WSC99 - CC238 Sleigh Bells Ring

Our weather here in Michigan has certainly taken a turn towards fall, the last few days have been cool, rainy and windy perfect for staying inside and sipping hot tea. That's exactly what I've been doing because over the weekend I've caught a cold.
Today's card is for two challenges the first is Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge and the second is for the Color Challenge over on SCS. I used the stamp set Sleigh Bells Ring and with the colors from the color challenge being Basic Grey, Pretty in Pink and Sage Shadow I decided to try and give my card a victorian feel. I stamped the Pretty in Pink panel with my Bella Toile and sponged the edges then stamped the Sage Shadow bottom section of my card with the trees from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set and sponged the edges as well. The snow scene was stamped in Basic Grey and I washed in all three colors using my aqua brush and then added a ton of Dazzling Diamonds (click on the photo below for a closer view).

The Simple Snowflake was stamped in Pretty in Pink, glittered and layered together with the retired Snow Blossom punch and button with silver cord.

Supplies: Sleigh Bells Ring, Bella Toile, Lovely as a Tree, Simple Snowflake, Snowflake punches, Nesties, Ribbon, Eyelet border punch, Pink button, Piercer, Dazzling Diamonds, Aqua brush, Pop dots, Silver cord, Sponge.

SSSC37 - Black Eyed Susan

It's Sunday which means it's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch!!! The card that I have for today using the SSSC#37 was created using the stamp sets Inspired by Nature and Upsy Daisy for the saying. The base of the card is Chocolate Chip with a embossed layer of Old Olive on top, the left panel is Summer Sun which is 2 1/2" x 5" with a piece of Good Morning Sunshine designer paper which was then punched in the upper left corner using the Spiral punch. I added the linen thread, button, ribbon and saying before applying my image. I used my SU markers to color directly on the rubber and stamped the flower then cut and embossed using a square Nestability die. Leaving the die in place I inked up a sponge with Summer Sun ink and lightly sponged around the inside border of the die then added a mat and pop dots.

Come join in on the fun and create a card using Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch, then go to Karen's blog and link your card using Mr. Linky so all of us can see your creation!

Be sure to visit each of the Sweet Sunday Stampers below for more samples using this weeks sketch!

Jennifer Tapler: Jen Tapler Designs

Karen Motz: Paper Playhouse

Laura Fredrickson: Scrapnextras

Nancy Riley: iStamp

Sarah-Jane Kale': Janeybell

Vicki Burdick: It's a Stamp Thing

SC247 - Two Tiers of Cupcakes

Happy Thursday everyone! The card I have for today is for the Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge from yesterday and uses the stamp set On a Pedestal. Instead of stamping the pedestal just one time I decided to add an extra tier for another cupcake and stamped each of the pedestals in Close to Cocoa directly on top of one another. For both of the cupcakes I ended up stamping just the bottoms in Real Red ink because I think the Real Red ink pad is brighter than the SU Real Red marker. Then I used my aqua brush to remove any Real Red ink from the area I wanted Chocolate Chip and then used my Chocolate Chip marker and colored the top of the cupcake directly on the rubber, huffed and stamped. Each cupcake was then cut out as well as the cherries and taped in place.

Supplies: On a Pedestal, Polka Dot BG, Square punches, Ribbon, Small circle punch, Brads, SU markers, Pop dots. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Real Red.

Our New Addition

Meet Charlie the new addition to our family, he's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and is almost 3 months old. He's a sweet, lovable puppy who has a calm disposition and loves to be cuddled.

A FUN DAY!!!

Hello everyone!!! Today is another exciting day! First off I would like to wish my sweet husband Dan a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Love ya honey!
Secondly I'm super excited to announce that I have a tutorial today on Splitcoast Stampers showing how to create the Pumpkin Bucket from a previous post here on my blog! If your a follower or subscriber to my blog you saw the mini tutorial that I did here showing how to create a Pumpkin Bucket using the Pillow Box Sizzix die, since then I was asked by the very talented Beate to do a photo tutorial for Splitcoast and I was honored. To see my step by step photo tutorial and Beate's video tutorial creating a Christmas Pillow Box Bucket click here.
The project I have for today is using the same Pillow Box Bucket except I altered it a bit, instead of having a handle for the bucket I made a handle for a Hot Cocoa Cup. I followed the exact directions from the tutorial except I took the handle and cut it down to 3/4" x 8" and scored 3/4" at each end, then using the Slot punch I picked a side for my cup handle and punched a slot at the bottom of the cup and directly above at the top of the cup and attached the handle with tape. Inside the Hot Cocoa Cup I put two packs of hot cocoa, mini marshmallows and some chocolate truffles.

Supplies: Sizzix Pillow Box die, Polka Dot BG, Yummy, Nesties oval dies, Striped ribbon, Eyelet border punch, Brads, Pop dots. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Whisper White.

To add to all of the excitement or craziness at our house, yesterday I bought my husband a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy for his birthday, he's so cute! Pictures to come in my next post.

Thanks for your visit!

SSSC36 - Exciting News!

Yes I have some exciting news to share! I was honored to be asked by Karen Giron (The Sweetest Thing) to join her Sweet Sunday Stampers sketch team and I happily excepted!
I'll be working with some very talented women each week to create cards using Karen's wonderful sketches.

Today's card uses Karen's SSSC #36 and the stamp sets The More the Merrier, Simple Snowflake and Lots of Thoughts along with Merry Moments designer paper.

So come join in on the fun and create a card using Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch, then go to her blog and link your card so we can all see your creation! While your there enter for a chance to win some fabulous blog candy that Karen is giving away in honor of today's sketch team announcement!

Be sure to visit each of the Sweet Sunday Stampers below for more samples using this weeks sketch!

Jennifer Tapler: Jen Tapler Designs
Karen Motz: Paper Playhouse
Laura Fredrickson: Scrapnextras
Nancy Riley: iStamp
Sarah-Jane Kale': Janeybell
Vicki Burdick: It's a Stamp Thing

Thank you for stopping by!

WSC97 - For All You Do

This card was created using Beate's sketch from last weekend and I'm finally posting it now....I'm only a week behind. I Actually had created this card last Monday but was using it for my stamp camp I had on Wednesday so I didn't want to post it on my blog until after camp. I liked this layout and hadn't used the For All You Do stamp set for a stamp camp yet so I combined the two.

Supplies: For All You Do, Cottage Wall DSP, Circle Nesties, Eyelet border punch, Polka dot ribbon, Pearls, Piercer. Colors: Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Old Olive.

PS I've got some exciting news to share so be sure to stop back tomorrow!

Grateful

Happy TGIF! The card above was another stamp camp project that I made for this last Wednesday, I used the stamp set Falling Leaves and the Autumn Traditions designer paper. The Falling Leaves stamp set is so pretty and works well not only for Thanksgiving cards but thank you cards, thinking of you cards and so much more. The base of this card is Always Artichoke with a large panel of Elegant Eggplant and Ruby Red as a mat for the Autumn Traditions DSP.

Supplies: Falling Leaves, Autumn Traditions DSP, Square punches, Ribbon, Brads, Word window punch, Modern label punch. Colors: Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, Ruby Red, More Mustard.

Enjoy Every Bite

Today I have one of the projects I created for my Stamp Camp which was last night, we had such a fun time and it was so great to see the ladies!

This is a Halloween candy bar wrapper that I created using the stamp set Twick or Tweet from the Holiday Mini. This skeleton image cracks me up it's so fun! I used Old Olive card stock and cut it 7"x 6", then scored vertical lines (with the 6" side facing me), with the first score 2 5/8" then add 1/8" then another 2 5/8" (you should have a tab of 1/2" to the far right) to create a 7" long pocket for your candy bar. Then before folding I rolled the bottom of the wrapper using the Haunting Hill wheel, then using the 1 3/4" circle punch I punched half a circle in the top of one one panel. Then added a piece of Tacky Tape on the very bottom and along the 1/2" tab to seal the wrapper up and used my crimper to crimp the bottom. The Basic Black belly band with the skeleton measures 3 1/4"x 7" with a piece of Cast-A-Spell designer paper that was 3"x 6" taped on top leaving an edge of about 3/4" of Basic Black that I taped and crimped with my crimper. Before adding the stamped image of the skeleton I punched a small hole in the center of the crimped belly band edge and added the striped ribbon.

Supplies: Twick or Tweet, Haunting Hill, Happy Halloween (retired) All Year Cheer III, Cast-A-Spell DSP, Circle punches, Round tab punch, Ribbon, Crimper, Tacky Tape, Hershey bar, Pop dots, Aqua brush. Colors: Old Olive, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie.

I'm loving the weather we've been having here in Michigan, it's been nice and cool perfect for sleeping at night with the windows open.

Stamping 411 - Pumpkin Patch

Hello! Today's card was created using the sketch from the Stamping 411 site and the stamp set Pumpkin Patch. I've been busy the last few days with family and prepping for my stamp camp which is Wednesday night, but now I'm ready for camp and I'm back to stamping! The base of this card is Basic Black with a panel of Pumpkin Pie stamped with the Polka Dot back ground. Then I added a layer of retired SU Halloween paper, ribbon and the Happy Halloween saying from the stamp set All Holidays. For the pumpkins I stamped all three on top of one another making sure to stamp them tilted so I would have room for their stems. Then I stamped the center pumpkin on a scrap piece of whisper white and cut him out and placed him over the center image so that you wouldn't see the overlapping of the stamped pumpkins. Before doing this I also tried masking the pumpkins but I couldn't get a good stamped image so this was the way I did it.

Supplies: Pumpkin Patch, Polka Dot BG, All Holidays, Retired SU Creepy Crawly DSP, Ribbon, Brads, Small circle punch. Colors: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive.

Thanks for stopping by!

SC245/Stamping 411 - Birthday Cupcakes

The first card I have for today is for yesterday's Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge #245, I used the stamp set Crazy for Cupcakes and the bright color combo of Mellon Mambo, Summer Sun and Tempting Turquoise which I stuck with for both of today's cards. I used Liquid Applique on the cupcakes to make them look frosted and my aqua brush to apply color.

Supplies: Crazy for Cupcakes, Mellon Mambo DSP, Embossing, Ribbon, Brads, Liquid Applique, Aqua brush, Pop dots.

This second card is for the Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge and I used the cupcakes from the hostess set The More the Merrier and Happy Everything. Not that my coloring looks fabulous but the one thing I find when your applying ink using your aqua brush is to also use your SU markers and go back in and add shading. I find that if I just use the ink from the lid of my SU ink pad or reinker and an aqua brush the color seems to fade but by going in and adding that same color with a marker it gives the image depth.

Supplies: The More the Merrier, Happy Everything, Mellon Mambo DSP, Ribbon, Brads, Word Window punch, Aqua brush, SU markers.

SSSC34 - Cheep Talk

Happy Labor Day!!! Today marks the last day of summer for our family because tomorrow is the first day of school for my two older kids. It's back to waking up super early, lunches, backpacks, homework and a much busier schedule for all of us. My oldest son starts high school tomorrow and has to be at the bus stop at 6:25am {I'm going to need an extra cup of coffee in the morning for sure}. What's weird is that I think I'm more nervous about his first day of high school than he is.

The card that I have for today is for the Sweet Sunday Sketch #34 over at Karen's blog The Sweetest Thing. I wanted to use the stamp set Cheep Talk and wanted a card with fall colors so I stamped the bird in Ruby Red and half the tree branch in Pumpkin Pie then used a Chocolate Chip marker to color the main branch. This is such a fun stamp set and I've missed using it.

Supplies: Cheep Talk, Fundamental Phrases, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Large & small oval punches, Scallop edge punch, Brads, Ribbon, Piercer, SU markers in Chocolate Chip & Pumpkin Pie, Pop dots. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie.

Hope your enjoying your three day weekend!

WSC96 - Goblin Greetings

Before I get to writing about my projects for today I wanted to write about the new Stampin' Up news that was announced this week to all SU demonstrators. Stampin' Up is asking all of their demos to sign a new contract as of the end of this month and the long and short of it is - either your with Stampin' Up or your not! Stampin' Up has asked that all demos with an online presence who Blog, Twitter or Facebook be completely Stampin' Up. After hearing about this new demo agreement I wasn't all that happy at first because one of the main reasons I opted for a personal blog instead of an SU site was so that I would have creative licence to create what I like. For the most part I love creating with SU products or I never would have signed up to become a demo in the first place but every once in a great while I do like to experiment with other products. I can see Stampin' Up's point that they are trying to convey to their demos, why would you link to another store that sells competitive stamps or design for another stamp company when your selling Stampin' Up. So by the end of this month you may see some small changes to my blog with regards to linking to sites that sell competitive merchandise.

On to the projects, the card for today was created using Beate's Weekend Sketch #96 which I not only flipped but didn't tuck in or cut my circle (see sketch below). I used the stamp set Pumpkin Patch and some retired SU Halloween paper that I still have scraps of to create this card and matchbox.

Supplies: Pumpkin Patch, Grateful Greetings, Retired SU Halloween paper, Circle Nesties, SU Sizzix Matchbox die, Ribbon, Brads, 1/4" circle punch, Piercer, Pop dots. Colors: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Whisper White.

SC244 - Gifts of the Earth

Today's card is for the sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers, I used the stamp set Gifts of the Earth which is from the Holiday Mini (see my side bar to download). The colors in this picture seem washed out compared to real life, I guess it's because I took this picture using my photo tent instead of natural day light like I usually do. Someone recently left me a comment and asked how I take photos of my cards, I try and take pictures of my cards/projects using two sheets of 12"x12" white paper with one on the table and one propped up behind it and use the light coming into our dinning room, I set my camera for no flash. The best time of day is mid morning or mid afternoon, other wise the natural lighting is either not bright enough or to harsh. If I have a chance I'll probably re-shoot this picture tomorrow.

Supplies: Gifts of the Earth, Grateful Greetings, Weathered BG, Autumn Traditions DSP, Ribbon, Brads, Nestie, Aqua brush, Pop dots. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa, Summer Sun, Ruby Red, So Saffron.

Thanks for stopping by!

SSSC33 - Halloween Hoot

Happy first day of September! Our weather here in Michigan has certainly felt like were going into fall, most of this week our temperature is suppose to be 40's for the low and 70's for the high. Fall is my favorite time of year its when our family goes to the cider mill for apple picking, hay rides, warm donuts and cold cider and we get to see all of the beautiful colors of the fall leaves.

For today's project I have a card that I made using Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch and a witches broom filled with Halloween treats. The card was created using the stamp set Halloween Hoot and the Cast-A-Spell designer paper. The witches broom is a small brown paper bag with long thin cuts on all sides that was gathered up around a clear treat bag filled with Halloween candy and a cut branch from one of our trees outside.


Supplies: Halloween Hoot, Cast-A-Spell DSP, Grateful Greetings, Nesties, Ribbon, Brads, Large & small oval punches, Large & small tag punches, Aqua brush, Sponge, Pop dots. Colors: Basic Black, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my Pillow Box Bucket, I truly appreciate it.