PaperFections

WSC64: Fall Scarecrow

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge was another fun one . . . I hope you'll play along with us this weekend! I wanted to get in a few more Fall cards even though I'm seriously into Christmas mode right now, so here's what I came up with: I hadn't used this sweet little Lockhart Scarecrow yet so made him into an Inchie, to use for my circular focal point in the sketch (yes, I improvised a bit!). He was stamped onto an Inchie Arts White Inchie Square with Tsukineko's Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored with these Copic markers (sorry for the upside down YR04, LOL!): Let me remind you once again about how buttery smooth this white Inchie matboard square is -- your Copics will blend beautifully on it and they give your project wonderful dimension! I think I failed miserably once again to capture the beautiful sparkle of Spica glitter pens in orange on the leaves and green on the scarf knot: But trust me, it's there! Isn't he a cutie? I'd love to have him in my garden or on my front porch! I framed him with a 1-1/4" black cardstock square. The papers are Memory Box Sparkle... Read more →

Snowy Birds

Sorry I haven't been able to post much this week -- the last week of the month always brings a lot of deadlines for which I'm usually scrambling! But here's a sneak peek of a project I have up today over at the CLASSroom. I hope you'll pop over to read about the details and to see the whole project! I'll be back on Friday with Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge! Image credit: Lockhart Stamp Company Read more →

Papercrafts Gourmet

Papercrafts magazine is coming out with an exciting new edition called " PC Gourmet" . . . and yes, it's filled with wonderful paper crafts AND good food recipes! Here is a sample of one of the recipes and projects you will find in this issue, designed by Papercrafts Pro, Alisa Bangerter: Cheesy Garlic Drop Biscuits , from Alisa Bangerter This is a perfect recipe to pull out if you are short on time because there is no rolling or cutting. The cheese and garlic add extra kick to a plain biscuit, and kids love them. They are the perfect accompaniment to serve with soups or stews, and aregreat served with a salad. INGREDIENTS 2 c. flour 2 tbsp. granulated sugar 4 tsp. baking powder 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. salt 2/3 c. butter or margarine 1 1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese 1 1/4 c. milk Chives (optional) DIRECTIONS Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry cutter until mixture is fine. Add cheese and mix well. Add milk and stir until just moistened. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Sprinkle top with chopped dried or fresh chives if desired. Bake at 400 degrees for approx.... Read more →

New Spellbinders Dies

Just a quick announcement to let you know the long-awaited new Spellbinders dies have arrived at Ellen Hutson LLC. You can view the selections by clicking on the "Spellbinders dies" text above or by browsing through this list of NEW items added to the store. If you don't see the particular die you are looking for, that means it isn't currently in stock at the store but you can keep checking back or email customer service to check on the status. Have fun shopping and I hope to be back tomorrow with some new artwork for you! Read more →

Copic Giveaway Announcement!

Thanks so very much to all of you who entered my Copic giveaway. The winner of the Copic marker/bag giveaway was chosen by Random.org: Random Integer Generator Here are your random numbers: 54 Timestamp: 2008-10-24 14:49:18 UTC Which belongs to this commenter: "What a thoughtful gift for your friends and family for Thanksgiving! My mom and aunts used to make jams and what great memories that brings back to me. Thanks for making me think of a great, innocent time in my life and for the opportunity to win." Posted by: Susan | October 21, 2008 at 02:38 PM> Congratulations, Susan! I've emailed you to get your mailing address. If you don't see that email, please contact me by emailing me thru the link under my photo. And guess what . . . I have another bag of Copic goodies to give away so my buddy, Lori, and I will be cooking up another fun project to share with you soon! Have a wonderful weekend! Read more →

WSC63: Snow Lady

Happy Friday! Here's my sample for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #63. I've been long-awaiting Memory Box's new holiday paper collection, Gingercake, and when I saw this pretty, bright green pattern in the collection with the holly and berries on it, it made me think of this cute Snow Lady stamp by Karen Lockart! I didn't want to cover up any of this pretty paper AND I couldn't find another pattern to match well with it in order to make the rectangle element behind the focal point in today's sketch, so I just embossed a Spellbinders Classic Rectangle Nestability die on the paper to provide that element. Sorry I didn't have time to get a photo of the Copic markers I used to color Snowlady, but here's a list: YG00, YG01, YG03, RV23, R22, YR01, V01, V12, V15 and Spica Glitter Pens in clear & pink. And hopefully you can see that embossed rectangle a little better in this photo, too: TIP: Snowlady' head is outlined in a custom Copic color of BG000 reinker "diluted" half and half with Copic Colorless Blender in an empty sketch marker. This gives you an even lighter shade and provides just a hint of icy... Read more →

Taylored Expressions Release Day!

It's time for another release of Stamp a Sweet Impression stamps from Taylored Expressions. You can find out more details and see the full stamp sets over at Taylor's blog or the Taylored Expressions store . . . these stamps and Christmas Key Ingredients kit are now available for purchase! Tonight the design team members are featuring samples made with one of the sets, Tag Treats. This word set is all you'll need for the holidays . . . it's packed with 10 very versatile sayings, poems, sentiments and things you can use for holiday cards, gift exchanges, kid's parties, teacher gifts, cookie exchanges, recipes and tags! So here's what I have to show you . . . a Snowman Soup gift: The tag on the left with the "Snowman Soup - stir & sip" sentiment is from the Tag Treats set. I loved the fonts Taylor chose to use in this set! The cute snowman cuppie is from the same stamp set I used this morning -- Home Sweet Home. Again, the red cardstock, patterned papers and ribbon I used are from the new Christmas Key Ingredients kit. This is a "green project" and reuses a frappuccino carton and... Read more →

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek

Welcome to Day 2 of sneak peeks for Taylored Expressions' holiday stamp release! There are three new stamp sets and a new Christmas Key Ingredients kit for you to choose from for your holiday crafting! Taylor has more information about the release over on her blog, so be sure to check that out. These stamps and Key Ingredients will be available for purchase beginning at midnight EST TONIGHT and I'll be back with another project to show you at that time, so check back in! I used the Home Sweet Home stamp set for my project today -- isn't this gingerbread house adorable?!! And it's so much fun to color! After stamping it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Neenah Natural white (a creamy colored cardstock), I used these Copic markers to color the house: The candies are all glitterfied with Star Dust Stickles and the house was cut out and popped up on dimensional foam tape to a gift box filled with chocolate chip mint cookies! I thought this would make a nice holiday gift for neighbors. The gift box is the Flap Lid Favor Box Taylored Expressions carries. The box measures about 3-1/2" wide x 3-3/4" tall on... Read more →

Trumpet Angel

I used this week's CPS87 again for the layout of this card -- turned the correct way this time! The color combo comes from SplitcoastStampers.com weekly color challenge #189 posted yesterday of olive, chocolate & pink for breast cancer awareness month. I started with a 5.25" card base of Stampin' Up's Pretty in Pink cardstock and sponged it with Adirondack Cranberry ink so it would match my already-burgundy-colored image better. BasicGrey's new Wassail holiday paper is the next distressed background layer. The musical notes layer is Cornish Heritage Farm's Aged Sheet Music ScrapBlock stamped in Stampin' Up's Chocolate Chip ink on Neenah Classic Cream cardstock. This beautiful angel is Karen Lockhart's Trumpet Angel colored with Copic markers and Spica glitter pens shown below: The pretty pink trim is from Webster's new Trim & Lace package, available from StarLitStudio. Buttons from Foo-fa-la are tied up with Stampin' Up's Linen Thread. Hopefully you can see the pretty Spica glitter pen sparkle in this closeup, I used clear on the angel's wings: Don't forget to leave a comment on the post below, for the chance to win some Copic products! Read more →

Blog Jam Giveaway!

About a month ago, after seeing how easy my friend, Jessica Witty, made making homemade jam look, I had to give it a try for the first time! My aunt that used to live in California with an abundance of pineapples, used to make the BEST pineapple jam and I always remember her having fresh batches of it for us whenever we visited. Since I hadn't had it in a very long time, I figured it was about time I try making my own! I followed a recipe I found at the Sure Jell website. I thought we might give the jam as gifts around Thanksgiving so, of course, I wanted some pretty packaging . . . my JustRite Small Letter Set was perfect to create the wording on my custom label, using the Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II. After stamping the border of words, I used Papertrey Ink's First Fruits stamp set to stamp a pineapple in the center (this stamp is actually supposed to be used as an acorn but I modified it!). Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities dies were used to cut and mat the label. For the jar tops, I used JustRite's Baking Set Ensemble... Read more →

Snowflake Santa

Isn't this the cutest Santa you've ever seen? He is from Anna Wight's new Whipper Snapper Gifts of Christmas cling-mount set. I've been wanting to try coloring with Copics on kraft cardstock and I finally got around to doing that . . . I love the look when paired with red and white! I stamped Santa on Papertrey Ink's kraft cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored his suit with Copic R37, shaded with R39 -- I really like how the red pops against the kraft cardstock. Then I colored all the white areas with white Prismacolor pencil and highlighted his suit a little with it, too. Santa's boots are colored with Copic T5 & 100 and he's shadowed with W2. Santa was cut out and matted with Spellbinders Classic Oval Nestabilities and popped up over the BasicGrey Wassail paper. Spellbinders Snowflake Wonder die set was used to cut Neenah Classic Cream snowflakes. They are highlighted with bronze metallic rub-on cream. Clear adhesive gemstones accent the centers of the snowflakes. I used CPS#87 for the layout of my card. I didn't get the chance to post that "new/first time for me" project last week, but it's coming tomorrow! Read more →

Holiday Home Decorating

This little bird may not look like it, but she's sitting on a home decor item for the holidays! Come visit us over at the CLASSroom to see the project, along with full details on how to create it! Image credits: Cornish Heritage Farms stamps and Spellbinders Paper Arts bird die. I'll be back a little later today with another project from Anna Wight's latest release of holilday stamps for Whipper Snapper Designs. Read more →

Sunday S.A.S.I.

Would you like the opportunity to win some SASI Sweet Treats? If you don't know what that is, then head on over to Taylored Expressions' Stamp a Sweet Impression (SASI) blog and enter for the chance to win some sweet treats being given away! While you're there, you can also read about the buzz of the next SASI stamp release -- happening next Friday, October 24, just in time for the winter holidays! And be sure to check out the details on a new regular Friday feature on the SASI blog . . . you could have the chance to be in the spotlight! I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Read more →

WSC62: Witchie Witchie

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #62 was another fun one for me . . . I cheated just a little and shortened it to a standard A2 size (4.25" x 5.50"). When I start the design process, I usually choose the stamp image I want to work with, then rummage thru my patterned papers to find what I'm in the mood to pair it with. The last step for me then is coloring the stamped image to match the papers. This card happened the other way around, though, because I had the luxury of sitting and coloring stamped images last weekend in Kansas City while demonstrating for Copic at a sales event. This is one of the images I colored, thanks to AnnCaryl who brought this Lockhart Witch's Legs image I didn't have! And here are the sweet ladies I was fortunate to spend some time with: That's Marianne Walker with Copic in the middle of me and my sweet friend, Lori Craig, who lives close to Kansas City and came out to join us. Fun times . . . Waving hello to anyone who may be reading and came out to take Marianne's Copic Certification classes and to the SplitcoastStampers... Read more →

Fall Sympathy Sneak Peek

I recently found myself in need of a masculine sympathy card, so join me over at the CLASSroom today and I'll show you this fall-themed one I created! Stamp Credit: Kim Hughes Silhouette Blooms I by Cornish Heritage Farms. Spellbinders Assorted Leaves die template. Read more →