Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

Another great set of colors from ColourQ this week! And for extra fun, I decided to combine them with the Saturday Scrapbook sketch challenge from Stampin’ Addicts.

I realized that most of the colors could be found in the Sweet Pea digital kit. (The actual paper retired a couple years ago, but the digital version is still available!) By using different patterns from the same pack of paper, I knew that the whole page would come together easily and coordinate well.

I have to say, I was a little intimidated by the sketch when I first saw it. But using the Half Circle Punch and the Flag punch really helped it come together easily.

(Oops! I just realized that the digital paper I used is Rose Red instead of Melon Mambo! I think that it is still close enough for the correct feel of the color challenge. Sorry about that!)

So, have I kept you wondering what my exciting news could be? Well, wonder no further! Over the weekend I was chosen to be a part of the ColourQ Royal Court Design Team! I am so excited! I absolutely love this color challenge, and have been playing along for quite awhile, so when Arielle posted that she was looking to add some scrapbookers, I jumped on it! I’ll be officially posting every other week, and most likely playing along on the week’s in between. I hope you will too! Here are this week’s colors. Aren’t they so bright and fabulous?

I went hunting through my photos when I saw these colors, and was thrilled to find that this picture of Eve and her best friend had all of the colors in it. How cute are they with Jack? And no, he’s not quite fully grown yet.

I hope you’ll come over to ColourQ and come play along too!

I am so excited to tell you that our Great Dane Jack (Echo Evans Hijack My Heart) won his first points up at the Monterey Bay Great Dane Specialty Show! It was a 5 point major, which is a huge deal for a 7 month old puppy! We were so excited! I decided to use one of the Stampin’ Addicts Sketch Challenges to make a thank you card for the judge.

I really like making the Great Dane cards in his colors, so I started with Basic Black and Crumb Cake. Since this was such a major win, I wanted to add some gold as well. Here is what I came up with:

Stamps: D is for Dog
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Brushed Gold
Other: Scallop Square Punch, Finial Press Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Gold Embossing Powder, Basic Black 1/8 inch Taffeta Ribbon

Here is a picture of Jack with his ribbons. He won Winners Dog, Best Puppy, and Best of Winners. Amazing! We are so proud of him!

I talked Steve into starting a blog for our Great Dane puppy, Jack. To help him along, I made a super cute header for him in My Digital Studio. It was so easy to make four photo squares and then fill them with pictures of Jack getting older! How cute is this puppy?

The background is textured card stock (of the digital variety). I put a white mat around each photo and then moved them close enough together that the lines in the middle overlap.

You can see the full blog at http://jackthegreatdane.wordpress.com/ Steve hasn’t been writing much in it, so if you have time, go over and leave him a comment. I’m sure he’d love the encouragement!

I decided to try a new color challenge this week, one that I have seen a bunch of my friends play. It is Stacey’s Curtain Call Color Challenge. Here are this week’s colors:

We just received the pictures of Jack winning “Best Puppy” at the Great Dane Specialty Show earlier this month, and Steve asked me to make a card to send along with a copy of the picture to the judge who gave him this award. I decided to use these colors for it. I used the new Crumb Cake ink on top of the Kraft (aka Crumb Cake) card stock for the foot prints, and then ran it through the Big Shot in the Square Lattice  Embossing Folder to give it some texture. The stamp is from a new set called Perfect Punches that is in the new catalog.

Stamps: Perfect Punches, P is for Paw Wheel
Ink: Real Red, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake
Paper: Real Red, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake (Kraft), Whisper White
Other: Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon (reversed), Scallop Oval Punch, Movers & Shapers Punch Windows, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Big Shot

Here’s a picture of Jack and his Best Puppy Award. Doesn’t he look great?

When I first saw today’s color challenge from Pals Paper Arts, I really liked the colors but had no idea what I was going to make with them. Here are this week’s colors:

As I was browsing through my stamp sets, I came across the Beary Best Times set and noticed the trophy stamp on it. Well! I knew I absolutely had to use that one, today of all days! Jack, our Great Dane puppy, was in his very first dog show today, the Great Dane Club of San Diego Specialty Show, and he earned Best Puppy!!! He got a huge green rosette and an engraved vase. Very exciting! So I used these colors to make a card celebrating that. We have a lot of people to thank for his success today!

Stamps: Bear Best Times, P is for Paw Stampin’ Around Wheel
Ink: Soft Suede, Crushed Curry
Paper: Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay
Other: Bermuda Bay Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon (reversed), 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch

Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry are among the items retiring at the end of the month. For a look at more retiring items, join me right here tomorrow for the Stampin’ Addicts Last Chance Blog Hop. We’ll be featuring more than 25 different stamp sets on the Last Chance list.

If you want to see more about Jack the Great Dane, visit my husband’s blog. He hasn’t been writing much, so leave him a comment or two so he knows that people are reading!

As you may know, we have a Great Dane puppy named Jack. When my husband had his knee surgery two weeks ago, we sent Jack down to stay with the breeder/handler until Steve was back on his feet again. (This was no arthroscopic surgery — they broke Steve’s femur and put in a metal plate.) Bev and Mort took wonderful care of Jack, so I wanted to make them a set of cards as a gift. I tried something new this time. My white satin ribbon was too plain, so I decided to try and jazz it up a little. I inked up my P is for Paws wheel with Basic Black ink and ran it over the white satin ribbon. Here’s how it came out:

Isn’t that great? When I think about all the different colors of satin ribbon, my mind starts to swim with the possibilities! For the rest of the card I used the Fawn-Colored Great Dane as my color palette, and made monogrammed notes cards. (Their last name starts with E.) Doesn’t the Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folder just add a touch of elegance?

Stamps: Jayne’s Type Alphabet, P is for Paws Stampin’ Around Wheel
Ink: Basic Black, Creamy Caramel
Paper: Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White
Other: Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folder, White Satin Ribbon, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch

Just a reminder that Creamy Caramel is one of the colors retiring next month. Retiring colors are only available while supplies last, and some are sold out already. Be sure to place your order soon to get what you want!

Great Danes? What do Great Danes have to do with rubber stamping? Well, when you are going over to meet another scrapbooker’s Great Danes, they have everything to do with rubber stamping! My husband Steve has been thinking about Great Danes a lot lately, and is exploring the idea of getting one. Norri, a fabulous scrapbooking friend of mine, invited us over to meet her Great Dane Stanley and his sister Annie. Wow! They are beautiful dogs! I didn’t want to go over there empty handed, so I made her a clear envelope brag book for pictures of the gorgeous Stanley. He is a fawn colored Great Dane, so I chose colors to match. Neither of the dog stamp sets show a Great Dane, so I chose to use paws and a quote instead.

Stamps: D is for Dog, P is for Paw wheel
Ink: Creamy Caramel
Paper: Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets, Basic Black 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Crop-a-Dile, Clear Translucent Envelopes (inside)

It will hold ten 4″ x 5 1/2″ pictures. (You can get 4″ x 6″ pictures and crop them.) And since I know you want to see this gorgeous dog, I’ll leave you with a picture of Steve and Stanley.