An epic card

Hi stampers!  Sorry I haven't blogged much lately!  Time just gets away sometimes, ya know?  There's that and the fact that I just plain haven't felt very creative lately...it comes and it goes.  And I REALLY need to get crackin' on my Artisan projects, eek!  Maybe it's that I'm all hyped up for the sneak peek and pre-order next week too!  So many exciting things right now!  I need to get my hands on those new in colors like yesterday!!!!!!  Gah!

Speaking of exciting things, I've been working with the Epic Day line from the This & That journals.  The great thing about this line of products is that it's not just for smash books...you can make awesome cards just like this one:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  My paper pumpkin welcome kit
Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, pool party, epic day DSP, first edition DSP
Ink:  Crumb cake, so saffron, calypso coral, versamark
Accessories:  Pop-up posies kit, ovals framelits, scalloped circle punch, in color printed polka dot brads, gumball green satin stitched ribbon, pool party embossing powder, hung up cute clips, distressing tool

The sentiment is hard to see in the photo (and sorry it's at a wonky angle) but it's embossed in pool party and it's (again) the greeting from the MPP welcome kit!  I haven't really used the cute little paper clips from the spring catalog much but they work great with this line!  There's a lot of sponging on this card since the DSP is kind of grungy I wanted the rest to match.  And I just love those die cuts in the posies kit.  We NEED more of those in the new catalog or a die or something!!!!!

I'll hopefully have some sneak peeks for you in a little over a week and a half!  They changed the timing and I wasn't able to get the normal couple of days off I usually do so hopefully work will be light and I'll still be able to get some things made! I WON'T be staying up all night like usual though...if I gotta go to work I gotta get my 8...or more like 10 hours, hehe!

Happy stamping!

Obsessed

Hi stampers!  Ok, I have a confession!  I'm sort of obsessed with a few things:

1 - The "hey there friend" and splatter stamp from the March My Paper Pumpkin kit!  I LOVE them and can't stop using them on everything...the dog better look out, lol!

2 - The Oh, Hello stamp set.  I seriously can't seem to use any other set the last few days!

3 - The natural ribbon from the spring catalog that looks like burplap.  I mentioned on my FB page the other day that I can't believe I waited so long to get it.  I shied away because while I love burlap it's scratchy and smells funny (lol) but this ribbon is super soft and I LURVE it!

So all these obsessions are leading me to making basically the SAME card over and over, lol!  But as long as I like them I guess that's not so bad, right?  Here's a couple:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: March 2013 my paper pumpkin
Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, island indigo, tea for two DSP
Ink:  Crumb cake, so saffron, island indigo, calypso coral
Accessories:  Flower trim, basic pearls, lace tape, calypso coral and island indigo ruffled ribbon, natural trim, ovals framelits

Ack!  I just love that chevron with that stamp!  I did stamp off once with the coral ink so it's a bit softer.  And you see my nice little flowers?  I colored them with our inks and a dauber.  The lace tape is a bit stark I thought after the fact but I guess it's ok.  I finally broke down and bought some of that too....

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  March 2013 my paper pumpkin, oh hello
Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, sunshine and sprinkles DSP
Ink:  Crumb cake, daffodil delight, calypso coral, island indigo
Accessories:  Pop-up posies kit, ovals framelits, naturals trim

See my pretty little yellow brad?  I colored one of the white ones from the posies kit so it would match. It was easy with a sponge and some ink!  Also, see how my chevron oval looks a little distressed?  It's because I inked it with a sponge and then stamped off a bit for a softer look.

There are more but I'll save them for another day:-)  Tomorrow's Fab Friday post may look oddly similar too, lol!  I don't want to call it a rut because I'm really enjoying using these things and the finished products but does anyone else do this sometimes?  Get kind of stuck on using certain things and making versions of one project???

Happy stamping!

Display Stamper Audition

...application...try out?  Hi stampers!  So Stampin' Up is looking for display stampers for future events!  How fun!  Of course I have to audition or apply or try out...what to call it?  Hehe!  This has been a good warm up for the Artisan contest of as well.  We have to submit 3 cards, 2 3-D items and a scrap page....so here are my entries (warning...this is kind of long)!

This little box was inspired by the one in the catalog but I wanted to take it a little further.  So, I used the yummy pool party embossing powder to dress up the bottom of the box a little (I can't tell you how much I love that stuff).  I also jazzed up the flower a bit by poking the brad through not only the pool party flower but one of the little flower trim flowers as well.  I think it's so cute!  I also added a little ribbon leaf.  It's such a cute little box and really didn't take 5 minutes to put together even with the embossing with a little help from my SAMJ!

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps:  Madison Avenue (SAB)

Paper:  Crumb cake

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories:  Gumball green stitched satin ribbon, pool party embossing powder, flower trim, 2011-2013 in color polka dot brads, pop-up posies kit, fancy favor die

For my second 3-D item I have another flower item but it's spring or at least it's supposed to be even if it doesn't feel it weather wise and spring means flowers!  And flowers make me think of my momma so I made her a fabric brooch for Mother's Day.  The more amore fabric was perfect because her favorite colors are red and blue.  The silicone craft mat made this so easy to put together with a little hot glue!

Stampin' Supplies:
Accessories:  More amore designer fabric, sycamore street ribbon & button pack (SAB), large basic pearls, gumball green stitched satin ribbon, fun flowers die

I'm kind of on a roll with the pop up posies kit!  It's probably one of my favorite items in the mini catalog and maybe one of my top picks of all time!  It's just so fun and cute and can be used in so many more ways than just some tags!  So, I decided I'd try to use parts of it on most of my projects.

As soon as I saw the little "cupcake liner" flowers I immediately thought of one of my all time favorite flowers...the daffodil.  So of course I had to make my own daffodil.  It makes the perfect Easter card!

Stampin" Supplies:

Stamps:  Teeny tiny wishes

Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, daffodil delight, tea for two DSP

Ink:  Daffodil delight, calypso coral

Accessories:  Honeycomb embossing folder, pop-up posies kit, linen thread, lucky limeade ruffled ribbon

I love this next card and the bottle caps!  They are so fun to smash in the big shot and then pop something fun into the middle!  I also love the little pennant stamp from collage curios and thought it would work great with the patio party paper!  My sentiment is actually from the bitty banners stamp set.  I just carefully inked it as to not get the banner border which I didn't want.

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Collage curios, itty bitty banners
Paper:  Whisper white, baja breeze, midnight muse, summer starfruit, patio party DSP
Ink:  Baja breeze, midnight muse, summer starfruit, primrose petals (markers)
Accessories:  Soda pop tops, 1" circle punch, 1-3/4" scalloped circle punch, argyle embossing folder, primrose petals stitched satin ribbon, apothecary accents framelits, basic rhinestones

For my final card I wanted to do something more clean and simple...and of course use something else from the pop-up posies kit, ha!  I found the oval famelits work PERFECT in the kraft colored labels!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Feel goods, Oh, hello
Paper:  Whisper white, calypso coral
Ink:  So saffron, calypso coral, island indigo
Accessories:  Oval framelits, pop-up posies kit, vintage faceted designer buttons, linen thread

And finally we have my scrap page.  I used the you are my sunshine single stamp since my photo was of my and my hubby at a beach on our honeymoon!  The page is a BIT bright so I used a black and white photo as to not be TOO overwhelming:-)  The Oh, whale stamp set added some nice little waves!  I also added some glimmer paper to my sun rays and really liked the way it turned out! So sunny!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Sunshine (single stamp), Oh, whale
Paper:  Whisper white, daffodil delight, pool party, island indigo, summer smooches DSP, floral district DSP. brights DSP stack, champaign glimmer paper
Ink:  Daffodil delight, pool party, island indigo (ink and markers)
Accessories:  labels collection framelits

Whew!  Ok, I think that's it!  Thanks for sticking with me and wish me good luck:-)

Happy stamping!

Mailable Monday...Just Kidding

Hi stampers!  It's Monday again, how does that keep happening?????  So the card I have today is pretty much the opposite of a mailable card :-)  Well you could mail it but it would take a bubble envelope....or do like I do with a lot of my "fancy" cards...I stick them in packages that I'm already mailing as an extra surprise then problem solved, ha!

Anyway, I'm totally obsessed with the pop-up posies kit for so many reasons!  First, the flowers of course are gorgeous.  And then there are those cute little embossed kraft colored tags!  We totally need an embosslit to cut these puppies out!  Third, the just for you stamp is just adorable!  And then finally, I love that you can totally do so many more things with the kit than just make tags out of it!  I'm loving making cards with it!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Pop-up posies kit
Ink:  Crumb cake, versamark
Paper:  Crumb cake, sycamore street DSP (SAB)
Accessories:  Pop-up posies kit, SAB ribbon & brad back, summer starfruit stitched satin ribbon, pool party embossing powder

It's just so yummy!  I LOVE these colors and the pool party embossing powder!!!!  And of course that's my favorite pattern from the SAB DSP!  And isn't that brad pretty in the center of the flower there?  It's in the kit!  And making the flower is super easy.  I just took 10 of the flowers and stacked them up then poked a hole and inserted the brad.  After that I just kind of fluffed up and bent up some of the petals.  Ta-da!

Make sure to pick up a couple of the kits today!  And don't forget it's the last week for Sale-A-Bration! Make sure to get your freebies by Friday because then they are gone FOR-EV-ER!  Gasp!!!!!

Happy stamping!

Retro butterflies

Hi stampers!  I LOVED the Retro Sketches sketch this week!

Eeep!  It's so cute and you could go so many different directions with it!  I chose to keep it really simple with the hectic week I'd had last week and I have to say that it worked out well:-)  I'll probably use it time and again!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Pop-up posies kit
Paper:  Whisper white, rich razzleberry, island indigo, summer starfruit, Sycamore street DSP (SAB)
Ink:  Rich razzleberry
Accessories:  Butterfly punch, bitty butterfly punch,  vine street embossing folder (SAB), basic rhinestones

I just got the bigger butterfly punch with my SAB order to go with the smaller one I had gotten from the Occasions catalog and they go together so well!  I also used the stamp from the pop-up posies kit...I LOVE that our products work so seamlessly together!  While the stamp might come with the flower kit it looks terrific on this card all by itself!  Don't be afraid to mix up stamp sets and kits and elements that you may not think of putting together immediately!

I pulled the colors from the DSP which I love.  And a couple of little tips.....

1) The rhinestones are actually the strips of jewels.  I took my paper snips and carefully sniped them apart in groups of three which was way easier than trying to line up the rhinestones individually.

2) I used glue dots to adhere the butterflies so that their wings stand up.  I gently fold them in half a little then put a glue dot on the back and stick it down.  You can then "fluff" up the wings to make them look like they are flying away:-)

When it rains it pours

Hi stampers!  With the title of my blog post I wish I had a card made with the new umbrella set but I don't.  Haven't had a chance to play with that one yet! I was hoping to tonight but we got some bad news while out at dinner.  My in laws had to put their boy dog down tonight as he was showing symptoms of a brain tumor.  We are a very animal loving family and quite frankly I think most of us love our dogs and cats more than people:-)  They are always happy to see you and are never rude or yell at you and they keep all your secrets!:-)  I also lost my grandma on Friday so it's been a sad week around here. She was 91 and had a good life and I have so many great memories of her though so I'm not sad.  I'm happy she's not suffering after getting pneumonia last week and can be reunited with my grandpa.  But, hopefully things look up soon and I can get some stamp time in!

Good thing I have a few pretty things stored up to share!  This is one I came up with the other night using the little pop-up posies kit which is super cute and my new favorite thing...pool party embossing powder.  It also uses my maybe ALL TIME fave color combo....crumb cake, pool party and summer starfruit!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: Pop-up posies kit
Paper:  Crumb cake, pool party, sycamore street DSP (SAB), pop-up posies kit
Ink:  Crumb cake, versa mark
Accessories:  Pop-up posies kit, in color polka dot brads, pool party embossing powder, dotted scalloped punch, sycamore street ribbon & button kit (SAB)

I just LOVE the colors together and I love that ribbon, so pretty! And I love that DSP and the embossing powder!  Seriously it's all wonderful!  The kit comes with those cute embossed labels, three different flowers and brads to use in the center (which I swapped out in this case).  It's really for little tags but I love that you can take our kits and make other things with them!  There are so many possibilities here!

Just looking at the pretty picture cheers me up a bit!  I hope it brightens your day as well...or evening by the time I'm getting to this:-)  Best laid plans...you know....

Happy stamping!