never too old to color

Direction of your Heart

2012-02-01T05:00:00.002-06:00

Today's card uses the Direction of your Heart stamp from Unity. I stamped the image and sentiment on PTI Rustic Cream cardstock and then added a little color with Copics. The edges of both pieces were sponged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink before being adhered to the card. I used my Spellbinder heart and circle dies and Clear and Simple Stamps heart dies with an assortment of felt colors to create my embellishments. I added some machine stitching on a couple of the hearts and some hand sewing (including french knots) to my circle stacks for some extra detail. The background paper is from the My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Two "Breeze" collection.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

Valentine Favors

2012-01-30T05:00:00.002-06:00

I put these together using the Party Favor #1 and Heart die cuts from Clear and Simple Stamps. I ran the kraft cardstock through my Cuttlebug with the Party Favor #1 die and then again with the heart die. Next I doodled around the heart with a white gel pen and then I added a piece of clear cardstock from Papertrey Ink to the inside front panel to cover the heart cutout. For the finishing touches, I filled them with candy and tied ribbon and bakers twine to the handles.

I really like the detail that the white gel pen doodles give the front and that it doesn't take any time to do so these would be great for mass producing.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you have a marvelous Monday. Happy Stamping!

Espressly For A Coffee Gift Card

2012-01-27T05:00:00.001-06:00

I needed two thank you cards for co-workers so I pulled out my Pink by Design stamps again and put these together. The adorable cups are from the Make it a Venti set and the sentiment is from the Perk Up set. I stamped the cups on PTI Rustic Cream cardstock and then again on paper from My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose collection and paper pieced the cups. The cups were mounted to a spiral notebook page die cut from Papertrey Ink. The notebook die piece was mounted with foam dimensionals only near the top and bottom so I can slide a coffee gift card under the piece. For the finishing touch I added some twine from The Twinery and a button.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Enjoy your Friday and Happy Stamping!

Crazy for Owls

2012-01-26T05:00:00.001-06:00

Have you seen the Build-A-Critter Owl dies from Clear and Simple Stamps? You can make adorable owl cards with it. I pulled out my Alphabet Soup papers from My Mind's Eye and made up this cutie.

After looking on Pinterest the other day, I noticed several cute samples of owls with big eyes so I decided to try tweaking my little owl card. I used a larger heart from the Clear and Simple Stamps Heart dies for the nose and added a 1 3/8 circle punch of choc chip cardstock around the eyes to create the second owl card.

And then because I was having so much fun, I made several of the big eyed version with a variety of the Alphabet Soup papers.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a HOOT of a day. Happy Stamping!

From the Heart

2012-01-24T05:00:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post to share a card that uses one of the new heart dies from Clear and Simple Stamps and a sentiment from Clear and Simple Stamps Icons Extras set. I also added a couple of Prima flowers and a button.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a terrific Tuesday. Happy Stamping!

Valentine Tag

2012-01-23T05:00:00.001-06:00

Today's project uses the Dec 2011 Filled with love {Kit of the Month} from Unity Stamp Co. I have a vintage clipboard that hangs in my kitchen and I needed something with a valentine look to update it so I pulled out a shipping tag, a paper doily, some My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 2 "Blush" papers, ribbon, twine, an EK Success heart punch and the Unity Dec KOM.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're all have a marvelous Monday. Happy Stamping!

Square Valentine

2012-01-21T13:57:00.001-06:00

Just a simple square card using this adorable heart stamp from Unity. I inked it with Color Box chalk inks in warm red, rouge, lipstick red and dark peony. I added some pearls that I colored with copics for a little extra pop.

Thanks so much for stopping. Happy Stamping!

posted from Bloggeroid

Valentine Critters

2012-01-20T05:00:00.001-06:00

Today I have a group of 3x3 valentines I put together using the newly released Taglines: Critters and Shapes: Hearts (Die Cut Combo) sets from Clear and Simple Stamps. I stamped the critters on white cardstock, colored them with Copics and cut them out. I used the die cuts for the hearts and stamped them with the coordinating outline stamp. Then just added a sentiment strip on a 3x3 card base of American Crafts Tropical cardstocks.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Happy Stamping!

Runway Inspired Challenge

2012-01-19T05:00:00.001-06:00

Today's card is for the ric#4 - Christopher Kane Resort 2012 challenge posted on the Runway Inspired Challenge blog. Since Clear and Simple Stamps is the sponsor of the challenge I used their stamps for my card.

For the images I used the Across the Miles set from Clear and Simple Stamps and in keeping with the rainbow image from the challenge I colored the hot air balloon in a rainbow pattern with Copics. I added a green mat to my card in honor of the green shoes the model is wearing in the inspiration photo.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day. Happy Stamping!

Follow Your Heart

2012-01-18T05:00:00.003-06:00

Today I have a card to share using the Week 1 Stamp of the week from Unity called Follow Your Heart. I love the new program they are offering for a new stamp each week for just $5.79 including shipping. You can find the details on their Stamp of the Week blog. I stamped the image with Dark Brown ColorBox Chalk ink, colored the words with Copics and paper pieced the heart. The card base was covered with a variety of papers from My Mind's Eye Mabel from the Stella & Rose collection. I also added some twine from The Twinery for a little fun. This card is going to a co-worker who is moving. Her family is following a job opportunity which will take them across the state so I thought this was a fitting sentiment for the occasion.

I'm entering this in the Unity "New Beginnings" Challenge. And, I just noticed that I am the winner from last month's "Gift Wrapping" challenge with my Berry Christmas tag that I made. Yeah for winning new stamps!

I would also like to enter this in the Paper Piecing with a Twist challenge over at Our Creative Corner. The challenge requires a paper pieced element and no ribbon. The heart on my card is paper pieced and hopefully bakers twine doesn't count as ribbon.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

Cupcake Cards

2012-01-17T05:00:00.000-06:00

Today I have a couple of cupcake cards to share with you. I got the template for the cupcake from Paper Smooches. For the first one I used papers from Authentique and added a button using the My Favorite Things Button die and some May Arts Burlap string. The second one uses papers from the Basic Grey Sweet Threads line and has butterfly dies from A Muse Studio and a small rolled rose from My Favorite Things mini rolled rose die.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a terrific Tuesday. Happy Stamping!

Brewing Birthday Wishes

2012-01-16T05:00:00.001-06:00

Today's card is very similar to the one I posted the other day. I used the tall mugs for this card and added some punched hearts to them for a little extra fun. Again, the stamps are from Pink by Design and the sets are Make it a Venti and Perk Up. I think the images in the Make it a Venti set are perfect for paper piecing so I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more cards from these sets.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

Gratitude = Joy

2012-01-15T05:00:00.020-06:00

How about another Valentine's day card? This card uses the same cute valentine border from K&Company as the card from last week but I paired it with papers from the Basic Grey Kissing Booth collection. I also added a stamped image from Unity's Gratitude = Joy set. I stamped the image on cream cardstock with SU Cranberry Crisp then colored it with Copic R85, added some Spica glitter pen for some sparkle and then rubbed a little walnut stain distress ink over the piece to make it match the floral strips of Kissing Booth papers. The image was fussy cut and tucked under the edge of the XO border piece. For the finishing touch I added some blossom twine from The Twinery.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a relaxing day. Happy Stamping!

You Are Beautiful

2012-01-14T05:00:00.001-06:00

Today I have another card featuring the Celebrating You set from The Craft's Meow and papers from October Afternoon's Farmhouse collection. For the sentiment panel I used the Papertrey Ink Mat Stack #3 die. The sentiment and flowers were stamped with A Muse Studio slate ink and the flowers were fussy cut and mounted with foam dimensionals. I also added some lemondrop twine from The Twinery and a doily I picked up at an estate sale.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

I Love You

2012-01-13T05:00:00.002-06:00

Today's cards feature the Just My Type set from A Muse Studio and papers from My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose collection. I also added some bakers twine from The Twinery on the bottom card. The typewriters were colored with Copics, cut out and mounted with foam dimensionals. I think this might be one of my most used layouts.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

Across the Miles

2012-01-12T05:00:00.004-06:00

The Across the Miles set from Clear and Simple Stamps is still one of my all time favorite sets. I just love the hot air balloon and sentiments in that set. Today's card features that set along with some fun papers from the Oliver and Olivia collections by Basic Grey and cloud dies from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

Butterfly Kisses

2012-01-11T05:00:00.002-06:00

Today's card features the Butterfly Kisses stamp set from The Craft's Meow. The papers are from Emma's Shoppe collection by Crate Paper with a card base of Kraft from Papertrey Ink. The girl was stamped on PTI Rustic Cream cardstock, fussy cut and then mounted to the card with foam dimensionals. The doily is from a bunch that I picked up at an estate sale.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

Hugs and Kisses

2012-01-10T05:00:00.009-06:00

Have you started your Valentine's day cards? I picked up some cute valentine borders from K&Company and paired one of them up with some black dot tape from the Smash collection. I started with a kraft card base and stamped it with the XO from A Muse Studio's Fancy Alpha set using Versamark ink. Then I just added the strips of tape and XO borders to complete my card. The bottom row of XO's are mounted with foam dimensionals just for fun.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a terrific Tuesday. Happy Stamping!

Espressly For You

2012-01-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

Today's card features stamps from Pink By Design. The adorable cups are from the Make it a Venti set and the sentiment is from the Perk Up set. I stamped the cups on PTI Rustic Cream cardstock and then again on paper from My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose collection and paper pieced the cups. The outline on the card was drawn using the Choc Chip marker from Stampin Up and I used the smallest scallop border die from A Muse Studio on the strip across the bottom of the card. The sentiment was stamped with Memento ink and the cups were mounted with foam dimensionals.

Thanks so much for stopping by on this lovely Monday. Happy Stamping!

Sweetest Day

2012-01-08T05:00:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned yesterday, Unity is having a challenge on Facebook right now to create a card using their Itty Bitty stamps so today I would like to share another card I made for the challenge. I stamped the Sweetest Day Itty Bitty and colored it with Copics. Then added a strip of October Afternoon paper to a PTI Rustic Cream card base, stamped the sentiment and mounted the strawberry with foam dimensionals. A very simple card but I really like the results.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day. Happy Stamping!

Life

2012-01-07T05:00:00.008-06:00

Unity is having a challenge on Facebook right now to create a card using their Itty Bitty stamps so I put together this card (along with others that I will share over the next couple of days). I used the Life Bingo Itty Bitty stamp along with a sentiment from the Moments in Bloom set, also from Unity.

The papers are from a Recollections 12x12 collection that I picked up at Michaels and the star is a die from Sizzix. The sentiment circle was die cut with a circle Nestabilities and I left the piece in the die while I sponged Ranger Distress inks on to get it to match the designer paper piece with the bingo stamp. I used a combination of Mustard Seed, Old Paper, and Vintage Photo inks. The sentiment and bingo stamp were stamped with ColorBox Chalk Chestnut Roan.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day. Happy Stamping!

Sketch Challenge: Happy Butterflies

2012-01-06T05:00:00.002-06:00

Today's card was created for the Unity KOM Sketch Challenge.

I used stamps from the April 2010 Kit of the Month for my card. The papers are from the Picket Fence line by Lily Bee Design. I also used Spellbinders Heart and Scalloped Heart Nestabilities and the small scalloped edge die from A Muse Studio.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

Celebrating the Moments

2012-01-05T05:00:00.002-06:00

I love this sentiment stamp from Hero Arts Life Is Not Perfect set. I stamped it inside a die cut piece created with the Papertrey Ink Fillable Frames #1 die and stamped with the matching border. The designer paper is from the 6x6 Gathering bundle from Authentique. For fun, I added a few mini stars from A Muse Studio to the center of the flowers and also one to the sentiment piece. I think this simple layout really showcases the sentiment and great designer paper.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

Congratulations on your new home

2012-01-04T05:00:00.001-06:00

I put this card together for the Hero Arts December sketch challenge. I stamped the Row of Houses with chalk ink, cut out three of the houses and mounted them on the card with foam dimensionals. The sentiment is from A Muse Studio and the papers are from October Afternoon.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

Missing You

2012-01-03T07:00:00.002-06:00

For today's card I have a missing you theme using the Matching Socks itty bitty from Unity. I colored the socks to match the Authentique papers strips I used on the card base and added the sentiment using a Studio G Clear Alphabet set. The card measures 5x5.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day. Happy Stamping!

You Are Beautiful

2012-01-02T07:15:00.003-06:00

Today I have a card featuring the Celebrating You set from The Craft's Meow and papers from October Afternoon's Farmhouse collection. For the sentiment panel I die cut a circle with my Nestabilities and then left the piece in the die while I sponged Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress inks to the center of the piece. The sentiment was stamped with A Muse Studio Slate. For the flowers I used My Favorite Things small scalloped rose dies and Spellbinders Foliage dies for the leaves.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

Wishing you a Happy New Year

2012-01-01T05:00:00.001-06:00

Well, I hope 2012 is off to a good start for all of you. I'd like to start the year off by sharing one last Christmas project and also a couple of New Year's cards.

First is the Christmas tag and bag that I put together for my office assistant. I used a variety of papers from the October Afternoon Good Cheer collection and letter stickers from October Afternoon's Detours collection to spell out Hayden's name on the tag. I also added a die cut/embossed snowflake from Cuttlebug with a button center. For the finishing touch I added a couple of small jingle bells and some twine from The Twinery.

The bag is just a brown paper lunch bag that I added strips of paper to the bottom to dress it up. I used my cropodile to punch a couple of holes in the top of the bag and threaded some twine through the holes to close the bag and tie on the tag.

Next, I have a couple of New Year's cards using the fun Happy New Year set from The Crafts Meow and papers from the Crate Paper Portrait collection. The first card also uses some Tim Holtz tissue tape, twine, gemstone and is mounted on a purple card base.

The second card uses a little lace and stone colored twine along with a button die cut using the MFT Button dies. I die cut the button from PTI Rustic White cardstock and colored it with a Copic (C7).

Thanks so much for stopping by. Wishing you all a Happy New Year and Happy Stamping!

Christmas tags with Unity

2011-12-27T16:46:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post to share a couple of Christmas tags I made using Unity stamps for the Unity gift wrapping challenge found here - http://www.theunitystampco-challenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/gift-wrapping-challenge.html

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

posted from Bloggeroid

Check out this "Amazing End of the Year Giveaway"

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

Just a quick second post today to share details on an amazing blog giveaway.

Are you a fan of Melissa's blog? Have you entered her amazing end of the year giveaway? She is giving away a Michael's gift card, a Copic air brush system and Copics. Go check it out at Creating from the Heart {Keepsakes by Melissa}

Thanks for stopping.

Q.T. Hooty Christmas Wishes

2011-12-15T05:00:00.004-06:00

Today's card features the adorable scarf wearing owl from Pink Cat Studio. The papers are from a huge 12x12 DCWV stack my daughter brought home the other day. She works at TJ Maxx and lately they've been getting some stamps and paper at work so she bought this one for me for a few dollars. It has a lot of nice variety in it so I'll get lots of use from it. The owl was colored with Copics and mounted with foam dimensionals. I also added a scalloped border using the largest scalloped die from A Muse Studios. For the finishing touch, I added a couple of pieces of bakers twine from The Twinery tied in to a bow.

Sorry I've been missing

2011-12-14T06:00:00.010-06:00

Oops, how did it get to be Wednesday already. Sorry for my lack of posts this week but we've have cloudy overcast days all week so taking photos has been a challenge. Since I haven't posted yet this week I'll go ahead and share two cards with you today. The first one uses paper from Authentique and an Itty Bitty stamp from Unity (co-brand with Authentique). I also used Papertrey Ink's die to cut out the piece where the dress form is mounted and saved that pieced for my next card.

This card uses the die cut piece from the card above as an ornament. I just added the sentiment strip and a bow and mounted it to a choc chip mat. The choc chip mat was embossed with the Papertrey Ink Canvas Impression Plate.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

(as always, you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them)

Matching Socks

2011-12-09T12:00:00.005-06:00

Have you seen the adorable Matching Socks stamp from Unity?! I just love it and thought it would be fun to use one of the socks from the stamp to create Christmas stockings. I stamped the socks on patterned paper and fussy cut them to mount them on a die cut oval with foam dimensionals. The oval was also mounted to the card with foam dimensionals along with the sentiment tag. For the finishing touch, I wrapped some twine around the card and made a bow. The papers are from a recollections paper pad from Michaels and the scallop border was made with the smallest die in the A Muse Studio scallop border dies.

I know this is my second post of the day but I wanted to add this card to the Unity Friends with Flair post found here. Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great Friday. Happy Stamping!

Blue Christmas

2011-12-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

I was looking at Chicken Strings from Whipper Snapper Designs the other evening and decided he would make a fun Christmas card. I pulled out some Good Cheer papers from October Afternoon and computer generated the "I'll have a blue Christmas without you" piece. I fussy cut around the chicken and his microphone to mount them on the card and then I added a bit of holly leaves and berries (mini pearls colored with a red Copic) to the microphone. For the finishing touch I made a little embellishment with some tulle, twine, holly spring and a paper rose (using the small rose die from My Favorite Things).

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you've got a fun weekend planned. Happy Stamping!

(as always, you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them)

Mocha Joe

2011-12-08T05:00:00.000-06:00

Today I have a couple of cards featuring Mocha Joe from Whipper Snapper Designs. Who doesn't love a coffee drinking chicken and if you're not a coffee drinker, maybe he's drinking cocoa.

The image was stamped on Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream cardstock and colored with Copics. The cup was paper pieced. These cards are very similar but I thought I would go ahead and share them both with you. It was fun to switch out the twine and scallop border on the one for just some burlap string and a button on the other.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your week is going well. Happy Stamping!

Fawned Wishes

2011-12-07T06:00:00.002-06:00

Today's card features the Gnomebody Like You set from Wilson Designs and some journaling cards from October Afternoon. When I saw the cute little deer on the October Afternoon Journaling card I had to pair it with the deer stamp from Gnomebody Like You. I stamped the greeting on the journaling card with Chocolate Chip ink and then filled it in with while gel pen to help it stand out. Inspired by a recent Hero Arts video by Jennifer McQuire, I added some random pearls and rhinestones to my card. The pink satin ribbon is from A Muse Studio.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

Forever Friends

2011-12-06T06:00:00.001-06:00

Today's card features one of the stamps from the Forever Friends set by Unity. As our lives get busy and we may not talk as often as we used to, my friends are still very important to me and I think this is the perfect message to send as a reminder to let them know I'm thinking of them.

In addition to the stamp, I used some star paper from October Afternoon and patterned paper from My Mind's Eye. I also used my Sixxix star die to cut six stars which I layered into three stars and added a gemstone to the center of each. I colored the star in the sentiment piece with a Copic and added a matching gemstone to the center.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a terrific Tuesday. Happy Stamping!

Butterfly Pin

2011-12-05T06:00:00.001-06:00

Today's card doesn't have much stamping. Just a simple little tag with "friend" stamped on it, otherwise I focused on the patterned paper (Capella by Basic Grey). I die cut a butterfly out of felt with the A Muse Studio butterfly die and added a broken piece of jewelry that I had in my stash to the center. Finally I added some lace and cotton floss.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope your week is off to a great start. Happy Stamping!

Birthday Wishes

2011-12-02T06:00:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post on this very chilly Friday. It is only 10 degrees here this morning with a high today of 27. I guess it should be expected since it is now December but we've been pretty spoiled with nice temps this fall. Anyway, on to today's card which features stamps and dies from a.muse|studio and papers from Basic Grey's Sweet Threads collection along with some vintage lace and twine from The Twinery. I also used the label die from Papertrey Ink to layer the a.muse|studio die.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're all having a fabulous Friday. Happy Stamping!

SCS Sketch Challenge Card

2011-12-01T05:00:00.001-06:00

Today's card is for the sketch challenge (SC361) posted yesterday on Splitcoaststampers. It's a great sketch for using up scraps. For my focal piece I went with a paper rose. To create the rose I cut two pieces using the MFT large rose die and then ran them through my crimper a couple of times to give them some added texture. I rolled the two pieces together to get a fuller flower. The leaves are from the Spellbinders Foliage set and were also run through my crimper. The tag is from the Tiny Tags Cuttlebug set and the greeting is from a limited edition stamp set from Clear and Simple Stamps.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day. Happy Stamping!

Season's Greetings

2011-11-30T04:50:00.004-06:00

Today's cards feature some Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather papers, a greeting from Inkadinkado, a die cut from Papertrey Ink, a snowflake die from Cuttlebug and twine from The Twinery. These cards were made with the last of a 12x12 piece of Mitten Weather paper so the layouts are slightly different to accommodate the scraps. Since they're a little different, I thought I would share both.

I embossed the sentiment with SU Gold embossing powder and sponged the edges of the die cut with Vintage Photo distress ink. Before adding the twine, I used my crop-o-dile to add eyelets to the die cut. The snowflakes are die cut from Warm & Natural with button centers.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

Black Friday

2011-11-25T02:00:00.003-06:00

Happy Black Friday! For those of you out shopping today I wish you luck.

I have another Christmas card to share today. This one uses the same stamp set from Inkadinkado as yesterday's card. For this one, I embossed the tree with clear embossing powder on October Afternoon patterned paper and then sponged Walnut stain distress ink over the entire piece to bring out the embossed image. I added some brown trim I picked up at an estate sale recently along with white seam binding and a paper rose made from some vintage sheet music. The die for the rose is from My Favorite Things. I applied B00 Copic to the flower to give it some subtle color and help match it to the patterned paper. The leaves are from the Spellbinders Foliage dies. The scalloped image and sentiment both use the Spellbinders Long Classic Scalloped Rect dies.

Thanks so much for stopping. Happy Shopping to those of you participating in Black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T02:00:00.001-06:00

Wishing all of you celebrating Thanksgiving today a wonderful day with friends and family. Hopefully you're not stressing out about the food and are able to enjoy the day. Unfortunately I don't have a Thanksgiving card to share with you today but I do have a couple of Christmas cards to share.

My daughter recently found this stamp set for $1.99 at TJMaxx and bought it for me. I had to ink it up as soon as she brought it home. I paired it with papers from the Jovial collection from Basic Grey. The 12x12 papers are double sided so by using this simple layout I was able to make 5 cards from one sheet of designer paper plus a matching scrap of My Mind's Eye paper for the circle borders around the sentiment. The snowman stamp and snowflake are from Inkadinkado and the sentiment is from Memory Box. For fun, I added some A Muse Studio glitter to some of the circles around the snowman image.

Thanks so much for stopping. Happy Thanksgiving!

Hero Arts Greetings

2011-11-23T06:00:00.001-06:00

Today's card uses October Afternoon papers, a flower stamp from Hero Arts and a greeting from Clear and Simple Stamps. I stamped the flower with Colorbox white pigment ink and the greeting with Bubblegum pigment ink from A Muse Studio. The edges of both panels were sponged with Walnut Stain Distress ink and I also sewed around the floral panel. For some extra detail I used the large scallop die from A Muse Studio on the side strip of dp and added some lace and twine. The finishing touch is a couple of gemstones on the flowers using my i-rock tools and gems.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping.

Party Animals

2011-11-22T02:00:00.001-06:00

Today I have another card featuring the Pink Cat Studio Farm Animal set along with papers from the Girl Friday line by Cosmo Cricket. I used copics to color the images and added some fun lace and twine for the finishing touches.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Happy Happy Floral Birthday

2011-11-21T06:00:00.001-06:00

Today I have a card featuring Papertrey Ink's Fillable Frames #1 stamp set and matching die along with the large rolled rose die from My Favorite Things. I also freehand cut some leaves from a scrap of burlap. The papers are some old scraps that I've had forever.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Banner Day with Twine and Coffee Filters

2011-11-20T05:46:00.001-06:00

Today I have a banner to share. I thought it would be fun to make a snowflake banner so I pulled out some coffee, coffee filters, charcoal twine from The Twinery, a snowflake stamp, white acrylic paint, cuttlebug snowflake die and embossing folder, buttons and gemstones. I knew I wanted a homespun look for my banner so I brewed up some coffee and soaked the coffee filters and twine in the coffee to give them a nice aged look.

Once the filters and twine were dry I folded the filters in half and glued the twine around the edges. Next I stampted some snowflakes with white acrylic paint and die cut and embossed some snowflakes. The snowflakes each got a button center and were attached to the banner with a glue dot. For the finishing touch I added some red gemstones (clear colored with a red Copic) to the center of the stamped snowflakes.

I really like the aged look of the twine and coffee filters from soaking them in the coffee. It really makes the white snowflakes pop.

For now the banner is hanging in my stamp studio but I think it will be moved to the piano after Thanksgiving.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a banner day! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Oct Afternoon Good Cheer

2011-11-17T02:00:00.002-06:00

So have you started on your Christmas cards yet? After attending the October Afternoon warehouse sale last month where I found some 8x8 packs of Good Cheer, I had to come home and get started making Christmas cards. Here's one of the cards I made with the Oct Afternoon papers and a plastic candy cane that I picked up at a tag sale this summer. I finished it off with a button and bow and a sentiment flag. The card won't mail well with the bulk of the candy candy and button so I guess it will have to be hand delivered to someone special.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Dahlia and Doily

2011-11-16T02:00:00.000-06:00

Today I have a card featuring Papertrey Ink's Delightful Dahlia and papers from Basic Grey's Perhaps collection. I just used a variety of Basic Grey Perhaps scraps to cover a PTI Rustic cream mat and then layered on a doily and a dahlia and leaves stamped on the solid papers in the Basic Grey collection. For the finishing touch I added some solid pink twine.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Silhouette Birthday

2011-11-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

Today's card features the Papertrey Ink Botanical Silhouette's set and some Basic Grey papers. After stamping the flowers, I pulled out my Copics and drew in a little detail on the flower centers just to give them a little different look. I also used a white gel pen for a shadow down the stems of the flowers. I gives it just some nice subtle detail.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Another Milestone Birthday

2011-11-14T02:00:00.001-06:00

How about a card celebrating a 40th birthday for today? Again, I didn't make it with anyone particular in mind, I'm actually planning to list it in my Etsy store. It's very similar to yesterday's card but I went with a black card base and used My Mind's Eye Home paper for some color. The numbers are from the Cuttlebug Olivia set. The number background from the Glitz Distressing stamp set is stamped in A Muse Studio Wheat ink. The sentiment strip edges are inked with some Vintage Photo Distress ink and the sentiment is stamped in SU Basic Gray ink. The sentiment is from the PTI Big & Bold Wishes stamp set. Instead of using twine on the tag, I used some custom dyed ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

A Milestone Birthday

2011-11-13T02:00:00.001-06:00

It's always fun to have a special card for a milestone birthday. Today I have a card celebrating a 30th birthday. I didn't make it with anyone particular in mind, I'm actually planning to list it in my Etsy store. The card base is SU Not Quite Navy with a PTI Rustic Cream mat that I stamped with the number background from the Glitz Distressing stamp set in A Muse Studio burmuda ink. The sentiment strip edges are inked with some Vintage Photo Distress ink and the sentiment is stamped in A Muse Studio Navy ink. The sentiment is from the PTI Big & Bold Wishes stamp set. The floral piece is a journaling card from October Afternoon's Detours line. The tag and numbers are from the Cuttlebug Red Tag Sale set. I also added a circle punch of October Afternoon Freshly Mown Lawn paper from the Daydreams line and a rustic cream circle die cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Large Pinking Circles. For the finishing touch on the tag I tied some twine from The Twinery on the top (honeydew, caribbean, peapod).

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Rocket Age and Sandylion

2011-11-12T02:00:00.003-06:00

Today I have another card featuring the October Afternoon Rocket Age papers. This time I paired them with a robot stamp from a Sandylion Boy Clear set that I bought a while back at Michael's. I thought they worked well together.

The Robot was stamped with navy ink, colored with Copics, then cut out and mounted with pop dots. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Bash Sentiments set and is also stamped in navy.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Oct Afternoon Rocket Age

2011-11-11T02:00:00.002-06:00

Today's card features papers from October Afternoon's Rocket Age collection that I recently acquired at their warehouse sale. It was my first warehouse sale and I thought it was totally worth traveling 170 miles! Ok, back to the card. I paired the October Afternoon papers with a stamped sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Bash Sentiments set. For the finishing touches I added some Navy twine and a button.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Basic Grey and AMuse Studio

2011-11-10T02:00:00.000-06:00

Today's card features the Cushioned in Comfort stamp set from AMuse Studio and papers from the Basic Grey Perhaps line. The chair was stamped on the white piece and then again on patterned paper, cut out and mounted with pop dots for some added dimension.

I also added some Pearl Cotton and a button for the finishing touch. The table and lamp were colored with copics and a white gel pen was used on the lampshade for some extra detail.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

More Cosmo Cricket and Pink Cat Studio

2011-11-09T07:00:00.001-06:00

Today I have another card featuring the Pink Cat Studio Farm Animal set along with papers from the Girl Friday line by Cosmo Cricket. I love the little owl in the Farm Animal set so I used three of him on this card.
The sentiment is from the Papertrey Ink Birthday Bash Sentiments set.

I also used copics to color the images and a papertrey ink notebook die for my owls and sentiment.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Cosmo Cricket and Pink Cat Studio

2011-11-08T17:40:00.000-06:00

Today's card features the adorable sheep and Happy Birthday stamp from the Pink Cat Studio Farm Animal set along with a Who is Counting? sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Bash Sentiments set. The papers are from the Girl Friday line by Cosmo Cricket.

I also used copics to color the image, a white gel pen on the cupcake frosting and a papertrey ink notebook die.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

Bridal Shower Favors

2011-09-19T07:00:00.007-05:00

My niece is getting married next month and we're having a shower for her this coming weekend. While trying to decide on shower favors, I decided that since I'm a card maker I would make cards. So this past weekend I made 26 copies of three cards and packaged them up to give out at the shower. I'm hoping the guests will be pleased to receive a gift they don't need to feel bad about re-gifting. All three designs are birthday themed because I figured everyone can use birthday cards.

For the first card I stamped the Amuse Studio polka dot background stamp on a kraft card base and then used the Papertrey Ink Botanical Silhouettes set for my focal piece.

For the second card I stamped a birthday sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Bash set and the cupcake from their Everyday Classics set. I mounted the cupcake on a nestabilities label and added some twine and a red jem.

For the third card I used Anna Wight's Wildflower Shilhouette set from Whipper Snapper for the floral image and Clear and Simple Stamps Icons Extra for the sentiment.

Now that I had the cards done it was time to come up with some cute packaging. I pulled out a package of brown paper lunch bags and cut them down to 6 inches then wrapped a doily and fabric scrap around the side and secured them with some twine. I really like how they turned out.

Here's a shot with some of them arranged in a vintage enamelware tin.

Now I need to get going on making some decorations. I'm going for a shabby chic look so my plan is to make some banners out of sheet music and doilys and muslin. I'm also hoping to have time to make some pom poms out of coffee filters to hang over the food table. I'll be sure and take more pictures at the shower.

Thanks for stopping. I hope you're week is off to a great start. Happy Stamping!

Wedding Card

2011-08-31T07:00:00.002-05:00

I had a request from a co-worker for a wedding card with an elephant on it. Her nephew is getting married and after the wedding he and his bride are traveling to India so she thought an elephant would be a fun addition to the card. Here's what I came up with using a Hero Arts elephant I had.

I even finished the inside of the card with a sentiment from MFT, a few strips of 7 gypsies designer paper and some Walnut Stain Distress ink sponged on the edges.

Thanks so much for stopping. Happy Stamping!

Party Animals

2011-08-29T07:00:00.003-05:00

Today's card features the MFT Let's Go For a Walk set. I just love those dogs in their party hats so I inked them up and added some Copic coloring. The patterned papers are from 7 gypsies. For a splash of fun I added a doily and some twine before calling it good.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your week is off to a great start. Happy Stamping!

MFT Wednesday Stamp Club

2011-08-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

Guess what, I have another challenge card to share with you today. This one is for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club challenge which also happens to be a sketch. Here it is:

For my card I used the Rain or Shine set from My Favorite Things and added a couple of die cut clouds just for fun. Sorry about the less than great photo of the card (note the sun streak down the clouds). It seems like I either have sun streaming in the window when I'm trying to take a less than ideal photo or it's dark so there's no natural light. I need to work on timing my photo sessions better.

Happy Saturday everyone. I hope you have something fun planned for today. Thanks for stopping. Happy Stamping!

Unity KOM Sketch Challenge

2011-08-26T07:00:00.002-05:00

The card I have to share today was made for the Unity KOM Sketch Challenge for August. Here's the sketch for the challenge:

For my card, I used stamps from the March 2010 Kit of the Month. I just love the jukebox stamp in that set. The papers are from the K&Co Blue Awning collection. For fun I added some gemstones and a little white gel pen detail.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Happy Stamping!

Still playing with fabric

2011-08-25T07:00:00.002-05:00

I'm having the best time adding fabric bits to my cards. I hope you're not tired of this style just yet. I used the scallop heart nestabilities with some warm and natural fabric and then sewed around the heart with a tan thread for a little extra detail. The flower die is from Papertrey Ink. The fabrics are some fat quarters that I got from my Mom. I really like the way this turned out. I think I'm going to have to make some more of this style to put in my stash.

I hope you're all having a great day. Thanks so much for stopping. Happy Stamping!

Sympathy Cards

2011-08-24T07:00:00.004-05:00

I had a request from a friend for some sympathy cards so I pulled out the Papertrey Ink Botanical Silhouettes set and got to work. I started with a piece of PTI Rustic Cream cardstock that I stamped with a Glitz Distressing text stamp using Latte ink from A Muse Studio. Next I stamped the flower stems with SU River Rock and the flowers with Cameo Coral. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa. Finally I sponged Walnut Stain Distress Ink around the edges of the panel before adding some hand-dyed seam binding and button. The seam binding was dyed with Tea Rose Distress Ink and a drop or two of Fired Brick Distress Ink.

I was so pleased with how the first card turned out that I made a second card with the same supplies with the exception of the flower stamp (also from the Botanical Silhouette set).

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful week. Happy Stamping!

Warm and Natural Flowers

2011-08-23T07:00:00.003-05:00

I posted a couple of weeks ago about some fabric scraps that I got from my Mom and I decided to get out my flower dies and some Warm and Natural that I had to make flower embellishments to go with the fabric scraps. For the first card I used PTI Kraft cardstock with a strip of Rustic Cream for the sentiment. The label die and border stamp is from a|muse studio and the flower die is PTI Beautiful Blooms II #3. I cut two of the large flower and one of the medium and small flower and stitched it together with three small gold beads.

For the second card I used the PTI Beautiful Blooms II #1 die set to create the flower and stitched it together with a button. To adhere the fabric pieces to the cards I used scor-tape because it was much faster than getting out my iron, ironing board and fusible web to create iron-on patches. I also used scor-tape to adhere the lace strips on each card. To attach the flowers to the cards I used Helmar 450. I love that stuff for gluing on fabric embellishments.

Well, that's all for today. Thanks for stopping. Have a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

My first publication

2011-08-19T17:00:00.001-05:00

Card Ideas for Paper Crafters is now available for purchase. (This issue used to be called Go-To Sketches.) It contains 72 sketches and four different takes on each sketch. It also happens to include my first published card for Paper Crafts. I was very excited when I had one of my cards accepted but then when I got an email from Creative Editor Susan Opel saying that my card had been selected for the cover I was ecstatic!

Here's my Candle Wish card that can be found on the cover and page 67. When I saw the sketch that you can see in the cover photo I immediately thought of candles. To create them I cut strips of patterned paper and rolled them around a wooden skewer. To make them look more real I added some waxed floss for wicks. Be sure to check out this issue if you haven't already. There are so many great ideas in it plus the added bonus of all those sketches for a starting point.

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share in my excitement. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Happy Stamping!

T is for Tin and Teacher

2011-08-18T09:14:00.001-05:00

I found some tins at a sale awhile back and while I didn't have a plan for them when I bought them I knew they would come in handy. Yesterday I had the idea to decorate them for teacher gifts. I pulled out some paper, ink, stamps and dies then got to work. Here's a look at the top of the tins. For the black background piece I used my Corner Chomper to round the corners and then stamped the numbers from Glitz Distressing stamp set using ColorBox Frost White pigment ink. I was going for a chalkboard look.

For the focal piece on the top I decided it should be a magnet. That way it can be removed and placed anywhere. The larger piece is a die from My Favorite Things. I cut out a layer of chipboard and a layer of SU Red Riding Hood cardstock and glued them together. The red cardstock was then stamped with the grid pattern stamp also from the Glitz Distressing stamp set using Versamark ink. The next layer is PTI's Fillable Frames die with matching stamp set for the border (also stamped with ColorBox White Frost pigment ink). The sentiments are from PTI's Teacher's Apple set and stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and SU Real Red on SU Crumb Cake cardstock. That piece is mounted with foam dimensionals. For the finishing touches there is an apple also from PTI's Teacher's Apple set stamped with SU Real Red, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip inks and a bow of Charcoal twine from The Twinery.

I add a piece of SU Crumb Cake cardstock with a stamped apple to the back of the tin to cover up the printing on the tin. This would be a nice place to personalize the tin for the teacher or have your student write a little note.

For now my tins are empty but you could fill them with any number of things including notecards, a gift card, candy . . . just to name a few.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful week. Happy Stamping!

Fabric scraps

2011-08-13T07:24:00.002-05:00

I was helping my Mom yesterday prep for a fabric sale and scored some beautiful fat quarters and some assorted scraps that I thought would be lovely on cards. So, when I got home I immediately Sat down and made a couple of cards. I used pieces of a paper doily and the butterfly dies from A Muse Studios along with my fabric scraps.

Cards using fabric scraps.

Fat quarters of fabric.

Thanks so much for stopping. I'm off to help my mom with the sale.

posted from Bloggeroid

More challenge cards

2011-08-05T16:07:00.000-05:00

I have two more Dare to Get Dirty challenge cards to share with you today. The first card is for the Garden's Bounty challenge and uses Whipper Snapper stamps. The super cute jar stamp is from the Garden Fresh set and the sentiment is from the Cupcakes & Sprinkles set both cling sets are designed by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper. I stamped the jar and colored it with Copics. The designer papers are from the Gertie collection of My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose line.

The second card is for the Christmas in July challenge and uses a PSX stamp. I found this wonderful truck stamp at a garage sale and I love it! When I saw the challenge I knew it was time to ink up this stamp. The papers are from Basic Grey's Jovial line.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you've had a wonderful week. We're off on a camping trip this weekend with both of my Brother's and Sister's-in-law. It should be a fun adult trip. I'm a little sad about the 60% chance of rain for Saturday but we'll cross our fingers.

Dare to Get Dirty Challenges

2011-08-03T09:33:00.000-05:00

For today's post I have a couple of cards for the first two challenges of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges for Splitcoaststampers. For more information on the challenges, check out this link.

My card for the first challenge uses the SU Fresh Fruit set, paint and papers from the K&Company Amy Butler Lucky Flowers collection.

My card for the second challenge uses AMuse Studio's Life is a Song stamp set, kraft and black cardstock, papers from My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose line (Hattie collection).

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday! Happy Stamping!

Happy happy birthday

2011-08-01T15:53:00.001-05:00

Today I have a birthday card to share with you. It uses Alphabet Soup papers from My Minds Eye and stamps from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're week is off to a great start. Happy Stamping!

posted from Bloggeroid

My Friend Magnets

2011-07-28T07:41:00.001-05:00

Today's post features some magnets that I made recently. I started with the spiral notebook page die and kraft cardstock both from PTI. Next I stamped the script stamp from Glitz Design in white pigment ink and my friend from PTI's Botanical Silhouettes in black. For the finishing touch a used the Beautiful Blooms ll set 1 dies to cut out some fabric flowers and finished it off with a button center.

Here is a close up of the magnet.

Thanks so much for stopping. Happy Stamping!

posted from Bloggeroid

Heartfelt Thanks

2011-07-27T17:11:00.002-05:00

For today's card I used the Big and Bold Wishes from Papertrey Ink with a butterfly from the Stampin Up set Wonderful Wings. I went with a monochromatic look with some faux stitching and a button with twine and some lace.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a wonderful week! Happy Stamping!

Soccer season

2011-07-26T06:50:00.001-05:00

Todays post brings you two card ideas for your favorite soccer player. The jersey stamps are from an old Close To My Heart set, the soccer ball is from the PTI set Have a Ball, and the sentiments are from Clear and Simple Stamps MVP set.

Once again I love how all these sets from different companies work so well together. Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

You Are Special

2011-07-25T15:58:00.001-05:00

For today's post I have a card featuring some 7 gypsies Reef Journey papers and A Muse Studio stamps. I also used some dies on this card. The scallop borders are from the scallop edge dies by A Muse Studio and the larger label is a die from My Favorite Things and the smaller die is from A Muse Studio's Vintage Labels set. I also used the matching stamp set to stamp the border on the die cut piece. The sentiment and leaves are from A Muse Studio's Friend to Friend set and the felt flower is from the mini rose die from My Favorite Things.

I love how you can pair so many different companies products together in one creation. Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're all having a wonderful week. Happy Stamping!

Cuckoo Clock and PTI

2011-06-29T09:45:00.001-05:00

I just have a couple of minutes to quickly posts my cards for today. These were made using theCuckoo Clock from the Chairs and Chandelier set from Recollections that I found at Michaels and paired with sentiments from Papertrey Inks Birthday Bash Sentiments and Big & Bold Wishes sets. The papers are from the Basic Grey Blush collection.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you have a great Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

Basketball Birthday

2011-06-27T08:52:00.001-05:00

Sorry for my lack of posts last week but I do have a card to share today. It's the card I gave to my nephew at his birthday party last night. He just finished basketball camp so I thought a basketball card would be appropriate. I used Papertrey Ink's Have a Ball set for the basketballs and Faux Ribbon to create the striped background on the navy panel. To create the grid pattern on the Co'ordinations piece I used my scorpal and then sanded the piece to try and bring out the grid details. I also used my scorpal to create the lines on the cream piece, distressed the edges and added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink with a sponge. The sentiment is a rub-on from Deja Views.

I hope your week is off to a great start. Thanks so much for stopping. Happy Stamping!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to wish a Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there and share the card that I made for my Dad.

The card base is Stampin Up Crumb Cake with designer papers from the 7 gypsies Maison Variety Pack. The fish stamp is from Eureka Stamps but I looked on the website and I don't see it so it may not be available any longer. The Dad stamp on the front is from Clear and Simple Stamps Hero Dad set.

I even stamped on the inside of the card. I used A Muse Studio Slate ink to stamp the fish image on the inside of the card and then I added the father's day sentiment from A Muse Studio's Essential Sentiments set.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Happy Stamping!

Graduation Party

2011-06-18T08:11:00.000-05:00

My nephews graduation party is this afternoon and I said I would bring bars but I didn't get to them until this morning. So far, I have one pan cooling on the counter and a second pan in the oven. Next up is lemon bars but I thought I would take a break and work on my blog post first since the party isn't until 2.

In honor of Aaron's graduation, I thought I would post a couple more graduation cards that I made. The cap on the first card is from the congradulations set by A Muse Studio and the rest of the stamps are from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks so much for stopping. Hope you're having a wonderful Saturday. Happy Stamping!

Happy Anniversary

2011-06-17T08:43:00.000-05:00

Today my husband Jerry and I will celebrate our 11th Wedding Anniversary. Our wedding was a small ceremony at the family cabin surrounded by close friends and family. It's been a great 11 years and I hope we have many more wonderful years ahead!

Here's the card I made for him. I know it's flowery and frilly but I think he'll be ok with that considering it's an anniversary card. I used Basic Grey Sulty papers with a Kraft card base. The stamps and ink are from A Muse Studio, Happy Anniversary is from the Essential Sentiments set and stamped with Slate ink and the LOVE was created using the Fancy Alphabet clear set stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa. I also added some KaiserCraft pearls, misc flowers and a Papertrey Ink felt border for the finishing touches.

We're busy today and tomorrow so the anniversary dinner may get rolled into the father's day celebrations which is fine with me. I think we'll have to visit our favorite local Thai restaurant to celebrate.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you all had a wonderful week. Happy Stamping!

Dress Form and Blush

2011-06-16T06:27:00.000-05:00

Today I have a couple more cards using Basic Grey Blush papers to share with you. I also used Papertrey's Signature Series: Dress Form stamp set and die for today's cards. For the first card I added some hand dyed seam binding and small rick rack along with a row of buttons to complete the seamstress feel.

I kept the embellishments to a minimum on the second card adding just a simple bow of seam binding with a button center. I'm really pleased with how different these cards look even though the same basic supplies were used for both.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful week. Happy Stamping!

Colorful Butterflies

2011-06-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

I recently challenged myself to use up some paper that I've had for years so I started with a 6x6 pad of Basic Grey Blush papers. I was able to make over 20 cards with the papers that were left in that pad. Here are two of the cards made with papers from that pad. I paired my Blush paper scraps with some graph paper that I picked up at a garage sale. The scraps were great for using with my Amuse Studio Butterfly dies.

I really do love this paper collection. Hopefully you do too 'cause you'll be seeing several more posts using Basic Grey Blush papers. :)

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Stamping!

Supplies
Stamps: Hero Arts
Paper: Stampin Up Choc Chip and Marigold Morning, Basic Grey Blush, Misc Graph paper
Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Misc: A Muse Studio Butterfly and scalloped edge dies, Stickles, Gemstones

Commencement Tonight

2011-06-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

In honor of my nephew's high school commencement tonight I thought I would share a couple of graduation cards. These were made using the Congraduations stamp set, ink, cardstock and Nestabilities dies from A Muse Studio. The designer papers are from My Mind's Eye.

Just a reminder, I'm selling A Muse Studio products so if you're interested in the supplies I used today they're available in my webstore. Thanks for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful day. Happy Stamping!

Blogger Issues Resolved (I hope)

2011-06-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if anyone is still out there considering how long it's been since my last post but I've been having issues with Blogger. We've not been on friendly terms since I had to convert my email to google services. After many hours and frustrated changes, I was able to get in today! YEAH!

So, in case anyone is still waiting for posts from me let's go ahead and get to some crafty creations. How about some more cards created with Anna Wight's Whipper Snapper Garden Fresh stamp set that I haven't posted photos of yet.

For the first card I stamped the strawberry image repeatedly on the rustic cream cardstock to create the background then sewed some circle punches of patterned paper to the bottom. I used Papertrey Ink's spiral notebook page die with strips of patterned paper sewed on to attach my focal image. . . the cute little jar from the set. The lid is paper pieced and the rest of the image is colored with copics plus a little white gel pen for the dots on the scalloped border of the label. The kraft and rustic cream cardstock is from Papertrey and the patterned papers are from My Mind's Eye.

For this card I used the adorable little jar from Garden Fresh again and paired it with the cute bee from the Little Critters set. The papers are from A Muse Studio and the images are colored with Copics.

Thanks so much for stopping by (if in fact anyone does) since it's been so long. I hope you're having a wonderful week. I'll be back with more cards if Blogger lets me in again.

Happy Stamping!

New Whipper Snapper Cling Sets

2011-04-18T05:00:00.001-05:00

It's time for another Whipper Snapper Designs cling set release! There are three new sets releasing today, as well as a recipe card stamp that will come in handy for so many projects!

Garden of Friendship is filled with all kinds of garden themed images and even a few sentiments. For my first card with this set I picked the smiling sunflower trio. I colored them more like daisies and paired them with the Thank You sentiment from the set.

Garden Fresh has the cutest jar image along with all kinds of fun images to add to the label making it super versatile and perfect for any canned goodie. I added a little tag with the hello sentiment from Sweet Expressions.

Recipe Card Companions is a set designed to be used with the Recipe Card stamp. The recipe card was designed to be simple, and easy to use. It tucks nicely into standard sized recipe boxes but I decided to use them to make a birthday card by pairing them with some sentiments from 29 Again.

Don't forget to check out the blogs and galleries of my fellow Featured Designers, as they share projects throughout the month.

March/April Featured Designers:
Shellie Daniel
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/ShellieD

Dawn Burnworth
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/flowergal36
Blog: http://mystampingthyme.blogspot.com

Peggy Marsh
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/PMarsh5
Blog: http://thewiredangel.blogspot.com

Shelly Mercado
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/3_Little_Love_Bugs
Blog: http://www.shellypop.com

Jennifer Woodward
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/Thimbles
Blog: http://thimblesbobbinspaperandink.blogspot.com

Anna Wight
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com

Thanks so much for stopping. I'll have more samples to share tomorrow so please stop back.

You're Amazing

2011-04-12T07:30:00.001-05:00

Long time no post. . . so how about another Whipper Snapper card using the All Things With Love set by Anna Wight. I used it for the sentiment and I also stamped the background text stamp on the polka dot paper. The flowers are made with some of the papers from My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose collection.

Here is a close-up of the flowers and sentiment. The sheet music is some vintage music I bought at an estate sale.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a wonderful week! Happy Stamping.

Happy April Fool's Day

2011-04-01T07:30:00.009-05:00

I recently signed up to be a Creative Consultant with A Muse Studio and I'm so excited for this new venture. This is not an April Fool's Day joke. My NEW A Muse Studio Webpage is LIVE!

Now you can shop for all your A Muse goodies on-line. If you'd rather host a workshop to earn some free stuff, let me know.

Supplies: All products from A Muse Studio
Paper: White, Orange, Orange gingham, Grass gingham
Stamps: Friends Fur-Ever, Sweet Love
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics: RV25, YR14, E33, E57, E59
Misc: Diamond Glitter, Nestabilities Classic Scallop Rectangles Small

Whipper Snapper Sympathy

2011-03-28T07:30:00.000-05:00

I needed a sympathy card for a friend so I pulled out some Whipper Snapper
cling sets to put this together. The flowers are from the Blossoms and Butterflies set, the sentiment is from the Blooming Expressions set and the background is stamped with the background stamp from the All Things With Love set.

The flowers were colored with Copics, cut out and mounted with foam dimensionals. I also added a little glitter to them. To make the matching strip of pink cardstock with the sentiment I just colored cream cardstock with one of the Copic markers that I used on the flowers.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope your week is off to a great start. Happy Stamping!

March Papertrey Blog Hop

2011-03-25T07:30:00.004-05:00

Today is the day for this month's Papertrey blog hop and I was able to make a card and participate for the first time. I usually don't see the details of the blog hop until it's too late to participate but not this month. The challenge this month is to use embroidery floss in a fun and inventive way on your project. This could include stitching, wrapping it around and tying it like ribbon, braiding, accenting tags, embroidered patterns or anything else you can dream up!

Well, I don't know if my use is all that inventive but I really like how my card turned out.

I stamped some spools and wrapped the embroidery floss around the spool. I also used it to thread my buttons. All of the images are from the PTI Quilters Sampler set.

Thanks for stopping. I hope you're having a great week. Happy Stamping!

Happy Birthday Aaron

2011-03-21T16:35:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post to share the birthday card I made for my nephew. He's 18 today and we all got together last night to celebrate. I used a birthday set from Papertrey Ink for the background on the top and the argyle background set also from Papertrey for the bottom panel. The tree and shack images are from a Recollections set that was half price at Michaels. I added some twine and a button for the finishing touches.

When I saw the stamp set it made me think of my Dad's shack which is a favorite place of my nephews so I thought it would be fitting. Here's a picture of the shack . . .

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful Monday and enjoying spring. We have a blizzard warning for tomorrow so I guess spring hasn't hit northern Minnesota just yet. :)

Bloggers Challenge - Spring Flowers

2011-03-18T07:30:00.001-05:00

I had so much fun participating in the Bloggers Challenge last Friday that I played along this week too. This week's challenge issued by Lisa is "Spring Flowers" so I put this little number together with that in mind.

The flower images are from the Whipper Snapper Wildflower Silhouette cling set. For the die cut piece I stamped the floral image with Versamark a couple of times and then inked the edges with Colorbox white pigment ink. For the cut out floral images, I colored on the stamps with SU markers then spritzed them with water before stamping them. The greeting is from the newly released All Things With Love cling set from Whipper Snapper.

If you'd like to participate in this weeks Bloggers Challenge, please link back to this post on your blog and mention you created your card for the Bloggers Challenge Spring Flowers Challenge and add your link using the Link Tool below. Just a note on the link tool, your link should be a direct link to your Bloggers Challenge Post, use your name as the Title. Please do not link to cards that were created prior to the challenge. Entries not linking properly will be removed.

New Whipper Snapper Cling Sets

2011-03-14T07:30:00.011-05:00

Good morning! I have such fun news to share today! Anna Wight (SweetMissDaisy) invited me to be a Whipper Snapper Featured Designer again and I feel so honored. I love working with the adorable images she designs for Whipper Snapper. Thank you, Anna, and thank you Whipper Snapper for this great opportunity!

This month she has four cling sets being released and I love them all.

Fox Friends has the most adorable little fox images and a great tree image too. I paired them up with October Afternoon Campfire papers some twine and a button to make this little card.

Feelin' Fishy is filled with lots of fun fish images and also this adorable little crab not to mention some "punny" sayings.

Cupcakes & Sprinkles has solid cupcake images and line images as well so you have a lot of options with this set. It also has some fun sentiments like the one I used on this card.

All Things With Love is a set full of great sentiments including a wonderful image with 5 lines of text perfect for creating backgrounds like I did on this card. This set will definitely see a lot of ink!

Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope you have enjoyed my samples with the new sets. Also, don't forget to check out the blogs and galleries of my fellow Featured Designers for this release.

The Who's Who of March/April Featured Designers:
Shellie Daniel

SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/ShellieD

Beth Matson (me)
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/ematson
Blog: http://nevertoooldtocolor.blogspot.com

Dawn Burnworth

SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/flowergal36
Blog: http://mystampingthyme.blogspot.com

Peggy Marsh
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/PMarsh5
Blog: http://thewiredangel.blogspot.com

Shelly Mercado

SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/3_Little_Love_Bugs

Blog: http://www.shellypop.com

Jennifer Woodward

SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/Thimbles
Blog: http://thimblesbobbinspaperandink.blogspot.com

Anna Wight

SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com

Note:You can click on the photos on my blog to make them larger.

Bloggers Challenge - Birthday Theme

2011-03-11T07:30:00.008-06:00

Today over at Blogger's Challenge Lisa has challenged us to create a card with a Birthday theme. Now that's a challenge I can do. My card uses the Beautiful Blooms II and Birthday Bash Sentiments sets from Papertrey Ink. I also added a strip of some paper lace that I have had for years and am finally putting to use.

If you would like to join along with us today, link up below using InLinkz and make sure to mention the blogger's challenge in your post. Can't wait to see what you create.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Friday and Happy Crafting!

Another Birthday Card

2011-03-09T07:30:00.001-06:00

I have another birthday card to share with you today using Clear and Simple Stamps. I used two sets for the greeting (Fancy Wishes and Spring Sentiments). The papers are from the My Mind's Eye Hazel collection from the Stella and Rose line. I added some sheet music, paper lace, a paper flower and some stitching to complete the card.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

Birthday Blog Hop

2011-03-07T23:00:00.165-06:00

Thanks for joining me. Today I have the honor of being part of the birthday celebration for Reenee. She is one of the owners of Clear and Simple Stamps and I had the opportunity to get to know her during my Design Team tenure with Clear and Simple. I'm am so thankful for my time with them. They are such a great group of ladies.

If you've come to my blog from Dana's blog you are in the right place. If you are visiting with me first then you will want to start this special birthday blog hop from the beginning at Clear and Simple Stamps. In addition to all the fun birthday wishes for Reenee and wonderful creations posted along the hop, there will be prizes and a 15% coupon.

BLOG HOP PRIZE:

CSS has selected some of Reenee's favorite products and is offering them in a surprise package of goodies. Each package with be valued at $50. You will have two chances to win. You must leave a birthday wish for Reenee on the Clear and Simple Stamps Facebook page and/or the Clear and Simple Stamps blog in order to qualify for the prize. They will pick {2} winners - one winner from FB and one winner from the CSS Blog.

COUPON CODE:

And for fun - they are offering a 15% off coupon good for the day at CSS. You will just need to enter birthday15 in order to receive the discount. This coupon will not be valid with other offers and is good for one day only.

Ok, now how about my card for Reenee. I used Clear and Simple Stamps Across the Miles set for my images and the Icons Extra set for my sentiment. The papers are from My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup collection.

Here is a side view to show some of the detail and dimension better. The balloon on the left is mounted with one layer of foam dimensionals and the balloon on the right has two layers. The lower cloud on the top is also mounted with a layer of foam dimensionals.

Thanks so much for joining me today and helping celebrate Reenee's birthday. You're next stop on the hop is the wonderfully talented Tracy.

Just in case you get lost along the way, here is a complete list of the Birthday Blog hop participants.

Clear and Simple Stamps

Beth Matson (You are here)

Clear and Simple Stamps {FB}

Color Inspiration Challenge

2011-03-04T07:30:00.001-06:00

Today's card is for the Paper Crafts Color Inspiration Challenge #2. I'm not too sure about the color combination but I think the finished card isn't too bad. I wish I had used a lighter blue/grey color but this is what I had on hand. For stamps, I used the Dress form set from PTI and the Distressing set from Glitz Designs for the script background.

I can't believe it's Friday already. This week really went quickly for me. I hope you have a good weekend! Thanks for stopping. Happy Stamping!

Finally Ordered Felt

2011-03-02T07:30:00.001-06:00

I have been looking at the felt from Papertrey Ink since they first released it and finally placed an order for some last month. It arrived yesterday but I had plans for the evening so I didn't get a chance to play until this morning. I know PTI is proud that their felt is wool and not acrylic but what I love is the colors! Here's a simple card I put together this morning using some of my dies with the felt.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday. Happy Stamping!

MFT Sketch Challenge

2011-03-01T07:30:00.002-06:00

Today's card is based on the MFT Weekly Sketch Challenge 8. You can see the sketch on My Favorite Things Blog here. I used my My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Gertie papers along with some avocado cardstock and a kraft base. I used both the Polka Dot Greetings Die and Stamp Set and the Textile Rectangle Die all from MFT. The pearl flourishes were made using pearlized 3D paint on a transparency.

I love the look of all the pearl flourishes that are available on the market these days but in an attempt to be frugal I thought I would try making my own with some 3D paint and a transparency. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned especially since I had all the supplies on hand.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day. Happy Stamping!

Sketchy Mocha Joe & A Birthday

2011-02-28T07:30:00.002-06:00

Today's first card uses the new Mocha Joe stamp from Whipper Snapper and the February Sketch For You To Try. Here's the sketch if you're interested.

I went with a Kraft card base and added some fun papers from the Gerlie line by My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose collection. I paper pieced the coffe mug for some extra color. The ribbon trim is a layer of hand dyed ribbon and pom pom trim.

Next up is a birthday card for my Niece. She turns 21 today! For her card I used the Big Bday Cake Chicken also from Whipper Snapper. The designer papers are from the Mabel line of the same collection as above. Love all the Stella and Rose 6x6 paper pads from My Mind's Eye. I used more of the same ribbon treatment on this card.

I dyed several more colors of ribbon this weekend and I have more pom pom trim so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of this ribbon treatment.

I hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks for stopping. Happy Stamping!

Never "Dessert" You

2011-02-24T07:30:00.001-06:00

My girlfriend had a dream the other night that I left her stranded at the gym so before I picked her up last night to go workout I put this card together for her. I thought it was especially fitting since most of the time we're working out we talk about food.

The sentiment is computer generated and the cupcake stamp is from Whipper Snapper. The papers are from the Alphabet Soup Girl collection by My Mind's Eye. We had a good laugh when I gave it to her last night. Hope you're having a great week. Thanks for stopping. Happy Stamping!

Oh My Joe Mug

2011-02-22T07:30:00.003-06:00

Did you see the great Joe Mug from Crate and Barrel that Cath posted on the Moxie Fab World blog yesterday? I was so inspired by the great colors of the mug graphics that I had to pull out some supplies and make a card. I used chalk Ink pads, the Papertrey Ink Everyday Classics set for the cups and the Clear & Simple Stamps special edition Thinking of You set for the sentiment.

This card came together very quickly and easily because of the great inspiration piece. Love that!

I hope you're having a great day. Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Stamping!