Birthday Wish

Hi all!  I watched a GinaK for Simon Says Stamp video yesterday and was wowed!  Gina took one of the Memory Box square frame dies and paired it with her Wreath Builder sets.  It was very cool.  Here's the link to the video.

 

I cased her design, but changed up the set I used.  She created a square card then another to fit an A2 size card.  That is the one I did here.  The Memory Box die is a 4x4 size which is perfect for the Wreath builder stencil.  I die cut the MB die out of thicker paper and kept the pieces intact.  I adhered a slightly smaller piece of thinner white cardstock behind it to keep it in place, but also to give me a place to stamp the wreath.  Once I was done with stamping the wreath, I cut the piece in half.  Those two pieces were adhered to a mat of green cardstock.  This created an oval shape.  I adhered a piece of green and white cardstock to cover up the space in between the two pieces I cut then added the sentiment in an oval die cut.  There is some shimmer on the flowers and some crystals added as well. I thought it was such a clever idea that I had to recreate her card! 

 

I'm linking this to the Seize the Birthday challenge.  It's an Anything Goes challenge.

  

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Wreath Builder and Tiny Wreath Builder (GinaK), Birthday greetings (MFT)

Paper:  Recollections white, wild wasabi

Ink:  Sauna, polished, green tea, eucalyptus, black jack (CP)

Accessories:  Woodland heart frame (MB), oval dies (Spellbinders), canvas impression plate (PTI), crystals, spectrum noir shimmer, dimensionals 



Color Throwdown #514 Featured Stamper!

Hi everyone!  I'm really happy and honored to have been asked to be the Featured Stamper for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge!  This card was the entry that made me the Featured Stamper!

 



I was equally thrilled when I found out the colors for this challenge are fall themed and some of my favorites to work with!

 

The day I got the email letting me know the colors, this new set from Gina K Designs was in my mailbox!  I couldn't wait to try it, and thought the CTD colors would work well with it.  I had to look at some examples (and of course channeled Jennifer McGuire) before I started just to get some ideas.  I used inks from Altenew and Papertrey Ink and Gina K's wreath builder stencil to create this design.

 

Thanks again to the girls at CTD!  You can find their beautiful creations on the Color Throwdown blog.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Mandala Maker (Gina K), Brushstroke Expressions (MFT), Bold Blossoms (PTI)

Paper:  Recollections white, early espresso

Ink:  Orange zest and canyon clay (PTI), honey drizzle and espresso (Altenew)

Accessories:  Wreath builder stencil (Gina K), Spellbinders circle die, crystals, fun foam 

 

Just Us Girls #212 - Photo Inspiration Challenge

Happy Saturday!  Today the challenge at Just Us Girls is a photo inspiration challenge, and Marisa has chosen a photo of the most beautiful fall table scape.  I just love fall colors!

Here's a closeup of the beautiful photo.

I was pretty literal with this photo.  I used the colors and leaves as my inspiration.  While I was searching my bevy of fall stamps, I found this leaf image in an old set from Gina K designs called Autumn Leaves.  I stamped it on watercolor paper and used Distress Markers and a water brush to color it.  I was really hoping for more orange leaves, but the brown seemed to overpower the oranges and yellows I used.  I added some shimmer with a Wink of Stella pen.

I needed a sympathy card for a neighbor's father, and I just adore this sentiment.  It's from a PTI set called With Sympathy.

I used this sketch from Seize the Sketch challenge blog.

I'm also entering this in the Trigger Tuesday challenge.  Obviously inspired by the leaves!

 



You can see more inspiration on these blogs.

 

JUGs blog

Cheryl Rowley

Maria Levine

Marisa Ritzen

Nancy Leppek

Sharyn Polesel

Sue Trembeth

Sue VanDeVusse

Vicki Dutcher

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Autumn Leaves (Gina K Designs), With Sympathy (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Vintage cream, early espresso, more mustard, watercolor paper, Thankful dp (Authentique), Sugar Hill dp (Farm Fresh)

Ink:  Memento rich cocoa, Archival black, Distress Markers

Accessories:  Prima crystals, button, twine, Wink of Stella clear pen, watercolor brush, dimensionals



Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Babes in Toyland

Hi everyone! I'm a day late in posting this card! It's been a very busy week for me...I'm winding down my classroom and still packing to move to the Middle School from the elementary school. So I have to admit that I am re-posting a card I did almost 3 years ago! But a lot of you haven't seen it, so it will be new to you! :-)

The challenge this week at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long is to make a card you'd give to a little one. Here's the one I chose to share.I loved this card when I made and I still do! The colors are so vivid...this is SU's Pacific Point papers that I remember drooling over when I first got them. The adorable image is from the Got Snow set from Gina K Designs. I love these little guys making that cute snowman! The snowflake was made using a punch and some chunky glitter to it to make it sparkle.

The CSYAL girls did a fabulous job with this challenge. Make sure you stop by the CSAYL blog to see for yourself. And how are you doing with your Christmas card making? If you play in our challenge, you will have the chance to be chosen as a guest designer for July! How fun is that?

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great day!

Mother's Day Cards

Hi all! Did you all enjoy Mother's Day yesterday? We had a nice time until I was driving home and was stopped by one of our finest! I've NEVER gotten a speeding ticket and was hoping to continue my streak. The nice officer just gave me a written warning! I've never heard of that, but thank goodness for it!

Here are the cards I made for my mom and my mother-in-law.

I was pressed for time and made these early in the morning yesterday. I didn't want to color or do anything too fussy because I was short on time, so I took out this Wishing You set from Papertrey Ink. My card is 6.25" x 4.5", so these 6x6 papers by Prima called Madeline, fit perfectly on the card.You can see that the dp is doing most of the work! The label, from Lovely Labels 2 by Gina K Designs, was stamped in Cool Caribbean, then I stamped the tulip leaves in the center. The flower was stamped, cut out, and popped up on the card. The sentiment on the card and envelope is from Motherly Love by Flourishes. This one is my favorite. I love the brown with the pink and aqua. This dp was a little busier, so I had to stamp the sentiment on the label. I like the look!

Thanks for stopping in today! Hope you have a great week!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Warm and Fuzzy

Happy Good Friday everyone! I know it's only two days away from Easter, but I'm thinking Christmas today! It's my weekly Christmas post for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long. This week we are sponsored by Perfect Presentation.Perfect Presentation has a variety of templates you can use for all occasions. I chose the Tall Gable Box for my project today.
This template comes in a large and small (one sheet used). I used the smaller one, and it's still surprisingly quite roomy. I cut it out on my Cricut (the templates also come in a variety of files for whatever you're using to cut yours out) using Soft Sky cardstock. The patterned paper is from Memory Box called Bundled Birds. I love how soft and pretty the colors are, and I love non-traditional holiday colors too! The tag was cut with a Spellbinder tag and stamped with a sentiment from PTI's Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers stamp set. Love that you can't open it 'til Christmas!

I just purchased the new Bring the Bling stamp set from Gina K Designs and it's so cool! I stamped this pretty flourish in Versamark (it was very difficult to see the design on this light paper), then added Liquid Pearls in white for the pearl effect. I love those crystal and pearl flourishes, but have a very difficult time getting them onto my projects without them sticking to my fingers and such!

Also, the challenge this week at CSAYL is to use felt on your project. So I chose to use PTI felt in the red and green to make a flower. I used dies from My Favorite Things....the Mini Rolled Roses and Sheltering Tree and Leaves dies. I love the look of the felt...definitely warm and fuzzy. Here's a closeup of the flower and the flourish. So how are you doing on your Christmas cards and projects? If you start now you'll still get a lot done! And if you participate in our CSAYL challenge this week, you could win one free template of your choice from Perfect Presentation. Also, they have two free PDF templates for you to download now! Check out the CSAYL blog for more information and to see what the fabulous design team has in store for you!

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy your weekend!

Just Us Girls #66 and Gina K Designs!!

Happy Saturday everyone! This is a day that the Just Us Girls design team has really been looking forward to! Pam managed to have Gina K. Designs sponsor us! We were very thrilled to have Gina as our sponsor today! If you aren't familiar with the Gina K. Designs online store, click here to be wowed! Today Pam has challenged us to, of course, use Gina K. Designs stamps, but also line an envelope with decorative paper. Gina did a fabulous video tutorial on how to accomplish this. You can see it here. Here's what I came up with. I used the Buds and Vases set, illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger. I love flowers and terracotta pots, so I had to have this set! And when I was looking for dp to pair with it, I found the perfect one I've been hoarding for just such a card. It's by Sassafrass from the Yummy Vintage collection. I colored the flowers from the set to match the dp. The fun edge on the left is actually part of the paper, so this was definitely an easy card to produce! The decorating was already done for me! And the lining for the envelope was super easy to create with Gina's video tutorial! It gives it such a finished look, don't you think?The terracotta pot and the flowers are separate stamps. I stamped and cut them out, then I colored them with copic markers. I colored the pot according to Melanie's directions here. She gave perfect instructions. In the middle of each flower, I placed a yellow pearl. The entire pot and flowers were placed onto a pretty nestie. I distressed the inside of the circle with Wild Honey distress ink and the scallops with Tea Dye distress ink. The yellow dp was also distressed with Tea Dye. The corner piece was added last to fill up some blank space that just needed something. I wanted a birthday card for my friend whose birthday is today, but the Buds and Vases set didn't have one. So I used an older set from GKD called Friendship Blooms.

The sketch is from Card Patterns. I just left off the ribbons going horizontally.

Please stop by the JUGs blog and see how the other girls have lined their envelopes and used the GKD stamp sets! Fabulous, let me tell you! And Pam is giving away a GKD stamp set to one lucky winner. You can't win unless you play (look at what happened to those people who won the Mega Millions lottery!). LOL!!

Thanks for stopping in today! Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday was my Mom's 81st birthday (and I forgot to take a picture of her....ugghh!). But here is a picture of her in December with her new great-granddaughter, Ava.I had her over for her favorite dinner that I make...Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza. I got this recipe from Rachael Ray and we all love it! Being from Buffalo, we all love our chicken wings! I also had her sister, my favorite aunt, Joannie over for cake and coffee. Anyway, I made this card for her. My mom loves yellow and so I thought this floral image I just got from Gina K designs called Spring Florals, was perfect.I used a dp from Basic Grey's Origins and the yellow piece (PTI's Lemon Tart) was run through an SU folder. I used some Certainly Celery twill ribbon to tie it all together and some PTI buttons as an accent. The sentiment is from the same Spring Florals set. I added some yellow and star dust stickles to the image and swirled some Certainly Celery ink around the image and sentiment. The card is a 4 3/4" square to fit my 5" envelope. My mom really loved the card and what was in it...a gift card to her favorite grocery store (it's what she always asks for!).

It was a really nice first day of spring yesterday, and I'm hoping today will be just as nice (although I think it's going to rain...better than snow)! Enjoy your Sunday, and thanks for stopping in today!

Recipe
Stamps: Spring Florals (Gina K designs)
Paper: PTI white and lemon tart, Origins dp (Basic Grey)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, certainly celery, copic markers
Accessories: Nesties, twill ribbon, yellow and star dust stickles, buttons, floss, embossing folder

Happy Valentine's Day!

Before I share my card with you, I want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all have a very nice day with whomever you share it with! I was looking through my pictures saved on my computer one day and found this one and just had to share it with you!
This is what my hubby created for me on Valentine's Day in 2001! (In case you can't tell, the heart and arrow are spaghetti filled with sauce!) I just thought this was the cutest thing he's ever done! He's not one to buy flowers or candy, but he does goofy things like this! Isn't that a hoot? Well, I just had to share that today. We are going out to dinner with his sister and her hubby tonight, so I won't be getting any creative dishes like this one! Have a nice Valentine's Day and please read on for today's card.


Rhinestone Cowgirl
Did you see the inspiration challenge on SCS today? The inspiration are bras from a website called Artfull Bras! Quilters from South Carolina wanted to "make the public aware of breast cancer, to memorialize those lost to the disease, and to honor survivors." Well, these ladies must also have a sense of humor, because these bras they created are quite humorous! You really need to check out all 49 of them! The one I chose is Rhinestone Cowgirl. I knew I had a bunch of SU's retired Outlaw paper and a bra stamp, so I took it from there and this is what I came up with.

My layout is from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #55. I used three different patterns from the Outlaw pack and mounted them on a Sage Shadow base. I stamped the bra image from Gina K's Thanks for Your Support set in Adirondack Espresso and colored it with copic markers. It was cut and embossed with a circle nestie and mounted on really rust and chocolate chip scalloped circles. I placed bling on the dots of the bra and a rectangluar bling on middle part. The sentiment is from this set also, and it was stamped in Espresso and cut and embossed with a tag die. The little star bling was placed over the holes. The chocolate ribbon is SU's twill and I tied three pieces of twine around it. In the inspiration piece, the straps and trim were done in rope, so this sort of mimics that. Well, I had fun looking at all those crazy bras and making this one. I hope you have a great weekend. I am off for winter break this week (insert a loud YEAH right here!), so you'll be seeing more posts this week! Have a great weekend and Happy President's Day!
Recipe
Stamps: Thanks for Your Support (Gina K Designs)
Paper: Sage shadow, chocolate chip, really rust, PTI vintage cream, SU retired Outlaw dp
Ink: Adirondack Espresso, copic markers
Accessories: Circle and scalloped nesties, tag die, bling, chocolate twill ribbon, twine, dimensionals

One Sketch ~ Three Cards

I have three cards to share with you today that follow the same sketch from Our Creative Corner. All three images were colored over the summer while I was trying to get a head start on the Christmas cards. All three of them became cards this weekend...how's that for planning ahead!?

I love snowmen and when I saw this guy at a stamping show I went to over the summer, I had to have him. The only problem is I bought this stamp unmounted and don't know where he's from! He's an orphan, I guess, that I adopted! (ETA: I just found where he originated! He's from Rubber Cottage and here is the link.) Anyway, I colored him last summer with copic markers, added some glitter to the snowflakes, and he was ready to be dressed up and mounted on a card! I used Riding Hood Red as my main color and SU's Ski Slope dp mounted on Kiwi Kiss. The red snowflake was punched with a Martha Stewart punch and I put Diamond Dust chunky glitter on it. I've seen Cheryl Rowley use it on her cards (she said she saw Anna White using it), and I realized that I had some of that from another project I did a few years ago! It's a cool look! I ran the white paper through my cuttlebug using the snowflake folder. The ribbon is Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon and the sentiment on the inside is from PTI's Holiday Wishes.

On the other two cards, I used Gina K. Designs Got Snow set. They are both colored with copic markers and SU's Pacific Point cardstock and dp and Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon. I used SU's scallop border punch on the left one and a Martha Stewart scallop border punch on the right one. The snowflake is made the same way as in the one above. I put stickles on both images. I hope these are the last cards I have to do, but I think I need two more! I'll also be posting some gifts I've made for friends at work. And speaking of work...we have another snow day today! I can get more things done! Well, have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

A Break from Christmas...

I had to take a break from all the Christmas cards I've been making to make a birthday card for my good friend Tracy. Her birthday was last week, but she had a holiday party last night and I gave this card and the softest pair of pajamas for her gift when I went to her house yesterday. I wanted something other than green, red, or blue! I started with this set from Gina K. Designs called Retro Boutique by Rupa Shevde. Tracy was having a "retro" party with her table adorned with snacks that our parents served with they had parties at our age (so cool)! So this set fit right in with her theme for the party. Tracy is also very stylish and has a flair for dressing and decorating. I started by paper piecing this dress with SU's retired dp Uptown. I also stamped it on a piece of PTI white cardstock and ran it through the cuttlebug with a Spellbinder circle die to cut it out and emboss it. It was layered on top of a piece of Lovely Lilac cardstock that was cut and embossed with a scallop circle die. I used So Saffron as my layer on top of the PTI white base. Another piece of Uptown was layered on a piece of lilac. A Martha Stewart punch finished off the bottom of the card. The sentiment is from PTI's Simple Little Things and was punched with the large oval and layered onto a lilac piece punched with the key tag punch. I added some shine with Spica glitter pens, which I don't think shows up very well, but shines so subtly! The layout is by Frances (aka Stamp Owl) for My Favorite Things. The ribbon is from Target...quite a bargin. I got it in the wedding section. Oh, and the flowers? Last minute idea because of a black smudge on the dress! UGH! Too late to start over, so flowers and bling it had to be! I also dressed up the inside with the purse and sentiment stamp from Rupa's set and another punched lilac piece. Well I have to get going and decorate my tree. We cut it down yesterday (a tradition that my dh and dog have done for years), and I got stuck in the deep snow many times and dh had to pull me out! The area south of Buffalo (where we got our tree) has gotten socked with so much snow and it's really deep! It was a beautiful sunny day, though, with the pretty, soft snowflakes falling gently! We had fun and got a beautiful tree. I'll post a picture when it's done. Thanks for stopping by!
Recipe
Stamps: Retro Boutique (Gina K. Designs), Simple Little Things (PTI)
Paper: PTI white, lovely lilac, so saffron, Uptown dp (SU retired)
Ink: Adirondack black
Accessories: Nestabilities, MS lace punch, large oval and key tag punches, white ribbon (Target), Spica glitter pens, dimensionals, primas, bling

Dreams du Jour

This is for today's color challenge of soft sky, river rock, and vanilla. I started this card this morning and worked on it intermittenly throughout the day because I had some important things to do today (go to the gym, get hair done, and go to a baseball game!). I started by pulling out all the colors and the patterned paper that went with these colors. I loved the way they looked together. I chose to use this stamp from the new SU Dreams du Jour set. I stamped it in river rock, then colored the flowers with a copic marker and colored the leaves with river rock and a blender pen. I then cut it out and mounted it on two circles cut and embossed with Nestabilities. I was only going to use one of the ribbons, but couldn't decide which one so I used both. Why not, right? After it was all done, I didn't like the way the two ribbons intersected in the corner, so I added the flowers and put a crystal brad in the middle to bling it up. The flower centers on the main image needed some bling too, so I used a dab of crystal stickles. I really like the way this turned out. The sentiment is from PTI's Limitless Labels. Here is the inside of the card. The sentiment on the inside is from Gina K's Friendship Blooms. It says "Friendship isn't a big thing, it's a million little things". I think that's such a beautiful sentiment. I'm giving this to my friend Maria for her birthday tomorrow, but she won't get it until I see her on Friday. I hope she doesn't see it before then! Thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow!
Recipe
Stamps: Dreams du Jour (SU), Limitless Labels (PTI), Friendship Blooms (Gina K Designs)
Paper: River rock, soft sky, vanilla, soft sky and ginger blossom dp
Ink: River rock, copic marker
Accessories: River rock and soft sky ribbon, prima flowers, crystal brad, crystal stickles, small and large oval punches, nestabilities, blender pen