Very Simply Susan

Who doesn’t love a good pun?  I know I have a corny enough sense of humor to find puns very funny.  A pun is just fun!  And what more fun than playing along with this week’s Global Design Challenge #GDP034!  This week’s challenge is a sketch done by the super talented Teneale Williams. What a talented group over on that side of the Pacific! I really want to go to an On Stage there one day just to meet all these fabulous stampers! The fact the Global Design Challenge has designers from all over the world is one of the reasons I love doing it so much.  Click on the icon below to see what everyone else is doing this week!

Pun Intended is a Hostess set from the new catalog! And I love the name “Pun Intended”. No apologies there.  We have puns and we mean it! At first,  I loved this set for the bee.  And that was going to be the stamp I used for this challenge.  But once I started working on it, I HAD to use the light bulb.  The matching sentiments are too cute.  And the light bulb stamp has so much built into it The little heart and the “whatever those wires are in a light bulb” spell out love! How clever is this stamp?  The challenge sketch has sort of a watercolor looking center to it.  I haven’t done much watercolor, but this seemed like a good time to try it and the obvious choice was yellow to mimic light from a light bulb.  Using my aqua painter I did a light wash of Daffodil Delight on watercolor paper with a stroke or two of Crushed Curry.  The watercolor paper makes stamping fine details a challenge, but with Black Staz-On ink, the photopolymer stamps worked like a champ! The heart on the bulb was inked in using the aqua painter and real red ink.  And it is hard to see, but I colored in the bulb with Wink Of Stella glitter so it glows!

I also felt like I wanted a very humble little bow on the front.  The stamps are so simple, the bow needed to be simple as well.  So, I took the Thick Whisper White Baker’s Twine and used the aqua painter to add some Daffodil Delight ink to it. The card didn’t really need a bow, but adding this made me happy!

And usually I don’t bother showing the inside, But you just have to see it on this card with this stamp set! I love how it turned out.

Recipe

Papers: Watercolor paper, WhisperWhite, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black
Stamps: Pun Intended, Work of Art
Inks: Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Staz On Black, Real Red
Embellishments: Whisper White Thick Baker’s Twine, Wink of Stella Glitter Pen

Today’s card is all about saying good-bye to old friends right now.  I went through all my stamps last weekend and marked all the retiring stamp sets and decided which ones I will keep and which ones will be sold, donated or given away.  Some are really hard to part with such as this one, Ray of Sunshine.  I never used this nearly enough.  The face for the sun is what has always attracted me to the card.  Since I have never really been able to line up the rays of the sun a circle for the face, I have always had to come up with creative ways to work around stamping them!  In this case, I stamped the rays on the back of DSP and then cut them out, leaving some extra at the bottom so I can adhere them to the back of the circle.

I will absolutely hate saying good-bye to the Bohemian DSP!  At first Bohemian and I didn’t really click. loved the colors, but after a while, I learned to love the bold graphics of this paper.  Along with my other good friend, Blackberry Bliss ink they have been much loved, though much under used! Don’t we all have that problem?

I added a lot of gold accents to this card, which is what I always do with Bohemian DSP.  I wish the photograph did the card more justice.  It really does not pop the color or the gold accents, but I couldn’t quite get the light right.  What I really wanted to show off is the center of the card and I think the image shows that. The gold metallic thread behind the sentiment is really beautiful too.  I layered the sentiment over gold foil punched with the same punch(the Washi Tape) as the sentiment.

The sentiment is one of my favorite sayings.  Some people really are your sunshine in life.  Its great to have them around. This card will go to my good friend Scott in Florida who loves all things purple and for all of us who know him,  he really is like having sunshine around!

Recipe

Papers: Delightful Dijon, Bohemian DSP, Botanical Garden, Gold Foil Paper
Stamps: Ray of Sunshine
Embellishments: Gold Sequins, Metallic Gold Thread
Tools: Washi Label Punch

This is my card for #GDP033 – Global Design Project Color Challenge.  We were challenged to use  Night of Navy, Calypso Coral and Sahara Sand. When I looked at the colors, nautical was the first thing to come to mind.  They are very LLBean!  And that thought never left!  This was the first design I tried out with this color combination and it was love at first sight. So, I did not try anything else. I really like how the Navy and Calypso Coral all work together with the burlap ribbon to give it a very nautical look.  The Sahara Sand is perfect to act as a neutral color rather than using a white or vanilla.  Click on the image below to check out what everyone else is doing this week! 

Land to Sea is the stamp set used for the nautical elements and the sentiment is from Going Global.  This sentiment seemed perfect for the elements used.  And the big burlap ribbon as a background gave the card a more rustic nautical look.

Recipe

Papers: Night of Navy, Sahara Sand, Calypso Coral, Subtles DSP Stack
Stamps: From Land to Sea, Going Global
Inks: Night of Navy Calypso Coral
Embellishments: 1 1/4″ Burlap Ribbon