Kissing - it's not just for . . .

I will let you finish that sentence! :) However, if you want to know WHAT in the world I am talking about, you will have to hop on over to Top Tip Tuesday for this weeks tutorial from my teammate Maggie. The challenge is to use two different stamps on your project. For my sample, I actually used three different stamps. I stamped a two-step rose under the flower spray - you can barely see it peeking out of the top and bottom of the spray. Then I used the sentiment stamp. I took my colors from a Stamping 411 color inspiration from a few weeks ago. I haven't used these flowers from Wild Orchid Craft in quite a while and it was fun to use them again. I may have to look into placing an order with them soon as there are some of the flowers I have used in the past that I have run out of and it always seems that I don't quite have the colors I want. The inspiration colors are Crumb Cake, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango and Riding Hood Red. I tried to use flowers that came close to this color selection as well and think they came out nice. I used crumb cake seam binding ribbon, but am not as crazy about the bow. I used a sketch challenge from another blog - but I cannot remember now where it was from. It is always easier for me to find a sketch to follow - it cuts down on the time it takes for me to grab my creativity and run with it.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you a glimpse into what I have done over the last couple of days and to encourage you to join our challenge this week at Top Tip Tuesday. We have some awesome sponsors.
~Paula~

I LOVE Flowers

Each season of the year has it's beauty and Spring is probably one of my favorites because of all the beautiful colors. I LOVE flowers - every shade and color - some more than others! I like small flowers and big flowers. My flower garden is one in the making, and so far I have roses, pansies, marigolds and yesterday I bought Snapdragons - we call them Talking Flowers at our house! So, with all this talk about flowers, I made several cards using flowers. With this first one, I used a color combination from Stamping 411 Rose Red, River Rock and Always Artichoke. River Rock tends to take on the hue of the colors around it. I started with my Artichoke base and added an embossed rose red panel. I then cut another piece of Artichoke with my Nestibilities scallop square die. Now my sketch is from Stamping 411 also - using sketch challenge #203. I don't have the Stampin' Up! Square scallop die, so I had to improvise with my scallop square. (Stamping 411 has gone to an all Stampin' Up! only products challenges) So, I then took my river rock and stamped the flowers from the Vintage Vogue (117690/118598) set. This set has been a very versatile set and one I have used often. I used the rose red to stamp the images and then I stamped the flowers again on whisper white cardstock and fussy cut them out. I crumpled them up to give them a 'weathered' kind of look. I was going to leave them as is but they just didn't look finished. So, I stamped the smaller flower in Artichoke and fussy cut them and then crumpled them up. I attached them to the larger flower and then added a rhinestone to finish them off. I attached my very vanilla seam binding ribbon and added the rhinestones to finish off the entire card. I like these colors together and like the finished look of the card/sketch.
I am putting this card into several challenges.
Stamping 411 Color Inspiration #157
SU Only Challenge #19 - flowers
I am sure if I look around blogland, I will find a few other challenges that this one will fit into, however, I will have to find some time to do that, and I don't have that time right now.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. I do have a few more cards that I did and will post, but will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to do that.
Have a wonderful rest of your day - and remember to relax and smell the flowers.
~Paula~

Top Tip Tuesday Design Team Call

Have you aspired to be part of a design team? Well, here is your opportunity to apply to a fun and creative team. There are FOUR spots available on the team and we would love to see your crafty creations. So hop on over to the Top Tip Tuesday blog to get all the details. Hurry though as this call is only open until 6pm GMT on May 31st.

Relaxing and crafting go together

Especially when I can sit at my computer and pull out my digital elements in My Digital Studio and just place them on a background - simple, and no mess to clean up when I have to leave for work - which is soon. So, let me show you what I have been creating over the last couple of days. Yesterday, I created this card based on a sketch that I saw - not sure where now. It fits the theme this week for The Top Tip Tuesday Blog challenge.
My teammate Samantha has a fabulous tutorial on creating candy flowers and you really must check it out. then go and make a card using florals of some sort. there are some fabulous prizes as always. My card is a digital card - using elements from My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! I don't have a dedicated crafting space just yet - though that is about to change shortly. So, I have to drag everything out when I want to craft and then put it all away so that others in the family don't get frustrated by my mess. Of course, I am always cleaning up other's messes - so why can't I leave one of my own? Hmmm, guess it doesn't quite work that way. Anyway, with digital, there is no mess left behind and wonderful creations in the making. I can even save my work and come back to it later.

So, today I just wasn't up to dragging a bunch of stuff out to craft with, but still wanted to do some crafting, so I decided to sit in my comfy chair (well, I am not sure how comfortable it is) and just play with digital. I have a very buy month - with birthday's, graduations, and such, I needed a few cards - some of which I needed to send right away in order for the recipient to get it on time, so I created this simple birthday card for my son who is away at college. This is the front of the card and then, I added a couple more 'pages' and added a message to him on the inside. I used the extreme elements and changed the color and added a border on the bottom. I tried to make the border just on the white part, but it was a long process to change it, so I decided to leave it as it is. It is a simple and QUICK card for a young man away at college and I am sure that he will appreciate it. I will send this to him - with the other 'pages' by email (and hope he opens it) so that he gets it by Friday - which is his birthday. Now, if only I could send virtual money to him! lol

My oldest daughter graduates from high school in a couple of weeks, so I needed a card to give to her. This one I will probably get printed so that I can hand it to her. I got the idea for the card from Andrea Walford site. This particular idea was to help use up bits and pieces of scrap designer paper that we all have laying around - however, I didn't have any scrap digital DSP lying around, so I just 'cut' into some new. The nice thing about digital is that I DON'T have pieces laying around that I wonder what I am going to do with!! I didn't have any digital stamps in my selection for the text, so I created my own using the text feature. This way I could also make the words as big as I wanted. This was a fun one to do, but now looking at the card, I might just have to switch the pieces around a little to give it more dimension - but that will be for another day - and perhaps even another grad - my eighth grader is also graduating this year. She is my youngest - and I am beginning to feel really old as my kids begin to graduate and move on in their lives. This last card I made for another one of my kids who lives a long ways away. I like to send cards and greetings to my kids and friends, so had fun just making another 'manly' sort of card to let him know I am thinking about him. I also added a 'page' and wrote a greeting to him.

All of these cards were created as stated above using My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! I don't have a color printer, so am unable to print these off on my own - at least at the moment. However, I can submit these through Stampin' Up and can have them print them and sent to me so that I can send them out to my kids.

I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at my creations for the the last two days. I look forward to sharing more with you in the days ahead.

~Paula~

A little late - but here's the scoop. . .

This week over at Top Tip Tuesday there is an open challenge. You know what that means? It means you can create ANYTHING you want and enter it for a chance at some fabulous prizes from our sponsors.
I also want to let you all know that according to the May 2011 Wiki0 rankings - Top Tip Tuesday has now made it into the top 20 blogs in the UK and Irish blogospheres. You can find the listing here . I am so thrilled to be a part of this fantastic DT - if you take time to look through the list of blogs - you will see we are ahead of such 'famous' blogs as 'The Sugar Bowl' and 'Sir Stamp Alot Challenge'. There are a few other ones that we are ahead of, so you just have to go have a look. We have jumped up in the ratings quite a bit over the last couple of months and I want to thank those of you that support our blog with your entries into our weekly challenges.
My schedule at work continues to be crazy - working days this week, and nights next week. I am not sure when it will end!! It seems I only have time to throw together a digital creation about once a week - but I am so happy I have the My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! - as it sure makes it easy (and not to mention FUN) to create using my favorite images and papers.
Stop by soon to see what I am able to create - whether digital or real hands on paper - my friend Gloria thinks that I have gone over to the 'dark side' in playing with digital - she is probably right - but I must say that playing with digital is SO portable!! Like this weekend - when I am away from home - but not away from my computer - so guess what? I can STILL create with Stampin' Up! My digital traveling craft room!! :)

Have a great rest of your day wherever you are in the world.
~Paula~