Sunday, June 29, 2008

Punchy Birthday!

We celebrated my son and daughter's birthdays together since their birthdays are 2 days apart.


So, I used my Snow White card from an earlier post for my daughter, I still needed one for my son! So, yesterday, about 20 minutes before everyone started arriving for their birthday celebration, I was able to sit down and make a quick card. Now, all morning, I was subconsciously thinking about what I was going to create for him, and I knew it had to be quick!

A couple weeks ago, I stopped at JoAnne's and picked up some dinosaur cuttlebug die cuts. So I took these out, and punched out two of those little guys. Then, I brought out my two circle punches and my word window punch. The tree is the word window punch and obviously the circle punches are the green leaves. I took my decorative scissors and made the grass. And my cloud mask, left over from the Snow White card, I used for the clouds in the sky as a background.

I made a cloud and wrote the sentiment: Have a Dinosaur-ific birthday!

He wasn't too gaga over it, but I was! So, it was worth it!!!

Thanks for looking!
Have a dinosaur-ific day!
Happy Stamping!!!

Flower Garden


This card was made for my mom's birthday, who shares a birthday w/ my daughter! So the 28th is a special day! So, I wanted to make my mom a special card! (Not that I would make her a crappy one!)

I was sitting by my daughter's bed the other night so she could go to sleep, and I was looking through the 2005-2006 SU! catalog for some ideas for upcoming cards, and I came across this beautiful card on pge. 129 under Flower Garden. So, I decided that I would make that card for my mom. I changed the colors and paper but the layout is the same.


I used Mellow Moss for the card base, and ran it through my Cuttlebug w/ some flower folder. Then, I broke out my metallic Perfect Pearls that I bought on clearance at Scrapbook Station. I rubbed the "Perfect Medium" all over the flowers, and then brushed on the green patina and gold patina powders. Then I stamped the flower from Flower Garden onto watercolor paper w/ Black StazOn. (Note: If you own a black Memento ink pad, you cannot use this w/ water. I have ruined several images using my aquapainter. I would suggest either use StazOn, or use a blender pen instead of the aquapainter.) I then colored the flowers w/ watercolor crayons: Pretty in Pink, highlighted w/ Regal Rose and for the leaves: Mellow Moss, highlighted w/ Old Olive and a little Pretty in Pink. I cut the flower and leaf out and put them to the side. I found a nice Happy Birthday stamp in the It's Your Birthday set, and stamped that in Pretty in Pink. I took out my favorite stamp in Label Classics and stamped in Mellow Moss around the Happy Birthday. I cut it out and adhered everything around the ribbon that I had already tied onto the mellow moss.


Thanks for stopping by!

Stop and smell the flowers!

Happy Stamping!!!

State Fair Bedding Inspiration


Yesterday I participated in the Inspiration Challenge on SCS. This was the inspiration: State Fair Bedding by Garnet Hill. I don't usually do the challenges, but Friday night I wasn't tired, so I waited until after midnight and saw the challenge and decided to participate. I can't remember if I have done another inspiration challenge or not. Maybe once before.
Anyway! So, I decided to play up the quilt part. I searched through my stamps, and came across Background Sampler. I stamped each one in Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Brocade Blue, and Basic Brown. Then, I took my square punch, I don't remember which one I used, and punched a square for each background and color. Then, I positioned them on my card, did a little cutting and adhesive and I was done! Then, I decided to draw attention to the stitching on the pillows. I should have just used a scallop edge, but I don't have any scallop nestibilities yet, and I didn't like any of my stencils. So, I drew it, and that's why it's not that great! I added ribbon, and I drew a pillow and added the "stitching" to that as well, and since it was red white and blue to me, I added the sentiment "Have a 'Grand Ole' Day!". I added square metal clips just for some added embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a Grand Ole' Day!
Happy Stamping!!!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Snow White and her lovely animals....


Today's card was made for the challenge on SCS: To use birds on a card. I'm not too into animals and birds, but it surprises me how many animal and bird stamps I have acquired. When searching for the "right" bird, I came upon a Martha Stewart Christmas stamp set that had birds on it. When I saw the birds, I immediately thought of blue birds and Snow White, and thought this would be perfect! I could do birds, but not make them the focal point!
So, that's how this card came about! I used Lovely As A Tree for the "forest" and watercolor minis for the buds on the trees. I drew a little grass where Snow White is standing. I actually stamped the one rabbit and red bird on vellum, and then turned it over and colored it in and cut it out, so that they would be facing her. I feel like I have to do this ALL the time! Why do most animals face only 1 way! Well, thank God for vellum, anyway! I popped the rabbits and bird up w/ pop up dots, as well as Snow White. I drew a cloud, and then cut it out and masked the blue to make the clouds. I love this look! I think it adds dimension!
And just for some added embellishments, I added brass brads to the corners. All colors used: So Saffron, Real Red, Brocade Blue, Brilliant Blue, Going Gray, Basic Gray, black gel pen, Garden Green, Basic Brown. Paper: Very Vanilla, Brocade Blue, vellum.

Thanks for stopping by!
Love your animals today! For me!
Happy Stamping!!!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Elegant Saffron Wedding

This post is all about the wedding favors and card that I made for my husband's boss who is getting married this weekend.

I worked probably a good month on these favors! I did a little at a time. The thing that took the longest was stamping on each 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper! I had to stamp on 125! AAAaaaggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But, I got through it! And continued on w/ all the other stuff. But, it was well worth it, as they came out pretty great! And the bride liked them, so that was a plus of course! The second thing I made was a simple wedding card for them. I wanted to make something that matched the wedding favors, so I stuck w/ Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron and Ruby Red, and created a card based on today's SCS sketch challenge. It took literally 20 minutes to make this card! Because I only had 20 minutes to make this card! I think, had I had more time, I would have done something different. Make it a little more elaborate, but today was nuts, so there was no time!

Anyway, the recipe. Ok, well, for the wedding favors, I used the 2-5-7-10 bag/box template that can be found on SCS under Resources and then I think under Projects. This is seriously the simplest thing ever! The only thing is, if you're using Scor-Pal to score all your folds, make sure you have a spare bone folder because mine is flat now, and I have to order another one. I'm not too happy about that! Oh well, live and learn I guess! Maybe I can finagle a free one!!! Cross your fingers!
Anyway, ok, back to the favors. I used a Scallop punch, circle punch, both tag punches, and the stamp sets that I used are: Baroque Motifs, Fancy Flexible Phrases, and Lovely Letters. I absolutely LOVE the Lovely Letters!!!!!! And it's not retiring, but get it today!!!! It's really one of the prettiest alphabets I own! I used eggplant ribbon (thanks H.C.!) and ruby ribbon to add a little punch of that ruby that was apparently a splash in the wedding decor. And that is it! Super simple!
On to the card. The layout can be found here. I wanted to make the card match, colorwise, to the favors that I made. So, I stamped the Baroque Motifs on the purple squares, and then stuck them to the So Saffron squares. Then I lined them up on the card, and stuck them together! The stamps in the middle are from the dollar bins at Michael's. I think I have all of them right now! But, they are perfect for this kind of thing! If you don't have a lot of stamps built up in your collection, these are the way to go because they are little and you can store them easily in baseball card sleeves in a binder.

So, anyway, that's it! I'm so excited I'm done! Now I can get this eggplant and saffron paper off my desk! Woo hoo!!!!! On to the next project!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!!!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Have a Hot Fudge Sundae for YOUR birthday!


This card was done for two reasons. 1. Today's Try a New Technique Challenge on SCS. and 2. Because it works for my swap!
I worked on this all day. I thought of the layout and colors all day. Then, when I had a break, after dinner, I finally put it all together! I wanted to use my new MFT stamp set "Here's the Scoop" and this was a great opportunity to highlight one of the stamps!
The Try a New Technique was watercoloring w/ reinkers. Now, I don't have any blender pens, as I gave them away a few years ago. So, I used my aquapainter instead! Worked out! I used watercolor paper to make the colors richer.
All the other info is posted in my gallery on SCS. My batter is dying, so I have to go.

Happy Stamping!!!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Spotlight!


A friend of mine is an actress for a local theater. A couple of us went to see one of her performances, and I felt like I should make her a card!

So, this is what I made. It's nothing special, honestly! Just wanted to create something for her that was about theater, and being on stage, and that kind of stuff.

I drew the floorboards and curtains. The girl is from All In The Family from SU! The spotlight on the floor is actually a circle that I half hid underneath the black. It's made of vellum. And then I just used a white colored pencil for the spotlight part.

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!!!

Relay for Life!






Yesterday I was involved in the Relay for Life in the Pittsburgh area. Our team alone raised $2,000.00. I, myself, raised $500.00! So, if anyone is reading this that has already donated, thank you!!!

As part of the whole relay, every team had bags and baskets to auction off. I didn't know about this until the day before the event, so mine is a little sparse, but oh well!

I had a couple white bags left over from another project, so I found the PartyLite logo online and copied it to Word. I made it really big and then printed it out on Vellum. I cut it out and ran it through my Xyron and stuck it to the bag! Perfect!!!!

For the individual bags, I used "Think Pink" from My Favorite Things and colored them red, white and blue (w/ a little So Saffron) for the American Cancer Society colors. The sentiment says, "We're in this together" because we are all in this together. From donating, to walking, to actually going through it, we are all in this together. And one thing I learned yesterday is that no one should have to go through it alone. It's extremely scary, and there is a huge support system available. It's a heartwarming and humbling experience to go to these races and events and walk among the survivors and be reminded of all the ones that we have lost w/ the luminarias.


This is the main thoroughfare at Bethel Park H.S. where we walked. There were all kinds of teams lined up along the sides w/ food and drinks and other items up for auction.



This was the other end of the "track" that we walked on. We walked the sidewalk w/ the bricks to our Left. We walked in half hour increments.

This is our "PartyLite Celebrates Your Life" tent. Our theme was St. Patrick's Day. (We had to choose a holiday and that was what was left!)


This is one of the many events that went on throughout the day. This is a hoolahoop contest. They had a water balloon contest, frozen t-shirt contest (the first person who thawed out their shirt first and put it on won), and some others.

Have a wonderful day!
Remember: Live your life to the fullest every day!
Happy Stamping!!!

Macy's Blocks


Friends of ours had a baby girl this week, and I wanted to make something special for her. I bought her an outfit and a little baby doll, but wanted something unique to add to the gift. Hopefully this suffices!
The letters are supposed to signify flowers (obviously). I put microbeads on the bottom for grass. Once the flowers were on there, I thought the blocks were still boring, so I added ribbon and pearls to embellish a little!


Thanks for looking!

Happy Stamping!!!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Grandma's Card



Today's card was made for two reasons. 1. Today's sketch challenge on SCS. 2. I needed a card for my grandmother. She was admitted into the hospital earlier this week for personal reasons. And I'm visiting her this evening, and wanted to get her a card. She cannot accept flowers (which is fine w/ me!), so I made her a nice little card.


I LOVE LOVE LOVE Wild Wasabi and will be really sad when it retires next month. So, I wanted to use it and some of the other in colors. I pulled out Purely Pomegranate and Blue Bayou as accent pieces, as well as Very Vanilla. I used the stamp set Frienship Blooms (which also goes w/ the rub-ons from SU!) and the inks are similar: Not Quite Navy, Rose Red, So Saffron, and Garden Green. I used Sticky Strip to adhere the vanilla card inside.


Thanks for stopping by!

Have a blooming day!

Happy Stamping!!!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Wedding Roses


This card was done today for a wedding we are attending this weekend. I have wanted to use my new "weddingy" paper and haven't had an opportunity. Until now! I know this card is SUPER simple, and not my usual style, but I didn't want to go overboard for a couple that I don't know very well.

I used Roses in Winter for the flower. For the paper, I used Jewel Toned Mica Coated Papers Sparkling Papers stack. There are 4 or 5 different patterns in the stack. I got it at Michael's when all of their stacks were on sale. I stamped the roses on watercolor paper and then used an aquapainter to blend them all together. And Real Red paper behind the glossy paper, and red ribbon to tie it all together.

Thanks for looking!
Have a "rose" of a day!
Happy Stamping!!!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Gratitude and Roses


Tonight I sat down at my crafting desk and just thought of what I could create. There was an inspiration challenge last Sat. that I was looking at and the inspiration was movie dresses. Either in the movies, or movie stars. Quite a few Titanic "tea" dresses, and some others. There were some really interesting interpretations. I was thinking of doing a card based on one of my favorite movies. But, the leading lady in National Treasure doesn't wear a dress. Well, she does, but it's all black. So..... I nixed that. Then I looked at my check list of cards I need to make and Aunt Lynn's Mother's Day cards was still unchecked. Well, I guess I could work on these!!!

I have a lot of burgundy from past Christmas cards, and I just got a new pack of Basic Gray (I LOVE THIS COLOR!!!!). So, I thought I would bring the two together. I did not want to make the same cards I made for my sister, w/ Burgundy and Black, so I thought I would do the burgundy and gray and add a little splash of Mellow Moss!

I used 3 different stamp sets: Define Your Life, Roses in Winter, and Dotted Autumn. I really like how this turned out! What do you think?!

I'm going to make 10 of these. They will have different "definitions", but the layout I think will be the same.
Bring on the assembly line!!!!
I don't think I'm going to do the recipe thing anymore. If you really want to know what I used and I don't explain something in my description, just email me and I can tell you.

Thanks for stopping by!
And you CAN use Burgundy in the summer! It's not just a winter color!

Happy Stamping!!!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Happily Ever After


This card was made for a bridal shower I am going to. I ended up having to make it today because I was NOT very creative last night and threw away several tries! Hopefully this one will do the trick!
I chose two different designer pages from the SU! Hostess pack. Then I put ribbon on top so you can't see the seam. I used circle nestibilities and cut out the two circles, one Very Vanilla, and one Pretty in Pink. The cake was done last night for another card, but worked for this one too! I put Crackle over it to give it a little texture. I sponged the edges for the circles and added dots around all in Pretty in Pink. I thought the pink circle was still too boring, so I added a swirl from Baroque Motifs to add a little detail. I stamped Happily Ever After and then sponged all around it and added dots to match the circles. I stamped the diamond ring in Black StazOn, and then colored the ring in Gold gel pen. I cut it out, and then put a dab of Crystal Effects on the diamond, and then covered w/ Dazzling Diamonds for some sparkle! I popped it up w/ a pop up square, and Crystal Effects on the bottom as an anchor. As a last elegant detail, I added pearl stickers that I just picked up from The Crop Shop in Greensburg.
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!!!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Jumping for Joy!


Today's card was created for today's sketch challenge on SCS. It was a fun challenge! I had been looking at Gina K's set Just So Hoppy by Melanie Muenchinger. So, I decided to break it out and work w/ the frog. This is what came of that idea to use the frog!

The cattails? are from Pond Friends by Artful Inkables. The whole set comes w/ a fish, a turtle, and a dragonfly! Very cute set, if I do say so myself!

Anyway, I stamped the cattails or whatever they are called in Old Olive and Really Rust once and then stamped again for a far away look. Then repeated the two steps again. I colored all around them w/ brocade blue watercolorcrayon and then went over it w/ my aquapainter.

For the water, which the swirls are also from Pond Friends and I stamped it several times in white craft ink. I embossed w/ white e.p. Then I colored the water w/ Night of Navy watercolor crayon and then went over it w/ my aquapainter. I then applied Crystal Effects to it and let it dry wet. Ha, talk about an oxymoron!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!!!

Thank you!


I had to make a thank you card for a PartyLite customer. I always like to show off to people who don't know I stamp. And I don't feel like going to Hallmark to buy a card when I have all the supplies to make one here! And one that I actually like! You know, and I'm going veering off the subject here, I have not been in a Hallmark store in about a year! And, I have not bought a card since the last wedding I attended. And I think I bought that card at Giant Eagle!


Anyway, so back to this card! I was flipping through my mini hostess stack and I came across red and white polka dots. Oh, how I'm loving polka dots lately! I can't get enough of them! As you can tell by this card!

I just bought some acrylic stamps at JoAnn's during their 40% off sale on EVERYTHING! I bought two alphabets, and some butterfly and flower stamp sets. All from Inkadinkadoo. I bought other stuff too, for my cuttlebug.


So, I took out the flower stamp and stamped in Night of Navy craft ink and then embossed it. Then, I set it aside and worked w/ my layout. I changed the background 3 times before I got it right! I also stamped on the envelope. I love matching everything together, making it a set.


Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!!!

Monday, June 2, 2008

VSN Mini - Book Club

This past Friday evening, SCS held a VSN Mini with Book Club being the theme. There are 2 more mini's and then the big weekend VSN that will be held in August. I can't wait!!!

If you've never heard of this before, here's what it's all about: You know about the challenges on SCS, right? Well, the VSN Mini's are Mini Virtual Stamp Nights. So, we all get together, each in our jammies and huddle around our computer, and wait for the first challenge to pop up! We have 45 minutes to complete these challenges. Each VSN has a different, special theme. They have hostesses who host each challenge, and they all have a supply list beforehand to make sure you have everything you will need. And then each 45 minutes, the next hostess will start a new thread w/ their particular challenge. And then when you're done, you post your card on that particular thread just like a regular challenge. It's a lot of fun!


Ok, the first challenge of the evening was based on "The Scarlet Letter". So, I felt like I should capitalize on a red letter. Here's what I came up w/.


The second challenge was to make a card based on a cover jacket for a book. We had to use either vellum or acetate, and cover up the main image w/ them. So, I thought about the books I was currently reading, and settled on "The Shack" by William P. Young. I'm currently reading this for my book club. The book is about this guy who deals w/ a horrible tragedy, and then goes to this shack where something bad has happened a while after it has happened. He's invited back by someone, and when he gets to the shack, it's just that, a shack. But then, he goes up and gets his stuff and comes back down and really focuses on why he's there, and suddenly there's a change in the air. When he looks around, it's not just a shack, but a beautiful cabin at the base of a mountain. So, I had that picture in my head. When I was looking for a picture to put on my card, I searched through the Thomas Kincaid gallery online and found Everett's Cottage. When I saw this picture, I just knew that this would be the perfect image and matched the picture in my head when I was reading the book. When I was trying to figure out the sentiment, I kept thinking that sometimes all you see is a shack, all rusty and abandoned. But, someone else, say a homeless person, may see it as a haven against the elements until better weather occurs. So, the saying on the card says, "Many people look, but few people see". My dad came up w/ this quote!

I printed out the painting on regular paper and cut it to size. Then I printed the sentiment on acetate because vellum was going to hide the beauty of the painting.

The third card was a hard one! We had to create a card based on a poem! WHAT! Are you kidding me???!!!! So, after some thought, the first poem that came to mind was "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. I grabbed my Lovely As a Tree, and stamped w/Choc. Chip ink onto Going Gray paper. Then, I inked the paper w/ Versamark all over the trees, and then sprinkled Heat and Stick powder. I heated that up, and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds on top of that! I mounted it all onto red cardstock. I added red ribbon and a circle clip for embellishments. I wrote "Reflections" on the bottom corner, because that's what I would do if I was stopping by woods on a snowy evening!

The fourth and final challenge was to make my own book. This was also difficult, however, after spying these chipboard hollow books, I at least had my start. I can't really explain the thought process, because I screwed up several times and changed my mind twice as many times! I used my stencils for the letters. I went over them w/ my Souffle pen to add some depth. The picture is from last summer at the beach. I just love this picture!!! The colors are Real Red and Basic Black. It doesn't match the picture colorwise, but I don't really care!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!!!