Got some creative juices flowing...

I went downstairs to my stamping room this morning because I needed to make two birthday cards. My son was going to a birthday party for two classmates (the moms threw a double party for the whole class). As I did those, I realized once again what a disaster my stamping room was. Well, I went downstairs a little later in plans of cleaning and organizing. I did get my countertops cleaned off and my stamp shelf cleaned. But then I got sidetracked. A friend on our quacker thread had posted a monthly challenge for us at the beginning of May. My month of May got away from me, and it was still sitting there, unattempted. She sent everybody an envelope with identical goodies to use in the challenge. Fun idea! We all liked it so much that we formed a large group of stampers to do this same type of challenge for the next year! After I created that card, I figured I should do June's challenge while I was at it. So, my room isn't any cleaner, or any more organized, but I created 4 new cards today. My creative juices haven't really been flowing lately, so that was very nice!

So here is what I created today. First, the birthday cards.

This was for one of the birthday boys. I liked it so much, I made two so that I would have one to keep. His had 7 candles on the cupcake, but I liked it better with just one. I used Stampin' Up's Big Bold Birthday stamp set. The SU cardstock that I used was taken with teal, night of navy, and whisper white. For ink, I used SU's night of navy, real red, taken with teal, and more mustard. I also accented with more mustard and real red grogain ribbons. I ran the navy cs through the cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder. I also used a designer paper for the background.

This was for the other birthday boy. I used Stampin' Up's Birthday Whimsy stamp set. I used SU's brilliant blue, green galore, only orange, and whisper white cardstock. To ink the cake stamp, I used brilliant blue, green galore, only orange, and yoyo yellow markers. I also used silver encore ink for the sentiment. I ran the green galore cs through the same cuttlebug folder. Then I finished it off with only orange grogain ribbon.

Here are the cards I made with our challenges.

Debbie sent us the May challenge. She sent us each an envelope of identical images, designer paper, ribbon, and brads. We could only use earth elements colored cardstock for this challenge. I used close to cocoa, old olive, and naturals ivory cardstock. I cut the designer paper up into strips to use as tree trunks. I cut the grass and treetop by hand. I also used my Zoobaloo cricut cartridge for the vines and leaves. I used the ribbon as rope for the monkey to play on. I wrote the sentiment on by hand.

I really like how this turned out. It was so fun!

Jen sent us the June challenge. She sent each of us watercolor paper with some Father's Day type images, some designer paper, some hodgepodge hardware, and ribbon to work with. We could only use rich regal ink and cardstock. We also needed to use one of the first techniques we learned. I used always artichoke cardstock.I cut the sentiment into strips to make it fit on my card. The technique I used was poppin' pastels to color in the image. I also used pastels over the words of the sentiment. I really like this stamp set, but I haven't bought it yet. It was great to be able to play with the images from it!

Hopefully, it won't be too long before I have another creative day! But first, my Purple Palace does need cleaned - majorly!!