Quick & Easy Swap Card

Here's the card I made yesterday, this was for my monthly swap and so I made 8 of these. Is that little turtle adorable or what?! He's a Kristin Soboloski's "Artful Inkables" that I got from Starvingartistamps. Some patterned paper from I don't remember where and some Stampin' Up cardstock. The main image is on a shimmery ivory paper although you can't see the shimmer in the pic. I colored him in with ink and blender pens b/c I didn't have time for pencils and gamsol (I am too obsessive about making it "just right" with the color blending, so each card takes awhile and I had a limited window of sleeping child time!). Soft Sky, True Thyme, Close to Cocoa and Wild Wasabi ink for the image, Palette Burnt Umber for the stamping, Soft Sky, Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip cardstock. Very quick and easy card! I wanted to add some ribbon to the side but the image piece ended up being too large. Oh well - next time!

Pre-Order Sale at FCD!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Just wanted to put up a quick post to let you all know that Pamela has two new Christmas plates available for pre-order, now until October 1st. Pre-orders get 20% off the original price so it's a great deal! She also offers free shipping on orders over $60. Click HERE to go right to the pre-order page.

Darling Son (DS) is upstairs (not yet) napping, but I am hoping he will fall asleep so I can get some stamping done. I have a big stamping "to do" list right now and I'd like some time to get working on it! Darling Husband (DH) has a class tonight so I will have the place to myself after DS goes to bed at least. Definitely stampin' time then! I'll upload whatever I come up with tomorrow. *cheers*

Cleaning out the closet

I just realized I never posted this here. I have a *TON* of papercrafting stuff that's just gotta get out of my house! My mom also brought me a few things of hers to sell, so I have quite a list. I am just going to link to another post I have going that is regularly updated so I don't accidentally sell something twice trying to keep up two lists. CLICK HERE for the big list of items and send me an E-MAIL with what you'd like!

NEW CUTTLEBUG FOLDERS!!

Oh my gosh! *swoon* ProvoCraft is coming out with some new Cuttlebug A2 embossing folders FINALLY! Check them out at AllThatScraps - Christine has a waiting list going and free shipping over $10. Very nice site to order from. Here's a direct link to the newest folders.

If you don't have a Cuttlebug, you need one. Seriously. If I get a little more time later I'll edit this post to provide some basic CB info for those who haven't seen the joy. I got mine last year for Christmas from my Darling Husband (DH), so sweet. I told him all about it when I got home from Michael's with it *grin*.

Another Daisy!

Another daisy - in purple this time! This card uses the Polished Stone technique. I used Stampin' Up! classic reinkers in Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant and Encore Silver. The cardstock is Pale Plum, Whisper White, Glossy White and Elegant Eggplant. Palette Hybrid Noir ink for the images. Corner rounder from EK Success. The paper piercing used the template from Stampin' Up! The sentiment is from the old Hope for Comfort set.

This is a pretty simple card, the most work is just making the Polished Stone background! I made a whole 8.5" x 11" piece at once to save time and effort. (I did the same for the Faux Mother of Pearl, see next post down). Then I just cut down what I needed and now I have some more to play with another time! My extra tips for making Polished Stone backgrounds - don't skimp on the rubbing alcohol, keep those cotton balls wet so the ink doesn't get blotchy on your paper. Use those cheap, disposible rubber gloves (you only need it on one hand) and change them if needed. I bought a 2-pack box with several hundred gloves in it at Sam's Club for around $5. This keeps you from accidentally transferring ink where you don't want it and keeps fingers clean (and hands from getting alcohol-chapped too). If you skip the sealing step, you WILL transfer metallic ink off your paper - it's not worth it!

Daisy Card #1

Here's another card using my newest rubbah from my Starving Artist stash. I have eyed this flower stamp forever and now it's finally MINE! This card uses Faux Mother of Pearl technique. A great tutorial for it can be found over at Splitcoast Stampers (direct link to the tutorial HERE). The daisy stamp that I used on the background is a pretty good match, don't you think? That one is called "Daisy Tops" from FireCracker Designs by Pamela and can be found HERE.

Let's see, all cardstock from Stampin' Up! - Glossy White, Whisper White, Buckaroo Blue and Chocolate Chip. The ribbon is retired from last year's Winter Mini, can't remember what it is called right now. The ink is Palette Hybrid Burnt Umber. The brads are from Spare Parts. The card dimensions are 4" x 5". I know the picture got a bit dark up top - sorry!

So, A Girl Has New Rubbah....

...now what? Well, must stamp of course! I made these three SUPER FAST and easy cards using the cute, Cute CUTE Doodle Factory animal "Squirt" from Starving Artist Stamps. I love him! I need more of these little guys, they are so fun. I am lumping all these cards into one post since they're so similar.

I stamped him a bunch of times on Whisper White cardstock in Palette Noir ink - the bestest black ink ever. I get mine from my friend Kisa who is a TAC demo. Then I colored him in with Prisma alcohol markers.

The first card (above) is 4.25" square and also uses the Borders and Corners - Circle set from PaperTrey Ink and the Dots-Hollow Bubbles background stamp from FireCracker Designs by Pamela.

The next one is also 4.25" square. The "you rock" is punched out of a 1" circle of Whisper White (EK Success punch) and the circle on the front of the card is made with a 1-1/8" circle punch (also EK Success) so it's a little bigger. Then I just popped it on a dimensional on the inside of the card so it poked through. The "you rock" stamp came from Purple Onion Designs, they've got some fun images over there and this was actually a little freebie that was sent with my order - woo hoo! I can get a lot of use out of a stamp like that. I did the corners with the Prisma marker and the Stampin' Up! paper piercing template. I can't keep dots even to save my life so I use that little plastic template constantly!

This last card is a standard A2-size card, I just punched Mr. Squirt out with a 1-3/8" punch (I have the Stampin' Up! one) and layered onto coordinating circles punched with a 1-1/2" punch (EK Success). 7/8" organdy ribbon and the saying from the retired "Fun Phrases" from Stampin' Up! since it needed something there.

Oh, the Joy of New Rubbah...

Lookie what came for me yesterday!!! A big fat envie full of wonderful new rubbah from Starving Artist Stamps. *swoon* What a beautiful sight!!! I just love these designs and they have a lot of new stuff out since last I ordered. In addition to the stamps I chose, I also tossed in $5 for the One Million Stamps Project that Tracey (the owner) is working on. You can read about it HERE on the blog (or on the main website). Let me just say, if you have not already done so, double-click over there and do your part! The images that I got are awesome, I have already used a couple of them. And seriously, the value here - she sent me SO MANY images of all sizes and categories - I feel bad not sending more money. Maybe I'll go buy more - that will ease my guilt, right?

Plus I got a package from Purple Onion Designs on Monday. I only ordered a few things from them, but I have some of their other stamps already and their images are also very cool. I got a great deal through the Rubber Stamp Chat virtual convention I mentioned in an earlier post, plus Michele, the owner, sent me 3 little "extra" stamps - a nice size "thanks" a "you rock" and a smaller version of one of the stamps I bought. WOW again! It doesn't get any better than this.

My favorite so far for SC142

Here's the other card I made last night for Sketch Challenge 142 (see next post down for more info on the SC's). This is my favorite of all the three cards I made with this sketch, I think it's the colors.

Another 5x5 card, this one used Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip cardstock and ink, and Soft Sky "prints" designer paper. Added some extras to this one, lots of brads and sponging, some faux stitching and a little card gem from AMuse. As you can see, I *heart* my ticket corner punch. I have some detail shots below of the faux stitching and the card gem for those who are curious (the detail in the gem didn't come out well in the pic).

SC142 on splitcoaststampers

I am really loving this latest Sketch Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers. Here is the second card I made for this sketch, I had some "me time" last night and I used it wisely!

Nothing too overly complicated about this one. All Stampin' Up! cardstock in Pretty in Pink, Old Olive and Rose Red. Same for inks and markers. Weathered background and the splatter from Itty Bitty Backgrounds, plus Paint Spot Backgrounder from Cornish Heritage - I love their backgrounds! Of course Agapanthus Cluster from Stampendous, I just got this last week and it's the first time it's seen ink! I don't know how I waited so long. tee hee. I used the Zig painty to add some gold around the rim of the Rose Red layer, and it didn't come out in the photo but I added gold Pearl Ex & hairspray over the top of the pink flowers. Inked the stamp with markers. Some twill I had lying around and viola. This is a 5x5 square card due to the size of the main image.

Card for Victoria

I could not get back to sleep this morning after DH went to work so I got up and decided to stamp. I saw some posts on various blogs regarding a girl in Texas named Victoria who is battling cancer. Her teacher is trying to get 5,000 cards/letters via US mail to her by the end of this month. I thought that was a GREAT reason to get stamping, so here is my contribution! It's heading her way in today's mail. Check out Courtney's blog for more info on Victoria's story and for a chance to win some blog candy. Angelosity also has some blog candy for participating, as does Beate. So get stamping!!

This card used the following supplies: Stampendous Tier of Treats, Starvingartistamps Mosaic Background (I LOVE THIS STAMP!!!), Stampin' Up! Mini Mates and By Definition (it's in white ink over the mosaic so it's hard to see in the pic). All cardstock by Stampin' Up!, plus *lots* of glitter and some self-adhesive rhinestones. I colored in the treats using Prisma alcohol markers.

This card also fits in with the Sketch Challenge for this week at SCS, SC142 (except that I added the extra little square at the top left b/c it NEEDED something extra there). Wow!! That's the first time I've ever done a sketch while it was still "fresh", LOL!

FCD Sale This Weekend!

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Pamela has been revamping her website the last week or two. It's not completely done but what is up and running is FABULOUS. The browsing/shopping portion is so easy to use, and she's got a great shopping cart system that is live and working perfectly. In celebration, she's offering a 25% off sale THIS WEEKEND only. Sale ends on Monday 9/17. It's 25% off everything on the site - a great deal. Just go to the website HERE and shop! Use "GRAND" (all caps) as the coupon code at the checkout page. Also, you get free shipping on orders over $60. It's win/win so get shopping!

That Last September Project!

It's been a busy week - wow! (Personally, not even stamping if you can believe it). My mom is visiting for a long weekend and we have a lot of little projects planned. So I'll be pretty quiet until next week probably. But I have a few quick things to post first!


Last night I finished my final September project for FCD using my Clearly Cool acrylic set. This is a coaster desk frame made using the square, medium-weight 4x4 coasters. Not a lot of stamping on this one but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. That's a picture of the big fountain in Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy on the right. It is truly amazing (well, what part of Italy ISN'T, right?!). I thought it went well with the little Jolee's temple that I found to put on the left side - a pic of the Pantheon looked too much the same. Other supplies - Palette ink pads in New Canvas and Burnt Umber, Karen Foster metal embellishments, Stampin' Up cardstock in Mellow Moss, Barely Banana, Cranberry Crisp. Designer Paper from Cosmo Cricket. Some organdy ribbon and the retired cranberry crisp stitched ribbon from Stampin' Up for the hinges. These little frames are so fun and easy to make - I need to do up a bunch for stuffers in Christmas goodie baskets!!

Enabler Alert!

The great people over at rubberstampchat are celebrating their 1,000th member by having a virtual stamp convention! Many of the FABULOUS vendors associated with RSC are offering some great discounts now through September 10th only for RSC members. If you have never checked out the site before, you should. It's free to sign up and there are member discussion forums, galleries, and lots of great stamping/papercrafting info on there.

In fact, I've got to get this post published so I can finalize a couple of online orders tonight before bed! I just love saving some money (so I can buy even more new rubber!).

Altered Composition Book

Here is the last project that I've completed for my September FCD creations. I do need to make at least one more - hopefully tomorrow I'll get some stamping time. This is just a plain composition book that I covered with patterned paper, added in the thin grid strips over the top and then stamped on it with my Clearly Cool stamp set. I felt like it still needed more so I made up a tag and added a brown prima - had to do a little more tinting first to get some color going on it. I needed inspiration before I started this project, so I themed this notebook as a journal for my Darling Husband and I to write down some of our stories and memories from our trip to Italy last year. We waited and planned for so long, and I thought it would be a fun "walk down memory lane" project for us to do together. Then when I am ready to sit down and scrapbook the photos from that trip (there are SO MANY!!) I'll have some of the great recollections right there at my fingertips. I think that having a special place to put those ideas makes you more inclined to actually take the time get them on paper, YKWIM? (or maybe that's just me, but hey, it works!).

Another September FCD card

I know I got a little sidetracked in uploading my projects, but finally here is my second creation for FCD. I know it is very similar to the first one - I made some background papers using the Retro technique and then started playing around with them so the color scheme is the same. All that work to make them - might as well use them right?! Anyway, all stamping on this card uses the Clearly Cool acrylic stamp set (except I did use a larger open circle that I have too, just a smidge in the background piece).