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Ugly Cards

First off - have you SEEN The Cat's Pajamas website redesign????? Oh by gosh by golly it is SOOOOO cool - and the new stamps are fabulous - you've got to go check them out. There are even 3 clear sets so you can get more of the stamps you love without hurting your pocketbook! Hurry up, go check it out now - I'm just posting ugly cards today so you won't miss anything if you get sucked in and forget to come back!

Okay, since you asked for it here are the two ugly cards I mentioned yesterday. The first card was for this week's CPS sketch and I was in one of those stamping outside my normal comfort zone moods. Usually I should just steer clear when I'm in those moods, because things end up a little wonky.

So the photo above is what the card looked like after I finished it the first time. Kind of bizarre, right? I had this grand vision in my head, but then it just didn't come together like I thought it would. I'm pretty sure this card is currently setting off metal detectors within a 100 mile radius of my house, there are so many brads on it! After I finished it, I set it aside to see if I'd like it any better the next day. No luck, it still looked ugly in the morning so I got out my bottle of Undu, ripped off the entire panel and reglued the other direction and changed the direction of the sentiment piece. So here's what it looks like now. Still not fabulous - in my opinon, the two cards are equal parts ugly.

The next "ugly" card has been sitting on my desk for 2 weeks. I started out trying to make a "quick" card, and then I just kept messing with it and nothing ever worked out right. I don't remember now, but I think this was a sketch from somewhere. I really like the layout, but the card just isn't speaking to me. It just feels like it's missing something. Okey dokey peeps. That's all for today. If you're still reading and you haven't checked out The Cat's Pajamas yet, what are you waiting for????

Remember, today's the last day to get your entries in for my 75K Card Sketch Contest. Time is ticking... you've got until 10PM Mountain time tonight!

CPS Sketch Supplies:
Stamps: Fancy Florals
Paper: Real Red, Soft Sky Prints
Ink: Real Red, Soft Sky
Accessories, Giga Scallop Circle Punch, Creative Memories Circle Cutter, silver brads, pop dots, Stardust Stickles

Hero Arts Bird Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts Bird, Papertrey Ink Faux Ribbons
Paper: Memory Box Echo Collection, Night of Navy
Accessories: Hodgepodge Hardware, White Glaze Pen, ribbon

Birthday Bird

Okay, I know, this is a horrible photo! Maybe if I have time I'll reshoot it. ETA: Photo has been updated. I've got two "ugly" cards or this bad photo to show you, so I'm going with the bad photo. You don't REALLY want to see my ugly cards do you? You know those cards that for whatever reason just don't seem to come together? Do you ever have those? Sometimes I'll think one of my cards is ugly and then suddenly the next day I like it. But one of the "ugly" cards has been 2 weeks and it's still ugly. I don't think it has any hope of making a cinderella comeback! LOL.

Okay, on with today's card. This one is NOT ugly (at least I don't think it is, and that's what matters right?). It uses my 75K Card Contest sketch (There's still time to get your entries in!!!) The bird is an image I got from someone and I don't remember who makes it. I colored with prismacolors and gamsol and then added some Stardust Stickles for some sparkle on the cake, the feathers and the hat. I then stamped the A Muse skinny oval in Going Gray for a little ground and sketched a border around the edges of the panel. He's matted on a scrap of real red and then on Chocolate Chip (same with the back panel. I tied a May Arts double-sided ribbon around the back panel. The sentiment is from the Faux Ribbon Papertrey Ink set and is matted on an Extra Jumbo Scallop Circle punch in Tempting Turquoise. I then pierced each scallop and traced around each hole with my White Glaze pen. The designer paper is from the Basic Grey Mellow collection and the card base is Chocolate Chip.

Well, that about does it. Be sure and check out Karrie's blog today, she's giving away another one of the new Cat's Pajamas sets!!!

Another Sprinkle?

Anybody up for another Sprinkle card? As I mentioned yesterday, Shannan has this really cool contest with some super cool prizes going on right now. The challenge is to make a card using stamps in a way they were not designed or intended to be used. Well, this isn't the all-time most creative non-traditional use of a stamp, but I saw my Sprinkle Easter Bunny stamp that I just love and thought, why not make a Halloween card? And basically that's how this card evolved. I didn't put a lot of thought into layout or anything else for that matter, just wanted to play with my Cat's Pajamas stamps and this is what evolved. I REALLY like the way the circle panels turned out, but for some reason I'm just not loving the rest of the layout. Oh well, sometimes you just have to play! :)

I started by stamping Bunny Kitty in Ancient Page Coal Black and coloring with Really Rust, Only Orange, More Mustard and Going Grey markers. Oh, and I added a few pinstripes to Sprinkle's bowtie with a black pen. Then I cut the circle with my Creative Memories Cutting system and matted on Basic Black. Next I stamped the Medium Circle Snowflake all the way around a Summer Sun Giga Scallop Circle Punch and added Black Diamond Stickles to the center of each scallop. The patterned paper is from the Spooky Memory Box collection. I added some May Arts Black polka dot ribbon and colored the white dots in with a Prismacolor marker. The Candy sentiment is stamped across the bottom and then I added a little tab to the side with the Trick or Treat stamp. To finish off I used the horizontal slot punch to punch three holes in the top of the card and tied some orange/yellow double-sided May Arts ribbon through the holes. For a touch of sparkle I added a little Stardust Stickles to the flowers.

Okey dokey, that's all for today. Be sure to visit the Verve Visual blog to see another Fancy Florals card I cooked up as well as this week's sales and a listing of the brand spankin' new products that have been added to the store!

A Sprinkle a Day

Guess what? The Cat's Pajamas is releasing their new line of stamps on August 31! Woohoo - just a few more days! You're going to absolutely love the new designs - and there are a couple of contests going on where you can win some of these stamps for you very own! How exciting is that??? Karrie, one of the brand spankin' new Design Team members is having a card contest on her blog. So I know y'all want some of these fabulously swanky stamps, so make a card using TCP stamps and head on over to her blog to link her up in the comments for your chance to win one of the new clear sets! ETA: Karrie just changed the deadline for her drawing to 7PM PST tonight, so hurry and get your cards in!

Toni, another Design Team Member is having a drawing for a free set on her blog. Be sure and check it out - you all NEED these stamps! LOL. Okay, enabling message over - for now! ;)

In honor of Karrie's contest I made this little Sprinkle number with some oldie but goody TCP stamps. I'm not eligible to win, but I sure had fun making this card! :) The sketch is from my 75K Card Sketch Contest (you have until August 31 to get your entries in) and the color combo was inspired by the fabulous RAK I received from Shanna (see below). I started by stamping Shipwrecked in Ancient Page Coal Black and coloring in with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I extended the water to the edges by doodling in waves to the sides. I matted this panel on Basic Black and tied a May Arts Aqua Iridescent Striped ribbon. Next I stamped Think Drink, colored with Prismacolors and cut out with my Creative Memories Circle Cutter. I then matted on Real Red and Basic Black circles and used a Black Glaze pen to make dots around the edges. I stamped Ahoy There Matey on Tempting Turquoise and Matted with Basic Black. The red panel is Cuttlebugged with the D'vine Swirls embossing folder, as well as the white background. I then used an Aquapainter and a Tempting Turquoise Watercolor Wonder Crayon to lightly color the embossed swirls on the white background. The card measures 4.25" square and is on a Basic Black card base. For the final little sparkle I added some accents to the waves and the martini with a Clear Stardust Glaze pen.

Okay on to my RAK, the fabulous Shannan has been at it again and she sent me this happy little card. I loved the turquoise and red together so much that I had to use it on today's card! The tiny little ribbons on the side are so cute! Thanks Shannan. Great big HUGS! Go check out her blog, too - she's got a fabulous contest going on with some great prizes - including a Verve Visual Thoughtful Phrases stamp set!

Beate's Treasure

Beate's weekend sketch challenges are one of my favorite things to dao. They always make fabulous cards, and this week's was no exception. This card uses Weekend Sketch #16.

I started by stamping the Penny Block Dotted Flower on white cardstock and coloring with Prismacolors and Gamsol. I then sketched a frame around the panel and colored around the edges with a Summer Sun Watercolor Wonder Crayon and an Aquapainter. This panel is matted on Pumpkin Pie. The orange strip behind is a wide May Arts ribbon. I cut a small circle of the Basic Grey Mellow floral paper and matted on an Always Artichoke Extra Jumbo Scallop circle punch. I then added some dots to each scallop with a White Glaze pen and cut the circle in half for the two half circles on the sketch The background dot paper is also from the Mellow collection and is matted on an Always Artichoke base. I stamped the A Muse I Treasure Your Friendship stamp in black on Always Artichoke and punched out with the large oval punch from Stampin' Up!. I then glued on Pumpkin Pie and trimmed the edges with my ProvoCraft mini scallop scissors. I finished off with some Stardust stickles on the flower center and then just for the fun of it, I stamped a matching envelope for the card.

There you have it... Beate's sketches make things so easy, and then you can just stamp for the sheer joy of stamping! :) And don't forget to enter your card in my 75K Card Sketch Contest for a chance to win a Super Jumbo Scallop Squaree punch or an Extra Jumbo Scallop Rectangle punch! For that one reader(you know who you are) who has been commenting on a certain other person's blog about my lack of Sprinkle cards lately, be sure to tune in tomorrow. I might just have a little something swanky for ya! ;)

75K Card Contest

Well, amazingly enough you guys keep coming back and reading my odd little ramblings and my counter keeps clicking upwards. I'm almost at 75,000 hits so I thought I'd host a little contest for y'all.

So how about a sketch challenge? Create any card you want to using the sketch below and link me up in the comments of this post (or email me with a photo of your card) by 10PM mountain time on Friday, August 31. I will announce two random winners on Saturday, September 1. The first prize is a Marvy Super Jumbo Scallop Square Punch and the second prize is a Marvy Extra Jumbo Scallop Rectangle Punch. (These have both been removed from their packaging, but have never been used.) You may enter as many cards as you like, but can only win one prize. To be eligible to win, you must have a shipping address in the US or Canada.

So what do you think of the sketch? I really like it, but my sample card is lacking some serious mojo. I've been feeling a bit under the weather and it's kind of wreaking havoc with my creativity. :(

The tree and snowflakes are from a new clear set I just got from Impression Obsession (I got it at my LSS, but I can't find the set on the Impression Obsession website to show you. It's brand new and designed by Leigh Hannan). This tree just called out my name, and who can resist a talking stamp? I stamped the tree in Black Stazon on a light blue paper from the Periphery BasicGrey line and then colored with Certainly Celery and Always Artichoke markers. Next I used my Stamp-A-Majig to stamp the tree again with VersaMark and emboss with Irridescent Ice. Next I stamped the snowflake with VersaMark randomly around the edges and embossed with Irridescent Ice.

Next up, I sewed! Holy moley, can you believe it? My mom has always been an excellent seamstress and when I was growing up she tried to teach me how to sew. There was only one rule... I wasn't allowed to sew with fabric and thread until I could sew a straight line on a piece of paper. I spent many many summer days with scrap paper my mom had drawn lines on and an old clunker sewing machine to no avail! As you can see by my not so straight lines, I never did graduate to fabric and thus never learned how to sew! I even messed this card up. I didn't know how to end the stitching without going past the edge (which I didn't want to do) so I just stopped the machine and cut the thread. Wouldn't suggest this, as the thread then starts unraveling!!! Oh well, I'm a creative gal, a metal WeRMemory Keepers photo corner glued down with a little Diamond Glaze covered up my booboo until I fessed up to y'all.

Next I layered this piece onto the dark green paper from the Periphery pad and used my spiral notebook punch down the side. I then tied Celery grosgrain ribbon across the panels every third hole. The red piece is some Paper Accents Pearlized Garnet paper that I stamped with Versamark snowflakes and embossed with Irridescent Ice. For the sentiment, I stamped the snowflake in Certainly Celery (stamped off once on scratch paper to soften the color) and then overstamped in Always Artichoke with the Papertrey Ink Faux Ribbons sentiment. I then punched it out with the Extra Jumbo Scallop Circle Punch, sponged with Artichoke ink and added an accent to each scallop with a White Glaze Pen. There you have it. I made a booboo that I had to cover up with the sentiment, so the placement isn't exactly where I normally would have placed it. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Have a great weekend, peeps! I can't wait to see what you create with my sketch.

Periphery

Since my shipment of the new Basic Grey papers finally came in, I had to carve out a little time to test them out. When I looked at the papers online I thought Mellow would be my favorite new line, but once I got them in my hands Periphery just screamed "Play with ME", and I obliged. I just love the color palette of soft blues mixed with greens and greys in this collection.

The Pine Branch stamp is one I ordered when Biblical Impressions was having their 50% off sale in July. Of course, I just now got around to trimming it so I could use it! I stamped it on white cardstock in Ancient Page Coal Black two times and then used a Quickie Glue pen to glue go over the pine needles and then coated with Art Institute Crystal glitter. Next I inked up the edges with a sponge and varying degrees of Soft Sky, Bordering Blue and Night of Navy. The smile sentiment is from the Papertrey Ink Text Boxed set. I added the Pewter Hodgepodge with some May Arts Black Sheer Polka Dot ribbon. The image and the Basic Grey paper are matted on black cardstock. The layout is rather simple, but hubby said it was perfect, so I didn't add any other extras. (Honestly, I think he just didn't want me to be up fiddling with it half the night.)

Now I get to share with you a couple awesome RAK's I received! Am I a spoiled girl, or what? The first one is from my good friend Shannan. She is always lifting my spirits and sending little encouragements exactly when I need them. This card is just so perky, I have to smile each time I look at SuperBella's glossy outfit. It's a fabulous card with a sweet, sweet note inside that touched my heart. Thanks Shannan!

The second fabulous RAK is from Beate. It is always such a treat to get an envelope from Beate, because I know there's a truly great card inside. This one is no exception. I love all the little details that make this card spectacular. It's the perfect mix of colors, images and design. Thanks Beate - you're such a sweetie!

I'm a Celebrity!

Guess what? I'm a celebrity! Well, a celebrity judge, that is. LOL! Amy asked me to be a celebrity judge for her awesome contest she has going on and OF COURSE I said yes. Her contest is unique, functional and loads of fun. If you haven't read about it, hop on over to Heartfelt Greetings and check it out.

Here's the sample I made for the contest. I am thrilled with how it turned out. I wanted the card to be elegant and reflect my style, but still meet the main requirement of being functional and fitting inside someone's wallet. I chose to focus on three things that "define" me.... my own stamps, doodling, and SPARKLE! I started by designing the 2 x 3.5" business card in Adobe Illustrator and printing on Pearlized White Cardstock. Next I stamped the medium sized flower from Fancy Florals in Bashful Blue and doodled a body on the butterfly and added some dotted markings and a butterfly trail with a Micron .03 Black Pen. To add that extra sparkle I love, but in a controlled way I mixed a small amount of Dazzling Diamonds with Diamond Glaze and painted it on the inner layers of the butterfly body. All the sparkly fun of glitter, with out the sparkly mess! :)

Well, peeps that's all the stamping I have for you today. Last night Mark and I went to a concert at the county fair with some friends. We rarely go to any of the fair concerts because neither of us are country western fans and that's all they ever seem to get to come out to Idaho. So, when our friends (avid country fans) invited us we decided to suck it up and headed to iTunes to listen to the artists and figure out which night would be the least painful for us. Katie even let out a bloodcurdling MEOW when she heard the first song we listened to! (I'm sure she thought something was really awry to hear country music in our house! Aside from Shaniah and 1 or 2 Dixie Chicks songs, she's never even been exposed to that kind of music before!) LOL! Well, after making our educated decisions over 30 second iTunes previews, we chose Clay Walker, and I must say, even though I'm not very fond of country music, it was an extremely entertaining concert. There was confetti, beach balls and even an irish jig. Although as I said I'm not a fan of country music I am a fan of music in general - and that's one talented group of musicians! The fiddle player was AMAZING and Clay can really sing (even if he does feel the need to throw that country TWANG in there). LOL! And best of all? We topped the night off with Cinnamon Glazed Roasted Pecans and Cotton Candy - two beloved favorites of the Western Idaho Fair.

Ornamental Studio

Today's card is a double whammy for me. It uses Beate's Weekend Sketch #15 and also uses fall colors to qualify for the color challenge in Kimmie's Card Contest. My inspiration was the new Studio collection of paper by Memory Box. I just love these yummy colors and swirls. The main stamped image is from the Purple Onion Designs Ornamentals set. I bought the set almost a month ago and have just now gotten around to cutting it out. Poor neglected stamps! :(

Anyways, I stamped the image on Pearlized Cream paper in Timber Brown Stazon and colored with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. Next I sponged the edges in varying degrees of Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red. Next I punched the Round Tab Punch from Pearlized Cream, inked up the edges and stamped Hi There from Fancy Flexible Phrases. I used a paper piercer to eyeball the holes to add the brads and then matted the main image on Real Red cardstock and used mini scalloped scissors to trim the edges. I really was having a hard time covering up this beautiful paper, so I decided to do a band of wide ribbon instead of the bottom panel. Hopefully that doesn't break the sketch rules enough to make the stamping gods frown upon me. ;) I used the horizontal slot punch to make inserts for the wide May Arts ribbon and tied it around the edges of the card on both sides. For the final touch I added some Diamond Glaze and Dazzling Diamonds mixture.

Supplies
Stamps: Ornamentals (Purple Onion Designs), Fancy Flexible Phrases (SU!)
Paper:
Pearlized Cream (Paper Accents), Studio (Memory Box), Chocolate Chip, Real Red (SU!)
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Ruby Red (SU!)
Accessories: Horizontal Slot Punch, Round Tab Punch (SU!) Paper Piercer, Brads (Making Memories), Ribbon (May Arts)

Thankful ATC's

Well, today's the day Fancy Florals officially releases. The pre-orders are all lined up in neat little packages awaiting pickup from the postal carrier. As a thank you to all that pre-ordered, I included a thank you ATC. Since I get bored doing mass production of any one thing, I had to change it up half way through, so there are two designs!

For the first card I stamped Many Thanks from Fancy Florals in Chocolate Chip ink, punched out with a Marvy Super Jumbo Scallop Rectangle Punch and then stamped the small starburst in each corner with Chocolate Chip. The paper is from the DCWV Luxury Stack and is matted on Chocolate Chip. I tied a little knotted bow of 1/4" chocolate grosgrain and finished off with some Ice Stickles in the corner of each starburst.

For the second design I used a Chocolate Chip marker to ink up just the Thanks from the Many Thanks sentiment and then stamped on Pearlized White Cardstock and punched out with an Extra Jumbo Scallop Oval. Next I stamped one of the small flowers from Fancy Florals randomly around the edges in Pretty in Pink and matted on a Chocolate Chip Super Jumbo Scallop Oval. I tied a knotted bow around the DCWV Luxury Stack paper and used the Ticket Corner Punch for the corners. To finish it off I added Ice Stickles around each scallop and in all four corners.

The Secret Buckle

Here's another card I made with a sketch from Jen's blog. For some reason I got a bee in my bonnet (no pun intended - LOL) that I needed to make this into a buckle card. So here's what I did... I matted a piece of Gretel Cosmo Cricket paper on a Ruby Red card base. I then used my Word Window punch to punch through both layers of the card front. Next I cut a 3 x 3 card out of more Gretel paper and attached a long piece the same width as the word window opening with some American Crafts brads. I then rounded the corners on the long strip and tucked it through the word window punch like a buckle. This makes it so there's a "secret" little card on the front. Next I stamped the Flowery Bee by Stampendous in Ancient Page Coal Black on Pearlized Cream and colored with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. I then added some shadows with a Grey Tombow marker and some sparkles with some Stardust Stickles. I sketched a frame around the panel, lightly sponged the edges with Creamy Caramel and matted on Ruby Red cardstock. For the final touches I stamped the You Make Me Smile sentiment from Thoughtful Phrases and added a May Arts bow and heated the ribbon slightly with my heat gun to curl the edges a bit.

So I got some fabulous happy mail this week. First off Lisa took pity on me and my Soft Sky addiction and sent me a few more sheets of in-color paper, plus some of the fabulous Prints paper in Soft Sky! What a sweetie!

Then I received this card is from Julie at Stamped in His Image. I aboslutely adore this Wordsworth stamp set and have looked everywhere for it and just can't find it. :( So I guess now I can at least sit and stare at this card and get my cowgirl fix. I love all the little touches Julie put on this card - there's sparkles on the fringe of her paper pieced dress. I love how the ribbon is fed through a horizontal slot punch and then the slit punch is over the main panel. So very cool! And the faux stitching goes to the edges instead of the usual horizontal pattern. I wish you could all see this beauty for yourselves, but you'll have to come see it at my house, because this one's not leaving my sight. ;) Thanks Julie, you made my day!

Getting Dirty with CPS

Guess what? Yesterday I was Kraftin' Kimmie's August Kool Krafter! Check out this post to read more about li'l ole me and see the projects I picked as some of my favorites for her to feature.
Today's card is one I made specifically for Kimmie's feature. I used this week's CPS sketch #26 and the Crate Paper Cowgirl line. I am so into fall colors right now - I think I skipped right over summer. The flower images is one of my 70% off Penny Black steals called Clusters. I stamped it in Timber Brown StaZon on Pearlized Cream paper and then colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. Next I stamped the Thinking of You sentiment from Fancy Florals in Ruby Red and then I used the Vintage Values technique to sponge varying depths of Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip ink around the edges to get it good and "dirty". I used my Tonic paper distresser to roughen up the edges and then used my Mat Pack to pierce holes down the strip for brads. The brads are from American Crafts Elements. I added the prima flower and sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip ink to mute the brightness of the pima. Finally I took my paper piercer and mat pack and punched holes all around all the panels. The card measures 5.25" square and is on a Chocolate Chip base.

Stamps: Fancy Florals (Verve Visual), Clusters (Penny Black)
Paper:
Pearlized Cream (Paper Accents), Cowgirl (Crate Paper), Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Ink: Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip (SU!), Timber Brown (StaZon)
Accessories: Prima flower, Brads (American Crafts), Paper piercer, Mat Pack (SU!), Pop Dots

Fancy Florals Knot

Woohoo! Today's the big day! Verve Visual's second stamp release, Fancy Florals, is available for pre-order today! This set is regularly priced at $22.50 but will be available during the pre-order period for just $19.95. This special pre-order price is only good through August 19th at 11:59 PM Mountain Time. Pre-orders will ship out beginning August 20.

Along with the release of a new set, I have launched the Verve Visual blog. If you're interested in my ramblings about what I was thinking when I designed this set, hop on over to http://www.vervevisual.blogspot.com/. Look for some great projects, ideas and contests to be posted there in the future.

Today's project is a tweak of the 9 short Nugget Box template. I wanted a box that could fit 4.25" cards, so I started with a square nugget box pattern and then adjusted the measurements to fit. The box is made from Basic Black cardstock and is embossed using the Textile embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. The knot is a chipboard knot from Maya Road that I inked with Colorbox Warm Red Chalk ink and then embossed with Irridescent Ice. The color wasn't deep enough the first time, so I inked over the top again and then embossed with another layer of Irridescent Ice and it positively SHIMMERS! :) The flowers are from the Fancy Florals set and are stamped in Warm Red and Rose Colorbox Chalk Inks and embossed with Irridescent Ice. Are you sensing a theme? I can't believe I had never even opened my bottle of Irridescent Ice until this weekend! It's FABULOUS stuff! The ribbon is wide grosgrain from Michael's and is wrapped through the chipboard knot and secured to the back of the box with Terrifically Tacky Tape. I love how this turned out - so much better than my photo! Only one problem... it's too shimmery and sparkly for me to part with! LOL! Guess I'll have to make another!

Have a great day, peeps! And don't forget to check out the stunning projects my design team cooked up in the Fancy Florals Gallery!

Feelin' Sketchy

Sketch challenges are one of my favorite things to do. Sketches are just so great when you just want to stamp for the joy of stamping and don't want to get bogged down with coming up with the next great thing to take the stamping world by storm. LOL! (As if my layouts would ever take anything but my craft room by storm!)

Anyhow, this fabulous sketch is Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #14 and I just loved it. I'm just happy as a lark when I can add tons of layers and dimensions to my cards - and this layout was perfect for that. All the patterned paper is from the Carnival line of Crate Paper and is matted on Only Orange (or Pumpkin Pie - I can't remember which I decided after I had the great debate over which to choose - and the card is already off in the mail. Hooray for me - I've been sending my cards out!) Anyway, back to the card - I think it's Only Orange. I stamped one of the solid flowers from Fancy Florals on Pearlized White Paper Accents paper in Tempting Turquoise (stamped off on scratch paper once to soften it a bit) and then stamped over the top with the Happy Birthday sentiment.

The circle is made with my Creative Memories Circle Cutting System and matted with an Extra Jumbo Scallop Circle Punch. I then stamped two of the stamps Fancy Florals on patterned paper, cut them out and layered them in the circle with a Bazzill ocean splash brad. The little orange tabs are made by layering a small and large Stampin' Up! oval punch and then lining it up on an angle with the corners of the panels and snipping off the excess. I finished off the card with a May Arts wrinkled ribbon, lots of paper piercing, and some dots with my White Glaze Pen.

Stamps: Fancy Florals (Verve Visual)
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange (SU!)
Paper: Carnival Collection (Crate Paper), Pearlized White Cardstock (Paper Accents), Only Orange (SU!)
Accessories: Small and Large Oval Punch (SU!), Circle cutting system (Creative Memories), Extra Jumbo Scallop Circle Punch (Marvy Uchida), Paper Piercer (Making Memories), Ribbon (May Arts), Brad (Bazzill), White Glaze Pen (Sakura), Bloom Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Just a Little Crush

Wow! I can't believe how fast the weekend flew by. I did decide to just drop everything that's been vying for my attention yesterday and take several hours just to stamp. So therapeutic!

Since I had lots of stamping to catch up on I printed off a bunch of sketches and just started going down the pile. The first was Jen's (today's her birthday, so go wish her some happy thoughts!) sketch for the first day of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges. I didn't have any time whatsoever to stamp when the challenges were going on, but I've seen so many wonderful cards that I printed off all the challenges and will hopefully work through them as I have time. I kind of fudged a little on this one, though (you know me and playing by the rules). I had it all exactly as the sketch outlined, but it just looked "off" to me. I decided to skew the butterfuly panel and really liked it. Four hours later, I don't like it so much! LOL! Oh well, it is what it is.

The designer paper on this card is from the Crate Paper Crush Collection and is one of my favorites. I stamped the Penny Black Butterfly on Pearlized Creme Paper Accents paper in Really Rust and then overstamped it with VersaMark ink and embossed with Irridescent Ice. Next I sponged around the panel starting with Creamy Caramel and then Really Rust. I covered the Plain Janes chipboard buton flower with paper and then VersaMarked and embossed with Irridescent Ice. Next I stamped the x's from All in a Row across the top and bottom of the panels and then stamped the Thoughtful Phrases You Brighten My Day stamp in the corner. The rust ribbon is May Arts. The whole card is 5.25" square and on a Creamy Caramel base.

Stamps: Thoughtful Phrases (Verve Visual), Butterfly (Penny Black), All in a Row (Stampin' Up!)
Inks: Really Rust, Creamy Caramel (Stampin' Up!), Timber Brown StaZon, VersaMark (Tsukineko),
Paper: Pearlized Cream (Paper Accents), Crush (Crate Paper)
Accessories: Chipboard flower (Plain Janes), Rust Ribbon (May Arts), Irridescent Ice embossing powder (Stampin' Up!)

Okay, I have a couple RAK's that I'm really late in posting. One is SUPER DUPER late because the card got misplaced on the way to my photo studio and I just found it this weekend. It's a birthday card from Rachel at JazzyCreations. Such a pretty card - I feel so bad for not being able to thank Rachel until now. I knew there was a card missing, I just had no idea where it was! Thanks Rachel, it's so sweet of you to brighten my day with a card!

The second RAK is from Suzy H and is just such a happy little card. I love this layout and the colors. The flowers look all glossy and beautiful with their sparkly flowers. Thanks for your sweet note and for the beautiful card, Suzy!

Lucky Dog!

I've had the idea for this card rolling around in my head for a while now, but just haven't had the time to sit down and put it to paper until now. I just love this little Yappy stamp from The Cat's Pajamas. I colored the clovers in with a Green Stardust pen and then stamped You Lucky Dog with two different sets of Karen Foster Snap stamps. Next I added some green dots around the panel and matted on Basic Black. The patterned paper are scraps of that fabulous Reminisce paper I used for St. Patrick's Day this year. The shamrock is just cut from another piece of this same line of paper and mounted on 2 thicknesses of pop dots. In keeping with the lucky theme, I tied on a little lucky horseshoe charm that Amy sent me. This card is already in the mail, off to some "lucky dog." I was able to get about 10 cards mailed out yesterday and several of you sent me some good news to cheer me up, so my bad day cloud has officially passed.

Well, my hubby got his allergy test results back and he is off the charts allergic to every kind of grass imaginable (like a score of 11,000 when 500 means your allergic). So, lucky for him, the doctor told him not to mow the lawn. I'm severely allergic to grass too and was told by a doctor many years ago not to mow. Occasionally I've filled in for hubby, but I have to to practically wear a hazmat suit just to survive! I wonder if our Homeowner's Association would mind if we tore out all the grass and replaced it with astroturf!? LOL! Okay, that's it - short and sweet today. Have a fantastic day everyone!

Good, good, good, good vibrations!

That song just keeps going through my head. Yesterday it seemed like everywhere I turned I found someone who was going through some really rough times. A divorce that just rips your heart out to hear the details, ailing parents, deaths, rapidly spreading melanoma for my FIL.. and the list goes on. It was just one of those sucky days, ya know? I just felt like I needed to send some good thoughts out into the world, so I sat down to make a card.

As I was sitting there, I started thinking about how much time I spend making cards, writing about cards, photographing cards, buying stuff for cards... but rarely do I take the time to sit down and actually send the cards out! And isn't that the whole point? While I try not to ever miss the big occasions, it's really the little ones that matter the most, isn't it? Those days when you just need a little lift, an encouraging word, a small little smile - to know someone's thinking of you? So today, I'm going to mail out cards. If you've got a stash I challenge you to do the same. It only takes a stamp and a little time to make a big difference in someone's world.

A few weeks ago when I was all drugged up on pain medication I steeled myself up long enough to head to the local LSS for their annual sidewalk sale. I'm so glad I did because I ended up walking away with about 10 different gorgeous Penny Black stamps that were all about 70% off when it was all said and done! Penny Black is my all-time favorite stamp company so I was walking on Cloud 9. Although I'm not really into Fluffles and all the critters I just LOVE the sentiments and the beautiful flowers. This Prince of Orange stamp was one of my super finds and I'm just grinning ear to ear as I look at it.

I stamped the Penny Black Prince of Orange in Ancient Page Coal Black on White Conqueror cardstock and then colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I added just a touch of accents to the flowers with Orange Peel Stickles. Next I stamped the Thoughtful Phrases Sending you Smiles stamp on the side and used my Mat Pack and paper piercer to pierce holes down the side. And guess what folks, I - the worst seamstress in the world, hand-stitched that line down the side! Next I took my Acrylic sheet from my Stamp-A-Majig and lined it up on the stitching and used it as a mask to sponge Pumpkin Pie ink down the side of the white cardstock. I matted this whole piece on Black cardstock and then added some reversible satin May Arts ribbon in the lower corner at an angle and placed a big button on top of it.

The background of the card is from the Tres Jolie Handsome paper and is Cuttlebugged with the Textile embossing folder and then sponged with Pumpkin Pie ink. I then matted on Basic Black and tied some Black Grosgrain ribbon down the side and added a piece of the orange ribbon for a double knot. The whole thing is on a regular size Pumpkin Pie card base.

Paper Tole Attempt

Colleen's Thursday Throwdown this week was to try a new technique - and it had to be something NEW to me. Since I've been stamping almost 13 years now, I've tried a LOT of techniques, and if I haven't tried it, it's usually because I wasn't interested in it. So when I saw the SCS technique challenge on Monday was Paper Tole, I thought - hey, there's something new for me to try. I've always loved cards using this technique, but I've never had a set to try it with. So I decided to pull out Fancy Florals to see if it would work.

The flower on this card is the fourth tole flower I attempted. I learned a few things NOT to do with this technique through my trials in the studio...

1. "If a little bit is better, a lot is great" does not apply to the amount of water you should use when spritzing your flowers. I DRENCHED my paper and it wrinkled and split.
2. Don't accidentally mistake your bottle of Ultra-Clean for your water bottle. It wrinkles the paper and does not curl well at all!
3. Don't put Stickles on until AFTER you've sponged color onto your petals.
4. Don't use double sided tape between layers - use pop dots, or you're going to end up with one flat mess of a flower.
5. Don't "help" the rolling process with your fingernails. They will leave nasty marks in your flower that you can't hide.

The color combination is yesterday's color challenge on SCS - Soft Sky, Blue Bayou and Cameo Coral. I think this might be the first time in the 2+ years I've had my new Stampin' Up ink pads that I used Cameo Coral. It's NOT one of my fave colors. I think the card needs some close to cocoa or chocolate chip instead of coral, but I do the challenges because they stretch me, not because I necessarily like the combo.

I started by stamping three different sized flowers from the Fancy Florals set in Cameo Coral, cutting them out and doing the Paper Tole technique to make a more realistic looking flower. Next I punched out a Soft Sky Mega and a Blue Bayou Giga Scallop circle. I used the smallest starburst from the Fancy Florals set to add a little burst to each scallop around the circle and then pierced a hole in the center of each one. Next I inked up just the birthday part of the Happy Birthday sentiment and stamped it in the center of the mega scallop circle and randomly stamped medium starbursts in the background. I then randomly stamped all three sizes of starbursts on the last of my soft sky scraps. (I decided to put a big band through the middle of the card because I didn't have a large enough piece of soft sky!)

For the band strip, I inked up the Happy part of the sentiment with Cameo Coral marker and stamped across the strip and then stamped the medium starburst across the top and bottom of the strip. I then matted this on Blue Bayou and pierced holes across the top and bottom. The Blue Bayou corners are made from a Mega Scallop square punch. (Details on how to do this can be found here). The card base is 6 x 6 and I stamped the small starburst off the edges all the way around the base of the card. I started out using Stardust Stickles on the card and then the phone rang and I walked off with my Stickles bottle. When I came back I couldn't find it so I finished off with a mixture of Diamond Glaze and Art Institute Crystal Glitter.

Whew! Maybe I should stick to writing my posts late at night when I'm too tired to think. This is getting super long! LOL! I have a couple shout-outs for some fabulous RAKs I've received. I'm just so SPOILED! :)

The first is a RAK-BACK (I love that phrase) from Allison at Stampin' When I Can. This American Crafts paper is so yummy and I love how she stamped the leaves in black. So trendy! Thanks Allison!

The second is from the oh-so-talented Sherrie at Card Creme. I love this fabulous black and white card. There is so much paper piecing and texture in this card. It is truly a delight to sit and look at and figure out how it was done. And her little string of pearls even survived the long Canada post/US post journey to my mailbox. Thanks so much Sherrie!

The third is the reveal gift I got from my DSS, Kimmery! She sent a fabulous box of goodies - it was hard to photograph, the box was overflowing! Three beautiful cards, tons of bella and fella images, rhinestone brads, ribbons, tiny flowers, queen & co. brads, a handmade notebook, embellishments and lemonheads (mmmm, SO YUMMY). Thanks so much, Kim - I loved it all!

More Fancy Florals

It's amazing how much happier I am when I get time to stamp. I've been walking around the house like a cranky old thing the last week or so, and yesterday I was just on cloud nine. I stamped on Sunday, I stamped yesterday - my creative soul feels rejuvenated!

I just love how this card turned out! I started out with Jen del Muro's awesome sketch and the Gretel line of Cosmo Cricket papers. First I stamped two different sized flowers from the soon to be released Verve Visual Fancy Florals set in Cranberry Crisp on Pearlized Cream Mediumweight paper (so shimmery!) and then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the flower center and stamped it with Chocolate Chip ink. I then punched the flower out with a Marvy Mega Scalloped square punch, pierced each scallop and sponged lightly with Creamy Caramel ink. I matted this (offset diagonally) on a Chocolate Chip Giga Scalloped Square punch. Next I pierced holes in each scallop and lightly went around each hole with a Clear Glaze pen to make the piercing more noticable. I used a Chocolate Chip marker and the Many Thanks sentiment to ink each word up separately. I punched the Thanks out with the small oval punch, sponged with Creamy Caramel and matted on a Chocolate Chip large oval punch that I pierced around the edges. The Many was cut with a Mega square punch and also sponged it lightly with Creamy Caramel and used a small corner rounder to give it a tab like feel.

The corners on the large square are made with the corner of the Mega Square punch and then I used a brad in each center. I pierced a few holes across the horizontal strip of paper and then added three brads on each side for some embellishment. I am just coming to the realization that it's okay to use lots of brads on one card! LOL. The card is a 5.25" square base that I Cuttlebugged with the Textile embossing folder.

I received this fabulous RAK from Dottie K. Isn't TinkerBella just beautiful with her sparkly wings? Dottie used some of the paper I sent as her Bingo Sketch prize to make this sweet, sweet thank you card. I adore it - thanks so much Dottie!

A Sneaky Peeky

You know it's been too long since you've stamped when you can't remember where things are in your own studio! That was me yesterday, tearing things apart trying to remember where I put my Essential Glue Pad. I've been drooling over the glitter possibilities ever since I finished designing this stamp set, so I just HAD to find that pad! LOL!

The card started off for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. I knew when I saw the challenge that I'd have to do it so I could use my handy dandy new Scor-Pal that has been collecting dust since it arrived right before my oral surgery. I started making the card before I really understood what the end result was supposed to look like, so the card turned into an excuse to play around with the next stamp release for Verve Visual, Fancy Florals (available later this month). I am so excited about this set, because it has so many options... 28 stamps perfect for layering, two-step stamping, coloring, paper piecing - you name it. It's just FUN!

The card base is 8.5" x 5.5" and then you score at 5.5" and 8 1/8". The tiny little flap is folded forward and tied with ribbon. The resulting card when closed is 5.5" square. Since I was having so much fun, I went a little overboard and used 9 different stamps from Fancy Florals on this card. The centers of the flowers are stamped with Rose Red and then overstamped with the Essential Glue Pad and coated with Art Institute Crystal Glitter. I added a strip of paper from the Palette O' Prints pad to the flap to cover up the fact that I scored at the wrong place and had an extra line down my flap. I then stamped the sentiment and punched out with the Mega Scallop Rectangle punch and used the horizontal slot punch to make it a tag and attach with ribbon to tie the flap closed. The large flowers are stamped and then cut out and layered on Mini Pop Dots.

Okay, now that I've got my feet wet and ventured back in the studio hopefully I'll have lots of projects to share with you this week.

Easy Card Set

Happy weekend everyone! Today I'm featuring a set of 4 cards I made using Thoughtful Phrases and some images I had stamped and colored a few months ago when I was at Lila's. This set was so easy to make, especially since the coloring was already done.

The flower is the Ruffle flower by Stampendous and is stamped in Ancient Page Coal Black ink and colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. I then added Stardust Stickles around the ruffles and the flower centers. For the backgrounds I randomly stamped the starburst stamp from the Little Lady PaperTrey set on scraps of Cool Caribbean and Rose Red paper and then used my small Marvy square punch to cut out the squares. I also punched squares in Basic Black and then alternated them in a checkerboard fashion on a white card base.

For the sentiments I stamped each phrase from Thoughtful Phrases on white cardstock and then punched out with the Word Window punch. I then glued to Basic Black and cut around the edges with my Provocraft mini scallop scissors. I really like how the checkerboard turned out. I think the whole set only took me about 20 minutes (of course the coloring was already finished, so I cheated just a bit).

Okay, that's it for today. Hopefully I'll be making a mess in my studio this weekend! I need some stamping therapy! :)

Long Time No Post!

Hi Everyone! Guess what? I'm alive! LOL! I hope you haven't all given up on me! I've just been busy, busy, busy with the launch of Verve Visual! After staying up 40 hours straight to finish the website and launch the store, I finally keeled over and got some sleep. Yay!

So... needless to say there hasn't been much stamping going on around here lately. I do have a project to show you I made last week (or was it the week before, they're all running together now!) It's another set of those adorable little ATC's. What could BEE cuter? LOL.

This one uses Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl Paper and SU! Real Red cardstock. I stamped the Stampendous Bee Flowery on Pearlized white cardstock and colored with prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. Next I cut the oval with my Creative Memories cutting sytem and matted on a Super Jumbo Scallop Oval (I think this punch is my new favorite!) The scallops on the horizontal strip and around the word window punch are made using my Fiskars scallop scissors and my ProvoCraft mini scallop scissors. The sentiment is from the Thoughtful Phrases Verve Visual set. To finish off I added some Judikins Diamond Glaze/Glitter mixture to the scallops and the bee and added the tiniest little Heide Swapp bling flower to the sentiment.

Oh, and see my new watermark for my cards for Verve? Dina over at Mama Dini's DigiSig Diner made it (and several others) for me to use in the Verve Visual gallery. She was AWESOME to work with - she's Speedy Gonzales fast and I absolutely love how they turned out (and I'm pretty picky when it comes to design work). So if you're ever in need of a signature, look Dina up - she's the Bomb Diggity!

So the mail has been piling up and in it have been some pretty fabulous RAKs. This first one was a birthday RAK from Amy. I love everything about this card. I spied this paper last week at the LSS and had to hop online when I got home and order some up. So the order came on the same day as Amy's card - so now I have the paper needed to imitate Amy's fabulous style! She also included some really Rockin' embellishments and ribbon. What more could a girl ask for? Thanks so much Amy!


The second card is a RAK from Dana. This little card is just the cutest. It's 3.5" x 4.75" and I just love the layout. The little button with the ribbon hanging off the side just gives it that perfect amount of sass! :) I always love Dana's creations, she's got such an eclectic stamp collection - it seems like every time I visit her blog I see some stamps I've never seen before.

The third card is a birthday RAK from Simone (spazzgirl). You all know how much I love these little bees, and this card is no exception! She even put glitter on the wings, just like I like it! Thanks for brightening my day, Simone - it's an adorable card!

Okay, was that a long enough post to make up for two missed days of blogging? I just got some samples of my next stamp release in, so I'm hoping to find some time to play today! Be watching in the next few days for a sneaky peeky. :)