Hexagons!

Today's theme over at Stylin' Stampin' Inkspiration is hexagons. I think just about everyone I know is in love with the new hexagon punch and coordinating stamp set, Six-sided Sampler.

I had many ideas floating around for using the hexagons today. This is the end result of one of those ideas and the other you'll see very soon when we feature the September card sketch.

I grabbed the Season of Style Designer Series Paper stack to punch out my hexagons. I glued them onto a sheet of Whisper White cardstock to create a flower of sorts. I knew I wanted to use the Floral Frames Collection of framelits to create the card base, and had decided at this point I didn't want a Christmas-y feel to my card. So I turned to my Color Coach for inspiration for the card base. Calypso Coral is one of the color recommendations for Cherry Cobbler.

While I've been very drawn to making simple cards lately, I felt it needed a little something extra, so I inked the edges with Cherry Cobbler. I added a Cherry Cobbler Designer Button to the middle to add to the flower theme of my card. It was important to me that the greeting not overpower the "flower" since I was featuring the hexagons. Pairing Fabulous Phrases with the Word Window punch allowed my hexagons to still be predominant.

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear what you think of today's card. Please visit the other SSInkspiration Design Team ladies' blogs to see their creative hexagon uses as well!

Late Summer Inspiration

My husband and I have acquired lots of furniture, dishes, & knickknacks from his grandma over the past couple of years. Most recently she gave me a large box of pictures because we thought I'd be able to find someone who would be interested in the frames for projects.
This frame really struck me and I knew I had to transform it. Today's 3-D project theme over at SSInkspiration gave me the perfect reason to get creative and design with this frame. I felt nostalgic each time I saw this frame so I headed back to my childhood. One of my favorite memories of this time of year was growing sunflowers to enter in the county fair. Whether it's a field or just a row of sunflowers, they always bring a smile to my face.
So I grabbed a sheet of Summer Starfruit cardstock to cut an oval out of. I stamped the Sunflower stamp with Baked Brown Sugar. I added two pieces of 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon in Summer Starfruit and a piece of 3/8" Ruffle Stretch Trim in Baked Brown Sugar to give a little extra jazz to the frame.
I can't wait to hang this on my office wall in the morning. Be sure to check out Shellie's fabulous 3-D project as well. We would love for you to share your favorite 3-D project you've made so link up in the comments over at SSInkspiration!
Have a fabulous weekend! Stay tuned, you might find a special treat this weekend!

I haven't fallen off the earth!

August has proven to be crazier & busier than I thought it would be. Just wanted to check in & let you know I have actually been working on something.  Head on over to the Inkspiration blog to see my first ever Design Team post.
Here are some sneak peeks!

Stylin' Stampin' Holiday Hop

Welcome to our August edition of the blog hop. I think we're all really excited for this one. Partially because we are featuring products from the Holiday catalog (who doesn't love holiday products?); but ,mostly because our new Inkspiration blog goes live today!

There are some wonderful new card kits in the Holiday catalog. The one that caught my eye is on page 27; the Merry Little Christmas one. I bought the coordinating Merry Little Christmas stamp set and this is my take on the card featured in the catalog.

Of course I used Coastal Cabana, love that color. I also used Night of Navy and embossed the greeting in silver. The bottom layer of paper is from the Specialty Designer Series Paper set called Winter Frost. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the other layer is our new Silver Foil Sheet. I added some of our new Silver 1/8" Ribbon and a Frosted Finishes Embellishment to round out the card.
Head on over to Pamela's blog to see what she's created for us today.




Blog Hop Participants:

1. Shellie G. of Craft Smashup
2. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun!
3. Rose C. of Stamp with Rose
4. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
5. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
6. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
7. Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
8. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
9. Heidi B of Stuck on Stampin'
10. Jennifer B. of NW Stamper
11. Bree R. of Craft-somnia
12. Diana E. of Stampin' Fun with Diana
13. Annie L. of Love Me Cards
14. Jennifer C. of Happy 2 Scrap 4 Life

Stop on over at the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration and meet the Design Team!

Inkspiration Blog

Stepping Up

Have you ever wondered what people are referring to when they say, "I stepped up this card?" Stepping up refers to taking a simple card & adding something to it to give it more detail. Let me show an example and then it will be more clear.

The first card is one that I taught at my last technique class. A very simple, easy to duplicate card.
The second card I "stepped up" by adding a layer of card stock and a piece of washi tape in the upper left corner.
While the first card is still nice, wouldn't you agree that the second one makes you say wow quicker than the first? It only took me an extra 60 seconds to step up the card! You can step up in many ways. Adding a punched piece, a rhinestone or ribbon, or using an embossing folder are just a few ideas.
The technique I used on this card is called color washing. The effect is achieved by using a clear block, our markers, & a Stampin' Spritzer filled with water. It typically won't turn out the same way twice!
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll post your own stepped up card on your blog or facebook & share the link in the comments below.