Something Old Something New...

That is the challenge today on the Stamp Something Challenge Blog. For me, the something new is being a part of the design team for starters! This will be my first card as part of the team. We were to use digi images from the set Here Comes the Bride from My Grafico to create our cards...that is also new to me. I've never worked with digi images before.I started by printing the images I wanted onto Shimmery White card stock. Sticking with the challenge of something old...I used one of my favorite old retired colors - Soft Sky...I thought that was fitting with this theme as "something blue" goes right along with this, right? However, I didn't use anything borrowed tho. LOL The "Mr. & Mrs." phrase came from the Fancy Flexible Phrases set. (retired)

The embossed background is also Shimmery White card stock embossed with my Big Shot and the Flourish Texturz Plate. I wish you could see how sparkly this is in real life...I used a dot of Stickles on each scallop and inside each swirl on the cake. I really would have loved to use rhinestones on the cake but I didn't have any small enough, so I had to settle just using them on the cake stand. The ribbon is White Organza set off with a flower and rhinestone brad from the Pretties kit.

I hope you will play along with this challenge! Thanks for stopping by...now don't forget to check out all the beautiful creations made by the rest of the Stamp Something Team!

Framed Spring Song

What lovely weather we had over the weekend! The little spring peepers in the pond behind us were singing the song of spring, green foliage is poking up in my flower beds, and the best part...it was even warm and sunny! I'm sure it will be a while before I see any hummingbirds however. Until then I have one of my favorite stamp sets to look at instead.

At Christmastime I created a framed piece using the Season of Joy stamp set to hang in my bathroom. You can see that one here if you would like. Since then I've been meaning to make another one to hang in the same spot. I purchased the shadow box frame at the Dollar Tree. I ended up finding a few more since I posted the first one at Christmas. At the time I was kicking myself for just getting the one to try it out. I really had to pick through them to find a decent one - many are scratched up or broken. They are quite flimsy, but once they are put together (and re-enforced a bit) I think it looks pretty good for a buck! The reason I like these frames is because they are a shadowbox so I can decorate with bulky items, like in this case a flower from the Pretties Kit and a rhinestone brad.



The frame comes with a white mat, but this time I covered it with one of the pretty papers from the Porcelain Prints pack. I stamped my image on water color paper and used my re-inkers and aqua painter to color. When it was thoroughly dry I stamped the nice quote from the retired set Beautiful Beach. I used the smallest silk flower from the Pretties Kit and dyed it on my Perfect Plum ink pad using my aqua painter to distribute the ink evenly. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and already have it hanging in my bathroom. My teen aged son was even impressed and said it might be the coolest thing I've made with my stamps yet.



I received so many nice emails and comments about the recipe box I posted here last week. I'm glad you all liked it so much! I shipped out the first batch of kits on Friday and will be shipping the next batch out at the end of this week or early next week. I have emailed you if yours has been shipped. I had many people ask me where I purchased the boxes and what type of adhesive I used to adhere the paper. I have replied back to most everyone, but there was a few who did not have an email address associated with their comment for me to reply back. I purchased the boxes at Michael's and I adhered the paper using decoupage medium. If you would like complete instructions and the supplies to create the Afternoon Tea recipe box, please contact me...I still have some kits left.



Thanks for stopping by...have a great day!

Pretty O'Plum

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Since I don't have any stamps for this occasion, hopefully the Wild Wasabi on this card will lend enough of a festive feel to today's post! I know I'm feeling a bit festive...the snow here has almost melted and I even spotted a robin outside my window, so I'm definitely ready for spring! This Spring Song stamp set is just perfect for my mood.

I water colored the image using ink from my classic ink pads and my aqua painter. The Floral background was stamped using Elegant Eggplant on it's coordinating card stock and Perfect Plum. (my photo doesn't show the Eggplant layer as well...but it's there)

I dyed the silk flowers from the Pretties kit using the Eggplant & Plum ink pads...just kind of smoosh it on the pad and then blend the ink with the aqua painter.

The sentiments are from the SAB set Lots of Thoughts.

Enjoy your day...but don't drink too much green beer!

Morning Soft

Today I would like to start off by saying thank you so much to all the nice people who have been reading my blog and leaving such nice comments lately. I really do appreciate each one! This past week I have been a bit down and you all have really lifted my spirits more than you know.



Todays card uses a technique that was shown in the January Stampin' Success magazine called Faux Tile. I used the scoring blade on my Fiskers paper cutter to score at each 1" of my plum card stock on a diagonal. Then I used the Floral background stamp over the top of it. The result looks like a tiled background where the scored lines create a subtle grout line. I'm sure you could give even more definition to the "grout" lines by using a darker ink for the background stamp if you chose to.



This beautiful Morning Glory image is from the Morning Soft stamp set. I stamped it onto water color paper with Black Stazon and then used my aqua painter and inks to color it. The finishing touch was a stick pin adorned with clear beads and pearls from the Pretties Kit.


I received this blogger award from both Maren at Zany Not Crazy and Heidi at Embellished Dreams . (Maren actually nominated me a while ago and I couldn't figure out how to include the badge (duh! turned out to be so simple)...and then I forgot. ooops!) Anyways...both of these ladies are extremely talented...so make sure to check out their blogs! Thanks Maren & Heidi! I need to do some blog cruising later and I'll pass this award onto some other great blogs...but right now I need to prepare card kits for a class tomorrow.

OK...I finally had some free time to spend blog hopping...there sure are some great ones out there!!! Here are a few that I am passing on the Excellent Blogger award to...I'm sure you will love their work as much as I do, so be sure to check them out! Nancy at iSTAMP , Shelley at Mocha Memories and Marilyn at Stamp With Marilyn.