Beates Challenge and Unity Stamps

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Today we had a 2 year birthday party for the son of our good friends. It was nice to hang out and the rain held out!


This card I made for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. I used the set "My Hero" from Treehouse Stamps. I really liked this set because I have a little boy and girl so thought it would be perfect for Father's Day cards and scrapbooking.


I started with SU River Rock and embossed with the distressed embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. The patterned paper and the cranberry background paper is by Making Memories as are the brads. I colored the image using Prismacolor Markers.


Today I also received my order from Unity Stamps. This company is fairly new and can I tell you how awesome it is! First off, I ordered my stuff on Thursday late in the day. The owner Angela posted a Random Special. When I saw that I had to jump on board. How psyched was I when I received my package of loot TODAY! You may have seen or read things about Unity. People have been saying their images are large and packaging wonderful! But you know how it is you never know for sure what things are like until you experience it for yourself right? I swear my jaw hit the desk when I opened the package. Here is a picture of my loot so you can see how awesome it looks:

So you definitely want to check out Unity Stamps! Of course since I'm a "day late and dollar short" I will miss out on an awesome DT call they are having. BUMMER! Oh well, maybe there will be other chances in the future, you never know. Let me know what you guys think of Unity.

I'm sure I'll have more rave reviews of Unity soon but for now let me run.


Till later....

Birthday Wishes

I know my titles are not that creative, I will work on that! But I made this card for a friends little boy who turns two. We are going to the birthday party tomorrow. My kids should love that, and my friends have friends who have b/g twins as well and they are about 6 months older so that is always fun. Let's hope it doesn't rain too bad like they say.

I started with SU River Rock and used CB embossing folder Swiss Dots. Has anyone seen the new folders coming out in June? I forget where but I saw them online. I hope that some of my local stores get them in! The patterned papers are from the DCWV stack pack called Nana's Kids and they are glitter papers which I love! I layered them with Close to Cocoa and Certainly Celery. The layered papers on the left are raised using pop dots as is the scalloped sentiment. I used the SU set "So Many Scallops". I've been finding I love this cute little set and it's so perfect because it works well with the SU scallop punch (which I think is the point!) but I do love that scalloped punch. The chipboard number I had in my stash and I think it was from a pack I got at Walmart a long time ago.

I have some cool things coming my way. I placed an order with Unity Stamps which I'm psyched about. I heard alot of good things about them. I will soon have some samples with the great new sets by Clear and Simple Stamps, coming June 1. And you will want to check out Mothers & Daughters Creations as they have added some fantastic new clear stamps by Imaginisce and they now carry the super cool papers by Core'dinations. Just as soon as I get the stamps in I will be sure to have samples posted.

Soon I will also post some blog candy!! I have to say I have some SU sets that I haven't used much if at all. What do you guys think, is it rude to offer blog candy on slightly used sets? (but in great condition!) I thought that might be better than trying to sell them, it would be nice to give them to someone who would like to have them. What do you think, you can be honest!

That's it for now!

Till later....

Fluttering Butterflies

Happy Thursday! I didn't get time to stamp today and tonight the season finale of LOST is on so no time then. However I had this card saved from when I first got my Score Pal. OK that wasn't too long ago just a few weeks. But this grid technique was on SCS right about the time so I decided to take a stab at it. I do have to say it's much nicer in person. I added glitter to all the butterflies and it looks great. I used my brayer for the background in Blue Breeze by Kaleidacolor. The images are by Stampin Up and the Essence of Love set. I like the simplicity of this card.

Sorry to be short I think naptime is coming to an end soon. Have you seen the new Unity Stamps yet? They look really cool and the stamps are supposed to be pretty large. Today until midnight they are having a "random" sale where there are 5 sets grouped together and you get them all and free shipping for a special price. I am not affliated but thought I'd share. I might have to take a dive into the pool on this one to check it out.

Also June 1 is the release date for some new sets by Clear and Simple Stamps. There will be wedding themed ones and travel themed ones, you will want to check it out!

Thanks for stopping by.

Till later....

Twins by the shore

When I saw this image by Inkadinkadoo I knew I had to have it. It just makes me smile and reminds me of my 2 year b/g twins. SO SWEET! I will admit I didn't actually pick the stamp up until the other day. I saw Caroyln King's beautiful card on her blog using the same image which put me over the edge on enabling. I had seen the stamp before that but hesitated because wood mounted stamps are so expensive so I was waiting for a coupon :-) LOLOL! Anyhow, on a trip to AC Moore the other day I picked it up it was like $9.99. At the register I tried to use my Michael's coupon which they usually take but the one I had was for a percentage off the total and AC Moore does not except that kind in competitors coupons. BUT the lady was sooo kind as to give me the 40% off which would be a coupon discount!!! How awesome is that! These people see me in the stores all the time so I think they know my face by now!! LOLOL!!! Anyhow, for $6.00 it was not too bad. Of course on my journey I picked up a few other stamps that were discounted for $3.00 I will have more on that later. I swear I'm not cheap but who can resist a bargain, especially a stamp bargain!! LOLOL!

Enough ramble onto the card. I started with Blue Bayou and used my tiny bubbles (I think that is what they call it) embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. The "sand" like paper on bottom is by DCWV and is from a glitter stack pack. I used my square nesties to cut out the image and mounted it on River Rock. The ribbon is from Michael's and the little star shell is from a small shell collection I have. This one was store bought not the beach ones. But I do have bunch I picked up on the beach last weekend. I colored in using Copic and Prismacolor markers. I added Stickles to the clouds and water. If you love stickles like I do you can find them ALL at Mothers & Daughters Creations!

Well that's all for now. I hope to be back tomorrow before evening if I can because the finale of LOST is on so I will be quite busy for 3 hours! Yes they replay last week's episode but it's enhanced and they actually do make it so you want/have to watch it again! LOLOL!!!

Till Later......

Cupcake Challenge

Here is my version for Taylor's weekly cupcake challenge. Each week she has a "cupcake" challenge sketch. (Although I don't think you have to use a cupcake image) but I love cupcakes! Who doesn't? I had this cupcake from Hero Arts. Funny story though about this cupcake. I saw it at my LSS and liked it. But it does not have the company name on the wood like most stamps do. The owner actually did not know whose stamp it was (but thought it might be Hero Arts), but I liked it so I got it. I checked Hero Arts when I got home and it is Hero but it looks like it should be part of a set and the store sold them separately. Oh well, I probably would have gotten the set.

Anyhow, I started with Stampin Up's River Rock as a base. Used my Happy Birthday embossing folder for the Cuttlebug as my background. The pink layer under the cupcakes is SU Regal Rose with another piece of River Rock embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing folder for the CB. I stamped the cupcake three times (using Brilliance Graphite Black) and colored using Copics and Prismacolor markers. I then use Stickles for the sprinkles, rose and cupcake holder. The patterned paper is a glitter paper from a DCWV stack pack. I punched out flowers and added bling to the middle. The sentiment is by Inkadinkadoo. I used pop dots to adhere the base layer (under the cupcakes) and for the cupcakes themselves. So it does pop out and have some dimension to it.

The weekly cupcake challenges are fun, I have to start digging to see if I have more cupcakes to use. Taylor is starting with this past week to have a "Featured Cupcake Sampler", Jennifer of Jennifers Sweet Designs won this past week you should definitely check it out.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Till Later.....

Gossip Girl

Here is another creation using Gossip Girl by Clear and Simple Stamps. I used SU Lavender Lace and took some patterned and glitter paper (the bottom layer) from DCWV stack packs. I colored this Darling with Copic markers and added some purple stickles to her belt. The purple flower is a Prima flower which I added a silver brad to the center. I mounted Gossip Girl using pop dots for dimension. The background is using the distressed Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Sorry to be so short but I'm really tired today and have alot planned over the weekend. I also want to get to work on some challenges and cards for publication calls.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till Later...

Gina K Sketch Challenge

This is for the sketch challenge in the Gina K forum at SCS. They had their release party last night and boy did they have some great new releases. My favorite is "Jumping for Joy".

This hippo is from the set "Just So Hippy". I used SU Regal Rose and Vanilla and cut the scalloped shapes using my nestablities. I used an 1/8inch punch to create the lace like border. The patterned by is from a DCWV glitter pack. I stamped the hippo on the striped one and cut out his rump. The entire background is a sheet from the glitter pack as well.

I was slightly off using the sketch so I hope I still qualify! The circle was supposed to stop at the end so it's not the full circle. Oh well, it's getting late so I just went with it.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Black Tie Challenge - MDC

Here it is the black and white challenge for Mothers & Daughters Creations. The challenge was to use one of the great black and white papers by Imaginisce called "Black Tie Optional". It also called for one other color. When there are challenges for something like this black and white plus 1, I always think of the 1 as a "punch" or "pop" of color. I picked red!

I decided to use a pattern that I had in my files for years! I remember using this apron template quite some time ago and actually was in a swap using it. I have to be honest I don't know what site I got this from it was so long ago. It's possible that it was on SCS, so I apologize that I don't have a reference to credit for it. Let me know if you have seen it somewhere.

For my apron I used Kitsch'n Floral. For the little card on the front I used the flip side of Kitsch'n Floral. This great paper is 2 sided, one with a black background base as seen on the apron and one with a white background base as seen on the little card in front. I added the little card on front because I always liked these apron cards but felt it needed somewhere to sign it as a card. This is the inside of the little card also an Imaginisce stamp and can be found here...

The great RED flower seen in front is my plus 1 pop of color. This great flower can also be found at M&D.

Then I was thinking what can I put in the "pocket" of the apron card which is in the back. So, what I did was make small little note cards also using this great paper. I made this little envelope and note card using Daisy Downpour. This great little envy is 3x3 and the note card is about 2 3/4 x 2 3/4. I didn't follow an envy pattern or template for this one. I know there are loads of them out there and many people have posted patterns. But I promise I didn't use someone's pattern. I tried a few online but then kept messing up, yeah I know I stink with numbers and measurements. Go figure I worked on a trading floor for a major investment company for 9 years! LOLOL! Anyhow, I actually found in my stash of stuff a small envy the size that I wanted to use. SO, I basically used that as my guide and made it myself using the score pal. I know you're not too impressed but I was with myself. :-)

This little note card and envy fits nicely in the back pocket of the apron, make a few of these and it's a card with a cute little gift.

There you have it. I had fun making an apron card again and this paper is fantastic. It would be great to make an elegant card or a fun card.

Be sure to stop by the blogs of the design team members Jennifer, Lynda, Tamara to see what they have created I know you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till Later...

Gossip Gossip Gossip.....

I can totally see my daughter in a few years on the telephone yapping away! I know I did. I can remember one night after being in school with my friend all day talking on the phone for 6 hours! No joke! I'll bet she would remember that as well. When I was young I was a phone yapper for sure, now not so much. With email it's so much easier, especially with all the busy schedules everyone has.

Here is a scrapbook page of my 2 year old on the phone. I used stamps from Clear and Simple Stamps Gossip Girl. The turquoise background paper was in my stash so I apologize but I don't know the company. I'm sure it was from a pack I picked up in Michael's years ago. The striped paper is from a DCWV stack pack. I used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder for the background texture. The blue scalloped paper is by DCWV as well. I think I own all the packs, well almost! LOL! The glittery flowers I punched out again using a glitter paper in a stack pack by DCWV. The yellow brads are by Making Memories.

Thanks for looking!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a fun challenge with the Mothers & Daughters Creations Design Team.

Till later.....

Cupcake Challenge

I decided to make a card for the cupcake challenge over at Taylored Expressions this week. I have to admit cupcake images are fun. Have you seen the new Inkadinkadoo Cupcake set, I may have to get that one.

This card starts with a white base and then I used Wild Wasabi and embossed with the Cuttlebug. The polka dot layer of glitter paper is by DCWV. The great cupcake is a single from Lizzie Anne Designs which I stamped and used my square nestablities to cut it out and add a mat of Stampin Up's Regal Rose. I colored the cupcake using copics and added Pink Stickles as the sprinkles!

That's it for now!

Thanks for stopping by.

Till Later....

Lauren's Weekly Sketch

Here is a Sweet Baby Girl card. This is based on Lauren's Sketch from last Saturday here. I started with SU Barely Banana. Used my Swiss Dots embossing folder for the cuttlebug (getting ALOT of use out of that one) for the background. All the great patterned paper is from the DCWV stack pack Nana's Nursery Baby Girl. The adorable image (sentiment) in the middle is Stampin Up's "So Many Scallops". This set really does work perfectly with the SU scallop punch and then I layered it over a Regal Rose circle.

The coolest part about this card is the layers. I have been using lots and lots of the pop dots or dimensionals lately to create layers. In person it's a great effect, sometimes harder to capture in a picture.

But here is a close up of the layers:

That's it for now.

Off I go to play with my new toy! I just got the Score Pal (finally!!). It was my Mother's Day gift from my husband.

Till Later....

Time to Relax

Doesn't this image make you want to just sit back and relax? Sigh.... This great adirondack chair is by Serendipity Stamps. I colored the chair using Prismacolor and Copic Markers. I added yellow stickles glitter to the flowers. I'm not sure that you can see that very well in the picture but I will post a close up of the chair below. I used my square nestablities to cut out the chair and make a mat in Purely Pomegranate. The awesome background paper is by Basic Grey and is called Sugared Collection. I used my swiss dots embossing folder to emboss the white background. The ribbon adds a bit of elegance and it's source is unknown, I used it from my huge stash (from AC Moore).

Check out those little flowers, don't they look awesome??? Can I tell you WHERE they came from??? I have some decorative (fake) flowers around. You would think that is the easiest and safest thing with kids around. Can put them in a basket, no one will eat something icky or break a vase. BUT (kind of funny) I have a basket in the small bathroom downstairs, however we also have the potties there for the kids. (I have 2 year old twins boy/girl) My little girl likes to sit on the potty (bravo that's great) and PICK the flowers off!!!! ARGH.... OK so I had to save the flowers as they were picked but they do look great on this card don't they??? Sigh.....

Here is the close up of the chair:

Well thanks for stopping by.

Don't forget to swing over to Mothers & Daughters Creations and check out all the other great Serendipity Stamps as well as stickles and basic grey.

Till Later....

Glittery Caterpillar!

Here he is my glittery caterpillar! This awesome stamp is by Outlines and you can find him here. These stamps by outlines are fantastic! I started by stamping him a few times using Brilliance Graphite Black Ink. I colored in using Copic and Prismacolor markers. My background is lavender lace by SU. I actually had scraps of this and this card is a bit smaller than normal it is about 4 1/4 x 4 3/4. I used my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder and added some yellow ribbon to the side. The ribbon is from my ribbon stash that I picked up at AC Moore, check out this post.

After I colored in the images I layered them. Check out this close up of the layers:

To the top layer I added Glitter!! I used Ranger Stickles to add the shine!! If you love glitter and haven't tried Stickles yet you must give it a try. I used to hate using glitter because of the mess but now I feel the need to put glitter on everything! LOLOL!

Finally here is a closeup of the caterpillar:

That's it for now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Till later......

Gossip Girl's Gossip Notes

Here is yet another creation with Clear and Simple Stamps. I can't tell you how much fun it is working with these stamps and how excited I am that I was accepted to be on their design team. I can't wait for more! LOLOL!

Here is an "altered" notepad using Gossip Girl by Clear and Simple Stamps. I had this cool "newspaper" patterned paper by 7 Gypsies for a super long time. I thought this would work perfectly. I used Christmas Red stickles to give her jacket some glittery shine. When I first saw this set I thought newspaper, diary, phone calls, chatty....

My project next up a little chatty 2 year old on the telephone scrapbook page!

Thanks for looking!

Till Later....





Details: 7 Gypsies patterened paper, Christmas Red Stickles, Chocolate Chip Paper (Stampin Up), Swiss Dots Embossing folder for the cuttlebug, Red cardstock (source unknown)

Embossing Anyone?

One of the challenges at Lizzie Anne Designs was to use a sketch and to incorporate embossing. Ok, you'll say what about the Cuttlebug embossing that we are all so fond of? Yeah, I thought of that but then decided to go back to an oldie but goodie the heat gun and powder! Why don't we see this much anymore?

For this I used the flowers from the LAD set called Blissful Blossoms and the sentiment is from the set called Funky Floral. The base is Stampin Up's Blue Bayou. The middle patterned paper (layered on white) is from a DCWV stack pack and I embossed the flower from Blissful Blossoms on it in white. The background of the Blue Bayou is always white heat embossed. I added a sheer white ribbon and the sentiment.

This was definitely a fun challenge as it was great to watch the powder melt, I forgot how much I used to love that LOLOL!

Thanks it for now!

Thanks for stopping by.

Till later....

Nana's Box of Goodies

This is a project I put together for my Mom for Mother's day. My mom loves when I make things like this for her. It's funny because since I was little she always said the best gifts are handmade. I remember she used to want to give handmade gifts for Christmas. Although she is not crafty so that's probably why it didn't pan out.

Anyhow, for this project I used a box I picked up at the dollar store and 2 wooden frames from Michael's.

I started with the box and coverd it in paper from the Melissa Frances page kit called "Thankful". Now I'm sure this is was put together for scrapbookers but who says we can't use those same materials for other projects right? The great glitter letters I had from a long time ago and apologize because I don't know who makes them. The flower under the name is a 3D sticker that came in the page kit set. Here is the close up of the box:

Next I moved on to the frames. I painted both using white acrlyic paint. Then I covered them in paper. For the flower I used great glitter paper by Best Creations. The little flower in the upper right was punched out of the same paper.

The star frame I used paper by Daisy Bucket. I cut it out and adhered it on and then using the star template for the cuttlebug I cut out the star.

The gifts were a hit, my mom loved it. She even loves the box which she plans on displaying! Who else but a mom can appreciate handmade items that much!

I hope everyone had a fanstaic Mother's Day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Till Later....

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Mother's Day!

This is the same layout I used for this card . I liked it and decided to make another one using different colors. Bliss blue is the blue layer with Regal Rose. I colored using Copics and added Stickles for the glitter. The flower pot is cut out using Washi paper by Hanko Designs and can be found here. The striped glitter paper is from a DCWV stack pack and the ribbon is from my finds at AC Moore. The background is embossed using my embossing folders in the "bug".

Sorry for the quick post today. Don't forget the sale at Mother's & Daughters goes through tomorrow, so check out this link for all the details.

Have a fantastic day!

Till Later.....

Gossip Girl in the house

I'm so excited I received my package from Clear and Simple Stamps the other day. The first set I received is called Gossip Girl. This is a great set with many possibilities. For my first creation I decided to make a birthday card.

I embossed white card stock using the Cuttlebug birthday embossing folder. I stamped the image on white and colored in using Copic Markers then cut out using the rectangle nestablities. The pink I used is Regal Rose by Stampin Up. The patterned paper in the background is from a glitter stack pack by DCWV. I went through my ribbon stash and used this nice light ribbon for the added touch.

I had a lot of fun designing with my first set and will have more to come with Gossip Girl.

Thant's it for now, stay tuned....

Till Later....

Riley lost his shorts...

OH MY! LOL! Did that grab your attention? Here is Riley just floating around in the water, but he left his trunks on the beach!!

I started with Stampin Up's Bliss Blue and used the Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots for the background. The sand layer is sandpaper. I cut and ripped a great piece by Best Creations for the water layer. What is cool about this paper is I used it for two totaly different projects. It's hard to see in the photos but it has alot of great glitter. Remember when I used the butterfly on this project here. I colored Riley (Hanna Stamps) using Prismacolor and Copic Markers and added some Cinnamon Stickles to his antlers and hoofs. I cut the beach ball and shorts out from this glitter paper by Imaginisce called Feel The Burn. Well, that's it for now.


Thanks for looking!!!


Till later....