Paper Makeup Stamps and Cardabilities

Happy Monday! Is that an oxymoron? I think so....but anyway, I'm here with a sketch from the Cardabilities blog where Paper Makeup Stamps is the sponsor this week! The sketch was really fun to work with, too!

I had the perfect stamp set to work with from Paper Makeup Stamps...Dandy Wishes.

I started with Cosmo Cricket's Pixie-licious paper that I picked up this week at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff. Love the fun, bright colors! They are teasers of spring to come (I hope soon!). I paired it with SU's Rich Razzleberry cardstock...a great match. I used three scallop punches...one from SU, one from Martha Stewart, and finally one from EK Success. The flowers are colored with SU markers right on the rubber and stamped on PTI white, then distressed with antique linen distress ink. I sparkled it up with Star Dust Stickles. The sentiment is from Birthday Cheer. I punched some butterflies with a MS punch from the dp and added some purple bling to them. Some lime green dotted ribbon finished it off.

Feeling inspired by the great sketch? Well, maybe you'll be more inspired to play when you find out the prize PMS is giving to one lucky winner...a $15 gift certificate! We hope you'll play along on the Cardabilities blog this week!

I'll be back tomorrow with the March release from My Time Made Easy and a group post from the DT. Thanks for stopping in today! Have a great week!

Recipe
Stamps: Dandy Wishes and Birthday Cheer (PMS)
Paper: PTI white, rich razzleberry, Pixie-Licious (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: SU markers
Accessories: SU scallop and oval punches, MS and EK Success border punches, MS butterfly punch, ribbon, star dust stickles, bling, dimensionals

My Time Made Easy Gets Cagey!

Hello friends! I'm here today with a preview of what's to come from My Time Made Easy in March. Lauren never ceases to amaze the design team month after month! You are going to love what she has in store for you, I'm sure of it!

I'm sharing the Caged template today. It's truly a fantastic template!
Amazing right? I just love it! And it's huge...like 10" tall! I wanted the cage to have a nice patina, so I sponged the vanilla cardstock with broken china, scattered straw, and tea dye distress inks. It really doesn't show up very well...I'm disappointed in the photography because I spent SO MUCH TIME sponging it! LOL!! You'll be able to see it better in another photo later in the post. The decorative piece around the top of the bird cage is a piece of Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime paper. I used a vine border punch from EK Success all around one edge for some interest. Some seam binding from Debbie Marcinkiewicz's Etsy store and an aqua rose finish off the bottom.The top is finished off with a new cut file called Cornice Trimmed Square. (There are also cut files in an oval, circle, and rectangle shapes.) The template comes with a square, but I wanted to fancy it up a bit and used the cut file. Versatility! You can see more of the color I got from the sponing in this photo too. I wanted to show you the detail on the base. Look at the pretty curve...like the Cornice Trimmed cut file I used for the top. Lauren doesn't leave any detail untouched! There really is a lot of thought and work put into these templates. Again, you can see the color on the template better in this close-up. Now for all of you cardmakers, MTME has two new stamp sets (and they will also be available in digi form) being released this month as well. On this card, I've used the Singing Silhouette stamp set. There are a variety of different birds (in silhouette form), the tree limb, bird nest, flowers and more in this set. Here I used the Cornice Trimmed oval cut file and stamped my images on vanilla cardstock. I distressed a piece of soft sky cardstock and used the same Graphic 45 and border punch as on the bird cage. The sketch is a Fall to Layout from the Clean and Simple blog.
If you'd like to see more, Lauren and Katie are both posting previews of the March release, so make sure you stop by their blogs to be wowed!

Whew! Long post! So what do you think? I'd love to hear your comments! Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy your day!

Just Us Girls #73 - 3D/Template Challenge

Happy Saturday everyone! What do you say to a 3D/Template Challenge from Just Us Girls? Pam is our hostess with the mostess this week and she has challenged us to create an Envelope Gift Box. We've all been making those bulky cards that won't fit into an envelope, so this envelope box is the perfect idea. You can find the tutorial here in the SCS Resources section. The best thing is that it only takes one sheet of cardstock to create with some scoring, a few snips, and some tape and you're done!

I was at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, this week and picked up some fun products to use on my bulky card that fits perfectly into my envelope box. Here they are together.First, let's talk about the card. Silhouettes were focused on the Moxie Fab World blog a little while ago and I love silhouettes, especially on cameo jewelry. My dad always loved them too.

Isn't she beautiful? I don't know who makes this stamp as there is nothing stamped on the wood mount. I stamped her in Versamark and heat embossed it with black embossing powder. It's cut with a nestie and shaded with antique linen distress ink. The dp is Graphic 45 Romantique paper...love Graphic 45! The sentiment is from PTI's Mixed Messages (stamped in black Versafine for a crisp impression), the crystal flourish is from AC Moore (only $1), and the roses are new Prima roses. Sharon, the owner of Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, had just received them when I was there. They were still in the box, and she let me rummage through until I came out with three packages of different colored roses! You'll be seeing lots of them in upcoming projects, I'm sure! It was a very simple card and the sketch is from The Sweet Stop. I see the spin on the sketch was supposed to be Spring...maybe my new roses count for that!

Now for the challenge. To create that Envelope Gift Box. I chose black as my base and glammed it up! I wanted the bottom part (the black part) to be embossed, but it wouldn't fit into my Cuttlebug and was a little tight for my Caliber, so I cut a piece to fit and ran that through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. The top part uses another piece of the Graphic 45 paper and is edged with a fleur de lis border. I distressed that piece with some antique linen ink as well. I added some more crystal flourishes. For a closure, I wanted to add ribbon, but any ribbon I put on it just didn't look right. So I used this elastic closure I used on this My Time Made Easy box. It worked like a charm and is attached with this pretty little floral antique-looking brad that my friend, Michele Ghent, gifted to me a while back. Love how this looks!

And here is the box open to reveal the card resting contentedly inside. More than enough room inside this box so those precious flowers are not squished!

So...have I piqued your creative curiosity? Are you ready to join our challenge? I hope so! Please stop by the JUGs blog to get more inspiration. We also have Lori Kalus as our guest designer in her final week. Thanks for being such a great guest, Lori! Please visit the blogs of our fab design team while you are there, too!

Thanks for stopping by today! Please make sure you stop by a lot in the next week or so. I have new releases from My Time Made Easy and Paper Makeup Stamps on board and my first Christmas Stampin' All Year Long card as a DT member! Lots of fun stuff to see! Enjoy your weekend!

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

Happy Friday! Well, this is the first time I'm participating in the Papertrey Blog Hop! I wasn't planning on it, but the card I made fits the challenge so I thought I'd enter it. My card also qualifies for the Make It Monday Challenge #3. Here's my card.

I just adored the new Button Boutique stamp set and coordinating dies for the set. I used the block die to cut some pretty new paper I purchased this week at AC Moore. It's from K&Company called Madeline. It reminded me of chintz fabric...perfect for this pinked-edged block. The buttons were cut from Vintage Cream and stamped with the four different button stamps from Button Boutique. I used Certainly Celery and Purely Pomegranate. The Pomegranate ink is a second generation stamping to get the lighter color I wanted. The buttons were strung with some floss in coordinating colors. I also made a strip of glitter using scor-tape and glitter. This was this week's Make It Monday challenge. The sentiment is from Star Prints and was stamped in black Versafine ink. For the blog hop challenge, you were to use scallops on your card. Can you see my scalloped buttons?

Here is a closeup of the glitter strip in case you can't see it.

Of course, I needed a sketch to follow! The Splitcoast sketch this week is what gave me the idea for this card. Now that I'm looking at it, I think I was supposed to have a different color paper above the glitter strip...too late now! And I love the way this card came together! How about you?

Thanks for stopping in today! I'll back tomorrow with a really cool 3D/Technique challenge from Just Us Girls, so make sure you stop by!

Recipe

Stamps: Button Boutique and Star Prints (PTI)

Paper: Vintage cream, Madeline (K&Co.)

Ink: Versafine black, certainly celery, purely pomegranate

Accessories: Button Card Collection dies and Buttoned Up #2 dies (PTI), floss, scor tape, MS glitter, dimensionals

Paper Makeup Stamps Contest on Facebook!

Hi friends! I'm just popping in today to let you know about a contest Paper Makeup Stamps is having on their new Facebook page. Here are the rules:


1. WHAT CAN BE SUBMITTED: Any creation using a Paper Makeup Stamp or digital stamp. Creations can be created digitally (like a digital scrapbook page) or a handmade creation (like a card, scrapbook layout, altered item, etc). For fans who do not currently own any PMS designs, we do have some free digis that will qualify for this contest!

2. HOW TO SUBMIT: To submit your creations, you must email a picture of it to katie@papermakeup.com Your creation will then be uploaded into the appropriate gallery. Once we upload your card, you will be emailed with a direct link that you can then use to promote your card to your friends and family.

3. HOW TO GET YOUR VOTES: Once the card is uploaded to the Fan Favorites gallery, it can start getting votes. Your friends just need to "like" your creation. We will also have our design team liking their favorite creations. In able to like any creation, they will have to like the PMS page first.

4. Creations do not have to be new. They can be our favorite creation using PMS whether you made it yesterday or a year ago. The creation DOES have to be made by you!!!

5. Contest entries will run for 1 week. You must submit your entry BEFORE March 1st. The voting will remain from March 1st thru the 6th and the winner will be announced at our BLOG HOP for the stamp release on March 7th at 7am EST.

6. PRIZE UP FOR GRABS! A $20 gift certificate towards any stamp purchase, jut in time for our new release!

I just copied all this information from the PMS Facebook page. Looks like a fab, fun contest! PMS has some free digis for you to get started with...they have some great images like their Beautiful Day Fairies, Monsters, and Moody Girls just to name a few.

This is one of my favorite PMS cards I made a while back. This image is from the Faith Hope Love stamp set and Little Moments stamp set. I love the orange and gray colors. You can see the original post here.

Hope to see you on the PMS Facebook page soon!

A Couple of Challenges

Hi everyone! I just can't seem to find my mojo this week! I'm off this week and thought the stuff would just be rolling off the craft table, but it ain't happenin'! I made this card for two challenges: Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and the DeNami Color Challenge. (I just noticed that you have to use a DeNami stamp to enter their challenge...sadly I didn't use one and don't even own one, but I'm still linking their challenge because the colors are great!)The DeNami challenge blog is new to me. My friend and fellow JUGs DT member, Andrea, is on their design team and I fell in love with the colors when I saw her card. The flower is from one of the newest stamp sets from My Time Made Easy called Bold Botanicals. I stamped it in Kiwi Kiss ink and shaded it with Pacific Point ink. The sentiment is from So Sentimenal, also MTME, stamped in Pacific Point. The dp is Pacific Point and the ribbon is Kiwi Kiss. I added some blue pearls for some texture and some Star Dust Stickles for some sparkle.

So that's it for today. I have tons of DT work due over the next couple of weeks, so I'll be working on that. Hopefully I'll be able to sneak in some other stuff on my blog this week. Thanks for stopping by today!

Recipe
Stamps: Bold Botanicals and So Sentimental (MTME)
Paper: Neenah white, kiwi kiss, pacific point, pacific point dp
Ink: Kiwi kiss, pacific point
Accessories: Nesties, satin ribbon, pearls, star dust stickles, dimensionals

Just Us Girls #72 - Color Challenge

Happy Saturday! It's time for another color challenge from Just Us Girls! Today, Kathryn is our hostess and she has chosen some really pretty colors...melon, light aqua, and kraft. Here's what I did with them.The damask is from Papertrey Ink's Damask Designs and the sentiment is from Just the Ticket, also from PTI. I stamped the damask in SU's groovy guava, cut and embossed with a nestie, and then I swirled some antique linen distress ink around it. The dp is Basic Grey's Marrakech. I made a small bow with some shabby seam binding from Debbie Marcinkiewicz's Etsy shop. A mini prima rose and some pearls finished it off. The sketch is from this week's Splitcoast sketch.

We have a very special new addition to our Just Us Girls team. Elise Durenberger. She is going to be a delightful addition to our team for sure! Please visit her blog and welcome her.

Stop by the JUGs blog and see what the other girls have created with these colors! Thanks for stopping in today and have a great weekend!

Recipe
Stamps: Damask Designs and Just the Ticket (PTI)
Paper: Vintage cream, kraft, Marrakech (Basic Grey)
Ink: Groovy guava, chocolate chip
Accessories: Nesties, tag die, seam binding ribbon, Prima rose, pearls, corner rounder, dimensionals

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you are spending today with the ones you love! I have two very cute nephews, Ethan age 6 and Kristoff age 3, that I made Valentines for today. I'm seeing them tomorrow to give them their little gifts. Here are the cards I made for them. This first one is for Kristoff. I think he'd like a robot. This is Automaton the Sweetheart Robot from Paper Makeup Stamps. I colored him with copic markers and shaded with Sahara Sand. The sentiment is from the Hugs and Kisses stamp set, also from PMS.This one is for Ethan. He's in first grade and I thought he would like a dinosaur. This is Bronto the dinosaur. I paper pieced him with this Bitty Dot paper from PTI. I got the idea from my friend Cheryl's card, although she colored hers and added hearts to Bronto. I stamped the eyes on white paper, cut them out, and glued them on. I colored his toes with a white gel pen. I used the same sentiment. (Looking at him after I posted this, I realized I should have had some mini hearts emanating from him....I'll do that before I give it to him!)
Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

Recipe
Stamps: Automaton the Sweetheart Robot, Bronto, Hugs and Kisses (PMS)
Paper: Neenah white, basic gray, Bitty Dot paper (PTI)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, sahara sand, copic markers
Accessories: Nesties, border punch, circle punch, Swiss Dot folder

Just Us Girls #71 - Spotlighting Technique

Happy Saturday! Just Us Girls has a great technique challenge chosen by Andrea...spotlighting! When was the last time you did that oldie but goodie challenge? It's such an easy technique...the most difficult part for me was choosing which stamp to use! Today I used a really cute stamp I've had for a long time but never inked up! This cute image is called Conway Tweetie from Whipper Snapper. I stamped it in Memento tuxedo black twice and cut out just the bird with a nestie. I colored that piece, put it on a pacific point scalloped nestie, and matched it up over the uncolored image. The bird part is "spotlighted" and pops off the uncolored image. I tried sewing again on my card...I like that look, but have a terrible time with the bobbin! The sentiment is from the Critters with Heart stamp set from My Time Made Easy. I managed to bend the sentiment on my block to get the curved look. I added silver pearls to finish it off.

The sketch is from the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge, but I didn't use the rectangle inside of the big circle.

Stop by the JUGs blog to see the spotlighting technique samples by the DT and guest designer, Lori. Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great weekend!

Recipe

Stamps: Conway Tweetie (Whipper Snapper), Critters with Heart (MTME)

Paper: PTI white, summer sun, pacific point, Good Morning Sunshine dp (SU)

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, copic markers

Accessories: Nesties, EK success border punch, silver pearls, star dust stickles, sewing machine, dimensionals

Things We Love...Paper Makeup Stamps Blog Hop

Happy Monday everyone! Welcome to the Things We Love Paper Makeup Stamps VIP Blog Hop! Paper Makeup Stamps is celebrating it's 2nd birthday and to celebrate the occasion, we are having a super fun VIP blog hop with the theme "the things we love". The entire design team has invited special crafters to play along in this hop. You can see the list of everyone participating in this hop in the linky tool below. But you will want to stop by the Paper Makeup Stamps blog to enter yourself to win a super fabulous prize!

I was trying to decide what PMS image to use on my card today. I LOVE the Beautiful Day Fairies...they are what attracted me to this company, but I decided on a Moody Girl. I'll never forget when Katie revealed these girls to the design team with a warning "not to be afraid of them"! I was so intimidated to color one, but once I did I realized they are so fun to color and offer many options of color. So I chose Moody for Love. I thought she would be perfect for this love-themed hop.

There are a couple of other things in here that I love. First of all the colors. I love any colors that go with brown. This pink/red/brown/vanilla combo just makes me drool! The paper is from the Crazy Love pack by Bo Bunny. I just picked this up at my LSS last week...just yummy! I stamped the Moody Girl on white PTI paper, colored it, and cut/embossed it with a scallop circle nestie, then realized the white was too white for this paper. So I swirled some Pink Pirouette ink around it while still in the die. Then on the edges where you could still see white, I inked it up with tea dye distress ink...it made it look like vanilla cardstock! The XOXO sentiment is from the Hugs and Kisses stamp set. Another thing I love are my star dust stickles, which I used on some of the hearts. (Some of the hearts were stamped a second time and popped up for more dimension.) And the last thing in the picture I love is the chocolate covered cherry candy...LOVE them!

The sketch is the new one for February from Sketch for You To Try. The colors qualify for the CR84FN color challenge of light pink, bright pink, and brown.






And now I'm going to send you off to my good friend and very talented guest for today's VIP hop, Cheryl Rowley! She chose Bronto the dinosaur for her card because she loves the Dustin Dinos in the PMS store. Please show her some love...you will love her style for sure! Thanks for participating in our hop, Cheryl! :-)

Thanks for hopping with us today. If you just happened to stop in, please go to the PMS blog and start hopping along with us! Have a great week!

My Time Made Easy - A Year in Review

Hi friends! I have another post today, so please make sure you see that one!

Today, the My Time Made Easy design team is posting a Year in Review. We are using products released during MTME's first year. I chose to use the You've Got Mail template and stamp set (which has just been released in digital format).
I decided on this template because of the new Vintage Postcard digi paper in the Warm Serenity pack released this month. I shrunk the digi paper a bit and then cut the decorative panels to place on the sides of the mailbox. I also shrunk the digi paper considerably, cut the post cards out, and placed them on the top of the mailbox to make it look like someone just laid them there. Too cute! I used mellow moss and vanilla carstock for the mailbox and added images from the You've Got Mail stamp set to make the door and slot on the mailbox. I used the same materials on the card, and also made it look like a piece of mail. What a cute little box this is! I think it would be cute as an oven too! ;-)

Make sure you see what the other girls have done with their choices for the year in review.



Thanks for visiting today!