Post Part Deux

That means Part Two for those who don't speak French. Here is my second post for today. It is taking me FOREVER to post today. I have been interrupted twice by the phone. One was a college recruiter....no explanation needed now huh!? So my second card today is for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge. It is also the card I sent today to be included in Jen Del Muro's HUGE blog tart giveaway. I actually made two of these. The one I sent is blank inside.I love this card! I am really happy that I have been using so many "old" things from my stash. The base is So Saffron and is layered with a strip of Vanilla that was cuttlebug embossed. Then some retired SU designer paper for the bottom. I used a strip of pearl trim that I have had FOREVER....like 9 years...seriously. I then used my oval nesties for the focal point. I stamped the flowers from Happy Harmony in So Saffron and Old Olive. The sentiment is by Stampendous and is stamped with Choc Chip Craft ink. The flowers on either side are from The Paper Studio and then centers are some old pearl brads. I stamped the inside too. See.... Now, I have one more card to show for today. This is for the OCC Challenge. They provided a sketch and this is my take on it....

I just love that little bunny. He is from Verve Stamps and I paper pieced his little shirt. It is actually the reverse side of the DP done the center of the card. I'll just give a basic recipe since it is pretty simple.
Stamps: Verve Sombunny loves you, All in a Row ( hard to see along the sides)
Ink: Versamark, Purely Pomegranite, Bashful Blue
Paper: DP from Su, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Other: Simply Scrappin Kit SU, Making Memories Ribbon

That's it for me today. I really think that since I have wasted most of my day already I will just go stamp in the basement:) There's not much I could finish before dinner anyways, right? Tee hee. I hope to get back into my regular routine by next week and back to regular posting and blog maintenance. Hope you have a fabulous Thursday!

Snowed IN

I know that I have been almost non existent. My kids are on the third day of being home from school. We got a lot of snow. I LOVE the snow but am really ready for them to go back to school. We are getting a bit stir crazy here. I also haven't been able to stamp much. I did get a few cards done yesterday and this morning. They are for a few challenges.. First I wanted to show you our snow. I shoveled yesterday morning at around 8 am and within a half an hour it didn't even look like I had shoveled:( I don't mind shoveling as long as I don't have to lift too much. This is a picture of the driveway by 9am. Look at my poor van. It's all iced over. It was snowing like crazy.
I had to shovel again by 10:30am and there was probably another 3 inches accumulated. When my husband got home from his meeting he said he would shovel the next time. It stopped snowing within the next 20 minutes. Doesn't that figure?

Well onto my cards for today. The first is for the MOJO Monday Sketch. I really like this sketch. I don't make very many square cards. Mainly because I know that postage is more and the envelopes cost more. I am cheap. That's me. But every once in a while I try to step outside my box and do something different. Well, this card isn't really that different. I realized as I was making it that it resembled another card I made here:) So much for stepping outside my box. But here it is:
This card measures 5 1/4 square. Because this is just basic stamping I will include the recipe only below.

Stamps: Petal Prints, Elegant Greetings
Ink: Going Gray, Versamark. Riding Hood Red
Paper: Basic Black, Paper Studio Jeweltones, Hot Off the Press DP
Other: Flower punch, Organdy Ribbon, RHR taffetta ribbon, Pearl brads, flowers (self dyed), half back pearls, cutter kit, scalloped edge punch, black EP

Dirty Bird

My title is a bit strange I know. I really like this card except for that bird...he looks, well, dirty. I'm not very happy with "him". But I needed to get this card done and posted this morning. This is for the Viva La Verve Friday Challenge. You can check out the sketch here. I hope you can play along. The hardest part in making a card for me is the layout. So, I love when it is already made up for me.

This card uses Basic Gray for the base. I used the Urban Garden designer paper from SU. The sentiment is stamped on White in Basic Gray ink and is from Stampendous. I used the ticket corner punch and then layered this onto a piece of basic gray. Each corner is dotted with half pearls from HL. The flowers are from Joann's. I used the set Always for the stamped bird and flowers. I stamped the bird in versamark first and then in Baja Breeze and clear embossed it. I then rubbed basic gray over the top. I used my white gel pen to highlight areas. This is adhered with dimensionals. The scalloped rectangle was made with my scalloped edge punch. I stamped the flower in Baja Breeze and then sponged the edges with basic gray. I used the Gray Taffetta ribbon underneath on tied a separate bow on the side that is adhered with glue dots.

I'm sorry that my post today is rushed. I have a very busy day. Have lots to get done in before the big snow storm hits. Woohoo! LOVE THE SNOW! My mom is not so happy. She is not much of a winter person. We'll just keep her tucked inside:)

Have a great day! Don't forget to check out the sketch for MOJO MONDAY. You can click on the left of my blog for details. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play tomorrow. Don't you hate when regular life gets in the way of stamping? Geesh! Just kidding!

Simple Card Sunday

Happy Sunday! Is it snowing where you live? It is here. I wonder if my card inspired the weather?:) I haven't been keeping up with the weather reports so I have no idea how much we are going to get. Things here have been very eventful this week. My mother came to live with us. We are working to get her settled and feeling at home. She is wonderful at organizing. I think she is going to help me organize my stamp area this coming week a bit. So, I have not been able to stamp and/or do my tutorials. I will do my best to post next week. I have several projects in the works. I hope to be able to share.
Also, I wanted you all to know that this SIMPLE CARD SUNDAY will most likely only take place once a month. It is really too challenging for me to do every week. I really struggle with making such a limited card. I can't seem to restrict myself in this manner. I start to sweat! So here is my card for today and I will share again next month.

Here is the very simple recipe:
Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue
Ink: Brilliance blue
Stamps: Snow Burst and some other SU sentiment
Accessories: Snowflake stickers from Target

Thanks for stopping in today. See you next week!

HELLO!

I apologize for being MIA this week. I was sick earlier in the week and then got picked for jury duty. I ALWAYS get picked. In reality though, jury duty is kind of fun. So don't balk if you get called for it. It's a very interesting process. I actually felt really good when I was done. We ruled in favor of the Plaintiff and I ended up running into him on the street afterwards. He gave me a big hug:) Basically, he will be getting the medical treatment he should have been getting for the last 2 years. That makes me feel really good. Now getting back to stamping. I haven't been able to stamp much at all this week. I did want to try and participate in Kristina's Color Inspiration. I feel like I can't stop for even a week. I have like this record going! I can't break it! So here is the Inspiration:

Here is my take:Very quickly I will give the recipe. We have a ball game to get to this morning. I used Basic Black and tied a ribbon from HL around it. The bow is adhered with ZOTS. A strip of So Saffron is backed with a scalloped strip in White. The green dotted DP is from Making Memories. This is stamped with a Michaels dollor stamp in Versafine Black and the hearts are colored with a red pigment ink marker. I wish I had black embossed it to make it pop a bit more. The hearts are from Verve's set A Hundred Hearts. It is stamped with versamark onto Real Red and then Clear embossed. I cut them out and then decided to add a dimensional to the right top portion of the heart only. This is all then mounted onto a card base of white.

That's all for me today. Sorry it is so quick. I am working on a SIMPLE SUNDAY card. It's not going well:( I will try to post tomorrow. Enjoy your day. It is beautiful here. Tiny snowflakes are floating through the air and the sun is shining. SOOO pretty!

EDITED TO NOTE: I TOTALLY MISSED THE DEADLINE THIS WEEK. BUMMER!

Simple Card Sunday

I just have a very quick post today. My hopes are to challenge myself each week to a "simple" card. That's very hard for me. My first card to show is not something I'm particularly happy with, but I am forcing myself NOT to add more elements to it:) I really wanted to emboss, add ribbon and brads. But restraint is good. So here it is. I will just give a basic recipe at the end.Stamps: Hundred Hearts, Hearts Afire, Sweet Valentine (by Verve)
Paper: Pacific Point, Off white textured, Green Galore, Vanilla
Ink: Real Red, Pacific Point
Other: paper piercing, dimensionals, versamarker

My next card is for the Viva La Verve Friday Challenge. It is definitely NOT simple. But I LOVE it!Here is a picture of the inside as well. I used my Bella Rose Designer paper and Chocolate Chip as my base. We needed to have some pink on this card for a "twist" to the sketch. I used Pink Pirouette and I love that Polka dotted paper. I am in love with polka dots at the moment:) I used Sweet Valentine and embossed the double hearts with Choc. Chip craft ink and clear EP onto watercolor paper. I will show you how I cut the out into circles at a later post. Riding Hood Red is the ink on the inside using the technique from my last tutorial. I stamped an extra set of hearts and put it on top of the center hearts for a bit of dimension. Not sure if you can tell in the picture. The heart brads are from Making Memories. The scallop on the side was made with my corner rounder. The Chocolate Satin ribbon is from Walmart. The hugs sentiment is also embossed in the same manner as the hearts. It is a stamp from Hero Arts. Everything else is pretty self explanatory. The hearts on the inside at the bottom are from the Verve set called Hearts Afire. I really am loving my Verve Stamps!

I HAVE to be HONEST

I know that I am really behind in a few tutorials that I have promised. But I have a very good reason. One, that once I've shared, I'm sure you will totally understand. The last time I did a tutorial, my husband checked out my blog. He came home from work and asked me how I managed to to do that? When I explained that I used my tripod his response was "Oh, I wondered whose hands those were. They looked like man's hands." WHAT!!! I swear that when men get married they should be handed a list... THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT SAY TO YOUR WIFE. I don't know about you, but to me "You have Man Hands" is a no brainer. Apparently not. I adore my husband, but he is, after all, a man(sigh). So, as you can see, I have been a bit shy about photographing the monstrosities that hang from my upper limbs. I have never had nice hands. I worked in a dental office starting as a senior in High School and continued for the next 16 years. Rubber gloves are not kind people. I have never been one to splurge on having my nails done or anything. So, I have really been working hard to get my hands to look nicer...more feminine. I have lotioned, buffed and lotioned some more. For weeks, I have been doing this and.......they STILL look like crap. So, I've given up. I did decide to paint them a pretty shade of pink so they will indeed have some feminine quality to them. And now I realize you will all be inspecting them in the pictures. Great. So first let me show you a card I made yesterday with some Verve stamps. I got this set for my son's First Communion invites. I think the verse is just perfect for this occasion. This also falls into the categories of Mojo Monday sketch and the challenges at OCC and on Splitcoast:)
This card starts with a base of Baja Breeze. I really love this color. I ran a little over half of it through my cuttlebug for that embossed background. To do this I put my card in the embossing folder sideways. Does that make sense? This is adhered to a slightly larger piece of Kraft cardstock. You can somewhat see it in the picture. I then cut and stamped the Not Quite Navy with an old background stamp called French Script. I used NQN ink as well. I am loving those metal buttons from Making Memories. I am almost out:( I stamped the diamond pattern from All in A Row in NQN along the left side of the card. The cross and the verse are from a Verve set called Jeremiah 29:11. The Cross is stamped in NQN onto the Kraft cardstock and the verse is stamped in Choc Chip craft ink. This is my first "real" set of clear acrylic stamps. I have to say I really like how easy it was to line my verse over the top of that cross. It also inked up very well. I'm really happy with them:) Ok, back to the details. Once I had everything stamped, I lined my scalloped nestie over the top and ran it through the cuttlebug. I then paper pierced each scallop and adhered with dimensionals. I wanted to be able to send this to my brother. I'm hoping the scallops don't take away from the masculine"ness" of it all. Wow, lots of feminine/masuline talk today.

Now on to the TUTORIAL: ( don't look at the hands...don't look at the hands....)

This is how I did the flowers in THIS POST

First, I must say that this in not my idea. I stumbled upon this on some other blog. I just can't remember where. Sorry. I wish I could give credit. Not only are my hands shot , but the minds going as well:) And stop looking at the owie on my thumb. Yes, I'm scarred for life. No, not from the owie....from my husband's comment. Years of therapy will be needed I'm sure. OOOH...therapy equates to stamps here. Hehe...maybe I can use that as an excuse and it will be all his fault( evil laugh inserted here). Sorry, I'll try to stay focused....tutorial on Easy watercoloring...3...2...1

To start I embossed my image in black on watercolor paper. Now, you don't need to emboss. I just like how that looks. What you do need to do is stamp with a waterproof ink....Stazon is good. You must also use watercolor paper to achieve this look. I then took a lighter shade of blue ( baja breeze in this case) and used my aquapainter to lightly apply it to the petals. ( You could probably skip this part depending on the size of your image and how much you blend later on. ) Now let this dry.




Next take a marker and lightly trace the outside edges. You don't need to do them all if it is a small image like this one. Larger images will require more ink. Play around with highlights and shadowing a bit.








Now go back to your Aquapainter and pull the color from the outside edges into the center. Blending as you go.










If you end up with too much ink in an area you can remove some of it by following this technique. Place your aquapainter on that area pulling up and then take your fingers and "squeegie" off the water on the end of the aquapainter. Repeat until you have removed enough of the color. I got this idea from a tutorial on Julie Buhler's blog HERE. It is a great tutorial on a somewhat different technique. I want to be her when I grow up. She has fabulous ideas.




Well, here is the finished card. I'm not real happy with the layout. This is one of those cards that came from a bunch of cards that were started and never finished. I don't know if you can tell, but I stamped the flower twice on the watercolor paper and then stamped just the top again and cut it out to layer over the top of the shorter flower. Dimension is good:)

I will be working on some other tutorials over the next week or so. Stay tuned! I'm off to grocery shop with my kids today. No school and no food. I'm not sure what awful thing I did to deserve having to take the kids with me. It will be a quick trip that's for sure. Wish me luck!

Kwerener Color Inspiration

Just a quick post today. The kids are home from school. Yep, we got SNOW:) Not very much though. However, it is too cold to go out and play. Only about 5 degrees here. That's ok. It looks so pretty and the sun is shining. I'm a happy girl. I also get to stamp a bit today. I'm trying to get the kids to get crafty with me, but they are having too much fun playing. Guess what they played? SCHOOL! Ha! How funny is that? They pray for a snow day and then end up playing school????
I couldn't sleep this morning so I got up and worked on my card for Kristina's color inspiration.
This is a pretty simple card. I embossed only part of the white card base with my cuttlebug. I then tied this orange ribbon from Hobby Lobby where the embossing ended. Next I punched out 1/2"circles from pumpkin, pretty in pink and ruby red and adhered them along the bottom. They are stamped with versamark using the star from SU's Small Sayings. Next I punched out 2 more circles (1 1/4 and 1 3/8") and embossed them as well. The center circle (1 3/4") was stamped with Say it with Scallops in Ruby Red. I then layered a circle ring made by first punching the pumpkin cardstock with the 1 3/8" circle punch and then positioning the 1 3/4" circle around the hole created in the cardstock. I duplicated the same stitched look on the ribbon by using my white gel pen. This is adhered with dimensionals. That's it! Pretty simple. I working on a few things to post over the next few days. Let's cross our fingers that it goes as I plan:) Have a good one!

Warm Thoughts

Anything with the word "warm" sounds good here:) It's pretty cold out! While it's been snowing, we have yet to get any "real" snow. Do I sound disappointed? I am. I REALLY miss snow. I think if it's going to be cold then it should at least look pretty, you know?! I'll keep hoping. Today we are supposed to get a few inches. Well see?! In the meantime, here is a card I made for my WIGW creation.

I decided to use this last scrap piece of paper from Out and About. It is really beautiful all by itself. I cut it just a bit smaller than my card base of Kiwi Kiss. I stamped the "grass" from Inspired By Nature in Kiwi Kiss onto SU textured White cardstock. I then stamped over that with Choc Chip Craft ink and clear embossed. The sentiment is from Stampendous. The flower is from The Paper Studio and I used a half pearl from my Pretties Kit for the center. I also used the hat pin and beads from the Pretties for added interest behind the flower. I sandwiched the pin between two dimensionals to hold the beads in place and then place the flower overtop of the pin. I used some old fibers that SU used to sell for the top of my pin. I still think it "needs something" on the left side.

My next card is for the Our Creative Corner challenge. I combined it with the MOJO MONDAY sketch. For the OCC challenge we were to use 2 different blues and one neutral. I have to say that this card looks WAY better in real life than the picture. I just couldn't get a good picture for some reason.
The base of my card is Bashful Blue. I then ran a piece of Kraft cardstock through my cuttlebug for the textured background. I'm not sure who makes that blue strip. It is double sided DP. This side has looks somewhat like fabric. I used these metal faux buttons from Making Memories. I then decided that I didn't want the bottom part to be embossed so I added a strip of the Kraft paper on top of itself and used some SU rubons for my sentiment. The flower is a die cut SU packet that I ran through my cuttlebug and then sponged along the edges with bashful blue ink. The center is a flower from All Through the Year that was stamped using Sahara Sand ink onto Kraft cardstock. I tried my hand at the Build a Brad. Admittedly, I didn't go such a great job. I coated the sticky part with fine cosmo glitter and then couldn't find my Crystal Effects to adhere the metal part. So, I ended up using Bead glue which I think had a chemical reaction to the glitter and turned it a different color. So, there's a lesson for you. Of course, shortly after finishing the card I found my crystal effects:( Isn't that always the way it goes.

Today, I'm going to share just a few family photos of our Christmas. My side of the family is a bit crazy, but in a really fun way. Every year we play a game with dice. When you get doubles you pick a gift and open it. Once everyone has a gift we set a timer and when you get doubles you can steal other people's gifts until the timer goes off. Then you are stuck with what is in your hand. Sometimes the gifts are really good and sometimes the gifts are really BAD. Sometimes the gifts are from the previous year even:) This year I decorated a paint can and put in a Rudolph blinking nose and some Authentic Reindeer Poop (Whoopers). My gift wasn't so good this year. Here are a few pictures of some of our fun. BTW, my daughter took all these pictures. So some are a bit blurry but she really does a pretty good job. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized I trusted her to my REALLY expensive camera on a cement floored room(eek!).


My cousin and her boyfriend were the lucky recipients of my gift. But she ended up getting what she really wanted in the end. I don't think my uncle, however, got what he wanted. It was the gift they brought to try and get rid of from before. We are not above "regifting":)

And we are definitely not above fighting for what we want either:) How much trouble do you think you can get in for strangling "Santa Claus":) ? I ended up with the gift in the end...Irish Creme Liqueur. See I told you some of the gifts were REALLY GOOD!

Thanks for sharing in my family ramblings. Hope you stay warm today.

Final Verve challenges COMPLETE

I'm so happy that I made the deadline for these challenges! You can find all the details here in case you missed them. This card also uses the colors for Kristina's Color Inspiration so I'm taking advantage of killing two birds in one stone again.

This card starts simply with a Choc. chip base and is layered with Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive. The pumpkin is punched with the scalloped edge punch and tiny self adhesive pearls are attached. The Old Olive is cuttlebugged and tied with a chocolate ribbon from HL. I then colored my stamp from Inspired by Nature with markers. I misted by watercolor paper and then stamped the image. I also took my aquapainter overtop to blend the colors better. I cut this out with my nesties and sponged the edges with Baja Breeze. This is layered on a scalloped oval of Vellum cardstock. I used dimensionals to adhere this to the card.



I really love the fun colors of this next card.

This paper is from My Mind's Eye. I'm becoming a big fan of their paper. It is scalloped with my corner rounder as is the Rose Red layer underneath. Here is my TIP on scalloping these so that they turn out the exact same. Cut both papers the exact same size and temporarily adhere them together. Then punch along the bottom. Separate them and trim the top layer along each side and the top to nest inside your bottom layer. Clear as mud?: ) The ric rac you see is from the Target dollar spot. It came together with that velvety ribbon at the top. The other ribbon is a sheer pink that SU used to carry. I stamped the cupcake from Party Hearty twice...once in taken with teal ( stamping off first) and once in regal rose. I cut each section out separately and layered them onto the Whisper White. I added dazzling diamonds to the "stump" of the cupcake and beads to the top. They are added with bead glue and are retired from SU. The sentiment was inked with Taken with Teal and Green Galore markers. I can't remember the name of the set. I'll get back on that.

Well, I think I'm done posting for the week now. I plan on spending the weekend with my family. My son really wants to get that MarioKart for the Wii. He has had me check online twice now and can't stop talking about it. He has Christmas money that is apparently burning a hole in his pocket. So we may be doing that all weekend. I actually want it too:D. We played this not to long ago at Chuck E Cheese. The arcade game has a feature where once you pick which character you want to be it takes your actual picture and then puts your face inside the frame of that character. Then as you race each other it shows this picture of the person chasing you . The visual of seeing my husband with a big red nose and handlebar mustache (Mario) made the trip to crazy Chuck E Cheese TOTALLY worth it. I WISH that the Wii game had that feature. I'm giggling just thinking back to it.
Hope you all have a blessed weekend. It's cold here. Thanks for peeking into my little crafting corner.

Another Post Today

It's been a fun, busy week of stamping for me. I'm so lucky! I really want to get these challenges done so I qualify for the BIG WIN for Verve. So, I'm combining Kristina's color inspiration with a sketch challenge by Julee for the Verve Challenge. I had to laugh when I saw this picture because right now my kid's school is selling SMENCILS and they are "all the rage". What's a "smencil" ? Well, it's a pencil that smells obviously. They do smell really good too. So, it seems I being haunted by pencils today. My daughter bought all ten and they have been sniffing them since they got home:) My card, however, has nothing to do with pencils. Oh, just had the idea to make another card that is a scratch and sniff! Going to work on that....later.
My card came together really quick today. It's ok but not as great as my next one hopefully(wink).I used a new hostess set from the upcoming SU catalog. The image is stamped in Choc Chip Craft ink and clear embossed. I then punched it out with the star punch, layered it (dimensionals) onto a piece of pumpkin pie and trimmed with scissors. This is adhered to a layered piece of Textured White and Baja Breeze. Those brads are SU star brads. They are REALLY heavy. This is all mounted onto the card with dimensionals. The base of the card is White and layered respectfully: Choc Chip and Baja Breeze that both went through my cuttlebug. A strip of Old Olive and some pumpkin twill from Joann's. I then stamped from the Party Hearty set the same saying in Choc chip craft onto Pumpkin and punched out with the Horizontal Slot punch.

I apologize for the "shabby" post. I am in a hurry. Basketball practice is calling. I may have more posts tonight or early tomorrow. The deadline is by noon tomorrow and I'm doing my best...and having fun in the process.

MoJo Monday Challenge

I just have a very quick post for today. I really love Julee Tilman's blog (check my sidebar). She does a sketch every Monday and has recently moved this Mojo Monday Sketch to it's own blog. This week she is doing a giveaway for some of her stamps. She owns Verve Visual. She is releasing 6 new sets on Friday. I can't wait to see them. I would LOVE to win some of her stamps. She is having a huge challenge celebration over on Splitcoast at this thread This company will most definitely be my first non SU stamp set purchase:) I really like their images and sentiments...being the sentiment-al gal that I am. ( that was such a lame joke). So anyways check out her blog and all the links. This card I am about to show actually covers two challenges. I used the verve challenge colors and the mojo monday sketch. My inspiration was Julee's sample found on the last link.
Here's my take:
I used for my base Blush Blossom cardstock that was layered on a slightly larger piece of Riding Hood Red. The blush was run through my cuttlebug. I actually embossed the reverse side of the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I then sponged the edges with the same color ink. Next I cut out a piece of watercolor paper using my SU large scallop circle die cut. I pierced each scallop and sponged the edges with Sahara Sand Ink. I used a small piece of hardware on the top left and adhered with glue dots a bow made of RHR taffeta. I ran the strip of RHR cardstock through my cuttlebug and sponged the edges. This is layered over a strip of Kraft that is distressed at the top and then punched with the scallop edge punch on the bottom. It was also stamped with the branch from Embrace Life in Sahara Sand. I used watercolor paper for inside the oval metal tag and stamped from the set Sweet and Simple in Black. I used half pearls from the Pretties kit and used a clear craft glue to adhere them. The flowers in the center are embossed with Black EP onto watercolor paper and watercolored with markers and my aqua painter. More details on that later. They were then cut out and mounted. I did use some dimensionals under one flower to add...well....dimension:)

Wow, that was a lot of info for a "quick" post.

Jen's Saturday Sketch

My second post for today, so scroll down if you missed the first one.

I love visiting Jen Del Muro's blog. ( found on my left side bar) Every Saturday she has a Sketch for You to Try. I don't always get to them but luckily I got to play on this one. So very quickly here is my last card for today.
The designer paper I used is from My Mind's Eye. HL has had some really awesome paper lately. I snatched up 3 of these coordinating papers. I think they are great for fun boy cards. This is mounted on a base of Pacific Point. My second card of the week with a fold I don't usually do, but I 'm working on my scrap pile. All those panels also came from my scraps. I stamped them with the same colors of ink (Tango Tangerine, Real Red and Tempt Turq) using the sets Starring You and Happy Thoughts. I used my SU star punch and paper pierced it. I then attached a button (shank removed) with some jewel and bead glue to the center. I have had this packet of buttons for YEARS. I'm so happy to finally be using my things up. The "happy birthday" banner is a Michaels' dollar spot stamp and stamped in red on some coordinating textured green. I have no idea who makes that...sorry:( The edges of the card are faux stitched using my real red marker.

Here is a close up of the star:

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Nikki

Lots to Share

I am so happy that I have had the last 2 afternoons to stamp! I think I may get to stamp a bit today even. But then my "run" will end. We have a busy end to our week. My postings may be more spread out til next week again. So let's get this show on the road, huh? I have been participating in quite a few challenges. I've never been lucky at winning anything, but I'm giving it my all as I try to win some free stamps. My first card is for TCP Challenge. You can get all the details on Jen Del Muro's blog
This card is relatively simple to make; provided you are not ME! I learned a few things along the way. First, the scalloped square punch does NOT coordinate with the only two square punches I have...the large, which I assume to be 1 3/8" and the 1 1/4". So after punching out 4 of both sizes in celery and white, I had to trim them by about a 1/4". I then stamped the letters from Alphabet Appeal in Rose Romance Craft ink. I mounted this layer onto a turquoise scrap DP from SEI that was punched with the scalloped square. This was layered on Rose Romance and then on a piece of Cert. Celery that I punched along the bottom with my corner rounder to create the larger scallop appearance. The turquoise ribbon is from American Crafts, I think. If you look closely at the white base you will see that I scored all around the edge to created an embossed panel of sorts. I then stamped only part of a sentiment from Short and Sweet in Rose Romance. The second thing I learned is that my dots from All in a Row are mounted crooked. This was, of course, the last thing I stamped. No way of correcting that. Each dot was seperately colored with Tempt Turq. and Cert. Celery markers. There you have it!

Well, it is WIGW as well. My inspiration for this next card is from a thank you that my daughter got for Christmas. I recycled again...so proud of myself.

The recycled piece is that fabulous red with the white polka dots. That's all the card was on the front....nothing to cover or anything. A perfect "blank canvas". The only thing is that the measurements were a bit off. So after layering a piece of black cardstock behind it, I adhered it to my white base along the top and then used my scalloped edge punch at the bottom to take away a bit of the blank white space and add some interest. I layered 3 different ribbons and just tied in a knot. These were adhered with glue dots. The bugs are a stamp from Stampabilites that I picked up at HL. I stamped them with black stazon and colored using watercolor pencils first and then markers over the top. This gives a richer color I think and prevents the lines you can get when coloring with SU markers. The wings are highlighted with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I then used an extremely OLD template for the cut out heart. Yes, I had to actually trace and cut it out. No cuttlebug here:) I added the black dots with a marker and the chipboard letters are from Lil' Davis. They are velvety!

Both my cards today are pretty "lovey dovey". I've never been one for sending out Valentines, but since I didn't do so well with my Christmas cards I'm going to try to rectify myself with this holiday:) I need to do a different post for my last card. Stay tuned:)