Pumpkins & Broomsticks

I am not a Halloween fan. I don't decorate my home for Halloween (other than carving a pumpkin) or throw lavish parties. Sure, we'll dress up the kids and take them out trick-or-treating to a few neighborhood homes, but that's pretty much the extent of it. When the cooler weather hits, my thoughts turn to Christmas.

SO, when the new catalogue comes out, I usually just skim over the Halloween stuff. Of course, every so often a set will jump out at me that I just HAVE to have. One of the sets I've already mentioned is the Greeting Card Kids. I just fell in love with those adorable little children! One of the stamps in the set is a little witch and is not one I would have purchased had the stamps been available individually (even though she IS adorable). Of course, when I buy a new set, I try to use each image at least once. SO, last night I decided to sit down and stamp a Halloween card. It will most likely be the ONLY Halloween card I stamp this year! ;)

The original colors I'd planned to use were Basic Black & Pumpkin Pie. When I started watercoloring the little girl's dress, I decided I didn't want to go with a traditional black, so decided to try blue instead. 

I stamped and colored her twice and used dimentionals to pop her up off the pumpkin a bit. A little sponging and some paper piercing helped finish it off.

I tore the bottom edge and embossed the Always Artichoke cardstock with my Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and sponged over the top a bit with my Early Espresso classic ink. This helped make the embossed areas pop a bit more.  I then layered that over a piece of Early Espresso cardstock I'd punched with my Scallop Edge Border Punch.

I absolutely love that we now carry twill tape on a spool and dressed it up with a little 1/8" Early Espresso taffeta ribbon and a clear rhinestone brad.

What do you think?  Hope you like it!

Happy Stamping!

Stamps:  Greeting Card Kids, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie (textured & smooth), Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

Ink: Pacific Point Classic, Pumpkin Pie Classic, Early Espresso Classic, Sahara Sand Classic, Blush Blossom Stampin' Write Marker

Accessories: 3/8" Twill Tape, 1/8" Early Espresso Taffeta Ribbon, Clear Rhinestone Brad, Stampin' Dimensionals

Fun Tools: Big Shot, Top Note Die, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Paper Piercer & Mat Pack, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Sponge Daubers, Aqua Painter, Paper Snips

A KISS Card

I have a difficult time making simple cards. Sounds ridiculous, right? But it's true! I always want to keep adding additional layers, embellishments or techniques! A fellow demonstrator used the term "KISS" (Keep It Simple Sweetie) for some of her cards and so I thought I would challenge myself and make a KISS card.

I wanted to use another new set I recently purchased called Pedaling Past from our current Holiday Mini catalogue. I loved the little tricycle as soon as I saw it. :)

Here's my card: (Click the image for a closer peek)

Wouldn't this make an adorable card for a new little baby boy?  I wrapped the top with some of our linen thread and added a small knot using a piece of our twill tape.  I could have stamped or even dyed the twill tape, but I was supposed to keep this one simple, so I left it as is. ;)

The tricycles are stamped using our Crumb Cake & Marina Mist Classic ink and the cardstock is Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.

The "Congratulations" is from the set Well Scripted which I realized after I used it that it's no longer available!  It was in our Occasions Mini from a few months ago.  Oops.  There are a few current sets that could easily replace that stamp such as Curly Cute or A Word for You.  Both sets are available in wood or clear mount.

Happy Stamping!

Fee fi fo...film?

With the wet weather outside, I knew I wouldn't be leaving the house today, so I wanted to spend some time in my craft room. I pulled out a brand new set I'd received as a gift from Stampin' Up! that I hadn't used yet. It's the hostess set called Because I Care. 

This is an exclusive hostess-only stamp set that is not available for purchase, but can be earned FREE with a qualifying party.  If you'd like the opportunity to earn this set, give me call!

Once again I was browsing the Mojo Monday blog for inspiration and came across a sketch from May.

When I saw the color blocks, I remembered an awesome technique I'd learned at one of the demonstrator get-togethers I'd been to.  It's called the Faux Filmstrip technique.  I thought it would work perfectly for this card sketch.   Originally I had something super bright and whimsical in mind, but when I started pulling colors together, my idea changed.  This is what I came up with.  Click the image for a closer peek.

I am SO happy with the results!  I used one of our flower designer brads on the ribbon and one of our new self-adhesive rhinestones to add a little extra sparkle. 

It may be hard to see, but I used our textured Rich Razzleberry cardstock for the first layer.  I absolutely LOVE the look of an image stamped on textured cardstock - it just has a slightly aged/vintage look to it.


The film strip is just a strip of our Basic Black cardstock and punched along each side with our spiral punch and then three Whisper White blocks punched with our 1-1/4" square punch!  So simple!  Can't you just see this on a scrapbook page using photos instead of white blocks?  How adorable would that be!

If you try your hand at this technique, I'd love to see what you come up with!

Happy Stamping!

Finding my Mojo!

If you're like me, every now and then you need a bit of inspiration to jump start your stamping. I've been feeling in a bit of a stamping slump the past couple weeks, but when I rediscovered a fabulous blog that I'd completely forgotten about, I got that jump start I needed and couldn't wait to ink up some stamps!

This blog is called Mojo Monday and each week a new card sketch is posted. This is the sketch for this week:

As soon as I saw this weeks sketch I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I popped into my office this evening and stamped away!  I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.  You can click the image for a closer peek!

It's a simple design, but that can be a good thing!  I used my clear mount Elements of Style stamp set.  I just love that set.  Of course I had to use my Big Shot for something - I used my Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder to emboss the Old Olive layer.  LOVE how quick and simple it is!  I popped up a couple flowers for some added dimension and used my mat pack and paper piercer to pierce the entire edge of Whisper White for some added texture.  The flowers and leaves are colored with my Stampin' Write Markers.  Love it!

Let me know if you have any questions or if you decide to give this card sketch a try as well.  I'd love to see what you come up with!

Happy stamping!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

My "baby" girl turned 2 today and to celebrate we had a very small birthday celebration at home. Of course I had to scrap some of the pictures we took as soon as the party guests had left. ;)

This is a double page layout I did in My Digital Studio.  Click the image for a closer peek.

WOW, my style has certainly changed since her 1st birthday that I digitally scrapped! ;)  I absolutely love the ease of digital scrapbooking! I don't know HOW many times I changed my mind on this project when it came to paper choices, picture sizes and ribbon colors! Of course, I didn't end up with any wasted product when my "choices" didn't work out. Love it. ;)

To coordinate everything, I'd made my party invitation AND my little thank you note (which I attached to the kids goodie bags) in My Digital Studio as well.

It was SO simple and quick.  I just can't get enough of this software! :)

Happy Stamping!

Shabby Chic or Flea Market Flop?

Every so often I'll sit down to stamp with a definite idea in mind for a particular project.  There are times where it turns out NOTHING like I planned!

This happened to me last night. I sat down to create a card for my "baby's" 2nd birthday this coming weekend and knew I wanted to use my new stamp set "Greeting Card Kids". I fell in love with the set as soon as I saw it and added it to my wish list.

What I had in mind was a vintage theme card.  I wanted old, worn, and cute!  I used some of our new Cherry Cobbler cardstock along with Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White.  I embossed the white background with my Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and Big Shot and added some sponging.  I punched out the flowers and added some of our new self-adhesive Rhinestone jewels to the center of them. 

I stamped the image in Early Espresso and watercolored it with my watercolor crayons, added some dazzling diamonds glitter to her hair bow, bottom of her dress and little heart she's holding.

Hum...when I was finished with it....I wasn't sure if I liked it or not!  What do you think?  Is it Shabby Chic or just a Flea Market Flop!

Happy Stamping!

Extra, Extra Hostess Promotion

From July 27-August 31 hostesses can earn an extra $35 in free merchandise when they host a workshop totaling $450 or more.  Stampin' Up! already offers great hostess benefits and now you can earn even more!


To take advantage of this special offer, contact me to schedule your very own workshop. 

Don't think you know enough people?  I love to offer workshops for smaller groups of even 4 or 5 people.  Don't have the space?  I am always happy to open my own home and stamping studio for you to hold your workshop.

Give me a call!

Happy Stamping!