Picture Perfect

I'm skipping Blogger's Challenge again this week as I don't have a need for any graduation cards and although my friend would have loved me to make one for her this past weekend, I didn't even have any stamps I thought would be suitable (or was braindead to try and think of some). But, this is somewhere I would have loved to go AFTER graduation!

This was for another challenge on Stampin' Out Alzheimer's to use a free digital kit provided by Libby Weifenbach from Sweet Shoppe Designs. I'm going to be in BIG trouble if I really get in to the digital scrapbooking. It was fun and easy.

Enjoy!

Friends are Tougher

This was another challenge completed for the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's. This one was a sketch from Gina K Designs. Loved the sketch and already had the start chipboard completed so just added the other stuff.

Come join us, you have until May 31rst to join in the challenges for some fabulous new prizes!

Card Details:
Stamp Set: Best Mates by The Greeting Farm
Cardstock: Wild Asparagus "play" stripe/blue paper & polka dot/orange DSP
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Aegean Blue Versamagic
Accessories: Nestabilities scallop circle, 1/4" and 3/4" circle punch, Janome Sewing, Kaiser Rhinestones, copic markers

Old Olivey Gold Medallion

Have you checked out the challenges over at Stampin' Out Alzheimer's yet? If not, you still have time to donate & play along until May 31rst.

This is for I Brake for Stamps All in One Challenge. This was harder than I thought and hopefully I didn't break any rules by adding an accessory of another color.

Old Olive cardstock & ink
Ribbon unknown
Sonnets Faux Wax Seal
Eastern Blooms stamp set

Appleybowl Huggabugg

Have you seen the challenges at Stampin' Out Alzheimer's yet? You still have time to donate & participate in the challenges until May 31.

This card was a lot of fun for me as I've been wanting to use this set. This is for Susana's Custom Art & Card Design Sketch Challenge and Paper Make Up Stamps "Any Winged Thing".

You can't tell too well from the picture but there is Crystal Effects on wings and dots of this cute little thing ;-)

Real Red cardstock, Summer PIcnic DSP from SU!
Copics, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Nestabilities, 3/4" circle, Real Red brads, Crystal Effects
Appleybowl Huggabugg

A Stitch In Time

Join us over at Stampin Out Alzheimer's for all the awesome challenges. If you have not heard about Stampin Out Alzheimer's you can read more about it here and believe me, there are tons of give-aways and challenges going on this week. You won't want to miss it!

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Clear and Simple Stamps is sponsoring a challenge called: A Stitch in Time

Pull out the sewing machine or the hand needles and get ready to start stitiching. Not a fan of sewing than faux stitching will work as well.

This challenge is to use some sort of stitching on your project. Join us for "A Stitch In Time" and two lucky winners will each receive a pack of Clear & Simple Stamps Bitty Blooms and a Score Bug (Courtesy of Score-Pal). Using CSS Stamps is not required but if you have them we would love to see you use them.

Would you like some cool "event" themed digi papers that you can (not required) use on your project? Check it out here.

When loading your creations please use tags clearandsimplestamps; CSS1SOA; css

How would you like a chance to win a 6 month subscription to Cards Magazine or Scrapbook Trends? If so be sure to swing by the Clear & Simple Stamps blog, and subscribe. Then hop over to the CSS Magazine Giveaway Forum and let us know you have subscribed.

Here are the samples I created for this challenge. The first one uses the Friend set and the second one uses Golf Gents. If you need any other details, please let me know.

Teacher's Gifts

Today is the last day of school around here. Unbelievable that I will have a 4th grader and a preschooler! And still one in tow to go ;-)

I've been busy this week putting together some teacher's gifts that were 1. inexpensive and 2. easy to make. I thought about these bags I had seen from The Digi Chick and all the big scraps of patterned paper I had and off I went to printing. I printed 10 bags on different cardstock. I found working in an assembly line worked best for this project as I was doing so many.

Simplicity was the way I went with these, no stamping, no elaborate decorations, just paper and a ribbon. I did stamp and decorate the cards that were included with coordinating paper from the scraps leftover after cutting out the template. I think they turned out well and only took me 2 nights to finish them up. I filled them with candy. These bags were for my 2 little one's teachers at daycare.

After finishing these bags I needed something a little more for my son's teacher who has been fantastic this year. I had already made her a gift for teacher's appreciation week so wanted to do something a little different and has some left over candy to use. I mean, I can eat some good chocolate, but I can only eat so much in one day ;-)

This bird house was the perfect choice and I already had a template printed and ready to cut that my wonderful friend Pam had put together for me with the instructions in case I hadn't already seen it. Of course Nichole's work is superb and her bird house looks so real. I like mine a lot but it doesn't look as good as hers but that's okay, I am different and I like that.

Hope all the teacher's enjoy the goodies! And here's to starting off the summer with an active 9 yr old with a broken arm.

The Next Level

If you are a frequent visitor of my blog you know how much I *love* challenges of all kinds. I can't wait to see what is in store for The Next Level. Make sure to check out their new blog and the awesome blog candy they are giving away!

3D Challenge on Papercraft Planet

Today over at Papercraft Planet, Lori is hosting a 3D challenge. This challenge is sponsored by Clear and Simple Stamps and they are giving away a Sweet Tooth stamp set for a lucky winner. Hop on over and join us for Lori's challenge to make a pull treat card.

I thought that the BBQ Darling stamp set would be cute for a "Smore" card with a hershey bar inside. I pulled out some of my CTMH paper and used my copics to color my grill.

The directions for the pull treat card can be found here. Upload your pull treat card to Papercraft planet and use 3d13 as your keyword.

Technostampers Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge

70 weeks of challenges! This weeks Technostampers Monday Lunchtime sketch was one I was ready to sit down for and then never got it finished on time. I hate when I have ideas just swarming in my head but then when I sit down to get them on to paper...NOTHING!

Well, this morning I spent a good 3+ hours at the Dr. to confirm what we had a feeling about, Tristan with a broken arm. It actually happened last week but the x-rays didn't show anything. This week it clearly showed a fracture so a cast went on...not good for the start of summertime!

I didn't do any stamping on this card!!!! I used some awesome new Luxe paper I bought on Mother's Day and combined it with some On Board Blossoms & Basics chipboard. I also made this card for the Use It! Challenge #10 (monochromatic, chipboard, rub-ons).

Hope you enjoy the variation of the sketch I did and if you would like to join, please post to Mr. Linky on MJ's site.



Card details:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Luxe Classic Black II Cellular Toys
Ink: Black Craft pad for sponging
Accessories: Black twine, Mark Richards Metal stickers, On Board Blossoms & Basics chipboard, dimensionals

STAMP OUT ALZHEIMER'S

Alzheimer's is the world's 7th leading cause of death and has personally affected many in the paper crafting community. We are all in the community of preserving memories. Clear and Simple stamps felt it only natural to support a cause, that for those who are afflicted with Alzheimer's and suffer detrimental loss of memory, to help keep those memories alive.

Paper Craft Planet has created a special stamping community: StampingOutAlzheimers.Ning.Com to provide you with a week long series of events, challenges, giveaways, and more to help raise awareness and funds to support the need to find a cure.

Join the movement to STAMP OUT ALZHEIMER'S and help to preserve memories! Visit Paper Craft Planet today for more information on the upcoming series of events.

Blogger's Challenge #99: CASE Yourself

This weeks challenge was to CASE ourselves but change 2 things. Well, I probably changed more than two things, but I did CASE an older card of mine.

Watercolor 1, 2, 3 was a new stamp set I bought on my Mother's Day shopping trip to Impressive Ideas. I thought it would work well with some Flower Soft that a friend had sent to me, but in this card I didn't use it...guess I'm a little intimidated by the Flower Soft.

There are so many possibilities with the Watercolor set and I'll have to play a little more with it, not 100% thrilled with how my images came out. I am thrilled to say though my DH bought me a wonderful gift yesterday (late Mother's Day)...a photo light box. I've been wanting one of these for awhile now and he thought that would make a great gift :-) Can't wait to get it as most of my photos are taken in my basement. The lighting outside is never good because of all the trees around the house so hopefully this will aid in better picture taking for me.

Make sure to check out all the other participants in the blogger's challenge by clicking here.

Also, today is Clear & Simple Stamps new releases. There are some awesome new stamps so make sure to check them out.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!



Card details:
Stamp Set: Watercolor 1, 2, 3 by Art Impressions
Cardstock: basic Grey Euphoria collection (Cool & Ferver) Rose Red, Bashful Blue, Perfect Plum
Inks: Pink Passion, Green Galore, Gable Green, Memento Tuxedo Black, Pale Plum, Perfect Blum, Bashful Blue, Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink
Accessories: Stickles, Heidi Swapp jewels, copics

Clear & Simple Stamps New Releases

Make sure to check out the new release from Clear & Simple Stamps this month. They will be available on the site for purchase on May 15th. Here are the names of the sets being released:

- Welcome

- Retirement

- Friend

- Gratitude

- Little One

- Celebrate

- Sweet Tooth

- Hero Dad

- Foursome

- Golf Gent

- Golf Darling

- Awareness Darling

- SOTM: Crop Night Darling

Smoked Pork Ribs Recipe Page

This is the last of the BBQ collection I made. I'm thinking this would make a wonderful gift to accompany the wood chip recipe jar I created last week. I had a lot of fun making a scrapbook page, I forgot how fun scrapbooking can be. Now if I could just print some pictures and incorporate those it would be awesome!

I can't wait to use this recipe I found online (hopefully this weekend). I *love* to BBQ and although I'm not a big fan of the charcoal flavoring, I do like to create new mixtures to baste with to create some flavors I do like.

My scrapbook page uses the BBQ Darling set from Clear & Simple Stamps. I paper pieced her shirt and apron on the page. The words are actually 3 different sentiments that I lined up on my acrylic block and I loved how it turned out. So easy to line up and stamp :-)

Hope you enjoy this recipe and make sure to check out the sneak peaks for the new stamps being released on Friday, they are awesome!


Recipe Page Details:
Stamps: BBQ Darling by Clear & Simple Stamps
Cardstock: Kraft, Real Red, Basic Black, patterned paper unknown (apron), certainly celery (shirt)
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, recipe printed using CK Becky font
Accessories: Copics

Recipe for Smoked Pork Ribs can be found here.

Blog Candy Giveaways

Check out some awesome blog candy giveaways going on:

Tina Werner- $25 Impression-Obsession Gift Certificate

Kristen Catalano- WOW! Lots of goodies!

Debbie- again a ton of goodies!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my BBQ Creation, a yummy recipe!

BBQ Darling invite

This week I have been creating with some of my new stamps from Clear and Simple Stamps. You can see the first of my creations that goes with this invite here. Once I got this set I was a little stumped and then when I got my ideas, they were just flowing. I *love* when that happens!!!

This is a picnic invitation using a lot of the stamps from BBQ Darling. I printed it on a post it note and used one of my pewter little clips. I pulled out some of my retired SU ribbon that I hadn't even used. I don't know why I hadn't used it, but I really like how it looked with the invitation.

Hope you have enjoyed what I have created with the BBQ Darling set. I've got one more creation to share this week using this set.

Card Details:
Stamps: BBQ Darling by Clear & Simple Stamps
Cardstock: PapertreyInk Cardstock, Real Red, Basic Black
Inks: Memento Black
Accessories: Copics, retired SU Ribbon, pewter clip, post-it note

Technostampers Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge

I was on a roll this weekend and stamped my heart out on Friday night. I wish that I could have stayed up all night and continued but I was wiped out. Unfortunately when I tried to pick up where I left off on Saturday night, I didn't get anywhere :-(

Always late, I was making Mother's Day cards. This one is going to my Mother-in-law which will be late since it has yet to be mailed.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. We enjoyed a nice lunch at Joe's Crab Shack followed by a little shopping for me at Impressive Ideas where I could have gotten lost, but I managed to walk out with some new stamps, paper and great ribbon that I can't wait to try out! We then ran some other errands and had a nice time. I really want to share one of the Mother's Day gifts I got, but I have to wait until later in the week to do that.

I managed to get 2 cards out of this sketch. They are almost exactly the same except 2 different images. One is going to a blogger that I follow, who just announced she was pregnant. I was thrilled for her, so this is going in the mail tomorrow.

Make sure to check out Mary Jo's sketch and the other participants, there's sure to be some creative cards popping up today!

If you need any of the card details, please let me know as I don't have any of them in front of me and I'm being super lazy blogging on the couch, don't want to get up ;-)

BC98 with BBQ Darling

This is a stretch this week, but since I love to BBQ this would be a good Mother's Day gift for those who also enjoy it. I used my awesome new BBQ Darling set by Clear & Simple Stamps. This set has so many possibilities which I will be sharing in the next few days all the things I created with it (can you tell I'm excited about them??)

I had this idea in my head all week to create a little project using some smoking wood chips. I created a little 3 x 3 card with a wood chip recipe on the inside. I packed a jar with the wood chips needed for the recipe.

Hope you like this gift and for all of you out there, wishing you a Happy Mother's Day! We don't have anything planned as of right now, my brother's birthday is the day before (he was born on Mother's Day).

Please give the other blogger's challenge girls a peek (button to right) and give them some kudos, they always amaze me!

Card details:
Stamps: BBQ Darling by Clear & Simple Stamps
Cardstock: Kraft, Real Red, Basic Black
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Watercolor pencils, SU Twill Ribbon, twine

**if you're unable to read the recipe, please let me know and I'll be happy to e-mail it to you*

Teacher appreciation set

This was a quick gift I put together for my son's teacher for staff appreciation week. I did the box a few weeks ago after seeing this cute template on Julie's website and I just printed her template.

I made about 10 little 3 x 3 cards using some leftover scraps of Basic Grey I had. I had stamped the little "A Note from Ms. Garrett" a few weeks ago with my Justrite Stampers and so the cards came together very quickly. Of course as I was arranging the letters one flew off and I've yet to find it. I guess if I used my Justrite Stampers more often!

Anyway, hope the teacher likes this little gift set.

Take the Challenge Tuesday

Are you ready for the May Take The Challenge Tuesday with Clear & Simple Stamps? Start digging out all those buttons you have, we know you have loads of them because at some point you were hoarding them! It's ok you can admit it, we do! So this month's challenge is to use buttons on your creation.

SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS:
- Make your project using any CSS Stamps or any Digital Papers and a button of any kind
- Be sure to tag your TTC projects: TTC05

Please join us for the Take the Challenge Tuesday, would love to see what you create.

I started this card with certain buttons in mind, but it quickly changed after I downloaded the little 2 x 2 papers from Clear & Simple Stamps. The little paper looks super cute under the clear buttons and matches perfectly with the Basic Grey paper (Phoebe). I colored my Glamour Darling with my reinkers & aquapainter with the exception of her face. I used my copic for that.

I decided to use the Sketch Challenge at Papercraft Planet for this card and kept it the standard size with ovals instead of circles. It worked better with my Glamour Darling image.

Make sure to check out the other design team members artwork this week, it's fabulous:

CSS Blog
Beth Matson
Jean Beauchamp
Maria Levine
Nicole Ritts
Lori Tecler

Hope you like the card and join us for the button challenge!

Card Details:
Stamp Sets: Glamour Darling by Clear & Simple Stamps
Cardstock: Basic Black, Rose Red, Basic Grey (Phoebe), Spring Digital Papers from Clear & Simple Stamps
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Sage Shadow reinkers
Accessories: Clear Buttons, Janome sewing, black thread, 3/4" circle punch, nestabilies tags, circle & scallop, black grosgrain ribbon

Monday's Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #68

This sketch was a fun one this week, but of course I had to rotate it a little :-)

I went through my stamp sets to break out one I hadn't used in a while and though my Feather Flourishes by Stampendous would be perfect. I paired with some SEI Paisley & Petals Cotton Blossoms designer paper. I decided not to stamp a sentiment anywhere and leave it blank for one of those days when I need to just grab a card.

This weekend was nice, no baseball tournament, hubby & I got to get to dinner with brother & SIL and then a movie. I played tennis Sunday morning, baseball practice, shopping & grilling out. Was very nice...now if someone would send the cleaning fairy my way.

Join us, show us what you create with this sketch by posting to Mr. Linky on Mary Jo's site. Check out what others created as well.

Card details:
Stamp Set: Feather Flourishes by Stampendous
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Watercolor Paper, SEI Paisley & Petals Cotton Blossoms designer paper
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Tempting Turquoise, Sage Shadow
Accessories: Dress it Up Itty Bitty Buttons, Square & Scalloped Square Nestabilities, Distressing Tool, Aquapainters, Crystal Effects

Digiments DT Call: Card 2

This was the 2nd card I submitted for Digiments DT Call. Fairly simple and straight-forward.

Card details:
Sentiment: Digiments
Cardstock: Whisper White, Apricot Appeal, Basic Grey
Accessories: Scallop punch, other punch unknown, Heidi Swapp pink jewels

Stamp of the Month

Make sure you check out the newest darling available at Clear & Simple Stamps this month. Use Promo code: DTBlog509 for $1 off Valid May 1 -31, 2009.

Digiments DT Call

I saw an open call this week for a new company specializing in digital sentiments. I thought I would give my hand a try at this one and it was really fun to work with the sentiment from Digiments. I was not chosen for the DT, but can't wait to see what Michelle has in store for Digiments.

I've realized I'm a pretty simple stamper and I probably won't change that no matter how many embellishments I have laying around. Quick and easy (or is there such a thing?) is my style. This card too a few tries as my sewing machine's tension kept skipping stitches so I would have to hand sew them. Too tedious for me!

This paper is probably one of my favorites from Stampin'Up! I love the colors & designs of it.

Card details:
Image: Digiments
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Parisian Breeze DSP, Rose Romance, Vellum
Ink: printer
Accessories: Janome sewing, earth elements buttons, thread dyed Baja Breeze, Scallop punch

Bloggers Challenge 97: Sketch

This week Lisa challenged us to use this sketch. Right up my alley, clean, straight lines. I knew exactly what I was going to do with this one and it came together quite nicely.

I combined it with my buddy Libby's From Courtney's Closet Challenge. Libby has challenged me in more ways than one with her outfits and color challenges!

I've been having a great week!! I just was asked to return to Clear & Simple Stamps as a Guest Designer through mid-June and am excited about the opportunity. Make sure to check out all their awesome stamps and keep an eye out for more details for their DT coming soon.

This sketch is sure to produce some fabulous works of art from the others participating in the blogger's challenge which you can view here. Or join in the fun and post your creations to any of our blogs, SCS or PCP with keyword BC97.

Card details:
Stamp Sets: Little Gal by Cornish Heritage Farms, Happy Day by CTMH
Cardstock: DSP by SU!, Green Galore, Apricot Appeal, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Inks: Memento Black, Copics
Accessories: Green Apple & Turquoise ribbon, Crystal effects, Frosted Lace Stickles, dimensionals