Last of Valentine Class

This card is the last one that my Valentine Card class made. I love pink pirouette, did you know that? I really is the best pink! But sometimes is a challenge to photograph well! I meant to post yesterday, but I had kids home from school sick! My son woke me up while running on his way to the toilet...and had a "flu" bug all day. My daughter's eyes just didn't look quite right to me, and about 30 mintues after she had woken up, taken a bath, and gotten dressed she was asleep on the couch...something is definately wrong with that picture! So, I spent yesterday with sick kids, and finishing up a project for my friend's new baby. (I'll hopefully get it photographed and ready to share Monday)
I love this card. I saw this card on SCS, and knew I wanted to try it! So, I changed up the papers...and love the result! I stamped the heart stamp from the Love You Much stamp set on white and chocolate chip paper, with chocolate chip ink. Then punched them out with the three heart punch..love that thing! I also punched a few hearts from the retired hostess set bundle paper--the floral and pink polka dot patterns. The card is a pink pirouette base with a layer of the chocolate chip/pink pirouette polka dot pape. I layered the hearts, along the seam of the paper, and then tied a pink pirouette ribbon. The "Be Mine" is from the long retired (but one of my favorites for Valentine's Day still!) set Fancy Flexible Phrases. That was stamped in chocolate chip ink.

So, there you have it folks! A quick and fun Valentine, but think of maybe party hats (instead of hearts) for a birthday card, or just circles for any sentiment at all...fun layout to be used again and again!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you are all healthy and having a great day!

Valentine Class part 2

So, here are a couple more valentines that we made at my class yesterday. I was thinking of a little something for my kids...so these are a little holder for a small treat. I admit that this was my first time using one of the sticky cut shapes...SO fun! I'm glad I've been hoarding them...I'm excited to use them again!

The little holder started with a 5 1/4x8 1/2 piece of baja breeze paper. I scored each piece at 2 3/4 and 6 1/4 and then folded into this little holder. For the outside, we gave our piece of white cardtstock a cute scallop with the scallop edge punch. We layered that under the piece of pink designer paper(retired level 3 hostess set paper). The sticky cut heart, we put on a piece of ww cardstock, applied some of the fine cosmo glitter, and fell in love!! We used a pair of scalloped scissors to make a little "doily" around the heart. The heart was attached with dimensionals. The ribbon was the last detail, it hold the top flap closed, and can slide off the card, to open. For the inside, we used the scallop edge punch again and then some sticky strip on the edges of the flap, to hold it securly. Then the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment from Hugs and Wishes was stamped in chocolate chip ink.

This is the more boy version of the same type of treat holder. We started with a bashful blue base. A strip of so saffron and washington apple designer paper. The scallop was made by stamping the scalloped image from Love you much 3 times, once in riding hood red on riding hood red paper, once in bashful blue ink on white, and then a third time on white with riding hood red ink. We used the scallop circle punch to punch out the riding hood red scallop, 1 3/8" cicrlce punch to punch the bashful blue center out, and cut the heart from the riding hood red image, then put them all together!:) We used dimensionals to attach it, and the closed the holder up with riding hood red ribbon. The bottom of the card was stamped with the "xoxo" from fundamental phrases.

Inside, we put a strip of washington apple designer paper and stamped with Happy Valentine's Day!

These went together really quick and everyone had fun making them....and you've got a bundle of options as to what to put inside!

Thanks for stopping by today friends! I appreciate it so much! Have a great one!:)

Love

I am so happy...I received my new catalog today! Yes, I've been browsing online, but it's NOTHING like holding that beautiful publication! It was SO fun to sit and fall in love with great products! And, let's just say I can't wait to get my first order....I'm SO excited!! The catalog is fantasic. If you haven't held one yet, you need to!! Send me a mail and we'll get you taken care of...you definately need one!! On another note, I had a valentine card making class this morning. It was so fun! I was so excited to share what I had for my friends to create...they made me feel so good! This card might be one of my favorites lately...just so clean and simple! I think this will be the valentine my husband receives at his place setting at our valentine breakfast!
So, super simple, and quick. However, because the design of this stamp is so great....the image does well alone! So, I stamped the birds in basic brown, on white cardstock. I stamped them again on patterned paper (the retired hostess bundle from the fall/winter catalog) and cut them out and attached to the card. Some of the girls today used dimensionals to attache the bird bodies...cute too! Then I stamped love from fundamental phrases with basic brown as well. This am I taught my friends how to use the STAMJ....it is one of my favorite tools...don't be afraid of it! It makes perfect placement so much easier to create! They did use it, but will need a little more practice before it is their favorite tool;). I mounted the white layer of cardstock on a baja breeze card, and then was done!

This proved to be among the favorites...it made me happy!! Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll share the rest of what we made with you tomorrow...hope you have a wonderful one!!

Tea Time

I hope you are all doing well! I've had a sick baby...not sick enough to go to the dr. but sick enough not to be herself! She needed to held a lot this week, and while I'm not complaining at all(I love holding her!) it kept me from getting some planned things finished! She has also decided that she needs to be using the computer at all times. She has discovered the beautiful sound of the keyboard...and does everything in her power to get some typing in daily! It is so funny! But, yep, it keeps me from sitting at the computer! So, it is with high hopes for a better feeling week!
I think you all know how much I love the new LAD tea time stamp set, right? I think it is so fun! I just found a new tea pot for myself Friday, I'll share it soon...with a fun pot on my card to match! Ok, so I love the color combination of this paper...it is just happy defined for me. Pumpkin pie, chocolate chip, regal rose...delious!!

I started with my tea pot. I stamped it on white, then stamped it again on a piece of designer paper and paper pieced it. Then, cut the pot out and mounted on my regal rose circle. I used my nestabilities for my circle and scalloped circle. I added a bit of shimmerz to the handle and spout of my tea pot and a dew drop on the lid. I layerd some Sweet Always designer paper on my pumpkin pie card and then tied it up with some striped pumpkin pie ribbon. The get well soon sentiment is from LAD's new release as well. I stamped it and then used my window word punch to punch it out. The last detail on this card were the three little dew drops in the bottom right corner...just a bit of fun!!

I hope you are all healthy and happy! We've been fighting the yucky cold for weeks and I think we're all finally feeling better! Here's to hoping!! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope your weekend is great!!

You're My Cup of Tea!

I love this new LAD stamp set Tea Time! I've had a lot of fun playing with it the last few weeks! This card was made to follow Kristina's Last color challenge--pretty in pink, pumpkin pie, ruby red, and whisper white. I had this little pumpkin oval sitting on my desk...and now it has a home! I think I'll be making up some little somethings with this sentiment...I LOVE it!! With Valentine's Day around the corner, it is a really fun way to tell someone you love them! And yes, a fun little tea bag...it's a fun project!
So, the card is ruby red. The pretty in pink layer was run through the Big Shot with my swiss dots embossing folder. The sentiment was stamped in chocolate chip ink, and punched out with my wide oval punch. The flower is a paperish one from American Crafts--and the brad in the middle is a ruby red one from SU.

I love having little notes to pass on to friends as I need them..so this little cup of tea sentiment is going to get some good use!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I appreciate it! I'm sorry for the late post...but my little Ruby has just gotten to the stage (11 months old) that she LOVES the computer, so me being on the computer and getting anything done is just not happening in her waking hours!! Thanks for being patient with me!

Did you see the new Stampin' Up! catalog....Delicious!!! I can't wait to get my hands on it...it's on it's way...it just takes a while over the many waters!! Have a great day!!

LAD Sketch

So, I'm "on time" with the LAD sketch this week! Yea! I think this sketch is a super versatile sketch, and one that can be used again and again. Tricia challenged us to use "non traditional" stamps to make this valentine card. I chose to use the Tea Time stamps for the challenge. I wanted to make a few little cards to slip into my kids lunch boxes/etc. starting Feburary 1, so I'm working on little cards. So, my card is a 3x3 square.

My card began with a pretty in pink 3x3 card and a layer of designer paper from the Love You Much bundle. I used my trusty scallop edge punch along the bottom of my designer paper for a fun little border! I stamped the tea cup on pretty in pink paper and again on the designer paper with brunt umber palette ink. I cut the tea cup out of the designer paper and then glued it to the pink paper, so my cup had the same fun pattern as the card. I used my 1 1/4" squre punch(pretty in pink) and my scalloped square(chocolate chip) punches for the little squares. I stamped my sentiment and added 3 little 1/4" circles to the strip and attached it to the card.

Did you mom ever put notes in your lunch box? I know that it will make my little girls day...I'm not sure about my son, but I know for sure Lucy will love the little love notes!!

I hope you have a wonderful day...thanks so much for stopping by!! Oh, and by the time most of you get this...it will be just hours away until the 2009 Sping/Summer Stampin' Up! catalog goes "live"!!! I'm trying SO hard to be patient!!! Have a great one!!

Shrinky Dink...

I was thinking last night as I was going to bed, 'I wonder where my package of shrinky dink' paper is? I got up and found it today. Stampin' Up! used to carry it in the catalog and I've got clear, white and black sheets to use! I decided to work on my LAD sketch today. I acutally have another card...but it wasn't happening...if you know what I mean. I like this card MUCH better! So, here is my offering on LAD sketch 61. I used one of my favorite of the new release stamp sets, Damask....it is so great looking!! So, I started this card with my shrinky dink. I got my white "paper" out and stamped the leaf image with timber brown stazon. I punched a coule of holes with my 1/4" circle punch and then got out my heat tool! I heated it and just giggled as I watch the image dance around and then finally lay flat and be all done! (My daughter is waiting for me patienly so we can make her some "buttons" to use on her valentine cards....fun! ) You can cook your shrinky dinks, but it is WAY faster to just use a heat tool...careful not to burn you or your paper!! But if you can emboss, you can do this too. So, after it had cooled a little, I added my chocolate chip ribbon and set it aside to await it's turn!

My card is a chocolate chip base, then a layer of baja breeze. I used the damask image again and stamped it in baja breeze in on whisper white cardstock. I attached a strip of 5/8" chocolate chip ribbon, and just fell in love again with these beautiful colors!! They are VERY Jeni! So, next I pulled out my Far East stamps for the Thanks so much sentiment. I stamped it in baja breeze ink. Next I used my nestabilities and Big Shot to cut the white, baja and chocolate rectangles. And now time for the little Damask button to find it's spot! I attached it with dimensionals for a little lift...and there you have it!!

I'm sure that the shrinky dinks will be around for a few days...having lots of fun and getting lots of ideas!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Hope you have a great day!!

Love Birds

I love Valentine's Day so much! I have sweet memories of my mom making every single Valentine's Day very special. We'd wake up to a wonderful breakfast. Of course everything was red/pink/white...We would have a special valentine small giftie on our plate, accompanied with a sweet card written on by both my mom and dad...love those love notes! Then, we'd have a valentine chocolate heart with our name on it...mine were usually like an andees mint...delicious!! The table was always set all fancy and often times we ate by candle light! We usually had belgin waffles with strawberries and whipping cream or ice cream! The juice would always be some fun blend of delicousness...pink or red for sure!! It was SO fun to have a special day to share how much we loved each other...what a sweet holiday!! I'm hoping that my kids will look back with fondness as I try to emulate my memories of the special day!!

So, yes, I've got a stack of special notes of love to share...and my kids are excited to send some mail to their grandparents and cousins! This card was made with products from the Love You Much bundle that stampin' up! has offered demonstrators and customers--before the actual catalog comes out--how fun is that!? I've been using it quite a bit..and really having a fun time. I've decided that I really like these birds. They are so fun! I paper-pieced them to get a polka dot and stripe body( which means: I stamped the image on my pink pirouette paper first, then stamped it on the polka dot paper, then on the striped paper, cut the birds out, and attached them to my pink pirouette paper). The card base is riding hood red. I layered my pink pirouette paper over the riding hood red. I added a scalloped edged strip and than a little stripe strip(try saying that 10 times fast:)). I stamped the Happy Valentines Day sentiment in chocoalte chip ink-the sentiment is from the Holidays & Wishes stamp set. The birds have a little red heart between them--I used the 3 heart punch to punch the smallest of the three and it fit perfectly between these little love birds!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are having a great week! See you tomorrow!

Color Challenge 201 and Sketch 211

I had a different card to share for today, but I just kept thinking, 'nope, that one isn't doing it for me!' So, when I saw the new Sketch Challenge on SCS, I decided to give the color combination another go! So, Here is my take on CC201 and SC211. I am much happier with this card...do any of you ever have that happen...a card that just does NOT work...like you wanted it to? I hope I'm not alone!!

So, the colors, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, and Kraft. I was excited to get to use my new SU petal pizzazz set. It is one that SU demos had a chance to pre-order from the new catalog...which is just days away!! I have to be honest, that is a very challenging thing to be missing! I look forward so much to the new catalogs...I'll have to see it go live online...not in my little hands...but my sweet mom is going to get it to me as soon as she has it in her hands. Anyway, back to the card at hand!

My card is the infamous baja breeze...with strips of not quite navy and baja breeze designer paper. I ran the piece of kraft through my Big Shot using my swiss dots embossing folder. I added a little band of baja breeze ribbon to the kraft layer and attached it to my card. I stamped my big flower image in baja breeze ink and then stamped the thank you from thank you kindly, in not quite navy ink. I cut the image out-I debated cutting or not, and while I don't think I'll cut the large flower often, I am glad I decided to cut! I then stamped the two smaller flowers in not quite navy and baja breeze-the punched them out with my 1 1/4" circle punch. My 1 3/4" circle punch gave them both perfect mats and then I used my paper piercing tool to punch a little hole for the not quite navy brads. I attached my main flower image with dimensionals and then added the little flowers.

I am really excited that I've been accomplishing so many challenges as of late. I think it really does help your "juices" to get going when you challenge yourself! So, with that said, I'm off to work on another challenge...to share tomorrow!

Thanks so much for stopping by...I hope you have a great Wednesday! I've had some requests to share some of our photos from our trip to Rome--so here are just a couple! I'll add a couple more tomorrow too...

Happy Wednesday!!

Mojo Monday (well...Tuesday)

I am really excited about the new Mojo Monday Blog! I've been a fan of Julee Tilman's sketches for quite some time, but I have kind of been "shy" and not participated by linking and such, but I've been playing along! So, now that she's got a Mojo Monday Blog, I decided that I am going to play along as often as I can. So, with all that said, Mojo Monday 68.
The main image of my card is the new "love tatoo" from LAD. I stamped it in burnt umber palette ink and colored it in with my SU markers--real red and old olive. I used my nestabilites(yea!!) and cut the ww circle and embossed it, then cut the old olive circle too. For the card, I started with a white base, layerd some old olive paper-from the summer pic-nic designer paper packet. The real red is also from the summer pic-nic pack. I just layered the red over the olive, and then added an old olive ribbon across the paper seam. I attached the stamped image with dimensionals and then got punchy for the little brads across the bottom. I used my 3/4" circle punch and punched 3 old olive circles, then punced 3 different old olive patterns with my 1/2" circle punch. I used my build-a-brad brads and am really happy with the outcome!

I'm getting my valentine pile underway...I've got to get them out early so they will make it to the states on time! I'll be back to share tomorrow with my take on the color challenge 201 on SCS.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!!

Kristin'a Color Challenge #37

I really loved the colors that Kristina chose for her color challenge last week...I had the card done Thursday, but then a busy weekend kept me from sharing! I love Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive...they are probably my most "go to" colors. I was really excited to use them all together!

I started with my sentiment. It is one of the new simply single stamps from LAD's new realease. It is a great "get well" sentiment and I don't have any of those in my collection! So, I stamped it in old olive ink and then ran it through the Big Shot with my rectangle nestabilities(i love them!). I layered it on a piece of chocolate chip that had been through the Big Shot with a scalloped nestabilities--embossed too. Then I ran my baja breeze piece of cardstock through the Big Shot with the swiss dots embossing folder...I love that folder! I simply love the dimension and "feel" that the polka dots give the paper...SO fun! So, I mounted that on a white card and then tied the Old Olive ribbon round. I used my Flower Fusion felt flowers from SU for a nice "feeling" accent. I used my a rhinestone brad for a flashy centerpiece!

I'm excited for someone to get sick...ha ha ha! Now that I have a great sentiment to wish them well, right!?

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Deep Cleaning!

I know that spring cleaning isn't officialy in "season" yet, but don't you feel the need in January? I've really been feeling it...and I love the results! I love having a place for everything and everything in it's place! So, I've been cleaning my desk off and have found several cards that just didn't make "it" when I started them. I also had a bunch of pieces that I didn't really want to throw away, but were just waiting around for a job! So, here is one of the cards that came together from those pieces/cards!
I had the chocolate chip card layered with saffron and whisper white, and the chocolate ribbon. Then there was nothing. The circles and star were punches sitting in a crazy stack on the side of my desk in "things that need to be used" pile. I played a little with placement of the circles...and then added a star...and I really like it! I used a rub-on from the chit chat rubon set from SU--which I happen to LOVE! It was longer that I had space for, so I just cut it into the 3 words, and added them one at a time to my star. I love that rub-ons are so easy to use! I'm excited to see what new sets are in the new catalog!!

I love the newness of January...I'm starting to feel organized again...it stresses me out to have messes/disarray so it is very calming for me! I've gone through closets, donated toys, clothes and such to a refugee camp...it feels good to find people who need things that I don't need anymore! I'm working on my resolves to be better...I've said it once but I'll say it again, "Yea! for January!"

I hope you had a great weekend and are ready for a new week! I'll be back with more fun...see you soon!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Friday!

Don't you love Friday!? I've been so productive today--I love those days! I was "deep cleaing" my work space and I feel so much better about sitting down to work now! My last few months have gone really fast--I had a load of work to do for the Chirstmas market I did, then my brother came into town, I didn't really got all back to normal while he was here...I did a lot of work, but never took the time to really organize after putting away after the Chirstmas market! Now, he is gone(sniff, sniff, yea, he left yesterday--he was here for a whole month! It was dreamy for sure!) and I've got to get myself organized!

I had a plie of new stamps from Lizzie Anne! Run, don't walk, over to their site if you haven't seen the stamps that are being released today...seriously, that are awesome!!! So, I've got a few samples to share! I'll have more to share in the next week, so stay tuned! This first card is using the Damask stamp set. I love it! I used a white card base and then toped it with a layer of Kiwi Kiss. I stamped a could of the Damask images with Kiwi Kiss ink on the Kiwi paper. After I had stamped them I used some olive "shimmerz" to give them a little bit of shimmer. The way the light caught this photo shows it a bit shiny, but it is beautiful! It really is even toned....and just looks elegant! I stamped the image from the Far East stamp set, in Kiwi Ink, and then used my large oval punch to punch it out. My wide oval punch went to work in the Baja Breeze paper...and created a nice mat for my sentiment. The last touch on this card was the Baja Breeze ribbon...I Love this color so much!! This next card is made with the So Much Love stamp set. It is one that was designed by one of the members of our design team, Josyln. I love this set too!! I can't wait to get going on my Valentine's Day needs! So, I stamped the flower heart image with burnt umber palette ink, on a Kraft card. I colored in the hearts with my Real Red SU stampin' write marker. I used my white gel pen(from SU) to fill in a few flower centers and give the little daisy flowers white petals. I then stmamped the sentiment, that is part of this super cute set! I added a little white border, with the help of the scallop edge punch and my white gel pan. The finishing touch, was my Real Red 5/8" grosgrain ribbon. I have to share, my 4 year old daughter saw this card and said in her most serious way "Mommy, you are SO good at making beautiful cards!" Yep, it made my day.
So, I had to make a card for her, my most loyal of fans! This new little super hero is known as a simply single as Supergirl! Isn't she to die for! My daughter loves to play super heros withher brother...and I love it! They dress up, fly around the house...and it makes me so happy! So, when I saw that LAD was releasing this little beauty, I knew she had to be mine! My daughter has thought of several projects for me to create with Supergirl, and notebook is #1 she informed me!:)

So, onto the card! I used the Mojo68 sketch for this little lady. I started by stamping Supergirl in palette black ink on Whisper White cardstock. I then colored her with my Real Red and Pumpkin Pie, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom and Sahara Sand stampin' write markers. I painted the pumpkin pie with a little bit of pumkin "shimmerz" and gave her a little bit of glam! My daughter really loved that aspect! Next I used my Labels 1 nestabilites and cut the whisper white and a real read mat. My card is a Real Red base and a layer of pumpkin pie polka-dot paper, from the Summer Picnic set. The strip of designer paper across the bottom is also from the Summer Picnic set. Real Red 1/4" grosgrain hit the scene and then came the stars! I used my large star and smaller star punches for some cute accents. Then I stamped my "you're a star" sentiment in palette black ink onto pumpkin pie and cut it out with my small oval punch. The sentiment comes from the Out of This World stamp set. I attached the large red star with dimensionals and then we were finished! Isn't she cute! I can see much more fun with Supergirl and Superman!
This last card is one using the Hoppy Easter single. I stamped the bunny (and sentiment too) in black palette ink onto Pink Pirouette paper. I colored the bunny with my white gel pen and the egg got a little bling with my glitter roll pen. I used my nestabilities(yea!) to cut and emboss the pink oval and also the Baja Breeze oval. Then I ran my Kiwi Kiss layer through the Big Shot with my Swiss Dots embossing folder! I'm so excited to get start getting some mileage out of that great embossing folder!! I wrapped the Pink Pirouette Ribbon around the embossed Kiwi Kiss, then I mounted it all on a Pink Pirouette card. I'm not quite ready to start making Easter cards, I don't think I even know when it is! Valentine's Day first!:)

Thanks for stopping by today! I really appreciate it! In my cleaning I found some unmounted stamp sets...so I feel some blog candy coming!! Stay tuned friends!

Love You Much

I've had the "Love You Much" bundle from Stampin' Up! for about a month, but due to a wonderful holiday and lots of great memory making, this week is the first time these cuties have seen ink! I'm sure many of you know about the Stampin' Up! promotion-this "bundle" is exciting because it is full of products from the new catalog! You have the chance to pre-order it as a bundle through January 31st. If you need one, yes do you, I'd be happy to help you out there!

The bundle incluedes a stamp set, 3 heart punch, and some great paper. The I already {heart} the heart punch! (So does my 4 year old daughter!)

So, here is my first Valentine of 2009! The colors of the paper are vanilla, pink pirouette, close to cocoa and riding hood red. I started with a close to cocoa card and lined it with a very sweet stripe from the love you much bundle. I used the scallop edge punch for a little riding hood red scallop across the middle and then layered a pink pirouette polka dot strip over the scallop. I used my vanilla grosgrain for my ribbon. Using the great heart stamp I stamped them in close to cocoa on vanilla paper. I punched them out and then a few other colors too...and those are what I used for the little heart strip above the ribbon. I used a little dazzling diamonds glitter and 2-way glue on the stamped hearts for a little 'pa-zaz!' The happy valentines day sentiment came from the 'Holidays and Wishes' stamp set. I used my Chocolate Chip stamp'n'write marker to ink the Happy, then cleaned the stamp and inked the Valentines Day so it would fit in my large oval punch. I then mounted it on a pink pirouette polka dot wide oval.

I've got several more Valentines to make...don't you love sending Valentines? I think it is so great to tell my friends and family how much I love them! What a wonderful holiday!

I was really brave today. I've been patiently(well, not so patient...but I tired!) awaiting my new stamps from Lizzie Anne! I wanted to participate in the sneak peeks of the new stamps that will be avaliable tomorrow! So, today in my mailbox I had a slip that told me my package was at the customs office! That is just a scary place for me--I've only had to go one other time and it wasn't so pretty!:) Anyway, I knew that I'd have to be brave and get my stamps! I had a much better experience today...and the whole shabang only took me 30 minutes! So, I've got some new samples that I can share tomorrow...so be sure to check in! This stamp release for LAD is my favorite one..and I think all the other design team have been saying that as well, lots of fun!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day!!

Ghost Flowers

I've had a little stash of Heidi Swap "Ghost Flowers" for about a month and I've been thinking of how I wanted to use them. This card started as one of many "thank you" cards needed for my birthday and Christmas. I took a peek at the ghost flowers and knew it was their day to shine!
I love the way the flowers feel...so smooth! Ok, so this card is a chocolate chip base. The designer paper is from SEI and it is an embossed paper..the gray outlines are embossed and raised up...it feels so delicious! The little gray strip above the chocolate chip taffeta ribbon is the backside of the larger design. I tied my ribbon and put a mini glue dot under the knot, to keep it in place. Then I used my paper piercing tool to make a hole in the flower and added a rhinestone brad from my pretties kit. I used my craft and rubber scissors to cut the prongs of the brad so they aren't visible through the flower. Another mini glue dot secured the brad to the knot of my choclate chip ribbon. The last step of this card was the "thank you" rubon...yep, it's from the 'Hand Drawn" level 3 hostess set.

Oh, Lizzie Anne is having a few seek peeks this week, gearing up for their new release on Friday! If you haven't been to the new company blog, you can find it here. The design team has been sharing some of their work...fun, fun, fun!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a great day!!

A little note of thanks...

So, I had some scraps on my desk. I was cleaning up and putting away and the way this little strip of red polka dot paper(from American Crafts) was sitting, I had a little thought and this little note was born. I am really happy to say that this card also challenged me on one of my new year "goals" to use and stop hoarding all the things I love but don't use! I have these beautiful buttons in the "In Colors" from Stampin' Up! and yippy for them they finally got to come out of the box!

I love this color combination! Kraft is a color that I think is just one of my favorites. I know it doesn't make it's way onto the stage near as often as it should...it's just such a great color! So, a craft card received a strip of Baja Breeze cardstock, then a strip of the red polka dot paper on top. I used my hobby blade to slit the card along the fold, and then again at the end of my strip of baja breeze. The ribbon is none other than the beatufiul baja breeze stripped ribbon. I added the rub-on and fell in love! The rub-on came from the level 3 hostess bundle from the new catalog..."hand drawn"...I love it! I really love the font of these rub-ons...they really do look like handwriting. Then the last detail on this note was my buttons. I just used mini glue dots to place a few of them around.

I had a couple of questions about my nestabilities. I just got them and am no expert-but I have had some fun!

So for "Laurie in MN". On the card in the previous post, I used the "small scallop circle" set. For those of you that aren't familiar with nestabilites, there are about 6 dies in each "set". I got the small and large sets to start with, but I think you'd be fine with either (small or large) of them to begin your collection.

Another question was do you need anything special to use nestabilites with your Big Shot. The answer is yes and no.:) If you just want to use the dies to cut -and not emboss-you don't need anything special, your mulitpurpose platform, acrylic cutting mats and a few pieces of cardboard/chipboard(to get the tension just right) are all you need. If you'd like to emboss with your dies, you will need something in addition to your basic Big Shot supplies. I purchased a Sizzix Textures Starter Kit from scrapbook.com (which is on sale right now for 15.99). It comes with 6 texture plates and a silicone rubber mat. The silicone rubber mat can be used to emboss your nestabilites. I thought that as long as I was going to spend the $ to buy a mat, I might as well get some texture plates too, right? They have proved to be fun...I'll show and tell soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope that you are having a great 2009! My kids go back to school tomorrow...they'll be happy to have their "schedule" again...me too! Although, I do have to admit that I LOVE having them home from school! Have a great day friends!!

Raspberry Tart Paper...

So, I love this new designer paper from Stampin' Up! It is called Raspberry Tart and will make it's appearance in the new Stampin' Up! Spring-Summer catalog! It is a delicous set of paper..really, and I'm not the biggest cameo coral fan out there...but with this combination, I can see myslef needing to order another pack of Cameo Coral!

As I was needing a bit of assistance in getting myself going, I started with this sketch from 2sketches4you(link in the blogs I love to the right). This is Laura's #16 sketch. This color combination might start being among my favorites. Isn't that wonderful that a beautiful set of paper can help you jump out of your "color comfort zone" and branch out?! Yea for those wonderful designers!
The card base is Kiwi Kiss...isn't it the most delicous green ever!? I worked on the ww and raspberry tart layers before I attached them to the card front. I attached my coral stripe of paper on the left hand side of the card first. Next, I wanted to have my kiwi kiss ribbon not show all the way accross, so I used my hobby blade to cut a slit in the raspberry/ww layer and then tied it up with a nice knot. I then attached my designer paper circle, which received it's shape from my trusty 1 3/4" circle punch. My "thanks" was stamped in kiwi kiss ink and the thanks is from the 'thank you kindly' stamp set. I used my 1 3/4" circle punch and punched my "thanks" and got it all ready to mount on my cameo coral scalloped circle. For my scalloped circle, I used my new fun birthday present...nestabilities! I've finally "given in" and started my fun using these great dies! My Big Shot is a great friend of the nestabilities, and worked like a charm! I used the sallop circle die to cut the cameo coral first, then ran it through again to emboss the scallop...love!! Some dimensionals came to the ready to give the the embossed scallop a little lift. The last detail was the 3 little 1/4" circle punches.

I really enjoyed working with this sketch and can see it as being one that I refer back to often! If you haven't checked out the 2sketches4you blog yet, go for it, it's great!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all have a great day!

Happy New Year!

Hello friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic time welcoming in 2009! Thanks to those well wishes I received...we did have a wonderful time in Rome! We also stopped in Florence on our way home. We enjoyed delicious food...oh, it was SO good! The "things to see" list is fantastic and we were able to really enjoy the beauty of these places....it was GREAT!

Don't you love January!? I always find my self really looking forward to the "new" of a new year year- new beginning, organization, goals, etc.! I always look forward to evaluating my life and what is most important and getting myself "back" to what I really want and need to be doing...yea for January!

So, I've been away from my stampin' spot for a while and it felt so good to get a little creative juices flowing in my veins today! I looked a few sketches for inspiration today...so here is number one! I got the sketch for this card today from caardvarks. There is always enough inspiration on that blog to jump start my juices! The link here should take you right to the blog. I have been really excited to use some of my Stampin' Up! products! The new catalog is just days away now(january 18th to be exact) and I can't wait!! I was able to preorder some fun things...you'll be so excited!! The paper and little flower stamp used on this card come from a level 3 hostess set in the new catalog. I love this bundle, paper, stamps and rub-ons!

So for my card, baja breeze(oh, how I love that color!) old olive, riding hood red, and the paper called 'hand drawn'. The brown flower stamp is also part of the hostess set bundle, I stamped it with chocoalte chip ink, punched it out with a 1" circle punch, then mounted it on a 1 1/4" cirlce punch of riding hood red. The old olive flower is a die cut flower. I mounted the flower on the card with dimensinals. The kindness stamp is from the 'define your life' stamp set. It was stamped in chocoalte chip ink, mounted on a riding hood red layer and then mounted on the card. I busted out some of my button stash today...yea for buttons! (and meeting the goal of using all the things I love, not hoarding or "saving them"!:)

So, this one was a quick and simple thank you. I need a load of thank you cards to send from a wonderful outpouring of love to our family this holiday season...what a great reason to sit and stamp!

I hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll be back with more new goodies...stay tuned!:)