Meet Olivia

If you haven't "met" Olivia yet, here she is! The other design team members have done an AWESOME job with set, you have to run to the All That Scraps gallery and check out the entries for today.

Olivia is part of a new line of stamps from C.C. Designs called Sugarplums and I happen to know there are more sets featuring Olivia and a friend coming soon! This card was made to match the one in the post below and all the supplies are the same...aren't they cute together?

Stampin Up Sets for Sale

I have the new catalog in my hands and my list is BIG this time. I need to clear out some room on my shelves and make room for more stuff! Check out these sets for sale and contact me at caspen1973@yahoo.com if you are interested in any of them! All of them are mounted and used.

• Print Pattern $10
• Dotted $10
• Word by Word $10
• Swell News $15
• So Much $22
• Looks Like Spring $15
• All About You $15
• Mini Messages $5
• Favorite Friends $10
• Love Matters $15
• Birthday Banter $15
• Time Well Spent $15
• Naughty or Nice $12
• Rough Edges Alphabet $12

Olivia's Birds

OK...so, today and tomorrow are the release days I have been waiting for because I am really proud of the projects I turned out for this set. It was a great mojo night! I think that night I made like 4 projects and loved them all! Here is the first sample from the set called Olivia's Birds. Christine put everything you could possibly need in this set to make lovely spring/summer cards. Everything you see here is in the set (and more of course!) And Christine was so smart she made 2 of the birds. Sometimes you get a set, start playing with it and realize the kid, animal or whatever is facing the wrong direction and you don't want to mess with "mirroring" so you just give up. WELL, our gal Christine made the birds each facing a different direction! PLUS in this set there are 2 birds flying that she did the same thing with....genius I tell you!

This card was so much fun to make. I knew I wanted the nest sitting on the branch with the birds in it. The colors came from one of my favorite designer papers from Stampin Up!, Fall Flowers. I love the softness of this paper. Then of course I had to use the scallop edge punch (of course!) and it helped immensely that the Robin's Nest dew drops (from the "Water" collection) had some it in that matched perfectly. (Got those from genius Christine at All That Scraps). After water coloring everything I popped the nest and the birds up on dimensionals. For the ribbon I just layered a piece of white narrow grosgrain on top of my wide Old Olive, did a little faux stitching and BAM - it's done. Do you like it? (I'm such a sucker for affirmation!)

NOW .... are you wondering who Olivia is? You'll have to check back later to find out!

Supplies Used: Soft Sky cs, ink, Whisper White cs, Old Olive ink, cs, Creamy Caramel ink, Close to Cocoa SW marker, So Saffron ink, Aquapainter, Always Artichoke SW Marker, Black Staz On ink, Scallop Edge Punch, Robin's Nest Dew Drops, Olivia's Birds set.

Sweet Baby Bear....

Time for new releases from C.C. Designs!!! Most of these samples have been done for 2 weeks or more when I had a big burst of stamping mojo going on and I have been dying to share them with you! The official release will be Monday the 11th at 10 pm est at All That Scraps (check my sidebar for a link). We will have a release party in the forum at 8 pm.

The sets for this month are so fun!! I tried some MyTime style cards and this is one of them. Sweet and simple. I actually really like how this one turned out. It uses a new image of the bear we first saw last month. This new set is called Bear Hugs and includes another bear, 2 bees and some sentiments. Rather than color the bear brown, and since I needed a baby girl card, I made this card all girl! The image was colored with Pretty in Pink ink and an aqua painter. Of course that scallop edge is made with the new Stampin Up! scallop edge punch. I love the ribbon - the solid pink ribbon is a velvety ribbon (from the Target Dollar Spot ages ago) which makes me imagine what this cuddly little girl would feel like! The bow is made from Stampin' Up!'s pink grosgrain. Next time you need a card, try going simple and see how you like it!

Supplies Used: Whisper White cs, Pretty in Pink cs, ink, Soft Sky ink, velvet ribbon, pink gingham ribbon, Black Staz On, Scallop Edge Punch, Bear Hugs set.

Heard from the Heart Elegantly

Another swap that I did for Jami...This time I had to use Heard from the Heart (which I really love!). I really wanted one of these sentiments to be the focal point so I just used my Paisley background stamp and stamped it with Versa Mark and heated up Clear Embossing Powder for my main panel. Then I used my black ink and stamped the greeting on a strip of the new Baja Breeze paper and did the same for the main panel. I also used the new scallop edge punch from Stampin Up! to make it appear more soft. I think this would be a great wedding card...what about using navy and gold or navy and silver? I think just about any colors would work well. Anyway, I'm still patiently waiting for those catalogs!!!

Supplies Used: Basic Black cs, ink, Baja Breeze cs, Versa Mark ink, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Scallop Edge punch, handheld circle punch, Silver Brads, Paisley background stamp, Heard from the Heart.

Sock Monkey - NEW Stampin Up! Set

Here is the first project that I did as a swap for Jami's Preview Swap at SCS. I call this the "famous" stamper swap because several of the girls are either ex-Dirty Dozen girls or have been published or are stampers like Taylor VanBruggen....I am so lucky to have been asked to join them but I must say that the pressure is always one when creating for these ladies!

This is the new set, Sock Monkey...I bought it because my youngest loves monkeys and I really liked the accessories that were in the set - a cupcake, heart, flag, flower, party hat, etc. I also used the new color Tangerine Tango as my base color and the color for the monkey's mouth, butt, feet and arms. Making 8 of them took me awhile and I did it in stages. By the time I was done I was saying, "Why do I always watercolor for Jami's swaps???" But seriously it was fun!

I stamped the hat in Black Staz-On and then did some masking of the hat and added the monkey. I added the flag and then did a cupcake separately. I cut the cup cake out and used dimensionals to pop it up. The rest is pretty self explanatory. I hope you enjoy it! Those new catalogs should be here anyday!

Supplies Used: Tangerine Tango cs, ink, Bashful Blue cs, ink, Old Olive cs, ink, Close to Cooca ink, So Saffron ink, Stampin Dimensionals, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Paper Piercing mat and tools, Stamp a ma jig, Sock Monkey.

NEW Stampin' Up! Information

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!? Stampin' Up! is going to begin selling the Big Shot and some dies! How exciting! I also can't wait to see more of a line of products that Shelli had a hand in developing. I can't wait to get this new catalog!

Some Stampin Up Peeks!

My upline (well, she is like a great grandma upline, but NOT because of her age!) Linda Heller is a fantastic motivator and wonderful person. Unfortunately for me she lives in Florida so I have only met her once but she sends me sales rewards every quarter and even calls a few times a year to chat business. Anyway I noticed this morning that she has some exciting news to share about her own Stampin Up career, plus she was showing some stuff that demo's could purchase to show how much they *heart* SU and even some new stamps!! So run on over and scroll down, she keeps posting info all the time including the info that Shelli (founder of the company - I *heart* Shelli! even has a blog!). http://lindastamps.wordpress.com/

I'm A Winner!!!???!!!

If you haven't seen The Saltbox Studio stamps, you are missing out! These wonderful new stamps are sold through Amuse and have a look that is very different from anything else on the market right now. I LOVE country decor, primitive country...have you seen Country Sampler magazine? My favorite decorating magazine out there. BUT, alas I have a husband who detests "dust collectors" so my home doesn't look like anything in those magazines so I just enjoy looking at it and trying to country-fy my house with as little clutter as I can. Anyway, one of my customers - Sue Blondin http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=29472576, showed me the Saltbox stamps several months ago. I have been watching their sites and recently entered a random contest and found out I won! I got to pick either the Americana set or the Farm Friends set. I chose Farm Friends and can't wait to play with it. I'll be sure to share some projects with you when I get them made. Here are the new releases for this month from Saltbox Studio! http://thesaltboxstudio.typepad.com/the_saltbox_sampler/new-new-july-sets-now-ava.html

Blog Candy Winner!

The winner of the blog candy that I had posted below is.... Doris!!! My 6 year old chose a number from the dinner table and she chose 2 and it was Doris! Check out Doris...she has 2 blogs (it doesnt matter that the first is in polish and you may not be able to read it, there are some pretty pictures on it: http://kreatywneinspiracje.blogspot.com/ The second looks like a blog candy listing: http://doris86place.blogspot.com/ I'll be sending her the sweet snowman stamp this week...as for everyone else, keep your eyes open because the new CC Designs sneak peeks for the new release start soon!

$25 BLOG CANDY!!!

Hey girls...RUN on over to the All That Scraps blog http://atsblog.typepad.com/ats/ and enter Christine's contest for a free $25 gift certificate!!!! All That Scraps has grown so much they are moving and she's so excited she is giving away a great blog candy reward just for telling her what YOU want to see in the store!

Christmas in July - And Blog Candy Too!

I love practically everything about Christmas (I just wish the snow and cold didn't stick around so long). The design team at All That Scraps is doing a Christmas in July celebration - sharing Christmas samples and maybe some more festive surprises!!! Don't you just LOVE this image of Lulu??? This is from the CC Designs set Lulu's Sweet Delights. The first CC Desgins images I ever saw were Christmas/winter ones and were on Lauren Meader's blog (waving hi to Lauren!) http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/. The Christmas and winter images went right onto my wish list but in all honesty this is just the 2nd time I have used this image to actually complete a project (come on, you know how it is!) I LOVE this finished project! I think the patterned paper really makes it, or maybe it is the simple 2 colors, or maybe it is Lulu's sweet face. Whatever it is, I loved it when it was done.

The patterned paper is retired from Stampin' Up! It is the Cerise line of paper but I am sure you can find red and white/cream striped paper anywhere. The red ribbon is from Stampin' Up! too. BUT, don't you love the scallop edge? So sweet and petite..it is a brand new product from Stampin' Up! that will be available in the new catalog. Trust me, you are gonna want this punch!

Anyway...for the blog candy...leave a post to this project and leave me a link to your most favorite Christmas themed stamp set ever and I'll draw a random winner on the 27th. The winner will receive a new, CC Designs e-z mounted snowman stamp (http://www.allthatscraps.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=360_361_545&products_id=4841). Good luck!

Supplies Used: Real Red cs, ink, Close to Cocoa ink, Chocolate Chip ink, Blush Blossom SW Marker, Very Vanilla cs, Timber Brown Staz On, Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, SU Scallop edge punch (NEW), Lulu's Sweet Delights set.

Anything But a Card Challenge

This week the Design Team for All That Scraps was challenged to do anything but a card. I will freely admit that my "anything but a card" skills are pretty limited. My dear pal Lorien is awesome with bracelets and altered tins, some gals can look at any piece of garbage and create a beautiful piece of art, but I am pretty limited..I'm really an "in the box" kind of gal so I stick with journals, some altered tins and ornaments. I love making ornaments, but don't mean the glass bulb kind...any other kind. For the last 3 years I give my 3 closest peeps a gift and a handmade ornament. Last year I made ornaments out of chipboard coasters so when we were challenged to do anything but a card I made another chipboard coaster ornament.

I made this with the adorable CC Designs set, Lulu's Sweet Delights. Isn't she the cutest?!?! I started by covering the coaster with some Basic Grey paper, from their Fruitcake collection. After that I stamped Lulu with Black Staz On and added the gum drops next to her.

I colored the images with my Stampin' Up! inks and an aquapainter. After I was finished it needed to be a bit less "clean" to go with the Basic Grey paper so I roughed up the edges a bit with some Creamy Caramel ink and then I used my Creamy Caramel SW marker and the Color Spritzer Tool. Guess what else is on this project? The new Stampin' Up! scallop punch. I seriously have used that on EVERY project I have made this past week (which there are several, I just can't show them to you yet....) I LOVE that punch and it's tiny little scallops....Run on over to the All That Scraps site and check out gallery to see what the other girls made!

New Apartment Card

Can you believe it??? A card with Stampin' Up! stamps?!?! I have been neglecting them so much for my CC Designs stuff but it has been fun! I recently ordered the Neighborhood wheel to go with my All In The Family set and have just been waiting to have a reason to ink it up. Well, my husband's sister and her husband recently moved from a small apartment to a larger one. This was a move that she was anxious to make even back in April when they visited us from Utah. I miss her so much! I don't have a sister and even when people see photos of her they assume she is my sister, we do look alike. Anyway, her and her husband have been married just about 2 years and are starving students in Provo, Utah. She has finally graduated and has found a teaching job out there so they decided to take the plunge and upgrade their apartment.

To make this card I inked the wheel with Bashful Blue ink and and wheeled it onto a Bashful Blue panel. Then I inked the wheel in black Staz-On and wheeled it onto white. I colored the apartment with Stampin Up inks and an aquapainter, cut it out and popped it up with dimensionals. The "congratulations" is a stamp from one of the retired All Year Cheer sets. I wanted it to look like one of those flags that some small planes pull around at big events. Did you notice anything new??? The orange color is one of the new In Colors for the year. This is Tangerine Tango. Doesn't that sound yummy? I really like this color combo and used it last night as well on a card with the Sock Monkey set. I can't show that to you though because it is one of my swaps for a new swap with Jami at SCS and she doesn't like us to show our stuff till after everyone in the swap has received theirs..you'll have to wait a couple weeks to see it!

Supplies Used: Tangerine Tango cs, ink, Old Olive cs, ink, Bashful Blue cs, ink, Black Hemp Twine, Black Staz-On ink, Stampin Dimensionals, Aquapainter, All Year Cheer, Neighborhood Jumbo Wheel.

ATS Sketch Challenge

This week's Design Team Challege at All That Scraps was a sketch challenge. As soon as I saw the sketch I thought of the monkey in the tube image. The oval on the project reminded me of his tube. As I got to making it I realized my nephew will be turning 4 in a couple weeks so at the very end of the project I decided to turn it into a birthday card for him. Notice the cute birthday hat on Monkey's head? The hat came from my all time favorite birthday set EVER, It's My Birthday. The printed paper is from Sassafrass Lass and all other supplies are from Stampin'Up! (except the Marvy Oval Punches). Be sure to check out the All That Scraps blog later today to see what the other design team members did with this sketch. AND...did you know I got new stamps in the mail? New CC Designs stamps for the August release.....I can't wait to start makin projects and sharing with you all!

Supplies Used: Night of Navy cs, ink, Grosgrain Ribbon, Real Red cs, ink, Gingham Ribbon, Soft Sky cs, ink, Creamy Caramel ink, Close to Cocoa ink, Aquapainter, Real Red eyelets, Marvy Mega Oval Punch, Sassafrass Lass designer paper, Paper Piercer, Signo Gel Pen, It's My Birthday (CC Designs), Summertime Fun (CC Designs).

Another LAD Entry

Here is another entry for the LAD birthday contest. Probably my final entry as I am expecting some Stampin Up! goodies soon and we are working on some Christmas in July cards for CC Designs. I received the adorable Lulu Christmas set called Lulu's Sweet Dreams and I can't wait to ink that up! So be sure to check out the Design Team blogs in the next couple weeks for some fun Christmas in July stuff!

Back to the entry. This one coordinates with the one that I have already posted and I did that on purpose...I am going to be sending a set of these cards on to a secret sister I have. All the supplies are the same I just followed the sketch that was required. I used the 3rd sketch you could choose from. I hope you like it, and I hope the judges at LAD do too!

Another Lizzie Birthday

My 6 year old has a birthday party to attend this afternoon and it happens to be a princess party. (They are actually having Cinderella attend the party!) Anyway, with the gals at Lizzie Anne Designs running their birthday celebration contest I figured I may as well make another for submission (can you tell I want to win some LAD stamps?)

This is very straight forward and doesn't need much explanation except to point out that I stamped the castle (I love that image!) on the pretty in pink panel in Versamark. Not to dark, not to light and it is the perfect shade. I colored the flags with my Sakura Stardust Gelly Pen as well as the centers of the flowers on the background and parts of the princess crown. The only stamp on this card that is not from LAD is the single flower on the background. This flower is from the Stampin' Up! set Simply Said. That little flower is perfect for SO many cards. I seem to be constantly pulling that thing 0ut!

Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend. We don't have much planned, we recently started pulling wallpaper out of our bathroom (who puts wallpaper in a bathroom anyway? It peels and the seems start pulling apart as soon as someone uses the shower!) We are adding beadboard to the walls, it needs painted and we got new light fixtures. So today I think I'll be priming the beadboard. Not exciting at all but it's got to get done!

Supplies used: Pretty in Pink cs, ink, SW marker, So Saffron cs, ink, SW Marker, Lavendar Lace cs, ink, Creamy Caramel ink, Close to Cocoa SW marker, Blush Blossom ink, Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon, Black Staz On ink, Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll Pen, Simply Said stamp set SU, LAD set Once Upon a Time.

Lulu is a Hawiann Babe

This posting is really late! Blogger has been down since Wednesday morning..I couldn't upload the photo, but here it is...better late than never!

This week's Design Team Challenge at All That Scraps is to use chipboard on your project. The pink flower is a piece of Maya Road chipboard that my dear friend Lorien gifted me ages ago. This card is WAY out of my comfort zone. Can you guess why? If you have visited my blog for any length of time you know it is because the bold brights are a color family that I don't usually use and I certainly don't use them together! Most of the bold brights I have only ever bought one package of paper and never had to refill (except Turquoise and Red). Anyway, I had this cute tropical designer paper by Creative Imaginations, Art Warehouse by Danelle Johnson, and I wanted to use it. Pink Passion matched it the best so the rest just sort of came from there. I covered the chipboard with the designer paper and then used my Crop-O-Dile to put a hole in the middle and ran some SU! Tempting Turquoise ribbon through it. I adhered it with a pop-up glue dot. The rest of the card is self explanatory. I colored Lulu with SU! ink refills and added a cute little prima flower to her ear. After I was done with this card I wrinkled my nose and just went to bed, bot up and now it has grown on me a bit. Have a great day!

Supplies Used: Tempting Turqouise cs, ribbon, ink, Green Galore cs, ink, Pink Passion cs, ink, Summer Sun SW Marker, Going Grey ink, Black Staz On, Aquapainter, Slit Punch, Maya Road Chipboard flower, prima flower, brad, Summer Fun (CC Designs).

Happy Birthday Lizzie Anne Designs

Aside from CC Designs there are very few stamps other than Stampin' Up! stamps that I own. That doesn't mean that I don't LOVE to look at other companies stuff and that I would love to own LOTS of other stamps, but I just can't afford to do that....so, the stuff I do have is very select. I LOVE Lizzie Anne Designs stamps and the first stamp of theirs that I bought was their fairy stamp. It was used on a tooth fairy box (I believe that Cambria Turnbow did the project) and I fell in love. It was the first un-mounted stamp I purchased. I have gotten a lot of use out of this stamp and even won a contest with it. After winning a contest I sent the gals at LAD another card to say "thank you" and later found out they took it with them to Cha! So, this little fairy and I have become fast friends!

Lizzie Anne Designs is having a birthday coming up this month and they are having another contest so I thought I would see if this friend can help me win the entire summer release!!! They are giving three different sketches and you can enter as many times as you like (for more info check out this link: http://www.lizzieannedesigns.com/birthdaycontest.html) So I decided to make 3 cards, one for each of the three sketches, and make them coordinate. I have a plan so be patient with me as I work out how to put them all together. But, for the time being this is the first submission I will send them. Isn't she sweet?

Supplies Used: Close to Cocoa ink, cs, Pretty in Pink cs, ink, Regal Rose SW Marker, Soft Sky cs, ink, So Saffron SW Marker, Blush Blossom ink, Aqua Painter, Timber Brown Staz On, Slit Punch, Robins Nest Dew Drops (Water Collection), Paper Peircer, Signo White Gel Pen, Making Memories Designer Paper - Noteworthy Audrey Pink Floral, Pink Organdy Ribbon, Fairy stamp Lizzie Anne Designs.

Stampin Up! New Catalog Open House

If you live in the Flint, Michigan area and are looking to get your hands on a new Stampin' Up! Catalog, play with some new products and be elligible to win some goodies then come join me at my New Catalog Open House! I will have several give-a-ways which will include stamp sets! In order to qualify for the drawing there are several things you can do. You can even increase your chance to win by doing several things.... RSVP to the Open House and get your name in 1 time Bring a guest NOT invited by me and get your name in 2 times For every $10 in product you order get your name in 1 time (if you cannot attend but place an order by Friday evening you still qualify!) Book a workshop and get your name in 3 times Sign up to be a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and get your name in 5 times! If you have any questions please contact me. I would love to see you and talk about some of the new items such as a scallop punch, new buttons and those new In Colors! Here are the details: Date: Saturday, August 16 Time: 10 am - 12 noon Place: Crystal's House, 6185 Meadowwood Lane, Grand Blanc, MI RSVP: caspen1973@yahoo.com Please contact me if you have any questions or to RSVP!