Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge #17

Hello Stampers it's time again for the Utah Diva's Weekly Inspiration Challenge. This week I thought to take an favorite project from my childhood and breath a new life into it on this card. Who doesn't remember making snowflakes out of circles when they were a kid. I took my Stampin Up circle punches and did just that. I folded them into quarters and randomly cut pieces out of them and voila! snowflakes.

Ok true confession time; I didn't have any current snowflake stamps to complete my idea so I went with my inner child on this one.

Hope you like it!

Copy Cat Friday

Happy Halloween! I was thinking; I know that sounds strange coming from me but, I love blurfing (blog surfing) the net to see all of the great ideas other stampers have come up with. I also like to honor their creativity by using their ideas in some of my workshops. So I have decided to start Copy Cat Fridays so I can show and give props to those who have helped inspire me with their creativity.





SO today's Halloween project is this great Frankenstein card made with the Big Shot and some punches.





I stumbled upon Lynn Larson's blog and this adorable Frankenstein card using the Top Notes die and the Big Shot by Sizziks. His eyes and nose are circle punches and his bolts are a word window punch cut in half. I just love this guy. My stamp club really enjoyed making him as well. As many of you know, I love making cards that use my punches to create an out of the box look. With the new Big Shot I am having a blast.

Hope Everyone Has A Spooktacular Halloween!

Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge #15

Hello Bloggers,

Well it's time for another Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge. Isn't this inspiration picture great for Halloween. I just love this little bug. He looks like he is ready to have a cup of tea and ask "What's new Luv?" I just love him.

But I am not so wild about my project this week. You know how you start a project and it is just too plain but you don't know what to add to it. That's where I am this week. So I will let you be the judge and take suggestions as to how I can spiff up my project for this week.

I really like the triangle treat box that was this week's Splitcoast technique project. I thought it would be a nice switch up to do a 3-D project this week. So here goes.

I created my box with Stampin' Up's Kiwi Kiss and then I decided to use the Organic Grace stamp set for my fern leaves and my dragon fly. I closed my box with some Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon.

Ok now it's your turn; if you have a suggestion on how to spiff this project up, please post it. I think you'll agree that it's missing something.

I can't wait to see what suggestions y'all come up with.

Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge #14

WOW! I have had so many problems with Blogger today. I am sorry that my post is so late. I kept being denied access all day. But persistence finally paid off and here we are. This week Maria really issued a challenge. While this week's inspiration is beautiful to look at, it was difficult to design a project for. I always seem to struggle with the monochromatic types of challenges I need a variety of colors to work with. So I hope you enjoy my interpretation of this week's Diva Inspiration Challenge.

When I first looked at the picture I instantly thought about using the polished stone technique to achieve the watery look of the background. I love polished stone and haven't used it recently so it was fun to dig out the cotton balls and reinkers. I like to watch the way the ink floats on the glossy white cardstock and then floats into the very individual design you end up with. It is amazing how fast the alcohol evaporates and the ink dries.

For the flowers I chose the Eastern Blossoms stamp set from Stampin Up. I double inked the stamp up to get the slightly different color for the flowers. First I markered the stamp with Tempting Turquoise then I pressed the stamp into Ballet Blue and then stamped it out. I really like how the two colors combined created such a different softer version of each. For the smaller flower I sponged the edges with the Ballet Blue to give them a little pop so they would stand out from the bigger blossoms. I arranged the flowers on a circle of Tempting Turquoise so that I would keep that circular look.

I have had fun inking my fingers blue and polishing off my stones (giggle). I need to pull out some marbles now and take it to the next level. Hmmm. Maybe next week's challenge will give me the opportunity to do that. We'll have to see.

Thanks for stopping by.

Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge #13

Well It's Thursday again and time for another Utah Divas International Inspiration Challenge.

This week's challenge just screamed Dahlia Fold technique. I did struggle with this one and that's why my post is a bit late today. It is really hard to get the folds right without totally crumpling the 1 3/8" circles into unrecognizable flowers. After several mishaps I finally got it! Whoo Hoo!!! I have to say I really do like this technique and have really wanted to try it for a long time, so thank you Maria for providing such a great and striking photo for this week's challenge.

So???? What do you think???? I know I only recreated one bunch of the flowers, but I felt that was enough. I used my finger dauber to lightly brush the edges of front folds of my Pink Pirouette flowers with Tangerine Tango to accentuate the centers of the calla lilies. For the leaves, I ran my Artichoke through the crimper then punched them with the small oval punch and then scored them down the center and folded to get the leaves. I hand wrote the I Love You on the ribbon because I didn't have a stamp for it.

Overall I like how my card turned out this week; I hope you do too.

Thanks for stopping by and checking my work out.

Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge #12

Hello Bloggers! Can you believe it that we have reached twelve weeks of Diva Challenges? I'm sorry I missed last week's challenge. I have been in a creative slump. I see inspiration everywhere but just can't get it to transfer into something of my creation. I know each of you has to have had this dilemma every once in a while. I have been working on a new internet adventure that I will reveal once I get closer to launching it. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Well this week's Utah Diva Inspiration Challenge comes from a Martha Stewart picture that Maria sent out to us. I remembered this style of pup-up card that holds a fun surprise. I love this style because you can adjust the size to insert whatever you like in it. It can hold a tea bag like I used on this one or as we get into winter, you can insert a cocoa packet or even a single serving of coffee. Don't forget that a chocolate bar also works well too. For my pop up pouch I used Stampin Up's new Tangerine Tango, and Kiwi Kiss card stock, my butterfly and a flower were stamped on Bashful Blue, and I stamped a couple of the flowers on Whisper White. I cut out the flowers to add an extra pop to the surface and attached them with little pieces of dimensionals.

I have a couple of fun projects to post over the next couple of days so tune to see what we have been doing in my stamp clubs. I am really excited that the holidays are coming soon. There is so much to do and create to celebrate this time of year.

Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge #10

Hello Bloggers! I have been away for a bit and then it took me a week to get my bearings back. So I'm back! I know I missed the last couple of
challenges but I hope you like this week's UDI Challenge. When I first looked at the inspiration picture I just couldn't see anything to interpret from it, but then I started looking at the colors and layers and a design started coming to mind. I did see the basic layout for my card from another stamper's work on Splitcoast, but I can't remember who it was to give credit to.

I decided that since I have been on a real Chocolate Chip kick lately that I need to make that my base color, and don't you just love that Pocket Silhouettes stamp set? It is so versatile a just plain cute! I'm thinking that maybe I should have used Creamy Caramel instead of Sahara Sand but I like the combination of the these colors. I hope you like my interpretation, and I would love to see your comments.

Thanks for stopping by.

Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge #6

Hello Bloggers,

Well my post for this week's Utah Diva's Inspiration Challenge is pretty late. I apologize, life has been pretty crazy around my house the last two days. I am getting ready for a trip and I had unexpected guests from out of town. I know you can understand the craziness going on with that. So without further adieu.... Here is my take on this week's Inspiration Challenge. I want to compliment Maria for providing us with some really challenging photos to design from. She babysits me to make sure I stay on track the best she can. I can be difficult at times. This week's inspiration picture did not disappoint. I really struggled with this one because it only used two colors. I really had to reach to come up with something for this one.

So what do you think? I used the faux wood grain technique to create this week's card. I first embossed the flowers from Heartfelt Thanks; then, with an old toothbrush (yes I cleaned it first) I brushed Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa ink across the page and then wiped the embossed flowers off. I then layered this piece onto Close to Cocoa and then on to White. Cardstock. I stamped the Thanks in White Craft ink on Close to Cocoa and the roughed up the edges to give it a little dimension. I like how this card finally turned out.

Next week I'll be away but I hope to have internet access to post my interpretation of next week's challenge image.

Diva Weekly Inspiration Challenge #5

Good Morning Bloggers!

Well I've made it to week number 5 of the Utah Diva International's Weekly Inspiration Challenges. I have to say I like this week's challenge the best. I absolutely love the One of a Kind stamp set. It just screams the rock-n-roll technique every time I use it. For the flower in the center I punched a Night of Navy scallop circle for the base then I stamped the flower two times; first in Night of Navy, then in Ballet Blue. I cut the outer edged Navy one out first, then I cut the center flower out in Ballet Blue and attached them with dimensionals. I added the center flower with another dimensional to really give the flower some pop. I know you can't really see the definition of the flower, but I really liked how it turned out.

I was glad I finally had a card that I could use this different shaped gate card fold on. I love this shape of this card. I have to admit, I redesigned this challenge probably four times before I arrived at my final design, but I am very pleased with it. I hope you like it too. Isn't this week's inspiration picture fabulous?

Thanks for popping in!

Happy Hump Day

Can you believe it? I'm posting other than on Thursday's Utah Diva Challenge. I had to come up with a simple card for a bridal shower. One of my younger cousins is getting married and we wanted to welcome his new wife to be to the family. I didn't think she was a traditional type of bride but a little more modern, so I took this idea right from the pages of the Aug. 2008 Stampin Success. I loved the colors and the simplicity of this card. I didn't have the same stamps that the sample card had so I improvised. I printed the phrase of the computer. I changed the swirl to one of the ones from Stampin Up's Priceless set. I added a little chocolate chip, some so saffron, and a bit of baja breeze and Voila! Simple card.

Check back tomorrow for the next Utah Diva's Inspiration Challenge. I am particularly proud of this design.

UDI Challenge #4

OMG! I can't believe that I am finally able to post. I have been struggling through connection issues and then logging in issues. It has been enough to make a girl go stark raving mad. So here goes for Utah Divas International Inspiration Challenge #4.

I have to confess where I cased most of this idea from; I was glancing at the newest edition of the Stampin Up Stampin Success and I saw a gorgeous version of this card. I was stuck as to which flower to use for this challenge, because I don't have that many current sets. I was also looking for one that I could watercolor in the shades of red that keep with the inspiration picture. I hope you like what I came up with. I love the simple elegance of this card and how fast it was to put it together. I made several to keep in my card stash box. I know I'm going to want to have more than one on hand. I don't know if you are like I am with your cards, but if you are pleased with an idea you had better make more than one or you will never part with the single card. I guess you could say I have creative anxiety separation disorder. I hate to give the only copy of an idea away. I just created my own disorder.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will check out the UDI blog for the other challenge artists work this week.

UDI Challenge #3

I just got home from Stampin' Up! convention and had this great Utah Divas International (UDI) challenge waiting for me. I am a member of the UDI Challenge Team. Our Challenge Coordinator found a great inspiration for this week's challenge. When I saw the inspiration picture I instantly thought of the Andy Warhol look. It just screamed this challenge. The colors in the inspiration also gave me the perfect opportunity to use my new SU In Colors and two of the new stamp sets I received at convention. Don't you just love this new flower? I really love all three of the stamp sets we received this year.

For this card I used flower from the Eastern Blooms set and the words from the Inspired By Nature. For the colors I used the new In Colors Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, and Close to Cocoa. The words are stamped in Tangerine Tango and the flowers are stamped in White Craft ink.

I love the simplicity of this card and how it showes off the new big flower in the Eastern Blooms set. Did I mention I love this set?

More Happy Mail

I wanted to share some more of my beautiful birthday cards that my friends over at Utah Divas International.

This spectacular Taken With Teal card was created by Sara Chamberlain. She used the Essence of Love stamp set by Stampin Up. I love the way she created a window with the scallop circle. Thanks Sara

This amazing card was created by Janice Rock. I just love the simple layering and embellishments in the perfect places. I must be in a purple mood this month because almost anything in purple catches my eye. The Almost Amethyst goes so nicely with the Elegant Eggplant. The punched flower has a cute rhinestone brad and the vase from the Best Kind of Friend set has been cut out with a bow perfectly placed on it. I appreciate your thoughts and efforts. Thanks

This bright and cheerful card was sent to me from my long time friend Tammy Fite. Tammy and I have been swapping for a few years now and I have been such a fan of her work. I love the combination of Real Red and Tempting Turquoise, a little splash of ribbon and a few deco brads and voila! instant smiles.

Thanks Tammy, I love it!

More Birthday Mail

Well I'm such a dork. I hit the publish button too soon. Here are some of the other fabulous cards I have received.

Isn't this mouse just too cute. Kathy Blanco created this little cutie. I am jealous she has the larger scallop punches. I need to break down and get those. She stamped a mouse on the envelope too so I couldn't wait to see what was inside. Thanks Kathy!






This purple flower card is the creation of Jill St. Angelo. Jill used the Polka Dots and Paisley by Stampin Up! I just love these colors, but then who doesn't enjoy Perfect and Pale Plumb together. Thank You Jill for thinking of me.












This card was sent to me from Max on behalf of all of my stamping friends at Utah Divas International. This is fabulous group of ladies that share and lend support to each other in both good times and rough. The members are from all over the stamping world, and I am so glad I have the privilege to call each and every one my friend. Thanks Ladies and I look forward to meeting so many of you at convention.






Pat Washburn created this card. You can't tell by the picture, but Pat embossed the flower from Stampin Up's Live Your Dream set and then rubbed (I think) Guava ink over the top to make the petals of the flower pop. She also did shadow stamping to give the flower added dimension. I had forgotten about this technique. I think I feel a revival coming at my next workshop. Thanks Pat and everyone for sharing my day with me.

Birthday Mail

Wow have I recieved some amazing cards in the mail over the past few weeks. It tickles me so much to recieve hand stamped cards. I know the work and thought that was put into it and I really appreciate the thoughts.

This adoreable hippo card that Bev Williams sent to me has such amazing detail to it. Each layer is hand dotted and the Elegant Eggplant and Cameo Coral layers have been embossed with this great dot pattern. I think I am going to have to add this embosser to my arsenal of embossing folders. The hippo is so adoreable, she layered his head to give him extra dimension. Too Cute!

And The Winner Is......

Well, Jeanna, and Lisa are my winners this time around. I will get your goodies out in the mail to you in the morning. Jeanna, I will sending out to you a 7 Gypsies Rubber Band Mini Scrapbook and a Travel Pack of stickers, tags, and embellishments for your new book. Lisa I will be sending you a Fiskars Tool Taxi and a spool of pink and brown polka dotted ribbon.

Congrats ladies, and thanks for stopping by.

I have received some great birthday cards in the mail of the past few days and I will post pics of them over the next few days.

Thanks ladies

Birthday Booty Time!

Hi Bloggers,
As you can tell from my birthday counter it's almost my birthday. I wanted to give you the viewers of my blog a birthday gift from me. I will have two giveaways and I will post the pics after I go torture myself at the gym. All you have to do is post to this thread. I will randomly draw two winners on Tuesday morning. Please make sure you include your email if you don't have a blog so I can contact the winners.

Come back later to see the goodies up for grabs.

Now off to kickboxing aerobics to get my butt kicked, ohhh I mean kick some butt.

Scallop Note Purses

Well, I'm back stamping again. One of my clubs decided that they wanted to make Scallop Note Purses. I found a great tutorial at Jan Tinks's fabulous blog. If you've never been there, you must take a peek; she's a hoot.

This is the one that I made. These were really fun and not as difficult as I thought they would be. Now you may notice that I have a Pretty in Pink scallop as my flap. You may be wondering which package of scallops did I find that one in, well, I didn't. I took one of my scallop notes and made a template. I wanted different colors than the Stampin Up! package offered so I made my own in the colors that fit my design. My club members absolutely loved their projects. They had so much fun and stepped out of their comfort zones and let the creative juices flow and WOW. These ladies all loved the projects that they created. Each one was so uniquely different. I know I had the most fun watching them.

On my purse I used Stampin Up's Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, and Close to Cocoa cardstocks, and Rose Red Designer Papers. I added some Hodge Podge hardware and ribbon from the Flirty Originals assortment.

Kristie was so proud of her project. All of the supplies used on her project were Stampin Up's too.

How Does My Garden Grow

I am pretty excited to see the new things growing in my garden. I have added a blueberry bush to my front porch. It is so fun to be able to walk right out the front door and pick a handful of blueberries and toss them in my yogurt. Sooo fun! I had given my mom one of these bushes for Mother's Day. I wanted to give her something healthy and different, but I enjoyed her bush so much I needed one of my own. It is so cool that the bush was already loaded with green berries. They are ripening at the perfect pace; not at the same time.





My other success right now is my patio tomato plant. It's loaded too! While tomatoes are being pulled off the shelves at the local market, I am pulling them off my plant. I was able to pluck three off today so I can't wait to put them in my salad tonight. This is the best part of gardening; being able to eat the fruits of your labors.

Can you believe all of those cute little tomatoes?

The bottom left corner is my mint plant too. It is doing well. I say this because somehow last year I killed one. I know, I know it's almost impossible to kill mint, but I did. I wasn't discouraged though, I confidently returned to my Lowes garden shop and started over, and VOILA! It is growing nicely. I'll have to keep you posted on the Rosemary plant. He's still little but so far so good.

Thanks for reading my little gardening journal. I'll have stamping stuff to post tomorrow.

Happy Mail!!!

Look what came in the mail.

I am such a lucky girl to have Jeanna as my stampin sis for this go round. Look at all of the fabulous stuff she sent me. The metallic card stock is textured (WOW), the penguin is a jumbo paperclip, plenty of glitter (I love glitter!). Can you believe how classy the jar filled with kisses is? The photo doesn't do it justice. She expertly colored the flower on the lid and bee on the band, OMG! The three cards she stamped are gorgeous all made with Stampin! Up products.

Am I a lucky lady, or what? Thanks Jeanna

I've Been Inspired

Well I'm back again. I needed a birthday card for my aunt. I wanted something cool and different but I wasn't sure what the right style would be and then I saw it. I was blurffing (blog surfing) and happened to check my friend Daisy of Eclectic Paperie's blog and there they were....apron cards. Now this may sound strange, but my aunt hand sews aprons. I am fortunate enough to own several of these amazing aprons. My aunt doesn't own a sewing machine, every stitch is done by hand. So I knew this was the perfect card for her birthday. Once the card was done, I was so tickled with my creation, that I will making a few more this evening. One will definitely be going to my stampin sis Jeanna.

For this card I used My Mind's Eye DP was used for the striped front apron, and Stampin Up's Sky Blue was used for the pockets; So Saffron Classic ink was sponged on the inside with a dauber. I added a couple of pale yellow Primas and a touch of bling in the center with tiny light blue jewels.

Thanks Daisy for helping me find my inspiration!

Something's Growing

Look what's growing in my garden. I have my first strawberry. I'm like a little girl when it comes to the garden. I get so excited at each stage. When the sprouts first come out of the ground, and then when they begin to flower, and then the vegetables start to show; I get so excited. It brings back so many treasured memories of planting little gardens with my grandpa when I was a little girl. I would get so impatient for the plants to produce anything. He always let me plant radish, carrot, and green onion because they grew the fastest and I could pull them out and proudly present them to my mom for the dinner salad.

My trusted Scottie looks on in the background. I know he's wondering what the heck I'm up to. The next big excitements are going to be when the tomatoes and peppers start sprouting. This year I found seeds for red corn. Have you ever seen red sweet corn before? I've heard of blue corn, not red. I have never been very successful with corn, so I hope this new variety brings me better luck. My garden is rather small so I can't have a huge variety.

No doubt I'll post more as Charmaine's garden grows.

Splitcoast So Cal Mania V

Well we made it back home from this past weekend's Splitcoast SoCal Mania V. It was my first Splitcoast get together and OMG was it fun. One stamper hit it on the head when she said this was all of the best parts of Stampin Up convention. We were able to swap, stamp, do make-n-takes, eat, and visit with friends. Who could ask for more? My cousin Lisa and I went together, actually this was my birthday present to her. We were able to spend the weekend doing something we both enjoy stamp and visit with friends. She did great at her first ever stamping event. The gallery for this event is starting to be uploaded to so check on it to see everyone's pic's of the event (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=13593)




Some of the fabulous ladies I bumped into were Daisy and Tandra. The three of us are members of the Utah Divas International on-line group. You can check out this group's blog at http://utahdivasinternational.blogspot.com/. Daisy and I have been friends for some years now. Her company, Eclectic Paperie (http://eclecticpaperie.blogspot.com/ ) was one of the major sponsors of this event. If you haven't checked out her web store, you don't know what you are missing (and let her know I sent you over). I was excited to get to see Daisy again.


I was so excited to meet Taylor from Taylored Expressions (http://tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/) Wow is she tall in person. She provided one of our Make-n-Takes and now I have to have the Sushi stamp set (http://www.eclecticpaperie.com/sushi.html)that is an exclusive set to Eclectic Paperie. Taylor is so adorable, thanks for the great project.

Well as you can see we had an AMAZING time. I had so much fun meeting ladies who's blogs I visit like Rochelle http://impressionsbyrochelle.blogspot.com/ I have been a fan of her's since I discovered the world of blogs. I can't wait for next year's get together.

Thanks for visiting.

Feelin A Bit Froggy

Hello All,

Well I'm finally getting my mojo back and starting to stamp again. Ok maybe this card doesen't have a single stamp on it but I'm punchin' again. This cute little froggy is my submission for a punch card swap that I had signed up for with the Utah Divas ( http://utahdivasinternational.blogspot.com/). I have been a member of this group for quite some time. It is such a pleasure to be part of such a great group of ladies.

Well I'm getting all packed up today to head down to Southern California for the Splitcoast SoCal Mania V. I am so excited to get to meet up with friends I haven't seen in a while and meet friends I have blogged with. This is my first first Splitcoast Gathering and I know it is going to be FABULOUS! I promise I will post pics when I get home.

Ok now how I made my Froggy. I used the following cardstock colors: Sky Blue, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Basic Black, and White. I used both the large and small oval punches, 1 3/8th circle punch, 3/4" circle, Word Window, 1/4" circle. THe grass and reeds I free-hand cut so that they would have a more natural look (ok they don't make a punch or scissor that would look like that).

Well, I'm off to start packing my bags and finish my name tag so I can hit the road in the morning.

Have Great Weekend!

I Found My Way Out of the Desert

My goodness, it appears that I have dropped of the planet. Sorry about that. I have done so many things and traveled long distances in the time I have been away. I never stopped stamping though so I will resume posting my work. My life has been up and down and sideways that sometimes I feel like I am in Willey Wonka's Glass Elevator.

I begin sharing some of my travels and experiences in the coming days. My farthest distance was to the land of the Pharaohs; yes I went to Egypt, I cruised the Nile, hung out with Tut himself, even climbed a pyramid.

So stay tuned to hear more about my travels and whereabouts.