Blessings

Hello again!! Here is my card for today's sketch challenge on SCS. I needed a card to go along with a gift I am sending to my friend, so I used the challenge to get it done!! Go me!!! The DP is by Crate Paper and is part of the Seaweed collection. I paired it with Chocolate Chip and Sage Shadow. The main image is from Papertrey Ink and is called Out on a Limb. I did a lot of sponging with Chocolate Chip ink and pierced a whole bunch too...I am obsessed, what can I say. All the hardware is from the SU retired Antique Brass hardware. The ribbon is all from SU too. That is it for me now..kind of short but sweet right??!! I REALLY need to get my google reader caught up, so gotta run. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!
stamps-Out on a Limb by PTI
paper- Sage Shadow, White, Chocolate Chip, Crate Paper DSP
ink-Chocolate Chip
tools- hardware, ribbon, sage marker

Prettie Wednesday- Shaker Card

Hey everyone, so sorry this is late! I usually try to get my Prettie Wednesday cards made early and posted ahead of time so I don't have to worry about them, but I have been super tired all week and just never got around to it. That and the fact that I really have a hard time making shaker cards! I decided that since the only color of beads that I have were blue, they were gonna have to represent water.LOL! So I dug out my Beach Bum image and got to work. Cooper was stamped with Black Stazon on White and colored with my SU markers, Pacific Point ink pad and aqua painter. The frame was cut out of PP CS and Bashful Blue using my Cuttlebug and Nesties. The PP part was also embossed with my swirls embossing folder as well as the white in the back ground. This card is BASED on Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday sketch, but I couldn't get it to work with the two skinny panels, so I ended up with this. Hilariously, this card is on it's way(tomorrow) to my BSF Jodi. What is hysterical about this you ask.......I spent the better part of last night begging her to make one for me and let me post it today!!! ROFLMBO!!! This weeks challenge is the SUPER talented Julie Masse!! Can't wait to see what she has in store for us!! Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!! Don't forget-We are having our monthly Stampin In Your Jammies party at 7pmCST over at the Paper Pretties forum on September 1st. Howdy Girlfriend will be released as well as all the normal festivities-you know-challenges, chatter, prizes, site crashing....LOL!!! Be sure to be there for all the fun!! Also, the 31st is the last day to submit your work for our Cutie Pie contest!!! Just upload as many cards as you want to the Cutie Pie Submissions gallery before 8PMCST on the August 31st to be considered. Not only do you get the title of Cutie Pie, you also get a gift certificate to the store...WOOHOOO!! And finally, don't forget that the 31st is also the last day to sign up for the Stamp of the Month Club to get Falling For You a month before it is released to the public. Be sure to tell them I sent ya!!

Don't forget to check out the other Pretties creations, since they were probably all on time!!LOL!!

Julie Masse

Charmaine Ikach

Jana Weaver

Danielle Lounds

Jodi Collins

Jackie Rakoski

Joni Stringfield

Carolina Buchting

Some News and the Color Challenge

Here is my card for today's color challenge over on SCS. The challenge was to use Kraft, Rose Red and Basic Black. I used my Howdy Girlfriend image that is being released on the first by Paper Pretties. We are having our monthly Stampin In Your Jammies party at 7pmCST over at the Paper Pretties forum. Howdy Girlfriend will be released as well as all the normal festivities-you know-challenges, chatter, prizes, site crashing....LOL!!! Be sure to be there for all the fun!! Also, the 31st is the last day to submit your work for our Cutie Pie contest!!! Just upload as many cards as you want to the Cutie Pie Submissions gallery before 8PMCST on the August 31st to be considered. Not only do you get the title of Cutie Pie, you also get a gift certificate to the store...WOOHOOO!! And finally, don't forget that the 31st is also the last day to sign up for the Stamp of the Month Club to get Falling For You a month before it is released to the public. Be sure to tell them I sent ya!!

Okay, NOW onto my card!! I stamped my Howdy Girlfriend Sophia on White with Black Stazon. She was paper pieced with Rose Red DSP and colored in with markers. I used a ton of silver brads, some more ribbon, paper piercing and it was done. On the bottom, I used one of the already released sentiments that go along with my Howdy image, isn't it CUTE!! This card was made using Danielle's Paper Pretties weekly challenge. This week's challenge is a sketch, and it is fabulous!! Mine isn't EXACTLY like the sketch, but it is pretty darn close!!

Well, lots to do da day, so I am outta here!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

stamps-Howdy Girlfriend and sentiment

paper-Rose Red, Basic Black, Kraft, Whisper White, Rose Red DSP

ink- Black Stazon

tools-silver brads, spiral clips, black gingham, kraft taffeta, SU markers

A Faux Embossed Diva Challenge

Yep you heard me right, this is my SCS technique lovers challenge-to faux emboss, and Julee's Meet the Verve Divas challenge for this week. I don't USUALLY participate in the technique lovers challenge, but this was a FABULOUS technique, so I wanted to try it!! You can find the directions here. I messed it up a tiny bit, but I loved the way it looked, so I decided to keep it. I used white Stazon and Baja Breeze to stamp the ferns from my SU set Petal Prints on a piece of Baja Breeze CS. I layered it with White and Chocolate Chip. The diva challenge for this week was a sketch challenge, so that is what I used for this card. The sentiment is from the Verve Stamps set Uplifting phrases. The rest of this is pretty simple to figure out, but as always, if you have ANY questions, please don't hesitate to ask!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

On a personal note, I am working at the Post Office this week, so my nephew is staying with my Mom. WAHHHHH!!! I miss him already, so Mom, if you are reading this, give him a big hug and kiss for me!!

stamps-Petal Prints by SU and Uplifting Phrases(Verve Visual)

paper-Chocolate Chip, Close To Cocoa, Baja Breeze, White

ink- Brown Stazon, White Stazon, and Baja Breeze

tools-spiral clips, white brads, stamp a ma jig, circle punches, white and chocolate taffeta, cocoa grosgrain, chocolate wide grosgrain, Cuttlebug, textile folder

Kiwi Kisses for Kokirose

So, I know I didn't keep it a secret...but when the new colors came out for SU this catty, I wasn't all that impressed. Truth be told, I was kind of angry that they thought that THESE colors could replace my beloved in-colors from last year. Well, here I sit, eating my words....not only are they not that bad...they are downright wonderful!! Anyway....when I saw who today's featured stamper was, I just had to play. It is Patricia Rose aka Kokirose, and she is just super sweet. She leaves tons of comments and does some beautiful work. I chose this card of hers to CASE. I changed the colors, images, and embellishments. Basically, I kept the layout and changed the rest!! As a personal challenge to myself, I am not allowing myself to purchase any new stamps until I use some of my new ones that remain un-inked. This one, I HAVE used before, but it has been ages. I stamped the branches from Serenity(Verve Stamps) with Black Stazon and Kiwi Kiss on GP white paper. I then added the sentiment and pierced a border around the circle and under the sentiment. I layered it with Kiwi Kiss and Basic Black. A ton of layers, and brads, and ribbon, and it was done!!

stamps-Serenity by Verve Stamps

paper-Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, White

ink-Black Stazon and Kiwi Kiss

tools-silver brads and clip, black organdy, white taffeta, black gingham, Cuttlebug, circle nestabilities, swiss dots folder, circle punches

My Butterfly SFYTT

Okay, so let me preface this by saying that I LOVE Verve Stamps!! I love all the beautiful sentiments, the gorgeous fonts they are written in, and the fact there is one for just about everything you need to say. My biggest problem is the fact that I don't feel like I am WORTHY of these stamps....do you know what I mean?? They are so elegant and beautiful, and the design team is SO amazing, and Julee Tilman....I mean seriously, can she GET any more talented and SWEET??? So, when I saw Jen's Sketch For You To Try today, I knew that that oval would be perfect for a sentiment, and the placement of the embellishments would work beautifully for the butterflies from my Fluttering By set. Now, I have had this set for a couple of weeks and I have totally tried to use it, but just couldn't get it to work out the way I wanted....truth be told, they all ended up in the garbage. So, today, since I had plenty of time to work with it, I brought out my set and went to work. As I sat at my table, I tried to channel my inner diva(thanks for the inspiration girls) and amazingly, this card practically made itself. I wanted to make a card to send to a friend who just had surgery and loves the color purple. I stamped my butterflies with Black Stazon and colored them in with my SU markers. I then cut them out and added some crystal effects. The DP is from the retired Lovely Lilac DSP and is layered with Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac, and Basic Black. The sentiment was stamped with Black Stazon as well and was cut out with my Cuttlebug and Oval Nestabilities. For my third embellishment, I added a spiral clip with some purple polka dotted shear ribbon. I added black brads to the corners and some black organdy ribbon around the DP panel. The white panel was run through my Cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder and layered with my cs colors. In the end, I am SUPER excited about this card....I love it, YAYYY!!! Finally!!!

That is all for me now...off to play some more!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

ETA: the light is totally reflecting off my top butterfly, I swear it matches!!

stamps-Fluttering By

ink-Black Stazon

paper-Lovely Lilac, Almost Amethyst, Basic Black, and Whisper White

tools-Su markers, black brads, silver brads, ribbons, Cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, Nesties

Beate's Back!!

YAYYY!! Beate is back with her weekend sketch challenge and I am THRILLED!! She actually used a sketch that was drawn up by Jenn Balcer this week, and it is super fabulous!! I decided to combine her sketch challenge with today's Inspiration challenge on SCS. The challenge was to use these Marimekko Umbrellas. Now, personally, I would never pay that much for an umbrella, but that is coming from a girl whose umbrella is in the trunk which proves to be virtually useless when it rans. By the time I get out to get it out of the trunk, I am wet already and figure what the heck, right!! Anyway, I chose this umbrella here. I was inspired by the colors on it, so I used those, and an umbrella stamp, scratch that, my FAVORITE umbrella stamp, to make my card. The colors are Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, and Rose Red....can you say GORGEOUS!! I stamped my Rainy Day Friends Sophia on Whisper White and colored it with my SU markers. The dress was paper pieced using some yummy(retired, boohoo) Rose Red paper. I colored in the big flowers on the paper piecing with my Regal Rose marker. In hind sight, I would have left them alone, but I wasn't cutting it out again!! I cut the image and layers out using my Cuttlebug and Nesties. The sentiment is from the Rainy Day Friends set and I layered it with my colors and then added a spiral clip with some American crafts ribbon and some silver brads. The DP is more of the SU Rose Red DSP and some Bali Breeze DSP. I added various ribbons from SU and some piercing on each edge. I usually prefer that my main image face the center of the card, but I made an exception for this card. Isn't is SUPER CUTE! Look at all the brads, and ribbon, and layers...yuuuummm!!hehehe

That is it for me now, off to stamp some more!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

stamps-Rainy Day Friends

paper-Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Whisper White, and Bali Breeze DSP

ink- Black Stazon

tools-SU ribbons, SU markers, spiral clip, silver brads, Cuttlebug, Nesties

Some RAK's

I have recieved several RAK's in the mail recently that I haven't got around to posting!! Here are a few of them!!


This first one is from Gwen(tturtle)!! Gwen is super sweet and always leaves the nicest comments on my cards in the SCS gallery. When She heard that I had been chosen for the Featured Stamper, she PM'd me and asked me for my address. This is the card that she made for the challenge!! Thank you so much Gwen, I just LOVE it!!

My next RAK was from Denise Marzec(peanutbee).......WOOT!! She is one of my FAVORITE stampers and I adore everything that she creates. She is so super talented and was recently invited to be on the There She Goes design team along with me. I am so excited to work with someone so talented!! This is the card that she made for the Featured Stamper challenge too, so thank you for honoring me!!

My last card is from Michelle Woerner(sf9erfan), WOOHOO!! Michelle is not only a super sweet person, but she is MAJORLY talented. This is the card that she made for the Featured Stamper challenge and I LOVE IT!! It has 10 layers....YAYYY!! LOL!! You know how I feel about layers right? It was so funny yesterday, my good friend Laura was saying that she had to be near the limit of embellishments that one person could put on a Limited Supplies challenge card without having the challenge police called. I promptly replied that we could share a cell because my limited card had 10 layers......hmmm, me thinks that may be stretching the word LIMITED a little too far!! Anyway, thank you so much Michelle, I love it...and I am feeling very enabled right now...I have been on the fence about that Verve set, and now can feel myself falling off the edge!! LOL!!

I Have Been Keeping a Secret....

So, I have been keeping a little secret from all of my loyal blog readers. If you have been paying attention lately, I have been promoting a friend of mine(Jessica)'s new stamp company, There She Goes. Wanna know why? She has invited me to be a part of her design team!! How awesome is that!! Be sure to check out the announcement on Jessica's Blog and see the SUPER talented group of ladies that I will have the pleasure of working with. I really am over the top excited.

Now, my card!! This card was made for today's Limited Supplies Challenge. The challenge was to take out some of your old dusty sets and paper and use them on a card. I used my only inked once Celebrate in Style set from SU that I just HAD to have. I have had it for over two years and have never inked a single stamp in it but the giraffe. Sad right??!! The image was stamped with Black Stazon, and although she asked that we use a long forgotten method of coloring, I just couldn't do it....what can I say, I love my markers!! As part of the challenge we were to use colors that we rarely ever use, so I picked Apricot Appeal(only used if in a color challenge, but I don't know why, I kind of love it), Garden Green(can't even remember that last time THAT color got busted out) and Brocade Blue(another never use, but don't know why cause it is pretty). The DSP is also some retired SU paper that I am hoarding called Sarah. The colors were perfect, so I cut into my last sheet of this paper but as you can see, could not bring myself to use more than a small strip. I added some white mini brads to each end of it then attached it to the base, which was my three colors and a piece of GP white that had been run through the Cuttlebug with my spots and dots folder. The sentiment is also from the Celebrate in Style set and I punched it out and layered it with AA and BB. Some piercing around the whole card, and to accent the image, and my card was finished.

Well, that is it for me now...Jared is cooperating right now, but I can see the look on his face that tells me that it won't last long, LOL!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

Dont' forget, last day to pre-order your very own There She Goes stamp sets!!

Celebrating MFT

So, on the 20th of every month, My Favorite Things has Celebrating MFT Day. They figure by this point, we have our new stamps from the release and we are ready to play with them....they would be right, LOL!! Now, I know, today is not the 20th, but by the time I got my fairy card done last night, I was to tired to stamp, so I did it tonight...that is of course after my DH and I spent an hour driving around in the country looking for deer...yes...that is totally(not) as fun(boring) as it sounds!!hehe!! I decided to use my new Monster Squad set from MFT for my celebration card. Being the clever girl that I can sometimes be, although I have been in a bit of an unclever funk here lately, I decided to combine my celebration card with Cindy Haffner's MFT sketch. Cindy posts the most awesome sketches on Sunday's and I always try, note the word TRY, to participate. I stamped my main image with Black Stazon on GP white and colored it in with my SU markers. I did use my aqua painter, but only a little to lift some color. I then added some silver brads to the four corners after layering it with Pumpkin Pie, Green Galore, and Orchid Opulence. I added some spiral clips with some fun ribbon as well as a big black organdy bow with some black gingham tied around it. The paper is from K&Co.'s Halloween stack...AWESOME stuff!! The sentiment was stamped on GP white and cut out with my scalloped oval nesties. I am super excited about this card, not only because I got to use my new set, but because I am one card close to having my Halloween cards ready...woohoo!! Well, I better get to bed...if Jared is anything like what he was today, I am TOTALLY gonna need the rest!!


Don't forget- tomorrow is the last day to pre-order sets from There She Goes!! Be sure to check out these GORGEOUS sets and discounted prices!!