I've been tagged!

So my friend Denise tagged me, which means you get to read 7 random things about me:

1. My DH and I got married the day after Thanksgiving 6 years ago, and the weather was in the 60's. If you live in NE Ohio, you know what a miracle that is!

2. My son was born on his grandpa's birthday.

3. I can drive a stick shift, though I do too much city driving to enjoy it.

4. I love split pea soup! In fact, I made some just last week.

5. My favorite color is red.

6. I was a gym teacher before my son was born.

7. I don't own a Cricut, Cuttlebug, Bind-It-All, or any of those cool new "toys". In fact, the fanciest tool I own is the Crop-A-Dile, and I just got it a few months ago.

Happy Housewarming!

I made this card for my friends' housewarming party tonight. They have a beautiful "Cottage In the Woods" they are remodeling!

I used Beate's WSC130 for this layout - the card size is 5-1/4" square. The houses are colored with the aquapainter for a nice soft look, and I used All In a Row for the faux stitching. The top soft sky piece does have a background stamped on it, but it doesn't show up well in the picture.

Supplies:

stamps- Right At Home, All In a Row, Everyday Flexible Phrases

paper - chocolate chip, soft sky, river rock, whisper white, river rock and soft sky prints dsp

ink - chocolate chip, soft sky, river rock, really rust

acc - chocolate taffeta ribbon, HodgePodge Hardware, 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches, dimensionals, mini glue dots, aquapainter

I made this coordinating set of thank you cards as our gift to our friends. The card on the left is CASEd from Kristina Werner, and the one laying flat is CASEd from Michelle Fischer. The one on the right I came up with all by myself, heehee!
Supplies:

stamps - All Holidays, French Flair, So Many Sayings, In the Spotlight, Petals jumbo wheel

paper - soft sky, chocolate chip, whisper white, soft sky designer prints

ink - soft sky, chocolate chip, white craft, versamark

acc - white EP, white grosgrain, chocolate taffeta, chocolate grosgrain, soft sky double-stitched grosgrain, 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches, scallop punch, white brads, white button, Pretties kit (rhinestone brad)

And here is the finished product! I put all the cards and envelopes in a gusset bag and finished it with a topper made from soft sky designer prints and whisper white and chocolate chip cardstocks. I used the crop-a-dile for the holes for the white organdy ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Halloween RAK!

I got this card from my friend AJ in
the mail last week. Isn't it cute? It's always so nice to get some mail other than bills or junk! Thank you, AJ.

Color Challenge

I made this card for Tuesday's Color Challenge (#137) over at SCS: basic gray, purely pomegranate, and soft sky. I decided to use Carte Postale and French Flair, and basically used the same focus piece as a card I did last week. All the layers are popped up with dimensionals. The ribbon is attached using a mini glue dot, as is the pearl flower center. Thanks for looking!
Supplies:
stamps - Carte Postale, French Flair
paper - basic gray, purely pomegranate, soft sky, whisper white
ink - basic gray, purely pomegranate, soft sky
acc - HPH, Pretties, gray taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, mini glue dots, aquapainter, 1-1/4" and 1-3/8" circle punches

Great News!

Most of you have probably heard by now, Stampin' Up! has made a big change to their angel policy. Beginning November 15th, Article 4 of the Demo Manual will read as follows:

Completed, hand-stamped projects may be sold at competitive and non-competitive permanent retail locations, as well as temporary craft events, community fundraisers, and over the Internet. In selling hand-stamped projects, the seller must make it clear that the items are hand-made, and not a product of the company. The seller may indicated that the supplies use are from Stampin' Up!, but the Stampin' Up! logo may not be used in any way for the sole purpose of promoting the sale of hand-stamped projects.

This policy will apply not only to demos, but customers as well!

http://stampingismybusiness.typepad.com/2007blogboot/2007/10/breaking-news--.html

WSC24

I did this card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #24. It was a simple layout, and this came together pretty quickly. Thanks for looking!
Supplies:
stamps - All In a Row, Fall (CTMH)
paper - cameo coral, chocolate chip, old olive, whisper white
ink - cameo coral, chocolate chip, versamark (background)
acc - olive 5/8" grosgrain, white brads, earth elements (olive) button, mini glue dot(for attaching button), pop-up glue dot (for attaching cutout flower), dimensionals (for attaching main layer), CM circle cutting system

Last one - Sunday Catty Case

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this week of catalog cases as much as I have enjoyed showing them to you! It's an easy way to get those creative juices flowing when you hit a slump. Today's sample was taken from p. 58. It's a very simple and easy layout, but still elegant! The sentiment is markered to achieve two colors on one stamp, and the left edge is faux stitched. I used the mat pack and piercer to make the holes, then used my white gel pen to "connect the dots". The amethyst layer is torn to add a little texture. Thanks for joining me this week!
Supplies:
stamps - Stem Silhouettes, Canvas, Sincere Salutations
paper - old olive, almost amethyst, whisper white, river rock
ink - old olive, river rock, amethyst and olive markers
acc - vintage brads, mat pack and piercer, white gel pen, white grosgrain ribbon

Saturday Catty Case

This sample can be found on p. 22. The only thing I changed was the placement of the words, the right side looked really empty without them!



Supplies:

stamps - Stem Silhouettes, Everyday Flexible Phrases

paper - old olive, really rust, whisper white, soft sky, Fall Flowers dsp

ink - really rust, old olive

acc - hemp twine, earth elements button

Friday Catty Case

This card was cased from p. 47. This one took a while to come together, to find a set and paper that would work with the layout. The main image ended up as a collage of sorts, but I don't like that my perfect plum paper doesn't match the perfect plum ink I used on the flower. I think part of it is that the vanilla paper changes the look of the color.



Supplies:

stamps - Carte Postale

paper - sage shadow, perfect plum, very vanilla, Enchante dsp

ink - sage shadow, perfect plum, close to cocoa

acc - 1-3/8" circle punch, copper brads, aqua painter(to add color to the flower)

Thursday Catty Case

This sample was cased from p. 18. I think soft sky is one of my new favorite colors, it always seems to end up in my color combos!

Supplies:
stamps - Stem Silhouettes, Sanded
paper - kraft, soft sky, whisper white, always artichoke
ink - soft sky, always artichoke
acc - artichoke grosgrain, HPH, mat pack & piercer

Wednesday's Catty Case, for real this time

The picture-uploading problems are finally fixed, so here's Wednesday's CASE. I took the card from p. 155, changed the size, used a wheel for the background instead of the dsp, and used 2 flowers from the pretties kit.
Supplies:
stamps - Doodle jumbo wheel, So Many Sayings
paper - groovy guava, soft sky, whisper white
ink - white craft, soft sky
acc - pretties kit, guava double-stitched ribbon, white crochet thread

Wednesday Catty Case

Blogger is having problems with picture uploads, so you may not get to see today's sample until tomorrow!

Tuesday Catty Case and Color Challenge

Today's sample was taken from p. 18. I combined the CASE with the color challenge over at SCS, which was any pinks. It is in honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. On to the card: I used my chipboard letter "c" as a pattern and traced it on pink passion cardstock, then stamped "cute" on it randomly in pink passion ink. I pierced a border on the inside of the white square and connected the dots with a pink passion marker to create faux stitching. I attached the tab with silver brads, and adhered the square to my card base. The base is pink passion with Polka Dot background stamped in white craft ink. I then attached the "c" with dimensionals, and stamped "ute" in alternating pink passion and pixie pink inks. The button is attached with a mini glue dot, as is the flower and halfback pearl center.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
stamps - Polka Dot, Amazing to Zany, Typeset Lower alphabet
paper - pink passion, pixie pink, whisper white
ink - white craft, pink passion, pixie pink, pink passion marker
acc - mat pack & piercer, tab punch, silver brads, pretties kit, white button, crochet thread, dimensionals, mini glue dots

Catty Case Week!

I am officially naming this week as "Catty Case Week". I will take a card sample from SU!'s current catalog and CASE (copy and share with everyone) it, doing a different one each day. So check back to see how you can use a publication for inspiration!

This card can be found on p. 147. This is more of an adaptation, as only the layout is true to the original.

Supplies:
stamps - It's Your Birthday, Everyday Flexible Phrases, So Many Sayings (dots bracketing the small hb)
paper - soft sky, taken with teal, old olive, lavender lace, whisper white, soft sky dsp
ink - old olive, white craft
acc - scallop punch, 3/4" punch, ice rhinestone brad, black gingham ribbon, dimensionals

Featured Stamper Challenge

I made this card for Sunday's Featured Stamper Challenge over at SCS. The featured stamper was stampertammy (who I met in person recently). I picked a card from her gallery and with a color and stamp change, this is what I came up with.
Supplies:
stamps - Polka Dot, It's Your Birthday, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Marvelous Matchups (inky antics)
paper - old olive, groovy guava, soft sky, fall flowers dsp
ink - old olive, white craft, versamark
acc - mat pack & piercer, circle cutter, pretties kit, kraft taffeta, white embossing powder

True Friend

Today was one of those days where I sat down to create, and my mind was one big blank. This was the only one of the things I ended up with that is acceptable to share with you! The burst on the main layer was inked in river rock, and the edges were rocked in wild wasabi (rock and roll technique). Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies:
stamps - True Friend
paper - river rock, whisper white, chocolate chip, apple cider dsp
ink - river rock, wild wasabi, chocolate chip
acc - pewter jumbo eyelets, earth elements buttons, vintage brad, chocolate 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine, dimensionals, mini glue dots

Swap Reveal!

So here are the full reveals of the sneak peeks of my latest round of swaps. The one on the left was for a swap featuring the pretties kit. I used my guava ink pad to dye the large flower and then used my heat gun to dry it and lighten it up a little. Safety warning: keep your heat gun moving to avoid burning the fabric of the flowers, and ALWAYS unplug said heat gun when done! The large halfback pearl and flower is adhered using a tiny drop of Crystal Effects (CE). Don't use a lot of CE as the pearl will push it out and it will show on your flower. Icky! I also used a tiny drop of CE to keep the beads from sliding around on the hat pin.
Supplies:
stamps - Baroque Motifs
paper - chocolate chip, close to cocoa, groovy guava
ink - groovy guava, chocolate chip, chocolate chip marker (for the dots bracketing the word)
acc - chocolate taffeta, pretties kit, crystal effects


The card on the right is for a swap featuring Hodgepodge Hardware (HPH). This color combo may be familiar to you if you are a religious follower of my blog, as I am SURE you are, right? Hahaha! Anyway, the soft sky layer has the Doodle jumbo wheel rolled on it in white craft ink for a subtle background. Both flowers are from Pick A Petal, with the smaller flower having a small halfback pearl from the aforementioned pretties kit as its center. The small soft sky piece under the HPH label holder is purposely cut bigger than the label holder and the corners rounded. I adhered it right on top of the white ribbon and then attached the label holder on top of that using the matching brads. The smaller flower is popped up using 2 dimensionals.
Supplies:
stamps - Pick A Petal, Doodle jumbo wheel, Amazing to Zany, Warm Words
paper - whisper white, soft sky, chocolate chip, river rock, rose red, Apple Cider dsp
ink - white craft, rose red, chocolate chip
acc - pewter HPH, pretties kit, white grosgrain ribbon, 3/4" & 1/2" circle punches, soft sky double-stitched ribbon, dimensionals


This last card was for a technique swap. I chose to do Faux Metal. Basically, you get a lot of layers of embossing powder and stamp an image while the embossed powder is still hot. It does not ruin your stamps, and it's really a cool technique!
This color combo says to me contemporary, so I kept the card simple, clean, and uncluttered. The faux metal tag is attached using dimensionals, and I just nestled it up under the ribbon a bit (a trick I learned from my friend Krystie).
Supplies:
stamps - French Flair, Carte Postale, So Many Sayings
paper - soft sky, chocolate chip, whisper white
ink - chocolate chip, soft sky, versamark
acc - silver embossing powder, chocolate 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, 1-3/8" & 1-1/4" circle punches, dimensionals


Enjoy!

Don't worry, I'm still here!

I am attempting some minor changes here, so sorry about the problems viewing my blog today. I figured out the problem, and we are good to go!
I have registered a domain name, and was attempting to map it here to my blog. It finally worked after some searching for help! You may see other subtle changes in the next month, so bear with me. My new domain name is www.lakeshorestamper.com, and I can be reached at becky@lakeshorestamper.com. If you try to connect to my blogspot.com address, it will still direct you here.

Fall Flowers

Just a nice simple card for you today! I love these colors, they are nice and fall-ish and cheery. The halfback pearls are attached with mini glue dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

stamps - In the Spotlight, Warm Words

paper - lavender lace, old olive, pumpkin pie, whisper white

ink - lavender lace, old olive, pumpkin pie, soft sky

acc - white halfback pearls (pretties kit), soft sky double-stitched grosgrain ribbon, mini glue dots

Happy Monday!

So I was playing around with some different color combos, and came up with this one. I like it, it's kind of modern/funky. And I wanted to use my leaves. So here it is!
Supplies:
stamps - Autumn Fest, It's Your Birthday, Everyday Flexible Phrases
paper - soft sky, lovely lilac, lavender lace, taken with teal, old olive
ink - lavender lace, taken with teal, old olive
acc - olive 5/8" grosgrain, scallop punch, 1-3/8" & 1-1/4" circle punches, crop-a-dile, dimensionals

Happy World Card Making Day!

In honor of World Card Making Day, I present to you this card:

After not stamping for 6 days, it was hard to get the creative juices flowing again, so I did what I always do when that happens: I opened up the 07 Fall/Winter Collection and found a card I like and went from there. This card is an adaptation of the one on page 155. I've always loved the color combo and clean lines of the card! Plus, one of my friends has a birthday this week (happy birthday Jimmi!), and I'll be sending this to her.
I cut a piece of groovy guava cardstock to 6 x 6 and folded it in half. I then rounded the two right-side corners. The celery piece is 2 x 6 with a 1/4" strip of soft sky layered on it. I stamped a row of flowers (All In a Row) in celery and tied celery knot of ribbon around the top. I adhered the celery piece to the guava card and cut the corner to match. I stamped the dots (In the Spotlight) in white craft ink and the sentiment (It's Your Birthday) in guava ink. The flower (In the Spotlight) is stamped in guava ink and punched out with the 5-petal flower punch. I layered it on a circle of celery (1-1/4" circle punch) and sky (1-3/8" circle punch), and attached a clear rhinestone brad (Pretties kit) in the middle. The flower piece is attached with a dimensional.

1000 Hits Challenge and a Few RAKs

Wow, I can't believe there's been over 1000 hits
on my little blog already! I started this a little
over a month ago, so thanks to everyone that
takes the time to stop by!

Here a couple RAKs I got in the mail this week:
the one on the right is from Patti, and the one
below is from Tammy. Thanks girls, I love them! And who doesn't like happy mail?

So, in honor of my 1000th hit, I challenge you to RAK someone else! Post a link of what you made(if you can) in a comment here so we can all see what someone else received!

Swap Sneak Peek

I feel like it's been forever since I posted, and even longer since I stamped! But I'm home again and have stuff to catch up on. So I thought for now I would post some sneak peeks at cards I'm doing for my current swaps with my swap group.





Here's a sneak peek at my swap card featuring Hodgepodge Hardware.




And here's my swap card featuring the Pretties Kit. Stay tuned for the full reveal!