Floral Circles

Here's another card that I created during the same stamping session as the card I shared on Monday. It's an easy card but I like the way it turned out.

I stamped three floral circles from the Just Believe set in Soft Suede on Crumb Cake and two in Baja Breeze on Very Vanilla. Punched them out using the 1- 1/4" Circle Punch and matted them on circles punched with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch. The centers are adorned with adhesive backed Basic Pearls...LOVE those things! Instead of ribbon I used Victoria Crocheted Trim.

Have a wonderful weekend! I am sure I will...I'm up north for my annual girls weekend. We always have way too much fun!!!

Fox & Friends For Baby

Here is a fun little card/gift tag I made for a baby shower that I went to this past weekend.

The Real Red scalloped base was cut using the Scalloped Square Bigz die. I layered squares of Daffodil Delight & Bashful Blue. The Bashful Blue layer is the actual card which opened at the top. I used some fun prints from the Brights Collection of Patterned Prints in Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight. In addition to the adorable animal images from Fox and Friends, I also used the Teeny Tiny Wishes and Best Yet stamp sets.

My inspiration came from this cute wrapping paper I found at Target. The mother-to-be loved the card and even passed it around for her guests to see. That made me feel that the extra time I took to make her a handmade card was definitely worth it.

Have a great day!

A Few New Favorites

Another busy, but fun weekend! I love summertime in Michigan! We did have a few rainy days this past week, so I took that time to play with some of my favorite new things, and created this card.

If I could have only picked one new stamp set from the new IB&C it would be Just Believe. I love the elegant looking floral silhouettes. I paired it up here with some of my favorite new patterned paper - Elegant Soiree and my favorite new embellishment - the gorgeous Antique Brads. I also used a bit of the Victoria Crochet Trim.

On the main image I created a shadow by stamping the image twice. The first time in Baja Breeze, the second time in VersaMark. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to offset it just a bit from the first image to create the shadow. Then I embossed it with White Embossing Powder. The Crumb Cake (formerly known as Kraft) base was embossed using the Perfect Details Texturz Plate and the Big Shot. Then I decided to be brave and spritz it with some Log Cabin Smooch Spritz. I wasn't brave enough to try it on my main image tho, and I think that was a good move...that stuff is a little hard to control.

Thanks for stopping by to visit me today...enjoy your day!

Watercolor Elements

I had my eye on the Watercolor Trio set since the Summer Mini came out...what a pretty set! I got it with my first new catalog order and here's my first creation using it.

It's funny, before the color renovation, the Bold Brights color family was my least favorite. Now, the new and improved Brights Collection is possibly my favorite. I used the Brights Patterns DSP in Melon Mambo & Rich Razzleberry. It's so nice having a whole stack of pretty patterns in all the colors! I used Old Olive as the base. The cute hummingbird is from the Elements of Style set.

Accessories used: Rich Razzleberry Taffeta Ribbon, Brights Designer Buttons & Oval punches.

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

Personalized Wedding & Anniversary Cards

This has been a REALLY busy past couple of weeks for us! We've been to grad & anniversary parties, 4 concerts and also managed to complete a landscaping project here at home in between all the running. I received a new box of goodies from SU! and haven't had time to play with them yet...so sad! I did manage to make cards for all the celebrations we've been to.

Sorry about the weird angle of the card in this photo. I was trying to capture the shimmery background and the shiny embossed medallion. I embossed this using Clear EP on Shimmery White card stock. Then I sponged on Marina Mist and Baja Breeze. Here's another card I made for a 50th Wedding Anniversary party.

Doesn't the Brushed Gold card stock look gorgeous embossed with the new Vintage Wallpaper folder? Both cards use JustRite Monogram stamps to allow the personalization. I've always wanted to try these, and had the opportunity when stamping with a friend recently. (thanks Karman!) It is really tedious to set up all the lettering, but it's worth it to have the personalization.

Both cards also use the new adhesive backed Jewels available in the new catalog. They come in both rhinestones & pearls. Love those things! So glad SU! is finally carrying them! They have so many awesome new embellishments in this catalog. Here are the first ones I got in my first new catalog order.

The pearls & rhinestones come in 3 sizes and also in 3 connected strips. The Antique Brads are amazingly GORGEOUS! And the new assortments of Designer Buttons are way CUTE! I got the Brights collection...ooooh...Razzleberry buttons!!! I think this coming week I'll have time to play with some of my new goodies!

Brayered Roses

A quick post to share a card I created using the Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder.

After embossing the roses using my Big Shot, I used my brayer inked first with Bashful Blue and rolled lightly over the embossed image. I went back with Marina Mist, Perfect Plum and Rich Razzleberry adding layers of ink until I was happy with the color. The embossed roses were then cut out and adhered over a background I created using the pretty swirl image from the Elements of Style stamped in Bashful Blue. Although you cannot tell from this photo, in real life this card is very shimmery because I spritzed it with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz before adhering it to the Rich Razzleberry card base.

Also used on this card: Oval All Stamp set with Scalloped Oval, & Large Oval Punches & White Organza Ribbon. A while back I shared basically the same card here, only I changed the colors for a totally new look.

If you want to see a great tutorial on how to do the brayered roses, you should visit Patty Bennett's Blog . That is where I first saw this wonderful idea.

Thanks for the nice comments regarding the hacking of my email account. I'm glad you are still stopping by to visit me. Have a great weekend!

I am not in London England!

I have not been held at gunpoint while all my belongings have been stolen, and I have not contacted you to wire me money so that me and my family could return home! Thank God! If you got an email from "me" stating the above, I AM SO SORRY! Some lowlife, scumbag hacked my google account and sent a message looking for money to all my contacts! I spent most of my day trying to get it straightened out. I was just now able to log into my blogger account to post something here.

I have received so many phone calls today from concerned family & friends, which I kind of expected. I was also very pleasantly surprised by several friends who only know me by reading my blog, who took the time to call me to make sure everything was OK. I was really touched by that, so I wanted say thank you to everyone who called...that was very kind. I sure hope that nobody fell for the scam! I feel bad enough that so many people were sent the email. They even went so far as to post to a message group that I belong to...can you believe that?


In the future, if this had been an actual message from me requesting money it would probably be due to the size of my wish list and all the items I want from the new IB&C. Combined with getting a glimpse of the fantastic upcoming holiday mini...it just pushed me over the edge! So please everyone...deposit $$ directly into my SU! account! (just kidding!!! :-)  Well, the begging for money part anyways...the wish list for the new IB&C combined with the upcoming holiday mini is WAY out of control...so that part was real. ;-)
 
But seriously, I am SO SORRY if you received that hoax email sent from my email account. I hope I will never be in a situation that desperate to have to resort to something like that, but it's nice to know that so many people cared.

Cherry Pumpkin Delight

After all that cleaning and re-organizing of my stampin' space, I finally got in there to mess it up! Here's the first card I created using my new set Elements of Style. It arrived here in the middle of my cleaning frenzy and I've been dying to play with it.

I stamped the elegant floral image on Shimmery White card stock and used my Aqua Painter and Classic Inks to color the image.

Stamps: Elements of Style & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card stock: Shimmery White, Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler & Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Black Stazon, Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie & Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Scalloped Square Bigz Die, Lots of Tags Sizzlet, Large & Small Oval Punches & White Organza Ribbon

I'm looking forward to a fun Fourth of July holiday today spent with family and friends at the lake. I hope you enjoy your day as well!

Rubber Room Renovation Part II

Yesterday I shared some photos of my newly cleaned stampin' space, but since the post was getting kind of long I decided to share the rest today. I saved my favorite part of my room for last. It's the wall with my stacking cubes. I got these at Michael's when they were on sale.  For the top, I bought a white laminated shelving piece at Lowe's and had them cut it to the size I wanted. The cubes were really easy to put together...except the ones with the four drawers, they were a bit time consuming to assemble.

Even though the four drawer units were a pain to assemble, they are my favorites. They hold my Sizzix Bigz dies perfectly. The Bigz XL do not fit in the drawers, but I have them on one of the open shelves and they fit perfectly there. I labeled the drawers using some DP and then wrote the contents on white card stock and punched it out with the Word Window Punch.

I store all of my cut up pieces of card stock in the expanding file folders on top of my storage unit. Each pocket holds 2 colors and each folder holds a Color Collection. That was a big job going through and removing all the retiring colors and re-labeling the files with the new colors...but glad it's done! I now have 2 more expanding file folders to hold all my retiring colors.

Above my card stock scraps I have a french memo board that I made. It was a fun project my Mom & I did one winter day.

All it took was a piece of foam core board, fabric, batting, ribbon, hot glue & buttons or large brads. I used Build-a-Brads for mine, and stamped the centers using my Always stamp set in colors to match my room...Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise & Regal Rose. It makes a great spot to hold photographs, sketches and cards my friends & family has made for me.

Next to my cube storage is my book case which has books - of course!, my most recent photos stored in photo boxes, mini photo albums & my music.

Next time I share my stampin' space with you I hope it's because I got ambitious enough to haul everything out of there to paint and replace the hideous carpet! I would love to paint the walls a lovely shade of celery. For now, I'm just happy to have an organized space to stamp in! Thanks for joining me on my tour!

Rubber Room Renovation

Last time I posted photos of my stampin' space was right after the New Year in 2008. Since then I have made some more improvements, but never took the time to take photos and post. Over this past week I've spent most of my time in my room, BUT unfortunately NOT to stamp. With the new color renovation and the new catalog starting soon it was the kick in the butt I needed to get re-organized. While my room is still clean, I took some photos and thought I'd share my hard work with you.

Last time I posted photos of my room I ended with this comment: "The good news is...I got my things put back into place and made room to sit and stamp at my desk. The bad news is...when I sit down and look ahead, this is what I see. (insert photo of messy closet)" If you want to see my messy room photos, and what my room looked like before my latest improvements, click here.

Since I ended last time sitting at my clean desk staring at my messy closet, I'm starting with my new and improved view of my now organized closet. (you can click on any of the pics below if you want to see them enlarged)

When you walk into the closet, on the right are my collection of stamps. The overflowing shelving unit on the left are most of my retired stamps and on the right are most of the current sets in my collection. Notice that there is now some room for new stamps! ;-) (I have another couple smaller shelves near my desk where I keep my backgrounds, sentiments and alphabets...so they are within easy reach)

On the left side of my closet are these plastic stacking drawer units. I stamped the labels with Eastern Blooms to make them look prettier. These hold mostly non-SU stuff craft supplies.

My friend was moving a few years ago and gave me this awesome paper rack that she had acquired from a scrapbook store. I use it to store most of my card stock. I can fit 3 packs per shelf. I used to have this out in the main room, but I like it much better in the closet. This also helps keep the paper out of direct sunlight.

Here is a full view of my room standing in the doorway looking in.

On this side of the room the biggest improvement I made since my last room post was the rod for my punches. I store the ones I use the most on the rod and the rest are stored in this wire rack on wheels next to my desk. This rack also holds the wheel handles and some of the wheels. My big old oak desk isn't very attractive (mostly due to the previous owners attempt to add a faux finish) but it is nice and sturdy and holds a lot of stuff. I love the pull outs...especially the little shelf to my right which holds my stampin' scrub. Someday I will re-paint or perhaps strip it down to it;s natural oak. (the front was never painted and that part I like.)

Next to the punches is a holder I made for some of my most used embellishments. I took a metal sheet (not sure where it came from originally, but had it hanging around) covered it with some cute Razzleberry Lemonade paper, punched holes in the top with my Crop-a-dile and ran celery ribbon through the holes as a hanger. I glued magnets to the back of my embellishment containers and now they are at my finger tips.

My very favorite storage piece I have is for my ink storage. I bought these on line several years ago by a company called Dzyntec. Unfortunately they have since gone out of business. The four units sit on a lazy susan so it it easy to grab colors as needed. I printed up myself some little cards listing the inks by the color collection so that I can get used to what color goes where.

This is the biggest improvement I made to my room since last time. I removed the drafting table, moved my paper rack into the closet and scooted my bookshelf down the wall and added these great stackable cubes.

I'll share more photos of this side of my room tomorrow. Now time to go mess it up some! Enjoy your day!

Marina Mist Hydrangea

New goodies are so much fun to play with! I just wish I had more time to actually play instead of spending my time rearranging/re-organizing my stampin space...I should be done today, so that will be a relief! Plus it's always nice to work in a clean, organized room. This new Level 1 Hostess set, Because I Care, is so much fun to color.

I used one of my favorite new colors - Marina Mist, and paired it with a couple of my favorite returning colors...Certainly Celery & Not Quite Navy. The pretty hydrangea image was watercolored using my Aqua Painter and Classic Inks in above colors, plus a little Perfect Plum. The new Embossing Folder - Vintage Wallpaper, adds some nice texture to the background.

Wish me luck on completing my mission re-organization! It will all be worth it when I have more room for more new stuff! ;-)

Masculine Tree for Father

Here is the third card we did at my last card class. Since the group makes 3 of each card and there is only a short time to complete them, I try to keep the designs fairly simple. For this one we used one of my very favorite stamp sets...Lovely As A Tree to create a masculine card for Father's Day or any occasion.

See the Chocolate Chip "brads" at the bottom of the card? Those were created by punching out Chocolate Chip card stock with the 1/4" Circle Punch and then covering them with Crystal Effects. This is a great alternative if you don't have brads in the color you want.

If you have a little more time to be creative, you can take the same basic card shown above and step it up. Here is another version of the same card.

I used the same colors and stamps but added some detail and texture. The added strip of Artichoke card stock under the ribbon is lightly distressed and then paper pierced. The bottom of the card has a little texture from the wood grain Texturz Plate. This time I used Vintage Brads in place of the faux brads.

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree
Ink: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss & Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss & Crumb Cake (AKA Kraft)
Accessories: Soft Suede Polka dot Grosgrain & Vintage Brads
Hope you have a wonderful day with Dad!