2RB Banana Split Sunday Challenge - Summer Inspiration

It is time once again for 2RedBananas.com's Banana Split Sunday Challenge! This week's challenge is to use this photo as your inspiration:

You can use whatever element you want as your inspiration: color, content, etc. There will be a prize awarded for one random participant in this week's challenge - an Imaginisce goodie bag! Be sure to visit the 2RB blog for more information and to see the DT's samples.

Having recently been to the beach, when I looked at this photo I was inspired by the sand and water. Mostly because I knew I had some photos with exactly those things in them. I decided to do a layout with a few of my photos.

The background is a piece of Crate Paper DP. Most of the DP strips are from EK Success' A Day at the Beach collection, and the pink strip with flowers is from Flair Designs. The chipboard stickers are also EK Success.

I distressed the photo edges with MM distressing tools - roughed up the edges and sanded them. The blue lines were doodled in with a Stardust pen. The sentiment at the upper left corner of the photo is from 2RB's June Journaling Spot stamp set.

What kind of summer inspiration are you feeling right now? Be sure to share it with us at 2RB's blog.

SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: Sentiment from June Journaling Spot- 2RedBananas

Paper: Jungle Fever - Flair Designs, A Day at the Beach - EK Success, Play Time - Crate Paper

Ink: Marine Blue Stardust - Sakura, blue ink - Hero Arts

Other: Ispirables sentiment stickers - EK Success, Velvet flowers - Maya Road, light blue brads - Lasting Impressions

Happy Birthday, Kayla!

Next week is my niece Kayla's birthday. She's turning 11. (I think... I found out the Sweet 16 card I made for my niece Nicky was 1 year late. Oops.)

I made her card using a pink CS base and a block of MME paper. The image is from the Gingersnaps Celebrate stamp set I got from 2RedBananas. It's such a cute set! It's stamped on watercolor paper with StazOn and colored with watercolor pencils and some Sakura Stardust ink (got to have a little sparkle). The sentiment is from the the coordinating set of birthday sentiments.

SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: Gingersnaps Celebrate - CC Designs, AmyR Stamps: Birthday Sentiments - CC Designs
Ink: JetBlack - StazOn, Stardust - Sakura
Paper: Cardstock - Bazzil, My Mind's Eye
Other: Rhinestones - Kaiser Craft, Ribbon, Brads - Lasting Impressions

Father's Day Album

For Father's Day this year I thought it would be nice to make Matt an album of our trips to the beach along the Gulf Coast (near Galveston). We always have a great time, and I thought he would like to have an album that he can flip through to remind him of the fun that we have when we're there. Especially at times when he probably wishes he were there instead of... oh say, at work.

I used an SEI album in a bag, with some extra embellishments - ric rac, ribbon, brads, charms, dimensional stickers, etc. It came together really quickly, and once I had the basic parts of the album assembled, I added the extra embellishments. I also used my Zutter Bind-it-All to add a spiral binding since it was way too fat for it's original binding by the time I finished it.

SUPPLIES USED
Other: Album - sei, charms & dimensional stickers - Sea Glass by K&Co.

2RB and House Mouse & Friends Challenge

Today 2RedBananas.com is sponsoring the House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge. It will be a sketch challenge this week, so go to 2RedBananas' blog or HM&F's blog to see the sketch and participate in the challenge.


For this challenge I made a card using white CS for the base with a block of Wild Saffron DP. I adhered a CS scalloped circle to the left, with some rhinestones along the top and bottom.


The image is a Gruffie stamp called Lilac Bouquet, which I stamped with StazOn and colored with watercolor pencils. There is also some Stardust ink on the flowers and leaves. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and it's also colored with watercolor pencils and Stardust ink.

Be sure to stop by 2RB or HM&F to participate in this week's challenge.

SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: Lilac Bouquet - Stampabilities Gruffies Collection, sentiment - Hero Arts
Ink: Jet Black - StazOn, Stardust - Sakura
Paper: Wild Saffron - K&Company, Card Stock - Bazzil
Other: Rhinestones - Kaiser Craft, Scallop Circle - Cricut

2RB Banana Split Sunday Challenge 16

Today is 2RedBananas' Banana Split Sunday Challenge. Today's challenge is to create a summer project. It can be whatever you want, but it has to have a summery theme. Be sure to go to 2RB's blog for more information, and to see the samples by the DT Bananas, or you can also go directly to their blogs:

Jeanette Fincher
Deb Felts
Jami Bova
Teresa Grau
Cassie Larson

Denise Marzec, Guest DT
Silke Ledlow, Guest DT

For today's challenge I decided to go with a layout. I hadn't done one in a while, and I remembered I had the perfect photos that were summery AND would be perfect to use with 2RB's new June Journaling Spot stamp set.



How perfect is that??? These photos are of Olivia's first time ever eating an ice cream on a stick. We were at the beach on the Gulf and her aunt bought it for her from an ice cream truck (also a first) driving along the beach. It was so hot she couldn't keep up with how fast the ice cream was melting, so she was covered in drips (hence the topless look she's sporting).

The entire layout is made with DP from the White Out Promenade collection by We R Memory Keepers. The letters were cut out of DP with my Cricut. I traced around them with a brown journaling pen after adhereing them to the LO so they would stand out better.

I stamped the June Journaling Spot popsicle image and drips on DP and the sticks on beige CS, then trimmed and paper pieced them together.

This was a fun layout, and I love these photos of Olivia with her salt water soaked hair and drippy ice cream. I hope you'll give this challenge a try yourself.


SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: June Journaling Spot - 2RedBananas
Ink: Saddle Brown - StazOn, brown pen - Zig
Paper: White Out Promenade - We R Memory Keepers
Other: Pink ribbon - American Crafts, ric rak - ?, buttons - Lasting Impressions, letters - Cricut Making the Grade cartridge

Father's Day Mini Album

In my last post I mentioned a mini album I made for my Dad for Father's Day. It contains only photos of both of my girls together. My Dad lives in Florida and has never seen Kate (the youngest). I thought he would like some photos of her and her sister, so they start off when she was born and go up to the present (about one from each month).

I used my Zutter Bind-it-All to bind the album. The covers are chipboard with Bloom and Grow DP from My Mind's Eye, and the pages are made from kraft CS with Bloom and Grow DP. It came together pretty quickly, and it's really simple, but turned out cute. Some of the pages have the matching die cuts and a few have titles made with letter stickers.

I hope my Dad likes it, and maybe soon he'll get to meet Kate in person.

2RB Stamp Release and Father's Day Cards

Don't forget 2RedBananas.com has released its exclusive stamp sets for June. You can see the new sets on the website or the 2RB blog.


These are the cards I made for my dad and father-in-law for Father's Day. I don't have a lot of masculine stuff, so I used the same paper for both of their cards. As you can see by the images I used... I don't have a lot of masculine stuff. Did I mention that already?







The card bases are grey CS with DP from Wild Asparagus (double sided). The mouse card uses a House Mouse stamp and sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly. I also used some cute brads that look like screws.


The truck card uses a stamp set from Stampin Up. It's a really cute set that comes with different "loads" for the truck and corresponding sentiments. The rubber swirl is a sticker from Stickopotamus (I know I probably spelled that wrong),and the "DAD" was made with CS and my Cricut.


I also made my FIL a really cute memory cup with BG paper and die cuts from the Mellow collection, and my dad a mini album using My Mind's Eye's Bloom and Grow collection that I got at 2RedBananas.com. I'll probably show some photos of it in a later post.

Hope everyone has a great Father's Day.

2RedBananas Sneak Peek - Play YOUR Game

We Bananas are still showing sneak peeks of the stamp sets to be released on 2RedBananas.com on June 17th. For today I am showing a peek of the stamp set Play Your Game by Abbey Westemeyer.

The card base is cream CS with a block of DCWV DP from the Nana's Nursery mat stack. The remaining DP is from Chatterbox.

I stamped the image (and sentiment) on watercolor paper and the image is colored it with watercolor pencils and some white ink accents. And, of course, some rhinestones for a little bling! That's about it for this card. Pretty simple.

Be sure to visit the 2RedBananas blog to see more samples by the DT. Don't forget - the stamps will be released on March 17th at 2RedBananas.com.

SUPPLIES USED

Stamps: Play Your Game - 2RedBananas

Ink: JetBlack - StazOn, Red - StazOn, white ink - Inkssentials, Stardust - Sakura

Paper: Chatterbox, Die Cuts With a View - Nana's Nursery Baby Girl

Other: Rhinestones - Michael's

2RedBananas Week of Peeks

I guess it isn't quite a whole week of sneak peeks of 2RedBananas.com's new stamps for June, which will be released June 17th, but it's pretty close. For today's peek I've used a stamp set called Goal! by Abbey Westemeyer.

The base is orange CS and the DP is by Sassafrass Lass. The image was stamped on watercolor paper and colored with watercolor pencils, Stardust ink and white ink accents. I added eyelashes and red lips to the frog to make the image more feminine to go with the paper. I added googly eyes, too.

To see more sneak peeks of the 2RedBananas stamps to be released on June 17th, go to 2RB's blog or to the DT blogs:

Jeanette Fincher
Deb Felts
Jami Bova
Teresa Grau
Cassie Larson

Denise Marzec, Guest DT
Silke Ledlow, Guest DT

SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: Goal! - 2RedBananas
Ink: JetBlack - StazOn, white ink - Inkssentials, Stardust - Sakura
Paper: Sassafrass Lass, Bazzil
Other: Googly eyes, rhinestones - Kaiser Craft, scalloped frame - Sizzix

2RedBananas' Banana Split Sunday Challenge No. 15

Here we are again with another 2RedBananas' Banana Split Sunday Challenge, which is a sketch challenge that 2RB is sponsoring on the CPS blog. Check out both blogs for more information. There will be a randomly awarded prize for one participant on each of the blogs, so be sure to enter on both blogs for two chances to win, and to see the great samples by both DTs.

For this challenge I made a card for my nephew, Christopher's 2nd birthday. The card base is kraft CS with DP by Rhonna Farrer for Autumn Leaves. The sentiment was made using MM glitter letter stickers (I love those stickers).

I stamped the image, which, believe it or not, was a penguin from the Heartfelt Friends stamp set by 2RedBananas, with StazOn ink. I altered it {slightly} to create this little alien using watercolor pencils and Stardust pens.

The three star brads in the corner were pink, but I inked them with StazOn so they would match a little better.

This was a fun card to make, and it goes to show that you can do just about anything with a stamp image to better fit your project. I hope you'll go to 2RB's blog and the CPS blog to join us in our challenge this week.

SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: Heartfelt Friends - 2RedBananas
Ink: Jet Black - StazOn, Stardust - Sakura
Paper: Rhonna Farrer - Autumn Leaves
Other: Glitter Letter Stickers - Making Memories, star brads - unknown

2RedBananas June Stamp Release

It's time for the release of 2RedBananas.com's new June stamp sets. There will be 4 new sets this month. Today I'm going to do a sneak peek using a really adorable set by Jami Bova called Precious Bundles. I'm sure you can kind of figure out what the theme is, and this is really a teaser because the set has loads of cute images and sentiments. Be sure to stop by the 2RB blog to see more samples, or visit the DT member's blogs:

Jeanette Fincher

Deb Felts

Jami Bova

Teresa Grau

Cassie Larson
Denise Marzec, Guest DT

Silke Ledlow, Guest DT

This card has a pink CS base and all of the DP is by Chatterbox (I think...). The image is stamped with brown StazOn and colored with watercolor pencils and some Stardust ink. There are some pearls by Kaiser Craft on the buggy. I also added some giant ric rac and pink polkadot ribbon. This is a pretty simple card, but I just loved that buggy and wanted it to be the focus. And the quote by Winnie the Pooh is awesome, too.

Be sure to visit 2RB on June 17th for the release of the stamp sets, and stop by here or the 2RB blog to see more sneak peeks.

SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: Precious Bundles - 2RedBananas
Ink: Saddle Brown - StazOn, Stardust - Sakura
Paper: Chatterbox, cardstock - Bazzil
Other: ric rac - May Arts, pearls - Kaiser Craft

Nicky's Gift Can

My niece, Nicky's 16th birthday is tomorrow. This is a Prima flower can I decorated with MAMBI paper. Her gift is inside.

SUPPLIES USED
Paper: Alison collection - Me & My Big Ideas
Other: Velvet letter stickers - Making Memories, rhinestones - Michael's, ribbon - ?, clear can - Prima flowers

Happy Sweet 16, Nicky!

This week is my niece Nicky's 16th Birthday. Happy Birthday, Nicky! How do they grow up so fast? I remember when she was a sweet little flower girl in my wedding.

When I started planning Nicky's card I happened to see a really good sketch on the I {heart} 2 Stamp challenge, so I couldn't resist!

This card has a pink CS base and the DP is all by Me & My Big Ideas from the Alison collection. The main image and small cupcake (I just love cupcakes!) are from the Gingersnaps Celebrate stamp set, which is new to 2RedBananas.com. They are stamped on watercolor paper with StazOn. The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly (I got 100 sentiments in a clearance pack for a great price and this is probably the only time I'll use this one). I used watercolor pencils, Stardust pens and a white Inkssentials pen on the images.

This was a fun card to make. Go check out I {heart} 2 Stamp and join in their challenge.

SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: Gingersnaps Celebrate - CC Designs, sentiment - My Sentiments Exactly
Ink: Jet Black - StazOn, Stardust pens - Sakura, white pen - Inkssentials
Paper: Alison Collection - Me & My Big Ideas, cardstock - Bazzil

Other: heart rhinestone - K&Co, rhinestones - Michael's, ribbon - ?

2RedBananas' Banana Split Sunday Challenge No. 14

PATTERN FRENZY: 2RedBananas is holding it's 14th Banana Split Sunday Challenge this week, and we dare you to use at least three different patterned papers on your project.

For this challenge I made a card with a white CS base and I used three pieces of Imaginisce DP from the Twitterpated collection.

The bee image is from 2RB's stamp set called Party Bees . It was stamped with StazOn and colored with watercolor pencils. There is some black Stickles on the black stripes and Moonlight Smooch ink in the wings. I trimmed the image and adhered it to the card with pop dots. Then I added a cute, wavy sentiment that reminded me of a bee's flight path. There are also some rhinestones in some of the flowers.

SUPPLIES USED
Stamps: Party Bees by 2RedBananas and sentiment by My Sentiments Exactly
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Paper: Imaginisce Twitterpated Collection - Flower Trails and Mushroom Fancy
Other: Smooch ink - Moonlight, rhinestones from Michael's, Stickles

Basic Grey Clock

I wanted to share this fun clock that I made for my daughter's room. I've been promising her I would make her a clock ever since I made one for her baby sister's room. I don't know why it took me so long to do it, since I had the clock movement and everything already. But, anyway, I finally sat down Saturday night and did it. I think it turned out so cute (that's me patting myself on the back), and I almost want to keep it for my scrapbooking room...

I used a square artist's canvas and painted the edges black. I mod podged on the background paper and die cuts (all from Mellow by Basic Grey), then added Making Memories glitter sticker numbers. I cut a hole in the center and added the clock movement and hands. Easy as pie!

Of course, when I showed it to Olivia the next day she said "Mom, clocks are supposed to be round." Oh well...