Love & Happiness

These cards were made with the Love & Happiness rub-ons that can be found in the 2008 SAB brochure. This is the first time I have used rub-ons, and I really like them! I made these for a swap I did (there were only 3 other people). No stamps, and no ink on these babies! The whole main image on each card is popped up with dimensionals.

Supplies:

olive card - L & H rub-ons; confetti white, olive, rock, pale & perfect plum paper; vintage brads, artichoke grosgrain, dimensionals

black card - L & H rub-ons; ww, black, celery, regal rose, rose red paper; black brads, black grosgrain, dimensionals

white card - L & H rub-ons; ww, black, celery, wasabi, coral paper; black brads, white grosgrain, dimensionals

SAB Swap Card

This is one of the cards I made for an SAB swap I was in - it features So Many Scallops. My sample is not here, so I will do my best with the details! I stamped the happy birthday scallop on white scrap with wasabi ink and punched it out with the scallop punch. I colored the candles with real red and pumpkin pie markers, stamped it on white scrap, and punched it out with the 1-3/8" circle punch (I think! It might have been the 1-1/4" one, lol!) I then stamped the happy birthday scallop in blue bayou ink on soft sky scrap, punched it out using the same circle punch as the last step, and then cut out the words and attached them underneath the candles. That circle was popped up on dimensionals on the wasabi scallop. Of course, the one stamp I used was cleaned in between each step, lol! I attached the whole scallop to a real red circle.

The bayou paper has Canvas background stamped on it with bayou ink, the pumpkin ribbon knot was attached, and the bayou square was attached to a wasabi base. I turned the wasabi base over and pierced a row of holes from the back for a different look. The red circle was attached on the card to finish it off.

Enjoy!

Random Stuff and a Cute Little Boy

So I was visiting some of my stamping friends' blogs, and Krystie was mentioning some of the search terms people had used to find her blog. So I went and checked my analytics, (which I haven't done in months) and found none that were as funny as hers. Most of them were actually stamping-related (criss cross card searches made up a LOT of them), some were technical mumbo-jumbo that I didn't understand, and one was "basic facts about the rock ruby". I bet that person didn't get what they expected when my blog popped up, lol!

So thank you, all my visitors, faithful readers, and friends who have listed my blog on your blogroll, I am enjoying blogland immensely! (Too much, if you ask my DH, lol!)

I took this picture back in the summer, my little guy is already just like daddy!

Hope your weekend was wonderful, hope your week gets off to a great start! I'll be posting swap cards pictures this week, hope you'll stop by.

One More Class Card

Well, I had my Saturday class this morning, and it was a rip-roaring success! I had 7 attendees, and 7 more slated to come Monday night. Woohoo! Plus a few couldn't come, so they paid me to make the cards for them. Here is one more card that we made:



Another straightforward design. I stamped the elephant on watercolor paper and used my regular markers and an aquapainter to color him. I did not use the aquapainter on the red hearts because it made them too pink.

Supplies:
stamps - Happy Heart Day
paper - ballet blue, old olive, real red, watercolor, olive prints
ink - basic black
acc - silver brads; real red, going gray, and certainly celery markers; aquapainter

More Valentine's Class Cards

A couple super quick and easy 3x3 Valentine's for my class this weekend. They are straightforward, so I'll spare you the details. Enjoy!
Such A Deer Supplies:
stamps - Moose You
paper - ballet blue, wild wasabi, whisper white
ink - close to cocoa, real red
acc - celery 5/8" grosgrain, stapler

Stuck On You Supplies: stamps - Moose You paper - real red, chocolate chip, whisper white ink - chocolate chip, real red acc - 3/4" circle punch, red brad

By the way, I made a killer apple crisp tonight, so I'm going to go enjoy some while it's still warm!

Valentine's Class Card

This is one of the cards we will be making at my Valentine's class this weekend. I stamped the flower background in elegant eggplant on an almost amethyst cardstock base and added strips of eggplant and white cardstock. I stamped the small flower above the eggplant strip, colored in the petals with the amethyst marker, and went over the dots with the eggplant marker. I tied a white taffeta ribbon knot around the card. I use the slot punch to just knick out a hole for the ribbon to go through as this card opens horizontally. For class, I might cut the paper so that the card opens vertically, eliminating the need for the slot punch. We'll see. The heart is stamped in eggplant ink on amethyst paper (I did use the SAMJ), and layered on eggplant paper. I stamped the solid flower in eggplant ink on a white scrap, punched it out with the 1/2" circle punch, and attached it to the heart with a small piece of dimensional. The heart layer is attached to the card using dimensionals, I stamped the sentiment in eggplant ink, and added a row of piercing to the top, and there you have it!

Supplies:
stamps - Always
paper - ww, eggplant, amethyst
ink - eggplant, amethyst
acc - white taffeta, eggplant & amethyst markers, mat pack & piercer, dimensionals, 1/2" circle punch

Another One-Layer Card

Happy Tuesday from the snowy shores of Lake Erie! It snowed all weekend and on and off ever since. At least it isn't quite as cold as it was the past two days.

On to the card: I stamped the branch in basic gray ink on watercolor paper and colored the blossoms with my aquapainter and ink from my pretty in pink and purely pomegranate pads. I also used the aquapainter and wasabi ink to go over the stems. The ribbon is charcoal taffeta, and the sentiment is Paper Tray again. I don't really like how the sentiment turned out, but the damage has been done! A rhinestone brad from the pretties kit finishes the card off.

Thanks for stopping by!

A One-Layer Card for Sunday!

We have lots of snow and cold here today, so a sweet easy card to keep you warm!

I stamped the flower in basic black ink on a watercolor paper card, then colored it using my aquapainter and ink pads. The sentiment is Paper Tray (PTI), and a pomegranate satin ribbon knot finishes it off.

Supplies:

stamps - Embrace Life, Paper Tray

paper - watercolor

ink - basic black, old olive, purely pomegranate

acc - aquapainter, pomegranate satin ribbon

I hope those of you with a day off tomorrow have a great one! Everyone else, hope your week gets off to a great start. Good news, my 72 swap cards are almost done! Some are ready to go in the mail Tuesday, and the rest will be done shortly. Sneak peeks of those will be revealed in the coming week, so stay tuned!

Happy Friday! (and more Thickers!)

I made this card for my best friend, who just recently had her second little girl. I was finally able to go see them yesterday (bad cold), and gave her the card, so I can share it with you now! I got my inspiration from the graduation card in the SS08 catalog, and went from there. Not typical baby girl colors, but I like it anyway. They'll get enough pink anyway! Details: I used my circle cutter for the largest sahara sand circle and adhered a 1-3/8" lavender lace circle to the center. I punched out a 1" soft sky circle, cut it down, and attached the "c" thicker to it. It was then adhered with a dimensional to a 1-1/4" sahara hand circle that I pierced around the edge. It was then layered on the lavender lace circle. I attempted to use my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up my letters and words, and they STILL came out crooked! But hey, it was really late when I was working on it. I punched several lavender flowers with the Three For You punch box, attached them across the top, and added dew drops as a finishing touch.
Supplies:
stamps - All In a Row, EFP, Rough Edges alpha
paper - sahara sand, ww, lavender lace, soft sky, olive dsp
ink - lavender lace, white craft
acc - Three For You Punch Box, dew drops (Robin's Nest), sky grosgrain, tab punch, circle cutter (CM), 1-1/4 & 1-3/8" circle punches, paper piercer, Thickers (American Crafts), SAMJ (well, kinda)
Have a great weekend!

It's Wednesday

Sorry, I am not so creative when it comes to post titles. Here's a pretty simple card: the stems were stamped and colored in olive ink, the 3 panels were attached, and the sentiment stamped in black. I clear embossed 2 flowers, cut them out, layered them up, put a brad in the center, and attached it to the base with dimensionals.

I'm working on lots of swaps this week, so I made several one-layer cards to show you the rest of the week. Happy stamping!

Supplies:

stamps - Embrace Life

paper - whisper white, regal rose, ginger blossom dsp

ink - basic black, old olive, versamark

acc - aquapainter, vintage brads, dimensionals, clear EP

Happy Monday!

Today's card is totally inspired by Kristina Werner. I found some of her beloved thickers at a LSS and just had to get them! This card has only 3 ingredients (paper, ribbon, thickers) and no stamping, how much simpler can it get? Enjoy!
Supplies:
paper - ruby red, ginger blossoms dsp
acc - guava grosgrain, thickers (American Crafts)

On a side note, my new stuff comes today! Yay! I have lots of swaps to get started on, though I do have some layouts and ideas floating around in my head. Thanks for stopping by, hope your week is off to a great start.

Easy Valentine's Card

Here's a very easy Valentine's card for you today. I didn't have a lot of time to stamp, so it HAD to be easy! This was inspired by a hand towel I saw somewhere.
The swirl is stamped with burgundy ink on red paper, and then I went over it with my Sakura clear glaze gel pen. I stamped "love" in versamark on red paper and embossed in white. I layered it on a strip of burgundy and adhered it to the base. I tied a white knot around the whole card, and added dew drops last. I think darker dew drops and white taffeta would be better, but hey, you gotta work with what you have!

Supplies:
stamps - Baroque Motifs, Wonderful Words
paper - baroque burgundy, real red
ink - baroque burgundy, versamark
acc - white grosgrain, white EP, dew drops, sakura clear glaze gel pen

And Finally A Card!

This was one of those cards that I had no idea where it was going to end up. I knew the colors I wanted to use, and I knew I wanted to use this flower stamp and pop them up, but that was it! So I ended up with this wierd thing. It measures 5-1/2" square. I'm not feeling well, so the details will be minimal. I stamped the flower in olive on the white layer, then stamped the flowers in ruby and coral on white scraps, aquapainted them, cut them out, and popped them up where they belong. For the sentiment, I used be happy from So Many Sayings and added the little flowers from the same set, then stuck a clear page pebble on top. I also outlined the flowers with my clear Sakura glitter pen.

Supplies:
stamps - Embrace Life, Polka Dot, So Many Sayings
paper - chocolate, ruby, coral, olive, white
ink - olive, ruby, coral, chocolate
acc - olive grosgrain, glitter pen, white brads, page pebble, 3/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, ticket corner punch, dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

I've Been Tagged, Take Two!

My friend Krystie tagged me!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
(For reference - I was 19)
1. going to college
2. working
3. studying
4. hanging out with friends
5. studying

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. laundry
2. make dinner
3. bake my amish friendship bread
4. take care of the baby
5. cut out two stamp sets

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. chocolate chip cookies
2. chocolate cupcakes with no frosting
3. chips and dip
4. chips and salsa
5. pizza

5 Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Buy my DH a new car
2. Buy a bigger house
3. Buy whatever our parents need/want
4. Give to our church, and alma mater
5. Hire a maid!

5 Places I've lived:
1. Mentor, OH (20 miles east of Cleveland, lived there my whole life until I got married)
2. Greenville, SC while in school
3. Painesville, OH (right next to Mentor, but cheaper!) This is our second house here.

5 Jobs I've Had:
1. babysitting
2. house-sitter
3. daycamp counselor, then head counselor
4. teacher for 6 years
5. now, early-morning replenisher part-time

5 Things People Probably Don't Know About Me:
1. I did not fly on an airplane until I was 18 years old.
2. I hate snakes! They are so creepy.
3. My first life's goal was to be a nurse in a NICU. Sometimes I still wish I would have done that.
4. My parents didn't let me get my driver's license until I was 17.
5. I took piano lessons for 10 years.

If you want to play along, consider yourself tagged!

I've Been Tagged!

I have just been tagged by Jackie Pedro over at the scalloped edge. I need to answer the following questions, so here goes...
1. Name your 2 favorite Scrapbooking topics.
I have only scrapbooked a few pages in my life, so I will say my son and..... my son!
2. What are the two best places you've been to?
New York City, President Reagan's Library up in the mountains north of LA (can't remember the town)
3. Name two things you do everyday.
Load the dishwasher, check my email.
4. Name two things that pretty much everyone knows about you.
I hate cleaning (especially dusting), and I play the piano.
5. What are your two favorite stores?
Only two? Kohl's for the deals, Pier One/Crate&Barrel
6. What are your two favorite accessories to stamp/scrap with?
Ribbon and brads
7. What are your two favorite occasions to make cards for?
Christmas and birthdays
8. What are your two favorite SU! cardstock colors?
That's hard! Right now, chocolate chip and old olive with soft sky not far behind
9. Name two of your all time favorite Stampin' Up! stamp sets.
French Script and In the Spotlight
10. If you had to choose two of the current Stampin' Up In Colors to make it into the big catty, what two colors would you choose?
Soft Sky and River Rock.
My question 11: What are your two favorite new stamp sets in the SS08 catalog?
Always and Stemming From
All of these questions have *two* in them, so you'll need to answer all of these questions on your blog and then add one more question with *two* in it. (This tagging started with four questions). That way it spreads and gets longer with each tag!

I'm tagging Lindsay and Lauren!

Color Challenge Tuesday

Ugh. What a horrible game last night. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

On to the stamping (which is what you're here for, right?): today's color challenge on SCS was wild wasabi, blue bayou, and barely banana. I didn't have much motivation, so I kept it pretty simple.

I cut 1-1/2" squares, 2 each of bayou and wasabi, then stamped the backgrounds (Looks Like Spring) on them with their respective ink colors. I turned them over and taped them together so it was easier to adhere it to it's banana base. I stamped the flower in versamark on a banana scrap, clear embossed it, added a wasabi 1/2" circle and a button from the rich regals. I popped the flower on dimensionals and put it on the square base. I also used dimensionals to adhere that whole panel to the bayou base, AFTER I placed the wasabi ribbon across the card! Then I tied the knot, stamped the words in versamark, clear embossed, and added the brads.

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: stamps - Big Blooms, Looks Like Spring, Paper Tray (pti) paper - blue bayou, wild wasabi, barely banana ink - blue bayou, wild wasabi, versamark acc - clear EP, 1/2" circle punch, RR button, SS brads, wasabi grosgrain, dimensionals

My First PTI Card!

I ordered my first set from papertreyink and received it before Christmas, and I finally had a chance to play with it. I love their stamps! Both the style and quality. Now, don't worry, I am still an SU girl, but it's fun to see what else is out there sometimes. Helps keep the creative juices flowing!

I started with a base of lavender lace and stamped the Polka Dot background in lavender ink. The olive layer is a scalloped rectangle nestability, and the pumpkin and white layers are regular rectangle nestabilities. I dry embossed a border on the white square, but you can't really see it in the picture. I stamped the flowers in lavender, olive, and pumpkin, adding a chocolate center and topping them off with some clear page pebbles my friend Krystie sent me. I stamped the sentiment in the upper left corner, added some chocolate ribbon, and put the whole thing together. I can't wait to play with this set some more!

Supplies: stamps - Paper Tray (PTI) paper - lavender lace, old olive, pumpkin pie, whisper white ink - lavender lace, old olive, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip acc - chocolate grosgrain, dimensionals, scallop and regular rectangle nestabilities

I got tagged again!

First of all , I have to say Go Buckeyes!!!! Yes, I will be watching the game tonight and I hope it has a very different outcome from last year's abysmal game. I love college football! (See #1 below). So on to my post:

I got tagged by Lindsay (http://www.inmystamproom.com/) awhile ago, and am just now getting around to playing. I was tagged once before, so I don't know if I can come up with 7 more random things, but here goes:

1. I love to watch football with my DH! And he likes having a wife who knows about sports and doesn't care if he plays golf whenever he wants to.

2. I have my BS in Physical Education, with a minor in Composite Science (a little of everything science).

3. My favorite TV show is TLC's What Not To Wear with Stacy London and Clinton Kelly. I wanna be on the show, but I don't dress bad enough!

4. I have naturally curly hair that never does the same thing two days in a row. Arrrgh!

5. Staying with the hair thing, I have never had my hair colored.

6. My favorite color is red, but in stamping, all the colors are my favorite! Well, except for glorious green, yoyo yellow, blush blossom, and orchid opulence.

7. I didn't get my first ticket (speeding) until I was 23.

Okay, if you want to play along, consider yourself tagged! And GO BUCKEYES!!!!

Birthday Card For a Friend

This card got sent to a friend who recently had a birthday, so now I can share it with you! I used a new set (Embrace Life) and new paper (Ginger Blossoms) that are just gorgeous!
I stamped the blossom twice in versamark on river rock scraps, embossed them in white, cut them out, and layered them together with a dimensional. I used my circle cutter (CM) to make the circles, layered them, and attached the flower. I stamped the branch in ruby red ink on ruby red paper, embossed the words in white, layered the strip on a guava strip, and added the brads. I cut a piece of Ginger Blossoms dsp, layered it on a river rock base, and built up the layers from there. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I filled in the top blossom with crystal effects and added a half-back pearl center.

Supplies:
stamps - Embrace Life
paper - river rock, ruby red, groovy guava, Ginger Blossoms dsp
ink - versamark, ruby red
acc - white EP, CE, vintage brads, pretties kit, dimensionals

Happy Saturday!

Cards From Friends

I received Christmas cards from some of my stamping friends and wanted to share them with you. I have made several great friends online this past 6 months, and they are amazing stampers too!

<--This one is from my wonderful upline, Leslie.

Aren't the colors gorgeous?

This one was a RAK from Cristy (Plankhome on SCS). I don't even know her, but what a great surprise in the mail! Thank you Cristy! -->

<-- Here's one from LeeAnn (flowerbugnd2), one of my swap group girls. The front sentiment layer swings open, and so does the layer underneath it. Great design!

This one is from Dawn (dawnsing), another swap group girl. I just love her style! -->

<-- Chat (nitestamper), another swap group girl, sent me this beauty!

This one's from Denise (geekgirl415). I love the colors! She is in my swap group too, and always leaves me nice comments on my blog. -->

<--AJ (willosmama) is another swap groupie and encourager who sent me this one. I am sad that Hung Up On the Holidays is retired.

From Patti (mommapatti). We chat on a thread with other NE OH girls. Thanks Patti! -->

These last two are from Krystie, yet another swap group girl! I love them both, so cute!

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend! We are off to my SIL's house for snacks and games. Fun stuff!

Swap Sneak Peeks!

These are two cards I made for some swaps recently. One was for cards featuring Time Well Spent, one of the new level 3 hostess sets, and the other was for sets in the preview, which also happen to be in the new Spring/Summer Collection from Stampin' Up.

Supplies:

stamps - Time Well Spent

paper - lavender lace, taken with teal, soft sky

whisper white

ink - lavender lace, chocolate craft, old olive, soft

sky

acc - aquapainter, clear EP, olive 5/8" grosgrain,

mat pack and piercer

This card gave me fits! It originally started out with a completely different color combo and layout. It just WAS NOT WORKING! And I was getting a little frustrated. So I started all over, and ended up with this. I used the new set Mark the Date, and wish I had the month set to go with it, but it isn't available yet.

Supplies:

stamps - Mark the Date

paper - basic black, river rock, groovy guava, ruby red

ink - basic black, river rock, ruby red

acc - guava double-stitched grosgrain; silver brad; 1-3/8", 1-1/4", and 1/2" circle punches

Featured Stamper Challenge

Last Sunday's Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS was Danielle (dlounds). She is a fantastic stamper! Check out her blog here: http://fatcatstamper.blogspot.com/. Here is the card I made "in her honor", lol!

I stamped the blossom branch on white scraps with basic gray ink and punched them out. I colored them with the pretty in pink watercolor wonder crayon, and then used my aquapainter to fill in. I then took my aquapainter and dipped it in a pool of pomegranate ink and added a touch of color to the base of the flowers. I shaded the stems using the aquapainter and going gray ink. I think the rest of the card is self-explanatory.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't miss my swap sneak peeks and cards from friends coming later this week!

Supplies: stamps - Embrace Life paper - basic black, basic gray, whisper white, pretty in pink ink - basic black, basic gray, going gray, purely pomegranate acc - pomegranate satin ribbon, 1-3/8" circle punch, aquapainter, dimensionals

Color Challenge Tuesday

Today's color challenge combination on SCS is just beautiful! Real red, taken with teal, and certainly celery. I came up with a quick and easy card, case-ing from Stamper's Success magazine.

I stamped the teal layer with the Polka Dot background in teal ink, stamped "happy" with versamark and embossed in white, and attached the whole layer to a celery base. I tied a soft sky ribbon knot around the card. The flower is stamped with versamark on a real red scrap, clear embossed, cut out, and attached to the card with dimensionals. I put a little white crochet thread through the button and attached it to the flower with a glue dot.
And there you have it!

Supplies:
stamps - Big Blooms, Polka Dot, Polka Dots & Paisley
paper - certainly celery, taken with teal, real red
ink - taken with teal, versamark
acc - white EP, clear EP, soft sky ribbon, celery button, white crochet thread, dimensionals, glue dot

Happy New Year!