So Little Time!

I can't believe it has been so long since I was able to stamp!! I seem to have very little free time and this month I have been very tired. I haven't laid down during the day to nap since my 4 year old was about 6 months old and I found myself laying on the couch several days this past week and a couple days the week before! But, I got happy mail last week! Some new release sets from C.C. Designs!! I have prepared one project so far but I can't show you until tomorrow. If you head over to the All That Scraps blog you can see some sneak peeks of one of the sets there! http://www.atsblog.typepad.com/ We were at the Toledo Zoo today. When our 4 year old potty trained (in September) we promised her a trip to see the elephants. No Zoo's in Michigan have elephants any longer so a trip to Toledo was in order. It isn't a bad drive, just 2 hours and as long as you aren't cringing at the amount of gas it takes to get there it is quite leisurely. So they saw the elephants and the polar bears (our 6 year old's favorite animal). We met some friends down there and had a wonderful day. Check back tomorrow for a sneak of a new set from CC Designs!

Just Celebrate Invitation

These are the birthday party invitations for my youngest daughter's party. She will be turning 4 later this week. Last year we did Curious George and when asked what kind of party she wanted this year she said she wanted Curious George again. But her favorite animal is the elephant so when I got the adorable set "Just Celebrate" from the mini catalog, I knew I had to use it on her invites. She ended up telling me a jungle party was fine. The funny thing is that we never do a ton of decorations when we do a themed party. Usually it is just the ivites, thank-you's and a banner. Plus, we almost always do her party outside since usually the weather in Michigan is nice enough to do that by the end of May/begining of June...who needs decorations when you are outside?

So, this is the invite and I think it turned out super cute. I love doing simple invites mainly because I don't really like doing a bunch of cards exactly the same anyway, so the more simple the better! Plus, the 3 and 4 year olds who are getting them will appreciate it no matter how fancy it is.

I colored the elephant in with Prismacolor pencils and a blending stump. My friend Lori was over this past Friday and she brought hers for me to try. I liked them but it seemed like alot of work - the blending part. I may just need more practice too! I used both the Mega and Giga Scallop punches from Marvy. In addition I used my new toy - the Punches Plus Brass Template from Stampin' Up! It is an embossing template that has images of most of our punches (including the ovals) and around the image is the PERFECT paper piercing template to mimic the punch. So, I just used the "you're invited" stamp from my Family Phrases set and punched it out with the large oval. The I used dimensionals to pop it up on the front of the card, laid the template down and paper pierced the oval around it. The perfect touch!

Supplies Used: Pretty in Pink cs, ink, Old Olive cs, Rose Red cs, ink, Whisper White cs, Black Staz On, Punches Plus template, White Signo Gel Pen, Slit Punch, Simply Said set, Family Phrases set, Just Celebrate set.

Lily and Milo

Last night my girlfriends came over to stamp (hi Lorien and Lori!!) Lorien's parents did a great job and she is an amazing sharer of all things rubber related so she came not only to work on a few projects but with some stamps she said "I thought you might like to stamp some images." When I saw this little girl with the bird I couldn't resist and I almost couldn't stop coloring her. I did quit and went to bed around midnight and finished the coloring and card this afternoon. Isn't it adorable? These are apparently a new line of stamps and you can find out more about them and look at some beautiful artwork on the Rachelle Ann Miller blog...check it out http://rachelleannemiller.com/. Supplies Used: Certainly Celery cs, ink, Rose Red cs, ink, Bashful Blue cs, ink, Black Staz On, So Saffron ink, Close to Cocoa ink, Cutie Pie Designer Paper (SU!), Double Stitched Pomegranate Ribbon (SU!), Regal brads (SU!), Dimensionals, Slit punch, Just Celebrate set (SU!), Lily and Milo stamp).

Lulu Loves Presents

This card was done for a challenge that Christine issued to the All That Scraps Designers for this weekend. We were to create a card using pink cardstock and some brown only. We were allowed to use any other colors for the main image but the cardstock had to be pink or brown. Both my middle and youngest daughters have birthdays coming up so I think I'll give this one to my soon to be 6 year old. She loves cats and pink is her favorite color so I think she'll like it. Plus, what 6 year old doesn't think that "it's all about the presents"? Check out the All That Scraps Blog on Monday to see what the other gals came up with! http://www.atsblog.typepad.com/

Supplies Used: Close to Cocoa ink, cs, Regal Rose cs, ink, Pretty in Pink cs, ink, Old Olive ink, Whisper White cs, Paper Piercer, Signo White Gel Pen, It's My Birthday set.

Just Celebrate!

This ADORABLE elephant image is from a set in the Stampin' Up! mini catalog and is available until the end of June. My youngest LOVES elephants and the artwork in this set is just adorable. Each stamp in the set has a word that is attached to it. Originally the elephant was attached to the saying "new baby" but there is enough room on most of the stamps to cut the words off and mount them on the end of your block and use them with anything you like. So this elephant is celebrating! The printed paper is from "Summer Picnic" which is one of my favorites. I love the bright summer feel of these papers. I water colored the elephant with Bashful Blue ink and did some zig-zag stitching with my paper piercer along the top and bottom of the Real Red panel. You can't really tell in the photo but I used my Crop-o-dile to put three embossed circles along the bottom of the Pumpkin Pie matt. Did you notice there are no embellishments on this one?!?! That doesn't happen often when I am creating a project but I thought it was cute even without any ribbon, bling or glitter!

Supplies Used: Bashful Blue cs, ink, Pumpkin Pie cs, SW Marker, Real Red cs, Black Staz On, White Craft Ink, Paper Piercer, Signo White Gel Pen, Summer Picnic DSP, Just Celebrate set.

Quick Mother's Day Card

Here is a quick card for Mother's Day but really cute! This was made with the Punches Plus Classy Brass template from Stampin' Up! A really simple to use template that incorporates paper piercing templates that fit PERFECTLY around the geometric shapes that you can emboss. This is one product I glanced over until another demonstrator showed it to us at the SCS Birch Run weekend this past March. It also uses the set Blooming with Love - which I love! Simply stamp the single flower in Timber Brown Staz On and color the petals with your White Signo Gel Pen and emboss the square using the classy brass template, pierce using the same template, stamp your greeting, add some new Chocolate Chip Poly Twill Ribbon and you are all done!

Supplies Used: Chocolate Chip cs, Poly Twill Ribbon, Soft Sky cs, Timber Brown Staz On, White Signo Gel Pen, Punches Plus Classy Brass template, Blooming With Love.

Princess Birthday

One of my daughters is a huge girly-girl and for my birthday my secret sister for a SCS get together sent me a $15 gift certificate for some Lizzie Anne Designs stamps. I chose the set I used to create this girly card. My 5 year old had a birthday party to go to on Friday and this is the card I made. Unfortunately she didn't end up going because she got croup AGAIN. She gets it several times a year and this time she had a fever for a couple days so she missed 2 days of school and the party. She was a trooper though. I watercolored the images with my Aquapainter and SU ink. After it was all done I used my Stardust Gel Pen to add some sparkle on the castle shingles and parts of the princesses dress. I had to do the masking technique to get her hat to sit on her head...it took me awhile get it right but I finally did. If you haven't ever checked out Lizzie Anne Designs stamps, you have to because they are simply adorable stamps! http://www.lizzieannedesigns.com/

Supplies Used: Pretty in Pink cs, SW Marker, Close to Cocoa cs, ink, Creamy Caramel ink, Orchid Opulence ink, So Saffron SW Marker, Black Staz On ink, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, White Grosgrain ribbon, pink bling, Aqua Painter, Stardust Gel Pen, Once Upon a Time set.

Congrats Lorien!

My sweet stampin friend Lorien won the new CC Designs set A Hootin Good Time at the All that Scraps blog! http://atsblog.typepad.com/ats/2008/04/preview-day-1-.html If you check out the blog you can see the other DT members creations using Shari. You can also sign up to win yourself a set!

"I Want Fabulous!"

If you have girls you know that line is from a song in High School Musical 2. The girl who sings it is named Sharpay and although her character is a terrible snob the song is fun! "All things fabulous, bigger and better is best."

This gal reminds me of Sharpay to some degree. This is Shari from one of Christine's newest sets - Glam Girlz. This set has 3 adorable girls in it, words and a stamp that looks like sparkles.

I know you can't see it in this post but I used a Stardust sparkle pen on the glasses and the ring she is wearing. I love this printed paper but I'm not sure who it is by. If you check out the ATS blog Christine may have it listed there. She sent the DT members "mini kits" of goodies and we had to use what was in the kit and nothing more (except ink). So all the goodies you see on this card were straight from ATS. I love the color combo and it didn't take long for this card to come together at all. I love the hair on Shari but wait till you see Gwenny...she's my favorite and she carries a purse which is perfect for my upcoming weekend. You'll have to stop by tomorrow to check her out.

Whooo hoooo - Lookee...New Stamps!

A Hootin Good Time is a new set from CC Designs! Isn't this owl adorable? This set comes with a bunch of adorably drawn owls, a tree, a branch, some sayings and the leaves for the branches (or clouds). This is my first sample from the new releases from CC Designs. The new sets will be available on May 4th at 12:01 am! You'll love this new set and I am sure you'll "have to have it"! There are 16 pieces in this set and there are 8 owls! All of them have their own unique personality! Run over and check them out at All That Scraps! Admittadly the saying "whoo! hoo!" isn't in the set..this saying came from a Stampin' Up! set called Just Celebrate. It was just so cute I had to add it to this card. The designer paper is from the Fall Flowers package from Stampin' Up! as well. I hope you enjoy it!

I Love a Fun Purse

Well, this weekend I am off with some girlfriends doing something I have been waiting to do for the past year! I'm in Fort Wayne at the Vera Bradley sale. I LOVE Vera Bradley bags and don't really carry much else. Mind you though, that doesn't mean I have a lot of them. They are pricey for my pocket book (if you spend on purses, it means you have less to spend on stamps!). I own a Capri Melon backpack and a Mesa Red On the Go bag. Just 2. My Mesa is my fall/winter and my capri is my spring/summer. At the sale, they have bags for $10! Wallets for $3! I can't wait to spruce up my collection. My goal is to find a Java Blue Bowler. And as many more as I can in varying prints!

Anyway, back to the sample! This is another of the girls from Glam Girlz set and she is carrying a purse, so I thought it would be perfect card to send to one of my girlfriends after our weekend away. I used some Basic Grey Mellow paper and paper pieced the pants and the purse. These girls are perfect for paper piecing. I don't do too well cutting out little details for paper piecing and the large open spaces on the Girlz make it easy for me to spruce em up with printed paper! I used the Stardust pen on her glasses as well and sparkled up the stripes in her pants. The ribbon and brads are from Stampin' Up! Enjoy!

FREEBIES at All That Scraps!

Check out Christine's latest post at the All That Scraps blog: http://atsblog.typepad.com/ats/ , maybe you'll be a lucky winner! Check back tomorrow to see a sneak peek of one of the new sets too!

"Megan" in Basic Grey

FINALLY! For Christmas our oldest daughter wanted her own room. She had been sharing with her 5 year old sister and the 3 year old had her own room. So, the 8 year old got her Christmas wish but up until Saturday the walls hadn't been painted so it still looked like a baby room. This Saturday 2 of my girlfriends came over and helped me paint her room while she was away with daddy for the weekend. It isn't completely finished. See that strip of white at the top of the wall? In there I will be painting some paisleys and flowers. She got a chocolate quilt for her bed that has flowers and paisleys embroidered with white thread throughout. It is such a grown up room.

I made her the monogram letters for Christmas and up until today they were sitting in a drawer. I used some large wooden letters from JoAnn's, some chocolate colored paint for the sides of the letters, various Basic Grey paper from their Blush line, and some chipboard from Stampin' Up!. With paper as beautiful as Basic Grey's there is no need to put all kinds of "stuff" all over the letters. I decorated the "M" with some Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon and some Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon. I used my word window punch and punched out three words from Everyday Flexible Phrases - "sweet", "special", and "daughter" and hung those with linen thread from the ribbons. The "E" and "A" are plain. The "G" has a chipboard flower I built with Stampin' Up!'s chipboard blossoms. It was so easy to make because all the petals are separate so I just covered each petal with different paper. The center of the flower has a pink rhinestone brad in the middle of it. And finally, the "N" just has some more ribbon on it. The letters are all hung with some double stitched chocolate colored ribbon I fond at JoAnn's. I am really excited to see her room coming together for her!

It's Been So Long!

I apologize for not getting a post on here in so long! Really, I haven't even stamped since the last posting! Last night I sat down and made a project from a new stamp set that Christine at CC Designs has created! I can't wait to share it with you. But for today here is a simple and easy card that we did at my last stamp camp...We were making spring cards, anything with flowers. I love this color combo and remember one of the Christmas cards we did at my Christmas Card Stamp a Stack was done in these colors. I guess the colors aren't very springy, but I think they are pretty all the same.

Supplies Used: Purely Pomegranate cs, ink, Soft Sky cs, ink, Mellow Moss cs, ink, silver brads, Moss gingham ribbon, Mellow Moss grosgrain, Fabulous Flowers set, Always set, Sanded background.

I was at Cha!!!

Can you believe it? I can't. I bet I had a great time. No, I'm sure I did. I'm sure the excitement was amazing! How much you want to bet that I hung out with Taylor VanBruggen, Julie Ebersole and maybe even Nicole Hedy? Here's the story....I was looking at the Eclectic Paperie blog http://eclecticpaperie.blogspot.com/ and they were chitter chattering about them now carrying Lizzie Anne Designs stamps (you know I love their stuff!). So, they were saying that they saw them at Cha and loved the samples they had in their booth and that they have such talent in their design team and then I saw it! MY CARD! I sent it to the ladies at Lizzie Anne Designs some time ago. I think I sent it when I returned a stamp set to them that they had sent me in error. Now, let me say I am NOT a design team member at Lizzie Anne, though I would love to be! So, if anyone over at LAD sees this post remember, you must have liked me a bit to stuff me in your bag and take me to Cha! Give me a call, I'd love to be a part of your design team...(he, he, he) If you click on the link above and look at the 5th picure down my card is on the french memo board (the one on the left with the fairy). Have a super day!

All That Scraps Sketch

Amy Rysavy has been giving us gals on the design team at All That Scraps sketches for Fridays and as of yet I haven't been able to participate. But, tonight (or should I say this morning?) I made myself participate...I say that I made myself do it because it is now 12:05 AM!!! I was tired at 9:15 but I have a workshop tomorrow (I still haven't decided what we are doing) and a stamp a stack on Saturday. I had to get my stuff cut for that! (And I still have one card to cut up!!) But, I wanted to play with the new Beautiful Butterflies set that Christine sent to us! Check out the All That Scraps blog to see more samples with this sketch!

I used some paper that I found recently and I loved the colors! It is made by scenic route and is designed by Sarah Milne. I stamped the butterfly with Timber Brown Staz On and colored it with my Pumpkin Pie, Apricot and Soft Sky Stampin' Up! inks. Then I stamped the butterfly onto some vellum card stock and did the stained glass technique and colored the vellum wings. Then I adhered them to make this beauty 3-d. I hope you all have a great weekend! I don't know if I will have a chance to share the last couple projects from the stamp a stack until late this weekend but I'll try!

Hello Spring!

Sample number 2 from my up-coming class. I adore Bashful Blue with just about any shade of red but this one uses Real Red. I am also really loving the new striped ribbon from Stampin' Up!. I got the basic idea for this card from someone on Splitcoaststampers but I changed it up a bit. The greeting is from Hi & Hello. It was on my first order in January when the new catalog came out and this is the first time I have inked it up! Isn't that terrible?! If you are attending on Saturday, I look forward to seeing you!

Supplies Used: Bashful Blue cs, ink, Real Red cs, ink, striped ribbon, Certainly Celery cs, ink, Old Olive ink, Brocade Blue ink, Whisper White cs, So Saffron ink, Circle Punch, Celery Grosgrain ribbon, Pick a Petal set.

Stamp Camp This Saturday

I have a spring cards stamp camp scheduled for this Saturday at 10 am. If you are in the Flint, Michigan area and came come, please feel free - the ladies will be making a total of 8 cards (4 designs, 2 of each) and the cost is $15. Just let me know in advance!

Today is a beautiful day and we have been lucky enough to have had several nice days recently. The frogs are all singin their song in the woods behind our house! All the cards in this class will be floral themed! Bring on spring!

Supplies Used: Close to Cocoa cs, Groovy Guava cs, ink, Afternoon Tea Designer Paper, Versa Mark ink, white embossing powder, Double Circle Punch, Chocolate Poly-Twill ribbon, Slit Punch, Canvas Background, So Much.

More Presents!?!

If you check out the All That Scraps blog: http://atsblog.typepad.com/ats/ and just reply to Christine's latest post about the butterfly set, you can be entered for yet another give-a-way! Check out the samples she has posted with that set! Really beautiful. I have been having fun using the chicks and the birthday set (all you have to do is look at the last several posts here on my blog to see how much I am LOVING the birthday set!)

Do you like this one? I LOVE it! I don't usually mix patterned papers very well. I get all nervous thinking the patterns don't really match, so when a company makes an entire line of paper they usually take the guess work out of it for me. There are papers that I really like...and then there are very few paper lines that I think, "I need to buy 10 sheets of each!" These are some of those papers! They are by My Minds Eye - if you check out the collection of My Minds Eye paper at All that Scraps, you'll be in heaven. Such eye candy.

This card has alot of layers on it...they are layered in differing heights too. A friend (hi Lorie!) loaned me some dimensionals at the Birch Run weekend. She said, "Just keep 'em, they are way to think..I don't like them." Well, I love that if you want a really dimensional project they are thicker than the Stampin' Up! dimensionals so you can easily stack things up. I have to find out where she got them because I used them all!

The image is water colored with Stampin' Up! inks and an aquapainter. I used Ruby Red brads on the plaid panel and Mustard and Celery grosgrain ribbon from Stampin Up! I hope you have a great day!

It's Raining Here In Michigan

This image is so fitting for the weather in Michigan today. We even had thunder today and a power surge. We had our candles out and ready for a power loss. Here is another chick from the new Hey Chicky set. I paired it with an Amuse sentiment. Wouldn't this be adorable to get if you weren't feeling well? You can't really tell from the photo, but I used Crystal Effects to create rain drops and also made a puddle at the chick's feet. I don't know where the patterned paper is from. I'm sorry. It was from some sort of paper stack - my mom shared with me again. And, don't you love those cute little dew drops in the corner??? Bet you thought that I used my Crystal Effects and waited for 2 days for it to dry..NOPE! Robin's Nest Dew Drops...they come like that in a bazillion colors. All you do is add a mini glue dot to the back and PRESTO! Check them out at All That Scraps!

Supplies Used: Certainly Celery cs, ink, 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Regal Rose cs, SW Marker, Pretty in Pink cs, ink, Black Staz On, Versa Mark, So Saffron ink, Pumpkin Pie ink, Aquapainter, Crystal Effects, Clear Robin's Nest Dew Drops, Polka Dot Background Stamp, Simply Said (Stampin' Up!), Hey Chicky set.