Good morning ya’ll! Yesterday I told you that I would be announcing the next two Guest Designers for Rubbernecker. First, Shelly Kuck that Queen of Collage, has agreed to join us as a permanent Design Team Member.

Our two new Guest Designers who have agreed to spend the next couple of months with the Rubbernecker Design Team are Linda Duke and Leslie Miller. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be working with these marvelous designers. I had the opportunity to finally meet Linda while we were at CHA! Not only is she a fabulous designer, but has a great sense of humor. I have been a fan of Leslie’s for a long time, and have always been inspired and awed by her marvelous creations. I can’t wait to work with these ladies over the next couple of months and see what they have in store for us! I am so elated that both of them agreed to work with us.

As well as being Treasure Hunt Tuesday, Rubbernecker is also having a March Madness Sale. There are stamps in both the Rubbernecker and Stamp Oasis collections on sale for $2.95 or less. So while you are hunting for those clues to the Treasure, be sure to check out all the stamps on sale. You will have to make a small purchase to claim the treasure and those sale stamps are too good to pass up! Your treasure must be claimed between 4:00 a.m. PST until 9:00 p.m. PST today (7:00 a.m. EST – 12:00 a.m. EST), and don‘t forget that for every $50 in stamps purchased, you will receive one FREE stamp. You can check out more information on the Rubbernecker Home Page.

Your first clue in the Treasure Hunt can be found at Jeanne’s blog, Inky Paws, today! She also has some Blog Candy today to give away.

Hey wait, I also have Blog Candy today, and so does Shelly. Three opportunities to win today.

Wanna win these Rubbernecker Bucks?

Well, since we are heading into March Madness, and the NCAA Tourney is getting ready to tip off, leave a comment on this post telling me who your pick is for National Champion. My pick, Indiana University of course! A few months ago I would have been jumping up and down — today, I’ll still pick them, but more out of loyalty than anything else!

The lucky winner will be picked by random sequence and will be announced tomorrow.

I’ll be back a little later with my Color Challenge card!

As promised earlier, here’s my Color Challenge card. When I checked in on the Splitcoast Color Challenge this morning, I have to admit – I almost didn’t do it. The colors, Sage Shadow, Orchid Opulence and Kraft, made me cringe. Not just cringe, shudder and shake. Well, after thinking about it for a few hours, and getting some other chores done, I had a brain storm – and before you say anything, YES, it hurt!

I got stampy with this card, something I don’t do enough of these days, and after the second attempt arrived exactly where I wanted.

I used a digital multimedia matte paper for the stamped panels. It’s a coated paper, works well to print photos on, however, because it is matte, doesn’t have the high gloss finish. It’s also a cover weight, which means it’s heavier than most photo paper. For the background panel I used the embossing resist technique. Before I stamped any images, I gave the paper some color, using a sea sponge, and sponged on variations of Old Paper Distress Ink and Sage Shadow. Once I had the color I wanted, I stamped the hummingbird randomly in VersaMark and used a heat gun to set it. The next step was to stamp the hummingbird again, but this time embossed with Ranger UTEE. You can see the marbled effect under the embossing.

For the image panel, I stamped the hummingbirds in VersaMark, heat set them, and using the sea sponge added the same colors as before to the panel. Before the ink dried completely, but while it was still wet, I used a sponge dauber and wiped off any excess to highlight the stamped images. I then stamped the flower image twice in Old Paper Distress Ink. For the middle flower image, I colored the image with Orchid Opulence and Sage Shadow Stampin’ Write markers, misted very lightly with water, and then stamped the image. The sentiment was stamped then stamped with Black Soot Distress Ink. For an added neutral color I chose black, to give the card some needed weight.

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Nature’s Moment and Stamp Oasis Petite Word Sentiment Collection SKU 2000-10 Petite Wind & Sea from Rubbernecker Stamp Company

Paper: Sterling Ultra Digital Matte, Kraft and Basic Black

Ink: Ranger Tim Holtz Old Paper and Black Soot Distress Ink; VersaMark; and SU Sage Shadow

Accessories: SU Stampin’ Write Orchid Opulence and Sage Shadow Markers; Ranger UTEE and Mini Mister; Tsukineko Dauber; Ticket Corner Punch; Brads; Ribbon; Sea Sponge; Mounting Tape