thanks and goodbyes

Today’s post is a bittersweet one for me. It is my last day with the team at Stamper’s Dream. Being on Michelle Rodger’s team has been wonderful and the whole team is so talented, it amazes me. But, life is busy and it is time to move on. I could never express my gratitude and love, so I won’t even try. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Supplies: Stamps-Penny Black (Perfect Day ), Hero Arts, Ink-Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black), Patterned paper-October Afternoon (Cherry Hill), Basic Grey (June Bug), Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (Enchanted Evening), Copics-E55,E57,E59, Bv20, BV23, R29, R59, E31, Rv11, Spellinders die templates-Classic Rectangles Long

have yourself a merry little Christmas

Happy Friday everyone! Today is the last day of JustRite Christmas week at Stamper’s Dream. Have you been singing Christmas songs? :) Our little man wants to watch Frosty the Snowman. I just couldn’t let him, yet. :) Check out Carolyn, Amy, and Michelle’s blog’s today.

I love the bells image from the Merry Little Christmas set and wanted to use them on a card. I tried coloring them several different ways, but decided that the watercolor pencil image matched the shabby look I was hoping to achieve. The sketch is from 2Sketches4You this week. LOVE those sketches!

Hope that you have wonderful weekend plans! DH came home yesterday from a business trip, so I am glad to get things back to normal! Make sure and check out my second post today. thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-JustRite Stampers (Merry Little Christmas), Patterned paper-Cosmo Cricket (Boyfriend), Jenni Bowlin, Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (Rustic White), Ink-Palette (Jardin, Dark Chocolate), twine-Papertrey Ink, Holly Leaves and Berries (Making Memories), Gems-Hero Arts, Copic-YG99, Spellbinders die templates-Classic Rectangles Long Small

JustRite Christmas Week: Family Card

I love the way you can personalize the Holiday Demi Phrases stamps from JustRite Stampers. They are half stamps, meaning, they are only half of the circle. Which leaves you with the bottom half to be creative with! :) How perfect to be able to personalize your family Christmas card! To be able to do this, JustRite has done something brilliant. Pick up the 2” handle, which is made for all the Demi Phrases stamps and it comes with the Times New Roman 15 pt. font. See how easy that is?

This is a photo of the little man a couple of Christmas’s ago. He loves his Santa hat and wears it from the day the decorations come out until we put them away! :) I knew I had to use this photo when I saw the Santa Hat in the Merry Little Christmas stamps. The front piece is a belly band, one that just slips off the top of the card. Easy and cute! :) Check out Michelle's and Denise’s blog today too!

have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-JustRite Stampers (Holiday Demi Phrases, Times New Roman Font 15 pt, 2” handle, Merry Little Christmas), Patterned paper-Basic Grey (Lemonade), Ink-Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark Watermark) Cardstock-Neenah (Solar White), Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy), Borders-Bazzill (Just the Edges White), Spellbinders Die Templates-Classic Circles Large, Copics-R29, R59, G07

JustRite Christmas Week: Christmas Treasures

My grandpa was an avid bird watcher. He had feeders all over the yard and one in front of the kitchen booth, where we ate our meals. There was a bird watching book sitting on a shelf and we had more fun pouring over those books and listening to grandpa try and whistle like each one. Somehow that has passed on to each of our families and now its rare that a Christmas goes by without someone getting a feeder, book, or some new feed to try. When I saw this burlap bag, I knew it would be perfect to put seed in. And then to be able to add the bird tag was just perfect!! The images in Christmas Treasures are wonderful to color and would make perfect gift box tags too!

Check out Tosha, Michelle, and Laurie’s blogs today for more Christmas inspiration.

have a fantastic day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-JustRite Stampers (Christmas Treasures, 3 1/4” handle), Cardstock-Neenah (Solar White), Ribbon-Michael’s, Spellbinders Die Templates-Classic Circles Large, Classic Scalloped Circles Large, Copics-BG10, R29, R59, G07, E55, E57, E59, W3

JustRite Christmas Week at Stamper’s Dream

It is JustRite Christmas week at Stamper’s Dream! The whole team will be inspiring you all week long with fabulous gift giving and card making ideas! (sad to think its time for this already, but let’s get into the Christmas spirit, I can sing, if you need! :))

When I saw the cocoa mug stamp, my first thought was, that looks like my favorite mugs!! I have a set of 4 red Tracey Potter mugs that I adore. I don’t let anyone else use them. Seriously. For some reason they make my hot chocolate taste better. LOL! :)

So the idea that popped into my head was to make coasters. The red scalloped circle is adhered to a pre-cut piece of cork. Make your layers, take them to your local copy shop, have them laminated, then cut the shape from the laminate with the exact same die template, and viola! I would use a serious adhesive to attach the laminated paper to the cork, just to make them last longer.

My other tip is, grab holiday mugs at the end of the season. (because I am NOT giving away my favorite one! :)) Places like Target have the fancy sets and also the cutesy individual ones on clearance. They make perfect quick gifts. And you can put homemade hot chocolate, a gift card, a sleeve of golf balls, or even fun socks inside. Add a personalized tag made with JustRite Stampers and you have a thoughtful gift!

Check out Tosha, Michelle, and Denise’s blogs today-wow!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-JustRite Stampers (Something Sweet, 2 3/8” Handle), Cardstock-Neenah (Solar White), Patterned paper-October Afternoon (Cherry Hill) Ink0-Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark Watermark), Ribbon-May Arts (Candy Cane Stripe), Spellbinders Die Templates-Classic Circles Large and Small, Classic Scalloped Circles Large and Small, Copics R29, R59, BV20, E55, Other: Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy, New Leaf), Stamps-Cornish Heritage Farms (Fine Houndstooth Backgrounder)

*NEW* Impressabilities Technique

Permission has been given and I am SO thrilled to be sharing with you a brand new Impressabilities technique!!! I came up with this idea while playing around with my tools several months ago. I love using my Colorbox Stylus tool to ink the edges of my paper. But as I was staring at it, I thought, what can I do with the foam end? Then I remembered that Colorbox used to sell molding plates for the foam tips. Not having those, I looked at the Flower Impressabilities laying on my desk and thought, a ha!

Start by heating the black foam tip of your stylus tool. I use my crafting light. It does not take much heat to make it pliable.

Push the heated foam tip onto the Impressabilities. I chose the flower that would fit my tip before I did this.

Here is what the tip looks like. The image will not go away until you re-heat the tip.

Ink the foam tip, just like any stamp.

Here is the image stamped onto a Petite Oval die cut.

Here is a look at the image used on a card.

And here is the completed project. Isn’t that fun? Let me know what you think and I would LOVE to see what you create with this!! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Spellbinders Die Templates-Classic Ovals Large, Petite Ovals Small, Nested Butterflies, Flower Impressabilities, Colorbox Stylus Tool, Patterned paper-Chatterbox (Fabulous), Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate), Stamps-Hero Arts (Everyday Messages), Ink-Clearsnap (Colorbox Chalk Chocolate and Blueberries Que), Ribbon-Creative Impression, Twine-Wright’s, Gems-Hero Arts, Pearls-Kaiser Craft (Pewter), Buttons-Papertrey Ink (New Leaf)

Something else pretty cool will be on my blog tomorrow, my first video tutorial!! I can't wait to hear what you think!!

friend and my very best friend

Today brings another look at a new Flourishes stamp set called, Gerbera Daisies. Michelle will have this one and Cherries and Peaches available in the Stamper’s Dream store tonight. (she also got some new My Mind’s Eye goodies in too, might be a good night for shopping)

I colored the image in with Copics and added airbrushing to the background, while the paper was still in the Labels 8 die. The background papers are Basic Grey June Bug and October Afternoon Cherry Hill. See the little butterflies? Those images are in the stamp set also. I stamped them onto text patterned paper, colored them with pale Copics, inked them to distress, and foam mounted them to the card. Whew. That’s a lot of work for two small butterflies! :) LOL!

Today is a very special day. My DH and I have been married for 10 years. Wow! Time flies by! To this day, I am still in awe at the man I get the privilege of spending the rest of my life with. This man is more amazing than I could ever express in words. And the fact that he puts up with me and caters to all my wildest whims, is miraculous! I have been blessed with the greatest partner and I love him more and more each and every day. He is the answer to my heart’s deepest prayers. Did you know that we don’t even know the first time we met? :) Our college roomies dated, so he was just always around, or I was! :) It wasn’t until right before our roomies got married, that we reconnected. We started dating at their wedding and were engaged quickly. I love the song, “Keeper of the Stars” by Tracy Byrd. The lyrics say,” it was no accident, me finding you, someone had a hand in it, long before we ever knew.”

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-Flourishes (Gerbera Daisies available tonight), Patterned paper-Basic Grey (June Bug), October Afternoon (Cherry Hill 8x8), Cardstock-Neenah (Solar White) Papertrey Ink (Smokey Shadow), Ink-Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black), Clearsnap (Colorbox Chalk Chocolate and Blueberries Que) Lace-Wright’s, Spellbinders Die Templates (Labels 8 available early September), Copics-R29, R59, Boo, YR0, Y11, G40, G84, ABS-1

Live the Sweet Life

This card will appear in the Paper Crafts Special Issue, Stamp It! in January 2010.

The new Flourishes releases will be available at Stamper’s Dream on Friday night. Every month I think, it couldn’t possibly get better, but, oh yes it did! This is one of the newest set, Peaches and Cherries. And yummy would be the perfect word! :)

Flourishes has beautiful images to color, which I love. But this time, I thought, I want to try something different. I stamped the image 3 times onto Neenah Solar White paper with Memento ink in Tuxedo Black. One image I cut out. The second image I only colored the leaves and cut them out, and with the third image, I did the letter press technique. (to see how to do this, see my tutorial HERE). I used chalk ink on my Paisley Impressabilities and ran it through the Wizard. Then I added more ink to the white areas on the peaches. I chose an ink that was two shades lighter than what I had used on the Impressabilities. (the Colorbox Chalk ink Ques make this pretty easy) I layered the pieces on top of the complete image with foam dots.

The patterned papers are from October Afternoon’s Cherry Hill collection, in a fabulous 8x8 size, and I used the sketch from 2Sketches4You again this week. It really got my mojo going again. Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-Flourishes (Peaches and Cherries-available Friday, August 14), Patterned paper-October Afternoon (Cherry Hill), Cardstock-Neenah Solar White, Ink-Tsukineko (Tuxedo Black), Clearsnap (Colorbox Chalk Pumpkin Patch and Chocolate and Blueberries), Twill-Scenic Route, Spellbinders Die Templates-Label Trio, Classic Rectangles Large, Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large, Impressabilities Paisley, Copics-YG91, YG93, YG95

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

“It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC28)!! This week Silke Ledlow is our challenge host. Silke is challenging us to score it!!! We are to use any scoring tool we have to create score detailing on our cards. If you do not have any neat scoring device, no fear, scoring can be done with the groove of a trimmer and a bone folder or stylus. Your designs can be very intricate to classically simple. Whatever design you go for, we'd love to see what you create.” Check out the team’s blogs:

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Silke Ledlow

This card will appear in the Paper Crafts Special Issue, Stamp It! in January 2010.

I wanted to score just a small part of my card, so I chose the bottom of the image panel. I cut it long purposely, to let me do that. I like the look. I think I would like it even better on a panel going horizontally. Simple, but that’s me! :) Hope you are having a wonderful day! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-Flourishes (Life, Love & Lemons), Patterned paper-Basic Grey (June Bug), Cardstock-Flourishes Classic White, Ink-Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black), Ribbon-Offray, Twine-Papertrey Ink, Button-Making Memories, Tools-Spellbinders Die Templates (Long Rectangles Small), Scor-Pal, Sewing Machine, Copics-Y11, Y13, Y15, YG03, YG25, G07, E29, E39, BV20

you’re so sweet

My friend and fellow Spellbinders design team member, Kazan Clark, runs a fabulous sketch site with her friend Laura Davis, called 2Sketches4You. LOVE their sketches. I never seem to find the time, so this week, I decided to take the time, I mean, who cares about clean dishes, right? :)

Have any good weekend plans? We finished our new retaining wall in front of the house this week, so I am imaging that we will be moving dirt, rocks, and planting this weekend. Let’s hope for some decent weather. It seems to be something we are short on this summer. I will have to share photos of it when we finish, along with the deck. The before (when we bought it almost 2 years ago) and after photos of the house will astound you. It amazes me! :) Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-Papertrey Ink (Everyday Button Bits, Polka Dot Basics), Patterned paper-Papertrey Ink (Bitty Box Basics), Basic Grey (Lemonade), Cardstock-Papertrey Ink (Rustic White), Ribbon-Offray, Twine-Papertrey Ink (Rustic Cream), Button-Making Memories, Spellbinders Die Template-Labels 8 (available early September)

YAY!!!!!! My FAVORITE new technique I learned at CHA is now on video and with samples on the Stampendous blog!!! The new Sticker Background paper is fabulous and I have been dreaming of all the possibilities!!! Check it out HERE and I will have my own projects soon!!!!!!!!!! :)

sweet strawberries

Can anyone else not stop coloring these strawberries from Flourishes? Too much fun! :) The label shape is the new Labels 8 from Spellbinders. I think this one will get used as much as my Labels 1 and I love that the largest die can be used to make a mini book. (note to self, get to work on that…)

short and simple, that is what I need this week, and that is what you are getting today. :) thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies: Stamps-Flourishes (Strawberries), Papertrey Ink (Retro Backgrounds), Ink-Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black), Clearsnap (Colorbox Chalk Primary Que), Patterned paper-Basic Grey (June Bug), Ribbon-American Crafts, Spellbinders Die Template-Labels 8 (available early September), Copics-R29, R59, Yg03, YG25, G07, BG10

JustRite and CPS

JustRite Stampers is sponsoring the team at Card Positioning Systems this week, so it seemed like a great time to play along. (not to mention all the new goodies I have to use, including the not-yet-available Labels 5 from Spellbinders :))
One thing I did want to mention was inks with the JustRite Stampers. I have long been a fan of the Colorbox Chalk ink pads from Clearsnap. Love the colors, the coverage, and the finished look that is so soft. I own all the Ques (the stacked up Cat's Eyes). The ink lasts quite a long time and I have a range of colors at my fingertips instantly. Plus, storage is much easier. Back to the JustRite Stampers, though. These inks work BEAUTIFULLYwith them! I didn't condition my stamps and you can see the crisp, clean images I got. Consider picking up a couple of them and giving them a try, you will be hooked. :)
thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-JustRite Stampers (Tiny Words)
Patterned paper-Basic Grey (June Bug)
Carstock-Neenah (Solar White)
Ink-Colorbox Chalk (Primary Que)
Spellbinders Die Templates-Labels 5, Classic Circles Large
Other: Butterfly from Char (Scenic Route Paper), Papertrey Ink Retro Background stamps, Button-Making Memories, Thread-Wright's

Stampendous Fun Flock

Good Monday morning! Hope you had marvelous weekends!

I love play with Fun Flock, so when Stampendous asked me to do another tutorial with some new stamps and new colors, how could I resist? I will start with a little tutorial and then share several cards.

When I use Fun Flock, The Essential Glue Pad has always worked well for me. There is a little trick to it, so read on. It also cleans up easily with stamp cleaner. (clean the glue off as if it was ink, any cleaner will do)

When I am going to Fun Flock in a darker color, I stamp the image in ink similiar to the Fun Flock color I am going to use first. Using acrylic stamps makes this so much easier.

Once the colored ink has dried, push your stamp into the glue pad, just like it was ink. Line up the two images and stamp. Here is the little trick *let the glue dry for a minute or two*. Yep, let it just sit there. (remove the stamp though)

After a few minutes, be very liberal with your Fun Flock application. I poured almost the entire bottle over this ornament. Gently push the Fun Flock down onto the image and let it dry for several minutes. (get a soda or a treat while you wait :))

Here is the finished card. Fun Flock is wonderful for holiday cards and believe it or not, it is time to start thinking and planning for those! :) *wink*

For this card, I stamped the leaves on the bottom half of the card with glue and then applied the Fun Flock.

On this card, I stamped the entire butterfly image on the cardstock and another piece of cardstock. The second butterfly got stamped with glue and then Fun Flock was added. I cut out the butterfly and foam mounted it. (stamping it first, lets you “keep” the antennae :))

The background was stamped with glue and then Fun Flock was applied. The butterflies were stamped with watermark ink.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and the cards. Please feel free to email me with any questions you might have, I love to try and assist. Happy Fun Flocking! :)

Supplies: Stamps-Stampendous (Wild Blossoms, Happy Flowers, Butterfly Beauties , Damask Season and Damask Fall-available soon), Ink-Tsukineko (Versamark Watermark, Essential Glue Pad) Palette (Belle Rose, Chartreuse, Paris Lights, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate), Stampendous Fun Flock (Chili Pepper Red, Chocolate Lotto, Lemonade Yellow, Pixie Pink ), Cardstock-Prism (Simply Smooth, Frosted Pink, Intense Pink, Frosted Teal, Intense Teal, Suede Brown Medium, Suede Brown Dark), Ribbon (Offray Striped, May Arts White Sheer, American Crafts Pink Striped, Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy Grosgrain), Button-Making Memories, Twine-May Arts

thanks for stopping by!

Thanks again to everyone who visited and left comments during the Spellbinders Blog Frenzy! In all the craziness, I left something out of my Book Tutorial post. My friend, Heidi Blankenship, was helping me finalize the project, as it still needed something. She was the one who came up with the brilliant idea to use a piece of ribbon as the bookmark! Heidi is so clever!! So thanks, Heidi!!

Welcome Little One

Our dear, sweet teammate, Charmaine and her husband will be heading to the hospital to add a beautiful daughter to their family tomorrow. So, we all made baby cards to welcome the little princess into the world. Hugs and prayers, Charmaine!!
Check out all the rest of the team's cards:
Tosha
Laurie
Michelle
Amy
Becca
Denise
Carolyn

This was the perfect time to use my Maya Road crown set of stamps! :) Add some cute My Mind's Eye papers and you get a card fit for a princess! :)
Hope you are having a good weekend! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-Maya Road (Crowns)
Patterned paper- My Mind's Eye (Breaking Free)
Ink-Clearsnap (Colorbox Chalk Que Primary and Rose Petals)
Cardstock-Prism (Intense Teal), Neenah (Solar White)
Gems-Hero Arts
Spellbinders Die Template-Classic Ovals Large
Fiskars Border Punch-Upper Crest

Beach Life

Its another peek at Flourishes newest set called, Beach Life. You can pick this up at Stamper's Dream, starting Friday night. LOVE this set too. I always say that, but Flourishes is really knocking it out of the park!!

Its a very simple card, but with the laid-back, summery feel, you gotta keep it simple, right? :) The palm trees were stamped on the kraft paper and I used my Prismacolor pencils to color the image in. To create the sunset-ish background, I colored in layers, like a real sunset. Prismacolors are so soft, you can really blend them easily, especially when you keep to the side of the pencil. I over stamped a script background stamp to add that postcard essence.

My CHA projects are all complete and shipped! Whew! Now I cannot wait to get to the show and see everything and everyone!!

thanks for stopping by!!



Supplies:

Stamps-Flourishes (Beach Life, available Friday, July 10)

Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black)

Cardstock, Buttons-Papertrey Ink

Jute-May Arts

Prismacolor pencils




Have you been checking out the Spellbinders CHA Summer blog frenzy? Here is the schedule for you:

7/9 Debbie Olson
7/10 Michelle Wooderson
7/11 Karen Hunsaker
7//12 Kazan Clark
7/13 Linda Duke
7/14 Heidi Blankenship
7/15 Kimberly Crawford
7/16 Julie Overby
7/17 Sherry Cheever
7/18 Debbie Seyer
7/19 Lesa Rapp
7/20 Becca Feeken
7/21 Jennifer Davis
7/22 Keri Lee Sereika

Flourishes New Release: Strawberries

Starting Friday night, you are going to want to make sure and RUN to Stamper's Dream!! Michelle will have all the new Flourishes stamps, including this set, called Strawberries, AND she has the new Basic Grey paper pads!!! Heaven!!! I used Lemonade on this one, but you will also need June Bug!
enjoy your day! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-Flourishes (available at Stamper's Dream on Friday night)
Patterned paper-Basic Grey (Lemonade)
Cardstock-Neenah (Solar White)
Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Clearsnap (Colorbox Chalk Creamy Brown)
Lace-Chatterbox
Twine-Papertrey Ink
Button-Basic Grey (Stella Ruby)
Spellbinders Die Templates (Classic Rectangle Large)
Copics-R29, R59, R08, B00, YG03, YG25, G07, Y13, Y15, W3, 0


Exciting news!! The Spellbinders CHA Blog Frenzy is just around the corner!! WAHOO!! Check out all the details HERE.
My project is complete and ready to go-I cannot wait to share it on July 15!! :)

Happy Birthday Michelle!!!

Happy Birthday, Michelle!!! Thanks for not only being a great person to work for, but a great friend!!! Hope your day is wonderful!!!!! ((((HUGS))))
click on the photo to see the sparkle fluff for the frosting-so fun! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps-Penny Black (Cheesecake Party), Hero Arts (Cupcake)
Cardstock-Neenah (Solar White)
Patterned paper-Cosmo Cricket (Early Bird)
Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Sparkle Fluff-Our Craft Lounge
Ribbon, Button-Papertrey Ink
Spellbinders Die Template (Tags Five)
Copics-ABS-1, Boo, YG03, YG25, YG91, E55, E57, E59, RV11, R08, R29, R59, YR04, B34, B37, Y11, Y13, Y15