365 Cards - Day 2!

Hey stampy people!!!  It's Friday, Friday!  ANDDDDD it's also a NEW 365 CARDS YEAR! Woo hoo!  We are on Day 2 today and the challenge is Inspired by Sunrise.


Here is my sunrise theme.  I didn't want to overpower the main image with a lot of embellishments so I tried to keep it a bit simple today.  I pulled out this Stampin' Up! stamp set that I HAD to have and used once.  Hey, perfect for today so I guess that was a good call purchase after all!  :)

Alright, that's Day 2 you guys!!  Make sure you give a BIG welcome to the 4 new members of the 365 family!  They will be inspiring you on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.  We are thrilled to have many old favorites still with us as well, it's going to be another fabulous year of daily inspiration!


So, happy stamping, don't forget to link up on the 365 Cards Blog so we can all see YOUR inspired-by skills! 

365 Cards - Day 326

Hello in blog land!!  Well I have stamped a bit but I keep forgetting to keep the blog updated!  But without further ado, here is today's challeng from 365 Cards -- "BREEZY".  What do you think of when you hear this word?  Use it as inspiration for your card today!!  Here is my breezy:

Day 326 you guys!!  My how the time goes by.  :)  Happy stamping, don't forget to link up on the 365 Cards Blog so we can all see the breezy beauty!  

A Pirate Says...

Tuesday already! My mom is leaving bright and early (as in...it won't even be bright out) on Thursday so I need time to slow down a little bit! I hope everyone is having a great start to THEIR weeks. As promised, I've got another card featuring Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker products to share with you this morning.

The MOMENT I saw these adorable little Craft Flags I thought "aaaaah, pirates!". Maybe it's because I have two boys, but I knew they were prefect for this card idea I had knocking around.

I pulled the colors from this little envelope that came with two sheets of cardstock stickers in it (Pocket Full of Stickers - Red Crosshatch). This was I cut off the top of the envelope and put white cardstock on the back to make it usable/mailable (inside a clear envie). Then I stamped this little pirate guy (from Stampin' Up!) and colored him to coordinate. The sentiment is from the same set, and the image on the flag is from Pink Cat Studio. I used one of the die cut borders that came in the sticker pack to embellish the card, along with this Halloween Cuttlebug folder. The silver balls are the Michael's brand - love these, they're such a good deal cost-wise and they work great!

Here's a view with the card tucked inside the envelope. Could that BE more fun??


Thanks for stopping by today everyone! I am off to work, hope you all have a great day!

It's A Diorama!

Well as I said in my Monday post, we're still getting Christmas cards, so I can still share the last of the ones I had made throughout the fall and winter. :-) This is a diorama card. Kind of a putzy one, LOL, but still fun to make.

It was next to impossible to get a good photo of this card because of the stamped acetate layer I attached to the back of the front panel. I stamped snowflakes in silver ink and then attached it to the back of the patterned paper {cut the oval with my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug}. Then I used the Christmas Village {don't remember the real name} Cuttlebug folder on the back panel, and did a wash of Baja Breeze ink over the raised parts for some definition, tapering off toward the bottom.

I added 2-way glue and TONS of Dazzling Diamonds glitter for snow {on the rooftops, trees and on the ground of course}. I did Jody Morrow's Drunken Watercoloring technique on the little Snowman to add a bit of color. Stamped the sentiment and added some bling underneath. Put it together with sticky strip and added the ribbon for decoration.

Supplies, etc. Stamps - Merry and Bright & Best Yet from SU. Ink - Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red classic ink pads and reinkers, Encore Silver. Paper - GP 110# white cardstock, Ski Slope patterned paper, Riding Hood Red, transparency sheet. Other - Aquapainters, rubbing alcohol, Riding Hood Red Taffeta, self-adhesive rhinestones, 2-way glue, sticky strip, Dazzling Diamonds, dimensionals, double-circle punch, scallop circle punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, scallop border punch, Classic oval nestabilities, Snowy Village embossing folder, Cuttlebug.

Mother's Day Rose

Ugh, does anyone in the world like being sick? My DS #1 got a sniffle & cough thing last week that he has so nicely shared with me (and apparently DH too). I have to say that I am waaaaaaaaaaaay sicker than he is!! Which is of course, a good thing as I wouldn't want him suffering, but boy am I feeling unpleasant.

Here's the last card that we made when my neighbor brought the girl scouts over for a stamp camp. This is a Mother's Day card (sentiment inside). Pretty straightforward - the colors are White, Artichoke, Sahara Sand (cardstock); Rose Red, Regal Rose and Bravo Burgundy (rose), Celery and Artichoke (leaves), and Palette New Canvas overstamped with Sahara Sand (swirls). Main image stamps are from the retired Roses in Winter from Stampin' Up! and the swirls are from Rhona Farrar. I used my Classic Oval Nestabilities on the main image. I saw something with this layout on Splitcoast and I really liked the style for the RIW stamps, so I thought I'd give it a try!

Sorry I am so behind in my postings, I do have Favorites from last week, and hopefully I can get those up later - there were a LOT, there was some seriously productive stamping going on around the Netverse last week!! I also got my big TAC order (I've been saving up since FALL for this one!!!) and the box was giganormous. I'll post pics - boy did I get some good stuff, I can't wait to try it all out. Plus I got some orders of goodies from Prickley Pear and one from Firecracker Designs by Pamela so I have some new images and other goodies to test out. Next, I need a 30-hour day!

Thanks Much - A WSC46 Entry

Happy Saturday to everyone!!! Yesterday was a fabulous stamping day for me, although it was not just for me. I had my neighbor's girl scout troop over for a little stamp camp, and they each made three cards. So I pretty much spent the whole day designing and cutting to be ready for that. It was worth it though, we had a lot of fun - she is such a sweet person and her older daughter is also our main babysitter. They have stamped with me before, but all the other girls were first timers! She had specifically asked for a thank you card (which is this one), and we also did a Mother's Day and a Father's Day card - perfect timing!

This card uses Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge sketch - WSC46. Here is the sketch:

What a fun sketch, don't you think?! I am really liking these longer cards lately - more room to design with and something fresh and different is always a good thing. I made my card 6.5" x 4" and I think that is the perfect size! Here are some close up pics of the swirly paper piercings on the right side of the card - I think they turned out pretty cute! Again, I wanted something a little different there and with this color combo, I liked the plain white in that area without any stamped images....but it was still too naked, so I came up with the piercing idea.

A Quickie Carnation

A card at last! Although I admit I can't take full credit for this one. It was one of the "make" cards on my list for the Mad City Madness Shoebox swap that I attended back in March. Sort of.

I loved the layout on this one, and the striking colors, but I did not at all like the original main image. It was to be one of the silhouette ladies from the set in the Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog, which sadly, I think are quite unattractive. No offense meant if you like them, but not at all my style. Sooooo...I left off stamping that part at the event and when I got home, I used this gorgeous carnation from my Sitting Pretty set from Firecracker Designs by Pamela.

Much better! ;-)

Wild About Paisley

Here's an older card that I can't believe I've never posted here - it was a favorite of mine when I made it. I used this card as one of my designs for swapping at the Stampin' Up! Chicago Regional in 2006 - so I made about 80 of them. I just LOVE that lion from Wild About You. It's such a fun set and a great one for kid cards!

Obviously, this card is several years old. If I had it to do over again I'd have some "ground" for the poor lion so he wasn't floating out there in the middle of the card. But I still like it. :-)

Madison Shoebox Swap

This past Saturday was the 3rd Annual Mad-City Madness Shoebox Swap hosted by Tracy (AZMommy on SCS) up in Sun Prairie. What a great time! I have been to all three events now and it's always a blast. Many of the same people have attended this or similar events in the area over the years and it's good to see everyone too, and catch up.

This was my original swap card for the event. I have, in the past, been known to make my cards a bit too involved because I just can't stop fiddling with them, LOL! Last year's card, for example {click here to see it} required an OBSCENE amount of prep time before hand with background stamps, cuttlebugging, sanding, distressing, masking...it required masking and coloring to make the card that day too. I love that card, but WHAT was I thinking - for a shoebox swap?! I made a concious effort this year to KISS {keep it simple, stupid!}.

I like how this card turned out, unfortunately, it has heat embossing, eyelet setting and background stamping {not once, but twice AND due to the card orientation you have to try to line it up}. No! Too putzy for a shoebox swap - bad bad Jennifer! I don't even know how the facility would feel about heat embossing in their banquet room? But that's a tale for another day...

In the end I went with a simplified version of this card, nixing the heat embossing and the background stamp. It wasn't as *wow* but it was still pretty. We have to do what we can with the time that is given to us {at the shoebox swap with 30 other stampers}! *wink*

Both Way Blossoms Tulip Card

Boy, at this rate I am going to deplete my stash of "oldie" cards to share when I don't have anything new! I have been fighting getting sick all this week and don't have much energy left tonight, so it is what it is.

This card is a real favorite of mine though, and was my swap card at last year's SCS Chicagoland Shoebox Swap organized by Starmaze on SCS. I was just so pleased with how the design turned out and this one screams "SPRING" to me. Not here though, of course, as we are in the process of getting another foot of snow. Yes, 12 inches. It's horrid!

The Pretty In Pink background piece is stamped with Aida Cloth and French Script BG stamps, then run through the Cuttlebug with the D'Vine Swirls folder. {Not doing THAT again for 46 swap cards, let me tell ya!} The scallop "rectangle" is 2 overlapping squares from the giga-size scallop punch. The photo corners are punched too, with white gel pen dots on them. I free-handed the doodle around the flowers, which are colored with SU pastels.

Complete supply list: Stamps: From SU - French Script, Aida Cloth, and Both Way Blossoms. Paper: Whisper white, basic black, certainly celery, and pretty in pink cardstock. Ink: SU - basic black {remember, this is an old card!}, certainly celery, pretty in pink. Accessories: cuttlebug, giga scallop square punch, photo corner punch, celery and black grosgrain, black and pink brads, white gel pen, celery and pink pastels, black marker for doodle.

Pretty Petal Prints

No *new* art yet today - can you believe I went to bed at 9:00 last night?! I know, ME. Crazy! So no stamping time. :-( But I was exhausted and probably wouldn't have come up with much anyway.

But I do have something pretty to show you. This is a CASE I made a LONG time ago of something I saw on Splitcoast. Unfortunately I don't remember who made the original, or I would be happy to credit them. {It's also an OLD and not so great photo, as you can see}.

This card uses Petal Prints & the matching wheel, the sentiment from All I Have Seen, and French Script background. The colors are Mellow Moss, Whisper White, Apricot Appeal and Bravo Burgundy. The Moss piece on the left side uses the "faux embossed wheel" technique - first you wheel your image in your base color, then you ink it up with white, line it up so the images will be right on top of each other, and wheel it again. It looks pretty cool - but have lots of extra cardstock around because it takes a little practice! I was actually showing a friend this technique and trying to talk/explain and do it at the same time and I totally flubbed it, LOL!

Hopefully I'll be back later with something new! We have a playdate today to decorate cookies with one of DS #1's friends from swimming lessons. It's spring break this week so we have a LOT of togetherness with no preschool.

Sand Shaker

Just a quick post for a quick card - this is actually a super old one but since all my new stuff is still top secret, I thought I would post *something*. Sorry the pic is not very good.

A fun shaker card made using Summer by the Sea from Stampin' Up! - and I used real beach sand in the shaker box (I asked my parents to bring some north on one of their visits awhile back. I think it looks like the little boy is actually digging in the sand. :-)

I am off to stamp for the first time in DAYS. Be back later or tomorrow with some new projects (I hope!). I also have an award to share and a tag post to finish up. Busy busy!!

Baby Shower 6x6 Card

Here's another older project - I came across these photos while trying to clean up the hard drive of our computer today. These were taken several years ago and it's pretty obvious I wasn't that great at photographing my cards back then. So, sorry about photo quality. But I was pretty proud of the unique design of this card so I thought I'd post it anyway - what the heck, right?! You can still see the most important stuff.

Back when DS #1 was an only child, I had a little playgroup we attended where all of our kids were the same age. I made this card for a surpise baby shower for the first of the mamas to get pregnant with baby #2. I was asked to make the card for the group gift - and then and all of us signed it.

Because we had to have space for nine sets of "congratulations" I made this card pretty big. The main image is stamped and colored with SU classic inks and I did some sponging with craft ink to give a little more definition to the edges. I did the Dazzling Diamond Dust technique over the whole Vanilla piece. I stamped the on twill tape using craft ink.

Let's see - some of the features of this card. It's 6" x 6" and is trifold. The middle panel has an additional cardstock layer to help support the card, which is 6-1/4" square. To make the right side of the trifold, I took a piece of 12" x 12" designer paper and folded it in half, then folded in half again, opened it up and folded down half to make the triangle shape.

In the second and third photos you can see the blue panel with a half-circle cut out that I added on top of the triangle section - that is an open pocket where we put the cash gift we all chipped in for. On the other side I layered a Vanilla piece over more Bashful Blue to stamp the main image.

For the inside, I cut a 5-3/4" x 7-1/2" piece of the Almost Amethyst and scored the long side at 2" (I think??). Then I laid a 5-3/4" square piece of Vanilla over the top of that and folded over at the score line. Punched a slit in the Vanilla piece and then glued it down on top of the designer paper layer. I stamped the baby feet and "Precious Boy" in the lower right corner of the Vanilla piece and the whole rest of the card was left open for signatures and good wishes.

So from totally opened flat, the Amethyst layer folds to the right and tucks under the flit, then the layer with the money holder and the triangle folds to the left over the top of that. I custom-made an envelope from another coordinating sheet of designer paper since this card was too oversized to fit into anything I had on hand.

It's been awhile since I made this and these are the only photos I have (and description from memory). If you have a specific question about this card just let me know and I'll do my best to help you out! It was a great card for a group money gift like we did.

Another Belli Challenge #5 (CBC5)

Here's another card for this week's Belli Challenge over at Creating with Chrissy. For this card, the chipboard piece is the heart. Check out the challenge! Chrissy gives away a random prize to one lucky participant - just go to her site and leave a comment with a link to your card to enter. If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers, use "CBC5" in your keywords so it's easy to find.

I finally used some SU stamps again! Well, one anyway. But lots of SU paper here. The colors on this one are Pretty in Pink, so Saffron, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive. The chipboard heart was covered in some retired SU paper (I think it's Petal Patch?) and then decorated. I took the So Saffron piece from the retired Pallette O' Prints pack and stamped the flourishes on it, then ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Script folder, then sanded over the top and rubbed on some Pretty in Pink classic ink (just a smidge). The rhinestones are self-adhesive ones I got at Joann's awhile back. The "birthday" is from Stamping Bella.

This one is actually going postal TODAY for a stamper in Wish-RAK over at Splitcoast Stampers that is celebrating a birthday next week.... :-)

Cards and Boxes and Treats - Oh My!

Have I mentioned how much work preschool seems to be these days for the Mommys? DS #1 started a couple of weeks ago at preschool and he is loving it. That makes everything worthwhile for me of course.

They are having their Valentine's Day party tomorrow (which reminds me - I have to go make some Jello Jigglers) and they are exchanging Valentines. So I spent Sunday making these cute little boxes and Valentine cards for the kids & teachers. He's got 6 boys, 6 girls and 2 teachers in his class, so I was busy!

I made each person a little Valentine card, very simple, just 3-3/4" square white with a Marvy Mega scallop circle and a stamped Extra Jumbo circle that I stamped on. Attached with dimensionals and added ribbon. Most of these stamps on the cards and the boxes are from Verve Visual, although I did use a heart from the retired Stampin' Up! set Happy Hearts, and the "XOXO" is from the retired Stampin' Up! set So Many Sayings. The boxes are four inches square and the covers are slightly larger to accomodate sliding over the top. Inside the box is a little treat and their Valentine. My DS drew hearts inside each card for his little friends.

I made up this box design to fit my needs, and I'll be doing a tutorial on the boxes and posting a template sometime later this week.

Domino ABC Magnets

So here's what went INTO the tin I posted a little bit ago. Domino magnets! These are sooo much fun to make. This particular set is the entire alphabet, made from the retired Stampin' Up! set Animal Alphabet. At first I was going to do some words and names for her, but that can get confusing so I just stuck with the standard ABC's.

I buy my dominoes at Target in the games section (just regular plain old dominoes). I very lightly scuff up the surface with fine sandpaper to give the ink and pencils a better grip. I stamp with StazOn ink and color with colored pencils. Sometimes I add Stickles or additional sponging around the image. The final step is to coat them with Mono Aqua glue to seal them. As a little extra, I will sometimes sprinkle a little glitter onto the wet Mono Aqua for a little extra overall shine. You can never have too much glitter!! Attach magnets to the back with a hot glue gun.

Again, not a great photo (it's a bit yellow, huh?). I tried to fix it in Photoshop Elements but I think it was too far gone. Aside from that yellow tint it's not too bad. Like I said, the lighting in there is not so great and DH was at the door yelling at me to "come on!" so I took a couple quick pics, scooped the magnets into the tin and ran out the door!

Complete supply list: Stamps - Stampin' Up! Animal Alphabet (retired). Ink - StazOn in Jet Black, Cactus Green, Azure, Vibrant Violet and Fuscia. Accessories - Prismacolor pencils, mono aqua glue, hot glue gun, magnets, sponges, dominoes.

"Izzy" Altered Target Lunch Tin

Finally posting some of these weekend projects! I spent most of the weekend in my stamp room - lots to do! We had a birthday party for one of DS #1's friends on Saturday night and I needed a gift for her.

This is one of those small tin lunch boxes they had in the Target $25 Spot from last year (I think?) that I've been hoarding. I covered it with designer paper and made punchies for her name. They are attached with dimensionals. I added a bunch of ribbon to the handle & viola! Super easy and a fun alternative to the gift bag - which is good because I only have Christmas and Happy New Baby gift bags!

Let me say, I know that the photos are not so good of this and the next few projects I'll be posting. I took them in a serious hurry down in my stamp room where the lighting is not the best. So sorry for that, I usually do a lot better job but since these things are all gone out to their destinations, these will have to do. You get the idea anyway!

Complete supply list: Paper - Designer paper (brand?), GP 110 white & SU Lovely Lilac c/s. Ink: Stone Grey StazOn. Accessories: Tons of ribbon, SU Scallop Circle Punch, EK Success 1-1/2" Circle Punch and 1-3/8" Circle Punch, dimensionals.