Oh Halloween Tree

Halloween tree? Yep, that's what I said. Halloween is my hubby's favorite holiday, and it's pretty big with my kids as well. They wanted to get some new decorations and one of the things we found at Tuesday Morning was a cool tree that was just calling out to me for some ornaments. I can't say I've filled it up yet, but if I make a few every year it shouldn't take long...

We will make these at my club tonight so I hope they like them! I didn't realize Halloween ornaments were such a big thing - I found so many inspirational ideas. The ones that I ended up drawing from are here, here, and here, plus this card by Amy O'Neill. I'm also entering these in the Pink Elephant challenge - great inspiration photo for Halloween!

I'll start with the simplest one - both images are from the Best of Halloween set. I stamped the silhouette on (oops, retired) text designer paper and made a glitter frame behind the main oval with the new ultrafine black glitter from the holiday catalog.

 



This glitter is so pretty and sparkly - I love it! (I have also now reinked my black ink pad - oops again!)

 



Next is the witch's hat - from the same stamp set. This one took the longest to do.

It's hard to see in the sunlight but the reflective circle is punched from the silver foil paper in the holiday catalog. I used Summer Starfruit and Modern Medley DP for the remaining layers. The florette is made with two 2" strips adhered together. The sentiment is from Delightful Dozen.

Last, featuring the large stamp from Halloween Bash.

 



The main panel was stamped with Basic Black, Tangerine Tango and Rich Razzleberry markers, cut with one of the label framelits, and paper pierced using the piercing template. I cut a banner from silver glimmer paper and accented it with razzleberry ribbon, then put the whole thing on more Modern Medley DP.

I had more ideas but ran out of time - I think just three will keep my stampers busy and happy. I'll save the rest for another day!

October Paper Crafters Sampler

Time for another installment of the Paper Crafters Sampler! This month the theme is Thanksgiving.

The projects are fabulous as always, so I hope you'll take a peek. Here's a preview of what I created this month:

Come and join in the fun - you know you want to! Happy stamping!

Way overdue...

I gave my blog a little fall-themed facelift with the help of MDS for the header. Take a peek and tell me what you think!

Pop of Pink Pickup

Ah, the weekend... thank goodness! Unfortunately I'm still fighting illness - maybe a new cold or a continuation of the old one, I'm not sure. But life goes on... I felt like stamping this morning so I created this card for the Fusion Card Challenge and Friday Mashup (fussy cutting).



 

The Fusion challenge includes an inspiration photo and a sketch, and you can use one or both for your creation. I *mostly* used the sketch, except I changed the banners. I'm normally a follow-the-rules kind of girl, but sometimes I just have to stray if my inner artist thinks it's the right thing to do! This image from PTI's Tremendous Treats Birthday set was perfect for the inspiration photo. I tried something new and used an N2 Copic marker to shade the white truck. I took a cue from the photo and chose several graphic patterns from the Neutrals paper pack in white, gray and black, then I pulled in the pop of pink with Melon Mambo Core'dinations card stock. The sentiment is by Great Impressions and the frame die is by Sizzix (non-SU).

I hope everyone has a great weekend - and I hope I can finally kick these germs to the curb soon! Thanks for visiting!

Poppy Seed Wishes

I'm happy to be almost 100% healthy again - it seemed like a great time to do some stamping. I really felt like getting my Copics out and playing a couple challenges: The Paper Players tic-tac-toe challenge (I chose birthday/pearls/banners) and the Sweet Sunday Sketch. I hadn't gotten a chance to play with these stamps from Wplus9 which were perfect for this card.

 

I colored the poppies with Copics R14, R17 and E07. The color was a good match for the retired Poppy Parade ink, so I used that to stamp the banner and sentiment. I fussy-cut the poppies and popped them up on the frame. The background paper is from my stash, and the black is from the Neutrals pattern pack in the current catalog. I used a Martha Stewart border punch for the black strip at the bottom, then added the pearls for the final touch.

I seem to have stayed up way past my bedtime - oops! But I think it was worth it - stamping is my happy place and it's good to be back! Have a great week, everyone!

I meant what I said...

I really was going to make cards over the past week. I swear I was. But the germs that settled in on Saturday had other ideas. I've been coughing and feverish and generally feeling awful ever since. A couple times I tried to get going on an idea and I just had to put it aside and go back to bed. Finally I felt well enough tonight to actually try to finish a card. Here's what I came up with:

 

This is for three challenges: Color Throwdown (Pacific Point, So Saffron, Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade)

Stampin' Royalty (Trendy Triangles)

The Pink Elephant (Dots and Stripes)

The triangles immediately made me think of Pennant Parade - I've been thinking I need more birthday cards. The stamps I used to accent the pennants are from several different sets: A Fitting Occasion, Pretty Petites (retired Sale-a-Bration), Itty Bitty Bits (retired) as well as Pennant Parade. I used retired So Saffron and Pacific Point papers, along with the dot print in the current pattern pack in Marina Mist. The sentiment is by Taylored Expressions. I attached all the pennants to Pacific Point ribbon with dimensionals.

These fun colors and all the patterns are cheering me up - I hope you enjoy the card. I'm going to keep trying to stick to my challenge-playing goals so stay tuned and come back soon! Have a great weekend!

You are everything to me...

Hello, stampers! I want to start with some good news: yesterday I found out that I was chosen as a winner in Shelli Gardner's blog challenge. (This is my winning card.) I was so honored to be chosen, and I want to take the opportunity to wish Shelli continued good recovery from her recent horseback-riding accident, and to say welcome to anyone who might be new to my blog. I'm so happy to have you here, whether you are a new subscriber, a longtime fan, or just stopping by!

Today's card is for my husband - our 13th wedding anniversary is on Monday. Hey, the last-minute queen actually got something done three days early! The layout for the card came from Create with Connie and Mary, and I also made this card for the SUO Challenges blog (use your favorite technique: I chose fussy cutting) and CAS-ual Fridays (use fall colors and at least one leaf). I think Todd will like this fall-themed card - I was inspired by the row of maple trees we have in our back yard. If we are lucky to have a beautiful fall season, the leaves turn the most gorgeous colors of red, orange and yellow. While we wait for all the leaves to turn, we can imagine what they might look like in a couple weeks, and that's what was in my mind as I made this card.

I started out with a retired paper panel in Cajun Craze and stamped the Magnificent Maple single stamp (second generation) with Early Espresso and sponged the edges. For the main leaf I used the same stamp, inked with daubers in Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso. Behind it I put a cherry leaf from the Autumn Accents die, embossed with the woodgrain folder and sponged. The espresso banner was embossed with the square lattice folder, then I added the sentiment from Petite Pairs and the Cajun Craze button tied with linen thread. I fiddled with the sketch a little - sometimes you just need to give an element a little tilt!

I am still catching up with life but I'm hopeful this is finally the start of more frequent posts from me. At least, I'm going to try - so many of my favorite challenges have been passing me by for too long! Thanks again for visiting and have a wonderful day!

September Paper Crafters Sampler

It's that time again - the new Paper Crafters Sampler is now available! I think you will guess what the theme is this month...

 

You want a sneak peek of my project, right? Here you go...

 

 

Please take a look at the sampler and consider joining us this month!



Hello, lovely hexagons!

Have you missed me? I am just back home from a really wonderful family adventure. My husband and I were fortunate to be able to take our kids to Germany for the month of August (well, mostly Germany - we also spent three days in Prague). My cousin got married there on the 17th so we just decided to make a big event out of it! We had a fantastic time and I'm sure you'll be seeing the photos in some MDS projects coming up.

I'm looking forward to getting back to my stamps, but in the meantime I do have a card to share that I couldn't post before I left home. I thought I'd better hurry up and share it because the stampin' world is already moving on to fall and the holidays, and this card is neither of those things! My wonderful upline Nola Burkhard organized a swap for her team this summer. I had a lot of fun with this card and I can't wait to see what else my stampin' colleagues have come up with. Here's my card:

I was inspired by this card (the first one) and another non-SU card I saw on Pinterest that featured a group of hexagons. I used a lot of new products, but I wanted to mainly feature the Six Sided Sampler and Hello, Lovely stamp sets, neither of which I'd broken out yet. The colors are Strawberry Slush, Pool Party, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso and white.

Banners are so hot and trendy right now, aren't they? They are fun to use, so I'm not quite sick of them yet. I used the mosaic DP pack, espresso dots from the Neutrals pack, Pool Party Core'dinations card stock (embossed with the honeycomb folder) and a debossed strip of brown sugar card stock, which I decorated with faux stitching to try to make it look like marker. For an accent I used the Simply Pressed clay tinted with Strawberry Slush reinker. These are really fun to play with, and if you haven't tried them yet, my big tip for you is this: after you put the clay in the molds, put the molds in the freezer. I think I was shooting for about 30 minutes, but I forgot one batch and left them in longer with no ill effect. The flowers always come out better than the buttons, so I recommend leaving the buttons in the freezer even longer. I still have trouble getting the buttons to come out perfect, but I won't give up!

Okay, I hope you will see me back posting regularly soon. Jet lag or not, the kids go back to school on Wednesday. The summer just flew by for us - I hope everyone out there enjoyed theirs and is ready to welcome fall!

August Paper Crafters Sampler

It's that time again - the new Paper Crafters Sampler release day! The theme this month is Prelude to Fall.

I had a lot of fun creating my 3D project for this month. Here's a sneak peek for you!

I promise you will love this month's projects, so I hope you will subscribe and join in the fun!

Exciting news!

Today is the day I get to share my news with you... I've been asked to join the design team for the Paper Crafters Sampler. If you haven't seen PCS before, on the 10th of the month you can get a new selection of SUO projects with instructions (including 3D templates) designed by super-talented SU demonstrators. I can tell you the projects are fabulous - the theme for this month is Sand and Sea.

Here is a sneak peek of my beachy card - you can see the whole card, along with the rest of the projects, once you've purchased the July sampler. All of the DT members are giving sneak peeks today, so check out their blogs for more of a taste of what you will get.

I hope you'll check it out - I'm really excited to be part of this team!

Stampin' Up! News for July

Hi y'all! I do have some exciting news for myself, but it's a few more days until I can let you in on the secret. I've been busy working on this new project, as well as spending time with family, so I haven't been able to play any challenges recently. Hopefully soon!

In the meantime, Stampin' Up! announced several news items for July:

(1) Designer paper is buy three get one free! I love this special and I'm so happy to see it back this year.

(2) The new "Best Of" stamp set this month is called Best of Shelli - Shelli Gardner, our fabulous CEO, selected these images herself!

(3) There is a new clear (photopolymer) stamp set available called Settin' Sail. It's super cute with trendy banners and a hexagon to go with our new punch. Item number 133453 - I'm not seeing a flyer up yet but here is what they look like:


If you want to order any of these items, or anything else, don't forget I have a mystery hostess promo going on now. See this post for more info. Hope everyone has a great week and a happy Fourth of July!

Mystery hostess time!

I'm offering a hostess code for online orders through July 15. Here's all you have to do:

Shop online (with me as your demonstrator) and enter the hostess code SSGZJBQ6 in the appropriate box. Your order can be any amount - and don't forget to check the clearance rack for the new items that were added this week!

If orders placed with the code reach $150, I will pick one customer from the orders placed to win $25 in hostess dollars! I will choose the winner on July 16.

Happy shopping!

What to Washi class and bundle

Our next online class--What to Washi--is now available. Offering seven different sections of Washi wisdom, this class includes everything you need to know to make the most of one of the hottest crafting trends out there. Originating in Japan, Washi Tape has taken the crafting world by storm, offering an incredibly quick, easy way to add a fresh, colorful look to any project. What to Washi explores a myriad of Washi options and provides much more than the basics for you to begin your own Washi adventures.  Divided into seven PDF documents, this class includes written instructions, step-out photos, instructional videos, and supply lists for more than 30 projects.  

The following topics are covered in the class:

• The Washi Basics
• Washi--The Next Step
• Above and Beyond
• Sharing Washi with Others
• Memory Keeping
• Storage
• Only the Beginning . . .

What to Washi Class:  item 134742
Price:  $14.95

 

And wait, there's more! This class is also being offered as part of the What to Washi Bundle. When you order the bundle you receive everything listed below:

• What to Washi Class
• Epic Day This and That Designer Washi Tape
• Gingham Garden Designer Washi Tape
• Season of Style Designer Washi Tape
• Witches Brew Designer Washi Tape
• 20 Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes

Each Washi Tape package contains three coordinating rolls of Stampin' Up!'s exclusive Washi Tape for a total of 12 rolls. And when you order the What to Washi Bundle, you'll be the first to receive our Season of Style and Witches Brew Washi Tape packages; they aren't available to individual purchase until August 1! 

What to Washi Bundle:  item 134743
Price:  $36.95

PC Instructions
The files will be downloaded as archive files that you can then extract and save on your computer. When you click on the download link, an extraction program will automatically launch. Choose the location where you would like to save the files (be sure to note where you save them). Follow the prompts on the extraction program, then navigate to the location where you saved the files. Click on the file and open.
Mac Instructions
When you click on the download link, the file will be mounted as a drive. Once it is mounted, open the drive and drag and drop the files to the location of your choice on your hard drive. The files can then be opened.

Hello, Dahlia

Hello again! I have card #2 for you. I have always wanted to play along with the Play Date Cafe but hadn't had a chance until today. The idea of black and white with a splash of apricot really intrigued me as a challenge. I decided Crisp Cantaloupe was close enough and went with that color. Such a clean and modern color scheme seemed to pair really well for the new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch. I'm also considering this a one-layer card (in my mind, dimensionals are required and don't count!) for the Ways to Use It challenge on Splitcoaststampers.

Here is my card featuring the new stamp set called Regarding Dahlias:

This is something very different for me and I'm really pleased with the result. On the white card layer I used the Simply Scored borders plate to emboss the left side, then I stamped the flower and sentiment in Basic Black. Stamping the flower again in cantaloupe on a scrap allowed me to cut out and pop up the center for the splash of color. I felt like the color needed to come in somewhere else, though, so I colored some pearls with a Sharpie and added them as accents to the scalloped border.

I have to say, I have had so much fun this week. It's been such a treat to spend so much time creating. This will probably be the end of my stamping for a few days, but I will be back as soon as I can to keep the creations coming!

Quick tutorial: Layering with Framelits

I was working on some cards for my Etsy shop tonight and stumbled across something I thought was cool and wanted to share. I was using the window Framelits and wanted to layer my image, but the die the next size up was just too big - it didn't fit my 3" card and the border was just too wide for my taste. I started looking through my punches and dies to see if I had something else that would look good as a layer. Here is the final product - can you tell what I did? Here's a hint: we have a brand-new product that made this possible...

Did you guess? It all hinged on the new square Framelits. It happens that the set includes a die that gives a 2" square, and that was the perfect size for my 2.5" stamped image from the Best of Flowers set. Then I just needed some circles to finish it off.

Cutting the circles in half gives the perfect layer for each round side; just attach the square behind the label and then add the half circles. Pretty nifty, eh? This might also work for other sizes of labels/squares/circles - remember we also have the new circle Framelits so I'm sure there must be other sizes you could try.

But I have one other little thing to show you. I still had my 3" brown label that I'd cut earlier, so in the interest of using scraps, I cut my first square from the inside of that label. Look at the result:

I'm not sure what I'll do with this little piece, but it was too cute not to save for something! Now I'm very curious what other combinations of dies might create even more shapes. If you try this out, I hope you'll share. Happy crafting!

CAS, day 2

Last night my husband asked me if I had a Father's Day card I could send to his dad. I said I didn't, but of course I could make one! The challenges for today: CAS(E) this Sketch and Pink Elephant (Father's Day). Here is my card:

Clean and simple was the style of the day again today - my weekdays are usually jam packed. This new stamp set called Wetlands seemed perfect for the sketch and the occasion - my father-in-law spends a lot of working outside at his house by a small lake. I used generation stamping for the wheat background and stamped the goose twice so I could pop up the top layer. For colors I chose some masculine stand-bys: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. The sentiment is retired, and I used the Stamp-a-ma-Jig to fit the three words inside the tag punch. I made the border between the stamped panel and the DP with thin strips of card stock that were left over from cutting. I added some linen thread to my tag and that was it! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Short and Sweet

Happy Monday! I decided to squeeze in time for a quick card today, and the Splitcoaststampers Clean and Simple challenge was the perfect thing. It's a color challenge this week: Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake and white. For me this is a small amount of colors, LOL. I also took a peek at the Mojo Monday sketch and decided I could make it work for CAS. It doesn't have a lot of white space, but I would call this card CAS because it doesn't have much layering and it came together really quickly. You could say it was the opposite of my card from Saturday!

I'm still having fun playing with all my new stuff. This card features one of the images from Flower Shop, along with the coordinating pansy punch. Just a heads-up: it can be tricky aligning this punch with the image since it's not symmetrical - but I kept turning my flower and eventually I got the right spot. It's definitely worth the effort - gorgeous stamp set and punch. I also used the new hostess set called Banner Greetings, the Gingham Garden DP (again), and the candy dots. These are perfect if you put your card together and realize that a corner needs a little something (ahem). Super cute and easy! The rest of the card uses Crumb Cake card stock with embossed dots, punched melon borders (one strip from the ribbon punch, cut in half), and retired pear DP - oh, and I made quick little leaves with the wing on the bird punch and embossed those with the houndstooth folder.

This is one of the things I love about stamping - I can spend a long time crafting something elaborately detailed, or I can quickly put together an adorable card that still packs a punch! (Pun intended!) I hope you'll pull out your supplies and stamp something today. Have a great week!

My happy place

Twice in one weekend - crazy, right? I posted my card yesterday, even though I wasn't super happy with it - you spend enough time on something, you figure you'll just throw it out there anyway. But today I felt like I needed to boost my stamping confidence a little. I spent all afternoon on this card - never mind that one of my Copics blobbed all over the image when I was almost done coloring it, and I fussed a lot over just about every decision I made. It's been a long time since I devoted that much of my day to one single project, and looking at it now I feel happy.

There are three challenges at work here: Color Throwdown (I used Melon Mambo, Crisp Cantaloupe, Kiwi Kiss, and a mix of Daffodil Delight and Barely Banana), CAS-ual Fridays (banners) and Deconstructed Sketches. The featured stamp set is brand-new and called Backyard Basics - these stamps are gorgeous, and how great that we have dies to go with them. I did the large group of pink flowers and three tulips, then "tied" them into a bouquet with a bit of ribbon. Here are the Copic colors I used:

It's been a long time since I did much with Copics, but I had a blast using them (apart from the aforementioned blob incident). There are a bunch of products used here: Delicate Doilies sizzlit with DP from Birthday Basics, Window Frame framelit (I cobbled together my own piercing "template" since the one that goes with these framelits doesn't include the teeny tiny die), A Round Array stamp set for the sentiment, banners from Gingham Garden DP (pink and yellow) and one from my stash (green), and retired melon DP for the background.

My life is crazy right now, and I don't know what lies ahead - there could be some big changes for me in the coming months. For the time being I think I'm going to try to do more challenges and post more often, because like I said, it makes me happy. Thanks for visiting and enjoy the weekend!

Cute Zoo Babies

Oh my, I've been so busy lately - but yesterday my order of goodies from the new catalog arrived, and today I just had to crack something open and make a card just for fun. I don't even know when the last time was I did that. Is there seriously any better therapy? This one is for two challenges: colourQ and Create with Connie and Mary's sketch.

I loved the color combo the colourQ team came up with:

I substituted the new Smoky Slate and the recently returned Pear Pizzazz, plus I added Early Espresso just to give more depth. These colors seemed like great matches for the animals I chose from the new set called Zoo Babies. I don't know what it is - I'm not a big cutesy stamper, but I can't resist animal sets like this one! I tried my hand at cutting hexagons to go on the embossed banner - and I'm joining the ranks of people who are hoping we get a mini hexagon punch soon! The DPs are a mix of old and new patterns. The sentiment from Label Love seemed like the perfect choice, and I added one of the new neutrals buttons threaded with a tiny piece of the pear DP. Now all I need is someone to have a sweet baby boy so I can send this card out - I seem to be past the era of friends having babies, but I still love to make baby cards!