Bella Blue of the Earth

Happy Memorial Day! We've been having such gorgeous warm weather here in Michigan the past few weeks that I've been busy working in my gardens and even enjoying the pool already. However, that hasn't left me too much time for stamping. That's why I haven't posted in a while. A dear friends birthday is coming up, so I had to get busy and make her a card the other night, so I thought I'd share it with you today.

I combined the Level 1 Hostess Set, Of the Earth with some of my fav DSP, Bella Blue. I also used several soon to be retired colors...Bordering Blue, Ruby Red, and even a bit of my soon to be mourned Mellow Moss...to ink the leaves on the main image.
I hope you are all enjoying our extended holiday weekend! Thanks for spending a bit of it with me.

Tropical Mojo

Another week, and another great sketch over at Mojo Monday. Had to give this one a shot...and for me it really was a challenge. Putting the main image at an angle is never easy for me. Still not sure about it...but here it is.

I used all retiring colors: Taken With Teal, Gable Green & Pixie Pink. The Tropical Party stamp set can be found in the Summer Mini catalog. The Designer Circle Brad I used is part of this months National Scrapbooking Promotion...buy a qualifying stamp set and get FREE brads.

Other supplies used to create this card: Top Note Die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Vintage Vogue (sentiment) and Bermuda Bay Polka Dot Grosgrain.

Thanks for stopping by...enjoy your day!

Very Vintage Grandma Shadowbox

As promised yesterday, here's the 3D scrapbook project I created for my Mom for Mother's Day. I'm sure she will hate my title! hehe As you can see from the photo, she isn't "very vintage" at all...just the stamps and accessories I used are vintage.

This is an 8x8 scrapbook page that is framed inside a shadow box. Since I know you'll ask ;-) ...I purchased this particular frame on clearance at Kohl's over a year ago, but I have since seen similiar ones (in black) at Archiver's. The photo I have chosen to showcase is one that I took of my Mom surrounded by all of her grandkids, (my 2 boys are on her left) how could she not like that, right? (she loved it!)

I used the Very Vintage jumbo wheel to create the background. The flowers are from the Vintage Vogue set, which were stamped using the rock 'n roll technique and cut out. The swirls were cut using the Big Shot and a Bigz Die by Tim Holtz called Elegant Flourishes. I sprayed the flourishes with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz for some extra sparkle.

Card stock: Basic Grey, Real Red & More Mustard
Ink: Basic Grey & Real Red
Accessories: Basic Grey Corduroy Buttons, Vintage Brads, Photo Corner Punch

If you want to see another shadow box project I created using the Vintage Vogue stamp set click here.

Scrapbooking With Stampin' Up!

Did you know that May is National Scrapbooking Month? Take your scrapbooking to a whole new level with Stampin’ Up! products. During National Scrapbooking Month, you will receive a FREE package of Designer brads with the purchase of My Digital Studio or any of the qualifying stamp sets.

Check out this great video with Stampin' Up!'s Carrie Cudney demonstrating some fun ideas for summer scrapbooking using some of the sets offered in this months promo.


Aren't the projects Carrie demonstated super cute? I always love her videos! I hope you'll stop back tomorrow when I'll share a 3D scrapbooking project I created for my Mom for Mother's Day. Until then...happy stampin'!

Thoroughly Modern Vase

I've seen so many cute cards using the Ornament Punch as a vase, and I thought...how creative, why didn't I think of that? When looking through some of my things in my craft room I came across a stamp set I haven't used in a while...Eastern Elegance, and decided to use it to create a card using the punched vase idea.

I used Crystal Effects on the vase to make it look like glass. Here's a closer look...

Stamps: Eastern Elegance & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card stock: Rose Red, Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, Whisper White & Thoroughly Modern DSP
Ink: Rose Red, Bermuda Bay & Soft Suede
Accessories: Soft Suede Polka Dotted Grosgrain, Rich Regal Brads, Photo Corner, Ornament & Word Window punches

The challenge this week on Stamp Something is to create something with a birthday theme so I'm happy I had a chance to play along. Have a great day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I'd like to wish all you wonderful moms a very Happy Mother's Day! I created this card for my Mom using the gorgeous set Greenhouse Garden. I purchased it last month when it was on sale, but this is the first chance I got to ink it up. It's such a pretty set!

Stamps: Greenhouse Garden, Teeny Tiny Wishes & Botanical Blooms (2009 SAB set for leaves)
Card stock: So Saffron, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry & Whisper White
Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry, elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery & Old Olive
Accessories: Rich Regal Brads, Small Oval & Word Window Punches, Scalloped Circle Bigz die, Lots of Labels Sizzlet, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Coluzzle, Mat pack & Paper Piercer & Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grosgrain

Thanks for stopping by...enjoy your day!

Tropical Hello

Hello...it's been a while, but happy to have found some time to spend in my rubber room doing some stampin' last night. I used this weeks Mojo Monday sketch and some new goodies from the Summer Mini catalog, and this is what I came up with.

This sketch was a good one for showing off the fun new Designer Series Papers - Island Oasis.

Stamps: Tropical Party & Hello Again

Card stock: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise & Island Oasis DSP

Ink: Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive & Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Bold Bright Brads, Small & Large Oval Punches & Square Lattice Embossing Folder

Have a great day!

Vintage Smooch

My favorite set from the the Occasions Mini...Vintage Vogue gets some added sparkle with a little smooch from Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. Cute name, but kind of a tongue twister, huh? This product will be available in the upcoming Summer Mini, in 4 different colors choices.

You cannot see just how shimmery this is from the photo, but after stamping the flower images on Whisper White, I spritzed them with the Smooch Spritz and it looks like they had been stamped on Shimmery White cardstock. Since I'm a huge fan of the Shimmery White cardstock, I know I'll be "smooching" lots of my future projects! You can kind of see the shimmer a little better on the closeup of this flower.

Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Teeny Tiny Wishes & Very Vintage Wheel
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie & Wild Wasabi
Card stock: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie & Whisper White
Accessories: Rich Razzleberry Polka- dot ribbon, Large & Small Oval punches, Scallop Trim Border punch, Paper Peircer, Mat Pack, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz & Dew Drops
Have a wonderful weekend!

Loads of Birthday Bliss

Here's a birthday card I made for my son using a few past In Colors that are soon to be part of the new Color Collections due to Stampin' Up's Color Renovation.

I stamped the truck image and then masked the bed with a post it note to stamp the cake image from Birthday Bliss. I then masked the cake and stamped some gifts to fill in the rest of the bed. After I watercolored the image, I created some rims for the tires by adding some grommets and filling in the center with Crystal Effects. It doesn't show up too well in my photo, but adds a nice detail in real life.

Stamps: Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories and Birthday Bliss.
Card stock: Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point & Tangerine Tango
Ink: Black Stazon, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango & various to watercolor
Accessories: Texture Plate #4, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Aquapainter, 1" & 1-1/4" circle punches, silver grommets, Crystal Effects

Thanks for stopping by...enjoy your day!

Tropical Cheers

Here's a little peek at a few of the items offered in the upcoming Summer Mini Catalog.

The tropical drink image can be found in the new set Tropical Party. It's a cute set I couldn't resist...especially after just vacationing in Hawaii! These stamps along with the coordinating Island Oasis Designer Series papers will make some great scrapbook pages.

See the Melon Mambo layer behind the drinks? That is embossed using a new embossing folder called Square Lattice. I cut out each umbrella and then applied a coat of Crystal Effects to it as well as the straw. Here's another version that used the square punch and did not require any extra cutting.

The Cheers saying and the stamped Curly Label frame came from two past SAB sets that are no long available -Lots of Thoughts (2008) & Vintage Labels (2010) The new items from the Summer Mini will be available starting May 1st.

Cheers!

Parade for Baby

The images in the Picnic Parade set are so adorable and just perfect for a baby card! This set is only available to hostesses from the Occasions Mini. Hard to believe that in only a couple weeks that catalog comes to an end! Where does the time go?

I stamped my little scene in Black Stazon on Whisper White card stock and thencolored it with my Aqua Painter and various Classic Inks. I stamped the little flag twice and used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to add the word baby from the Fancy Flexible Phrases (retired) set. Then I cut out the banner and popped up the end to make it look like it was blowing in the breeze.

Speaking of breezes...have I told you I'm loving me some Baja Breeze once again! I used that for my base and embossed it with the Perfect Polka Dots folder. On the Wild Wasabi layer I used the Scallop Trim Border punch. If you didn't get it for free during SAB, don't worry...it will be available again soon when the new IB&C comes out in July.

Thanks for stopping by today...Have a great weekend!

A New Look!

For quite some time now I've been wanting to update the look of my blog using My Digital Studio. The announcement of the Color Renovation was the push I needed to take some time and give my little web space a renovation as well.

We will soon be saying goodbye to my beloved Mellow Moss, the primary color of my blog before my renovation, and hello to two of my favorite returning In Colors...Baja Breeze & Riding Hood Red. I combined those two colors along with favorite green (besides Mellow Moss ;-)...Certainly Celery.

I hope you like my new updated look! I'd love to know what you think. With the lack of comments lately I wonder if anyone even looks at my blog?

ETA: Thank you for the nice comments regarding my new look! Sorry I sounded a little whiney/needy yesterday when posting about wondering if anyone even looks at my blog lately. lol With all the time I spend on this stuff, I just hate the thought that it may be time wasted. I guess sometimes we all just need a little encouragement...so thanks!

A few asked if updating the blog was complicated? Well, I'm still do some tweaking and trying to get things to look right. To me this is the hardest part, because my HTML knowledge is very limited. The actual designing of the banner and buttons was fun & easy using MDS. The hardest part there was trying to decide which elements to use!