Repeat Impressions - Designer's Choice Challenge Pastel Spring Card

The Designer's Choice Challenge from Repeat Impressions this time was decided by Karen. She has chosen for us to make a spring card using pastels. You can find the details of the challenge on the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built. You will also find the creations by the Rock Stars there. We invite you to join in the challenge for a chance to win a full sheet of unmounted rubber of your choice. You can also find the design team's blogs here:

Cheri ~ Darsie ~ Dawn ~Joy ~ Karen ~ Kendra ~ Maki ~ Miriam

I used the Vase of Tulips stamp. I paper-pieced the tulips and the vase and colored the stems and leaves. I cut it with a Spellbinders die and sponged the inside before removing the die. I added pearls to the "bumps." I matted with black after punching the corners with a Fiskars corner punch. I used the same paper for the bottom layer as the tulips and matted that with black, also. The sentiment is from Repeat Impressions.

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

Flutter By Wednesday #192

There's a new Flutter By Wednesday challenge starting today. It's open, meaning you can do whatever you want as long as you include a butterfly, fairy or angel. Please link your challenge card up to the Flutter By Wednesday blog. You'll find links to the other design team members' blogs there, too. This week's challenge is sponsored by Susana's Custom Art and Card Design.


The stamp I was so generously given is called Good Hair Day. I stamped it on white with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copic markers - no shading, just straight coloring (except for her hair.) I meant to add Stickles to her wings, but I forget to do that before I took the picture. Sorry! I matted with lavender and rounded the upper corners. The patterned paper background is from a matstack by Die Cuts With a View. The chain of daisies was punched with a Martha Stewart punch and I added green gemstones to their centers. The sentiment is from Stampendous.


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

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week - Rocking Chair

Time for a new Stamp of the Week from Repeat Impressions. This week's stamp, available at 50% through Sunday only, is Rocking Chair, found on this page. Please visit the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built, for all the details and also to see what the other design team members have created. You can also visit the other Rock Stars blogs by following these links:

Darsie ~ Dawn ~Joy

I wanted to emphasize the chair, so I kept it very simple. I stamped the rocking chair on white and colored with Copics. I matted with brown. The sentiment, found here, was also matted with brown. For my background, I used a doily die cut that my friend Annie sent me. (Thanks, Annie. I AM using them.:) )

There are two open RI challenges, too. One is the Designer's Choice Challenge to use "leftovers" and the other is the WHAT IF? Wednesday challenge. You can find the details for the challenges on the RI blog, too.

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

"Christmas Sunday"

I had almost no time for stamping again this week, but I wanted to at least get one Christmas card done. I bought several Christmas stamp sets when they were clearanced, and these stamps are from one of them. The set is by Echo Park. I did my stamping with Versamark and gold embossing. The tree image was done on scrap paper, cut out, and mounted on Dimensionals. I added some gems to "decorate" the tree. I'm linking this to Christmas Card Challenges.


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

"Hello Friend" (Again)

I had just a few minutes to be in my stamping area, so I made this card quickly. The embossing was done last summer at our Group Gathering in Des Moines. I'm not even sure who makes the embossing folder. I THINK it's Sizzix, but it could be Stampin' Up! I colored the flower centers and stems with markers. I thought it needed a large sentiment, so I used the "hello FRIEND" stamp from Papertrey Ink that was still on my messy table. The butterflies were punched with Martha Stewart punches out of paper from Die Cuts With a View. I added "bodies" with Liquid Pearls and drew in the antennae.


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

Repeat Impressions WHAT IF? Wednesday Sketch

It's Wednesday, so that means a new challenge from Repeat Impressions! This week it's the WHAT IF? Wednesday challenge where Wendy gives us a sketch and we see what we can come up with. We invite you to join us, too! There is a $25 gift certificate from Repeat Impressions up for grabs to one lucky participant for the month. Please visit the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built, for all the details and to see what the other Rock Stars have come up with. Want to BE a Rock Star? Check out the RI blog for that, too! Here are links to the other Design Team members' blogs:

Cheri ~ Darsie ~ Dawn ~Joy ~ Karen ~ Kendra ~ Maki ~ Miriam

My card uses the cute little Kitten stamp, found on this page, and the Feline Better sentiment, found on this page. I stamped the kitten on white, and also on a textured ivory. I did a little bit of coloring on the ivory image and cut it out. I mounted it on Dimensionals and added it to the white image. I matted with black. I meant to round the corners like in the sketch, but I forgot! I used a Fiskars texture plate to emboss the bottom ivory piece, then I brayered some Versamark over it and embossed with clear embossing powder. I added some ribbon, matted the sentiment, and mounted the sentiment on Dimensionals, also.

Do you have any "leftovers" on your desk waiting to be used? You have nearly a week to enter the Designer's Choice Challenge for a chance to win a full sheet of unmounted rubber of your choice. See details for that challenge here.

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

Flutter By Wednesday #191

Danni has opened up a new Flutter By Wednesday challenge today. The challenge is to view the photo and be inspired by it! Please visit the FBW blog for the details and to link your creation. You'll also find links to the design team members' cards and projects. Here is the photo for your inspiration.

I was inspired by the pretty pink and green in the photo and also the roses. My friend Harriet gave us some of these gorgeous foil flowers at our Group Gathering last June. They came on a flat sheet - we punched them out and then layered them, using foam squares between the layers. It pretty much makes the card by itself, but I did add a few things:) I started with a light pink card base (Pink Pirouette from Stampin' Up!) I stamped the sentiment on white, embossed with a Swiss Dots folder, and matted with olive. I added the flower and also a butterfly (with pearls for the body) punched with a Martha Stewart punch. I have included a profile picture, so you can get some idea of the layers.


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

More Daisies and Card Parts

I had a decent amount of stamping time this weekend. Not enough, but more than usual:) That was nice. I was able to use up a few card parts, which always makes me happy. I like when the pile is going down instead of growing!


I already had these daisies colored. I believe they are from Flourishes. I stamped them last summer at our Group Gathering. I matted with glittery green cardstock and black. I added Star Dust Stickles to the flower centers. I also added the little bow. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the top part of the background is actually slightly-patterned paper. I used the same glittery green for the bottom. I added black matting and a black strip across where the two colors met. The sentiment is from Stampendous.


This is also for the CAS-ual Friday challenge to use ribbon. You can find that challenge here.


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

"Christmas Sunday"

 I haven't done much stamping for about a week, so it felt kind of good to stay up late and work on a couple cards. I thought I'd do Christmas ones, since I didn't have any to share last week.


This first one was done using Natasha's Clean and Simple Stamping Fall-To Layout #178. You can find it here. I really like this layout. All three stamps that I used are from the same Inkadinkado set. I stamped them all with Versamark and embossed with Detail Gold embossing powder. The matting is shimmery gold. The image panel is mounted on Dimensionals.

I made this second one using an item from my "card parts" box. The trees were already embossed using a Lasting Impressions brass stencil with shimmery silver cardstock. I matted with Old Olive and embossed the sentiment (a dollar stamp from Michael's) with Detail Silver embossing powder.


I'm also linking this post to the Christmas Card Challenge blog, which you can find here. Since I pre-post my blog and their specific challenges start on Sunday, I can't do the themes for the week. But the real challenge is to get Christmas cards done!


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

Another Masculine Birthday

I made this card for our nephew. Gosh, I can't believe he will be FORTY next year!!


You can't really tell from the picture, but I stamped the tree stamp (from Lovely As a Tree by Stampin' Up!) with black, stamped it off, then "thumped" an Always Artichoke marker on it before stamping. I matted it with Always Artichoke, also. The sentiment is from Paper Inspirations. I used black marker for the "Birthday" and artichoke for the smaller words. That's it!


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

Last Two Valentines

This valentine was for our son and daughter-in-law. I started with a pre-embossed ivory glossy heart and cut a card base in the same shape to glue it on. I stamped the sentiment on it and added the roses. It looked quite plain, so I colored the hearts and tiny dots with a Copic marker. That made a world of difference.

This one for our younger grandson is very similar to the one I made for the older grandson. This one is not paper-pieced - just colored. I cut it out with a Quickutz die and added Diamond Glaze to the hearts. The turtle and sentiment are from Fiskars. I added a couple of the punched hearts and sponged some red around the edges. The rows of hearts were punched with a Martha Stewart border punch, and I scored the lines with my Scor-Pal.


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

Repeat Impressions - Designer's Choice Challenge "Leftovers"

Time for a new Repeat Impressions Designer's Choice challenge. Today's challenge was chosen by Joy, and it's to use "leftovers" - make a project with something that is leftover on your desk. Not sure if it was cheating to dig into my "card parts" box, but they are, after all, leftovers:) Please visit the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built, for details and to link up your card or project. You will also find the other Rock Stars' creations there. Or, you can follow these links:

Cheri ~ Darsie ~ Dawn ~Joy ~ Karen ~ Kendra ~ Maki ~ Miriam

I already had this image stamped and colored. The background was already embossed (with a Cuttlebug folder on which I had brayered green ink and embossed with it a second time.) The lavender cardstock was a scrap on my table. So, what I did was cut the image (Morning Glories) with a long oval Nestability, cut the matting for it with a scalloped one, cut the other matting pieces, emboss the lighter layer with Swiss Dots, add a rub-on sentiment, and pop the sentiment and image panel on Dimensionals. We'd love to have you join us, and there is a great prize up for grabs - a full sheet of unmounted rubber of your choice!

The WHAT IF? Wednesday sketch challenge is still open, with a $25 gift card at stake. And Wendy is still looking for another Rock Star. Please visit the blog for all of this information.

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

Flutter By Wednesday #190

Time for a new Flutter By Wednesday challenge. Thanks so much for your participation in last week's challenge. This week's challenge is easier - just use something with wings! Be sure to check out the Flutter By Wednesdays blog for details and to link your card.


I glanced quickly through one of my books of stamps, and found this bird. The set is from Hampton Arts. The flowers are from the same set. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I used Memento London Fog ink and matted with a bluish-gray. After I made it, I realized how similar it is to a card I made in October. Sorry about that. I added a tiny black gem for the eye.


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

Happy Valentine's Day ... and Two Grandkids' Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! I got two grandkids' valentines done and in the mail. The third one I have to make today. This first one is for our granddaughter. I paper-pieced the bunny (from Sandylion) with Die Cuts With a View paper. I added a punched border (with a Martha Stewart punch) and put a strip of white cardstock under it so it would show up better. The pink heart is cut with a Lifestyle Crafts die and the tiny hearts are done with the same MS border punch as the pink, but I cut some purple ones, too. The sentiment is from a Fiskars set. I mounted the heart on Dimensionals. I'm linking this to this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge, which is to use paper-piecing. 

This second one is for our older grandson, who is three. The stamps are all from a Fiskars set. I paper-pieced the turtle with sparkly cardstock and colored the hearts with a Sharpie marker. I added Diamond Glaze to the hearts above his head. I stamped and colored the background hearts.

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

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week - Love Post

Time for a new Stamp of the Week from Repeat Impressions. Wendy offers the SOTW at 50% off, through Sunday only. This week's stamp is called Love Post, and can be found on this page. Please visit the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built, for all the details and to see what the other Rock Stars have created. Or follow these links to their blogs: Darsie ~ Dawn ~Joy

For my card, I used red and black markers to ink up the stamp. Then I stamped the heart again in red, cut it out, and mounted it on foam squares.  I scored the edges with my Martha Stewart scoring tool and matted with red. The background is embossed with a Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I added the ribbon and a bow.

Repeat Impressions is still looking for another Rock Star. If you are interested, you can find more information on the RI blog. There are also two open challenges with chances to win great prizes.


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

Young Man Birthday

Sorry, there is no "Christmas Sunday" today. I just never had time to work on Christmas cards this week.


Our neighbor's birthday was yesterday. He used to be so easy to make a card for, but now that he turned 14, he's getting harder and harder! I used a sketch from Papertrey - for their anniversary celebration giveaway. The paper - both solid and patterned - are from Stampin' Up! The sentiment is from Papertrey. i used a Fiskars rotary cutter for the top edge of the main panel.


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

Thanks, Susan!

I made this card for Susan. She is the one I bought the "grab bag/box" from. She is the queen of Clean and Simple, so that's what I made for her. (Not too hard, since that's my favorite style, too! LOL!)


The flower was stamped with a stamp from Hero Arts and cut with a die from the same set. The sentiment is from a mini set from Papertrey Ink.


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

Same Stamps - Different Cards

I bought a "grab bag" box from someone (Susan, from the Simplicity blog) and included in it were LOTS of stamps, among other things. These stamps are from Hero Arts, and were in my box. I already had the "water" on this card done (a Fiskars texture plate), so I thought these stamps would work with it. I stamped the whale on patterned paper, cut it out, and colored the flowers. I added Stickles to the water spout. I stamped the sentiment on the same patterned paper and cut it out. I added black marker around the edges. 

I thought it would be appropriate to use some of the stamps from Susan for her One-Layer Wednesday challenge. This week's challenge is to make a card with five circles or more. Those flowers all have circles in their centers! I stamped the whale directly on the card front. I used a green water color crayon to "paint" the whale, then markers for the flowers. I used the same sentiment and Stickles.


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

Cheery Yellow #3 - and a CASE

I was inspired to make this card after seeing a card by my friend, Vicki. You can see her card in this post - the third card in the post. I hadn't used these sentiment stamps by Paper Inspirations for quite a while, even though I really do like them, so it was time.


I took the yellow patterned squares that were left over from my Saturday's card (cut with a die from Papertrey Ink) and spaced them out on a piece of scratch paper, then stamped the image (from a Gina K set) on them. I adhered them to a piece of white cardstock and matted with black. Then I stamped the sentiment, and poof - it was done! :)


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

Repeat Impressions WHAT IF? Wednesday Sketch

(Please scroll down for my Flutter By Wednesday post.)


Time for another WHAT IF? Wednesday sketch challenge from Repeat Impressions. You can find the sketch and details on the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built. Up for grabs to one lucky random winner is a $25 gift card to Repeat Impressions. Check out the creations by the Rock Stars on the blog, or follow these links:

Cheri ~ Darsie ~ Dawn ~Joy ~ Karen ~ Kendra ~ Maki ~ Miriam

I used a Raggedy Ann and Andy stamp (found on this page) and colored it with Copics. I cut it with a Circle Nestability and matted it with a red circle and a die cut from my friend, Annie. (Thanks again, Annie!) It's mounted on Dimensionals. I cut the red strips and embossed them with a heart Cuttlebug folder. The sentiment is just a VERY small part of the Live, Laugh Love stamp found on this page.

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

Flutter By Wednesday #189

This week's Flutter By Wednesday theme is LOVE:
L = Layers - use two or more
O = Odd - use an odd number of embellishments
V = Violet
E = Except - Use any color except red
Check out the Flutter By Wednesday blog for details.


For my card, I started with the patterned paper this time. It's from Deja Views. I matted with purple cardstock. The butterflies image is from Inkadinkado. I used a Stampin' Up! marker to ink it up, scored a border with my Martha Stewart scoring board, and matted it with purple, also. I stamped the sentiment (from Paper Inspirations) with black. I punched the little butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch and added a pearl to each one. We'd love to have you join us!


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

Cheery Yellow #2

Here is the second of my three "cheery yellow" cards. A friend wanted some thank you cards - I hope she likes yellow! This is actually a case of a "store-bought" thank you we received several years ago that I really liked and thought I would try to copy some day.


I cut the bottom off the front of the card and put a strip of the yellow patterned paper on the inside of the card. The black and white ribbon was placed on the new bottom of the front of the card. I embossed the rectangle with a Nestability. I stamped the daisy (from a Papertrey Ink set) with gray and yellow ink, then added the sentiment (from a Verve set) stamped in black.


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

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week - Flowering Hearts

Wendy from Repeat Impressions has another stamp to offer you at 50% off for this week only. This week's stamp is called Flowering Hearts and can be found on this page. You can find the details you need, along with creations from the Rock Stars, on the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built. Or, you can follow these links to the Design Team members' blogs:

Cheri ~ Karen ~ Kendra ~ Maki ~ Miriam

For my card, I stamped the image three times on white and colored the images with Bic markers. I punched a border from red with a Martha Stewart punch and added it, along with some scored lines, to the image panel. Then I matted with red.

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

"Christmas Sunday"

This was a very hard card to photograph, so - sorry about the pictures. I made this card using the Clean and Simple blog Fall-To Layout #176. You can find it here. The ornaments are stickers by Recollections - Micheal's own brand. I used a Martha Stewart snowflake edge punch for the bottom border. The sentiment is from Repeat Impressions and is stamped with Versamark and embossed with silver embossing powder. EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to tell you the card's measurements. The card front is 7 inches by 3 3/4 inches. I made it that size to be like the sketch and to fit into an envelope that I have. Also, I am linking this to the Christmas Card Challenge blog. That works out really well, since I had already started my "Christmas Card Sunday" before I discovered that challenge:)

I'll also add this one, although it's quite similar to one of last week's cards. The stamps are all Inkadinkado and the "pearls" are a Viva Pearl Pen. I used a Martha Stewart scoring board to score the lines around the edges.


Twenty-two Christmas cards done - about sixty to go.


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

Cheery Yellow - #1

This is the first of three yellow, white and a little bit of black cards that I'll be sharing with you. I think yellow is always so cheerful.


I started with the patterned paper and cut the holes with a Papertrey Ink die. The butterflies were punched from the same paper with a Martha Stewart punch. I drew the antennae in, and added black gems for the bodies. The sentiment is from Paper Studios. You'll be seeing the cut-out sections on another card soon. :)


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

Blue Birthday

For this card, I used the same image that I used on Wednesday for my Flutter By Wednesday card - a digital image from Rhoda Designs. I colored it with Copics, but did no shading - just plain coloring. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the matting for it is a die from Spellbinders. The patterned paper is from Die Cuts With a View.


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

February Calendar Page

Here is my February calendar page. The links to my calendar files are always available under the title of my blog. Both 2012 and 2013 are there. I'd love to hear from you, if you use them!


I embossed the butterfly with a small Cuttlebug folder. I matted with red cardstock punched with a Marvy punch. I added white dots to the scallops and red sponging to the edge of the embossed circle panel. The background is stamped with a heart from Inkadinkado.


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

Repeat Impressions Designer's Choice Challenge - Heat Embossing

This is my second post for the day. For my Flutter By Wednesday post, please scroll down. My February calendar page will be posted here tomorrow:) 


It's time for a new Designer's Choice Challenge from Repeat Impressions. Today's challenge was chosen by Miriam, and the challenge is to use heat embossing. For the details on the challenge and to see the creations by the other Rock Stars, please visit the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built. You can also follow these links to their blogs:

Cheri ~ Darsie ~ Dawn ~Joy ~ Karen ~ Kendra ~ Maki ~ Miriam

For my card, I started out by stamping the Large Butterfly Silhouette, found here, with a Spectrum pigment ink pad and embossing with a clear embossing powder. I added the Lightning Bugs, found here, with black. I matted the background panel with black. The sentiment is matted with black, also, and mounted on Dimensionals. We'd love to have you join us, and one lucky participant will win a full sheet of unmounted rubber.

Wendy is looking for a new Rock Star. If you are interested in applying for the opening left by Vicki, please check out The House That Stamps Built.


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

Flutter By Wednesday #188

It's Wednesday, so it's time for a new challenge from Flutter By Wednesdays. This week's challenge is open, so anything goes as long as you include a butterfly, angel or fairy. The challenge is sponsored by Rhoda Design Studio. We on the Design Team were offered three digital images from Rhoda Design Studio that we could use if we chose. Here is a link to the Etsy Shop. You do not need to use one of the Rhoda Design Studio images to participate.


I colored my image with Copic markers and cut it out and embossed it with an oval Nestability. The matting was cut with a Labels Ten Nestability. The sentiment is from Gina K. I embossed the sentiment panel with a Sizzix folder. The little butterflies were punched with a Martha Stewart punch. I added pearls to the butterflies and the frame. The image panel is mounted on Dimensionals. The background paper is from Anna Griffin.


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