Helloooooo....

Is anyone still out there? Yes, it's me, your long-lost Diva Stamper!

Oh my gosh... I hate that it's been so long since I've posted. I'm still just really busy and I hadn't touched my stamps in weeks. But this weekend I have club so I thought I would try to get my projects posted for you this month. Here is a clean and simple card that we're going to make featuring the Button Bits stamp set. This is a CASE from the fabulous Carrie Gaskin.

My card is much simpler than Carrie's - I love hers the mostest but I thought I should step it down a tad. I kept the Soft Suede and Blushing Bride that she used, but I stuck with Pear Pizzazz for the third color (plus vanilla card stock for stamping). My vase is cut out and popped up with dimensionals, and I used the same cute buttons from the mini catalog but put the silver mini brads in the center instead of rhinestones. Did you know you can do this? Just press down on both sides with a bone folder to make sure the brad is flat, and be careful that it stays centered between the holes. If the prongs stick out the sides on the back of the button, just trim them with your rubber scissors.

I love Carrie's trick for using the decorative label punch for the main image. I figured out that to fit in the long side of the punch, the card stock should be 1 3/4" wide and it lines up perfectly. I also used the same punch to detail my card corners (I did this once before here). Instead of DP I added a row of stamping with the border stamp from the SAB set Fresh Vintage, and with a sentiment from Well Penned I'm calling this one done!

I have to dash off to my TMJ appointment for the day. I would love to come back and show you the other two projects we'll be making this weekend, so I'm crossing my fingers that I can find a few minutes to post those soon! Thanks for stopping by!

I Heart Embossing

Saturday again? Wow! Guess it's time for this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner! Our hostess this week is Sharon Wheet, and she has a recipe challenge: make a Valentine's Day card or project that includes a heart, something that sparkles or shines, and the colors pink, kraft and gray. I decided to do a clean and simple project this week - not that CAS means it necessarily took me any less time! LOL! It took me a few false starts to get to my final design, which I quite like after all is said and done...

For my colors I picked Crumb Cake and Basic Gray (of course) and my pinks are Melon Mambo and Pink Pirouette. I pulled out several of the mini catalog products for Valentine's Day on this one. The main image and the banner behind it come from the set called Take It to Heart, and the sentiment is from P.S. I Love You. The big heart was cut with the heart Framelits. Those cute little hearts are made with the heart embosslit, and I used one of the new embossing folders to make the row of hearts on the card base. As if that wasn't enough embossing, I put the image onto a "fabric" panel of gray cardstock embossed with the houndstooth folder. (When it was all put together I sort of wished I'd used DP instead, but this is what I'm going with!) Finally I just needed some bling, and the rhinestones did the trick.

Now I'm in a Valentine's mood - how about you? I hope you will want to get out your supplies and play along with this challenge. We wouldn't exist without all the fabulous stampers who participate with us each week! And a big welcome to our wonderful new DT members, who are posting with us for the first time this Saturday. Please stop by the OCC blog to show some love to our fabulous team!

Before I go I want to say thanks to everyone out there who's reading - I wish I could post more often, but right now I'm pursuing new treatment for my TMJ issues, which involves PT at least twice a week and occasional trips into Boston, and I'm also trying to pick up additional freelance work. So the chances I will get to do much stamping are slim these days. Boo hoo! I do appreciate all my readers, followers and subscribers, and thanks for sticking with me!

Apothecary Elements

Welcome to my second week of hosting the challenges at Our Creative Corner! This week I have a sketch for you. I came up with this sketch a long time ago based on the label of a box of bakery muffins from Walmart. See, you never know where you might find inspiration!

I combined my card with two other challenges: SU Only (use your favorite product from the Occasions mini) and the Color Throwdown (Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red).

I actually have several Occasions mini favorite products on this card: the stamp sets Apothecary Art and Creative Elements; the Framelits dies; and the large pearls. I stamped all over the Crumb Cake DP with the swirly stamp from Creative Elements and also used the label image from that stamp set. For the Pool Party DP die-cut label, I inked just the outline of the journaling stamp with a marker, then using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I added the flowers on the top and bottom of the label. The circles on the sketch became my medallions, which I made with the triple doily punch, the bitty flower punch, and the aforementioned pearls. FYI, the size of the background scalloped square is 5 3/16".

I've had fun hosting these two challenges, and I hope you have fun playing along with this sketch! Have a wonderful weekend!

Birthday Beauty

Wow, another Saturday - that means another challenge at Our Creative Corner! I get the privilege of being the hostess for the next two weeks, and this week I have my favorite: an inspiration challenge. I found this gorgeous baby shower table at the Hostess with the Mostess blog. The challenge is to find at least two elements in the photo to inspire your project, and as a bonus you can give it a baby theme if you wish.

This card is doing double duty as a stamp club project, so I elected not to make it a baby card. The background technique is called faux tile, which I was inspired to teach my club after seeing this card. I didn't end up CASEing Lynn's gorgeous card but instead went a different direction so I could showcase some new products from the Occasions mini.

This is a 5 1/4" square card. The main image comes from the fabulous stamp set Apothecary Art and the new Framelits labels. I took my colors from the inspiration photo: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizazz, and Early Espresso. I thought the flowers in the image echoed the floral elements on the shower table. For accents I chose coral ribbon (which is also on the table in the photo) and a larger label of pear DP. To give the green just a little definition against the blue background, I edged the DP with espresso marker. The tile background is a 5" square of Pool Party card stock, scored into 1 1/4" squares, stamped with the SAB set Fresh Vintage, and sponged across the score lines for definition. Finally I incorporated the rhinestones that appear in the background of the photo as center accents for the flowers.

OK, that's it from me - I hope you enjoy this challenge and come play along with us! Be sure you check out what the rest of the team has created as well, and have a wonderful weekend!

Birdhouse Birthday

My new stamp club is starting up this weekend, which means I get to stamp more than once this week! LOL! I always like to have my stampers play with new stuff, and this card fits the bill. It's a CASE of this card by Mary Fish, which I just loved and thought could easily work for any occasion. I'm also entering this card in the paper piercing challenge at the Friday Mashup.

The colors I chose are Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip. The main image is from the hostess set Up in the Air, which is in the Occasions mini. Also in the Occasions mini is the pleated ribbon - this stuff is gorgeous - as well as the Edgelit die which created the scallop border. I used the Christmas stamp from Perfect Punches but covered the sentiment with one from Up, Up & Away. The embossed polka dots and paper piercing finish off this fun card. 

I'll be back tomorrow with my OCC card for this week! Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Birthday Cake

It's the weekend again - time for another challenge at Our Creative Corner! Our hostess again this week is Vicki Burdick, and this time around she wants us to use paper piecing. So here is my card - the papers are supposedly baby themed but I thought they would be really cute for a birthday. The challenge requirements also state: NO ribbon and ONE embellishment. I interpreted that to be one TYPE of embellishment, so I hope I didn't break the rules...

This card uses some non-SU product (stamp by Savvy Stamps, DP by Simple Stories - Baby Cakes, border die by PTI). The 2 1/2" circle punch and pennant die provide my cut-out shapes, and I added some sparkle with my glitter pen. The embellishment(s): retired pink buttons tied with linen thread. The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake, and to pretty up the end of my banner I stuck it into the decorative label punch to get a funky edge.

Be sure you check out all the creations by our team members for this week's challenge, and while you're at the OCC blog, submit your favorite recent creation for our design team call! We are looking for some new talent to join us and it could be you!

Happy new year!

Oh my gosh - such a long time since I've blogged and stamped. I'm happy to say that I'm back from my break with the fabulous team at Our Creative Corner. When it came time to make my card for this week's challenge, I felt quite out of prractice. Vicki Burdick has challenged us to make a shape card, and after a little hunting online I decided to make this matryoshka (Russian doll) card. The template is printable - plus there are lots more to choose from so you can play along with us! Since this is a birthday card I'm also entering it in the Friday Mashup birthday challenge.

I decided to feature the gorgeous stamp set that's part of the Sale-a-Bration offerings called Fresh Vintage and the matching DP, Everyday Enchantment. I love these two products so, so much. The colors I used all come from the DP: Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla and Soft Suede. Mostly I got my shapes from the template, but I did use some Big Shot/punched circles (cupcake punch, owl punch, circles #2 die). The border at the bottom uses one of the edge dies that's available in the Occasions mini. I stamped the flower then used leaves cut from the DP and placed the whole thing onto the embossed oval frame with a sentiment from Easy Events. (The flower in her hair is also cut from the DP - this card required a lot of cutting and glueing!)

I had fun with this - it's a great challenge to try something you've never done before. I know someone with a large collection of these dolls so I should save this one for her birthday! Please join in the fun with us and try out the challenge - I don't think you'll regret it. And be sure you see the rest of the wonderful shape creations from the design team!

If you haven't noticed...

I'm taking a little break from blogging. The busy-ness of life was getting away from me, so with preparing for the holidays I decided I needed a little time off. I plan to be back posting in January. I hope everyone has a blessed holiday season and a happy new year! See you in 2012!

O Christmas tree...

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving - and we're moving on to Christmas with this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner! Our hostess this week is Wendy Janson and she has challenged us to make a card with a Christmas tree. My card for today is another one for my Christmas card buffet - it's a CASE of this card, which I thought was really cute. The card buffet stampers loved it too, so thanks to Debra Currier for the inspiration!

I wanted to introduce my stampers to the pennant punch and stamp set, and what better way than through an adorable Christmas card. It's a quite simple card - the cute snowflake embossing folder, Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade and Soft Suede card stock (plus naturals white for stamping), DP from the Simply Scrappin' kit in the holiday mini, and the tree image with a sentiment from Perfect Pairs. If you are wondering what I used to make my scalloped "circle" it's actually two of the big flower on the Island Floral die, overlaid to make a circle. I like to get creative with my tools for card buffets so I don't have to use anything on more than one card, so this was my way of using a die I wouldn't have otherwise used at Christmas.

That's it for me this week - I still have more card buffet cards to show you and I hope I get time to do just that in the coming week! I hope you'll join in and make a Christmas tree card with us this week and be sure you take a peek at what the rest of the designers on our team came up with. I'm sure it will put you in the holiday spirit!

Gold and Blue Christmas

I'm back as promised with another card for my Christmas card buffet. This one is for the challenge this weekend at Our Creative Corner, which is an inspiration challenge:

The elements I chose to incorporate from this picture are the patterned tablecloth, the cream background, the golden bird on the table, and the pops of blue and black. This is what I came up with:

I started by cutting out the lattice (twice) with the Big Shot - it's tone-on-tone Very Vanilla. It takes two lattice cutouts to cover the card base, but you only need the end of one of them. I wrapped gold cord (retired, shh) around the panel and then put my bird in the center. You may not be able to tell but I used the Bright Hopes stamp set for the gold embossing. The tree image is large enough that you can stamp and emboss and then punch out the elements from the black and Pacific Point card stock. I used three of the branches and then added the gold berries. I made these by taking the Versamark pad straight to the vanilla card stock, embossing the whole thing gold, and punching them out with the dots on the cupcake punch - you can also use gold card stock. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is punched with the word window and modern label punches. That's it! I like the clean design, and I didn't want to add anything else because it does take some time to assemble all the punched pieces.

I'm going to get back to work churning out those card designs - thanks for stopping by today, and don't forget to visit the OCC blog to see the inspired creations from the rest of our wonderful team!

It's that time of year...

Christmas card buffet time! I am actually doing the buffet twice this year, but with the same 10 cards, and *blush* I'm going to be CASEing a lot. Here's the first one, which is a CASE but one that I played around with some. The original card was shown at the Louisville regional and posted by Linda Heller (among others I'm sure). Here is my version, using the Paper Players color challenge of Always Artichoke, River Rock and Riding Hood Red:

I love that we now have a tool for making easy scored backgrounds! I used 1/2" score lines and sponged the River Rock panel with artichoke ink. Actually I sponged everything, LOL. Once you start it's hard to stop! The image from Bells & Boughs was colored with blender pen and reinkers so I could shade a little bit. I used one of the circles from the Pennant die for the layer behind my image. The rest of the card is pretty simple: a sentiment from Four the Holidays, vanilla and artichoke layers, RHR card base, three gold brads, and some artichoke seam binding.

I promise to show you another card buffet offering with my OCC challenge on Saturday. I can't guarantee I will make it back this week to post any of the others, but I will try! Thanks for visiting!

Real Basic Pumpkin Pie

No, this isn't a cooking blog - you are in the right place! For the challenge this week at Our Creative Corner our hostess Wendy Janson asked us to feature pumpkins or the color Pumpkin Pie. I pulled out my Color Coach and found this cool combo of Pumpkin Pie, Real Red and Basic Gray. I tried to make the PP the main color, I really did, but I don't think it quite comes across that way. Oops! I should have known that the red would want to jump out, but I didn't have time to switch any elements around. The fun layout comes from the Mojo Monday sketch for this week.

I decided to put my sentiment in the rectangle spot and chose a large one that could pull that off. It's from the hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes. I colored it with markers then added a rhinestone (colored with a Sharpie) for the dot on the I. The designer paper is Real Red and retired Pumpkin Pie. My flower is 8 layers if you count the rhinestone - I used the Blossom Party die and another flower die that was in a mini and I'm blanking on the name of it... sorry! The plain white background features the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, and to anchor the bottom of the card I added three (retired) PP buttons with more colored rhinestones glued to the centers.

Mmm, now I'm thinking about pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is not far off! I hope you'll get in on our early celebration and pull out your pumpkins this week! Be sure you also visit the OCC blog to see what the rest of the team came up with!

Is Razzleberry manly?

Not a question I ever thought I might ask, but there you go! This week for the challenge at Our Creative Corner, our hostess Tui Nathan asked us to make a masculine card - and if we were up to the challenge, to make a masculine card using nonmasculine colors. I wanted to give it an honest try, even though I admit - it was difficult and I'm not sure I succeeded! Tell me what you think...

Yeah, I don't think this would pass the masculine test in my house. I feel like I've seen other cards tagged as masculine that were more feminine than this, though! Well, this is my card and I'm going with it. I used generation stamping to create the leaf panel with this image from Just Believe. The sentiment is PTI. I made my little tabs for the jumbo brads with the modern label punch, and the designer paper in the background is Early Espresso (stripe) and the razzleberry print from Pocketful of Posies. Add some sponging on the edges and that was that! I do like the card, even if it's not too manly, LOL!

We hope you will take on our challenge - try those nonmasculine colors out and see what you come up with! Be sure you also visit the OCC blog to see the rest of the creations from our team!

Where to start...

The last two weeks have been so crazy - I don't think I can even go into everything that's been going on. A little travel that included a hotel fire (a very small one, but at 4 a.m. any fire in your hotel is unwelcome)... some sickness for me and my kids... well, let's just say I wasn't doing any stamping. But I'm back this week for the challenge at Our Creative Corner. Our hostess this time around is Tui Nathan, and she is asking us to make a fancy fold card. This is not really my thing, usually - I like them when I'm done, but I don't seek them out to make very often. I hope this one qualifies as fancy enough - with the week I've had I wasn't up for taxing my brain cells too much! LOL!

This card is a trifold pocket card, which is super easy thanks to Beate's great tutorial on SCS. The main part of the card uses a panel of Spice Cake designer paper - can you believe I hadn't cut into this paper yet? That's how busy I have been! I used the double scallop border punch to make all the little scallop borders - just trim the punched piece in half. Also appearing here for the first time - the Triple Treat Flower. I love images that go with punches, especially since you can stamp the same flower and use three different punches with it. So cool! The colors come from the DP: Soft Suede, Pool Party and More Mustard. The largest flower comes from the Island Floral die, and for a little more texture I embossed it with the Finial Press folder. Then I took the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and stamped it onto the banner that comes with the Petal Cone die.

I'm not usually an inside-the-card kind of stamper, but this one kind of requires it since it includes the panel you pull out of the pocket. I decided not to stamp on it, just leave most of it blank for the message, but I did add the DP to the bottom and the Pool Party/More Mustard ribbon and button to the top.

What's your favorite fancy fold? You can do what I did and check out other tutorials on Splitcoast - there are a bunch. I hope you'll give one and try and share the results with us! And be sure you take a peek at all the cards from our wonderful team this week!

Wisteria for You

Wow, Saturday again already? These weeks are flying by! Our hostess at Our Creative Corner this week is Marjie Kemper, and she is challenging us to use transparencies. I was a little stumped - it's not a product I usually reach for, but I did happen to have a retired SU transparency with black polka dots that I think I put to good use on this card.

I started by cutting out the transparency flower with the Big Shot. I layered it over Whisper White to make the dots pop. The leaves were cut with the Build a Blossom punch from Lucky Limeade cardstock I'd embossed with the lattice folder. The Wisteria Wonder flower center is punched from the lace border punch - the 3/4" circle fits the center of the punch's design perfectly. (I saw this on someone's blog recently but I don't remember who it was!) I brought in more doilies with this wisteria DP from the Flirtatious pack, and I repeated the lattice embossing on the white background panel. Finally the sentiment is from the retired set Great Friend, and under the words I stamped (third generation) the branch from the same set, then added a bitty wisteria flower and a couple rhinestones for a touch of bling. I think it turned out really cute!

I hope you'll play along with our challenge this week - we always have a great time bringing the challenges to you and love to see what you come up with! Have a great weekend!

Simple Soft Birthday

Greetings! I hope your weekend is starting off well - and glad you're starting your Saturday here! This week I'm the hostess for the Our Creative Corner challenge again, and I have a color challenge for you: Pool Party, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, plus a light neutral. I wanted a combination that would make pretty fall cards, but use it for anything that strikes your fancy!

I went through my stamps looking for a set I hadn't used yet, and I picked the hostess set Simply Soft. This is a really pretty two-step set, and I added extra color to the leaves and stamens (is that the right word?) with markers. I added a little border punch to the left, plus some piercing and a sentiment from Perfect Pairs. The ribbon is from my stash but looks just like Cajun Craze, and the DP comes from the Domestic Goddess paper pack. It's a beautiful subtle pattern, which is just what I wanted here. Finally I ran the bottom of the card base through the Big Shot with the polka dot embossing folder and this CAS card was finished!

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for these colors, so please join in the challenge and be sure you leave some love for the other DT members with their gorgeous creations!

From Korea with Love

Greetings on another Saturday - time for this week's Our Creative Corner challenge. This week the hostess is... me! Since today is World Card Making Day, the challenge I planned is to make a card inspired by a country other than your own. I hope you'll play along!

The country I chose is Korea. Way back in 1993 (wow, almost 20 years ago!) I spent three months living in Taegu (or I believe the spelling "Daegu" is more common now) on an exchange with Yeungnam University. It was a wonderful experience. One of my favorite memories is of the cherry blossoms we got to see all over the city, since we were lucky enough to be there for spring. The university has a special place that everyone calls "Love Road" - it's lined with cherry trees, and if you walk there with your significant other while the trees are blooming, it's supposed to mean you'll get married. I didn't test out that theory, LOL, but I did find it really beautiful. I wanted to share a photo but I can't find my Korea photo album - argh! It's around here somewhere!

 

Anyway, I decided to make a "love" card with one of my all-time favorite stamps. I can't remember the name of this long-retired hostess set, but I will never part with this stamp. I did a couple other challenges with this card - Freshly Made Sketches (OK, I did fiddle with the sketch significantly...) and the Color Throwdown. The colors this week were Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade and Chocolate Chip. The flower centers are colored with the poppy marker - that's all the poppy that made it onto the card! I just couldn't see a good way to add more. I used the Elegant Lines embossing folder for the background and the heart punch and Embosslit for my shape accent, along with a Chocolate Chip button. The sentiment is from another old set - Many Happy Returns. Oh, and if you're wondering how I did the corners on my tag, I slid them into the decorative label punch to make that little scallop-like detail.

Come over to the OCC blog to see what the rest of the team made - and then put your thinking cap on, get out your atlas, or just raid your stamps and play along with us!

Birthday Princess

It's Saturday again - Our Creative Corner time! This week Sharon has a number challenge for us - use a number prominently on your project. I dithered around and finally decided to do a birthday scrapbook page with My Digital Studio.

One of my favorite features of MDS is that you can choose colors from your photo to make everything coordinate. I picked up the pink from the crown for lots of accents and the purple from Sarah's dress for the background. I also use the opacity setting a lot - I lightened the purple quite a bit, then used it again for the toile overlay stamp. The result looks like subtle patterned paper.

I hope you'll play along with our numbers challenge this week - get creative with it and share the result with us! And don't forget to visit the OCC blog to see what the rest of the team came up with!

Together Forever

Every year my anniversary rolls around and although I never forget the day, I often realize at the last minute that I haven't made a card. Giving thoughtful cards is something that's very important to my husband and me, so I'm proud of myself for being two days early this year! My card is for four challenges: SCS sketch challenge, SUO Challenges (fall colors), Hand Stamped Sentiments (dry embossing) and Friday Mashup (autumn). It has been an awfully long time since I played any challenges and it was so much fun - I hope I can find time to do this again soon.

As the background for the three rectangles I decided to use a page of the Mocha Morning specialty paper. This design is really pretty and shimmery, but I think manly enough for my hubby. For the image I used the leaf from Autumn Days, stamped with Early Espresso on kraft - oops, sorry, Crumb Cake! I wanted the leaves to have a little shimmer of their own, so I rubbed over the images with Log Cabin Smooch Spritz and gold shimmer paint. Tip of the day: Spray the shimmer paint on a paper towel, rub onto scrap paper until most of the color rubs off, then gently rub over the images. It took several tries before I learned how to get a light enough coat of the Smooch. For the shimmer paint I dipped just a corner of my paper towel into the lid of the paint container, dabbed a couple tiny dots of paint onto the image, then spread it out over the image with a clean section of the paper towel.

Once I added the leaves to the rectangles with dimensionals, I was ready for finishing touches. Behind the image I layered Crumb Cake taffeta and Early Espresso grosgrain ribbons over an embossed houndstooth background. The sentiment is a retired single stamp, placed inside one of the images from Four Frames and punched with the decorative label. That lower left corner seemed bare so I added three gold brads and called it done!

Now that this card is finished I have a lot to get to on my to-do list - back to the real (nonstamping) world! Thanks so much for stopping by - have a great day!

Hi! Remember me?

Hello folks - oh my goodness, the life I've had for the past few weeks. I got a horrible stomach bug that lasted more than a week... including the weekend we were visited by Hurricane Irene (which thankfully wasn't a big deal where we are). Then I had a few days of hanging out with the kids in between the end of summer activities and the start of school. THEN Ben came down with the stomach bug - he was out of it for four days and missed his first three days of second grade. Poor little guy. Finally this week I have the kids in school and I'm trying to dig myself out of the ginormous hole I've been stuck in!

Needless to say, my stamps have been very neglected and I feel like my mojo is on vacation... but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things with the latest challenge at Our Creative Corner. Our hostess this weekend is Sharon Wheet and she has a "not big on pink" challenge: make a pretty card that features blue with only a touch of pink, plus some texture and metal. I combined this with a challenge from a new blog called Freshly Made Sketches. Here's their sketch:

And here's my card:

The main image comes from a gorgeous new Valentine's set in the holiday mini called You Are Loved. I stamped the heart with Versamark on Marina Mist card stock and clear embossed it. The sentiment is from Curly Cute and it's layered on a strip punched with the lace border punch. I used a bunch more layers behind the heart, including a square of Pretty in Pink DP and Night of Navy card stock. The pink velvet ribbon is from my stash and the Pretty in Pink flower was made with the triple blossom punch. I misted six flowers with water, crumpled them up and spread them out to dry, and layered them with an antique brad in the center.

That's it for me today - it feels good to be back, even if I'm not in love with my card. ;) I hope you'll stop by the OCC blog to see what the rest of the team has created - I know it will be fabulous! Then share your own wonderful creation with us this week!