Monthly Crazies Sketch

It is the third challenge of the month for the Crazy4Challenges DT, so our challenge is a fabulous sketch created by Barbara, our May hostess.  I decided to make an Asian card.  I really do love Asian designs, and in the past have made many of them.....but I have not done so for a long time....so here is one for today.  I skipped the sentiment as I am not sure how I will use it....probably for a thank you or birthday card for friends who shared a once in a lifetime trip to Japan with me years ago.  The Asian theme probably came to mind as we had a lunch date last week.

AND......of course, my fav color combo of black, white, and RED was the choice for me.......so dramatic and bold.

Thanks for stopping by......hope you will take a moment to go to the Crazies Blog to see the creations by this remarkable and talented DT.  Always fun to see the variety that grows from one sketch.

Crazy for Blue, White, and GOLD

First an apology for the poor photo.....this has been a week of fighting with the camera.....and the camera seems to be on the winning team....I just could not get rid of the blue tones in the background.  Sorry.

Anyhoooooooo....Cindy is our hostess for the Crazy4Challenges for the month of April.  Today she challenged the Crazies to use blue, white and one other color of our choice.  My color choice was GOLD.  I used origami paper for the background.  I paper pieced the kimono/yukata and the obi.  I used an Oriental  embossing folder on the gold die cut panel.  I heat embossed the sentiment in gold embossing powder.  The image and sentiment are a PI set from My Favorite Things.

Now be sure to journey on to the Crazies Blog to see the fab blue, white and  ? creations by the rest of the DT.  I am sure you will be inspired and awed.

CCEE1211 -- An International Flair

As hostess for March, I challenged the CCEE Stampers to go INTERNATIONAL this week.  It can be through image, sentiment, or embellishment.  I have always had a love for the Orient which was enhanced after spending a month in Japan years ago......a trip of a lifetime is my best way of describing it.  I used a SU set for the image.  Unfortunately, I am thinking my eyes deceived me in the creative process.  The ribbon I used seemed to match, but in the picture it appears more blue than lavendar.  I will probably be replacing that, but I just didn't have time before posting this.  My image is embossed in Amethyst embossing powder.  The gold vertical panel was dry embossed, and I added some paper piercing and brads.

Now be sure to check out the CCEE Blog to travel the world through the fabulous DT's creations.

Crazy4Challenges and Speedy's Friends Challenge

Silke challenged the Crazies to a sketch challenge this week.  I love sketches, so this was right up my alley, so to speak.  I used an image by our sponsor, Sparkle Creations. 

I also played with some new dp I bought on my recent trip to Cape Cod.  Had to stop at Colorful Creations in Hyannis once I knew there was a LSS to visit.

Now I hope you have some time to check out the rest of the Crazies at our team blog.  AND.....please use the links in my sidebar to visit the individual member's blogs.

Our Speedy's Friends challenge this week was to use both dry and heat embossing AND to pop part of our image.  I used dry embossing on the striped panel, heat embossing on the main image and the sentiment, and I popped the center portion of the sun.
 
I used an image and sentiment from the Mark's Finest Papers set called HELLO SUNSHINE.
 
You should take a moment to stop in to the team blog to see the fabulous creations by the rest of the Speedy's Friends team.  And......once again, you will find links to the team members blogs in my sidebar.

Sunday Catch-up Time

(If you have not seen my post showing some fellow stampers I met this weekend, and you have the time, go down one post.)

This first card was done with the Mojo Monday sketch and was also done for the House Mouse Challenge to make a 'sweet' card.  Well, in my opinion, this little ballet dancer is sweeeeeeeeeet!!!!

This Oriental card was created for the Speedy's Friends Challenge (to make your own dp) and used this month's sketch for the Cuttlebug Spot Challenge.

This card was done for Wednesday's SCS Sketch Challenge. Fab sketch, Rox!!!

This next card was done using the WaltzingMouse Sketch Challenge ( which I made an A-2 card instead of square) and it is also for the Our Daily Bread Saturday Challenge (to use yellow, green, and blue).

This last card could also be for the ODB Challenge as it uses those same colors.....but it was really just made for fun!!!

Thanks so much if you actually took the time to look at this long post.....I just think it is easier for everyone if I bunch these together.....Only ONE post for me and only ONE comment for you....whaddathink?????

Crazies Sketch

This week the Crazies played with this sketch created by Cindy Haffner.  We hope that you will have some time to play along.  Our sponsor this week is One Stop Card Crafts.



I do not have any stamps from this company, so I played with a set from SU and dp from DCWV.  I also added some gold embossed leaves/vines on the background with a Penny Black stamp bought at PBStamps.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Now...be sure to go visit the Crazies blog as well as the blogs of the other team members.  Here are the links to help you get to where you need to go......

Crazy4Challenges Blog
Barbara Anders
Cindy Haffner
Frances Byrne
Jessie Rone
Joanne Grzelak (me!!!)
Joycelyn Turner
Lori Boyd
Lynda Benden
Mercy Kerin
Vicki Garrett
Silke Kittman

Stampin B's AND CCEE Challenges

CCEE Challenge

Charlene is our hostess for February and this week she gave us a 'sweet' challenge.  There had to be something sweet involved in our creations.  Well......I actually started out with this unmounted sentiment which I bought years ago and have never used.  So I built the card from there.  I then thought of an old SU set that has all sorts of chocolate images......initially thinking I would go with the large candy kiss in the set, but when I saw this image, I thought it was perfect for the sentiment.  I did not want this to necessarily be a Valentine so I did the pink with blue so it could just be a friendship card.

I made an extra card for this challenge in honor of our hostess.  When I went in to look for the sentiment stamp, I found my M & M stamps and just felt a need to surprise Ms. BBB with a card that fit with the CCEE challenge.  I made my own dp with a small M & M stamp I also have.  And....once again a sentiment I have had for a while and never used.....one I thought Charlene would approve of.....waddayatink, Ms. Bertie????

Stampin' B's Challenge #46  Positive/Negative

The challenge for the Stampin' B's this week was to make a positive/negative card.  These happen to be a favorite of mine, so I decided to try something new.  I have a tendency to always use black and white embossing powder for this technique, along with just black and white papers for my image.  Today I decided to play around with some colored embossing powder I bought at a convention.....and it has since been gathering dust in the workshop.  Now, I will be the first to admit that black and white gives you the most contract and 'bang for the buck', but I also LOVE this effect......it is soft and, I think, elegant.  In real life there is a bit more contrast, but I think you certainly can get the idea here.

I used one of my fav retired SU sets for the kimono, which always brings me a smile cuz it reminds me of my 'once in a lifetime' trip to Japan years ago which was one of the highlights of my life.  I can remember that month long trip as if we just got home yesterday.  What a wonderful land which provided so many wonderful experiences and memories.  The punch is by Marvy (I think).....!!!!

NOW.....be sure to use the links on my sidebar to visit the challenge blogs as well as the individual blogs of my talented and special team members from both the Stampin B's and the CCEEers.

Simple Inspiration

I had a lot of required stamping to work on today, but finally, this evening, I did a simple one for the Inspiration Challenge. The inspiration site was a wonderfully fun, wild, wacky gift store with lots of stylized and whimsical items. Many of them had a comic Oriental flair, similar to the Kokeshi dolls from Japan. That made me think of this fabulous Hero Arts set that Francie G. had gifted me a while back. It hasn't seen ink for a while, so I was happy to pull it out and make this simple card.

Hope you are having a great weekend. The hurricane is heading up here, but is way off shore, so except for high surf at the beaches, we should be fine.

A Sketch of the Orient

I had a busy day yesterday, but I did manage to fit in a second Sketch Challenge card. I love this silhouette image by HIT (Hearts in Touch). Mixed with my fav color combo of red, black and white, I think it is very dramatic. I think I was in an Oriental mood as tomorrow I am having lunch with two dear friends who were part of my memorable trip to Japan years ago. We spent a month there (after a week's prep workshop) and truly got to know Japan and each other. It has been many years since, but it is still one of the most spectacular and meaninful events of my life. So it is always fun to get together, catch up on news, and to reminisce a bit too.

Wishing you a wonderful day. Am hoping to get down to do the WT Challenge later, but right now have 'chores' to do.

Black/White Fern Drama

What a fabulous sketch Rox has given us to play with this week. Asymmetrical, with three small squares on a horizontal panel. Must admit this one 'grew' from a piece of designer paper I had left on my table from an upcoming Stampin B's card I made earlier. However, I must say that I like the drama of the finished product. I think it has a bit of an Asian flair, which I love. I also think it is cool how the cardstock button nearly matches the paper perfectly.

What do you think????

Well, it is just past 6 am here on the East coast and I think I will now go make a cuppa. Have a great day!! I know I will be back later as I am once again late for da Muddermark's tea party and I hear that we are in France this week. Au revoir!!!! (or something like that...lol!!)

SC Take Two.......Sweet Geisha

Francie G. sent me this Hero Arts set a while ago and this is the first time I had time to put it to ink!!! Isn't she just the sweetest.....and there are other images just as cute in this set. Thanks, Francie, for thinking of me. As you know, I do love stamps with an Oriental flair. Reminds me of my trip of a lifetime to Japan. The sentiment is actually a Verve stamp. The dp is from a Martha Stewart paper packet. The cardstock is all SU. I colored the image and its background with my Copics, and used my SU piercing tools. The 'branch' Cuttlebuh folder was used on the back panel.

I made this earlier in the day, but did not get it posted as I was off celebrating the upcoming retirement of two very dear friends.....members of our O.F. C.......which stands for Old Farts Club, a name which we gave ourselves years ago BEFORE the name fit as well as it does now....lol!!!! After June, there will only be one official OFC member teaching.....all the rest of us will be retired.....well, retired from teaching that is....not from life!!!!! Hope you each have a wonderful group of friends in your life!!!

Stampin B's --- Cranes of the Orient

This week, the Stampin B's Challenge Team was given a photo as an inspiration piece. As soon as I saw it (which you can see here at the Stampin B's blog), I knew what I was going to do.......until I went down to the workshop and could not find the stamp I was planning to use. So, had to adjust my 'sails' and float to my Oriental stamp collection where I remembered I had some cranes. This stamp is by Inkadinkado. The Chinese newspaper backgrounder is by Hero Arts, while the ivy background is a retired SU stamp.

I kept this simple in keeping with some of the art of the Orient. I haven't used this stamp for a while, so I was glad to do so. When I work on creations with an Oriental flair, it brings back wonderful memories of my trip to Japan years ago. What a fascinating and full trip it was!!!

Have a fabulous day!

Joanne (jojot)

Red-White-Black SC Challenge

I really have a lot to do today, but I couldn't resist the challenge of my fellow stamper, Anne aka jdmommy. We share a passion for the color combo of black, white, and red. Well, she is the hostess for the DDC weekly challenge this week and it is a color challenge. Bet you can guess what those colors are for this week!!!! Yep, you'd be right, and now you understand why I did a second one, even on a busy day!!

I have a love of images that are Oriental in theme. I was lucky enough to travel to Japan years ago and truly it was a trip of a lifetime. It was with a group of 16 New England teachers, all of us traveling with two translators, and doing such a wide range of activities and experiences. Even years later, I can almost remember the month long trip as if it happened yesterday.

If you haven't checked out my first SC challenge card, please look below this post. I love that one too!!! That one is a fun PB image that just gives me the biggest grin!!

Have a wonderful day!

Joanne (jojot)

The Drama of Black and White

This is a second card I did for Friday's Limited Supply Challenge on Friday at SCS. The challenge was to only use black and white (including grays). This card is actually an update of a card I did over a year ago in the golds and blacks as part of a gift set. I must say that this black and white version is much more crisp and sharp while the gold and black was warm and rich. On this one I added the scallop corners and the square brads. The stamp is an SU retired stamp from the Kimono set. I used white and black detail embossing paper on white and black cardstock. Then sliced each in half and joined the opposites together. The designer paper is from a fab pack by Papertrey Ink. I used the swiss dot embossing folder on the white horizontal panel. You'll probably see another card at some point with this split kimono as I have the other two halves to play with another day.

Have a great evening!

Joanne (jojot)

Ladies of the Orient

Roxie, the hostess for the Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast, manages to come up with great sketches for us to use week after week. I must say that the Sketch Challenge, found here, is my favorite of all the challenges.

This card flipped the sketch on its side, and took an Oriental direction today. I just love the plum/gold warmth and richness in this dp, but I am not so sure the photo shows those qualities so well.

Anyway, I am off to try to do another before the start of a very busy day. Wishing you a day filled with joy!

Joanne

A Touch of the Orient

Today I wanted to 'play' with a wonderful stamp by Onyx Xpressions sent to me by my dear friend, Vicky Gould. This scene reminds me so much of a photograph I took when I was in Japan many years ago. The picture was taken on the sacred island of Miyajima and looked just like this, looking back at the main island of Honshu. Just to the left of this you would see the famous temple gates in the water. So, this stamp truly 'speaks' to me!

I wanted to use mostly paper to frame this image. I didn't want to clutter it up with embellishments. I used a wonderful punch by Anna Griffin and a few brads, and I Cuttlebugged two of the layers. The designer paper used is by Papertrey in their most marvelous (to me) pad of black and white printed papers.

Thanks for stopping in. Wishing you a wonderful Sunday. We are a bit warmer here today, so for that I am most thankful.

Joanne