Posted by toyzhaven @ 11:03 am
Shelved under DD/DDA Challenges

Dare to Get Dirty Challenges Day #3

happily-ever-after.jpg   Welcome to Wacky Wednesday!

Ok, so why is it wacky?   I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.. at 4am sharp.    What to do, what to do.   Couldn’t go back to sleep, especially KNOWING my DH would only wake me at 5am  anyway.     So…. I snuck into the DDA forums and decided to get a jump start on today’s Dare to Get Dirty Challenges.    I had three cards made before 7am.   Two of which,  you will never see! LOL.   I really need a life.  

Today’s sample is from Jenn’s (jbalcer) Inspiration challenge.    I wish I could post a pic of the inspiration piece here, but since the DTGD challenges are for Fan Club members only, that would be a no-no.   Awww!   More reason to join the SCS Fan Club, if you aren’t already a member!   You can gain Fan Club membership here.

My cake was made using Brocade Basics…. stamped in versamark on basic black and then embossed in white.   I lined the layers with little pearls and added a bow.   This is the third day I’ve used Kiwi Kiss.   I am not a ‘green’ kinda girl, but I absolutely love this color.   I wish I had a more elegant ribbon to use, but even with a boatload of ribbon, I am lacking when it comes to the greens.

My question to you is…..what inspires you?   I am often inspired by colors… be it a tv ad, a blouse someone is wearing, or nature itself.   I’m a very visual person and geometric shapes also inspire me.   It helps that I have 2 brains (an analytical one and a passionate one)… one time I will see something for only what it is (the analytical part) and the next I will see the same thing with passion and it takes on a whole new meaning.   So tell me…. what inspires you?

Here are my deets:

Stamps:  Brocade Basics (SU!) and sentiment by My Favorite Things

Colors:  GP White, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss

Ink: Versamark, Brilliance Graphite Black

Accessories: ribbon, dimensionals, corner rounder punch, swirls and birds EF, 1/2 pearls, white EP.

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

Posted by toyzhaven @ 11:09 am
Shelved under DD/DDA Challenges

Dare to Get Dirty Challenges ~ Day #2

cas-miss-you.jpg  Happy Tuesday!

Ok, so there are three Dare to Get Dirty Challenges this morning…. I knew with my schedule, I could only pick one today.   I wanted to do a combo, but couldn’t quite wrap my brain around that!  So…. I went with the toughest one for me….. JulieHRR’s challenge. 

This was HARD!   First of all, I am a layer girl and ya’ll know that.   I didn’t even know where to start, so I studied Julie’s gallery for awhile and I think I ‘get it’ now.   I was scared to stamp on the white piece of cardstock in front of me, at first, as I knew this was it!  I couldn’t cut it out or pop it up or layer it.   I was sweating! LOL  

For this card, I chose this Pretty Petals set by Kitchen Sink Stamps (www.kitchensinkstamps.com) .  I first stamped the flower center in Kiwi Kiss, then alternated petals in Regal Rose and Bali Breeze.   I punched my trusty ribbon punch on the side and ran some green piped organdy ribbon through… added a sentiment and popped on a 1/2 pearl and voila!  This took me all of 10 minutes to do, after I figured out the ‘concept’.   I really really love it!  Thanks to Julie for all the inspiration!!

Here are my deets:

Stamps:  Pretty Petals by Kitchen Sink Stamps, sentiment by My Favorite Things

Colors: GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Kiwi Kiss, Bali Breeze, Regal Rose

Accessories: 1/2 pearl, ribbon punch, ribbon

*******************************************************

A Little Funny for You:

How to Tell the Sex of a Fly

A woman walked into the kitchen to find her
husband stalking around with a fly swatter

‘What are you doing?’
She asked.
‘Hunting Flies’ He responded.
‘Oh. ! Killing any?’
She asked.

‘Yep, 3 males, 2 Females,’ he replied.

Intrigued, she asked.
‘How can you tell them apart?’

He responded,

‘3 were on a beer can,
2 were on the phone. ‘

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

Posted by toyzhaven @ 11:04 am
Shelved under DD/DDA Challenges

Wanna get dirty…. or play like it anyways? :)   Well then, I dare you to play along with the Dare to Get Dirty ‘08 challenges on SCS this week!   The first challenges have been posted only moments ago and there will be multiple challenges each day from now through Sunday the 27th!

Oh, wait, but that’s not all!   Read this important announcement by Jenn Balcer!   You’ll want to play in all of the challenges this week to get in on some awesome prizes!  Yes, that’s right… prizes!!  Not only is every Fan Club member encouraged to play along, but if you’re not yet a Fan Club member, now is an awesome time to join!   See Fan Club information HERE.

I’ve decided to do Jody’s (Texasjodylynn) challenge first today.   Jody is all about ribbon… a true ribbonista.   I have tons of ribbon and even more ribbon bits (scraps)… so, here is what I did :

wow-ribbons.jpg   Now before you choke on the ton of ribbon I used, let me add that it’s all my scraps from a recent project.   I had about 7″ of ribbon left over from a big pack of matching ribbon and thought I could use these scraps to make a ribbon bow.  Each piece is folded under and adhered on each end, then adhered in a layering pattern.   Oh, yeah… this one will defintely be one of those ‘hand deliver’ cards … lol.   I used my new Wow Flowers set to make the center and for the sentiment.

Speaking of ribbon scraps, how do you store yours?    I purchased a small (1.5 gal) fish bowl from my local craft store.    I just stuff my ribbon bits in there and can see what I have at any time.   I’d be interested in hearing your creative storage ideas!

Here are my deets:

Stamps:  SU’s Wow Flowers

Colors: Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, MME DP, GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black

Acceessories: ribbon pieces 7″ long, circle punches, scallop punch, brads, ticket corner punch, dimensionals, tiny prima.

TFL!~  and have a blast today!! 

Posted by toyzhaven @ 9:19 am

dianes-sketch-challenge.jpg   Happy Friday!

So…. a few us (DD/DDA) were chatting about all of our stamping friends heading off to CHA in Chicago and leaving the rest of us behind.   We had a momentary pity party, then decided we would have some fun while they are all gone.    So, Emily came up with the idea of some blog challenges to keep us busy.

Today I went with Diane Z’s (cookiestamper) sketch challenge seen on her Papercookies blog.   Holy cow was this a tough one.   First, I was stumped by the ‘heart’…… I took it literal and went with the only heart stamp I could find.   Then I had to work around my lack of wide ribbon.   This ‘christmasy’ ribbon is all I had, so it really dictated the colors I had to use.   Hmmm… I think it came out ok, but after looking at Diane’s sample, now I wish I had added something in the bottom left corner… I may still!

Here’s my deets:

Stamps:  Always by SU!

Colors: Garden Green, Real Red, GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, versamark, garden green, Tim Holtz firebrick red distressing ink

Accessories: brads, wide ribbon, dimensionals, scissors, green and red EP, HPH,  stipple brush

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

Posted by toyzhaven @ 8:32 am

dddt-challenge-outside.jpg    My oh My, it’s Friday again.

It’s that time again… the Dirty girls have posed a challenge to the group.  We were to make a patriotic card (our interpretation) and we were to decorate the inside and the envelope! 

I knew I wanted to make this BBQ invite, in fact, I need to make 4 more, as we are having a small gathering (BBQ) here on the 4th.   I need to get these mailed TODAY!!   Nothing like waiting til the last minute..lol. 

I knew this image from Hambo (www.hambostamps.com) was perfect and thanks to Monica for suggesting the little hamburger to go along with it!!   I don’t own any ‘invite’ sets, so I had to handwrite the inside and the “You’re Invited” sentiment.

Oh, and we were not allowed to use ribbon!!  The horror!! :)  Instead, I crimped a piece of blue paper to give just a little more texture.  I cuttlebugged the white piece with the bubbles EF, as it looks like tiny hamburger buns, to me!

 dddt-challenge-inside.jpg

Here’s my deets:

Stamps:  BBQ Man, Hamburger and ‘Summer’ sentiment by Hambo Stamps.

Colors: Brilliant Blue, GP White, Real Red

Accessories: brads, dimensionals, scissors, blue fine tip marker, cuttlebug, crimper

TFL!~ and have a blessed day~

Posted by toyzhaven @ 6:34 am
Shelved under DD/DDA Challenges

youre-a-hoot.jpg  Good Tuesday to ya!  Owl’s it going?  heehee… couldn’t resist.

I may have mentioned this before, but each month, the Dirty Dozen and Alumni have a special challenge.  This month, it was to make an owl (or other feathered friend) card.   Our limitation was no crystal, rhinestones or dew drops.  We also had to include texture on our card. 

Well, I almost didn’t make the challenge, even though I’ve had my ‘idea’ in my head for weeks now.   I, being an 11th hour kinda girl, didn’t start stamping until this morning at 5:30am.    I was barely 2 sips into my coffee when I realized my ‘idea’ wasn’t going to work (branch was too long for the owls), so I trashed that.  Then I cut my base paper the wrong way.  Then …. well you get the idea.  Stamping was not my friend this morning!  I’m only mildly pleased with the outcome, and may do another later, but here it is!  :)

Here’s my deets:

Stamps: Owl & Branch by Hero Arts; Sentiment by Stampendous

Colors: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Bliss Blue

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, copics

Accessories: Brads, ribbon, dimensionals, cuttlebug bubbles EF, primas.

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

Posted by toyzhaven @ 8:09 am

natural-hello.jpg  G’morning :)…..  It’s a two-fer morning!  First, I really love this morning’s Sketch Challenge on SCS!  The sketch is right up my alley.. lots of layers, and of course, I added a couple more just for good measure.

Last night I was watching a show on Nickelodeon with the boys.  The girl on the show was wearing a shirt with these colors and it was soooo cool!   I get inspired in the strangest ways, sometimes.  

So, without further ado.. here are the deets on this one:

Stamps:  Natural Beauty by SU!, Floral BG (SU!) and Essential Sentiments by MFT (www.mftstamps.com)

Colors: Wild Wasabi, GP White, Regal Rose, Purely Pomegranate

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Regal Rose, Copics

Accessories: white brads, white organdy ribbon, circle punches, scissors, swiss dots EF, ticket corner punch, dimensionals

**************************************************************************

                                                     A Dirty Challenge

youre-a-good-egg.jpg  It was a dirty challenge, but someone(s) had to do it!   This month’s Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni challenge was to make a springy card (without cuttlebug, nesties, etc), using the stamp(s) designed by other Dirty Dozen/Alumni - OR- use a card from a DD/DDA gallery to inspire a card. 

Well, I did BOTH!  I used this adorable bedazzled egg by Whipper Snapper Designs (Anna Wight-Designer) AND I used this sketch by WAXYO (Meg Shumaker) as inspiration for my sketch.   I stretched Meg’s sketch a bit to make it into a tall card measuring 8 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches (fits into a #10 envelope).

Here’s the deets on this one:

Stamps:  Whipper Snapper Designs (Anna Wight-Designer),  Eggstra Special Easter (chick) by My Favorite Things’, Dotted bg by Impress, Inc.

Colors:  Wild Wasabi, GP White, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Pumpkin Pie, Copics, White Gel pen

Accessories: checkered ribbon, stickles, circle punches, dimensionals

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

Posted by toyzhaven @ 9:59 pm
Shelved under DD/DDA Challenges

dlet-the-good-times-roll.jpg  Sooooo… we had this little challenge amongst the Dirty Dozen and Dirty Dozen Alumni this past month.  The challenge was to make a non standard sized card or project with an image of a girl/woman.  We were to make it ’sweet’.   You can see all the entries in the challenge in the SCS gallery here: DCG108.  Look for a new challenge next month!

Ok, so here’s my entry…. Let the Good times Roll.   I actually was thinking of JulieHRR when I went for the appletini motif.  I colored the image with copic markers, then used the tiny apple off the the large collage stamp from Stampin’ Up!’s Give Thanks set.  I omit stamped them twice, cut them out and popped them on the image. 

Ok.. a couple people have asked me about this “DP”.  Well, it’s pretty simple.  I made it!  It was so easy with my copics.  I used the appropriate colors to match my cardstock and simply alternated stripes with a ruler.  Voila.. customized DP.

This card is a full 8 1/2 x 4 1/2″ and it fits in a #10 envelope.

Stamps:  Martini Girl (maker unknown); Sentiment by Judith

Colors: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Real Red, GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, copics

Accessories:  brads, ribbon, dimensionals, oval punch, and one appletini, please!

Oh but that’s not all!  And you thought I was through… heehee. 

I’ve decided to put more effort and goodies into my blog.  I’m hiring on my son to do some work on it and hoping to spruce it up.  We’re going to have a new feature called “As my Mom would say, Wednesday”.   Each week will be a new challenge for me and YOU, if you’d like to play along.   I’ll be posting a sketch this coming Wednesday and we’ll talk about the things mom’s say.  I invite you to join me!

TFL!~