Happy New Year!

May 2008 bring you peace, love, joy, hope, happiness & success!


Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Santa and his elf....

I found bags like this on Splitcoast, and totally stole their idea! I thought they were SO cute! I had to make them for someone! So, I made 2 Santa bags and 1 elf bag. The only difference I made to the ones I found online is the fur for Santa. Everything else is a total copy! But aren't they adorable!!!!

Recipe:
Paper: white or colored gift bags at Wal-Mart or Michael's; red, green, white and black cardstock
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: silver and gold embossing powder, fur (JoAnne's), circle punch

Happy stamping!

These are Christmas gifts for my cousins and aunt. I made 8 of each of these for them. They really all turned out so nicely! Thank you Heather Casey for the sketch idea!!! I took it and ran with it! Does the blue card look familiar, Heather???!!! *wink* These were super easy cards, and didn't take long at all to make.

Recipes for all 3:

Paper: white cardstock, watercolor paper, Brocade Blue, Choc. Chip, red cardstock

Ink: Black StazOn, Brocade Blue, Mellow Moss, Real Red, Choc. Chip, versamark, Going Gray, Martha Stewart's Silver ink pad

Stamps: Sincere Salutations, Every Day Flexible Phrases, all snowman images from Fiskars clear stamps (found at JoAnne's), snowflake background stamp (I've had that stamp since I started, so I have no idea where it came from!)

Accessories: Silver ribbon, multiple types blue ribbon from multiple places, aquapainter, white puffy paint, silver embossing powder, sponge, rhinestones

Happy Stamping!

This is a new cube that I made for my cousin for Christmas. Thankfully, we don't exchange with them until New Year's Day! So, I was able to do this after Christmas. This really turned out nice! I first saw this technique on CraftTV online, and I thought it would make a wonderful gift! And the fact that the blocks stay together is an added bonus! I can't wait to make one for myself and perhaps I can teach it at Michael's sometime this year! I think this would be a super cool idea!!!!!

Recipe:

Blocks: 9 pack from Michael's or Scrapbook Station (you only use 8)

Pictures: 10 pictures, 8 3 x 3, 2 3 x 6 I think?!

Adhesive: Anything super strong!!!!! Hermafix won't cut it! Wood glue that is not harmful to pictures would work as well!

If you would like this template to make on your own, just send me an email and I'll send it to you!

More to come in my next post! (I can only put so many pictures in one post!!!)

Merry Christmas!

May you all have a safe and wonderful Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Gina K's sketch challenge

I subscribe to Gina K's blog, a stamp creator, minor competitor to Stampin' Up, and she had a sketch challenge posted. So, of course, I have to do the challenge!!! But, this was really easy! It's so easy when the layout is taken care of! Then you know what size stamp you'll need, and the only thing you need to worry about is what paper to use! Then everything else falls into place!

For this one, I used Figgy Pudding, because she did on her card. But, I didn't want to be a total copycat. So, I picked the snowflake paper that I have seen on many cards on Splitcoast, and since I have The Snowflake Spot, my new favorite stamp set!, I put the two together! I think it turned out really pretty! The hardest part was those brads!!! I dipped them in white craft ink and then dipped them in Dazzling Diamonds. But, as you know if you have craft ink, it takes FOREVER for the craft ink to dry. So, handling them is pretty much impossible! The ink comes right off! So, getting those on the paper was pretty tricky, but I figured it out....



Recipe:Stamps: The Snowflake Spot
Paper: Figgy Pudding, DCWV gray
Ink: Sage Shadow Craft Ink, White Craft Ink
Accessories: brads, Dazzling Diamonds, Heat & Stick Powder, rhinestones

Happy Stamping!

It's gift bag designing time!

Today on Splitcoast, the challenge was to use wrapping paper on a card, or decorate a gift bag. Well, if you know me well, you should know that nothing that I give as a gift is wrapped. I'm a bag lady! I'm not the best wrapper, and those corners are ridiculous to get crisp! So, I usually decorate the tissue paper (when I have time!) with stamping. Today, though, I looked at the challenge and at some of the submitted works, and I really thought I would skip the challenge. Then I thought about Denise's cards that I just finished, and what was I going to put them in??? So, I went in my stamp room and came out with a bag! I'm happy with it. Obviously, I could have done better with different paper, but it turned out ok! I was so excited that I could use my new Stampin' Up Christmas Designer Paper Dashing! I have seen some really cool creations with this paper, and had to get it at my last party. There are so many awesome designs in this packet, it was hard to pick which paper to use!!!!

I'm really starting to be a challenge chaser, as they call it on Splitcoast! I have to check every day to see what the new challenge is! It's VERY addicting!!!! But, it's putting good use to all my stuff, and my brain! Because I have to really think and broaden my horizons when designing some of these cards! But, I have to say, that I really do have an ulterior motive. I'm hoping that as I keep doing these challenges, I'll get better and better, and someone will notice and invite me to be on a design team! I would LOVE the opportunity to do something elite like that!

Anyway, on to the bag! Here it is!

Recipe:

Stamps:Baroque Motifs, Alphabet from Anna Griffith

Paper: Dashing, Very Vanilla

Ink: Ruby Red Craft Ink

Accessories: Clear Stickles, Heat & Stick Powder, Dazzling Diamonds, silver ribbon

This bag was really easy to put together! It really didn't take more than an hour.

Happy Stamping!

Sketch Challenge

Today I completed my first Sketch Challenge while the kids were all napping. Ah, two full hours of blissful quiet!

I have never tried anything like this before! I really like this layout!

Recipe:

Stamps: Carte Postale, Baroque Motifs

Paper: Le Jardin, Always Artichoke, So Saffron

Ink: Always Artichoke, So Saffron

Accessories: hardware, glue dot, 3-d dimensionals, two different size circle punches, oval stencil, ribbon.

This is another easy card! It's pretty nice when the layout is pre-determined! That's half the battle sometimes!

Happy Stamping!

Tuesday's Color Challenge

Today's color challenge on Splitcoast was using Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi and So Saffron. To me, I would never put those colors together. At least all three together. So, this is what I came up with. I stole the idea for the 3-d trees from a very talented stamper's blog!

Recipe:

Stamps: Loads of Love, Every Day Flexible Phrases

Paper: Wild Wasabie, Basic Brown, Very Vanilla, white

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, Craft White, blue, black

Accessories: Lumiere paint, Elegant Eggplant reinker, So Saffron Reinker, sponge, Liquid Applique, Glue dots, brads, 3-d dimensionals

This card took me ALL day to make, and I'm still not happy with it. It's the colors, I just know it is..... I thought I could mirror a winter sunset. It, of course, didn't turn out like the picture in my mind, but the rest of the layout did! So, can't complain too much! Overall, not bad....

Happy Stamping!

New Post II

Here's the rest of the pictures....