Just Us Girls ARE colorful!

Check OUT our latest color challenge - it's sure to make you blush!

Our darling, Andrea, has chosen a GORGEOUS color palette for our inspiration
and fun - and YES, thank you! Fun was HAD! I'll admit, maybe not a regular
color combo for little miss, ME, but I made that my personal challenge - and I'm
delighted I did! I came up with something that's perfect for MY needs!

This inspiration photo is SURE to get you on YOUR colorful way - isn't it BEAUTIFUL!?!

See, this is why I'm blushing.... {I'm thinking of someone I LOVE!}

Meanwhile, there is inspiration-a-plenty to be had! Check out the
wonderful Jug HEADS and ALL of their lovely creations ...............

Andrea

Dana
Maria
Kathryn
&
our wonderful guest designer for July...

Christina MacLaren



Here's a glimpse of the inside!



Aside from being a VERY delightful exploration in color...
This card goes out to someone VERY dear, to whom I pray
ALWAYS, always knows of my love for her...




I'm so PROUD of my girl and the BIG summer adventure she's on...
even though we definitely, DEFINITELY miss her!



{I love you, sweet Miss C! We'll see you very soon!}

THANKS for visiting! Sure hope you get some time to share your colorful
inspiration with Just Us Girls! Yee Haw!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - My Cute Stamps {Elephant}; Wplus9 {Sentiment and Hearts}
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Word Art - {Oh gosh, I can't remember font names!}
Ribbon - Michael's

Have a SCREAMIN' good time!

I had a screamin' good time tonight ~ making stuff! Spent most of the day "cleansing the palette, " or cleaning "Scrapland," my haven of crafting and art...and sanity! Oh, goodness, it was in a pretty sorry state! But, there was light... at the end of my journey and .... A CARD!



Roar! Yep, that's how I feel: hear me! Let me hear YOU! And while we're at it, look at these!


Is YOUR mouth watering? I just think these are JUICY! And since I've been a bit out of the loop, I was surprised and delighted that Lovely LeAnne from the Color Throwdown is leading this week's challenge! {I'm a huge fan!}

When I first set eyes on these colors, having been in "Autumn" mode for so long, I was a bit concerned with how I'd wrangle them... I just find it so amazing how we are inspired and I hope you'll share the humor when you see what kicked it into gear for me:




Isn't this lovely! Lavender fields from the Mount Shasta area of way Northern California. And the painting is by a dear family friend, and super talented water color artist, Virgil Harton. Virgil is most well known for his architectural water color renderings, but I had the privilege of visiting his studio a few months ago, and I must share that his landscape paintings are MAGNIFICENT! I wish he had a website I could direct you to, but he's pretty low-tech and private. However, since he shared this print with me that was made into cards for a local lavender company, I'm able to share a slice of his fabulous talent! So many of these colors were similar to LeAnne's and simply by knowing that, I came up with this!



My husband got all excited, thinking I was going to post something that was inspired by Virgil, but I'm not exactly sure he'd get the connection! {Hee Hee} Great thing though, I know YOU will!

Since I was having fun and getting all excited with "challenge," I decided to use this sketch from the lovely gals from Card Patterns.....


I wish you could hear me purrring! FANTASTIC inspiration for a gal who's been kept away from all of this spectacular card crafty fun! I had a super time adapting these colors to this sketch and a ton of fun with these darling stamps by MyCuteStamps, more stamping on glossy (coated) card stock... some resist and, of course, water color work and viola! Scrapland is BACK IN BUSINESS! Yeeee HAW!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are "being challenged!" Yipeeeeeee!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - MyCuteStamps (main image, city-scape, sentiment); Stampin' Up! (Stars and "H")
Background Stamp - Impression Obsession
Ink - Stampin' Up! & Staz On
Grungeboard Shapes - Tim Holtz
Diamond Plate Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug
Silver Cord - Stampin' Up!
Black Glitter - Doodlebug

Human nature is funny....

It really is. I can't help it... And now I'm admitting this... {*gasp!*} in public....

Sometimes, I want things I haven't got.

Here's a cute, wintery scene, with adorable stamps, a whole collection, actually! But the main images, the penguins... left me wanting.... I WANTED MORE! MORE! M-O-R-E!

See, the little 'uns! They are THE same! But that wasn't enough for me... So many of these adorable images from My Cute Stamps have closed eyes, and that's what makes them so stinkin' cute! But I wanted MORE! Yes, friends, that's greed talkin': I wasn't satisfied with two images. So I did a little surgery to the body, and added eyes! Open eyes! {I just ripped a little circle out of some sticky Post-It material and used it to mask the wee little face of the baby penguin, inked it and then removed the Post-It, stamped, then drew in the eyes, OPEN, re-added the beak and VIOLA!} Then, using the same drop of Rich Razzleberry re-inker that I colored the mama penguin with, washed with extra water, I dressed this lil' penguin as a baby girl! Same color + water = HALF TONE! That's my naughty little secret about how you can make colors go a step further and still remain, well within the boundaries of a color group... like THIS one from Scrapmaster's Paradise!

Mmmmmmmmm. Pretty COLORS!

This was a truly exhilarating card to make! I just had these colors in my head ALL week, had nothin'... and then suddenly: I remembered this cool cloud stamp I picked up recently! Stamped it Tempting Turquoise, but it was a little more powerful than what I was thinking of for a winter scene, so I covered it with some card stock vellum... Then I got the idea for a reflecting pond! Yipee SKIPPEE (*wink*wink) Some snow flakes, ROCK CANDY Stickles for snow.... And then, it all came together.... Sans sentiment. Doh! I always get tripped up by the sentiment! Once again, I foraged! {It's TRULY all in the hunt!} So many thoughts, no applicable sentiment.... Then, suddenly:

I would have NEVER matched these images unless I had traveled the road {albeit, a frustrating road at times.... } I did tonight, to find a sentiment in my... well... VAST collection-o-stamps.. Anywhoo, I was moved by the Mama and baby penguins and once there was a boy AND a girl, I just thought of, well, myself! And me wee kids... They DO make my life a beautiful thing! So this lil' card ~ is for them!

Thanks, AGAIN, for letting me share tales from the creative journey with ya'll! There's still time to jump into Samantha's fun color challenge at Scrapmaster's Paradise! I hope you'll give it a try!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Vellum - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up; Hero Arts; My Cute Stamps
Ink - Stampin' Up!; Brilliance
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Scallop Border Punch - EK
Snowflake Sequin - My stash!
Rock Candy Stickles - Tim Holtz

Season of the PSL!

That's PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE, friends! I'm not, officialy, endorsing Starbuck's, as I am soooo, incredibly loyal to my local coffee store/chain, but this time of year... there is a little coffee, cinnamony, nutmegish, vanilla treat that becomes a coveted and most treasured afternoon pick-me-up, when I've "been a good girl!" {Oh, I'm ALWAYS a good girl!} Sadly, I don't have a picture of my favorite caffeine slice of faux pumpkin joy... {because I drank it before I thought to take a photograph, sorry!} but trust me, when I saw the colors for this week's Color Throwdown I had an epiphany: PUMPKIN SPICE is comin' to town! (Today, I confirmed my suspicion as I enjoyed my first PSL of the season!)

Here's a card that's a salute to my feelings about my special coffee treat... My TRUE feelings....

These colors, by the fun and sassy Throwdown gals, are as follows:

Also, I thought I'd celebrate the use of these dynamic autumnal colors by incorporating these sketches from Caardvarks! The first sketch is what I used for my coffee lovin' owl card:

Sketch One~

Caardvarks is featuring a sketch challenge this round and there are THREE to play with! Here's number TWO:

Sketch #2~

And the card that incorporated this sketch! A nice WESTERNY Thank YOU!

Sketch #3~

And some more fun with the "Deer Friends" stamp set and some tree work, to give sketch #3 a turn!

Isn't this the CUTEST lil' bunny! I'm usually so powerless over that DEER.. but this time I let the bun-bun out to play! It was fun to just GO FOR IT! Tackling all three sketches with one color challenge! I know......: life on the edge with the "E"... {It's all the caffeine! Hee Hee} Hey, go an play with these sketches and fantastic colors and by all means... treat yourself to a PSL! Have fun!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up! and M/M (orange polka dot strip on card #3)
Stamps - Stampin' Up!, My Cute Stamps, TJ Designs & O'Scrap
Ink - Stampin' Up!; Ranger (Alcohol Ink for Metal "Thank You" sentiment)
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Corner Rounder - Stampin' Up!
Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug (Argyle)
Metal - (Metal rivets and sentiment) Joanne's
Scallop Circle - Sizzix
Circle Cutter - Coluzzle

It's Not Easy Being Pink...

...or at least, that's what SOME monsters might say... But not this little gal! For this week's Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo, I'm bringing you "Pinky" the monster {that was my little gal's name for her!}!!! I've been complaining about making boy cards so much, but as I scroll back through recent posts, ahem... We'll there's quite a bit for that side of the population... So, this lil' monster's for all-o-YOU girly types!



She's a BRIGHT one, all right! Monster image brought to you by MyCuteStamps and MY new stamps {a little shopping therapy, since I didn't get the nod for their design team... *sob!* I have three new stamps by Holly, to show that I'm a proud loser! Lol!} THAT'S ALL GOOD, though! Some of my craftiest and wonderful blog friends made the cut, so check out Holly Brooke Jones' blog, Creating Cupcakes to learn more about her new team, products and fun! {Make special note of, DANA! She's my LOCAL hero and BFF, gone fabulous blogstar!} But I [WAY] digress, I wanted to share how much I'm loving monsters AND robots right now! This set, "Eek, a monster!" from MCS is such fun! It's versatile and adorable, although, I will admit that this was another example of a darling stamp-ortunity to combine a sentiment stamp from long ago, with a brand new image! "Oops a daisy" is by Simply Stamped, but it was great inspiration for me to combine the eyeball daisy + monster and create a fun belated birthday or apology card! ( As much fun as I have making cards, you'd think I'd be great at sending them... cough*cough {not so much!} I should make 100 of these! hee hee)

THEN there's these fab colors, compliments of Samantha, who put the SCRAPMASTER in SPCC! She's offering up some DELICIOUS blog candy right now, so drive or "blurf" {blog-surf: compliments of the lovely, Karen!} on over there as soon as you can! I love her color choices and the fact that she's a STAMPIN' UP sista, in her "free" time! {CHECK OUT HER BIO! She's AMAZING!}


Anyway, cute friends of blog land. As you can see, water coloring with my Stampin' Up! inks is still my fave technique of the moment! I ADORE the end result and "printed" quality of the coloring, so until I win those awesome COPIC markers... somewhere {Samantha!}... that's how I'll be rolling! Here's a close up so you can see HOW well you can blend with a little extra ink and a water color pen!


There you have it, folks! Just knowing you've been by to share the fun-o-the craft with me makes my day! AND it contributes to WORLD PEACE.... seriously! THANK YOU, so much, for your kind comments, humor and PATIENCE! I adore you!

Run along, now. Go MAKE something!

You still here?

Go, get inky!

I love ya! Be good!


Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - My Cute Stamps (monster and flower); Simply Stamped (Sentiment); S/U! (flourish)
Ink - Stampin' Up, Staz On
Punches - All Night Media (flower); Sizzix and CM (circles); Stampin' Up! (corner rounder)
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!

It's a sticky situation...

...AND a sticky Sunday here in Northern California! We tried to keep cool and mercifully, "Scrapland" is the coolest place here at Rancho Durenberger, so we CRAFTED! Me and my mini-crafter, my sweet lil' girl child, STAMPED the day away! { It's fun to have a mini crafter around when you need one! } Anywhoo, this afternoon it just got plain sticky, so there were popsicles and bike riding and a few other interruptions... ha ha! But I finally have something to offer for the day's work! As I type this, I don't even know if it's too late for the first challenge I had on my mind, Scrapmaster's Paradise, Color Combo Challenge, ANOTHER new to me challenge and I have to share with you that the colors and the graphic are what suckered me in! Each time I saw this cute little color swatch, my toes curled with joy! It sounds like it ends, today, SUNDAY, but it didn't give a time and since it's STILL Sunday, I'm going to see if they'll still have me. Here's my color "work" combined with the composition from this week's Card Pattern's Sketch #27..

Ohhh, goodness, aren't those colors fetching! Makes me want to scrap my girl baby all over again! But for now, just a little friendship card!

Another great sketch to combine with fun colors... so why not!?! Hee HEEEEEE! Weeeee!

Gratuitous close up of the darling "Wings of Friendship" bird by Stampin' Up! He's in the new hostess sets, level 2: DAR-LING! I gave him EYES! {I always have to give eyes when the stamp just has emptiness... it's just a thing... an issue.. a bug-a-boo, if you will: my creatures must have eyes!}

Also included in this card was a lot of stamping on Very Vanilla and then paper piecing images for visual interst.... can't help myself! Anyway, friends, I'd best run off and link-up! Giddy up and link up, before I miss my window! Here's hoping your Sunday wasn't as sticky, but maybe as CRAFTY!

Oh, and let's not forget the wee-daughter's lovely work! She was REALLY enjoying this handsome collection from My Cute Stamps... so I SHARED! {Am I a nice mommy or WHAT!?!}

Bye-bye for now!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Punches - Stampin' Up!
Stickles - Tim Holtz & Ranger
Glitter Paint - Shimmers (Bubble Gum Pink)
Thread - Gutermann

What if we pretend there's a chill....

Okay, just a few days ago THERE WAS A CHILL in the air, but that's all changing here in my cozy little Northern California corner of the world: IT'S HOT! {Wah!} But I'm just chillin' here this afternoon: I made a little winter scene to help my chill factor! Yet ANOTHER challenge inspired me: CAARDVARKS! I think I've only hit them one other time... Oh, if there WAS all the time in the world... you know what I mean! Anywhoo, I'm in for this round, baby! See what you think:

Yep! I'm having a "thing" with My Cute Stamps! Arent's those seals sweet! ?! I gave them a little place of their own... With their own little house and world and WARM wishes! I "Cricuted" the letters for the word "warm" and then had myself a little glitter-fest! Yipee! Sparkly letters are gooooood! Good for the soul! The word "wishes" was made with a Quick Kuts Shortcut die run through my Big Shot! As much as I love my Cricut options, the Sizzix really satisfies! Love how the letters POP out: such fun!



Sparkle, sparkle, SPARKLE! Like I said, sparkle really makes a girl feel good! Ummmm!

Look at "Sally" the seal! I named her that because we can SEE the crush she's having on... Is it "Linus?" Woops, I should have given him a little blue blankie... Oh well. When I inked "Sally", I placed a tiny piece of post-it with the sticky side towards the rubber and covered her eye... That way, I could go back in with a black pen and make her eye OPEN, just so she could look just a little different from her beau! I also cut off her tail! Yikes! Just so she didn't feel like a twin: I think it works for this composition.. I'm sure she's okay! I like stamps that you can "customize" a little for the purpose of telling a STORY! The sweet artwork and sturdy lines in these stamps make that
E - A - S - Y! It's like getting TWO images for the price of ONE! Yipee!



SO, wow! That about does it for today {and I was WORRIED I wouldn't get any craft time.. I just made the dogs wait a little longer for their food... Yelp!} Now it's off to Costco!

Have a great rest of your Saturday!


Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - My Cute Stamps (Seals)/ Stampin' Up! (Snowflakes)
Igloo - ME! (hand drawn)
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Pens - Stampin' Up!
"Warm" lettering - Cricut
Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts
"Wishes" - Quick Kutz
Heart Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts
Scallop Edge Punch - Stampin' Up!

Monkey see... Monkey do ANOTHER challenge!

Yipee! It's Friday, babies! Are you ready to ENJOY your weekend!?! I sure hope so... I'm sliding across the plate with a close-to-the-wire offering for this week's Card Patterns Challenge AND playing some more with My Cute Stamps - CIRCUS {because they are soooo cute!} ANIMALS!



Ohhhh, the cuteness of this little monkey! I just turned this card into a celebration-o-the-monkey! AND some of his fun accessories! AND... {alert the media} I parted with some COSMO CRICKET paper! {I know... will you HOLD me? It's hard to .. let go..*sniffle} But doesn't monkey and some strips of "Mr. Campy" play nice together!?!

Here's the ultra-enjoyable sketch design from the fine folks at Card Patterns! A personal "side" challenge for me was to NOT do something western with this design! {I have a little addiction to all things western, ESPECIALLY when I sees me some stars!} Sometimes it's about GROWTH, and getting out of our {Western FESTOONED} box!.... Look Mom, I'm growing up.. and playing with... uh, ur..
M O N K E Y S!



So, adorable friends-o-blogland! I'm going to attempt to NOT be too wordy and let you go! It is with such gratitude that I acknowledge HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE you stopping by my happy little blogging place! Have a fabulous, lovely and ENJOYABLE weekend, and by all means: do some monkeying around in your spare time! You deserve it!

Bye now!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Stamps - My Cute Stamps
Ink - Stampin Up!
Postage Stamp Edge Scissors - Fiskars
Star Punches - McGill & Family Treasures

Wild and WONDERFUL challenges!

I am enjoying participation in some of the fabulous challenges here in BLOGLAND so very much! I'm so addicted, that sometimes I feel almost naughty for posting WITHOUT one! Either way, it's always a rush: something about seeing artwork on the computer that makes it look extra special... And then there is the WONDER of blog visitors! Who might pop by? Who might leave a comment? What might they SAY!?!? My goodness, I've been doing art my WHOLE life, but not in my wildest dreams did I imagine how this computer dealy could make the sharing of work, knowledge and joy so exquisitely WONDEROUS! In just six months, I've met SOOOO many lovely, talented and AMAZING friends across the country and the world: it's astounding! I still feel like a newbie in so many ways, and yet I can't count my blessings fast enough. I've MET some of you from places I'll never visit, faces I'll never see in real life, yet I KNOW that if we ever did meet up, it would be BEYOND fantastic.... So not only are there the benefits of friends from far away, but I'll take it a step farther and say that local friendships have blossomed and sprouted flowers and branches as well... Blogging connects us in a way that real life can sometimes get in the way of.. So I feel like the luckiest gal on the blog! But even better than that: most of you feel the same way and WOW! I'm just REALLY happy to be a part of all of this! Recently, a "stranger" to me posted a comment on one of my cards. It was LeAnne from "Color Throwdown"... {That name makes me giggle!} She basically threatened me to join the fun! It was the most delightful "threat" I've had in a while, and I'm thrilled to say that I'm JOINING in for this round so GIT READY! LeAnne, you might be sorry you asked! {tee hee}

I got RIGHT on board for this challenge: the colors are such fun! Have you heard? I LOVE BLOGLAND!!! {Sorry!} In fact, these colors were so easy and joyful to work with, I decided to get REALLY SASSY and combine a second challenge! OMG! The composition design is from this week's CPS sketch, #27:

Tami Mayberry, from CPS, never disappoints with her sketchy ideas! Some of my favorite cards I've made since starting my blog have come from her inspiration! Such a great collection of talented, MOTIVATED and knowledgeable crafty ladies reside here in the blog-o-sphere, I kind of feel sorry for the gals who haven't heard about all of this yet! If you're reading this and you haven't participated in one of these challenges or you're not ready to dive in "publically", do it ANYWAY! I won't tell!


The final icing on today's "cake" for me was throwing in this adorable stamp from My Cute Stamps! I've been enjoying a couple of sets that I treated myself too a few months back, thanks to the fine suggestion by the "Goddess of Glitter", the lovely and talented, DANA from PaperDaydream! She's not only AMAZING with the paper and glitter, but she knows her way around blogland and has REALLY treated me to some fabulous tips along my journey. Introducing me to "My Cute Stamps" has definitely been a great boon to my card making! {Thanks, Sweet little Dana!} Anyway, it's still unseasonably chilly here in Sonoma County C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A, so I had that "cold day" craftiness upon me today... I hope you enjoyed my greatful, excitable and ooowey, goowey "I love ya ALL, man!" kind of post.

Take care!



Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Making Memories
Stamps - My Cute Stamps (Giraffe); S/U! (Paisley Background); Wordsworth (Sentiment)
Scallop Edge Punch - Stampin' Up!
Glitter Gelly Roll Pen - Sakura

I'm NOT lion!

I'm REALLY not! You can ALWAYS be my Valentine! Even in August! Hee Hee THIS adorable lion image from My Cute Stamps was just the ticket to make this funny, random sentiment stamp WORK! Sometimes, {*gasp} I just BUY stamps... No rhyme or reason: just because! When I saw this silly sentiment, YEARS ago... I just had to have it for the right MOMENT! And here it is!

So, I've protected and loved this whimsical saying for {?} too many years: I think I got it off the clearance table at a FABULOUS local scrapbook store... It's by a company called "Rubber Soul"... I JUST thought it was funny.

Then along comes the "Circus Animals" collection from My Cute Stamps... And HELLO! I thought this was a delightful union of darling imagery and sentiment if ever there was one! Once again, A LOT of fun to color with an aqua brush and re-inker or Water Color Wonder Crayons! Little Lion's eyes and nose are shined up a bit with some dimensional glaze: isn't he just the sweetest thing!?!

So, in a nut-shell: I'm NOT LION! I heart you! Have a lovely day!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - My Cute Stamps (Lion); Rubber Soul (sentiment); Stampin' Up! (Candy Sentiment)
Punches - Stampin' Up!; Martha Stewart Crafts
Embossing Folder - Swiss Dots by Cuttlebug