Shabby thanks

Hi stampers!  I hope you had a happy and blessed Easter!  We did...aside from too much food:-)  But what's new I guess, right?  At least we got in a run early this morning even though I was sore from step class yesterday and slow!  It might not have been the best idea to add a second set of risers to my step when I haven't done that in a while, lol!  Ouch!!!  It was so pretty out all day long though...even when it was chilly on our run!

I haven't done much stamping...just can't seem to come up with many good ideas lately!  Add in the holiday weekend and I didn't have much time either.  I did manage to get one cute card done though.  I'm trying to use more of my DSP from the occasions mini since this is it's last month.  Anyway, here's the card:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Apothecary art, creative elements, fabulous phrases
Paper:  Very vanilla, pool party, poppy parade (textured), attic boutique DSP
Ink:  Staz-on, crumb cake, poppy parade, pool party, daffodil delight
Accessories:  Labels collection framelits, vintage wallpaper embossing folder, basic pearls

I stamped off all of the elements on the label first and I'm thinking I could have done it twice with the poppy parade!   I also did a lot of sponging to make it a bit softer.

I also wanted to say a quick thanks to all my blog followers and those who leave comments:-)  I read each one and they really brighten my day!

Happy stamping!

Caseing....myself

Hi stampers!  I really liked my card from last week's Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge.  So, when I was stuck for ideas the other night I figured I'd give that card another go and case myself.  That's a great way to get out of a mojo funk!  Take something you made that you like and go in another direction with it!  You're almost guaranteed to make something you'll like since you already loved the inspiration, hehe!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Apothecary art, loving words, creative elements, elementary elegance (SAB)
Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, pool party, calypso coral smooth & textured
Ink:  Staz on, calypso coral, pool party, peach parfait, lucky limeade
Accessories:  Labels collection framelits, crumb cake seam binding, basic pearls

This card is much softer than the inspiration and I love it so much!  It's very springy I think!  For my main image I did a lot of stamping off with the flower from creative elements and the butterfly and bird from elementary elegance.  Now I'm going to tell on myself.  The sentiment was a happy accident....I didn't like what I had stamped/how I had stamped the sentiment on the label....so I covered it up....and decided that it looked really good!  Ha!  Always remember there are no mistakes, only opportunities to embellish, right? ;-)

I have really been neglecting my seam binding lately but I pulled it out for this card and I like the soft look it gives.  I need to remember to use it more often!  I sure say that about a lot of things:-)

So the next time you're stuck just take a look through your most recent projects and re-work one and see what happens!!!

Happy stamping!

HSS 108

Hi stampers!  Happy Tuesday...time for a new challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  Now, I have to start out with a disclaimer....I goofed!  For some strange reason I totally had it in my head that this week's color challenge used poppy parade when in fact it used real red...oops!  The colors are really fun and bright though!

I don't know if maybe I had seen this color combo with poppy somewhere else or I got confused when I looked at my attic boutique DSP because all of the colors minus the real red are in there.  I absolutely LOVED the card that I came up with though so I'm going to share it anyway....and I didn't have the time to re-do it....and really I'm not sure that you can really tell it's not real red unless you look closely:-)  So, I hope you forgive me! I swear I turned 31 and my brain stopped functioning, lol!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Apothecary art, creative elements, loving thoughts
Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, soft suede, daffodil delight, attic boutique DSP
Ink:  Black staz-on, crumb cake, soft suede, poppy parade, daffodil delight
Accessories:  basic pearls, large basic pearls, daffodil delight striped grosgrain ribbon, itty bitty punch pack, labels collection framelits

There's a lot of sponging going on here to make it nice and vintage!  I used the big flower from creative elements to make the label a little less sparse.  I stamped it off once to make it softer.  I chose the word memories because I thought it fit the vintage theme of the card.  And lastly, I pulled apart some of the ribbon to make it a bit more shabby!

I'll have to make sure I check the next challenge a little more carefully before I start stamping, ha!

Happy stamping!

Too busy

Hi stampers!  I'm not talking about my schedule....I'm talking about the card I have to share today:-)  I had good intentions when I started making it but I think it went astray and became too busy.  I don't always share my cards that don't turn out like I planned (purely to make you think I'm a stamping genius and everything I turn out is stunning, LOL!!!!!) but I don't dislike this one enough to hide it, ha!  There are parts of it I like but I think it is way too busy.  I think I had good ideas that would have turned out better separately.  What do you think?

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Kidness matters (SAB option), apothecary art
Paper:  Very vanilla, poppy parade, calypso coral, peach parfait smooth and textured, everyday enchantment DSP (SAB)
Ink:  Poppy parade, calypso coral, peach parfait, crumb cake
Accessories:  Labels collection framelits, circle punch, crochet trim, basic pearls, dazzling details, everyday enchantment ribbon & brad pack (SAB)

So too busy?  My idea was to use a lot of SAB offerings including the kindness matters set which is a set out of the regular catalog that you can get for FREE!!!  SAB is going on through the end of March so there is still time to earn a FREE product for every $50 spent!  Anyway, enough of my sales pitch, ha!  I just love those butterflies though!  And that DSP pattern but I'm not sure how well I like the other elements.  Oh well...better luck next time right?

Happy stamping!

Hey hey, it's my birthday!

Hi stampers!  So today is my birthday:-)  Someone on facebook wished me happy birthday and asked if I was going to spend all day making myself birthday cards!  LOL!  I think that sounds like a FABULOUS birthday to me!  Sadly, I have to work today but maybe I'll stamp tonight.  My birthday didn't seem to bother me too much last year...I could say I was 30....NOW, I'm IN my 30's....not liking that so much, hahaha!  That "s" on the end is freaking me out a bit, hahahaha! 

Anyway, I SHOULD have a birthday card to share today but I don't!  I realized I have not made a birthday card since I don't know when!  So, birthday cards are on the to do list for sure!  I do have a thank you card that I whipped up yesterday though.

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Apothecary art, elementary elegance (SAB), fabulous phrases
Paper:  Very vanilla, lucky limeade, pool party, calypso coral, everyday enchantment DSP (SAB)
Ink:  Crumb cake, basic gray, lucky limeade, pool party, calypso coral. staz-on
Accessories:  Labels collection framelits, adorning accents edgelits and embossing folders, polka dots embossing folder, itty bitty punch pack, basic pearls

I just love this pattern out of the SAB paper!  It's very vintage wall paper-ey to me!  I did lots of sponging on this card to fit with the vintage theme and I also stamped the birds after stamping each one off on scratch paper to get a softer effect.

Anyway, maybe I'll be back with some birthday cards soon:-) 

Happy stamping!

Twitterpatted - 2 ways

Hi stampers!  I'm having some serious lack of stamping motivation...or really any motivation at all to do ANYTHING as of late, ha!  I've been in a bit of a funk since the holidays and being sick last week didn't help things.  I pretty much just want to sit around...we won't talk about how under-used my stamp supplies are or how messy my house is, lol!  I think it's just the winter blues....wish I could take a vacation somewhere warm and sunny...oh well!  Anyway, I've been trying to post a lot but sometimes I just don't have anything to share!  I'm hoping to do some serious stamping (and maybe some cleaning....lol) this weekend since we don't have a lot on the calendar for once.  So hopefully I can post away next week:-)

I do have a few things to share that I've done lately.  The first one is this card....well two cards.  I usually make my cards two at a time simply because you can use one sheet of cardstock and get two A2 sized bases (5.5 x 4.25) and occasionally I change the second one because either I don't like how it turned out or I get some genius idea in the middle of my project:-)  I've been less than satisfied with most of my projects lately (there is nothing like the feeling you get when you make something and it turns out just as you pictured it or even better) and that may account for why I feel in a bit of a slump so I wasn't crazy about how the card turned out.  So, I switched up my second one just a bit and added some dry embossing.  I'm not sure I like it any better though.  Which one do you like better?

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Apothecary Art, Loving thoughts
Paper:  Watercolor, blushing bride, pool party, twitterpatted DSP
Ink:  Stazon, blushing bride, riding hood red, pear pizzazz
Accessories:  Labels collection framelits, adorning accents edgelits, blushing bride ribbon, vintage wallpaper embossing folder, cherry cobbler dazzling details

I really can't decide which one I like best!  I do like this layout a lot though and I think it works really well for this stamp set!  When coloring the flowers I colored them in with blushing bride and then came back and added some accents to the centers with riding hood red.  Something not easy to see in the photo is that I lightly dotted the center of each flowers with some cherry cobbler dazzling details.  It's very pretty in real life and made the card a little less ho-hum!

Hopefully I'll be back soon:-)

Happy stamping!

Grandma's Attic

Hi stampers!  Well, you just may be seeing a LOT of the new attic boutique DSP from the occasions mini....WHY you ask?  Well, because I accidentally bought two packs on my big SAB order.  Ugh!  I do that way too often.  And I thought I double checked it too....oh well.  Good thing it's pretty!  Just look:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Apothecary art
Paper:  Watercolor, poppy parade, soft suede, daffodil delight, attic boutique DSP
Ink:  staz-on, pear pizzazz, poppy parade, daffodil delight
Accessories:  Labels collection framelits, ribbon lace border punch, large pearls, pool party ruffled ribbons, dazzling details

This one is pretty straight forward. The one detail you probably can't see well is that I dotted each of the flowers with dazzling diamonds in the center.  I wasn't crazy about it but liked it better after I did the dazzling diamonds, added some pearls and some ribbon.  That kept it out of the reject pile:-)  It's kind of loud and bright but this one is growing on me!  And now for a funny story....

I can't see the name of this DSP without thinking of my granny.  She used to tell me the story of how once when she was a bad girl (she sassed her mom....we seem to have that in common, lol) her mom locked her in the attic!  I guess it was really dark and scary...I imagine it would be....the attic in HER house was creepy and I only was in there during the day and with people, ha!  And it had a teeeny tiny door...always thought that was odd.  Anyway, whatever it was that got her in trouble she said she made sure to never do again:-)  It's probably not all that funny to you all but it makes me giggle just thinking of her telling the story, she'd always laugh about it.  And I'm sure glad WE didn't have an attic growing up because I'm sure I deserved to be locked in it now and again, lol!

Happy stamping!