How Much is That Cupcake in the Window?

This past week I've had both computer issues and then a power outage. Add in being super busy getting ready for my first new catalog event, and that equals a very neglected blog.! Sorry about the lack of posts. There's only a few more days left to order from the Occasions Catalog. I'm really glad I added the Another Great Year stamp set to my collection! It won't be available after June 1st...(along with many other great items). Here's a cute window card I made a while back using the little cupcake image.

I was so excited creating this card, but once completed it was an epic fail...I didn't have any SU! Window Sheets on hand, and instead created the window using a transparency sheet. After all my hard work creating this card it wouldn't stand up because the transparency sheet I used was too light weight & flimsy. In order to make it work, I had to alter my design.

I prefer the original design, but at least this way it stands on it's own. Note to self: Put Window Sheets on my next order! Here's a closer peak at the water colored cupcakes.

The little awning was created using the Word Window Punch and it adhered using mono adhesive at the top and Stampin' Dimensionals at the bottom. The added detail at the window frame was created using the Needlepoint Embossing Folder...which sadly is on the retiring list. Use it a lot to add a little extra detail.

Hope your weekend is a sweet one!

Lovin' (Project) Life!

I'm excited to share my very first Project Life scrapbook pages today!  Let me start by saying that I've been a traditional 12 x 12 scrapbooker for quite some time. While I love to scrap, I take a long time to complete a page. Since I have a ton of photos, I like layouts that use several photos...so I think Project Life will be a nice change of pace. I plan to incorporate my Project Life pages along with my traditional pages.

After a recent trip to Universal Studios in Orlando I have a big stack of bright, fun photos to scrap...the Everyday Adventure Card Collection is perfect for these photos...

I used a #5 Pocket Page from the Variety Pack (the pack comes with 12 pages...2 of each style) I used 3 of the 3x4 cards. They are all double sided...so here's the flip side of that page.

The Journaling Pens are really nice...I used the finer point pen for easy journaling on the grid patterned cards. I added some die cuts using the On Film Framelits and added some detail by stamping the arrows with Gorgeous Grunge and adding a Black Glimmer Brad to the little camera diecut. This next page uses a #3  Pocket Page from the Variety Pack.

Here's a closer look at the 4 x 4 card I created using some Crushed Curry cardstock, the Honeycomb Embossing Folder and Hexagon punch. Until now I hadn't realized that the Simpson's skintone is such a good match to Crushed Curry!

I wanted to pull a little red into the layout since there was so much red in the photos. I even used a new Photopolymer stamp set...Endless Birthday Wishes to stamp my title..."awesome day". Here's the two pages together as they'll look in my album...

The Everyday Adventure Card Collection comes in a nice sturdy storage box with lid, made to sit on your desk...there is even extra little compartment to hold your journaling pens and space to store a few photos you may plan to use later. Here's a closer look at some of my favorite designs in the 3 x 4 cards. Notice that the ones that have writing on them come  in both landscape & portrait format so they will fit a variety of layouts.

Here are some of the 4 x 4 cards...

and a few of the 4 x 6 cards...

Normally it would take me quite a bit longer than a few hours to finish 3 pages...and I wouldn't have been able to use so many photos either, so I think I'm really going to like the Project Life way of scrapbooking!

Enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend...but don't forget to remember those who gave their life for our freedom.

Blowout Sale!

WOW! Starting today lots of retiring items on SALE for up to 50% off!

Check it out to see if any of your favorites are there...while supplies last!

World Traveler Dad

I've had the World Map stamp on my wish list since it was first available in the last catalog, but it wasn't until I saw the new Traveler set that I knew I just had to have it! Here is my first card using both of these.

The Traveler set will be available from the new catalog in just a couple weeks. It's a great set with realistic, vintage pen and ink renderings perfect for creating manly cards. I watercolored this image of the globe using my aqua painter and classic inks.

The World Map background was colored simply by sponging...I used a combination of Sponge Daubers and Stampin' Sponges. The Sponge Daubers made it easier to get along the edges of there the water meets land...but the bigger sponges made it much quicker...so the combination worked well. The sentiment was printed on my computer onto Lost Lagoon card stock. I also used another new In Color...Mossy Meadow for the base and mat for the globe. I really love working with these new colors!

This past week while making room for my new colors and finding a spot for retiring items I ended up on a re-organizing frenzy! So far I've reorganized my 12 x 12 card stock, 8-1/2 x 11 card stock and all my DSP. When I say, "all of it" I mean not only my SU! DSP, but everything from other companies as well. I've "collected" a lot of it with future scrapbook pages in mind. I even found some really old single sided papers (remember when paper only had one side???) that I don't know what I was thinking when I purchased them! lol Hopefully I'll have some clean and reorganized workspace photos to share soon.

Have a great day!

Rainbow Swallowtail

When I was waiting for my Blendabilities to arrive, I kept thinking how fun it would be to color the large Swallowtail butterfly stamp with them...and it was!

I couldn't decide which color to use...so I ended up using them all and made a rainbow butterfly! I blended the Rich Razzleberry into the Cherry Cobbler and the Cherry into the Pumpkin Pie and the Pumpkin into the Daffodil Delight...I'm sure I'll never see a butterfly like this in nature, but it sure was fun to color!

I had originally planned to make a standard sized card, but I couldn't bring myself to cut any of this beauties wings off...that would have just been cruel, so I went with a 5 1/5" square base using the new Lost Lagoon. I'll just need to create a special envelope...but that will be easy using the Punch Board.

The word "Imagine" is from the Loving Thoughts set...it is on the retiring list and still available in wood mount. (clear mount has already sold out)

Have a great weekend!

Look Up to Father

I just love this tree & sentiment stamp called Look Up to Father. This is a single stamp and is available in the current Occasions catalog. It is perfect for upcoming Father's Day cards or masculine cards for any occasion by simply omitting the sentiment.

While this is a single image, with the quote directly below the tree, I decided I would get a lot more use out of it if I cut the sentiment off and mounted it separately. So that's what I did.

The Hardwood background stamp works perfectly with this stamp....I inked it in Crumb Cake and stamped right over the tree. I'm using one of the new In Colors here too...Mossy Meadow. I'm lovin' that color! Always Artichoke has always been a favorite, and this is a lighter, brighter, less gray version of Artichoke. I think this will be wonderful to use on Christmas cards this year.

There are some new weekly deals...have you checked them out? Two of my absolute favorite Big Shot dies that are retiring are included this week at a nice discount. If you don't already have the Tasteful Trims or Perfect Pennants dies I'd recommend treating yourself to these while they are still available.

Vibrant Peaceful Petals for Mom

I hope you had a wonderful Mothers Day! The weather here was absolutely beautiful and I was happy to spend it with my Mom & my sons...perfect day!

Have you seen the NEW batch of In Colors for 2014-16 yet? I think they are just gorgeous, rich & vibrant colors! Here is my first creation using them...along with the Blendabilities.

I stamped the flowers from the Peaceful Petals set in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink while masking the largest flower with an image cut from a post it note. Then I had lots of fun coloring in the flowers with my new Blendies! I really like working with them! It's nice to even be able to color pearls & rhinestones to match! As you can see here, I've colored Basic Pearl Jewels in Razzleberry & Daffodil. Here's a closer look...

The rich colors achieved using the Blendies work really well with the new In Color card stock...I used Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey and Tangelo Twist and threw in some Cherry Cobbler for good measure. So, basically fruit with a bit of honey...and who doesn't like that!?

Isn't the new 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon luscious? It will be available in the five new In Colors...I used Blackberry Bliss.

I used each of the Blendability Color Sets shown above:

• Rich Razzleberry
• Pumpkin Pie
• Cherry Cobbler
• Daffodil Delight
• Old Olive

The label was created using the Creative Elements set along with the Apothecary Accents Framelits. I cut just the edge off...I shared how to do this on this post. 

Enjoy your day! We have a thunderstorm going on here right now...it's pouring down rain. Guess I'll be "forced" to stay indoors and stamp instead of working outside cleaning up the flower bed today. 

Recycled Blendability Caddy

Whenever we add new supplies to our crafting space we are faced with finding a good storage solution to help keep things organized. I not only  want to be organized, but it is also important for me to have my supplies easily accessible. If the storage solution is attractive that's a bonus...if it is also low cost even a bigger bonus! This caddy I created for my new Blendabilities meets all the above criteria.

It's cute AND functional, and the best part it was basically FREE! A few years ago my Aunt had given me a few Crystal Lite containers that I had stashed away thinking I could alter them somehow. When I was searching for a way to store my new markers I found that these containers were a perfect fit. Since they are flat on the sides they are easily stacked. Lucky for me she had several more of these stashed away (thanks Aunt Roberta!) so I decided 6 was a good number to start with. Each cubby can comfortably hold 10 Blendies...so I should be good for a while!

All I did was adhere some washi tape around each edge...I used a pattern from Epic Day and one from Season of Style (this is actually on the Clearance Rack right now). Then I adhered them together using Wafer Thin Velcro Fasteners. This way if I decide to change the configuration later or swap out the washi tape design it will be easy to do so. Here's how my new caddy looks sitting on my desk.

I keep my other markers in these acrylic containers* along with my ink pads, and I like that the recycled Crystal Lite containers are clear so they all kind of match. I work so much better when my work space is uncluttered and I know where things are. Hopefully this idea will inspire you to reuse/recycle something you have laying around and turn it into something functional.

 Check out my other Stampin' Space posts if you would like to see other low cost organizing ideas.

HAPPY Mother's Day to all you Moms! Have a wonderful weekend!!!

*Every time I post photos of my work space I get a LOT of questions regarding my ink storage containers. I purchased these on line quite a while back from a company called Dzyntec. Unfortunately, they have since gone out of business.

Peaceful Blendabilities

Guess what showed up at my house on Wednesday??? Here's a hint...

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I've been to try the new Blendabilities!!! and to see the NEW IN COLORS and the NEW CATALOG in real life!!! I can happily say I sure wasn't disappointed in any of the above! Actually...they all exceeded my expectations! The new catalog is one of the best since I've become a demo (has it really been over 9 years now!?) and the new In Colors are just luscious...but the new Blendies were the first thing I had to try!

Let me start by saying that I have never used Copic markers, but I love to watercolor.  So that being said, I cannot compare one to the other.

When coloring, I usually use the aqua painter and our inks and had nice results. However, if I wanted a deep, vibrant look to my watercoloring, this method would sometimes take a while to build up the color to be as deep as I wanted. With the Blendabilities it was so much quicker & easier to get beautiful, vibrant color. Here is a look at my first attempt at trying out these markers...

They are laid out in the order of how I tried them...I think, with each flower I colored, I improved a little bit on the blending. I could still go back and blend a little more if I wanted to.  I stamped each image on Whisper White card stock using the Black Memento Ink pad. On the top right you can see a color swatch of each of the 3 markers. Here's a closer look at each one...

Now I need to get busy and make some cards using these colored images...but I just couldn't wait to share my first experience using the new Blendies with you.

Epic Vacation Pages

I cannot believe it's already been a week since I've posted! I've been doing a little re-organizing in my stampin space now that we know what is retiring. I need to get ready for those new In Colors and other goodies that are on their way here! I did a little scrapbooking over the weekend and planned to share my pages...but I have had a really bad sinus headache the past few days. With so much pressure around my eyes I haven't felt much like getting on the computer. I'm feeling somewhat better today, so I wanted to share my some vacation pages created using the Epic Day Designer Series Paper.

Back in March we took our son to Florida to celebrate his safe return from Afghanistan. He was deployed for almost a year, and missed so many holidays including Christmas and his birthday. As you can imagine, it was so nice to spend a whole week with him relaxing and having a good time! Unfortunately, our oldest son couldn't get away from school and his clinical training to go with us...otherwise it was the perfect vacation.

I like the way my title turned out. I cut a piece of chipboard using the Bigz Typeset Alphabet for the "&" and the R's were stamped using the Morning Post Alphabet. (both the alphabet dies and stamps are retiring...so if they're on your wish list...better get them while you still can!)

The phrase "Just a little" was printed from my computer, as was the journaling. To grunge up the Very Vanilla card stock a bit I used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. I also used it here and there on the DSP as well.  On one of the punched hexagons I used the Remember This Rotary Stamp to include the date. Here's a look at the other page.

The hexagon border shows many of the patterns included in this paper pack...the colors and map prints are perfect for tropical vacation photos. It was fun punching out and arranging the hexagon shapes...kind of like doing a puzzle. I sponged the edges using Basic Gray ink. The On Film Framelits show a few selfies of my hubby & I lounging in the hammock one evening. I even cut down the larger frame to fit the photo of our son. I held it together and hid the seams with Epic Day This & That Washi Tape and an arrow cut with the arrow framelit. (included in the On Film Framelits)

Here are both the pages together...

I almost forgot...today is Tuesday! Which means...new Weekly Deals and new digital downloads...check them out!

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you will stop by again soon...my pre-order will be here soon, so I'll have fun stuff to share!