Bella Halloween

When I saw this image, I couldn't resist snagging her right up!
I think she's adorable in her little Pumpkin costume, don't you?

Stamps:
Bella Trickortreatabella, Stampin' Up! Stitched Exotics, Imaginisce Happy Halloween Snag 'Em Stamp
Paper:
Close To My Heart Black Cardstock, Bazzill Orange, Georgia Pacific White
Ink:
Tim Holz Black Soot Distress Ink, Copic Markers
Accessories:
Bella's Baubles, Ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon (monthly ribbon club!)

Thanks for visiting!

TECC35 Bella Cupcake

I recently received an order from Stamping Bella and I just love this little cupcake girl! The name of the stamp is "Is that a cupcake on your head?" LOL!
Anyway! I thought I would try my hand at Taylor's Cupcake Challenge again. Here's the sketch:
And here's what I came up with:

Isn't she adorable?!

Stamps:
Stamping Bella "Is That A Cupcake On Your Head?"
Paper:
Prism Nautical Blue, Paper Trey Ink Pure Poppy, Georgia-Pacific White, American Crafts Patterned Paper
Ink:
Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Markers
Accessories:
Square Nestabilities, Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" Embossing Folder, American Crafts Ribbon

Thanks for visiting!

Army Families - Army Strong!

This is not stamping related but I found this video very moving and wanted to share...






Hats off to all of our Army Families!
Thanks for visiting!

Verve Birthday

Hi!

I wanted to make some birthday cards with this set using darker, more masculine colors.

Stamps:

Verve Birthday Surprise

Paper:

Stampin' Up! Navy & Olive, Basic Grey Two Scoops, Georgia Pacific White

Ink:

Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Markers, Sakura Glaze Pen, Sakura Stardust Pen

Accessories:

Fiskars Threading Water Border Punch, Cuttlebug Textile Embossing Folder, Offray Ribbon, Robin's Nest Dew Drops

Thanks for visiting!

White Ink Comparison

I'm always on the lookout for the whitest white and blackest black inks. Below is a comparison of the white inks that were recommended to me.
This is a Cornish Heritage Farms rubber stamp, stamped on Close To My Heart Black cardstock.

The bottom two images (Palette and Versamagic) are close, but I think the Brilliance is the whitest. What do you think?

I know the results can vary depending on the type of cardstock I'm using, so I may try a different kind to see how that looks.

Well, I've got to run and feed the family. (No matter how many times a day I feed them, they keep coming back and asking me "What's for dinner??" What's up with that?!) ;)

Thanks for visiting!

Just Celebrate

Not celebrating too much here in our house... My daughter's high school alma mater (State Champions last year!) had their Homecoming game tonight... and lost to their archrival team by 6 points. :(

I love this little owl in this set!

Here's a close-up shot of the front of the card:
I love how well the Paper Trey Ink coordinates with this paper!
Stamps:
Stampin' Up! Just Celebrate
Paper:
Paper Trey Ink Spring Moss & Sweet Blush, Prism Brown, Georgia-Pacific White, Basic Grey Offbeat
Ink:
Tim Holz Black Soot Distress Ink, Copic Markers
Accessories:
Circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Leafy Branch, Copper Brads (unknown)

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have a great weekend!

TCP Tuesday Challenge

I know it's not Tuesday, but it took me this long to get the challenge for The Cat's Pajamas finished! ;)

This challenge was pretty simple. Just use "Sprinkle" the cat in a creation. Easy Peasy, right?

I made this birthday card for a Stamping Friend. (Sorry the picture is a little wonky! It's cloudy here and I haven't been able to get good lighting for my photos lately! The colors are a little brighter in the photo than in real life.)

Stamps: The Cat's Pajamas

Paper: Bazzill Pink & Teal Cardstock, Georgia Pacific White Cardstock, Stampin' Up! Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Close To My Heart Markers, Breeze & Bubblegum

Accessories: Oval Nestabilities, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Paper Piercer, Pink Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Creative Memories 12" Decorative Trimmer

I love the sentiment, "Happy 29th Birthday. Again" LOL! I'll be celebrating my 29th birthday (again) this year. Hubby wants to throw a party, but I'm not really up for much celebrating this year. I'd prefer a nice, quiet dinner out and maybe a movie or something. We'll see. I have some time to think about it!

I hope you're having a great Thursday! I can't believe it's almost the end of another week!

Thank you for visiting!

3 Sketches

I decided to use a few different sketches to create my Halloween cards this year.

First up... Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge (WSC58). Here's her sketch:And here's what I came up with. Not sure I like how it turned out, but the hubby liked it.

Next up, Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge (TECC34):

Here are the two cards I came up with:A close up:And finally, I used Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday Sketch (54) to create a couple more. Here's her sketch:And this is what I came up with: Here's a close up of the first card:


Stamps: Imaginisce Snag 'em Stamps

Paper: Black Cardstock from Close To My Heart, Purple & Green cardstock from Bazzill, Patterned Paper from Bo Bunny Press
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Accessories: Ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon (LOVE her monthly ribbon club!), Fiskars Threading Water Border Punch, Sakura Glaze Pen, Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll Pen, Brads by Queen & Co, Letter stickers from American Crafts Thickers (Felt), Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Skeleton Scroll

I used less than one sheet each of the patterned paper, plus one sheet each of the green & purple cardstocks, and two sheets of the black cardstock. Not bad, I think! I'm still trying to use up all of the scraps on my desk - or at least not add much more to the pile!

I just got my first Stampin' Up! order out of the new catalog today and I can't wait to play! I love the die cut stamps - it took me about 10 minutes to have all my stamps mounted and indexed! Gotta love that! I'm dying to play, but I have a couple of other projects I need to finish up first!

I hope you're having a great week! It's been cloudy here in Hawaii, but hopefully the weather will clear enough for us to enjoy some beach time this week!

Thank you for visiting!

Gettin' Krafty with more Verve!

New Verve Stamps in the house!! Woot Woot! ;)

I had some time over the weekend to play and this is what I came up with for this challenge:


I used a Kraft base, layered Basic Black cardstock over that, ran a piece of Soft Sky cardstock through my Cuttlebug Embossing folder (Textiles). I used the "Abundant Blessings" stamp set and my Nestabilities to make the shapes. I also added black eyelets to the corner with my crop-a-dile. (Haven't used eyelets in ages!)

I hope you had a great weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

Spellbinders Storage

My original storage for my Spellbinders Nestabilities was a lunchbox tin, like the ones sold by Provo Craft. I outgrew it when I purchased the Long Rectangle Nestabilities, which would not fit in there. :(
So, I remembered I had this alterable Recipe Box in my stash. I was actually planning on altering it for it's original purpose (to hold recipes) and give it as a gift.
I used a lot of various cupcake stamps to decorate the front on top of Close To Cocoa and Soft Sky Designer Series Paper.
Inside, I have the Nestabilities dies stored on pieces of cardstock that I added magnetic tape to. They file away nicely in here.

Now I'm using that lunchbox tin to store my Cuttlebug Embossing folders! They fit perfectly!

Thanks for visiting!

Pink Pop-Up

Here is the other pop up card I made using the same pattern: I used Sweet Blush & Berry Sorbet cardstock from Paper Trey Ink and Georgia Pacific White cardstock for the image on the tag. I stamped the flower from Spiral Bouquet using Spring Moss & Berry Sorbet Perfect Match Ink (Paper Trey Ink). And I used the dots from the Polka Dot Basics (Paper Trey Ink) stamp set to make the dots on the card base with Berry Sorbet Perfect Match Ink.
Here's the card folded. You can see the Spring Moss ribbon I used at the top matches the ink perfectly. (Thus, the name, "Perfect Match Ink?") Duh, Christina...
Anyway! After another week of fighting with my computer (and it usually winning), we spent the day at the beach. Isn't it beautiful here? I sure wish I could take some of this with me when we go!
Be sure to visit tomorrow! I'll show you my Spellbinders Storage Idea! :)

I hope you are having a fantastic weekend!
Thanks for visiting!

Free Standing Pop Up Card

I saw this tutorial over at Splitcoaststampers and had to give it a shot!
It's a Free-Standing Pop-Up card and it folds flat & fits into a standard A-2 Envelope for mailing.
I used American Crafts patterned paper for the bottom, even though the instructions call for a cardstock base. I thought that since this paper was a little thicker than most patterned paper, it would be okay... which it is for the most part. It's a little bit flimsy, but it still holds up well.
For the tag portion, I used Prism Blue cardstock, Close To My Heart Olive and Georgia Pacific White.
The stamps are Paper Trey Ink Spiral Bouquet.
Inks are Close To My Heart Sunflower and Olive.
I used a We R Memory Keepers Jumbo Eyelet with a scrap of blue ribbon at the top.

Here's a side view:

And here's what it looks like folded flat.
This was really super easy to make! I made another version in different colors that I'll show you later. I made these to send to friends on the Gulf Coast who were hit by Ike.

Hurricanes and all, I still miss Texas & Pensacola! Hawaii is beautiful and I'll miss the gorgeous beaches, but I can't wait to get back to the mainland!

I hope you're having a fantastic Friday! I'm looking forward to the weekend. Hopefully my hubby won't have to work again and we can enjoy some time together!

Paula RAK

Isn't it beautiful?! Paula sent me this card and I just love it!
Thanks, Paula!

Verve Swirl Stars

I took the Color Challenge 10 over at Color Throwdown (Late, I know!) But I thought these colors would make great cards for the Cards for Heroes cards I've been making!

I used Prism Navy Blue Cardstock for the base, layered Georgia Pacific White cardstock over that. I stamped Verve's Swirly Stars in Palette New Canvas ink on Pure Poppy cardstock from Paper Trey Ink. I ran that through my Big Shot with the Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder.

The Stars were cut from my Spellbinders Nestabilities. I made score lines through each point on my Scor-Pal. In the center of the star, I used a tiny silver star nailhead. I mounted this on the card front using dimensionals. I also used tiny silver star brads from Making Memories and tied it off with 1/4" white organza ribbon.

Inside, I added a layer of Georgia-Pacific white cardstock that I used a Martha Stewart border punch on. I also stamped a star along the edge in Stampin' Up! Night of Navy.

In all, I am mailing off over 20 cards for this project. I'm so glad I was able to participate in this! I know the soldiers receiving these cards will be very grateful!

When my husband was deployed "over there," I can't tell you how many times he told me that he was much more apt to write me a letter if he had one of these blank cards with envelope to use. I'm not sure why it was that much more difficult to put his pen to a blank piece of paper instead of a card, but he swore it was easier to write in a card. Either way, I know I was thrilled to get mail from him in my mailbox!

Anyhoo! I've been having computer issues lately and I'm just at my wits end. I'm going to have hubby call Dell tech support for me soon. (His long hours at work mean he is hardly ever home anymore!) Hopefully we can figure out what the problem is and get it fixed!

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Hump Day (Wednesday)!

Always

I was blog surfing (blurfing? that sounds kind of weird/gross) and came across this card by Kristina Werner (she's so cute & so talented!). Isn't it adorable? I had to CASE it right away! :)

I used Chocolate Chip cardstock for the base of the card and ran it through my Big Shot with the large Scallop Circle die.
Then I used my Circle Nestabilities to cut the circle from the front of the card and to cut out a slightly larger piece of vellum.
I ran the vellum back through the Big Shot with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing folder and attached this to the inside front of the card with mini glue dots.

I used my Circle Nestabilities to cut a circle from Prism Island Mist cardstock and attached that to the front of the card with mini Glue Dots.
I used a craft knife to cut a small slit in the center score of the card to run the Aqua Mist ribbon through and tied that in a bow on the front. The bird image from the Always set is stamped on Whisper White cardstock with Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. I carefully cut that out and mounted it to the front of the card, added Bella's Baubles to the scallops and that's it!
I am pretty happy with how it turned out!

Thanks for visiting!

Scrap Paper Bookmarks

The pile of scrap paper on my desk is becoming a mountain of pretty colors! I decided I needed to USE more of these scraps instead of just letting them pile up here before they get moved to scrap paper folders.

So, to kill two birds with one stone, as they say, I decided to make a couple of bookmarks, since I am always losing them. I bet I have 50 bookmarks lost somewhere in this house. So I end up using whatever I can find quickly to mark my pages when I read (napkins, magazine inserts, post-it notes...)

Here's what I came up with:

Both bookmarks use Prism Brown cardstock.

I stamped a Technique Tuesday Owl on the first one and added an We R Memory Keepers Jumbo eyelet at the top. This was layered on a piece of Cloud 9 patterned paper.

The second one uses Prism Island Mist cardstock and I stamped the cupcake from Verve's Cupcake Affair (I love that stamp, can you tell?). I used another We R Memory Keepers Jumbo Eyelet and Offray brown satin ribbon.

I colored both images with Copics and then laminated them in my Xyron and that's it!

Easy Peasy! :)

I hope you're enjoying a great weekend! It's been raining here (though not as hard as it was on the Gulf Coast yesterday) and hubby has been working LONG hours, so that's kind of a bummer.

I'm so glad my family in Texas are okay with very little damage from Hurricane Ike. They were very blessed this time. They said it was the worst thing they'd ever been through! (And this is not their first major hurricane!) We'll continue to pray for those who have lost so much in this storm.

Thanks for visiting!

More Mojo

Here is the second card I created from the Mojo Monday 52 sketch:

And here's a better shot of the front of the card:

Paper: Prism cardstock, Cloud 9 patterned paper
Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Palette/Paper Trey Ink Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Copic Markers
Ribbon gift with purchase (Yummy colors, aren't they?)

I made several of these cards to send for the challenge I mentioned yesterday.

I'm so worried about my family back in Texas. I know many are evacuating for Hurricane Ike, so they are really taking it seriously. I'm glad, because this is one big storm! My brother just built a new house and I'm so worried what this storm might do to it.

Please keep those folks who are living in the path of this storm in your thoughts & prayers!

Thanks for visiting!
Have a great day!

Mojo Monday 52

First, I have to share! I can't believe it! I actually won a prize at the Verve Release Party for the cards I made for the One Sheet Wonder Challenge!! I won a set of stamps called, "So Happy" and I am SO excited!!

And now I can't believe it, but I was actually able to participate in Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch challenge. I've been wanting to do it for so long! This time I made two different sets of cards for this sketch. I'll show you the first set tonight.

I used Prism cardstock (love that leathery-texture & the vibrant colors!); Verve Cupcake Affair; Cloud 9 Patterned paper; Ribbon in Aqua Mist & Dark Chocolate from Paper Trey Ink; Dark Chocolate Palette Ink from Paper Trey Ink; Oval Nestabilities; Copics; & Robin's Nest Dew Drops

I've been making lots of multiples of each card I create. I'm creating them for "Cards for a Cause" on SCS, who are sending these cards to Cards For Heroes. Cards For Heroes sends cards to troops serving overseas. As an Army wife myself, I can appreciate what this means to soldiers who are so far from home for an extended period of time. I am proud to be participating in this great project! Check it out! If you have an extra card or two, why don't you participate, too?

Thanks for visiting!
Have a great day!

VSSEP08 Verve OSW Challenge

Here are my cards for the Verve "One Sheet Wonder" (OSW) Challenge.


I had to use ONE piece of double-sided patterned paper to create all four cards.

Sketch 1: (Not sure I like the way this one turned out.)
(Stamps: Verve Beautiful You, Artful Elegance
Paper: Cardstock Paper Trey Ink Aqua Mist, Die Cuts With a View Brown, Stampin' Up! Whisper White
Patterned Paper: Cloud 9
Ink: Palette / PTI Dark Chocolate)


Sketch 2:
(Stamps: Verve Cupcake Affair
Cardstock: Paper Trey Ink Aqua Mist, Die Cuts With a View Brown, Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Close To My Heart Olive
Patterned Paper: Cloud 9
Ink: Palette/PTI Dark Chocolate, Close To My Heart Markers, Inkssentials White Gel Pen
Accessories: Spellbinders Square Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Making Memories Square Jewel Brad)
Close-up of Sketch 2:
Sketch 3:
(Stamps: Verve Beautiful You
Cardstock: Paper Trey Ink Aqua Mist, Die Cuts With a View Brown, Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Close To My Heart Olive
Patterned Paper: Cloud 9
Ink: Palette/PTI Dark Chocolate, Inkssentials White Gel Pen
Accessories: Spellbinders Square Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Stampin' Up! Ticket Corner Punch, Robin's Nest "Cowboy" Dew Drops)


Close-up of Sketch 3:

Sketch 4:
(Stamps: Verve Artful Elegance
Cardstock: Paper Trey Ink Aqua Mist, Die Cuts With a View Brown, Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Close To My Heart Olive
Patterned Paper: Cloud 9
Ink: Palette/PTI Dark Chocolate, Palette New Canvas
Accessories: Spellbinders Square Nestabilities, Stampin' Up! Ticket Corner Punch)

Close-up of Sketch 4:

This was so much fun - and it WAS a challenge for me! And I'm surprised that I actually finished in time! ;) But I had a blast playing with my new Verve stamps and I can't wait to see what the September New Releases will be!

I hope you're having a great week!

Thanks for visiting!

JustRite Monogram Cards

I made a set of these monogram cards for a friend of mine who has moved away. That's one of the hardest parts of being an Army wife... having to say "goodbye" to friends you make at each duty station.

Anyway. I used the JustRite Monogram stamper with Chocolate Chip ink. I also used Paper Trey Ink cardstock (Aqua Mist & Dark Chocolate) and Whisper White cardstock. I used my Circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, a Ranger white pen for the dots, and PTI dark chocolate ribbon.

Check back tomorrow! I'll be posting my entries for the Verve One Sheet Wonder Challenge.

Thanks for visiting!