually stamped-yikes! I can usually squeeze something in, even if it is just a few minutes, but the garage sale, socccer games, end of the year stuff, has just taken over! It is all good, but I also need my stamping fix, too. LOL! I had big plans for today, and wanted to get at least three cards done. Thanks to an early release day of school and a phone call, I only got to this one. It is the GSG Featured Stamper challenge #3-Lori Tecler. I tell you, I am surrounded by wonderfully, talented girls! I chose to case this card of hers. Since I just got some wide celery grosgrain ribbon, I knew I wanted to use it. That is how I came up with my color combo-Kraft, Celery, and wasabi. My Happy Everything set was still on my desk from my scrapbook class, so I used that. I also added the little cupcake from my Holiday Blitz set. I felt the card needed a pop of color, so it was Fruit Punch stickles to the rescue! Thanks for stopping by. I have swap cards to make, so I'll be sharing those in the next few days.

Last week, the Great Swaps Girls posted another featured stamper challenge. This week we got to honour, Denise Hinton. If you haven't checked out her Blog, go do it, and if you are looking for a cool Blog Banner, she can do it! I chose to CASE this card from Denise. I used the same ds paper, but picked different designs from the pack. I really don't know what I am going to do when this year's In Colors retire. I am so in love with them. Anyway, this card uses the Fall Flowers ds paper, Saraha Sand, Old Olive, and Soft Sky cs. The sentiment is from Holiday Blitz and I can't believe I actually pulled out my Sm. and Lg. tag punches. See those butterflies, though?! That was my splurge for myself yesterday at Micheal's (there was a special coupon in last weeks' paper for 50% off one Martha Stewart Item)! I've seen this punch used a lot lately, so I treated myself to it! thanks for stopping by!

I wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there! It is the toughest job I have, yet it is the most rewarding. I found a cool new blog called Stamp Something . They will be posting challenges for whoever wants to stamp. The first challenge they posted is sticking to the theme of "Firsts". I made this card for my BFF who is celebrating her first Mother's Day! Once again, I had fun with my PaperTrey Ink ribbon and paper. The sentiment is from SU, the retired set All Year Cheer III (I believe). I stamped it in white craft and then embossed with Winter White embossing powder. Have a great weekend!

I've been working on some Birthday cards (BRAKS) for some of my swap gal pals and just had to share these two cards with you. I told you the other day, I finally caved and bought the Paper Trey Ink stamp set, Polka Dot Basics. I don't know why I waited so long. This set is so fun to use and makes wonderful background. I'm lovin' the dots! Enjoy the day!

It is Monday, Tuesday really, but I didn't get a chance to upload yesterday. I did have time to stamp, though, so I got the Great Swaps Girls Inspiration Challenge complete. Remember, anyone can play. If you upload to SCS use keyword, GAGC03. Kristin posted this week's challenge. She found a cute, fun bedroom from Pottery Barn Kids for us to draw inspiration from. I pulled out a few retired SU stuff to complete the card-Lots of Thoughts (SAB set from this year) The Twinkle wheel and Petals and Paisley paper. See this is why I rarely get rid of my retired stuff. You just never know when you'll need/want to use it. I love the stars on this card. If you don't have the Large and small star punches yet-get them! They are so fun to use and Stars are HOT right now! Stamps: Lots of Thoughts,twinkle wheel Ink: celery and tempting turquoise, CS:white, celery, Petals and Paisley ds paper Access: Lg. and Sm. star punches, celery grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

The sketch is from this week's sketch Challenge over at SCS. I cheated though, and made my card a standard A2 size.

Thanks for stoppin by!

The Great Swap Girls posted their second challenge yesterday. This week it was a sketch challenge. Anyone can play, so stop by and check it out ! I did another card using a new non-SU set but I'll show you that one tomorrow since I haven't posted any SU stuff in a while. The Tart and Tangy stamp set is such a fun set to work with and can be used for any occasion. I stamped the strawberry twice, once in real red and once in wasabi. I cut them both out and then just added the cut,wasabi, stem piece to the red berry. I did add some stickles to the top of the berry and used my Janome sew mini to stitch around the printed wasabi piece of paper. I also added a stitched border around the sentiment. If you ever wanted to add stitching to your cards and have never sewed anything in your life (that was me!) get the Janome. It is a small investment but oh so easy to use. Gina K has an amazing tutorial about how to sew on your cards to help you get started. All products are SU (except the stickles and sewing machine)Stamp:Tart and Tangy, They say it's your BirthdayCS:Jersey shore ds paper,Kraft, real red, choc. chipInk:real red, wasabiAccessories:wide choc. chip grosgrain ribbon, patina stickles, janome sew mini, bold brights brads

All these letters, what do they mean? NMBS is another swap group I am a part of, it stands for No More Bad Swaps. Normally we do all SU stuff, but with this swap those that participated wanted to show off some of the other non-SU products we have. NVR stands for No Vendor Requirements.
It's a dark and gloomy morning here but I wanted to get this card uploaded since I don't know when I'll be back on the computer today. This card uses the PTI set, Pond Life and the Lemon Tart Perfect Match Cs and ribbon. When I started this card I knew I wanted to use this turtle image and the rectangle die cut with my scalloped nestabilities. I pulled some colors to see what would look good with the Lemon Tart and soft sky and celery just spoke to me. Seriously they did. They said, "use us, make a baby card." Don't these colors just scream BABY! I ran the soft sky scalloped rectangle through the swiss dots embossing folder and used a few different words from two other PTI sets (I tried a bunch to see which would fit in the lg. star punch) to create the sentiment. The only SU products I used were the sky and celery cs and ink, and both star punches. Oh, and I used Crystal Effects on the shell of the turtle. I am please with how it turned out. Now I just need to get them out in the mail. Nothing like squeezing it all in at the last minute!

I told you I love the challenges on SCS (I know I keep saying this, but it helps keep my stamping mojo motivated. Sundays bring the Featured Stampers Challenge. This week it features Jodi (Kharmagirl). Her gallery is full of wonderful inspiration. I chose to draw inspriation from this card of hers, sc169Happy Anniversary.

Here is the card I made. I love the little bee stamp from Stampendous. I used textured river rock cs for the card base. The card measures 4 1/4 square. I used my rectangle nestabilities to make the scallop square (love getting more milage out of my stuff, plus it saves me from buying the square nesties) and rectangle in groovy guava. I think the black is a nice accent color to this card. I colored the bee with my aqua painter and re-inkers and added a little bit of sparkle to the wings of the bee with stickles. Thanks again for stopping by. Have a great start to your week.