Two of a Kind

I have been using my One of a Kind set lately. I love it! Hope you are not tired of it yet.

This first card is a card I did at a recent workshop. I was trying to use up some of the paper I seem to never use. Apparently, I rarely use shades of purple. This card was very simple. I used a strip of scrap Berry Bliss Paper and some Pretty in Pink ribbon to give some texture and separation. I stamped the blossoms in pink and amethyst and punched them out. Then I popped them up using pop dots.

This second card is for Kristina's Color Inspiration. It had Orchid Opulence in it and I happen to have lots of that card stock as well. Here is the picture she gave for inspiration.

I love the Rose Red with the Pumpkin Pie.

Here is the card I came up with. Fairly simple again. I colored in the image using my Aqua Painter and then did some faux stitching (which I am still unsure about) with my white gel pen. I also used the gel pen on the flower next to the words "for you".

Freebies

Every time a new Stampin' Up! catalog comes out I buys some Post-It Note Flags and use them to mark all the things on my wish list. I often use different colors for different price ranges as well. This helps me out if I need to boost up a hostesses workshop or if I am placing my own order and need a certain amount to reach a sales goal or something. Anyways, 3M is offering a free sample of their flags and I thought you may be interested. Click the banner below to get yours. Enjoy.

And the Winner Is....

Annette Warkentin - email me with your mailing address and I will get your goodies to you!

Lots of Happiness

Lots of reasons to be happy around here.

1. We no longer have the flu!!!

2. We are out of debt, except for the house.

3. It is 70 degrees outside.

4. I just went over 45,000 hits.

5. This is post #100.

6. I got to stamp.

7. Blog Candy!

This is a card I am doing at my workshop this weekend. It measures 4 1/4' square. I stamped the top in Barely Banana using my Polka Dot background stamp. I tied some Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon to give some division. I stamped a flower from my Big Flowers set in Regal Rose on a scrap piece of Whisper White and then punched it out with a circle punch. I mounted it on another circle punched from Rose card stock and used a pop dot to stick it on. Then I stamped the word "happiness" in Rose underneath. Pretty simple. I like the springiness of it.

Since this is my 100th post and I just past 45,000 hits I wanted to celebrate with some blog candy. So post a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about spring and I will pick from all the comments on Sunday, March 16th. The winner will get a copy of the January edition of Cards (the one I was published in), some SEI Holly Lane ribbon and some Russell Stover Private Reserve Triple Chocolate Mousse candy! I look forward to hearing from you.

Valentine

First, I just wanted to say sorry for not posting in a while. I have been battling a sinus infection to start with. Once I got over the major part of that (I am still suffering a little from it) Bobby's (my DH) grandmother got put in the hospital. It has been quite a roller coaster. She is scheduled to have a triple bypass this week. In the midst of all of this we got way behind with our homeschooling. As much as I love stamping and all you guys my daughter's education seemed more pressing. I guess I could have posted and told you that I had nothing to share but I hate when my inbox or Google Reader gets filled with "nothing to show today" posts.





Anyways, Kris tagged me today. This is a middle name tag. I get off easy because my middle name only has three letters. My middle name is Rae (<------ ATTENTION: Lynnda and Karen...lol, it's OK cause I have no idea what your middle names are either) so I only have to think of three things about me. So here we go....
R - rapid - I talk very, very fast!
A - affectionate
E - emotional

OK.... now onto a card. I created this card for a workshop that I had last week. My hostess likes pinks and browns. I did not have enough Pretty in Pink card stock so I went with Rose Red instead. I love the satin Chocolate Chip Ribbon! It is luscious!



Stamps: Sweet Shapes and Holidays and Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Close to Cocoa and Rose Red Card Stock
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa and Rose Red
Accessories: Circle and Scallop Punches & Chocolate Satin Ribbon

Little Black Dress

Here is another card I did for Virtual Stamp Night/ Weekend. The challenge was called Little Black Dress. The main images had to be stamped on black card stock.



I created this card using my Baroque Motifs set. I stamped the flourish and the medallion with white craft ink and then embossed with white embossing powder. Then I cut out the medallion and put a rhinestone brad (earring) in the center of it. I used some retired organdy ribbon to finish the whole thing off. Normally I would not leave my embossing so messy, but the challenge limits you to 45 minutes so I did not have time to go back and do it again.



My inspiration came from this card by Kitty. If you are not part of the SCS Fan Club you will not be able to see the original card. When I first saw this card I put it in my favorites and intended to do it in red. But when I saw the challenge I knew it would work perfect. I may still do it in red though.


Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Inks: White Craft Ink
Paper: Basic Black & Whisper White
Acessories: Fire Circle Rhinestone Brad, White narrow organdy ribbon (retired), wide black organdy ribbon (retired) and white embossing powder

I Got PUBLISHED!!!!

Several months ago I sent in a card to Cards Magazine and would you believe that they picked it to be in the January issue!

Today the Fed Ex man finally found my house ( we live in a new neighborhood not on mapquest yet) and left me a box full of goodies and 2 copies of the January issue of Cards. This is my first time being published so please excuse my gushing, bragging and general excitement! I promise that if it becomes a regular thing (being published) I won't continue to go on and on about it ; ) !

If you are interested in being published in Cards, PaperTrends or Scrapbook Trends you can go here and see what they are currently looking for.

Circle Card

Creative title... ehhh?



Last night on Splitcoast Stampers they had several challenges going on for Virtual Stamp Night/Weekend. The first challenge was to create a circle card (representing your circle of friends) and there was a sketch attached. The hard part was sticking to the sketch for me. That and getting a photo. My card kept rolling off. Notice my strategically placed felt flowers, they are not just there for looks people!


Here is what I came up with. I used my new Embrace Life set. I water-colored it using my Aqua Painter and inkpads. I also used a felt flower from my new Flower Fusion Kit. I love the texture that they add. Oh and I used my culuzzle to cut out the circle.

Oh, and I could not find a "miss you" stamp that I liked with this image or I would have used it because all of my friends are in Tennessee and I miss them all! "HI, FRIENDS!"




Stamps: Embrace Life
Inks: Jet Black StazOn, Rose Red and So Saffron
Paper: Rose Red, Whisper White, Old Olive and So Saffron
Accessories: Rose and Saffron Brad, Culuzzle and Olive Felt Flower

One of a Kind

Well, I pulled out my new stuff again today and played a little. I am not totally happy with the results. Sometimes the ideas in my head don't completely make it to the paper. Oh well!



I started with this card of Beate's for inspiration. I used Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and then embossed the focal image and sentiment using clear embossing powder. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to place the pomegranate flower in the center of the bigger flower. Excuse the crazy ribbon. I am not sure what is up with that. It does not look like that in real life. This card measures 4 1/4 x 41/4.

Back to the drawing board!



Stamps: One of a Kind
Paper: Berry Bliss DSP, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink and Close to Cocoa Card Stock
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft Ink, Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Brads, Crystal Clear Embossing Powder

Bitty Birthday

I got my new Stampin' Up! stuff yesterday. I am in love with all the new papers. I ordered the Berry Bliss and the East Coast Prep. I also got some new chunky glitters, two new stamp sets and the Boho Blossoms punch.





I created this card using my new set, Bitty Birthday. I do not have a birthday set anymore that is not retired so I got this set. I used the new East Coast Prep Designer Series Papers. I love these colors together. They are so fun! I think this is the card I will be using for my swap group, but that could change.... we will see.






Stamps: Bitty Birthday
Inks: Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise, More Mustard and Jet Black StazOn
Paper: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, More Mustard and Whisper White Card Stock and East Coast Prep Designer Series Papers.
Accessories: Turquoise Brads, Turquoise Grosgrain, Wasabi Stitched Ribbon, Tag Punches, Word Window Punch and Ticket Corner Punch

Secret Sister Gift

The number one Google Search that brings people to my site is "Secret Sister Gift". So today's post should be a hit.



This is part of the gift I am sending my Secret Sister. I made the whole thing using the retired Creative Licence Simply Scrappin' Kit. I got the tins over at Papertrey Ink. I found the frame in a pack of three at Ikea. I followed this tutorial from Emily to do the frame. The nugget tin does not have nuggets inside, instead I created a few small cards that coordinate with the set. I am also including some of the kit contents so she can create some stuff of her own.



I am including some more goodies in her box, but I won't post them here. I need to have some things left to surprise her just in case she is reading this : ).

Now I must go make a card for my wonderful husband. Tomorrow is our 9th wedding anniversary!

Casing Kristina

In an effort to continue cleaning out my favorites, I chose this card by starofmay to case. I absolutely adore her and I quite possibly have enough of her cards in my favorites to keep me busy for at least two weeks. In the off chance that you have not heard of or seen any of Kristina's work, you should dash over to her blog, as soon as you finish commenting on my post. : )















I absolutely LOVE this layout. I especially love the 5/8 ribbon. I just received my Big Flowers set. It was one of those sets that was on my list but I had never gotten. Well, when SU! put out their most recent catalog, the price had went up quite a bit. So, of course, I had to buy it while it was still a much lower price. I used a marker to ink the flower and then inked the dots with my Wasabi ink pad. The entire green panel it popped up with pop dots as is the scalloped flower.



Stamps: Big Flowers and Polka Dot
Ink: VersaMark and Wild Wasabi
Paper: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Basic Gray, and Regal Rose
Accessories: Regal Rose 5/8 grosgrain, scallop punch, corner rounder, circle punch and Regal Rose marker

Elephant Support

I love this little guy! Sorry about all the animal cards lately. They seem to be calling my name! I started out this card wanting to use the same colors as yesterday. The little bird was originally going to be on the ground like my inspiration card by 11Valerie11, but I cut my finger while trimming the papers and dripped a small amount of blood above my flower. I had already used my stamp-a-ma-jig to get the words in the right place and I did not want to redo that. So I stamped the bird over the blood. LOL! I think it works.

On another note, who proud of me, besides me, for posting so regularly? I am trying to be more consistent in my blogging because it helps me to create daily. So far, so good! See you tomorrow!

Stamps: Wild About You and Curvy Verses

Paper: Patterned Paper from retired Creative Licence Scrappin' Kit, Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue and Whisper White

Ink: Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue and Wild Wasabi

Accessories: Double Stitched Wild Wasabi Ribbon

Kick Stand Card

Today's Sketch Challenge is to make a kick stand card. This sketch was created by my blogging buddy Kirsten aka ked. You can visit her over at her fabulous and famous blog Confessions of a Naptime Stamper.

I have been planning on doing one of these cards again since Christmas. My first attempt was just so-so. I had my hubby get me a Marvy Giga Scallop Punch so I could use it for these cards.


I used my ink pads and an Aqua Painter to color the rhino and his bird buddy. I colored the rhino in gray and then went back and highlighted him with blue. Then I grounded them with some Wasabi colored grass. Since I was already straying from a total SU! card by using the scallop punch I decided to use my American Crafts Pumpkin colored ribbon. I wish SU! carried 5/8 Pumpkin Pie grosgrain.


I have to say I am much happier with this card then the previous one.





Stamps: Zoofari and Polka Dot
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, VersaMark
Paper: Basic Gray, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: American Crafts Pumpkin Grosgrain, Marvy Giga Punch, Coluzzle

Color Challenge

As many of you know, I love color challenges. This weeks challenge is to use Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou and Barely Banana. I do not have any Blue Bayou ink yet so I had to use Bordering Blue. They are very close so it is not too noticeable. I wanted to create a simple card. I think I achieved that but even now I am dying to add something to it. Hmmm... maybe I am just not a simple card person. My inspiration for this card came from a card in my favorites by StampinSweetie. As soon as I saw the colors for this week this card came to mind. I pretty much stuck to her layout and just simplified the whole thing. Pretty strait forward stamping here. I used the Wasabi ink pad to ink the stem and leaves and the petals were inked using a marker. I also popped the whole flower panel up on dimensionals.

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks

Inks: Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana and Basic Black

Paper: Textured Blue Bayou, Barely Banana, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White

Accessories: Bordering Blue Marker and Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon

Casing My Favorites

Last night I decided to do some sorting and organizing. Not of my stamp room, but of my Favorites folder over on Splitcoast Stampers. I had 8 pages of favorites and at 48 cards a page, well, you do the math. I put card in my favorites for one of three reasons.

1. I own the featured stamp set and love the way the original artist used it.
2. I love the colors that have been used together.
3. I love the layout.

So I went through all my favorites and got rid of everything that featured a set that I no longer owned, unless of course numbers 2 & 3 applied. I also got rid of a lot of stuff that was just plain outdated. Then I kicked out the stuff that I still loved but knew I would never recreate. For example, there were several cards in there that had a lot of the images cut out. Too much time for me. I like instant gratification. So now, I have only 5 pages of favorites. Problem is that in a few months I will have at least 8 pages again. So I decided I better start casing what I already have (once I case a card I remove it from my favorites) so that I don't get overrun by them all again.

So I created this card. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 apply to this card. My nephew has a birthday next week and I thought this card would be perfect. You can see Rohla's original version here. I changed the colors just a little to fit this weeks color challenge. I also left off the brads and tag. I changed the background and added beady little eyes. He's going to be four and I figured that the beady eyes would get much more appreciation than brads and a tag.

Stamps: Wild About You, Polka Dot and It's Your Birthday

Inks: Taken with Teal, Real Red and Certainly Celery

Paper: Taken with Teal, Real Red, Certainly Celery and Whisper White

Accessories: Mat Pack, Real Red and Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon and beady eyes

2008 Chipboard Calendars

I just had to try the little chipboard calendars Beate made for this tutorial on SCS. I printed my calendars using an altered version of Cat's template. There is absolutely NO stamping on this calendar. I did not intend for that to happen but once I put the calendar portion in place I thought it would look overdone if I added anything else. This will have a magnet on back so it can be put on the fridge as soon as I can find my roll of magnet strip.

I also wanted to say how amazing all of you are. I received several messages about my Heartfelt Trio cards from yesterday. I often get comments here and over at my gallery on SCS but no one ever messages me to let me know how much they like my creations. I am so glad that so many of you enjoyed them, you made my day and made me glad I share my creations. Thank you all so much.

Also a few of you had questions about my storage unit behind my trio of cards. The unit is one of those workshop storage things that usually holds nuts, bolts and nails in a garage. Mine holds all of my craft spots, reinkers and a sponge and dauber for each color. I printed out all of the SU! colors and then punched them out with my word window punch. Then I just stuck them on. I got the idea from StampinMelis. I absolutely love it. I used to hate when I would use a sponge that already had another color on it. This keeps all my sponging from looking muddy.

Maybe I will get a few more pictures of my storage solutions and post them soon. In the mean time, what storage/organization solution have you found that really works for you in your craft area.

Paper: Brocade Background DSP, River Rock and Always Artichoke Card Stock

Accessories: Vintage Brads

Heartfelt Trio

I never use this set. I bought it because 11Valerie11 over at SCS made me fall in love with it, but for some reason I never grab it. I wanted to do some cards with flowers for the Demonstratable Cards Challenge and my new secret sister mentioned that this is her favorite set so it seemed like a perfect time to pull it out.





For each card I stamped the same focal image of the trio of flowers in Groovy Guava and used a Mellow Moss marker for the stem. Then I did the the detail lines in Ruby Red. I did not want the stem detail line, so I used a Ruby Red marker to ink up only the blossom. I distressed all the edges in all of the cards as well.





On this first card I used a mat pack to pierce some holes in the top corners of the Guava card stock and then sponged the edges with Guava ink. I also sponged the edges of the focal image with Moss ink. The using my Stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped the word Happiness from the Warm Words set in Ruby Red ink. I was thinking later that it would be cool to emboss all the Ruby Red accents, but wanted to keep this one simple for an upcoming workshop.






For the second card I added a little Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to the blossoms using my two way glue. I also added some Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon. I used my word window punch to make the "special friend" tag. I attached it to the ribbon using some gold wire.







For the final card I put glitter on the blossoms as well. I used the mat pack again to pierce the corners. It is hard to see in the photo but I used Versamark ink and stamped the detail lines for this flower on the bottom half of the Guava card stock.I also used some Moss grosgrain. I had planned on just one strip but it looked unbalanced so I added another one. I was not going to put a sentiment on this one, but when I was done it looked naked. So I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the "from the heart" sentiment from the Holidays & Wishes set.










Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Holidays & Wishes, Warm Words, Everyday Flexible Phrases
Inks: Groovy Guava, Mellow Moss, Versamark, Ruby Red
Card Stock: Groovy Guava, Naturals, White, Ruby Red and Mellow Moss
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Word Window Punch, Mellow Moss 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, gold wire, mat pack