Just the Little Things

Today I have two more MFTeasers to show you. This time I'm using the new "Can you Dig it" set which does include the famous "Headless Chick" gardening (she's on my card for Wednesday)

But, today I'm using all the other stamps in the set - let me just tell you that this set is huge, so there are lots of things that you can do even without the chick!


This first card is on its way to a friend of mine on the team. I actually was gabbing on the phone with her as I was making it.




I've been totally inspired by the inchie creations over on Ellen Hutson's store, I decided to inch it up myself. The three little elements are stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate and colored with my Prismacolor pencils.



The card front is the largest square nestie that I cut onto a folded piece of cardstock making a nice big rectangle. I then covered it with designer paper and covered the seam with that vertical piece of Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon.


I also just totally adore these cute little seed packets. I woke up with this card clear as day in my head while I was on vacation in Vegas. I really liked my one layer card I made with the Look Who's Perky set of mugs from Paper Pretties, and decided to use a very similar style card for the seed packets. But, it isn't a one layer card given that I had to add in some of my fave new Scenic Route paper.


The base of the card is scalloped with my corner rounder punch with the guard removed. The little seed packets were colored in with my prisma color pencils then blended with OMS and a stump. The Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon from SU is a near perfect match for this designer paper.

My Favorite Things (http://www.mftstamps.com/) is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, April 2 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time.

Lots of fun is planned including finding out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer. Head over to the MFT forum on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ to find out all the details and we hope to see you there on Wednesday night.

I've been tagged.....

I'm behind on some tags! Melanie tagged me looking for seven random facts, these ones are in fact pretty random....

1 In High School, I couldn't get enough of the Cure. That must be really funny now to anyone that knows my taste in all things girly and preppie.

2 Not only was I a sorority girl in college, but I was the Chapter President. What a departure from High School eh?

3 I'm a leftie.

4 The movie I saw on my first "date" ever was "Some Kind of Wonderful."

5 After exclusively wearing purple in the fifth grade (literally, purple every day) I now abhore purple and I'm sure I don't own a single item of purple clothing and in my crafting I avoid it as much as possible! LOL!

6 I would rather go hungry than eat anything that is made with ham, eggplant or mushroom.

7 Once on vacation at a bed and breakfast I tucked the ham that the hostess made for breakfast into my pocket when she wasn't looking and left the room to dispose of it. The dog chased me out of the room suspiciously. I was TWENTY FOUR at the time. Oh I loathe ham! (See number six!)

I'm going to tag the newest Guest Designers for Paper Pretties for this round. Leesa, Linda, Colleen and Jessie, my friend Meri because I know her seven random things will be pee your pants hilarious. She's so funny!! I'm also tagging Lois and Kathy who are my fellow SU demos in my town that also blog!

I've also been tagged by the very sweet Charmaine who awarded me the Arte Y Pico (Art & More). It is given to bloggers who share their art and creativity making their contribution to the blogging world.

Here are the rules:

1. You have to pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself

4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

I'm going to tag Melanie, Carolyn, Donna, Jana and Elizebeth for this one - they're just a few of the girls I'm working with on the Gina K design team. Truth be told, I have SO many amazing blogs on my google reader that I just can't seem to keep up with. So much awe inspiring work out there, I can lose myself for hours just blurfing from one to the next!

Today's the Day!

Today's the day that I can begin to share with you the samples I've been working on with the two new stamp sets that will be available Wednesday April 2nd!

Just after Christmas, I saw these fun clear frames from PageFrames at Eclectic Paperie and I added them to my basket. No idea what I would do with them at that moment, but thought they'd be fun to play with. And as soon as I received "Happy Mother's Day" from Kim, I knew that I'd found the use for the frame.

I began by stamping the image on Shimmery White paper and then colored it in with my copic markers. Then I added some diamond glaze to the front of the piece and applied the clear acetate square right over the top and pressed to distribute the diamond glaze. The extra oozed out the sides and I wiped it away with a damp cloth. And set it aside to dry overnight.

I traced the scalloped frame onto a piece of SU Designer Prints paper in Soft Sky, trimmed it out, and used my same trick with the Diamond Glaze to affix the paper to the clear frame.

The next day, I sanded all the edges of the frame with a little white sanding block and applied Basic Grey magnets to the back of the piece and affixed a quick piece of double stitched ribbon.

The card base itself is super quick. Its a 5 1/4 square card and I used versamark and the small flower image from this stamp set to stamp a border all around the edges to compliment the scalloped shape of the main panel. Then, I affixed the other half of the magnets to the card front secure the main panel to the top.

So, what's with the magnets? The recipient can pop this main panel off of the card and hang it on the fridge. I shudder to think that all the cards I make for people might find their way into the trash at some point (GASP!) and this gives me hope that the front can be popped off and treasured instead.

I'll have another MFTeaser tomorrow for you using the other April release "Can You Dig It." Be sure to pop around to the other MFT Girls blogs and galleries to see what they've come up with. The new stamps will be available Wednesday night! Details to follow on the launch party on the My Favorite Things Member Company Forum- which is always a blast! Hope you can join us.

Time Flies....

I can't believe how quickly March has gone by. Zip. Gone. Before I say one more thing, I must say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Mom.


She's not a big fan of her birthday, I mean really, is anyone older than 21 ever really excited about their birthday, probably not. But, Happy Birthday to you MOM. I love you!

This month, I've truly been honored to be Jen Del Muro's Guest Designer. My last card this month is posted over on her site. You'll find more samples with Amy, Carole, Shannan and Susan.

Its been so much fun - and all the girls have had such fun samples!

Actually, I liked this one so much, that I've already played again and have a second sample to show, and I have a third one ready to show later this week.

This card is a Ruby Red base, a layer of River Rock then assorted Ginger Blossom Designer papers. The heart and sentiment are from SU's Always set which is one of my new favorite, go to sets.

Accents are river rock double stitched ribbon and neutral buttons finished with hemp twine.

Be sure to check out Jen's sample and my original one over at i{heart}2stamp.com

If you play along with this fun sketch, be sure to use "SFYTT" as a keyword on Splitcoast so that we can see the samples all together!

Jen, thanks for having me, it was a blast! I'm looking forward to working with you, Shannan and Carole even more the next few months during my time on the My Favorite Things Design Team.

Speaking of MFT - I'll be back tomorrow with my first MFTeaser of one of the two new sets which will be released on Wednesday night!

Who Doesn't Need a little Sunshine?

One of my very favorite products that we saw on the floor of CHA were these adorable mini clipboards and the coordinating stamps over at the Stampendous booth. I'm such a sucker for Stampendous products. You already know I love those pails....

So, I think I mentioned before that we waited - um - about 35 minutes in line for this little make and take! But look how stinkin cute they were! It was so worth it!

I totally squealed with excitement when I found out that eP already has these clipboard combo sets in stock as well as the coordinating stamp set that fits on here um perfectly!! At CHA they had a new make and take each day with the three sizes. I almost waited another half hour to do one the second day, but I bailed.

It was so great to meet up with Daisy and Joy out in California. They're a joy to work with (lol pardon the pun!) and I find so many "oooh, I've got to have that" things when I'm browsing around over there. Which is - oh goodness, I don't think I should reveal how frequently - it might be embarrassing!!

Honestly, I'm a big stalker of the "Brand Spankin New" category over there! I'll admit, I'm a total enabler, there is lots of fun new paper getting loaded up over there... I'll give you one guess who already has a nice little shopping cart started for herself this morning.....

Have a great day everyone!

When "Internet Friends" become "Real Friends"

Kim and Alma are in town and I was lucky enough to meet up with them tonight for dinner, a remedial Bare Escentuals session, some shopping and of course a lot of laughs.

As I was headed out the door, my husband asked if they were "Internet Friends" or "Real Friends." Snarky man, he loves to push my buttons! I said that they started out as Internet friends, but now I count them as real friends as we've actually met in California and are going out again!

Our eyes were quite possibly larger than our stomachs for the yummy dinner at PF Changs. Leftovers are my yummy lunch tomorrow rather than stinking up their hotel room. (Thanks Kim!!!)

My fortune cookie tonight read "Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness." I couldn't agree more. Sometimes those fortune cookie writers are genius, no?

So, here's to real friends and smart cookies.

Good night!

I have another Paper Pretties card for you today. It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads here a lot that I was SO excited about the Splitcoast Color Challenge this week. Soft Sky and Basic Grey. Hello! Two of my favorites!

I chose Luke and Lexi from Sealed with a Kiss, my Swiss Dots Embossing folder and my beloved copic markers this project.

I added a strip of scallops to the bottom of the base card for a nice little border (I trimmed off about a 1/2 inch off the front of the card base so that you'd see the scalloped edge) and covered the seam with a strip of double stitched ribbon.

I actually didn't use designer paper on the card (gasp! I know!) instead, I created a background for the base card with the heart images included in this set. I just stamped them in Versamark for a subtle background.

Luke and Lexi were stamped in Brilliance Black then colored in with my Copic Markers... I added a silvery sash and jewels with my Stardust Pen.

I don't know why I keep making Luke a grey haired man. But as I look back, I always give him that hairdo. I just didn't want him to have the same color hair as Lexi, and I don't have a good hair color yellow just yet. Besides, I like salt and pepper hair on a man, I think its distinguished looking.

My paper piercer and mat pack made quick work of a little detail on the soft sky matting for the main panel and voila done!

I'm going to tuck this into my card box, and use it for the next Happy Anniversary card that I might need.

Have a great day everyone!

Prettie Large!

Two weeks ago, Julie issued a challenge for us to use chipboard! I honestly LOVE using Chipboard, so this was super fun for me. The only question was what chipboard to use....

A while ago, I purchased these Bare Naked Buttons from Cosmo Cricket. They actually make diecut paper to match to make it so super easy, but I of course wanted to use some Pretties on it since it is a Paper Pretties challenge after all!

I dug out my materials from the February Pretties Kit including this adorable Heidi Grace Paper and the MFT Ride 'Em Cowgirl set. I also grabbed this fantastic ribbon that Christie gave to me when we were out at CHA, and the Precious Metals Hardware kit that I bought over at the Paper Pretties Boutique.

I know I've mentioned it before, but this hardware kit is HUGE so many pieces, I actually don't mind digging in and using it, don't feel the need to hoard it since there's TONS of pieces inside!!

I grabbed this jumbo button, some adhesive, a sanding block, my scissors and got to work. The size of the button was going to necessitate a larger sized card, or else the button would BE the card.

The main image was colored in my Copic Markers, her dress was pieced her dress from the matching designer paper, added hemp twine as her lassoo with some Diamond Glaze.

Last week, I issued a challenge to "put on a mask" but haven't yet done my own challenge, better get cracking. Today the challenge will be issued by Charmaine.

Be sure to blurf around to the other Prettie girl blogs to see what they did with chipboard. You can find all the links to the right on my sidebar!

Have a great day everyone!

Sketch it Again

After being away from my stamp table for so long, I was really itchy to play. I have lots of stuff prepared that I can't show you just yet -- sorry!! But here's something I can show you!!

I really liked the sketch for Jen's Sketch For You to Try this past weekend, and wanted to use this fun flower from Gina K's "Sweet On You" set. If you like this fun sketch as much as I do, you can see even more samples with Amy, Carole, Shannan and Susan. I'm such a sucker for Jen's sketches that I've been known to use them again and again.

So, if you're not familiar, this set it is the latest in Gina K's Stamps for a Cause series. $7.00 of every set sold is divided evenly between The American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

The sentiment in this photo is hard to read for whatever reason, but it reads "Hope your birthday is as sweet as you are."

Nested ovals are made with my coluzzle and I have no idea who first decided to turn your main panel into a ribbon slider, but I love doing this! It was the perfect way to break up the extra white space in that oval!

The flower is stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black ink and then colored with my copic markers. I'm so bad, I just picked up a whole new handful of them this afternoon. I'm really enjoying working with them and couldn't resist just a few more..... oops.

A little punny

I find myself reaching again and again for SU's Pun Fun set. Its really just so stinkin cute (I haven't used the skunk yet, but I really should because I say that all the time....)

These are two of the cards that the girls worked on at my most recent Project Club meeting. We worked on watercolor crayons with an aquapainter - which by the way, did I tell you I LOVE doing?

I kept the layouts quick (ie no scallops and no piercing) and all the papers were the same dimensions to make assembly a breeze.

I wanted to give the girls time to work on the watercoloring technique, and of course, lots of time to chat. We always have such a good laugh.

Still crazy with laundry to be folded and put away from the trip....getting settled back in after a trip is always so hard!

I'm back! And, so very excited!!

Hellooooo!!! Hope you've all had a great weekend, a Happy Easter and you're off to a great start to the week.

My husband and I left the boys with my parents for a few days and went to Vegas. It was our first "no kids" trip and it was so nice to relax at the pool, go to the spa, have fancy dinners and sleep in past 6am!

But, before I run off to do errands, clean up and get ready for real life again, I had to come over to say "Go check out this link!!" I mean really, could a girl BE more excited? This is truly a dream come true for me! I can't wait to show you what I've been working on starting this weekend. I had a few card designs come to me in my sleep this week (does that ever happen to any of you?)

I'm a little behind in new things to show you, but I've got laundry and foodshopping to catch up on since I've been away for days! I'll have a card tomorrow from my most recent stamp club meeting, and Wednesday I have my sample for the Prettie Girl chipboard challenge.

Sketch for You To Try

Hooray for Saturday!! Don't forget to go check out Jen's Sketch For You to Try over at i{heart}2stamp. She has such a fun sketch planned this week, I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with!

I'm still writing in draft, but I know you'll see a great sample from Jen and I sent her mine already! Drop me a note and let me know what you thin!


Then you'll find more samples from Amy, Carole, Shannan and Susan too.


If you upload to SCS don't forget to use the keyword "SFYTT" so we can see them all in the same place!

Triple Play

Today is Celebrate MFT Day over on Splitcoast Stampers. I'd love to play along, but I'm a little work-kids-daycare-blog-email-blurf-stamp holiday spending some time with my husband! However, somehow I neglected to ever post these cute cards, so I'll celebrate by sharing them now!!


You may ask....if I'm on a blog holiday, how am I posting? Its Blogger in Draft! Which allows you to schedule posts in advance. Hooray for that!

I stayed up super late to work on cards after the last release over at MFT for their Guest Designer Challenge. After all, the challenge was to create something Monochromatic. Come on! How could I not play!

And, I do have a big old pile of MFT stamps that were just ready and waiting for the task.. Who needs sleep anyways!

Since I couldn't decide which stamp I wanted to use the most, so went ahead and used three!

It was pretty late when I got started, I streamlined by using the same general layout for each card, just changed up some of the embellishments.

There was a lot of paper piecing and watercoloring and but man was this fun to do!

So, go enjoy Celebrate MFT day on my behalf! Hopefully I can jump in next month!

DinoMite!

If you're here a lot, you know that while I love all things girly, I'm a proud mama to two little boys, so I'm a sucker for anything I can use for fun things for them (and all their little friends too!)

Dino Mite by MFT is a go to for me for boys cards. Actually, I've even used it for a cute girl card before! I've been dying to play along in the MFT weekly sketch challenge, and since I had a card to make for an upcoming party, it was a great excuse to play!

The image was stamped on my Cryogen White cardstock with brilliance black ink. I watercolored with (you guessed it, my new favorite technique) watercolor crayons and an aquapainter.

I used Old Olive and Really Rust crayons, along with Sahara Sand for the background around the dino. The cupcake in the set comes with only one candle, but I stamped some extras to attach to the cupcake for our friends third little birthday.

I created some coordinating designer paper using a piece of Old Olive cardstock, my versamark pad and the cupcake stamp.

You probably can't see it here, but I copy catted Cammie's little fringie technique on the kraft layer across the front of the card. This was so fun to work on!

I peeked over at this week's sketch challenge, and as always, looks fun, and the samples are ahh-mazing already. But, I've got a pretty full schedule this week, so I'm not sure I'll get to it. But, if I wake up tomorrow morning with a card design in my head (which, surprisingly isn't that unusual...) I might get to squeak one in!!

Have a great day!

Got Tins?

We haven't reached the wiggly tooth stage here at my house just yet, but lots of my son's little friends have. So, when I received the "What's In Your Tin" sets from Gina K my very first order of business was to make a tooth saver tin!

I figured with the amount of rolling around, and reading in bed that my son does after I tuck him in, the poor toothfairy would be searching around UNDER the bed, in the dark, hunting for teeth.

This little tin should make it easy for her to find the tooth, and of course, leave the reward!

I traced around the lid to create a full cover using my Crate Paper cowboy collection paper, trimmed it out, applied some Mono Tombo Glue and set it aside to dry. Once dry, I sanded all around the edges with a white sanding block to smooth everything out. In the meantime, I stamped the border image twice on two different papers for some variety. Trimmed them out, and taped them together. Then faux stitched the panels with my paper piercer and mat pak. The sentiment was then stamped on the center easy-peasy with my acrylic block, I could see exactly where the sentiment would fit and voila! Done.

Honestly five minutes! sa-weet! Be sure to hop on over to Melanie's blog if you don't already read it. She's got lots of amazing ideas for fun things to put in your tin - including an iPod. Hope you don't mind if I say "Shut Up! That girl is genius!" (republished because I had a broken link, if you tried it before, give it a go now!)

So, what's in your tin?

By the way. I started up some swap groups for the fun new releases over on the Gina K Member Forum on Splitcoast. If you picked up the new stamps, I hope you'll consider signing up!!

Have a great day everyone!

A Good Egg....

I've finally depleted my stash of Stampendous Pails. Looks like I need to head back over to Eclectic Paperie to pick up some more!

My last two were used to make Easter pails for my boys. I picked up the For Peep's Sake paper that has been all over "blogland" lately. Julie Masse made a bunch of cute cards that pushed me right over the edge! LOL!

I covered the outside of the pails with three different patterned strips of paper, and finished them off with a length of Stampin Up Striped Grosgrain Bashful Blue Ribbon.

Using the super cute Stampendous Clear Pail Topper (Thanks Daisy and Joy!!!) I stamped the basket for the top of the pail, and then masked it using Eclipse Tape. I stamped the egg three times and used the masking again to get two of them in behind.

I colored the tops in first with my copic markers, then added some stickles to the tops of the eggs. Then I aquapainted over the copics with my SU crayons and filled in the center of each of the eggs. The background was looking so terribly white, so I used my bashful blue crayon and an aquapainter to fill all that in softly.

I know the kids will mostly like what's inside them, but I really do think that little details make all the difference. Plus, I really just LOVED making and filling them.

What's inside? Divvies jelly beans and chocolate bunnies, and peeps!

Its been a crazy few days around here. After my playdate Friday morning, my internet connection totally bailed and I was without any access Friday or Saturday (yes, panic set in, and my husband laughed pretty hard at me.) Today, we headed out super early and spent the day skiing. It was a blast, but I'm simply exhausted.

I'm catching up on my google reader reading and heading to bed in a moment.....

I know I'd mentioned earlier this month, but in case you missed it, Jen Del Muro asked me to be her guest designer for her weekly Sketch For You to Try series.

I was absolutely floored to have been asked, and I've really enjoyed working on all the sketches.
This week's sketch was particularly fun for me! You can see this week's sketch, as well as samples from both Jen and myself over on i{heart}2stamp . You can find even more samples on Carole's blog, Shannan's blog, Susan's blog and Amy's blog.

If you upload to SCS, remember to include keyword "SFYTT" so we can see all the creations in one place.

Prettie Glad its Friday!

Two launch parties, one SU Workshop, four days of daycare, potty training my 2 year old, yikes its been a long week! Its all good, but man, thank goodness for Fridays! This morning a few of my friends are coming over for coffee while the little ones play, and I'm praying for a good long nap from my little guy to get a few projects completed (um, namely, their Easter baskets!)

You know I love sketch challenges, and this card was for the most recent Pretties Pajama Party where two new stamp sets were released. I really love this sweet Flutterby Sophia, she's fun to paper piece, watercolor, marker up, you name it. She's just cute!

For this sketch, I picked up my Noteworthy paper from Making Memories, and a piece of Poison Ivory cardstock and my Copic markers.

For this card, I chose to ink up only a portion of the sentiment so that the card simply reads "Flutter your wings"


I have another Pretties Card on the brain (its been in my head for a day or so, but I'm hoping to move it out onto paper tomorrow afternoon!) this time it's using "Look Who's Perky" so hopefully I'll have that for you on Monday!


**I don't generally post over the weekends, but I will have a fun card over on http://www.iheart2stamp.com/ on Saturday. Be sure to check out Jen's sketch - always a must do in my opinion - and let me know what you think of the sketch and my sample! **

Word Choice?

I guess I need to bring my word choice down to the kids level.

My two year old just told me that his dinner was "Not Acceptable."

I sound like the Super Nannny.

Crazy Thursday

Thursday is always nuts at my house, its the last day that each week that I operate my daycare, and the kids are always wound up.

Tonight I'm hosting my six month club class, and tomorrow morning I'm hosting playgroup. Yikes, what was I thinking - I've got to get to CLEANING UP around here!!

Truth is, that I love any excuse to hang out with the girls. Tonights stamp club meeting is always a blast and we all so enjoy getting out!

Tomorrow morning, a few of my friends are coming over with their boys who are the same age as my littlest and they'll actually play nicely while we can sit and chat. This is a recent development and I love it!!

Okay, onto the card. This cute little telephone is from Gina K's new release "Thinking of You" from illustrator Rupa Shevda . I thougth that this telephone was just too cute, all nice and old fashioned. You know, remember when you had to DIAL a telephone????

The paper is Making Memories Garden Party and the button is from the Garden Party Button Collection that I'm using on EVERYTHING!

Have a great day. Off to get naps in progress and the stamp party set up!!

I'll be back tomorrow with a cute little Sophia card that I made for the Pretties Pajama Party sketch challenge.

Prettie Yummy!

Its Prettie Wednesday again! These weeks are going faster and faster. I seriously can't keep up. Charmaine, no peeky because this is on its way to you via FedEx becuase I'm SO late.

I used Cambria's tutorial on Splitcoast to make a cute little treat box, but I wanted a bigger one, so I used a 9x9 piece of cardstock and made my score lines at 3 inch intervals instead of the standard size from her tutorial.

My "Pretties" for this project are my Nestabilities and Copics. The paper is Stampin Up's Spring Fling which I totally adore, and the stamps used for this project are from Stampendous.

Charmaine and I both have children with severe nut allergies, and I know how hard it is to find safe treats for all these candy giving holidays. I picked up some treats for her girls from Vermont Nut Free Chocolates (my local candy place carries it around holidays...) and a pack of Peeps (my very personal favorite Easter candy!)

Be sure to pop around to all the Prettie Girl blogs (see links on the sidebar to the right) to see what they came up with for this Anything But a Card challenge!

Last week's challenge was from Christie - to make a shaker card. I better get shakin on that one. Pardon the pun.

Have a great day!

Prettie Wednesday - Shake it Up!

Two weeks ago, Christie issued our latest Prettie Girl challenge, to make a shaker card. I've always thought these were so fun, and hadn't made one yet.

When I was in CHA with Paper Pretties, I attended a Hero Arts class. We used this cute stamp set in class, and each got to take one home! Hooray!

I created the window with a transparency sheet (I only had to totally destroy my stamping area to find where I'd tucked them away) and the little window has clear micro beads inside.

The cupcake frosting is "glittered" with the help of my Glue Pen.

This cute paper is Paper Salon, and the ribbon is American Crafts - both from the Paper Pretties Boutique

I'm still one challenge behind. Last week Julie Masse challenged us all to make something with chipboard. Off to see what's in the stash to work with!

Be sure to pop on over to the other Prettie Girl blogs (you'll find all the links on the sidebar to the right!!)

I forgot! Its my time to schedule the challenge of the week! Here it is. Prettie Girls - Put on a Mask! You can mask to create depth in an image, to build a scene, reverse mask....whatever you choose, but mask it up ladies! Can't wait to see what you do!

That's Mine!

The other day, I showed a sample of the "What's In Your Tin 2" set from Gina K Designs and made a little tin purse. I also wanted to show you a quick, and yes, totally EASY project using a mini composition notebook instead of an altoid tin!

You can pick these up super cheaply at walmart and I just so happened to have one on hand the other day. I just knew that my eldest would love having a little notebook for drawings in the card, or up in his room. And anything that he can personalize he loves because "That's Mine" and "I want that!" are the most frequently heard comments in my home!

I had some leftover scraps of Scenic Route paper in his favorite colors that was just the right size for this book. To begin, I traced the front and back covers onto the scrap paper. Remember, trace onto the backside of the paper with the book face down (like the letters I showed you last week) then trim it out so that your pencil marks won't show.

I adhered the front and back covers first with my SU Greeting Glue, smoothed out all the bubbles and set it aside to dry before tackling the spine.

I then cut a coordinating piece of designer paper for the spine. I just held a piece around to gauge the width I think it was 2.5 inches wide and measured the height to be the same as the cover pieces. I adhered the greeting glue just to the edges and applied it to the spine, and held it a moment to let the glue set. I then added a quick strip of black grosgrain ribbon over the seam.

To create the personalized label, I just inked up the border of my choice (there are two in each of the sets) and stamped it on designer paper. Then I inked up the sentiment, stamped that inside the border and trimmed out the label. I then taped it to a piece of solid black cardstock and hand cut a small mat all the way around.

Let me tell you, my son literally ripped this from my hands as soon as he saw it and it is now proudly occupying a space next to his bed.

Blogaversary Day!!

When my husband heard the term "Blogaversary" he laughed his butt off. He thinks I'm insane, (okay, he's probably right) in fact, he actually didn't realize until quite recently that I post almost every day!

Thanks to all of you who dropped by to enter comments towards today's giveaway. I really DID mean it when I asked for your feedback. And thank you because there were lots of good suggestions in there! I plan on sitting with my old posts to categorize them better, to hunt down tutorials or special projects and pop them into my sidebar. My sister gave me a lightbox, which I now have to have her come show me how to actually USE!

Thank you thank you for all of you who visit every day, and how nice to SEE all the lurkers that are apparently out there too! Feel free to come on in to say hello anytime! I have to say that its particularly helpful when there's a shout out of "Hey I like that!" so I know how I'm doing! (wink!)

Okay, I know really why you're here today.... goodies!! Drumroll please.....

The lucky winner of the blogaversary candy is post 164:



Cathy M said...
Happy Creative and Inspiring Blogaversary to YOU! I just love your blog and like all your inspiring projects you share with us in blogland. Congrats on 100K. You ROCK! Count me in on this sweet celebration candy. I would love to have FUN playing with all these goodies. Thanks for a chance.
March 6, 2008 1:06 PM


Cathy, I just sent you an email letting you know that you're the winner! If you don't receive it, you can contact me at stampedbyhand at comcast.net Please send me an email with your mailing address so that I can get your prize out to you as soon as possible!

I'll be back later this morning with my weekly Prettie Girl Challenge post!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

More PTI? You got it!

A few of you on the comments for the Blogaversary Candy post asked for more Paper Trey cards, and you're in luck. I was working on them anyways!

You'll recognize the layout from my last PTI card, but switched up the paper selection and colors. I also added a little "more" to the cards, yet overall kept the same clean design of the card that you apparently liked so much.

The "more" here includes additional matting, distressing the edges of the main panel, grosgrain ribbon and a border of scallops across the bottom of the main panel.

I didn't have any pink ink for this project, but on a recent trip to AC Moore I ran across this Cat's Eye chalk ink that I thought would come in handy. It was a nearly perfect match for SU's Groovy Guava! This color combination makes me think of cherry blossoms. My husband used to live in DC before we were married, and I'll always have fond memories of that beautiful event!

I picked up "Women of Life" last month as I knew it would be put to good use with all the female birthdays in my life!

The stems are stamped in the Perfect Match Spring Moss ink from Paper Trey and the blooms are with my new chalk ink. I bought a box of blooms and buttons from Making Memories (a second box is in my Blogaversary candy givewawy - have you entered? If not scroll down to find it!!) and it is just chock full of buttons.

I've been using them on everything lately. The only problem is that there are very few "matchy" ones. I thought this project was a good excuse to mix and match buttons for a whimsical feel on the flower centers. What do you think? Does it bother you that they don't all match?

Very tired today, launch party madness the last two nights, which is always so much fun, but gets my adrenaline rushing, so that I end up staying up WAY too late carding. However, I got a lot done, so that's good I guess. Off to Dunkin Donuts this morning for some caffeine!!

Have a great day everyone!

Challenging Friends!

Last night was the Paper Pretties Pajama Party hosted by my friend Charmaine. She offered up three challenges, and let me just say the One Layer Card sure scared the pants off of me. I'm just always so busy with the layers, and embellishments and designer paper that this challenge stopped me in my tracks. However, once I got started, I really enjoyed how quickly my card came together, and although its really simple, I think its cute.

The card base is Paper Trey Ink Stampers Select, and I stamped the mugs from "Look Who's Perky" with my Graphite Black Brilliance ink then colored them in with my Prismacolor pencils. Added a quick border detail with my mat pack and paper piercer, then finished the card off with a quick tie of ribbon from the Noteworthy Collection of Making Memories.

However, the website for some reason was just not cooperating last night. So, I'm posting my One Layer Card over here today instead. Be sure to swing over to Paper Pretties to read about our latest cutie pie Barb Guinan. Barb is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She's a wonderful cheerleader for the Paper Pretties team and I just love the sweet card she made with "Sealed with a Kiss."

Then, my friend Cammie from the Gina K team also posted a challenge for the Gina K launch (tonight!) the challenge is posted over on the Member Company Forum for Gina K on Splitcoast. I'm all for a challenge, but YOWSERS purple? Really Cammie, I thought we were friends! LOL! I'm not a fan of purple and to be honest, I was surprised I could even find anything purple in my box to work with!

I pulled out the new free with three set from Gina K titled "Spring Blooms" - which will be released this evening - and stamped it with Brilliance Graphite Black ink then colored with my prismacolors, Odorless Mineral Spirits and Blenders (that I bought from Gina's online store and totally love! They honestly blend SO much better than what I was using from my local craft store!)

The card base is Celery and I grabbed a scrap of designer paper from the Spring Fling collection for a quick background. The main image was double matted with celery and purple (gag! LOL!) for the color combination. This stamp set comes with lots of possible sentiments, and I thought that this "thanks" fit nicely on the slider die with my Cuttlebug.

I wish that they made a coordinating mat die but I decided that an SU scalloped circle would do the trick and would get a little extra purple (yikes!) into the design. Then I finished off the card with some May Arts polka dot organdy ribbon tying it into the polka dotted background paper.

This challenge is open till tonight at 5pm and one lucky player will win a free Gina K stamp set! Get stampin!!

Seriously though, thanks Cammie and Charmaine for issuing these challenges and taking me right out of my comfort zone! In the end, its good to try new things and see where they take you!

Its that time of year!

Gina K is launching five new stamp sets tonight and two of them are designed to work with the much sought after, altoid tins!

Its that time of year, everyone is getting sick with one icky thing or another. I'll fully admit it, I'm a major germ a phobe. I've been known to pull my son from preschool simply as a precaution when I know there's something particularly nasty going around.

The stamp set will create the label on the center, and then I traced the lid of the tin onto a piece of paper and trimmed around with a pencil. I attached the designer paper with Tombo adhesive and then once it was dry, I smoothed all the edges with my white sanding block.

There are tons of sentiments included in this set to make lots of different type gifts.... however, I thought this would be a fun little emergency kit for germaphobes like me!

Inside I've tucked some pain reliever, hand sanitizer two packets of airborne and a chapstick.

Using my Crop o Dile, I punched two small holes in the edge of the tin to thread my ribbon for a little handle. Back in the day, when I was working in an office, I would have loved to have this handy when someone in a meeting with me inevitably had the sneezes. Now, I'm going to tuck it in my car so that I'm stocked up when we're out and about!

Don't forget, Gina K's launch party is tonight on the SCS Member Company Forum from 7-9pm Central Standard Time. That's 8pm EST for me which is perfect!!!! Looking forward to seeing you there!

Feeling Prettie?

Don't forget, tonight is the Pretties Pajama Party - two new sets will be released, and there will be hourly challenges!  

I'm working on new samples for tonight, so nothing to show now, but I'll have something later tonight!

See you at www.paperpretties.net in the forum tonight at 8pm!

Let the Previews Begin!!

Gina K is releasing new stamps again! You're going to just love what's coming out this time. There are five new sets including one "Free with Three" set.

Gina has posted some previews on her blog already, and if you surf around to the other design team members blogs, you'll find even more popping up all over "blogland" today!

The first sample I have for you is from Carolyn King's new set "Framed Flowers" - I literally RAN down to meet the postman the other day when I saw he had a brown box for me!


I received so many compliments from all of you on my clean and simple PTI card last week, that I wanted to try to keep that style in mind. I hope you like it.....

As I started trimming up this fabulous set, I knew that I wanted to make a window box. The flower stamp was inked up with my SU Markers in Cameo Coral for the leaves, and Mellow Moss for the stems and stamped twice. I stamped them again onto my Eclipse Tape and masked over them so that I could place the window frame behind the flowers.

Then stamped the grass onto a piece of scrap, trimmed it out and placed it on top of the flowers for some dimension.

These gorgeous flower brads are from Gina K, but are actually not for sale... get this ... Gina announced tonight that these brads, and some coordinating flowers will be a free gift to any customer spending more than $100 during the release! Please read the details on this post from Gina!

Hope you'll join us on Monday night for the Gina K party on the SCS Member Forum. There will be games, challenges and prizes! Here's a link to where the party will be so you can find us!

If you don't already read Gina K's blog, you'll want to hop on over there, because she's giving away blog candy again! Wow, is she ever generous with the candy!!

AND to get everyone in the spirit, Cammie has posted a color challenge on the Member Forum as well. You can read the details, and join in on the fun here - the winner will receive one of the new releases for free!!

I'll have a preview of Melanie's super fun new sets tomorrow!

Prettie Friday - Swap it!

I recently organized a swap over on the Paper Pretties Forum with our very first release "Cuddle Me" featuring Sophia and her sweet little bear. This is the card I made for the swappers with Basic Grey Two Scoops paper.

I've been working on some samples for the upcoming launch of Paper Pretties newest stamps - Sassy Circles and Flutterby Sophia. All the other Prettie Girls have been sharing sneak peeks of that too, so be sure to go blurf around and see what they've been up to.

In addition to using Sassy Circles as a background, it also is great to use to "ground" your images so that they aren't just floating in space!

To do this, I stamped Sophia and then stamped her feet onto my Eclipse Masking Tape and trimmed them out. I placed the "tape feet" over her real feet and then stamped the oval from Sassy Circles, peeled off the tape and voila, she's grounded.

Paper Pretties will be launching these two cute sets on Sunday night as part of the monthly Pretties Pajama Party. Hope you can join up for the fun Sunday at 8pm EST on the Paper Pretties Forum.

Hope you have a great weekend. Be sure to hop on over to Jen Del Muro's blog tomorrow not only to play along with her fun sketch (you know that's always a must do sketch for me!) you'll also see the card that I made for her challenge this week. Lets just say I was tickled *pink* about it!

Baby Letters

Okay, I hope that you are not all tired of the baby projects? This is the last one for a while.

A family friend is welcoming a new baby into her home and had asked me how to create altered letters. I said that while it is super easy, that she had enough other things to do and that I'd just complete the project for her so she could cross it off her list.

First, my friend Jane and I selected Stampin Up's "Spring Fling" designer paper as the best match for the nursery. I then found these great paper mache letters at Joann Superstore near my home. I loved that they were script, versus the chunky standard alphabet I've seen to date.

I then selected which piece I wanted to use on each letter and had my friend approve the selections and was ready to get started.

I traced each letter onto the backside of the paper. To do this correctly, lay the pattern you want on the front of the letter face down on the table. Then lay your letter face down on the table as well. You will be tracing the letter backwards on the backside of the paper. Then carefully trim out each letter, trimming just INSIDE the pencil line.

I applied a coat of Making Memories Scrapbook Paint in Manilla to each of the letters on the front and on all of the sides for an even base. I then left them overnight to dry.

To apply the designer paper to the letters, I used mod podge. You want a thin, but even coat across the whole front of the letter. Apply the paper and smooth over the entire thing, all the way out to the edges to eliminate any bumps or bubbles. I keep a good eye on them as they are drying as well to smooth out any bumps, bubbles or lifts all along the edge and smooth them out.

I then let the glue dry for about 30 minutes. Once dry, I applied another thin and even coat, this time over the top of the letters. Again, smooth out any bubbles or bumps while the glue is still wet, and watch the items closely during the drying process to smooth out any that might develop.

I left the letters to dry overnight. The next evening, I sanded all of the edges with a white filing block and they're good to go!

Can you even believe I didn't take a final product of the letters before they went out? I'm hoping my sister will grab a picture for me the next time she's over visiting with the baby!

Prettie Wednesday - Striped

Two weeks ago, Jillian issued our Prettie Girl challenge. The challenge was to use stripes in your design. I wanted to work with this super cute paper and luscious ribbon is Noteworthy from Making Memories.

I stamped the famous "headless chick" from MFT on watercolor paper with my Pearlescent Chocolate Brilliance pad and then I watercolored with my watercolor crayons and an aquapainter.

Since the "In Colors" from Stampin Up don't come in the watercolor crayons, I had to get a little creative with the mixing to get the right shade. I blended Tempting Turquoise with Sage Shadow and was very happy with the results.

If you're wondering how I already have this MFT stamp "Ride Em Cowgirl" since it is being released tonight from My Favorite Things .... this is the Paper Pretties My Favorite Things stamp of the Month for February!! I had so much fun with this card which is making its way up to Julie Masse in the mail.

Today's challenge will be posted by Christie!! Be sure to pop on over to visit all the Prettie Girls (see blog links on the right) to see everyone's stripey creations.

Paper Pretties next release is scheduled for Sunday, March 9th at 8pm EST we'll also be having our monthly Pretties Pajama Party! The Pretties Pajama Party is like a mini Virtual Stamp Night that lasts 3 hours. Each hour a challenge will be posted and you have an hour to complete and upload each challenge creation Hope you'll come join us for new stamps and fun challenges!

If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out the very next post for my Blogaversary Candy!!

Happy Blogaversary - Blog Candy!

I can't believe I'm coming up on one whole year of blogging, or that I'm nearing 100K hits! WOW! What an amazing adventure this has been and I've been so blessed by reading so many other blogs, I've learned so much. I can't believe how much my craft has grown. Or um, my stash of goodies has grown either?


Speaking of goodies! I'm giving some away to celebrate. Hoooray!!!! Some are from my coveted stash. Some are new goodies that I bought for YOU when I bought some for me!

To enter for a chance to win, just post a comment on this thread. I'd love any feedback you have to give, positive or negative, recommendations on something you'd like me to write a tutorial on, direction on what of my work you like, or letting me know that you're just plain old tired of something and don't want to see any more of it. You know, come on, give me my annual performance evaluation! :-)

I'm collecting entries/performance evaluations till my the eve of my Blogaverary (March 11th at midnight EST). One comment per person please, and the lucky winner will be drawn on the morning of the 12th.

Here's what's in the package




1 Target Mailbox

1 Paper Trey Ink small heart shaped tin

1 Acrylic Photo frame with magnet
1 Target Photo Frame in Robin Shell Blue
1 Box Garden Party Blossoms and Buttons from Making Memories
1 package Bazill Crochet Blossoms
1 All About Occasions Retired Stamp set from Stampin Up

1 Around and About Retired Stamp set from Stampin Up
1 Sample Sized JudiKins Diamond Glaze (because I thought it was the cutest thing ever in that teeny size!)
Assorted 6x6 cardstock from making Memories Garden Party (they're shown here full size, but I'm going to 6x6 them for shipping)

Good luck!!

Baby Baby!

I just love these clear Stampendous Pails - I'm forever reordering them from Eclectic Paperie. I like to keep a healthy stash of them available for any client orders that might pop up, or for any gifts I have to give.

My husband's cousin recently had a baby girl, and as the mother of two boys, I love when I get to by baby girl gifts! I selected a gift with a pail in mind for the packaging. Then the gift helped to select what paper I'd be working with.

To match the pink and brown in the outfit I'd selected for the baby I picked Basic Grey Two Scoops for the designer paper and Close to Cocoa from Stampin Up as my cardstock accent. Since Close to Cocoa doesn't come in the wide width grosgrain ribbon, I took a piece of cardstock and zipped it through my Janome sew mini with the zig zag stitch to create my own. I just loved how it came out.

I also had a client request for a baby boy pail, and a gender neutral pail so I reached for my favorite baby paper - Crate Paper Baby Bee.

This is another item that I like to keep in stock because I think it is just so sweet for baby items. I'm always grabbing a few extra pieces of that on my trip to my local scrapbooking store.

Oh man did my little guy have a total flip out moment when I was there last week. Usually he's good as gold so I don't mind bringing him, but ugh, hopefully they'll let me come back after the monster tantrum thrown there last week....

The pails use the "Sweet Heart" from the Stampin Up set titled Bundle of Joy and the cards use the So Many Scallops set also from Stampin Up.

I have a few more pails awaiting altering downstairs... they're going to be Easter buckets for my little guys. I can't wait to get started on that project! I'll have them hopefully for you next week. I obviously have to work on them in secret around here!!

Ready to Fly....

This Sunday night, Paper Pretties will be releasing two more sets. This card has a little bit of the new Sassy Circles as the background, and features Flutterby Sophia - isn't she so cute?

I took a class from Hero Arts at CHA and we watercolored with chalk ink. I just love the soft texture that you get using the chalk inks to paint... so I used my VersaMagic Plumeria Dew Drop to stamp the sassy circles background, and to watercolor the dress to match. Sophia's skin, hair and the butterfly were all done with my copic markers.

Sophia's necklace is all prettied up with my Spica clear pen for just a little bling. It was just the right touch.

I have to say that I just love the sentiment with this set reading "Flutter your wings and fly." I think the script used is gorgeous.

Be sure to check out the other Prettie Girl blogs this week as you'll be seeing other samples. I'm working on another one using Sassy Circles to create a "ground" for Sophia to stand in.

If you like what you see, plan to join us Sunday on the Paper Pretties Forum on, March 9th at 8pm EST for the launch of two new sets and our monthly Stampin In Your Jammies (a mini VSN type event) hosted by my sweet friend Charmaine!

Just Sew It

I wish I knew who originated this template, I learned it at a SU Demonstrator meeting about a year ago and I thought it was just a fabulous idea.


The folio itself is made from one piece of 8.5 x 11 paper. Scored at 2 inches to create a bottom pocket, then scored at 5.5 so that it folds evenly in half. I know I've shown these notecard folios before. They really do come together so quickly.

This time I actually didn't even stamp it at all (gasp!) I went a little crazy with the sewing machine to decorate it instead.

This pretty paper is Bali Breeze designer paper from Stampin Up with Taken with Teal cardstock as the base.

Inside, I have four cards and four matching envelopes. The cards are all 5.5 x 4.25 flat cards. Again, I usually stamp a monogram or a flower, but this time, I simply stitched a strip of designer paper.

I tried fooling around to add a small image to the notecards, but I just loved the design on this paper and in the end, decided to leave it alone.

I held my breath as I sewed these panels, I was so afraid I'd bust a needle, but amazingly the needle went through it all smoothly. Am I a lucky girl or what?