From Courtney's Closet Challenge #58 & Clean & Simple

I have been so busy this week with work and next week is going to be crazy with work and then my parents coming up to visit. I'm looking forward to it, but it always seems to fly by so fast.

I had a few minutes to stamp, well actually I had more Friday night but for the life of me couldn't get up enough energy to stamp either Friday night or Saturday night. Guess the old age is catching up with me!

I'm headed out town for work so have a few things scheduled to post in the next few days. This card was created using one of the From Courtney's Closet Challenge- I absolutely *love* the colors in her outfit!!! Isn't she such a cutie?? It was combined with a sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping site. My sketch is a little off, but pretty close.

Hope you all are having a great week!


Card details:
Stamp Sets: Hearts & Flowers from The Cat's Pajamas, Sentiment from Verve Stamps
Cardstock: Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Fizz
Inks: Basic Brown, Copics
Accessories: Rhinestones jewels, Stylized Flowers Cuttlebug Folder

Happy Birthday!

Thanks for sticking with me this past week as I have been busy with work, sports and too exhausted at night to stamp. This week I'll be at a conference for work which I am looking forward to, but will be glad to be back at home just in time to welcome my parents in to town for the weekend.

I'm having such a blast with this set and though I would put together a little birthday gift ensemble using Birthday Darling.

Like about a zillion other stampers I have bits & pieces of patterned paper all over and am really trying to use some of them up. I think I'm actually going to start some teacher's gifts for the holidays so I can use a lot of it up.

I had been going through some of my alterable items that I've got in a rubbermaid container out in my storage area and came across one of these older diecut boxes that SU! use sell. I thought it would be perfect so I went about re-creating on Chocolate Chip cardstock. After it was said and done, I like it a lot but think if I would have used Kraft instead I would *love* it!

Hope you enjoy the set!

Card/Box Details:
Stamp Set: Birthday Darling from Clear & Simple Stamps
Paper: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Confetti White, retired Simply Scrappin' Kit Friends & Flowers
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, BG45, E25, E00, E31, W1, W3, R29
Accessories: Dimensionals, Scalloped Edge Punch, Key Tag punch, Crystal Effects, Zva Crystals, Papertrey Ink Rustic Twine jute, Scalloped & Circle nestabilities, small circle punch

Polka Dot Paradise Color Challenge

I love the challenges on the new website Embellish Magazine!! This is the 2nd one I've completed although I haven't posted the first one as it was submitted for their publication call. You have until the 27th to join!

This was a fairly simple card for me, I kept the layout pretty simple along with my image. Believe it or not, I broke out some eyelets for it!

Card details:
Stamp Set: Delightful & Delicious by Verve stamps, Print Pattern Background by SU!
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgundy
Inks: Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Earth Elements Eyelets

Okay, I just re-read the directions (would help had I done that the first time) and it calls for the above colors & a polka dot pattern. Back to square one on it then :-)





We spent the weekend celebrating in birthday mode. Friday was my birthday and I enjoyed it by stamping a bit. Saturday we celebrated my oldest son's birthday which actually is on Wednesday but we had to work around a few schedules to make it work. All he wanted was to have a friend over and go to the skate park...for his 10th birthday, how could I argue. I got him the coolest cake (looks just like his skateboard, with wheels that spun) which I will share as well. He had a good time, which was the most important part and I'm still in shock he is turning 10 already!

Technostamper's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #88

It's that time again, time for Mary Jo's Technostamper's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge. This week I've had a blast stamping, I received a little gift package from a friend which included 2 new stamp sets and 2 new packages of paper so I've been creating away.

Our challenge through one of my yahoo groups was to make something with some bling, so in honor of Halloween I decided to bling up the skeleton. Although the picture doesn't do the card justice AT ALL (you can click on them to see them larger), I love it in person. I added some fire circles rhinestone brads at the bottom and the skeleton is adorned with stickles.

Join us for the sketch challenge this week, can't wait to see what everyone creates!
















Card details:

Stamp Set: Twick or Tweet, Graveyard Gala by SU!
Cardstock: Only Orange, Basic Black, Whisper White, Night & Day dsp, Cast-A-Spell dsp
Inks: Basic Black, Only Orange, Copics C4, E31
Accessories: Circle nestabilities, word window punch, Crystal Ice stickles, Fire Ice Rhinestone brads

Brenna name frame

I had to get a birthday frame done for my goddaughter this week and hoping to get it off in the mail tomorrow, so I won't be too late to get it to her. I made her sister one here when she was born. Since Brenna is going to be 5 this year and is a little bit older than her sister I wanted to make her a frame that she could hold on to for awhile.

I also wanted to make it fairly simple as I used this cute frame I've had in my stash for a very long time. I used some of my Basic Grey patterned paper (Pink Lemonade) along with 2 sets I thought would be cute (Kim Hughes' Little Gal and SU's Bud Basics).


For Brenna's name part I used my new stamp set from Clear & Simple Stamps called Alpha Modern which was just released. Can I tell you I *love* this stamp set??? It's perfect for making little frames, tags, etc. It also goes well with it's "sister" set which is the mini version of Alpha Modern, called Bitty Alpha Modern.

I stamped her name in Regal Rose on some Medivial Fabriano and then frayed it a little before I mounted it on a little piece of Pink Lemonade, after I punched it with my Martha Stewart punch.

On the bottom frame, I stamped the butterfly from Little Gal on Regal Rose cardstock and then again on a piece of vellum cardstock. I stitched a few lines up the middle of the butterfly with my sewing machine and then cut both butterflies out. I bent up the wings a bit to make them stick up in the frame.

Hoping Brenna has a very Happy Birthday and enjoys her name frame!

I'll be back next week with my Blogger's Challenge card but you can check out all the challenger's by clicking here.

ATC turned full card #15

Here is another card in my series of ATC's turned to full cards. This adorable ATC was created by Amy Westerman. Definitely check out her awesome blog Heartfeltgreetings.

I just added a Basic Grey patterned paper under the ATC along with some Green Galore and Rose Red, I love the look of it with the ribbon and Amy's ATC has a lot of shine to it.

Hope you enjoy this and if you want to see any of my other converted ATC's you can check them out here. I still have about 20 more to convert that I just haven't done yet.

New Releases for Clear & Simple Stamps

The Playtime Collection is here!

Oh Boy / Naptime / Your Best Shot
Harvest / Pumpkin Patch / Bewitched
Holiday Defined II / O'Tree
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CSS Stamp of the Month

Get in Gear


Build your collection of Clear and Simple Stamps and Copic Sketch Markers at the same time each month with the SOTM Copic Bundle Package.

SOTM Copic Bundle
Add Copic Trio Blue 1 and save $4.
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NEW Backgrounds
Dots and Lines

This set contains three background images: polka dots, a plaid design and solid straight lines. You can build a background, create a border or even use it for journaling.

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NEW Alphabets
Alpha Modern
Bitty Alpha Modern

So what's the difference between Alpha Modern and Bitty Alpha Modern? Both sets are the same clean, modern style alphabet font. Both sets have the full alphabet with common duplicate letters, numbers and punctuations. The difference is in the size.

Alpha Modern is all upper case and larger in size. Bitty Alpha Modern is smaller and has both upper and lowercase letters. You will find that they work well together and add a great personal touch to any paper craft.

______________________________

Want it all?
Click here to order the entire collection in one single click.
This is a package valued at $180, including all
{12} newly released stamp sets.

Make sure to check out the other DT blogs for more wonderful samples!

• Beth Matson
• Clear & Simple Blog
• Jen Tapler
• Lori Tecler
• Maria Levine
• Millie Dawson-Hardy (Guest Designer)
• Neva McMullen
• Robyn Weatherspoon
• Sue Berker

O'Tree Black and White

Here is another sample with the soon to be released O'Tree from Clear & Simple Stamps.

I bought this paper a few months ago and loved it and thought it would make a nice, crisp Christmas card. This card is 7 x 3.75 finished so it's an odd size but fits good in a long envelope. I was going to color the trees, but liked them just plain with some silver stickles in the stars (if you click on the pics you can see it better).

How about the little ribbon tag. How cute are those itty bitty Christmas trees? Too cute I think!

This card uses Card Patterns Sketch #12.










Make sure to check out the other design team members for the sneak peeks of the new releases for 9/15/09:

• Beth Matson
• Clear & Simple Blog
• Jen Tapler
• Lori Tecler
• Maria Levine
• Millie Dawson-Hardy (Guest Designer)
• Neva McMullen
• Robyn Weatherspoon
• Sue Berker

Card details:

Primary Stamp Set	O'Tree
Paper / Cardstock	Real Red, Basic Black, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select white, Imaginisce Black Tie Optional Polkadot Panache
Designer Paper	Imaginisce Black Tie Optional Polkadot Panache
Embellishments	Silver stickles, circle & scalloped circle nestabilities, ribbon tags trio nestabilities, ribbon unknown
Inks	Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black

Monday Technostamper Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #87

I've been trying to take some time each night this weekend after the kids are in bed to stamp a little. Last night I was bound & determined to finish the sketch for Mary Jo's challenge tomorrow and a frame I needed to make for a gift. I was so thrilled to get both of them done!!!

I'm hoping to escape again tonight to get a few more things done. I have some ideas in mind and also want to get started on teacher's gifts with some patterned paper I have leftover.

Hope you enjoy this card, I love this paper and every time I see it I want to break it out. It'll be a sad day when I'm out of it.

I'm feeling lazy so I'll have to come back and add in details of the card, hope you enjoy it and join us in her challenge. I do know my card is 3" wide by 9 1/4".

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #35

This week Clear & Simple Stamps is sponsoring Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. I'm a big fan of Karen's and love her sketches. As I've said many times on my blogs, sketch challenges are my favorite.

For this card, I didn't add a lot of embellishments, I tried to use some die cuts that came with the My Mind's Eye papers I had and I really like how it turned. The thing I love about my card the most is the skirt of Birthday Darling! I combined 2 colors of copics to get that color and think it matches the paper perfectly.

Join Karen for her sketch challenge this week and have the opportunity to win a $15 gift certificate to the Clear & Simple Stamps shop. Make sure to link your creation up on Karen's site.

Primary Stamp Set *	Birthday Darling
Paper / Cardstock *	Rose Red, Papertrey Stamper's Select
Designer Paper *	My Mind's Eye Pretty Please "Flower Drops" paper
Embellishments *	My Mind's Eye Pretty Please Diecuts, Circle & Scalloped Circle Nestabilities
Inks *	Memento Tuxedo Black
Markers / Colored Pencils / Chalks *	Copic

O'Tree Sneak Peek

You can never start preparing early enough for Christmas. It seems every year I say I'm going to start early and I find myself scrambling at the last minute for gifts.

The new stamp set O'Tree from Clear & Simple stamps which is part of their Playtime Release on 9/15/09 is perfect for the holidays. With a lot of different Christmas trees & sentiments it's perfect for tags, Christmas cards, decorations, etc.

My sample above uses another new set being released, one of my favorites, Alpha Modern. I love alphabet sets for personalizing gifts and this one is awesome!

Hope you enjoy the sneak peeks and make sure to check out the DT's blogs for some other samples of sets being released this month!

Make sure you check out the other design team members for other sneak peaks being released on the 15th:

• Beth Matson
• Clear & Simple Blog
• Jen Tapler
• Lori Tecler
• Maria Levine
• Millie Dawson-Hardy (Guest Designer)
• Neva McMullen
• Robyn Weatherspoon
• Sue Berker

Card details:

Primary Stamp Set	O'Tree
Other Stamp Set(s)	Alpha Modern
Paper / Cardstock	Kraft wrapping paper
Embellishments	Silver Stickles, Real Red grosgrain ribbon, Silver cord, Small & Large Tag punch (SU!)
Inks	Memento Tuxedo Black
Markers / Colored Pencils / Chalks	Real Red, Copic R29 & G28

Blogger's Challenge 116: Thinking of You

Oh, I have been on a creative kick at night lately. It's too bad my sewing machine has not been cooperating with me. I wanted to make a really cute pocket card and after "sewing" through 2 cards I tossed them and started over with something different.

This card is based on Leigh O'Briens Tuesday TCP-Sketch Challenge, although I didn't use TCP stamps, I chose to use some Verve stamps. I love this set, it's so dainty and cute.

I pulled out some old retired SU! paper (Business looking kit) and used that as my dp. I also pulled out another retired product, my Cool Carribean ink pad which I love. I bought a few pads of the paper and ink refills when it was discontinued as I loved this color so much! I still keep it in my ink pad storage and use it a lot. Some of the other in-colors never even saw the light of day.

Make sure to check out all the other wonderful creations that the Blogger's Challenge girls created by clicking on the Blogger's Challenge icon to the right on my blog--------------->



Card details:
Stamp Set: Enjoy by Verve Stamps
Cardstock: dp by Stampin' Up!, Rose Red, Cool Carribean, Basic Black & Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select
Inks: Rose Red, So Saffron, Cool Carribean, Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Rich Regals Brads, Martha Stewart punch

Matchbook Gift Card Holder...I'm in Love!

Oh, how I love my google reader and the awesome projects I come across while on there. While blurfing the other night I came across this fabulous tutorial from Andrea Walford for a Matchbook gift card holder. I'm in love with this tutorial, it's so darn cute!

My boss had asked me to make something like this down the road for her brother who loves coffee and when I saw this tutorial I knew I had to try it. I twas so easy and perfect I made 2!! I think it turned out well and very masculine, I think it would be a perfect gift to make up a few of these and package them up nicely.

I tried to keep it fairly simple, but added some Crystal Effects to the middle coffee mug to give it a little dimension. On the inside I decided to do some masking to stack the coffee cups and may go back and small sentiment somewhere saying "Happy Birthday".




















Matchbook Gift Card Holder details:
Stamp Set: Delightful & Delicious from Verve Stamps
Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select, Basic Grey Granola "Crunchy" patterned paper
Inks: Basic Brown, Copics E31, B91 & B95, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Oval Punch, Stapler, Glue Dots, Papertrey Ink Rustic Twine Jute, Crystal Effects

Based on Andrea Walford's Matchbook Gift Card Holder tutorial

Papercraft Planet: Sketch Challenge

This was a super quick card for me (okay, the coloring & cutting took a little bit) but the card itself came together fairly quickly once I got the idea in my head.

I'm sorry the colors are a little off. When we moved my son's room my light box got moved as well and I need to find some extension cords to make my lights work. I hope this week will be the week I find the cords in the hundreds of boxes of Christmas decorations in my storage area ;-)

The card is based off Lynn's fantastic sketch over at Papercraft Planet.

Card details:
Stamp Set: Thankful Flourishes by Our Craft Lounge
Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics R81, RV34, V12 & V15
Accessories: Soft Subtle brads, Nestabilities

Happ Birthday Sue!

Wishing my friend & fellow DT member Sue a very happy birthday, make sure to drop her a line, she's giving away a wonderful gift certificate for Clear & Simple Stamps!

Hope you have a great birthday and that your hard drive gets working again for you!

Take the Tuesday Challenge #9: Cover It

September means back to school time and what a fun time for a back to school Take the Tuesday Challenge.

Do you remember how we always had to "cover" our textbooks? Do the kids still do that? I remember using brown paper bags, today I think the kids have really cool book covers to use.

This month your challenge is to "Cover It". I challenge you to cover some sort of "note book/pad". You can go with the rage and create a post it note holder, take a mini compo book and make a sweet cover, or even a calendar for all those back to school events to remember.

I had this little box with note sheets in that I've had in my stash for a few years. I decided to cover it with this cool paper, thought it would go great with the bird image.


Whichever you choose I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Post your creation to PCP with the tag TTC09 for us all to see.

Primary Stamp Set *	Believe in Words I
Paper / Cardstock *	Papertrey Select
Designer Paper *	Deja Views Summer Stripe & Dandelion Gio
Embellishments *	Bashful Blue Ribbon, Square & Scalloped Square Nestabilities
Inks *	Memento Tuxedo Black
Markers / Colored Pencils / Chalks *	B91, B95, o, YR18, E27, YR21
Type of Project *	Altered Project

Football Bag Tags

If you are here for my "Monday Technostamper's Sketch Challenge, please scroll down"


These are some quick bag tags I created for the kids on the football team. The first night of practice we went home with someone else's bag as they all look the same. I thought this new Alpha Modern from Clear & Simple Stamps would be perfect for them.

I stamped the footballs on the ATC trading card size tags and then took them with me to my daughter's gymnastics class and colored them in. When I got home it wasn't too difficult to stamp them all with the Go Broncos. The names took a little longer although with 5 kids on the team beginning with the letters "C" it made it a lot easier.

This set will be available September 15th and I think you will love all the new releases this month! Make sure to check out the design team for some more sneak peeks.

• Beth Matson
• Clear & Simple Blog
• Jen Tapler
• Lori Tecler
• Maria Levine
• Millie Dawson-Hardy (Guest Designer)
• Neva McMullen
• Robyn Weatherspoon
• Sue Berker

Primary Stamp Set	Alpa Modern
Other Stamp Set(s)	Football
Paper / Cardstock	Georgia Pacific white
Inks	Memento Tuxedo Black, Only Orange, Night of Navy
Markers / Colored Pencils / Chalks	Copics E31, E25

Technostamper's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #86

This weeks Technostamper's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge was a great one, fairly easy! I had been working on some cards and this layout was perfect for the Upsy Daisy set. Of course I had to make the layout work with the image and rotated it.

I've been enjoying the long weekend, got some stamping done last night and not sure I'll make it late tonight as we're hoping to meet some friends on the lake tomorrow. Need to get my beauty rest so I'll look good in that swimsuit tomorrow (ha! ha!).

Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend!


Card details:
Stamp Set: Upsy Daisy
Cardstock: Rose Red, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select, Basic Grey Eva Collection
Inks: Rose Red
Accessories: water bottle

O'Tree Harry & David style

I had so much fun with these new releases. When I get those new stamps each month, I have ideas swirling around in my head.

For this card I did some recycling. I had bought some Harry & David chocolates awhile ago and absolutely *loved* the boxes they came in and had been hanging on to them for awhile. I envisioned recycling them in a different way then I did, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

2 of the panels use the box, the baja looking design and the gold paper. This new set from Clear & Simple Stamps, O'Tree, is part of September Playtime Collection Release available September 15, 2009. I embossed the tree and sentiment with clear & gold embossing powder. I am not very good with embossing but I love the look of it. Guess I need to keep practicing at it.

Don't forget this month you can also get the adorable new set Get in Gear along with our
$1 off incentive *(use code DTBlog909), below are our Copic SOTM bundle being offered.

COPIC BUNDLE:
For September the bundle will include the Copic Trio Set: Blue 1

Copic Marker Bundle with the SOTM for the bargain price of $26 - that's a $15 stamp set and $15 Copic Marker Trio set combined at a $4 reduction in price - you won't find a better bundle anywhere! (HINT HINT...it will will be $25 if using the DTBlog $1 Discount too

Card Details:
Stamp Set: O'Tree from Clear & Simple Stamps (release date 9/15/09)
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select, Gold & Patterned Paper is a recycle box from Harry & David's (of course I devoured the chocolates in them first)
Inks: Baja Breeze, Versamark, Kryon Gold Leafing pen
Accessories: Ribbon also recycled from the Harry & David boxes

Bloggers Challenge 115: Baby Theme

If you visit my blog frequently you know how much I love to make baby gifts, they are probably my most favorite cards/projects to make. Our theme this week for our blogger's challenge was BABY. I just posted a cute little baby frame yesterday.

Today I thought I would make a card for a friend who is having twins next month. This friend is someone I have been blessed to have met. My son was born 12 1/2 weeks premature and spent the first 8 weeks in NICU (believe it or not he's a healthy 10 year old -well he'll turn 10 in 3 weeks). Chelle was one of his nurses and she was spectacular not just with him but with me. I was a basketcase even though he was very healthy, but I hated leaving him every day. I was back to work before he was released from the hospital and I had really wanted to nurse. Chelle was there every step of the way encouraging me when I was feeling like I couldn't do it anymore. I went on to nurse him for about 7 months which is spectacular as the first 4 months I pumped exclusively until he caught on. I've keep in touch with Chelle all these years, we've written letters back and forth and shared triumphs and disappointments. I've watched her go on to have 2 little ones of her own, and expecting the twins now. I'm so thrilled to have been introduced to this wonderful person who made a big impact on my life.

Anyway, last night I was in mojo gear and got quite a few cards done. Unfortunately I can't share most of them as they are for publications-my first submissions. I don't care if they get accepted or not, I know they probably won't and I'm okay with it. I'm thrilled with how they turned out and they got my creative juices going which is most important.

I combined two other challenges with this Blogger's Challenge. I just went back to my blog and found one of the last challenge cards I did for Mercy's Sketch was also a baby card LOL. Mercy has fantastic sketches and she's super sweet too. Hoping one day we'll have the chance to meet since we don't live too far away. I also opted to do a non-traditional colored baby card by using Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge. I follow Dawn closely, I love her style and her color combos are fantastic!

Make sure to check out all the other blogger's by clicking on the logo on the right hand side --->

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend and BE SAFE!!

Card details:
Stamp Set: (another favorite) Kim Hughes Baby Love
Cardstock: Summer Sunrise, Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate (PTI) and Kraft (SU)
Inks: Summer Sun for sponging, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics W1, YR14, Y35, Twill Tape, Rustic Buttons & Rustic Cream Twine, circle nestabilities, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug

Nursery Baby Frame

I made this frame for a co-worker who had a baby boy. I wanted it to match the nursery and to coordinate with the card I made here.

These adorable letter stamps are from the set Alpha Modern which is due to be released on September 15 from Clear & Simple Stamps. I love this Alpha set as well as many others that will be released!

Stay tuned in the next two weeks for more sneaks at the new releases.

You can also check out the rest of the DT for more sneak peeks:

• Beth Matson
• Clear & Simple Blog
• Jen Tapler
• Lori Tecler
• Maria Levine
• Millie Dawson-Hardy (Guest Designer)
• Neva McMullen
• Robyn Weatherspoon
• Sue Berker

Primary Stamp Set	Alpha Modern
Other Stamp Set(s)	Little One
Paper / Cardstock	Very Vanilla, Kraft
Designer Paper	MME 29th Street Market Fresh "Beauty" Perfect Poises/Greenery Paper, yellow is a picture mat
Embellishments	Nestabilities Mega Curved Rectangles, Small Scalloped squares & regular squares Accessories: Papertrey Ink Rustic Buttons & Rustic Twine (Cream & Jute)
Inks	Close to Cocoa, PTI New Leaf
Markers / Colored Pencils / Chalks	Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Old Olive