PaperFections

Petal Birthday-WSC17

Happy Friday . . . it's time for another one of Beate's weekend sketches! I'm so glad she's "making" me stamp because I desperately need to catch up on my birthday card sending *wink*! I immediately knew I would love this sketch when I saw it was square, so mine is a 5.50" square card with a chocolate chip base. I finally caved and got Pick A Petal after seeing so many wonderful samples using it. I chose the outline petal stamp and stamped 5 petals with chocolate chip craft ink on the cameo coral print from this fabulous new Linen Prints designer paper from Stampin' Up. After clear embossing it, I cut it out and adhered it over two other prints from this paper pack. A 1" circle punch of chocolate cardstock and a 3/4" circle punch of some more coordinating paper, all cut in half, make the center of this flower. Then I decided to add some machine stitching with chocolate thread (big mistake . . . don't ask . . . an hour later I was done, LOL!), distressed the edges of the paper a little, added Vintage brass brads and the Designer Label punched birthday sentiment... Read more →

Altered Paint Can

Yesterday, I mentioned that great special Kim will start running Sept 1 over at My Favorite Things which includes her Favorite 48 Prismacolor pencils, one of these wonderful clear pails/paint can, and a bunch of bonus items including the latest stamp set release, so check out that link above for all the details. These pails are the easiest evah to alter! You can just adhere an image to the outside of the can or because they are clear, you can just slip paper on the inside and you're almost done! That's what I did with this can but with a special twist on the paper . . . You won't find this paper in any scrapbook store because I made it myself! Since I just moved into a new house (and new craft room!) and am decorating it, I found some great fabric at Pottery Barn that I'm using in my room. The only problem is that it only comes in a very large print and only a pillow, duvet cover and shams. Since I loved the fabric so much and wanted to use it in more places throughout my room, I had the bright idea to color photocopy it!... Read more →

Let's Hear it for the Boys!

Guy cards are always hardest for me, mainly because I just don't make them often. But since my brother's birthday was this week, I thought one of the latest sets from My Favorite Things would be just perfect for his card! This one is Let's Hear it for the Boys. This set is perfect for almost any guy in your life . . . images in this set include a TV remote control, golf club & ball/tee, slippers, newspaper, snacks & beverage of choice or this baseball cap and fish plaque! It has a great range of sentiments, too, for Grandparent's Day, Father's Day, Birthday, or even game night. I had fun with this image by doing paper piecing on the rug -- I just took the horizontal striped background paper (by Stampin' Up!) and turned it vertically. The colors in this paper reminds me SO much of our lake house where my brother spends a lot of his time fishing (hence the fish plaque was perfect for him!). We acquired the house in the 70's and the decor is still living in that decade -- burnt orange and kelly green! I also had fun coloring this image using my... Read more →

Beate's Sketch Challenge

Woo-hoo, it's Friday and I finally stamped something in my new office since the move! Took me several hours to find things and mount new stamps that I still hadn't gotten to play with yet . . . but I finally finished! This great layout comes from my friend, Beate's, weekend sketch challenge . . . check it out each Friday and have some weekend stamping fun! I knew I wanted to use this fabulous new Stampin' Up! designer paper, Fall Flowers -- it's my favorite from this year's new catalog, very Chatterbox'ish, IMO. It also just happened to fit in with Emily's weekly color challenge over at Splitcoaststampers, to use the new In Colors Guava & Soft Sky -- so pretty together! Although it looks pretty dark on my computer screen, the 6.25" x 4.50" card base is Guava. This is Stampin' Up's large card size. The focal image was stamped on shimmer white cardstock, using the new set, Priceless. First, I masked the edges of my piece of cardstock and then sponged the interior with Soft Sky ink. Then I stamped the images within the mask. After removing the mask, I stamped the row of dots from All... Read more →

Do you need a new TV?

Check this out . . . 5 Minutes For Mom is giving away a 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV! The giveaway is sponsored by Best Buy and ends this Friday, so hurry on over to enter! Read more →

Free SU Stamp Set Giveaway!

Would you like a chance to win a free Stampin' Up stamp set of your choice and a roll of taffeta ribbon? My friend, Sue, is having a contest on her blog, so check it out! There’s an added bonus to this contest, too, in that it’s designed to lift a soldier’s morale. Click here for details. Read more →

Disarray!

The thing I dislike most about moving is the disarray. I'm an "everything has its own place" kinda gal and having everything turned topsy-turvy for a while just really unbalances my whole world! So here's a first view of my new crafting space -- with boxes & furniture piled everywhere! You'll notice a few wood pieces in the bottom of that photo because here's what the other side of the room looks like: It's my unassembled desk! Sweet, dear hubby of mine found this great deal on a desk for me and I loved it. Only catch -- it comes unassembled! So after painstakingly painting the room for me (that story will follow!), he starts assembling the desk. He gets to page 11 of the 44-page instruction manual and what does he find? A piece that had been drilled incorrectly -- ugh! So the instruction manual has a phone number listed in a HUGE font that you can't miss, to call for missing or incorrect parts. "No problem" they say, "we can have that piece out to you in about 7 days" -- ugh! So hopefully that will arrive by week's end and we'll be back in business! He couldn't... Read more →

Some of My Favorite Things

I took a little time a few weeks ago to get a birthday card to my husband's Aunt in the mail. Since I had just received my new stamps for My Favorite Things' design team work, I was anxious to try them out! This darling birthday cake is from the You Take The Cake set -- you can get it at another of my favorite things: Eclectic Paperie! I had the priveledge to finally meet the proprietors of eP in person this past Spring when I visited California for a stamp day. Joy and Daisy have grown their store very quickly this year and carry all the latest and greatest products available on the market, so check them out . . . I hear they'll even be carrying Copic markers soon! They are always very quick to ship and the sweetest girls you could ever meet! For this card I started off using CPS's card sketch #22 and grabbed this floral Scenic Route paper scrap from my desk that I had cut for another project but never used -- I thought it would compliment this floral birthday cake pretty well. The circle of floral paper is mounted to Stampin' Up's... Read more →

Joyful Wishing Stars

I loved trying out this vellum window idea I had for this card but sorry I didn't get a better photo of it, so you could tell it's a window behind those stars! These cute shooting stars are another image from Gina K's Stamps for a Cause stamp set, Make a Wish. They were stamped with Encore silver metallic ink on vellum cardstock and clear embossed. I also loved the font for this sentiment -- it is stamped in Encore silver metallic ink on Stampin' Up's basic gray textured cardstock. The white card base is PaperTrey Ink's Stamper's Select. After stamping the stars and cutting out the vellum image, I cut a window in my card front, slightly smaller than the vellum. Then I machine stitched the vellum to the card front, over the window. A bit of SU's gray taffeta ribbon finishes off this card. I hope you love this darling stamp set as much as I did and will hop on over to Gina's blog to see some more samples the rest of the designers created and make your purchase. It's a wonderfully versatile set and Gina is donating $7 of your purchase directly to the Make a... Read more →

Chocolate Wishes

This card was inspired by my youngest daughter's homemade chocolate birthday cake and I was sure glad there was some still left over after I stamped -- it sure made for a yummy midnight snack! This is another of my sample cards made from Gina K's Stamps for a Cause 2007 set, Make a Wish. I stamped the cake in Stampin' Up's basic brown on watercolor paper, omitting the stars at the top of the candles. Instead, I gave the candles a little pink bling with some A Muse Creative Candy twinkle stickers in hot pink and watercolored the cake with Stampin' Up reinkers. The cake was punched with the Marvy Mega circle punch and framed with a Giga scallop punch of chocolate chip. The scallops were each pierced from the reverse side. It is mounted with dimensionals to the card. Card base is chocolate chip, paper is Au Chocolat and ribbon is brown taffeta, all by Stampin' Up! The sentiment was stamped in Tsukineko's VersaMagic Chalk Ink-Wheat. Read more →

Make a Wish!

I was so honored Gina K asked me if to participate in her Stamps for a Cause fund raiser this year. $7 from every set sold will go to the Make a Wish foundation. The full set is pictured above -- it's available in deeply-etched red rubber wood-mounted or the same red rubber in unmounted with cling vinyl cushion to use with acrylic blocks. You can order your stamp set from StampingFreak.com and know that your purchase will help so many children realize their dreams. The special design team she put together for this release (which includes her multi-talented original design team, too) created some awesome samples -- you will see them appearing on Gina's blog over the next few days, as well as her special Stamps For A Cause site. Over the next three days, I'll feature the three samples I created. Here's the first: I loved the dandelion image in this set the most and this was the first idea I tried with it. The flower is stamped in white craft ink on Stampin' Up's bashful blue cardstock and mounted to a black card base. The background was then dotted with a black marker and the corners were... Read more →

I'm still not really here!

Just checking in from a friend's house (thanks Sharon!) -- still no Internet at mine! I hope to get back to you sometime tomorrow with my Gina K Stamps for a Cause sample cards. In the meantime, be sure to watch Gina's blog (you'll find her link on my sidebar). Read more →

Happiness - Altered Art 4 and . . .

This cute purse started life as a candy box! I liked the unsual shape and how it opened. I got it at half-price the day after Valentine's! It's covered in cardstock that I stamped on. The lower brown flower strip was stamped in craft ink. All the edges were sponged with brown ink and faux stitching was done prior to adhering the cardstock to the box. The box opens & closes at the flower embellishment with a velcro dot. Other views (click to view larger): All Supplies by Stampin’ Up! The image for my last Happiness card was broken in the upload and I didn't realize it before sending the card off. I hope to get it re-stamped for you and will post it. I hope you have enjoyed my samples from these new sets . . . it was tons of fun to play with them and prepare the samples for Stampin' Up's annual convention display boards. If you check back in after midnight tomorrow, when it's officially the 8th of August, I'll be able to share the samples I prepared for Gina K's Stamps for a Cause set! Read more →

Happiness - Scrapbook Pgs 3 & 4

Since I'm prepping these posts in advance, I hope all has gone well with my house move this weekend. If you don't hear from me Tuesday, it means I'm still without Internet service! And since it's August, I hope the heat isn't too bad for moving day, either. In case it is, here's a scrapbook page of a little Easter-time cheeriness to cool you down! These are my sweeties this past Easter. I loved the dots on their dresses, so I played that up for accents on the page: The topper was done with the same Poppin' Pastel technique I used on my 2nd Happiness card I posted. "Easter" was stamped over it in rose craft ink. Circles were punched out of the circle & flower strip from this set, which was Versamarked and clear embossed, to give the page some shine: Next, a 6" x 6" bragbook page. Faux film strip was created with the Spiral Punch: Strips of black flowers are from the Happiness background. Friendship circle & flower is from Think Happy Thoughts and is popped up. Journaling from the Font CD. All Supplies by Stampin’ Up! Read more →

Happiness - Scrapbook Pg 2 & Altered Art 3

The Wild West Alphabet just screamed "Texas" to me when I first saw it. It reminds me of our Texas Ranger's Baseball Club logo, so I combined it with our state flower, the Bluebonnet -- pictures from this past April. The row of blue Happiness flowers was stamped and then punched out with a square punch and framed in the same way: Journaling was printed with the Journaling Font CD and cut with the Coluzzle: My first altered piece with Happiness is a color-match memory card game for kids. I covered a Band-Aid box with cardstock and made the card game to fit inside: Each card color is stamped in pairs, with different strips from this background. To play this classic memory game, lay all the cards face down then turn over two at a time, trying to match up the colors. If you don't match, turn the cards back over and play goes to the next person. When a match is made, the player keeps his match. The player with the most matches, wins! All Supplies by Stampin’ Up! Read more →