Happy Birthday, Mom.

This card is for my mother-in-law, whose birthday is today. I used the sketch from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Challenge. I love sketches!

The card base is black CS with a block of Pink Armadillo DP from the Paper Studio on the upper portion. There is a piece of ribbon along the bottom of the DP. I adhered three rhinestones from Kaiser Craft to the lower right corner of the card.

The image is from the Birthday Chicken stamp set by Jami Bova from 2RedBananas, which I stamped with Jet Black StazOn on yellow DP from Crate Paper's Baby Bee collection and colored with DerWent watercolor pencils and Sakura Stardust pens. I cut the chicken out and used pop dots to put him on the black CS circle, which is matted with Pink Armadillo DP cut in a scalloped circle on my Cricut. The sentiment is also from the Birthday Chicken set and punched out with a circle punch. This was also adhered with popdots.

I liked this sketch and enjoyed playing in Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Challenge. I hope my MIL has a great birthday today!

2RB Banana Split Sunday Challenge No. 7

Today is 2RedBananas.com’s Banana Split Sunday Challenge and the theme is Wearing Stripes. Just create any kind of papercraft project using stripes. One lucky, random participant will win a My Mind's Eye Bloom paper pack and a 12x12 sheet of coordinating die cut shapes. Go to the 2RedBananas blog for more information and to see samples from the other design team members.

I decided to make a little layout for a chipboard book (by Little Yellow Bicycle) that I'm making for Kate. All of the DP is from Baby Safari by Little Yellow Bicycle. The background is striped DP with a strip of animal DP along the bottom. There is a piece of ric rac along the bottom of the animal strip. The paper flowers are from Hullabaloo by Making Memories - one set has a fabric-covered brad in the center and the other has a sentiment from Jami Bova’s stamp set called Chicken Dumpling by 2RedBananas.

The photo was cut out using Nestabilities Label 1 die and matted on pink CS, then adhered to the layout.

I hope you’ll play along with us for this week’s challenge.

You're an Animal!

Today I am participating in two challenges - the 2RedBananas Banana Split Sunday Challenge and the Friday Sketchers' challenge. 2RB's challenge is to use your favorite animal on a project, and Friday Sketchers is... you guessed it, a sketch. Go to 2RedBananas blog to find out more about the challenge and see what the other DT members have done.

This base of this card is white CS and all of the DP is from Crate Paper's Baby Bee Collection. I adhered a block of the reverse side of Dragonfly on the base with another block of Caterpillar on top of that. There is a block of the front of Dragonfly on the right-hand side, a block of DP to the left of it, then a strip of Dragonfly across all of it. There are three glittered brads on the left side of the strip.

Since the challenge was to use my favorite animal, I finally got a chance to use my giraffe stamp. I love giraffes. I don't know what it is about them, but I think they're cute. I stamped the giraffe from Imaginisce on the reverse side of the Caterpillar DP with brown StazOn ink and colored it with watercolor pencils. I cut it out with Nestabilities Label 1 die and matted it on Caterpillar DP. I used pop dots to adhere it to the front of the card. There are some felt flowers from American Crafts to the right of the image with glittered brads through the centers. On the upper left corner is a piece of ric rac (also by Crate Paper) tied in a knot with a sentiment pop dotted on top of it.

I hope you decide to play along with us this week. Go to 2RB's blog for more info about the challenge.

Chicken Impossible

Today I am participating in a challenge by Inspirational Card Sketches Challenge Blog. They had a very lovely sketch, so I decided to use it to make a card for my Aunt Madelyn (who's birthday is also this week).

The card base is white CS and all of the DP is from Crate Paper's Sweet Branch Collection. I adhered a large block of Blossom DP to the card front, along with a block of the reverse side of Blossom on the left-hand side and a block of Hope DP on the right-hand side. The ribbon along the left-hand side is also from Crate Paper. Above the block of Hope DP I adhered some clear Dew Drops.

I used the Chicken Impossible stamp by 2RedBananas.com and the cake is from Stampin' Up. The images are stamped on watercolor paper with Jet Black StazOn ink and colored with Derwent watercolor pencils and a Tombow blender pen. There are also Sakura Stardust accents on the cake and chicken.

The sentiment is printed on the solid side of some Crate Paper DP.

This was a fun challenge. Of course, I always appreciate a good sketch! Stop by Inspirational Card Sketch Challenge Blog and check it out.

Happy Bird Day Card

Just a quick note to remind everyone that 2RedBananas.com's new stamps for April are available on the website today. Stop by and check them all out!



Today I am participating in a challenge from Just Christmas and Birthday Cards. It's a sketch (which I always appreciate), and you can do both a Christmas and birthday card or just one or the other. I am submitting a birthday card - which I did for my Aunt Barbara's birthday later this week.

The card base is pink CS and all of the DP is from the Laundry Line collection by My Mind's Eye. I adhered a block of Lucky Run Paper to the left-hand side and a block of Party Flowers Paper on the right-hand side. The little flowers in the upper and lower corners were punched from pink CS and adhered with pop dots. Each flower has Sakura Stardust ink in its center. I adhered a strip of pink CS down the center with a piece of ribbon and a bow(Michael's) on top of it.

The image and sentiment are from the Birthday Chicken stamp set by 2RedBananas.com, and it's stamped on watercolor paper with Jet Black StazOn ink and colored with Derwent watercolor pencils. There are also some Sakura Stardust accents on the hat and cake. I matted it on pink CS and used pop dots to adhere it to the card.

This was a fun challenge and I really liked Just Christmas and Birthday Card's sketch. I'll have to check them out next Monday, too.

2RB Sneak Peeks Day 6 and Sunday Challenge

Today 2RedBananas.com is not only having its sneak peek of the new stamp sets being released next week, it's also having the Banana Split Sunday Challenge (a day early due to Easter Sunday). So... I have two projects to show you.

The first, for the sneak peek, is a card made using one of 2RB's exclusive stamp sets "The Early Birds" by Abbey Westemeyer.

The card base is cream CS with a large block of Imaginisce DP on the left side and a smaller block of the reverse side of the DP on the right, which has pink Sakura Stardust ink in the centers of the flowers. I tied a piece of celery grosgrain ribbon in a bow and adhered it along the seam of the two papers.

The image (2RB) and sentiment (Making Memories) are stamped with Jet Black StazOn ink on white CS and colored with watercolor pencils and a little pink Sakura Stardust ink. I also added googly eyes to the bird. The bird is adhered to the card front along with a row of small flowers (Prima) with pink rhinestone (Michael's) centers.

2REDBANANAS.COM BANANA SPLIT SUNDAY CHALLENGE:


For my second project I created a layout for Kate's baby album for the 2RB Banana Split Sunday Challenge, which is a sketch challenge this week. Go to 2RB's blog to see the awesome sketch and give it a try yourself.

The base of the layout is brown CS. All of the DP is from Rusty Pickle's Chocolate Bunnies collection. I adhered a block of Spring Chicken DP on the CS, with a small block of Chocolate Bunnies in the lower right-hand corner and a block of Peter Cottontail on the upper left-hand side. The photo is matted on the reverse of the Chocolate Bunnies DP and adhered to the layout.

The rhinestone flourish adhered to the upper right-hand corner is by Best Occasions. The sentiment is printed on cream CS. The bunny image (from 2RB's stamp set The Gift) is stamped with brown ink on the reverse side of the Peter Cottontail DP and adhered with pop dots. The date is stamped underneath with brown ink using Making Memories magnetic date stamp set.

I love sketch challenges - they take all the pressure off of me and just let me play around. I hope you go to 2RB's blog and join us in this week's challenge.

Don't forget - all of the new stamp sets will be available on the 2RedBananas site beginning April 13th.

Best wishes for a very blessed Easter!

2RedBananas Week of Peeks - Day 5

For the fifth day of 2RedBananas.com's peeks of its new stamp sets to be released on April 13th, the DT is using two different sets. I chose to use the set called Hawaiian Chicken by Jami Bova.

The card base is DP by the Paper Loft called Wild Blue Yonder, with a block of Simple Stripes (also the Paper Loft) on the top 2/3 of the card. I stamped the image on watercolor paper with Jet Black StazOn ink and colored it with watercolor pencils, then cut it out with the Nestabilities Label 1 die. The sentiment "Aloha" was also stamped with StazOn. I matted the image on a Label cut from the Wild Blue Yonder DP. I added a piece of ribbon to the bottom portion of the card and tied a second piece around it in a knot.

These chicken stamp sets by Jami are really cute and easy to use. Please go to 2RB's blog to see more peeks and what the DT is doing:

Deb ♥ Jeanette ♥ Maraya ♥ Teresa ♥ Wendy

And check back tomorrow to see what new set will be used.

2RedBananas Week of Peeks - Day 4

For the week of peeks of 2RedBananas.com's stamp sets to be released on April 13th, today's sneak peek is of the stamp set "A Spring Thing" by Abbey Westemeyer. It's really cute, and has a lot of elements to it. I just used one sentiment from the set.

The card base is brown CS with a block of Crate DP on it. The sentiment was stamped on the reverse side of the DP with Chestnut Roan Chalk ink and colored with watercolor pencils. Then I punched it out with a scalloped frame of brown CS, trimmed off the top and adhered it to the card front. I adhered some rhinestones in the centers of a few of the flower images. Along the bottom right hand side I adhered some Prima flowers with brad centers.

Be sure to check out the 2RB blog to see how the other DT members used this set. Come back tomorrow, too, for more sneak peeks.

2RB Week of Peeks - Sgt. Chicken

Today's sneak peek of 2RedBananas.com's new stamp sets for April is of a set called Sgt. Chicken. 2RB's new stamps will be released on the website on April 13th. Check out 2RB's blog for peeks by other Design Team members.

I decided to use the Sgt. Chicken set because I have a friend in the military who will soon be celebrating a birthday. I figured what better way to wish him a happy birthday than by using a military chicken.

I used tan CS as the card base with a strip of striped DP from sei's Alpine Frost collection along the bottom. There is a piece of brown striped grosgrain ribbon along the top of the striped DP.

The sentiment is stamped with Jet Black StazOn on tan CS using Martha Stewart acrylic letter stamps, a "Happy Birthday" stamp by Hero Arts and "Attention" from the 2RB set. The corners are punched with a hole puncher. It is matted on kraft paper with a small copper brad at each corner and adhered to the right-hand side of the card.

The chicken was stamped with Jet Black StazOn onto Basic Grey DP and colored with watercolor pencils. The dog tag and chain are colored with a Silver Stardust pen by Sakura, and the eyes are colored with a black Glaze pen with a dot of white ink. I trimmed the image and used pop dots to adhere it to brown CS matted on kraft CS and tan CS and adhered to the right-hand side of the card.

Be sure to check the 2RB blog to see all of the sneak peeks this week, then visit 2RedBananas.com on April 13th to see all of the stamp sets being released.

2RB Sneak Peek - April Journaling Spot

For 2RedBananas.com’s Week of Peeks for the new stamp sets that will be arriving at the site on April 13th, I will be doing a sneak peek of the exclusive set “April Journaling Spot.” Go to 2RB's blog to see more.

This set includes a journaling spot shaped like a raindrop, which I thought would be perfect for some photos of my daughter playing in the rain.

The background is green CS with blocks of DP from the Wild Asparagus collection “Play.” I then added my photos over the blocks. I used the collection’s journal block that said “Play” and added a block of DP stamped with Chalk Ink that says “in the” and another with “Puddles,” which was stretched across both pages. There is a strip of orange CS across the bottom of both pages. I also used some of the tags from the collection and placed photo turns and brads in between them. I covered a chipboard label holder with DP and put a photo in it before attaching it to the layout with brads. I stamped the 2RB journaling spot onto orange CS with burn sienna Chalk Ink, trimmed it and adhered it to the left hand side of the left page. I also stamped the date underneath it with blue Chalk Ink.

The 2RedBananas Design Team will be featuring peeks of all of the new stamp sets this week, so be sure to stop by tomorrow.

2RB April Week of Peeks

2RedBananas.com will be releasing its new stamp sets for the month of April on April 13th. This week the 2RB Design Team will be showing sneak peeks of all of the sets on their blogs. You can go to the 2RedBananas Blog to find out more.

I just couldn’t resist the adorable set by Jami Bova called Cajun Chicken (being a former resident of Louisiana) and I had to make a card.

All of the papers used for this card are by Basic Grey (even the yellow for the chicken’s body), and I think most of them are from the Oh Baby collection. The card base is purple DP with three rhinestones in the upper right corner.

I stamped the image on yellow DP with StazOn Jet Black ink and colored it with watercolor pencils. I also used a Sakura Stardust pen to add some sparkly accents to the beads and mask. I trimmed the image and used popdots to adhere it to a diamond of green DP, which was then adhered to a block of checked DP and adhered to the front of the card.

I stamped the Cajun Chicken sentiment on green DP and popdotted it to the lower right corner.

This set was really fun, and there are many more great sets that will be used on the 2RB DT blogs this week, so be sure to stop by and check them all out.

2RB - Banana Split Sunday Challenge No. 5

It is once again time for 2RedBananas.com’s Banana Split Sunday Challenge. This week’s challenge is to make something that is not a card. Go to 2RB’s blog for more information and to check out the other Design Team member’s samples.

I didn’t have a problem with this challenge because I love to alter stuff, so I don’t always do just cards or layouts. I have baskets and boxes full of items that I figure I can alter some day. Today I chose to use this little sandwich frame (which consists of a cardboard back, glass front and clips to hold it all together) that had an image in it that no longer goes with my décor.

I used a piece of Imaginisce Baby’s Breath paper as the background. The sentiment is stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid ink using some Martha Stewart acrylic stamp letters. I also added some Sakura Stardust ink in the centers of the tiny flowers.

The image is a House Mouse stamp (from 2RB) that was stamped on watercolor paper with StazOn Jet Black ink and colored with watercolor pencils. Then I punched it out with a circle punch. There are some Stardust accents on the eggs and around the edges of the image. I adhered the image to the background paper and placed it in the sandwich frame.

This was a really quick and easy little project that my daughter is excited about hanging in her room for Easter. I hope you are inspired to join 2RedBananas’ challenge and create something different this week.