Real Red Tempting Kiwi

Now, how's that for a title? ;-) I FINALLY got to play a Color Throwdown! I follow Tammy's blog, Stamp Happy and have vowed to do a Color Throwdown someday...well, the day has come! The Throwdown was to use Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, and Kiwi Kiss. I love color challenges, because they put colors together I'd never even consider combining. I combined Color Throwdown #50 (CTD50) with the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge for this week SC235 (nine small panels).

The Kraft is actually a big deeper IRL. The card is 4.25" square, scored on my Scor-Pal on the edges.

A fun and easy card to duplicate.

Supplies:
Paper - PTI Kraft, SU black, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories - Daisy, MS butterfly, 1-1/4" and 1" circles, bling - $1 bin at Michael's

Thanks for stopping by the Playground. Your comments are always appreciated!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday.....

For this card, I used the sketch at Card Positioning Systems (CPS123). I didn't have any of the sponsor stamps but I liked the sketch.

My card is 4.25" square. My base is SU black layered with Making Memories Sabrina DP (did I say I LOVE that paper?!

The stamps I used are printables from The Cutting Cafe. Hey, ladies, if you want a chance to win the newest "Happy Birthday 40 Ways" set, be sure to visit Dee Dee's blog and leave a comment....she's got a really cute card to show you too!!

I printed the Happy Birthday background in pink to match my DP. The happy birthday circle is from the All Occasion Circle Word Set 1. Did you notice that I punched out the center of "Thinking of You" and placed it in the center of the happy birthday with a dimensional? That's why these stamps are sooooo versatile! You can change them to suit whatever color or size you need plus interchange the sentiments! How cool is that?

I did some sponging on the happy birthday image layer as well as on the pink circle. There are 3 blings on the accent strip that don't show up well in the photo but they're there. :-)

Supplies:

Stamps: Happy Birthday Background & All Occasion Circle Word Set 1 - The Cutting Cafe
Paper: SU black, Making Memories Sabrina DP
Accessories: Computer, Print Shop, sweing machine, Spellbinders Circle & Scalloped Circle dies., plastic gems(Michael's), dimensionals

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

A bit of a Cutting Cafe Tutorial

I've had several questions regarding how to use The Cutting Cafe downloadable stamps. I have to admit I'm still learning but here's some of what I've done so far.

I used Print Shop. We have Adobe Photoshop Elements and I'm sure that would be better but until I get time to learn how to use it, it's too time consuming for me. If you have Word, that will work as well.

Here is a printout of Trust in the Lord (just one page of this huge set!) I re-use my sample papers so you may see a star image on this sample. Ignore that. Just click on the pictures to enlarge.

For my purposes, I just wanted three of the sentiments. - I thank God for you everyday, I prayed for you today, and You and your family are in my Prayers.

I highlighted the images I wanted, then simply copied and pasted them into Print Shop. From there, I could make them larger, smaller, change the color, make multiple images, etc.

Here is my finished copy ready to cut out for my projects! I am so not techy....I mean really NOT techy but this was so easy.

I will have a card using the birthday set tomorrow showing how I changed the font color. FUN!!

Thanks for stopping by and don't be afraid to experiment...that's the beauty of The Cutting Cafe!!

Blessings and Happy Downloading!!

Triple Berry Jam All Dressed Up

I just love that I can combine my passions - cooking/baking, stamping, and gifting. It's so much fun to bless someone with something you've made. I guess that's why we all love stamping so much.

I created a belly band of sorts to wrap around my jam instead of a tag this time. The lid is pretty enough to stand on its own so no need to cover it up.

The band is a 1" strip of Papertrey Bitty Box DP wrapped and taped to circles cut with the scalloped circle dies from Spellbinders. The outer circle is PTI Pure Poppy, next smallest is Bitty Box DP and the center circle was stamped with a sentiment from Papertrey's Fruitful set along with my own computer generated jam name. Simple and easy.

The card is 4.25" square. The base is SU White layered with PTI Plum Pudding and Pure Poppy Bitty Box DP. I cut the scalloped layers with my Martha Stewart punch. I used the SU horizontal slot punch to punch each side of the white layer, then tied Pure Poppy ribbon to each end. The berries are from PTI's Fruitful. I stamped them on my white layer then stamped another set, cut them out and layered them with dimensionals. Triple Berry is strawberry, blackberry and blueberry. No blueberry stamps so two blackberries are standing in. Shhhh, don't tell!!

The blackberries were inked with Plum Pudding then rock and rolled ever so slightly in Pure Poppy...just like the real thing. The strawberry is stamped in Pure Poppy. All stems were inked with Old Olive and stamped off before adding to the berries. I touched the berries slightly with Sakura jelly roll pens to give them some subtle shine.

I appreciate your comments....you just never know when a surprise may be coming your way!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Embossed Wax Paper Resist

I went way out of my comfort zone to try a new technique. One of the Technique Challenges on SCS was Embossed Wax Paper Resist (TLC219). Scroll down to the #1 post for instructions.

I'm usualy not one for anything that sounds like it might be messy but the results I saw in the gallery were beautiful so I thought I'd give it a try. Basically, you run a sheet of waxed paper and an embossing folder through your Cuttlebug, Big Shot, etc. You place the embossed waxed paper between two pieces of glossy cardstock shiny side facing in and then iron over the paper. Remove the waxed paper and throw it away. Run your brayer over your ink pad then over your ironed cardstock. The image appears like magic! You may have to run the brayer over your glossy cardstock several times. Wipe with a paper towel to remove excess ink and you're ready to create. You will end up with a postive and a negative image.

I decided to use the darker image and combine it with last Tuesday's Color Challenge CC225 Krafty Saffron Nights. (Kraft, So Saffron, Night of Navy), and one of the images from The Cutting Cafe's Happy Birthday 40 Ways set. Having those Birthday images printed out and ready to go made this card super fast with no worries about uneven or crooked stamping. I'm the worst for that. My brain loses something between the right and left sides. :-( In addition,

I can make the sentiments any size I want! How cool is that!?

A really fun and easy technique that I will definitely try again. Be sure to try it out!


Blessings and Happy Stamping!!

Blog Candy Giveaway at Hand to Paper

We had a lovely dinner with friends yesterday, sat through a torrential downpour of rain, but were rewarded with the most incredible fireworks sponsored by one of our local car dealers. It was a wet yet wonderful 4th of July celebration. The peach cobbler tasted as good as it looked, thankfully, and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.....mmmmm

Happy July 5th. No new creations to share with you today but I just had to tell you that Regina at Hand to Paper has, not only the cutest creations, but is giving away 4 (!!) That's Four downloads of your choice from The Cutting Cafe!!

All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog but hurry because it ends tonight.

There's also a patriotic blog hop going on beginning here that is sure to get your creative juices flowing for the Labor Day weekend.

Hubby is home today so back to work on the laundry room. Hope to have something to share with you tomorrow.

Blessings!!

Happy Independence Day! and Peach Cobbler

Happy Independence Day, Everyone! I hope you're taking this opportunity to thank God for the blessings we have living in a country that's free and for the brave men and women who have and are giving their lives so we can remain so.

I feel our personal liberties are being slowly eroded away so we must be ever vigilant and prayerful.

Now about this hot, bubbly delight.....
Mmmm, remember these peaches? Well, as promised, here's the cobbler...still bubbling and hot from the oven. I used the Perfect Pie Crust recipe here and cut it into uneven strips. I just think it makes it look more homemade.

The recipe for the cobbler filling is super simple:

8-10 c. fresh peaches, washed, peeled and sliced
2 c. sugar
4-6 T. cornstarch (depending on the juiciness of your peaches)
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1 t. vanilla
3 T. butter

Place sliced peaches into a 13x9 baking pan. Mix sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg together in a small bowl. Sprinkle over peaches. Drizzle vanilla over peach mixture. Toss peaches gently, dot with butter. Cover with strips of pie crust or leave the crust whole and cut vent holes with a knife.

Bake at 450 degrees for about 25-30 min. or until the peaches are tender. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Yum!

Blessings!!