On Friday night another friend and I went to spend some time with our dear friend, Linda.  We had such a nice time visiting and helping her prep for a workshop.  We came up with 2 very simple cards but I thought they were so pretty.  We all decided to make this one and I wanted to share it with you. 

I have also been making several other simple cards for a basket raffle donation.  Maybe I will share a few of those later. 

Did you know that you can search for simple cards on Splitcoast?  And they even have some challenges for them.  I was recently helping another demo friend search for some simple cards that she could make with a non-stamping group of ladies and stumbled upon a whole bunch of cards labeled CAS, for “Clean and Simple”.  You can just search the Splitcoast gallery for “CAS” and it will show them all.

I have no idea where this Top Note design originated, but I love it and thought it would be a great start on our card!  The top note die is cut, then turned 90 degrees and cut again.  Then the two ends of the designer paper are flipped to the reverse pattern.  So cute!  Linda thought it would look nice with a little white space left between the cuts and I agree.  She also wanted to use her bird die and we liked it left all white.  I used the inside of the leaf and popped it up on dimensionals for the bird’s wing.  Linda had some tiny stick on pearls for the eyes which really set it off.  Then I punched some flowers and added some Liquid Pearls to finish it off.

No stamping on this card…gasp!

paper- White, Not Quite Navy, Saffron, Kraft & Not Quite Navy designer papers; accessories- Trio Flower punch, Bird w/ Leaves and Flower Sizzix die, Top Note die, stick-on pearl, Liquid Pearls.

Hello!  I hope you are having a bright sun-shiny day! 

It is rainy and dreary here so I figured I would create a little sunshine with a new stamp and some cheery, yellow paper.  ;0)

I have a lot of Stampavie news for you today!  First up is this ADORABLE new Rachelle Anne Miller image called Peek a Bunny!  And just wait till you see the rest of the images….Rachelle has done a fantastic job on her new spring collection!  They will be released very soon at Stampavie! 

I also want to tell you to check out the newly redesigned Stampavie website.  There’s some fun new things to check out.  

1.  Sign up for the free Stampavie newsletter containing competitions, project ideas, techniques, news and more!

2.  Find out how to get rewarded with 5 free Stampavie clear stamps! 

3.  Read about the new Sarah Kay Angel Policy!

4. Watch for upcoming challenges on the Design Team blog.  (There may even be a prize or two).  :0)

5.  Find out about how the new US Sales Representative will reduce the costs and shipping times to the US retailers. 

6.  And don’t forget to keep checking back to see the new Rachelle Anne Miller spring collection!    

I hope you can soak in some sun today…whether it’s outside or crafting with some sunshiny papers…..have a great day! 

Here’s the card recipe:

stamps- Rachelle Anne Miller’s Peek a Bunny by Stampavie; C.C. Designs Sugarplum Sentiments; paper- Saffron, Black, White, Saffron dp; ink- Memento Black, Pretty in Pink for sponging tag, Regal Rose marker for spritzing tag; accessories- Copic markers, Circle and Tags Trio Nestabilities, ribbons, gel pen, sponge, Inkworx Air Art tool, eyelet, snaps, linen thread, Stickles, Primas.

I know what you’re thinking… what does that title have to do with a simple birthday card?  LOL.  Well, read on…

First, though, I will share this card that I made for the ATS Wednesday challenge.  Lesa has taken over as our challenge coordinator and we were giving her some suggestions.  ;0)  Wednesdays seem to always sneak up on me, but since I suggested this one, I really wanted to try to play along!

I love white on white and especially with the focal image being the only thing with color.  So our challenge was a white on white card with a colored focal image.

I knew I wanted to use the colors pink & yellow.  I am making up a basket of simple cards to donate for a raffle and somehow I started out with all pink cards.  Then the only suitable basket I found was a yellow one made of wire.  (There’s Easter baskets everywhere now but try to find a plain one!)  So the rest of my cards for the basket will be in a pink and yellow theme.

I also wanted to use my Cupcake Occasions set, and looking at it, I knew the strawberry topper would be perfect.  The cupcake layer was cut out and popped up for some dimension.  I am debating about adding some Crystal Effects to the strawberry…I may go back and add that!  Just a few simple embossed layers and ribbon were added.  But I had to add some faux stitches, of course.  Someday I’m sure I’ll look back and wonder why I put stitches on everything.  Ha!

The DT did a great job with this challenge…you can see all of the cards here on the ATS blog.

stamps- Cupcake Occasions; paper- White; ink- Memento Black; accessories- Copic markers, 2″ circle punch, Cuttlebug Birthday, A2 Happy Birthday and A2 Swiss Dots folders, Circle and Labels 1 Nestabilities, pop dots, ribbon.

 So, are you still wondering about my title? 

A few weeks ago I asked for prayers for a friend but I didn’t give any information.  This is a picture of my friend, Linda, and I.  It was taken a few years ago at a Splitcoast gathering (a whole day of stamping fun).  Without going into a lot of details, here’s a “short version” for you.  Linda recently found out that she has lung cancer and it is in Stage 4.  Yesterday she also learned that there are 2 small tumors that spread to her brain.  So she will be having radiation before she can start the chemo. 

Linda has an incredible faith and knows that our Lord is in control.  She is very dear to me and I would appreciate any prayers that you can offer!  She told me last week that it was OK to post on my blog, but I didn’t ask how much.  LOL.  So I’ll keep it short. 

Have a blessed day!

TGIF!  :0)

Today I have 2 cards to share with you….well, 3 actually.  But I wish I didn’t have to share the 3rd one.  LOL.  I’ll explain why.  

This first card was made for the March SCS DD/DD Alumni challenge.  (Below I also have a card for the ATS Review Preview Friday, so keep reading!). 

There was some discussion among the DD about how much our stamping has improved over the years (and some laughter at our early attempts) so I went back to my first page of uploads at Splitcoast and found this card from 2004:  

 eeeek!  I can’t believe I dug this one up and shared it.  Isn’t it awful?  I don’t know what I was thinking with that homemade wire flower.  LOL.  And those colors!  And no designer papers?  Are you kidding me?  I can’t believe we lived without ‘em!  Jeepers, that was a horrible scan too, wasn’t it?

So after we had a few laughs at our “early” cards, Holly decided to issue us this challenge:

This month we are going to do a Featured Stamper challenge. Who is the featured stamper? Well, YOU are!

This month, you are going to choose the oldest card in your gallery (or at least one on your very first page of uploads)… and you are going to CASE it!    … just like the regular featured stamper challenge, you are going to change at least three things on your card (i.e. different colors, different stamps, different embellishments), but we want to be able to see the subtle changes.

Challenge Focus: A CASE of one of your oldest cards.

Required Element: Change at least three things on your card (subtle).

Restricted Element: None!

OK, first off, I obviously changed the colors, as I was NOT about to use the same ones.  And I changed the stamp set because I don’t have a clue where to start looking for that one and…well…I am just having so much fun with the mushrooms this month!  ;0)  I also changed my embellishment to a cute mushroom charm from Michael’s since I seriously failed “wire flower making 101″ the first time around!  Ha!

The mat under the main image was punched with a cute border punch which is so popular these days….I can’t remember the last time I tore my cardstock!  Oh…yes, I did once last month but before that??  can’t remember!  Isn’t it funny how styles change? 

I don’t recall ever playing along with the featured stamper challenges, so I hope I did this right.  *crossing fingers*  So how about *you*?  Are you ready to dig through your old cards and change them up a bit?  It sure was a fun challenge….thanks, Holly!

You can check out all the other DD “re-creations” here.

stamps- Mushroom Friends by Cookie Crumbs; paper- Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey Eva; ink- Memento Black; accessories- mushroom charm, Copic markers, Dotted Wave and 1 3/8″ square punches by EK Success, ribbon. 

Now…my second card today is for the ATS Review Preview Friday.  This week we are reviewing Christine’s 2 new sets and I chose Spring Things! to work with.  This set is so cute!

I have been “into” purple lately but I have a hard time finding nice purple papers to use.  (know of any?)  So I pulled out some scraps of old favorites for this project.  I also got to use one of my new EK Success edge punches…Parisian.  It was punched along both sides of the black cardstock strip and I really like the results of it. 

The girl and duck (isn’t he the cutest?) were masked before stamping the puddle.  Then the girl’s hat, dress, boots and umbrella were all paper pieced with the same papers used for layers.  I lightly added a few outlines and shadows to the paper pieces with a light gray Copic marker.  Very subtle.  Then I colored a few places with a purple marker and added some white gel pen highlights. 

Check out the other samples the DT created on the ATS blog. 

stamps- Spring Things! by C.C. Designs; paper- Banana, White, Black, Making Memories purple speckle, Paper Pizazz plaid; ink- Memento Black; accessories- Copic markers, Labels 1 Nestabilities, EK Success Parisian punch, Martha Stewart Frond punch, Primas, Stickles.

Sorry for the long post!  I hope you have a fun weekend with nice, warm weather!

Hi all!  Today I have a “just for fun” project I made this weekend.  I decided to take a break from the DT work and do something just for fun.  And eeek…there was no stamping involved!  But I had fun anyway!

I have been wanting to bake some homemade treats for Riley and a friend’s dog, Dixie.  No special reason…just because!  So this weekend I tackled the project.  I really like how it turned out & I hope Dixie’s owners do too!

I found these glass jars at Walmart for $3…a great buy!  Then I set off to make the tags. 

The tag base and red layer were cut with the Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilities.  The “rug” was cut with the Oval Nestabilities.  And the “nameplate” was cut with the Double Ended Tags Nesties, after the names were printed on the computer.  The doggies and bones were diecut with the Sizzix Dog and Dog Toys die.  I couldn’t resist getting this CUTE die when I saw it at Jo-Ann’s on sale!  I knew it would be perfect for this project!  I cut and layered different colors of cardstock to resemble what the dogs look like.  They aren’t perfect, but close enough.  I sponged some distress ink onto various pieces and then glued them all into place. 

To finish the tags off, I added some gel pen accents and attached a jumbo eyelet at the top.  Then I tied them to the jar with ribbon.  I made sure I tied it in a bow so it could be easily removed to wash the jar. 

Here’s a close-up of Dixie’s tag: 

and a close-up of the tag I made for Riley:

I really enjoyed this project and I hope you like it too!  I will share the recipe for the treats sometime later…they were super easy to make.  And they seemed to be a hit with Riley.  ;0)

paper- Chocolate Chip, White, Caramel, Silver, Black, a tan, a pink, dp- Basic Grey Bittersweet; ink- Ranger Distress ink Tea Dye; accessories- Doodlebug mini brads, SU! Jumbo Pewter eyelet, Sizzix Dog & Dog Toys, gel pen, computer words, Nestabilities- Ovals, Mega Curved Rectangles, and Double Ended Tags.

Eek…I’m not sure why this photo didn’t turn out very good.  Sorry about that!

Just a quickie post tonight…Riley is begging for my attention!  I do have a few new photos of her…I’ll have to share those soon. 

This is a sample I made for Julie’s new digital set coming out tomorrow at All That Scraps.  If you are into digital images, you’ll have to check it out!

I think this is the 3rd project in a row that I’ve used these Martha Stewart butterflies punched from the Eggplant cardstock.  LOL.  But this was actually the card I started it all with….I’ve just had to wait to upload it. 

Head on over to the ATS blog to see more samples.  Christine will be adding more tomorrow too.

And did you catch the great new samples the DT made of my Mushroom Friends set?  I love ‘em!  :0)  You can see those here.

digital image- Easter Blessings by Paper Pleasing; paper- White, Elegant Eggplant, Sage Shadow; accessories- SU! Ticket Corner punch, Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly punch, Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilities, Oval Nestablities, Liquid Pearls, gel pen.

I was asked to make a bookmark for a friend several weeks ago and finally got around to getting it made! 

This is for a teenage girl and I was asked to put her name on it and add a turtle.  So the first image that came to my mind was Rachelle Anne Miller’s Playtime image.  (If you love her animals as much as I do, you can purchase them here at All That Scraps.) 

The bookmark was a pretty simple design but I think it turned out ok in the end.  I didn’t want to add too many layers or any bulky embellishments that would ruin the pages of a book.  The butterfly was left over from a previous project, as was the green paper by DCWV.  It was a piece of scrap from the card I posted yesterday.  The DCWV papers are nice and heavy and I knew it would be just fine to stand alone as a base without layering it.  And I was visiting a friend the other day who was showing me her Cricut machine, so I had her cut out the letters and photo turn.  I figured a die-cut photo turn would work much better than a real one here.  Then a few faux stitches, some Stickles and ribbon finished it off.

stamps- Rachelle Anne Miller’s Playtime by Stampavie; paper- white, black, Cool Caribbean, Elegant Eggplant, DCWV- Blossoms and Butterflies; ink- Memento Black; accessories- Copic markers, Stickles, Jumbo eyelet, ribbons, Cricut machine, Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly punch.  

It looks like it might be a nice, sunny Saturday…I hope!  Enjoy your day!     

Today is another Review Preview Friday at All That Scraps and we are reviewing my new set, Mushroom Friends!

I may be partial, but I have to admit, I’ve been having a lot of fun with these images!

The Wednesday challenge this week at ATS was to use green and since I missed that one, I decided to combine it with today’s card.  At first I wanted to use more muted colors and make it have a more “earthy” feel.  Well, as you can see…that didn’t happen!  LOL.  I saw this ribbon laying around that I’ve been wanting to use up so the card evolved from there.  The ribbon was removed & recycled from a Christmas gift card tin.  I can’t remember where it was from…possibly Walmart.  The bow was tied and fastened so neatly, so like any good stamper, I just *had* to save it.  ;0) 

The paper is from the DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies pack…I’m still lovin’ that paper!  I cut the main image with my Labels 1 Nestabilities and punched the butterfly with a Martha Stewart punch.  The words were punched out and popped up.  I actually made 2 of this card and placed the words higher by the bow on the other one.  I couldn’t decide which I liked better.  And you can’t see in the photo, but I also added Stickles a few places to match the sparkle in the paper.

Pop on over to the ATS blog to see what else the DT created!

stamps- Mushroom Friends by Cookie Crumbs; paper- White, DCWV- Blossoms and Butterflies; ink- Memento Black; accessories- Labels 1 Nestabilities, ribbon, Copic markers, Stickles, Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly punch, SU! Large Oval punch, gel pen, pop dots.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Mushrooms and chocolate….hmmm…two things that I love to eat….separately!  LOL. 

But they are cute together in paper crafting, don’t you think? 

I’ve been wanting to make Beate’s Ghirardelli chocolate box and finally had a chance to try it out.  And I wanted to use my Mushroom Friends set, but the image I wanted to use was larger than it should be for the front of the box.  So I created a backdrop for the box that my image could be popped up on.  The pink backdrop was embossed with the Cuttlebug Love Language folder and glued to the back of the box. 

My images were colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol since you can see the back of the image, once it is cut out and popped up.  I knew that if I used Copics, the ink would bleed through.  It was actually a nice change to go back to another coloring medium.  I need to switch it up more often!

The single mushroom in the set was popped up on the front.  A dimensional was placed only behind the stem so that the lid can tuck behind the mushroom cap to keep it in place. 

In this photo, you can see how the image was popped up with dimensionals on the pink backdrop. 

In order for the lid to still function and open, I had to score an extra fold on the top of the lid to accomodate the thickness of the popped up layer.  If you look closely, you can see the extra score line in front of the mushroom house. 

I was hoping the photo would pick up the sparkles, but no such luck.  I added a bit of Stickles here and there to make it a little sparkly!

I don’t think I’ve said it lately, but I LOVE my Scor-Pal!  It makes creating boxes like this a BREEZE!  I honestly use it on every card and every project that needs scored lines.  I wouldn’t want to do without it!

I have had a few comments that this set reminds you all of the Smurfs.  Oh my goodness, I almost forgot about them!  Thanks for bringing back those memories!  :0)  LOL.  I used to watch them too!

And here is a pic of the box when it is open:

 Beate was able to fit 4 chocolates inside, but mine only fit 3.  It might be the type I picked up….they had a caramel filling inside.  Yum! 

My friend and I were making these boxes together.  I grabbed a bunch of supplies and went to visit her.  But I didn’t have much patterned paper with me.  I was in a hurry as usual.  LOL.  She had the new Tea Party paper from SU! though…isn’t it pretty?  I ran out of time though and had to finish it at home so I am curious how much different our boxes turned out. 

I am glad that it’s the weekend and we are supposed to have warmer weather.  Yay!  I hope your weekend is wonderful too!

stamps- Mushroom Friends by Cookie Crumbs; paper- Saffron, Pretty in Pink, White, dp- SU! Tea Party; ink- Memento Black; accessories- Scor-Pal, SU! Scallop Edge punch, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, Cuttlebug Love Language, Scor-Tape, pop dots, Stickles, gel pen, chocolate!

Just a quick post today.  I actually typed this last night during the ATS release and I have a splitting headache from too much computer.  So short & sweet it will be. 

This is one of my favorite Rachelle Anne Miller images by Stampavie.  It’s called Peek-A-Boo.  How can you resist this adorable kitten?  It just makes you smile!  The words are from a new set by AmyR Designs called Friends Sentiments.  It was released last night, along with my Mushroom Friends and Christine’s 2 new springy sets.  Did you check them all out? 

I love the little Spellbinders ribbon tags dies!  I didn’t want a bulky ribbon here that might not lie nice and flat on the right side which would be cut off, so I made a little “ribbon” from black cardstock instead.  And you can’t see it, but I added a bit of Stickles here and there to finish it off.

Oh…I can’t wait for spring!  It is so cold here again.  :0(   I hope you have warmer weather where you are!

I’m off to rest my eyes and take a computer break.  Have a great day!

stamps- Rachelle Anne Miller- Peek-A-Boo by Stampavie, Friends Sentiments by AmyR Designs; paper- pink, white, Pink Pirouette, dp- Making Memories; ink- Memento Black; accessories- Scalloped Rectangle and Ribbon Tags Trio Nestabilities, SU! Small Oval punch, brads, Stickles.