I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge Continues!

Hi all! I know I haven't been around here much, so I thought I'd give you all a bit more time with the current I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge. Click here for DEEtails.

Remember that you can post any project (cards, scrapbook layouts, 3-D project) that fits the challenge. I'm excited to post the next challenge, so I'll only be extending this one for another week. A new challenge will go up on September 7th so hurry!

So Sweet and Simple

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for the Square Sketch Challenge over at Moxie Fab World. Here's the fun sketch:

And here are the DEEtails:

I love the simplicity of this card as I showcase this neat pieced together flower. It's a chipboard sticker from Basic Gray that my hubby bought for me. So sweet of him, huh? Perfectly suited with my sentiment from PTI's Signature Greetings. I layered my Vanilla card base with some Old Olive and Ruby Red before adhereing it all to my Blushing Bride card. Hope you like it!

A Simple Thanks

Today is supposed to be the first day of school for our students, but we're home while our buildings are assessed for damages after this weekend's storm. What a way to start the year off! Since I have a few extra hours, I thought I'd whip up a quick card for the current Pals Paper Arts Challenge: Soften the Edges.

DEEtails:

I decided to go with the color pallete in the inspiration image and layered some Dusty Durango Polka Dot ribbon turned on its solid side with a strip of Ruffled Ribbon in Pool Party on top. Then I added a faux corrugated cardboard embellishment, made from a Mat Stack die from PTI and run through my Crimper. I stamped the sentiment from PTI's Think Big Favorites and added some flowers and leaves from the Itty Bitty dies and Bird punch in the unexpected color combination. Thanks for peeking in today! Hope you're having a good Monday!

Don't forget, there's still time to play along in the current I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge. We're featuring yellow ribbon, so come and play along!

Orange You Thankful?

Sorry for the delay in posting today's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge post! In the midst of preparing for our visitor, Irene, I wasn't able to get a photo and post up. Hope everyone stayed safe!


DEEtails:

My card today is all about yellow and orange flowers. I actually created a card very similar to this in monochromatic pinks last year. I stamped various SU! images from Fifth Avenue Floral, Itty Bitty Buds, Wings of Friendship, and Lovely Flowers. Then I colored the blooms in with my Stampin' Write Markers - So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Summer Sun, Apricot Appeal, Peach Parfaith, Pumpkin Pie, and Tangerine Tango. Then I matted my image on Summer Sun and Peach Parfait card stock, wrapped a Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain ribbon around it and attached my sentiment from SU!'s Thank You Kindly on my layered card stock. Hope you like it!

A Bit of Gold

Hi everyone! Sorry for my awful picture problems. :( I've been battling it out with Photobucket and hope to have it resolved soon! Anyway, I hope you're having a good start to your weekend. This has been quite an exciting week... First with the earthquake, then a tornado watch, and soon a visit from Irene! Hope you're all keeping safe!


I'm popping in today for another Play Date Cafe challenge. I'm loving this inspiration board!


DEEtails:

I loved elements from the four pictures on the right, so I used tried to incorporate them all into this card, starting with the three chairs, which which I interpreted as three Pool Party panels on a Very Vanilla background. I meant to curve my corners, but was a little too quick to adhere my card stock and decided to skip the step altogether. Next, the teacup with the flower inspired my round shape behind my blossoms, which I die cut from PTI's Limitless Layers. I love the gold letters in that bottom middle picture, and knew I had to add some to my card. So, out came some gold ribbon from my stash, along with the PTI Wonderful Words die and some Brushed Gold card stock. I stamped "thank" from PTI's Think Big Favorites and added my die cut "you". I added two blooms, stamped with SU!'s Bella Blossoms, embossed on Groovy Guava card stock. Lastly, I added a pretty butterfly, punched on some Secret Garden DSP with a MS punch and layered for dimension. Hope you like it!

Hello Friend!

I hate that I missed the deadline for the Play Date Cafe challenge! I found some time over the weekend to make this card, but didn't have a chance to post it until now. Bummer! Hope you like it anyway!


DEEtails:

I was really drawn to the bold flowers and the fun the umbrellas from the inspiration, so I wanted to incorporate stripes, polka dots and a big blossom on this card. I started with some Night of Navy card stock and layered a piece of Designer Series Paper Patterns in Lucky Limeade. I wrapped around some Night of Navy Striped Taffeta Ribbon. I stamped the rose from SU!'s Fifth Avenue Floral and adhered it with some glue dots, tucking a Sweet Pea Stitched Felt leaf underneath. Then I stamped a portion of the sentiment from PTI's Think Big Favorites on a Regal Rose tag and tucked it under my striped ribbon. I stamped the other half of the sentiment on some more Regal Rose and cut it out to adhere on top of my rose. I'm loving this bold color combination and hope you like it too!

Winner Wednesday!

Thanks to all of you who have been so patient during this busy time of year for me! I'm hoping things will settle down for me soon, but in the mean time, I'm working 12+ hours each day, planning, organizing, scheduling, analyzing data, and a list of other stuff!

Since it is Wednesday, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate the winner of the Taffeta I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge. Congrats to Erika Clark, who used some Certainly Celery Taffeta Ribbon on her card featuring the new Stampin' Up! set, Gently Falling.


Erika, please contact me at deesignsbyninadee{at}gmail{dot}com to claim your prize!

There's still time to enter the current I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge! This week, we're featuring yellow ribbon. I can't wait to see what you create!

For My Friend

The little cupcakes for this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge are so sweet! They inspired me to make today's card, using this neat color palette.


Here are the DEEtails:

I started with a piece of Designer Series Paper Patterns in Chocolate Chip, which I mounted on some card stock. Then I stamped my flower, using SU!'s Build a Blossom, with Elegant Eggplant ink on Perfect Plum card stock. I assembled my flower and adhered it to my card, tucking in some Pretty in Pink card stock, stamped with the sentiment from SU!'s Friendly Phrases. Then I tied a pretty bow using some green satin ribbon from my stash, that matches nicely with my Wild Wasabi card.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Tree of Thanks

Sorry for my disappearing act this week! I'm sure you can understand how busy the last few weeks of summer can be! My craft area has been quite lonely for the past few days, but I was finally able to put together this card this afternoon.


I decided to try the sketch challenge over at the Ribbon Carousel, which I flipped sideways.


Here are the DEEtails:

I stamped my image from SU!'s Season of Friendship on some white card stock and added some Rich Razzleberry Grosgrain and some Crushed Curry Polka Dot Grosgrain (flipped upside down) to peek out from underneath. I adhered it to my Lucky Limeade card and added a strip of Lovely Flowers DSP to tie the colors together. Then I embellished my tree with some leaves, punched with the Bird Punch, some Itty Bitty Punches flowers in Melon Mambo, and some Rhinestone Jewels, colored with a yellow permanent marker. At the bottom, I added my sentiment from SU!'s Thank You Kindly in white embossing powder on Crushed Curry card stock, with a bit of Melon Mambo Dotted Ruffle Ribbon punched along the bottom.

Thanks for peeking in today!

I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge 8

So sorry for the delay! I completely lost tract of my days! It's time for a new I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge! We'll be doing a color challenge this time.

Yellow is such a bright and cheerful color! And it reminds me a lot of getting ready to go back to school. Here are some of my favorite cards with yellow ribbon.

Ready to play along?! You'll have until Wednesday, August 31st to link your card with Yellow ribbon below. One lucky winner will receive a prize pack of ribbons from my stash and will be announced on September 7. I can't wait to see what you create! :)

Colour Queen! :)

Hey there! Did you guys see this post on ColourQ featuring this card?! I'm so excited! It's been a while since I've had a card feature or won a challenge and it feels so good!

I'm busy this week finishing last minute arrangements before we go back to school next week. Yikes! I can't believe the time is here! I'm hoping to be back soon with a card. Until then, thanks for being patient! :)

Merci

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a nice weekend! My concert got rained out on Saturday, so I spent the whole weekend working on lots of little projects for school. I was quite the busy bee!


Here's a sweet yellow card that I made for this week's CR84FN Challenge. I adore Mona Pendleton's inspiration boards, don't you?


Here are the DEEtails:

I started with a Daffodil Delight card and layered some ribbon on it - Daffodil Delight Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Daffodil Delight Grosgrain Ribbon, and some pretty lace from my stash. Then I die cut a tag from Lots of Tags in Crumb Cake and ran it through my crimper. I stamped the sentiment from PTI's Think Big Favorites #3 and heat embossed it in white of Daffodil Delight card stock. I cut it out and adhered it to my card. Then I die cut some blooms from Floral Fusion and punched a few Itty Bitty Punches flowers out and layered them. I embellished the centers with some Pearl Jewels to finish things off.

Just a couple more days for my I {Heart} Ribbon Taffeta Challenge! Hope you'll play along! :)

Books for School

Just a few days ago, I talked about how I didn't do very many 3-D projects, but here I am with another one. Just recently, my supervisor took on another position in the school district. I've been wanting to create something for her that would be useful for her in her new office and when I saw this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge photo, I knew just the thing!


These books are actually really easy to make and take no time at all. Here are the DEEtails:

I die cut some Natural White card stock with the Bigz Matchbox Die and assembled them. Then I printed my book spines (the font I used was Imprint MT Shadow) on Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy and Garden Green card stock and trimmed the card stock to be a little larger than the matchbox. I adhered the book covers to the covers of the matchboxes. For the Cherry Cobbler book, I only adhered the bottom cover to the matchbox, so the cover opens up.


I lined the inside cover with some Natural White card stock and wrote a little note on that first page. Then I stacked my boxes and glued them together with some removable glue dots. I stuffed the inside of the boxes with some fun supplies then tied the books together with some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine.


You could definitely decorate the cover, but I chose to keep mine blank, mostly because I wasn't sure what to put on it. Surprisingly, I don't own any school themed stamps. I like the simplicity of it anyway...

So are you ready for school to start?!

Just for Fun

Hope you're starting your weekend off well. This evening my band has one of our first concerts in a while (we took a break during the month of July) at the National Harbor - my favorite outdoor concert venue. Hubby and I plan to go and hang out there for a bit - there's lots of fun shopping and good eats! I'm excited to have a bit of a fun day after such a long and busy week.

I'm sharing a card today that I made earlier this week. I had hoped to get some more pink in there, but coudn't quite find the right thing to add. It's hard for me to get inspired on my own, but somehow this card pieced together quite easily. I just pulled out some supplies that I had been wanting to use and it all sort of fell into place. I love when that happens, don't you? :)


I know you want the DEEtails:

I used some Designer Series Paper Patterns in Soft Suede followed by a strip of border from my stash (it's hard to see, and I'm a little bummed about that, but it's kind of this ragged edge in a kraft color). Then I added some Crumb Cake card stock die cut with the PTI Half and Half die. I stamped half the sentiment from PTI's Think Big series stamps and added a Melon Mambo you, die cut from the PTI's Wonderful Words. Then I added some Maya Road kraft doilies. Hope you like it!

Just a few more days for the I {Heart} Ribbon Taffeta challenge so be sure to play along!

Colorful Thanks

Aren't these a fabulous mix of colors? Thanks to Embellish Magazine's Coloring Color Challenge, I've put them together to make this card.


Here's a secret... I'm not very good at coloring, nor will I ever claim to be... When I was little, I went to a private school and had TONS of homework. I never had enough time to color all my home work so my mom did it for me. *Giggle* Even as I got older, coloring was never a huge strength of mine, so my mom always helped me out with big projects, posters, etc. Now before you start thinking that I can't stay in the lines or anything like that, I'm not TERRIBLE... Just not GREAT. I haven't quite gotten a good technique down yet. You'll see some of my coloring skills on my projects that I do for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenges every Sunday.

For this card, and many others, I didn't actually color on the cardstock, but I did use my Stampin' Write Markers to color my stamps. Here's secret number 2... I actually don't use many ink pads. I own about 10 - all neutral colors. I also have the Stampin' Spots, however, I don't use them on a regular basis. Instead, nearly all my stamped images are colored in with Stampin' Write Markers (even the neutral colors because I tend to like the marker ink better).

So now that you know that I cheated a bit on this card, here are the DEEtails:

I started with a strip of Beyond the Garden DSP and added a Scallop Dots Ribbon Border punched in Regal Rose to the top and bottom. I adhered the paper to some Wild Wasabi cardstock and added a MS doily. I colored my stamps from SU!'s Fabulour Florets with some Melon Mambo and Garden Green Stampin' Write Markers and stamped them on Regal Rose and Wild Wasabi card stock. I love how that darker ink stands out on the card stock. I adhered them with Stampin' Dimensionals. Then I stamped my stentiment from SU!'s Thank You Kindly in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it using some white embossing powder. That white just pops on that Daffodil Delight. I trimmed it down to size and tucked it under my MS doily.

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

Hello, You!

Grrr! My internet and I have been fighting today, thus the delay in posting today's card...

This week's challenge at Pals Paper Arts is Dress for Success - basically a recipe card, using 1 DSP, 1 punch, and 1 sentiment. This was definitely a difficult challenge for me - you know me, I need an inspiration photo! But, I pulled this card together and it's starting to grow on me...

Here are the DEEtails:

I started with a Not Quite Navy card and layered on some striped Pool Party DSP - can you tell that I'm loving the Designer Series Paper Patterns In Colors?! :) Then I stamped the PTI Newsprint background stamp on some So Saffron cardstock and heat embossed it. I wrapped some Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon around the card and layered on a MS doily. I added my sentiment from SU!'s Hello, You stamped in Not Quite Navy on Pool Party and layered on more Not Quite Navy card stock to make it pop. Then I punched a Not Quite Navy butterfly layered with an image stamped from SU!'s Butterfly Prints and tucked in a leaf punched from the Bird punch and a flower embellishment from my stash.

Colorful Stripes

Happy Wednesday! Here's a fun card I whipped up for the ColourQ challenge using all my fun border punches! Aren't these colors so cheerful!?

DEEtails:

I loved the striped on this card, so I originally planned a black and white background, still using my border punches, but when I pulled out all that colorful cardstock, I just had to use stripe them all! I made my sentiment pink and white, to mimic the logo on the flip flop. I used the PTI Mat Stack 4 die to create my label and drew the outline with a marker. The sentiment is another PTI Think Big Favorites that I cut out and mounted with Stampin' Dimensionals. I added a few flower embellishments from my stash - love that tiny bit of sparkle :)

3-D Pals Hop

Welcome to the August Pals Hop! This month, we're featuring fun and creative 3-dimensional projects! Enjoy the hop and the amazing creations that the Pals have come up with.

You've likely hopped over from Sandie Conner at Pretty Provisions. I'm stop number 9 on the Pals Hop and I'm glad you hopped in! I'll help you "hop along" from blog to blog where you'll find great ideas for 3-D paper projects from the Stampin' Pretty Pals! Should you hop off course, simply click on any of the links in the Pals Hop Line-up below and you'll be back on track!

If you're a regular here on the blog, you might know that I don't usually make 3-D projects, so this hop was a bit of a challenge for me. I wanted to make something useful, while still being fun, so after some thinking, I decided to make something for my desk at school.

DEEtails:

Our school colors are Green and Yellow, so I chose a fun version of these colors with some bright yellow Post-It Notes and some Lucky Limeade. I simply took an acrylic frame and turned it upside down, slipped in some fun patterened DSP, added my Post-Its and embellished away with some Ruffled Flowers. What a fresh take on the ever-handy tool. And now I don't have to search my desk for my Post-It pad!

Hop along for more inspiring ideas from Leah O'Brien at My Stampin' Room, stop number 10 on the August Pals Hop! Thanks for "hopping" by!

1. Stephanie Uzee at Stampin' with Suzee
   
2. Nicole Watt at Impressions By Nicole
   
3. Barbara Chatzkel at Take Out Paper Arts
   
4. Jason Casper at Jason's Stampin' Pad
   
5. Melanie Collins at Oops a Daisy Designs
   
6. Carmen Sublasky at The Creative Stamptuary
   
7. Patti MacLeith at Papercrafts by Patti
   
8. Sandie Conner at Pretty Provisions
   
9. Nina Dee at Deesigns by Nina Dee
   
10. Leah O'Brien at My Stampin' Room
    
11. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty
    
12. Rae Harper at Wild West Paper Arts
    
13. Kylie Nicolsi at Kylie's Crafty Corner
    
14. Pam Giudici at Wacky Whippet Stamper
    
15. Linda Fisher at Linda's Stampin Loft
    
16. Mikki Sarkisyan at Mikki's Creative Corner
    
17. Martha Stewart at Seasons of Stamping
    
18. Mike Funke at Stampin-Style
    
19. Barb Furlong at the Love of Stamping
    

New Uses

Hello friends! I've been excited to show off this card that I made last night, but I haven't had a chance to sit down at my computer until now... It's been another busy day!


Just last week, as I was cleaning out my crafty space, I came across my crimper, which I debated on putting in my destash pile (many of these things are now at my Etsy shop!). After debating a bit, I decided to keep it because I told myself that I would come up with a great use for it in a few weeks - possibly using kraft card stock. And then, Dawn McVey showed off an awesome technique for making faux corrugated cardboard embellishments a few days later. So here I am today, with my fun embellishment, made with my crimper and some Crumb Cake (AKA kraft) card stock, just like I had envisioned! :)

DEEtails:

I love the layers on this card that kind of mix this look of old and new. I started with some Designer Series Paper Patterns in Pool Party, which I layered with some Crepe Paper die cut with the Tasteful Trim die, and some more DSP, punched with the Scallop Edge Punch. I added a doily and layered my faux cardboard, tied up with some fun aqua Baker's Twine. I had some adhesive chipboard letters, which have this neat texture to it in a pale aqua color and spelled out "Hi." Then I topped it all off with a Ruffle Flower, embellished with a button from my stash.

Be sure to pop by tomorrow - it's blog hop day! :) And of course, don't forget to play along in the Taffeta Ribbon Challenge!

Summer Fun

I have a fun summery card to share with you today that I made for this week's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge. Check out all those gorgeous colors you have to play with this week!


DEEtails:

This week's sponsor, JLJ Designs had these cute flip flop images that I printed out and colored. I cut them out and strung up some fun ruffle ribbon from my stash for the straps. These were so fun that I wanted to keep my card pretty simple. I added a strip of Dotted Scallop Ribbon punched in Taken with Teal and adhered my flip flops with some Stampin' Dimensionals. Easy peasy!

Don't forget to play along in the I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge! I'd love to see what you come up with!

Pretty In Pink (And An Attempt At Publication)

Hi there! Today I'm sharing a card that I had made a while back to enter for publication. It didn't make the cut, but I still really like it... I kind of wish I hadn't sent it in because I kind of miss this card. *giggle* It has a lot of neat texture and a lot of glam without being too over the top and would have made a fabulous birthday card for a girly girl. :)

I haven't had any success with being published yet, and honestly, it is such a tough process! I am such a sucker for instant gratification, that often, when I think a card is a possible entry for publication, I just want to show it to all of you right away! And of course I do, so then I miss out on my chance to enter it for publication. Heehee!

Do any of you have any publication secrets for success? I'd love to hear! Please do share! :)

Here are the DEEtails for my card:

I started with a Going Gray card and layered on some Pink Pirouette and Basic Gray. I stamped a portion of the Just For You sentiment from SU!'s Afterthoughts and embossed it. Then I layered on the embellishments - an MS doily with a PTI Dress Form die cut in Basic Gray and layered with some pink satin (love that part!), some pleated Pretty in Pink Taffeta ribbon and a glittery swirl from my stash. Love!

Don't forget to pull out some of your Taffeta ribbon and enter the current I {Heart} Ribbon Challenge! Click for DEEtails! :)

Nature Tag

Sorry that today's post is a little late. I've been busy this week working on stuff to get ready for the new school year. (I can't believe it's almost here!)


The card I made today is for the current CR84FN Challenge. Check out the lovely inspiration.


DEEtails:

I started by recreating a tag from the inspiration pic. I stamped the image from SU!'s Nature Walk in Wisteria Wonder and Pear Pizzazz and cut it out. I adhered it to a tag from my stash, embellished with a strip of Wisteria Wonder card stock and some gray and white Baker's Twine. Then I stamped the number, also from Nature Walk, directly onto the tag in Going Gray ink. For my background, I punched the top edge of some Certainly Celery card stock with the Scallop Trim Border and adhered a piece of Designer Paper Patterns in Wisteria Wonder that I tore along the bottom. I stamped the sentiment from PTI's Think Big Favorite #2 and added my tag with some Stampin' Dimensionals.

Thanks for peeking in today!