You Are My Ridiculously Awesome Sunshine — Monday Montage #171

Welcome to another Monday Montage blog hop!  We are a group of stampers who love to share what we create with you, and all you have to do to follow along is click on the links at the bottom of each post.

It’s that time of year again where some of my chicks are leaving the nest to go back to college.  My oldest left last weekend to go back for his final year at Alabama.  He graduated in May with his undergrad, and will be completing his Masters degree next May.  He starts class on Wednesday and so far has four out of five classes in person and one on-line.  We’re hoping it stays that way.  My middle child goes back to Michigan in two weeks.  She’ll be starting her Sophomore year and will be moving into an apartment.  So far she has one on-line only class and the remainder are hybrid classes.  My youngest started her Sophomore year of high school this past week, and she is on-line only right now with the plan to switch to in-person classes beginning in September.  It’s a lot to keep track of!  And none of it is what they really wanted, but like most people, we’re trying to make the most of it.

I decided it was time to start preparing those cards of encouragement for my students that they will most likely need at times this semester.  My middle child loves yellow and teal, and is decorating her apartment with those colors.  With temperatures over 100 degrees here the past few days, I thought a sunshiny card would be appropriate.

I started by stamping this awesome sentiment from the Ridiculously Awesome stamp set with my Stamparatus.  I used some old washi tape to cover the parts I wanted to be yellow and then inked the stamp with Bermuda Bay ink.  I then did the reverse — covered the Bermuda Bay word with washi on the stamp and inked the remainder of the stamp with Mango Melody ink and stamped again.  I then cut out the sentiment with a new die from the Halloween Magic die set.  I love the large size of this fun die!

The sun is from a recent Paper Pumpkin stamp set.  I stamped it on watercolor paper and then colored it with a combo of Daffodil Delight and Mango Melody inks.  Once it was dry, I cut it out with my paper snips.

The base layer is a piece of dsp from the Playing with Patterns pack, and it was mounted on a piece of Bermuda Bay card stock.  I added a couple of thin strips of Bermuda Bay card stock under the sentiment panel for fun.

The current challenge at The Paper Players gave me the inspiration to make this card, and to keep it uncluttered and fee of many embellishments.  Sometimes clean and simple is best!

You’re ready to hop on over to Breelin Renwick’s blog.  I always love seeing what she makes!  If you prefer to work your way backwards, you can jump back to Wendy Weixler’s blog.  Either way, be sure to work your way through all of the blogs so you don’t miss a thing.

 

 

 

If you should happen to get lost in the blog hop links, here is a list of all of those participating:

Amy O’Neill  —> you are here
Breelin Renwick
Cathy Casey
Charlet Mallett
Cheryl Curtis
Dani Dzamia
Elizabeth Price
Julie Warnick
Melissa Stout
Wendy Weixler

Enjoy your Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Product List

C is for Celebrate — PP500

One of the first weekly challenge sites I stumbled across way back when was The Paper Players site.  And this week they are celebrating their 500th challenge.  WOW!!  That’s a lot of inspiration!  They have a fabulous design team full of wonderful stampers and some of the nicest people.  I really wanted to play along with this special challenge.

I still had the Playing with Patterns dsp on my workspace and that seems like such a celebratory pack of paper, so that was my starting point.  When I was looking through my stamp sets and saw that the Monogram Messages set has a Celebrate stamp, I knew just what to use.

I started by stamping the balloons with Crushed Curry, Blushing Bride, and Coastal Cabana inks on a square of white card stock.  I then stamped the sentiment with Crushed Curry and Night of Navy inks.  The “C” was stamped with Calypso Coral ink and cut out with my paper snips.  I added some sequins from my stash and a piece of white baker’s twine.  This was an easy and quick one!

Enjoy your Friday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Product List

A Sweet Nest

When I saw the sketch over at The Paper Players this week, I knew I had to make time to participate.  I love this sketch, and have used versions of it so many times.

The Flying Home stamp set was on my first order from the Occasions Catalog.  I knew it would be fun to color with the new Stampin’ Blends markers, and the images are so sweet.

Keeping true to the sketch, I started with some Pool Party card stock and a sheet of the Wood Textures dsp.  The focal image was stamped with Memento Black ink and once it had dried, it was colored with the Stampin’ Blends markers.

The sentiment is from a recent Paper Pumpkin stamp set.

Enjoy your Thursday!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Product List

 

One More Fall Card

I think I’ve seriously been hoping that by making Fall-themed cards that I could hurry Fall along here.  It’s not happening!  We are still in the throes of Summer.  But here’s one more for you today.  I wanted to play along with Sandy’s theme challenge at the Paper Players this week:

I decided to pull out the Magnificent Maple stamp.  I just love the detail and the size of this stamp.  I also pulled out my Tape It stamp set, which I just got recently.  I love how the stamps in this set look like washi tape, which you can make in any color you want.  The top and bottom strips are stamps, while the middle strip is dsp.

A Fall Hello

This really was a simple card to make, even though I used four different stamp sets to make it.  lol!

Enjoy your Tuesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Magnificent Maple, Gorgeous Grunge, Tape It, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Sweater Weather dsp
Embellishments:  Neutrals Designer Buttons, Early Espresso Baker’s Twine

 

A Bicycle Hello — PP160

It has been far too long since I’ve been able to play with my friends at the Paper Players challenge site, so I made it a priority to play this week.

I love this dsp from the Birthday Basics dsp collection, but I never know quite how to use it.  This sketch seemed to lend itself to a bigger dsp pattern, so I grabbed it.

A Bicycle HelloI also used some of the silver glimmer paper for the chevrons and used a sponge dauber to add some Basic Gray ink.

Enjoy your Thursday!  Go check out the Paper Players’ design team’s projects and play along.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Four You
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Crisp Cantaloupe, Summer Starfruit, Raspberry Ripple, Birthday Basics dsp, Silver Glimmer Paper
Embellishments:  Floral Fusion Sizzlits, Gumball Green 3/8″ Stitched Satin Ribbon, In Color Dahlias, 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle punch, Chevron Border punch

 

Christmas in July — A Sneak Peek

One of the perks of being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator is that we not only get to see the new products in upcoming catalogs early, but we also get to order them early and play with them early.

So when I saw that the Paper Players had this challenge this week, I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

One of the sets at the top of my list in the upcoming Holidays catalog is the A Banner Christmas set.  It has such fun images.  I used two of them on my card.

Christmas in July

The card size is 6-1/2″ X 3-1/4″.  It fits in the Open End envelopes that Stampin’ Up! used to sell.

Enjoy your Thursday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  A Banner Christmas
Ink:  Real Red, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White
Embellishments:  Pear Pizzazz 3/4″ Chevron Ribbon, Pearl Basic Jewels

Happy Day Love — PP151

The super talented Nance Leedy has a great sketch for us this week at the Paper Players.

I decided to use the Happy Day stamp set and a fun color combination of Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay, and Basic Gray.

Happy Day Love

You can check out what the other designers made at their blogs here:

I hope you can join us this week at the Paper Players.  Enjoy your Saturday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Happy Day, Express Yourself
Ink:  Basic Gray, Bermuda Bay
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Quatrefancy DSP
Embellishments:  Labels Collection framelits, Basic Gray 1/4″ Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Boho Blossoms punch, Large Delicate Doilies Sizzlit, Brights Designer Buttons, Large Rhinestone Basic Jewels, sewing machine

A Doily Hi

The super talented Anne Marie has a great CAS (Clean And Simple) challenge for us this week at the Paper Players:

I decided to really focus on the CAS aspect of this challenge, because I often struggle with this.  And struggle I did — I have several versions of this very simple card in my trash can.  Either I didn’t line the two layers up properly, or I stamped the sentiment crooked, or I got a random smear of ink on the white card stock, or somehow otherwise messed it up.  I was quite frustrated with this little card by the time I finished.  Guess I need more practice with CAS, huh!?

CAS Doilies

I hope you can join us in this challenge.  Meanwhile, you can check out the other designers’ creations here:

Enjoy your Sunday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Delicate Doilies, Regarding Dahlias (sentiment)
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Basic Black
Paper:  Whisper White
Embellishments:  Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Large Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Hello Flower Shop — PP149

The super talented Ann Schach has a pretty color challenge for us at the Paper Players today.

These are some of my favorite colors, so this challenge was a fun one for me.  I pulled out a couple of new stamp sets to use.  I love the new Flower Shop set.  It has a coordinating punch — love that!

flower shop trio

Go visit the rest of the design team and see what they did with these colors, and then join us in this challenge at the Paper Players.

Enjoy your Sunday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Flower Shop, Four You
Ink:  So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Early Espresso
Paper:  Pool Party, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Subtles dsp stack
Embellishments:  Pansy punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Early Espresso 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon, Large Pearl Basic Jewels

Summertime Refreshments — PP

Jaydee has a fun theme challenge for us over at the Paper Players this week:

I’m ready for a Summer holiday, how about you?  My kids have four more days of school, and then we’ll be celebrating Summer in our household.  Yippee!  I love having them home for the summer.

I was kinda stumped by this theme for a little while.  I don’t have any beach or pool themed stamps.  Nor do I have any sunglasses stamps nor flip-flops stamps.  I wasn’t sure what to do.  But then I focused on colors, and I knew I wanted to use Coastal Cabana and Strawberry Slush (the names are summery, right?).  And the Strawberry Slush made me think of a summery drink, and then I thought of using the Happy Hour stamp set.  Oh, the way the mind works!

Summertime Drinks

When I made this I was picturing a Strawberry daiquiri and a Margarita.  Sounds good!

Some of you have asked me to show the inside of my cards.  Well, there isn’t usually much to show as I don’t often do anything on the inside.  I feel lucky to get the outside finished on most days.  But I love the sentiments that come with this set, and decided to finish the inside on this one.

Summertime Drinks Inside

I hope you can join us at the Paper Players this week!  Meanwhile, take a look at what the rest of this team did with this sketch:

Enjoy your Sunday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Happy Hour
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight, Smoky Slate, Versamark
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Gingham Garden dsp
Embellishments:  Daffodil Delight 1/4″ Stitched Grosgrain ribbon, Labels Collection framelits, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, Polka Dot Embossing folder, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, White Stampin’ Emboss folder