Feelin' Patriotic!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I've definitely been in the patriotic mood this week, as I have done TWO cards in red, white and blue in the last few days.

This first one was for Splitcoast's TLC123. I cut 1" square out of several colors of cardstock and made a patriotic patchwork quilt of sorts. I made the red stripes in the background using scrap strips of paper (a little trick I learned at Regionals). I used the "Starstruck" stamp set to make the white stars, and punched the big red stars and small glittery ones with large and small star punches. And, YES, those are REAL firecrackers on there! Pretty crazy. I used the Rough Edges alphabet to create the "USA" and finished it off with gold cord.

This second card was inspired by a trip to Roberts (love those 50% off coupons!). The cute little horseshoe, hat, and horse were all created using Cuttlebug dies. I also love my background stamps, as I used THREE of them on here - Weathered, Just Jeans and Paisley. I have NEVER used this many brads on a card in my life! SIXTEEN! This sucker is gonna be too heavy to mail. At least I won't get arrested for this one, 'cause the firecracker card is SURE to send the FBI knockin' on my door for trying to mail explosives!

Faith Inspires Me!

For the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS today, we had to come up with a creation aka Markie's Mom (Faith!). She is amazing! And MAN, can that girl layer a card and add some hardware! She always seems to pull it off, though. The challenge number is FS21. I used my Hologram Highlights ep on the flowers and the butterfly, but not on the the leaves or sentiment. That stuff has been sitting in my drawer forever. I was about ready to grab the Iridescent Ice ep, when the Hologram Highlights stared me down! It's always fun to do something new and step outside of our own boxes, isn't it?? I still really LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new in colors . . . betcha couldn't tell . . .

I also used the rock & roll technique on the butterfly. I always love trying that with different stamps. These colors are just so much fun!

I have been out of town so much already this summer. Looks like the whole month of July is packed! I will post more as I get a chance! Thanks for looking!