HSS 156

Hi stampers!  Happy Tuesday!  It's time for another challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  It's a great clean and simple sketch this week which of course we all know I love!

I kept it pretty straightforward.  I also couldn't resist using the now retired (super sad face here) sycamore street DSP.  I think it may be my all time favorite DSP EVER!  You may see it around here now and then :-)

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Oh, hello
Paper:  Very vanilla, sahara sand, so saffron, sycamore street DSP (retired SAB)
Ink:  Sahara sand, so saffron, calypso coral
Accessories:  Labels collection and oval framelits, honeycomb embossing folder

I was inspired at regionals to use the oh, hello set.  They used the flower a lot by stamping it full strength and then stamping again without re-inking.  It looks really great that way!  I'm also loving the ovals framelits!  I haven't used ovals much in my stamping but I'm really liking the shape for spring!

Now make sure to go check out the rest of the design team submissions and play along with us!  We'd love to see what you come up with!

Happy stamping!

Snow Bunnies

Hi stampers!  And no, I'm not talking about skiing....here in the midwest we got 14 inches of snow yesterday.  I'm probably stuck at home today because they haven't plowed our street yet and people keep getting stuck.  I KNOW my car which is rear wheel drive (sadly) won't make it down the street.  The main roads are fine but we live smack in the middle of our street so I'd have to get through a LOT of snow.  I'm supposed to have a meeting and considering trying to walk to it since it's close-ish to my house but I'm not sure my boots are tall enough to keep the snow off my feet :-)  I don't think I'll be covering my baseball game tonight either, ha!  So, I might be having a snow day....in March...almost April.  Yuck!

So, how about some springy bunnies?  I need something cheery and springy today!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Ears to you
Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, calypso coral
Ink:  Pink pirouette, calypso coral, lucky limeade (markers)
Accessories:  Paper piercing pack, subtles buttons, baker's twine, basic pearls

It's hard to see but a couple of my bunnies have little cotton tails make out of pearls :-)  Ok, I'm off to look out the window again to see if the street has magically cleared up...I keep doing it even though I know it's wishful thinking :-)

Happy stamping!

The best laid plans....

Hi stampers!  I'm back from the St. Louis regional event a little earlier than planned.  I went down on Friday with my mom (she likes to tag along places with me and explore or even just hang out at the hotel and read and relax...although she's retired she seems to be busier than when she worked, lol) and we planned on staying last night as well and then heading back today.  Well, with this snow we were supposed to (and are) getting we thought it best to get out of Dodge last night.  My mom had asked earlier if we could get out of our second night and the lady said no and was snippy with her.  Well, I checked out with a nice young man (who helped us last night when our room locked us out for almost an hour...so maybe that had something to do with it) and he didn't charge me for our second night!  Yay for nice people!!!!

So, I drove us back to her farm and we spent the night there instead and I got up early and came home this morning.  I beat most of the snow and bad weather...it's snowing a LOT here right now and she just texted me that it's bad there and there is crazy lightning and thunder snow!!!  I think she just lost power:(  I really do like it there but there are definitely times I'm glad I live in the "city" lol!  So, I didn't have much time to spend with my stampy friends but it was still fun!  So, if you were there and I didn't get to chat I'm sorry!  And thanks to all of you who found me and had kind words to say about my blog and my artwork!  It means the world to me!!!!  I have to say my mom was more than a little freaked out when we checked out as multiple people were asking me if I was Mindy, lol!  She was all, "How do these people know who you are?"  LOL!!!!

Oh, and there was a comic con at the convention center as well which made for GREAT people watching, lol!  Of course since my hubby is a bit of a Star Wars geek I knew exactly what was going on when I saw a few people in costume but it was funny to watch some of the stampers try to figure out what was going on, lol!  A Ghostbuster checked into the hotel right behind me and I saw at least three Captain America's..... :-)

Anyway, I didn't take many pictures.  The day just went so fast!  So, I'll have to share something I already had made and lying around here:-)

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps:  Dapper dad, beyond plaid (that rhymed, lol), Family reunion

Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, cherry cobbler, always artichoke, 2011-2013 in colors DSP stack

Ink:  Crumb cake, always artichoke

Accessories:  Natural buttons, linen thread, distressing tool

I got the color combo from a Colour Q challenge a while ago, great masculine colors!  And then I idea from the spring catalog.  I made a little collar on my shirt though.  Jon already gave this one to his dad on his birthday.  He jokes and says that he married me because he never had cards for anyone and now he always has a card when he needs it, lol!  

Oh....and in case you haven't heard....looks like we can expect a little color shake up this year!  It was announced with the release of the This & That line (a smashbook and accessories that just came out...more on that another time) that calypso coral and pool party will be sticking around!  Hooray!  I don't have to go into mourning over pool party...or calypso coral (which I happened to wear at regionals yesterday, hehe).  

Ok, I'm having a snow day (good thing I ran when I got home...we got home just as it started snowing again) and stamping!  

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!

Golden Birthday

Hi stampers!  I have a card today that was inspired by one on the SU "blog" this week. One of the posts was all about gold and I loved it!  I pulled out my much neglected shimmer paint and recreated their card for my little cousin Kyleigh's first birthday.  It almost goes with her present which is the sweetest most adorable little spring jacket with polka dots :-)

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  None!
Paper:  Whisper white, calypso coral, 2011-2013 in colors DSP stack
Ink:  None!
Accessories:  Sponge dauber, champaign shimmer paint, vintage faceted buttons, linen thread, sizzix alphabet (name escapes me at the moment), chipboard
All I did was use a sponge dauber to randomly place polka dots with the shimmer paint.  Would be pretty with the other colors too I think!  It does take a while to dry.  I set mine aside over night and assembled it the next day so this isn't a great last minute card :-)  I also sponged the number with the shimmer paint.

Oh and in case you wondered (since I don't do square cards much) it's 5 x 5.

Happy first birthday little cousin and happy stamping!

Fab Fri 14

Hi stampers!  TGIF, right?  It's been a long week for some reason...although next week might be longer as work is picking up and I have to start covering games...OUTSIDE....blech!  It better warm up and warm up fast, lol!  Anyway, moving onto the fun stuff....the new color challenge over at Fab Friday!  We've got some fantastic spring colors for you this week!

I know we can use some spring around here!!!!  I'm hoping to get a run outside tonight after work since it's light so much longer now and it's supposed to be in the 50's!  We shall see.....

I had a lot of ideas of what stamp set to use for this challenge.  It obviously screams spring and flowers but I kind of didn't want to do the "norm" with this one either.  Alas, I did use a flower but I used some things I haven't used much of.  One, the curios collage stamp set and two, the SAB embossing folder!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Collage curios, wishes your way, distressed dots (background)
Paper:  Whisper white, sahara sand, pink pirouette lucky limeade, tea for two DSP
Ink:  Sahara sand, pink pirouette, calypso coral, lucky limeade
Accessories:  Circle and scalloped circle punches, basic pearls, doilies, bottle caps, dazzling details

Can I just say how much I love those little bottle caps????   There's also some sparkle on the rose although it doesn't show in the picture.  But it's there :-)

Now head on over and check out what the rest of the design team came up with...and SPEAKING of the DT you'll want to make sure you check out the little announcement we have!  It's very exciting!  Go see!

Happy stamping