Just Us Girls Wild Card Challenge - Dry Embossing

Hi everyone! It's been a week since my last post...very busy week for me. I'll tell you about that later, but for now I'm here with the Just Us Girls Wild Card Challenge. This week Alicia challenged us to do some sort of dry embossing on our cards. That's easy with Cuttlebug folders, Spellbinders dies, and whatever else you use to dry emboss. I tried the letterpress technique with an Impressability which I saw on Gina K's Stamp TV video.

I inked up the Impressability (I don't remember which one) with Pink Pirouette ink, then embossed it onto Pink Pirouette cardstock. In the process, I cracked my C-plate because I had the incorrect sandwich! What a sound that made! But it came out very pretty, I think. Then I sponged some Sahara Sand ink around the panel to distress it a bit. The image is a new one from Paper Makeup Stamps called Faith, Hope, Love. I used Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery inks to color it directly on the stamp. You can't see it because the lace is covering it, but I stamped the grass image on the bottom. So easy, but very pretty! The crocheted lace I picked up at AC Moore. The flower was in my stash and was already spritzed with a sparkle spray that I cannot remember the name of (I'm at my cabin and can't look for it). I added the pretty pink pearls and was done. The sketch is from SCS and just what I needed...nice and simple.

I made this a sympathy card because of the deaths of two people I knew this week. My next-door neighbor passed away on Tuesday. She lived there by herself and was a lovely woman. She was from Spain and I loved to hear her talk! She loved to garden and we would always be talking over the fence about our gardens. Then, our best friend's mother passed away on Wednesday, less than three weeks after his father died. And she died on his father's birthday. His death was sudden and she had cancer and not long to live. We think he left early to get things ready for her in heaven! It was a very sad day for our friend and his family.

On a lighter note, I went to the Sex and the City premier on Thursday. There was a party before and after the show at a bistro next door to the theatre. So much fun! The movie was great, and there were about 100 women in attendance drinking cosmos beforehand! Afterward, my friend Maria and I went to The Chocolate Bar for martinis and sat outside. A great night out with the girls, and it was a lovely evening weather-wise.

So today I came to our cabin for the Memorial Day weekend. I'm sitting on our lovely porch writing this listening to the birds sing. It's so calming and lovely here. Tomorrow a bunch of our friends are coming out for the day. I've invited my stamping friend, Cheryl Rowley, because she lives about 15 minutes from here! It'll be a fun day!

Stop by the JUGs blog to see what the girls have in store for you. Teresa Kline and LeAnne Pulgiese shared their final cards with us today. They have been fabulous guests and I want to thank them personally for joining us for the month of May.

Thanks for stopping in today and have a great weekend!

NEW PMS Card Kit: Celestial Possibilities!

Paper Makeup Stamps unveiled a new product on Thursday. We are going to be carrying card kits (and in true PMS style, we are calling them "Makeup Kits") with all the basics and embellishments that you will need to create a bevvy of beautiful cards or scrap pages! It's called Celestial Possibilities, and believe me...there is a variety of fun possibilities included in this kit! Here's a picture of what's included in the kitI just love the colors that Katie picked for this kit. It really compliments the beautiful fairy image, called Celest Fairy. The ribbons are scrumptious, especially that velvet ric-rac ribbon! Here's what I did with the kit.I just love these Beautiful Day fairies! It's what turned me on to PMS! This one I think is over the top beautiful! She's so ethereal hanging out with the moon and stars! She's colored with copic markers, and I added star dust stickles all over the image making it more ethereal. The brads have a sort of star image in the middle, matching the dp nicely. I love how shiny the ribbon looks, too! The sentiment is beautiful. Think of all the possibilities for its use: graduations, new baby, new job, etc.

So here are the details. The kit is being sold at a special price of just $20 (add $2 if you want the stamps mounted on EZ mount). It retails for $25, but since it's our first kit, we gave it a special price. And on top of that, Katie, in her infinite kindness, is adding a $5 coupon off a future $20 purchase. Here's a list of what's included in the kit:

1 Image Stamp: Celest the Fairy

1 WordArt Stamp: Dwell in Possibilty

8 Sheets of 6x6 double sided patterned paper (by Kaisercraft)

8 full sheets of 8.5x11 Cardstock (by Bazzill)

1 pack epoxy brads (matches paper, by Kaisercraft)

1 pack Paper Flowers (dont be fooled, flowers are stack on top of themselves, theres a lot)

4 yards of delicious ribbon (May Arts)

20 star shaped brads (by Creative Impressions)

4 Star Spiral Clips (by Creative Impressions)

Want to see what the DT have done with this? The Senior Makeup Artists are showcasing this kit over on the PMS blog. We started with Katie's on Thursday, Christi's on Friday, Tangii revealed hers yesterday, and mine today. Tina will be revealing hers tomorrow, so don't miss that one!

Thanks for stopping in today! Enjoy your Sunday and have a fabulous week!

Just Us Girls - Template Challenge

Hi! Happy Saturday! The challenge at Just Us Girls this week is a template challenge. We are using any My Time Made Easy template of our choosing. I made these a few weeks ago for the Western NY stamping event that occurred on May 1st here in the Buffalo area. I participated in a 3-D swap and made 10 of these, 2 each of 5 designs. It's the Welcome Home template and I made it into a "Stamp Store"...perfect for a stamping event, don't you think? These were cut with my Cricut and SCAL program. I added the MS latice punch, which looked like a fence, and the MS tulip punch. I colored them with copic markers. The sign was computer generated. I put an Inkadinkadoo single stamp and a roll of ribbon in each one, and tied it all up with a coordinating ribbon. Everyone loved them, and they looked so cute all together on the table! The girls once again have some fabulous templates to share with you. Stop by the JUGs blog and their personal blogs as well.

Alicia Weiman

Dana Gustafson

Maria Levine

Mona Pendleton
Pam Imholz
Teresa Kline - Special Guest Designer for May
LeAnne Pugliese - Featured Designer for May

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy your weekend!

Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Today I'm participating in the first ever Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past blog hop! I've always loved Taylor's sketches and thought this would be fun to do! We are hopping cards made with TE stamps released prior to this year. At the bottom of my post are all the players, so you can the lineup. You should have come from Jane Weaver's blog and you'll go to Rosie Hughes' blog next.

We were given a sketch to follow as an option, and I LOVE sketches, so I used it! I changed it up a bit.I used an image from A Year of Sweets 2 and the sentiment is from A Year of Sweets Sentiments.I started with this great paper from We R Memory Keepers called Hippity Hoppity (perfect for a blog hop)! I took my colors from the dp to color the image. (I think I added too much pink to the cuppie's head!) The butterfly is on a small dimensional, and I added the yellow prima flower and button strung with floss. I stamped the sentiment on the dp, added some star dust stickles, and was done! I'm sending this to my friend who has had some bad luck recently and I want her to know I'm thinking of her.

So now you need to continue on the hop. I have all the participants listed below. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your hop!

Makeup 4 the Weekend and Copic Creations Challenges

Paper Makeup Stamps Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge, hosted by DT member Danni Bindel, is to use three flowers on your creation. PMS is also sponsoring the current Copic Creations challenge, which is to use the monochromatic theme. I used both these challenges, in addition to the Taylored Expressions current sketch challenge, to create my card for today. I used a new image from PMS from a new line called Retro Cutie Critters. This little cutie is called Lucy. I think the sentiment is paired perfectly with it, don't you think? We have more critters coming out in the June release, so if you like this one, wait until you see the others!

I colored Lucy with the W-copic markers for the monochromatic look. Katie Cotton, PMS owner, has a great tutorial on her blog of how to color an image in this manner. I sponged around her with Sahara Sand ink, then went over it a little bit with Regal Rose. It sort of made it brownish in color, which is not the effect I wanted, however I kind of like it! The dp is SU from a hostess pack and I paired it with basic gray and pink pirouette cardstock. The dp was cut with the new large scallop Dienamics die from My Favorite Things. I cut and embossed the image with an oval nestie, mounted it on a scalloped oval in gray, and then placed it on white piece that had the image stamped on it as well. This was so the tail could remain part of the whole image. I added those three flowers (from the bridal section of Michael's) and placed a gray crystal in the center.

So that's it for today! I'm off to get ready to spend the day at our cabin. All the boys are there, and my friend and I are going to join them. I'm not sure they like girls there, but they don't have a choice!

Why not try out these challenges? You can find the M4TW27 challenge here and the Copic Creations #28 challenge here. Katie is giving away a $35 gift certificiate to one lucky winner, so why not try out a new technique and possibly win! Thanks for stopping in today, and enjoy your Sunday!

Recipe
Stamps: Lucy and sentiment (PMS)
Paper: PTI white, basic gray, pink pirouette, SU dp
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, sahara sand, regal rose
Copic Markers: W000, 1, 3, 5, 7, R20
Accessories: Nesties, big scallop die (MFT), flowers, crystals, star dust stickles, dimensionals

Just Us Girls #33 - Color Challenge

Hi everyone! The Just Us Girls color challenge is being hosted by me this week. I thought with Memorial Day coming in just two weeks, I'd choose patriotic colors. I also just found out, from reading LeAnne's post, that today, May 15th, is Armed Forces Day! How perfect to honor our armed forces with these great colors!
I love red, white, and blue. And the addition of kraft is such a fun option! Here's what I did.I chose these colors a while ago, so I was on the hunt for a great image and paper to work with. I found this image (by Whipper Snapper called Grill Sergeant) at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, and decided it was perfect. What better way to start off the summer months than with grilling? I printed the sentiment on my computer on the kraft paper since I did not have one that fit the bill! (Gotta love technology!) The paper is by Magnolia Ink (the same company that makes the Magnolia Tilda and Edwin images). Again, a perfect find! One sheet is blue with white dots (sort of covered up) and the other is the striped red and white. I added a touch of the ribbon and the patriotic stars.

The JUGs girls have really knocked it out of the ball park this week with their challenge cards. You can see them on the JUGs blog and on their personal blogs.

Alicia Weiman
Dana Gustafson
Maria Levine
Mona Pendleton

Pam Imholz

Teresa Kline - Special Guest Designer for May

LeAnne Pugliese - Featured Designer for May

Hope to see you playing with Just Us Girls! Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Something You Don't See Everyday....

I teach in a school in a town just outside of Buffalo, NY. The airport is about two miles from the school, so we have airplanes flying overhead all the time. We get a great view of them flying in from our faculty lunch room window. So guess what I saw flying in today?


Yep....Air Force One carrying President Obama! He visited Buffalo today for a few hours and this big bird flew directly over our school! I wish our kids could have seen it, but their lunch room does not have windows. One of our 5th grade teachers took his kids outside for lunch in anticipation of seeing it, but it started to rain!

It was definitely a cool site to see! Something you don't see everyday...

Faith Hope Love - PMS Review

Paper Makeup Stamps just had a fabulous release this month, and today we are reviewing the new silhouette flower set called Faith Hope Love. This set has 5 flowers, 3 sentiments, and a grassy image. A very versatile set that can be stamped in a variety of ways.I colored this image with water color crayons, spritzed it with water, and stamped it on water color paper. (I spritzed it with the wrong spritzer and it came out a little splotchy!) I love this effect...water coloring without actually water coloring! The dp is from Basic Grey called Basic Manilla, which I received from my stamping friend Tracy Harp. I kept the layout pretty simple, stamping the sentiment right on the dp and adding the green ribbon and descending green pearls. I'm sending this to a friend who needs some HOPE and good wishes right now.

Stop by the PMS blog to see what the others have done with this set. So many different uses of it! Thanks for stopping in and have a great week!
Recipe
Stamps: Faith Hope Love (PMS)
Paper: Pink pirouette, watercolor paper, Basic manilla dp (Basic Grey)
Ink: Antique Linen distress ink, water color crayons, memento tuxedo black
Accessories: Nesties, taffeta ribbon, Kaiser pearls, , dimensionals

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I'm celebrating today with my mom and my hubby's family. We are going to our cabin for the day to relax. I made cards for my mom and MIL. Since the Just Us Girls challenge was to make a pocket card, I decided to make another. Only this time I made a flower pot pocket card. The dp is from the Quite Contrary line from My Mind's Eye. The flowers are cut files from My Time Made Easy called Rambling Rose. (ETA: I wish I would have watched Lauren's tutorial on how to make these REALLY look like a rose! You can see that video here). I cut them with my Cricut using the SCAL software in pretty in pink and regal rose cardstock. Then I layered them, alternating the colors, with a crystal brad in the middle to hold it together. The sentiment is from SU.I stamped the sentiment on the side in regal rose ink. I don't remember where I got it, but it's from a company called Paper Parachute. I'm going to put a gift card on the back side of this insert. The ribbon is the only thing holding the card together, no adhesive.

I hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping in today!

Just Us Girls #32 - Technique Challenge

Happy Saturday! Busy weekend with Mother's Day and all, but Just Us Girls is making time to bring you a technique challenge. The fabulous Mona challenged us to make a pocket card. There's a tutorial on SCS for one, but there are all different ones as well. I chose to do a criss-cross pocket card because, frankly, I know how to do them without directions, and I was running late, so it was just easier. And I love these type of cards. Here's mine. I picked up this umbrella dp from my LSS last weekend. It's from the Quite Contrary line by My Mind's Eye. The polka dots are actually the reverse side. Love this! So I pulled out PTI's Scattered Showers and the Scattered Showers Additions sets. The umbrella is paper pieced using the dp. The cardstock is SU's Bermuda Bay and the ribbon is Crushed Curry. Love this combo! I added some star dust stickles to the polka dots on the umbrella and on the raindrops.

Here's the inside pulled out. How about trying a pocket card? We'd love to see what you do! Stop by the JUGs blog and use what the girls have done as inspiration. We have Teresa Kline and LeAnne Pugliese as guests this week, too!

Have you thought about becoming a JUGs girl? See this post for more information.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Mother's Day!

Paper Makeup Stamps Blog Hop and Release Day!

I cannot believe it's the 7th and time for another Paper Makeup Stamps release! Have you been with us the last three days? Some fun stuff going on at PMS!

Today we are hopping and sneaking the Moodys and Monsters! If you've come from Christi Thorsen's blog, you're on the right track. If not, head on over to the PMS blog and start there to get information on a 15% discount on this fab release!

I have Moody for Hiking to sneak today. I really wanted to do this Moody because this is how my hubby and I travel a lot. I wish I could say I look this good when I backpack, but alas I don't! LOL!!!

Isn't she fabulous? I knew I wanted lots of color, so I went with this Offbeat paper from Basic Grey. She looks good in these colors, don't you think? And look at that sentiment...are you lovin' the font or what? I think it's so fun!

OK, so I have to admit that I didn't know if I liked the green background, so I took another picture with a red background. No one was around to give me advice on which one they liked better, so I couldn't decide. Which do you like better...the green or the red?I know, I'm crazy, right? I'm just very indecisive about things! I like them both equally!

Now it's time for me to send you hopping to your next destination. But before I do, I want to remind you about the PMS party tonight. It starts at 8:00 pm CST in the PMS forum. We are going to have some fun and we are bringing back the Release Party Challenges! So many of you missed them, so Katie decided to bring them back! So please stop by and say hello!

So now you should hop over to Dawn Knight's blog to see what wonderful creation she has to offer. And please take with you the letter"P" on your journey. You are going to need it!

Thanks for stopping in today, and I hope to see you tonight at the Release Party!
Recipe
Stamps: Hiking Moody and sentiment (PMS)
Paper: PTI white, kiwi kiss, riding hood red, chocolate chip, Offbeat dp (Basic Grey)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, chocolate chip, sahara sand, copic markers
Accessories: Nesties, tag die, twill ribbon, star dust stickles

Paper Makeup Stamps Sneak Peek- Day 2

Today is day 2 of the Paper Makeup Stamps May release. Today we are previewing the artistry of Diem, whom we always know as the "fairy designer". But if you go to the PMS blog, you'll see something else from her! A new line of images that are too cute!

I have Andi and Aaron fairies today and they are so cute! What a cute image with that little guy in the wagon, huh? The sentiment is new as well and so true! The image is colored with copics to match the Graphic 45 paper. Love this paper! I kept this pretty simple because the image is quite large.

Want to see more? Head on over to the PMS blog to see what the DT has done! Tomorrow the DT has another new set that they will be sneaking that is so beautiful! I won't be sneaking it, so you have to go to the PMS blog to see it! And Friday is our blog hop with Monsters and Moodys! Then in the evening, we have our PMS release party in the PMS forum, so make sure you stop by for all the fun! See you then!
Recipe
Stamps: Andi and Aaron fairies and sentiment (PMS)
Paper: Vintage cream, Graphic 45 dp
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, copic markers
Accessories: Nesties, MS border punch, star dust stickles, pearls, dimensionals

Paper Makeup Stamps Sneak Peek Day 1 - Word Art

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping in today to see the new Word Art from Paper Makeup Stamps being released this month (on Friday). The theme is babies and children. So many wonderful quotes about those wonderful children! And with Mother's Day and Father's Day coming, we are all thinking about the kiddos!

The quote I'm sharing with you today is perfect for a new baby card. I'm sending this one off to the family of one of my students. His mom just had a baby girl on Thursday...perfect timing on my part, huh? Here's a closeup of the sentiment. Such a sweet quote, don't you think? I used this paper from October Afternoon that I just purchased at my LSS over the weekend. I am just loving their paper lately! The sketch is from Sweet Sunday Sketch. I love Karen Giron's sketches and try to play whenever I can.

So are you anxious or curious to see more? Then stop by the PMS blog. Katie has all of our sneaks there with links to the girls' blogs. You don't want to miss what they have for you! And stop by tomorrow...we'll be sneaking the fairies and something NEW from PMS! You won't be disappointed!

Hope to see you then and thanks for popping in today!

Recipe

Stamps: Word Art by PMS

Paper: Vintage cream (PTI), barely banana, October Afternoon (The Thrift Shop and Fly a Kite dp)

Ink: Regal rose

Accessories: Nesties, ribbon, flower ribbon, Primas, button, crochet thread, MS punch, stardust gel pen, dimensionals

WNY SCS Spring Fest

Hi everyone! Well, it's Monday and I've had a very busy weekend! Saturday was our 3rd annual Western NY SCS Spring Fest. Tracy Harp and her crew of "green shirt" helpers did a fabulous job of organizing this stamping event for 100 stampers! There were two sessions of shoebox stamping, all sorts of swaps, prizes galore, and a fabulous lunch! I've been to all three events, and they just keep getting better! I've made so many friends from this event from NY, PA, and Canada! Stampers are just the greatest people, I tell ya!

So for my card, I used a Paper Makeup stamp set called Friendly Flowers.I needed to use something that was fairly easy to do because we had a 15 minute time limit on completing our cards. This image was colored with SU markers and stamped onto PTI vintage cream cardstock. I pre-embossed the celery cardstock and precut the cream and pink cardstock with nesties. The buttons are PTI and after I took this picture, I strung them with crochet thread....they looked too naked! The ribbon is SU's pretty in pink. The sentiment was stamped in chocolate chip. The dp is from The Girls' Paperie which I got from my LSS.

I was in a 3-D swap and used a My Time Made Easy template, but I'm saving that for another post. You'll have to keep checking back to see what I did (sorry for the tease)!

On another note, I had to get up really early yesterday to stand in line at my LSS. Why, you ask? Because Tim Holtz is coming to our little LSS to do 4 classes in June! Sharon, the super nice owner of Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, opened the store at 9:00 am to start taking registrations! So I arrived at around 8:40 to find about 50 women waiting at the door, with Sharon's wonderful husband, Mark, handing out tickets, registration forms, and donut holes! I found this so funny because I don't think I've done something like that since I was 15 waiting for Rolling Stones tickets (minus the donut holes)! LOL!!! So I am now registered to take a class with the famous man! How fun is that?

So yesterday, I spent the day cat-napping and looking at my loot from the stamping event! So many great cards and 3-D swaps and free stuff from so many generous stamp companies! It was a great weekend with friends!

Thanks for stopping by today and I want to remind you that sneaks for Paper Makeup Stamps begins tomorrow so please stop by again!

Just Us Girls - Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone! I'm going to make this short and sweet. I'm typing this at 11:30 pm Friday, and tomorrow (Saturday) is the Western NY SCS Stamping Event and I have to get my stuff packed and ready to go! It's going to be a long day and I need my rest!

Here is the sketch for today's JUGS challenge that our very talented Maria came up with. I LOVE it!

This was such an easy sketch to work with...not fussy at all and yet there's a lot you can do with it! Here's my take on it.I had this Inkadinkadoo $1 stamp on my table and decided to work with it. I stamped it in Baja Breeze. The dp is Parisian Breeze from SU (retired) and I paired it with Kraft paper. I stamped this woodgrain image (from Cornish Heritage Farms) on it in Sahara Sand. I'm seeing a lot of this image lately! I thought to use it because there is woodgrain in the birdhouse. The sentiment is from PTI's Bird Watching and is stamped in Chocolate Chip on Kraft.

Did you know that JUGs is looking for a new designer? You can read all about it here. We are looking for one more person to join our team. It could be you!

That's all I have time for today. Stop by the JUGs blog to see what's cooking over there! We have Teresa Kline as our special guest designer for May and LeAnne Pugliese as our May Featured Designer. Lovely ladies and so talented, too!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!