Chalkboard Tree

This technique is not new, by any means, but it’s new to me! I heard about it here on Wanda’s blog. It’s a technique called “Chalkboard.” You stamp with white pigment ink on black, and then color with chalk over it. Pretty simple, and a neat effect. I used Stampin’ Up! chalks for this card. I cut and embossed the tree with a square Nestability. The green mat is cut with a paper trimmer. Then I used a larger square Nestability to emboss the front of the card as a frame for the image.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

How's This for White!

Boy, did this card NOT turn out how I expected it! I actually started out this card with a small white rectangle mounted on a Garden Green scalloped rectangle. Do you see that anywhere? Nope!! It didn’t even make the card. (I did end up making a card with that part later. Maybe I’ll add it at the end of this post.)

It doesn’t get much more simple than this. It seems silly explaining how I made it, but I need something to fill up this space anyway. LOL! The bottom is embossed with a Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss folder. The lines are scored with a Scor-Pal – on both sides of the ribbon. The “Thinking of You” stamp is (again) from Stampin’ Up!’s All Year Cheer I – stamped with Lavender Lace. The butterfly is stamped on vellum, embossed with Ultra-fine White embossing powder and cut out. There are three little sparkly flowers for a little "bling." That’s it!

Oh, here is the card that ended up with the green scalloped rectangle.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Sort of a Repeat ...

Today's card is kind of a repeat of yesterday's - same image colored with the same markers, same color background, same sentiment set ... and yet it's quite different. At least I hope it's different enough! LOL!

The image is from Stampin' Up's Elegant Embroidery, colored with SU! markers and gone over the markers with a glaze pen. I sponged the edge with Certainly Celery, mounted on black shimmery paper, and then on a scalloped purple layer, also sponged with Certainly Celery. It's mounted on foam mounting squares. The sentiment (from SU!'s All-Year Cheer I) is stamped directly on the Bazzil paper. I doodled some "stitching" lines around the edge of the bottom and added black brads in the lower corners. The ribbon is from Michael's.

This card is for the mother of a good friend of mine. She will be having surgery (SOON, hopefully!) to remove her kidney due to kidney cancer. I wish her the best!!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

(Just a note as I'm looking at my last two cards - they really ARE the same color! Funny what lighting will do to colors. Also, the ribbon and the scalloped purple layer are not exactly the same color, but they are a much better match In Real Life!)

Leaves, Flowers and Thanks!

Another card using Fiskars texture plates. They’re not quite as easy as Cuttlebug folders which are soooo simple, but I really like them and they are by no means difficult -just not quite as easy! This one is called “Leaves.” The green paper is from Bazzil. The main image is stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I colored it with SU! markers. It is from the retired Stampin’ Up! set Elegant Embroidery. I used round Nestabilities for the plain and scalloped circles. The “many thanks” is from the retired Stampin’ Up! set All Year Cheer I. It is cut with Long Oval Nestabilities. Both layers of both images are sponged with Certainly Celery and popped up on Pop Dots. The ribbon is Certainly Celery grosgrain from Stampin’ Up! I also added brads.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

More or Less?

Another “multiple card” day. I made one of these cards, and then made the other. They are VERY similar, but still different. How about a vote on which one you like better?

They are both scored at one inch from each edge, and then scored diagonally in the middle. One has additional scoring at a quarter inch in from each edge. The lines on both are sanded so the white paper core shows through. (The paper is from Lasting Impressions.)

The one with less scoring has hand-sewn French knots in the intersections of the diamonds. (I got this great idea here.) The other has frosted seed beads in the intersections. Both are stamped with the retired Stampin’ Up! set Elegant Embroidery. And both have “Happy Birthday” sentiments from dollar acrylic sets. I colored both with Stampin’ Up! markers.

So, what do you think? Is less “more” or is more “more?” (Even though they are BOTH pretty “less!”) You can click on each of them for a close look, if you'd like.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Snowflakes in August???

Today’s card just “happened” - I didn’t set out to make a winter card! I had the scored piece still on my table from my Scor-Pal experiments and wanted to use it. After looking and looking, I decided it needed something stamped in the centers of the squares – something tiny. The Studio G sets I had just gotten from Michael's were still on my table, too, so I looked them over and found this little snowflake – perfect! It’s hard to tell, but they are embossed with silver. I sponged some Night of Navy around the edges, and also across a lot of the white. I mounted it on a piece of “mirror” cardstock, and then on Night of Navy. It needed more, so I added shiny silver brads in the centers of the corners. I tried using my Stampin’ Up! slit punch to punch a place for the ribbon knot, but the paper layers were too thick, so I just traced through the slit punch and used a scissors to cut it out.

The background is embossed using a Fiskars texture plate and my BIGkick. I really do love the Fiskars texture plates. To get the nice deep impressions, I always mist my paper before embossing. I sponged a little Night of Navy on the edges of the background piece, too. Then I added the grosgrain ribbon. I haven’t put a sentiment on it yet, because I’m not sure if it will be a Christmas card, or a winter birthday card.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Simple Thanks

The card for today’s entry is another one made with some pieces that I had lying around on my table.

I was doing a little experimenting with my Scor-Pal yesterday, so one of my pieces was from that. I cut a square and scored it from corner to corner every half inch in both directions. Then I flipped the cardstock over and scored it half-way between the previous score lines. I think it turned out pretty cool! I wanted to mount it with a scalloped square, so I cut it down just a tad with a square Nestability and embossed the edge, then cut the scalloped mat out of pale yellow.

The butterfly is one I made quite a while ago and just came across the other day. (Actually, I had been looking for it earlier, but couldn’t find it. Then it just showed up!) I had stamped it with Versamark on Vellum, embossed it with a silver-sparkle white embossing powder, and carefully cut it out. I mounted it with a small piece of Pop Dot and bent the wings up a bit.

I added a ribbon, embossed the “MANY THANKS” with a small Cuttlebug embossing folder and sanded that down so the white core of the paper came through, and called it done!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Celebrate!!

The card I chose to upload today is a really quick one I made yesterday. My up-line (the woman I signed up with to become a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator) had her garage sale on Thursday and I had to go and pick up a few “new” things! I love playing around and experimenting with new stamps, and that’s how this card started.

Sorry, I don’t even know the name of this SU! set. (If anyone can tell me, that would be great. I’ll edit this post to include it. It’s four stamps – the flower, the stem and leaves, a heart and a leaf.) I stamped the flower with Versa Magic Chalk Ink - Pixie Dust, then wiped off the center of it and used a marker for the dark middle. The stem is stamped with Versa Magic Chalk Ink – Aloe Vera. After I stamped the flower and stem, I used the ink pad to add a little green on the bottom for grass, then I used chalks to add some color inside the flower and leaves, and also a very light blue around the outside of the flower and leaves. I mounted the image on Pink Pirouette (a new SU! color) and embossed the edges with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder from Just My Type. Then I mounted it on Purely Pomegranate. The ribbon is Purely Pomegranate, too. I scored lines on both sides of the ribbon with my Scor-Pal. The “CELEBRATE” sentiment is from a Studio G set that I just picked up at Michael’s.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Daisy Edgeabilities Flap Card

I haven’t shown an Edgeabilities card on here for a while, so I think I’ll do that today. I haven’t done anything new since Tuesday, so I’m checking my “Archives!” LOL! Hopefully I can remember how I did this one.

This is a Flap-Fold card – the upper part opens up, and the lower part opens down. I used round magnets from Basic Grey to hold it shut. The magnet is between layers in both the top flap, and in the lower part of the card. Here is a link to a flap-fold card, but I just followed the general directions – my card is a different size.

I used Perfect Plum for the card base, and cut the edge of the flap with my Daisy Edgeabilities. I also cut the white piece using the Edgeabilities. I colored the daisies with Prismacolor Pencils and blended with Gamsol. I scored a couple lines with my Scor-Pal. I stamped the sentiment on white with Perfect Plum, cut it out with a Petite Oval Nestability and ran it and the Pale Plum through in a Dotted Swiss embossing folder. The sentiment is mounted on Perfect Plum cut with a scalloped Petite Oval Nestability.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

A Birdhouse Thank You

Yesterday was a fun day for me – a friend came over and we visited, and she scrapbooked while I stamped – awesome! Here is the card I made while she was here.

The background grid is done with my Scor-Pal, scoring every quarter inch on each side in two directions. The bottom of the main panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug Bubbles folder. The circle is embossed with a small Cuttlebug folder. The line in between is done with a Scor-Pal. The birdhouse stamp and the thank you stamp are from a Studio G set. The left side of the thank you had a couple leaves, but I used a marker to ink up the stamp and omitted them, as they would have been stamped over the embossed circle. Instead, I drew a leaf after I stamped the rest of the sentiment. I colored the leaves and the image with SU! markers. I also used a So Saffron marker to highlight the embossed circle, the scored line, and some of the bubbles. The dashed-line is hand doodled around the top of the panel. The matting is So Saffron. I added a couple seed beads for the flower centers.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Clear Stamp Storage

Today’s post is something that really made me happy on Saturday morning when I figured it out. My clear stamp sets have just been stored in a drawer and it’s way too easy to forget about them. A couple weeks ago I just threw them into page protectors, knowing that was not a solution since they just slid around, and got on top of each other if there was more than one set in there, and fell out. Then early Saturday morning, I had the “eureka moment.” I tried it out, and I love it! I couldn’t wait to get home Sunday evening and get this project done!

Here is what I did. I knew I wanted to keep the packaging so that I could tell who made the stamps. So, the first thing I did was to unseal the flap of the package, take the stamps out of the package, and then seal the flap to the inside. Then I put the stamps back into the package so that the opening was at the top. I put double-sided tape on the back of the package, and secured it on to a piece of sturdy white cardstock so that the opening was at the top of the page. I then slipped the cardstock with the stamp set/(s) attached into a page protector, and put it in a three-ring binder. Some sets I could fit only one per page, and some sets I could fit two. I can just reach in and slide the stamps out – perfect!

Some of my sets are too big to fit side-by-side with the openings at the top, or small enough to fit more than two sets to a page. So, on those sets, I slit the side of the page protector and taped up the top. I adhered them to the cardstock so that the openings were on the side of the page.

I hope this is helpful to someone out there. I know I’m pretty excited about it. I have seen other suggestions, but they seemed like too much work to me! I’m kind of lazy/”efficient” when it comes to things like this – the simpler the better. I have pictures and a database of all of my Stampin’ Up! stamps, and now it will be much easier for me to catalog my clear stamps, too.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Rubbernecker Flowers

This was another card I made on Friday, so I thought I would pre-post for Saturday. Then I’m only skipping one day of blogging.

For this one, I started by scoring the diagonal lattice grid on the white card stock. Then I used the Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug folder on it. It’s not real easy to see, but I do like how it turned out.

The flower stamp is from Rubbernecker – the Jeanne Streiff collection. I used SU! markers – Certainly Celery, Ruby Red and Pretty In Pink. I cut and embossed it with a Long Rectangle Nestability and mounted it on Pink Pirouette. The sentiment is from a Dimensions stamp set I got at JoAnn's, and I cut and embossed it with a Long Rectangle Nestability, too. The main image and the sentiment are raised on Pop Dots. The card base is a textured card from Die Cuts With a View. The ribbon is from PaperTrey, and the flower slider is from Stampin’ Up! Oh yeah, there is a little bit of “bling” in the flower center, too! :)

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Another Anniversary

Today’s card turned out to be a case of one of my own cards! It’s quite similar to the wedding card I made in June. It’s much simpler, less elegant and smaller, but still kind of like it – if that makes sense!

I used Mellow Moss for the card itself, something I rarely do. I almost always use white cardstock. I stamped the leaves from a Scrappy Cat set called Botanical Flourishes that I got at Michael’s the other day. (After using a 40% off coupon, it was only $2.99!) I used Memories black ink for them, and colored them with a Stampin’ Up! Mellow Moss marker. Then I added a few highlights/shading (whatever!) with a Sage Shadow marker. I used the Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug folder on each side. That has to be my ALL TIME favorite folder. It works for just about anything! I used my Scor-Pal to score the lines beside the dots. The Happy Anniversary is from a foam set that I got at JoAnn’s once upon a time. I have since taken all of the stamps off the foam and trimmed them carefully and now use them on acrylic blocks. They work great! I punched holes for the ribbon with a Stampin’ Up! Double Circle punch. After I took the picture, I noticed the bow is not centered, but oh well … it’s a handmade card – it doesn’t have to be perfect!

That’s it for today – another Clean and Simple card. We’re off to visit family and go to the Mower County Fair in southern Minnesota for the weekend. I’ll be back with another card soon!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon

Silver Best Wishes

There were three cards I made today, so I had to figure out which one I was going to upload. I went with the silver one! It could be a wedding card, an anniversary card, a birthday card, a good luck card … take your pick!

I started with some wrapping paper – nice, thick, textured, shiny gift wrap. (Others in my family spend more on gift wrap than I do! LOL!) I cut it to the size of the card front, and then scored each side at a half-inch and three-fourths inch from the edge. I stamped “Best Wishes” from Stampin' Up!'s Sincere Salutations with Versamark on vellum and embossed it with detail silver embossing powder. I cut a piece of white cardstock smaller than the vellum, and added silver brads to each corner to hold it together. I popped it up with Pop Dots. That’s it! What could be more simple?

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Flap-Fold Challenge Card

Today’s card is for a “Mingle Swap” for my Scor-Pal group. We have been challenged to make a Flap-Fold card. Here is a site with instructions, but I didn’t follow them exactly. I started with a piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock that was four and a quarter inches by 11 inches. I used a Scalloped Petite Oval Nestability to cut the scalloped edge on the flap. I scored my card at four inches and eight and three-fourth inches – from the bottom. My background paper is from the Die Cuts With a View Summer Matstack. I cut it so that there is a border of an eighth inch on the sides, but so that it goes to the top and the bottom of the card. I used a plain Petite Oval Nestability to cut the top piece. My magnets are between the Tangerine Tango cardstock and the DCWV paper.

I used Marvy punches for the circles – plain and scalloped. I put the dots on the scallops with an SU! Mellow Moss marker. The dashed lines on the circle (which is punched from Blush Blossom) are stamped with PaperTrey Ink’s Borders and Corners – Circle. The owl and the “Thinking of You” sentiment are from a Studio G set. I colored the owl with SU! markers, and cut out a flower from the background paper. I also used a white gel pen for the eyes. I used an Aqua Painter and my Tangerine Tango ink pad to color the flower in the sentiment. The ribbon is Mellow Moss grosgrain from Stampin’ Up! I think that’s about it!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Birthday Wishes

Today’s card uses a couple more of Stampin’ Up!’s new In Colors – Baja Breeze and Tangerine Tango. The Tangerine Tango base is simply a rectangle that is standard card size, one layer. I rounded the two right corners. The next layer up is from My Mind’s Eye and is a quarter-inch narrower than the Tangerine Tango on three sides, and also has the right corners rounded. I sponged Tangerine Tango on the edges. The Baja Breeze layer is the part of the card that actually opens. I cut it using my long rectangle Nestabilities. I folded the Baja Breeze and left the folded edge uncut, and sponged Pacific Point on the edges. I cut the white layer and stamped Birthday wishes on it using Tangerine Tango and the Hostess Set “For a Friend.” I stamped it again on a scrap of Baja Breeze and cut out the candle and mounted it using a slice of Pop Dots for dimension. Before I mounted it, though, I embossed it with a Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss folder and sponged the edges with Baja Breeze. The thin trim strips are cut from the same paper as the second-to-the-bottom layer.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Mojo Monday Sketch - on Saturday!

Well, I got a little chance to play with my new Stampin’ Up! cardstock and inks. I had printed out Julee Tilman’s Mojo Monday Sketch earlier in the week, so that’s what I choose to use today.

The patterned paper is from a Die Cuts With a View Summer Matstack. The rest of the cardstock (except the textured paper that the sentiment is stamped on) is Stampin’ Up!’s In Colors for this next year. I used Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red and Pacific Point. Pretty colors! And they matched my paper from DCWV perfectly.

I used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss layers. I use three Marvy punches for the sentiment layers. Nestabilities are so awesome, but I still use my punches when I can – they are quicker! The dots on the Kiwi Kiss layer are from PaperTrey Ink’s set Borders and Corners – Circles and are stamped with Pacific Point. I used Pacific Point to sponge the edges of the Kiwi Kiss circle, and also the Riding Hood Red scalloped circle layer. The Happy Birthday sentiment is stamped with Riding Hood Red and I also sponged some around the edge.

I didn’t have ribbon to match, so I sponged white satin ribbon with Pacific Point. I’m hoping it dries! LOL! I think it will – I’m just kind of impatient sometimes.

There you have it! Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Three for the Price of One!

Well, I haven’t uploaded a card for a few days, so I guess I’ll just go with what I’ve got! Last night I was going to stamp all evening, but it took me over two hours to clean up my stamping area so that I had room to create! Plus, I got distracted with other things.

At any rate, I have three cards to share with you today, but I’m not terribly impressed with any of them. I was making use of some of my “card parts.” Does anyone else have them – pieces laying around that you were “testing,” or making extras, or scraps? I have so many of them!

The birthday card was made with the following “pieces:” the sentiment was already embossed with Versamark and sponged with Almost Amethyst, the diagonal piece was a scrap, and the flowers were punched and had pearls on. I just rounded the corners on the pieces, matted the sentiment, stamped the background, and put it all together.

The fish card: the background was already scored, the scalloped oval piece was already cut, and the quilling pieces were left over from my other fish card. I just stamped the sentiment, cut it out, and put it all together.

The anniversary card: the daisies were already embossed on the white and the copper, and the copper was already mounted on the black. I matted them, stamped and embossed the sentiment, and stamped and embossed the scrolly design on the top. There - emphasis on quantity today! LOL!

I got my new In Colors from Stampin’ Up! yesterday and I’m hoping to maybe get something stamped with them tonight.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Another Blog Award!

I have been honored with another blog award from Deb - how awesome! This blogging is kind of fun! Deb's blog - Itty Bitty Ink Spots - is filled with wonderful ideas - if you get a chance, check it out!!

The rules of this award:
1. Only 5 people allowed.
2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award, quite simple really. It is a way of saying thank you to those who take time out for wonderful comments to boost your day.

Most of my "dedicated followers" don't have their own blogs. So, for now, I will spotlight:
Harriet - she doesn't have her own blog, but her SCS gallery is hskelly, and she contributes to Natasha's blog
Jeanette - an awesome blog called "Lagniappe - (lan-yap) .....a little something extra!"
Anne - another awesome blog - called "Paper Ink~Pressions"

I would love to hear from ALL of you who read my blog. I know you're out there, because I have subscribers!!

How about this - maybe you could just leave me a comment and tell me where you're from. That would be awesome - I would really appreciate it!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

New Cuttlebug Folders!!

Woo-hoo – my new Cuttlebug things from CropStop came yesterday! I only ordered three sets – “Forever Friends” folder and die combo, “Just My Type” borders and “With Love” borders.

After being camping all weekend with friends (and having a wonderful time) and getting to spend almost a whole day (and “sleepover!”) with a great friend (and having another wonderful time), I finally got to spend some time playing with my new things – and I had a wonderful time! LOL! I did get a card made yesterday, but I didn’t deem it “blog-worthy.”

So, without further ado, here is today’s card. I cut the textured green paper to 5 3/8 by 4 1/8 inches. I cut the white cardstock to 5 ¼ by 4 inches. The first thing I did was to emboss the three daisies from “With Love” on the left side. Then I used the buttons from “Just My Type” to emboss a strip slightly diagonally (accidental, but I like it) across the lower part of the card. I also used my Scor-Pal to score lines on both side of the buttons. I used some little yellow buttons (that I’ve had since I started stamping) for the daisy centers. The “Hi” is cut with the die from “Forever Friends.” That’s it, and wow, there is no stamping on this card!!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Fresh Cuts Thanks

For this card, I used a set from the new Stampin’ Up! catalog called “Fresh Cuts.” The catalog will be out on August 11.

I inked up the image with Sahara Sand, and then I used a Certainly Celery marker to color all of the leaves. It's rather amazing to me that I can hardly tell the difference between River Rock and Certainly Celery – I suppose because there was Sahara Sand underneath it. I sponged the edges of the cardstock with Sahara Sand, also. I tried to bring out the "tan-ness" of the Sahara Sand by mounting it on Close to Cocoa, since I have no Sahara Sand cardstock. I added three brads to that layer. Then I mounted it on Dimensionals and layered it onto River Rock cardstock. The sentiment is stamped with Sahara Sand.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Tangerine Butterfly

Here is a fun, simple little card!

I used some Tangerine Lasting Impressions paper, which is white on the back to make it easy to dry emboss on. I started with the Cuttlebug butterfly small embossing folder. Then I used my Scor-Pal to score two lines on either side of the butterfly. After that, I ran it through twice using a large Cuttlebug folder on each side. I needed to score the lines again, but I like to do the scoring first because it makes it easier for me to position the folder right where I want it. After all of the embossing and scoring was done, I used a sanding block on all of the raised part, allowing the white to show through.

Next, I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Tea Bag – to sponge around the edges. I liked the way it looked, so I sponged lightly over the whole card. The sentiment is from PaperTrey Ink’s “Mixed Messages” and I used the TH Distress Ink for that, too. Three Dew Drops, and the card was finished.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Mojo Monday Sketch

Another “Sketch Card” for today. This one is for Julee Tilman’s “Mojo Monday” sketch. You can see the sketch here. This one was really fun to do, too! Sketches are great for me, because they challenge me to use more layers.

I started with Very Vanilla cardstock from Stampin’ Up! I rounded the corners – as per the sketch! The patterned paper I used on this card is from Die Cuts With a View Nana’s Nursery – Boy stack. Gosh, those papers are so cool! The bottom is Buckaroo Blue, run through my BIGkick in a Dotted Swiss embossing folder. The ribbon is SU! Certainly Celery. I used a retired SU! set called “All Occasions” for the flowers and the sentiment. I stamped it on watercolor paper using Memories black ink, then colored it with SU! markers and ink pads. I cut the image and the scalloped mat (Certainly Celery) with oval Nestabilities. A couple little details that you could overlook – I colored the daisies with a white gel pen, I used seed beads for the daisy centers, and I used glitter on the blue flowers.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Sketch Card

The card I made this morning is based on Jen del Muro’s “Sketch For You To Try.” You can view her blog post by clicking HERE.

It was a fun sketch to work with. The image I used is one of the stamps I got at Oscar’s Door County Rubber Stamps when we were on vacation. I stamped it on Whisper White cardstock, and also on scrap pieces of green cardstock and printed paper. Both of these are from a pad by Sizzix. I cut out the image and the scalloped mat with rectangle Nestabilities. I cut out her dress and hat from the scraps and adhered them on to my image. Then I colored the image with Prismacolor Pencils and used Gamsol to blend. The flowers are colored with Stampin’ Up! markers. I popped it up with Pop Dots.

I used a Word Window punch for the strips on the left side and held them in place with white brads. The flower is punched with a Martha Stewart punch. Did you know you could emboss buttons? I didn’t! The button I had wasn’t quite the right color, so I colored it with a Stampin’ Up! marker. It didn’t seem to want to dry, so I thought I would dry it with my heat gun. Well, I thought since it didn’t want to dry, I should be able to use embossing powder on it. So, I inked it up again and sprinkled it with Iridescent Sparkle and heated it up. Voila! Worked like a charm! I sewed it on (yep, really – with a needle and thread) and used a pop dot to raise it from the main image. The "happy birthday to you!" sentiment is from a Studio G set.

Speaking of Studio G stamps, I had a fun project yesterday afternoon. I was reading in the SCS Weekly Inkling about suggestions on how to store acrylic stamps. Someone said they used ATC sleeve sheets. I thought, hmmm … I wonder if they will fit into something I got from CropStop. Sure enough, they fit into the same size that I had purchased for my small embossing folders! Very cool!! I had quite a few of those left over. The stamp sets are sooooo much easier to look through, now. If I had more sheets, I would only put one per slot, but they do fit two to a slot and that is how I have mine. A tad snug, but not bad at all.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

A Sunny Hello!

This card turned out completely different from what I set out to do! I was going to make a card combining several Cuttlebug embossing folders, but it didn’t happen. I’ll do that another time.

So today, we have this Clean and Simple card. *~*~* By the way, did you know you can search for “CAS” on Splitcoaststampers and view the “Clean and Simple” gallery? If you like clean and simple, you’ll get a wonderful treat. *~*~* I used a small Cuttlebug embossing folder for the flower. I also embossed it on yellow and green so I could cut out the leaves and flower center. I colored the flower center with a Versamarker and embossed it with Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder. I added a couple lines with my Scor-Pal between the flower and the sentiment – which is stamped with yellow from a Petal Pad and embossed with clear embossing powder. I matted with yellow and green papers. The frame is embossed with a rectangle Nestability.

I’ll be sending this card off to a friend, along with a little surprise.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Red, White and Blue

In about twenty minutes I have to be out the door , but I thought I would share a card I made yesterday morning.

This card is for a color swap I’m in. This month the colors are red, white or cream, and blue. My intentions were to use cream. I started my card, and it just didn’t go anywhere. So, I completely changed directions and ended up with this one. (I was able to make a card with my other “beginning,” though.)

I used a brass stencil for this – embossing the entire design on Whisper White cardstock. Then I got out my very first Mat Stack from Die Cuts With a View. I embossed on the different colors, cut them out, and adhered them over the white. I matted the embossed image. The navy blue background is embossed with a Fiskars texture plate, and I added three red brads.

That’s really all there is to it. And I finished with time to spare!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon

Penny Black - Critter Party

There is enough time to do a really quick post. I made this card yesterday, when I wasn’t so busy.

I got this Penny Black acrylic set over four weeks ago, and this was my first time using it. It’s called “Critter Party.” The sentiment is from the set, too. I stamped it with Memories black ink, and colored it partly with Stampin’ Up! markers, and partly with Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol. You can’t really tell in the photo, but I used Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder for the frosting, and put some Diamond Glaze on the candle flame. I embossed a frame around with a Nestability, and matted it with Tempting Turquoise (SU!) cardstock. The bottom layer is from My Mind’s Eye.

That’s about all there is to it! Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Thanks so much - with punches

How is this for the epitome of a Clean and Simple card!

The flower is punched using an EK Success Paper Shaper punch and paper I purchased at Anchor Paper. The center is punched with a circle punch, and the leaves are cut with a Sizzix die – both using SU! decorative paper. The stem is just cut with a paper cutter. The sentiment is from PaperTrey Ink’s Mixed Messages set. The ribbon is from Stampin' Up! and is Certainly Celery grosgrain.

I rounded all four corners of the card, and scored the left side three-fourths of an inch from the edge. Then I cut a strip of the pink patterned paper three-fourths inches wide and rounded the two corners on the left side and adhered it to the front of the card. I glued the front to the back on the left side between the edge and the scoring.

This card fits the challenge on Natasha Trupp’s blog “Clean&Simple Stamping” to “Embrace Punches.”

Don't forget to check out the special offer from CropStop on the previous post - 10% off if you use Coupon Code "MyStampingAddiction."

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

"Product Review" - Storage Sleeves - and a Special Offer!!

How about a “Product Review” today, for something different.

I ordered some “Storage Sleeves” from CropStop on Saturday night, and they arrived today. Awfully quick, I would say! I love my things to be organized, and they were, but it was kind of a pain to flip through a stack of Cuttlebug folders or dies. This is so much better! I got sleeves to fit my large CB folders, my CB dies, my Sizzlits, and my smaller CB folders. I even got sleeves to store my cards in! I have been looking for sleeves to store my cards in for a long time. Now I can store all of my dies and folders in one binder and store it upright on my shelves – very cool. (At least I can do that until I get too many more, then I’ll have to switch to TWO binders! LOL!) And I can have all of my cards that are available for sale in one binder, protected and easy to flip through, with another binder for cards that I have received.

Here are a few pictures of what I chose to order. She has many other storage sleeves, too, and you can get zippered binders.

*** ATTENTION *** I just got an email from Haylie Jo of CropStop. How's this for special? If you order from CropStop, just put "MyStampingAddiction" in the Coupon Code section, and you'll receive a 10% discount on any order over $15!! I guess that's telling her "Lynette sent you." Pretty cool! PS - she carries MANY other things, including Cuttlebug folders and dies, Nestabilities ... the list goes on. Check it out! (The NEW Cuttlebug items will be in VERY soon, and are available for pre-order.) One more thing - CropStop offers FREE SHIPPING on all dies and folders and several other things!!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

TANKS!

This card is quite different from my “norm.” I hardly ever use such bright colors!!

I was digging through some of my “stuff” and came across some quilled pieces I had purchased when Crafts Direct left my area and was clearancing everything out. I have done some of my own quilling, and I like it, but boy-oh-boy – this was SO much easier! LOL! Anyway, I was thinking that if I mounted them on Tempting Turquoise, it might look like a fish tank. Hmmm, and if I used a Long Oval Nestability, it might look more like a fish tank. Hmmm, I’ve been trying to use more things – Fiskars texture plates were on that list. I bet I could use one of those for the Only Orange background. Yep – one called “Ocean” worked very well. (Be sure to mist your cardstock first, to get nice deep impressions.) OK, now I need a sentiment (I was thinking to myself) Hmmm (again!) … how about “TANK you so much?” Works for me. I really like when sentiments are done with a combination of fonts, so I went to the computer and played around a little bit until I was satisfied with it. I printed it on some Tempting Turquoise and cut it out with a small die from the Long Oval Nestabilities and added a couple eyelets. What do you think?

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon

Another Anniversary

Today’s card is an anniversary card for my sister and brother-in-law. (You don’t read my blog, do you Deb?)

I saw a card on Jeanne Streiff’s blog last week that I really loved and I finally got a chance to case it. My card can’t compare with hers, but I do like the way it turned out.

The background paper is from Lasting Impressions. I also used a textured black paper, and Stampin’ Up!’s Very Vanilla. Everything was stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink. I used a stamp set that I bought at JoAnn’s from Inkadinkado called Wedding/Marriage for both the image and the sentiment. I stamped the image a second time on a scrap of Very Vanilla and cut out the birds and the heart, and then I popped them out with Pop Dots. Kind of hard to tell in the picture, but trust me, I did – even the little “curlies” at the tips of the wings! I stamped the sentiment on another scrap piece, used a Stampin’ Up! Word Window punch to punch through the LI paper, and adhered the sentiment underneath. I hand-doodled around the edges, added eyelets and ribbon, and poof – it was done! (Well, it really wasn’t all that “poof” – it actually took quite a while.)

The finished card measures 3 3/4 inches by 7 1/4 inches. As always, you can click on the image for an enlarged picture.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

A Grand-baby!

I made this card today for a friend whose daughter just had a baby boy yesterday. I used this week’s sketch challenge, which can be found here. I’m a few days late, but I was on vacation, so what the heck – better late than never! It looked like a fun sketch, and I enjoyed using it.

The background paper is again from Die Cuts With a View Nana’s Nursery – Boys. That paper is so cute. The Girls paper is really sweet, too! The giraffe is stamped with a stamp from imaginisce. All of the other stamps are from a dollar Studio G set that I got at Michael’s. I used Stampin’ Up!’s Very Vanilla cardstock and Versafine Black Onyx ink to stamp the images. I colored them with SU! markers, and matted them on More Mustard and some blue that I got at Archiver’s. I added a couple snaps to the main image.

That’s about all there is to it! Clean and Simple!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

"Take Joy in the Little Things"

OK – now I’m REALLY back! I guess I missed stamping more than I thought. When I got up this morning, the first thing I did was head down to my stamping area and not the computer. The computer is almost ALWAYS the first thing I do! LOL!

So, here is my card for today. When we were in Door County, Wisconsin, we stopped at Oscar's Door County Rubber Stamps. What a great place – boy does she have stamps! And most of them are made right there – how cool! The stamps all come mounted on wood, but since she makes them there, I asked if it would be possible to get them unmounted. Oscar (yes, Oscar is the owner and a "she") was so awesome. The ones I wanted were not made up yet, so she offered to make them for me to be picked up later that day!! I got a couple of sweet little girls. I was looking at the web site to find the name of the one I used today, but I can’t find it. The other one I got is called “Tracy’s Bouquet.”

I used Memories black dye ink to stamp the image. I used Prismacolor pencils for most of the coloring, and Gamsol and stumps to blend the color. For the flowers, however, I used Stampin’ Up! markers in Summer Sun, Cameo Coral, and Positively Pink. I used Rectangle Nestabilities for cutting out the image and the matting. The hole for the sentiment is made with Long Oval Nestabilities. I cut it out of the Lavender Lace cardstock. I stamped the sentiment (from Verve’s set called Petals and Stems) on a scrap of the background paper (Die Cuts With a View Nana’s Nursery – Boys) and placed it behind the Lavender cardstock, which I had already embossed with the Dotted Swiss embossing folder, then I added a couple lavender brads. The top background is the same DCWV paper as the sentiment.

I mounted the main image and matting on Pop Dots for extra dimension, and added some Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon with a strip of the DCWV paper on top between the top and bottom.

I think I’ll add a picture of the stamp store, too. It’s very unique and charming!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

A Blog Award!!

Wow - I got a blog award! Thank you so much, Deb, for bestowing this award upon me. How fun and exciting!

Deb is such an awesome stamper! I met her through a Scor-Pal Yahoo! group. Turns out she lives in the same town I used to, and we graduated a year apart - how cool is that! My husband's family all still live there. Deb has a great blog which you can view here.

I am supposed to nominate seven other bloggers, but since I just got back from vacation, I am rather behind and trying to get caught up. So, I will direct you to the list of "Blogs I Peruse" in the left column of this page. I read those blogs every day. Check them out - you will be impressed!

I started working on a card I am making with a stamp I got on vacation. Hopefully I will get it done today and uploaded.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back again soon!

Vacation Update and Our Grandson

Well, we are in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin – in Door County. It’s been a wonderful vacation so far. We are staying at the Stone Harbor Resort and Convention Center. We have a deck off of our room with a view of Sturgeon Bay. We haven’t done much here yet, since we just arrived yesterday about 5:00. Today we did our walk and ate breakfast at a little café on our way back. Soon we’re going to go for a drive up the peninsula. Should be beautiful, however there is a chance of rain.

I thought I’d share one of the pictures we got of our new grandson. He should arrive in about three months. This was so awesome to see! We could see him moving around and everything! There is a movie of the whole 3D/4D ultrasound, too. Amazing!! Here is the website, in case you missed it earlier.

This is short and sweet, but I don’t have a lot to say. Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you come back again soon!

This and That

How about another short little post, just for fun!

Our vacation is going well. We took the "scenic route" yesterday. It takes longer, but is so much more relaxing. It's on to Chicago today.

A couple miscellaneous things about my blog. The orchid picture (under the title) was taken by my husband at the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota. There happened to be an orchid show the last time we were there, so we have lots of pictures of beautiful orchids. If you haven't checked out the "Slide Show" yet - it is of some of the cards I've made in the last few months, so it includes cards that are not on my blog.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Vacation!!

Greetings! I just wanted to do a short post to say that we are on vacation for about a week and a half. Nothing spectacular - just getting away for a little while. I might be able to share a post or two along the way, if I think I have something worthwhile to share.

We already visited our parents (they live close, but we just added it to the beginning our trip) and we will start heading down to Chicago today to visit our daughter and son-in-law. As I mentioned in a previous post, our daughter is expecting our first grandchild in early October. She scheduled a 4D Ultrasound and we get to go with them to watch. Here is a link to the site - it looks awesome: 4D Ultrasound. If I can, I will share a picture or two.

After Chicago, we will be heading to Door County, Wisconsin. We'll spend a few days there.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope to see you back again soon!