Monday, July 30, 2007
Another Dirty Challenge
I stamped Snail Fluffles by Stampendous with TimberBrown Stazon on Pearlized White paper by Paper Accents (available at Verve Visual starting August 1st!!!). This is a thin shimmery paper, so I wasn't sure how it would hold up to watercoloring, but it did just fine. I went over the snail several times (because I kept changing my mind on what color he should be) and the paper warped slightly in that spot. But I adhered it to the chocolate chip layer with a thin solid bead of glue and all is well. The designer papers and that green squiggly piece are from Crate Paper's Carnival Collection. I sponged the edges of the green with close to cocoa, because it need a little contrast to show up better. The background is apricot appeal wheeled with the Rough Texture jumbo wheel (stampin up) in pumpkin pie. I paper pierced the edges and did the faux stitching with a chocolate chip marker. The edges are distressed with the Tonic paper distresser. The sentiment is from Verve Visual's Thoughtful Phrases set, punched with Stampin' Up's word window tab punch. I finished off the layout with a We R Memory Keepers eyelet.
Recipe:
Stamps: Verve Visual Thoughtful Phrases, Stampendous Snail Fluffles, Stampin' Up! rough texture jumbo wheel
Ink: timber brown stazon, close to cocoa, choc chip, pumpkin pie, old olive, brocade blue
Paper: Paper Accents pearlized white, Crate Paper carnival collection, SU! choc chip, apricot appeal and pumpkin pie
Other: paper piercer and template, tonic distresser, aquapainter, sponge dauber, we r memory keepers designer eyelets: homemade
So, speaking of Verve Visual...have you checked out the site yet. I'm a little behind bringing you the news, but you can see the genius behind this new line of stamps, here. The actual store will launch August 1st. That means you have until tommorrow to sign up for the newsletter before the grand opening.
Ah!!!! I just looked at my calendar and saw I have a doctor's appointment in a little over an hour. Gotta run. Talk to y'all soon.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Dirty Dozen's Pure Joy
My card starts with a 4-1/4 inch square certainly celery card base. The designer paper is by Me & My Big Ideas and is lined with Rose Red and stamped with a dotted border in Jumbo Java. The sentiment panel has a background stamped in Sahara Sand and lightly colored with Stampin' Up's Pure Color pencils to co-ordinate with the MAMBO designer paper. "PURE JOY" is stamped in Jumbo Java. The little flowers are also in Sahara Sand with a Cloud White center. The center is from Papertrey Ink's Paper Tray stamp set. All other stamps from Simply Stated by Fancy Pants. All inks are Versamagic's dew drop chalk inks.
I punched the flower (Martha Stewart) once from Rose Red and once from Apricot Appeal. The apricot flower edges, I sponged with rose red and softly folded the edges up for dimension. I punched two 1/8 inch holes in the flower to thread the American Crafts ribbon through and tie a knot. I highlighted the small flower centers and random areas of the Fancy Pants background with Star Dust Stickles.
Friday, July 27, 2007
RAK's: Thank You!
This second card is from Lynn Mercurio at Stamperostiy. Now I feel a little silly, but I couldn't decide if Lynn meant for it to be a vertical or a horizontal card, because it looked so good both ways. I love the corners and she even dry embossed! Thanks Lynn, it's so beautiful. That layered centerpiece is lovely.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
A Toile Challenge
It's the third anniversary of the Dirty Dozen Design Team over at Splitcoast, so they're featuring a whole week's worth of challenges, starting with FOUR, that's right...FOUR, challenges yesterday. This card is for StamperSharon's monochromatic toile-look challenge.
Here's the lowdown:
Stamps: Tender Toile and Toile Blossoms (both SU! retired)
Ink: Ruby Red
Paper: Ruby Red, Very Vanilla
Other: JoAnn Essentials cream rick rack, sponge, cream organdy ribbon, marvy giga scallop circle punch, uniball signo white gel pen, coluzzle
Anniversary in Chicago
Saturday we walked into town to check out the architecture, but it was so crowded that we didn't spend as much time as I would have liked. It was just too irritating. But I did go in the old Public Library. It's absolutely stunning! I'm such a lover of architecture. I'm fascinated by the most common homes. So this was such a treat. Everything is done in marble and mosaics. The ceilings soar. I just looked around and around, saying "wow!" The second picture here, is of Millenium Park, also very cool.
Sunday, we spent some time shopping, an interesting experience. There's Express (with an actual DJ inside) and Niketown, next to Burberry and Louis Vuitton. In other words, something for everyone.
I already want to go back again. I kept putting off making the arrangements to go, so I didn't put as much planning into where to go and what to do, as I usually would.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Where Did I Go Wrong?
Stamps: SU! First in Fashion, Verve Visual Thoughtful Phrases
Ink: Versamagic dew drops in oasis green, red magic, and sage; black Versafine
Paper: Papertrey white, real red, Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl
Other: black Sakura Gelly Roll pen, tiny rhinestones, dimensionals
Josh and I leave very early tomorrow morning for Chicago. It's our TEN YEAR anniversary! Can you believe it? I probably won't have anything to post until I get back. See ya Monday. Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Apparently, *I ROCK*
Blossoms, My Friend
Monday, July 16, 2007
A Couple More RAK's: THANK YOU!
This one came today from Michelle. You can see more wonderful creations at her Splitcoast gallery under the screen name MilwaukeeMommy. Michelle does some great coloring work and always has just the *cutest* stamps you've ever seen. Thanks Michelle, for the card and your very kind words. Both were much appreciated.
This second lovely card is from Nancy at Nancy's Creative Mess. I just love how she mixed together the Big and Little Pieces stamp sets. And she used some beautiful colors, which I *love*. Be sure to stop by Nancy's blog for lots of beautiful, often flowery, creations. You may even spot her sweet little dog, Milo. THANK YOU Nancy.
You Brighten My Day
The main panel was done by repeatedly stamping "you brighten my day" in different colors and then stamping the dotted border from the same set around one of the lines.
All the Goods:
Stamps: Thoughtful Phrases by Verve Visual
Ink: pink passion, cert celery, choc chip, always artichoke, brocade blue
Paper: Papertrey Ink white, Pink Squirrel by Pink Martini, Paper Accents' pearlized white
Accessories: star dust Stickles, primas, silver brads, May Arts ribbon, ticket corner punch
You still have time to sign up for Verve's newsletter before the grand opening, so click on the link at the beginning of this post to head on over there.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Same Card, Two Ways
If I recall, I stamped this Inky Antics Champagne Girl on watercolor paper using black StazOn and colored with pretty in pink, certainly celery, rose red, creamy caramel, close to cocoa, and blush blossom markers. I highlighted with a glue pen and clear glitter. I also used celery grosgrain ribbon, paper piercer and template, and Karen Foster mini casual snap stamps. Enjoy your weekend. I'll try to post another card or two while I'm away.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Soon, Very Soon
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Rubber Review is In
Saturday, I received my review stamp set from Rubber Stamping Fun. So, here's my review:
We were able to choose our own stamp set, and I think this one is very pretty. A+ for the artwork.
It came well packaged for protection, in a padded envelope. It arrived quickly after I received a shipping notice. A+ on shipping.
As you can see, the presentation leaves something to be desired. The stamps came in this clear, almost Ziploc-like bag with a paper insert bearing the company logo. I don't know how I'm going to store my stamps, because I definately want to keep them as a set. I realize this is a review set, but I can only imagine this is their regular packaging as well. Please correct me if you know otherwise. The index stickers are nicely done though. As for the rubber, I'm pretty particular, so I would have trimmed my rubber more closely. It didn't affect the stamping at all though...no "shadows" from ink caught on the edges. C on presentation.
The rubber has a somewhat pitted look near the image. It doesn't seem to affect it's function at all though. The stamps accepted ink and stamped beautifully, even onto the rough texture of watercolor paper. The wood blocks with finger grips are very comfortable to use, just as most of us are accustomed. The rubber stamp lines up very well with the index sticker, so you have a good idea of what you are stamping and where. So, I give them a B on quality.
Overall, without knowing the price, I would definately suggest these stamps. They really are quite pretty. From what I see on RSF's website, they price their sets very reasonably, and the stamps are great to work with. This particular set isn't yet available for purchase that I can see, but check out their site and keep your eyes open for its release.
Here's some eye candy I came up with on my first go-round with my preview set, which I suggest they could name Cherry Blossoms or perhaps Oriental Gardens.
I Used:
Stamps: Review set #22 from Rubber Stamping Fun
Ink: TimberBrown Stazon; SU! pretty in pink, certainly celery, garden green, cameo coral, close to cocoa, bashful blue, chocolate chip; versamagic pink grapefruit
Paper: creamy caramel, pretty in pink, cameo coral, watercolor, Papertrey Ink white, Basic Grey Perhaps
Other: aquapainter, paper piercer, provocraft scallop scissors, slot punch, star dust stickles, ribbon from Michael's wooden spools
Monday, July 9, 2007
I've Got News!
See that snazzy little sentiment with the dotted line underneath? That's part of Verve's first release. What you see is actually two stamps from the set. The words are separate from the line. And just check out how they fit in Stampin' Up's word window punch. I'm falling in love with this versatile little set already. And this is only the first time I've used it.
Now I know why I procrastinated so horribly with my ATC's. I just got my new stamps this Saturday. Woo Hoo!
The ATC:
Stamps: Hero Arts Decorative Birds; Verve Visual's Thoughtful Phrases
Ink: Versamark, versamarker, stampin' up basic black
Paper: bashful blue, vintage violet, DCWV glitter stack, whisper white, mega circle punch by Marvy, provocraft scallop scissors, pearl ex and Future floor finish, aquapainter, ribbon from Michael's wooden spools, black detail embossing powder
Friday, July 6, 2007
What's Your Take?
I started with a white card base using Papertrey Ink's white card stock. I layered on the Paper Studio designer papers Angel sent. There are actually four birds in the Bird Border by Magenta, but I just framed out a couple of them with this Cheeky chipboard frame, which I covered in Versamagic chalk ink in Sahara Sand. The pink and white flower is also part of the chipboard, covered in cloud white and pink petunia, then coated with a thick layer of Crystal Effects and sprinkled with clear glitter. The birds are watercolored. The sentiment, from Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb, is stamped on white with Jumbo Java. The strip of chocolate chip, I cut with ProvoCraft scalloped scissors. This card came together amazingly fast for me. I like having a preset group of supplies to work with, especially since they all work together so well. Thanks for the package Angel.
Supplies:
Stamps: Bird Border by Magenta, Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb
Ink: Basic Brown, Versamagic jumbo java, cloud white, pink petunia, sahara sand, SU pretty in pink and certainly celery
Paper: Papertrey Ink's white, shimmer white, chocolate chip, The Paper Studio
Other: Cheeky chipboard, aquapainter, crystal effects, glitter, rhinestone, corner rounder, dimensionals, rick rack, linen thread, provocraft scallop scissors
And, here are the other ladies participating in the challenge. I can't wait to see what they've done. Stop on over and let them know I sent ya.
Rose Ann at Paper Delightz
Lori at Make A Difference
Adelina at Well Said Cards
Angel at Angelosity
Tracy at Here Comes Baby
Have a happy Friday and a great weekend!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Just Droppin' a Line
The Goods:
Stamps: Inky Antics m2-10437-J and D4-10382-D
Ink: Black Stazon, night of navy marker
Paper: Papertrey Ink white; SU vintage violet, whisper white, and almost amethyst palette 'o prints; Chatterbox Olive Poolhouse Paisley (double-sided)
Other: Ticket corner punch, Darice gemstones from Mike's $ bin, American Crafts ribbon, dimensionals, cuttlebug flower die
It's really raining here in Pittsburgh today. In fact, we just started getting some thunder. My husband works outside for the most part, so I really feel for him on days like this. But, personally, not having to be outside, I LOVE storms. There's something beautiful about hearing the rain pounding on my roof and the thunder rolling in the background. Aaaaah.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Simple, Funky, Fresh
I Used:
Stamps: Stampin Up Big Blooms and So Very
Ink: Versamark, versamagic tea leaves and jumbo java
Paper: Top Line Creations Tressie Collection, Papertrey white
Other: dimensional, eyelets (sorry, source unknown), lime green stickles, american crafts ribbon, word window punch, 1/16th inch hole punch, cropodile, thread, clear ep
If you haven't joined the RAK group on Splitcoast Stampers, I seriously suggest you do. I received this lovely card from Terri. Her user name is rtecgarrett. Be sure to check out her gallery, because there is plenty more beauties like this one. Just look at that aged vellum layer. Mmmmmm. Thank you Terri. I just love it.
Check out this gorgeous card! It arrived in my mailbox a couple of days ago courtesy of the oh-so-talented Ms. Julee Tilman of Poetic Artistry. I wish every one of you could see this card in person. There's glitter on the primas and the hole punches in the photo corners. And the sentiment layer is a beautiful shimmery yellow. Hmmm, maybe she rolled yellow ink onto shimmer white card stock??? I've been putting it off too long, that shimmery white is on my next order with Stampin' Up. Big thanks Julee. I love it.
Lastly, but certainly not least, thanks to Debby Boltman. Her blog is Debby's Stuff. Debby tagged me to list seven things about myself. I had done that earlier, in this post, but wanted to give Debby a shout out, too. Stop by her blog and say "hi" if you've got an extra minute.