Baby Shower Gift

Well I finally finished the baby blanket I was making for my friend Mandi, and shockingly she is still pregnant!! I'm a notoriously slow crochet-er and tend to finish projects after the event has passed...so YEA FOR ME!!! I reall like how this turned out, it is so very soft and has a really nice design. It is called a spider-web and was super easy to do. I have also included a picture of the card I made for her, she is going with a pink and brown theme...let me know what you think...A better shot of the card is posted in an earlier post. It is with the 1 style, 3 cards. I think it is the first card posted for that entry, if you would like a better look at it. Now my DD has me started on a wave for her, it is black, heather grey, silver grey and black verigated...hopefully I can finish before she runs off and gets married...

Cards for Stamp Camp

Hi everyone ~ I'm getting ready for my first stamp camp of the year and thought I would share the projects we are doing. We usually do 3 cards and 1 project. This time we are going to do a tent topper card, a gatefold card, a layered card and a potted plant project.

For the tent topper I couldn't resist playing with the Lovely Lilac Prints Designer Series Papers. I really like this card in purples. I used Elegant Eggplant and Lavender Lace on the stamp. I added a little bling for the center of the flower, in real life it is much more sparkly than in the picture.

• Stamps: True Friend
• Papers: Basic Black, Almost Amethyst, Elegant Eggplant, Very Vanilla, Lovely Lilac Prints DS
• Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Lovely Lilac
• Accessories: Crystal, Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon

For the next card I did the gatefold style. I'm really loving the Embrace Life set and use it all the time.

I based this off another card I made shortly after getting this set. I changed a few things for this card but really like how it turned out. I watercolored the flowers using my classic ink pads and an aqua painter. The other panel I wanted to be more subtle so I did tone on tone, which gives it a nice look. I stamped the saying on black towards the bottom to help balance the card out. Overall I'm quite happy with how this turned out.

• Stamps: Embrace Life
• Papers: Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Whisper White
• Inks: Basic Black, River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Yoyo Yellow
• Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch

Card 3 was going to be a kick stand card, but I was having the hardest time comming up with a card I likes so I went with my newest favorite layout...

I didn't want to make this just pink and brown so I went to scrapitude.com to help find some colors that I thought would look good...I will say this is a really colorful card. I really like how bright it turned out.

• Stamps: Merci
• Papers: Berry Bliss DS, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Ballet Blue, Gable Green, Very Vanilla
• Inks: Close to Cocoa, Ballet Blue, Pretty in Pink, Gable Green
• Accessories: Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Pop Dots

This last picture is the project we are going to do. I was inspired for this by my upline's upline...she called it a Flower Pot.

You start with a 6 x 6 piece of paper and score in 2 inches from each side and diagonally in the corners and fold up like a box. I punched little holes through both sides of the corners and strung thread through the holes and tied a knot to hold it together. I used a really strong glue dot in the middle of the pot and placed a 6 inch dowel on it to make my stem. To help fill the base I used shredded paper that I got from Michael's Crafts (can't imagine how I knew they would have that...). To make this more fun for a party type project I placed mini York peppermint patties between 2 flower punches. This was super easy to make, and really looks cute!! Just beware it tends to be a paper hog, with all those punches...

• Stamps: Priceless
• Papers: Wild Wasabi Textured, Summer Sun, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
• Inks: Purely Pomegranate
• Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1 3/8" punch, 1 1/4" punch, York peppermint patties, shredded paper, Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon, 3/8" dowel, glue dots

More Cards

Hello again...I don't seem to be keeping up with this daily blogging thing...I do have a few more cards I would like to share with everyone. This card was a very easy one to do and I really like how it turned out. I was inspired for this card by SDiegoGal on SCS...here is her card...

I did change a few things from her card...I layered the photo corners and added a knot to my ribbon. I colored the image using my Aqua Painter and Classic Ink Pads. To give my background texture, I sponged ink on using Purely Pomegranate, to give a tone-on-tone effect.

• Stamps: Merci
• Papers: Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
• Inks: StazOn Black, Purely Pomegranate, Summer Sun, Wild Wasabi, Creamy Caramel
• Accessories: Purely Pomegranate Double Stitched Ribbon, Brads, Aqua Painter

THANK YOU!!

What a surprise I had waiting for me this morning...my good friend Suzanne nominated me for the E award...how awsome is that?? I really love crusing around Suzanne's blog...her cards are wonderful and her quilts are excelent!! I'm really touched at all the nice things people have to say about my cards and projects that I post.

Now comes the difficult part...my nomination of 3 people whose blogs I really enjoy. There are so many more than just the 3 I've listed that I love to read...

My first nomination is for Cory. I love reading her blog and seeing the great projects she completes. Her designs are not overly complicated, but still very elegant looking. I also enjoy her quilts that she shares, epecially since I'm NOT able to sew...I can really appreciate the work that went into making those mini-masterpieces.

My second nomination is for Leslie. Her blog is fun for me to read. I love the mix of projects and family talk she has. She does alot with digi-scraping which is something I would love to get into. I love to look through her gallery and get ideas for layouts...now if I could just do them...:)

My third nomination is for Jen Jordon. I really like her projects. Her style is so nice, I love the colors she uses and the way she puts her projects together. I also love the family pictures and stories she shares.

Cards

I was playing with more cuttle'd acetate with this card and wanted to dress it up a little more than my other acetate embossed card. The flowers didn't quite turn out like I expected, but I don't think they turned out bad. I was wanting a more flowing look to them. I do think adding the punched flowers over the acetate looks nice. It is much more vibrant looking IRL. I think this card still has a very nice look to it.

I do really like the look of embossed acetate. It is super easy to do as well. I was worried the first time that I would get cracks or straining, but it comes out just as clear as when it went in. It is harder to see, but I stamped my sentiment on the ribbon to get a tone on tone effect.

• Stamps: Baroque Motifs, One of a Kind
• Papers: Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate
• Inks: Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate
• Accessories: Acetate, Cuttlebug, Ribbon, Brads, BoHo Blossoms Punch

One template, Three cards

I was looking around the gallery at SCS for some inspiration for my friend who is expecting her first daughter. I came across this sketch and knew I found what I was looking for! When I finished her card I started playing with my left-over paper and then came up with 2 other cards, following the same sketch and mostly using the same papers, just changing the stamps. I really like how they all turned out.

Baby Shower:

This is the card that I made for my friends shower. She mentioned that she was doing the nursery in pinks and browns and this Berry Bliss paper was just calling out for her! I really do like how these colors look together.

• Stamps: Merci, Warm Words
• Papers: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Pixie Pink, Whisper White, Berry Bliss DS PP
• Inks: Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Twinkling h2o's, ribbon, brads

One of a Kind:

This card was made just playing with the sketch. I was looking for something that would fit in the main image area alright and not be too over-powering. This is definately not my favorite card, but it is not too horrible. It just seems to be missing something...what do you think??

• Stamps: One of a Kind, Priceless
• Papers: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Pixie Pink, Whisper White, Berry Bliss DS PP
• Inks: Chocolate Chip, Purely Pometranate, Pretty in Pink, Summer Sun
• Accessories: Stickles, Ribbon, Brads, Aqua Painter

So Kind:

I think this is one of my favorite cards! I love how the colors play together and how the ribbon is wrapped.

• Stamps: Priceless
• Papers: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegrantate, Whisper White, Berry Bliss DS PP
• Inks: Pretty in PInk, Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Ribbon, Brads

I would love to know which card is your favorite!

Polka Petals

SCS offers great challenges to get people to not only stamp, but to maybe get out of your comfort zone and try something new. This next card is the first challenge I participated in, but definately won't be my last!! The challenge was to use polka dots on your project. Believe it or not this is the first time this stamp set has seen ink since I got it last year...it won't be the last time it does however...






I started by stamping 4 dark petals and 4 light petals on a scrap piece of white paper and they cut them out. I wanted to have the darker layer look really full, so I cut one petal in half and made those pieces the starting point on my light pink polka dot layer. When I designed this card the flower was originally going to be on the left side, however I put the petal that says "smile" on the wrong end so I had to flip-flop the design (or tell the reciepent to cock their head so they could read it...) I really like how all these pinks work together, I was worried it would be pink overload, but I think it turned out alright.

• Stamps: Pick a Petal
• Papers: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Berry Bliss DS PP, Rose Red DS PP
• Inks: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink
• Accessories: Pearl (from Pretties Kit), Wine ribbon, pop dots

Shaving Whale

Hi! I've been stamping quite a bit lately, and it just dawned on me that I haven't been posting any of the creations I've made...so here are some of the cards I've done in the past week or so...

I call this one Shaving Whale...it was made for an Animal/Critter swap on SCS. I knew right away that I wanted to use this whale (isn't he cute??) stamp from Silly Sealife, which is retired. What better way to create the look of water than using the shaving cream technique (here is the tutorial) I had 11 of these cards to make and needless to say I made a little mess, but had a great time. I wish I would have had my DH take a picture of my gloved hands...they were covered in blue shaving cream, as was my desk, and ink pad catty and markers...I think you get the picture. Thank goodness for Clorox Wipes!! The design of the card was inspired by Buzzy Bumblebee on SCS, here is her card. I knew I wanted to use the striped paper (which is becoming my favorite pattern!) to help contrast all the swirls I had going on the background. I watercolored the whale and used Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the water coming out of his spout and in random water spots around him. It is really hard to see in the picture, but has a nice shimmer IRL. I really did have a blast making this card...I think more will be in my future.

• Stamps: Silly Sealife
• Paper: Brillant Blue, Cool Carribean, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise DS PP
• Inks: Brillant Blue, Cool Carribean, Going Gray
• Accessories: Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Aqua Painter

Tent Topper

Hi everyone, I'm trying new card styles and the tent topper is my new favorite! It is super easy to do and really looks nice when finished.



This is made with the SAB set, Merci which is only available for a limited time (until March 1, 2008)...I had a rose red base and did lots and lots of layering for this card. I layered wild wasabi, regal rose and used rose red prints designer series papers in many patterns. I finished this off with some brads and wild wasabi double stitched ribbon. The main image is painted using twinkling h2o's.

More snow pics...

I also wanted to share a few more pics of the kids and pups playing in the snow we had...that is now gone...




This would be Clyde after eating snowballs the kids were throwing...

Here Bonnie found her stick...

Here are Kat & Danny throwing snow at each other...with Clyde waiting to eat it...Kat took a dish from one of my planters to create waves of snow to aim at the pups or (mostly) her brother...

Cards!!

Hi everyone...thinks were hectic here the past few days...with snow (and a car that has NO traction) warm weather and then lots and lots of rain...but today is better!! I did do a few projects the past few days that I wanted to share with everyone...

This one is inspired by a card from the Spring/Summer 2008 Idea Book page 106...I used the middle card as my inspiration. I changed the colors and added an extra layer...

I used wild wasabi as my card base and layered purely pomegranate, river rock and whisper white for my main image. I used the Boho Friend wheel inked with wild wasabi ink for the border of the card and True Friend as the main image. I stamped the main image twice, once in river rock and once in purely pomegranate. I cut the pomegranate flower out and mounted it on the river rock flower. To finish the card I used purely pomegrate double stitched ribbon.

For this card I was playing with some new cuttlebug folders I got...I thought the one titled Floral Fantasy was perfect with my One of a Kind set...so this is what I came up with...

I used wild wasabi as my card base and layered a more mustard strip and an elegant eggplant embossed strip. I used the floral background from Boho Backgrounds in wild wasabi over the entire card and the spots background from the same set in more mustard over the mustard strip. I used the folder to emboss the eggplant section (I used the debossed side of the cardstock) and used the large flower from One of a Kind to make my accent piece. I stamped the flower twice, once on the pommegranate in black and once on white in black. I then watercolored the white flower with pommegrante and mustard and used a jumbo eyelet and a fire cirle rhinestone brad as the center. For a finishing touch I heat embossed the sentiment.

For the final card I was playing with my cuttlebug folder, D'Vine Swirl with some acetate just to see what it would do...acetate emosses wonderfully!! This is the card I made...

I used elegant eggplant as my card base and did tone on tone stamping using the Boho Backgrounds set. I layered some rose red prints designer series paper and layered purely pommegranate with the embossed acetate on top of that. I stamped the sentiment in white craft ink. I think this card is missing something, but I'm not sure what...

I hope everyone has a great day!!!!