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!

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!

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?