Dynamic Duos Pick

One of my favorite challenge blogs is Dyanmic Duos. If you're looking for a fun challenge that's not to fussy and leaves loads of room for creativity, Dynamic Duos is perfect for that.   So I was thrilled when one of my cards again got chosen as a runner up this month.  

Click here for more info on the card below:  CLICKY

Merry Muscle Car Wishes

This card is also posted on Bombshell Stamps' Muse Monday post today.  I got inspiration from two challenges: Retro Sketch 94 and Dynamic Duos 83. The card features Bombshell Stamps' Speed Shop Stamp set.  The car is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copic markers. 

I wrapped pieces of ribbon onto a scrap of cardstock for the blue chevron accent.   The ribbon is from Stampin' Up in Marina Mist.  The background is embossed using Stampin' Up's Arglye embossing folder

 Printed papers are by Stampin' Up and SEI.   The cardstock is Stampin' Up Crumb Cake.  The greeting is from SU's retired Lots of Thoughts set.

 

And the inside of the card. 

  Here's the sketch and color challenge inspiration.

A Happy Dyanmic Duos Christmas to Me!

Yay.  I got an early Christmas present this evening when I logged on to browse and saw that Dynamic Duos selected my card as one of their favorites.  Thank you Christina for picking my card.  

I just posted the card yesterday.  I almost didn't make it as yesterday was the deadline to enter.   Click here for the post or just scroll back one page.  

Gold Medallion Christmas

I almost didn't make it.   This is for the Dynamic Duos #33 challenge this week.  Today's the last day to enter.   The color inspiration is black and gold.  At first, I wasn't sure I was going to play along.  But I needed more Chirstmas cards to send out and a little inspiration didn't hurt.  

This was a simple enough design to mass produce, but I have to say, all of the embossing did end up taking some time.   Below is the design in landscape mode and also vertical. 

Supplies: 

Stamps: Stampin' Up (Medallion, Contempo Christmas)

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Stampin' Up (cardstock), Canson (gold shimmer)

Accessories: Stampin' Up (seam binding & antique brads)

Dynamic Duos Darling

I had such great intentions of working on my blog over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Well, here I am with insomnia getting the best of me and it's now the Monday after Thanksgiving.   I did get a lot of shopping done, cooked a lot of food, ate a lot of food, and best of all was probably Black Friday/Thursday with my 10 year old son.   This is our second year doing Black Friday together and it may become a tradition.  He loves it.  So who am I to say no?

I do have some holiday projects to post for December, so stay tuned.   Last year I kicked off my blog with a card a day in December until I ran out. I'm going to try and do the same this year.  I'm also the guest designer for Bombshell Stamps in December.  I have a couple of projects prepped, more to do, and am all around excited about being the December Bombshell pin up.   Sounds sexy doesn't it?   :-)   

  In the mean time, I'm thrilled to share some news with you.   My Victorian Holiday card (previous post) got selected as one of the Dynamic Duos Darling this past week.  I love that blog and their color challenges.

Here's my card.   And the post is HERE if you'd like to see more pictures and get more info.

And this is the color challenge for last week.   

Thank you to the ladies at Dynamic Duos and especially Jenny for selecting my card.  It's an honor and I love the inspiration I get from your challenges.   

Victorian Blue Christmas

I've been making some Christmas cards and needed to get out of the standard red and green color mode.  When I saw this week's Dynamic Duo's challenge (DD29), it was just the ticket.   I combined it with this week's Retro Sketches challenge (RS38) and came up with this card.  

The stamp I used is one I unmounted some time ago and wish I could recall the brand.  Some of the first stamps I unmounted, I didn't think to keep track of the manufacturer.   I want to say it's Good Night Media, but I'm not sure.  If you recognize it, please post. 

Here's a bit of a close up.  I used SU watercolor wonder crayons to add some muddled hues to the background of the image.  And markers, to go over the "Merry Christmas".  I also colored in a few little spots on the black and white print paper using a Marina Mist SU marker just to tie it all together a bit more.

...and a peek into the inside of the card.  I haven't add a greeting yet.  I'll do that as I get ready to send it.

Here's the sketch and color inspiration.   My main image was a bit large so I had to adjust the sketch, but the inspiration is there nonetheless.

Supplies: 

Stamp: Inkadinkadoo

Paper: Stampin' Up (Night & Day DSP, Subtles Patterns stack), SU Cardstock (Marina Mist, Basic Black, Whisper White)

Ink: SU Basic Black (gotta wait for it to dry after stamping)

Coloring: SU markers, SU watercolor wonder crayons

Tools: EK Success Border punch on the inside

Accessories: SU ribbon

Halloween Ride

I just love these motorcycle stamps by Bombshell Stamps.   I decided to challenge myself to make a Halloween card and this is what I came up with.  The motorcycle stamp from Bombshesll Stamp's set called Custom Choppers is just such a fun image to use.  It just wants to roll right off of the page/card.

I stamped the image on some speckled cardstock from Stampin' Up.   I then cut it down to size and used a ruler with an Exacto knife and freestyle trimming with an Exacto knife to make the image of the bike just roll off of the white base. 

Both the front and the back of the bike are slightly off of the white stamped layer. 

And here's the inside of the card.   The Happy Halloween banner on the front of the card ended up getting covered up, so I added another strip on the inside of the card. 

ETA: and it just so happens that this card is perfect for this week's Dynamic Duos challenge. I had to add it to the dynamic duos challenge blog.   Love the ladies there and it's one of my favorite challenge blogs.

Supplies
Stamps: Bombshell Stamps (Custom Choppers)
Paper: My Mind's Eye (Mischievous, 6x6 pack), Stampin' Up Cardstock (Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, & Confetti)
Ink: Memento
Coloring: Copic Markers
Accents: Paper Studio star brads

Wow! I just won...

I couldn't believe my eyes.  I've been having a rough week this week.  My hubby's been out of town for on business for two weeks now and juggling work, soccer with two kids, and everything else was just wearing me thin.  I haven't even had much of a chance to get a creative burst in this week.  In fact, I only posted one card to my blog this week. 

Imagine my surprise and energy boost as I log on this morning to check my blogs (a.k.a. equivalent of morning paper while drinking coffee) and I see that I won.   WOW.   I was named the Diva Dynamo by the Dynamic Duos color challenge blog.   I feel so honored and humble at the same time.   Check it out here CLICKY!  The blog is wonderful and I really enjoy their color challenges.  

Here's the card that the ladies at Dynamic Duos liked so much to honor this week.   My post for this card is here: CLICKY.  Check it out to see the supplies and pictures of the inside of the card too. 

Green and Booty

This is for this weeks' Dynamic Duos challenge #20.   The color combo was fun and the bonus theme of Halloween was the perfect inspiration.   I just got the Stampin' Up Bootiful Occasions stamp set and this was the perfect challenge to break in that set.

Inside of the card.

Here's the color challenge...

Supply List: 

Stamps: Stampin' Up (Bootiful Occasions)

Ink: SU Classic (Lucky Limeade)

Paper: SU (Summer Smooches DSP), SU cardstock (Black, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade)

Tools: Martha Steward (dripping paint and spider web border punches), Sizzix (spider die)

Black Bow Wishes

Two challenges provided the inspiration that created this card.   For the colors, I was inspired by this weeks Dynamic Duos challenge and for the layout, I used this week's Retro Sketch.  I started with the colors and pulled papers with black and/or River Rock.   I settled on the papers from Stampin Up's Neutral's Patterns Stack.   The prints use an image that is also part of Stampin' Up's Artistic Etchings stamp set.  Voila, I have my paper and stamp set.  Next is to assemble it all using the sketch.  

Additional supplies include SU Very Vanilla cardstock, SU black satin ribbon, and a SU antique brad.

 Inside of the card.

Color and sketch challenges used. 

Newly Wed Elegance

I don't have any cards in my stash for newly weds, well...now I have one.   I used last week's Retro Sketch #24 and last week's Dynamic Duos #15 as inspiration. I wasn't paying attention to the challenge cut off dates and missed the submission deadline, however, I enjoyed the inspiration nonetheless.   I don't get to do these challenges that often, so this is a treat.   Here's what I came up with.

The embossed layer is slightly smaller than the card base and popped up.   I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I cut the pink medallion using my KNK Zing after tracing the image using Make the Cut.  I wasn't sure I'd like the medallion and may end up investing in the die after all.   The upper left corner is rounded using a Martha Stewart punch.  It has a bit of a larger radius than some of my other corner rounders.

The seam binding ribbon and antique brad are from Stampin Up.  The greeting is stamped in Certainly Celery Classic Die ink and using a stamp from Stampin' Up's Teeny Tiny Wishes set and then punched using SU's Word Window punch and layered on a punch out (SU Modern Label punch).   Add some pearl accents and SU dimensionals and the front of the card is complete.

Here's the inside of the card. 

And lastly, icons from the two challenges I used as inspiration. DD15 and RS24