I have some fun cards to post tomorrow, so I will wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day a few hours early! Here’s a quick, no frills Valentine treat can. I washed out a mixed nuts can and covered it with dp. The image is by Amuse and it’s called Sky Writer. The great thing about using a nut can, is how easy it is to poke a hole anywhere you want to insert brads. I found this great ribbon at Michael’s on clearance….wish I had bought more than one! I thought the words might look a bit like puffs of smoke from the plane.

And for the blog candy winner……Random.org picked Cindy Coffman! Cindy, e-mail me your address please.

Yay….I finally mounted my Pick A Petal set! What on earth took me so long? This is such a fun set to work with! I grabbed my Cutie Pie paper (also neglected) and went with the colors featured in it. It has been very cold and snowing here all day but the colors in this give such a warmth to my day.
Don’t forget to check out my blog candy below & thank you to everyone for the happy wishes! The card says it best….you make me smile!

stamps- Pick A Petal, Lots of Thoughts
paper- Bashful, Saffron, Black, White, Cutie Pie dp
ink- Black
accessories- ribbon, brads

Before I get to the cookie crumbs (blog candy), I want to thank Tracy.

Tracy Harp is so sweet….she nominated my blog for the Excellent award. Thanks, Tracy! So now I think I’m supposed to nominate 5….egads! There are so many great blogs! I know that a few of my faves were already mentioned. Well, here are 5 but you can also check my blogroll on the side for quite a few more!

Beate Johns
Anna Wight
Sharon Johnson
Jami Sibley
Leigh O”Brien

OK, so now for the blog candy….
I thought I would celebrate my recent birthday by giving a gift myself. It will be a surprise (mostly because I haven’t picked anything out yet!) LOL. But I will stuff a package with some stamped images and other fun stuff. Just comment on this post and Wednesday night I will draw a winner.

I wasn’t quite sure how this card would evolve, but I liked how it turned out! I knew that I wanted to put Anna’s roses inside of my Cuttlebug heart so that’s where it started. The die actually cuts 3 hearts at once so I made use of all three, and added different gel pen accents to each one. When searching for ribbon, I decided to add the pink polka-dotted one and tried a different way of placing it on the cardfront. It still seemed to have quite a bit of white space but I didn’t want to add any more paper, so I pierced holes around the outside and also outlining the middle heart. The roses and butterfly were painted with Twinkling H2O’s.

stamps- Posies For You by Whipper Snapper
paper- non-SU!
ink- Black, Real Red, white gel pen
accessories- brad, scallop & circle punches, Twinkling H2O’s, ribbon, Cuttlebug Heart die, paper piercing tools

First, I want to thank everyone who leaves a comment! It is nice to hear that you enjoy seeing what I’ve been up to!
Now, to answer a few questions. The 4 x 4 chipboard coasters shown here and here can be purchased through americancoaster.com. Get a few friends together because I believe a minimum order is 1,000. They are very reasonably priced though. I have not personally ordered them but I’ve split an order a few times with friends.
Also, I don’t believe my ACMoore has had the mini keychain clipboards that I made here since I purchased them a year ago. I went and checked the package and it says they are made by Nicole Crafts. I did a search and found a project on their site using these clipboards. If you go to this link, there is a place to search for stores in your area that carry the Nicole Crafts products. I know that my Ben Franklin carries this brand as well, so if you have one of those stores in your area, it might be worth checking into.
Have a great night!

I am still having fun with Anna’s set, Posies For You! I love all of the pieces in it…especially the little truffle! Yum! What??…..Your set doesn’t have a truffle in it? Sure it does! Look closely…..
I masked and inked the bottom of the bucket for the truffles and then used the large rose for the top. Does it look like a truffle? I really want to get Anna’s image of 3 truffles, but in the meantime I improvised and created my own. Sometimes it’s fun to think “outside the box” and see what you can create. Try it!
This was created with Beate’s fun sketch which can be found here. I used Twinkling H2O’s to watercolor the truffles and I added Stickles for a little extra sparkle.

stamps- Posies For You
paper- Choc. Chip, Marigold, non-SU!, watercolor paper, dp by K & Company
ink- Black, Brown journaler, white gel pen
accessories- Twinkling H2O’s, Primas, Stickles, ribbon

Our CNY gathering coordinator, Jenn (sarsam), wanted to come up with a few fun new ideas for our get-together on Saturday. There were a few of us helping her and I suggested having a supply challenge. I gave a bag of the same supplies to each table. They had to work together as a group and they were allowed to use any stamps, ink, embellishments, etc. that they brought with them that day but could only use the paper I provided. I was amazed at the creative items the ladies came up with! Here’s a pic of the supplies I provided.

And here are a few pics of the projects they created. We only gave them a half hour or so (which went by rather quickly I might add!)

This was a lot of fun! It was great to work together as a group and see how everyone contributed ideas to get them done!

I have wanted to try glass etching for a long time. So when I needed to make a gift for a gift swap, that was the push I needed to try this technique. It was a lot easier to do than I thought it would be. Since I was working with a square area and a slightly curved surface, the challenge was getting the mask in place. Once I had that done, it was very simple. You can find a tutorial here on Splitcoast to try this.
Here’s a pic of the empty jar that I etched with the SU! Priceless set.

And here’s a pic of the jar filled with ribbons. I cut various ribbons to the length needed for wrapping around a cardfront. I was a bit disappointed that the image did not show up as well with the ribbons inside, so I adhered the topper with temporary tape. This way it could be removed if the recipient wants to store something different inside.

stamps- Priceless, Whimsical Alpha Lower
paper- Shimmery White, Regal Rose
ink- Regal Rose, Choc. Chip, Versamark
accessories- Priceless brass template, embossing powder, ribbons, giga scallop punch, Fiskars circle cutter

Random.org picked:
Cheryl Kelly-Van Domelenon
I really like Ellie! She reminds me of my daughter! All these stamps are my “style” so it was hard to decide! Thanks!

Cheryl, please e-mail me your address and I will get Anna’s set mailed out to you!
Thanks to everyone who played along! I loved hearing your favorites. I love so many of Anna’s stamps too….I have a growing list. Penny in her cute little bikini is one of them at the top of my list….she just cracks a smile whenever I look at her!

This is the project that I prepared for my “shoebox” at the CNY gathering yesterday. I bought these mini keychain clipboards at ACMoore a year ago and never used them. I thought this would be a great time to dig them out. The basic directions I gave the ladies who I shared a table with are below. I forgot, though, to add that I sanded the edges of the clipboard after the paper was applied. I thought that the clipboard would be great to place small photos or other items inside. The photo turn and top clip hold the “card” closed.

We had so much fun! It is great meeting up with old friends and making new ones!

1. Attach the pink patterned paper with dotted circles to the front of the clipboard with desired tape or glue.
2. Trim corners with scissors.
3. Fold the Cocoa cardstock “card” on scored line.
4. Stamp the swirl with Choc. Chip ink and “cherish” with Pomegranate ink onto one of the light pink sides of the small patterned paper.
5. Attach the 3 small pieces of patterned paper to the Cocoa “card”. See example.
6. Stamp the middle of the 3 flowers onto the small scrap of pink cardstock with Choc. Chip ink. Cut out and attach as shown.
7. Attach the Cocoa “card” to the clipboard *just under* the top clip.
8. Punch a small hole in the bottom of the clipboard with the Crop-A-Dile about midway between the card and the bottom.
9. Attach the photo turn with the flower brad through the hole.
10. Punch the large flower from the scrap of Pretty in Pink cardstock.
11. Punch the small flower from the scrap of Pomegranate cardstock.
12. Layer and attach the flowers onto the Choc. Chip circle. Pierce a hole with the thumbtack and insert brad. Attach to the front of the “card”.