Dreams and Gratitude with a RAK

I feel kind of weird posting this, but yet, so incredibly grateful and blessed, I really have to share. I cannot believe the dream that I am living in right now. To have projects in each of these magazines shown is completely surreal. And I find it so amazing to see where my life has moved in the past year or so, to a place that I never thought about, but am so thankful for. Isn't God amazing? He can take your broken dreams and replace them with bigger and better dreams. My heart and soul are filled with more joy than I think I can handle! :) To have a beautiful family and seeing the impossible become possible...well, I am going to enjoy and embrace every minute of it, as long as it lasts.

SO, with all this happiness and the fact that it is my birthday today, I am going to give away a GI-NORMOUS RAK! :) It has tons of paper, chipboard, ribbon, flowers, stickers, and more. I will also draw one other name to get a copy of the May/June issue of Paper Crafts.

Leave a comment here about what you are thankful for in your life. You have until midnight tonight. I will draw a winner later tomorrow.

thank you for stopping by, you know how much it always means to me!

Don't forget JustRite week at Stamper's Dream and the store just got all the new Spellbinders dies in, that includes the new Impressabilities!!! :)

Just Rite Week! Home Wall Hanging

We are celebrating the new releases from Just Rite this week at Stamper's Dream! All week the team will be bringing you projects using all the newest stamps.I am in love with quotes and wall hangings. I adore the look of the signs you can buy in boutiques, but with Just Rite stamps, you can make your own! I have a giant binder full of quotes and now it is coming in handy. My sister and her husband are starting to look for their first house and this is going to be a perfect little house-warming gift for them.

I started by removing the glass from an IKEA wood frame. I mixed the paints to achieve the color brown I wanted. I chose a dark brown to work with patterned papers from My Mind's Eye I had put together. You can use any acrylic paint. Give it a little time to dry. For this project, I chose not to paint the back and insides, but it is all personal preference.

While waiting for the paint to dry, I grabbed a darling little tree and bird shape chipboard pieces from Maya Road. Wanting them to be colored, but not painted, I used an ink pad. I pushed the ink pad directly onto the chipboard until I got the amount of color I desired.

To spell out the word home, I used the Harmony Rectangle wood mount (large) and the 95 point Brayton font. I stamped the word in chalk ink so it would be soft and lighter that the rest of the wording. The image looks incomplete, but the texture of the paper caused it and it was the look I wanted to achieve. The paper is actually the back of one of the patterned papers. It has faded words typed on it, you can click for a closer look. It was cut from the paper with a Long Rectangle Spellbinders Die Template.

To write the rest of the sentiment, I used a dye-based ink in a dark shade of brown. I wanted it to stand out from the word home. The font is the new Times New Roman 25 point set. I mounted the letters on the same large rectangle mount. It helped me space the letters around the word home.

The edge of the frame needed a little extra something, so I stamped a paisley image and watermark ink. Once the ink dried, I sprayed the frame only, with Krylon clear, matte, waterproof spray paint, to set and protect the paint and ink.

I then placed the sentiments, papers, punched heart inside the frame. The tree and bird where glued to the outside of the frame.
There you have it. I hope I have inpired you to get creative with the Just Rite letters and to make some very special personalized gifts.

Check out what Michelle has created today!
thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps-Just Rite (Brayton Font, Times New Roman 25 pt. Font, Harmony Rectangle Mount), Clearly Wordsworth (Paisley's Collection)

Patterned paper-My Mind's Eye (Penny Lane Freebird)

Chipboard-Maya Road

Ink-Versamark (Watermark), Colorbox Chalk (Creamy Brown), Palette (Dark Chocolate, Giverny Green, Reflections Blue)

Frame-IKEA

Paint-Making Memories

Tools-Spellbinders Die Templates (Long Rectangles Small), Heart Punch Medium (EK Success)

BTW-The weekend was a blast. The UMD Bulldogs ended up losing the game to get into the Frozen Four, but they had a fantastic season with an amazing end, so we are proud. We did some shopping and I was diagnosed with a sinus infection, no wonder I was not feeling well! :) I also got to eat at a favorite restaurant and spend some quality time with my husband, while DS spent quality time with grandpa and grandma. It was nice to have another little adventure! Hope your weekend was wonderful too! :) (((HUGS))

Just Because

Just more fun playing with stamps and papers and colors. Isn't it a great? I love paper crafting! The images on this card are from the Papertrey Ink Anniversary Set from this year, called, Everyday Classics. Fabulous set!
thanks so much for stopping by, it is always appreciated!!

Supplies:
Papertrey Ink
Cardstock-Melon Berry, Ocean Tides, True Black, Kraft
Stamps-Everyday Classics (Anniversary Set), Damask Designs
Ink-Colorbox Chalk (Creamy Brown), Versamark (Watermark), Palette (Dark Chocolate, Water Lily)
Embossing powder-White Detail
Lace-Wrights
Buttons-Le Button
Twine-Martha Stewart
Tools-Fiskars Border Punch (Scalloped sentiments), Distressing Tool (Making Memories)

Easter Treat Holder

With Easter approaching, I wanted to make a cute project that I could easily give out to teachers, day care providers, and the like. To create this treat box, I adapted a card box. The chocolate marshmellow bunnies from Hershey's fit inside it perfectly!
I stamped Pea-Nut Bunny with Memento Ink on Prism paper and colored him in with Copics. I also cut out and colored a basket for him to hold. The patterned papers and die cuts are from the new paper lines by My Mind's Eye.

I suppose I could have printed this on patterned paper, but I decided to cover white cardstock with the paper, to add different patterns here and there. The ribbon is secured with red line tape.

thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps-Our Craft Lounge (Pea-Nut Bunny)

Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black)

Patterned paper, Die Cuts-My Mind's Eye (Bloom and Grow)

Cardstock-Prism (Simply Smooth)

Template-The Cutting Cafe

Buttons-Papertrey Ink, Autumn Leaves

Ribbon-Offray

Tools-Copics W3, E55, E57, E59, RV11, YG25, G07, B32, V04, Y13, Y15

Let's Go Shopping

What girl doesn't love a purse and shopping? I really enjoy the new stamp set from Impression Obsession by Sarah Phelps. Pair it up with the new My Mind's Eye Penny Lane papers and you have a pretty cute card and gift bag. The bag is being recycled. It used to hold buttons, but now it will perfectly hold a gift card! My sister, mom, and I all love shopping together, so I am thinking that this might be a great way to give them a surprise for one of our outings.
Stamper's Dream now has all the brand new Just Rite stamps in! Next week the team will be showing off projects every day...get the stamps now, seriously!! :)
thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-Impression Obsession (Let's Go Shopping)
Patterned paper-My Mind's Eye (Penny Lane)
Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Cardstock-Prism (Brilliant White, Intense Orange, Kiwi, Teal)
Gems-Kaiser
Rub on-American Crafts
Tools-Spellbinders Die Templates (Classic Circles Large, Label Trio), Fiskars border punch (Scalloped Sentiments), Copics YR06, E57,E59, R08, BG10, BG15, YG25, B32

Inching by to say hi

Simple card, but check out the little caterpillars on the patterned paper! Aren't they the cutest? This is new paper from American Crafts called, Backyard. When I saw the paper, I knew I had to use the sentiment from Pond Life! :)
Spellbinders owner, Stacy Caron will be on QVC today with Lisa Bearson showing the Spellbinders products! She will be on from 1-3 pm EST. Check it out! :)
thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (Dark Chocolate)
Stamps-Papertrey Ink (Pond Life Sentiments)
Patterned paper-American Crafts (Backyard)
Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Tools-Spellbinders Die Templates (Label Trio), Fiskars Border Punch (Upper Crest)

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: Embossing

Today's Timeless Tuesday Challenge, brought to us by our fearless leader, Betty Wright, was to use embossing. We would love for you to play along and have the chance to win! Check out the Flourishes Newsletter for all the details.

Ok, so my take on the challenge, is a bit, well, out there. When I saw the stamps with the mail in the bowl, it got me thinking. Thinking about the bowl on our table with a pile of mail in it. Thinking that, isn't it great when there is "good mail?!" I also had this cute add-on kit from Studio Calico, with envelopes and airmail papers. Mix the two thoughts together and you get this card. I wanted the card to look like a pile of mail, but on the top, was the piece of "good mail." Yep, kind of out there. And where on earth is the embossing you ask? I embossed the image and the sentiment onto the vellum of the "good mail" card. (which actually opens.)

So, if you want to see some normal cards :), check out what the rest of my fabulous teammates came up with, aren't they amazing?
Becca Feeken
Betty Wright
Cindy Haffner
Dee Jackson
Silke Ledlow
All in stock Spellbinders dies will be on sale TODAY for 24 hours ONLY for 10% off as part of our Timeless Tuesday challenge!

The UMD Bulldogs did win the WCHA Championship! The game and the whole weekend were fantastic! We are headed down again this weekend to watch them play in the regional tournament! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-Flourishes (Mixed Greetings)
Papers, Stamp, Waxy Flax-Studio Calico Kit
Embossing powder-Stampendous (Clear Detail)

Life

LOVE the new Life set from Papertrey Ink. I am in love with quite a few things on this card. My dearest friend Charlene Austin has been using these fabulous flowers from Prima. Being a Spellbinders girl, I though, hmmm, I can make those myself! So, I cut out several circles. A few got embossed with a Cuttlebug Folder, and one got stamped, and the others were left plain. I distressed the edges of the circles and wrinkled them up. I punched through all the layers and added a brad. Pretty cool, huh?
The background was stamped and embossed and the ribbon was stitched and folded with the sewing machine. Oh, and the border on the bottom is my latest border punch. (Man, I have a ton of those...) It is called Upper Crest and it is from Fiskars.
Hope you had a super weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (True Black, Raspberry Fizz, White, New Leaf)
Stamps-Papertrey Ink (Polka Dot Basics, Life)
Ribbon-Papertrey Ink (New Leaf Grosgrain)
Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Versamark (Watermark)
Embossing powder-Stampendous (White Detail)
Brad-WR Memory Keepers
Gems-Hero Arts
Tools-Spellbinders Die Templates (Classic Circles Large and Small), Sewing Machine, Fiskars Border Punch (Upper Crest)

Back into the swing of things

It is so good to be feeling better and back into the swing of things! I had so many stamp sets waiting to get inky! In fact, yesterday, I made 8 cards!

Background Basics Retro is the BEST set ever. While at CHA, I had several images, motifs and ideas for products I wanted to design with in my head. There was nothing and no one had what I was looking for. Then lo and behold, the brilliant Melissa Bickford comes up with a set that had everything I was looking for and so much more! The backgrounds are SO creative and SO cool right now! I cannot stop using them. The more I play with the set, the more I learn.
I also love the Friends Til The End set. Nothing could be more beautiful than that flower!
Oh, and I masked the sentiment so instead of it being in a line, it was stacked up. Love that look.

As this posts, we are heading to St. Paul and Minneapolis for the rest of the weekend. Totally spur of the moment. DH and I are huge hockey fans of our alma mater, the University of Minnesota-Duluth. They are a D1 hockey program and this weekend they played their way to the WCHA (league) championship!! We normally don't miss the tournament, so we decided we better head to the game tonight!! Then we will be making a weekend of it.

Have a great weekend! thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies Papertrey Ink:
Cardstock-White, Raspberry Fizz, Dark Chocolate, New Leaf
Stamps-Background Basics Retro, Friends Til The End
Ink-Palette (Raspberry Fizz, New Leaf), Versamark Watermark
Embossing Powder-White
Gems-Hero Arts

Finally Friday

Have you been following Stamp It! Cards week on the Moxie Fab blog and the Paper Crafts Connection blog? All week long they have been showing off the special issue and some fantastic stamping product! Like today, leave a comment on the Moxie Fab World blog for a chance to win a copy of Stamp It!, some American Crafts stamps and embossing powder, as well as a pot pourri of stamps from other great manufacturers. AND Paper Crafts Connection where you will have a chance to win a Copic marker set worth over $70. Wahoo!
If you haven't picked up your copy yet, you can grab it HERE. It really is full of great ideas and wonderful inspiration!

****Please check out the post today....wink wink wink wink wink! :) *****

Have you been buying Easter candy yet? I have been, but mostly for me to eat, not for the little man's basket! :) I found some great Jolly Rancher jelly beans that inspired the colors for the little treat bag and card.
The treat bag was pre-made, but I used my Spellbinders circle Nestabilities to create the window. The card background was stamped on white cardstock and the bunnies were colored in with Copics. Pretty simple, but bright and springy!
Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-Our Craft Lounge (Pea-Nut Bunny)
Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (White, Melon Berry, Lavender Moon)
Buttons-Papertrey Ink
Tools-Spellbinders Die Templates (Circle Large, Classic Scalloped Circles Large), Tiny Tag (Provo Craft), Fiskars Border Punch (Scalloped Sentiments), Copics YR04, V04, RV11
Twine-Wright's

Stamper's Dream Dreamy Challenge 6

Today's Stamper's Dream Dreamy Challenge is to CASE someone on the team and I CASED Michelle. See the card I used as inspiration, created by Michelle, by clicking HERE. All of Michelle's cards are so perfect and full of beautiful colors, I had a hard time choosing just one! I liked the design of this one, with the image on the left side. I also like the darling grouping of flowers in the bottom right corner and the two gems along the top. So, I used those ideas on my card.
Our challenge to you is, CASE one of the team's cards. Upload it to your blog or SCS using the keyword SDDC6. You must also link the card you cased. Michelle has put up a great prize for the randomly drawn winner.
Check out the rest of the team's gorgeous work:
Michelle Rodgers
Charmaine Ikach
Cindy Motherway
Denise Marzec
Laurie Schmidlin
Tosha Leyendekker

Supplies:
Patterned paper-My Mind's Eye
Stamps-Stampavie
Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Ranger (Distressing Ink Frayed Burlap)
Twine-May Arts
Flower-Making Memories
Gems-Hero Arts Hearts
Tools-Copics V04, V06, V09, Y13, Y15, E55, E57, E59, W3, B32

thanks for stopping by!

A huge thanks to each of you!!

Thanks to my sweet and so appreciated blog readers, I got a pretty fun phone call this morning!!!!! I won the Dymo label contest!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

This is going to call for some blog candy for sure!! Keep an eye out for it!!

THANK YOU!!

Giant hugs to each and everyone of you!!!!

Love

Another card sitting in my stash. The Love Songs set from Papertrey Ink is so much fun, and it has circle sentiments which are great to play with! Some Making Memories Sabrina papers again and I think you get a romantic card, which wouldn't be too girly to give your hubby.
I am starting to feel better and hoping to get back into my stamping room. Today I made a huge pile of product and stamps for all the ideas I have been dreaming of while on the couch. Time to get to work. :)
Anyone else totally want Danny to win Idol? He is fantastic! Who else do you like?
thanks for stopping by, hope you know how much I appreciate it!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

Good morning! This week's challenge from Cindy Haffner was to use ribbon. I thought making ribbon flowers would be a great idea. We would love for you to play along with us! Check out the Flourishes Newsletter for all the details.
Here is what the rest of the fabulous team came up with:
Becca Feeken
Betty Wright
Cindy Haffner
Dee Jackson
Silke Ledlow

To create the ribbon flowers, I cut 6 small pieces of ribbon. I glued the ends together and arranged the ribbon petals underneath the button. Pretty simple. I think I will try this differently again. I love the idea, but not the execution so much. I think if the ribbon were thinner and I turned the fold, rather than just leave it, the petals would have more depth. Something worth exploring.
Still feeling lousy, but things are looking up! thanks for all the well-wishes and for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-Flourishes (Many Sentiments), Papertrey Ink (Background Basics:Retro)
Patterned paper-Basic Grey (Sultry)
Ribbon-May Arts (Scalloped Edge Fuschia, Apple Green)
Cardstock-Papertrey Ink
Buttons-Making Memories, my mom's stash
Ink-Palette (Dark Chocolate), Colorbox Chalk (Creamy Brown)
Tools-Spellbinders Die Templates (Classic Ovals Large, Classic Scalloped Ovals Large), Corner Rounder

Paper Crafts is having a ton of fun this week celebrating the newest special issue, Stamp It! Check out all the fun and give aways at Paper Crafts Connections!

I have no idea why the date and day on the top says Monday. I scheduled this with the correct date, but it would not post. Once I changed the post date to yesterday, it worked. Huh? :)

Sorry I have not been around at all lately. DS was so terribly sick last week and then on Thursday night, I got it. The doctor says we got some strain of the flu that the shot didn't protect us from. Sigh. I think my fever broke this morning, but I have no energy. I am hoping that by tomrrow I will be back into the swing of things and can get back into my stamping room! :)
Here is a card I made a while back, but never shared. Ok, well this has been enough excitement for now.
thanks for stopping by! :)

Supplies:
Patterned paper-Making Memories (Sabrina)
Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (True Black)
Stamp-Papertrey Ink (Mixed Messages)
Ribbon-Papertrey Ink
Button-Making Memories
Lace and twine-Wrights
Tag-Die cut from Cuttlebug

Happy Spring

I would have to say, Happy Spring? We got about 4 inches of snow on Tuesday and yesterday the wind chill was at -30. Not very springy!

Aren't these two just the cutest? I colored them to look like DH and myself. (Big awwww :)) Lily and Milo. So sweet. They are colored with Copics and the umbrella was stamped on another sheet of cardstock and foam mounted. The papers inspired the colors, and they are from the new My Mind's Eye line, Penny Lane. The sentiment came from an Our Craft Lounge stamp set.

Let me just make a side note here. I just got a couple of OCL stamps and the storage system is so clever. The stamps are on an acrylic piece that has been punched to fit into a 3 ring binder. Its small, like half the size of a sheet of cardstock. The images are on the front for easy reference. Someone was sure thinking when they designed it! The stamps are great too!

thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-Stampavie (Lily and Milo), Our Craft Lounge (Pea-Nut Bunny Clear)
Patterned paper-My Mind's Eye (Penny Lane, Groovy)
Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Heart accent-no clue :)
Gems-Kaiser
Copics-BG10, B32, YG03, YG 25, R08, Y11, Y13, Y15, E00, RV11, O

Friends of Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

Its Timeless Tuesday! Today I am hosting the challenge and gave the Friends of Flourishes a sketch to use. Feel free to flip, bend, and change the sketch to inspire you. We would love if you would play along! Check out all the challenge details at the Flourishes Newsletter.
See how the ladies all used the sketch:
Becca Feeken
Betty Wright
Cindy Haffner
Dee Jackson
Silke Ledlow

For my card, I used the gorgeous Lilac set of stamps. Lilac has the obvious and these gorgeous magnolias and branches. I stamped the branch on the oval along with the flowers. I then stamped extra flowers on another piece of cardstock. I love foam-mounting parts of images, especially flowers.

The oval was colored in with my BG10 Copic marker and then washed out with the Colorless Blender. The sentiment is from Signs of Spring and the line and flourish above and below the oval is from Many Sentiments.

thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps-Flourishes (Lilac, Signs of Spring, Many Sentiments)

Patterned paper-My Mind's Eye, Crate Paper, Basic Grey

Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream)

Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black)

Tools-Spellbinders Die Templates (Classic Ovals Large, Classic Scalloped Ovals Large), Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart), Corner Rounder (Marvy Uchida) Copics BG10, V04, V06, O, E55, E57

Please keep my friend Alicia and her family in your prayers.

Photos of Las Vegas

I don't have too much to share lately. DS and I are on the couch for day two of not feeling well. So, I thought I would share some photos from our trip to Las Vegas. I will have a card tomorrow, so stop back for the Friends of Flourishes Timeless Tuesday.
The Stratosphere. You ride an elevator to the top. Amazing views! There are two rides on the top as well, a roller coaster and a tilt-o-whirl of sorts. There was no way I would hang off the top of this on a ride!! There was a Starbucks, so we grabbed hot cocoas, sat on a couch, and took in the views. I didn't know that Vegas was surrounded by beautiful mountains.

A view of the North end of the strip.

The Eiffel Tower at Paris.

The Bellagio. Gorgeous.

The water fountain show at the Bellagio. The entire hotel lighting scheme changes with the show. Amazing. Beautiful music as well.

The ceiling in the lobby of the Bellagio.

Inside the Bellagio was a Chinese garden art display. Tremendous works of art, celebrating Chinese traditions.

Mandalay Bay has an aquarium inside of it, with tunnels like this, where the sharks and other fish swim over the top. You can also stand inside a ship wreck, with the floors exposed, so you can see what is swimming under the ship.

The aquarium has wonderful displays, including an Amazon jungle (complete with suffocating steam and heat :)) beginning that has piranha! They are guarded by a staff member at all times because you could stick your hand in there...

This was taken at the garden square of the Venetian. The garden comes to life in a show. There are women on stilts appearing as vines. Their movements are amazing. Then the statues come to life. The visual spectacle of Vegas is something that has to be experienced in person. The scale and size of everything can almost lead you to sensory overload, but it was marvelous!

The gondolas on the canal in the Venetian. The Blue Man Group show was here. They were hilarious! I was crying from laughing so hard. Dry, sarcastic, subtle, and brilliant. You will never look at Peanut Butter Crunch the same again...

The town square in the Venetian. The ceiling was breathtaking! There were perfomers, food, and muscians. The musicians are in traditional clothing. They walk around the casino shopping areas and you can take photos with them. There was a store in the shopping center where you could buy the outfits. I am thankful for jeans and t-shirts! :)

We went to Cirque Du Soleil Love at the Mirage. The show is based on The Beatles music. Another visually overwhelming show! We loved it and sat jaw-dropped for almost 2 hours.

This is New York, New York. It was across the street from the MGM Grand, where we stayed. Can you see the roller coaster? It goes all over the outisde and inside of the casino. The skyline they created was fantastic.

The food court inside was a ton of fun. They re-created Greenwich village. All the restaurants were along these brownstones. The windows were dressed, lights on, birds on the landings, it was remarkable. We ate at a little Mexican place. I had shrimp fajitas, all I can say is yum!

Look at those desserts!! There was a little bakery in New York, New York that had an entire display of intricate desserts. Painted chocolate, gold leafing, exotic flavors, pure creativity. And yes, they were as scrumptious as they look. After I got over the whole, having to break it to eat it thing! :)

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!