Hybrid Happiness 6 comments

Hi all! Happy 4th of July to all my American friends! I've got two family get-togethers to attend today, but I got to start my day off with a little papercrafting! And in honor of the 4th, it only seemed fitting to incorporate some stars into my project.



This little purse uses Kelleigh Ratzlaff's Sassy Purse #3 Template Set, as well as a new digi paper pack by Sarah Jones called Pish Posh Paper Pack. Y'all know my love affair for aqua and brown, so how could I refuse this paper? How fun are those zebra stripes? The whole collection of paper has a mouthwatering color palette that I can't wait to play a little more with. Olive and coral and ruby and aqua and brown and saffron. Yum!



The template made it so easy, so there's not a whole lot to talk about here. I stamped the You're Amazing sentiment from Thankful Blossoms on a classic oval cut out and layered it on a scalloped oval. The punches are the large and small star punches from SU! and I added some star rhinestones I had in my stash. I attached the handle with a star punch and a chocolate corduroy brad and then decided to hang some stars from the handle with clear plastic beading wire. The polka dot bows on top hide the place where I punched a hole through the handle and tied down the beading wire.

Then I made a super simple matching card. I loved the way that my friend Karrie used the negative space from her star cutout on this card, so I had to try it here with my punches. Then I just finished off the super simple card with a polka dot ribbon. Easy peasy! Hope y'all have a fabulous rest of today!

What's In It?
Stamps: Thankful Blossoms (Verve Stamps)
Paper: digi Pish Posh Paper Pack (Sarah Jones), Classic Cream cardstock (Neenah)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Star punches (SU!), star rhinestones, ribbon, clear beading wire

Forever 8 comments

Happy Friday! I've been having a blast with my brother and sister-in-law being in town, but that means there hasn't been a lot of stamping going on around here. I do have a card I made for our latest release that I haven't shown yet, so here goes.

A lot of times when I get new stamps I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with them once they arrive. Sometimes it's a bit intimidating to jump in since I know that the Divas are going to totally rock their previews. So I like to do a quick little "dip" in the stamping pool with a fast 15 - 20 minute card to get my feet wet before I tackle a more intricate card. This card was my little "dip" for the Forever in Our Hearts set and I really kind of like it. It came together so fast, and gave me a lot more ideas to jump from next time I have some time with this set.



I started by stamping the image in VersaMark, then coloring with Stampin' pastels. Next I stamped it again with VersaMark and heat embossed in clear. Then it's a breeze to just erase all the extra little chalk marks without worrying about erasing the image. I finished out the color with some sponged soft sky for the sky and old olive for the grass, then added the Forever in Our Hearts sentiment in black. I added a little dotted border on the Kraft card base with a black glaze pen. The side strip is punched with the Sunburst fiskars border punch. Hooray, I finally used it without covering it all up! I added some pearl dew drop accents and then some May Arts black taffeta ribbon and hung a little metal heart charm from the bow.

What's In It?
Stamps: Forever in our Hearts
Paper: Kraft, Basic Black (SU!)
Ink: Versamark, Onyx Black (Versafine), Soft Sky, Old Olive, Stampin' Pastels (SU!)
Accessories: Black glaze pen, black taffeta (May Arts), Sunburst border punch (Fiskars), pearl flat backs, heart charm), clear embossing powder

Patience 13 comments

Have you ever waited for something for what seemed like years and then it just miraculously blossoms overnight? Today I'm going off paper crafting topic a bit to explain the excitement I had this morning when hubby called on his way to work to say that I had flowers out front! EEEK!



I planted these Asiatic lilies the first spring we moved into our house. Just so you don't have any ideas about me being a little Martha Stewart, I'm by no means a green thumb! But I did read the label and it sounded like the conditions were perfect around the tree in our front lawn so I went out and planted six little bulbs at equidistance around the tree. To my great disappointment the lilies didn't blossom the first year. The second year the first little sprouts got plucked by the landscaping crew in a spring clean up. The third year they survived the spring clean-up only to be plucked out by the landscapers when the tulips in the same bed died. This year I've shuddered every time the landscaping crew has arrived, hoping against hope that they would see fit to let my lilies be. I've been rooting for these underdogs. They're tenacious and they just keep gathering up strength and trying again each year. I've watched this year as the plants have grown taller than ever, then started sprouting little pods. Then the pods grew plumper and plumper, until today.... two little beautiful blossoms! And look at all those little pods - there's an abundance of lilies just ready to burst onto the scene!

Sometimes I feel like these tenacious little flowers. I keep getting up, poking my head out of the ground, almost blossoming, then WHAM! something comes by and whacks me upside the head. Then it's back to square one - starting over, growing a bit taller, believing that someday my blossoms will have their day in the sun. Well, for my lilies, that day is today, and I can only believe that my day will come soon, too. It might by 4 years from now, it might be tomorrow, but it will happen. I'm a fighter, a believer and a survivor!