Basement Stamper

Floral Sympathy

2012-02-02T07:33:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick and easy Sympathy card I made awhile ago when I was stamping at my friend Libby's house. I stamped these flowers of hers which is from the Verve Stamps-Great Friend set. I love the bold images as well as the open lined flowers.

I left the sentiment open for stamping later and when I went to use it, I filled it in with the Sentiment Sampler from Paper Smooches. I wish I were able to mail it, but unfortunately I spilled on it after I did the sentiment and had to toss it in the garbage :-(

Hope you are over the hump of the week, my little girl and I head out tomorrow for another cheer leading competition in Alabama and looking forward to coming back and watching the Super Bowl with friends.

Thought I would share a picture of my little cheer leader here. She's loving this new sport (for her) and especially loves when she gets to go stay at a hotel (not too often).

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Card details:

Stamps: Great Friend from Verve Stamps, Sentiment Sampler from Paper Smooches

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Basic Black, Neenah White

Inks: not sure it was so long ago :-)

Embellishments: Perfect Little Black Dress candy dots (unavailable)

Rain or Shine

2012-02-01T07:58:00.000-05:00

Today is the first of the month and the new release for The {Stamps} of Life for club members. What is a club member? You can read more about becoming a club member here.

I am making baby shower invitations for a friend and so my first card I had in mind when creating the cards. I decided in the end to go a little more CAS which I will share another day. I love these 3 colors together on this card, the aqua, pink and black.

This set is called umbrella4you and has some great sentiments that go with this adorable umbrella.

My next card I created my own background paper using the little umbrella in this set and love the use of the die from the cupcake die set. I love this color combo equally as well as the first card.

I have a few more creations to share but I'll save it for another day, we are expecting rain this week and these cards will be perfect for the gloom.

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Card details #1:

Stamps: Tinyand2cute, quick2border and umbrella4you from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Cool Carribean, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black, Neenah White

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Licorice, Cool Carribean, Pretty in Pink

Accessories: Crystal Effects, round tab punch, Kaiser Craft Silly Season Jewels

Card details #2:

Card details #1:

Stamps: umbrella4you from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Neenah White

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Chocolate

Accessories: Cupcake die set, Bashful Blue ribbon

GGSC99: Black & Red & Pink

2012-01-31T09:35:00.000-05:00

When I first saw the new releases from Clear & Simple Stamps, I was hooked. These cute little critters from the Taglines: Critters set are adorable and the sentiments are so funny. I knew they would make great Valentine's for the kids.

Today is our Going Grey with Scrap-Creations challenge to use Black & Red. I added a bit of grey into the mix, but it is a form of black so it counts :-) I totally missed the pink part unless you count the little racoons nose.

Going to keep this short and sweet as I forgot to post this on time...so late today.

We'd love to have you join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations this week!

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Card details:

Stamps: Taglines: Critters from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Going Gray, Basic Gray from SU!

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copic

Embellishments: A Blanc Check ribbon from Clear & Simple Stamps, square and scalloped square, circle nestabilities

Happy Birthday! and Project Life

2012-01-27T08:12:00.000-05:00

Today is blogger's challenge and while I have been absent the last few weeks, it's not for lacking of wanting to participating. My mojo disappeared over the holidays and I've been trying to force it to return...it wasn't working, so I took a little break. I finally feel like this week it's creeping back ever so slowly.

Our theme today at blogger's challenge is "Texturize It". I won't lie, this card took me awhile to complete, but was so happy with the end results. Do you ever start making a card, get side tracked doing something else, and then the card takes FOREVER to complete? That's me almost all the time. I'm easily sidetracked when I'm stamping.

For this card I texturized the edges of my cardstock using my Donna Salazar's Distrezz-it-All, which I've had for ages and barely use....now I'm wondering why I never use it...oh yeah, it's hidden under my desk where I forget about it (mental note: put OUT on desk, not UNDER it). I sewed one of the strips of my cardstock and also used the polka dots embossing folder from Quickcutz.

My goal this year is to complete all the SFYTT sketches in 2012. Last year I missed a month or two and gave up after that, but this year I would like to keep up with Jen's sketches. I've been a fan of them for a LONG time! I just had to give a HUGE laugh as I hadn't looked at Jen's post of her card closely until I just went to link and noticed we used the same designer paper.

The balloon was paper pieced with a piece of some of my new favorite paper- Authentique Gathering. I originally bought this paper to work with my Project Life kit (see below) and love it so much, it's heavier and two-sided and I adore the blues/orange/brown combo. Think I may need to invest in another pad of the paper.

So with Project Life mentioned above, I'm starting my 2nd year of doing this and am so happy about that. There's a little break in my kids' lives where I stopped scrapbooking and I really wanted to get back into it, but it was always intimidating. I've been trying the digital as well but have a LOT to learn in that regard. I thought I would share bits and pieces of my Project Life album on here. I'm keeping up pretty well so far in 2012, and while I got behind in 2011 I made it a goal to finish up by the first week in 2012, and I was able to do so.

I chose to work with the Clementine kit this year and while this shows the "A" style pages, I'm hoping to incorporate various pages this year. I keep with the rounded corners on most of my stuff for it all to flow and also picked out 2 6 x 6 paper pads that would work with the colors of the album so I could cut filler spots and embellish as I wanted. I do not usually go with the picture/day way of doing things, and more or less just photo/document when I feel like it.

The pages above document a few weeks ago, I had been traveling in PA when I saw this car off the road (bottom photo, top left), got an e-mail from Syd's teacher that she cut her hair during cut and paste centers, and our trip to Chattanooga for Syd's 2nd cheer leading competition.

Thank you if you have stuck with me through all my mumbo jumbo this post, I've been wanting to share more of my scrapbooking/Project Life so will probably do that occasionally.

Want to join us at Blogger's Challenge, link in on any of the blog hop blogs or at Lisa's blog here.

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Card details:

Stamps: Love in the Air by Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Authentique Gathering

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, copic markers

Embellishments: Memory Box Jewel Stickers-Halloween, dimensionals, Janome sewing, Quickcutz Polka Dot embossing Folder, Circle die from Spellbinders

Wish

2012-01-26T08:18:00.000-05:00

Quick and easy cards to share today. This set, hope4us from The {Stamps} of Life makes stamping simple cards the easiest! The bold backgrounds don't require many embellishments, so for this first card I created a 3.5 x 5.5" card base, layered a strip of Basic Grey Kioshi cardstock across then stamped my image and put it on some black background. I love how this looks with the rhinestone brad in the middle.

For this next set I created, I kept the card very clean with a lot of white space. I tried not to over embellish but felt it needed just a little something to add to it. I created a set of these 3 x 3 cards in a matter of minutes using a variety of colors.

For the above cards, I used Color Box inks by Stephanie Barnard which work great with these solid backgrounds type stamps.

Thinking of You

2012-01-24T07:47:00.000-05:00

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations, one of my favorite challenges is going on. A sketch challenge!

The image I chose to work with is a digital image from Stamp Fairy called Thank you3. I've had this image for awhile and thought it would work well with the odd shape in the middle of this sketch.

The paper I pulled out of my stash and adorned it with some prima flowers.

Come join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations and show us how you interpret this sketch.

I love you so very much!

2012-01-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

Today I'm sharing one of the cards I created with one of the new sets from The {Stamps} of Life, quote2love. I think this may be my Valentine's card to hubby this year, I love that it is not your traditional colors for a Valentine's Card.

The rounded tabs are a die from Sizzix called rounded tag framelits. I love these and I hope to use them a lot with my Project Life album this year, think they will be perfect in there.

For the back of the card I used the love2hug set, this one perfect for that special Valentine who is priceless.

Card details:

Stamps: quote2love, created4you and love2hug by The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Simply Blue-tiful, So Saffron, Brown Leather Satchel

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown

Embellishments: ribbon unknown, rounded tag framelits from sizzix

Happy Birthday-New product from The {Stamps} of Life

2012-01-20T13:27:00.000-05:00

I was waiting to see Stephanie's big announcement over at The {Stamps} of Life before I posted this card, and I finally saw her darling video so thought I would share my card that I created with her NEW dies.

Today is my daughter's 6th birthday so this cute cupcake card will be going with all her gifts. She's got a HUGE sweet tooth so I think she will love it.

You'll definitely want to watch Stephanie's video listed above as to how these dies are different from other out there. I've worked with several dies and loved how easy these were to work with!

This die set works with the happybday2you set, but the cupcake frosting can always be used as clouds.

I combined this card with the new Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, I don't get my cards ever done in time to play but this week I forced myself to stamp a card. Hoping my mojo returns this weekend so I can get some stamping done, it's been a long time since I've sat and stamped the night away.

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Card details:

Stamps: happybday2you from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Pear Pizzaz, Very Vanilla, Simple Stories Baby Steps

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown

Embellishments: Crystal Stickles, Cupcake die set from The {Stamps} of Life

Using Your Favorite Papers with Gingersnap Creations

2012-01-19T08:55:00.000-05:00

Another challenge going on over at Gingersnap Creations sponsored by Stampotique. This challenge is one after my own heart, so I kept it relatively simple. Use your FAVORITE papers. I'm addicted to papers so I have a lot of favorites but right now one of my most favorite paper packs is by My Mind's Eye, the Lost & Found Blush pack.

I combined the sketch over at SCS this week with this challenge. I wanted a simple card and since these papers are so fabulous I stamped the abstract foilage stamp directly onto my card base and stamped the sentiment over it.

Want a chance to win some Stampotique stamps? You have three chances this week with our current Stampotique Designer's Challenge (stampotique stamps only), Gingersnap Creations and Macabre Monday. Play along with us for your chance to win.

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Card details:

Stamps: Living...8957 and Abstract Foilage 3031 from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: Confetti Cream, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found-Blush

Inks: I'm a Princess Pink, Dish All the Dirt Brown

Embellishments: dyed seam binding

Love never fails.

2012-01-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

Today is our Going Grey with Scrap-Creations challenge. Our theme today is to use die cuts. I am in love with using die cuts on all my creations when I can, I don't have a huge assortment so there are many creations that I use the same ones over and over again.

My brother and sister-in-law had some photos taken before Christmas and gave us a few pictures. I knew as soon as I got this one it would look great framed with the new quote2love set from The {Stamps} of Life.

Here are some basic directions for how I did the frame:

1. Choose frame based on size of your picture (10 x 13 frame and 5 x 7 photo in example)
2. Choose matting colors for picture, sentiment and background of frame
3. Stamp Sentiment from quote2love from The {Stamps} of Life in Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Licorice color
4. Layer sentiment and picture on chosen colors and adhere to frame
5. Create flowers by cutting multiple sets of different sizes and multiple colors of the Flowers Framelits from Sizzix.
6. Once you have cut out multiple sets, lay the flowers out, spritz them with water and carefully crumple them. Once you have let them dry (I let mine dry crumpled up), undo them carefully and layer them on one another using glue dots.
7. For the leaves, I stamped a Memento Dew Drop in Pear Tart directly on to my paper and cut it out. Adhere all flowers and leaves using glue dots onto frame.
8. Add Viva Pearl Pen in Gold and half back pearl to center of flower.

photo courtesy of Matt Adams from Matt Adams Photo

Hope you will join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations, can't wait to see what you do with your die cuts!

believe

2012-01-16T00:01:00.003-05:00

I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth, but I have been away. I enjoyed a girls weekend in Chattanooga with my little cheer leader at a competition. We both enjoyed ourselves, but I am ready to get back to our routine and get some stamping done.

Here is a quick card I made with the new release from The {Stamps} of Life, hope4us. My ribbon is recycled from a wonderful prize I won from Cindy Lyles at Star Lit Studios...her prize package was wrapped so beautifully and some of these colors were on the package.

Hope you all have a great start to the week! We are going to go enjoy a hockey game today with the two younger kids while our oldest has basketball practice. Looking forward to my last day off for a few weeks.

Card details:

Stamps: hope4us by The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Perfect Little Black Dress, Cherry Cobbler, Certainly Celery, Neenah White

Inks: Certainly Celery, Versamark

Embellishments: Clear embossing powder, Doodlebug Designs jewel stickers, ribbon from Starlit Studio

Everything has beauty...

2012-01-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

Over at Gingersnap Creations, Stampotique is in week two of their sponsorship. The Random Redhead Challenge this week is to use ribbon.

I have a ton of ribbon, I think most crafters have a ton of everything, or at least one thing in particular. I happened to buy one stock of a color in every type of ribbon they have so I decided to keep my card monochromatic and use a variety of the ribbons.

This cute little monster fit perfectly and I love that you can color it any color you want and he/she is still pretty darn cute!

Want to win a $30 gift certificate for Stampotique stamps? Join us over at Gingersnap Creations or at Stampotique Designer's Challenge (stampotique only stamps for the designer's challenge). We'd love to have you play along!

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Supplies used:

Stamps:Keykeeper 4000, Beauty Verse 3056, Splatter Long 3014 from Stampotique

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Neenah White

Inks: Not Quite Navy, copics

Embellishments: Enchanted Evening ribbons

SDC46: Pocket or Purse Calendar

2012-01-11T00:01:00.003-05:00

This week at Stampotique Designer's Challenge Maria gave us the challenge was to create a handy pocket calendar or purse calendar. The challenges are now STAMPOTIQUE ONLY (non-Stampotique will not be eligible for the prize). Join us for your chance to win a $30 gift certificate for Stampotique stamps.

This was definitely a challenge for me as I didn't have a small calendar to work with. Vicki and I were google chatting one night while stamping and I came across these papers from Simple Stories Happy Day pad and it had these cute little calendars in there. While there were no dates on them, they were easy to add on myself.

It's a long calendar pocket book, about 6.5" long, but just a little over 3" wide. For the cover, I again used a piece of the patterned paper and stamped this sentiment which I thought was appropriate for a New Year.

Join us over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge this week for our $30 gift certificate for Stampotique Stamps.
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Card details:
Stamps: Today is a gift...5045, Splatter Blob 3013, Dotted Squares 2170 by Stampotique Originals
Cardstock: Simple Stories Happy Day, Cherry Cobbler, Certainly Celery
Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, Certainly Celery
Embellishments: brads

PS I Love You

2012-01-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that Valentine's Day is just around the corner? It's a big day here in our house as it's my hubby's birthday as well. Still trying to figure out what to get him for his birthday, but have a good idea of what it's going to be.

Over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations this week our challenge was to use Glitter. I went the easy route with the glitter and used my stickles instead, but think the effect worked.

I always tend to turn to this set for Valentine's, it's one of my favorites as you can color the hearts any way you'd like and it's not more for an adult (IMO) than a kids set (if you want kids sets...Clear & Simple Stamps has a new release that is super cute).

Hope you will join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations, would love to see your glittery projects this week!

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Supplies Used:

All supplies from Clear & Simple Stamps unless indicated
Stamps: Sweet Hearts
Cardstock: I'm a Princess Pink, Dare to be a Diva , A Blanc Check, Kraft Like a Rockstar
Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Copics R20, R22, R24, R27, R29
Embellishments: Designer Mix Buttons, Maraschino twine from The Twinery, Fruit Punch and XMas Red Stickles

Clean & Simple?

2012-01-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

I am joining in on the Clean & Simple Cardmaking Class this week. It was a rough holiday break with no stamping and I've been having a difficult time getting back into it. I thought this would be a good time for me to go back to some basics and try not to overwhelm myself with embellishments.

I squeaked 2 cards out based on the sketches this week, one is a little more detailed than the other but I like them both a lot and was happy with the outcome of them.

My first one uses the frog from The Pond set from Our Craft Lounge.

My second one I did a little more than clean & simple by distressing and using my copics to color in the gnome. I used some retire really rust cardstock and the Gnomies set from Sweet Stamp Shop for this card.

Not too late to join in on the Clean & Simple classes if you'd like, you can read more about it here.

Have I told you...

2012-01-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a sampling of one of the new sets from The{Stamps}of Life, quote2love, which I love and can't wait to share the rest of my creations with you!

I created my own background paper on this card using the love2hug set and the Color Box by Stephanie Barnard in Strawberry. I stamped off once to get the lighter colors.

This uses the CPS#249 Sketch for this week, getting in just in the nick of time.

The back of my card is stamped with another of the new releases, the created4you set. I don't normally stamp the back of my cards, but think I will be doing that from now on. I really love the look of it, and this year I hope to send out more cards instead of hoarding them and feeling overwhelmed at the end of the year with so many cards I've created or swapped for.

Want to see some more fantastic creations with the new sets, you can check them out over at The {Stamps} of Life gallery.

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Card details:

Stamps: quote2love, created4you and love2hug by The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Dare to be a Diva Red, Kraft Like a Rockstar, GA Pacific White

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Strawberry

Embellishments: maraschino twine from The Twinery, dimensionals

BC246: Color Challenge

2012-01-06T08:09:00.001-05:00

Today over at Blogger's Challenge I'm excited to share a color challenge based off my kindle pouch. I won this pouch from Ali Edwards website a few weeks before Christmas and I had been hinting to my hubby I needed a Kindle and was thrilled that he got me one this year. I've been reading like crazy on it (so last night I had to sit down and stamp instead of reading).

Here is a picture of the Kindle pouch which is from Elisalou Designs:

My colors may seem off but I assure you there is aqua on the pouch which I see is not on the picture up above. I had the pouch in hand when I was doing this card and really brought out the aqua. LOL. See up in the left hand corner you can see a smidgen of the aqua on the pouch???

I used this Adore Peony Collage from Memory Box as my main image as I though the colors would be perfect based on the pouch. I used the Deconstructed Sketch #33 for this in which I rotated it counter clock wise to make it work for my image. The seam binding was colored with my copic marker to fit the color I needed.

I'm way behind on my Blogger's Challenge commenting so hope to get to those today or tomorrow...need to get back into the routine now that school has gone back and I'm back to work as well.

Hope you will join us over at Blogger's Challenge using the photo above for your color inspiration. You can link in to the blog hop at my blog below, at Lisa's blog or anyone participating in the hop.

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Card details:

Stamps: Adore Peony Collage from Memory Box

Cardstock: Cool Carribean, Basic Black, Neenah White, My Mind's Eye Love Me Do

Inks: copics, Perfect Little Black Dress

Embellishments: Seam binding, open scallop edge die from My Favorite Thing's, Prima flower

Heartfelt Sympathy

2012-01-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

I had to make a few Sympathy cards towards the end of last year and here was one I made and hadn't shared yet. I tried to keep it pretty simple and I really wanted to focus on the sentiment.

I used some of the Basic Grey Wisteria papers as my background to the flower I colored with my copic markers.

Card details:

Stamps: Thankful Flourishes from Our Craft Lounge, Blessings from Verve Stamps

Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Basic Grey Wisteria, Neenah White

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copics

Embellishments: brad, dimensionals

GGSC95: Something Old/Something New

2012-01-03T08:30:00.001-05:00

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations we go out with the old, in with the new. So we are challenging you to use something old/something new on your creations this week.

We are bidding farewell to two of our wonderful design team members, Frances and Jackie. They are wonderful sources of inspiration and I know I'll be continuing to follow both of them. Kristen will be opening up a design team call to fill their two spots, so keep an eye out on the Going Grey with Scrap-Creations blog for that announcement in the next few days.

Oh, this was such an easy challenge once it hit me when I needed to do. I pulled out some older papers I had in my stash and some REALLY OLD chipboard letters from Heidi Swapp that I got in a scrapbooking kits ages ago.

I kept this pretty simple doing NO stamping whatsoever this week on my card, but using some of my favorite things. Ribbon from Clear & Simple Stamps is one of my favorites as well as the NEW sizziz dies I received about a month ago. These are the Fancy Labels Framelits.

I went with a NEW sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #149 on my card as well.

Hope you will hop on over to Going Grey with Scrap-Creations and see what the other girls created and then help us ring in the New Year but creating something old/something new.

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Card details:

Stamps: NONE

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Dish all the Dirt Brown, Gable Green, patterned paper unknown

Inks: NONE

Embellishments: Fancy Labels Framelits from Sizzix, Chipboard Sticker Letters from Heidi Swapp, Orange You Fabulous ribbon from Clear & Simple Stamps

I'm thankful for...

2012-01-01T19:06:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great ringing in of the new year and weren't asleep before midnight. We just barely made it, but we heard the fireworks around the neighborhood for awhile after midnight.

Last year I was very thankful for the creative endeavors I was able to explore and the wonderful opportunities I was given to design. I've enjoyed being on great teams and making great friends, and for that I'm very thankful!

The new release, list2write from The {Stamps} of Life is one I can see myself using a lot this year as I try to complete my 2nd year of Project Life. I have not been doing a week layout like it's meant to, but more used it as a guide to keep up with some scrapbooking. I plan to continue it this way in 2012 along with integrating some digital and regular scrapbooking pages. This page fits the CR84FN color challenge this week, the yellow is subtle but there is some in the designer papers. I'm definitely going to be using this color combo again.

Above is a cute pic I took of my youngest earlier in the year at a baseball game. I love his many faces and thought this would make a great scrapbook page. I also used the boxes4abc for my banner along with the rounded tags framelits from Sizzix.

My second cards I was inspired by a card I saw online with this color combination. I thought these would make a cute notecard set. My goal for 2012 is to use more bright yellow, which I rarely use now.

I for one always have a "honey-do" list going for the hubby. Right now as I type this up, he is busy hanging a new t.v. from the wall...something that has been taking him 1/2 the day to do, but he's getting there. That's after he helped take down decorations, built a desk for our oldest son, etc. So this notepad that hangs on the fridge will come in handy. It has a perforated top so I can just tear the pages out when done.

For my last card I decided to use a size I don't create much with, it's a 2.75 x 4.75" card. I used the Mojo Monday sketch #221 for this. My petals are created using the creations2fill set and I added some stickles to my center flower. I adore this color combination and it's one I will be using more frequently.

Hope you enjoyed these cards/creations and if you want to see some more spectacular creations with this set, visit The {Stamps} of Life gallery where there are hundreds of samples.

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Cutie Pie Scrapbook page:

Stamps: list2write and boxes4abc from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Barefoot & Bliss from Bo Bunny, Neenah White

Inks: Blueberry, Tangerine and Licorice from Color Box by Stephanie Barnard

Embellishments: Janome sewing, rounded tags framelits from Sizzix

Just a Note:

Stamps: list2write from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Yo Yo Yellow, Spring Rain, Kraft Like a Rockstar, Neenah White

Inks: Chocolate from Color Box by Stephanie Barnard, copic markers

Embellishments:Yo Yo Yellow grosgrain ribbon, stapler

"Honey-do" List:

Stamps: list2write from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Taken with Teal, Neenah White

Inks: Chocolate from Color Box by Stephanie Barnard, Taken with Teal

Embellishments: dimensionals

I'm Thankful For:

Stamps: list2write and creations2fill from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Rose Red, Neenah White

Inks: Chocolate from Color Box by Stephanie Barnard, Rose Red and Old Olive

Embellishments: Fruit Punch stickles, dimensionals

BC245: Celebration

2011-12-30T11:40:00.000-05:00

Happy early 2012! Do you have big plans? We usually don't do much on New Year's with 3 kiddos, heck, we barely make it until midnight anymore!!

Today our blogger's challenge is Celebration. I chose to go with a different type of Celebration, instead of celebrating the New Year, I chose a few cards celebrating a new house and the birth of twins (no, not me!).

For the new home, I went with a new set I bought a few weeks ago from Sweet Stamp Shop called Gnomies. These are so cute!!!

The second card I created for the birth of boy/girl twins. I used the sweet4babies set from The {Stamps} of Life for that one. It's a great set for babies and especially for those with multiples.

I'm being lazy on the supplies since I don't have the cards in front of me. If you need other details though, just drop me a line and I'll find it for you.

Join us with your Celebration creations over at Blogger's Challenge. We'd love to have you play along!

Just Chicken in on you!

2011-12-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

I think this is one of my all time favorite images and sentiments from Stampotique. I love the bold birds, they are easy to color or paper piece and the sentiment...it cracks me up every time.

Hope you are all had a wonderful Christmas holiday! We are still enjoying a few days off here from school and work so going to keep this super short today.

Chicken In on You Card

Stamps: 2070 Bold Birds and 8935 Just Chicken In from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: More Mustard, Not Quite Navy (Stampin'Up!); A Blanc Check (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye Stella Rose Hattie Papers

Inks: Not Quite Navy (Stampin' Up!), Copic YR16

Embellishments: A Blanc Check twill ribbon (Clear & Simple Stamps); dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

SDC45: Wish for the New Year-FLY

2011-12-28T00:01:00.002-05:00

Today over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge our hostess for the last challenge of the year is Nellie and here is what she what she has challenged us with:

Almost 2012, a whole new year lies ahead of us.

This time of the year we tend to look forward, what are our dreams, wishes, hopes and things we want to achieve for the new year. What do we wish and hope for our dear ones. I challenge you to show us your dreams, wishes and hopes in a stamped project.

It’s a Stampotique stamps only challenge this time so grab you stamps and stamp! As always you can win a $30 dollar gift certificate for your choice of free Stampotique stamps.

This is what I wish for you: a colourful year in which you go confidently in the direction of your dreams!

I chose the word "FLY" on my card to encourage me to branch out, try new things and soar. I hope that my children will also do the same, I always encourage them that they can do anything, no matter what it may be...the sky is the limit.

I combined the SDC with the Skipping Stones Sketch #108 for this card.

Hope you will join us for your chance to win a $30 gift certificate for Stampotique stamps over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge.
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Card details:
Stamps: 9053 Large Fleurfly, 6131 Bat-Like Wings, 3049 Fly from Stampotique
Cardstock: Raspberry Fizz, Dish All the Dirt Brown, Confetti White, My Mind's Eye Blush
Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, copics
Embellishments: dimensionals, distresser

hello

2011-12-27T08:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday! We have spent the last day and half eating, eating, eating some more, and cleaning. Out with the old, in with the new.

Today we'll make a trip down to Ikea and try to find some new furniture for our son who's in need of a new dresser. I love Ikea and get so many ideas from visiting there (besides coming home with a car load of stuff.

This is a quick card I created a few months ago for a Paper Crafts call that didn't get picked up, but I still love how much white space there is on this card...and I'm ok with it. I usually think I need to add more to it, but I'm thinking I may make a set of these in various colors for some gift sets.

Card details:

Stamps: words2color from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Trendsetter Blue, Confetti Cream, Kraft Like a Rockstar, Dare to be a Diva Red

Inks: Dare to be a Diva Red, copic markers

Embellishments: rhinestone brads, open scalloped edge die from MFT

You Float My Boat

2011-12-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

Today is my last day as the Artist of the Month over at Our Craft Lounge. I've had such a blast playing along with the challenges and the OCL images. You'll be seeing so much more of them on my blog going forward as I've gotten so many awesome sets to work with.

Thank you to the gals over at OCL and to Kendra for the opportunity!

So since the Christmas holiday is now under our belts, you should be bouncing back to a normal schedule (hah!!! how about we do that next week?) I thought I'd roll right into Valentine's Day working with the newly release set Smooth Sailing. This is one of my most favorite sentiments for Valentine's Day and I love the sailboat and light house in this set.

I combined this with the OCL97 Challenge which was a sketch and I turned it to fit my image and scaled down my card size just a little. I used the current color combination over at SplitCoast Stampers for this card as well.

Hope you all had a great holiday and that you will join us over at OCL for the current challenge.

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Card details:

Stamps: Smooth Sailing from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Pear Pizazz, Cameo Coral, Basic Black, Neenah White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers

Embellishments: spellbinders circle nestabilities, dimensionals, dyed seam binding

Seasons Greetings

2011-12-24T00:01:00.003-05:00

Wishing all of my cyber friends (and real life friends) a Very Merry Christmas Eve. We are a family who has a tradition who usually has dinner/goes out to dinner, heads to church, comes home for some photo ops, changes and rips into some gifts.

These were a few cards I made for co-workers this year, which were CASE's from friends Lori Tecler (card above) and Toni Tessler (card below) which I can say I've met both talented ladies in person and have had the opportunity to hang out with them several times and they are both a blast.

I'll be back on Monday with a new card to share as I'm hoping tomorrow before we have our celebration that I will be able to stamp a little. Here's to hoping the day goes as planned and that you all have a safe holiday!

BC244: Ornamental

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

Today is our last Blogger's Challenge before Christmas and so Lisa has challenged us with something "Ornamental". She left it up to our interpretation and so mine is a little bit of a stretch, but think it works.

Every year during our Christmas gift exchange we tend to have a few gift certificates. Our tradition is to put them on the tree as ornaments and so I created this card with the new jar4candy set from The {Stamps} of Life. I basically stamped the jar image twice and then created a little accordian at the bottom of the card to attach the two and the gift card is adhered inside with a glue dot. I think after looking at it, I may add on a ribbon to the top so it'll hang from the tree and not just sit in it.

The background of my jar was stamped with the little dandelions from the thanks2you set and then I've added some red stickles on the inside. My top was paper pieced from a scrap of The Girl's Paperie Tinsels & Twigs paper from last year.

Along with this I also created one for Valentine's Day which is all about glitter.

And my last share is a recipe for No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies which are yummy!

Want to join us at Blogger's Challenge this week? Just link up on the blog hop over at Lisa's blog here.

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Card Details:

For You Jar

Stamps: jar4candy and thanks2you from The {Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Kraft Like a Rockstar Cream, The Girl's Paperie Tinsel & Twigs

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard- Licorice, Artichoke and Strawberry

Embellishments: XMas Red Stickles

Happy Valentine's Day

Stamps: jar4candy and love2hug from The {Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Dare to be a Diva Red, I'm a Princess Pink, Neenah White

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Licorice, Strawberry, Bubblegum, copic multi-liner

Embellishments: XMas Red Stickles, dimensionals

Sugar Fix Recipe Card

Stamps: jar4candy and lines2jounal from The {Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Spring Rain

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Chocolate

Embellishments: dimensionals

Got Candy?

2011-12-22T10:06:00.000-05:00

Are you on candy/sugar overload from the forthcoming Christmas holiday yet? I know with what I've been baking/making/buying, I'm "testing" everything so I'm sure to gain a few pounds.

The candy2share set from The {Stamps} of Life is perfect to accompany some holiday candy, but I can really see this set coming in handy for Valentine's gifts!

My card above, I loved the color combination of the oranges & pinks, reminds me of some yummy sorbets. I created my own background paper with the quick2border set.

I love these Sizzix framelits as I never tend to make shaped cards, but decided with these, it would be perfect and such a different shaped card.

For my final card I love the pink/black/white combo, it never gets old.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Card details:

Card # 1 Got Candy?

Stamps: candy2share and quick2border from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Creamsicle Cardigan, Mauved by the Paparrazzi, Neenah Paper

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Licorice, copic markers

Embellishments: Fancy Labels Framelits from Sizzix, dimensionals

Card #2 You're so Sweet

Stamps: candy2share from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Confetti Cream, Green with Envy

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Licorice, Strawberry, Spearmint and Banana, copic markers

Embellishments: mini rhinestones, dimensionals, Rounded Tags Framelits from Sizzix

Card #3 Candy Makes Everything Better!

Stamps: candy2share and animals4print from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Neenah White, Paint the Town Pink, Perfect Little Black Dress, My Mind's Eye Blush

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Bubblegum and Licorice

Embellishments: Spellbinders nestabilities circle and square dies, dimensionals

SDC44: Shimmer, Glimmer, Glitter & Glitz

2011-12-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

Over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge we are on week 2 of our challenge and Val was our hostess. She challenged us to break out our "Shimmer, Glimmer, Glitter and Glitz" using shimmery paper, glittery embellishments, glimmery paints/washes/spritz or any kind of glitzy bling in your creations....let your inspiration shine!

This week is our last challenge where you can use ANY stamps.

For my card I started off by embossing Jo's Star in silver and then spraying my background with Shimmer Spritz in Sparkle (hard to see in the photo). I thought Grace would look great with pink and silver so I paper pieced her little dress and added on the crown adorned with silver stickles.

Hope you will join us over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate for stamps at Stampotique.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR 2012 REGARDING CHALLENGES:

Beginning with our first challenge the 2nd Wednesday in 2012, we will be a STAMPOTIQUE only challenge. We will no longer host our any stamps challenge, you must use ONLY Stampotique stamps on your creations to be eligible for the prize. We greatly appreciate all that have supported us throughout 2011 and look forward to seeing your work with Stampotique in 2012.
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Card details:
Stamps: Jo's Star 3051, Grace 9223, Crown 3017, Just Because 5239 from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: Neenah White, Melon Mambo, Basic Black

Embellishments: Shimmer Spritz Sparkle, Silver Stickles, dimensionals, oval and scalloped oval nestabilities, pink sorbet twine from The Twinery

Merry Fish-mas!

2011-12-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

This may be my last Christmas card I share...I'm not going to promise that, but I don't anticipate making any more before Sunday. Things could change though :-)

I was a bit out of my comfort zone when creating this card as I decided to do some watercoloring. I do not break those out too often as I'm just not as skilled at it as I am at other coloring methods. Enjoyed doing this and need to break out my aquapainter more often.

It is a large card as I wanted to create an underwater scene for my creation. The turtle is covered with crystal effects but it's hard to see in the scene.

Are you all ready for Christmas? I had every intention of having my cards out by now, but unfortunately they are still sitting on my desk. I hope today is the day though!

Card details:

Stamps: Sea-sons Greetings from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Perfect Little Black Dress, Echo Park Season's Greetings

Inks: Multiple Distress Stains, Basic Black

Embellishments: Aquapainter, Crystal Effects

Believe

2011-12-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my 3rd week as the Guest Artist at Our Craft Lounge. Are you ready for Christmas yet? I've made quite a few Christmas cards this year which I usually give to the teacher's at school. I'm really bad about making cards for the family and usually order mine from Shutterfly or somewhere like that.

This tree from the Sea-Sons Greetings set and it reminds me of that last tree on the tree farm that needs a home. I colored the image with my copic markers and then mounted on some oval and scalloped oval nestabilities. I added a sewing frame around the border of the card.

This sentiment from Merry Wishes is one of my favorites. I speak to my oldest a lot about Believing.

Card details:

Stamps: Merry Wishes and Sea-Sons Greetings from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Glamazon Green, Brown Leather Satchel, Kraft Like a Rockstar, Dare to be a Diva Red,Very Vanilla

Inks: Dish all the Dirt Brown, Dare to be a Diva Red, copics

Embellishments: Janome Sewing, Spellbinders Nestabilities, dimensionals

I created another card for the holidays and this is really one of my favorites that I created with the Our Craft Lounge stamps.

I love this layout and this color combination was just very striking to look at. I again popped up the Poinsettia from the Happy Holly-days set after coloring it with several copics and dusting the edges with Rockstar Red and Cotton Candy Pink Sparkly Fluff

Since my next post for Our Craft Lounge won't be going up until after Christmas, I hope you that you and your family have a wonderful safe holiday!

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Card details:

Stamps: Merry Wishes and Happy Holidays from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Echo Park Season's Greetings, Glamazon Green, Very Vanilla

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Perfect Little Black Dress, copics

Embellishments: Dare to be a Diva Red ribbon, EK Success scalloped border punch, Rhinestone brad, Rock Star Red and Cotton Candy Pink Sparkly Fluff

Thanks so Much/Phrases2say

2011-12-18T08:18:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I've been MIA the past few days. I had been traveling for work and then we have been enjoying some time with friends. I'm sad to say I haven't stamped in over a week and I'm wanting to, but just haven't had the time too. I was hoping to last night but took advantage of my energy and did some wrapping of presents. I'm FAR behind on my Christmas stuff, my cards haven't even gone out yet. YIKES!!!!

Here are a few cards I made with the new set from The {Stamps} of Life, phrases2say. This first card uses primarily yellow, which I do not use often, but I love how it turned out and may need to break out the yellow more often.

For this second card I used the thanks2you set in versamark on my kraft cardstock.

And for my last card, I used the large coffee mug from coffee4two. I created a 2nd piece for the coffee holder where I stamped the sentiment, so it actually opens up so you can write a sentiment inside.

Hope to be back to a regular schedule after the holidays have passed. Looking forward to celebrating with family and taking a few days off. I still have a few gifts to buy for...YIKES again!
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Card details #1:
Stamps: phrases2say and love2hug from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Perfect Little Black Dress, Summer Sun, Neenah White

Inks: Color Box from Stephanie Barnard- Licorice, copic marker

Embellishments: Lemondrop twine, A Blanc Check buttons, black twine, dimensionals

Card details #2:

Stamps: phrases2say and thanks2you from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Simply Blue-tiful

Inks: Color Box from Stephanie Barnard- Licorice, Versamark

Embellishments: black rhinestone jewel, punch from SU

Card details #3:

Stamps: phrases2say and coffee4two from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Neenah White, You're a Natural Darling, Certainly Celery, Perfect Little Black Dress

Inks: Color Box from Stephanie Barnard- Licorice, copic markers

Embellishments: none

Enjoy Life!

2011-12-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

This is such a cute image to use for any little girl. I created this awhile ago and just hadn't posted it yet, but love little Laura and how cute she is.

Today is a new challenge over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge and I will be posting my card next week but make sure to check out what the girls did this week to make their creations shine.

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Supplies Used:

Stamps: 9226 Laura and 9014 Enjoy life from Stampotique originals,

Cardstock: Watercolor paper from SU!, Kraft Like a Rockstar, Dish all the Dirt Brown from Clear & Simple Stamps; Patterned Paper: Simple Stories Baby Steps

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown from Clear & Simiple Stamps, Copics R81, R83, YR20, YR21, E00, 0

Embellishments: I'm a Princess Pink ribbon from Clear & Simple Stamps, Labels eighteen from Spellbinders Nestabiliies, dimensionals from SU!

GGSC94: First Snow

2011-12-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations is First Snow. I had a lot of fun with this challenge on my days off last week, I was on a creating frenzy.

I had so much fun, I have 2 cards to share to you, both similar layouts and colors.

This first card is based off a sketch from Skipping Stones Designs and I also used one of the wonderful tutorials from Katie Gehring. I adore this pleating ribbon and how it turned out although it did take me just a little while to complete.

The image I used is a digital image from Torico. I added some platinum sparkly fluff to the snowman's hat. This color scheme was based off the Playdate Cafe Challenge #110 but then realized I left one of the colors off so I created a 2nd card with all the correct colors.

I love how this card turned out, I used these awesome new supplies (to me) that I received from Cindy Lyles at StarLit Studio. I won them from participating in the Hope You can Cling to Challenges over on SCS. These are the Fancy Tags 2 and Want2Scrap Nestabling.

I've been working with the Our Craft Lounge images and love this little seahorse from Sea-Sons Greetings and it fit perfectly in the frame of the Fancy Tags.

The papers I seem to be turning to a lot these days for all my holiday cards is from Echo Park Season's Greeting collection which Pumpkin Spice Shop carries and is holding a design team call now. They carry the 6 x 6 paper packs that I love to work with when making cards.

Want to join us at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations? Just link up here.

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Card #1 details:

Stamps: Little Snowman Digital Image from Torico

Cardstock: Basic Grey, Cool Carribean, Neenah White, Echo Park Season's Greetings

Inks: Copics

Embellishments: Dare to be a Diva Red from Clear & Simple Stamps, Platinum Sparkly Fluff from Our Craft Lounge

Card #2 details:

Stamps: Sea-sons Greetings from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Cool Carribean, Neenah White, Echo Park Season's Greetings

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copic

Embellishments: Want2Scrap Nestabling, Fancy Tags 2 Spellbinders Nestabilities, Sugar Sparkly Fluff

May the Joy...

2011-12-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

Welcome back to my 2nd week as the Artist of the Month at Our Craft Lounge.

I created a card that fits the current Our Craft Lounge Challenge #96 for a "Clean & Simple Holiday card". I love the poinsettia from the Happy Holly-days set. I stamped it a few times on Neenah paper and colored it with copics and adding some dimensionals.

The middle is sprinkled with a little Platinum Sparkly Fluff. I adorned the top with some ribbon that came on a package last year for Christmas. I wanted the sentiment from the Merry Wishes set to POP out a little bit so embossing it with some silver embossing powder.

Want a chance to win some Our Craft Lounge goodies? Join us with your Clean & Simple Holiday card over at the Our Craft Lounge Challenge.

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Card details:

Stamps: Merry Wishes and Happy Holly-days from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Paint the Town Pink, Perfect Little Black Dress, Neenah White

Inks: Versamark, Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Licorice, Copic Markers

Embellishments: Silver embossing powder, Platinum Sparkly Fluff, dimensionals, ribbon unknown

Frosty & Friends: Blogger's Challenge

2011-12-09T09:15:00.001-05:00

Oh, I have had a fun few days off. I made about 10 dozen cake balls for hubby's work as well as a Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever from Pioneer Woman. I squeezed in a few cards (like this one) and a few naps as well. Was enjoyable for me and looking forward to a few weeks from now when I get a few more days off.

Today is Blogger's Challenge and Lisa has given us the theme of "Frosty & Friends". When I came across this free digital image from Dilly Bean Designs I knew it would be perfect for this week.

I used this fun sketch from My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge #49 this week.

I've been going a little nuts with this Echo Park Season's Greetings patterned paper. I bought a few packs of Christmas paper this year and I NEVER seem to use it all, so I've been trying to use up a lot more than I have in the past.

I colored my snowmen with my copics and sponged some color around so they weren't so stark white. I left the card with no sentiment this week, so I could add one on if I wanted to. Now that I'm looking at this image, it would be a perfect one for my family of 5 on our Christmas cards :-)

Hope you will join us for some fun over at Blogger's Challenge this week, you can link up over at Lisa's blog here. Please only current creations, no backlinking to previous work.

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Card details:

Stamps: Snow Family digi from Dilly Bean Designs

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Neenah White, Perfect Little Black Dress, Echo Park Season's Greetings

Inks: copic markers

Embellishments: dimensionals, Frosted Lace stickles, Kaiser Craft Dec 25th Adhesive jewels

Birdy Shoes

2011-12-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, just a quick little card for you today. I'm going to begin enjoying my day off by baking some cakes to get together some cake balls for hubby's work for the holiday's. I did this last year and they have been asking about them again this year.

I've bought 5 boxes of cake mix and frostings, many melting candies and I know it will be some tedious work, but figure while the cakes are baking I can stamp a little.

This card was created a few weeks ago using a color and sketch challenge and one of the new Stampotique images. This little bird with her/his sneakers just cracks me up!

This is one sentiment I find myself using OVER and OVER again. It goes with so many of Stampotique's images.

Hope you are having a good HUMP day! Think of me as I'm baking the day away (and tomorrow too).

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Card details:

Stamps: Happy Bird-Day 8962, Birdy Shoes 4009 from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: Perfect Little Black Dress, I'm a Princess Pink, Neenah White, My Mind's Eye Blush

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copics

Embellishments: Perfect Little Black Dress twill ribbon, Memory Box Jewel Stickers

GGSC93: Merry Christmas with Presents

2011-12-06T08:30:00.003-05:00

Today at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations we are continuing our celebration of Christmas with 'presents'. I chose this adorable image from Prairie Fairy Designs with some gifts under the Christmas tree.

What are some of your Christmas traditions? We generally eat a nice dinner on Christmas Eve, followed by church service and then back home for a few family pictures, change into jammies, and distribution of gifts. We take turns opening, although the adults usually skip quite a few so that the kiddos can catch up with us. Last year we left our family gifts at home to open Christmas Day instead of doing them all on Christmas Eve.

This card was created for a card contest Echo Park is doing along with the sketch from Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #137.

We hope you will join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations this week by creating either a present or something with gifts on it.

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Card details:

Stamps: Digital Image from Prairie Fairy Designs- Decorating the Tree, Month-to-Month Extras from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Perfect Little Black Dress, Neenah White, Echo Park Season's Greetings

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Licorice, copic markers

Embellishments: oval and scalloped oval Spellbinder's Nestabilities, Scattered Straw Distress Stickles, Sparkly Fluff Sugar, A Clean Slate Ribbon

Let's Do Coffee!

2011-12-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

I am so excited as today is my debut over at Our Craft Lounge as their December Artist of the Month. I was thrilled when Kendra asked me to join the team for December.

I've been a long time fan of Our Craft Lounge and love working with their stamps. I pulled one of my favorite sets of theirs out this week, Fueled by Caffeine. The theme over at Our Craft Lounge Challenge #95 is "Tag You're It" and when I created this tag, I had in mind enclosing it with a little bottle of Amaretto and small bag of coffee. This would make a great Christmas gift.

The Moxie Fab Challenge until 12/12/11 is the Random Fun Challenge and I think that during the cold weather, a warm alcoholic beverage always warms you up.

For my tag I pulled out one of the Simple Stories Happy Day papers with these pre-made little designs. I typed up my recipe up in word and printed it directly onto the papers. I paper pieced a few of the coffee mugs and colored the other one with my copic markers. I added some Sugar Sparkly Fluff as some whipped foam topping.

Want a chance to win some Our Craft Lounge goodies? Join in on the "Tag You're It" Challenge now.

I'll see you again next week as I share my next Our Craft Lounge creation.

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Gift Card Details:

Stamps: Fueled by Caffeine by Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Simple Stories Happy Day

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, copics

Embellishments: Sugar Sparkly Fluff, dimensionals

BC241: Anything but a Card

2011-12-02T07:36:00.000-05:00

Yummy, yum, yum. Are you ready for some candy? Well, these only lasted as long as the picture was taken and were gone shortly after that.

Today our blogger's challenge is to make ANYTHING BUT A CARD. Now, if you are regular here on my blog you know that I'm not much for 3D items, but when this new, candy2share set arrived in my mailbox I couldn't help but think how cute it would be as a belly band around some goodies.

I had these clear boxes from a trade show I had worked a few years back and cut my belly band to fit around it. I colored the lollipop from this set with my copics after stamping it with the strawberry ink and then popped it up with a dimensional and adding some crystal effects over it.

I cut a little tag and adhered it behind the lollipop. I sponged the edges just a little to give it a little pop.

Want to join us this week? Link in over at blogger's challenge and show us your non-card creation, would love to get some more ideas for the holidays on great gift giving ideas.
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Candy Box details:

Stamps: candy2share from The {Stamps} of Life

Cardstock: Dare to be a Diva Red, Neenah White

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard in Licorice and Strawberry, copics

Embellishments: Crystal Effects, dimensionals, Clear Boutique Boxes

Worry Warts

2011-11-30T00:01:00.001-05:00

Here are my last 2 froggy cards to share using the sets from The {Stamps} of Life called Froggy2love and Sayings4froggy.

The first card I tried to keep pretty simple, so that I could use it for an everyday card so I left the sentiment off. I don't use a lot of this shade of green on my cards, not sure why as I like how it looks with the grey and black.

This next card I used a new to me color combination and not sure how much I like it or if I should have switched the colors around a little differently.

I'll be back tomorrow to share some new release cards from The {Stamps} of Life as well. Hope you will hop back by then.

From our Family to Yours

2011-11-29T08:30:00.002-05:00

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations our theme is a Christmas theme. I pulled out some new stamps for me from Our Craft Lounge, Happy Holly-days and Merry Wishes.

I'm loving this layout from Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge, but I changed it up a bit from the original sketch. I've created a few cards with this layout though-I love all the layers of it.

I apologize that I have such a small card today, I'm playing with my new MacBook and uploading to iPhoto and it's been challenging for me so if anyone has any tips on how to download pics off the camera at a larger size into iPhoto before I google it that would be great.

Join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-creations, we'd love to see your Christmas creations!
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Card details:

Stamps: Happy Holly-days and Merry Wishes from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Dare to be a Diva Red, Perfect Little Black Dress, Confetti Cream, Bo Bunny Blitzen

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copics

Embellishments: card candy unknown, Dare to be a Diva Red ribbon, dimensionals, scalloped oval nestabilities

Froggy-licious Cards

2011-11-28T00:01:00.004-05:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are still enjoying one more day off (well hubby and I are anyway).

I'm VERY behind on my blogging and can't believe this is the last week in November already. SCARY to think there are only a few more weeks until Christmas but I can take a deep breath as for once...I'm ALMOST done shopping. Really hoping that today may be the day I finish up.

So bear with me as I share some frog-i-licious cards!

This is using one of the Sizzix pop-up card dies which I believe should be available in a few weeks. I love the pop-up and how you can decorate the outside and inside of it!

This card is one I struggled with as it was too plain for me so my friend Vicki gave me some suggestions and this second try was much better.

My last card was a bit brighter and one I originally created for the challenges over at SCS and never ended up using it for the challenge.

Well, I'm being ultra lazy as I didn't write down supplies on any of my cards this time. I did use the wonderful sets from The {Stamps} of Life called Froggy2love and Sayings4froggy.

Thanks for sticking with me through all my shares today and come back tomorrow for the new Going Grey with Scrap-creations challenge.

BC240: Color my World

2011-11-25T12:32:00.005-05:00

Today over at blogger's challenge is color my world using your favorite colors. I chose the colors brown, kraft and blue. Baby blue is one of my all time favorite colors.

I used the Ephemera Background for my little strip of paper on kraft. I then stamped my image from Bluebird and mounted on blue, coloring the birds with my copic markers.

I did a little distressing and I did stamp a sentiment although it's very difficult to see in this photo.

Want to join us for Blogger's Challenge this week? Just link up at Lisa's blog, we'd love to see what your favorite colors are.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I'm wiped out as hubby & I went shopping last night and didn't get much sleep. Hoping that a nap is in my future today.

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Card details:

Stamps: Ephemera Backgrounds, Bluebird from Artistic Outpost

Cardstock: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Kraft Like a Rockstar, Confetti White, Bashful Blue

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, copic markers

Embellishments: Bashful Blue ribbon, distresser

Thanks so much

2011-11-24T00:01:00.002-05:00

Just a quick post today to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for this year and all the friends I've made through my addiction/hobby/love for crafting is one of them.

This is for the current challenges at Our Craft Lounge and the CAS-ual Friday challenge.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends!

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Card details:

Stamps: Thanks2you from The {Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: More Mustard, Party Teal Dawn, My Mind's Eye Stella Rose- Hattie designer paper

Inks: Party Teal Dawn, Golden Tiara

Embellishments: A Blanc Check Ribbon dyed with YR23 copic marker, glue dots

Merry Everything!

2011-11-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

Today at Stampotique Designer's Challenge Vicki is our hostess and she has proven to give us quite the challenge. Here is what she says:

Before you know it, Christmas will be upon us! How many of you have started your Christmas cards? I'm curious, do you make ALL of your Christmas cards, none of them or a bit of both?

This week I'm challenging the team to make a non traditional Christmas card. The main rule is

NO RED OR GREEN!

I can't wait to see all of the great ideas!

Pull out your Stampotique Stamps as this is a Stampotique only week!

Play along with this week's challenge for your chance to win a $30 Stampotique Gift Certificate, be sure to link in your entries by 5 p.m. EST on 12/13/11 by using the InLinkz here. Please no back linking to previous posts and only one entry per person.

I pulled out one of Kira's new images and used that with a color combo I do not use frequently, but I love, plum and aqua.

Hope you will join us at Stampotique Designer's Challenge this week!

Card details:

Stamps: Merry Everything 8262, Whisker Monster with Sign 4005 and Honeycomb Background 8116 from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: River rock, Cool Carribean, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Neenah White

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copic markers, Perfect Plum

Embellishments: Oval Spellbinders Nestabilities, dyed seam binding, dimensionals

Thanks x 3

2011-11-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

Today at Going Grey we are giving Thanks for all our challenge players, our blog readers and fellow crafters.

I could not get a good photo of this card no matter what I did, so hope that you can bear with me. The circles were cut out and I adhered some patterned paper beneath it. I adorned the card with some dyed seam binding.

We hope that you will be able to join us this week at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations showing us what you are thankful for.

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Supplies Used:

Stamps: Alpha Varsity by Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock, Very Vanilla by SU!, Kraft Like a Rockstar by Clear & Simple Stamps, Patterned Paper: Love me Do-Forever in Plaid by My Mind's Eye

Inks: Chocolate by Color Box (Stephanie Barnard)

Embellishments: Seam Binding, 3/4

Here to Give You a Lift

2011-11-21T10:00:00.001-05:00

I have to say I'm very glad the weekend is over with and a new week has begun. Last week was a tough week and I thank all of you who dropped me an e-mail or let me know you were thinking of me.

I created this card for a co-worker using the Card Positioning Systems sketch #244 from the previous week. The panels are a little bit off from the original sketch.

These colors are some of my favorite combinations, the browns and blues. It's more of a masculine color combination but I think it works in so many situations.

Hope that your week is off to a good start!

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Card Details:

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits from PaperTrey Ink

Cardstock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Dish All the Dirt Brown, Confetti White, Paris & Co. from My Mind's Eye

Inks: Color Box from Stephanie Barnard-Chocolate

Embellishments: buttons from PTI, twine, Spellbinders Nestabilities Ovals and Scalloped ovals

Welcome Baby, Celebrate, Party

2011-11-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

I've been grossly neglecting posting some awesome cards using the recently released born2party set from The {Stamps}of Life. I love the letters in this set and you can leave them alone or color them in.

I've got a bunch more cards from The {Stamps}of Life to share, am getting behind myself this month.

This is a great versatile set, and there are a ton of awesome creations in the gallery, I encourage you to check them out.

Have a great Sunday and sorry this is so short, but I've been wanting to share these for a few weeks now.

Blogger's Challenge: For the Boys

2011-11-18T00:01:00.002-05:00

Today over at blogger's challenge our theme is "For the Boys". I love boy colors but I never seem to make enough boy card. I need to make sure to start a stash of them with 2 boys and lots of birthday parties.

I haven't had a chance to stamp all week and not sure I will this weekend either, although I'm hoping to get a car or two in. This is one I've had in my file and haven't posted yet. It was for a Paper Crafts call that didn't get picked up. I kept it very simple.

Want to join us at Blogger's Challenge? Link up here to join us, would love to see what you do "For the Boys".

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Card details:

Stamps: A Guy Thing from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Garden Green, Certainly Celery, A Blanc Check, My Favorite Blue Jeans, Kraft Like a Rockstar

Inks: Garden Green, copic, A Little Black Dress

Embellishments: card candy unavailable

SDC42: Sketch

2011-11-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

Lisa is our hostess over at Stampotique Designers Challenge this week! Her challenge is one of my favorites and here is what she had to say about it

"I don't know about you, but I love to use sketches as a jumping point for my work, so for this weeks challenge, I'm providing you the following sketch."

Feel free to rotate it, change the focal image, but try to keep the sketch in tact. For this weeks challenge you can use ANY Stamp companies images, but if you have Stampotique images, we'd love for you to use them.

For my card I kept exactly to the sketch, that always challenges me even more to do that. I used some stitching on my card and colored my images with copic markers.

Play along with this weeks sketch challenge for your chance to win a $30 Stampotique Gift Certificate for stamps, be sure to link in your entries by 5 p.m. EST on 11/22/11 by using the InLinkz here. Please no back linking to previous posts and only one entry per person.

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Card details:

Stamps: Two Gifts 2193 and Happy Holidays! 5261 from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: River Rock, Spring Rain, Cherry Cobbler, Bo Bunny Blitzen collection

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copic markers, Haute Red Couture

Embellishments: mini jewels, Janome sewing, felt ribbon retired, Spellbinders Nestabilities

Stampotique Blog Hop

2011-11-15T00:01:00.002-05:00

If you have arrived here from Jo Capper-Sandon's blog you are the right place. If you have just come across, you may want to jump over to beginning at Kira's blog.

Announcing new images and new artists are always exciting here at Stampotique Originals and so we are thrilled to announce our newest artist, Kira Nichols. Kira has designed some very unique monsters and kitties for her first line of stamps and our design team has had the opportunity to play with the stamps before they are released to the public.

For my card I used Kira's new Hug Monster 4007, love his face...looks so innocent. I think this would make a very cute Christmas card. I added the Merry Everything sentiment as it just seemed perfect.

Want a chance to win some of Kira's new images? Hop along with our designers as well as our special guest, leaving comments along the way, for your chance to win some of Kira's new images. We will randomly draw a winner from one of the blogs and announce the winner with our next challenge.

Make sure to leave comments along the way and a randomly chosen commenter will win some of these new stamps.

From here you will want to visit our special guest, our newest artist at Stampotique, Kira Nichols.

Below is a complete list in case you go off the beaten path and need some redirection.

Kim Howard<----you are here

Joanne Wardle

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Card details:
Stamps: Happy Everything 5262 and Hug Monster 4007 from Stampotique Originals
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Echo Park Season's Greetings, Confetti White
Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copics
Embellishments: Spellbinder Nestabilities, Kaiser Craft Dec. 25th jewels

Be Joyful Always

2011-11-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday! Today is bittersweet here for us as our season of football ended yesterday with a tough loss in the semi-finals so we are now free the rest of the winter from practices and long weekends at the football field. We will begin basketball practice this week, but it won't be as grueling as football. We are thankful for the successful season we did have and for the determination of the boys on the team, it was definitely a memorable season.

I'm looking forward to maybe stamping a little today in between loads of laundry and some cleaning. I haven't been stamping a whole lot lately but instead been reading and realizing how much I've missed it. I made a trip to the used book store yesterday and bought about 5 new books for myself, a few for the kids and a few for hubby. Thinking maybe one night we need to institute a no t.v. night so that we can all read after dinner.

This card was created for the Card Positioning Sketch which The{Stamps}of Life is sponsoring this week. It's one of those cards that I had fun making and really like how it turned out. I used the colors of the CR84FN challenge this week...my 2nd one, can't tell I like this color combination can you? I'll apologize now if I pepper you with more of this color combo this week.

I stamped my background and then it through with the dots embossing folder, sponging it with black after to give it more of a greyish look. I know my flower isn't the "perfect" pink to go with it, but think it works.

Why don't you join over at Card Positioning Systems this week for your chance to win some goodies from The{Stamps}of Life?

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Card details:

Stamps: Praises4Him and Type4Background from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: I'm a Princess Pink, Perfect Little Black Dress, Neenah White, My Mind's Eye Blush

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress

Embellishments: Spellbinders Oval, flowers unknown, Quickcutz Dots

Thanks You Rock!

2011-11-11T00:01:00.005-05:00

Today for Blogger's Challenge we are celebrating our Veteran's and Veteran's Day. We have a few Veteran's in our family, my father was in the Army, my father-in-law served and my brother-in-law was in the Navy and our cousin is currently serving and our ring bearer at our wedding is as well.

Today we honor those that fight for our freedom. We hope you will join us in creating a card for our servicemen who have served to protect us.

I kept this card free from embellishments using the Skipping Stones Designs sketch this week. I love the stars in this set all4stars from The {Stamps}of Life, a variety of designs and sizes in the set which was perfect for creating my own background.

Want to join us this week for blogger's challenge? Just link in here with your creation.

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Card details:

Stamps: branches4flowers and all4stars from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Dare to be a Diva Red, Your Style Blue Me Away, Neenah White

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard in Blueberry and Strawberry, Fresh Snow from PTI

Embellishments: Parisian punch from EK Success

The{Stamps}of Life & The Twinery Blog Hop!

2011-11-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

Are you ready for some fun?

The {Stamps} of Life and The Twinery Design Teams are playing together for this hop!

If you have arrived here from Jen Carter's blog then you are in the right place. If you haven't come over from Jen's blog you may want to start at the very beginning of the hop here.

About The Twinery:

Our twine is made from 100% cotton, it’s eco-friendly and made in the USA. Whether you’re gift wrapping, crafting or tying up baked goods to give to a friend, our baker’s twine adds a fresh, yet nostalgic look to any project at hand! Our baker’s twine comes in 14 delicious colors and is uniquely twisted against a bright white hue, creating an eye-popping burst of color and a creative embellishment! Our twine has lots of color which lends to a fun, candy-striped look. For creative ideas & more…visit OUR BLOG!

About The {Stamps} of Life:

We feature high quality, made in the USA, clear stamps and digital stamps/brushes for stampers, card makers and scrapbookers. Feel free to browse our gallery with more than 2500 samples using our stamps, watch our free how-to videos and join our club!

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post. There will be 2 prize winners chosen randomly among the blogs:

One winner will win 2 stamp sets (winners choice) valued at $12.95 -total retail value: $26.90 per prize! from The {Stamps} of Life.

One winner will win the Ultimate Color Sampler Pack ($25 value!) from The Twinery!!!

The prize winners will be announced on The {Stamps}of Life and The Twinery Blogs on Wednesday November 16th.

For my card I used the Penguins4Christmas set along with some Maraschino twine
along with the Color Box ink from Stephanie Barnard in Artichoke and Licorice

From here you will want to hop on over to Jenny Suchin 's blog.

Below is the complete blog list:

The hop list:
The Twinery Blog
The {Stamps}of Life Blog
Jeanne Streiff
Julie Ranae
Deb Felts
Monique Hansen
Vicki Garrett
Monika Wright
Emily Niehaus
Emily Leiphart
Beverly Sizemore

Kim Pargeter
Joana Studer
Katrina Hunt
Laura Williams
Jen Carter
Kim Howard <------you are hereJenny Suchin
Sheri Twing

Going Grey with Sentiments

2011-11-08T08:30:00.012-05:00

Today over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations the theme is to use a sentiment as your main focal point.

This happens to be one of the hardest cards to make, a sympathy card. Never easy to pick that sentiment that best envelopes what you may be feeling.

I made this card for hubby's Aunt, she loves flowers and gardening and such a green thumb. Hubby just returned form California last night as he flew back to attend the memorial service and funeral.

The Mojo Monday sketch from last week worked beautifully with this card and these papers from My Mind's Eye are just stunning.

Hope you will join us at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations this week, can't wait to see what sentiments you use.

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Card details:

Stamps: Blessings and One Person from Verve Stamps

Cardstock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Chocolate Chip, Paris & Co. by My Mind's Eye

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard- Chocolate, copic markers

Embellishments: Spellbinders Nestabilities circle and oval dies

Butterfly Kisses

2011-11-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Very excited today as hubby is returning from his trip to California. Normally I'm the one traveling for business and he's been at home by himself. I have a lot more respect for the hard work he does to allow me to travel for a job I love and also personally at times. It hasn't been all bad, but the little one has decided temper tantrums are a good thing around dinner time and it's been hard. Thankful for a sunny day yesterday where they could play outside and I could get some work done around the house and work in my office while being able to still watch them.

I did get a few hours to do some stamping on Saturday night and probably could have done a little more, but with the time change figured I better not test the waters and get my sleep while I needed it.

I've been trying to play in some of the Our Craft Lounge challenges since I've gotten a few more of their sets. This week was Distressed & Stressed. Hopefully I did mine good enough, it's a little out of my comfort range but I finally used the Donna Salazar Distresser I purchased over a year ago. The sketch is one of Mary Jo's over at TechoStamper that is for a one-on-one challenge at one of the yahoo groups I'm on.

The twill ribbon is stamped on and then I stitched across the top. I sponged my butterfly with some various colors and adhered it with dimensionals.

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

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Card details:

Stamps: Butterfly Kisses from Our Craft Lounge

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Kraft Like a Rockstar Cream, Bo Bunny Et Cetera

Inks: Color Box from Stephanie Barnard-Chocolate, Bronze Spotlight, Golden Tiara

Embellishments: Twill Ribbon, dimensionals, Janome sewing

My Memories Software Review & Give-away

2011-11-06T00:01:00.003-04:00

**Congratulations to Heather, she was the winner for this giveaway as she is the only one who commented with her favorite kit-have fun with the software Heather!*

A few weeks ago I was contacted to try out an award winning digital scrapbook software that is extremely easy and fun to use. My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews. Using this software, anyone can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars and gifts without having to buy expensive and complicated software programs.

I can't tell you how many digital scrapbooking kits and papers and images I've downloaded over the years never to do much with them. So, needless to say I was a bit intrigued and thought it would be a great thing to review.

I chose to download a few of the easy and free quick pages and then of course once I started browsing the other adorable kits and pages, I was hook, line and sinker.

My first page, it was definitely a learning curve for me. I tried to just wing it and do it on my own, but I'm such a visual learner that I decided this program was NOT going to work for me if I couldn't see how it worked. Guess what, they have so many wonderful tutorials over on their blog to help us visual learners, and not only that, most are accompanied by a .pdf file for the readers.

So once I got the hang of it, I tried my 2nd page and it was a bit easier and the more I use this digital scrapbooking software, the more I'm thinking I might actually do more digital scrapbooking with all those kits and stuff I've invested in.

I even put together my son's birthday invitation, sent it to the printer (with the help of the wonderful ladies on FB giving me some direction) and picked them up and they look great!!

Want a chance to try out this digital scrapbooking software? They were generous enough to give me an extra copy to give away to my readers. Head on over to the My Memories store and leave me a comment telling me what your favorite is, whether it's a layout, a kit, a quick page or just a layout in general.

Can't wait for the giveaway and want to try it now, use this code (STMMMS1949) and click on the banner below for $10 off the software.

Shutterfly Give-away

2011-11-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

***Congratulations to my 3 random winners: #1- Joan V., #5- Lisa Somerville and #6 -katychick***

Can you believe Christmas is less than two months away already? I haven't even begun our Christmas shopping and cards, I barely have gotten started on any Halloween goodies!

I aspire to make my cards, and while I do make a few during the holidays, I rely heavily on Shutterfly to complete my cards for me. We love to send out annual recap cards, pictures from throughout the year. This year, Shutterfly has added many new designs and I'd have to say the ones I lean towards have anywhere from 5-7 photo spots for me to add pics of the family. While I utilize Shutterfly throughout the year for my photo developing, their cards are spectacular as well and we've always been thrilled with how they turn out.

This is the one that drew me in this year, but there are SO many styles to choose from, I could look forever and find a few others I love. They have Christmas cards, Photo Cards, and if you need some great gift ideas, you should check out the Photo Gifts they have to offer. What grandparent doesn't love photo gifts?

Are you a blogger? Want a chance to win 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here for your chance to win. Want an additional chance to win? Just leave me a comment and I will draw 3 random winners for 25 free cards. I will draw a winner next week on Friday morning.

BC237: Sketch

2011-11-04T00:01:00.004-04:00

This week at Blogger's Challenge, Lisa has created a fabulous sketch for us.

I have a treat this week for you visiting, I created 2 cards this week!

For my first card I used The Play Date Cafe Challenge colors this week for some co-workers. They asked me to make a few cards for them, and although these cards are not easy to make, I pulled out my favorite set to work with for sympathy cards.

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Card details:

Stamps: Kind Deeds from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Going Grey, You're Such a Gray-cious Host, Confetti White, So Saffron, Blush from Lost & Found by My Mind's Eye

Inks: Going Grey, You're Such a Gray-cious Host, Confetti White, So Saffron

Embellishments: Say Yellow to All Your Fans ribbon

Another super quick and easy card this week for our Blogger's Challenge. This is one I definitely will use again and again, nice shapes and easy to use with a focal point (and the patterned paper).

I used this week's colors over at the Splitcoast Color Challenge using Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy and More Mustard with dessert: the bird.

Want to join us for Blogger's Challenge? Just link up here for us to see. Please no back linking and link directly to your blogger's challenge project.

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Card details:

Stamps: Bluebird from Artistic Outpost, Sentiment Sampler from Paper Smooches

Cardstock: Bravo Burgundy, retired DSP from SU!, More Mustard and Confetti White

Inks: Maroon Maven, Brilliance Galaxy Gold

Embellishments: twill ribbon colored with copic YR23

Sending You Smiles

2011-11-03T00:01:00.000-04:00

Quick and simple card this morning. I've had this stashed for awhile as it was for a pub call that didn't get picked up.

Love this little dog image and paired with this Basic Grey paper, it's perfect!

Told you it was quick today :-) Have a good Thursday!

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Card details:

Stamps: Icons Extra and Oh Boy! from Clear & Simple Stamps
Cardstock: Golden Tiara, A Blanc Check, Brown Leather Satchel, all from Clear & Simple Stamps, Max & Whiskers from Basic Grey
Ink: Brown Leather Satchel, Dish all the Dirt Brown all from Clear & Simple Stamps, Copics E31, E35, E37, W1
Embellishments: Zva crystals, spiral notebook punch from Stampin' Up!

Hope you can Cling To Challenges

2011-11-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

Card details:

Stamps: Taste of Christmas from Clear & Simple Stamps (retired)

Cardstock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Confetti Cream, Dish All the Dirt Brown

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, copics

Embellishments: Paint the Town Pink Ribbon, circle Spellbinders Nestabilities, Doodlebug Designs jewels

Going to post a few cards I've done over the last few weeks for the Hope You Can Cling to Challenges over at SCS. If you haven't done any, it's a great opportunity to send some cards to a great cause and at a chance to win some great prizes.

This first one was for the HYCCT1128 hosted by Jami to make a Holiday card with pink. I combined it with the CAS-ual Friday challenge which was a sketch.

Card details:

Stamps: Butterfly Dreams and Handwritten Notes from PTI

Cardstock: Neenah White

Inks: Color Box by Stephanie Barnard-Bubble Gum, Perfect Little Black Dress

Embellishments: Butterfly die from PTI

I made a set of these cards for my friend who just got done crewing the Susan G Komen 3 Day walk and will also be walking in another 2 weeks in San Diego. She has been awesome, walking my dog when I travel and I knew she could use some thank you cards for those who have donated. This was an extra one I kept to send for challenge which was Butterfly Thanks hosted by wendybell using the FTL163 sketch.

Card details:

Stamps: Just Chicken in on you and Bold Birds from Stampotique, Borders4me from The {Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Kraft Like a Rockstar

Inks: Dish all the Dirt Brown, copics

I love this little chicken, it always cracks me up with the sentiment. This card was for the Pickled Tink challenge sponsored by lisalara to make a Humorous CAS card with a splash of pink and I used the SCS353 sketch for this card.

These cards are a little hard for me as they were one layer cards which are a little out of my comfort zone, but I wanted to participate in as many of the challenges as I could. There are still a few more days to upload, so I may squeeze in a few more and I have a lot more to share.

Open if You Dare

2011-11-01T08:30:00.000-04:00

Do you have a Halloween hangover? I know we do here at the house, with a few trick or treat events over the past few days we'll have more than enough candy to least us a lifetime.

So one more quick Halloween card as I did more of these this year than any of them. This week at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations our theme is Pumpkins and along with the digital image I used last week, I received this freebie from Dilly Bean Designs.

I combined it with the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge which I kept super simple this week with no embellishments.

Hope you will join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations this week with your Pumpkin Creations.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:44:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween! Having a house full of kiddos, everyone is very excited about today and being able to go trick or treating tonight. Go figure, that today is a "student holiday" at school, so I decided to take a few days off. Going to get crafty with the little gal after we run an errand as I didn't do ANY stamping this weekend which is unusual for me.

If anyone reading wouldn't mind saying a prayer or thinking of my hubby's family this week, they lost a beloved Uncle over the weekend, very unexpectedly. Hubby will travel back for the funeral when it is time, but in the meantime, family is asking a lot of questions, mostly "why". It's so hard, and I can't imagine what they are going through. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

This card was a super quick and easy card, just stamped onto my white cardstock and used a marker to highlight the sentiment. I was doing this for a challenge, but now can't even remember which one it was as I didn't write it down.

Okay, I better get this wrapped up so I can jump in the shower and maybe stamp a quick card before I head out the door for a bit.

Have a good day and be safe tonight if you are out there trick or treating!

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Card details:

Stamps: Beware from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Creamsicle Cardigan and A Blanc Check

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copic marker

Happy Haunting with Blogger's Challenge

2011-10-28T00:01:00.000-04:00

Today at Blogger's Challenge we wishing you a "Happy Haunting". In honor of this wicked Halloween, create something Haunting for us.

I pulled out a Creative Cuts & More coffin box for my project and stamped it with the Web , then sponged it a bit with black and added some black distress stickles to a few of the corners. The cute little trick or treater is and I colored the pumpkins and then added a dimensional on the back of each to pop them up in front of the scary skull boy.

I thought adding some glossy accents to skull boy would make him a little scarier.

Hope you all have a safe weekend! We are expecting a few visitors this weekend (my Dad today and cousin on Monday). Looking forward to it and seeing the kids attend some fun Halloween activities.

WARNING: All candy corn in this photo were harmed by my sharp teeth :-)

Join us for blogger's challenge- Happy Haunting!

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Coffin Template from Creative Cuts & More

Stamps: Web 3025, Halloween Cube 2-6110 and Skullboy 9221 from Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: Neenah White

Inks: Perfect Little black Dress, copics

Embellishments: seam binding colored with copic, glossy accents

Altered Poison Bottle

2011-10-26T00:01:00.003-04:00

We are gearing up for a new challenge today at Stampotique Designer's Challenge. Maria, aka Lollyrot is our hostess this week and here is what she says about her challenge:

"I have a new fun and creative challenge for you all this week. Are you ready for Halloween? Well, guess what? My challenge for you today is an: Altered poison bottle. I have a passion for sweet/spooky bottles and I would love to see your creations using Stampotique stamps.

WARNING: Don't Drink, that's Poison! Happy Halloween Stampotique-creatures!

I went in a whole 'nother direction than a lot of the other design team and hopefully you can draw some inspiration from it. My fellow design team member and friend, Lisa, had made me some GORGEOUS metal flowers and I originally wanted to use them for a gift but the shade of color was just a smidgin' off so I set them aside to use later.

Along with the metal flowers she sent me these cute little mini glass bottles. I really wanted to do a shadow box but couldn't find one laying around so I broke out a canvas I had and decided I would alter that.

I filled my mini glass bottle with red stickles, handwrote the sentiment I found online and cut out my loving couple and adhered all onto my canvas. I framed it with the beautiful flowers.

I encourage you to stop over at the Stampotique Designer's Blog to see what the design team created this week, you will love the various bottles used!

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Canvas Details:

Stamps: Mela 6134, Oliver 6135 from Stampotique

Cardstock: Neenah White, canvas frame, Old Olive

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copics

Embellishments: flowers from Lisa, mini glass bottles, stickles

Rain, Rain Go Away...

2011-10-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

This was another card I completed at Libby's a few weeks ago. I was initially doing it for the Hope You Can Cling To Card Drive at SCS, but wasn't happy with my colored image so scrapped it. Hoping to get some cards made for this wonderful event though!

If you are looking for a challenge to participate in, why not join us at Stampotique Designer's Challenge- there is still another week to participate it in the "Tag Time" challenge.

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Card details:

Stamps: Under the Parapluie 2203 and Rain, Rain...9101 by Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: A Blanc Check, Kraft Like a Rockstar, Basic Black, Melon Mambo

Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress, copics

Embellishments: twine unknown

You're Special!

2011-10-25T00:01:00.003-04:00

Going Grey with Scrap-Creations theme for this week is to use digital images & digital papers on your creations. While I'm not a huge digi user, I have collected my fair share of them from attempting to digital scrapbook.

Today, Kristen is also having a give-away on her blog. Tell her who your top 3 favorite digital image companies are and she'll randomly draw a winner next week for a $10 gift certificate to your favorite digital store.

I just happened to come across these fabulous digital images the other day from Dilly Beans Digi Stamps and probably could have bought so much more than I did, but I picked one that I kept on going back to, Framed Friday with Skull. These printed beautifully and was so fun to color! You can't tell too well from the picture, but my background paper is digital as well.

I've used the current Lily Pads Card Sketch for this.

Join us over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations this week and if you need more inspiration, visit the rest of the design team so see what digital images and papers they've turned into masterpieces.

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Card details:

Stamps: Framed Friday with Skull 210 from Dilly Beans Digi Stamps, sentiment from Sentiment Sampler from Paper Smooches

Cardstock: Me & My Brother Add-on Pack from Creativity by Crystal from Jessica Sprague, Pumpkin Pie and Neenah White, Dish all the Dirt Brown

Inks: Stephanie Barnard for Color Box Chocolate, copic

Embellishments: Mandarin twine from The Twinery, prima flowers, Doodlebug Designs Mini Jewels, Zots

Birthday Fishes

2011-10-24T08:03:00.000-04:00

This card was created for a Paper Crafts publications submission using one of their sketches. While it didn't get picked up, I still liked how it turned out and these 2 colors together.

I think I gave it to my son for his birthday and so then I display it on MY display board in my office along with all the other wonderful cards I've received from friends :-)

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Birthday Buddies from Paper Smooches
Cardstock: Rustic Cream by Papertrey Ink, Perfect Plum from SU!
Inks: Perfect Little Black Dress from Clear & Simple Stamps, Copicx V12, V17, E81, 0 and BG53 Embellishments: Lilac & Carribean twine from The Twinery, dimensionals from SU!

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I don't think I ever shared on here my card that did get accepted into one of the Paper Crafts publications. It's been the one and only so far, but that has not stopped me from trying. I've had so many wonderful friends encouraging me at all times, and I figure one day another will be accepted.

This card was done using one of the sketches in the Paper Crafts Card Ideas for Paper Crafters special issue and I was thrilled to see it in there. Sketches are my favorite and so these issues are some of my go-to's when I'm in a stamping slump.

Hope your Monday is great! Our weekend ended on a great note, with a 2nd place in a baseball tournament and we did lose at basketball-but we made it to double digits this week (11 yr old team playing against 12 yr old teams) so we were thrilled. We need a BIG win tonight over a protested football game so it'll be an exciting evening.

Trust in the Lord

2011-10-23T00:01:00.000-04:00

Oh it has been a challenging weekend here with the kiddos! The attitudes have been in full swing and what I hoped would be a nice day of shopping (to get clothes for picky kids) turned out to be a partial bust. I got them to cooperate with getting most of the clothes picked out before temper tantrums began and we exited the store, got kids situated in car before I ran back in to buy the clothes.

I've been trying to participate in the Hope You can Cling to Challenges over on SCS and originally I was going to use this one for the pink collage but decided to use it for the Brave Heart challenge hosted by va. sunshine aka Teresa-HYCCT1112 Brave Heart- Use a Heart on a Creation. I combined it with the Card Patterns Sketch #136.

I adore this new paper from My Mind's Eye, it is truly my favorites right now and I have a hard time NOT wanting to use it all up.

Hoping today will be a better day for us, we'll be outside all day at a baseball tournament, the weather is supposed to be decent and the kids will have friends to play with. Hope your Sunday will be a pleasant one as well.

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Card details:

Stamps: Princess4Life and Praises4Him from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: My Mind's Eye Lost & Found- Blush, Kraft Like a Rockstar, Perfect Little Black Dress

Inks: Stephanie Barnard Color Box- Licorice

Embellishments: Pink Sorbet from The Twinery

SSSC139 BOO

2011-10-22T00:01:00.002-04:00

Had some time off yesterday and had a lot of fun stamping. I did get a quick nap in during the day, but was good and got some stamping accomplished. My kids had 1/2 day of school so my little gal came down to "work" with me. She had a blast with her stamps and paper.

I haven't made a lot of halloween cards and had these cute images from Stampotique. Perfect little scary kiddos! I definitely need to make more of these now that I've used these, they would make great little ATC's.

This card is a 5.5 x 5.5 and I used the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 139 . I created the banner using the banners4all set and I hand wrote the "BOO".

Hope you have a great weekend! We don't have any sports planned today so I'm hoping to do some shopping for the kids, it's gotten too cold too fast and all the pants we tried on this past weekend-the kids have outgrown them ALL.

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Card Details:

Stamps: Corie 9217, Frankie 9219, and Skullboy 9221 from Stampotique Originals, Banners4all from The{Stamps}of Life

Cardstock: Going Gray, SU! retired designer papers, Neenah White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copics, Pumpkin Pie, SU Journaling Marker

Embellishments: black twine, seam binding, dimensionals

Have a Swinging Good Day!

2011-10-22T00:01:00.001-04:00

This is set from Clear & Simple Stamps is one of my favorite ones for a masculine card, so I was kind of disappointed that it is being retired :-( Almost all the golf sets I have are on the retired list so I'm going to anxiously await what new wonderful masculine sets they will be coming out with.

The challenge over at SCS for the HYCCT1103 is Real Men Wear Pink hosted by Dini. I chose to also use the SC153 Sketch Challenge on this card, it was nice and simple and worked well with this larger image.

Short and sweet today, trying to get some blog posts pre-posted while they are fresh in my mind :-)

Card details:

Stamps: Golf Gent from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, A Blanc Check, Paint the Town Pink

Inks: Dish All the Dirt Brown, copic markers

Embellishments: A Blanc Check Twine

Celebrate Fall Blooms

2011-10-21T08:39:00.000-04:00

Brrr!!! Is it as cold where you are as it has been here? I'm normally a hot natured person, but lately I'm FREEZING with the cooler weather. I'm a shorts/t-shirt person even during the fall, but I've been in pants, long sleeve & sweatshirts this week.

I'm up early, on my day off, getting my post up and hoping to stamp for a few hours before I go take a little nap. Unfortunately, I'm stranded at home without a car as my reliable ol' car decided it needed a vacation for a few days.

Today over at Blogger's Challenge, Lisa has challenged us with Fall Blooms. When Fall blooms around here, that means the leaves are changing colors and littering my lawn for clean-up. I was amazed that last weekend we did some major lawn work and last night when I was out there, all the acorns from the trees are ALL over the place. The squirrels are definitely happy with the lazy work they will have to do!

For this card, I pulled out one of my Clear & Simple Stamps sets, Icons I, which has this cute leaf stamp in it. I daubed some of my Distress Stains on my mat, spritzed it with some water and laid my card stock on top of it. Then I stamped the image in a grid pattern using the Card Positioning Systems sketch this week.

Hope you will join us this week at Blogger's Challenge by linking your Fall Blooms creation here.

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Card details:

Stamps: Icons I and Feathers from Clear & Simple Stamps

Cardstock: Brown Leather Satchel, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Basic Grey Indian Summer

Inks: Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Fired Brick Distress Stains, Dish all the Dirt Brown