Tea Party and Cupcakes

I hope you had a nice weekend. I spent most of my weekend working on putting my house back together after getting new flooring in our dining/living room area. LOTS of furniture and stuff to move! I'm sure glad it's done and things are mostly back to normal...but it was worth the disruption, as I love the way it looks. :-) Since I didn't get to do any stamping, here's an easy card that was a make & take at one of my recent workshops.With the Crazy for Cupcakes set and matching cupcakes wheel, it's easy to create cute cards in a snap! I took it a step further by doing a little paper piecing using one of the striped papers from the Tea Party paper pack and finishing off my card with Crystal Effects on the icing and candle.

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, Cupcakes wheel
Card stock: Whisper White, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Tea Party DSP
Ink: Basic Gray, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, So Saffron
Accessories: Big Shot, Lots of Labels Sizzlets, Large Oval punch, Aqua Painter, Soft Subtle brads, So Saffron grosgrain (SAB ribbon bundle), & Crystal Effects

Have a sweet day!

What could be better?

Than a box of new goodies!??? How about having the space to use them? I just got this box full of new stuff from the Occasions Mini delivered to me...but my stamping space is covered with china, audio equipment, etc...from our dining room and living room. I cannot wait until our floors are done and I have time (and the space) to stamp again!

Don't you feel sorry for me!???

Delicate Dots Hostess Gifts

We are getting new wood flooring installed today. I'm so glad this will finally be done as we have had our house torn apart for too long...over two weeks! It took longer than anticipated for the flooring to come in, and we had the old carpet torn up, furniture moved etc...It should be all done tomorrow! Today I'm kind of hanging in my computer room so I'm out of the way, but handy if the installer has any questions. So I thought I'd share a couple projects and then check out some of my fav blogs.

With the help of my Big Shot I decorated these clip boards as hostess gifts for my March hostesses. I used the Delicate Dots paper and the So Saffron grosgrain - both available as FREE selections during SAB, to decorate these clipboards. The Beautiful Butterfly is a Bigz die, so it allows you to cut through all sorts of material - including the cork board shown here. The base layer of the flower is cut from chipboard so that it will hold up better than just paper would on the clip. To make the pen holder more secure, I punched a hole right through the clip board and inserted a large brad from the Styled Silver HPH Kit. That will keep the ribbon from slipping.

See the tack in the center of the cork butterfly? That was a regular flat headed tack and I just attached one of the cute buttons from the Button Latte pack with a glue dot. I used another button for the center of the daisy.

I also demoed this matching card at all my March workshops. Stamps: Cute & Curly
Card stock: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue & Delicate Dots DSP
Ink: Certainly Celery
Accessories: Curly Label & 1/2" Circle punches, Rich Regal brads, Certainly Celery twill ribbon (SAB ribbon bundle), Top Note and Daisy Bigz Dies & the Big Shot

Enjoy your day!

The Cat's Meow

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday, and since she's one of the biggest cat lovers I know, I got to dig out this cute kitty set to make her a card. With every new catalog release I hope for a new cat set - one with beautiful, realistic images to watercolor...I'd even take another cute, cartoony set. SU! needs another cat and dog set! Anyways...here's the card. You cannot really tell in the photo, but the ball of yarn is cut out and popped up. The ribbon I used wasn't the best match, but I think it matches better in real life than in this photo. The DSP I used is from the Tea Party pack of papers. I like the way the Amethyst looks with the Basic Gray. Hopefully my SIL has as much fun today as this kitty is having with the ball of yarn!

I hope you have a ball today too! (Yeah! It's Monday!;-)

Happy Spring!

Today is the first day of Spring! While the sun is shining brightly today, the temperature doesn't feel too spring like...but that's OK, I'm sure before we know it everything will be blooming and turning green...my favorite time of the year! I love to decorate my antique buffet for each season, so I created this banner to celebrate spring.
The Tea Party papers are just perfect for spring, and I used many of the pretty patterns from that pack. I used my Big Shot along with the Serif Essentials Alphabet, Beautiful Butterflies, Daisies #2 and the Button dies. On the background for the letters "P" and "N" I also used the Polka Dot Texturz plate. The only stamp I used was the hummingbird from the Dream a Little hostess set. To embellish my creation I used the celery & saffron ribbon from the SAB ribbon bundle, Button Latte and Soft Subtle brads. Here is what it looks life on my buffet.
Unfortunately I do not have all my other Spring/Easter decor out as we are waiting for our new flooring to be installed. I was hoping it would be done today but now we're looking at next week. We pulled up our carpet over a week ago while my hubby was off and I'm growing tired of walking on plywood. lol Oh well, it will be nice when it's done, and worth the wait I'm sure. I'll try to post another photo showing my buffet in all it's spring-time glory after our floor is done.
Think Spring is also the challenge posted today on the Stamp Something blog and I think my banner definitely qualifies. :-)
Have a wonderful weekend!

Sweet Stems in a Vase

Hi! A quick post today! I want to share another card we did at my class last weekend. I saw the idea to make a vase using the oval punch for the Sweet Stems flowers in the gallery at SCS and thought it was such a cute idea. The Tea Party papers coordinate perfectly with this set, and they are just perfect for spring. The Pretty in Pink scalloped mat for the image was created by piecing together 4 scalloped square punches. The ribbon is part of the Ribbon Bundle - free with a $50 purchase during Sale~A~Bration. I cannot believe that Sale~A~Bration will be coming to an end in less than two weeks!

Enjoy your day!

Cheep Talk Trio

Here is another group of cards that everyone made at my all occasion card class this past weekend. As you can see, the Cheep Talk set is perfect to make a variety of cards just by changing up the images and sentiments a bit. I even dug out the sentiment, "happy bird-day to you" from the old SAB set Love Ya Bunches, and it worked perfect along the branch. (see the card on the left) Each card uses Sale~A~Bration paper and ribbon along with the coordinating colors - Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and So Saffron...perfect for spring! Speaking of spring...the past couple days have been absolutely gorgeous! It's been hard to stay indoors. But today it's supposed to rain, so I think I'll get some stamping projects finished. Have a good one!

Lucky Clover

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Here's a quick card using the heart stamp from the Darling Dots Level 1 Hostess set to make a four leaf clover. The Garden Green layer is dry embossed with the small polka dot texturz plate. I also used my Big Shot to cut out the lucky label - it's one of the Lots of Tags Sizzlets, backed with a 1-1/4" circle punched from Celery card stock. The Celery ribbon is part of the SAB ribbon bundle and the lucky stamp is from the Define Your Life set.

Here is another card made with the Delicate Dots set. I made this one a while back using this sketch from the Mojo Monday blog and forgot to post it...so I thought I'd add it to today's post.
This card features bright, cheery colors from the Bold Brights group - Gable Green, Pixie Pink, Only Orange and Tempting Turquoise. I cut the flower out using the Big Shot and the smallest flower from the Daisy #2 die.

Be happy and have a lucky day!

Branch Out Trio

Yesterday I held one of my All Occasion Card Classes. Everybody made three of each card I had designed and pre-cut for them. To give them more of a variety I usually change up the patterned papers, base color or embellishments a bit, so that even though they are making three of the same design, they are always a bit different. This set of three cards uses one of my favorite new sets - Branch Out
All three cards started with the base of Kraft cardstock. Parisian Breeze and Tea Party papers were used to create both masculine and feminine cards. With the addition of the cute images to adorn the tree you can create a multitude of different looks. The Cute and Curly set along with the matching punch finished off the card with their choice of sentiments. Shown here is the Lots of Thoughts set which was an SAB selection last year. I left the feminine card blank so it would be easy to add a sentiment later as needed.

It is going to be nice and warm here today...in the 60's they say! Have a good one!

Thoughts and Prayers

Wow, this week sure has flown by! I've been pretty busy with a couple home improvement projects around here, plus I've been designing some cards for an upcoming card class this weekend so I haven't had much time for blogging. After my card class I'll have lots of new things to show you. ;-)

Today I'm sharing a couple simple cards that were one of the make & takes at a workshop I did earlier this week. The guests had their choice of using either the tree or the floral design. Both of these images are so pretty it would be hard to pick. The workshop guests were pretty much evenly split on the tree vs the floral design.


Here's the tree card:
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Card stock: Mellow Moss, Perfect Plum, Whisper White & Perfect Plum DP
Ink: Mellow Moss & Perfect Plum Markers: Chocolate chip, Perfect Plum & Always Artichoke
Accessories: Moss grosgrain ribbon & Ticket Corner Punch
Have a great weekend!

Spring Butterfly

I had a busy weekend and then a workshop last night so I haven't got around to posting much lately. This is one of the cards that everyone made at the workshop last night. I kept it fairly simple since a large group was making the card. But since they were all experienced stampers and like to try different techniques, we did the kissing or faux shaving cream technique on the butterfly.My sample here shows the butterfly with the kissing technique. Simply ink your stamp in the lightest color, in this case Amethyst, then ink your wheel in a darker ink - I used Lovely Lilac, roll the wheel right over your inked stamp to create the "kissed" image, or for a marbled looking image, twist as you roll, this will create the faux shaving cream effect. (I forgot to take a pic of that...I'll try to do that later and add it)

Stamps: Simple Friendship, Sincere Salutations & Always in Bloom wheel
Card stock: Almost Amethyst, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery and Tea Party DP
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Pink Pirouette & Lovely Lilac
Accessories: Simple Flower Embosslit, Celery ribbon (SAB)& SS brads

I must say that my hostesses last night really spoiled everyone...me included! They served up a wonderful meal starting with creamy chicken knoki soup topped with bacon, followed by Chicken Marsala over pasta. For desert they made delicious chocolate crepes with strawberry sauce, drizzled in chocolate. I'm telling you...my mouth is watering just thinking about it! Plus they made the most adorable file folders as a party favor for everyone. (I'll take a pic and post later.) It was awesome! Thanks again Minnie & Becky...you rock!!!

Hoppin' All Is Well

Last week my Aunt came over and stamped with me. She brought along her Hoppy For You set, so I made this card. I like the way the swirly embossed background compliments the swirls on the lilly pad. This is a cute set that was fun to play with.
Stamps: Hoppy For You
Card stock: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery & Delicate Dots DP (SAB)
Ink:Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery and Black Stazon (for sentiment on ribbon)
Accessories: Celery poly-twill ribbon (SAB), Texturz Plate, Stampin' Pastels - to color lilly pad & cat tails

Have a great weekend!

Botanical Congrats

Yesterday I took some time to play with a couple SAB sets that have not seen ink yet...Botanical Blooms and Congrats. Both of these are great sets, but after receiving so many new goodies at once, I haven't had time to use them all yet...so many stamps...so little time! I also used the Delicate Dots paper and the beautiful Saffron grosgrain that is part of the ribbon bundle. I inked the flowers with Saffron and then lightly rock 'n rolled them in Pumpkin ink. The flowers are a 2 step stamp, so for the second line image layer I used my Pumpkin and Celery markers to ink that stamp. Then I just filled in with leaves inked in Celery. For the crowning touch I added a butterfly cut out of Delicate Dots paper using the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die and my Big Shot.

When I logged in here this morning there was a comment from a friend telling me that my Cheep Talk card was featured on one of my favorite blogs, iStamp under Nancy's iPicks - which are some of her favorite projects she sees while blurfing each week. That's pretty cool, huh? Now I'm off to check out the rest of the projects on Nancy's list of iPicks. Have a good one!

Spring Branch Out

I cannot wait to look out my windows and see a tree with leaves starting to bud and pretty pink flowers blooming on each branch. For now, there's this awesome new stamp set, Branch Out. The set contains images to create trees for each season...I could even do a bare tree with snowflakes if I so desire...but I think not! Kind of sick of that scene for now. ;-)

I choose the soft, pastel colors of Mellow Moss, Pink Pirouette & Baja Breeze...perfect for spring. After I stamped my design I lightly sponged the background with Baja & Moss inks. The Baja base of my card was stamped with my favorite new wheel - Always in Bloom.

I'll be using this set at my upcoming All Occasion Card Class on March 15th. There's still time to sign up.

Have a great day!