This cute image is from Anna Wight’s newest unmounted set, Bundle of Joy by Whipper Snapper. All of the images are sooo cute….I couldn’t choose which to use first! I finally decided that I’d hang this one from the moon. The strings were hand drawn. I also wanted a star shaped embellishment and spied some felt flowers that I purchased from JoAnn’s. The purple-ish one was the perfect color so I cut the petals into points and voila~ a star!
I started this card by matching colors to the designer paper. Almost Amethyst and Celery were a perfect match. I always have a hard time pairing colors up with Almost Amethyst so I was surprised at how much I liked this color combo.

stamps- Bundle of Joy by Whipper Snapper
paper- Olive, Amethyst, Celery, Blush, watercolor paper, Susan Branch dp
ink- Black, Moss, Olive, Banana, Summer, Celery
accessories- felt flower (cut into a star), circle punch

Happy Easter! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter day! We had ham with family on Friday so I cooked a different family favorite for lunch and then we had lots of leftovers (including the ham) for supper. It was a nice, relaxing day! I think our colored eggs are all gone by now. I never tire of that tradition! It must be the crafter in me.
This afternoon I sat down to make a few cards with the set A Good Egg. I have been wanting to make these cards for weeks! I originally wanted to make Easter cards but since I ran out of time, I just made them into a friendly spring card instead. I love how the set is versatile and doesn’t haven’t to be used just for Easter!
When I first saw the set in the new catalog, I knew I wanted to try a technique that I did years ago. The shell that the chick is in was made with real eggshells! They have been sitting in a dish on my counter for a few weeks waiting for this project. LOL. I don’t quite remember the proper technique and I was a little too lazy to look it up, so I just did what I remembered or thought would turn out ok.
To make the eggshell piece:
I started by running a piece of white cardstock through my Xyron machine so one side was covered with adhesive. Then I covered the adhesive with bits of broken eggshells (removed from hard boiled eggs). This takes a little time and patience to get it covered. Turn it over and gently press on the back so that the shells stick well. Next I used my waterbrush and various reinkers to watercolor the shells. Let it dry completely. Then I pressed the eggshell side onto my Versamark pad and heat embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder so it would have some sparkle. I stamped my images on top with SU! Black ink and *carefully* cut them out. Then I applied Crystal Effects to help keep the shells from cracking off and give it a nice smooth finish. You may be able to apply the Crystal Effects before cutting the images out- try experimenting. It may be easier to cut that way.
This is a very simple layout but I wanted the technique to be the focus. I added a black dotted border around the designer paper to match the dotted chick. And I pierced some holes at each corner to help draw the attention to the main image.
Here’s a pic of the finished card….

….and a close-up so you can see the eggshells better.

stamps- A Good Egg
paper- Shimmery White, Saffron, Black, retired Tickles dp
ink- Black, Summer Sun, Pumpkin, various re-inkers
accessories- egg shells, Versamark, Iridescent Ice ep, Xyron, waterbrush, Crystal Effects, Black Diamond Stickles, Primas, paper piercing tools

It’s time once again for Jami’s DD/DDA challenge! This one was so much fun because I have wanted to get out some of my old favorites for a long time now. I had such good intentions to get my card done early but didn’t follow through with that thought. So late last night when Tracy (Lodichick) reminded me that today would be the 20th and not Friday, I had to get started quick! LOL. I finished my card up this morning….just in time to upload and get moving on my plans for the day. My card was inspired by a wonderful basket of pink goodies that a co-worker and friend gave me yesterday, along with a card saying how much she appreciates my help. How sweet was that?! I think I need to make another card just like this to send to her! This one, however, is going to a DDA who I am long overdue in sending a thank you to.

Here’s the details of the challenge:
Everything Old is New Again!
Challenge Focus: Use one of the oldest stamp sets you own along with embellishments and supplies you’ve had for what seems like forever.

Required Element: RAK - you must mail your card out as a RAK on 3/20 to any DD/DDA.

Restricted Element: No stamps, tools, or supplies purchased or obtained within the last 6 months.

Bonus Challenge: Use a technique or style you haven’t used in a long time, but was a favorite at some point in your stamping past.

Well, this stamp set certainly is old! But I still LOVE it! I have no idea what the year of it is….I purchased it many years ago from someone who must have cut the dates off the stickers. It contains the basket and several other images used to “fill” it. The background is an old favorite as well. I wanted to use Pixie Pink and Pretty in Pink but my package of Pretty in Pink was unopened (I think it was fairly new). So I used an old piece of non-SU light pink instead. The Fiskars scissors are also old and may qualify for the bonus technique/style?? The image was colored with a combination of colored pencils and watercoloring.

stamps- Basket of Happiness, Homespun Plaid
paper- watercolor, Pixie, non-SU
ink- Black, Pixie
accessories- Fiskars Seagull scissors, ribbon

You can find all of the challenge cards here.

Tonight I needed to make a *super quick* treat and this idea popped in my head. Aren’t they cute? I love when things work out just as you imagine them to be! I haven’t seen any like this, so I took a quick pic to share with you. I started with Cami’s awesome peppermint patty idea (covering them with the scallop punch-outs). Then I stamped & cut out the ears with the Pick A Petal stamp set. I just drew on the faces and colored the center of the ears and they were done! Easy peasy! My faces are a bit sloppy since I was in a hurry, but I’m sure the kids receiving them won’t care. The part they want is on the inside.

stamps- Pick A Petal
paper- white
ink- Basic Brown, Pretty in Pink
accessories- Scallop punch

Are you wearing your green today? Here’s a card I made last night. I couldn’t let St. Patrick’s Day go by without using my Pinch Proof set! The card base was folded at the bottom and the top was scored at 1 1/2″ to make the pocket. The piece of Wasabi cardstock that slides into the pocket has a mini card attached to the front of it. And the scallop circle was popped up with dimensionals. Have a great day, everyone!

stamps- Pinch Proof, Pinch Me jumbo wheel
paper- Wasabi, Garden, White
ink- Garden, Pumpkin, Black
accessories- silver cording, brads, circle & scallop punches, pop dots, gel pen, scallop scissors

Last night I finished up the rest of my OSW cards. I also used the One Of A Kind set along with Priceless. Here’s a pic of the finished cards. I may go back and add some more details later. I have to say that this is by far my favorite template that I made! I created it in 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch interchangeable “blocks” so that it can be easily adapted to suit your needs. You can cut it up as is, cut all 4 sections the same, or cut a mixture of the designs. And the pattern pieces were kept simple so they can be embellished as little or as much as you want. I made 7 cards with this (the last 2 with the wavy cut are the same). But you can easily get eight cards by switching one of the blocks for the first one which only makes 1 card.

Below the pic are pdf documents of the template and directions. The template can be printed directly onto the back of the cardstock as a cutting guideline but please use your trimmer to measure the cuts accurately! My program was a bit wacky when I made the template and it is not exact. Have fun with this & post a link back here if you try it!

osw_3-template.pdf

osw_3-directions.pdf

stamps- Priceless, One Of A Kind
paper- Celery, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Caramel, Choc. Chip, Banana, and Vanilla
ink- Celery, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Caramel, Choc. Chip, Banana
accessories- paper piercing tools, punches- Scallop, 1 3/8″ circle, Boho Blossoms, Corner Rounder

The One Sheet Wonders are such a fun technique. You are able to quickly & easily create a coordinating set of cards that you can give for a gift or use yourself! I also enjoy creating my own templates and I was a bit surprised when I looked back in my files….it has been 4 years since I made some! Wow- time flies! I had a few ladies who are still new to stamping ask me to do a class and I thought they might enjoy this technique. So I have been sketching a new template and cards, and I started making my samples. I decided to use the Priceless set and Vanilla cardstock. Sometimes I just forget to grab a color other than white and I want them to see how pretty the Vanilla is! Here is one of the cards that I’m preparing and a pic of the whole sheet that I stamped before cutting it up. I want to try to keep the pieces simple in design so they can be used with as little or as much embellishing as you want. I will work on designing the rest of the cards and post a pic along with the template I created….hopefully soon!

stamps- Priceless
paper- Celery, Vanilla, Choc. Chip
ink- Celery, Choc. Chip, Banana, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Caramel
accessories- pop dots

I have been busy with paperwork and a few other things….blech… and haven’t stamped the past few days. So I thought I would share a few 6×6 recipe pages that I did a while ago for some swaps. Enjoy!

For this first one, I found a picture of a pineapple in my clipart and used it to make a pattern. Then I printed the ingredients on the computer, traced the pattern and cut it out. The top of the pineapplewas stamped with the Cornish Heritage Farms Dotted bg and then run through the Cuttlebug. The bottom was stamped with the plaid background.

stamps- Flannel Plaid, Monkey Business, CHF dotted background
paper- Karen Foster, Green Galore, non-SU
ink- Marigold, Garden, Summer, Caramel, Cocoa, Banana
accessories- Cuttlebug D’vine Swirl, circle punches, round tab punch, ribbon

On the second one, I used the mug from Like It A Latte and cut off the handle for a soup bowl.
And after watercoloring the chicken, I used the color spritzer tool with the Caramel marker over top.

stamps- Walk This Way, Like It A Latte, Karen Foster snap stamps- small casual
paper- non SU and patterned paper unknown

This last 6×6 page was actually the first recipe page I’ve done. Here’s how I made the burgers:
Buns- 2″ circles, edges sponged & color spritzer tool on top bun.
cheese- 1 3/8″ square with 1/8″ and 1/16″ holes
lettuse- torn cs
meat- 2″ circle with deckle scissors around edge

stamps- Paisley, Flannel Plaid, Cheesecloth, Newsprint and Whimsical Lower alphas
accessories- EK Success flower punch, color spritzer tool, circle & square punches, deckle scissors, eyelet, ribbon

No stamping for this post, but I hope you like it anyway. I saw a recipe for a chicken pizza but it was spicy and I don’t care for a lot of spicy foods so I changed it up a bit. This was super easy and pretty quick to make. It seemed to be a hit with everyone too. If you try it, let me know how you like it!

Diane’s Orange Spiedie Chicken Pizza

3 Tablespoons Lupo’s Spiedie marinade*
2 Tablespoons orange juice
8 pieces of Perdue frozen chicken tenderloins (about 10- 12 oz.)
1 can Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust
1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large covered frypan, cook the chicken, marinade and orange juice over medium heat until chicken is no longer pink, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, lightly grease a 12 inch pizza pan. Unroll the pizza dough and spread to cover the pan. Bake for 7 minutes.
Remove the cooked chicken and cut into small pieces. Return the chicken to the marinade and toss to coat.
Brush the partially baked crust with some of the marinade and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Top with the chicken pieces.
Bake for 12 minutes.

*Lupo’s spiedie marinade originated in Endicott, NY and is available throughout the USA. If you cannot find it locally, visit www.spiedies.com to order it online. We like this so much that we buy it by the 1/2 gallon at our Sam’s Club. Another brand is State Fair and can be found at www.spiedie.com (without the extra “s”). Italian dressing could be substituted, but it won’t be the same as the spiedie sauce.

I think I mentioned before how I keep putting off making masculine cards. So when I needed to get one in the mail, I didn’t have one on hand. I’d just received the Birthday Whimsy SAB set so I decided to use that. I wasn’t crazy about this set at first glance but after using it, I think it’s cute. And you can never have too many birthday images! This started with the computer generated words. I made them large enough to fit the cake inside. Next I pulled a Cuttlebugged background that I had laying around. I had tried my new Allegro folder on a piece of Soft Sky cardstock and I think the musical background goes great with the words! The small package is popped up on dimensionals.

Edit to answer some questions: Someone shared quite some time ago how to print the words in a circle using Microsoft Word. I can’t remember who it was though! Here is a more recent thread explaining how.

stamps- Birthday Whimsy
words- computer generated
paper- Bayou, Soft Sky, Orange, White
ink- NQNavy, Soft Sky, Choc. Chip, Orange
accessories- Cuttlebug Allegro folder, Coluzzle, pop dots, Photo Corners punch, gel pen, eyelets