How do ya like them apples?

I told you I've been having fun coloring the images from the new For Father set! I spent all my stamping time the other day just coloring a bunch of different images. Now I have a bunch of things I need to put together. For me that is the hardest part. Sometimes it seems to take me forever...moving around the different elements and deciding which embellishments to use. Luckily this one came together easily.

Like yesterdays card, this one also uses the Weathered background. The greeting is from the Love & Happiness SAB rub-on pack. It was so easy to add it to the twill tape and I think it's a great look.

Stamps: For Father, Weathered
Card stock: Runby Red, Blue Bayou, Kraft & Very Vanilla
Ink: Black Stazon, Close to Cocoa, various others to water color
Accessories: Antique Brass HPH, Twill Tape, Photo Corner punch, Aqua painter, Rub-ons

Thanks for stopping by...have a good one!

Can't resist a cute puppy!

That's exactly what I thought when I saw this set in the new Occasions Mini. I just love the puppy image and had to get this set! Actually all the images in this set are great for masculine cards...the sentiment is nice too. I've been having lots of fun watercoloring them! You can order this set starting March 1st thru May 31st.

If you like the new For Father stamp set, you may want to attend my All Occasion Card class I am offering on March 2nd. We will be using this set to make 3 of the 12 cards during the class. For those not able to attend my class, I will also offer it by mail. For more info on both classes please contact me.

Stamps: For Father, Weathered background
Ink: Black Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and various others for watercoloring
Card stock: always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla
Accessories: Twill Tape, Vintage brads, pop dots & aqua painter

Have a great day!

Friendship Whimsy

Last night my Hostess Club got together for a fun night of stamping. It was Rachel's turn as hostess and she brought such yummy snacks and Cheri brought a nice bottle of wine...thanks you two!Unfortunately, two members of the group were sick and had to miss out...hope you are feeling better today Michelle & Kim! I have your projects stamped and ready for you to assemble.

We made this cute stand up pop up card. It folds flat to fit in an evelope for mailing. We used the Friendship Blooms SAB set and the Spunky Spots jumbo wheel. The big flower was embossed in white EP and then watercolored.

I found the instructions for this pop up card here. I did alter the measurements a bit so that it fit in a standard envelope. The original project called for the base to be 11"x 4-1/2" and I changed it to 11" x 4-1/4. This also allows you to get two cards from one peice of card stock.

Our next project uses the SAB sets Birthday Whimsy and So Many Scallops along with the Whimsy jumbo wheel. To create the scalloped edge on the Real Red textured cardstock we used the 3/16" corner rounder. the red zig-zag ribbon can be found in the Jersey Ribbon Originals pack. The Soft Sky patterned paper is from the designer prints pack.

Enjoy your weekend!

Big & Little Flowers

My Mother-in-law recently got the Big Flowers and Little Flowers sets, so last time we got together for a fun stamping afternoon we tried them out. I thought these sets would be perfect for creating a one sheet wonder. So that's what I did. I used two different color schemes and went to town stamping my own patterned paper.


The first card uses Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa and Soft Sky. I really like these colors together! At the top of the card I used the Spot On jumbo wheel. The flowers work well with the circle and scallop punches. For a little different look to the scallop circle I just punched a hole in the middle of each scallop.


The other color scheme I used was Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate & Soft Sky. For this card I used a sheet of Guava that I had embossed with my upline's Cuttlebug when we were together a while back. I had it in my stash and thought it would work perfect with this set. I also used the So Many Scallops - "so sweet of you" stamp which I inked in Guava and then r'nr in Pomegranate.


These are such cute sets! I had fun using them.

Birthday Whimsy Scrapbook Pages

I had fun creating these pages of my youngest son on his 10th birthday. I think I'm a bit behind...as he is now 17! Oh well...at least they are done now. I liked the way they turned out so thought I'd share them here today. Just click on photo to see detail.

I used the Whimsy jumbo wheel down the side of each page then added cut out balloons to the lines for a festive border for my pages. By using the new textured card stock and lots of double stitched ribbon, these pages have some nice texture going on which I like. To add even more texture I dry embossed some dots on one of the thin strips of cardstock and I also used the kissing technique when I stamped the numbers.

If you've never tried the kissing technique with your stamps, (then you must not really love them! ;-) this is how to do it: First ink your bold image with a light color of ink - in this case I inked my number stamps in Soft Sky. Then you are ready to "kiss" your stamp onto another textured stamp inked in a darker color. Here I used the Canvas background which was inked in Blue Bayou. This acts as sort of an "ink pad" when pressing my numbers onto it before stamping them. This technique is a great way to add texture to any bold image.

Stamps: Birthday Whimsy, Canvas, Celebrate Everything, It's Your Birthday, Headline Numbers
Card stock: Mellow Moss, Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky
Ink: Mellow Moss, Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky, VersaMark
Accessories: Photo Corner punch, Word Window punch, White EP, Crop-A-Dile, Mellow Moss eyelets, Soft Sky & Pomegranate double-stitched ribbon

Have a whimsical day!

Prehistoric Party

We went to a 50th birthday party (or a "prehistoric party" hehe) last night. The guest of honor loves dinosaurs and at times has even been known to refer to friends and family by dinosaur names. (usually after a few drinks) So in turn we call him Donasaurus...hense the banner on this card I made for him. On the inside it says, "50 but not yet fossilized". Even tho I'm sure this set was designed for kids, I knew I had to use it for Don's 50th birthday card! He thought it was cool.

So that I could include both the banner and the large partying dinosaur images I designed this card to fit into a business sized envelope. So it measured 4x 9 1/4.

Stamps: Prehistoric Party, Celebrate Everything, Flannel Plaid background
Card stock: Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White & Wild Wasabi DP from Hostess Prints Pack
Ink: Black Stazon, Tempting Turquoise, Purely Pomegranate & various to watercolor
Accessories: Aqua painter, brads, ticket corner punch

Friendship Blooms

I really like the stamps included in this SAB set...especially the swirl and the sentiment. The images along with these spring-like colors makes a happy card. I had fun making this one because I was trying out some new toys...the Spunky Spots jumbo wheel, the corner rounder punch - which I used to make the scallop border and of course the stamp set Friendship Blooms...I used every single stamp in the set to make this card! hehehe Hey, I had to try them all out and make sure they worked OK, right?

Another card I made using all the same items - just different colors. On this one I also used the Love & Happiness rub-ons. See the center of the flower? It's hard to tell from the photo, but that is a button with a rub-on flower in the center. I again used the Corner Rounder punch to create the scallop border, but added a bit more detail by punching holes in the center of each scallop with the Crop-A-Dile.

If you like polka-dots like I do, then I highly recommend the Spunky Spots wheel. The spots are random enough that it is very easy to create a whole page background without worrying about lining the pattern up. I think I'll be using this one a lot!

I really need to get down to my stamp room and make a birthday card for a 50th birthday party we are going to later. I know we will have a great time at the party...the guest of honor is a really fun guy. Hope you have a fun Saturday as well!

Playing Cupid

I hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's Day yesterday! I had so much fun stopping by and surprising some of my family and friends with some homemade Valentine goodies. I made some delicious M&M cookies and packaged them in ziplock baggies...of course I stamped them with White Stazon first! (the baggies, not the cookies!) I made some cute little 3x3 cards...if you look closely you can see that on one of those cards I changed the wording. Instead of reading "to an unforgettable friend", I eliminated the word "friend" and wrote in "aunt" instead.

I gave the mailboxes to the little ones of a friend of mine. They just loved them, and noticed right away that their initials were on them. They were so sweet...they gave me a couple of Hershey kisses they got as treats in school.

I must say, those cookies were really good! I tried a recipe I found online. It's almost the same as what is on the chocolate chip bag, but a little different. They came out crispy on the edges and nice and chewy in the middle. I used dark chocolate M&M's and also added semi sweet chips. I thought I'd share the recipe here:

M&M Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt - I used only about 3/4 teaspoon
1-1/2 cups candy-coated milk chocolate pieces (I used 3/4 c dark chocolate M&M's and 3/4 c semi sweet chips)

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs, shortening, and vanilla thoroughly. Add flour, salt, and baking soda to creamed mixture. Blend well. Add 3/4 cup of M&M candies.
Drop dough by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet. Slightly push a few candies on top of each dough ball with remaining candies.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 9 to 11 minutes, to your liking.


I promise...this is the last Valentine's Day oriented post from me until next year! Hope your day is a sweet one!

Happy Valentines Day!

Since I don't really have any decorations for Valentine's Day I decided to make myself a cute little heart bouquet that I could display on my china cabinet. (click on photo for a better view)


The base is a terra cotta pot. First I painted the rim and about an inch down into the inside with white enamel paint. (No sense in doing the whole thing since I planned to cover the outside and fill the inside) After that was dry I adhered Berry Bliss DP to the outside using Mod Podge as my adhesive. I didn't do the best job at cutting my template, and it was a little off where the paper met the rim of the pot. No problem...I just covered it with some ribbon!


I embossed the heart from the Always set in white embossing powder and cut each one out. Then I glued them to lolly-pop sticks and tied on a bit of ribbon to each one. The bird was stamped in Pomegranate on Whisper White, cut out and then I embossed it with clear. Isn't he cute? I just love that little bird!

The hanging medallion was made by embossing the snowflake scallop image from So Many Scallops. The dotted edge of that stamp matches the dotted edge of the hearts in my bouquet almost perfectly. Then with varying sizes of circle punches I cut out circles from the Berry Bliss paper and layered them, with a clear rhinestone brad for the center.

I hope you are able to spend today with someone you love! Happy Valentine's Day!

Finally Tried the Rub-Ons

I've had the new Love & Happiness rub-on's sitting in my craft room for a while, not really sure what to do with them. I had never used any rub-ons before. Then I spotted these jar candles sitting on the shelf in my closet ~ I had bought them around the holidays, but never got around to using them. Perfect for my first rub on project! It turned out to be a lot easier than I thought.

The lid, which is a flatter surface, was a lot easier to transfer the image than it was on the jar~ due to the curve of it. I just made sure to cut real close to the design before I started, and then smoothed it into place with my fingertips before I started in with the wooden stick.

I added some Artichoke grosgrain ribbon around the top of the jar and then on the lid, I tied on some pretty ribbon I had in my stash and used one of the ribbon slides from the new Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware in the center. (the new HPH kit will be available in the Occasions Mini collection beginning March 1st)

I must say, when I opened the package of rub-ons ~ which is one of the FREE selections this year during SAB, I was impressed with the size of the pack. There are 4 sheets ~ Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Black & White. Each sheet measures 12x6, so that means there are LOTS of images! (no...I'm NOT going to count them, so you'll just have to take my word!) Here's a photo to get a better idea.

Now I'll be looking all around the house for more things to add these cute designs to! Have a great day!

Love Notes & Coaster Frames

Yesterday I held my Valentine Stamp Camp and it was bone-chilling cold outside with temps in the single digits and high winds making it well below zero. Thank you to everyone who braved the cold and came to my stamp camp anyways...I had fun showing you how to create these projects! I'd also like to thank everyone who purchased my Valentine Stamp Camp kit online - your feedback was valuable, and I plan to offer more kits in the future.

We made the projects shown here plus the altered mailboxes and candy containers I showed you last month. The coaster frame was my surprise project for the group. Everyone had the choice of using the Always stamp set with the Berry Bliss papers or the Happy Heart Day set with the Cutie Pie papers. Here is the coaster frame using Happy Heart Day.

I have a few other things I've been working on lately that I hope to share later this week. I've been busy with a painting job, so not much time to stamp, post here or visit other blogs. I'll be finishing the job today so hopefully I can finish my other projects soon.

Enjoy your day!

My first Garden Whimsey card

I have had my eye on this set since it made it's debut in the Fall~Winter Collection, but at that point I was thinking...fall & winter (duh!) Now that I'm at the point of thinking Spring, I had to snatch it up for my collection. However, it's probably not a good thing that I'm already thinking Spring when it's only early February here in Michigan and we were just hit with another snow storm yesterday. I guess I can think Spring all I want, but I just better not look outside!

I chose the nice warm colors of Pumpkin & Pomegranate and paired it up with Olive, because after all...if you're thinking Spring green is a must, right? As you can see I also used a few different backgrounds...Canvas on the bottom, Boho Backgrounds on the top and on the Word Window punched tab, and the coordinating Whimsey wheel on the Olive portion.

For the main image I inked the butterfly in Pumpkin and added Pomegranate around the edges by using the rock'n roll technique. The bold images in this set are perfect for this technique. The strip down the middle was dry embossed using my Crop-a-dile.

Enjoy your day!

So Many Scallop Flowers

I made this happy card using the So Many Scallops set and the Print Pack of Designer Papers offered as a Level 1 hostess gift. The 6x6 pad includes the colors shown here: Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi & Apricot Appeal along with Real Red - which obviously I couldn't work into this card. There are 60 sheets total, so it's a really nice pad of papers to add to your stash!

I used my 1" circle punch to punch out centers of my flowers from the designer print pack and then embossed the small flower from the Always set in white for the very center. (click on photo for better detail)

Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon was used for the stems and leaves. I finished this off by doing some faux stitching around the edges.

Enjoy your day!

Time for a Sale-A-Bration!

It's that time again...Sale-A-Bration! It is undoubtedly the best time of the year if you love Stampin' Up! products. This year not only are there 5 great stamp sets to choose from for free, but also a set of rub-ons.

Have you ever considered becoming a demonstrator? There's even a super deal for those who sign up during SAB. Contact me today if you would like to become part of my team.

The card I'm sharing with you here today uses the Birthday Whimsey set. Check out all the great sets you can get for free here.

Stamps: Birthday Whimsey & Whimsey Jumbo Wheel
Card stock: Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, Old Olive & Whisper White
Ink: Purely Pomegrante, Blue Bayou & Old Olive
Accessories: Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou & Soft Sky double stitched grosgrain ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Ticket Corner & Oval punches

I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to create the Happy Birthday background on the right side of the card. Doing so made me wish I had the Happy Birthday jumbo wheel! I think that is going on my next order!