YOU Brighten my day!

Awww! I just fell in love with Ducky Days by Our Craft Lounge when I first laid eyes on it at CHA. I was so fortunate to meet Cambria and Joy in January--they are both the sweetest.
I am still so surprised that Cambria knew who I was---we had a good time joking about all the people who confuse us because of our common nicknames (Hers is Cami and mine is Cammie!)

I just love her---Cam, this one is for you!

Materials used: Ducky Days (Our Craft Lounge); cardstock-turquoise, orange (SU!), white (Gina K Pure Luxury); Dp-Stampin' Up!; Memento black ink; Copic markers; icicle stickles (Ranger); brads (The Paper Studio); slider die (Provocraft); ribbon (SU!); Spellbinders oval and scalloped oval Nestabilites; flowers embossing folder (Provocraft); Cuttlebug (Provocraft); paper piercing tool and mat pack (SU!); circle punch (SU!); dimensionals (SU!).

************Did you know that Stamper's Dream now carries Our Craft Lounge stamps? Yep, it be true. You can see the selection of stamps Michelle carries HERE!************

I {HEART} my subscribers

I always try to find little ways to thank all of you who take the time to read my little blog for you truly brighten my day. With over 20 new stamp sets coming into my house each month, I NEED to clear out some of my Stampin' Up! stamps I don't play with anymore---


<--------Coming soon---a subscribers ONLY blog candy---15 stamp sets (including Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories, Flaky Friends....and lots of other great sets...some stamps never even used!) need to find a new home.

Details on how you can win it........coming soon.......


Thank YOU for stopping by!

Kissed Flowers

Hello!!!! I created this card for the first color challenge on Stamp TV. My friend Cindy created this week's color combination---

always artichoke

apricot appeal

and pumpkin pie

This is what I came up with:
I used the Floral Frenzy kit from Gina K Designs for this card. I also used the kissing technique. You can see a video tutorial on this on Stamp TV!

Wanna play along? Just create a card using the color combination above and upload it to the Stamp TV gallery by next Monday, March 2nd, at 8am CST. One winner will be drawn at random to win a Gina K stamp set valued at $19.95 or less!

Silly Little Bear

Awww....I just love this stamp set. Not only does it make a cute paper doll set but you can mix and match outfits for the girl and make the cutest cards.

Here is a card I created with Isabelle Paper Dolls and the sentiment set Paper Doll Sayings:
The sentiment says "silly little bear"-I love that! I created the curved sentiment banner by placing the words in an oval shape on my acrylic block. I stamped it along the bottom of a yellow die cut oval. Then I just took my scissors and cut along the top of the sentiment following the curve of the bottom. I cut the little slits in the side. Easy!

Materials used: Stamps-Isabelle Paper Dolls; Paper Doll Sayings (My Favorite Things Presents- Stephanie Fizer); Memento tuxedo black ink; ribbon (My Favorite Things-spring collection); cardstock-white (Gina K Pure Luxury); Designer paper-Basic Grey-Urban Prarie; heart punch (Creative Memories); Copic markers; heart rain dot (Gina K Designs); Fiskars Threading Water punch; Cropadile; eyelet (SU!); Spellbinders oval dies; Wizard; dimensionals (SU!).


Fun Schtuffs:

TONIGHT (Wednesday!)--PaperTemptress will be holding it's first ever release party on the forum on PaperCraftPlanet at 8 p.m. CT. on PaperCraftPlanet! Come and chat with the design team and see all the gorgeous samples used with the new paper that will be released in the store that night. There is also going to be a fantastic give away (or two!)-- one sheet each of the new card stock being introduced that evening, a value of over $29.00!!!

Also TODAY: It is WUW (What's Up Wednesday) for My Favorite Things. Check out the MFT WUW forum on Splitcoaststampers for a fun tutorial. If you are one of the FIRST 50 customers to order today, you'll receive a FREE Versamark cube! You can use your Versamark cube for a variety of things including heat embossing and even making your own designer papers! Finally, Do you want to be an MFT VIP? Of COURSE you do! Being a VIP comes with it's perks! MFT has decided to offer a bundle on the last Wednesday of every month that includes NEW products that have not been released yet. Excited yet? Check out the forum for details on the MFT March bundle.

Told you it was FUN!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friends

Happy Tuesday (finally!) I am pretty busy with some family/house stuff so another quick card today. I am trying to use up a lot of my rub-ons that will expire soon!

The flower stem is from Unity Stamp Company (Growing in Unity!)
Materials used:Cardstock-white, bannana, black (Stampin' Up!); Designer paper-Black small dots (Making Memories); Silk flower-Spare Parts (The Paper Studio); ribbon (Offray); Stamp-red rubber-Growing in Unity (Unity Stamp Company); Memento Tuxedo black ink; Rub on-Friend Sentiments (Royal & Langnickel); Build a Brad (Stampin' Up!); slit punch and small circle punch (SU!); Spellbinders Tag Trio dies; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); Paper piercing tool and mat pack (SU!)

Sorry for the short post---I am trying to get some things done that I cannot put on here.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

HAPPY happy birthday card

Today---a super easy birthday card. I used a fun rub-on from SEI (Alley's wonderland) and embellished it with small prima flowers and brads. I made the grass using the slit punch from SU! and applied a sentiment rub-on.

Easy peasy. The fun colors make me happy! (I need that after having TWO Mondays in a row!)
Materials used: Cardstock-turqoise, celery, white (Stampin' Up!);Rub on sentiment-Fresh Paint Sentiment transfers (Marcella-K&Company);Rub on flowers-Alley's Wonderland (SEI);prima flowers- Got flowers? Duex (Prima Marketing);pink brads-pastel (Making Memories);gingham ribbon (Stampin' Up!);jumbo eyelet (Stampin' Up!);Cropadilepaper piercing tool (SU!);slit punch, oval punch (Stampin' Up!);Certainly celery classic stamp pad (SU!);sponge ;dimensionals (SU!)

Thanks for stopping by!

A STINKY challenge

OOPSIE! I hit the post instead of the schedule button so this published early! Instead of deleting it...just pretend that you are reading this on Monday! K?

It's Monday (again!--doesn't there seem to be a few in a week?) and time for another CCEE challenge. This week was a supplies challenge and Tosh sent out the skunk image (Pun Fun- SU!), the scalloped ribbon, the dp, a set of sentiments and the die cuts to each of us.

We were to make a card using all the supplies and send it (optional) to Laurie, who HATES skunks (I am right there with her!). Nice Tosh! But, of course I had to play along because Laurie has tortured Tosh because she doesn't like monkey stamps. (Believe me---she had this comin'!)

I colored the image with Copics and cut out one of the flowers from the dp to attach over the stamped one. This was an easy way to coordinate the image with the paper. I added some pink to the stinker's cheeks and then added some stardust glitter over it for a bit of sparkle.

<--Here is a close up of the main image. Hope you enjoy all your skunk cards, Laurie! (Blame Tosh!) You can check out all of the other Skunky cards on the CCEE blog.

Other news: By now you have had time to check out Stamp TV. I just wanted to let you know that starting this week you can play along in daily challenges. Everyone who plays each challenge will be entered to win free stamps. It is that easy! Today's challenge is a color challenge. You can play along HERE!

Other other news: PaperTemptress is having a PAPER party on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Central on the forum on PaperCraftPlanet! Come and chat with the design team and see all the gorgeous samples used with the new paper that will be released in the store that night. Beautiful stuff.

Thanks for stopping by!

Silver Lustre Flowers

Hello everyone! As you read this I am off visiting my in-laws for the weekend. But, I did create a card to post for today! (JOY!)

The stamp is from the new Floral Frenzy kit from Gina K Designs. If you haven't checked out the new Stamp TV---you have to! It is amazing! SEE ya there!

This card also features some of the new Silver Lustre cardstock from PaperTemptress that will be in the store on February 25th (more details to follow!). This stuff is amazing. You can stamp on it and color and the paper absorbs the ink and makes it shimmer. The card looks different depending on what angle you are looking at it from.

Here is one view:
Can you see all the shimmer???? Copics work a bit differently on this cardstock. The the color is a bit more muted (or pearlescent)..the blender works well to create highlights---instead of moving the color, it removes it. The Copics look beautiful on it. I am excited for everyone to try it.

<--Here is another view of the card. Lying flat you cannot see the shimmer as much. (SEE--looks different!)

The rest of the cardstock is Mica Metallic in Amber, Cappuchino and bronze. I love the gorgeous look of this cs...it has already become one of my all time favorites.

Materials used: Stamps-Elegant Flowers-Floral Frenzy (Gina K Designs); Memento black ink; Copic markers; Cardstock-Silver Lustre, Amber, Cappuchino, Bronze Mica Metallic (all from PaperTemptress); Spellbinders photo corner dies, circle and scalloped circle dies; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); textile embossing folder (Provocraft); hardware (We R Memory Keepers); ribbon (May Arts).

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

the BIG reveal....

HERE is the BIG surprise(s) you have been waiting for!

Gina K Designs PRESENTS Stamp TV. Gina has created a whole site devoted to stamping. Through her quality broadcast videos, she demonstrates how to perform stamping techniques...so you can see it AS you create.

In addition, she is assembling kits that will include all of the materials (stamps, Pure Luxury cardstock, embellishments, designer paper) that you need to recreate her projects. There will be one kit released at a time and the first one is called Floral Frenzy. If you saw my post yesterday, I used materials from the kit as well as the "thumping" technique on that card. Gina has a video tutorial on this technique on Stamp TV--check it out!

I created this little basket with the Floral Frenzy kit. I used the directions HERE to make the basket. The tag was created to mimic the designer paper. I stamped the large blossoms and then stamped the fun circles in chocolate in random places. I then stamped the little HI circle and popped it on a build a brad. This little basket is a great presentation for a spring birthday/thank you, etc.

And finally....Gina is releasing Pure Luxury in COLORS! woohooo! In the Floral Frenzy kit, you get sheets of the Pure Luxury White (layering weight and base weight); Ivory (layering weight and base weight), Chocolate Kiss (base weight); Black Onyx (base weight). Gina will be releasing the Ivory Pure luxury in the store this month, the Chocolate Kiss in March and the Black Onyx in April! This paper is fabulous! (I created the box above with the Chocolate Kiss Pure Luxury cs!)

Gina will fill you in on all the details!!! I am so excited to be a part of this venture. Gina has been working on this project for over a year and it is just so fantastic to SEE someone performing a technique. The idea to have a kit go along with the episodes is fantastic. For those who are new to stamping, you can watch along while you create the same cards as Gina. For seasoned stampers, these videos provide a nice refresher to many techniques that you might have forgotten about or may have never understood just from written directions. Go check out her blog for her BIG reveal!

You can find lots of other fabulous projects with Floral Frenzy on these dt blogs:

Joanne, Erika, Theresa, Cindy, Melanie, Emily, Jessica, Kurtis, Asela and Donna.

Thanks for stopping by!

Something *B*I*G Hint #2

I mentioned on Monday that something BIG is coming to Gina K Designs on FRIDAY...

HERE is another clue:
The materials used to make this project came from a special new product being launched tomorrow at Gina K. Designs!

Check out these rockin' blogs for more CLUES:
Joanne
Erika
Theresa
Cindy
Melanie
Emily
Jessica
Kurtis
Asela
Donna

Check out Gina's blog today and enter to win the "What's in the big brown box contest" and be sure to stop back tomorrow for the full reveal!

Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Twist Again Blog Hop

Hello! This is one stop along the MFT Let's Twist Again blog hop. If you want to start at the beginning, go to Kim's blog HERE.

Today we are showing you the newest TWISTED set from MFT--Twisted 2. Not for the faint of heart, this stamp set is twisted and oh so hilarious! Use it to say JUST the right thing... when the right thing may be SO wrong.

REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION

Twisted 2 is chock full of funtabulous sentiments that will fill a certain "void" in your stamp collection. I used one of the most mild sentiments on this card, cause that is just the kind of girl I am (giggle!)

I paired my twisted sentiment with MFT's Tote-ally Fantastic stamp set.
Twisted 2 is available now at My Favorite Things. Also new---Spring and Summer 6 by 6 paper packs. I used some of the spring collection on the card above.

Materials used: Stamps-Twisted 2, Tote-ally Fantastic (My Favorite Things); Memento black ink; cardstock-white (Pure Luxury Gina K Designs), Designer paper-Spring Collection (My Favorite Things); Copic markers; ribbon (MFT); slit punch (SU!); flourish die (Quic Kutz); adhesive dots (Mark Richards); metal adhesive dot; foam mounting tape.

The next stop on this blog trail is the AWESOME Jody!

Thanks for stopping by!

Something B*I*G.....

...is coming on Friday!

Check it out: HERE! Hint: YOU will L*O*V*E it!

CCEE Monday-Spotlighting

Hello everyone! It is Monday and time for another CCEE Challenge. This week is our CNFS challenge (Catchy Name Featured Stamper) ... we pick someone who has a catchy user name over on SCS and then we create our card around that stamper's name and send off our cards to them.This week it was Tosh's turn to select the person whose name we were going to use and she selected Michelle aka JustPaintingAround. Tosh told us that Michelle has a spotlighting style that she loved, so for our card we had to use the spotlighting technique.

Of course I was a doorbell about this challenge and couldn't figure out the spotlighting style they were referring to (I have now learned that it is Michelle's way of framing certain parts of an image!) It is awesome.

So, I created a simplistic card spotlighting the bird. All stamps are from Gina K Designs. The trees and sentiment are from Tree Silhouettes and the bird is from Home Tweet Home (illustrated by Rupa Shevde). The shimmery cardstock (Poison Ivory Curious Iridescent) is from CutCardstock.com. (Did you notice the shimmer that comes through the ink on the trees?--lovely!)

You can check out all the other amazing cards by the CCEE team HERE. Hope you will play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Elegant Cross and Gettin Dirty

I needed another sympathy card for a dear friend. I was missing my mojo for most of the week so this took me too long to make. I received a package with some GORGEOUS Mica Metallic Cardstock from PaperTemptress on Friday and I knew what I wanted to do! ETA: This cardstock is in the store! You can find it here!
I used Mica Metallic cardstock in amber, gold and cappachino. (sigh! ) You cannot see all the flecks of shimmer on this in the photo, but in real life--this just glistens.

I embossed the cross image (Elegant Cross from Rubber Stampede) on the Amber and then added some jewels and metal adhesive dots. I embossed the background stamp in gold on the cappachino and then matted the cross on scalloped oval nestabilities.


<--Here is another view of the card lying down. Materials used: Stamps-Elegant Cross (Rubber Stampede); K-Ren BG 23 (Stampa Rosa Inc); gold embossing powder; Versamark; Heat tool; Cardstock-Mica Metallic Cardstock-Amber, gold, Capachino (The PaperTemptress); Mark Richards Metal adhesive dots; Wedding jewels (The Paper Company); Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities; Spellbinders Decorative Photo corners.

****************************

Today is the 15th---and you know what that means....the new Dirty Dozen gallery is revealed on Splitcoaststampers. You can check out the gallery here if you are a fan club member. If you aren't a fan club member---what are you waiting for????


<--Here is a sneak peek of one of my creations in this months gallery! (Stamp credit-Gina K Designs)

HUGE Congratulations to the newest dirty girls---Cindy Motherway and Deborah Saaranen!!!



Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks and LOVE...

....from the bottom of my heart for all the comments and emails...I am so touched. I have been on the other side (the one who has to choose a dt) quite a few times and I know it is a VERY difficult process. Just because I wasn't selected, doesn't mean that they think I am bad...just not what they were looking for. I know that. I merely wanted to share because I know there were tons of people who were disappointed as well, and quite frankly, sometimes it does help to know there are others of us out there. It is part of this life---just keep getting back on that horse!

Hope you all have a great weekend and a happy Valentine's Day! Here is a fun Valentine I created with some Basic Grey paper and buttons I got from Eclectic Paperie. I love that store--they have tons of fun stamps and goodies--- and Joy and Daisy are the sweetest people. Eclectic Paperie was also a sponsor of my Alzheimers Heart to Heart Card drive! THANKS SO MUCH JOY AND DAISY!

I used my Scor-Pal to add the grid pattern on the brown mat. I sponged the cardstock with Riding Hood Red ink (SU!).

Have a wonderful day!



Thanks for stopping by!

*R*E*J*E*C*T*I*O*N

....no likey!
A hard topic to talk about and an even harder thing to accept. It took me a few days to decide to post about this....but I decided to because when I first started this blog I promised to post both good news and bad news.

On Monday, I found out that I did not make the finals for the Spellbinders Design team. It was a bit of a blow to my mojo but I think I have recovered now (lol!) The funny thing is that I was not going to apply, but two friends and I decided at CHA that we would give it a go....which means that we had exactly four days when we returned to get all of the application stuff together. YIPES!

I wanted to share this with you so that everyone who thinks I NEVER get rejected from anything knows that OH YES I DID! Everyone gets rejections. *Most* people only post about the good news so you don't know about the teams they don't make. If you submit to publications, you will find that rejection is more common than acceptance. (Somehow publication rejection seems easier to swallow though!)
It has been a long while since I have applied to be on a team...so I took it hard the first day but I truly think everything happens for a reason! As a sweet friend said..."something better will come along."

....And I know it will!

On the flip side, I know a few of the people who did make the first cut and I am so thrilled for them! Huge Congrats, Ladies!

*The pictures on this post were my submission pieces.

Thanks for stopping by!

Something Else to Dream About.....

Fun announcement---Yipppeeeee!!!! Stamper's Dream will now be carrying Flourishes stamps.....AND to help celebrate---the Stamper's Dream Design team is showcasing the newest Flourishes release on our blogs this week.

Today, a few of us are posting with this awesome new set called: Strut Your Stuff! I just adore the fun look of all the sentiments in this set and I have never owned a peacock stamp before---so I was lovin' this!

My first card features the beautiful peacock and the fun sentiment "Strut Your Stuff":

For my second card, I wanted to showcase another sentiment in the set which reads "live life in Color." How great is that? So....I went with some color on this one:

In addition to TONS of fabulous stamp lines, you can also find beautiful May Arts ribbon (like I used in the cards above) and pearl adhesive stickers at Stamper's Dream Store! The new Flourishes releases will be available at Stamper's Dream at 9 p.m. EST on Friday (Feb 13th)!

Check out these awesome blogs to see more Peacock fun:

Charmaine Ikach

Kimberly Crawford

Thanks for stopping by!

Blog STAR!

I had fun playing with the new Digital Girl set from My Favorite Things today! What a fun set and I just love all the sentiments that go with it....
Materials used: Stamps-Digi Girl (My Favorite Things); Cardstock/ribbon - Papertrey Ink.; punches-oval, label, circle, slit punch (SU!); Build a brad (SU!); Memento tuxedo black ink; Copic markers; flower (Prima); paper piercing tool and mat pack (SU!).

Thanks for stopping by!

KRAFTY CCEE Tag

Hello everyone! Happy Monday (again!) Time again for another CCEE challenge. This week Tosh was in charge and her challenge was a color challenge. We had to use PINK, KRAFT, and WHITE. Ugh! This was very challenging for me.

I decided to create a fun Spring tag that would be cute attached to a white gift bag for a birthday, Mother's Day or Easter.
The white cardstock is Pure Luxury and the Kraft is from Stampin' UP!. I used a piece of designer paper from Cosmo Cricket for the pink. The main image is from Gina K's Baskets of Happiness. I stamped the image twice-once on the circle and once on white cardstock that I cut out and colored with Prismacolor Pencils and Copic markers.

The bottom design is from the Martha Stewart Lace Punch. I added some Sakura Stardust pen over the flower blossoms so they sparkle. The Kraft panel behind the main image is embossed using the Cuttlebug flowers folder. I used my Spellbinders circles and scalloped circle dies to frame the main image.

Check out the fabulous creations the rest of the CCEE group created HERE. Hope you will play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Easy Peasy Faux Copper Tutorial

Enough people wanted to see how I made the embellishments on THIS scrapbook page so I created a simple tutorial. You will not believe how easy it is to make something look like faux copper. I purchased this die set (Timeless Heritage by Spellbinders) a month or two ago. I LOVE all the dies in the set and I knew that I would use it over and over again.

I played around with them a bit and ended up creating something that actually looks like faux copper. The embellishments LOOK real (but cost A TON LESS and weigh A LOT less too!)

Here is what you will need:

Dies (I used Timeless Heritage by Spellbinders)
Wizard (to cut and emboss)
Gold cardstock (I used Gold Leaf by CutCardStock.com)
Copic Marker- E29-Burnt Umber (You can use other browns and they will just make the copper appear brighter or darker but I liked the results with this one the best.)
Stampin' Up Classic Chocolate Chip marker


Cut and emboss die:

Remove the cardstock from the die and color the entire piece using the Burnt Umber marker:

Then, place the die cut back into the die and use the Chocolate Chip marker to go over the embossed areas (Basically, you are coloring all the areas that are cut out of the dies.)

Remove image from die again and whola!--a copper key. I added a little eyelet and piece of hemp just for fun. (I have a hard time just leaving anything alone!)

The key looks real. I think the KEY to this is using the gold cardstock rather than just using a copper cardstock. The Copic markers covers the gold but the gold still shines through a bit and gives this the appearance of metal. It is very cool.

These embellishements are perfect for scrapbook pages, fun tags, cards, etc. Think of all the money (and postage) you can save if you create more of your own embellishments!

If you give this a try, I would love to see it. Drop me a link and I will be sure to check it out!

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Sympathy for a Friend

As most of you may know, Gina K's father passed away last weekend. You can read about it HERE.

Although most people find it difficult to express themselves through words when there is a death--I think that cardmakers have a wonderful gift to show that person that they are thinking of them and that they are loved...

I created this card for Gina using her beautiful set called He is Risen. The sentiment is from Framed Flowers:

I kept the design pretty simple, as I do on most sympathy cards. I really wanted the cross to be the prominent message.

Here is a close up of the card. You can see the pearl accents a bit better at this angle.

The designer paper is from the Paper Studio. I used Gina K's pure Luxury for the mat and the card base. The gorgeous gold cardstock is from CutCardStock.com. They have an amazing variety of the most luxurious cardstock. (I seriously have some beautiful croygen white that I am gonna have to make myself use--it is that beautiful! Check out the curious metallic cardstock-OMW!) The beautiful ribbon is from May Arts--you can find a huge selection of May Arts at Stamper's Dream store.

Materials used: Stamps-He is Risen, Framed Flowers (Gina K Designs); Gold embossing powder; Versamark; Heat tool; Cardstock- white (Pure Luxury-Gina K Designs), dp (The Paper Studio); gold leaf (CutCardStock.com); adhesive pearls (K & Company); ribbon -May Arts; Lace corner punch (Fiskars); Scotch foam tape.

Hugs and Love to you Gina....

Thanks for stopping by!