For The Boys

For today's card, I was trying to keep it simple for the boys. So I went with some nice "manly" (or boyish) red, blue, yellow and brown. The accessories are at a minimum, with just some star shaped eyelets. I also punched some extra holes for added fun with my anywhere hole punch. The image, Super Hero by Lizzie Anne Designs, is stamped with black Versafine ink on water color paper. I used my Stampin' Up! markers and a water brush to color. This stamp is really fun, because it comes right with the sentiment included. You can also buy it as part of the Little People stamp set.

kraft, ballet blue, real red, chocolate chip, close to cocoa (Pretty in pink and blush blossom for the skin tones)

Spring Fairy

For those of you not ready to welcome the Snow Fairy yet, here's a cheerful, happy spring fairy. LOL.

I colored with SU! markers on water color paper. Layered on some of Basic Grey's Romani line. Added a few swirls from my Hello Kitty Sizzix die. Fairy and sentiment by Lizzie Anne available here.

Hero Arts rhinestones
circle nestabilities dies
onyx black Versafine ink
Gold atyou Spica pen
star dust Stickles

Today's a quickie post. I'm actually writing this up the night before so I can head off early to spend the day with my mom. Happy stamping all!

Looking for a Stamp Set

Does anyone have the old Stampin' Up! set Swell News that you'd be willing to sell for about $15 plus shipping? My friend wants me to use it for another friend's baby shower invites. Thanks so much!

Snow Fairy

Today's card uses the Lizzie Anne Designs fairy paired with the Snow Flurry single to make a snow fairy. Perfect for the season!

The snowflakes are done with white embossing powder. There's a little star dust Stickles on the fairy. And I sponged pretty much all the edges with either ballet blue, bashful blue, or white ink.

Rhinestones: hero arts
snowflake: Me and My Big Ideas
ribbon: Michael's
atyou Spica gold pen for crown and wand

Finally Finished the Baby Gift

I actually did find time to make another set of four baby thank yous to include with these. I pulled out some stamped images from my stash. I can't remember if these were from Wish RAK or the Pay It Forward threads from a while back. It's called Party Animals by Penny Black. I colored them with Copic markers. The sentiment is from an old Sale-a-bration set called Lots of Thoughts. I stamped each sentiment on a SU! scallop circle punch and ran a pink Copic marker around the edge for color. Pretty simple and I used up a little of my retired paper too! (marigold morning and an old pink I can't remember the name of)

What's In It?

Stamps: party animals (Penny black); lots of thoughts (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: marigold morning, retired pink (SU!); nana's nursery baby girl (DCWV)

Ink: noir black (Palette)

Accessories: Copic markers; scallop punch, buttons (SU!); thread, needle, glue dots

I put all eight cards and envelopes in a Papertrey Ink clear card box. Now I got to use up more old supplies. And look how cute they look! The card box is wrapped in some very old SU! pink polka dotted designer paper. The solid "quilted" pink is from a roll of Martha Stewart wrapping paper I bought for $1 probably a year ago.

I also used it to make my "flower" topper. I looped four- one inch pieces. Stack them on top of each other. Top with an American Crafts felt flower and poke a large brad through the whole thing. Voila! A totally cute and original flower topper. Even the ribbon has been sitting around for a year or more. And I tucked the card in the middle so it would mess with the aesthetics.

Baby's First...SNOW

This month's Verve Project Parade is on! Get the details on the challenge, and how you can win $15 in Verve Bucks, here. I'll have my project to share with you next week. Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

We've been getting our fair share of snow over the last couple of days, and more is expected. Fortunately, it hasn't been sticking too much yet. But it has put me in the mood for snowy paper crafting projects. This is a 6X6 scrapbook page titled "Baby's First Snow". The stamp sentiment actually reads "Baby's First Christmas", but just think of all the possibilities if you change out the topic, like this. You could make an entire "Baby's First" Album. How cute!

So, I stamped the snowflake label and Baby's First from Ornamental Christmas in onyx black Versafine on water color paper and cut it out with Nestabilities. I colored it with markers and a water brush. Layered over more nestie die cuts. The scalloped die cut is pink pirouette, sponged with pretty in pink, and dotted with glitter covered Glossy Accents. SNOW is from the Red Tag Sale Cuttlebug alphabet die set, bashful blue sponged with brocade blue.

What's In It?
Stamps: Ornamental Christmas, Snowflake Splendor (Verve)
Paper: pink pirouette, kiwi kiss, bashful blue, white, water color, petals and paisleys (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: black (Versafine); bashful blue, brocade blue, pretty in pink (SU!)
Accessories: photo corner punch, kiwi kiss ribbon, sponge daubers (SU!); black licorice brad (Lasting Impressions); sugarplum snowflakes (Me & My Big Ideas); light blue glitter; Glossy Accents (Ranger); circle dies (Spellbinders); red tag sale alpha dies (Cuttlebug)

Hey Cupcake

Oh my gosh. I am in love with this cupcake. Look at all that icing, and those yummy sprinkles. I'm getting hungry! LOL. I pulled the colors from this designer paper by Making Memories to color my cupcake with Stampin' Up! markers on water color paper.

If you're ever looking for a quick, local water color paper, this one from Michael's art supply aisle is working pretty nicely for me. Now I am definitely not an expert on the matter, but this has a nice thickness and texture (slightly pebbly). Not too much texture that it makes stamping difficult. And I don't like the look of all that "weave" in some papers too. But I just wanted something I didn't have to buy in bulk online. This is Strathmore cold press watercolor 400 series, 140 lb. You get 12 - 9"x 12" pages spiral bound in a top bound notebook style. There were just so many to choose from, I thought this might help somebody.

After coloring my image and adding a few Star Dust Stickles, I cut it out with a Spellbinders die cut and created a larger scalloped mat as well. The flower is: bottom layer...a martha stewart punch. Second layer...same martha stewart punch, but I clipped the petals shorter with a pair of zig zag scissors, sponged on some orange ink, and lightly covered with Stickles. Top layer...a petite prima flower colored with R24 Copic marker and a SU! brad center.

The red scallops were done with my corner rounder. The faux eyelets are made by punching a 1/16" hole, then coloring around it with a white gel pen.

Now if you love Lizzie Anne as much as I do, you'll be thrilled to hear that they're sweetening the deal through the end of November with free shipping on orders over $35 in the U.S. Just use coupon code HSFSNOV08 (that stands for Happy Stamping and Free Shipping in November 2008!) And in case you didn't know, there's also a card contest going on with a BIG PAYOFF!

What's In It?
Stamps: Cupcake (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Paper: barely banana, real red, wild wasabi, only orange (Stampin' Up!); water color (Strathmore); Emery Cheeky Collection (Making Memories)
Ink: onyx black (Versafine); Stampin' Up markers and only orange pad
Accessories: die cuts (Spellbinders); flower punch (martha stewart); corner rounder punch (EK Succes); ribbon (May Arts); petite flower (Prima); white gel pen; star dust stickles; hole punch; dimensionals; brad (SU!); water brush

Simple pleasures and joys

I've been wanting to make a card with this week's sketch challenge since it was posted. I think it's such a cool layout. And I got to use some of my fun new products. Yay.

I stamped three solid poinsettias (Poinsettia Christmas) with white embossing powder on black card stock, and another three outline poinsettias in black embossing powder on white card stock. Those got painted in with the fabulous shimmer and shine of pink and pumpkin (for shading) Shimmerz. I colored all the centers with more bling...a gold Spica pen.

The green swirls with my flowers are part of a Hello Kitty Flower Bouquet Sizzix die that I found at my local JoAnn's. I don't see it online right now. I shaded the edges with old olive ink on a sponge dauber. I also shaded the blush blossom layer with pretty in pink ink, and pierced around the edges. The sentiment is from another Verve set, Floral Whimsy.

What's In It?
Stamps: Poinsettia Christmas, Floral Whimsy (Verve)
Paper: blush blossom, certainly celery, basic black, whisper white (Stampin' Up!); Romani (Basic Grey)
Ink: Versamark; onyx black (versafine)
Accessories: pink and pumpkin Shimmerz; detail white and black embossing powder (Stampin' Up!); gold Spica pen; paper piercer and template (SU!); Hello Kitty Flower Bouquet die (Sizzix); sponge dauber; dimensionals

Sweet Pea Tea, and other baby stuff

One of my good friends is having her second baby soon, so we're throwing just a small baby shower for her. It's immediate family and a few close friends. It's an afternoon tea, but I can't say where just in case she stops by. That's the only part that's still a surprise. Since there weren't going to be too many of us, I volunteered to make some simple party favors. I used some old retired Stampin' Up! designer paper. I can't even find the name on it. I think it was the very first year SU! even made designer paper. Now THAT's going back a while. I thought it was still cute though.
I cut the pieces to 7.5 by 4 inches, scoring at 1.5 and 5. I just used a thin line of mono multi to seal the edges of the "pocket". After folding and glueing, I printed the sentiment from my computer. That way I was sure it wouldn't end up upside down or on the back after the fold/glue process. I cut a scalloped edge with decorative scissors and glued it on. The finished with a little "sweet pea tea" label I created. It's a nestabilities die cut. The pea pod and "sweet pea" sentiment are from Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb. "TEA" I spelled out with their Simple Alphabet. I punched a hole and knotted on a bit of grosgrain ribbon. All in all, I think fifteen of these only took me an hour or so. I used raspberry tea so the packaging would match.
I also started making a few baby thank you cards to include with her gift. She loves handmade cards, but doesn't really find the time any more to make them herself. So I know she'll love having some on hand. Again, I wanted to keep it simple, so I re-used a sketch from Julee. Yep, that's more of my un-named designer paper and a totally cute retired Stampin' Up baby buggy too. It's from the hostess set, Oh My Word. Sentiment from Pocket Silhouettes (SU!). I just added banana eyelets to the wheel centers and a bit of ribbon. I made four of these and hope to find time for another set as well. I can't stand making too many of the same card.

Pink, Green & Blue Wonderland

I've got a couple more cards today made with new Verve sets. This first card uses Snowflake Splendor. I stamped a mixture of images randomly to create the background. I thought the fun colors would work well with some rounded corners and the new Label One die from Spellbinders. After cutting and embossing with the Label One die, I used a sponge dauber to shade the top with some soft sky ink.

What's In It?
Stamps: Snowflake Splendor (Verve)
Paper: white, kiwi kiss, regal rose (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: regal rose, soft sky, kiwi kiss, not quite navy (SU!); onyx black (versafine)
Accessories: sponge dauber; corner rounder; label one die (Spellbinders); ribbon (Michael's); icons and sugarplum snowflakes (Me & My Big Ideas); Scor-Pal; dimensionals; glue dot

And here's a second card using the same colors, but the Snow Wonderful stamp set, which just happens to be my new Verve FAVE! I used the huge awesome snowflake background stamp for the white strip, and shaded the edges blue. The snowman I stamped on sky, pink, green, and orange solid card stocks to piece the colors together. Again, I used two of the Label One dies to create the pink frame. And the button is just from my junk pile.

What's In It?
Stamps: Snow Wonderful, Snowflake Splendor (Verve)
Paper: white, regal rose, pumpkin pie, kiwi kiss, soft sky (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: soft sky, regal rose, kiwi kiss (SU!); black (Versafine)
Accessories: label one and ribbon tag trio dies (Spellbinders); button; thread; ribbon (May Arts); swiss dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug); sponge dauber; glue dot; star dust Stickles

Tall Oaks

It's Verve release day today, which means there are six new sets and three Plain Janes now available. Check out all of the new fall and wintry options here. This card uses the new set, Tall Oaks, mixed with some Webster's Pages background paper and American Crafts ribbon. I stamped the acorn in timber brown Staz On, but I suggest you use another permanent brown ink. One, it doesn't stamp well with clear stamps. I actually had to go over it with a marker after I finished water coloring. And, two, I've heard it's not good for your clear stamps either. This uses Julee's Holiday Release Sketch 2 from last week.

What's In It?
Stamps: Tall Oaks (Verve)
Paper: very vanilla, chocolate chip, really rust (Stampin' Up!); Parlor Collection "Wicker" (Webster's Pages)
Ink: choclate chip, creamy caramel (SU!); Timber Brown (StazOn)
Accessories: ribbon (American Crafts); slot punch (SU!); icons rhinestones (Me & My Big Ideas); dimensionals

Finally, a great big thanks to all of you for your very sweet comments and heartfelt concern. You sure know how to make a girl feel loved. I'm feeling all better physically and much improved emotionally, though I know it will take. My mom said she still thinks of her lost little one from a miscarriage she suffered. Again, TRULY, THANKS!

Sad News

I'm just stopping in briefly to let you all know that I lost my pregnancy. I found out a few days ago and have been dealing with the medical side of things. So now I'm recovering and coping. I much appreciate your concern, but hope you understand that I'm not ready to talk about this "publicly" right now. My family and friends here at home are being very helpful and supportive. I hope to be back relatively soon to stamping and sharing with you all.

Sweet Pumpkin!

And no, I don't mean pumpkin pie.

There's always so much fun going on at Verve Stamps as a new release approaches. Julee started a five day Holiday Release Sketch Challenge Blitz on the Verve forum at SplitcoastStampers. You can start with day one, here, then play a little catch up. And, yes, there will be prizes, lots of prizes. Today starts the sneak peeks on the Verve blog, which will continue for a couple more days. Then the release party is Sunday evening, November 9, at 8 pm Eastern time, with the stamps available at about 10 pm.

And now here's a little peek for you of Little Pumpkin. Some Bunny is back! And this time he's my little pumpkin. What a sweetheart he/she is in this cute fall get up. I colored him with Copic markers including some pale gray for his fur, then layered on a scalloped rectangle Nestabilities die cut. Perfect to go along with sketch one of the Holiday Release Sketch Challenge Blitz. I also used some Webster's Pages Coco Collection paper, lush May Arts ribbon, and a Fancy Corners embossing folder from Cuttlebug.