with Love

The summer is off to a quick pace again.  I hope you get a chance to slow down and relax.  Me, it has been a whirlwind of weddings, graduation parties, baby showers, and cocktail parties.  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about what all I had to attend last week {smile}!

And you know I carved out some crafting time.  Some days its harder to get my mojo moving, and it only gets worse, if I'm tired.  But the talented ladies over @ Nacho Average Challenge have a sketch for you to try your hand at.

here is the sketch:

Before you get frustrated or lost, just take the sketch apart.  Sometimes its easier to see it in pieces and not a 'whole'.  For the orange half circle, think a large shape, like a top note.  Or a decorative edge with a creative cut.  Then for the teal label, think 'label'.  A sentiment 'box', a tag, some place to add a sentiment or a decorative piece.  Don't forget, you can also rotate the sketch.  Now, let your creativity soar, and let's see what you create.

here is what I made:

First things first, I rotated the sketch 90 degrees.  Crumb cake cardstock, goes with anything.  Have I mentioned that I love this color!  The card base is crumb cake.  The main panel is very vanilla cardstock.  I stamped the Ex Libris background stamp in coastal cabana classic ink.  I love how this panel gives you some visual interest without distracting.  I wanted to add some text paper, and I just now realized that first edition dsp was retired.  A bit shocking to me.  So, I made my own text paper.  I used very vanilla cardstock.  I stamped en francias in basic black classic ink.  I did the 'tap' technique so some of the words would be faint and/or missing.  I matted the text onto crisp cantaloupe cardstock.  

For my half circle piece, I added a doily.  I just love these things.  So feminine and a beautiful addition. I just love the seam binding, and really wanted to add this beautiful 'ribbon'.  So, I wrapped a piece of very vanilla seam binding around the card front, and tied it into a multi-loop bow.  I just love the new clay molds that Stampin' Up! has come out with.  So, I made the button with some clay, and tied it to the center of the bow with some linen thread.

I wanted to add some flowers, but I don't want my followers/readers to get bored with my hand made paper blossoms.  I stamped the blossoms from the Fabulous Florets stamp set in versa mark ink.  I did some masking, heat embossed some blossoms onto shimmer card stock and color washed the flowers.  I used crisp cantaloupe re inker for the 'paint'.  I then set them a side to dry.  Once dry, I fussy cut them out.  I used some foam tape to pop them off the card front.  

For my 'label' piece, I did a sentiment piece.  I stamped a frame from four frames stamp set in basic black classic ink, onto a scrap piece of very vanilla cardstock.  I used a sentiment from the Field Flowers stamp set, and tucked this 'label' into my multi-loop bow.

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope that we have inspired you to play along with us @ NAC.  The design team uses Stampin' Up! products, but remember, you can use what you have on hand.  But, if you see something you just love, you can shop at my Stampin' Up! store 24/7!  A link is on the right hand side of my blog.

love this card? purchase it here

New Design Team

I have some wonderful news.   The upline of Stampin' Up! that I belong to, has created a design team!  Nacho Average Challenges.  And several of us demonstrators who belong to this group are on the design team.   Here are the design team members:

Anne Hayward - Stamping with Blue Moon Creations

Jenni Hogan - Stampin In The Son

Leilani McGranahan - Lani Stamps

Rose Alexa - RMA stamps 4 U

Sharon Wheet - Designs by Sharon (you are here)

Tammy Fite - Stamp with Tammy

On this challenge blog, Nacho Average Challenges, we will have sketches and color challenges for you use.  We are planning on having a new challenge each week.  The challenge week starts on Tuesdays and ends on Sunday, I believe. So, you will have all week to play along with us.  The only requirement, is that you use Stampin' Up! products in your creation.  And we will do the same.  

So, without further ado, here is the FIRST sketch:

Looks fairly easy to work with.  There is a lot of potential for you to add your own flare.  Make it CAS or create layers and add embellishments!  Use any color combo your heart desires.

Here is what I created:

I used pool party card stock as my base.  I stamped the different images from the French Foliage stamp set randomly on the naturals white card stock.  I stamped the flowers from the Field Flowers stamp set, in Summer Starfruit and Wasabi Green classic inks.  The little tag was created with the scallop rectangle die.  I added a little piece of scallop trim border.  I added a small strip of vanilla taffeta ribbon.  The sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso classic ink. 

Join us won't you?  There is a linky code for you to upload your challenge submission.  Good luck.  And we can't wait to see what you create!